Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic – Favorite Bookstores OR Bookstores I’d Love to Visit

Waterstones (local)
I love browsing in my local Waterstones and also having a nice latte in their cafe whilst watching people selecting books!

Waterstones Piccadilly
Only because it has these great displays like Charlie’s bedroom from Heartstopper!

Blackwells
This is quite a small local bookshop and I haven’t been there in a while (I order online) but it’s so quaint, love it.

Oxfam Bookshop
Another local shop to me. I do love browsing their shelves for secondhand bargains!

Barnes and Noble
There aren’t any of these in the UK (as far as I know) but, from what I’ve seen, the insides look like what dreams are made of!

Chapters Indigo (Canada)
I’ve never seen inside one of these stores but have seen some lovely stuff bought in them and I have fomo!

The Travel Bookshop (Notting Hill)
This Portobello Road, London bookshop was taken over for the film (it wasn’t a bookshop!) but now is called the Notting Hill Giftshop!

Flourish and Blotts (Harry Potter)
Who wouldnt want to visit this bookshop in Diagon Alley?!

What shops would you choose?

Title: Frost

Series: Frost and Nectar #1

Author: CN Crawford

On the worst birthday of my life, I come home to find my boyfriend in bed with another woman. Within hours, I’m drunk, homeless, and pledging to stay single forever. And that is when the dangerously sexy Seelie King rolls through town, looking for fae like me.

Every generation, the king holds a competition for Seelie queen. But for reasons he won’t explain, Torin is looking for a charade, not a real marriage. So when I drunkenly sling insults his way, I have his attention.

When Torin offers me fifty million to participate, I think, “What have I got to lose?” The answer turns out to be “my life,” because my competition will literally kill for the crown.

And the more time I spend with the seductive king, the harder it becomes to remember it’s all supposed to be fake. Now, my life—and my heart—are one the line.

This book is just what I needed! So much so I read it in one sitting!

Ava, a fae raised in the human world, gets embroiled in a plan to be the next Queen of the Fae in a marriage of convenience deal…..but first she has to survive the competition!

This was a brilliant fantasy romance with beautiful, descriptive writing of the world and I almost felt like I was there!

The chemistry! The tension! Torvin was absolutely delish!

I loved Ava, her character growth, how she came into herself. Her bestie, Shalini, was a breath of fresh air!

A new-to-me author that I will 100% be reading again. Off to look at her back catalogue after that cliffhanger!

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week?

October has arrived and so has the Autumn weather. I’m so thankful!

My goals this week were to:

Watch House of the Dragon ✔️
Listen to an audiobook ✔️
Read a physical/ebook ✔️

Woohoo!

I read 12 books in September which is huge for me, half of these were audiobooks so my audio game feels strong!

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What I’ve Read

🎧 The Traitor Queen by Danielle Jensen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

The Hedge Witch by Cari Thomas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

Lies of the Fae by MJ Lawrie
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

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New arrivals

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

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You might have missed…..

Review – Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Review – Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim
Challenge – Beat the Backlist: 3rd update

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What have you read lately?

Happy October! Have a great month!

“I wish that every day was Saturday and every month was October.”
― Charmaine J. Forde

“In the entire circle of the year there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October.” – Alexander Smith

Here we are with the 3rd update of the year!!!

Just for a bit of housekeeping, you can see my last updates here.

I haven’t really read as many backlist titles as in previous months as I’ve had a lot of arcs and new releases I wanted (or needed!) to read.

However……

I HIT MY TARGET!!!!!!! I’ve read 24 backlist books! And I’ll keep going!

Here are the backlist books I read in the last quarter:

22) Air Awakens by Elise Kova
23) Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
24) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
25) Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

26) Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
27) Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
28) Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
29) It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Are you going this challenge? How are you getting on?

Title: Last of the Talons

Series: Talons #1

Author: Sophie Kim

After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, eighteen-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord. All that keeps her from turning on her ruthless master is the life of her beloved little sister hanging in the balance. But the order to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple incites not only the wrath of a legendary immortal, but the beginning of an unwinnable game…

Suddenly Lina finds herself in the dreamlike realm of the Dokkaebi, her fate in the hands of its cruel and captivating emperor. But she can win her life—if she kills him first.

Now a terrible game of life and death has begun, and even Lina’s swift, precise blade is no match for the magnetic Haneul Rui. Lina will have to use every weapon in her arsenal if she wants to outplay this cunning king and save her sister…all before the final grain of sand leaks out of the hourglass.

Because one way or another, she’ll take Rui’s heart.

Even if it means giving up her own.

Shin Lina is an assassin, the Reaper of Sunpo, and has lost nearly everything and is owned by a despicable man. One day when she steals something sacred she gets more than she bargained for.

‘Death does not die, and neither will you, Shin Lina.’

Before I gush over the rest of the book let me just tell you I have a new bbf. Rui. He’s mine ladies and gents…..back off!!!!! I mean the man is an Emperor and he has a fondness for winter. It all just points to being mine!

I absolutely loved this book! It’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling about a book and it feels so good! The utter joy of reading each word, sentence and paragraph and never wanting it to end but still wanting to know what happens!

The writing, the story, the characters, the world of Gyrulcheon. Everything! In fact I’m actually lost for words! I do not know how to review this book to do it justice apart from to say that it deserves all the stars and now I’m off to stalk the author and to see what’s next!

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Typographic Book Covers

For me, finding books with just typographic covers was really hard! But I’ve played hard and fast with the rules and also split it between typographic covers and also covers with typography that I like!!!

Typographic Book Covers

Family of Liars by E Lockhart
Galatea by Madeline Miller
Hexed by Julia Tuffs
Gemina by Jay Kristoff
Deviate by Jay Kristoff
The Dawn of the End by Kristen Ashley

Covers with typography that I like!!!

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
Glint by Raven Kennedy
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

What books would you choose?

Title: Gideon The Ninth

Series: The Locked Tomb #1

Author: Tamsyn Muir

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

As the blurb says….’The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.’

So off Harrow and Gideon go to Canaan House for the trials……

This was absolutely weird, dark and actually stark raving mad. And I loved it!

It took me a bit to get used to the writing style but once I was there, I was hooked and gobbled it down in a day and a bit!!!!

It was full of dry humour, the murder/mystery was amazing, the world building had me hooked but the characters were what did it for me.

All the characters, although at first were a bit of a blur as there were so many, were in the end completely fleshed out and I loved each one in their own way!

Love Gideon, Magnus, Palamedes, Camilla, Teacher and I even loved Harrow by the end! Just a side note – I pictured Silas as Joffrey from GoT all the way through!

That last half made my jaw hang open! I had no idea about any of those things that were revealed, didn’t for a minute! I really wonder where this is going to go.

‘We do bones’.

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week?

I binge watched House of Dragons this week and can confirm it’s just as icky as Game of Thrones but I am absolutely obsessed! I shouldn’t love Daemon and Rhaenyra together…..but I do (I might be a bit sick!!!)

Anyway……books!

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What I’ve Read

Frost by CN Crawford
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here.

🎧 The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

🎧 Hook, Line and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

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New arrivals

I received the September Fairyloot and Illumicrate boxes but I won’t post them here yet in case anyone hasn’t received!

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You might have missed…..

Unboxing – Illumicrate: August 2022
Review – The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
Review – Tragic Bonds by J Bree

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What have you read lately?