Title: One Last Stop

Author: Casey McQuiston

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Oh wow, this was great and so refreshing!

I’m talking about the plot of course….it was so unique and I was on tenterhooks wondering how this was all going to pan out!

August moves into an apartment with the lovely, Miya, Nico and Wes and fits in (I bloomin loved them!) She gets a job at a pancake restaurant and has to take the subway there and to her classes. And that’s where she meets Jane. That’s where the magic begins!

As I said the plot was so unique. It goes to show the mysteries of the universe loves true love!

There was saving restaurants, high jinks, solving a mystery and it was heartbreaking, beautiful, humorous and deliously queer!

My fave though? The drag queen, Isiah. Annie Depressant. Too fabulous!

Title: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

Series: Emily Wilde #1

Author: Heather Fawcett

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.

Emily Wilde and her trusty dog Shadow arrive in Ljosland, a Norwegian Island, to study and write a comprehensive encyclopaedia of the Hidden ones and other species of Folk. Then her colleague, Wendell Bambleby turns up uninvited and it all goes off!!!!

I fell in love with this story!
I fell in love with the villagers of Ljosland,
I fell in love with Poe,
I fell in love with the folklore,
I fell in love with the Folk, all of them!
I fell in love with Emily, she was so relatable!

And of course I fell in love with Wendell (there’s not many a leading man I don’t love!!!) Their banter was so good! It made my chuckle! I was
rooting for them, just one of them to make a move. It was agony!!!!

But the person who stole the show for me with her brief appearances and cutting wit was Thora, the grandma to everyone, she was so funny!!

‘He’s prettier when he’s asleep, eh? You don’t notice that big mouth of his.’

Although that ending was kind of abrupt and I’d love to know more (is there more?!) I absolutely adored this!

Title: Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns

Author: Joanna Reeder

1 prince + 14 hopefuls to win his heart + 1 thief-turned-spy employed to ensure the right fae gets the crown.

Fans of The Selection and Throne of Glass will love this binge-worthy story of deep secrets, and cunning fae.

Half-fae Amberle isn’t competing for the swoon-worthy Prince Rion’s heart or a crown, she’s a hired mole who just wants to save her family. But Rion is charming and stubborn and he’s making her task impossible. And when girls mysteriously turn up dead… she questions everything.

A competition to win the hand of the Prince!

Amberle is one of the 14 chosen for the Tourney to marry Prince Orion, but she is there for nefarious reasons. Orion and Amberle are old acquaintances, however!

So with this many females vying for a Prince’s heart (and a throne!), how do you think that goes?!! As you may think, there is bound to be all sorts of behavior so this book is filled with cattyness, fake behaviour, murder but also with a strong and very likeable leading lady and a loveable Prince!

This is my first book by this author and I absolutely loved it! Now I need book 2!

‘Then change your stars! Believe in yourself! You won’t win if you tell yourself you won’t.’

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.

For January I am veering off the prescribed list as I already did the subjects for Blogmas!

So for today…..

Topic: My auto-buy authors!

Intisar Khanani
Holly Black
Sarah J Maas
Marissa Meyer
Ali Hazelwood

TJ Klune
Jay Kristoff
Leigh Bardugo
Caroline Peckham
Kristen Ashley

Who would you have picked?

Title: Kingdom of the Feared

Series: Kingdom of the Wicked #3

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesn’t simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soul—but that’s something the enigmatic demon can’t promise her.

When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and she’s quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.

Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest that’s brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.

Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.

‘Two curses.
One prophecy.
A reckoning all have feared.’

Here we are, back with Wrath and Emilia and she is dealing with the fact that her sissy is not dead and is possibly quite evil, there’s curses and drama flying around everywhere and all Emilia wants to do is bone her husband!!!!!!

Well this was steamy with a capital S!  I’m totally here for that when it includes Wrath!

Like in Cursed, Emilia got right on my wick in the first part of this book but I’m happy to say that it didn’t last long (phew, I didn’t want to feel that way about her!!)

The conclusion has arrived and the story unfolds. There’s revelations, a lot of them, drama and more glimpses of the Demon Hell Princes (God love them!)

‘A love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.’

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?

Fully back into the swing of work and school this week. Can’t say I love it! I need to win the lottery!!! We’ve had floods here this week so the school run has been interesting (and worrisome!!)

It’s been an arc reading week and I also finished our book club read, One Dark Window! It’s called The Relaxed Reading Club on Instagram and there’s still time to join (or hop on over on the 15th to see what romance book we’re reading for February!)

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What I’ve Read

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

Nova by Cara Clare
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

🎧 Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here

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You might have missed…..

Review – City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer
Review – The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake
Review – The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu
Review – I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Feature – Books Releasing February that I want!

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What have you read lately?

January releases were a killer on my bank account so, it was with great relief, that I realised I only wanted 3 books that are releasing in February (I say this and I always buy more so I don’t know why I say this!)

~ Last Tale of Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
~ Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
~ End of Story by Kylie Scott

What books are you looking forward to?

Title: I Kissed Shara Wheeler

Author: Casey McQuiston

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Chloe Green is in total academic rivalry with Shara Wheeler…..until one day Shara Wheeler kisses her, disappears and leaves clues to her whereabouts.

Armed with Shara’s boyfriend, Smith and the local bad boy who crushes on Shara, Rory, they solve the clues to find her.

The plot was great but what I absolutely loved here were the characters!

~ Smith was my absolute favourite, god love him!
~ Rory the bad boy wasn’t what I expected and loved him too!
~ Chloe was just so determined (almost crazy) that she made me laugh!
~ And the one that links them all, Shara!

I really enjoyed this, there was much LGBTQ rep in this book that it warmed my heart!

This author is fast becoming one of my favourites.

Title: The Art of Prophecy

Series: War Arts Saga #1

Author: Wesley Chu

It has been foretold: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom.

The hero: Jian, who has been raised since birth in luxury and splendor, celebrated before he has won a single battle.

But the prophecy was wrong.

Because when Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, arrives to evaluate the prophesied hero, she finds a spoiled brat unprepared to face his destiny.

But the only force more powerful than fate is Taishi herself. Possessed of an iron will, a sharp tongue—and an unexpectedly soft heart—Taishi will find a way to forge Jian into the weapon and leader he needs to be in order to fulfill his legend.

What follows is a journey more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee: a story of master and student, assassin and revolutionary, of fallen gods and broken prophecies, and of a war between kingdoms, and love and friendship between deadly rivals.

Jian is meant to be the hero of a prophecy but unfortunately his training hasn’t been up to scratch so when Taishi, a old, great warrior meets him, she sets out to set him straight but then it all goes wrong!

Their journey, with some friends made along the way, starts off…..oh and we meet Salminde trying to save her fallen people and an absolutely fab assassin, Qisami, who basically wants to off everyone!

I absolutely loved the premise of Jian. Meant to be a hero of a prophecy but it never and probably never will, come to pass (I’m wondering if it will though, but cant see how!!!)

The star of this book for me was Taishi, she was totally amazing! Old, crochety and didn’t stand for any messing. She also totally knew her stuff.

This book was full of humour, action, violence, fab world building and brilliant fight scenes. Was a great read!