Title: The Songbird and the Heart of Stone

Series: Shadowborn Duet #1

Author: Carissa Broadbent

Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire—her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life. Now, sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who turned her, redemption feels impossible.

But when Mische is saved by Asar, the bastard prince of the House of Shadow with a past as brutal as his scars, she’s forced into a mission worse than execution: a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death himself.

Yet, Mische’s punishment may be the key to her salvation. In a secret meeting, her sun god commands her to help Asar in his mission, only to betray him… by killing the god of death.

Mische and Asar must travel the treacherous path to the underworld, facing trials, beasts, and the vengeful ghosts of their pasts. Yet, most dangerous of all is the alluring call of the darkness—and her forbidden attraction to Asar, a burgeoning bond that risks invoking the wrath of gods.

As her betrayal looms, the underworld closes in, and angry gods are growing restless. Mische will be forced to choose between the redemption of the sun or the damnation of the darkness.

Mische, after killing a Prince of the House of Shadow, now has to face her reckoning after being captured, and she’s sent to Morthryn with the Wraith Warden on a mission from Nyaxia.

Along their journey in the Underworld we get to learn a lot about Mische and her past life. I love how vulnerable she is but she’s also tough as nails.

Asar is broken and he doesn’t love often but when he does….ooooowwweee, it was a sight to behold! I LOVE him!

So the ending nearly killed me off but I saved this quote to make me feel better!

‘A fresh dawn makes you believe that the future can be better than the present.’

‘And so, I wait.’

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.

Hope you’ve had a good week!

What a week! Work was absolutely crazy and to top it off, my son went back to school, so it was rush, rush rush!

The weather was so changeable as well, Monday and Tuesday were really warm, and then Thursday and Friday poured down and was cold!

I finished 1 book this week and am part way through an audiobook!

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What I’ve Read

The Songbird and the Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Look out for my reviews soon!

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You might have missed…..

Feature – Stacking the Shelves
Unboxing – Illumicrate- August 2024
Review – Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas
Review – This Cursed Light by Emily Thiede

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What have you read lately?

Title: This Cursed Light

Series: The Last Finestra #2

Author: Emily Thiede

When the gods make the rules, the players must choose: Sacrifice their love to save the world, or choose love and let it burn?

Six months after saving their island from destruction and almost losing Dante, Alessa is ready to live happily ever after with her former bodyguard. But Dante can’t rest, haunted by a conviction that the gods aren’t finished with them yet. And without his powers, the next kiss from Alessa could kill him.

Desperate for answers, Dante enlists Alessa and their friends to find the exiled ghiotte in hopes of restoring his powers and combining forces with them to create the only army powerful enough to save them all. But Alessa is hiding a deadly consequence of their last fight–a growing darkness that’s consuming her mind–and their destination holds more dangers than anyone bargained for. In the mysterious city of the banished, Dante will uncover secrets, lies, and ghosts from his past that force him to ask himself: Which side is he on?

When the gods reveal their final test, Dante and Alessa will be the world’s last defense. But if they are the keys to saving the world, will their love be the price of victory?

‘What would you sacrifice for love?’

I absolutely loved This Vicious Grace so grabbed This Cursed Light with grabby hands! If you haven’t read it, you need to!

We’re back with Alessa, Dante and the rest of the gang off on an adventure to find the ghiotte, yo get Dante back his powers and keep the Gods at bay.

Dante and Alessa are so cute together but they have their trials and tribulations. This book is filled with secrets and I love that Dante found out more about his roots.

What I absolutely loved though were the side characters and I would love to see more from them!

Title: Celestial Monsters

Series: Sunbearer Duology #2

Author: Aiden Thomas

Teo never thought he could be a Hero. Now, he doesn’t have a choice.

The sun is gone, the Obsidian gods have been released from their prison, and now chaos and destruction are wreaking havoc on Reino del Sol. All because Teo refused to sacrifice a fellow semidiose during the Sunbearer Trials.

With the world plunged into perpetual night, Teo, Aurelio and Niya must journey to the dark wilderness of Los Restos, battling vicious monsters while dealing with guilt, trauma, and a (very distracting) burgeoning romance between Teo and Aurelio. Once more racing against the clock, the trio are determined to rescue the captured semidioses and retrieve the Sol Stone. With it, Sol and their protective light can return and order can be restored.

Now the future of the whole world is in their hands.

Back with Teo and the other semidioses right where we left off in book 1 with the Sol Stone taken.

So much action! My heart was in my throat because those horrible Obsidians were evil….and let’s not talk about Xio!

As in book 1, the descriptions in this book were so vivid it was almost like I was there. The tree houses are something I’d love to see in person. IYKYK!!!

I don’t want to say anything about the plot but what I will say is that Aurelio and Teo make my heart sing!

There was a couple of lines in this book that I  couldn’t resist adding here:

Teo is so right:
‘It doesn’t make any sense to pay money to sleep outside without a real toilet and cook your food over an open fire!’

And this one got me right in the feels:
‘It may not be real in fact, but it’s real in feeling.’

And that ending that I never saw coming in million years, but what a corker!

August 2024
Theme = Look What You Made Me Do

Push too hard and push too far, and watch what you’ll make me do.

Items inspired by The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Bride, One for My Enemy and Silver Under Nightfall.

💛 Oraya’s Blade Replica Dagger – designed by @stacey.mcevoy.caunt from Serpent and the Wings of Night
💛 Alliance of Enemies Packing Cubes – inspired by Bride, designed by @carlywattsart
💛 Ruthless Remedy Pill Organiser – designed by @chattynora inspired by One For My Enemy
💛 Looking Out/In Snack Bowls – designed by @studio_ao

💛 FEATURED BOOK 💛

Mistress of Lies by KM Enright

✨ An exclusive cover
✨ Full colour printing and foil on the hardback (by @danlinz_art)
✨ Digitally printed fore-edge (by @danlinz_art); block-sprayed top & bottom edge
✨ Illustrated endpapers (by @spookgeist, different front and back)
✨ Bound-in author letter
✨ Digitally signed by the author

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: Books Involving Food

This was hard and I am totally reaching here!!!!

The Spellshop – jam
The Honey Witch – honey (but haven’t read!!!)
A Tempest of Tea – tea
A Lesson in Chemistry – food show (!)
It Happened One Summer – fish (!)
A Ballad of Never After – apple (!)
Serpent and Dove – sticky buns
Rock Chicks – coffee
Legends and Lattes – baked goods!

What are yours?

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. Don’t forget audiobooks!

In other words, if you can read it or if it can be read to you – no matter how you got it – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves.

The Stacking the Shelves meme was originally hosted at Team Tynga’s Reviews. It is currently hosted by Reading Reality.

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I was coerced into buying 2 books this week – totally not my fault 🤣

Mistress of Lies by KM Enright
Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Trials of the Sun Queen by Nisha J Tuli

So 2 ebooks and 1 physical! I haven’t got any library holds this week or bought anything on Audible! So restrained!

 

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.

Hope you’ve had a good week!

Happy September – we’ve made it to the ‘ber’ months, my favourite time of year!

My week off work was so relaxing and chill….but went oh so fast!

We went for a walk around a wooded area just outside the town totting up 17k steps (my poor feet!), we had a lovely pizza out and we generally just had a good time!

My reading has picked up too so that’s good!

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What I’ve Read

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

🎧 Catherine, Princess of Wales by Robert Jobson
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Look out for my review soon!

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You might have missed…..

Unboxing – Fairyloot Adult – August 2024
Unboxing – Fairyloot YA – August 2024
Tag – The Blog Tag
Feature – Friday 56
Challenge – 20 Books of Summer – the end!

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What have you read lately?

Just a little post to wish you a happy September!

“Making your Christmas cake in September is perfect, as too fresh a cake crumbles when cut.” ―Mary Berry

“By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
― Helen Hunt Jackson