Title: The Library of Shadows

Author: Rachel Moore

Radcliffe Prep. The third most haunted school in the country, where a student disappearance isn’t uncommon and no one dares stay in the library after dark. And Este Logano enrolls with the hopes of finding her dead father.

Not literally, of course. She doesn’t believe in ghosts. Going to her dad’s school just seems like her best hope at figuring out who he was.

But then Este meets Mateo, who is maybe—probably—definitely—a real ghost. And an annoying one at that.

When Mateo frames Este for the theft of a rare book from the library’s secret spire and then vanishes, Este will have to track him down or risk being expelled and leaving Radcliffe early just like her father did.

Except following her father’s footsteps might be more dangerous than Este ever anticipated. As she investigates the library with its secret passageways, hidden tunnels, and haunted halls, she learns that the student disappearances aren’t just myth. And if she isn’t careful, she’ll be next.

I got this book purely for the cover, didn’t even read the synopsis, I knew I just needed it!

And I was so right!

Este manages to get into Radcliffe Prep as she believes she will find her Father’s ghost there.

What she finds is a host of ghosts (I’m a poet and don’t know it!) with its leader, Mateo, who gets her into trouble almost immediately! And that leads to a mystery Este has to solve!

This was such a fun, paranormal romance read with those dark academia vibes!

It was really atmospheric too with its creepy library! It reminded me of The Luminaries but with a haunted library not a forest!

Would love to read more from this author!

Title: The Crimson Moth

Series: Crimson Moth #1

Author: Kristen Ciccarelli

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Rune is a witch hiding in plain sight.
Gideon is a witch hunter.

Rune frees witches that have been captured and she now needs to free her Nan’s friend…..but this is the hardest jailbreak she’s done yet so needs to get close to Gideon to get info….and basically Gideon gets close to Rune as he suspects she is a witch. There’s also another complication in the fact that Gideon’s brother is in love with Rune!

Although I could not have been happier to read about enemies to lovers, my heart was in my throat reading this, it was amazing!

I do not like love trianges and this had the weirdest love triangle…..and I kind of liked it!

This book was dark, kind of macabre, fascinating and I could not put it down! There were so many secrets and lies, I was literally on the edge of my seat!

But those last few chapters…..oh my goodness, my heart! The revelations, the promise. Need that next book now please!!!

Title: Unseelie

Series: The Unseelie Duology #1

Author: Ivelisse Housman

Twin sisters, both on the run, but different as day and night. One, a professional rogue, searches for a fabled treasure; the other, a changeling, searches for the truth behind her origins, trying to find a place to fit in with the realm of fae who made her and the humans who shun her.  Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde… but as an autistic changeling trying to navigate her unpredictable magic, Seelie finds it more difficult to fit in with the humans around her. When Seelie and Isolde are caught up in a heist gone wrong and make some unexpected allies, they find themselves unraveling a larger mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.  Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister, and herself?

This was a total cover read for me, look at it!!!

Seelie and her ‘twin’ Sol are on the run because Seelie is a changeling, a faerie.

They are caught in a situation they shouldn’t be in and they are on the run for different reasons but this time they team up with 2 companions, Raze and Olaini.

I listened to the audio and the narrator was fab!

This was a good read, there was lots of drama, lots. So much I felt like I was in a spin!

Some things I loved:
~ The sisterly bond
~ The romance was cute
~ The authors note, it was written from the heart

Have you seen the cover for book 2, Unending? Exquisite!

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: Weird or Funny Things I’ve Googled Thanks to a Book

I had to go through my Google history but all I could find was how to solve maths problems (to help my son!) and random book things! Here they are:

* Does Amazon accept horny in a review?
* Alucard Emery
* What book is Atrius in (couldn’t remember title!)
* Beat Dawkins fanart
* Fourth Wing 3rd book release date (yes, I’m impatient!)
* Caroline Peckham Books in order
* Affect and effect meaning (for a review)
* Ballad of Never After quotes
* What is heterochromia? (was in a book)
* Can you schedule a reel on IG

What were yours?

Title: A Fate Inked In Blood

Series: Saga of the Unfated #1

Author: Danielle Jensen

A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.

‘Born in fire’

Freya, shield maiden, is hiding her goddess given gift whilst married to a vile creature.

It all starts with a fish to the face….Freya meets Bjorn, her hubby turns traitor and her gift is revealed….and then it goes off!!!

There was vikings, action, drama, secrets, lies and fabulous morally grey characters! But I must admit Freya got right on my wick in places, she makes some rubbish decisions and just won’t listen to the people who care about her the most.

However I was rooting so hard for Freya and Bjorn, their banter was sublime and their chemistry was off the charts! Freya’s inner monologue about Bjorn made my heart skip and I wanted to shout KISS HIM on more than one occasion!!!

So…..all that and then that ending. Heart.Gone. Next book please! 

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?

March has arrived!

This week I went to a TJ Klune event and I accepted a new job as a systems analyst/BA so can’t wait to start that!

It was a busy reading week too, I read 3 books from a series and was OBSESSED! However the next book isn’t out until the end of May and already the wait is torture!

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New Arrivals

Illumicrate’s Empire of the Damned – pic to follow!

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What I’ve Read

Plier by Jane Washington
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tourner by Jane Washington
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sauter by Jane Washington
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Look out for my reviews soon!

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You might have missed…..

Review – Plier by Jane Washington        Review – Tourner/Sauter by Jane Washington
Unboxing – Fairyloot Adult: February 2024
Review – My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

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What have you read lately?

Title: Tourner/Sauter

Series: Ironside Academy #2/3

Author: Jane Washington

As friends become enemies and enemies become villains, the Ironside underbelly casts a very wide shadow over everyone within its walls. The academy that once promised Isobel Carter salvation has pulled back the curtain and revealed itself for what it truly is.

A pretty little prison.

She may have been reduced to a puppet behind a screen, but at least the Alphas of Dorm A are there to heighten her performances, quicken her breath, and flood her face with colour for the cameras.

Maybe they will even catch her when she falls.

Or maybe they have been pulling the strings all along.

The bars of her prison may be gilded, but survival is a messy game, and what do Sigmas do when they can’t keep their hands clean?

They get filthy.

Beware the pretty monsters, because this social media game just got brutal.

Tourner

The continuation….and it’s heating up!

We start right where we left off in book 1, a sweet kiss and then more secrets, distrust, a tour and more horrible Icon behaviour!

We also get a couple more kisses from our hendecagon (!) and I can confirm the tension and chemistry is heating up, I can tell this is going to be off the charts!

Isabel takes it all in her stride, maybe that’s her nature as a sigma? But she is growing stronger, I can see her character growth being immense!

My fave still is Theo with Sato hot on his heels! I cannot tell you how hooked I am on this series!

As I said in book 1 at the end of my review, can’t stop, am off to get the next book!




Sauter

To say that I’m obsessed with this series is an understatement, I actually can’t get enough!

I whizzed through this book the same as I did with the others because I am so hooked!

We’re back with the Alphas and Isobel and their bond, and Isobel, is getting stronger and stronger…and there is more than just tension and chemistry this time….there’s juicy goings on!!!

I’m in love with all the Alphas for different reasons. Theo and Oscar are still my faves though!!!

I’ve never read a book with 10 mates before and I can honestly say, how it’s written, it’s perfection!

Now I can’t believe I need to wait until the end of May for the next book but I suppose it will give me a good excuse for a reread closer to the time!!!

Hello March!!!

Hope March is great for you!

“Springtime is the land awakening.
The March winds are the morning yawn.”
― Lewis Grizzard

By March, the worst of the winter would be over. The snow would thaw, the rivers begin to run and the world would wake into itself again.” ―Neil Gaiman

Title: My Roommate is a Vampire

Author: Jenna Levine

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean…

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

I’d heard some great reviews from my book friends so grabbed it and I’m so glad I did!

Cassie moves in with Frederick who is secretly a vampire! Frederick is basically stuck in the 18th century and wants Cassie to show him the ropes in the modern day world.

Frederick was so awkward but I absolutely adored him! His stilted language, his love of letters and his absolute shock at seeing a bikini was amusing! He’s not your typical alpha vamp!

Their attraction is almost instant but it takes them a while to get there and it was sublime!!

It was lighthearted and fun, I smirked in some places and aww’d in others!

My only complaint is that a ‘situation’ was cleared up very easily and I feel like it shouldn’t have been!

Frederick’s friend, Reginald, was a great supporting character and was that a little nugget thrown in about what maybe comes next? Reginald and….mystery person?!