Title: The City of Stardust

Author: Georgia Summers

The Everly family is cursed. Every generation is destined to lose their best and brightest, taken by a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never sickens, and never forgives a debt.

When her mother vanishes in the middle of the night, the curse falls on Violet Everly—unless she can break it first. To do so, she must descend into a seductive, magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And at the edges of the world, she’ll find the City of Stardust, where the Everly story began.

Violet’s family is subject to a curse and it’s now Violet who needs to be wary.

She meets Penelope and Aleksander and her Uncle’s seem to know them already – and Violet is about to find out about family secrets and a world she didn’t know existed!

It was a slow start but absolutely loved the writing, it totally drew you in.

You can expect:

~ Enemies to lovers
~ Scholars
~ Other worlds
~ Otherly beings
~ Betrayals
~ A small romance

All in all it was a magical world which I throughly enjoyed!

‘Who is he without Violet Everly?’

That ending – is that the end? Is this a standalone? If yes then this is genius! Although I’d love more Caspian!

Title: The Seven Year Slip

Author: Ashley Postin

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

I’ve found my first best book of 24!

Clementine inherits her aunts apartment but it has a secret. The secret for Clementine is Iwan and she falls and falls hard. But he exists 7 years in the past……

Oh this book was a delicious ache, how the author writes and captures grief is heartwrenchingly good and how she builds everything up to a crescendo and threads in easter eggs that left me with my jaw hanging, amazing!

Clementine and Iwan’s banter was top notch and, talking of Iwan, he’s made his way onto my bbf list – chefs are HOT!

This was a serving of second chance romance with a dash of magical realism!

Title: The Hurricane Wars

Series: Hurricane Wars #1

Author: Thea Guanzon

The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion–one that could save their world…or destroy it.

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters, sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, and richly drawn worlds, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.

Oh this was a bloomin great read!

I listened to the audio and can confirm the narrator was utterly fabulous!

Talasyn fights for the rebels in The Hurricane Wars against Alaric, the Night Emperor. But is Alaric just a puppet, and is Talasyn?

It’s a case of the light meeting the dark and fireworks ensue!

What to expect:
~ Enemies to lovers,
~ Kiss him, off him energy,
~ Off the charts segsual tension,
~ Arranged marriage,
~ Forced proximity,
~ Political intrigue,
~ Can defo see a Star Wars connection!

I was rooting for the pair all the way but there is just too many obstacles (and moral reasons!) against them to be together and actually be happy, even though they actually seem perfect for each other!

How long for book 2?!

Here’s what’s tantalising me that’s releasing in February (that I’ll probably buy!!)

Will there ever be a month where I don’t want any books?!

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey
Visions of Flesh and Blood by JLA
Prisoners Throne by Holly Black

Will you be getting any of these?

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.

Sunday again! Hope you’ve had a good week?

Another week done, still tired!!! I feel like I need a week off of everything just to sleep and relax! But I won’t get that so onwards and upwards!

This week has been work, parents evening for my son (which was good!) and, of course, housework!!!

Another good reading week for me because of audiobooks!

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New Arrivals

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

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What I’ve Read

🎧 Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 The Library of Shadows by Rachel Moore
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Look out for my reviews soon!

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You might have missed…..

Unboxing – Fairyloot Adult: December 2023
Review – The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo
Review – Emily Wildes Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Review – Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
Review – Portraits and Poison by JT Williams

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What have you read lately?

Title: Portraits and Poison

Series: Lizzie and Belle Mysteries #2

Author: JT Williams

Agents of history. Partners in Mystery. Sisters in solving crime.

Twelve-year-olds Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle are from different worlds – Lizzie lives in Westminster in her dad’s tea shop, while Belle is an heiress being brought up by her aunt and uncle at grand Kenwood House – but they both share a love of solving mysteries. And after saving Lizzie’s father from attempted murder surely there is no threat too challenging for this detective duo?

It’s the summer of 1777, the night of the grand unveiling of the Sancho-Mansfields family portrait – and a celebration of friendship, family, and freedom! But all too soon things take a dark turn – the painting has been stolen! Now it is time for Lizzie and Belle to put their sleuthing skills to the ultimate test, following a trail of thefts, kidnappings and even poisonings that haunts the twisting London streets.

With a grand conspiracy afoot, and a mysterious organisation threatening their closest friends and family, who can Lizzie and Belle trust? Once again it is up to the two girls to unveil the truth and put an end to the villainy that plagues the city.

I loved Drama and Danger so tripped back to 1777 with Lizzie and Belle!

Lizzie and Belle have a portrait commissioned but it’s stolen so the girls set off with their sleuthing skills to see whodunnit! They might also be able to help a friend.

This was another solid read from JT Williams. Like book 1 highlighted the atrocities committed against black people at this time, this book presented the difficulties that were faced and also misogyny and corruption. It felt like this book was darker and really pulled on my heartstrings.

‘People not property.’

I could read book after book with Lizzie and Belle in this time period.

Title: Ruthless Vows

Series: Letters of Enchantment #2

Author: Rebecca Ross

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.

The conclusion! I inhaled Divine Rivals so I needed (yes, needed) to read this book!

We come back 2 weeks after we left off in Divine Rivals, Roman is with Dacre with no memories and Iris is back in Oath with her brother, Forrest.

But magical typewriters to the rescue (this is such a fab plot point!)

The story then continues with the battle of the gods, war planning and the battle that Iris and Roman are also plotting!

Did I love this as much as DR? No.
But did I still enjoy it? Yes!

Do I think this could have been a larger standalone instead of 2 books?
Yes.

Do I love these characters with all my heart? Yes, yes I do!

Title: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

Series: Emily Wilde #2

Author: Heather Fawcett

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.
 
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
 
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage. Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
 
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
 
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

This book certainly did not suffer from middle book syndrome – it was totally fab!

I was so glad to be back with the grumpy/sunshine pair, Emily and Wendell and of course, Shadow! There’s also 2 new additions to the gang, Emily’s niece Ariadne and Dr Farris Rose!

Emily finds herself on another quest and this time to help Wendell and also to complete her book on the map of faeire realms but it doesn’t all go to plan!

Although historical and cozy still, I think this book was a bit darker than the first book (which I was here for!) and there was more romance – Wendell stole my heart in book 1 and he kept hold of it for this book as well!

This was such an addictive read and I especially loved the footnotes of Emily’s journal and, of course, Wendell’s contribution!

Book 3 please (and I’d love more Poe!!)

It’s not often I do a cover reveal on here, normally I just do them on Booksta and Facebook but thought I’d spread the love here too!

Valley by Stacey Mcewan

This is book 3 in The Glacian Trilogy, and it’s releasing in September!

Sneha Alexander designed the cover and it’s a beaut!

Thanks to Angryrobotbooks and Stacey Mcewan for the early peek!
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