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: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023
I have a list and can confirm there are way more than 10! But I’ll save you and just list 10!!!
Lightstruck by Sunya Mara Soul of Ash by JLA Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood Cursed Light by Emily Thiede Foxglove by Adalyn Grace
The Cursed by Harper L Woods Cage of Dreams by Rebecca Schaeffer Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig Defiant by Brandon Sanderson
There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.
Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?
But nothing with fairies is ever simple.
Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…
A loosely based Sleeping Beauty retelling, but oh so different!
And oh so good!
Toadling is stolen from the human world and lives in Faerie but is called upon to try and help right a wrong….but it doesn’t go exactly to plan! Years later a Knight comes knocking at the door and Toadlings tale unfolds!
This is a brilliant short story with some great themes, messages and basically found family….
‘She was theirs; they were hers . The love of monsters was uncomplicated.’
This book is a first for me from this author and now certainly won’t be the last but I do wonder if there will be more in this world?! I’d love that!
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?
The weather is still too hot here for me although we did have reprieve for 1 day as it rained! The heat is making me sleepy!!!
I had a really good reading week! First I flew through a readalong book, was hooked! Instead of reading it in 8 days, I read in 3 (😲) and then I picked up another beaut and read all 665 pages in 3 days!
What I’ve Read
The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New arrivals
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey (Thanks again Tessa!)
You might have missed…..
Review – Ruling Destiny by Alyson Noel Review – Seven Exes by Lucy Vine Review – Gothikana by Runyx Review – The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten
When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.
Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.
Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.
But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.
A Hannah Whitten book? Yes please!
This book has:
~ A fantastic cover, ~ Death magic, ~ Corrupted political characters, ~ Religious nuts, ~ Romance, ~ Action, ~ Secrets aplenty!
This book also has:
~ Lore, who was an amazing leading lady, ~ Gabe, a warrior monk who sticks to the rules (and I wanted to shake him whilst telling him I loved him!!) ~ Bastien, the playboy Prince who has a serious and maybe dark side.
If there is one thing I despise, it’s a love triangle but I’m getting the feeling here that there won’t be…..maybe a throuple? (here’s hoping)!
An unusual girl. An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?
An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an olden, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.
An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his paths cross with Corvina, she’s dangerous to everything that he is.
They shouldn’t have caught each other’s eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years for over a hundred years, and Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.
And so begins a tale of the mystique, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.
‘For as long as this madness ensues.’
Fabulous! This book got me out my slump so I’ll be eternally grateful!
Corvina Clemm has had an unconventional, sheltered, unusual life so far so when she receives an invitation to study at Verenmore University, she goes for it. In the eerie, spooky castle she starts afresh, makes friends…..and makes something more than friends!
I inhaled this book! It had the fab gothic vibes of dark academia, it had suspense, steam and was totally mysterious, I was hanging on every word!
Just need to mention the morally grey Vad! Delish with a capital D!
I’m off to find some fan art and look for the next book!
A delightful rom-com about a woman who decides to revisit each of her seven exes, convinced that one of them is “the one who got away.” Seven Exes. Seven Missed Chances. Who was the one who got away? Esther is nearing thirty, with a great job and a flat she shares with her two best friends, Bibi and Louise. But her life is missing that special someone. Tired of being single and sick of bad date after bad date, she thinks she’s found the answer to her romance problem in an old women’s magazine. According to the magazine’s dating column, there are seven archetypes a woman will date before finding Mr. Right. It all seems silly at first, until Esther realizes she has exactly seven exes that match the The First Love, The Work Mistake, The Overlap, The Friend with Benefits, The Missed Chance, The Bastard, and The Serious One. Is it so hard to believe that perhaps one of them is The One? Deciding she must have left her true love in the reject pile, Esther contacts each of her old boyfriends. But finding her soulmate isn’t as simple as she hoped it would be. Madness, mayhem, laughs, and tears ensue as she valiantly works her way through her past love life and faces up to her previous mistakes. It’s an odyssey of the heart that will teach her a lot about herself . . . and just might lead her to the man of her dreams.
Ever wonder about the ‘one that got away’?!
Esther does…….
One drunken night, Esther comes across a Cosmour magazine on seven exes and how one of these is the one that got away….The First Love, The Work Mistake, The Friend with Benefits, The Overlap, The Missed Chance, The Bastard and The Serious One.
What comes next is a hilarious story, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes inappropriate, walk down memory lane in the quest to find the one!
But who she chooses will surprise you! And I couldn’t be happier!
You need this one for a summer read…..but it will make you laugh in public!
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 on My Summer 2023 to-Read List
I don’t really make a tbr because I’m a terrible mood reader but I have some arcs to read so these are my summer reading list!
Ledge by Stacey Mcewan Chasm by Stacey Mcewan Ravensong by TJ Klune The Lightstruck by Sunya Mara Never a Hero by Vanessa Len
Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim Alone in Ether by Olivie Blake Mindbreaker by Kate Dylan Paris by Paris Hilton Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
The second I stepped through the doors of Gray Wolf Academy, my world disintegrated. Here, time is malleable. It can be manipulated, shifted. Changed. And for those of us who Trip—or travel through time—the possibilities are infinite and perilous.
Now my life is caught in the secrets of everyone around me. Arthur, the eccentric billionaire who rules this school. Killian, who could be the only honest person here…or the biggest liar. And Braxton, magnetic, gorgeous, and unfathomable. The only thing I trust about him is our electric connection.
Whether we’re Tripping through Renaissance Italy or thieving from a ball in Regency England, my life’s become a web of lies and strange truths. And beneath the surface is an elaborate puzzle, filled with cryptic symbols and priceless treasures scattered across history—all somehow connected to my strange ability to see through time.
But Arthur has a dangerously ambitious agenda. And if what my dad taught me is true, I’m not just a threat to everyone at Gray Wolf.
…I’m a threat to time itself.
Back at Gray Wolf Academy!
And it was fabulous!
Natasha, Braxton, Killian and co are on the slippery slope of lies, deceit and there are secrets at every angle – who to trust?!
The above was delivered flawlessly and I ate up every moment! Braxton forevs!!!!
If you are thinking of reading this series then I urge you to because it is a gem!
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?
What a week. It was so hot here, so disgustingly muggy and humid! I spent the week under my fan googling how much air conditioning costs (it’s a lot!!)
Today is Fathers Day in the UK so we saw my Dad (and we had food to celebrate last night!) but apart from work and school, that’s all we’ve done this week!
What I’ve Read
Seven Exes by Lucy Vine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Cursed Crowns by Katherine Weber ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New arrivals
Nothing = woohoo!
You might have missed…..
Review – Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood Review – The Maid by Nita Prose Review – Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas Unboxing – Fairyloot YA: May 2023
CJRTB Books 