Title: Bloodmarked

Series: Legendborn #2

Author: Tracy Deonn

The shadows have risen, and the line is law.

All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new:

A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion.

But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped.

Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected.

When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death.

If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

Legendborn was one of my best reads of 2020 and I didn’t think anything would be as good as that. Massive props to this author as she is a genius!

The next installment and we’re back with Bree, Nick, Sel and some old faves and a lot of new!

Bree goes through so much in this book! It was full of drama and action, completely filled to the brim with it. It made me breathless!!!!

This book is large but I couldn’t actually put it down! But one thing got on my nerves quite a bit….Bree. I know she’s learning but gawd, she is so reckless and just doesn’t think!

And the parts I lived for?! Sel. Selwyn Kane. I love him so much. Sigh. Nick who?!

But that ending? Is there a book 3? There must be!

Title: The Thorns Remain

Author: JJA Harwood

A dance with the fae will change everything.

1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The fae are here.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away. The iron medal of her lost love, pinned to her dress, protected her from magic.

For the Fae feel forgotten too. Lead by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer one spends with the Fae, the less like themselves they are upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltine, they will be lost forever…

‘I am lord of the Land Under the Hill and I shall take what the children of men have denied me. I shall have my tribute.’

I love a historical fantasy, I love the Fae and I love a Scottish based book (it’s so magical there!) It was like I was transported to Scotland in 1919, so lush and atmospheric.

People were strong back then. All the work they had to do just to survive. I wouldn’t have been able to do it. Maybe that’s how mankind has gone wrong?

Anyway……we have Moira Jean. Her and her friends cut loose for the night and go drinking…but they aren’t alone. The Folk have arrived and with it, their Lord. When everyone goes missing apart from Moira Jean, she has to piece back together what has happened and take action!

Here’s some notes I took of my thoughts and feelings – apologies, there’s a few but really these are reasons why you should read this!

~ the time period,
~ reading about life then,
~ the descriptions of Brudonnock,
~ Moira Jean, her grief made me so sad but she was so strong,
~ Angus, how I wished he had been there,
~ Mrs Iverach, gawd love her,
~ The Dreamer, how he wanted to learn (and he needed to learn humility!)
~ The glaistig (baby moo, IYKYK!)

Wow, for me that was a long one. To get a long review out of me is a miracle. So you need to read this to experience it too!

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: Love/Valentine’s Day Freebie

Ooo I do love a freebie but I do find it hard to come up with a subject…..but I’ve chosen my favourite romances as it’s Valentines day!

Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley
Rock Chicks by Kristen Ashley
Cash’s Fight by Jamie Begley
The Three Series by Kristen Ashley
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Fear Me by BB Reid
Untouchable by Sam Mariano
Sinners MC by Bella Jewel
Hook, Line and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

What would you have picked?

Happy Valentines Day to all you book lovers!

Tuesday is here and so is Valentines Day!

Hope you have all your book boyfriends close to hand so you can hug them!

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

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?

It’s been a normal type of week! School has now broken up until the 20th Feb but I still have to work (boo!) so I’ve told my son that we’ll do something together on Wednesday on my day off (and I’m hoping whatever he chooses won’t be too expensive!!!!)

We had a pneumococcal vaccine on Friday for the first time and I woke up Saturday feeling ok…..but then had the shivers all afternoon and ok today so I call that a win!!!

I’ve had a really good reading week with a new release, an arc and a tbr book read!

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What I’ve Read

Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 Dead Romantics by Ashley Postin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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New arrivals

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

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You might have missed…..

Review – One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
Review – A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Review – Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
Unboxing – Fairyloot YA January 2023
Feature – Books I want releasing March

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What have you read lately?

So March is the month I am going for it and am going to try and read 10, yes 10, books off my tbr as my tbr shelf no longer has any room left!

But I am going to get these books to fill it up again 🤣 I’ve actually read 1 of them as an arc but it was so good that I want a physical copy!!!!

Kingdom of Venom and Vows by Holly Renee
What Lurks Between the Fates by Harper L Woods
A Witches Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

What books are you looking forward to that are releasing soon?

January YA theme – Hidden Worlds!

Have you ever wondered what secrets the world is hiding? It’s time to uncover them… This box is dedicated to our favourite fictional worlds and the secrets hidden within them.

🖤 Book of Secrets designed by @chattynora
🖤 Hair Scrunchie designed by @blanca.design
🖤 Qadir Pin designed by @no0nedesigns inspired by The Stardust Thief
🖤 Sleep Mask designed by @blanca.design inspired by the book of the month
🖤 Tarot Cards – Jack and Evangeline illustrated by @arz28

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

Exclusive cover
Digital sprayed edges
Endpaper art by @merwildandco
Reversible dust jacket by @merwildandco
Hardcover foil by @blanca.design
Signed

Title: Spells for Forgetting

Author: Adrienne Young

A deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.

Emery Blackwood’s life changed forever the night her best friend was found dead and the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her. Years later, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence on the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and running the family’s business, Blackwood’s Tea Shoppe Herbal Tonics & Tea Leaf Readings.

But when the island, rooted in folklore and magic, begins to show signs of strange happenings, Emery knows that something is coming. The morning she wakes to find that every single tree on Saoirse has turned color in a single night, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that the town has tried desperately to forget.

August knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night everything changed. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from his past that has never healed—Emery.

The town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises spanning generations threaten to reveal the truth behind Lily’s mysterious death once and for all.

‘The island always calls you back.’

A masterpiece.
Yes I said it!

Well this was a fab read! I didn’t want to put it down and was so sad when it was over!

Emery and August.
Saiorse.
The orchard.
All linked.

August comes back to Saiorse, a small eerie island where he grew up and left on bad terms to sort some unfinished business. Emery, his ex is still on the island.

It was eerie, spooky, atmospheric and full of old traditions and island folklore.

Hands down this is my fave book of this authors (and that’s saying something because Fable was my absolute fave!)

Title: A Man Called Ove

Author: Fredrik Backman

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Oh this book. This book. This was something I didn’t know I needed!

I love Ove, I think I’m a Parvaneh type of person and would’ve been exactly the same as her towards Ove but I am incredibly sad for him, not that he’d want me to be, he wouldn’t care what I thought!  

Ove’s wife, Sonja, is a 1st class woman. Someone I would love to meet. Her and Ove are literally chalk and cheese….but it worked and it worked well.

‘People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was colour. All the colour he had.’

The morning check, the cat, the snow shovelling, the Saab love, the Residents Association, the relationships, the love that spilled from these pages. I absolutely loved every word, every sentence, every paragraph and every chapter.

I don’t cry at books but did have a little tear at the end of this because it was heartbreaking and so, so heartwarming.