Air Awakens by Elise Kova

Air Awakens by Elise Kova
Air Awakens #1
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A library apprentice, a sorcerer prince, and an unbreakable magic bond...

The Solaris Empire is one conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.

Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all—the Crown Prince Aldrik—she finds herself enticed into his world. Now she must decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined.

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Book Depository | Available in KU

A library, an injured prince and a sorcerer, this book had me hooked from the first chapter. I actually couldn’t put it down, why did I wait so long to read this? The writing flows so well, I really struggled with putting this one down when I had to go to work. I love the sword and sorcery setting, and the magic system and everything. I think this might become one of my new favourite series.

"Too curious for her own good, the master had always scolded. Magic was dangerous."

I love the main character Vhalla, she is a library apprentice at the palace, and while I do get Sorcery of Thorns vibes from her character, the rest of the story is totally different. She is intelligent, and very well read, although is a bit lacking in real world experience. When she finds out she is actually a sorcerer, she does not take it well, and kind of goes into denial about the whole thing.

"Are you going to be the sorcerer who could have saved lives but chose instead to be no one?"

Sparkle Witch by Helen Harper

Sparkle Witch by Helen Harper
The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic #3.5
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Snow. Santa. Snuggles... Stress.

You would think December would be Ivy's ideal time of year. After all, festivities abound and witches everywhere are encouraged to put their feet up and relax. That's not quite the case when she has various Order members attempting to finagle her into Christmas activities and a special artifact from the top of the Christmas tree goes missing. Either someone is attempting to sabotage Winter or something very strange is afoot indeed.

This is a short holiday novella.

This will be a short review, because it is a very short book. I'll admit, I was hoping for more, because I really loved the original trilogy (reviews to come soon). The series starts with Slouch Witch. This was just a bit of fun, short and sweet. It was a bit cheesy too - I guess I should have read it at Christmas time, but I figured Ivy Wilde is good any time.

"There will be mistletoe. There will be snuggles. There will not be evil witches causing curse-filled mishaps and interrupting our holiday."

Mageborn by Jessica Thorne

Mageborn by Jessica Thorne
The Hollow King #1
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A dark and addictive fantasy read for fans of Graceling and Sarah J. Maas. The life of an orphan soldier becomes entwined with that of the mysterious heir to the throne, whose very presence draws out the secret magic living inside her: a magic that breaks every law she is duty-bound to uphold…

Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn  – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.

The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.

As raging fire melts blackest ice, passion and desire quickly quiet her fear and suspicion. But with her golden mageborn light growing stronger every day, Grace must ask herself if she can really trust her former enemy… and with betrayal at every turn, will they save the mageborn and get out alive?

Thankyou to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the synopsis for this book and I was pleasantly surprised by how engrossed I got in this story, as I had never read anything by this author before. I love the main characters and the slow burn, enemies to lovers romance. There were some good side characters too, but the bad guys were pretty obvious. The magical system is cool, but also gets quite dark and gritty at times, unlike a lot of historical fantasies I’ve read.  The plot starts out as a murder mystery but it turns into so much more and I did not see it coming.

Daughter of Souls and Silence by Annie Anderson

Daughter of Souls and Silence by Annie Anderson
Rogue Ethereal #2
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

A Council full of Ethereal Elders wants me dead. Yep, it’s a regular Tuesday.
When you kill a demon there are consequences.

Centuries-old witch, tattoo artist, half-demon… none of those titles are going to save me this time. The only way I’m going to get out of my death sentence is to take down the biggest, baddest demon there is… My father.
And I thought being burned at the stake was bad...

Read my review for book 1 in this series here.

I really didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first book, which was pretty disappointing. In a lot of ways it was very similar to the first book, with lots of action, but basically the same bad guy. The main character is still really cool and if anything she gets more badass. The world development is good, with more info about different ethereals, and we learn about the magical council. I thought all of that was really cool, apart from the demons being super OP compared to witches, but if they weren’t then our MC wouldn’t be so kickass I suppose. We get to learn more about her parents’ story as well, which was kinda cool.

Woman of Blood & Bone by Annie Anderson

Woman of Blood & Bone by Annie Anderson
Rogue Ethereal #1
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was burned at the stake when I was fourteen...
I was drowned in a lake when I was twenty-four...
At twenty-seven, I was stoned in a public square...

Maxima Alcado has died a hundred times in a hundred different ways, usually at the hands of the humans she tries to save. But when this centuries-old Witch helps the wrong person, things go horribly wrong.

Max might just die in a way that sticks.

I decided to give this one a try after reading good reviews for the series from Shirley Cuypers, and the premise sounded cool. A 400 year old witch who always comes back to life when she dies. I really enjoyed reading it, especially the main character. The world seems like a fairly standard urban fantasy with a bunch of different supernaturals, called Ethereals. The story is good, and works well as an introduction to Max and a couple of her friends, although there is obviously a lot of back story we don’t know. There is occasionally POVs other than Max’s, which is kinda cool and gives you a little more info about the side characters. The book did lack a proper final proof-read though, which bothered me, but I’m quite picky with that sort of thing.

"My mother thought I was cursed or a necromancer when I woke from being burned at the stake. She didn’t even ask me. She just cast me out without a second glance. As if I was dead to her—as if I meant nothing."

TTT: Books I Enjoyed But Rarely Talk About

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly prompt post hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Thanks to Jana for organising!



When I saw this weeks prompt, books I enjoyed but rarely talk about, I immediately thought of all the smutty books I've read that I'm too embarrassed to tell anyone about. Get ready! Haha, here we go:

1. Cold Mark by Scarlett Dawn: Alien menage romance. 

2. Mated to the Beast by Grace Goodwin: Alien match-making spankfest 😅.

March Update / April Challenge

IT'S UPDATE TIME

So I haven't actually done a proper update post since I started this blog in November last year. I have done a total of 16 posts (including this one), which is much less than what I had planned to do. hmmm 🤨 I guess I'm not as organised as I thought I was. Stupid life, always getting in the way. Actually, I've been reasonably busy when I think about it; there were changes at work over summer, my partner quit his job to study so he's been home a lot more than I'm used to, we went on holiday for 3 weeks in February and when we got home the world exploded! Last month was pretty interesting and crazy, and the craziness continues. I hope everyone is doing OK during this hectic situation, and finding some time to read during your lockdown/isolation/whatever they're calling it now.

I haven't been reading much at all, which sucks! I don't think I even finished any books during March, since I have found the whole situation a bit stressful and distracting. Initially I was checking updates super regularly and not doing much of anything except for work. In the last week or so I've managed to back off from that and chill a bit more, so I did get a couple of overdue reviews written and posted on the blog for Twilight Seeker and Sorcery of Thorns. BUT - panic stations - my Goodreads challenge is telling me that I'm now 4 books behind schedule! 😫 So I really need a kick in the backside to get me into gear to sit on the couch and read more!

Enter the OWLs Magical Readathon. 

Reading Habits Book Tag

Hi everyone!

I found this book tag on Holly's blog hollylovesbooks who I follow, and I thought it looked like fun. Thanks Holly for the open tag. I've seen other book tags around the place on other blogs, but I haven't actually done one myself yet, and I hope you enjoy reading about my book habits.

So, let's get started answering some questions...

1. Do you have a special place at home for reading?

Not particularly, just on my couch with all my cushions, preferably alone so there's no distractions.

2. Bookmark or random piece of paper?

Yes. I have a few random old bookmarks around the place, but acceptable alternatives include, but are not limited to: receipts, old shopping lists, the slip that comes in the book from the library, random post-it notes from work etc. Really just anything that's within reach when I need to pause.

3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop at a chapter/ or a certain amount of pages?

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
Fantasy, YA, Standalone
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb:
All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

I actually love this book! A library full of magical, sentient grimoires guarded by sword-wielding librarians. Evil sorcerers making pacts with demons, and an MC who was “raised by booklice”. I love the world, and the magic and the characters, I just had so much fun with this book, and the story is pretty epic.

“There is always more than one way to see the world. Those who claim otherwise would have you dwell forever in the dark.”

Twilight Seeker by Pippa Dacosta

Twilight Seeker (Daybreaker #1) by Pippa Dacosta
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stay in the light, avoid locked doors, and resist silver whispers.

Meet Lynher Aris. Hostess extraordinaire. By night, she entertains the Dark Ones passing through the Night Station: vampires, demons, shifters, and worse. By day, she undermines them all, working with the resistance to unravel their enslavement of the human race.

But Lynher has a dark secret of her own, and with the imminent arrival of Ghost—a vampire overlord few have seen but all fear—she must play her role as the queen of the Night Station to perfection, keeping the resistance and her secret safe, or risk losing everything, including the powerful Night Station itself.

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Book Depository

Thank you so much to Pippa Dacosta for providing me with a copy of Twilight Seeker in exchange for an honest review!

I've been meaning to read a Dacosta book for some time, and when this shiny new gothic urban fatasy came along, I couldn't resist jumping right in! It's been a while since I read a good vampire book, and this one really hit the spot! It initially reminded me a bit of the Innkeeper Chronicles, but the Night Station is darker and more dangerous.

"I’d been the Night Station’s hostess for almost two years, and every night I learned I’d never be ready. All anyone could do was hope dawn came quickly."