Tag: fantasy

ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books5 Comments on Book Review: Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne
Book Review: Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne

Like many people out there, I am a massive Disney fan. I adore many of the films with my entire being, and Mulan is one of them. The idea of this series is one that really appeals to me. Getting to see some of the Disney ‘princesses’ as Queens? Hell yeah! The first book – Rebel Rose – was a Beauty and the Beast sequel, and it just did not work for me. That did lead to me being a little concerned about how this book would read. Turns out I had no reason to be. I’d read Livia Blackburne before, so I knew this would at least be well-written, but it was perfect.

Set several years after the end of the first film, this book introduces us to a Mulan who has been training and leading a female militia in her home village. One day Shang stops by to ask her to come with him back to the Imperial City as the Emperor wishes to see her. As the series is the Queen’s Council, you can guess what the Emperor wishes from her and some of the struggles that are to come.

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Adult, anticipated releases, books, Young Adult

Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of Early 2022

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books6 Comments on Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of Early 2022
Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of Early 2022

We’re getting to the end of the year, and finally, I can start talking about the books I want to read next year. This post is a mix of books I have ARCs of and ones I’ve preordered. I’d usually prefer to focus on books that I haven’t yet ordered, but I’ve apparently gone on a bit of a requesting/preordering spree for the beginning of the year. Ooops? I will be doing a second anticipated releases post for contemporary and romance books, and a few of those I haven’t ordered yet. But for this post, at least, I can say for certain that I’ll own all these books before the end of May.

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Adult, ARC, blog tour, books, Review

Blog Tour: King of Battle And Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Blog Tour: King of Battle And Blood by Scarlett St. Clair
Blog Tour: King of Battle And Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

I’m not exactly someone known for reading a lot of smutty romance, but when a book sounds this good. I can’t resist. I knew what I was in for when I picked this book up, and I was excited for it anyway. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of this book thanks to the very lovely team at Black Crow PR and this tour has been put together by Random Things Tours. A big thank you to the both of them.

King of Battle and Blood is an adult fantasy romance. It follows a princess called Isolde, who when her country is entered by the vampire King, Adrian, agrees to be his wife for the sake of ending the upcoming war. She assumes she’ll fear him, but soon she’s more scared of how attracted she is to him and her growing understanding of the vampires than she is anything else.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker
Book Review: The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker

I think you all know how obsessed I am with Japan and Japanese culture by now. Though a lot of that interest is pop-culture focused, I’m both a history geek and a myth & legend fanatic at heart, so there are other areas I’m interested in too. This interest and my love of YA books meant that The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker was a must-read for me, and I was lucky enough to get an ARC through Harper360’s newsletter. I’m super grateful for this one, even if I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I hoped.

This book follows Ren, a half-Shinigami half-Reaper girl who has been living in 1890’s London her whole life. She was bullied for being different, and the only person who really cares for her is her younger half-brother, Neven. One day she injures another Reaper with her shinigami powers and has to go on the run. She heads to Japan with only her brother for company, desperate to become a Shinigami.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Fall of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

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Book Review: Fall of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

I said I was reviewing the first in the duology in preparation for reviewing this one, and I’ve finally gotten around to it! I adored this book so much, and I’m so honoured that I was able to participate in the bookstagram tour for this one. You can find my post and mini-review here.

Set months after the first book, Ferius has been living with Durrall and Enna. She was learning the way of the Argosi, but after making a mistake, she ran away. Now she’s stumbled upon a mysterious curse known as the Red Scream. With the help of an Argosi her own age called Rosie, she tries to hunt down the person spreading it.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
Book Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

This is honestly one of the most beautiful books out this year. The cover is stunning and is the main reason that I was interested in this book. The plot did interest me too, but this was total cover love.

Skin of the Sea follows Simidele, who is one of the Mami Wata. She’s a mermaid who harvests the souls of black people who die in the ocean thanks to slavers. One day she comes upon a boy who is still alive, so she rescues him. She didn’t know it was against the rules and had to go on a journey with him to make amends for her mistake.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

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Book Review: Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

I’ve never read Jane Eyre before, but the moment I stumbled across Within These Wicked Walls, I knew I had to read it. This is a YA historical fantasy retelling of the famous novel set in Ethiopia. It’s fascinating, atmospheric and everything that I could hope for. But even I noticed that aside from a name and a fire, there wasn’t very much of Jane Eyre in it.

Within These Wicked Walls follows Andromeda, a debtera – or exorcist – who creates amulets to rid people of the Evil Eye. Her mentor had kicked her out so now she’s on the look for a patron, and Magnus Rochester is the only one who’s offering. His house is cursed and more dangerous than she expected, but as they slowly fall in love, she knows she would do anything to free him.

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books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Way of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Way of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell
Book Review: Way of the Argosi by Sebastien De Castell

It’s rare for me to review a book on here that I bought for myself. But I have a reason for posting a review for this one…that being that I’m on an Instagram tour for the second book! I’m very excited to get my copy and give it a read, and so I finally got my ass into gear and read this one! It had been in a few TBR piles, but when I had to cut the pile down for various reasons…it kept being the book I removed.

So this is the first book in a prequel duology to De Castell’s Spellslinger series. It follows Ferius, the Argosi mentor from the original books as a child, as she finds her way. Her goal is to hunt down and kill the mages who killed her family, but on her journey, she meets an Argosi wanderer called Durrall, who tries to teach her their ways.

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ARC, books, middlegrade, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: A Hunter’s Moon by Danny Weston

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Book Review: A Hunter’s Moon by Danny Weston

Every now and then, I get offered a book that I just can’t say no to. When I was contacted about a dark and creepy book where the main character is hunting a fae creature? Yeah, I had to have it. Thanks very much to Graeme for getting in contact and getting a copy in my hands.

Callum is Apprentice to Fraser McCloud, a man who likes to boast about his shooting skills. When the pair are hired to hunt a wolf that the locals claim is a Cù Sith, he doesn’t know if it’s safe. He can’t leave, and things will get worse before they get better.

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ARC, books, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger BooksLeave a Comment on Book Review: Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan
Book Review: Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan

This was just one of those books that sounded so good. That I knew I wanted to read it from the moment that I heard about it. Jade Fire Gold is a Chinese inspired fantasy novel by a Singaporean author who grew up on Wuxia films and classic lit. It’s no surprise that she wound up gifting us with an English Xianxia novel.

Ahn has no family but magic that she doesn’t trust. Altan is the lost heir, determined for revenge. When the two of them meet, their lives are intertwined, and they realise that they may have to pay a deadly price for what they want. Even if what they want winds up being the same thing.

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