Tag: fantasy

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Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Oh, that joyous feeling when one of your most anticipated books of the year turns out to be one of your favourites. Yep, I’m getting it out of the way early that Kingdom of the Wicked was one of the best books I’ve read this year and one you guys should all pick up soon!

This is the first book in a new series following Emilia, a streghe – or witch – who after discovering the body of her twin sister, vows to find her sister’s killer and to get revenge. But doing so involves using the kinds of dark magic her Nonna warned her against and when she summons one of the Wicked, Wrath, a Prince of Hell she winds up discovering her sister was involved in a web that was a lot more dangerous and complicated then she’d ever have expected.

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Book Review: Brambles by Intisar Khanani

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Book Review: Brambles by Intisar Khanani

I’ve not really talked about Thorn on here but it was a retelling of The Goose Girl that I read earlier this year and really enjoyed. I loved the way Intisar Khanani took the original fairytale and transformed it. It was such an enjoyable story to read that when I saw this short story on NetGalley I really wanted to get it. And I’m glad I did as it really took me no time at all but was a welcome burst of fantasy.

So this story tells us what happened when Alyrra revealed that Valka had stolen something rather than risk a servant getting hurt for her lies. It was something that was talked about in the original book but this prequel shows you the true extent to what happens and what Alyrra’s life was like before this.

Because this is a short story it is difficult to talk much about it as anything I say could be spoilers. And I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler free as much as I can so here goes!

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Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire
Book Review: Ironspark by C.M McGuire

If you know me then you know I love queer genre books. Especially of the YA variety. And that I’m also fascinated by the fae. So when C.M McGuire reached out to me asking me to check out her book? Well, I obviously had to.

This book follows Bryn, a teenage girl who has been training to fight the fae in the hope of protecting her family. When she was younger her mum was taken by the fae and now years after she thought she’d escaped the Unseelie court they’re back. With new friends Dom and Jaskia in tow they have to try to stop the fae before it’s too late.

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Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books1 Comment on Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

It’s that time of the week again and I have a book that’s coming out fairly soon that I really want to talk about. It’s a book I’m definitely hoping to get before the end of the year but one I haven’t really heard anyone talking about. Which seems weird to me as it looks queer and awesome and maybe I’ve just missed the chat or something

Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald.

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Book Review: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books2 Comments on Book Review: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

So, I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m not a Romeo and Juliet fan. It’s one of my least favourite Shakespeare plays and I’m happy to be salty about it. But the moment I heard about These Violent Delights, I was curious. And the moment I started it, I was hooked.

As you might have gathered already These Violent Delights is a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920’s Shanghai. It follows Juliette, the Scarlet gang heir and Roma, the heir of the White Flowers. Juliette is Chinese but spent most of her childhood in the US and Roma is Russian but spent his whole life in the city. When a monster seems to be spreading madness across the city they wind up tangled in each other’s lives again as they try to stop the monster.

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Book Review: Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

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Book Review: Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

Holy wow. Star Daughter has been one of my most anticipated books for 2020 and I was desperate to get my hands on a copy. So when I saw it was available to request in the Harper360 Blogger Newsletter? I obviously requested it, but didn’t have much hope that I’d be lucky enough to get a copy. And then I was and I was so damn excited.

Now I’ve read it I’m still so damn excited about this book.

This book follows Sheetal, a half-human and half-star girl who was raised in New Jersey by her human dad without much clue as to how being a half-star affects her. One day her father gets burned by starlight and the only way for her to heal him would be to get the blood of a star. This sends her on a journey into the celestial court to find her mum and there she winds up entering a tournament for the sake of her family and to earn the blood for her dad.

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Book Review: Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody

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Book Review: Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody

I was so damn hyped for this book. Though I only really enjoyed the first half of the second book, I knew my fave was back and was excited to see what would happen this time. The moment I was able to request it on NetGalley I did and I started reading it the day I was granted it.

However…

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would.

Queen of Volts is the final book in the Shadow Game trilogy. We follow Enne, Levi, Lola and Sophia once again as they try to figure out Bryce’s new game with a new narrator in Harvey.

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Book Review: All The Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

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Book Review: All The Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

This is a book you might have heard of as an OwlCrate book before and a much earlier US release. But it was a book I was so excited to read so the moment I saw it was available on NetGalley…

I obviously requested it and I was so lucky to get it.

The book follows Amora, a princess who after a poor display of her soul magic during a ceremony, decided she needed to travel with a pirate to do something to prove that she still deserves to be Queen. This is a book with a smallish cast that grows with the book but there’s princesses, pirates, rebels and mermaids. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?

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Blog Tour: A Noble’s Path by I.L Cruz

by Rosina @ Lace and Dagger Books5 Comments on Blog Tour: A Noble’s Path by I.L Cruz
Blog Tour: A Noble’s Path by I.L Cruz

The Enchanted Isles series is bound to be one you’ve never heard of. It’s an indie series written by an author called I.L Cruz. It’s a YA fantasy series that focuses on a girl called Inez. She’s noble born but chooses to make a living as a smuggler to help out a rebel cause. Sounds interesting, right?

A Smuggler’s Path is the first book but the second book is out now and is called A Noble’s Path. And it’s definitely a good time to start the series.

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Review: Shadow and Flame by Mindee Arnett

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Review: Shadow and Flame by Mindee Arnett

Why didn’t I know about Harper360’s blogger emails sooner? Seriously. I signed up for them after hearing about the hardback email and was so excited when the paperback one reached my inbox. Obviously I requested a few things but the one book I got was a sequel: Shadow and Flame by Mindee Arnett.

This is a book that has a gorgeous cover, an interesting sounding plot and is the conclusion in a duology. The first book is Onyx and Ivory which you can get in e-book, paperback and hardback now.

Shadow and Flame is set months after the events of the first book. The wilders have their own city and council but Kate has changed. This book starts you in the thick of it before skipping ahead and the losses she faces in between mean she’s harder and no longer so trusting. But she still wants to do good for the wilders.

I won’t lie; as fascinating as the world building in these books is I didn’t hugely care for this book. Mindee Arnett has this skill with writing worlds and characters. She weaves them in this way that allows you to hear their voices and clearly visualize but I still just…didn’t care. Which is a shame as I was really excited for this book.

But I’m also not having much luck with liking sequels recently.

This duology is interesting though and if you like series where you clearly see the effects of war on the characters then this is definitely one for you.

2/5 stars