FaRoDays – 4

MALLORY DUNLIN

The Gardener and the Water-horse

Fleeing a dangerous wizard, Safira takes a job at a remote, sorcerous Spire in the center of a water-horse’s lake. She expects to be alone, but the elemental creature strikes a bargain with her: he’ll water her garden if she’ll talk to him.  He’s beautiful, naive, and hungry for companionship—but behind those ice-blue eyes is a merciless immortal. To touch a water-horse is to become his possession. If she lets herself follow the forbidden lure of his voice, not even a sorcerer can save her.   He says all he wants is the sound of her voice. The stories tell a different tale. Words won’t ever be enough.  And one way or another, he’ll have her.

Heat Level: Hot **

FaRoDays – 3

S.A. HEIDEN

The Bowyer’s Baker

Hugh Baum is tasked to get approval from the Kingdom to expand the Baum Bowyer business, but the magistrate in charge holds a 50 year grudge against the Fae. Hugh could have found a way to work around it, but when Lisette, the beautiful and fierce baker comes to town, both males are distracted by her presence. The rivalry between Hugh and Acworth intesifies as Lisette tries to dodge their advances and establish her family bakery. She has no interest in a courtship and is having a hard enough time keeping the business afloat. Unfortunately, Magistrate Acworth is a cruel and corrupt Fae, and when his sights are set on Lisette, only trouble ensues.

Heat Level: Smoldering **

FaRoDays – 2

VELA ROTH

Blood Dance

Phoebe, a widow in her thirties, feels like a princess every time fanged, immortal Alethas spirits her out of her father’s castle for dances under the full moon. After years of making sacrifices for her eleven sisters, she’s tempted to let him fulfill all her secret desires. But loving him could get her killled.

Heat Level: Scorching ****

FaRoDays – 1

In order to be a bit spoiler-free for anyone else who may be participating in FaRoFeB I’ve decided to post these one day later than the books are received. For anyone unfamiliar with the event, it’s a fantasy romance book give away done in December, much like an advent calendar. It used to take place in February, hence the ‘feb’ at the end, but now there’s lots of different events for FaRo lovers, all year long. It’s a great way to check out new authors and find some hidden gem reads – if you’re into fantasy romance, at least.

The first book of the giveaway is How to Marry a Winged King, by A. J. Lancaster, which is a Cinderella retelling. I’m in the middle of reading something else right now and I tend to only read one book at a time (and one audio book at a time) but we’ll see where this one ends up in my TBR pile. Have you read it before? Let me know in comments! Keep in mind that this is a judgement free zone, it does not matter what people choose to read, so long as they’re reading.

I Joined a Book Club – and I LOVE It

It started out small, like most ideas. Jaedia (good friend who I adore) was talking about setting up a reading journal for 2025 – and I loved that idea. I’ve had lots of journals before, but never a reading journal. Why not start one. So I started browsing YouTube for spread ideas. That’s where I found JashiiCorrin. I watched a few of her videos and then before I knew it, I joined her reading club discord – the BBBC (Bujo Buddies Book Club). There, they have a monthly book club that works much as you would expect any book club to, along with reading buddies and other book related chatter.

I lucked out, because their next meet up was only a few days away, and it was a book that I had already read last month, The Spellshop, by Sarah Beth Durst. Even though I’m pretty shy, I wanted to throw myself into this community so that’s exactly what I did. The club meeting started, and they had it set so that you could either talk (I didn’t have a microphone set up yet) or you could type in the channel, and participate that way – if you just wanted to lurk, that was perfectly fine, too.

Normally when I read a book I might delve into the review section on goodreads, or I might see something about it posted to tiktok or instagram, but here were 35 people discussing their opinions in such an open and frank matter – I loved every second of it. I loved seeing how people interpreted things, and while the discussion did tend to slant to a very harsh review of the book, most people did finish reading / listening to it and almost everyone agreed that while it was not an earth shattering piece of literary writing, it was an overall good book that they did enjoy. We also learned how voting for the next books would take place in the new year, and we were presented with a theme to then make book suggestions from. The theme for January is book covers that have bones and flowers on it. I decided to recommend The Bone Orchard, by Sara A. Mueller. Two books will be chosen, and then we’ll vote on them around mid-December. I’m excited to see how that goes!

Over all, it was just a really good time hanging out with people who love books. It was something I’ve never really participated in before, and I’m already looking forward to the December meet up even though the book is one that I’m a little less enthusiastic about (I believe it falls under a self help / productivity category, which is not exactly my genre of choice – but I’ll still read it). Do you belong to a book club? Do you enjoy it? Let me know in comments, and who knows, maybe I’ll find myself in another club or two over the months, we’ll just have to see.

24 in 2024 Reading Challenge – Completed

It’s not quite the end of the year yet, but I managed to finish my reading goal: 24 books in 2024. I read some incredible books and I don’t plan on stopping there, I’ll continue to read and see how many more I can add to the list before 2025.

Some of my absolute favourites include The Saint of Steel series by T. Kingfisher (so happy I found this author, I love many of her books, and read a lot of them this year), and The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. I was happy to see a fair amount of diversity in my readings, and while I did stick to a lot of my usual fantasy/romantacy genres, there’s some other genres tossed in too. I’m excited to start up the 25 in 2025 reading challenge and hopefully I am a bit better about writing reviews and other book-related posts here.

3/5 stars: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher

This was my second book by T. Kingfisher – and I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t absolutely blown away by it like I have with some of her works. It tells the story of fourteen-year-old Mona, who has a magical gift of – bread. She can make gingerbread men rise, and her familiar is a sourdough starter which I found hilarious. I think in the case of this book, I was simply not the target. The book was written for a younger audience, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I didn’t particularly like how Mona went and solved her issues, either. Things start off as a murder mystery but quickly develops into a coming-of-age story – and again, nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t what I was looking for.

There are some young adult books I can read and forget that it was ever written with an audience in mind, and unfortunately this was not one of those books, for me. Still, it was a fun magic system and brought some unique features, so if you’re looking for something easy to read and quite cozy despite the murder happening, this might be a read you’ll want to look into.

3/5 stars

3/5 Stars: The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek

A very interesting book that had a lot of informational facts that I didn’t know. Alex Trebek led a fascinating life, and I loved the ‘just an ordinary man’ perspective that the book came from, but, while reading I personally found a lack of flow. It read like a book of disjointed facts that were about the same person but didn’t really fit together. Each chapter was a ‘fact’ and some were explained in great detail and others left me wondering. The first half of the book read much different than the later half when he started talking about his career. It was probably on purpose, it almost felt like he was uncomfortable talking about himself (he states numerous times that the game should never be about the host) and he spends a lot of time paying homage to the wonderful contestants he had over the years.

I feel like that could have probably been an entire book all in itself, and not in his autobiography where I was there to read about him. Still, the book was an enjoyable quick read and my first Canadian autobiography.

3/5 Stars

4.5/5 Stars: Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Normally I take a bit of a break between series books, but I enjoyed the 1st book to the Blood and Ash series so much, that I immediately jumped into Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. Poppy has found out that everything in her life was a lie, including her love interest, Casteel Da’Neer.

Watching Poppy come to terms with all of the lies she has been told was a fantastic moment spread throughout the book, and showed her growth from the first book. She’s strong, brave, and doesn’t back down from what she believes in. I’ve finally found a character I can appreciate. I also have my moments of annoyance with Poppy. She repeats herself (and her thoughts) a lot, and portions of the book were a slow read. It built up though, and the final quarter was amazing and over before I knew it.

Kieran is probably one of my favourite characters, despite his smaller role. The bond he has with Casteel and his friendship with Poppy is beautifully written. I’m expecting more of this in the third book – the author is very obviously building up to a threesome, I’m just not sure when it’s going to happen.

Keep in mind all of the triggers from the first book, because those haven’t gone anywhere. There’s a lot of violence, a lot of sex, and a lot of everything mixed together. I’m OK with it but you might not be, and that’s OK too.

4.5/5 stars

4/5 Star Review: From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I’m not typically a fan of vampire stories, but the beautifully crafted world created by Jennifer L. Armentrout in this book was definitely worth exploring. That being said, a fair warning: this book deals with some intense themes and graphic scenes. It’s not for the faint of heart, and I appreciated the heads-up from a friend who recommended it to me. Knowing what to expect helped me prepare for some of the darker moments.

The story revolves around Poppy, who longs to experience life but has been raised as the Maiden, a sacred figure forbidden from engaging in much of anything. She spends her days waiting for her Ascension, a mysterious process, until Hawke enters her life and turns everything upside down. The book has a bit of everything—action, violence, passion, romance, friendship, and betrayal.

Initially, I didn’t really like Poppy’s character. She seemed weak, and I struggled to connect with her. However, as the story progresses, Poppy begins to grow and take control of her life. She slowly starts to question the truths she’s been told all her life, and watching her come into her own was satisfying.

The story begins at a slow pace, and I nearly put the book down. However, I’m glad I stuck with it because once the plot picks up, it becomes an engaging read filled with fantastic characters and a richly developed world. I’m now eager to pick up the next book in the series!

4/5 stars