en-US Thu, 10 Apr 2025 13:30:18 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 6345999 385 Tsugumi Ohba 3867196710 Lel 0 currently-reading 4.50 2003
author: Tsugumi Ohba
name: Lel
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 56058372
It’s the day of his ex-wife’s wedding when Dan makes the winding mountain journey to a remote cabin for an escape from the life that another man has stepped into.

Less than 48 hours into his reprieve, the forest tranquility is shattered when he looks through a telescope and witnesses the violent abduction of a young woman.

Dan springs into action, but there’s no evidence of an abduction nor reports of a missing woman.

That is, until Dan sees the missing person’s poster for Ivy Trent.

He’s sure it’s the woman he saw get kidnapped just days before. There's only one problem. Ivy disappeared ten years ago.

If you’re searching for a paranormal thriller that you’ll be reading with the lights on, grab Troubled Spirits today-the first in a series of stand-alone haunted mysteries inspired by true stories.]]> 256 J.R. Erickson Lel 3 4.23 2021
author: J.R. Erickson
name: Lel
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 134119076 When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.]]> 370 Heather Fawcett 0593500202 Lel 3 4.28 2024
author: Heather Fawcett
name: Lel
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/10
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 221437654 Each time the globe turns, murder strikes��

1597, London. When Beatrice’s husband returns from exploring the New World, he comes home with unexpected a mysterious woman, and an enormous painted globe.

As Hugh refuses to explain who their female guest is, Beatrice’s foreboding grows. The unwieldy globe now strikes her as sinister �� a reminder of the world of secrets pervading her household.

Then one night, the great, hulking globe begins to turn of its own accord. Terrifying new illustrations appear on its face �� and when untimely deaths ensue, Beatrice is convinced that the drawings are connected.

Desperate to prove that she is not paranoid, Beatrice risks everything to uncover the truth. What sinister force is behind these killings? What really happened on Hugh’s excursion to the Americas? Who is the strange woman who won’t leave her house? And on this otherworldly map of murders, who will be painted as the final victim?

***

‘Deliciously gothic and twisty�� LUCY ROSE

‘Will make your head spin�� ANNIE GARTHWAITE]]> 384 Naomi Kelsey 0008534810 Lel 0 to-read 4.17
author: Naomi Kelsey
name: Lel
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6050678
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.]]> 440 Scott Westerfeld 1416971734 Lel 0 to-read 3.92 2009
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: Lel
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 122788040
Adam Binder has the Sight. It's a power that runs in his the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam's life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father's rage.

Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby's wife.

It isn't long before Adam becomes the spirit's next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings ... including his first love.]]> 322 David R. Slayton 1094069191 Lel 3 4.22 2020
author: David R. Slayton
name: Lel
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> 218405601 He was striking in a cold-blooded kind of way, like his beauty was tinged with poison. Unassuming, alluring even.

I brought my eyes up to meet his.

"Fia Riftborne?" The words dripped from his lips like blood from a dagger.

Twenty years after a rebellion branded her an outcast, Fia Riftborne navigates a city rife with prejudice so deep, it's often deadly. But she harbors a secret, one that would paint an even larger target on her back. A hidden power within her is growing, threatening to destroy everything she's built for herself.

Enter the elusive Sidhe General, Laryk Ashford, who is building a unit of powerful wielders within the Guard to face a growing threat. Wraiths of darkness devour the Western border, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.

When Fia's power erupts, and two daughters of Nobility are seemingly dead, General Ashford offers her a chilling choice: join the Sidhe Guard or face execution.

Because Fia might be the only hope for the Isle's survival.

Torn between surrendering to the chaos or becoming a weapon for those who took everything from her, Fia must confront her growing feelings for the General and face a dark truth that could shatter everything she's ever known.]]> 426 Parker Lennox Lel 0 to-read 3.71 2024
author: Parker Lennox
name: Lel
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210387322 “Keep the door locked night and day…��

It’s been forty years since Becky Sharp’s mother vanished without a trace. Becky has given up all hope of finding her, until she makes a strange discovery that may hold the key to solving her mother’s disappearance.

Three unmarked videotapes, hidden in the wall of her childhood home. And as Becky watches the tapes, she finds herself drawn into a horrific mystery far greater than she could possibly have imagined.

For Becky has unwittingly summoned a long-forgotten nightmare—a creature that threatens the lives and sanity of all around her. Rotten Tommy has come to play�� and nothing on Earth can sate his diabolical bloodlust.

A grisly and bizarre horror fever dream, Rotten Tommy is the latest disturbing shocker from David Sodergren, author of The Haar and Maggie’s Grave.]]> 288 David Sodergren Lel 3 3.94 2024
author: David Sodergren
name: Lel
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/04
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 214540663 An epic sapphic fantasy roadtrip inspired by the fall of Rome, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Frontier and Floating Hotel

On one side of the world, Aleya Ana-Ulai is desperate for a chance. Her family have written her off as a mistake, but she's determined to prove every last one of them wrong.

On the other, Kirby of Wall's End is searching for redemption. An ancient curse tore her life apart, but to fix it, she'll have to leave everything behind.

Fate sets them both on the path to Nivela, a city once poised to conquer the world with the power of a thousand stolen gods. Now the gates are closed and the old magic slumbers. Dead �� or waiting for a spark to light it anew��

A character-driven science-fantasy road trip book with sword fights and a slowburn romance, Idolfire delves into the vastness of history and the terrifying power of organized faith.]]> 480 Grace Curtis 0756419808 Lel 4 goldsboro 3.91 2025
author: Grace Curtis
name: Lel
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: goldsboro
review:
I loved this book. I really like Grace Curtis' writing and plotting. The two main characters are both on separate journeys and manage to come together to try and complete their quests. I found both characters to be individual, I liked the way that they came together and how they interact. I really liked the world and how large it felt and well described. I did find the odd chapters that are directed at the reader a little jarring but it made sense as I got to the end.
]]> 211004893
As they attempt to evade the boy's increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they're up against, but she's about to learn there's more to these surreal and grisly events than she could've ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.]]> 304 Nat Cassidy 125035434X Lel 4
Nat Cassidy seems to be a new hyped name in horror and after reading this I can see why. The main character comes across a little boy that seems to be in trouble and decides to help him leading to a trail of horror and mayhem in 300 pages. There are parts of this book that made me feel nautious, parts that made me really uncomfortable, parts that made me laugh and some that tugged at my heart. I found this to be a fast paced, emotional and hard to put down. I will definitely be looking out for more Nat Cassidy, but I wouldn't recommend reading this while eating. ]]> 4.58 2025
author: Nat Cassidy
name: Lel
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves:
review:
I received an arc of this from Netgalley

Nat Cassidy seems to be a new hyped name in horror and after reading this I can see why. The main character comes across a little boy that seems to be in trouble and decides to help him leading to a trail of horror and mayhem in 300 pages. There are parts of this book that made me feel nautious, parts that made me really uncomfortable, parts that made me laugh and some that tugged at my heart. I found this to be a fast paced, emotional and hard to put down. I will definitely be looking out for more Nat Cassidy, but I wouldn't recommend reading this while eating.
]]> 209457756 The Witcher meets Squid Game in this Malaysian Chinese-inspired epic fantasy novel where a debt-ridden slumdog joins an illegal monster-fighting arena for some fast coin, but quickly learns the most dangerous beasts are outside the ring, by debut author Roanne Lau

Lythlet and her only friend Desil are shackled to a life of debt and poverty that she fears they will never escape. Desperate for money, they sign up as arena combatants who fight sun-cursed beasts in the seedy underworld of the city.

Match-master Dothilos is initially enamored of Desil’s brawling reputation, but after seeing Lythlet lead the pair to triumph with her quick cunning, he takes her under his wing, scorning Desil. Ambition takes root in Lythlet’s heart as a life of fame and wealth unfolds in her imagination.

But Lythlet isn’t the only one out for coin and glory, and she soon finds herself playing an entirely different game—a game of politics and deception. As the cost of her ambition grows, she will have to decide if sacrificing her honor, and only friendship, is worth the chance to shape her own fortune.

A whirlwind of blood-pounding battles as characters grapple with their choices in the face of wealth and financial security, The Serpent Called Mercy's heart is the underlying, steadfast friendship between its protagonists.]]> 432 Roanne Lau 0756419441 Lel 4
This book took me a little while to warm up to. It is a fast paced story about two friends in the slums trying to find a way to survive with crippling debt in a world that is designed to keep them at the bottom of society. They end up becoming contestants in a gladiator style arena in an attempt to better their lives.
What follows is some great monster battles, a real look at character motivations and the ties of friendship.
[spoilers removed]
The characters were great, it read a little on the YA side to me but not in determinate to the book, I would have liked to see a little more complexity to the story but I really enjoyed what I read and would be keen to read more from the author.]]> 3.71
author: Roanne Lau
name: Lel
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

This book took me a little while to warm up to. It is a fast paced story about two friends in the slums trying to find a way to survive with crippling debt in a world that is designed to keep them at the bottom of society. They end up becoming contestants in a gladiator style arena in an attempt to better their lives.
What follows is some great monster battles, a real look at character motivations and the ties of friendship.
[spoilers removed]
The characters were great, it read a little on the YA side to me but not in determinate to the book, I would have liked to see a little more complexity to the story but I really enjoyed what I read and would be keen to read more from the author.
]]> 11104429 428 Robin Hobb 0007353200 Lel 4 4.32 2010
author: Robin Hobb
name: Lel
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
I love this world and this arc of it. I know people say that the Rain Wild's is the least liked part of the world but I am having such a good time. I love the characters and their struggles down the river. Hobb is so good at making characters provoke feelings in the reader, where that be hate, compassion, annoyance or cenementing them into your heart. The authors that provoke this level of emotion in me are few and far between and I am loving my time in the world.
]]> 76752200 400 Alex Pavesi 0241433584 Lel 4 As a birthday weekend game, some friends have to pick a two names out of a jar, one being a murderer and the other being murdered and they have to write a piece of fiction about how the murder occurs.
This is definitely a book that you need to read while concentrating. You are unsure a lot of the time what is happening and what is actually real but it culminates in a really successful, twisty story that I almost re read straight after finishing. This book has cemented Alex Pavesi into an autobuy author for me. ]]> 3.34
author: Alex Pavesi
name: Lel
average rating: 3.34
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves:
review:
I really liked this book. As with the other Alex Pavesi book that I have read, 'The Eighth detective' it is not the most straightforward plot.
As a birthday weekend game, some friends have to pick a two names out of a jar, one being a murderer and the other being murdered and they have to write a piece of fiction about how the murder occurs.
This is definitely a book that you need to read while concentrating. You are unsure a lot of the time what is happening and what is actually real but it culminates in a really successful, twisty story that I almost re read straight after finishing. This book has cemented Alex Pavesi into an autobuy author for me.
]]> 56377548
The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it's anything but a game.]]> 364 Matt Dinniman Lel 4 4.55 2021
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
I loved this sequel although I didn't find it as funny as the first one. I liked the situations that Doughnut and Carl got themselves into and out off. I liked that the book took on some heavier themes and also portrayed some heart warming bonding between Carl and Doughnut. I am still very much loving this book, partly to the awesome narration.
]]> 123443274
"Salt and broom, make this room
Safe and tight, against the night."

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls��-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her. The threats mount around both Jane and Rochester—who’s becoming more intriguing and appealing to her by the day. Jane begins to fear her herb healing and protective charms may not be enough to save the man she’s growing to love from a threat darker and more dangerous than either of them imagined.]]> 282 Sharon Lynn Fisher 1662515685 Lel 3 4.12 2023
author: Sharon Lynn Fisher
name: Lel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
I really liked this retelling of Jane Eyre. I found the characters to be fun and the combination of the magic with the parts from Jane Eyre were done well. I felt like this was a good young adult leaning book with a small touch of horror. Its nice to have the witches be the good guys as well for a change.
]]> 42732016 The Mortal Techniques novels are a series of stand-alone stories that can be read entirely independently, set in the award-winning Mortal Techniques universe.

Samurai, shinigami, vengeful spirits, and an impossible quest.

The Emperor of Ten Kings has plunged Hosa into war, and the gods are angry.

When the god of death gives Ein a mission to kill the immortal emperor, he knows he can't do it alone. He needs allies, heroes who will fight for him. How else can an eight-year-old boy hope to do the impossible?

Whispering Blade, Iron Gut Chen, the Century Blade, and Flaming Fist. These are all names of legend. And the god of death has given Ein a way to bind them to his cause. There is only one catch. In order to serve him, they must first die.

Never Die is a stand alone set in the world of Mortal Techniques. It’s a wuxia adventure filled with samurai, shinigami, heroes, and vengeful spirits.]]> 331 Rob J. Hayes Lel 3 3.88 2019
author: Rob J. Hayes
name: Lel
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
I liked this book but didnt love it. I could see the end coming a mile off so that let me down a little but I did like the character interactions and how they all became part of this motley band. I found the concept better than the execution.
]]> 200289603 A heartwarming blend of cosy fantasy and romance in this tale of a wayward house witch and the magical adventures in and out of the royal kitchen . . .--When Finlay Ashowan joins the kitchen of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. Which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly scrumptious meals.But Fin has secret, one that may not stay hidden for long . . .As his past begins to catch up with him, Fin must negotiate court politics and stay out of trouble, together with his familiar, Kraken his fluffy black kitten.But things become even more complicated when he catches the eye of a certain lady who just so happens to be part of the royal court.Can Fin successfully hide his secret and protect his heart? Or will the chaos of the castle and its good hearted people get the best of him?Filled with fascinating characters, courtly intrigue, political machinations, delicious cuisines, cuddly companions, magical hijinks, and will-they-won’t-they romance, The House Witch is the first in a captivating new series.]]> 462 Delemhach 1405967129 Lel 3 3.99 2022
author: Delemhach
name: Lel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
This was cute and funny. Definitely fits in the cosy book group. The characters were fun. I liked the main character and how grumpy he was. I would be interested in carrying on in the series but I'm not desperate to do so.
]]> 33555224
Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order�� scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish�� so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?]]> 504 Neal Shusterman 1442472456 Lel 3 4.38 2018
author: Neal Shusterman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/17
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
I liked this next instalment. I felt that it kept a good level of tension and the world continues to be interesting. I did find some of it a little far fetched (even with the setting of the book). There were some things that I saw coming and some that I didn't. I am interested to see how it all wraps up in the last book as I have no clue. I still find the relationship between the two main characters not very believable however.
]]> 228280552
On a locked ward in the world’s highest-security prison hospital for the criminally insane, a nurse has been murdered and her newborn baby kidnapped. A ransom must be paid, and the clock is ticking.

Forensic profiler Dr Connie Woolwine is renowned for her ability to get inside the mind of a murderer. Now she must go deep undercover among the most deranged and dangerous men on earth, and use her unique skills to find the baby �� before it’s too late.

She has five days to catch the killer.

But with the walls of The Institution closing in on her, will her sanity last that long?]]> 422 Helen Sarah Fields 0008533490 Lel 4 4.04 2023
author: Helen Sarah Fields
name: Lel
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book, I liked the writing style and the pacing of the book. Although it is part of a series I did start here and didnt feel too lost. Some of the main characters actions were a little strange and I think that would have made more sense if I had read the first book before this one but overall I dont think it mattered. I found the characters to be intriguing and the setting really worked for me. I will definitely read more in this series.
]]> 29939230 Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED...
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.]]> 624 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387468 Lel 0 currently-reading 4.30 2017
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 217387776 From the Arthur C. Clarke award winner, Adrian Tchaikovsky, comes the third instalment of the DOGS OF WAR science fiction series, a future where genetically engineered “Bioforms�� have inherited not the Earth, but the Solar System.

The end of the world has been and gone.

There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Rather scores of storms, droughts and floods; dozens of vicious, selfish regional conflicts that only destroyed what could no longer be rebuilt. No single finishing stroke for Earth's great global human society, but you can still bleed to death from a thousand cuts.

The Red Planet fared better. Where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees, an outlawed distributed intelligence, survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.

Fast forward to the present day. A signal - "For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help." - reaches Mars.

How could they not help? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors.

And now here they are - three hundred million kilometres from home.

And it has all already gone horribly wrong.]]> 448 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901455 Lel 0 to-read 4.10 2025
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 215020997 London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.]]> 560 Victoria E. Schwab 1035064642 Lel 0 to-read 4.38 2025
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217387838 The latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.]]> 320 Alex North 1250757894 Lel 0 to-read 4.25 2025
author: Alex North
name: Lel
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216967501 TEN STRANGERS.
Investigative journalist Lauren Taylor never dreamed she'd find herself on a remote Scottish island, in the depths of winter, taking part in the most gruelling reality show ever devised. The last person standing will win the prize of a lifetime, but that's not the only reason Lauren is there.

ONE REMOTE ISLAND.
With a production team that seems incapable of keeping them safe, a gathering storm and the unrelenting gaze of hidden cameras, the contestants are stretched to the limit as they try to outshine their fellow competitors and hide their darkest secrets.

NOWHERE TO RUN.
When a body is found, it's clear that the game has turned deadly. And with no way off the island until the storm passes, the group have no choice but to play for their lives.]]> 307 Louise Minchin Lel 3 netgalley I read it pretty much in 24 hours as I found it so compelling. It brought nothing new to the genre but I found it had a good mix of suspense, pace and character work that made me just want to keep turning pages.
The setting of being a reality tv show was fun, if a little bit of a stretch with everything that happened on the island.
I felt like the twists kept coming but not in a bad way that some books do, when they throw everything at the book in order to puzzle the reader. I feel like all the twists in here were grounded with good reason and background despite not seeing some of them coming.]]> 3.92 2024
author: Louise Minchin
name: Lel
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2025/03/14
shelves: netgalley
review:
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and had such a fun time.
I read it pretty much in 24 hours as I found it so compelling. It brought nothing new to the genre but I found it had a good mix of suspense, pace and character work that made me just want to keep turning pages.
The setting of being a reality tv show was fun, if a little bit of a stretch with everything that happened on the island.
I felt like the twists kept coming but not in a bad way that some books do, when they throw everything at the book in order to puzzle the reader. I feel like all the twists in here were grounded with good reason and background despite not seeing some of them coming.
]]> 211004190
It's a whole new moooooon.

One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters -- schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians -- as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.]]> 326 John Scalzi 0765389096 Lel 3 netgalley
This was fun. It is not a book that you can actually take seriously, I mean the moon changes into cheese! But this book has great heart. The story gets told from a lot of different perspectives and that allows the reader to see many different situations, some of them funny and some actually heart breaking. It boils down to how different people deal with a life ending event and the emotions that come with that and I thought the book had a great balance of humour and emotion to it. I would recommend this book but only if you don't mind a little bit of a light hearted tone to a storyteller. ]]> 3.93 2025
author: John Scalzi
name: Lel
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: netgalley
review:
I received and ARC of this from Netgalley.

This was fun. It is not a book that you can actually take seriously, I mean the moon changes into cheese! But this book has great heart. The story gets told from a lot of different perspectives and that allows the reader to see many different situations, some of them funny and some actually heart breaking. It boils down to how different people deal with a life ending event and the emotions that come with that and I thought the book had a great balance of humour and emotion to it. I would recommend this book but only if you don't mind a little bit of a light hearted tone to a storyteller.
]]> 75390310
I might be an innocent runaway, but I’m at my friend’s funeral to avenge her murder by the mafia boss: King.

He has other ideas.

I should have guessed he’d retaliate with kidnap. Now I'm under his control, still intent on his demise, and honestly so turned on I could cry.

When he offers me pleasure, I can't refuse.

He promises he’ll let me go, but what if I want to stay? With him.

Captured by the Mafia Boss is a short and steamy instalove story, starring a possessive billionaire and the innocent who needs his protection.]]> 78 Evie Rose Lel 3 3.49
author: Evie Rose
name: Lel
average rating: 3.49
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 199798006
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it�� (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).]]> 312 Marcus Kliewer 1982198788 Lel 5 3.67 2024
author: Marcus Kliewer
name: Lel
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. It is a horror book that actually managed to creep me out. The concepts explored in this book really set me on edge. I thought there was a good build up through the book and the last couple of chapters had me gasping out loud and feeling so uncomfortable that something like this (to an extent) is entirely possible in our world. I am definitely going to check out more by the author when they publish more books.
]]> 57559833 Is this bond a blessing or a curse?

My blood binds me to the curse of the summer fae. Am I entwined with the Unseelie's curse as well? I didn't ask to be the key to the survival of not one but two faerie realms, but I can't stand by while others suffer if there's some way I can help.

Unfortunately, the ties of my heart to men on both sides may cause more problems than I can solve. After years of violence, will summer and winter even find peace? Neither side is eager to compromise, and my lovers' loyalties to me have turned them into targets.

I want to believe that love can win out over hate and pain. But as tensions both between and within the realms rise, it might break me apart instead.

*Secrets of Winter is the fifth book in Bound to the Fae, a new paranormal romance series featuring possessive shifters, dangerous fae politics, and a wounded heroine finding her strength.*]]> 308 Eva Chase 1990338003 Lel 3 4.05 2021
author: Eva Chase
name: Lel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/08
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves:
review:
There isn't much to say about this installment. It was okay, I had a decent time. It is predictable and repetitive but good to read when you want a bit of 'trash TV' you don't have to think too much about.
]]> 16234584 Heart of Darkness—complete with a mad white hunter and his hordes of native soldiers—this "powerful and beautifully clear" (Brian Aldiss) work becomes a thrilling adventure and a haunting examination of the effects of environmental collapse on the human mind.]]> 198 J.G. Ballard 0871403625 Lel 2 definitive-sci-fi 3.51 1962
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Lel
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: definitive-sci-fi
review:
I didn't really like this book much. The writing was ok, especially considering the age of the book, but I wasn't really sure what the point was. Considering the world has changed and there is a global catastrophe happening there was little to no explanation about it. The book very much centered on one small drowned part of a city and what the characters within that part are up to. There is very little exploration about the human race and how the world is responding. There seems to be some strange effects on peoples dreams, but again this wasn't really explored much. After loving Hi-rise this was a disappointment for me.
]]> 213618148 Cursed by love.
Bound by hope.

Yeeran and Lettle are no longer prisoners to the fae court, but now they’re bound by the shackles of their hearts ��

Yeeran was born for war but is unprepared for love. She has left her new lover, the Queen of the fae, to return to her homeland, only to find that her former lover now threatens war against the fae.

Left behind, her sister Lettle is determined to break the curse that binds the fae to their realm. When a stranger appears in the city, Lettle is convinced he’s the key. But the Fates that once spoke to her have fallen silent.

Can Lettle and Yeeran discover the secret behind the curse �� and unite these two worlds before they destroy each other?]]> 352 Saara El-Arifi 0593723031 Lel 3 goldsboro 3.90 2025
author: Saara El-Arifi
name: Lel
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/10
date added: 2025/03/10
shelves: goldsboro
review:
This was an okay sequel. There were some good reveals and some they I saw coming but I did have a fun time reading it. I did find it very eye rolling in places. The characters are starting to get a little annoying in their actions. There were times were I wanted to shout at them that the whole world doesn't revolve around them, as that is how they were acting. But I guess everyone feels like that at that age. I felt that this was more YA than the previous one. I will carry on in the series as I think it is a trilogy and I want to know what happens with something that was discovered at the end of the book.
]]> 129294962 Some ballads are inked in blood.

Bled dry by violent confrontations with the Magadhan Empire, the Mathuran Republic simmers on the brink of oblivion. Krishna and Satyabhama have put their plans in motion within and beyond the Republic's blood-soaked borders to protect it from annihilation. But they will soon discover that neither gold nor alliances last forever.

They are however not alone in this game.

Mati, Pirate-Princess of Kalinga, has decided to mend her ways to be a good wife. But old habits die hard, especially when one habitually uses murder to settle old scores. Brooding but beautiful Karna hopes to bury his brutal past but finds that destiny is a miser when it comes to giving second chances. The crippled hero-turned-torturer Shakuni limps through the path of daggers that is politics only to find his foes multiply, leaving little time for vengeance.

Their lives are about to become very difficult for a cast of sinister queens, naive kings, pious assassins and ravenous priests are converging where the Son of Darkness is prophesied to rise, even as forgotten Gods prepare to play their hand.]]> 636 Gourav Mohanty 1035900203 Lel 0 to-read 3.54 2022
author: Gourav Mohanty
name: Lel
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53285047 We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. A scholarship student who prefers the company of her dark imagination to that of most people, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort--a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other Bunny, and seem to move and speak as one.

But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled Smut Salon, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door--ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the Bunnies' sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus Workshop where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.

The spellbinding new novel from one of our most fearless chroniclers of the female experience, Bunny is a down-the-rabbit-hole tale of loneliness and belonging, friendship and desire, and the fantastic and terrible power of the imagination.

Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue, Electric Literature, and The New York Public Library]]> 305 Mona Awad 0525559752 Lel 4 3.43 2019
author: Mona Awad
name: Lel
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
This was such a strange book. It started off feeling like a cross between Heathers and The Craft but then seemed to become something in its own right the further in to the book that I got. I found the characters interesting and the way that the main character very quickly becomes sucked into the Bunny's. I found it a very compelling read and hard to put down. I will definitely check out more of Mona Awad's books.
]]> 56269269
“This intense cosmic horror with a touch of Mexican American folklore is incredibly creepy and moving.�� —Margaret Kingsbury, BuzzFeed

It was Vera’s idea to buy the Itza. The “world’s most advanced smart speaker!�� didn’t interest Thiago, but Vera thought it would be a bit of fun for them amidst all the strange occurrences happening in the condo. It made things worse. The cold spots and scratching in the walls were weird enough, but peculiar packages started showing up at the house—who ordered industrial lye? Then there was the eerie music at odd hours, Thiago waking up to Itza projecting light shows in an empty room.

It was funny and strange right up until Vera was killed, and Thiago’s world became unbearable. Pundits and politicians all looking to turn his wife’s death into a symbol for their own agendas. A barrage of texts from her well-meaning friends about letting go and moving on. Waking to the sound of Itza talking softly to someone in the living room . . .

The only thing left to do was get far away from Chicago. Away from everything and everyone. A secluded cabin in Colorado seemed like the perfect place to hole up with his crushing grief. But soon Thiago realizes there is no escape—not from his guilt, not from his simmering rage, and not from the evil hunting him, feeding on his grief, determined to make its way into this world.

A bold, original horror novel about grief, loneliness and the oppressive intimacy of technology, This Thing Between Us marks the arrival of a spectacular new talent.]]> 272 Gus Moreno 0374539235 Lel 4 3.70 2021
author: Gus Moreno
name: Lel
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves:
review:
I really liked this book. I listened to it on audible and found the narration to be absolutely heart breaking. The depiction of grief and loss is at times so painful to listen to, especially if you are living with grief personally. The book gets dark and twisted a little way in and I really liked the turns that it took. I did see some bits coming but I really struggled to put this down in between listening sessions and it is one that will stay with me for a while.
]]> 195443798
On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. It’s the greatest discovery in humanity’s spacefaring history �� yet who were its builders and where did they go?

Professor Arton Daghdev had always wanted to study alien life up close. Then his wishes become a reality in the worst way. His political activism sees him exiled from Earth to Kiln’s extrasolar labour camp. There, he’s condemned to work under an alien sky until he dies.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem like nothing seen on Earth. The monstrous alien life interacts in surprising, sometimes shocking ways with the human body, so Arton will risk death on a daily basis. However, the camp’s oppressive regime might just kill him first. If Arton can somehow escape both fates, the world of Kiln holds a wondrous, terrible secret. It will redefine life and intelligence as he knows it, and might just set him free . . .]]> 396 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035013770 Lel 4 netgalley 3.99 2024
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: netgalley
review:
I really enjoyed this book. The premise is not very original, humans go to an alien planet and have contact with the alien life there. What made this book great for me was the perspective that we end up getting in the book. I think it was very refreshing and very inventive. I love Adrian Tchaikovsky's way of representing the non human entities in his books. I would definitely recommend this book.
]]> 149102291
In the desert city of Yontar, Nya cares for her sick mother. But when Nya is arrested, her mother’s death is all but certain unless Nya joins a secret project that promises her freedom. If she survives.

Rai, a mercenary, has a shadow dark enough for two. In his quest to discover the nature of the creature living in his shadow, Rai collides with old friends and new enemies, stumbling into an ancient mystery that could mean the end of the world as they know it.

All the while, a darkness stirs and rebellion threatens, helmed by a man who promises justice will reign.]]> 488 Andrew Watson 1739340000 Lel 0 to-read 4.27 2023
author: Andrew Watson
name: Lel
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210384894
Loret is fresh off the boat, and just in time.

As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation, Outreach department, she's here as aide to the Palleseen Resident, Sage-Invigilator Angilly. And Sage-Invigilator Angilly - Gil to her friends - needs a second in the spectacularly illegal, culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight.

Outreach, that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world, has a lot of room for the illegal, the unconventional, the unorthodox. But just how much unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with?

As a succession crisis looms, as a long-forgotten feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition, as pirate kings, lizard armies and demons gather, as old gods wane and new gods wax, sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle their ledger.

Just as well they are both very, very good with a blade.

THE TYRANT PHILOSOPHERS SERIES
'Endlessly creative . . . so much invention peeking around every corner - Patrick Ness
'Dense, dark, ingenious, ironic, complex, often funny, and always smart' Locus
'A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world' Ian Green]]> 512 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901528 Lel 2 netgalley
Im really sad to say that this book didnt work for me. I found it really hard to get through and spent much of the book not really understanding what was happening. As with the second book in this series the middle part just seemed too long and too confusing. I found the characters a little confusing and that may be 'cause it was so long since I read the first book. The demons seemed to be a little more at the forefront of this book and that I liked. I still consider AT my fav author just not this series. ]]> 4.34 2024
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/03/02
shelves: netgalley
review:
I received an ARC of this from Netgalley.

Im really sad to say that this book didnt work for me. I found it really hard to get through and spent much of the book not really understanding what was happening. As with the second book in this series the middle part just seemed too long and too confusing. I found the characters a little confusing and that may be 'cause it was so long since I read the first book. The demons seemed to be a little more at the forefront of this book and that I liked. I still consider AT my fav author just not this series.
]]> 20764879
Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games--an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries--a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.]]> 512 Victoria E. Schwab 0765376474 Lel 4
The characters are well rounded and fun but, for me, the story line kind of doesn't go anywhere. But I still enjoyed the book. It is an easy fun read that I couldn't take too seriously. There are similarities to the tri-wizard tournament in Harry Potter and the book reads very much like a YA novel (not always a bad thing).

I would say this is a good series if you want a break from the heavy fantasy of GRRM, Brandon Sanderson, Adrian Tchaikovsky styles. Its nice to switch it up at times. ]]> 4.20 2016
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lel
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/27
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: dragon_jetpack_book_of_the_month
review:
This book follows on after the events in 'A darker Shade of Magic'. Kell and Rhys are bound together and the crown will not let Kell forget it. To cheer his brother up Rhys enters him secretly into an international combat tournament, as you do! Lila, who is new to the world and magic also manages to enter.

The characters are well rounded and fun but, for me, the story line kind of doesn't go anywhere. But I still enjoyed the book. It is an easy fun read that I couldn't take too seriously. There are similarities to the tri-wizard tournament in Harry Potter and the book reads very much like a YA novel (not always a bad thing).

I would say this is a good series if you want a break from the heavy fantasy of GRRM, Brandon Sanderson, Adrian Tchaikovsky styles. Its nice to switch it up at times.
]]> 60445291 'There is one question that devours me still. Why didn’t I close my eyes?'

Medusa is the only mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her sisters, she quickly realizes that she is the only one who gets older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.

When desire pushes a God to commit the unforgivable, Medusa’s mortal life is changed forever. Her punishment is to be turned into a Gorgon: sharp teeth, snakes for hair, and a gaze that will turn any living creature to stone. Appalled by her own reflection, Medusa can no longer look upon anything she loves without destroying it. She condemns herself to a life of solitude in the shadows to limit her murderous range.

That is, until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon . . .

This is the story of how a young woman became a monster. And how she was never really a monster at all.]]> 371 Natalie Haynes 1529061474 Lel 2 3.88 2022
author: Natalie Haynes
name: Lel
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 150254281
Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

Led by 'the Butcher', an ogre of a man who's a dab hand with a bone-saw and an alchemical tincture, the unit's motley crew of conscripts, healers and orderlies are no strangers to the horrors of war. Their's is an unspeakable trade: elbow-deep in gore they have a first-hand view of the suffering caused by flesh-rending monsters, arcane magical weaponry and embittered enemy soldiers.

Entrusted - for now - with saving lives deemed otherwise un-saveable, the field hospital's crew face a precarious existence. Their work with unapproved magic, necromancy, demonology and Yansic's thoroughly illicit Gods could lead to the unit being disbanded, arrested or worse.

Beset by enemies within and without, the last thing anyone needs is a miracle.]]> 608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035901382 Lel 3 4.41 2023
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
This was a good middle book, but it did feel like a middle book. I did spend a large portion of this book wondering what the point to the story actually was. It was a lot of discussion and daily life in the healing tent of an army, which was fascinating to read and all the different ways that people healed others was interesting. I just wasn't really sure what the point of this book was.
]]> 57128891 Love bound us together... but fate has other plans.

Just when a happily ever after with my Seelie men was within reach, the Heart of the Mists tied me to one of the foreboding winter arch-lords. I can't escape the connection between us. The enemy can speak from right within my soul.

I'm not willing to give up on my happiness that easily, but I can't let the realms descend into all-out war. I'll brave the uncertainties of the winter lands if that's what it takes to protect the men I love.

My chilly Unseelie arch-lord isn't quite what I expected, though. As the lines between ally and enemy start to blur, can I stop the clash of winter and summer before even more blood is shed?]]> 325 Eva Chase 1989096980 Lel 2 4.08 2021
author: Eva Chase
name: Lel
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
I did like this and flew through as with the others in the series but some of the same things that come up in each book are starting to get old now. The main character constantly compares herself to the fae and thinks that she is lacking, everyone keeps underestimating her and being surprised when she says something that they hadn't thought of. I liked seeing another part of the world and hope that we see more of the politics and relationships that are developing. I will carry on the series from here but more because I am a completionist rather than my level of enjoyment is still high.
]]> 198990858
When Miss Catherine Symonds arrives to take up a position as governess at remote Locksley Abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, where England bleeds into Wales, she is apprehensive.

It is not the echoing, near empty house with its skeleton staff that frightens her, nor the ancient woods that surround the Abbey or even the dogs that the owner, Sir Rowland, encourages to stalk the grounds, baying for blood. It is Catherine herself who fears scrutiny: her reference and very identity are fraudulent. She is travelling in disguise to investigate the fate of the last governess at the house, who took her own life out in the woods. For that governess was Catherine's own sister, but until now she had believed Emily had died many years before, when they were just children.

In Rosie Andrew's extraordinary follow up to the bestselling The Leviathan - one of the biggest debuts of 2022 - an isolated forest becomes the unsettling, beguiling backdrop to a tale of myths, memory and murder.]]> 368 Rosie Andrews 1526637375 Lel 3 3.29 2024
author: Rosie Andrews
name: Lel
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
I liked this one, however I didn't love it. I loved the spooky atmosphere that the house gave off but don't think it lived up to the spookiness level that I wanted. The depiction of the world around the estate I thought was good. I liked the way it was a very closed in setting with not much awareness of the outside world. I just think that more could have been done to make it really suspenseful and atmospheric.
]]> 56514994 My power could unite the summer fae... or tear them utterly apart.

The truth is out. The whole Seelie realm now knows that the cure for their full moon curse lies in my blood.

I thought the gamble of revealing that secret would put only my safety on the line. But when one of the arch-lords sets his sights on me, it soon becomes clear there's so much more at stake.

Claiming me is just one piece in a play for control over all Seelie kind. How can honorable men like my new lovers fight back when our enemies are willing to stoop so low? To save me and his pack, the lord who rescued me may have to turn into the thing he hates most.

With awful secrets unearthed and betrayals among our own, can I find a way to be my lovers' strength in this storm—or will I become their fatal weakness?]]> 311 Eva Chase 1989096956 Lel 3 4.00 2021
author: Eva Chase
name: Lel
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/20
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
This is another instalment into the Bound to the Fae series that I like. The books are very easy to read, quick to fly though. The characters are fun and nothing is too taxing to keep track off. They are however very forgetable once finished although I do remember the cliff hanger at the end of this one and went straight into the next one to see what happens.
]]> 56343344 Twice I’ve been kidnapped by the fae.

First were the monsters who ripped me from everything I knew and threw me in a cage.
Next came the men who rescued me and offered me a safe haven.

But my saviors and my former captors have something in common. A decades-old curse holds all the Seelie fae in its grasp, turning them into savage, mindless beasts with the rise of the full moon. Something in my blood cures that rage like nothing else they’ve found. To most of them, I’m nothing but a prize to be claimed.

The fiercely passionate men who’ve taken me in would give me my freedom, but the ones who first stole me will stop at nothing to drag me back into their prison. The already weakened pack that’s welcomed me may not survive a battle.

I didn’t expect to find love among the fae�� but I can’t deny the feelings growing inside me. I didn’t mean to get mixed up in a war between them�� but here I am. When my newfound lovers leap into the fray to protect me, I won’t let them fight alone.

No matter what it costs me.

*Feral Blood is the second book in a new paranormal romance saga featuring possessive wolf shifters, fraught fae politics, and a wounded heroine coming into her own.*]]> 336 Eva Chase 1989096913 Lel 3 3.76 2021
author: Eva Chase
name: Lel
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:
This was an okay continuation to the first book. Talia is getting more settled with her place in the world and the men that surround her. After finishing this book a while back the details escape my mind of what actually happens in the book but it was enough to keep me reading the series.
]]> 195790861 To fix the world they first must break it further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.]]> 376 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1250290287 Lel 3 3.99 2024
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:
I liked this book, but I dont think it was as good as other sci fi books of his. What I do like about AT is that he is able to put himself in the head of his characters and how they would feel. It really feels like you are getting a robot or an alien perspective rather than human thoughts from a robot character. I liked the portrayal of strictness of following commands, even if they don't make sense or go in a loop. This was cleverly handled in the book. Overall I think it was a strong beginning, a bit meandering in the middle and I liked the end.
]]> 214994535
I was a walking red flag, but that skeleton-masked man was mine.
I always knew I was different—my obsession with catching Deadwater’s murderer with my Skeleton Girls Detective Agency, my hunger to hunt predators with my steel sharp and my manicure perfect.
And now, my dangerous instalove for the skeleton crew’s new recruit.
Riordan, with his tousled dark hair and striking green eyes, would be wise to run far from me. But it was infatuation at first sight, and there’s nothing I won’t do to keep him close. Even if it means risking everything.
Yet love isn't simple for someone like me. If Riordan dared to love me back, the scars of my past could surface, and in the chaos, I might become his greatest threat. Until then, I’m ready to help him take down his enemies, to share his battle and make Riordan's revenge my own.
But the murderer still haunts the city, and whatever happiness we find together is under threat.
How can I keep us both safe when the next name on the killer’s list is mine?
--
Riordan’s Revenge is the final instalment of the Body Count dark romance, murder mystery series that shot to #1 on Amazon in the US and Canada and has become an international bestseller. The Skeleton Girls Detective Agency’s guessing game concludes in this thrilling finale of the trilogy.

mafia princess and the biker thiefGirl obsessedHigh spice levels with punishment playShe’s a killer in trainingHe has a revenge mission of his ownThis series has a number of TWs so please review those if you need to. (I know many of you dirty girls flock to them with delight. Do your thing.)]]> 473 Jolie Vines 1738572323 Lel 3 4.30 2024
author: Jolie Vines
name: Lel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this book, but it was likely the least favourite of the series. I found the main couple fun but missed the intensity of tension that we got between the first couple but the snark and banter of this couple was fun. I liked the finish off to the series with a little hint as to more to come at some point. I really enjoyed this word and club.
]]> 12770 Listening Length = 8 hours and 25 minutes

An Edgar Award winner “widely regarded as a modern crime classic�� (Time), named by Time as one of the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time: A man determined to marry into wealth has found the perfect woman �� but when Dorothy gets pregnant, he must make sinister adjustments to his plans��
“Contains surprises which really surprise�� (Stephen King).

Iconic author Ira Levin’s Edgar Award–winning debut novel set a new standard in the art of psychological suspense. A modern classic published to rave reviews, and twice adapted for the screen, A Kiss Before Dying is a darkly thrilling, twisting tale of criminal psychopathy.

Known for his looks and charm, a young man obsessed with wealth and status will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He sets his sights on a beautiful and innocent college student named Dorothy, intent on marrying her for her family’s money. But when Dorothy becomes pregnant, his careful plans start to unravel, and he begins to take cold, calculating, and drastic measures to protect his future.

A Kiss Before Dying, told from multiple points of view, has thrilled millions of readers with its perfectly constructed plotting and is an acknowledged masterpiece of crime fiction.

This edition includes a brand new foreword by Anthony Horowitz.]]> 304 Ira Levin 0786711647 Lel 4 3.96 1953
author: Ira Levin
name: Lel
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:
This was a really fun time and didn't feel too dated despite being written 70 years ago. The tone that it was written in reminded me very much of American Psycho but without the mass of gore that is in that book. I liked the characters and the way that their story was told and the use of perspectives to hide the identity of the killer at the start. I would read more from the author.
]]> 53438794
In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew.

The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength �� and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy everything the Master has built. If only Nathan can discover how to use it.

So it is that the Master begins to scheme against him �� and Nathan has to fight his way through the betrayals, secrets, and vendettas of the city where God was murdered, and darkness reigns��

�� WELCOME TO MORDEW �� THE FIRST IN A MONUMENTAL NEW TRILOGY FROM THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR, ALEX PHEBY]]> 617 Alex Pheby 1913111024 Lel 0 to-read 3.57 2020
author: Alex Pheby
name: Lel
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49426262 Collects issues #6-10 of DIE
]]> 168 Kieron Gillen 1534314970 Lel 3 3.97 2020
author: Kieron Gillen
name: Lel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
Such very pretty graphics, but I have no idea what is happening. I’m very confused by the plot, think it became clear in the last page or two but I’m honestly not sure what happened.
]]> 154462576 New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.]]> 325 Katherine Arden 0593128257 Lel 5 3.97 2024
author: Katherine Arden
name: Lel
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. The author has a beautiful way of writing that just brings the best atmosphere to life with her books. This one being about world war one created such a haunted feeling of hopelessness one page and pulled on my heartstrings the next with the scale of the hope the characters had. The world was very grounding and nothing to do with the horror of war was shied away from. I liked the fiddler character and what he represented in the book and the element of emotional horror that he added.
]]> 55700715 My blood is their salvation... and my ruin.

For years, the monsters who killed my family have held me in a cage. Brutalized and half-starved. Only kept alive so they can steal my blood.

Until one evening when four eerily gorgeous men break me out of my prison.

They give me a soft bed and delicious food. They say they'll protect me—but their generosity may come at a price.

My rescuers are monsters like my captors: fae who shift into wolves. A curse gripping the faerie realm turns them wild under the full moon. Only my blood can cure their rage.

These fearsome men need me, and not just to lift the curse. A tragedy left them outcasts, and offering me to their rulers could win them back the home and the power they lost.

No matter how kindly they treat me, no matter how their smoldering eyes and strong hands stir unfamiliar desires in both my body and my heart, their castle is just another prison. As long as I'm a prize more than a person, my life will never be my own.

I've survived this long without giving up. I won't roll over now. But how can one damaged human girl hold her own against the savage fae?

*Captive of Wolves is the first in a new paranormal romance saga featuring possessive wolf shifters, fraught fae politics, and a wounded heroine coming into her own. Grab it now and get swept away in the fantasy!*]]> 362 Eva Chase 1989096824 Lel 3 3.57 2020
author: Eva Chase
name: Lel
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves:
review:
This was fun. As a book to entertain and not really think about too much in detail I enjoyed it. I liked the aspect of her blood helping them control their wolves and I liked the little snippets of the world that you see in the book, it suggests some great promise to the series and some good character development. I would say though that the main character didnt really feel realistic to me. I thought there was just a little too much feeling developing between others for the situation that she was in. I will be carrying on and Im looking forward to what happens next.
]]> 28954189 Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art�� of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

An alternate cover edition of ISBN: 9781442472426]]> 435 Neal Shusterman Lel 3 2025 reread: I enjoyed this the second time round, but not as much as the first. There were some issues that annoyed me more this time that I can't say without spoilers. But this time I will be carrying on with the series next month.]]> 4.32 2016
author: Neal Shusterman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: dragon_jetpack_book_of_the_month
review:
Such an interesting concept. I loved the characters although I feel there is much more scope for them to develop. There are a few things that went unanswered for me that upset me but otherwise I loved it.
2025 reread: I enjoyed this the second time round, but not as much as the first. There were some issues that annoyed me more this time that I can't say without spoilers. But this time I will be carrying on with the series next month.
]]> 4703450
Thymara, an unschooled forest girl, and Alise, wife of an unloving and wealthy Trader, are among the disparate group entrusted with escorting the dragons to their new home. And on an extraordinary odyssey with no promise of return, many lessons will be learned--as dragons and tenders alike experience hardships, betrayals . . . and joys beyond their wildest imaginings.]]> 553 Robin Hobb 0007273746 Lel 4 3.94 2009
author: Robin Hobb
name: Lel
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this start to the series. I have heard that it is the slowest series in the Realm of the Elderlings and I would agree with that but I would also say that non of the books have been fast paced so that hasn't bothered me. I found it very descriptive and immersive. I loved following the dragons and some of the changeling children. There are definitely characters that have already made me very angry in the way that Robin Hobb does well. I cannot wait till the next one.
]]> 61991780 Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, 'witch hunt' is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 1944.

This book uses thirteen significant trials to explore the history of witchcraft and witch hunts. As well as investigating some of the most famous trials from the middle ages to the 18th century, it takes us in new and surprising directions. It shows us how witchcraft was decriminalised in the 18th century, only to be reimagined by the 1780s Romantic radicals. We will learn how it evolved from being seen as a threat to Christianity to perceived as gendered persecution, and how trials against chieftains in Africa stoked anger against colonial rule.

Significantly, the book tells the stories of the victims - women, such as Helena Scheuberin and Joan Wright - whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James VI and I and “Witchfinder General�� Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them.

While this will be a history of witchcraft, the subject cannot be consigned to the history books. Hundreds of people, mostly women, are tried and killed as witches every year in Africa. ‘WITCH HUNT!�� is as common in our language today as ever it was, and witches are still on trial across the world. ]]> 320 Marion Gibson 1398508500 Lel 0 currently-reading 3.82 2023
author: Marion Gibson
name: Lel
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 21355230 192 Wayne Anthony 1859836194 Lel 3 So great as a general read and maybe as a first one in the field (which for me it was) but not so great if you want to know details and look into more of local hauntings in detail. ]]> 2.00 2008
author: Wayne Anthony
name: Lel
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves:
review:
I liked this book for all the facts about the supernatural and myths that it gave. I especially liked the list of patron Saints. I however didn't think it came across as very Nottingham specific or appear like much research was done into peoples accounts of hauntings. It definitely stated what 'people' had said but never really seemed to go into investigating them at all and I felt it lacked a big focus on Nottingham.
So great as a general read and maybe as a first one in the field (which for me it was) but not so great if you want to know details and look into more of local hauntings in detail.
]]> 212125655 SPINNING SILVER meets HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE in this beautiful debut Slavic folklore fantasy.

Marisha's life is not going as she expected. With the sleeping plague only a few months away, she's as desperate for money as she is to escape her aunt's torturous marriage prospects. Leaving all that she's known behind, Marisha accepts a job working with the notorious koldunya, Baba Zima in her house that glides on chicken feet through the snow.

But Baba Zima is renowned for being both clever and cruel. And most difficult of all is her current apprentice, Olena, who wants nothing to do with Marisha. Despite her fears and Olena's cold demeanour, Marisha finds herself drawn into the magical world of koldunry and delves further into Olena's research - a cure for the sleeping plague.

Accompanying Olena on an increasingly dangerous, seemingly impossible search for a cure, she finds hidden connections between the sleeping plague, her own family's history, and her bizarre, recurring dreams: dreams of a masked ball where the deep sleepers are trapped endlessly dancing - and a monstrous beaked man haunts her every step . . .]]> 432 Lauren Wiesebron 1399723197 Lel 3 goldsboro For me the book started quite slowly, not in terms of plot, but in terms of me feeling invested in the world and the characters. I really liked the folklore that was added in to the story and wish that there would have been more, but I think I say that about every book due to my fascination with folklore.
I liked all the characters and loved the fact that all their flaws were explored and that none of them were particularly pristine good characters.
I found the sleeping illness to be interesting and the way that the cures were looked for. I really liked the way that it all wrapped up and I would be very happy to see more set in this world with the house and the same characters. ]]> 4.02 2025
author: Lauren Wiesebron
name: Lel
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: goldsboro
review:
I really liked this book in the end.
For me the book started quite slowly, not in terms of plot, but in terms of me feeling invested in the world and the characters. I really liked the folklore that was added in to the story and wish that there would have been more, but I think I say that about every book due to my fascination with folklore.
I liked all the characters and loved the fact that all their flaws were explored and that none of them were particularly pristine good characters.
I found the sleeping illness to be interesting and the way that the cures were looked for. I really liked the way that it all wrapped up and I would be very happy to see more set in this world with the house and the same characters.
]]> 61091533
Skandar Smith has achieved his dream to train as a unicorn rider.

But as Skandar and his friends enter their second year at the Eyrie, a new threat arises. Immortal wild unicorns are somehow being killed, a prophecy warns of terrible danger, and elemental destruction begins to ravage the Island. 

Meanwhile, Skandar’s sister, Kenna, longs to join him �� and Skandar is determined to help her, no matter what. As the storm gathers, can Skandar discover how to stop the Island tearing itself apart �� before it’s too late for them all? ]]> 320 A.F. Steadman 1398502936 Lel 3 4.38 2023
author: A.F. Steadman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/05
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves:
review:
I liked this installment. I found that a lot of the book was very reminiscent of Harry Potter, especially The Philosophers Stone, but I liked the way the characters didn't all fall over themselves for the Skandar, especially highlighting the friends feelings on having Skandar being 'a chosen one' character. I'm continuing to enjoy the world and the overall plot of the story. I feel that this one did seem to rush at the end but I will be carrying on.
]]> 214994518 Please note this blurb contains spoilers for Arran's Obsession.

I tried everything to get his attention, but I invited in a monster.
After facing a threat to my life, I found myself kidnapped and locked away by the skeleton crew’s enforcer. Connor is feared. Respected. And obsessed with me.
He controls everything, right down to my pleasure. His rules dictate what I can and can’t touch. When I can and can’t wear clothes.
What’s strange is how happy I am.
From the outside, my old life appeared perfect, but my father’s iron grip had suffocated me. Now, in the hands of my captor, I can finally breathe.
With the body count racking up in Deadwater, I never want to leave my masked man’s protection. Even if caring for me might cause his downfall.
Without realising it, I’ve become Connor’s claim. But how long can it last when the secrets I keep threaten us both?

--

Connor’s Claim is the second book in the interconnected dark romance Body Count trilogy, featuring a murder mystery and a crew who will do anything to keep their women.

unhinged tattooed enforcer and the mayor’s daughterDangerous play (including BC tampering)SomnoForced proximityThroat tattoo, stabby implements, and something piercedAs with Arran’s book, check the TWs if you need to (the list is still just as long as �� it should be, dirty girl).]]> 368 Jolie Vines 1738572315 Lel 3 4.19 2024
author: Jolie Vines
name: Lel
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 53000876
In December of 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who—or what—is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future—and our own.]]> 375 Carl Sagan Lel 0 to-read 4.29 1985
author: Carl Sagan
name: Lel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 211178725 The woman never goes by the same name.
She never stays in the same place too long.
She never ages. She never dies.
But those around her do.

When two grieving strangers meet by chance in Osaka airport they uncover a disturbing connection. Jake's best friend and Mariko's twin brother each died, 6,000 miles apart, in brutal and unfathomable circumstances.

Each encountered a mesmerising, dark-haired woman in the days before their deaths. A woman who came looking for Mariko - and then disappeared.

Jake, who has carried his loss and guilt for a decade, finds himself compelled to follow the trail set by Mariko's revelations. It's a trail that weaves across continents and centuries, leading back to the many who have died - in strange and terrifying and eerily similar ways - and those they left behind: bewildered, disbelieved, yet resolutely sure of what they saw.

And, at the centre of it all, there is the same beguiling woman. Her name may have changed, but her purpose has never wavered, and as Jake races to discover who, or what she is, she has already made her next choice.

But will knowing her secret be enough to stop her?]]> 352 Susan Barker 0593718291 Lel 0 to-read 3.77 2025
author: Susan Barker
name: Lel
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 223363570 Don’t Let the Forest In meets The Whispering Dark in a queer YA cult horror following a recently diagnosed autistic teen who becomes enmeshed in a community of outcasts harboring sinister secrets.

After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie’s never truly felt normal anywhere, but she does crave the ease she used to have with her old friends.

Problem is that her friends aren’t so eager to welcome her back into the fold. They extend an olive branch by inviting her on their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge, in the upper reaches of the Adirondacks. But when a fight breaks out their first night, Cassie wakes to a barren campsite—her friends all gone.

With severe weather approaching and nearing sensory overload, Cassie is saved by a boy named Kaleb, who whisks her away to a compound of artists and outcasts he calls the Roost. As Kaleb tends to her injuries, Cassie begins to feel—for the first time in her life—that she can truly be herself. But as the days pass, strange happenings around the Roost make Cassie question her instincts. Noises in the trees grow louder, begging the question: Are the dangers in the forest, on the trail, or in the Roost itself?

In a world where autistic characters rarely get to be the hero of their own stories, Cassie Davis’s one-step-back, two-steps-forward journey to unmasking makes Hollow as much a love letter to neurodiversity as it is a haunting tale you’ll want to read with the lights on.]]> 352 Taylor Grothe 1682637778 Lel 0 to-read 4.91
author: Taylor Grothe
name: Lel
average rating: 4.91
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 207693012 EVERY FIRE STARTS WITH A SINGLE SPARK.

Welcome to Bletchley Park�� with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job��, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort �� if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must decide: What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.]]> 480 S.F. Williamson 0008652279 Lel 3 I found the concept of the dragon languages really fascinating. I liked the depth and scope of the research that they were doing and explaining.
I found the end quite rushed and not 100% satisfactory for a standalone (which it seems to be at the moment). ]]> 3.99 2025
author: S.F. Williamson
name: Lel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves:
review:
This was an ok book for me. The premise was good but I think, for me, the author tried to make it to convoluted. It was very hard to gauge the characters ages because on one hand they would be involved in some very adult discussions and situations and on the other, they had such a simplistic way of seeing the world that made their age in my mind drop.
I found the concept of the dragon languages really fascinating. I liked the depth and scope of the research that they were doing and explaining.
I found the end quite rushed and not 100% satisfactory for a standalone (which it seems to be at the moment).
]]> 209231358
I hated the gangs that ruled my city.
After my friend was killed and my father vanished, I had no choice but to infiltrate one to figure out why. Entering their infamous club quickly showed me I was in over my head.
Then the most feared gang leader took an interest in me. Arran was corrupt, deadly, and his searing gaze both terrified and tempted me.
In my search for answers, I stumbled into his dark and dangerous game. The result? I belonged to him, with no chance of escape.

In a heartbeat, I became Arran’s obsession. And in a terrible twist, I think he’s becoming mine.

--

Arran’s Obsession is the first book in an interconnected dark romance trilogy featuring a murder mystery, a dark city, an adult entertainment club, and a crew of men who are possessive over what’s theirs.

Tropes:
· A masked gang and an adult club
· Possessive, damaged men
· Dangerous play (including free use and predator/prey)
· Forced proximity
· Set entirely at night

Check the TWs in the front of the book or on my website if you need to (the list is as long as �� it should be, dirty girl).]]> 531 Jolie Vines 1739407296 Lel 3 3.92 2024
author: Jolie Vines
name: Lel
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> 210906882 From Eric LaRocca—Bram Stoker Award–nominated and Splatterpunk Award–winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke—c�dz���� At Dark, I Become Loathsome, a grim yet gentle, horrifying yet hopeful, intense tale of death, trauma, and love.

“If you’re reading this, you’ve likely thought that the world would be a better place without you.��

A single line of text, glowing in the darkness of the internet. Written by Ashley Lutin, who has often thought the same—and worse—in the years since his wife died and his young son disappeared. But the peace of the grave is not for him—it’s for those he can help. Ashley has constructed a peculiar ritual for those whose desire to die is at war with their yearning to live a better life.

Struggling to overcome his own endless grief, one night Ashley finds connection with Jinx—a potential candidate for Ashley’s next ritual—who spins a tale both revolting and fascinating. Thus begins a relationship that traps the two men in an ever-tightening spiral of painful revelations, where long-hidden secrets are dragged, kicking and screaming, into the light.

Only through pain can we find healing. Only through death can we find new life.]]> 178 Eric LaRocca Lel 5 3.36 2025
author: Eric LaRocca
name: Lel
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves:
review:
I loved this book, I pretty much read it in one sitting. Eric LaRocca has such an elegant writing style while writing some very horrific situations. This book is on one hand, a book of hope and on the other hand a very deep dive into grief and the hopelessness that people feel. The main character seems to devote his life to helping people who feel that ending their life is the only option left to them. I highlighted so many sentences in this book that spoke to me after the death of my father last year and I feel that Eric LaRocca looked into my soul while writing them. I cannot recommend his works enough.
]]> 216831243 A pilot crashes into the desert and encounters a young prince who has journeyed from a tiny asteroid. Through the prince's innocent wisdom, the pilot rediscovers the beauty of life's simple the importance of love and friendship, the dangers of vanity and greed, and the magic of seeing the world with a child's wonder.
"The Little Prince" inspires readers to see the world with a sense of wonder and compassion and to embrace curiosity, empathy, and the pursuit of what truly matters in life.]]> 109 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Lel 4 amazon-100-sci-fi-fantasy 4.33 1943
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Lel
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1943
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: amazon-100-sci-fi-fantasy
review:
Such beautiful writing and important messages in a whimsical cute narrative.
]]> 7976
The bestselling Redwall saga continues in  Taggerung .

Years ago, the vermin clan of Sawney Rath kidnapped one of Redwall's own-a baby otter, destined to become their "Taggerung," a warrior hero of ancient legend. But as young Tagg grows, he rebels against his destiny. The young otter journeys in search of his birthplace, a member of Sawney's clan always near, out to destroy the deserter. With the feisty mouse Nimbalo, Tagg fends off the avenging vermin, but can he find his way back to the Redwall family from whom he was separated so long ago? Here is all of the excitement and adventure a Redwall fan could wish for!

Perfect for fans of T. A. Barron’s Merlin saga, John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.]]> 438 Brian Jacques 0142501549 Lel 4 4.16 2001
author: Brian Jacques
name: Lel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/01
shelves:
review:
This was very cute and cosy but also dark in places. I loved the characterisation of the different species.
]]> 212217962 The haunting final chapter of the modern classic Vita Nostra trilogy. The Dyachenkos�� magical dark academia novel brings the story of Sasha to a revelatory climax as she learns to take control of her powers and reshape the world...or destroy it forever. Beautifully translated from Russian by Julia Meitov Hersey.

The Institute of Special Technologies teaches students just one the magic that allows them to become parts of speech, and in doing so, transforming into a specific piece of grammar (a verb, or an adjective, or an article) so they will be able to shape the world around them. As the new provost, though, Sasha is facing an enormous the students in the world she just created, her “world without fear,�� are unable to master the curriculum. Whether it’s the magic or the natural order of things, what they need to learn and become—Speech—is the basis of the material world.

And if she can’t teach it, Sasha knows that matter will soon cease to exist.

To protect the world, Sasha must collect fragments of her former reality. Only three people carry these fragments within her younger brother, Valya, and the Grigoriev twins, Arthur and Pashka, the sons of her former lover, Yaroslav Grigoriev. Sasha must lure these three to the Institute and make them learn—and understand—at any cost.

But she knows how difficult the path is, even more so from the other side of the teacher’s desk. Forced to act ever more ruthlessly, Sasha also notices the faster the world around the Institute changes. It is a vicious circle.

And one she must break.

To do so, she will have to shape reality again, one in which communication doesn’t break down and Speech once again needs to evolve and grow and flourish.

Sasha has already given up so much in pursuit of this dream—often her nightmare—and she might be asked to make one more sacrifice so that the world and Speech might live on.]]> 416 Marina Dyachenko 0063225476 Lel 0 to-read 4.30 2025
author: Marina Dyachenko
name: Lel
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216724298 The epic sequel to Taran Matharu’s instant Sunday Times bestseller, Dragon Rider, in which empires fall and dragons soar��‘A dazzlingly epic and richly complex world of dragons, magic, and rebellion�� Amélie Wen Zhao on Dragon Rider

Jai dreams of being a dragon rider. He dreams of freedom from the Sabine Empire and a world in which he can lead his people, the Kidara, to freedom. But even though he has his dragon, Winter, she is still growing, just as he’s still growing in his own power. And the road to victory is even more fraught than he had hoped��

Because even when he finds a tribe on the Great Steppe, they are not his people. They are the outcasts, the Tainted, and he finds that he knows little of the political intricacies that take place in these vast grasslands. He is a stranger amongst his own kind, for Jai’s uncle rules, and is loath to cede power to his nephew.

But the legionaries and Gryphon Guard of the Sabine Empire are wreaking havoc against the other tribes of the Great Steppe, and Jai is forced to learn a lifetime’s worth of knowledge in a matter of months. From levelling up his magic, to becoming a true warrior, saving the woman he loves, and strengthening his bond with Winter, Jai is a dragon rider with a massive weight on his young shoulders. And his greatest hope is that the shoulders of Winter will soon be strong enough to help carry him.

READ THE EPIC FANTASY SERIES WITH SCORCHING FIVE-STAR READER REVIEWS 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

'Dragons with depth�� Taran Matharu masterfully layers the history, politics and soulful magic of his world with page-turning ease, all the while delivering shocks, bloodshed and a splash of slow-burn spice' Cari Thomas, Sunday Times bestselling author of Threadneedle

'Eragon and Sapphira, Laurence and Temeraire, and now Jai and Winter. A brilliant beginning!' Michael R. Miller, bestselling author of the Songs of Chaos series

‘Bloody, glorious, and irresistibly compelling, Dragon Rider is a riveting epic that is at once sweepingly vast and heart-wrenchingly personal�� Sarah Beth Durst, award-winning author of The Bone Maker

‘Brutal politics, intricate worldbuilding, and edge-of-the-seat battles�� Prashanth Srivatsa, author of The Spice Gate

‘A classic fantasy adventure that reminds me of the novels I loved growing up, but with a flair of cultivation from the novels I love now�� Will Wight, New York Times bestselling author of the Cradle series

Taran Matharu's book 'Dragon Rider' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-04-22.]]> 592 Taran Matharu 0063227622 Lel 0 to-read 4.12 2025
author: Taran Matharu
name: Lel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216246677 The secret war that defines the Library has chosen its champions and set them on the board

The fate of an infinite library hangs on one book, a book that holds the power to break the unbreakable. In the face of such forces, fragile things like hearts, family, and the world seem certain to fail.

The people most vital to Livira are scattered across time and space, lost, divided into factions, in mortal peril. Somehow, she must bring them together and resolve the unresolvable argument that fuels the library’s war. The bond between Livira and Evar has stretched and stretched again. Can it hold at the end, when things fall apart? Can it bring them together against impossible odds? This is the last chapter, the final page. The end threatens and no one, not characters, readers, or even the author, will emerge unscathed.]]> 384 Mark Lawrence 0593437993 Lel 0 to-read 4.23 2025
author: Mark Lawrence
name: Lel
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 210384823 An utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.

They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .

New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists �� and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.

Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .

If they escape Shroud, they’ll face a crew only interested in profiteering from this extraordinary world. They’ll somehow have to explain the impossible and translate the incredible. That is, if they make it back at all.]]> 436 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1035013797 Lel 4 netgalley
I can't lie I am a massive AT fan. I have read most of what he has put out and loved it to some degree. This book is no different. On the surface it is a survival story of humans trying to get back to their ship after crash landing on a dark alien moon. What it actually was to me was a good social commentary on the dangers of big corporations and how humans as a whole never learn from the past. I liked the descriptions of the dark moon, and the trials faced by the main characters, but what I loved was the alien perspective on what was happening. It was such an interesting read to see both points of view on the same situations and how easily misinterpretations happen.
The middle section of the book did seem to get a little bogged down and slow, but overall I felt like this was a well paced story, with good characters and an amazing imagination.]]> 4.16 2025
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Lel
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: netgalley
review:
I received this book from Netgalley for a review.

I can't lie I am a massive AT fan. I have read most of what he has put out and loved it to some degree. This book is no different. On the surface it is a survival story of humans trying to get back to their ship after crash landing on a dark alien moon. What it actually was to me was a good social commentary on the dangers of big corporations and how humans as a whole never learn from the past. I liked the descriptions of the dark moon, and the trials faced by the main characters, but what I loved was the alien perspective on what was happening. It was such an interesting read to see both points of view on the same situations and how easily misinterpretations happen.
The middle section of the book did seem to get a little bogged down and slow, but overall I felt like this was a well paced story, with good characters and an amazing imagination.
]]> 201110254 *An up-all-night slice of Halloween horror, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Black Mirror, and Frankenstein*

'A gauntlet of thrills and surprises . . . If reading with one hand over your mouth is your thing, this is the book for you' Gus Moreno, author of This Thing Between Us

Henry, a brilliant but reclusive engineer, has achieved the crowning discovery of his he's created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He names the half-formed robot William.

But there's something strange about William.

It's not that his skin feels like balloon rubber and is the colour of curdled milk, nor is it his thick gurgling laugh or the way his tongue curls towards his crooked top teeth. It is the way he looks at Henry's wife, Lily.

Henry created William but he is starting to lose control of him. As William's fixation with Lily grows and threatens to bring harm to their house, Henry has no choice but to destroy William.

But William isn't gone. Filled with jealousy for humanity, for its capacity to love and create life, William starts to haunt the house.

He lurks behind each locked door. You can hear him muttering in the eaves of the attic. He is whispering in Henry's head. And he will be the one to take control . . .

William is a new kind of ghost story, where the haunting is not from another world, but from inside your home. Inside your head . . .

'From its first page all the way to its jaw-dropping ending, William had me hooked' Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and The Deep

'A gripping page-turner that makes you think' Araminta Hall, author of One of the Good Guys]]> 224 Mason Coile 1399812777 Lel 4 3.74 2024
author: Mason Coile
name: Lel
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves:
review:
I really like this book. Im not going to say that some of the things that happened were not predictable but I had a great time. It reminded me very much of Demon Seed by Dean Koontz but better in a lot of ways. I think the length worked and the action was good. There was a good creepy atmosphere to this book that I loved. I enjoyed the ending and am going to be on the look out for more by the author.
]]> 222683916 A hidden darkness stirs in this locked-room mystery from the author of William.

There are many ways to die on Mars. Only one way to find the truth.

The human crew sent to prepare the first-ever colony on Mars arrives to find their brand new base half-destroyed and the three robots sent to set it up in disarray—the machines have formed alliances, chosen their own names, and picked up some truly disturbing beliefs. Each must be interrogated. Their stories analyzed. But one of them is missing.

In this barren, hostile landscape, even machines have nightmares, and the line between human and artificial intelligence blurs. The astronauts will need to examine their own stories and wrestle their own demons before it’s too late.

In this wicked, taut, one-sitting read, Mason Coile blends science fiction and psychological horror in a story that terrifies and unnerves as it engages some of humanity’s deepest questions.]]> 224 Mason Coile 0593851633 Lel 0 to-read 4.02 2025
author: Mason Coile
name: Lel
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 9850443
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters - losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life - and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West, and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.]]> 328 Patrick deWitt 0062041266 Lel 2 did-not-finish 3.84 2011
author: Patrick deWitt
name: Lel
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
I read this as part of a book group and gave up at around the half way mark. It just didint hold my interest at all. The brothers were ok and at the begining I was intriqued by their relationship and the fact that they worked together depite seeming to actually not like each other, but other than that it was pretty boring. It just seemed they went from town to town, one brother getting drunk and the other trying to have the moral high ground and I decided to call it quits.
]]> 61272940
Along his journey, Syv will face dangerous beasts, dark powers, and the ever-lurking sand foxes—sworn enemies to the snowcats. But when Syv discovers the truth about the legend of the Eldking and his magical crown, he’ll have to learn the new meaning of honor and find another way to break the curse. 

From Norwegian author Dina Norlund comes , a beautifully illustrated tale of bravery and honor. ]]> 176 Dina Norlund 1637151985 Lel 3 4.21 2021
author: Dina Norlund
name: Lel
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
This was so so cute. I got this as a Christmas present for my 7 year old and she wanted me to read it after her so we could talk about it. The art work and the colours of this book just warmed my heart and the expressions on the characters faces were so spot on and adorable. We are both going to look out for more books like this to read together.
]]> 210455973 ARE YOU READY TO BRAVE THE DARK?

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there's no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it's impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves - her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find - the truth.

But a storm is coming... and not everyone can survive its wrath.]]> 779 Rebecca Yarros Lel 3 The ending I kind of saw coming and I feel like I can see what is going to happen with one thread in the book but as a book in its own right, this didnt wow me.
The fact that I gave this book four stars is that it was fun, it was compelling and there was a lot that happened in it that keep me entertained. I also read it alongside two friends and it has been really fun to get their thoughts and feelings as they progress though the book.
I will carry on in the series mainly because I have invested time and my friends are die hard fans rather than it being a favourite of mine. ]]> 4.42 2025
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: Lel
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:
I liked this book, but I didnt love it. I think the characters seemed to go round in circles. I feel that some of the decision made by the characters were very inconsistant and only were made to make the most tension for the reader. I liked the snark of the book. The dragons and one of the characters in particular had some great one liners.
The ending I kind of saw coming and I feel like I can see what is going to happen with one thread in the book but as a book in its own right, this didnt wow me.
The fact that I gave this book four stars is that it was fun, it was compelling and there was a lot that happened in it that keep me entertained. I also read it alongside two friends and it has been really fun to get their thoughts and feelings as they progress though the book.
I will carry on in the series mainly because I have invested time and my friends are die hard fans rather than it being a favourite of mine.
]]> 27999638
From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work.

“Accursed! Accursed! You shall be accursed to the thirteenth generation!��

The Iron King �� Philip the Fair �� is as cold and silent, as handsome and unblinking as a statue. He governs his realm with an iron hand, but he cannot rule his own family: his sons are weak and their wives adulterous; while his red-blooded daughter Isabella is unhappily married to an English king who prefers the company of men.

A web of scandal, murder and intrigue is weaving itself around the Iron King; but his downfall will come from an unexpected quarter. Bent on the persecution of the rich and powerful Knights Templar, Philip sentences Grand Master Jacques Molay to be burned at the stake, thus drawing down upon himself a curse that will destroy his entire dynasty...]]> 340 Maurice Druon 0007491263 Lel 0 to-read 4.05 1955
author: Maurice Druon
name: Lel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56791389 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B08BKGYQXW


The apocalypse will be televised!

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your followers, your views. Your clout. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.]]> 446 Matt Dinniman Lel 5 4.49 2020
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/23
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves:
review:
I loved this! I cannot recommend the audio book high enough. The acting and the voices and the whole atmosphere of the audio book just elevated this book to absolutely amazing. It was so funny and so poignant at the same time. The situations the pair got themselves into just made me laugh out loud so many times. I cannot wait to carry on with the series.
]]> 213656335
Hellevir’s gift to raise the dead once thrust her into the center of a court filled with backstabbing and treason, where she became duty bound to protect Princess Sullivain, the sole heir to the kingdom’s throne and target of many rivals eager for the crown. But the more Hellevir risked to keep Sullivain alive, and the more deeply she fell in love with the princess, the greater the cost became—for Hellevir’s power can only be granted by the strange figure who rules the afterlife, and there is always a price to pay.

Now Hellevir may have risked too much, and Sullivain has become obsessed with consolidating power to vanquish her foes once and for all—by whatever means necessary. Cast out to the fringes of a country on the verge of civil war, Hellevir is torn between protecting her heart or giving what little she has left to finish what she started. Yet, her connection with Sullivain runs deeper than the mortal world, and saving her friends and family might mean risking the woman she is still bound to by soul and blood.

To stop a war, Hellevir must unravel the last of Death’s riddles and decide, once and for all, who deserves to live, what a life is worth, and whether she can pay the price. This explosive finale to the Raven’s Trade duology is sure to satisfy fans of dark fantasy and queer romance.]]> 464 Marianne Gordon 0063248832 Lel 4 I had a great time with the whole duology. I found the second book and the conclusion to be really satisfying. There are parts of this book that really pull at your heart strings and things that made me chuckle. There were some great and important themes in this series that really made me think and self examine.
The relationships between the characters were on the whole great. There were one or two characters that seemed to have a change of heart too rapidly that I felt a little whiplashed but the main relationship between Hellevir and Sullivain was so complicatedly fascinating. I loved the scenes with them together and how things between them progressed in this book.
I will definitely recommend this series and be on the lookout for more from the author. ]]> 4.21 2025
author: Marianne Gordon
name: Lel
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:
I received this as an arc from Netgalley.
I had a great time with the whole duology. I found the second book and the conclusion to be really satisfying. There are parts of this book that really pull at your heart strings and things that made me chuckle. There were some great and important themes in this series that really made me think and self examine.
The relationships between the characters were on the whole great. There were one or two characters that seemed to have a change of heart too rapidly that I felt a little whiplashed but the main relationship between Hellevir and Sullivain was so complicatedly fascinating. I loved the scenes with them together and how things between them progressed in this book.
I will definitely recommend this series and be on the lookout for more from the author.
]]> 200425723
----

FOR MORTALS TO RISE THE GODS MUST FALL.

In ancient Greece, the twelve gods demand the ultimate tribute �� food, treasure, even human sacrifice.

There are some mortals who cling to a desperate prophecy �� telling of one to come who’ll set them free. But few truly believe it.

Until Danae, a fisherman's daughter, eats a mysterious golden apple. And suddenly, her life unravels and a strange and dangerous path unfolds before her.

Chased from her home, she neither understands nor fully controls her future. One which will find Danae walking the winding roads of heroes. There, she encounters and befriends the mighty demi-god, Heracles. Together, they will seek out monsters to battle.

But Danae’s destiny is not to fight beasts.

She will hunt the gods.

She will drag them screaming from Olympus . . .]]> 468 A.S. Webb 0241676363 Lel 3 3.89 2025
author: A.S. Webb
name: Lel
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves:
review:
I received this book as a Goldsboro book of the month and it was ok. Im not a massive fan of Greek legends in stories, they are ok, but not something I seek out. I found this to be a quick, easy, fun read. It didnt get too complex, it has a simple quest narrative that was enjoyable and fast paced to read. I did find some things that happened a little strange and the main character seemed to have no clue what she wanted, let alone what she was doing. I would be interested to read the next one in the series. But I wont be rushing out to do it.
]]> 45108 914 Robin Hobb 0553582461 Lel 5 This book is the conclusion to the Tawny Man trilogy, and actually, I would say that in the space of the pages of these three books, not a lot physically happens. For me this trilogy centers on the relationship between Fitz and the Fool and the things it means to be them and the way that their connection shapes events around them. There is a lot of character development, there is a lot of exploring feeling and thoughts and a lot of turmoil to digest.
Some scenes in this book and in the first one in the trilogy will stay with me, and even haunt me, for life. ]]> 4.45 2003
author: Robin Hobb
name: Lel
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/17
date added: 2025/01/17
shelves:
review:
In loved this book, I hated this book and I wish I could read this book over and over again for the first time. I am not one that will get very emotional when reading. I very rarely cry over a book or a character. But this book had me sobbing in places. Robin Hobb is able to really tie you to a character so that even if what they are doing is annoying the hell out of you, when something sad happens to you, it tears your heart out.
This book is the conclusion to the Tawny Man trilogy, and actually, I would say that in the space of the pages of these three books, not a lot physically happens. For me this trilogy centers on the relationship between Fitz and the Fool and the things it means to be them and the way that their connection shapes events around them. There is a lot of character development, there is a lot of exploring feeling and thoughts and a lot of turmoil to digest.
Some scenes in this book and in the first one in the trilogy will stay with me, and even haunt me, for life.
]]> 20189187 The book that everyone has been waiting for . . . the much anticipated final novel in Laini Taylor's breathtakingly imaginative Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS

By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.

Common enemy, common cause.

When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.

And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.

But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.

What power can bruise the sky?

From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.

At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?]]> 625 Laini Taylor Lel 3 On the whole the characters were ok in this one, I still liked the relationships between them all, I do feel like some of the banter I liked from the first book have disappeared in this book, but then the stakes got higher so it kind of makes sense.
Overall I would recommend the series. I liked the overall story and I think that the different races of people in the book were great.]]> 4.29 2014
author: Laini Taylor
name: Lel
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves:
review:
This was a little underwhelming for me. I feel like some of the characters could have done with a little more page time at the end. One plot seemed to be left completely hanging for me and I dont think that we will ever find out what happens to it.
On the whole the characters were ok in this one, I still liked the relationships between them all, I do feel like some of the banter I liked from the first book have disappeared in this book, but then the stakes got higher so it kind of makes sense.
Overall I would recommend the series. I liked the overall story and I think that the different races of people in the book were great.
]]> 61386936
Growing up in the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania feels like drowning. Leah goes to church every Sunday, works when she isn’t at school, and takes care of her baby brother, Owen. Like every girl in Winston, she tries to be right and good and holy. If she isn’t the Lord of the Wood will take her, and she’ll disappear like so many other girls before her.

But living up to the rigorous standards of the town takes its toll. One night, when Owen won’t stop screaming, Leah wishes him away, and the Lord listens. The screaming stops, and all that’s left in the crib is a small bundle of sticks tied with a ribbon.

Filled with shame and the weight of the town’s judgment, Leah is forced to cross the river into the Lord of the Wood’s domain to bring Owen back. But the devilish figure who has haunted Winston for generations isn’t what she expects. He tells her she can have her brother back―for the price of a song. A song that Leah will have one month to write.

It’s a bargain that will uncover secrets her hometown has tried to keep buried for decades. And what she unearths will have her questioning everything she’s been taught to fear.]]> 320 Tori Bovalino 1645679306 Lel 5 Definitely check trigger warnings though before reading ]]> 3.76 2024
author: Tori Bovalino
name: Lel
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. I thought it was very cleverly written and addressed a really important topic in modern politics without getting bogged down by the politics. I found the characters great and the atmosphere was good. I read this book in two sittings and it has catapulted Tori Bovalino into an author that I will actively try and read their whole works.
Definitely check trigger warnings though before reading
]]> 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Lel 5
I loved this book in the end. I found it a little slow going to begin with but the pace and the level of intrigue picks up the further you read. I found myself wanting to hug characters, shout at others and really slap some. Its a book that made me think about living in such a closed in environment. Would people in charge feel they could decide what was best for all? Would it be a democracy? Would society dissolve into separate isolated groups.
With all these thought provoking questions comes some scary action packed scene and situations that make the book a hard to put down page turner I finished in 2 days.

I would recommend this to most people but especially fans of Phillip K Dicks 'Foundation'.
]]> 4.14 2012
author: Hugh Howey
name: Lel
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2016/10/18
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: dragon_jetpack_challenge, dragon_jetpack_book_of_the_month, kev
review:
The world is a harsh place. People cannot survive on the surface, in fact even with protective suits they die very quickly, poisioned by the toxic atmosphere. People do survive though, living in the Silo. A massive mostly underground complex divided by levels. The book follows the trials of living in such a contained environment and the problems that occur with being 'locked' in with so many other people. The main character is Juliette, a mechanic that dwells at the bottom of the silo fixing the machines that keep everyone alive. It shows her progression and fall in a society that has a terrible secret.

I loved this book in the end. I found it a little slow going to begin with but the pace and the level of intrigue picks up the further you read. I found myself wanting to hug characters, shout at others and really slap some. Its a book that made me think about living in such a closed in environment. Would people in charge feel they could decide what was best for all? Would it be a democracy? Would society dissolve into separate isolated groups.
With all these thought provoking questions comes some scary action packed scene and situations that make the book a hard to put down page turner I finished in 2 days.

I would recommend this to most people but especially fans of Phillip K Dicks 'Foundation'.

]]> 22055262
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.]]> 400 Victoria E. Schwab 0765376458 Lel 3 4.04 2015
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Lel
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: dragon_jetpack_book_of_the_month
review:
I enjoyed this book. I felt the world was very well described and the action thick and fast. Some books spend ages building the world and the characters and have all the drama right at the end whereas I feel there was always something going on in this book. The characters were well rounded although I almost feel that they were taken from other books. I didn't see much originality with this book but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. I would recommend this to people that are branching into fantasy or a long time fantasy fan that didn't want to read anything epic or serious.
]]> 211003690 An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.]]> 384 Ed Crocker 1250287731 Lel 0 to-read 3.55 2025
author: Ed Crocker
name: Lel
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 89187
For the humans now settling the Amarantin homeworld, it's of little more than academic interest, even after the discovery of a long-hidden, almost perfect city and a colossal statue of a winged Amarantin.

For brilliant, ruthless scientist Dan Sylveste, it's more than merely intellectual curiosity - and he will stop at nothing to get at the truth. Even if it costs him everything.

But the Amarantin were wiped out for a reason, and that danger is closer and greater than even Syveste imagines...

The original novel in the epic series, Revelation Space was nominated for both the BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke awards. Reynolds' PhD in astronomy and experience with the ESA means that his space operas present hard science spins on intergalactic adventures and have impacted SF for years.]]> 585 Alastair Reynolds 0441009425 Lel 3 I re read this 2025 and I think I have liked it more on a re read. I think I have read a lot more sci fi in the middle and that has helped me understand a little more this time around. I found the relationships interesting, some more than others. The relationship between Sylveste and Calvin was one that stood out to me. I liked the other characters but didnt find them so interesting. Im looking forward to actually carrying on in this series this year.]]> 3.99 2000
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Lel
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: definitive-sci-fi, dragon_jetpack_book_of_the_month
review:
This was a slow one for me. The science was quite technical in places and I think the world building was so in depth that the story was neglected a bit to start with. But the pace and the tension picked up from about halfway through, and then it became hard to put down. I will carry on with the series and likely read the prequels at some point.
I re read this 2025 and I think I have liked it more on a re read. I think I have read a lot more sci fi in the middle and that has helped me understand a little more this time around. I found the relationships interesting, some more than others. The relationship between Sylveste and Calvin was one that stood out to me. I liked the other characters but didnt find them so interesting. Im looking forward to actually carrying on in this series this year.
]]> 214283593 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391147 Lel 2 did-not-finish I loved the culture that came through the book, with the food, the interactions of the family and the release of the film in the story line but it wasn't enough to keep me going. I will say a big part of it may be something that happened about 50% to the main character that I experienced in my life, and it is still quite raw to read about, that is in no way the fault of the author and her depictions of the characters at that time are flawless but I just couldnt keep reading. ]]> 4.12 2025
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Lel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: did-not-finish
review:
I received this as an ARC for Netgalley. This is my second or third book by the author and I just dont think that they are for me. The subject sounded so interesting but I just found the book boring. The characters didn't appeal to me and the pace was so so slow. I just found myself not caring and struggling to read it and decided at 50% to put it down.
I loved the culture that came through the book, with the food, the interactions of the family and the release of the film in the story line but it wasn't enough to keep me going. I will say a big part of it may be something that happened about 50% to the main character that I experienced in my life, and it is still quite raw to read about, that is in no way the fault of the author and her depictions of the characters at that time are flawless but I just couldnt keep reading.
]]> 75712384 Four beastly princes. One awkward bookworm. An enchanted world of fae, magic, and danger.

I’ve always loved fairytales. I never imagined I'd actually be in one.

When my father wanders into the enchanted realm of the fae, I know I have to go after him. And when he gets imprisoned, I'll do anything to save him... Even trade my freedom for his. I had no idea I'd end up imprisoned by four sexy fae who turn into beasts at night.

I have to win my freedom, and that means making a bargain with them. They must find their mates in order to break the curse. If I can help them do that, they'll set me free. Sounds simple, right?

It's not. Because against my better judgment, I'm starting to fall for these beastly princes. One is smart and sweet, the other mysterious and deadly, another flirty and confident, and the last prince... He's handsome, strong, has a wicked temper, and is dead-set against breaking the curse. Why does he want to keep me here forever?

But it's not just my freedom on the line. If I don't break the princes' curse soon, all the magic in the Enchanted Vale will be stolen by the evil—and stupidly hot—Prince of Thorns. And I'm not letting my princes stay cursed.

Not after I've fallen in love with them.

BONDED BY THORNS is a steamy adult Beauty and the Beast retelling set in a fantasy fae realm. In this version, our beautiful bookworm doesn't have to choose between the four sexy fae princes. It is a full-length novel that ends on a cliffhanger. It includes MF and MM content. It is intended for mature readers only.]]> 352 Elizabeth Helen 1738827909 Lel 0 to-read 3.94 2023
author: Elizabeth Helen
name: Lel
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53935041 802 Lucas Lex Dejong 1984506110 Lel 0 to-read 4.43
author: Lucas Lex Dejong
name: Lel
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214556427 'Rather splendid' - FINANCIAL TIMES
'Admirably ingenious' - THE TIMES
'A delicious mystery' - DAILY MAIL

A trial is rather like a play.
We wear our costumes. We perform to the audience.
And on a good day no-one gets murdered.

Six nights a week the cast of the smash-hit play Daughter of the Revolution performs to a sold-out audience. A thrilling story of forbidden marriage and a secret love child, the critics say it'll run for years. That is until one night the third act ends not in applause but in death, when leading lady Alexandra Dyce is beheaded live on stage.

Every cast member has a motive, but it is the dead woman's co-star - and ex-husband - Hollywood legend Leo Lusk who is charged with the crime. When defence barrister Charles Konig is brought in last minute, he knows this ought to be the case of a lifetime. But Charles would rather be on his holiday trekking up K2, and he isn't interested in celebrities, especially ones that seem to be mysteriously trying to derail their own defence. But as he and his co-counsel New York lawyer Yara Ortiz sift through the evidence, it becomes clear that clues may lie in the play itself. And that Charles's only chance of victory is to identify the real murderer...

A delightfully clever legal mystery with as many layers as an onion. Perfect for readers of Janice Hallett, Tom Hindle, Rob Rinder and Richard Osman.

'Multi-layered, clever and compelling' - JENNIE GODFREY
'My all rise for a future book of the year' - JANICE HALLETT
'An excellent courtroom drama' - HARRIET TYCE
'Brilliant. Charles Konig is a wonderful character' - IAN MOORE]]> 416 Guy Morpuss 1800818998 Lel 0 to-read 3.96
author: Guy Morpuss
name: Lel
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60399181 Four-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts a glorious tale of identity, resistance, magic and myth.

All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside. 

In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

N.K. Jemisin’s Great Cities Duology, which began with The City We Became and concludes with The World We Make, is a masterpiece of speculative fiction from one of the most important writers of her generation.
]]> 357 N.K. Jemisin 035651269X Lel 4 It was very clever. ]]> 4.05 2022
author: N.K. Jemisin
name: Lel
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:
I really liked this sequel but I am glad that it is now a duology rather than a trilogy. Im not sure what the third book would have been focusing on and Im pleased with how it wrapped up. I still find the idea of avatars of a city really facinating and how their moods and personalities are affected by and in turn effect the cities.
It was very clever.
]]> 214847936 Max has hand-picked her invitees. They're all masters of their fields, titans of their industries -- humanity's best and brightest. Who better to carry on the torch of civilization after the world ends?

From the award-winning team that brought you The Nice House on the Lake comes a chilling continuation of the apocalyptic terror! James Tynion IV (Batman, Detective Comics) and Álvaro Martínez Bueno (Detective Comics, Justice League Dark) reunite to continue their award-winning series with new characters, new threats, and a new perfectly nice house by the sea.

Max has hand-picked her invitees. They're all masters of their fields, titans of their industries -- humanity's best and brightest. Who better to carry on the torch of civilization after the world ends? But these house guests don't know Max, nor do they know each other, and as it turns out, the offer to live forever in the ruins of an empty world might come with some unexpected pitfalls. At least they're all trapped in such a nice house, in such a lovely place, with such lovely company. There's no better place to spend a post-apocalyptic eternity, right?

...Right?

Collects The Nice House by the Sea issues #1-6]]> 168 James Tynion IV 1779530293 Lel 0 to-read 4.36 2025
author: James Tynion IV
name: Lel
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216901397 The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.]]> 432 Robert Jackson Bennett 1399725408 Lel 0 to-read 4.57 2025
author: Robert Jackson Bennett
name: Lel
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61142689
Connecting will change everything��

Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes...

...only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered.

When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call 'Sandy' and goes on the run.

But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien �� close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine…]]> 276 Doug Johnstone 1914585445 Lel 4 3.70 2023
author: Doug Johnstone
name: Lel
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/30
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 58438136
Skandar Smith has always yearned to leave the Mainland and escape to the secretive Island, where wild unicorns roam free. He’s spent years studying for his Hatchery exam, the annual test that selects a handful of Mainlander thirteen-year-olds to train to become unicorn riders. But on the day of Skandar’s exam, things go horribly wrong, and his hopes are shattered…until a mysterious figure knocks on his door at midnight, bearing a message: the Island is in peril and Skandar must answer its call.

Skandar is thrust into a world of epic sky battles, dangerous clashes with wild unicorns, and rumors of a shadowy villain amassing a unicorn army. And the closer Skandar grows to his newfound friends and community of riders, the harder it becomes to keep his secrets—especially when he discovers their lives may all be in graver danger than he ever imagined.]]> 448 A.F. Steadman 1665912731 Lel 3 4.12 2022
author: A.F. Steadman
name: Lel
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/29
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves:
review:

]]> 214151601 The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos.

From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.

But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?

A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.]]> 192 Agustina Bazterrica 1668051885 Lel 0 to-read 3.67 2023
author: Agustina Bazterrica
name: Lel
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12479390
The second book in Robin Hobb’s thrilling fantasy series returns readers to the Six Duchies and the magical world of the Fitz and the Fool.

Fitz has been persuaded back to court, posing as a servant to the decadent Lord Golden (who is the Fool in disguise). In secret, he will train Prince Dutiful in the magic known as the Skill.

The peace remains fragile, so the diplomatic wedding between Dutiful and the Outislander princess is a crucial alliance. But when Elliania arrives she challenges the prince to undertake an impossible quest before she will accept him.

He must kill Icefyre, one of the last true dragons. And Fitz and the Fool must go with him…]]> 641 Robin Hobb 0007370482 Lel 4 4.50 2002
author: Robin Hobb
name: Lel
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves:
review:

]]> 202934215 A new chiller from multi award winning author of over 50 novels, winner of the New York Festival Radio Award for Best Drama Special and Festival Radio Awards.That Which Stands Outside is a horror novel inspired by Nordic folklore. After Todd Kingston rescues Yrsa Helgerson from muggers one rainy London night, their resulting friendship quickly develops into a romance. When Yrsa’s mother dies, Todd accompanies her back to her childhood home, an isolated Nordic island. The reception they receive there is one of suspicion and hostility. The islanders believe Yrsa to be a child of a mythic race called the Jötnar, a claim which Yrsa dismisses as superstitious nonsense. But as the island is rocked by a series of devastating events, Todd finds himself caught up in a terrifying battle, one which possibly threatens the future of the world itself.FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.]]> 368 Mark Morris 1787589331 Lel 0 to-read 3.84
author: Mark Morris
name: Lel
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62834178 Featured Folklore: Anancy, Buck / Baccoo, Chickcharney, Churile, Ciguapa, Douens, Drums, Fairymaid/Mermaid, Gang Gang Sara, Halfway Tree (Silk Cotton Tree), Heartman, Hummingbirds, Jinn. Jumbee/Duppy, Kanaima, La Diablesse, Lagahoo, Lusca, Malju, Mama D’leau, Massacooramaan, Midnight Robber, Moko Jumbie, MoonGazer/Phantom, Papa Bois, River Mumma and the Golden Table, Rolling Calf, Saapin, SouCouYant and the Three-Footed-Horse]]> 68 Marsha Gomes-Mckie Lel 0 to-read 4.80
author: Marsha Gomes-Mckie
name: Lel
average rating: 4.80
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 21671
Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together and keep his demons at bay -- demons that urge him to do terrible things. When Jimmy's daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case. His investigation brings him into conflict with Jimmy, who finds his old criminal impulses tempt him to solve the crime with brutal justice. And then there is Dave, who came home the night Jimmy's daughter died covered in someone else's blood.

A tense and unnerving psychological thriller, Mystic River is also an epic novel of love and loyalty, faith and family, in which people irrevocably marked by the past find themselves on a collision course with the darkest truths of their own hidden selves.]]> 416 Dennis Lehane 0060584750 Lel 0 to-read 4.17 2001
author: Dennis Lehane
name: Lel
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 212294435 A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce.

Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flowerbed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she always thought.

Then the girls arrive.

Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents' will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who just so happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls' assets—not just to bolster her dwindling fortune, but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry.

There's only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara's ghosts…and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and know far more than they should…]]> 368 Camilla Bruce 059372495X Lel 0 to-read 3.51 2025
author: Camilla Bruce
name: Lel
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>