i have been loving this series so very much, and after finishing the ashes & the star-cursed king i immediately wanted more, therefore i picked this up also assuming it would be a banger like the rest of this series. oh friends, i am experiencing heartbreak as i type this mini review.
i believe that this in-between story, set in this world at a different time period, was to help us learn more about the goddesses, in particular nyaxia and (view spoiler)[her cousin (hide spoiler)] arachessen. yet, that’s all it really did for me because i just could not get into this story, these characters, their romance, their dynamics with other characters, or anything really. this was ultimately just such a let down for me, but i will still be picking up the songbird & the heart of stone come fall!
content warnings mentioned in author’s note at beginning of this book: violence, war, drug addiction. Violence against children, explicit sexual situations
additional trigger + content warnings i wrote down while reading: loss of a loved one, loss of a friend, cult depiction, colonization, drowning, grief, murder, death, a lot of blood depictions, captivity, body control powers, drugging, talk of the subject of rape, power imbalance dynamics / child abuse, slavery mention, extreme drug withdrawal, talk of animal death, graphic detailed mentions of eating animals
i have a very big soft spot for all the characters in this story, and i truly will read anything about kate daniels forever and ever because she realli have a very big soft spot for all the characters in this story, and i truly will read anything about kate daniels forever and ever because she really is such a big reason why i love urban fantasy and paranormal romance so much still in 2023. In this somewhat spinoff, we get to see her as a mom, in a new city, and claiming a new town that needs a little more protection currently and for what is to come. ee get to see the state of the pack now that curran and kate have left, we get to see kate find out some new information involving her daughter, julie, and this really is starting to set up for what is to come.
but in this installment we see them try to help a little house that is trapped in the forest that is part of their property. i personally really enjoyed this one because it ended up having fae as a part of the mystery. the reason i ultimately gave this three stars, despite all this nostalgia praise, is because i don’t know how i feel about conlan being only eight years old and having to do the things he has to do. i understand this is very much a dystopian version of our world, and he is part shapeshifter, but it still makes me feel bad while reading. but i still will carry on with whatever ilona andrews gives us next!
trigger + content warnings: mention of loss of pet in past, death, murder, human sacrifice, mention of cancer, blood, battle, gore, talk of loss of family in past, slavery, animal cruelty, animal death, spore depictions, brief mention of sexual assault and rape in past, self harm to get blood for magic, abuse mentions (both children and the elderly)
“I came here to excise my greatest weakness, and instead, I now offer up my heart to it.”
i just really adore this series, and this world, and i hope that carrissa broadbent chooses to forever write stories within it. i am a little sad that this duology technically is the end of oraya and raihn’s journey, but i am very excited for what is to come (especially knowing who the next tale will be about)!
this is a story about three vampire houses, all fighting to rule, and all proving how cutthroat they will be to remain in power. both of our main characters are viewed as lesser in this vampire ruled world, but for very different reasons that could be a bit spoilery, but what i will say is that they both have a soft spot for humans. book one was all about a tournament where the winner (and sole survivor) would be granted a wish from their goddess, and this book is about the ramifications of that wish being granted.
this is a fantasy romance, but i actually think the romance in this is one of the best of the genre. seeing these two people come together and heal from their pasts together is really beautiful. their relationship is so complicated and layered and it was really a joy reading and rooting for them, against all odds (and all the situations the world really forced them in).
yet, my favorite relationship in this book was between oraya and her father, vincent. the amount of tears this book was able to evoke from me was wild. it was so reminiscent of madoc and jude, yet in just a much more healthy and heartfelt way. relationships are hard, and humans are able to experience such a wide range of emotions simultaneously, and this book really showcases that both with vincent and with raihn (obviously very differently)! but truly, the tabs i have in this book just because of this father and daughter relationship is actually mind blowing, but watching oraya unpack her feelings and heal her heart and come into her own peace was so deserving of every tab. it was really beautiful, and really an honor to read and think about, and i really appreciated the discussions happening in this very multi-layered story.
content warnings mentioned in author’s note at beginning of this book: graphic violence, violence against children, discussion of sexual assault and rape, and slavery
additional trigger + content warnings i wrote down while reading: loss of parent in past, loss of loved one in past, grief, ptsd, suicidal ideation (and comments and thoughts about it), war, death, murder, captivity, blood, gore, self harm to get blood (for magic and for other things), vomit, drugging, and i just really want to emphasize how much this book talked about sa in the past – please use caution and make sure you are in a good headspace.
“My blood. My books. My knowledge. Anything. It is yours.”
i might be stretching a bit, but this felt like a lilith origin story mixed with beauty and the beast reimagining... and i loved it. and because of consuming way too many lilith stories, i am so excited to see how these characters are incorporated into the rest of this series. and i really loved lilith in this story, and how she was older, and neurodivergent, and a scientist, and how big her heart was.
this story is all about her trying to find a cure for a sickness that has taken her town, and soon her sister, because her father spited a god. But on the outskirts of town lives a vampire all by himself, and maybe his blood could help lilith find a cure before it is too late. and they make a deal that will cost her six perfect roses in return for vials of his blood each transaction.
i really loved this, i loved both characters, the empathy, the healing, the discoveries of medicine and gods and each other. This is truly so very close to a five star for me. and the way the author was really able to give a fully fleshed out tale, with so much heart and empathy, that is completely different in every way to the introduction of this world in the first book, in under 200 pages, it is just so impressive. i highly recommend this one.
trigger + content warnings: loss of a parent, death in child birth mention, plague, death, blood, drawing blood, needles, animal testing mentions, robbing involving physical assault, threat of sexual assault, grief, sibling illness, gore, violence, battle / fighting, mention of war, panic attacks
i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the earlARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the early 2010s, reading all the paranormal romances known to man (or that our moms kept on their bookshelves). the nostalgia for books like riley jenson, black dagger brotherhood, kate daniels were so very felt. yet, this book completely stands on its own and is a really good book that i highly recommend.
and this book had so many of my favorite paranormal romance trope sets - forbidden romance, bonded fated mates, and of course a marriage of convenience between our two main characters:
➛ misery - vampyre who has been living amongst humans her whole life, but finds herself as the key component in an alliance that will keep the peace with her people, while also having her own human inspired agenda for this forced arrangement.
➛ lowe - werewolf alpha who is still asserting his new dominance over his people, while also trying to assess who he can trust or not, while also being an amazing caretaker for his little sister.
“I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”
and they had me truly rooting for them, unable to put this book down, after the very first scene of them together. but this also has a pretty big mystery plotline that took me by surprise, and also completely enthralled me. and ultimately this had such a big emphasis on found family and finding your own pack of people you love and trust unconditionally that i feel like i just ended up loving the entire cast of side characters too.
let’s just embrace the bullet points and quickly talk about other things i really loved: ➛ obviously vampires and werewolves ➛ arranged marriage but forbidden romance ➛ one bed scene(s) ➛ the cutest little sibling ever ➛ the sweetest brother and sister relationship x2 ➛ and also a really heartwarming found family / best friend relationship ⤷ It was truly giving bryce and danika but better ➛ a big appreciation of peanut butter ➛ an amazing epilogue that will hopefully set up a book two in this world
i will say that there was a very unnecessary and annoying third act conflict that just didn’t make sense to me (and made me side eye lowe a little), but i still really enjoyed this one and it was such a fast paced read that really tugged at my heartstrings in all the found family ways. i think i just really like ali hazlewood’s stories, and i always end up connecting with them on some level, and that just enhances my reading experience each and every time. i recommend this to all my romance friends, but i extra recommend it to all my pnr friends who want a little extra nostalgia on top of a really good story.
lastly, and least importantly, if i ever dated anyone named misery, i feel like i would have to send hayley williams or paramore royalties. because the way misery business was living in my head rent free while reading this was actually insane.
content warnings from the author(please use caution for potential spoilers): death of several people within the context of a war between different species (vampires, werewolves, and humans) is mentioned, several mentions of blood, kidnapping, mild violence, poisoning and attempted murder, attempted kidnapping/harming of a child (she is unharmed), death of a parent (off page in the past and off page in the present), explicit and graphic sexual content, knotting (the mmc’s apparatus is not quite human?), cursing and vulgar language
other trigger + content warnings i found while reading (ali's books really do have such good tws - i am always so thankful and impressed): missing friend, mention of sickness of child (she is fine), spider mentions, brief mention of death during childbirth, brief mention of loss of a partner in past, mention of vomit, parental abuse and neglect, and violence
[image] my amazing friend nadia gifted me this signed copy! i am so thankful and you'll never know how much i love ali's bat ...more
“One day love became not an offering of safety, but a reminder of everything cruel and dangerous in the world.”
human girl adopted and raised by a
“One day love became not an offering of safety, but a reminder of everything cruel and dangerous in the world.”
human girl adopted and raised by a king of vampires, enters a cutthroat magical tournament which honors the goddess of vampires, who will grant the winner any one wish of their asking, also with a romance brewing in the backdrop which is making each new trail more and more difficult and confusing. oh friends, i ate this up with a spoon and i am here typing this mini review and begging my postman to deliver the novella and second book of this series immediately!
for the twilight girls, the hunger games girls, the girls who love enemies to lovers with a different hidden enemies to lovers within. the girls who love complicated father daughter relationships (the “never you” truly broke me into a million pieces) !! i really had a good time with this one, and carissa broadbent really knows how to write an endearing main character that you can’t help but put your entire heart into rooting for. the hype is totally warranted for this fantasy romance, in my opinion.
trigger + content warnings: loss of family/loss of loved ones throughout this book, blood, parental abuse, murder, gore, self harm to get blood, nightmares, ptsd, grief, self harm mention in past, vomit, violence, anxiety, war, torture, battle, sexual assault in past, insinuation of rape in past, forced starvation (vampires with blood), animal death, slavery, captivity, fire, ableist terms for disabilities
i am such a huge hafsah faizal fan, and i truly will anticipate and read everything they ever choose to create. their stories are always filled with si am such a huge hafsah faizal fan, and i truly will anticipate and read everything they ever choose to create. their stories are always filled with so much heart and i think i will forever just become so obsessed with the characters they write. and the main character of this book, arthie, was maybe the easiest to love yet.
arthie runs a bloodhouse, well, a tearoom during the day, but a bloodhouse at night - both safe spaces for her crew. because in this historical london, vampires and known and feared, especially because twenty years ago a vampire killer was never found. but when the tearoom is threatened, arthie must set out to find secrets and gather her crew (both old and new) for a heist that could maybe change everything.
and that mini synopsis sounds amazing, right? but this is also a story about colonialism and living in the country that colonized your family. this book also heavily talks about the difference between first and second (or 0 and 1) generation immigrants and how they view the world and their colonizers. this also deeply discusses racism and colorism and the difference of being biracial and/or being more white passing (and how those first visual impressions from people/oppressors can offer very different outcomes in every single situation). arthie is a very angry character, and that might not work for everyone, but the girls who get it are going to get it and are going to fall very quickly in love with her, and just want to protect her from a historical world that feels a lot like 2024 at times. also, there are two other povs as well, even though i just accidentally wrote up a paragraph on arthie. but i promise jin and flick (and laith and matteo) are amazing as well!
also, this central setting/backdrop being a teahouse? with tea and comfort and safety and gathering and community? that's a very heartfelt galaxy brain setting, if i do say so myself. this book really just had so much to easily feel very deeply and fall in love with.
it does have a cliffhanger ending though, which i am still screaming about, but i am also counting the days until i can get my hands on book two. this book actually has a lot of twists and turns that i did not see coming, which was very unexpected, but made the reading experience even more fun. overall, i really recommend this one and truly can’t wait to see what hafsah faizal does next.
trigger + content warnings: blood, violence, gore, racism, colorism, kidnapping in past, colonization, colonialism, fire, explosions, loss of family in past, grief, human trafficking, drugging, abusive parents, forced military / soldiers
there is something just extra cool and extra harrowing about all these stories taking place under the same ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
there is something just extra cool and extra harrowing about all these stories taking place under the same moon on the same halloween night. very galaxy brain of these editors. Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane was my very personal favorite - it really meant the entire world to me. and Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle is one i feel so thankful to have been able to read, and i know it will sit inside my heart forever. but here are my thoughts on all the stories in this collection, and i think so many people are gonna have a good time with this one, especially if you read this during spooky season.
━━♡ Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban ★★
“If you would've just waited for me to tell you I felt the same, if you would've never come here, I'd be yours. We'd be ours.”
i was obsessed with this sinking abandoned hotel setting, but sadly that was one of the few things i did like about this short story. i kept waiting for a different kind of revenge story to start because of the set up, but, sadly again, i was let down.
tw/cw: drinking, drugs, mention of bullying in past, brief mention of seizure in past (insinuating bc of overdose or excessive drug use), death
━━♡ The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron ★★★
“They were like beacons in an endless abyss of grief.”
this story has a few lines that made me tear up. this is a very sweet and spooky tale about a girl and her father celebrating halloween and honoring someone they lost. i feel like the author did such a good job conveying so many different emotions and feelings in the different scenes in this short work, i was really impressed.
tw/cw: loss of a parent in the past, grief
━━♡ A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan ★★★
“Whenever someone talks about the "good old days," they forget to mention who it was "good" for.”
okay truly, drive in movies are just the perfect creepy setting, especially ones that are closed for halloween because of a generational secret being kept. i really liked both of our main characters in this one, and i liked seeing this secret unravel alongside them.
tw/cw: blood, gore, brief hospital setting, mention of fatal car crash in past, microaggressions, vomiting, animal death (rats)
━━♡ Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells ★★★
“Mrs. Choi thought Guested parties were white people nonsense or the work of the devil. Sometimes both.”
you all know a story about sibling love is always going to get me, and this being told in second person really amplified all the feelings. i will say, i just didn't enjoy the ending of this one, but the concept was really unique and smart, and the writing was very captivating - i would love to read more from this author.
tw/cw: very brief mention of parents divorcing + death of a parent, possession, depression depiction
━━♡ Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson ★★★★★
“There is no God here tonight. Only me, and I am vengeful.”
this short story is worth reading the entire anthology for alone. this was truly everything for me and, even though it pulled on everything inside my heart, the very vulnerable, real, + raw feelings were just so powerful to me. this is exactly what i want in horror, because, at the end of the day, humans are more horrifying than any paranormal creature could ever dream of being.
tw/cw: needle imagery, toxic friendship, codependency depiction, chronic pain mention, homophobia, homophobic slurs, blood, abuse, ouija board, very brief mention of domestic abuse + parental abuse + loss of a parent + murder in past with a side character. this story has a central focus on a gay hate crime / gay bashing - please use caution while reading and make sure you're in the right headspace
━━♡ The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown ★★★
“Terrifying Bob won't even mess with the Jollibee, which makes me sad on his behalf.”
my favorite part of this was just how filipinos really do normalize ghosts + spirits hahaha. but i really loved the set up of this one, and i felt like it's really different than anything else in this collection. i loved these characters instantly too, and the sibling relationship made my heart so happy in so few pages. i just really didn't love the end of this one and it left me more confused than anything else. but i would happily read a full-length story with this crew + their new friend!
tw/cw: talk of death + possession
━━♡ Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran ★★
“You can love something so hard that you hate it at the same time. Each shortcoming hurts more because you care. The city and my body are like that.”
ahhh, this one is going to be a bit hard to write feelings for just because this story is centered around one of those "if you dont do BLANK, then BLANK will happen" on the internet things - and i just loath those so much. but then it just got more and more gross and confusing, and added so much that just didn't need to be there, but felt like they were added because it was a halloween anthology. we got to see some heartfelt themes of grief and the helplessness you feel when you lose someone you love - and i loved that - but sadly everything else just overshadowed it for me.
tw/cw: asian hate crime, racism, loss of a loved one, grief depiction, graphic animal cruelty + death for a ritual, insect mention, blood
━━♡ Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittleman ★★★★★
“The smell of sampaguita fills the air. It's coming from you, the magic that's always been you, that you've finally given yourself the ability to unlock.”
not only my favorite of the collection, but a brand new all time favorite short story. this was everything and so very powerful. i might be a little biased because i am fillipino (and i have a matching sampaguita tattoo with my cousin haha), but i think this story is truly just perfection, while being so deep in culture and so deep in heart. and i was weeping through the ending with a smile on my face. the author was so galaxy brain for this entire story, but the amount of hope it was able to evoke from me too. i really am speechless.
whatever this author does next, i will be in the publisher's emails begging for an arc, because these few pages truly made me feel not only seen, but like i am finding a brand new all time favorite author.
tw/cw: talk of loss of a parent in the past, mention of deaths, one sentence mention of whitening cream/treatment
━━♡ In You to Burn by Em X. Liu ★★
“Magic wasn't real, after all. There were better, more mundane ways to explain things.”
ah, i wish i would have loved this one more. i am not really sure what to say other than maybe the writing just wasn't for me. but the plot just seemed a little all over and i wasn't really sure where the story was going most of the time. it also felt very long to me.
tw/cw: fires, drinking, blood, death
━━♡ Anna by Shelly Page ★★★★
“I know that bone-deep loneliness that comes with being abandoned and the fear that it'll keep happening no matter what you do.”
okay i think this story was like exactly what i was expecting from this collection, and it just was really good and really halloween spooky. it was the paranormal scariest of them all for me, and i was really feeling the eeriness while reading (and while finishing). a good reminder why i love short story collections so much, because i am now very excited to read more from this author.
tw/cw: abandonment, child abuse in past, starvation, ouija board
━━♡ Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim ★★★★
“Halloween. One way or another, he was going to get rid of this poltergeist for good.”
oh this was just a good read all around, and so different in tone from the rest of the collection. and it just really made my heart overflow with happiness, while still being spooky. i know these are fictional characters, but i really wish them the best because they were able to get into my heart in so few pages!
tw/cw: ghost leaving scratches on children, blood, implied loss of a parent in past
━━♡ Save Me from Myself by Ayida Shonibar ★★★★
“Today, my outside resembles the way I feel within. ”
this really is the short story from this collection that is going to be the hardest (and most all over the place) to talk about. i loved this story, i loved what it was doing, i loved that i very easily could see how much this will mean to so many teens, especially queer bipoc teens, who i know are feeling these things, thinking these things, and seeing themselves like this main character. this is an important and powerful read, and was able to evoke so much emotion from me. but i just absolutely hated the end of this. i felt like it was for shock value and just felt terrible when the rest of this story was everything i could have hoped for for this collection. again, i feel like this is just a hard one to talk about, but it still is a bright, but heartbreaking, shining light in this collection for me.
tw/cw from author at start of this story: suicidal ideation, death tw/cw that i found additionally: mention of parent abandonment, loss of a friend, loss of a parent, and... so many intrusive thoughts
━━♡ Knickknack by Ryan Douglass ★★★
“And...how do we find a sacrifice worthy of his Clownliness?”
truly, very few things in this life are scarier than clowns. and a clown who is a ghost and kidnaps and kills children? like, i was unsettled from start to end! i also really enjoyed the queer rep in this because i think its a very relatable "is this person maybe queer too" highschool experience, and i know a lot of people will be able to relate. this was spooky and sweet and i had a good time with it.
tw/cw: murder in past, death in past, kidnapping, brief one sentence mention of parent alcohol addiction and cheating of a parent, just not the best parents in general, brief mention on bullying in past, mention of 4chan, ouija board.
“It's you. It will always be you, until the end of time.”
man oh man, maybe stephanie garber just can’t stick the landing of her series because this is exactly what happened to me with caraval trilogy. why did we get multiple povs all of the sudden? and one pov that felt so completely not needed! ahhhh, i still love evangeline and jacks but i just can’t help but feel so disappointed. and i will still read whatever this author creates next because i love her world, i love how she writes whimsy, i love her purple prose, but i think i really need to adjust my expectations for the last book. this last installment truly just felt rushed and messy. the build up of angst and suspense (and the cliffhanger from heck) from the previous books, to just everything thrown at us in this book and ending it with a very lackluster conclusion (and feelings).
trigger + content warnings: loss of a parent in past, loss of a loved one in past, extreme magical manipulation, gaslighting, death, murder, violence, gore, a lot of blood imagery, self harm to get blood for magic, brief moment of suicidal ideation, drugging, and a brief moment of drowning.
“In the morning, you can forget it. You can go back to pretending you don't like me, and I can pretend that I don't care. But for tonight, let me pretend you're mine.”
The inn setting/scene in this book deserves six stars. This is just such a fun series, that is filled with so much angst, and it truly feels impossible for me to stop turning the pages once i get sucked into stephanie garber’s worlds. I enjoyed this one even more than the first, and i will be begging flatiron for an arc of book three come this autumn - because that end? Sick and twisted in the best way imaginable.
“Welcome home. Welcome back. We missed you. I missed you more than I should have, more than I wanted to. I went to hell for you. I’d do it again.”
a reminder that 3 star ratings aren't bad ratings hehehe! i enjoyed this, i just didn't love it the way i wish i did... but that's okay because i still had a really good time turning these pages! this is still such a powerful series, and i can't wait for whatever book three has in store! <3
trigger + content warnings: loss of a loved one, blood depictions, abuse, mentions of rape in past, murder, death, gore, panic attacks, fire, talk of attempted suicide, talk of suicide, self harm for blood for magic, possession and compulsion, bullying, brief mentions of overdosing, drugs, drugs use, police brutality, cancer mention, vomiting, heat attack mention, animal death, talk of electric shock therapy, mentions of bugs/maggots/spiders, and very bad and abusive relationships with people and with parents in the past. this book can get very dark at times and has constant themes of abuse - please use caution while reading and make sure you're in a good space for it in your life.
Oh my gosh, this world is so cozy and the art and coloring is just extra autumnal and perfect feeling right now. We love a witch with little magical vOh my gosh, this world is so cozy and the art and coloring is just extra autumnal and perfect feeling right now. We love a witch with little magical vegetables, growing gardens but also growing within themselves too! We follow Garlic as she braves the woods, away from her family, to see if a vampire is truly living in the castle on the hill! And even with her anxieties, she knows she wants to protect her loved ones! This was really cute and sweet - and perfect for all ages!
tw/cw: anxiety depiction
thank you so much, destiny, for the recommendation ♡
[image] (i took this book with me to the oogie boogie bash!)
Rin chupeco is an author who means a lot to me, and their stories (the full spectrum of the[image] (i took this book with me to the oogie boogie bash!)
Rin chupeco is an author who means a lot to me, and their stories (the full spectrum of the range in which they write) always feel like coming home to me. But a queer polyamorous with vampires and vampire hunters Castlevania inspired tale… it just felt extra good to read. The atmosphere was everything and i knew from the first chapter i was really going to adore this one.
Also, bonus extra i suppose: this book has like my favorite cover art of all time. I am obsessed.
tw/cw: death, murder, a lot of blood depiction, gore, violence, needle depiction, brief mentions of miscarriages/still births, a lot of talk of medical experimentation, a lot of talk of virus and mutated strands, ableist language (always in a negative light), parental abuse, unwanted sexual acts/forced prostitution/implied rape, and an animal death (horse).
“I made you into my private Christ, supplicated with my own dark devotions.”
I love epistolary novels, but this one could very well be my favorite.
“I made you into my private Christ, supplicated with my own dark devotions.”
I love epistolary novels, but this one could very well be my favorite. This is a reimagining of dracula, but told from the pov of his first bride who is writing a letter to him about their story, and we learn from the very first letter that she became his downfall. But this is also a story about abusive relationships and how power dynamics, manipulation, gaslighting, are sometimes very difficult to see. We get to see their story unfold from the very first day he made her a vampire under the promise of saving her to the very end where promises of love could no longer be masked as unconditional.
This book also very much discusses consent and how power dynamics and manipulation also can play a part in an individual saying yes when they may not under other healthier and safer circumstances. And also just… how hard it can be to leave an abusive relationship… especially when he is a powerful immortal vampire.
There is a lot of overall morally grey things happening too, and something in part 3 I just personally didn’t love - so that is why this sadly did not receive a full five stars from me. But everything else was actual perfection, the writing felt like eating honey in reading form (truly some of the best prose I've read in years), and overall this was such a powerful read that i know i will keep with me forever.
trigger + content warnings: blood, war, death, murder, abuse, gaslighting, ptsd, trauma, grief, depression, self harm for blood, self harm (with needle), anxiety, plague, medical experimentation, brief mention of human trafficking, loss of a loved one
“I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.”
I didn’t know
“I believe there are far more possibilities than happily ever after or tragedy. Every story has the potential for infinite endings.”
I didn’t know how i’d feel about this one, because even though i loved jacks in the caraval series, he didn’t wrap up that trilogy on the best note for me. But I think i just really like stephanie garber’s writing, and she crafts a type of fairytale whimsy feeling that i just really vibe with as a reader. Yes, give me all the descriptions of clothes and food and gardens and magical doors, i want it all. And then throw in a magical prophecy, some twists and turns with deadly kisses, and some mysterious princes, and i am going to flip those pages with lightning speed. I had so much fun with this, truly. And dare i say, i even liked evangeline more than scarlett and donatella, pink hair and all. (view spoiler)[but their cameo did make my heart oh so happy. (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[oh! and this book introduces vampires to this world! and i really was NOT expecting, haha! (hide spoiler)]
trigger + content warnings: blood depictions, self harm to get blood for magic, loss of loved ones (parents), death, violence, a little gore, a lot of magical compulsion, + a mean step parent / parental verbal abuse.
the way i really thought this was the last book of the series lmaooooo! but so much just.... didn't happen after that amazing start and before that really powerful (& omg all the twists) ending. but i had a good time for the most part while reading this, even with so many lulls throughout. but i am begging for kieran to just get his own book.
content and trigger warnings: blood depiction, captivity, violence, gore, talk of death of a child/murder, talk of children being hurt, talk of loss of a loved one in the past, snakes/ophidiophobia, and war themes.
i enjoyed book one so much more, sadly ;___; but i still had such a fun time reading! and maybe some polyamory rep in the n1.) From Blood and Ash ★★★★
i enjoyed book one so much more, sadly ;___; but i still had such a fun time reading! and maybe some polyamory rep in the next book, or maybe i'm truly just a clown all around <3
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