Servant of Earth, was a lot of fun and completely different to Hawley's previous work, the Glimmer Falls series, which I was also fortunate to receive an early copy of.

We start with out main character Kenna, who while trying to save her best friend from being a tribute to the fae, falls through the barrier to their world - The Kingdon of Mistei. Kenna becomes a servant of Lady Lara, the heir of Earth House, who is facing the Immortality Trials and is tasked to aid Lara.

There's a bit of everything in this book. World building with six different houses, Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood each with their own magic system, also as you're learning about the world with Kenna, there's no need for heavy background information which makes Servant an easy book to get into. There is also a tyrannical leader, rebellion but also forbidden love and self-discovery. Kenna, especially, makes a transformation, she becomes more self assured and confident in her decision making - especially with that ending, which I am so happy about. I was worried that Kenna would be put on the backburner near the end supporting the decisions of other characters rather than making choices for herself. Which is why I was so happy that Hawley decided to shift the power dynamics near the end.

Servant of Earth is my favourite Hawley book so far, I'm so annoyed about the wait for book two. I just want Drustan and Oriana to take a nice walk off a high cliff and Kallan to make his move.

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group, Gollancz and Sarah Hawley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

One trope to describe Sorcery and Small Magics: Forced Proximity.

Leo through a mishap with some paperwork is accidently cursed to obey every command given by his rival Grimm, Leo and Grimm don't get along Leo is dyeing Grimms hair pink and a coming up with songs that do nothing for Grimm's popularity. 

Sorcery and Small Magics: is super cozy and perfect for October, so add this to your cozy, autumnal reading list. There's magic, mushrooms, music and witches in tall towers perhaps not in that order. I thought the premise was cute forced proximity is always a favourite with rivals to lovers, combine it with a slow burn romance and you've got a winning combination. 

I liked it and I want to read book two. My only issue/s are that Leo is a self-destructive protagonist and those are my least favourite, well them and the annoying ones, I'm an equal opportunity protagonist hater. He faces a lot of trouble throughout this book but most of it he causes himself. Leo is also a terrible friend there's really only one person he thinks about and that's himself, it was odd just how clear at times Agnes had to make herself that it wasn't all about Leo, even Grimm had to make a comment to Leo about the rich/poor divide between themselves - he just wasn't aware of anything outside himself. It was that lack of awareness and the self-loathing and a childishness that was at times insufferable and which made Leo an unbearable MC. That being said, we had character development which I love, Sybilla thank goodness for her saved the day, no doubt my favourite character. Leo developed into a slightly more bearable man, but I didn't like that ending to me it seemed odd that Grimm would have been find with the ending. I don't quite know how to phrase it without giving the game away. 

We don't get an actual conclusion, which is because Sorcery and Small Magics is the start of a new trilogy! I'm very excited to see where we go with Leo and Grimm and look forward to continuing the series.

Thank you, Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit, Netgalley and Maiga Doocy for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself wanting more from Until We Shatter. I thought the plot was great but the execution could have been better. Across 330 pages Dylan attempts to pack in a heist, romance, magic system, hundreds of years of history and political strife. There was honestly too much going on, and so certain areas displayed a lock of development. Character development was lacking, Cem was the most developed as she should be as the main character but the others found themselves merely payers on her stage, even when they were supposed to be second leads. The history/world building could have been better, a bit more on the origin of the church and council I felt that the history we were given was very surface level and used more as a plot device then anything else.

The positive aspects were of course Dylan's writing, there's not really a dull moment, we move from action to action to action which helps the book maintain it's fast pacing. It's also a standalone, so there's nothing else to focus on but the contents of this one book. Which caused other problems, it was too short. Until We Shatter could have been pushed to 400 to perhaps get in that character development that was lacking Cem was annoying and she never really got better. She's told to do one thing her entire life and it's not even that big of thing and the first thing she does when taking charge of her life and mind you this was at the last 20% was do the exact opposite? I just questioned why I was reading this. It didn't help that at the end of the book nothing changed. Had the situation be better or worse I would have been fine, but the fact that I put up with Cem being an annoying protagonist and I was left unfulfilled at the end of Until We Shatter really got to me.

Thank you, Hodder & Stoughton, Netgalley and Kate Dylan for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Nobody conquers the world with insincere lies".

Blood of the Old Kings is dark than I thought it was going to be, and I'm talking about Lysandros. I needed a fantasy, since I was coming off a five star fantasy read and I wanted to keep the momentum going and boy did BotOKs deliver.

There was such a wider range of representation throughout the book with POVs alternating between Loran, a widow in her mid thirties, to Arienne a young scholar and Cain, a young man trying to solve the murder of his friend. I say wide range even though it may not seem like it because one of our protagonists is in her mid-thirties and I never really see books with this. Loran is a window, having lost her husband and child to the Imperial Prefect, she decides to see out the dragon (who looks amazing on the cover) for aid against the empire in the process becoming princess of Arland (that's not a spoiler btw).

I thought the magic system was great, it felt new and creative as did the execution, The concept of power generators and a dial of destiny was fun as was the exploration of magic, especially for Arienne. But also, dragon magic. It's fun.

"Victory or defeat matters less than the fact that we fight".

Obviously, BotOKs is translated from Korean to English, so there's probably alot of the origonal magic that got lost in that translation but I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to read BotOKs, thank you to Anton Hur for the lovely translation.

I am awaiting my hard copy of the book and very excited to see what the next book brings.

Thank you, Sung-il Kim, Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I finished Heir at 3:30 am and was left reeling. I'm heartbroken and excited for more, is it too early to be asking about book two? I haven't felt the way I feel about Heir, about a book in a long time. That sort of childish excitement about finishing a book came back in full force for Heir. I was coming up with theories (all wrong, by the way), voice messaging @thebooksnek about how stupid I was because I couldn't connect any dots. I had favourite characters - they changed every few chapters though so I was in no way loyal. I started out disliking Quil and then I loved him, Sirsha gave strong, independent woman from the start. The magic system and world building by Sabba was phenomenal. I was making notes in my reading journal so I could keep track and again attempt to connect the dots. I loved that I missed all the plots twists, Heir was a breath of fresh air, I was "sad, confused and happy in the best way". I can't wait to do it again for book two.

I also got to buddy read Heir in a group with @turningpagespatty @readsofashy booksinherhands @booklovingnerd_87 @lexis_reads and document my reading experience on my stories for the first time I had so much fun suffering with you all and having my heart broken by Sabaa.

Thank you very much to Sabba Tahir and Atom books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If Saint has one fan it's me. I loved Odd Spirits. It's a perfect slice of life for Rhys and Moira and seeing how marriage isn't perfect but also how they work through the Marital issues they face and I think it provides a lovely prologue or entry into Evocation as you get a peak of the dynamics you expect to find. I liked that we got a little cameo of David, who is undoubtedly my favourite.

The edition I got to read was stunning, internal illustrations and formatting. It was beautiful seeing Moira and Rhys come to life. 

Thank you Saint, Angry Robot and Netgalley got the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had so much fun reading Shoestring Theory, it was definitly a right place right time kind of book, I was coming off reading two books that weren't really for me and I need a light (ish) pick me up. Shoestring Theory does deal with dark themes like war, unaliving and animal passing but I don't think it detracts from the fun, whimsy, fantasy vibes that Costa creates. There exists a fine balance between all the themes which in my opinion, alongside, the goods vibes I had reading Shoestring Theory made this book a five star read.

We start the story with Cyril our male protagonist unaliving himself, the death of his cat familliar Shoestring and time travel, so from the start I would say this book may be a trigger for some and to completely avoid it if that is case. Cyril, a powerful mage, travels back several years in times to undo the past, as his husband has in the future or past depending on how you look at it become a tyrant.

I'm not sure who my favourite character was, okay I lie, it was Tigris, she was the only one who had her stuff together. I apologies to Cyril and Eufrates but they were both total idiots half the time. I was rooting for Cyril, It was very odd because normally I detest whiny characters, a part of me always wants to slap them across the face with a newspaper and say "pull yourself together" but I think with Cyril it worked. A lot of Cyril's journey was confidence based, he's self-loathing and self-deprecating and it was interesting to see how that impacted a man that was almost fifty but also how in the presence of a friend it's almost as if no time has past and you can revert to your younger self.

I enjoyed Shoestring Theory and I'm very excited to read what Mariana Costa writes in the future, I think I've found another auto-buy author.

Thank you Angry Robot, Netgally and  Mariana Costa.

Yu Yoyo a poet writes about cats in Invisible Kitties: a cute collection of cat centric writing. 

My favourite part was probably the chapter titled Doughball I thought it captured domestic bliss nicely. Marbles definitely creeped me out and now whenever I think of cats eyes I think of marbles and vice versa. I feel quite like cat, in that I don't like clutter on my desk either and the urge to just clear so that I have this free space is very much in me.

Overall, I think this is prefect for cat lovers, and cat enthusiasts, I couldn't relate to a lot of the chapters as I think you have to really love cats to be able to appreciate them but I thought the illustrations were darling and the creativity to liken cats to so many things is awesome.

Thank you to Fourth Estate, Netgalley and Yu Yoyo for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.