The Hazel Wood: ★★★.5
The Night Country: ★★★.5

If you haven't read The Hazel Wood yet, probably don't read this review??

Well, I didn't get my wish that Alice wouldn't be the main focus of this book and it would instead be about all the other, much more interesting stories as they figure out life after the Hinterland. But oh well, I still enjoyed this one, although not as much as The Hazel Wood.

So what's going on here?
After the death of the Hinterland, all the stories and wanderers within have to deal with life in our world, without magic and all the things that made them them. For many, this is as good as a death sentence. For others, it literally is. Someone is murdering the Hinterlanders, someone with ice in their hands that leaves everyone believing it's Alice herself. So Alice leaves it up to herself to clear her name and solve the mystery before anyone else gets hurt, but things are a lot more complicated than she ever thought possible. In another world, Ellery Finch is on another journey, with the hope that it might lead him back home and back to the girl he left behind.

What I loved
As with my review of The Hazel Wood, my absolute favourite thing about this series is the world. I am in love with both portal fantasy and fairytales, and this series gives me both of those deliciously served up on a silver platter. While the world building in The Night Country wasn't as good as it was in the first book, as this was more focused on plot and characters, it still was enough to hold my interest because, and I'll talk about this more in the next section, I'm really only into this series for the world and not at all for the characters and plot. Melissa Albert has created such a wonderful world that I wish I could dive into and live in.


What I didn't love
Again, same as my review for the first book, I really don't care about the characters and the plot very much. The side characters that I loved in the first book weren't in this one unfortunately, and the new characters that were introduced didn't feel fully developed to me. I had a hard time connecting with anyone, or caring whatsoever about any of the stuff happening to them. I enjoyed the parts with Finch world hopping with that one girl who's name I completely forgot (and who was pretty much completely irrelevant?? What even happened to her after that thing at the end? I literally have no idea where she went omg I don't remember), but that wasn't a huge part of the book. I really wish this book had more focus on Finch, he is way more interesting, ESPECIALLY THAT WORLD WITH THE BOOKS TO OTHER WORLDS?? WHAT???? PLEASE GIVE ME A WHOLE BOOK OF THAT!! Anyways. That about sums it up

Overall thoughts
I did still really like this series, it just wasn't what I hoped it would be. There is a whole lot of room for spinoffs though that could potentially give me what I wanted. So hopefully one day Melissa Albert will write those, even just a book of short stories would be cool. I know the Tales From the Hinterland is going to be released at some point and I'm hyped for that, so maybe she'll do a book of Finch's stories too. I can only dream!!

This was good! A good solid read. It wasn't amazing or a new favourite or anything but I'm definitely glad I read it

So what’s going on here?
Ekata Avenko thinks she has her life planned out, or the next several years of it at least; in a few days she will travel south, away from her kingdom made of ice, attend the university there, and eventually study biology for the rest of her days. However everything changes in an instant when, in the middle of the night, she is suddenly crowned grand duke of Kylma Above. Being the middle child in a family of 13, she did not expect to ever have the throne, nor did she ever want it. But her entire family, save for her, has been put into a magic-induced sleep that no one knows how to cure. And so Ekata is thrust into a world of politics, back-stabbing, an annoying and cruel foreign king, and a sudden marriage to a woman who's name she doesn't even know, all before her morning coffee. Not to mention the apparent plot to overthrow her, and possibly also murder her. No big deal. But due to a magical deal made with Kylma Below hundreds of years ago, an Avenko must always be sitting on the thrown. And so Ekata must work tirelessly to find the cure to wake her family, before the entire kingdom melts to nothing around her.

What I loved
First and foremost, the writing in this is phenomenal. This is the first book I've read by this author but I'll definitely be reading more. Girl knows how to do a plot twist, DAMN I didn't see any of those coming! The Winter Duke was very well executed, and I found myself thoroughly entertained most of the time even though I don't usually care for political stories. I think the world of this novel made me more interested in the politics, especially Kylma Below. I like that we got to explore the underwater kingdom quite a bit, but I do wish Meire had a larger role. I liked all of the characters, I thought most of them were pretty well developed and distinct personalities. My absolute favourite thing about The Winter Duke though, is how Bartlett went about integrating LGBTQ+ characters into the story. If you know me at all then you know I love a world where queerness isn't even blinked at, it's just a regular everyday part of their society, and no one even thinks to think twice about it. I absolutely adore that (and wish I could live in any of those worlds, ugh) and Bartlett did an amazing job at capturing exactly what I love. I loved the casual use of they/them pronouns, the mix of genders for the brideshow, and Ekata and Inkar in general. The romance was so cute, although a very minor part of the book. Overall it was just a really well book

What I didn’t love
I had a bit of a hard time with Ekata, mainly because she's painted in the beginning as this really intelligent person, a scientist with a constant sense of wonder about the world. And we did get the wonder quite a bit, but I found that we didn't often get the intelligent lmfao. I get that she was entirely out of her element in the political world, but the way she went about everything made her seem kind of dumb? Like she couldn't figure out the most basic social cues, could remember every bone in the human body but couldn't remember a few names, and had so much trouble making even simple decisions or understanding basic policy. I think Bartlett was probably going for a more socially awkward vibe, and also trying to show that Ekata had no idea what she was doing (which is fair), but it came across as unintelligent to me. It was also a little frustrating as the reader because, since she was the narrator and didn't understand or listen to any of the political talk going on around her, I also had a hard time following along with the politics which made it difficult to really care about what was happening. I feel like if I had been able to understand what the people actually wanted, I would have understood the motivations behind the ones who did the thing that I won't spoil. But at the end of the book, while the plot twist was really good and very well done, I found myself thinking "wait, why did these people want all of this to happen? What do they gain from it, or what do they hope to change after it's all said and done?" So that was a little confusing and most of the reason that I gave this a lower rating than I otherwise might of. I also wish there was just a touch more romance to it. I really liked the scenes Ekata had with Inkar, you really got to see who she was as a person when they were together, but they weren't together enough for me to really get invested in their relationship (I still was though because f/f romance of any kind is an instant stan in my books, especially in fantasy since it's so rare).

Overall thoughts
This was great, I definitely recommend it despite the few things that I disliked. And I can't wait to read more from this author!

Read for O.W.L.s Magical Readathon - Potions: read a book under 150 pages (see my O.W.L.s TBR video here)

This was (unsurprisingly) an absolute delight. It was exactly what I was expecting and hoping for after reading the blurb, and I really feel like it delivered. It was funny, and heart warming, and inspired a bit of the wanderlust that Jules had, which is always a side effect of reading portal books for me. I think I say this every single time I review a book that involves a multiverse, but my god I really hope one day I find another world. There is literally nothing I want more than to be Jules lol.

My one gripe with this book was Ava, I found her to be pretty unlikeable. Maybe it's just because I would kill to be in her shoes, but I found her lack of excitement and curiousity to be frustrating, and her attitude towards the whole thing annoying. I wish the POV had been from Jules' perspective instead so that the general vibe of the book was more positive.

Regardless, I absolutely loved this, and the writing style was fantastic so I'll definitely be checking out more of this author very soon!

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but I don't think it was this? But at the same time, this is exactly what I was expecting. Confusing but whatever

So what’s going on here?
Anna Durvalia's life takes an unexpected turn when, after the sudden death of her father, she is summoned to work as a chambermaid for the Countess. Anna couldn't be happier, as she had accepted her fate to be married to a man and spend her life bearing him children, as was expected of women in 16th Hungary but was the last thing she ever wanted. Anna quickly finds herself falling for Countess Elizabeth and winds up in her bed, despite warnings from other staff that Elizabeth is not what she seems. By the time Anna finally sees what they have been talking about, it is far too late for her to escape. Anna's only option is to go along with whatever the Countess wishes, and hope she doesn't turn her insatiable bloodlust on her next.

What I loved
That writing style though!! Ugh Lana Popovic is a master at gorgeous writing. I've only read the first book in her Hibiscus Daughter duology, but reading this book makes me want to read the second one right now. With Blood Countess, I especially loved the atmosphere; it felt so creepy and I could really picture it in my head while reading. I also liked the pacing, I didn't find it to drag too much or anything, which I was a little worried about going into it but was pleasantly surprised! But probably my favourite part of this book was the Blood Countess herself, my god what a wicked woman! I had never heard of her before reading this but I'll definitely be doing some research to learn about her. I don't know how accurate Popovic made her character, but I found her to be fascinating and really well written. I listened to this as an audiobook and the way some of her lines were delivered, and the way her character was written in general, sent chills down my spine multiple times. She was terrifying and I was thoroughly impressed with her character!

What I didn’t love
Unfortunately there was a lot about Blood Countess that I didn't like, predominantly Anna. I found her to be kind of annoying and pretty dumb if I'm being honest. I had a hard time feeling sorry for her, and I really don't mean to victim blame, but she kind of got herself into that mess. Anna gives the argument that she was so infatuated with Elizabeth that she couldn't see what everyone else was saying about her, but people were warning her about the Countess while she still had plenty of opportunity to turn back. I almost always hate insta-love, but especially in this case where the main character fell in love with someone knowing she was a monster. And even if she hadn't truly seen what Elizabeth was capable of before she was in love, she had gotten a taste and still loved her anyways. I just really didn't care for that aspect of it and it took away from the story for me. I think I would have actually liked it better if Anna had been just as evil as Elizabeth and the two of them lived a life of tormenting together. But instead Anna spent the entire novel trying to convince herself that she was still a good person and that she was the biggest victim here. I just don't buy it. Yes she was a victim as well near the end, but she literally chose to stay there at the beginnging even after she started realizing what a horrible person Elizabeth was, AND she did technically have another option, even if it wasn't one she wanted. I feel like being married to a man who loves you and treats you well is better than sleeping with and aiding a serial killer, but alright, do you Anna.

Overall thoughts
I liked this, but I hope the next story in this series will be better (and also gay, I really hope all of these books will be queer!!).

This is a tentative 4 stars, it’s probably more like a high 3 star but whatever

I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would after reading reviews. A lot of reviews I’ve seen talk about Red Hood not sitting right with them, and I totally understand where that feeling is coming from but I don’t think I agree? This might be somewhat spoilery so heads up, but it’s also the premise of the book so? Anyways, those reviews I read talked about how it’s wrong for Bisou and Sybil to be killing these men, and if they were killing men then yes of course it would have been. But at the time of the killing, the men were literally wolves seconds away from murdering someone else; if not for the main characters killing them first, an innocent woman would have died. So of course I agree with the reviews I’ve read that the answer to violence is not more violence, but in this (fictional) case I don’t think what the characters were doing was wrong. It’s not right either, but it’s not like there were a whole lot of other options at the time. That’s my take on that *shrug*

But onto the book itself, I found Red Hood to be a surprisingly compelling read. I really love fairytales but haven’t read all too many modern retelling, and I don’t think any of Little Red Riding Hood, so this was something completely new for me. I was skeptical in the beginning with the overly descriptive writing style, the second person POV (which I don’t hate but I do find kind of jarring), and the heavy emphasis on this child’s blooming sexuality. But I found once I started skim reading over the unnecessary descriptions that I was actually really enjoying this book, so much though that I’ll actually consider reading Arnold’s other books. I love anything to do with a found family, and this one really hit the mark for me. I love me a bunch of women loving and supporting each other unconditionally

My favourite character was definitely Sybil, especially because of her relationship with Bisou and her friends. I just found Sybil’s entire presence as a character to be very peaceful, even though she’s also a total badass

Plot and pacing were good for the most part, although I found the ending to be kind of lacking. I like the direction it took, but I feel like one more chapter would have made things more satisfying. There was also one thing about the writing that kept getting on my nerves, and that was the constant “I don’t know how I know this, I just do.” It felt like rather lazy writing, like the author didn’t feel like taking the time to figure out the logistics of something and just chalked it up to being mystical or instinctual. Which I guess in a fantasy you are a allowed to do, but it was kind of frustrating that nothing actually had an explanation, and the reader is just expected to take things at face value without being able to ask question. I was left with a whole lot of questions at the end of this book that easily could have been answered if the author took the time to figure it out herself. But alas, I’ll just have to deal with my unanswered questions

Anyways, while this wasn’t a perfect read by any means, I did still like it quite a book and would recommend it for those looking for something quick. It is definitely worth the read and talks about some extremely relevant topics to today’s social climate

Side note, there is a whole lot to be discussed about the lack of representation for trans women and women of colour in this book about violence against women. I feel like Red Hood should have at least touched on that topic at least one. However, I am not particularly good at articulating and don’t have concrete facts, so I encourage everyone to go read the reviews that talk more in depth about this topic

*Sigh* I’m so disappointed in this. The plot was pretty good but the characters! Dear god what happened

So what’s going on here?
Daughter of the Siren Queen picks up shortly after the events of Daughter of the Pirate King. It follows Alosa and her crew of badass female pirates (now with a few men on board) as they travel the seas in search of the legendary Siren treasure with her father. However a seed of doubt is placed in Alosa’s mind when she hears a rumour that her father has actually been manipulating her for her entire life, although she is unsure if she believes it. After a shocking revelation, Alosa must choose between the destiny she has always believed she wanted, a life ruling the seas behind her father, or choose one for herself that would leave him behind.

What I loved
The plot and pacing of this was