“Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort.

However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot.

Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.”

At first I struggled because the beginning was a tad slow. Plus, I kept comparing Poppy to Sera and found a lot of similarities. However, I ended up really enjoying this book and I love this for the set up for the rest of the From Blood and Ash series. Sera is definitely badass and a lot more violent and quick on her toes than Poppy. Nyktos is just sweet and just the man of your dreams. The ending was freaking amazing and really makes you think oh snap this is what is setting up the rest of the From Blood and Ash series as well as answering questions. Definitely well done.

“Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together—in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

Rose Szabo's thrilling debut is a dark fantasy novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls. This exquisitely terrifying and beautiful tale will sink its teeth into you and never let go.”

First of all, I want to clarify this book is strange. Why, yes, yes it is! Probably one of the strangest books I’ve read this year and maybe all time. But, I did enjoy the strangest and thought it made the story unique. I felt like Eleanor definitely grows from naive to strong in this book as the story progressed.

“When Violeta Graceling and her younger brother Arien arrive at the haunted Lakesedge estate, they expect to find a monster. Leta knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem.

As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn… Now, to save Rowan—and herself—Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.”

I found this book to be definitely dark and intriguing. The romance wasn’t exactly my favorite because it felt like it was almost like insta-love. I loved seeing the magic and corruption play out in the book. Rowan and Violeta definitely had growth in the story and had to do sacrifices. I really enjoyed this and want the sequel. Definitely a good book to read right before Halloween.

“The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.”

I was really nervous going into this book. I really disliked her first book, The Enchantment of Ravens, which I dnfed a few years ago when it released. I saw this on Netgalley and was instantly drawn to the cover and then I read the synopsis and thought it looked good, so I requested it. I did go in with low expectations since I didn’t like The Enchantment of Ravens, but to my surprise I really enjoyed this novel. It’s dark and gritty and I just love that. I loved everything about this and our characters. It’s a good book and definitely a spooky read for this Halloween season. I’m glad I read it.

“In a world where witches control the climate and are losing control, only one witch can save earth from destruction. But as her power grows, it hurts those closest to her, and when she falls in love with her training partner she's forced to choose between her power, her love, and saving the earth.

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, but now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic; the storms, more destructive. All hope lies with Clara, a once-in-a-generation Everwitch whose magic is tied to every season.

In Autumn, Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It's wild and volatile, and the price of her magic—losing the ones she loves—is too high, despite the need to control the increasingly dangerous weather.

In Winter, the world is on the precipice of disaster. Fires burn, storms rage, and Clara accepts that she's the only one who can make a difference.

In Spring, she falls for Sang, the witch training her. As her magic grows, so do her feelings, until she's terrified Sang will be the next one she loses.

In Summer, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she loves...before she loses Sang, her magic, and thrusts the world into chaos.”

This book was just amazing. I loved everything about it. The growth of Clara and her magic was great and definitely progressed and grew over the year that we follow Clara. It is just beautiful. The relationship between Clara and Sang was just heartwarming and you can’t stop yourself for rooting for them and for Clara to want him all time and not to hurt him because of her magic. This is one of my favorite reads this year and I definitely believe it’s an amazing fall read.

“All her life, Spensa has dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she's a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing. The rumors of his cowardice are true—he deserted his flight during battle against the Krell. Worse, though, he turned against his team and attacked them.

Spensa is sure there's more to the story. And she's sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars—and it was terrifying. Everything Spensa has been taught about her world is a lie.

But Spensa also discovered a few other things about herself—and she'll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to.”

I read this when it first came out and absolutely hated it. Yup, I hated it. It felt different from Skyward and I didn’t like Spensa on a solo mission. It made me hesitant to pick up another Brandon Sanderson book, which I totally retire since I finally picked his work back up this year in 2021, and absolutely loved it. I planned on rereading this series for the release of Cytonic and also because I needed to reread a book for the Trick or Treat Readathon (I only have 3 books left!). I remember reading this and I skimmed a lot of this and wanted to DNF it. So, fast forward from 2019 to 2021, when I picked this up I forgot a lot of things in this book compared to Skyward and I blame that on the skimming. I found this book to be heart pounding and put you right on the edge of your seat. Spensa’s growth is so big by the end of this book compared to Skyward. I absolutely loved this reread and found it amazing. I remember in previous reviews around December 2019, I cited that I was suffering from Depression, so I’m wondering if it hindered my view on this book. Before this book I was a bit nervous about Cytonic since it’s a solo mission as well, but now I’m freaking pumped! Pick this series up, you won’t regret it!!!

“When a planet-destroying Delver suddenly appears in the sky of Detritus and vanishes just as suddenly, FM knows that the last free human society got lucky. Her Skyward Flight companion, Spensa, figured out how to draw this Delver away, but it won’t be so easy next time.

The forces of the Galactic Superiority will be back—and if the Defiant Defense Force can’t figure out a way to escape the planet, humanity’s destruction is only a matter of time. Spensa’s mission to infiltrate the Superiority unveiled the secret to their hyperdrives—a cytonic slug species called the Taynix. Now FM’s flightleader, Jorgen, has found a large group of Taynix hiding in the caverns far below Detritus’s surface.

FM and Jorgen must work together with the engineer Rig to awaken the mysterious alien Alanik and unlock the powers of the Taynix, or humanity will be trapped. With Spensa’s friend Minister Cuna of the Superiority stranded at the outpost of Sunreach, they need to figure out how to rescue them—or the Superiority government will be in the sole clutches of those who want to wipe out Detritus once and for all.”

This takes place between Starsight and Cytonic. It definitely feels a bit different than Brandon Sanderson’s writing style, but that could be because of it being him and another author. I still enjoyed this too and liked that they took the information the team learned in Starsight and was trying to figure things out with it in Sunreach. I loved all the slugs and their personalities and what they could do. It was very interesting and definitely important for Cytonic and Defiant.

“In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true—only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students—but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I’m not giving in—not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good—even if it’s the last thing I do.”

I read this as an arc on my kindle, but then the book came out with the audiobook, so I switched a little over halfway to the audiobook. I really enjoyed this book more than Deadly Education. I liked seeing how the classes where she has to save the freshman. I liked her teaming up with others for manna. I just liked seeing more of the magic and the mals in the school. I hated this kind of ended on a cliffhanger.

“Iris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. They have insatiable appetites yet never gain weight. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful, and inexplicably dangerous.

But now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school on time--something her two famously glamourous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing without a trace, leaving behind bizarre clues as to what might have happened, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her though. As they brush against the supernatural they realize that the story they've been told about their past is unraveling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home.”

This book is definitely different. It’s even a great book to read right before Halloween because it’s creepy and has a lot of ew, gross moments. It’s not scary, but definitely has that creepy, gross vibe. I loved the mystery aspects of this book of what happened to the girls when they are younger and where is Grey now. I did guess some things though when it came to who the strange man was and some of the mystery, which is a bit of a bummer. However, I really enjoyed this book and read it in 6 hours.

“Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.

That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.

Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.”

If you want a cute, light romance, then this book is for you. If you want some dark and witchy stuff, then this book is not for you. I loved that this was lovers to enemies to lovers and that it was slow burn. The curse was funny with everything that was going wrong. I enjoyed the mystery of figuring out how to end the curse. I did guess something and almost hated the ending, but the last two pages made up for it.