The Iron Hex - Powerful witch with lost memories rediscovers her roots

 " May the iron in your blood stregthen the iron in your soul"

If you love a cross country chase in world building with small taverns and a hero with a haunted past and a militant coup that overthrew the monarchy, if forbidden magic titillates your senses, and withes rock your world, if feisty heroines and found friendships make your pages turn faster and a slow burn gets you all the way, then look no further!

Victoria Walsh crafts a potent portion of a tale with a red haired voluptuous FMC, and her trustworthy rabbit Penny Royal (of course), who may or may not be harboring some forbidden magic. Add in a commander who deserted his post to find her, only to discover the Viscountess Eira has lost her memories of her former personal guard and the commander is being hunted by the Iron Empire, with a quest to find the missing princess who was her bosom friend, its a rollercoaster of a tale with themes of grief, forgiveness and acceptance. 

With parallel chapters told in multi character arcs, the pace and suspense and hand offs are so tight and keep the tale running. The development of Sir Rona and Maeve was also tastefully built with the rot spreading across the Iron Empire and Sir Rona's thirst to prove herself is magnificently wrought. I LOVE tropes where the best friend and boyfriend trade insults and this one absolutely BROUGHT it! The massive plot twist at the end was min boggling and I CANNOT wait for the sequel.

The narration was absolutely perfect and brought the shock, disbelief and the complete breakdown in certain scenes truly stole the show for me!

My ironclad thank yous to harlequin Audio and Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to enjoy the ALC! And of course, doffeth I my hat to Victoria S Walsh and the enchating tones of Jeremy Carlisle Parker, for the tale and the accompanying narration!

#Augustreleases #Harlequinaudio #TheIronHex #romantasy 

Vow of Eternal Night - Dark beauty and beast retelling

 Would a dark castle atop a prosperous valley with a wicked prince at its helm, perchance, grab your interest? A gothic twist of vampiric proportions and an enchanted castle where a maid is forced into a bargain with the very darkness that haunts her hometown, leaving behind her mayoral father and her besotted fiance and a starving township with a vow for revenge... Think Beauty and the Beast but with a epic personality twist that is deliciously riveting!

Lily Crozier crafts this dark, seductive and mesmerizing vampiric novella, with a personality plot twist to die for - I fell HARD for the contrast between Clara and Raleigh, one with spunk and an intrepid drive and the other sensitive and nuanced and oh so troubled! It is a heady mix of adventure, mystery, dark topics, suffering and uncertainty and the ending explodes in a terrifying twist to bring the story to a beautiful close.

My sanguinary thank yous to Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for providing this Arc!

#Augustreleases #gothicretelling #entangledpublishing

A Bargain So Bloody - dark, slow burn of a series starter

 If you love a broody she's mine love story that slowly simmers, no explosion of heat, if you dream of broken societies and revel in underdog to powerful nobility transitions, if intrigue mystery and a clueless protagonist make you turn pages faster, then this is absolutely the book for you!

Vasilisa Drake pens a series opener with panache, a prison, a emancipated heroine, who's past is turmoiled and misdemeanors not clear, forced to serve in the prison. One day, a vampire is brought in as a new prisoner and she realizes she will never be freed of her service, unless she helps the prisoner escape. What follows is a journey across the kingdom, a quest for a lost book, a failed monastery conversion attempt, lots of ruthlessness and a swell of secondary characters - Demos and Thea - The reminded me of a youthful Cadsuane from wheel of time...

Caught between court intrigue, societal norms and her own naive idealism, Samara totters through the novel plucking at half truths and trembling to understand the tides of power and myth that are flowing through the tale...

I am hoping that the next book will draw out more of her childhood and her fractal memories of her past, while also granting her a queenly grace!

Thank yous to Scarlett Press and Netgalley for providing the arc!

#Julyreleases #hefallsfirst #abargainsobloody #scarlettpress

A million meet cutes

 If you love a non commital easy, breezy read where you dont get too deep into the main character, where the ending doesn't scream here i am, where meet cutes give you splits and the romcom is turned on its head, then you might enjoy this one...

Ashley Reece delivers a strong premise, Christina finds herself blitzed by meet cutes, resulting in increasingly hilarious experiences as she tries to find the One! The ending came too fast, but the premise and anecdotes, plus grouchy dad x social mom, ugh sooo cute! I loved Thea and Rhys as strong social characters with no message.. just messy life at its best!

Thank you to Hera books and Netgalley for providing the arc!

#Julyreleases #romcom #amillionmeetcutes

Daggermouth - Dystopian masked society with Mad Max vibes

If you are a sucker for a dystopian masked society, if your broken spirit loves a sadistic mastermind of a villain to rail and rage against, if you are appeased by quiet rebellions and root for the underdog and violence sets your reading sense aflame and if twists and turns, especially towards the finale, akin to a rollercoaster, set your soul on FIRE, then This book is DEFINITELY up your alley!

Greyson Serel is marked for assassination by Shadera, a daggermouth, whose past intersects violently with the Serel family. What happens instead is a stand off, with both parties suddenly caught in a web by the masterful and dastardly villainous father figure of Maximus Serel, and forced to take a Vow or lose their loved ones....

The main protagonists have their fair share of kill - lust - nope moments, and the action is non stop, a la Mr and Mrs Smith! This is like reading Mad Max in book form - gripping, repulsive and absolutely riveting!!! The gripper for me, more than Shade or Grey was Lira, Grey's little sister, whose character arc was absolutely EPIC!!! Cullum Thane too is a powerful friend, add in Jameson Vine for the emotion and you have it all - cruel back stories, absolute hedonism of tyranny, mad mad rules of society and chaos unleashed!! 

I raced through this book in 2 days and it was a heady rush of emotion, and adrenaline fueled rage read!! This was my first book by H.M.Wolfe and I am bound to say this is an auto buy author!! cannot wait to see this book scale the bestseller pages... I doff my mask in salute! And I cannot wait for Python to continue down the rabbit hole!

A million thank yous to Scarlett Press and Netgalley for providing me the arc, it was a frenzied read, one that I am excited to continue!!!  

#daggermouth #netgalley #madmaxvibes #scarlettpress #julyreleases

Tides of Fortune - multi POV sizzler of a sequel

 Heir of Storms was my cross between a Harry Potter-esque challenge and riddle infused fantasy adventure plot - fast paced, with a protagonist who grows into her own. My only gripe was that Flint didn't get his fair share of limelight and boy, was that remedied in this installment!

If you love magical quests,  roaming through meandering realms, uncovering history and discovering anomalies and recovering artifacts whilst engaging in political out maneuvering, then you will ABSOLUTELY adore this sequel, especially if your heart already yearns for a certain twin brother who totters between having it all abd losing his eye a la Mat Cauthon from Wheel of Time, yep team Flint is my fan club!

From the get go, this book kicks off in break neck speed as we see Flint and Blaze go in search of  the Eye of the Soul. The journey and banter are sensational as Lauryn delivers on that annoying twin bond that these two share. The twins are split up and each finds their own quest for the truth, search the past and are reunited with unexpected allies. 

The surprise for me was Elva narrating Hal's side of the tale from the palace. This queen of shadows truly comes into her own and brings the uncertain to powerful arc that Blaze had in book One. 

The sparks between Fox snd Blaze are blown on, with each demonstrating new facets of power and the secrets the eye of the past unfurled, the casual hints dropped by Caius and King Balen, with his corporal voice effects!! AARGH! This book is the right mix of intense emotions, interspersed with secrets and clues and the mind boggling magical mix of people!!

Loved every second!!!

My heartfelt thank yous to Natgalley and Macmillian Children's Publishing Group for this incredible opportunity!!!

Fishbone Cinderella - Memoirs of a Geisha x Joy Luck Club

If you love lyrical prose, historical events punctuated by actual heart rending feelings, love the rambling emotions and shifting seasons of families and subscribe to the pride and restraint of Asian parenthood, and also dabble a little in fairy tales, then this book is an ABSOLUTE GEM!!

I've been a HUGE fan of Elizabeth Lim since her spin the dawn novel, and was curious when she said this book was inspired by real life and her family history - I have 2 hard core fantasy thrillers to read and yet I boycotted them in favor of this one - It is ALL That and then some...

A ballad of powerful emotions, from Yut Ying and her origins to Marigold combatting and analyzing her abilities to their intersections of when they were younger, Ms Lim masterfully weaves her tale from past to present and all events in between, the spotlight shining squarely on the bond between mother and child and the frequencies that life pitched to alter their ebb and flow. A nuanced peak at how people connected and the commitment behind those interactions - the sheer force of will to follow a path into an unknown country with a relative stranger - requires courage of the highest degree!

Interspersed in these gutsy bold strokes, are the beauty of lost love, loquats, egg tarts, hwamei chirps and all those innocent everyday things from which hope springs eternal. The Old Love vibes that Mari's story brings in are also spectacular and add their own sweet mix to the larger plotline. Between shadows and light, this story stole my soul - an absolute marvel that I would LOVE to re-read... What a thrill! What a ride!! What an end - absolute nonpareil to anything else.

My yin and yang imbued thank yous to DelRey and Netgally for providing me with an opportunity to enjoy this ARC! And doffed hats to the epically divergent and amazing author Elizabeth Lim - you NEVER cease to amaze me!!

#FishboneCinderella #JulyReleases #DelRey #Netgalley