A short list of books that have Fall colors or vibes in their covers. I have read some of these books, but most of these are new releases or books that I have not read yet. I certainly plan to this Autumn!
Cemetery Boys- Aiden Thomas
We set the dark on fire- tehlor kay meija
Ignite the sun- hanna C. Howard
A curse of ash & Embers- Jo spurrier
The dark tide- Alicia Jasinska
A deadly education- Naomi Novik
blood & honey-Shelby Mahurin
FoundrySide- Robert Jackson Bennett
in the woods- Tana french
Chain of gold- Cassandra Clare
What is everyone else planning on reading this Fall season?
Just some books that I am SUPER excited for that release in October (at least most of them do) 🙂
A deadly Education-Naomi Novik
Release Date: September 29th
Now, TECHNICALLY, this didn’t release in October, but I received it in October. It’s a story about a magic school. In this school, if you fail your classes, you die. What more could I want in a spooky read?
The Invisible life of addie Larue- V.e. Schwab
Release Date: October 6th
A girl makes a deal with the devil to live forever. The Devil grants her her wish, but in exchange she will always be forgotten. Not a single soul will remember her name, until a boy does. This is by one of my favorite authors, V.E. Schwab, so I’m ready for this to break me.
Black Sun – Rebecca Roanhorse
Release Date: October 13th
This is a story of epic adventure that explores the decadence of pwoer and the struggle of individuals who are wismming against the confines of society, and their broken pasts. It is a holy day in the city of Tova. This is really hard to explain what exactly it’s about, but I’m currently reading this (Thanks NetGalley!) and all I can say is I can’t wait for you guys to get the chance to read this.
Plain bad heroines- Emily M. Danforth
Release Date: October 20th
A story within a story about sapphic love and a dark School for Girls is just what I need in this spooky season. Also, this cover is GORGEOUS. I just need this in my life already. Murder and intrigue and sapphic love is all you needed to say to rope me in.
Kingdom of the wicked- Kerri Maniscalco
Release Date: October 27th
Two twin witches, living among humans, trying to avoid notice and persecution. One night Vittoria misses dinner. Soon, Emilia, finds Vittoria, her twin sister’s body. Emilia seeks her sisters killer, seeking vengence at any cost. During this, she meets Wrath, one of the wicked-Hell princes. He claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked to find the murderer killing women on the island. This sounds like something that might be incredibly interesting to me.
What are some books that you are excited for that release in October? Im sure there are bunch that I missed in this list. I’d be interested in what you are excited for!
September was a wild and crazy month. Between work and school I didn’t have much time to read, but these are all the books I read. I finished Wanderers on the first of October, but I’m including it here since I read the majority of it in September.
Cemetery Boys- Aiden Thomas
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
My Riot- Rick Spears
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Red Sister- Mark Lawrence
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
A Curse of Ash & Embers- Jo Spurrier
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
If We Were Villians- M. L. Rio
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Firefrost- Camille Longley
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Wanderers – Chuck Wendig
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Black Sun – Rebecca Roanhorse
What have you been reading this month? Are you staying safe and healthy? I hope that you and your loved ones are safe.
That being said, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stay HOME. Stay home and quarantine. When you go out, wear a mask. Don’t leave for things that aren’t necessities. Wash your hands and think of others.
I’m going to include the bit that I posted in my wrap up last month here with links included:
As crazy as the world has been, I hope that everyone knows how much their lives matter. With that being said, all lives will not matter until black lives matter. I was incredibly saddened by the murder of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor that occurred what feels like many months ago. That doesn’t change how important it is for them to get justice. Breonna Taylor still have not gotten justice. Her killers, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove are still free and she has not seen justice. If you haven’t please sign the petitions here:
Find ways to speak up about senseless violence, racism and police brutality in your communities, and in your social networks. Don’t let this pass us by with nothing changing. This has gone on for long enough. I hope for the safety of all the protesters and activists who are on the front lines. Use your voices to make a change. If you can, there are ways that you can help monetarily, but obviously this is not something that everyone can do, but if you are able, I have included links to many different organizations and the GoFundMe for the families of three of the victims below. (I couldn’t find one for Tony McDade).
Want to donate, but can’t afford to? Watch the video linked here. Watch the ads, as the ad revenue will be donated to Black Lives Matter, and many other charities who are helping Black people and helping protesters.
Like I said, not everyone can donate, and not everyone is in a position to protest, especially given the fact we are in the middle of a pandemic, but please know that there are many things you can do to help. I am using my platform here to talk about it. If you can do nothing else, talk about it, and vote for politicians who abhor police brutality and violence. Stand up against racism when you see it. Don’t let this be something that continues past out generation. That being said:
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.
Note: I received this book from the author through Xpresso Book Tours. I wanted to thank them for this opportunity! If you click the link below, you can see the full schedule.
Wow wow wow wow. This is probably going to be a new favorite of mine. This is the story of Yadriel, a trans Latinx brujo who is having troubles being accepted by his traditional Latinx family. His family doesn’t see him as a real brujo and refuses to preform the ritual. Feeling frustrated and with the help of his cousin, and dear friend Maritza (who I LOVED by the way) they perform the ritual themselves. He then goes on a quest to find and release the ghost of his murdered cousin.
Instead he gets Julian Diaz, a ball of energy and rumor. He is the schools’ resident bad boy, and he won’t go to death quietly. Julian wants to find out what exactly happened to him and tie up some loose ends before he goes. Yadriel agrees to help him before he sends him to the great beyond. This is where our story begins.
I’ll start with the plot because this is the first thing that really sucked me in. The plot was exciting and moving. There was a solid balance between happy and sad moments and there were moments that had me laughing out loud. The twist was something that I didn’t really expect, although the foreshadowing was definitely there when I was looking back on it. The mentions of Latinx culture blended wonderfully with the tales of the brujx and Latin tradition.
I LOVED all of the characters. Yadriel was such a great character to read from the perspective of. He was honest and you felt for him as he struggled with his family’s unwillingness to accept him. Julian was a smart ass, but SO goofy and unexpected. I loved the relationship that the two of them had and the way that it developed. It wasn’t quick and easy, it developed over time (at least over the time of the novel) and it was well developed. There wasn’t love at first sight. The characters of Yadriel and Julian, with two very different and distinct voices were perfect for each other, regardless of being so different. Maritza was a sassy Latina queen and I love her. I love that she was a vegan Latina too. As a vegetarian Latina, I know that I got a lot of funny looks growing up because I refused to eat meat. Food is such a HUGE part of Latin culture, being different or eating differently than those around you can get you some weird looks, even though it shouldn’t. That being said, not just the romantic relationships are great. All of them are. They are so different, but well developed. You can really tell how much Maritza and Yadriel support each other and how willing they are to fight for the other.
Another thing I love is how diverse this book was. There were so many Latin and Caribbean cultures and traditions included here. Most of the time, unless something was describing someone gendered, there was no gendered language used. No “brujos” or “latinos” to describe the whole, but plenty of brujx and Latinx which is much more inclusive of how varied and wonderful the Latin culture is. That’s another thing, reading all about these Latin traditions, foods, music and words woke memories in me that I forgot about. As a disowned daughter of a Latin, and Hispanic (yes, there is a difference), I was raised in the culture but once I was thrown out of my parents life I lost that connection to my culture. I truly loved this story from start to finish and it made me feel so much. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone. I want to thank Xpresso Book Tours and Aiden Thomas for giving me the opportunity to find one of my new favorite books.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aiden Thomas is a YA author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. As a queer, trans Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, Harry Potter trivia, Jenga, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.
This has been my stop on the Cemetery Boys Book Tour! Check out the schedule posted at the beginning of this post to check out more posts by other content creators on this tour!
***All of these books were provided to me through Netgalley for free in exchange for a review. I want to thank Netgalley and the authors for this opportunity.***
1. DRAGONFLY MAID- D.D. CROIX
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
The e-book to this had some formatting issues that made reading it difficult. There were sentences that were repeated (I think due to the formatting). This is nothing against the book itself, as this is a review copy.
D.D. Croix makes you care about the characters and makes you rather invested in what happens to them. The characters all have their own voices and are complex. Jane can be too trusting at times, but overall, I enjoyed reading from her perspective.
The world feels real, and Victorian England has always interested me.
That being said, I don’t feel like the action in the book takes place until I had gotten about 60% into the book. Once the pace of the book picked up though I felt like it progressed nicely. I plan on reading more books in this series.
I want to thank Net Galley for allowing me to review this book!
2. THIS ETERNITY OF MASKS AND SHADOWS- KARSTEN KNIGHT
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Representation: Queer characters, Inuit characters (I’m not sure about how valid the representation is, so you may want to check out Inuit reviewers)
This was an interesting read.
Gods and goddesses walk the Earth, reincarnated every few hundred years. This book follows Cairn, the daughter of Sedna, Inuit goddess of the Sea.
The story follows her as she is trying to discover what, or who killed her mother. She discovers that her mother went on a voyage that ended in unspeakable tragedy and that every member that went on that voyage, one by one, is dying. Cairn with the help of Detective Nanook, Inuit Master of Polar Bears, they try to find who, or what is killing off Gods and Goddesses.
When I first started this, I was worried that it would not keep my attention, but boy was I wrong. This book is a wonderful blend of myth, superhero tale, and urban fantasy. The world here is so similar to our own but the world-building here was amazing.
The characters were all varied and complex and the villain didn’t seem like a caricature either. I would highly recommend this!
Also, there is LGBT rep, and I loved the main couple. The casually queer relationship was so wonderful to read about. It didn’t overtake the story, it just…existed. It wasn’t a main plot point, it was just a part of the characters and who they were. I loved the way that it was done. It wasn’t a struggle to overcome or anything. It was widely accepted and wasn’t questioned.
This was a thrilling read that followed Detectives Geena and Parker as they attempt to find the serial killer that has been terrorizing their hometown. Every Spring a new body is found in a nearby lake. The killer has come to be known as the Spring Strangler, and his victims? Spring Girls.
This is the third book in the Northampton County mystery series, but it can be read as a stand-alone.
While we get the point of view from the detectives, we also get the point of view from Janey Montgomery, the first victim. The one who survived. The characters were interesting to read from the perspective of. I liked the main characters, which were mainly Geena and Janey. I liked how they interacted together and I liked how Janey handled herself. She was very obviously a victim of a horrific crime and she acted in a way that a victim would act. By the end of the book she was much stronger and was more sure of herself and she had a lot of character growth.
Overall, I enjoyed this. It was certainly thrilling and took some very unexpected twists and turns. The plot kept me engaged and had me on the edge of my seat. It kept me guessing and led to places that I didn’t expect it to.
The conclusion was good and it didn’t pull any punches. Neither was it totally out of left lane. It was like being in a Criminal Minds episode and I would highly recommend it.
A story about 3 siblings, Virginia, Wes and Harry as they traverse a post apocalyptic United States. Eight years ago, a major earthquake destroyed much of the Western U.S. But, for Vietnamese-American, Virginia Crane, her life changed shortly after the earthquake, when her mother left the family and never returned.
This story follows the siblings years later while they go in search of their mother and meet many other characters along the way.
I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I expected it to be…more. The bad guys didn’t have any real reason to be bad other than the fact that they just were? Their motivations felt a little non-existent to me. There was more action at the end of the novel, so the rest felt slow moving.
The relationships in here felt like true sibling relationships. They bickered and fought just like siblings do, and they also had some heartwarming moments, which I appreciated.
The art style was okay? It wasn’t for me, but it definitely fits with the narrative of the story and the rough nature of the world that the story takes place in.
It looks like this might be the first book in a series, so there was definitely a lot of set up that is going to lead up to future plot lines. I would be interested to see where this goes.
This book is going to be released November 10th! Pre-order below!
This book was… not for me. Don’t get me wrong, the idea was soooo interesting, but this book could have been 300 pages shorter. It went in LABORIOUS amounts of detail in describing the different things about living on Venus.
The characters were interesting to read about and varied. You really felt for them and wanted them to succeed. A lot of that was hidden behind the fact that I didn’t want to keep reading the long winded text that could have been simplified. That being said, I appreciated that there were some very diverse characters, along with some neuro-divergent characters.
The plot was good, I really wanted the d’Aquillon family to prevail over the “enemy” of the story, but I felt like this was -A LOT- of build up for following stories and I had a lot of periods of being kind of bored throughout reading. That being said, just because I didn’t love this one does not mean that others won’t! If you like family sagas with lots of science and details, you’ll love this one!
These are just some of the ARCs that I’ve had the pleasure of reading over the last few weeks! What are some anticipated reads for you for the months of August and September?
I know that this is a lot of books to read in one month, especially since I’m working full-time now and I have very little time to actually read, but I still want to read these books. I just love to pile on the responsibilities for myself.
Black Hollow is a town with a dark secret. For centuries, residents have foretold the return of the Dreamwalker—an ominous figure from local folklore said to lure young women into the woods and possess them. Yet the boundary between fact and fable is blurred by a troubling statistic: occasionally, women do go missing. And after they return, they almost always end up dead.
When Kai wakes up next to the lifeless body of a recently missing girl, his memory blank, he struggles to clear his already threadbare conscience.
Miya, a floundering university student, experiences signs that she may be the Dreamwalker’s next victim. Can she trust Kai as their paths collide, or does he herald her demise?
And after losing a young patient, crestfallen oncologist, Mason, embarks on a quest to debunk the town’s superstitions, only to find his sanity tested.
A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas, and deadly secrets loom in the foggy forests of Black Hollow. Can three unlikely heroes put aside their fears and unite to confront a centuries-old evil? Will they uncover the truth behind the fable, or will the cycle repeat?
Note: I received this book from the author through Storytellers on Tour. I wanted to thank them for this opportunity! If you click the link below, you can see the full schedule.
Hollow Gods by A.J. Vrana takes place in a small town in Canada called Black Hollow. The town is surrounded by woods and shrouded in secrets and folklore. This town is plagued by the Dreamwalker, a mythical figure that takes women into the forest. When they women finally emerge, they are always changed, and they always end up dead.
Miya, a struggling college student is… well struggling. She is struggling with college while also dealing with her own mental health issues, depression and anxiety. When she begins to experience signs that she might be the Dreamwalker’s next victim, she embarks on a journey to try to find exactly what is taking the girls of Black Hollow, and how to stop it.
Kai, is a lone wolf. He lives away from the confines of Black Hollow and tries to scrape his living together in the woods of Black Hollow. He is hunted by the towns people as a messenger of the Dreamwalker and he is haunted by a dark entity. He was… an interesting character to read a perspective from. I am not usually a fan of the “alpha” male kind of personality, and Kai definitely has one. You can see a very distinct change come over him as he gets to know Miya and as he allows himself to get close to others.
Mason, a resident doctor, who is escaping his everyday life due to the loss of a patient. He is learning that his arrogance is a hindrance in his career. He escapes to Black Hollow on a vacation to get away from the trauma and pain that he is feeling. When he learns about the myths and folklore that is so embedded in the everyday lives of the townsfolk of Black Hollow he seeks to find the logical explanation for these occurrences.
These three characters come together in a snarky, arrogant and different mix. There is an underlying romantic aspect here that slowly builds up as the novel goes on. I’ll be honest here, like I said before, I’m not a huge fan of the “alpha male” personality, so I didn’t really care for the romance all that much, but as it went on I found myself enjoying it more.
Something I really liked about this is the folklore and myth surrounding the town and the Dreamwalker. I really liked the story behind it and finding out what exactly was going on in this town.
I would recommend this book for anyone who loves urban fantasy, thriller and spooky books!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Vrana is a Serbian-Canadian academic and writer from Toronto, Canada. She lives with her two rescue cats, Moonstone and Peanut Butter, who nests in her window-side bookshelf and casts judgmental stares at nearby pigeons. Her doctoral research examines the supernatural in modern Japanese and former- Yugoslavian literature and its relationship to violence. When not toiling away at caffeine fueled, scholarly pursuits, she enjoys jewelry making, cupcakes, and concocting dark tales to unleash upon the world.
This has been my stop on the Hollow Gods Book Tour! Check out the schedule posted at the beginning of this post to check out more posts by other content creators on this tour!
While preparing for the birth of his first child, Chrys Valerian is tasked with uncovering the group responsible for a series of missing threadweavers—those able to see and manipulate threadlight. With each failure, the dark voice in his head that began during the war grows louder, begging to be released.
Laurel lives in Zedalum, a secret city in the center of the Fairenwild. During her most recent messenger run, Laurel veered off course to explore the streets of Alchea. She never expected that her journey would end in chains. When Chrys learns who is responsible for the missing threadweavers, they come for him and his family. He must do everything in his power to protect those he loves, even if it means trusting a strange girl or the dark voice in his mind.
Note: I received this book from the author through Storytellers on Tour. I wanted to thank them for this opportunity! If you click the link below, you can see the full schedule.
I want to start by thanking Storytellers on Tour and the author Zack Argyle for giving me the opportunity to review this book!
This story follows Chrys, a threadweaver and a high general. He is expecting his first child with his wife. After making himself infamous in war, he has won himself the nickname the Apogee and fear and the respect from the people around him. He is just trying to settle down in his life and happily start a family. But threadweavers are going missing and Chrys as high general needs to find them. Meanwhile, Laurel, dweller of a secret hidden forest city is captured by those same men who are capturing threadweavers. When Chrys and her meet and he frees her, we start on a bloody course of secrets, revenge and betrayals.
This book was super readable. I’ll be honest, it took me a longer time to read it than usual, but that’s because shortly after I started it I started my first ever full time job, so I have been exhausted by the end of the day. All that being said, while at work I wanted to get off the clock just so I could read this. It was enjoyable, the characters relatable and real. These characters are flawed and have secrets that they hide from others, and they make some pretty…. dodgy choices. But that is what makes a character complex and real to me. Each character has their own personality, their own voice. Some are quiet and shy, others brash and still others are defensive and protective of the ones they love. They were all well-developed and had their own complexities. That being said, I wish I knew more about the villians. There were certain aspects of Chrys’s character, such as the dark voice mentioned, that were not as explored as I wanted it to be. I wanted to know more about that, but I’m sure it will be elaborated more in the second book in the series. Also, I want to make a note of this because I’ve seen others refer to this, but there were some heavy mentions of fatphobia here. There was a villain who also happened to be fat and you were reminded of it very consistently He was referred to as “gelatinous” and the character mentions the characters fatness every single time the villain is brought up. I feel like the character could have just been called fat and his corruption and evil could have stood alone. The two did not need to be tied together. This honestly brought my enjoyment of the book down. It didn’t sit right with me. I want to bring this up to my readers who may want to have a heads up about that.
That being said, this book has some pretty fantastic world building. The realm was described in every detail, without being overly info dumpy (although there was some info dumpiness in the story, it wasn’t used too much and it didn’t distract me too much). The world was built in such a way that every single city was fleshed out and perfect. I would love to live in Zedalum, living in the treetops sounds like such an amazing time. Each city had their own culture and their own cultures surrounding threadweaving. Speaking of threadweaving, the magic system was top tier. It was reminiscint of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, which I loved. It was enmeshed in the world perfectly.
The plot was good. It was high stakes, but the villians felt a little caricature-y until the end. I mentioned it earlier in my review, but I wish that they had been delved into a little more, development wise. That being said this didn’t detract from my enjoyment. The plot felt a little slow in the beginning, it took me until halfway through to really be into the story, but that could also be because my life has been so hectic recently. The pacing was off until the halway point and then it evened out. Again, this could totally be on me.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves complex characters, high stakes plots, political intrigue and bangin’ magic systems.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zack Argyle was raised with a wonderful family motto: don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. What better way than to write fiction? He spends his days writing code and his nights writing epic stories about family, love, loss, friendship, and pain all intermixed with a heavy dose of the fantastical.
This has been my stop on the Voice of War Book Tour! Check out the schedule posted at the beginning of this post to check out more posts by other content creators on this tour!
After her mother’s mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author of The Fifth Season.
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.
With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate – and gods and mortals – are bound inseparably together.
I picked up this book after hearing so many good things about it on Book Twitter. This book was amazing.
It was so different than anything I’ve ever read before. It wasn’t the story that was different really, no. This is one that you’ve probably read before. Orphaned girl is thrust into the political intrigue of a world unknown to her when she is named the heir to her once estranged grandfather’s kingdom. She struggles with court life and tries to carve a place for herself, meanwhile, falling in love with a God. She struggles with finding out who she is and the dark secrets that have been kept from her, and that are just coming to light. Yeah, I’ve read this one before.
The thing that made this book so different was the way it was told. N.K. Jemisin has such a unique and innovative way of telling a story. The narrative was unusual. Not in a bad way. It was a little choppy, and had many transitions in time. This certainly added to it’s novelty. Not only that, but the book challenges what fantasy books were. It shows how power corrupts and challenges the ruling class. It threatens ordered society and threatens to turn it over.
The world of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is different and brings something new to the table. Yeine, the granddaughter of the ruler, a product of a biracial marriage. Her mother, an Amn (the rulers) married a Black man for love, and was disinherited. After being summoned to the palace, you see the struggles that Yeine faces as a half-Black woman in a world where that is not accepted. She is locked in a battle with her two cousins, who have experience in the ways of court life. Yeine gains allies in the form of the Enefadah, enslaved gods who were enslaved by the Amn after they lost the Gods War against the Lord of Light, the patron God of Sky.
Speaking of Sky, the setting was amazing! Sky is a castle in the…. well…. sky. This is where most of our story takes place. This is a treacherous palace of court rules and backstabbing royals looking to claim more power and Gods who become unstable at sunset. A world of a class structure that makes it impossible to lay claim to anything if you are not of the elite. A ruling family that is hated by it’s people. And here we have Yeine, from a far flung territory, navigating it all. I really loved her character. Her internal dialogue and the way she handles conflict was amazing. She was really easy to root for. I loved to uncover all the secrets and family drama. I also loved the romance, this book was downright steamy!
One last thing is that this ending broke me. Once I finished this book, I immediately ordered the second in the series and plan to read it very soon. All of this being said, please read this book. At first, I was a little confused as you are just thrown into the world and expected to know what is going on, but once I got the hang of thing and cultural references, I was in love. PLEASE give this book a chance. I promise you won’t regret it.
~Have a nice day, stay safe and healthy, and as always, keep reading!
Cosmic Lattes and Books 