The majority of the books from this batch were from April and the beginning of May, which was when we went away on an almost 3 week long RV trip around the southern states of the US. I decided that, since we were on holiday, I’d take a break from my normal book reviewing schedule and give myself something of a “reading holiday” – as in, I wouldn’t read Netgalley books, and I would treat myself to a month of Kindle Unlimited! So a lot of the books in this set of mini book reviews were ones that I’d been really wanting to read for a long time, it was very fun to read book after book that I’d been waiting to read!
Sadly I didn’t get through quite as many as I’d hoped or as many as I would usually read. I was very happy to get to read on the plane for nearly 7 hours on the way there – my little boy had turned 3 a few months before and was finally happy to just chill watching a screen on the plane, which meant I could pay a lot more attention to books! After that though, we were just so stacked with activities and fun on the trip that I didn’t have as much time. But nevertheless, I still made good use of the Kindle Unlimited subscription – and even better, I had it on a free trial for the month, so I absolutely got my money’s worth! More on that in another post though!
I really enjoyed a good few of these books, and there are now a few new series I need to complete (need to get on with those!) – there were no new ones for the favourites list in this time, but Quicksilver and Filthy Rich Fae definitely came close, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil feels like it’s one of those books that will become something of a classic of our time – I was very lucky to get that on Netgalley! Read on to find out my thoughts:
Quicksilver by Callie Hart – 8.5/10
This was an excellent read for me. I’d seen it recommended for fans of ACOTAR, so of course it was going to make my list – I’m slowly working my way back through a huge list of romantasies, and this one comes up a lot.
Saeris Fane lives in the Third Ward, the poorest section of a city ruled by an immortal queen, in a land where magic has disappeared. She struggles to survive on water rations and with no real home, so one day, she takes her chance and ends up dragged away by the guards. Wounded, she grabs the nearest object which turns out to be a sword, revealing a pool of quicksilver in which she is transported to the land of the Fae by a man who she at first believes is Death himself. Bound to him, she has to figure out the secrets of the quicksilver and the new version of the world she has found herself in.
This wasn’t a high brow read, but I loved it. In many ways, it’s quite predictable of the romantasy genre, but honestly, I just really like that kind of formula, okay? It’s very much enemies to lovers, pretty slow burn, open door spice level, plus some found family and twisty turny elements.
The characters are great, good chemistry, but my unexpected fave was Carrion who at first seems to enter as a minor unpleasant side character from Saeris’ past, but develops into a brilliantly funny character with a bigger role to play. I’m excited to see where the next in the series takes us.
Fun to read, a good option for ACOTAR lovers!
Exodus by Kate Stewart – 6/10
This wasn’t a bad read, and I definitely enjoyed it more as I got into it, but it definitely wasn’t as good as the first in the series. It had a very different feel entirely – another reviewer described it as feeling like New Moon, where Bella is wallowing, and I agree with that. In fact, I believe the book even referenced that at one point!
Honestly, I skimmed through parts of it, especially the introspective monologues which just seemed to repeat the same things over and over as the character worked them over in her head. I get it, I see why it was done, but it didn’t make for the best read for me.
I’ll read the last in the series at some point, but I won’t rush to get it. I actually don’t know exactly where it will go as it felt like this rounded it off pretty well!
Filthy Rich Fae by Geneva Lee – 8.5/10
This was a fun read, definitely a series I’m going to continue!
I picked this from my “really want to read” Kindle Unlimited list (I got KU for 1 month while we were on holiday, so I had to make the most of it!) because I saw someone mention that it was fae meets Gossip Girl kind of vibes. I agree with that sentiment, but it also has darker elements that I believe are going to go off in a different direction as the series continues.
Cate works at the hospital in New Orleans when two men are brought in: one, a man she just sees of glimpse of with pointy ears (hmmm, suspicious!) and the other, her brother. In a bid to save him, she makes a deal with Lachlan Gage, a man from a family she has been conditioned to avoid at all costs. And, you know where this is going, it’s not just another deal, it’s a fae bargain. She’s transported to the Otherworld, a place of secrets, where she must spend her nights until she can break the bargain.
The romance in this was good, not the groundbreaking earth-shattering one, but still enjoyable. There are a medley of interesting side characters too who help to push the plot forward and add plenty of interest.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – 7/10
This was a book that I was really looking forward to reading, I’d seen it recommended everywhere. And I did enjoy it, but it didn’t live up to my expectations 100% – maybe it was just so hyped up by everyone, that I thought it would be outstanding. Weirdly from the cover and blurb, I felt it would be more “intellectual” – if that makes any sort of sense! Not that I wanted it to be, right now especially I’m all about a fun, easy, formulaic read. I’ve just seen it was the author’s debut novel, and maybe it was something about that coming through. I think it was just different to my expectations.
It was a fantastic gripping storyline and the magic system, with magic granted via cards, was so unique. I loved the gothic setting and dark fairytale aspect. And the writing was stunning – intricately woven and beautiful. I highlighted passages just to look at them again in future as I thought they read so well.
As I said, I did enjoy – I will definitely be reading the second one, and I have more from the author on my “really want to read” list. I think the author hasn’t yet reached her full potential with this novel, as I think the writing and story has all the promise, but it just wasn’t a 5 star hit for me.
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell – 8.5/10
I threw a few non-fictions onto my list for my month with KU, and this is the only one that made the cut! It fit in really well with another non-fiction that I was reading alongside it (Mythica by Emily Hauser, about women in the ancient Greek world).
I’m a linguist at heart – I studied Latin and Ancient Greek at uni, with a focus on the languages, but I always wished that I had chosen the linguistics route and done those ancient languages on the side. I pick up books about languages all the time, and find myself in internet rabbit holes about the origins of a single word. So as you can imagine, this book appealed to me so much.
I loved it. Since finishing it, I’ve been taking note, both consciously and unconsciously, of the way that I speak, that women around me speak, even my daughter, and how people speak back to us. It’s fascinating to notice the differences when you’re aware of them. There were some really interesting stories in this and anecdotes relating to the author’s real life situations. For a book about words, it was very easy to read and, for someone who’s a word nerd, was very enjoyable!
Credence by Penelope Douglas – 7.5/10
Well, this was…a read! I’m not sure where to start!
I’d seen plenty of BookTok recommendations, as well as warnings, for this book, and I’ll admit, it had me intrigued. The blurb describes the story of a wealthy and priveleged girl going to live with her only living relative in the remote mountains, her father’s stepbrother, and his two boys, a tale of survival and coming of age. But from the 18+ warnings, I knew it wasn’t just about that.
So there are mountains, there is survival, and there is also a lot of spice. Spice that had me saying to Ben, “Well, they’re not actually BLOOD related and she only just met them, so it’s okay, right?!”
It’s a story that will stick with me, and to be honest, I did enjoy the ride (I say this about books a lot, but here I feel it needs a “lol” after that sentence!). If you’ve read it, you might laugh when I say that the setting is what I really liked about it, but it’s true! I love that kind of isolated landscape.
So can I recommend it? Just go in with the 18+ warnings in mind, and you’ll be fine.
Mythica by Emily Hauser – 8/10
I love to read a non-fiction every now and then, and this book felt like it was written for me – women in the world of ancient Greece, specifically delving into the unwritten stories of those from the world of Homer. As a Classics student, I read huge chunks of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original language – or at least, in the way it was written down, whenever and by whomever that might have been.
I wish this book had existed when I was studying these texts at school and uni. I always felt when reading them that something was missing, and this makes it obvious – women who aren’t just plot devices, flat characters or wrathful goddesses. I also kind of wish I had done my dissertation on this topic – the hidden women of the ancient world and what life was really like for them. Although my disseration topic, an ancient mystery cult, did pop up in this book!
I had a variety of teachers at school and uni, but there are a couple who I would love to recommend this to (I am, in fact, friends with one on Facebook and may do so!).
Other reviewers have mentioned the obvious with the marketing of this book – the blurb is somewhat misselling it to people with immediate mentions of Madeline Miller’s Circe (read my Circe review here) and other similar novels. As I’ve said, it’s a non-fiction which delves into the evidence, from reading between the lines of ancient texts, old and contemporary archaeological finds and even DNA studies, to uncover the unspoken and unwritten reality of Homer’s lesser mentioned sex.
My only criticism is that, while it was engaging, it wasn’t the quickest or easiest read. It didn’t read like a dusty old tome from the research libraries of my uni days, but I also struggled to sit down and read it like I would another book for more than an hour or so at a time, it needed to be read in chunks.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for a review copy of this book.
Coram House by Bailey Seybolt – 8.5/10
An abandoned and dilapidated orphanage once run by nuns, conflicting stories of murder(s), set over a span over several decades on the shores of Lake Champlain, Vermont – what’s not to love about that?
This book has all the hallmarks of the stories written by my favourite author, Carol Goodman – even the location is very similar to what I would call her bread and butter books. But luckily, it’s not a carbon copy, not in the slightest. Instead, it’s a story that stands on its own feet with a strong plot, well developed characters and, of course, a great twist. I thought I had it figured out a couple of times, but only really suspected the actual murderer towards the very end, and only because I’ve read and watched a lot of stories like these before!
The pace was excellent, enough to keep you gripped and guessing, but I didn’t want to speed through it in a single sitting – long enough to really enjoy it. One of my favourite things about it is the setting – it’s a specific place that I have visited a couple of times, and the surrounding area is one of my favourites too, so to read about it in a hot summer in days gone by and the present freezing days of winter was brilliant.
If you like pacy thrillers with a good mystery, this one will be for you.
This book is currently on my July 99p Kindle books list, head over there to find more!
Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for a review copy of this book.
Spellbound by Georgia Leighton – 8/10
This was a gorgeous read that I smashed through in a couple of days. A retelling of the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty, set in a world quite unlike our own and a little different to the original that we know and love too, but it was a very well built world that felt like it could be realistic.
I’m not going to lie, I picked this for very superficial reasons: the cover was pretty, and the name – Spellbound is my 6 year old daughter’s favourite movie at the moment. It’s a different story entirely, they have nothing to do with one another, but it was for that reason that it caught my eye! The blurb had me already entranced though, as did the first few pages. I was hooked immediately.
In a castle on an island that is cut off daily by fast creeping tides, a princess is born. The queen hurries to bestow her with the blessing from her homeland, but as the ceremony takes place, someone wishing the royal family evil places a curse on the baby. The story is told from the perspective of a variety of women: the queen who is forced to give up her baby to try to save her; Sel, an apprentice to a master, there to grant her blessing in the master’s place, who flees with the baby; Meredyth, the queen’s lady in waiting; and the princess herself, fleeing, though she doesn’t know it…or, is that stuck in the castle?
I felt the characters were beautifully fleshed out. You could understand every ounce of their pain and were with them for the entire journey. The story weaves together so well, with a few surprises along the way.
I believe it’s been positioned as an adult novel, but I think it would be well placed as a young/new adult novel as an introduction to fantasy worlds through a familiar fairytale: it’s dark, but never too dark; there is some romance, but it’s only a minor side plot that, while beautiful and wholesome, doesn’t take up a big role in the story.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for a review copy of this book.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab – 8.5/10
Three women. Three dark cravings. One raw, genre-breaking tale where the monsters are not always the ones with pointy teeth.
If you read the blurb and other reviews, you might feel that “toxic lesbian vampires” sounds like a fun new version of Twilight with a twist. But if you’ve read the author’s other famed novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, you’ll know that is not the direction this one takes.
This could be a classic vampire novel, were it not for the world of 2019 as the situation for one of the stories. It’s so lyrically written, you can’t help but be sucked in. I definitely spent a couple of nights dreaming about the world through the eyes of those buried in the midnight soil after putting the book down.
I think you’d be hard pressed not to absolutely devour this book. You feel everything alongside each of the women – their pain, anger, hunger and longing. I loved passing through a variety of timelines and gorgeous places that were made so real – the world is stretched wide and every single place is written so well. Even side characters were fully fleshed out.
The only real criticism I’ve seen of the book is that it doesn’t have a plot, however I beg to differ. While it doesn’t have the traditional beginning, middle and end acts, it tells a story that lasts centuries. You feel as though you’ve been dropped in the middle of a tale that has lasted millennia and will continue well beyond us – an endless cycle of women and female rage and hunger.
This is already a hotly anticipated book for 2025 and I think is one that will be talked about. I can’t wait for others to read it and to see what they think!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for a review copy of this book.
