Wow, this was a month of some big books! Not necessarily big as in chunky (although a few of them were!), but ones that are very popular and highly talked about. This was because it was around my birthday (hooray!) and when I decided to treat myself to a month of Kindle Unlimited which means I picked out a lot of “really want to read” books from that list, which generally happen to be popular ones as I get FOMO!
By the way, if you’re wondering is Kindle Unlimited worth it? Check out that post – it absolutely is for me, but I don’t have it all the time as I’m working through my other shelves to hit my 2026 reading goals.
I tried not to make the mistake of starting every series possible on this round of Kindle Unlimited though – last time, I thought I was knocking books off my list, but really I was adding them and multiplying because a lot of the books were first in a series which I now have to complete! I started a couple but mostly used the opportunity to knock as many Zodiac Academy world books out which is why this round up is half those!
So I’m sorry for some wishy washy reviews here, but I struggle in case I give too much away when a book is not the first in a series, I’ve tried my best!
Funny Story by Emily Henry
This was a cute, fun romance, nice and lighthearted but with a deeper storyline running underneath.
Daphne has split up with her fiance Peter after he ran off with his platonic best friend, Petra. With no other options, Daphne moves in with Petra’s ex, Miles. It all sounds a bit incestuous, but it’s not as weird as that, I promise! When they realise they can get one over on the other couple by pretending to date, things start to get a bit complicated between them. There’s also this lovely aspect of the story where Miles shows Daphne around the small town they live in when he realises she doesn’t know all that much about it, trying to convince her to stay. This is another one of those “I’m sure you can see where this ends up”!
The fake dating storyline is such a classic, and it works really well here. You can feel the rising tension throughout, as they become closer than roommates and later closer than friends. Both struggle with relationships – romantic, friendships and family – thanks to parental issues in their past, but we see a series of other friendships develop throughout the book too. I loved Miles’ sister Julia especially who comes in with such a bang. Ashleigh is also a brilliant character.
This is a really good read, it’s not going to blow you away, but it’s lovely, a little bit cosy, and has a little more depth than some romances.
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
I always find it tricky to review books in the middle of series, as it’s hard not to give away spoilers! Instead of my usual full blurb, I’m just going to say that FINALLY I’m getting the hype around Throne of Glass.
In Queen of Shadows, everything that felt a bit disjointed before starts to come together. I mean, I knew it had to at some point, they wouldn’t just be giving us random characters’ stories unless they’d mean something in the future! The only problem is that there were some that didn’t interest me as much as others when I initially read them, and because of the gaps between reading the books for me, I’m struggling to recall the fine details. I can understand why a reread might be necessary to truly appreciate everything that’s gone into this epic – when I’ll fit that in though, who knows?!
I’m now very excited to read the next one and may have to do some spreadsheet shuffling to get it in sooner!
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
This was a gripping, dark and fun ride – I can’t wait to read more!
Oraya is the adopted daughter of the Nightborn king of the vampires, living in a world where she is destined always to be prey. In order to win herself a gift from a goddess, she enters the Kejari – a series of trials where she is to hold her own against deadly vampires. She only has one option to help her survive – to ally with an enemy. Of course, you can see where this is heading!
I’ll be honest, it took me a bit of time to get into this book. I actually started it as an audiobook, and I think I just don’t connect as well when listening rather than reading. It’s not that I didn’t like it, but I just didn’t fell like I “got” it, until I got Kindle Unlimited at the end of the month (woohoo, birthday treat to myself!) and finished the book on Kindle – then I finally fully connected with it, and I’m obsessed.
I think the beginning was also hard to get into because it’s a whole new world to learn about and understand – it always takes me a bit of time to figure out who are the “good guys” and “bad guys” in a new political world! Of course, it’s always going to be a bit ambiguous too though in a book like this where the monster isn’t always the monster they seem to be.
I enjoyed Oraya and Raihn’s developing relationship – I feel this is going to continue to break my heart?! There are also some other lovely relationships built too, as well as those that are broken down. I can’t wait to see where it all goes!
Check out my Crowns of Nyaxia reading order here!
Flawless by Elsie Silver (Chestnut Springs #1)
There is a lot of hype around cowboy romances (like sports and hockey romances too – isn’t it funny what becomes a thing!), but this is the first one I’ve read. I’ve been meaning to pick one up for ages, and getting Kindle Unlimited seemed like the best opportunity to get into one!
Rhett is a bull-riding cowboy who has almost destroyed his career by accidentally slandering one of his sponsors. Summer, who works at her dad’s firm that represents Rhett, is put in charge of “babysitting” him – making sure he stays out of trouble until he completes the season.
The banter between them is excellent. It’s a good opposites attract kind of story, where you realise that they’re not so opposite after all. There’s a good amount of chemistry.
There’s also a nice bit of family backstory on both sides – this gives a bit more depth to the book than just a standard romance, and I imagine is also building the world out for the rest of the Chestnut Springs series. I haven’t checked who else’s relationships will be covered in the rest of the books, but it’s fun to try and guess who will get the spotlight on them and with whom!
I also just really enjoyed in the setting. It’s not my world, but I’ve visited these types of areas and been to a few rodeos, so I get the atmosphere and the competition. It feels like an accurate portrayal of it, and I love the small town, ranch and countryside environment – I could read that all day long!
I’m not marking it 5 stars as it didn’t totally blow me away, but I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to picking up the next one.
Ruthless Fae by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #2)
This was a gripping sequel to the first Zodiac Academy book, and I can see why people are addicted to them!
If I’m honest, I was a bit wary of picking up this series again. I really enjoyed the setting of the first and the big, bold characters of the Vega twins. But I’d never read a bully romance before, and I’m still not too sure I like that! This book alleviated some of my concerns as I feel the wider plot arc starting to build – I’m still hoping for a Rhysand kind of situation!
We were left in a position with the last book where I was hoping that the twins would get revenge on the bullies – well, they certainly do! But I’m, again, not quite sure how I feel even with the tables turned – I guess behaviour like that doesn’t always sit well with a goody two shoes like me!!
I did prefer this to the first now that we’re starting to feel that bigger plot building in the world around them. I can’t wait to see where it goes and whether my predictions will come true!
Painted Ladies by P. R. Ellis
This was a gripping crime thriller, with a story that had a lot of meaning running underneath it – a great read.
Jasmine Frame is an investigator who used to be a policeman – she was pushed out of the force while transitioning. When a tranvestite is found brutally murdered, she’s brought in to help identify the victim and gets drawn into the case – eventually ending up going undercover to try to attract the killer.
I’ll be honest, I went into this book not expecting to like it that much. It’s one of my backlisted Netgalley titles – it’s been sat for a very long time waiting to be read and reviewed and kept getting pushed back as I didn’t feel it would interest me. I added it to my spreadsheet to force myself to read it, then reached it on the list and still didn’t feel interested as I’m not all that into crime thrillers at the moment.
Honestly, I’m so glad I gave it a chance. I was gripped in the storyline from the first few pages and struggled to put it down. It’s more than just the standard police drama thanks to the gender issues that run deep throughout the book – there’s a whole lot of exploration of character and identity, but despite being educational in places, it doesn’t feel like it’s been written to force that point. Instead, it feels very realistic – aside from a couple of small things, such as the way two police officers end up sharing a bed in a non-romantic kind of way – this just felt a bit off to me!
I can’t say it was the most well written book I’ve ever read – there were parts that felt a little bit clumsy, but I was able to overlook these for the sake of the story and the characters.
I won’t be rushing to read the next book in the series, but only because I have such a long list of other series to finish and this could easily be as a standalone, but I wouldn’t hesitate to read another if it was available to me.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for a review copy of this book.
On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn (Bloodwing Academy #1)
I actually wrote the below review in late 2024, but I reread this book right before reading The Bond That Burns as I couldn’t remember enough! I never published the review here either, so here it is:
On Wings of Blood was my first dive into dragon fantasy, and what an introduction it was! I’m not sure what I was expecting when I went into the book because, like I said, I’ve never read dragon fiction before but I know it’s a hugely popular subgenre so there must be a reason. To be fair, it’s not heavy on the dragons (yet) as Medra, our main character who has been “dropped” into this world is supposedly a dragon rider, but there are no dragons left. I’m sure we can all see where that is going, but the story is about so much more!
This is a dark acadaemia novel at its core, so you’ve inevitably got a bit of a Harry Potter feel in there, but darker and more dangerous. Others have compared it to Fourth Wing and Zodiac Academy (both on my TBR!) but it has has a little bit of Hunger Games thrown in there, and of course, an ACOTAR feel too. It has excellent pacing and a lot of intrigue. There’s still a lot left to discover about Medra to be explored in future books.
There’s an excellent enemies to lovers relationship in this one. Blake, the other half of this partnership, is an excellent character who makes a good match in how well he’s written to Medra. Someone described him as having Draco Malfoy energy – and I totally agree! There’s also a found family element with a lovely friendship between Medra, Florence and Naveem.
This is one of my top new fantasy reads – it’s a brand new release and I’m hoping it gets the attention it deserves in 2025!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
The Bond That Burns by Briar Boleyn (Bloodwing Academy #2)
I normally write a review immediately after I’ve finished a book, but weirdly, it doesn’t look like I ever wrote one for this, so I’m looking back several months here!
As I mentioned above, I picked up this book and realised that I couldn’t remember enough about the first to enjoy it fully, so I reread the first before jumping into this one again. I’m so glad I did as reading the two back to back was a fantastic experience. I felt fully immersed in a beautifully well-realised world and was totally invested in the characters.
The enemies to lovers and lovers to enemies and back and forth again and again plot is strong in this. I’m not a huge bully romance fan, but I enjoyed this.
I loved this book a lot – even more than book 1, and I really loved that one! It became a bit of a Roman empire book for me after finishing it and, since I got the first book through Netgalley, I checked daily on there for the third after I finished this one as I needed to read it! Sadly no luck, but it’s not long until publication date for it now so I’m looking forward to that.
The Reckoning by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Zodiac Academy #3)
This book really upped the ante! As I’ve said before, I struggle to review books that are not the first in a series as I worry I might give something away, so I’ll keep it short!
I really enjoyed this one – the story is getting more complex, as are the characters. I’m starting to understand the ambiguity around whether people are “good” or “bad” and their motives are getting explained in more detail. The character development is great.
I have to admit, the clumsy writing does throw me off a bit – there are typos and grammatical errors where there shouldn’t be. But I’m willing to put these aside for the sake of a fun story that I’m now really quite invested in.
I’ve immediately started Dark Fae from the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series which I’ve seen recommended as the next book in the reading order rather than book 4 of Zodiac Academy. It’s fun staying immersed in this world!
Dark Fae by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac #1)
Dark Fae isn’t technically part of the Zodiac Academy series, it’s technically it’s own standalone series called Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac. But based on others’ recommendations, I’m reading the series after the first 3 books of Zodiac Academy.
It’s set in the same world, and reading the first few ZA books first probably gives you a lot more context of the world and the magic system at large (you’d probably be a bit thrown by all the different orders and the magic skillsets if you hadn’t been first introduced to it by the Vega twins as they learn it all for the first time).
This series follows Elise, a vampire whose brother has died apparently of an overdose of Killblaze, a dangerous drug sweeping through Solaria and Aurora Academy. Elise suspects there’s far more to it than that, so in order to find out, she hacks the system, gets herself a place at the academy (which is considered one of the lowest ones in the region) and starts digging into the four “Kings” and two gangs who rule the school.
The book is, like the ZA ones, told from multiple perspectives. The one we see the most of is Elise’s, but we also dip into the stories of the four kings and her brother, Gareth, in throwbacks to the time before he died.
This is described as a dark reverse harem romance. Considering the nature of all the characters, you don’t want Elise to fall into a relationship with any of them, but as time goes on, you kind of do. Then you don’t. It’s complicated, okay?! Like ZA, each has a backstory and more depth to their character which occasionally gives you insight into their “good” and “bad” sides, so you flit between understanding them and hating them.
The setting is brilliant. I already loved reading about this world and all the characters in it, and seeing another, less privileged angle, is really interesting.
I’ve already started on book 2 as I’m trying to get through as many of this series and world as possible in my 1 month of Kindle Unlimited – I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes!
Savage Fae by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac #2)
This is the second book of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series, and, in the order I’m reading them, fifth in the overall Zodiac World. I’m very deep in this world at the moment, having taken some time to actually sit down and commit to these books without others in between, and I’m very much enjoying it!
In this installment, we’re still following Elise and the four kings – boys with strong magical powers and dangerous gang associations – at Aurora Academy where she’s trying to find out how exactly her brother died.
I’m really enjoying getting to know each of the kings in more depth and understanding their motivations. There’s been a whole lot more spice in this series than the Zodiac Academy one – I suppose it does sell itself as a reverse harem situation! This book has a lot of yearning as two of the kings, enemies with one another, make a pact not to touch Elise outside of being her blood source – this makes for a fun little storyline!
As with the other ZA world books, I do find the writing and editing clumsy – again, I’ve spotted little typos that I’m surprised haven’t been picked up and corrected before (side note, I’m not sure how it works with ebooks, but surely can be done easier than with a book that’s had a big physical run?!). I feel that the story is somewhat dragged out and could have been edited shorter – there feels like a lot of repetition of the same plot points. Nevertheless, I am enjoying it and will definitely continue the series!
