Review: The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia #2) by Carissa Broadbent

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The The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia #2) by Carissa Broadbent
Published 14 April 2022 by Nasyra Publishing
★★★★★

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Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.

In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.

Review: This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang

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This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
Published February 7, 2023 by Penguin Books Australia
RRP AUD $19.99
★★★★☆

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When seventeen-year-old Eliza Lin’s essay about meeting the love of her life unexpectedly goes viral, her entire life changes overnight. Now she has the approval of her classmates at her new international school in Beijing, a career-launching internship opportunity at her favorite magazine…and a massive secret to keep.

Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?

Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend — he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.

But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?

Get ready to fall in love in this hilarious romcom about a girl who begins a fake relationship with the famous actor in her class, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.

Review: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
Published June 7, 2023 by The Borough Press
RRP AUD $32.99
★★★★☆

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What’s the harm in a pseudonym? Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang in the vein of White Ivy and The Other Black Girl. 

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

Review: Secretly Yours (A Vine Mess #1) by Tessa Bailey

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Secretly Yours (A Vine Mess #1) by Tessa Bailey
Published February 1, 2023 by Avon US
RRP AUD $22.99
★★★★☆

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Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she’ll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless–and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit.

On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She’s eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt–and so unbelievably beautiful, he can’t focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he’s sucked further into Hallie’s orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian’s gray-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there’s something so familiar about her… and her very presence is turning his world upside down.

Review: The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown #1) by Hannah Whitten

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The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown #1) by Hannah Whitten
Published March 14th, 2023 by Orbit UK
RRP AUD $32.99
★★★★☆

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In this romantic new fantasy series from author Hannah Whitten, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court.

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.

Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

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Happy Place by Emily Henry
Published April 25, 2023 by Penguin Viking
RRP AUD $32.99
★★★★★

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A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?

Review: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

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The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Published February 14, 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton
RRP AUD $32.99
★★★★☆

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Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage… or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Blog Tour | Review: Moonlight & Fire by Ashlyn Lance

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Title: Moonlight & Fire
Author: Ashlyn Lance
Series: The Fallen Princess #1

Publication Date: February 23rd, 2023
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Pages: 296
Format: eBook, Paperback, Hardcover
Purchase a copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Blackwell’s
Add on Goodreads!

Rating: ★★★★

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There is salvation beyond the darkness. If only you’ll reach out and take it…

With Evenar on the edge of starvation, prophecies are the last hope for a kingdom in ruin. Their unwilling princess, Lunielle, is forced to uphold their demands, sending her on a journey that reveals the darkness that dwells beyond her world.

With the weight of her people’s survival on her shoulders, the princess encounters Aurion, a man with his own secrets to unravel. Working together to save their homes, they soon discover an inexplicable romantic pull that changes destiny and their lives forever.

But when a powerful lord of a mysterious realms falls for the ethereal princess and demands her hand be bound to his, she must decide—her people’s future or her own?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

From author Ashlyn Lance comes a captivating first in the series book, Moonlight and Fire—a coming of age tale set in a medieval world where magic still reigns. With epic romance, mythical creatures and page-turning battles, this is a book you cannot put down! Come along for the journey as Princess Lunielle grows beyond what she ever thought was possible!

Review: The Wicked In Me (Devil’s Cradle #1) by Suzanne Wright

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The Wicked In Me (Devil’s Cradle #1) by Suzanne Wright
Published 10 January 2023 by Piatkus
RRP AUD $32.99
★★☆

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No one really knows what they are. Only that they’re the first civilization. Aeons, they call themselves. They’re immortal. Powerful. Secretive.

And they’ll come for her.

Witch Wynter Dellavale knows that for certain. Because in unfairly trying to execute her, they started a chain of events they’re struggling to stop.

Needing safety, she flees to Devil’s Cradle, the home of monsters. A place for the outcasts, the fugitives, the crazies. A place ruled by the Ancients, seven beings who were once banished by the Aeons. Among the Ancients is the infamous Cain, brother of Abel and embodiment of jealousy — who, on another note, wants her in his bed.

There’s a heavy price for the safety the Ancients offer, but Wynter will have to pay it. She can’t take on the Aeons alone. And she has no intention of dying — been there, done that.

Not that she’ll be the easy prey the Aeons are expecting. They have no knowledge of the … thing that lives inside her. You see, when witches are brought back from the afterlife, they don’t always come back the same.

And they don’t always come back alone.

Review: The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia #1) by Carissa Broadbent

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The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia #1) by Carissa Broadbent
Published 16 August 2022 by Nasyra Publishing
★★★★★

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Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night is the first book in a new series of heart-wrenching romance, dark magic, and bloodthirsty intrigue, perfect for fans of From Blood and Ash and A Court of Thorns and Roses.