Uncategorized

Upcoming January 2024 Book Releases

Happy Friday Bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I wanted to bring you a small list of some of the books that are being released in January that I have heard about. This is not a complete list, this is only a small list of the books I know about.

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas – 30th January

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake – 9th January

An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.

Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.

And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them, while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they’re willing to betray for limitless power―and who will be destroyed along the way.

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole – 16th January

Whip-smart and immersive, this Jamaican-inspired fantasy follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland.

Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.

When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.

As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.

A Fragile Enchantment by Alison Saft – 4th January

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins – 4th January

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.

But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.

Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.

But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

The Getaway List by Emma Lord – 25th January

The day of her high school graduation, Riley realizes two things: One, that she has spent the last four years trying so hard to be a Good Kid for her mom that she has no idea who she really is anymore, and two, she has no idea what she wants because of it. The solution? Pack her bags and move to New York for the summer, where her childhood best friend Tom and co-creator of The Getaway List ― a list of all the adventures they’ve wanted to do together since he moved away ― will hopefully help her get in touch with her old adventurous self, and pave the road to a new future.

Riley isn’t sure what to expect from Tom, who has been distant since his famous mom’s scriptwriting career pulled him away. But when Riley arrives in the city, their reconnection is as effortless as it was when they were young―except with one, unexpected complication that will pull Riley’s feelings in a direction she didn’t know they could take. As she, Tom, and their newfound friends work their way through the delightfully chaotic items on The Getaway List, Riley learns that sometimes the biggest adventure is not one you take, but one you feel in your heart.

The Queen of Poisons by Robert Thorogood – 18th January

Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why?

The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable Mayor of Marlow? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club are about to face their most difficult case yet . . .

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett – 18th January

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.
 
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
 
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage. Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
 
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
 
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

The Troublemakers by Tamzin merchant – 18th January

Cordelia Hatmaker has finally united the Maker families and restored the kingdom’s trust in Maker magic. But mysterious outbreaks of chaotic magic are beginning to happen across London… And then the unthinkable happens. Cordelia is accused of treason.

As the guards close in, she must flee London at once. With her father Prospero, and friends Sam and Goose, Cordelia sets sail on her family’s ship, the Little Bear, for the adventure of a lifetime. They’re determined to solve the mystery of a missing girl, and to clear Cordelia’s name once and for all.

But soon they are in the dangerous territory of a band of legendary pirates: the Troublemakers, captained by a fierce and unstoppable pirate queen…

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today. Today I am bringing you my book review for The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis, the first in her Bronte mystery series.

It’s a new year and that means I am changing up the way I write my book reviews, let me down below what you think of this new style.

I will not be splitting my reviews up into sections anymore. I will be writing a few paragraphs of my overall thoughts about the book instead and then I will be giving an overall star rating at the end. I hope you enjoy my book review!

Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery…

Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters–the Brontë sisters–learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.

These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines–it’s seeing what is not there.”

As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril…

My Review:

I have had this book sitting on my shelves for a long, long time. It has only been in the past year as I have started reading more historical mysteries that I realised how much I enjoyed them. So, finally as my last book of 2023 I read The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis.

This book captures the personalities of the three Bronte sisters extremely well, you can see the wildness of Emily and the quiet nature of Anne and the sensible longing Charlotte. I personally enjoyed the chapters written in Charlotte’s perspective the most but that makes sense considering Jane Eyre is my favourite Classic novel. I did like how the book mixed the perspectives of the sisters together, it gave each of them space to investigate on their own and discover integral information and develop their own identities within the novel.

One of the things I loved the most about this novel was the way that the mystery worked. It was a tangled web of secrets and darkness that started unfolding more and more with each turn of the page. Throughout I had my own suspicion as to who the murderer was going to be, and this was the most clever part of the novel because I was completely wrong. I could have given 100 guesses and not a single one of them would have come close to the actual ending. Normally, this kind of thing annoys me a bit, I can feel cheated as a reader sometimes if the mystery doesn’t leave you enough hints, but for this novel it really worked.

If you love historical mysteries I would highly recommend this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.
Monthly TBRs

January TBR

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am sharing what I hope to be reading during January 2024, let me know if you have read any of these books and what you thought of them!

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

I am very intrigued by this book, I love a good murder mystery especially when they have something a bit different about them and this book definitely does. A traditional manor murder mystery with the twist of the investigator being a psychic, I am looking forward to reading it.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

I am very excited to read this one. It sounds like a rich adult fantasy that I could get engrossed in easily.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James

I have wanted this book for a while, I saw lots of people talking about it a while back. It sounds slightly spook but very interesting.

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

This is another book I have wanted for a long time and I was excited to get it for Christmas. I am actually reading it right now, I am about 40 or so pages in and I am hooked. It is about a group of women who are all connected as they are or were once staff in this particular house on Park Lane and they plan to stage a heist in that house while a ball is happening. I love a good heist plot so I have high hopes for this book.

What Would Jane Austen Do?

To be honest I don’t know a lot about this book, I know that it follows two neighbors and one is a romance writer and one is a crime fiction writer, I think? That sounds intriguing to me but it’s not a book I think I am going to love, we shall see.

Manslaughter Park by Tirzah Price

This is the third book in the Jane Austen inspired murder mystery series and this one is based on Mansfield Park, following Fanny Price. I have loved the previous two books in this series so I hope I will love this one just as much.

Monthly Wrap Ups

December Wrap Up!

Happy Monday bookish people and Happy New Year! Can you believe it is 2024 already? Time is going so fast and so much happened in 2023, bad things and good things. I won’t get into the bad things, who needs negativity on the first day of the New Year, but some of the good things were having my first stall at Comic Con for my business (The Blind Scribe), and I had a play performed in the Theatre, such a strange but incredible experience, plus I met my boyfriend through the process, he was one of the actors. So, 2023 was overall a pretty good year and to top it all off, I completed my December TBR which I think is the first time I have done that since I started making them. A good end to the year.

so, the books I read in December were:

  • Murder in Midwinter a short story collection (3 stars)
  • Murder on Christmas Eve a short story collection (3 stars)
  • The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese (4 stars) review coming on the 22nd January
  • Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict (3 stars)
  • The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (4 stars)
  • The Anne Boleyn Bible by Mickey Mayhew (4 stars) review coming on the 15th January
  • The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis (5 stars) review coming on the 8th January

as you can see my favourite read of the month was The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis, a gothic murder mystery novel I thought it was excellent.
what was your favourite read in December?

Book Tags

My Top 5 Books of 2023

Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a wonderful day today.

I am here to share with you my top five books of the year, I have to say it was a difficult choice. I read a lot of books this year that I enjoyed, and a lot of them were books that were surprising.

  1. Finale by Stephanie Garber
  2. Vera Wong’s unsolicited advice for murderers
  3. A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson
  4. London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
  5. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

What were your favourite books you read this year?

Book Tags, Uncategorized

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases of 2024

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a wonderful day today.

what 2024 book releases are you most looking forward to?

Here are my top 10 2024 releases:

The Prisoners Throne by Holly Black

Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping

The Antique Hunters Guide To Murder

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas

The Disappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Play of Shadows by Sebastian de Castell

A Fragile Enchantment by Alison Saft

The new book by Annie Garthwaite!

Book Tags

End of Year Book Tag!

happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a wonderful day today.
Today I am doing the End of Year Book Tag, how would you answer these questions? Let me know in the comments.

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?
At least two, but only two I can remember the names of which are A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas, which I wanted to finish but it’s a long book and I wasn’t feeling fantasy right then. The second book is Assistant to the Villain and I didn’t finish this book because I wanted to love it but there wasn’t enough plot in it to keep me captivated and for me personally romance gets boring after 100 or so pages if the plots not there.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?
I would have to say not really I tend to read a lot of mysteries towards the end of the year and I don’t feel they are very autumnal most of the time.

Is there a new release you are still waiting for?
so many! All because I wrote my list of book early September for my mum to use as my Christmas list so I haven’t been able to buy any since then.

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favourite of the year?
I am going to say the Murder on the Christmas Express because I love a good murder mystery so we shall see. As I am writing this I am starting this book tonight, fingers crossed.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2023?
Not really, I have my eye on a few books releasing next year and if you’d like to see what those are I am posting a top ten most anticipated releases.

I hope you enjoyed this tag!

Monthly Wrap Ups

November Wrap Up!

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all having a wonderful day today.
it has reached the end of November and so it is time again to do my monthly wrap up.
November was a pretty good reading month for me, I technically read four books this month which I was pleased with considering I have so much else going on.

In my November TBR I was meant to read:

The Box In The Woods by Maureen Johnson – I did not read. I was trying to prioritise books this month that I could reference within my PhD work which unfortunately was not this one.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano- I did not read this one either, same as the box in the woods, there wasn’t anything in this book blurb I could see that would work for my thesis so I had to prioritise other books but I am very excited to get to this one still, hopefully before the next book in the series comes out.

Nothing More To Tell by Karen M McManus – I did not read this book. Honestly, when I was choosing what to read next I spooked myself reading the blurb of this book. Don’t ask me why, my mind is a strange place.

Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood – I did read this one, it was a reread for me, I knew it was one I planned on discussing in my thesis so I went through my second read, which I loved just as much as the first time I read it, and marked all the points I could use.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – same as the marlow murder club, I also read this one and it was a reread. For exactly the same reason as above.

Gideon Green in Black and White by Katie Henry – the third book I read this month. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to and I will be putting up my review of it this month so check back soon for that.

on top of my TBR books I also read the Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese, which is actually on my December TBR but I felt in a romance mood which is not like me at all. It was a good book, the romance was pretty swoon worthy and it was set in a bookshop, enemies to lovers. I enjoyed the ride and the change of reading such a short book.

have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Book Tags

Fireworks Book Tag

Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a good day today.

Today I am bringing you the Fireworks Book Tag that I found on The Strawberry Post blog.

Screamers – a book that made you want to scream: Mrs Death Misses Death

Bombers – a book you read before it exploded in the book community

Banger – a banned book you have read

Peony – a book/author you think everyone needs to read

Crosette – a book/series with a complicated plot

Diadem – a book/series with a set of amazing central characters