I haven't read as much manga in the second half of the year as I did in the first half. Which is what I was trying to do. I still have a lot of novels I want to read hopefully I can get through some of them before the end of the year.
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Review: Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K.L. Wilson
Author: Sarah K.L. Wilson
Series: Poisoned Saints
Genre: Epic Fantasy/Romance
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: June 01, 2023
Edition: 540 pages, ebook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's |
Synopsis:
Eleven paladins walk into a monastery. Only one knows it's a trap.
When Victoriana Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, she's out of her depth from the very beginning. Victoriana has only just been made a paladin and she has none of the resources or experience that the others have. On top of that, she has no idea how she will fulfill her orders -- to find and claim for her superiors the God's own Cup of Tears.
Her rivals are stronger, smarter, and more experienced. They want this just as badly as she does. And one of them might not be a paladin at all.
When Adalbrand Von Menticure arrives at the monastery with the other paladin representatives he sees the obstacles before him as one more way to dedicate himself to his healing arts. What he does not expect is murder. Or the young female paladin who keeps insisting that they have a traitor among them. Or how she makes him start to feel things that have long been forbidden.
Together, these two unwieldy allies must discover who the traitor is, how that one is killing the others, and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.
A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.
Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and careful practice in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin daggers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death?
When Victoriana Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, she's out of her depth from the very beginning. Victoriana has only just been made a paladin and she has none of the resources or experience that the others have. On top of that, she has no idea how she will fulfill her orders -- to find and claim for her superiors the God's own Cup of Tears.
Her rivals are stronger, smarter, and more experienced. They want this just as badly as she does. And one of them might not be a paladin at all.
When Adalbrand Von Menticure arrives at the monastery with the other paladin representatives he sees the obstacles before him as one more way to dedicate himself to his healing arts. What he does not expect is murder. Or the young female paladin who keeps insisting that they have a traitor among them. Or how she makes him start to feel things that have long been forbidden.
Together, these two unwieldy allies must discover who the traitor is, how that one is killing the others, and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.
A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.
Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and careful practice in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin daggers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death?
**************
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Review: Silverborn The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Author: Jessica Townsend
Series: Nevermoor #4
Genre: Middle Grade/Adventure/Mystery
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Publication Date: June 24, 2025
Edition: Ebook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's |
Synopsis:
In the magical city of Nevermoor, long-buried secrets are coming to light, and Morrigan Crow's life is about to turn upside down . . .
When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor's wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a family mystery she's eager to unravel. She could never imagine where it will lead: a white wedding, a golden dragon and a red pool of blood.
Embroiled in suspicion and danger, Morrigan leaps headfirst into a murder investigation, while also grappling with her ever-growing Wundersmith powers. And although her friends are there to help, she fears that could change if they learn she's keeping a terrible secret of her own.
As shadowy forces awaken in Nevermoor, can Morrigan find a killer and solve the mystery in her own past . . . before the clock strikes midnight?
The highly anticipated fourth book in the award-winning Nevermoor series from one of Australia's best selling and most loved authors. Jessica Townsend weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and mystery in this thrilling new installment of the Nevermoor series.
When Morrigan is invited into Nevermoor's wealthy Silver District, she discovers a world of extravagance and a family mystery she's eager to unravel. She could never imagine where it will lead: a white wedding, a golden dragon and a red pool of blood.
Embroiled in suspicion and danger, Morrigan leaps headfirst into a murder investigation, while also grappling with her ever-growing Wundersmith powers. And although her friends are there to help, she fears that could change if they learn she's keeping a terrible secret of her own.
As shadowy forces awaken in Nevermoor, can Morrigan find a killer and solve the mystery in her own past . . . before the clock strikes midnight?
The highly anticipated fourth book in the award-winning Nevermoor series from one of Australia's best selling and most loved authors. Jessica Townsend weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and mystery in this thrilling new installment of the Nevermoor series.
***************
Sunday, August 24, 2025
Review: Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Series: Iron Widow #2
Genre: Sci-fi/Queer/Romance
Publisher: Tundra Books
Publication Date: December 24, 2024
Edition: Ebook
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's |
Synopsis:
After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But she has also learned that her world is not as it seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than Zetian imagined forces her to share power with a dangerous man she cannot simply depose. Despite having vastly different ideas about how they must deconstruct the corrupt and misogynist system that plagues their country, Zetian must join this man in a dance of truth and lies and perform their roles to perfection in order to take down their common enemy, who seeks to control them as puppets while dangling one of Zetian’s loved ones as a hostage.
With political unrest and perilous forces aiming to undermine Zetian at every turn, can she enact positive changes as a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance?
With political unrest and perilous forces aiming to undermine Zetian at every turn, can she enact positive changes as a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance?
**************************
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
ARC Review: A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury
Author: Liselle Sambury
Series: A Mastery of Monsters #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy/YA/Mystery
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: July 29, 2025
Edition: Ebook, 592 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Kobo | Powell's |
Synopsis:
When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
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