I feel like this Sunday has been the first in a long time where I have completely absorbed myself in books and reading for majority of the day, and it’s been an incredible feelings!
It’s an overcast, windy and cold day here so Peach and I have decided that a weather induced morning and afternoon in bed and under the covers was called for.
I’ve had quite a big work week and reading week before landing here with ‘Nectar of the Wicked’ by Ella Fields.
I started ‘The Mystery Writer’ by lovely friend Sulari Gentill last weekend and took every spare moment I could this week to keep reading as it was so captivating, twisty and turny that I just knew the ending would not disappoint.
‘The Mystery Writer’ is a story about Theo and her journey to becoming a bestselling novelist but it’s not as straightforward as one might assume. I’m working on a full review of this novel which you’ll be able to read on here very soon ๐
I’ve also devoured an indie romance for a friend as their Beta reader. Beta reading is when an author sends you a close to finished copy of their book/chapters/synopsis and you’re generally reading to provide feedback on questions they provide or for me, I usually provide feedback on flow as a reader, moments I really enjoyed or moments I found confusing. It’s not an editing gig persay, it’s more seen as a vibe check. I really enjoy doing this for books in genres I know I enjoy, with plots I know are my jam and authors I have read from previously. So more info on this one coming soon ๐
And now we’re here with ‘Nectar of the Wicked’ by Ella Fields! The first few chapters of this book had me hesitant but after the first 45-50 pages, I’ve been hooked and I know I’ll be spending the remainder of my day cozied up with this novel. As a reader, be aware that this book was placed in the Erotica section of the bookstore as our main character (at this point in time) is involved in adult/escort work. But don’t let that deter you! I do think this plot is going to become even more interesting as it’s fantasy elements are a nice mix. Ella is also Australia, which I LOVE to see and read ๐ถโ
What are you reading this Sunday and what’s a new book recommendation you have for me?
Someone needs to hold me back because I’m about to YELL all over this review about how FANTASTIC this read was!
Imagine Throne of Glass + The Hunger Games + a Sarah Adam’s romance novel angst and pining = Powerless by Lauren Roberts
Here are a good few reasons as to why you should pick up this book RIGHT NOW or slide it up to the top of your TBR pile:
โ Actual enemies to lovers: Paedyn (love this name) and Malakai aka Prince Kai, are from different sides of the track and have very different loyalties.
Paedyn is an Ordinary hidden in plain sight. This means she was not born with any magical, mind bending or magnificent power such as morphing into animals, mind reading or mind silencing, invisibility or time warping. Those that do have these powers certainly show it and they are called the Elites.
The current King, who is an Elite, has poisoned society into believing that Ordinary’s actually make Elite’s sick and it is crucial that Ordinary’s are removed from society – ie. Paedyn. However, she is much more clever than most, as was her Father when training her, because she is posing as an Elite who has Psychic abilities.
Every year the annual Trials come around, which involve the most powerful Elites showing off their powers in a range of life-threatening and vengeful situations. Some people are naturally selected due to their status (ie. Prince Kai) and some are selected by society (ie. Paedyn). All are voted on and viewed by Ilya – determining the winner and ‘most powerful’ of the year.
โ The fighting scenes are FANTASTIC and I was personally so pleased with the balance of angst and weaponry.
For Paedyn to survive in Loot (the poorest part of Ilya) she thieves coins and belongings. Prince Kai comes along, unbeknown to her of who he is. To Paedyn, he just looked like a well off guy holding a fat stack of coins. Drama and death tends to follow Prince Kai as he is the ‘Enforcer’ for the King, while also being his second son. Paedyn robs Prince Kai and walks away feeling chuffed, until a Mind Silencer starts attacking him.
Paedyn is triggered by a past event in her life when watching Prince Kai being attacked and she cannot stop herself from stepping in to save him. This action tumble-rolls Paedyn’s future. She is selected by Ilya to participate in the Trials as she is seen as strong, but in actual fact, she is physically strong and trained in conflict yet actual magical power? Zlitch.
โ Angst was at an all time high!
The back and forward banter, love to hate relationship between Pae and Kai was incredibly entertaining. Him pulling down his walls around her because of his either genuine concern or curiosity + her desire to be around him yet knowing that he is in fact the worst person for her to befriend … or more.
Admittedly, there was a time there when I was starting to get a little over the back and forward without any consequence happening. They became so close at one stage that you would think the end of the scene was inevitable – but then it simmered again. I do believe that if their relationship had developed a little more, then the ending, Payden’s choices and Kai perspective would be heavier and more emotional.
In saying that, I think the reveal of Paedyn’s political actions and her powerless power in the final chapters was great. I wouldn’t say the final chapters were unpredictable (one element of the final challenge was), or that the outcome – couldn’t be guessed – but you know what, I still read and loved each and every page anyways!
Sometimes it’s not about the guessing game of a novel, it’s about connecting with the characters and just letting the story be told the way the author wants us to see it. And this novel certainly ticked all those boxes for me!
I cannot thank my dearest reading friend Anna enough for this recommendation! She knows me well and she continually spoke so highly of this fantasy romance. I 100% see why โญ๏ธ
Now I’m going to break this down a little differently to other reviews I’ve done. I want to take you through some pivotal aspects of this book but I’m only going to give you breadcrumbs. I really enjoyed not knowing a lot about Fourth Wing and it just being handed to me with a statement, “Read it. Just read it.” I want you to have that experience too, so here we go โฌ
Dragons: Yes, Dragons you say. Would I ever have thought I’d be recommending a book about dragons, dragon riding, dragons bonding with riders, dragon telepathy and dragon fighting? Heck no! But was this an epic aspect of Fourth Wing? Heck yes! I absolutely adored the relationship that Violet had with her dragon ๐ (if you know you know) and I could immediately feel how essential this relationship and bond was going to be throughout the book – and throughout the soon to be series.
Xaden Riorson: You, my friend, are one spicy main love interest ๐ถ Xaden is a character that I think was perfectly placed to challenge Violet’s beliefs of herself, the world around her and the past that she’d so willingly accepted. He also encouraged her to have this wonderful self-belief that I think a partner should be able to do and hold space for. His title, knowledge of the dragon riders that have come before him and what it takes to be a good leader, is everything and more that I think makes him the perfectly imperfect spark in her story. He is witty, protective and a good liar. But does he keep these secrets from Violet to protect her? … read to find out
Basgiath War College: This place is brutal! There are characters dying left, right and centre – and you don’t even see it coming! I mean, one moment they’re there, the next they’ve been burnt to a crisp by whichever dragon sees them as weak. I mean, ruthless. I enjoyed reading how Violet’s intelligence from originally training to become a Scribe, assisted in keeping her alive at the most deadly of times. Her building up of mental, physical and emotional strength was something that progressed really well I thought. There was also a core group of other riders who became her close friends, helping with training, relationship advice and on missions. Rhiannon was a great best friend figure, as was Liam – oh Liam ๐ฅบ
Violet (or Violence as Xaden calls her): I am left with so many unanswered questions and feeling when it comes too Violet. Why is her hair silver? Why does she have physical weakness when her sister and mother do not? What happened to her Father? How were her Mother and Father even compatible when they seem so incredibly different? What does her sister know? Did she know about everything (what happens at the end)? Why is Violet the ‘chosen one’ ? What will truely happen between Violet and Xaden when they and their dragons are apart? … so many questions.
So … I finished Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros last night and I don’t even have the ability to put words into a review yet – let alone how I got through the DAY without telling every second person to READ THIS BOOK!
I have not felt that kind of rushing, need to know and absolute addictive feeling for a book in a long time. If you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, this is your sign! Pick. It. Up.
A mysterious mountain appears out of nowhere and the world’s best scientists and professionals are brought together to discover how it came to be there
Isolated and trippy events take place
Characters are pegged as crazy and disturbed after coming back from the top of the mountain – nobody knows what was at the top
Time travel elements that you can ACTUALLY understand as a new time travel reader
Clever historical and religious elements
Unreliable narrator and told through letters back and forth
Short chapters and regular chapter breaks to help you put down and pick back up after making a quick cup of tea … and then reading again
Addictive scale was at HIGH
I would reread this book! SAY WHAT?! Yes, it was that good.
This is a debut novel for UK author Nicholas Binge and I so SO hope this is adapted to screen, because it would be one heck of a movie! Pick this novel up – you will not be disappointed. Purchase your own copy via the link here CLICK ME โ
Well, well, well – that’s a stack and a half of books! I had a bit of a slumpy July to begin with and have now rediscovered my reading pace in the last week … so let’s get straight into it shall we ๐คฃ๐
After finishing ‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell, released in August and my second favourite literary novel of 2022 – closely tailing ‘Devotion’ by Hannah Kent(click here for review), I needed something to get me out of a gnarly book slump! I will be posting a book review of ‘The Marriage Portrait’ on its release day, that being the 30th of August. Yes, yes, I’m making you wait – but it’s for good reason ๐
I picked up ‘Salt and Skin’ by Eliza Henry-Jones thinking I will counteract my literary book slump with another EPIC literary fiction. Sadly, this did not go as planned. Salt and Skin covers heavy topics of grief, denial and continental travel. At this point in time, these were not topics I felt in the mood for reading (and as we know, I’m very much a mood reader). The bones of this book are fantastic and I have been pining for a pre-release copy of this to land in my hands for months now, therefore I will not give up! I am determined to read this in August and without fail, I will provide you with a review.
Mixing up my genres, I decided to dip my toes into a Fantasy – I thought this may help. Our Other Worlds Book Club had recently read and throughly enjoyed ‘Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake and I had multiple members encourage me to pick it up. I found it available at my local library and decided now was the time. I really like the witchiness, the changing perspectives and learning each characters’ powers. The mystery behind their training and schooling is really interesting to follow and kept me gripped. However, a quarter of the way through this book, I went on holidays and it just wasn’t fitting the bill for a light, funny, holiday read – you know? Enter, ‘Today Tonight Tomorrow’ by Rachel Lynn Solomon.
“Ahh, this was just cute. It was cute and feel good and made me smile and made me laugh. It had all the feels and was the perfect enemies to lovers plot. Rowan Roth is a determined young woman and hard working right up to the very end of high school but her witty drive is pushed along by the likes of Neil McNair. The two have been in hefty competition with each other since the time they met. Their schooling has been a constant battle of who will be in first place and who will come in second. Rowan is set on not placing second best in their last bid for victory โฆ winning valedictorian.
Yet as graduation looms and their end of Senior Year celebrations of a Seattle scavenger hunt kicks off, Rowan and Neil begin to realise that rather than opposing each other, they are smarter, swifter and more aligned working together than they ever realised. Slowly, they learn about one anotherโs lives outside of the small portion of school they experience with one another. Outside hobbies, passions and home lives come into play, furthering even more of their connection.”
I actually picked up my copy of ‘Today Tonight Tomorrow’ by Rachel Lynn Solomonwhile on holiday in Melbourne. I purchased it at Dymocks Melbourne, located on Collins Street. At the time, I also purchased ‘The Mars Room’ by Rachel Kushner (a literary fiction listed for the Booker Prize in 2018), ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Cafe’ by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (of which I read the first book last year and adored its Japanese morals, whimsical thinking and translation) & ‘The Soulmate Equation’ by Christina Lauren (recommended by an avid reader friend who also loved ‘The Unhoneymooners’ by Christina Lauren, as much as I did).
I then visited Canberra, in which I tracked down a Harry Hartog Bookseller. I purchased my copy of ‘Last Time We Met’ by Emily Houghton (contemporary romance) on that adventure! As you can tell from this stack of 5 book purchases, I was feeling the “easy reading’ vibes, with only one literary fiction thrown in there for good measure.
Back to what I actually read! Gosh Mel, way to get side tracked with book buying ๐ Presently, at home with Covid, I have had the time to finish a crime fiction novel, ‘The It Girl’ by Ruth Ware. This was suspenseful, twisty and great at developing characters into the kind of people you suspect and cannot stop following their motives. April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Decked out in her luxury branded clothing, exclusive haircut and performative posture, April is clearly the kind of girl that makes herself known. She’s the ‘it girl’. April is clever, manipulative and powerful, until she ends up murdered on the closing night of her theatre performance … and Hannah is the one to find her. Moving back and forth, past to present, we now learn that Hannah is married and expecting her first child to April’s then boyfriend. Suspicious – yes โ . Hannah also totally isolated herself from a number of their friends at the time after the murder. Suspicious – yes โ . Hannah also gave evidence against a security footman in court to convict him of April’s murder, yet he has always plead innocent. Suspicious – yes โ . Lot’s of things don’t add up and it made for a very interesting story. Full review coming soon ๐
Last but not least, I am currently reading and endeavour to have finished in a few days (iso and all), ‘When Only One’ by Meg Gatland-Veness. This young adult fiction opens on a school shooting in an Australian high school. The book is giving feelings of being set around the 70’s or 80’s time era with reference to things such as old Nintendos and Catholic ideologies. The heaviness and seriousness of this novel hits you immediately and I felt gripped straight away. Meg then takes us back in time through the lens of a teenage boy and his life a year prior to the tragic event. We learn of him, his life goals, his friends and who is struggling within the community – letting the reader peel back slow layers of who may have committed this horrific crime. The writing style is perfect, captivating and feeling.
So that folks, is the STACK! What have you book lovers been reading for the month of July? Have you been book buying? Share below ๐ฌ๐
If you’re looking for a magical, witchy and addictive read, Thread Needle by Cari Thomas definitely needs to go on your TBR ๐ฎ
Thread Needle was recommended to me by a new friend out of my book club. Her and I have similar reading style and have bonded over our mutual love for everything Sarah J Maas. She said that Thread Needle was one of her favourite witchy books she’s read in a long time and … I have to agree with her.
Anna is our main character and has lived a quiet, simple and restricted life with her Aunt. Anna has always been told that her parents died due a tragic scenario of love and murder, where her father was held guilty of killing her mother. Aunt says the feeling of love is a curse and her parents deserved what they got. But why does her Aunt keep doors locked, wants to stop Anna using her magic and refuses to ever give her a straight answers?
Soon to turn sixteen, Anna is aware that the time to ‘bind’ her magic is inching closer. By binding her magic, Anna will be unable to cast spells, explore magical languages or tap into her Hira, a witches personal thread to their own unique magic. Anna can feel her magic resisting, twisting, knotting and itching to come out, but Aunt insists her magic will have deadly consequences. Unsure of her magical fate, Anna hides behind her ‘Nobody’ status at school until she meets Effie and Attis.
Effie and Attis open her eyes up to the magical London within Anna’s grasp if she refuses bind her magic. Anna explores secret shops that sell memories, rumour spells, evil curses, magical libraries and covens. Her confidence grows leaving her quiet non-magical life behind. I think this magical adventure was well-paced, unique and refreshing for the genre of ‘witchy fantasy’. I am always wanting to read a good witch story as I think they make for such interesting and creative plots, language and characters. Thread Needle is expected to be part of a series and I really think I will be quick to pick up the second book. There was a YA feeling to this story but with the addition of some sex scenes and romantic angst, I see why it has been categorised as Fantasy. However, I would recommend this book to mature readers, 16 and up. Overall, a really enjoyable read โจ
Mel Reviews Her Books 