Last Week I Read:
Seductive magic. Deadly betrayal.
Don’t miss the explosive finale of the dark, romantic fantasy of the New York Times-bestselling House of Marionne series, which #1 bestselling author Alex Aster praises as "a sweeping fantasy brimming with magic, secrets, and romance."
The stunning first printing of Fortress of Ambrose will feature a gorgeous designed case and exclusive metallic endpapers!
With the future of the Order clouded in uncertainty, and the evil within its ranks coming to the surface, Quell Marionne has nowhere left to turn.
Everyone Quell cares about is gone and she still can’t escape the powerful legacy that wants to destroy her. But when she uncovers an earth-shattering revelation, she must choose: be the hero the magic world needs or save Jordan.
Meanwhile, a darkness festers inside Dragunheart Jordan Wexton. His path to survival means becoming the monster he was bred to hate, if he can overcome the power rotting within himself.
In a world where the line between proper and forbidden magic blurs, Quell and Jordan, along with two unlikely allies – bitter assassin Yagrin Wexton and magicless Heir Nore Ambrose, must navigate a treacherous path where freedom hangs by a thread. Can love tip the scales toward freedom? Or will rivalries and deadly betrayals shatter their hearts and destroy the world they once knew?
Fortress of Ambrose is the final book in the House of Marionne trilogy by J. Elle and I must say it was quite much. I don't know if reading it during a week where I was still stressing about many things and worrying about other various things just made it harder to get into, but this book was a bit of a bear to manage. I am not sure if it was all outside circumstances as the story was interesting, but at times the pacing did start to drag me down as well.
The book opens to a bit of chaos. Jordan has taken in all the magic that was stored in the Sphere and now things are just a mess in the world because of it. Quell is trying to find Jordan who went off on his own to deal with the magic and learn how to work with it and not have it destroy him from the inside out, which it is bound to do if he doesn't find a solution quickly.
Then we have Nore and Yagrin dealing with their own emotional turmoil and Nore's new status as House Headmistress. I guess having multiple points of view again which continued to have a full cast of characters mixed throughout just continued to confuse me. Yes, I was vaguely remembering some of them from having read the second book but things were just messy and hard to follow at times. I did find Nore and Yagrin's drama to be more "entertaining." Not that it was a laugh riot or anything, but the drama and continued secrets between them made things a little more interesting and dangerous. As the two continue to search for pieces of the Scroll in order to keep Nore's brother from killing her and taking all the power of their House for himself.
Again, with a book that pushes nearly 500 pages or technically over if you read the House history pages in the afterword, things are thick and detailed and sometimes a little hard to follow. Again, maybe it was my circumstances that was making this book a bit of a bear to get through. In typical YA fashion, each of our quartet of lovers were keeping secrets from their partner and trying to do things to protect or save the other without said other knowing or getting involved. You know, those tropes that tend to pop up in the save the world YA romances! It's all in good fun of course. It's not that I loathe the trop scenario, it can be eyeroll worthy of course, but it does enhance the tension and drama.
There were two romances to follow with Yagrin and Nore and Jordan and Quell. I tended to favor Yagrin and Nore a bit more, not sure why really, but I guess because they maybe had more past secrets they had to overcome with one another that made things more tense between them.
Because the pacing was a little on the slow side and my own mind was in a bit of turmoil this week, my recollection of all things that happened was getting dimmer. Maybe it's age, lol. Or maybe this just wasn't the right time to read this particular series. It was still enjoyable and I liked Elle's take on magic and how it worked in this world, but yeah, this book just didn't resonate much with me. But I am really thinking it was my timing and outside circumstances that made me feel disconnected with this story. Still looking forward to Elle's new series but yeah, this one just wasn't much of a win for me this time around.
Overall Rating 2/5 stars
Another week down in the books. It was a shorter week since I took time off since my aunt came in town for a visit. It's our busy season and we're steadily picking up and just before I left I learned the unfortunate news that two of my coworkers were let go in a series of layoffs we had happen a month ago. It was a blow that I didn't see coming and yet thinking back, I was suspected something as we had a meeting one day and I remember my coworkers both not being online that day and they weren't scheduled to be off. But then life returned to normal and I thought maybe it was a fluke. Sadly, it was not. Our team just got a little smaller right in the thickest of our busy season, so things are definitely going to be a little more intense until our team can find our grove again on a shorter staff.
The house front is still moving along nicely. We are trying to see if we can move closing up a week as I am eager to get in and start making some updates with my parents' help. I finally learned that the paperwork I was told I needed to sign with the incorrect information was just the "initial" disclosures and not necessarily final as I continued to go through them I found more mistakes and I was like why are we having these? I think this was the info I gave when I first started my "loan" application over three years ago, so nearly everything was wrong! Lol. But the pages were signed, I will have updated and corrected ones for the "final" disclosures...which really, someone ought to have told me they were INITIAL as no one did! But it's taken care of now I suppose. Guess I will see when the final ones come into play and now it's just more of a waiting game. Waiting to see what more is needed on my end and what other steps I need to take. Pretty much just waiting on directions now! Lol.
I attended one signing this week to see J. Elle and Britney Lewis again! It was a fun night! I almost was going to go to the Rachel Gillig event but then skipped it since I wasn't going to meet the author, get a picture signed, or any other books signed. It was basically an in-person virtual event. Which just wasn't worth it to me, but I did still pickup my signed book because that was worth it at least! Lol.
As for books...oh boy! I forgot how many September 1 releases I had this week!
This week's question is: What book do you think deserves more love but flies under the radar?
MY ANSWER: Oh that's a toughie! I mean, we all have different reading tastes. One person's favorite is another person's meh and one person's meh is another's beloved top of the line favorite! Lol. I mean there are lots of books I read in my youthful days that I feel like deserve more love, but other people would be like...but it's old...and not like our ye old classic assigned reading in school old, but still old.
Books that were kind of older when I was reading them even, L.J. Smith's The Forbidden Game trilogy, her original The Vampire Diaries, Night World (which I still need to read more of!), Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate or Silver Kiss! And of course, Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.
When you read other YA books in the paranormal or fantasy genres they seem to be thicker and have a bit more complex storyline going on. Some of these storylines had a simpler theme going on but were still incredible! I think because some of these books were so short is why I was always out of new reads growing up! Lol.
Sunshine Griffith can communicate with ghosts. Even more amazing, she recently discovered—with the help of her would-be boyfriend, Nolan—that she’s a luiseach, one of an ancient race of creatures who have lived among humans for centuries, protecting them from dark spirits and helping them move on to the afterlife. Now, Sunshine’s powers are awakening and she feels spirits everywhere—intense and sometimes overwhelming.
Eager to get her supernatural abilities under control, Sunshine agrees to begin training with her mentor, her estranged father Aidan. He takes her to an abandoned compound deep in the Mexican jungle. But what she learns there about her powers, and her family history, turns out to be more terrifying than Sunshine could have imagined. Can anything—Aidan’s experiments, her friendship with another luiseach named Lucio, even Nolan’s research—prepare Sunshine to face the frightening woman who haunts her dreams, and to finally learn the truth about the rift that threatens the future of the luiseach and all of humankind?
The stakes grow ever higher in this sequel to The Haunting of Sunshine Girl, revealing that Sunshine has to protect more than her own friends and family—she may be the key to saving the entire human race.
So I apparently also added The Awakening of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie to my TBR pile in April of 2018 when it released in March of 2016. Horrendously bad that I forgot to add both books to my TBR pile at their right time! I actually forgot to check if I added the third book at the right time! I know I have the trilogy on my pile to read and still want to read at some point! Lol.
The worldwide sensation as you’ve never seen it before. Step into a bold new Divergent series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth.
Beatrice Prior stands on the brink of a decision every person in her world must make: five factions, five futures, five lives.
She has a plan: she's going to make the bravest choice, and leave Abnegation behind to join Dauntless, even though it means leaving her family behind.
But when tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony, everything changes—her world, her plans, even Beatrice herself.
Her ensuing decision thrusts her into the crosshairs of an underground rebellion, and into the path of a boy with secrets as dangerous as her own—a boy with only a number for a name.
One choice will change everything.
TITLE: The Sixth Faction
AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
GENRE: YA Dystopian
RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2026
Return to the world of Truly Devious as Stevie Bell and her friends travel to New York to solve a murder in the next standalone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.
Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.
But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is . . . complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?
From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the House of Night series Kristin Cast comes the next spicy and spellbinding light romantasy in the Towerfall series.
In a world built on illusion, the truth is often deadly…
Juniper Chase has perfected the art of being exactly what everyone needs, especially her best friend's older brother, Beckett Davenport. He's the one man she's spent years pretending she doesn't want…and the one man she cannot have.
When a magickal tarot card rips her and Beckett from their world and into the enchanted Kingdom of Swords, Juniper is mistaken for their future queen, but slipping into the role should be instinct. After all, she knows how to play a part.
Except things in the Kingdom of Swords are not what they seem. Prince Luca Sterling, the man she's meant to marry, is hiding something beneath his devastating charm. Juniper can feel it, because in this kingdom, her instincts are literal power. And the deeper she falls into the prince's glittering, carefully crafted world, the clearer it becomes:
This kingdom is built on lies, and it's collapsing under their weight.
To uncover the truth behind the throne and the ancient Tower pulsing at the heart of the kingdom, Juniper will need the help of the man who sees her more clearly than anyone ever has. And when Beckett takes to his position as her guard with a fierce yet gentle protectiveness that brings new heat between them, Juniper uncovers the truth between them, too.
But exposing Luca's lies could send the realm crashing down around them. And choosing the truth might cost Juniper her future, her heart, and any chance of making it home.
Still need to start this series too but it seems like they are standalones from what I recall! Kristin toured here for the first book at least! It sounds like fun! I love books that involve tarot as it's always interesting to see what the author will do!
TITLE: Death
AUTHOR: Kristin Cast
PUBLISHER: Bloom Books
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: October 13, 2026
Well it's been another month! I didn't do so well with the reading challenge this month, but I was still avidly reading! The problem actually was that I was reading reallllly long books! They all were nearly 500 pages! One was an ARC, so the page count is an estimate, so yeah! 500ish x 5 is 2500 pages as a rough, rough estimate! Plus there were other stresses throughout the weeks and work is steadily picking up, so August was pretty busy!
ARC Reads:
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (9/22/26)
New Release Reads:
The Shattered Mirror by Dana Evyn (7/6/26)
The Killing Rules by Bree Despain (8/4/26)
TBR Reads:
The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten (7/15/25)
Shadows of Perl by J. Elle (9/3/24)
This week's topic is: Titles Beginning with the Letter "B"
*in no particular order
**I am going rogue because I could only find 2 titles in my collection that fit the original topic!
Last Week I Read:
