This week's question is: Do you struggle to start a new read after finishing a truly amazing one? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)
MY ANSWER: Not really. I never really had a book hangover. Yes, I've read amazingly great reads but I always felt like my next one could be just as amazing or even better, so it's like, read faster so we can get to the next book (be it in the same series or something different!)!
A Snow White Retelling
A runaway princess wanted for murder.
A deadly huntsman who’s after her heart…
Half-fae Astrid Snow is used to being disliked. With magic that makes her mirror back one’s worst qualities, she has more enemies than friends. And when she’s accused of poisoning her father, her stepmother—the formidable Spring Queen—becomes her greatest enemy yet. Forced into hiding, she finds solace at the Seven Sins Hotel. It provides the perfect subterfuge she needs. For who could ever find an outlaw in a hotel famed for sin?
Bear shifter Torben Davenport lost everything to the gambling halls. To pay off his debts, he serves the fae royals as their personal Huntsman, locating hard-to-find fugitives with his scent-based magic. When the Spring Queen offers him a bargain that will erase his debts for good, he’s willing to do what it takes—even if it means finding the queen’s runaway stepdaughter and cutting out her heart.
Astrid won’t go down without a fight, even if her assailant is a strikingly handsome Huntsman. If she can evade the bear-shifter’s claws, maybe she can make him an ally. It’s easier said than done, especially after she accidentally gets herself handcuffed to her infuriating captor.
Can Astrid cut through Torben’s icy demeanor and convince him to help her find the real killer? Or will she lose her heart in more ways than one?
ACOTAR meets Kingdom of the Wicked in this standalone fairytale retelling of Snow White. If you like brooding heroes, just one bed, and grumpy sunshine romances, then you’ll love this swoon-worthy story in the Entangled with Fae series.
*NOTE this book is upper YA/NA featuring mature situations, moderate violence and gore, substance abuse, and some adult language. The romance is slow burn but leads to moderate steam.
A Taste of Poison is a complete stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Fair Isle Trilogy. Journey back to Faerwyvae or begin your adventure for the first time with this enchanting tale. Each book in the Entangled with Fae series can be read on its own and in any order. Happily ever after guaranteed!
Finally diving back into Tessonja Odette's Entangled with Fae series in which each standalone book is a fairy tale retelling! The books all take place in the same world and characters from other books interact, so this is a fun series to read at any pace! A Taste of Poison, as you probably guessed, is a Snow White retelling and was a sensational read!
Astrid Snow is on the run and in hiding. She's been accused of murdering her father by her stepmother, the queen and Astrid has been trying to stay under the radar. But then the queen hires the Huntsman. Torben is a young man who made poor gambling choices and is now indebted to the fae royals as their hunter. He basically does whatever he's told as part of their 100 year agreement. After that time, he would be a free man. Then Astrid's stepmother, Tris, agrees to get his punishment lifted if he brings her Astrid's heart.
When the two collide, Astrid tries to plea her case that she's innocent and when she tells him her side of the story, Torben finds that he believes her. Now the two must work together to figure out who would've wanted to kill the king.
There were quite a few nods to the original Snow White fairy tale in this one that were fun to find! Plus the rest that was added all gives way to the fairy tale vibes. If you've read any of Tessonja's other books in this series, you'll know what I mean. There's a certain kind of magic to these books and the world the characters live in and it's so fun to return to time and again! I still must venture back to the very beginning and read the first trilogy that set this series on its course!
I love the edgy modern take fairy tale retellings are going these days. We have heroes becoming the villain, the villain being the hero and getting the girl...it makes for great reading material that's for sure! So naturally, the romance that develops between Snow White and the huntsman was positively toe curling. Astrid and Torben didn't have the insta love vibes like you normally get in fairy tales, but more of an adversaries turned reluctant allies to something more and it was beautiful!
There's a bit of mystery involved in this one with the true whodunit! There were definitely some twists I did not see coming and it was jaw-dropping! This book was just filled with surprises! Of course it all leads up to its heartwarmingly happily ever after, for as we know, that's how fairy tales end!
The ending was sweet and nice and felt fitting to the story. I have one last Entangled with Fae fairy tale to read and I am sadden by its end, but remind myself there's still more to come from this world...I just have to go backwards! Lol. If you're looking for a fairy tale retelling with actual faeries involved, then be sure to pick this series up! You can truly pick any of these retellings up in whichever order, your only spoiler will be knowing the names of previous couples, but it's kind of a given if you look at each of the books beforehand!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
(image borrowed from PBL Works)
Ever since the debacle of the Chess Queen Enigma, Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker have laid low, trying to settle back into their quiet lives as young ladies of London. But the Holmesian deductive abilities won't remain dormant for long, and when Mina receives a strange package from a winged, midnight visitor, she is catapulted into a new, dangerous adventure: the search for The Carnelian Crow.
Meanwhile, Evaline has received some very disturbing news--news that will change her life forever. Along with that unpleasant knowledge is the strange disappearance of her nemesis, the disreputable pickpocket Pix.
When it becomes clear the arch-villainess the Ankh has made her next move, it will take all of Mina's Holmesian ingenuity and Evaline's courage and determination to stop the criminal from executing her boldest and most dangerous plan yet!
I added Colleen Gleason's The Carnelian Crow to my TBR pile in July of 2017 as it was a series I was reading at that time and was enjoying! I mean descendants of Bram Stoke and Sherlock Holmes working together and solving mysteries! How could I not be interested?! Lol. Still need to circle back around and finish the series one day.
One enchanted tarot card. Two infuriatingly hot men. And a modern woman who refuses to be anyone's damsel.
I still need to read the first book but the series holds promise! I know it won't be like Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles, but I am all for the Tarot vibe!
TITLE: The Lovers
AUTHOR: Kristin Cast
PUBLISHER: Bloom Books
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: February 10, 2026
New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong continues the atmospheric Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.
Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.
When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock--and their safe, secure new existence--are at risk.
I am once again behind in the series! No surprise there! I think I had thought I could read the last book last year, but alas, that did not pan out!
TITLE: First Sign of Danger
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books
GENRE: Mystery
RELEASE DATE: February 17, 2026
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.
Here are the rules:
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.
"The creature assesses me for a silent moment. When he speaks, his tone takes on a curious quality. 'Yes, we are similar, aren't we? You are fearless. Dangerous.'" p 5
TITLE: A Taste of Poison
AUTHOR: Tessonja Odette
PUBLISHER: Crystal Moon Press
GENRE: Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: August 10, 2022
Last Week I Read:
Another week in the books. This was another quiet, no nothing week. Work was blissfully quieter. Perhaps a little busier as we had more calls to be on and such, but it was definitely better than the previous two weeks! This weekend we were also treated to a snowstorm. As I write this on Saturday night it hasn't quite hit us just yet, it will be more overnight. So by the time you read this we will be in the midst of it! It was pretty much snowy lightly all day Saturday, so we stayed home. I tried to do some reading but was having trouble focusing since I wasn't in a quieter environment, but that's okay. I didn't get too much this week either. Actually, it was starting out as a more bookish merch haul when a preorder showed up early and a shop order arrived! I was tracking a good portion of my haul during the snow yesterday and was worried it wouldn't come at all and then there's the panic of how will it be handled and whatnot, but luckily everything arrived safely and I got them off the porch before the boxes got too wet as the snow was a wet snow!
Here's what I got this week:
Join Hekla and the remnants of the Bloodaxe Crew as they battle the evil, poisonous mist threatening the citizens of Istré - and perhaps all of Íseldur - in Roots of Darkness by Demi Winters, an epic romantasy novella following the events of Kingdom of Claw .
Traveling the Road of Bones was only the start of Hekla's troubles.
The Bloodaxe Crew have arrived at the village of Istré - beleaguered and missing three of their members. They might be down in numbers, but Hekla "Rib Smasher" is determined they'll complete their job all the defeat the monstrous, sentient mist, and keep the citizens of Istré safe. What she didn't expect is for Istré's bullheaded chieftain to block her every move.
Exasperated, Hekla throws caution to the wind for a single passion-filled night. But to her horror, the mysterious, red-cloaked warrior to whom she's spilled her deepest secrets is the Bloodaxe Crew's new temporary leader and ally - Eyvind Hakonsson.
Hekla must now learn to play by Eyvind's rules while guarding her heart. But when it becomes clear that his plans align with the chieftain's, Hekla takes matters into her own hands.
Nothing will stop her from keeping the innocent people of Istré safe - not even the man who haunts her thoughts.
Roots of Darkness is a romantic companion novella to the Ashen series from BookTok sensation Demi Winters.
So I breezed through Demi Winters' The Ashen series to date and I decided I wanted to read Roots of Darkness because I was deeply missing Hekla and the rest of the gang! This novella takes place a week before the end of Kingdom of Claw...which time is so hard to comprehend in any series sometimes. Because a matter of days can go by if someone gets knocked unconscious or it can takes weeks to travel and all the while we read maybe 5-10 pages of this time! So basically this book takes place in the tail end events of book 2 from what I gather!
Hekla, Gunnar, and Sigrun are finishing the mission that the Bloodaxe Crew set out to do before Silla came into their lives. They are headed to the village of Istre to help them deal with a deadly mist that has been attacking their people. People have gone missing and Hekla is determined to solve the case and rid the town of their problem. Except she's dealing with problems of her own. Rey told her an old friend of his would meet her there to help her out since he was traveling with Silla. Gunnar and Sigrun have been slightly out of sorts since Ilias' death.
Hekla has a bit of a one night stand with another hunter while in Istre and when she goes to meet up with Rey's friend the next day, naturally, it turns out to be her one night stand. Eyvind is a man who challenges and infuriates her all at once. Hekla has always had to work harder to prove herself in her line of work that is dominated by males. Eyvind is working to prove himself in his own way as well, so the two naturally butt heads. Hekla has it slightly harder though as the town's leader refuses to cooperate with her and he favors Eyvind more.
So naturally, Hekla does some rule breaking in order to figure out what is going on in this town and what exactly this mist is and as you might have guessed it, chaos ensues.
This novella was definitely interesting and enjoyable. I missed seeing the Bloodaxe Crew in the second book, so this little side adventure of theirs more than made up for it. I kept wondering throughout Kingdom of Claw what the crew was up to during all this time and now we get the answer! There were definitely some shocking twists and puzzles that I did not see coming happen and I am anxious to see how this will play out in the next book! Really hoping there's a reunion of the whole crew, but we'll have to wait and see for that. I still need to go read the blurb now that I am caught up! Lol.
I was also pretty surprised that Winters included a little recap in this one since it was a novella, but appreciated nonetheless! Recaps are a blessing and I ADORE any author who includes one in their long running series! Especially one with this much detail! But really, love a recap regardless!
As it tends to be with novellas, one likely does not "have" to read this one before they dive into the next book. This is usually considered "bonus" material I feel like. Yes, you'll know the full details when this story's plot points get mentioned, but still, this was a fun and enjoyable read! There's a talking animal friend that really livened things up! I was chuckling when this guy popped up on the page!
Hekla and Eyvind's relationship was definitely more of a physical sort. I mean Hekla anticipated just a fun night with a random stranger, only to find out that he's going to be her "coworker" for this job of hers. It's a laughable situation to be sure and of course comes with its own hijinks and troubles ahead!
Needless to say this book really gets you amped up for the third book! I may have to dive into that one sooner rather than later after this too! If you're a fan of The Ashen series, I highly recommend giving this novella a try! It's a fast and delightful read that's sure to keep you entertained for a few hours!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
This week's question is: Which book pairs perfectly with a certain snack in your opinion? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer)
MY ANSWER: Oh yeesh. I'm never good at this kind of pairing! Food doesn't always play a big role in my kind of reads. For me, a good snack is one I can eat one-handed and isn't super messy. Pretzels or animal crackers are good go-to snacks for me for any kind of read! Lol.
Return to the Kingdom of Íseldur, where enemies become lovers and dark secrets hide around each corner, the second novel in the Ashen series.
In the aftermath of a harrowing journey, Silla Nordvig’s dreams of a simple life have been shattered. Beaten, betrayed, and reeling from the revelation of her true name, she flees Kopa with Reynir Galtung, ruthless leader of the Bloodaxe Crew. But when they're forced into hiding together, Silla soon discovers that Rey has been keeping secrets of his own.
Stuck in a shield-home with the murderous man she thought she knew, Silla forms a new master the magic flowing through her veins to save her sister. But before she can do that, Silla must face her most formidable opponent yet—her own inner demons.
Saga Volsik has nothing to lose. They’ve murdered her family. Stolen her throne. And now they expect her to marry their son, but not if she can dismantle Queen Signe’s plans first. The only problem? The handsome Zagadkian dignitary who knows far too many of her secrets.
Silla and Saga will need to find the strength to step into their destiny and stop chaos from sweeping across the land. Meanwhile, dark threads continue to weave themselves through Íseldur as magic long thought dead begins to wake.
Diving into Demi Winters' Kingdom of Claw was relatively easy since I had just finished The Road of Bones. This is definitely one of those highly detailed fantasy reads where you are immersed in a very creative world, rich with cultural, mythology, magic...where it doesn't hurt to take a few notes! Lol.
Our points of view this time are Silla, Rey, Saga, and the occasional Jonas. Largely I felt like this was Saga's book as we get to finally know this sister of Silla's who we only just learned about towards the end of the first book. Saga was raised by the Queen and King who murdered her parents, and who she thought was her younger sister. Saga also has galdur; she can read people's thoughts they are actively thinking. She managed to keep this a secret because her powers came in later than usual. She's doing everything she can to thwart Signe's plans to harm Silla.
Meanwhile Silla and Rey return to his hometown where Silla is to learn how to wield her own galdur. There she and Rey begin to grow closer and learn more about one another, such as the secret Rey was harboring the entire first book.
Naturally, we again have a bit of a slower pace going on. But we are definitely building into something more. Granted, I feel like some things could have been tightened in some areas, but I can see why things were kept...mostly. There's a lot of character development and growth going on in these moments, so it does add to the story...it just takes time.
I was intrigued the most by Jonas' point of view chapters. Mainly, because I wanted to know what that man was thinking! And naturally, his anger is being driven by grief and while I can sympathize to a point, I feel like he's going about things the wrong way. I was still peeved with Jonas for what he did in the first book. What I sort of detest most is being built up to really like a character one book and then to have that ripped away by the next. It's not that I am berating the author on this, it's just a personal thing. To have trust broken so quickly aggravates me, I don't know if it would've been worse if it happened later down the line in the series or not because then the hit would really burn, but I digress.
Saga proved to be an intriguing character! I loved her chapters as I loved her interactions with a Zagadkian dignitary, Rurik, who is visiting the king and queen to negotiate deals for supplies for their peoples on both ends. There is definitely some kind of tension brewing between these two and I love Rurik's easygoing nature. Saga has lived a difficult life being raised by the people who murdered her family, that she was kept alive was confounding and I might have missed the reasoning behind this, but ultimately chocked it up to Signe's plans.
There was romance developing between Silla and Rey. Which I saw this coming in the first book when we got Rey's point of view. But I did enjoy that the relationship still took time to build. It didn't feel as "why not" like Silla and Jonas' getting together did. I mean, theirs was sort of formed out of boredom. Sill and Rey grow intimately closer in this one and we get more on Rey's background too.
Some shocking surprises came in at the end of this one that will really shake things up for the next book. Sadly, we did not get to see the Bloodaxe crew but I am planning on diving into the novella next that will give us insight to their adventures during all this chaos! I'm hoping there's a reunion in the third book, but time will tell on that one.
All in all, Kingdom of Claw was yet another immersive fantasy read set in The Ashen series. This is not a series for the faint of heart. It's heavy, but enjoyable if you get over a few of the speedbumps. If you love a thoroughly developed fantasy read, this is a series I would urge you to check out!
Overall Rating 4/5 stars
In the latest mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Give Up the Ghost, it will take a beacon of ghostly intervention to guide contractor Mel Turner to the truth...
Dangerous tides ahead...
When her friend Alicia hires Turner Construction to renovate a historic lighthouse in the San Francisco Bay, Mel Turner can’t wait to get her hands dirty. Alicia plans to transform the island property into a welcoming inn, and while Mel has never attempted a project so ambitious—or so tall—before, she’s definitely up for the challenge.
But trouble soon arises when Alicia’s abusive ex-husband shows up to threaten both her and Mel, and later turns up dead at the base of the lighthouse stairs. With no other suspects in sight, things start looking choppy for Alicia. Now, if Mel wants to clear her friend’s name, she’ll need the help of the lighthouse’s resident ghosts to shine a light on the real culprit...
I added Juliet Blackwell's A Ghostly Light to my TBR pile in July of 2017! I am so greatly behind in this series but I have it all ready to go for when I can get back to it! This was a fun one, mysteries, ghosts, seriously what more could you ask for?
