I was not going to discuss politics here on my blog, but I want to point out that it does not look great for the world today. The decisions Trump is making affect not only the USA, but they are also Europe and other parts of the world. The politics are in such a bizarre state that I cannot ignore this. It inspired me to make this post. I have been reading a lot of American books, but I started to wonder which other countries were present on my Kindle. Last month I looked at short books with Fae , the poll winner was Court of Shadows , and this was a great success. I loved it, the review is coming soon! I started researching last week, and it turns out it is not easy to find out which countries the authors are from. The author bios do not always contain such information, and I have found that across platforms' bios differ. It left me with a list of authors I do not know their origins. I did come up with a decent list of Canadian, Australian, and UK authors. I also found authors from Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa. Canada is my second home, it is the country I have lived in the longest, aside from the Netherlands. In total, 1,5 years, this is also where I learned the English language. Part of why I read in English is to keep it at a similar level as Dutch. English reads as fast as Dutch, although I still have to look up words sometimes. Canada always feels like home, so let's see which Canadian authors I have found and are battling for March picks. Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn This book is about Morgan, who lives in the shadow of her brother, the King. When he offers her a way out of the castle, she takes it. On her journey to find a fae weapon, she stumbles upon a group of outcasts. Together, they find more than what they bargained for. Another story about fae, seems wildly different from what I read in February. This book has 15.156 ratings on Goodreads, which is a fair amount. The average rating is 3,85, which would mean the book is above average. Queen of Roses has 361 pages and was published in 2023. This cover is stunning, I love the roses. Briar Boleyn is a pen name for author Fenna Edgdewood, under which she writes historical romances. Spells & Ashes by Kim Richardson This book is about witches, which excites me. The twist in this book is that we follow a dark witch. Samantha Beaumont is our main character, she specializes in the art of conjuring demons and exorcisms. The synopsis reveals not much else, only that she is going to hunt a greater demon because a human girl was taken. Kim Richardson lives in Eastern Canada and has multiple series in her name; most of these contain witches. Spells & Ashes has far fewer ratings than Queen of Roses, in total 1976 on Goodreads, the average rating is 3,98 which is rather good. I have read a lot of white witches' points of view, this could be a refreshing perspective. White As Snow by Veronica Bonn I have not read a retelling in a long time, I read some real fairy tales last year, a gift from my fiancée when we were on holiday in Ireland. It was a bundle of Irish fairy tales, the dark ones where fairies steal children. This book is about the Queen more than it is about Snow White. Elspeth conspires to kill Snow White, because of jealousy. In the meantime, Elspeth's skeletons are trying to escape the closet, her daughter Rapunzel. The book sounds like an episode of Once Upon a Time, mixing multiple fairytales in one story. Of the three books mentioned, this one has the lowest amount of ratings, only 121 with an average rating of 3.85 on Goodreads. The book has 433 pages and came out in February 2022. Veronica Bonn lives in British Colombia, one of the provinces I have not yet visited. Now let's get voting!

Title : Court of Shadows Author : C.N. Crawford Also by this Author: Court of Darkness Series : The Shadow Fae series, book 1 Age Category : Adult Published by: 22 August 2018, self-published Pages: 224   p. Genre:  romantasy with an urban setting About Court of Shadows Arianna is living her life in freedom, having escaped life as a gladiator, until one night, her past comes back to make demands. Enter the Shadow Fae Institute and compete in the trials, or you will never see your friend again. On a night out, Arianna runs into some trouble, two shadow fae appear in the bar she works at and are out to get her. Ruadan one of the shadow fae, lets her live on one condition: complete the trials and become part of the Shadow fae Institute. Along the way, Arianna has to decide to save her friend and deal with her past or betray her mentor Ruadan. My thoughts on Court of Shadows I am so glad that this was the conclusion of last month's poll, if you want to know more about this you can find the full article about it here . I am cleaning out my kindle, it feels good, and I think reading wise I am doing a great job this year. I am right on schedule. Completed four books up until now. Let's dive into this story, this book was short with only 224 pages however, it packs a punch. The story is fast-paced right from the start, with lots of fighting. Arianna's backstory becomes a little bit clearer along the way, although we do not find out in this book, what Arianna is exactly. Regarding what Arianna is, there is not a lot we find out about her past, the author tried to build up for the reveal, which hopefully we will find in the next book. At this point, it was a little bit too obvious that C.N. Crawford was setting up the story for the rest of the series. I noticed it, but I don't mind that much, it did not hurt the story in any way. Could it be done more subtly? Yes, I think it could have, but that would have meant the book would need to be longer, and there is the risk that the pacing would be a bit slower. This is the only criticism I have of this book, as I have enjoyed it immensely. Ruadan is just the kind of love interest I enjoy, I like my bad boys to be brooding. This was right up my alley, there is a lot of sexual tension being built however, it does not get spicy. I wanted more, and that is why I am continuing to the second book, which I have already started as I am writing this review. Point to the author for setting up the story in a way that you want to continue to the next book right away, that is such a powerful writing strength to have, especially as a self-published author. The characters in this book are all likable or appropriately evil. The side characters, Melusine and Aengus, were real standouts, I hope they will last for the rest of the series. This story needs some sweet characters to balance out the ruthlessness of Ruadan and the Institute. Let me tell you a little bit about the world-building, the story is set in post-apocalyptic London where almost all magical creatures have been sent to their magical worlds. The ones that are still roaming the streets are being caught by the Shadow fae, who are the enforcers in this world. They need to keep the balance and need to keep all magical creatures out of this world. In this first book, we also travel to other magical worlds, however not much is said about it. I am hoping that as the series continues, the world becomes clearer too. This world can be very large, it leaves lots of room for exploring, as this series is 7 books long, I can imagine that we will see much more of it. Arianne as a character reminds me a little bit of Celeana/Aelin from Throne of Glass, they share some of the same motives. This is not a comparison, as that would not be fair, ranking traditionally published against self-published. Not that there is anything wrong with self-published books, I am a big fan, though they are a little less polished. That is why I enjoy them so much, I could get into the whole trend of self-published authors being picked up by traditional publishing, but that is an article on its own. My conclusions of Court of Shadows This is a good start to a series, it is very addictive, so much so that while writing this review I got distracted by the second book in the series. I spent a good hour reading while I should be writing this review. That could not be interpreted in another way than it is a huge complement to the author. This book is fast-paced, full of action scenes, and there is also a lot of sexual tension building between Ruadan and Arianne. There is a lot that is left unresolved, but it also has a proper ending to this part of the story. Arianne seems very relatable, although I think her character could be a little bit more traumatized. That sounds awful, I am struggling with how to explain this properly. There could have been a little bit more depth to her character, in the sense of acting like the traumatized fae she is. It would make the reader feel even more invested, and the betrayals will hurt a lot more. It will make the story a bit heavier, I would not have minded if it got a little darker. On the other hand, I can understand that this approach might satisfy a lot more readers. All I want at this moment is more, more of the relation, more of the world, and of course more Ruadan. As this read was such an addictive little pleasure, this gets four cats from me.

The January pick for Clean My Kindle was Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas. All votes combined, that was the winner, I unhauled the other 2 books that were up for a vote. And now I am back with the choices for February. The new poll can be found at the bottom of this post. February is rather short, which means less time to read, I would like to go with a short book for this month. To give a little more focus to the chaos that is my Kindle library of 2000+ books, I decided to make a list of all the books currently on my (physical) Kindle, which cuts down the number of books to 94. A staggering amount but a little bit more manageable. If you are curious about what else is on there and want to make suggestions on what to read in March, please leave me a comment here, or on Goodreads where you will find the full list . I am still very active on Goodreads, so feel free to follow, you will see what books I am reading and how much progress I have made. I made the list on Goodreads because I can filter the number of pages, which was the goal for this month: a short book. When I looked at the shortest books, I saw another theme, Fae. So instead of just picking the three shortest, I found three short books with Fae's. Let me introduce them to you below. The Moonfire Bride by Sylvia Mercedes The Moonfire Bride by Sylvia Mercedes is the first book in a trilogy called Of Candlelight and Shadows. It is 291 pages long and was published in March 2021, which makes it a more recent addition to my collection. I have started collecting books on my Kindle since 2013. I got my first Kindle for my birthday that year. It is still the same one I use today. That is how long they can last, and you don't need three. Don't let TikTok mislead you. Before I get distracted again, I'd like to return to the book. The Moonfire Bride is about Valera, who lives on the edge of the fae forest. Her life has been harsh. She is scared that one day the fae will come for her sister, but instead, they come for her. Her captor and now husband gives her a way back to her sister, if she does not look at his face for a year, she may return to her realm. The longer she stays in this new world, the more questions arise, and she is torn between her sister and her captor. This sounds like an interesting story, but to me, it sounds more like a fairy tale than a story that has a basis in mythology, purely based on the synopsis. The books in this round are generally more popular than the books in my previous round. The Moonfire Bride has 6.015 ratings on Goodreads, with an average rating of 3,75 stars, which is not bad at all. And hopeful because already 6000 people invested time in this book. Splintered Magic by Jilleen Dolbeare The second story up for a vote is Splintered Magic by Jilleen Dolbeare. This book has fewer ratings than the previous one, only 1394 ratings with an average rating of 4,22. The average rating is higher, I think this might not be picked up because of this cover. There is something just a little bit off about it, the longer I look at it the more I dislike it, even though it is in some of my favorite colours. The synopsis is what initially sold me on this one. Splintered Magic is about Brigid, she has inherited a decaying mansion, that she wants to renovate, quietly. She is pulled into the town's secrets, where supernatural creatures exist and cats talk. This last part piqued my interest, Sabrina vibes all the way. This story is only 170 pages, perfect for a short month like February. Court of Shadows by C.N. Crawford Last but not least there is Court of Shadows by C.N. Crawford, this book is also short with 224 pages. I like the simple cover design with the gold, purple, and black theme. IT could be improved upon as it is a little pixelly, but that might just be because the blog might have enlarged it, but not a bad cover at all. This one has the highest rating of these three books with 19,267 ratings, the average rating is also very high, with 4,05 average. This is going to be an interesting round, I hope you all stop by to vote for these books, either here or on the socials. To me, this is a cover buy, as I am not too fond of the synopsis not mentioning the name of the main character, or at least not on Goodreads. This book is about Arianna, a former gladiator with magical powers. On a night out she is being hunted down by a fae assassin named Ruadan who lets her live on one condition: she has to earn a place in the Institute of Shadow fae. I am looking forward to what you will be voting for, you can vote below!

Title : The Famine Witch Author : Stephen Black Series or standalone : Standalone Age Category : Adult Published by:  January 2024, Quill and Crow Publishing House Pages: 282   p. Genre:  Historic fantasy About The Famine Witch Every 200 years the murders start in Belfast, 1847 the year they started again. Five girls have already disappeared, their bodies found with a Bloody Handprint to indicate the murderer. Bloody Hands is back and has been given a sixth victim that might be his undoing. Multiple evils are attacking Belfast, the crops failed this year, and hunger is ravaging the town. Soon new evil docks ashore, one that brings disease. The Black Lady is coming for Belfast and will not stop until it is in ashes. Within the chaos of hunger and disease, one girl and her brother try to survive one more day. Unbeknown to Maggie, she will be the only force against the evil in the town. All she wants though is for her brother to be safe. My thoughts on The Famine Witch Let me get the disclaimer out of the way. I was generously provided with a review copy of this book by Netgalley. This in no way influences my rating or thoughts about the book. Thanks, Netgalley, Quill and Crow Publishing, and Stephen Black for providing the ARC. I picked this up because I was looking for newer Witchy books to highlight as a book of the month. Sometimes I wish I could read a bit faster so I could have done this review a bit earlier on, but I have now accepted that all things will come in the end, I will figure out how to balance my life I just need some more time to figure it all out. What intrigued me about the synopsis was that it has a historical setting. I have never read anything set in Belfast, I also do not know much about its history. I love history, but sometimes forget how much I enjoy historical settings. History compared with the supernatural is something that works very well, especially in the 1800s. There was a lot of superstition in that time, about what causes disease and failing crops. I think this book plays into this aspect very nicely, it seems a very accurate depiction of how people would think about these things. This story is told from multiple perspectives, we meet both bad guys of this story, Bloody Hands and Fionnuala the Black Lady. The focus from their perspectives was mainly on Fionnuala and then on Bloody Hands. I would have liked it, if there were more Bloody Hands chapters, it would have made the story even darker. I also feel that there is a lot about his story missing, for example, the reasoning behind his six victims, and what kind of creature he is. Why he slumbers for 200 years? None of these things are explained clearly. If he is a creature from Irish folklore that is famous in Northern Ireland then I might get that this is not explained, because an Irish audience probably grew up with the stories. However, if the author wants to appeal to a broader audience, that is not familiar with the mythology like me, then you will have to explain these things, to the audience. In this book, I learned a lot of new words. English is my second language, I had to look up some of the words because they were terms that are not used in our language today. This is not a criticism of the book, not at all, I think the right terminology used, is important for the story, especially when you are writing historical fantasy. I also liked that there are Irish terms, however it was not easy to look them up, while I was reading. I would have liked to know that there was a Glossary of Terms in the back of the book, it was not indicated in the table of contents. I will state that this was an eARC so maybe this was resolved in the final copy. I thought I should mention it, in case they haven't fixed this. Overall I thought it was a good depiction of the time and place, I love the balance between fantasy elements and history. I enjoyed all the characters in this book, also the religion of this book was not Catholic, they were mentioned but the story's religious sidestep is based on Protestant beliefs. This is a change from what you read in most witch trial-based books, I thought it was an interesting fact. The Witchy rating of The Famine Witch What is special about the Witchy Review is that I give an extra rating to the book, based on how Witchy the content is. This is a separate rating from the overall rating of the book. The rating given in this regard can be very different from the overall rating. In this case, this will be so, as this book is plenty Witchy. The historical setting gives this book witch trial vibes, there is a trial mentioned in the book, the trial of Fionnuala, which sets her on the path of revenge. There is also a scene where the Reverend Edgar riles up the town against Maggie. Fortunately for Maggie, this does not end in a public execution, because she is under the protection of the Black Lady at this point. The story feels a bit rushed at this point, I would have loved for there to be more pages about Fionnuala and Maggie's powers. We get a little insight into Fionnuala's cruel power later on, but I will not spoil this part. It is the darkest part of the book I think, I loved it for it too. This book gives all the Witchy vibes I would want out of a historical fantasy. The only remark I have on this is that I would have loved for it to have more spellwork in it. Other than that I think this is a very good read in read to all things Witchy. And let it be a reminder of all the women that have lost their lives, for helping others, or just for being a woman. 4 cauldron cats for Witchyness. Overall rating of The Famine Witch There are a couple of remarks I already made on the book, these are all minor things. There is one more thing that sometimes confused me and that the changing of the POVs was sometimes a bit unclear. Sometimes it took me a moment to find from which point of view I was reading and what the relevance of that person was regarding the story. There are a couple of chapters where we meet a random side character that was not introduced before. In the beginning, this caused the pacing of the book to be very slow, which made the book more difficult to read. In the end, it all made sense, it could put people off to continue reading. I did enjoy my time with this book, it is not perfect but besides the remarks I have it was still a good story in an interesting setting. Therefore the overall rating will be a little bit lower, and I will give it a 3-cat rating.

Title : Kingdom of the Wicked Author : Kerri Maniscalco Series : Kingdom of the Wicked Age Category : Young Adult Published by:  27 October 2020 by Hodder and Stoughton Pages: 372   p. Genre:  Romantasy, Paranormal Romance About Kingdom of the Wicked Emilia finds her sister murdered in the monastery and is hell-bent on finding out who murdered her sister. She will do anything, even using forbidden magic to summon a demon. She gets far more than what she bargained for, instead of summoning a demon, one of the princes of hell appears. Wrath seems to be on her side, but with the Wicked walking the earth again, nothing is what it seems. My thoughts on Kingdom of the Wicked You know a book is great when you can’t put it down. On my first night with Kingdom of the Wicked, I devoured 65 pages, which is a lot for me! The story pulls you in from the start, designed to captivate and keep you turning pages. One thing this book did exceptionally well? It made me hungry . Nearly every time I started reading, food was mentioned—delicious Sicilian dishes that had my mouth watering. I’ve always had a soft spot for Italian cuisine, so much so that we even tried making one of the dishes ourselves. Let’s just say we need more practice to get it right. Another aspect I loved was the setting, Italy, specifically Sicily. The book is sprinkled with Italian words, which I enjoyed, especially since I recognized most of them before they were explained. Turns out, studying Spanish was useful after all! Italian and Spanish share quite a few words, though the pronunciation differs. I think this was a clever way for the author to subtly immerse the reader in the setting. I honestly don’t know how to put into words just how much I loved this book. It completely hooked me, I devoured it and immediately jumped into the second book of the series. You know that feeling when a book grips you so hard that you just have to keep reading? And when you finish, you crave the rest of the series like you’re starving for more? That was me. I even started hunting for the Fairyloot editions online and managed to snag Kingdom of the Feared for a decent price (€35). I’m still searching for Kingdom of the Cursed  at a reasonable price, so if you’re in Europe and selling your Fairyloot copy, email me. I’d love to take it off your hands! Now, back to the book, one of the biggest reasons I loved it was Wrath. He was absolutely delicious. The banter between Emilia and Wrath had me laughing out loud. Emilia herself is a strong character, though a bit naive at times, which makes sense given her sheltered upbringing. I appreciated that she didn’t blindly trust the Wicked, she challenged them and got stuck in over her head on multiple occasions. That said, she did make a few questionable decisions, like chasing after a demon with almost no knowledge of what she was getting into. A disaster waiting to happen, and it was. But a clever trick the author pulled, since the story is told solely from Emilia’s perspective, I never suspected the real killer because she didn’t. Now that I think about it, the single point of view might be why I enjoyed this book so much. It reminds me of Twilight  in that way. Emilia isn’t a picture-perfect heroine, she makes mistakes, gets into messy situations, and feels all the more relatable because of it. My Witchy rating of Kingdom of the Wicked I saved the good parts for this part of my review because Emilia is a witch. In this world, witches are not human. The witches in this book are family covens, they learn from their parents or grandparents. Some practice the dark arts, some do not, but they are all respected among themselves. There is no rivalry between them. The spells are done with herbs and other ingredients, such as bones. It gives a bit of an old-school vibe to the story. There were also grimoires, which made me so happy, I could already see the old tome and the private one such as Vittoria's. What I couldn't pinpoint is it this was supposed to be set in a certain time in history or in modern times. The story felt like a mishmash between history and modern times. This story is full of spellwork and magic in various forms, from simple incantations to more complex spells with candles, herbs, and bones. The romance and the mystery are the main focus points of the plot, but magic is a solid side character. Therefore, this book gets five cauldron cats for Witchyness. The overall rating of Kingdom of the Wicked This book was amazing; I love the setting of Italy, the usage of the Italian language, and the food mentioned, which made my mouth water on multiple occasions. To say the book did not make me hungry was an understatement and something I had not expected. The characters are likable and realistic. I like Emilia, she is stubborn and takes matters into her own hands. She can be a little bit naive, but because of her backstory, this can easily be explained and, therefore, did not bother me. My only criticism of the book is that the ending seems rushed. We do not get a clear insight into why she suddenly decides to make the decision she does. It was a little bit disappointing, but it was enough of a cliffhanger for me to continue with the rest of the series. And the Prince of Sin series, which I hope will be a bit spicier. Kingdom of the Wicked is a young adult series, and Prince of Sin is an adult series. I am looking forward to continuing the series to see how it ends. I will be adding age ranges to my review as I feel a lot of books nowadays are not targeted to a proper audience. The characters of the book feel adult and yet this story is a young adult story, as it does not have much that would be damaging for a young adult. It could be read from age 12 as this is where the young adult range starts. However, I still think this can be read by adults too. If you had not guessed by my enthusiastic reaction to this review, this book is getting 5 cats from me, it was just what I needed. If you can't get enough of my content, consider finding me on my other websites. You are interested in music, I write about it on  Finding Flight Cases.  If you are interested in collecting books, I have started a secondhand online bookstore, Arcane Archives , I would love to help you find your next fantasy or science fiction read.

Title : Shadow & Bone Author : Leigh Bardugo Series : The Shadow & Bone Trilogy, book 1 Other books in this series: Siege & Storm and Ruin & Rising Age Category : Young Adult Published by: Orion's Children Books, October 2020 Pages: 307p. Genre: Epic fantasy About Shadow and Bone Alina Starkov is a soldier, the regiment plans to cross the Shadow Fold, a darkness that holds all kinds of shadow creatures. Alina isn't sure she will make it to the other side, but when her party is attacked, she unleashes magic she did not know she possessed. Alina ends up in the world of the Grisha the elite military unit, led by the notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes that Alina's powers can reunite the war-torn nation. If she could only master her powers. But the kingdom holds some dark secrets, and Alina has to find her place in this world and hold the future. Welcome to Ravka, a world where science and superstition collide, and nothing is what it seems. My thoughts on Shadow and Bone My relationship with Shadow and Bone has had a lot of ups and downs. You could call it a hate/love affair. So expect a bit of a critical review, if you don't like that then I would suggest skipping this review. To give you an example, in the first 50 pages I was thinking, what the hell is this world, where is my world-building? Why has everyone been hyping this book up, so much? I got my answers shortly after, as the pace of the book changed at that point, the story became interesting all of a sudden. That is my general feeling about this book, I feel like I am missing out on the many details this world possesses. This is mainly because it is written from Alina's perspective, and she has a very narrow view of the world she lives in. Lots of details have been kept hidden from her, or just weren't of interest to her, so that makes the story a bit narrow-minded as well. The world Leigh Bardugo has created is very interesting, even from the narrow point of view we have gotten, it is very fascinating. And I would love to read more, fortunately, I have 4 more books to look forward to next to this trilogy all based in Ravka. I would love to see how the writing has evolved from Shadow and Bone, I have heard that the other books are even more beloved than Shadow and Bone. Enough about the world building I think you have gotten my point. Still, the feeling of missing out on things kept nagging me to the end of the book. There were some reveals that, because I have managed to dodge almost all spoilers on this series. Except for that the Darkling was supposed to be the villain of this story. The reveal that came from Baghra, as may be the biggest surprise of the book. That was unexpected, as I wasn't sure what Baghra's intentions were before that moment. At this point in the book we have finally found the haste button, and the story keeps spinning. We learn a great deal more about the world, and about many of the side characters. We also see Alina evolve. This learning curve goes hand in hand with our main character, so there are no broadly explained elements, we only see what Alina's eyes see. Alina is that so-called reluctant hero, a trope that I found out by reading this, I don't like. Alina seems to be so foolish and naive, and it bugged me that the Darkling caught up with them in such an easy manner. It was excruciating to read about. Rating Shadow and Bone Short version: it needs more world-building. Long version: the world is so damn interesting, I just want a lot more of it, even if Alina is not my favorite character ever. The side characters make up for the lacking main character, and therefore I am not giving up on this series. I am becoming a fan of this world and already have a favorite character, Nikolai, I haven't talked much about him in this review, as I was a bit concerned with spoilers. I am glad that this character is so beloved that it has gotten his own duology , being King of Scars and Rule of Wolves. Overall this book had its moments, but it will never be the best thing I have ever read. What I have learned from this one is that I do not like the reluctant hero's point of view. Also, the book starts very slow, so be aware of that, it gets better after the 50-page mark, and from that point, you can easily make it to the finish line, and it becomes addictive even. That being said, I had a really hard time with the main character, which left this book stranded on 3 stars. If you can't get enough of my content, consider finding me on my other websites. If you are interested in music, I write about it on  Finding Flight Cases.  If you are interested in collecting books, I have started a secondhand online bookstore, Arcane Archives , I would love to help you find your next fantasy or science fiction read.

Title : Crown of Midnight Author : Sarah J. Maas Other books in this series: Throne of Glass Heir of Fire Queen of Shadows Empire of Storms Tower of Dawn Kingdom of Ash Series : Throne of Glass, book 2 Age Category : Young adult Published by:  August 2013, Bloomsbury Publishing Pages: 420   p. Genre:  Epic fantasy About Crown of Midnight Celaena survived the trials to become the King's Champion, now she has to obey the men she hates most in the world. The cruel King of Adarlan, has an extensive list of people who he would like to see murdered by Celaena. Will she just blindly follow the commands of this wicked king, or does Celaena have other plans? All of her friends are starting to question her loyalties, but Celaena does not know how to trust. She is keeping secrets, and one night her entire world crumbles. My thoughts on Crown of Midnight Like Throne of Glass I also read Crown of Midnight two times, as I intended to continue with the rest of the series, but the funny thing with me and series is that I am not so good at finishing them. So it has been a long time coming, but I did recently also finish Heir of Fire. And am about halfway through Queen of Shadows (I am a very slow reader, so I am taking my time with it). Crown of Midnight starts off slow, as I have found is just the way Sarah J. Maas likes to write, this has been the case in House of Earth and Breath as well. And the same goes for Heir of Fire too, Sarah J. Maas just likes to really set up a story before divining into all the action, and I do not think there is anything wrong with that. Along the way, the actions of Celaena will get explained, but it will always take us a while to get to the point, this serves the plot well, as you as a reader start doubting her motives for her actions as well. After reading Throne of Glass, which was fast-paced from start to finish, I think it will get some getting used to for a reader to slow down. In Crown of Midnight, we slow down so that we learn more about the world, the book takes place in, and we get to know some of the side characters better. I enjoyed the friendship that developed between Celaena and Nehemia. Nehemia is a very strong character, and I am sad that we could only spend a little while with her. What I also like is that in each book, new perspectives are added to the book. For example, we get some more Chaol and Dorian. With every chapter, we learn more about the world, and we learn more about Celaena. We learn about the different kingdoms, through Nehemia's stories, and we also learn more about Celaena. At the end of the book, there is a large reveal about who Celaena is, this was not something I had seen coming. There was just enough left out to keep the mysteries of this story to be revealed at the end of the book. The book works to a climax where we get all the reveals, I kind of like this, and now that I have read a little bit more of the series, you can see that there have been a lot of clues in this book for things to come. What I did not like about this book is, Celaena, especially the way she dealt with the death of her friend. She can be such a pain in the ass character, that you would very much like to strangle, or give a nice kick in the ass. I don't always agree with the main character, which at times makes it a very hard read. I did like the prospect of learning more about the fae in this world. I have not read a whole lot about fae before, so I am curious to see what Wendlyn will bring, and where she is traveling to in the next book. Rating Crown of Midnight Throne of Glass was fast-paced, in comparison to Crown of Midnight. The new pacing took some getting used to, but did not harm the story, as we get to explore the world much more. The book is still mainly told through the perspective of Celaena, but there is also room for other perspectives, which is something I have enjoyed about this book. All in all, we have been able to solve another mystery, I am sad that one of my favorite side characters died, but in return, we get to explore a new part of the world in the next books. There is still a lot left unsolved, and I cannot wait to continue the story in Heir of Fire. The reveals at the end of the book and the amusing doorknob Mort make up for the slow pacing, these are such minor points of criticism, so I can only conclude by giving this book five cats. Regarding the age range for this book, I would still recommend age 14 plus for this one. A younger audience is not recommended as there is some graphic content. If you can't get enough of my content, consider finding me on my other websites. If you are interested in music, I write about it on  Finding Flight Cases.  If you are interested in collecting books, I have started a secondhand online bookstore, Arcane Archives , I would love to help you find your next fantasy or science fiction read.

Title : Thrones of Glass Author : Sarah J. Maas Also by this Author: Crescent City series Series : Throne of Glass book 1 Other books in the series : Crown of Midnight Heir of Fire Queen of Shadows Empire of Storms Tower of Dawn Kingdom of Ash Age Category : Young adult Published by:  September 2014, Bloomsbury Publishing Pages: 565   p. Genre:  Epic fantasy About Throne of Glass Ten years ago, magic disappeared from the world of Adarlan, a kingdom ruled by a vicious king on a glass throne. He wants to conquer the world and needs an assassin to do his bidding. In the slave camp of Endovier, awaits an assassin who wants her freedom, she enters into a contest to become the King's Champion, to be released from the hell she was living in. Twenty-three killers stand in her path to freedom, can she defeat them all and become the King's Champion? But something evil lurks in the castle and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival. And a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys the world. My thoughts on Throne of Glass The first time I read Throne of Glass I was blown away by it. The second time I read it was equally mind-blowing. While I am rewriting this review, which was first published on my other blog, Ice Cold Passion, I am still astonished at how well it still holds up. The story starts in the mines of Endovier, it is here where we meet the arrogant main character of this book, Celeana Sardothien, an assassin who has been captured and is paying off her debt in the slave camp. Until one day the crown prince and the captain of the guard show up at Endovier with a proposal Celeana just could not resist. Fight for your freedom in a contest of killers and become the King's Champion, the King's Assassin. Celeana can't resist such a proposal and become's the crown prince Dorian's assassin. In the first part of the book, there is a lot of training and some smaller challenges, it is relatively fast-paced even though not much happens. The second part of the book is much more interesting, I love that Celeana is growing as a character, and making some new friends along the way. I love the character Nehemia, she is such a lovely character. Why this series has become such a hyped book is understandable, although I think the hype for A Court of Thorns and Roses is a lot bigger. I think that TikTok has gotten something to do with this. I feel that Throne of Glass has been forgotten a bit by the Sarah J. Maas fans as we now have two more series to set our teeth in. However, I am yet to finish any of the series by Sarah J. Maas, so I am starting at the beginning. It all started with Throne of Glass. The feeling I got when reading this book for the first time, I had not found in a book since Twilight and L.J. Smith's works. The getting so caught up in a book that you forget that you had other things planned, forgetting to eat and drink, reading until deep in the night because you just have to know how it ends. That feeling is the greatest compliment I think you can give a book/author. It tells me that something was good. It also makes it very hard to write a review about such a book. These feelings are so hard to describe to anybody who hasn't had this experience. I pointed out before that the book is mainly focused on Celeana for this story, but there are Chapters from different points of view as well, such as Chaol the captain of the Guard, and Dorian the crown prince. Another character who makes an entrance is Kaltain, one of the nobility who madly wants to win the crown prince's heart. I like that it is not written from a single point of view, which in my opinion can sometimes limit the world-building of a story. When Throne of Glass was released, there was a lot of hype around it, mainly in the English-speaking book world, it took a long time before it was translated into Dutch. At that time the English hype for it had ended, I have the feeling that it did not get the same amount of hype in the Netherlands as in other countries, and I kind of feel sad about that because it is a series worth picking up. I think in the Netherlands it missed its mark time-wise. Also, the Dutch original covers are ugly as hell, this does not help either. I am glad that I own the beautiful original covers of all the Throne of Glass books. Rating Throne of Glass This book is amazing, with great character building, a very addictive writing style, and a fast-paced story for you to devour. I love all the characters even though Celeana can be a bit of a bitch, but because we also learn a lot about what she went through this is still explainable. I love that this story has multiple points of view, it helps a lot with the world-building and makes the story that much more enjoyable to read. Throne of Glass is always mentioned as a young adult series, and this first book can be read as young adult, the starting age I would suggest for this first book in the series is appropriate for age 14+. I also like that this has a well-rounded ending, there is room for the next book, but this part of the character journey is done. It does not end on a major cliffhanger, which I have come to appreciate. I will be continuing the series, and I hope to finally finish it in 2024. Overall you can already guess what this one is going to be, 5 stars for Throne of Glass.

Title : The Blue Hearts of Mars Author : Nicole Grotepas Series : standalone Age Category : Young adult, age 12-16 Published by:  11th January 2013, self-published Pages: 268   p. Genre:  Science fiction, Androids, dystopia, romance About The Blue Hearts of Mars Retta lives on Mars under a dome, is about to graduate high school, and has a side job in a coffee shop. This is where she first meets Hemingway. She falls in love with him, but their love is forbidden. Hemingway is an android, bound to be a slave of the system, where androids are seen as lesser beings by humans. He can not resist Retta, and together they embark on an adventure to change the world. Along the way, they discover secrets that the government has kept since they first settled on Mars. My opinion about The Blue Hearts of Mars Warning: this review contains spoilers for the book. I was thinking of doing a spoiler-free review of this book, but instead, I will do a deep dive. The reason for this is that I have so many issues with the book and I want to discuss them with you because I feel that we can also learn something from this. Let me start with the positive parts, the setting was different from anything I have read before. I do not tend to read books set in space, because I thought that wouldn't be for me. This book does prove that this part of science fiction can be interesting to read. I liked that this was set on Mars and that humans managed to colonize space. This is something that I think is something that we would love to do. Inhabit a new planet. In this book, the people have been living on Mars for many generations. Space travel is possible, there are people that vacation in other parts of the galaxy for example. The first settlers created the androids that then built domes so that human life would be possible. The first settlers brought materials and plant life with them from Earth, and for many generations, they have been trying to recreate a resemblance to Earth. I liked the world that the author created. There are various domes on Mars, and our main character Retta lives in New Helsinki. When I started this book, the prologue sounded promising, I thought that it would be a dual POV. I soon found that the only chapter written from Hemingway's perspective was the prologue. I think this was a missed opportunity to make the book better than it turned out to be. An inside in Hemingway's mind might have filled up the gaps and question marks I was having pretty much from chapter one. The first thing that struck me as strange is that a lot of things were glossed over, for example, Retta meets Hemingway they talk. The next moment they are dating, without us ever getting any conversations, meet-ups, or even a time frame of how long ago that first meeting was in the coffee shop. The story dives right into Retta being head over heels by a character that we as the audience do not have a connection with. This made it very hard for me to wrap my head around and continue with the book. Retta is supposedly almost 18, but the way she sounds is more the equivalent of age 14 to 16. I still do not understand even after finishing the book how this love story came to be, if there could have been a couple of chapters of them just getting together, going on dates, learning about other characters, and finding out that he is an android. All this is just non-existent and that is very sad. There was also a lot of repetition in those first chapters, not only in the "OMG he is so beautiful" department but also there are a couple of cases when things in the world are explained to the reader twice. The world-building was in this case not very subtle, it is often Retta addressing the reader almost directly instead of us finding out the information through situations like for example; reading along with a study book, or a teacher explaining the history to students in class. It needed more show than tell. In all honesty, I almost DNF'ed this book, the issues I was having with it kept piling up the further I got. I am sorry that this will not be a glowing review, it cannot always be a 5-star read, unfortunately. I feel that it is important to show my readers that I will give my honest opinion in I hope a well-versed way so that we can learn from these situations and help make books better. I know that this may sound like a harsh critique of the book, but I feel it is necessary to address the issues. Another major issue I had with this book is that there are time gaps between the chapters, I hinted at this at the beginning of my reviews and I want to explain further to you what I mean by those time g aps by giving an example. This will be a spoiler for the book, so in case you do plan on reading this it might be wise to skip ahead to the next paragraph. After Retta breaks into Syntech, the company that makes the androids, she finally tells Hemingway what she and Mei found, a document that says all androids will be deployed to a new planet, without their consent. Retta and Hemingway try to run away then without any preparation, and only the clothes on their back. Before they leave, they want to go find the Voice, which is the guy leading a resistance, to inform him about the android deployment. This whole meeting is skipped over, we only hear the events as an afterthought. Finally, something interesting could happen, and we do not get to see it play out at all. There were many moments like this throughout the book, and it made it hard to follow along with the story. These are the details you would want to go into detail on, these are the parts that give the story depth, excitement, and memorable. And yet they were ignored, I was a little disappointed by it. The last thing I would point out is that there are a lot of things that are not explained. Why can they just break into high-tech facilities without getting caught, why is there no security system? Why are they not arrested as soon as they come from the train when Retta was on the news and wanted by Syntec. These are only a few of my questions, there is a lot that makes no sense at all, it gets to the point that the story becomes very unbelievable. Rating The Blue Hearts of Mars Unfortunately, there were too many issues with this book, that could not be ignored. The idea of living on Mars, the androids, and humans living there together is great. I just wish it had much more depth. The execution of the idea was lacking overall. There were so many plot holes that it left me with too many questions at the end of the book. The characters did not have much depth, the love story was instant. Due to the many issues this book has my rating will not be higher than 2 cats, these are solely giving because I do like the idea of the story.

Title : First Grave on the Right Author : Darynda Jones Series : Charley Davidson, book 1 Age Category : Adult Published by: St. Martin's Press Pages: 310 p. Genre: Urban fantasy About First Grave on the Right "This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual. Or a diagram of some kind. A flow chart would have been nice." Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less-than-ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. He might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in? My Thoughts on: First Grave on the Right This book is so much fun, I am a big fan of urban fantasy settings. The book certainly falls in the urban fantasy category, as it is set in this world, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The main character of the book is Charley Davidson, she is the one and only Grim Reaper and is the funniest character I have ever encountered. She has such a good sense of humor, that part makes the book much lighter than it is. When I first started reading, I thought it would be a light-hearted book, more of a paranormal romance than an urban fantasy read. I could not have been more mistaken, as this book has a lot of depth. It has an unexplainable mysterious sexy as hell entity, pun intended. The mystery around this character is only resolved at the end of the book. In between figuring out this mystery, we are also figuring out the mystery of the dead lawyers. There is a lot of detective work, and murders to solve. I liked that it not only focussed on the supernatural aspects but also on the humans in the story, such as Cookie and Charley's uncle and the family dynamic. It all feels very well-thought-out. The only thing that does not get explained, and I have been dying to know, is the following. If she is the only reaper in the world, shouldn't she be moving around a lot more to collect all the trapped souls that did not cross over? Are they left wandering the world, or do they eventually end up on Charley's doorstep, no matter where they came from? Lots of times in books, these questions will be explained at some point in the story, however at least it is not explained in this book. The reason for this might just be that the whole reaper thing never really gets explained to Charley, so she doesn't know her purpose in the world. This considering what we have learned throughout the story might very well be the case. By the end of the book, there were some 'aha' moments where parts of the mysteries got resolved, but I feel there will be lots of things to dive into for the next books. This book reminds me a bit of watching Ghost Whisperer, as this also has some more disturbing scenes, that might be nightmare-inducing for some people. Then there is of course the sexual tension between Charley and Reyes that was great. I loved this part, and I loved that one scene where it put Charley in a very awkward position. I laughed a lot during reading this book, the humor is so good in this book. The big conclusion at the end of the book came as a bit of a surprise to me, which is good, I like it when I can't figure out beforehand where the book is going. There are enough loose ends in the story, that we will have a lot more world to delve into in the next book. However, it does not feel forced, it feels like this part of the journey is done, and a new adventure will begin in the next book. Rating First Grave On The Right This book is hilarious, like watching an episode of Supernatural on paper. There is so much humor woven into the story. In contrast to the humor, there is also a lot of darkness and almost horror elements. Overall I enjoyed this book, it was very well-balanced and just fun. Sometimes you just want to read something lighthearted and quirky, and this book delivers that in a supernatural manner. 4 cats for this one.

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas, me and Martijn spent Christmas eve, relaxing and cooking the most delicious turkey dinner I have ever had! Today we started with presents! Of course, there was a book waiting for me! The other present is sure to end up on my other blog sometime, I got a cool Christmas sweater, from my now favorite music festival which I visited this year for the first time. This afternoon we are off to visit Martijn's parents. Merry Christmas to all of you! And thank you for visiting my blog. If you can't get enough of my content, consider finding me on my other websites. If you are interested in music, I write about it on  Finding Flight Cases.  If you are interested in collecting books, I have started a secondhand online bookstore, Arcane Archives , I would love to help you find your next fantasy or science fiction read.

Title : Christmas Magic Author : Alexandra Moody Series : Christmas Magic, book 1 Age Category : Adult Published by: Self-published, November 2018 Pages: 230p. Genre: Christmas fantasy About Christmas Magic Clio just wants to live a normal life, without her powers getting in the way, and for the most time, she can keep them hidden. But that changes when a group of dark elves attacks her. The attack has attracted this handsome reindeer shifter, named Dash, who wants to protect her and just wants to be left alone. When magic creatures are starting to end up dead Dash and Clio join forces to find out who is killing them. My Thoughts on Christmas Magic Christmas Magic book was so special, as every Christmas I like to read a lot of Christmas-themed books, they usually end up being romance books, as for some reason that is the way to go for Christmas. This is why this book is something different, as like all Christmas books it is set in our world, but this is a true fantasy story. This makes it so exciting, that I would categorize it as an urban Christmas fantasy. The characters are all Christmas creatures, there are elves, Clauses, and reindeer shifters, which are all on the good side of things, we also have Krampus in plural, dark elves en some more creatures that roam the night. This book took me by surprise as I had not expected it to be such a diverse story, it has a lot of world-building, the characters are well-developed, and we get to solve a mystery. The story takes a much darker turn than I had expected, but it was well worth it. Not only are Christmas creatures allowed to live anywhere in the world. The North Pole is of course also included in this story, it is a Christmas book after all. It does have another purpose, it is a place where Christmas creatures can live in peace. Sparks are flying between Clio and Dash, their quick banter is very entertaining, but it is not the main plot line of the story. There is also a mystery to be solved, as Christmas creatures are being killed. The reindeer in this story are sort of the police department of the North Pole. I thought that was a cool new direction for reindeer. I also learned about a new creature which I have never heard of before, it is called a tomten. Might just be a case of me not knowing English words for things, as it is not my native language. I thought it was interesting. Rating Christmas Magic The story is action-packed, with attacking elves, a creepy prison visit, an underground fight club, and much more. This is the perfect Christmas holiday read for everybody who loves urban fantasy or fairy tales. I am picking up the second book in the series before Christmas, I am very curious to see how the story continues. As you might have guessed by my excitement, this book is a 5 cat sort of book! If you have any downtime during the holidays, give this book some love. For now, I would like to wish everybody a wonderful Christmas Eve. If you can't get enough of my content, consider finding me on my other websites. If you are interested in music, I write about it on  Finding Flight Cases.  If you are interested in collecting books, I have started a secondhand online bookstore, Arcane Archives , I would love to help you find your next fantasy or science fiction read.