Category: Fantasy

My favorite book of the month October 2024: Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

“We will never accomplish anything worthwhile in life if we require the guarantee of success at the onset.”
― Sherry Thomas, The Burning Sky

Goodreads Synopsis:

It all began with a ruined elixir and a bolt of lightning.

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she’s been told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the most powerful tyrant and mage the world has ever known. This would be a suicide task for anyone, let alone a reluctant sixteen-year-old girl with no training.

Guided by his mother’s visions and committed to avenging his family, Prince Titus has sworn to protect Iolanthe even as he prepares her for their battle with the Bane. But he makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the tyrant closing in, Titus must choose between his mission—and her life.

My Thoughts:

I love a romantasy, but I appreciate that this story leans more on plot than romance. Iolanthe and Titus’s feelings are more of an undercurrent to the mission of defeating the Bane. This was a fun adventure with a fascinating cast of characters.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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My Favorite Read for July 2024: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

“Reality told us we would fail. But again and again, we fought. We perserved . We rose.”
― Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone

Title: Children of Blood and Bone

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Publisher: Henry Holt Company

Publication Date: March 6, 2018

Goodreads Synopsis:

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

My Thoughts:

While listed as YA I would place this on the high end and would still recommend it to adults who don’t usually read YA. There are some heavy issues which require a certain level of maturity to digest. One of the things I love about fantasy is that you can highlight societal issues through a different world, which allows the reader to seperate personal feelings and see things clearer. There is so much symbolism releated to the black experience here that I’m sure I missed a lot. Most importantly it’s put together in an entertaining, action packed story with complex characters.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Favorite Read of June 2024: A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley

“Lucifer, why did so many human emotions feel like physical illness? It was a wonder humans didn’t visit the doctor on an hourly basis.”
― Sarah Hawley, A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

Title: A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon

Author: Sarah Hawley

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: March 7, 2023

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.

Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike a bargain with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can’t leave Mariel’s side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).

But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she’s dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle with their opposing goals and maintaining a fake relationship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions—including love—which will only spell disaster for them both.

My Thoughts:

A demon with a soul was such a fun premise. I loved the unique take on the demon plain. Even though the demons are evil, they’re just regular people doing their job. The jobs just happen to involve dasterdly deals and soul stealing. I didn’t give it a full five stars because the pacing seemed a little off at times.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Favorite Read of January 2024

“Humanity is awful, angry, and violent. But we are also magical and musical. We dance. We sing. We create. We live and laugh and rage and cry and despair and hope. We are a bundle of contradictions without rhyme or reason. And there is no one like us in all the universe.”
― T.J. Klune, In the .

My reading for 2024 has started off with a bang. I read a variety of genres, so it was difficult to compare. I Untimately, TJ KLune’s writing style puts him above the rest.

Book facts:

Title: In the Lives of Puppets

Author: TJ Klune

Publisher: Tor Books

Publication Date: April 25, 2024

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots–fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

My Thoughts:

I held off on reading this for a while because I had seen a negative review. But, I realized within the first chapter, that Klune could write anything and I would love it. His writing style just speaks to me. I love the way he casually weaves humor into his stories and uses dialog to develop his characters. The bantor between Rambo (a needy vacuum) and Nurse Ratched (a psychotic health monitoring machine) was some of the best I’ve ever read.

At the end of the novel there was a note from Klune alluding to the fact that the novel was not what he had intended to right. As I looked into this I discovered that he had originally written Vic as autistic, but there was dispute among sensitivity readers, and it was ultimately changed. Obviously, I haven’t read the original version (which I’m sure was wonderful, because everything he writes is) I think it works better this way. Vic is the only human amongst robots, so I think it makes more sense to show characteristics, and let the reader draw their own conclusions.

My favorite read of 2023

I posted my top 23 books of 2023 last week, but I left out my overall favorite, so it could get it’s own post. The Very Secret Society of Witches was a perfect blend of heart and humor. Every single character in this book is delightful and intriquing in their own way. There’s a feeling of hope and the value of small changes.

You can see my original review here.

Throw Back Thursday

Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.

Today’s book: Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: February 14, 2012

Date read: August 23, 2015

Goodreads Synopsis:

I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with the curse. And the frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Keys.

Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it either. But you’ll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got CLOAKED.

My Thoughts:

Alex Flinn does it again. She has a knack for taking classic fairy tales and putting them in a modern, entertaining setting. The nice thing about this book is that she chose some more obscure fairy tales that might not be familiar to the reader. My only criticism is that she tries to mix so many stories together that the plot doesn’t always flow. But, overall, it gives everything I want in a YA fantasy: humor, a valuable life lesson and a happy ending.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Throwback Thursday Book Review: 8/24/23

Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Publication Date: May 1, 2013

Date Read: February 21, 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

“Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It’s my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy.”

Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.

With Stella’s knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook’s last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.

My Thoughts:

I love books that tell familiar stories from a different perspective. In this case, we see a misunderstood, tortured Captain Hook, who is forced by Peter Pan to play the villain for life. This is a fascinating character study that turns the story of Peter Pan upside down. This is a great, lesser-known story for people who love retellings.

My favorite read of July 2023

Goodreads Synopsis:

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

Reasons I loved this book:

  • It’s a beautiful combination of whimsical and heartwarming
  • A delightful cast of diverse characters with unique backgrounds and personality quirks
  • Found family trope
  • I loved how Mika looks at people through the lens of nice vs. kind
  • It’s a great model for making social change in small steps

Throwback Thursday Book Review: 6/22/23: Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.

Publishers: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: June 1, 2012

Date Read: December 8, 2013

Favorite Quote: “The act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home.”
― Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer, Between the Lines

Goodreads Synopsis:

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book–one book in particular. Between the Lines” may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.

Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.

My Thoughts:

Who hasn’t dreamed of a favorite book character coming to life? This is a fun diversion from Picoult’s usual issue driven fiction. While is aimed at YA readers, book lovers of any age will enjoy it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Favorite Read of May 2023: A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

“Everyone needs things that serve no greater purpose than to make them happy.”
― Kelley Armstrong, A Stitch in Time

Goodreads Synopsis:

Thorne Manor has always been haunted… and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt’s house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. After a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination.

Now, twenty years later Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor. And when she returns, William is waiting.

William Thorne is no longer the boy she remembers. He’s a difficult and tempestuous man, his own life marred by tragedy and a scandal that had him retreating to self-imposed exile in his beloved moors. He’s also none too pleased with Bronwyn for abandoning him all those years ago.

As their friendship rekindles and sparks into something more, Bronwyn must also deal with ghosts in the present version of the house. Soon she realizes they are linked to William and the secret scandal that drove him back to Thorne Manor. To build a future, Bronwyn must confront the past.

My Thoughts

This book was a taste of all my favorite genres: romance, fantasy, historical fiction and mystery. It has the feel of a classic with a modern twist. I enjoyed the way Armstrong weaves in just enough small details to build suspense throughtout the story so that you’re guessing until the end.

Reasons I liked A Stitch in Time:

  • Bronwyn loves William, but doesn’t just give up her life for him
  • The fun way Bronwyn exchanges information about the future with William through food and financial advice
  • Enigma the kitten is a great “character” who adds a touch of humor

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