Monthly Archives: July 2025

ARC Book Review: Of Rime And Ruin by Liesl West

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The Basics:

The Book: Of Rime And Ruin by Liesl West

How long is it? 456 Pages

Will Be Published: July 25, 2025 wherever you buy books (Instead of my usual bookshop.org link, I’m going to send you over to Liesl’s website, where you can find pre-order links for several places, content warnings, and a really cool map of Adria)

The Genre: Adult Romance/Fantasy (Standalone-ish, but part of the Sirens of Adria series)

I received an advanced copy from author Liesl West.

What It’s About (Via Goodreads):

A kingdom on the edge.
A monster in the depths.
And a bond that could rule or ruin…

Princess Nahlani of the Brine would rather master her siren magic than endure the responsibilities of court. So, when she’s threatened with an arranged marriage to a land-bound prince, Nahla flees—only to swim into the icy domain of the cruel Frost King.

King Aethan rules a Rime in ruins, his cold exterior concealing an unspoken a curse that turns him into a bloodthirsty, unpredictable threat to his own people. The siren spy in his waters doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll be safer behind bars…

Determined to escape her new captor, Nahla’s magic sparks a forbidden alliance. Unaware of the bond she’s formed with the kingdom’s most feared creature—the fabled clawbeast—Aethan moves her from prison to palace.

But as the truth of the beast unravels, so does the distance between Nahla and Aethan, leaving them to confront a dangerous and undeniable attraction.

Part of the Sirens of Adria series, Of Rime and Ruin is a fantasy romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

What I Thought:

I loved Of Song And Scepter, and when I saw that West was looking for ARC readers, I knew I had to apply for the arc, and I am so glad I was approved for, because this book was so good!

I loved Nahla and Aethan so much!  You don’t need to read Of Song And Scepter first, even though both books are set in the same world, since both stories are stand-alones, and focus on two very different couples.  I think Of Song And Scepter is a great book, and you should read it, but you’ll still know what’s going on if you skip it.

I loved this take on Beauty And The Beast, and I loved that we not only had Nahla and Aethan narrating, but the Beast as well.  This version is dark and icy, with an interesting mystery to boot.  I didn’t see the resolution to the mystery coming, but I liked seeing how that got resolved and how it came together.  Lucas was awful, and he is definitely the Gaston of this story, if you’re looking for parallels to the movie.  I wasn’t surprised by his role in things by the end of the book, but I’d be curious to see if it’s something I’d notice if I’d re-read it again.  I did like the nods to the movie, as well, and it really makes me want to go watch the movie!

I loved Nahla, and I was rooting for her the entire book.  I don’t blame her for wanting to escape, and though things were rough in Rime, I’m also glad it worked out for her.  I also loved how Aethan defended her when her family was acting completely awful.  Aethan was interesting and I was surprised to see that Aethan and the beast was more of a Jekyll and Hyde situation.  While it strays from the movie, I thought it was really cool, because there are these two sides to him that he needs to reconcile.  Granted, I’ve never read Jekyll and Hyde, so I’m not the best source, but I thought it was a great take on the Beast.  I really liked Aethan as well, and I definitely understood why he thought Nahla was a spy.  Obviously, he changes his mind about her by the end of the book, but his initial distrust made a lot of sense to me.  I especially loved them together, and I loved seeing them fall in love.

My Rating:

I loved this book so much, and it is a 5 star read for me!  If you love mermaids, magic, and Beauty And The Beast, this is the book for you!

2025 Mid-Year Book Favorites

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Hello friends!

As promised, this post is about my favorite books from the year (so far).  It took a little longer than expected to put this together, but I finally did it!  Let’s get started!

  • If We Were A Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal.  This book is so cute, and the perfect summer read.  I loved the characters and the movie theater they worked, plus the romance was super cute!
  • Accidental Demons by Clare Edge.  What I loved most was the concept!  A Type-1 Diabetic summons demons when she checks her blood sugar made for a great novel, and it got me thinking about chronic illness in magical worlds.  It’s not something you see a lot of, and I wish we saw more of it.  It’s also nice to see a book about chronic illness that’s not mental illness.
  • Wishing Upon The Same Stars by Jacquetta Namar Feldman.  I talked about this one a few days ago, but I love Yasmeen so much, and her family has been through a lot.  This book does a great job at highlighting what’s going on in Palestine, and how that impacts families like Yasmeen’s.
  • Most Likely by Sarah Watson.  This book was great on audio but I also just loved the story of 4 best friends, any of whom could be president.  One day, I hope I can reread it because I would love to do that knowing which girl actually becomes president.  But it’s such a great read, and they really do have a great friendship that has lasted for decades.
  • The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann.  I loved Joy, and though I wasn’t the biggest fan of Malcolm, her best friend, I was so glad to see a main character who’s ace!  I really need to read more books about ace characters, and this book was a great read.  I’m really glad it was recommended to me, and I definitely need to find more books like it.
  • The Davenports by Krystal Marquis.  I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, but I was glad I picked this one up.  It’s inspired by a real life family, the Pattersons, and we have four incredibly different but also amazing young women.  They have so much to navigate, and things aren’t easy for them, but they do what they can with what they have.  I can’t help but wonder what things would be like for them if they had been born a few decades later, but this time period is also perfect for them.

  • A Banh Mi For Two by Trinity Nguyen.  This book was so cute!  I loved the romance, the food, and navigating a tricky family history.  I cried so much when I was reading this book, but it was worth it!  I loved seeing Vivi explore Vietnam through food, and Lan had a lot of grief to work through, but her story was just as important as Vivi’s.
  • The Lumbering Giants Of Windy Pines by Gabe Netz.  This book has Gravity Falls vibes, and I really liked Jerry.  It’s a good fall/Halloween read, but honestly, I think it’s a good read no matter when you’re reading it!  Whether she’s making friends or saving the day, Jerry has a lot of adventures.  I think the disability rep is so important too, because Jerry and her mom need to live in a place that’s accessible to Jerry, who is in a wheelchair.  We see that every disability is different, but that being in a wheelchair is a normal part of Jerry’s life.  It’s such a good book, and one I’m glad I read.
  • Catch And Keep by Erin Hahn.  I’ve been a fan of Hahn ever since I read You’d Be Mine a few years ago.  This is another great romance from Hahn, and I loved seeing Maren and Joe fall in love.  This book is particularly cozy, and I loved that she not only fell for Joe, but his kids as well.  And she definitely felt like more of a parent to them then their own mom did.  At least from the glimpses we got of her.  I loved the friendships, the romance and found family we get in this book.
  • The Fervor by Alma Katsu.  I am a fan of Alma Katsu, and this book was such a good read!  I love the way she blends horror, history and the supernatural.  With everything going on with the ICE raids, a book about the Japanese internment camps is such an important book to read.  It does seem very timely, but if that’s a part of our history you’re not familiar with, I highly recommend taking the time to learn more about it, because it’s happened before, and I would not be surprised if it happened again.
  • Lore Of The Wilds/Lore Of The Tides by Analeigh Sbrana.  I loved this duology so much, and if you want a full review of Lore Of The Tides, you can click here.  Lore is amazing, and I love the world she lives in.  I’m not going to talk about this duology too much, because I’ve already talked about it quite a bit, but it’s a great read.

That wraps up my mid-year recap!  If you have any favorites from this year, let me know in the comments!  See you around!

ARC Book Review: Lore Of The Tides by Analeigh Sbrana

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The Basics:

The Book: Lore Of The Tides by Analeigh Sbrana

How long is it? 464 Pages

Will Be Published: July 8,2025 wherever you buy books (bookshop.org is a great place for books- clicking on the link will take you to my affiliate link)

The Genre: Adult Romance/Fantasy (Book 2 in a duology)

I got an advanced reader copy from netgalley!

What It’s About (Via Goodreads):

From the author of Lore of the Wilds comes the exciting and passionate conclusion, as Lore navigates Fae magic amid looming dangers that threaten to destroy her world.

Lore Alemeyu wakes up to discover she’s on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Held prisoner and with no way to escape, she’s faced with a dire set of circumstances…

A crew that’s distrustful of Lore’s magic capabilities…

Her betrayal by a Fae she thought she could trust…

A dangerous quest for the sun book, which, if placed in the wrong hands, will make the Alytherian Fae even more powerful.

Lore must navigate threats on the ship and beyond, into the ocean’s magical and mysterious depths, in order to find the sun book herself and help free the humans. All the while, Lore can’t help but feel the intense pull of one Fae male who has been helping her all along. But is she willing to risk her human heart for creatures that have burned her in the past, and jeopardize her people’s future?

What I Thought:

I wanted to start off my review with the fact I had an advanced reader copy.  I loved this book so much, and it’s such a great ending to this story!  I really wanted more of Lore’s world, and I’m glad we got to see more of it in this book.  I would read another book set in this world in a heartbeat!  We meet so many new but cool characters, and this adventure is new and exciting, but one that Lore really needed to go on.  She is so amazing, and I loved seeing her explore a new world and navigate changing relationships.

I was curious to see Lore’s relationship with Asher (AKA Syrelle) with how Lore Of The Wilds ended.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of Syrelle, but I did love Lore and Finn together.  I also thought that all of the characters grew a lot in the this book, but I especially loved seeing Lore grow and tap into her inner strength.  I also loved seeing her make a lot of different decisions and seeing her try to balance what she wants for herself, for her friends and for the people of Duskmere.

This book has a very different feel to it, and it’s not one we see in the first book.  I think it’s a combination of Lore being more aware of what’s going on and the difference in setting.  I love the forest we saw in the first book, but I also love the underwater world we see, as well as the time spent sailing across the ocean.  I really felt like I was in Lore’s world, and it was so vivid and full of detail.  Her world really came to life, and it was the little things that made her world feel so real.

One moment that really stood out was when Finn offered to braid Lore’s hair, which I absolutely loved reading.  My hair is nothing like Lore’s, but no matter what’s going on, her hair still needed to be taken of care, and I was glad that Finn was able to care for her in that way.  It’s not something I would stop to think about, but it is something that others have to think about, and I’m glad we got to see that.

My Rating:

This is a 5 star book in my opinion!  I love the world and the characters and I can’t to have this book sitting on my bookshelf.  I haven’t talked about the cover, but it is absolutely beautiful, and I would 100% buy a print of it to hang up on my wall.  I don’t reread books often, but I know this is one I’ll be revisiting again!

June 2025 Reading Round-Up

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Hello dear readers!

I can’t believe it’s July already!  This year has gone by so fast, and I can’t believe we’re half-way through the year.  Reading this month was weird for me.  I felt like I started and stopped a ton of books, and some of the ones I did read, I barely remember, so I don’t have much to say about some of the books I read.  And I have quite a few ARC’s to get through, so over the next few months, you’ll be seeing some longer, individual reviews come through.  I’ll still talk about them in my monthly recaps, but they won’t be super detailed.  Not that I’m super detailed in these posts to begin with, but I definitely won’t be talking about them in the same way as the other books.  Let’s get to the books I read last month!

  • The Moth Girl by Heather Kamins.  I liked this YA contemporary!  Though Anna is diagnosed with a fictional illness, everything that Anna experiences is very real as she adjusts to a life-changing diagnosis.  It’s also nice to see chronic illness that’s not mental illness in a book, and I think that’s something we don’t see a lot of, especially in YA.  I loved the setting, though I’m curious about when the book takes place.  I’d say 90’s, based on the mixtapes and calling people on their home phone, and I can imagine that a mysterious illness pre-internet would be especially scary.  If you’re looking for chronic illness rep, this is a good one to check out.
  • Fools In Love: Fresh Twists On Romantic Tales edited by Rebecca Podos and Ashley Herring Blake.  This YA contemporary anthology was okay.  There’s a wide variety of stories, but as I read the stories in this anthology, I found that I felt ambivalent about most of the stories.  Even though I like some of the authors featured, the two stories that I really liked were authors who were new to me: Boys Noise by Mason Deaver and Disaster by Rebecca Podos.  I love that each story focused on a different idea.  Boys Noise was one bed at the inn and Disaster was second-chance romance, but also had themes like fake dating and mutual pining.  It’s cute and great to read around Valentine’s Day, but maybe I just didn’t read it at the right time.
  • Wishing Upon The Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman.  I loved this Middle Grade contemporary!  I loved Yasmeen and her family, and I really felt for them.  I understood where her parents were coming from, particularly with some of their neighbors, but I also understood where Yasmeen was coming from as well.  She had a lot going on, from moving to bullying to racism, and I just wanted to give her a hug!  She found some great friends along the way, and I enjoyed seeing her give San Antonio a chance.
  • Fit For The Throne 3: The Season Finale by S. McPherson.  I liked this Adult Romantasy.  Things ended the way I thought they would, but it was a fun read and a pretty good conclusion to this trilogy.  I had a little trouble getting into the book at first, and I had a hard time remembering who a lot of the supporting characters were.  But that didn’t take away my enjoyment of the book, and it’s a pretty entertaining series to read.  Varialla was great, and I really liked seeing her journey throughout the series.  I think she’s going to do a lot of good in this world, and I’m glad that things worked out between her and Exequiel.  There was no doubt in my mind it was going to work out, but it’s still good to see them get their happily ever after.
  • Shadow City by Francesca Flores.  This YA fantasy was okay.  I read the first one a long time ago, and re-read before picking this one up.  I didn’t like it as much as I thought it would, but I loved the world.  Maybe it’s another one that I didn’t read at the right time, but maybe it’s just not for me.  It is a good sequel to the first book, and I liked Aina, who was just trying to get by.  I get why she worked with Kohl, but he is not a good guy.  Other than that, I don’t have a lot to say about this one, because I don’t have a lot of strong feelings either way.

  • Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli.  I really liked this YA contemporary!  After reading Break The Fall, I knew I had to read this one.  This book focuses on an ice-skater, and it’s definitely not as technical as Break The Fall, but it was still enjoyable as someone who watches ice-skating every few years during the Olympics.  There’s drama and romance and family issues, and I loved every second of it.  If you like cute, YA romance, this is a good one to check out!
  • Lore Of The Wilds & Lore Of The Tides by Analeigh Sbrana.  Lore Of The Wilds was a re-read for me, and I wanted to re-read it before reading the ARC of Lore Of The Tides.  I’m not going to talk much about Lore Of The Tides here, since I plan on a doing a longer review in the next few days, but I will say that this is a great duology, and the world is amazing!  I also loved the characters, and I’m so excited that Sbrana is coming to San Diego for one of her bookstore stops.  This Adult Romantasy is worth reading!
  • An Ocean Apart by Jill Tew.  I got an ARC of this YA dystopia, and like Lore Of The Tides, a longer review will be coming.  This book comes out in October, so that review will be coming out sometime in the next few months.  This is a world ravaged by climate change, which doesn’t surprise this Southern California girl.  It shouldn’t surprise any of us, but there are people who would find it surprising.  It’s a future I can envision, because we’re already living it to some degree, and this world was so easy to picture.  I’ve already pre-ordered this book, which comes out October 15, 2025.
  • Exactly Where You Need To Be by Amelia Diane Coombs.  I loved this YA contemporary!  I was absolutely crying by the end of the book, and I loved seeing Florie stand up to her mom and take control of her life.  Though I understand why her mom acted the way she did, there were times were I absolutely hated her, starting in San Francisco and up until the end of the book.  I was glad Florie’s therapist was able to help mediate some of the issues, and advocate for her.  I was sad that Florie made it all the way to San Francisco for the live show of a My Favorite Murder-type podcast, and didn’t get to meet the hosts, but I was glad that there was an open invitation for tickets at a future stop.  I was hoping that would happen for her, and I’m glad it did.  I really felt for Florie, and she has a good friend in Kasey, and I’m glad they got to go on an epic road trip together.
  • The Art Of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson.  I loved this Adult Contemporary Romance.  I don’t normally read sports romances, especially ones written for adults, but I saw this one of the displays at the library, and decided to pick it up.  I’m glad I did, because I loved Daphne and Chris.  There’s miscommunication and secrets, of course, but I loved seeing how both of them felt about things, and how they met!  It’s such a cute book, and the romance between them was so fun to read.  And it is incredibly sweet, if you ask me.  While Chris didn’t find out about Daphne’s hidden identity in the best way, I also understood why she kept not telling him.  I think that’s why I was glad that we got both of their perspectives.  It’s a super-cute romance, and the perfect book for summer!

That’s all for today!  A longer review for Lore Of The Tides will be coming soon, and I’m thinking about doing a mid-year recap, so you’ll be getting an extra post or two from me soon.

See you around!