There is MUCH to be thankful for this holiday season, despite what world events are occurring at any given moment, plus now there is #BabyYoda to save us all from the scarier things we cannot control- or change!
So let show you a few of the things I am grateful for this year (this is not a comprehensive list, that would be a mile long!):
An Illusion of Thieves
Chimera Series, Book #1
by Cate Glass
Published: May 2019
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In Cantagna, being a sorcerer is a death sentence.Romy escapes her hardscrabble upbringing when she becomes courtesan to the Shadow Lord, a revolutionary noble who brings laws and comforts once reserved for the wealthy to all. When her brother, Neri, is caught thieving with the aid of magic, Romy's aristocratic influence is the only thing that can spare his life—and the price is her banishment.
Now back in Beggar’s Ring, she has just her wits and her own long-hidden sorcery to help her and Neri survive. But when a plot to overthrow the Shadow Lord and incite civil war is uncovered, only Romy knows how to stop it. To do so, she’ll have to rely on newfound allies—a swordmaster, a silversmith, and her own thieving brother. And they'll need the very thing that could condemn them all: magic.
Why I'm thankful:
Magical outlaws, and impossible quest, political intrigue, adult themes, a "ragtag crew" having to work together- basically, An Illusion of Thieves, had me at hello. From the very start, Cate Glass weaves her world and characters with such rich layers, her words absolutely came alive for me.
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| Book #2 Coming 2/4/2020 |
This first book absolutely left me wanting more!
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of the second book in the series; A Conjuring of Assassins, and it is even better than the first! We see the world Glass created expand, we see into characters like Placidio (who I am seriously shipping with Romy but no joy yet), and the mysteries within the plot are labyrinthine and outstanding. Amazing series, amazing author, 100% reread material.
by Margaret Rogerson
Published: June 2019
Find it on: Amazon, Goodreads, SDCL
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All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.
Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.
As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.
How do you say you loved a thing more than you've ever loved a thing since...... Harry Potter, or Outlander (book not TV series), or seeing Chris Evans emerging from the machinery that transformed him into Captain America- all sleepy and glistening. That's how much I loved A Sorcery of Thorns, THAT'S how gooood this book is.
I've never encountered such a charming and fantastical magic system that is so lovingly described, you can veritably taste the descriptions, they are just that evocative. This isn't the type of book that it takes you a chapter or two to acclimate to the writing style and world, your immersion starts on page one- Rogerson is an absolute wizard with words. I cannot say more without spoiling the book, all I can say- and those lucky enough to have read the book already will know what I mean when I say- I love every character in this book, but just like Elizabeth and Nathaniel, I cannot let Silas go!
This world, this magic, Katrien, the libraries and grimories, the riotous book lice! Everything was perfection. The only thing that stabs my heart is that this is a stand alone novel. Give me a demon and I will enchant Margaret Rogerson to write me a trilogy!
Check out the amazing fan art commissioned from @rosiethorns for @LitJoyCrate.
Details! I was super stoked to finally read this book! Silas stole my heart! 🤧 pic.twitter.com/6kPqjmY8G3— Rosie (@rosiethorns88) July 16, 2019
by Rory Power
Published: July 2019
Find it on: Amazon, Goodreads, SDCL
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It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
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