A Curse so Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer | Hmm… not my favorite retelling.

I knew I wasn’t going to love this book. That’s probably why I kept pushing it until the end of the month. Turns out that I don’t have many books that include shapeshifting to pass the Transfiguration exam, and this was one of the most obvious choices. 

Of course, I didn’t go into «A Curse so Dark and Lonely» expecting to dislike it. G from BookRoast, the host and creator of OWLs read-a-thon, spoke so highly of this first book in the series and Brigid Kemmerer’s writing overall that I wanted to believe that this book was going to be for me.

The Vampire of Maple Town by Kane McLoughlin | The vampire book you didn’t know you needed!

Once again I’ve proven to myself that a low Goodreads rating doesn’t mean the book is bad or that I won’t like it. With a mere 3.04, «The Vampire of Maple Town» was a very solid and magical debut novel that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves fairytales and inexperienced vampires trying to find their place in the human society.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow | Sadly, Alix E. Harrow’s writing style is not for me!

I think I have to admit defeat and NOT request any future books written by Alix E. Harrow. As much as I want to love her books, and as much as I love the concepts, ideas, characters she creates, the writing style ruins everything for me. Which is so frustrating! 

It would be understandable if I wasn’t a fan of lyrical writing, but I am! In my reviews of The Bear and the Nightingale series by Katherine Arden (which is the BEST series ever!), many people mentioned how beautiful and lyrical her writing was but they couldn’t get engaged in the story, mostly because of the writing. Apparently, I have the same issue with Alix E. Harrow…

The Castle of Tangled Magic by Sophie Anderson | Magic, adventure & Russian folklore!

What an interesting month! It’s the 19th of September as I’m writing this review and only yesterday I finished my second book of this month. Hooray! 🤯 That’s why I love adding books to Goodreads as soon as I start reading them so I can see for myself how long it takes me to finish them. And oh my, I started «The Castle of Tangled Magic» on the 8th! 

Ten days to finish a middle-grade book that could be read in a couple of hours!

I won’t be blaming this all on the book, as September has been very busy and I just didn’t read for the most part of it. But at the same time, if the book was a little bit more engaging, I wonder if I would have made the time for it. Hm…

The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1) by S.A. Chakraborty | 18th century Cairo, Djinns, and lots of political plays!

I had too high hopes for this book, so when I didn’t love it as much as I hoped to, I felt slightly disappointed. That being said, it’s still an amazing Adult fantasy book with a very unique premise and settings, and I for sure will be continuing and reading the rest of the trilogy as soon as possible. 

It’s difficult to say if my low enjoyment was due to the reading slump I kinda have been experiencing, or everything that is going on in the world that constantly occupies my mind, or the fact that I read it in Russian instead of English. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think that reading this book in translation was a mistake, and I will be buying the other two books in English. I might even re-read the English version before I continue (?) [who am I kidding here… when was the last time I re-read anything?! 😀 ]

Books on my Fall TBR | Fantasy series I want to finish this year!

September was mostly about fantasy series and I’m planning to dedicate more time this year to finish some of the series I’ve started this and last year. Today I’m joining Top Ten Tuesday meme, hosted by Jana @ThatArtsyReaderGirl to share with you my Fall TBR, but mostly to talk about the books I’ll be prioritizing to hopefully finish some series!

I recently organized all of the series I’ve ever started / finished and DNF’d most of them. And was left with 22 series that I’m currently in the middle of. Out of these 22 series: I’m caught up with 6 and I want to finish / caught up with another 8.

QuickFire Fantasy Book Tag | Some of my favorite fantasies!

The time has finally come for me to do this tag (almost a year later… Sorry, Jack!). In October last year, I was tagged by Jack @Jacksbedtimereading to do the QuickFire Fantasy book tag. Thank you so much for tagging me! Even though I do my tags late, I still love to participate in them, so thank you very much for thinking of me. 🙂 

Fantasy and Sci-Fi are the two genres I read the most every year, although I do love Literary Fiction and Mysteries as well. However, I can’t call myself a fantasy expert. There are still so many fantasy worlds I haven’t visited and so many fantasy series I want but haven’t read! 

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart | A fantastic beginning to a new epic series!

Whenever I start slowing my reading pace and prioritizing other tasks over reading, I really should remind myself how truly great books make me feel. Picking up «The Bone Shard Daughter», while slumping through the other two books, felt like a breath of fresh air. I didn’t know what to expect from Andrea Stewart, but I can say that I was very pleasantly surprised by how quickly it drew me into the story and how incredible each Point of View was!

Traveling in time to Ancient Greece | The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

As I was reading «The Song of Achilles» I couldn’t help myself but compare this book to «Circe» also by Madeline Miller. Both of them follow a famous figure from Greek mythology, both a very heavy influenced by Ancient Greece, and both are told in a very beautiful way. While «The Song of Achilles» was a fairly quick read (in comparison to «Circe» which took me over a month), I feel like I will forget it just as quickly.

It might be due to the fact that this was an epic love story, or maybe because none of the characters in this book sparked love or even admiration in me. «Circe», on the other hand, is the book that will stay with me for a long time. I read it in July of last year and I still remember how it made me feel, I still think about it from time to time.

How to Save a Life by S.D. Robertson | The shot of positivity I desperately needed!

For my second book of June, I went with «How to Save a Life» by S.D. Robertson and I’m so glad that I did! After picking up several books and not really feeling any of them, I craved something light, fast-paced but meaningful at the same time. And that’s exactly what I received. 

«How to Save a Life» was the shot of positivity I so desperately needed. I just wish this book had a little bit more editing done to it, as it reads like it’s meant for an older generation while the message it carries is meant for everyone, and the sooner you learn it the better it will be.

The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan | Beautiful writing but disappointing slow-burn romance!

As many of you know, some books are very difficult to review. I definitely struggled with «The Age of Witches» by Louisa Morgan, considering that I finished it at the beginning of May and only sitting down to finally put my thought on paper [well… on screen] on June 10th, almost one month later. 

There were many weekends when I thought “This is it! I’m writing this review!” and then not actually doing it because I couldn’t find the right words to describe how I felt about «The Age of Witches». 

Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell | “Travel with wonder!”

The main reason why I love watching booktube videos so much is the opportunity to discover new amazing books! «Wonderscape» by Jennifer Bell is a new middle-grade sci-fi / fantasy that I first heard about from Jade @Jadeyraereads, and I was so excited to find it on NetGalley and also getting my request approved!

Currently, on Goodreads, this is not listed as part of a series, but I’d love to read more about Arthur, Ren, and Cecily, even their school and normal life shenanigans. I just miss them and want more of these characters, and hopefully more Wonderscape worlds (?!).

The Obsidian Tower (Rooks and Ruin, #1) by Melissa Caruso | A bizarre reading experience!

At first glance, «The Obsidian Tower» has so many elements that I love in fantasy books, that’s why I was so surprised to find out that I didn’t like it. I was even more surprised when I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly was wrong or what exactly I didn’t like. 

So this review will be my attempt to discover what went wrong and hopefully give some meaningful feedback at the same time.

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 1 | A Spooky Graphic Novel for Adults!

Are you a fan of Graphic Novels? I love the idea of graphic novels, comics, and manga, but I can never enjoy them to the fullest potential. Graphic Novels are a lot more than just a story. They convey their message in a different way than books do, often relying on the art style and colors. While I like looking at the beautiful art, I often find that it’s not enough to substitute the storytelling of a novel.

The Rage of Dragons(The Burning, #1) by Evan Winter | Can’t wait for the next installment!

«The Rage of Dragons» by Evan Winter, the first book in the epic African-inspired fantasy, was one of the most intimidating books on my TBR last month. [Well… together with «A Time of Courage» by John Gwynne.] After reading one African-inspired fantasy last year that I didn’t love and had to DNF half-way through, I was rather apprehensive to try again. Besides, the first book is always the most challenging to dive in – there is a new world to get accustomed with, new words, new social and magic systems.

Who would have thought that I’d be able to finish an epic fantasy book with more than 500 pages in just 2 days?! I didn’t!