I usually gear my reads towards the season and while I don't regret picking this up at all - I wish I saved it for fall. It's a perfect gloomy, romantI usually gear my reads towards the season and while I don't regret picking this up at all - I wish I saved it for fall. It's a perfect gloomy, romantic, academic setting for the season....and I think I just talked myself into a fall re-read.
I inhaled this book. I really had no desire to put it down at all after I got into the thick of it. It was so atmospheric and this one is definitely for the dark academia girlies!!
This was moody, emotional and dark. The plot was intriguing and had a heavy theme of underlying murder mystery / romantic suspense. There's some small mafia ties, lots of secrets, and dark themes as well. Would def recommend checking your TW if you prefer to do so.
The romance was stellar!! He was so so down bad....and I was so so here for it. The hate to love was done really well and watching their affection blossom and them fighting it was such a fun time.
The humor and witty quips and banter were my absolute favorite. For the dark themes of this book I feel like I laughed more than should have been appropriate. I freaking loved the humor and going through my annotations just made me laugh all over again.
I'm going to circle back to this review later when I have more time but just wanted to throw my initial thoughts out there and I LOVED Nightshade. Possibly another addition to my top reads of the year.
*✧: ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧: ･ﾟ:✧*
That ending was rude af
WHERE IS BOOK TWO
rtc
*✧: ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧: ･ﾟ:✧*
I picked this up because of the authors bookstagram posts/marketing. Genuinely she had me SO intrigued by every single post she put out and they always made me laugh.
But I was not vibing with the audiobook at all and this made me sad because I love when I can find both formats available to tandem read/listen from my library. BUT I'm so glad I switched over to reading it without audio because now I'm having a fantastic time....more
Oh my gosh did I love this world!!! I have been keeping my eye on this release for a while and I was absolutely beside myself when I received the arc Oh my gosh did I love this world!!! I have been keeping my eye on this release for a while and I was absolutely beside myself when I received the arc in the mail. Forever Publishing, THANK YOU. Quite literally I think this made my whole year. Whoever had pity on my comments and emails about this book, ILY.
Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.
The Second Death of Locke is an epic fantasy with a heavy side of romance following a (very codependent) knight and mage with an intimate magic system. The world is gritty, bloody, and captivating.
Our main characters, Grey and Kier, share a close bond and intimate magic/power draw relationship that is amplified by their long term friendship. The dedication, dependency, respect, and love between our two MC's was so good. I adored the bond between the two of them.
The slow build from friendship to lovers was done so well and from the very beginning you could FEEL the underlying love (yearning) and understanding of each other that comes from a long term friendship dancing around the edge of romance.
Found family is one of my favorite tropes in a book and I was completely sold on our little crew and their quest from the get go. Every side character felt genuine and lovable in their own way. Their loyalty to each other runs so deep it makes you love them even more.
The world building itself was easy to follow and was so rich in history and has set a solid foundation for the rest of the trilogy. There is so much to explore in the world and within the power dynamics (new and old). I'm very intrigued to see what comes next!
Love, Loyalty, and sacrifice are heavy themes that really shine throughout the whole book. This book hurt so good and it's definitely going to take some time to get over this one. How am I ever going to move on from Grey and Kier in book two?!
Thank you so much to Forever publishing for this gifted arc - all thoughts and opinions are my own. I don't like to dive too far when I review arcs as to not risk spoilers but I'm stuck between wanting to scream to everyone about this book and also to keep the details locked down tight lol.
I highly recommend adding this to your Fall reads. This quick little review barely scratches the surface of everything that I loved about this book and it is one of my favorites of the year so far. 2025 is indeed the year of the lady knight and I am so here for it.
*✧: ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧: ･ﾟ:✧*
I'm in a The Knight and the Moth hangover and I think this would heal me
I have checked NetGalley an obscene amount of times waiting for this book to pop up. Literally cannot wait for this one....more
Last Night Was Fun is a cute, fun, low stakes, Summery romcom with some tender moments sprinkled in.
Hidden Identity "pen pals" is one of my favorite Last Night Was Fun is a cute, fun, low stakes, Summery romcom with some tender moments sprinkled in.
Hidden Identity "pen pals" is one of my favorite tropes. (I also use pen pals lightly but I really just mean messages/letters/texts between two parties with unknown identities.) This was such a fun little twist on that trope! Half the time I was sitting here smacking my forehead like c'mon guys, it should be so obvious!!! But the humor and reveal considering that was really fun too.
I think their slow warmth to each other was done well and the romantic bits were precious and swoony! I'm not a fan of the quickness of the 3rd act but it was not a detrimental factor in my rating. I just think it got glazed over very quickly for the intensity of the actions.
✧ Rivals to Lovers ✧ Workplace Setting ✧ Baseball Data Analysts ✧ Women in Stem ✧ Destination Setting ✧ Hidden Identity Pen Pals
But anyway this was really cute! A fun Summer romcom with some small emotional hits throughout as well. It was fast paced, funny, and had tons of romantic moments.
Somehow managed to snag this arc today and I'm so excited to bump this up in my reading queue this month!!*✧: ･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧: ･ﾟ:✧*
Somehow managed to snag this arc today and I'm so excited to bump this up in my reading queue this month!! Thank you so much Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Delacorte Press for the e-arc! ...more