Hey there, everyone! I hope everyone had a bountiful November! Anyway, yes, I know I gave myself one of those outrageous goals again. I don’t even remember how many books I wanted to read anymore. Did I read them all? Of course not; let’s not make me laugh. However, I was able to read ten books this month, which is more than I thought!

Anyway, how did everyone else do this past month? Meet any personal goals?

Rabbit & Juliet

I liked this book, although because of the title, I did go into it with different expectations, even with the synopsis. I liked the way the story progressed and dealt with grief and the different forms of grief. And Juliet—she was, I don’t want to say unhinged—because she had a motive and she wasn’t wrong. I liked the message of it, and the pacing was really well done.

Seriously, skip this book. It’s bad.

City of Spells

I’m so glad I finally got around to reading this novel. Overall, I loved the pacing and the magic system here. I think the unique magic system is my favorite part. I also like how it reminds me of Six of Crows while retaining its uniqueness. These are morally grey characters with their own found family, and it’s done brilliantly how they come up on top and pretty much are the heroes.

City of the Rats

The third novel in the Deltora Quest series. Once again, this series aged so well. I love that my son is so into it at 5 years old and I love it so much myself even after all these years.

The Lies We Conjure

You had me at Knives Out. I love the Knives Out franchise and anything even remotely similar to Clue and this was like that but with witches! You’ve got two sisters who were hired to impersonate her granddaughters for a prestigious event. An event in which the host drops dead in front of them! Now they are trapped, pretending to be witches, helping to solve the murder before they’re found out, or worse, killed!

I loved the dual POV between Ruby and Auden and how the romance builds between them. Honestly, so well done!

It was a fast-paced novel that was so well done.

The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King

I knew this book was going to take me a while—only because I’ve got two kids and spare “me time.” But you know what? It was so worth it. Broadbent’s writing style is amazing. I love her pacing, characterization, and spicy scenes because they are done tactfully and tastefully.

But I also love the way the story has more depth to the characterization. We get more insight into Vincent and Raihn’s backstory. I loved this book so much I can’t wait to continue this series. Now, I need to read everything Broadbent has read.

Don’t Let the Forest In

Wow, talk about wow. Barnes and Noble knocked it out of the park this month by selecting this book as the YA pick. We had such a fantastic discussion at my store in Fort Lauderdale because this book was everything. It has LGBTQ reo, and more importantly, it has an asexual rep, which I love. It deals with anxiety and mental illness, abusive families, and toxic relationships, not to mention addressing bullying. It was so well done and executed brilliantly, and honestly, that gothic, haunting, dark academic setting was icing on the cake.

Gentlest of Wild Things

I love a good Greek mythology retelling, and this was undoubtedly one of those.

I loved the sapphic element of the story. While some elements were predictable, the story did not go in the direction I thought! I love when a story just takes off in a way that still makes sense but also pulls me in deeper into the story. It was so well done, and the characterization was amazing. Lamia and Eirene were amazing.

Cursed

Marissa Meyer is still the queen of fairytale retellings. I loved this book almost as much as the first novel. I think it was well executed and Serilda came into herself in this novel. She grew so much, and even though a huge chunk of it was bittersweet, it just was so well done! I mean, I can’t explain it better than that because every plot twist caught me off guard, and I didn’t see just where the story was going. This book kept me on my toes and made my jaw drop repeatedly. And that ending, oh, it just made my heart warm.

Down World

I really wish I had read Yesterworld before I read this one. I still liked it, but I was expecting more, especially regarding Kieren and Marina.

Brady seemed to be the star romance pick here, even though Kieren was there creating this weird love triangle; I spoiled myself by reading book two first because I was expecting some great love story between Kieren and Marina. At the very least, I was expecting more than what we got. But at least this makes the whole Brady situation make more sense.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the novel. I loved the parallel world element here and the deep dive into the parallel worlds. The pacing was amazing and the way the story unfolded kept me on my toes.

Reign Returned

This was a gift from the publisher so thank you to the publisher for gifting me this novel.

I have to say I liked the way the story unfolded, but there was a huge chunk in the middle that dragged. It was tough, honestly, forcing myself to get through the novel. The end was exciting, and I love the animal companion element of the story. It was fun, had a unique magic system, and I did like the characters. It’s just the pacing for a large chunk of it that dragged.

Don’t forget to follow Cyn’s Workshop on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads | LinkedIn to stay tuned for more like this.

Become a Supporter