Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell

Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Series: The Shepherd King (#2)

Format: 437 pages, Paperback

Published: October 19, 2023 by Orbit

Fantasy /own

Honestly, it is so refreshing to read a duology. The end. YES.

There was hardly any Elspeth in this book, sad. But yes she was stuck in herself as the Nightmare had taken over her body and mind. And she was also in a prison cell.

Ravyn was trying to hard to save her.

Lots of pagetime for her cousin Ione who is trying to save herself from a prison cell, and gets help from a handsome prince.

And then there is the hunt for the Alder cards.

So I guess this is romantasy, I just saw it under something, and it said the romance drives the plot...eh, no it does not. Elspeth has been taken over by a guy who died 500 years ago, there is no romance there. Her cousin has some romance bit, but she is under a spell and actually feels nothing. So no, the romance does not drive the plot. The romance is there, but the plot drives the plot. Trying to save a kingdom. This is not romantasy.

I liked it, and I liked it more that it was two books and the end! So satisfying finishing something. An interesting fantasy world, great characters and fascinating magic. Great series.

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.

Monday, 4 August 2025

Carole´s Monday: Binding 13

Author: Chloe Walsh

Title: Binding 13

Series: Boys of Tommen #1

Genre: YA Romance, Contemporary, Sports

Format: ebook

Pages: 626

Published: July 18, 2018

Where I got It: Borrowed from library

Summary:

He wants to save her. She wants to hide. She's damaged. He's determined. Fate brought them together. Love binds them. Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with, even plagued with a hidden injury. Everyone knows he's heading straight for the top—but that means there's no room for mistakes or distractions. Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College, the one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. He needs to stay focused, keep his cool, and not let anything get in the way of the bigger picture. Except before he knows it, this lonely girl has become his only picture. Life has never been easy for Shannon Lynch. Bullied and tortured, she arrives at Tommen College mid-way through the school year praying for a fresh start and desperate to shake off the demons that plague her. But when she meets the notorious Johnny Kavanagh on her first day, her plans to keep a low profile are at serious risk. As they fall into a complicated friendship and grapple with their undeniable chemistry, hidden pain and complicated secrets threaten to be their undoing—but Johnny won't give up on Shannon. No matter what it might cost them both.

Review:

This was a picked by a member of my community over on my Twitch account (Carole_Rae).

Here we follow Shannon and Johnny. Shannon has not had the best go of it. She was relentlessly bullied at her school, her dad is terrible, and her mom is working so much. She finally convinces her mom to let her go to the private school just to have a fresh start and reconnect with old friends. Her plan is to keep a low profile and just get through school. However, when she meets Johnny all her plans are destroyed. They fall into a complicated friendship and deny any sort of chemistry. Johnny wants more but he'll take what he can get...for now.

This was really, really, really long. I enjoyed the story for what it was but man....it needed some trimming. Some scenes felt like they were NEVER going to end. Some scenes didn't seem to help the plot move forward at all. Honestly, just shaving 50-100 pages would've helped the story immensely.

Nooooow don't get it twisted...I love a good slow burn. I love watching people deny their feelings and then finally overcome themselves and just be together. It's great! But man the slow burn here sometimes felt like watching paint dry. However, I will say that when I felt like giving up some scenes would happen and I would be hooked again. The author did a good job keeping you reading even with the slowness.

The characters also helped keep my attention. They were sweet kids who deserved happiness. I just wanted them to be in love though. Shannon especially needs solid love man. I can't believe the bullying she witnessed. It was ASSAULT in many cases. Yes, I was bullied in school but MAN.

Nice side characters too. I loved Shannon's one brother. He was an angel.

All-in-all, I did like the story and characters. But the length was too much. It really killed some of the story for me. I think a nice edit was needed. Maybe 50 or 100 pages could've been shaved off. The flow would get so slowed down that I felt like we were wadding in a puddle. I'll give this 3 stars overall. The characters and some scenes really did help me stay attached to the story.

Favorite Character(s): Shannon and Johnny

Least Favorite Character(s): Too many people to count. So many mean people

Challenge(s):

- Library Love #21

Saturday, 2 August 2025

Sleep no more by Seanan McGuire

Series: October Daye (#17), October Daye Chronological Order (#17)

Format: 419 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published: August 6, 2024 by DAW

Urban fantasy/own

I binged it in a day.

Titania remade Faerie into what she think should have happened. And now Toby is a content little changeling living with her mum and dad and sister that she is bound to serve. Nooooo.

And changelings have it shitty, and Titania obviously has plans because she hates Toby. And she does not have Tybalt either. The worst thing is that Toby is happy in this world because it has been drilled into her to obey.

But you can not hold Toby down and things are starting to unravel.

Great book. It brought something new

October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family’s tower, serving as August’s companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October’s Faerie. Everything is perfect.

Everything is a lie.

October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania’s ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen’s magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania’s paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world.

But first she’ll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby’s own life is at stake.