Monday, December 30, 2024

Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of 2025

I can't believe the year is almost over! I don't feel like I have accomplished much here since starting this blog over the summer, but I hope that next year will bring great things! I have been brainstorming recipes, crafts, and other ideas to bring to the blog other than just book reviews. Unfortunately, these plans have been detailed for the time being due to an unexpected loss in my family, but I plan to at least continue writing reviews.

Despite what has been going on, I did want to put together a most anticipated list for 2025. Reading is one of my escapes and I have needed it more than ever as of late. So without further ado, here are 25 of the most anticipated books of 2025!


A Language of Dragons by S. F. Williamson

A Language of Dragons by S. F. Williamson
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Genres: YA Fantasy

Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons. London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war. With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die. At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realizes that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?



Breath of Dragon by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee
Series: Breathmarked, #1
Release Date:
 January 7, 2025
Genres: YA Fantasy

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Earth to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s honor—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother. But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. There is no future in honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place. As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself.



Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Retelling

“What the gods did not give us, I would take.” As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia. Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for. But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.



Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons. London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war. With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die. At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realizes that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?



Motheater by Linda H. Codega

Motheater by Linda H. Codega
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, LGBT

In this nuanced queer fantasy set amid the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, the last witch of the Ridge must choose sides in a clash between industry and nature. After her best friend dies in a coal mine, Benethea “Bennie” Mattox sacrifices her job, her relationship, and her reputation to uncover what’s killing miners on Kire Mountain. When she finds a half-drowned white woman in a dirty mine slough, Bennie takes her in because it’s right—but also because she hopes this odd, magnetic stranger can lead her to the proof she needs. Instead, she brings more questions. The woman called Motheater can’t remember her true name, or how she ended up inside the mountain. She knows only that she’s a witch of Appalachia, bound to tor and holler, possum and snake, with power in her hands and Scripture on her tongue. But the mystery of her fate, her doomed quest to keep industry off Kire Mountain, and the promises she bent and broke have followed her a century and half into the future. And now, the choices Motheater and Bennie make together could change the face of the town itself.



Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Series: The Empyrean, #3
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun; and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves - her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming... and not everyone can survive its wrath.



Grave Empire by Richard Swan

Grave Empire by Richard Swan
Series: The Great Salience, #1
Release Date: February 4th, 2025
Genres: Epic Fantasy, Horror

Blood once turned the wheels of empire. Now it is money. A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await. But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse. Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days—the Great Silence. It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save...



Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling

Birdie’s keeping it together, of course she is. So she's a little hungover sometimes on her shifts, and she has to bring her daughter Emaleen to work while she waits tables at an Alaskan roadside lodge, but it's a tough town to be a single mother, and Emaleen never goes hungry. Arthur Neilsen is a soft-spoken recluse, with scars across his face, who brings Emaleen back to safety when she gets lost in the woods one day. He speaks with a strange cadence, appears in town only at the change of seasons, and is avoided by most people. But to Birdie he represents everything she’s ever longed for. He lives in a cabin in the mountains on the far side of the Wolverine River and tells Birdie about the caribou, marmots and wild sheep that share his untamed world. She falls in love with him and the land he knows so well. Against the warnings of those who care about her, Birdie moves to his isolated cabin. She and her daughter are alone with Arthur in a vast wilderness, hundreds of miles from roads, telephones, electricity, or outside contact, but Birdie believes she has come prepared. She can start a fire and cook on a wood stove. She has her rifle and fishing rod. But soon Birdie realizes she is not prepared for what lies ahead.



Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
Series: Emily Wilde, #3
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Genres: Fantasy

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen. Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell's long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures. Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell's murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell's magic-and Emily's knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.



Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli

Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli
Series: The Crimson Moth, #2
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Genres: YA Fantasy, Romance 

A WITCH... Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish. A WITCH HUNTER... Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters. AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE... When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.



The Amber Owl by Juliet Marillier

The Amber Owl by Juliet Marillier
Series: Heartwood, #1
Release Date: February 25, 2025
Genres: Fantasy

Stasya lives in an isolated farming village on the edge of the mysterious Heartwood Forest with her unusual dog for company. Thought odd by the locals, she is tolerated for her rare gift with animals. Engaging with her fellow humans is difficult, with one goatherd Lukas, who shares her love of storytelling. The peace of Heartwood is shattered when a group of soldiers descends, under orders from the Ruler of the Northlands. Their to hack a path through the forest and find the fabled treasure said to lie deep within. Under the grueling decree, Stasya’s village falls into chaos. The task is clearly impossible. The forest is alive with bears and wolves, and the old tales speak of evil spirits, monsters and uncanny beings. Nobody has ever gone deep into Heartwood Forest and returned safe and well. When Stasya raises her voice in protest she is removed from her beloved home and transported to court – a different world. Word of her special skills has reached the Ruler’s ears, and Lady Elisabeta has a job for her. But Stasya will not break her vow to protect the forest, even under the most appalling threat. Help comes from an unlikely quarter. Secrets abound; dangers lie everywhere; and it is hard to tell friend from foe. As Stasya and her band of unlikely allies embark on a perilous mission, it becomes apparent that uncanny forces may indeed be involved. Maybe the old tales of the Hermit are true.



Oathbound by Tracy Deonn

Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
Series: Legendborn, #3
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Genres: YA Fantasy, Romance, Retelling

Severed from the Legendborn. Oathbound to a monster. Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe. But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé. Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war with their Round Table fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick is detained by the Order’s Merlins, he invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to convene at the Northern Keep and grant him an audience. No one knows what he will demand of them...or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table. As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.



Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall
Series: Sisters of Light and Shadow, #1
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

In the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope Petridi and her two sisters carefully guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practice memories. The more powerful the magic, the greater the memory required. Luckily, all Calliope wants to do is forget. Forget the mother who left them without a trace. Forget the cracks in her relationships with her judgmental oldest sister, Thalia, and her distant middle sister, Eurydice. Forget about the very cost of her magic. And most of all, forget the way the love of her life shattered her heart two years ago. But when an ancient evil awakens in their town, the fragile thread that holds the sisters together breaks. As their magic slowly begins to fade, Calliope accidentally binds herself to an annoyingly handsome leader of a rival coven infamous for their ruthless pursuit of power. Battling a sizzling chemistry to a man she can't trust, Calliope needs to confront her sisters and the painful memories of her past, dark family secrets, and ancient magic in order to keep the town and all she loves safe. But will she have anything left of herself?



Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner

Faithbreaker by Hannah Kaner
Series: Fallen Gods, #3
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, LGBT

War has come. The fire god Hseth is leading an unstoppable army south, consuming everything in her path. Middren’s only hope of survival is to unify allies and old foes against a common enemy. Elo navigates an uneasy alliance with Arren; his friend, his enemy, and his king. Now they each must decide how much they're willing to sacrifice to turn the tides of war. Meanwhile, Inara joins her mother on their ship, the Silverswift, to seek aid. Still grappling with her powers, Inara must reconcile who she is and where she belongs, while Skediceth has to question if their bond will be enough to keep them safe. Kissen has no allegiance to the old ways of Middren. But, as she tries to find her family, she is forced to question what, and whose, future she is fighting for.



Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Genres: Fantasy

Where there’s a will, there’s a war. Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne. Or at least, so they like to think. Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud. Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around. Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she'd been his favorite all along. On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?



Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, LGBT

You have no idea what I’ve done for love. Just as you have no idea what you may one day do. Once long ago, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost. Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bided her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates. Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of the malichora—an ancient race that survives on human blood —must travel to the Island of the Dead when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. Along with Najja, a fierce, beautiful seer, and the last person she expected to help her, Leyla forges down a dangerous path, intent on saving her friend. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear. Set in the aftermath of a war between vampires, humans, and the gods that created them, Patrice Caldwell’s devastatingly romantic fantasy debut, Where Shadows Meet, centers the heart-wrenching pain of loss and the struggle of self-discovery to ask: do we choose our fates, or do our fates choose us?



A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen

A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
Series: Saga of the Unfated, #2
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

The secret of her divine heritage revealed, Freya finds herself on a path that will see thousands of lives lost to the magic in her blood. Desperate to avoid this dark fate, she risks an alliance with Skaland’s greatest enemy to seek answers from the seer who foretold her future—the same seer who sent Bjorn to kill her. While Freya still seethes with rage over Bjorn’s betrayal, the blood oaths that bind her demand that she keep him close as she hunts for a way to avert the looming war. Her magic draws her to the front lines of an old enmity, embroiling her with Nordeland’s Unfated—children of the gods who serve the king she was raised to fear. The same king who, unlike Bjorn, is now willing to fight at her back. For despite the desire that burns hot between Bjorn and Freya, his growing distrust of her chosen path threatens to drag them further apart. As war approaches, gods and mortals must choose their weapons. Yet the fiercest battle will be the one Freya wages within herself. With the magic of two goddesses burning in her veins, she must weave the threads of destiny to decide her own fate: Will she be the shield that protects her people or the curse that destroys them?



The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Series: The Stonewater Kingdom, #1
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.



Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by Victoria E. Schwab

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by Victoria E. Schwab
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Genres: Fantasy. LGBT

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532. London, 1837. Boston, 2019. Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots. One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth.









A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Release Date: July 15, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps her aunt run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power… Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and might just know how to unlock the spell’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing. Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone...and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.



The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
Release Date: July 15, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home. But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again. This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love. Funny, kind, and forgiving, The Enchanted Greenhouse is a story about giving second chances—to others and to yourself.



Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling

Healer Anja knows little of politics but much of poisons. When she is summoned to treat the mysterious illness afflicting the king’s daughter, she finds herself against the clock, desperate to track down the source of the poison killing Princess Snow. But the chance discovery of a strange alternate world inside a magic mirror leads Anja to darker discoveries, including what really happened to Snow’s dead sister, Rose, and why their mother seemingly went mad and cut out her heart. Aided by a taciturn bodyguard, a narcissistic cat, and a late Renaissance understanding of the scientific method, Anja must navigate the mysteries of the mirror world before the dark queen that dwells within rises to threaten them all.

 


Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams…. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion. With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like. But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.



The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker

The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker
Series: The Moonfall Series, #2
Release Date: October 7, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Romance

Raeve and Kaan will return in the highly anticipated sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling phenomenon, When The Moon Hatched. Prepare for more danger, magic, romance and dragons!








Hazelthorn by CG Drews

Hazelthorn by CG Drews
Release Date: October 28, 2025
Genres: YA Fantasy, LGBT

Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow: He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron's charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie. That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him. But when Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family's vast wealth. There’s just one caveat: He must choose a new guardian from amongst Laurie's scheming, backstabbing relatives to help manage the estate until he turns eighteen. Except Evander's sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next. Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.


I don't know about you, but this year has some great books on the horizon. While I am super excited for most of these on the list, I want to begin tackling Bradon Sanderson's Cosmere and that is going to take some time.

Are there any books you are particularly interested in reading in 2025? What books are you most anticipating? Leave a comment below to join in the conversation!

Monday, December 23, 2024

Where Magic Begins by Faith Prince | Book Review

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Where Magic Begins by Faith Prince | Book Review

Where Magic Begins by Faith Prince
Series: The Crowe Sisters #1
Published by Faith Prince on July 7, 2023
Genres: YA Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 215
Format: Kindle
Source: Author
Content Warnings: Blood, Bullying, Bigotry
Rating:

Half human, half witch. Hated by both sides, Zoeli doesn't trust anyone, least of all her backstabbing twin sister Saria. Zoeli's family used to reign over the supernatural realm. When Zoeli's mother, Alaina Crowe, broke magical law to marry a human, their family was torn apart, and the Crowes were removed from the throne. Someone's still angry that the Crowes were dethroned. Someone who's been watching, plotting, and biding their time... As Zoeli uncovers more secrets, deceptions and lies surrounding the royal families, she discovers that a handsome sorcerer, Damian, has been following her. He claims that he only means to protect her, but can she trust him? In a world where nothing is what it seems and danger lurks around every corner, Zoeli's running out of time. A supernatural force more powerful than she ever imagined is coming after the Crowe sisters. If Zoeli can’t make amends with Saria, she’ll face the battle of her lifetime—alone.

I received my very first opportunity to review a book via an author and I couldn't be more excited! Where Magic Begins tells the story of half-witch twin sisters Saria and Zoeli as they wrestle with high school drama, family upsets, and being thrust into the world of magic. While both girls are aware of magic and the magical world from which their mother hails, nothing could prepare them for the realization that some witches can shapeshift, others have turned into vampires, and others still are trying to kill them.

Where Magic Begins hits the ground running and doesn't slow down, even at the very end. Despite being 215 pages, the story felt much shorter as a result of the pacing. I actually didn't mind this at all, and much prefer it when books feel shorter than they actually are. There is nothing worse than a book dragging needlessly for what feels like an eternity. However, because of the fast pacing, the author fails to explain some details that would better immerse the reader into the story. There is almost an assumption that the reader is already familiar with the girls and the world in which they exist, but obviously, we only know what the author has told us.

Furthermore, the love interests are rushed, leaving me feeling like they weren't appropriately fleshed out or relatable. This made it hard to connect to the characters and care about what happened to them. However, it's on par with how teenagers behave. They are quick to love, quick to break up, and quick to forgive and forget. As such, take this criticism whatever way you like, but I felt it could have taken its time in some areas and slowed down a bit as to better connect to the story, love interests, and the girls.

Despite these minor issues, the world-building was excellent and the magic system was unique. I don't want to give away too many details, but there is a separate magical realm with its own school, cities, and ruling class that was fully fledged out, as best you can in 215 pages. Furthermore, the magic system is based on colors, much like a flame. Of course one of our sisters is incredibly powerful, almost chosen one-like, but without training, are unable to do much with it other than basic stuff.

What I liked best, however, was the commentary on bigotry. Saria and Zoeli's mother married a human, an offense punishable by exile and the removal of some magical abilities. Being half witches, the girls are the target of bigotry and hatred, being made to feel unintelligent, unworthy, and otherwise less than. This is a recurring theme throughout the book, and Zoeli does an amazing job fighting back against the hatred. At one point, the crown prince and Zoeli's love interest expresses that exceptions will be made for her and her family so they can be together. Zoeli stands firm that giving her and her family special treatment while continuing to oppress humans and other half-witches is still bigotry and until everyone is welcome, she wants nothing to do with him and his half-promises. This commentary on racism, sexism, and otherwise oppressing marginalized groups was my favorite part of the book and I felt Prince did an excellent job integrating it into the story.

Overall, I enjoyed Where Magic Begins and will likely read the second in the duology simply to find out what happens to the girls. The book ends on a significant cliffhanger and while this wasn't the best book I have ever read, I am invested enough to find out what happens next!


Tuesday, December 10, 2024

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski | Book Review

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski | Book Review

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski
Published by Atria Books on October 1, 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 335
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Content Warnings: Parent Loss, Death, Grief
Rating:

Ever since the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that rest in the swirls of ginger, cloves, and cardamon that lie at the bottom of their customers’ cups. Their days at the teashop are filled with talk of butterflies and good fortune intertwined with the sound of cinnamon shortbread being snapped by laced fingers. That is, until the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her powers, and the sisters suddenly find themselves being pulled in different directions. As Anne’s magic begins to develop beyond that of her sisters’, Beatrix’s writing attracts the attention of a publisher, and Violet is enchanted by the song of the circus—and perhaps a mischievous trapeze artist threatening to sweep her off her feet—it seems a family curse that threatens to separate the sisters is taking effect. With dwindling time to rewrite their future and help three other witches challenge their own destinies, the Quigleys set out to bargain with Fate. But in focusing so closely on saving each other, will they lose sight of themselves?

I have mixed feelings about The Crescent Moon Tearoom. On one hand, the magic system was fantastic, the main characters were lovable, and the twist was intriguing, but the story fell flat for various reasons.

The Crescent Moon Tearoom follows triplet witches Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley who run a tea-leaf reading tearoom in Chicago at some point in the past. Its unclear exactly when this book takes place. There are references to the train station in town being new and the outfits worn by the customers, but otherwise, we are left largely in the dark as to when this story takes place. The first major train station was built in Chicago around 1850 while Chicago Union Station opened in 1925. Women-owned tearooms, on the other hand, became popular in America in the 1920s and were a turning point for women across America, as women could both own, operate, and visit a tearoom without a male chaperone. They were often located in a woman's home or garden, which is exactly where the three sisters run their tearoom. The attire of the women customers, the use of sequins on circus attire, the new train station, and the rise of the tearoom suggest this story takes place sometime in the mid- to late-1920s. I mention this because context is important. There are events that occur in this book that may or may not fit historically, and while this is a fantasy, these details are still important. For example, Beatrix is offered a book tour (this really isn't a spoiler in any way), which would have been highly unlikely for a woman during the 1920s, no matter how good of a writer she is. The circus also stays in town for months, which is highly unlikely as visitation would quickly stagnate. Needless to say, these minor historical inaccuracies bothered me and pulled me out of the story instead of immersing me, and interrupted otherwise pivotal moments for the characters.

On top of this, the plot was an overall mess. The triplets are supposedly cursed to separate, something their mother worked hard to prevent. To break the curse and prevent their tearoom from closing, the sisters must do everything they can to remain together, all while solving the mysterious purpose of three aging witches. Failure to find each witch's purpose will result in the Council seizing their tearoom, thus forcing the sisters to separate, a fate that is described as earth-shattering for the sisters after the loss of both of their parents. You'd think solving these mysteries and breaking the curse would be the main focus on the story, but it isn't. For three sisters who want nothing more than to stay together, they spend the majority of the book apart. There is almost no look into their lives together or just how inseparable the three are supposed to be. The reader is given hints at how things are used but not a definitive look into it in real time, making the stakes of separating low. I honestly didn't care if they separated or not. Even the twist couldn't completely rectify my complete lack of connection to their crisis and their supposed unbreakable bond of sisterhood. 

While doing their own things, two of the sisters "fall in love." I put this in quotes because the love is largely unexplored. There is very little description of either love interest apart from their profession, leaving me feeling disconnected from the relationships altogether, especially that of Beatrix. To add to this, Beatrix's power feels almost...manipulative, which made me feel icky. Can her love be real if she is manipulating the people around her with her stories? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Finally, there were some editing issues I greatly detested, errors that pulled me out of the story and left me angry. That or the Quigleys don't listen when people are talking to them. On more than one occasion, a subject is breached, and the very next page its treated as a 'surprise.' For example, the first time the Council visits to ask the sisters for their assistance (a threat, really), they mention that three witches have not completed their Task, or life purpose. Failure to complete your Task will result in the witches turning into ghosts and disruptions in the natural world. The very next page, one of the sisters asks how many witches they have to uncover the Task for, and, again, are told three. The girls are shocked. Like what...you were literally told not a moment before there were three?! The same issue occurs a couple of chapters later when Beatrix meets with a publisher for the first time who tells her that if it weren't for his assistant reading her short story and passing it to him, he'd have never discovered her amazing talent. On the very next page, Beatrix is shocked that the assistant has read her work. Again...what?! You were literally just told he read your work! Ugh! Can you tell I am still upset about this?

Now that I have sufficiently described my issues with The Crescent Moon Tearoom why did it give it 3 stars? Despite the issues outlined above, I did enjoy the characters, the tearoom, the house, and the twist. The Quigleys live in an enchanted house that helps with tasks in the home and tearoom, takes care of the sisters, and otherwise is heavily involved in all that the family does. I absolutely loved the house and honestly wish we had gotten more than we did. Because of the house, the book felt very cozy, especially when coupled with otherwise low-stakes (largely because I couldn't connect to the urgency, and neither could the Quigleys.)

Without giving too much away, the twist was beautiful and the ending brought a tear to my eye.  There is the potential for another book to continue the sisters' stories, but it closed in such a way that everything was wrapped neatly in a bow. To add to this, the magic system was beautifully portrayed, and the tea-leaf reading was largely accurate. I can tell Sivinski did her homework. 

Finally, Anne reminded me a lot of myself, a woman who shirks herself to not outpace the ones she loves. I, too, have been a victim of my own thoughts and purposely held myself back to avoid making others feel bad. Watching Anne break free from this restraint and grow into her power was liberating, not just for her, but for me as well. Anne is a reminder that "older" sisters and women in general are not responsible for making sure others feel comfortable.

While I found several issues with the book that prevented me from giving it a 4 or a 5, others have loved the story and characters enough to rate it higher. I encourage you to give this cozy fantasy a read, especially during these chillier months when we could all use a heart-warming story.