Goodbye, Horrible Fiancé, Hello, Fun Magic School Life! Vol. 1 by Mashimesa Emoto, Akane Nitou (Illustrator)

 

Goodbye, Horrible Fiancé, Hello, Fun Magic School Life! Vol. 1 by Mashimesa Emoto, Akane Nitou (Illustrator)

My Rating: ★★★★★

When Misha von Ritual’s fiancé reveals that he’s been cheating, everything from her previous life in another world comes flooding back to her. Double as mad, Misha makes sure to throw hands before calling off the engagement. Now that she’s not working herself into an early grave to take care of her two timing ex-fiancé, she has a chance to think about what she wants to do with her life. Misha always wanted to go to magic school, and now she finally has a chance to make it happen!

This was such an enjoyable, cute, and light-hearted read. We follow Misha from the moment she realizes that it’s finally time to live for herself. She has a heart of gold and is always happy to help if she can. I loved most of the characters, but Misha’s familiar, Gem, turned out to be my favorite. We don’t know too much about them yet, but I loved seeing them hanging out and working with Misha. Gem has such a great personality that it was hard not to love them!

While this is a light and fun story, I really enjoyed learning about the world Misha lives in. The magic system is pretty interesting so far, and the characters are more complex than they seem on the surface. There’s also a bit of mystery, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I love mystery plots. Plus, the artwork that comes up every so often is so cute. I’m looking forward to checking out the next volume and seeing where the story goes from here!

Fleet of Wonders (Fleet of Wonders Duology #1) by Erin Hànyù Lynch

Fleet of Wonders by Erin Hànyù Lynch

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Eliza’s abusive parents throw her out, she decides that it’s time for her and her best friend to finally get out of the slums. She and Jules just have to pose as foreign nobles and compete in the naval competition with prizes worth the risk of trapping themselves on a ship with their teammates. It’s how they find themselves on the Belladonna where they make enemies, find romance, and quickly discover that this competition doesn’t care who makes it out alive.

We follow Eliza and Jules through their rotating POVs as they work their way toward the front of the competition that asks them to face death at the hands of their rivals. They face racism at every turn in a world inspired by different points in history that you will quickly recognize. This story heavily deals with racism, diaspora, verbal and physical abuse, parental death, and deportation.

I loved Eliza and Jules in this medium paced steampunk historical fantasy. I also found Eliza’s smithy abilities interesting, so I’m interested in learning more about the magic system all together. The challenges were kind of all over the place whenever they were actively solving a riddle or building something, which kept taking me out of the story. Otherwise, it was an excellent read that was often character driven, which I really enjoyed. While I love my fast-paced books, I always really enjoy reading character driven stories. I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes next, especially after that cliffhanger.

Pupposites Attract, Vol. 3 by Hono Natsuna

 

Pupposites Attract, Vol. 3 by Hono Natsuna

My Rating: ★★★★★

When Kiyotaka and Chiharu spend some time at a relaxing and dog friendly bed and breakfast, they manage to make new friends along the way. Is romance in the air, or is that just Kiyotaka and Chiharu starting to fully realize they have feelings for each other? It turns out it’s more than just them because Chako has a longtime crush on Kiyotaka’s brother, and she’s been mistaken as his friend!

I really enjoyed reading this volume. It was cute and fun, but we also got to know Chako and her best doggy bud, Aniki! I really enjoyed learning more about her and how she’s always struggled with making friends. I also liked learning about her relationship with her grandfather and how she and Aniki became so close. While the focus of the volume wasn’t them, I really liked getting to know them better and seeing how they’re going to fit in the story as it continues.

This is such a heartwarming series. It’s really nice to see the series start to really blossom now that we’re three volumes in. If you like slice of life stories with slow burn romances, this will be an excellent series for you. Plus, the artwork is stunning and I love seeing all the dogs! I’m really excited to pick up the next volume and see how all of the characters will continue to develop.

Between the Veil (Between the Veil #1) by Zoe Zeman

Between the Veil by Zoe Zeman

My Rating: ★★★

When Auden lost her parents, she was sentenced to a lifetime of beatings and nightmares for reasons she doesn’t understand. Despite that, she’s managed to build a life with her two closest friends who make life worth living. Everything changes when the blood sucking immortals from another kingdom arrive claiming it’s time to take her back with them. It’s also when she learns she’s trading one prison for another, and that the only true thing she’s ever known is the prophecy that’s haunted her every step of the way.

For some reason, I wasn’t expecting this to be a slow-paced story, but I really enjoyed it. We mainly follow Auden as her life gets turned upside down, but we also get rotating POVs of Everette and Azriel along the way. I really enjoyed following Auden and Azriel, but not really Everette. I found he has next to no personality and I really ended up just disliking him the longer I read. I also wish there was more world building early into the story, which would’ve made it easier to get into the story. I just felt more in the dark than Auden was for the first 10 chapters, and she didn’t even fully learn what was going on until toward the end of the book.

I knew there was going to be a love triangle, but I wasn’t expecting to have absolutely no interest in Everette. He and Auden have no romantic chemistry, and their friendship felt super forced. This becomes even more glaringly obvious when Azriel enters the picture because he has excellent chemistry with everyone, and the romantic chemistry between him and Auden is fire. I just couldn’t take the friendship or romance between Auden and Everette seriously, especially as we got deeper into the story and we learned more about the real reason he was there. We kept being told how close their friendship was when it felt forced, and how in lust the two were with each other when that also felt forced.

Despite my issues with the love triangle and lack of world building, I really did enjoy this. I liked a number of the characters and was interested enough in the premise to keep reading even when the world building was lacking. I’m obviously not a fan of the love triangle, so I’m hoping Auden ends up with Azriel because I honestly don’t see a single reason why she’d choose Everette in the end. I don’t want to say too much about the prophecy or who Auden is, but I think it was worth the wait to get some big answers. I’m hoping the next book is more polished than this one, but I did enjoy reading this debut novel from the author.

The Bone Altar Bride (The Blood Oath Cycle #0.5) by E.C. Gregory

 

The Bone Altar Bride by E.C. Gregory

My Rating: ★★★

I received a copy from BookBaby through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Liora Hale’s name was selected as the next sacrificial bride, she’s numb. It’s a Blood Moon, and if the Unnamed King doesn’t get a new bride, her village will go through a rough year for disobeying the curse. However, Liora knows the truth behind her name coming up, and she’s desperate for answers to questions she’s always been lectured for daring to ask. When it turns out the Unnamed King and the curse are completely different from what she’s been told her whole life, Liora is ready to fight back.

I thought this novella sounded pretty interesting, and the first half had me totally hooked! We follow Liora from the moment she’s about to learn she’s been selected as the latest bride. I think the plot was an interesting concept, and I really did enjoy seeing all the lies unravel. However, I think it would’ve worked better as a full-length book rather than a novella. There just wasn’t enough time to properly build up a romance, so it ended up falling completely flat on that front.

That said, I really did enjoy the first half of the novella. It had a lot of potential and I think it would’ve worked really well as a full-length book or a novella without the romance plot. Unfortunately, I’m on the fence about checking out the first installment when it comes out. By the time I reached the final page, I had forgotten that this is the opening to a series rather than a stand-alone romantasy novella. The story wrapped up pretty well for me, so I’m not feeling particularly drawn to continuing, but we’ll see what happens.

Breaking Up Was the Plan, the Duke Falling For the Villainess Was Not! Vol. 2 by Kotoko, Ataka

Breaking Up Was the Plan, the Duke Falling For the Villainess Was Not! Vol. 2 by Kotoko, Ataka

My Rating: ★★★★

When Grace was reincarnated as the villainess in one of her favorite books, all she wanted was to make sure that Zane and Charlotte got together. What she didn’t plan for was for things to go completely off the rails when she saved Zane’s sister! Now he’s fallen crazy in love with Grace and is refusing to let her break things off. What’s worse is that something is strange about Charlotte, and Count Gardner is putting in his best effort to try to seriously court her. Poor Grace. Nothing is going right!

I almost dropped this book during the first chapter because I was just not vibing with it, but I’m glad I stuck with it! I was fully sucked back into the story by the end of chapter two and ultimately really enjoyed reading this. However, Grace is unnecessarily dense, and some of the things Zane has said and done are quite alarming. Those are my only real complaints about the book.

Otherwise, it’s an enjoyable story. I like several of the characters, and the world building is pretty interesting. Haniwa is my favorite character, and I really want to see what happens as their abilities get stronger alongside Grace. There were some things about a few characters, Charlotte included, that were confirmed for me as well. It’s made me more interested in seeing how one particular plot will unfold, so I’m excited to pick up the next volume.

Cozy Kawaii Christmas: 50 Adorably Festive Coloring Pages by Editors of Cider Mill Press

Cozy Kawaii Christmas: 50 Adorably Festive Coloring Pages by Editors of Cider Mill Press

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Cider Mill Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re looking for the perfect cute and cozy Christmas coloring book, then this may be the book for you! Inside you will find 50 festive coloring pages depicting a range of scenes with adorable animals featured in each scene. The festive pages are on the more detailed side, so this may be a coloring book for middle schoolers and older. I love that the coloring pages are printed on only one side of each page, so I won’t have to choose which page I want to color in and which page will be sacrificed to my alcohol markers bleeding through. All in all, it’s an adorable coloring book!