Moving on from Once Upon a Broken Heart, I dove into another anticipated release of 2021; Kerri Maniscalco's Kingdom of the Cursed. I had mixed feelings about the Stalking Jack the Ripper series, but went into Kingdom of the Wicked with an open mind. The only disappointment I had from the first novel was that it was far more YA than NA, when I had wrongly believed it to be NA. Kingdom of the Cursed more than made up for this and absolutely exceeded my expectations. Picking up from where book one left off, Kingdom of the Cursed is an epic story, it makes readers invested in all of the characters and I am desperate to know what happens next. I gave Kingdom of the Cursed a 5 star rating.
My third read of October was yet another release I had been eagerly awaiting. Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine was an enjoyable read, but quite a complicated story. Rogerson's previous novels, An Enchantment of Ravens and Sorcery of Thorns, are favourites of mine and the newest novel Vespertine did not disappoint. I gave Vespertine a 4 star rating. It was very enjoyable but I wish the beginning had been a little longer to give some more information on the world the book is set in.
The next two reads of October were Kathryn Purdie's Bone Grace duology. While I did enjoy the two books, they weren't as enjoyable as I was hoping. I gave each book a 4 star rating. Unfortunately I found that both books had the same problem; the beginning was too long and too drawn out. I was tempted to DNF Bone Crier's Moon, but I'm glad that I stuck with it because the second half of the book was fantastic and the ending left me excited for the sequel. However, the disappointing start the sequel, Bone Crier's Dawn, made finishing the series a bit of a challenge.
Brigid Kemmerer's Defy the Night was a really pleasant surprise. I loved A Curse so Dark and Lonely, but was disappointed by the third book in the trilogy so I wasn't sure what to expect with Defy the Night. I have seen this book on tiktok a lot lately and now having read it I completely understand the hype around it. The story is just so captivating! It's fast paced, has many lovable characters, without being too many that its easy to lose track, and the plot is incredibly interesting. I rated Defy the Night 4 stars. I am excited for the sequel, but I hope I hope does not follow the pattern of A Curse so Dark and Lonely, with the sequel being a disappointment and not up to the standard of the first book.
Jennifer L. Armentrout's From Blood and Ash series has been a recent discovery for me, one that I enjoyed for more than I expected to, so naturally I was excited to read A Shadow in the Ember. I enjoyed this a lot, but not as much as From Blood and Ash. I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for A Shadow in the Ember, and a lot more criticism than From Blood and Ash received. Personally, I thought A Shadow in the Ember was a fantastic read and I will be reading it again. I understand why this has criticism, particularly the criticism that it has a lot of similarities with From Blood and Ash, but I think that may be necessary to the stories. When reading A Shadow in the Ember, I think it's important not to try too hard to link it to From Blood and Ash, and to read it as its own story. I'm excited for the next books in both series and I'm sure that as readers we will get a clearer picture of the link between the books soon and how the characters histories intertwine. I really liked the characters in A Shadow in the Ember, and I think fans of From Blood and Ash are likely to enjoy it. A Shadow in the Ember is not a perfect book, but it is enjoyable. I rated it 5 stars, mostly because of my love for the series it is prequel to, but perhaps a more accurate rating would be 4 stars.
After almost six years of waiting I received my copy of The Silver Tracks, the next book in Cornelia Funke's Mirrorworld series, two weeks early. I can't put into words just how excited I was to read this book and how happy I was to finally have it in my hands! I tried to pace myself with this book, I really did, but I had it finished in two days. Like all of Cornelia Funke's novels, I was hooked from the start and sucked into a story that I really did not want to leave. Being the fourth book in the Mirrorworld series, and having waited so long for it, I wasn't expecting it to be one of the best books in the series, but it is. Every book in this series has been incredible and I am excited for the next book, sadly the final book, in the series. I gave The Silver Tracks a 5 star rating. The Mirrorworld series is a great YA fantasy series that many readers will enjoy.
The final book of the month was my one and only reread this month; Aurora Rising. I made myself a challenge this month to read more books on my tbr than rereads as a majority of my reading for the last few months has been rereads. I was very successful this month with Aurora Rising being my only reread. I love the Aurora Cycle books and I finally have my hands on the final book of the trilogy. The characters in this trilogy are just hilarious and I am very invested in their stories. I will be starting November with a reread of Aurora Burning before moving onto Aurora's end. I rated Aurora Rising 5 stars.
Of the 10 books I read this month the one that I would recommend the most is Once Upon a Broken Heart. The book is a really fun and interesting read and I think that its great for fans of both YA fantasy and YA romance.
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