Started: 20.2.26
Finished: 27.2.26
Kindle
Chosen by RNG
Strong, stubborn, feisty FMC, dark and mysterious MMC with wings, if that floats your boat. This was a tense enemies to lovers, found family fantasy; at times the pacing was a little slow, but it ramped up towards the end and talk about finishing on a cliffhanger... or should that be a chasm-hanger?
Started: 6.2.26
Finished: 17.2.26
Kindle Unlimited
This was my first foray into 'grimdark fantasy' and I really enjoyed it! There was a great cast of characters, all linked to each other in some way, though it wasn't always immediately obvious how. Each chapter flitted between the storyline of one or more of these characters, and although that can sometimes be a bit confusing and disjointed, the writing was so good that it just flowed really well. The vivid descriptions of people and places made me feel really immersed in the story; everyone is a bit 'morally grey' to some degree, but even some of the really unlikeable characters are actually, kind of, likeable! (Looking at you, Glokta!) There is, of course, a plot to this book, so it's not as if nothing happens, but it does feel like it's all building up to The Plot in books 2 and 3; one of my favourite BookTubers, Paperback Journeys, describes Book 1 as being like a "book-sized prologue", and I would agree. It's an introduction to characters and their backgrounds, it sets up the 'world-building', you learn about the history and politics of the place etc, and then it draws to a close with the main group of protagonists coming together to begin the journey into... book 2!
Started: 21.1.26
Finished: 24.1.26
Paperback
On the whole, really enjoyable, but a bit of a slog at times (699 pages). Pretty much all geared up towards the battle with the King Of Hybern. All the main characters survived, which is good but also a bit too convenient; there were a couple of lesser/side character deaths, some of which were sad, others richly deserved. I'm looking forwards to having a much smaller book to hold in my hands for the next one!
Started: 24.1.26
Finished (skipped): 24.1.26
Paperback
Somewhat surprisingly, I didn't really enjoy this book, to the point that I skipped the second half of it. I'd read up to the end of Chapter 14 but I was finding it a bit boring, if I'm honest. This was more like a novella, and not a lot was happening. I read some reviews, a lot of which likened it to a Hallmark Christmas Special - it mainly revolved around the 'inner circle' buying gifts for each other for the Winter Solstice. There was still tension between Nesta and Cassian (and everyone, really). Feyre opened up an art studio, and Rhysand bought her an estate so that she could build them a bigger house. Mor was preparing to travel to the continent. Everyone was still recovering from the war and learning how to live with the fragile peace that had been achieved. It was really just a bit of a bridging book to the next one, and it made me think that it might be a good place to take a break. I'd intended to go straight into A Court Of Silver Flames, but as there may be a book 6 release in 2026, I think I might pause here and pick up book 5 later in the year. I've enjoyed the first three books, but I think I was starting to get a bit of 'fantasy fatigue' and I feel like I want to read something completely different next.
Started: 18.1.26
Finished: 21.1.26
Paperback
Really good! Feyre had great character development, and I really enjoyed her bond with Rhysand, and the rest of her 'found family'. Apparently it always 'kicks off' in the last 100 pages or so of these books, and that was definitely true for this one, excited to move onto book 3.
Started: 16.1.26
Finished: 18.1.26
Paperback
16.1.26 - I'm going in - wish me luck!
18.1.26 Well, finished the first one, and ordered the rest of the series yesterday from Amazon so can dive straight in to book 2.
I don't think there's anything I can say about this that hasn't already been said. I've tried to avoid spoilers, but I've seen so many reviews on Instagram, for example, that I felt like I had this sense of anticipation all the way through it, like I was always waiting for something to happen. Apparently it gets A LOT better in book 2 (not that this wasn't good) so I feel the same about the rest of the series - there's more to look forward to. I enjoyed this book a lot, but it didn't blow me away, but it seems as though the next ones might?? I don't know, I'm excited to read them. I definitely have questions from this one, like is Tamlin too good to be true? Rhysand seemed like the bad guy for a while, but kind of redeemed himself a bit at the end, and I know there's a lot more to come from him. So yes, book 2 here we come!
Started: 11.1.26
Finished: 12.1.26
Kindle Unlimited
Well this duology was absolutely brilliant! A perilous race against time into the mist-cloaked forest in search of the missing Providence Card. A royal battle between good and evil. A fitting end and a new beginning 500 years in the making. Great well-written characters and a gripping plot. It seemed like Ravyn and Elspeth were meant to be the main romance pairing in the first book, but in this one it was definitely Elm and Ione. Elspeth was there, but her body was kind of overtaken by Nightmare/The Shepherd King for most of it, which was hard to remember sometimes. Happy that this was one of my first forays into fantasy, it was a really good start!
Started: 9.1.26
Finished: 11.1.26
Kindle Unlimited
First book read on my new Kindle Paperwhite!
This really had me gripped! A gothic fantasy involving a deck of cards imbued with magic, a young woman tormented by a nightmare and a group of highwaymen trying to rid their kingdom of a centuries-old curse. Immediately going to start book 2...
Started: 3.1.26
Finished: 4.1.26
Paperback
Hmmm. Hmmm.
I wanted to love this book as much as the first two. But it just seemed to go in a weird direction.
It begins a few months after Luke has died from cancer. (He and Lanore had spent 4 years together, after Adair had let her go). I'm not sure what the point of Luke was really. I know he played a role in her life, but I'm not sure how necessary it was.
Lanny is having nightmares about Jonathan being tortured in the underworld. Yes, she's still obsessed with him, which I found increasingly frustrating.
Although he did redeem himself towards the end of his life, he was never really very good to her, but she couldn't let him go. She decides that she must go to the underworld to rescue him, and the only person who can help her with that is Adair.
He has been living in exile on a mystery island, although when Lanny arrives she finds that he is enjoying the company of two young women. He later confesses to her that he thinks they may be possessed by / reincarnations of two witch sisters who he'd wronged in a previous lifetime. That was a bit random and out of the blue.
Adair is now a changed man, and just as he agrees to help Lanny go to the underworld, she finally realises that she loves him. At last!!
He doesn't need to kill her, he just casts a spell to send her spirit there to look for Jonathan. What feels like just minutes and hours for her, are months passing for Adair while he keeps vigil over her sleeping body. The sections in the underworld also felt like months passing for me, to be honest, it really slowed things down.
At one point, Adair is drugged by the two women (who are the witches, as he suspected) and they throw Lanny's body into the sea. He summons huge waves which wash her back to him, but wash away the two women. So that's that.
He has no way of knowing what is happening to Lanny in the underworld, and realises that the only thing he can do is join her there, which he does.
It transpires that Adair is actually the King Of The Underworld, but he'd escaped and had all his memories erased, and new ones implanted, to allow him to survive in the real world. The Queen is actually his sister; he didn't want to marry her though, because, ew, incest! (Nevermind all the other stuff he's done). In the end, they have to ask The Big Man (God - long white hair, toga style outfit) for permission to be allowed to return to the real world and live as mortals, which he allows. Meanwhile, Jonathan is promoted to Queen Consort / new King Of The Underworld.
The whole underworld section is just where it fell down for me. It turned out that the Queen had sent those nightmares to Lanny, and that actually Jonathan was quite happy and didn't need rescuing, so once again she'd screwed things up chasing after him. I'm glad that she finally realised that she loved Adair, and that it'd kind of been him all along, but when they returned from the underworld, it was practically on THE LAST PAGE! We never got to see them together, properly in love!
Started: 1.1.26
Finished: 3.1.26
Paperback
3.1.26 - I'm 39% of the way through. After being 'buried alive' behind a brick wall for 200 years, Adair has been released (the mansion was being demolished). He goes to the house of Jude, another immortal, who has to teach him about modern life in 2010. Meanwhile, Lanore senses that he's free, and runs away from Luke, to protect him.
Adair at first is filled with murderous rage at Lanore, but as time passes he realises that he is actually in love with her. He doesn't want to kill her, but he's still angry with her for leaving him, and he's scared of what his rage might make him do.
He has used a reincarnation spell to raise the badly decomposed body of Jonathan, with a view to moving his soul into Jonathan's body, in the hope that Lanore will love him.
I wish I had someone to talk to about this book! Adair is, I think, what they call 'morally grey'. He's done some horrific things, but he is capable of remorse, some of the time, and he's also capable of love, albeit quite a possessive love. I don't know how I feel about Lanore though.
3.1.26, later - Just finished! Jonathan brought with him news of the 'Queen Of The Underworld' who Adair was quite afraid of, so he eventually sent him back. He found Lanore, and by then was completely in love with her (although raped her as soon as they met, so, hmmm). He let Luke survive, after removing all memories of Lanny, and then Adair and Lanore moved to a house in the mountains above Lake Garda. After two months of realising that she wasn't going to love him in the way that he wanted her to, he let her go.
Bring on book 3!
tarted: 28.12.25
Finished: 1.1.26
Paperback (large, sprayed edges!)
28.12.25 - This has been on the Want List for a long time, I really hope it lives up to expectations!
1.1.26 First finished book of 2026!
I'm not very familiar with all the new genres that seem to exist these days, but I think this might be described as 'magic realism'. It begins in the present day, where Dr Luke Findley meets Lanore McIlvrae. Lanore originally lived in the early 1800s, but was made immortal. Luke helps her escape the hospital, after she killed her (also immortal) friend and on/off lover Jonathan. As they flee to Canada, and eventually to Paris, Lanny tells Luke all about her past life, and how she was made immortal by an alchemist called Adair. He introduces her to a hedonistic lifestyle involving all kinds of sexual acts, but thankfully it didn't go into too much detail about these.
I think this trilogy might be a good introduction to the fantasy genre for me, easing me into it gently.
Started: 16.2.25
Finished: 10.3.25
Kindle
5 stars
Well, I read the last few chapters with my heart in my mouth, holding my breath, thinking "this can't be happening, can it?"
If book 10 really is the last, this one definitely had a sense of preparing the reader for the end.
Brilliant storytelling, as always, and now that I've finished it, I feel a bit lost.
Started: 13.6.2015
Finished: 24.6.2015
Kindle
5 stars - Top ten!
I first read this book back in 2009, and I wrote at the time (on an old blog) that it hadn't really gripped me, and I only wanted to finish it so that I could read something else. What was wrong with me?!
Second time around, I loved it! Claire Randall is a 20th century nurse who travels back in time through a stone circle to 18th century Scotland, where she is taken in by the Clan Mackenzie, who initially think she is an English spy. Her nursing credentials eventually earn her some respect, but the more senior members of the clan can never fully shake off their suspicion and doubt. Mourning for the husband she has left behind 'in the future', Frank, Claire is shocked to encounter a man who looks just like him; she comes to realise it is Frank's ancestor, Captain Jonathan 'Black Jack' Randall - 'black' refers to the colour of his soul. Captain Randall wants the Clan Mackenzie to hand Claire over to the British Army - the only way to avoid this is if she marries one of them, and with little choice in the matter, she is married to a young man called Jamie, who himself is wanted by Captain Randall, for personal reasons (Black Jack is a sadistic homosexual, it turns out) and also because he is a fugitive from the British Army.
This is a really great novel, with well-rounded characters, most of whom are very likeable. I'm usually happy to read a book and use my imagination to picture the characters, but in this case I'd just watched the first series of Outlander on Amazon Prime. However, I didn't mind that at all, as I thought the series was perfectly cast, and it really helped to picture each character as they were in the series, especially Claire and Jamie.
I was very tempted to read book 2, Dragonfly In Amber, straight away, but I've decided to pace myself and try and read some more of my 'real' books, as opposed to Kindle books first.
