Tome Thursday: Claimed by the Undead

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to the beautiful beginning of a brand new series on this blog.

 

I say this quite confidently, as I'm reasonably sure that the couple whose story we're covering in this particular book WILL return for SEVERAL more books, not just one or two more, which makes me all giddy and excited!

 

C. L. Carhart is an author I've been following since very randomly picking up Gift of Fire over on Booksirens, and I have to say I haven't been disappointed yet.

 

She writes magnificently well, and as I'm currently slowly making my way through His Name Was Augustin series - with gusto and much enjoyment, taking my time - I can definitely say that each new book seems to get better than the last.

 

So without further ado, let's jump right in, shall we?

 

We're headed to the 19th century with a brilliant witch of light and the undead Black Priest who claims her as his consort, which unleashes a whole host of problems ... in Claimed by the Undead.

 

Tome Thursday: Going Ghost

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to tonight's book of choice.

 

I was honestly going to pick something else - a fanfiction, actually, which I hadn't read in years and forgotten just how GOOD these used to be - but then ended up finishing this book instead, so I figured, why not feature it?

 

It's exactly my kind of thing.

 

It's got a compelling heroine, a cute doggo (you ALWAYS want to read books that have cute pets involved!), a backstory that you want to keep reading about, a murder mystery that just so happens to fall into the heroine's lap, and a ghost running around who's gallant and a gentleman.

 

And oh, someone with green eyes that's NOT a ghost but keeps popping around the town of Salem, Massachusetts.  

I mean, what's not to like, am I right?

So here we go. This is the first in a very new series, and I'm definitely going to be picking up further books, just because. But we're starting with Going Ghost.

Tome Thursday: Magical Gift

 

Hello everyone!

 

And, once again, welcome back to the land of Teutonica!

 

Listen, okay, you cannot be telling me that, if you pick up ANY of C. L. Carhart's books, you won't be hooked. Sure you might occasionally wonder whether a passage might have been written a little bit less rigidly, but those are RARE.

 

Overall, these books are fun to read, they flow nicely, and the characters they introduce usually always slip right into your imagination with no problem at all.

 

Then, to top it all off, they ALL get their happy endings!

 

If that isn't an added blessing then I don't know what is, to be honest.

 

So come along with me as we hop right into another series by the author, set in the same world with the same magical rules, but with different characters testing out slightly different waters.

 

While we're at it, we'll be tying back to the original one and having a whole lot of fun along the way!

 

Ready? Awesome, then let's get right into Magical Gift.

 

Tome Thursday: The Black Bird Oracle

 

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you're ready for a slightly less-detailed ride of this bookish experience, because - and hear me out first - we've been here before.

 

Been here, done that, and got the T-shirts I think!

 

Which isn't to say that I wasn't excited for this particular release, because I SO was.

 

However, as soon as I started digging deeper into the story and every piece started coming together, I slowly realized that it all seemed vaguely familiar.

 

Like I'd been here before, or dreamed of it some other time, and now was just remembering it once again.

 

This is unfortunate, because at the end of the day, I read books NOT to be repetitive, so that I can - and hopefully do - enjoy them as something new.

 

Tonight's choice isn't quite new, but it also isn't really old either, it's just somewhere in the middle ground of it all.

 

We're returning to the world of All Souls in The Black Bird Oracle.

 

Tome Thursday: Scottish Witches Mysteries

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to the weekly blog post in which we take a look at different books or book series that I happen to be enjoying at the time.

 

Or, alternately, occasionally - and this is VERY occasionally - I run into something I don't like as much as I had hoped I would when initially picking something up.

 

Tonight is such a night, aka, the second option.

 

I had such high hopes for the series that I grabbed off BookSirens, like you wouldn't believe.

 

Then the more I read through it, the less I ended up liking it.

 

It's a crying shame really, because all the foundations for a great book series are right there! I don't really know what exactly went wrong, yet here we are.

 

We'll be talking about the Scottish Witches Mysteries, by Felicity Green.

 

Tome Thursday: The Witch of Faymeria Wood

 

Hello everyone!

 

Tonight I bring you something a little different.

 

You know I enjoy a good retelling, don't you? Of course you do, you've seen me gush about it on here plenty of times, and will probably see me do it again in the very near future, not to mention more.

 

Well, it's a retelling tonight.

 

What's better is it's a REVERSE retelling, aka the roles of the fantasy tale were telling are going to be reversed for our reading pleasure.

 

I picked the book up on a whim on BookSirens - you remember, the online service providing free ARCs so you leave reviews on your preferred site of choice for upcoming authors? Yes, that service.

 

Anyway, I picked it up because it sounded intriguing, and I've always wanted a good representation of Sleeping Beauty. I absolutely got it in this one. Hypathia Rae might be an author worth watching now with this debut novel of hers!

 

The Witch of Faymeria Wood, ladies and gentlemen.

 

Tome Thursday: Gift of Water

 

Hello everyone!

And once again, welcome back to the land of Teutonica.

Yes, yes, I’m getting boring I know, but don’t worry – this is the last book of the series I’ll be reviewing for a while, because the next one doesn’t release for a little bit.

Of course once it DOES, there’ll be a review on here, you can bet as much.

But I think that we can leave the witches and their priests to their own devices after this, don’t you?

In any event, it’s time to finally review the one book that’s eluded me because of my laptop troubles, which I read back on summer vacation and didn’t get to up until now.

Not a novella, but none of these are long enough to really cause headaches, so here we go, shall we?

Gift of Water, ladies and gentlemen.

 

Tome Thursday: Gift of Air

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to yet another wandering into the land of Teutonica.

 

I may, at some point, stop writing reviews solely about this series - but I have to admit that they have me hooked, and as it's ongoing, and I'm kind of lagging behind (I'm missing the latest entry in the mainstream books!) I need to catch up.

 

So here we are.

 

Having just recently discovered that the prequel to the ENTIRE series was free on Kobo, you can probably guess what happened.

 

Yep, I grabbed it.

 

Then I read it in one sitting.

 

And here I am now with a review for you guys.

 

Gift of Air is now here.

 

Tome Thursday: Gift of Light

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to the land of Teutonica.

 

Yep, we're back with the witches, appropriate, isn't it, given that we're headed towards the end of October?

 

Although speaking of, WHERE has the time gone??? I really wonder.

 

I swear it was just yesterday when we walked into autumn and now we're already halfway through it, marching straight towards winter.

No clue where the time went. None.

BUT back to the actual point of this blog post, which is that we're taking a look at a prequel novella of sorts for the Elemental Bloodlines series, you know, the one by C. L. Carhart?

The books I've been reviewing on here for a while now?

Well, they're getting an addition tonight, and it's called Gift of Light.

Tome Thursday: Gift of Darkness

 

Hello everyone!

 

I'm back with another fresh installment from the Elemental Bloodlines series, which if you haven't discovered or picked it up yet, you absolutely should.

 

It's been a while since I've last read anything about magic which would cover the elements as well as this one does, though I'll admit it occasionally does leave something to be desired and you might struggle on moments.

 

BUT the important thing?

 

Is that these are fun, heartwarming books with an underlying tension that's slowly starting to come to the fore, and I love it.

 

I also love how even though we're seeing repetitions of certain elements, we also get to see slight differences of them and how people use them.

 

Besides, it's not like we have a ton of said elements to begin with, after all.

 

But enough blathering on my side. Because it's time to dance with the darkness and see if we can come out unscathed. Gift of Darkness will tell us all about it!

 

Tome Thursday: Gift of Stone

 

Hello everyone!

 

I return to the land of Teutonica, if I remember the correct name, or more importantly, to the land of witches in Germany, Austria, potentially Czech Republic and roundabout there in the Central European area.

C.L. Carhart is an author I didn't know before I picked up Gift of Fire a couple of weeks ago, but I'm happy to say that I'm intrigued enough now to wish to continue.

Particularly as I'd still really like to understand some of the rules of this magical world!

More importantly, however, I think that the author just writes really, really well.

I'll talk more about that down at the bottom, the way I would normally do it of course, but the thing is that when you read as much as I do, there's just no chance of NOT running into bad writing every once in a while. That just makes actual good writing something to really hold on to.

But enough of this blabbering nonsense from me.

It's time to check our magic gauges again, in the next book of the series: Gift of Stone.

Tome Thursday: Gift of Fire

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to yet another magical review, and I do mean magical.

 

Because we're going to be talking about witches and wizards in this one.

 

BookSirens just keeps on coming through with the ARCs that you can get off the site, and tonight's book of choice is also one of them, followed by a sequel that I'll equally be reviewing at a later point.

 

However, you have to start at the beginning, am I right?

 

Although technically there's a novella before the main books start, but I didn't know that until I was already well into the two novels, so I'll circle back to it eventually at some point.

 

For right now, suffice to say that we're headed to Germany, there will be talk about the elements, and there will be magic.

 

Among other things.

 

Gift of Fire opens this world up for us and, boy, does it do a good job overall!

 

Tome Thursday: Love's Misbehaving Magic

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome to another year filled with fun (or hopefully fun) book reviews.

 

We're starting off with a conclusion to a trilogy because I finished this one right before New Year's - or right after, I can't quite remember at the moment.

 

In any event, it's a fun sort of short book that easily hooks you and gets you through an afternoon.

 

Besides, that's what we want, isn't it?

 

Happy, go-lucky and fun pieces to entertain ourselves with.

 

It isn't exactly rocket science, but it's definitely amusing.

 

I've read Heather Silvio before and I actually quite enjoy her writing style, so I may be circling back to some of her other works at some point or other.

 

But for the time being, let's check out on the witches, shall we?

 

Love's Misbehaving Magic is up.

 

Tome Thursday: Of Roses and Rituals

 

Hello everyone!

 

We are back in the land of fairy tale retellings.

 

Tonight we have a look at probably my all-time favourite, and it's done very well too on top of everything, which just makes the whole thing better, honestly.

 

BookSirens once again comes in clutch and, yes, at some point I'll probably not review as many ARCs as I do at the moment, but it will not be this day.

 

Yes, I'm quoting Aragorn right now.

 

When all is said and done, BookSirens is an AMAZING online service and I'm honestly so stoked to be a member, it makes things easier for me because I read as much as I do (though to a lesser extent than in previous years, it has to be said).

 

So without further ado, let's jump right into it, shall we?

 

Of Roses and Rituals is calling, and it's a really, really good one!

 

Tome Thursday: Love's Misaligning Magic

 

Hello everyone!

 

This week's book of choice for the review is somewhat different from my regulars because it's, one, very short, and two, somehow the middle book of the grouping which I normally don't do if I can help it.

 

I'm slightly pedantic in that I prefer reading even trilogies that CAN have books in them read as standalones in their proper order, but unfortunately for me I couldn't get my hands on the first book, so needed to start with book two.

 

Not to worry, however, because I have PLANS.

 

I will definitely be reading the first book and then figuring out how it all ends once the third releases!

 

Oh and, where did I get the copy of my book, do you ask?

 

So funny you should ask, really.

 

BookSirens, naturally.

 

I made sure to take a few ARC copies with me to vacation when I took off, and this was one of them, so let's jump right in, shall we?

 

Loves Misaligning Magic, yes please!

 

Tome Thursday: Of Heists and Hexes

 

Hello everyone!

 

This week on our book adventures, we tramp off into Sherwood forest!

 

Yup, you read that one right, we're going to rob from the rich and give to the poor, though maybe not quite in the way you'd be expecting to.

 

See every once in a while I run into some sort of retelling that I actually genuinely like, which means that I'm enjoying myself way too much while reading the book itself.

 

And because a lot of the books come from BookSirens, I can't help it okay!

 

They're all wonderful ARCs and all I have to do in return for reading them is review them.

 

I mean, what kind of awesome system is that, right?!

 

But anyway, I digress.

 

I was talking about heists and Robin Hood. So I suppose we should have a look at the book Of Heists and Hexes, by S. L. Prater.

 

Saturday Snippet: MIKAELSONS REUNITED

 

Okay so I don't watch Legacies but ... MY HEART 😭

 

xx

*video not mine

Saturday Snippet: A Discovery of Witches SEASON 3 TRAILER

 

Pardon me while I disappear into binge-world ...

 

xx

*video not mine

Tome Thursday: A Familiar Fantasy

 

Hello everyone!

 

I come to you with a very special offering today.

 

So as you know if you've been paying attention to this blog, Hermione Moon (aka Serenity Woods) has been writing witchy romances with a hint of mystery for the past year or so.

 

She's also amazing enough to offer a completely stand-alone, unrelated novella to those of you who subscribe to her newsletter, the link to which you can find right here.

 

It's really only a handful of pages long, but quality does not count for quantity where Ms Moon is concerned, let me tell you.

 

This one could very well have been a full length novel for what it tells and teaches us, and I honestly loved it the moment I got my hands on it.

 

It's one of those stories that really stick with you, even if they're short.

 

But that's how it used to work with all the stories our grandmother's told us! And A Familiar Fantasy is basically just that.

Men in Kilts: Witchcraft & Superstition

 

"Ghosts and ghouls."

 

Hello everyone!

 

So we're about halfway through this season of Men in Kilts, and I have to say, you have to be tone deaf not to be enjoying this show immensely.

 

Sam and Graham take us through various aspects of Scotland (and then some!) not to mention the callbacks to Outlander are by far incredibly numerous. And on top of that, the guys are just hysterical most of the time.

 

By this point we've rolled up to what Claire experienced upon her second honeymoon with Frank back in the day, which is that the people of Scotland are as superstitious as they come.

 

Probably more so.

 

Given the fact that three quarters of their lives are spent in the bog and fog, or were at least, I'd say it's a fairly accurate description.

 

Without further ado, let's have a look at Witchcraft & Superstition in Scotland - and don't worry, we aren't getting burned at the stake.