Review: Love is a Rogue by Lenora Bell

This fun historical romance is my first read from Lenora Bell, but it won’t be my last!

TBR Spotlight: A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher

This week the random number generator has reminded me of a book I really need to get around to: #266, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking.

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.

But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

I’m a huge fan of T Kingfisher’s fairy tale and fantasy work. The way she plays with the well-worn tropes, mixes humour and darkness, and creates genre-savvy, practical characters, just really appeals to me. I preordered the ebook of this, but I’m now at the point where “saving for a rainy day” has pretty much turned into “don’t know when I’m going to get to”, so I need to move this up the TBR stat. I know it’s going to be great.

Is this on your TBR, or have you read it? I’d love to know what you thought!

Review: Jane Austen Investigates: The Abbey Mystery and The Burglar’s Ball

I’ve read the first two books in this fab new middle grade mystery series close together, so this will be a combined review!

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Kitten Corner: New Animal Fun!

I missed last week’s Kitten Corner so here’s a round up of some lovely books we’ve been reading recently, which all turned out to be animal themed! All of these books were sent to me free of charge by the publishers, but all opinions are my own.

Flip Flap Zoo by Axel Scheffler, from Nosy Crow

This zany mix-and-match book is great fun! It’s a little bit advanced for my one-year-old, but the adults in the family have been having a great time mixing up the top and bottom halves of animals to create weird and wonderful creatures. We particularly like the sloose (part sloth, part moose)! Each half of the animal is drawn to line up with all the possible bottom halves, and vice versa, creating a really entertaining set of pictures in Scheffler’s unique style, and there’s a four line poem accompanying each half, which makes for some funny reading both in their correct and unusual formations. It’s hard to read this one straight through, but hilarious to dip into and out of.

Review: How Not to Chaperon a Lady

I’m always a sucker for childhood friends-to-lovers in historical romance, and Virginia Heath’s new book has a lot of fun with the trope!

Review: Adam-2 by Alastair Chisholm

I really enjoyed Alastair Chisholm’s debut sci-fi, Orion Lost (review here), so I was thrilled to get a chance to review Adam-2!

TBR Spotlight: Swashbuckling Cats, edited by Rhonda Parrish

The random number generator today picked a book I think is going to be a lot of fun: #260, Swashbuckling Cats, an anthology edited by Rhonda Parrish!

If you think cats and water don’t mix, think again.

Plunge into worlds of piratical cats: on ships, in space, and beyond the veil.

Fourteen “tails” of adventure-loving cats, puns, and fun, featuring: Beth Cato; Krista D. Ball; Rebecca Brae; Grace Bridges; Lizz Donnelly; Megan Fennell; Chadwick Ginther; Joseph Halden; Blake Liddell; Frances Pauli; JB Riley; Rose Strickman; Leslie Van Zwol; and SG Wong.

Doesn’t this just sound brilliant? I think you know from the title itself if this collection of piratical cat stories is going to be your cup of tea or not, and I can say that it definitely seems like it’s mine! This was a birthday gift this year from the fabulous Moon and I’m saving it for a day when I need something silly, fun, and cheering. Pirate cats – what could be better!

Is this on your TBR, or have you read it? I’d love to know what you think!

Review: The Jasmine Throne

The Jasmine Throne has been on everyone’s radar this year, I think, but for me, I think it was one of those books where the hype worked against it…

Review: Museum Kittens – The Treasure Map by Holly Webb

The latest instalment in the Museum Kittens series is just as full of adventure, history, and adorable cats as I’ve come to expect!

TBR Spotlight: The Broken God by Gareth Hanrahan

Quite a recent pick from the random number generator today: #317, The Broken God by Gareth Hanrahan!

Enter a city of dragons and darkness.

The Godswar has come to Guerdon, dividing the city between three occupying powers. While the fragile Armistice holds back the gods, other forces seek to extend their influence. The criminal dragons of the Ghierdana ally with the surviving thieves – including Spar Idgeson, once heir to the Brotherhood of Thieves, now transformed into the living stone of the New City.

Meanwhile, far across the sea, Spar’s friend Carillon Thay travels towards the legendary land of Khebesh, but she, too, becomes enmeshed in the schemes of the Ghierdana – and in her own past. Can she find what she wants when even the gods seek vengeance against her?

If this book is anything like its predecessors, it’s going to be amazing – and one I will really need to pay attention to. On the plus side, the author has a recap of the first two books on his website, so I won’t need to reread, but even so, there’s just so much going on in this world that I really want to read this when I can give it my whole brain. Books one and two were epic, weird, and enthralling (read my review of The Gutter Prayer here) and I’m excited to return to Guerdon and have my mind messed with again.

Have you read this series? I’d love to know what you thought!