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Tenderly, I Am Devoured by Lyndall Clipstone: Bacchanalias and Godly Sacrifices in a Desolate Coastal Town
🌊🦢 Tenderly, I am Devoured 🦢🌊 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tenderly, I am Devoured follows Lacrimosa Arriscane, who, upon returning from a prestigious boarding school in disgrace, finds her family’s finance in disarray. Willing to do anything to save them, she makes a deal with a chthonic demon. But when the betrothal isn’t anything like she imagined, and she begins to be pulled from the mortal realm, she has to seek help from her neighbours (and her family’s creditors) the Felimaths. Alastair, the broody and brilliant boy who was Lark’s first heartbreak, and Camille, her oldest friend. Firstly, let me state what seems…
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Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St Clair: A Spicy Feminist Reimagining of Lilith’s Story
📿💋 Terror At The Gates💋📿 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Terror at the Gates is a feminist retelling of Lilith, mother of demons, story within Christian mythology. In traditional lore, Lilith, exiled from the Garden of Eden for disobeying Adam, is depicted as monstrous and seductively wicked, smiting men in a vengeful quest. I absolutely loved the world building in this. It’s set in Eden, in the sin city of Nineveh. The book deals heavily with themes of religion, power, and the patriarchy, and how each of these are intertwined. It was refreshing to see a fantasy that focuses so heavily on religion –…
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Circle of Liars by Kate Francis: A Lord Of The Flies-esque Explosive YA Thriller
⭕️🏨 Circle of Liars 🏨⭕️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ YA thrillers proving again and again why they are one of my favourite genres! Seven teenagers arrive at a remote motel in the Californian desert for a school residential. At first, the dilapidated motel looks like nothing more than a prank, but soon, it spirals into something far more sinister. The seven all have something in common – they’re all guilty. Exactly a year ago, the school gym burnt down and killed two people. Each of the seven had a hand in it, and by the looks of it, someone else knows it too.…
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All the Devils by Catelyn Wilson: Secret Societies, Occult Happenings and Dark Academia
🖤🥀 All the Devils 🥀🖤 ⭐️⭐️.5 This had SO much promise. It’s everything I love in a book – dark academia, secret societies, an integral mystery at the heart of the story. The opening scene is explosive. We see Andromeda ‘Andy’ Emerson, standing over her elder sister Violet’s open coffin, when she notices something amiss. A matching tattoo, one that the two sisters got together, is missing from Violet’s body. Six months later, Andy enrols in the prestigious school that Violet was attending when she died, setting out to avenge her sister’s death or disappearance. She quickly discovers that Violet’s…
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Arcana Academy by Elise Kova: Magical Tarot Cards In A Deadly Academy
♠️♦️ Arcana Academy♦️♠️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In a world with a magic system born out of wielding tarot cards, Arcana Academy is the place where all Arcanists go to learn the ancient art of tarot. Shrouded in mystery, the inner workings of Arcana Academy are not widely known. Arcanists are prohibited to practice magic outside of the academy. Illegal magic is how our protagonist, Clara Graysword, finds herself imprisoned in prison. When the second son of the King comes to offer her a deal, it’s both her way out and yet another death sentence. Come to Arcana Academy as the prince’s bride…
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Nightshade by Autumn Woods: If Maxton Hall Had Murders and Dark Academia
🪻🖋️ Nightshade 🖋️🪻 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was so lucky to take part in BookBreak’s readalong this week, and it’s been so fun to chat with everyone on StoryGraph as we progressed! Nightshade follows Ophelia Winters, a scholarship student who has been accepted into the prestigious Sorrowsong University. Located in the isolated Scottish highlands, it’s where the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful go. Ophelia decidedly doesn’t fit in with the arrogant, entitled lordlings. Instead, she’s at Sorrowsong for one reason – to find her parents’ murderer and bring them to justice. Alex Corbeau-Green is everything Ophelia despises about Sorrowsong…
