The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
05/07/2022
Length: 368 pages
Genre:
Sci-Fi | Eco Thriller | Romance | LGBTQIA+

CW: n/a

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Lumi is an Earth-born healer whose Mars-born spouse Sol disappears unexpectedly on a work trip. As Lumi begins her quest to find Sol, she delves gradually deeper into Sol’s secrets – and her own.

While recalling her own path to becoming a healer under the guidance of her mysterious teacher Vivian, she discovers an underground environmental group called Stoneturners, which may have something to do with Sol’s disappearance. Lumi’s search takes her from the wealthy colonies of Mars to Earth that has been left a shadow of its former self due to vast environmental destruction. Gradually, she begins to understand that Sol’s fate may have been connected to her own for much longer than she thought.

Part space-age epistolary, part eco-thriller, The Moonday Letters is also a love story between two individuals from very different worlds. 

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The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
28/06/2022
Length: 352 pages
Genre:
Fantasy | Gothic | Horror

CW: animal abuse, domestic abuse, mentions of child abuse, graphic depictions of death

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Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible – and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan – and who will suffer most if she does. But as the ghosts of her past become harder to control, Asher realises she has no choice.

Dark magic, retribution and twisted family secrets combine to weave a bewitching and beautifully written gothic fairy tale.

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Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin

Firstly, a huge thank you to W&N for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: W&N
Publication Date:
14/04/2022
Length: 218 pages
Genre:
Translated Fiction | Korean Fiction | Contemporary Fiction

CW: n/a

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We join San in 1970s rural South Korea, a young girl ostracised from her community. She meets a girl called Namae, and they become friends until one afternoon changes everything. Following a moment of physical intimacy in a minari field, Namae violently rejects San, setting her on a troubling path of quashed desire and isolation.

We next meet San, aged twenty-two, as she starts a job in a flower shop. There, we are introduced to a colourful cast of characters, including the shop’s mute owner, the other florist Su-ae, and the customers that include a sexually aggressive businessman and a photographer, who San develops an obsession for. Throughout, San’s moment with Namae lingers in the back of her mind.

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Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
26/04/2022
Length: 336 pages
Genre:
Fantasy

CW: mentions of sexual assault

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After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra―the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter―has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince―if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.

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Ragged by Christopher Irvin

Firstly, a huge thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Titan Books
Publication Date:
19/04/2022
Length: 288 pages
Genre:
Fiction | Mystery | Gothic

CW: graphic depictions of death and illness

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In a feral twist on crime fiction, Cal, a mutt with a criminal past, must step back into the world of animal violence to avenge the death of his wife and protect his pups from the inherent darkness of nature.

His journey leads him out of the woods and into the dump where he spent his youth, a dump run by Maurice and his ferocious gang of rats, weasels, stoats – murderers all. Cal has to face up to his past to save his children, and protect the woods from the violence on the borders.

Meanwhile the woodland community is fraying at the seams as talk of infection and sickness is spreading like wildfire. Anyone could be rabid, and turn violent at a moment’s notice. And the local trader, that should be bringing much needed supplies to the community has vanished. With a long winter ahead, and their protector, the great brown bear, asleep on the mountainside, can the town stop their own fears destroying them?

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Blog Tour – The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge

Welcome to my stop on The Carnival of Ash blog tour! Huge thanks to TheWriteReads and Rebellion Publishing for giving me the opportunity to take part in this! I was provided a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Publisher: Solaris / Rebellion Publishing
Publication Date:
17/03/2022
Length: 528 pages
Genre:
Literary Fiction | Historical Fantasy

CW: depictions of death, suicide

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Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter.

Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether… 

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