Hello! April was a really weird reading month for me. I started off absolutely flying through books and then ended the month in a major slump. I had a few DNF’s, and only ended up finishing 7 of the books on my TBR, but out of them there were two that really made an impact on me. One a quirky and adventurous fantasy, filled with a strange bunch of characters, and the second a fantasy set in the early days of Hollywood with an unforgettable MC and a writing style that kept me glued to the pages. What were your April’s like, reading wise? Let me know in the comments!

Nettle and Bone

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.

Favourite Quotes

“She made dramatic plans in the darkness and discarded them in daylight.”

“If we were men… She stayed at her fingers curled in the dirt. It did not matter. They were not and the history of the world was written in women’s wombs and women’s blood and she would never be allowed to chance it.”

“You want a weapon against a Prince. Well, I haven’t got a magic sword or an enchanted arrow or anything nicely portable.’ She leaned back in her chair. ‘So. Your weapon against the prince. That’s me.”

Siren Queen

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli’s world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Favourite Quotes

“Like we understood to make wide circles around the drunks on the streets and how calico cats were the luckiest of all, we understood immortality as a thing for men. Men lived forever in their bodies, in their statues, in the words they guarded jealously and the countries they would never let you claim. The immortality of women was a sideways thing, haphazard and contained in footnotes, as muses or silent helpers.”

“I wasn’t going to be one of those girls who walked in wide-eyed and was surprised to find a wolf waiting in the place where wolves lived. I hadn’t heard anything terrible about Harry Long, but he was a king, and all kings are wolves.”

“Monsters in more ways than one,’ I said, understanding, and Harry nodded. ‘Monsters to others perhaps, but at home we are simply ourselves. Best you learn that early on.”