Hello, hello! I hope you’re all having a great week and month so far. It’s time for me to show you my top reads from last month and, after reading 14 books I thought this would be more of a struggle than it was. The majority of the books I read last month I loved, but there were two that really stood out to me. One a dark fantasy by a new to me author, and the other a historical fantasy with a tea based magic system. How many books did you manage last month? And what were your favourite reads? Let me know in the comments.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

One Dark Window

Favourite Quotes!

“I wanted to shout, to break the glass of his control. But I could not find the words. The day had stolen them. And the night had buried them. Weariness was King, and I his servant.”

“Of all the things I pretend at,’ he said, his thumb drawing small, gentle circles along my waist, ‘courting you has proven the easiest.”

“Something drew me to the Captain of the Destriers. Something I had, caught up in our game of pretend, overlooked. Something ancient – born of salt. We were the same, he and I. Gifted with ancient, terrible magic. Woven in secret, hidden in half-truths. We were the darkness in Blunder, the reminder that magic – wild and unfetted – prevailed, no matter how desperately the Rowans tried to stamp it out. We were the thing to be feared. WE were the balance.”

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, “These are the hands that buried my mother.”

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

A Magic Steeped in Poison

Favourite Quotes!

“Grief has a taste, bitter and lingering, but so soft it sometimes disguises itself as sweetness.”

“A peculiar expression crosses his face. “Ning,” he sighs, and a shiver runs through me. “You … you have power. More than you know. More power than those foolish nobles in their grand residences, protected from the hardships of the world. You know what it’s like out there, living each day wondering if you will survive the next. You have hungered.”

“There is a difference between living the suffering and reading about it.”