Homeward for a Spell by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos

 Homeward for a Spell

by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice level: 🌶

Blurb:

In this cozy queer romantic fantasy from the award-winning authors of Homegrown Magic, two members in a motley crew of adventurers must confront monsters, hostile landscapes—and their growing attraction for each other.

Sage has made her living as a ranger, moving constantly between adventuring parties, but has never had the chance to lead one. So when she’s offered the chance to hire a crew of her own in pursuit of a rare magical artifact, it seems a dream come true—until she learns that they’re headed into the most inhospitable part of the kingdom with winter looming. Still, it’s a chance to finally put her name on the map… and how bad could it really be?

Araphi has always loved music, in defiance of her powerful family’s priorities. All she wants is one last chance to perform before she’s married to a man she does not love for the good of the family. So when she sees a poster seeking a bard for a party, she eagerly sneaks away to audition. Only to discover that the party in question is no festival, but an adventuring party, led by a woman she’s been fascinated with since she first laid eyes on her. It’s an unexpected twist, but if she takes the job, she’ll still be back in time for her own wedding… and how bad could it really be?

What follows is a life-altering journey for them both, filled with danger and misfortunes as their ragtag band of adventurers—most of whom have just met—must learn to work together to overcome the many obstacles before them. Not the least of which is the explosive chemistry between the rugged party leader used to watching her own back, and the pampered city-girl bard who may be far out of her element but is beginning to feel at home for the very first time.

My Review:

A sapphic cozy fantasy that has absolutely everything. Adventure, magic, monsters, emotional depth, character growth and two women who are absolutely perfect for each other.

Sage is a ranger who has never led her own party, until a dangerous winter mission to the Northlands finally gives her the chance. She assembles her crew and that crew includes a bard she knows, a bard she wants. Araphi is standing on the edge of an arranged marriage she never agreed to, ready to claim one last adventure led by a woman she cannot stop thinking about. A Ranger, a Bard, an Agent, a Healer, a Fighter and a Spellcaster walk into the Northlands and what follows is an unforgettable journey packed with misfortune, monsters, betrayal, battles, new friendships and chemistry that refuses to be ignored.

Sage slowly lets someone in for the first time and watching her walls come down little by little is such a joy. Araphi steps into her own confidence and learns her worth, using her music to connect with the world in the most beautiful way. Their dynamic is everything. The teasing, the banter, the wolves, the protectiveness, the hot spring, the tent, the ravens, the Swallow, the cabin, Arkney, the battle, the freedom. They wanted different things and fell for each other anyway.

The world is queer-normative in the most effortless and wonderful way and the plot carries real momentum beneath all the warmth and heart. The crew is chaotic and lovable, though their backstories deserved more space to unfold. Wren was an absolute standout and more of her is needed. The only real criticism is that lust occasionally overshadowed emotional depth, but the tender scenes more than made up for it. That scene before the gates is permanently lodged in the heart.

A love story told with warmth, adventure and a whole lot of soul. These two were made for each other and this journey was an absolute pleasure to be on.

The Divines by Rachel Greenlaw

 The Divines

by Rachel Greenlaw

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶

Blurb:

Sophia DeWinter will return so pre-order the sequel to the romantasy full of magic, romance and danger that everyone is reading in 2025, The Ordeals'A rich romantasy ideal for fans of dark academia' The Mirror

'The magic system is captivating, and the ending will leave you yearning for the second book' The Express

'Combines captivating world building, a seriously twisty plot, and a steamy romance… impossible to put down' Demi Winters, author of The Road of Bones

'Deliciously dark with high stakes and a sizzling hot romance, The Ordeals is not to be missed!’ Tessonja Odette, author of A Rivalry of Hearts

Readers ADORE The Ordeals:

'Mysterious, chilling, and utterly addictive' Reader review,*****

'This completely swept me away. The world-building is absolutely stunning' Reader review,*****

'Exciting and unique, quick paced and kept you guessing throughout' Reader review,*****

'I could not put down and devoured in one sitting. I absolutely recommend this book' Reader review,*****

'A quite creepy atmosphere and… Buffy-esque vampire slaying into the mix' Reader review,*****

My Review:

A breathtaking, high stakes conclusion that shatters every expectation and then delivers even more. The Divines picks up weeks after that soul crushing cliffhanger and hits the ground running without ever looking back.

Where The Ordeals gave us delicious rivals to lovers tension and dark academia, The Divines evolves into something far more visceral. This is a story about the staggering power of connection and the lengths people will go to for the ones they love. Sophia's growth here is incredible. Fiercely determined and completely unwavering, she fights for her people, for those she loves and even for the enemy, even when it costs her everything. She is the kind of protagonist that grabs the heart and refuses to let go.

The emotional weight is real and remarkably grounded. Tessa's grief is raw and honest, her found family anchoring her even when the world falls apart around her. Knox remains everyone's steady rock. The dynamic with Ezra is one of the most fascinating threads in the book, forcing Sophia into a genuinely complex journey of healing and reconciliation. And then there is Alden. An absolute ride or die who treats Sophia like she is the only thing that matters. Their bond is the heartbeat of this entire story.

The world expands beautifully, trading academic halls for a wild and unpredictable journey filled with lethal royalty, ancient legends and dangerous new characters that kept the pages turning at speed.

The Divines brings closure to the duology while leaving the door wide open for more and more is absolutely needed because this world is too good to leave behind.

An adrenaline fueled, emotionally rich must read. Releasing October 8, 2026. Pre-order it immediately.

Sunsplitter by S.A. MacLean

 Sunsplitter

by S.A. MacLean

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb:

Fi has toppled immortal beasts. Antal welcomes being conquered.

After helping the Lord Daeyari reclaim his territory, semi-reformed smuggler Fi dons a daunting new role: rebuilding a city alongside her monstrous partner, a haven free from bloody sacrifice. So when Antal’s father unexpectedly summons him home, Fi’s first instinct is to ready her claws.

Only, claws won’t be enough for this adversary.

Antal faces his first homecoming in five decades, dreading two truths. From his father’s seat on the governing council, he could undo everything Antal has built. And their last argument ended with Antal’s lover dead on the floor.

But a greater danger lurks: the appearance of a creature that even the daeyari fear, burning its way through the Planes. With Antal’s father leading the hunt, he and Fi must ally with a team of immortals who could turn fangs on them at any moment.

Or worse, strain their still-fresh love until it snaps.

From the author of Voidwalker comes the conclusion to the Beasts of the Void duology where spicy monster romance meets the epic fantasy of the Cosmere.

My Review:

A highly anticipated read that somehow exceeded every single expectation and then some. Sunsplitter devoured attention from the very first page and absolutely refused to let go until the final one. This book had no right to be this good and yet here we are.

Everything that made Voidwalker so special, the romance, the angst, the witty banter, is turned up to ten here and it is glorious. Fi and Antal return with the same fierce, feisty, deeply tender energy that made this duo so irresistible, but Sunsplitter digs deeper into both of them in the best possible way. Getting Antal's point of view is an absolute gift and it changes everything. His doubts, fears and history get real space to breathe, and watching him open up while still being the most lovable oversized wet cat imaginable is such a joy. Fi takes everything she learned in Voidwalker and grows from it in ways that feel genuinely earned and so deeply admirable. These two characters are just perfection and seeing them evolve even further had the heart absolutely full.

The Daeyari culture gets so much more room to unfold here and it is one of the greatest highlights of the whole book. The world building is breathtaking, the depth of the characters and their connection to it never stops being impressive, and the fact that an entire language was created for this series is simply unhinged in the most wonderful way possible.

The relationship between Fi and Antal remains delectably chaotic and completely addictive. Fierce and soft, swoony and heart pounding, the trials they face together only make them stronger and more compelling to read. There were tears, laughs and gasps throughout and the emotional range this book pulled out was staggering. And the spice somehow managed to be even better than Voidwalker, which should not be mathematically possible but here we are again.

Not a single page felt out of place. The conversations about wanting to be enough for someone even when the fit is not perfect hit so hard and pulled at every single heartstring.

A triumphant and breathtaking finale to the Beasts of the Void duology. Fi and Antal are so near and dear and letting them go is genuinely painful, but this ending was absolutely everything it needed to be and more. The Beasts of the Void duology has earned a very permanent and very special place in the heart. If this series is still sitting on the fence, get off the fence immediately because life is simply better with Fi and Antal in it.

The Anatomy of Magic by Alexis L. Menard

 The Anatomy of Magic

by Alexis L. Menard

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶

Blurb:

Enter a world of forbidden magic . . . where falling in love could be the last mistake you ever make.

Nina Veyr has a dangerous secret—illegal magical abilities she cannot explain. If the city of Valveron’s enforcers found her, she would be executed . . . or worse. For years, Nina has stayed in the shadows, picking pockets and smuggling enchanted relics to get by. Then she steals from the wrong man.

Max Antonin is the most powerful crime boss in the city. Cold, deadly, and breathtakingly attractive, Max has his sights set on Nina, and nothing will stand in his way. But when Nina is framed for a shocking murder, Max offers to help her find the true killers. She knows she can’t trust him—that deals with a devil always come at a cost. But there’s no way she can survive on her own.

As they follow a trail of bodies into the city’s underworld, Nina feels a dangerous attraction pulling her ever closer to him. But can she trust her life and her heart to the city’s most ruthless criminal?

My Review:

Let me tell you where I was at four o'clock this morning. Wide awake, completely incapable of sleeping, because Max was living rent free in my brain and I needed to know how everything was going to snap into place. That is the kind of book this is. The kind that hijacks your sleep schedule without a single apology and somehow you are grateful for every lost minute.

I almost skipped this one through my Allurial subscription, which in retrospect feels genuinely absurd. And then the audio ARC showed up on Netgalley and something in me said yes, without hesitation, and I have never been more glad I listened to that instinct.

The audiobook is extraordinary. Two narrators who kept every character distinct not just by voice but by feeling, pulling you deeper into the story rather than out of it. Get the audiobook. Full stop.

The world building here goes so much deeper than your average romantasy. Magic is outlawed, power is hoarded by the elite, and the people at the bottom are kept deliberately afraid and small. Nina is hiding both her own power and her mother's, doing everything she possibly can to keep them alive and undetected. She is the kind of character who builds safety out of whatever scraps are available and never once asks for applause about it. I loved her completely.

The romance never swallows the plot whole, the magic system is genuinely well constructed, and there is not a single dull moment from the first page to the last.

Pick this one up. You will not sleep either, and it will absolutely be worth it.

Night Witch Audiobook by Jaymin Eve

 Night Witch (Audiobook)

by Jaymin Eve

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb:

Night Witch is the sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller Spellcaster with an intense enemies-to-lovers arc, a steamy heat level, magical creatures, super high stakes, and an epic family saga.

Be careful what you witch for.

Welcome to year two at Weatherstone College…

Last year, after coming face to face with darkness and lethal monsters, Logan Kingston, my sworn enemy and sometimes ally, brought my first year to an explosive ending. There’s a bond between us that I can’t explain, but I just know he’s hiding something. Maybe I don’t fully trust any spellcaster, but there’s no denying my draw to him.

I’m not going to lie, I haven’t felt myself since then, and I’m dreading returning to Weatherstone.

Perfect if you love:
• Sexy Stalking + Dirty Talking
• He Gives Her His Clothes
• Forbidden Romance
• Touch Her & D!e
• Elemental Magic
• Dark Academia
• "Mine"

“A fun, magical enemies to lovers read that you don’t want to miss!”—Jasmine Mas, New York Times bestselling author of Blood of Hercules

My Review: 

I want to start this review by talking about the audiobook experience because it deserves its own moment before we get into anything else. There are narrators who read a book to you, and then there are narrators who inhabit a book so completely that you forget you are listening to a single person and start believing there is an entire cast of people living inside your earbuds. The narrator of Night Witch falls into that second category without any question whatsoever. The performance is nothing short of fabulous. Every character has a distinct and fully realized voice. Every emotional beat lands exactly the way it should. Every moment of tension, every whispered confession, every explosive scene is delivered with such precision and such feeling that I found myself holding my breath at regular intervals just to make absolutely sure I did not miss a single word. If you are on the fence about whether to read or listen to this one, let me make that decision very simple for you. Listen. The narrator takes everything that is already extraordinary about this story and elevates it into something that feels like a full sensory experience. It is that good.

Now let us talk about the book itself because it is equally deserving of every bit of praise I am about to throw at it.

I went into Night Witch thinking I was just going to enjoy it. A nice comfortable read from an author I already love, something to settle into and savor at a reasonable pace. Instead I lost sleep. I lost self control. I lost the ability to put it down or turn it off or do anything even remotely responsible with my time until I had consumed every single page of it. This book did not give me a choice and I respect it enormously for that.

Jaymin Eve is already an auto buy author for me. She has been for a while now and with very good reason. She builds worlds that feel genuinely alive, characters that absolutely refuse to be one dimensional, and romances that somehow manage to be both explosive and deeply tender at the exact same time. Every time I pick up one of her stories I know I am about to be hooked, and Night Witch had its claws in me from the very first pages and never once loosened its grip.

This book moves. From the very beginning it is fast and addictive and overflowing with magic and tension and heat in equal measure. And Paisley and Logan completely surprised me in the best possible way. After the first book I was not expecting the level of softness and devotion that exists between them in this installment, but I absolutely ate every single bit of it up. Logan is firmly in his protect her at all costs era and I want to be very clear that he is unhinged about it in the most wonderful way imaginable. Meanwhile Paisley is a powerhouse of a female main character who never once fades into the background or waits for someone else to carry the story. Their chemistry does not just simmer. It burns. The yearning is so real and so well constructed that it physically affected me, and yes, the spice absolutely and completely delivers on every promise the slow burn makes.

The atmosphere of this book is another thing I cannot stop thinking about. Dark academia layered over witches and warlocks and elemental magic and fated bonds. It feels fresh and immersive and just dangerous enough to make every scene feel like something could go wonderfully wrong at any moment. And the found family element adds a warmth to all of that darkness that makes the emotional stakes feel even richer and more meaningful. Paisley's family in particular hit me right in the heart in ways I was not prepared for.

And now I need to address the pacing because I made the catastrophic and completely worth it mistake of thinking just one more chapter at a time that was already well past any reasonable bedtime. I have no regrets. I would do it again tonight if I could.

What moved me most about this book is the growth. Where there was tension and mistrust and walls built up between these characters before, there is now full and total commitment. Logan and Paisley are all in, emotionally and magically and romantically, and watching that unfold while the narrator brings every layer of it to life in audio form is an experience I genuinely cannot put a price on. Watching Logan soften while still being this intensely powerful and slightly feral person made him even more compelling this time around than he already was, which I did not think was possible.

This is the perfect continuation of Spellcaster and I cannot stress enough that you should read or listen to these books in order. The payoff for doing so is enormous. The stakes are higher, the romance is hotter, and the world feels even more expansive than before. Paisley truly comes into her power in this book, both in her magic and in her bond with Logan, and getting to witness that through both the writing and the narrator's extraordinary performance made it feel like something genuinely special.

By the time I reached the end I just sat there, completely still, thinking about how on earth this book managed to be even better than the first one. And then I thought about starting it all over again.

If you love high chemistry fantasy romance with witches and found family and emotional growth and spice that actually delivers every single thing it promises, Night Witch is absolutely worth every minute of the obsession. Read it. Listen to it. Lose sleep over it. You will not be sorry.

Crown me yours by Liv Zander

 Crown Me Yours

by Liv Zander

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb:

Wed him. Bed him. Slit his throat.

I killed the king.
Crowned myself in his blood,
But the curse still festers.

To break it, I need Death,
On his knees,
A ring on his finger.
My blade at his throat.

The god fights me to the grave,
Evades my touch,
Mocks my wanting.

He would rather tear himself apart,
Than let me close enough to end this.
But I didn't come this far to lose.
I came to crown him mine.

Welcome to your wedding, my love.

Crown Me Yours is a dark fantasy romance novel, and book two in the Heartstring Duet. The two-part story features deception, mystery, more deception, a handsome liar, and the woman who wants to bury him, along with a HUDDTPMYL... Happily Until Death Does Them Part Many Years Later (yes, the author made that up). This world contains dark elements, violence, and themes some may find disturbing. Readers can find more detailed information on www.livzander.com. What this book doesn't contain is a hero - because villains do it better.

My Review:

If you read my review of Crown Me Dead then you already know what Liv Zander is capable of. You already know she writes with a knife behind her back and a smile on her face and that she will absolutely use both of them on you without a single warning. You walked into this second book knowing that trauma was coming because she told you it was coming in every way a writer possibly can without actually saying the words out loud. You prepared yourself. You thought you were ready.

You were not ready. I was not ready. Nobody is ever ready for what Liv Zander does when she decides to truly let loose.

All hell broke loose in this book. That is the only way I know how to describe what happens inside these pages and even that does not fully capture the scale of it. This is not the quiet creeping dread of the first book, the knife you did not see coming until it was already in you. This is something bigger and louder and more devastating than that. This is Liv Zander removing all restraint and just going for it completely, and the result is a book that had me crying harder than I have cried over anything I have read in a very long time.

And here is the thing that I was not expecting at all. The trauma in this book is different. You came in braced for the kind of darkness that Crown Me Dead delivered so masterfully, the deception and the shadows and the web of lies that made your skin crawl in the most wonderful way. And yes, there is darkness here too because this is Liv Zander and darkness is part of her DNA as a writer. But the thing that breaks you open in Crown Me Yours is not the darkness. It is the love. The love is what gets you. The love is what did me completely in.

The way she wrote this story played in my head like watching a love story bloom to life in real time, something luminous and tender and beautiful, something you are rooting for with everything you have even as some quiet and knowing part of you understands that it is going to end in a way that costs you something. You know it. You feel it hovering over every sweet moment and every tender exchange and every page that makes your heart feel full. And you keep going anyway. You keep turning pages and falling deeper into it because the hope of it is just too beautiful to walk away from. That is what Liv Zander does to you. She makes you choose the feeling even when you know what the feeling is going to cost.

Our female main character in this book is someone I fell completely and utterly in love with, and I do not say that lightly. I like to think of myself as a go with the flow kind of person, someone who can adapt and adjust and keep moving when life gets difficult. But this woman puts me to shame. She gets dealt horrible hand after horrible hand after horrible hand and she does not crumble. She does not shut down. She keeps thinking. She keeps outmaneuvering the people around her, outsmarting situations that would have flattened most people entirely, finding ways through darkness that nobody else would have even thought to look for. Her optimism is not naive. It is not the optimism of someone who does not understand what is happening to her. It is the optimism of someone who understands completely and chooses to keep going anyway. That is the rarest and most powerful kind of strength and I was in awe of her on every single page.

I fell in love inside this book too. Not just with the characters and not just with the story, but with the experience of reading it, with the feeling of being so completely inside something that the rest of the world just falls away. That does not happen to me as often as I wish it did, and when it does I want to grab everyone around me and make them understand what they are missing.

I am not going to spoil a single thing because you deserve to come to this book completely open and let it do to you what it did to me. What I will tell you is this. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. Do yourself a favor and read Crown Me Dead first if you have not already, because the payoff of arriving at Crown Me Yours with all of that context is immeasurable. And then do yourself the final and most important favor of having something nearby to cry into because you are absolutely going to need it.

Liv Zander wrote something extraordinary here. Something that lingers. Something that sits in your chest long after the last page and refuses to be quietly filed away and forgotten. This is the kind of book that changes the way you feel about reading for a little while, that raises the bar so high that everything you pick up afterward has to work a little harder to impress you. I am grateful for it and devastated by it in equal measure, which is exactly where the best books always leave you.

Crown me Dead by Liv Zander

 Crown Me Dead 

by Liv Zander

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊⯨

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb:

Wed me. Bed me. Slit my throat.

Born in dirt, raised in rot, I dig graves for the dead, while the living decay around me.

When my brother coughs blood, he appears.

A man too polished for the graveyard, with a bargain too cruel for the light: Seduce the King. Become the Queen. Die. And my brother lives.

Kael is a nightmare of living ruin, the rotting ruler of a festering realm. And Vale is his shadow, the cold architect of my demise.

One man needs my heart to beat. The other plans to stop it forever.

They think I’m a pawn. But I’m the gravedigger's daughter. And I know exactly where to bury them.

Welcome to the funeral.

My Review:

Let me tell you exactly how this book ended up in my hands because I think it is a story worth telling. TikTok got me. I know, I know. But when you start seeing video after video of people absolutely losing their minds over a book, when the content is just an endless parade of readers sitting there with tears streaming down their faces and that specific expression of someone who has just been through something, you start to get curious. And then the curiosity becomes an itch. And then the itch becomes unbearable. And then you pick up Crown Me Dead by Liv Zander because honestly what choice do you even have at that point.

So I read it. And here is my completely honest and possibly controversial take. I liked it. I genuinely, thoroughly liked it. But I was not as overwhelmed as everyone else seemed to be, and I have made my peace with that because sometimes a book hits different people in different ways and that does not make the experience any less valid or any less worthwhile. What I can tell you is that this book is something special, even if it did not reduce me to the same puddle of emotions that it apparently reduced half of BookTok to.

Here is what you need to understand about Liv Zander as an author before you pick up anything she has written. She likes to traumatize her readers. This is not an accident and it is not a side effect. It is a deliberate and masterfully executed part of her craft. And the truly diabolical thing about the way she does it is that she waits until your back is turned. You will not see it coming. You will be reading along, feeling relatively comfortable, thinking you have a handle on where things are going, and then suddenly there is a knife and it is already in you and you did not even hear her approach. Crown Me Dead is no different. The trauma is coming. It is always coming. You just will not know exactly when until it has already arrived.

And yet despite knowing that going in, despite understanding the kind of author Liv Zander is, I was completely and utterly pulled in from the very beginning. There is something about her writing that is simultaneously dark and deeply inviting, like a beautifully decorated room that you know might be dangerous but that you cannot stop yourself from walking into anyway. Something that wraps around you and refuses to let your eyes look anywhere else. I could not look away from this book. I did not want to.

Now let us talk about what this story actually does to you as a reader because it is something else entirely. Crown Me Dead sets you up to fail. That is the only way I can describe it. It hands you two love interests and then immediately makes it impossible to know which one is telling the truth and which one is lying through every single crooked smile and carefully chosen word. And I loved it. I loved every lie. I loved every moment of deception. I loved sitting inside that web of uncertainty not knowing who to trust or where to place my faith or which direction the truth was even coming from.

Both of these men are deceiving. Both of them are compelling. Both of them have that specific quality of a person who is dangerous and magnetic in equal measure, the kind of character whose crooked smile makes you lean in even when every instinct you have is telling you to take a step back. The push and pull of trying to figure out who was genuine and who was performing kept me completely riveted through every single page.