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💬Do you have a favorite type of romantasy book? What about a favorite vampire romance story? 😁 #bookstagram #readersofbookstagram #tetheredbyelaynargallea #vampireromancebooks #bookreview Weekend re-read is finished! It’s so satisfying putting a completed read on the shelf. 😁 I will be writing out my full review for my blog soon as well. 💬 How was your weekend? #bookstagram #readerofbookstagram #currentlyreading #vampireromancebooks #weekendreading Having a cozy weekend re-read with the trad release of “Tethered” by Elayna R. Gallea. I had gotten the indie version right before the trad was announced so it’s the one book I have multiple hard copies of! The art and sprayed edges are gorgeous though. And who doesn’t love reading vampire romance in October?? #readersofbookstagram #bookstagram #vampireromancebooks #currentlyreading #tetheredbyelaynargallea Book Review: “From Crimson Ashes” by V. S. Klare I literally just OPENED this book and I was already looking at the imaginary “The Office” camera like 😮😈 #agameofcatandwitch #spicybookstagram #monsterromancebooks #bookstagram #readersofbookstagram Book Review: “Moth to a Flame” by Ava Thorne Book Review: “Legends & Lattes” Book Review: “Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey Toshi and Ahsoka are doing what I want to do right now in this rainy weather. 😴

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  • Book Review: “Tethered” by Elayna R. Gallea

    Book Review: “Tethered” by Elayna R. Gallea

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

    Genre: Romantasy

    Length: 407

    Format Read: Hardcover Trad Release

    Published: September 8, 2026

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    We start “Tethered” by meeting Luna, our main female character, as she is getting ready for her arranged wedding to the vampire prince, Sebastian. Everything starts very quickly and Luna is (understandably) afraid for her life in her new surroundings with the vampire royalty.

    Their wedding goes as planned, but they find out that they have been magically tethered together and cannot get more than 30 feet from one another or else they feel immense pain. As well as being physically stuck in the same location, Sebastian and Luna don’t necessarily get along right off the bat. They have some disagreements and misunderstandings as they get to know one another in their forced proximity situation.

    I enjoyed this story quite a bit. Sebastian and Luna are a cute couple together and they learn to love each other despite the differences that they encounter in one another. They have a few struggles in this journey, but they learn to trust one another in the process. This first book ends on a cliff hanger, but I expect these two will continue towards a happily ever after in the end.

    Potential spoilers below:

    I felt like Luna and Sebastian’s story was disconnected from the other characters and the world as a whole — part of this is explained that they don’t want others to find out about the tether since that would be an exposed weakness of the vampire royalty.

    Most of the book takes place in Sebastian’s room and he frequently passes messages to guards and servants in the hallway before rejoining Luna in his room. And it’s not because this book is especially spicy. Sebastian and Luna stay mostly separated, with Sebastian either sleeping on the floor while Luna is ill, or they have a pillow wall between them.

    This release of the book has one spicy scene that wasn’t in the indie release. Even with this scene, I felt that the characters are isolated and written almost like younger characters; this makes sense for Luna in her early 20’s, but Sebastian is over 300 years old at this point.

    Overall, this is a cute vampire romance story that takes place in a fantasy world. I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re looking to get into reading romantasy or fantasy romance and the genre is new to you. I think new readers will find this to be a good entry point because it is an easy read and a short read, while still being the first in a series. But also keep in mind, the trad releases of the rest of the series haven’t been released yet; the series shows that the indie releases complete the series, but they are not as spicy as the new trad releases are noted to be on the author’s website. The author’s website shows that the indie versions of the book are “upper YA” while the trad releases will be “adult and open-door”.

  • Book Review: “From Crimson Ashes” by V. S. Klare

    Book Review: “From Crimson Ashes” by V. S. Klare

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: YA Fantasy

    Length: 307 pages

    Format Read: E-Advanced Reader Copy

    Release Date: Late-October 2026

    V. S. Klare reached out to me on Instagram and asked if I would be interested in an e-ARC copy of their book and I accepted the opportunity to be an early reader of the first book in this series.

    The series is marked as a YA Fantasy. It felt like it had elements of Sci-fi as well, with multiple references to the otherworldly night skies with visible planets and the way the magic system seems to run. This story is a very good start and introduction to these characters and this world. I hope that the series continues to dive into the world building and the characters’ motivations because there is great potential there as well.

    The YA genre label on this story is appropriate as it is a coming-of-age story with all these young characters, even with them having to grow up very quickly in this rough fantasy world with monsters. They have the support of one another in their struggles though, and I think YA readers will be able to relate to some of the issues they face in the course of the story.

    Overall, I think this can grow into a good YA fantasy series. I give it 3 stars because I am not a usual reader of YA, but I enjoy dark fantasy and I think it has lots of good fantastical elements and a good story.

    ***As an aside, I personally am against the use of generative AI in bookish / creative spaces. I am unclear on the author’s use or stance on generative AI use for visuals. This does not mean they used AI for the cover and social media visuals of their book, I do not know whether they did or did not.***

  • Book Review: “Moth to a Flame” by Ava Thorne

    Book Review: “Moth to a Flame” by Ava Thorne

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

    Genre: Paranormal Romance

    Length: 169 😏 pages

    Published: October 1, 2026

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    I picked this one up at random when I saw a post on Instagram by the author Ava Thorne @avathorne_author that showed “I love lamp” and I had to check it out. I was not disappointed — the “Moth to a Flame” novella is one of the cutest little spicy paranormal romance books I’ve read this year and it’s perfect for this spooky time of year.

    We meet the main character Lucia, who is a witch that lives in Pumpkin Hollow and she is working a spell to end a curse on herself. And then a part-mothman delivery driver named Hawk shows up, messing up the spell, and getting him and Lucia caught in the kickback of the messed up spell. Now they have to fix it — together.

    They have many days together trying to fix the broken spell and the previous curse. In the process and hijinks that they encounter, they end up falling for each other. The scenes and scenarios between them are adorable as well as sexy and spicy. It’s a short novella, so it doesn’t take too long to get spicy, but it makes sense for the plot and the structure of the story, so I didn’t mind the immediate burn of their romance. I’m also a sucker for stories involving any kind of forced proximity and any awkwardness that the characters have to endure because of it.

    Hawk is such a surprise little cinnamon roll, sweetheart as well, and I just want to hug him. I had seen some of the promos mentioning him being “a good boy” and it surprised me just how much I loved the character and his sweet, submissiveness.

    Overall, it is cute, short, spicy, and a perfect read for the Halloween season for all the monster and shifter romance fans.

  • Book Review: “Legends & Lattes”

    Book Review: “Legends & Lattes”

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: Cozy Fantasy

    Length: 296 Pages

    Format Read: Library ebook

    Published Year: 2022

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    I picked “Legends & Lattes” out at my local public library’s ebook listings when I needed a calmer fantasy to read. It was mentioned by Chase or @write_old_friend on Instagram and his recommendation made it sound like the perfect read for the stress I was experiencing. It was what I needed for the most part, as it was still a bit more adventurous and had more fighting than I expected. The coziness of the life that the main character, an orc named Viv sets out and achieves for herself is the millennial dream.

    When we meet Viv, she lives a hustling, busy life with lots of travel and she fights as a mercenary. She decides that she doesn’t want to stay in that lifestyle and business, so she goes to a new city, buys a property, and builds a coffee shop to start her new small, cozy life and run the shop. As I said, the millennial dream: to retire and run your own small business.

    Along the way, Viv meets additional people who help run and continue to grow her business and it is the perfect little cozy community. She runs into some difficulties, which is where I had not expected for the story to have as much conflict as it did since I was expecting all cozy, warmhearted, Hallmark-movie-esque feelings. As far as the fantasy genre goes, it is relatively calm and cozy all the way through. There is a romance side plot as well, which I enjoyed, but I also wanted more of that relationship growth to show. It wasn’t as emotionally connecting as I prefer romance subplots to be.

    Overall, it is a cute, encouraging little story about starting over in more ways than one, finding your people, and building the life and community that you want to live in.

  • Book Review: “Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey

    Book Review: “Arrows of the Queen” by Mercedes Lackey

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: Epic Fantasy

    Length: 284 pages

    Format Read: Library ebook

    Published Year: 1987

    Screenshot of “Arrows of the Queen” book cover with excerpt: “When Talia ‘found’ one of the legendary Companions, she took the first step along the magical pathway to her destiny.”

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    I did not expect to love this little book as much as I did. I read the first book in the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey called “The Arrows of the Queen” and I enjoyed this fantasy very much. It has very strong themes of Found Family and anti-patriarchy and love for friends and coming-of-age for a book from 1987.

    The story follows Talia, a 13 year old girl who lives in a “Holdhouse” with her immediate family, including all of her father’s wives. The adults tell her that she’ll be married off almost immediately to any of the possible men, all the way from someone “young” to one of the older men to be one of his “underwives”. She (I say, understandably) does not want this, declares she wants to be a Herald, and runs into the woods. She’s found by a Heralds’ Companion, which looks like a horse but is a type of Familiar. The Companion takes her to the Heralds’ school where she learns about her gifts, herself, and how to trust others.

    I loved the themes in this story, from self-love and acceptance, found family, trusting friends, and coming-of-age. The coming-of-age elements were very well done. I did feel at times that the characters acted a bit too emotionally mature for their declared ages, but the story does explain that Heralds are different from most people in this respect due to their magic and their bonds with their Companions. Otherwise, Talia’s encounters with friendships and bullying throughout the story are relatable for a coming-of-age. The little romantic elements are also cute and well done, I felt.

    I deeply felt a lot of the things that came from Talia’s point of view. I was taken back mentally to my own preteen years and I almost cried at the hollow feeling that echoed when Talia thought “How can I trust these strangers to care about how I feel if my own blood family doesn’t care about how I feel?” It hit me right in the feels as a person that was told repeatedly as a child to “stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about.” It gave words to my experience that I didn’t realize was still a wound for me.

    By the end, she grows significantly; the story covers a few years’ time period, even though it is a relatively short book. She learns about herself and her gifts and her newfound family helps her along in this journey, and I thought this was also a very nice part of the story; she’s a Chosen one in a special role, but she’s not alone in her journey and her found family helps her in every step of the way.

  • Book Review: ‘Dragon Blind’ by Dr Iman Christians

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Genre: Fantasy Romance/Romantasy

    Length: 411 pages

    Format Read: Paperback

    Published: 2025

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    ‘Dragon Blind’ by DR Iman is a beautiful story. One of the things I absolutely loved about this story was the main character’s independence. The main character Asha has become blind later in childhood, but that doesn’t drive her into a narrative of helplessness throughout the story for the situations she’s in. I love that about her. She also is not continually saved by the male main character in every event in the story, which I found to be well done. The prologue set that particular mood for this story rather quickly; from page one, in fact.

    The main male character Adriel is well done. He has emotions and leans more progressive than Asha’s family, but he has understandable shortcomings there as well; the overall culture wants to make decisions for Asha so Adriel’s driven in that direction, too. Fortunately, he really doesn’t get to “save” Asha every time; she mostly helps herself by way of her bond with dragons. In particular, Drakkar.

    If you like sassy dragons, you will love Drakkar. Drakkar is an excellent, sassy, helpful dragon friend that any woman would like to have by her side.

    I only had issue with one inconsistency; at the beginning, Adriel tells Asha that his kingdom takes care of and empowers individuals who have conditions such as blindness, but when she actually visits his kingdom, we don’t really find that to be the case. She is able to find books in the language she can read, but it is still very limited along with overall accessibility around the castle. I couldn’t tell if this was a story inconsistency or a way to show that the existing king was not as good as he should be, or even to show that Adriel was not as aware as he could be. If that is the case, my personal opinion would be that he can grow to improve in his awareness.

    Overall: 4 stars because this is a beautiful fantasy journey and story with wonderful characters and emotional depth. 2 spicy peppers in my opinion because there is a detailed open-door scene.

  • Book Review: ‘To Light a Candle’ by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

    Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

    Genre: Fantasy

    Length: 856 pages

    Format: Library Borrowed Ebook

    Published: 2004

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    I am thoroughly enjoying the ‘Obsidian Trilogy’ so far. ‘To Light a Candle‘ marks the second entry into the series and the story continues to deliver nostalgic, epic fantasy vibes. We have a chosen one and all his friends. We have legendary creatures appearing. We have fantastical creature bonds and magic. And a little bit of a side character romantic sub-plot that the main character wishes would stop. (It is between his sister and his new friend after all.)

    Continuing with Kellen’s adventure, he is continuing to grow into a strong knight-mage and his training has helped him to progress further in that endeavor. Some of his growth in this book feels slightly rushed but it is also explained that the Wild Magic fuels a lot of his knight-mage “powers” that he has developed. While this is an okay explanation, it sometimes still feels as if the events happened for no reason and he’s just instantly amazing at all of the fighting and sword skills that he tries.

    He isn’t quite a “Gary Stu” however; the plot doesn’t always lend itself to his instant-success — he does cause battles to go awry and he causes the armies to have heavy losses at times because his knight-mage “battle sight” fails him in actually predicting disasters accurately and helpfully. Sometimes, it only shows him that disaster is coming when it is right upon all of them. Other times, he is able to save the elf armies from losses. It wasn’t always clear when this was a narrative choice that made sense so it felt arbitrary at times. Otherwise, I love this series.

    The atmosphere is incredible. I love the pacing and the world-building. The elves are this interesting race of people with their traditions and their manners that make sense for being long-lived people, but they still have a cozy acceptance for the differences of others that also makes sense for everything they have seen and know about humans and other races like the centaurs.

    Kellen is hilarious towards the end of the story when he and Cilarnen have to pair up. He becomes like an incredibly petty older brother to Cilarnen even though Cilarnen is older than Kellen. It makes sense for the narrative with the history between the two of them at the beginning of ‘The Outstretched Shadow.’ The experience that we see through Cilarnen’s eyes also further validates the growth that we see Kellen undergoing, which is part of why I don’t feel that he was completely written as a “Gary Stu” type of character. Kellen has undergone growth that becomes more apparent when Cilarnen sees him and how far Kellen has departed from the boy he was when he left the city Armatheleah.

    Overall, 5 🌟 for the story, atmosphere, world-building, and humor between the characters. I am looking forward to reading the next and final book of the trilogy: ‘When Darkness Falls.’

  • Book Review: “Daindreth’s Assassin” by Elisabeth Wheatley

    Stars: 4.5 out of 5

    Genre: Fantasy Romance

    Book Length: 276 pages

    Format Read: Paperback

    Published: 2021

    This book was highly enjoyable. I loved the slower pace and the enemies-to-lovers trope of the story. As this book also doesn’t contain sex scenes, the yearning is written excellently. To be fair, I would say the enemies-to-lovers trope is primarily at play at the beginning; they feel more like a friends-to-lovers couple as the story progresses. Friends-to-lovers is my favorite between the two tropes, so I was happy.

    The story’s pacing feels cozy until the action scenes begin; once we’re in a fight, the pace picks up appropriately, and the scene plays out in my mind clearly based on the description. This is perfect because I find I hate when a book’s action picks up too quickly and makes me go back to read like “wait, wait, WAIT, where are we? What happened??” I stayed immersed in this book from beginning to end.

    I enjoy Elisabeth’s writing as well because it clearly conveys the story and characters’ feelings, and it doesn’t have the shock factor written into it that some of the most popular authors lean on. The book is written for an adult audience, but without an abundance of cursing or crude jokes and comments. These things are in the writing, but not forced in for the sake of it; these moments fit the overall story or emotion for the moment.

    My Favorite Moments

    **Spoilers Ahead**

    Amira’s (second time) meeting Daindreth on pages 41-44, and specifically when he kissed her hand in greeting. Her sassing Thadred was also wonderful. I, too, choke to death all the time.

    Daindreth asking King Hyle for Amira’s hand in marriage on pages 48-50 was a top favorite moment. I felt just as confused as the rest of the room with the court.

    That moment is quickly followed by the fight between Amira’s stepmother and herself. The anger was palpable and satisfying. Queen Hyle never stood a chance. This results in what any good MMC does.

    Page 71 is one of the first moments that I really liked Daindreth. He betrays everyone’s feelings on this later, but he tries here and other times in the story.

    The meeting between Amira and the Empress sets the perfect tone for their whole relationship in the book.

    The whole of chapter 9. It’s an entire favorite.

    Page 141 – “Who did this?” Gets me every time.

    The kiss on page 176 and the resulting conversation with his possessiveness and yearning showing on 177-178 – gah! I have no words for how good it is.

    Chapter 17 made me mad in the best way. The betrayal.

    Finally, on page 233, my eyes couldn’t open any wider, and I might have cheered aloud. “The chokehold broke like a cut rope.”

  • Favorite Books I read in 2025

    In 2025, specifically starting in August, I got started on a whole reading kick. From August to the end of December, I ended up reading about 75 books. Today, I will share the ones that I read during that time that were my favorites. Some of them are considerably older than being released in 2025, so they weren’t released at that time, but I read them in 2025.

    A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

    You may be tired of hearing about this book (or not), but this was the first book that started me on the reading kick and romantasy/fantasy romance genre in August 2025. I read it completely on August 16 in one sitting! The very next day, I had to get the next book in the series from my local Barnes & Noble.

    Many fans of the series say that this is their least favorite of the ACOTAR series, but I enjoyed this book so much because of everything that it lays out for the subsequent books. The author writes so many little sentences that don’t seem to foreshadow anything at the time, but then it comes back later, sometimes even 2 books later!

    I ended up loving all 5 books of this series that are currently out, but because the first one got me started on this whole new world of books and it was the first domino that led to 75 books being read, it has a special place in my heart.

    When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

    This book destroyed me in the best way. The whole world that is presented in this story is so beautiful, and the writing is so poetic that I fell in love with this story and these characters. I am completely emotionally invested in their story.

    Without spoiling anything, the story does get bittersweet towards the end, but it is such a sweeping romance as well that I read it while my heart ached alongside these lovely characters.

    The next book in the series is coming out in May 2026, and I had to preorder it because of my absolute need to hear how their story progresses. As I said, I am completely emotionally invested.

    Tears of the Wolf by Elisabeth Wheatley

    This was my first step into proper fantasy romance genre books, as well as my first step into independently published books. I was not disappointed.

    Elisabeth’s writing is slower paced than what I began to expect from more “romantasy” type books, but it was refreshing in that way. The story itself doesn’t come across as slow; it feels more cozy until the action portions begin. I fell in love with these characters because this story was more “friends-to-lovers” than any of the previous stories I read above that are more of the “enemies-to-lovers” trope, so while I do enjoy a good “enemies-to-lovers”, I found that “friends-to-lovers” is preferable to me.

    I hope to continue reading and writing more reviews on the individual books that I have been reading; it’s just been difficult getting myself out of reading-mode and into writing-mode!

  • Daily Writing Prompt 8.15.25

    Daily writing prompt
    How do you plan your goals?
    View all responses

    “How do you plan your goals?”

    I use Ryder Carrol’s Bullet Journal method everyday. I have a Bullet Journal edition LT1917 journal and I follow the method from Ryder’s book where I start each day by writing the date and I fill in the events for the day, and then I write the to do’s for the day. As I go through my day, I will write notes and thoughts or more to do’s that pop into my mind. I use the typical signifiers of different things like an open bullet point for an event, a closed bullet point for a to do, etc. At the end of the day, I will mark the things that I have completed and migrate the things that I should do the next day. My bullet journal also has long form journaling that I will start with a note bullet (-) and it has stickers and pictures of my family.