Happy Saturday, book lovers! We’re halfway through yet another month (can you believe?!) but that means it’s time to announce the ✨April 2025 LTB Topics!✨
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Let’s Talk Bookish: Writing & Posting Book Reviews
✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.
This week’s topic is:
Writing & Posting Book Reviews
Suggested by: Laurie @ Laurie is Reading
Prompts: Writing book reviews is a huge part of running a book blog. Do book reviews make up a big part of your blog content? Do you prefer to write long or short reviews? How does reviewing advance copies (ARCs) and working directly with authors and publishers change your approach to writing the reviews? Do you post on platforms other than your blog (i.e. Goodreads, The Storygraph, social media) and do those reviews differ from what you share on your blog?
ARC Mini-Review: The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow
Special thanks to Amazon Original Stories for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
The Knight and the Butcherbird
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Pub Date: 11 March 2025
Genre: Adult Dystopian Fantasy
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow weaves a dystopian fairy tale that follows the town storyteller as she struggles to protect a local demon from the knight hired to kill it.
In this gritty, haunting tale about doing whatever it takes for love, a small-town storyteller resolves to keep the local monster—and her own secrets—safe from a legendary knight.
Nestled deep in the steep hills, valleys, and surrounding woodlands lies Iron Hollow, a rural community beset by demons. Such horrors are common in the outlands, where most folks die young, if they don’t turn into monsters first. But what’s causing these transformations?
No one has the answer, not even the town’s oral historian, seventeen-year-old Shrike. And when a legendary knight is summoned to hunt down the latest beast to haunt their woods, Shrike has more reason than most to be concerned. Because that demon was her wife. And while Shrike is certain that May still recognizes her—that May is still human, somewhere beneath it all—she can’t prove it.
Determined to keep May safe, Shrike stalks the knight and his demon-hunting hawk through the recesses of the forest. But as they creep through toxic creeks and overgrown kudzu, Shrike realizes the knight has a secret of his own. And he’ll do anything to protect it.
I am not at all surprised that I ended up loving The Knight and the Butcherbird. Being more familiar with Harrow’s work by now, I knew that she would throw in some twisty elements that, when they click, they click hard and she managed to do it again with this short story. This is an unconventional love story set in a dystopian future where the results of climate change, environmental degradation, illness, corruption, and war have warped the world as we know it and turned it into a bleak and disease-ridden reality. Even in this future reality, the ugly side of human nature prevails against the weak majority. It was almost terrifying how easy it was to picture this future because of the state of our world and I think that made this an even more impactful read for me.
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#WWWWednesday: 12 March 2025
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
- What did you read last?
- What are you currently reading?
- What will you read next?
#TopTenTuesday: Excellent & Engaging “E”
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is: Books that Include/Feature [insert your favorite theme or plot device here] (for example: unreliable narrators, coming of age, darkness vs. light, time travel, metafiction, a specific romantic trope, good vs. evil. cliffhangers, flashbacks, plot twists, red herrings, loose ends, stories within stories, meet cutes, symbolism, etc.) (submitted by Alice @ The Wallflower Digest) but—surprise, surprise—I’m going rogue… Again! 🫣
Blog Tour Review + Book Look: A Song for You and I by K. O’Neill
Hi friends, I’m back for another blog tour today! I’m excited to share my thoughts and a ‘book look’ as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours for A Song for You and I by K. O’Neill.
Thanks to Random House Graphic for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
A Song for You and I
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Publication Date: 4 March 2025
Genre: MG/YA Fantasy Graphic Novel
Rep: Non-Binary, Trans, LGBT+
Rating:
(4 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
Being a ranger means adventure, action, and protecting the weak. But who protects the ranger when they lose their way? From the bestselling author of The Moth Keeper and the Tea Dragon Society comes a must read MG graphic novel for fans of soft sweeping fantasy romances. Rowan knows exactly what they to be a ranger, protecting their village alongside their trusted flying horse Kes. But when Rowan’s eagerness to show off their worth gets Kes injured, Rowan is suddenly unsure if they’re capable of being the protector they’ve always dreamed of becoming. With Kes needing to heal, Rowan is assigned a slow and winding expedition across the outlying lands. Paired with a lackadasical sheep hearder Leone, Rowan only finds frustration as they seem to fail even the simplest tasks. But Leone’s own struggles, and endless support brings a new possibility to Rowan. Could their unlikely friendship be something more? And if it is, will Rowan be able to leave Leone behind to pursue being a ranger once Kes is healed?
📚 BUY A COPY
At this point, I will read any story that O’Neill puts down in whatever medium or format they choose. Without fail, their stories are always full of heart, warmth, and kindness. Their stories always include big life lessons told in such a gentle and nurturing way, and their latest graphic novel is no different.
My Book Look for A Song for You and I
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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [273]
We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today.
I’ll spend the rest of my Sunday in bed with The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow. The last time I read a short story by Harrow, it ended up being one of my yearly favourites! I’m keen to experience a new story and world by this author. I also love this cover so much!
February 2025 Community Posts!
✨ Happy Saturday, book lovers! ✨
It’s time to share one of my favourite posts that I make at the end of every month: the community posts! This is a collection of some of the posts that I read from bloggers across the book community over the past month. I know my community posts tend to be quite long but I hope you’ll take the time to visit some of these pages and show them the love they deserve! ✨📖 Happy reading, friends! 📖✨
Read More » Let’s Talk Bookish: Women in STEM in Books
✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨
Sorry that my post is quite late today—this week has been hellacious and I just did not have the energy after each work day to work on this beforehand!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.
This week’s topic is:
Women in STEM in Books
Prompts: Over the years, there have been an increasing number of books about women in STEM. What do you think of this trend? Do you like it or is it/can it be poorly done? In honour of International Women’s Day tomorrow (March 8), what are your favourite books ft. women in STEM and what books are still on your TBR?
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Blog Tour Top 5 Reasons to Read + Book Review: The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amélie Wen Zhao
Hello, friends. ✨ Today I’m excited to share my Top 5 Reasons to Read the first book in an exciting new fantasy duology inspired by Chinese mythology: The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amélie Wen Zhao! Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it.
Thanks to Delacorte Press for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!
The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms #1)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 4 March 2025
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rep: Chinese, AAPI
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
📖 SYNOPSIS
In a world invaded by demons, one girl will face the ultimate test when she is forced to enter into an ancient, deadly competition for the chance to save her mother’s soul… before she loses her forever. From the New York Times bestselling author of Song of Silver, Flame Like Night comes the beginning of a dark and opulent fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Throne of Glass.
Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.
An’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.
Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.
The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.
⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Violence, blood, death of loved one, colonial themes. Also, see romance spoiler below for younger readers.
📚 BUY A COPY!
Family First
At the heart of this story is Àn’Yīng’s unwavering love for her family. All she has done is to ensure their safety in a world that’s ravaged by darkness. All she strives to continue doing is to create a better life for them. 🧑🧑🧒🧒
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