Blog Tour Review: Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma

Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma. Thanks to the TBR team for having me on tour and to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Immortal Dark (Immortal Dark Trilogy #1)
Publisher
: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 3 September 2024
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rep: Black

Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.

It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Parental abuse, blood drinking, death, gore, murder, sexual content, adult language, suicide ideation, and violence, kidnapping

📚 BUY A COPY

TL;DR: Immortal Dark was one of my most anticipated 2024 releases and I’m thrilled to say that Tigest Girma did not let me down. She slayed with this stunning debut! While I’m not a dark academia girlie, I loved exploring the vast history of Uxlay University and the complex relationship between dranaics (vampires) and actis (humans). The writing is lush, the world-building richly detailed, and the characters delightfully wicked, complicated and so very morally grey. Despite the pacing being on the slower side, it allowed me to completely immerse myself in the gothic setting and by the time the action kicked off in the latter half, I was fully invested and wowzer, I did not see some of those surprises coming! Girma leaves readers with a double whammy that has me aching to get my hands on the next book immediately. I feel like this is going to be a hit!

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The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2024

Since I’m posting this after September 1, the ✨2024 Orilium Autumn Equinox✨ has already begun and I’m excited to get back to it! It might be overambitious of me to still participate when I know just how busy this month will be but the FOMO is real and I don’t want to miss out on one of my favourite annual reading challenges!

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, our lovely host G @Book Roast created this Beginners Guide to the Magical Readathon, just in case you’re interested in starting your own journey to Orilium!

Let’s see what this latest semester has in store for us, shall we?

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#TopTenTuesday: Books Involving Food

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is Books Involving Food (That are Not Cookbooks) (Submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext and Hopewell’s Public Library of Life)

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Monthly Wrap-Up: August 2024

What was August? Where did August go? I have no idea. All I know is that it was a stressful month and I’m sorry for whining about it all the time in my weekly wrap-ups! 😂 This month was consumed, as usual, by work and stress due to increased workloads and organizational changes that impacted my whole team. I have to be honest, the latter months of the year are not off to a great start (and I’m saying this on the 1st of September, lol)! I want to say that I hope September will be less stressful but I know it won’t be… So let’s just say I’m looking forward to October! 😄

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp [248]

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’m spending my Sunday night in bed finishing How Not to Drown In a Glass of Water (hopefully). I’m reading a physical copy alongside the audiobook, and the narrator is amazing. How she brings Cara to life has made this such an enjoyable reading experience! I’m keen to finish it tonight if I have the time between work.

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Celebrating LTB! 🎉

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Check out all the past topics if you want to join in the bookish discussion fun.

This week’s topic is actually a mid-year reading check-in but since I just posted my Mid-Year Check-In Tag earlier this week, I’ll be doing last week’s topic:

Favourite Topic Freebie!
Celebrating 5 years of Let’s Talk Bookish

Prompts: It’s the fifth Friday of August and this month, Let’s Talk Bookish turns 5! How long have you been participating in LTB? What was the first LTB topic you wrote a post for? Have your opinions changed since then? How did you first hear about LTB? If you have a favorite LTB topic from the last few years, go ahead and write about that!

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Blog Tour Review: Are You Nobody Too? by Tina Cane

Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on Are You Nobody Too? by Tina Cane. Thanks to the TBR team for having me on tour and to Make Me A World (Random House Children’s) for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Are You Nobody Too?
Publisher
: Make Me A World
Publication Date: 27 August 2024
Genre: Contemporary Middle Grade
Rep: Chinese, Asian, Adoption

Rating:

(3 pandas)

📖 SYNOPSIS

After years of discomfort as the only Chinese student at her private middle school, Emily transfers to Chinatown’s I.S. 23 for 8th Grade and ends up feeling more disconnected than ever. In this coming-of-age novel-in-verse, will Emily be able to find her way or will she lose herself completely?After a year of distance-learning, Emily Sofer finds her world turned upside she has to leave the only school she’s ever known to attend a public school in Chinatown. For the first time, Emily isn’t the only Chinese student around…but looking like everyone else doesn’t mean that understanding them will be easy–especially with an intimidating group of cool girls Emily calls The Five.When Emily discovers that her adoptive parents have been keeping a secret, she feels even more uncertain about who she is. A chance discovery of Emily Dickinson’s poetry helps her finally feel seen… but can the words of a writer from 200 years ago help her open up again, and find common ground with the Five?

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Racism, bullying, pandemic, microaggressions, mentions of miscarriage (in the past)

📚 BUY A COPY

TL;DR: This was a unique middle-grade contemporary told in verse. The author had a unique way of expressing the main character’s experiences during and after the pandemic. It touches upon evergreen themes such as coming-of-age, identity and belonging. Emily was an interesting main character—she’s very much a teenager—and I think many young readers whether they’re middle schoolers or just starting high school.

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