Time continues to fly by this year, and I continue to have weird and frustrating reading slumps, which have me starting books and putting them aside for later and started others and repeating the whole cycle again. *Sigh.* But despite that, I did read a few books I enjoyed in August:
From Bad the Cursed by Lana Harper: This second book in the Witches of Thistle Grove series was just as delightful as the first. I loved Isadora and Rowan and their enemies to lovers romance. This book is a great witchy read with some supernatural mystery/suspense and a wonderful romance. And I love the world too—I think I'd like to be a Thistle Grove witch. You could probably read this without reading the first in the series (though events in that book are mentioned and characters from it find their way into this one), but Payback's a Witch is delightful too, so you might as well start there anyway. I'm very excited for the next book in the series and not at all happy to have to wait for it!
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson: In this YA fantasy, Artemesia is training to be a sister in an order that cleanses the bodies of the dead and helps their souls pass on—so they don't rise again as evil spirits to come after the living. When her convent is attacked by an army of possessed soldiers, a dying sister passes a saint's relic to Artemesia for her to use to save the convent. Which she does, but is almost possessed by the powerful revenant it contains in the process. I'm going to say here that I kind of adore the revenant and the bond that grows between the revenant and Artemesia as they come to work together. Their banter is just fantastic. I also love the world building and the twisty evil plot and Artemesia discovering that all she's been taught about saints and revenants and spirits and old magic isn't necessarily true. I feel like there are some Joan of Arc parallels that I hope I'm imagining because they have me a bit nervous—this book ended well, but there's supposed to be another in the series.
Fluke and the Fantastic Finale by Sam Burns: The Fantastic Fluke series has been such fun from the very beginning. I've loved getting to know Sage and his familiar, the delightful fox Fluke, and Gideon and the whole family built throughout the series. The paranormal world building and mystery/suspense aspects were great too and wrapped up well in this last installment, but it's the characters I've become attached to. And while I'm so happy with the way the series ended, I'm so sad there won't be more stories about them. Definitely start from the beginning with this series, as the books don't stand alone. And you'll want to read Sage's story from being alone and believing he had no power to speak of to becoming a powerful arcane mage with a close found family all around him—and lots of danger along the way.
What have you read and loved lately? (Or are you stuck in a strange reading slump like me?)
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