So, August was not the best reading month for me. My brain did not want to focus on reading, especially new books, but I did read a few I enjoyed:
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (M/F fantasy romance): I've been looking forward to this book since it was announced! It's set in the same world as the author's The Spellshop, which I adored, but I wouldn't call it a sequel. The action occurs in an entirely different place concurrently with the previous book and has an entirely different cast of characters. Terlu's backstory was briefly mentioned in The Spellshop—she broke the law by using magic and was turned into a statue in the library to serve as a deterrent to others who might commit the same crime—and now we get the story of what happens to her after. She wakes up on a secluded island where a vast enchanted greenhouse is cared for by a single gardener, who needs help to save it. It's so cozy and lovely, just kind and funny and filled with freshly baked honey cakes and sentient plants and tiny dragons and a flying cat and second chances. Loved, loved, loved.
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (M/F fantasy romance): Here's another book I've been looking forward to for ages. As a teenager, Sera Swan was one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she found her great-aunt dead in the garden and resurrected her, losing most of her magic in the process and being exiled from the country's witch's guild because of it. Now she helps her aunt run their enchanted inn, cares for all the quirky guests who live there long term, tries to keep a somewhat villainous talking fox from getting into trouble, and longs for what she lost. When she learns of a spell that could restore her magic, she turns to magical historian Luke for help. He's staying at the inn and caring for his little sister Posey and has no intention of getting involved with any of the shenanigans there, but he surprises himself by helping. The romance (could we call it grumpy/grumpy?) was lovely, the found family group at the inn delightful, and the inn itself whimsical and wonderful, almost a character itself. I didn't like one part of the end—which I can't explain without spoiling the story—I understand why the author did it. I just wish it hadn't been that way.
This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings (YA F/F historical fantasy): The premise of this book intrigued me immediately: a vampire story set in 1920s Harlem with a sapphic friends to enemies to reluctant allies to lovers romance. It played with a lot of themes surrounding racism, wealth/class differences, and generational trauma as Elise and Layla, once childhood friends now on opposite sides—Layla has been turned into a vampire and Elise is from a family dedicated to destroying them—must team up to solve a murder, which becomes complicated and layered with intrigued. I didn't love this book, but I did enjoy it and I'm definitely going to have to read the sequel when it comes out to find out what happens (be warned that this ends pretty abruptly with plenty left to resolve!).
What have you read and loved lately?
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