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Reading Life Review

Reading Life Review: January 2024

January 25, 2024

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Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

*Ashley’s still waiting for these two titles to come back off hold at the library…struggle bus.

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

Ashley FIN

Nikki FIN

Darling Readers, please be aware during this Janet in January celebration that I have not read any other titles than those written by our beloved Sarah Janet Maas. Goodreads is telling me I am 4 books behind schedule. I do not appreciate that. (Tell me you’re an Enneagram 1 without telling me you’re an Enneagram 1.) Please note that sometimes you just need to #ReadWhatYouWant. I did that. Continue to live your best life, and don’t listen to Goodreads.

~Ashley

It’s been eleventy billion days of January and like four minutes to read and not in a row, or at least that’s how the list above feels.  However, feelings aren’t facts, so I’m going to drop some facts.  While Ashley may have only read Sarah J. Maas books this month, she did read more than 3,100 pages within her four books, in addition to the other pages read this month.  As for me and my list, I read three of those same Maas titles and two palate cleansers because, in case you aren’t aware, Empire of Storms ends on a ding dang awful cliff, and the push to the end (which, #notaspoiler, is usually the last 100ish of a Maas book) is roughly 300 ding dang pages in Kingdom of Ash which is a lot to handle on January 852nd, oh and the last chapter of another book.  But we didn’t die, even if we’re pivoting on our rereading plan, and even if we’re both behind according to Goodreads.  So, we’re diving into our Crescent City reread amidst our usual February blog reading, so we need to ask for a bit of a favor darling readers.  Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT send us spoilers to House of Flame and Shadow until you confirm with us that we are complete with that novel or we may have to find a way to send sweet Bryaxis to visit you.  We do acknowledge we’ll be a bit behind, but likely only two to three weeks, which when we’re talking about 2,400 pages of Maas, including one title I’ve only read once (and started several weeks after publication) and a brand new one, so I’m seeing some late nights in our future, for better or worse, and might be shockingly quick, even though it won’t feel like that even sort of.

And while we’re at it, I’d like a quick soap box moment – read what you want!  School is school and a different conversation, but when reading is a hobby, please read what you want!  When I wanted to pause and read something with less feels, I did and I will continue to do so.  When I felt the need to (gasp) read some nonfiction, I started some nonfiction.  Hobbies should be what we enjoy and sometimes also help us grow in some way (but not necessarily all the time, as shouldn’t hobbies be a part of your rest and refresh routine?).  I don’t accept shoulding in my hobbies, and also encourage you to reject and rebuke that stuff and nonsense.

What do you want to read next?

~ Nikki 

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Book Review

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

January 18, 2024

The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

Please note: Spoilers for the series do follow. Nikki tries to minimize them while describing 5 books, Ashley does not, and there’s a big ole warning image before the spoilers turn up. Proceed, or not, as you prefer.

Thank you Wikipedia for the Original Covers!

Just last week, Ashley stated I’m the reason she got into the worlds of Sarah J. Maas.  Today I’m going on record (again I think) with the fact that Anne Bogel is the reason I got into the worlds of Sarah J. Maas. #BlameAnne I listened to this episode back in 2017, and promptly put A Court of Thorns and Roses Series on my library holds list (because of course I did).  In the fall of 2017, it came available, and I read it, then A Court of Mist and Fury, and then at stupid dark thirty, I discovered it would be weeks before I could borrow A Court of Wings and Ruin, so I one-clicked it and kept reading (and also started loading all the titles in a series in my hold before starting the first one).  This was before A Court of Frost and Starlight was published, and definitely before A Court of Silver Flames was a gleam in a reader’s eye, however confident we are it was one of many things contributing to Maas’s personal gleam (very much a la Aelin).  

I saw a readerly acquaintance post about the first book in the A Court of Thorns of Roses series recently, and she said it’s good and she’s interested in the next book.  I agree with that whole-heartedly.  Like in the Throne of Glass series, ACOTAR starts off good, but A Court of Mist and Fury is where the genius of Maas really starts to shine.  (To the point that ACOMAF is a 2017 favorite, and I still stand by them all!)  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Maas plots the long game.  I’m convinced she has some room full of white boards, and red threads tying everything together and I cannot wait to see how it all keeps going.  Yes, Maas is a season pass, I will pre-order whatever she writes, author, and y’all know I don’t tend to spend my cash dollars on books, thank you library and Kindle Unlimited.  

A Court of Thorns and Roses opens with Feyre going deep into the snowy woods in search of food for her family.  She’s the youngest of three girls, her father isn’t able to work, her mother died years ago, and her cunning, determination, and hunting are the only things standing between her family and starvation.  (The irony is not lost on me that my yard is covered in snow as of this writing, still, the street is a sheet of ice, and I’m carefully monitoring how many dinners I can come up with in my house that my people won’t fight me to eat.)  This hunting trip does result in food for her family, and her being carried off into the faerie realm shortly thereafter.  Little does she know, there’s a blight on the land, one that only she can save them all from, if only the ding. dang. Males (mostly love interest Tamlin) will stop “helping” and let her handle things.  Yes darlings, most of this is in the marketing copy, and yes it’s a New Adult (classified as YA, but the series is open door NA) fantasy romance, so of course the teenage girl has to save the world.

I went into A Court of Mist and Fury expecting it to be a fun next chapter and I was not ready.  Feyre is broken by what she went through in ACOTAR, and so is Tamlin.  There’s still a threat in their world, slowly revealed, and then there’s the bargain Feyre made to keep herself alive while she was trying to save the world in book one.  It all comes tumbling down in the most amazing, gorgeous way!  Feyre learns so much about herself, the people she’s met north of the wall, and the different courts of Prythian as she has some merry adventures and some not so merry adventures.  Readers who struggle to get into the first part of this book, please take note – if you didn’t get through the wedding, keep going.  Trust me, I know.  I’ve given this advice to a friend of the blog, who gave me side eye, trusted, and was grateful.  If no shoes have been thrown, you’re not far enough yet.  I also want to add, readers struggle because the content isn’t easy as we watch characters navigate serious mental health issues.  It’s also one of the reasons I love this title so much, because it’s all there – the reasons, the struggles, and how she works through it, with help.  There is hope, and that’s an essential message we all need more of.  

At this point, you might have realized ACOTAR is a dramatic trilogy, so we meet our characters in the first installment, they make it to the worst place possible by the end of the second (sort of, Maas shares some on the page, so I was giddy and excited to keep going, not scared), and in the third, they dig themselves out, barely.  That’s the gist here, except this trilogy, and the series, is about so much more than just Feyre and her friends digging deep to save the world.  It’s also about overcoming your past, turning your “weaknesses” into strengths, and trusting yourself and your friends.  This is very much another ensemble cast, even if the story follows Feyre (until A Court of Silver Flames), and is almost exclusively from her point of view.  The digging them out action of A Court of Wings and Ruin does include a court in ruin, because that’s what happens when leaders refuse to do the work of healing and try to take the easy way out, and some really fabulous scenes of snark and wit as our merry band works to find allies to defeat the foe trying to take over their world.  It’s a wild ride, albeit less romantic, as we found HEAs (ish) in the first two novels, and nothing but questions for other relationships in the third.

After all the action of ACOWAR, readers have strong feelings about A Court of Frost and Starlight and those readers need to read and remember the marketing copy (the irony of me saying that, I know).  This novella (yes, even at 200+ pages) is an extended epilogue to transition from Feyre’s trilogy to follow other characters more closely.  As it’s almost winter solstice in Velaris, we get a peak at what life is now like after the threats of the trilogy have been handled.  It’s a fun hang to see where our ensemble finds themselves celebrating, complete with four points of view, and a sneak peak at who we’ll follow in the first novel in the next section of the series.  Perhaps this is best viewed as a winter solstice special “episode.”  

If I wasn’t ready for ACOMAF, which is still my favorite, then I really wasn’t ready for A Court of Silver Flames, and I’m not just referring to its strong ownership of being a New Adult open-door, romantasy novel.  Yes darlings, ACOSF is a fantasy romance novel, complete with HEA, AND it’s got all the drama, intrigue, and personal growth I’ve come to know and love in a Maas novel.  Here’s the deal about these heroines so far – they make me want to want to (not a typo) work out and they give me hope for the healing of us all.  Obviously the working out part would be so much easier if I had Chaol or Rowan or Cassian to train me, and less of real life to demand my time.  As it is, well, I don’t workout much, even if reading does provide me some inspiration.  And to be ordered to train in the morning and work in the library in the afternoon, be still my heart, especially while living in a house that caters to my every need and reading tastes, yes please.  Those steps though, no thank you, hard pass, even if their mental and physical healing does feel essential to Nesta.  And if you’re hesitant to read a book focused on Nesta, I have two things to say to that – it’s also about Cassian who is darling (pun intended) and the redemption arc is solid.  Maas doesn’t gloss over Nesta’s faults, she and Nesta face them head on and it’s phenomenal (and makes ACOSF stiff competition for my favorite).  Readers should be aware that this novel sets up the next chunk of the series, so while we do have a solid ending (no cliffs around), there is a bigger arc in the works, and I’m so ready to see where that leads us.  

If my feelings were not clear enough, Goodreads says I’ve read the main trilogy four times, but it lies, as I read books two and three so quickly the first time, and enjoyed them so thoroughly, that I still had book one on loan and read them all through a second time before turning in my loans, because I needed to see those easter eggs with some perspective.  It’ll be five officially soon, don’t worry!

What’s a title, or a series, that you keep going back to because it still makes you feel some kind of glorious way with each reread?

~Nikki 

P.S. Why I am just now thinking of this, I don’t know.  If you’ve read and enjoyed a series by Maas, please know there are numerous bonus chapters for each series.  (There may be spoilers for series you haven’t read in the descriptions, but here’s a listing of many.)

Let’s start with the important information. I have read each of the titles in the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, respectively, four, six, five, four, and three times, according to Goodreads. I would say that this is an accurate representation of all but A Court of Silver Flames as it is my absolute favorite. This is one of those books that I pick up and read sections of when I’m feeling a certain way about something. And, no, I’m not just talking about the smut parts, but that is a factor. There’s also the part where Nesta joins Gwyn for the music service in the library, which makes my eyes moist every time… But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

I think it’s important that we have a discussion of the characters in this series because not only is it an ensemble cast, we add points of view as the books progress. When we meet Feyre in ACOTAR, we get her story told with a first person point of view. That continues through the first trilogy until we get to ACOFAS where we also get chapters from Rhys, Mor, and Cassian’s perspectives – but in third person. A Court of Silver Flames is also written in third person point of view, and makes it easy for mentally switching from Nesta’s to Cassian’s view point – like any good romance novel we love knowing what each main character in our bonded pair is thinking at any time. But all this talk of which point of view these books are written isn’t giving you any information about what these books are about, so let’s try this again…

Who is our cast of characters you ask? That’s a long list so let’s get started. As Nikki stated, Feyre is the youngest of three sisters, with Nesta being the eldest, and Elain the middle. Their father is nothing more than barely present and inherently trauma inducing on several levels. (Read more for specifics on that!) Tamlin is High Lord of the Spring Court and Lucien is his friend/right hand man/son of the High Lord of the Autumn Court. Then we meet Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court. Attached to the Night Court are Morrigan, Rhys’ (distantly related) cousin, Amren, Rhys’ second in command, and Cassian and Azriel, two bat-winged Illyrian warriors. Feyre first starts in a romance in ACOTAR with Tamlin. Then figures out in ACOMAF that he’s a possessive alpha hole Tool and that Rhys is inherently better suited for her and is her actual mate. We also learn that Lucien’s fated mate is Elain in ACOMAF (but Elain doesn’t approve this message), but the Nesta and Cassian mated saga isn’t confirmed until their feature book ACOSF. Azriel is pining over Elain for the three sisters for three blood brothers trope of tropes, but we’re as of yet UNCONFIRMED that this is a canon possibility. My theory and hope is that Elain pulls the Why Choose of the Maasverse and we get our first throuple with her, Lucien, and Azriel. Amren’s got a boy toy from Summer Court, and Morrigan, well, she has special needs. Besides all these romantic pursuits, Nesta has two best friends in Emerie, an Illyrian female, and Gwyn, part Fae and part river nymph. These three besties form our favorite Valkyrie warrior tribe in ACOSF, and the biggest part of the reason why Nikki and I would give up pretty much anything to have Cassian as our personal trainer. (And why we don’t give up on our random acts of fitness.)

All these characters and we haven’t said anything about the LITERAL MAGIC in this universe. Or, the way Maas starts ACOTAR with just a few important locations, broadens our geography in ACOMAF, even more in ACOWAR, then brings us back in from the world to ‘focus on the family’ in ACOFAS and ACOSF. The Family is the Inner Circle of Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, Morrigan, and Amren, with the later additions of Feyre, Nesta, and Elain…and sometimes Lucien. But, never, ever Tamlin. (Still pulling for a redemption arc, here, but I don’t see how it can be for the poor Tool.)

After writing all these words, I’m wondering why I skipped over this re-read in preparation for the new release of House of Flame and Shadow in a few short days. But, I’m loving my time in Crescent City with my fave badass redhead, Bryce, her enemy-to-wannabe lover? Hunt, and her hotter than sin half-brother, Ruhn Dannan, Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae. #iykyk  And you can read more about Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood here!

Get Thee to Reading!

~Ashley

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Book Review•Jane in January

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

January 11, 2024

The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

Original US Throne of Glass series covers from Wikipedia

Gather close darling readers, because we have things to discuss, Maas-iverse, Maas Adventure things, from where it all began, not for us, but for her, for the universe.  We’re discussing the Throne of Glass Series because it started first, and is technically complete (although please, ma’am, an extended epilogue or additional novella would be a delight).  As the series opens, Celaena Sardothien is imprisoned in a slave camp and is visited by the Crown Prince of Adarlan.  She is the prince’s pick to defeat all of the other assassins in a competition to become the king’s champion.  She’ll win her freedom from prison, but instead of being an assassin for hire again, she’ll be the king’s assassin, and she is not his biggest fan, by far.  Because she’s our main character and this is a seven book series, readers will not be surprised to find she wins the competition, but it’s definitely not easy, and plenty of side drama ensues.  As the series progresses, we have a hero’s journey as Celaena becomes the king’s champion/assassin (Crown of Midnight) and is sent on a grand adventure to remember who and what she was before she became an assassin and determine what that means for her and her world (Heir of Fire), and then figure out how she’s going to defeat the evil that’s infiltrated every continent  and who is willing to help her (Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, Kingdom of Ash).  Yes, there is a side of romance, but there’s really only a couple of spicy scenes in the whole series (and yes I have strong feelings about “So [he] did” not being one of them, #iykyk).  Truly, the tale is about the journey Celaena and the ensemble that joins her go through, both physically through their world, and also in overcoming their pasts, at least enough to come together and fight the good fight.  

Readers should go in knowing the origins of the Throne of Glass Series start with 16 year old Sarah J. Maas.  That’s right, she first drafted this story at 16. Years. Old.  And y’all, that explains some things, as does the fact that the titular first book was her first published work.  Throne of Glass was first published in 2012 (although I didn’t find it until 2017, when I consumed the series, as it was then, during that glorious week between Christmas and New Year’s), and the last in 2018.  Yes friends, she published a book a year, plus four prequel novellas for the whole series.  The story gets more depth, the writing shines brighter, and I appreciate and adore these complex characters more as I progress through the series (both the first time, and with each reread).  The first book is good, but I think Maas really hits her stride with Queen of Shadows both in her writing and in where she is in the story.  This is quite a complex, encompassing tale to weave, and she does it masterfully, but getting all the players on the board (#iykyk) and in the correct places takes some pages.  That’s not to say books 1-3 aren’t a really fun hang, because they 100% are that!

Thank you for your service Jenna.

While Queen of Shadows is where Maas settles in as a writer and a storyteller (and incidentally was published the same year as A Court of Thorns and Roses), Tower of Dawn might be my favorite in the series, and many readers think this is a spicy take.  Minimizing spoilers, in Tower of Dawn, Chaol (who we meet in Throne of Glass) has to go on an adventure in pursuit of some goals, separately from the rest of our merry band, on another continent, which wasn’t conquered by the King of Adarlan. There is a whole different culture to set up, irking some folks (especially as Empire of Storms ends in a cliffhanger #sorrynotsorry).  Folks (me included, as Kingdom of Ash wasn’t yet published when I read the rest of the series) have strong feelings about being left on a cliff, especially when that isn’t how the first four titles in the series leave us and then we’re on a whole other continent for the whole next book, which actually takes place at the same time as the last book! [The Struggle.]  Some also feel Tower of Dawn starts slow.  They’re sort of right, but it’s the world building on the new-to-us continent, that’s all.  Personally, I really enjoyed the slower pace to take a breath after the push to the end of Empire of Storms.  Since my first read, I have done the tandem read (TOD and EOS back and forth) and generally like it.  I do have concerns for first time readers as it is a lot of story to keep track of at once (at times it’s five storylines at once – and more than five points of view! – concurrent stories across the two books).  

Truly, if readers go in expecting to see the writing and the storytelling grow, they won’t be disappointed.  Celaena is worth it, Elide and Manon are worth it, Sartaq is worth it, and so are the rest of the amazing ensemble Maas grants to the readers.  I do truly love an ensemble story, and when we have an adventure featuring a teenage girl and her friends saving the world slowly unfolding before my eyes, as they find themselves in the process, it just makes it even more fun, as do her sass and antics along the way.  I’m working on my fourth reread through the Throne of Glass Series, and if that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is.  

If you’ve read this, please let us know in the comments.  If you’d like more info, trigger warnings, or have questions, you’re invited to slide into our DMs.

Happy reading Maassassins!

~Nikki 

P.S. The original covers (above) are far superior to the current covers (below or here).

AND THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILERS HAPPEN…

Gird your loins, dear readers, because I am not going to hold it back like our darling Nikki. So if you want real, and potentially emotional commentary on the Throne of Glass series – as I am finishing up reading Kingdom of Ash for the third time, buckle up. (Goodreads says it’s the 2nd, but Goodreads is incorrect – I distinctly remember reading it twice in a row in 2018 – before I was really into logging my reading life on Goodreads, TBH.) Nikki is the reason that I got into the worlds of Sarah J. Maas. [Nikki here – we’ll dig into that next time.] She’s ridiculously unapologetic and probably deeply self-satisfied about the whole situation [confirmed]. I don’t blame her for any of those feelings. I’m grateful for this reading journey that she and these books have put us on. The blog wouldn’t be here without it. I’m going to write a little blurb about the things I love the most about each book as I have been rereading the series. I know that some purists say to read the books in published order, which has readers reading the prequel novellas of The Assassin’s Blade as the third installment in the eight-book series. Yes, I know that even the Queen herself says this is also her preferred reading order. Queen Maas already controls the majority of my reading life and her words and characters ARE my Roman Empire but she doesn’t have to control THIS part. I get to be the main character of my own reading life, damn it! And I like to read chronologically. On to the books!

The Assassin’s Blade is integral to the entire story of our heroine Celaena, Adarlan’s Assassin. The teenager with gifts honed to deadly precision in social situations, in stealth missions, and against all comers. The weird father/brother/potential lover relationship she has with her master Arobynn Hammel is fully explained to the reader. But, where Arobynn only has desire for money and power, Celaena forges deep relationships while she forges her skills and her luxury habit. She is the bougiest assassin you ever did meet, my friends. And that’s how I truly fell in love with this badass youth, who can swagger through a sewer and almost die, and yet admit it took multiple baths and she still didn’t feel clean once she was out, even with her best bath tonics. We contain multitudes, as does our heroine. The Assassin’s Blade takes us to so many locations within Rifthold, the capital city of Adarlan, as well as other locations on the continent of Erilea before we get settled into Celaena’s story.

As Nikki so kindly gave the overview of how we’re introduced to Celaena in Throne of Glass, I want to talk about how we start meeting more players and characters, all within the setting of the glass castle, home of the King of Adarlan in Rifthold, during the competition to become the king’s champion. We meet the king, of course, and Crown Prince Dorian. Captain of the King’s Guard, Chaol Westfall, is Dorian’s best friend and Celaena’s new trainer as she prepares for the feats of strength and agility during the competition. We know these young men are placed for romance and as foils against each other, but the lowkey MVP of this book is Nehemia Ytger, Princess of Eyllwe, a country conquered by Adarlan. The friendship that blossoms between Nehemia and Celaena is so understated in its simplicity. It’s two young women placed inside the home of their conqueror, who have all the reasons to become allies, and yet they surpass that to form a bond of true friendship. 

Crown of Midnight returns us to Rifthold, where Celaena is acting on orders of the King of Adarlan to hunt down and assassinate rebels to the crown while living in the castle. Our cast of main characters, but we’re introduced to a witch, a male courtesan, and rebels fighting to find Aelin Galathynius, the lost Princess of Terrasen. Chaol and Celaena’s relationship blossoms into more than friendship and Dorian is relegated to the friendzone. This happiness is fleeting because of the way Nehemia orchestrates her own death with help of the rebels, which tears a rip inside Celaena that nothing and no one can repair. Her trust in any relationship is shattered because of the manipulations of both Nehemia and Chaol, and their lack of trust in her. She still has no room in her heart for forgiveness even when Chaol negotiates to have her sent on an assassination mission across the sea to save her from the king finding out she’s a magic wielding Fae. Celaena, child of conquered Terrasen, trained from the age of eleven to be a deadly assassin, had never been chosen by another person over their duty. Not Chaol who hides the threats to Nehemia, not Nehemia herself who hid her covert relationships with the Adarlanian rebel network. No one chose Celaena, and she is broken. Chaol is still self-serving when sending Celaena across the sea because it saves him from having to inform the king that his Champion breaks the law with her innate magic. The clincher is that Celaena gives Chaol a riddle as she boards the boat for Wendlyn… a riddle that proves to him that she is Aelin, the lost Princess of Terrasen.

Heir of Fire opens up the world of Erilea and does a whole lot of heavy lifting. We get more characters like Manon, Heir to the Blackbeak witch clan, and Aedion Ashryver, General of Terrasen, cousin to Aelin, and secret rebel against the crown. Plus all the major players Aelin meets in Wendlyn, Prince Rowan Whitethorn, sworn general to Queen Maeve of Doranelle, that same Queen who is Aelin’s great-aunt, and Maeve’s cadre of blood-oath bound, powerful Fae warriors. What I love about Heir is that we’re introduced to all these players, who they are, what motivates them, and the wider world outside of Rifthold. Now, by this point, no matter which order you have incorporated The Assassin’s Blade into your series read, every reader is on the same trajectory (for now!). We’re also finally getting into the nitty gritty about why magic disappeared and is outlawed in Adarlan at the same time Celaena/Aelin is mastering her fire-magic in Wendlyn under the tutelage of Rowan, the greatest annoyance of her life. Manon and the witches, however, are the highlight of the book because we as readers are rooting for the leader of the aerial calvary of the King of Adarlan, our heroine’s sworn enemy. What’s a reader to do?!

When Nikki says that Maas hits her stride in Queen of Shadows, she’s not kidding. The plot we think is happening, Aelin saving Aedion from public execution is only one part of a ridiculous plan to save her cousin, end the king’s hold on magic, gather her allies, kill her former master Arobynn Hammel, save her friend Dorian from being controlled by a demon, and create a kingdom’s wealth for Terrasen. All of which happens in the span of just a few weeks. Not only do we have this fast moving story of Aelin in Rifthold, we’re still following the adventures of Manon and the witches. And then, when the punches don’t stop coming, we don’t stop pushing, and we’re (re)introduced to more players, Lysandra, a courtesan and loathsome frienemy of Aelin’s against Arobynn, and Nesryn, a city guard working with Chaol and the rebels against the king’s demon hoards. With the witches, we meet Elide, Lady of Perranth, and favorite personal spy to Manon Blackbeak. Can the action and characters slow down? Not on your life, since the climax of Queen is a triple explosion: collapsing the clocktower that stifles magic, the destruction of Morath where Manon has been training the witches and their wyverns, and the fall of the glass castle in Rifthold and the death of the king. Aelin publicly claims the crown of Terrasen and heads home with her court of Rowan, Aedion, and Lysandra. Bonus plot point, the destruction of the glass castle not only kills the king, but paralyzes Chaol from the waist down. He’s sent to the Southern Continent with Nesryn to negotiate aid in the coming war and heal his broken body.

Finally, by the time we as readers get to Empire of Storms, we’re thinking, “no more characters!” Nothing new, let’s just handle all the crap we need to handle. We’re reunited with some old faces from the novellas – like the Pirate Lord Rolfe and Ansel of Briarcliff. Adventures happen, we’ve got three story lines and more points of view that that, but by the time we get to the end of the book we still have no idea what the heck happened to Chaol in the Southern Continent, and maybe we didn’t miss him, because we didn’t like him by the end of Queen of Shadows anyway. Who did miss him… Sarah J. Maas. Missed him SO MUCH she gave him HIS OWN BOOK with Tower of Dawn. Where we meet even MORE characters. Nikki and I love the book focused on Nesryn’s adventures in the Southern Continent. We’ve grown to adore Sartaq and Borte, and the rest of the ruk riders (giant birds that roost like chickens and carry warriors) and we really appreciate Yrene Towers and the Healers of the Torre Cesme. I’ve done the tandem read of Empire and Tower the last two re-reads. But, I have a theory as to why Nikki didn’t hate Tower of Dawn from the very beginning like many other readers. Yes, it completely ignores Aelin and her court the entire time and that’s against a lot of the point of a series like Throne of Glass. Tower of Dawn, however, is a classic enemies to lovers and forced proximity romance novel. We even have two couples to follow who get their Happily Ever After. Yrene is a refugee from Adarlan occupied Fenharrow who is studying at the Torre and is the most powerful magical healer of her class. When she is assigned to heal Chaol’s wounds, the former Captain of the Guard and current Hand of the King of Adarlan, she feels like she is being forced to aid her enemy. Chaol thinks she’s out of line asking him to discuss his life outside of her job to heal his back and legs. Cue enemies to lovers. Secondly, Nesryn is assigned to help Chaol broker an alliance with the khagan of the Southern Continent while Chaol is busy healing. She spys on the son of the khagan, Sartaq, and ends up volunteering herself for a long mission with him, a man who she doesn’t know is friend or enemy. Cue forced proximity trope. All the things happen, danger, sexy times, and everyone is either married or betrothed when the armies of the Southern Continent and a healed Chaol head north to aid Terrasen in the war. The End.  And yet! We can’t forget that Aelin got stuck in an iron box at the end of Empire. Which is why it’s imperative as readers to do some chronological reading and read these two books in tandem. It’s a delight. Just not the first time. Be gentle with yourself the first time, darling readers. 😉

And finally, that brings us to the final installment Kingdom of Ash. Because I’m not currently finished with this newest reread, I’m just going to hit some high notes. 1) We’re STILL meeting more DING DANG CHARACTERS. Specifically, the Crochan witches, a clan separate from the ironteeth that Manon leads. You thought we were done since we were in the final book, but NO, surprise! 2) We still have four major storylines and eleven points of view (by my quick count) that need to converge into one by the end of the book. How is it going to happen? Well, there’s 988 pages, so buckle up. 3) Everyone is battling the same enemy, even if it doesn’t feel like it could remotely be possible that there are 4 ‘endless hoards.’ The Valg are everywhere and overcoming the world, what’s a Fire-Breathing Bitch Queen to do?! 4) As much as we complain about the lack of sexytimes with Lorcan’s ‘So Lorcan did’ situation with Elide… there are several sexy time scenes. Dorian and Manon can not keep their phantom hands off each other. Rowan and Aelin have a reunion that’s pretty solid. [all the puns intended] So, it’s not ‘less sexy’ than Empire of Storms or Tower of Dawn, it’s just less sexy than Maas’ other series. Regardless, ‘So Lorcan did’ is still a bullshit copout and we all know it. 5) We really do get a super big beautiful flowery bow at the end and it’s amazingly satisfying.

There you have it, darling readers, a spoilery filled, novel of a review of this 8 book series by the Queen of Modern Fantasy, Sarah Janet Maas. The fact we find out this series is INTERCONNECTED with her OTHER SERIES by the end of Kingdom of Ash is why we’re re-reading all the things before the newest book in the Crescent City series arrives on January 30th.

You’re Welcome.

~Ashley

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Book Review•Reading Life Review

Favorite Books of 2023

January 4, 2024

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Buckle up buttercups because this is both one of my favorite posts of the year, and one of the hardest to write.  When you read more than average, considering what your favorite titles of the year are requires a decent amount of remembering, which isn’t my best skill, and a bit of reflection, and yes darling readers, this is the new year’s reflection I prefer to have.

As is my habit, I tracked my 2023 reading on Goodreads (and heads up – we’re exploring Storygraph for 2024) and went straight there to begin my reflection.  Unlike in years past, I didn’t have a lengthy list of potential top reads of the year to weed down into a handful to discuss here.  Magically, the list just appeared.  That does mean I didn’t read a lot of five star reads this year, and that’s really ok.  I even looked back at my (as of yet unpublished) 2022 list to see if I just wasn’t as discerning previously in my list, but I think I was.  For much of the year, I didn’t feel like I had the headspace to give to those five star books that like to sit with you rent free and linger.  I needed books that kept me engaged and interested but not awake until stupid dark thirty.  It’s a fine line of things I enjoy and want to read, but also let me sleep, and after reviewing my list of read titles for the last year, I’m pleased.  In other years, I may be up in my feelings about not having a lengthy long list of favorites, but in 2023, I had the reading year I needed it to be, with lots of fun books, and that is really what matters.  If something else matters to you, please first remind yourself reading is a hobby and see if that leads you to reframe what matters, then live your best life!  “Should” is not a word I lightly allow into my reading life, and I encourage you to limit its usage in your life in general.  

Let’s chat titles I love but weren’t eligible for favorites of the year – namely rereads.  I still love The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megann Bannen as much as I did in 2022, perhaps more, but it was a favorite last year.  I’m truly pleased (so far) with my reread of the Throne of Glass series and will share more about that here soon, but I originally read (most of) those titles in 2018, so I’m leaving that for later.  Perhaps the Maas-iverse living rent free in my head minimizes the available space for others.  That’s unlikely to change and it really is ok by me.  

Now, for my favorites of 2023, these titles stayed with me.  When I saw them on my read list, I immediately was excited to think on them again and consider the ways they were a fabulous reading experience and stayed with me.  They are listed in the order in which I read them:

A romance novel about two Black authors and a whole mess of real life (please check the trigger warnings) written with blunt sass.  Yes. Please.  I’m making notes about Williams backlist for our 2024 calendar now.  

While we’ve reviewed other Bardugo titles, we did not do a formal review of Rule of Wolves. And as it is the last of seven in a (loose) series, I won’t be digging in today because: spoilers.  For a reader who loves a nice bow, with all the things settled, this title is mostly everything I wanted.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love a window into what these characters look like when chaos isn’t reigning across Ravka, Ketterdam, and beyond, but Bardugo gave our merry band a just ending and I’m very pleased.  

Signal Fires was my third Shaprio read, my second Shaprio favorite of the year, and her first work of fiction.  Inheritance still lives rent free in my head, and that was a favorite from 2019 (please read the marketing copy and proceed with caution).  I want to say so many things about this novel, but I’m only going to say – when a bookseller calls a title “perfect fiction” just give them your money for the aforementioned book (and also, read the marketing copy because triggers abound).  

Sci fi isn’t my go-to, but a great book is a great book, regardless of genre!  Layered themes, melodic writing, and a nice bow are my jam, or at least among my jams, and while I don’t always love YA, I do love when it makes me think more about the complex challenges of our world.  

Let’s file Daisy Jones & The Six under “titles I wasn’t interested in but now live rent free in my head” because I was wrong (see also the aforementioned Inheritance).  I (shocking no one) still haven’t watched the show, but I still want to.  

Y’all, give me a second chance, forced proximity, one-bed romance and I am pleased as punch.  Dual POV, multiple timelines, snappy dialogue, characters I’d love to hang out with in real life, and I was sobbing for the last third of the book because of a big dumb mirror it was holding up for me.  I’m definitely going to reread this title, and perhaps Book Lovers after as a palate cleanser after, because I’ll need it.  

Non-fiction Honorable Mention:

In this title, a couples therapist writes a book about some of the issues she sees couples have in real therapy sessions, and how she’s seen them in her own marriage.  Dalgleish shares candidly about real couples, and how she’s helped them get to the source of their issues and try to work through them, as well as how she’s seen similar issues in her own marriage and how she’s realized it and worked to address her personal struggles.  This made me feel seen, gave me some great starting places, and made me want an appointment with a solid therapist.  I’m considering a leisurely reread this year to try to put more of her advice into practice.  [Ashley here: I also read this book and it is also an honorable mention title. However, I read the book and highlighted all the book titles and authors’ works Dr. Dalgleish mentions that I have already read or was familiar with. All of them, I have read all of her best resources. This book is a fabulous title for someone needing a place to start with a bibliography of titles to allow you to deepen your knowledge when you need to.]

I was heavily influenced by some of my favorite podcasters to purchase this book and I should just learn that if Erin H. Moon, Jamie B. Golden, and my beloved Kendra Adachi all say I need something, then I need it in my life.  Bowler’s blessings for Advent were amazing, but truly what shines in this text are the other sections that are full of blessings for this ordinary, tired, lovely, overwhelming, grief-stricken, garbage, painful, and beautiful life; and the lives of others.  I’ve truly enjoyed looking through the table of contents and selecting the blessing that felt right to me that day.  If you’re the praying sort, I’d encourage you to give this a glance, or maybe Bowler’s instagram, to see if it might be for you.  

Please let us know below what your favorite reads were in 2023, or what you think about ours!  If you have questions, our DMs are always open.

~Nikki 

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an electronic copy of the book.  All opinions are my own.

Let’s start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start… I almost didn’t complete my reading goal for this year… according to GoodReads. What GoodReads doesn’t know is that there are books that I pick up randomly and read sections of (sometimes half of a book!) if I’m feeling like I need the reminder, or need to recreate a certain mood in my life. It also doesn’t calculate the dozens of articles I read a week, or the hours of continuing education classes that are often times just slides upon slides while sitting at my computer. And that’s OK, because that’s not what it’s supposed to do. GoodReads is set to track the number of book titles I read in a year and it’s done a solid job of that for the past few. I’m going to continue to use it as it’s connected to my kindle and will easily update, but as Nikki said we’re also trying out Storygraph for 2024 and we’re excited to see what that holds for us here at Heart.Wants.Books. I know I love data related to pretty much anything and if I can create and collect the KPIs of my Reading Life in a digital format with charts and graphs…oh, how exciting that could be. (I’m just not ready to pay for that honor yet.)

As I was going through the 100 books I read or re-read this year, I easily chose my favorite four, two fiction and two nonfiction. The problem is that the majority of the books that have been living in my head rent free are nonfiction titles, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend those titles to the internet at large. Additionally, it’s not that I haven’t read excellent fiction titles this year, but they don’t seem noteworthy in a favorites of the year category [Nikki here: cosigned!]. Nikki said it well: I had the reading year I needed it to be, with lots of fun books and that is really what matters. I also tried to be semi-conscious of my reading mood and make space in my packed reading schedule for titles that kept being recommended via other media outlets. And, I think I have balanced my reading life well for the mixed bag that was 2023 in general. Here’s a balanced meal of book vegetables and book cake…that all still feel like cake in my heart.

If you haven’t read my glowing review of this book, you can find it again, here. If you want the TL:DR version, here it is:  I even messaged my sister to tell her how wrecked this book made me. It was very intense. The intensity was balanced by so much wit and sarcasm that there was also internal giggling, but that didn’t stop the tears. For the record, I am not a ‘major weeper.’ It takes a lot to get my tear ducts to activate, as my sister knows, so real human tears are a sign of big big BIG feelings. I haven’t recommended another book more this year… except for maybe…

I wrote a longer review of Die with Zero in August’s Reading Life Review Post, but the point can be summed up in a sentence: The short explanation is take care of future you but not at the expense of the you that is here now, with the people you have now. Again, I’m going to reiterate that we’re not saying future you isn’t important, but 80 year old you isn’t going to be able to physically climb Kilimanjaro. And 23 year old you probably shouldn’t add an entire Art History minor and an extra year of college tuition debt because ‘learning’s fun’ – go make that dough, Rousselle, save learning 1000+ pieces of art for giggles when you’re 80. (Ok, I do understand that I wouldn’t be a quarter as good at trivia or impressing people with random art knowledge had I not taken that minor. But, Dr. Gavin Townsend probably thought I was actually going to do something with it – like go on to that Masters in Museum Studies… He’s probably looking down on me and thinking, what a waste that architectural knowledge is to a real estate broker. But, I digress.) The point is, use the time you have wisely, give of your treasure when you can enjoy the impact that it makes, and live the life you want to live without shame or guilt or fear of not having enough in the future. I have recommended this book to so many people this year, solicited or unsolicited.

We reviewed this thriller in September for Hispanic Heritage month and I used it as an early start to October’s witchy theme. In my review, I talked about how I had only had a few days to percolate on how much the title was haunting me and how I could only give it a 4.5 star rating because of the nature of a thriller and how I wouldn’t be surprised at the twists during a re-read. I missed the whole damn point of a re-read with that logic. The point is to revisit and learn something new, to revisit and experience the same words with new eyes and feelings. Of course I could round up to five stars because themes and ideas from this title have been resurfacing in my brain constantly since then. It’s without a doubt my favorite witchy title of the year.

Sometimes the books we read in life are dictated by some not awesome happenings. This year, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes because of my elevated A1C, the marker of a person’s average blood glucose level for the previous 3 months. Because of my PCOS diagnosis, I had been living with insulin resistance, or pre-diabetes level A1C, for at least the past decade, if not longer. Currently, I am lowering my A1C with a mixture of diet, exercise, and medication. The four habits that Inchauspé discusses in The Glucose Goddess Method are inherently simple to be done daily, but at the same time she gives so much grace for when we’re human and just can’t. Her 2022 book, Glucose Revolution is on my list for as soon as I can get it from the library and fit it into my reading schedule, and goes into more of the science behind why certain habits help lower our blood glucose levels and why living with a balanced blood glucose is probably the biggest indicator of a healthy lifestyle. She still says it’s ok to eat cake! 😉

Darling Reader, I hope you also take a little time to reflect on the past so that you can create more of what you love in the future. And I love a collection of good books that make a lasting impression and create a well-balanced reading life.

~Ashley

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