Fantasy Books & Cucumber Harvest

Shadows in the Moonlight by Santa Montefiore Historical Romance & A book from a genre you don’t normally read. This book fits so many different genres, fantasy, historical romance, and gothic horror which is a genre I don’t often read but couldn’t resist. 2 of my absolute favourite series are Outlander and Discovery of Witches, both fiction series that involve love, history, and time travel just like this series. A little bit history fiction and a little bit fantasy, my absolute favourite! This one is even better because it uses British/Canadian spelling, which I love. As the book begins, Pixie is a young child from London that has a special ability to slip through the veil and as she calls it, timeslide. As a child she uses her ability to escape a troubled childhood but as an adult she has learned how to control it. In present day 2013 the story begins in Cornwall with the Talwyns. Bruce fortuitously inherits an old house dating back to the 1500’s from a very very distant relative and moves in with his wife and 2 children. After a few short weeks they are convinced the mansion is haunted and hire Pixie to escort the spirit to the other side. The book switches between 1895 and 2014 as Pixie tries to find out how to help the spirit move on. When Pixie slides into another time she also slides into another body, like Sam from the TV show Quantum Leap. Pixie has 11 days to find out what she needs to in order to help the spirit move on in present day. She is very cautious of the butterfly effect and knows that she can’t do anything to stop what is going to happen or get too involved in the mystery or her boss’s brother. The romance fell flat for me but I loved the concept of this book. I loved that Pixie is there for the spirit to move in and not to save anyone in the past or change anything. I can’t imagine the choices she faces, it sure makes for tense time travel. I found this book to be more mystery or a science fiction/fantasy than historical fiction. I would be interested in following along in Pixie’s next adventure.

King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard A high fantasy book. This is the third book in the Red Queen Series. We pick up where we left off with King Maven holding Mare prisoner and Cal on the other side with the Scarlet Guard and the Newbloods. I don’t remember Cameron (a new blood) from the last book but some of the chapters are from her POV but the majority of the book is from Mare’s perspective. Maven uses Mare’s love of her friends in the Guard to make her publicly disavow the Scarlet Guard and to call the new bloods to the Silver’s “side”. Later in the book, Evangeline gets a few chapters of her point of view and it’s interesting to see her thoughts on Mare, Cal, Maven, and how her life changed so drastically once Mare entered their lives. The women in this series kick butt but the men, especially Cal and Maven are weak and uninspiring MMCs. This book felt like the set up for the next book (the last book?) and the ending was predictable but I am looking forward to the next book, conclusion of the series.

The Bond that Burns by Briar Boleyn 🇨🇦 A book by an author who uses a pseudonym. This fantasy novel is broken up into parts. Part 1 reintroduces the reader to the main characters and describes the fallout over the past 2 months since the last book ended. Medra is held in her consort’s bedroom for the summer until the new year at Bloodwing Academy begins again. This year things are different though, Medra has been blood bonded to Blake and she has awakened Nyxaris, the only dragon in the realm. The gang is back though and I like Florence Theo and Visha. I still don’t like Blake and it made me mad that she continued to feel loyalty to him. I really enjoyed newer characters like Kage, who is more prominent in this book and Lunaya was interesting too. Again, like the first book I enjoyed the plot and the side characters, but the two main characters annoyed me. I do like how after all the conflict in part 2, Blake and Medra start working towards a common goal in part 3, kind of. I’m interested to see where this is going, but felt like this book was really just setting up the next conflict. I’m glad that the relationship between the main characters is more solid towards the end, the mistrust and fragility of their friendship/relationship, despite their bond, over two years, doesn’t seem plausible anymore.

Brimstone by Callie Hart 2025 Bestseller. I couldn’t quite remember Quicksilver, the first book in this series, so I went back and read my review of it and I was pretty on the fence about it until the last 100 pages. I couldn’t remember any of the characters from my review, so picking up this book, at this size, was quite intimidating. However, I loved how this book started with action. Right away, I remembered the first book, the players and how much I liked Carrion lol. There’s a lot of information in the first quarter of the book. This is a very long read and I found it hard to stay focused on all the mythology and history. I love Carrion and Fisher’s “friendship” I howled when Carrion got thrown out the window and still yelled him on the way down. I like Archer, Tal and all the characters in this book. The side characters really do make this series. I really like Edina’s book and where that is going and I remembered how much I disliked Hayden lol. The thing is, it’s just too long. It was a good book and a lot happened, but it seemed so drawn out that I had trouble keeping focused. I do like where the story is headed and I’m looking forward to the, hopefully shorter, next one.

Broken Dove by Dani Francis Longer Than 400 Pages. It seems like a long time ago that I read the first book of this series, Silver Elite. While most of it was explained, it felt like it took a while to get into this one. I find in most second books of fantasy trilogies. When the FMC is on her own like she is in this book, that’s exactly what happens. Wren and Xavier are at The Dagger with the Uprising but Cross is back with The Company. Although they are able to talk using their minds, they don’t very much and we get to see Wren make new friendships and relationships. I liked her friend Kaine in the first book and I like him as Grayson in the second book even more. I also thought Wren and Xavier‘s relationship was humorous and even though there aren’t any spicy scenes because the two main characters are in different places, their banter was hilarious. I also liked all the Old Era terms because you know, I AM Old Era lol and like really, who doesn’t love a good breakup scene in the rain? Lol Although I was thrown off by all the breakups especially after all the childhood soulmate stuff. I kept asking myself why Julian kept her away from Kallister? I understand the relationship that develops with Gray but I will feel bad when the inevitable happens. I gasped every time a character betrayed and or died! There were new abilities popping up everywhere, new characters that you get all invested in that won’t be in the third book and the last 300 pages felt worth it. The third one has a lot of cleanup to do and I can’t wait!

Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry Map on the Inside Cover. I don’t remember what happened in the last book lol. This story begins with a small recap of what the Shield of Sparrows, but other than that… Nothing. It took a while to remember the world and the players. This book is broken up into small chapters told from mainly to perspective Odessa who we met in the first book and Caspia, a new character. Both women are travelling to find each other but they don’t know it. Odessa and her charge Evie begin at the top of the continent travelling to the other side, Quentis. Caspia and her cousin are fulfilling their destiny, their rites, by travelling across the sea to a new continent, Calandra. Caspia comes from a line of shapeshifters and she is looking for her Sister who she believes is there somewhere. Odessa has been tasked to find her. It’s interesting because the relationship from the first book, Odessa and Ransom isn’t at forefront. Caspia has the romance instead. So while there isn’t a slow burn in the romance department. The storyline is a slow burn as you continuously wait for these two warrior princesses to meet each other. When they finally do, it’s epic. What a fabulous twist and I can’t wait for the next one!