Y is for Year
I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.
Focusing on an A to Z of my TBR (to be read) list, each letter will have books starting with that letter on my list, a book I’ve read and reviewed (with the review!) and one of my books matching the letter with a link about more info about the book.
I chose the books this year quite randomly from my Goodreads Want to Read page. Some are quite creatively added to letters.
If you’d rather check out my folklore post for today, go here.
You can read reviews for from previous years for this letter here and here, and my year-end reviews here, here, here and, most recently, here.
My TBR
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already…
Until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence.
In an invitation.
My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive.
If he doesn’t go our entire family will be killed.
It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago—the same place he mysteriously died.
The academy has already killed one sibling. I’ll be damned if they take another.
I do the only thing an older sister can: chop off my hair, strap on two bras to flatten the girls, and take my brother’s place.
Magic and monsters are real. Assassins are coming for me, and the dead are prone to rise. What’s a girl faking it as a boy supposed to do? That’s right—beat the academy at its own game.
Or die trying.
Shadowspell Academy Book 1 and Shadowspell Academy Book 2 end with a cliffhanger.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
Wild is a true Amazon and it was amazing to go on this physically and mentally exhausting adventure with her. It has some serious “Mulan” vibes (she joins this crazy Culling Trials to protect someone she loves and does a good job at pretending to be a boy). I like her ragtag team of friends she makes at the Academy. Interesting magic and worldbuilding, with enough about her family’s true history kept secret to keep one hooked.
The language was an issue, though: using the Lord’s name as an expletive isn’t cool. I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.
Can’t wait to read the next book.
Trigger warnings: blood, death, grief (loss of a parent and sibling), deadly games.
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
Being accepted into an elite school of magic, monsters, and assassins was not my idea of higher education. But here I am, fighting my way through the Culling Trials to claim my right to be taught.
As if the gauntlet-type physical and mental tests aren’t enough, people are going missing.
People that are my friends.
In a dangerous world where no one is as they seem, the golden rule is simple: Trust no one. They think we should just look out for ourselves. That we should leave the fallen behind and ask no questions.
They clearly think we’re idiots. I got this far by trusting my instincts, and I’m not going to back down now.
Those kids won’t be left to die.
Not on my watch.
Shadowspell Academy Book 1 and Shadowspell Academy Book 2 end with a cliffhanger
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
So much fun to read. Wild lives up to her nickname throughout. More mystery as some students disappear. The alicorn scene was my favourite. This book is much more violent than the last. And what’s up with Wild’s magic?
The language was an issue, though: using the Lord’s name as an expletive isn’t cool. I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.
Can’t wait to read the next book.
Trigger warnings: blood, death, deadly games, kidnappings.
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
The last of the Culling Trials is here. I foolishly thought I’d survived the worst.
My team is falling to pieces around me and my heart is shattered for the losses I’ve endured. But I can’t stop when I’m so close to the end. There are too many people depending on me.
I foolishly thought there wasn’t much more I could lose…until the nature of my bloodline comes to light.
I’m not what I thought I was. Not what anyone thought I was.
But to tell people the truth would be to kill us all.
To fail the trials will mean death, but to succeed might damn me for life.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
So much fun to read! I love how Wild’s crew stick together, no matter what. And the revelation of what had happened to those who were kidnapped as well as the truth about Wild’s magic – talk about a twist! Such vivid worldbuilding.
The language was an issue, though: using the Lord’s name as an expletive isn’t cool. I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.
Can’t wait to read the next book.
Trigger warnings: blood, death, deadly games, kidnappings.
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: Year of the Chameleon by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
I’ve made it through the Culling Trials, the test that proved my mettle against every possible challenge.
I assumed that meant things would settle down and I’d start truly learning.
No more danger.
No more death threats.
No more wondering who was out to get me.
Apparently, that was not to be.
I am what this supernatural world calls a Chameleon—a rarity even amongst all these monsters. And rare things are coveted and feared by the most powerful of all—The House Of Wonder.
It’s a good thing I have my crew at my back, because this Academy?
It’s about to get seriously ugly.
Which means this farm girl is ready to play by only one set of rules.
Her own.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
It starts with a bang and everyone has to go to the House of Wonder. Wild and her crew decide to flaunt the rules and stick together.
Big white gargoyles are servants in the House of Wonder, but they seem a bit more like slaves.
The guest quarters for the House of Unmentionables is little more than a rank dungeon. The quarters for the students of the House of Wonder is fit for royalty: opulent, decadent, and over the top. It is a stark contrast and, according to Gregory and Orin, the way those from the House of Wonder view the world.
All of this rubs Wild the wrong way.
And, of course, an assassin breaks in and nearly kills Wild. At least Sandman seems to take the safety of his students seriously.
It seems two factions, maybe more, are out for Wild’s blood. And it ends so badly, that Wally unleashes her anger and true power…
Can’t wait for the next thrilling adventure!
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: Year of the Chameleon by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose The Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
The Shadowkiller is back.
And he is hunting me down like a dog in the streets of New York City using every tool and ally he has—including people I once trusted.
I have never been so alone in my life, and yet if I turn to my friends that puts a target on their backs too. Which means I have to keep running.
So, I do what I know, and I set myself to finding the trail of breadcrumbs that will lead me to the one who is still pulling the strings.
Frost. A Chameleon just like me. Just like the Shadowkiller. Worse, she’s seeking out my friends to pick them off, one by one. To drain their lives in order to feed hers.
To stop her, I have to find her—a task easier said than done in a city this size.
What I don’t expect to find is a truth that this world and its secrets run far deeper, and far darker than I could have ever suspected.
But is any of that going to stop me?
Not a chance.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
It picks up where the previous book left off. There are loads of new layers to the worldbuilding and interesting uses of different kinds of magic.
The alicorns are awesome.
The dual point of view was something to get used to.
What a cliffhanger! There doesn’t seem to be a way for Wild and her crew to get out of it.
Can’t wait for the finale.
About the Book I’ve Read
Shadowspell Academy: Year of the Chameleon by K.F. Breene and Shannon Mayer
You Don’t Choose the Academy. The Academy Chooses You.
Broken, bruised, and battered beyond anything else, I’ve survived what I shouldn’t have.
But my day isn’t done yet. We finally have the key to stopping Frost—literally. Even if we don’t know how to use it.
One last time my friends and I have to scour not only the city but the supernatural world to find the pieces of this final puzzle—and we have three days to do it.
One final showdown brings us back to where it all began, and I face off against the woman who killed my brother. Who hunted my mother down. Who broke my uncle’s spirit.
If I cannot find the final pieces, then I will fail. And if I fail, Frost wins, and we are all doomed.
No pressure.
No pressure at all.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
There’s a lot of headhopping that I found annoying – especially when it happened in one scene.
It picks up where the last book left off, but some of it felt contrived. “Chameleon luck” as Sandman calls it. Grr.
I did enjoy the various battles, magic, and defeating the Darkness – a creepy monster created by Frost. The disease attacking the House of Wonder and the Nulls – like Wild’s dad – was interesting once it was revealed what it was and how to heal it.
Perhaps because of the headhopping, I didn’t feel as invested in one character’s survival. Add to that they can all “read” each other, it took away that element of wondering if everyone is really on board with what was going on.
As for the ending? Why were the alicorns there if they didn’t kick butt? And there were serious Harry Potter vibes… With all the headhopping, I thought Wild might be another Tris or even Katniss, but it wasn’t as decisive as that.
Language issues: word plays like “truck” for the f-word, yet others slipped through that are more offensive. And using the Lord’s name as an expletive isn’t cool – an issue throughout this series.
I had a problem with the italics as it messes with my eyes and head, making it difficult to read and enjoy the book. Authors and publishers: please consider the neurodivergent when making decisions about italics so books are accessible to all.
A slightly disappointing end to the series.
My Book
Tortured Tales (Faery Tales Series #6)
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I hope you enjoyed this. For more books I’ve read and reviewed, check out either my Pinterest board about reviews or my Goodreads profile. Alternatively, you can check out my reviews on BookBub. Have you read any of the books? Loved or hated any of them?
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