#BookReview: Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen

Inspired by Kailee Pedersen's own journey being adopted from Nanning, China in 1996 and growing up on a farm in Nebraska, this rich and atmospheric supernatural horror debut explores an ancient Chinese mythology.

The last thing Nick Morrow expected to receive was an invitation from his father to return home. When he left rural Nebraska behind, he believed he was leaving everything there, including his abusive father, Carlyle, and the farm that loomed so large in memory, forever.

But neither Nick nor his brother Joshua, disowned for marrying Emilia, a woman of Asian descent, can ignore such summons from their father, who hopes for a deathbed reconciliation. Predictably, Joshua and Carlyle quickly warm to each other while Nick and Emilia are left to their own devices. Nick puts the time to good use and his flirtation with Emilia quickly blooms into romance. Though not long after the affair turns intimate, Nick begins to suspect that Emilia’s interest in him may have sinister, and possibly even ancient, motivations.

Punctuated by scenes from Nick’s adolescent years, when memories of a queer awakening and a shadowy presence stalking the farm altered the trajectory of his life forever, Sacrificial Animals explores the violent legacy of inherited trauma and the total collapse of a family in its wake.

#BookReview: Exodus (The Ravenhood #2) by Kate Stewart

Can you live a lie?It’s a ghost town, this place that haunts me, the one that made me.It’s clear to me that I’ll never outgrow Triple Falls or outlive the time I spent here.I can still feel them all, my boys of summer.Even when I’d sensed the danger, I gave in.I didn’t heed a single warning. I let my sickness, my love, both rule and ruin me. I played my part, eyes wide open, tempting fate until it delivered.There was never going to be an escape.All of us are to blame for what happened. All of us serving our own sentences. We were careless and reckless, thinking our youth made us indestructible, exempt from our sins, and it cost us all.I’m done pretending I didn’t leave the largest part of me between these hills and valleys, between the sea of trees that hold my secrets.It’s the reason I’m back. To make peace with my fate.And if I can’t grieve enough to cure myself in my time here, I’ll remain sick. That will be my curse.But it’s time to confess, to myself more so than any other, that I’d hindered my chances because of the way I was built, and because of the men who built me.At this point, I just want to make peace with who I am, no matter what ending I get.Because I can no longer live a lie.

#BookBlitz: .99! https://amzn.to/42lvFmj The Last Winter (The Shadowweaver Trilogy Book 1) by Holly Monroe @RABTBookTours

We have a fantastic book rec for you, and the best part is that it's the first book in a COMPLETED trilogy! 

Here are the details for the first book, The Last Winter by Holly Monroe!

The Last Winter (The Shadowweaver Trilogy Book 1)

- Completed trilogy

- Morally grey FMC

- Seasonal magic

- Complex world building

- Found family

- Deadly competition

- Obsessed MMC

- Shadow mommy

- Spice 2 chili that increases as the series goes on

- TW for brief mention of past sexual abuse

In the Race, there are no friends. In the Race, there is no family.

Her whole life, Viola has trained not just to finish the Race but to win and gain a coveted spot in Ytopie, the city of fae. The Race, designed to give glory and sustenance to the Gods, is a pilgrimage many Lowlanders feel honored to complete. Harboring anger towards the fae and her parents for leaving her behind years ago, Viola is not one of them. She will stop at nothing to get the spot she deserves amongst the fae in Ytopie. Together with her (only) friend Max, the two embark on the perilous journey through Gallant Summit toward the luxurious fae city of Ytopie.

Within Ytopie, the fae live a comfortable life surrounded by Seasonale fae and their magic. Unbeknownst to Viola, overseers of the Race watch her every move and become increasingly concerned for Viola’s well-being. Zeph is no exception, finding himself inexplicably drawn into Viola's journey.

But everything is not as it seems in Ytopie and everyone has their own agenda. When everyone wants a piece of you, how can you get out alive?

The Last Winter is the first installment in The Shadowweaver Trilogy, a fantasy romance journey through the land of Krillium. This book is intended for adults, with explicit sexual scenes and violence throughout.

#BookReview: The City Beautiful by @AdenPolydoros

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania.
 
But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows.
 
Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.

Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.  

#BookReview: Briarheart by @mercedeslackey

Miriam may be the daughter of Queen Alethia of Tirendell, but she's not a princess. She's the child of Alethia and her previous husband, the King's Champion, who died fighting for the king, and she has no ambitions to rule. When her new baby sister Aurora, heir to the throne, is born, she's ecstatic. She adores the baby, who seems perfect in every way. But on the day of Aurora's christening, an uninvited Dark Fae arrives, prepared to curse her, and Miriam discovers she possesses impossible power.

Soon, Miriam is charged with being trained in both magic and combat to act as chief protector to her sister. But shadowy threats are moving closer and closer to their kingdom, and Miriam's dark power may not be enough to save everyone she loves, let alone herself.