Toxic Reads

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I've completely revamped the way I review in the last year and I'm happy to start posting those here, did you love the introduction to Bloodwing Academy?

Yeah this speaks for itself, I really thought that I needed to go back into my personal archive and share this review since I'd recently read, reviewed, and shared the 3rd book in the series. I'm shameless when it comes to the cozy, smutty romance that plays out on the pages, or rather in my ears, of C.M. Nascosta's Cambric Creek series. I just really enjoy the stories, each time learning more about the broader world and the people in it. Give it a try if maybe a big, sweet minotaur could be just your type. TW: explicit, death, grief, panic attacks

The energy is not doing its thing today and my spoons have abandoned me, aside from basic hygiene and feeding myself I haven't really managed to do much else. Where are my chronically ill readers? I think this review pretty much speaks for itself. It was a really fun trilogy and I'll be sharing my reviews of the rest very soon. TW: Violence, hunted, dubious consent (magical influence), explicit

My May wrap-up from storygraph. I'm feeling a bit sick and very tired after yesterday spent at the pride celebration and parade in Pittsburgh so enjoy the nice statistics of my reading from last month while I lay around and recoup.

Trying to be ambitious for June and knock off some physical books I have laying around my house, there's hundreds this will literally do nothing it just makes me feel better. The goal is to try and finish a few series that I've been reading and finally delve into Quicksilver, which I have been thoroughly told I'm going to love and it's right up my alley. The real goal for the month is only 5 books, I'm behind 4 still for where I should be going into June so here's hoping I get through at least 9! What do you want to read in June? Do you prefer to have a rigid plan of what you're reading next, a vague idea of what you'd like to read, or just wing it?

Here we are at the end of the month and I feel like I'm back and reading is fun again. I'm consuming bookish media and enjoying the community. I went on some adventures this month with Scottish fae, post-apocalyptic vampires, werewolf packs, and summer camp romance. What did you read this month? I'm always taking recommendations feel free to reach out.

Here's book 2 which should get us all caught up on the Sombra Demons, just until I get around to reading Shannon in Sombra just one book ahead of it on my TBR atm. This to me is where the series really starts to make me feel like I need to know everyone's story who comes into contact with this grimoire. Nox and Amy are sweet and tortured each in their own ways and the trials they face only make them more compatible and perfect for each other in my own eyes. Did anyone else laugh when Nox was dragged by the car? Just me? Oops. Yes I know to some these books aren't worth the read, they're fairly predictable and always seem to end in HEA, those are the things I love about them, aside from tall, dark, and devilish let's be honest here. Sometimes I don't want to spend 3 hours in world building and learning a magic system, there have their time and place don't get me wrong I like Brandon Sanderson as much as the next person, but I also enjoy the simpler stories. Enjoying them for what they are, just a different kind of book. Because I forgot them in the graphic TW: SA, stalking, violence, murder, confinement

So, I figured it was in my best interest to go back and write up some reviews for the beginning of this series. Back to book one, we meet Shannon, she lives in our modern world with our modern ideals and thoughts on things like magic and demons. So when she finds a grimoire and what appears to be a spell to summon her true love, it seems like harmless fun and even if it did summon or help her find her true love how could she ever have expected Malphas. Tall, dark, and handsome is an understatement but our mans is utterly inhuman, a Sombra demon male. They go through their trials of connection but ultimately the love that blossoms proves that they are meant to be together and true mates. This book got me hooked into this world and led me to reading all of their stories, I'm excited to read the final book in this series very soon and return to Shannon in Sombra.

This is book 3 in the Cambric Creek series and yes I started this series for the lols and stayed for the fun and steamy romance. Lowell is struggling with balancing his relationship with his family and his career but thanks to the pandemic, he's now back home and facing the choices he's made and how they've affected those relationships. Moriah is a divorcee still struggling with the scars her marriage left behind and how very much she wanted a child from that marriage that never happened. Enter Moriah's best friend who also has dealt with infertility in her inter-species marriage and has found a solution, Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic. Seeing Moriah and Lowell fall each other and realizing that maybe they didn't have to create a child before living and enjoying their travels together, gives me so much joy and boy oh boy it is steamy, if you aren't a certified monster lover this may actually be a good gateway since our MMC is mostly human appearing but still brings some beastly elements, changing, enhanced senses, knotting... I really am looking forward to the next book and already have it downloaded on audible!

So not a whole lot of the details of this one have stuck around in my head, but I do remember the basics. I did really enjoy this in the moment and it is a book I will revisit in the future when I get more of the Romancing the Clarksons series. So, Aaron has big political dreams, to become a part of a prominent senator's team after he royally messed up his career by sleeping with another man's wife. He's on a cross country trip with his siblings following his mother's passing and they have a pretty complicated family dynamic. No one really seems to get along very well or to genuinely know one another. I loved seeing the relationships grow through this story and the siblings coming together as Aaron realizes he isn't this horrendous person and is in fact worthy of love. Enter Grace. I have mixed feelings. She read very black sheep, manic pixie, and I hate that archetype. I felt that way less as the story went on, we learn her trauma and her passions and she does just seem more like she has wanderlust and a genuine want to help people in need, even if that means stealing from her father's campaign funds. This does end happily and the cross country trip continues at the end, but with plans changed, the group splitting to do some things on their own and then to regroup at a later date. I'm curious to see where that takes the general dynamic and overall story. It is very insta-lust turned loved so keep that in mind going into this, but I really loved seeing them discover why they belong together and how well they work. I finished this book on February 3rd and after this one I've been in a pretty bad reading slump.

The second book in The Empyrean series, another reread to get ready for book 3. Things are changing and we know so much more that's been going on behind the scenes, a rebellion, an army. A home has been reclaimed and oh man. I once again want to bang Xaden and Violet's heads together and tell them all their problems could really be solved if they would take five seconds and talk to each other, but I guess that's the nature of some people. Lore abounds as we learn more about the dragons and the past, all of which ties into this new future. A cliffhanger that made me want to pull my hair out and has left me more than nervous to read the newest installment is how this book ends. Be warned this one will walk all over your heart and you'll thank it.

My third read of this book so far, I was rereading the series as a refresh to read Onyx Storm, I swear I'll get there soon, I've just promised a friend to start it this weekend, I'll more than likely be spending my birthday this Saturday reading away at it. You know I love this series and I love this book. Xaden and Violet have such a crazy dynamic and I always find myself yelling at my book, just talk to each other! All that aside, the world building is phenomenal in The Empyrean series, I love all the lore drop and background history we get as the story progresses. Having some disability representation written from the perspective of someone who actually lives with it was so refreshing to see. Next up is Iron Flame!