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THIS MAGPIE CAN DO

A picture of the book Wake, Siren on a table with some plants.

Wake, Siren lies about being a feminist retelling

Content note: The book includes incest, pedophilia, murder, cannibalism, domestic abuse/intimate partner...

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A picture of the hardcover version of Six of Crows sitting on a table.

Magic, heists, and trauma: Six of Crows was amazing

My favorite books tend to be character-driven. I want events to happen because of the choices characters...

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The book "Tress of the Emerald Sea" is sitting on a wood table to show what teh book looks like.

Quick Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea

Are you looking for a cozy read with a little bit of adventure? Loveable characters? Then let’s...

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this.magpie.reads

I know, I know, I abandoned this account. But I ca

I know, I know, I abandoned this account. But I came back because I felt COMPELLED to talk about this book. I grabbed it off Spotify on a whim to fall asleep to and ended up loving it!

Throne on the Dark is a playful enemies-to-lovers. Nothing about it is serious, except how charming it all is. Damien has black hair, purple eyes and a plan to release his demon father. Ama is blond haired blue eyed and just wants to save her home.

I giggled at the deliberately silly names like Ravenheart and at how the two leads interact. But what really blew me away is how this book managed to work on some actually healthy dynamics about consent and power, in what amounts to a kidnapping fantasy!

I know some folks like a dark romance that plays it straight and portrays situations that would be horrific in reality for the sake of entertainment. I don't think there is anything wrong with those stories, but it was really interesting for me to see an author work through a way to make the couple healthy, even in a good vs. evil kidnapping scenario.

I also just... really like Damien? He's the most emotionally mature male romantic lead I have ever seen and he doesn't even seem to realize it. The way the third act... difficulties are handed was stellar to me.

If you want to read a romance that doesn't take itself too seriously I think you should consider this book. It's really a romantic comedy (and in a small fourth wall break by the narration calls itself that). I had fun.

The audio book was also well done, although I think the woman voicing Ama's POV did a better job. Sorry to the other voice actor, I just didn't enjoy his character voices as much. Especially Ama 💀.

🌶️: Low low low. Nothing explicit, though the characters are attracted to each other and you hear them thinking about that.

Trigger warning/content warnings: Reference to a past rape, not described in detail. Blood, lots of blood (one of the main characters uses blood magic). Fantasy violence, especially near the end. A side character uses words like whore and trollop to describe a woman. This is not viewed favorably by the narrative.

Cozy night after a day of gardening 💜 I'm loving "

Cozy night after a day of gardening 💜 I'm loving "Can't Spell Treason without Tea" so far. It is absolutely cozy, while still having some stakes and a lot of heart.

My trusty cuddle buddy is ready to read with me (d

My trusty cuddle buddy is ready to read with me (don't mind her expression 😂 she has resting worried face)

I'm excited to start Can't Spell Treason without Tea. I need a cozy read this week.

I inhaled A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. I want

I inhaled A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. I want to turn around and read it again just to soak more of it up.

I've been noticing a trajectory in my reading. I first got back into reading via ACOTAR, which I liked! But in books like ACOTAR, at least to me, the prose fades into the background. It's easy to read and inoffensive. I hardly notice it after a while and just let the story play out in my head. And that's a fine way for a book to be!

But then I read a few of Leigh Bardugo's books and with her, I loved the story and appreciated much of the prose. Especially in the Six of Crows dudology compared to the Grisha trilogy.

Now this book, A Study in Drowning the prose was a highlight. The author even had beautiful poems that were intended to be by people within the story. Poetry I will ABSOLUTELY be quoting in my feed here soon.

I am always so pleased to read something I enjoy. I think I had some quibbles as I went through it, but nothing that stopped me from having a grand time.

#bookstagram #AvaReid # AStudyinDrowning #novel #bookreview #fae #darkacademia #romance #fairytale #mystery

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Written by Magpie