Another month with only a couple of books read, but oh, such books!

Dangerous Remedy (Battalion of the Dead #1) by Kat Dunn

(I had previously received a proof copy from the publisher, though I read and reviewed the Illumicrate edition that I paid for)

This book solved my reading slump! It’s about a group of teenagers during the French Revolution who rescue condemned prisoners from the guillotine, for money and for revenge against the revolutionaries who killed their leader Camille’s parents. When one mission leads them to rescue a girl with mysterious powers, they find themselves having to play both sides in a bid to set her free. There’s politics, mistrust, romantic drama, a dysfunctional found family and so much fun stuff I could list it for hours. Highly recommended.

Buy: Amazon | Bookshop.org (affiliate links)

The Ravens (The Ravens #1) by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige

I picked this up because it seemed perfect for my mood – a story set at a US college about a sorority in which all the sisters are witches. It was everything I hoped for. The main characters are Scarlett, who hopes she is destined to be the sorority president, like her mother before her, and Vivi, who comes from a totally different background. Her mother has always been troubled, making them move home because of bad feelings she gets, making her living as a tarot reader. When Vivi joins the sorority, Scarlett is appointed to be her ‘big sister’, and instantly takes a dislike to her charge. But when dark, violent things start to happen, they have to band together to defeat an enemy that threatens the coven. It has all the tropes I want from a sorority witch book – glamorous parties, backstabbing, secrets, oaths and the ability to make you question assumptions about power.

Buy: Amazon | Bookshop.org (affiliate links)

It was not an amazing month for reading, but I wrote the first draft of a new novel, so yay overall!

Book mentioned:

Arabella by Georgette Heyer

The frothy Regency romance I needed! Miss Arabella Tallant is a vicar’s daughter with big ambitions, sent to London to attempt to find a wealthy husband who can help support her sisters to make good matches and her brothers to enter the careers they want. But on the way, the old carriage she’s borrowed from her uncle breaks down, and she and her chaperone take refuge with the rich Mr Robert Beaumaris while they wait for help. While there, Arabella overhears Mr Beaumaris speculating to his friend Lord Fleetwood that she contrived the accident in order to meet him, and is yet another silly fortune-hunting girl. Arabella is so furious at this insult that to wind Mr Beaumaris up she tells them that she is a heiress. Unfortunately Lord Fleetwood, a fortune-hunter himself, is no good at keeping secrets, and she finds herself the toast of the season, receiving proposal after proposal that she cannot accept. Fortunately, Mr Beaumaris rather likes her. It dragged a little bit in the middle but overall I really enjoyed it.

Content warnings: big age gap in relationship, anti-Semitism (one sentence towards the end)

Buy: Amazon | Bookshop.org (affiliate links)