The Summoning of Mages

Nadia and Tate (co-authors)

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review (and spoiler free).

If you've loved reading HarryPotter while growing up, you WILL love The Summoning of Mages, I sssstrongly recommend you add it to your TBR. I'm already so hungry for more!!

I was a bit afraid at first about the length of that book, it was honestly a kind of intimidating knowing this is only the first book of a series, but every pages was 100% worth it. While HP is a story about a kid growing up, The Summoning of Mages has us follow Hazel and Gwen, both young adult women : they're both going to take the the entrance exam to get into St. Elias University and we then follow an entire year of them going through so much.

Why do I keep talking about HP? Man I felt such stronnnng vibes that was so close to Harry and Ron in Hazel and Gwen relationship, their different lives and backgrounds, and I'M HERE FOR IT. I really fell in love with their relationship and the fact that this story is really focused on it, there's some strong sense of sisterhood that I really really liked. Add to that a touch of romance, a sprinkle of spice, secrets, more friends, challenges and mysteries.. oh boy am I waiting for the following books, keep them coming!

I'm so curious about knowing more about that really cool world, and I also can't wait to know more about all of these characters, as well as discover if my little hunch about one (or several) particular character(s) turns out to be justified or not. 👀

On a side note, I must say I had never seen that many ways of describing one's skin in one single book, I'm genuinely impressed.

I will definitely be following Nadia and Tate's work, that was an amazing debut novel, definitely a 5 stars for me, I'm so grateful for having the opportunity of reading the ARC. Thanks again ♡


The Bone Witch

Rin Chupeco

I'm re-reading this 4 years after my first read, and I can't give anything other than 5 stars again. I love Tea, that kid who doesn't understand wth is happening to her, who couldn't cope with her grief, who's heart was so broken that she discovers she's in fact a Bone Witch.

I love that she's a bit rebellious but knows when she should probably better listen to her elders, I like that she's a lost as we are, that she sometimes don't understand why something is wrong. She's a small girl coming from a small and poorer town, she has to move to the big city to learn what it is to be a Bone Witch, which unfortunately very rare but also quite despised because of their affinity with the dead. (people are scared alright)

I love how she's become so attached to that one person who turned out to be so kind to her, willing to teach her the way of bone witches (or, dark ashas) and I really like every decision she's making. She starts as a kid, she's becoming a teen, all of her decisions make sense to me, especially because they're not always the wisest decisions and most of the time she might be doing stuff for selfish reasons despite what she's trying to tell herself. She's not little miss perfect and I find it super refreshing.

And also, I like that between the present story told by the bard, and the past as told by Tea, we don't really know who the hell is the villain in the story.

I can't wait to read the other two books and jump back into that world I so loved 4 years ago, and hopefully I still love the two others as much as I still love this one.

One note though : I read it on kindle this time and I must say it was quite confusing because, where the "present" moments are all written in italic in the physical book, everything was written the same in the kindle version. It might be an editing mistake but yeah the first few pages were hard to follow until I remember she was actually telling her past. I'd recommend reading the physical book for a little less confusion. 

A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash

J.F Johns

Thank you so much to Jazmin F. Johns for sending an ARC my way through NetGalley, I am beyond grateful. Here's my honest review:

oh. my. gods.
oh, my GODS.

If I could, I would give it 6 stars. A Kingdom of Shadow and Ash went straight to my favourite reads of 2025.

I will start with the ONLY point that bothered me a little : the title. There's way too many Kingdoms and Courts of this and that, and I feel like that books deserves a less common title, honestly even a simple "Shadow and Ash" would've felt less common.

That said, oh dear, how I devoured it. I LOVE me a good romantasy, and this one was absolutely perfect in my eyes. A real good slow burn? Yes please. Interesting and imperfect characters? Yes please. HORNS, DRAGONS, WYVERNS??? YES PLEASE.

What a start of a story... war, love, despair, rage, a curse? Such a great recipe. Jazmin guides us through a magical words of eight kingdoms, all of them with different gifts, animals, gods, allies, all of them under the threat of a looming curse. I have loved her writing, the descriptions, the flow of every sentence, the rhythm. I haven't been bored one bit.

I knew from the start that I would love Mal and god did she not disappointed. I have loved reading about her, her siblings, her ennemies, her thoughts and fears, her doubts. I have loved knowing more about said siblings, following them and their thoughts, as well as following characters from other kingdoms that quickly became main characters to the story too.

The different inside battles the characters are going through were so interesting, even if at some point I really went "is he really bothered that much about that???" and then with a little thinking, I tried to put myself into his shoes and yes, I assume it must be hard to live with that. (staying spoiler free here)

The characters development is very well done. And all the stakes.. what is the curse? how to break it? is there going to be an other war? We get a lot of clues dropped here and there during the story that really guides us to kind of guess what is and will be happening if you're paying attention, and this was also very well done.

I loved all of them so much, I'm super excited about reading more.

Thanks again for the ARC, I had the greatest time.

Daughters of the Crosslands

Brian Kerr

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review (and spoiler free)

4 stars from me!

First and foremost, I was very interested by this book right after reading the description. A story about siblings? A sister risking so much to save her brother?? I was sold right away.

Even with the world building we expect from an epic fantasy book, it was easy enough to not get lost. The knowledge is spread throughout the chapters (which are short enough to stay entertained), well enough that there’s always a bit of mystery and always new questions about the whos and whats and whys, which have captured my attention.

I really liked getting more humanity, thoughts and opinions of characters I was sure would only be some "means to an end", very background type of characters, but with the multiple POVs this book brings we really get a chance to know more about them! And I didn't mind the multiple POVs, for me it was really welcomed to have some kind of omniscient POV throughout the story as I was super curious about everything and everyone.

I feel like I went through all the emotions reading this story, contentment, fear, sadness, anticipation, dread, hope, disappointment, excitement.. everything. It's been a really good time reading, now I'm hoping we will get more about this universe in the near future!