Hey everyone!
The month of October is finally coming to an end and we're officially welcoming winter season here in India. 'Tis the season of socks and cosy blankets!
Anyway, welcome to my post where I update you on all my October reads, as well as many other releases that came out these last few months.
So without further ado, let's have a look!
1) Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat-
My Rating- 🌟🌟🌟🌟
SYNOPSIS
The ancient world of magic is no more. Its heroes are dead, its halls are ruins, and its great battles between Light and Dark are forgotten. Only the Stewards remember, and they keep their centuries-long vigil, sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns. Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. When an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, Will is ushered into a world of magic, where he must train to play a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.
As London is threatened by the Dark King’s return, the reborn heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war begin to draw battle lines. But as the young descendants of Light and Dark step into their destined roles, old allegiances, old enmities and old flames are awakened. Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.
My Review
Dark Rise was an intense, thrilling and fun read. It's unique and darker take on the Chosen one trope, with a very slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance.
One of the most entertaining parts of the story was the action set on ships and the sea, and a mysterious magic system that we just begin peeling the layers off of.
It has a typical looming Dark Lord kind of villain, but the active antagonist in the first book is a character named James, who is a morally-grey character. He is also my favourite if the story's cast, and is fascinating to explore. We know that he has some secrets that could potentially be game-changing, but he in himself is very powerful.
The story users the idea of old, dormant powers being reborn and sort of re-manifesting in present day figures to awake the ultimate evil. The scenes are laced with tension and high stakes, and I highly recommend picking this one up.
Read my full in-depth review of this book here!
My Rating- 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (5)
SYNOPSIS
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. Â
My Review
The City Beautiful is dark, sinister and thrilling story of a Jewish boy and the wonderful beast that was Chicago in 1893, when all the odds are stacked against him.
The plot is gripping and mysterious and there was a lot more action than I was expecting, and the stakes and the obstacles rise with every the of the page. There is definitely a creepy element to the story, which the author amplifies with their writing and the dark atmosphere of the city.
Our protagonist, Alter, is possessed by the ghost of his best friend Yakov, someone who he really cares deeply about and someone who now wants him to avenge his death.
Alter himself is a very likeable character- he's loving and kind and brave but he's also afraid of a facing a lot of things, he's loyal but he can still hurt people and ever conflict of his personality makes great to follow around.
We also meet another character, frank, who is quite the opposite of alter but equally important. He's kind of like a secret crush of Alter, but also a kind of a high school bad boy except on the streets of 18th century Chicago. Just the way his presence turns up the tension and emotions in every scene is so fun to see.
This book also tackles the topics of race, sexuality, religion and the political and social issues that were in that era and I really thought it was brilliant how the author made the setting and the timeline work towards making the story more high stakes and deep.
My Rating- 🌟🌟🌟. ✨ (3.5)
SYNOPSIS
The Prestige meets What If It’s Us in Before We Disappear, a queer ahistorical fantasy set during the 1909 Seattle Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, where the two assistants of two ambitious magicians find themselves falling in love amidst a bitter rivalry designed to tear them apart. Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility have served him well his entire life—making him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in early-twentieth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks and copycat sleight-of-hand illusions, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago—not that she would ever admit it. But when they’re forced to flee the continent for America, the Enchantress finds a new audience in Seattle at the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She and Jack are set to make a fortune until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s act threatens to overshadow the Enchantress and co-opt her audience. Jack has no choice but to hunt for the secrets behind Laszlo’s otherworldly illusions—but what he uncovers isn’t at all what he expected. What makes Laszlo’s tricks possible is, unbelievably, a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Wilhelm’s abilities defy all the laws of physics. His talents are no clever sleights-of-hand. But even though Laszlo and Wilhelm’s act threatens to destroy the life Jack and the Enchantress have built, Jack and Wilhelm have near-instant connection. As the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows increasingly dangerous and dire, Jack finds he has to choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him love.
My Review-
I went into this book with the expectations of it being quite like the Night Circus, and in a way of you loved the Night Circus, then you're definitely gonna like this one.
But it really has so many fun things in it apart from just the rival-magicians-falling-in-love trope. It's a lot more younger in tone, and the writing is more simplistic. That in no way means it's boring. It's just easier to read and get into.
The characters, Jack and Laszlo are so sweet and so likeable. The building of their relationship is very wholesome and both of them bring out the best in each other.
The magic system and the way it works, along with the historical setting (though it doesn't contribute too much) and the rivalry make for a very interesting story, and combines with good pacing, it's very hard to find anything wrong with it.
Usually, Hutchinson's work are very dark and serious, so it was a nice change to read something light and fun.
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun-
MY RATING- 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
MY REVIEW-
The Charm Offensive is a beautiful heartfelt and emotional read that I cannot gush about enough. It's perfect for all the fans of Red, White, Royal Blue and the Kiss Quotient.
The writing is heavy, character-focused and creates a palpable tension that keeps you flipping the pages.
The characters, Charlie and Dev are absolute sweethearts and it wil be so easy for you to fall for them and their antics, and I had my heart in my mouth the whole time I saw them falling for each other.
The story is also incredible in terms of representation and the themes it takes on, like OCD, depression, sexuality, and mental health.
Dev wishes he could keep this moment somehow. He wishes he could preserve it in the grooves of a vinyl record and fall asleep listening to the song on repeat.
Synopsis
Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.
Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.
As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.
In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer
I haven't talked about this series a lot on my blog, but I loved The Gilded Wolves series. Initially I picked it up because I was looking for something to fill the big void Six of Crows had left me with, but this tale ended up making a place of its own. I had finished the sequel just in time for the last book to come out and safe to say, I wasn't disappointed at all. On a different note, although this is a review for the last book in a series, it won't have any spoilers so you can keep reading. The Gilded Wolves basically starts as a heist story with a unique cast of characters brought together by the eccentric noble, Severin. But through each book, the plot, the stakes and the magic all expand exponentially. We find out that there is a lot more going than just a dangerous con. There is a fascinating magic system of illusions, gods, immortality, and power. The series as a whole would be somewhere between 4 and 3.5 for me, just because I never got to fully appreciate everything about this series as I read it in a but of chaotic time at my home. But I still really enjoyed it and am planning a re-read and I think my rating I might bump up my rating a little but after that. Maybe? We'll see.
MY RATING- 🌟🌟🌟🌟. 🌟
NOTE- Hey, so I'm not including the synopsis for this book since it is a sequel and contains spoilers for the first book, but I'll leave the link here.
MY REVIEW-
No spoilers in this review, so don't hesitate to read on!
Aristotle and Dante is beautiful, heartwarming story of of two young boys as they navigate the world, or moreover their world in the first book that is only their small town of El Paso, Texas in 1987, and as we move to the second book, the rest of the world.
It is told from the first person, present tense point of view of Aristotle, Ari for short. He's a young boy of about 15 or 16 and he makes a new friend named Dante that he has a special connection with. It's heart melting coming-of-age story that never fails to put me through an emotional wringer everytime.
The second book hit me just as hard as the first, if not more, as it expanded and talked about grief, loss, flaws, identity and being a queer person in that time.
The story dives more deeply into he characters and we explore more of their flaws and and their growth, and
I had the best reading this book.
It looks like you had a good month. I’m trying to branch out some more so I might check out some of the romances