5 stars because it made me cry. . So obviously when I heard Laura Sebastian was taking on the Lady of Shallot I was so beyond excited. I love when myths take women and put them front and center.

on early reviews, gory, bloody, violent, tons of profanity and vulgarity. None of that particularly bothers me (mostly because I skip if it gets really descriptive gory), but I know people thought it was excessive.

Once Upon a Broken Heart takes place in the same world as Caraval. I enjoyed the series, but I was unsure if I was going to actively pick up OUABH. Thankfully for me, Fairyloot was including it in a subscription box and therefore I didn’t have to fuss with whether I wanted the book or not. (I’m glad I got it, because I did enjoy it immensely!)

I adored Down Comes the Night when I got an ARC of it back last fall. It was stupendous and everything – so I was so pleased when I was sent an eARC of Saft’s next novel, A Far Wilder Magic. I was humming with excitement! A Far Wilder Magic combines magic and a quest together in a way that works.

I was so excited for this book that I preordered the signed, sprayed edges edition from Waterstones. The book is stunningly gorgeous, I will say that. Last year, House on the Cerulean Sea topped my list of favorite 2020 books. And previously his indie series were some of my favorites. I went into this book expecting to love it, especially because so many people said it made them ugly cry.

This is my favorite of all the books so far. The payoff is totally worth it in this one. We finally see Auren become strong and sure of herself. We see her become the person we knew she was going to become. But we also get to join in on a little political intrigue between King Ravinger and King Midas.

Glint is book 2 in the plated prisoner series. I liked the first one, but this one is where things really get good. This book is very slow compared to the first book. It feels a bit like nothing is happening at the beginning, but that isn’t quite the truth. Auren is slowly figuring herself out, but she has yet to leave that gilded cage Midas has set up for it.