Everything I Read This Month: August 2023

Book one of her Gael Song series, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless opens with the death of Dublin’s Viking King. His widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions and a closely guarded secret: she is a Fomorian, meaning she’s of an immortal race who can practice fire-magic.

The Formorians are in conflict with the Tuatha Dé Danann, a similarly powerful race of immortals who once lived amongst mortals.

With this otherworldly conflict in mind, the novel takes us through Irish history and politics in the late 10th Century AD, when the land is on the brink of war.

It took me a little bit to get oriented with the plot, but once I did, I was hooked! This and the second book in the series (see below) are definitely two of my favorite books I’ve read this year.

The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Shauna Lawless’ second installment of the Gael Song series is a masterpiece. Building off of the incredible world building from the first book in the series, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, Lawless continues her dramatic historical tale with all the intriguing details I had hoped for.

Not only is Lawless’ novel beautifully written, with robust characters who are well-rounded and realistic (albeit magical in some cases), but the historical research into the non-magical aspects of the story is compelling, as is the attention to detail she weaves throughout.

If you’re at all interested in Irish history or Celtic folklore, this series was made for you!

The Words of Kings and Prophets by Shauna Lawless is available for pre-order from Amazon and Bookshop.org. It will be released on October 3, 2023.

A thoughtful and highly-researched work of historical fiction, In Her Own Right by Amanda Schiavo portrays Mary Tudor in a refreshingly human light. So often, Mary Tudor is known only by her later years, and the reputation she earned as Bloody Mary. However, Schiavo delves into the early years for the young royal, giving light to the traumas Mary would have experienced and the lessons she was forced to learn at young ages in the way of courtly politics.

In all, In Her Own Right was a fascinating and quick read, a great option for any lover of historical fiction with a particular interest in Tudor England!

In Her Own Right by Amanda Schiavo is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

I downloaded The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate on Audible because it was free this month. For a while, I thought it was going to be a DNF for me. The story was a little trite and the characters were a bit grating. Evidently, it’s the second book in a series, but it seemed to be a stand-alone novel. It also is apparently from a religious writer which is not really my typical genre.

I powered through and found myself invested by the end. However, this was more because I felt like I’d put the time in and wanted to know what happened. The protagonist was interesting enough — she’d grown up in a fundamentalist faith and left to be an editor in New York. However, the book shifted between the contemporary narrative and an old local tale, which made it difficult to follow. Then the book just kind of…ended? Maybe it picks up in book three, but I can’t say I’ll be finding out myself.

The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Another Audible freebie, The Darkling Bride by Laura Andersen is a twisting murder mystery set in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. It follows the Gallagher family as the current viscount, Aiden, works to donate the estate to the government as a public trust. It’s an unpopular move in Aiden’s family, but he has no interest in the estate since his parents’ mysterious deaths there two decades ago.

With a bit of back-and-forth time jumping, parts of The Darkling Bride were a bit confusing. Overall, though, it was a gripping story and I found I was deeply invested by the time the drama really started to unfold. A great book for Downton Abby fans who want some dark academia and spice in their next read.

The Darkling Bride by Laura Andersen is available from from Amazon.

After reading Kristin Harmel’s The Book of Lost Names last month, I was eager to pick up The Forest of Vanishing Stars. Both books are about female protagonists in WWII, but they have very different tones.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars tells the story of a young German woman who is stolen away from her wealthy parents and raised in the woods. After her abductor dies, she comes into contact with Jews fleeing the Nazis and realizes what is going on outside the forest. She then becomes a guide for those fleeing Nazi terror, helping them survive and hide amongst the trees and forest landscape.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Ok, this is a weird one because it’s not technically a book, which I’m only realizing as I start this write up. The Darkwater Bride by Marty Ross is an Audible Original Drama that was free with my subscription this month.

I’m not going to waste your time or mine with figuring out where the story actually comes from, because it’s not worth it. I finished it because I had already put enough time into it that I felt like I needed to see it through.

In all, the audiobook is difficult to follow (and to audibly understand, with lots of volume shifts), overly-dramatic, and dark beyond belief. Audible describes it as an “epic drama combining the he genres of the Victorian mystery thriller with the equally classic Victorian mode of the ghostly tale” but it’s just twisted.

The Darkwater Bride by Marty Ross is available from from Amazon.

An enjoyable freebie from Audible this month, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen is a light-hearted historical fiction Regency era romance. Jane Bell, recently widowed, is left to take over her husband’s family’s coaching inn, The Bell. She has to figure out how to turn around a failing business, under the stern eye of her mother-in-law, and repay a large loan.

Overall, it’s a fun, light read. If you liked Downton Abbey, this book is probably up your alley — it has the same kind of ethos around it. It’s also part of a series, which is always a plus for me.

The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

We’re taking a tight turn away from regency era romance back to the fantasy worlds of Sarah J. Maas now. Throne of Glass is book one in a seven-part series from Maas. I picked up this book after finishing her ACOTAR series, which I loved, so I had high expectations.

Throne of Glass is a bit more Hunger Games-esque than ACOTAR, what with the protagonist literally competing to be the royal assassin in a land from which magic has been banished. It took a bit for me to get into the story, which I chalk up to the world building. Overall, it was a gripping story and really sets the stage for the rest of the series.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Book two of Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series, Crown of Midnight is where the story really gets going. Full of political intrigue, Maas’ trademark romance, and some shocking twists and turns, this book was so engaging that I read it in a single day.

While you should definitely read the first book in the seres first, this feels like a completely different story since we’re out of the competition of the first novel.

In this book, protagonist Celaena the assassin leads a double life, seemingly working for the king while undermining his regime in the shadows. The lack of magic I mentioned from book one starts to come into play here, as the people around Celaena (and we, the readers) begin to learn details about her mysterious past.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

In Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass book three), we start to see how magic has been working and growing on the outskirts of the TOG world.

Heir of Fire rotates between four or five main characters and stories, with Celaena at the forefront. In that way, it’s a little disjointed and doesn’t flow as fast as Crown of Midnight. Sticking with it certainly pays off, though, as the world building lays the foundation for some serious Sarah J. Maas drama.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.

If you spend any time on Bookstagram, you’ll have seen Fourth Wing making the rounds en masse a few months ago. It was so big that it became just about impossible to get a copy of it to even read!

Well, my copy finally came in and I can tell you…I totally get the hype. And I can say, without a doubt, it’s my favorite book I read this month.

Similar to Throne of Glass, Fourth Wing has a Hunger Games kind of vibe to it, full of drama, political intrigue, badass women, otherworldly romance, and dragons. Plus, not only are there dragons, but the dragons are fully developed characters, which is extra fun.

I need to do a full blog post on this one to get ready for the second book’s release this November (pre-order your copy here!). Keep an eye out for that!

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is available from from Amazon and Bookshop.org.