The Book Wyrms Hoard

Tam Lin's, her grandmama was the Tiger Lord of the Mountain in China, and while her grandmama birthed many children, only her father and her Aunt Tigress survived. After her father dies in a car accident when Tam Lin is twelve Aunt Tigress takes over raising Tam Lin to be a tiger, but after her aunt uses her to poison the Thunderbird Tam Lin, opts to leave the supernatural portion of her life behind, especially since most people don't believe her anyway. That is until Janet Child introduces herself in class one afternoon. Janet is not only gorgeous, but she believes Tam Lin's stories of Tigers, Thunderbirds, and mischievous incubi. As soon as Tam Lin realizes she may have met the girl of her dreams, she receives some devastating news, though. Aunt Tigress is dead, and her death seems to have heralded the end of worlds.  This was absolutely wonderful! Yu-Xuan Qin does an excellent job taking two separate mythologies and somehow blending them but still keeping the...

Miyagaki Yotaro, a renowned mystery author, invites eight people to his home for his sixieth birthday on April Fool's Day. Four mystery authors themselves, who he considers his proteges, an editor, his wife, a critic, and a mystery fan. When they arrive, they expect to have drinks and celebrate this great man's life, but to their surprise, he never shows up. After waiting for hours, Yotaro's secretary appears with dire news; Yotaro suffering from lung cancer has killed himself. However, the great author has arranged one last surprise the four authors, if they are willing are to participate in a writing contest, they must produce a mystery fifty pages long set in The Labyrinth House, the home the currently find themselves in with themselves as the victim. The other three will judge these short stories with the winner winning half of Yotaro's estate valued at billions of yen. Everyone reluctantly agrees, which is unfortunate for them because thats when the kil...

Wehia is the daughter of established forge, but all her family makes her knives and daggers, Wehia however wants nothing more than to make a true sword. After pestering her mother, she finally her mother finally relents and sends Wehia to her distance cousins forge in the city. Here, Hadana t'Tolani will teach her niece that forging a sword is much more than putting some pieces together.  Fire Heart was a wonderful coming of age book, mixing hard life lessons, self discovery, and the confusion born by societal othering of people can lead too. Wehia is a wonderful character because even though she is completely headstrong, it is fairly obvious that she understands herself on a level you simply don't see in YA novels. Yes, Wehia has internal conflicts and she does make several reckless decisions but in the long run I can't see her going back on those decisions nor truly regretting them, only maybe that she should have given others the benefit of the doubt.  The s...

One day, a young man is told about a website from a fellow student in his paranormal club. At first, the website seems to be the mundane life of another young man and his new wife, both of them just starting out. A little over a year into the blog the blogger discovers that his wife is pregnant, elated the blog turns to discussions of the progression of her pregnancy, the prognosis is not good, the child is breach, but the blogger has home that mother and child will survive. Unfortunately, that is dashed away when, during an emergency C Section, the mother dies and his son lives. The young student is bereft for these strangers and so continues the blog but finds that there is something very wrong and very sinister happening in the bloggers life and he is determined to see the bloggers story to the end.  This was absolutely brilliantly done, told from multiple perspectives, and from different time frames, what seems like it could only end up being a disjointed mess at th...

With a course set of "Killing the God King," our heroes set off to do just that. How and with what army is answered quickly (thankfully for them) when the come across Batal the Beast flayed open and yet still alive being paraded across all of Yesenre to remind all of Vaan's foes what happens to rebels. Nick, Lesya, and Violette free him from his shackles and discover that he is so much more than they ever thought. A native citizen of Yesenre and yet far more powerful than even they are as other worlders, and he knows about the levels. Reluctantly, Lesya and Violette agree to ally themselves with the Beast even knowing to do so will spread the flames of war.  Omg this was amazing! I genuinely don't even know where to start. Every new revelation is more exciting (in Lesya's case extremely despressing) than the last one, and oh man, were there a ton of them, and ALL of them are spoilers. So I'm going to keep it minimal on that level, so here goes the ...

Eudora Fellowes leads for the most part a simple life, one for a woman of her time may appear to others as odd being single at forty three with only her dogs as companions, but for her she could not ask for anything more. That is until she discovers she is the sole heir to her Great Aunt Emmeline's fortune, including a seaside estate in the country side and while she is a little hesitant at first to accept, remembering little of the aunt or her home she decides a vacation home away from the city may be nice. The minute Mr. Bentley her aunt's solicitor brings her in High Hearth she knows she's made the right choice, the huge mansion may cluttered and too much for one woman and her dogs but she knows that this is her home. What she doesn't know is that others are already there, trapped for eternity, who spiraled from grief to madness.  First of all that cover is next freaking level genius as well as the title it all ties in so well to the story that had I not ...

Yoshiki's best friend went missing in January five days later he reappeared from what felt like thin air. But the Hikaru that came back was nothing like the Hikaru that left, and when Yoshiki confronts him, he's not shocked to find out that something is wearing his best friend's body.  This is nothing like what I expected, and honestly, I'm okay with that. The mystery of just what Hikaru *is* and whether or not he is this evil thing is genuinely going to keep me reading, not just the light novel series but start the manga as well. And the thing that really gets me is the story is kind of eluding the fact that there was something not good on the mountain so for Hikaru to just willy nilly invite any old thing to take care of his bestie seems wrong. And yeah, I could be way off the mark there, but it's only volume 1. Yoshiki's reliance on both Hikaru's is interesting as well, and it almost justifies Hikaru's asking *anything* to stay by his side...

With Cahan captured and presumed dead Saradis's victory is almost complete in her final push, she sends her armies to Jinnspire and Woodhome to wipe out the remaining resistance Meanwhile, Ranya has put Ont, Dassit, Ania, Sorha, Undinny, and Venn on their own paths. Paths that will see them become more and yet what they always were and while their powers grow and a strange god not god bestows upon them unfathomable gifts each of them questions whether they will be enough to save Crua.  The first part of this book was just incredibly hard to read. I ended up having to take a ridiculously long break from it to be able to finish it. Every challenge that each of our heroes face was a direct challenge to not just who they saw themselves as but a challenge to forgive themselves for what they had done. Or to forgive others. Or in Undinny's case to find herself trapped in a body that was not hers and one she felt not just uncomfortable in but one that was antithesis to *who...

In a world where parents must be licensed to have children Hikari is an "inspector" a parentless child employed by the Japanese government to ensure that prospective parents are emotionally ready to take on the responsibility of being parents, a job he his beginning to hate. However, one day, he meets Daiki Hirokawa, who asks him the unthinkable: To fail him and his wife, Chisa. Did I cry in an airport when I got to the end of this? Yes, yes, I did, and I don't care. This was an emotional roller coaster that asks not only what truly makes a good parent but what truly makes a loving family. As a parent, this is a question that is consistently at the forefront of my mind. But, if you've ever talked to anyone that's been in the Foster system, Hikari's story is just absolutely heartbreaking. As an inspector Hikari goes through countless potential families that always tell him that they love him, they spoil him, they make him apart of their existence fo...

 Momo and his wife Haru are finally getting to bring their son Ao home from a long stay in the hospital. At first, everything is going wonderfully, and it truly is, Ao is thriving. Haru's current pregnancy is progressing beautifully, and as a teacher, Momo's professional career couldn't be more fulfilling. The postcards start. They seem to come from nowhere and predict the future, directing Momo to intervene before tragedy strikes. While these would be weird on their own Momo knows that a figure from his wife's own tragic past has emerged and he can't help but fear that these are a lead up to when he may have to protect his own family from a man who has already taken so much from them.  I love this little family so much after just one volume that they have become a "These characters need to be protected at all costs!" already. They are just such a wonderful little unit that when Haru's backstory is revealed you already are mad at a characte...

Unbeknownst to her Akabane Honeko is the illegitimate child of the head of the Jingu Gangs boss and with him retiring his beloved daughter whom he has only ever wanted to have a normal life has a target on her head. So he does the most natural thing ever, enlists the help of her childhood friend Ibuki to keep her alive. Easier said than done when assassins could be lurking everywhere, even in her own class.  I've never been a huge of yakuza inspired manga, anime, and games but I gotta admit there's been a few that have come out over the last few years that have really caught my eye and this is definitely one of them. When the synopsis says it's a Assassination Classroom meets your white knight trope that pretty much nails it. Akabane's entire class is made up of elite assassins trained since childhood to protect her and like Assassination Classroom each of them have their own thing and their own quirky little personalities that either are the exact opposite...

Hawthorne has worshipped the Brigade of Shade for as long as they can remember, as a self-proclaimed evil doer who has never fit in, they are determined to be the next member at the Brigades audition. Unfortunately, they fail miserably and are laughed out of the audition, and with Maple the bubbly, flower crown wearing, singing to animals, annoying new girl from around town gets in well thats just insult to injury, however, when Maple shows up one night and tells Hawthorne she's got a sure fire way to get her in Hawthorne decides they've got nothing to lose.  This was a hilarious and yup absolutely adorable read about finding yourself but also being honest with yourself. Hawthorne is truly the least evil person on the planet, and once they start putting forth their "evil initiatives," that becomes fairly obvious (even though it pretty much is from the get-go). Well, okay, a laundry is actually evil, so that's maybe their most evil initiative. But that...

When Jendaiar and his brother Hecanthes are exiled for lying about the circumstances of a mysterious woman appearing in the forest near they home, they are, of course, worried, but Jen's got a plan. Their mom left them a house in Zimanges, so all they need to do is head there, problem solved. Except when they get there, they discover the house is way too big for them to afford on their own, and being the new guys in town, they don't think they'll be able to find any roommates. Except they do almost immediately, and when one of these new roommates shows up with a magical leaf pile, they learn that this is no coincidence. A demon has been unleashed on the world, and the leaves have decided that Jen and his roommates are just the people to take it on. Which is great, except they've gotta figure out what the heck a demon even is first.  This was such an absolute blast to read! A fantastic slice of life read with lovable characters, several interesting magic syst...

Landa and her band of Timon have arrived at Jagged Shard and while it proves to be a hotiron treasure trove getting to the mine proves to be dangerous, there are all sorts of creatures ready to devour her people. In order to clear the mine of these dangers Landa knows she'll need to rely on Skiti more than ever and as they work to clear the threats facing their people their friendship begins to blossom into something much more.  This was the perfect mixture of action and the sweetest romance ever. Landa and Skiti are so freaking adorable together, I genuinely don't think I've read a book where the author has so well captured that a relationship between two people should bring out the very best in those two people it was truly beautiful.  World building was great as well, especially since this is a spin-off from another book. While I will be reading that one, I never felt like I had to read it to understand what was going on here. Pacing was excellent as well, wh...

Zaha Sanko's bones grant wishes, which means everyone in the universe is out to kill him. Which is easier said than done with his bestie Avakian by his side (or on his back literally) Zaha will take on anyone who gets in his way in order to find the person who placed this curse on him and kill them.  Omg this was so weird in the absolute best ways! Zaha and Avakian come from a black hole, spacelings (people?) can modify their bodies to have three heads, they make money by selling the bones and skin of the spacelings they kill to an arms dealer in the black hole, Zaha's hides his armor as underwear so people cant steal it...like I could go on. It's just weird and also oddly cute and hilarious. Zaha and Avakian are almost like siblings, so they take care of each other, but Avakian is also clearly the smart ass older sibling. Oh, and they meet Death, who is definitely like no Death I've ever come across.  I'll definitely be picking up Vol. 2 of this one bec...

Lythlet has been working dead-end job after dead-end job with abusive employers to pay off a debt to a loan shark. Her best friend Desil has been doing the same working two jobs to pay off a loan with a ridiculous interest rate that if they weren't, slumdogs wouldn't even exist. However, a random conversation about joining the Conquessors in the Arena may just change their fate if they can survive the Match Master first.  This is such a wonderfully straightforward conversation about the wealth gap, poverty, and those that prey upon the poor. On top of that we have Lythlet who is such a prime example of a human, whom if she had access to the same schooling, the same Healthcare, the same rights as those who were financially well off she would be an unstoppable genius. Hell, she pretty much is without any of those things. Honestly, there are many, many things that made this great, but it's Lythlet that truly put it over the top. She's such a great and relatable...

In a kingdom, a princess has been kidnapped by a dragon, and a knight has ridden off to save her. Or at least that's what he's told her father, the king, but little does the King know that the night will be the princesse's doom and the dragons' savior.  Rebecca is genuinely just the Queen of short stories. This is a new favorite story and definitely a top ten read for the month already! Not only is it a completely unconventional Knight in Shining Armor story, but in a story that took me less than fifteen minutes to read, she fully realized a story of greed, genocide, oppression, and revenge. It is absolutely brilliantly done as always, and I highly recommend this and all of her books, to be honest.