With all the snarky reverse harems out there, it is refreshing to find a more traditional type of fantasy but without the traditional wilting-flower lady. Her father taught her the skills he knows: tournament fighting. This reminds me of my own father taking me hunting. Elora learned that courtly fighting and longs to have the associated adventures, at least in theory. Life doesn't work that way, and her parents have arranged a marriage for Elora. As a last ode to freedom, Elora decides to climb a tree. I know this sounds corny and simple, but having a small goal in life gives me the feeling of control. Elora dreams of adventure. With her unwanted marriage approaching, she is desperate to have some excitement before it arrives. A dryad appears and asks for help with saving a lost fae prince from the clutches of an evil queen. Believing it’s nothing more than a dream, Elora agrees willingly. Growing Threat (Orzhov MOM Precon) Growing Threat (Orzhov MOM Precon) Growing Threat (Orzhov MOM Precon) My stepmother would punish a servant for speaking like this, even to me. Perhaps I should warn this woman before she fell foul of her. So I walked, and I walked and walked until my boots were bloody and my face was sunburned, until I became a creature like the foxes and egrets, until I was only motion and pumping heart and nothing human at all. Holding entropy at bay, I heard my father call it once, the constant output of energy to remain in one place. Life was in movement; only dead things were still.

Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn (9781839132957/Paperback) | LoveReading

Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - Mina, daughter of the duke, is grieving and lonely. She has lost all hope of any future for herself in Blumwald. So when the Witch demands her next companion, Mina offers herself up – though she has no idea what fate awaits her. Stranded with her darkly alluring captor, the mystery of what happened to the previous companions draws Mina into the heart of a terrifying secret that could save her life, or end it. EXTRACT Any change or cancellation less than 3 hours prior to the stated time of departure will be considered as no-show Another woman crossed herself. ‘Set all the cows lowing up at Rottenstedt. And when I set about breakfast, all the boiled eggs peeled blood red.’A spread of menu cards and seating charts covered her desk and I looked to them, feeling as lost as I did at the modiste or with the dancing master. A moody and stylish Gothic tale that feels both fresh and timeless - a masterful meditation on grief, loneliness, and terrible love. Gutting and unforgettable -- Ava Reid - Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman

Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn (9781839132957/Paperback

A moody and stylish Gothic tale that feels both fresh and timeless - a masterful meditation on grief, loneliness, and terrible love. Gutting and unforgettable' - Ava Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman I don’t understand love,’ I said, submerging the cloth in the water. ‘I don’t know how it works or what it is for. I’ve read poetry and novels and listened to music and viewed art all about love but it was like another language. I thought it must be something that wasn’t meant for me. Until I met you.” I wondered if all my family would change and leave me behind. First my mother had changed into a corpse, now my stepsisters would become wives and mothers, and soon enough my father an old man. It was as though by losing my mother so young, motherhood was a foreign land I had no permission to enter. I had been marked out as different, and the lives my sisters expected for themselves were not available to me.I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I was never a person that would pay much attention to the person and tense the story was told in, I usually won't even notice it, but here I noticed the first person immediately and it grated on me just a little bit. It got better as the book progressed and things started happening, but overall, the way the story was told wasn't my favourite. i really enjoyed this one! it felt like a retelling of a mix of various different fairytales (cinderella, rumplestiltskin, beauty & the beast) but in a wholly original way, too. our main character is a girl called mina, who doesn’t feel like she belongs in her home with her father and stepmother. every fifty years, a man in their town is taken as a companion for ‘the witch’, a nebulous villain who lives in a mysterious castle away from the village. this time, instead of a man, mina offers herself as the sacrifice. I looked to my needlework but my mind was full with thoughts of the Witch. The embroidered mushrooms spread over the rotting log; without realising I had stitched tiny woodlice crawling around the edges, a hundred legs and bodies roiling like a tideline. b

Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn (9781839132957/Paperback Bitterthorn by Kat Dunn (9781839132957/Paperback

When several minutes had passed without him looking up, I said, ‘Perhaps I could help you with your papers? I’ve said you need a secretary.’ Dream or not, this might be her only chance for a real adventure before she’d be forced to marry a stranger. How could she say no to that? Water overflowed the pot of the parlour palm I had been tending, watering can held fixed as I listened until the soil swam and dirty liquid spilled across the floor. I mopped it up with a cloth on my hands and knees. Johanna crossed herself. ‘I don’t know why she has to come here. Aren’t there people where she is?’I had the acute sensation of walking past the mouth of a cave, smelling the hot, rotting breath of the monster within. Oh don’t be so superstitious, Jo. It’s not like she’d want any of us. You’re not a man, are you.’ Klara shivered. But Faerie is more dangerous than she imagined. Alongside iridescent clouds and frosted beauty, it also has dangerous enchantments, scheming fae, and frightening trolls. Even with her experienced sword skills, the land challenges her courage and wit to their breaking points. How the hell am I meant to hold a dinner for the Chancellor of the German Empire with no damned footmen?’