LagoonaMoona

I live to recommend you a good book!

[lagoonamoona]

This was my mid year check point of my beloved reads of 2025.

And they also ended up being in my top 10 reads of the year! Last year I had a deep focus was on committing to reading new authors as well as new genres.

The last empire was my first Sanderson book.

Eleanor O’Connell Was my first western.

The sword of Kaigen was my first M.L. Wang. 

And they where all FIVE star reads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[lagoonamoona]

I love knowing everything, all the time. I’m the one to google a statistic before I say it JUST in case it’s changed from when I last read it. I don’t enjoy the feeling of not understanding.

Then I read “This is how you lose the time war”

And now I understand…

That sometimes it’s okay to not understand every single thing, at all times. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How to know if this book is for you!

Do you like being confused? Then YES, you’ll be in for a treat!

If this is you: 🤔

This book is for you: 🫵

Over all this is a book I can’t confidently recommend to everyone, or even most people. Since I feel like it’s definitely just as much about the journey as it is the destination. And most might find the journey to be filled with too many twists and turns.

What I can say is that I loved this book with my whole heart.

[lagoonamoona]

I love a fantasy! I love swashbuckling stories of adventures, wizards, bards and all in between! I however, often wish the protagonist weren’t just 17- 20 year-old young people. Or what I sometimes find even more egregious a 700-year-old characters that have the mental age of an 18 year old :( So hopefully, I can impart my excitement at uncovering the incredible works of T. kingfisher!

The first novel is from her Saints of steel series, it follows two experienced protagonist who have built careers and lived full lives! And most spectacularly of all the main characters are both in their 30s!

Incredible fabulous give me 1000 more!

Paladins Grace is spectacular 4/5 read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

LOOK at these two 😩!!! Stunning. Gorgeous. Top notch quality.

It was a fabulous book club read, I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to experience the joys of characters in a fantasy world who don’t have to be an outcast at an Academy or or be held captive in a binding promise by some fae lord… (And don’t get me wrong there is def a T&P for that sometimes) But the World of the White Rat is something so special, and I truly believe everyone deserves a chance to read it.

T. KingFisher has built such an incredibly lived in world were you not just believe characters live their own complicated lives but one that you want to be a part of. Every character has so much personality, and the paladins (a class of which I’ve never particularly enjoyed) are such a ragtag team of captivatingly lovable big strong (occasionally bone deep sad) kind…paladins (complimentary) 

A charming tale that made me feel the unthinkable.

I now really like paladins.

[lagoonamoona]

When I tell ya that “The Sword of Kaigen” by M.L. Wang is a direct flight to heartache-vill…

And it was definitely a 5/5 star read for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And it def earned each of those stars

It’s a story that takes you places you’re definitely not prepared to reach. Where the characters are actively learning how to continue to live in a life they are actively participating in. I too had a lesson in how much sorrow my little heart could hold bc omg this was a battle against my own tears. In all honesty, there were moments in this book where I had to put the book down from my own peace and tranquility. This was a roller coaster in the best and most painful ways. It was as beautiful as it was heartbreaking.

O boy was it was a beautiful.

I laughed. I was curious I was confused. I violently sobbed. I think I started hyperventilating at one point more than anything I was enthralled.

Please 🙏 give this a chance if you love great fantasy novels!!!!

[lagoonamoona]

My second read of year is The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie the first installment in the lovely Mackenzies & McBrides series by Jennifer Ashley.

Apparently this is my FIFTH time reading it! Crazy??? And it was able to maintain its status as a 5/5 star read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ian and Beth are truly so precious to me, what a wonderful beginning to a wonderful series. The love they share is so delightful. My favorite aspect of the book is that Beth is objectively not funny according to the other characters in the book. There are so many times in the text where Beth makes a joke and not only does nobody laugh, but people actively dislike the joke she makes.

And that is genuinely soooo funny to me!

Often times a big criticism I have for many contemporary books is the main characters are sassy for sassy sake there’s no real humor. There’s nothing clever. It’s just the book tells you that this person is the funny person. But they don’t actually have to do anything humorous.

And so the fact that Beth consistently makes jokes sometimes out of awkwardness sometimes because she genuinely thinks things are funny and people rarely ever laugh or even understand her jokes is incredible to me. Well also everyone that is except for Ian, who does eventually laugh at her “jokes” to the point that it alarms the rest of his family because they have never seen him laugh, and I like to think that they were even more alarmed because once again, Beth is objectively not funny so to hear their stoic brother LAUGH??? all because of an unfunny joke.

Incredible, that’s comedy to me!

[lagoonamoona]

My first book of 2025 🥳

And it was totally a 5/5 stars read, would definitely recommend!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

What makes MISTBORN so good is that it is both a high fantasy and a YA novel all at once and that's beautiful.

Also the end made me feel like I got shot point blank.