Reality's A Bore

Alisha. Book/Manga Blogger. Nerd of Many Things. Anime Aficionado. K & C Drama Lover. Twitter @realitysabore

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Recent Book Mail

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Currently Reading

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Fairyloot Unboxing! 

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📖 REVIEW 📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The moment I started this, I KNEW it was going to be brilliant! Like, it literally opens with an assassination attempt! I was HOOKED & by the second chapter the general vibes made it obvious that I was going to enjoy reading this!

I fell in love with Reyna & Kianthe, they had such fun, complimentary personalities AND they were both gloriously snarky, so the narrative was hilarious regardless of which POV you were reading!

Kianthe is kind of a Big Deal when it comes to magic (she’s a super powerful mage) so she can hold her own even without sword skills like Reyna! She’s also a bit more hot headed & the way she hates the Queen is hilarious!

Reyna is an absolute mood, I LOVED her! Like who among us hasn’t wearied of life and wanted to flee to a new place to start over again? Preferably with a bookshop of our very own involved? 😅 Reyna’s living the dream and I just found her so relatable!

The romance is sweet and kind of unique in that they’ve been together a while BUT didn’t really spend much time together because of the distance so it was established but also kind of new in a way? As they started to spend all day every day together instead of the odd snatched moment here or there, they obviously had some bumps to smooth out along the way but I feel like they communicated well & their relationship was realistic!

Cosy as this is, it was more mid than low stakes and I was okay with that tbh! I liked the suspense of waiting to see if the unhinged queen would track Reyna down as well as the mystery of the dragon eggs! Like it IS slice of life with the bookstore & town life but it also has the tension of Reyna’s colleagues hunting her AND Kianthe’s (kind of)!

There’s also bandits running around AND the dragons prone to fiery attacks but I loved the added jeopardy of it all! As if that wasn’t enough to make it fun, there’s also griffons AND a side ship that I’m rooting for already because it’s giving enemies/annoyances to lovers!

Overall the vibes were immaculate and while it was a tad slow in places, the writing style was easy to read, the characters easy to root for & it was a lot of fun!

I can’t wait to see what’s next! 👌🏻

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JOMP Book Photo Challenge || December 23 || Long Read:  Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu 

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💌 Book Mail! 💌

I’m about to dive so much deeper into my cosy fantasy era 😅

Isn’t it pretty? There’s so many details on the cover art, it just screams cottagecore and if you look super close there’s a winged floof too!

Not to mention:

🍄 Cosy vibes

🍄 Stolen spellbooks

🍄 A sentient spider plant

🍄 Illegal spell-selling market

🍄 Sweet romance

Did I mention our mc Kiela is also a librarian? Or, former librarian at least 😅

Unfortunately for her, she has to flee that life when the Great Library protecting the city’s magic burns as a revolution sweeps in! Luckily enough, however, she DOES manage to pinch as many spellbooks as she can carry first and after witnessing how the empire has sapped the magic from the land, she opts to open up her own spellshop to make things right!

BUT, it’s not as easy as it sounds especially when the punishment for sharing magic with commoners is death!

I’m kind of envisioning this having similar mid-stakes to Treason Without Tea, but I’m already highly intrigued by the world! Not to mention the sentient spider plant?!

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📖 REVIEW 📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This truly is a cosy fantasy, and while it says low stakes but...there kinda are some stakes as Viv opens her Cafe and navigates being a new business owner, the gang wanting a cut, and the irate ex-party member whose breathing down her neck.

The way my heart broke during THAT scene towards the end like...you promised me cosy and now I'm in my feels!

Anyways, I was rooting for Viv. I loved her. She worked hard and I loved seeing the Cafe come together, all the elements slot into place and the family she found along the way in the form of Tandri, Thimble, Cal and Pendry!

The underlying message of this book, about the kindness of strangers, the good hidden in little corners of the world and the joy that comes from finding the people you need, at the right time, who just get you, is something that I personally feel is really needed right now.

The friendships blooming between all of them made my smile and warmed my heart, even when it came down to her dealings with the Madrigal! Every time I settled down to read this book, it was like being enveloped in a warm hug that smelled like cinnamon buns and made me crave them too!

Like I said, there's some tension here and there along the way, but it's not the life or death, grim, bloody battle kind and I always had the vague sense that everything was going to be okay.

The characters are brilliant, from Viv to Tandri, and Thimble to Cal. Each is different from the other and brings something to the table, and despite their differences, they all slotted together well.

Throughout the book, not only does Viv develop as a character, coming into her own and carving out her own little place to belong, but the business develops as well! There’s always something going on, and there’s even some romance on the side between Viv and Tandri and it was so sweet, even if Viv was so oblivious!

Legends & Lattes is both the book and the genre I didn't know I needed. It was comforting, soothing and just generally good vibes, with mouth-watering food descriptions that had my stomach rumbling while I could practically smell the cinnamon buns!

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📖 REVIEW 📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okaaay so I loved A Marvellous Light because queer historical romance with a murder mystery going on and magic! It’s like a combination of all the things I love in a book and it was kind of the perfect book for me, you know?

So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered there were going to be two more books! Yes, this book at least, doesn’t follow Edwin and Robin which is kinda sad because I love them dearly, but the mystery and the quest for the other parts of the Last Contract continues! Plus I loved Maud in the first book so I was excited to get to see more of her and hello?! It’s a murder mystery on a ship!? With, I repeat, MAGIC!? What was not to love!?

First things first: I LOVE THIS WORLD! I truly do, it’s historical but there’s magic so seamlessly slotted in, it’s brilliant. I was so happy to slip back into it and pick back up with the hunt for the contract pieces. This one doesn’t mess around either, because we’re straight in with a murder to kick it all off and there’s quite a few suspects because…giant ship. Titanic level ship, even.

As I said, I LOVED Maud in the first book and continued to love her in this one. She can and will stand up for herself, she’s strong and intelligent and wonderfully stubborn when it comes to getting what she wants. I feel like she really comes into her own in this book, away from Robin, and she’s not the only brilliant character!

We also have Violet, another wonderfully independent strong woman who happens to be heading back to London to claim her fortune after working in a theatre in New York. I can’t tell you how much I loved getting two wonderfully strong, badass independent female characters in a historical book and the ROMANCE?!

It’s spicy. Dare I say, even spicier than Edwin and Robin? I seriously loved the two of them, and I shipped them immediately. They’re quite the formidable match, though it takes them a minute to get there!

I also really loved new character Ross, our reporter/purveyor of spicey literature who ends up joining their little team and I truly do hope we get to see more of him because I lowkey ship him with *drum roll* Hawthorn. Oh yes folks, the grumpy asshole makes a return and we get to see quite a lot of him. I actually found myself taking a bit of a shine to him, despite said grumpy asshole-ness.

It’s just as well then that it seems like, as I’d hoped, Book three is going to feature a looooott of Hawthorn and Ross! I can’t wait 😍

Anyway, the writing is brilliant and entertaining, pulling you into the world of the book and while you might be able to get away with reading this without having read the previous one…it’s probably going to end up being a little confusing if you haven’t! The mystery of the Last Contract deepens slightly and there’s a few more reveals about what went down as well as some twists and betrayals to keep you on your feet!

Considering the entire book takes place over the course of a few days, however long it takes to sail from the US to London (I think it was like 3? It felt like a long time because there's a lot going on but it was actually quite short!), the plot is solid and very tight. There’s no room for faffing around and there’s so much going on alongside the romance, plot twists and budding friendships to keep you occupied.

There’s magic, murder and quite literally lions and tigers and bears running amok all over the place. There’s even a casual seance and a jewel thief. When I say there’s never a dull moment, I truly do mean it and this is a brilliant sequel to A Marvellous Light! Marske has become an auto-buy authfor for me at this point and I truly can’t wait for the next book!

[realitys-abore]

📖REVIEW📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Firstly: Kadou, our MC has anxiety and the way I squealed at seeing some anxiety rep in a book, and a fantasy one at that! I used to be way more into fantasy but it often has so little rep, so this book was kind of like coming home?

It was so comforting, because I was reading Kadou's POV like...omg it's literally me 🥺 It was brilliantly done and obviously I loved my precious little bean Kadou who was more than capable of being a badass!

The other reason it’s comforting? Queerness is normalised and my heart felt so full as I was reading. Not only is the romance queer, but the use of different pronouns or gender fluidity isn't an issue either.

Kadou’s sister was really out here trying to matchmaker him with a nice young man, I was truly living while I was reading this! Like I was legit trying to read this slowly so I could spend longer in a world this accepting. THIS is why I described this as ‘top tier fan fiction’ btw!

While a lot is thrown at you in the beginning, the introduction and the set up for the other MC is immaculate! The romance may be the main focus with some mystery on the side, but a lot of care was taken with the world to paint a picture of it and to set future events up for a solid plot.

The concept of the Khayalar was intriguing and it makes the romance even more 👌🏻 AND makes some of the future moments between the MC's and conflict really work.

It’s enemies to lovers and Evemer has good reason to hate Kadou, no flimsy, weak excuses here! It takes time for him to get to know Kadou and see that he was wrong! The progression of their relationship was just immaculate like it’s slow-burn at its finest with the way it slowly builds up!

Evemer was badass and stoic but so soft for Kadou 🥹 he’s so patient and he helped him with his anxiety and figuring out the mystery, I loved them 😭

The use of tropes and dual POV in this is phenomenal as well by the way! And I genuinely think the romance in this book has ruined me, I can't believe the end was spicy but had me feeling all the feels at the same time.

Honestly, I really didn't want it to end. It was perfectly written, perfectly built up and you guys...the LONGING. The scenes with the hairbrushing and the caresses, I was literally squealing as I was reading!

Please, please can the author write like 50 more books in this world? I'm begging! Tadek needs a happy ending you know! Zeliha too!

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I miss taking photos for this account 🥺

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I’m back on my bullshit pairing songs with books but Monsta X are 4 today so...it’s okay :’) Feel free to come celebrate by telling me your favourite era/song...not an easy question but hopefully fun? 

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Spoiler free and spoiler sections are marked :) 

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Looking for a new manga this Spring?