Q: What's a book you don't see talked about often, you but loved?. I haven’t seen A Dark and Starless Forest talked about much, but it really should be! If you’re looking for something a little darker with magic and found family, this is the story for you! There is no romance in this but it is very LGBTQ+ friendly. Full review up on the blog now, link in bio. Derry and her eight siblings are alchemists. They range in ages from 19 to 8 years old and are girls or nonbinary – their “guardian” Frank believes boys who are alchemists are no good, but he’ll accept a nonbinary child. They were all left on Frank’s doorstep when their families heard there was someone who could help their children who showed a variety of magical powers. They live in a lake-house surrounded by a forest away from civilization and those who would want to hunt down people who possess magic. I loved this story more than I thought I would. This is a story of found family – these nine young children are thrown together and left by their parents in the care of a stranger, never to be seen again, and yet they all bond together and become siblings. We don’t see those years, in the present they’re already bonded as siblings and deeply care for each other, since they’re all they have. When her sisters start going missing, Derry sneaks out to the forest more frequently as her power involves plants, and she is the most connected to nature. In the forest without any restraints, she learns to grow her magic to find her siblings. This is part fantasy, part contemporary, and part mystery thriller. The stakes are real when the girls go missing and their magic can no longer be felt. I loved the lengths Derry and the others would go to for each other – sure they wouldn’t always agree, but at the end of the day they loved each other fiercely since they were the only family they had left. #novelebookreads - Books with magic #faefebruary22 - Manipulative characters #AlwaysAndForeverFeb22 - Favorite read of February #ReadingInTheWeb - Recently aquired #booknookbingo - Debut novel #ADarkandStarlessForest (at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CafGV8nrTPJ/?utm_medium=tumblr