#fallen thorns

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace books: fantasy/supernatural horror

following on from my sci-fi-ish horror post, this is fantasy/supernatural/paranormal/etc horror - or at least with horror elements, it's sometimes hard to make a distinction between what crosses the line from spooky to horror and what doesn't lol (esp in YA)

Demon Song - novella, ace/demi girl MC

Demon Engine - demisexual woman MC

Small Gods of Calamity - ace man MC

Don't Let The Forest In - YA, ace boy MC

Not Even Bones - YA trilogy, aroace coded girl MC & boy SC

Sawkill Girls - YA, ace girl MC (1/3)

Someone You Can Build A Nest In - ace woman MC & LI

In The Jaws of an Oak - aro woman MC

Benothinged - aroace nonbinary MC

Dove's Eyes - bi ace trans man MC

The Spider and Her Demons - YA, aroacespec coded girl MC

Fallen Thorns - aroace boy MC

The Book Eaters - ace man SC

Hallowed Be Thy Name - gay ace man MC

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

info included here is brief! please see my database for full details of the books 3/7/26

[seerya]

“Arlo, I’m going to ask you a very personal question, but I hope you’ll hear me out because I actually think I can help here.”

“Okay.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Never.”

She nodded her head. “Understandable. You’re only what, eighteen, nineteen?”

“Nineteen.”

Another nod. “But do you find yourself wanting to be in love? Answer me honestly.”

“No.” A sudden weight fell from my shoulders.

“And do you ever want to be in a relationship? Do you want — forgive me if I sound cheesy — do you want romance?”

“I don’t think I do, no.”

“And do you think there is something wrong with you for thinking that?”

I… how does she know this?

“Arlo, have you ever considered the fact that this is an entirely normal thing. That there are people out there, many in fact, who feel exactly the same?”

I was stunned. Of course, I’d come across the term asexual a handful of times, and some related terms, but I’d never given myself the time to look into it. The world around us was so inherently sexualised that my brain always drew the same conclusion: that these poor people must be very lonely, and I pitied them. How could anyone not want love like that? I would think, despite never looking at myself and what I wanted. What I didn’t want.

“Is that it then?” I asked.

“It may well be. I can’t answer that for you, but I can sense when I’m right.” Marianne flashed a smile. “You understand that it is perfectly normal and very human in fact to not want these things? You know that, right?”

I said nothing, overwhelmed with the giant, thousand-piece puzzle in my head that was coming closer and closer to completing itself as she spoke and…

“I’m ace.”

“Seems like it.”

“And… aromantic, is that the word?”

Harvey Oliver Baxter - Fallen Thorns

[noahhawthorneauthor]

they're not your typical heroes

and yes I know it's may but creepy forests and haunted houses are all year round, kay?

[beforeviolets]

underrated reads of 2024

books I read in 2024 with under 1000 ratings on goodreads // adult fiction

-

Fallen Thorns by Harvey Oliver Baxter

I love calling this book a vampire coming-of-age campus novel and I stand by it. I still need to read the standalone prequel to this world, but I really loved this work.

The Sins On Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

*physical ARC from the publisher

Shadow and Bone meets FMA: Brotherhood in this dark adult Jewish fantasy about sexual assault, war, and trauma. Definitely a tough read, but again, one I really enjoyed and can’t wait for the sequel of.

Smile and Be A Villain by Yves Donlon

*finished copy from the author

This diverse Hamlet retelling is easily the most underrated book of the year. Especially for a self-pub debut, this was absolutely fantastic. A diverse cast, a rich landscape of politics and religious complexities, a QPR between Hamlet and Ophelia, come on! I’m so excited for this sequel after seeing the way Donlon perfectly laid out threads throughout the book to pull tight into a perfect harmonious tapestry right at the end.

Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslein and Kat Weaver

Picked this up because I can’t resist a Marlowe Lune cover, and because it’s a mixed genre story with queer and Jewish rep! The title for this book honestly perfectly describes it. It’s complicated and maybe doing too much but its uniqueness is just so charming.

In the Roses of Pieria by Anna Burke

*finished copy from the publisher

Sapphic vampires are always worth anyone’s time and this was such a unique take on them! I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series but I really loved the combo of archival work, fungal horror, and sapphic romance.

All Our Yesterdays by Joel H. Morris

*finished copy from the publisher

A fascinating prequel to Macbeth focusing on Lady Macbeth and her son! Slow paced, but full of interesting themes and ideas that this book explores with tact.

Caraway of the Sea by Madeline Burget

*finished copy from the author

A really sweet self-published pirate story featuring a diverse cast and found family. I enjoyed the writing, and for a self-pub book, I found the work to be quite polished and readable! I loved our MC, Caraway, who is so incredibly snarky and stubborn and guarded, and her journey throughout the story was really compelling.

The Naming Song by Jedediah Berry

*physical ARC from the publisher

A wholly unique theatre kid epic, this was one of my stand-outs of the year. Anyone who loves storytelling should read this book. It’s just so whimsically and completely its own.

Metal From Heaven by August Clarke

*physical ARC from the publisher

I think I’ve raved about this book enough but absolutely the book the world needs right now. This brutal dyke fantasy is straying from the pack and ambitiously crafting its own path, and it pays off. Obsessed.

-

Other underrated reads of 2024:

plays

non-fiction

poetry

MG/YA/graphic novels

[vronoch]

commission i did for @/lastvanillasmile on insta (for their book „fallen thorns”) ❤️ my commissions are open!

[thatonemouseykid]

if i had a nickel for every time an aroace book that fundamentally changed my brain chemistry was set at durham university, id have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

[louie-fletch-books]

This is actually a 3.5, and may even be 4 stars after I read the second book in the series. I always find with series that I struggle to rate books individually. They definitely impress upon each other.

There were moments during this book that I found the writing style absolutely dazzling and dizzying. As someone who suffers from crippling anxiety, Baxter wrote anxious thoughts the way my own mind behaves. However, I was left with so many questions. Which is why I rated it a 3.5. I don't necessarily enjoy being left confused. This may be my own fault though! I've read that Fallen Thorns has many biblical references. I have never, will never, crack open a bible, so I may have missed those similes. In reality, this is only a partial review. I immediately purchased the second book, because I needed to know more.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Arlo is a lit student, who is rather lost. He finds himself lost in his mind, zoned out, and not fitting in with standard social norms. He finds solace in his friend Rani, who is the most alive person he has ever met. She lights up every room she's in and she just understands Arlo. More than he understands himself sometimes. Arlo finds himself on an uncomfortable date with a woman he just met, Lucy. He doesn't enjoy small talk and is touch adverse, but he wants to fit the social norm. This is what college students do, they date. The date ends in horror, when it turns out Lucy is a vampire, and she drained him. Dead.

Arlo wakes up. Surrounded by strangers in an odd room. This is where he discovers he had been saved and turned into a vampire by Mars. Sweet, wonderful, understanding Mars.

As Arlo struggles to integrate into this new world, a darkness starts to take over him. It clouds his thoughts and gives him unforetold powers in manipulation, which scares the people around him. He is being hunted by a creature. Even though Arlo, Mars, Rani, and the others fight this dark creature inside him, it still manages to control him and he takes his final form. His body ablaze with soft tawny wings upon his back. His mind no longer his own.

This is where my questions arise! I have a theory that the creature is a Fallen Angel and the the darkness that is controlling Arlo is that of a Fallen Angel. The creature is never identified by the author. I do hope we discover more about the creatures in the second book.

If anyone has read this book and understands the biblical references, please tell me more!

[magicalyaku]

Hehe, while writing this, it's still 2024 where I live, so I'm still on time. After the excellent reading month of October, I decided to go back to a book I started in September and didn't finish. Turns out I didn't finish this time either. So next to three anticipated reads and two spontaneous picks is my only DNF of the year!

Fallen Thorns (Harvey Oliver Baxter): I started this on a 12-hour-flight and continued to slog my way through it the next two weeks in October and then another week in November and then I realized I still had about 100 pages left - and I just couldn't do it. I just did not care one ounce about the characters. It's so slow and tedious and while I think the writing and pacing is fitting for the protagonist's personality, I guess we just don't match. I didn't hate this book the way I loathe Saint Sinner Sorrow (which I read in September), mind you, there's levels between, I was just bored and there were passages written in a way I just didn't understand (like the one when the leader of the group puts down two captives and suddenly there's a monster. But where did it come from and why was is just one and not two and why was is written that way?) and other passages (from the 'other's' pov) that I just felt exhausted by. It's a real shame, though, because it's another book with an aroace main character this year that I didn't like. /D That being said, I do want to encourage you to take a look for yourself if you're interested in vampires, found family, some sinister conspiracy and a character grappling with his lack of attraction.

Don't let the Forest in (C.G. Drews): Well, this was wild. In a good and also a disturbing way. Andrew is so not okay (honestly, why did they ever let him go back without therapy or a councillor?). It's an interesting book and makes you want to know what's going on/how they deal with it in the end and if it's real or just some hallucination. Just that at some point, it was very obvious where the monsters came from and I wanted to shake the boys for not drawing the last conclusion. (There were still things I didn't anticipate.) It was still good and the writing with all its forest-related imagery is pretty. Fun fact: The cover illustrator went to art school with my best friend and they still talk once in while. When I told my friend about the books I wanted to read, she was like "Oh, I think Jana did the cover!" and I was like "Oh, that's fitting. This one has monsters!" (Because she's always been drawing creepy shit). Even if I only know her second-hand, I'm always proud when a fellow German artist is actually being successful. :D

Nox Winters and the Midnight Wolf (Rochelle Hassan): Another forest-book with more pretty forest-similes. It's a solid adventure story with good character growth. Nox is fun, because he is so grumpy (which I can relate to so much). Compared to the author's other middle grade book I probably like that one more, just because the twist of that one is good, but Nox is also pretty good and I enjoyed reading it. Thinking back to it, all I see is dark forest and stars and I like that.

Fall for Him (Andie Burke): Hmm, I was looking forward to reading this and then I almost forgot to add it the list of books I read. :'D I think it was good? Like very down to earth with money problems, work, nosy neighbors. A story that's probably easy to relate to. There's a bit of on and off between the characters while they sort themselves out, but ultimately everything does get sorted out. Yeah, it was good. Just for the love of cats, don't use names for your characters that spell so similarly. Even if the characters looks are different, I can't see them! I only see the written characters on the page and both start with D and have 5 letters in 2 syllables (Derek and Dylan) and that was actually really hard for me. For half of the book, everytime one of them spoke I had to take a moment to ensure which one it is. (Maybe that's also why it's so difficult for me to remember what happenend in this book. I'm trying hard here.)

They hate each other (Amanda Woody): I was sick again and thought, it'd be the right time for another audiobook from the library. Just that I really didn't want another adult romance with adult scenes. /D I was reluctant to pick this up, because the summary sounds incredibly shallow. They start fake dating to show their friends that they don't fit. Woah. Ugh. I wanted something easy to read, though, being sick and all, so I went along with it. The thing is, the summary is a blatant lie of omission. Because half of the book isn't even about the dating thing but about the family issues of the one guy. His mother is dead, his father an alcoholic and he has to care of his younger sisters, earning the money, next to keeping up in school. It doesn't go well and he is on the point of breaking. And then his estranged aunt starts poking her nose in. It's really tough, actually, and mean at times. Like when the aunt asks the (not so fake anymore) boyfriend to provide her with information when he doesn't really know her intentions and has to decide if he is ready to lose his boyfriend's trust forever over it. I liked that the book has an actual story that is not at all shallow but I still felt betrayed. xD

Fake Dates and Moon Cakes (Sher Lee): I picked this one up, because I read the author's second book Legend of the White Snake a little earlier and still needed something light, this time for traveling not being sick. But after the betrayal of They Hate Each Other, I ended up reading this a week before the actual travel. :'D What I didn't realize at first is, that it's another fake dating story with a rich guy. xD This one was fun, though. It did exactly what it promised and I really liked it. The author's shtick for giving a lot of background facts is in here as well, like about the Chinese calendar and the food. It's sweet, the protagonist is not an idiot and family is important. Fun fact: This is the third book with a Dylan in a row. Yes. And remember Fall for Him with Derek and Dylan? In here, there's a random girl approaching the protagonist Dylan and can't remember his name and asks "What was your name? Derek?" Not surprisingly I laughed out loudly. I'm not the only one mixing them up!

That's it for all the backlog!! (Finally!) As of writing this, I still have about 80 pages left of my last book of the year, so I'll get back to that. Happy new year!