This is going to be one of my shortest Wrap Ups I’ve ever done with only 2 books finished in October. However the quality of the books was high, so I wanted to talk about them! Let’s jump in!
Starting with Bookshops & Bonedust which was the only audiobook I listened to in the month of October. I loved Legends & Lattes when I read it last year. It was such a fun cozy fantasy with amazing diversity & loveable characters. So I was both nervous & excited going into Bookshops & Bonedust. There is always that fear that the next book isn’t going to live up to the first.I had nothing to worry about this time though! Legends & Lattes was a 5 Star last year and I rated Bookshops & Bonedust 4.75 Stars. The difference in ratings is everything to do with the rating system I’m utilising this year rather than me thinking that Bookshops & Bonedust is 0.25 Stars less that Legends & Lattes haha.
I loved everything about this book! The Characters were immaculate & the relationships between them I was obsessed with. Viv was such a fun character to follow as she navigated making friends while stuck in this town due to injuries. I loved watching the relationships develop with everyone she met along the way. The atmosphere of this book wa also incredible. It was so immersive and I especially loved exploring the bookshop of course. Travis Baldree’s writing is amazing and I’m keen to see what he writes next.
This book is extra special as this is the first novel I have read physically all year. I have been in a major slump on and off all year. I’ve started many but not finished any of them until now. I have read 2 short stories throughout the year & a short story collection back in January but this is the first full length novel I’ve read all year. Thanks to audiobooks & graphic novels my total read is currently sitting at 74 but I’m so glad that I’m getting back into physical reading. My new Kobo Libra Colour has a lot to do with this recent change in reading but I’ll be talking about it more soon in another post.
Now, to the book itself. The Phoenix Keeper is such a fun book. It does start out pretty low stakes but honestly I think that is a good thing as it gives you the time to fall in love with the characters and see them develop. For majority of this book it is fairly character driven which is usually not my cup of tea. I’m generally a very plot driven person but I enjoyed getting to know the characters and building the world and watching the relationships develop. I really enjoyed the diversity in this one. Not only do we have POC characters, LGBT+ characters but also some mental health representation. This book was amazing all around & the atmosphere & the vibes were also immaculate.
As I said this book was mostly character driven & low stakes until the very end where the plot and the stakes ramp up tenfold. I was on the edge of my seat for this whole section and I loved every minute of it. The action was very well written. I’m not 100% sure how to say what I’m meaning with this next bit but it was easy to follow the location of the characters during the action too. I find in some books it can get a bit confusing trying to navigate where, who and what is going on but in this one I had no issue. I think because the world was so vivid and I had a map in my head of where everything in the zoo was located that it was easy to follow as the action jumped around throughout the zoo.
Another quick note is that this book is a very well rounded standalone novel. I find sometimes that standalones leave me with questions and just unsatisfied with where it ended. Not the case with The Phoenix Keeper though. While I would love more in this world the book developed ended leaving me fulfilled. Overall I gave this one a 4.25 Stars and I’m keen to see what this author writes next.
Dusk Angel Reads 
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