Great watch! Had everything. Lovely area, a british person saying "wa'er". Also love how you said "normal adult" book" thats so me trying to describe a non-SFF book I read 😅

Thanks for the review. This is the book that I thought began the slog when I first read the series. I remember being disappointed in it. Mostly just because I didn't feel like it moved the story ahead. However, I enjoyed the reread. This is a book where it really helps to know everything that is going on. I found it tough to all follow the first time around. The best thing about it is the Rand-Ashaman story. I find the Ashaman highly entertaining because of how much a wildcard they are. You truly don't know what they are going to do next.

What a beautiful area! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Super excited to read The Last Murder at the End of the World now!!

Aaah what a wholesome video, thanks so much for taking us along! So many lovely bookstore trips. I think you are going to love The Seven Year Slip and The Deep Sky 🤩

Really enjoyed this vid. Was very well done! You two are adorable 😊

Ooh will need to try your pick out ! Awesome reviews :)

I love SPFBO content and was so excited to look back and see more from you after watching your SPFBOX videos! I wanted to read all these finalists last year but didn’t make it to many. These are still on my radar so it’s great to hear what you think about them.

Congrats on finishing your batch!

Here's what I read Everyone on this train is a suspect by Benjamin Stevenson The mystery guest by nita prose Iron flame by rebecca yarros Life and other inconveniences by kristan Higgins Sex lies and sensibility by nikki Payne Summer reading by jenn McKinley Summer on sag harbor by sunny hostin Your fault by Mercedes ron Midsummer mysteries by Agatha Christie Long past summer by noue kiwan Forever is now by Mariana j lockingington

Hope you had a fun trip with Ben, the pictures on IG looked amazing!! 🥰 Nice to hear about the new Stuart Turton being a hit for you, I am definitely keeping that on the radar. And Books with Emily Fox totally sold me on I Who Have Never Known Men, so exciting to see you enjoying it so much as well! The premise sounds morbidly fascinating! My faves of August were Asunder by Kerstin Hall (new no. 1 fave of the year!), Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle and Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors 😍

❤📚📚❤️

So excited to have watched all these and see your semi finalist! I can’t wait to see how all Cassidy’s group finalists end up. You did such a great job throughout reviewing all these books thoroughly so anyone interested could decide which books sound right for them! 😊

So happy you liked Deadhouse Gates, I think for me its also a 4.5 rounded up. Especially now in the latter half of Malazan, I love the first 3 books but book 4-7 for me have been much more engaging to me and I finally know whats happening. I really liked Lions of Al-Rassan but I feel bad that I cant remember anything that happened in it. I know I liked it and I kinda remember the end and a few scenes but the rest has been yeeted to inifinity Really need to give Claire Keegan a go.

I love Supernatural and also think The Oathsworn Legacy sounds like one I’d enjoy to pick up!

Thank you! Very excited!

I’m bad at math so the winner was a surprise to me lol! 😂 But I’m very interested in your Top 3 so thanks for the thorough recommendations! ❤

Congrats on finishing your batch!! And congrats to the author of the semifinalist for getting the honour of moving on to the next stage :) I am definitely checing out your top 3! Also, I think you should still try the first book in The Eight Chant series (Seasons of Albadone), because I feel like that one would be wayyyy more up your alley (and it has my huge seal of approval haha). Thanks for sharing all the great reviews 😍

Huge thanks for all your SPFBO efforts, Grace!

A Rose Among Thorns sounds very like a very fun and cozy read, but is there any romance in it? 👀 Sounds like it could be a cute banter-y slow burn (aka throughout the series) romance, if there is any 😊

You’ve reminded me to pick up OKHK soon! Thanks for the great reviews!

I’ve read nine of these🎉❤

I’ve read 8 of these 🎉

Good review. Thanks for being uncomfortable with Nynaeve hitting Lan. That scene was really ridiculous and a low point for her. I will say that being married does eventually make her a better person, probably also helped that she no longer needed to be angry to channel. I was disappointed that you made no mention of the one good relationship in this series - Min and Rand - which came to fruition in this book. That was my favorite part of the book. With all the toxic relationships in the series, it is super refreshing to see a man and a woman actually act like they care about each other. The problem with Elaida is that she is presented as a moron. Virtually everything she believes in this book is dead wrong. Rand had to prove he wasn't on an Aes Sedai leash to the Aiel, not to the Cairhein nobility. Egwene is a terrible sexist in this book. Never thought she was that bad until this book. Her claim that the 3 Oaths don't matter is idiotic. Just 20 pages later she uses the 3 Oaths to convince the army that Rand hadn't sworn to the Tower. Elayne and Nynaeve apologized to Matt just so they could use his ta'veren to find the Bowl. It works and then some as they find some other things as well. Decent book. Some tough stuff to get through. But Min and Rand confessing their love and the gholam at the end makes it all worth it.

I agree with everything you said about Fires of Caprica. You explained it so well! Oak King Holly King is the last one I need to read and I'm excited about it!

I loved the Tigers of Caprica series! I feel like the second book was really the star of the show. Everything started coming together so well in it, and the third book was a fantastic finale! I've not read the others here yet, but added some to my TBR :)

Thanks for your work.

happy to hear your thoughts on these!

You have such a gift for coherently rambling on hahah, I love it. Great to hear all your thoughts on these. I feel you on young characters feeling like they should just be older based on how they talk about their 'life experiences', that's why most of YA characters are just 21+ y/o in my mind, even if they realistically are not lol. And ooooh Oak King Holly King was the one that piqued my interest the most from your batch, so I love to hear these positive thoughts. I am going to have to put that higher up the TBR!! 🤩

Deadhouse gates crushed my heart-but so darn good. GGK is high on my priority list but one of those authors I think I’m gonna just need to pick up. Oathsworn has just entered my radar! Might have to be my intro to the monster hunter type sub genre

So encouraging to hear that Malazan is continuing to blow you away, I am getting more and more excited to add it to my 2025 priority list!! And I agree on the Finlay Donovan audiobooks, those are pure comfort listens. I need to get back to that series. Also, I hadn't heard much about the new Lucy Foley yet so nice to know that you enjoyed it! Hope you find some good 5-star faves again soon!! 🥰🥰

I've heard some reviews that Guy Gavriel Kay has a pretty icky male gaze-y writing style where female characters are concerned (throughout his whole bibliography, but specifically in Under Heaven, if I am remembering correctly), so as a female reader, that has always turned me away from his books. How was your experience with this in The Lions of Al-Rassan? 🤔

I read 10 books in june Here's what I read in July Summer on the bluffs by sunny hostin Broken horses by brandi carlile memoir The royals next door by Katrina halle Truly madly deeply by Alexandria bellefleur The neighbor favor by Kristina forest Taming 7 by chloe Walsh Fourth wing by rebecca yarros The wolves of midwinter by Anne rice sequel to the wolf gift Wild love by elsie silver You've reached sam by Dustin thao

❤📚❤️ Great reviews, thank you. More books are added to my list! I enjoyed Small Things Like These last month, as well.😊

Glad to see you loved Deadhouse Gates and Lions of Al-Rassan, both are some of my favourite Fantasy books of all-time. I actually just recently started a re-read of Deadhouse Gates.

I missed your discussion on Lions, so glad you loved it!! Its my third favorite Guy Gavriel Kay book, but that means its still basically perfection 😂

I'm glad that you enjoyed Deadhouse Gates, it's definitely one of my favorites in the Malazan series. I think you will love Memories of Ice, another great book in the series.

Thank you for the review and kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Maybe Merphy would have liked it if there were literal Lions. As always glad to see more people hopping on the GGK train, we have plenty of room.

Glad you all enjoyed it even though Murphy didn't lol. I absolutely loved this one, I was drawn in pretty much immediately and it is in the running for my all time favorite novel! I think this was the only time I was actually invested in a love triangle lol

Excellent insights all around! I loved how you all discussed the loyalty conflicts in this book. I got chills all over again remembering certain parts. 🥲 Guns of the Dawn is so fun! I reread it via audio and felt like I connected to it a little more that second time. Enjoy reading and rereading it!

Hobb and GGK have been dominating my favourites of the year so far. Loved Liveship Traders but loved Tawny Man even more. Fool's Errand is a strong contender for my favourite Fantasy book of all-time!

Great discussion, I wasn't confident about Merphy but i was that you'd like it, Grace. Glad to see Ben and Bryce were fans as well. This was my 2nd GGK (I read Tigana first) and it made me a fan. I've since read almost all of Kay's standalones (I'm currently reading A Song for Arbonne but Dragon Keeper has taken priority 😅) and Lions remains in my Top 3. I really enjoyed it, and know very little about Spanish history. The best way I can describe Kay's work overall is "a more chill Robin Hobb for History enthusiasts". Jaddites is indeed loosely based on Christianity but with a Greco-Roman Sun Cult twist. Kindath practicing Moon worship for fertility and guidance and a lot of pre-Islamic cultures did worship stars. I'm not religious or spiritual but i love that Kay's created clear standins for Christianity, Judaism and Islam but shifted things around to keep things interesting and to avoid sterotyping and be as respectful as possible. Of all of Kay's books, Lions has my favourite ending. Guns of the Dawn is awesome! Will you read more GGK?

This video didn't show up on my subscription feed... Luckily I searched your name and found it

The Oathsworn Legacy sounds really good! Ive heard literally nothing of this book or its author on booktok or booktube, so maybe it's a hidden gem?

Yay! Thanks so much for reading Blood of the Stars. I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing which one ends up being your semi-finalist!

I love that you just dived right in with the longest books! Thank you so much for reading for my team! ✨ I'm intrigued by so many of these

nooooo MAISEY NOOOOOOO🐱 but the shelves are AWESOME💖

Great reviews!

Oh here’s your channel. I couldn’t find it originally. I’m glad you enjoyed the book even if it was a bit of outside your usual box. I’m just surprised you thought Cort was only a BIT of an A-hole considering how hard I leaned into his dickish personality. 😂