Review: Suitor Armor Volume 1 by Purpah

 

Suitor Armor Volume 1 by Purpah

Publication Date: November 12th 2024 by Ten Speed Graphic

Pages: 224

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I’ve only read one graphic novel, but Suitor Armor appealed to me. The story of a Lucia, a lady-in-waiting, falling for a magically enchanted suit of armor was intriguing!

Lucia’s hiding her true identity, because being a fairy in her kingdom could get her killed since they’re at war.

This novel reads like a romantasy fairytale with mystery, secrets and danger! The pictures are beautifully illustrated and colored; the characters’ emotions spark off the page!

I look forward to finding out what happens next in Volume 2!

4 Stars

Book Description:

Secrets hide behind every corner of the castle walls in the first volume of an exciting Webtoon romantasy graphic novel that follows the budding romance between a lady-in-waiting and an enchanted suit of armor.

While humans and fairies are at war beyond the castle walls, Lucia’s life is dedicated to helping prepare Lady Kirsi for her upcoming wedding to King Reimund.

Lucia’s time at court takes a dazzling turn when she accompanies Lady Kirsi to a royal tournament that calls together all of the kingdom's brave knights for a competition of strength and wit. A magically animated suit of armor, brought to life by Norrix the court mage's complicated enchantment spell, enters the ring and challenges the winning knight. Lucia is immediately attracted to the armor's dark, mysterious charm and lovingly names him Modeus. Bonded by their mutual status as outcasts within the kingdom, the two begin to develop an unlikely yet thrilling connection and sparks (both metaphorical and magical) fly.

The truth is, Lucia is hiding a dangerous secret about her own identity. She is the enemy: a fairy. She fears being exposed to the whole human kingdom, but she desperately desires to learn more about herself—especially with the arrival of a winged visitor who has infiltrated the castle walls for reasons still unknown...

Complete with original behind-the-scenes content and a bonus storyline exclusive to the book, this first volume includes episodes 1–17 of the greatly successful Webtoon webcomic Suitor Armor and sets the stage for a grand adventure in magic, romance, mystery, fantasy creatures, friendship, self-discovery, and more!

Review: The Geographer's Map to Romance by India Holton

 

The Geographer's Map to Romance (Love's Academic #2) by India Holton

Publication Date: April 8th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 368

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Elodie and Gabriel are both professors at Oxford 1890s, in this alternate magical reality. They’re also married, but it was a marriage of convenience when it should’ve been the real thing, because they were both actually besotted. A misunderstanding had them estranged shortly after a couple of passion-filled nights.

 

Now Elodie and Gabriel are both sent to the same location to manage a magical disaster in the making, determine its source and prevent a full-on catastrophe.  This was fortuitous as it forced them together to work things out in between investigating and managing the locals.

 

The Geographer’s Map to Romance was a fun magical mystery/romance. Elodie was a hoot, a brilliant scatterbrain always seeing the positives in things. Gabriel was the broody, silent type but so devoted and protective of Elodie. They both needed to get out of their own way to realize the obvious: they were so in love! There were a lot of clever banter and laugh-out-loud moments. A pure delight!

4 Stars

Book Description:

Geography professors in a failed marriage of convenience inconveniently reconnect for an emergency mission in this swoony historical-fantasy rom-com.

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her--except her own personal disaster, that is: Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either--except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They've been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn't stopped him from stoically pining for her.

When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, threatening catastrophe for the rest of England, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there's no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books with "Dead" in the Title

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bookish folk to share their lists on that topic.

The topic this week: Ten Books with "Dead" in the Title. 

It was a little harder than I thought to chose the one word because I wanted them all to be books I read and enjoyed. 

Dead Man's Folly (Hercule Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie

Dead Man's List (San Diego #3) by Karen Rose

Disturbing the Dead (A Rip Through Time #3) by Kelley Armstrong

Dead Man's Wake (Mike Bowditch #14) by Paul Doiron

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega #4) by Patricia Briggs

Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle

Deeper Than the Dead (Oak Knoll #1) by Tami Hoag

Deadline by Sandra Brown

Have you read any of these? What word did you choose for your TTT? 

Sunday Post #292

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

Happy Sunday!

Nothing exciting to report this week. We had my sister and her husband over for dinner and enjoyed catching up. I made comfort food, a chicken casserole with carrots, celery, onion in a cheesy sauce topped with cream cheese and chive rolled biscuits and apple pie for dessert. 

I watched the new film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero with Matthew Rhys. It was good with a beautiful setting and costumes. Better than some of the more recent adaptations. Almost down with Downton Abbey and will start in on the movies as soon as we finish.

It's been cold and rainy today will be the same for tomorrow. It's so green and so many things are blooming: dogwood, lilac and our front field is full of yellow flowers. I did chores and a puzzle while listening to an audiobook. 

Lilacs

Cold and rainy but so green!

Puzzle: Pinch Penny Square by Charles Wysocki

Puzzle from Filoli Gardens: Wildflowers

Read:

(Click on cover for Goodreads listing)

Fate's Edge (The Edge #3) by Ilona Andrews 4.5 Stars

The Geographer's Map to Romance (Love's Academic #2) by India Holton 3.5 Stars

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler 4 Stars

Received:

Thank you to Berkley!

Instagram:

Had to use my flowering dogwood for a backdrop!

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How was your week?

Review: A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

 

A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

Publication Date: April 8th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 343

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Jessamine Bricker organizes unique proposals, and her business is doing well. However, her apartment along with its office space is about to be sold and rent in Nashville could put her under. So, when Diana, an acquaintance from high school, wants to hire her so that her boyfriend, Trenton Tillard the Fourth, can get his proposal right she reluctantly agrees. Jess would rather have said no since Diana was part of the mean-girl crowd, but the money could give her the down payment she needs to buy the building.

 

Trenton decides he wants a destination proposal and so they head up to the Golden Ash, a remote Appalachia spa. The place is beautiful and luxurious with private villas and spa treatments, but Diana and her wedding planner are less than desirable company. Diana is a lot of drama and then to add to Jess’s troubles, she discovers one of the guests dead on the property. Was it an accident or murder? Is Jess or her party in danger?

 

Jess sets about doing some amateur sleuthing while tending to Diana’s never-ending drama. Along the way she makes friends with the Osbournes, the family that runs the spa. Jess ends up running into Dean Osbourne, the brilliant but prickly chef over and over.

 

A Proposal to Die For was an entertaining cozy mystery with Molly Harper’s signature fun shenanigans, but I was a little frustrated with Jess in parts. I wish she would’ve stood up for herself with Diana more, taken less risks and been less dense in the end. Still, things wrap up satisfyingly and there was even a bit of romance that made me smile. 

3.5 Stars

Book Description:

A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a marriage proposal planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two).

Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…the Fourth.

Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal” retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?

As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.” Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it's clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.

Giveaway: 6 Books from Addicted & Calloway Series by Krista & Becca Ritchie

 As usual my bookshelves are bursting at the seams so I'm running another giveaway:

These are the special editions with bonus material:

Addicted to You

Ricochet

Addicted for Now

Addicted After All

Kiss the Sky

Hothouse Flower

 

The giveaway is open to US Residents only. Fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

 

The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

Publication Date: April 15th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 368

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Four strangers having trouble dealing with their grief and moving forward are brought together as a group to try out a new way of therapy. All are reluctant.  

 

Callum, a famous musician, has been forced into this odd arrangement by his record label. Misha was in college but dropped out to be a caregiver. Freya, a successful interior decorator and happy wife before her tragedy; she now finds it hard to function. Victoria, a high-powered attorney, swears she’s not grieving but goes to appease her husband.

 

I was glued to the pages, eager to hear each of the characters’ stories! I was invested in all of them. Their stories were heartbreaking, mixed with anger, pain and regret. Callum and Freya’s stories grabbed me the most. I will say that even though the characters were dealing with grief it wasn’t a depressing story at all. There were lighthearted and heartwarming bits to balance it all out.

 

There’s a paranormal/magical twist to the story and I did wonder. I had a few guesses of what was going on. The ending was a bit different, but still a happy one!

 

The Seven O’clock Club was a touching and captivating debut! A definite recommend!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

Four strangers are brought together to participate in an experimental treatment designed to heal broken hearts in this surprising and heartfelt debut novel from author Amelia Ireland.

In a perfectly ordinary building, four strangers who couldn't be more different meet for the first time. Their skepticism of this new kind of grief therapy—and the unnervingly perceptive group leader—means they're all wary, but as the weeks go by, they find themselves returning again and again, pulled to work toward healing, even if it means first facing the pain head-on.

A sharp-tongued lawyer who has no intention of letting down her walls, a fragile young woman looking for a place to belong, a musician at the top of his game who's one drink away from losing it all, and an interior designer facing the crumbling of her picture-perfect life—this unlikely group slowly opens up, not only to the possibility of a happier future but to friendship, change, and even romance.

When a shocking revelation reveals the real reason they were chosen for this group, it shakes the very foundation of what they thought they knew. What began as a journey designed to heal turns out to be a much greater test of friendship, strength, and love as they realize happiness is just outside the door...if they're brave enough to seek it.

About the Author

Amelia Ireland lives in London but travels extensively to far flung places. She likes to rock climb, kite surf, and ride horses. She is also a mother to two very dramatic children.