Earl Grey Books

We’re in full swing with Indie Accords now so today I have four reads from that to tell you about, plus a sneaky non-Indie one too. On top of that, these are also mostly new starts to series—I feel like I’m probably going to regret starting all these new series during this month later on, but for now I’m having a great time. But let’s jump into today’s post!

Duckett and Dyer: Dicks for Hire (Duckett & Dyer #1) by G.M Nair

I found this one just before Indie Accords started and immediately had to add it to my TBR because of the title. This was super out of my comfort zone, but who was I to resist a title like that? Luckily for me, I ended up really enjoying this. I’m not a sci fi reader so some of it definitely went over my head, but I found myself laughing on basically every page. Duckett and Dyer are some of the best characters I’ve read about in a while—I love how they bounce off one another and their friendship really made the entire book for me. I can’t wait to pick up the next two books in this series later on this month. So if you’re looking for a book to make you laugh, I highly recommend giving this one a chance.

An Heir Comes To Rise (An Heir Comes To Rise #1) by C.C Peñaranda

I bought this one last year, because um hello, do you see that cover? I’m a sucker for an illustrated cover but I also had it in mind for a little challenge which you’ll hopefully get to see soon. But this month seemed like the perfect time to pick it up. For me, this was a very slow read—it was just one of those books that felt like it deserved to be read slowly over a couple of days, though I admit I just couldn’t look away from the last 100 or so pages. In terms of plot, it hits those usual fantasy beats but it was the characters that really drew me in and made the story for me. There were a few characters who were quite mysterious and that I was desperate to know more about and I just had a really good time discovering them and the world. I’m not sure if this series is completed or not yet, but I’ll definitely be trying to pick up book two soon.

Quiver and Quill (Tenebra City #1) by A.M Kore

This was a very big step for me—it’s my first foray into monster romances, and well, I loved it. There’s honestly so much I want to talk about in this review that I feel like I might end up making a whole separate post dedicated to this later this month, but for now, let’s start here. So I enjoyed the ‘monster’ aspect so much more than I’d anticipated—the love interest in this one is half-moth and apart from a few moments, it didn’t feel too different from reading any other fantasy romance which was nice for a beginner like me. It’s also told in second person which was a pretty new experience too—again, apart from a few moments, it felt completely normal and it didn’t pull me out of the story. I loved the world that A.M Kore has created here—I love universities settings and this one is all about monsters and other mystical beings? Sign me up! But honestly, everything felt really well-thought-out and there are so many different places the other books in this series could go that I’m beyond excited to read the next books. My absolute favourite part was how layered the story felt—yes it’s a romance about a mothman, but there was so much in here about family expectations, friends and some amazing references to literature and mythology that I was not expecting. This was just so fantastic and I’ll definitely be making time to read the next books in this series as well.

Lore Olympus, Volume 2 (Lore Olympus #2) by Rachel Smythe

I finally picked up my copy of this this week and of course I immediately had to read it. I read up to about the end of this volume on WebToon originally before deciding to just read along with these physical editions, so none of this was new to me but I still enjoyed revisiting it. I love Hades and Persephone retellings and I really enjoy the modern twist that Rachel Smythe gives Lore Olympus, but my absolute favourite part of this is the colour scheme. I talk about this literally every time I mention this series but I just love the monochromatic character design so much. For one, it means the characters are easily identifiable and easy to follow, but it’s also really eye-catching. I believe volume three is due out in October (just a few days after my birthday too!) and I’m so excited to see where this will go next.

Grinch and Guile (Tenebra City #1.5) by A.M Kore

After loving book one so much, I obviously had to pick this one up while it was free on Kindle a few days ago and then immediately read it. I’ll say right off the bat that I didn’t love this as much as Quiver and Quill, but that’s mostly because this was only a short novella. I loved the slow-burn, tension building of Q&Q and this definitely moves a lot quicker because of the shorter form. I really enjoyed the story itself, but I would’ve happily read a full-length book about these characters as well. I also didn’t love G.R Inch as much as I did Gideon but again, that’s definitely a personal preference thing—I’m way more interested in the nerdy mythology professor than I am the notorious mobster. Either way, I still had a lot of fun reading this and I can’t wait to get into Sin & Spell soon.

And there we are. Have you read any of these? Are any on your TBR?