The fun thing about paying for loads of extra cloud storage is that I have A LOT of photos on my phone and I take photos of a lot of things. These are the photos I took on the 16th October 2022. I don’t think I ever did anything with them? Maybe I posted them here but I don’t think I did and I definitely didn’t Instagram them.

I think the plan was to read these 3 books in the leadup to Halloween? I was doing a Guild Hunter reread this time last year so makes sense that Archangel’s Sun is here!

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

Shockingly I didn’t read this last year and likely won’t this year either but it sounds perfect for this time of year.

In a bleak, far-northern land, a wandering storyteller is arrested on charges of witchcraft. Though Chant protests his innocence, he is condemned not only as a witch, but a spy. His only chance to save himself rests with the skills he has honed for decades – tell a good story, catch and hold their attention, or die.

But the attention he catches is that of the five elected rulers of the country, and Chant finds himself caught in a tangled, corrupt political game which began long before he ever arrived here. As he’s snatched from one Queen’s grasp to another’s, he realizes that he could either be a pawn for one of them… or a player in his own right. After all, he knows better than anyone how powerful the right story can be: Powerful enough to save a life, certainly. Perhaps even powerful enough to bring a nation to its knees.

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh

Another much loved Nalini Singh series, this is book number 13 and is Sharine (The Hummingbird) & Titus’ (The Archangel) book. I really love this one, could actually work as a standalone if needed.

A horrifying secret rises in the aftermath of an archangelic war in New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s deadly and beautiful Guild Hunter world…

The Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease may be gone but their legacy of evil lives on—especially in Africa, where the shambling, rotting creatures called the reborn have gained a glimmer of vicious intelligence.

It is up to Titus, archangel of this vast continent, to stop the reborn from spreading across the world. Titus can’t do it alone, but of the surviving powerful angels and archangels, large numbers are wounded, while the rest are fighting a surge of murderous vampires.

There is no one left…but the Hummingbird. Old, powerful, her mind long a broken kaleidoscope. Now, she must stand at Titus’s side against a tide of death upon a discovery more chilling than any other. For the Archangel of Disease has left them one last terrible gift…

Archangel’s Sun by Nalini Singh

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai (translator)

Also didn’t read this one last year, I hope I get to it this year, it sounds adorable. I mean it has a talking cat!!

The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others – and the tremendous power of books.

Grandpa used to say it all the time: ‘books have tremendous power’. But what is that power really?

Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.

After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .

Sosuke Natsukawa’s international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai (translator)