All children, except one, grow up.

As Travars - if you could travel to any fictional world, where would you pick?

You might belong in Gryffindor
Where dwell the grave of heart
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart

Daughter of the Burning City is an utterly spellbinding read about a murder mystery in a magical travelling carnival. Only, the victims of in this story are all the illusions created by one magical girl, so they shouldn't be able to die - right?
10/10 ⭐️s for this completely capivating read!

One of my all time favourite series, and the amazing Bookishteas themed a box after them!
If you haven't read the shades of magic series yet, you simply must. It's astoundingly magical.

Have you read Nimona yet? Why not? It's SO GOOD. It's one of the funniest comics ever, though the ending is heart wrenching in the best possible way! Nimona is the story of a supervillain called Lord Blackheart, and his shapeshifting sidekick Nimona who's definitely way more villainous than him. They fight to take down the institution of Law Enforcement and make plenty of enemies along the way!

"Lucien seemed to be trying very, very hard not to roll his eyes."

"Well, I'm late for something incredibly important."

I'll have you know I read non-fiction occasionally!
This book is a recount of all the ridiculous pranks the little shits at Cambridge University have gotten up to over the years. I think it has a lot of appeal if you live in or know the Cambridge area, but will probably be a bit less fun if you don't!

"You are lightning made flesh. Colder than falling snow. Unstoppable as the desert sands riding the wind."

"Tell me that‘s how you want your story to go and we‘ll write it straight across the sand."

I feel a bit bad saying pan because it's not a bad book exactly - some bits are really beautifully written and I enjoyed the characters.
The issue is it feels like a really unfinished book. Loads of plot lines are introduced and only one is followed through (and even then to a disappointing climax.)

I think I needed this book at this exact moment of my life. It's a little silly at points and sometimes the characters contradict themselves, but it's so much FUN I cannot describe!
Roar is about a country under siege by powerful, destructive storms. Stormlings are people who can fight these storms, and Aurora is the stormling heir to the throne.
Heaven forbid that anyone finds out that Aurora hasn't inherited her family's powers at all.

"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England."

Anyone else doing the fairy photo challenge with fairyloot on Instagram? I really love how this photo turned out so I'm posting it here too.
QOTD: what's a book you hated that everyone else loved? Confession; I like the Throne of Glass series but I absolutely DETESTED Empire of Storms. Lysandra was the only thing I liked, and she barely got speaking lines! (And Abraxos, but that goes without saying)

"This world will make you a victim every chance it gets. Don't let it."

Given my experience with romance-writer-debuts-in-fantasy-genre has been thus far awful (The Crystal Run and Given To the Sea being... probably the worst books I've read this year) I'm almost nervous to read Roar. But I like the premise, so let's give it a fair chance!

Bookmarks from @wordsbyjasmine ! I super love them all - I can't possibly pick a favourite. They're just too cute. 💕

Product reveal for the Game of Foams crate from Geeky Clean. Everything's awesome, but please vote for Mother of Dragons body lotion to be a permanent item because it's the best thing ever.

"It scared her to think that one day in the future, she might not be able to remember every little detail of the things that had mattered the most to her. She wished there was a way to store them, emotions and all, in a jar, and then she could screw the lid on tight and peer at them through the glass."

"Never allow yourself to believe you should be silent."

Where did everyone go? Come back to Litsy!
I finished Runemarks by Joanne Harris today after what feels like forever. Overall I enjoyed it, but I think it could have definitely lost 100 pages or more without losing any content. It felt kind of... slow.
Also apparently, after a couple of vodka shots and some rookie booze mixing, I drunk ordered the Dutch edition of Magnus Chase last Saturday. I don't know any Dutch. Whoops...

Tagging this is Our Dark Duet because it was my favourite read of the month! That said, my June wrap up is all decent or better books - The Dark Days Club was definitely up there with some of my most loved books this year too!

Free book haul day! I'm most excited to read My Best Friend's Exorcism, but also The Bedlam Stacks and The Waking Land look beautiful.
See any faves I should hurry and get to?

I adore my Six of Crows pillow from Evie Seo on Society6. Now, on Saturday I accidentally bought the wrong size cushion for a pillow case I own - so now I need ANOTHER pillow case! Who are some of your favourite bookish society6 artists? I can't choose what to get, so I need advice!

Update: Runemarks is, thus far, fantastically fun! I love books based on mythology but I'm also very fussy with them. However, this one is amazing.
Question: I'm looking for cosplay suggestions for an upcoming convention! Thoughts? I desperately need some ideas!

I should be getting through my YALC reading pile but today I'm hungover and fragile and need to go to my Magnus Chase happy place. Don't drink, kids.
QOTD: What is your go-to comfort book? Mine is a tie between Sword of Summer and Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception

Shelfie day! We're having a party tonight so things are actually pretty tidy. 😂 These are my unfinished series, unread books and things I haven't reread this year. It's a vague sort of theme... I guess...
QOTD: How do you organise your books - and how many rooms do they cover?

I have SUCH mixed feelings about this book. It's certainly prettily written and the story is interesting, but the plot, characters and many other little things are so utterly frustrating! It follows the sort of a girl with anterograde amnesia which makes her forget most things within a couple of hours - but then she kisses a boy on a beach and suddenly her memory is on the mend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 because I just can't make a decision on my feelings!

Happy solstice everyone! Now half the year is up, how many books have you read? Are you half way to your reading goal?

These just fell out of the second hand book I'm reading. Beginning to wonder if I'm ACTUALLY Hearthstone? 😳

CRACKS KNUCKLES let's start this badboy

"The inside of my head is out of control. It is on fire. It is snowing. It is a wild jungle. It is an Arctic wilderness. It is everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will happen, all at once."

I should probably make an introduction post! My name is Brin. I'm a full time tea drinker, reader and procrastinator - I am, in fact, procrastinating going to work right now. I live in England and can be found on all kinds of social media:

insta: HearthstoneReads

tumblr: Mervall

twitter: DescantBrill

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman follows the story of Lady Helen, a coming-of-age young woman in regency England who is preparing to make her debut into high society but instead of facing marriage proposals she's facing monsters, magic and the terrible history her mother left behind.
I was SO not prepared to like this book as much as I did. It's silly in a good way and thoroughly researched. It does get slow at points, however, so 4/5 stars.