2019 was a magnificent year for us bookworms; it introduced a lot of us to some of our new all time favourite books and obsessions. For me personally, 'Sorcery of Thorns', 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely', 'Serpent & Dove', 'Capturing the Devil', 'Wicked King' and 'Queen of Nothing' were among my most memorable favourites. But, a new year is upon us, which means brand new reading material (that your bank account cannot afford, your bookshelves cannot hold, your TBR cries at, but you will buy anyway). Including a new Sarah J Maas release! We are in for some seriously wild rides this year and I for one cannot wait to hop on.

Without further ado, here is a small roundup of some of my most anticipated 2020 releases...



'A Heart So Fierce and Broken' (Cursebreakers #2) - Brigid Kemmerer.

Find the heir, win the crown. 

The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers.
Win the crown, save the kingdom.

Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen--until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?

The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.

In the sequel to New York Times bestselling A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Brigid Kemmerer returns to the world of Emberfall in a lush fantasy where friends become foes and love blooms in the darkest of places.



'Chosen' (Slayer #2) - Kiersten White.

Nina continues to learn how to use her slayer powers against enemies old and new in this second novel in the New York Times bestselling series from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle—including her still-distant mother—Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.

And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?

The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer.

This book came up as a recommendation on my Goodreads and after reading the synopsis and seeing how highly rated it was I decided to pick it up. In hindsight, I am utterly baffled about how this book earned its 4+ star rating. I understand it probably as much as Ehd understands why he can’t put a baby in Beh (Side note: he doesn’t!)


To be completely honest, the whole thing went rolling swiftly downhill pretty much from the second I opened it up and read the author’s note where Shay Savage tries to scientifically explain why Ehd can not and will not ever be able to understand or speak any sort of language. I want to apologise to myself for not immediately acknowledging this for the huge red flag that it is and still giving this book a chance. 


Let me give you a brief overview. The story opens with our male protagonist Ehd trying to herd animals into the pit trap he made, trying to survive in isolation after a fire killed his entire tribe. Once successful in this, he heads back to his cave, accidentally leaving his weapon by the pit. When he goes back to retrieve it, low and behold a woman wearing strange clothing and making a lot of noise has been trapped in the pit. Said woman is Beh, from the future. Of course, since Ehd can’t understand a single thing that is going on or what she is saying, he immediately labels her as his ‘mate’ and spends the rest of the book desperately trying to ‘put a baby in her’. 


That’s it. That’s the plot. 


The words ‘put a baby in her’ were repeated so many times by the midpoint I wouldn’t have said no to stabbing myself with the primitive hairbrush Ehd made for Beh. The whole thing is basically just the synopsis repeated over and over and over again for 300+ pages.


Beh is, to say the least, highly irritating. All she does is cry and scream, and girl doesn’t make ONE SINGLE ATTEMPT to get back to her own time or even figure out how she time travelled in the first place. Call me crazy, but if I found myself in a situation where I was magically transported to the fucking Stone Age I’d probably try and do a little more to get myself back to the word of flushing toilets and toothpaste before assuming my role as Wilma Flinstone.


To be fair to Beh (if I absolutely must), we never find out how she feels or what she thinks about any of it throughout because the entire book is told in Ehd’s POV. You heard me right. The guy who is not and will not ever be able to speak or understand language beyond basic grunts and guttural sounds tells the whole ass book IN FIRST PERSON AND PRESENT TENSE. 


I have read a few reviews that say Ehd is an ‘alpha male’ and, let me just tell you, Beh bathes him, brushes his teeth, scolds him…at one point when he does something she doesn’t like she literally slaps his nose like a naughty puppy and every time she says ‘no’ he cries and scuttles away into a corner and keeps his head down like fucking Gollum until she lets him touch her again. 


My brain cells felt like they are diving one by one into a pool of acid and each dying a slow and painful death as I was reading this. I just do not understand.