Cloudykes
On my lil personal cloud ☁️ Always looking for new recs to grow my tbr
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Roots & Wrath: A Fantasy Horror Novel
E. J. Wenstrom
Once, there were six.
Six young witches were destined for remarkable things, until they were lured into the dark wood that surrounded their boarding school. Only five witches returned. The terrible secret they buried beneath a hungry great oak split them apart forever.
Then there were five.
Eighteen years later, the death of their legendary mentor Professor Berriman forces them back together. In her will, Professor Berriman invokes a blood oath they made to her, which binds them to carry on her work until one of their deaths finally breaks their special magical bond for good. One of them isn’t willing to wait that long.
Now, there are four.
And the race is on to determine which of them was willing to kill to escape their bond. Magical spells and broken alliances—not to mention a relentless ghost of their past deeds—drive them back to the dark wood to unearth the secret beneath the hungry oak.
Can any of them survive the specter of the dark wood and finally put the past to rest?Roots & Wrath is a fantasy horror novel for fans of Sarah Gailey, Alix E. Harrow and Rachel Harrison. If you love dark academia, dark woods, found family, or women's wrongs, this books it for you.
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Cloudykes wrote a review...
4d
I was fooled… and I loved it. C.G. Drews has a way of dragging you into the story and into the mind of the character themself. You see what they see and even feel their emotions. Johnathan is such a soft, lonely boy who struggles with his self-identity in an abusive household. He awakens the sea god, Scorpion Deep, bringing out what should have been kept locked away. It’s gory. Disgusting. Dark. We even get a baby kraken in here.
Thank you sooo much Netgalley for providing this arc read!! C.G. Drews is such an auto by author for me so I highly recommended!!
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Cloudykes finished a book
4d
Scorpion Deep
C.G. Drews
CG Drews, New York Times-bestselling author of Don't Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He'll be left behind with nothing but the ocean's haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can't help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep's adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.
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Cloudykes started reading...
1w
Scorpion Deep
C.G. Drews
CG Drews, New York Times-bestselling author of Don't Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He'll be left behind with nothing but the ocean's haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can't help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep's adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.
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Cloudykes DNF'd a book
1w
Immortal Rose (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Novel
Alexandra Bracken
This deluxe limited hardcover edition features beautiful stenciled edges and illustrated endpapers —available on the first printing only!
From Alexandra Bracken, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lore, comes a stunningly original adult fantasy. Set in a sumptuous world ruled by magical perfume, this achingly romantic, slow-burn love story will shatter your heart and leave you breathless.
Members of the ancient House Rosebourne have a strange gift born of a fairy ancestor: the ability to infuse fragrance with magic capable of manipulating mind, body, and emotion.
When a shocking murder leaves the kingdom of Albion vulnerable to a coup, royal spymaster Hugh Thornton seeks the one person who can help: Viola Lockwood, the last living Rosebourne and secret heir to a fraught legacy.
Livid at the silver-eyed aristocrat who had her thrown in jail to force her compliance, Viola nevertheless comes to an agreement with him. In exchange for crafting Immortal Rose, the singular perfume capable of saving Albion, illegitimate Viola can seize the life—and fortune—that should have been hers.
As Hugh and Viola race to find the perfume’s lost fairy ingredient, hidden deep in Albion’s dark underbelly, neither can deny the scorching attraction building between them—especially as the attempts on Viola’s life grow increasingly brazen.
But a terrible truth lurks in the heart notes of their kingdom—and while every bargain has a cost, Immortal Rose may demand more than Hugh and Viola can ever pay.
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Immortal Rose (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Novel
Alexandra Bracken
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Cloudykes left a rating...
3w
Cloudykes
Jul 09, 2026
Jul 09, 2026
4.5
Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 3.5Characters: 4.5Plot: 5.0Audiobook: 5.0
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Cloudykes finished a book
3w
Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim
A princess in exile, the boy she left at the altar, six enchanted cranes, and a dragon from the deepest sea.
Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.
Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.
Peniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne--a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama's betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to contain--no matter what it costs her.
From the author of Spin the Dawn comes a breathtakingly original fantasy inspired by East Asian folklore and perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo or Tomi Adeyemi.
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Cloudykes commented on a post
5w
Thoughts from 40% (page 180)
The mysteries are killing me!! I'm certain that there is going to be some kind of subversion of the "evil stepmother" trope, but the stress of how they'll break the curse is killing me!! I just know the ending is going to break my heart :,]
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Cloudykes started reading...
6w
Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim
A princess in exile, the boy she left at the altar, six enchanted cranes, and a dragon from the deepest sea.
Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.
Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.
Peniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and, on her journey, uncovers a conspiracy to overtake the throne--a conspiracy more twisted and deceitful, more cunning and complex, than even Raikama's betrayal. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to contain--no matter what it costs her.
From the author of Spin the Dawn comes a breathtakingly original fantasy inspired by East Asian folklore and perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo or Tomi Adeyemi.
0
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Cloudykes started reading...
6w
Immortal Rose (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Novel
Alexandra Bracken
This deluxe limited hardcover edition features beautiful stenciled edges and illustrated endpapers —available on the first printing only!
From Alexandra Bracken, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lore, comes a stunningly original adult fantasy. Set in a sumptuous world ruled by magical perfume, this achingly romantic, slow-burn love story will shatter your heart and leave you breathless.
Members of the ancient House Rosebourne have a strange gift born of a fairy ancestor: the ability to infuse fragrance with magic capable of manipulating mind, body, and emotion.
When a shocking murder leaves the kingdom of Albion vulnerable to a coup, royal spymaster Hugh Thornton seeks the one person who can help: Viola Lockwood, the last living Rosebourne and secret heir to a fraught legacy.
Livid at the silver-eyed aristocrat who had her thrown in jail to force her compliance, Viola nevertheless comes to an agreement with him. In exchange for crafting Immortal Rose, the singular perfume capable of saving Albion, illegitimate Viola can seize the life—and fortune—that should have been hers.
As Hugh and Viola race to find the perfume’s lost fairy ingredient, hidden deep in Albion’s dark underbelly, neither can deny the scorching attraction building between them—especially as the attempts on Viola’s life grow increasingly brazen.
But a terrible truth lurks in the heart notes of their kingdom—and while every bargain has a cost, Immortal Rose may demand more than Hugh and Viola can ever pay.
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Cloudykes wrote a review...
6w
This took me a minute to get through. We start off following the erratic case of a female patient brought to an asylum through journal entries made by a doctor. In order to figure out her problem, we start in the past reading letters from where it all began.
The letters and journals really enabled us to get to know each character personally. I charted the relations to each other which made it easier to understand. Its just realllyyyyy slow.
The blurb suggest queer love and then Dracula being involved but its more of a realistic historical setting. Marrying a man just to avoid being shunned from society.
I wanted horror. I got horror in the last 80% of the book that only lasted for 2 pages it felt like. Even the case of the female patient felt mild. I feel like because this book was so slow it took away from being able to enjoy the little horror we got.
With all that being said, it was a good read before bed to make me sleepy. I went in expecting so much based of the blurb and was disappointed.
I didn’t bother proofreading this and literally wrote my thoughts out
Thank you netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for a honest review
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Cloudykes finished a book
6w
The Brides
Charlotte Cross
Before Dracula, there were The Brides. . .
1903. Sir John Seward, survivor of Count Dracula’s murderous campaign ten years before, takes up a post as a psychiatric doctor at an Oxford public asylum. There, a new patient arrives whose traumatic experiences resurrect horrors John has spent a decade trying to forget.
1884. Mafalda Lowell journeys from London to Budapest to care for her recently widowed aunt Reka. She uncovers the chilling truth about her uncle’s death, and writes to her secret love Lucy North for comfort. Chaperoned by former schoolfriend Eliza and lady’s maid Alice, Lucy travels across the continent to be with her beloved.
Only Alice, beset by nightmares and terrifying visions, notices the strange black-clad man who seems to follow them wherever they go. When Eliza is struck down with a mysterious wasting illness, her doctor orders her to take the healing waters of Transylvania, a journey with devastating consequences.
There was meant to be four . . .
A dual timeline novel, told through letters, diary entries, psychiatric reports, that places women at the centre of literature's most famous vampire story.
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Cloudykes started reading...
10w
The Brides
Charlotte Cross
Before Dracula, there were The Brides. . .
1903. Sir John Seward, survivor of Count Dracula’s murderous campaign ten years before, takes up a post as a psychiatric doctor at an Oxford public asylum. There, a new patient arrives whose traumatic experiences resurrect horrors John has spent a decade trying to forget.
1884. Mafalda Lowell journeys from London to Budapest to care for her recently widowed aunt Reka. She uncovers the chilling truth about her uncle’s death, and writes to her secret love Lucy North for comfort. Chaperoned by former schoolfriend Eliza and lady’s maid Alice, Lucy travels across the continent to be with her beloved.
Only Alice, beset by nightmares and terrifying visions, notices the strange black-clad man who seems to follow them wherever they go. When Eliza is struck down with a mysterious wasting illness, her doctor orders her to take the healing waters of Transylvania, a journey with devastating consequences.
There was meant to be four . . .
A dual timeline novel, told through letters, diary entries, psychiatric reports, that places women at the centre of literature's most famous vampire story.
3
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