skylarkblue1

Hi I'm Sky! I'm a queer disabled British (Welsh) reviewer who loves fantasy, horror, mystery and more! I mostly only post reviews & updates on here

4137 points

0% overlap

My Taste

Reading...

48%

13%

14%

skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

chanberryjuice

Edited

It's opposite day and your "My Taste" section now displays the 5 books you vibe with the least

✨Which five are you selecting?✨

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

Island Witch

Amanda Jayatissa

Inspired by Sri Lankan folklore, award-winning author Amanda Jayatissa turns her feverish, Gothic-tinged talents to late 19th century Sri Lanka where the daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal village. Being the daughter of the village Capuwa, or demon-priest, Amara is used to keeping mostly to herself. Influenced by the new religious practices brought in by the British Colonizers, the villagers who once respected her father’s craft have turned on the family. Yet, they all still seem to call on him whenever supernatural disturbances arise. Now someone—or something —is viciously seizing upon men in the jungle. But instead of enlisting Amara’s father’s help, the villages have accused him of carrying out the attacks himself. As she tries to clear her father’s name, Amara finds herself haunted by dreams that eerily predict the dark forces on her island. And she can’t shake the feeling that it’s all connected to the night she was recovering from a strange illness, and woke up, scared and confused, to hear her mother’s frantic No one can find out what happened . Lush, otherworldly, and recalling horror classics like Carrie and The Exorcist , Island Witch is a deliciously creepy and darkly feminist tale about the horrors of moral panic, the violent space between girlhood and adulthood, and what happens when female rage is finally unleashed.

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Forgive Us Our Trespasses: Religious Horror 😈☠️👹

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This Quest was inspired by the List "forgive us our trespasses: religious horror," winner of Q2 2026 community voting.

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One and Done Fantasy ⚔️🐉🧝‍♀️

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This Quest was inspired by the List "One and Done Fantasy" by hannah, winner of Q2 2026 community voting.

skylarkblue1 started reading...

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Nghi Vo

A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

skylarkblue1

How do you disclose netgalley reviews?

I'm in a reviewer group on Goodreads and while I never interact, I sometimes just read though. There's some netgalley staff on there, and a bit ago there was a discussion about how to make a disclosure for netgalley copies. Everyone, of course, said they put something akin to "Thank you netgalley/pub/author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review" but one of the NG staff members pointed out.... Copies are not given in exchange for a review, honest or not. There is no requirement to write a review for netgalley books!! Star rating, yes. But written review, no.

Now yes, you'll probably get less acceptances if you only give star reviews for books, but that's not on netgalleys end, and you still upheld your end of the deal.

So I've amended my disclosure now to "Thank you to Netgalley for a free eARC without expectation of review. All opinions are my own." Which seems like the most accurate.

What's your disclosure? Are you also going to change it after reading this?

Post from the Pagebound Club forum

skylarkblue1

How do you disclose netgalley reviews?

Now yes, you'll probably get less acceptances if you only give star reviews for books, but that's not on netgalleys end, and you still upheld your end of the deal.

So I've amended my disclosure now to "Thank you to Netgalley for a free eARC without expectation of review. All opinions are my own." Which seems like the most accurate.

What's your disclosure? Are you also going to change it after reading this?

skylarkblue1 wrote a review...

skylarkblue1

Jul 09, 2026

Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

⚔️

😢

🐴

Thank you to Netgalley for a free eARC without expectation of review. All opinions are my own.

Man, Lex knocked it outta the park again!! I love this cast of chaos so much. Bridget stays my favourite I think though 👀 Mental health is portrayed so damn well in this one, the effects from the events at the end of the first book impact this one wholeheartedly. The characters are all quite different to the first book despite it only being a 13 month gap, but still themselves at their cores. A good show of grief, how it effects different people and how trauma manifests differently.

Can't say too much because as with Lex's books (at least Gwen and art/faint of heart) there's not too much going on plot-wise, it's very very character focused. This one does have more plot though, a PR road trip across the country hunting down Arthurian myths is a fantastic idea and works so well. A fair bit of action, lots of drama and very very queer.

The disability rep is pretty good, however one thing I would have loved to have saw more of was how Gabe uses his amputated arm. I was really sad to see it wasn't shown on the cover (arm goes under the table) - needs to be more limb difference rep on covers!!! - but while there's mentions of it through the book, like he has to ride a horse differently... It never is explained how he does those things now.

While I wouldn't call this a romcom as much as the first book, it's still very funny for sure. The romance is still there though, but their relationships are all on the rocks because not a single one of them is doing ok. If you liked the first book, I think you would quite enjoy this one.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

The Butterfly Assassin

Finn Longman

Innocent by day, killer by night: a dark, twisting thriller about a teen assassin’s attempt to live a normal life. Trained and traumatised by a secret assassin programme for minors, Isabel Ryans wants nothing more than to be a normal civilian. After running away from home, she has a new name, a new life and a new friend, Emma, and for the first time in Isabel’s life, things are looking up. But old habits die hard, and it’s not long until she blows her cover, drawing the attention of the guilds – the two rival organisations who control the city of Espera. An unaffiliated killer like Isabel is either a potential asset . . . or a threat to be eliminated. Will the blood on her hands cost her everything?From Finn Longman, an exhilarating new voice in YA fiction, comes an addictive new blockbuster series for fans of global phenomena The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Killing Eve and The Hunger Games.

skylarkblue1 commented on BlackBell's update

BlackBell made progress on...

Murdoku: 80 Murder Mystery Logic Puzzles

Manuel Garand

73%

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

Pig Wife

Abbey Luck

Accidentally trapped in an underground bunker, a teen girl must navigate the bizarre secrets within. This astonishing indie-horror graphic novel will keep readers guessing—and turning pages! Mary had a bad feeling even before they arrived at dead Aunt Pearl’s house. Dragged to a remote mining town so her mom and stepdad can settle Pearl’s estate, Mary can't wait to escape from her wreck of a family—but she’s stuck with them in the middle of nowhere. After a vicious fight, Mary runs off to hide in an abandoned gold mine. Her escape plan backfires when she realizes she’s trapped inside. Even more terrifying… she’s not alone.

skylarkblue1 is interested in reading...

Lobster

Guillaume Lecasble

Aboard the Titanic, Lobster watches Angelina devour his father, before being plucked out of the aquarium himself. Just as he is put in the boiling pot, the ship hits the iceberg and the pot is thrown to the floor. Lobster survives, with some changes: he finds himself sexually attracted not only to a human, but to the very human who ate his father. He gives her one life-changing orgasm before their tragic separation, following an ugly incident in one of the lifeboats. Thus begins a love story like no other. But this is not only a surreal concept. Lecasble's rich symbolism — about the shells we build to protect ourselves, the difficulty of communication, and the profound changes engendered by love — is further enhanced by powerfully erotic, vivid prose.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Hiro Arikawa

Famously scenic, the Hankyu commuter train trundles daily through Japanese landscape unaware of the heartaches of the passengers it carries. On the outward journey we are introduced to the emotional dilemmas of five characters as we puzzle out how they will unravel; on the return journey six months later, we watch them resolve: - a young man meets the young woman, who always happens to borrow a library book just before he can take it out himself - a woman in a white bridal dress boards looking inexplicably sad - a university student leaves his hometown for the first time - a girl prepares to leave her abusive boyfriend; - an old lady discusses adopting a dog with her granddaughter. As the seasons come around, so the Hankyu line trundles on carrying the lives and loves of its passengers ever forwards.

skylarkblue1 is interested in reading...

Like Water for Chocolate

Laura Esquivel

Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The number one bestseller in Mexico and America for almost two years, and subsequently a bestseller around the world, Like Water For Chocolate is a romantic, poignant tale, touched with moments of magic, graphic earthiness, bittersweet wit - and recipes. A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family. Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her, so that Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.

skylarkblue1 TBR'd a book

I Who Have Never Known Men

Jacqueline Harpman

‘For a very long time, the days went by, each just like the day before, then I began to think, and everything changed’ Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.

skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

skylarkblue1

A note for anyone using Imgur in posts

Heyo non-Brits!

A lot of people are using imgur to host images and GIFs on here it seems, and while for 99.9% of the world that's fine, here in the UK Imgur is entirely blocked for like 9 months now 🥲 means whenever we come across any Imgur post online, all we see is this purple image of doom:

I know many people are still going to use it, but it would be nice to be able to be more involved with knowing context or whole messages on here! I know I'm far from being the only Brit on here too 😄

For alternatives, I've had a great time with imgbb! It's been my main image upload site now since Imgur pulled out and it's been solid.

skylarkblue1 commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

mermag13

Edited

🏴‍☠️ debate

Is the pirating books debate all over anyone else’s social media?

I’m very against pirating books but there are more people defending it than I thought, and more of my irl friends do it that I thought… Am I being privileged by saying you shouldn’t?

Edit- I am not anti piracy, I’m pro piracy for most things, books have always been an exception for me! I also know there are exceptions within books as well, as with everything, but the vast majority of book piracy isn’t that.

Post from the Pagebound Club forum

skylarkblue1

A note for anyone using Imgur in posts

Heyo non-Brits!

For alternatives, I've had a great time with imgbb! It's been my main image upload site now since Imgur pulled out and it's been solid.

skylarkblue1 made progress on...

Harbour of Hungry Ghosts

Eliza Chan

41%

Post from the Harbour of Hungry Ghosts forum

skylarkblue1

Thoughts from 37% (page 140)