romance – The Constellation of Moon

Moon Reads: Paladin’s Grace

Posted on April 3, 2026

Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Rating:

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

I will start this review with two clarifications, this was not my first T. Kingfisher book (Nettle & Bone was and I enjoyed it very much), and that I did not read this on paperback but rather listened to the audiobook narrated by Joel Richards, who did an amazing job narrating the book.

The first thing we learn is that Stephen is a paladin, but of a dead god, one that died all of a sudden (and apparently the only one that has). And Paladin’s for different god’s do different things, and Stephen’s Saint of Steel was all about fighting and giving his Paladin’s the gift of basically becoming berserkers that do their holy duty and then leave a trail of blood and death once the job is done. Normally their job is to defend and collaborate with others. But now that their god is dead, the few leftover paladin’s are left broken since the majority died when their god died, consumed by grief and the berserker gift.

Stephen’s doing his best to cope by helping the Temple of the Rat (another god who doesn’t have paladins but that welcomed them and makes use of them to help everyone), and it is while finishing one of his duties for them that he finds Grace in an alley and they witness an assassination attempt go wrong. And somehow, the chance encounter becomes a repeated meeting due to circumstances.

Now they need to navigate a web of politics, treachery and a killer who seems to love separating bodies from their heads.

The novel is delightful, Grace is a perfumer trying to make a life for herself, and Stephen is a sweet man trying to do his duty and be kind, and he’s slowly falling in love with her while they try to investigate the assassination and the murders that keep happening in the city.

I don’t even know how to describe the story, but I loved all the bits, including Stephen knitting socks to pass the time, and the introspective of trying to find a purpose after his god died (how do you live and make a life when your purpose died suddenly. It is a lovely romance but it is also a murder mystery and there’s politics and intrigue, everything to make a good book.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Sad Girl Hours

Posted on March 31, 2026

Sad Girl Hours by Anna Zoe Quirke

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I can’t remember the exact reason I bought this one, but it felt like it’d be my kind of book. A good dose of cuteness, some sadness and lots of emotions. And I was right, this was a delight to read (despite dealing with heavy topics) and it felt like a warm hug or eating a nice apple pie fresh from the oven (not at burn your mouth temperature but at good temperature).

The story has two points of view, one from Saffron who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) who is dreading autumn and winter coming. She had to take time off the previous year from uni and can’t afford to do it again or it will make becoming an astrophysicist difficult or impossible. And also she’s somehow managed to keep it secret from all her friends and the people online that follow her for her short bubbly videos on astrophysics in a way that is easy to understand. She’s scared that if people know, they’ll dismiss it like her family does or they’ll stop liking her. And then she meets Nell.

Nell is our other point of view, who is proudly autistic, studying to become a poet, and a lover of autumn and winter and all the coziness they can provide. So she becomes determined to show Saffron that they’re not bad seasons with a bucket list of things to do to showcase how good it is to have the seasons come.

Of course as they start doing things like jumping on piles of leaves or lighting candles and having a cosy day in, Saffron and Nell both slowly start to develop feelings for each other but neither is sure of what exactly is going. And they both are trying to balance their own personal issues with having a fun time, becoming better friends and university.

There is a lot of fun but also some seriousness on caring for yourself and also how others care for you. I think this was a lovely little book to read and I’d recommend it as a nice autumn read. Do be mindful that it discusses SAD, family not taking this into account and being mean and not helpful, and obviously the spirals that can happen in your head about it.

Book Review

Moon Reads – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

Posted on February 27, 2026

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Rating:

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

This book was the perfect excuse to pull some cute cat plushies because why not, I have my own brand of “stray” cats.

I loved this book, probably even more the Emily Wilde’s series (and I enjoyed those a lot). And I am so so thankful to Orbit for the review copy because I was able to read the book before it came out and then I raved about it to other people (I do circus arts and I have an informal “book club” where we all read different things but weekly we talk about what we each read and recommend books to each other and this book has been one I’ve recommended a few times).

Anyway, to the actual review of this book. The short version of the review would be that this felt like I was reading a mix of the film and book versions of Howl’s Moving Castle (book version including the other two which rarely ever get included, but are so good), with Agnes being a little like Sophie and Havelock being like Howl. There is also like in the books, a much more involved sister and it is just very satisfying and wholesome and worth reading. Very cosy, very cute, you will want to visit a cat cafe and maybe watch Howl’s Moving Castle or read it afterwards.

Now the longer version, we start our story with Agnes trying to find a place to move into after a mage battle destroyed her previous shop front and the landlady she had cannot afford to fix the damage. Winter is coming and she needs a warm space for the cats and herself as she runs a cat charity to pick up strays. But most places she sees aren’t accepting her because she has cats. Until she finds the perfect shop, but she thinks she can’t afford it, despite being drawn to it over and over. Finally she decides to give in and just check it out, and somehow things work out in a way that is scary but feels meant to be. She’s quickly moving in and everything is pretty smooth, but then she starts getting weird visitors that go through her charity and into the basement of the shop.

To no one’s surprise, turns out she is a front for the most known mage ever Havelock, who is super famous and sought after. And well, as you would expect chaos ensues, with a magical battle between Havelock and another mage and our poor Agnes who loves keeping track of things and organisation struggles. But she’s practical and despite the fact she doesn’t agree with magic and mages, she will make the most of this chaos thank you very much.

She then goes on a mission (if you’ve seen Howl’s Moving there’s a scene that’s very similar to Sophie cleaning Howl’s Castle and it was so satisfying to read) to make things work out for this weird arrangement. But in some ways, she seems to be adopting Havelock as one of her strays and maybe, just maybe falling in lvoe with him despite her misgivings on magic and mages and the fact she thought she couldn’t love someone other than her husband who passed away two years before.

There’s a whole plot that I don’t want to spoil, but I definitely can say that this was adorable, very satisfying to read and honestly 100% worth it. I’d recommend it for the cosy factor, the magic, the Howl vibes, the pastries, the cats and the romance.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Isle in the Silver Sea

Posted on October 21, 2025

The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

Rating:

If you are new here, let me start by saying that Tasha Suri is one of my absolute favourite authors, and therefore this book has been an anticipated read since I knew of it (back when Tasha was obsessed with The Green Knight film and all those posts of medieval books), so of course I asked Orbit for a review copy, I probably begged. And they kindly let my soul be happy and have it. This review is therefore fully about my love of Tasha’s writing and having a review copy doesn’t change my opinion of it (or make me rate it higher, go check all my reviews of her books from the past).

The Isle in the Silver Sea is a standalone fantasy book (I am surprised since Tasha likes trilogies and epic stories), which is still incredibly epic. It is like being wrapped in a medieval fairy tale, being transported to an old London and then to a set for Merlin or The Green Knight.

The story follows Simran and Vina, who are incarnates, reincarnations of characters from tales, that are destined to re-enact and live their tale to provide life to Britain. Fated to fall in love and then doom each other, over and over, through lifetimes.

But neither of them is ready to simply follow their tale, and even less to doom each other when they realise that an assassin is targeting tales and their incarnates, and they may be next. And so they need to find a way to survive, and ponder if fate can be changed, if tales can be rewritten.

As always, the cast of characters is a whole thing here, and we find a rich world for them to exist in, starting with our main tale for this story, “The Knight and the Witch”, which is a tale of doomed love. But as you read through the chapters (divided between the points of view of Simran and Vina), each one has a snippet of some writing that is related to the tales, so you get more of the world building (and honestly, I think on a second read they would be even more significant).

Tasha deftly builds a Britain and London that is rich in history and yet also completely different, wrapped in tales and lore. And yet, as you read, as you come closer to the end, the currents of what motivates some people here and makes them think they’re British or “English”, also run a current through the story here, parallels and yet, hope lives eternal.

This was my commute book, and oh how I regretted that, because I did not want to stop reading. I dreamt of Vina and Simran, of their world, their tale, their story. I yearned for them, fought with them, dreamt with them. This is a tale that is very much alive and absolutely worth reading. Tasha gets better with each new book, each new story is a craft honed even further.

I cried at it, I hoped, and desperately wanted things to be, for their tale to make it, for life to have a chance. And in the end, I absolutely loved it. I was speechless; I had no more to say or do because this book was perfect.

So all I can ask, is that you give this exquisite tale a chance to wrap itself around you.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Ophelia After All

Posted on September 26, 2025

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

Rating:

For the life of me I have no clue how I ended up with this book, but when I was doing my book clearing before the move I decided to get through this one because it didn’t feel too samey like others that had not made the cull.

Ophelia After All follows Ophelia who is known to be a little boy crazy and full of crushes, but also she has a good hand in growing roses, and a bit of a romantic heart.

So she is quite surprised when she is suddenly having the same kind of feelings she has for the many boys in her life, for a quiet and cute girl, Talia. This starts making her doubt herself and her own identity because everyone knows she’s boy-crazy. And as things start getting a bit out of control, including in her friends group partly due to her and to her friends figuring their own doubts out about things, she feels like life is spiralling out of control.

There were a few things I found quite refreshing about the book, which will put us into spoiler territory, so maybe skip this paragraph if it matters to you. One of them was that it isn’t all revolving around Ophelia, her group of friends has their own dramas and doubts and they in part fail her while she is full of doubts, but equally, she isn’t there for them either. And they all notice this slowly, specially as she shut them out while she was doubting herself. The other thing, which is the main spoiler here is that she does not end up with Talia. When she finally decides she wants to figure out things and invite Talia to prom, it turns out Talia wasn’t leading her on, but had a boyfriend and was simply glad to have a friendship with Ophelia. I like that her crush isn’t suddenly a happy ending all magical, but it shows that sometimes we get wrapped up on our own side of the feelings without considering what the other person may be thinking, and that they may not even be sending the “signals” we think are being sent, and are genuinely being friendly. Also, this was a girl to girl kind of oh no, not actually single thing, and Ophelia, well, she has to come to grips with that, and it was nice to see that here.

Overall, the book was fun to read, and it had a refreshing look at identity, figuring things out and romance, and I really enjoyed that.

Book Review

Moon Reads: You Are Here

Posted on August 29, 2025

You Are Here by David Nicholls

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

I bought this on a whim on a trip to Waterstones. I loved One Day (before there was a film and a series) and the way they kept meeting yearly, and how much could change year by year. And somehow when I read the synopsis for this, it made me want to read it.

We meet our two main characters, Michael and Marnie, who are both unravelling a little in their loneliness and I guess a middle life crisis for each. Marnie is a good copywriter and loves her job, doesn’t really want to see people, feels awkward but knows she is funny and well, she is the kind of person who enjoys cancelled plans. Michael is grieving a divorce and not properly over it, but also blaming himself and managing past PTSD after a traumatic event.

And a friend in common will suggest doing a long weekend of walks, starting part of the Coast to Coast walk, which apparently has a lot of history and a specific route. It is also meant to be setup as a bit of a blind date, but not particularly between Marnie and Michael, the mutual friend has other potential prospects for each. And yet somehow, things happen and they end up walking together.

If you don’t walk much, particularly in nature, then this will be less known for you. I used to love just setting off and walking for hours and then back, or go with walks with friends. Or walk from a village to the pub in the next village over, or walk between two villages (3+ miles) to go to the library, grab some books and come back. I walk a lot less nowadays as I use a walking stick, but I still love walks in nature (much less walks in cities, I am not too fond of walking on concrete). I digress, the point I was trying to get to, is that if you walk in company there is both these bits of silence that is very companionable and also the moments of talking to each other, either side to side but kinda talking forward, or one behind the other, and you somehow get very deep in what you talk, or very silly. It just happens that walks make you talk of deep feelings, deep thoughts, you may not get anywhere, but you share, you explore, not only with your feet but with your conversation.

And this book, it is a lot about that. It is also somewhat of a love story (in a David Nicholls style so don’t expect the perfect happy ending, but to me it had a good hopeful ending). But it is about encountering your own demosn, sharing them, maybe realisign you’re not so alone and others are dealing with similar problems or can relate to you. That we are both very very different and at the same time very much the same, we’re all human.

It was a very soothing read for me, the pace is set by them trying to make progress, by their talks as they walk, a bit about the actual walk and what places you go by in the Coast to Coast walk in the UK (I knew the end to end starting in Scotland and ending in Conrwall I think but not this one). And also about what they would explore when they got to their end destination, to the place where they either stopped for lunch or for the day. And the little interactions there, the spaces were you stop walking and have to figure out what living is like.

You Are Here was a nice read, with a conversational pace, a bit of melancholy, a lot of humanity, some humour and a bit of romance, and it was good. I enjoyed it a lot.

Book Review

Moons Reads: The Knight and the Moth

Posted on May 20, 2025

The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig

Rating:

As you may have gleaned from the two previous reviews, I like Rachel Gillig’s books, and as soon as I knew The Knight and the Moth would be in existence I have wanted it, so very amazingly, Orbit sent me an early review copy to read (I have read it twice already, and love it), and I can’t wait for my final copy to arrive (preordered).

As you can gather, I really enjoyed this one and can only say the writing gets better with each book.

The Knight and the Moth follows Six (Sybil Delling), one of six Diviners that live in a cathedral in the center of the kingdom of Traum. And she divines through dreams and visions she receives from six figures called the Omens and upon which the kingdom is built.

But then, a king and his knights, and one particularly “rude” one came into the cathedral for a divination. This triggers a sudden disappearance of the other Diviners, one by one until Six is the last one left. So she takes matters into her hand and decides to seek the rude knight Rodrick and try to find her missing Diviners.

She gets way more than she ever bargained for.

The characters are interesting, starting with Sybil, who is strong and big and not the perfectly dainty damsel in distress, which was refreshing to read. And we have Rodrick, our knight who is an unusual and unexpected knight. Of course, we all know there will be romance happening between them. But the rest of the main characters, the ones we keep seeing and that are a regular part are fascinating, including an older female knight and a gargoyle.

The gargoyle is my favourite character. I absolutely loved him to pieces, but I couldn’t get enough of him.

And of course, we have the Omens, all six of them, which each have their own powers, their own little piece of the kingdom that they govern and their region-specific lore to give you a varied world, with some odd customs, some charming ones and some horrid ones too because nothing is perfect. And of course, the overall world and how it treats Diviners as Six encounters more fo the world she had never seen until her “family” started disappearing.

The ending was deadly. I won’t say it surprised me (except that in my head I kinda thought this may be standalone and well, with that end it for sure isn’t) because I could see a lot of it coming and could put the pieces together, but the way it surprises some of the characters was well done and it made sense for them to not see it. I did hope it was going to be different, and I now will have to wait to read whatever comes next because I need it. That is the worst part, the needing to read the next book because why leave me on that ending like that.

If you like romantasy, magical worldbuilding that at times makes you ponder spirituality and be a little philosophical, knights and prophecies and magical objects, alongside a lot of lore and thoughts of gods (kinda like Trudi Canavan’s Age of Five trilogy, which is my favourite of her series), then this is the book for you, but beware because it will take over your mind and heart and you won’t want to put the book down.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Two Twisted Crowns

Posted on May 16, 2025

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Rating:

As I mentioned in my previous review, I am doing a Rachel Gillig series, so this is the second one with the second book in the series “The Shepherd King”. This is the conclusion to the story and I will admit there was something satisfying about it being a duology.

In One Dark Window, we end with Elspeth making some really difficult choices, giving control to the Nightmare, which absolutely devastates Ravyn, but he is going to keep going and he’s going to keep trying to connect with her and get her back.

At this point, we have all but one card, the one for which there is only one copy made, and the most important one of the set (I did not say this in the past review but for each card it has a number and there are as many copies of it with their magic as the number it has). And of course, Nightmare is the only one who knows where it is, because of reasons that may be a blatant spoiler and therefore I will avoid mentioning.

Anyway, this book we follow Nightmare and Ravyn, and also we follow those left behind in the kingdom, trying to wrangle the kingdom from the king and desperately have something to save when the 12 cards are found.

The balance in viewpoints on this one was a lot harder to achieve and is probably the thing that made me frustrated. We get a bit of both sides, the adventure triyng to find the card and the kingdom and politics, but we barely really understand how Elspeth is doing given that she is now trapped inside Nightmare and her own body.

In exchange we get a lot of the back story for most characters. We get to understand Elspeth’s family better, the founding of the Kingdom and where the king comes from, and we also learn how the cards came to be and the cost they incurred in being made. I loved learning about it, but again, as we learn more fo the past and how it came to be, I wish we had some more depth into some of the characters we encounter frequently through it.

As the story is tying a lot of pieces together to drive to the end, it felt at times a bit rushed or trying to expose more than it should. And so it was a little bit less effective at the story telling and chokehold on me than the first. I still was captivated and wanted to get to the end, but I noticed those things more than I wished I had.

Regardless, I still recommend it, it was a lot of fun, the worldbuild was spot on and very magical, it was dark but also like a fairy tale, and the lore was superb.

Book Review

Moon Reads: One Dark Window

Posted on May 13, 2025

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Rating:

I realised that I had reviewed this on storygraph and raved about it on Instagram stories and to some friends, but had not actually put this up on the blog. And since The Knight and the Moth is publishing this month, why not make it a Rachel Gillig series of posts.

I had received this book free from the publisher when it first came out and at the time I was a little burnt out on similar stories so set it aside and forgot. And as I was clearing and packing books, this lovely one came up and I started reading.

I could not put it down. I read until stupid o’clock in the morning just to finish it. And as soon as I finished it was already ordering the next one. I could not wait (the wait was agony, I needed to know!). Honestly, the book had wrapped its beautifully crafted story around me, and I could (did) not want to leave.

So, I’ve raved about loving it but what is it about?

We follow Elspeth, a survivor of a mysterious “plague” that left her with some odd powers, particularly a monster she calls Nightmare that lives in her head (rent free). However, Nightmare can sometimes be very helpful (if he wants to) by protecting her, and keeping her (their) secrets.

But the kingdom of Blunder is a dangerous place for a survivor that shouldn’t have survived. And when she has an encounter with a highway man, suddenly her life seems to move from predictable to chaotic. And so an adventure to save the kingdom from a cruel king, and discover why magic is forbidden or limited to the twelve Providence Cards. The stakes rise as the time goes and as they try to survive, including her own Nightmare.

The overall world-building is crafted in a n intriguing way, it makes you feel like a fairy tale world. You feel the magic of it, the way the citizens live, how the cards influence life in such deep ways, and you discover the world Elspeth had been avoiding due to technically being a survivor that shouldn’t have survived.

It touches on faith, family, on magic, obviously it has a ormance story and some interesting swoony characters to tie everything nicely. There is a lot of sass and funny scenes too, and a lot of stakes, but it all ties in nicely to a point where you just want to find out what comes in the next book.

I enjoyed it a lot, and can recommend it for a gripping romantasy.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife

Posted on March 11, 2025

The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife by Iwatobineko

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

As you may already know, I have a soft spot for manga, and when this popped up on my recommendations (I can’t remember where) I had to try it out. The art style looked adorable and the premise too.

The series basically asks, what would happen if you had an invisible man and a blind woman work together and fall in love?

Yakou Shizuka, who is quiet, bashful and blind works at a detective agency as a secretary and assistant. Her boss, Tounome, is a gentleman and the main investigator, with the added talent of being invisible. This is particularly helpful for investigations, even if it can generally be a bit of a difficulty for relationships and other things, but this is not an issue at all for Yakou as she can sense him and know when he’s near.

The fact that Yakou can sense him makes Tounome interested even more on her and so it starts that he decides to invite her out for a date and woo her slowly. So you get a cute slow burn romance story, and you also get a few mysteries and detective agency plots to keep the overall story going. On top of that the agency has two more characters, a human who is super good at tech and a wonderful tracking beastwoman, who also do detective work, and who are quite invested in the developing relationship between Yakou and Tounome.

The first volume is utterly cute and very sweet, it is quite slow but will make you root for them and giggle while the story develops. The “chapters” are short and quick, but they still are fun to read and there is more plot than just their relationship, including the world building happening as the investigations happen, and learning more about the coworkers.

I would recommend it as a soft romance with a little bit of disability, and an interesting take on how to coexist with variety of differences. Very sweet overall.