Reader Rayna

Tag: 2026

  • This Woven Kingdom Book Review

    This Woven Kingdom Book Review

    Title: This Woven Kingdom
    Author: Tahereh Mafi
    Series: This Woven Kingdom #1
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Publish Date: February 1, 2022
    Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Romance
    Pages: 512
    Format: Paperback

    Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.

    To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.

    The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.

    This book was SO much better than I was expecting! It had fantasy, it had politics, it had romance, it had it all! (At least for me lol) This Woven Kingdom is the first in a planned five book series by Tahereh Mafi, whose Shatter Me series I read many years ago, and I’m so pleased to see how she’s advanced in her writing and storytelling since those days.

    The plot itself starts off slow, following our main female character, Alizeh, a Jinn who is perpetually cold due to ice being in her veins. This, however, comes with a secret and a weight that she has to hold heavily on her shoulders. I found that Alizeh, as a character, was quiet in many ways (mostly because she had to be), and strong in others. She seemed headstrong and willing to do what she needed to survive, but not to the point of arrogance. A lot of times in YA novels, main protagonists have a haughty air around them, but Alizeh had a level head most of the time, and a very sharp wit.

    I think that sharp wit was honestly one of the strongest points about her. It was often repeated, because of her station as a snoda, or the lowest tier of servant – the one she purposely took on – how well spoken she was, and that often got her in trouble. The banter back and forth with the other perspective we had in the novel, Kamran, was especially fun to read.

    Speaking of, Kamran, at first, felt like a typical hot headed, stoic, boorish male lead who every fawns over and wants to do anything for. But I honestly found his perspective to be fun, because where Alizeh was living life as a servant, Kamran is a prince who has everything handed to him in life. He does a lot of reflecting in his chapters, and though you know many of the answers from Alizeh’s chapters, I found myself getting frustrated when Kamran would come to some conclusion that was too farfetched to the reality of the situation. It was very good writing!

    The romance was subtle at first, but also so swoon worthy the more it went on. There was a quote that was so romantic it practically had me throwing the book because I needed to write it down!

    Basically, there’s a history of the Jinn existing for so long that Iblees (the devil) caused the light of the world to go out, so Jinn have an inherent fear of the dark. Alizeh has an excruciating fear of the dark, and there’s a circumstance where the only light source in the room goes out. Kamran discovers she’s shaking with fear and crying and says,

    You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you,” he said to her. “I feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.“

    UGH IT’S SO ROMANTIC STOP IT

    Anyway.

    The book started off kind of slow, but as it kept going it hooked me in more and more. It’s a steady build, and the payoff feels worth it because that cliffhanger? That ending? Oh man, I’m excited to read the next book in the series! (Which I’ve started already!) If you’re more into medium/slower paced books, I think you’d like this, including if you’re also looking for a fantasy romance.

    And the writing? As I said before, the writing has definitely improved since Shatter Me, in my opinion, and I felt like I could envision everything that was being described so easily. The story is definitely plot driven, and boy did it go places! Some lulls and dips, but they were few and far between.

    Overall, I recommend this book! It was a fun first book in a YA fantasy romance, and if you’re looking for something that doesn’t feel rinse and repeat of many romantasies out there, then check this one out! (It also reminded me of the Daevabad trilogy, so that made me even more drawn into it.)

    Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

    4.5 stars

  • Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2026

    Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2026

    Hello, hello! I haven’t done one of these in a hot minute, but I’m here to talk about some of the books I’m anticipating from January through June of this year that I’ve heard about, whether on YouTube or TikTok. Let’s just right into it!

    January

    January 6th – Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz – I haven’t read a Melissa de la Cruz book since HIGH SCHOOL. That’s over 15 years, mind you lol. So of course I couldn’t pass up on this! It was actually my Book of the Month pick for January, so I’m excited to get to it at some point this year!
    January 27th – To Ride a Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose – Though I haven’t read the first book in this series (To Shape a Dragon’s Breath), I’m still excited to see that the sequel is coming out at the end of the month! It gives me more incentive to read it sooner this year rather than putting it off more, you know?

    February

    February 24th – The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan – This debut historical fantasy novel tells the story of the first werewolf, and it sounds both haunting and heartbreaking. I also really like this cover art, so that’s a plus lol
    February 24th – Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi – I need to read The Final Strife trilogy by El-Arifi, but this one is giving female rage, and I am here for it. Plus, Cleopatra is one of, if not the most, famous Egyptian queen of ancient times in our modern times. So yeah, color me intrigued.

    March

    March 24th – Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence – I’ve never read a Mark Lawrence book before, but this synopsis sounds badass, I’m not gonna lie. And that cover? Hello?? Sign me up.
    March 31st – This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews – I used to read the Kate Daniels series by this author duo back in the day, and though I never finished the series, I’m excited to pick up this new series by them! It sounds fun, adventurous, and with just the right amount of romance and tension I crave in my books.

    April

    April 21st – Witch Queen Rising by Savannah Stephens – This debut novel sounds like a lot of fun! Family skeletons in the closet, a werewolf ex, navigating the magical world around you… I mean, what’s not to love?

    May

    May 5th – The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee – I have yet to read the Greenbone Saga by Lee, but this standalone also sounds super cool. Of course she’s offered one last mission she can’t refuse. Sign me up, I want to read it!
    May 19th – The Tapestry of Fate by S.A. Chakraborty – The sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is finally going to be coming out, which means I can finally read the first book lol! But seriously, after reading the Daevabad trilogy by Chakraborty last year, she became a favorite and auto-buy author for me, so I’m very excited to get to both books this year!

    June

    June 2nd – The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden – I haven’t read her Winternight trilogy yet (though I own it), but this sounds whimsical for sure. I want to know who the stranger is, who the unicorn is, what the significance is, who the enemy is, etc.

    What books are you most looking forward to in the first half of the year? Any of these on my list stand out to you at all? Let me know in the comments!

  • 2026 Blogging Goals

    2026 Blogging Goals

    Hello there! It’s been a while since I last blogged, and even before that, I had taken a long break from blogging because I wasn’t doing much reading at the time. But I want to give this a proper go again! Blogging, for me, for a long time, was so fun and an important part of my life. I felt connected to the reading community, but it was also a great way for me to jot my thoughts down and to be able to get what I wanted to say out.

    So today I wanted to talk about some blogging goals I have for the year. It’s that time of year, after all, to plan ahead and think about what we want to accomplish in our everyday lives, right?

    So let’s jump into it!

    Have at least one post per week.

    This is a very small goal, I think, and one that’s very doable. I honestly plan on doing more throughout any given week as I want to do a catch up of books I read in 2025 and do reviews for the books I didn’t talk about last year. But I plan on participating in Top Ten Tuesday most weeks, so that’ll cover my one post per week goal, but otherwise I hope to also have at least one review per week, as well, and then maybe a third post of whatever else I want to talk about.

    As of right now, my goal is to have a schedule of posting Tuesdays and Thursdays, with bonus content on Sundays. I feel like two to three times a week is good to start, especially since I’m not a fast reader by any means. If anything, I hope to have either Tuesday or Thursday posts, where Tuesday features Top Ten Tuesday, and Thursday will have a book review.

    Revamp the blog design-wise and content-wise.

    If you used to come to the blog, then you know this looks quite a bit different from how it used to! I really have been wanting to change up the look for a long time, I just didn’t know what exactly I was looking for until I found this design. The rest of the revamp is going to look like adding featured photos to posts and hiding old content I don’t want to promote anymore for whatever reason that may be. It’ll be a long process, but I’m going to steadily work on it.

    Connect with other bloggers and readers.

    It can definitely feel like blogging’s become a dying art, but I know there’s still plenty out there who blog about their passions to this day. I’d like to make an effort to connect with those people and to be able to share my own passions with others. Not only do I want to connect with bloggers, but I’m toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel again (I had one a long time ago that was centered around reading but I have since gotten rid of the videos and all of that), so I’d want to connect with other readers and creatives that way, as well!

    Have fun with it!

    I honestly don’t have too many goals because I haven’t done blogging in so long that just getting back into the swing of things is going to take time. I’m here to have fun, you know? I loved blogging when I was super into it at the beginning the first few years, and I’m hoping that I can bring that spark back this year.

    Do you have any blogging goals for the year? Are you on any other platforms to talk about your own passions and interests, or is it primarily this medium? Let me know in the comments!