Page 19 - FEB2026

February 2026 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM Page 19
terms with in the wake of his betrayal. She is filled with anger, love, and grief, and her painful journey to self-discovery and re- silience proves that her greatest battles are not just against ex- ternal threats, but against the truths she carries within herself.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most entertaining duolo- gies I’ve read in a while and ex- actly what I needed to kickstart my year of fantasy. I also found out that there are more books in this universe, so you know I will be picking those up this year! If you are looking for a dark, ten- sion-filled fantasy with swoony, broken characters, The Night- born Duology is the perfect read for you.
Book of the Month: The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King By: Carissa Broadbent
Community
By: BRittany amalfi
Back in December, I re- viewed The Serpent and the Wings of Night and, of course, I read the sequel, and I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t tell you all about the magic-packed, epic conclusion of this beauti- fully-written story!
I won't spoil the first book if you haven’t read it yet. (If you haven’t, you should really get on that). The first book follows Oraya, a human girl living in a bloodthirsty vampire world, who enters a deadly vampire tournament to finally become as strong as the beings she’s living among. To survive, she must ally with a mysterious, devastatingly handsome rival, which leads to a dangerous, complicated rela- tionship.
So yeah, hot vampires.
The first book ended with quite literally a bang, so natu- rally, I had to pick up the second one, and it didn’t disappoint. The Ashes and the Star-Cursed
King picks up after the devastat- ing events of the first book, and we see how they have affected our heroine, Oraya, and her now-husband, Raihn.
Anyways, after a terrible be- trayal, Oraya now needs to find a new normal in a kingdom that doesn’t feel like home anymore. And her strained relationship with Raihn isn’t making any- thing easier. But of course, now there are new threats, and peo- ple who aren’t happy with the new kingdom and new leaders, so now Oraya and Raihn must begrudgingly work together to save the kingdom of Sivrijnas, but as plans unfold, and new wounds open, these two can’t fight their attraction to each other, and the stakes might be
even higher than they thought. Carissa Broadbent did it again with her beautifully at- mospheric writing and dis- played the characters in such a way that the reader knows ex-
actly what they’re feeling down to their core. The book was devastatingly beautiful, show- ing how far Oraya and Raihn come through all their trials and tribulations, and the menacing force threatening to take them down.
Oraya is forced to endure even more in book two, as the truths about her past begin to come about in ways she never expected. As she uncovers the reality of her upbringing, she must confront the painful real- ization that the foundations of
her identity were not as solid or honest as she once believed. This emotional reckoning is made even more complicated by her lingering feelings for Raihn, which she struggles to come to
THANKYOU
to all the advertisers for being a part of our community newspaper. Please let them know that you saw them in the Newfound Lake Life Newspaper.