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Happy Blogtober 14th, book friends! We’re nearly halfway through the month of October and I hope it’s been treating you well. For me, it’s been exhausting, and I’m amazed I’ve managed to keep up with the Blogtober challenge.

Since today is #ThrowbackThursday I thought I’d dust off a book I loved from years past. Lately, I’ve been thinking about rereading the series that began with Kelly Zekas and Tarun Shanker’s These Vicious Masks, so I thought I’d feature this phenomenal series that I originally started reading back in 2017.

These Vicious Masks came out in 2016 and was billed in advertising copy as “Jane Austen meets X-Men” and that is, more or less, the phrase one could place at the center of a summoning circle for yours truly.

A look back at my original review reminds me I read this book in one day, then bemoaned the fact that its sequel had not yet been released. Lucky for you, I write you now from a world in which the trilogy is complete, and you can read all three books if you’re so inclined. Which, in my opinion, you ought to be!

Here’s what the 2017 version of me had to say about her reading experience of the first book:

The book has a lot of humor, suspense, and well-developed characters–all important things, in my opinion. The narrator is compelling and definitely willing to stand up for herself. You won’t find her swooning into someone’s arms in hysterics, that’s for sure. These Vicious Masks kept me guessing and surprised me at every turn–something I’m finding more and more rare these days. It has also taught me that I have trouble spelling the word vicious when I’m thinking about it. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Jane Austen, X-Men or generally just good books with a bit of fantasy twist to them.

From Amanda Reads, 2017

I still stand by these sentiments 100% and will add that the subsequent books in the series are equally worth your time, even if they ripped my heart to bits and pieces along the way. These Ruthless Deeds is the second book in the series, and the trilogy wraps up with These Vengeful Souls.

If you love Jane Austen, the X-Men, or the Great and Terrible Beauty series from Libba Bray and you haven’t been on this journey, what have you been doing? Get to a book store or your local library and dive in!

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