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Modern Divination (Spells of Life and Death)
Isa Agajanian
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A Discovery of Witches meets The Atlas Six in Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian, a dark contemporary fantasy from a brilliant new talent. Modern Divination is the first book in the Spells for Life and Death duology.
The color of magic was gold . . .
Twenty-three-year-old witch Aurelia Schwartz has always had to carefully balance her human life with her secret magical one. With a place at an elite Cambridge university college, she almost has everything she could possibly want within her grasp. Just so long as she follows the rules: Make no promises. Tell no one what you are. And never stay the night.
Except Aurelia’s gift of green magic has begun to fade. Worse still, someone is hunting witches—and stealing their powers. Reluctantly, Aurelia needs the help of fellow witch—and dreadfully arrogant classmate—Theodore Ingram. Together, they seek refuge among his family in the remote corners of an already-desolate town.
But as she grows closer to Theodore, the power-hungry witch-killer, too, draws nearer. And they threaten to destroy everything Aurelia holds dear . . .
Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian is a magical cozy fantasy with witches, featuring an academic rivals-to-lovers romance, found family, and yearning.
Praise for Modern Divination:
“Lush and atmospheric, full of magic and yearning” – Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six.
“The cosy contemporary fantasy of my dreams” – Ava Reid, New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning.
“A gem of a book” – Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of The Foxglove King.
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Posts about this title from Daph's Reads 📚✨
Daph's Reads 📚✨\ \ Daphne\ \ • Mar 25 2025
My entire fantasy physical TBR!
My entire fantasy physical TBR! 📚🔮⚔️
#booktok #fantasybooks #tbr #toberead #bookhaul #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #fantasy
17 books
Posts about this book from across Bindery
The Bibliothecary\ \ Samantha\ \ • Mar 10
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5 star tbr predictions | EARLY ACCESS
In which I wrap up my last round of 5 star tbr predictions and give my next set of predictions...
♡ Join THE BIBLIOTHECARY: patreon.com/thoughtsontomes or https://bibliothecarybooks.binderybooks.com/ ►► Bibliothecary members get perks such as early access to videos, written posts, podcast-like ramblings, witchcraft book reviews and sharing about my personal craft, a year long interactive reading challenge, seasonal readalongs, and more!
★ Reading spreadsheet I use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twhrdlRfnRs&t=626s ► End screen song: Magic Forest - Kevin MacLeod
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Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Dec 19 2025
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Get a Rec from me & What my Taste in books look like
What are some books that represent your taste overall and do we have any in common? 👀
Before we dive into this, Bindery now has an option to request recs and you can go to the 🔗 in my bio and click “Get a Rec” and ask for details of what you’d like from the books I’ve read! I’m also making lists of 2026 releases in fantasy, romance and horror so far so happy to share some of these early on with you guys (these will be recs of what I’m looking forward to rather than what I’ve read) so GO GO GO 🤎
As for my taste in books, I’m never going to be the type that picks only 5 top books for the year guys and I’ve learned to accept it because honestly, what do you mean my top 5 books in one year? I would have to host a meeting with myself for a whole month to decide that 😭 So instead, you guys get my taste in books throughout various sub-genres that I yap about all the time!
Here is a list of the books (if you prefer to read through it or for accessibility needs)🤎: Cottagecore: 🍄 Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries 🍄 After the Forest by Kell Woods 🍄 A Witch’s Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Qureshi 🍄 The Geographer’s Map to Romance by India Holton 🍄 The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar 🍄 An Arrow to the Heart by K.R. Bacher
Cozy Fantasy: 🍄 The Baby Dragon Cafe by Aamna Qureshi 🍄 Legend & Lattes by Travis 🍄 The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong 🍄 The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong 🍄 Watermoon by Samantha Sotto Yambao 🍄 The Spellshop by Sangu Mandanna
Witchycore: 🍄 The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright 🍄 House of Frank by Kay Synclaire 🍄 The Lone Wolf Cafe by Sydney Wilder 🍄 The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore 🍄 A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna 🍄 Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi
Retellings, Fairy Tale & Historical Fantasy: 🍄A Sorceress comes to Call by T.Kingfisher 🍄 What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez 🍄 Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 🍄 We Shall be Monsters by Tara Sim 🍄 The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G Slatter
The rest is in my pinned comment!
#fantasybooks #topbooksof2025 #favoritebooks
74 books
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Daph's Reads 📚✨\ \ Daphne\ \ • Mar 25 2025
My entire fantasy physical TBR!
My entire fantasy physical TBR! 📚🔮⚔️
#booktok #fantasybooks #tbr #toberead #bookhaul #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #fantasy
17 books
Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Mar 23 2025
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2025 Summer Fantasy Book Releases
Y’all… May, June, and July is absolutely stacked with incredible fantasy/dark academia/romantasy releases. And, this is only the stack I’m fortunate enough to have a physical ARC of. There are like 8 more that I’m reading on my kindle right now.
Hope you all are taking lots of vacation days, because summer reading is going to be very, very time consuming this year.
What release are you most excited about?
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Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Feb 3 2025
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Doing things just to make the day go by…ya know?
3 books
Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Feb 2 2025
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[And somehow I thought things couldn't get worse... \ \ This Week in the Book World: \ \ Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to what was happening in the book world this week. I was too preoccupied with everything else that seemed to come crumbling down on top of us this week. \ \ If you caught wind of some important news or drama that I didn't, please drop me a comment and spill the tea.\ \ This week's publishing news: \ \
- Author of one of my favorite YA books (Pride), Ibi Zoboi's announced a new fantasy book titled The Serpent, The Rainbow, The Island below. Based in Haitian mythology, it's about "three orphans who are the descendants of Vodou gods, on a quest to reunite with their loved ones and protect a magical underworld from shape-shifting monsters"\ \
- I've also talked a lot about queer horror this week, so was excited to see a new book announcement from Ryan La Sala's, author of The Honeys, called The Dead of Summer, about a teen in a queer resort town off the coast of Maine and "a mysterious, supernatural plague rising from the sea"\ \
- We also got another Johnny Compton announcement! This one is titled Chimera Skin, and is a science fiction horror novella "pitched as The Fly meets The Thing and I am Legend".\ \
- The sporror genre is alive and well! Laura Cranehill's debute, Wife Shaped Bodies, is "about an isolated newlywed, covered in mushroom growths like all the wives in her community, who strikes a precarious balance between following her husband's strict rules and pursuing an intense connection with another woman"\ \
- And I know nothing about this book, but looks like we might have another big Romantasy title coming soon. Cortney L. Winn's, Vesselless, won a 6-figure deal to Voyager and also won deals with 8 other publishers for international distribution. Definitely one I'll be keeping an eye on.\ \ \ This week's new releases: \ \
- Old Soul by Susan Barker (Adult, literary/horror)\ \
- We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin (Adult, literary)\ \
- Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry (Adult, Non-fiction)\ \
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (Adult, horror)\ \
- The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears (Teen, Fantasy)\ \ \ What I read this week: \ \ Onyx Storm (Finished)\ \ Well, I finished it and I thought it was fine. Maybe I had just mentally prepared myself for a cliff-hanger, because I wasn't overly phased by anything that happened. Am I pissed I have to wait til 2027 for the next book? Yes. Is my interest in this series waning a bit? Also yes. I'm definitely going to experience some fatigue if we don't wrap this up soon, because I predict this may go the way of From Blood and Ash.\ \ The Afterdark (Finished)\ \ This was a fun little queer YA horror novel! I listened to the audiobook over the course of a couple of days and it was a nice little brain break from the real world. It started out a lot stronger than it finished, but I still really enjoyed it. It was a nice little snack of a book.\ \ Listen to Your Sister (36%)\ \ Holy shit. I cannot stop listening to this book. THIS is the exact kind of horror I love. It's creepy, it's emotional, it has a ton to say. I'm literally going to start listening again as soon as I finish writing this post.\ \ Gifted & Talented (20%)\ \ Might this be Olivie Blake's best book yet? That is definitely possible. I love, love, love Olivie Blake's style and voice, but her books require a certain level of attention that can make getting into them hard. I usually struggle through the first 50% before falling hopelessly in love with the story and reading the rest in one or two sittings. This one, however, has been so easy to jump into and it already has its claws in me after only 100 pages. Woof, it is long though.\ \ What I bought/shelved \ \ It's here!!! I finally got my galley of my Bookstagram buddy's debut fanatasy novel, A Dance of Lies! It's going to be my next ARC as soon as I finish Gifted & Talented.\ \ I also got both my Illumicrate (Watermoon by Samantha Sotto Yambao) and my Evernight (Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker) books this week.\ \ Here are some books I shelved this week:\ \
- Prince of the Sorrows by Kellen Graves\ \
- Anathema by Keri Lake\ \
- Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian\ \ \ Other musings: \ \ My husband I watched The Dead Don't Die, which came out in 2019 but somehow flew completely under our radar and it was so fun. It's one of the driest movies I have ever seen, but is absolutely a pop-culture gem. Their depiction of small town life–specifically a certain Steve Buscemi scene–had me cackling. 10/10 would recommend watching on Netflix.\ \ I also started playing Lemoncake again after putting it down for awhile. If you love cozy games, particularly time management games like Diner Dash, this one is so fun to play on Switch.\ \ Lastly, it's time to vote on our February book club! In February, we're going for grand, sweeping romantic gestures and I'm really excited about our options. They're all backlist titles that I've been wanting to read for years. Join and vote here.](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/MDT4MovYkxqqzYEHTfJr/)
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