Ladybug Books | The Sacred Space Between
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The Sacred Space Between
Kalie Reid
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An enchanting enemies-to-lovers fantasy about an exiled saint and the devout iconographer sent to paint him, for fans of Divine Rivals and A Study in Drowning.
The Abbey has controlled the minds of its patrons for a millennium through memory magic, stolen from exiled saints. At fifteen, Jude was exiled from the Abbey to the bleak moors in the countryside, to maintain their control over his bourgeoning magic. Almost a decade later, he wants to live a normal life free from the Abbey’s oppressive gaze.
When they send Maeve, a stubbornly devout iconographer, to paint an updated icon of him, Jude makes it his mission to get rid of her as soon as possible. That is until he discovers she holds the same tainted magic of the saints as he does, and that the icons she paints may be the key to destroying the Abbey's power.
As Jude and Maeve draw closer, the two of them face a choice—they can take on the full power of the Abbey and risk their lives for freedom or escape back to exile and make the most of their fading memories.
But this institution has eyes everywhere, and the only thing the Abbey loves more than a saint is a martyr.
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Posts about this title from Ladybug Books
Ladybug Books\ \ Samantha\ \ • Nov 16 2025
[Hello friends, and welcome back to my weekly newsletter! This week, I talk about a series I finished, some of the most recent books I added to "want to read," and some wintry fantasy books. \ \
- *\ \ Reading Updates Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Mercy \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: It has been a long time since I binge-read a series, but I just couldn't stop listening to the audiobooks for the Imperial Radch trilogy. I found this last installment to be an odd continuation on the overarching plot. I'm surprised that the scope ended up being this narrow, given everything that happened in the first book. I can see why it happened the way that it did, but it didn't really feel like a finale. I loved the series as a whole. The characters are incredible, and I loved the detailed world-building. I plan to read the other books in the series soon, but I needed a little break from SciFi. \ \ Ebook | Finished: The Sacred Space Between \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: The YEARNING in this book! Absolutely incredible. I loved the romance between Jude and Maeve so much. As a devout iconographer and an exiled saint they start off very ideologically opposed. I loved watching them form a bond of trust and mutual understanding as they learned to work together and help each other heal bit by bit. The slow building tension between them was perfect. I also love how this book explores themes of religion, faith, and devotion. A stunning debut!\ \ Hardcover | Currently Reading: The Everlasting \ \ Thoughts: I am literally 15 pages into this book, I have no thoughts yet lol. The writing styles has me very intrigued. I'm also a little scared because the reviews for this book as so overwhelmingly positive I feel like its impossible not to go into it with crazy high expectations. \ \
- *\ \ Books on My Radar \ \ Rather than repeating the same books that I've been mentioning in my recent future reading plans updates, I thought I would share the last five books I added as "want to read" on Goodreads and what caught my interest. \ \ \ \ The Trident and the Pearl: Orbit. I pretty much automatically add any fantasy book Orbit publishes to my want to read list. The cover is also very interesting to me. A romantasy with gods and a seaside setting, I'm definitely keeping my eye on this one. \ \ \ \ Endless Blue Beneath: Another Orbit watery fantasy book that caught my eye on Instagram. This one a dark romantic fantasy with sapphic mermaids!\ \ \ \ One Yellow Eye: The cover caught my attention while I was watching a bookstore vlog on TikTok. "A brilliant scientist desperately searches for a cure after a devastating epidemic while also hiding a monumental secret—her undead husband." Torn between this sounding really interesting and the fact that I don't like reading about zombies. \ \ \ \ Weavingshaw: A very successful TikTok ad won me over even though the cover is really boring. A gothic romantasy about a young woman who can see the dead and strikes a deal with a dark, deadly stranger. \ \ \ \ Habits of the Sea: I am a sucker for the neon text on moody, painting-like covers trend. I find the aesthetic so appealing and it makes me want to be the kind of person who reads books like this. This is a 2026 release that follows a woman who rediscovers the fabled island where she went missing for a week when she was a child. Early reviews make me think this one might be a little too sad for me, but I will keep my eye on it. \ \
- *\ \ Book Recommendations \ \ It recently snowed a lot where I live so I think it is officially time to recommend some fantasy books with cold, wintry settings. Though my reading mood isn't heavily influenced by the season, I love to put together lists of seasonal book recommendations. \ \ \ \ Dark Water Daughter: This is a dark, wintry pirate story that follows Mary, a stormsinger who is captured by pirates and forced to help them find a mysterious treasure. We also follow disgraced naval officer Samuel whose connection to reality is slipping as his magic is corrupted. The cold winter setting is so well written, creating the perfect atmosphere to compliment the tense pirate story. The unique magic and magical creatures further enhance the setting. \ \ \ \ Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries: The first book in the Emily Wilde series takes place in a remote northern village in the middle of winter as scholar of the fae, Emily Wilde, travels to this village to document an elusive specieis of fae. She is joined by her academic rival, the lazy professor Wendall Bambleby. The two reluctantly team up to discover the secrets lurking in the snow and fend off the dark fae forces threatening the village. The snowy setting, cozy romance, and slightly dark magical elements make this a fantastic read for the winter months. \ \ \ \ Daughter of Redwinter: In this book we follow a young girl at a remote military outpost that is hiding a deadly secret. She can see the dead, a power that could get her killed as it means she has access to a forbidden level of magic. When she uses that magic to stop an attack on the outpost she finds herself wrapped up with a group of magic users. She must try to explore her power while keeping her forbidden abilities a secret. \ \
- *\ \ As always I would love to hear what you're reading or if you're looking for any specific recommendations. See you next week with more reading updates and book recommendations.\ \ Happy reading!\ \ Samantha (ladybug.books)](https://ladybug-books.binderybooks.com/item/P9pixF5MUKblpCaJN3qy/)
Ladybug.books Newsletter (11/9/25 - 11/15/25)
6 books
2
Ladybug Books\ \ Samantha\ \ • Nov 9 2025
[Hello friends, and welcome back to my weekly newsletter! This week has been a very good reading week! I finished an exciting new release and discovered a new audiobook obsession. Read to the end to see what other books I think are even better to read via audiobook. \ \
- *\ \ Reading Updates Paperback | Finished: To Bargain with Mortals \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨\ \ Thoughts: To Bargain with Mortals is an excellent start to a new fantasy series! Basu delivers a compelling twist on familiar fantasy story elements. I really loved the depth and complexity given to each of the characters. Poppy, in particular, was really forced to confront her biases and privilege. This book has so much to say about identity, family, culture, and community. I am incredibly excited to see where the story goes in the sequel. The characters are in a very precarious position and I am sure the next book will be filled with tension, betrayal, and scheming. \ \ Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Justice \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨\ \ Thoughts: I absolutely see why this is such a beloved SciFi series. Ancillary Justice captures a lot of the things that I love to read about in SciFi. Interesting depth to unique characters, large scale politics, scheming, and fascinating world building. There is definitely a lot of setup in this first book, but I found myself so interested in all of the details. I particularly loved the attention to linguistic features. This is a surprisingly excellent audiobook read as well! The narrators performance is exceptional and I think it really helped compensate for some of the slower moments in the book. \ \ Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Sword \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: Look at me actually reading a series back to back! I haven't been this obsessed with an audiobook series since Murderbot. This second book features a shift to a seemingly random station that serves as a marked example of flaws and weaknesses that have been plaguing the Radch empire. I really enjoyed watching Breq manuever through the complex politics of this situation. You can really feel both her grief and her simmering rage in her narration and actions. I am obsessed with both Breq and Seivardan. I also loved the occasional moments of humor and banter in this one. I cannot wait to finish up the trilogy and then explore the other books in the Imperial Radch world. \ \ Ebook | Currently Reading: The Sacred Space Between \ \ Progress: 10%\ \ Thoughts: I got a little distracted by the Imperial Radch trilogy this week so I'm still at the very beginning of The Sacred Space Between. I am incredibly intrigued by the mysterious magic that has been hinted at so far as well as the dark truths of the church. I have heard nothing but glowing praise for the romance in this book and I cannot wait to continue!\ \
- *\ \ Future Reading Plans \ \ To be honest, nothing has really changed with my future reading plans. The Everlasting, Kill The Beast, and The Isle in the Silver Sea remain at the top of my TBR. Of course Ancillary Mercy will be the next book I pick up. \ \
- *\ \ Book Recommendations \ \ I read a lot of audiobooks and there are definitely some types of books that I prefer to read via audio. Sometimes the audiobook performance really enhances the reading experience. Here a few books that I think are even better to read via aubio. \ \ \ \ The Murderbot Diaries: This is absolutely the shining example of a series that is even better via aubiobook. This series follows Murderbot, a SecUnit that has hacked itself into sentience and now has anxiety. It just wants to be left alone, but when one of the groups of humans it is in charge of protecting finds themselves in unexpected danger, Murderbot gets wrapped up in galactic plots and conspiracies. Kevin R Free's performance adds so much to the reading experience. His voices for both Murderbot and ART are absolutely perfect. The Network Effect audiobook has become a comfort read for me. I started the series reading it on my Kindle but once I experienced the audiobook I couldn't go back. \ \ \ \ A Letter to the Luminous Deep: A Letter to the Luminous Deep is an epistolary story told through letters between missing scholars, recovered documents, and messages between the scholars' siblings. This is an enchanting epistolary story that slowly reveals its secrets. More than just a romantic tale between scholars, this story explores a range of emotional character relationships. I was particularly moved by the siblings journey bonding over the grief and the mysterious, sudden loss of their siblings. The full cast audiobook adds vivid personality to the various characters whose letters make up the book.\ \ \ \ Book Lovers: Romance is one of those genres that I love to read via audiobook and Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Big city literary agent, Nora, travels to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for a girls trip with her younger sister. While there she keeps running into Charlie Lasta, a cuthroat book editor that she has had quite a few unpleasant interactions with in the past. But sparks fly in this small town, dislike-to-like romance. As someone who cannot stand when high-powered, badass city women in Hallmark movies give it all up to move to a small town to be someone's wife, this book spoke to my soul. I literally listened to this audiobook in one sitting. The banter was incredible and some of Charlie's one-liners had me squealing! I highly recommend any of Emily Henry's books via audiobook](https://ladybug-books.binderybooks.com/item/r4EKvZmReJoCQUg998tg/)
Ladybug.books Newsletter (11/2/25 - 11/8/25)
7 books
1
Ladybug Books\ \ Samantha\ \ • Oct 26 2025
[Hello friends, and welcome back to my weekly newsletter! This week, I finished two more books on my priority TBR and started a highly anticipated release. I also have some recommendations for fantasy books perfect for the spooky season\ \
- *\ \ Reading Updates: Audiobook | Finished: Goddess of the River \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: Goddess of the River is a beautiful and emotional story. This is my first book by Vaishnavi Patel, and I was absolutely swept away by her writing. Ganga's journey of godhood was incredibly interesting. I loved seeing her growth as she learned to accept and care for the humans that depended on her waters. I really struggled with Bhisma's chapters at times. There were a lot of interesting ideas about responsibility, goodness, and justice. But it was really difficult to follow all of the different characters and plot lines, especially with the timeline jumping around. I will definitely need to check out Kaikeyi soon. \ \ Hardcover | Finished: Moonbound \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: Moonbound is a charmingly strange story that pulls together elements of far future SciFi with some classic fantasy vibes to create a truly unique and intriguing story. I LOVE a story that plays with perspective and unique narrators. This story is told from the perspective of a sentient AI that is woken when a young boy stumbles across the remnants of a civilization that has been dead for 11,000 years. I was immediately intrigued by the narrator and its role as a chronicler and witness to the young boys great destiny. Humanity has fallen and come back as something both completely new and oddly familiar. The world is this really interesting blend of quirky classical fantasy elements—wizards, talking animals, dragons on the moon—and extremely advanced technologies. I will say that it lost me a bit in the middle as the story became a bit too focused on exploring the quirky nature of the world. With a story like this, I want the story to lean into the strange narrator, the secrets, the technologies, and do something interesting with the concept. Though it kind of gets there at the end, the middle is less concerned with the parts of the story that I found most compelling which caused my interest to wane a bit. \ \ Currently reading | Paperback (ARC): To Bargain with Mortals \ \ Progress: 35%\ \ Thoughts: I am finally reading To Bargain with Mortals!!! I already know that I am going to eat this up. The writing is engaging, the world building is strong, and I am so invested in the characters' lives. One thing I'm really appreciating is how realistically complex the two main characters have been so far. Poppy in particular manages to walk the very fine line of being realistically naive for her situation without being insufferable to read about. She feels real and I can't help but root for her growth as a character. I am also really looking forward to seeing more of the magic. \ \
- *\ \ Future Reading Plans: \ \ Once I finish To Bargain with Mortals I need to start another highly anticipated release: The Sacred Space Between. This story is about an exiled saint and the devout iconographer sent to paint him. I just know the gothic atmosphere and romance are going to be perfect.\ \ \ \ I only recently found myself really excited to read The Everlasting. After being so disappointed by The Second Death of Locke, I think I have transferred all of my hopes onto The Everlasting instead. I will definitely be at the bookstore this week to pick up a copy!\ \ \ \ The most recent addition to my physical TBR is Kill the Beast by Serra Swift. A friend told me personally that she thought I would love it and that is all that I needed to know. A fairy-tale story of revenge, redemption, and friendship. \ \
- *\ \ Fantasy Books Perfect for the Spooky Season \ \ With Halloween quickly approaching I thought I would share some books with magic systems or atmospheres that are perfect for the spooky season. \ \ \ \ Asunder: You should know by now that I am going to take any opportunity to recommend Asunder. This dark, gritty fantasy has a world that I think is best described as "horror Studio Ghibli." With elements that could almost have been cozy, this broken world is creepy, unsettling, and sometimes magical. In this book we follow a girl who has made a bond with an eldritch god that left her with the ability to see the dead. While on a job she stumbles across a dying mysterious stranger. In order to save him she binds his soul to her shadow, accidentally creating a bond that threatens to destroy them both. The two of them go on a quest to break the bond and pick up a ragtag group of reluctatnt allies along the way. \ \ \ \ House of Salt and Sorrows: This YA gothic horror retelling of the twelve dancing princesses also contains some of the most unsettling scenes I have ever read. That is not to say that it is particulary scary, but the sense of atmosphere is so rich and consuming that I got swept away in the nightmare. I loved the cold, stormy seaside setting and I was so invested in the mysterious curse haunting the young girls. House of Salt and Sorrows makes for the perfect gloomy fall read.\ \ \ \ Silver Under Nightfall: Would it be a spooky season recommendation list if I didn't include my favorite vampire book? Silver Under Nightfall follows disgraced vampire hunter Remy who lives in the shadow of his mother's disgraceful death despite his talent as a hunter. When two mysterious vampires come to the kingdom, Remy is recruited to help them uncover the mystery between the dangerous monsters threatening the kingdom. The gothic vampire setting makes this the perfect spooky season read. There is also an incredible vampire x vampire hunter romance to add even more tension to the story. Might I also suggest treating this as a standalone and pretending that Court of Wanderers doesn't exist lol. \ \
- *\ \ Have you been saving any particular books for the spooky season? See you next week with more reading updates and book recommendations.\ \ Happy reading!\ \ Samantha (ladybug.books)](https://ladybug-books.binderybooks.com/item/06Dms0lsig9BfcE9Rm3P/)
Ladybug.books Newsletter (10/19/25 - 10/25/25)
9 books
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