Kate’s Review: “A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up”

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Book: “A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up” by Elizabeth Agyemang

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, September 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the author

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: TRON meets sixth grade in this heartfelt and fantastical graphic novel where a pixelated quest helps one girl navigate grief, friendship, and the wilds of middle school.

Sixth grade. The game just got real. For Lexie, this year was supposed to be all about joining clubs, claiming the perfect lunch spot, and gaming after school with her best friends. But shifting friendships and the grief of losing her beloved grandfather make middle school feel more like someone switched her life to hard mode.

Then Lexie discovers a mysterious journal tucked inside her grandfather’s things. It’s filled with cryptic notes and cheat codes from an unfinished video game he was Warrior’s Quest. When Lexie and her older sister, Eunice, are suddenly transported into the game’s pixelated world, the line between reality and fantasy starts to blur. Can Lexie and her sister level up and face the monsters in the game—and in real life—or is it game over for good?

Review: Thank you to Elizabeth Agyemang for sending me an eARC of this graphic novel!

I have lots of fond memories of playing computer games with my sister and/or the neighbor kids after school when I was a kid. We would play games like “Oregon Trail”, “Are You Afraid of the Dark: Orpheo’s Curse”, “The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain”, and more that I can’t remember the names of. When Elizabeth Agyemang reached out to me with “The Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up” these memories definitely bubbled up, and when I read that the premise was not only kids being sucked into a video game and having to find their way out, but also kids dealing with real life anxieties, I was on board to give it a try.

Taking into account the target audience I found “A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up” to be a fun fantasy/Sci-Fi tale with a good premise of kids being sucked into a video game and having to find their way out. Our main character is Lexie, who is dealing with starting sixth grade and the stresses that come with that as well as the recent death of her grandfather, a video game designer that she misses very much, and how she and some friends become part of a mysterious game they find in his belongings. The description makes reference to “Tron” and it definitely fits, and made me think a bit about “Jumanji” as well. I enjoyed seeing Lexie and her friends have to solve the game mechanics and how it makes literal villains out of the mean girls that Lexie and her friend Mika have been dealing with while also making an escapist game seem like a way to get away from the real world problems she’s been going through (more on that in a bit). The game itself felt pretty realistic, and this elder Millennial was hit with a full on nostalgia bomb of playing CD ROM games with friends.

The strongest aspect of this book, however, was how Agyemang tackles real life issues that may be relevant to the intended audience, aka middle grade kids who are experiencing life changes as they get older. Whether it is the grief that Lexie and Eunice are experiencing in the aftermath of their grandfather’s death (and their opposite ways of dealing with said grief), or the growing pains of entering a new school environment and how that can cause issues between friends, or the difficulties of dealing with other kids who aren’t so great, or racism, and so forth, we have a story about a girl who is going through a LOT and is having a hard time dealing. It’s presented in an empathetic way without being overly melodramatic, and I definitely think that some of the things Lexie is going through would be relatable to middle grade readers. Lexie herself is an enjoyable protagonist who misses her grandfather so much, and her grief and awkwardness about her new school life are realistic to be sure.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up” is a cute graphic novel that will be fun for kids who may be navigating some tougher issues and who happen to enjoy a nice video game!

Rating 8: A cute middle grade tale about school growing pains, grief, and teamwork in life and video games.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up” is included on the Goodreads list “Middle Grade Graphic Novels of 2026”.

Serena’s Review: “Reign”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Reign” by Bethan Croome

Publishing Info: Cosmo Reads, September 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: The Kingdom of Lyonesse is absent of magic but not of rain.

In the rain-soaked Kingdom of Lyonesse, magic is outlawed―punishable by death. So when Niamh’s forbidden witchcraft is exposed, she flees her rainy village disguised as a man. She never meant to end up on a battlefield.

Mistakenly conscripted into a brutal war engineered by a paranoid king against a vengeful sorceress determined to reclaim the throne, Niamh now hides another secret―her womanhood. Between fighting terrifying beasts and confronting arcane powers she once believed were merely folklore, Niamh is thrust into a world where survival relies on more than luck―it demands alliances.

In battle, Niamh must obey Prince Fitzroy, the king’s infuriatingly handsome illegitimate son and sharp-tongued commander tasked with eradicating magic. He is everything she despises…and everything she struggles to resist. Back at camp, she forges a complicated friendship with Bash, a fellow soldier who sees her like no one else does and stirs forbidden feelings that could shatter her disguise.

As war tightens its grip on the kingdom, Niamh is forced to choose: obey the prince who could expose her, trust the soldier who could love her, or embrace the forbidden magic that could save them all.

But war is merciless, and not everyone will live to see which side prevails.

Review: I’ve seen a lot of reviewers mentioning Mulan when referencing this book. And while I get it, that’s one of the most well-known examples of a “woman dressing as a man” story we really have, it’s also a very specific tale, and mentioning it every time a book features a female character dressing as a man just messes with people’s expectations. We might as well reference the “Alanna” series by Tamora Pierce or, heck, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” while we’re at it! Anyways, I’ll get off this weird soapbox and get on with the review.

By the time I finished this book, my primary feeling was that I really wished I had liked it more than I did. There were some good ideas here, and I’ll be honest that some of my struggles came down to my own preferences (we all know my feelings on love triangles by this point). But the book also struggled in too many basic ways to truly be thought of as a successful read or one that I would recommend generally to other fantasy readers.

For one thing, the writing itself was a tough read. It felt wooden and lacked any sense of a unique tone or voice. The structure felt very rigid, and the entire affair left me feeling cold and unable to connect to anything that was happening on the page. In the most basic sense, there was way too much telling throughout the entire book and not enough showing. From character development, to plotting, to world-building: it all felt like a slow progression of checklists just being tacked one upon the other.

The characterization was equally bland. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the dialogue was incredibly choppy-feeling and didn’t read in a way that felt like believable interaction. And while I could appreciate some of the basic components of these characters, they also quickly began to feel overly familiar, without much new to be added or experienced while following their stories. And, of course, this didn’t help the romance. Setting aside the multiple love interests thing, which is very much just a “me issue,” I also simply didn’t buy any of these relationships. It never felt like any true connection was built between these characters. Instead, like everything else, the reader was simply informed that a connection was there.

Overall, this was a very lackluster read. I really enjoy fantasy stories that follow a woman dressing up as a man, as I think this can explore some really interesting concepts of misogyny and the different dynamics between the sexes. But this one didn’t really do anything with all of this. Instead, the wooden and choppy writing took me out of it almost immediately, and the flat characterization prevented me from ever connecting to the story. Readers who enjoy romances with multiple love interests and who want to experience another “woman undercover as a man” story may still want to check it out, however!

Rating 6: I wanted to like this one, but everything fell just a bit short, from the characterization, to the choppy dialogue, to the flat prose.

“Reign” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2026 Most Anticipated Romantasy & Fantasy Romance Releases

Kate’s Review: “The Calamities”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Calamities” by Chuck Wendig

Publishing Info: Del Rey, August 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The heir to one of the world’s most influential families reckons with the demonic secret to their power, in this contemporary dark fantasy that melds occult magic with shocking family drama from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

Mourning Mayne knows he’ll one day bear the duty of managing his family’s vast empire of wealth and power. But the feckless Mourning has always struggled to accept this legacy, which is one of cruelty, domination, and exploitation… and something even darker.

Because the Maynes are no ordinary family: Hidden in our world are the fiends—half-human, half-demon, and possessed of dark magic born from buying human souls—and the Maynes are one of the oldest and most influential fiendish families.

But when Mourning’s estranged father, the formidable and terrifying Hadrian Mayne, demands that he return to the fold, Mourning has to make a decision whether to accept his legacy and embrace his role in the family, or to forge his own destiny, and with it, change the course of the world.

Because along the way home, he will meet Key, a black-market seller of human souls, and Quinn, an artist who may hold the dark truth behind the fate of the fiends. Alone, they have all struggled with the darkness of their fiendish nature… but together, they might find a path out of the shadows.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!

It’s been a few years since “Succession” ended, and while I don’t particularly MISS it (it was good but it ended well and man they were all just horrible), I was still immediately thinking of it when I read about Chuck Wendig’s new novel “The Calamities”. We all know that I like Wendig as a horror author, and the idea of him writing a book about an uber wealthy and uber powerful family that just so happens to have demon blood and soul snatching powers just tickled me. “Succession” meets cosmic and demon horror? Hell yes! The Roy Family is basically filled with demons anyway, why not do a story that just leans all the way into that?

Only a man who feeds on human souls and misery could come up with boar on the floor as far as I’m concerned. (source)

Off the bat I will admit that the theme of ‘billionaires and billionaire families are soul sucking demons’ is a bit on the nose, but that doesn’t make it any less resonant. Especially these days. And Wendig is always so thorough and deliberate with his world building that even if the theme is obvious, he makes it feel fresh and brings in so much originality, probably because he has built an entire mythos around the idea of ‘Fiend’ families (aka people who have demon blood in them and who take human souls for feeding) gathering wealth, power, and souls for their own devices, hoarding and exploiting power with no care for the consequences. With different families having rivalries and motives to hold on to souls to consume, we have a lot of well done motivations and a tellar history and world of people with demon blood and soul snatching powers. The horror in this book is less ‘demonic’ and definitely more in the realm of body and cosmic horror, with some really nasty moments that had me squirming, while also building up the suspense in a way that kept me reading. Wendig is such a reliable horror writer and while this one did feel a little bit meandering at times, I was generally locked in.

And unsurprisingly so, the characters in this one are a feast, with morally grey ones, traumatized ones, funny ones, and incredibly creepy ones. Wendig has the gross entitlement and cruelty of a wealthy family a la the Sacklers or Du Ponts, but also brings out interesting complex characters who are sometimes infuriating but at other times wholly sympathetic. We also get an interesting examination of the way narcissistic parents can favor some kids while scapegoating others, and how they can pit their children against each other. This dynamic is especially prevalent in the Maynes Family, with our protagonist Mourning being a black sheep to his cruel and megalomaniacal father Hadrian while his twin siblings Lachlan and Lorelei are highly favored and keep him under their boots because of this advantage (this whole family was very Lannister-esque). But we also have characters like Key, who is a black market soul merchant who finds herself teaming up with Mourning when his father (and their fount of souls) disappears, who is also struggling with her own culpability in the business even if she doesn’t have the monetary advantages of the Maynes and other Fiend families (and uses her soul stealing skills in a way that leaves her incredibly conflicted as the story progresses). Other characters include an artist named Quinn who has a part to play in the nefarious plan, and a Fiend named Silas who has a cold and predatory nature, but who has been muzzled. While sometimes the four perspectives felt a little harried, I overall enjoyed them.

“The Calamities” also has set up a clear path to more books about the Fiends, and I would absolutely keep reading about them should this come to pass. I so enjoy Chuck Wendig and his creepy horror tales, and this one is another good time.

Rating 8: The world building is stellar and while the metaphor is kind of obvious Wendig creates a nasty and fun world of demons, billionaires, cosmic horror, and undoing familial trauma and damage.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Calamities” is included on the Goodreads blog post “Peek If You Dare: Our Guide to New Horror Books Coming This Fall”.

Not Just Books: August 2026

While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!

Serena’s Picks

Video Game: “Fields of Mistria”

I have to be in a certain mood for cozy farming sims. I’ve started “Stardew Valley” a few times now and barely make out the door. I don’t blame the game at all for this; it’s all me and my mood. But a few weekends ago my husband took the kids up to the cabin so I had a few quiet days to myself, and a quiet game seem to be in order and this one had just come out! I do still struggle with the grindy nature of farming sims (it’s the whole point, I get it, but to me who is very goal oriented, it feels grindy) and I think the heart events are too few and far between. But overall, I’ve been having a lovely time. The art is very cute and I like a lot of the villagers (don’t ask how many I’m currently dating). If you like “Stardew” and want pretty much more of the same, but with a secret dragon man (eventually), I definitely recommend this one!

Movie: “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”

Seems like everyone went to see this movie this last month (when they weren’t at “The Oydessy”, of course). When I was buying tickets, my husband and I actually had to cycle through a few options to find a showing that still had seats. And this how we ended up unknowingly attending a 3D version, which, honestly, I didn’t know was still even a thing. But it was still a great time. Tom Holland remains excellent, and the cast of side characters and cameos were all excellent. I really liked some of the twists the story threw at viewers and, importantly, how the movie carefully managed to not allow these twists to overtake what this movie was: a Spider-man movie about Peter Parker learning to balance his identities. The Marvel movies have been a bit hit-and-miss for a while now, but Spider-Man continues to hit it out of the park!

TV Show: “Alone: World Championships”

I always love the full-throated grandiose nature of this show. It’s so ridiculous and so unapologetic about it. Yes, this season is the “world championship” because there are a handful of contestants from other countries (there are several still from the U.S. and Canada). That said, I’ve liked some of the international contestants best. In particular there’s a British man from Wales who I think is secretly auditioning to be some sort of host for future seasons. (Does a show like this NEED a host? No, but who the heck care! This guy is so charming and his accent is lovely, get him in there!). And I also really like the contestants from Portugal and Slovenia. So much more charm with these cast members than what we’ve seen in the last few seasons. A few of my favorites are still in when I’m writing this, so fingers-crossed one of them makes it all the way!

Kate’s Picks

TV Show: “The Newsreader”

I’m still experiencing a serious emotional media hangover thanks to “The Vampire Lestat” ending in July, and because I was in a need of a Sam Reid fix that didn’t involve me sobbing uncontrollably (god DAMN did Lestat just break me this season) I decided to check out the Australian show “The Newsreader”. Reid plays Dale Jennings, an ambitious young reporter in Sydney, Australia in the 1980s, who has a huge opportunity when he is selected to work with star anchor Helen Norville for the primetime broadcast. Using these fictional characters to explore actual Australian and global events and notorious news stories we see the pressures of broadcast news, the interpersonal drama between colleagues, and the way media can impact not just real life, but also the people presenting it. Sam Reid is, of course, magnetic as the incredibly earnest but highly repressed Dale, but this is also a great vehicle for Anna Torv as Helen, as we see her character as a seasoned journalist who has to deal with a lot of bullshit and misogyny as a woman in a competitive field. Honestly there is no guarantee that Reid won’t leave me absolutely broken given how his character is developing, but it’s deeply compelling and a fascinating look at aspects of recent history through a very specific lens.

Video Game: “The Sims 2”

My kid really likes cozy video games. She likes “Stardew”, “Animal Crossing”, “Hello Kitty Island Adventure”, and others, and whilst trying to find a new one we could play together I remembered that I had access to “The Sims 2”. I hadn’t played “The Sims 2” in a few years, but when I described it to her she was really into creating families and houses. And now I’m back playing it again, creating favorite fictional character ships and romancing them to my heart’s content (Louis and Lestat are a VERY happy couple at the moment and Spike from “Buffy” is currently romancing Regina George…. Don’t judge me!). It’s still an addictive and fun game, and I have really enjoyed playing it with my kid as well as on my own.

TV Show: “Lanterns”

I felt like I’d been waiting for this one to drop a long time because the premise of The Green Lantern Corp being meshed with “True Detective” was SUCH A COOL CONCEPT to me. And so far, so good, it’s really living up to what I was expecting from Damon Lindelof and this new and creative DCU. Ten years ago John Stewart was being trained under Hal Jordan to become a Green Lantern, and found themselves in a small town in Nebraska that may be hiding the start of an alien invasion. And in 2026, Stewart, full Lantern Corp now, returns to that same small town to investigate a murder that may have connection to the previous visit. It is such a cool idea to make Hal and John two investigators within a gritty procedural, as they are dealing with violent militias and xenophobic paranoia as WELL as a threat from outer space, and have it feel completely at home within that concept. Given that Lindelof was behind the “Watchmen” miniseries from awhile ago, it’s unsurprising that this is really working so far. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Serena’s Review: “Reliquary”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Relilquary” by Hannah F. Whitten

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Sometimes, you just want to belong.,When Claire’s fiancé mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, seemingly destroying her chances at the belonging she’s sought, she’s prepared to sink back into the lonely life she lived before. Orphaned by a freak boating accident in her childhood, she never expected to find connection like she did with Elias, anyway. Even if sometimes, that connection seemed more like something he felt obligated to than something he wanted.

Their relationship wasn’t perfect—his coldness, his secrets, his strange aversion to the ocean—but what relationship is?

When Elias’s family reaches out—his incredibly wealthy family, from whom he was estranged—and invites Claire to a wake at their family home on a private island, Claire is given the chance to have connection again. To belong to something, just like she’s always wanted. Just like Elias knew she was desperate to have.

Even if that family is a little strange. Even if their home built partially into the sea stirs up memories of the accident that killed her parents and sister. Even if Ash, Elias’s older brother, seems insistent on Claire leaving as soon as possible.

Claire can’t bring herself to be lonely again. And as the strange circumstances of Elias’s familial connection with the sea becomes more and more apparent, her window for escape is rapidly closing.

Does she even want to?

Review: There must be something in the water, since many of my favorite fantasy authors have all seemed to come to the collective understanding that now is the time to try their hand at the horror genre. And so I must dutifully follow, our blog genre/reviewer standards be damned!

Luckily for me, what Whitten has written here is a wild, Gothic ride that veered way further into the fantastical than I had expected when I first picked it up. The general setup, however, played into some of my favorite elements of Gothic fiction. We had the creepy, mysterious house, the strange family, and secrets whose answers might be even more dangerous when they are finally revealed.

For all that there is a creepy house, the horror elements were largely focused on the ocean and aquatic themes. And all of this was truly terrifying and surprisingly disgusting and disturbing. As far as the actual horror goes, beyond the suspense of the general setup, the primary way it plays out is through increasingly disturbing moments of body horror. This is definitely not one to read if you have a weak stomach or really struggle with body grossness.

I can’t get into too many details about how the story plays out, as there were a ton of late-game reveals that really twisted the story into an entirely different beast. There was definitely not a lack of creativity, and, like I said, the book took on a much more fantastical flavor toward the end than it did with its more typical Gothic setup. For me, this was a pleasant turn of events. But it also comes fairly late in the game, and then the book whacks you over the head again and again for the remainder of the read with increasingly out-there twists. So readers who are vibing with the more general Gothic premise or who are expecting a more grounded horror story might find themselves off balance when this shift comes.

I really enjoyed all of the characters we had here. Of course, “enjoyed” in cases like this often means loving to hate them. The entire family was so disturbing, all in different ways. And the book did a great job of highlighting the various ways that different personalities might buckle and twist under these circumstances. There’s a lot of toxicity here, but many different flavors are on display.

There was also a surprisingly interesting romantic subplot. For a book that takes place over only a few days, I was surprised by the depth of this plotline. Partly this is because the love interest was one of the most interesting characters in the book. His arc is tragic, frustrating, and compelling.

I also really enjoyed the main character. Through her, Whitten expertly portrayed a woman whose struggles with tragedy and guilt have led her to extreme levels of passivity and a desire to belong that trumps almost anything else. What makes this all the more interesting is that Claire herself is largely aware of her own failings in this area. But that doesn’t make her any more capable of disrupting her own habits. She knows they are deeply unhealthy, and for much of the book, she’s embraced them as part of herself. This can make her frustrating to read at times, but also makes it all the more gratifying when she finally comes around.

The pacing of the entire book was a bit odd. It starts slow, which is expected with this sort of horror, the type that is leaning strongly into dread and revels in the slow reveal. But it does make for a jarring experience in the back half when the wheels seemingly come off and it’s full blast for the last third of the book. Not necessarily a full blast of action, but more one heavy scene after another. And, while I liked how things wrapped up in the end, I was left with a few too many questions about parts of it to be fully satisfied.

That said, this was still a great read. It was horrifying, heart-wrenching, and deliciously cruel at times. But there was also just enough softness and heart, especially to Claire’s story and the slow arc of her relationship with the MMC, to properly balance things out. Readers who enjoy horror that leans into the fantastical should definitely give this one a shot!

Rating 8: I’ll never look at the ocean the same way again. Or get on a submarine, for that matter. But here Whitten expertly blends the horrific with the fantastic, all while exploring deep themes of family trauma and grief.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Reliquary” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Seaside Gothic and Horror Releases Coming in 2026.

Fire’s Catching: “Mockingjay: Part 1”

It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

Film: “Mockingjay: Part 1”

OKAY, we are back on schedule and it’s once again time for “Fire’s Catching” for the month! This month’s post is about “Mockingjay: Part 1”, the first of two movies that adapt the third novel in the original series. While I’m not totally convinced that they needed to split the book into two films, I will say right off the bat this one didn’t feel padded out, so I am fine with it being two instead of one. After discovering that I really loved the book I was quite interested to see how the film compares, and while it doesn’t exceed the source material like “Catching Fire” does, it, for the most part, adapts the source material pretty well.

One thing that struck me almost immediately is how this first film of the two kind of downplays the absolute authoritarian hellscape that District 13 is in the book. In the movie, they kind of change up the origin of 13, as instead of 13 approaching the Capitol and saying ‘let us go and disappear or we nuke you to oblivion’, in the film they say that 13 was bombed pretty heavily and then they played possum and stayed underground to be off the radar. So they are already less duplicitous from basically the first couple of scenes (it really cheesed my grits that they just ditched everyone else in the book!). They also cut out Katniss’s prep team being horrifically tortured for no discernible reason outside of ‘because funsies’. And while they KIND of hint that Coin may not be as magnanimous as she appears to be, in this movie she isn’t nearly as sketchy to Katniss as she was in the book. I think that this is a detriment to the story, as one of the points that Collins is trying to make in the book is that authoritarianism, no matter if it’s an authoritarianism that you may ideologically agree with/be on the side of, is STILL authoritarianism and is BAD, actually. By defanging 13 it strips them of their weight as of now, and I didn’t like that choice. Here’s hoping Part 2 amps it up even beyond Coin’s ultimate downfall, it’s been awhile since I’ve watched that one because, well…. it devastates me.

But outside of making a kinder gentler District 13, there were a lot of things I enjoyed about the adaptation. Much like the previous movies, the film expands beyond Katniss’s POV and gives us insight not only into what the other Districts are doing as they rebel during the war, we also get to see the likes of Snow making tactical moves and Coin and Plutarch making moves of their own (side note: I really liked seeing Plutarch in his scenes with Coin because knowing what we know about Coin and her motives vs Plutarch and his motives, Philip Seymour Hoffman is playing it like he’s doing his OWN calculations against HER should things go sour). It also makes perfect sense to end it where they do, as what a cliffhanger for non-book readers (like meeee at the time) to leave them with Peeta being basically a rabid dog who wants nothing more than to take Katniss out EVEN THOUGH BEFORE HIS BRAINWASHING HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HER, UGH, MY HEART. It’s a spectacular choice and I applaud it.

But the biggest and best change of the adaptation? It is OBVIOUSLY Effie!!! In the book Effie doesn’t even show up until the end and is clearly being spared from punishment but seems pretty shellshocked and downtrodden. Effie in the movie, however, is being held in 13 and Plutarch and Haymitch are hoping that she will be not only a ‘prep team’ for the propaganda, but also be a good source of support for her. And Effie just lights up the entire movie, mostly because Elizabeth Banks continues to be incredibly cunt, but also because she is really one of the only people that seems to REALLY care for Katniss and her wellbeing. I really love how much the films give Effie to work with, showing a woman who was indoctrinated by the Capitol slowly but surely learning that her life has been a complete lie and changing sides and learning empathy and compassion and how wrong she was. And I’m not ashamed to say that I greatly enjoy the chemistry between her and Haymitch, she doesn’t take his shit and he totally loves that.

These two (source).

In terms of new characters and new actors, the ones of note are Julianne Moore as Alma Coin and Mahershala Ali as Boggs, the dictator of 13 and the security head of 13 respectively. Moore plays Coin with a cool affect and a veneer of transformative leadership, but definitely feeling disingenuous and secretive. I really loved Ali’s Boggs, and I know he has more to do in Part 2, but even here he is clearly a steady and serious but incredibly loyal person and Ali plays it perfectly. And a special shout out to Elden Henson who plays avox cameraman Pollux, only because when he played Fulton Reed in “The Mighty Ducks” my first grade self was fully convinced she was going to marry him one day. Needless to say, that didn’t really pan out.

“Mockingjay: Part 1” makes some changes from the book I didn’t like, but makes others that I do, and all in all it’s a really enjoyable film. Next month I will take on “Mockingjay: Part 2” and I’m sure I’ll be feeling a certain way about it.

Serena’s Review: “The Art of Charming a Changeling”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Art of Charming a Changeling” by Sylvie Cathrall

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: On her first day working in the prince’s galleries, art conservator Florrie Hyverfell discovers that the most famous portrait in the collection is not only a fake-it’s also inhabited by Vern, a fairy trapped in the forged painting.

Tracking down the stolen original is the only way for Florrie to save her job and for Vern to escape his canvas. Yet as they journey to a famed fairy museum to find the missing artwork, Florrie finds herself taking more than an art historical interest in the changeling painting’s charming inhabitant.

Review: I know Cathrall’s first duology was a bit hit or miss for some fantasy readers, with people sometimes falling off the slower pacing and verbose style of writing. But I really enjoyed it, especially the epistolary format and the creative world-building that expanded in truly wild directions by the time the entire thing came to a close. That being the case, I was excited to pick up another book by this author, especially as this one seemed to have the trappings of a Regency romance novel as well!

It didn’t quite hit the same highs as the other duology, but I’ll go more into that later. But what it did do right, it did very well. From the start, I remembered why I enjoyed this author’s prose. She has a flowing, whimsical style that somehow elevates these sorts of “day in the life” cozy fantasy novels into a place where I am less likely to get bored. This is obviously a subjective point, but I often struggle with cozy fantasy novels that don’t have much plot balancing things out. And like those, this is very light on the plot. There are pages and pages where not much really happens, but because the author’s style of writing is so lovely, I was more than happy to just sit back and go at this more languid pace.

However, some readers may struggle here if they don’t connect with the writing as well. This is definitely one of those books where the author uses twenty words when one is only needed, and the plot is truly secondary to pretty much everything else going on on the page.

I also really enjoyed the main character, the love interest, and the cast of side characters we met along the way. The main character especially was incredibly sympathetic and compelling, nicely balancing a desire to do the right thing with her own struggles with her role in this kerfuffle and her larger artistic ambitions. The love interest was also lovely, though his niceness also left him feeling a bit one-dimensional at times. As the story went on, more depth was given here, but I did at times wish for a bit more spark beyond the simple golden retriever energy he was giving off. The side characters were also very good, for the most part. There was a cousin, Chary, whom I actively disliked through most of the story, and I’m not sure if that was intentional on the author’s part.

As I mentioned above, while the style of writing carried this book for me, I do think there were a few things missing here that were in the first duology. For one thing, the format in the first book, with characters exchanging letters back and forth, better played into this wordy style of writing. It added a little “oomph” to the proceedings, for lack of a better word. Here, there were times where even I began to struggle with the glacial speed of the plot and the detailed descriptions of almost everything.

Further, I also think that the world-building and general mystery of the first duology also better held up this pacing/style-of-writing issue. There, even if the plot itself wasn’t moving quickly, the reader was constantly learning new things about this world and being fed new little tidbits to piece together the mystery at the heart of that story. This book follows a much more traditional questing plot and is set in a fairly familiar fantasy world, so the slower moments didn’t have these extra bits to fall back on when things began to drag.

That said, I still very much enjoyed my experience with this book. Even with my quibbles, I enjoyed this cozy fantasy much more than I typically do with other books in this subgenre. However, much of this came down to my appreciation of this style of writing, and that might be hit or miss for some readers. If you enjoyed her first duology, though, I think there’s still a good chance you’ll like this book too!

Rating 8: A bit on the slower side, but I still enjoyed my time with this one!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Art of Charming a Changeling” isn’t on any Goodreads lists currently, but it should be on Cozy Fantasy Romance reads.

Kate’s Review: “Heart of Glass”

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Book: “Heart of Glass” by Jennifer Hillier

Publishing Info: Minotaur Books, August 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A serial killer recants his long-ago confession regarding a small-town high school girl―and her then-best friends are forced to confront what really happened that night and what’s happening now.

Seaside is a small coastal town, known originally for the local amusement park. But twenty-five years ago, a serial killer dubbed The Carnival Killer confessed to the murder of a local high school girl. Now, he’s recanted that confession.

Barb, Nicolette, and Lorelei were best friends – then they met “Sam” at Wonderland, the local amusement park. After hanging out with him there, and accompanying him to the drive-in movie, where the twenty-something handsome drifter made out with Lorelei in the backseat. That night was the last time Lorelei was seen alive, her murdered body surfacing a couple of days later in a local cranberry bog.

Barb’s dreams of leaving Seaside and becoming a successful writer never materialized and she is a freelancer for the local newspaper and, secretly, writes anonymously about reality tv stars for a hugely successful gossip web-site called Reality Bitch. Specifically, she writes savagely about a long-running show set in Canada called Trophy Wives.

Nicolette left town shortly after Lorelei’s body surfaced, never to return. Ultimately, she married a very rich man, moved to Toronto and rebranded herself as Cole Lennox, one of the stars of Trophy Wives.

With the amusement park about to reopen, revitalizing the dying town of Seaside, the Carnival Killer recants his confession about killing Lorelei, the dead body of young woman washes ashore, and the truth about what happened that night twenty-five years ago – and what is happening now – threatens not only the carefully constructed lives of Barb and Nicolette, but the very fabric of Seaside itself.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

It felt like it had been forever since a new Jennifer Hillier book had hit the ground, and I, for one, was really missing her thrillers and mysteries (while wholly respecting her writing on her own timeline and not my insatiable need to read her books, of course!). Basically every book of hers I have read I have enjoyed, and after waiting for about four years I was ever so happy to see that her new book “Heart of Glass” was finally coming out. It felt like the perfect read to start the send off of summer, and as I read it and enjoyed it I told myself that I needed to slow down and savor it…. only to tear through it in a couple days. What can I say? I really missed Hillier’s work!

“Heart of Glass” is another woman centered thriller with complicated protagonists and a dark mystery at its heart, which I have come to expect from Hillier and what I always look forward to most about her books. We are following two women in this story, both from Seaside, a tourist trap town with a defunct but soon to reopen amusement park, who share a dark secret from their past that has a link to a notorious serial killer. The first is Barb, who never left her hometown and is now not only a journalist for the local paper, but who also writes anonymous snark reviews of a popular reality show called “Trophy Wives”. The second is Cole, formerly known as Nicolette, who left Seaside as fast as she could after their friend Lorelei was murdered and reinvented herself into a trophy wife, who happens to be on the show Barb reviews. Both of them are haunted by their friend Lorelei’s murder, which was assumed to be killed by a notorious serial killer, who is now recanting his confession… which means Barb and Cole’s long held secret may be in danger of cracking open. It is SUCH a great hook, and I greatly enjoyed both of their perspectives, as messy, complicated, and traumatized as they were. Both Cole and Barb were such great characters, and I was wholly on their sides and cheering them on even if at times they were making TERRIBLE decisions. There is just enough messiness if them that their storylines were incredibly soapy, but then very upsetting at the same time as we slowly see what they were both going through on the night Lorelei was killed, and how these girls were changed forever into the walking disasters we see in the present day. I just loved them both.

As for the mystery, there are a few going on at the same time, which makes the read both deeply addictive, but also sometimes muddled. But muddled as it was, with some kind of wild reveals and some aspects that felt unexplored, it still reads incredibly fast, and I had a lot of fun with it. I figured out a few of the twists pretty early, but there were also a couple that did legitimately catch my off guard. I also liked the way that we jumped back and forth from the past and present to get a fuller picture, as well as seeing the transcripts from the interview that the Carnival Killer gives as he recants his confession. It has a lot of different storytelling devices and they all worked pretty well.

“Heart of Glass” was a fun breezy thriller that I definitely enjoyed. It was a great end of summer read and thriller fans, rejoice, because Jennifer Hillier is BACK.

Rating 8: Another fun and suspenseful thriller from Jennifer Hillier! “Heart of Glass” has suds, lots of twists, and some flawed but easy to root for heroines.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Heart of Glass” is included on the Goodreads blog post “Readers’ 60 Most Anticipated Fall Books”.

Diving Into Sub Genres: Liminal Horror

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We each have our own preferred genres of choice. Kate loves horrors and thrillers, really anything that will keep her up at night! And Serena enjoys escaping through hidden doors into realms of magic and adventure. We also read mysteries, historical fiction, graphic novels, etc. etc. And that’s not even counting the multitude of sub-genres contained within each greater genre. In this series, one of us with present a list of our favorites from within a given sub-genre of one of our greater preferred genres.

This past summer I ended up with a free morning as my husband took my daughter to her soccer practice/scrimmages , so I decided to check out the film “Backrooms”. I ended up enjoying it and the weirdness of the mysterious ‘backrooms’ of a furniture store taking over a man’s life and then that of his therapist as he drags her in, making it her problem as well. I did kind of wish, however, that we didn’t really get an ‘explanation’ to what the ‘backrooms’ was, as for me it was far creepier when it just WAS, and didn’t have rhyme or reason. When we don’t know what it is, that’s part of the terror! When you try to explain it, the weird unexplained menace kind of gets defanged at least a little bit, and it made me not as creeped out as I probably would have been if it just was there and we never understood why (I have the same gripe with the film “Us”, though I do really like that movie). It also got me thinking about ‘liminal horror’ as a subgenre, and how it finds ways to get under my skin.

Liminal horror is a subgenre that has to do with a building unease in an otherwise ‘familiar’ space that has been altered in some way, usually abandoned or bastardized from what we would expect the space to serve. Think empty malls, or strange rooms or mazes, or places that seem to go to nowhere even though they seem like they should have some kind of beginning and end. It’s more of an uncanny valley and slow burn of wrongness that grates and quietly builds and finds the horror there. I quite enjoy it when it’s done right. And since “Backrooms” was a pretty big hit this summer I thought it would be fun to list some books that fit in the liminal horror subgenre, just in case others liked it and want a readalike!

“House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski

Okay, ADMITTEDLY this is a bit of an undertaking of a book and kind of a wild one to start off with, but this, to me, is one of the ultimate liminal horror novels. And it is an incredibly complicated book with layers and layers of psychological unease, with multiple stories within stories like a relentless stacking doll that will either completely capture a reader, or make them tear their hair out. The true heart of this book, putting aside the footnotes, the weird scribblings, the format changes, and all the other crazy tangents it takes you on, is a family moving into a new home on a quiet street. But once they move in, they realize that something is off about the house. Somehow, impossibly, the house is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And as they try to explore and figure out why, things slowly start to spiral completely out of control. And yes, there are other narrators who are finding these stories and there are other stories on top of that and it’s incredibly wild, but the thoroughfare tale is a weird house that shouldn’t be possible. The entire book took me a long time to read, and it took a lot of patience, but ultimately I found it got completely under my skin and I kept it in my head long after I turned the last page.

“Horrorstör” by Grady Hendrix

This was the first Grady Hendrix book I read, and it was quite the introduction to who is now a very in demand horror author. And while “Horrorstör” doesn’t break a top three Hendrix book for me (maybe top five?), it’s a really enjoyable horror story with a creepy furniture store and unassuming employees who get in a bit over their heads when they are tasked to stay overnight to keep an eye out for strange happenings. Furniture stores after closing hours are creepy enough, but the employees find some weird things as the night goes on, and realize that not only is the IKEA like business SUPER haunted, it is also built upon the shell and land of an abandoned prison, and a long vanished mental asylum and the ghosts of the inmates are pulling them in and don’t want to let go. One of the most fun things about this book is the design, as it looks like an IKEA catalog, and even has advertisements…. that get more and more uncanny and creepy as the story goes on.

“The Babysitter Lives” by Stephen Graham Jones

I had to include one of my favorite horror authors on this list, so how lucky that Stephen Graham Jones has a creepy and liminalesque horror tale in “The Babysitter Lives”. We follow Charlotte, and teenage babysitter who is hired on Halloween night to babysit two children. Seems easy enough, but Charlotte starts to realize that not only are the charges a little strange, the house itself is perhaps not what it seems. Especially since the kids keep talking about a beanbag portal, and apparently this house was the site of a violent crime years earlier. This one has a weird alternate house, a portal that captures people and spits them into nightmarish scenarios, and a deeply unsettling slow build of dread as Charlotte is pulled further and further from where she is supposed to be and deeper and deeper into a strange other world and other timelines. It’s surreal and heart pounding, and just another great story from Jones.

“The Staircase in the Woods” by Chuck Wendig

Way back in the day Reddit used to have creepy stories about staircases that were randomly deposited in national parks, and I kept thinking about that as I read the book “The Staircase in the Woods”. But while those stories on Reddit stayed pretty much in the woods, Wendig’s story of childhood friends reconvening in the same woods their friend disappeared in years before after climbing up a mysterious staircase goes one step further: Beyond the staircase and what is found once you reach the top. I didn’t know what to expect of this one when I picked it up, but MAN, it really goes crazy from there with weird rooms, hallways, creatures, and a desperation to get out with no obvious way out in sight. Wendig can do horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, and he kind of gets to mix it all in this one with some really creepy staircases and some really complicated characters.

“The Hollow Places” by T. Kingfisher

If you are looking for a kinder gentler horror author but one who still knows how to craft a great and creepy story, T. Kingfisher is definitely a great choice, and her novel “The Hollow Places” brings her trademark creepy but not too upsetting take on horror to the liminal space. A woman named Carrot (it’s a nickname) has left her marriage and returns to her hometown and reconnects with her eccentric uncle, who happens to have a taxidermy and other oddities museum. One day while tending to the museum, she finds a hallway that shouldn’t be there, and finds that it takes her to another plane. Or multiple other planes. But while exploring these strange new worlds and the weird in betweens she encounters, there are darker things that could come out of the space and cause some real problems. Kingfisher always has fun stories, and this one is no different while also creating some weird uncanny worlds and spaces.

“Parachute” by Holly Rae Garcia

And now one that isn’t as well known but I read and really liked a few years ago: “Parachute”! What if a liminal horror story didn’t involve backrooms, weird houses, strange hallways, or staircases in the woods….. but a gym class parachute? A group of friends are about to leave high school for new pastures and are feeling nostalgic and nervous and decide to break into their elementary school gym for one last hurrah. They find a parachute and start to play…. but it transports them from weird place to weird place, and things get more and more dire and dangerous with each toss of the fabric. It is SUCH a creative idea, and it was one that just had me grinning from ear to ear as I read it while also being wholly unnerved by the very concept of it all. It’s definitely one of the most creative liminal space horror stories I’ve read, and I hope that more people check it out.

Serena’s Review: “A Trade of Blood”

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Book: “A Trade of Blood” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Publishing Info: Del Rey, August 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: In the canton of Sapirdad, two of the Empire’s most powerful families are moments away from going to war with each other, their hundreds of retainers gathered with swords drawn. If blood is spilt, the whole of the empire may be plunged into starvation and chaos.

To de-escalate matters, someone must do the impossible: prove that one family’s eldest son is innocent of a gruesome and unforgivable murder, despite the incontrovertible evidence against him.

It is with this undertaking that the great detective Ana Dolabra is tasked, her assistant Din at her side—and the two find themselves racing with great speed and little dignity to the scene.

As ever, the impossible proves little obstacle for the deadly combination of Ana’s intellect and Din’s keen eye, and mere hours after riding into the dusty town, Ana glimpses the greater pattern behind the crime. A deeper, subtler web of death is being woven in plain sight, by a mastermind with an ancient magical technology at his disposal.

But even Ana’s uncanny insight is of little use when each new suspect she uncovers ends up dead–with each new killing calculated to bring tensions between the two rival clans past the boiling point. And as Din pursues their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses, he finds his loyalties divided in unexpected ways.

Previously Reviewed: “The Tainted Cup” and “A Drop of Corruption”

Review: Per the usual with this series, I finished the last page of this book and had to just sit for a bit. Partially to think through some of the deeper themes discussed in the story and how they relate to our world (this one deals heavily with food and the food industry, as well as the economy of labor), yes. But also partially to try to cope with the sheer amount of body horror that I’ve exposed myself to once again!

Like the other books in the series so far, the story starts out with Ana and Din traveling to another area of this realm and, of course, needing to solve some new horrific murder mystery. I really enjoy this general setup for the series, as this land itself and its half-forgotten history are so unique and veiled in mystery (even to the people who inhabit it) that this traveling setup really allows the story to expand into various corners of this world. Here, we’re further in from the wild and dangerous outer realms and instead focusing on the wealthier and more comfortable parts of society. But while they don’t need to worry about the massive beasts that accost this land so regularly, there is darkness beneath this sheen of civility.

This book in particular dealt with two feuding families who built their wealth around ranching, essentially. The murder itself is almost secondary to unpacking the disturbing elements that go into the way these two families operate and the way their businesses have been built. I don’t want to go into too many details, as there are quite a few surprises throughout, but the story quickly introduces some pretty horrific concepts. And even though you can see some of it coming, it’s one of those situations where you can’t look away. Instead, I was quickly turning pages in some sort of inner sick quest to finally see it all play out!

But while this original setup is the foundation, like in the first two books, by the time we get to the back third, the scope of the situation has expanded into the greater mysteries and history of this world. Even though it came late, I really enjoyed these later reveals and how they connected to Ana especially. There was also some great lore revealed about the history of this world, and I’m excited to see where some of it may go in future books!

Din, of course, as the main character, was also fantastic as always. We’ve had bits here and there about his past and family situation, but this book dives much deeper into them. I enjoyed learning more about him through these new perspectives. We also get a new layer exposed of his abilities. It’s only brushed upon here, but the foundation was definitely laid for new trials and tribulations in this arena.

There was also a fantastic set of side characters and potential suspects. I thought this book was a bit easier to piece together as far as some of the forefront dynamics went. But again, the book adds a late-game twist that does add a new and more unexpected layer to the entire mystery.

Overall, if you’ve enjoyed the first two books in the series, this is more of the same in the best way possible! Definitely check it out!

Rating 9: The horrors of family dynamics are only the tip of the iceberg in this terrifying new entry in the Din and Ana mystery series by Robert Jackson Bennett!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Trade of Blood” is on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2026.