Kate’s Review: “Love Bites: Volume 1”

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Book: “Love Bites: Volume One” by Alicia Wallace (creator) and Ele (adaptor)

Publishing Info: WEBTOON Unscrolled, August 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC at ALAAC26

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: As a teenage vampire, Kieran has always been warned to stay away from werewolves, but everything changes when he falls for Mason—the Alpha’s son.

What started off as disdain, lines drawn in the sand between two opposing sides, quickly turns to fascination after the two share one fateful kiss.

Kieran and Mason know they can’t be together, their communities would never approve. And with every hidden kiss and rendezvous, keeping their secret takes on a whole new set of problems.

Avoiding the eyes of both society and Kieran’s extremist family grows more and more challenging, and as silver blades sharpen, the two must choose to stand up for a love worth fighting for.

Review: Thank you to WEBTOON Unscrolled for giving me an ARC at ALAAC26!

Whenever ALA Annual is coming up I start perusing authors and signings a couple of months in advance, always on the look out for horror and thriller names that I know, as well as titles that could fit within those categories. That was how I discovered “Love Bites: Volume 1”, a graphic series based on the Alicia Wallace book “Bite Me”, adapted by ELE, as the title intrigued me and lo and behold it was a paranormal MLM YA romance about a vampire and a werewolf! I figured that maybe I’m not in the age demo, and maybe I have thoughts about vampire romance, but at the same time it looked kind of cute and I know that I do like a fun and not high stakes read every once in awhile. So I grabbed it!

And I have no regrets because it’s pretty cute (source)

As a paranormal romance story, this has elements that I like in a romance. I enjoy enemies to lovers tropes, and while it’s not a top trope for me I do find the occasional forbidden lovers story to be enjoyable because usually it means LONGING. In “Love Bites” we get both, as teenage vampire Kieran and teenage werewolf Mason find themselves drawn to each other even though the relationships between werewolves and vampires are tenuous at best and deadly at worst. There is tension from the jump as Kieran decides he doesn’t like Mason even without knowing his background, but then it gets even more complicated because Kieran’s mother was killed by werewolves when he was a child, so his trauma, grief, and anger are all twisting his judgement a bit. This is really Kieran’s story so far as he grapples with his emotions, as well as his anxiety at home with a stoic father and angry older brother, but the seeds and laid for the romance to start building with angry banter, sexual tension, and an impulsive kiss. I like both Kieran and Mason, though I will say that the other characters thus far, like Kieran’s best friend/Mason’s maybe girlfriend Cella, are kind of static and two dimensional as of now. There is obviously room to grow, but it’s too bad that thus far the girl who seems to be cool and full of potential may be a road block for Kieran and Mason. There are also some pacing issues that feel stilted, as Kieran being antagonistic from the jump without even knowing Mason is a vampire felt pretty fast and maybe not super well earned. But for the target audience who just wants a fun read, I’m sure it will be easy to overlook (I mean, I had fun!).

I also enjoyed the vampire and werewolf lore and world building that we get in this story. It may have been easy to just rely on well known beats and tropes, but instead we have two distinct groups that have their own rules, mythology, and characteristics. We haven’t seen much of the werewolves yet, but we have a fair amount of info about the vampires thanks to Kieran’s perspective, from the pact that the vampires and werewolves made to keep the peace, to the different kinds of vampirism you can take depending on your decisions and innate skills, and the way that family lines work. I imagine we will learn more about Mason’s family as the story goes on, as right now we just know that he’s the son of an alpha and is dealing with some issues with his wolfiness. I enjoyed the mythos quite a bit, which made up for some of the flat characterizations seen outside of the main characters.

I will definitely be going forward with the “Love Bites” graphic novels as they come out! It’s cute and fluffy and sometimes ya just gotta lean into the fluff.

Rating 7: A promising start to a supernatural enemies to lovers romance series, “Love Bites: Volume 1” has some potential to be a fun story arc for a vampire and a werewolf who are drawn to each other despite being on opposite sides of a conflict.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Love Bites: Volume 1” is included on the Goodreads list “Best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2026”.

Serena’s Review: “Rites of the Starling”

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Book: “Rites of the Starling” by Devney Perry

Publishing Info: Red Tower Books, April 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Calandra’s five kingdoms are on the verge of destruction. The crux migration is coming. And in the wake of a devastating attack, I’ve been separated from the man who owns my heart.

I’m lost. Terrified. Homesick. Hunted by monsters, driven to exhaustion, and kidnapped by a powerful priest, the only thing keeping me going is the little girl counting on me to keep her safe. It’s my turn to become the Guardian.

Our lives change one fateful night. A night of death. A night of monsters. A night of truths. That night, I learn the real meaning of fear—and the depth of my own strength. Everyone wants me to be something I’m not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if I embrace my crown? What if the secrets I uncover save our realm?

What if my sacrifice means salvation for the man I love? For too long, I’ve feared the monsters we make. It’s time to discover the monster within.

Previously Reviewed: “Shield of Sparrows”

Review: I’m a bit late to the game, but I finally managed to get my hands on this sequel! “Shield of Sparrows” was kind of a sleeper hit for me last year; on its face, it sounded much like every other romantasy title coming out that I often struggle to get through. But it surprised me with its detailed world-building, fast-moving plot, and a romance that felt properly balanced with the rest of the plot. It also ended on a fairly substantial cliffhanger, so I was excited to see how that was all resolved here!

While this one didn’t quite live up to the high of the first book, it still stands miles ahead of other titles of its sort, in my opinion. In this book’s case, much of what makes it stand out comes down to the world-building and the effective use of twists. Like I said, the first book’s world-building was surprisingly robust. But here, the book introduces an entirely new main character and, through her, an entirely new perspective on this world. I can’t go into many details without getting into spoilers, but suffice it to say, this world is much larger than was known and its history much longer. What makes this so great is the fact that this is presented as not only new information to the reader, but is also woven into the story itself, with explanations for why none of this was referenced in the first book.

The second point is the effective use of twists. It was already a fairly ballsy move to introduce a new POV character who isn’t just the romantic interest, but Devney carefully weaves this story in and out of the continuation of Odessa and Ransom’s story. Through her chapters, we get little pieces doled out, just enough to allow the reader to form their own theories about what is going on. But often, those theories only last until the next chapter, where some new puzzle piece is laid out, shifting all of the theories in a new direction. By the end, I had put most of it together, but every turn along the way felt fresh, and there were definitely guesses that I started with that turned out to be completely off base. There was one particular twist that I had wrong the entire time!

I also continued to enjoy the balance between romance and plot in this series. Our new character has her own developing romance, which works nicely as Odessa and Ransom are separated for a large chunk of this book. While this delay may frustrate some readers, I think it effectively built the tension and nicely prioritized the actual life-and-death stakes of the ongoing situation in this world. Too often, romantasy sequels have to either introduce contrived conflict into the romance to keep up interest or simply begin to sound repetitive, as the two characters tread familiar ground throughout the story. Here, we get a nice payoff from Ransom and Odessa’s eventual reunion, and by the end, they have an entirely new host of challenges ahead of them.

The story also continued its trend of tragedy and violence. Things do not go well for all of the characters here. The stakes were high throughout, and this was reflected in the fact that not everything works out the way we may wish.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. The pacing was perhaps a bit more uneven, simply due to jumping back and forth between two POVs and two very different stories, but the incredible world-building really makes it stand out in the crowded romantasy field. If you enjoyed the first book, particularly if you loved it for its main plot and the fantasy elements, definitely continue on with this one!

Rating 8: Devney has really cracked the romantasy nut with this one, managing to weave a complicated, expansive world while also not skimping on the romance!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Rites of the Starling” is on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Most Anticipated Romantasy & Fantasy Romance Releases and Adult Romantasy.

Kate’s Review: “Fabulous Bodies”

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Book: “Fabulous Bodies” by Chuck Tingle

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, July 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: From Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, comes Fabulous Bodies, a supernatural joyride where Drive meets Beetlejuice.

Fashion influencer by day and grave-robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels—a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon—unexpectedly dies. All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up.

Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.

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

It’s that time again folks! It’s time for another Chuck Tingle horror novel! I have found myself looking forward to these each year they have come out, and I will fully and happily eat crow because I know that when I heard that Tingle, previously known for his “Tingler” romances, was going to write horror I was skeptical. But he definitely made me eat my hat with “Camp Damascus” and “Bury Your Gays”, and now we have “Fabulous Bodies”! And once again we have a winner!

This was such a fun and fast paced read, I basically devoured it in one sitting and time flew by. Tingle always has such a creative bent to is ideas, as this one could have been one thing but it went in a wholly different direction than I expected but it completely fit within the concept even if it wasn’t what I anticipated. We have Poppy and Eddie racing around Palm Springs and wreaking havoc with lots of blood and gore and mayhem, all done in unique ways. I found myself cringing and wincing while also really enjoying the outlandishness of it all, and while I don’t really want to give anything away here I will say that the paths this book takes are pitch perfect executions of the genres that they are functioning within.

And it’s probably no surprise that our two main characters, protagonist Poppy and antagonist Eddie, have great chemistry and banter as they go on their spree around Palm Springs. I enjoyed the character arc that Poppy took, from ambitious and self absorbed would be influencer to hostage to a possibly undead rock star that was her idol who wants her to take him around while he kills people, without any clue as to what his motivations is. She started out as prickly and unenjoyable because of how single minded she is about fame and influencer culture (though we have perfectly understandable motivations, I must add), but as the night goes on and gets more chaotic she discovers some uncomfortablte truths about herself in a lot of ways and has to re-evaluate. It’s really a critique on fame at any cost, and while that’s a pretty well worn trope and has been for awhile I still found Tingle’s take on it enjoyable. And I really enjoyed the nasty and kind of hilarious psycho that Eddie is. He had me laughing out loud multiple times, but was also deeply sinister.

“Fabulous Bodies” is another great horror tale from Chuck Tingle! I am so pleased he keeps doing the horror stories and love the perspective he brings.

Rating 9: Fun, frenetic, gory, and creative, “Fabulous Bodies” is another winner from Chuck Tingle!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fabulous Bodies” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Summer Horror Books”, and “July 2026 Queer Releases”.

Joint Review: “The Intrigue”

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Book: “The Intrigue” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publishing Info: Del Rey, July 2026

Where Did We Get This Book: NetGalley

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

Book Description: Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Ulises knows his looks won’t last forever, and he’s desperate to get his hands on a real fortune.

He thinks he’s found it when he captivates his newest correspondent, Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something he didn’t expect. The woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt’s household.

When Inés discovers Ulises’ true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. They’ll convince her aunt that Ulises is a great catch, Perla will marry him, and her money will vanish. Easy, fast and clean.

But Perla is not the desperate, silly spinster Ulises imagines. She harbors secrets. And although Ulises does not believe in true romance, Inés is more alluring than he bargained on. Suddenly, a simple plan may become perilously complicated.

Venture into the streets of a small town where the patina of convention and good manners conceals a cauldron of avarice and lust.

Kate’s Thoughts

I always look forward to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books, as she has truly shown herself to be an adept author who can dip her toes into different genres with ease. When I read the description it sounded like it could be a thriller, with a con man and an ambitious young woman teaming up to scam a cold and repressed spinster. But as I was reading it I kind of started to realize that it’s not really a thriller, nor is it a mystery or a romance. As Serena says below, I’m not certain it’s totally definable, but I DID know that it has a certain vibe to it, and that vibe is soap opera. But even beyond that, because while soap operas have archetypes that serve very clear character choices and paths, “The Intrigue” has far more complicated players at hand.

Did I like anyone in this book? Not really. Was I rooting for anyone? Not really. But I did enjoy that Moreno-Garcia was willing to have unlikable characters at the center, and that she made them not only morally grey but also interesting in their motivations (some more than others; I never fully got on board with Ulises’s bullshit but I fully understood where both Perla AND Inés were coming from). Thrillers with soapy elements aren’t unheard of and I like nice and dramatic reads with thrills and chills, but I liked that this ‘soap’ didn’t feel so cliché even though there were familiar beats.

And as always we get some insight into Mexican history that I wasn’t as familiar with. We see the way that Mexico has been affected not only by World War II, but also how the reverberations of the revolution are affecting various people in the story and society as a whole. Moreno-Garcia is always putting this history in her stories and I always enjoy it very much.

“The Intrigue” is another enjoyable read from Silvia Moreno-Garcia! I look forward to her books every summer and the streak continues!

Serena’s Thoughts

I really enjoyed this one! I wasn’t even quite sure what genre this was when I picked it up, and I was struggling a bit to classify it even by the end. But the author’s note (never neglect the author’s note!) put a great perspective on things: essentially, her inspiration was a combination of thriller, classic soap operas, and a unique point in Mexican history. And, looking back, all of this was on display!

One thing that I’ve always loved about this author is her complicated characters. There are very rarely any truly heroic characters, and the villains are often given almost the same amount of attention, so much so that you often find yourself sympathizing with their circumstances almost in spite of yourself! Such was the case here, but even more so. The “heroes,” such as they are, are a con artist and, essentially, a woman who was just waiting her turn to jump on the criminality bandwagon. And the villain, while very hateable, is a woman who was set up for failure by her parents, the point in history in which she was living, and the lies that were sold to her early in childhood about the “right” way to live.

I loved the exploration of this point in Mexican history, the effects of WWII, and the continued fallout from the shakeup in their own government. This is a world very much in transition, and the book highlights how adaptation to drastic change is not an easy thing for everyone.

I also really liked the “soap opera” elements. Kate can speak more to how this weaves together with typical thriller conventions, but for me, I loved the dramatic, over-the-top nature of certain aspects of the story. Our “heroes” bumble their way from one scheme to another, and it’s easy to see the influences of the dramatics of soapy tales. I also really liked the romance we got here, very much also feeling like it came straight from a daytime TV show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one! It’s definitely a slower story, focused on the oppressive nature of the house, this remote town, and the limited options available to women in particular. But the characters were all so well fleshed out that I was always eagerly turning the page to find out what they would get up to next!

Kate’s Rating 8 : A soap opera rooted in a true history of hardship in Mexico with no heroes but some really fun morally grey characters. Moreno-Garcia does it again!

Serena’s Rating 8: Another banger from this author, this time focusing on a “soap operate”-like tale set in a remote village in WWII-era Mexico.

Reader’s Advisory

“The Intrigue” is included on the Goodreads lists Noir Fiction and Books with Big Title in Yellow Letters.

Serena’s Review: “The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy”

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Book: “The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy” by Brigitte Knightley

Publishing Info: Ace, July 2o26

Where Did I Get this Book: the publisher!

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

Book Description: Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .Until they don’t.

When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.

Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.

Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.

As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.

Previously Reviewed: “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy”

Review: While I had mixed feelings on the first book in this duology, this is one of those pleasant instances when the series actually ends stronger than it begins! Across the board, from pacing, to characterization, to the use of humor, all were improved here. So, from the start, if you were like me and not quite sure after the first book, I definitely recommend finishing up the duology!

One of my struggles with the first book was the use of humor. It was a weird experience, because there was a lot that I found genuinely funny. But there was also a strong reliance on fairly crude humor that’s just not really my style. Well, here, there was much more of the former and only a few instances of the latter. Indeed, the balance all around of humor to plot to romance was much better done, so when the comic moments or banter came, it landed much stronger for not being layered on so thickly throughout the entire read.

I also enjoyed the love story here more. The first felt like it dragged the “enemies” portion of the romance on just a bit too far. Here, the book still needs the entire page length to get to the true HEA, but both characters are in the process of managing their own growing feelings and then transition more into the challenges of the relationship as a whole. Further, the plot itself gave us more instances to see these characters come into these feelings through their actions rather than the strong reliance on inner monologues that we had in the first book. That still was here too, of course, but I appreciated the more action-based approach to the love story in this book.

The plot and pacing were also more interesting. The first book did a lot to set up the characters (less so the world, which was left fairly unexplained). But here, we got more into the true stakes of the story and the villainous players. I will say, I still struggled with some of the world-building and whether some of it was truly necessary. For example, like the first book, I continued to not understand why it was necessary to have different countries as unique entities involved at all. The entire plot of this book is based around a conflict between the magical faction, and then there is a throwaway line, essentially, that various factions are working with such-and-such country. But we never meet any of these countries’ leaders, never travel to their capitals, literally never get any reason why we should care about them at all.

All in all, this was a great conclusion to the duology. In every way, it felt like a more mature book, with better plotting, characterization, and a proper balance between romance, action, and humor. The romantic storyline wraps up well; however, the state of this world at the end is still very much up in the air. It definitely makes me wonder whether we’ll see more in this world following new characters! If you were a fan of the first book, definitely finish out the experience with this one.

Rating 8: A stronger finish than it was a start, this duology ended up being a blast, full of romance, action, and a healthy dose of humor.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2026 Romance Duets.

Fire’s Catching: “Catching Fire” (2013)

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: “Catching Fire”

Okay, so perhaps you are thinking ‘now wait a moment, doesn’t Kate usually update her Fire’s Catching posts at the end of the month, not the middle?’ And you would be correct! But in the interest of honesty, I am presently on an Alaskan cruise with my family, and I ended up not finishing the book I had planned for today. So I decided to switch around that book with my review/thoughts on the film “Catching Fire”, and will go back to my regularly scheduled timeline next month. So here we are with me talking about a really fun film which, I think, is one of the few to improve upon the source material. Yes that’s right, this is the film that I prefer to the book version of “The Hunger Games” Series.

And I feel like there is good reason for that! For one, I think that while the book kind of saves the Quarter Quell for a bit later in the text, I feel like the build up is a bit more balanced with the pay off of another Games in the film. I like the expanded lore of District 12 in the book and how the focus is bit more on the tricky balance Katniss is trying to walk during her Victory Tour as well as the escalation of state sanctioned violence in her home (and other districts), but ultimately I liked having more time to marinate with the Victor tributes and the games itself. It also felt there was less hemming and hawwing about who Katniss could trust and who she couldn’t, and that is probably because we aren’t in a first person (understandably) paranoid dissection view of her rivals.

I also appreciated the amount of time that my boy Plutarch Heavensbee gets on screen, played by the perfect Philip Seymour Hoffman (I’m still devastated that we lost him twelve years ago). I’ve talked a lot about how Plutarch is a top three character for me, and on the screen we get to see a bit more of how he is operating as the Head Gamemaker, and how he is ultimately laying pieces in place to set a revolution in motion by manipulating Snow so perfectly. There is a bit more subtlety to him here as well, as he hints to Katniss what his plan is in a much sneakier way than he did in the books, and how he works like a snake in the grass. Hoffman is just the perfect casting for one of, if not the most, complicated characters in the universe, and he shines in every scene he is in and with every person he interacts with.

I also gotta shout out to my girl Johanna Mason! I actually found her a bit more likable in the movie than in the book, and that is also probably mostly due to her actress, Jena Malone. Yes, she is cutthroat and a bit of an asshole (again, understandably so), but Malone brings a streak of vulnerability to her that makes the viewer feel for her as she is pulled into another Games, especially given how much she suffered in the aftermath of her own. Actually, the casting in this one is successful all around! Whether it’s Jeffrey Wright as Beetee or Amanda Plummer as Wiress, the Victors are all engaging even if their screen time is limited.

“Catching Fire” is another great film adaptation for this series! Next month (hopefully back on schedule) I will talk about “Mockingjay: Part One”!

Serena’s Review: “A Tangled Magic”

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Book: “A Tangled Magic” by Andrea Eames

Publishing Info: Erewhon Books, July 2026

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

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

Book Description: All her life, Netta has only known the Tower—its musty shelves of books she cannot read, ink-splattered quills, and endless scrolls of paper. Her mother, ambitious and analytical, has spent decades perfecting her greatest masterpiece: a spellbook of unspeakable power. Netta’s only companions are her long red Hair, which moves of its own accord, and a telepathic raven named Baldbeak. Her only amusement lies in crafting intricate embroidery from scraps of silk and thread.

When attackers storm the Tower, her mother and the spellbook vanish. Determined to find her, Netta ventures into a kingdom on the brink of civil war. The monarch lies dying, while pious Temple fanatics and the noble elite scheme for the throne, forging secret alliances and building hidden armies. For reasons she cannot yet fathom, all these factions seek Netta—and the dangerous, uncontrollable magic in her Hair.

But whom can she trust? The sharp-eyed pickpocket bent on revolutionizing the use of magic? The elusive black market trader known only as the Book Man? The charming magician who slips between shadow and light? From masked carnivals to opulent ballrooms, from hidden monasteries to catacombs, Netta must untangle a web of lies and intrigue – not only to find her mother, but also to uncover the true nature of the power that has shaped her life.

Review: Given the title and the comps listed for this one, I did go into this expecting a closer “Rapunzel” retelling. However, I was more than happy with what we got instead! This is a slow, quiet fairytale that clearly draws from many traditions but is more focused on highlighting a softer sort of heroine than it is on retelling a specific plot, like that from “Tangled” or “Six of Crows” (another comp title, which I get even less than the “Tangled” one!).

Luckily, I very much enjoy this sort of quieter fantasy tale. It’s not cozy, but it does remind me of some of Juliet Marillier’s books, and as she is one of my favorite fantasy authors, this is quite the point in this book’s favor! Like Marillier, Eames has created a heroine who is soft, reserved, and not prone to grand gestures. Hers is an inner strength, and one that she needs to build throughout the book, having started from a quite naive, sheltered perspective early in the book. So too, there’s a strong focus on “womanly” work, such as the embroidery that Netta works so diligently at.

I also enjoyed the complicated mother-daughter relationship that is explored in this book. I always find this particular relationship so interesting both in the original fairytale and in other adaptations, like “Tangled.” What a complex knot of emotions, a parent-child relationship all caught up in exploitation and lies.

For all that I did enjoy Netta’s quieter type of heroism, she was quite naive even long into the book. On one hand, I think this makes sense given her circumstances, but it did make the character read younger than she is supposed to be. That being the case, the entire affair felt more on the YA side than adult, which is fine, but will make its task of finding the right readership perhaps a bit more difficult. So too, I felt like the very small romantic subplot was largely unnecessary. As much as I enjoy a good love story, it didn’t feel like it fit well here. It either needed more to resolve things and make it stand more on its own as an arc, or it could easily have been removed altogether.

Overall, this was a nice read. It didn’t amaze me, but it was also the sort of slow-paced, quieter fantasy novel that you don’t see as often. Fans of this sort of fairytale fantasy should definitely give it a shot!

Rating 8: This was a lovely little fairytale read that, if it gets into the hands of the right readers, I think will be very much enjoyed!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Tangled Magic” is not on any Goodreads list yet, but it should be on Fairy tales & Retellings.

Kate’s Review: “Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die”

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

Book: “Cross My Heart, Hope You Die” by Mallory Arnold

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, July 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher

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

Book Description: One isolated cabin. One cheating boyfriend. One plan to get even.

When Nora, Ruby, and Cham discover that they’ve each been dating the same man, what starts as outrage quickly spirals into a plot for revenge. Together they hatch a plan to lure their boyfriend to a romantic getaway in a secluded cabin at the top of a snow-covered mountain.

Only what was meant to be harmless payback soon takes a chilling turn when their not-so-adoring boyfriend is found dead in the cabin. 

Stranded and snowed in, the women begin to look at each other with increasing suspicion. And as tensions rise, hidden motives come to light. To survive, each woman must confront her own demons as they fight to uncover if one of them is the killer, or if something else lurks in the freezing wilderness, waiting to pick them off one by one. 

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!

I’m always down for stories where shitty men get their comeuppance, especially if it is in part due to women getting vengeance against said shitty men. It just feels cathartic these days in a lot of ways. And because of this I was more than eager to read “Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die” by Mallory Arnold. It sounded soapy and fun, which is a great vibe for summer time reading. And if you are looking for a fast and suspenseful mystery to add to your pool reading, it’s a solid choice.

The premise sucked me in from the get go. Nora, Ruby, and Cham are three strangers, totally unconnected to each other except for the fact all of them are dating Jason, and don’t realize it, and when they do realize they’ve been duped (not only in love, but also out of a substantial amount of money), they decide to team up to get revenge… only for it to go horribly wrong. It is kind of like if you take the Millennial black comedy “John Tucker Must Die” and amp it up a bit into an actual murder mystery, with a potential cult issue lurking. And it all works really well. We follow the perspectives of Nora, Ruby, and Cham, and they all felt like they had clear personalities (even if at times they could feel a little two dimensional) that made them all stand apart. Some of them had issues that could work as red herrings to make all of them sometimes question each other (and make the reader question them too), and while I was mostly able to predict a fair amount of what was going to happen, it was still fun to see.

I also liked the weird implications of cult activity, as Ruby’s mysterious past comes into play as a believable device for the setting and the fallout (as she is adopted but finds herself the owner of a cabin in the wilderness after some inheritance stuff is worked out from her biological family…. which may be weird and creepy). I love weird cult stories and we get pieces of the lore through diary entries and transcripts, and I absolutely live for that kind of thing. It’s just absolutely cat nip to me and if you are a total freak like me and love cult stories, this one could be a fun read for you too!

“Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die” is some solid summer reading with twists and turns that I found super fun.

Rating 8: A fun thriller with some creepy cult elements, “Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die” is fun summer reading.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die” is included on the Goodreads blog post “Stock Your Summer Shelves With Highly Anticipated Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror”.

Book Club Review: “Other Ever Afters”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club! This season’s theme is books with specific colored covers where we all drew a color and matched it with a book.

Book: “Other Ever Afters” by Melanie Gillman

Publishing Info: Random House Graphic, September 2022

Where Did We Get This Book: from the library!

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

Prompt Color: Purple

Book Description: Once upon a time . . . happily ever after turned out differently than expected. In this new, feminist, queer fairy-tale collection, you’ll find the princesses, mermaids, knights, barmaids, children, and wise old women who have been forced to sit on the sidelines in classic stories taking center stage. A gorgeous all-new collection in graphic novel format from a Stonewall Honor-winning author and artist.

What if the giant who abducted you was actually thoughtful and kind? What if you didn’t want to marry your handsome, popular, but cold-inside suitor? What if your one true love has all the responsibilities that come with running a kingdom?

Kate’s Thoughts

This was actually my pick, as I knew that I wanted to do a graphic novel and this was one that stood out to me with a ‘purple’ cover. I also just liked the idea of a reimagining of fairy tales and fairy tale tropes with a queer twist. I do love a reimagining as we all know. I had also read other works by Melanie Gillman and was interested in seeing what they would do with the concept.

I did want more from this book as a whole, though it’s true that there were definitely stand outs in the collection that did really work for me. I enjoyed themes of found family, and love in unexpected places, and going beyond the ideas of happily ever after. I really liked a story about a woman who falls for a goat-like creature who accepts her for who she is, and I also liked a story about a knight that learns about love and community without expectations. But (and I think Serena will probably say the same) I also thought that some of the stories felt like they weren’t totally fleshed out. I know that Gillman said that some of these stories had origins in fast fiction challenges, and some of them really felt like it, which could make the stories feel hurried and flat.

But the artwork? GORGEOUS. The colored pencil aesthetic lends to a gentle vibe throughout the stories, and I thought that the colors and design were exquisite. I really enjoy Gillman’s style and it absolutely matched the fairy tale feelings.

“Other Ever Afters” will surely please people looking for queer stories that fill a gap of representation in a well loved genre. The ones that hit for me REALLY hit.

Serena’s Thoughts

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. For one thing, the art is absolutely fantastic, by far the best part of the book. Further, the author does a great job matching the overall tone of the stories included with the art itself. These both sound AND look like beautiful fairytales.

I also appreciated the wide variety of characters and themes that were explored. Like a good fairytale, there were a few that had dark moments, but overall, like the cozy art would suggest, most of the stories ran on the more optimistic side of things. I particularly enjoyed the last story about a knight coming to realize that relationships are not transactional, and another story that featured a woman who finally finds an unconventional relationship with a being who recognizes her for who she is.

That said, almost all of these stories felt somehow…lacking. Not only did the author leave several of the stories with hanging endings (something that you do see in fairytales, but the sheer number of them within this collection skewed the overall effect), but many of the themes introduced never felt like they properly landed. Almost all of the stories felt like they could use a few more pages to properly flesh out the stories they were telling.

I just wish there had been more to this book, and then I think it really would have connected with me well. As it stands, I’m almost a bit sad about what feels like missed opportunities and lost potential. That said, YA readers who enjoy fairytales and are looking for some twisted versions of classic tales featuring lovely art and diverse characters should definitely give this one a go!

Kate’s Rating 7: There are some sweet stories here and I absolutely loved the artwork and the concept, but a few of the stories felt unfinished.

Serena’s Rating 6: I loved the art and one or two of the stories, but I closed the book and the defining thought was “I wish there had been a bit more to it all.”

Book Club Questions

  1. Which story in the collection was your favorite? What was it about that story that spoke to you?
  2. In what ways beyond the choice of protagonists did these fairy tales subvert expectations of the genre?
  3. A lot of these stories have ambiguous or open ended endings that don’t necessarily play out on the page. Did you like that as a choice?
  4. What were your thoughts on the art style in this book?
  5. Who would you recommend this book to?

Reader’s Advisory

“Other Ever Afters” is included on the Goodreads lists: Queer mermaids and Royalty in Queer Romance.

Next Book Club Pick: “As I Dream of You” by Jennifer Lee, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Serena’s Review: “The Demon Star”

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

Book: “The Demon Star” by Jesse Aragon

Publishing Info: DAW, July 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher

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

Book Description: Gods rule this planet. Demons stalk its canyons while Kings beg for mercy. Can three mere humans rewrite its destiny?

The otherworldly religious conflict of Dune, the cosmic strangeness of Gideon the Ninth, and the heart-pounding action of Red Rising converge in this horror-tinged epic science fantasy debut.

Ysira Naktis was a human sacrifice, marked for death. Unlike the thousands ‘harvested’ each year, though, she did the unthinkable. She survived—and what she brought back with her could change the fate of worlds.

When Ysira’s estranged son is chosen to become the vessel of a god-killing demon, she is faced with a choice: allow him to harness cosmic power at an unspeakable cost, or doom millions to save him. She finds an unlikely ally in Brother Jacen Kheris, once a gifted exorcist, now a guilt-ridden addict, desperate for purpose.

From a demon-haunted canyon to a starbound satellite, they must battle their way through cultists, aliens, and the gods themselves. The truths they unearth are deeper and more sinister than anything they could have imagined.

Review: This was such an odd mashup of so many things that don’t seem like they should work together, but somehow do. Theology and exorcisms! Dune-like worms! Telepathy! And all told through a multitude of POVs, all of whom are morally gray to some extreme or another.

Let’s start with the characters. While there are various perspectives throughout, there are three primary characters, each with their own arcs and struggles. Through these three main characters, the story dives into themes such as addiction, the desperate drive for approval from others, and the toxic side of motherhood. “Toxic” is really the right word for many of the characters in this book. These are messy people who form messy relationships to one another, and this is by no means a “feel good” story when it comes to any of this.

There is sort of a romantic subplot, but it’s definitely not of the traditional sort. As I said, everything here is messy, including the relationships that form between these three. I didn’t love this aspect of the story, as it played into a few romantic themes that aren’t my favorite. Alas, I’m one of those romance readers who enjoy more straightforward, happy love stories, so this aspect of the story wasn’t my favorite.

But the main elements of a fantastic fantasy book were all here, including a hefty dose of horror. Everything exists on a grand scale, and the book neatly balanced introducing its complex world while also side-stepping into deep philosophical topics regarding religion, power, and the roles of gods and demons in this world. Again, like the characters, the book is heavy, complicated, and on the darker side. I found all of this so interesting, however, that I never felt bogged down by the bleakness of some of its themes.

And then comes the second half, with tons of twists and turns and gut punches around every corner. In the first half, the reader begins to settle into this world, as uncomfortable as it is, but the second half neatly rips away any sense of stability that was formed in that first half. Like the characters, the reader will simply stumble, reeling, from one crushing scene to the next.

Overall, this was a great fantasy read! It’s definitely on the darker, more horror-centric side, but I think it did a fantastic job with its world-building and exploration of complex themes. I struggled a bit with some character beats, but much of that comes down to personal preferences with regards to POV characters and their arcs. If you’re a fan of cosmic fantasy, definitely check this one out!

Rating 8: Heart-wrenching, horrific, and freakishly compelling, it’s the kind of book where you’re constantly waiting for the next twist to rip your heart out, but you can’t stop reading in spite of it!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Demon Star” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction and 2026 Debuts