Month: April 2025

Kate’s Review: “The Ballad of Nod (#1): Waking Up From Nightmares”

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

Book: “The Ballad of Nod (#1): Waking Up From Nightmares” by James Burton and Kira Burton

Publishing Info: Scattered Comics, May 2025

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

Where You Can Get This Book: This first issue has not been published yet, but when it does it will be available at James Burton’s website Angry Brain Artworks when it comes out sometime in May.

Book Description: The Ballad of Nod is the story of a young girl named Fey who is grieving the loss of her Father to cancer. The regrets, fear and pain is attracting the nightmares of the dream world to invade her reality every night. The only thing stopping them is the courage of her Guardian, a Teddy Bear named Patches, who each night fights back the darkness. That is until the worst of the worst a night prince called the Phobetor drags him into the dark. Now Fey must choose to find her courage to go in and save him or hide and loose someone else she loves.

Review: Thank you to James Burton for sending me an eBook of this comic!

I am one of those adults who just couldn’t part ways with a couple of my childhood stuffed animals. There are two in particular that I felt a need to hold on to, the first being Carmichael the Cat, the second being Bump the Bear. Both of them now officially belong to my five year old and reside in her room, but every once in awhile when I’m feeing deeply anxious or down I will bring Bump to my room to hang out for a few days before returning him. So I absolutely understand a bond a child has with a beloved childhood toy. And in “The Ballad of Nod (#1): Waking Up From Nightmares” by siblings James and Kira Burton, we get a really good dark fantasy tale that not only captures the security of a childhood toy, but also the deep grief of mourning a parent who has passed away long before their time.

Judging by the cover of this first issue, you can immediately tell that this is going to be a horror story, with a monstrous face being front an center. But then there is this adorable and quite determined looking silhouette of a teddy bear, and that is part of the real crux of this story: the bond between a girl and the guardian teddy that protects her from monsters and beasts every night as she sleeps. Fey is a little girl whose father died of cancer, and has found comfort in a bear named Patches, so named because when she wakes up in the morning he has rips and tears that need to be mended. I love this concept on its own, feeling like a dreamy dark fantasy that also has some very real human elements. I’ll start with the horror first, and I can say right off the bat it worked well for me. I love the idea of a security toy actively fighting off the monsters under the bed or in the closets, as these toys are so loved and so ingrained in childhood as a way to fight anxiety (I mean hello, I still use the aforementioned Bump to help quell my ADULT anxieties!), so the metaphor worked very, very well for me. And then to flip the concept and to have Fey have to be the one to take the first steps to rescue Patches and to face her fears to do so is also a great twist on the expected plot. We only have issue one that has a fair amount of set up, but the monsters that we saw were effective and intimidating, and it has a lot of promise to be VERY creepy for the audience as the story goes on.

But the other huge theme of this comic is the deeply emotional story about Fey losing her father to cancer, and having to navigate her grief and the trauma around it. This story feels personal, and is very well explored and had me tearing up during certain moments. Our first issue has a lot of exposition to set up Fey’s history and her emotional state, and I thought that it did it very well with flashbacks to her father’s hospitalization, implied times right after his passing, and also seeing how Patches came into her life as a buoy during a very dark and difficult time. It makes Patches’s mission feel all the more poignant, and then Fey’s own mission to be the one to save him feel all the more powerful. The dreamy earnestness of it all reminded me of something similar to the likes of “Locke and Key”.

And finally, the artwork. I thought it was well matched to the tone, and it has the ability to be both unsettling and scary as well as adorable (Patches is ADORABLE).

(source: Scattered Comics)

I definitely want to read more to see how this goes. “The Ballad of Nod: Waking Up From Nightmares” is a stellar start to what promises to be an emotional and heartfelt (and scary) series.

Rating 8: Emotional, creepy, and heartfelt to the core, “The Ballad of Nod (#1): Waking Up From Nightmares” is a promising start to a new dark fantasy comic series.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ballad of Nod (#1): Waking From Nightmares” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it gives me serious Joe Hill vibes.

Serena’s Review: “The Raven Scholar”

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

Book: “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia Hodgson

Publishing Info: Orbit, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

Review: No delay: I absolutely loved this book! It was one of those special reads where I went in with zero expectations and was blown away! I wasn’t familiar with the author (this is her first fantasy novel) and all I really knew about this one was that it featured yet another deadly, magical competition. Which, at this point, is more of a red flag than an interest point, given how flooded the genre has been with these sorts of books for the last several years. But man, this one proved why, in the right hands, even a tired trope can really come to life!

Part of this is the simple fact that, while the competition is the structure around much of the plot is built, it’s not really the main focus of the story. Instead, the central premise of the book is much more heavily focused on what starts as a murder mystery but quickly spirals out into a much larger conspiracy. And this larger mystery encompasses decades of history, some plot points from over 20 years ago, some events from a decade before, and others from more recent years. Much of this is slowly revealed throughout the course of Neema’a investigation, but the author also neatly uses a few chapters of a prologue that follows another character from years before. This was such a brave choice, as this character becomes central to the story, but is also never seen on page again. It’s a show of confidence that the author felt that the narrative voice and Neema herself were strong enough to reclaim the story back from a very different starting focus. With all of this, as the story unfolds, the reader is lulled into a sense of putting things together only to be smacked over the head with several huge late game reveals, some of which truly took my by surprise!

As for the competition, it did stand out from others, both in its simplicity and in its unique points. Some of it is just straight forward fighting, no real gimmicks. And as far as the magical competition portions went, the book was much more focused on the qualities of the groups who put these portions of the event together, what they wanted to see from a winner and a leader. In this way, these trials felt much less like the typical dangerous escapades we’re used to seeing. Instead, several of them are fairly generic, but made interesting by what they say about the individuals who participate in them based on the choices they make. This was also helped by the steady hand the author utilized throughout in creating this cast of competitors. Very early, I felt I had not only a strong understanding of who each of these characters were, but they all felt fully fleshed out and individual from one another, bringing their own baggage and their own motivations to this competition.

And, at the heart of it all, we have Neema and the Raven. Neema was simply excellent, everything I want from a protagonist. Smart, but awkward. Thrust into a situation she was completely unprepared for, we see all the stumbles of a flawed individual, but we also see the way her particular strengths lead her through. And most importantly, the ways in which she navigates these trials and the investigation all felt natural and believable to her history and abilities. Sometimes it’s really easy to see the author’s hand on the wheel with the creation of situations that seem to conveniently just work out for a main character who, by any rights, should fail miserable. Neema doesn’t glide through. People don’t trust her, don’t like her, and if she hadn’t attracted the interest of the Raven, it’s clear she would have done terribly. I also enjoyed the quirks of her characterization, the ways in which her strengths (her incredible scholarly knowledge) has and continues to create barriers to her ability to form connections to others. At times it was hard to see her treated so harshly by those around her, but the bright spots of the Raven’s narration and the very subplot-y love interest balanced these tough moments out.

And, of course, there is the Raven themself. What a unique narrative quality! There’s a way that this could have gone very wrong, that a quirky style like this could have been overplayed and over done. Instead, this has to be one of the most fresh feeling narrative styles that I’ve seen in a while! For those who are concerned, the majority of the story is told in your typical third person past tense approach. But sprinkled throughout, we are reminded that we are being told this story through the eyes of a very specific being with their own goals and perspective. Not to mention, the Raven was hilarious!

This book was pretty much my perfect read! Incredible fantasy world-building, an excellent main character, mystery, action, romance, it has it all! For a book that is 700 pages long, by the final portion, all I could think about was the fact that I wanted it to be even longer and how am I possibly going to wait for the sequel! This one doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, per se, but by the end of the book, this world looks very different than it did when it began and Neema’s journey is a wild ride, sprawling out before her. If you enjoy epic fantasy, this is a must read, as far as I’m concerned!

Rating 10: In a word: magnificent. Hodgson blasts onto the epic fantasy stage with a book that will quickly become a must-read for fans of the genre.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Raven Scholar” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2025 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

Kate’s Review: “Another Fine Mess”

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

Book: “Another Fine Mess” by Lindy Ryan

Publishing Info: Minotaur Books, April 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a hardcover copy from the publisher.

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

Book Description: Making sure dead things stay buried is the family business…

For over a hundred years, the Evans women have kept the undead in their strange southeast Texas town from rising. But sometimes the dead rise too quick–and that’s what left Lenore Evans, and her granddaughter Luna, burying Luna’s mother, Grace, and Lenore’s mother, Ducey. Now the only two women left in the Evans family, Luna and Lenore are left rudderless in the wake of the most Godawful Mess to date.

But when the full moon finds another victim, it’s clear their trouble is far from over. Now Lenore, Luna, and the new sheriff—their biggest ally—must dig deep down into family lore to uncover what threatens everything they love most. The body count ticks up, the most unexpected dead will rise–forcing Lenore and Luna to face the possibility that the undead aren’t the only monsters preying on their small town.

Review: Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me a finished copy of this novel!

So the reason that I grabbed “Bless Your Heart” by Lindy Ryan from the library and reviewed it last week was because I had the opportunity to read the new sequel! “Another Fine Mess” is a continuation of this Southern horror series that is part “Gilmore Girls” and part “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with a little bit of “True Blood” to really tie it all together, and I am pleased to report that it continues to be a fun, charming, and sometimes INCREDIBLY gory ride.

Just to be clear, there will be some spoilers for “Bless Your Heart” in this review. Proceed with caution.

We are picking up shortly after “Bless Your Heart” ended, with grandmother Lenore Evans and granddaughter Luna Evans reeling from the deaths of Lenore’s mother/Luna’s great grandmother Ducey, and Luna’s mother/Lenore’s daughter Grace, who died protecting the community and Lunda from Andy, Luna’s vampire (known as strigoi in this) boyfriend. Who Luna accidentally turned because it turns out her father Samael was a master strigoi that fell in love with Grace. Who has been buried by the Evans’s funeral home. Got that? Okay. Lenore and Luna don’t have much time to grieve, however, as some kind of new monster has started terrorizing the town, as pets start to go missing and animals AND people start showing up mutilated. The horror elements in this are a bit more, shall we say, lupine this time around, and I thought that it was not only a great next choice of monster, but it also makes for more gnarly, and I mean GNARLY, kills. It also gives Ryan the chance to expand upon the lore of the monster mythos and world building for strigoi and other creatures, as well as fleshing out the family history of the Evans and the roles they play in order to balance out the supernatural threats that are constantly creeping up on them. While also showing how damn hard that it can be being an Evans woman, bound to a destiny that makes you so, so burdened.

And I am still really loving Luna’s arc in this story, as now we know that she is part strigoi, and that her powers are a little unpredictable. Which is exactly what an awkward teenage girl who just lost her mother and grandmother needs to make her life all the more complicated. Luna is, for me, the character with the most potential, and her growing relationship with weirdo new kid Crane while also learning more and more family secrets (and perhaps having an opportunity to connect with her strigoi father Samael) made for a very interesting subplot, and I thought that she felt like a pretty real teenager who is dealing with a LOT of shit thrown her way, without feeling shrill or cloying. Seeing more clues and puzzle pieces come together, for ALL of the Evans women, was really fun in general, and adding more friends to their insular circle, like new make-up tech Kim (because corpses need to look nice too!), or a closer relationship to the new Sheriff Taylor (who had been quietly in love with Grace when she was alive), really made this ensemble stand out. Even if one development left me feeling ABSOLUTELY HEARTBROKEN, GOD DAMMIT.

AND LOOK, it was hinted to in a few places that there may be another supernatural path to be taken here, but this was basically my reaction… (source)

But hey, that just means that now I am waiting on pins and needles to see where we are going next!! “Another Fine Mess” made the Evans Women all the more interesting, and made me fall for this world all the more. When does the next one come out?

Rating 8: Another entertaining and utterly charming horror story following a family of women who take care of their town by stopping the undead, no matter the cost.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Another Fine Mess” is included on the Goodreads list “All the New Horror, Romantasy, and Other SFF Crossover Books Arriving in April 2025”.

Book Club Review: “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”

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

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. Re-visiting some of our past themes, we’re once again reading books that have had film/TV adaptations and then comparing the two mediums. 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!

Book: “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer & Anne Burrows

Publishing Info: The Dial Press, July 2008

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

What We Watched: “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”

Book Description: January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends – and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island – boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Kate’s Thoughts

Hooray for book club! I genuinely feel this way all of the time no matter what the circumstance, but I also love how it will push me outside of my comfort zones when my fellow members pick our books each month. And that happened with “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Burrows. Because while I do read historical fiction, I generally don’t read WWII historical fiction. But bring it on, book club! Give me a reason to stretch my reading muscles!

I hadn’t realized until I picked it up that this book was an epistolary novel, but it was a pleasant surprise because I really do enjoy epistolary stories. I enjoyed reading the letters between the various characters and seeing their personalities come out through their letters, and I liked how it made for an interesting way for the plot to come together. I can certainly say that this book had a lot of charming aspects, from quirky characters to a tight knit community bringing and outsider into the fold, to some pretty funny bits in the letters. It was a breezy read, and it was engaging enough.

On the other hand, World War Two books aren’t usually my go to for reading, fiction or non-fiction alike. While it was unique in the sense that the island of Guernsey was occupied by Nazis, and therefore the citizens had to actually live with their enemies, it just wasn’t really my cup of tea. It didn’t really help that I had a hard time with the mentioned romance between Society Founder Elizabeth’s romance with a German doctor named Christian, as while I did appreciate that the authors did their due diligence to make it feel the least amount of whitewashing of Nazis (and actually I liked the book’s approach to this more than the movie, as the book did portray Christian as actively resisting in his own small ways), it still felt clunky. This combined with just a general ambivalence towards the genre made it a middle of the road read for me.

All in all it fostered good book club discussion and had its charming bits. But I’m probably not the target audience for this book. But if you like WWII fiction that feels somewhat cozy, this would be a solid choice!

Kate’s Rating 6: It was charming and engaging, but it’s not really my kind of book at the end of the day.

Book Club Questions

  1. How did you feel about the format of this story, and how does it compare to other epistolary novels?
  2. There is a large cast of characters in this book. Did any of them stick out to you? How did you like and dislike?
  3. What did you think of Christian and how he was portrayed as a romantic interest for Elizabeth in the past despite the fact he was a Nazi occupier?
  4. If you have read the book and seen the movie, what did you think of the changes that were made? Were there any you liked? Disliked?
  5. There are many WWII novels out there. What kinds of genre and sub-genres do you like with these stories? Any titles you like best?

Reader’s Advisory

“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” is included on the Goodreads lists “World War II Fiction”, and “Foreign Lands”.

Next Book Club Pick: “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” by Judy Blume

Serena’s Review: “Gifted & Talented”

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

Book: “Gifted &Talented” by Olivie Blake

Publishing Info: Tor Books, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You’re welcome! If only her father’s fortune wasn’t her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he’s losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world’s most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth—by confirming she’d been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?

Review: I’m one of those viewers who both recognized and appreciated the brilliant writing and acting found in “Succession” but who also struggled to enjoy the actual process of watching it. As a media consumer (books, movies, or shows), I’ve found that I struggle the most with stories where I can’t find a likable character to cling to. They don’t need to be perfect or strictly heroic, but just…likable. Jesse Pinkman from “Breaking Bad” is the perfect example of the sort of character I need to find to truly enjoy a story. So, when I saw that Olivie Blake was coming out with a new book and that it definitely was giving off strong “Succession” vibes, I was interested, but also a bit wary. That show was a slog at times of just hating everyone and everything they did. Would this book follow in its footsteps? Well, yes and no.

On the good side, I think some of Blake’s flowery, evocative style of writing worked really well with this sort of story. At best, everyone in this book is incredibly flawed, and Blake uses them and the situations they keep finding (creating!) themselves in to offer many beautifully crafted insights into the world as a whole. Commentary on power, ambition, and, of course, the complicated nature of siblings, with all of the competition and resentment that can be tied up in such a unique relationship. Here is someone who is the only other person/people in the world who truly understands your history, who’s seen it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. You love them; you can’t hide from them. I’ve struggled with Blake’s writing style at times in the past, but I think it paired really well with this sort of story.

That said, I am starting to put together the dots on the sorts of characters Blake has been writing lately. Namely, the kind that are found in things like “Succession.” In that way, she was perfectly positioned to write this sort book. But on the other hand, I’ve had a harder and harder time connecting with her books because I feel as if she always writes characters who I end up really disliking. They’re not just morally grey, they’re often rude, selfish, stubborn to the point of idiocy, etc. And while here these characters fit in well with the sort of story she was trying to write, I can’t say I enjoyed them any more for it. I kept banging my head against a wall, as I jumped from character to character who couldn’t help shooting themselves in the foot with terrible approaches to life and how they treat others.

I’ll also say that I question the necessity of the fantasy elements in this book. There are definite comparisons to “The Umbrella Society” (some were a bit too close, honestly, and made it feel less creative on its own), but, for the most part, the magic was so far in the background to the interpersonal dynamics that I’m not sure if it was serving much of a purpose. Other than staying true to the sort of books that Blake has written in the past and that her fans expect from her. But here at least, I think the book might have been better served to have remained a straight contemporary fiction novel. As it stands, I don’t think the sparce fantasy elements truly contribute much to the book itself. Those who are going in as hardcore fantasy readers will be left with a book that feels thin in this area.

Overall, this was an ok read. I will say, as a reader who has struggled with Blake’s style of writing in the past (sometimes it can veer into the land of pretentiousness), I think that the themes and subject matter of this book were well suited to her talents and the book shone brightest in its use of language to describe some of these darker currents. However, all of the characters were so unlikable that I can’t say I actually enjoyed my reading experience. Looking back, I think that’s been the difference for me with her books that I’ve enjoyed vs. those I didn’t. And it was unfortunate that this largely fell in the latter category. However, fans of Blake’s style should definitely check this out, especially if you’re the sort of reader who enjoys truly morally compromised characters!

Rating 7: Some poignant commentary on themes of sibling rivalry and ambition was held back a bit for me by a cast of truly unlikable characters.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Gifted & Talented” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2025 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction and

Serena’s Review: “A Drop of Corruption”

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

Book: “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Publishing Info: Del Rey, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire’s greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.

Review: I’ve never gone wrong picking up another book by this author! But I was particularly excited to grab this sequel, as the first one was the perfect mixture of two things I love especially: incredibly creative fantasy worlds and a Holmes/Watson duo solving complex mysteries. And this was one of those rare sequels where I went in pretty much wanting exactly the same as the first one! And boy, did I get it, and more!

So, I’ll jump straight to the end of the review now and say this was pretty much my idea of a perfect read. Not only did it bring back everything I loved from the first book, but it expanded on the the world-building and fantasy aspects of the story and gave greater depth to our main characters. The mystery itself was also complex and interesting, with numerous twists and turns. There were the right number of red herrings that readers could form their own guesses and theories, but then, when the final reveal came, there were inevitably pieces that were still true revelations.

I also really enjoyed the deeper themes of monarchy and empire that were explored in this book. The first one brushed up on some of these themes as well, but this one really dove into the ideas of kings and their seemingly deep-seated appeal as a form of governance. (On this point, the author included a really excellent author’s note at the end that is definitely worth giving a read!). Throughout the story, there is commentary and exploration of these structures of society, who falls through the cracks and who benefits, and why people cling to form of government that doesn’t serve them. Beyond this, there were some really great discussions of the inglorious but necessary role of justice enforcers and the pursuit of truth, even when it takes you to some dark places. (Of course, this being a fantasy novel, those dark places were more then simply metaphorically “dark.”) Is it ever right to do the wrong thing for the right reason? Who decides and how should justice be served? These are big topics, but the book does a great job of tackling them, without ever feeling heavy-handed or preachy.

Beyond this, I was simply happy to spend more time with Din and Ana. From Din, we saw the challenges that he’s faced, working for such an eccentric woman as Ana for now several years. In some ways, he’s adjusted well. In others, it’s clear he’s still floundering to find his role in this world. For Ana’s part, she’s still brilliant, but also strange in a way that is often perturbing. As the story continued, we began to see more and more glimpses behind the curtain, and there were some great reveals regarding her own history towards the end of the book.

The world Bennet has created here continues to be simply wild. So much creativity, but also so much horror, awaits around every corner. Similarly to the first book, this isn’t the read for you if you struggle with body horror. The dangers of this world present in incredibly unique and disturbing ways, and Bennet doesn’t shy away from fully describing it as such. The stakes of this book are also closely tied to the biodiversity of this world, and it was great exploring how humanity has found a way to live and thrive in a world as perilous as this one.

Overall, this was an excellent sequel, everything I could have wanted from a follow-up book! It took the phenomenal groundwork that was laid in the first book and ran wild with it. Can’t wait to see what comes next!

Rating 10: Deliciously dark, exploring the disturbing nature not only of this wild fantasy world but also of the depths of humanity itself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Drop of Corruption” is on this Goodreads list: Best Books Ever.

Kate’s Review: “Bless Your Heart”

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

Book: “Bless Your Heart” by Lindy Ryan

Publishing Info: Minotaur Books, April 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Rise and shine. The Evans women have some undead to kill.

It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That’s how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny―Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore’s soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.

But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi―the original vampire―are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.

As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi’s return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.

A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish.

Review: Oddly enough, when the horror novel “Bless Your Heart” by Lindy Ryan came out last year, I just never got around to it. Which, in hindsight, is WILD, because it has so many elements within its pages that so appeal to me. Vampires! Generational ties! Family dysfunction! And to top it all off, it takes place in 1999, so the nostalgia bomb that it would surely detonate would be epic! When I was approached to read the upcoming sequel “Another Fine Mess” (coming out next week – stay tuned!), I realized that I needed to go back and read the first one, only to realize as I was reading it that it was BASICALLY WRITTEN FOR ME! I’m kind of kicking myself for passing it by, because “Bless Your Heart” is a fun, cozy, and gory vampire tale.

Before I get into the vampires, first I want to talk about the setting and the characters. Because “Bless Your Heart” is a bit of a mix of Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls”, Bon Temps from “True Blood”, and Santa Clara from “The Lost Boys”, with locals, ambiance, and the usual gossip and community to go with the supernatural. Our main characters are four generations of women whose family has run the town funeral parlor, and who just so happen to kill vampires to keep the town safe. Ducey is the first generation, a grumpy and no nonsense matriarch, her daughter Lenore, who is determined to carry on the business, Lenore’s daughter Grace, who is soft and kind, and Grace’s teenage daughter Luna, who is awkward and getting her footing (off topic: this takes place in 1999, and Luna is fifteen, a bit Goth but awkward about it, and into Sid and Nancy and all things Hot Topic. aka ME DURING THIS EXACT TIME). I loved seeing this family start to realize that vampires are starting to rise again, and not only try to figure out who is causing it, but also how to handle it, as they all have different approaches and different traumas, and how they interact with the people in their town (and how they try and keep their secret from getting out). There’s lots of heart and humor with this family, and it found their interactions to be realistic in their love and complexity. I also found them to be very funny at times, with witty banter and conversations being very prominent.

And I did really enjoy the vampire mythology that Ryan brings to this story and her world building. It’s kind of fallen to the wayside to have vampires be shambling ghouls, with many vampire tales having seductive and mysterious blood suckers that are scary in their predatory and sensual ways. And this book DOES have that. But it also has some rather nasty versions of vampires called strigoi (LOVE IT), giving us a bit of a maturation process for vampires that starts with gross mindless corpses, and eventually turns into the Lestats, the Draculas, the sexier beings with time and experience. I thought that the gory bits in this book were gross and fun, and I really enjoyed how well thought out Ryan’s vampires were, serving up scares as well as the expected seductiveness. And the mystery of why the vampires are rising at this moment was fairly well conceived, and while I called a couple twists, it was still fun seeing them play out. pp

All in all, “Bless Your Heart” is a solid start to a new horror series that has some witty characters, a well developed and charming small town, and some nasty vampires. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

Rating 8: A solid small town cozy mystery blended with a gory vampire horror tale, “Bless Your Heart” is a promising start to what could be a fun series.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bless Your Heart” is included on the Goodreads lists “Pink Horror Genre”, and “Vampires!”.

Serena’s Review: “The Gods Time Forgot”

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

Book: “The Gods Time Forgot” by Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez

Publishing Info: Alcove Press, April 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: Manhattan, 1870. Rua knows only two things: her name, and that she has no memories. So when the wealthy Harrington family mistakes Rua for their missing daughter, Emma, Rua goes along with the charade, hoping for answers about who she really is. As she tries to blend into a society she doesn’t remember, she’s drawn to a firmly off-limits the Lord of Donore, a newcomer to Manhattan society who is somehow familiar to Rua.

Finn is new to this side of the Atlantic and knows that the best way to fit in as Lord of Donore is to make friends in high places and play by the rules of society. He knows he shouldn’t become involved with a mysterious, recently missing debutante, but he’s intrigued by Emma Harrington, and Finn has an uncanny feeling that this isn’t the first time they’ve met. 

With societal pressures mounting on both sides, Rua is determined to discover the truth about the missing Harrington daughter and her own past. But when her memories begin to return, they’re of a world far stranger than New York and traced in dark magic.

As ancient secrets unfurl in Rua’s memory, Rua and Finn are forced to uncover the mystery of their past and try to save their future. In this gritty and glittering romantasy, nothing and no one is as they seem.

Review: Looking back on my reading experience of this book and what I think will likely happen for other readers as well, I keep coming back to “expectations vs. reality.” No one is done any favors when a book is set up as one thing, but then turns out to be very different. There are two primary areas where this happened: the marketing of this book’s genre and the book summary’s explanation of the romance.

So, first off, the genre expectations. This is marketed as a romantasy title. As we discussed in my subgenres post from a few weeks ago, this would mean the book is first and foremost a romance novel but situated within a fantasy setting. Now, the summary does explain that this book is also set in a particular point in history, so it can only be expected that an exploration of life in this place and time will make up a portion of the book. The problem here is that this actually took up the majority of the book! I got over the half way mark in this book before even remembering that this had been promoted as a romantasy…and other than a few throwaway lines here or there, there had been zero actual fantasy elements involved. I enjoy historical fiction, so it’s perhaps not surprising that I got as far as I did before this became apparent. But for readers who go in with the expectation of a romantsy novel, I think there will be disappointment.

Even on the historical front, I did struggle to really enjoy this book. There were a lot of ball room scenes and society scenes that simply began to feel repetitive, with many people behaving as the worst versions of characters from Bridgerton. Not only these settings, but the fact that every single time, these events would result in Rua making some “shocking” statements about how messed up all of these restrictions were. But more often than not, it just came across as Rua saying the most brain-numbingly obvious fact in the most abrasive manner possible. I think there are ways to write characters who defy societal expectations and thus draw attention to its flaws, but Rua was like a bull in a China shop in all of the worst ways.

The second problem came down to the romance and, again, how it is marketed in the book summary. As you can see above, the summary clearly pairs Rua with a character named Finn. Several paragraphs give us a brief overlay of their story together. But then I picked up this book and discovered, oh wait, it’s another love triangle and a character named Annette (who is NOWHERE TO BE SEEN in the book summary) is going to play a role in the romance. Again, poorly managed expectations don’t benefit anyone! Some readers really enjoy love triangles, but looking at this book description, they’d have no idea that this was a straightforward MF love story. Conversely, other readers (like me) don’t enjoy love triangles and try to avoid them. I know myself well enough to know that almost all love triangles set back my reading experiences fairly significantly, so I try to avoid requesting/reviewing those titles, as I don’t love writing critical reviews, especially when I know this aspect of it is totally subjective.

The story also struggles with its pacing. As I said above, the first half to 75% is largely focused on Rua’s experiences living in this society. But then the last quarter is a mad whirlwind, trying to wrap up all of the plotlines. It is here, too, where the fantasy elements finally really show up.

All of this to say, this book wasn’t for me, but that’s because I wasn’t the correct reader for it! (Well, I could get behind the historical stuff, but I just wasn’t expecting it as much when I went in.) I think there are readers out there who will enjoy this one, but I do think it would have been in this book’s best interest to be more straightforward about the romance tropes at its heart as well as the primary genre focus of the story.

Rating 6: Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me. There was less fantasy than I was expecting, and I felt blindsided by yet another love triangle.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Gods Time Forgot” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Victorian Fantasy and 2025 Debut Novels.

Kate’s Review: “What Remains of Teague House”

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

Book: “What Remains of Teague House” by Stacy Johns

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, April 2025

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: Three siblings reckon with the darkness hidden within their family after multiple graves are discovered behind their childhood home.

When the Rawlins family matriarch unexpectedly dies, all three adult children rush home. What they find is a house bursting with grief, dark memories surfacing around each corner, and multiple bodies buried deep in the woods. The Rawlinses want to believe these discoveries point to a crime long past. But one of the graves behind Teague House is fresh, the earth disturbed just that week—and its inhabitant is a local woman they knew.

Is the youngest Rawlins sibling with something to hide guilty of her murder? Is his sister experiencing false memories of her late father digging near the graves? Why is their aunt in such a rush to leave town after her sister’s funeral?

Enter private detective Maddie Reed, who has her own reasons for being curious about the bodies buried behind Teague House. Detective Reed sets out to unmask a killer—one she may have been hunting all her life.

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

Families hiding secrets are always fun types of thrillers to me. I enjoy a sub-genre of families being terrible and damaging the generations down the line, no matter WHAT the parent genre is, but when you bring murder into it as well as generational trauma that is a topic that has so many possibilities. Because of this love for that kind of drama, I was very interested in reading “What Remains of Teague House” by Stacy Johns. When family secrets involve dead bodies, old AND new, buried on the family property, things have a possibility to get juicy!

I think that some of the strongest things in this book were character based. We followed a few of the characters through third person, and in one case first person, perspective chapters, where we get to follow their parts of the mystery and see how they all fit together. We had perspectives from all three of the siblings, Sandra, Jon, and Robby, as well as past perspectives from Aunt Phil to see the background to Russ and Val (who got a single chapter at the start). I found Aunt Phil’s to be really well done and thought that it was great getting some context for her relationship with Val, giving us insight into Val as well. The sibling perspectives went from fine (Jon and Sandra) to deeply irritating (Robby. It’s by design as he’s a scumbag, but it was grating to have to read his chapters). But the best one, for me, was that of Maddie, who is an investigator who gets privy to what is happening at Teague House, and has her own reasons and connections (potentially) to one of the bodies that has been unearthed. I really enjoyed Maddie’s chapters, as not only was hers the first person perspective, but I also thought that her motivations, backstory, and arc were the most interesting. Her chapters also read like a well done procedural, and I enjoyed seeing her on the trail and getting her information from the Rawlins siblings in hopes of finding justice.

But, along with that, comes why it didn’t work as well for me as I had hoped it would. We had some good build up and pacing for a lot of the novel, but then as we started to get closer to the climax things started to go REALLY fast and felt really rushed and cobbled together. I was left scratching my head a bit about some of the reveals, feeling like some choices were made just to make things shocking without really earning it. On top of that, going back to Robby’s character from above, we had such a frustrating and grating character in this guy that I was actively turned off anytime we were following his perspective. I can usually do fine with immoral characters or people who are deeply unlikable, but that’s only if there is something a bit more interesting about them, and Robby just wasn’t interesting. Just obnoxious. These things sadly derailed my experience, and the other characters couldn’t quite compensate.

I think that “What Remains of Teague House” had its ups and downs. I definitely don’t regret reading it, but it was pretty middle of the road.

Rating 6: I like a family drama, but with some really unlikable characters and a rushed ending this one didn’t live up to my expectations.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What Remains of Teague House” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Family Secrets”.

Highlights: April 2025

I think that for many people, once April hits they would be able to say that they are sinking fully into Spring. Well, we’ve had two snow storms already here in Minnesota. But we also have some decidedly Spring-y things coming up, including the usual Spring holidays (Easter for Serena with chocolate bunnies, Passover for Kate with a harried planning of a big Seder), and slowly greener neighborhoods. We also have some books we can’t wait to read!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Publication Date: April 1, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Not only have I loved all the books I’ve read by this author before, but I absolutely adored the first book in this series, with its perfect balance of mystery, fantasy, and even a healthy dose of horror! Plus, the core duo is made up of a wholly unique version of the Holmes and Watson dynamic! The story picks up a bit after the last one, with Ana and Din assigned to a case on the very outskirts of the Empire. There they find mysterious experiments, a delicate political situation, and, of course, the titular drop of corruption, both literal and philosophical! Can’t wait to see what this one has in store!

Book: “The Rave Scholar”

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This is the exact sort of new high fantasy book that would immediately draw my attention. Yes, there is the well-trodden ground of a magical competition at its heart, but that’s never enough to fully put me off, especially when the book description features such a unique narrative voice: that of a Raven god himself! Beyond that, I’ve seen a lot of early hype for this one. Now, if the past is any guide, that means I’ll either love this one or absolutely hate it! Crossing my fingers for the former.

Book: “The Ashfire King” by Chelsea Abdullah

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I could only give you the barest talking points about what happened in the first book in this series. Not only was it a fairly complex fantasy world, but it’s been a few years now since the first book was released. That said, I do remember really liking it, so I’m excited to finally get the second entry in the series. I also really like the cover on this one and am super curious about the bird especially. I don’t remember anything about that in the first book, so we’ll see what this one gets up to!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “The Staircase in the Woods” by Chuck Wendig

Publication Date: April 29, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I really love Chuck Wendig’s horror stories, as they are usually guaranteed to not only disturb, but to also bring big emotions. Last time the big emotional gut punches involved fathers and daughters, and it looks like this time it’s going to be old friends. “The Staircase in the Woods” follows four friends who have drifted apart over the decades after their fifth disappeared… after climbing up a mysterious staircase in the woods they were exploring, only for both him and the steps to disappear. Now they are back together, grudgingly, to try and solve what happened. And if Wendig is involved, it’s going to go poorly for them. I’ve always loved the urban legend of mysterious steps in wooded areas, so I can’t wait to see what he’s doing with it.

Book: “Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” by Kylie Lee Baker

Publication Date: April 29, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This sounds like it could be combining not only a supernatural horror story, but also a disturbing mystery involving the targeting of Asian American women due to racism and misogyny, all investigated by a determined crime scene cleaner dealing with her own loss and trauma. Cora cleans up crime scenes for a living. She sees the aftermath of terrible violence every day on the job, but it can’t compare to the violence she saw when someone murdered her sister in front of her. As more women in Chinatown are being murdered, and Cora wants to solve the mystery, she has a harder and harder time ignoring a presence that has been haunting her recently. One that is a bit otherworldly. This one sounds so intriguing and will probably also have lots of emotional oomph.

Book: “Julie Chan is Dead” by Liann Zhang

Publication Date: April 29, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This one has had a fair bit of buzz in book circles that I follow, and the plot sounds twisty and soapy. So clearly I’m all about that. Julie is a working class supermarket worker who is struggling to make ends meet. She has an identical twin sister named Chloe, who is a successful social media influencer, and with whom she has barely had a relationship in many years of their lives. But when Julie finds Chloe dead, she decides to take over her identity and to live the glamorous and high end life of an influencer. But keeping up appearances may not be so easy. Especially since Chloe was actually a target for something sinister. Give it to me NOW.