Month: January 2026

Serena’s Review: “Snake-Eater”

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Book: “Snake-Eater” by T. Kingfisher

Publishing Info: 47North, December 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley audiobook!

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

Book Description: When Selena travels to the remote desert town of Quartz Creek in search of her estranged Aunt Amelia, she is desperate and short of options. Fleeing an unhappy marriage, she has exactly twenty-seven dollars to her name, and her only friend in the world is her dog, Copper.

On arrival, Selena learns Amelia is dead. But the inhabitants of Quartz Creek are only too happy to have a new resident. Out of money and ideas, Selena sees no harm staying in her aunt’s lovely house for a few weeks, tending to her garden and enjoying the strange, desolate beauty of the desert. The people are odd, but friendly, and eager to help Selena settle into her new home.

But Quartz Creek’s inhabitants share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbours. Selena finds herself pursued by disturbing apparitions, visitations that come in the night and seem to want something from her.

Aunt Amelia owed a debt. Now her god has come to collect.

Review: I love how prolific T. Kingfisher is! Not only that, but she writes across a variety of genres, from fantasy to romance to horror! And here, while still including horror elements, she seems to be dabbling in the cozy subgenre as well! As such, this wasn’t perhaps my all-time favorite book of hers, but there was still much to enjoy!

For one thing, I very much enjoyed our main character Selena and the low-key exploration of emotionally abusive relationships and their impact on an individual’s self-esteem and ability to interact with the world. We often see examples of more overt forms of abuse, but sometimes these quieter versions are all the more horrific for the fact that they go unnoticed by others. What’s more, they are the sort where the victim often struggles to even name the reality of what’s going on, gaslighting themselves into thinking that as long as they aren’t being physically harmed, nothing could be wrong. Selena’s arc and slow recovery from this treatment was so well done.

Of course, her journey was much aided by the phenomenal cast of found family characters whom she meets and befriends in her new hometown. There was such variety and charm to all of these characters that I’d have a hard time picking a favorite! A few standouts would include the priest (a character who had some surprisingly reflective comments on religion) as well as the wacky radio DJ! I also enjoyed the villain of the story, in particular the rather tongue-in-cheek “monster romance” bits of it all!

The horror elements were quite light, so readers who enjoy Kingfisher’s darker books may need to temper their expectations here. There were a few chills here and there, but much less than in her other works. I also felt like the ultimate conflict was resolved a bit too quickly and neatly to be entirely satisfying.

Beyond that, while I think this is one of the better versions of a cozy, “day in the life” sort of book, I did struggle a bit to really invest myself in this story. Much of the page count is taken up by interactions between characters as Selena builds her found family and small, quiet moments in the desert and her home. Kingfisher is a talented author, so the character work was all high quality, but I simply enjoy more plot in my books than this sort of cozy work will often have.

Overall, this was a sweet book that explored themes of emotional abuse, religion, and personal agency. There were a few thrills here and there, but it definitely fell further on the cozy side of the spectrum. Fans of T. Kingfisher should definitely check this out, especially those who enjoy her less horrific books!

Rating 8: A lovely found family story that perfectly captures the wild strangeness of the desert, but a bit light on the plot for my particular taste.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Snake-Eater” can be found on these Goodreads lists: [ATY 2026] Bird on Cover and All the New Horror Books Arriving in December 2025.

Kate’s Review: “I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer”

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Book: “I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer” by Doug Wagner & Daniel Hillyard (Ill.)

Publishing Info: Image Comics, December 2025

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

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

Book Description: Rennie Bethary has just been accepted into New York City’s most prestigious fashion school. Her designs are daring, edgy, and singular…and made of human flesh. Did we forget to mention Rennie is a serial killer who simply wants to be a fashion designer instead? Stupid, pesky, murderous urges!

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

Happy New Year everyone! 2025 was a mess in a lot of ways, but we are starting off fresh and we can only hope that we can rise above whatever the hell that was last year (though we’ve said that so many times before). But I thought that starting off with a bit of a bang would be fun, and with that I present a graphic horror/thriller novel that really caught my eye: “I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer” by Doug Warner and Daniel Hillyard just sounded like a lot of campy nasty fun, as someone who likes serial killer thrillers/horror AND satires of fashion and style. I had really high hopes for this one. Unfortunately it didn’t quite match my enthusiasm.

But first the positives! The biggest positive is that the premise is such a freakin’ fun one. I love the idea of a serial killer also having a passion for fashion design and having a dream to become a designer, while also making clothing and muck out of people who are wronging her and those around her, be they her friends, or the downtrodden, or those who are victimized. It feels a bit like “Dexter” while also having a bit of an undercurrent of ‘we love women’s wrongs’ that can be kind of fun in this day and age. I also enjoyed Rennie a lot, as she feels/knows she is a full on psychopath, but manages to find at least a tiny bit of humanity in her heart while she not only pursues a passion, but also makes a human connection with her classmate Sofie, who is so lovely and friendly and serves as a fun (though perhaps a bit old hat these days) foil for our more cynical and dark protagonist.

But on the other hand, I did find the pacing to be uneven. We have a pretty slow build, watching Rennie ease into her school life while also taking out sociopaths and predators, taking a couple of issues to establish her mindset and relationship and aspirations, connecting not only with Sofie but also with various mentors or butting heads with snotty classmates. And then in the third of the book we get some wild reveals and a huge confrontation that felt incredibly rushed and didn’t feel like it paid off because of it. I will say that the big reveal DID have some hints and build up and didn’t come completely out of left field, but at the same time once we did get the reveal out it still fell a little bit flat. I think that if there had been more issues there could have been a bit more of a reveal that matched the slower pacing.

And finally, I did enjoy the artwork, finding it to be cute and kind of retro at times, while also being SUPER disgusting at others. I don’t really want to show any of that here because I know that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Daniel Hillyard’s style matched the story well.

“I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer” had loads of potential and a really fun protagonist, but it didn’t quite hit the levels that I hoped for. I think it’s worth checking out, but I had hoped for more.

Rating 6: The premise is so good and I really enjoyed Rennie as an anti-hero, but it built almost too slowly and then rushed through the ending.

Reader’s Advisory:

“I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of late, but if you like books about women getting grisly revenge on those who wrong them or the patriarchy this could be a good fit!