Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Kate’s Review: “See How They Fall”

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Book: “See How They Fall” by Rachel Paris

Publishing Info: Scarlet, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: In this compulsive debut thriller set in Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs, one detective’s investigation into a family tragedy threatens to collapse a powerful dynasty. . . .

When Skye married into the wealthy Campbell family, she thought she was entering paradise. But lately, she’s been unhappy in her marriage to Duncan and hiding a few secrets of her own as she tries to maintain a normal, happy life for their six-year-old daughter, Tilly.

Now the family patriarch, Sir Campbell Turner, has died and his three sons are set to inherit the luxury goods empire upon which he built their fortune. But plans for a seamless handover are complicated when a fourth, hitherto unknown, heir named Cody comes forward. The Turners gather for an intimate weekend retreat at an opulent seaside estate in order to meet this newcomer and figure out their next steps. With so much at stake, tempers flare and egos clash within their first few hours together. But even as the tensions rise no one could predict that their very first night would end with a shocking poisoning that leaves one family member dead and another fighting for her life.

Sergeant Mei O’Connor is assigned to investigate the incident and though her superiors are keen to close the case as swiftly as possible, the evidence just isn’t lining up. Mei already has enough on her mind as she struggles to care for her terminally ill mother and recover from her broken engagement, but she can’t help poking around the Turners, convinced that there’s more to the suspicious poisoning than a simple accident. As Mei continues to push for answers, she may just send the carefully laid dominoes of the Turner empire crashing down.

Review: Thank you to SparkPoint Studio for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Hoo boy, buckle up everyone because I have once again brought you all a novel that has scummy rich people behaving badly! Nope, this trope still hasn’t gone out of style for me, and the more frustrated I get with real world examples of this, the more cathartic I find novels that center nasty wealthy sleaze balls and show them for what they are. So of COURSE I wanted to read “See How They Fall” by Rachel Paris! I like soapy thrillers, I like dysfunctional families, and I like murder mysteries. It was bound to be a winner.

The premise is simple. The Turners, a billionaire family still reeling from the patriarch’s death a few months earlier, are gathering with their loved ones for a weekend at a summer estate, with hopes of hashing out the inheritance, while also dealing with a new surprise heir in the form of an illegitimate son of the middle son, Duncan. During the weekend, one of the brother’s wives is dead, and Duncan’s daughter Tilly is hospitalized in grave condition, both victims of arsenic poisoning. Skye, Tilly’s mom, is desperate to find out what happened, while Duncan hides her away, and Mei O’Connor, a detective assigned to the case, starts to peel back the nasty layers of this wealthy family. Our mystery is mostly who poisoned Tilly and her aunt Nina, but as we see it through Skye and Mei’s perspectives, the mystery becomes more about what the family as a whole has to hide. It’s suspenseful, it has believable twists and turns, and it has high stakes with a little girl near death, her mother becoming more unhinged as more secrets come out, and our lead investigator finding lots of dirty laundry, therein putting a target on her back as well. The Turner Family is filled with complete sociopaths, and as the story continued the more tense I became, fearful for Skye AND Mei and what they may uncover. Paris has a lot of tricks up her sleeve, and many of them were pulled off seamlessly.

I also enjoyed the dual perspectives between Skye and Mei, as both of them have some really well constructed back stories, well thought out motivations, and their two takes on the story as it is happening complement each other as they each present different clues to the reader about what is going on and who could be behind the poisonings. Skye is deeply sympathetic as her daughter lies unconscious after being poisoned, and while her husband Duncan is lying, gaslighting, and hiding something from her, and trying to keep her from finding out family business that may or may not be tied to Tilly’s attempted murder and Nina’s actual murder. I was seriously worried for Skye as well as enraged on her behalf, and Paris nails the way that the most insidious of wealthy people will manipulate even those that they purport to love if it will keep power within their grasp. Mei, on the other hand, has problems of her own, and it makes this case deeply personal, whether it’s because she is still reeling from a break up with a manipulative jerk, or because when she was a child her younger sister went missing, and she sees her sister in Tilly. I really felt for her, and if there was a series following her as a detective I would definitely read it.

Overall, “See How They Fall” is fun, addictive, and an entertaining thriller. If you like the genre, definitely seek it out.

Rating 8: Lots of reveals, lots of scandal, and two interesting character perspectives make this book an addictive thriller.

Reader’s Advisory:

“See How They Fall” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on the list “Novels If You Like ‘Succession'” in the Goodreads article “What To Read Based on Your Pop Culture Obsessions”.

Serena’s Review: “Shield of Sparrows”

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Book: “Shield of Sparrows” by Devney Perry

Publishing Info: Red Tower Books, May 2025

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

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

Book Description: Long ago, the gods unleashed monsters upon the five kingdoms of Calandra to remind us that humans are insignificant—that we must pray to the gods for mercy throughout our fragile, fleeting lives.

I didn’t need a deity to remind me I was powerless. Being a princess had never been more than a performance—twenty-three years of empty titles and hollow traditions. My sister revels in the spectacle, basking in the attention and flawlessly playing her part. I was never asked to be part of the charade.

Until the day an infamous monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince walked into my father’s throne room and ruined my life. The day I married a stranger, signed a magical treaty in blood, and set off across the continent to the most treacherous kingdom in all the realm.

That was the day I learned that not all myths are make-believe. That lies and legends are often the same. And that the only way to kill the monsters we fear was to become one…

Review: I was approached by the publicist to read and review this book, so I’ll be honest, I knew next to nothing about it going in. I had the vague understanding that the author was fairly prolific in the contemporary romance world, but as I read very little of that genre, I’d never checked out any of her books. Beyond that, the book summary look interesting, but also fairly generic. Well, let this be a lesson to never write anyone off! This was one of those books where I ended up binge reading it late into the night over two nights total!

I’m always a bit nervous when an author unfamiliar to the genre decides to tackle fantasy. Will they understand the conventions of the genre? Will they be be able to add something unique and not become mired in generic tropes? I think these are valid concerns. But not only did Perry prove me wrong in these concerns, but I think she also highlighted a key factor in why the romantasy genre may need MORE cross-over authors.

Romantasy is a super popular, fairly new genre, and as such, publishers are whipping out new titles as fast as they can without a steady list of veteran authors to pull from. And over the last few years, this desire to catch the bandwagon has produced a run of books where it feels like debut authors were not given the proper editing support they needed or titles were picked up that really had no business being published in their current state. And lacking many veteran voices in the genre, this can lead to the feeling that the genre as a whole is a bit shaky as far as quality goes. Perry illustrates how an experienced author with numerous books under her belt can elevate even the most mundane romantasy tropes and produce a book that feels like a breath of fresh air to the genre!

So, now I’ve written several paragraphs and not really talked about this book at all! But let’s start with the characters. Right off the bat, I liked the variation in the main character from the typical leading lady we see. There are a million and one feisty, snarky, fighter FMCs in romantasy. Instead, we follow the overlooked sister, Odessa, who has her rather dull life already plotted out before her. So when she’s thrust into the role of new Queen and secret spy, she’s totally unprepared. And by that I mean…actually unprepared! She doesn’t suddenly reveal incredible powers of fighting prowess or the skillset to properly infiltrate a foreign nation. We see her flounder her way through the “spying” again and again, and the book devotes a healthy amount of time to her attempts to learn to fight. By the end of the book, it’s been months, and it’s clear that while she can now pull off basic moves, she’s by no means a powerhouse. Instead, her strengths are found in her resilience, her empathy for those around her, and her bravery in the face of a world of new dangers and unknowns.

I also really enjoyed the romance and the romantic lead! It’s easy for the readers to guess the real situation, but I particularly appreciated the care that was taken with the main character’s handling of this situation. Odessa’s attempts to balance her obligations, bond with the man she believes to be her husband, and deal with her growing attraction for another all feel believable and sympathetic. I’ve seen this sort of set up go very wrong in the past, and I was glad to see that avoided here.

I also have to give a shout out to the creativity and complexity to the plot line and the world-building. While there is a heavy focus on the romance, it’s definitely of the slow-burn variety, which leaves a lot of page time freed up. And instead of the fluff that I feel like I often see in books like this, here we get not only a rich world, full of creative and horrific monsters, but also a detailed history and political situation that took several twists and turns towards the back half of the book that I didn’t see coming! I was also impressed by the author’s dedication to portraying the horror that would be living in this world. There are terrible monsters filling this land, and that being the case, terrible things often happen to those who live in it. There were a few scenes that definitely had me tearing up! Again, it was gratifying to read a romantasy that took its world-building seriously, even when that lead to rough situations and scenes.

So, shocking no one at this point, you can see that I really enjoyed this one! It took me completely by surprise and now not only can I not wait for the sequel, but I’m even thinking about checking out some of this author’s contemporary romance books (if I can find the time to escape my massive TBR!). If you’re a romantasy fan who’s aching for a book with a bit more meat on the bones, this is definitely one to check out. That said, it does end on a cliffhanger of sorts, so go in knowing you’ll have a wait for any real conclusion (talking to my aunt here!)!

Rating 9: A perfect example of the highs that the romantasy genre can reach when in the hands of a skilled author! Swoon-worthy romance, rich world-building, and an fast-moving plot that doesn’t let up!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shield of Sparrows” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Romantasy TBR 2025.

Kate’s Review: “Murder Land”

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Book: “Murder Land” by Carlyn Greenwald

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, May 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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

Book Description: Murder Land opens tonight. Not everyone will survive. Buckle up for a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.

Seventeen-year-old Billie feels like she is on top of the world. She gets to spend the summer with her best friend, sparks are flying with her crush, and she has received a promotion to ride operator for one of the most buzzworthy new attractions in the theme park she works at. But the first night on the new job takes a dark turn when her creepy coworker mysteriously dies…on her ride, when she isn’t authorized to be running it.

At first, it seems like he died by heart attack, but by the time she returns to the body with help, it looks like a broken neck. Had she just imagined him sitting upright a few minutes ago? It’s as if someone is trying to pin his death on her, and she has one night to figure out who is really responsible before she is blamed.

Billie recruits the help of her friends to sneak around the park after-hours and search for the truth. But as the night stretches on and more people wind up dead, Billie realizes she may not make it out of Murder Land alive. And her friends may know more than they’re letting on.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an eARC via NetGalley!

Outside of Disney World, I am not REALLY a fan of theme parks. We have a couple here in Minnesota, there’s Valley Fair a bit south of the cities, and the Mall of America has Nickelodeon Universe, which my five year old loves and I only tolerate for her sake (also, here’s some lore: it USED to be called Camp Snoopy and was Peanuts themed, but alas, those days are long over). But even though I don’t really like theme or amusement parks, I do love the idea of a horror or thriller novel set in one. It just opens up so many different opportunities for suspense and horror. Because of this I was definitely interested in checking out “Murder Land” by Carlyn Greenwald, a new YA thriller that has a murderous night at a popular theme park as its premise. Nickelodeon Universe could NEVER. Plus I really like that cover. It just screams Santa Cruz Boardwalk by way of “The Lost Boys”.

No vampires, though. (source)

But promising premise and my own dorky associations aside, I am sorry to say that, for me, an old hat connoisseur of the thriller genre, “Murder Land” was a bit of a let down.

But first, the good. As I mentioned above, the premise and potential of this story is off the charts for me. There is a precedent in thrillers and horror stories for theme parks or carnivals or festivals to be unique and unsettling settings, and I, for one, wouldn’t be opposed to more of it. And that translates over to “Murder Land”, with clear homages to places like Knotts Berry Farm. And I always love a theme of greedy corporations hoping to hide scandals for profit purposes, and the conspiracies that can come to fruition because of it. And also, as a YA thriller, I could see this being a solid introduction to the thriller genre, as there is definitely a plotted out mystery that does feel planned and thought out. I also love a device that uses epistolary or ‘found footage’, so the way that we have transcripts from a website/channel that is all about the history of CaliforniaLand and references ‘urban exploration’ along with it. That all worked for me.

But, on the flip side, I am definitely not the target audience for this book, and I have read so many thrillers over the years, that nothing about “Murder Land” really stood out to me despite all of the potential that it had. I thought that our main characters, rounded out by protagonist Billie and her friend group Grace, Leon, and Sawyer, were pretty cookie cutter in their personalities and their relationships with each other. We have a bit of a love quadrangle going on, which I can usually grin and bear if it’s basically sidelined, but within this story, taking place in ONE night with lots of death and murder and tragedy at hand, it felt clunky and out of place. I also felt that the way that the reveals were done, outside of a few in the transcripts, didn’t have that much weight. I think this is probably due to the fact that I wasn’t as invested in the story because I wasn’t as invested in the characters, but I DO feel like even if I don’t connect with any characters in a thriller I can still be, well, thrilled. And I wasn’t held in much suspense as this story was going. I do think that it’s very possible (maybe even probable) that if I was a teen reading this it would have worked better, but for this forty year old, it just didn’t click.

Overall I think that this didn’t work for me because I’m not the audience it caters to. “Murder Land” was a disappointment for me, but it probably won’t be for everyone!

Rating 6: This is a solid thriller for the age group it is intended for, but seasoned thriller fans in general may be a little underwhelmed.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder Land” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Releases of May 2025”.

Highlights: May 2025

Summer is so close we can taste it! We have a cabin trip planned with book club at the end of the month, the sun stays out later and later, and we have a few books that we are very much looking forward to as we start to march towards the changing season! Here’s what we are excited about this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “The Knight and the Moth” by Rachel Gillig

Publication Date: May 20, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I read “One Dark Window” back when it came out, but didn’t connect with it. From there, I watched the entire duology become something of a phenomenon within the fantasy genre and began to wonder if maybe it was just me?? That being the case, I was excited to see the author coming out with the start to a new duology, and this time debuting in adult fantasy fiction! Books that tackle destiny, prophesy, and free will are also often right up my alley, so I’m definitely excited to see what Gillig will do with these themes!

Book: “Anji Kills a King” by Evan Leikam

Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Why I’m Interested: It feels like it’s been too long since I’ve read a debut epic fantasy book, and this one looks just about perfect! Not only does it sound like it’s going to be a “travelling” fantasy book, of the sort where people trudge back and forth across the land ala “Lord of the Rings,” but who wouldn’t be interested in a book with this unique of a title and cover?! I really don’t know what to expect with this one, and that’s half the fun!

Book: “The Devils” by Joe Abercrombie

Publication: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Yes, yes, I’m one of those rare fantasy fans who HASN’T yet read a Joe Abercrombie book. Mostly this is become grimdark fantasy isn’t often my thing, and that’s what he primarily writes. But this one, with its focus on an oddball troupe of characters forced to march a would-be empress across a dangerous landscape sounded too good to resist! And who knows, maybe I’ll be a convert and will have an entire backlist of fantasy titles to check out! I’m a bit nervous about the large cast of POV characters, as that’s often a particular sticking point for me. But Abercrombie has to be as popular as he is for some reason, so I’ll trust that he has it well in hand.

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Bochica” by Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro

Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This is the first of two Gothic haunted house tales that I wanted to mention this month, and this one has been on my radar for a long while. In 1920s Columbia a family moves into a huge and foreboding mansion called La Casona. They are haunted by visions and nightmares of an angry spirit trapped on the property, leading to tragedy when the mother falls to her death and the father tries to burn the house down with his daughter inside. Though she escapes, the daughter can’t forget, and finds herself back at La Casona, hoping to get answers about her mother’s death and her father’s actions. But whatever was there before is still there….

Book: “Lore Olympus: Volume 8” by Rachel Smythe

Publication Date: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I am still absolutely adoring this series by Rachel Smythe, and after reading and reviewing a book about the Persephone Myth in YA Fiction with my friend David for a classics journal I got all the more hyped for the newest Volume of the romantic and thrilling retelling of Persephone and Hades. When we left off Persephone and Demeter were on trial for the coverup they did of Persephone’s unapproved smiting of mortals, and now Zeus is going to have to render a verdict. But Hades will do anything to keep Persephone safe, and it will surely lead to a showdown between brothers that could wreak havoc on Olympus and beyond. Especially when a truth about Apollo is revealed.

Book: “The Manor of Dreams” by Christina Li

Publication Date: May 6, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This sounds like it has the dynamics of a classic haunted house story, with some shades of Hollywood secrecy and questions of identity and generational trauma. Vivian Yin is a lauded Hollywood starlet, who became the first Chinese American to win an Oscar for Best Actress, and who leaves an old and glamorous mansion behind when she dies. Her family expects to inherit it, but then another estranged family connected to the house pops up, staking their claim as per the will, and leading to both families moving in to fight it out on paper. But something is haunting the house, and things get to the point where the feuding families may need to band together to confront the presence as well as their own secrets and resentments.

Serena’s Review: “Last Chance to Save the World”

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Book: “Last Chance to Save the World” by Beth Revis

Publishing Info: DAW, April 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: After a few weeks trapped on board a spaceship with Ada (and, oh look, there’s only one bed), Rian has to admit that maybe Ada’s rebels have a point. The nanobots poised to be unleashed on Earth are infected with malware that will ultimately leave the residents of Earth in a worse position than they’re in now. But is it too late?

Ada and Rian arrive on Earth with little time to spare. Together, they have to break into a high-security facility and infect the nanobots with a counter-virus before they’re released in order to give Earth a fighting chance. And if Ada happens to notice some great tech laying around in this high-security facility she shouldn’t have access to and then happens to steal a bunch of it when Rian’s not looking? Well, he knew who she was before he teamed up with her. And if he wants it back, he’s going to have to catch her first. 

With countless twists and turns, this enemies-to-lovers slow-burn and high-tension romance plays on a Sherlock and Moriarity character dynamic rooted in science fiction with a heavy romance and mystery angle.

Previously Reviewed: “Full Speed to a Crash Landing” and “How to Steal a Galaxy”

Review: I’ve been really enjoying this series of science fiction/romance novellas, so it was with a heavy heart that I picked up this, the final one in the trilogy! But, like the ones that came before, it delivered on every level! And in many ways, this one was even more satisfying than the ones that came before as we finally got to see Ada’s long game come into play. By this point in the series, readers are familiar with not only Ada’s methods, but also the narrative tricks the author uses to emphasize the bewilderment that Rian must feel, tugged along mostly blind in Ada’s chaotic wake. And like in the first two books, it was incredibly gratifying to see everything slot into place, even if it was a bit easier to predict just what Ada was up to.

Instead, many of the new twists and turns and surprises came in the form of deeper reveals into Ada’s history. I don’t want to go into too many details, as many of the late-stage events are tied up in all of this, but I really enjoyed some of the new characters we met, and the ways in which they shone a light on Ada’s life and the shaping of her unique moral compass.

It was also nice getting to spend as much time with Rian and Ada together, more than we’ve seen in the previous books it seems. After now reading the last planned book in this series, I will say that I think these novellas will work better for science fiction/heist readers who also enjoy a dash of romance than for strict romance readers. For some of those readers, they may be a bit disappointed, as the series doesn’t adhere closely to all of the conventions of the romance genre that they might expect. That said, I think the ending for this trilogy was perfect, and really the only thing that made sense for these characters. Anything else would have compromised core portions of their identities in a way that I think would have undercut the excellent work that had gone into creating them.

I also really enjoyed the themes of environmental justice and the ways in which humanity has a tendency to hurt not only the world around us but everyone living in it. There was a short conversation about pigeons that really hit home in a way that was surprising, given that it was a…conversation about pigeons! And throughout, the balance between the exploration of these themes, the fast-moving action of the plot, and the quippy love story was all navigated expertly. I definitely recommend this trilogy to all science fiction/heist readers who are looking for a fun, fast series to consume!

Rating 8: Ada leaves a chaotic wake everywhere she goes, and Rian and the readers are just along for the fun that is the ride!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Last Chance to Save the World” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Books of 2025

Serena’s Review: “Behooved”

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

Book: “Behooved” by M. Stevenson

Publishing Info: Bramble, May 2025

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

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

Book Description: Bianca knows her duty comes before her heart. So when the threat of war looms, she agrees to marry the neighboring kingdom’s heir. But not all royal weddings are a fairytale, and Prince Aric, Bianca’s betrothed, is cold, aloof, and seems to hate her on sight.

To make matters worse, on their wedding night, an assassination attempt goes awry―leaving Aric magically transformed into a horse. Bianca does what any bride in this situation would do: she mounts her new husband and rides away to safety.

Sunset returns Aric to human form, but they soon discover the assassination attempt is part of a larger plot against the throne. Worse, Bianca has been framed for Aric’s murder, and she’s now saddled with a husband who is a horse by day and a frustratingly attractive man by night.

As an unexpected romance begins galloping away with their hearts, Bianca and Aric must rely on each other to unravel the curse and save the throne.

Review: Right off the bat, the comparisons to “My Lady Jane” are inescapable! Who knew there could be two fantasy novels where the love interest is cursed to turn into a horse by day?? Unfortunately, while this one did have a few high points, I mostly set it down wishing that stupid Amazon hadn’t cancelled the “My Lady Jane” show!

I do think this book is at its best when it was leaning into its romcom elements. The absurdity, the banter, and the swift-moving romance are all best appreciated in line with tropes found romcoms. In these moments, the characters were amusing and the love story sweet, if a bit underdeveloped. On the other hand, I think the book struggled when approached from a fantasy perspective. There simply wasn’t enough “there” there. The magic system was incredibly ill-defined and there were many plot moments where, if you allowed your brain to turn back on, you’d be left scratching your head.

I also struggled to enjoy the main character. While I appreciate the author’s creation of a character who suffers from chronic illness, I think the execution was too heavy handed to be very effective. In the first few chapters, especially, it feels as if this is the only aspect of Bianca’s character that anyone cares about, including Bianca herself! It’s referenced a truly boggling number of times in a very small number of pages. Of course, this is an important part of her life and is a source of friction between her and her parents, who see this only as a weakness. However, I began to feel as if Bianca didn’t have anything else making up her character either, defining herself completely around this one aspect of herself, which seems completely contrary to how one should understand people who live with chronic illnesses.

I also struggled with the romance itself. Alas, the story leans heavily into the miscommunication trope, one of the banes of my existence. The wild leaps of logic were truly baffling at times. For example, on the night of the attack, Aric and Bianca are both attacked. But for some reason Aric goes on to think that Bianca was behind it all? And, as is so often the case with this trope, much of the confusion and animosity between them could have easily been solved with a few very short conversations.

Overall, this was an ok read. Strangely, this is one of those cases where I feel like the book would have been better served to have leaned more fully into the comedy aspects of the story. The attempts at serious fantasy elements or its handling of important themes all became stumbling blocks to my enjoyment of the book. That said, straight romcom readers may enjoy this one more than me! Especially if you don’t care as much about the fantasy portions of the story!

Rating 7: While the book did have some sweet and funny moments, I struggled to enjoy it due to its weaker main character and the heavy use of the miscommunication trope.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Behooved” can be found on this Goodreads list:2025 Cozy Fantasy Romance

Ripley’s Reviews: “Ripley Under Ground” (2005)

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

“Ripley’s Reviews” is an ongoing series where I will review every book in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripley” Series, as well as multiple screen adaptations of the novels. I will post my reviews on the first Thursday of the month, and delve into the twisted mind of one Tom Ripley and all the various interpretations that he has come to life within. Up next is the fourth film adaptation of a “Ripley” book I’m covering, the 2005 film “Ripley Under Ground”.

Film: “Ripley Under Ground” (2005)

When I was doing my research on adaptations on the Ripliad, one of the films that was mentioned was the movie “Ripley Under Ground”, though many times it was also mentioned that it wasn’t easy to find. I had NEVER heard of this adaptation of a Tom Ripley book, which intrigued me. I was even more intrigued when I saw that Barry Pepper was playing Tom, as I know him from films like “The Green Mile” and “Crawl” and the thought of him as Ripley was interesting. This film came out to very limited release in 2005, and yes I can confirm it wasn’t an easy film to find on streaming (I couldn’t even find a trailer that wasn’t in German, hence the lack of link above). But I did find it, and committed to watching it as part of the Ripley series on the blog. After all, just because it was kind of lost to time, it had some promise. It’s a Ripley story! It has a cast. Wellll…. sadly, it’s the weakest adaptation yet, and it’s not even close.

I’m going to spoil some things in this, because without doing so I can’t fully explain some of my issues with the film. Fair warning!

It’s a very…. confusing adaptation. Firstly, this movie has basically treated this story like a standalone story, erasing “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and therein completely shifting Ripley’s backstory, history of violence, and desperation to keep up appearances. Instead he’s a poor wannabe actor (no Dickie Greenleaf murder, no money to inherit from his parents) who does have a history of conning people (after all, he cons his way out of paying rent, and has conned his way into his theater school), but has NO history of the murder and sociopathy the original character has. We’ve seen a standalone film of a sequel before, as “The American Friend” is very much a standalone and a very different Ripley. But for this kind of change to work, I REALLY need a, well, TALENTED Mr. Ripley to make up for it. Dennis Hopper brings that. Barry Pepper, unfortunately, does not. He barely has anything of a personality to speak of, and because of that is not compelling at all. It also removes a lot of his darker impulses, basically changing the one very clear murder Ripley commits in the book to an accident that Ripley has to clean up after. And to make things even more strange and confusing, the movie decides that Heloise… yes, Ripley’s naive and generally harmless wife Heloise… has to be something of a femme fatal and become a HUGE accomplice to him in his crimes, even going to far as to suggesting that they murder her father for his fortune right before the credits roll.

Just some REALLY weird choices being made here. (source)

I’ve been kind of mean to Barry Pepper, and but it’s warranted because I would say he’s probably the weakest member of the cast. Everyone else does a pretty good job. Willem Dafoe chews the scenery as art collector Murchison, even if at times it’s a little over the top. I quite enjoyed Alan Cumming as Ripley’s co-conspirator Jeff Constant, and we got a bit of a gender bent other co-conspirator with Claire Forlani as Cynthia, Derwatt’s girlfriend at the time of his death. Tom Wilkinson is the detective on the case, and I always like seeing him in things. But the stand out is Ian Hart as the guilt ridden and unstable Bernard, the friend that Ripley et al pressure into forging the paintings after they all witness Derwatt’s death. It’s a shame because I did enjoy the ensemble (OH AND ALSO we have a small role for Simon Callow of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Amadeus” fame!), but with the lead being so lackluster it really brought the rest of the movie down. You really have to have an engaging Tom Ripley for a Tom Ripley film to work.

“Ripley Under Ground” was a baffling and disappointing adaptation. It’s pretty clear there is a reason that it has fallen by the wayside when compared to other films that strive to tell the Tom Ripley story. Up next I’m going to do something a little different. There isn’t a film adaptation of “The Boy Who Followed Ripley”. But there IS a BBC Radio Program adaptation, with Ian Hart (yes the same Ian Hart from above) as Tom Ripley, and Nicholas Hoult as Frank! So that’s up next!

Serena’s Review: “Inked in Ashes”

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Book: “Inked in Ashes” by Shannon Mayer

Publishing Info: Kindle edition, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: I’ve spent twenty-five years in the Hollow, poor as dirt, cursed with a stepmother who hates me, and dreaming about a faraway land that I don’t understand. Only two things that make life worth living are my falcon, Fetch, and my best friend, Molly.

But when Moll’s plot to land a royal husband at the palace ball goes horribly wrong, I find myself staring at a king with a glass stiletto buried in his chest and a blood-covered Molly standing over him. We’ve got to move…and fast, or we’ll both wind up swinging from the hangman’s noose.

Worse? The palace sorcerer is using everything he can to find the culprit including raising the dead.

More complicated? Duncan…brother to the King, whose eye I’ve unintentionally caught, a man whose secrets might be deadlier than the undead soldiers breathing down our necks, is making me second-guess everything I’ve ever known. With revolution brewing and a mysterious man calling to me from my dreams, I have no choice but to embrace my fate…But what if my fate is beyond anything I could ever imagine? What if the only land I’ve ever known isn’t home at all?

What if I’m trapped inside a fairytale, and the only way out…is through?

Review: Any one who is familiar with my reviews will understand immediately why I was interested in checking this book out, based on the description above! Always love me some fairytale action! And this one had a super unique take, with essentially one fairytale set within another. The opening sequence which set up the book and this premise was fantastic, laying out high stakes, a great villain, and introducing some of the magic of this world. The story then shifts to the “inner story” and we pick up with our main character.

First of all, I really enjoyed Harmony. It was refreshing to follow a protagonist who not only is an adult but who is also looking at life through an adult’s viewpoint. Her early interactions with her friend Moll perfectly speak to that rather panicky stage that can happen in one’s twenties when you look around and realize life is going on, you’re aging, and you need to get your shit together. Of course, Harmony and Moll’s stakes are much higher than your average person in our world!

Again, no surprise for those who know my preferences, but I loved the heavy focus on the sister-like bond between Harmony and Moll. This relationship served as a healthy balance point to the romance. Too often in stories like this the love story seems to overwhelm every other aspect of a character’s personality. But by having Moll as such an important and crucial part of Harmony’s life, Harmony herself remains a fully realized character throughout.

I also really enjoyed all of the nods to fairytale tropes and plot points. Some are more subtle than others, but it was always fun running up against a new one! That said, for all of the the light-hearted moments, the author definitely didn’t shy away from the more awful aspects of fairytales as well. Right from the start, it’s clear that this is a violent, dangerous world, and that doesn’t let up throughout. The story itself follows a fairly predictable fantasy plot line, but the pacing was steady and quick, so I never found myself losing interest.

Overall, this was a fun, fast read. It fully took advantage of its fairytale setting and by the end I was excited to see where the story would go from here! Fans of fairytale fantasies should definitely give this one a shot!

Rating 8: Brimming with whimsy and romance, “Inked in Ashes” is fresh fairytale fantasy that is sure to please fans of the genre!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Inked in Ashes” isn’t on any Goodreads lists currently, but it should be on Twisted Fairytales.

Kate’s Review: “Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng”

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

Publishing Info: MIRA, April 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: Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner—but the bloody messes don’t bother her, not when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train. The killer was never caught, and Cora is still haunted by his last words: “bat eater.”

These days nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt, who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival; not her weird colleagues; and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her door frame. After all, it can’t be real—can it? After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.

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

While I am still checking into the University of Minnesota’s wastewater analysis site weekly to see see what COVID is doing in my area, and still wear masks in crowded indoor places, I will say that we have come a long way in the five years since the pandemic started. We are now entering a point in media where the pandemic is serving as a backdrop, and in my periphery my most recent experience with this is the book “Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng” by Kylie Lee Baker. This was a new kind of Kylie Lee Baker for me, as I read her book “The Keeper of Night”, which is a YA dark fantasy. This book is a straight up adult horror novel. I didn’t know what to expect with her taking that on, but let me tell you, this book is FANTASTIC. A ghost story, a pandemic story, a story about the ugliness of white America, it has so many beats and notes that I just loved. And yes. It’s very, very scary.

The ghost story is what I will cover first, and it’s great. I have been very interested in Hungry Ghost mythology for awhile now, and Baker has our main character, Cora Zeng, haunted by a potential hungry ghost who may also be the ghost of her murdered sister Delilah, who was shoved in front of a subway in front of Cora. Cora doesn’t really believe in ghosts, but now there is a contorted and terrifying presence in her apartment that is following her wherever she goes, and messing with her mind, maybe. The descriptions of this ghost were SO terrifying I actually had to put the book down a couple of times, and Baker builds the dread up in ways that make the reader know that something is going to break, it’s only a matter of when. And when it does? MAN, it is SO scary and SO good.

But now I want to talk about the more realistic horrors of this novel, as to me so many horror novels really shine when they take on the real world scares. And in this book it is a combination of the terrifying unknowing of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the disgusting and violent racism hurled towards Asian Americans, particularly women, during this time and beyond. Cora works as a crime scene cleaner, and she and her coworkers (who are also of Asian heritage) have noticed a scary pattern of Asian American women being brutally murdered and having bats left at the crime scene. Not unlike when Cora’s sister Delilah was murdered by being shoved in front of a subway train by a white man, after being called ‘Bat Eater’. Baker has built up a disturbing serial killer story, but she pulls the rug out from beneath it in ways that felt all the more upsetting while also feeling tragically realistic, and perfectly captures the fear and anxiety that so many women like Cora were feeling as violence was being directed at them during this time period and beyond. And not just violence, but also the little cuts of racism that BIPOC deal with in everyday life, like Cora going to Church with her white Aunt who doesn’t realize that Cora feels VERY unwelcome, and refuses to understand why that may be. It’s enraging and heartbreaking all at once and it boosts the narrative impact.

And she also perfectly captures the tension and fear of the early days of lockdowns during the early days of the pandemic. Cora is VERY scared of contracting COVID, as this is pre-vaccine access AND set in New York City in 2020. You know, the place that had bodies spilling into streets from refrigerator trucks and constant siren wails throughout the Burroughs (my sister and her wife lived this, living in Brooklyn in a small apartment, only leaving to do laundry or go grocery shopping). It’s such a close memory at this point, and Baker nailed it. I was actually shuddering to myself as Cora would start to have an anxiety attack while in public over the fear of contagion, because I was once in that same place, where I would hyperfocus and fret about getting sick just from grocery shopping, even when wearing my mask.

“Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” is a phenomenal horror story about the things that haunt a person, be it trauma, racism, or actual ghosts. I highly recommend it.

Rating 9: A terrifying ghost story but also a deeply disturbing exploration of racism during the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic, “Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” is an effective and searing horror novel.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” is included on the Goodreads lists “Weird Girl Lit”, and “Diverse Releases of 2025 – Mystery, Thriller, Horror”.

Not Just Books: April 2025

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

Serena’s Picks

Video Game: “Split Fiction”

It’s really tough to find a good couch co-op game these days. What used to be a staple of social gaming has now been almost completely consumed by a world where instead of hanging with friends you spend most of your time in a massive online world being ruthlessly hunted and killed by gangs of roaming middle graders. At least that’s been my experience. But a few years ago, my husband and I played “A Way Out,” a couch co-op game where you escape a prison. It was great fun, so I was even more stoked when I heard the same company was releasing another similar game! But this time it followed two writers, one who writes science fiction and the other fantasy. And then the game involves traversing these various fictional worlds. Could a game BE more up my alley? I think not! And this one has easily lived up to my wildest dreams! It’s bizarre, beautiful, and, best of all, endlessly clever in its way of forcing the players to work together to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, bam! Time for another twist! I highly recommend this one, especially if you have someone you can game with at home!

Sports: MN United

My husband and Kate’s husband have had season tickets to the Loons since before, well, they were even the Loons, though, we’ve definitely all used them less since we collectively introduced 3 kids into the scene! That being the case, said children are now finally getting old enough that bringing them to sporting events can be an actual good time, rather than just another form of stress and questioning life choices. The weather was nice, the soft pretzels were enormous, and fun was had all around. Yes, the Loons lost 3 to 1, but hey, you can’t have it all!

Movie: “Beauty and the Beast”

I want to start up a family re-watch of all the Disney movies with my kids, starting from the earliest and then working our way forwards. In the meantime, however, our choices have been very sporadic. But this month when debating we finally landed on “Beauty and the Beast.” I feel like it’s almost a requirement of the job that a librarian love this movie best of all the Disney fair. But, on the other hand, it’s also just that good! As I’ve been reading a lot of romantasy recently, I also recognized the early bones of many of my love story preferences in this re-watch! Always great to have an excuse to revisit classics like this!

Kate’s Picks

Album: “Mayhem” by Lady Gaga

I have been a fan of Lady Gaga since New Years Eve 2009, when I was at a house party with some friends and we were listening to “The Fame” and “The Fame Monster” and dancing about. Now I’ve passed that love onto my five year old, and we were both totally amped when her new album “Mayhem” dropped. Her because she was immediately obsessed with “Disease”, me because it feels like such a throwback to old school witchy demony weirdo Gaga. “Abracadabra” is an obvious winner (the music video is INSAAAAANE and hey, it was the finale lip sync for the crown in this season’s “Drag Race”), but I think that my favorite is “How Bad Do U Want Me”, because it kind of sounds like old school Madonna meets Cyndi Lauper but also somehow a synth-pop Taylor Swift? All I know is that I told David that it was the kind of song I’d have on a loop were I still writing fan fiction romance scenes. HONESTLY THE WHOLE ALBUM HAS SO MANY GREAT INFLUENCE IN ITS SOUND! Like Prince, and David Bowie. I love it. Welcome back Recession Era Gaga, we needed you!

Netflix Show: “You”

We have reached the end of an era. The show “You”, based on one of my favorite series written by Caroline Kepnes, has dropped its final season! Joe Goldberg’s final dance, and perhaps his comeuppance, has arrived, and he’s back in New York and still a complete psychopath. And still incredibly entertaining. After his ludicrous shenanigans in London, he and Kate are now living in NYC, as she tries to turn her nefarious father’s business empire around, and he tries to keep his darker impulses in check. But Joe is Joe, and when he isn’t being completely enraged by the ill behaved upper class (notably Kate’s jealous half sister Reagan, played by a venomous Anna Camp), he’s obsessing over yet another complicated fantasy girl, this one named Bronte. Penn Badgley is still killing it as Joe, and we also get some fun performances from the aforementioned Camp, who is actually doing double duty as both Reagan and her twin sister Maddie, who are very different from each other in some ways. Goodbye, “You”. At least we still have the books.

Film: “Sinners”

I love a well done vampire movie, and when I first saw a trailer for Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” I knew, KNEW that I needed to see it. Because not only did it seem like it was going to be a wild vampire ride, it was also taking place within the Jim Crow Era South, with a predominantly Black cast led by Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers having to fight off bloodsuckers in a juke joint. My mind immediately went to “From Dusk Til Dawn”, but probably a bit more complex. In the 1930s in the Mississippi Delta, twins Smoke and Stack are returning home from a stint working as heavies for the Mob in Chicago, with a dream to open up a juke joint for the people in their share cropping community. They recruit friends and family to help them run the place, but on opening night their business is infiltrated by white vampires who want to be part of the fun. This movie blew me away. It’s creepy, it’s funny, it’s emotional, it’s deeply political, and it has a FANTASTIC soundtrack and a STELLAR cast. The vampire renaissance in horror media continues, and “Sinners” is possibly the best one we’ve seen.