Author: thelibraryladiesmn

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

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. 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”

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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”

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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”

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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”

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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.

Serena’s Review: “Chaos King”

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Book: “Chaos King” by Kacen Callender

Publishing Info: Tor Teen, April 2025

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

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

Book Description: Ever since he rose up against his father and saved New Anglia from destruction, Ash has been struggling to adapt to his new life. He has nightmares every night, haunted by strange black orbs and his screaming dead mother. Ash is sure she’s trying to warn him that the world is still in danger, and becomes determined to find a way to speak to her again―but communicating with the dead isn’t easy, even for an alchemist as powerful as Ash.

Previously Reviewed: “Infinity Alchemist”

Review: I didn’t love the first book in this series, but many of its problems also may have came down to all the elements a first book must tackle. Given more familiarity with the characters in this second go-around, I was interested to see where the story would go from there!

I will say, I did like this one better than the first. For one thing, I think the pacing was more balanced here. This makes sense, as it didn’t have to do nearly has much heavy lifting with regards to introducing the basic structures of this society and magic system. That being the case, the story had more free rein to dive straight into the main plot and several intense action sequences. This same benefit extended to the characters. While I still don’t love multiple love interests, the longer I’ve spent with all three of these people, the more I came to care about their various travails.

However, I still found myself struggling with the swapping pronouns for one of the characters. Inclusivity is important, but there are practical realities of reading a story via the written word that does create barriers to how this sort of character is presented. As it stands, swapping pronouns often throughout the story left me struggling to piece together who was saying/doing what. And this markedly detracted from my ability to stay connected to the plot, as I had to constantly come out of the story to piece together sentences and scour previous bits for context clues. Like I said in my original review, I’m not sure what the solution is here, but I think in light of the very real limitations of the written word, simply sticking with “they” as a pronoun would have greatly improved the writing in this book.

I did enjoy the themes explored here. This society has very real boundaries placed on its people, and we see the struggles our characters go through. Beyond that, we have the exploration of themes regarding religion and magic, and the lengths people are pushed to in their devotion to their beliefs. Revolution stories are always a good time in fantasy!

That said, the book has an odd ending. I thought this was a duology when I picked this one up, but the end definitely leaves the door open for more, with several questions left unanswered. Ultimately, I think if you enjoyed the first book, this one will definitely hold up as a good sequel. Even for those who didn’t love the first book, this was definitely an improvement!

Rating 7: While it’s an improvement on the previous book, I still struggled with the readability at times, and the ending had me scratching me head a bit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Chaos King” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2025 Dark Academia Releases.

Ripley’s Reviews: “The American Friend (Der amerikanische Freund)” (1977)

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“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 third film adaptation of a “Ripley” book I’m covering, the 1977 film “The American Friend”.

Film: “The American Friend (Der amerikanische Freund” (1977)

When I started this series of reviewing books and films about Tom Ripley, I didn’t realize that there were so many adaptations of the various books. I had clearly heard of the Matt Damon film and the “Ripley” series on Netflix (look for that in the future), but goodness! There are quite a few more! And NEVER in a MILLION years would I have ever thought that Dennis Hopper would be playing Tom Ripley. Dennis Hopper!?!? My main associations with Hopper as an actor are as follows: “Apocalypse Now!”, “Speed”, and “Blue Velvet”. He’s fantastic and nails all of these roles, but reserved they are NOT. And Tom Ripley is a cold, calculating, patient, and restrained character. I am not sure if Hopper has ever played restrained (let me know if I’m wrong!). But in “The American Friend”, he is Tom Ripley, and he’s…. KIND OF restrained. And interestingly enough, it does, indeed, work.

“The American Friend” is mostly an adaptation of “Ripley’s Game”, in which Ripley manipulates a working class picture framer to do his dirty work of carrying out a couple hits against some mafia figures, which Ripley didn’t want to do himself. It also takes the plot of “Ripley Under Ground” of the art forgeries and inserts them into this film, so it’s KIND of an adaptation of that as well, though it’s more for context I’d say. As an adaptation of “Ripley’s Game” it follows the plot mostly closely, though Ripley himself is a bit of a departure. And it probably is because Hopper is playing him. Instead of a put together and subtle posh fella living a luxurious quiet life, THIS Ripley feels like he could lose control at any minute, making him menacing in a different way. Yes, he does have a lot more calmly sinister moments, but it’s Dennis Hopper, and the more implied fiery villainy is a departure, but not in a bad way. I’m admittedly probably going to like Hopper in most anything I see him in, so I could be biased. But I thought that his Ripley was interesting and refreshing. And I really enjoyed the chemistry he had with Bruno Ganz, who plays manipulated picture framer Johnathan Zimmerman (they changed his name in this from Trevanny; not sure if it’s because this character is German instead of British, but it doesn’t really affect anything). This kind of feels like a buddy comedy in some ways as these two play off each other, since in this Ripley genuinely feels shame about his actions. Well, as much as he CAN, given that he’s still monstrous. He just feels a bit bad about it. He’s not the Ripley I’ve come to expect, but I still thought it was a fun interpretation. Cowboy hat and all (book Ripley would NEVER).

Speaking of Ganz, if I felt back for Johnathan in the book, I REALLY felt bad for him in the film. I think that that’s in part because he is just so worried about his wife and son, believing that he is dying of his until now stable blood disease (and like in the book, no, Ripley tricked him with a fake doctor and diagnosis) and that they will be penniless should he die. I am wholly unfamiliar with Ganz as an actor, as I have not seen much German cinema, but man he just broke my heart. You just feel his anxiety and desperation when he interacts with his family. I felt the same disgust for Ripley and his stupid mean plan as I did when I was reading the book. Ganz nailed it. And like I said above, the chemistry between him and Hopper was unexpected and sometimes, dare I say, kind of sweet?

As a thriller this is very well done, it’s intense and unrelenting. The tension is palpable and there are some scenes that truly had me at the edge of my seat, and the cinematography had some really great bits (I’m thinking of a particular scene where we are seeing Zimmerman flee and we are tracking him through his movements via the security camera footage). I also really loved a chase scene on a beach. Wim Wenders directed this and he had a very clear vision that translated well on the screen, with intensity and grittiness to spare.

So at this point in adaptations, I would say that Damon’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is still the best, followed by “The American Friend”, and then “Purple Moon”. But they’ve all been really enjoyable! Perhaps it should be no surprise that Tom Ripley is a character that translates well to the screen. Up next I am going to watch “Ripley Under Ground”, with Barry Pepper as Tom Ripley!

Serena’s Review: “This Monster of Mine”

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Book: “This Monster of Mine” by Shalini Abeysekara

Publishing Info: Union Square & Co., April 2025

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

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

Book Description: Eighteen-year-old Sarai doesn’t know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, but she does know that her case was closed without justice. Hellbent on vengeance, she returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies, and is assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra. Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra is the most vicious of the four judges who rule the land – and the prime suspect in a string of deaths identical to Sarai’s attempted murder.

Certain of his guilt, Sarai begins a double life: solving cases with Kadra by day and plotting his ruin by night. But Kadra is charming and there’s something alluring about the wrath he wields against the city’s corruption. So when the evidence she finds embroils her in a deadly political battle, Sarai must also fight against her attraction to Kadra – because despite his growing hold on her heart, his voice matches the only memory she has of her assailant…

Review: This is going to be a very strange review to write, mostly because it was a very strange book to read. I’m honestly having a hard time thinking of a book that was more of a roller coaster ride than this one. One minute I’m loving it, whipping through action scenes, swooning over the love interest. The next, I’m irate, considering DNFing, franticly scanning other reviews to see if I’m way off base or totally missing something.

Beyond the whiplash that this experience created, I was also off balance due to the fact that my usual points of interest/concern were reversed. I’m a character reader first and foremost, and more often than not, if I get through a book I’m otherwise struggling with, it comes down to the strength of the characters or the narrative voice. Here, however, the characters (more, the main character) was the problem, but the writing itself was so good that it carried me through the real deep troughs I experienced otherwise. The author simply has an excellent style and voice! The world-building was perfectly crafted, the dialogue all felt believable, hitting all of the right notes in its humorous, serious, or romantic moments. And the exploration of its themes regarding law and justice were *chefs kiss.*

And, again, when I wasn’t getting bogged down in the main character, I really enjoyed the romance! The story is a true slow burn, and while the romance is important to the story, it doesn’t overshadow the other serious aspects of the story, such as the aforementioned themes regarding justice or the mystery behind what happened to Sarai. And, for his part, Kadra was an excellent romantic interest in his own right! Strong, but compassionate. Filled with purpose, but also focused on Sarai as she works through her trauma. And, honestly, a hell of a lot more patient with her more ridiculous moments that I ever would have been.

And then, there’s Sarai. Now, if she had simply been an unlikable heroine through and through, we probably wouldn’t be here, good writing bedamned. No, instead, she has a lot of strengths as a narrator! I enjoyed most of her inner voice, and her motivations and magical abilities were all very interesting. The problem, however, came down to her approach to discovering the truth behind the attempt on her life. To get into my feelings with this, I’m going to have to go into some spoilers of actions in the first half of the book. For those who want spoiler free, I’ll just say she makes wild leaps of logic throughout that make zero sense. The rest of this review, however, will be a bit more in-depth with my problems here.

SPOILERS BELOW!

So, a little backstory: years ago, someone attempted to kill Sarai. The nature of the crime left her body and mind broken, with all but the barest fragments of memory of the event wiped from her mind. All she does remember is a specific voice, one that instructs another person to patch her up and get her out of the city, granted in a rough and tough tone of voice. In the years since, there has been a suicide spree, with many individuals with magical abilities like Sarai seeming to kill themselves in odd ways. Years later, she returns to try to discover what happened and who tried to kill her. Almost immediately, she recognizes the voice from her memories as Kadra.

Now, as readers, we know that Kadra can’t have been the attempted murderer, simply because we know we’re reading a romantic fantasy novel and he’s the romantic interest. Sarai couldn’t (and shouldn’t!) think this way, too. However, from the memories she does have, even she admits early in the book that whomever the voice belonged to was responsible for patching her up and could have very well been there for other reasons than being the person behind the attempt on her life. I read a paragraph from her saying just this and I thought, “Great, phew! We got the obvious bit out of the way right from the start and reinforced the idea that the true mystery here is why Kadra was there, why he helped her, and why he banished her out of the city.”

Unfortunately, no. In the very next chapter, Sarai is full-on convinced that Kadra must have been the one to try to kill her (somehow immediately forgetting/disregarding the fact that he then, inexplicably, saved her?? Why he wouldn’t have just finished her off for good is simply…never mentioned or thought of). What’s worse, Sarai begins to suspect that Kadra must also be behind the deaths of the others like her, those who have been supposedly committing suicide.

Early in their time working together, Kadra and Sarai go to the morgue to look over the body of the most recent “suicide victim.” While there, Sarai witnesses Kadra fighting with the coroner over the manner of death, insisting that it couldn’t be a suicide (something that Sarai agrees with, after viewing the body). The coroner, on the other hand, is sure it’s a suicide and has ruled it as such. What’s more, she’s sick of Kadra coming by FIVE OR SIX TIMES before this over the last few months to argue this very point! Sarai, internally, goes on to think this: “Aha! Kadra must be behind this! He’s perfectly positioned himself to cover up his crimes by being the investigator behind them!!”

Girl, what?? No one thought this guy was murdered EXCEPT Kadra! If it wasn’t for him, this guy would have been buried and listed as a suicide months ago! And yet somehow, Sarai, dumb dumb that she is, has decided that it’s totally reasonable and smart that a murderer would stage an elaborate scene to make a crime look like a suicide, and then, after completely getting away with it, spend the next few months arguing with a coroner, insisting that it was, in fact, a murder! It honestly boggled my mind.

Next, a few days later, Kadra decides that he and Sarai should go inform the family that this guy didn’t commit suicide but was killed and that they’re looking into it. Sarai, SUPREME DUMB DUMB that she is, thinks to herself this: “Great! Maybe while I’m there I can uncover proof that Kadra was behind it!!”

Girl, WHAT?!?! You think that Kadra murdered this guy, set up an elaborate staged suicide, called that very same staging into question, and is now going to take a woman with incredible magical abilities back to the home of the victim where he just so happened to leave around evidence that explicitly condemns him?? What is he getting out of this?? How is this helping him and not, as any normal person would think, clearly revealing him to be the only person most likely to have NOT killed these people. And again, throughout this, Sarai never deals with the fact that her theory of Kadra as the man behind her own murder attempt is completely blown out of the water by the simple fact that he WAS THE ONE TO SAVE HER!

The face-palming throughout all of this was frankly appalling. I won’t go into more details, but these flaws in thinking and ridiculous theorizing continued on well over the halfway mark in the book. Later, there are even more “revelations” that Sarai takes as confirmation of Kadra’s guilt, all of which are equally as stupid as the two examples I listed above. Even writing about it now, I’m getting mad about it all again.

What’s worse, as I said, so much about this book was clicking so well for me! The writing was so strong, the story-telling was good, Kadra was excellent! All the right pieces were there. But somehow, it feels like the author went astray with Sarai herself, as if she knew she wanted to create this suspicion between Sarai and Kadra, but couldn’t quite manage to make it actually work. So, instead, Sarai is just an idiot who thinks completely illogical things, just to maintain the mystery element behind Kadra and his involvement.

All of this said, I’ll definitely check out another book by this author. I think she’s got great potential, and with a few tweaks, I could have loved this book! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past Sarai herself; I can’t remember the last time I read a book where a main character was this flawed in their reasoning for so long. However, other readers may be less bothered with it, particularly if characters are less important for you. The vibes of the story and the romance itself were very good!

Rating 7: I’d give this a 6 just for Sarai herself. But the actual writing and world-building deserves enough praise to bump it up to a 7.

Reader’s Advisory:

“This Monster of Mine” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2025 Debut Novels.