Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Kate’s Review: “Fence, Vol. 5: Rise”

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Book: “Fence, Vol. 5: Rise” by C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (Ill.)

Publishing Info: BOOM! Box, August 2022

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: USA Today best-selling author C. S. Pacat (Captive Prince) and popular web cartoonist Johanna the Mad along with colorist Joana LaFuente (Transformers) and letterer Jim Campbell (Giant Days) reunite for the highly-anticipated next chapter in this fierce and heartfelt GLAAD Media Award-nominated series. Excitement is in the air as Nicholas and his friends celebrate their prestigious invitation to the Halverton Training Camp. They immediately come face-to-face with the best teams in the country, and Nicholas struggles as he suffers defeat after defeat by an old enemy. Will a new addition to the team bring Nicholas closer to the rest of the team and awaken the resilience within he needs to prevail? But Seiji, in contrast to Nicholas, remains unchallenged and let down by the camp. With Seiji’s goal to learn (instead of win) stuck in his head, will Nicholas step up to pose a real challenge to Seiji, even growing their friendship as a result?. Get ready to say “En Garde” to the next installment of Fence!

Review: It has been so long since I’ve revisited the fencers at King’s Row Boys School! Once I realized I hadn’t read the next installment in the “Fence” Series, I hastily requested “Fence, Vol. 5: Rise” from the library, more than ready to jump back into the world of high school fencing and all the slow burn drama that comes with it. Normally I like a slow burn, as well all know. But I will say that when it comes to “Fence”, I’m starting to get a little impatient…

But first I’ll start with that I enjoyed. I do like how Pacat is still really devoting time and explanation to fencing as a sport, and how we are seeing the ins and outs of the fencers and the kinds of competitions they engage within. In this volume we see Nicholas, Seiji, and all the rest of the team (as well as new team manager Bobby!) go to a prestigious training camp to hone their skills, alongside other top tier fencers in their competitive circles. It’s an interesting way to keep things going while also showing the kind of work and dedication elite athletes have to tend to even if they aren’t doing high stakes tournaments. We also get introduced to a few new characters, and while we don’t get to know them terribly well (And how could we? We already have so many characters to keep track of), we see enough of them that I got a feel for the different teams and how they gel with each other. And finally, I REALLY loved how Pacat found a way to bring in Bobby further into the story, as I think that Bobby is just the sweetest. I had been worried when he hadn’t made the team, as I was thinking that meant we wouldn’t be seeing as much of him anymore, but here he is in all his adorableness being able to be a part of the team while using his skills at being the best booster ever for his friends. Perfection!

But there are a couple of things that didn’t work as well, and I think that at this point I am just about done with the very slow pacing of this series. I know that for some people that means that they are waiting for Nicholas and Seiji to finally figure out their feelings for each other (or Aiden and Harvard, who are also lollygagging a bit in their will they or won’t they), but for me it’s about an actual confrontation between Nicholas and his half brother Jesse, who as far as we know doesn’t know that Nicholas exists. That has been a huge driving force for Nicholas in this series, to prove himself as a good athlete as a way to work out his abandonment issues regarding his father, with Jesse being the personification of that (as well as an arrogant prick, as far as this reader can tell). But I feel like it just keeps getting drawn out, and I’m starting to lose my patience. I like the technical aspects of this book when it comes to fencing as a sport and a skill, but I also want to get to some of the emotional pay offs that have been teased for quite awhile now.

ANY DAY NOW. (source)

At the end of the day I’m still invested in “Fence” and am interested to see where we are going next. But I would love it if we could move it along.

Rating 7: Another cute installment to this sports series, though I am getting a bit impatient waiting for some interaction between Nicholas and his half brother…

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fence, Vol. 5: Rise” is included on the Goodreads list “Books About Queer People In Sports”.

Not Just Books: February 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

TV Show: “Severance”

I started watching this one with my husband in January actually when he promised that “the second season was already out!” Lies! Apple is doing that super fun thing where they release episodes weekly and make us all question why we bother with this whole streaming thing anyways! All of that aside, this is such a weird, weird show. On one hand, it explores a lot of deep questions about morality and what makes life worth living. And on the other hand, all the people in this world, other than maybe one or two exceptions, are just big weirdos! Sometimes it’s hard to know where the show is drawing the line between social commentary and humor, but ah well. The cast is excellent, and I’m excited to see where the next season takes things!

TV Show: “The Recruit”

The second season of this show released in proper fashion: all at once! The first season of took me by surprise with how well it balanced the action alongside the humor. And this second season was much the same! A lot of that success comes down to the great performance by Noah Centineo. He manages to both convey extreme competence but then, on the very next beat, an extreme level of naivety that plays for laughs. It is also nice to find a show that is willing to just let its heroes try and be heroes, doing the right thing just because it’s right. Of course, the show still doesn’t shy away from exploring the corruption and “good of the many” quandaries that so often plague larger organizations or those in roles of power either.

TV Show: “Strike”

The sixth season of “Strike” tackles the story from “The Ink Black Heart.” It’s hard to say whether I have favorites in this mystery series, but I’d say this one is definitely towards the top, so I was excited to see how the show would handle it. At this point, the show has managed to never step wrong, so it was less a concern that they would bungle it, but more, how would they go about adapting one of the books that seemed to have one of the biggest casts of the lot? Well, by golly, they did it again! Beyond managing to squeeze a fairly complicated mystery into a short season, the show continued to hit it out of the park with the casting. Seriously, everyone is pitch perfect. And, at this point, Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger simply ARE Strike and Robin.

Kate’s Picks

TV Show: “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

So I held off last month of listing the newest season of “Drag Race” in case the season kind of fizzled out. There have been a few seasons where I’ve listed it and then ended up not finishing or being generally underwhelmed, and after such an amazing 16th season I was thinking it would be hard to live up to it. And when it started I was a bit nervous. But it became clear for me (and David, of course, who comes over every Sunday to watch) that this season is not only filled with talented queens, but also MEAN AND THEREFORE ENTERTAINING ONES. My favorites this season are generally NOT mean, with my front runners Suzie Toot and Onya Nerve bringing not only fun drag, but fun personalities (with Jewels Sparkles as a close third, as she is also very fun). We will see how this season progresses, but as of now I am VERY happy with it.

Netflix Show: “Cobra Kai”

The time has come. It is now time to say goodbye to Johnny Lawrence, and let me tell you I am not ready to say goodbye to my beloved sadboi himbo karate master and all his growth, cattiness, heart, and hotness. OH GOD I DON’T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE TO “COBRA KAI”! But I must, as the last seasons final episodes have dropped. As Miyagi-D0 returns to the States after the traumatic death of Cobra Kai member Kwon during the Sekai Taikai, everyone is shaken. But their karate showdown isn’t over yet, as a final showdown between Miyagi-D0/Eagle Fang and Terry Silver’s new team the Iron Dragons comes to the Valley. Because of course is has to come back to the Valley. Okay one last thing about Johnny. This was ultimately his show, and his growth, his depth, his COMPLEXITY was well met here. As someone who has had a thing for him since I first saw “The Karate Kid” back when I was a tween and he was the villain, I feel so, so vindicated. This is how you do a redemption arc in all its messiness, joy, heartache, and triumph. I am going to miss this show. But I’m so happy with how it all ended up.

Film: “Companion”

I took Valentine’s Weekend to do a lot of calming and self-care centered activities, and one of those activities was going to the movies with my Terror Tuesday pals to see “Companion”. Even though I didn’t like the previous movie by the creators (“Barbarian”, I really didn’t like you!), I thought that “Companion” looked intriguing. And MAN was it not only a lot of fun, it had a LOT to say about tech ethics, misogyny, and ‘nice guys’. Iris is going on a weekend away with her boyfriend Josh, who she see as the love of her life. But what Iris doesn’t realize is that not only is Josh hiding the fact that she is a ‘companion’ robot (aka a sex bot), but he and his friends have a nefarious plan that place her right in the middle of a deadly scheme. I absolutely adored Sophie Thatcher as Iris, and I really, REALLY loved the way this movie takes on sexism and questions about AI and whether or not a robot can have true feelings, consent, and humanity. I loved every minute of it. Sophie Thatcher nailed it as Iris, but I also really loved Lukas Gage as himbo Patrick, who is also a bit of an outsider as another ‘significant other of a friend group member’.

Serena’s Review: “Greenteeth”

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Book: “Greenteeth” by Molly O’Neill

Publishing Info: Orbit, February 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: Beneath the still surface of a lake lurks a monster with needle sharp teeth. Hungry and ready to pounce.

Jenny Greenteeth has never spoken to a human before, but when a witch is thrown into her lake, something makes Jenny decide she’s worth saving. Temperance doesn’t know why her village has suddenly turned against her, only that it has something to do with the malevolent new pastor.

Though they have nothing in common, these two must band together on a magical quest to defeat the evil that threatens Jenny’s lake and Temperance’s family, as well as the very soul of Britain.

Review: This book was a bit of a roller-coaster ride as far as my experience reading it goes. It started off great, with one of my favorite aspects of the book coming to the forefront right away. That being the unique voice of Jenny Greenteeth. The first quarter of the story is fairly closely tied to Jenny’s own narration of what her life has been, what her unique perspective on morality entails, and various other points of interest. While not a lot of action is necessarily taking place, the strength of her narrative voice and unique perspective easily held my interest.

Unfortunately, things became a bit more complicated when our second main character was introduced, Temperance, a witch who had been condemned to death by drowning and tossed into Jenny’s lake. While Jenny’s own story had been unspooled through her interesting narration, Temperance seems to simply word-vomit her entire history in a few pages’ time. It was frankly a bit baffling, as the author had demonstrated a more subtle approach to storytelling before. But here, not only was all of Temperance’s story presented in the most info-dumping-manner possible, but it also threw me out of the story due to the simple fact that no one could possibly talk like this!

From there, it was a bit more of a struggle to become fully invested in the story once again. As I mentioned, the pacing itself is quite slow throughout. In the beginning, with the focus tightly drawn in on Jenny, this worked fine. But as the story continued, I began to struggle. This became especially difficult when the plot seemed to devolve into a string of fetch quests, each as predictable as the last. And to top it off, the story resolved in a way that was a bit predictable in the most disappointing way. I don’t want to spoil it, and there isn’t anything inherently wrong with the story going the way that it did. But I had been hopeful initially that the author was telling a more wholly unique tale, rather than tying it back into familiar source material.

Overall, this was an ok read. There was a lot of potential, especially with the strength of the narrator, but the pacing and plotting became muddled with a string of mundane side quests and resolved in a disappointingly predictable manner. This last point, especially, is particularly subjective, so other readers may appreciate what this book has to offer in this regard more than I did! I do think it’s worth checking out, however, based on Jenny herself.

Rating 7: Jenny herself was a fantastic narrator, but she was let down by lackluster side characters and side quests.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Greenteeth” can be found on this Goodreads list: Botanical and Horticultural Horror

Serena’s Review: “Upon a Starlit Tide”

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Book: “Upon a Starlit Tide” by Kell Woods

Publishing Info: Tor Books, Feb. 2025

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

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

Book Description: For Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of one of Saint-Malo’s wealthiest ship-owners, the high walls of the city are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are interested in securing advantageous marriages, Luce dreams of escaping her elegant but stifling home and joining a ship’s crew. Only Samuel—Luce’s best friend and an English smuggler—understands her longing for the sea, secretly teaching her to sail whenever she can sneak away. For Luce, the stolen time on the water with Samuel is precious.

One stormy morning, Luce’s plans are blown off course when she rescues Morgan de Chatelaine, the youngest son of the most powerful ship-owner in Saint-Malo, from the sea. Immediately drawn to his charm and sense of adventure, she longs to attend the glittering ball held in honor of his safe return and begins to contemplate a different kind of future for herself.

But it is not only Luce’s hopes at stake—the local fae are leaving Brittany and taking their magic with them, while the long-standing war with the English means Saint-Malo is always at risk of attack. As Luce is plunged into a world of magic, brutality, and seduction, secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface. The truth of her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper.

Or the scales of a sea-maid’s tail.

Review: I didn’t love the first book I read by this author. I don’t often talk about transitions in my reviews, but “After the Woods” really highlighted how important a basic technique like this is to good storytelling. I often found myself confused by sudden shifts in focus and disjointed pacing. The characters were also fairly inconsistent. That said, between these struggle points, if you squinted, it was possible to see some true lyricism and style to the writing. With that being the case (and the fact that I’ve yet to come across a truly great re-telling of “The Little Mermaid”) I picked this one up with a hefty dose of wariness but also my usual hope. And wow, am I glad I did!

There are so many places to start with this one! But first and foremost, this is an excellent fairytale fantasy story. It perfectly captures the magical tone found in that sort of story, but also includes the necessary balance points of mild horror and, of course, swoon-worthy romance. I will say, this is rather loosely connected to “The Little Mermaid.” Other than the fact that she’s, you know, a mermaid, there’s not a whole lot of the original tale to be found here, other than a few familiar scenes that, even then, play out in a very different context than they do in the original. On top of that, the story also includes a nod to the “Cinderella” story, leaving the book as an interesting mash up of the two.

But first and foremost, I think this story much more closely lines up with selkie/seal wife fairytales. Like those stories, this one focus heavily on longing, wildness, and freedom. And it is here that the romanticism and lyricism of the writing really shines. The beauty and horror of the sea neatly aligned against the beauty and horror of humanity. And with Luce in the middle, a child of both worlds who struggles to understand herself and where she fits, torn between the great loves of the sea and her family and the man she grows to love. This could be a simplistic story, but there was such a depth of heart to Luce that the entire affair felt poignant and wondrous throughout.

As I mentioned, there were also some horror moments included, perhaps more than I had expected. Again, we were exposed to horror in the more fantastical sense, but it was the actions of the people that were truly despicable. The story’s strong foundation in a historical time and place truly reinforced these human-made horror moments, as some of the more powerful scenes drew from events/actions that were truly carried out.

I also want to heap immense praise on the author for her handling of the love triangle. I don’t want to spoil the way that this plot line plays out, but Woods is clearly winking at readers as she twists her way through some of the common romantasy tropes found in these sorts of stories and with these sorts of characters. And, best of all, she correctly identified when to give up the triangle altogether and allow the true romance to move forward. This is a stand-alone book, after all, so it was great that we were given what felt like a good chunk of time with the primary couple, initial love triangle bedamned.

One small criticms here would be that as these two “romances” were getting started, it felt like Luce’s feelings came a bit out of nowhere, especially for one of them. As the story continued, we were given more of a foundation to build upon. But those initial points of interest felt a bit instalust-y. However, they were saved by the lovely story that followed that delved into the tragedy and beauty of Luce’s position as a child of the sea who loves a man of the land.

I loved this book, if you can’t tell! As much as I love gobbling up books from authors who have a long list of solid titles, there’s something special about finding a great one from an author you didn’t connect with the first go-around. I can pretty much confirm now that this one will end up on my “Top 10” list for the year!

Rating 9: Like the exploring the sea itself, plumbing the dark depth of this book’s mysteries is an adventure into a world of beauty and romance! Perfect for all fairytale fans!

“Upon a Starlit Tide” can be found on these Goodreads lists: The Little Mermaid Retellings and My favorite Fairytale Fantasy novels.

Kate’s Review: “The Crash”

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Book: “The Crash” by Freida McFadden

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, January 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: The nightmare she’s running from is nothing compared to where she’s headed.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears. But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself—and her unborn child.

A gut-wrenching story of motherhood, survival, and twisted expectations, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden delivers a snowbound thriller that will chill you to the bone.

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

Here is a bit of a wild thriller confession on my part (though if you have been reading my reviews for awhile now it won’t be shocking): I haven’t read anything by Freida McFadden. I feel like she’s a pretty popular author in the genre right now, at the very least she is very prevalent with title after title coming out. And she does show up on my various reading feeds pretty often. But I just hadn’t checked her out! Well, until Poisoned Pen Press sent me an ARC of “The Crash”, a novel about a pregnant woman named Tegan fleeing a bad situation… who ends up in a worse situation when her car crashes during a blizzard and she’s ‘rescued’ by an older couple in the middle of nowhere, who say they can give her shelter…. and then imprison her in their basement. Well, I mean, come on. The premise alone is super, super intriguing. And I figured it was high time that I read something by this author that I’d been seeing everywhere. And to be quite honest, once I was done, I wasn’t totally sold.

But first the things that did work for me. I was pleasantly surprised that not only do we get the perspective of Tegan, our pregnant hostage in the basement of a strange couple in rural Maine, we ALSO get the perspective of Polly, the wife of the duo who is the actual mastermind of the kidnapping plot. It was a bold choice, and because we got to see what was going in her mind I was able to see that this was not only having some “Misery” vibes, but also some “Pearl” vibes as well. I say “Pearl” because Polly is both deeply unwell and a bit disturbing, but also sympathetic in a lot of ways, in this case because of her deep grief, trauma, and borderline psychosis due to her infertility when she so desperately wants a child. Is it a little cliché? Sure. Does grief and trauma over not being able to have a baby mean you can kidnap a pregnant woman your husband stumbled upon after a car crash and plot to to take the infant for your own?

Polly, noooooo. (source)

That said, I really enjoyed the Polly sections because I loved the unhingedness of it all. It made it fast paced and a true page turner, the exact kind of read I want for escapism. Polly was a huge reason for that.

But on the other hand, there were a couple of things that didn’t work as well for me. The first was Tegan as a character, as while Polly was very interesting to me, Tegan felt half baked. I just didn’t connect with her as much and thought that she was a lot more two dimensional than I wanted her to be. On top of that, we had some pretty wild twists and turns that felt shallow and only there for shock value, and I don’t want to spoil any of them here because I do want people who want to read it to not go in with all the fun sucked out, but there was one in particular that made me say ‘really?’ out loud once it was revealed. You all know how grumpy I get about books that have massive twists for the sake of twists, and this one had one that I found to be particularly frustrating (I will admit that there was another that I did generally like, though it wasn’t super surprising).

So for my first Freida McFadden novel it was a bit of a mixed bag. I am pretty sure I will be checking out other books by McFadden, because this one was fun for the most part, but I will probably save them for times that I need a quick and not so deep escape.

Rating 6: Pretty entertaining and it has an interesting perspective from that of the main antagonist, but some of the twists were a little too outlandish for my tastes.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Crash” isn’t on any super relevant Goodreads lists, but it would fit in on “Kidnapped!”.

Serena’s Review: “Wooing the Witch Queen”

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

Book: “Wooing the Witch Queen” by Stephanie Burgis

Publishing Info: Bramble, February 2025

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

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

Book Description: Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

Little does Saskia know that the “wizard” she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he’s in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?

Review: When I requested this one, I expected a fairly straight forward fantasy romance story. If I was lucky, I was hoping the humor would click and this would nail down the “fantasy romcom” vibes that it was giving off. Not only did those things turn out well, but the book actually explored some really interesting ideas regarding gender roles and romance.

As that’s the most interesting commentary I have to offer on this book, let’s jump straight into it. It wasn’t until about a third or maybe even halfway in that I really began to hone in on the approach the author was taking in her depiction of these characters and the roles they played with regards to one another. It was incredibly subtle, but as I read, more and more I became aware of the fact that Saskia, in particular, was being presented through the lens that we are more accustomed to seeing the romantic hero through.

When thinking of Fabian, she (rightly) sees her self as the more powerful of the pair, thus often focusing on the protective feelings she has towards him. And, similar to the romance heroes we all know and love, she would often internally and out loud make threats to any who would attempt to harm him. Even down to smaller concerns with regards to his feelings and the way others treat him, she very much takes on the role of guardian. Further, when thinking of Fabian, while appreciating all aspects of him, she regards his physical form with the same sort of interest and regard that we expect to see from the male POV more often than not. For his part, Fabian plays a much “softer” role, often focused on caregiver roles, like ensuring that Saskia eats when she gets caught up in her magical work.

Interesting, this role reversal carried over into the spicy scenes as well, with Saskia taking on the more more “dominant” (though I’m not sure that’s quite the right word) role. I won’t go into details of how this all presents, but it’s the kind of thing that you’ll definitely notice if you’ve been catching these gender role swaps throughout the book earlier.

This was such an interesting take on a romantic pairing and really made me think about the sort of actions, behaviors, and even thoughts that I typically think of as “male” in romance novels. Nothing Saskia or Fabian say or do has anything to do with their sex, but it’s also clear that, as a reader, I’m used to seeing certain behaviors from only really the men and others from only really the women. Again, the biggest props of all goes to the subtly with which the author explores these themes. It’s entirely possible to read this book as a fun, romantasy romp and thinking nothing of any of these topics because the story is fun and the characters still read as completely natural and fully fleshed out.

As for the rest of the story, the other big pro that stood out was the humor. I really enjoyed the balance of the comedy with the love story and action portions. It was sprinkled into the story at just the right moments, and I feel like the tone of the comedy worked perfectly with the sort of twisted fairytale we were getting.

Some of the larger plot points were perhaps a bit predictable and derivative, but as the story doesn’t set out to be an overly complex fantasy world, I was happy with what we got. I was also interested in the two other “evil” queens we met. There were moments in this book where I found both to read a bit like caricatures (easy enough to happen with side characters who get very little ultimate page time), but there were also hints to more complexity to be found there once we get to their individual stories. We even get a mini look at what’s to come in the next book at the very end of this one, and I’m definitely looking forward to checking that one out!

Overall, if you’re looking for a fun romantasy read that hits your “Wicked”-deprived heart, this is definitely one to check out!

Rating 8: If you’re having withdrawals from “Wicked,” have I got the book for you! Swoon-worthy and laugh-out-loud funny, this book is a perfect fit for romantasy readers looking for a great twisted fairytale!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Wooing the Witch Queen” can be found on these Goodreads lists: [ATY 2025] Witches, Goddesses, or Nuns and Epic High Fantasy/Romance/Mythology in 2025.

Kate’s Review: “The Vengeful Dead”

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

Book: “The Vengeful Dead” by Darcy Coates

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, February 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: How far will she go to save the damned?

Keira is caught in a deadly battle. Her ability to help ghosts move on from the mortal world has made her a threat to Artec, a powerful corporation intent on trapping the tortured dead for profit. They’ve been tracking her for years and now, finally, there’s nowhere left for her to run.

Artec fears Keira and everything she’s capable of. They will stop at nothing to eliminate her―including sending armed men after everyone she holds dear.

Desperate and quickly running out of time, Keira races to hone her abilities as she searches for a way to destroy the twisted organization for good. But at least now she’s no longer alone. Her friends have offered to follow wherever she leads, even if that means a direct strike deep into the heart of Artec’s central base…and to the certain death waiting for them there.

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

It’s been about two years since I started Darcy Coates’s dark fantasy/horror “Gravekeeper” series, and we have now reached the end with the fifth book “The Vengeful Dead”. What started as a story about an amnesiac who can see ghosts in a quirky small town has grown into something more, involving found family, corporate conspiracy, and… well, still a quirky small town. I am always interested to see where a series lands once all is said and done, and I am happy to report that “The Vengeful Dead” was a successful wrap up to a series I’ve enjoyed for the past two years!

As a satisfying wrap up of an ongoing series, I thought that this book really does a good job of not only tying up the Artec arc that has been plaguing Keira since we first met her, it also gave us one last stand alone ghost story, involving an old sanatorium and the ghosts of women who were, perhaps, victimized there. I wasn’t certain that we were going to get one more story where Keira helps ghosts that are unable to move on, be it due to unfinished business or Artec holding them hostage to drain them of their energy, and when it became clear that she was going to have one more mission in that regard I was very pleased. I also thought that the Artec story, which grew and became more fleshed out as the series went on, had a really well done climax and conclusion here. When I started this book I never imagined that Keira’s biggest hardship would involve a corporation trying to exploit resources and beings to create a profit, but man, what a storyline for everything else going on in the world at the moment. Coates had a lot of build up and I had high hopes, and I felt that the way it all wrapped up in “The Vengeful Dead” was deeply, deeply satisfying for this reader who has been all in since Keira first arrived in Blighty four books ago.

But the strongest aspect of “The Gravekeeper” series for me was always the characters, and I was really hoping that we would get a good send off for Keira, Zoe, Mason, Daisy the cat, and all of the quirky (and sometimes villainous) people of Blighty. One of my favorite themes of these books was the way that Keira made herself a found family and found herself in such a kind and loving community, with crabby recluses, charming florists, mysterious coffee shop owners, and others, and to see so many of these characters, main and supporting, have moments to shine and moments to let the readers say goodbye was so heartening. We got nods to previous plot points, we got couples finally officially getting together, and we got to see Keira, Zoe, and Mason work together through the toughest times and keep their bonds alive with heart and humor as well as the freaky moments that come with horror stories. I always found this series to be more on the cozy side because of all of the characters, and while I’m certainly going to miss them, I was so thrilled with all that they were able to do in this last story.

I would love it if Darcy Coates comes back to Keira, Zoe, and Mason in the future. But if this is really goodbye for our “Gravekeeper” Scooby Gang, what a lovely and satisfying ending it was.

Rating 8: An action packed and satisfying conclusion to a charming horror series, “The Vengeful Dead” sticks the landing for sure.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Vengeful Dead” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror Books 2025”.

Diving Into Sub-Genres: Romantic Fantasy


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

We each have our own preferred genres of choice. Kate loves horrors and thrillers, really anything that will keep her up at night! And Serena enjoys escaping through hidden doors into realms of magic and adventure. We also read mysteries, historical fiction, graphic novels, etc. etc. And that’s not even counting the multitude of sub-genres contained within each greater genre. In this series, one of us will present a list of our favorites from within a given sub-genre of one of our greater preferred genres.

There is a near constant debate going on right now about the definitions and delineations between what constitutes “romantasy” and what should be categorized as fantasy romance. Part of the problem, I think, comes down to simple word order and what it says about the type of book you’re picking up. As readers will have noticed following this series of posts about subgenres, or about these terms in general, is that the primary genre is always the last word, preceded by some sort of descriptor that gives additional detail into the specifics of the subgenre. So, for fantasy, you have things like urban fantasy or gothic fantasy. Further, for subgenres within romance you see things like dark romance or historical romance. Descriptor followed by primary genre.

Now, if you break apart the term “romantasy” you would get “romantic fantasy,” seeming to indicate that you are reading a fantasy book first and foremost with a dash of romance added in. It should meet all fantasy expectations with more free reign on how the romance is dealt with, as it is the “sub” of the greater “genre.” Unfortunately, this is NOT what “romantasy” means. Instead, it’s the opposite, a subgenre of the romance genre with all the requirements for the romance genre coming in first consideration, with fantasy used only as a support frame for the love story.

This all leaves it very confusing for the readers who are truly looking for the “romance” subgenre of fantasy, instead of the “fantasy” subgenre of romance that is so often being marketed to them. To make matters worse, more and more people are saying that this former option should be called “fantasy romance.” Which, as I just laid out, reads as completely opposite of the way that readers understand and approach genres and subgenres! To those not in the know, “fantasy romance” should be shelved right next to “historical romance” in the romance section; it only makes sense!

As you can see, I’ve labeled this post “romantic fantasy” and I truly think we should push this as the term used for this subgenre. “Romantasy” is so established as a term on its own at this point that I don’t think there would be any confusion regarding the fact that it was originally a combination of these two words. Instead, by using “romantic fantasy” instead of “fantasy romance” we’d be following the traditional rules of categorizing subgenres, thus making it easier for fantasy readers to find their preferred subgenre within this greater whole.

So, all of that said. Here are some “romantic fantasy” books that I think represent the subgenre well. I’ve intentionally tried to pick books that can be seen as the fantasy counterbalance to many of the popular “romantasy” tropes being put out today. Unlike those, these books follow fantasy genre conventions first and foremost, with the romance coming in second fiddle. Per the usual with fantasy, several of these are series, and as such, the romance plays out as slow-burn throughout, with love stories moving only incrementally (if at all!) in some books.

“Wildwood Dancing” by Julier Marillier

Fairie/Fae Romance – Faerie romances are by far one of the most popular sub-subgenres seen in “romantasy” currently. There’s no denying the power of Maas and her influence in this area. On the other side, Marillier is a go-to for any fantasy reader looking for the romance subgenre within. I’m pretty sure every single one of her books would fit within this category. But this one is the closest to the sort of faerie romance that we typically see in “romantasy.” Unlike those, the romantic interest isn’t actually Fae, but much of the story still revolves around faerie, their wonder and danger. A couple other great examples for this with actual Fae romantic interests would be “Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faerie” by Heather Fawcett and “Spinning Silver” by Naomi Novik. I highly recommend both of those as well, but I’m using another book by Novik below and I reviewed the latest “Emily Wilde” book just last week!

“Kushiel’s Legacy” trilogy by Jacqueline Carey

Dark Romance/Enemies-to-Lovers – While I don’t read much of it, I know that “dark romance” is another very popular version of “romantasy” currently making the rounds. And it goes without saying that “enemies to lovers” is the current GOAT of tropes. The romantic fantasy comparable option for this one is a no brainer! “Kushiel’s Dart” goes into undeniably dark directions, both in its exploration of lust and sexuality and in the violence of this world. But there is also one of my favorite love stories at the heart of this trilogy as well! Beyond that, it’s political fantasy novel first and foremost, with detailed world-building and a strong focus on the political manipulations and strategizing of the characters that make up the story. Phedre is probably one of my Top 10 favorite fantasy heroines of all time, and that’s saying something considering just how many great ones there are out there!

“The Books of the Raksura” by Martha Wells

Monster Romance – Ruby Dixon and her “Ice Planet Barbarians” is probably one of the most popular examples of this in “romantasy.” There are less human/monster love stories in fantasy (other than the typical urban fantasy fare with vampires and werewolves, but at this point, those barely count as monsters, as bizarre as that is!). But this was a perfect excuse to shine a light on one of Wells’ most over-looked trilogies! The story follows Moon, a shapeshifter who finds out he has a great destiny. As you can see from the cover art on this and the other books, Wells’ characters are wholly unique species with only small nods to humanistic traits. There is a ton of action and adventure to be found in this trilogy, but also a sweet romance at its heart. I’m hopeful that now that Wells’ other back catalog titles are getting re-prints that we’ll see new editions of these soon!

“Scholomance” trilogy by Naomi Novik

Dark Academia/Rivals-to-Lovers – I’ve already mentioned Naomi Novik on this list, as she has several others books that would easily fit within this subgenre (“Uprooted” is another great example that falls more on the fairytale re-telling side of things). But I wanted to highlight this trilogy as comparable titles to the dark academia trend seen a lot in “romantasy.” I love everything about this trilogy, but the stand-out feature is probably the narrator, El, who has one of the strongest voices as a narrator that I can think of. She’s also prickly and stand-off-ish, and her awkward stumble into the central romance is incredibly endearing.

“A Darker Shade of Magic” trilogy by V. E. Schwab

Multi-POVs/Multi-Romances – To be fair, multi-POV books are by far more common in the fantasy genre than in the romance genre. But as I couldn’t really think of any comparable options for why-choose/throuple romances, here we are. There are two lovely romances in this one, but true to the fact that they are fantasy novels first and foremost, neither love story really starts up until the second book. The central one follows Kel and Lila, the main characters of the story. And the second is a M/M romance that kind of came out of nowhere, but turned out to be heart-wrenching all on its own. Beyond that, the trilogy as a whole is so perfectly crafted that I think it’s one of those rare series where each book individually would warrant a “10” rating.

“The Rook and the Rose” trilogy by M. A. Carrik

Slow Burn – I have to say, it’s hard to think of a true slow burn in “romantasy.” But, as I’ve talked about extensively now, as a subgenre of the romance genre, it’s a bit hard to work a slow burn love story into a true HEA romance novel. But slow burns are a staple of romantic fantasy. As many of the above books highlight as well, the love stories often don’t even get truly started until the second book in. So too with this one. Instead, the focus is more on the intricate world-building, various hidden identities, and the careful balance who know s which of the numerous secrets floating around. The first book barely hints at the central romance, but it really blossoms in the second one!

What romantic fantasy books are your favorites? Let us know in the comments!

Serena’s Review: “The Outcast Mage”

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Book: “The Outcast Mage” by Annabel Campbell

Publishing Info: Orbit, January 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 glass city of Amoria, magic is everything. And Naila, student at the city’s legendary academy, is running out of time to prove she can control hers. If she fails, she’ll be forced into exile, relegated to a life of persecution with the other magicless hollows. Or worse, be consumed by her own power.

When a tragic incident further threatens her place at the Academy, Naila is saved by Haelius Akana, the most powerful living mage. Finding Naila a kindred spirit, Haelius stakes his position at the Academy on teaching her to harness her abilities. But Haelius has many enemies, and they would love nothing more than to see Naila fail. Trapped in the deadly schemes of Amoria’s elite, Naila must dig deep to discover the truth of her powers or watch the city she loves descend into civil war.

For there is violence brewing on the wind, and greater powers at work. Ones who could use her powers for good… or destroy everything she’s ever known.

Review: I think this book will be one of those odd reads that really works for certain fantasy readers, but then fails to connects to a bunch of others. To start with, the book throws readers into the deep end of an entirely new fantasy world. I’m on the record as very much enjoying this approach to world-building in fantasy, but it’s also a big ask of many more casual readers. For the most part, this approach worked for me here as well. I was more than happy to go along with the story and characters slowly piecing things together as they came.

What didn’t work, however, was that further into the book we did start getting more overt details into these world-building portions. Unfortunately, they often came in long chunks of straight exposition and info-dumping. These larger bits of explanation also came fairly far into the story, meaning that for the readers who would appreciate the straight presentation of facts rather than the immersive nature of the beginning, there’s a decent chance they might have already put the book down by the point they show up.

I also ended up struggling to enjoy many of the characters in this book. For the pros, I very much enjoy mentor/mentee relationships, so I really liked the portions of the book that focused on these two characters. I will also say that there is very little to no romance in this book, so it’s a great option for readers who perhaps feel overwhelmed by the amount of romance in fantasy recently (not me, but I know these readers exist, haha!).

That said, there were simply too many POV characters in this book. I know that I personally have a fairly low bar for the number of characters I want to follow during a book. It typically tops out at around 3, and by far I prefer a single POV altogether. But here there were, I think, 5 or 6 different characters we followed. By necessity, some of those got more page time than others, which often directly influenced my interest in their various stories. However, the sheer overwhelming number of them ultimately decreased my ability to connect to any of them. Beyond that, as I read, it began to be hard to differentiate between them, leaving me unsure of whose story I was finding halfway through a chapter. Again, this is a very subjective take, and I know a lot of fantasy readers enjoy large casts of characters. But it didn’t work for me here.

So this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the world that was introduced, but there were too many info dumps to make it smooth sailing. And I really like the focus on the mentor/mentee relationship, but there were too many other characters distracting from these two’s stories that I watered down the entire affair. I’ll likely stick around for the next book, as I’m definitely curious to see where the story goes from here.

Rating 7: A lot of potential and a strong central relationship was a bit hampered by shaky world-building and too many POVs to keep up with.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Outcast Mage” can be found on this Goodreads list: All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in January 2025.

Serena’s Review: “The Forest King’s Daughter”

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

Book: “The Forest King’s Daughter” by Elly Blare

Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, February 2025

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

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

Book Description: Once upon a time, among the bloodred trees of Thirstwood, a young forest princess became friends with a lonely demon boy. He gifted her an amber ring, a worthless trinket…or so he thought…because no sooner did he slide it onto her finger than the demon queen and forest king declared war.

Years later, Cassia is a crucial force in her father’s army, wielding her ring of light that can blind and disorient hundreds of demons at a time. Then battle-hardened Zeru abducts her, planning to steal the ring back to fix his costly childhood mistake. Exhausted, terrified, and more than a little mistrusting, Cassia is forced to travel with Zeru to a place they both believed only existed in storybooks, one where their childhood friendship slowly rekindles into something much more. But it’s only a matter of time before the war they’ve escaped comes for them, and a hidden threat to forest folk and demons alike grows in the shadows.

From the author of the Frostblood Saga comes the first book in an enchanting, adventure-filled fantasy series about the daughters of the powerful forest king, sure to leave readers breathless and desperate for more.

Review: This was an obvious book request for me! Everything about the summary above sounds like it has been tailored for me. Further, I’ve had a lot of good luck with Little Brown Books and their selection of YA fantasy. They seem to curate an author list that often produces some of my favorites in this genre and reading age. So how did this one turn out? Let’s dive in!

Overall, I enjoyed this one. I did have complaints here and there, but for the most part, this was a fun ride. Right from the start, I enjoyed the writing style, which had the sort of lyrical, fairytale quality that I prefer in fantasy stories like this. The two main characters were also introduced in an interesting way, with the reader first meeting them as children when they are unlikely friends. And then later, after things go terribly wrong, when they are older teens/adults on opposite sides of a war. It was a nice twist on the typical enemies-to-lovers romance plot, with the additional factor of initial friendship and trust from when they were children complicating their perspectives as adults.

I will say, in what would be a bit of a recurring problem throughout, there were some frustrating moments when both Cassia and Zeru made some truly wild leaps of logic and interpretation with regards to their shared history. In fact, one of my primary complaints about the book as a whole was the discordant feeling of these two main characters. For the majority of the book, each are written as highly competent, mature individuals. But then, on a fairly regular basis, they would each come up with the most ridiculous interpretation of the events surrounding them or the other’s motivations of intentions. It was the kind of writing where you could see the authors fingers all up in the narrative. The characters NEEDED to think a certain way to justify the arc of the story and romance. But in any reality, it made no sense to do so. Cassia, in particular, was incredibly naïve, especially about her father, way past the point of believability.

That said, I did actually enjoy the romance itself. When I started the book, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on how things would play out. Instead, the author swooped in with a major jump shift halfway through the book, re-positioning the stakes and, essentially, the world-building of this entire story. And through these changes, the romance itself veered into new and interesting territory. There was a bit of a “cake and eat it too” plot point with regards to Zeru and Cassia’s process of moving through their trust issues, but as the entire concept was so creative, I’ll give it a pass.

There were also some decent twists and turns in the larger conflict between the elves and demons. While some of the villains were plainly obvious from the start, there were a few twists with regards to other characters’ motivations that were revealed closer to the end. The pacing and plotting, overall, was steady throughout, and any moment where I began to become frustrated with some of the character inconsistency was quickly glossed over by another exciting story beat.

This is a solid YA fantasy story, and I think it’s well worth checking out if you’re looking for an original entry in the genre!

Rating 8: A few frustrations with character inconsistency aside, this was a lovely fairytale-like romance story with a surprisingly unique take on several classic fantasy tropes.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Forest King’s Daughter” can be found on this Goodreads list: Romantasy TBR 2025