Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Kate’s Review: “Northranger”

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Book: “Northranger” by Rey Teciero and Bre Indigo (Ill.)

Publishing Info: HarperAlley, June 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner’s mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret.

Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary–but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas–real life can be way scarier.

When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there–in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry.

But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get… complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother’s death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it’s scary.

Review: A few years ago our book club read “Northanger Abbey”, making it the third Jane Austen book I’ve read and making me feel that much more cultured. It was fine, I enjoyed the discussion, but outside of “Emma” which I genuinely loved it was just adding an Austen notch to the belt. But when I saw “Northranger”, a graphic novel by Rey Teciero and illustrated by Bre Indigo, cross my feed, and that it was a modern retelling of “Northanger Abbey” with a queer romance, I knew that I HAD to read it.

Teciero easily reinterprets the themes and story of “Northanger Abbey” and remixes them into a modern American setting with queer themes. I loved the new location of rural Texas, and I REALLY loved how Catherine Morland, naive clergyman’s daughter who loves Gothic novels, changes into Cade Muñoz, a closeted queer Latino teen who loves horror movies. Instead of going into social society as a potential bride for suitors in Bath, Cade and his stepfather go to work on a ranch for the summer to help ends meet, and meets the Tyler family. There’s the harsh General, who owns the ranch, and his twin children, Henrietta (who prefers to go by Henri), and Henry. There is, of course, some mysteriousness surrounding Henry and his father, and Cade, being a horror movie buff, lets his mind wander to think the very worst of them, especially once they get to the family vacation home Northranger and tensions run high. In terms of adaptations, “Northranger” is pretty clever with how it brings the other characters into the story, while mining a bit more complexity from them. Antagonists John and Isabella Thorpe are no longer scheming siblings, but a bitter ranch hand named John who struggles with resentment and substance abuse, and his flirty and carefree daughter Bella. Eleanor is now Henri, who is jovial and supportive of both her brother and Cade, and Mr. Allen is now Cade’s stepfather Dale, who served with The General in the military. While they are different from their Austen counterparts, they all feel pretty in line with the base personalities and inspirations, just better fitting in with modern sensibilities.

But what was a bit of a parody of Gothic sensibilities in the source material turns into a far more melancholy (but also very sweet) story about identity, anxieties, and how sometimes people who are always scared due to things they can’t control turn to horror as an escape. Catherine is seen as a naive for this in “Northanger Abbey”, but in “Northranger” Cade has a LOT he is carrying. He’s a closeted queer teen living in rural Texas, where his sexuality could very easily put a target on his back, and his love of horror isn’t so much as fanciful or used as humorous, but is more an exploration of his inner fears. Henry, too, has a lot of things that he is carrying, and his character COULD be seen as suspicious and strange because of how HE is coping with his own inner struggles. Sometimes this could make for moments where I wasn’t completely certain that Cade and Henry were in a healthy burgeoning relationship, or led to moments where I thought that Henry was REALLY in need of some introspection (not to mention thinking this was a bit repetitive at times), but apart from these uneasy moments I did like the romance between the two characters as they explored their feelings and unpacked their personal baggage. The core themes from the Austen story are still here, but Teciero brings new life to it with more complex issues.

And finally, I liked the artwork by Bre Indigo quite a bit. It feels easy going and easy to digest, while having moments of more realistic designs that popped off the page.

Pardon the quality of my picture. (source: HarperAlley)

“Northranger” is a charming and emotional remix of a Jane Austen classic! I would definitely be interested in seeing what else Rey Teciero writes in the future, reimagined classics or not!

Rating 8: A creative and sweet retelling of a classic Gothic romance, “Northranger” is a lovely graphic novel about seeing horrors everywhere and finding peace within yourself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Northranger” is included on the Goodreads lists “YA Modern Austen Retellings”, and “Queer Books Set in Texas”.

Serena’s Review: “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon”

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Book: “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” by Kimberly Lemming

Publishing Info: Orbit, January 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

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

Book Description: Spice trader Cinnamon’s quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon in this irreverently quirky rom-com fantasy that is sweet, steamy, and funny as hell—perfect for fans of  Legends & Lattes  and  The Dragon’s Bride. 

All she wanted to do was live her life in peace–maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the Goddess has favorite, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them… 

After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all Fallon wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And, who can blame him? But he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.

Review: I’ll be honest, I definitely requested this one purely based on the unique title and the cute cover. Both were unlike any book I’d seen before, and after reading the synopsis, I was looking forward to reading a romantic fantasy with a heavy dose of comedy, ala some of T. Kingfisher’s work. Alas, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s hard to say whether it was a book problem or a me problem or a combination of both, but this will be one of those books that I think needs just the right reader to land perfectly.

For one thing, while the book is definitely high fantasy in its world-building and magic, it was very modern in its language, both the dialogue and some of the narration. And when I say modern language, I’m not talking about standard English (a qualifier that you do actually have to make for some fantasy that calls back to older forms of English, or formal English, or what have you). No, this is modern English in that there is tons of lingo thrown all over the place. And this is where I find one of my first points about the narrow lane for readers who will enjoy this book: this is a romance book that is heavy in the “adult themes” of its romance, but on the other hand, the jargon and lingo used is very much on the younger side. It’s not a comfortable pairing. I suspect that many of the adult readers who will enjoy the romance of this story might be put off by some of the ridiculousness of the language. And, honestly, I’m not sure it’s a great example of the use of the lingo even for younger audiences. It just felt corny and try-hard much of the time.

And this points leads right into my second major struggle area: I didn’t connect with the humor at all. Most of the jokes landed with a thud, and rather than laugh, I caught myself rolling my eyes more and more. At its best, humor is not only funny but endears the characters to the reader. Here, the humorous “takes” from our main character had me rapidly losing all respect for her and becoming increasingly annoyed by her choices. At one point, Cin makes some “snarky” remark about how books always have “bandit rapists.” And while I get what the author was trying to do with this meta level of awareness, the scene itself doesn’t go any further in unpacking this trope than using its inclusion as another moment for Cin to say something “witty.” It’s not subverting a trope if you just threw it in there to make your heroine seem clever for recognizing that it’s a trope in the first place. Then, later, there are other moments where horrific violence occurs, and Cin is written as just not really caring about all of the consequences? Throughout it all, she simply became pretty unlikable.

Beyond that, I was uncomfortable with the romance itself. I wasn’t expecting a “fated mates” romance, and those are my least favorite, so that’s just a personal preference thing. But due to this nature, you never feel any true connection between these two other than lust and the fact that they are simply “destined” to be together. On top of that, the book strays hard into dubcon (dubious consent) territory. Now, I’m not a hardliner on this front, as I wouldn’t say that one character kissing another character without directly asking before is dubcon or anything like that. I think if you stray too far down those lines, the entire romance genre becomes fairly unworkable. That said, this book went way further than that. And, again, I know that some readers enjoy these types of romances, but not only do I personally not, I thought that this sort of romance sat uncomfortably against the “cozy,” “humor-centric” story that the marketing presents it to be (cover, title, even the book description itself). So, again, I think there may be a mismatch between readers and books.

Overall, I was really let down by this book. While some of these complaints are definitely personal preferences (and if they’re your jam, you may in fact enjoy this!), but I also think there are some serious quality issues with the lingo and the comedy aspects of the story. It simply wasn’t funny most of the time and instead read as very cliché and as if it was trying way to hard to be cute and quirky.

Rating 6: The humor landed with a thump and the main character became increasingly annoying as the book continued.

Reader’s Advisory:

“That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” can be found on this Goodreads list: Books with Drinks on the Cover

Kate’s Review: “Gorgeous Gruesome Faces”


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

Book: “Gorgeous Gruesome Faces” by Linda Cheng

Publishing Info: Roaring Book Press, November 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: After a shocking scandal that abruptly ended her teen popstar career, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former life and cyberstalking her ex-BFF and groupmate, Candie. The two were once inseparable, but that was then—before the tragedy and heartache they left in their wake.

In the here and now, Sunny is surprised to discover that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop in her hometown. Candie might be there chasing stardom, but Sunny can’t resist the chance to join her and finally confront their traumatic history. Because she still can’t figure out what happened that horrible night when Mina, the third in their tight-knit trio, jumped to her death. Or if the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping had something to do with it . . .

But the workshop doesn’t bring the answers Sunny had hoped for, nor a happy reunion with Candie. Instead, Sunny finds herself haunted by ghostly visions while strange injuries start happening to her competitors—followed by even stranger mutilations to their bodies. In her race to survive, Sunny will have to expose just who is behind the carnage—and if Candie is out for blood once more—in Linda Cheng’s spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have readers screaming and swooning for more.

Review: Happy 2024! I hope that you all had a good New Year Celebration, and that you are not as anxious about the coming year as I am. As the social hangover of the holidays wears off, I’m eager to get into the reviews of 2024, and we are starting off with something a little bit sapphic, a little bit fandom-y, and all kinds of odd in a good way. I saw “Gorgeous Gruesome Faces” by Linda Cheng as a Goodreads ad, and the title alone caught my attention. When I read that it was a horror thriller involving a K-pop competition and a former teen idol trying to start anew, I knew it was absolutely a must read for me. And then you throw in a twist involving some folklore from the Asian Diaspora? What a combination!

I do really like the set up for this book. We have our protagonist Sunny Lee, who used to be a part of a teen TV show that rocketed her and her two cast mates turned friends Candie and Mina into stardom, but whose career has crashed and burned after a massive scandal and the death of Mina. Her friendship (and potentially something more) with Candie crumbled, and she hasn’t seen her since their show ended. Now Sunny has joined a K-Pop competition that Candie has also joined, in hopes of getting back on her feet, and perhaps hashing things out with Candie. It has the set up for a soapy and cutthroat thriller, with past relationships, traumas, and baggage making things that much more tense. I loved the slow building of Sunny trying to connect with Candie again, as well as the way that other contestants start dropping like flies due to supposed accidents and breakdowns. Sunny was an interesting enough character, though I think that I wanted a bit more connection between her and Candie, as their past romance should make the mystery about Candie’s potential culpability and Sunny’s suspicions feel that much more high stakes, but as it was I wasn’t TOTALLY buying it (that said, there is the potential for another book, which could flesh it out a bit more).

When it comes to the dark fantasy and horror elements of this book, it was pretty creative and at times pretty brutal. I really enjoyed some of the descriptions of the way that characters faces would ‘change’, and become uncanny and unsettling, all while sending that person into a full blown panic, to the point of self mutilation and self harm. Body horror can really get under my skin, and in this book I definitely found myself squirming a bit. There is also some solid ‘ghost girl’ imagery, as Sunny starts to see visions of a washed out spectre of a broken girl who looks a lot like her dead friend and former cast mate Mina, whose death has haunted Sunny. I LOVED the descriptions of the stalking ghost, they really set my teeth on edge while feeling like a vengeful spirit from an A-Horror film. But there is also a bit of dark fantasy in here as well, as it draws upon the folktale of The Celestial Maiden and the Woodcutter, in which a goddess is basically held captive by a peasant after he stumbles upon her without her clothing, and hides them from her, rendering her unable to leave the Earth. Cheng really runs with the idea of the ‘held captive’ angle, and uses the concept of her supposed worshipers being given special abilities, but how darkness is always attached to those who use it. It was pretty unique in this regard, and I hope that we just see more and more nods to mythologies that we don’t see as often in modern literature.

I found “Gorgeous Gruesome Faces” to be entertaining and sufficiently creepy. I am absolutely going to check out where it goes from here when the next book in the series comes out.

Rating 7: A creative and at times nasty horror thriller about deities and K-Pop, “Gorgeous Gruesome Faces” is a solid YA thrill ride.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Gorgeous Gruesome Faces” is included on the Goodreads list “Queer Releases November 2023”.

Highlights: January 2024

Yikes, 2024. Insert long, existential rant about how it can’t possibly be 2024 and how we are both rapidly approaching “middle age.” But, as we were saying to one another via text late at night a few weeks ago (the only time to talk when you both have small children), middle age is also an excellent excuse to wash your hands of things like “expanding your book review presence into Tik Tok” and what not. All of that nonsense aside, here are so books we’re looking forward to this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherland” by Heather Fawcett

Publication Date: Jan. 16, 2024

Why I’m Interested: If we did “Highlights” posts for the entire year (note: we should maybe do that!), this would have easily made the list! I absolutely loved the first book in this series, so much so that it was practically tied for first place in my Top 10 list for 2023. The first book read as a great stand-alone story, but I’m also really excited to see where the romance goes, as it was very much a slow burn that was resolved by the end of that book. But the character of Emily is also so great that I would be happy with any excuse to spend more time listening to her narrate her exploits in this world. I’m sure this is already on the radar of many readers, but if you haven’t read the first book, get on it!

Book: “Unbound” by Christy Healy

Publication Date: January 16, 2024

Why I’m Interested: This book has both been compared to a gender-swapped “Beauty and the Beast” story and also hyped as an Irish folklore story. Soooo, yeah, right up my alley! Of course, my bar is set at Juliet Mariller’s books, so I also have pretty high expectations for this sort of story. The book follows a young woman who has been struggling with a curse since she was a young girl. Of course, she then meets a mysterious man who may hold all of the answers. And, yeah, “Beauty and the Beast” re-telling. I also really love the cover art on this book. It’s so unique and quite quickly clues the reader in to the sort of book they will be picking up.

Book: “A Fragile Enchantment” by Allison Saft

Publication Date: January 2, 2024

Why I’m Interested: Another one that I would have probably picked up based on the cover alone! So beautiful! so romantic! It doesn’t hurt that I also very much enjoyed Allison Saft’s “A Far Wilder Magic,” so I know that enjoy the author’s style of writing. But this one also sounds right up my alley! It’s a fantasy of manners story that follows a young woman with the ability to sew magic into the garments she creates. And when she’s commissioned to construct the wedding clothes for the prince’s upcoming nuptials, she finds herself caught up in the complicated whirl of court politics. Super excited to check this one out!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “The House of Last Resort” by Christopher Golden

Publication Date: January 30, 2024

Why I’m Interested: Christopher Golden is an author that is a pretty much guaranteed must read for me, and the description of his new book “The House of Last Resort” really snagged my attention. A young couple jump on a bargain real estate deal that brings them to small town Sicily, where the local government was offering real estate deals to people to buy a house for cheap and to fix it up as part of the deal. Kate and Tommy find themselves in a gorgeous house near his paternal grandparents, with many rooms, a good location… and a built in chapel with access to the local catacombs. For you see, the Church used to own this house, and they kept many people with certain ailments inside. And now something is awakening. A haunted house AND a potential scathing representation of organized religion? Yes please!

Book: “The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh

Publication Date: January 16, 2024

Why I’m Interested: Locked room mysteries are already fun for me, and if you create a unique or inventive locked room scenario I’m even more game. Using a hurricane as a locked room while a killer stalks a family? I’m interested! Jia is a recently divorced single mom who is nervous about custody issues. When Hurricane Harvey hits, she and her son seek refuge at her sister’s large house, with other family members already there (and familial tensions at a high). As if a storm wasn’t enough, a murderer in their midst starts killing people, with no escape in sight. Bring on the suspense!

Book: “The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years” by Shubnum Khan

Publication Date: January 9, 2024

Why I’m Interested: This is one that probably won’t make the blog reviews on my end due to the fact it’s solidly fantasy, but I had to put it on my list because it definitely caught my eye. The cover! The title! The description! Everything sounds eerie and potentially heartbreaking and perhaps a little scary? A girl and her father move into an apartment complex in South Africa that used to be a sweeping estate, with eccentric neighbors and strange bones in the garden. As the girl peels back the history of the house and the tragedies that happened, a heartbroken djinn watches, mourning the loss of someone important. It sounds a bit Gothic, it sounds like a family saga, it’s definitely on my list.

What books are you all looking forward to this month? Let us know in the comments!

Serena’s Favorite Reads of 2023: Picks 5-1

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

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! For me, the word “favorite” is an important part of this list. As I go through the last year’s worth of reading, I often found that some books would strike particular chords within me more deeply than others, even if, quality-wise, another book might be stronger. Of course, this just makes it all that much harder to put them in any order. But here it goes! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, five through 1. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!”

5. “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” by Carissa Broadbent

“The Serpent and the Wings of Night” Review

This was one of those funny years where I was putting together this list and found that I had multiple entries for books that I had just read in the month of December! I featured “The Witchwood Knot” on my 10-6 list, and here we are again with a book that I only finished reviewing a few weeks ago! But like “Witchwood,” I particularly wanted to focus on this book as it was originally self-published and only recently picked up by Bramble. And man, did this book restore my faith in the potential of romantasy! All too often, I think this genre can get bogged down in tropes and fairly low-quality writing. Not so, here. Yes, it has a nice romance, but it also stands perfectly fine as a straight-forward fantasy title! There’s complex world-building and lore. Solid characters with meaningful character arcs. And original and exciting action scenes! I had such a blast with this book and can’t wait to check out the sequel when it comes out in a few months.

4. “The Fragile Threads of Power” by V.E. Schwab

“The Fragile Threads of Power” Review

And now for a pick that won’t surprise anyone! This was probably the most welcome news I can remember seeing in the book world since…I don’t know when! Not only is it a return to a beloved world, but it is the return of the same beloved cast of characters, several years later. I was definitely concerned, as well, wondering how well the balancing act would work between our familiar characters and the new ones introduced. As it turns out, it worked out really well! I was pleased to see that the majority of the story still belonged to our main characters, but I was also interested enough in the new ones to not resent them when the story changed to their POVs. It was also just such a fun, nostalgic trip to be back in this world. Now, however, we’re back to waiting on sequels! Best problem to have, though, I say.

3. The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

“The Jasad Heir” Review

This book took me completely by surprise. In many ways, it sounded like a fairly generic fantasy story, what with an heir to the throne in hiding , a magical, deadly competition, and an enemies-to-lovers romance. But instead of becoming bogged down in tired concepts, it rose beyond all of these tropes to prove that there is a reason why many of these go-toes are popular to begin with! I also liked that our main character was a bit of an unreliable narrator, with truths about her past slowly coming to light. I was also most impressed by romance. There are a metric ton “enemies to lovers” love stories out there, especially right now, but this book shows the importance of the often over-looked slow-burn aspect of it all. Natural enemies don’t just flip switches in their brain and suddenly fall in love with one another. I also liked the subtle nature of the love story, with them coming together slowly over very small moments of humanity and care. Here’s another one where I’m eagerly awaiting the next book the series, though I’m not sure when it will be coming out!

2. “Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries” by Heather Fawcett

“Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries” Review

For most of the year, this book was solidly in the #1 position for this list. And honestly, I’ve gone back and forth several times. So, really, maybe read this as two #1 picks! I hadn’t read anything by Heather Fawcett before picking up this book, but man, she’s now an insta-read author for me! This book seems like it was made in a factory specifically for me. I love historical fantasy fiction, two of my favorite genres in one! And, most importantly, Emily Wilde’s prickly, stubborn, supremely confident if a bit socially awkward type of character is one of my all-time favorite character types. She’s very much in line with characters like “Amelia Peabody” and the like. I also really loved the Fae in this book, especially the late-book twist that the story took, veering off in a direction I had never expected. On top of all of this, there’s a lovely, lowkey romance with the grumpy/sunshine trope being gender swapped between Emily and Wendell. Definitely check this one out if you enjoy historical fantasy fiction and lowkey love stories.

1. “Starling House” by Alix E. Harrow

“Starling House” Review

And, finally, my top pick for 2023! While I enjoyed Harrow’s “Ten Thousand Doors of January,” I didn’t expect to love this book quite as much as I did. For one thing, it’s a contemporary fantasy novel, a subgenre that I often struggle with. But man, did this book prove me wrong! I loved everything about it, from the way the classic gothic haunted house story was twisted around on itself, to the exploration of stories and who tells them. But most of all, I loved the voice of the main character, Opal. Another character, Arthur, has his own chapters, but Opal’s are the majority and this is truly her story. She’s a perfect example of how to pull off an unreliable narrator and the voice of a character who, to many, could come across as unlikable. I was instantly charmed by her and whipped through this book in a matter of days. I can’t recommend this one highly enough!

What were some of your favorite reads of 2023?

Kate’s Favorite Reads of 2023: Picks 5-1

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! Like past years I won’t be including re-reads, sometimes my opinion of a book could change and evolve after I had read it, so some surprises may be up near the top, as well as perhaps a book or two that didn’t make my reviews on here initially due to genre limitations. But here they are, ready for a countdown! And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway”! Today I’m going to countdown my favorite reads, five to one.

5. “For You and Only You” by Caroline Kepnes

“For You and Only You” Review

I can almost guarantee that any entry to Caroline Kepnes’s “You” series will always be a favorite of the year for me, just because I love Joe and all of his horribleness so much that any adventure he has I will accompany him on. And “For You and Only You” is just a new setting with a new cast of similarly awful characters to accompany him on, this time going after the snobs and Massholes of Boston and Harvard. Joe is once again obsessed with a new woman, and in the name of love does terrible things to terrible people. Is it a familiar story for him? Sure! But Kepnes still has the darkly humorous and satirical voice for Joe that makes the read a lot of wicked fun.

4. “Night’s Edge” by Liz Kerin

“Nights Edge” Review

This mother-daughter vampire story really put my emotions THROUGH IT this year. As a mother to my own daughter who I absolutely adore (and am constantly in worry of failing as a mom), the story of young adult Mia having to care for her vampiric mother Izzy, and all the toxic codependence that comes with having to care for a manipulative parent who has to hide from the world during the day, was a breathtaking and heartbreaking horror novel. I love vampire stories when they are done to cater to my standards, and this one had moments of terror, moments of heartache, and moments of coming of age that all came together to be a devastating horror story about mothers and daughters. I cannot wait for the sequel, which comes out in a few months.

3. “Delicate Condition” by Danielle Valentine

“Delicate Condition” Review

I’m done having kids, and if there was ever going to be a book that would scare me to death about potential impending pregnancies, “Delicate Condition” would be it, so it’s good I read it when I was through. Danielle Valentine’s pregnancy based horror novel about a woman with a stressful and very strange pregnancy, feelings of being watched, and the all too real horrors of being pregnant when surrounded by people who don’t understand or take you seriously. The tension of Anna Alcott’s pregnancy journey is a feminist telling of “Rosemary’s Baby” in a lot of ways, while being a critique of misogyny and toxic positivity that mothers are supposed to have about having children, no matter how terrifying it can be. Even when it’s not a potentially demonic one! I loved this book, absolutely tearing through it and being very, very freaked out.

2. “Here In The Night” by Rebecca Turkewitz

“Here In The Night” Review

This book is probably the most surprising read of 2023 for me, if only because I had no idea what to expect when I picked “Here In The Night” up, and completely adored it. This short horror stories collection by Rebecca Turkewitz is a horror story collection, yes, but it has a tone and feeling about it that feels more realistic, more muted, and incredibly bittersweet, anchoring the horror tales with women characters, queer characters, and characters who may be dealing with something supernatural, or crime thriller, but always has underpinings of real life scares that these demographics face every day existing in modern life. Not only did the stories creep me out and get under my skin, they also brought out a lot of emotions that I hadn’t been expecting. I just loved this collection.

1. “Lore Olympus” by Rachel Smythe

“Lore Olympus” Review (Vol. 1)

Of all the books that I read in 2023, there is one that really stands out and one that I have been gushing about to anyone who will listen, and that is “Lore Olympus” (for the purposes of the list I’m just clumping all volumes into one grouping). I have been adoring the story of Persephone and Hades and the Greek Gods and Goddesses around them, as it takes one of my favorite myths and puts it through a modern lens that makes ALL of the characters compelling and interesting. I love the love story. I love the way Smythe has written Hera. I love the humor and the heart and the artwork. I love how it tackles deep topics that tug at the heart strings while also making me laugh out loud. There was no way this wasn’t going to be my number one read of 2023. Just phenomenal.

Serena’s Favorite Reads of 2023: Picks 10-6

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

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! For me, the word “favorite” is an important part of this list. As I go through the last year’s worth of reading, I often found that some books would strike particular chords within me more deeply than others, even if, quality-wise, another book might be stronger. Of course, this just makes it all that much harder to put them in any order. But here it goes! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, ten to six. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!”

10. “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” by Melinda Taub

“The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” Review

Seems like some variation of a Jane Austen book ends up on this Top Ten list every year! It just speaks to the universal appeal of these stories and characters that there continues to be an excellent adaptation year after year, two centuries after their original release! This one was particularly surprising as the author was really playing fast and loose with the original story of “Pride and Prejudice.” Not only does this story follow Lydia, the much disliked youngest daughter of the Bennet family, but it also must make a romantic interest out of one of the most notorious villains of Austen’s cast of characters AND add in an entirely new fantasy element of witchcraft and magic! It’s a lot of balls to juggle all at once, and somehow Taub pulls it off masterfully!

9. “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson

“Tress of the Emerald Sea” Review

Given my “Year of Brandon Sanderson” series that I had running during 2023, it’s only fitting that one of his books makes this list! And while I really liked three out of the four new releases he had this year, “Tress of the Emerald Sea” remained my favorite of the lot. I feel like it was the most well-rounded and complete of the four books and perfectly highlighted all of Sanderson’s strengths as a writer without over-playing any one aspect of his style. There’s adventure, there’s romance, there’s a new world with interesting magic, and there are, of course, some nice nods to longtime Cosmere fans. It’s also a stand-alone story, like the other three secret projects Sanderson released in 2023, which makes it a great starting off point for readers who may not have picked up a book by this author before.

8. “Witch King” by Martha Wells

“Witch King” Review

This is probably my most controversial pick of my Top Ten this year, in that I think this book didn’t hit right for a lot of other readers. I featured this one on one of our “Another Take” posts, and I was surprised to find a lot of middling reviews out there. Many readers seemed to struggle with the fact that one is simply plopped into this world and plot seemingly halfway through the story and must piece things together over the course of the book. This device is often seen in fantasy fiction and, for me, it is one of the elements that draws me to the genre. I like slowly putting together the history and geography of a world; it’s like a puzzle tied up into a book. I also really enjoyed the characters at the heart of this story. “Found family” is a term that I think gets thrown around too often when describing books, but I think in this case it perfectly applies. The book is also laugh-out-loud funny at times and incredibly tragic at others. If you’re willing to wait it out, I think this book has a great payoff for readers willing to play along with Wells’ concept and style.

7. “Thief Liar Lady” by D. L. Soria

“Thief Liar Lady” Review

I’m not quite sure why this book didn’t seem to get the attention it deserved? On paper, it has a lot of things going for it that are mostly still popular. Fairytale re-tellings do seem to be on a bit of a downwards slope (much to my chagrin), but I think there’s still an appetite for them, especially when they’re “twisted” like this one. There’s a solid romance at the heart of the story. There are morally grey characters, including the leading lady! It was also one of those interesting reads where it could be very light and fluffy one moment, and then very dark another. It also tackles the realities of long-running conflicts between groups of people and how there are never easy answers or simple good guys or bad guys. We have people from the wronged country doing terrible things. We have people from the more powerful faction fighting to do what’s right. And vice versa. But beyond these deeper themes, it was also just a well-paced story with a strong romance at its heart, the type of book that always seems to work for me.

6. “The Witchwood Knot” by Olivia Atwater

“The Witchwood Knot” Review

I was lucky enough this year to read many books that would have qualified for this list simply for my having given them 9s or 10s on our rating system. I had to winnow things down quite a bit. But one factor that I always like to take into at least some consideration is whether or not a book is likely to be heard of by the average reader. Some books on this list were massive hits, and I love them as much as the next person (hence their position on the list!), but I also want to draw attention to the authors more quietly pumping out excellent fiction that gets less media attention. Such is this book. Atwater was actually on my Top Ten list last year, so I was incredibly excited to discover that not only did she have a new book coming out this year, but that this one rose back up to the high that was “Half a Soul.” This book is set in the same world, but now takes place in the Victorian period, complete with gothic, haunted house vibes. This book was a bit darker than “Half a Soul” and the other two books in that trilogy, but I think that helped it rise to even higher levels. There was the same humor and vivacity, but also a tinge of horror that made the entire experience feel like it had an increased depth. I also very much enjoyed the main character and the unique love interest. If you’ve enjoyed Atwater’s books in the past, definitely give this one a go!

So that’s ten through six. Next time I will give a countdown of my top five. What have been some of your favorite reads of 2023?

Kate’s Favorite Reads of 2023: Picks 10-6

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! Like past years I won’t be including re-reads, sometimes my opinion of a book could change and evolve after I had read it, so some surprises may be up near the top, as well as perhaps a book or two that didn’t make my reviews on here initially due to genre limitations. But here they are, ready for a countdown! And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway”! Today I’m going to countdown my favorite reads, ten to six. 

10. “One Girl in All the World” by Kendare Blake

“One Girl in All the World” Review

I’ve been having something of a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” nostalgia trip the past couple of years, and part of that is due to Kendare Blake’s “In Every Generation” Series, which follows Willow Rosenberg’s daughter Frankie as she trains to become a slayer. “One Girl in All the World” is the second book in the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed continuing the adventure as Frankie and her friends (as well as Mom Willow and Watcher Spike) contend with a growing number of monsters, and a still missing in action Buffy and what that means for all of them. Blake still captures the tone and heart of the original series, and I am still quite enamored not only with her new characters, but her interpretations of the old ones as well (this Spike fan is still swooning). The final book comes out in 2024, and I’m both amped and very nervous.

9. “Lone Women” by Victor LaValle

“Lone Women” Review

It was a bit of time to wait for Victor LaValle’s next horror novel, but man, was it worth it. I will say that I was a bit nervous when I saw that “Lone Women” was going to not only be horror, but also a Western, as that isn’t a genre that I really connect with, but I should never have doubted LaValle’s prowess, because I ended up loving this book. I was completely enthralled by the story of Adelaide as she leaves her life behind (dead parents and a burning down homestead to be exact) with a mysterious trunk and hopes to make it on her own as a solo homesteader, and the community of other women, as well as other dangers, as she tries to start again. And once the question of what was in the trunk was addressed, well…. I loved it even more. This book is tense, hopeful, and beautifully written. Glad to have you back, Mr. LaValle!

8. “Don’t Fear the Reaper” by Stephen Graham Jones

“Don’t Fear the Reaper” Review

Given that I try not to have repeats of authors on my end of year list, I had to make some tough decisions in regards to whether I chose Stephen Graham Jones’s graphic novel “Earthdivers: Kill Columbus”, or “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, the sequel to his meta horror novel “My Heart is a Chainsaw”. But Jade eeked this one out, as I was once again tickled and moved by her story as she returns to Proofrock after a jail sentence, only to stumble in the night of a serial killer terrorizing the town. Jones is still showing off his knowledge and love for horror movies, all while giving an homage to the art form as well as bringing up social issues that Indigenous people have to face in a racist society, and he continues to do it was aplomb, flair, and genuine frights. The final entry in the trilogy comes out in 2024 and I’m excited but also not ready to say goodbye.

7. “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” by Ashley Winstead

“Midnight is the Darkest Hour” Review

This was a bit of a wild card for me, as I went into it with little knowledge and not really any expectations, and then I ended up absolutely adoring it! “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” is a thriller by way of “Thelma and Louise” if that story had religious trauma, a callout of small town bigotry, and a little bit if vampire lore with a heavy dose of “Twilight” adoration, and man oh man did it work for me. This was my first Ashley Winstead book and I am absolutely going to go back and read more of her work. I love the mysteries of Bottom Springs as two outcasts, Ruth and Everett, hold tight to each other and try to survive in a town that doesn’t understand and flat out hates them, and as they try to hide their own secrets, they discover more. It kept me guessing, it kept my heart racing, and it kept my romantic side just ACHING. What a combination!

6. “Graveyard of Lost Children” by Katrina Monroe

“Graveyard of Lost Children” Review

Stories that involve danger posed towards kids always send an extra chill up my spine, given that I am always anxious about the safety and wellbeing of my child, but in the case of “Graveyard of Lost Children” by Katrina Monroe, a horror tale about new motherhood, postpartum depression and perhaps psychosis, and maybe also a supernatural threat of a black haired woman spectre, I was so enthuse with the story I wasn’t as on edge. At least not in a negative way. I thought that this book about a new mother seeing visions of a malevolent woman perhaps threatening her and her baby’s safety was unnerving, poignant, deeply scary and also at times very emotional. It definitely got under my skin but never in a bad way, and I was hooked and horrified as I read. We’re seeing lots of pregnancy and postpartum horror these days, and “Graveyard of Lost Children” really stood out to me this year.

That’s 10 through 6! On Thursday I will reveal my Top 5 Books of 2023! What books were your favorites this year? Let us know in the comments!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!

Happy holidays fellow book lovers! And in honor of this time of year when presents  giving is everything, we’re hosting our annual “12 Days of Christmas” Giveaway. But, tricky us, it’s actually two giveaways, each one comprised of six books from our preferred genres. Read on to see what books are included in each prize package and enter for your chance to win! Both giveaways are open to U.S. residents only and end on January 5.

Serena’s Prize Package

“What the River Knows” by Isabel Ibanez (Review)

“The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill” by Rowenna Miller (Review)

“The Foxglove King” by Hannah Whitten (Review)

“The Liar’s Crown” by Abigain Owen (Review)

“Belladonna” by Adalyn Grace (Review)

“The Stardust Thief” by Chelsea Abdullah (Review)

Enter to win!

Kate’s Prize Package

“Beneath the Surface” by Kaira Rouda (Review)

“How To Kill Men and Get Away With It” by Katy Brent (Review)

“The Girl from Rawblood” by Catriona Ward (Review)

“What Never Happened” by Rachel Howzell Hall (Review)

“We Don’t Swim Here” by Vincent Tirado (Review)

“Edenville” by Sam Rebelein (Review)

Enter To Win!

Year of Sanderson: Book Boxes!

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“Year of Sanderson” is an on-going, monthly series that will post on the last Friday of each month in which I will cover various Brandon Sanderson-related things. This will largely be comprised of book reviews (some from his back catalog and some from the books being released this year), as well as assorted other topics like reviews of the items in the swag boxes that will be coming out as part of Sanderson’s Kickstarted campaign. Frankly, we’ll just have to see what we get from this series, very much like the Kickstarter itself!

Here we are, at the end of my “Year with Sanderson” review series! In the end, we’ve covered several of his stand-alone works, the popular “Mistborn” trilogy that catapulted him into the public eye, one of his many novellas, and, of course, the four new books that came out this year. So, lastly, I wanted to talk a bit about the monthly boxes that were an option in the Kickstarter campaign that launched it all!

I signed up for the Kickstarter campaign the day it was announced. There was no question that this was definitely for me, and I was excited to get beautiful, special editions of these four new books. That being the case, I initially signed up for the books-only option. This lasted, ohhhh, a day before I was right back on the Kickstarter site changing my pledge to include the monthly boxes that were being offered as well. Initially I was a bit wary as I’ve had poor luck with book box stuff in the past (often a lot of repetitive, low quality items) and I end up just stashing things places and then re-gifting somewhere along the line. And there was also a steep price tag attached to this option. But I figured if there was ever going to be a book box that would hit it out of the park, this would be the one. And, yep, I was right about that!

First of all, here are all four of the new books. Obviously this picture doesn’t do justice to the amazing quality of these editions, but I had to include it anyways. Even if I hadn’t gone the book box route, I would have been extremely pleased just with these books. The spines alone are eye-catching! But I also wanted to include this picture as it highlights one of my favorite items in all of the boxes: a set of “Mistborn” book ends! Each book end had a different character, and they are stylish and eye-catching. This one, featuring Vin, is my favorite of the two, but the set as a whole is very cool. I’ve moved them around on by bookshelf several times to try to best highlight them. I have dark wood bookshelves, unfortunately, so the black sometimes fades into the background. But I finally moved them to a lighter bookshelf, and they look great there, especially this one paired with these editions.

Next I wanted to highlight the very cool character pins that were included in every box, so we ended up with a total of 12. I’m not planning on keeping them in the wrappers for forever or anything, but I don’t currently have a good pin display set up, so this is what we’re left with. There are a few more of the pins in next pictures, but I mostly have them sprinkled around my bookshelves willy nilly. All of my favorite characters ended up with pins, so I have to say, whoever was choosing which characters to feature, they clearly have very good taste! There’s also a nice balance of characters from many different books and series, so I think most fans were happy with the selection.

I really can’t emphasize enough how high quality were the items in this box! Knick knacks these were not! If I didn’t mind this post being miles long, I’d have included them all! In this picture you can see a few of my favorites: the beautiful leather mini backpack, a great bathroom/vanity bag with all sorts of great pockets, the super cute stuffed Soonie pup (I’ve been diligently protecting this one from my kids who both think any stuffed animals that come into our house must automatically be theirs), and a heavy duty bottle opener. Not pictured, a few other things that come to mind was a really awesome wax stamp set (wooden handle, metal stamp, melting wax included), a lovely set of four coasters, some cool magnets, postcards, and even car air fresheners! There was such a wide variety to what was included, and all of it was unique from what you typically find in book boxes.

You can just barely see the second half of the book end set in this picture (and you can see what I meant by the display problems I have with my shelves!). But this picture also includes my favorite pin for my favorite character, Vin from “Mistborn!” There were also these neat “Elantris” band-aids that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get myself to actually use, and a cool display model of Nightblood, the sword so central to “War Breaker.” The sword is metal, not plastic, and is another example of the high quality. Can’t say it enough, I was so impressed with all of these items!

And lastly, it may seem strange to include a picture of one of the boxes itself, but again, the high production value on all of this required this picture. Every box was specially made for this campaign and had quotes that were tied to the general theme of the box. Everything was also packaged perfectly and I didn’t have a singled broken or damaged item in any of my twelve boxes. Honestly, I’m going to start up this next year feeling kind of bereft not having these boxes to look forward to every month! I’m so glad I pulled the trigger and went for it with this part of the Kickstarter campaign. It felt like a truly unique moment in state of fantasy fiction, and I was glad I was along for the entire ride!