Author: thelibraryladiesmn

Giveaway: “The Sin On Their Bones”

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Book: “The Sins On Their Bones” by Laura R. Samotin

Publishing Info: Random House Canada, May 2024

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

Book Description: Set in a Jewish folklore-inspired reimagining of 19th century Eastern Europe, this queer dark fantasy debut pits two estranged husbands and a daring spymaster on opposite sides of a civil war.

Dimitri Alexeyev used to be the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Now, he is merely a broken man, languishing in exile after losing a devastating civil war instigated by his estranged husband, Alexey Balakin. In hiding with what remains of his court, Dimitri and his spymaster, Vasily Sokolov, engineer a dangerous ruse. Vasily will sneak into Alexey’s court under a false identity to gather information, paving the way for the usurper’s downfall, while Dimitri finds a way to kill him for good.

But stopping Alexey is not so easy as plotting to kill an ordinary man. Through a perversion of the Ludayzim religion that he terms the Holy Science, Alexey has died and resurrected himself in an immortal, indestructible body—and now claims he is guided by the voice of God Himself. Able to summon forth creatures from the realm of demons, he seeks to build an army, turning Novo-Svitsevo into the greatest empire that history has ever seen.

Dimitri is determined not to let Alexey corrupt his country, but saving Novo-Svitsevo and its people will mean forfeiting the soul of the husband he can’t bring himself to forsake—or the spymaster he’s come to love.

Giveaway Details: To celebrate Pride month, we are happy to host a giveaway of “The Sins On Their Bones” by Laura R. Samotin! With its intriguing cover and captivating description blending fantasy and historical fiction, this one has definitely been making its way steadily up my TBR list. Perfect for readers looking for their next beach read this summer, don’t miss out on this chance to win your own copy!

The giveaway is for an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this book and it will ship directly from the publisher. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and ends June 16.

Enter now!

Kate’s Review: “Anna Bright Is Hiding Something”

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Book: “Anna Bright Is Hiding Something” by Susie Orman Schnall

Publishing Info: SparkPress, June 2024

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: What some women will do for success…

A fast-paced and ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and New York City new media, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something explores our culture’s fascination with businesswomen who are breaking barriers—and sometimes behaving badly in the process.

Anna Bright is committing fraud. But nobody knows it yet. Not the board of her multibillion-dollar company, BrightLife; not her investors; not the media; not the public breathlessly anticipating the imminent launch of BrightSpot.

Jamie Roman, a hardworking journalist for BusinessBerry, is, no surprise, in awe of her company’s billion-dollar valuation, her polished confidence, and her hustle. But when Jamie learns about Anna’s misconduct, she embarks on a bicoastal journey to expose the crimes in the hope of making a name for herself as a journalist. It’s not long before Anna learns what the young reporter is up to, however—and she’ll do anything to stop Jamie, especially now that BrightLife’s IPO is days away.

With news of the deceit about to break, each woman will risk everything for her version of the truth . . . and only one will emerge unscathed.

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

Back in 2019 I read the book “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyou, which was about the rise and fall of Theranos and it’s lying founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who defrauded many many people for a lot of money by promising her tech could do something it absolutely could not do. Then a few years later the Hulu miniseries “The Dropout” came out, which is about the same thing with Amanda Seyfried as Holmes, and my husband (who had been following the Theranos scandal in real time) watched it and really enjoyed it. So when I found an offer to read “Anna Bright Is Hiding Something” by Susie Orman Schnall in my inbox, the story alone caught my attention, as it definitely sounded inspired by Elizabeth Holmes and her shenanigans. And given that I love a scandal and a mess, I obviously had to read it.

For people familiar with the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal, this will follow some similar beats, but that isn’t to say that it just lifts that story completely and makes it fiction. In part we follow Jamie, an intrepid and ambitious reporter who starts to investigate Anna Bright, the CEO of BrightLife whose upcoming ocular implant is boasted to change the way we see and gather information. Jamie starts to hear rumors of unrest at BrightLife after initially being in awe of the CEO, and when she smells a story that could define her career, she jumps on it. I liked Jamie’s character, as it’s always refreshing to see a flawed but easy to root for character take the reins in a story like this, and Jamie is all that and more. She has every reason to strive to prove herself, whether it’s because she’s a woman in an environment that can be sexist in a lot of ways, or because of being worried about being the shadow of her journalism giant father (and with whom she has.a tricky relationship). And I liked seeing her get the scoop, and enjoyed the suspense of wondering just what she was going to find, and what consequences there could be should she REALLY cross Anna and her own ambitions.

And then there is the choice to follow Anna, a choice that could have been a bit dicey as having our primary antagonist a perspective is a risk that can, in general, go really well, or really poorly. In this instance I thought that it was effective, as we not only get to see what kind of manipulative sociopath that Anna is, and not only do we get to see how she’s buying time and shutting all naysayers down, but we also get to see her start to realize that Jamie is on to her, and what lengths she will go to to stop the story, and the truth, from coming out. Schnall walks a really fine line, as she never makes excuses nor sympathizes for Anna’s unethical and downright dangerous lies and fraudulence, but she also isn’t painted as a cartoony villain. It’s very fun to watch these two women play a game of cat and mouse, while also watching the narrative critique some of the aspects of the scandal as it unfolds that could apply to real life (misogyny towards women in tech, the way that BIPOC women are especially targeted, the way that men who do similar things don’t receive the same level of scrutiny, and so forth). I also appreciated that while this is more of a contemporary novel, the suspense and thriller elements are still well done with the intrigue and as these two women set out to take each other down.

If you are looking for a page turner this summer and enjoy a good tech company scandal, “Anna Bright Is Hiding Something” ought to be put on your book pile. It’s very enjoyable.

Rating 8: Gripping, timely, and a little bit soapy (in a good way), “Anna Bright Is Hiding Something” is an entertaining page turner and a grand cat and mouse story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Anna Bright Is Hiding Something” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but if you want the real life parallels I would recommend “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyou.

Serena’s Review: “The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King”

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Book: “The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King” by Carissa Broadbent

Publishing Info: Bramble, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.

The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.

When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.

But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.

Previously Reviewed: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night”

Review: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” was one of those rare books where I actually could see what all the hype was about! Were there familiar concepts employed? Sure. Was the romance fairly straight-forward? Yes. Was the twist a bit predictable? Yeah. But you know what? The characters were interesting, thought had clearly went into the world-building, and the writing was compelling. And most of all, I simply had a fun time reading it! All of that to say, this was one of my most highly anticipated sequels for the first half of the year!

So, this book didn’t quite reach the highs of the first book, but overall, it was still an excellent sequel! For one thing, I appreciated the way some of the reveals at the end of the first book were followed up on here, most especially Oraya’s relationship with her recently deceased father. While most readers are here for the romantic relationship, I think it is this complicated father/daughter relationship that really holds the true character arc of this story. As the story progresses, we peal back layers of trauma and crippling expressions of love. There is clearly darkness in this relationship, and much of this book is Oraya attempting to reconcile the man she grew up with with the man her father truly was. But instead of taking the easy way out, Broadbent doesn’t simply vilify this character and go from there. Instead, the story explores the nuances of this relationship, the way that love, hatred, and fear can become so wrapped up in one another as to be nearly indistinguishable. How people can hurt those they love best, all while convincing themselves that they are protecting them.

As for the plot, while the “Hunger Games” style competition of the first book was a fairly familiar device, I did find myself missing it some here. I often enjoy books that get into the nitty gritty of court politics, but for some reason I struggled to enjoy this elements as much here. For one thing, I felt like most of the players were fairly obvious, with the reader largely already knowing who stands where, who can be trusted, and what must be done. That being the case, much of the story then feels like a waiting game for our main characters to catch up.

I did enjoy the romance, for the most part. Again, due to the events of the first book, there’s definitely a slow build up in this area. Oraya’s trust has been broken badly, so it takes quite a while for her to come around again. And while this is understandable and necessary for good characterization, it did make the first half of the book drag a bit. I did appreciate, however, that Raihn was simply all-in on this relationship and simply spent the majority of the relationship wooing Oraya back to him.

I’m not sure how I feel about the decision to include POV chapters for Raihn in this book. On one hand, we learn more about his own history, which was very interesting. But on the other hand, his POV lead to one of my biggest annoyances with the book: the repetition of the phrase “there she is.” He would say this whenever Oraya seemed to return to her fierce, feisty self. The first time, it was kind of cute. The second time…ok, I see what we’re doing here. But then it just kept happening! Seriously, I stopped counting the number of times he said this at a certain point. All of the romance of the line was completely sapped and it instead turned into one of those annoying phrases that immediately threw me out of the book whenever it came up. I wish an editor had flagged this as something that needed to be paired back. Broadbent is a talented writer, so I know she’s capable of better writing then this level of repetition indicates.

Overall, however, I found this to be a completely satisfying sequel! It came through in all of the ways I wanted (a satisfying conclusion to the romance and central conflict) and even tackled a level of depth and nuance with regards to Oraya and her father’s relationship that I wasn’t expecting. There were a few writing quirks that got on my nerves, and I do think the plot dragged a bit in the first half. But that said, I think book will likely please fans of the first book, and I’ll be on the lookout for the next book Broadbent releases!

Rating 8: Full to the brim with romance, court politics, and family trauma, an excellent sequel all around!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King” is on these Goodreads lists: New Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and Romance Novels with King in the Title.

Kate’s Review: “Follow Her Down”

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Book: “Follow Her Down” by Victoria Helen Stone

Publishing Info: Lake Union Publishing, June 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a print copy from the publicist.

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

Book Description: Decades of doubt, fear, and suspicion won’t let a woman overcome her trauma in a riveting novel of suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Jane Doe and The Hook.

The murder of Elise Rockwood’s sister shattered her family. Their mother’s anxiety kept her housebound. Elise’s paranoid brother, Kyle, saw conspiracies everywhere. Elise numbed her grief in an aimless lifestyle that left her emotionally broken. All of them victims. A local boy eventually confessed, but the damage was already done.

Years later, Elise is reinventing herself. She’s bought a mountain lodge to be close to home again and to find stability. Not even an email from her ex tempts her into revisiting the past. But Kyle won’t let it go. He still believes there’s more to their sister’s murder—and the confession—than meets the eye. When Elise’s ex is found dead in the same forest where her sister went missing decades before, Elise is finally willing to listen.

The traumas of the past are reemerging. So is the truth. Elise’s greatest fear now is who will survive it.

Review: Thank you to Lake Union Press and Kaye Publicity for sending me an print copy of this novel!

I feel like after having a fair amount of focus on horror for awhile I’m finally getting back into throwing in thrillers to balance it out. And there have been some pretty good ones that have come my way without me seeking them out. One of which is “Follow Her Down” by Victoria Helen Stone. I hadn’t read anything by Stone before, but the premise of a woman still reeling from her sister’s unsolved murder years before caught my attention pretty handily. I had no idea what to expect, but I was very pleased with this one.

The mystery is solid and entertaining. We follow our protagonist Elise, a standoffish woman who owns a campground whose older sister Robin disappeared decades ago, and whose death basically destroyed her family. When her ex-lover Christian reaches out after radio silence, and Elise rejects seeing him again, his body is found in the wilderness near her campground, which also happens to be in the same area Robin disappeared years earlier. It’s a good set up, and it was interesting seeing how Christian’s murder may or may nto be connected to Robin’s, especially as Elise’s obsessive brother Kyle starts to hyper-focus on the possibility. I liked Elise as a protagonist as she tries to steer focus away from herself by law enforcement, while also trying to convince herself that Kyle is just doing his usual conspiracy theory nonsense, even as more and more strange clues pop up that could be convincing. Elise is flawed and damaged, which always has the potential to be a little cloying in the genre, but Stone does her justice, mostly because she herself is the skeptic as opposed to the loose cannon.

But what I liked the most about this book was that there was such a focus on the way that the trauma of a missing person can have shattering effects on the people in their lives. For Elise it’s the way that she has shut herself off from most people in her life, focusing on her campground and trying to not think about what happened to Robin all those years ago, unable to connect with many people. For Kyle, he dives into conspiracies and dodgy theories of cover ups, hyperfixating on improbable things because at least with the improbable things there is some kind of explanation. For their mother, she rarely leaves the house, her anxiety too much to bear. While there are plenty of thrillers with the theme of a lost family member that touch on the fallout, I thought that this one really nailed the way that a family can be torn apart due to unresolved trauma, resentment, and survivor guilt. The relationship between Elise and Kyle in particular could turn on a dime, so much so that it would be deeply uncomfortable and at times completely heart wrenching. I do wish that the book had kept this theme the focal point more, and hadn’t succumbed to more well worn tropes to the genre.

At the end of the day, “Follow Her Down” is a suspenseful and at times deeply upsetting thriller that doesn’t hold back in a lot of ways. I had hoped it stuck more to the more unique aspects to the story, but it was an enjoyable read overall.

Rating 7: An emotional mystery that examines unresolved trauma and the havoc it can cause, “Follow Her Down” is raw and at times devastating.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Follow Her Down” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on the Goodreads Shelf “Missing Women Books”.

Serena’s Review: “Fiasco”

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Book: “Fiasco” by Constance Fay

Publishing Info: Bramble, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: Cynbelline Khaw is a woman of many names. She’s Generosity, a cultist who never quite fit in. She’s Bella, the daughter who failed to save her cousin’s life. And then there’s Cyn, the notorious bounty hunter who spaced a ship of slavers.

She’s exhausted, lonely, and on her very last legs―but then a new client offers her a job she can’t refuse: a bounty on the kidnapper who killed her cousin. All Cyn has to do is partner with the crew of the Calamity, a scouting vessel she encountered when she was living under a previous alias. One tiny little issue, she’s been given an additional deliver the oh-so-compelling medic, Micah Arora, to the treacherous Pierce Family or all her identities will be revealed, putting her estranged family in danger.

Hunting a kidnapper doesn’t usually mean accidentally taking your sexy new target to dinner at your parent’s house, a local mystic predicting you’ll have an increasingly large number of children, or being accompanied by a small flying lizard with a penchant for eating metal, but, as they field investigative hurdles both dangerous and preposterous, Cyn and Micah grow ever closer. When a violent confrontation reveals that everything Cyn thought about her past is wrong, she realizes that she has the power to change her future. The first part of that is making sure that Micah Arora is around to be a part of it.

Previously Reviewed: “Calamity”

Review: I’m always so pleased when I come across a new author, especially one who is writing in a subgenre that you don’t see much of, in this case romantic science fiction! I’m even more pleased when I read a second book from the same author and can confirm that it was more than a “one hit wonder” situation! And such has been the case here; while I think I might still have preferred “Calamity” to this book, “Fiasco” is an excellent book in its own right!

I had a guess that these would be the two characters we followed in this book, based off which side characters were best set up in the first book. That said, from what we had there, I knew a lot more about the male love interest, Micah, the ship’s medic, than the mysterious woman who flits in and out of that story. That left this book with a lot of blank canvas to tell a fresh story about a character who was practically brand new to the readers. And Cyn turned out to be fantastic! In many ways, she is a much more tragic figure than our original leading lady. Carrying around not only a ton of family baggage, Cyn is also plagued by crippling PTSD from traumatic events in her past. Her life up to this point has been largely solitary, so much of her arch in this story is learning how to trust and depend on others, especially challenging perhaps with the force of personalities that make up the crew of the Calamity!

The plot revolves around a serial kidnapper, an individual Cyn has spent the majority of her life chasing down. There were a number of twists and turns here, and I enjoyed them all! I found a few things a bit predictable, but as so much of the story really depends on the reader caring about Cyn’s own growth and feelings, I think this worked fine. The last third of the book, in particular, was very action packed and there were a few moments that ratcheted up the emotional stakes so high as to be quite thrilling.

The story also delves a lot into family trauma and the way tragic events can re-shape an entire group of people. I really liked a lot of what we saw here between Cyn and her parents in particular and their mutual realizations that they didn’t truly understand one another. At the same time, much of the first half to three quarters of the book presents most of these family members in a pretty negative light, and even understanding their circumstances, Cyn was more forgiving than I was. I wish there had been a little bit more push back on some of the tactics they used and how unhealthy the way that they treated Cyn truly was.

As for the romance, it was sweet, but I think this was the area where the story took a clear second to the first book in the series. While I liked Micah as a romantic lead, I never felt like I really understood the connection built between him and Cyn. The reader isn’t given many reasons for why these two characters are drawn to one another, only that they are. This was all the more frustrating because in many ways Micah’s character is the sort that I particularly enjoy as a leading man in romance novels: quiet, but incredibly capable, with deeper wells of emotion buried deep. But, again, it felt like much of this wasn’t fully utilized as the love story progressed.

Overall, however, I very much enjoyed this book! Cyn’s arc was incredibly sympathetic, and the overall plot was action-packed and thrilling. The love story was also sweet, but if there was one area that I think could have used just a dash bit more…something…this was it. Either way, I’m fully on board with this series and can’t wait to see what comes next!

Rating 8: A great leading lady, a thrilling adventure, and a story jam-packed with family trauma, and that’s all before you even get to the swoon-worthy romance!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fiasco” is on this Goodreads list: June 2024 Most Anticipated Romance Releases

Kate’s Review: “youthjuice”

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

Book: “youthjuice” by E.K. Sathue

Publishing Info: Soho Press, June 2024

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: American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation.

A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE, a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.

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

I am someone who has very little knowledge about skin care and beauty routines outside of knowing that I need to hide my pale pale body from the sun at all times. It probably doesn’t help that I absolutely cannot abide the feeling of any kinds of lotion on my skin, which makes skin care a little trickier. But even though I know very little about the beauty industry and anti-aging fads and techniques, I was still interested in giving “youthjuice” by E.K. Sathue a whirl. The cover itself is eye catching, with a pale pink background and a simple beauty jar with a bit of blood dripping from it. What’s not to love, really? After all, in a time when skincare and anti-aging beauty products have delved into the likes of bloodletting strategies like vampire facials (with some sometimes horrendous results), this kind of thing seems ripe for the picking in body horror, and Sathue rises to the occasion.

(source)

First let’s talk horror elements, because “youthjuice” has them in spades. Firstly, we have the obvious body horror stuff, as we follow Sophia Bannion as she begins a new job at the beauty company HEBE, and finds out that the new product she is testing ‘youthjuice’, may have some pretty macabre origins and ingredients. It’s a bit of a spoiler, but I’m sure that one can guess based on the book cover alone, that this new product contains some human derived ingredients, with some horrifying means to procure them. It’s still a pretty jarring trope, though it has a long and storied run not only in fiction (vampires living off of blood in their immortality), but also world history (Elizabeth Báthory, anyone?), and Sathue revives it here for a new generation, with a bit of an influencer and capitalistic twist. And it makes for some pretty gory and downright disgusting beats, with descriptions of blood of all types and conditions being thrown on the page. There were some bits that could have been expanded upon more in terms of cause and effect, though perhaps the ambiguity will work better for others reading it. The other horror aspect that I mostly enjoyed was Sophia herself, and how we come to find out she is an unreliable narrator of sorts, and why that is. We blend the modern day with a flashback to a time during her youth where she is learning about desire, power, and attraction, and how she comes to value these things in a way that turns her into the ambitious young woman in a new job that has some pretty dark secrets. It didn’t reinvent the wheel per se, but it worked for the story and I found it believable to the character and her arc.

And there are, of course, the satirical elements of this book that lampoon not only the beauty industry as a whole, but also the framing of a ‘mysterious girl boss’ leader who has captured the imaginations of her acolytes, her fans, and the industry as a whole. The CEO of HEBE is Tree Whitestone, an almost ethereal being of a woman whose is poised, articulate, charismatic, and ageless, who promises beauty and youth to her followers and consumers while exuding power and grace. Sathue paints the perfect picture of a dynamic engaging leader of a brand that feeds on a cult like devotion as well as a social media induced sense of FOMO, and how devotees with do just about anything, including getting into bathtubs full of actual blood, to have a chance to experience the newest miracle product that will surely solve their problems by restoring their youth. I couldn’t help but think about more recent online discourses about aging and beauty products/surgical options being used by younger and younger people because of this fear. Bathing in blood is pretty farfetched, but remember the vampire facials thing I mentioned above? It’s in the same general vicinity, I’d say.

“youthjuice” is an intriguing horror tale that parodies the beauty industry with some gross bits of body horror. It will be a fun pool read for the summer I would say.

Rating 7: An entertaining satire with some gnarly body horror moments, “youthjuice” is as enjoyable as it is, at times, disgusting.

Reader’s Advisory:

“youthjuice” is included in the Goodreads article/book list “From Time Travel to Tech Startups: Five Cross Genre Trends We’re Noticing”.

Highlights: June 2024

It’s official: Summer is here! Serena is planning to spend as much time outside as possible, as this season can feel all too short in Minnesota, and Kate is planning on also being outside, but shaded by an umbrella at the local pool. Oh, and the ALA Annual Conference is at the end of the month, and you know we will be there! But until then, we have some books that we are looking forward to this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King” by Carissa Broadbent

Publication Date: June 4, 2024

Why I’m Interested: The first book in this duology, “The Serpent and the Wings of Night,” is probably my favorite purely romantasy book I’ve read in a while! It also ended with some big reveals and then dropped readers with a massive cliffhanger. That being the case, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this sequel for a while! While I’m expecting the late-game reveals in the first book to greatly affect the political stakes and lead to much in-fighting and shifting, I’ll be honest: I’m mostly here for the romance and I can’t wait to find out how Raihn and Oraya navigate this shift in their relationship. How do you rebuild trust in this situation? I’d typically be more concerned going in, but Broadbent wowed me with the first book, so I feel fairly confident that she’ll be able to bring it all together here in the end!

Book: “Foul Days” by Genoveva Dimova

Publication Date: June 25, 2024

Why I’m Interested: I’m always on the lookout for a new author and an original-sounding story! And this book promises both! The story follows a witch who has spent her life fighting the monsters that plague here walled city. And for the last several, this fight has included a constant state of flight from the most powerful of them all, the Zmey. So when she finds herself caught up in a murder investigation alongside a frustratingly dedicated policeman, she’s dismayed to find their investigation drawing them closer and closer to this terrifying being. I have incredibly high hopes for this ones!

Book: “A Rivalry of Hearts” by Tessonja Odette

Publication Date: June 12, 2024

Why I’m Interested: This is another one coming out from an indie author whom I’ve never read before! But this book sounds so much like others I’ve enjoyed before (“Emily Wilde” and “Half a Soul” come to mind) that I knew I wanted to check it out the moment I saw it! The story follows an author who goes on a book tour in the land of Fae, a place she’s never been but where her romance books are incredibly popular. Only problem is that she must share the press with a rival author, a frustrating Fae himself. We can all see where this is going, right? I know I can, and I’m here for it!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Horror Movie” by Paul Tremblay

Publication Date: June 11, 2024

Why I’m Interested: The most obvious reason is that it’s Paul Tremblay. But since I have to go into more detail than that, I will say that the idea of Paul Tremblay, one of my favorite horror authors, tackling a ‘cursed film’ story and no doubt bringing his own brand of creepy disturbing and pathos ridden terror to it is SO tantalizing. We meet a nameless man who had been the slasher in a hardcore art house horror film made on a shoe string budget with his friends, but it never saw the light of day due to on set tragedy. And then people involved in the film just kind of died over the years. When three scenes were posted online and the buzz and rumors of a cursed film made it go viral, Hollywood wants to make a reboot, and want him involved. And how can be do anything but accept? This is a most anticipated read of the year for me, and I’m sure it will destroy me.

Book: “Middle of the Night” by Riley Sager

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Wby I’m Interested: One of the sure signs of summer is that Riley Sager has a new thriller coming out, which makes perfect sense because his thrillers are the PERFECT summer reads. So many twists, so many turns, so many messy protagonists! In this one we have a man still deeply haunted by the disappearance of his childhood friend when they were kids, living in a quiet community that was completely blindsided by the crime. When he returns to his childhood home decades later, he tries to keep it together. But in the middle of the night he hears strange noises outside, and sees a strange figure skulking around his yard. Could it be his friend? Or is something more sinister at work? I’m SO excited to find out!

Book: “Not In Love” by Ali Hazelwood

Publication Date: June 11, 2024

Why I’m Interested: I really love Ali Hazelwood’s romances, ever since I absolutely devoured “The Love Hypothesis”, so of course I’m excited for this book! I always enjoy her awkward and quirky (and potentially neurodivergent coded) protagonists, as well as the science-y themes even though I am not science minded in the least, and “Not In Love” sounds like it’s taking a forbidden romance trope and tossing some STEM on it! Rue is a biotech engineer for a promising startup run by a close friend and mentor. But when a corporate takeover by an outside group threatens her job, she is determined to stave it off as best she can…. the only problem is that one of the outsiders, Eli, is someone she knows and kind of connected with. And now they are sharing a heavy attraction to each other in spite of being on the opposite sides. I’m sure it will be spicy and humorous and charming.

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

Serena’s Review: “How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying”

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Book: “How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying” by Django Wexler

Publishing Info: Orbit, May 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.

This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

Review: This book had a lot of things going for it when I first picked it up. For one thing, I’ve really enjoyed all of the books I’ve read from Django Wexler in the past, including his most recent trilogy which just finished up a year or so ago. So he’s an author I’ve read recently and enjoyed. Secondly, I typically enjoy fantasy novels that take a comedic, tongue-in-cheek approach to storytelling. T. Kingfisher, for example, is one of my current favorite authors, and all of her books have a distinct humorous aspect to them. All of this to say, when I actually started reading this one, I had high hopes. But by the time I’d finished the last page (a feat unto itself, honestly), those hopes had thoroughly crashed and burned.

I can see the bones of a good story here, and I know that Wexler is a capable author, able to create unique worlds and people them with characters with whom readers can become invested. However, this book seemed to fall into one simple problem in almost every arena: excess. Take any single good idea, but then see that thing multiplied by a million. This applies to every area, but the first and most obvious has to do with the humor itself. It simply doesn’t let up! It’s joke after joke after joke in what quickly becomes an exhausting exercise of pure endurance. The reader is never given the necessary moments to really sit with the characters, to take any sort of breath and find a reason to actually care about the people and what they’re going through. Instead, it’s just a barrage of quips and takes.

One clear example is the use of footnotes. Now, I think this technique can be very successful if used well. But one of the key parts, in my opinion, is knowing exactly when and how to use a good footnote. Here, not only did these fall into the same category of used to excess, but the notes themselves were simply the same sorts of jokes found in the narrative. There was no rhyme or reason to why certain quips warranted a foot note and why another would simply be inserted into the body of the story.

Other than the sheer amount of humor that was packed into this book, much of it failed to land on its own merits. I don’t consider myself prudish by any means, but right off the bat, many of the jokes felt overly crude and crass. At many points, it felt like shock value was being prioritized over actual humor, and I found myself cringing more than anything through much of this.

As for the plot mechanics, I liked the overall idea of a “Groundhog’s Day”/video game scenario where whenever the main character dies she “respawns” at the same starting point and must make her way forward from there once again. But this quickly became tiresome, and in the beginning of the book, much of this history is simply presented to the reader, something our main character is already resigned to. Again, the reader has very few opportunities to truly become invested in her situation.

By the time I finished this book, all that remained was sheer exhaustion. I know that Wexler can write good fantasy; I even know that he can write humorously, as most of his novels included good, quippy characters who made me laugh. I’m not sure what went wrong here. It’s almost like he set out with the goal to right a comedic book and got so carried away with this one feature that he left out all of the rest. I honestly can’t recommend this one to most readers. Perhaps if you read the first page or so and the style of humor is working for you? But for most readers, I think this is a severe departure from the quality of Wexler’s previous books.

Rating 5: The jokes didn’t land and there were too many of them; a very disappointing read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying” can be found on this Goodreads list: Best Outside-the-box Speculative Fiction (maybe not “best” though).

Serena’s Review: “Heavenbreaker”

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Book: “Heavenbreaker” by Sara Wolf

Publishing Info: Entangled: Red Tower Books, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: Bravery isn’t what you do. It’s what you endure.

The duke of the powerful House Hauteclare is the first to die. With my dagger in his back. He didn’t see it coming. Didn’t anticipate the bastard daughter who was supposed to die with her mother—on his order. He should have left us with the rest of the Station’s starving, commoner rubbish.

Now there’s nothing left. Just icy-white rage and a need to make House Hauteclare pay. Every damn one of them. Even if it means riding Heavenbreaker—one of the few enormous machines left over from the War—and jousting against the fiercest nobles in the system.

Each win means another one of my enemies dies. And here, in the cold terror of space, the machine and I move as one, intent on destroying each adversary—even if it’s someone I care about. Even if it’s someone I’m falling for.

Only I’m not alone. Not anymore. Because there’s something in the machine with me. Something horrifying. Something…more. And it won’t be stopped.

Review: I’ve been waiting and waiting for the romantasy buzz to shift to include more science fiction as well. We’ve had a few examples (“Calamity” and the upcoming sequel come to mind), but there still isn’t much out there. But I’ve had my eyes on this one for a few months, as it seems to promise to be just what I’ve been looking for! True, the romance seems secondary in the blurb, but it’s coming out from Red Tower, which is Entangled’s SFF imprint, so one imagines a love story will be prominent somehow. All of this to say, I was incredibly excited when I was approached to review this title, and here we are!

Let’s get two things out of the way from the start: 1.) the blurb is accurate as far as the balance between the romance and the rest of the story goes (which is to say, the romance is quite light) and 2.) man, I loved this book and have zero complaints about any of point #1! I’ll talk more about the romance a bit later, but this is one of those strange situations where I’m worried that this book might be missed by several readers who would love it simply because it’s coming from an imprint that is known to focus heavily (almost exclusively!) on steamy romance stories! And while I think those readers will still enjoy this one (though there really is no spice involved), this is also the kind of science fiction story that I think would appeal to many fans of the larger genre, particularly readers who enjoyed “Red Rising” or “The Will of the Many!” Rather than romance comparisons, these are the true read-alikes for this book and I so hope that it makes its way out into the broader SF reading crowd!

Like those two books, this one is heavy on action, full of blockbuster moments, features nobles and their political maneuverings, all told from the perspective of a hero who seeks to tear it all down, and uncovers even deeper truths while she’s at it! Seriously, the twists and turns, the reveals and surprises just kept coming from the start all the way to the end! There were perhaps a few things that I could guess, but the way that it all worked together was so well-thought out and interesting. The history and culture of the space station all perfectly align to create the systems that our heroes are trapped within, with recognizable power dynamics with regards to wealth and status, but new twists with regards to the history of humankind and a dangerous enemy that was fought centuries ago. Other than book read-alikes, this one was an intriguing combination of “Pacific Rim” and “A Knight’s Tale,” as well, two things I don’t think I’d ever have put together in my head, but somehow, here, it works!

I also really loved all of the characters we followed in this book. Yes, plural. But this is one of those examples that I always point to when I think of multiple POVs done right. There is still one, distinct leading character who is driving the story, whose personal arc is the foundation of the book, and who receives the vast majority of the page time. The other characters are all peppered in between, offering unique glimpses into other aspects of this world, brief windows into the mindsets of love interests, rivals, and unknown forces. All of this works together to broaden the perspective of the reader, while also allowing us to focus deeply on the main character arc at its heart.

I also think this approach worked well for the romance. As I said, the love story is definitely secondary to the main plot following Synali’s quest for revenge, her travails in the jousting competition, and her discovery of the truth of the station’s history and its technology. Even just listing it off there, it’s easy to see how the book had more than enough plot to go around without adding in a complicated romance. Instead, we have a fairly simple, reserved love story that is very much still at its beginning stages. Synali’s focus is largely elsewhere, but we feel the draw between these two characters. And, while we didn’t have many chapters from Jax’s perspective, what we did have was very important to more fully flesh out a character who could have come off as a bit of a himbo/playboy. Even with only a few chapters, we see the pain of his childhood and begin to understand the unique draw he feels towards Synali, helping to save the love story from feeling a bit like an “instalove” situation on his part.

As you can probably tell by now, I really loved this book! It was so fast-paced and fun, I stayed up way to late reading it several nights in a row! The only downside is that it ends on a fairly major cliffhanger (and there are still some questions, at least in my mind, about exactly what is going on and the choices of some characters from the past). But, at the same time, these are effective hooks to get me amped up to pick up the second book as soon as possible! If you’re here for just the romance, you might be disappointed. But on the other hand, I think this is an excellent book for a much broader group of science fiction readers, especially those who enjoy action-packed reads like “Red Rising!”

Rating 9: What a crowed-pleaser! Another blockbuster in the making, perfect for fans of “Red Rising” and “The Will of the Many.”

Reader’s Advisory:

“Heavenbreaker” can be found on this Goodreads list: Upcoming Romantasy Releases 2024

Kate’s Review: “Miracle in the Andes”

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Book: “Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and my Long Trek Home” by Nando Parrado

Publishing Info: Broadway Books, May 2007

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.

Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.

As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.

Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.

Review: This past winter a friend and I kind of became momentarily obsessed with the story of the Old Christians Rugby Team from Uruguay whose plane crashed in the Andes. It started when “Last Podcast on the Left” covered it and we were texting back and forth, then we both watched “Society of the Snow” separately, and THEN we got together to watch the 1992 film “Alive”, the first movie adaptation about the amazing survival story, which stars Ethan Hawke. Hawke plays Nando Parrado, one of the rugby players who eventually trekked down the mountain to find help. Mind you he did this with his companion Roberto Canessa after being on this mountain for two months, in the cold, and becoming weaker and weaker and more and more malnourished (yes yes we will talk about that in a bit). I decided that the next obvious step in my hyperfixation was to read about it, and I got Parrado’s memoir “Miracle in the Andes:72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home”. Because Nando Parrado is such a badass, and I wanted to read it from his perspective. So this Spring I finally got around to reading it, and yep. Badass.

Nando Parrado tells an immersive and intense story, jumping right in from when he awakens for a multi-day coma and finds that the airplane that was carrying his rugby team, as well as some fans and family members, has crashed in the peaks of the Andes during a flight from Uruguay to Chile. If you’ve seen “Alive” or “Society of the Snow” or have ready any of the other books about this crash, you know that for those who didn’t die on impact it was a grueling ordeal to survive, and in order to do so the remaining survivors had to resort to anthropophagy, or the consumption of the dead (it’s not cannibalism; that implies killing specifically for the food or with some ritualistic purpose). Parrado talks about the time on the mountain, his memories of his experience being brought to vivid life through his descriptions and his ruminations, reading like a Krakauer book (and I mean, the new edition has a cover that looks a LOT like the style you see on Krakauer’s books, AND it quotes him, so I’m not far off at all). I felt like I was seeing everything he was talking about, and while I was familiar with the story due to my hyperfocus on it this past winter I still found him recalling details that I wasn’t aware of, and having his insight added a whole other layer to it. Especially since he was so insistent on going by foot to find rescue almost from the jump, and was almost always one of the ones to be honest and pragmatic even in the most horrifying of situations. Parrado doesn’t mince words when it comes to how he lobbied to eat the flesh of the dead passengers because he knew that it was the only way to survive in the long term while developing a plan, and I really enjoyed how matter of fact he was about his experiences and the huge role that he played without seeming like a blowhard. Because if anything he has earned the right to be a blow hard, as their ultimate rescue was due in large part to him and his tenacity and bravery, marching down that mountain with Roberto Canessa after two months of being stranded in the middle of nowhere while their environment did everything it could to kill them. It is such an amazing story, and from his POV it’s all the more amazing.

But what struck me most about this memoir was Parrado’s candor about the way his survival experience reshaped the way that he thought about faith and God, and how he redefined (or the very least reexamined) his own faith and views of fate, destiny, and what a miracle is. While many of his teammates seemed to lean more into their faith after they were rescued, Parrado had a different circumstance than many of the people on the plane, in that he was traveling with his mother and sister, and they both died. So while many of those survivors were thinking that their survival was an act of God, Paraddo felt differently. To him, he couldn’t wrap his head around a miracle of survival not including everyone on the plane, and decided that it wasn’t going to be God to save everyone, and it had to be themselves. Parrado had the inner strength and drive to get off that mountain, and he and Canessa surely achieved a miraculous feat by traveling for MILES in the state their bodies were in, with no climbing experience, in treacherous environmental conditions, and getting a rescue mission started with their journey down, but he is very honest with being basically unable to credit a higher power with the survival. That isn’t to say that he’s a full on cynic; on the contrary, he does believe in the miracle of a human’s ability to love and how that can drive a person to do amazing things, and finding the miraculous within that. His love for his father and other sister really kept him going, as he wanted to be able to come back so that their grief, while still monumental, wouldn’t have included grieving over him along with his mother and sister. It struck me as a different conclusion than so many survival stories come with, and while those experiences aren’t bad by any means (experience is, after all, subjective), it was just fascinating seeing a different perspective that felt almost humanist at its heart, especially when so many of his compatriots feel like something divine was at work. All of this being presented in his own words makes it all the more fascinating, and his writing style is so easy to follow that I felt like I had no problem getting into his head as I was reading.

“Miracle in the Andes” is a nail biting and inspirational memoir about survival in a nearly hopeless situation, told by a man who not only lived it, but also led the way to salvation. I cannot recommend it enough to people who love survival tales.

Rating 8: An immersive and awe-inspiring (and at times devastating) tale of survival against the odds and the triumph of the human spirit, “Miracle in the Andes” is a heart pulsing memoir with lots of honestly, introspection, and hope.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Miracle in the Andes” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best True Survival Stories”, and “Non-Fiction Disaster Books”.