Category: Joint Reviews

Joint Review: “Overgrowth”

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Book: “Overgrowth” by Mira Grant

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, May 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate received an eARC from NetGalley,

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

Book Description: Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

This is just a story. It can’t hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she’s an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it’s already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia’s biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

Kate’s Thoughts

I have read a fair amount of Mira Grant, and have mostly enjoyed basically all of the stories I have read! I really enjoyed the “Feed” Series, and also liked “Into the Drowning Deep”, and I always find her horror stories fun and incredibly readable. So when Serena approached me asking if I wanted to do a joint review of her newest book “Overgrowth”, I immediately jumped on board. Sure it sounded a bit more Science-Fiction-y, but at the same time the idea of plant aliens invading Earth sounded a lot like “Little Shop of Horrors”! And plus, it was Mira Grant! I had high hopes!

Me picking up this book, before disaster inevitably struck (source).

But. I did not like this book. What did I like? Well, I did like the little nods to “Little Shop”, including Stasia having a cat named Seymour, which REALLY tickled me. And I liked that Grant continues to do a bang up job of having great rep for LGBTQIA+ characters in her books, this time having Graham, Stasia’s trans boyfriend, being a well rounded and compelling player in the story. I even liked the way that Grant draws comparisons between the treatment of marginalized groups being Othered with Stasia and her own Othering as an alien who never hides who she is, and is seen as weird and treated as such by others.

But the not so good. The first thing is that the pacing is a bit stilted. It can go from feeling like it’s lagging and slow, to going WAY too fast by the end (once we got to the invasion itself, VERY close to the end of the book, it was warp speed, and that was jarring). The second thing is that this is definitely more heavy on the Sci-Fi than it is horror, and that genre just isn’t for me outside of some very VERY specific parameters. But the biggest issue for me includes a spoiler, even if it’s very early in the story and will be clear pretty quickly, but still, be warned: SPOILER ALERT. We have a very gruesome scene almost right away in which a three year old little girl gets consumed by an alien plant, in lots of really unsettling and upsetting detail. With little to no warning. This is just the kind of stuff that I really can’t abide anymore in books that I read, and had I known that it was going to include that, I wouldn’t have read it. Is this probably more of a ‘me’ problem than a problem with the book? Yeah, almost assuredly. But it really turned me off, and there wasn’t really any recovery in regards to my reading experience, so my review stands as such.

Will “Overgrowth” work for others? Yeah, probably! But for me, I didn’t enjoy it.

Serena’s Thoughts

I largely agree with Kate. While I have read Mira Grant’s “Feed” series, I’m more familiar with Seanan McGuire (Mira Grant is her pen name for most of her horror and horror adjacent titles) and her fantasy works, all of which I’ve enjoyed to some extent or another. But yeah, this one was a struggle.

Kate already touched on the pacing, and I completely agree with her assessment there. I’ll also add that tonally the book felt equally out of sync as it did with its pacing. It starts out in an incredibly dark and gruesome manner (I’ll also talk a bit of spoilers in my last paragraph and will warn you ahead of time!) and then ends in a way that, I felt, was also pretty dark. But in between it seemed to be almost going for a romcom-like tone? There were a bunch of quirky characters and found family moments and much more emphasis on the love story than I had been expecting. Of course, I’m never one to complain about a love story, but, again, the romcom-like tone of the love story sat uncomfortably alongside the more serious aspects of, you know, the world being invaded by plant aliens.

I didn’t mind the science fiction elements nearly as much as Kate (obviously, since this is a preferred genre of mine). But at the same time, there’s a reason I don’t read horror, and for me, this book highlighted my struggles with that genre. So, it’s kind of funny in how predictably Kate and I reacted, with regards to our priors of genre preference! Mostly, this came down to the darker aspects of the horror elements. By no means do I need every book to wrap up with flowers and rainbows, but I also tend to struggle with the horror genre with the morally grey/questionable/is it really over?? type endings that you sometimes find. And this one…yeah, I couldn’t feel great about any of it. However, I do want to applaud the author for following through on her concept.

Likewise, and here come the spoilers, I had similar feelings about the beginning. Right away, you know it’s going to a dark place in that first chapter. And she GOES THERE. So, on one hand, I can appreciate that she didn’t shy away from the horrific nature of what she was writing. But on the other hand, yeah…I, too, could have lived without reading this scene. I don’t think I’m overly sentimental as a mother, but there are definitely new lines that I really try to avoid crossing in my media consumption, and this was a perfect illustration of that exact line. Beyond the scene itself being hard to read, I never really recovered. I know it’s not the main character’s “fault” that this happened, but I couldn’t ever really invest in her either, with this horrible image constantly in my mind. Like Kate said, this was definitely a personal reaction to this scene, and other readers may not struggle with it as much.

So, there ya go. Unfortunately, this one didn’t really work for either of us. But I also think it’s one of those reads that others may enjoy much more!

Kate’s Rating 4: This just didn’t work for me, in spite of the “Little Shop of Horrors” nods and the well done representation of queer and trans characters. I had high hopes that weren’t met.

Serena’s Rating 5: I think that trigger warnings can definitely go too far and get into spoiler territory sometimes, but one definitely could have been used here! Other than that, some mismatches in tone and pacing also let this read down for me.

Reader’s Advisory

“Overgrowth” is included on the Goodreads list “2025 Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction”.

May The Books Be Ever In Your Favor: A “Hunger Games” Book List

It has been a very long while indeed since we have done a book list based on what we think characters from a beloved franchise would like to read. But with the new Suzanne Collins “Hunger Games” book “Sunrise on the Reaping” finally out, we were inspired to bring this back once again! Here are some books that we think would pair well with some of our favorite characters in Panem!

Katniss Everdeen: “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien

We’re pretty sure that we’ve recommended this classic fantasy to other fictional characters before, but it was just too on point to not pick it for our reluctant hero Katniss Everdeen, who ends up being the symbol of a revolution in a brutal dystopian world. Katniss and Frodo Baggins, after all, have a fair amount in common, at least in terms of how their journey progresses. Both find themselves with a huge amount of responsibility that they never wanted or anticipated, with Katniss becoming the Mockingjay and Frodo becoming the Ringbearer. Both are devoted to their loved ones, whether it’s Katniss’s fierce protectiveness over sister Prim, or Frodo’s love for his community in The Shire. And both find themselves deeply traumatized and carrying a heavy burden as their journey gets harder and harder, and more and more loss and despair is heaped upon them. But like Frodo, Katniss knows that she can’t give up, and after all is said and done, while she is still haunted by her ordeal, much like Frodo she does, ultimately, find peace.

Haymitch Abernathy: “The Simple Sabotage Field Manual” by the OSS

Haymitch Abernathy was Katniss’s mentor during her first Hunger Games, and was a winner of his own (and is the protagonist in “Sunrise on the Reaping”), and while he was helping train Katniss and Peeta, he was also working within the system to start the rebellion against Panem during “Catching Fire”. And because of his inner workings before the full on rebellion, I think that he would have found value in “The Simple Sabotage Field Manual”, a guide written by the United States OSS to resist against Nazi/authoritarian rule in Nazi occupied/ wartime Europe. It’s a quick read, with lots of practical and easy information on how to gum up the works and resist against authoritarian oppression, and it was declassified in 2008 for anyone to read. As a rebel working inside as a mentor who ends up playing a huge part in overthrowing Snow’s regime, we think this would be a good choice for him.

Johanna Mason: “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger” by Soraya Chemaly

Johanna is one of Kate’s very favorite “Hunger Games” characters, and one of those reasons is how angry she is from the moment we meet her until the moment we say goodbye. And rightfully so! Like so many victors, she was subjected to a horrific Games, and even as victor she still lost everything and everyone important to her thanks to Snow and the Capitol. Only to be thrown into the Quarter Quell, into a rebellion, and into a hostage situation thereafter. Of COURSE she was angry. And because of that, she would probably really enjoy, or at least relate to, “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger” by Soraya Chemaly. In this non-fiction book, Chemaly examines the reasons a woman may be enraged, from microaggressions and mild sexism that she is subjected to every day, to outright violent misogyny that leads to pain and harm. It also encourages women to turn that anger into a tool against their oppressors. And man, would Johanna REALLY love that.

Peeta Mallark: “Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree

Peeta is the OG soft boy king. And as such, he deserves all the nicest things, including one of the most wholesome cozy fantasies currently published! Really, I think the entire cozy fantasy genre was made for this character. And while there are plenty of books in this subgenre featuring bakeries, I thought that the coffee shop found in this one would fit just as well. Beyond the coffee/pastries of it all, I think the strong focus on re-creating a life for oneself after many previous years of violence would appeal to a character like Peeta. The found family aspect, I think, would also appeal, for a character who naturally inspired trust and friendship from others.

Coriolanus Snow: “Vicious” by V.E. Schwab

This is a quote from the book: “Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” I mean, can that be more perfect for a character like Snow? While Snow definitely goes the straight villain route, most of the characters in this book take the anti-hero route. But as the prequel shows us, characters who turn down dark paths often have many moments when they could have chosen a different direction. The book also has a strong emphasis on themes of ambition and the risks we are willing to take in the pursuit of power. What’s more, we see what happens when these risks go wrong, and the lessons that are (and are not) learned. Themes that definitely hold true for Snow, though we know where it all leads for him, and it’s not great.

Effie Trinket: “The Selection” by Kiera Cass

Effie is an interesting character, in that she clearly cares for Katnis and Peeta in her own way and has brief heroic moments. But she’s also fully bought in to the Hunger Games system and revels in all the benefits that she reaps from her involvement in it. And, of course, she is something of a trend setter in the fashion world! That being the case, the blending of ruthless competition and glittering ballgowns found in “The Selection” would be a perfect fit for Effie! If given the choice, I’m sure she would have preferred a competition that focused on jewels and gowns all in the pursuit of a handsome prince, rather than the brutality of the Hunger Games. Rather than perhaps empathizing with the heroic main character of this trilogy, however, Effie would likely have preferred the role of the party master behind it all!

Joint Review: “The Bane Witch”

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

Book: “The Bane Witch” by Ava Morgyn

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Griffin, March 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: ARC from the publisher/Netgalley

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

Book Description: Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things – plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become… concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story. But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger – it’s a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters – Bane Witches – women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men. Piers sets out to earn her place in her family’s gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle’s cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she’s been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing – it’s time to feed. In Ava Morgyn’s dark, thrilling novel, The Bane Witch, a very little poison can do a world of good.

Serena’s Thoughts

There are a few go-to authors that Kate and I like to joint review, as we’ve both reliably enjoyed their books in the past. This author, I believe, is new to both of us! But we’ve both enjoyed “Practical Magic,” so with a comparable like that, plus the promise of a thriller-like mystery at its heart, we both thought this would be a good candidate to check out!

Unfortunately, for me, this was just ok. And part of that is the simple fact that it skewed further into the thriller genre and away from the fantasy genre than I typically prefer. So that’s nothing against the actual quality of that portion of the story (see Kate’s opinions there for a more reliable source on this genre!), but it does speak to the balance of this book. And I think for fantasy readers, specifically those looking for a read-alike for “Practical Magic,” this might feel like a bit of a let down. Instead, I think the “Gone Girl” reference made a lot more sense, and better fit, tonally, with what this book had to offer. Sure, the witchy stuff was definitely there, but the general plotting and themes fell much more in line, I think, with a thriller than with a typical fantasy story.

I also struggled to really enjoy Piers herself. In the beginning, she comes across as incredibly competent and thoughtful, as one would need to be to successfully pull of faking one’s own death. However, as the book continued, and especially towards the end, she began to make an increasing number of ridiculous decisions that just didn’t vibe with the sort of person we had first been introduced to. Her actions and various plot points felt jammed together in unnatural ways that served to push the story forwards in the direction the author wanted to go, but didn’t necessarily make sense on their own.

For me, this was just an ok read. I didn’t think the magical elements really lived up to my hopes, and I didn’t really connect with its thriller roots. I also struggled to enjoy Piers as a main character. However, readers how are more interested in the mystery and the serial killer angle might enjoy this more than I did!

Kate’s Review

Well, Serena knows me very well, because this one worked for me on many levels! Part of that was the mystery and thriller elements, to be sure, as I love a story with a serial killer and a woman who has to play a cat and mouse game with him. I also liked the suspense that builds up within the book as the story goes on, whether it’s due to the aforementioned killer that Piers is trying to track, albeit against her will, or the stress involving her abusive ex husband Henry and the cops on her tail after her faked death. Heck, I even liked the suspense regarding whether or not the other bane witches are going to accept Piers into their circle. I will say that as we got closer to the end, things went a little bit off the rails, which put a bit of a wrench in the pacing and how I connected to the story, but I thought that the plot itself was strong enough that I wasn’t too put off by it.

But what worked the most for me were the magical systems that Morgyn created for this book, as the idea of a witch being able to consume poison and transfer it to dangerous and deadly men to take them out is SO appealing to me as a horror reader who also loves witchy books. And I actually disagree with Serena a little bit, because I did get “Practical Magic” vibes from this, specifically the darker themes of that movie (I may not be speaking for the book, it’s been awhile since I’ve read it so lets just stick to the film) like violence against women, women taking their power into their own hands in dire circumstances, and the complicated relationships between families where estrangement and trauma is a very real wedge between people. So many of these things really click for me in my witch fiction, and I thought that Piers coming into her own as a dangerous but righteous bane witch was a fun and engaging arc (though I definitely agree that she does make some REALLY dumb decisions in the later third of the novel, no arguments there). And I always like witch stories that work outside the expected box, or outside of what we usually see in the sub-genre, and a bunch of mountain witches using poison magic was VERY fun and not something that I see as much.

Overall I found “The Bane Witch” to be a really entertaining witch tale, hitting all of the notes I had hoped it would.

Serena’s Rating 7: An interesting concept with the poison magic, but I struggled to connect to Piers and wanted more from the fantasy elements in the story.

Kate’s Rating 8: A fun and deliciously wicked witch tale with poison, empowerment, and a unique magical system. Add in a solid suspense vibe and it’s overall a winner.

Reader’s Advisory

“The Bane Witch” is included on the Goodreads lists Vampires and Werewolves and Witches…Oh My! and Poisonous Plant Fiction Titles.

Joint Review: “Lucy Undying”

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

Book: “Lucy Undying” by Kiersten White

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: We received ARCs at ALAAC24.

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

Book Description: In this epic and seductive gothic fantasy, a vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire, and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches–and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn when, in twenty-first-century London, she meets another woman who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. But she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris, while Iris is mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by forces from without. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl again.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

Kate’s Thoughts

I am going to preface my review with some caveats. The first is that I have genuinely enjoyed all of the books that I have read by Kiersten White. Like, not a clunker in the bunch in my experience. The next is that I have a very, very personal connection to the original story of “Dracula”, as I read it in my all time favorite college class which was taught by my very favorite professor turned friend Andy, who tragically passed away due to a brain tumor far too young, and his analysis and contextualization of the novel made for very rewarding reading. And I really liked the idea of approaching Lucy Westenra, who was basically a character to be a tragic woman victim to drive the men in her life towards justice, to get some more complexity and time to shine. After all, we know that women don’t have to just be victims there for man pain. With these things in mind, I was so, SO anticipating “Lucy Undying”, White’s newest retelling and reimagining of a classical piece of Western literature. My hopes were so high.

And man. I really didn’t like this book.

There are many things that I didn’t like about this book and I don’t want to turn this into a long rant, so I will do my best to keep this brief. What I will say is that I started out liking it for a bit. Some of the set up was promising. But then it fell apart once we got into the nitty gritty. This book is told in multiple perspectives. The first is Iris, a woman living in the modern day who is trying to escape the clutches of the toxic MLM that her family, particularly her now dead mother, has been running and has made them powerful and dangerous. When she arrives in London to try and sort out some property that her family has, she finds the diary of Lucy Westenra, the tragic victim of vampire Dracula (but also almost everyone around her) centuries before. Iris has also met the mysterious ‘Elle’, who is quite obviously vampire Lucy. Along with the present day, we have TWO perspectives from Lucy. The first is her diary from her time shortly before becoming a vampire (which Iris has found), as well as transcripts from therapy sessions that let us know what Lucy was up to AFTER her turning and before now. It’s a hefty amount to juggle, and unfortunately it isn’t juggled very well, feeling meandering and bloated. It’s a lot of telling instead of showing when it comes to Lucy and her exploits, and it makes the pacing lag as we jump between the three. I wish that one had been cut completely to be frank. And then to make matters more convoluted, the tone does a sudden shift later in the book, and it feels like two different novels being combined into one, but shoehorned in in an awkward fashion.

But the most egregious thing to me was how in an effort to bolster Lucy up beyond the admitted victimized waif that she was in the original text BASICALLY EVERY OTHER CHARACTER FROM “DRACULA” has been turned into a devious villain who meant to do her harm. And look, I get the drive to do so. I wholly understand the way that many women were treated during the Victorian era by the men in their lives. I can understand wanting to make The Five Heroes perhaps not as gallant as the original text did, that maybe they were men of their time with all the baggage that comes with it. Hell, I can even perhaps get into the debate of trying to treat a dying Lucy with blood transfusions when she wasn’t REALLY consenting to it (though it sure wasn’t unheard of, and I know this because I once worked in a historic upper class Victorian house in St. Paul that has SO MANY medical horror stories, especially for the women). But making Dr. Seward a psychopath? Making Quincy a total dumb dumb? Making Arthur scheming for more wealth? MAKING VAN HELSING AN ‘OLD PERVERT’?! Hated it. And the biggest sin? Mina is not exempt from this. So what is supposed to be a feminist re-envisioning makes the choice to throw the only other woman from the original text under the bus to make Lucy look better and wronged and scorned and etcetera etcetera. It’s the same lazy trap that that vanity project “Maleficent” fell into, and I HATED that movie and I really disliked this book because of this. I admit that I may be too personally fond of the original story to really give this the fairest of shakes, but this kind of approach almost always sticks in my craw, beloved text or not.

I do have a positive I will share because it’s only fair to do so after this long rant of a review: I absolutely loved the predatory Utah based MLM storyline, Goldaming Life and how Iris and Lucy connect to it. In the author’s note White mentions that she’s writing a book that does more Utah MLM culture deconstruction and oh my GOD I am SO here for that. Though in another moment of ranting, Arthur’s title in “Dracula” was spelled “Godalming”, not “Goldaming”. I think this was just a misspelling as there was no indication that misspelling was intentional. I’m hoping this will be corrected in the final product.

I still intend to keep reading Kiersten White’s books, as overall I still really like her as an author. But I really disliked this book, which was such a disappointment because I had such high hopes for it.

Serena’s Thoughts

If I just type “same” and call it good, would that count for my half of this joint review? But honestly, much of what Kate expressed was my own experience as well. I want to re-emphasize truly how much of a shock this was. Like Kate, I’ve loved every book I’ve read by this author. Sure, I’ve had favorites (I particularly enjoyed her “Vlad the Impaler” trilogy), but none of them have whiffed nearly as badly as this one did. I’m honestly not sure what happened. It could be simply a case of the author having too much tied up in her own head canon regarding Lucy (as she admits in the author’s note in the end), and then the story itself was lost in the shuffle.

I’ve only read “Dracula” once, so I don’t have the same deep ties to the story as Kate does. That being the case, I was happy enough to go along with the reinterpretation of some of these characters. But very quickly, I ran into the exact problem that Kate expressed: the “reinterpretation” was the same for every single character, namely, they were all terrible people in comparison to Lucy. I really lost it, however, when this carried over to Mina. I truly dislike it when authors attempt to write “feminist” re-tellings of classic characters and the way they end up showing this is by demonizing the other women surrounding them. It’s just icky. This was made all the worse for Lucy then being written as your tried-and-true special snowflake who literally inspires every other woman around her and, yes, essentially ends WWI all on her own.

Beyond that, while I think the modern day story was better written, I don’t feel that it fit comfortably alongside Lucy’s own history that was slowly unfurled through diary entries and therapist notes. It also wasn’t helped that, personally, this storyline was simply of less interest to me. I can see that it was better done, but my original draw to this story was in the original “Dracula” time period and characters (I’ll also say that I think the cover is a bit misleading, as it definitely leans towards a more historical/gothic vibe than the large chunks of contemporary horror/thriller storylines that we got here).

Overall, I have to agree with Kate in pretty much every way. This was a disappointing read, all the more so for it coming from an author who has been such a sure thing in the past.

Kate’s Rating 3: A huge misstep from an author I usually quite enjoy, “Lucy Undying” is bloated, convoluted, and relies too much on demonizing other characters in order to bolster Lucy up. Very disappointing.

Serena’s Rating 3: A bizarre missing of the mark from an author who has had great success tackling similar re-tellings in the past.

Reader’s Advisory

“Lucy Undying” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Vampire Books” and “The Vampire Renaissance”.

Joint Review: “The Seventh Veil of Salome”

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

Book: “The Seventh Veil of Salome” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publishing Info: Del Rey, August 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate received an eARC from NetGalley;

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

Book Description: A young woman wins the role of a lifetime in a film about a legendary heroine — but the real drama is behind the scenes in this sumptuous historical epic from the author of Mexican Gothic.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

Before the curtain comes down, there will be tears and tragedy aplenty in this sexy Technicolor saga.

Kate’s Thoughts

I am always game to read a new book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, as she has truly proven herself to be a literary powerhouse who can easily jump from genre to genre. She has done horror, fantasy, Sci-Fi, romance, thrillers, she really nails every genre she takes on. Because of this I was very excited for “The Seventh Veil of Salome”, as not only was it a historical fiction novel, it also had a focus on 1950s Hollywood and all the glitz, glamor, and tragedy that comes with it. As someone who loves that kind of thing, I went in with very high hopes.

I can safely say that this was a bit of a mixed bag for me in spite of my high hopes. But that has a bit less to do with execution and more to do with my expectations, I am willing to bet. Mostly because I have absolutely no background knowledge of the story of Salome, being someone who grew up with no religion in her life and no experience with even the Biblical epics of Hollywood from this time (no I haven’t seen “The Ten Commandments”, or “Ben-Hur”, or “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, or anything like that). I had never even heard of her until I picked up this book, and I feel like that made the parts of the book that followed her not as interesting as they could have been. I had no way to understand what Moreno-Garcia was doing with her story and how it was subverting or reinterpreting the original story, and I found myself skimming those sections. That said, I REALLY enjoyed the parts of the book that followed Vera Larios, a recently discovered actress from Mexico who is set to play Salome in a 1950s Biblical epic, as Moreno-Garcia really captured the way that Hollywood was such a fantasy, but also cutthroat, racist, and misogynistic, especially in the time of the studios having lots of power and morality codes running amok. Watching Vera rise and fall, due to the nastiness of those surrounding her, was compelling and incredibly engaging.

So while some of “The Seventh Veil of Salome” was a bit lost on me, the Hollywood plot was really well done. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has done it again!

Serena’s Thoughts

In the funny way that these things tend to work, I had the opposite experience of this book while also coming to the same ultimate conclusion! In the end (as you’ll see), I rated this one the same as Kate did, as certain parts worked well for me, but other didn’t as much. The opposite part is that I was much more invested in the Biblical story of Salome than I was in the Hollywood story! Even with a fairly thorough understanding of Bible stories, Salome is not a character who is often explored. She has a throw-away scene that is rarely explored in any depth, which makes her the ideal character for a story such as this that attempts to flesh her out into a more actualized character. I found her entire story fascinating (though I’ll admit that having familiarity with Bible stories and history will likely help readers in this part). I also enjoy historical fiction, so simply genre-wise, this was the part of the story that connected with the type of book I often gravitate towards.

However, the Hollywood story was a bit more of a mixed bag. It seems that Moreno-Garcia is on a bit of a kick with old-time movies as her last book also focused on the history of Mexican cinematography. Unfortunately for me, I’m not really interested in these topics, so they don’t hit as well for me as they do for fans of Hollywood and cinema history. That said, I was pleased to see the return of Moreno-Garcia’s classic POV villain. She excels at writing characters you love-to-hate, and here was another classic example! That said, like Kate with the Salome story, I did find myself skimming through some of the Hollywood story lines.

I think the take-away here is that there is no denying this author’s talent, especially at genre-hopping and taking on obscure stories and points in history. This one is a combination of two very different storylines, so parts may work for certain readers, and other parts for other readers. Or you’ll be that unicorn reader who has been on the look-out for a book that covers lesser-known Bible characters AND Hollywood history!

Kate’s Rating 7: I really enjoyed the Hollywood parts, but the actual story of Salome dragged a bit for me at times. All in all, a solid historical fiction tale from a literary chameleon!

Serena’s Rating 7: On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Bible characters parts, but struggled more with the Hollywood storyline. However, the author remains an incredibly solid writer and I can’t wait to check out her next title!

Reader’s Advisory

“The Seventh Veil of Salome” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Hollywood and Theatre Fiction”, and “Anticipated Literary Reads for Readers of Color 2024”.

Blog Tour & Joint Review: “Not in Love”

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Book: “Not in Love” by Ali Hazelwood

Publishing Info: Berkley, June 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: eARC from blog tour!

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

Book Description: Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through – and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who’s off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business – one that plays for keeps.

Serena’s Thoughts

First of all, I’ve loved being included in these blog tours and truly appreciate the opportunity to participate! I’ve loved most books I’ve read by Ali Hazelwood, up to this point, so I was excited to check this one out! Unfortunately, I have to admit up top that not only was this my least favorite book by Hazelwood so far, but it was a let down of a read for me in most ways. Now, of course, this is a subjective take, especially the things that didn’t work for me, and many of my complaints may work great for others!

First of all, I was disappointed to find that this was a duel POV romance story. Hazelwood has always been a favorite of mine for the simple fact that she writes single POV love stories, something that I always prefer. And, I’m sorry to say, but I think the change in format was for the worse in general. More often than not, I feel like authors end up using duel POV as a crutch when conveying the a love story. Instead of showing the romance building, the narrative simply switches between POVs where both characters simply tell the reader how much they adore the other. And we had much of that here. Gone was much of the nuance and the romantic scenes/action that show the characters growing to love one another.

What’s worse, given the nature of the way this relationship builds, instead of telling the reader how much they each are growing to care for one another, we ended up with a whole lot of inner thoughts about simply wanting to jump into bed with one another. The male POV was especially rough in this arena. I don’t care to repeat the number of times he reflects on how great of a lay Rue is. This is all fine and dandy, but not something I need to be in someone’s head to hear about repeatedly.

I also thought the balance was off in this book between the spice scenes and the emotional development: there was too much of the former and not enough of the latter. Rue, in particular, had an interesting background and I enjoyed learning more about her backstory and watching her come out of her shell a bit. But for his part, Eli felt a bit too much like your standard “golden retriever esque tech bro” type character. He also seemed to immediately fall into instalove/lust with Rue from their very first scene together, which didn’t leave the story anywhere to go for him.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love this book, which I’m so disappointed to report. I’ve really enjoyed Hazelwood’s romances in the past, but many aspects of this were just never going to be for me (the duel POVS, the balance of spice to plot, etc.). Others who like these elements may enjoy this one more.

Kate’s Thoughts

There is a reason that Ali Hazelwood is probably my favorite romance author, and that is because in some ways I know exactly what to expect, but in other ways she knows how to catch me off guard. I usually know a few things about what I’m going to get into with her novels, and that is they are always going to have quirky and science minded protagonists, and there will be some steamy spicy moments. “Not In Love” is no exception to this, and it still works for me for the most part. I really enjoyed our female lead Rue, as she was probably Hazelwood’s most coded as neurodivergent character yet, and I am always going to be ALL about that kind of representation. Especially since she is never put down or made to feel bad for it by those who matter. I wasn’t as big of a fan as Eli, and it’s for the same reasons that Serena lists above. But I DO appreciate that Hazelwood has been experimenting a bit within her sub genre approaches as of late, whether it was a stellar dive into paranormal romance in “Bride” or a tamer and more chaste take on YA romance in “Check and Mate”. In this one she explores kink and BDSM as Rue and Eli do their forbidden lust/romance, and I kept thinking about “Secretary” as I read, which is a good thing because that movie is WILD and oh my GOD JAMES SPADER. Anyway. I have no experience in the BDSM/kink community so can’t speak to how accurate it is, but I like that Hazelwood is expanding her horizons.

But I do find myself agreeing with her frustration with the way the romance progressed as was presented, though in my case it may have more to do with personal preference more than anything else. I have been used to Hazelwood taking her sweet time with the romances in her books, building up the sexual tension and the friendship and intimate aspects to her love birds at.a pace that makes for lots of fun moments and then a HUGE pay off when they do consummate. Well in “Not In Love”, while there is a BIT of a wait, the sexytimes payoff is a bit sooner than a lot of her past books, and for me it felt like we were going off prematurely. Which I fully recognize is a bit of a silly criticism for a forbidden romance/no strings turned more romance. But it’s a tried and true pattern for me and my reading tastes that romances that have a lot of spice too soon don’t connect for me as well as that sweet sweet slow burn, and that’s, of course, incredibly subjective. I know plenty of people who will see this as a huge plus.

So while some parts of “Not In Love” didn’t quite click for me, I did enjoy other aspects of it like I have in previous books by Hazelwood. I still can’t wait for whatever she comes up with next.

Serena’s Rating 6: The duel POV hampered rather than helped the love story, and the spice scenes were not the best and overshadowed the plot.

Kate’s Rating 7: I like that Hazelwood continues to explore different angles and sub genres of romance, and I like how unapologetically neurodivergent Rue is. But as someone who really likes there to be some build up to spice for a slow burn pay off, “Not In Love” went a little too hard too fast for me.

Reader’s Advisory

“Not in Love” is on this Goodreads list: Rom Coms

Beach Reads: Summer 2024

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Back for 2024, here is a list of some more favorite beach reads! Perhaps a little early, but Memorial Day is the traditional kick off to Summer, after all, and that’s just a week away. “Beach read” is a very fast and loose term for books people read over the beautiful summer months when we really should be outside “doing things” but are instead reading…maybe outside. Some people see these months as an opportunity to slog through long classics (we’re looking at you “Moby Dick”) before the busy-ness of the fall starts up, but for the sake of this list, we’re limiting our choices to fast paced, mostly feel good books (though there’s some obvious leeway here for Kate’s horror tastes!) that could be easily brought along on vacations. So, still a very loose definition, but hey, we had to start somewhere! We will select one title for each of the genres we most read.

Serena’s Picks

Fantasy Title: “The Witchwood Knot” by Olivia Atwater

At this point, Atwater is pretty much my go-to author for cozy fantasy. It’s a tough subgenre for me, as I’ve discovered I’m often quite picky and find many cozy fantasies to be….well…a bit too cozy. Yes, yes, I want to sink into all the lovely feelings and cushy vibes as much as the next person, but I still need a solid plot, good world-building, and, most of all, some actual stakes to the story being told. Atwater always comes through for me! Not only are her books simply lovely and a delight to read, the perfect fantasy story to crack open on a sunny, carefree summer day, but her stories are never short on all of the other elements to make a great book. For example, this one is somehow both cozy and also an excellent gothic haunted house story. Should these things work together? No! But does she manage it? Absolutely! There’s also always a lovely romance at the center of the story, and this one is no different.

Science Fiction Title: “Heavenbreaker” by Sara Wolf

I have a full review of this one scheduled to come out in about a week and a half, but when compiling this review, I couldn’t resist including it for this genre! When I think of “beach reads” for science fiction, books like Pierce Brown’s “Red Rising” series always come to mind. And this book is an excellent read-alike for that story! The story follows a woman bent on revenge who enters a tournament in which she must face off against the noble houses of her space station riding a massive mecha type robot ala “Pacific Rim.” The story features all of the classic science fiction themes such as scheming politics, thrilling but dangerous new technology, as well as half-way understood alien enemies. It was a blast of read, and I definitely recommend it for those looking for a fun science fiction adventure!

Mystery Title: “The Tainted Cup” by Robert Jackson Bennett

Ok, so this is a bit of cheaty pick, because there’s no denying that this is also a fully-fledged fantasy novel at its heart. Gigantic beasts are crawling out of the ocean, for heaven’s sake. Not to mention the wacky, dangerous plants and magical memory powers of the main character. But, aside from all of that, the actual plot of the story is solidly a murder mystery. So much so that readers will quickly discover that not only is it a mystery, but it’s the sort that is leaning heavily on the “Sherlock and Watson” vibes of its central two characters: a seemingly all-knowing detective and her dutiful assistant. There were all of the good parts of mysteries that one could want, with numerous red herrings and plenty of clues that readers can piece together to form their own conclusions. I’ve always loved this author’s straight fantasy titles, but I’m always thrilled to find an author who can also mix and match genres, and this is a perfect example of that!

Historical Fiction Title: “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” by Melinda Taub

Sorry, not sorry, I’m doing it again! Yes, my “historical fiction” pick does have the word “witch” right there in the title, so there’s no hiding the fact that yet again I’ve picked a story that crosses genres. But what can I say, I’m a fantasy reader, so many of my subgenres will including that as well! Plus, this is the sort of story that while it includes a healthy dose of the fantastical, it also is best appreciated by those who have read “Pride and Prejudice” and other Jane Austen novels. As the title implies, it’s essentially a retelling of that novel but now seen through the eyes of Lydia. What’s most impressive is the way the author managed to create this fantasy version of Lydia and her story but also neatly lay it alongside the original story in a way that wouldn’t change that novel at all. As it stands, both could have existed side-by-side. It’s all quite clever and I enjoyed it immensely!

Kate’s Picks

Horror Title: “This Delicious Death” by Kayla Cottingham

I try not to go TOO scary for beach read horror picks, as sometimes something too frightful can bring down the mood of a frothy vacation setting. So I figured that the gal pal road trip tale that also happens to involve some sentient zombies would be a good choice for this, because woo! Summer and road trips go hand in hand! And zombies are just icing on the cake, baby! What I loved about “This Delicious Death” when I read it was how fun and genuine it felt, as four teenage friends go on a road trip while being ‘ghouls’, or people who underwent a transformation due to a mysterious illness who crave human flesh, but are pretty much satiated by the synthetic stuff. That is, until one of the friends goes feral and kills someone. Cottingham has fun dialogue and a keen eye for zombie tropes that she reinvents, and this one is a fun ride about friendship and sticking together through thick and thin.

Thriller Title: “Whalefall” by Daniel Kraus

Talk about an addictive LITERAL beach read! Well, ocean read, I suppose, but still, it’s close enough. I was completely taken in by “Whalefall”, Daniel Kraus’s thriller about a diver being swallowed by a sperm whale and trying to find his way out before he either a) runs out of air, or b) is digested. You want pulse pounding action? It has that. You want suspense? UH, YEAH, IT HAS THAT. But it also has an interesting examination of a strained/toxic father son relationship, and a tenacity about the will to survive in even the more dire of circumstances. I had a hard time putting this one down when I read it last year, and I think that it would be a great read for vacations because it just flows perfectly and keeps the adrenaline pumping.

Graphic Novel Title: “Wash Day Diaries” by Jamila Rowser

A slice of life narration that examines hair care days of four Black women who are best friends is my choice for this year’s graphic novel beach read because it just feels cozy while also feeling poignant in some ways. As Kim, Cookie, Nisha, and Devene go through the steps to work on their hair on the day set aside to do so, we get to learn a lot about each woman through what they are experiencing in that moment, as well as getting to see the bonds that they have with each other. Slice of life stories are sometimes tricky to get a handle on, but Rowser does a good job of giving the reader a true sense of all of these women and how they all complement each other. It’s a breezy read that has heart and depth, and I think it would be easy to hop in and out during a vacation.

Non-Fiction Title: “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jennette McCurdy

One cannot deny how eye-catching this title is, but once you read it you will wholly understand why Jennette McCurdy may feel this way in her runaway hit memoir about fame, abusive parental relationships, mental health, and finding one’s way after trauma after trauma. All with a serious wit and dark humor to it (the cover alone perfectly encapsulates this tone, trust me). Like many I tore through “I’m Glad My Mom Died” when it came out, as McCurdy, who was a child actor on a Nickelodeon show and pushed to success by her stage mother, who was also an abusive and cruel narcissist, recollects some very painful and horrible memories with a candor and tone that makes it highly readable AND laugh out loud funny without minimizing the pain she had to endure for so long. This one also feels a bit timely with the docuseries “Quiet on the Set” coming out this Spring, as McCurdy also makes reference to her time on a children’s show that was run by an abusive showrunner. I know this doesn’t sound like a beach read BUT I ASSURE YOU IT IS.

Joint Review: “Ghost Station”

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Book: “Ghost Station” by S.A. Barnes

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, April 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: NetGalley;

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

Book Description: A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.

Space exploration can be lonely and isolating.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS—a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she’s assigned to a small exploration crew, she’s eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.

While Ophelia focuses on her new role, her crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizer’s hasty departure than opening up to her.

That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something more sinister?

Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by… and the crew isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

Kate’s Thoughts

When Serena approached me asking if I’d be interested in doing another Joint Review of an S.A. Barnes book, I was game. I liked getting both our perspectives on “Dead Silence”, as it is both Sci-Fi and Space horror, and therefore in both our wheelhouses. I enjoyed “Dead Silence”, and reading up on “Ghost Station” was just as intriguing to me based on the description.

If I was mentally comparing “Dead Silence” to “Aliens” and “Event Horizon”, “Ghost Station” read like the sci-fi horror film “Prometheus” to me, with a crew getting in way over their head on a mysterious planet that has sinister secrets. In terms of the things I liked, I really enjoyed Ophelia as our protagonist, as she is both unreliable in a number of ways, but is also very driven for very personal reasons in connection to a dangerous mental disorder known as ERS. I liked not really knowing what her deal was beyond one straight forward incident, and an anxiety and shame about being a part of a notorious corporate family with immense wealth and unscrupulous morals. We slowly get to peel back her layers, and as she and the crew find themselves in a situation that keeps getting more tense and more dangerous, her secrets and their secrets combine to make for a good deal of suspense and mysteries revealed. There is also some nice space horror bits here, and some beats that really unsettled me. Particularly the way that Barnes shows a slow decay of various crew members sanity, for reasons that may not be as obvious as Ophelia would like it to be.

But all that said, this one felt like it was a bit heavier on the Sci-Fi elements this time around, and even though I enjoy Space Horror as a Sci-Fi sub-genre, if you tread a bit too far into the Sci-Fi, my brain just shuts off (this actually happened with “Prometheus” as well). There is no question that this book does have a lot of suspenseful and scary moments in it that worked for me, but they felt a little few and far between. This isn’t to be a criticism of this book because I imagine that this will work very well for the target audience of Sci-Fi aficionados (let’s see what Serena says!), but it just got into the Sci-Fi weeds a bit too much for me as a person who isn’t a fan of that genre.

“Ghost Station” will probably satisfy Sci-Fi fans who like space horror, but for this horror fan who doesn’t usually mess with that genre, it didn’t hit as hard as I’d hoped it would.

Serena’s Thoughts

While I liked this one more than Kate did (probably no surprise, as science fiction is a much-loved genre of mine on its own right, and the horror side of things was the more experimental thing), I also agree with many of her criticisms. For the most part, I enjoyed the science fiction elements we had here. Many of them are fairly standard fair as far as futuristic technology goes, but I thought they were presented and used in interesting ways.

I also thought the horror elements were good. There was definitely the slow build up of dread as Ophelia and the other members of the crew explore and piece together the mystery of what had happened before them. There were some legitimately creepy moments, but not enough to make the book unapproachable to more casual horror readers. That said, I think the horror aspects of the first by this author that we joint read, “Dead Silence,” hit me harder, some even popping up in my head at inconvenient times days later. Whereas with this book, moments were a bit freaky, but it didn’t stay with me in the same way.

I also struggled a bit with the pacing and character development in this one. While I think the slower nature of the building dread worked well on the spooky front, the pace overall seemed to drag, especially in the beginning. I kept wanting to rush ahead for things to start happening, and it seemed to take quite a long time to get to anything substantial. And, while I enjoyed discovering more about Ophelia, who she was and why she made the decisions she did, I also found myself more frustrated by some of her decisions and inner monologues than I did with the lead character in “Dead Silence.”

Overall, I thought this was was a serviceable science fiction horror story, though I don’t think it quite lived up to the high that was the author’s previous work.

Kate’s Rating 6: There are definitely solid horror moments, but this was a little too heavy on the Sci-Fi for me.

Serena’s Rating 7: A bit slow with regards to pacing, but an approachable book overall, especially for the more casual horror/science fiction readers.

Reader’s Advisory

“Ghost Station” is included on the Goodreads lists “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”, and “Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024”.

Book Club Review: “Much Ado About Nada”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Our current theme is Centuries, where we were given a random century and had to pick a book based during that time period.  For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Much Ado About Nada” by Uzma Jalaluddin

Publishing Info: Berkley, June 2023

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

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

Century: 21st

Book Description: Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she’s still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother’s unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it’s a far cry from realizing her start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada’s best friend Haleema is determined to pry her from her shell…and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference held downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn. And did Haleema mention Zayn’s brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn’t know is that Nada and Baz have a past–some of it good, some of it bad and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can Nada truly say goodbye to once was or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

Kate’s Thoughts

We all know that I am probably the least Jane Austen knowledgable person in our book club, as I always mention it whenever we tackle something Austen related because I can almost guarantee that I won’t have the context of the story in my mind. And this is very much the case in terms of “Persuasion”, as unlike the likes of “Pride and Prejudice”, “Emma”, “Sense and Sensibility”, and “Northanger Abbey”, not only have I not read it (or a zombie iteration of it), I haven’t seen ANY adaptations of it. So I was going in pretty much clueless with “Much Ado About Nada”, with no knowledge and only a Wikipedia summary to guide me. And that was just the first in a series of things that didn’t really click for me with this book.

First the good. I am always looking to expand my romance knowledge, especially when it is from more diverse perspectives which can lead to themes that may not be seen in other romances I’ve read before. And in this case, I really enjoyed following Nada, our modern Muslim protagonist who is trying to navigate a few pretty substantial setbacks in her life, such as a career defining idea being stolen from her, as well as running into an old flame named Baz at a Muslim convention. I think I’ve only read one other romance novel that has a modern Muslim couple, and which explores the dynamics of their romance through their cultural values and expectations, and I love having more at the ready for when I do find myself recommending books to others or to colleagues who are looking for certain stories for their community. This is all great.

But the downside is that 1) having no knowledge of “Persuasion” made it hard to find the comparisons and analogs, which is half the fun of these kinds of adaptations, and 2) the romance between Nada and Baz was a bit hard to buy. I think that Jalaluddin was fairly successful and translating the main romantic conflict in “Persuasion” to this more modern story (no spoilers from me here), and I generally liked the inner conflict of Nada and her somewhat prickly personality, but the chemistry wasn’t really there for me. And on top of that, this is a more chaste romance, and while that isn’t inherently a bad thing when it comes to romances for me, as while I do like a slow burn with a sexy pay off I also enjoy PG rated cuteness from time to time, if there’s no chemistry for said cuteness it just isn’t going to click for me.

I wholly get who the target audience is for “Much Ado About Nada”, but it isn’t me. This is a classic ‘Your Mileage May Vary” situation.

Serena’s Thoughts

Hi, it’s me! The resident “Jane Austen” expert! Not only have read all of the Jane Austen novels, but I devoted an entire year of the blog to reviewing the books and various adaptations. So, to say I’m familiar with “Persuasion” is an understatement. But in this case, I’ll say that Kate really didn’t miss out on much being unfamiliar with the story! Other than a few character names that are pulled from the original story and the broadest definition of “loose” references to the story, this book wasn’t served at all by being marketed as a “Persuasion” adaptation. Not to mention the wild decision to give it this title, clearly implying that this should be an adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing,” not “Persuasion. Seriously, it’s crazy to me that anyone thought this was a good idea!

I’ll agree with Kate about the book being a useful lens through which to learn more about modern Muslim culture and dynamics, and some of Nada’s exploration of the challenges before her were definitely interesting. It’s also useful from a librarian perspective to have book like this to point readers towards when they’re looking for romances that are closed door or prioritize different values with regards to intimacy and marriage.

That said, I didn’t particularly enjoy this read. Not only is this simply not my preferred style for a romance story, but I struggled to really like Nada or Baz. At various points I thought each of them could do better than the other. Nada, in particular, was perhaps the harder for me to swallow, simply because this had been marketed as a “Persuasion” adaptation. The original character, Anne, is one of the most solidly “good” heroine of all of Austen’s leads, perhaps rivaled only by Eleanor from “Sense and Sensibility.” That being the case, it was hard for me to reconcile that character as an inspiration for Nada, a woman who could come across as a bully at times and as someone who blamed those around her for her own situation at others. Neither of these traits could ever be laid at the feet of Anne Elliot. Now, Captain Wentworth was a more conflicted character, so some of Baz’s more frustrating moments could be argued as more in line with the original. But regardless, purely from an enjoyment perspective, I struggled to care about either of these two, either alone or together.

Overall, I didn’t love this one. It’s useful for reader’s advisory purposes for specific readers, but I’d not likely recommend it to general romance fans.

Kate’s Rating 5: I’m not as familiar with the source material and it wasn’t really for me as a romance, but I definitely know exactly who I would recommend this to and that’s always a plus.

Serena’s Rating 5: In this case, knowledge of the source material wasn’t necessary; and when readers do have it, they may find themselves more annoyed than anything with some of the major changes here that made an originally beloved heroine less likable in her new form.

Book Club Questions

  1. Did you think this was a successful retelling of “Persuasion”? Why or why not?
  2. What were your thoughts on some of the themes within this novel, like trauma, relationship dynamics, and secrets within families?
  3. What did you think of Nada and Baz’s relationship? Did you think it was an intriguing romance?
  4. How do you think that this novel fits within 21st Century Literature, specifically the romance genre? Are there aspects that you feel represent romance themes in the 21st Century?
  5. If there were more books in this series following other characters, would you read them?

Reader’s Advisory

“Much Ado About Nada” is included on the Goodreads lists “Derivatives of Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion'”, and “South Asian Contemporary Fiction”.

Next Book Club Pick: “The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne” by Elsa Hart

Joint Review: “What Feasts At Night”

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Book: “What Feasts At Night” by T. Kingfisher

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, February 2024

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate received an eARC from NetGalley,

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

Book Description: After their terrifying ordeal at the Usher manor, Alex Easton feels as if they just survived another war. All they crave is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia.

In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence. The villagers whisper that a breath-stealing monster from folklore has taken up residence in Easton’s home. Easton knows better than to put too much stock in local superstitions, but they can tell that something is not quite right in their home. . . or in their dreams.

Kate’s Thoughts

When Serena told me there was going to be a new “Sworn Soldier” story, I knew that I was already game to read it because of how much I enjoyed “What Moves the Dead”. I wasn’t sure of what to expect, as while the first book in the series was a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”, I didn’t know if Kingfisher intended to do more Poe, or another classic horror author/story. But when I saw the description and saw that it had a ‘breath stealing monster’, and that the title implied that it was happening at night, I FLIPPED because I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A NIGHT HAG!!!

HELL YEAH, one of my favorite folklore beings that fills me with ALL THE DREAD! (source)

Quick folklore lesson: a Night Hag, also known as a Boo Hag, a Mare, Karabasan, Witch Riding, and many other things, is almost certainly sleep paralysis, in which someone wakes in the middle of the night, unable to move, with a feeling of something pressing on your chest making it hard to breathe. I have been obsessed with Night Hag mythology ever since I went to Savannah for the first time and was fully terrified by the idea of a demonic force sitting on your chest and sucking your essence out of you while you slept. So “What Feasts at Night” is one HUNDRED percent up my alley, and I loved what Kingfisher did with it within her fictional setting of Gallacia. The slow build up of Alex slowly realizing that the people in the community they have recently returned to are falling ill by something mysterious and unknown, and starting to realize that perhaps it isn’t just superstition, was a great slow burn of eeriness and the exact kind of unsettling atmosphere I would want and expect from a Night Hag story. But Kingfisher always knows how to balance out the scares with some humorous moments as well, and there were PLENTY of moments that I was laughing out loud as well as reveling in the creepiness of the plot. And finally, I liked getting to know Alex a little bit more, whether it’s through flashbacks to their time in combat and how they are still coping with that, or with seeing them interact with familiar faces as well as new ones as they try to figure out what killed their old friend, and what may be targeting others as well.

“What Feasts at Night” was another spooky and spirited horror lite story from T. Kingfisher! Love seeing Night Hags in any story, and this one was pretty well done!

Serena’s Thoughts

Unlike Kate, I had no idea what type of horror story this was drawing from when reading the description. I’ve read other horror stories about beings that come in dreams or at night and sit on one’s chest (and the connection to sleep paralysis) but I didn’t know anything about the history of this type of being or any of its names. That’s all to say, even without any background knowledge, man, Kingfisher nailed the creepiness of this creature! I’ve never had sleep paralysis, but I do have “exploding head syndrome” fairly regularly, so I have a visceral reaction to this sort of story about some nefarious being/thing taking advantage of the vulnerability of sleep. While the horror stuff was definitely a slow burn affair, when it arrived, it was truly creepy. There was one scene in particular with the horses that really stuck with me, both because it was so viscerally horrifying, but also because…never mess with the horses!!

As for the rest of it, like Kate, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a return to this world. The first book was so successful on its own, perfectly introducing this character and world and neatly wrapping up that tale by the end in a way that felt complete. But I was pleasantly surprised by what we got here. Alex remains an excellent lead character with a distinct, often hilarious, POV. I also really enjoyed that the story took place in their homeland of Gallacia. We heard a decent amount about this fictional country in the first book, but we got even more here. I loved the whole “lovingly exasperated” take that Alex and the locals seem to have about their own country and its culture and history. Again, lots of laugh-out-loud lines to be found here.

Overall, I loved this book just as much as the first! Sign me up for a return to this world and character at any time! Can’t wait to find what other normal life event (like sleep) Kingfisher will manage to make terrifying for me…

Serena’s Rating 8: Leave it to Kingfisher to write a book that left me terrified to go to sleep but also cackling my way through the night.

Kate’s Rating 8: A fun take on Night Hag mythology and folklore, “What Feasts at Night” is scary, entertaining, and another enjoyable horror lite tale from T. Kingfisher!

Reader’s Advisory

“What Feasts At Night” is included on the Goodreads list “Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasty of 2024”, and “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.