Category: Kate’s Reviews

Kate’s Review: “Lore Olympus: Volume Ten”

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Book: “Lore Olympus: Volume Ten” by Rachel Smythe

Publishing Info: Inklore, June 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

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

Book Description: “The Mortal Realm—it’s dying.”

After years of yearning, the big day has finally arrived: Hades and Persephone are getting married! It’s the ceremony of the century, and practically all the gods are invited to celebrate the happy couple. The wedding, full of love and joy, provides a much-needed respite for the pantheon . . . but the newlyweds have no time for a honeymoon.

The king and queen of the Underworld begin unprecedented dives into the dream world to find the god that Kronos took hostage—and, hopefully, to get answers on defeating the furious titan once and for all. During their explorations, they begin to suspect that Persephone’s powers over spring may have been altered. Their theory is proven correct with deadly consequences: When Persephone returns to the Mortal Realm, she ushers in not the regular change of seasons, but a never-ending winter.

And while the gods worry about the total annihilation of the Mortal Realm, Apollo uses the chaos as cover for an attempt to kill Zeus. He claims his dying father’s throne and decrees that the only way to save the Mortal Realm is if Persephone—and her power—belong to him. The others reject his outrageous demand, proposing instead that whoever can fix the failing seasons will be named interim ruler of Olympus. Hope now rests with the struggling goddess to find a way to stop the treacherous Apollo and save humankind—or else be separated from Hades forever.

Review: It’s been a couple of years since I started my “Lore Olympus” journey, and I can’t believe that we are nearing the end of the series, ten volumes in. It’s been a wild and fulfilling ride and has given me all of the feelings as I’ve read it, and we are now at “Lore Olympus: Volume Ten”, with only one more to go after it. I feel like we have so much to address, but I’m still soaking it all in. And “Volume Ten” continues the streak of magnificence.

First and foremost, for the Persephone/Hades fangirl who has lived within me since I was a kid, THEY ARE FINALLY GETTING MARRIED!!! This volume kicks off with their decision and their wedding, and it’s everything I had hoped it would be. Smythe made it romantic, gentle, and captured the excitement as well as the haste given that they are marrying because they love each other AND to combine their partnership to help run the Underworld, which is still dealing with a vengeful Kronos who has kidnapped a mystery deity and is holding them hostage deep in the depths, so much so that they have to use Morpheus to help try and dream dive to track them down. We also have some new crazy developments regarding Zeus’s philandering ways, and how Persephone gets roped into helping him with the consequences of some of them (and we also get to meet Dionysus; if you know, you know). There are some bumps in the road here and there, but it’s never drawn out for melodrama’s sake and it feels real and reasonable. It’s also interesting to see them work as a team in trying to parse out where to find Kronos and this mysterious entity.

I will admit that it took a bit longer than I expected for us to get to the second half of the original myth, with Persephone’s absence setting off an eternal winter and therein explaining the turning of the seasons, and I was curious to see how, exactly, Smythe planned to do it. But I enjoyed the way that it all starts to unfold in this volume (still, really close to the end? There’s just one volume left, right?) and how it relates to Persephone’s new role and the active choices she has made for herself up until this point. One of the biggest gripes I’ve seen about “Lore Olympus” (or any kind of Persephone/Hades retelling that isn’t steeped in trauma) is the romance and relationship between Persephone and Hades being romanticized while demonizing Demeter when she is merely a ‘grieving mother’ whose daughter was kidnapped to be a bride against her will in the original story, and that centering the romance element is wrong or damaging and removes agency. Which I’ve never agreed with (I actually helped write a literary analysis with my friend David critiquing a thesis about this very thing), and in “Lore Olympus” specifically I have felt that Smythe has done a really good job of making Persephone’s agency a priority. The way that the original myth gets reimagined here with Persephone realizing her Spring bringing powers have been taken from her due to her own (positive, mind you!) actions as opposed to it merely being a grieving Demeter continues to bolster that, and it sets up higher stakes and a last gambit by Apollo, whose coup is now fully underway with an assassination attempt on Zeus, and who still wants to possess Persephone because he feels entitled to her. As we are setting up the final arc to take down Apollo (and Ouranos, who is encouraging all of this). Does it seem a little crammed in? Yeah, maybe a little, especially since there was such a long arc previously in regards to Kronos, but at the same time I’d argue that Apollo has to be the final big bad in this, even if Ouranos has been shoehorned in a bit. Everything has been put in place, the players are all there, and this penultimate volume has set it up properly.

Now it’s time for the Hera report, as Hera is my favorite in this series and I can tell you that she, too, is going through it. She is still hearing Kronos in her head, and she finally has to come to terms with her lingering trauma in regards to the part she had to play with him and how she has a trauma bond with him to a degree because of it. I really love what this comic has done with Hera, and now we are finally, FINALLY, seeing her open up a little bit and start to try and unpack all of that baggage when Kronos keeps nipping at her heels and when Zeus is down for the count and other people she loves are in danger. Hera’s journey has been just as gratifying as those of Persephone and Hades, and I’m just as invested in her outcome as I am in theirs.

We are nearing the end of “Lore Olympus” and Volume Ten has gone into the last storylines strong. Can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Rating 9: We are nearing the end of the series and we get a great mix of romance, emotional unpacking, and a set up for a final showdown for power, with Persephone and Hades in the middle of it all.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Lore Olympus: Volume Ten” is included on the Goodreads list “Best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery”

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

Book: “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #5)” by Kate Khavari

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist

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

Book Description: Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey, with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent, but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.

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

After doing a quick catch up on the Saffron Everleigh Mysteries thanks to my local library, it was finally time to pick up the most recent in the series! I was admittedly a bit underwhelmed by the previous book, as I felt like we were treading into a territory that has been WELL established in other mystery tropes (the enigmatic evil rival), but the good news is that Kate Khavari’s “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” has decided to go down a different path, at least for now, and it has served as a real palate cleanser!

I’m happy to report that after a lackluster entry last time, at least for me, we have returned to form with Saffron and her adventures as a botanist who also happens to solve crimes using her scientific knowledge and wits. This time Saffron is in Turkey on a expedition with her fiancé Alexander Ashton, and other colleagues, and finds herself not only in treacherous working conditions, but also the prime suspect when one of her colleagues dies of poisoning. The downsides of this book are that Elizabeth is no where to be seen since she wouldn’t be on an expedition, and Lee is also MIA (I really hope he does come back at some point), but the up sides are that Saffron gets to do more work with poison again, AND, amazingly, I actually found myself warming up to Alexander in this book as he hopes to help clear his fiancée’s name. Also having Saffron the prime suspect and being held in a foreign jail certainly ups the stakes, and the mystery itself has some great beats to it and built the suspense in a well done way.

I also loved that there was a complete shift in scenery in this book, as Saffron and Alexander are on an expedition to the newly formed/sovereign Turkey! We have seen Saffron do so much scientific work in London or England proper, but seeing her finally get to go on an expedition was such a breath of fresh air. Especially since we get some interesting historical information about Turkey during this time period as well as archaeology and archeological sites and excavation. My friend David does similar excavation work in Greece at agoras and seeing this kind of thing in this book was a lot of fun. It’s also a pretty candid tale about the way that women in the sciences were treated during this time, especially on an all male expedition, and Saffron has to deal with a lot of misogyny from the other men on the team and has to prove herself above and beyond because of it.

“A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” is a fun historical mystery! I can’t wait to see where Saffron goes next!

Rating 8: A return to form with a new setting and some new poisons, “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” is a fun new entry in the Saffron Everleigh mysteries.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Historical Fiction Mysteries”.

Previously Reviewed:

Kate’s Review: “Headlights”

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

Book: “Headlights” by C.J. Leede

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, June 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

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

Book Description: Every instinct tells him to run. Every memory tells him he can’t.

Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago, with a chilling message: it’s happening again.

Seemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway, with no memory of how they got there, wearing the skin of victims they’ve allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting detail: a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue.

Now Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along— before he and the people he loves become the next victims.

Perfect for fans of The Shining and Longlegs, bestselling author CJ Leede’s Headlights is a pulse-pounding hunt across the frozen wilderness of Colorado.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!

I so greatly enjoyed C.J. Leede’s previous horror novel “American Rapture” that it was basically a no brainer to pick up whatever she came up with next, and that is how “Headlights” ended up on my radar. I was so thoroughly blown away by what Leede did with a plague/end of world tale that I had high hopes for what could and would be done with a serial killer horror tale that no doubt had some kind of supernatural twist. I went in expecting one thing but ended up with something a little bit different. And that wasn’t a bad thing.

The horror elements of this book harken to some classic horror fare like “The Shining” while also pulling in some hard boiled detective vibes a la “True Detective”. Our protagonist Daniel is an exhausted and burnt out FBI agent who has been haunted by a gruesome set of killings where seemingly random people murder and skin someone, then wear their victim’s skin and wake up with no memory of the act as well as with hair wrapped around their tongue. It’s haunting because there has always been a weird connection Daniel has, but he’s never been able to solve it. Once it starts happening again just as he’s about to re-enlist in the military, it all spirals out of control and Daniel is having visions, being drawn to one of the women left behind, and watching his life fall apart as he tries to solve it. It’s a story that has a bit of a slow start, but once gears shift for Daniel and he finds himself on the run across Colorado and looking for answers it keeps the interest and pace up. The horror parts are gory and nasty and Leede doesn’t feel a need to hold back, and the mythos at the heart of it felt pretty creative and original (I’m being vague for a reason, I want to keep any spoilers to a minimum).

This is also another pretty solid entry into trauma and grief as horror, with Daniel being a character who is easy to root for in part because of all of the loss he has dealt with his entire life. Whether it’s his mother’s death at the hands of his father, or the loss of his loving and doting foster parents, or the way that his marriage to wife Josie has fallen apart, Daniel’s losses are great and he keeps being run through a ringer. It’s also an interesting examination of not just Daniel but also Hannah, the woman he is drawn to even though she may be a piece in the serial killing puzzle, and their connection and grief and traumatic pasts make for an interesting dichotomy as the story goes on.

And what I found most charming and just had to comment on here is what a lovely love letter this book is to Colorado. I’m someone who has very vague ties to Colorado, as the connection is my husband who spent some time there as a teenager and found it incredibly formative. I’ve traveled to Colorado with him and seen the joy that the state brings him, and have found similar joy being in Leadville, and Estes Park, and Denver. There truly is something magical about the state, and the way that Leede highlights so many aspects of it, whether a trip to the Stanley Hotel or descriptions of the winter settings or Blucifer the horse or the lore referencing “The Shining”. It feels like Colorado is a character in and of itself and has a grounding part to play. As someone with fond memories walking around the Stanley grounds and looking out our window to see mountains, or smoking weed around a bonfire in Leadville and talking about a mish mash of topics, these moments really spoke to me.

“Headlights” is a creative and disturbing horror tale that kept me guessing. If you are a horror fan and find yourself on the way to Colorado soon, it could be a fun read to accompany the trip.

Rating 7: The pacing was a little slow at times, but not only is it a unique serial killer horror mystery, it’s also a love letter to Colorado that made me smile throughout the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Headlights” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “You First”

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

Book: “You First” by Caroline Kepnes

Publishing Info: Random House, June 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

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

Book Description: Joe Goldberg is ready for his life to start. He’s seventeen years old, working in Mr. Mooney’s bookshop, falling in love with every girl on the subway all while wondering who will be the one. He knows what he needs: A woman who will force him to get his GED, go to night school, and make something of himself. But who would ever fall in love with him?

Then he spots it: MISSED CONNECTION, NYC Bookstore Babe.

Someone is looking for Joe. And that someone is Vail Gunderson, a production assistant with a passion for rom-coms. The only catch: she’s twenty-four, which means that Joe has no choice but to lie about his age…and, naturally, nearly everything else in his life. Joe thinks he’s found true love, but when Vail needs more convincing that Joe is her happily ever after, he’s determined to convince her…no matter what it takes…

With her incisive and darkly comedic prose, Caroline Kepnes captures Joe poised on the edge of manhood, entering the vicious, dog-eat-dog New York dating scene for the very first time, and buffeted by forces that will determine what kind of man he will become—and how he will write his own twisted love story.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

It’s been a couple of years since we last saw stalker super creep Joe Goldberg in book form. His show on Netflix had its run and finale, and I was pretty satisfied with how it all shook out, but it’s been since his time in “For You and Only You” that we’ve seen him on the page. And he’s very different on the page. I will admit that after time passed and I was cycling through my insomnia listens of his books, that previous book was the one I revisited the least, and I was a bit worried that it was the end of his story. When it was announced we were getting a fifth book I was excited. When I saw it was going to be a prequel instead of a sequel I was…. apprehensive. What could teenage Joe tell us that we don’t already know about him? Was it going to be a little bit of a retcon that upends the canon? I didn’t really need to be nervous, because Caroline Kepnes’s “You First”, while a shift in the timeline, is still entertaining and a solidly ‘Joe’ story, giving us a glimpse into what made him Joe, terrible personality and all. I’m still a okay with shitty villain protagonists and their gross twisted stories, and this one keeps it up!

Footage of me when I see people complaining about trash main characters doing obviously trash things in a thriller novel as if its an endorsement of trash. (source)

This is less of a thriller this time around just based on the fact that TECHNICALLY Joe doesn’t really start getting fully into his murderous ways until AFTER this point in the timeline just based on what happens in the other books in the series (there is a little bit of wiggle room here, just to note), and more of a character study set in a historical fiction genre (oh GOD, the early aughts are now historical fiction, I’m Joe’s age and this makes me feel OLD). We meet Joe when he’s seventeen, working at Mooney’s Books (hooray for the return of Mr. Mooney!), and the entire city is still dealing with 9/11, which only happened a few months earlier. He’s hyper-focusing on the Internet and Missed Connection ads, and through his he meets Vail, a twenty four year old woman who works on the “Sex and the City” set. Vail is the blueprint for his future obsessions, and she is neurotic, self absorbed, and flitty. But this is through the eyes of seventeen year old Joe, who has basically been abandoned by his parents, left to his own devices with the occasional support from the weird and abusive Mr. Mooney, and we see how his experiences are, indeed, warping his sense of love and connection. This may sound like it’s getting into excuse territory, but I don’t feel like it is for the most part. Something that does have to be kept in mind is that he is still, technically, a kid here, and it’s an interesting trajectory to see his obsession form and how it stays with him from here on out. Especially since everyone else in this book that influences and interacts with and affects him is a full on adult. It explains a lot. And he does sound like a nervous teenager in his inner monologue with insecurities that feel familiar, even if they are dark and fucked up. It’s a twisted coming of age story to be sure.

Kepnes still keeps the weird dark humor and the seediness of the other books in this one! That is part of the reason I love these books so much, just how damn funny Joe can be and how skeevy they can make me feel as I read them. It’s a little harder to swallow at times in this book given that Joe is only seventeen, and Kepnes does tread a fine line with some of the sexual situations in this book between him and Vail, but it’s far more restrained than previous books. We are seeing similar patterns with bad people being bad to each other, and it’s getting a LITTLE repetitive, but it didn’t drag it down too much. Vail is grating but she’s supposed to be, but she also captures that wannabe Carrie Bradshaw NYC delusion that I remember well from being a high schooler and young adult from this time period (I remember binging “Sex and the City” with my roommate and being so insulted she thought I was a Charlotte even though now I’m like ‘yeah probably, but without the WASP-iness’). It has the vibes I look for in these books. But I do wonder how much longer they can be sustained.

I am curious to know where Joe is going from here. “You First” gives us a backstory, and I wonder if it is telegraphs what is next for the character. I’m still fully on board to go on whatever ride Kepnes wants to make me on with this character, and his lore has expanded in a way that worked for me.

Rating 8: Teenager Joe Goldberg as a concept gave me a little pause, but the execution was pretty well done and the outcome was seedy, twisted, and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Joe, even as a teenager.

Reader’s Advisory:

“You First” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “I’ll Be Watching You”.

Kate’s Review: “It Came from Neverland”

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

Book: “It Came from Neverland” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist

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

Book Description: Peter Pan meets Stephen King’s It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairytale set during WWI.

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy believes that Peter Pan, the entity that she believed killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

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

I’ve never been SUPER connected to the “Peter Pan” story. I definitely had the Disney version on VHS as a child, as well as the Mary Martin version (which I actually preferred), and I definitely liked “Hook” (and own it to this day). But the story itself isn’t really precious to me. But I AM someone who loves a dark retelling of a classic story, especially if there is a horror twist, and I have LOVED basically everything I’ve read by Cynthia Pelayo. So “It Came from Neverland”, her newest horror novel, made perfect sense as a highly anticipated novel this year for me. Especially since this one promised to center Wendy. Even if it sounded like Wendy was going to be put through hell.

Even if the story never really resonated, I always loved Wendy. (source)

One of the things that I love most about Cynthia Pelayo’s horror stories is that while they are always genuinely creepy, there is also almost always a dreamlike quality to them, and that translates very well to her take on Peter Pan and Neverland. Taking place in WW1 London, Wendy Darling is all grown up, living as a school teacher while also spending time volunteering at a hospital to read to wounded soldiers. As a child she and her brothers were taken to a strange place called Neverland by a strange boy named Peter who couldn’t grow up and promised a fun life with other children, but was in actuality manipulating all of them and killing them to keep his power. Wendy and her brothers escaped, but she has been living with the trauma years later even as the world has learned the story as a fantasy tale of joy and imagination. Pelayo does a fantastic job of incorporating the original story that is filled with magic and whimsy and twisting it into something more sinister, while also taking inspiration from faerie stories and mythology. There has certainly been a more recent take on Peter Pan tales that paint him as less mischievous and more monstrous, but Pelayo’s feels unique in that it’s a bit more sinister fairy and Pennywise-esque. Because of this reimagining it completely reframes the entirety of Neverland, but Pelayo is really skilled at reframing it while still making it feel like it COULD be a place that J.M. Barrie could water down to make more family friendly. Peter in this is terrifying and creepy, but still feels like it could be connected to Barrie’s creation just through how Pelayo brings in references and tweaks them just a little. We still have lost boys, who are kidnapped children that Wendy wants to protect while Peter harms them to manipulate her. We still have the idea of Peter’s shadow, making it more of thing that can be used to connect to others to create a bond that makes an abuser hold onto a victim. But my favorite was the reimagining of Captain Hook, as instead of a foppish pirate who is constantly undermined by the mischievous Peter, we have a man who has had so much taken from him because of this nasty entity that harms everything it comes in contact with.

But my favorite element, which is unsurpising, is Wendy herself, as Pelayo has perfectly expanded upon her to explore her as a trauma survivor who was so connected to Peter, only to realize he only meant harm to her and everyone else. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to see how it affected her mental state, and how that in turn affected her relationships with Michael and John, who also experienced it but were more able to convince themselves it never happened. Wendy is still the caring girl who wants to care for and help others, and by making it a strength instead of the obligation we kind of get in the source material (Wendy is really only there because as a girl she HAS to be a mother figure) it shows how much more powerful she is, even if she is still quite damaged. I also loved that she is not only helping literal children as she teaches them, but that she is also helping wounded soldiers back from the Western Front, as so many soldiers were teenagers and children in their own right (the WWI setting was such a great idea in and of itself and it really resonated with this part of the plot). I also appreciated that so much of the horror of Peter and his monstrous ways were entangled with Wendy’s trauma, as he was SO scary and seeing her gather the strength and courage to stop him once and for all made for a very satisfying horror plot.

“It Came from Neverland” was everything I was hoping it would be! Pelayo is so talented as creating dreamy and spooky horror stories, and I recommend it to both those who love “Peter Pan” and those who just love a horror tale littered with well crafted symbolism and metaphors.

Rating 9: A haunting and eerie re-imagining of “Peter Pan”, which focuses on trauma, grief, loss, and overcoming a childhood stolen and an alternate truth to a beloved classic.

Reader’s Advisory:

“It Came from Neverland” is included on the Goodreads lists “Peter Pan Re-Tellings”, and “Horror to Look Forward To in 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “Dead Weight”

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

Book: “Dead Weight” by Hildur Knútsdóttir & Mary Robinette Kowal (Translator)

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, May 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley

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

Book Description: An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs—or even bodies—in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.

Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.

Trying to do the right thing, Unnur reunites the lost pet with its owner—a young woman named Ásta who is in desperate need of some help. Unnur reluctantly agrees to take in the cat until Ásta is able to care for it again herself.

Soon, Ásta becomes a fixture in Unnur’s life and the two form an unlikely friendship. But like a black cat, trouble is tailing Ásta, and Unnur is the only one there when things take a violent turn.

Nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novella!

I’m a big fan of stories that like to talk about women’s rights AND women’s wrongs, and especially love stories like that if it’s a cathartic story about women getting revenge on the men that cause them harm. Basically I love a story that has a “Goodbye Earl” kinda vibe to it. When I read the description of Hildur Knútsdóttir’s “Dead Weight”, I DEFINITELY caught that kind of vibe from it. I enjoyed Knútsdóttir’s previous book “The Night Guest”, and this one sounded perhaps less strange, but still very much my thing. I jumped in and was pleased that not only did it have the ‘get revenge’ theme, but also CATS!

This novella is definitely more of a thriller than a horror story this time around, but Knútsdóttir still manages to find ways to not only bring out suspense but also dread at times. The plot is fairly straightforward as we follow Unnur, a woman living in Iceland who keeps to herself and is carrying on an affair with a married man, convincing herself she’s okay with all of it. One night a cat named Io randomly ends up in her apartment, and a woman named Ásta comes looking. Unnur and Ásta are different in temperament, they get to know each other and Unnur takes on Io (and a surprise kitten!) at Ásta’s behest, as her boyfriend Ragnar doesn’t like the cat and she worries he’d flip about a kitten. As the story quietly unfolds we see more and more hints and evidence that Ragnar is a very dangerous man, we also see two women confiding in each other and finding strength in their friendship as they become closer and danger starts to threaten both of them. It’s pretty clear where this story is going, but I was still kept on the edge of my seat as Knútsdóttir lays out the building blocks for a visceral climax.

I also liked the burgeoning friendship between Unnur and Ásta, and the way that Knútsdóttir compares and contrasts their romantic relationships and deconstructs the different ways that they are toxic. For Ásta it’s pretty straight forward, and Unnur is horrified to see Ásta being dominated and intimidated by her boyfriend Ragnar, and his vileness is pretty apparent with how he treats not only Ásta but also the cats (whose presence has helped Unnur and Ásta bond). But we also see the toxic relationship that Unnur has with her boyfriend Joi, who is married with a family and who has been stringing Unnur along for awhile, making promises that she clings to even though she knows deep down that what she is doing is not only cruel to Joi’s wife, but also to herself. I loved the way that both women could see the damaging facets of their friend’s relationship, but had the blinders put on due to the manipulative and abusive, be it overt or not, relationships they themselves were in. As they disentangle and find connection with each other (and the cats!), we see this really empowering story about female friendship, which has a little bit of the “Goodbye Earl” vibes that I was hoping for.

I definitely enjoyed “Dead Weight”! It’s cathartic and atmospheric and I found it incredibly satisfying.

Rating 8: A quick and enjoyable thriller about friendship, solidarity, and the sour parts of relationships where men mistreat women and the women have to fight back one way or another.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dead Weight” is included on the Goodreads list “Creepy Statue Covers”.

Kate’s Review: “We Hexed the Moon”

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Book: “We Hexed the Moon” by Mollyhall Seeley

Publishing Info: Saga Press, June 2026

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: Bunny meets The Craft in this speculative debut about four best friends who perform a ritual on the moon in a last-ditch attempt to hold onto one another but are forced to reckon with the consequences.

It is the summer after high school graduation, and four island-grown best friends are about to be forced apart by their Plans for the Future. Rather than process the world of expectations bearing down on them or the secrets they’ve kept hidden even from one another, they perform a ritual on the moon in an impulsive fit of teen bravado.

They don’t expect it to actually work.

But suddenly the moon is gone from the sky and at their sleepover, and she’s not interested in going back where she came from. As the balmy August night unfolds, the girls scramble to find a human sacrifice to replace the moon before their world is plunged into chaos.

Equally tender and biting, We Hexed the Moon is coming-of-age at its best, cutting to the very quick of girlhood to reveal hilarious and brutally honest insights about friendship, gender, and desire.

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

I love seeing stories about tight knit girl friend groups, especially if they are coming of age, in part because I never really got to experience that during my formative teenage years. Yes, I had two other girl friends I was close to and people saw us as a trio, but I was always VERY clearly the odd one out when it came down to it, and my true best friend in high school was a guy. I didn’t really find that solid girls friend group until I was well into college (we called ourselves “The Clever Girls” because of “Jurassic Park” and we were tight and I’m still friends with them all to this day, even if it’s in different capacities due to life), and by that time I was very clear about who I was as a person. But these stories still speak to me as a woman with close girl friendships and who knows how wonderful (and complicated) they can be. “We Hexed the Moon” by Mollyhall Seeley takes on this kind of girl friend group bildungsroman tale and throws in some witch shit and a dark fantasy magical realism bent. Suffice to say, it’s my kinda jam.

Jen, Goldie, Maycie, and Harding are best friends about to go their separate ways after high school. With personal baggage, an existential dread of the next steps and the climate crisis, as well as constant doom and gloom feelings to the life they are inheriting, they decide to hex the moon just for funsies as one last bonding experience. Unfortunately, it works, and the moon not only disappears from the sky, threatening to throw the world into chaos and death, it shows up in the form of a woman who tells them that they need to sacrifice someone to become the new Moon, or else everyone dies. The concept is creative and interesting, and it feels a bit more dark fantasy than horror to me (human sacrifice and end of the world notwithstanding). Seeley splits the story into two timelines, the day before where the friends are clinging to their friendship because they feel it falling apart (be it because of the upcoming change in location or their own baggage with each other), and then the time after they hexed the moon and are having to confront their choices AND the cracks in their friend group. I liked seeing the story unfold and the build up to what choice they were going to make, and found it suspenseful and more tense as time runs closer to running out. I think that it petered out a little bit by the end, but the journey there was still incredibly enjoyable.

But what I enjoyed most about this book were the four girls themselves, and how Seeley explores all of their messiness and complexities and draws out who they are and why they are the way they are. There could have been four girls who fit into obvious stereotypes (Goldie the self centered mean girl, Jen the pretentious stick in the mud, Harding the repressed prude, and Maycie the wholesome naive one), but Seeley takes care to give us perspectives from all of them to see their reasons for their complexities. We have girls who have suffered great loss, like Goldie losing her twin, or a fractured family life, like Jen and her broken relationship with half brother Max as he dives deeper into red pill content, or religious trauma for Harding whose family is repressive, or having to grow up with a lack of structured guidance, like Maycie whose parents all but checked out. There were moments I wanted to shake all of them, but I also felt for all of them too. It shows the way they cling to each other bur resent each other too as they grow apart and change. It’s messy girlhood. It’s heart wrenching at times.

“We Hexed the Moon” is a bittersweet coming of age witchy book. It’s relatable and dreamy, and I think that if you like coming of age girlhood tales it will work for you.

Rating 8: A witchy story about girlhood, anticipated loss, desperation, and coming of age, “We Hexed the Moon” is a magical realism dark fantasy that captures girlhood on the edge of becoming an adult and all the complicated feelings that come with it.

Reader’s Advisory:

“We Hexed the Moon” is included on the Goodreads list “The 52 Book Club 2026: #44: Literary Device- Personification”.

Kate’s Review: “Bone of My Bone”

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Book: “Bone of My Bone” by Johanna van Veen

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, May 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at PLA 2026

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

Book Description: The year is 1635.

Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, and Elsebeth, a sharp-witted peasant, escape a band of marauding soldiers and disappear into the Bavarian forest. War scorches the land, and no one survives it alone. Amid the devastation, they find something in the arms of a dying the gilded skull of a saint.

It is said that if you reunite the saint’s skull with her body, a wish will be granted. Desperate for salvation, and each with secret desires of their own, Ursula and Elsebeth follow a ragged map across the blighted countryside. But darkness follows them. A necromancer, drawn to the relic’s power. The saint herself, whispering at night. And as the lines between blessing and curse blur, the women must face a harrowing the magic they seek comes at a cost.

At the journey’s end, they’ll face an impossible choice—one that could tear apart everything they know… or bind them to each other forever.

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel at PLA 2026!

Serena and I had the pleasure to go to the Public Library Association Conference this past April because it was in Minneapolis! How great that we could hop in a car and drive not even fifteen minutes away from my house and attend a book conference (we’ll be driving to ALA this year as well but Chicago is decidedly a longer trip). I restrained myself a bit when it came to ARCs as I knew that ALA was on the horizon, but I was THRILLED to see Johanna van Veen’s newest sapphic horror novel “Bone of My Bone” was available! I have enjoyed her past historical horror novels, and the creepy nun holding a skull on the cover definitely caught my eye. As I read the description I knew that I was going to be in for a treat. A dark and deeply upsetting treat, but a treat nonetheless, because it felt like a nice heady mix of “Evil Dead” and “The Witch” in a lot of ways. So obviously MY THING.

I was positively grinning from ear to ear! (source)

Our story has two protagonists with two perspective chapter types. The first is Sister Ursula, a nun who escaped from her nunnery leaving her sisters behind as mercenaries and soldiers descended. The second is Elsebeth, a peasant who has lost everything in the wake of the war due to violence from the soldiers. The two women team up, and then find what appears to be a Saint’s skull after meeting a dying man in the forest who has it in his possession. Believing that they could reunite it with its body and in turn receive wishes as reward (as they both have things they are desperate for), they go on a journey, the skull speaking to Elsebeth in her dreams. What they don’t know is a necromancer, assisted by a shambling corpse he has enslaved, is also in pursuit. I loved van Veen’s supernatural monsters of choice in this book (more on the real life monsters in a bit), with the main focus being split into two camps: necromancers/witches, and possessed dead called Nachzehers that necromancers use to achieve their own ends. The witchcraft is so appropriate for the time with the fears of witchcraft being incredibly prevalent, and I loved how creepy the necromancer was. As for his Nachzeher Otto, he is a former soldier who is being used against his will, though it becomes clear that he deserves whatever hell the necromancer brings to him (and the necromancer seems to think so too). The witchcraft was so creepy but powerful, and the Nachzeher, a folk monster from German culture, felt so Kandarian Demon Deadite in a lot of ways that I REALLY liked it. And don’t worry; there are other creepy creatures in these pages, though van Veen had me rather emotional with a couple of them due to the horrible ends that some met in life.

And van Veen’s choice of taking place during the Thirty Year’s War is such a dark but fantastic one. I don’t know as much about German history as I would like, especially during this time period, but to me this read as very unflinching and realistic in the horrors that a war that potentially killed 35% of the population would bring forth. This is probably one of the most brutal books I’ve read recently when it comes to the honest approach to the hell that civilians go through during wartime, with starvation, isolation, land loss, murder, and rape being pretty prevalent in the story (though the rape is mostly off page and referred to as opposed to depicted; this book also has a great list of trigger warnings in the back). A lot of the trauma experienced by Ursula and Elsebeth is haunting and emotional, and we explore their journeys of unpacking it and trying to work through it in ways that feel deeply tender and empathetic. Elsebeth in particular has had a terrible go of it, and her crisis of faith in contrast to Ursula faith as a nun bring up interesting and philosophical points as they are trying to reunite a potentially holy skull with its body in hopes of getting one wish. As mentioned I couldn’t help but think about Robert Eggers’s film “The Witch” at times in this book, as witchcraft is certainly a huge theme, but it also tackles just how much brutality women in dire circumstances had to endure, and how loss in one’s faith or the temptation to turn to something new is wholly understandable.

And I also just loved Ursula and Elsebeth’s burgeoning relationship. Their companionship starts due to shared trauma and determination, but then it turns into something so much more and I loved their growing romance. They just complement each other so well, and as they become more and more devoted the stakes just get higher and higher as they are in constant danger. I loved their love story.

“Bone of My Bone” is phenomenal. I cannot recommend it enough to horror fans. If you haven’t read anything by Johanna van Veen, consider this your sign to start.

Rating 9: Brutal and creepy while also being philosophical and tender, “Bone of My Bone” is van Veen’s best story yet. Just incredible.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bone of My Bone” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Books Set Pre-1800”, and “Horror Releases Coming in 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge”

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Book: “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #4)” by Kate Khavari

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Saffron Everleigh returns to Ellington Manor after her grandfather suffers a heart attack. Back in her childhood home for the first time in years, Saffron faces tense family relationships made worse by the presence of the enigmatic Bill Wyatt, hired on as a doctor to the ailing Lord Easting. But the man is no doctor—in reality, he is a mysterious figure involved in the trafficking of dangerous government secrets, and his presence at Ellington can only mean trouble.

When their neighbors, the Hales, invite a spiritual medium into the village who starts angling for Saffron’s mother’s attention, Saffron realizes that there is more afoot in her hometown than she originally thought. Not to mention inviting Alexander to Ellington has put their budding relationship under her family’s microscope.

As tensions rise at Ellington, Bill demands that Saffron hand over old research documents belonging to her late father. With her relatives under his power as their ‘doctor,’ Saffron fears she may be forced to surrender the files along with her hopes of ever understanding her father’s obscure legacy. Nothing and no one is as they seem at Ellington. It’s through the perfumed haze of the séance’s smoke that Saffron must search for the truth before it’s too late.

Review: It is once again time to return to post WWI England and into the world of crime and botany! As I mentioned last time I reviewed this series, I am going to read and review the most recent Saffron Everleigh mystery by Kate Khavari when it comes out next month, but I needed to play catch up! So now I’m taking on “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge”, in which our plant minded heroine Saffron Everleigh has to return to her family estate due to her grandfather having a heart attack, and finds that a dangerous nemesis has seamlessly placed himself there as well. And it may be true that a lot of mystery readers like a nemesis, but this time around it didn’t really work for me.

But first the positives! This biggest part of this book that worked for me was the plot about spiritualism, which had a huge resurgence after World War I due to the fact that so many soldiers died in a horrific way. Khavari has mentioned the losses that our characters, be they Saffron or her friend Elizabeth, have had to endure, with Saffron’s own father being killed in the trenches as well as her childhood sweetheart Wesley, who also happened to be Elizabeth’s brother. When Saffron, Alexander, and Elizabeth return to Ellington they find out that Elizabeth’s parents, the Hales, have hired a medium to have a seance to try and communicate with Wesley to make sure he is at peace. While none of our main characters believe in it and know the woman is a fraud, this was not uncommon during this time to see grifters who took advantage of people’s grief for monetary purposes. I really enjoyed how Khavari brought this in and made it one of the big mysteries, as they KNOW she is lying, but she sure seems to be on the level.

I also always enjoy the relationships between Saffron and her loved ones. The first and most pertinent in this book for me is her friendship with Elizabeth, who is dealing with the fallout from her suitor in the last book being a lying murderous criminal. She is deeply hurt by these revelations and isn’t doing so hot, and I enjoyed how Khavari doesn’t make this an easy experience for her and how it is causing strain between her and Saffron, who is trying to be a good friend but has her own problems. Eliza is still my favorite character in these books (with Lee being a close second, and he DOES show up here for a bit!), and it was kind of refreshing having her be more than the free spirited snarky friend. As for Alexander, I’m still not his biggest fan, but now that we are done with the will they or won’t they and he is just being a supportive boyfriend (who has to impress her incredibly judgmental family, specifically her grandparents the Lord and Lady Easting) who has his own knowledge and skills to add to the plot. I also liked the setting of the aristocratic manor of Saffron’s family, as it felt a little bit “Downton Abbey” as she deals with her snooty grandmother and her ailing grandfather, as well as the secrets that her mother Violet seems to be hiding.

But there was the other aspect of this book that had a huge theme and plot point, and that is the nefarious character of Bill, who showed up in the previous book as an antagonist and has managed to weasel his way into Saffron’s circle by masquereding as a doctor for the Lord Easting. He was introduced a bit out of the blue in the previous book, and in this book we find out he wants research from that Saffron’s father left behind. He is set up as an ultimate nemesis for Saffron, and the idea of wanting research secrets is interesting enough, but I felt like his presence made for the least amount of botany themes that we’ve seen in this series. I also didn’t enjoy their battles of the wits as much as I had hoped I would, because we’ve seen the Sherlock and Moriarty nemesis trope so many times and unless you really reclaim it, it just kind of comes off as hackneyed these days. Having the two mysteries at hand and one of them being so focused on Bill just threw the pacing off and made it feel like it dragged on and on.

“A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge” had its ups and downs, and I hope we get a bit more back into direct botanical research and themes for the next book.

Rating 6: I enjoyed the spiritualism storyline and Saffron’s relationships are still enjoyable, but wasn’t as into this new ‘prolonged nemesis’ angle that we got with Bill as it really bogged the rest of the story down.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge” is included on the Goodreads list “‘Revenge’ in the Title”.

Previously Reviewed:

Kate’s Review: “To The Last Gram”

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

Book: “To The Last Gram” by Shreya Davies & Vanessa Wong (Ill.)

Publishing Info: Difference Engine, April 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher

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

Book Description: Through her school days, where she must negotiate a precarious balancing act between her culture and fitting in, to her teenage years where appetites must be managed to keep up appearances, to her early adulthood where responsibilities feel overwhelming, Divya journeys from feelings of emptiness to finally finding fulfillment within.

To the Last Gram is an honest and hopeful story of feeling at odds with and finding a home in one’s community, family, and body, and of the yet-unfurling journey to embrace the fullness of life.

Review: Thank you to Difference Engine for sending me an eARC of this graphic novel!

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to lose some weight. I’ve always had a tricky relationship with my body, and while I had found myself feeling generally okay for a long time, in the past few years I’ve been more self conscious as having a child, being in my early 40s, and probably being in perimenopause or on the verge of it has made my body change in ways that felt upsetting to me as an elder Millennial who absolutely has self perception issues. So I signed up for a diet plan that touted itself as being flexible, giving you a calorie range to fall into to lose weight but still be able to maintain a healthy caloric intake. Well, me being me decided ‘why not just shave a few hundred calories off of that and never get in the range and always stay below it?! That’s the ticket!’ Spoiler alert: it was not the ticket and I found myself in a bad place mentally and verging on physically, and dropped the program. I came to the conclusion that I’m a little too susceptible to disordered eating and quit while I was ahead. I kept thinking about this moment in time while I was reading “To The Last Gram” by Shreya Davies. Because while I have never found myself dealing with a full blown eating disorder, the fact that it can and does happen doesn’t shock me. I went into this book steeling myself for an emotional story, and it absolutely was.

This is a fictional tale, but one gets the sense that it’s a bit personal as well. We follow Divya, a teenager girl who is trying to fit in at school in a culture that she isn’t familiar with, and who stands out not only due to her skin color but also because of her body size. She’s larger than her peers, she stands out in her gymnastics class, and even her pediatrician says that she’s obese and needs to eat better even though her mother prepares pretty typical homemade meals. As she tries to conform more to the beauty standards her new home finds acceptable, and as she becomes a teenager, she starts greatly restricting her caloric intake, and starts exercising excessively, until she is in full blown anorexia and fully obsessed about her weight. Divya’s story is incredibly emotional at times, but never treads into exploitative or (and I hate to say it in regards to EDs but I can’t think of another word) melodramatic, making it very easy to relate to Divya and to understand how she got to the point where she is alarmingly thin. Davies portrays the obsessiveness in a really well done way, whether it’s Divya shrinking before our eyes during work out montages or the imagery of food looking evil and scary in her mind’s eye. It definitely captures the complicated nature of EDs and how it is also a mental struggle that a person can get caught in.

I also appreciated that this story is fairly realistic and candid about eating disorders and how difficult they can be to work through, and that recovery isn’t always linear. We see the origins of Divya’s anorexia as a way she hopes to fit in and be more well liked, dropping calories and obsessing over exercise, but it isn’t a straight forward ‘she loses weight, develops anorexia, gets help, and lives happily ever after’. If anything it shows that she struggles with her disordered eating and body image on and off, sometimes falling back into anorexia, sometimes being able to stave it off for a bit, but never being fully ‘cured’. I felt like it reflects the reality of eating disorders, and while I’m sure that there are people who feel like they have been able to leave it behind, there are probably others who feel like it’s going to be a constant issue that needs mitigating and attention. I thought that showing this aspect gave the book a nice mix of hope and bittersweetness.

And finally, the artwork by Vanessa Wong worked pretty well for me. It’s a very unique style that I thought at first wouldn’t fit in with the topic, but it became pretty clear that it was going to capture the tone well with the designs and color schemes.

(source: Difference Engine)

“To the Last Gram” is a candid and hopeful graphic novel. It’s an emotional one too, but that makes it all the better.

Rating 8: A thoughtful and bittersweet but hopeful story about disordered eating, a search for belonging, and the non-linear path of healing from an eating disorder.

Reader’s Advisory:

“To the Last Gram” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on “Body Image in Graphic Lit”.