Category: Kate’s Reviews

Kate’s Review: “Maria the Wanted”

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Book: “Maria the Wanted” by V. Castro

Publishing Info: Titan Books, February 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: Newly turned Mexican vampire, Maria, is not just out for blood, she wants answers.

From the twice Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Haunting of Alejandra and Immortal Pleasures, a gripping tale of empowerment, desire and belonging, perfect for readers of A Dowry of Blood and Certain Dark Things.

Maria is a wanted woman. She’s wanted by an Aztec trafficker, a cartel boss, the people she fights for, and now the Devil she can’t resist. Her journey begins as a would-be immigrant turned vampire in Juarez, Mexico until the injustices of the world turn her into something else.

Forced to leave her home and family, she embarks on a journey across Mexico seeking those answers. She learns a new language and how to survive as a vampire. To ease her restlessness she finds work with an ex-boxer and learns to fight, becoming an unlikely bad ass enforcer of justice for the community that has embraced her. Is she a saint or an old God from a forgotten past?

An encounter with a violent, ruthless vampire boss leads her to finally find her creator, and he is nothing like she imagined. Drawn into a world of ancient vampires, deadly conspiracies and a dangerously seductive devil, Maria must find a way to fight for herself and all humankind.

A fierce and seductive vampire thriller, pulsing with rage, fear and desire, that explores the dark back streets of Mexico and a vampire woman’s determination to find her place in the world.

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

After being a bit let down by V. Castro’s previous vampire novel, I was pretty pleased to see that her newest book, “Maria the Wanted”, was another vampire story! Researching it further I found out that this new novel is actually a re-release, which will hopefully allow it to find new readers now that Castro has gained a bit more attention in the past few years. I had pretty high hopes for “Maria the Wanted”, and I’m happy to report that, for the most part, it was a pretty solid read! For the most part.

But first the good, and the good news is that there is a lot of good to be had! I really enjoyed our vampire protagonist Maria, whose story starts as a worker in a maquiladora in Juarez, but whose life is forever changed when some cartel vampire thugs break in to cause havoc. Maria is turned into a vampire by the most mysterious of the attackers, who disappears and leaves her to pick up the pieces of her old life and to adjust to her new one. I really liked seeing her not only have to find strength within herself to keep going, but also liked her growth journey from fledgling vampire to an avenging force not only looking for her maker, but also someone who helps the helpless, many of whom are women and girls, in a world of violence and corruption. Castro very effectively utilizes Maria’s backstory and culture to make for an interesting arc, and I was pretty damn invested in her from the jump as the moves around Mexico and beyond. I also enjoyed the vampire mythology, as Castro has some interesting twists on what her vampires are like compared to vampires in other tales.

I will say though, I feel like this book had a weird shift between the first two thirds into the final third that felt like a whole new book, but with no proper time or pages to explore it fully. I don’t really want to spoil too much of it here, but I will have to say SOME things to explain what my gripes were, so perhaps proceed with some caution. The first two thirds I greatly enjoyed, as Maria is trying to find her maker, get some justice for those who rarely get justice, and figure out what her place in the world is now that she is a vampire. All of this was solid and I enjoyed watching her go on her journey, meeting up with cartels, other women, and some fun characters be they vampires or not. But then we get to the last arc of the book, and suddenly there are prophecies, a potential armageddon at hand, and maybe even the Devil himself that she has to square up against. And that aspect felt like it needed a lot more breathing room to really flesh out a fairly significant plot point like the literal end of the world. I just felt to me like it was a wild swerve that wasn’t super well explored. It probably should have been a book in and of itself, to be honest, as it took away from the rest of the novel by confusing me as we headed into the climax.

But overall I enjoyed “Maria the Wanted”! I’m glad that they decided to re-release it for new audiences to find!

Rating 7: A really solid and entertaining first two thirds was muddled by a confusing final third, but overall an enjoyable vampire thriller.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Maria the Wanted” is included on the Goodreads list “2026 Women in Horror”.

Kate’s Review: “Death and Dinuguan”

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

Book: “Death and Dinuguan” by Mia P. Manansala

Publishing Info: Berkley, November 2025

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

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

Book Description: Love is in the air for the citizens of Shady Palms, but Cupid’s arrow isn’t the only thing striking the town—not with another killer on the loose.

Things are looking up for the Brew-ha Cafe, and Lila Macapagal can’t think of anything that could break the spell, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up—she can’t wait to celebrate with her boyfriend, Jae Park. Adding to the lovey-dovey atmosphere is Hana Lee, Shady Palms’s newest resident. She’s also Jae’s beloved cousin and chocolatier at Choco Noir, the latest addition to the town’s culinary offerings. Everything is coming into place for Hana, who left her old life in Minnesota behind to work at Choco Noir, owned by her best friend.

Unfortunately, beneath the sweet surface of Shady Palms runs a bitter undercurrent, as a series of attacks against women-owned businesses in the area escalates from petty theft to assault and murder when Hana is found knocked unconscious inside Choco Noir, and the chocolate shop owner is put out of business—for good.

With Hana left in a coma, a murderer hiding amongst them, and the safety of the women entrepreneurs of Shady Palms at risk, the Park brothers team up with the Brew-ha crew to put a stop to the villain before they strike again.

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

Valentine’s Day is this weekend! I’ll be honest, we aren’t doing much to celebrate the day (we don’t usually make a big deal of it), I’m just going to make a nice dinner for me and my husband and we will probably watch a movie with champagne, and will also get my kid hepped up on chocolate because why not. But I do like picking out a romance or an on theme read for the holiday, and if you are also looking for a book to commemorate the day, “Death and Dinuguan” by Mia P. Manansala is a pretty solid choice. When I first requested this book I hadn’t realized that it was going to be the final story in the “Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries” series, and was pretty sad when I found out. I have enjoyed this series so much over the years, and I had hoped that it would end on a high note for amateur detective Lila Macapagal. And it didn’t quite hit the heights I hoped for.

I’m going to switch it up this time around and talk about what didn’t work first. Overall, I wasn’t as invested in the mystery at hand. One pretty consistent issue is that when so many people are murdered in a small town population, it seems like it should be a bigger problem than the story acknowledges! That’s obviously not unique to Shady Palms, Illinois (thinking of Cabot Cove in “Murder, She Wrote”, or Midsomer in “Midsomer Murders”), but I do think that you have to do something to make each murder mystery interesting enough to be able to wave it away a bit. And in “Death and Dinuguan”, the murder of a chocolate shop owner (with Jae’s cousin Hana, who also runs the shop, left in a coma), I just wasn’t as interested as the story went on, hitting a lot of beats that are pretty familiar to the previous books in the series. I also was able to call the solution pretty quickly, and if a mystery and the journey is entertaining that usually won’t bother me. But I just felt like it was going through the motions this time around, so it was harder to ignore.

But Lila is still very fun and charming. It is so gratifying to see the way that she has evolved from the start of the series, starting as a bit of a prodigal daughter (well, niece) returning to her tight knit community from the big city, and ending as a pillar of the community with a huge village of people who care for her surrounding her. She’s still scrappy but imperfect, sticking her foot in her mouth a few times as she investigates, but always determined to help and solve the crimes that have hurt her loved ones. And while I was kind of underwhelmed by the way this one came together, I think that it did, ultimately, solidify Lila’s place in Shady Palms and shows just how much she cares about her community, and how much her community cares about her. And as a Valentine’s Day story, it’s a nice on theme mystery for the upcoming holiday.

Finally, the recipes. We once again get a nice set of recipes that go along with the story at hand, and I am always going to be on board with recipes included at the end of a cozy mystery, and these are a fun group that readers may not be as familiar with.

“Death and Dinuguan” may have been a bit of an underwhelming end to a series that I really enjoyed, but I think that overall I’m very satisfied with how it all turned out for Lila and her friends and her little dog Longganisa. I will definitely check out what other mystery series Manansala brings forth in the future. So long, Shady Palms! I’ll miss you!

Rating 6: Kind of a clunky ending for an overall fun series, but a nice fast read for Valentine’s Day.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Death and Dinuguan” is included on the Goodreads list “2025 Cozy Mystery New Releases”.

Kate’s Review: “Trad Wife”

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

Book: “Trad Wife” by Saratoga Schaefer

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, February 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 #tradwife needs a baby. She’ll get one at any cost.

When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband Graham have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never grow out of its infancy.

When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterwards, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true. 

Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever posted—so what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a traditional wife is worth it.

Rosemary’s Baby for the digital age, this disturbing horror novel is one you’ll want to devour in just one bite.

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

If you’ve been following the blog for awhile you have no doubt seen that I have this weird hyper-fixation on the creepy rise of trad wife influencers online and how it is traditionalist and alt-right propaganda dressed up in wholesome family values. And you have probably seen that I’ve been seeking out various books about it because it’s all just so interesting and upsetting. When I saw “Trad Wife” by Saratoga Schaefer, with it’s neon cover of a pregnant woman being held by some demonic hands, my initial thought was ‘OBVIOUS’. With pregnancy and babies and fertility being such a driver of trad wife ethos it just seemed like a predictable direction to take the theme. But since I am still super into it, especially as satire, I figured I’d pick up a story about a woman so desperate for engagement on her trad wife social media page she’d literally sell her soul for a baby and fame, even if that baby is a devil spawn. It would at least be entertaining, I reasoned. And it was. BUT IT WAS ALSO SO MUCH MORE. I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. But I LOVED it.

First to talk about the horror elements, as that is the crux of the novel. Pregnancy horror is still pretty prevalent right now (I’ve talked about why many times), and here it is combined with the more recent ‘trad wife’ thriller sub-genre that has also risen in popularity in recent years due to the trad wife to alt-right/white supremacist pipeline online and high profile trad wife influencers making headlines (why just last week Ballerina Farm made the news because of bacteria ridden raw milk sold from their compound being taken off shelves! YUM!). These two themes mix well due to so much of trad wife content having children and pregnancy as a central tenant of the ideology/content. Saratoga Schaefer knows how to pull out the satire of these two sub genres and makes a fun and wicked horror tale. There are some unsettling imagery moments where Camille is seeing or hearing things, there are obviously some gnarly body horror beats (pregnancy itself is body horror, after all), and there is a growing tension as she grows something inside of her body that is not fully human. Schaefer also tweaks and twists very real pregnancy symptoms and ailments and ups the ante a bit to make them more horrifying, whether it’s hair falling out, bone pain, or severe fatigue. There are also the uncomfortable gaslighting of Camille’s husband Graham, who loves the idea of a submissive wife but wants her to stay a certain way, which adds to her desperation to have a child but also makes her feel more insecure, which drives her actions more desperately, which makes the tension all the higher. For awhile, anyway…

Camille could have been a maddening and stereotypical Ballerina Farms-esque personality that barely moves outside of the tropes that are expected or associated with trad wife influencers. And at first it seems like perhaps that is where we are heading as she obsesses about being a perfect help meet for her milquetoast husband Graham and boosting her social media engagement for validation about her perfection as a trad wife. But Schaefer instead decides to go on a different route with her protagonist, and while Camille is certainly flawed and at times grating, there are so many layers that are carefully and slowly pulled back that I found her to be completely understandable in the path she has chosen and the things that brought her to this point. We have a woman who had so many aspirations that were waylaid, and instead of persevering she has pivoted to a path that she has been told is a better fit ONLY because it would be better for those around her for her to be this way. And when she does start her pregnancy and motherhood journey and does have a baby, priorities shift, and she discovers what she CAN be on her own terms. Even if that involves a ‘demon’ spawn and insatiable urge for human flesh. And I say GOOD FOR HER. I was completely rooting for her and her feral-ness by the time the book was over.

But the thing that surprised me the most about this book were the completely unexpected romantic undercurrents flowing through it (SPOILERS AHEAD). So in the description of this book there is a reference to “Rosemary’s Baby”, which I suppose is an obvious story to reference when talking about a ‘demonic’ pregnancy horror tale. But it’s not a proper comparison at all, because, unlike in “Rosemary’s Baby”, Camille’s pregnancy by the demon/’creature’ (as she calls it)/whatever from the well in the woods is not only fully consensual (which I LOVED), it slowly evolves into something so incredibly sweet that I was floored by the story choice. But I loved it. I loved the idea of an aspirational trad wife so obsessed with the ‘culture’ of purity, perfection, and Godliness not only turning to a ‘demon’ to fulfill a pregnancy for online engagement, but also finding a connection to it that goes so much deeper and intimate than her picture perfect ‘Godly’ husband. Oh, and not only that, it was actually STEAMY. I’m not one who really reads monster romances, not because I dislike them, just because I haven’t really picked them up. But I’m a believer now. IT WAS SO GOOD.

Me repeatedly putting down and picking my Kindle back up during THE SCENE out of SHEER GIDDINESS (source)

“Trad Wife” hit every single high note I was hoping for and exceeded them. It wasn’t what I was expecting and it thought outside of the box of what we have been seeing with this newer reading trend, and I adored every bit of it.

Rating 10: A home run in every way. Great satire, great horror, and, interstingly enough, great monster romance.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Trad Wife” is included on the Goodreads lists “Tradwife Thrillers”, and “2026 Women in Horror”.

Fire’s Catching: “The Hunger Games”


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

It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

Book: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins

Publishing Info: Scholastic Press, October 2008

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

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

Book Description: Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review: I got back from a week long cruise with friends this past Monday, having to sink back into the real world like one always does after a vacation. As I was taking my kid to school on Tuesday and I was pulling into the drop off lane, I noticed something that hadn’t been there before I left: there were now people in green vests standing on the corners by the various drop off and pick up entrances to her elementary school, keeping an eye on the drivers who were coming and going. I immediately clocked that they were there to watch out for ICE. Coming back to reality after a fun trip with dear friends is already hard; it’s even harder when you come back to an occupied metro area that has an ever present anxiety of our neighbors being harassed and kidnapped and murdered, especially when those being targeted include children.

Welcome to “Fire Catching”, my series where I revisit “The Hunger Games”, the dystopia phenomenon written by Suzanne Collins. It had been some time since I read the first book in the series, almost fifteen years probably by my count, though my husband and I have watched the movies many times. When I read it originally it was a fun dystopia with complicated world building, nuanced characters, and a lot of action that fit well together and created a book that I read in about one afternoon. I really loved it then. I still really love it on this revisit, though it feels a bit closer to home these days. This will be a review for the most part! That’s what you are here for. But I’m sure I’ll also be reflective a bit. I feel like I have to be.

(source)

What strikes me about “The Hunger Games” this time around is just how much Collins trusts her readers to be able to handle dark and complicated themes, while also being able to break them down for the audience in ways that aren’t condescending but are easy to understand. Katniss Everdeen is our first person protagonist, a sixteen year old girl living in a poverty stricken community known as District 12, one part of multiple districts that have to answer for a rebellion against The Capitol years earlier. The districts answer by sending two kids, one boy and one girl, drawn by a lottery, to a battle to the death. Katniss isn’t selected, she volunteers so that her gentle younger sister Prim doesn’t have to go. It’s most likely that you know the story. But I never get sick of it, and re-reading it this time I was pleased with how harrowing her story of training, preparing, fighting, and having to perform for her oppressors as entertainment remains. Katniss is prickly, she’s had to grow up far too fast (not just because of life in the Districts but also because of her father’s death leaving her mother catatonic for a spell), and now she has been chosen to be a prop for an oppressive government’s bloodsport. She’s complex and hard headed, but Collins is also great and bringing her vulnerability out, more than happy to remind the reader that she is a child who has been put into a horrifying situation. We see everything through her eyes, and while sometimes it’s a bit on the nose as to how she is misinterpreting things (girl, of COURSE Peeta adores you and has adored you this whole time), but at the same time I fully believe that she has EVERY reason to be paranoid and to think the worst of people, whether it’s her drunk mentor Haymitch, or even the sweet and quiet Peeta.

And we are just starting to scratch the surface of the world building for Panem and its history here, and Collins gives us enough information to make a compelling story while also holding enough back to give us much more to work with as the series goes on. The idea of children’s peril and death being used as punishment and control isn’t new by any means (from The Minotaur to “The Long Walk” to “Battle Royale” it has been seen in so many stories throughout history), but the way that Collins builds this world makes it feel freshly horrifying. With Katniss giving tidbits about how the Hunger Games work, the various ins and outs of how the system can be rigged and gamed based on social standing (because even in the oppressed districts there are still class differences within themselves and between themselves), hints of how The Capitol crushes dissent with a veneer of beauty and wealth, and showing how death has been turned into eagerly eaten up entertainment due to years of propaganda, the world building is rich and incredibly well done. The games themselves are horrifying, more horrifying than I remembered from the first time I read it. I’m sure that’s in part due to the fact I now have a child of my own that I can’t help but project into the horrors, as well as the other stuff going on in my community that seems downright dystopian at the moment. Still so relevant, unfortunately.

This is going to be a gratifying and intense re-read, I can tell. “The Hunger Games” is still such a great start to the series. Next up I will tackle “Catching Fire”. Which I haven’t actually read! So that will be interesting!

And please take a look at this link for Stand With Minnesota, a resource hub for mutual aid, donation drives, and other resources to help communities all over my home state right now. We need help.

Rating 9: Still as harrowing and relevant as when it first came out, which is both a positive (for timelessness purposes) and negative (for the too real feels of it all).

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hunger Games” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction”, and “Best Survival Stories”.

Kate’s Review: “Krackle’s Last Movie”

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

Book: “Krackle’s Last Movie” by Chelsea Sutton

Publishing Info: Split/Lip Press, February 2026

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

Where You Can Get This Book: Split/Lip Press

Book Description: When underground documentarian Minerva Krackle mysteriously disappears after an interview with the “Modern-Day Mummy of San Bernardino County,” her assistant Harper is left with a mess of footage and a tight deadline. During her review of thirty years of interviews Krackle conducted with real-life monsters—werewolves, vampires, invisible dancers, mermaids, sea monsters in the desert—Harper pieces together their links with Krackle’s disappearance and also with the tragic on-stage death of pop-magician The Great Merlan. With the help of Krackle’s former bodyguard Dr. Danger and small-town diner waitress Liz, Harper must decide whether to expose her own hidden history to finish the film, or to let Krackle’s legacy disappear right along with her.

Review: Thank you to Split/Lip Press for sending me an ARC of this novella!

I have found that a tight, easy to read and complex novella can be hard to find at times. I like short stories and novellas as quick reads, but man, sometimes the brevity can be a slight hindrance to the craft if not approached properly, especially if the premise is a bit of a leap of faith on its own. And while that kind of thing was admittedly in the back of my mind when I read up on “Krackle’s Last Movie” by Chelsea Sutton, the premise alone was enough to throw caution to the wind and check it out. Sometimes leaps of faith can be misguided, but when it comes to this novella the pay off was pretty substantial!

It was the premise that lured me in when it came into my inbox: Harper is a film assistant to a Gonzo documentarian named Minerva Krackle, whose works have focused on real life monsters (think werewolves, vampires, mermaids, etc), and who has presently been pursuing a story about a real life living mummy. After Krackle disappears during the production, Harper is left to try and piece it all back together to do her mentor proud and to get her final work out for the world to see. It’s part found footage, part monster tale, part mystery, and it combines to make a very strange and yet incredibly charming novella. I loved the interviews with the ‘monsters’, be it a couple of daffy mermaids or an affable sea monster, and I loved the way that these beings are given more relatable moments that can be very funny to very moving. It’s just such a cute idea, and the comparisons that some have made to a Guillermo del Toro film hit the nail on the head. It’s exactly the kind of fondness for the weird that his movies project, and it’s done in a way that’s compact yet very effective.

But it’s the story of outsiders finding a person who will champion them through thick and thin that really stood out to me as I read this novella. The idea of Krackle meeting these real life ‘monsters’ that are so out of the ordinary so as not to be believed, and to have a goal of telling their stories in their own words at the forefront. As Harper is piecing together these interviews as a final retrospective with the intention of giving them a voice, we see some charming, bittersweet, and sometimes cathartic sequences for the reader and Harper alike. It’s ultimately a journey of self discovery for Harper, as she herself has been suppressing her own ‘quirk’, shall we say, and as she is trying to do justice to Krackle’s vision she begins to look inward and to see her own loneliness and shame and starts to become more comfortable in her own skin. It’s a lovely and sometimes sad story arc as you watch her peel back her pain and trauma and finally start to accept who she is and always has been.

“Krackle’s Last Movie” is a whimsical and charming found footage tale that left me smiling as I was reading it. The epitome of short and sweet (with a twist of strange to even it all out).

Rating 8: A strange, dreamy, and ultimately touching story about being different, those who champion you, and finally coming to be comfortable in your own skin.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Krackle’s Last Movie” isn’t on any Goodreads lists, but the comparisons to Guillermo del Toro are well earned.

Kate’s Review: “On Sundays She Picked Flowers”

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

Book: “On Sundays She Picked Flowers” by Yah-Yah Scholfield

Publishing Info: Saga Press, January 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: In this sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut, a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of southern Georgia and must contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself.

When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own.

Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer.

But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline.

Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sunday She Picked Flowers explores retribution, family trauma, and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.

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

I love stumbling upon titles that come out of nowhere for me, and that is exactly what happened with Yah-Yah Scholfield’s horror novel “On Sundays She Picked Flowers”. I saw it on various book influencer posts, and after seeing multiple people recommend it I decided to give it a go. I was intrigued by the idea of haints and a woman running away from an abusive situation, and jumped in, only to find that this book was a lot heavier than I thought it would be.

When it comes to the supernatural elements in this book, I really enjoyed the Southern Gothic feel, combining an unexpected haunted house story along with some interesting folk lore and dark romance to top it off. Our protagonist is Jude, a woman escaping her life with her abusive and violent mother Ernestine and fleeing to the backwoods of Georgia, where she finds a strange house haunted by ghosts and haints that only she can tame. A haunted house story is already great in my book, but Scholfield brought a distinctly Black and Southern vibe to it that made it stand out from other haunted house tales that I’ve read in the past. The house is menacing but doesn’t really come off as evil, and watching Jude slowly gain its trust and tame it in her own way to become an independent and confident woman that works in tandem with the beings inside was really neat. There is also the character of Nemoira, a mysterious woman who approaches Jude’s home one day, which begins a steamy and dark romance between Jude and this otherworldly stranger. This isn’t particularly romantic and has a lot of issues, but ultimately I found their romance to be incredibly interesting, even as some truths come to light that are on the more supernatural side.

But the very true horrors of this novel live within the very real horrors of reality, specifically with the themes of generational trauma, racism, and child abuse, as well as sexual assault and incest. Jude’s story is one that is at the forefront, and we are presented with a bleak and absolutely upsetting reality of her being abused by her mother Ernestine her entire life until she finally retaliates and then flees after the fact. But Scholfield doesn’t want to make it such a cut and dry situation with Jude being wholly good and Ernestine being wholly bad, managing to walk a fine line in portraying a fraught and violent relationship that has a lot of dark influences that aren’t all within the fault and control of the two people who are involved. I found the slow reveal of Ernestine’s background to be shattering, but also appreciated that there were no excuses for her behaviors. It’s a tough read to be sure, so my advice is to go in with the knowledge that there are lots of tough and triggering beats and plot points. They’re handled well, I felt, but it’s still good to know.

“On Sundays She Picked Flowers” is a harrowing horror tale that had me totally on edge as I read it. It’s a difficult one, but one I ultimately found rewarding.

Rating 8: A dark and upsetting Southern Gothic horror tale that has dark romance, generational trauma, and an interesting mythology. It chilled me to the bone.

Reader’s Advisory:

“On Sundays She Picked Flowers” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Horror”, and “Black Speculative Fiction”.

Kate’s Review: “The Hostess”

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

Book: “The Hostess” by Courtney Psak

Publishing Info: Hodder & Stoughton, January 2026

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

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Natalie and her husband decide to escape the city for a much-needed break. After suffering from a terrible accident, Natalie needs some time and space to recover. So when they find a gorgeous rental home on an estate in the Hamptons available at the last minute, it seems too good to be true.

The owner of the estate, Sadie, is beautiful, elegant and wealthy, and Natalie is immediately drawn to her.

But as the women begin to bond, Natalie can’t shake the feeling that Sadie is hiding something beneath her polished exterior.

When Natalie discovers that the previous guest disappeared without a trace, dark questions Who exactly is the hostess? What are her secrets? And can Natalie uncover the truth, before it’s too late?

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

It’s the dead of winter here in Minnesota, with temps dropping well below zero this weekend. In the dead of winter it’s always kind of fun to read books that have a less frigid setting, and “The Hostess” by Courtney Psak is a twisty thriller that also happens to take place in The Hamptons, a beach setting if there ever was one (though to be fair, apparently New York is also getting rocked by cold and snow this weekend, so even The Hamptons get frigid). I hadn’t ready anything by Courtney Psak before, but when this ended up in my mailbox I thought I’d give it a go. I like a suspenseful thriller with unreliable narrators, after all, and this one sounded like it would deliver on that.

We have two narrative voices in “The Hostess”. The first is that of Natalie, a woman who needs to get away from her everyday life after being in an accident that has given her mental health woes and hallucinations (though her past traumas are also causing issues). She and husband Luke luck out in renting a house in the Hamptons, with their hostess being Sadie, a wealthy and charismatic woman, who also happens to be our second narrative POV, and who has some secrets of her own. We alternate between Natalie and Sadie, slowly learning about both of them through flashbacks and the slow reveal of secrets that they are keeping. Natalie and Sadie both have interesting layers, with my opinions starting in one place for each of them and then evolving in ways that I didn’t expect.

I will say that it took a bit for me to get fully invested in this, as for whatever reason the first half it dragged a little bit as the exposition and clues were starting to be set out. There were a few red herrings that I could spot from the jump, and while I was interested to see what surprises were laying in wait, I was also kind of getting anxious to get further into the action and suspense. But that said, once things did click into place, I was pretty well pulled into the story and the mystery at hand. By the time I was getting to the final chapters I was racing through the pages to see what was going to happen, and that, to me, is what ultimately made this story worth the read, and one that would be a solid choice if you are looking for a thriller with some interesting twists and turns.

“The Hostess” is ultimately an enjoyable thriller with some interesting narrative characters. Think about picking it up if you want a mystery on a cold winter night.

Rating 7: Once the pace picked up in the last half I was pretty into it!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hostess” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but this is probably a read for Frieda McFadden fans.

Kate’s Review: “All The Little Houses”

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Book: “All The Little Houses” by May Cobb

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Landmark, January 2026

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

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

Book Description: It’s the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can’t get for herself… well, that’s what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she’d so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh’s entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles?

From the author of The Hunting Wives comes a deliciously wicked new thriller about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses.

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

When I was a kid I had a nanny that really loved “Little House on the Prairie”. I remember her sometimes trying to get me to watch it, but I found it so utterly boring that she never was able to convert me. I have read a good deal of the “Little House” books (I’m a Minnesota girl after all), but never got into the TV show mythos (as it’s extensive and different from the books I hear tell). When I started reading “All the Little Houses” by May Cobb, it took me a little bit to realize that I was reading a book that was a 1980s kind of interpretation of the “Little House” TV show, but when I did I thought ‘oh, that’s kinda fun!’ Given that Cobb wrote “The Hunting Wives”, which is now a hit show on Netflix (I haven’t watched it yet but it sounds wild), I was really hoping for something unhinged and covered in suds and over the top dramatics. I live for that stuff. And with a “Little House” vibe it felt all the more ripe for the picking. Unfortunately it didn’t click for me.

But first the good stuff. As much as I am not a “Little House on the Prairie” person, I know enough about it to be able to make the connections to the characters that are representative of the characters from the show, and some of that I really enjoyed. Especially because some of the directions that a few of the characters were taken (specifically Ethan, the patriarch of the Swift family, though the reveal here is a bit more in line with the real life Charles Ingalls as opposed to TV show or book… if you know, you know). I also enjoyed the character of Jackson, Charleigh’s best friend who is an interior decorator and happens to be a gay man in the 1980s, feeling a need to be careful while also being flaunted by Charleigh as a novelty. While none of the characters were particularly likable (more on that in a bit), at least Jackson’s prickly and abrasive behaviors made some sense as being a gay man during this time was incredibly difficult.

But there were definitely some stumbles that came with this book. As mentioned above, most of the characters were completely unlikable, and very few of them had the complexities to make their terrible personalities bearable/understandable. This was especially disappointing for the character of Nellie, who is clearly the Nellie Oleson analog but is SO awful that it’s not even fun to follow her in her chapters. And even when we got a slight tread towards making her nuanced or at least a little bit complicated, Cobb never quite pulled the trigger with her to have her move beyond being completely horrendous (and while I haven’t seen “Little House on the Prairie” all that much, I’ve seen enough clips to know that Nellie has a HUGE redemption/development arc, so that made this even more disappointing). Also, these characters seemed to be 1980s caricatures of the TV show, but then also references the TV show as something in universe. Which was confusing. And finally, the ending was incredibly rushed. We got some hints throughout the book about a murder or at least a dead body in the local lake/pond with question as to who it is and who did it, but then by the time we got to the climax it landed with a huge thud, and then abruptly ended. Generally I can forgive a lot if there is a lot of suds and over the top melodrama, but it wasn’t enough to bolster it above the ho-humness of the execution.

“All the Little Houses” had potential but didn’t really meet it. It may work for others, but it didn’t really work for me.

Rating 5: With very few likable characters and a thud of an ending, even the soapy fun couldn’t fully redeem this book.

Reader’s Advisory:

“All the Little Houses” is included on the Goodreads list “2026 Mystery/Thriller New Releases”.

Kate’s Review: “Angelica and the Bear Prince”

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Book: “Angelica and the Bear Prince” by Trung Le Nguyen

Publishing Info: Random House Graphic, October 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

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

Book Description: At her lowest point, a teen girl finds solace and a potential crush in her local theater’s mascot’s DMs, sparking a quest to uncover the true identity of this mysterious figure. From the bestselling author of The Magic Fish comes a new fairy tale romance with a twist.

What do you do when you’re the girl who can do it all, and suddenly you can’t?

After burning out last year, Angelica is ready to get her life back together. Thankfully she has amazing friends to support her…including Peri the Bear, the mascot of her town’s local theater. At her lowest moments, Angelica found comfort in private messaging Peri’s social media account, and well, she might have a bit of a crush. Now, Angelica is interning at the local theater in the hopes of finding the person beind the account and thanking them. Who was this mysterious stranger and why did they help her out? Was it just caring for a stranger…or did they feel the same connection that Angelica felt?

Review: I’ll level with people a bit here, I’ve been having an exhausting and draining week with everything going on in the Twin Cities. And whenever I am facing burnout and mental stress, I find it very difficult to concentrate on reading for very long. When I was at a local bookstore gathering information and resources for my community, I saw “Angelica and the Bear Prince” by Trung Le Nguyen. We are reading his previous graphic novel “The Magic Fish” for book club this month (keep an eye out for that in the near future), and one of our members said that she had read this newest book and really liked it. So on a whim I tossed it onto my stack of things and bought it. I figured that maybe my attention span could focus a bit better on another graphic novel. And I was right. Not only because I find graphic novels easier to process during these kinds of times, but also because “Angelica and the Bear Prince” to be delightful and sweet and exactly what I needed.

Much like “The Magic Fish” before it, “Angelica and the Bear Prince” has a gentle feel and a lot of heart. We follow Angelica, or “Jelly” to her loved ones, as she starts an internship at a local theater after having a suffered a severe case of overextension and burnout that left her drained for months. It just so happens that she has struck up a friendship with a fan account of Peri the Bear, the theater’s mascot, and she wonders if working at the theater will help her find out who her new friend is. But a simple rom-comesque premise is actually teeming with a lot of emotion, not just for Jelly but for those around her. The story discusses grief, pushing down emotions, and the downside of trying to persevere, and it isn’t just Jelly who is struggling. We have a rich cast of supporting characters, from Jelly’s mother who is still grieving the death of her own mother (and who has pressed it all down within herself), to Gable, Jelly’s mysterious pen pal who was once Jelly’s friend but is now shy to reveal that they are the person Jelly has been talking with, to Christine, Jelly’s best friend whose relationship is on thin ice. I liked how Nguyen shows all of the different ways that grief and loneliness can affect a person, and how it can apply to so many different situations, be it actual death, or a simple changing of a relationship. But it’s also a story about connection and reconnection, be it renewing old friendships, or a child and a parent finding unexpected commonalities, or finding a new sense of self. It’s just lovely and sweet.

I also liked how it was all backdropped against the fairy tale “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon”, another fairy tale retelling from Nguyen with similar deconstructions of the themes from the source material. I am not as familiar with “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon”, but I liked how the bear was Gable’s bear costume for the theater production, and how Jelly was the princess who was trying to find out the secrets of the bear vis a vis figuring out who her mysterious pen pal is. And without going into the story itself as that would require me to talk about spoilers a bit, Nguyen is very creative in taking certain beats of the original story and transferring them to this one, which is more a coming of age contemporary tale as opposed to an actual fairy tale. It just works really well.

And I really like Nguyen’s art style still. He is so good at capturing a contemporary aesthetic as well as a fantastical one, and I really liked how it combined for both kinds of vibes within the story.

(Source)

“Angelica and the Bear Prince” is a charming romance and coming of age tale that felt like a calming balm as I was reading it.

Rating 8: A sweet and gentle romance that talks about grief, love, growing up, and finding connection in many ways. It was a quiet read I needed in this tense and exhausting moment.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Angelica and the Bear Prince” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Novels of 2025”.

Also….

If anyone is wondering how you can help immigrant communities in Minnesota while ICE continues to occupy our streets and cities, HERE is an article that has a lot of mutual aid links of all kinds.

Kate’s Review: “It Rhymes With Takei”

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

Book: “It Rhymes With Takei” by George Takei, Harmony Becker (Ill.), Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger

Publishing Info: Top Shelf Productions, June 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

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

Book Description: George Takei has shown the world many faces: actor, author, outspoken activist, helmsman of the starship Enterprise, living witness to the internment of Japanese Americans, and king of social media. But until October 27, 2005, there was always one piece missing—one face he did not show the world. There was one very intimate fact about George that he never shared… and it rhymes with Takei.

Now, for the first time ever, George shares the full story of his life in the closet, his decision to come out as gay at the age of 68, and the way that moment transformed everything. Following the phenomenal success of his first graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy, George Takei reunites with the team of Harmony Becker, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger for a jaw-dropping new testament. From his earliest childhood crushes and youthful experiments in the rigidly conformist 1950s, to global fame as an actor and the paralyzing fear of exposure, to the watershed moment of speaking his truth and becoming one of the most high-profile gay men on the planet, It Rhymes With Takei presents a sweeping portrait of one iconic American navigating the tides of LGBTQ+ history.

Combining historical context with intimate subjectivity, It Rhymes With Takei shows how the personal and the political have always been intertwined. Its richly emotional words and images depict the terror of entrapment even in gay community spaces, the anguish of speaking up for so many issues while remaining silent on his most personal issue, the grief of losing friends to AIDS, the joy of finding true love with Brad Altman, and the determination to declare that love openly—and legally—before the whole world.

Looking back on his own astonishing life on both sides of the closet, George Takei presents a charismatic and candid witness to how far America has come… and how precious that progress is.

Review: One of my biggest regrets at ALAAC25 was not planning well enough to be able to meet George Takei when he was there signing his most recent memoir “It Rhymes With Takei”. As someone who has loved “Star Trek” for most of my life with “The Voyage Home” being my absolute favorite “Trek” film, I’ve had a special place in my heart for him for a long time, following him as Sulu, then as an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights after he came out in 2005. I also absolutely loved his memoir “They Called Us Enemy”, which is him recollecting his time in Japanese Internment camps as a child. So when I was out at a local indie bookstore and saw “It Rhymes With Takei” for sale, I decided that I needed to guy it and finally read it. And much like “They Called Us Enemy”, I found myself really enjoying it.

While “They Called Us Enemy” is a very specific memoir by Takei, “It Rhymes With Takei” is a bit broader in scope and time, though it does have a central theme of him slowly accepting and embracing his identity as a gay man. We start with him as a preteen and then follow him up through marriage equality in this country, with Takei also talking about his experiences as a political activist, as an actor on “Star Trek” and beyond, and as a man figuring out who he is at his heart and being true to himself. I really like how candid Takei is and how he’s willing to talk about a huge swath of things about his life with lots of honesty, heart, and humor. Even though I’ve been a fan of his for years, there were so many things I never knew about him, like how he studied acting in England, or how he had a brief stint in politics and was even appointed to the Southern California Rapid Transit District. I honestly had no idea that he had been soon invested in many social justice and political issues even before he came out in response to the fight for marriage equality in California, and I found his stories to be really engaging. And yes, there are plenty of “Star Trek” stories to be found as well.

I also really appreciated how willing he was to talk about the way that his childhood in a Japanese Internment camp shaped his fears of being othered, and how it contributed to his fear of being outed as gay during a time where it would be incredibly damaging. His introspection about his love for acting and how it helped him compartmentalize the secrets he were desperate to keep was bittersweet and incredibly personal, and getting to see how he lived this whole other life as a gay man where some people knew but many did not was an at times emotional tale (I found myself tearing up while he talked about losing so many friends to AIDS, as well as him coming out to his brother, who did not take it well). Takei is able to be incredibly true to himself and talk about these experiences in a way that never feels dismissive but also feels like the genial and hopeful person that the world has come to know him to be, and I thought it balanced out very well. It was also just nice getting to see the romance between him an husband Brad.

“It Rhymes With Takei” is a heartwarming memoir that allows George Takei to share more of himself with the world on his own terms. I quite liked it.

Rating 8: A deeply personal memoir about his acting career, activism, love, and finally being able to be true to himself, “It Rhymes With Takei” is George Takei’s story on his own terms.

Reader’s Advisory:

“It Rhymes With Takei” is included on the Goodreads lists “AAPI Graphic Novels”, and “Graphic Novels Featuring LGBTIQ Themes”.