Category: Serena’s Reviews

Serena’s Review: “Vengeful”

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Book: “Vengeful” by V.E. Schwab

Publishing Info: Tor, September 2018

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

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

Book Description: Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.

With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

Previously Reviewed: “Vicious”

Review: It’s an interesting experience reading this series for the first time as I am. That is, when the first book came out, people rightly assumed it was a stand-alone. And then many years later, here comes this book and it’s unclear whether it’s just a sequel or carrying over to a third book? Me, now reading the trilogy with the knowledge that it will be a completed trilogy here soon, I’m having perhaps a different reading experience than others. That said, while I think I would have been more frustrated by this book had I read it back when it came out and without the knowledge that there would be a third, I still found this book to be suffering from a rather stifling case of “second book syndrome.”

To start with what continues to work: the general vibe of this world and the new powers/abilities that were introduced. Like the first book, I still am very much enjoying the “dark superheroes” vibe that is going on. In many ways, this is just more of the same: more cool powers and more darkness. I did have a few questions about how certain characters’ abilities worked, but this was definitely one of those books where the general atmosphere was more important than the detailed ins and outs of how the magic system works. That being the case, I was fine treating the fantasy elements as a more “soft magic” system.

That said, when I say this book is more of the same as the first book, I mean that in every way, because in this book we all got even more characters and even more time jumps. Some of these worked ok, but I also think that the story, both in pacing and in overall theme, began to become muddled by the inclusion of all of this “more.” While a few of the new characters were interesting, I felt like it came at the expense of some of our existing characters. People who had been represented as complex and multifaceted began to resemble cardboard cutouts more and more.

One of the strengths of the first book was the interesting exploration of what it means to be a “villain” and the complicated layer of greyness that can be found therein. Here we were given a new character who I think was meant to further expand on this point, but instead, simply fell flat and almost reinforced the more black-and-white nature of the question. I feel like Marcella was supposed to represent some sort of deep thought exercise on misogyny, women, and power. But I don’t think this was successful at all. Marcella was just a villain, pretty much full stop. So any waxing poetic she did on this subject was always seen through the lens of a character who was a pretty clear villain, regardless of her gender, thus watering down any greater commentary on powerful women that was trying to be made.

I also think the overall pacing was harmed by all the constant time jumps and the increased number of cast members whom I was expected to keep track of. I simply began to not care about some of them and feel frustrated by the limited time I got to spend with those I did still have interest in. Beyond this, this book felt a bit directionless with regards to its overall theme. There were some good lines sprinkled throughout, but by the time I got to the end of the book, it failed to come together into a greater point overall. Given the strength of the message in the first book, this was all the more disappointing.

Now knowing that this is a middle book in a trilogy, it’s very easy to see “middle book syndrome” all over this one. Schwab is still a talented author, so I didn’t have a bad time with this book by any means. But had I read this one when it came out, I may have found myself wishing that “Vicious” had remained a stand-alone. We’ll just have to wait and see how the third book ties everything up to see which side I end up falling on for the trilogy as a whole.

Rating 7: A bit of a letdown from the strength of the first book. I still enjoy Schwab’s writing, but this book seemed to muddy the waters of this world and story more than it edified them.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Vengeful” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Can’t Wait Books of 2018 and Villain Protagonist.

Serena’s Review: “The Ice Beyond”

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Book: “The Ice Beyond” by Olivia Wildenstein

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: I had two childhood dreams: to shift into a wolf, and to win Nordin Stormsson’s forbidden heart. My first dream shattered the day my mother confessed I wasn’t a shifter, but a valkyrie—stranded in a land far from my people. My second was crushed when Nordin rejected me…only to claim another as his mate.

Heartbroken, I crossed beyond the wards in search of my birth clan. My freedom came at a cost. Dragons, vampyrs, and enemy wolves stalked me through the dark. They weren’t the only ones who came after me, though.

Nordin came too. He seized me before they could, stealing my body and then my heart. For a time, I dared to dream once more, to imagine a future with Nordin in the land of ice and wolves. Until I uncovered my beloved’s most closely guarded secret.

A truth about my past.

One that ruined us all.

Review: This was a very mixed bag read for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed, and then others that I really struggled to get through. I think the world-building was one of the most interesting parts. Of course, it’s hard to go wrong with Norse mythology and fantasy, and I think the familiar elements from this were used well, as well as some nice twists to things to build a more unique and individual version.

As the story continued, we were given more and more information about this world, and more and more little subplots were added in. On one hand, I was interested in many of these newly introduced aspects of the story, but on the other, it did begin to feel a bit overwhelming, with very little resolution coming to any pieces of the story. There were a bunch of questions left wide open, and at a certain point, this did begin to feel frustrating rather than interesting.

I also struggled to enjoy the main character and the love interest. The main character wasn’t a complete loss, but the author chose to include diary entries and letters written by this character between chapters, and these really didn’t help me connect to her. The tone of voice used by Zas in these written portions was so juvenile, so silly, that I had a hard time keeping it in my head that I was supposed to be reading about a new adult woman. I guess 19 is still fairly young, but if a character is written as a very young 19, it’s always going to give a bit of an “ick” factor to the spicy aspects of the romance. And such was the case here.

Beyond how young she sounded, Zas was frustrating in her focus. She learns she has this entirely unknown history, and while this should be a driving force for her story, instead her inner dialogue and these letters revolve almost exclusively around the romance. I get that this is a hard balance to strike, as this is a romantasy title, so the love story should come first. But be that as it may, something in the balance here between the romance and Zas’s own personal arc didn’t work.

I also didn’t love the romantic interest. Nordin was your typical bossy, possessive romantic lead. He wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it was frustrating watching the entire progression of the romance come down to him just deciding for them both when the romance could or could not happen.

I also didn’t love the first-person, present-tense style the book was written in. However, as this is so common in romantasy, it’s hard to really hold it against this book in particular. I, for one, just want this entire trend to die a quick death, as I think it makes even skilled authors come across as weaker than they are. But plenty of romantasy/romance readers seem to be fine with it or even prefer it, so I’ll likely remain in the minority on this one.

Me and the other hold outs for third person and past tense!

So this was just an ok read. I know this author is fairly popular, and I’m still curious to go check out her older books, as I think the world-building was interesting and there were aspects of the characters I liked. If you’ve enjoyed this author in the past, I imagine this will be for you. Also, if you enjoy most trending romantasy nowadays, this fits in well with many of the other currently popular titles.

Rating 7: The world-building was interesting and I had a whole lot of questions about where things were going. Alas, I didn’t get many answers, but instead had to spend way too much time reading juvenile sounding journal entries.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ice Beyond” should be on this Goodreads list: Norse Fantasy.

Serena’s Review: “Scion”

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Book: “Scion” by James Islington

Publishing Info: S&S/Saga Press, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: My job, when you think about it, isn’t so different from a lot of people’s. I have to deal with a ton of boring planning. Inconvenient hours. Some pretty awkward face-to-face interactions. And like most of us, I’m really only clocking in to try and crawl out from beneath my debts.

The more old-fashioned crowd do still get hung up on the ‘killing people’ part, I guess, but that’s a them problem: it’s been perfectly legal to take out lifers for ages. Besides, once ultrawealthy morons realised they had a way to live forever—limited resources be damned—there was only ever going to be one genuinely practical deterrent. So someone’s got to do it.

And luckily, my genetic compatibilities make me really, really good at it.

Still. This next job… I don’t know. It’s something I haven’t had to deal with in years. Kind of the opposite of my regular duties. Strange, that it got thrown my way.

I’m sure it’ll all go totally fine though.

Review: I was excited to jump into this book when I was offered a review copy by the publisher. I’d heard a lot of great things about this author, but hadn’t gotten around to reading his original series. So, instead, this seemed like a great entry point: a short and sweet sci-fi story in a new world. And, for what it’s trying to be, I had a lot of fun with this book.

A comparison that comes to mind when thinking about this book is Martha Wells’ “Murderbot” series. This is both a positive and speaks to a few of the negatives I felt reading this book. For the positives, the main character here has a unique, snarky voice that very much allowed the book to read at a snappy, quick pace, similar to “Murderbot.” The concept itself is fairly similar, too. While the premise talks about our main character being an assassin, they instead spent much more of their time as a bodyguard for a specific character throughout the story. I had fun with this idea, though I did wish we had gotten a bit more from the assassin angle that had been hinted at in the summary.

For the negative, while I think the voice of this main character was fun, by the end of the book, I still didn’t feel like I really knew much about Azure as a character. Instead, I felt like I knew a lot more about the character that Azure was tasked with guarding. Similarly, while the world was interesting, with hints of dystopian politics and cyberpunk stylization, there were a lot of little tidbits about how this world works that were simply dropped on the reader without much explanation. But, again, the comparison to “Murderbot” works well. There, too, the world and character are only briefly introduced in a short novella, but then the entire concept expands greatly as the series continues. I’m hoping that there will be a similar expansion here.

Like I said, this is a short read, and I did enjoy what we had here. But it did feel like a bit of an incomplete concept. There were hints of greatness in the character, hints of interest in the world, and hints of larger conflicts to come. However, as a self-contained work, it didn’t ever quite reach the highs that I was hoping for. That said, I think there is a lot of potential, and the story definitely ends on a high note with a wide-open door to future books that may expand on some of the weaker areas we had here. If you enjoyed this author’s previous work, I’m sure this will be a hit! And if you’re looking for something that could go the way of the “Murderbot” series, this also might be for you!

Rating 8: Fun, fast, and introducing a whole lot of potential, even if I was left wanting in a few areas for this specific book.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Scion” can be found on this Goodreads list: Best of Cyberpunk

Serena’s Review: “The Wretched Divine”

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Book: “The Wretched Divine” by Adalyn Grace

Publishing Info: Feiwel, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: Aurelie Chantelune was born to serve. Raised as a knight in a kingdom ravaged by demons, she’s spent her life honing her blade, driven by the memory of the monsters who tore her family apart and by the knowledge that she’s one of the few who can stop them.

If Aurelie can claim her first kill, she’ll inherit a legacy passed down through the Chantelune a soulbond with Yuriel, an angel whose power is vital to her kingdom’s survival. But when those she loves begin turning into the very monsters she’s sworn to destroy, Aurelie is forced to seek help from the last place she ever imagined. Desperate, she forges a second and far more dangerous bond with Severin, a demon she can hardly trust, but who claims to know how to end the war for good.

With their lives and fates entwined, Aurelie, Yuriel, and Severin must team up to hunt down a cure capable of turning demons back into humans. But the more they learn about one another and the deeper their relationships grow, the more Aurelie begins to question the war and her place in it. With both of her bonded on opposing sides, she’ll have to make a continue to stand with the angels, or risk everything by trusting a demon.

Review: I promise I won’t go on another rant about love triangles in this review. For one thing, the book summary does a great job of making it pretty clear that that’s where things are going. And for another, while I still didn’t love the love triangle, I actually didn’t hate this one as much as others. Mostly this was because there wasn’t an obviously preferred choice right from the start.

Just to jump right in from there, I actually really appreciated the fact that both love interests were given a decent amount of page time, and even by the end, it wasn’t super clear which direction things were going to go. I was a bit nervous when I read the original setup that we’d get the typical romantasy character types here: the goody, blond angel character who is clearly not a real candidate, and then the dark, mysterious demon character who’s the obvious endgame from the very first moment. But, if anything, I found my actual interest in these two going the opposite way. Yuriel seemed to have a lot more depth and character to him, in many ways making him my favorite character even above Aurelie herself. Severin, on the other hand, was rather bland and predictable. So while the book didn’t make it incredibly clear which direction the romance was going, I definitely had a preference, and it was refreshing to see the “dark bad boy” archetype shucked a bit, with the angel character ending up with more depth between the two.

I also found Severin and Aurelie’s chapters and scenes together to be some of the weakest, writing-wise. Here, we had the stereotypical “enemies to lovers” banter, and it all just felt so tired. It wasn’t bad, necessarily, but it was so familiar that you will feel like you’ve read these exact same exchanges many times in the past.

Aurelie’s chapters in particular were a challenge. While the book is marketed as new adult, Aurelie very much reads like the worst examples of YA heroines: impulsive and lacking any true depth to her emotions or motivations. At best, I didn’t care what was going on with her, and at worst, she would actively annoy me with the nonsensical approach she would take to situations.

All of this said, I still enjoy this author’s writing style. It’s very approachable and free-flowing. For all my frustrations with some of the character beats and the romance, I still sailed through this book at a steady clip. So, while this wasn’t my favorite book by this author, I definitely think it’s one worth checking out if you’ve enjoyed her books in the past and don’t mind love triangles as much as I do.

Rating 7: While I didn’t love the love triangle, it was nice to find that the angel love interest was actually more compelling than the demon. Dear lord, spare me from another dark, mysterious love option who’s immediately the obvious endgame.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wretched Divine” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Romantasy TBR 2026 and Most Anticipated Adult Fantasy & Sci-fi of 2026.

Serena’s Review: “The Thief and the Traitor Bride”

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Book: “The Thief and the Traitor Bride” by V. L. Bovalino

Publishing Info: Forever, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: Nore Gordon is a woman of many talents: she can speak a variety of languages, disguise herself in plain sight, and has made a name for herself as a successful wine merchant. But unbeknownst to those closest to her, it is all a front for Nore’s true role as the favoured spy of the Lindle crown.

Tasked with infiltrating enemy lands in search of a powerful relic, Nore is forced to engage the services of a great thief. Unfortunately, the only person for the job is her estranged husband Caspian. Both Nore and Caspian bear the scars of the disastrous end of their marriage, but if they are to survive their deadly new assignment, they must pose as a happily married couple to avoid detection.

As danger closes in, Nore finds herself tangled in a web of lies and deceit-and though Caspian is at the centre of it all, she may not hate him as much as she once did. But Caspian has betrayed her before, and trust can be far more deadly than deception.

Previously Reviewed: “The Second Death of Locke”

Review: This is a tough review to write, because some of my experience of this book is affected by my absolute adoration for the first in this series. I was blown away by “The Second Death of Locke,” and to spoil my own review, the best parts of this book also just happened to feature the main couple from that book. That being the case, while starting to think about what to say about this book, I found it all coming out rather…ranty. Which isn’t fair! Because this is by no means a bad book; in fact, in many ways, it is an incredibly well-written fantasy romance that doesn’t shirk on the challenges of representing a character who is by no means reliable and who has been actively manipulated her entire life. But…it also wasn’t “Locke,” and I guess that’s what I wanted.

So let’s start with the good things, because really, there are many. Even my later criticisms should be taken with a grain of salt, because comparison is the killer of objective reviews. For the good, this author continues to prove that one doesn’t need to dumb down one’s writing when working within the romantasy or fantasy romance genres. This seems like it should go without saying, and yet. The prose was tight, lyrical, and suitably adult for the heavy topics the story was covering.

I will say, however, that the magic system, while very interesting, is still very confusing. I’m not always a big fan of glossaries or additional information included at the end, but a more laid-out explanation that could be referenced would have been helpful here, especially since the author introduced even more to an already complicated system. And, while I appreciated the map in the beginning of the book, it was notably leaving out some very important locations that are pretty central to the story, so I wish that had been expanded upon as well.

Beyond that, I appreciated the careful work the author put into her main character. Nore’s arc is not an easy one to write. She’s a woman who has been manipulated her entire life and is very much gaslit about her role in the world and her relationship with her mentor. This is fairly obvious to the reader right from the start. So it can be frustrating to watch Nore behave in some fairly unlikable ways due to this brainwashing. However, the book wouldn’t have the emotional climax it does or hit nearly as hard had Nore somehow been more aware of her circumstances. Indeed, her naivety is essential to demonstrate the challenges that those in abusive, manipulative relationships like this face, as well as those who hope to extract them from them. The author does a great job of carefully building up Nore’s history through a series of flashbacks that neatly illustrate how she’s come to where she is. From there, the book moves through her slow awakening to the reality around her.

But, like I said, this doesn’t make her a particularly fun character to read about. For a character who is meant to be a master spy, I wish we had seen more competence from her in the few moments that she is given to operate independently (though this restriction is also part of the manipulation, so I’m not sure how well it would work). So it’s easy enough to set aside some of the frustrations with her naivety in this area.

However, the romance was incredibly frustrating. I enjoy second-chance romances, but they are hard to write. And here we had a good example of where it can go wrong. The story plays out skipping between the present, where Nore and Caspien have been forced to work together after years apart following some terrible betrayal in the past that has left them both hating one another. This hatred seems to go both ways, though we see more from Nore, of course, as we’re reading the story from her perspective. Interspersed with this are flashbacks to their past in which they fall in love and eventually marry. So, we don’t get to the actual betrayal until nearly the 50% marker in the book. This leaves a lot of time to really build up this betrayal as fairly massive. And when we get to it…man, it really fell with a thump. Both characters, but mostly Nore, react so instantaneously and so poorly that I was immediately frustrated and annoyed. For characters who have been in love for years and happily married for a good chunk of that, the switch to immediate hatred with no room for explanations just read as ridiculous at best, and unlikable at worst. Nore, in particular, comes across as incredibly hypocritical in this scenario.

Now, once the romance starts building back up in the present timeline, I did enjoy these two together. Nore was at her best in the scenes with Caspien. And while he wasn’t my favorite love interest ever, I was fully on board with Caspien pretty much from the start. Between this book and the first (where the emotional stakes at least were much more known by both characters, even if they didn’t admit them to each other), I think it’s fair to say that this author has an incredible way with writing romances between two characters who are in love already to some extent. This is a pretty rare talent, as there’s often a reason that romance authors just end the book once the characters have acknowledged their feelings, usually at the very end of the story. However, I don’t think the enemies-to-lovers bit worked as well here, unfortunately.

We do get to see more of Locke and Kier and man, I was so happy when they showed up. Unfortunately, Locke’s presence did expose more of my frustrations with Nore, as even the small bits we get from Locke were so much more compelling than much of Nore had been for much of the story. Kier was also wonderful, and the little snippets of their love story were so sweet.

On a final note, I think the pacing of this one was also a bit off. The first book was also on the slower side, but this one really dragged in the middle. Part of this was the frustration in having to wait so long for the reveal of what went wrong in the past (and then the disappointment when it came). But there were also a lot of slower travel scenes and bits that felt drawn out past their usefulness. I think a decent amount of paring down in this middle section would have made the entire book a tighter, more enjoyable read.

That said, this was still incredibly well written, and, while frustrating at times, I appreciated the unique arc that Nore traveled. The romance was at its best in the second half of the story, and I was happy to get to spend more time with Locke and Kier. While this didn’t quite live up to the high that was the first book, I still enjoyed it and am excited to see what comes next!

Rating 8: While this didn’t quite live up to the high that was “The Second Death of Locke,” this was still an incredibly well-written fantasy romance with a lovely second-chance romance at its heart (though you do have to wait a bit for it!)

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Thief and the Traitor Bride” can be found on this Goodreads list: Gothic Fantasy (not sure I would put it here, but oh well!)

Serena’s Review: “A Snake Among Swans”

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

Book: “A Snake Among Swans” by Hannah Kaner

Publishing Info: Harper Voyager, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: Tilde has always heard the whispers of the kithwood, the voices of her ancestors speaking through the mysterious forest of her homeland. But now both the kithwood and her kingdom are in danger.

For Tilde is the only surviving heir of a conquered land. To unite the people and finally stop the bloodshed, she marries the aging warlord, King Liran. Her duty is to bind their nations and bear him a son.

But the swan king’s court is dangerous. Tilde is a threat to the claim of Liran’s older sons, who will do whatever it takes to remove her, to the princess Elise who has only ever known loyalty to her family, and to the priests who own them all.

Yet none of them know that Tilde is a snake in their midst, with allies on her side and dark, forbidden power of her own. She wants her kingdom back, and she will sacrifice everything to claim it.

For the queen to rise, the swans must fall.

Review: Overall, I enjoyed this read. I had a bit of an up-and-down experience with her previous trilogy, so while some of those struggles showed up again here, this book also served as a strong reminder of why I’ve enjoyed this author so much in the past.

In many ways, this is a very familiar high fantasy tale. The world-building isn’t incredibly unique, and the character archetypes are familiar. Many of the themes are also what you’d expect from this sort of novel: feminine rage and the weights of duty and power in the face of desire. All of this can sound like negatives when listed out like this, but I think it’s books like this that also remind us why we’ve seen these stories before, and that’s because they can be truly excellent if done well!

Kaner’s lyrical, poignant style of writing elevates familiar themes and raises them to levels that feel powerful and lasting. This was especially true of Tilde, a character who knew what she wanted and was willing to make difficult decisions to accomplish her goals. While her story unfolds, there were several lines that I stopped to reread, as they so perfectly encapsulated the struggles of women in these sorts of medieval worlds that are loosely based on European history. Kaner perfectly hones in on just how infuriating this situation is: the lack of power and choice, the relegating of one’s personhood down to only the ability to produce an heir. It’s enraging. But the ability of the author to draw out such strong feelings is a testament to her skill.

I will say that pacing was a problem in some of the other books I read by this author, and I had similar struggles here. I was immediately drawn into the story, but somewhere around the middle, things really began to lag. It was at this point that I started becoming tempted to skim a bit. Luckily, as the story got into the back third, things began to pick up again, and I was roped back into the story.

It’s hard to say this was an enjoyable read when so many of the emotions are focused on rage and injustice. Perhaps a better description would be saying it was a powerful read. The pacing and plotting weren’t perfect, but I was able to get through the lull to the conclusion. I’m definitely curious to see where the story goes from here, and I would recommend this to readers looking for a classic medieval fantasy with a sapphic love story at its heart.

Rating 8: Powerful themes of feminine rage permeate this read. But there’s also a lovely sapphic romance to get you through some of the parts that will infuriate you!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Snake Among Swans” can be found on this Goodreads list: Reactor’s 30 More SFF Titles to Look Forward to in 2026.

Serena’s Review: “Daughter of the Dark”

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

Book: “Daughter of the Dark” by R.J. Vallderperas

Publishing Info: Bramble, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: For Solana, survival has always meant staying sharp—and staying alone. With a blood-forged dagger as her only inheritance, she’s made herself Supay’s fiercest demon slayer, hunting muki—monsters born from human death—through the kingdom’s streets.

But the work comes with a curse of its every body she leaves behind swells the muki’s ranks. The city that raised her has been her cage for so long she’s stopped believing freedom is real.

Then a twist of fate drags her into the palace and crowns her Royal Demon Slayer, a title wrapped in silk and sharpened like a blade. The magic is dazzling. The secrets are darker. And whatever is poisoning Supay didn’t start in the alleys. It started behind gilded doors.

Worst of all is Reyes, the king’s right-hand man, a captain of the Masters, and her personal torturer turned mentor who’s dangerously hard to resist. Wanting him is a mistake. Trusting him could be fatal. Because if Solana walks away, the kingdom falls. And if she stays, she may have to become the monster Supay needs.

Review: I don’t typically look at other reviews before writing up my own so as to preserve a more uninfluenced opinion, but this book had me stumped for a bit. There was something about it that was both familiar and not particularly to my taste, and when I went to the reviews, someone had the perfect comparison: this book’s heroine is almost an exact replica of Celaena from “Throne of Glass!” And suddenly my feelings were clear. I wasn’t loving this, but some part of me was also recognizing that I was likely going to be the outlier. After all, “Throne of Glass” is incredibly popular, and I’m definitely an outlier for my dislike of it and of Celaena.

So yes, our main character was one of my main struggles with this book. She’s your typical badass assassin with oh, so many secrets. But, of course, we don’t really see much of this and instead are repeatedly simply told that she’s the best at what she does. Similarly, the love interest feels like some jumble of all the love interests from the “Throne of Glass” series combined. He wasn’t terrible or anything on his own, but he was also so familiar as a type that I was immediately bored by him.

I think that was my main problem with this book. It’s competently written, the characters are all the sort that often appeal to romantasy fans, and the pacing was fast-moving. And I’m sure there are a bunch of readers out there who will gobble this one up. But I’m getting so tired of reading the same characters and love interests time after time. And the style of writing that is popular now, which relies heavily on simply telling readers traits about the main characters, is so dull that I’m getting to the point where it’s a struggle to finish books where this pops up in the first few chapters. Which I hate. Because there have definitely been examples of books that didn’t immediately enthrall me, but then, after a few chapters, successfully drew me in.

I will say that I think the world-building here was its strongest aspect. The exploration of the underworld and the demon-like creatures was fascinating. I also really liked the overall Peruvian culture that carried through in some of the descriptions of food and architecture. That said, I could have used even more of this. I especially thought that the magic system was a bit underdeveloped and didn’t take full advantage of its interesting origins.

Overall, this was a bit of a disappointment. The cover is fantastic, and I know there are a lot of readers who will enjoy this. If you like “Throne of Glass,” for example, and that heroine in particular, this will definitely be up your alley! So subjectively, as I didn’t like that book or its lead, this wasn’t my favorite and would probably be a “6” for me personally. But I’m bumping it up a notch since that’s such a “me thing” problem.

Rating 7: The Peruvian influences were the most interesting part. And from there, it may come down to how much you’d like to re-read “Throne of Glass.” Which…not so much for me.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Daughter of the Dark” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2026.

Serena’s Review: “Reign”

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Book: “Reign” by Bethan Croome

Publishing Info: Cosmo Reads, September 2026

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

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

Book Description: The Kingdom of Lyonesse is absent of magic but not of rain.

In the rain-soaked Kingdom of Lyonesse, magic is outlawed―punishable by death. So when Niamh’s forbidden witchcraft is exposed, she flees her rainy village disguised as a man. She never meant to end up on a battlefield.

Mistakenly conscripted into a brutal war engineered by a paranoid king against a vengeful sorceress determined to reclaim the throne, Niamh now hides another secret―her womanhood. Between fighting terrifying beasts and confronting arcane powers she once believed were merely folklore, Niamh is thrust into a world where survival relies on more than luck―it demands alliances.

In battle, Niamh must obey Prince Fitzroy, the king’s infuriatingly handsome illegitimate son and sharp-tongued commander tasked with eradicating magic. He is everything she despises…and everything she struggles to resist. Back at camp, she forges a complicated friendship with Bash, a fellow soldier who sees her like no one else does and stirs forbidden feelings that could shatter her disguise.

As war tightens its grip on the kingdom, Niamh is forced to choose: obey the prince who could expose her, trust the soldier who could love her, or embrace the forbidden magic that could save them all.

But war is merciless, and not everyone will live to see which side prevails.

Review: I’ve seen a lot of reviewers mentioning Mulan when referencing this book. And while I get it, that’s one of the most well-known examples of a “woman dressing as a man” story we really have, it’s also a very specific tale, and mentioning it every time a book features a female character dressing as a man just messes with people’s expectations. We might as well reference the “Alanna” series by Tamora Pierce or, heck, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” while we’re at it! Anyways, I’ll get off this weird soapbox and get on with the review.

By the time I finished this book, my primary feeling was that I really wished I had liked it more than I did. There were some good ideas here, and I’ll be honest that some of my struggles came down to my own preferences (we all know my feelings on love triangles by this point). But the book also struggled in too many basic ways to truly be thought of as a successful read or one that I would recommend generally to other fantasy readers.

For one thing, the writing itself was a tough read. It felt wooden and lacked any sense of a unique tone or voice. The structure felt very rigid, and the entire affair left me feeling cold and unable to connect to anything that was happening on the page. In the most basic sense, there was way too much telling throughout the entire book and not enough showing. From character development, to plotting, to world-building: it all felt like a slow progression of checklists just being tacked one upon the other.

The characterization was equally bland. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the dialogue was incredibly choppy-feeling and didn’t read in a way that felt like believable interaction. And while I could appreciate some of the basic components of these characters, they also quickly began to feel overly familiar, without much new to be added or experienced while following their stories. And, of course, this didn’t help the romance. Setting aside the multiple love interests thing, which is very much just a “me issue,” I also simply didn’t buy any of these relationships. It never felt like any true connection was built between these characters. Instead, like everything else, the reader was simply informed that a connection was there.

Overall, this was a very lackluster read. I really enjoy fantasy stories that follow a woman dressing up as a man, as I think this can explore some really interesting concepts of misogyny and the different dynamics between the sexes. But this one didn’t really do anything with all of this. Instead, the wooden and choppy writing took me out of it almost immediately, and the flat characterization prevented me from ever connecting to the story. Readers who enjoy romances with multiple love interests and who want to experience another “woman undercover as a man” story may still want to check it out, however!

Rating 6: I wanted to like this one, but everything fell just a bit short, from the characterization, to the choppy dialogue, to the flat prose.

“Reign” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2026 Most Anticipated Romantasy & Fantasy Romance Releases

Serena’s Review: “Reliquary”

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Book: “Relilquary” by Hannah F. Whitten

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2026

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

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

Book Description: Sometimes, you just want to belong.,When Claire’s fiancé mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, seemingly destroying her chances at the belonging she’s sought, she’s prepared to sink back into the lonely life she lived before. Orphaned by a freak boating accident in her childhood, she never expected to find connection like she did with Elias, anyway. Even if sometimes, that connection seemed more like something he felt obligated to than something he wanted.

Their relationship wasn’t perfect—his coldness, his secrets, his strange aversion to the ocean—but what relationship is?

When Elias’s family reaches out—his incredibly wealthy family, from whom he was estranged—and invites Claire to a wake at their family home on a private island, Claire is given the chance to have connection again. To belong to something, just like she’s always wanted. Just like Elias knew she was desperate to have.

Even if that family is a little strange. Even if their home built partially into the sea stirs up memories of the accident that killed her parents and sister. Even if Ash, Elias’s older brother, seems insistent on Claire leaving as soon as possible.

Claire can’t bring herself to be lonely again. And as the strange circumstances of Elias’s familial connection with the sea becomes more and more apparent, her window for escape is rapidly closing.

Does she even want to?

Review: There must be something in the water, since many of my favorite fantasy authors have all seemed to come to the collective understanding that now is the time to try their hand at the horror genre. And so I must dutifully follow, our blog genre/reviewer standards be damned!

Luckily for me, what Whitten has written here is a wild, Gothic ride that veered way further into the fantastical than I had expected when I first picked it up. The general setup, however, played into some of my favorite elements of Gothic fiction. We had the creepy, mysterious house, the strange family, and secrets whose answers might be even more dangerous when they are finally revealed.

For all that there is a creepy house, the horror elements were largely focused on the ocean and aquatic themes. And all of this was truly terrifying and surprisingly disgusting and disturbing. As far as the actual horror goes, beyond the suspense of the general setup, the primary way it plays out is through increasingly disturbing moments of body horror. This is definitely not one to read if you have a weak stomach or really struggle with body grossness.

I can’t get into too many details about how the story plays out, as there were a ton of late-game reveals that really twisted the story into an entirely different beast. There was definitely not a lack of creativity, and, like I said, the book took on a much more fantastical flavor toward the end than it did with its more typical Gothic setup. For me, this was a pleasant turn of events. But it also comes fairly late in the game, and then the book whacks you over the head again and again for the remainder of the read with increasingly out-there twists. So readers who are vibing with the more general Gothic premise or who are expecting a more grounded horror story might find themselves off balance when this shift comes.

I really enjoyed all of the characters we had here. Of course, “enjoyed” in cases like this often means loving to hate them. The entire family was so disturbing, all in different ways. And the book did a great job of highlighting the various ways that different personalities might buckle and twist under these circumstances. There’s a lot of toxicity here, but many different flavors are on display.

There was also a surprisingly interesting romantic subplot. For a book that takes place over only a few days, I was surprised by the depth of this plotline. Partly this is because the love interest was one of the most interesting characters in the book. His arc is tragic, frustrating, and compelling.

I also really enjoyed the main character. Through her, Whitten expertly portrayed a woman whose struggles with tragedy and guilt have led her to extreme levels of passivity and a desire to belong that trumps almost anything else. What makes this all the more interesting is that Claire herself is largely aware of her own failings in this area. But that doesn’t make her any more capable of disrupting her own habits. She knows they are deeply unhealthy, and for much of the book, she’s embraced them as part of herself. This can make her frustrating to read at times, but also makes it all the more gratifying when she finally comes around.

The pacing of the entire book was a bit odd. It starts slow, which is expected with this sort of horror, the type that is leaning strongly into dread and revels in the slow reveal. But it does make for a jarring experience in the back half when the wheels seemingly come off and it’s full blast for the last third of the book. Not necessarily a full blast of action, but more one heavy scene after another. And, while I liked how things wrapped up in the end, I was left with a few too many questions about parts of it to be fully satisfied.

That said, this was still a great read. It was horrifying, heart-wrenching, and deliciously cruel at times. But there was also just enough softness and heart, especially to Claire’s story and the slow arc of her relationship with the MMC, to properly balance things out. Readers who enjoy horror that leans into the fantastical should definitely give this one a shot!

Rating 8: I’ll never look at the ocean the same way again. Or get on a submarine, for that matter. But here Whitten expertly blends the horrific with the fantastic, all while exploring deep themes of family trauma and grief.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Reliquary” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Seaside Gothic and Horror Releases Coming in 2026.

Serena’s Review: “The Art of Charming a Changeling”

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

Book: “The Art of Charming a Changeling” by Sylvie Cathrall

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2026

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

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

Book Description: On her first day working in the prince’s galleries, art conservator Florrie Hyverfell discovers that the most famous portrait in the collection is not only a fake-it’s also inhabited by Vern, a fairy trapped in the forged painting.

Tracking down the stolen original is the only way for Florrie to save her job and for Vern to escape his canvas. Yet as they journey to a famed fairy museum to find the missing artwork, Florrie finds herself taking more than an art historical interest in the changeling painting’s charming inhabitant.

Review: I know Cathrall’s first duology was a bit hit or miss for some fantasy readers, with people sometimes falling off the slower pacing and verbose style of writing. But I really enjoyed it, especially the epistolary format and the creative world-building that expanded in truly wild directions by the time the entire thing came to a close. That being the case, I was excited to pick up another book by this author, especially as this one seemed to have the trappings of a Regency romance novel as well!

It didn’t quite hit the same highs as the other duology, but I’ll go more into that later. But what it did do right, it did very well. From the start, I remembered why I enjoyed this author’s prose. She has a flowing, whimsical style that somehow elevates these sorts of “day in the life” cozy fantasy novels into a place where I am less likely to get bored. This is obviously a subjective point, but I often struggle with cozy fantasy novels that don’t have much plot balancing things out. And like those, this is very light on the plot. There are pages and pages where not much really happens, but because the author’s style of writing is so lovely, I was more than happy to just sit back and go at this more languid pace.

However, some readers may struggle here if they don’t connect with the writing as well. This is definitely one of those books where the author uses twenty words when one is only needed, and the plot is truly secondary to pretty much everything else going on on the page.

I also really enjoyed the main character, the love interest, and the cast of side characters we met along the way. The main character especially was incredibly sympathetic and compelling, nicely balancing a desire to do the right thing with her own struggles with her role in this kerfuffle and her larger artistic ambitions. The love interest was also lovely, though his niceness also left him feeling a bit one-dimensional at times. As the story went on, more depth was given here, but I did at times wish for a bit more spark beyond the simple golden retriever energy he was giving off. The side characters were also very good, for the most part. There was a cousin, Chary, whom I actively disliked through most of the story, and I’m not sure if that was intentional on the author’s part.

As I mentioned above, while the style of writing carried this book for me, I do think there were a few things missing here that were in the first duology. For one thing, the format in the first book, with characters exchanging letters back and forth, better played into this wordy style of writing. It added a little “oomph” to the proceedings, for lack of a better word. Here, there were times where even I began to struggle with the glacial speed of the plot and the detailed descriptions of almost everything.

Further, I also think that the world-building and general mystery of the first duology also better held up this pacing/style-of-writing issue. There, even if the plot itself wasn’t moving quickly, the reader was constantly learning new things about this world and being fed new little tidbits to piece together the mystery at the heart of that story. This book follows a much more traditional questing plot and is set in a fairly familiar fantasy world, so the slower moments didn’t have these extra bits to fall back on when things began to drag.

That said, I still very much enjoyed my experience with this book. Even with my quibbles, I enjoyed this cozy fantasy much more than I typically do with other books in this subgenre. However, much of this came down to my appreciation of this style of writing, and that might be hit or miss for some readers. If you enjoyed her first duology, though, I think there’s still a good chance you’ll like this book too!

Rating 8: A bit on the slower side, but I still enjoyed my time with this one!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Art of Charming a Changeling” isn’t on any Goodreads lists currently, but it should be on Cozy Fantasy Romance reads.