Category: Serena’s Reviews

Serena’s Favorite Reads of 2025: Picks 10-6

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

Another a year, another almost impossible task trying to each choose our Top 10 Reads of the year! For me, the word “favorite” is an important part of this list. As I go through the last year’s worth of reading, I often found that some books would strike particular chords within me more deeply than others, even if, quality-wise, another book might be stronger. Of course, this just makes it all that much harder to put them in any order. But here it goes! Today I’m going to countdown my favorites reads, ten to six. And since it’s the end of the reading year, don’t forget to enter our “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!” on Instagram!

10. “Shield of Sparrows” by Devney Perry

“Shield of Sparrows” Review

This one took me completely by surprise! I was vaguely familiar with Devney Perry as a contemporary romance author, but as I don’t read much in that genre, I hadn’t checked out any of her books previously. I was also in a pretty big slump with romantasy and feeling like there was nothing new to be found under that particular genre’s sun. Well, lo and behold, this book arrived to prove that there was still fun and quality to be found in romantasy, without sacrificing plot, world-building, or believable characterization! Sure, there were some familiar aspects with the way the love story progressed, but the overall creativity, especially with the magic and creatures of this world, easily carried this one for me. The only real downside was the massive cliffhanger the book ended on…

9. “A Master of Djinn” by P. Djeli Clark

“A Master of Djinn” Review

Believe it or not, I had an ARC copy of this book languishing on my TBR shelf for literally years, acquired from an ALA convention many years ago. And it took a book club prompt to get me to finally get around to it. And more fool me, because I absolutely loved this one! It was pretty much everything I love about several genres all mashed together. We had an intriguing historical setting, a sharp-as-a-tack detective solving a complicated mystery, and a magical reimagining of the world, complete with magical agencies that must oversee crimes that take place in this general arena. I also listened to the audiobook version of this story, and I highly recommend this format of the book for any readers who have access to it! The narrator does a great job capturing the accents and overall feeling of this world!

8. “Upon a Starlit Tide” by Kell Woods

“Upon a Starlit Tide” Review

I love situations like what happened with this book. I had read one other book by this author, After the Forest, and didn’t particularly care for it at all. But I wanted to give the author a second chance, and what do you know? I loved this one enough that it made its way onto my Top 10 list! There was a lot to like about this one, including the creative approach to a fairytale retelling where Woods reinterpreted and mashed together both Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. What’s more, I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek approach she took to the traditional love triangle, sorts of characters that often are included, and the general way these romances seem to always play out. Not so here! If you’re wanting a fairytale fantasy that doesn’t simply follow the expected beats, then this one is definitely for you!

Book: “The Thirteenth Child” by Erin A. Craig

“The Thirteenth Child” Review

Another fairytale fantasy makes the list (what can I say, I have a favorite subgenre). This one is more of an original fairytale, and I loved so much about it! For one thing, Craig deftly balances some incredibly dark and difficult themes alongside some truly funny moments and a sweet, if more reserved, romantic subplot. This was one of those great reading experiences where I blew through the book in only a few days, but spent quite a bit of time thinking about it later. The story doesn’t shy away from the true moral grayness and impossibility behind choices of who lives and who dies, the greater good or individual worth. It also had a surprising dash of true creepiness at times, so definitely check it out if you like darker fairytales!

6. “The House Saphir” by Marissa Meyer

“The House Saphir” Review

I don’t think I have any fairytale fantasies in my next set of five! It just happened that all three ended up here next to each other! Marissa Meyer is known as one of the greats for fairytale re-tellings, so it’s no surprise that her latest book made its way onto this list! This was a retelling/reimagining of “Bluebeard,” one of the lesser-retold fairytales, and I loved what she did with it! The story technically takes place after the events of the original tale, but I loved how she wove together both the new narrative and the older story. The main character is excellent, flawed but witty, and the romantic subplot was lovely! Definitely check this one out if you enjoy fairytale fantasies!

So that’s ten through six. Next time I will give a countdown of my top five. What have been some of your favorite reads of 2024?

Serena’s Review: “An Arcane Inheritance”

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

Book: “An Arcane Inheritance” by Kamilah Cole

Publishing Info:  Sourcebooks, December 2025

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

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

Book Description: Warren University has stood amongst the ivy elite for centuries, built on the bones―and forbidden magic―of its most prized BIPOC students…hiding the rot of a secret society that will do anything to keep their own powers burning bright. No matter who they must sacrifice along the way.

Ellory Morgan is determined to prove that she belongs at Warren University, an ivy league school whose history is deeply linked to occult rumors and dark secrets. But as she settles into her Freshman year, something about the ornate buildings and shadowy paths feels strangely…familiar. And, with every passing day, that sense of déjà vu grows increasingly sinister.

Despite all logic, despite all reason, despite all the rules of reality, Ellory knows one thing to be true: she has been here before. And if she can’t convince brooding legacy student Hudson Graves to help her remember a past that seems determined to slip through her fingers as if by some insidious magic…this time, she may lose herself for good.

Review: There are a few subgenres of fantasy that I doubt I’ll ever get entirely sick of, and dark academia is one of those! While cozy fantasy is a struggle more often than not, the dark, gloomy, slightly mysterious vibe of dark academia and gothic fantasies is always up my alley.

To start with the positives, this one definitely struck the right chords on that note. The entire tone of this book was perfect, with a lovely balance of darkness, mystery, and the elevated language that one expects to find from any book that rubs elbows with a term like “academia.” It definitely delivers on all the expectations readers will have for it, based on the book summary above. That said, the book doesn’t deliver anything more than you would expect, and that’s where it began to fall flat.

From the progression of the plot, to the character archetypes of our two main leads, to their romance, to the final twists and turns toward the end of the book, nothing really struck me by surprise or asked me to stop and think more deeply about any of it. I pretty much just read the book, and then…was done. One of the things I often enjoy about dark academia is the treatment of fantastical themes or abilities through a more serious lens, often combining philosophy and critique with these more magical elements. But here, any of the themes explored were done in ways that felt overly familiar and almost derivative at times. Nothing new was added to any of these conversations, and I found myself with the urge to skim more often than I had hoped.

As for the characters, they, too, were just fine. Readers should be aware that the romance plays a more central role in the story than, perhaps, the blurb suggests. This can be a positive or a negative, of course. I enjoy romantic subplots, so by and large I was fine with the scales tipping more towards the love story than towards the plot. However, the romance itself also felt very expected, following all of the story beats I have come to expect from the enemies-to-lovers, academic rivals love story. Again, it wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t draw me in particularly. By the end, when the action picks up and the romance comes to a head, I found myself not caring as much as I imagine I should have about the future for these two characters.

I feel like I’ve written an entire review and said very little. But ultimately, that’s kind of how I felt about this book. It’s a full-length novel that seemed to have very little new to say or contribute to an already packed subgenre. I do think that the writing itself was strong, so I’ll definitely be checking out whatever this author has next in store, but this one, sadly, won’t stick with me for long.

Rating 7: I enjoyed the overall writing style and the dark academia vibes; however, the stories and characters felt overly familiar, leaving me a bit cold in the end.

Reader’s Advisory:

“An Arcane Inheritance” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Black Fantasy and 2026 Debuts.

Serena’s Review: “The Things Gods Break”

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

Book: “The Things Gods Break” by Abigail Owen

Publishing Info: Entangled: Red Tower Books, October 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: She has won the games of the gods, can she stand against the titans? Lyra may have survived the Crucible, but now she faces an even more dangerous test – a deadly race against time begins in Tartarus.

The games continue in the thrilling and highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling romantasy The Games Gods Play. Welcome to Tartarus!

Previously Reviewed: “The Games Gods Play”

Review: Per my usual approach to Decembers, a notoriously light month for publishing, I’m back to checking out books that came out a few months ago that I was too busy at the time to check out! I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed “The Games Gods Play;” from the book description, it sounded like yet another tired deadly-competition romantasy novel. But instead I found an exciting, witty adventure with an actually developed romance at its heart. Yes, I had a few nitpicks with some of the magic elements, but overall, it was just a fun time all around. It did, however, end on a massive cliffhanger!

This one picks up right where the first book left off, which means readers are thrown right back into the action! I was actually a bit concerned with how this all would go. On one hand, it’s been an excellent fantasy adventure so far. But on the other, the central romance between Lyra and Hades has served as the emotional backbone of the series. So, now, with them separated, how do you maintain that relationship without immediately undercutting or making light of the dangerous and impossible-seeming circumstances that these characters have been thrown into? Well, I don’t want to get into too many details about how it all works, but I will say, I was incredibly impressed with how Owens managed this tricky threading-of-the-needle.

To my primary concern, the story in no way walks back on the true dangers of Lyra’s situation, now being stuck down in the deep depths of Tartarus, surrounded by the Titans, mad gods that the Olympians locked away thousands of years ago. But, of course, nothing is as it seems! And now, somehow this author has managed to write not only one “trials-based” fantasy novel that didn’t feel derivative or overly familiar, but has now written a sequel that heavily features another competition at its heart! Like the first book, the actual trials in these tests were incredibly creative, and Lyra didn’t simply waltz through them with ease. It’s only through grit, determination, and a growing reliance on the bonds she has with those around her that she continues forward.

What’s more, the book wisely doesn’t spend the entire story focused on these trials. Instead, the majority of the book is dedicated to fleshing out the history of the Titans and the Olympians. There were so many incredible twists and turns here, and I was impressed by how successfully the author was able to flip my emotions on a dime for many of the characters in question. By the end, there were definite tears, and not for the characters I would have expected!

And, of course, Lyra and Hades remained central to the story. Again, I can’t go into exactly how this was accomplished, but I was so impressed by the way this love story was expanded upon. Indeed, Owens actually managed to retroactively deal with and address some of the questions and problems I had with their love story in the first book! A truly impressive feat! Even without trying to keep up the intensity between two characters who are separated for almost the entire book, second books are notoriously hard for authors of romance trilogies.

All too often, the move is to introduce ridiculous and contrived angst and drama in an attempt to increase “tension” or something. For me, this usually backfires spectacularly, making me dislike one or both characters and struggle to continue. It’s all the more frustrating because it’s not like people fall in love and then all other challenges in their relationship and world magically disappear! There is plenty to explore in a new relationship without introducing ridiculousness everywhere. All that to say, hurrah for Abigail Owens for understanding this and giving readers an excellent second book in a romantasy trilogy that avoids the sillier side of angst.

Rating 9: Not only did I like this one, but it even made me like the first book more!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Things Gods Break” can be found on this Goodreads list: All the New Romantasy Books Arriving in October 2025.

Serena’s Review: “Children of Fallen Gods”

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

Book: “Children of Fallen Gods” by Carissa Broadbent

Publishing Info: Bramble, December 2025

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

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

Book Description: No war can be fought with clean hands. Not even the ones waged for the right reasons. Not even the ones you win.

Tisaanah bargained away her own freedom to save those she left behind in slavery. Now, bound by her blood pact, she must fight the Orders’ war — and Max is determined to protect her at all costs.

But when a betrayal tears apart Ara, Max and Tisaanah are pushed into an even bloodier conflict. Tisaanah must gamble with Reshaye’s power to claim an impossible victory. And Max, forced into leadership, must confront everything he hoped to forget: his past, and his own mysterious magic.

All the while, darker forces loom — far darker, even, than the Orders’ secrets.

As Tisaanah and Max are ensnared in a web of ancient magic and twisted secrets, one question remains: what are they willing to sacrifice for victory? For power? For love?

Previously Reviewed: “Daughter of No Worlds”

Review: One of the great things about traditional publishers picking up books that were already published as indies is the fact that each title in the series can be released quickly! It’s only been a few months since the first book in this trilogy released, and here we are already with the second one!

Per Broadbent’s standard approach at this point (at least as far as I can tell), this second book takes an already ambitious world and cast and then expands it out exponentially. She takes it to the very edge of leaving the reader lost and confused, but always manages to reel things back in at the last minute. This was definitely the case here.

First off, while the complicated politics of this world and its history were introduced in the first book, the actual plot and Tisaanah’s arc were fairly straightforward, following her quest for revenge and to save the friend she left behind. But through the brief glimpses into Max’s past and the few brushes against other political forces, it was clear that not all was well. And this book starts with a bang on this front, throwing the entire tower of cards into disarray and setting the stage for the larger conflicts to come.

As much of the story deals with war and conflict, both in the present and in continued exploration of Max’s past, this is by no means a happy book. Both of our main characters are already hauling around a ton of trauma, and the author doesn’t go any easier on them here. Indeed, much of the story is focused on the world-weary soldiers who are once again called upon to fight. That said, these darker elements were nicely balanced by the sweet and deepening romance between these two. While there perhaps wasn’t quite as much on the love story front as I would have liked, everything we did get was excellent, living up to the high expectations that I have for Broadbent’s romances!

Like the more intricate plot, the character list is also expanded, adding two other POV characters. Honestly, this took me a bit aback when I first ran into it in the first few chapters, as I thought I had a pretty good handle on how these books would play out. That said, I was easily drawn in to these two new characters, and they added a whole new layer to the story. I really liked Aefe right away and came to enjoy Caduan as well, though his story is definitely one that shows a different sort of path than what we usually see in books like this. Indeed, the relationship between these two was very different than between our original characters and, by the end of the book, was again a point of tragedy and darkness. I’ll be curious to see how all of this will be handled going forward!

There were a few big twists and turns towards the end of the book as well. I felt like the big one was fairly well telegraphed, but that didn’t mean it didn’t land when it arrived. For being so lengthy, and a middle book to boot, the story did a great job of keeping me invested throughout, and now I can only wait with bated breath for the final entry!

Rating 9: Even grander in scale than the first, but just as swoon-worthy in the end!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Children of Fallen Gods” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Under the Radar Page-Turners and New Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Serena’s Review: “Tailored Realities”

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

Book: “Tailored Realities” by Brandon Sanderson

Publishing Info: Tor Books, December 2025

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

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

Book Description: Spanning the genres of fantasy and science fiction, this collection features stories from beyond the bounds of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe. Along with the never-before-seen novella “Moment Zero,” Tailored Realities will include “Snapshot,” “Perfect State,” “Defending Elysium” (a novella set within the world of Skyward), and five other stories that were originally published individually elsewhere-never before collected into one volume, and many never before available in print.

Review: I’ve known that Brandon Sanderson has published a number of short stories and novellas over his career (because writing a bunch of hundreds-of-pages-long novels simply isn’t enough!), but I haven’t managed to check many of them out myself. That being the case, while this book also includes a new novella, all the stories here were new to me!

While I tend to prefer fantasy over science fiction, and this holds true for my taste in Sanderson’s collections of work as well, this book was a great reminder of how the genre can sing in the hands of a talented author! I’m not going to cover them all here, but I will say there is a good mix on offer, with some stories more strongly focused on action while others are clearly examples of Sanderson testing the boundaries of genre writing. I’m not sure all of these experiments were clearly successful, but I loved the included notes that gave readers further insight into the ideas behind each story and how they came to be. These postscripts on their own made the book well worth reading for any Sanderson fan out there!

I’m sure many reviewers will also note this fact, but it’s pretty amusing that Sanderson, an author known for producing brick-like tomes, has included a “novella” in this story that is close to 200 pages long, the same length as many other authors’ typical novel. However, as I don’t often love short stories, this fact worked out perfectly for me, as I got to read a short story collection while also sinking into what felt like a fully realized novel all on its own as well.

Beyond this lengthy one, “Moment Zero,” there were a few others I enjoyed as well. The first story in the collection, “Snapshot,” was one of my favorites. The story felt very Inception-like, with two detectives traveling back through a crime scene photo to investigate a serial killer. The entire concept was interesting, and I would absolutely gobble up a full-length novel of this story. I also really enjoyed “Defending Elysium,” even though I haven’t read the Skyward books that it is connected to. That said, I’m always going to enjoy a great “first contact” story, and this one definitely lived up to my expectations for that sort of tale.

I don’t think any of the stories here were bad, though there were a few that were a bit weaker, in my opinion. For example, “Probability Approaching Zero” is a flash fiction story, meaning it was incredibly short. Too short for me to really get much out of it, honestly. The story “I Hate Dragons” was one of those odd experiences where I really appreciated the creativity of the story (a character who can hear spelling and grammar), but the actual execution left something to be desired.

In the end, I enjoyed the majority of the stories here, and even the ones that didn’t perfectly land were still very interesting, especially when adding in the postscript explanations for how the story was conceptualized. I do think that this is the sort of collection that will best be appreciated by current Sanderson fans and perhaps a bit less approachable by readers who have never read any of his books before. But you also don’t need to be fully up to date with his entire massive catalog to appreciate it either!

Rating 8: Everything that I’ve come to expect from Brandon Sanderson: adventurous, creative, and never lacking in heart!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Tailored Realities” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Short Story Collections – Single Author.

Serena’s Review: “Tender Cruelty”

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

Book: “Tender Cruelty” by Katee Robert

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, December 2025

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

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

Book Description: The barrier that’s protected Olympus for generations has fallen. The enemy’s breached the gates and the Thirteen are scrambling to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the city they’ve sworn to protect. At least they would be if they weren’t at each others’ throats instead.

Hera has no intention of letting her husband, Zeus, survive the oncoming storm. But despite the white-hot hatred burning between them, when Hera and Zeus are forced to work together, enmity crystalizes into something brighter. Hotter. Too powerful to deny or destroy.

Hera never bartered on falling in love with the man she married―the man she once swore to kill. But now, standing back-to-back in the ruins of Olympus, she may be forced to admit that she’s been wrong about Zeus all these years…and there may be something about their marriage worth saving if they can survive long enough to turn sworn enemies into something more.

Review: As I mentioned in a fairly recent “Not Just Books” post, I’ve been obsessively playing Hades recently. As such, I’m in deep on tons of Greek mythology and am on a constant lookout for more of the same! That being the case, I was excited to check out the most recent book in the Dark Olympus series. I’m obviously not up to date on the entire series, but as this entry is dealing with Hera, a favorite Olympian of mine, I still wanted to check it out!

So, I’ll admit that this was perhaps not the best one to jump into the series with. For one thing, I didn’t realize it was the second to the last in the series. But as such, a lot of the focus was on the greater political maneuverings of all the various characters as the book set up the conclusion of the series that will come next. I probably wasn’t able to appreciate all of these various plotlines to the same extent that fans of the series will, but I was definitely intrigued by what I did see. I’ll probably go back and read earlier books to get some of the individual stories for characters we see here.

One thing that I can say, even without being current with the greater plot points, was the necessary emphasis on these greater story beats did leave the romance and story between Zeus and Hera feeling distinctly second fiddle at times. There simply wasn’t enough time in the book to feel as if their story was given the proper page length to feel truly fleshed out and resolved by the end.

As for Hera and Zeus, I did enjoy these characters. Again, not having read the earlier books, I can only guess that I might have largely hated Zeus in other books. But having his perspective here did make him a fairly compelling character. And Hera, as expected, was great. As one of the goddesses who I think gets done worst in many stories of Olympians, I was happy to see an intriguing take on the character here.

As for the romance, this wasn’t my favorite. I’ve become increasingly agnostic towards the “enemies to lovers” trope, as I think the romance/romantasy market has been truly saturated by the full takeover of this one style of love story. Like I said earlier, the balance between greater plot and romance felt off, and I think more focus on the emotional transition from enemies to lovers would have improved this for me. Also, subjectively, I just don’t really enjoy smut scenes between characters who are still fully in the “hate” portion of the romance. Truly, the book starts out and the characters are already down and dirty in the first chapter. I’m not sure how consistent this is in the other books, but this veered too close to erotica for my own taste.

Overall, I think that this book will be a hit for fans of the series, but is probably not the best place to jump in (fully my bad!). However, I think the worldbuilding and politics of this world were definitely interesting, and I think I’ll plan on checking out earlier entries in the series to see the buildup to this point!

Rating 7: I’m never going to love a romance that has the “enemies” fully engaged in the smut scenes within the first few pages, well before any sort of “lovers” has been earned, but I think the greater worldbuilding is very intriguing!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Tender Cruelty” can be found on this Goodreads list: [ATY 2026] Part of a Series,

Serena’s Review: “The Bookshop Below”

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

Book: “The Bookshop Below” by Georgia Summers

Publishing Info: Redhook, November 2025

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

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

Book Description: If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron’s bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it’s a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.

For Cassandra Fairfax, it’s a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she’s used her skills in less ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys and unscrupulous collectors.

Then Chiron dies under mysterious circumstances. And if Cassandra knows anything, it’s this: the bookshop must always have an owner.

But she’s not the only one interested. There’s Lowell Sharpe, a dark-eyed, regrettably handsome bookseller she can’t seem to stop bumping into; rival owners who threaten Cassandra from the shadows; and, of course, Chiron’s murderer, who is still on the loose.

As Cassandra tries to uncover the secrets her mentor left behind, a sinister force threatens to unravel the world of the magical bookshops entirely…

Review: I really enjoyed The City of Stardust when I read it last year. Though, admittedly, as I was reading and now afterwards looking back at it, it was a very strange book compiled of many unique and interesting pieces that may have been excellent on their own, but never quite lined up the way I hoped. However, like I said, overall, I had a positive experience reading it, so I was excited to see the author was coming out with a new book.

Now, looking at this book description, I think I’d generally be really excited. Who doesn’t like magical bookshops? Add some dashes of sinister secrets and powerful hidden figures, and you have a banger on your hands! However, I was also uniquely concerned because much of this sounded like it could fall into the same trap as the first one. Namely, tons of excellent ideas and pieces of a puzzle, but perhaps a rather middling story when put all together. And ultimately, that’s kind of what we got.

Let’s start with what I did enjoy, and that was everything to do with the magical system and world at the heart of the story. While I have quibbles with the way in which much of this information was conveyed (our main character already knew much of it, so the story was always stumbling over itself with what she would know but the audience might not and how to bridge that gap), the magic itself was whimsical and intriguing. The idea that one could buy books to solve problems in life, and the exorbitant prices that those books would cost (many in the unusual, often unnerving, style of bargains found in fairytales, like firstborn children) was incredibly compelling.

However, much of this worldbuilding and magic system was held together with scotch tape and the fairy dust of magical ideas. Sure, much of it sounded good on paper, but put all together, I had a hard time picturing how any of this worked, from the details regarding the actual process of reading a book and having a wish granted (except when it didn’t) to the various players involved and how anyone was fooled by a main character named Cassandra who had a secret identity as a person named…Cass.

Speaking of Cassandra/Cass, I really struggled to connect to her as a main character. At best, I found her very bland. And at worst, I was often frustrated with her decisions and overall level of incompetence. Of course, some of that is built into the premise of the story, with her taking over a run-down bookshop. But it also felt like a bit too much incompetence for my taste. Even the love interest had something to say about her management (or lack thereof!) of all of this. The love story hit in a similar way: I wasn’t actively offended by any of it, but I also really didn’t care that much about anything that was going on between these two.

So, yes, this was a fairly middling experience. I think the author has a vast wealth of creativity and whimsy. However, after two books, there does seem to be a struggle fitting those aspects into what feels like a fully realized world and story. Instead, both books feel peppered with interesting concepts, but left teetering on a structure that barely holds together. Readers who enjoy cozy fantasy are probably the best audience for this book, so if you enjoy whimsy and are happy to go along with fairly loose worldbuilding, this may still be a book worth checking out for you! However, if you didn’t fully connect with this author’s first book, this one had similar weaknesses as that.

Rating 7: Chock full of creativity, however the worldbuilding is severely lacking, leaving me feeling disconnected from much of the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Bookshop Below” can be found on this Goodreads list: All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in November 2025

Serena’s Review: “A Curious Kind of Magic”

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

Book: “A Curious Kind of Magic” by Mara Rutherford

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, October 2025

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

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

Book Description: Everyone in Ardmuir knows that Willow Stokes is a charlatan, including Willow herself. Her father’s shoppe hasn’t sold anything magical in decades, and it’s only hanging on by the skin of the fake dragon’s teeth Willow sells as charms, along with “enchanted” ostrich eggs, taxidermied chimeras, and talismans made of fools’ gold.

Until outlander Brianna Hargrave appears and turns Willow’s fakes into exactly what they’re purported to be. But try as Willow might to enlist Bri’s help, she wants nothing to do with Willow and her curiosities.

Because Brianna is harboring a secret of her own: everything she touches turns to magic, and the consequences have chased her all the way to Ardmuir. All she wants to do is find a particular missing grimoire, which contains a spell that can finally put an end to her curse.

Desperate to keep her father’s shoppe, Willow proposes a bargain that could save them both. Together with the frustratingly handsome printer’s assistant, the girls will uncover a plot that goes far deeper than either could have imagined. But when Willow is forced to participate in an ambitious collector’s quest for the rarest magical object in the world-a quest that risks almost-certain death-she learns that not all treasure is for sale, and that true magic is closer than she ever could have imagined.

Review: This is one of those books where I closed the page and my only thought was, “Well, what’s next?” Everything about this one was almost aggressively just okay. Nothing was bad enough that I wanted to get out my laptop right away and start a rant. But nothing was good enough either that I wanted to think much more about the entire experience.

Part of this comes down to the fact that nothing really stands out in this book. It’s set in some nondescript “historical” time period and setting. The magical elements are just your typical fairytale sort of thing where certain people have access to magic and others don’t. And the characters are all fairly familiar archetypes, from the prickly leading lady to the cinnamon roll romantic interest.

None of this is particularly helped by the slow pacing of the story. I’ve struggled with this aspect of Mara Rutherford’s writing in the past, and it was the same situation here. These YA books aren’t particularly long, but given the actual plot and content of the book, like her others, this one felt as if it could be 50 pages shorter at least. Some of this can be explained away by the cozy subgenre, a particular subset of genres that often rely on slower pacing and day-in-the-life motifs. But even within this category, I think this one felt particularly uneven in its pacing and plotting. However, cozy fantasy is often a struggle for me, so bigger fans of the genre may be less bothered by this aspect of the book.

I also struggled with the characters. The main character is written to be prickly and standoffish, but more often than not, this translated into me simply disliking her much of the time. Much of the spare 50–75 pages worth of content in this book is taken up by Willow’s poor decision-making and insistence on keeping everything and everyone at arm’s length. Bri, perhaps, was a bit better, but again, I never felt like I had enough to really grasp onto her as a unique and interesting character. And Finlay, for his part, was a sweet character, but too often this sweetness took a turn towards bland and left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

Perhaps “underwhelmed” is the best description for my feelings for this book. I’ve enjoyed Mara Rutherford’s books in the past, but I think that some of her particular writing foibles (slower and sometimes uneven pacing) were not benefitted by the cozy subgenre. Her previous books had darker themes and elements which I think elevated some of the weaker portions (characterization and pacing). Whereas here, with less plot to speak of, these flaws rose more to the forefront. However, I will say that this may appeal more to general fans of YA cozy fantasy, so if you’re a fan of that subgenre or a big Rutherford fan, this one may still be worth checking out!

Rating 7: Just okay. There was nothing bad about this read, but nothing will really stick with me either, unfortunately.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Curious Kind of Magic” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Cozy Fantasy and Cozy and Cold Weather Reads (YA and Children’s).

Serena’s Review: “The Wolf King”

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

Book: “The Wolf King” by Lauren Palphreyman

Publishing Info: Bloom Books, November 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: When a princess is kidnapped by an alpha , war rages between the humans and the wolves. But soon, forbidden attraction starts to grow. . .

Princess Aurora longs to escape the castle and the marriage that has been arranged for her.

But on the night before her wedding, at a dog fight where captured werewolves are made to fight for sport, she spares the life of a young wolf. It puts her on the radar of the powerful alpha who was going to kill him. And it changes everything.

That night, when the alpha escapes, he kidnaps her and takes her to the rugged lands north of the border — where the once warring werewolf clans are beginning to unite. He thinks that she is the key to winning the war against the humans.

Only, as they spend time around one another, forbidden attraction starts to grow. And as Aurora learns that not all wolves are bad, the alpha discovers that she is in danger from both his enemies, and those he once considered friends.

With monsters on both sides, a bloodthirsty war between humans and wolves raging, and undeniable passion growing between them — will their story end in love? Or tragedy?

And will Aurora ever get home?

Does she even want to?

Review: I’m going to be honest, this was a really tough one to think about reviewing. To sum up my experience, for the first third of the book, I was absolutely loving it. The main character was interesting enough, if a bit generic and predictable. But the romantic interest was a breath of fresh air! Funny, friendly, considerate, gasp blonde… I have a very clear memory of thinking, “Finally! A breath of fresh air to the standard romantasy fare, proof that there is more to the world than dark, secretive, shadow daddies!” And then… the shadow daddy entered the scene, and I actually slammed my Kindle down in immediate frustration. Honestly, I would have DNF’d it on the spot if it wasn’t for the fact that this was a NetGalley request, and I wanted to follow through on a review.

Now, to be fair, this is an incredibly subjective reaction per my own preferences—so much so that I’m going to go on a rant about this later in the review. But it’s not fair to review the book purely on the rage this “twist” induced in me as one unique reader. For those who enjoy ACOTAR and the sort of romance that has (unfortunately) taken over the romantasy genre ever since, I think this book will be a great fit. Indeed, I was having enough fun with the readability of the prose itself that even I, hating everything about what’s happening with the love story itself, am considering checking out the next book. So, yes. It’s incredibly readable. The main character is not insufferable. And the primary love interest of this book was a character I enjoyed.

So that’s my fair review of the book. Now on to the rant! There will be spoilers for this book and predictions for the next included, so be warned!

I’ve mentioned this point before, but I think romance is one of the few genres that not only benefits from but should almost require some sort of tags for tropes. It’s just such a subjective thing, and it’s all the more infuriating when a book summary sets the reader up to expect one thing and then delivers something completely different. In this case, we have the Tamlin/Rhysand situation where an entire first book is devoted to one love interest, but a secondary (the true!!!) love interest is introduced toward the middle/end. The expectation is then that something will occur in the second book to either make the original love interest intolerable, dead, or otherwise unavailable so that the true romantic lead can slot in.

And boy, do I hate this! I have a long TBR list—so long that I’m never going to get through it. And what this horrible trope has essentially normalized is taking what should be a passing comment found in many romance novels—“My ex was a jerk”—and turning that line into an entire, freaking, hundreds-of-pages-long book! I’m reading romance, for heaven’s sake! One of the primary conventions is a “happily ever after.” And when I start a book and am given two romantic leads, I think it is fair that I then expect those characters to have that happy ending. But no. Instead, I get an entire book devoted to a character who is going to be, essentially, a throwaway line in the main character’s toxic relationship history. That’s not romance! That’s… I don’t even know what!

And the author herself has pointed out the reason that she—and I imagine other romance authors—does this: it’s to get to the smut scenes sooner. And frankly, I find that kind of demeaning as a romance reader. Look, it’s fair to want to read erotica for the, well, erotica of it all. But that is a genre in itself, and there are plenty of options to be had there. Romance is a love story. Yes, there are steamy sections often, but the love story between two people is the heart of it. That being the case, why am I being given an entire book of smut scenes between the main character and her soon-to-be ex? Just because I, the reader, can’t go twenty pages without a smut scene, according to authors and publishers in romantasy? It’s belittling, is what it is.

Of course, this entire rant is very much just my opinion on this matter. And, of course, it’s completely fine to disagree with me, as I imagine many romantasy readers do. But this gets to my final point about tags. I had to read over a hundred and fifty pages of this book to even get an inkling of the fact that this book was taking on this trope. And I’ve looked ahead at reviews for the next book, and it looks like I’d have to go AN ENTIRE BOOK MORE only to find this all completely confirmed. At that point, as a romance reader, I’d have read two entire books about two characters who aren’t going to have a happily-ever-after. And I just think that’s the sort of thing I should know before opening book one. Heaven forbid I had actually paid money for this, having been given zero reason to expect a bait-and-switch like this.

So, yes. Ultimately, I think this author has a compelling style, and I was completely on board for the situation that I was originally sold: Outlander but with werewolves. Unfortunately, that is not at all what we got (Jamie Fraser would never end up being the probably toxic ex). All of this said, if you enjoy the old Tamlin/Rhysand switcheroo, this book is definitely for you! However, if you don’t enjoy this trope, definitely steer away.

Rating 7/4: On its own merits, this is the score I’d give it. Based on my own preferences, this is probably around a 4 due to the sheer gall of writing an entire book about an FMC and her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend and calling it romance.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Wolf King” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Only one horse scenes in romantasy and Historical Fiction/Fantasy with Werewolves.

Serena’s Review: “The House Saphir”

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

Book: “The House Saphir” by Marissa Meyer

Publishing Info: Feiwel & Friends, November 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: Mallory Fontaine is a fraud. Though she comes from a long line of witches, the only magic she possesses is the ability to see ghosts, which is rarely as useful as one would think. She and her sister have maintained the family business, eking out a paltry living by selling bogus spells to gullible buyers and conducting tours of the infamous mansion where the first of the Saphir murders took place.

Mallory is a self-proclaimed expert on Count Bastien Saphir—otherwise known as Monsieur Le Bleu—who brutally killed three of his wives more than a century ago. But she never expected to meet Bastien’s great-great grandson and heir to the Saphir estate. Armand is handsome, wealthy, and convinced that the Fontaine Sisters are as talented as they claim. The perfect mark. When he offers Mallory a large sum of money to rid his ancestral home of Le Bleu’s ghost, she can’t resist. A paid vacation at Armand’s country manor? It’s practically a dream come true, never mind the ghosts of murdered wives and the monsters that are as common as household pests.

But when murder again comes to the House Saphir, Mallory finds herself at the center of the investigation—and she is almost certain the killer is mortal. If she has any hope of cashing in on the payment she was promised, she’ll have to solve the murder and banish the ghost, all while upholding the illusion of witchcraft.

But that all sounds relatively easy compared to her biggest learning to trust her heart. Especially when the person her heart wants the most might be a murderer himself.

Review: Well, this was a delight of a read! I’ve only read a few Bluebeard retellings, but I can say that this is easily my favorite! Per Meyer’s typical approach to fairytale fantasies, this one is quite removed from the original story, and I think that only strengthened it. Beyond allowing original characters and a whole new story room to shine, I loved the ways that the older story wove in and out of the current version. There were several twists and turns, particularly in the second half, that interwove both tales together in incredibly creative ways.

I also really loved the gothic vibes of this book. From start to finish, the book has a distinctive flavor: creepy, fantastical, and just verging on the horrific. Of course, it also has a cast of ghosts who are hilarious, often in a fairly macabre manner. But like any good gothic story, the house itself often feels like a character, full of creeping sounds and mysterious locked doors. And to balance all of this gloom, we have our con artist of a main character, vigorously doing absolute nonsense to “cleanse” the ghosts from this house. The combination of the true menace exuded by the house alongside the antics of Mallory and her sister perfectly balanced the overall tone of the book. The world-building also expanded out from the house itself toward the last third of the book, adding an entirely new level to the magic of this world.

I also loved Mallory as a main character. She was funny, brave, and gloriously unapologetic for her con artist ways. Of course, as the story continues, we learn more about her and her family’s unique history, thus adding greater depth to her motivations and reactions. There are dark secrets here, many of which were tied up in her relationship with her mother and sister. I’m, of course, a sucker for sister relationships in fantasy stories, so this was all right up my alley.

I also really enjoyed the romance in the story. This was definitely a subplot to the book, but it was sweet, funny, and endearing in every way. Bastien was a lovely character, full of an earnest desire to earn Mallory’s trust but hiding secrets of his own. There were some really good twists tied up in his character as well. I was able to guess a few of them, but that didn’t make it any less gratifying to see them play out. Between him and his creepy ancestor, the book did a great job exploring some tough themes, like domestic violence, while still maintaining an approachable tone.

My one complaint here, however, is that Mallory routinely refers to Bastien as a “boy.” This is an adult man who, while young, is running an estate and business and living an adult life. I get that the book is straddling a tough line, as it’s marketed as a young adult title, but it’s just ridiculous to listen to two characters who are considered to be and behave as adults in their world refer to each other in this way. More than anything, I think this book should just embrace the “new adult” genre, refer to Bastien as the man he is, and do away with silly YA nods of this sort, especially when they make zero sense within the context of the story. Kind of a silly nitpick, but it bothered me throughout.

Overall, however, I really loved this book! Meyer continues to hit it out of the park, and this one is another fairytale banger! All the better, it is a stand-alone novel—a truly rare beast in the fantasy world recently. I definitely recommend this to all fairytale fantasy fans!

Rating 9: Gothic fairytale fantasy at its best! Meyer deftly navigates tough themes of domestic violence and manipulation while crafting a sweet and funny romance to boot!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The House Saphir” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Bluebeard Retellings and November 2025 Romance & Fantasy Book Releases.