Serena’s Review: “The Deathless One”

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Book: “The Deathless One” by Emma Hamm

Publishing Info: Gallery Books, August 2025

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

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

Book Description: Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding altar and seizes the throne.

But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal—her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection. But the Deathless One is a known trickster, and a deal with him is one made in blood.

Jessamine knows the Deathless One is a dangerous ally, but the longer they work together, the more she wants him and the less she can stay away. As their connection deepens, soon she wonders if she even wants this contract to end. Perhaps the more appealing throne is the one by his side, but she’d have to turn her back on her people to get it.

Review: My main take away after finishing this book was a reflection on the importance of pacing. Most of the time, complaints about pacing present in the form of things moving too slowly or dragging. But pacing that moves too quickly can be just as disconcerting! And that’s what I found right when I picked up this book. Yes, action was happening, sometimes at a nonstop rate! But I spent most of that time wondering what was going and, more importantly, why I should care.

This could be seen in both smaller and greater examples. Here is a kind of throwaway scene/example, but it came right in the first few chapters. A character is described as entering a room, and then there is a description of a crunching sound and gore on this character’s shoe. So, what happened here? What did he step on? Well, believe it or not, I had to go several pages further to find a passing reference to the fact that it was a rat (as opposed to a cute kitten, fluffy bunny, who knows what!) that he had stepped on. So yes, action was happening, but it was so poorly described that I literally didn’t know what was happening for a decent chunk of time, until the actual descriptive word “rat” was finally thrown in.

So, too, I struggled to connect to the main characters. The action was galloping along, but I never felt like I was given any time to get to know them, to understand why I should feel invested in what is happening to them, and to be excited to see where the story was going. Bam! Meet the main character. Bam! She’s murdered horribly. Bam! Enter shadow daddy love interest.

On the other end, once I got to the middle of the book, the author slammed the brakes on the pacing and the story lulled almost to a stop. Much of the action here came in the building of romantic tension between the love interests. Many pages were devoted to these two fighting their attraction for one another. Some of this was well done and compelling, but it did feel as if the primary revenge plot that was set up at the beginning of the book was lost in the romantic angst.

I did like the general premise of the story and the world-building, especially what we got about the deathless one himself. I was incredibly interested in hearing more about his backstory, and gobbled up the tidbits we received throughout. He did get a lost a bit to the general “brooding” romantic interest role after a while. But I think the second book has a lot of potential now to explore some of these world-building/magical elements to a greater degree.

Overall, this was just an ok read. I could enjoy the basic story that was being told, but I struggled with the pacing, having a hard time connecting to the characters early in the story and then getting lost in the doldrums a bit towards the middle. Things picked up towards the end again, and I’m definitely curious to see where the story goes from here. Readers looking for a unique romantasy read will likely enjoy this one, especially those who enjoy spending a decent amount of time in the dramatics of relationship tension that makes up the majority of the middle of this book.

Rating 7: Too fast at the start and too slow in the middle. The ending was just about right, though!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Deathless One” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2025

Kate’s Review: “What’s Yours Is Mine”

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Book: “What’s Yours Is Mine” by Jennifer Jabaley

Publishing Info: Lake Union Publishing, August 2025

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

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

Book Description: Determined daughters. Controlling mothers. There’s no such thing as friendly competition in a twisty novel of suspense about ambition, revenge, and unrealized dreams.

Valerie Yarnell is a hardworking single mother who’d do anything for her daughter, Kate. Kate is a dancer with dreams of stardom, just like her talented best friend, Colette. Despite Valerie’s sacrifices, it’s Colette’s mother, former prima ballerina Elise, whom Kate adores. And Colette has become like the practically perfect sister Kate never had. How can Valerie not feel frustrated, ineffectual, and a little jealous of the queen bee of dance moms? Not only has she hijacked her daughter, but Elise is married to the man Valerie pines for.

Rivalries are forming. Tension is mounting. In preparation for an elite dance competition, Kate outshines the more promising Colette onstage, and the pressure is on for Colette to keep her position in the spotlight—and especially to keep her demanding mother happy. Who could have foreseen the violent attack that sabotages everything? Anyone who’s been watching closely.

As ruthless and sinister ambitions are exposed, a media firestorm and an explosive town scandal erupt. Before it’s over, two mothers and two daughters will learn just how fierce and dangerous a rivalry can still get.

Review: Thank you to Sparkpoint Studio for sending me an ARC of this novel!

My kid is five years old and my husband signed her up for soccer this past Spring into Summer. I was talking to book club about this during our cabin weekend and how I’ve somehow been wrangled into the role of ‘soccer mom’ since his work schedule means that more often than not I was the one taking her, and probably will be in the future (as the kid LOVED it), and it was pointed out that at least soccer, comparatively, is cheaper than other popular sports and pastimes (we’re in the land of hockey, after all). One that came up was dance, and I kept thinking about that as I read “What’s Yours Is Mine” by Jennifer Jabaley, a new soapy thriller about teenage dance rivalries spilling into mother’s circles and running amok. It was either a stark reminder that it could always be worse, or a scrying glass into my future (hopefully without the extra drama and bodily harm).

As a thriller, it worked fairly well for me. The set up is simple: Kate and Colette are teenage dancers and best friends, Kate’s mother Valerie being a single mom who works a difficult and time consuming job, and Colette’s mother Elise being a former prima dancer turned powerful and put together housewife. Kate has ambition to be the best, while Elise has that same ambition for her daughter. When it becomes clear that Kate may be outshining Colette, and Kate starts to REALLY want to become the best, tensions rise between friends, and mothers and daughters, until Colette is injured in a suspicious accident. The crux of it is who wants to hurt Colette, and how far are some of these characters willing to go to get what they want? It’s simple, it’s straightforward, but it has a good amount of suspense with lots of suspects, clues, and misdirections to keep me guessing in general. Were all of the reveals surprising? It was a bit of a mixed bag. But the pacing was well done and the suspense was there.

And I mean it’s just so dramatic and soapy, and that is truly my catnip when it comes to domestic thrillers. We have best friends who are now fully competing with each other! We have class wars! We have a former dancer who wants her daughter to be a star no matter what! We have potential affairs! It has so many suds just spilling out of it that I was eating it up and reveling in the histrionics of it all, and I fully mean that in a complimentary kind of way. I liked jumping perspectives between characters so we could get an idea of what they were all thinking, but Jabaley was successful in keeping clues hidden away for the most part even when we were getting into each character’s head. A nice soapy vibe is usually going to be something I like and this book had it and then some.

As a whole I enjoyed “What’s Yours Is Mine”. It has some twists and turns and a lot of dramatics, and if you are still looking for easy poolside reading this summer, this is a good choice.

Rating 8: A tension filled domestic thriller about ambition, rivalry, and passion that kept me guessing and kept me invested. Also, VERY sudsy, which is always a plus.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What’s Yours Is Mine” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you like Megan Abbott this will surely be a good fit.

Highlights: August 2025

The mugginess continues! Serena luckily escaped back home to the West over much of July, and Kate performed her usual trick of avoiding the outdoors altogether, unless she’s poolside of course! And with the craziness of school schedules and busyness staring us down, we’re eager to bury our heads in some good books instead. Here are some titles we’re both looking forward to this month.

Serena’s Picks

Book: “Hemlock and Silver” by T. Kingfisher

Publication Date: August 19, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I love how prolific Kingfisher is! It’s always great to find another must-read author. It’s absolutely the best when that same author puts out not only one but often two or three books a year! You get so spoiled! And, while I always enjoy the horror novels that Kate and I co-review, my favorites remain her standalone fairytale stories. And here we have a re-telling of “Snow White!” The great thing about this author is that her re-tellings are often true re-tellings, with only limited call backs or the original story. Often featuring wholly new characters and an entirely new main plot. So excited to see what she does with this one!

Book: “The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk” by Carissa Broadbent

Publication Date: August 5, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Another favorite author, another highlighted title! Not only that, but this is the second book in the Shadowborn duet, and after that massive cliffhanger at the end of the first book, I’ve been on pins and needles waiting for this one. As it’s a romantasy, it’s pretty clear that some of the events at the end of that first book won’t stick, at least not in the way they usually do. But I’m incredibly curious to see how Broadbent resolves the very high stakes situation that has been set up! Not only for our two main characters, but for this world as a whole!

Book: “Katabasis” by R. F. Kuang

Publication Date: August 26, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Third time’s the charm! August is just a banger of a month with all of my favorite authors coming to play! But I’d also be interested in this one on its own. There have been a ton of dark academia titles recently, and even while they haven’t all been a hit, I find I still can’t resist a new entry into the subgenre. Still living off the high that was the “Scholomance” trilogy probably. Whatever it is, I’m incredibly excited to see what Kuang has to offer here. Plus, you know, the cover is incredibly cool.

Kate’s Pick

Book: “Lucky Day” by Chuck Tingle

Publication Date: August 12, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I just love Chuck Tingle, his previous two horror novels being hits for me, and therefore I was of course eager to see what he was going to come up with next! And it sounds really out there and like his most experimental novel yet! It sounds like it’s somewhat post-apocalyptic or dystopian, but mixed in with a Vegas based mystery and some kind of casino that may be leading up to ANOTHER apocalyptic event? It sounds weird, but that hasn’t ever stopped me in the past so why should it stop me now? Also I just love Tingle as an author and a person, so this one was clearly going to make my list!

Book: “What Hunger” by Catherine Dang

Publication Date: August 12, 2025

Why I’m Interested: This one caught my eye at ALA, because look at that cover!! So weird! So pretty but also unsettling! This is the second time that a book by Catherine Dang has caught my attention with a cover, and this one sounds like not only are we getting a coming of age tale with a Vietnamese American protagonist, but also perhaps something a little cannibalistic! After a horrible tragedy has thrown her family into turmoil, Ronny Nguyen now has to enter her Freshman year of high school with little guidance and lots of angst. After she is assaulted at a party and she fights back in a, shall we say ‘different’ way, she suddenly finds herself craving raw meat. And her hunger is becoming insatiable. It sounds creepy and also perhaps tinged with sadness. I’m into it.

Book: “A Game in Yellow” by Hailey Piper

Publication Date: August 12, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I discovered Hailey Piper last autumn and then I got to hear her speak at ALAAC25, and now I have her newest horror novel on my Highlights for this month because it sounds SO gripping and interesting and unique. Carmen and Blanca are in a relationship, but the passion has stalled out a bit, their usual kink filled love life feeling a bit stagnant. But when Blanca finds herself with access to the pages of a mysterious play that COULD drive the person reading it insane should they read its electrifying words for too long, the two begin to read it as ploy to spice up their love life with the danger of it. But things get strange as reality and fantasy starts to become interchangeable. Intriguing to be sure.

What books are you looking forward to this month? Let us know in the comments!

Serena’s Review: “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy”

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Book: “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy” by Brigitte Knightley

Publishing Info: Ace, July 2o25

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, finds himself in dire need of an expert healer. As fate would have it, that very healer is Aurienne Fairhrim, a member of his enemy Order, the Haelen.

Aurienne is desperate for funding to heal the sick, so desperate that when Osric breaks into her office to offer her a bribe for her healing services, she must accept. Even if she loathes him.

A forced collaboration ensues: the brilliant Woman in STEM is coerced into working with the PhD in Murders – much to Aurienne’s disgust. Despite being enemies thrown together, as Osric and Aurienne work together to solve not only his illness, but the mysterious reoccurrence of a deadly Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction which seems to only fuel the heat between them.

Review: This is one of those odd reviews to write where, largely, my experience while reading it was positive. But at the same time, there were some glaring hiccups along the way. This made for a very confusing reading experience, as I was having fun, but was also constantly pulled back from full immersion by one thing or another.

Now, I haven’t read the original fanfic (and there are mixed messages going around about whether this is a straight adaptation of that story or a more original tale), but I will say that had I not known this was based on a Draco/Hermione fanfiction tale (and the marketing and cover image hadn’t telegraphed that point so heavily), I wouldn’t have guessed. This speaks well to the author’s ability to remove it from any original points of inspiration, leaving characters and a world that felt wholly unique. If I squinted I could maybe identify pieces that were pulled from Harry Potter; but truly, had I not known, it never would have entered my mind that there was any connection to another story/world in this book.

The story is also a fast, fun, romantic comedy. This last point I think is crucial. While it is marketed as “romantasy” and would fit that criteria, being both a romance and set in a fantasy world, it more strictly aligns with the sort of story you’d likely find in a romantic comedy. There are very few serious moments to be found and the fantasy world-building is mostly just there as window-dressing for this love story to play out. Instead, the story is largely light-hearted (even its darker moments are largely tempered by jokes).

I also very much appreciated the slow-burn nature of the story. It is here that I think some romantasy fans may find disappointment. These two barely make any progress until the very end of the book, and even there, it’s the most minimal of steps. Now, I love slow burn, so I was all about this approach. But for romantasy readers looking for more spice or clearly romantic interactions, this may be a disappointment.

However, I did struggle with this book throughout. As I mentioned above, the world-building and magic system is incredibly sparce. There is a glossary at the end of the book that describes the various magical groups and their beliefs/powers. But if the reader doesn’t discover this bit for themselves, the book does very little to explain any of this within the story itself. We get enough about the main characters’ respective groups, but the groups who aren’t represented on the page are incredibly unclear. Like I said, if I hadn’t scanned the back of the book to start, I’d have no clue about how any of these worked.

The world itself is also fairly confusing. It’s clearly based on the UK, but this version is also split into various smaller nations, many of whom are verging on war with one another. It’s never clear how these places differ from one another, why they are fighting, what goals they are trying to achieve…really, just nothing was given here. I was usually having enough fun just following the interactions between the main couple to forget these niggling details, but the second I stepped back from the book, all of these questions came charging back in. And frankly, there just aren’t any answers to be found.

There is also a strong emphasis on humor in this book. This was also a tough spot, because while I found some of it genuinely funny, there was also a lot of cringy moments. In particular, there was so, so much crass body humor throughout the entire affair. Just ball/dick jokes galore. And that’s just not my thing. It was especially frustrating because there were other moments where I actually chuckled out loud! Mostly, I feel like the author has the skill to write a funny, romantic comedy-style story, but that this one was a bit too stuck in some of the stylized humor that you do find in fanfiction still.

The story itself was also interesting, and, like I said, the pacing was fast. That said, the ending was incredibly abrupt and left me turning pages and looking for the real ending. It’s not even really a cliff-hanger (though everything is still completely unresolved at the end), but more that it felt like the author finished a chapter….and then they just cut the book off there. Presumably to pick up with the very next chapter at the start of the next book! It was just odd.

So, there you go. A very mixed bag read. I’d say that for my actual reading experience, this was fun enough to earn an 8 rating. However, due to the issues with the limited world-building, the sometimes cringy humor, and the odd pacing at the end, I have to lower it down to a 7. I think that readers looking for a fun, lighthearted romantasy (especially those who enjoy a true slow burn) may still have fun with this one though. And I’ll definitely be checking out book two when it comes out!

Rating 7: While I had a lot of fun reading this book, the world-building and pacing were rough at times, and the humor came on a bit too hard at times.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy” can be found on this Goodreads list: July 2025 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.

Kate’s Review: “Influencer”

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Book: “Influencer” by Adam Cesare

Publishing Info: Union Square & Co, October 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a finished copy at a panel at ALAAC25

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

Book Description: Aaron Fortin is new in town. He drives a brand-new Acura—a gift from his parents for uprooting him in the middle of senior year. Showing up on his first day at the local public school in that nice of a car? He knows he’ll never blend in, and he doesn’t care to try. The car, the new kid mystique, he can use all that…

Crystal Giordano carpools to the same school in her friend Trevor’s beat-up van. In the van along with Crystal and Trevor are Paul, Harmony, and Gayle. Crystal’s technically part of their misfit group, but most of the time, she feels like she’s the only one who doesn’t fit.

When Aaron Fortin sits at their lunch table, Crystal can see he’s not who he says he is. But how big of a fraud is Aaron Fortin? Crystal clumsily exposes Aaron and becomes his target, falling victim to his insidious campaign to erase her. Only then does she discover who he truly is—and it’s so much worse than she thought.

As her friends begin to follow him one by one, Crystal wonders if she can protect them or if his influence is just too strong.

Review: Thank you to Union Square & Co for giving me a finished copy of this novel at ALAAC25!

So here is a story that perfectly reflects the fates of some of my ARCs. During the ALA Annual Conference in 2024, I picked up an ARC of the book “Influencer” by Adam Cesare. I grabbed it because 1) I have enjoyed other books by Adam Cesare and was happy to see he had a new one, and 2) I just love a thriller or horror story that uses social media influencers as a sticking point in their plots. Fast forward to the ALA Annual Conference in 2025, where I find myself attending a panel that has Adam Cesare, and he is talking about his 2024 “Influencer”…. A book that I wholly left by the wayside the year before. As I listened to him talk I thought to myself ‘ah shit, I really should have read “Influencer” by now, it sounds great’. Well good news! I got a new copy at ALAAC25, and I DID READ IT THIS TIME!

Hooray! (source)

I had a lot of fun with this book! Once it hooked me in the very first chapter (which was a start that had QUITE a shocking bang I must say!), I had a really hard time putting it down. It’s a very readable thriller with a well done narrative structure of two narrators, one being our psychopathic ‘influencer’ Aaron and the other being awkward but observant Crystal. Through both of their perspectives we see the making of a cat and mouse game as Aaron slowly dismantles Crystal’s life and isolates her from her friends, and as Crystal tries to figure out a way to expose him for the dangerous villain he is. We can slowly start to tell what Aaron is plotting on one hand, but on the other we can see Crystal coming up with her own counter moves, and the tension of seeing who ends up on top propels the story. And as someone who used to have an unfortunate hyperfocus on serial killers, I definitely picked up on a lot of what Cesare was referencing. It’s also just a wicked take on how social media stars and influencers build upon parasocial relationships to create a profit, whether that’s money in our world or Manson-like control and violence mongering to make oneself feel powerful in the story at hand. Cesare isn’t afraid to really go balls to the wall in disturbing content in this book, but it makes his point (also, note that this book has instances of animal abuse, sexual assault, and many murders including that of a pregnant person, just to put some content warnings out there. Also, the book has a page of content warnings to refer to). It’s just a thriller that really worked for me.

But my favorite part of this book was the character of Crystal, our protagonist who can see right through Aaron due to her incredible intuition and pattern recognition. Crystal is very observant and perceptive, but she is also riddled with anxiety and awkwardness and constant worries about the status of her friendships and how her friends perceive her. If we’re being honest, Crystal was a LOT like me in high school, never quite feeling like she totally fit in with her peers and even her friends outside of perhaps one or two exceptions, and I thought that she was very, very endearing because of it. In fact, I also really enjoyed (as much as one can, I suppose as a villain’s perspective!) Aaron’s POV chapters as we see his manipulations, his deviousness, and his absolute sociopathy. It’s a shocking contrast between the two main POVs, and I thought that Cesare nailed both of them pretty well. Some of our supporting characters could have used a bit more oomph, specifically Harmony and Paul, as I felt like I didn’t know them well enough to know if I believed their quite heel turns as happy lapdogs to Aaron’s plots and plans no matter how crazed and violent, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief a bit just because I enjoyed so many other things about the book.

Me finally getting to “Influencer” took some time, but I’m thrilled I finally got the kick in the pants I needed to pick it up. If you are looking for some more fast and fun reads as the summer winds down, check this one out for sure!

Rating 8: Fast paced, twisted as hell, and suspenseful until the end, “Influencer” is a darker tale from star on the rise author Adam Cesare!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Influencer” is included on the Goodreads list “Fiction About Influencers”.

Serena’s Review: “A Theory in Dreaming”

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

Book: “A Theory in Dreaming” by Ava Reid

Publishing Info: HarperTeen, July 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: All stories come to an end.

Effy learned that when she defeated the Fairy King. Even though she may never know exactly what happened at Hiraeth, she is free of her nightmares and is able to pen a thesis with Preston on the beloved national fairy tale Angharad. She has finally earned a spot at the literature college, making her the first woman in history to enroll.

But some dreams are dangerous, especially when they come true. The entire university—and soon the entire nation—is waiting for her to fail. With the Fairy King defeated and Myrddin’s legacy exposed, Effy can no longer escape into fantasy. Who is she without her stories?

With Effy under threat, Preston is surprised to discover a rage simmering inside him, ringing in his ears like bells. He begins to dream of a palace under the sea, a world where he is king—visions that start to follow him even in waking.

As the war between Llyr and Argant explodes, Effy and Preston find themselves caught in the crossfire: Effy losing her dreams and Preston losing himself in his.

Are dreams ever truly just dreams?

Previously Reviewed: “A Study in Drowning”

Review: I loved “A Study in Drowning.” It felt like such a tightly plotted YA title that incorporated a strong personal arc for the main character, Effy, as well as a tension-filled gothic mystery that built to an incredible climax at the end. As you can expect from this, it was a fantastic stand-alone read. That said, while I was satisfied with its ending, I was more than happy to return to this world and these characters. Especially to see more of the burgeoning love story between Effy and Preston.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to the highs of the first book, mostly because of how perfectly insulated that story felt. But there was still much to enjoy here, so let’s start with that first. Per Reid’s typical style, many of the themes explored within this story are dark but important. Through careful crafting, the author explores the slow descent into isolation and withdrawal that can come with serious depression. Both Effy and Preston also constantly struggle to find a place for themselves in an institution and society that is built for others, Effy as a woman in the man’s world of academia, and Preston as a man of two heritages, both of which are at war with one another. These themes were richly detailed, and while it didn’t necessarily make for a “fun” reading experience, I definitely felt like I was getting a stark window into the struggles of these two characters and others like them.

That last point speaks to one of my struggles with this book, however. While well-represented and thoroughly explored, the reading experience itself quickly began to feel heavy and almost tiring; I found myself needing to put the book down after only short reading sessions. Part of this, I think, comes down to the fact that both Effy and Preston’s inner arcs are fairly similar. They are each dealing with similar feelings of isolation and like they are outsiders intruding where they are not welcome. This then leads to a lot of inner dynamics centered around feelings of weariness and fear. So, while the book does alternate between their perspectives, much of the story felt the same between the two, and it began to feel a bit draining.

The romance itself also suffered a bit from this as well. Both Preston and Effy spend much of the book hiding things from one another, both preoccupied with not wanting to place a burden on the other. And, again, the fact that both characters had such similar experiences with in the romantic plotline, it began to feels as if their relationship was spinning its wheels, with a lot of words spent saying the same or similar things over and over again.

I did enjoy some of the deeper looks into the magic of this world. Most of this came through Preston’s side of the story, and I would argue that this is largely his story. But even here, while I enjoyed getting a better understanding of this history and magic, there didn’t feel as if there was enough of a plot to serve as a structure upon which to hang these descriptive elements.

Overall, this book felt like what it was: an unplanned sequel to a stand-alone fantasy story that had been complete on its own. The writing was luscious, as always, and I did enjoy elements of the love story. But ultimately, I came away from this one feeling as if it didn’t really add anything. I felt like Preston and Effy had ended the previous book with challenges ahead but with a new will to overcome, comfortable in themselves and their new relationship. And perhaps this book was honest about the reality of the hardships they would face and that that same will to move forward could begin to crumble in the face of these struggles. I just…am not sure those realities really make up a story, all on their own?

Fans of Reid’s will likely still want to check this one out. Quality wise, it’s still a well-written book with an interesting world. Effy and Preston also remained characters whom I loved and rooted for. I simply couldn’t get into the limited amount of actual “story” to be found here.

Rating 7: I still enjoyed the world, the characters, and the love story. But it felt clear that with the first book being planned as a stand-alone, this one didn’t really have anywhere to take the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Theory in Dreaming” can be found on this Goodreads list: omg i love this cover.

Kate’s Review: “The Between”

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

Book: “The Between” by Tananarive Due

Publishing Info: Harper Perennial, October 2021 (originally published 1995)

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: When Hilton was a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. 

When Hilton’s wife, the only elected African American judge in Dade County, Florida, begins to receive racist hate mail from a man she once prosecuted, Hilton becomes obsessed with protecting his family. The demons lurking outside are matched by his internal terrors—macabre nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are these bizarre dreams the dark imaginings of a man losing his hold on sanity—or are they harbingers of terrible events to come? 

As Hilton battles both the sociopath threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep, the line between reality and fantasy dissolves . . . 

Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between is the haunting story of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves as he slowly loses himself. 

Review: Back in 2024 when I read Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory”, I told myself that once I had processed the absolute magnificence of that book I would need to start reading her back catalog. And it admittedly took me awhile, probably not just because I was processing (out of sight, out of mind is basically how I function, unfortunately). But I finally kicked myself in the pants and told myself READ MORE TANANARIVE DUE, and I decided to go back to her debut novel “The Between”. Staring at the beginning is a very good place to start after all! It helped that it had been re-released a few years ago, and my local library had a copy ready to to! So as I read the story of Hilton James, a Black man who nearly drowned as a child but was saved by his grandmother, and who is now married and having horrifying nightmares AND dealing with racist threats on his family, I could tell from the jump that starting here was the right choice.

My initial thought was, as an elder Millennial horror fan, that this has similar vibes to “Final Destination”, but this came out long before that first movie made its grand entrance into the zeitgeist. So it goes to show that Due was ahead of the curve! I really enjoyed the weird and ever building tension as Hilton starts to have weirder and more distressing dreams, just as his wife (and the entire family really) is getting death threats from a stalker with a racist hatred for the family. It makes for some good muddling of the waters, in that it’s not fully clear if Hilton is really experiencing premonitions or harbingers of doom due to something supernatural, or if it’s because of a very real threat of racist violence against his family. Due taps into both the worldly and otherworldly, and I found myself just completely wound up as Hilton spirals more and more and alienates himself from those he loves as things become more and more out of control for him.

But what really stood out to me, and what I have greatly appreciated in Due’s other work, is her take on American racism and the harm it has caused and continues to cause. Setting aside the strange dreams and setting aside the lapses in memory and setting aside Hilton’s history and his potential outrunning of Death when he wasn’t supposed to, the letters and threats that he and Dede and their children receive are terrifying, vile, and, unfortunately still all too real even in the decades after this book was first published. Hilton has a lot of trauma that has been passed down through the generations as well, and the themes of grief, loss, trauma, and race all come together in ways that are incredibly powerful and absolutely heartwrenching. It’s really terrible that so few things have changed in this country since it was first published in 1995.

“The Between” was a stellar debut from a horror author that I really, really enjoy. I’m glad I went back to Tananarive Due’s first novel, as now I am going to work my way through the rest!

Rating 8: Haunting and incredibly tense, “The Between” is a strong debut from a now legendary horror author.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Between” is included on the Goodreads list “BELLETRIST”.

Not Just Books: July 2025

While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!

Serena’s Picks

Show: “Daredevil: Born Again”

While I haven’t kept up with or been overly impressed with what I’ve seen from Disney’s Marvel TV shows, I had a lot of hope for this one. I mean, I loved the first version of this show, and Disney rightly understood what they had with Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio and kept the focus largely narrowed in on these two. The show also did a great job of staying true to some of the more impactful themes from the first show (the focus on balance between vengeance and justice, largely). While I don’t think that the support cast was as good as in the first version, I was still satisfied with the new characters. All in all, it was just fun to return to this world and this story! (Plus, I now have an extra soft spot for Charlie Cox after he voiced my beloved Gustave in “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.”)

Movie: “How to Train Your Dragon”

While I’ve been to a few movies in the theater with my oldest, my youngest has been hankering for his turn! So this June we decided to all go together to the movies for the first time, and this movie came out just in time! Now, I’ve definitely started to lose patience with the endless stream of live action re-makes, but this movie is proof that it can still be a winning strategy. For one thing, the makers of this film understood the prompt: a live action REMAKE of the original. I don’t want added songs or character arcs or “interpretations” from these movies, especially not when the original story is great on its own, as these additions almost always make it worse. No, here we have almost exactly the same movie, shot by shot, only now in live action. The music is the same, the script is largely the same, we even have the same actors for certain roles. There are large chunks of this movie where you could play the original and this side by side and they would show the exact same sequence. And that’s all I want from these remakes! Also, you know, my kids had a fun time!

Movie: “The Fountain of Youth”

This is movie was pretty much exactly what it looked like: an “Indiana Jones” lite quasi sequel. And, in that light, it succeeds fairly well. There was a lot of action-adventure fun to be had throughout! The writing was definitely a bit weak at times (especially some of the explanations at the end of the movie about how everything worked). So things really lived and died based on the charisma of the actors, mostly John Krasinski. The rest of the cast was good as well, but without his natural charm, I do think this one would have verged into extreme cheese ball territory. As it is, it wasn’t a masterpiece by any means, but still a fun time, especially as a summer popcorn flick!

Kate’s Picks

Film: “28 Years Later”

I remember going to see “28 Days Later” in the theater with one of my good friends from high school the summer after graduation, and we were both wholly blown away by it. I have loved this movie ever since. When I saw the trailer for “28 Years Later” with Terror Tuesday people, I was nervous, but intrigued (I really hated the previous sequel). And when Terror Tuesday went to see it in the theater, I was, once again, blown away. Set 28 years after the Rage Virus Infection’s start, Great Britain has been quarantined. Infected still roam the mainland, having become more feral but also more evolved, and some survivors live peacefully on an island off the coast. When twelve year old Spike and his father go to the mainland for his right of passage Infected hunt, he has to experience the Infected like never before, which in turn leads to a poignant coming of age tale when he returns to the mainland with his ailing mother in hopes of finding her help. Because there are rumors of a doctor nearby. Yes, the ending is jarring, I’ll admit it. But I found myself sobbing more than I would have anticipated, as this movie is, in many ways, heartfelt and beautiful and not only about zombies and the end of civilization, but also never forgetting those we love and lose at the end of all things.

TV Show: “The Gilded Age”

I still love a soap opera, and if it is all dolled up in historical fiction finery and opulence I will love it even more. That’s why I enjoyed “Downton Abbey” so much, and that’s why I enjoy “The Gilded Age” (both by Julian Fellowes, boy does he love his soapy aristocracy shenanigans!). Season 3 is finally here, and it’s already off to a very scandalous start! Bertha is haranguing daughter Gladys into marrying into a Duke’s family even though Gladys is terrified and uninterested (boy do I loathe Bertha, but I do love Carrie Coon)! Marian and Larry are having a secret courtship! Agnes is having a hard time accepting that younger sister Ada is in charge of the household now since she has a fresh inheritance and Agnes is now penniless! Peggy is perhaps finding romance?! And AUDRA MACDONALD’S VERY PRESENCE!!! Yes, this show makes me want to tear my hair out at times (I mean they REALLY want us to believe that because George Russell is a hot wife guy that his anti-labor robber baron ways are FIIIIINE), but I love the costuming, I love the time period, having worked in a historic house that was very much during this time, and I love the drama.

New Family Addition: KITTENS!

Back in March we had to say goodbye to our elderly twenty year old cat Baby, who had been with me since my husband and I were in college, along with her sister Kasha who passed in 2022. We decided that this summer was the time to add some new pets to our family. And we have started with two kittens! One belongs to my husband, the other belongs to my daughter (I intend on getting my own in a month or two, I’m being VERY picky about what I want in a cat…), and boy, I had forgotten what HOOLIGANS kittens can be. But The Beast and Betty Draper (my kid insists it’s just Betty, but given this cat’s personality it’s absoLUTEly Betty Draper in my mind) are both very cute and a lot of fun, even if they are complete menaces, like all kittens should be. And hopefully soon we will welcome our third and final kitten into the family….. We may be insane for getting a third, but hey, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Serena’s Review: “Neverthorn”

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Book: “Neverthorn” by Shannon Mayer

Publishing Info: Hijinks Ink Publishing, July 2025

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

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

Book Description: At nearly thirty, Harlow can’t even cast a simple rune without blundering it. So why does anyone think she can take up the mantle of Hero? Reluctantly, she’s dragged back to Neverthorn Academy with seven former classmates, tasked with training to confront and defeat the Villain of their world.

But the challenges are stacked against

Professor Hot-As-Sin makes it clear she’s a failure.

Professor Used-To-Be-A-Mean-Girl has a vendetta.

And lurking in her past is a secret so dark it could reveal she’s not the Hero the world needs—but the next Villain.

With fate hanging in the balance, can Harlow embrace her destiny before the shadows claim her?

Review: There was a lot to really like about this book! For one thing, it started off with the sort of zippy, fast-faced action that I have come to associate with some of the best urban fantasy. This was, of course, helped by the snarky, smart main character who also read as familiar ala many urban fantasy leading ladies. This familiarity is by no means a bad thing, as it helped me easily feel centered in the style of writing this book was offering and the sort of lead character I could expect to follow. Perhaps this also lead to some rather predictable twists and turns, especially with regards to the heroine’s history, but the entire reading experience was still fun enough to get me through even these moments of easilly-guessed twists.

It was also an interesting concept to take on the “magical school” setting from the angle of an adult woman returning to a place she hated and left as soon as possible as a teenager. Ultimately, there were a few pros and a few cons to be found in this approach. In the positives, I enjoyed the duality of Harlow’s experiences with Neverthorn and the people there. Returning as an adult, everything and everyone is seen through the lens of her experiences as a teenager, for good or ill. This lead to a lot of increased tension between characters she was meeting for a second time, as she had a built in history with many of them. Further, many of the secrets she discovered were tied back to ways in which her first experience here was such a disaster for her.

On the other hand, I do think that there was an imbalance between the tone of the school story and the age of the characters. I was really excited to see adults in this school setting, both as teachers and as students. But, unfortunately, the minute we got to the school, Harlow seemed to regress in age quite significantly. In the “real world,” she was highly competent, whip-smart, and written with an inner voice that would fit an upper 20-something. However, in the school, this inner voice and her general approach to problem solving and interacting with others around her seemed to regress to a much younger level. There were a lot of highschool dynamics being revisited, and while I liked the idea of confronting school fellows from one’s past, this went a bit too far, with everyone seeming to turn back into those same high school age students. This wasn’t helped by certain writing choices that compounded the problem, like a swearing ban that went into affect and had everyone using “Good Place” style alternatives. It was funny enough once or twice, but as it continued, it began to lose its shine and further emphasize the strangely YA feel of it all.

I did enjoy the romance for the most part. There was a bit of a love triangle going on, which isn’t my favorite, but I think it was done well enough that it didn’t bother me. The “primary” love interest was also very well done I thought, and I enjoyed the slow burn nature of their story. In particular, this was one of the relationships that benefitted the most with the pre-established history the two had from the time together as highschoolers at the school.

Overall, this was a fun read! I think it got bogged down a bit towards the middle with a bit of wheel-turning with the main plot. But the characters were fun and the writing was snappy. I’m excited to see where the story goes from here!

Rating 8: Full of snappy writing and sparking romance, this was a fantastic new entry into the world of dark academia!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Neverthorn” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Magic Schools, Academies & Universities.

Joint Review: “The Library at Hellebore”

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

Book: “The Library at Hellebore” by Cassandra Khaw

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, July 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: ARC from the publisher!

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

Book Description: The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.

Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that’s what Alessa Li is told when she’s kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.

But there’s more to Hellebore than meets the eye. On graduation day, the faculty go on a ravenous rampage, feasting on Alessa’s class. Only Alessa and a group of her classmates escape the carnage. Trapped in the school’s library, they must offer a human sacrifice every night, or else the faculty will break down the door and kill everyone.

Can they band together and survive, or will the faculty eat its fill?

Serena’s Thoughts

There are definitely specific sorts of books that Kate and I target for joint reviews: often some sort of dark fantasy/horror lite title. That being the case, the balance between dark fantasy and horror elements often determines where each of lands on any given read. And this one leaned a bit too far into the horror side for me to fully appreciate.

I did, however, enjoy the dark academia vibes of the story. I definitely understand the comparisons to Naomi Novik’s “Scholomance” trilogy. However, for me, this worked a bit against the book too, as Novik’s series is one of the more fully realized, complex world/magical systems that I can remember reading. In contrast, while this book leaned heavily into similar areas of dread and constrained claustrophobia within the school setting, there wasn’t quite as much actually backing up how this world operated.

In place of some of these scene setting or worldbuilding elements, the author peppered in a seemingly inexhaustible number of deep cut word selections. It sometimes felt like a thesaurus was required reading for getting through certain sections (perhaps this is just revealing my own limited vocabulary, but it’s a fairly unique problem I had with this book.) At the same time, there was a lot of emphasis on modern references peppered throughout. Between the high-end academic vocabulary, the modern references, and the choice to swap between two different points in time within the story, the book had a distinctly choppy feel to it as I read through.

I appreciated a lot of what this book was trying to do, and towards the back half I definitely started to become more invested. I also think that, when disconnected from some of the more elaborate word choices, there was a lot of skill to the writing itself. There were some incredibly poetic turns of phrase, and, even if I didn’t enjoy some of the darker horror moments, there’s no denying the author’s ability to write in a way that elicits a strong emotion.

However, in the end, this was simply too gross and too depressing for me to really enjoy. It may work better for true horror fans than the dark fantasy readers who enjoyed “Scholomance” so much.

Kate’s Thoughts

As someone who has read previous works by Cassandra Khaw, this was not my first time the gruesome body and cosmic horror rodeo, as it were, so I think that I was little more prepared for some of the elements than Serena was (also, SORRY SERENA, I should have warned you that Khaw is BRUTAL). I think that going in expecting something truly disgusting along with flowery turns of phrase made my experience a bit better than my blog partner’s, but I also think that I agree in a lot of ways with her review.

Since I’m the horror gal here I can focus on that for the most part, and I still think that Khaw has this true knack for pulling truly beautiful words and phrases and literature from unrelenting balls to the wall descriptions of viscera, violence, and despair. This was the first full length novel I’ve read of theirs, and I will say that MAN the body horror and gore just kept going because it wasn’t a novella, and it made for a harder read. But at the same time, I really appreciated the visuals and the descriptions because Khaw is more than willing to go to some disgusting places, and I gotta respect that even if it can be stomach churning. And I also have to give credit where credit is due; they are VERY creative with some of the kills in this book.

I also didn’t mind the time jumps as we went on, as I generally enjoyed getting juxtaposition of the present danger of being trapped in a library with a ravenous faculty outside the door with the background of our main players, and getting to know Alessa and her changing relationships with her dangerous cohorts turned unlikely allies. I also just liked Alessa. She’s not particularly likable but I found her refreshing in her candor and ruthlessness.

“The Library at Hellbore” is exactly what I expected from Cassandra Khaw, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t wholly repulsed as I was reading. I mean that as a compliment.

Serena’s Rating 7: This one was a bit too horrific for me, but if you’re truly looking for a dark DARK academia read, this one might be for you!

Kate’s Rating 7: Gory and horrific but sure to please those who love some really gnarly body horror.

Reader’s Advisory

“The Library at Hellebore” is included on these Goodreads lists: Twisted Tales for Beautifully Damaged Minds and 2025 Dark Academia Releases.