Serena’s Review: “The Longest Autumn”

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

Book: “The Longest Autumn” by Amy Avery

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Tirne is one of four humans rigorously selected to usher the turn of the seasons into the mortal world. Every year, she escorts the taciturn god Autumn between the godly and human realms. Autumn’s seasonal stay among mortals brings cooler weather, changing leaves, and the harvest of apples and gourds until Winter takes his place.

This year, the enchanted Mirror that separates their worlds shatters after Tirne and Autumn pass through, trapping both of them in the human realm. As the endless autumn stretches on, crops begin to fail and the threat of starvation looms. Away from the magic of the gods’ home, Tirne’s debilitating headaches return with a vengeance. Worse, Autumn’s extended stay in the human realm turns him ever more mortal and vulnerable, stirring a new, forbidden attraction to Tirne.

While the priesthood scrambles to find a way to reassemble the Mirror, Tirne digs into the temple’s secrets and finds an unlikely ally—or enemy—in the enigmatic sorcerer and master of poisons, Sidriel. Thrown into a world of mystery, betrayal, and espionage as she searches for the truth, might Tirne lose her morals, her hard-earned position, and the illicit spark between her and Autumn?

Review: I have to say, I barely made it past the cover on this one. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t read “fantasy” to me. Instead, it looks more like some sort of historical, literary fiction type book (nothing wrong with those, just not my preference!). But once I actually looked at the book description itself, it definitely sounded like something up my alley! I’ll be curious to see if other readers had similar feelings. We all say not to judge a book by its cover, but in reality, that’s the first thing a perspective readers sees and, try or not, they make a lot of assumptions about the type of book it will be based on this initial glance. And, while this book wasn’t a perfect book for me, I do think there are a good number of fantasy readers who will enjoy this, and I’d hate for them to miss it simply because the cover looks like what you’d find for another book entirely.

When thinking back on my reading experience of the book, I find myself coming away with the thought that I still liked the overall idea of the book more than the actual thing itself. In that, I thought the world, magic, and characters all sounded interesting. There was almost the feeling of it being a re-telling of some ancient Greek myth (though it isn’t). It had nice nods to the struggle of chronic pain, and the approach to romance was more realistic than you often see. However, all of these things still never quite came together the way I liked.

For one thing, I found Tirne to be a very passive character, spending much of her time dealing with her chronic migraines and simply reacting to and trying to survive the various challenges thrown at her. And while I think this kind of representation of chronic pain is useful, it also began to feel as if it was Tirne’s only character trait. Beyond this, it seemed that much of the story’s plot and mystery was hung on Tirne’s struggles to deal with these debilitating headaches. I found myself increasingly wanting more not only from Tirne as a character but also from the story itself. Representation of chronic pain, no matter how good, is not a story in and of itself.

And, while I appreciated some of the nods towards more realistic romances, I also felt mislead on this front by the book’s overall description. I was expecting the love story to play a more important role in the book, but instead I found myself feeling rather adrift, not knowing who I was meant to be rooting for or whether the romance was actually going to be important to the story at all. Things ended in a satisfactory way, but not necessarily in the way that most romance readers will be looking for. So, again, kind of like the cover art, I’m concerned that this book won’t easily find its way to the readers who will most appreciate it. Instead, readers looking for a romantic fantasy story may find themselves a bit disappointed by the love story that is presented here.

I also never felt myself becoming overly invested in any of the side characters. The book is written in first person which can sometimes run into this problem. And its unfortunate that Tirne felt as passive as she did, since establishing a solid main character is the primary strength of this style of writing. But the weaknesses that can be found do often come down to the portrayal of side characters, as we only have the limitations of the main character’s perceptions of them to really paint any sort of picture. This was definitely the case with this book, as I can’t point to a single side character who really stood out to me.

Overall, this book was fine. It was a fast, easy read, but it wasn’t exactly the story I was looking for when I picked it up. Fantasy readers who are less interested in the romance may find themselves enjoying it more. And those looking for a heavy focus on chronic pain may also find this to be a good match for them.

Rating 7: A bit lackluster with its main character, and I felt like there was a bait-and-switch in the overall concept of the book as presented in the description.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Longest Autumn” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Best Books To Read In Autumn.

Kate’s Review: “The Reformatory”

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

Book: “The Reformatory” by Tananarive Due

Publishing Info: Gallery/Saga Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

Review: After reading a few short stories by horror icon Tananarive Due in 2023, I told myself that I needed to finally pick up one of her novels. I don’t know why I haven’t, as she has always been on my radar. But for whatever reason it just never happened. When her newest novel “The Reformatory” came out, I bought myself a copy on my solo trip to Duluth. It took me a bit to get to it, as I had a stack of books to attend to and whenever I have a book that I have purchased I usually end up letting it sit a bit because of no deadline to read it. But then I did sit down and start reading. And my God. I was completely blown away by what I was reading. I was such a fool for waiting so long to pick it up. I was such a fool for waiting to pick up a book by Due. Because “The Reformatory” is magnificent.

The horror themes in this story are already top tier for me. I love ghosts in general, but I LOVED how Due brought in the folklore of Haints from the low country and the deep South of the United States (it’s been awhile since I’ve been to Savannah, Georgia, but one of the things that really stands out for me is how you see so many specific blue doors in a shade called Haint Blue, as it was thought to ward off Haints). Due really knows how to create terrifying moments in her pacing and descriptions, and with the tormented ghosts of dead children, who died at the hands of a racist and violent institution, being present and haunting said institution, it makes for a perfect metaphor as well as a great ghostly tale. It’s scary and nerve wracking and the high tension moments with the Haints were top tier horror. There were also the less focused on but certainly implied supernatural gifts of Robbie’s sister Gloria. While Robbie can see ghosts and communicate with them at least to a small degree, Gloria has her own talent of being able to get a sense of someone’s future if she is able to touch them or be near them. I am a complete sucker for both of these tropes, and I loved that Robbie and Gloria have different skills that they don’t necessarily want, but have to contend with.

But, unsurprisingly, it’s the realistic horrors of the Jim Crow South that really pack a wallop in “The Reformatory”, as both Robbie and Gloria are having to maneuver their way as Black people (children at that) through a deeply racist and violent society that has targets on their backs, not only because of their skin color, but because of their family name (as their father is on the run for a crime he didn’t commit that he was accused of because of his outspokenness). For Robbie, he is in what is essentially a prison as a child, for the audacious crime of kicking a white teenager who was harassing Gloria. Dozier School for Boys is run by a violent and sadistic warden, with dead children haunting the place that only Robbie can see. The brutal realities of the violent punishments are displayed in full, as Due basically tells the reader that they mustn’t look away from these real horrors that were committed about Black children, whether it’s torture, sexual assault, or murder. Dozier is a relentless prison that Robbie is barely surviving within, and seeing him and other detainees try to survive is enraging and devastating.

On the flip side is Gloria, who is determined to get Robbie out, and is trying to work through the justice system by reaching out to the NAACP, as well as well meaning (but at their heart ignorant) white people who may have the power to help, but have their own reservations. I thought that the dichotomy that Due showed between Robbie living in an overtly racist dangerous situation, and Gloria whose relentless pursuit for justice is putting her in just as much danger, while also displaying the everyday racism and dangers to Black people during this time and in this place. I also really appreciated how she not only took inspiration from her own family history, and also had in story versions of actual historical people, whether it was a reference to Thurgood Marshall or an actual interaction with Harry T. Moore. It’s so well done and so incredibly harrowing, and it’s an important reminder that even if Haints and psychic abilities aren’t real, the violent oppression against Black people at this time (and present times) was, and cannot and should not be washed away or forgotten.

“The Reformatory” is my first 10 Rating of 2024, and it has set an incredibly high bar for any and all books for the rest of the year. It’s phenomenal in every way. I never should have waited so long to read Tananarive Due. Expect more works by her this year, because I’m going to make up for lost time.

Rating 10: An astounding and horrifying horror novel whose darkest moments are less supernatural and more based in fact, “The Reformatory” is a knockout. Absolutely incredible.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Reformatory” is included on the Goodreads list “Popsugar 2024 #40 – A Horror Book Written by a BIPOC Author”, and “ATY 2024: Chilling Atmosphere”.

Another Take: Winter 2024

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

Don’t just take it from us, other readers like these books, too! And we have decided that we would like to showcase other reviewers and bloggers that have their own thoughts and feelings about books that we have loved. Here are a few of the books we’ve enjoyed recently and what other bloggers have to say about them.

Book: “The Witchwood Knot” by Olivia Atwater

Book Description: Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one. When her bratty young charge transforms overnight into a perfectly behaved block of wood, she soon realises that the real boy has been abducted by the Fair Folk. Unfortunately, the lord of Witchwood Manor is the only man in England who doesn’t believe in faeries—which leaves Winnie in the unenviable position of rescuing the young lord-to-be all by herself.

Witchwood Manor is bigger than its inhabitants realise, however, and full of otherworldly dangers. As Winnie delves deeper into the other side of the house, she enlists the aid of its dark and dubious faerie butler, Mr Quincy, who hides several awful secrets behind his charming smile. Winnie hopes to make her way to the centre of the Witchwood Knot through wit and cleverness… but when all of her usual tricks fail, who will she dare to trust?

Serena’s Review (9 Rating)

Lynn’s Book Blog (4 Stars)

Queen’s Book Asylum (4 Crowns/Stars)

Before We Go Blog (4 Stars)

Book: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night”

Book Description: The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Serena’s Review (9 Rating)

All the Books I Can Read (8 Rating)

Alicia Jeanne (5 Stars)

Girl in the Pages (5 Stars)

Book: “A Fragile Enchantment” by Allison Saft

Book Description: Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

Serena’s Review (8 Rating)

All About Romance (B Rating)

Back Shelf Books (5 Stars)

Tea Time Lit (3.5 Stars)

Book: “My Roommate Is A Vampire” by Jenna Levine

Book Description: Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean…

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

Kate’s Review (8 Rating)

Books, Bones, & Buffy (3.5 Stars)

NeverImitate

The Neverending TBR (3.5 Hearts)

Book: “Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror” by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams (Eds.)

Book Description: The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Kate’s Review (Rating 8)

Ginger Nuts of Horror

Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together (8/10)

Life of a Female Bibliophile (4 Books)

Book: “The Intern” by Michele Campbell

Book Description: A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.

Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.

When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her? As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?

Kate’s Review (9 Rating)

Novel Gossip (4/5)

Jen Ryland Reviews

Always With A Book

Serena’s Review: “Once a Queen”

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

Book: “Once a Queen” by Sarah Arthur

Publishing Info: WaterBrook, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: When fourteen-year-old Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, troubling questions arise. Why the estrangement? What’s with the house’s employees and their guarded secrets? Why must Eva never mention trains, her father, or her favorite childhood fairy tales?

After strange things start happening in the gardens at night, Eva turns to the elderly housekeeper, gardener, and the gardener’s great-grandson, Frankie, for answers. Astonishingly, they all seem to believe the fairy tales are true–that portals to other worlds still exist, though hidden and steadily disappearing. They suspect that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds.

But Eva’s grandmother denies it all. After a horrific family tragedy when she was young, her heart is closed to the beauty and pain of her past. It’s up to Eva, with Frankie’s help, to discover what really happened, whether family relationships can be restored, and if the portals are closed forever. As she unravels generational secrets, Eva wrestles with the grief of a vanishing childhood–and the fear that growing up means giving up fairy tales forever.

Review: I don’t typically read books on the younger side of YA (or at least, ones that feature characters who are on the younger side, such as 14-year-old Eva in this one). I’ve found that more and more I’ve struggled to connect to YA fiction, especially when it reads on the younger side. There are still ones out there that fully grab my attention, and I can think of a number that rose to truly high levels. But, either it’s me or its the subgenre, but I feel like there have been more and more tropes, and less and less original content. That being the case, I was almost more intrigued to try this book, in that it was well outside of my usual YA fare, brushing shoulders more with middle grade fiction than anything else. And while it didn’t fully work for me, I do think it was a pleasant, satisfying read, especially for those who are looking for a good middle grade fantasy novel.

Let’s start with what I liked! In a lot of ways, this book will read as cozily familiar for classic fantasy fans: you have a mysterious manor house full of nooks and crannies and even more mysterious relatives who hint at secret pasts. It’s clear that the author was influenced by books like C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” series and similar classic portal fantasies. But while it is referential to other fantasy stories, it also felt unique enough to hold its own. I enjoyed exploring alongside Eva as she discovered more and more about her family history.

That said, for the first 75% of the book, the pacing was fairly sluggish. It’s a long wait to actually see the main character dive into any real action or really put together all that she’s learning. It takes even longer for any of the actual portal fantasy elements to come into play. In this way, it was a bit of a frustrating read for me. However, I can see readers who are less familiar (or less interested in) fantasy feeling differently, that the magical elements were merely sprinkled on top of an interesting family-drama-centric middle grade story.

I also enjoyed the exploration of Eva’s relationship with her grandmother, a relation that has largely been an unknown entity in her life up to this point. As her grandmother’s history was revealed, I was intrigued to learn how her grandmother had ended up where she was and why she had made the choices she did. The idea of a granddaughter helping her grandmother rediscover her belief in fairytales is just as cozy at it sounds.

All of that said, I still struggled to get through this book. For me, I was looking for a bit more action and a bit more time spent in other magical worlds. However, I do think it will connect better for readers looking for a cozy fantasy novel with a strong focus on familial relationships and histories.

Rating 7: More successful as a family history story than a portal fantasy, but I do think middle grade cozy fantasy readers will enjoy this one more than I did!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Once a Queen” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2024

Serena’s Review: “Somewhere in the Deep”

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

Book: “Somewhere in the Deep” by Tanvi Berwah

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents’ debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit. After a fight goes terribly wrong, she’s banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island.

Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn’t want her to make it out alive. And she’ll have to figure out who before she’s left alone… in the dark.

From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn.

Review: I immediately clicked to read more about this book when I spotted this cover. It’s so unique and strange! Paired with the title, you get a vague sense of a sea creatures, alien worlds, and a sense of wonder and danger. Which, reading more about it, pairs perfectly with the type of story this proports to be! It’s also very original from the covers you typically see for YA fantasy, so it does a good job of allowing the book to stand out from the crowd right off the bat. But let’s get into the book itself.

So, I did struggle with this book, but it was more on the side of my failing to really connect to or become invested in the story itself. Some of this is surely down to my preferences, and other parts of this can come down to weaker elements in the book. But, that said, there were also a lot of strengths and I do think there are definitely readers out there who will like this book.

For one thing, it is definitely a breath of fresh air in the current YA fantasy environment. As much as I love fairytales and witchy fantasy stories, we’ve seen a good number of them over the last few years. But this book treads new ground feeling slightly sci-fi and slightly post-apocalyptic, all while exploring a very unique world made of an island and its deep, dangerous cavern system. I really enjoyed the creative creatures that populated this world, and the culture and society that had been built up around surviving in this sort of harsh landscape. All of these elements also creates the perfect stage on which to place a fast-moving, action-packed plot. The pacing starts out fasts, keeps going fast, and then wraps up fast.

That said, I struggled to really connect to the story that was being told. It is one of those cases where there is nothing actively wrong that I can point to, either in the style of writing or the characterization, but more a situation where everything felt a bit watered down. Krescent Dune (well, I guess I can point to that character name as highly questionable) is your generic YA heroine: strong, brave, but also conveniently obtuse about the motivations of those she claims to know best (we’ll get to that). The writing, for its part, was also…serviceable? Again, nothing wrong with it, but it also felt incredibly generic, with a limited vocabulary and fairly repetitive approach to sentence structure. Like I said, none of it is bad, but it was also the type of writing that doesn’t necessarily draw you in. It tells the story, but not much else.

I also went in with high hopes for the romance. We’ve seen a good number of enemies-to-lovers romances, and of course I love those as well. But I was excited going into this one with the promise of a friends-to-lovers story (I will say that the book description seems to be intentionally misleading on this point, which I find very annoying, especially as romance tropes/types are very subjective as far as what readers do and don’t enjoy). And while I did still appreciate this change in tone and approach to a love story, I was also fairly frustrated by much of it. Like I hinted at earlier, much of the tension in the romance was centered around Krescent’s inability to see what was right in front of her: Rivan’s feelings for her. Of course, there are ways to make this sort of relationship drama work, but I do think it takes a certain skill to create a love story where you main character has to be oblivious to the motivations of someone she knows well without also coming across as a bit of a dunderhead herself. It also wasn’t helped that much of their relationship was completely dependent on the reader being told that they have had this long-standing friendship, more than showing these moments between them.

So, I don’t really know where to leave things. I think that some readers will enjoy this book for sure, but I also wasn’t blown away by anything it had to offer. If you’re highly anticipating this one, definitely give it a shot. But if you’re on the fence, there might be other ones you want to check out first.

Rating 7: While the author created a unique world and had some interesting creatures, I struggled to stay invested in the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Somewhere in the Deep” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024

Kate’s Review: “Fence: Vol. 3”

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

Book: “Fence: Vol. 3” by C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (Ill.)

Publishing Info: BOOM! Box, August 2019

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Scrappy fencer Nicholas Cox comes to the end of his path to prove himself worthy of a father he never knew in the face of surly upperclassmen, nearly impossible odds, and the talent of his rival, sullen fencing prodigy, Seiji Katayama.

Sparks fly white-hot on the pitch as Nicholas and Seiji finally face off once again in the halls of King’s Row. It’s a match that will change King’s Row (and both of them!) forever, and set the stage as the team journeys to face their bitter rivals and prove themselves once and for all. 

The third volume of the breakneck series from writer C.S. Pacat (The Captive Prince) and fan-favorite artist Johanna the Mad comes at you as fast as a parry and hits as hard as a strike.

Review: We have once again jumped back into the high stakes and fast paced world of high school fencing teams with “Fence: Volume 3”. As a former quasi-fencer (I say quasi because I was on the team but didn’t really do anything outside of going to practice) it’s pretty neat and fun to see the sport of fencing being used as a driving force in this series, though I must say that it wasn’t NEARLY this dramatic.

We are finally at the end of the fencing team tryouts, as our final contenders stand tall and have to depend not only on their skills, but sometimes on the mistakes of others to get to the top. I really liked that Pacat made that a bit of a plot point as opposed to just “Nicholas has to beat this this and this opponent”, as it made the stakes feel not only high, but also fairly realistic. I also enjoyed getting into the heads of other characters as their own dreams had the potential to come true or be deferred, whether it’s Nicholas, or Seiji, or even other more supporting characters like Eugene, who has tried out for the team for multiple years but has always JUST missed out. We get to see that all of the characters have their reasons for wanting to make the team, and that most of them have pretty damn good ones so them not making it will be bittersweet regardless. Because of these things it was suspenseful no matter how you slice it, and it felt like a true blue inspirational sports journey. And once we do have the final team of fencers, it sets up the rest of the story as Kings Row has to ready itself to face off against their rivals, with some fencers having more personal reasons than others.

I also continue to enjoy the building friendship between Nicholas and Seiji, who are both determined to be able to face off against Jesse Coste, son of elite fencer Robert Coste. Seiji wants to face him because he’s considered the best, while Nicholas wants to face him because he’s his secret half brother, and while Nicholas grew up in the shadows Jesse has had all the privileges of his father’s legacy. They have a common goal, but it’s one that they both kind of need to fight over, which makes them even MORE rivals than they already are by nature of being competitive fencers in their own right. It is getting a LITTLE redundant seeing them butting heads, but there seems to be a glimmer of them perhaps being able to start working together to build each other up in the face of a common enemy.

Finally, I still like the artwork by Johanna the Mad! The manga inspired design is a nice homage to sports mangas, and I really like the colors, the facial expressions, and the way she designs the actual fencing moments.

(source: BOOM! Studios)

We have our team. They have their goal. We will have to see where their path takes them when facing off with other elite fencers. Next time I’ll take on “Volume 4”!

Rating 7: The tensions continue to be high as the tryouts start to wind down, and the suspense of the final line up makes for an entertaining volume that sets the stage for an interesting story path.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fence: Vol. 3” is included on the Goodreads lists “Fencing Fiction”, and “Graphic Novels Featuring LGBTIQ Themes”.

Previously Reviewed:

Serena’s Review: “A Fragile Enchantment”

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

Book: “A Fragile Enchantment” by Allison Saft

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

Review: I’ve had access to this e-book for a while thanks to the publisher sending me an ARC a few months ago. But there have been many books to read and review between then and now, so it’s been quite the struggle! I really enjoyed Saft’s “A Far Wilder Magic,” and then combine the romantic cover art on this one with a description that includes the phrase “fantasy of manners” and, well, the anticipation has been killing me! But we’re finally to 2024 and now it’s time to dive right in!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, though there were a few odd things about its pacing, especially towards the final quarter of the book. But let’s start with the all of the good stuff. First of all, I love Saft’s style of writing. It’s approachable, engaging, and I very quickly felt attached to the characters and plot. The dialogue was also capable of delivering laughs just as much as conveying the more emotional, romantic scenes. It was a very smooth reading experience, and, like I said, for the first 75% of the story, I was zipping along without a care in the world. I also enjoyed the world-building and magical elements. Nothing was overly complex here, but it also all felt complete enough that I felt solidly placed within the world and understood how the magic worked.

I also really enjoyed the characters. Niamph was a unique leading lady in that she had a powerful magical ability, but also struggled with a degenerative disease that limited her actions. I liked the exploration of how Niamph approached life with an illness that left her unknowing of what time she had left. Throughout the story, we see both the struggles and strengths that this brought to the character. On one hand, we see her rise to grab life by both hands, knowing she must experience what she has been given. But on the other hand, we see her struggle to place the appropriate value on herself and her own desires, all too willing to put others before herself when she sees a limited life span before her.

This theme, the exploration of what is owed to one’s family, is one that carries over to many of the other characters in the story, most notably the romantic interest, the prince himself. Kit is in an arranged marriage, so it is very easy to see how this theme would pair with his story. His struggles with his relationship with his brother, the king, were interesting and dove deeper into this overall theme in ways I was not expecting.

That said, this same theme of familial obligation popped up with yet another character in the final quarter of the story. And it was at this point that I began to feel a bit beaten over the head with it all. At this point in the story, I felt like we’d thoroughly explored the angles of this topic, and, importantly, we see these struggles through the experiences of our two main characters. So when I ran into the exact same theme and talking points showing up for this third, very much side, character, I was a bit exasperated. It felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the examination of this theme or to the story progression itself.

I also loved the romance at the heart of the story. In some ways, it progressed a bit quickly, but I was also so invested in Niamph and Kit that I was able to go along with it fairly easy. I don’t think this quite rises to the level of “enemies to lovers,” but they do have a contentions start to their relationship that builds up nicely to the eventual resolution. However, again, what felt like a very organic, natural build to their relationship was interrupted in the last third/quarter of the book in ways that seemed to break the natural pacing. It began to feel choppy and bit all over the place, as if the author had several extra plot beats that she wasn’t sure how to fit in naturally, so it was all just shoved into this final bit of the story.

So, in the end, this was a bit of a broken up reading experience. The first 60-75% of this book was a solid 9-10 rating for me, enjoyment-wise. But then it felt like things fell apart during what should have been the climax of the story. The overall themes of the book began to feel tired and over-used when they were applied to a third, side character, and the romantic tension also felt let down by some odd beats in this last bit. All of that said, I still would recommend this book to romantic fantasy fans, especially those looking for a fantasy of manners story that is low on the spice level.

Rating 8: Sweetly romantic with two compelling leading characters, though the book stumbles in the last bit of the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Fragile Enchantment” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Regency Fantasy and Romantasy.

Kate’s Review: “The Night of the Storm”

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

Book: “The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh

Publishing Info: Dutton, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce—their move to Houston, her family’s disapproval, the struggle to make ends meet on her own—now Jia is worried about Ishaan’s future, too. Will her solo parenting be enough? Doesn’t a boy need a father?

And now their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. Jia’s sister, Seema, has invited them to hunker down in her fancy house in Sugar Land, and despite Jia’s misgivings—Seema’s husband, Vipul, has been just a little too friendly with her lately—Jia concedes it’s probably the best place to keep Ishaan safe during the hurricane. With Jia’s philandering ex scrutinizing her every move, all too eager to snatch back custody of Ishaan, she can’t afford to make a mistake.

When Vipul’s brother and his wife show up on Seema’s doorstep, too, it’s a recipe for disaster. Grandma, the family matriarch, has never been shy about playing favorites among her sons and their wives. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone’s dead. Was it a horrible accident or is there a murderer in their midst?

With no help available until the floodwaters recede in the morning, Jia must protect her son and identify the culprit before she goes down for a crime she didn’t commit—or becomes the next victim. . . .

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

Even though Minnesota has some pretty brutal cold and snow events in the dead of winter, I know that I would prefer this over hurricanes. I know people who have been in pretty intense situations surrounding hurricanes, and have even had relatives flee up to Minnesota to escape danger during particularly bad ones. But I do love the idea of a hurricane being a situational factor in a murder mystery, so when I read the description of “The Night of the Storm” by Nishita Parekh, I knew that I had to read it. I went in with high hopes, wondering how a combustible family and extended family unit would fare coming face to face with a potential murderer during Hurricane Harvey, and while I chugged along through it, it didn’t quite meet said high hopes.

But first the good! One of the most important things about a thriller, for me, is if it keeps me reading and keeps me questioning what is going on, especially if it has some outside the box elements. “The Night of the Storm” is a locked room mystery, but the locked room aspect is the fact that this family is trapped in a house during Hurricane Harvey, and they can’t leave due to the dangers and can’t contact anyone very well due to the power issues and the general chaos during a natural disaster. If you find a creative way to isolate people in a story like this, I am automatically going to have to give it some props. I also liked that in this thriller, a genre that can be pretty white, we have an Asian Indian American family at the heart of it, and how some aspects of the culture Jia and Seema were raised in brings other conflicts that could potentially exacerbate the dangers in the moment (Jia’s divorced status making her seen as less than or unreliable by family, the tension between a judgmental mother in law and her daughter in law, the narrow definitions of what success can look like for sons). It makes for a bit of a fun family drama on top of the very pressing ‘trapped in a hurricane with a murderer’ situation.

That said, I think that a way that this book stumbles is that outside of Jia the other characters weren’t as fleshed out as I would have liked them to be. I like that we got insight into their back stories through Jia’s perspectives, but I would have liked to see more depth to a few of them. As it was, I wasn’t as invested in them as characters, and that makes the stakes not as high as I would like them to be in a thriller. I really liked Jia, and I was worried about her and her son Ishaan (and even on an existential level, as she is in the midst of a divorce from a toxic husband whom she thinks wants to take Ishaan away from her), but as more danger cropped up for everyone I wasn’t super nervous about the outcomes of the actual mystery and more about whether or not Jia would maintain custody of her son after all was said and done. Add into that a thrill ride that doesn’t tread too far from what is usually expected from the genre and familiar tropes that aren’t too unexpected, and it’s solidly okay, but not something that blew me away too much.

“The Night of the Storm” is fine. I am curious to read more thrillers by Nishita Perekh in the future. There is lots of promise that she can wow me down the line from glimmers in this book, even if as a whole it was average.

Rating 6: It’s a perfectly serviceable thriller, but pretty familiar tropes and pretty flat characters make for a generic read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Night of the Storm” is included on Goodreads list “2024 Mystery Thrillers Crime To Be Excited For”.

Highlights for 2024!

I’m not sure why we haven’t done this before, but better late than never! So here we are with some of our most anticipated reads for 2024!

Serena’s Picks

There are so many great books coming out this year that it was hard to pick! Honestly, this is a fairly random selection of titles from a much longer list, but I wanted to include both books coming out from familiar authors and a few debuts that I have my eyes on. A few honorable mentions that didn’t make the list would include “Wind and Truth” by Brandon Sanderson (the latest in the Stormlight Archives!), “How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying” by Django Wexler, “Foul Days” by Genoveva Dimova, and “Wisteria” by Adalyn Grace.

Book: “The Familiar” by Leigh Bardugo

Publication Date: April 9, 2024

Book Description: In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

Book: “Song of the Six Realms” by Judy I. Lin

Publication Date: April 23, 2024

Book Description: Xue, a talented young musician, has no past and probably no future. Orphaned at a young age, her kindly poet uncle took her in and arranged for an apprenticeship at one of the most esteemed entertainment houses in the kingdom. She doesn’t remember much from before entering the House of Flowing Water, and when her uncle is suddenly killed in a bandit attack, she is devastated to lose her last connection to a life outside of her indenture contract.

With no family and no patron, Xue is facing the possibility of a lifetime of servitude playing the qin for nobles that praise her talent with one breath and sneer at her lowly social status with the next. Then one night she is unexpectedly called to the garden to put on a private performance for the enigmatic Duke Meng. The young man is strangely kind and awkward for nobility, and surprises Xue further with an irresistible offer: serve as a musician in residence at his manor for one year, and he’ll set her free of her indenture.

But the Duke’s motives become increasingly more suspect when he and Xue barely survive an attack by a nightmarish monster, and when he whisks her away to his estate, she discovers he’s not just some country noble: He’s the Duke of Dreams, one of the divine rulers of the Celestial Realm. There she learns the Six Realms are on the brink of disaster, and incursions by demonic beasts are growing more frequent.

The Duke needs Xue’s help to unlock memories from her past that could hold the answers to how to stop the impending war… but first Xue will need to survive being the target of every monster and deity in the Six Realms.

Book: “Mirrored Heavens” by Rebecca Roanhorse

Publication Date: June 4, 2024

Book Description: Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But his enemies gather both on distant shores and within his own city as the matrons of the clans scheme to destroy him. And deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. But the sea won’t talk to her the way it used to, and doubts riddle her mind. She will have to sacrifice the things that matter most to unleash her powers and become the queen they were promised.

And in the far northern wastelands, Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, seeks a way to save Tova from the visions of fire that engulf her dreams. But another presence has begun stalking her nightmares, and the Jaguar God is on the hunt.

Book: “The Night Ends with Fire” by K. X. Song

Publication Date: July 2, 2024

Book Description: The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.

The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.

In the army, Meilin’s relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.

With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.

Book: “The Wild Huntress” by Emily Loyd-Jones

Publication Date: October 8, 2024

Book Description: Every five years, two kingdoms take part in a Wild Hunt. Joining is a bloody risk and even the most qualified hunters can suffer the deadliest fates. Still, hundreds gamble their lives to participate—all vying for the Hunt’s life-changing prize: a magical wish granted by the Otherking.

BRANWEN possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters. She’s desperate to cure her mother’s sickness, and the Wild Hunt is her only option.

GWYDION is the least impressive of his magically-talented family, but with his ability to control plants and his sleight of hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cruel older brother from becoming a tyrant.

PRYDERI is prince-born and monster-raised. Deep down, the royal crown doesn’t interest him—all he wants is to know is where he belongs.

If they band together against the monstrous creatures within the woods, they have a chance to win. But, then again, nothing is guaranteed when all is fair in love and the Hunt.

Kate’s Picks

A full year means that there are a LOT of books to choose from, and while I do tend to stick to my general genres of horror, thriller, mystery, non fiction, and the graphic novel format, I DO spread my wings across multiple genres that don’t always get covered here. So, for my Picks of 2024 List, I’m going to pick titles that I am very excited for, but won’t necessarily be highlighted on the blog! But as for books that will make the blog, I will say that I am VERY much looking forward to “I Was A Teenage Slasher” by Stephen Graham Jones, “Horror Movie” by Paul Tremblay, “Immortal Pleasures” by V. Castro, and “So Thirsty” by Rachel Harrison!

Book: “Not In Love” by Ali Hazelwood

Publication Date: June 11, 2024

Book Description: Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through—and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who’s off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business—one that plays for keeps.

Book: “The House of Hidden Meanings” by RuPaul

Publication Date: March 6, 2024

Book Description: From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date—a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home to discovering the power of performance, found family, and self-acceptance.

A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity,  The House of Hidden Meanings  is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag. Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul.

Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known. Stripping away all artifice, RuPaul recounts the story of his life with breathtaking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography. From his early years growing up as a queer Black kid in San Diego navigating complex relationships with his absent father and temperamental mother, to forging an identity in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York, to finding enduring love with his husband Georges LeBar and self-acceptance in sobriety, RuPaul excavates his own biography, uncovering new truths and insights in his personal history.

Here in RuPaul’s singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly. If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare. 

Book: “A Well Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy” by Tia Levings

Publication Date: August 6, 2024

Book Description: “Today it hit me when he hit me, blood shaking in my brain. Maybe there wasn’t a savior coming. Maybe it was up to me to save me.”

Recruited into the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement as a young wife, Tia Levings learned that being a good Christian meant following a list of additional life principles—a series of secret, special rules to obey. Being a godly and submissive wife in Christian Patriarchy included strict discipline, isolation, and an alternative lifestyle that appeared wholesome to outsiders. Women were to be silent, “keepers of the home.”

Tia knew that to their neighbors her family was strange, but she also couldn’t risk exposing their secret lifestyle to police, doctors, teachers, or anyone outside of their church. Christians were called in scripture to be “in the world, not of it.” So, she hid in plain sight as years of abuse and pain followed. When Tia realized she was the only one who could protect her children from becoming the next generation of patriarchal men and submissive women, she began to resist and question how they lived. But in the patriarchy, a woman with opinions is in danger, and eventually, Tia faced an urgent and extreme stay and face dire consequences, or flee with her children.

Told in a beautiful, honest, and sometimes harrowing voice, A Well-Trained Wife is an unforgettable and timely memoir about a woman’s race to save herself and her family and details the ways that extreme views can manifest in a marriage.

Book: “Wandering Stars” by Tommy Orange

Publication Date: February 27, 2024

Book Description: The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize-finalist Tommy Orange’s breakout best seller There There —winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the John Leonard Prize, the American Book Award, and one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2018— Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Red Feather’s shooting in There There.

Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.

Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother, Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed at the shooting by secretly cutting himself and enacting blood rituals that he hopes will connect him to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is equally adrift, experimenting with Ceremony and peyote, searching for a way to heal her wounded family.

Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange once again delivers a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous, a book piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage—a masterful follow-up to his already-classic first novel, and a devastating indictment of America’s war on its own people.

Book: “The Palace of Eros” by Caro de Robertis

Publication Date: August 13, 2024

Book Description: Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town and far beyond with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations and demands of men. When her father realizes that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives.

When Eros, nonbinary deity of desire, sees Psyche, she cannot fulfill her promise to her mother Aphrodite to destroy the mortal young woman. Instead, Eros devises a plan to sweep Psyche away to an idyllic palace, hidden from the prying eyes of Aphrodite, Zeus, and the outside world. There, against the dire dictates of Olympus, Eros and Psyche fall in love. Each night, Eros visits Psyche under the cover of impenetrable darkness, where they both experience untold passion and love. But each morning, Eros flies away before light comes to break the spell of the palace that keeps them safe.

Before long, Psyche’s nights spent in pleasure turn to days filled with doubts, as she grapples with the cost of secrecy and the complexities of freedom and desire. Restless and spurred by her sisters to reveal Eros’s true nature, she breaks her trust and forces a reckoning that tests them both—and transforms the very heavens.

Told in bold and sparkling prose, The Palace of Eros transports us to a magical world imbued by divine forces as well as everyday realities, where palaces glitter with magic even as ordinary people fight for freedom in a society that fears the unknown.

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

Serena’s Review: “The Invocations”

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

Book: “The Invocations” by Krystal Sutherland

Publishing Info: Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it’s feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.

Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.

Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.

As Zara and Jude enter Emer’s orbit, they’ll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.

Review: I haven’t read anything else by Krystal Sutherland, but I was familiar with the name when I was approached about reviewing her latest book. Mostly, I have vague memories of a YA dark fantasy that she released a few years ago that had a creepy but compelling cover. This one, too, follows in that line where, at first glance, it seems normal enough. But then you look closer…yep, creepy! I was also drawn in by the promise of witches and a mystery centered around tracking down a serial killer.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite hit the way I wanted it to. However, in this case, I do think a lot of it comes down to many of these tropes and beats simply not being to my taste. But let’s start with the good! Like I said, I was drawn in by the witches and the murder mystery, and from a distant perspective, I think both of these things were interesting. I liked the idea that in this world magic was only something that came to women. Through this lens, the book then had a lot to say about feminism and the ways that women experience society. I haven’t watched the “Barbie” movie yet… *ducks*…but I would bet that this has very similar vibes. That said, I also felt that some of the messaging was a bit heavy-handed at times. There were moments where it almost had an “after school special” feeling to it….”See?? The patriarchy!!” I found myself wishing for a bit more subtly on that front.

I also liked the serial killer aspect of the story. This book was definitely a lot darker than I was expecting, and I appreciated how much it committed to its themes, really diving into some of the body horror moments. Fans of dark fantasy and horror will likely appreciate the fact that the book doesn’t shy away from these more gruesome scenes.

However, I found myself struggling to remain invested in the story. While the action does pick up in the last 100 pages of the book, that’s always a bit too little, too late for my overall reading experience. I found myself setting the book down too often and having to force myself to continue reading. There wasn’t anything objectively wrong with the writing, but it didn’t grab me. It felt a bit to formulaic and simplistic at times to really give the book much of a unique tone. It wasn’t helped that it was written in present tense, a style that I always struggle to enjoy. That said, readers who are not bothered by this approach to writing may not come away feeling the same way.

Similarly, because the writing was on the more simple side, I struggled to truly connect to any of our three characters, as their chapters had a bad tendency of beginning to read the same as one another. I liked the idea of all three characters, I just didn’t end up really loving any of the actual characters themselves.

Overall, this was a bit of a middling read for me, but much of this came down to some of my own preferences on writing styles and the way larger themes are handled. I do think that it will connect for YA readers who are looking for a good, creepy witchy book, however, and if you’re a fan of the author, I’m sure this will be a hit!

Rating 7: Appropriately creepy and witchy, but I was distracted by what felt like heavy-handedness with the overall message.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Invocations” can be found on this and other similar Goodreads lists: YA Novels of 2024