Tag: 6 Rating

Serena’s Review: “Throne of the Fallen”

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Book: “Throne of the Fallen” by Kerri Maniscalco

Publishing Info: Little, Brown and Company, October 2023

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

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

Book Description: Sinner. Villain. Ruthless.

These are wicked names the Prince of Envy welcomes. They remind him what he isn’t: a saint. And when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows he’ll be called much worse before it ends. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way. With a powerful artifact and his own future at stake, Envy is determined to win, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin—and passion—like no other…

Talented. Darling. Liar.

The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven’t a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows notorious rake—and satire sheet legend—Lord Phillip Vexley to blackmail her. And now it seems Vexley isn’t the only scoundrel interested in securing her unique talents as a painter. To avoid Vexley’s clutches and a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil’s bargain with Waverly Green’s newest arrival, enigmatic Lord Ashford ‘Syn’ Synton, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature . . .

Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Shifting Isles—from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm, and encounters with exiled Fae—while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love. 

Review: I’ll admit, I knew very little about this book when I picked it up. It was a book that the publisher approached me with, and, giving it a brief once over, sounded like something up my alley. I like fantasy. I like romance. I’m always on the hunt for a good combination of the two. Plus, there’s something oddly appealing about the rather old-fashioned romance book cover art on this one. Reminds me of some of the Nora Roberts stuff we were seeing in the 90s and early 2000s, in the best of ways!

It was only after I started reading that I connected several facts. One, I’ve actually read a book by this author, “Stalking Jack the Ripper,” which I very much enjoyed. And two, that this was an adult spin-off of a popular YA fantasy series, “Kingdom of the Wicked,” that was already published. Before getting into the nitty gritty, I will say that I do think this book works as a spin-off. There are clearly references to characters and plots from this first series, but I didn’t find myself overly confused or struggling to put together pieces from those books to fill out the one I was reading. So, if you haven’t read that series and are interested in this one, I do think it is approachable on that front.

And, while this book didn’t work for me, I do want to touch on a few positives first, as always. Firstly, this author has a very clear, fast-paced style of writing that I think appeals to a lot of readers. Indeed, it was this style of writing that made “Stalking Jack the Ripper” work for me as it did. Secondly, while I haven’t read the other series, I’m guessing that this spin-off will work well for all of the established fans. It’s easy enough to see the similarities and the simple changes (largely the inclusion of more graphic romance scenes) that might have been made to adjust the story for adult fantasy romance readers. So, if you like the original series, this will probably work for you. New readers, however…I think you can find better.

I struggled in a few ways, but the first and most prominent one was the way the pacing and romance of the book played out. I’m not overly prudish about my romance, but there are still a few necessary steps that make a romance work for me. Namely, you need to build up a relationship before you get to any pay-off. And this book…didn’t do that. We get a fairly graphic, if imaginary, scene in which the heroine is fantasizing about being with the hero within the first few chapters of the book, after briefly meeting him once and exchanging, at most a few sentences. To me, scenes like this fail to actually deliver what the appeal is meant to be in romance novels: I have zero investment in these characters together, and thus reading a prolonged, fantasized scene of the two them together after only just meeting them both…does nothing for me. It feels like its being graphic and sexual purely for graphic sexuality’s sake, as if the author was so desperate to make sure it was known that this was an adult fantasy romance that she hurried to squish this scene in, even if it’s completely unnecessary and unappealing in its own right.

This is a brief example, but it perfectly illustrates my ongoing struggles with the pacing of the relationship, and these two characters in general. I didn’t particularly like either of the lead characters, and I became increasingly frustrated with the passive nature of the heroine as the story continued. Envy (I won’t even get into the awkward reading nature of the names; I get that it’s the seven deadly sins, but Envy/Syn was so hard to take seriously every time I read t on the page) keeps telling us how feisty Camilla is, but then she seems very passive in any actual action. I was interested in her story when she was initially introduced, but it was hard to connect the type of woman who made a life for herself in the way that she must have with the type of character who was actually on the page.

From some brief sleuthing, I can tell that Envy must have been something of a fan favorite background character in the original series. And, yeah, I can see it. When given the correct moments, he definitely has some snark and spunk, especially of the variety that works great as a side character who pops up to dazzle in a scene. If anything, I liked him more when we saw him interacting with the other Princes of Hell. But when he was serving as the romantic lead, he didn’t connect with me, and I didn’t buy the chemistry between him and Camilla.

Overall, this one really didn’t work with me. Mostly, the pacing and the approach to the romantic elements started off on the wrong foot and the story never recovered from there. However, I’m guessing that this will be an unpopular opinion and that fans of the original series will gobble this one up!

Rating 6: A bit of a disappointment, mostly due to the rushed nature of the romance scenes and my inability to connect to either leading character.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Throne of the Fallen” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Epic High Fantasy/Romance/Mythology in 2023 and Lock and Key.

Kate’s Review: “Let Him In”

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Book: “Let Him In” by William Friend

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, October 2023

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

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

Book Description: William Friend’s haunting debut Let Him In is a creeping, gothic psychological suspense about a young, newly widowed father struggling to raise twin daughters obsessed with an imaginary friend.

“Daddy, there’s a man in our room…”

Alfie wakes one night to find his twin daughters at the foot of his bed, claiming there’s a shadowy figure in their bedroom. When no such thing can be found, he assumes the girls had a nightmare.

He isn’t surprised that they’re troubled. Grief has made its home at Hart House: nine months ago, the twins’ mother Pippa died unexpectedly, leaving Alfie to raise them alone. And now, when the girls mention a new imaginary friend, it seems like a harmless coping mechanism. But the situation quickly develops into something more insidious. The girls set an extra place for him at the table. They whisper to him. They say he’s going to take them away…

Alfie calls upon Julia—Pippa’s sister and a psychiatrist—to oust the malignant tenant from their lives. But as Alfie himself is haunted by visions and someone watches him at night, he begins to question the true character of the force that has poisoned his daughters’ minds, with dark and violent consequences.

Whatever this “friend” is, he doesn’t want to leave. Alfie will have to confront his own shameful secrets, the dark past of Hart House, and even the bounds of reality—or risk taking part in an unspeakable tragedy.

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!

It’s that time of year again!! It’s finally October, my very favorite month, and being the month of Halloween that means it is time for my annual Horrorpalooza celebration here on the blog! For those unfamiliar, in honor of my favorite holiday and favorite genre I am dedicating all of my reviews to horror related books and stories. I hope we have a very creepy and macabre month ahead of us, reading wise, and we are going to start with “Let Him In” by William Friend, a book that has been on my pile for awhile and has now made its debut, just in time for the season of the witch.

It wasn’t the stellar start to the season that I was hoping for, honestly, but I will start with what I did like about “Let Him In”. Friend does know how to write in a way that is both evocative and eerie, his turns of phrase lyrical at times and his motivations of his characters really clear and well thought out. We alternate between two perspectives. The first is Alfie, a recent widower who is grieving and raising his twin daughters Sylvie and Cassia now that his wife Pippa has died in a freak accident in her childhood home, where they had all been living. The other is Julia, Pippa’s twin sister who is also grieving, but is also nursing old wounds from her childhood. When Sylvie and Cassia start talking about an imaginary friend name Black Mamba, and their behavior goes from strange to concerning, Alfie calls Julia in as she is a psychiatrist. I liked the way we got to see both Alfie’s and Julia’s perspectives on Black Mamba, and the things that they are hiding from each other and the reader until the escalating situation with the twins and their own past demons start seeping in because of this ‘imaginary friend’, who may be a sign of a serious behavioral problem, or may be a supernatural force that has been lurking and waiting. There were a number of moments in which I was left ill at ease, and I think that it had a lot to do with the descriptions of the strange house, what may lurk in the dark there, and the damaged people within.

But on the other hand, I think that for me this book almost takes a little too much time to build up the tension, and is a little more ambiguous than I would have liked. Is Black Mamba a folie à deux between the grieving Sylvie and Cassia, or is it a demonic force? I like it when there is some sense of not really knowing what’s going on to a point, as I do think that it adds to the tension and it adds to the overall unease of a novel. But the problem with “Let Him In” is that it made it hard for me to engage and invest because it was ambiguous and moving a little slower than I would have liked. And by the time we got to the end and SOME answers were revealed, there was still a bit that was left unresolved, enough so that I was left fairly unsatisfied by the time I was finished with the story as a whole. This probably shouldn’t stop others from reading this book, especially if ambiguity is your cup of tea when it comes to horror or thriller novels.

So it was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. It didn’t quite live up to my expectations and hopes, but I do see how other horror fans would probably find a lot to like in it. Regardless, I will be curious to see what Friend does in the future. Horrorpalooza is here, folks. I’m so excited to talk about so many scary stories this month!

Rating 6: There are many eerie moments and I liked the writing style, but I think that there’s a little too much ambiguity when some answers may have been more satisfying.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Let Him In” is included on the list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2023”.

Kate’s Review: “The Stranger Upstairs”

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Book: “The Stranger Upstairs” by Lisa M. Matlin

Publishing Info: Bantam, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut.

Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage.

But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic.

When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she’s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder . . . was it all worth it? Or will this house be her final unraveling?

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

The first thing that caught by eye about Lisa M. Matlin’s “The Stranger Upstairs” was the cover. I love seeing all these neon brightly colored and somewhat surreal thriller covers as of late! I also love the foreboding silhouette in the window of the house, which makes for a fun and weird dichotomy between the colors and the unease that lays below it. Cover aside, I was interested in this book because of the ‘murder house’ angle, as well as the influencer angle, which I had hoped would combine to make for a tense and fun thriller mystery. And I’m sad to say that we didn’t really get to the levels I was hoping for.

But first, the good! I thought that Matlin really set the scene well, building suspense in a well paced way with lots of good red herrings and misdirections while ratcheting up the tension. I liked the slow burn of the escalating stalking that is aimed squarely at Sarah, our influencer therapist who has bought an infamous murder house for content and the hope of profit. Sure, she’s harboring many secrets and her marriage is falling apart, but if this house flips well she could make money AND go viral. As strange things start happening and she starts to lose a grip on her collectedness, the plot is engaging and filled with lots of intensity. I also really liked the parallels between Black Woods House and the notorious Los Feliz Murder house, from similar crime scenes and murder details to infamy that leaks into local lore. It was a neat easter egg for people who are familiar with the crime.

But there were also things that didn’t really gel with me, which ultimately brought the book down overall. The first thing (and I’m not going to go into spoilers here) was how the entire thing shakes out. There was so much good suspenseful build up that could lead to some interesting solutions, and I was really hoping that it would all pay off. But I felt that by the end, the big reveal just kind of clunked out. It led to a twist that was okay but a bit unsatisfying, and then there was one more moment that happened right at the end that made it feel like the author couldn’t quite make up her mind as to what she wanted the ultimate reveal to be, and what kind of origin she wanted that reveal to be a part of. On top of that, Sarah was a little TOO unlikable. Let me explain that, as I generally think that female protagonists (especially in thrillers) should have the ability to be unlikable. The issue I had with Sarah was that there was a LOT of effort to make her sour, manipulative, snide, and proud of her cruelty, and it felt less like an interesting if flawed protagonist and more like a character that has a lot of checked boxes to make her unpleasant, without adding in layers and complexity to even it out. Generally, I can do with a let down ending if the main character is interesting, or vice versa, but when they are both underwhelming it makes for a disappointing read.

I do think that I would read more books by Matlin, because there was a lot of potential in “The Stranger Upstairs”. I’m bummed that it was a bit unmet.

Rating 5: There were some pretty good references and a build up I liked, but then the reveal fell a bit flat. Add in a main character who is almost too unlikable and it just didn’t hit the way I hoped it would.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Stranger Upstairs” is included on the Goodreads list “Fiction Featuring Social Media Types: Bloggers, Podcasters, Etc.”.

Serena’s Review: “Witch of Wild Things”

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Book: “Witch of Wild Things” by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: Legend goes that long ago a Flores woman offended the old gods, and their family was cursed as a result. Now, every woman born to the family has a touch of magic.

Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands.

What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart.

With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.

Review: Cozy fantasy is a term that I both am a bit skeptical of (it seems like another way of differentiating “serious” SFF from “that woman stuff” which I don’t think benefits anyone) and a subgenre that I’ve struggled to enjoy. But I do like romances and I do like sister drama and I do like low-level family magic, so I thought this one was definitely worth a shot. However, in the end, I don’t think this is the best example of any of these themes.

But I’ll start with what I did like. For the most part, the main character was a good lead. I enjoyed her voice, and in particular, her relationships with a few of the women in her life were very interesting and explored a level of complexity that I hadn’t expected. For example, Sage has a close friend who has a struggling marriage, and I appreciated the care that went into the balancing act that is supporting a friend in this situation where, to an outsider, the problem and solution seems easy, but to the friend whose life is in the balance, things are much more complicated. I also really appreciated the exploration of Sage’s relationship with the woman who took over the care of Sage and her sisters when they were young. There were some very nice points about grief and the burdens we can place on those around us when caught up in devastating positions. But, even here, there were moments where the depiction of this relationship took a bit of jarring turn towards the simplistic, with Sage taking on a rather “perfect victim” persona that left me wanting.

And this speaks to many of my problems with the other relationships in this books. Many of the characters, including Sage herself at times, came across as simple and without any real depth of character. The romantic hero is the most bland example of handsome perfection that I’ve come across in a long time. Pick out some romance hero tropes, and he checks them all of neatly, right in a row. And then the relationship between Sage and her angry younger sister, Teal, verged on the ridiculous at times, with Teal coming across as an unbelievable caricature of irrational anger.

Beyond this, I struggled with the overall tone of the novel. At times, Sage definitely took on a more YA sounding voice, testing my ability to believe her to be a 29 year old woman who has actually lived in the world. This isn’t helped by the inclusion of some truly cringe-worthy AOL conversations from her teenage years. And, unfortunately, these blasts from the internet-past can’t be simply skipped as they are key to understanding the unfolding relationship between Tenn and Sage in the present day.

There were bits and pieces of the story that I liked, which did help me get through it. But I often found myself struggling to really invest in any of these characters or care about the romance at the heart of it. I do think there are readers who will enjoy this, but I think the biggest failure lies with its inability to depict adult characters who…well…behave and think like adults.

Rating 6: Not for me, though I do think the depictions of the beautiful location and some of the lyrical moments had merit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Witch of Wild Things” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Mushrooms, Toadstools, Fungus and The Witches.

Serena’s Review: “House of Marionne”

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Book: “House of Marionne” by J. Elle

Publishing Info: Razorbill, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: 17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training.

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Brimming with ballgowns and betrayal, magic and mystery, decadence and darkness, House of Marionne is perfect for readers who crave morally gray characters, irresistible romance, dark academia, and a deeply intoxicating and original world.

Review: Well, I’m predictable at least. If you give me a beautiful cover and mention the words “dark academia” in your book summary, there’s a decent change I’ll check out your book. Also, “Bridgerton” season three has been taking foreeeever to come out, so the reference to ball gowns and high society is a nice little perk to my current interests. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases where a lot of excellent individual ingredients were thrown into a single pot, but the end result was a mess.

But, first, some of the good individual ingredients. I liked the writing style, overall. It did fall a bit on the younger side of YA for my own personal preferences, but everything ran smoothly and I had a clear idea of the scenes we were exploring and the characters making up this world. It seems silly to point out, but whenever a writer manages to tell a story without throwing me out of the narrative with awkward word choices or jilted or repetitive sentence structure, that’s already a great win, and Elle manages all of that here. Overall, I was pretty into the book in the first little bit. I also like a lot of the ideas that make up this world, but this is also where things began to fall apart a bit.

Once we get to the magical world of it all, we quickly discover there are several different societies with different histories and priorities of magic. Luckily for me, I always check out the end of a book, author’s note, etc. before really starting a book, so I was able to discover an appendix with the histories of all of these houses. However, unless a reader also happened to look at the back of the book like I did here, the world-building given in the actual text is very confusing and sparse. The details provided in the appendix were sometimes key to understanding some of the politics of this world, and by hiding this information at the end of the book, it presents a challenging reading experience.

There were also aspects of the world and magic that seemed fairly arbitrary. For example, the women have these tiaras that are essentially part of their heads? And the men have masks? And somehow these are connected to their magical abilities? It’s all very obscure and never explained in any way. Instead, it’s easy to see the author simply picturing this world in this way, and then plopping it down in the book without much support for the entire concept. There were other aspects of the world and magic like this that, as I went a long, became increasingly frustrating to just roll with.

I also really struggled with Quell. Fairly early on, she comes across as a very unserious person who isn’t appreciating the reality of her situation. We’re told that her mom has had them on the run her entire life to protect Quell from those who would harm her for her strange magic. But then the second they are separated, Quell chooses to run straight to the very people her mother has been running from. It’s a bizarre choice, and one that isn’t well supported unless Quell is just a dunderhead. From there, she proceeds to become a Mary Sue, quickly conquering magical tasks that others have been struggling with for years at the school. The were some legitimate twists and interesting choices that Quell makes towards the end of the book, but these were too few, too late.

As is often the case, if I struggle with the main character, I also struggle with the romance. For what it’s worth, I didn’t actively dislike the romantic interest. He was perfectly fine for the type of character he was supposed to be. But my increasing frustration with Quell made my interest in the progression of this romance to wane fairly quickly. Again, there were some interesting turns towards the end in this regard as well. But also again, it wasn’t enough to save my overall reading experience.

Rating 6: A frustrating main character and confusing world left me feeling fairly turned off on this YA fantasy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“House of Marionne” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Releases September 2023 and Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2023

Serena’s Review: “Bring Me Your Midnight”

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

Book: “Bring Me Your Midnight” by Rachel Griffin

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: Tana Fairchild’s fate has never been in question. Her life has been planned out since the moment she was born: she is to marry the governor’s son, Landon, and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches of her island home and the mainlanders who see her very existence as a threat.

Tana’s coven has appeased those who fear their power for years by releasing most of their magic into the ocean during the full moon. But when Tana misses the midnight ritual—a fatal mistake—there is no one she can turn to for help…until she meets Wolfe.

Wolfe claims he is from a coven that practices dark magic, making him one of the only people who can help her. But he refuses to let Tana’s power rush into the sea, and instead teaches her his forbidden magic. A magic that makes her feel powerful. Alive.

As the sea grows more violent, her coven loses control of the currents, a danger that could destroy the alliance as well as her island. Tana will have to choose between love and duty, between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her heart. Marrying Landon would secure peace for her coven but losing Wolfe and his wild magic could cost her everything else.

Review: I haven’t read anything by this author yet, but I’m very familiar with the cool, witchy titles and covers of her books. I always eye them in the bookstore with appreciation. But as I don’t always gravitate towards contemporary fantasy, I haven’t actually gotten around to reading either of them. However, reading the description for this one, it sounded a lot like Adrienne Young’s “Spells for Forgetting” which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately, however, this one didn’t reach those same highs.

Before getting into the parts of this book that ultimately left it as a bit of a disappointing read, I do want to focus on a few positive. For one thing, the cover art for this book is beautiful. Like the other books by this author, this one would definitely stand out on bookstore shelves. I also liked the overall concept of the book, with an island made up of witches who must expel their excess magic into the ocean to continue to exist peacefully with those around them. This idea is very interesting, and while the climate change points are not exactly subtle, that doesn’t take away from the overall impact of the set-up.

Unfortunately, as we saw so often in this book, things that should have been interesting would either not be fully explored or would peter out before the reader got to actually experience any conflict. We are told that the ocean currents around the island have become increasingly dangerous. However, other than a second-hand story from Tana’s childhood, we never actually see any dangers on the page. We’re simply told that it is so. Further, when this conflict is ultimately resolved, again, we don’t see anything of it. We are told it happens, and that is the end.

Again and again this sort of thing happened throughout the story. It was very much “telling” the reader how they should feel and what exactly was happening, but there was very little showing. Conflicts would show up throughout the story, but then, often in the same chapter, they were quickly wrapped up. Any attempts by the reader to build on stakes or feel any tension about what is coming next was almost immediately stamped down by a quick resolution.

I also struggled to picture exactly where and when this book took place. There were references to dresses and balls, but then the next moment would refer to a car driving by. It was very unclear what sort of society or world I was meant to be picturing. Is this a modern day story? Some point in the fairly recent past? For a story that is so centered around this unique community and rare, magical island, there was a distinct lack of descriptive prose. Yes, I would have enjoyed some more lyrical descriptions of this quaint town, but I also would have taken a basic description of what exactly I was supposed to be picturing at all.

Beyond this, Tana was a difficult character for me to connect to. She’s meant to be a twenty year old woman, but if I hadn’t been told this, I would very much have pegged her as a fifteen year old. Her voice is very juvenile, and her understanding of her place in the world and her choices was very passive to the point of fairly extreme naivety. At the same time, as her views were challenged, she quickly switched tack, seemingly with very little inner conflict at leaving behind lifetime-held beliefs. I also did not enjoy the romance in this story. It felt very insta-love like, and, again, I failed to connect to the characters or feel real stakes in their relationship.

This book didn’t work for me, which was too bad. I know the author is really popular, however, so if you enjoy more contemporary witchy stories, this may be for you. But if you’re looking for something with much depth, sadly I don’t think this is it.

Rating 6: Unlike the ocean with all of its mysterious depths, this one felt shallow and floundering.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bring Me Your Midnight” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Flower Faces and YA Releases August 2023.

Serena’s Review: “Brittle”

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

Book: “Brittle” by Beth Overmyer

Publishing Info: Flame Tree Press, August 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley, copy from the publisher

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

Book Description: After the murder of her father – which no one but her believes happened – Verve just wants to hold her family together and take on the role of provider. Unfortunately, a cruel fae lord believes she knows the location of an ancient magical weapon and steals her away to Letorheas, realm of the fairies. The fae lord seems to want something from Verve that goes beyond the weapon, something that many doubt she can provide. Verve must find a way to navigate the strangeness of Letorheas and embrace a destiny more intertwined with the fae than she would like to believe.

Review: This was definitely a “cover lust” situation. I just adore everything about this cover, and it was guaranteed that I would read it the moment I saw it. I’m also still always interested in Fae-focused fantasy novels, for my sins. Have I been burned by this particular trope in the past? Yes, I have. But I also can’t quite get “An Enchantment of Ravens” out of my head, which I read many years ago now, but absolutely adored. And, as I discussed recently about authors who improved on a second go-around, I’m always hoping to stumble upon another unexpected hit! Unfortunately, this was not that.

Right off the bat the story started with some very strong ACOTAR vibes. Now, for some, that is an incredible compliment and surely will draw in certain readers right away. For me, however, red flags were going up in every direction. But before I dive into the parts of the book with which I struggled, I do, as always, want to focus on some positives first. As I said, there is definitely an audience out there for this book (however, even this audience I think will feel that they’ve read many similar, better versions of this same story). The writing is also quite approachable and the action starts out right away. This is a fairly short book by fantasy standards, coming in at just over 300 pages. And it’s clear that the author is wasting no time getting to the point.

However, for me, that was where the problems started. I barely felt like I knew, let alone cared, about the main character between the story was immediately barreling into main plot points. What’s more, what I did know about the character had largely come from Verve herself simply informing me of her own traits and how she compared to the other members of her family. Of course, she is the brave, provider type who is too stubborn for her own good. It is this last point that really drew my ire as the book continues.

Per the ACOTAR standard, she is, of course, captured by a Fae lord and caught up in a bunch of Fae drama. In most fantasy novels, this should be the point where things really get good. Here are the opportunities for the heroine to rise to the occasion, to put her oft-declared strengths to the test. But instead, she comes across as foolish, stubborn to the point of stupidity, and petulant in the manner of a toddler. As someone who is currently raising toddlers, in no way do I want to read a novel where the heroine chooses to not listen to good advice and bizarrely ignore blatant realities around her all because she’s “sticking it to the power,” essentially.

Not only did this lead me to actively disliking the main character through much of it (honestly, I was starting to feel sympathy for her captors who were just trying to keep her from self-destructing), but many of her ridiculous decisions were necessary to drive the plot forward. I’ve ranted about this many times, but it’s almost guaranteed for me to low rate a book when I discover a plot that hinges on a character needing to be ridiculous, foolish, or just plain stupid. Yes, there are characters who experience growth through these traits, but even then, the traits themselves shouldn’t be necessary for the plot to move forward, except in the most rare of instances and part of a larger character arc.

I really struggled to like anything about this book, which was really too bad. I do like the overall premise, even if it is fairly familiar. And, again, that cover is a banger. There was also clearly a lot of ideas that were hinted at in this story, a unique religion, a magic system, some world0building. But none of it was fully fleshed out or enough to compensate for the frustrations I felt with regards to the plot and main character. Fans who are very devoted to Fae fantasy may want to check this out, but if you’re wary of the subgenre currently, this one won’t redeem your faith.

Rating 6: Not my cup of tea with a heroine who was annoying at best and actively unlikable much of the time.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Brittle” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Books about Faery.

Serena’s Review: “Forged by Blood”

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Book: “Forged by Blood” by Ehigbor Okosun

Publishing Info: Harper Voyager, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: A brilliant new voice brings a brilliant new novel: debut author Ehigbor Okosun’s first book in an action-packed, poignant duology inspired by Nigerian mythology–full of magic and emotion and set in a highly atmospheric, complex world in which a young woman fights to survive a tyrannical society, having everything stripped away from her, and seeks vengeance for her mother’s murder and the spilled blood of her people.

In the midst of a tyrannical regime and political invasion, Dèmi just wants to survive: to avoid the suspicion of the nonmagical Ajes who occupy her ancestral homeland of Ife; to escape the King’s brutal genocide of her people—the darker skinned, magic wielding Oluso; and to live peacefully with her secretive mother while learning to control the terrifying blood magic that is her birthright.

But when Dèmi’s misplaced trust costs her mother’s life, survival gives way to vengeance. She bides her time until the devious Lord Ekwensi grants her the perfect opportunity—kidnap the Aje prince, Jonas, and bargain with his life to save the remaining Oluso. With the help of her reckless childhood friend Colin, Dèmi succeeds, but discovers that she and Jonas share more than deadly secrets; every moment tangles them further into a forbidden, unmistakable attraction, much to Colin’s—and Dèmi’s—distress.

The kidnapping is now a joint mission: to return to the King, help get Lord Ekwensi on the council, and bolster the voice of the Oluso in a system designed to silence them. But the way is dangerous, Dèmi’s magic is growing yet uncertain, and it’s not clear if she can trust the two men at her side.

Review: I was really excited when I saw this book scheduled for release this summer. I’ve read some great fantasy novels based on various African cultures’ myths, and I was intrigued to see what Nigerian myths and stories had to offer. I also think the cover on this one is really neat. Though it does read as very YA to me, which I find to be a really strange choice for an adult fantasy novel. And, unfortunately, this confusion of reading group is really something that brought this read down for me.

But first, let’s start with the good things. Fantasy novels really live and die by their magic systems and their world-building. I think there were some unique ideas for each offered up in this book. Early on, I was definitely intrigued by the nature of this world and how exactly the magical elements wove throughout the way this society operated. Unfortunately, things began to go off the rails fairly quickly.

While I was interested in the magic elements, as the story went on, I struggled to really put together how all of this was meant to work. Further, some of this explanation and continued world-building would be plopped down right in the middle of action scenes, really halting any momentum that had been building. There were also a lot of new terms and language, and these, too, were simply thrown at readers with very little introduction. Perhaps an index or glossary could have helped ease readers in (something that I think most fantasy novels could benefit from, regardless of where they’re pulling their inspiration). These kinds of challenges with pacing and how to properly introduce your reader to a new world are often found with debut authors, and, when given time to grow their craft, can be greatly improved upon in future books. Such is the hope here.

Also, as I said regarding the cover, there felt like there was some disconnect in whom the target audience is meant to be for this book. The overall tone and style of the writing read as very young to me, and many of the choices with the main character also fell into common YA tropes. For example, the main character repeatedly had to not learn from her mistakes and make obvious errors in judgement to simply move the plot in the direction it was meant to go. There was also a very unfortunate love triangle with basically zero chemistry between any of the members. Honestly, if I hadn’t known that this was marketed as an adult fantasy novel, I would never have guessed that it hadn’t been meant as YA.

And that’s not to say that YA has to have simplistic writing or fall into trope-y traps; I’ve read a number of fantastic ones this year. But I do think that adult readers will have a lower tolerance for some of these things, and that this book would have been better suited for a younger audience. Even there, however, there were a number of weaknesses in the writing (there were times where the writing simply failed to properly describe what and how things were happening) and characterization (I think the interactions between almost all of the characters were fairly simplistic and predictable) that would have prevented this one from being a hit for me.

Rating 6: There were hints of what could have been a good story, but the weaker aspects of the writing really prevented me from enjoying this one.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Forged by Blood” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Africa-Influenced Epic Fantasy.

Kate’s Review: “Harvest House”

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Book: “Harvest House” by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Publishing Info: Candlewick Press, April 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia Leitich Smith revisits the world of her American Indian Youth Literature Award winner Hearts Unbroken. Halloween is near, and Hughie Wolfe is volunteering at a new rural attraction: Harvest House. He’s excited to take part in the fun, spooky show—until he learns that an actor playing the vengeful spirit of an “Indian maiden,” a ghost inspired by local legend, will headline. Folklore aside, unusual things have been happening at night at the crossroads near Harvest House. A creepy man is stalking teenage girls and young women, particularly Indigenous women; dogs are fretful and on edge; and wild animals are behaving strangely. While Hughie weighs how and when to speak up about the bigoted legend, he and his friends begin to investigate the crossroads and whether it might be haunted after all. As Moon rises on All Hallow’s Eve, will they be able to protect themselves and their community? Gripping and evocative, Harvest House showcases a versatile storyteller at her spooky, unsettling best.

Review: One of the most confounding book moments of 2023 thus far was I was having a hell of a time remembering a certain book that ran across my timeline. I am the kind of person who, when I see a book in passing that sounds interesting but doesn’t REALLY process in my brain so well, tells myself that SURELY I don’t need to make note of said book, because surely I will remember it. That’s what happened with “Harvest House” by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I saw it on Goodreads, thought ‘oh that sounds neat’, and then kept scrolling… and couldn’t remember it for a good long while. But eventually I did find it and tossed it on my request list, post haste! A Halloween haunted house attraction mixed with an actual ghost story with themes of Indigenous issues in the United States sounded really promising. The latter part of that description worked well, but the former? Not as much as I had hoped.

Like most of the time I will start with the things that did work. I really appreciated how Smith brings up themes of racism and appropriation towards and from Indigenous groups in American society, especially within a Halloween context. Lord knows every year the message ‘my culture is not a costume’ is ever relevant as you see people STILL dressing up in offensive Indigenous stereotypes and using imagery that is important to the culture said people are not a part of. I liked that our protagonist Hughie was grappling with this while volunteering at a town haunted house attraction, that wants to use a local legend of the ghost of an Indigenous girl as one part of the experience, as well as an ‘Indian burial ground’. Hughie is deeply uncomfortable with this, and his boss, Ms. Fischer, just doesn’t understand why these depictions are offensive and insensitive, and this part of the book is a great way to work through why these things are as such. I also kind of liked that Ms. Fischer, while completely clueless, wasn’t a moustache twirling villain, as it approaches the topic in a way that shows that sometimes this kind of racism comes from ignorance as opposed to malevolence, but still needs to be called out. The more contemporary YA elements of this book really clicked with me.

But here is the flip side of all that. I definitely picked this book up in part because I like books that have relevant things to say when it comes to social issues, but I ALSO picked it up because it sounded like it was going to be, ultimately, a ghost story with some horror-centric moments that weave in and out with the messages at hand. But unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the horror elements of “Harvest House” were prevalent enough. We do get some good first person perspective moments from Celeste, the ghost of an Indigenous young adult who is haunting The Crossroads, but it took until probably the last fifth of the book for there to be actual solid interactions between the ghost moments and Hughie. We do get a second hand account of another character encountering something strange at the Crossroads (with description of an online video), but it doesn’t last long, and then there are no more ghostly interactions until much later. It just didn’t feel like there was enough horror throughout the novel. I would say that perhaps removing the ghostly stuff and just stuck with the mystery about what happened at the Crossroads as the sole focus, but even that was abruptly wrapped up in one scene which felt more like an afterthought than anything else. I really just wanted more.

So while I really liked the social justice themes that were in this book, “Harvest House” felt less like a horror novel and more like a contemporary story with some supernatural stuff tacked on. A bit of a disappointment on the horror front, but still a read with some important points to make.

Rating 6: I liked the themes and I liked the messages about racism, appropriation, and misogyny, but for being a horror story it didn’t have the amount of horror that I would have liked.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Harvest House” is included on the Goodreads list “BIPOC Boy MC in YA Fantasy/SciFi/Mystery”.

Serena’s Review: “Sing Me to Sleep”

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Book: “Sing Me to Sleep” by Gabi Burton

Publishing Info: Bloomsbury YA, June 2023

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

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

Book Description: Saoirse Sorkova survives on lies. As a soldier-in-training at the most prestigious barracks in the kingdom, she lies about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries, Saoirse lies about her true identity. And to her family, Saoirse tells the biggest lie of all: that she can control her siren powers and doesn’t struggle constantly against an impulse to kill.

As the top trainee in her class, Saoirse would be headed for a bright future if it weren’t for the need to keep her secrets out of the spotlight. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens her sister, Saoirse takes a dangerous job that will help her investigate: she becomes personal bodyguard to the crown prince.

Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom’s brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him-especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city. There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer.

Review: I have to say, this cover is not it. I don’t know what went wrong here, but the strangely shiny, overly-produced artwork, and cheesy coloring of the entire thing is all just terrible. There are definitely covers I like more than others and ones that are just kind of “meh,” so I don’t often comment on this aspect of books. But man, I really hate this one. And it’s too bad, because the premise is so interesting (Black girl siren!) that they really could have done something with that. Instead, we get this.

Unfortunately, my experience of this book as a whole largely matches my feelings towards the cover: a big, fat, “not for me.” But, per the usual for the blog, I do want to start out the review on a positive note with some of the things I appreciated about this book. And one thing that stood out as unique was its worldbuilding was the inclusion of various different mystical creatures and beings. Of course, we have the main character who is a siren (though I was disappointed by the amount of time that what was originally an oceanic creature spent in completely human form on land). But there were also witches and elemental fae. When we were exploring the world and learning how all of these various factions worked with (or against) one another, the book was fairly interesting. But, even here, a lot of this information was delivered in the very exposition-heavy first half of the book. There was potential, here, however, and given that this is the first book in what I believe is a duology, the world-building is set up in such a way as to leave so interesting possibilities going forward.

I also didn’t hate the love interest. Yes, he did read a bit “Mary Sue” for my liking at times. Of course his father, the king, is the most evil person ever. And, of course, the prince will right all of the horrible wrongs in the kingdom as easily as a snap of his fingers once he gains the thrown. But, overall, he was still a likable enough romantic lead. That said, his likability just exacerbated my main frustration which came down to a persistent dislike of the main lead.

I get that Saoirse is written to be a morally grey character. Being a siren with the inherently violent abilities that come with it, this is only to be expected. But man did I dislike her. She’s incredibly reckless and thoughtless throughout the book. Her motivations only make qualified sense, with a particular eye-brow raise towards her relationship with her sister. And then she goes on to straight up murder several people throughout the story. She does have an inner arc that explores some of this, but I found her inner thoughts and journey to be rather shallow and not truly grappling with the realities of the harm she has done. And then our prince just kind of hand-waves all the murder away as “he can’t stay mad at her.” Dude. She killed a bunch of people all around you. This isn’t a personality quirk that is annoying but kind of cute.

And look, I like books with assassins and warriors who, naturally, also kill people. But I do think it takes a particularly skilled author to get this balance correct. You can create a character who is so jaded by this lifestyle that they don’t really experience regrets or you can create a world where this is fairly normalized by everyone. If not either of these, and you’re trying to create a character who has to grapple with their actions, this has to lead to a pretty serious character arc and, perhaps, a darker end to the story. As it was, I was left incredibly unsatisfied by the was Saoirse actions were “dealt” with.

On top of that, this reads as a very young YA novel. The writing style is very simplistic, without a lot of expression or depth. At times it left the pacing feeling too slow, and others, too fast. I realize that this is a debut, so there is still room for the author to grow into her style. And, like I said, there were the nuggets of interesting ideas to be found in this world. But in a lot of ways the story felt too caught up in the tropes and expectations of YA fantasy. Perhaps freed from some of these concepts, the second book will be better. If you’re a devoted fan of YA fantasy and can tolerate the younger side of the genre, this might be worth checking out. But for the average fantasy fan, I’d have to recommend passing this one by.

Rating 6: Lackluster in almost every way, I never felt like I could truly connect to this book, largely due to what I found to be a supremely unlikable leading character.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Sing Me to Sleep” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Magical Creatures and Fantasy Books with Black Leads.