Tag: 7 Rating

Serena’s Review: “Where the Library Hides”

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Book: “Where the Library Hides” by Isabel Ibanez

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, November 2024

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

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

Book Description: 1885, Egypt

Inez Olivera is left reeling from her cousin Elvira’s murder, and her mother’s betrayal, and when Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider.

Marriage to Whitford Hayes.

Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her.

Previously Reviewed: “What the River Know”

Review: Surprise! I decided to finish up this duology after all. Sometimes my completionist tendencies get the better of me, and even though I didn’t really enjoy the first book, I thought I might as well finish up the duology. After all, the first book was fairly universally beloved, and my struggles were definitely in the minority. So who knows? Maybe the second time is the charm!

Well, I’ll say that this duology will not go down as a great read overall, but I’ll give credit it where it is due and say that this second entry is a definite improvement on the first. So let’s start with these positives. One thing that I struggled with in the first book was the inexplicable magic system. I still have questions about the history of the world and the role that magic has played in it, but this book did a good job of digging further into how all of this worked together, which I appreciated.

This book also benefited in being the second in the series, which helped with some of my pacing concerns from the first book. There, I felt like the action worked against the character development of our main character. But here, as we’ve already met and followed Inez’s story through one book, when this story’s plot took off, I didn’t feel as if I was following around a character I barely knew. In that way, I felt like the fast-paced tone of this book better fit with the story it was telling and was less of a hinderance to the character arcs themselves.

However, the one place where I continued to struggle was with the characterization as a whole. I just can’t get myself to like Inez. She’s the kind of female main character who I feel like exists primarily on sass and spunk, but then when you step back from the book and actually look at her story, it’s one full of blundering around making silly decisions and being rewarded for it because it is necessary to the plot. She seems incapable of reading those around her, misunderstanding almost everyone she meets. And, worst of all, she seemed to instantly forgive the romantic interest for a massive breach of trust, pretty much for no other reason than instalove purposes.

Whit also continued to be an annoyance. At best, he remained a stereotype of YA romantic heroes. But, unfortunately, he went downwards from there. Like I mentioned, part of the book includes some fairly despicable actions/lies told by this character that he is then simply let off the hook for with zero repercussions. What’s worse, by the end of the book, there is a character switch that comes out of nowhere, with Whit suddenly morphing into an endearment-loving sweetheart. Who is this guy and where did he come from? Character arcs do involve changing from one thing to another, for better or worse, but it should be shown on the page as something happening gradually and as a direct result to what is going on in the story. Here, he seemed to turn into this completely different person by the end of the book, seemingly to almost gaslight the heroine and the reader into forgetting who he had been throughout the rest of the series.

Overall, while the characters were still a struggle for me, this was a definite improvement on the first book. I feel like both the world-building and pacing were better handled. There were still some plot points that I found unlikely to the point of disbelief, but I was mostly able to lose myself in the inertia of the story. That said, the characters became increasingly annoying and unlikable as I read. However, those who enjoyed the first book will likely love this one. And if you were on the fence, it may still be worth checking out!

Rating 7: While the characters still proved to be a stumbling block to my enjoyment, I did think this one improved on the first book with more complex world-building and a better paced story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Where the Library Hides” can be found on many Goodreads lists, including Most Interesting World.

Serena’s Review: “Bloodguard”

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Book: “Bloodguard” by Cecy Robson

Publishing Info: Red Tower Books, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: One hundred years. Tens of thousands of gladiators. And today, only one will rise…

Everything in the Kingdom of Arrow is a lie.

Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land and volunteering to fight in the gladiator arena—vicious, bloodthirsty tournaments where only the strongest survive—would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose.

He was wrong—and they took everything. His hope. His freedom. His very humanity.

All Leith has left is his battle-scarred body, fueled by rage and hardened from years of fighting for the right to live another day.

Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard—and his freedom.

But in a kingdom built on secrets and lies, hope doesn’t come cheap.

Nor will his ultimate revenge…

Review: While I think it’s clear now that I often tend to gravitate towards book told from a female POV, I always like to check out titles that present from a man’s perspective. It’s even more rare to find a book that focuses on a male POV in the romantasy genre, so I was excited to read this book when it was offered for review!

Since I already brought up POV characters, I maybe shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was to find out that Leith does in fact share page time with Maeve who has her own perspective chapters. While I didn’t have a problem with either individual on their own, I still do think it would have been an interesting choice to remain in Leith’s head the entire time. Especially in a romantasy title!

This book was a bit of a mixed bag, however, as I continued to read. It’s biggest strength is in its action and in some of the dialogue. The book starts off with a bang, throwing Leith right into the gladiator action, fighting for his life. Whenever the plot called for action scenes like this, I found myself immediately more drawn in. The writing style was at its best in these moments, propelling the story forward at a relentless pace that, at times, reminded me of Pierce Brown’s writing style (high praise indeed, as I love Brown’s books!). The dialogue was also a strong suit. Not only did it read naturally (this feels like it should be a given for novels, but so often it is not), but there were also some very funny exchanges.

However, when the story slowed down from the action scenes, I did find myself struggling to piece together how everything worked in this world. Maybe I was just missing things, but it was unclear to me how Leith had been a gladiator for as long as he had been, but hadn’t died or moved up the tattoo-based ranking system. It was explained several times that fighters won elements of their tattoo by winning matches, but then only one grizzled veteran had any tattoo piece at all. So did everyone just die in their very first fight all the time? And how has Leith been fighting for as long as he has, but starts without any tattoos? Are there lesser fights they do most of the time? I don’t know. I could have missed things, but for as often as it was talked about, I struggled to piece it all together.

Some of Maive’s plotting and scheming similarly suffered. For all that the action is written so well, the story structure itself felt pieced together, with characters making decisions rather randomly. There were also clunky descriptive bits when the story was languishing between dialogue and action. It was odd, because there are lines of dialogue that I still remember now as being funny. But there are also lines of text that I still remember now as cringe-worthy.

That said, I do think the author has a lot of potential. And the strength of the idea and action-oriented writing make it well worth checking out if you’re a romantasy reader looking for something that feels completely unique from the current trends.

Rating 7: The writing would shine one moment and then feel awkwardly formed at another, which lead to a rather jarring reading experience. But I’ll still check out what’s next!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bloodguard” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists, but it should be on Gladiators.

Kate’s Review: “Night of the Grizzlies”

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Book: “Night of the Grizzlies” by Jack Olsen

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, June 1969

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it on Audiobook.

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

Book Description: Jack Olsen’s true account, traces the causes of the tragic night in August 1967 when two separate and unrelated campers, a distance apart, were savagely mangled and killed by enraged bears. 

Review: Given that I have tried to read more non-fiction this year, I thought that it could be fun to devote one day of Horrorpalooza to a horror story that is true. After all, true stories can be scarier than fictional ones, and while I didn’t really want to do a true crime story for Halloween as it seemed a LITTLE ghoulish, I was inspired by the Tooth and Claw Podcast to instead do a book about the horrors of nature. I decided to go with “Night of the Grizzlies” by Jack Olsen, which is the story of two horrifying grizzly bear attacks in 1967 in Glacier National Park, in which two women were brutally killed by two separate bears in two separate incidents on the same night. It’s probably one of the more well known American animal attack stories, and certainly one of the most well known when it comes to grizzly bears, and it had been on my list for a long time. After listening to the Tooth and Claw episode about the attacks, I decided that the time to read it had come.

“Night of the Grizzlies” is very straight forward in its narrative, telling the story of the two grizzly attacks in Glacier National Park in that one evening, starting with bear incidents that went generally ignored in the park in the weeks leading up to it, and then focusing on the night of the attacks itself, ending with the aftermath. We follow different people and the roles that they play, from naturalists who work for the park to other visitors to the Chalet to park rangers to the victims themselves. Olsen isn’t particularly sensational with his language and storytelling, though he does make the story very easy to read and incredibly gripping. I knew the story going in, but still found it engaging and suspenseful. I liked how he would follow different characters and give us their backgrounds, and I felt like I got to know them without him making any assumptions or taking liberties in their stories. It’s written in a way that is very narrative non-fiction, and it was a quick read that kept at a brisk pace. The stories of the two women killed by these bears are deeply upsetting at their core, as their deaths were shocking, violent, and probably due to the way that the park would throw garbage out for the grizzlies to feed them, which made the bears not only unafraid of humans, but also associating humans with food sources. I also appreciated that before we even get to that story, Olsen gives a lot of straight up facts about grizzly bears not only in Glacier, but in the United States, and the history of them being encroached upon by huge throngs of humans as colonizers moved west and started to spend more and more time in their habitats without having any clue on how to do so safely.

But something to keep in mind about this book is that it is almost sixty years old, and therefore it’s a BIT out of date when it comes to the facts about nature, bear behavior, and other scientific things. There is also some outdated language, and I ALSO felt that Olsen may have been a little harsh on the National Park Service as a whole when it seems like Glacier’s lax policies about bears and feeding bears garbage were a Glacier problem versus the Park Service as a whole. Definitely don’t let bears eat garbage, people. And I will say that that the National Parks do a GREAT job of being informative about the fauna in the parks and how to be safe around them. This is really just a matter of reflecting the time that it was written, and should be absorbed with that in mind. AND ALSO, Olsen sure seems convinced that the rangers killed both bears responsible for the attacks, but I am NOT in agreement based on what we know now about bear behavior and even based on what they found out about the bear after its death. But still, I did find myself thinking perhaps an updated edition could be good, though the demand is probably not exactly clamoring for that…

All in all I found “Night of the Grizzlies” to be absolutely harrowing, interesting, and a scary true story that just solidifies my ‘no thanks’ approach to camping. I’m glad I finally read it!

Rating 7: A gripping and straightforward timeline of the infamous bear attacks at Glacier National Park that changed ideas about the grizzlies there, “Night of the Grizzlies” is well done, thought also a bit outdated.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Night of the Grizzlies” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists (the one I found was a general ‘bears’ list and had the likes of “Little Bear” and “The Berenstain Bears”), but it would fit in on “Animal Attacks”.

Serena’s Review: “The Stars are Dying”

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Book: “The Stars are Dying” by Chloe Penaranda

Publishing Info: Bramble, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: In a world abandoned by the celestial guardians and left to suffer a tyrant king’s reign, all Astraea knows is safety in seclusion. With fragmented memories of only five years of her life, she’s determined to discover more about her past, even if that means fleeing the cruel arms that hold her safe from the wicked vampires rumored to roam the land.

But when Astraea stumbles upon the mysterious Nyte, she soon realizes determination alone isn’t enough to guard her heart. He lingers like the darkness that expands between the stars, and soon she discovers her captor’s wicked means of control weren’t based on a lie to keep her under locks after all. In her desperation, Astraea accepts Nyte’s help before she can decide if she might have sold her allegiance to one of the bloodthirsty beings the people of her world fear.

Once their bargain is struck, Astraea’s chance to escape comes in the form of accompanying her best friend Cassia to the King’s Central. There on royal territory it’s the centenary of the Libertatem, a succession of trials hosted by the king in which five human lands compete for a cycle of safety from the vampires seeking blood, claiming souls, and savaging after dark. So when tragedy strikes, Astraea must decide if taking the place of a murdered participant for the safety of her kingdom is a ruse is worth dying for, or if protection—and the answers to her past—really are her strongest desires.

Review: I was definitely excited when I saw that this book had been picked up by a traditional publisher, Bramble. I’ve had some good luck with Bramble’s choices (Carissa Broadbent is a new fave by far!), and there was a lot of positive hype around this book, including it being picked by a book box I subscribe to that also has been hitting it out of the park recently. So, with many good signs pointing to a great reading experience, I eagerly dove in once I received my ARC copy!

Unfortunately, all of these positive indicators let me down a bit. But even though the book didn’t work for me, I can see why it has the hype that it does. There is a lot of strong potential here, especially given currently popular tropes and read-alike authors whose names get thrown around a lot as comparisons. The writing would also veer wildly, but when it was at its peak, it could by lyrical and whimsical in a way that I think appeals to a lot of romantasy fans.

It’s also notable that one of my primary gripes with this book has to do with its use of a character type/arc that I’ve read in another book recently that managed to pull it off where this one did not. I didn’t review “When the Moon Hatched” on the blog, but I read it last spring and was, frankly, a bit surprised by how much I liked it. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler, but the main character’s arc revolves around her identity and who she may have been in a long-lost life. It’s a tricky concept to write, but that book managed to pull it off where this one took a very similar approach and failed. I think the difference all comes down to the execution of this main character and the type of personality/role they are assigned within the story. In WtMH, we had a main character who was action-oriented, violent, a sheer force of nature. The slow reveal of her past is one that is actively pushed against; she has a complete personality and history as it is, and much of her story is trying to reconcile who she is know with who others see her as.

Here, we have…not that. I do think this book set itself up for a much harder challenge by making the main character a victim of abuse as well. This sets her up to be an incredibly passive, withdrawn character for much of the book. Yes, I understand that the author is trying to show the ways in which learned helplessness is a survival technique, but for the story itself, it leaves readers following a character who feels profoundly uncurious and unmotivated to engage with the mysteries swirling around her. Things are ostensibly happening (there was a lot of “plot? what plot?” throughout the first three quarters of this book), but she is such a passive character, that it was incredibly frustrating to feel stuck in the wake of her inaction and seeming uninterest.

I also felt like there was zero chemistry between her and the romantic lead. Again, we have a character here who is aware of her past, so the book neatly side steps the need to create the bond between them. Instead, readers are simply told it’s there. It’s almost like insta-love in that way. Sure, we’re meant to understand that these two have a bond that was established before, but as we never saw it and see no work to re-establish it in a natural way here, it instead feels the same as insta-love: unearned and lacking any true foundation built up on page.

And while there were moments of strength in the writing, I did struggle with it more often than not. Right from the start, I found myself having to re-read pages to try to piece together what the author was trying to convey. Just because words sound beautiful together, doesn’t mean they actually make any sense to read. What am I meant to be picturing? The plotting and pacing also left much to be desired. Due to the passive main character and the lack of any real action, the book feels like a slog to get through for much of the first half. Things do pick up towards the end. But even here, I was incredibly frustrated by what we were given, or, more notably, not given. Almost none of the mysteries surrounding our main character were revealed. I still know next to nothing about who she was five years ago and how she got back.

Overall, this was a fairly frustrating read. I do plan on giving the second book a go as I have already requested it, but this book did set that one up for a steep climb to any sort of enjoyment. Perhaps readers who enjoy more passive main characters in romance novels may enjoy this, but as it stands, I think there are better examples of this sort of story out there. We’ll see how the second book wraps things up I guess!

Rating 7: While there was potential in the basic premise, the passive main character was difficult to follow and the insta-love romance frustrating to read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Stars Are Dying” isn’t on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on October 2024 Most Anticipated Romance Releases.

Serena’s Review: “How to Help a Hungry Werewolf”

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Book: “How to Help a Hungry Werewolf” by Charlotte Stein

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Griffin, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: What We Do in the Shadows with the small town feels of Gilmore Girls in this swoon-worthy romance that will leave readers delightfully cozy and hungry for more.

When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clear out her late grandmother’s ramshackle old house, the last thing she expects is Seth Brubaker on her doorstep. Her former best friend was responsible for the worst moment of her high school life, and she can’t imagine he wants to do anything but torment her all over again.

Until she unearths the real reason this annoyingly gorgeous beast of a man keeps hanging around: he’s an actual werewolf, who’s certain she’s the witch that will ease his suffering. But Cassie just isn’t sure if she can trust him again. So Seth offers a pact: he’ll teach her all about her undiscovered magic, and she will brew the potions he needs. No feelings, no funny business, just a witch and a werewolf striking a deal.

Totally doable. Until they get hit with a do-or-die mating bond. And now the heat is rising, in between fights with formers bullies and encounters with talking raccoons. They just have to not give in. Unless giving in just might be the very thing they never knew they always wanted.

Review: While October is Kate’s month with her yearly “Horrorpalooza,” if the right options present themselves, I like to get in on the themed action and read some Halloween books myself! Of course, these often skew towards the fantastical and the romantic rather than, you know, all the actual horror. That being the case, I was excited when the publisher contacted me about a potential review for this book. Judging by the title and the adorable cover alone, I thought this would perfectly fit my more laid back Halloween vibes during the month of October!

This book was a bit of a strange read, in that I really enjoyed the first half of the story, but then as it moved into the second part, I found myself beginning to struggle more. But to start with the positives, the story starts out on a strong foot. This is very much a cozy fantasy story in that there is a distinct tone to the storytelling. Nothing is ever discussed in too serious of a manner and much of the dialogue is quite quippy and silly. There is a very stylistic approach to the storytelling, and it’s the kind of thing that will either work for readers right from the start or it will annoy them. For the most part, I was happy to go with it and did find much of it humorous. I made the wise decision early in the story to firmly slot the romantic interest into the “himbo/golden-retriever-esque” character archetype, which helped with my expectations throughout.

That being the case, however, I do wish the book had balanced some of the more light-hearted moments out with some seriousness. While the Seth was funny, I also wished we had some more sincere moments from him. And, as the story progressed, I increasingly began to struggle with the dialogue/character decisions we were getting as contrasted with the actual age of these characters.

We are meant to believe these two are adults well into their twenties. But too often the manner of their speech and the quality of their observations fell firmly into the teenage category. Towards the middle, the romantic conflict began to take an incredibly silly turn, with Cassie misinterpreting Seth’s actions and reactions to a truly ridiculous degree. I get that this was meant to delay their reconciliation, but it began to become silly to the point of frustrating very quickly. Her thought process (and his as well, from what we could see) fell firmly within the juvenile category and was simply not believable as coming from a mature woman.

I also understand that this is the type of cozy fantasy story where the magic system, such as it is, is very broad and undefined. Which is fine, that’s not the point of this type of story. However, Cassie also began to feel incredibly over-powered fairly early on which did take out some of the conflict in the last act of the story.

All of this said, I believe this is the beginning of a series, and I’m fairly certain we meet the next two main characters in this book, both of whom I’m definitely interested in following. So while I felt a bit let down by the end of this book, I’m definitely interested in checking out the next one. Fans of cozy fantasy romance should probably give this one a shot, though the overall quippy tone may be hit and miss for some readers.

Rating 7: A bit bogged down by the quippy tone and immature main characters, but still a fun enough read for the most part.

Reader’s Advisory:

“How to Help a Hungry Werewolf” can be found on these Goodreads lists: A Dash of Spice: Autumn Romance Reads and Witch Romance

Kate’s Review: “Shallow Ends”

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

Book: “Shallow Ends” by David James Keaton

Publishing Info: Podium Publishing, September 2024

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

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

Book Description: An innocent celebration takes a twisted turn when thirteen unlucky people find themselves trapped on a party bus with an inscrutable driver at the wheel.

It was just supposed to be a birthday party, a mobile celebration with a group of college friends on a modified fire truck. But at some point, things take a dark detour. As the pulsating beats of dance music reverberate over an endless stretch of asphalt, the temperature suddenly plummets, and the reality of the situation becomes chillingly clear. The driver will not stop. After frantically attempting contact, the passengers begin to suspect this party may never end. Desperation mounts as the trapped revelers hatch a plan to halt the rolling nightmare themselves. While they continue to drink and argue, shifting narrators peel back the layers of their past lives, exposing the disturbing secrets that bind them all together. Alliances shift, old grudges resurface, and battles erupt as the terrified passengers turn on one another in a struggle for survival as they careen through the night.

The Twilight Zone meets Speed in Shallow Ends, a harrowing exploration of the human psyche set on a desolate highway, where the line between what’s real and unreal blurs. Brace yourself for a psychological thrill ride that will leave you questioning the boundaries of perception—and confronting the darkness that lurks beneath the placid surface of our lives.

Review: Thank you to David James Keaton for sending me an eARC of this novel!

Halloween Season keeps on keeping on, and I am trying to showcase a variety of sub genres this year for Horrorpalooza. Heck, I’m trying to expand my horror reading experiences all year round, really. So when David James Keaton reached out with his new horror novel “Shallow Ends”, and I saw it described as “The Twilight Zone” meets “Speed”, I thought that it sounded out there enough that I HAD to check it out. And I’m happy that I took a chance on it, because “Shallow Ends” was bizarre in the best way.

I didn’t really know what to expect with this story but it was a high tension roller coaster for the most part. While the comparisons to “The Twilight Zone” and “Speed” are definitely on point, I was also thinking of the anthology horror film “Night Train to Terror” as I read this as this party firetruck of people hurtles towards who knows what. Keaton definitely knows how to up the suspense as our party goers start to realize that their party firetruck isn’t stopping, and may NOT stop unless they can figure out a way to do so. It’s creative and weird, and I did find myself wondering just how this was all going to shake out for our cast of characters as the night continues on, they start to turn on each other, and the booze keeps on flowing. I will admit that the huge cast of characters made it a bit tricky for me to keep them all straight, but characterization for every player isn’t really the point, even as we start to delve more and more into their backstories (more on that in a bit). I think that for me the biggest success was the oddball strangeness of a party firetruck with a pool and bar a volatile group of revelers getting stuck in a time loop or something of the sort and their journey never ends as as they get more desperate. It’s SO weird but because of that it utterly charmed me.

And yes, as we see character backstories or memories as told through separate short stories, it also has a bit of a “Canterbury Tales” vibe to it. Which is ALSO so oddball, but executed in a way that I found to be interesting and unique. At first I was a little thrown, but once I figured out what was going on I got on board. I will say that sometimes it kind of threw the momentum off to be going from something so frenetic as an out of control party firetruck to a total change in scenery, but it was, again, an oddity to what I have come to expect from the genre. And yes, there were plenty of things in this book that actually had me laughing out loud. There are a lot of characters who are just awful, but have some really funny lines, both in the moment on the party truck, but also within the stories that are representing themselves beyond the chaotic moments in the pool.

“Shallow Ends” is a strange brew, and I found it entertaining and suspenseful. If you like weird horror, this is one to look out for!

Rating 7: Frenetic and strange with an ever building tension, “Shallow Ends” is breakneck and suspenseful, and one of the more unique horror books I’ve read this year.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shallow Ends” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Weird Fiction Books”.

Serena’s Review: “Immortal Dark”

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

Book: “Immortal Dark” by Tigest Girma

Publishing Info: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, September 2024

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

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

Book Description: The Cruel Prince meets Ninth House in this dangerously romantic dark academia fantasy, where a lost heiress must infiltrate an arcane society and live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and kidnapped her sister.

It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.

Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.

To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.

When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.

Review: I’ve been looking forward to this one for a few months! While vampires aren’t my favorite supernatural beings, I’ve had a lot of success with some of the recent books featuring them. On top of that, this one added in several other tropes I enjoy: dark academia, gothic fiction, and an enemies-to-lovers romance.

Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. But it was by no means a complete loss, and by the time I had finished the book, I had mentally slotted this author into the “worth checking out again” category in my head. So, let’s start with what I did like. The writing had a lot of potential, I think. It got bogged down a bit in info-dumping and confused world-building, but on its own, it was good. There were several turns of phrase and story-building moments that stood out, and the strength of the writing itself is largely what pulled me through when I began to struggle.

I also liked a lot of the ideas that went into this world and its society, especially the dark academia aspects. There was a lot of creativity to be found here, and, as much as I hate the term, the gothic “vibes” were well done. I definitely wanted to learn more about this world, and became increasingly frustrated when the book continued to lack clarity with some of these elements.

Clarity, overall, was a real problem. Which was odd because there were also significant moments early in the novel that felt extremely info-dumpy. There were also a plethora of different plot lines and magic systems that were all introduced early in the book. So even with clunky exposition moments, I still felt unclear on exactly how any of this worked exactly and how these various plotlines were meant to weave together.

I also struggled with the characters themselves. For all that I love enemies-to-lovers romances, I’ve realized that I’m also fairly picky in this regard. Sure, they can be enemies, but there’s a point of animosity that it’s difficult to believe anyone would come back from. And that’s what we had here. These characters HATED one another and were truly terrible to one another, so much so that it was difficult to buy their slow reconciliation. To be fair, the book doesn’t rush this, and even by the end, it’s more of a “hate less” situation than anything.

But the biggest problem here was the struggle I had to become invested in the main character. She was truly terrible at times, and her hatred of the vampires was uncomfortable at times. On one hand, I appreciate books that don’t shy away from demonstrating what bigotry can look like. Many authors simply take the safe route and show villains being bigots and then pat themselves on the back for “tackling” a tough topic. But here, our main character is too truly blinded by her hatred of an entire group of people to engage honestly with the individual in front of her. However, while I appreciate the difficulty of this task, it still left me following a character I struggled to like.

As for the rest of the characters, most of them felt like cardboard cutouts of characters, reading as very flat. And while I think the writing was strong in its descriptive elements for the most part, the dialogue was a mess. There were many times where I honestly have no idea what the characters were even trying to say. It’s like they were talking in riddles simply because it was meant to make them seem deep. But in reality, they were saying nothing and no one talks like this.

This book was a bit all over the place. I think there was a lot of potential here, and perhaps the author will settle in to her style a bit more as she moves forward. But on its own, this book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. I think it will best work for dark fantasy/romance readers who enjoy fairly extreme versions of enemies-to-lovers romances. Take “The Cruel Prince” dynamic and elevate the cruelty, essentially.

Rating 7: While the descriptive writing was good, the story felt bogged down by too many plot lines and inscrutable magic systems.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Immortal Dark” can be found on these Goodreads lists: The Vampire Renaissance and Magic Schools, Academies & Universities.

Serena’s Review: “Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal”

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Book: “Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal” by Olivie Blake

Publishing Info: Tordotcom, October 2024

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

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

Book Description: Once upon a time in a land far, far away, the tutelary spirit to a magical bridge rapidly approaches burnout. Meanwhile, congress enacts a complex auditing system designed to un-waste your youth, a banished fairy answers a Craigslist ad, a Victorian orphan gains literacy for her occult situationship, and a multiverse assassin contemplates the one who got away. Escape the slow trudge of mortality with these magical ruminations on life, death, and the love (or revenge) that outlasts both, featuring modified fairytales, contemporary heists, absurdist poetry, and at least one set of actual wedding vows.

Review: As promised, we’re back with round two of my foray into short story collections this week! My first few experiences with this author were incredibly positive, but as I’ve read more and more, I’ve found myself struggling to connect with her writing style and becoming frustrated with what feels like a lack of substance in service of style. That being the case, I was curious to see what a short story collection by this author would look like. Would be more of the former or the latter?

Unfortunately, I have to report that this one fell largely in the latter category. However, one of the benefits of short story collections is that there are multiple options of stories with which to connect. So while the novel as a whole fell flat, I did have a few favorites that I’d like to dive into before getting into the rest of it. One of my favorite stories was one that showed up early in the collection. It told of a magical bridge and its watcher who was obligated to offer and grant certain types of wishes to any who found it. Over the course of the story, we see the young woman who is this guardian slowly become disillusioned to the sorts of wishes many people are asking for (there’s a recurring group of people who get into a lot of trouble with contradictory wishes). She also slowly begins to fall in love with a young man who, against all odds, continues to find the bridge over and over again, even though it always changes locations. It’s a sweet story and it played well with the tried and true fairytale concept of “wishes gone bad.”

However, even here, this story illustrated one of my recurring frustrations with this collection. By the end, it just sort of…well…ends. More over, the way the ending for this one is written, it comes across as ambiguous with the intent to be “deep,” which, instead, just leaves it actually feeling frustrating and pretentious. Over and over, throughout this book, there were stories that had interesting worlds and characters, but there was something about either A.) the style of writing or B.) the way the themes were presented (often in this ambiguous, quasi-intellectual manner) that made them read as, again, pretentious. And too often, the stories would end abruptly, and I was left wondering what the point of it all was.

Writing short stories is incredibly hard. Not only is it such a short length within which to work, but I do think there is this false idea floating around out there that these sorts of tales must be “artsy” and “deep” and “say things.” Here, we see this author fall into this trap. Instead of simply telling good stories, she seems to get bogged down in these secondary concerns. There would be small nuggets within most of the stories, but too often these were lost in the mess of everything else. There was another interesting one early in the book that dealt with a character essentially getting paid their entire life’s earnings early in life, and then be obligated to “work it off” from age 30 on. This was such an interesting concept, especially as it played out by increasing the main character’s anxiety rather than offering the promised freedom. But then, again, there were a bunch of other themes jammed in there, added characters who felt like they should be more important than they were, and an ending where it felt like the entire exercise was rather meaningless and a waste of a good concept. It’s hard to really describe, but these were the sorts of problems that plagued most of the book.

Overall, I think this collection was solidly just ok. None of the stories were outright bad, and a few of them I enjoyed for the most part. However, I think the author’s writing and approach to story-telling left something to be desired, with “vibes” and “style” too often taking precedent over simply writing a good story. If you’re a big fan of this author’s work, this still might be worth checking out. But if you’re only mildly interested in short story collections (like me), than this one may end up feeling lackluster.

Rating 7: Too heavy on the quasi-intellectual vibes to be a truly enjoyable read. Though there were still a few gems hidden away within.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, and Betrayal” can be found on this Goodreads list: 52 Book Club 2024: Summer Mini Challenge – 100m Sprint: A Short Story Collection

Serena’s Review: “The Scarlet Throne”

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Book: “The Scarlet Throne” by Amy Leow

Publishing Info: Orbit, September 2024

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

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

Book Description: Binsa is a “living goddess,” chosen by the gods to dispense both mercy and punishment from her place on the Scarlet Throne. But her reign hides a deadly secret. Rather than channeling the wisdom of an immortal deity, she harbors a demon.

But now her priests are growing suspicious. When a new girl, Medha, is selected to take over her position, Binsa and her demon strike a To magnify his power and help her wrest control from the priests, she will sacrifice human lives. She’ll do anything not to end up back on the streets, forgotten and alone. But how much of her humanity is she willing to trade in her quest for power? Deals with demons are rarely so simple.

Review: Would it be shallow to admit that I initially picked this one up to check it out further because of the cool black panther on the cover? Yes? Well, I definitely didn’t do that then…That aside, I also was intrigued by the themes hinted at it in the summary. The lengths one will go to to hold on to power, always an interesting topic!

This was a strange read. On one hand, I very much appreciated the character work that went into it. This is a dark look at the lengths to which people will go not only to survive but to cling to the power they have on hand. Much of the plot (such as it was) is caught up in this character study and much page time is devoted to the exploration of these topics. So on one hand, I appreciate the fact that the author didn’t shy away from the realities of the sorts of characters she was writing. The characters were allowed to go down dark paths and commit vile actions.

That said, however, it didn’t make for a very enjoyable reading experience. Not only were many of the characters incredibly unlikable, but there were also aspects of the decision making that were very frustrating. I get the idea, that those who are operating in survival mode are just looking to get through the present in whatever way works. However, very early on it became obvious that these tactics would never work in the long run, so it was frustrating seeing characters make decisions again and again that would only lead to discovery and disaster. Again, yes, this is a very true-to-life mode of behavior, but it made for an aggravating reading experience.

I also was a bit disappointed to discover that this was the first book in a series (a trilogy, I believe). The ending to this book is tragic, as one would expect given the nature of the story. And I think there would have been something more powerful about allowing the story to end there. As it stands, the promise of more to come almost works against what this story was trying to do on its own. I feel like the author could have easily cut it off a few pages earlier, and then just tacked on the ending of this book to the beginning of the next. This way, this book could have read as a stand-alone OR as the first in a series.

In the end, this was an odd reading experience for me. Quality-wise, I think this book is fairly high. The author set out to tell a story about a morally dark character and succeeded in thoroughly committing to that theme. However, for a character-driven book, I had a hard time enjoying it simply because I disliked so many of the characters so much. Readers who enjoy dark fantasy should probably still give this one a go, even if it wasn’t really for me.

Rating 7: The story tackles a dark character and explores themes of power and survival, but given the nature of these topics, I struggled to truly enjoy this read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Scarlet Throne” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Main Characters Who Aren’t Afraid To Get Their Hands Dirty.

Kate’s Review: “The Lightning Bottles”

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Book: “The Lightning Bottles” by Marissa Stapley

Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC at ALAAC24.

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

Book Description: The author of New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick Lucky returns with a love letter to rock ‘n’ roll and star-crossed love, following Jane Pyre’s road trip around Europe as she attempts to find out what really happened to her partner in love and music, who disappeared without a trace years earlier, leaving Jane to pick up the pieces.

Jane Pyre was once one half of one of the most famous rock ‘n’ roll duos in the world, The Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated (and least understood) woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate) Elijah—even if Jane was the one who wrote the songs that catapulted The Lightning Bottles to instant, dizzying fame, first in the Seattle grunge scene, and then around the world.

But then Elijah disappeared and everything came crashing down. Even now, years after Elijah vanished, Jane is universally blamed and reviled by the public. In an attempt to get some peace and quiet, Jane rents a house in a remote part of Germany where she knows she won’t be disturbed. But on the day she arrives, she’s confronted by her new next-door neighbor, a sullen teenaged girl named Hen who just so happens to be a Lightning Bottles superfan—and who claims to have a piece of information that might solve the mystery of what happened to Elijah, and whether he is, in fact, still alive and leaving messages for Jane after all these years.

A cross-continent road trip about two misunderstood outsiders brought together by their shared love of music, interwoven with flashbacks to the beginnings of Jane and Elijah’s love story and meteoric rise, The Lightning Bottles is a love story, a celebration of rock ‘n’ roll, and a searing portrait of the cost of fame.

Review: Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

I was a bit young to really get into the grunge era of music, but I do remember some of my elementary school classmates listening to Nirvana, and some of my tween friends worshiping Kurt Cobain in middle school a few years after his death. But by high school I was very much aware of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love and their short lived, dramatic, but ultimately true romance, in part due to the fact I was hyperfocusing on The Sex Pistols and there were lots of comparisons between Sid and Nancy and Kurt and Courtney. So I was very familiar with the pop culture zeitgeist around that when I heard a description of “The Lightning Bottles” by Marissa Stapley at the Simon & Schuster Fall Preview panel at ALAAC24. I loved the idea of a road trip mystery as a former rock star goes on a journey to perhaps find her husband and musical partner who disappeared, and to come to terms with the way that fame shaped and in some ways destroyed them both. Especially since it sounded like it was going to perhaps do some unpacking of Kurt and Courtney through the characters of Elijah and Jane.

I had been expecting more of a mystery, but what I got was basically “Eddie and the Cruisers” meets Kurt and Courtney. And that’s not too much of a complaint! I do enjoy the idea of a mystery of a beloved rockstar disappearing, and his controversial wife/bandmate going on a journey to try and see if he is still alive (with scrappy teenager in tow), and “The Lightning Bottles” does deliver an interesting plot with lots of twists and turns. But this book is more about artistry, the price of fame, and how sometimes love isn’t enough to keep two damaged people from causing more damage towards each other. Stapley definitely takes inspiration from Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and his marriage to Hole frontwoman (and perhaps one of the most hated women in music) Courtney Love, but Elijah and Jane, Jane especially, stand on their own two feet. I liked learning their love story through the flashbacks and the transcripts of their chat room conversations, and while I don’t think I got to know Elijah as much as I did Jane (which is to be expected given it’s really her story at its heart), I REALLY got to know Jane, and I really loved Jane by the end. I do wish that there was a little bit more mystery at the forefront though. Even “Eddie and the Cruisers” had some tense moments in regards to what happend to Eddie, even if it was ultimately about Tom Berenger rediscovering himself.

And that may be my one complaint in this book; Stapley may be a little TOO forgiving of Jane, and in turn perhaps her inspiration (an author’s note makes it fairly clear that Stapley really wanted to champion Courtney Love). Please don’t misunderstand me, I absolutely believe that a lot of the animosity towards Love, especially when it comes to Kurt Cobain, is unfair, unfounded, and steeped in misogyny, especially since we’ve seen this kind of thing before in rock and roll narratives of a horrible woman ruining a band when that’s just not founded at the end of the day (Yoko Ono comes to mind). I love that Stapley wanted to be sure to show that Jane was so wholly misunderstood, and that it was very unfair that Elijah’s problems were never laid upon Elijah and only on Jane. Especially when those problems were causing JANE problems in her own right. But that also makes Jane a little less interesting by making her flaws easily explained away, when her real life counterpart is VERY flawed for reasons that go waaaay beyond the bullshit she had to endure in regards Cobain. And I felt that by denying Jane some flaws that had some bite, it denied her some more complexity that she probably could have used.

As a whole I enjoyed “The Lightning Bottles”. It’s a love letter to a musical era, it’s an enjoyable love story, and it has some emotional beats that caught me off guard.

Rating 7: I was expecting more of a mystery but instead found a compelling love story about fame, music, and the highs and lows of being in love as an artist on the verge of greatness, or tragedy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Lightning Bottles” isn’t on many Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “Best Rock and Roll Novels”.