Tag: 8 Rating

Fire’s Catching: “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”

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It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.

Book: “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins

Publishing Info: Scholastic Press, May 2020

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it

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

Book Description: Ambition will fuel him.

Competition will drive him.

But power has its price.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

Review: A few years after “The Hunger Games” trilogy wrapped up with “Mockingjay”, the announcement was made that Suzanne Collins was going to write a prequel story. It was a bit vague at first, and I remember the buzz and anticipation that was tittering throughout the fandom. Who could it be about? Maybe Haymitch’s Games? Or maybe it was going to be about Mags? I was thinking it was maybe going to be about my gal Johanna Mason to see how she played everyone to think she was a scaredy cat and then eventually came out on top through brutality and managed expectations. And then it was announced that it was going to be about Coriolanus Snow, the brutal dictator in charge of Panem in the original trilogy. And I remember people being PISSED.

I will admit that as someone who always thinks that fandoms do the absolute most sometimes, I was pretty amused by the tantrums people were throwing. (source)

I wasn’t as put off by the concept. It did take me some time to read the book initially, but I did enjoy it, and re-reading it this year made me appreciate it even more. Because once again, Suzanne Collins knows EXACTLY WHAT SHE IS DOING.

So I will say right off the bat that this is probably my least favorite of the “Hunger Games” books, but that isn’t because it’s a bad book. I still really like this book. But there is a big narrative shift from the original trilogy to follow Katniss Everdeen and all of her innermost thoughts to Coriolanus Snow as a teenager and all of his innermost thoughts. But it’s still a very well written book that only expands more of the lore of Panem and builds the world even more in a way that makes it all the more intriguing. When we follow Coriolanus as he mentors Lucy Gray Baird from District 12 in the 10th Hunger Games, we get to see Panem in a transition period. It’s post-War/Rebellion, and the Capitol is still in shambles (which means you know the districts are having a rougher time as a whole). The Games right now aren’t the big entertainment event that they are when Katniss is reaped; if anything they are kind of run down and gritty. I really loved seeing the huge difference between the two time frames, and it goes to show just how much Snow influenced the Games and how much inspiration he took from his mentee Lucy Gray. Because Lucy Gray is the first one to weaponize her personality to be likable and to make it a bit of a spectacle with her singing and performance to make people root for her. If Coriolanus is a grating narrator (as he is supposed to be), Lucy Gray is a shining light of a character who has moxie and a drive to survive at all costs, even if it means cuddling up with Coriolanus (though I do believe that she DID care for him at one point, even if it wasn’t at the level of obsession and possession that he saw her at; notice I say obsession and possession as opposed to love). I also really liked seeing Lucy Gray’s Covey community, as by the time we get to the original trilogy in the timeline The Covey, a group that was trapped in District 12 after the rebellion after years of being nomadic, have all but disappeared, at least culturally. Seeing how Panem has changed between this book and the original trilogy is jarring but also so, so interesting.

I also liked getting some insight into the Capitol side of things in this book, be it with Coriolanus and his fellow students at The Academy being recruited to mentor the Tributes for the games, or the faculty indoctrinating them and manipulating their every move. We spend so much time in the Districts in the “Hunger Games” trilogy and only see the opulent and decadent Capitol in very specific instances, and in “Ballad” we see a Capitol that is grimy and, as I said, in transition, but it still has the superiority complex and the hints of totalitarianism that is still in shaky stages and is only waiting for a truly ruthless leader to bring it to its full horrific potential. It’s also interesting seeing the politics and ideologies of how the Capitol views the Districts at this point, still dehumanizing them but in a far more overt way at this point, like the Tributes being held in literal zoo cages. Or the way fellow students and Coriolanus look at Sejanus Plinth, who grew up in District 2 and whose family became wealthy and was able to essentially able to buy its way into the Capitol through loyalty and money, but is still looked down upon by others and feels like he is in an identity crisis. There are so many layers here and I greatly appreciated seeing this side of Panem, if only to get context.

Now, I may be treading into some kind of controversial territory here, but I kind of want to address one of the biggest hang ups people have about this book. There were a lot of people I saw, be it in my own life or online, who were very put off by the idea of this book following something of an origin story for President Snow. I had a few people say ‘I am not interested in getting a villain origin story that humanizes PRESIDENT SNOW’, and I mean, hey, that’s a valid worry about the book because there have been some stories where a clearly bad or villainous person gets some kind of redemption arc because of a sad backstory. But I never really had the fear that Collins was going to do that with Snow, as I know that she isn’t going to be an apologist for a fascist dictator just based on the original trilogy. Yes, Coriolanus Snow grew up during a time or war that left his life in shambles, even if his family was on the ‘winning’ side. He and his cousin Tigris are living with their completely indoctrinated grandmother in abject poverty, and while he comes from a prestigious family with name recognition (especially at the school he is attending), he has a huge victim complex because he isn’t living the life he was promised as a Snow. And that victim complex simmers as resentment, then turns into ambition, then turns into a thirst for power at any cost which turns into violence. I have always said that Collins’s “Hunger Games” stories always, ALWAYS have something to say, and the clear message of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is about the way that young men can be radicalized by fascist ideology in times of instability within their lives, and while she explains it, she never excuses it with young Coriolanus, especially since we get into his head so deeply and he is just awful. This came out in 2020 when we had been seeing the starts of the Manosphere, and white male grievances were motivating a lot of young white men to embrace far right values, and unfortunately it has only gotten worse since then. So while I understand people not wanting to read about Coriolanus Snow as anything but an irredeemable villain, I also think that turning away from uncomfortable truths about radicalization of people like him in real life just helps the problem grow and grow. Collins doesn’t excuse his actions throughout the book, which are reprehensible even before he becomes president. But to dismiss this kind of exploration as being apologia for his actions is missing the point Collins is trying to make.

So while “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is probably my least favorite of the books about Panem, I still really enjoy it whether it’s the new lore and expanded world building of Panem, how it has changed over time and how the Games themselves have changed, and how it explores the dangers of radicalization through one of the biggest monsters in the series. Suzanne Collins does not miss. Next up I take on the next prequel book and the final book in the series “Sunrise on the Reaping”. Haymitch’s moment is upon us.

Rating 8: While it’s probably the weakest of the books for me, I still find it to be compelling and complex with a lot of relevant things to say. Also, I love seeing the huge differences in Panem between Katniss’s time and Snow’s time as a mentor.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Dystopia Novels”.

Serena’s Review: “Smoke and Summons”

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Book: “Smoke and Summons” by Charlie N. Holmberg

Publishing Info: 47North, February 2019

Where Did I Get this Book: own it!

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

Book Description: As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down…

Review: After absolutely loving “The Shattered King” and “The Half-Hearted Queen,” I eagerly jumped into Holmberg’s back catalog. Seriously, I think I bought probably two or three e-books in one night after turning the last page on that duology. Out of the many options I purchased for myself, I wanted to try another series, so I picked up this, the first in a complete trilogy.

This didn’t quite live up to the high that was “The Shattered King” duology, but I definitely enjoyed it for what it was! And, honestly, if the bar hadn’t been set quite so high, this one would have landed even better, so any/all qualms I had felt very much a product of unreasonable expectations more than anything else.

To start, I absolutely loved the world-building and magic system introduced here. For the world, our characters live in a highly corrupt city-state, essentially, that eats up its poor and doesn’t allow any past their gates. Right from the start, we see a system that doesn’t care about justice and, if you’re poor or unimportant, you can be disappeared without so much as a bat of the eye. In this world, our MMC, Rone, has pried out a life for himself and his mother by creating a name for himself in the criminal underworld. As for our FMC, Sandis, her side of the coin is the more unfortunate tale of those who have lost everything and been lost themselves, caught up by powerful players with very few options for escape.

The magic system was also great. There are hints of an ancient world that had magical resources that have been lost to this time, except for a few rare trinkets, including a device that allows Rone to be unkillable for a very short period of time once every 24 hours. Sandis’s story, however, is the one that centers more fully around the true magic of this series, that of summoners and the powerful beings that can be called forth from within them. But the process by which this happens is brutal and oppressive, with dire requirements for the body of the one who turns into the summoned creature and a horribly oppressive dynamic often coming from the summoner who controls them.

I also really liked both Rone and Sandis. This might actually be one of the rare books where I think I enjoyed the MMC POV more than the FMC. Sandis was a great character, but she was also a bit too perfect and too naive at times. She treaded the ground of the “perfect victim” stereotype a few times. That said, I did still very much enjoy her. For his part, I think Rone’s voice was stronger, and his character was often the driving force behind much of the action of the story. His arc is also the more complicated, with his attempts to balance protecting his mother as well as this new woman he finds himself working alongside. He doesn’t always make all the right decisions, and I liked him all the more for it.

Overall, I really liked this one! The pacing was a bit uneven at times, with Sandis and Rone playing out a bit of a circular pattern of being on the run, finding temporary safety, and then being found again and again. But their love story was lovely, and the end of this one set up some pretty high stakes for the next book. Of course, I already own it and will be jumping in again soon!

Rating 8: The FMC was a bit weaker than I prefer, but the world-building, magic, and MMC were all excellent, and I’m excited to see where the trilogy goes from here!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Smoke and Summons” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Slow-Burn Romance and Best Kindle Unlimited Books.

Joint Review: “Japanese Gothic”

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Book: “Japanese Gothic” by Kylie Lee Baker

Publishing Info: Hanover Square Press, April 2026

Where Did We Get This Book: NetGalley;

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

Book Description: In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.

October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.

October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.

One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.

Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.

Kate’s Thoughts

Given how much I adored Kylie Lee Baker’s previous novel “Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” I knew that I wanted to get my hands on “Japanese Gothic”. Baker really has a solid grasp on how to craft a well done horror story that not only reflects her cultural background, but also universal fears across many different people. Reading about “Japanese Gothic” had me excited, and when Serena asked if we wanted to do a joint review I was in because I really wanted to see how our two different perspectives of the genres involved (fantasy and horror) would meld. It’s always fun to see how we approach the same book through these lenses.

As I was reading it I kind of found myself feeling like this book was more dark fantasy than horror (only because while it had spooky elements it didn’t really invoke dread in me), but given that I love dark fantasy as well that wasn’t a detriment. The suspense was there and as we follow two different perspectives (that of murderer Turner in our modern timeline, and that of ambitious would be samurai Sen in a timeline centuries before, who both live in the same house), Baker creates a time bending and mysterious story with murder, mystery, and two damaged people making a connection. We don’t really know why they are having this overlap, but as we learn more about the both of them I found myself getting more attached even though both of them, especially Lee, seem pretty menacing. I also liked how Baker carefully peels the layers back of both Lee and Sen, letting them learn about each other and letting us see how they could be drawn to one another through a weird dreamlike connection that feels otherworldly and strange. I liked both of them and all of their trauma, be it Lee’s mother who disappeared and who he thinks was kidnapped for human trafficking purposes, or Sen trying so desperately to impress her uncompromising samurai father. All of it worked for me and kept me on edge.

I will say, though, that if you are a little squeamish around violence and gore, this book has it’s moments. I still don’t really think it’s horror, but others may disagree due to some of the story beats and violent moments.

I enjoyed “Japanese Gothic”! It’s unique and weird and it will surely satisfy horror and dark fantasy fans alike.

Serena’s Thoughts

It’s always fun when we can find authors that cross over between our two genres. I had read Baker’s YA duology, “The Scarlet Alchemist,” a few years ago and really loved it. Her next book, “Bat Eater,” I saw was more horror-focused and left to Kate. But when I saw this one coming down the pike, the mentions of “dark fantasy” and “gothic” sounded more up my alley, so a joint review was definitely in order!

And it really came through in that way! I’d agree with Kate that this felt much more like a dark fantasy than a horror novel. I’ve read and enjoyed a few horror novels here and there, and as Kate identified, a feeling of dread is key to that genre. And while this had spooky elements, it didn’t have that lingering feeling in the back of your mind that something terrible was right around the corner. That said, it’s definitely not a book for the faint of heart; Baker doesn’t back away from some of the more gruesome moments and depicts them quite starkly on the page.

Part of the darkness came down to the two main characters, each with their own simmering issues. They are the sorts of characters that you catch yourself rooting for, and then take a step back and look at them objectively and start questioning whether you really should be supporting them so fully. It’s an interesting dynamic and one that had me sucked into each of their stories, perhaps even despite myself at times.

I also really liked the way she used the two timelines and wove them together. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout, and I was on the edge of my seat for much of it to see how it was all going to come together in the end. Towards the end, some of these twists and turns began to feel a bit overwhelming as characters were dropping left and right, but I found the end itself satisfying.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and definitely think it’s a great read for dark fantasy fans!

Kate’s Rating 8: A suspenseful and time bending dark fantasy with two complicated protagonists and a hell of a hook.

Serena’s Rating 8: Dark in just the way like: full of twists and turns and grounded in two protagonists that you’re not quite sure what to do with at times.

Reader’s Advisory

“Japanese Gothic” is included on the Goodreads lists “Weird Lit”, and “2026 Women in Horror”.

Serena’s Review: “The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains”

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Book: “The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains” by Reena McCarty

Publishing Info:  Orbit, April 7

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher

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

Book Description: When Poppy Hill was a child she was stolen from her family’s Montana homestead and taken to the land of the fae, where she spent more than a century as a cook in the Wild King’s castle. Now back in the human world, she works for a company that brokers fairy bargains, looking for loopholes in their contracts.

Then a bargain that Poppy is negotiating goes disastrously wrong and she has to return to the world she grew up in to try to rectify her mistake, facing danger, intrigue and a pesky ex-boyfriend along the way.

Review: Once I settled into what this book was, I ended up really enjoying it. But let’s start with what it isn’t: looking at that description above, I went into this one fully expecting some sort of “second chance” romance wrapped in the trappings of a fantasy world focused on faerie bargains. Well, part of that is true, but it was definitely not the romance part. While there are hints of a love story here, the romance took a decided back burner, was not following the trope that this description hints toward, and then, sadly, seemed to fizzle out towards the end. It seems like there could easily be a second book which might retroactively make this love story more compelling, but from the start, readers should not go into this one expecting a romantasy of any kind (and publishers should knock it off with trying to cash in on the popularity of the genre by misleading book descriptions, which just pisses people off and doesn’t get you readers in the long run).

What I did like was the main character and the concept of this world. I’ve always loved the versions of faeries that focus highly on the duplicitous nature of faerie bargains. We’ve seen comedy versions, dark/horror versions, and here, we have the bureaucratic, where faeries interact with our world through a business front, conducting their bargains dressed up in the trappings of our modern society. This was all very creative, and I enjoyed the ins and outs of how this all worked. If anything, I wish the book had focused even more on these bureaucratic shenanigans, which, on the face of it, doesn’t sound like a good thing. But in the context of this book, it was great!

I also really enjoyed Poppy and the challenges she faced. Her backstory, that of a child stolen away for one hundred years to the land of the fae, was incredibly compelling. This left her with a distinct feeling of being a “fish out of water,” even now that she is back in the human world, presumably where she belongs. Her time spent in the land of the fae naturally left her with unique skills for understanding the small print of their tricky bargains, and so her work helping humans find loopholes was fun. But her inner story, that of trying to find her place, her people, and herself, was very compelling.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one. The writing was strong throughout, and I really enjoyed the world-building in this one, especially the unique ways that the human and fae worlds interacted. The romance was definitely a letdown, as it might as well have not existed, really. But I’m hopeful that there will be a second book that might resolve this aspect better. If you enjoy stories of fae bargains with heroines who have an interesting inner arc, then this might be one to check out!

Rating 8: Light on the romance, but the focus on Poppy’s journey to find her place between two worlds was more than enough to carry me through!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Everything Fae.

Serena’s Review: “Burn the Kingdom Down”

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Book: “Burn the Kingdom Down” by Addie Thorley

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, April 2026

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

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

Book Description: One year ago, Rowenna Harrack, the crown princess of Tashir, left her homeland in a wedding dress of chains—sent away to the enemy nation of Vanzador as a captive bride.

Now, Rowenna is dead. Brought home in a coffin after an alleged fall from a cliff.

Second-born princess, Indira, knows her sister’s death was no accident. Desperate for truth and vengeance, Indira agrees to wed the prince so she can infiltrate Vanzador, find Rowenna’s murderer, and burn their kingdom to the ground.

Indira’s plan is simple, she will make nice until she can find out how to avenge her sister and free her country from the rival nation’s stranglehold. But when Indira arrives, nothing is as terrible as Rowenna described. As Indira grows closer to her new husband, Prince Alaric, and uncovers more about Vanzador, the source of its powers, and what happened during Rowenna’s final days, she’s no longer sure what—and who—to believe. Because everyone, even her sister, has secrets. Deadly ones.

Review: This one wasn’t actually on my radar at all until it randomly showed up on my door, but the book description sounded interesting. And, well, we all know that I’m a sucker for sister stories, so even if the sister in question seems to die immediately to set up the plot itself, it’s still an intriguing driving force for our FMC.

So, this was a fun enough read. What probably stands out the most was the mystery aspect of the story, which you don’t often get in romantasy books these days. That being the case, the plot structure of this one felt very different than the typical action-oriented romantasies with the “stabby” heroines doing their “stabby” thing every second of the day. Instead, the story focuses down much more narrowly on the political situation that Rowenna finds herself in, the myriad dynamics going on between the players at court, and her attempts to unravel exactly what happened to her sister.

This did lead the middle of the book to drag a bit, with the plotting and pacing feeling like they were bottoming out at times. Rowenna spends much of this period of the book circling around the same questions with only the barest hints of any progress to be found. As the story is a slower experience as a whole, this didn’t bother me overly much, but it did feel as if it could have benefited from some editing to tighten up the plot to only what is necessary.

Of course, alongside this slower structure, the romance itself was a slow-burn affair. These are my favorite kinds, so I was happy enough to follow along as our characters slowly began to trust and care for one another. I thought the author did a decent job using this slow-burn approach to build up the tension between the two, and the payoff, when it came, was well worth the wait.

That said, neither of these characters stood out to me particularly. Again, neither was a bad character, but I also never felt deeply invested in them or their burgeoning relationship. The author relied a bit too heavily on simply telling readers how Rowenna was feeling for me to ever have the chance to fully try to understand her, and in the attempt, grow to care about her.

I think this was a decent romantasy read, however! Readers who enjoy political fantasy with court intrigue will enjoy the general plot, and romance lovers who enjoy slow-burn love stories will likely be pleased with the way that portion of the story plays out.

Rating 8: It didn’t blow my socks off, but in a very crowded romantasy field, this one did a great job of introducing a mystery and a true slow-burn love story into the standard plot we’ve come to expect from this sort of book.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Burn Down the Kingdom” can be found on this Goodreads list: April 2026 Most Anticipated Romance Releases

Serena’s Review: “Where No Shadow Stays”

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Book: “Where No Shadow Stays” by Sara Hashem

Publishing Info: Holiday House, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: Seventeen-year-old Mina is always focused on what comes next: exams, school dances, opportunities for a picnic by the lake. Filling up the future keeps her from lingering over how little she knows about her history or where she comes from. Anytime she asks her father questions about Egypt–or about her mother’s mysterious death–he struggles to open up.

When Mina receives an invitation from an aunt she’s never met to visit the Haikal mansion, her mother’s childhood home in El Agamy, Mina accepts. She can’t resist the chance to learn more about her roots or what happened to her mother, even if it means lying to her loves ones for the first time in her life.

But when Mina returns from El Agamy, she doesn’t come back alone.

A sinister entity follows Mina from the Haikal mansion to her tiny California town. Mina is forced to abandon her friends, her father, and everything she loves in order to prevent the entity from violently possessing them. Isolated and fighting for her life, Mina must seek help from an unlikely ally: Jesse Talbot, the mortician’s hostile son and the only person who proves immune to possession. Jesse would rather floss with barbed wire than team up with social butterfly Mina, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice—after all, he’s running from family secrets of his own.

As Mina and Jesse dig deeper into Mina’s family lore, they uncover a bloody debt that must be satisfied if Mina wants to finish senior year alive.

Review: I have once again stolen a book from Kate’s genres, but Hashem wrote one of my favorite fantasy romance duologies of the last several years, so….yeah, I don’t care! I’m going to read whatever she writes at this point!

So, while I don’t typically read horror, this was the kind that I can get behind. Probably because it’s also YA, so the truly horrific stuff that Kate wades into is largely absent here. That said, Hashem does a great job of blending historical fiction and horror together in ways that are both intriguing and disturbing. The tension was perfectly wound tighter and tighter, only to release unexpectedly before starting it all up again.

I really liked the mystery at the heart of this story and learning more about Mina’s family and history. And on top of this central mystery behind what is making up this curse and how it can be defeated, Jesse also had mysteries of his own that were slowly revealed as the story continued.

Hashem also reconfirmed that she excels at writing compelling, swoon-worthy romances. I was a bit unsure how her talents would translate being removed from all of the fantasy trappings, but she definitely proved me wrong. Jesse and Mina’s relationship was so lovely, a slow-burning, tension-filled affair that drew me in right from the start.

I don’t want to go into spoilers with regards to the ending, but it was truly heart-wrenching. I guess I don’t know this for a fact, but I’ve always assumed that horror, as a genre, has a greater tendency to end in tragedy or, at best, an unclear future. And such is the case here. It all played out so well for the story that was being developed, but tissues were definitely needed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one! Sara Hashem is just an excellent author, all things considered, and I’m happy to genre hop alongside her! If you’re a fan of YA horror stories, I definitely recommend this one!

Rating 8: Tension-filled in every way, both the romantic and the horrific!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Where No Shadow Stays” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2026.

Serena’s Review: “Wolf Worm”

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Book: “Wolf Worm” by T. Kingfisher

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, March 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator without work, prospects, or hope. When the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use. But soon enough she finds that there are darker things at work than the Carolina woods. What happened to her predecessor, Halder’s wife? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”

With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a dark road full of parasitic maggots that burrow into human flesh, and that his monstrous experiments may grow to encompass his newest illustrator as well.

Review: Here I am, back with another T. Kingfisher review! Honestly, this one might have fallen better under Kate’s genres, but I got here first! Seems like every other month I’m reviewing a book by this author, but that’s the great thing about prolific authors, especially when they always deliver.

There was a lot to enjoy about this one for sure. Most especially, I enjoyed the combination of the time period of history alongside the classic gothic trappings of a mysterious house hidden away in the woods and under the care of an even more mysterious owner. But unlike the typical gothic story, there’s no romance to be found here, just body horror galore.

I wouldn’t say that I’m the sort of person who is squeamish about bugs. If anything, my husband is always busy squashing them on first sight while I quietly work behind the scenes to simply transport them to safety outside. All my protestations about spiders being useful bugs seem to fall on deaf ears. THAT SAID, Kingfisher may have turned me around on all things creepy crawly. I don’t live in the south (obviously), but after reading this book, I pretty much never want to visit there again. Bot flies?? No thank you! Forget the creepy mushrooms that reanimated the dead, this thing takes body horror to an entirely new level and man, was it gross at times. Even thinking about some of the scenes now gives me a major ick. That said, it was definitely successful in being creepy for this very same reason. Your fear factor will likely greatly depend on your relationship to bugs, but, like I said, even the most hardened are likely to be grossed out here.

As for the rest of it, we have many of the staples of Kingfisher books. A solid, sympathetic, yet funny, leading lady character. A cast of assorted quirky side characters. And a villainous presence lurking behind it all. Of these all, I think the main character stood out the most. I enjoyed the side characters and villain (such as it was), but they also felt fairly familiar at this point. The main character also felt familiar, but her experiences as a woman working in a male-dominated world and her struggles with imposter syndrome were a compelling personal arc to follow.

I will say that this book is on the slower side. While the characters are the true heart of the story and were enough to pull me in right away, the story takes a while to truly set its scene. There’s a lot of slow buildup as Sonia begins her work and only gradually begins to suspect that all is not right around her. Once the midpoint of the book hits, things pick up from there. But it does create a situation where readers really need to stick with it through some of the quieter moments in the beginning to get to the payoff in the end. For my part, I feel that a lot of this slow buildup is a staple of gothic horror, slowly ratcheting up tension and atmosphere before building to a crisis point. However, it does leave for a bit of an uneven reading experience.

Overall, this was an excellent horror, gothic novel. The bug stuff was truly horrifying, and there are more than one scenes that I wish to scrub from my memory permanently. I have been missing the romance in the last few Kingfisher books I’ve read, but this one is a solid entry in the gothic genre and well worth checking out, especially for those who enjoy body horror.

Rating 8: Bugs have never been more gross, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Wolf Worm” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Horror to Look Forward to in 2026 and Nature Horror.

Kate’s Review: “Nothing Tastes As Good”

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Book:”Nothing Tastes As Good” by Luke Dumas

Publishing Info: Atria Books, March 2026

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

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

Book Description: Retail worker Emmett Truesdale has never fit the Southern California mold of six-pack, suntanned masculinity. Over three hundred pounds, he carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. After trying every diet under the sun, he remains stuck—in his dead-end job, in love, and in his body.

Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous and as Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight.

Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing and when the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he’s human?

Nerve-racking, sinister, and at times surreal, Nothing Tastes as Good is an unputdownable thriller that combines The Substance with the best of Stephen King and keeps you guessing until the final page.

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

I’m an elder millennial, so I was a teenager around that Y2K time when heroin chic bodies were in and they were calling Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson fat when they had perfectly svelte bodies. And yeah, it absolutely affected me. Story time! When I was a freshman in college I had to go to the student health center for positional vertigo, and while I was being examined the doctor told me that I was at 140 pounds (probably due to not having lunch in my meal plan, not really having snacks, and walking around the U of MN Duluth campus basically all day). This was the lightest I had been in years, and the doctor said that at 5’9″ and with my frame I was actually bordering towards underweight. And in my mind I was like ‘AWESOME!!! Underweight!!!!’ instead of ‘hmm, that may be an issue’. I’m still not really at peace with my body (decades later, hitting perimenopause, and after having a kid), but I’m trying to be at least more neutral about it. Especially since I now have a six year old daughter who has already told me that she didn’t want to wear her winter jacket because it makes her ‘look fat’. I had a lot of these thoughts swirling in my head as I read “Nothing Tastes As Good” by Luke Dumas, which takes diet culture, corporate greed, a little bit of MAHA ideals about body presentation, and throws it in a “The Substance” flavored blender. It’s gross, it’s upsetting, and it’s a really good horror read. More so given that we’re starting to see these really thin trends coming back.

As a body horror book, this one has a lot of nasty and stomach churning moments. I already have a fair amount of squick when it comes to body horror (I actually still haven’t seen “The Substance” outside of clips here and there before I feel like I may barf), and it’s not just because of the weird thing Emmett Truesdale’s body is doing whilst participating in a drug trial for a product called Obexity. It sure seems like a miracle drug as the pounds start to fall off in record time, and Emmett is more than happy to ignore the side effects because of his new body making his self perception and the perception of others so much more positive. But I’m sure that you can imagine that the side effects get worse and worse and crazier and crazier, and there is gore, there are weird body moments, and I was squirming a bit as I kept reading and the pounds kept dropping. I enjoyed the slow burn suspense, with the story being told through a fairly typical narrative, but also through Emmett’s body transformation discovery blog, through interviews after SOMETHING happens, and through notes and other hints from news articles and the pharmaceutical notes as the study goes on. And some descriptions were just so gross, but it’s exactly what I would expect from this kind of horror tale.

Dumas also has some really interesting and pointed commentary about how society views fat people and fat bodies, and clearly has a lot to say about how Emmett is treated throughout the narrative, be it while he is dropping pounds while on Obexity (with the aforementioned side effects wreaking havoc but being brushed away), or how he is treated during his time as a child whose disordered eating can be mapped due to trauma cycles done to him or even to his caregivers before him (specifically his stepfather), or even when he is yo-yoing and reminiscing about losing weight then gaining it all back and then some before the drug trial. I imagine that a lot of this is familiar to those who have struggled with disordered eating or body image issues, and Dumas doesn’t really mince words when showing how dehumanized Emmett feels when he is fat, and how the very fact he is actually seen and treated as a human being when he is thinner propels his desperation to stay on a drug that is making him do horrifying things out of his control. It’s scathing and a clear indictment on fatphobia from ALL fronts, be it family, friends, lovers, strangers, or even medical professionals, where someone is more comfortable being monstrous if they are at least treated like a human. Oof. It was rough.

“Nothing Tastes As Good” is an effective commentary and doesn’t hold back with the squirmy bits you want in a body horror tale.

Rating 8: A nasty and unnerving body horror tale that has a lot of insightful points about fatphobia in society.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Nothing Tastes As Good” is included on the Goodreads lists “Beauty Parlor of Horror”, and “Weird Lit”.

Serena’s Review: “Green and Deadly Things”

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Book: “Green and Deadly Things” by Jenn Lyons

Publishing Info: Tor, March 2026

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

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

Book Description: Mathaiik has trained all his life to join the sacred order of the Idallik Knights, charged with defending their world from the forces of necromancy. Only vestiges of that cursed magic remain, nothing like the fabled days of the Grim Lords, the undead wizards who once nearly destroyed the world.

But when an even stranger kind of monster begins to wake, the Knights quickly prove powerless to stop them. Whole forests are coming alive and devouring anyone so foolish as to trespass, as if the land itself has turned upon humanity.

It’s a good thing, then, that the Grim Lords were never truly destroyed. One of their number sleeps below the Knights’ very fortress. And when an army of twisted tree monsters attacks the young initiates in his charge, Math decides to do the unthinkable: he wakes her up.

This is only the beginning of his problems. Because said necromancer, Kaiataris, knows something history has forgotten. The threat of this wild magic is part of a cycle that has repeated countless times–life after death, chaos after order. And if she and Math can’t find a new way to balance the scales, this won’t just be the end of the world as they know it, but the end of all life, everywhere.

Review:I feel like deadly, horrific plants have been having a bit of a moment in horror and fantasy recently. I can think of a number of titles that have played around with this concept, all horrifying in their own ways. And this book starts off with more of the same! A walking, murderous forest, and not in the “Cool! Look at the Ents!” kind of way.

From there, the world-building just expands, and I loved learning more about this world. Math is a great entry point, having grown up in an order of Knights meant to fight evil necromancers, but with his feet on both sides of the magical divide, with his own secret plant magic. And even here, with the good guy of the book, the ways in which his plant magic is described… yeah, pretty gross. But also very cool, especially as the lore of this world explodes outward once he raises one of the long-thought-defeated necromancers of old and realizes there is much more to this world than he thought.

This reveal was one of the coolest factors of the book, and it immediately shifted not only the stakes of the conflict but also revealed some truths about Math and everything he thought he knew. Kai was also a fantastic character, bringing in a wealth of knowledge. She and Math had great chemistry, and I enjoyed the push-and-pull nature of their growing trust. It was very much a “two steps forward, one step backward” affair with these two.

Some of the late reveals I felt were a bit more predictable. And there definitely came a point when I wanted to smack Math upside the head to get with the real program going on here. But, even with that being the case, his perspectives and priorities made sense for him as a character, so I wasn’t overly frustrated by it.

The one drawback was the pacing. The story starts off incredibly quickly and does a neat job of setting up the primary players and the situation ahead. But then, toward the middle, the story started to drag. Math and Kai spend a lot of time traveling, always interrupted by the fairly predictable return of some bad guys to get in their way. While I was interested in the greater evil that was building in the background, some of these more minor action scenes began to feel repetitive. At the same time, Math and Kai’s relationship also stuttered a bit in the middle, so it was a bit of a struggle to retain interest during this portion.

However, things picked up again, and by the end, I was once again invested in what was taking place. It’s also refreshing to read a stand-alone fantasy novel with a story that feels contained and complete. Readers who are looking for a unique action fantasy story should definitely give this one a go!

Rating 8: While the middle portion lagged a bit, the creepy plant magic and endearing characters kept me invested throughout!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Green and Deadly Things” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Can’t Wait Books of 2026 and Horror to Look Forward to in 2026.

Kate’s Review: “You Did Nothing Wrong”

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Book: “You Did Nothing Wrong” by C.G. Drews

Publishing Info: St Martin’s Press, March 2026

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 relentless, horror-inducing psychological suspense for fans of The Push and Baby Teeth by New York Times bestselling author CG Drews.

Single mother Elodie’s life has become a fairy tale. She’s met Bren, equal parts golden-retriever devoted and sinfully handsome. He’s whisked her and her autistic son, Jude, to the crumbling family house he’s renovating. She has a new husband, a new house, and a new baby on the way. Everything is perfect.

Then Jude claims he can hear voices in the walls. He says their renovations are “hurting” the house. Even Elodie can’t ignore it–something strange is going on. The question is, is it with the house, or with her son?

Then the one secret Elodie has been hiding is revealed, and no one is safe anymore.

A pulse-pounding, clever take on the haunted house novel, You Did Nothing Wrong examines the complexities of motherhood and the twisted bonds of family as it races to its shocking ending.

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

We are getting some interesting subversions of the haunted house horror sub-genre recently! I love a haunted house story, but I’ve been pretty pleased with the way that authors have been experimenting with the themes that come with the sub-genre. “You Did Nothing Wrong” definitely falls into that category, because something that starts off seeming like just a ghostly tale turns into something even scarier than things that go bump in the night.

Whew, this book is intense for so many different reasons. We follow Elodie, a young mother to an autistic six year old named Jude (more on him in a bit) who has just married Bren, and is pregnant again. They move into a new house that Bren is trying to fix up, but Jude keeps talking about how the house is alive. And Elodie starts seeing strange things too. This is one layer of the tension, because Drews also throws in hints and clues to Elodie’s past, which carry a whole lot of darkness even if they aren’t apparent from the jump. Elodie is a narrator that I would shift between wanting to root for, to being completely horrified by, and I never quite knew if she was someone I could trust as a protagonist. But I had the same thing happen with Bren, who on the surface seems so kind and patient and doting, but has little flashes of menace and aggression. But then again, is that actually the case, or is it because we see what Elodie sees? As the story goes on and the tension between Elodie and Bren escalates, mostly because she also thinks she’s seeing things in the house AND because Bren is potentially abusing or manipulating Jude. As the story goes on Elodie gets more unhinged, but is she paranoid? Or is it something else altogether? Drews kept me guessing a good long time, and I was tearing through this book desperate to find out what happened next.

Another stressful point is the themes with Jude, who is presumed to be autistic based on how he is written, but who hasn’t been diagnosed because Elodie refuses to do so in case it is somehow blamed on her. As someone who has a child who is presumed autistic, there were beats in here that felt very familiar, either due to the way that some people just refuse to understand some of the more uncomfortable things about autistic people, or the way that things can go south in the blink of an eye without necessarily knowing why because your kid doesn’t really know why either. You add in a possessive obsession she has to her child and it makes it all the more intense. But then again, I was ALSO freaking out at Bren because I was so afraid that he was going to hurt Jude due to HIS misconceptions about how to treat an autistic child. It made me so uncomfortable but I’m pretty sure that was the point. Gosh I just wanted to sweep Jude up.

I do think that the ending had a few too many shocks and surprises, however. I’ve never been one to get behind a thriller novel that has a lot of last minute twists just to get a rise out of the reader, and while this book still stands very well on its own two feet due to the things I mentioned, I do think that there was a bit of an overreach when it comes to how things all shook out by the end.

But that’s a quibble in the long run, because overall I greatly enjoyed “You Did Nothing Wrong”. It kept me stressed out and it kept me flipping the pages whenever I had a chance. I definitely recommend it.

Rating 8: An addictive horror tale with unreliable narration and incredibly tense moments flies high for awhile, but has a slight petering out of an ending.

Reader’s Advisory:

“You Did Nothing Wrong” is included on the Goodreads lists “Autism in Horror Literature”, and “Dark Literature”.