Tag: 8 Rating

Book Club Review: “As I Dream of You”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club! This season’s theme is books with specific colored covers where we all drew a color and matched it with a book.

Book: “As I Dream of You” by Jennifer Lee & LeUyen Pham (Ill.)

Publishing Info: First Second, May 2026

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate owns it

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

Prompt Color: Blue

Book Description: Franny and Sam are each other’s entire world. So what do you do when your world ends? Frozen’s Jennifer Lee and Lunar New Year Love Story’s LeUyen Pham deliver a tour de force young adult romance with a supernatural twist.

Falling in love is supposed to hurt. That’s what Franny and Sam, two cynical teenagers raised on tales of heartbreak and loss, have come to understand. Yet when they fall for each other, they find the reality of love is something else it’s electrifying, all-encompassing, and easy. Theirs is a love that can conquer anything…perhaps even death.

But Franny and Sam’s quest to stay together—no matter the cost—soon blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and their shared dream threatens to turn into a nightmare.

Kate’s Thoughts

While I’ve been a Greek Mythology fan for practically my entire life, I highly enjoy Greek Myth retellings/reimaginings (given how much I’ve praised “Lore Olympus” on this blog the past few years this is probably not shocking). I’m always looking out for new ones, but I hadn’t heard of “As I Dream of You” by Jennifer Lee and LeUyen Pham until it was picked for Book Club. I don’t know if it’s because the Orpheus and Euridyce myth has never been a top myth for me, or because I just wasn’t as in touch, but I was definitely down to read it when I realized what it was.

And while it’s not a direct retelling/reimagining, the themes are there, and I thought that it was a nice foundation for the broader story at hand. After all, the heart of Orpheus and Euridyce is grief and the inability to let go. We have Sam and Franny, two teenagers who have difficult home lives but find love, passion, and companionship in each other. But after a fatal car accident separates them, they realize that they can see each other again through lucid dreaming, and keep running to each other, unable to let go, even though it becomes more and more dangerous as they hop between their worlds. The original myth definitely has themes, but I did like how Lee finds ways to tweak it and take it to places I didn’t expect. It’s emotional and incredibly sad, and I really enjoyed the themes of grief and trauma and being unable to stop looking back at the what ifs and the loss.

And I loved the artwork by LeUyen Pham. The use of colors were haunting and fit the theme perfectly, and I liked how before the accident things were uniform but still had splashes of color, but then after it was far more subdued and solemn as Franny and Sam were desperate to reconnect by doing so was causing damage and decay. I have seen Pham’s artwork before, but I feel like this was her at her very best. This just captured all of the emotions perfectly.

I enjoyed “As I Dream of You”! If you like Greek Myth retellings, seek it out.

Kate’s Rating 8: A bittersweet and aesthetically lovely reimagining of Orpheus and Euridyce with themes of love and grief and the inability to let go.

Book Club Questions

  1. What did you think of the art style in this book? Did you feel like it matched the tone?
  2. The Orpheus and Euridyce myth is a huge theme in this book. Once it was set up did it play out in the way that you expected it to?
  3. Did the nurse character that Sam meets over and over work for you? Why or why not?
  4. What did you think of the astral projection and astral plane and how it changed as the story went on?
  5. Do you feel like the two brother characters that Franny and Sam meet played an important part of the story?
  6. Have you every done lucid dreaming or had any other strange dream experiences?

Reader’s Advisory

“As I Dream of You” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Graphic Novels of 2026”.

Next Book Club Pick: “The Unicorn Hunters” by Katherine Arden

Serena’s Review: “Immortal Rose”

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Book: “Immortal Rose” by Alexandra Bracken

Publishing Info: Avon, August 2026

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

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

Book Description: Members of the ancient House Rosebourne have a strange gift born of a fairy ancestor: the ability to infuse fragrance with magic capable of manipulating mind, body, and emotion.

When a shocking murder leaves the kingdom of Albion vulnerable to a coup, royal spymaster Hugh Thornton seeks the one person who can help: Viola Lockwood, the last living Rosebourne and secret heir to a fraught legacy.

Livid at the silver-eyed aristocrat who had her thrown in jail to force her compliance, Viola nevertheless comes to an agreement with him. In exchange for crafting Immortal Rose, the singular perfume capable of saving Albion, illegitimate Viola can seize the life—and fortune—that should have been hers.

As Hugh and Viola race to find the perfume’s lost fairy ingredient, hidden deep in Albion’s dark underbelly, neither can deny the scorching attraction building between them—especially as the attempts on Viola’s life grow increasingly brazen.

But a terrible truth lurks in the heart notes of their kingdom—and while every bargain has a cost, Immortal Rose may demand more than Hugh and Viola can ever pay.

Review: Often when I talk about pacing, it’s in a negative light. But this book was one of those nice examples of pacing done right. What’s more, it was pacing done right across many aspects of the book, including individual character arcs, the romantic arc, as well as the world-building and storytelling itself.

To speak to the pacing in regard to the story and the world-building, I enjoyed the way the author introduced this world. Through some very clever early scenes, the reader is fed a boatload of world-building information, from how the magic of this world works, to the hierarchies at play within it, all the way down to some basic logistics about the sort of fantasy world this is (seems obvious, but I’ve read fantasy novels where I go in assuming it’s a high fantasy world and then am surprised around the 25% mark by some random mention of jeans!).

But all of this information is doled out carefully through a mix of dialogue, inner thought, and description, avoiding long info dumps. What’s more, the author does a good job of sprinkling in action throughout, so even while the reader is being inundated with new information, the story still feels lively and that things are happening at a steady pace.

I also really enjoyed the pacing of the character development. We aren’t told everything that drives the characters from the start, and instead must peel back layers as the story continues to discover what depths they contain. Notably, neither character is a perfect individual, and we see them grow and change over the course of the story.

This is particularly the case with the development of the romance. These two do not meet under the best of circumstances, and the story doesn’t rush the slowly changing feelings between them. It’s a true slow-burn romance, and part of it hinges on the characters reevaluating both themselves and their actions, as well as the other person. It made the payoff when things come together toward the end all the better.

That said, there were a few moments where I struggled a bit with the way plot points played out. There were times where characters behaved in ways that only made sense because the story needed to hit some particular beat. These were always frustrating to see, as so much of the rest of the book felt tightly written.

Overall, however, I enjoyed this read! I thought it was a refreshing example of a true slow-burn romance, and I appreciated the time and thought that the author put into the development of these characters and this world. Nothing felt like cardboard cutouts (either characters or plotlines) that are simply there to get the story to check off certain trope lists. Definitely give it a go if you’re looking for a more polished romantasy read!

Rating 8: A great example of a romantasy novel that commits to a true slow-burn love story!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Immortal Rose” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Regency Romantasy and whimsical romantasy books.

Kate’s Review: “The Night Mother: Volume One”

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Book: “The Night Mother: Volume One” by Jeremy Lambert & Alexa Sharpe (Ill.)

Publishing Info: Oni Press, October 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a copy at ALAAC26

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

Book Description: Endless night befalls a sleepy seaside town, leaving it to young Madeline Tock to save her community from a threat known only as the Night Mother . . .

The moon is stuck like a broken clock in the midnight sky, the sun a distant memory. No one in this quiet seaside town can remember how long this unnatural darkness has lasted. No one, that is, except for the curious girl who lives in the graveyard, caring for the dead: twelve-year-old Madeline Tock. In gratitude, the departed whisper their worries to her, sounding just like her overprotective but loving father: beware this endless night and she who causes it.

Because there’s someone else who can hear the whispers, too . . . someone whose gown is a map of the cosmos, hair a tangled constellation, eyes like the lights of faraway stars. The Night Mother. Her elemental duty is to gather the souls of the dead in her lantern, then send them to their eternal rest as beautiful moonlight. But when her hunger for power drives her to take souls from the living, Madeline bravely stands up to defend her town and those she loves. Can Madeline help bring back the sun, or will she be lured by the starry promises of this mysterious woman?

Review: Thank you to Oni Press for giving me a copy of this graphic novel at ALAAC26!

My personal goal I made for myself this reading year was trying to do more graphic novels, as I feel like last year I didn’t really do as many as I could have. I made sure to pass by some of my favorite comic publishers while I was at ALA this summer, and a pile of comics caught my eye: “The Night Mother: Volume One” by Jeremy Lambert and Alexa Sharpe (Ill.) had such a captivating cover I had to grab it. It just looked so interesting! And I’m happy to say that when I picked it up, it grabbed my attention almost immediately.

The premise of the story is very unique. In a world where the moon has stopped as it has been taken over by a cruel being called The Night Mother, leaving the world in darkness, a little girl named Madeline Tock can hear the voices of the dead and tries to help them in any way she can. Her adoptive father Barnabus keeps them isolated and keeps her by his side in an overprotective manner, and when a stranger arrives and says that Madeline is the key to stopping The Night Mother, she has to go on a journey to try and save her home and community. For a first volume it has a lot of foundation to lay, and it does so in a very readable manner and in a straight forward way. I got a good sense of the seaside community, of Madeline and her relationship with her father, and the threat that is The Night Mother and how the magical systems in the book work with the moon, the souls of the dead, and the Night Mother herself. The audience of this book is probably on the younger teenage side, so it’s simple, but that simplicity doesn’t take away from the story.

I also liked the characters in this book, from intrepid Madeline to devoted Barnabus to the mysterious newcomer Nura, who has been sent to Madeline to warn her of danger and to help lead her to her destiny. I also have liked what we’ve seen of The Night Mother thus far, as she is scary and ethereal in her darkness and corruption. We haven’t really delved into all of them to much just yet, but I am hoping that now that we have a clear framework of where the story is going to go that in the following volumes we get to really delve into what makes them tick.

And the art in this comic fits the vibe so perfectly. I have seen some works of Alexa Sharpe before, and her style works well with this dreamy and somewhat dark story.

(source)

“The Night Mother: Volume One” is a solid start to a fantasy comic series! I am definitely interested in seeing where it goes from here.

Rating 8: A promising start to a new to me fantasy YA graphic series, “The Night Mother” is dreamy and ethereal with a strong premise and some well done world building.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Night Mother: Volume One” isn’t on many Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Fantasy Comics Books”.

Kate’s Review: “The Devil Knows Her Name”

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Book: “The Devil Knows Her Name” by C.N. Vair

Publishing Info: Berkley, August 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from PLA 2026

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

Book Description: In the isolated Appalachian town of Burrsville, Tess Wynne lives in precious quiet. Having been left for dead a century earlier, Tess made a deal with the devil to stay in the only home she’s known. Tending to her wildlife sanctuary, she keeps the land and its people safe — pulling on spidering threads of ancient magic, trying to preserve the balance of nature against the encroaching ravages of human influence. But, every autumn, the devil returns, offering Tess more power in exchange for a foothold into the human world. And, every autumn, Tess refuses.

As Tess prepares her wildlife sanctuary for the winter, an unexpected addition to Burrsville catches the locals’ attention. Freshly arrived Zeke Abdee, the town’s new pastor, begins to sinisterly mold the townspeople to his will.

With everyone slowly turning on Tess, Pastor Zeke is determined to stake his claim on the very land where Tess keeps her sanctuary. Cornered, a desperate Tess pushes her magic to the darkest edges. All the while, the devil bides his time, waiting for Tess to decide if she will be prey — or predator…

Review: Thank you to Berkley for providing me with an ARC at PLA 2026!

It is still so darn hot in Minnesota. Granted, I consider anything above 72 degrees Fahrenheit hot, but I assure you it’s hotter than that lately! I am now at the point in the Summer where I am just done and ready for Fall. The good news is that hopefully, HOPEFULLY, the seasons will start to mellow and shift in a month or so, and I am also starting to get my book choices ready for my favorite time of year. So it was the perfect time to pick up “The Devil Knows Her Name” by C.N. Vair, a debut horror story about a witch in Appalachia who takes care of animals, the town that is starting to turn on her, and a potentially nefarious (but also charming and maybe sexy?) ally who offers her help…. Though he is THE DEVIL.

You have my attention OFFICIALLY. (source)

This was almost guaranteed to be a win for me content wise because god DAMN do I love a witch story, especially one where a witch is not only teaming up with the literal DEVIL to do some shenanigans, but when said shenanigans involve having to deal with a zealous force and a fickle community coming to oppress her. I’m already inclined to be Team Witch and Tess and her story make it super easy, at least for this reader. Vair has created a character that has made a pact with The Devil in a moment of true powerlessness (Tess is nearly murdered by her lover after he blames her for his adultery and tries to drown her), and Tess asks the Devil to save her and to give her magic powers to keep herself and her land/animal sanctuary safe, as well as the community at large. As time passes Tess does not age, but she binds magic and her very body to the town and community over the years to keep everyone out of danger, people and animals alike, while also trying to fend The Devil off as he tempts her with more power every year, perhaps to his advantage. But of course, as the small Appalachian town starts to run stagnate and a charismatic Pastor named Zeke comes to town with promises, things start to get dangerous for Tess. Especially since Zeke is trying to turn the town against her to get her land, and because a strange fawn with strange appetites ends up on her nature preserve. Oh, and her magic is fading more and more as more people turn against her. It’s a classic ‘outsider being oppressed by those who claim to be pious’ tale, and I LOVE that stuff. Vair shows us how Tess has made a place for herself, but how suspicion, desperation, and a slow moving decay of the community threatens that because of her differences and a need for a scapegoat. It’s a tale as old as time, but Vair still manages to make it fresh, as I felt the exact indignation that I imagine I was supposed to feel as Tess has to start protecting herself against people she thought she knew, all while The Devil offers help she isn’t comfortable taking lest he use it against her.

I also liked that Tess is actually a pretty morally grey character as the story unfolds. I am one hundred percent on her side in all of this, and I completely understand why she makes the choices that she does (being a victim of misogynistic violence, valuing the sanctuary and the animals she has bound to protect, having the community slowly turn on her due to Pastor Zeke’s influence when she has done nothing but be helpful both overtly and covertly), but sometimes I was like ‘damn, girl, that’s cold’. I also really loved her relationship with The Devil. I was worried that it would go one of two ways; either it would be a romance that didn’t really examine the power that he has over her as the being that has granted her her protection but for a price, or it would be a completely moralistic ‘she cannot be with him because ultimately she is GOOD and The Devil is BAD’ scold of a story. But Vair manages to find a happy medium where Tess isn’t wholly willing to trust him or give him any more power over her than he already has thanks to the bargain, while also showing that hey, just because he’s THE DEVIL it doesn’t mean that he has to be wholly terrible or in it for selfish reasons. Their back and forth was always fun, and their chemistry crackles. We all know I’m a bit of a sucker for a story with a witch and a demon/The Devil finding a connection (hello “The Witch” and “Slewfoot”), and I can now add “The Devil Knows Her Name” to that list of go to tales that fit the bill.

“The Devil Knows Her Name” is a cathartic horror novel that I definitely recommend for anyone who loves a witch story. Summer is waning, and as my favorite time of year creeps up upon us I urge people to add this book to their lists for the upcoming spooky season!

Rating 8: A dark and mesmerizing witch story about power and zealotry, “The Devil Knows Her Name” is a dreamy and unsettling read just in time for Fall.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Devil Knows Her Name” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror Releases Coming in 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II”

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Book: “Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II: An Indigenous Horror Anthology” by Shane Hawk (Ed.) & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Vintage, August 2026

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC26

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

Book Description: They’re baaaaaaaaaack!

As any savvy horror fan the monster never truly dies. The team that brought you the bestselling dark fiction anthology Never Whistle at Night has risen, hungry, from the grave to summon more dark delicacies for your delectation. In these twenty-one brand-new, groundbreaking, gruesome stories—authored by both established and newly unearthed Indigenous talent—the contributors are fully embracing both supernatural horrors and the everyday horror of living under colonialist rule.  

Featuring stories of unspeakable yet satisfying terror, from twisted psychological tales to gore-filled monster hunts, this new selection of sinister stories will sate your darkest appetites and leave you slavering for more. Never Whistle at Night, Part Back for Blood is a further celebration of Indigenous survival and the enduring tradition of transforming adversity into art.

Review: Thank you to Vintage for providing me with an ARC of this novel at ALAAC26!

Before I go to ALAAC every year I make a list of books that I hope to find there. I never get my hopes up for any of them, because I know that access is limited (and I’m never upset with the selection of ARCs that the publishers provide), but I do have a few I really cross my fingers for. One of those sought after titles this past year was “Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night II: An Indigenous Horror Anthology”, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore Van Alst Jr., because I so enjoyed the first collection and wanted to see which Indigenous voices were going to provide tales of terror this time around. And the hooting and hollering I did when I did see it and did get it was pretty substantial. I had such high hopes for this new collection, and I’m thrilled to report that it was just as grand as I had hoped it would be!!

As I always do for short story collections, I will review my three favorite stories and then the entire series as a whole.

“Party at the Alvarez Ranch” by Mat RudeWalker: It is probably no shock that one of my favorite stories in this collection involved the folklore of a ravenous monster that could be an urban legend, but could also be a true threat in the woods. Two teenagers are attending a party when they stumble upon a lofa, a large beast that eats the flesh of those who are unfortunate enough to encounter it. This one is a pulse pounding down and dirty monster tale, and I really enjoyed the build up, the lore, and then the way it all settles out, as creepy and nasty it was.

“We Don’t Talk About It” by Alina Pete: I think this was my favorite story in the collection, as while it definitely has some scary as hell monster stuff it also has a heartbreaking examination of addiction and denial/familial rejection after being burnt out by a loved one being an addict. A woman returns home one night to find her brother, having left rehab early and asking for help even though she and the rest of the family have tried to create distance after years of anguish. But it becomes clear that her ‘brother’ is actually something else, a being that feeds and feeds on despair and has come to take her as well. I found this one incredibly emotional as well as scary, as Pete brings in mythology about “That One” and creates a devastating tale about how addiction can tear families apart.

“The Corpse Room” by Debra Magpie Earling: This is probably one of the darkest, if not THE darkest, stories in the collection, but that’s no shocker given that it is set in a Catholic boarding school where Indigenous children are abused, tortured, and killed. Teenage girls at a boarding school endure horrific abuses at the hands of the nuns and a new priest, and all fear being sent to the ‘corpse room’ where girls enter but never come out. After one girl goes in, the others are desperate to find out what happened to her. This one made my heart ache on a whole other level, and Earling doesn’t mince words when describing the atrocities perpetrated against children (and babies too) by the Church. It also makes it one of the more cathartic stories in the collection, but it’s just brutal and devastating.

But honestly, it was SO HARD to narrow it down to three, because there were so many FANTASTIC stories in this anthology. I think with the exception of one or two I genuinely enjoyed pretty much all of them (and even the ones that didn’t work for me were more about genre or stylistic choices than anything else). The genres have a large range, and many of the stories not only had some serious scares, but also a poignancy and a reflection of societal issues facing Indigenous people (as well as larger crises, like climate change, that are coming for us all as much as we don’t want to think about it). I also appreciated the large swath of different groups that the authors are members of, showing that there are distinct beliefs, mythologies, and practices between the groups. It’s really just a great collection of horror and dark fantasy stories, and it will surely stick with the reader long after the last page is turned.

“Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II” is another banger of a horror anthology. If you are a horror fan, definitely pick this one up.

Rating 9: Another solid collection of Indigenous horror and dark fiction, “Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II” has some unique tales of terror as well as poignant reflections on being Indigenous in North America.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II” is included on the Goodreads list “Indigenous Books 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “The Unknown”

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Book: “The Unknown” by Riley Sager

Publishing Info: Dutton, August 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: In 1926, five women disappeared from a remote island in Vermont. Now, one hundred years later, it’s happening again.

Struggling actress Marin Keane is shocked when she lands a role in a major motion picture about the unsolved mystery of New Avalon, an island on sprawling Lake Faraday in Vermont. She’s even more surprised when she learns that the role requires a weeklong research trip to that very spot.

Because New Avalon isn’t your ordinary island. A century ago, it was a commune for spiritual mediums—until they all vanished in 1926. The only trace of them was five dresses hanging from the branches of an old oak tree in the middle of the island, one for each missing woman. Some locals say they simply left. Others think they were murdered. But the prevailing opinion, thanks to a diary left behind by one of the vanished, a young woman named Daisy Rue, is that a séance gone wrong conjured something supernatural that took them all one by one.

Not long after arriving, Marin and her castmates, including legendary actress Violet Wright and white-hot director Ronan Peters, begin to realize all is not right with New Avalon. They hear strange noises in the night and notice mysterious symbols left behind by the island’s previous occupants. And after a sudden health emergency leaves Marin, Ronan, and the other actors stranded on the island, the disappearances begin again.

Is it the work of someone trying to derail the movie? Or is the island’s alleged supernatural past catching up with the present? As fear and suspicion mount, Marin turns to Daisy’s diary, hoping it holds the key to figuring out what really happened to the women of New Avalon—and how to keep the island’s terrible history from repeating itself.

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

Perhaps some people remember that last year I read and reviewed Riley Sager’s previous novel “With a Vengeance” and didn’t really care for it. I have generally been super down with Sager’s books but that one didn’t really work for me. I was excited to see that his next novel, “The Unknown”, was stepping away from locked room whodunnits and coming back to a spooky horror/thriller story. I’m already really excited for a story with people mysteriously disappearing on a strange island, but if you add in spiritualism and potential witchcraft it just sweetens the deal. And I’m happy to report that we’ve returned to form with “The Unknown” because I found it to be super fun!

Sager knows how to craft a fast paced thriller that keeps me engaged, and “The Unknown” kept me invested pretty much from the start. We jump between two timelines: the first is that in the present day, where aspiring actress Marin has been cast as the lead in a highly anticipated historical horror film, which is based on a true story of multiple women mysteriously disappearing on the island New Avalon in the 1920s, inspired by the diary of one of the women who wrote of potential ghosts, demons, and witchy activity. Marin and the rest of the cast have been brought to the island to experience it in a method way, and things start happening to THEM in a similar way as the diary. The second timeline is the diary of Daisy, who ended up on New Avalon and wrote the entries the movie takes inspiration from. It’s a great hook, and Sager creates a mystery with themes of grief, spiritualism during the 1920s, and misogyny across centuries. Marin was sometimes a grating narrator, but she is the perfect protagonist who has so much to lose if the movie doesn’t work out, but also becomes more and more frightened as the movie crew slowly disappears in the same way the other women did. I liked the way Sager showed the circumstances, revealed the twists, and turned up the tension with what could be ghostly encounters and witch activity.. Or maybe something more Earthly.

And the atmosphere is top notch. An isolated island with a strange and witchy history is always a fun locale to explore, and Sager really figures out how to bring the Gothic vibes to the tale of isolation and questions of supernatural hijinks vs insanity in this book. I really enjoyed some of the beats and imagery, with a few points making me genuinely creeped out, and the claustrophobic island with woods, a potential murderer, and potential ghosts was eerie. I also liked that we got the history of New Avalon through the diary entries that could line up with what Marin and the rest of the cast was experiencing so we could expand the lore of the island and get it in context. While it’s true that I could parse out some of the surprises, overall I liked how things ultimately unfolded and the setting made it that much more addictive.

I’m quite pleased that “The Unknown” was an enjoyable read! Sager may have stumbled last time around in my eyes, but clearly that was a temporary stumble!

Rating 8: A tense psychological horror/thriller novel that brings us back to the Riley Sager basics! A great summer read as we start to wind down the season.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Unknown” is included in the Goodreads article “A Month-by-Month Guide to Summer’s Biggest Mysteries and Thrillers”.

Serena’s Review: “Vicious”

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

Book: “Vicious” by V.E. Schwab

Publishing Info: Tor, September 2013

Where Did I Get this Book: copy provided by the publisher!

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

Book Description: Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

Review: Somehow, even though I’ve loved V.E. Schwab’s work for years, I’ve never gotten around to this book. In this case, however, this has worked out for me since what was once a stand-alone novel has now turned into a soon-to-be-completed trilogy! So I thought now was the time to jump in so that I’d be all ready to pick up the final book when it drops this fall.

Right from the start, this is one of those compulsively readable books. The writing jumps off the page, and I was immediately drawn into the story and quickly invested in the characters. This is all the more unique as neither Eli nor Victor are particularly good people. But man, are they, especially Victor, the sort that you quickly grow to love in spite of (or because of??) these very same flaws.

The story alternates between two timelines. One is set when Eli and Victor are both students, sharing a room and dreaming of the limits of their world. The other is set years later, with Victor finally freed from the prison in which he’s languished for years, dreaming of his revenge against his former friend. Sometimes I struggle with dual timelines like this, but in this case it works really well. We get to see very different versions of both characters and slowly piece together how they go from that version to the ones we see in the current day.

Naturally, given the subject matter, there was a detailed exploration of what it means to be both a hero and a villain. Victor is very much an anti-hero, and Eli, the more “villainous” of the two, is the one the world looks to as a hero and who sees his own mission as the more virtuous. Through both characters, there’s much reflection on what makes one a hero or a villain: actions, intentions, or some nebulous combination of the two.

I will say that the ending left a bit to be desired. It’s an interesting thing, as when it first came out, it very much felt like a stand-alone affair, and this ending would have been even more frustrating. As it stands, I’m glad there are two more books to delve more fully into both of these characters and to get a better resolution to the entire storyline. If you enjoy fantasy novels with a strong focus on morally gray characters, I definitely recommend this one!

Rating 8: Compulsively readable, I really enjoyed this book and its greater exploration of what makes a hero…or a villain.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Vicious” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Super Hero Books [Not Graphic Novels] and Superhero Fiction.

Kate’s Review: “The Whisper”

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Book: “The Whisper” by Chelsea Iverson

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Landmark, July 2026

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

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

Book Description: Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman and Riley Sager’s Middle of the Night, comes a sweeping, atmospheric thriller following a group of friends and the power given to them by the trees…

Rule 1: When the trees whisper, listen. 

Rule 2: Don’t go into the woods alone. 

In the small mountain town of Whisper Ridge, the girls were inseparable. Joey, Quinn, Sophie, and Elena. Together, they channeled magic in the woods, living by six simple rules. The first when the trees whisper, listen. 

But all rules are forgotten, all bonds broken, when Quinn is found dead in the trees. 

In the aftermath, the friends scattered. All except Joey, who still can’t move on. Until now, over a decade later, she again hears the trees whisper. 

Those woods remember some of Quinn’s last words, and for the first time, Joey realizes she may learn the truth of what happened to her best friend. And so, the friends return to Whisper Ridge, to the woods that once held their magic and their secrets. But unearthing the truth about Quinn puts them all in danger, and in order to survive they’ll need to channel their power for the first time in fifteen years to finally put the past to rest.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for sending me an eARC of this book via NetGalley!

I know that it’s the end of July and Summer isn’t really winding down yet (hell, it’s still so damn hot here in Minnesota it’s hard to deny that we are definitely still in my least favorite season). But I am one of those people that once we get part way through July, I start to think about Autumn. And inevitably when I think about my favorite season, I think about spooky books that I can recommend to people for the weeks leading up to Halloween. And I have my first one ready to go with “The Whisper” by Chelsea Iversen, a thriller/horror witch tale about three former witches reuniting after one of them thinks that they have new information about their friend who was killed when they were all still in high school and coming into their magic. If that doesn’t scream ‘autumnal reading’, I don’t know what does!

It’s never too early to prepare for the Season of the Witch, spell and reading alike. (source)

We follow the perspectives of four women. In the present day we have Joey, Sophie, and Elena, whose friendship fractured and went their separate ways after high school, and after their friend Quinn was found murdered in the woods. All of the were young witches who were bearers of forest magic, trained by older witches to learn to care for the magic, but after Quinn’s murder Sophie and Elena left, while Joey stayed unable to let go. But Joey thinks that she hears in the tree whispers some new information about Quinn’s death, and she brings the other two home so they can all try and solve what happened once and for all. And in the past is our fourth perspective, which is that of Quinn in the days leading up to her death as we see secrets, tensions, and friendships shifting and Quinn is both trying to use the magic for bolder things, but isolating herself in a dangerous way. All four of the perspectives add something to the story and give us insights not only into the mystery of what happened to Quinn and what led up to it, but also into the minds of traumatized and grieving women who never got the closure that was needed and have tried to carry on with their lives, but are still haunted. I liked the suspense and tension as it was building throughout the chapters, not only as to the murder mystery but also the tension between the women who were once close but are now fractured, and I also liked the exploration of complicated friendships trying to reconnect after so much has happened.

The magical system in this book is also pretty well done and creative to boot. We have a magic that is passed down to women in the community, with previous generations training and supporting the younger ones, and I liked the idea of the magic being tied to nature, to women, and to a strong community. We see the dangers of trying to force the magic to work outside its intents, as well as the way that bad actors can try to weaponize it and take it for themselves. With the trees being able to whisper things to the witches and the magic being nature based in a lot of ways it just felt very ethereal and grounded in a clear intention of story, and I thought that was very cool. It also has some pretty solid horror beats as we follow Quinn’s journey and start to slowly see what actually happened to her, and while I kind of figured out what had happened, I still found it to be a well done mystery that kept me interested.

“The Whisper” is an entertaining witch tale with well done horror beats, and I think that anyone who wants to get a head start on planning their autumn reading would do well to put it on their lists for the spooky season.

Rating 8: A suspenseful and witchy thriller about friendship, secrets, and grief, “The Whisper” is an entertaining read and will be perfect reading for the upcoming Autumn season.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Whisper” is included on the Goodreads list “All the New Horror Books Arriving in July 2026”.

Serena’s Review: “Rites of the Starling”

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Book: “Rites of the Starling” by Devney Perry

Publishing Info: Red Tower Books, April 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Calandra’s five kingdoms are on the verge of destruction. The crux migration is coming. And in the wake of a devastating attack, I’ve been separated from the man who owns my heart.

I’m lost. Terrified. Homesick. Hunted by monsters, driven to exhaustion, and kidnapped by a powerful priest, the only thing keeping me going is the little girl counting on me to keep her safe. It’s my turn to become the Guardian.

Our lives change one fateful night. A night of death. A night of monsters. A night of truths. That night, I learn the real meaning of fear—and the depth of my own strength. Everyone wants me to be something I’m not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if I embrace my crown? What if the secrets I uncover save our realm?

What if my sacrifice means salvation for the man I love? For too long, I’ve feared the monsters we make. It’s time to discover the monster within.

Previously Reviewed: “Shield of Sparrows”

Review: I’m a bit late to the game, but I finally managed to get my hands on this sequel! “Shield of Sparrows” was kind of a sleeper hit for me last year; on its face, it sounded much like every other romantasy title coming out that I often struggle to get through. But it surprised me with its detailed world-building, fast-moving plot, and a romance that felt properly balanced with the rest of the plot. It also ended on a fairly substantial cliffhanger, so I was excited to see how that was all resolved here!

While this one didn’t quite live up to the high of the first book, it still stands miles ahead of other titles of its sort, in my opinion. In this book’s case, much of what makes it stand out comes down to the world-building and the effective use of twists. Like I said, the first book’s world-building was surprisingly robust. But here, the book introduces an entirely new main character and, through her, an entirely new perspective on this world. I can’t go into many details without getting into spoilers, but suffice it to say, this world is much larger than was known and its history much longer. What makes this so great is the fact that this is presented as not only new information to the reader, but is also woven into the story itself, with explanations for why none of this was referenced in the first book.

The second point is the effective use of twists. It was already a fairly ballsy move to introduce a new POV character who isn’t just the romantic interest, but Devney carefully weaves this story in and out of the continuation of Odessa and Ransom’s story. Through her chapters, we get little pieces doled out, just enough to allow the reader to form their own theories about what is going on. But often, those theories only last until the next chapter, where some new puzzle piece is laid out, shifting all of the theories in a new direction. By the end, I had put most of it together, but every turn along the way felt fresh, and there were definitely guesses that I started with that turned out to be completely off base. There was one particular twist that I had wrong the entire time!

I also continued to enjoy the balance between romance and plot in this series. Our new character has her own developing romance, which works nicely as Odessa and Ransom are separated for a large chunk of this book. While this delay may frustrate some readers, I think it effectively built the tension and nicely prioritized the actual life-and-death stakes of the ongoing situation in this world. Too often, romantasy sequels have to either introduce contrived conflict into the romance to keep up interest or simply begin to sound repetitive, as the two characters tread familiar ground throughout the story. Here, we get a nice payoff from Ransom and Odessa’s eventual reunion, and by the end, they have an entirely new host of challenges ahead of them.

The story also continued its trend of tragedy and violence. Things do not go well for all of the characters here. The stakes were high throughout, and this was reflected in the fact that not everything works out the way we may wish.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. The pacing was perhaps a bit more uneven, simply due to jumping back and forth between two POVs and two very different stories, but the incredible world-building really makes it stand out in the crowded romantasy field. If you enjoyed the first book, particularly if you loved it for its main plot and the fantasy elements, definitely continue on with this one!

Rating 8: Devney has really cracked the romantasy nut with this one, managing to weave a complicated, expansive world while also not skimping on the romance!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Rites of the Starling” is on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Most Anticipated Romantasy & Fantasy Romance Releases and Adult Romantasy.

Joint Review: “The Intrigue”

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Book: “The Intrigue” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publishing Info: Del Rey, July 2026

Where Did We Get This Book: NetGalley

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

Book Description: Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Ulises knows his looks won’t last forever, and he’s desperate to get his hands on a real fortune.

He thinks he’s found it when he captivates his newest correspondent, Perla, the owner of a small-town boardinghouse in picturesque Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something he didn’t expect. The woman has a niece, Inés, who is as observant as she is desperate to escape her aunt’s household.

When Inés discovers Ulises’ true intentions, she wants in on the scheme. They’ll convince her aunt that Ulises is a great catch, Perla will marry him, and her money will vanish. Easy, fast and clean.

But Perla is not the desperate, silly spinster Ulises imagines. She harbors secrets. And although Ulises does not believe in true romance, Inés is more alluring than he bargained on. Suddenly, a simple plan may become perilously complicated.

Venture into the streets of a small town where the patina of convention and good manners conceals a cauldron of avarice and lust.

Kate’s Thoughts

I always look forward to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books, as she has truly shown herself to be an adept author who can dip her toes into different genres with ease. When I read the description it sounded like it could be a thriller, with a con man and an ambitious young woman teaming up to scam a cold and repressed spinster. But as I was reading it I kind of started to realize that it’s not really a thriller, nor is it a mystery or a romance. As Serena says below, I’m not certain it’s totally definable, but I DID know that it has a certain vibe to it, and that vibe is soap opera. But even beyond that, because while soap operas have archetypes that serve very clear character choices and paths, “The Intrigue” has far more complicated players at hand.

Did I like anyone in this book? Not really. Was I rooting for anyone? Not really. But I did enjoy that Moreno-Garcia was willing to have unlikable characters at the center, and that she made them not only morally grey but also interesting in their motivations (some more than others; I never fully got on board with Ulises’s bullshit but I fully understood where both Perla AND Inés were coming from). Thrillers with soapy elements aren’t unheard of and I like nice and dramatic reads with thrills and chills, but I liked that this ‘soap’ didn’t feel so cliché even though there were familiar beats.

And as always we get some insight into Mexican history that I wasn’t as familiar with. We see the way that Mexico has been affected not only by World War II, but also how the reverberations of the revolution are affecting various people in the story and society as a whole. Moreno-Garcia is always putting this history in her stories and I always enjoy it very much.

“The Intrigue” is another enjoyable read from Silvia Moreno-Garcia! I look forward to her books every summer and the streak continues!

Serena’s Thoughts

I really enjoyed this one! I wasn’t even quite sure what genre this was when I picked it up, and I was struggling a bit to classify it even by the end. But the author’s note (never neglect the author’s note!) put a great perspective on things: essentially, her inspiration was a combination of thriller, classic soap operas, and a unique point in Mexican history. And, looking back, all of this was on display!

One thing that I’ve always loved about this author is her complicated characters. There are very rarely any truly heroic characters, and the villains are often given almost the same amount of attention, so much so that you often find yourself sympathizing with their circumstances almost in spite of yourself! Such was the case here, but even more so. The “heroes,” such as they are, are a con artist and, essentially, a woman who was just waiting her turn to jump on the criminality bandwagon. And the villain, while very hateable, is a woman who was set up for failure by her parents, the point in history in which she was living, and the lies that were sold to her early in childhood about the “right” way to live.

I loved the exploration of this point in Mexican history, the effects of WWII, and the continued fallout from the shakeup in their own government. This is a world very much in transition, and the book highlights how adaptation to drastic change is not an easy thing for everyone.

I also really liked the “soap opera” elements. Kate can speak more to how this weaves together with typical thriller conventions, but for me, I loved the dramatic, over-the-top nature of certain aspects of the story. Our “heroes” bumble their way from one scheme to another, and it’s easy to see the influences of the dramatics of soapy tales. I also really liked the romance we got here, very much also feeling like it came straight from a daytime TV show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one! It’s definitely a slower story, focused on the oppressive nature of the house, this remote town, and the limited options available to women in particular. But the characters were all so well fleshed out that I was always eagerly turning the page to find out what they would get up to next!

Kate’s Rating 8 : A soap opera rooted in a true history of hardship in Mexico with no heroes but some really fun morally grey characters. Moreno-Garcia does it again!

Serena’s Rating 8: Another banger from this author, this time focusing on a “soap operate”-like tale set in a remote village in WWII-era Mexico.

Reader’s Advisory

“The Intrigue” is included on the Goodreads lists Noir Fiction and Books with Big Title in Yellow Letters.