Tag: historical fiction

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.

Serena’s Review and Blog Tour: “The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield”

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Book: “The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield” by Claudia Gray

Publishing Info: Vintage, June 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: After a disastrous London Season and a (somewhat) successful investigation, Jonathan Darcy has recovered from the wound he received in his most recent investigations. But his parents aren’t over the shock, and insist that Jonathan must stop these dangerous adventures with Miss Juliet Tilney—particularly now that she is a young lady of ruined reputation.

Jonathan still hopes for some opportunity to be with her again, and then it comes—unfortunately, in the form of his uncle Charles Bingley’s brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, being found murdered at Netherfield Park. His Aunt Jane is desperate for answers, and in the end, Jonathan’s family must ask Miss Tilney to Netherfield to help solve the mystery!

Juliet, still reeling from her ruination, is happy to be back in the thick of an investigation—and in the company of Jonathan. But the scheming Caroline Bingley Allerdyce and her daughter Priscilla feel the same, leaving the young pair to not only look for clues but also dodge their machinations. When Mr. Hurst proves to be only the first victim, casting a pall of danger—and worse, scandal—over the Bingleys’ household, Jonathan and Juliet are under fierce pressure to find the culprit—and perhaps even more momentously, to make a final choice between respectability…and love.

Previously Reviewed: “The Murder of Mr. Wickham” and “The Late Mrs. Willoughby” and “The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh” and “The Rushworth Family Plot”

Review: These reviews are almost getting boring in how predictable my feelings are: all the books have been great, and yes, this one lives up to the standards set before! But really, who is going to complain about too much of a good thing? Not me!

Let’s start with the mystery! As usual, Gray does an excellent job of setting up both the murder(s) and a vast number of potential suspects. I don’t think it gets mentioned enough just how much of an extra challenge Gray has taken on in writing these mysteries featuring so many known entities from Austen’s original novels. For one thing, the list of murder victims and suspects is greatly reduced by the simple fact that readers are familiar with these characters and will know, largely, who has the potential for villainy and who can be easily lost as a victim. This is dealt with by both introducing a select few new characters (here we meet Kitty’s husband, a friend of Jonathan’s from childhood, a new sibling of Bingley, and a few servants) as well as carefully selecting side characters from the original books who, while not murderers in Austen’s books, are easy enough to hate here! I was able to piece together just the right amount to feel like I was solving it myself, while there also remained a few surprises at the end as well.

I especially enjoyed the Bingley family dynamics we explored here, from the relationship of Charles to his handful of sisters, to the relationships between the sisters themselves, to Jane’s ability to deal with in-laws like this! Gray deftly takes the small tidbits we see from the Hursts and expands on them cleverly. And while both of them remain incredibly unlikable, the work done with Caroline is even more impressive. She’s both hateable (especially after the events of the previous book and some continuing actions here), but her arc is also more complicated by the inclusion of a loving husband and a kind daughter.

It was also fun seeing the other “Pride and Prejudice” characters included here, especially getting to see Mr. and Mrs. Bennet on the page, along with Kitty. But what I most enjoyed was getting to spend more time with Mr. Bingley and Jane. Especially Jane. Jane is such a lovely character in her own right, and it’s always a bit sad that we truly get so little of her in the original novel. Well, that is rectified here. Gray perfectly captures Jane’s kindness, her gentleness, but also her strong sense of right and wrong and the fact that, when pushed, those doing wrong will run headlong into a steel wall of morality, one that will present its case with kindness but will not give. Jane and Mr. Bingley are the perfect characters to deliver smacks upside the head to their sister and friend, respectively. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have had several books of various levels of ridiculousness about Miss Tilney and their son, but Jane and Charles are there to set them straight. There was one particularly great scene between Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy that had me re-reading it a few times, just to revel in the perfectly balanced, perfectly kind, perfectly pointed zingers Charles was slinging Darcy’s way.

And, of course, the burgeoning romance between Jonathan and Miss Tilney was as lovely as ever. After the events of the previous book, this one didn’t waste much time in getting to the heart of their feelings, though that didn’t leave them without a hefty set of obstacles before them. It was lovely getting to see some of the romantic bits finally coming together, but there was a bit of a cliffhanger at the end for how things will progress going forward.

Overall, I really loved this book! It was a solid mystery, and Jonathan and Miss Tilney remain a great detective duo, both in their investigative skills as well as in the development of their romantic relationship. But looking back on my read, I think my favorite parts of this book came down to the time spent with the Bingleys, characters I loved from the original novel and whom we finally get to spend more time with here. If you’re a fan of the series up to this point, this is a must-read!

Rating 8: A wonderful mystery, a heartfelt romance, and a return to Netherfield at last!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield” isn’t on any Goodreads lists but it should be on: Austen Retellings.

Kate’s Review: “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery”

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

Book: “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #5)” by Kate Khavari

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2026

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

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

Book Description: Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey, with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent, but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.

Review: Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me an ARC of this novel!

After doing a quick catch up on the Saffron Everleigh Mysteries thanks to my local library, it was finally time to pick up the most recent in the series! I was admittedly a bit underwhelmed by the previous book, as I felt like we were treading into a territory that has been WELL established in other mystery tropes (the enigmatic evil rival), but the good news is that Kate Khavari’s “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” has decided to go down a different path, at least for now, and it has served as a real palate cleanser!

I’m happy to report that after a lackluster entry last time, at least for me, we have returned to form with Saffron and her adventures as a botanist who also happens to solve crimes using her scientific knowledge and wits. This time Saffron is in Turkey on a expedition with her fiancé Alexander Ashton, and other colleagues, and finds herself not only in treacherous working conditions, but also the prime suspect when one of her colleagues dies of poisoning. The downsides of this book are that Elizabeth is no where to be seen since she wouldn’t be on an expedition, and Lee is also MIA (I really hope he does come back at some point), but the up sides are that Saffron gets to do more work with poison again, AND, amazingly, I actually found myself warming up to Alexander in this book as he hopes to help clear his fiancée’s name. Also having Saffron the prime suspect and being held in a foreign jail certainly ups the stakes, and the mystery itself has some great beats to it and built the suspense in a well done way.

I also loved that there was a complete shift in scenery in this book, as Saffron and Alexander are on an expedition to the newly formed/sovereign Turkey! We have seen Saffron do so much scientific work in London or England proper, but seeing her finally get to go on an expedition was such a breath of fresh air. Especially since we get some interesting historical information about Turkey during this time period as well as archaeology and archeological sites and excavation. My friend David does similar excavation work in Greece at agoras and seeing this kind of thing in this book was a lot of fun. It’s also a pretty candid tale about the way that women in the sciences were treated during this time, especially on an all male expedition, and Saffron has to deal with a lot of misogyny from the other men on the team and has to prove herself above and beyond because of it.

“A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” is a fun historical mystery! I can’t wait to see where Saffron goes next!

Rating 8: A return to form with a new setting and some new poisons, “A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” is a fun new entry in the Saffron Everleigh mysteries.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Historical Fiction Mysteries”.

Previously Reviewed:

Kate’s Review: “You First”

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

Book: “You First” by Caroline Kepnes

Publishing Info: Random House, June 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: Joe Goldberg is ready for his life to start. He’s seventeen years old, working in Mr. Mooney’s bookshop, falling in love with every girl on the subway all while wondering who will be the one. He knows what he needs: A woman who will force him to get his GED, go to night school, and make something of himself. But who would ever fall in love with him?

Then he spots it: MISSED CONNECTION, NYC Bookstore Babe.

Someone is looking for Joe. And that someone is Vail Gunderson, a production assistant with a passion for rom-coms. The only catch: she’s twenty-four, which means that Joe has no choice but to lie about his age…and, naturally, nearly everything else in his life. Joe thinks he’s found true love, but when Vail needs more convincing that Joe is her happily ever after, he’s determined to convince her…no matter what it takes…

With her incisive and darkly comedic prose, Caroline Kepnes captures Joe poised on the edge of manhood, entering the vicious, dog-eat-dog New York dating scene for the very first time, and buffeted by forces that will determine what kind of man he will become—and how he will write his own twisted love story.

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

It’s been a couple of years since we last saw stalker super creep Joe Goldberg in book form. His show on Netflix had its run and finale, and I was pretty satisfied with how it all shook out, but it’s been since his time in “For You and Only You” that we’ve seen him on the page. And he’s very different on the page. I will admit that after time passed and I was cycling through my insomnia listens of his books, that previous book was the one I revisited the least, and I was a bit worried that it was the end of his story. When it was announced we were getting a fifth book I was excited. When I saw it was going to be a prequel instead of a sequel I was…. apprehensive. What could teenage Joe tell us that we don’t already know about him? Was it going to be a little bit of a retcon that upends the canon? I didn’t really need to be nervous, because Caroline Kepnes’s “You First”, while a shift in the timeline, is still entertaining and a solidly ‘Joe’ story, giving us a glimpse into what made him Joe, terrible personality and all. I’m still a okay with shitty villain protagonists and their gross twisted stories, and this one keeps it up!

Footage of me when I see people complaining about trash main characters doing obviously trash things in a thriller novel as if its an endorsement of trash. (source)

This is less of a thriller this time around just based on the fact that TECHNICALLY Joe doesn’t really start getting fully into his murderous ways until AFTER this point in the timeline just based on what happens in the other books in the series (there is a little bit of wiggle room here, just to note), and more of a character study set in a historical fiction genre (oh GOD, the early aughts are now historical fiction, I’m Joe’s age and this makes me feel OLD). We meet Joe when he’s seventeen, working at Mooney’s Books (hooray for the return of Mr. Mooney!), and the entire city is still dealing with 9/11, which only happened a few months earlier. He’s hyper-focusing on the Internet and Missed Connection ads, and through his he meets Vail, a twenty four year old woman who works on the “Sex and the City” set. Vail is the blueprint for his future obsessions, and she is neurotic, self absorbed, and flitty. But this is through the eyes of seventeen year old Joe, who has basically been abandoned by his parents, left to his own devices with the occasional support from the weird and abusive Mr. Mooney, and we see how his experiences are, indeed, warping his sense of love and connection. This may sound like it’s getting into excuse territory, but I don’t feel like it is for the most part. Something that does have to be kept in mind is that he is still, technically, a kid here, and it’s an interesting trajectory to see his obsession form and how it stays with him from here on out. Especially since everyone else in this book that influences and interacts with and affects him is a full on adult. It explains a lot. And he does sound like a nervous teenager in his inner monologue with insecurities that feel familiar, even if they are dark and fucked up. It’s a twisted coming of age story to be sure.

Kepnes still keeps the weird dark humor and the seediness of the other books in this one! That is part of the reason I love these books so much, just how damn funny Joe can be and how skeevy they can make me feel as I read them. It’s a little harder to swallow at times in this book given that Joe is only seventeen, and Kepnes does tread a fine line with some of the sexual situations in this book between him and Vail, but it’s far more restrained than previous books. We are seeing similar patterns with bad people being bad to each other, and it’s getting a LITTLE repetitive, but it didn’t drag it down too much. Vail is grating but she’s supposed to be, but she also captures that wannabe Carrie Bradshaw NYC delusion that I remember well from being a high schooler and young adult from this time period (I remember binging “Sex and the City” with my roommate and being so insulted she thought I was a Charlotte even though now I’m like ‘yeah probably, but without the WASP-iness’). It has the vibes I look for in these books. But I do wonder how much longer they can be sustained.

I am curious to know where Joe is going from here. “You First” gives us a backstory, and I wonder if it is telegraphs what is next for the character. I’m still fully on board to go on whatever ride Kepnes wants to make me on with this character, and his lore has expanded in a way that worked for me.

Rating 8: Teenager Joe Goldberg as a concept gave me a little pause, but the execution was pretty well done and the outcome was seedy, twisted, and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Joe, even as a teenager.

Reader’s Advisory:

“You First” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “I’ll Be Watching You”.

Kate’s Review: “It Came from Neverland”

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

Book: “It Came from Neverland” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2026

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

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

Book Description: Peter Pan meets Stephen King’s It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairytale set during WWI.

1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget.

When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy believes that Peter Pan, the entity that she believed killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games.

When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

Review: Thank you to Kaye Publicity for sending me an ARC of this novel!

I’ve never been SUPER connected to the “Peter Pan” story. I definitely had the Disney version on VHS as a child, as well as the Mary Martin version (which I actually preferred), and I definitely liked “Hook” (and own it to this day). But the story itself isn’t really precious to me. But I AM someone who loves a dark retelling of a classic story, especially if there is a horror twist, and I have LOVED basically everything I’ve read by Cynthia Pelayo. So “It Came from Neverland”, her newest horror novel, made perfect sense as a highly anticipated novel this year for me. Especially since this one promised to center Wendy. Even if it sounded like Wendy was going to be put through hell.

Even if the story never really resonated, I always loved Wendy. (source)

One of the things that I love most about Cynthia Pelayo’s horror stories is that while they are always genuinely creepy, there is also almost always a dreamlike quality to them, and that translates very well to her take on Peter Pan and Neverland. Taking place in WW1 London, Wendy Darling is all grown up, living as a school teacher while also spending time volunteering at a hospital to read to wounded soldiers. As a child she and her brothers were taken to a strange place called Neverland by a strange boy named Peter who couldn’t grow up and promised a fun life with other children, but was in actuality manipulating all of them and killing them to keep his power. Wendy and her brothers escaped, but she has been living with the trauma years later even as the world has learned the story as a fantasy tale of joy and imagination. Pelayo does a fantastic job of incorporating the original story that is filled with magic and whimsy and twisting it into something more sinister, while also taking inspiration from faerie stories and mythology. There has certainly been a more recent take on Peter Pan tales that paint him as less mischievous and more monstrous, but Pelayo’s feels unique in that it’s a bit more sinister fairy and Pennywise-esque. Because of this reimagining it completely reframes the entirety of Neverland, but Pelayo is really skilled at reframing it while still making it feel like it COULD be a place that J.M. Barrie could water down to make more family friendly. Peter in this is terrifying and creepy, but still feels like it could be connected to Barrie’s creation just through how Pelayo brings in references and tweaks them just a little. We still have lost boys, who are kidnapped children that Wendy wants to protect while Peter harms them to manipulate her. We still have the idea of Peter’s shadow, making it more of thing that can be used to connect to others to create a bond that makes an abuser hold onto a victim. But my favorite was the reimagining of Captain Hook, as instead of a foppish pirate who is constantly undermined by the mischievous Peter, we have a man who has had so much taken from him because of this nasty entity that harms everything it comes in contact with.

But my favorite element, which is unsurpising, is Wendy herself, as Pelayo has perfectly expanded upon her to explore her as a trauma survivor who was so connected to Peter, only to realize he only meant harm to her and everyone else. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to see how it affected her mental state, and how that in turn affected her relationships with Michael and John, who also experienced it but were more able to convince themselves it never happened. Wendy is still the caring girl who wants to care for and help others, and by making it a strength instead of the obligation we kind of get in the source material (Wendy is really only there because as a girl she HAS to be a mother figure) it shows how much more powerful she is, even if she is still quite damaged. I also loved that she is not only helping literal children as she teaches them, but that she is also helping wounded soldiers back from the Western Front, as so many soldiers were teenagers and children in their own right (the WWI setting was such a great idea in and of itself and it really resonated with this part of the plot). I also appreciated that so much of the horror of Peter and his monstrous ways were entangled with Wendy’s trauma, as he was SO scary and seeing her gather the strength and courage to stop him once and for all made for a very satisfying horror plot.

“It Came from Neverland” was everything I was hoping it would be! Pelayo is so talented as creating dreamy and spooky horror stories, and I recommend it to both those who love “Peter Pan” and those who just love a horror tale littered with well crafted symbolism and metaphors.

Rating 9: A haunting and eerie re-imagining of “Peter Pan”, which focuses on trauma, grief, loss, and overcoming a childhood stolen and an alternate truth to a beloved classic.

Reader’s Advisory:

“It Came from Neverland” is included on the Goodreads lists “Peter Pan Re-Tellings”, and “Horror to Look Forward To in 2026”.

Serena’s Review: “Thistlemarsh”

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

Book: “Thistlemarsh” by Moorea Corrigan

Publishing Info: Berkley, April 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: In the wake of World War I, the world is a decidedly unmagical place for Mouse Dunne. She once dreamed of becoming a Faerie anthropologist, but with one telegram, her world shattered. At the Battle of the Somme, her cousin’s body disappeared into the mud, and her brother was left with debilitating shell shock. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish dreams.

When Mouse receives news that her uncle has left her the Faerie-blessed Thistlemarsh Hall, a dilapidated manor in the English countryside, she must leave her brother’s side and return to her childhood home to claim her birthright. But there is a catch in her uncle’s will: If Mouse does not rehabilitate the crumbling house in one month’s time, she will forfeit her inheritance and any hope of caring for her brother.

It quickly becomes clear it’s impossible to repair the manor in the allotted time, until a mysterious Faerie appears with a proposition. He offers to restore Thistlemarsh…for a price. Mouse knows better than to trust a Faerie—especially one so insufferably handsome and arrogant—but she is out of options. There are dark and magical forces at work in the house, and Mouse must confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets of her heart or lose Thistlemarsh, and herself, in the process.

Review: While this wasn’t a perfect read, there was a lot to like about this book! It started off strong right off the bat with the setting and time period. While we see historical fantasy often enough, it still seems rare that we see books set during World War I, especially not as explicitly as this one is. The war isn’t simply mentioned; it’s a driving force behind much of the plot and character arc of the main character. We see the lasting effects in the village with its reduced number of young men. We see the complicated juxtaposition of a woman who has the skills and experience of a trade, but is still living in what is very much a man’s world. And we have the harsh realities of what life after war looks like: the loss of loved ones forever, the lingering pain of veterans who will never recover, and the challenges left to those who care for them and must move life forward.

I also really liked the way this more “true to life” historical fiction narrative was tied together within a world that once took for granted the presence of magic and Faeries, beings who have only fairly recently disappeared from the world. Of course, this is a fantasy book first and foremost, so no one but our main character is surprised when a Faerie shows up fairly quickly to involve himself in the mission to restore the dilapidated Thistelmarsh Hall. Speaking of which, I also really liked the general premise: a young woman given an impossible task; a magical being who comes to her aid with an unlikely bargain. It’s all familiar, but in a nice, familiarly pleasant way.

That said, while I appreciated the familiarity of the story being told, the manner in which it played out felt a bit plodding. The pacing in general was too slow for my taste, and there were numerous “day-in-the-life” sort of scenes that felt like throwaways to me, adding little to the story or character development. This sort of “coziness” doesn’t really work well for me personally, but I know others really enjoy it, so it really depends on your own personal preference how well this aspect of the book works for you. For me, the story itself felt like it was dragging, especially towards the middle, and scenes that I believe were meant to draw me in further to the character fell flat.

I also struggled a bit with the characters and the romance. This was a bit surprising when I looked back on my experience of the book, as I really enjoyed Mouse in the beginning of the story. She was smart, grounded, and driven to succeed where she had been meant to fail. But then, towards the middle of the book, she makes one truly wild and unnecessary decision that felt very out of character and was hard to reconcile with the version of Mouse we’d seen before. I also thought the romance played out in a rather strange way. It had some good things to say about consent, but overall, I didn’t find it very compelling by the time we finally got to the resolution at the end of the book.

Overall, I thought this was a nice historical fantasy novel. It was a bit too slow-paced and cozy for my personal taste, but the historical aspects really carried it through some of the weaker elements. Fans of cozy fantasies that move at a slower pace will likely gobble it up!

Rating 8: The pacing was on the slower side, but the strong historical setting and interesting blending of fantasy and Faeries overall left me quite pleased with it!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Thistlemarsh” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Debuts and Edwardian Fantasy.

Kate’s Review: “Bone of My Bone”

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Book: “Bone of My Bone” by Johanna van Veen

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, May 2026

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

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

Book Description: The year is 1635.

Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, and Elsebeth, a sharp-witted peasant, escape a band of marauding soldiers and disappear into the Bavarian forest. War scorches the land, and no one survives it alone. Amid the devastation, they find something in the arms of a dying the gilded skull of a saint.

It is said that if you reunite the saint’s skull with her body, a wish will be granted. Desperate for salvation, and each with secret desires of their own, Ursula and Elsebeth follow a ragged map across the blighted countryside. But darkness follows them. A necromancer, drawn to the relic’s power. The saint herself, whispering at night. And as the lines between blessing and curse blur, the women must face a harrowing the magic they seek comes at a cost.

At the journey’s end, they’ll face an impossible choice—one that could tear apart everything they know… or bind them to each other forever.

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel at PLA 2026!

Serena and I had the pleasure to go to the Public Library Association Conference this past April because it was in Minneapolis! How great that we could hop in a car and drive not even fifteen minutes away from my house and attend a book conference (we’ll be driving to ALA this year as well but Chicago is decidedly a longer trip). I restrained myself a bit when it came to ARCs as I knew that ALA was on the horizon, but I was THRILLED to see Johanna van Veen’s newest sapphic horror novel “Bone of My Bone” was available! I have enjoyed her past historical horror novels, and the creepy nun holding a skull on the cover definitely caught my eye. As I read the description I knew that I was going to be in for a treat. A dark and deeply upsetting treat, but a treat nonetheless, because it felt like a nice heady mix of “Evil Dead” and “The Witch” in a lot of ways. So obviously MY THING.

I was positively grinning from ear to ear! (source)

Our story has two protagonists with two perspective chapter types. The first is Sister Ursula, a nun who escaped from her nunnery leaving her sisters behind as mercenaries and soldiers descended. The second is Elsebeth, a peasant who has lost everything in the wake of the war due to violence from the soldiers. The two women team up, and then find what appears to be a Saint’s skull after meeting a dying man in the forest who has it in his possession. Believing that they could reunite it with its body and in turn receive wishes as reward (as they both have things they are desperate for), they go on a journey, the skull speaking to Elsebeth in her dreams. What they don’t know is a necromancer, assisted by a shambling corpse he has enslaved, is also in pursuit. I loved van Veen’s supernatural monsters of choice in this book (more on the real life monsters in a bit), with the main focus being split into two camps: necromancers/witches, and possessed dead called Nachzehers that necromancers use to achieve their own ends. The witchcraft is so appropriate for the time with the fears of witchcraft being incredibly prevalent, and I loved how creepy the necromancer was. As for his Nachzeher Otto, he is a former soldier who is being used against his will, though it becomes clear that he deserves whatever hell the necromancer brings to him (and the necromancer seems to think so too). The witchcraft was so creepy but powerful, and the Nachzeher, a folk monster from German culture, felt so Kandarian Demon Deadite in a lot of ways that I REALLY liked it. And don’t worry; there are other creepy creatures in these pages, though van Veen had me rather emotional with a couple of them due to the horrible ends that some met in life.

And van Veen’s choice of taking place during the Thirty Year’s War is such a dark but fantastic one. I don’t know as much about German history as I would like, especially during this time period, but to me this read as very unflinching and realistic in the horrors that a war that potentially killed 35% of the population would bring forth. This is probably one of the most brutal books I’ve read recently when it comes to the honest approach to the hell that civilians go through during wartime, with starvation, isolation, land loss, murder, and rape being pretty prevalent in the story (though the rape is mostly off page and referred to as opposed to depicted; this book also has a great list of trigger warnings in the back). A lot of the trauma experienced by Ursula and Elsebeth is haunting and emotional, and we explore their journeys of unpacking it and trying to work through it in ways that feel deeply tender and empathetic. Elsebeth in particular has had a terrible go of it, and her crisis of faith in contrast to Ursula faith as a nun bring up interesting and philosophical points as they are trying to reunite a potentially holy skull with its body in hopes of getting one wish. As mentioned I couldn’t help but think about Robert Eggers’s film “The Witch” at times in this book, as witchcraft is certainly a huge theme, but it also tackles just how much brutality women in dire circumstances had to endure, and how loss in one’s faith or the temptation to turn to something new is wholly understandable.

And I also just loved Ursula and Elsebeth’s burgeoning relationship. Their companionship starts due to shared trauma and determination, but then it turns into something so much more and I loved their growing romance. They just complement each other so well, and as they become more and more devoted the stakes just get higher and higher as they are in constant danger. I loved their love story.

“Bone of My Bone” is phenomenal. I cannot recommend it enough to horror fans. If you haven’t read anything by Johanna van Veen, consider this your sign to start.

Rating 9: Brutal and creepy while also being philosophical and tender, “Bone of My Bone” is van Veen’s best story yet. Just incredible.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bone of My Bone” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Books Set Pre-1800”, and “Horror Releases Coming in 2026”.

Kate’s Review: “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge”

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

Book: “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge (Saffron Everleigh Mystery #4)” by Kate Khavari

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Saffron Everleigh returns to Ellington Manor after her grandfather suffers a heart attack. Back in her childhood home for the first time in years, Saffron faces tense family relationships made worse by the presence of the enigmatic Bill Wyatt, hired on as a doctor to the ailing Lord Easting. But the man is no doctor—in reality, he is a mysterious figure involved in the trafficking of dangerous government secrets, and his presence at Ellington can only mean trouble.

When their neighbors, the Hales, invite a spiritual medium into the village who starts angling for Saffron’s mother’s attention, Saffron realizes that there is more afoot in her hometown than she originally thought. Not to mention inviting Alexander to Ellington has put their budding relationship under her family’s microscope.

As tensions rise at Ellington, Bill demands that Saffron hand over old research documents belonging to her late father. With her relatives under his power as their ‘doctor,’ Saffron fears she may be forced to surrender the files along with her hopes of ever understanding her father’s obscure legacy. Nothing and no one is as they seem at Ellington. It’s through the perfumed haze of the séance’s smoke that Saffron must search for the truth before it’s too late.

Review: It is once again time to return to post WWI England and into the world of crime and botany! As I mentioned last time I reviewed this series, I am going to read and review the most recent Saffron Everleigh mystery by Kate Khavari when it comes out next month, but I needed to play catch up! So now I’m taking on “A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge”, in which our plant minded heroine Saffron Everleigh has to return to her family estate due to her grandfather having a heart attack, and finds that a dangerous nemesis has seamlessly placed himself there as well. And it may be true that a lot of mystery readers like a nemesis, but this time around it didn’t really work for me.

But first the positives! This biggest part of this book that worked for me was the plot about spiritualism, which had a huge resurgence after World War I due to the fact that so many soldiers died in a horrific way. Khavari has mentioned the losses that our characters, be they Saffron or her friend Elizabeth, have had to endure, with Saffron’s own father being killed in the trenches as well as her childhood sweetheart Wesley, who also happened to be Elizabeth’s brother. When Saffron, Alexander, and Elizabeth return to Ellington they find out that Elizabeth’s parents, the Hales, have hired a medium to have a seance to try and communicate with Wesley to make sure he is at peace. While none of our main characters believe in it and know the woman is a fraud, this was not uncommon during this time to see grifters who took advantage of people’s grief for monetary purposes. I really enjoyed how Khavari brought this in and made it one of the big mysteries, as they KNOW she is lying, but she sure seems to be on the level.

I also always enjoy the relationships between Saffron and her loved ones. The first and most pertinent in this book for me is her friendship with Elizabeth, who is dealing with the fallout from her suitor in the last book being a lying murderous criminal. She is deeply hurt by these revelations and isn’t doing so hot, and I enjoyed how Khavari doesn’t make this an easy experience for her and how it is causing strain between her and Saffron, who is trying to be a good friend but has her own problems. Eliza is still my favorite character in these books (with Lee being a close second, and he DOES show up here for a bit!), and it was kind of refreshing having her be more than the free spirited snarky friend. As for Alexander, I’m still not his biggest fan, but now that we are done with the will they or won’t they and he is just being a supportive boyfriend (who has to impress her incredibly judgmental family, specifically her grandparents the Lord and Lady Easting) who has his own knowledge and skills to add to the plot. I also liked the setting of the aristocratic manor of Saffron’s family, as it felt a little bit “Downton Abbey” as she deals with her snooty grandmother and her ailing grandfather, as well as the secrets that her mother Violet seems to be hiding.

But there was the other aspect of this book that had a huge theme and plot point, and that is the nefarious character of Bill, who showed up in the previous book as an antagonist and has managed to weasel his way into Saffron’s circle by masquereding as a doctor for the Lord Easting. He was introduced a bit out of the blue in the previous book, and in this book we find out he wants research from that Saffron’s father left behind. He is set up as an ultimate nemesis for Saffron, and the idea of wanting research secrets is interesting enough, but I felt like his presence made for the least amount of botany themes that we’ve seen in this series. I also didn’t enjoy their battles of the wits as much as I had hoped I would, because we’ve seen the Sherlock and Moriarty nemesis trope so many times and unless you really reclaim it, it just kind of comes off as hackneyed these days. Having the two mysteries at hand and one of them being so focused on Bill just threw the pacing off and made it feel like it dragged on and on.

“A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge” had its ups and downs, and I hope we get a bit more back into direct botanical research and themes for the next book.

Rating 6: I enjoyed the spiritualism storyline and Saffron’s relationships are still enjoyable, but wasn’t as into this new ‘prolonged nemesis’ angle that we got with Bill as it really bogged the rest of the story down.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge” is included on the Goodreads list “‘Revenge’ in the Title”.

Previously Reviewed:

Book Club Review: “When the Tides Held the Moon”

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

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. Re-visiting some of our past themes, we’re once again pulling random words from a hat and finding a book that matches the prompts. 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!

Book: “When the Tides Held the Moon” by Venessa Vida Kelley

Publishing Info: Erewhon Books, April 2025

Where Did We Get This Book: We own it

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

Prompt Word: Moon

Book Description: In Coney Island, true love rises to the surface. With lush illustrations and buoyant prose, Venessa Vida Kelley forges an unforgettable New York fairytale.

Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds the eccentric sideshow proprietor who commissioned it. He invites Benny to join the show’s eclectic cast and share in their shocking secret: the tank will cage their newest exhibit, a live merman stolen from the salty banks of the East River.

More than a mythic marvel, Benny soon comes to know the merman Río as a kindred spirit, wise and more compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.

Releasing Río could mean losing his found family, his new home, and his soulmate forever. Yet Benny’s courageous choice may just reveal a love strong enough to free them both.

Kate’s Thoughts

I’ve been to Coney Island a few times in my life, having strolled on the beach and walked through Luna Park. There’s something special about Coney, and there is something that just feels so profoundly ‘New York City’ about it. When our book club chose “When the Tides Held the Moon” by Venessa Vida Kelley I was already on board because of a queer romance between a blacksmith and a merman, but the 1910s Coney Island setting made it all the more tantalizing. It just feels like a New York story.

I loved so much about this book. The setting is the first thing, as there is such a romantic and fairy tale aspect to 1910s Coney Island, and a circus that is teeming with found family potential. The idea of a ‘freak show’ having people living on the edges of society and finding connection and companionship with one another is always a story that’s going to hit me in the feels, and Kelley adds in the fantasy element of merman Rió and has even more of a punch. I loved the way that Benny finds love and companionship not just with Rió, but also with a group of people who feel Othered in ways that, while not being fully the same, resonate for Benny, who is a fish out of water in his own way thanks to coming to New York from Puerto Rico and dealing with racism and xenophobia. The way that he connects with people who also feel on the outside for various reasons, be it race, sexuality, gender expression, and other things, was a genuinely heartwarming aspect of this book.

I also really loved the romance between Rió and Benny, with the slow build up of their love story really capturing the tenderness and beauty of their connection. It really reminded me of “The Shape of Water” (and I know that isn’t a unique comparison, but that’s because it’s APT). We see it through both of their eyes to some degree, as while Benny has most of the POV we do get some interspersed chapters of Rió’s thoughts and feelings as well. I liked how they challenged each other and lifted each other up, also connecting because of feeling so alone in the world. It’s the kind of aching romance that will just capture a reader and sweep them away, and it was one of the most effective romances I’ve connected to in recent memory (hilariously enough, another one like this was in “Trad Wife” and it also involved a human and an otherworldly being). Both Benny and Rió bring such passion and joy to the relationship as it unfolds and the circumstances become all the more heightened due to Rió’s captivity and issues that Benny is having with his own role in that. I was fully invested.

I loved “When the Tides Held the Moon”. It’s dreamy and romantic and touching and buoyant. I can’t recommend it enough.

Serena’s Thoughts

While I don’t have as many connections to New York City as Kate (I’ve been once for about 24 hours, much of which was spent bar hopping with my sister because it was pouring rain, the ferry to the Statue of Liberty was closed due to hurricane damage, and we were constantly waiting to meet up with an overly busy friend who was delayed), it’s still a city that has a clear “presence,” for lack of a better word. And this book followed one of my favorite storylines for fantasy fiction, where the author manages to merge the fantastical right alongside the very real, very human world that we know. So on one hand, yes, you have a love story featuring a merman. But you also have a love letter to a very specific time and place, New York City in 1910s. This was especially appealing to me as I also enjoy historical fiction, and this is a time period and location (somehow I don’t read many historical fiction pieces that take place in the U.S.) that I was less familiar with.

The writing was also lovely. I’m a sucker for lyrical, whimsical storytelling and this one had it in spades. The style of writing only accentuated the primary themes of the story, those of love, found family, and what makes up a home. There were many lovely passages that had me stopping to re-read and truly appreciate the author’s skill.

The story is definitely on the slower side, which I think worked well, especially with the emphasis on the atmospheric nature of the storytelling and the slow burn romance that developed between our main characters. But for readers who are looking for a faster pace, this probably isn’t that. I’d also want to note that while “monster romance” is a big subgenre in romantasy currently, this doesn’t really fall into the same category. The love story here was much more intimate in the emotional sense and all the more beautiful for it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one! I had had it on my TBR for a while now, but hadn’t gotten around to prioritizing it. So yet another win for bookclub!

Kate’s Rating 9: A lovely and deeply romantic story about love, belonging, found family, and connection with a dreamy backdrop of 1910s Coney Island. I loved this book.

Serena’s Rating 9: Atmospheric and lyrical, this is a perfect blending of fantasy, historical fiction, and romance! Sure to be a hit with a variety of readers!

Book Club Questions

  1. What did you think of the time and place setting of this novel? Did you learn anything new about Puerto Rico or New York during this time period?
  2. Benny and Rió come from two different worlds but are drawn to each other. Why do you think that they had such a connection?
  3. Were you invested in the love story between Benny and Rió as the story went on? What other relationships in the book were interesting to you?
  4. Throughout the book we have mostly the POV of Benny, but we sometimes get more dreamy narrations of Rió’s perspectives. Did you like these snippets?
  5. What were your thoughts on the other side characters? Did any stand out to you?
  6. What circus stories from literature or pop culture could be compared to this book? Do you have any favorite circus stories?

Reader’s Advisory

“When the Tides Held the Moon” is included on the Goodreads lists “Best Queer Romantasy Books”, and “Gay Pirates and Sea Creatures”.

Next Book Club Pick: “The Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin

Kate’s Review: “A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets”

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

Book: “A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets” (Saffron Everleigh Mysteries #3) by Kate Khavari

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, June 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: London, 1923. Returning from Paris, botanical researcher Saffron Everleigh finds that her former love interest Alexander Ashton’s brother, Adrian, is being investigated for murder. A Russian scientist working for the English government has been poisoned, and expired in Adrian’s train compartment. Alexander asks Saffron to put in a good word for Adrian with Inspector Green. Despite her unresolved feelings for Alexander, Saffron begins to unravel mysteries surrounding the dead scientist.

As if a murder case weren’t enough, her best friend Elizabeth’s war-hero brother, Nick, arrives in town and takes an immediate interest in Saffron. Saffron learns Alexander has been keeping secrets from her, including a connection to Nick, who Saffron and Elizabeth begin to suspect is more than he seems.

When another scientist is found dead, Saffron agrees to go undercover at the government laboratory. Risking her career and her safety, she learns there are many more interested parties and dangerous secrets to uncover than she’d realized. But some secrets, Saffron will find, are better left undiscovered.

Review: I took a bit of a break from the Saffron Everleigh Mysteries after reading “A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality”. I didn’t really do it deliberately (I mean not totally…), as I think it was more a matter of lots of other books coming out and just getting lost in the shuffle. But now that Kate Khavari’s fifth book in the series is coming out this summer (and after being asked to read it… stay tuned!), I decided that it was time to get back on the horse. And so I picked up “A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets”, another botany STEMinist mystery with botanist Saffron Everleigh at the forefront in post WW1 London! And it was fun picking it back up, I’m happy to report.

Saffron gets pulled into another plant/poison based mystery when her old beau Alexander reaches out, saying his brother Adrian is suspected of murder after a man he’s traveling in a train car with drops dead of poisoning. Alexander hopes that Saffron will be able to help clear Adrian, and even though she is still a bit stung by Alexander she agrees to help. I admit that I missed Saffron and her flatmate/best friend Elizabeth. I felt right back into their banter again, and liked how they support each other not only in the mystery at hand but also in their day to day lives. Given that the second storyline of this book involves the sudden reappearance of Elizabeth’s brother Nick and how suspicious Elizabeth is of it, it was interesting seeing how these two friends deal with the mystery at hand as unexpected details come together (also it was a real hoot seeing Elizabeth and Saffron and Michael Lee from the previous book go to a night club of sketchy repute in hopes of finding information. Yes we’ll talk about Lee in a bit). And it does all tie in with Alexander’s worries fairly well. In fact, the mystery itself with dead scientists and a lab with unknown research was entertaining.

And the setting is still so perfect for me. We are now in 1923 London, and while WWI is behind them we are still seeing how it affected not only Saffron and Elizabeth and those around them, what with Elizabeth’s brother Nick cropping up unexpectedly and stirring up the grief of losing Wesley, Elizabeth’s brother and Saffron’s sweetheart, we also see the way that scientific research was affected post-War. Specifically in how the lab Saffron joins on the down low and the kinds of research it is doing with the memory of mass death still fresh. It’s fun how Khavari took a science thriller premise, that so much in the present focuses on scary new tech and the dangers of it running amok, and translates that kind of fear to a fear of tech one hundred years prior. That is what made this particular mystery stand out for me.

I will say that my big quibble that kind of marked down the experience for me is a petty one, and it’s one that plays a huge part in the story that kind of spoils some lingering questions from the previous book (and honestly, it’s also probably why I put off reading this one for as long as I did because I just knew it was going to happen). I want to talk about it but know that it’s a big ol’

(source)

Recall in my last review, I talked about Saffron finding herself in a bit of a potential love triangle, with the two points being old love interest Alexander (who had been away on a scientific excursion and came back super bitter about her for some reason) and Michael Lee, her forensic partner in poisonings last book. I thought that Saffron had much more chemistry with Lee, as the work together well and he always bolstered her intelligence while also trusting her judgement. Plus he was just more fun and less of an ass than Alexander, who was being a total jerk to her in the last book. Well, this book quashed it pretty fast and it’s made clear that Alexander is the one for her, and I was PRETTY irritated by that, mostly because HE WAS STILL BEING SUCH A WHINEY BABY TO HER IN THIS BOOK. He asks for her help with his brother, refuses to tell her why, and leaves out SO MANY DETAILS that she would need to know to be able to help him and gets all sour when she calls him out on it. WHY is this the guy that she is destined to be with? He’s such a drip. I do hope that Lee continues to show up because he’s a hoot, and maybe he and Elizabeth will start something up (honestly? That would be iconic).

So irritating romance nonsense aside, overall I enjoyed “A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets”. It had some interesting stakes, set up a clear path forward, and had some more science-y shenanigans with an unique historical lens.

Rating 7: A compelling mystery that still has a unique hook, “A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets” is another fun thriller with Saffron Everleigh and her friends buoying the story.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets” is included on the Goodreads list “Best Fiction Books About Plants”.

Previously Reviewed: