“No good day had ever started without breakfast. And no bearable one had ever started without a cup of tea” – Not Quite a Witch. The highest compliment I can pay Not Quite a Witch was that it felt like a wonderful trip into Disney’s Haunted Mansion Ride. It’s giddy, well-written and wonderfully witty. I loved the romance, the worldbuilding and the characters here – it’s one of the best spooky season reads I’ve encountered … Continue reading Not Quite a Witch by Anna Stockings→
This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next … Continue reading The Santa Claus Con by Lauren Kung Jessen→
As I was reading this one, I began to hope that there wouldn’t be a HEA as I wanted this book to be the start of a series. This became such a strong feeling that I stopped reading at 78% and emailed the book’s publicist to ask. I am delighted to report that it is indeed the start of a series! Yes! The Honorable Ginevra Bishop is a treasure and someone I would love to … Continue reading The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate Westbury→
Heather is one of those books that’s so hard to review because I want to say as little about it as possible while shouting its praise from the rooftops. It’s an intriguing and surprising mystery with a strong sense of place, and it also explores the bonds between sisters. If you liked God of the Woods you’ll like Heather (but Heather is better, IMO). The novel takes place in dual timelines between the present day … Continue reading Heather by Caitlin Mullen→
For the duration of my time with The Cloak and Dagger Club, there was one question which I kept asking myself: Why am I still reading this book? It was the same reason I finish every murder-mystery novel I pick up: I need to know who the killer is. Often this is to my detriment. I have dragged my suffering self through many a terrible novel just to know who killed the victim. It’s okay, … Continue reading The Cloak and Dagger Club by Jackie McMahon→
I persisted through this book for one reason: I NEEDED to know who the killer was. That’s it. That’s the only reason. As a mystery, it is compelling, twisty and enjoyable. As a romance, it made me want to throw my e-reader against a wall. So many of the secondary characters are total assholes. Truly. Even our heroine is a selfish dickwad. Across the characters, sometimes that asshole-ness is because they’re just assholes. For example, … Continue reading It Happened One Murder by Liz Lawson→
I picked this book up for the following reasons: The colours on the cover – hello neon! The title – what could a ‘safari murder party’ be? The use of ‘safari’ in the title. I am a Zimbabwean/South African and while I have been on plenty of game drives and visits to nature reserves, I’ve never considered any of that a ‘safari’ even though they’re marketed as safaris outside of my region. Fletcher is an … Continue reading Safari Murder Party by Rachel Moore→
While looking ahead at upcoming releases, I came across The Body in the Kitchen Garden, the sequel to The Potting Shed Murder. The sequel sounded intriguing and from time to time I’m quite partial to a cosy mystery and it has been a while since I read one. Why not see if I still enjoy them? So off to the library I went. Daphne, her husband, and her three children move to the English countryside … Continue reading The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton→
Yesteryear was one of my most anticipated reads of 2026 so it’s such a bummer that it fell apart for me. I think this book had the opportunity to be a really interesting commentary on the Trad Wife movement and on White Christian womanhood, but it took a turn that felt frankly kind of lazy. Natalie Heller Mills is a very successful trad wife influencer. She lives on a farm with her husband and six … Continue reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke→
The Midnight Show is a ridiculously immersive and compelling celebrity mystery told through interview transcripts, email messages, texts, and articles as a Rolling Stone journalist and sketch comedy fan researches and compiles a history of a late-night program clearly based on SNL. The journalist, Madeline, interviews all the original surviving cast members, and is attempting to both investigate the history of the first seasons and establish a timeline for the central mystery: what happened to … Continue reading The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne→
CW: Self-harm (historical), violence, death of secondary characters. AJ reviewed the first book in the series, Slippery Creatures and enjoyed it and so did I. There is a simple reason for this being a review of the next two books together rather than one: when I finished The Sugared Game I was in agony, desperate for the rest of Will and Kim’s story in Subtle Blood. This is the second time I’ve read this trilogy. It … Continue reading The Sugared Game and Subtle Blood by KJ Charles→
