Threadneedle was not at all the book I expected, but I found myself engrossed in the story even though I was upset by the content. In this YA novel, Anna, who has been taught to suppress her magic by her abusive aunt, falls in with a group of teens who are all too eager to explore their magical skills. As they hex bullies and dabble in romance, Anna must determine whether her aunt is to … Continue reading Threadneedle by Cari Thomas
This guest review is from Aidee. Aidee recently graduated from law school, where romance novels provided a much needed break from reading court opinions. She started reading romance in high school, but isn’t quite sure which was her first romance read—Jean M. Auel, Fern Michaels, or something that she has completely forgotten by now. She loves reading, writing, chocolate, tea, and listening to music, although not necessarily in that order. The books she keeps thinking … Continue reading Guest Review: Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews
This book is a magical heist set in DC in the 20s. For those folks who just headed over to find a copy, I hope you like it! For those who need a bit more detail: I started this book on a chaotic morning when there was a lot of noise in my house and a lot of barking because of the noise, and despite all that, I could not put it down. Each chapter … Continue reading The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope
Flesh and Stone is a gargoyle romance, by which I mean that it is a romance between a human man who is turned into a gargoyle by a wicked witch, and a human woman. Also there is time travel, sort of. I longed for something truly weird, and it was kind of weird…but it failed to either be the kind of super incredible that makes you go “Oh wow, this is good!” or the kind … Continue reading Flesh and Stone by Emily Hemenway
Holly Black’s first novel marketed for adults is a gritty urban fantasy in which magic allows people to control their own, and sometimes other people’s, shadows, and in which the rich and powerful trade in secrets and books of lore while jockeying for power. The protagonist, Charlie, lives in the world of normality, where she is a bartender hoping to put her sister through college, and the world of magic, in which she is a … Continue reading Book of Night by Holly Black
Oooooh, folks, if you have ever thought, “I’d like a book about Pre-Code Hollywood, please, but make it queer, add magic and a dollop of horror, and have the main character be a Chinese-American lesbian who stars in monster movies as a killer mermaid,” then first of all I would say, “Wow, that’s very specific!” and then I would say, “Luckily here is the book RIGHT HERE!” because Siren Queen is pretty amazing. Our heroine, … Continue reading Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
CW: torture Holly’s first 30ish years as a vampire were pretty great, roaming around America with her maker/dreamy boyfriend, Elton. Then it all turned to shit when he got bored and abandoned her at a truck stop. Now, Holly’s alone, compelled to follow Elton from town to town (one of the vampire rules specific to this story), so she’s currently back in her hometown for the first time since 1987. Holly isn’t the only girl … Continue reading The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl
Well reader, I was wrong. I read this book up to the 31% mark and figured it was a DNF due to an over-reliance on clichés. However, I started skimming the middle of the book and had to back up and read the whole thing. Jane in Love is a wildly uneven book which I expect will be a love it or hate it book for readers. I enjoyed Jane Austen as a curious and insightful … Continue reading Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
I made a number of mistakes regarding this book. First, I read it after I received the ARC, which was months prior to release date. Though this makes me an Unintentional Scourge Among Book Publicists, I try to read ARCs as close to release as possible so that I can talk about a book when that book is available to buy, borrow, or request. As I joke often, I’m here to enable everyone else’s poor … Continue reading Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
If you are an Ilona Andrews fan (and if you aren’t, why not??) I have good news for you. Emerald Blaze gives us everything we expect from an Andrews book: a competent heroine facing an unusual supernatural threat, an alpha-esque love interest with whom she has scorching chemistry, a great secondary cast, exciting action, strong world-building and sense of place, and jokes on jokes on jokes. I truly enjoyed every moment of the reading experience, … Continue reading Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews
After three novels and a novella, you’d think I’d run out of new things to say about the Heroine Complex series, but the fourth book, Haunted Heroine, found new ways to surprise and delight me. This series involves a group of women, some with superpowers, who fight paranormal manifestations in San Francisco and who form a family. There’s Evie Tanaka, her sister Bea, Evie’s best friend Annie Chang AKA Aveda Jupiter, and trainer and bodyguard … Continue reading Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean, is one of those novels that has popped up in the comments and in book recommendation posts a lot of times and never gotten a full review. I figured I’d use some of my quarantine time to tackle it and what a long, strange book it was – sort of a romance, sort of a fairytale, and mostly a book about college. I feel like I’d need to read it … Continue reading Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
