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Book Review: Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1)

Rating: 4 stars

Every serial killer needs a friend. Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small-town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.

From beginning to end, I enjoyed reading Butcher & Blackbird immensely. With its witty main protagonists, both serial killers who kill bad people, along with a soundtrack you can listen to as you read their story, I was thoroughly enjoying this read. I’ve never listened to a curated playlist while reading a book before, and I actually enjoyed the playlist provided for this book, so I listened to it while writing this review. Listening to music while reading a book I enjoyed was a whole other experience, something I now realize I’ve been missing out on, and will need to make a much better effort to try moving forward, as I feel like it definitely helped suck me into the world of these characters and their story.

What I really enjoyed about Butcher & Blackbird was seeing these two different people who bring out the best in each other. Yes, they both kill people, but from the start, I saw the connection between them. With Rowan, he was good at making Sloane feel comfortable in her own skin and feel loved as she is. With Sloane, she was good at being there for Rowan during his darkest moments in this book, when most people would’ve fled. I also loved seeing their relationships with the other characters in the story, who I know will play a crucial role in the other books in the trilogy, such as Rowan’s brothers, Lachlan and Fionn, and Sloane’s best friend, Lark. You could see how much they both care about the people closest to them, and it was nice to see, when they are together, how the people they care about interact with each other.

If there was anything about this story I wasn’t particularly fond of, it would be how slow-moving their romance developed. Granted, I understood that they would start as friends before becoming more than friends. But I felt like there was more between them from the start, and it seemed like both Rowan and Sloane took a very long time to get to that point. At times, in the book, it was painful to watch. Because there were several moments where I thought, “maybe this is when it’s finally going to happen,” only for nothing to come of it. It was like Brynne Weaver built moments of suspense in their romance with no direction to guide it.  

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Butcher & Blackbird from start to finish and am excited to see what happens in the next installment in the trilogy, Leather & Lark. For those interested in giving a listen to the Spotify playlist I listened to while reading Butcher & Blackbird, you can check it out here.

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Book Review: When the Rain Came

Rating: 4 stars

The rain never stops. The world is drowning. Survival is everything. When the Rain Came is the first YA book in an all-new, action-packed dystopian adventure series by New York Times bestselling author Matt Eicheldinger.

“If we stay here, if we keep wandering without a real plan, we won’t last. Maybe The Hill is dangerous. But maybe it’s not. It’s the only plan we have.”

Seventeen-year-old Aurora knows how to survive. Life in the foster system has taught her how to stay quiet, stay smart, and stay ready. But nothing could prepare her for this: a never-ending storm that swallows cities, drowns forests, and turns the world into a flooded wasteland.

Trapped in a collapsing house with her strict prepper foster parents, Aurora is forced to live by their rules just to stay alive. Until the day they disappear without a trace.

Alone. Abandoned. And running out of time.

All Aurora has is a waterlogged scrap of paper and a “The Hill.”

With looters closing in and the floodwaters rising higher each day, she’s left with one impossible choice—stay and wait for the storm to take her, or risk everything on a journey through the drowned remains of the world, to a find a place that may or not exist.

It’s forward or nothing.

With echoes of Life As We Knew It, The Last of Us, and Hatchet, Aurora’s story is a gripping, emotionally resonant survival story about resilience, found family, and one girl’s fight to reclaim her future in a drowning world.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

When the Rain Came was an action-packed, gripping read that had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next. A story from the perspective of a character that you couldn’t help but feel empathetic towards, as she’s someone who’s never had anyone that she saw as family. Then, when she finally gets people in her life that she might actually see in that way, things in her life go haywire, and then they abandon her to the elements, and she has to learn to survive in a drowning world.

And I enjoyed every minute reading this gripping story, wondering where Aurora was going to end up next. I felt like this was a wonderful read because it had you on the edge with every chapter, and I felt like I could imagine the world Aurora was living in as she was doing everything she could to survive. It was truly an apocalyptic story, which was what I enjoyed about it, as you saw what these characters had to do to survive this world.

What I also enjoyed about When the Rain Came was seeing the story told from Aurora’s perspective. I found her character very enjoyable in this story because even with what was going on, she kept moving forward. She didn’t give up even when things were very grim for her. She kept fighting even when things were really bad. I also enjoyed the mystery surrounding the Hill in the story here, too, and not truly knowing if this place is somewhere the characters really want to go or not. I am also interested in finding out in the next book what’s going to happen to Aurora and the rest of the characters. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to everyone who loves young adult dystopian fiction. When the Rain Came is scheduled to be published on March 17, 2026, for those interested in reading this book.         

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Book Review: The Book of Blood and Roses

Rating: 4.5 stars

In book one of a seductive sapphic paranormal fantasy, a vampire hunter goes undercover at a mysterious university and falls in love with her roommate, an alluring vampire.

“Then her red eyes are on mine, gentle, deadly. She takes her time kissing my neck. I pull her closer and say: Bite me.”

In the mists of the Scottish Highlands is a university where vampire students study alongside humans.

Rebecca Charity is a vampire hunter undercover at the university, searching for the mysterious Book of Blood and Roses, a lost compendium of ways to kill vampires. If she finds it, she’ll be one step closer to avenging her parents, who were slain by those creatures of the night.

But when Rebecca arrives, she finds something unexpected: a coffin. Her new roommate is Aliz Astra, scion of one of the most powerful vampire families… and the most beautiful woman Rebecca has ever met.

The maddeningly gorgeous Aliz is everything that Rebecca has always hated, but also everything she ever wanted, and now Rebecca doesn’t know if she wants to kiss or kill her.

When Aliz rescues her from a vampire attack one moonlit night, she accidentally makes Rebecca her familiar. Now, they must work together to break the curse, but as they get closer to solving the mystery, Rebecca and Aliz get closer, too.

But can a vampire hunter ever fall in love with a vampire?

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

From beginning to end, I enjoyed reading The Book of Blood and Roses immensely. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I chose this book to read, but it met all of my expectations. The author does a wonderful job of giving me, as a reader, enough background on the main character, Rebecca, to understand her dislike of vampires and how she comes to be the vampire hunter I see as in the beginning of the story. As her story goes on you see Rebecca’s perspective when it comes to vampires change as she comes to realize when attending this school to blend in that not all vampires want to hurt humans.

What I also enjoyed about The Book of Blood and Roses was seeing the slow development of Rebecca and Aliz’s relationship. While this book does seem to describe their relationship as enemies-to-lovers, I’m not sure I see it that way. Only because while Rebecca doesn’t like vampires in the beginning of the book, I felt like she was pretty attracted to Aliz very early on in the story. I would say as soon as she sees her before she even knows that they are going to be living together as roommates, which doesn’t seem to happen for a little while because she somehow manages to avoid discovering that she even has a roommate.

I also enjoyed seeing Rebecca as a vampire hunter for Callisto and learning more about her background in that regard. I found that aspect of her life to be very interesting to me because I wondered what that was like for her. It was also interesting seeing what her relationship was like with Penny and how that impacted her life once she began attending this school. I will say though that I wasn’t really all that fond of Penny from the beginning because even though Rebecca seemed to trust her, I felt like from the start, she just always seemed cold and distant anytime her and Rebecca talked to each other. And it just felt odd to me since she was the character that introduced Rebecca to the world of vampires and because of how Rebecca felt about her throughout. Then again, Rebecca had been a part of this organization for a couple years at this point and had made zero progress on moving up so maybe I shouldn’t have been quite so surprised.  

If there was anything with this book I didn’t enjoy it would have to be that the truth surrounding the death of Rebecca’s parent’s felt rushed. I honestly wasn’t expecting to find that out in this book since Rebecca hadn’t initially been told what had happened to her parents when she first joined Callisto. Since this is supposed to be a series, I was expecting the truth surrounding her parents to occur later in the series, not something that becomes a main plot reveal in this book to be used for the next book. I think the reason it bothers me so much is because of the way she finds out more than anything. While the way she finds out is pretty cool overall and it does take a moment for the dots to be connected, I do also feel like it’s a rushed plot in the story. It makes sense with everything that happens to her character, but I also felt like it could’ve been better explained and better fleshed out.

Overall though, I really enjoyed reading The Book of Blood and Roses as I found I enjoyed Rebecca’s character and seeing her relationship with Aliz continue to develop. I also enjoyed reading this book since it was from the perspective of a vampire hunter attending a school with vampires while trying to blend in and learning more about her life as a vampire hunter. Just wasn’t all too fond of how the truth surrounding the main characters parent’s deaths gets revealed. Highly recommend this book for those who enjoy reading books with vampires, enjoy romance and wouldn’t mind reading a series. The Book of Blood and Roses was published on January 13, 2026, for those interested in giving this book a read.     

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Book Review: Persephone’s Curse

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Hazel Wood meets Laini Taylor in this gorgeous speculative tale of sisterhood, ghosts, and old family curses.

Are the four Farthing sisters really descended from Persephone? This is what their aunt has always told that the women in their family can trace their lineage right back to the Goddess of the Dead. And maybe she’s right, because the Farthing girls do have a ghost in the attic of their Manhattan brownstone —a kind and gentle ghost named Henry, who only they can see.

When one of the sisters falls in love with the ghost, and another banishes him to the Underworld, the sisters are faced with even bigger questions about who they are. If they really are related to Persephone, and they really are a bit magic, then perhaps it’s up to them to save Henry, to save the world, and to save each other.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

Persephone’s Curse is a story about four sisters who’ve been told their whole lives that they are descendants of Persephone. Raised in a home with a 17-year-old ghost named Henry, only they can see each with unique gifts. This book is a unique story that explores sisterhood, the struggles of falling in love and growing up, and the mythology surrounding Persephone’s story. All of which I found myself interested in reading to find out how Katrina Leno would combine these themes into the book.

And I enjoyed how these themes were captured in their story and the relationships among these four sisters. Even though Winnie wasn’t my favorite out of the daughters here, I felt like I’d gotten a wonderful perspective into their relationship with each other. Seeing how each of the sisters got along with the others was nice. I also enjoyed the mythology of Persephone and seeing each of the gifts the daughters had. Getting to see the connection between the daughters to Persephone and finding out whether they were really descendants of her or not.

If there was anything with Persephone’s Curse, I didn’t enjoy it was that I felt like I didn’t really get to know the characters as well as I’d have liked. The best example that comes to mind for me is seeing the relationship between Evelyn and Henry to understand how they end up falling in love in the first place. Henry gets introduced as the ghost in the four sisters’ home, but you rarely see him make an appearance in the story. Not enough for me to understand Evelyn falling in love with him to begin with, other than her being in the room where he spends the most time.     

I also felt like the character whose perspective this story focuses on, Winnie, was not the most interesting of the sisters in the book. I felt like Leno made her the flattest character in Persephone’s Curse, yet gave her the most interesting gift. I honestly would’ve enjoyed hearing this story told from the perspective of her other sisters because I found their characters to be more interesting than hers when I was reading, and I wanted to learn more about them.

Overall, though, Persephone’s Curse was still a pleasure for me to read. I enjoyed seeing the relationships between these four sisters and reading the mythology surrounding Persephone that was in this story. If you enjoy reading simple Greek mythology without too many complications, you’d enjoy reading this book. Persephone’s Curse was published on December 2, 2025, for those interested in reading this book.

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Book Review: To Kill a Queen

Rating: 2 stars

Enter a shadowy world of crime in Elizabethan London with this twisty historical mystery featuring a queer sleuth and a dash of romance!

When Queen Elizabeth I is nearly assassinated, the rebellious heir to a criminal legacy seizes an opportunity for a better life.

London, 1579. In the treacherous alleyways of London, Jack has left behind the life of petty crime, hoping to atone for the past by rooting out murderers. As the eldest child of a notorious and infamous figure who controls the slums, Jack has no safe place to land and dreams of a future off the streets. When an attempt is made on the Queen’s life, it falls to Jack to catch the would-be-assassin and fight for different future.

With the help of a coroner, Damian, a sultry barmaid with a secret, and the criminal connections from Jack’s past, the unlikely investigator dives into the case. But the former thief’s informants keep turning up dead, and every lead seems to vanish just when it feels within reach. As Jack follows the trail deeper into danger, the question who can truly be trusted? 

With the promise of security and redemption hanging overhead, Jack must uncover who orchestrated the assassination attempt before time runs out in this historical mystery, perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

To Kill a Queen was overall an okay read for me. What I feel like I enjoyed most about it was getting to learn more about Jack and the characters and the investigation into the assassination attempt on the queen’s life. For me, these two components of the book were what I enjoyed most because they are what kept me coming back to reading this book. Everything else about the book was a disappointment to me, as it had such potential but ultimately missed the mark.

What I enjoyed about the characters in To Kill a Queen was seeing the different relationships between them. In particular, I enjoyed learning more about Jack and his past. I wanted to learn more about what had happened before the events in this book, such as what had happened to his best friend and why the two of them acted the way they did towards each other in this book, and how he managed to become the investigator we see him to be. I also enjoyed seeing his relationship with other characters in this book, such as the coroner Damian, whom he saw as more of a father than his actual father, his father Axe, and the relationship that started to develop as the story goes on with Jenny. I was really invested in seeing how all of these relationships in this book would develop as the story went on, and I feel like this book did a decent job of delivering on this somewhat for me. There are some character relationships I was really rooting for here that I found myself ultimately disappointed with how they turned out, but I’ll delve into that later on.

What I also enjoyed when reading To Kill a Queen was seeing Jack investigate the assassination attempt. This investigation had so many twists and turns that I found myself eager to see where it was all going. Add in whenever Jack came close to uncovering who was responsible for the attempt, the people who had the information turning up dead, and I found myself very eager to find out how everything would come together. Even the truth of the situation didn’t end up ruining it all for me because I felt like it made sense to what Jack uncovered as he investigated. I will say for those who are hoping for a masterful case here, this book won’t be for you because this case definitely isn’t all that masterful once the truth is finally revealed.

Okay, now onto why this book was such a disappointment to me. So, to start with, remember how earlier I had mentioned that some character relationships that I was really rooting for in this book, but that I was then disappointed in how they turned out? The biggest example that comes to mind for me is the dynamic between Jack and Damian. In the beginning of To Kill a Queen, they had such a wonderful relationship: Damian, the coroner, and Jack, his protege. Throughout the book, they got along really well as Jack saw Damian as the father he never really had, due to how he was brought up. He trusted Damian wholeheartedly more than he trusted anyone else in this book. Then, later on in the story, it’s revealed that Damian has a gambling problem and owes some really bad people a huge debt, and he goes to someone Jack has been warning him since the beginning of the book to never go to to fix his problems: Jack’s father. And because he goes to Jack’s father, Axe, to take care of his gambling debt, you can imagine how this impacts the relationship between Jack and Damian. Jack basically sees this as a betrayal and finds that he no longer trusts Damian. This also ruined for me the way I felt about their relationship, too, because I honestly was hoping their dynamic would stay intact.

Another issue I had with To Kill a Queen was the overall plot itself. The investigation into the assassination attempt was interesting to read, but the story in between was just not all that interesting to me. Yes, I wanted to learn more about Jack and find out his story, but I felt like the information the author gives in this book just wasn’t enough to keep me interested. I felt like with a majority of it, I was just thrown into the story and was expected to know what was going on. The best example that comes to mind for me is concerning Jack’s strong dislike of his father, Axe. Like, I understand his father is in charge of a criminal empire. But I never truly saw his dad as a villain when reading To Kill a Queen until he obliterated Jack’s relationship with Damian. That was the only time when I understood what Jack was talking about when he talked about his dad being a bad person who couldn’t be trusted. Which reminds me that I feel like, as a reader, it’s never explained how Jack becomes the investigator he becomes in this book. None of that backstory is ever given here, just given little snippets here and there, where I see him struggle with doing the right thing, and at times, I found that was frustrating for me, too.

Overall, To Kill a Queen is an enjoyable read if you want to read a book about a simple case with an interesting investigation and getting to see the dynamics between all of the characters. However, if you want a more complex book than I don’t recommend this one for you because it will disappoint. To Kill a Queen was published on November 11, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.       

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Book Review: Witchlore

Rating: 4.5 stars

Holly Black meets Lex Croucher in this contemporary fantasy about a love story to raise the dead.

At Demdike College of Witchcraft, Orlando is an outcast. Not just for being the only shapeshifter in a college of witches. Not just for being a really bad shapeshifter, with no control over their magic or when their body switches between male and female forms. But because their girlfriend Elizabeth died – and it was Lando’s fault.

Then charming new boy Bastian arrives with a proposition: he knows a spell that can raise Elizabeth from the dead. It’s dangerous but Lando will try anything. But as Lando’s attraction to Bastian grows, questions start to arise. Who is Bastian? What does he really want? And who will survive the resurrection spell?

For fans of V.E. Schwab and Rainbow Rowell, Emma Hinds’ Witchlore is a spellbinding contemporary fantasy where the passion is as real as the magic.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

Witchlore was a fantastic book from start to finish that had me in a vice grip. From having a character like Lando, who struggles with the loss of their first love, I immediately found myself rooting for and hoping things would be alright in the end. The grief they experienced at witnessing Elizabeth’s death and how it’s covered in this book really can’t be described. Will say this book gets really dark with it, though, so for those who can’t handle that, I would highly suggest staying away. But personally, I find showing those moments of vulnerability and how a character overcomes their grief are needed in books for people who’ve personally gone through those moments in order to showcase the reality of grief and how it affects a person.

What I also enjoyed about this book was learning about the magic in this world, about the relationships between witches and shapeshifters. Something I personally felt like could’ve been elaborated a little more in the story, as a lot of this book was heavily focused on Lando and Bastian working together to bring Elizabeth back from the dead, I felt like there really wasn’t a lot of time spent fully explaining the relationship between witches and shapeshifters. I felt like what little bit I received was from the perspective of Lando and what they uncovered during their time getting ingredients for the resurrection spell, but not much outside of that. I also enjoyed the magic overall in this story, but would’ve loved to have seen more of it being used because again, I felt like that was something else that I personally felt like was lacking in the story too. I get why, because of who the main character is and what ends up being discovered plot-wise. I just personally wanted a little more myself since this is a fantasy story.

 I also found the truth surrounding the resurrection spell enjoyable. It was a twist that I was able to connect with early on in the story, but I felt it was necessary to allow both Lando and Bastian to move on from the grief and loss they experienced from losing the people they loved. I especially enjoyed seeing Lando’s different shifts throughout while getting the ingredients to perform the spell and learning more about their past that had been hidden from them.

If there’s anything I didn’t particularly enjoy with Witchlore, it’s how those who don’t fit in get treated in their world. This is seen by how Lando gets treated as a shapeshifter, unable to control their magic and bullied because of it. And Lando is treated very terribly by their peers, to the point of having no one at college that they considered a friend until Bastian arrives and changes everything. It also isn’t ever dealt with either, except for when Lando stands up for themselves, because whenever Bastian does, he ends up getting into more trouble than the person who’s bullying Lando.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Witchlore as it had my attention from start to finish. Had a unique set of characters set in an interesting world that I couldn’t get enough of, and I was sad when I finished reading this book because of how much I enjoyed reading their story. Highly recommend for those who want to read a story with magic and romance between two unique characters. Witchlore was published on October 14, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.  

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Book Review: And the River Drags Her Down

Rating: 3.5 stars

She has always known the rules – never resurrect anything larger than the palm of her hand, but that was before her sister died. A chilling, compulsive exploration of sisterhood, loss, and revenge.

When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. She becomes restless and hungry . . .

Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.

When their town is engulfed by increasingly destructive rain and a series of harrowing, unusual deaths, Soojin is forced to reckon with the fact that perhaps the sister she brought back isn’t the one she knew.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

And the River Drags Her Down is one of those books that slowly hooks you into the story. Because it took me a while to get into this book. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading this book. It becomes very clear from the beginning how much Soojin and her father haven’t moved on since Mirae’s passing. How much her death has impacted their lives. This book does a wonderful job of showing characters still grappling with grief, not being able to move on many months after it’s passed, and how it impacts everyone in one household.     

However, for me, I feel that this book moved slowly at the beginning to get to the most interesting aspects of the story. I get the point of it, too, though, because as a reader, it gave me insight into what their lives are like without Mirae. And I feel like that was needed to see once she’s brought back how her being here impacts their lives. I also feel like once she returns is when the story actually starts to pick up, because even though Soojin is the one who brought her back, Mirae’s character was more enjoyable to read to me than Soojin. She was just a more enjoyable person to me overall, out of the two sisters, as I feel like Soojin was just there in the story. Yes, she’s the one who brought Mirae back, but a lot of the plot in the story that occurred was due to Mirae’s actions once she returned. And I found her character more interesting because of all that she’d been through before her death, as well as after.

What I also feel like, And the River Drags Her Down does well, is show the relationships between all of the characters. You see this through Soojin’s friendship with Mark and through the friendship Mirae had with Bentley. I feel like all of the friendships in this book, you could see how they all changed throughout because of the events that had transpired as a result. You could see how Soojin and Mark lost touch because of what was going on with Soojin’s family, and you could see the complicated friendship between Mirae and Bentley due to the nature of their parent’s dynamic in the town. It was all an interesting dynamic that I was intrigued to read more about.

I also found that I enjoyed reading about all of Mirae’s abilities and how she went about finding out the truth about what happened to their mother. It was cool getting an insight into the past to get an understanding of why things transpired the way they did. I also found myself feeling really empathetic towards Mirae, too, though as I continued reading, because of how she had to become the parent in the family once their mother was no longer around. I think that’s also why I found her character more enjoyable as well, because she was the one who had to shoulder the burden of being responsible for everyone in their home.

I also wasn’t fond of how And The River Drags Her Down ends either. Granted, I had a feeling the way this book ended was how it ended up going. Because the best way for them to truly move on from what happened is to start over. But I was hoping there would be more with it than what gets shown, like seeing them after they’ve started over. I also was expecting more to happen because of her friendship with Mark, but she waited to tell him last. Which continues to prove why out of the two siblings, she wasn’t my favorite one to read from, because she continues to wait to put off difficult things for later. Will say, though, that the end of this book definitely wasn’t as bad for me as the beginning.

Overall, though, enjoyed reading And the River Drags Her Down, even if I initially had a difficult time getting into it when I started it. I felt like once her sister was brought back, the story started to pick up and get more interesting. I recommend this book as a good read for anyone interested in reading a story about a family dealing with grief, and who wants to read a horror story that primarily focuses on water horror. I will say, though, that if you are someone who doesn’t want to see any animals harmed in the books you read, you should probably stay clear of this book because there’s definitely some animal death in this one. And the River Drags Her Down was published on October 7, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.           

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Book Review: The Omen Girl

Rating: 4 stars

A pulse-racing ‘Ghiblipunk’ debut of magic, redemption, and a love that survives the dark between stars — perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim, Amélie Wen Zhao, and Sue Lynn Tan.

Abandoned by her parents when her Omen stain appeared, Sozo survives the streets through her secret weapon: her ability to conceal her curse. It’s a rare talent that her shadowy mentor, Esp, sees as the key to infiltrating and competing in the Decade Race of Stars.

The race is deadly, but the prize is irresistible: a single wish for anything. Esp dreams of using it to reshape the world, and Sozo convinces herself the risk is worth it, but keeping her stain hidden—and her monstrous side in check—is harder with every challenge, especially when sunny Naqi enters the picture, offering her kindness and friendship she was never allowed.

As Sozo fights to survive the race, doubts creep in. Should she claim the wish for Esp no matter the cost? But what if it hurts Naqi?

With monsters lurking inside and out, Sozo must decide whose future she’s fighting for and if she’s willing to pay the ultimate price.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

The Omen Girl was an enjoyable, young-adult read from start to finish for me. While the main character Sozo, isn’t someone I initially related to, I did find myself sympathizing with her in the story because of the struggles she was dealing with regarding her mark as an omen. What makes her character difficult to relate to is that she isn’t someone who makes herself approachable to anyone. While I understand why she’s that way here, it makes it extremely difficult to find her character at times sympathetic.

What I really enjoyed about this book was learning about the Decade Race of Stars and how these characters compete in it. The whole process of competing was so fascinating to me that I wondered how Sozo was even going to infiltrate the competition in the first place, let alone win and claim a wish. But the way Yueh Yang pieces her story together to create a pathway for her to enter the race was so beautifully done. And then the races themselves were also beautifully described. Really enjoyed learning about everything and seeing how Sozo was able to overcome every obstacle that came her way through these different trials as she competed in these races to try and claim the wish.

If there was anything with The Omen Girl I wasn’t particularly fond of, it would be how this book ended story-wise. I feel like Sozo pretty much saved everyone from a lot of bad things happening in this world, and doesn’t really get anything for it because of her being marked as an omen. It felt like they pretty much didn’t know what to do with her because of her being an omen and actually saving people instead of hurting people. And there wasn’t anyone around really to make sure she did what she was ordered to do after the events that transpired in this book, so I feel like she very easily could’ve done whatever she wanted afterwards with very little repercussions. I also didn’t like the ending because of how it left things with her relationship with Naqi. Granted, it was a relationship I had mixed feelings about to begin with, because I wasn’t sure at times how it happened, as the two of them are completely different people from each other. And with the way the story ends, the book leaves the reader wondering how their relationship is going to go moving forward.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading The Omen Girl as I found plot-wise the story gripped me from start to finish, and I really enjoyed learning about the races. I just wish the ending of the story had more to it, both for the main character and regarding her romance with Naqi. The Omen Girl was published on October 7, 2025, for those interested in giving this young adult fantasy book a read.    

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Book Review: The Dark Cove Theatre Society

Rating: 4 stars

An aspiring young actor must find her place at a cutthroat arts boarding school in this gothic YA debut for fans of Ace of Spades and If We Were Villains.

Violet Costantino knows she is already on thin ice this school year: her scholarship has taken a significant hit due to her panic attack during her final performance in acting class last semester—which simultaneously shattered her dreams of becoming a leading lady. This year, she is determined to keep her head down and just get through unscathed. But the school seems to have other plans for Violet: to her extreme foreboding, she is cast as one of the leads in the annual Halloween play. What’s worse, the beautiful, infuriatingly talented Frankie Lin and Violet’s ex-crush, Hunter Kinsley, are both cast as her love interests. Despite her initial reluctance, Violet is drawn in by the glamor of the Dark Cove Theatre Society, and she cautiously starts believing that maybe she is cut out for this after all. But lurking in the shadows of Violet’s fragile self-confidence is the rumor of the Society curse, which is said to cause one cast member to drop out before opening night every year, mysteriously and without reason.

In this captivating YA debut, The Dark Cove Theatre Society illustrates both the intoxicating and insidious nature of success and the price we are often forced to pay for it. Passages of found text—glimpses of the school’s handbook, secret letters, and other peeks into life at the Academy—seamlessly woven into the plot will immerse readers even further into the lush, magnetic world of Dark Cove.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

The Dark Cove Theatre Society was a wonderful read that I enjoyed from start to finish. What I enjoyed from reading this book was seeing Violet’s character development from the beginning of being cast in the play to the night of the performance. As a character struggling with anxiety, the last thing Violet wanted to do was star in her school’s annual Halloween play. Nonetheless, be cast as one of the leads in the play. All she wanted to do when returning to school was put her head down and make sure to get through the school year, writing plays instead of acting in them. But seeing her character gain confidence in her abilities in acting was marvelous, and I found myself feeling happy for her growth in this book. Felt like there were a lot of themes covered in this book that Sierra Riley brought into the story that teenagers today could relate to, as some of these teenagers were dealing with.

What I also enjoyed about reading The Dark Cove Theatre Society is the overall setting of the school. I felt like my imagination of this academy went wild while I was reading this book, and I just wanted to learn more about it. It felt like the perfect backdrop for everything that happened in this book, and I was excited to learn more about the classes Violet and her peers were taking. Especially when Violet tried out for the play and found out about the curse every year that causes a student to leave the school before opening night of the play. What also helped with my interest in this school was the way Riley would use newspaper articles from the school from the past that talked about the school, secret letters, etc. It felt like the perfect spooky read to me, with the way the school was set up, from the setting of the book to the curse that affects one of the students in the play every year. Also, I enjoyed learning theatre terminology throughout the book since I’ve never taken any acting classes in school.

If there’s anything with The Dark Cove Theatre Society I didn’t particularly enjoy, it would be how most of the aspects of the story I was looking forward to seeing happened off the page. For example, when you find out the truth surrounding the curse, it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to me because it seemed like that’s where the story was leading to. But when it comes to how those responsible for it get punished, the reader doesn’t get to see that unfold. You just heard about it through Violet being told that it happened instead of her witnessing it taking place. The same thing happens with the play, too. Yes, you get to see all of Violet’s character growth from the beginning of the story, when she was initially still reeling from what happened the previous school year, to her gaining confidence in herself as the school year goes on, during the practice of the play. But I was also expecting to get to see a little bit of the performance, too, just because of how central it was to the plot of this book. These are the parts of the story that I feel like should’ve been worked on and made the story all the more interesting to read.

I also wasn’t too fond of the romance in this book too just because I feel like there wasn’t enough character development for all of the characters in this book for the romance that does happen to really catch my attention. The only character who gets any development in this story is Violet, but everyone else in this book, from start to finish, acts pretty much the same. Which I don’t necessarily mind because her best friend, Kay, is one of my favorite characters in this book, along with the person who ends up catching Violet’s attention, Fran. All the other characters in this story, though, besides the ones I’ve mentioned, were pretty boring or mean and didn’t add anything to the story for me to care enough about what happened to them. Even the teachers at this academy weren’t great either.

As a whole, though, I enjoyed reading The Dark Cove Theatre Society as I enjoyed seeing Violet’s character development and getting to visit this academy. This book felt like the perfect read at this time of year, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading young adult, dark academia books. The Dark Cove Theatre Society was published on October 7, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.   

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