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Book Review: Beast Becomes Her

Rating: 4.5 stars

Netflix’s Wednesday meets Norse mythology in this gorgeous dark contemporary fantasy following a teen berserkr sent to a secret magical academy where she must unmask the real killer behind the gruesome campus murders or risk becoming the next victim.

Edith has always been a good girl—she has to be, or her foster family might think she’s like her violent father. No matter how much anger simmers inside her, she keeps it buried, hidden…

Until the day she’s pushed a step too far, and that anger comes bursting out in the form of literal claws.

It’s then that Edith learns she’s a berserkr, a descendant of ancient Norse warriors with the ability to turn into animals. To avoid jail for attacking a student, Edith is shipped off to the mysterious Skallagrim Academy. The ancient school is supposedly a haven for people like her, a place where she can learn to control her powers and then push them down so deep that they’ll never come out again.

But someone—or something—is stalking the dark halls of Skallagrim.

On her second night, Edith stumbles upon a gruesome murder and is caught at the scene of the crime by Amund, who is tasked with hunting down wayward berserkir. Now, with Amund suspecting Edith as the killer, she’ll have to catch the real culprit to prove her innocence before she ends up in the hunter’s crosshairs—or becomes the killer’s next victim.

From start to finish, I enjoyed reading Beast Becomes Her because the story told in this book’s pages felt extremely relatable to me. Especially with how women are normally expected to repress their anger instead of it being acceptable for us to let it out whenever we feel it, which was a huge theme throughout this book. That’s why I found that I could relate to Edith’s character and everything she and the rest of the characters in this book go through. Edith had an extremely difficult upbringing that made me empathetic to her character, and I found I could relate to it, as I know what it’s like being around someone like her father.   

I also enjoyed the school Skalagrim, and meeting all of the characters at the academy. While it would’ve been nice to have had the opportunity to learn more about mythological beings other than berserkers, I really enjoyed the magical aspects of the story that were incorporated here. It was nice to see the magic that the author incorporated into the story, along with the mystery surrounding what was going on at the school that was causing all of these deaths to occur.

I also really enjoyed the mystery in Beast Becomes Her surrounding what was going on too, because it really wasn’t until the last one-hundred pages of the book that, as a reader, you don’t find out who’s responsible for what’s happening at the academy. And once you do, I found myself feeling terribly for both Edith and Amund because the revelation hurts them both in different ways. It’s also a wonderful twist because you never see it coming, and you wonder what’s going to happen to this person in the story now that you know they are responsible for all of the terrible things that’ve happened.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed Beast Becomes Her, and I highly recommend this book. Especially to those who enjoy fantasy books with a story that has a murder mystery told within its pages that takes place at a magical school. I especially recommend this book to women because I feel like one of the things I liked the most about this book was how it tackled the subject of feminine rage, as well as how it talks about domestic violence and its impact long after someone is no longer in a violent situation.

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Book Review: Scythe & Sparrow (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #3)

Rating: 4 stars

The final book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy – a friends-with-benefits dark romantic comedy.

Murder.

Mayhem.

And spice.

Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart, one he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska, far away from his almost-fiance and his derailed surgical career. It’s a simpler head down, hard work, and absolutely no romantic relationships. He wants none of the circus he left behind in Boston.

But then the real circus finds him.

Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with the Silveria Circus, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder when she’s not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with an injured leg, Rose finds herself stuck in Nebraska, at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor.

The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together.

…And the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts are to catch up.

Like the rest of the books in this trilogy, Scythe & Sparrow was an enjoyable read for me from start to finish. I was pretty sad to finish reading this book because I knew once I finished, I would be done reading these books for the first time. However, I enjoyed reading this book anyway because I was eager to see how Fionn and Rose’s relationship came to be.

What I enjoyed about this book was that Rose wasn’t a perfect killer here. It was something I wasn’t expecting with her character because of how she came across in the trilogy, up until I read her story. Rose comes across as a very confident, competent woman, so discovering that she’s actually not the best at killing and also gets queasy around blood was a twist in her story I wasn’t expecting. But I love the way her character is portrayed and how she handles herself despite how she gets when it comes to blood.

What I also enjoyed about reading Scythe & Sparrow was seeing the relationship between Fionn and Rose develop. Of course, I knew from the beginning that the two of them were going to end up together, but seeing their story unfold was wonderful to me. Especially because it felt like a realistic friends-with-benefits turning into love relationship.

If there was anything that I didn’t enjoy reading this book, it would be the conflict that results in a rift in their relationship. Yes, it was interesting to get to see Leander make an appearance here. However, I wasn’t too happy with what Fionn had to do in order to protect Rose, and that it caused them both heartbreak before the two of them were together again. While I enjoyed seeing how they were able to find each other again, I just wasn’t too happy with the circumstances that caused it.

I will also add that I’m sad to have finished this trilogy because I enjoyed reading these characters’ stories so much. I wasn’t sure when I first started reading The Ruinous Love Trilogy how I would feel about it, but once I started, I couldn’t stop. I had to keep going to see how their relationships were going to unfold, and I found I enjoyed reading about these characters and seeing their love for each other.  

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Scythe & Sparrow, the last book in the trilogy. Even though I’m sad to have finished reading these books, I highly recommend this series. Especially to those who enjoy romance stories that have some dark humor and are looking to read books that have a happy ending. For those interested in listening to the Spotify playlist I listened to while reading Scythe & Sparrow, you can check it out here.

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Book Review: Leather & Lark (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #2)

Rating: 4 stars

“I don’t just want to hear her laugh, I need to earn it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light. Without even realizing it, I’ve become addicted to it. To her.”

From the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the genre-breaking international TikTok sensation Butcher & Blackbird comes the second book in the Ruinous Love Trilogy—a hate-to-love dark romantic comedy packed with danger, chaos, and heat.

Contract killer Lachlan Kane wants a quiet life working in his leather studio and forgetting all about his traumatic past. But when he botches a job for his boss’s biggest client, Lachlan knows he’ll never claw his way out of the underworld. At least, not until songbird Lark Montague offers him a use his skills to hunt down a killer and she’ll find a way to secure his freedom. The catch? He has to marry her first.

And they can’t stand each other.

Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan Kane tries to hide inside. The surly older brother of her best friend’s soulmate, Lachlan thinks she’s just a privileged princess, but Lark has plenty of secrets hiding in the shadows of her bright light. With her formidable family in a tailspin and her best friend’s happiness on the line, she’s willing to make a vow to the man she’s determined to hate, no matter how tempting the broody assassin might be.

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the dark world that binds them together, it becomes impossible to discern their fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.

There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.

And this one has come for blood.

Just like Butcher & Blackbird, I really enjoyed reading Leather & Lark immensely, as it packed just as much intensity and heat as its predecessor. If anything, I love finding out how Lark and Lachlan first met, which leads to their intense dislike for each other. And waiting for the two of them to realize that they had already met before as the story progressed was entertaining. It was also nice to get to see Rowan and Sloane again, even if it was through someone else’s eyes.

What I also enjoyed about Leather & Lark was seeing the progression in Lark and Lachlan’s relationship from dislike to love. Seeing the two of them together, realize how much they actually have in common, and seeing the dynamic of their marriage of convenience shift as they start to work together to find out who’s killing the people in Lark’s family’s orbit. And of course, the soundtrack for this book was also good to listen to, just like its predecessor. I also enjoyed getting to meet Lachlan’s wacky boss, as he’s definitely an interesting character in this story.  

If there was anything with this book I disliked, it would be the storyline surrounding the mystery killer who was haunting their lives. I wasn’t too fond of him because he had chapters from his perspective in this book that didn’t really add much to the story. Like, I understood his motive, but he killed quite a few people before he went after the main characters in this book. And there’s never any explanation given in the story for why he kills those people before he targets Lachlan and Lark.  

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Leather & Lark and am excited to finish reading the final installment in the trilogy, Scythe & Sparrow. For those interested in giving a listen to the Spotify playlist I listened to while reading Leather & Lark, you can check it out here.  

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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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