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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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Book Review: Ladies in Hating

Rating: 4 stars

A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.

But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.

Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.

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

When I initially started reading Ladies in Hating, I didn’t find myself immediately hooked to the story. It wasn’t until more and more interactions occurred between the main characters that I found myself becoming more invested. This is because, for me, the book felt like a slow-burning romance between these two characters. Seeing the interactions between Cat and Georgiana is what made me more invested because their banter was entertaining to me.

Then, as the story progressed, I found myself intrigued by what was going to happen next. When the two of them end up in that manor with all of its intrigue and mystery, I knew this book’s plot was going to continue captivating me. Add in that both of these women were also authors who wrote the same type of fiction that happened to have similar plots, along with already knowing each other in the past, and I was sold on seeing the direction their story was going.

Ladies in Hating was enjoyable because I found Cat and Georgiana relatable characters that I was rooting for. Both of them had things that happened in their past that they hid from each other, that, once revealed, helped me understand their characters. But once I learned more about their characters’ back story, I was all in and was eager to find out the direction their romance was going and what more they were going to learn about the manor they found themselves trapped in together. I also enjoyed the secondary characters that were a part of their story, who played a role as I felt like they were just as important in the story as Cat and Georgiana.

If there’s anything with Ladies in Hating, I had an issue with it would be the lack of conflict between Cat and Georgiana. I feel like this book describes their rivalry really heavily, but I don’t feel like I see it all that much when I’m reading their story. Yes, they both write about the same genre of books, and apparently, they both happened to write about books with characters with similar names or plots, but you find out that none of it was ever intentional to begin with. If anything, it’s a connection that gets made by Georgiana in the beginning of the book that Cat doesn’t even know about until she’s confronted by her about it, so it’s not like it’s a connection that’s made in the story by the readers. Anytime there’s any issue in their relationship, it’s usually something minimal that’s resolved within a few pages, so any conflicts I’ve seen in this story between Cat and Georgiana didn’t seem like all that much in comparison to other romance books I’ve read.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Ladies in Hating and seeing Cat and Georgiana’s relationship develop throughout. I highly recommend reading this book to those who enjoy reading romance novels, especially those who wouldn’t mind reading an LGBTQ romance. Ladies in Hating was published on September 23, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.    

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Book Review: Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories

Rating: 4.5 stars

Featuring the voices of both new and acclaimed Indigenous writers and edited by bestselling Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of interconnected stories serves up laughter, love, Native pride, and the world’s best frybread.

The road to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June’s serves up more than it hosts, live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again.

That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.

Featuring stories and poems Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

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

As a white woman who hasn’t gotten the opportunity to read Indigenous Writers’ works, I felt like this collection of short stories was a good way to introduce me to their voices. Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories is a collection of stories told from the perspectives of various Indigenous characters, all of whom are seeking something. And how going to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In helps them find exactly what they’re looking for.

The biggest themes in this collection, I noticed, were connection, acceptance, family, and love. Each of the short stories here explores one or more of these themes through the characters and their experiences as they end up at Sandy June’s. And as this book is geared towards a YA audience, particularly for Indigenous YA, these themes are great ones for the audience these stories are aimed at. Even though I know I’m not the main target audience for this collection, I love reading YA along with short story collections from authors who don’t look like me because I always find myself learning something from what I read. And my experience with reading Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories was no different. I saw through these stories how much of a community Indigenous Persons cultivate with each other, and I love it.   

From the first page, Sandy June’s sounded like a magical place. A place that I know, if I were an Indigenous Person, I would be interested in finding. It felt magical because the way to finding it was different for each Indigenous Person. But also in a lot of these stories, it felt like those who were lost also stumbled upon it, too. It was a beautiful thing to me because their reactions to this wonderful-sounding place were all disbelief and wonder. And then getting to see how they all interacted with everyone else already there when they arrived was great too. I also loved the descriptions of the place and what it had to offer Indigenous Persons who made it there.

I also enjoyed Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories because of the emotions it evoked in me. In certain stories I read, I was really giddy with happiness at how things turned out. Then others made me burst into tears. Even though I’m not an Indigenous Person, I felt for these characters who found themselves at Sandy June’s for different reasons. I also loved the variety of these stories, as I felt like this collection had a unique set of Indigenous characters.

If there’s anything with this collection I would like is that I wanted more. I wanted to know about the characters’ stories, what their lives were like after going to Sandy June’s. I think this could’ve been accomplished by making a summary after the stories, talking about Sandy June’s impact on their lives.  

Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories was a wonderful read that I highly recommend. I especially recommend this collection to Indigenous Persons, young adults, anyone who enjoys reading short story collections, and anyone who wants to read about other cultures. I feel like anyone who reads this will learn something from it, so I’m hoping more people read this collection. Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories was published on August 26, 2025, for anyone interested in giving this a read.    

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Book Review: The Secret Book Society

Rating: 4 stars

A captivating new historical novel from Madeline Martin, set in Victorian London about a forbidden book club, dangerous secrets, and the women who dare to break free.
 
You are cordially invited to the Secret Book Society…
 
London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.
 
Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder.
 
As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.

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

The Secret Book Society was an enjoyable read for me. What I enjoyed about this book was reading the stories of these women during this time and seeing the friendships they developed with each other as the book progressed. Even though all these women’s stories were different, what they had in common was being suppressed by the men in their lives and not being able to enjoy a hobby that they loved. I really loved seeing these women come together in sisterhood and watching their friendship with each other blossom into a support system that was there for each other when needed.

I especially enjoyed reading this book because I found I could relate to the struggles one of the characters was dealing with. Having big emotions that you don’t always feel like you have control over is something I can definitely relate to, so I deeply felt for Lavinia when the book was from her perspective. I felt like I could relate to both Eleanor and Rose as well, but not quite as much as the struggles Lavinia was facing when it came to her emotions and how she handled situations she found herself dealing with in this book.

I also enjoyed that this book was from these women’s perspectives, and getting to learn more about Lady Duxbury through her diary. Hearing each of these women’s voices during this time was wonderful, even when I found myself feeling frustrated by the men in their lives. I enjoyed getting to learn more about Lady Duxbury, too, because you were able to see how she became the character you see in The Secret Book Society. Yes, she still ends up having some mystery to her character, but I feel like getting to read her diary was a great way to learn more about her.  

If there was anything I didn’t particularly enjoy with this book, it would be the ending. I enjoyed that things worked out for all of these characters, but I wanted to see more of their story after the events that transpired, instead of getting a little snippet about what happened. This is mostly because I enjoyed reading their story, but also because I wanted to see how their friendship continued to grow with everything they’d gone through.

As a whole, though, I enjoyed reading The Secret Book Society. I think it’s a book women should read to learn about what happened to women during that time and to see how they were treated by men because of their gender. Especially because each of these women are very relatable too. The Secret Book Society was published on August 26, 2025, for anyone interested in giving this book a read.  

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Book Review: Dive

Rating: 3.5 stars

From the moment Kassandra Conner leaps from the diving board to the moment she hits the water, everything feels in control.

The rest of her life does not.

St. Lawrence Academy is supposed to have everything Kass’s old school didn’t: safe hallways, small classes, and, most important, a chance to dive. But since transferring, all Kass can think about is what’s missing. Like her best friend, Aleah, who’s starting to pull away. Or the comfortable life so many of her classmates enjoy while Kass’s family’s restaurant struggles to stay afloat. Even the excitement she always felt in the pool, now that she’s on the same team as Amber Moore—the best diver in the state, who’s barely said two words to her all year.

Kass feels like she’s drowning, until she meets a boy named Miles. He’s a diver, too—someone who searches through dumpsters in the posh side of town for things he can salvage or sell. Miles knows what it’s like to be boxed in by things you can’t control, and as Kass spends more and more time with him, she starts to wonder what would happen if she tried to break out of her own box—and what she might lose by doing so.

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

Dive is a short coming-of-age story from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl named Kass who’s going through a lot of changes in her life. This book does a wonderful job of portraying these changes through Kass’s perspective as she struggles to fit in at her new school on the diving team, while still staying in touch with her best friend, Aleah, and realizing the struggles her parents are facing in keeping the family restaurant afloat. Also tells her story in meeting Miles, a boy who also does a type of diving of his own: dumpster diving, and her realization that people have bigger problems to deal with than struggling to fit in at school and make friends.

The main themes in this book’s story are powerful, as Dive is a story teaches you not to judge others by their appearances, that sometimes change can be a wonderful thing, and that you don’t always know what other people are going through. You see these themes sprinkled throughout the story through the choices Kass makes when it comes to her friendship with Miles, and how, as the book goes on, she starts up a friendship with Amber, the girl she sees as the best diver on her team, who didn’t seem approachable to her at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed seeing Kass’s character develop in the story because of her interactions with Miles and how she was able to gain confidence to become friends with Amber and gain confidence to improve in diving.

I also enjoyed seeing her friendship with her best friend, Aleah. At the beginning of the story, Kass was worried about how attending St. Lawrence Academy would change her friendship with Aleah. She was worried that they would end up losing touch just because they weren’t talking as much since Kass attended her new school. But after the salsa night/sleepover at her house with Aleah and Amber, I felt like, if anything, her friendship with Aleah had improved. And I also felt like it showed that while some things in her life changed, her friendship with Aleah wasn’t something that would change just because she was at a different school.

However, while I enjoyed reading Dive, I have some criticisms of this book, too. I felt like there were times when I was taken out of the story because of Kass’s character. For a thirteen-year-old, her voice in the story didn’t come across as her being that age to me. Yes, she didn’t make the best choices in the story, and her actions made her come across as her age. But when it came to her awareness of her parents’ struggling financially and her being aware of others having bigger issues than her, I felt like she had more maturity than I was expecting of her character. Yes, I’m aware that kids have more awareness of things than people tend to give them credit for, but I do feel like her voice in this book has more awareness for someone her age than you’d expect, which made me sometimes forget that she was only thirteen, as her character easily could’ve been a couple of years older.

Speaking of age, though, while I enjoyed her friendship with Miles and enjoyed his character, I also found their friendship problematic. He’s older than her by several years, which becomes a problem in this book pretty early on. Especially because the circumstances Kass meets him from the outside looking in are perceived as suspicious. I know from her talking about him and their interactions in the story that he had no bad intentions when it came to their friendship. But she’s aware, too, that her choice in spending time with him is something the people closest to her wouldn’t be okay with, either, since anytime from the moment she meets him, she’s lied about where she’s going and who she’s hanging out with. This becomes especially apparent when she tells Aleah and Amber about him as well, because they have the reaction you’d expect: concerned for her well-being and worried that he’s taking advantage of her. I feel like having this age gap takes away from the overall message this book was conveying to its readers because their age difference becomes a main conflict in the story that causes problems. I feel like it took away from the main themes in the story by creating conflict with it. I wouldn’t see it as too much of an issue if Kass’s character hadn’t developed feelings for Miles, if Kass were closer in age to him, and if the other characters in the story (such as her friends and family) didn’t have an issue with it.

As a whole, though, I enjoyed reading Dive as I found Kass’s struggles relatable, and it was nice to see her character development throughout. I just wish the author had made her character a little bit older, as I feel like it would resolve a lot of the issues I had with this book. I do still recommend this book, though, especially to younger readers, as I feel like they’ll enjoy reading this book, and I feel like the themes they would be able to relate to. Dive was published on August 19, 2025, for those interested in reading this book.

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Book Review: Guardians of Dawn: Yuli (Guardians of Dawn #3)

Rating: 4 stars

Princess Yulana has a few problems. Her late grandfather has died without naming an heir, civil war threatens to tear the Morning Realms apart, a strange waking dreamer sickness is sweeping through the land, and a plague of hungry ghosts roam the steppes. On top of all of that, Kho, her former best friend turned rival, is getting under her skin. A struggle for power divides the north, and the outcome rests on the winner of the Grand Game―a competition that will determine not just the future of her people, but the course of the entire empire.

When the world is out of balance, the Guardians of Dawn are reborn.

As the Guardian of Wind, it is Yuli’s responsibility to bring order to chaos, along with the Guardian of Fire and the Guardian of Wood. But can she restore balance to the Morning Realms when she can’t even win the political games being played at home? The fate of the Morning Realms depends on the Guardians of Dawn, and whether Yuli can manage both the demonic and political chaos at once.

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

After reading this book’s predecessors, Guardians of Dawn: Yuli does a wonderful job of picking up where they left off, and keeps me, as a reader, hooked to find out what happened next. I already knew I’d enjoy reading a book from Yuli’s perspective because I’ve enjoyed her character since she was introduced in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara. And this book confirmed that, because her perspective was what I was expecting. However, I also enjoyed it because she’s an enjoyable character in this series to me. What makes her enjoyable as a character is how relatable she is. I also enjoyed getting to see her use her magic as the Guardian of Wind.

What I also enjoyed about reading this book was the perspectives of the other characters. I especially enjoyed reading Yuli’s best friend Kho’s story. Like Yuli, I found her to be enjoyable to read about. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters that had both of them in it, as I enjoyed seeing their interactions with each other. At the same time, though, I also felt bad for Kho in this book. She has a lot that’s expected of her to do in the name of her family, and then a lot of bad things happen to her family as the story progresses. I also enjoyed seeing Zhara and Ami again here and seeing what they were up to after the events in Guardians of Dawn: Ami. It was nice getting to see them again and having them all work together with Yuli and Kho.

What I also enjoyed about Guardians of Dawn: Yuli was the fantasy elements in the story, as well as learning about the Grand Game. In this book, there’s a waking dreamer sickness infecting people in the Morning Realms that only Yuli’s magic as the Guardian of Wind can help heal. But she has something else to deal with while this is going on because the Morning Realms are currently under threat of war. This is due to the death of her grandfather, who didn’t name a successor to the realm, and she volunteers to compete in the Grand Game to prevent the empire from falling into the wrong hands. I enjoyed this aspect of the story because I felt like, as a reader, I was getting to see what was going on in Yuli’s life and what she would have to do as the Guardian of Wind to help protect the world from evil.

If there’s anything with Guardians of Dawn: Yuli that I didn’t enjoy, it would have to be how predictable certain moments in the story were, and the ending. When I was reading, I felt like I knew pretty early on which character was the demon responsible for the waking dreamer sickness that Yuli would have to face. And as the story continued and events happened, I felt like I was just receiving even more confirmation that this character was responsible for what was going on here. While I don’t necessarily mind, I feel like it did take away from me wanting to find out who it was because of how it would impact one of the characters’ lives. I also didn’t like the ending too, because I feel like it left a lot unresolved. Granted, I know there’s going to be another book in this series, as I know the last Guardian hasn’t been revealed yet. But I feel like it left so many things open that I’m having a hard time visualizing how the next book will wrap everything up. I also didn’t like it because of how it’ll impact Yuli and Kho’s relationship in the next book.

But overall, I enjoyed reading this book just as much as I enjoyed reading the rest of the books in this series. And I highly recommend this book to anyone else who’s already read Guardians of Dawn: Zhara and Guardians of Dawn: Ami and found they enjoyed those books in this world and want to read more of the characters’ story. I also recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a story that focuses more on the fantasy elements in the plot than romance, as while there’s romance in this series, it’s pretty light in comparison to other book series I’ve read. So if you love reading books with fantasy and romance but focus more on fantasy, I think you’ll really enjoy reading this. Guardians of Dawn: Yuli was published on August 19, 2025, for those interested in continuing to read the Guardians of Dawn series.        

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Book Review: The Witch’s Orchard

Rating: 4 stars

A ninth generation Appalachian herself, Archer Sullivan brings the mountains of North Carolina to life in The Witch’s Orchard, a wonderfully atmospheric novel that introduces private investigator Annie Gore.

Former Air Force Special Investigator Annie Gore joined the military right after high school to escape the fraught homelife of her childhood. Now, she’s getting by as a private investigator and her latest case takes her to an Appalachian holler not unlike the one where she grew up.

Ten years ago, three little girls went missing from their tiny mountain town. While one was returned, the others were never seen again. After all this time without answers, the brother of one of the girls wants to hire an outsider, and he wants Annie. While she may not be from his town, she gets mountain towns. Mountain people. Driving back into the hills for a case this old—it might be a fool’s errand. But Annie needs to put money in the bank and she can’t turn down a case. Not even one that dredges up her own painful past.

In the shadow of the Blue Ridge, Annie begins to track the truth, navigating a decade’s worth of secrets, folklore of witches and crows, and a whole town that prefers to forget. But while the case may have been buried, echoes of the past linger. And Annie’s arrival stirs someone into action.

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

From start to finish, The Witch’s Orchard was a thrilling read that I couldn’t wait to read to its conclusion. With the setting taking place in a small mountain town in North Carolina, I felt like I could imagine what the inhabitants were like whenever Annie described them, as they all seemed like the typical people who would live in such a place. I also felt that I could imagine the terrain where this story takes place, and I was excited to find out where Annie’s investigation would lead me as a reader.

One of my favorite things about the story here was uncovering the mystery surrounding these young girls’ disappearances. There’s just something really exciting to me about reading books where people go missing through the investigator’s eyes to uncover who’s responsible and why. I think a lot of the excitement, to me, stems from trying to figure out who’s responsible, as the investigator is interviewing people and uncovering clues. And along with that, these disappearances happened in such a small town, which made it more interesting because there are only so many people who could’ve taken them. I found myself feeling like Annie and having a difficult time pinpointing who I thought had taken them.

What I also enjoyed about The Witch’s Orchard was the local story about the Quartz Creek Witch. During her investigation, Annie asked everyone in the town about this story, and each person’s account of it was different. And I loved that not everyone told her this story the same way, because I felt like it was just another mystery, along with finding out what happened to the girls who disappeared in this town. It also made you wonder if the person who took the girls felt a connection to the Quartz Creek Witch in that the person responsible felt like they were giving these girls a better life than the one they had.

If there’s anything with this book, I didn’t particularly enjoy it was the lack of character development and the ending. In this book, I wanted to learn more about Annie and her life. While The Witch’s Orchard does give you a sneak peek into her past before coming into this town, I felt like it gave me just barely enough to keep me hooked on the story. But I wanted to learn more, especially about her relationship with Leo, which gets hinted at throughout, and how she grew up, which also gets hinted at here. I also wanted to learn more about these characters in this small town she goes to, but I feel like with this book, we barely get to know them before the case is solved and she goes back home. That’s why I wasn’t particularly fond of the ending, too, because I wanted to see what happened with these characters now that Annie figured out who took the girls.

But overall, I enjoyed reading The Witch’s Orchard. It was a book with just enough mystery to keep me hooked and coming back for more. I also enjoyed the setting, taking place in a small mountain town in North Carolina, and the different local stories about the Quartz Creek Witch. The perfect read for anyone looking for a simple mystery to enjoy. The Witch’s Orchard was published on August 12, 2025, for anyone interested in giving this book a read.          

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Book Review: This Here is Love

Rating: 4 stars

Three people—two enslaved, one indentured—live beside each other, fighting, and sometimes failing, to be more than their pasts say they should be.

1690s, Tidewater, Virginia. Bless, born into slavery and taken by her masters to toil in the house, faces her mother’s fury, learning that cruelty can come from any side. David, an enslaved child of a freed father, dreams of the promise of liberty made to him. Jack, an impoverished Scots-Irish boy, sails to America to be indentured but, in the hellish crossing, finds his hopes fracturing. Yet, somehow, they all will stake a claim to love.

Hurston-Wright Award winner Princess Joy L. Perry tells us a previously unheard story—one in which characters must carve out choices from the narrowest of circumstances and confront heartrending How far would you go to protect your children from enslavement? How to create a lasting family after being torn from your own? What to value a hard-won opportunity or your humanity? This Here Is Love is an unforgettable story from an astonishing new voice.

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

This Here is Love was a challenging book to read, as it dealt with the difficult topic of slavery during the 1690s. The premise of the book centered on three different perspectives and their struggles with slavery: one struggling with slavery, one a free man looking to buy his family into freedom, and the last a man born into servitude, only for unexpected circumstances to occur that changed his lot in life. All three perspectives are unique in how they discuss what’s going on in their lives and deal with their lot in slavery, making this book an interesting read to me, despite how difficult it is to read about people not having a say in how they live their lives.

What I also enjoyed about reading this book was seeing the relationships between the different characters in the story, mostly about seeing Andrew’s relationship with his family and Bless’s relationship with her mother, Cassie. I was also happy to see Bless and David end up finding love in their lives with others than again with each other. I wish the circumstances of Bless and David being together were different, but I am glad they had each other for a little bit, as I felt like they truly needed each other.

As hard as this book is to read, I enjoyed how real the story is. It might not be pleasant to read about slavery in This Here is Love, but I felt like I learned a lot about that time. It makes me realize that no matter how difficult things are in my life, I’ll never have to deal with being seen as less than because of the color of my skin.

If there’s anything about this book, I didn’t enjoy, it would have to be the chapters from Jack’s perspective and the ending of this book for all of the characters. When Jack’s character was first introduced, I didn’t mind his character all too much. But as This Here is Love continues, I found myself disliking his character more and more. It’s not like I don’t understand why he makes the choices he makes, doesn’t mean I have to like them though either. I just got to a point where I didn’t have any sympathy for his character, even when he realizes in the end that his flesh and blood aren’t immune to being sold as a commodity. Yes, he makes the right choice in the end, but it’s not enough to redeem him for me. I also didn’t like the ending of this book with these characters because I felt like it left too much to interpret. I’d love to think that Andrew was not only reunited with his wife and son but also the rest of his family, too. But considering this time, it’s hard to imagine him getting his whole family back. I also want to believe that Bless gets reunited with her love, but I have a hard time imagining it.

As a whole, though while This Here is Love is a challenging read because of how it tackles slavery, I enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives, how real the story truly feels, and the relationships between the characters. Just didn’t enjoy reading Jack’s perspective, and wish the ending didn’t leave too much open-ended. I highly recommend though to anyone interested in reading historical fiction that talks about slavery. This Here is Love is set to be released on August 5, 2025, for those interested in giving this book a read.          

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Book Review: The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey

Rating: 4 stars

As spiritualism reaches its fevered pitch at the dawn of the 20th century, a Scottish girl crosses the veil to unlock a powerful connection within an infamous asylum in this thrillingly atmospheric, exquisitely evocative exploration of feminine rage and agency for readers of Sarah Penner, Alice Hoffman, and Hester Fox.

Leaving behind a quiet life of simple comforts, Nairna Liath traverses the Scottish countryside with her charlatan father, Tavish. From remote cottages to rural fairs, the duo scrapes by on paltry coins as Tavish orchestrates “encounters” with the departed, while Nairna interprets tarot cards for those willing to pay for what they wish to hear.

But beyond her father’s trickery, Nairna possesses a genuine gift for communicating with the spirit world, one that could get an impoverished country girl branded a witch. A talent inherited from her grandmother, Lottie Liath, widow of a Welsh coalminer, whose story of imprisonment and exploitation in a notorious asylum is calling out to Nairna from four decades past—a warning to break free from the manipulations, greed, and betrayals of others.

What do the cards hold for Nairna’s future?

Rescued from homelessness by a well-connected stranger, Nairna is whisked into a new life among Edinburgh’s elite Spiritualist circle, including visiting American star Dorothy Kellings. Researchers, doctors, psychics, and thrill-seekers clamor for the rising young medium. But after a séance with blood-chilling results, a shocking scandal ensues, and Nairna flees to a secluded community near Boston, where she assumes a new Nora Grey.

But Nora can’t stay hidden when Dorothy Kellings offers her the chance to face all comers and silence skeptics at a spectacular séance at Boston’s Old South Meeting Hall, where Nora will come face to face at last with her spiritual the courageous Lottie Liath, whose heart-wrenching story and profound messages are indelibly tied to Nora’s destiny.

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

The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey is a fantastical historical fiction novel that focuses on the history of spiritualism. This is explored through the perspectives of Nairna (also known as Nora Grey) and her grandmother, Lottie, who both unexpectedly discover their spiritual abilities. I enjoyed reading the perspectives of both women on what was happening in their lives and how they each confronted their newly discovered abilities, as I found learning about these spiritual experiences to be very interesting.   

While both these women lived in different times, what connected them (besides the obvious) was their disdain for the circumstances they found themselves in when it came to utilizing their talents. How others manipulated both of them for personal gain, one manipulated in the name of science and research, and the other manipulated so that others could gain notoriety and be set up for life. It’s no wonder this book is full of feminine rage because both women had several people trying to use them for their gain without caring how Nairna and Lottie felt about it. And I found myself feeling empathetic towards both women as a result as I read their stories, hoping for the best for them.

What I also enjoyed about The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey was in the beginning of each chapter, the articles pertaining to the events that take place in the story. They felt like a good sneak peek into what I could expect to happen in their following chapters and helped me to piece everything that was to happen together.

I also enjoyed the different relationships that occurred throughout the story, mostly with regard to Lottie’s relationships to the women in charge of the asylum she was sentenced to stay in, and Nairna’s complicated relationship with her father, Tavish. I felt like the women in the asylum, Lottie finds herself forced to stay in, genuinely cared about her well-being, and wanted to do right by her, but unfortunately, didn’t have too much power when it came to stopping the doctors’ “experiments.” As for Nairna and her father Tavish, while I didn’t like Tavish in the beginning of The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey because of what he had Nairna help him do to survive in their world, once Nairna makes a name for herself as Nora and Lottie begins to make her appearances, I found myself feeling for him in this book. This is mostly due to him not getting the chance to know his mother all his life, and him having to find out the truth behind why that was the case through Nairna’s abilities. I felt like it was a good way for this book to show generational trauma, which made him a more sympathetic character in the story.

One of the issues I have with The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey, though, is that while I enjoyed the story, it also felt too predictable. I feel this way because it was pretty obvious once you know who Lottie is in relation to Nairna that things don’t work out for her. Especially knowing already that Tavish didn’t know either of his parents, it became clear that things weren’t going to change just because Nairna and Lottie were able to see each other, even though they lived in different times. Nairna’s story is also predictable to me because I knew already she was continuing to do these seances because of wanting to uncover the full story of what happened to her grandmother once she realized that’s who she was seeing. She also makes it clear how she feels about participating in these seances early on, so it was no surprise to me that once she finds out what she does that she decides to no longer participate in them.

I was also disappointed with the magical aspects in this book. I feel like this aspect of the story disappointed me because, as the reader, I was given insight into how these seances were made possible, and I feel like that ruined a little of the magic for me. It also felt more like science than magic to me, especially because of the way it’s explained and the way the doctors use Lottie for their experiments.

As a whole, The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist NoraGrey was an enjoyable read for me. I enjoyed learning more about spiritualism through Nairna and Lottie’s perspectives, seeing the theme of feminine rage throughout, and enjoying the articles at the beginning of each chapter as they gave me a sneak peek of what was to come. And I recommend this book to others reading this post who enjoy reading historical fiction that focuses on spiritualism, and those who enjoy reading books that discuss feminine rage. The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey is set to release on July 29, 2025 for those interested in giving this fantastic book a read.  

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