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Book Review: A Knight on Wolf Island

Rating: 4 stars

When fate thrusts a young man into hell, who must he become to claw his way out?

After the Providence sank beneath the ocean, blacksmith Tayen washes up on the shore of an unknown island as the only survivor. Haunted by the drowning screams of his crewmates, his only desire is to block out those traumatic memories and return home. But there’s something else on the island, lurking in the shadows and roaming free at night, intent on keeping him there. His mother knew them as yee naaldlooshii. He knows them as wolves. But not just any wolves—skinwalkers.

From his Navajo ancestors, who come to him while he dreams, Tayen learns that his destiny on this island isn’t simply to survive; he’s destined to kill an evil that has endured for centuries. Drawing on his late mother’s teachings and his own wit, Tayen must find the courage to fight for his soul, whatever the cost.

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

A Knight on Wolf Island follows the story of young Tayen and his quest to escape this cursed island, conquering the evil skin walkers that follow his every movement at night. In this book, you learn how he comes to wash up on the shores of this island, how these creatures came to be, and you see Tayen learn to inhabit the island while he comes up with a plan to destroy these creatures. I found this aspect of this book fascinating because it helps set up the world Tayen inhabits and helps me, as the reader, understand the choices he makes in order to survive in his struggles against the skin walkers.

What I also enjoyed reading in A Knight on Wolf Island was reading the story about how the skin walkers first appeared on the island. I felt like that interlude was great to include because it gave insight into how these creatures first came to the island and how they were able to survive for so long. I also enjoyed reading about the skin walkers because they sounded like fascinating creatures, so I was curious how Tayen would deal with them on the island once he settled into surviving there. I especially enjoyed it when you see the relationship he develops with the one he calls Trickster because they end up having an understanding with each other that he doesn’t have with the rest of the skin walkers that inhabit the island.    

What I also enjoyed reading in this book was seeing his dreams and learning more about Tayen’s ancestry through them. They felt like they were a transformative experience from when he first appeared on the island and were an eye into letting him know what he was getting into when it came to fighting the skin walkers. A way for him to become the warrior he needed to be to fight these adversaries. Because I feel like from the first dream to the last, he transforms into a different man on the island as he realizes what he really needs to do in order to defeat the skin walkers so he can escape.

If there was anything in this book I didn’t particularly enjoy, it would have to be the ending. Mostly because after everything Tayen goes through, I expected it to be different. I was hoping that in this book, there would be an epilogue for his story once he gets off the island to see where he goes and find out what happens to the island overall, but that was missing here, so it felt almost like his story wasn’t complete to me because of it. Like I was missing a chapter in his story that should’ve been there.

I also found it strange too that he knew exactly what to do to survive on the island. I understood him knowing how to forge weapons and armor due to his experience as a blacksmith. But him just knowing right off the bat how to get items together to build a fortress in the forest so he could have somewhere to live away from the skin walkers didn’t particularly make any sense to me. I felt like with that aspect of the story, there should’ve been way more struggle for him and mistakes in getting things together than there was. Or, if he knew how to get those things together, more information about Tayen’s character that could explain it to you in a logical manner.  

However, I enjoyed reading A Knight on Wolf Island as I enjoyed learning about this cursed island and how Tayen survived it. Also, enjoyed reading about the skin walkers and seeing Tayen fighting against them, and seeing the connection between his dreams and what he was going through while on the island. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy books, especially books with an element of survival in them, along with anyone who enjoys reading about creatures like these skin walkers. A Knight on Wolf Island is scheduled to be published on October 20, 2026, for anyone interested in reading this book.

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Book Review: Traitors’ Nest

Rating: 4.5 stars

Lovely War meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this new YA fantasy from acclaimed author Frances Hardinge, about the people caught in a game played by the gods where castles are moved around the world like chess pieces

Far above the valleys and villages of the Kingdom of Thaletal, a Great Game is played. Players move castles around the realm like chess pieces—and the ordinary villagers are mere pawns at the whim of their tactics.

When 16-year-old Burr’s peaceful village is disrupted by the arrival of an ominous new castle, he decides he’s had enough. But what starts as a plucky coup soon escalates—and then the castle is wrenched away to a far-flung corner of the kingdom, where whispers mount of a mysterious ancient maiden whose magpies collect her debts at dangerous prices.

Here, the stakes are higher than the tallest turrets, and every move counts. Burr must work with his sisters and friends—and rely on the unexpected help of an intriguing heiress—to unravel the secrets of the Magpie Maiden and the origins of the Great Game before he becomes just another casualty of the Players’ deadly contest.

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

I enjoyed listening to Traitors’ Nest for my first audiobook read. As I’ve never listened to an audiobook before, I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but I can definitely say this was such an enjoyable experience for me, as this was such a good story to give a listen to.  

What I enjoyed about it was learning about the moving castles from the perspective of a young teenager. It felt magical because I didn’t know where the story was going, and I found myself feeling for this group of villagers who had taken over a castle and didn’t understand what they were doing. Learning about this from Burr made it all the more real because he played such a pivotal role in the story. I enjoyed learning about everyone through his eyes and getting an understanding of how castles work as well as getting a good grasp of the rules and laws of owning a castle once the villagers took over the castle they inhabited.

What I also enjoyed about Traitors’ Nest was seeing the different relationships that formed as the story progressed. You can see that as the story goes on, everyone that inhabits the castle starts caring about each other, even those who initially didn’t know the villagers. I also enjoyed learning more about castles through the eyes of a certain player and the strategic rules of making them jump. It felt like I was listening to a strategy game and having to figure out the rules as the game went on, and I loved it.

I loved listening to Traitors’ Nest too because I felt like the story also had so many twists and turns. Yes, there were times when the characters’ castle was in a place, and you had an idea of what was going to happen there, but there were moments when that wasn’t the case too. Those moments were great for me because I felt like that’s when the author created the story I heard in this book and made me even more interested to see the direction the story was going. I felt like there were a lot of great moments of storytelling where I learned a lot about the world the inhabitants of the castle lived in, which allowed me to understand the choices they made in this book.

There wasn’t anything in particular with Traitors’ Nest I didn’t dislike. Maybe if I had to pick anything, it would have to be the reveal of who the traitor is among the people in the castle. Mostly because this character was someone I expected to betray them by going off hints that had been given throughout the story. And the way the traitor is revealed too just felt hastily done to me because I felt like the character that betrays them is usually way smarter than that most of the time in the story. Up until their identity is revealed. I was also disappointed by it because this character is someone in the story that I felt was an interesting character to have in the story and was actually someone that I enjoyed getting to know. It was someone I really wanted to know more about their background and find out their motivation behind making the decision to betray them.

But overall, I enjoyed listening to Traitors’ Nest as my first audiobook read on NetGalley. I found the plot enjoyable, and the narrator’s voice telling their story enjoyable. Seeing castles in such a fantastical way wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it all the way through, as these characters were such a delight to read about. I highly recommend this book to young fantasy readers, as I believe it’s a good book for those looking to get into the genre and for anyone in general who loves reading fantasy, as I don’t feel like you’ll be disappointed with this one. Traitors’ Nest was published on September 8, 2026, for those interested in checking out this book.  

 

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Book Review: Night Songs

Rating: 3 stars

In this haunting family saga, a young woman must delve into her country star mother’s music to break a curse that has plagued the women in her family for generations—before her time runs out.

On the morning of Rhea’s eighteenth birthday, she makes a shocking discovery—her mother was the famed singer of some of country music’s most iconic tunes, the legendary Lulabelle “Belle” Powers, and she’s just inherited her massive estate. Eager to know more about this woman she barely remembers, Rhea travels to Nashville to retrace her mother’s footsteps. But as she gets to know Belle’s closest friends and learns more of her story, she can’t help but think something is being kept from her.

It isn’t until years later that her mother’s best friend Hess reveals the truth—her mother believed all the women in her family were cursed to die at thirty-three—Belle’s exact age when she passed away in a mysterious plane crash. Hess dismisses the curse as pure superstition, but Rhea feels something sinister stalking her, her own life beginning to mirror her mother’s as she gets closer to her thirty-third birthday. Desperate for answers, Rhea delves deeper into her mother’s music, uncovering Belle’s last unpublished album Night Songs, which leads her back to her roots in ways she never could have imagined.

Alternating between Rhea’s journey and Lulabelle’s untold rise to country queen, Night Songs is an electric story of inheritance and resilience, love and freedom, and the power of music to connect across generations.

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

Night Songs was an okay read for me. When I started reading this book, I was initially enjoying it. What I enjoyed about it when I started was the different perspectives of Belle and Rhea and wanting to find out more about this curse that killed the women in their family when they turned thirty-three. As a thirty-three-year-old woman myself, this plot line intrigued me because I was curious to find out what caused this curse in their family and what was going to happen in the story that would cause Rhea to put a stop to it.   

I especially enjoyed Belle’s chapters because I was interested to find out how she became a famous country singer. I also just found out of the two family members in the story, she had a more interesting story to tell. For me, Rhea’s story was interesting in the sense of finding out more about the curse and how it ended up being broken. But for Belle, I enjoyed her perspective more because of the people she had in her life because you really got a good introduction to what they were like in the past verses what they are like when the story is told from Rhea’s perspective. I especially enjoyed seeing her relationships with Hess and Clayton and how both those relationships impacted her career as a musician.

I also enjoyed getting to see the world through Belle’s eyes because of how strong of a woman she is. In this book, she doesn’t put up with shit, and I loved that about her character. I also loved seeing her experiences in Nashville as I felt like this book was a great way to travel there without having to leave your home. Even though I’ve been to Nashville myself several times, I still enjoyed reading about her experiences there.  

Now to talk about what I didn’t like about Night Songs. The biggest issue I had with this book for me would be with how the curse ends up being handled. I’m not going to go into all the details in case anyone reading this review decides they want to read this book themselves, but I felt like this book doesn’t really give too much away when it comes to the curse. At all. Initially, I didn’t mind this because it added to the mystery surrounding this curse that impacted generations of women in their family. But I figured with the curse, there at least would’ve been stories about it passed down by the men in their family or something. But there isn’t even that when Rhea eventually finds out that this curse exists. The only explanation she gets from a family member about what this curse actually could be ends up frustrating me because it feels like it comes from out of nowhere in the story. I also found it to be a cop out because out of everything that could’ve been the cause of their family’s curse, the author made this decision and didn’t give a good explanation for it. I wouldn’t have minded it so much if there had been more family history given for it from past generations that explained it. Instead, it felt like the explanation was rushed and left me disappointed. Especially because there were some horror elements in this book that could’ve been used in the story instead that would’ve made for a better plot in the story.  

Then, there’s the fact she doesn’t even find out about the curse until six months before she turns thirty-three. So she meets her mother’s friends when she’s eighteen, but they keep this curse a secret from her up until that point of her life. I get that they more than likely didn’t believe that the curse was real, but they didn’t even tell her about it until she was near her thirty third birthday. So they kept it completely secret from her too even though she had more than a right to know.

And that’s not the only issue I have with Night Songs. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Rhea’s relationship with Micah along with how she ended up breaking the curse. So the reason I’m not the biggest fan of Micah is because I feel like she gets involved in this book with the very first guy she meets when she gets to Nashville. Because when she meets him, she knows next to nothing about him and the way she describes him doesn’t endear him to me as a reader. She initially finds herself uncomfortable when she’s around him, yet for some reason can’t stop herself from engaging in conversation with him. Like their whole relationship in this book never makes sense to me because she never describes him in a way that sounds like she’s in love with him.

I’m also not the biggest fan of how Rhea breaks the curse in Night Songs. Without giving too much away, she basically doesn’t make any choices that could cause her death. I feel like she lives out of force of will and while that can be a powerful motivation, I don’t feel like it leaves a huge plot hole in this story. Again, I feel like the author could’ve used the horror elements she had captured in the story here to make this curse more interesting or at least provided a deeper explanation with what she gave us readers. But since she didn’t, I’m disappointed as a result by what the curse ends up being and how its handled in this book.

Not to say I didn’t still enjoy reading Night Songs though. I just enjoyed it because I found I enjoyed reading the story from Belle’s and Rhea’s perspectives and the characters that can be found within this book’s pages. I especially enjoyed reading about Belle’s relationships with Hess and Clayton and seeing Nashville through her eyes. So if you enjoy reading a book with strong women that flips between multiple perspectives, you could potentially enjoy reading this book. Otherwise, this book might not be for you.

Night Songs published on August 11, 2026, for those interested in giving this book a read.   

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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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