Insomnia- inability to sleep. Emma Averell has it all, a beautiful stay at home husband, two loving children, and a high paying legal career. With her fortieth birthday coming up things are about to go downhill. When Emma was five years old, she and her sister were sent into foster care after a horrible incident with their mother. Her sister Chloe can remember the happy times with their mother... but Emma can only remember that she was a monster. On their mother’s fortieth birthday a monster emerged around their mother... and Emma is turning forty. When strange things start happening and Emma’s insomnia ramps up... soon her son is saying she is the monster coming to him, people are saying she is unstable. and Emma can’t really remember anything. Soon Emma will have to uncover who is truly behind all these events... or if she is finally becoming the monster like her mother. This was an overall interesting psychological thriller with light splashes of paranormal. When everyone suspects her Emma will have to maintain her sanity and belief in herself if she wants to prove to everyone that something else more sinister is going on and she is being framed.

*Arc received in exchange for an honest review*

Four seasons, four people in charge of the seasons for a specific region... and all tasked with killing each other in order for the next season to occur. Summer kills spring, autumn kills summer, winter kills autumn,Jack Sommers is a winter, and winters are killed by spring... too bad for him he’s falling in love with the current spring, Fleur. When people die... sometimes they are given a choice by Gaia, to become a season or to die. By agreeing to become a season they are trained to operate their season and to kill the next season. They are also immortal. Jack wants more, he wants to stop having to die by Fleur and to just live with her, he wants to stop being forced to kill. Seasons are forbidden to fall in love with each other but that hasn’t stopped Fleur and Jack from falling for one another. When Jack is given a hint on how to escape, on how to come together with the other seasons and all break free of this vicious cycle he convinces them to come with him and rebel. Soon they find themselves on a road trip filled with fighting, falling in love, surviving attempts at their lives, bar fights, and so much more. Jack is given a hint on what will be his future by Chronos... but will he be able to protect all those he has come to care about and be willing to make the biggest sacrifice? This was a fun take on the changing of the seasons.

Picking up where the first book left off Jack is now seasonless, he is without his winter magic and is now Fleur’s official handler. He misses his magic, he feels like he can’t protect the one person he loves. With the school cleaning up after the major power shift in the first book, Doug, a guard with major issues decides that everything that went wrong in his life is Jack’s fault so he proceeds to kill the current Chronos and Gaia and steal their power and start a revenge plan against Jack. He kidnaps Fleur and as he forces her to teach him magic, he is slowly being killed by the magic he stole. Jack now has to figure a way to save Fleur while struggling with his missing magic and the question of how far he will go to get it back. If I’m being honest this book was a drag, it went on far too long for what it was and I just found myself irritated. The entire store could have ended with the first book and this book was 300 pages too long for the story it told. It just dragged the entire time and whole plot could be summarized: evil dude feels like he was wronged, kidnaps protagonist’s gf, protagonist has to save her and kill evil guy. I enjoyed the first book but this one just took a hard turn for me and I just wanted it to end.

The second book in the bloody brilliant saga by John Gwynne! The story is filled with magic, vengeance, and lore. The story picks up where the first book left off and now the Dragon-God Lik-Rifa is freed from her prison and is set about plotting for a new age of conquest. Our three main characters from the first book are now: Orka is still looking for her son and Varg is on the path towards revenge and Elvar has sworn her blood oath and must persuade the Battle-Grim to help her in her quest against the dragon god. Though the first book only had the three POVS this one has a few additional POV characters to add to the mix. This one has amped up the blood and action and definitely continues with the epic story that Gwynne has created! Definitely check it out if you love Norse-inspired stories.

*Thanks Netgalley and Orbit Books, Orbit for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A girl searching for a place to call her own and the mysterious home that calls to her. Olivia Prior has been raised in the Merilance School for Girls and all she has left of her family is her mother’s journal. Ever since she was little she has been able to see ghouls haunting her. In her mother’s journal she finds cryptic messages, but the one thing is clear, Olivia is to never go to Gallant. Yet when a mysterious letter shows up from her uncle saying she is welcomed to come home to a family she has never known... home to Gallant Olivia jumps at the chance. When she arrives at Gallant it turns out her uncle who has supposedly written to her has been dead a year now and no one was expecting her, in fact her cousin Matthew wants her to immediately leave. However circumstances are in her favor and she finds herself staying at Gallant... with its mysterious ghouls, crumbling house, and a door that calls to her in the garden. The more she learns about her mother and father, and about the curse that plagues all the Priors the more Olivia finds herself drawn to the door in the garden... to the other house, the other Gallant with a mysterious sinister owner. This was definitely a secret-garden esque story and felt like it definitely was for middle grade readers (even younger at that). It was like a fun gothic fairytale with beautiful writing. I enjoyed reading it overall and would definitely recommend it!

*Arc received in exchange for an honest review*

A retelling of the Seven Swans? You’ve got my attention. The story follows Rowenna Winthrop, a girl desperate to learn magic but being forbidden by her mother until she learns to control her temper. When her mother is killed and Rowenna is the only one to witness it, she cannot forget the monster that killed her mother. On a stormy night Rowenna rescues a handsome stranger named Gawen from a shipwreck only to return home to find that her mother has returned from the dead.. or whatever is pretending to be her mother. Soon the creature gives her a choice: stay and face a horrible curse with her family or go and it will leave her alone. Rowenna will do anything to protect her family and thus the curse is placed on her and her 3 brothers and Gawen. They are turned into swans and Rowenna is forbidden from speaking about the curse. The creature gets Rowenna falsely accused of being a witched and kicked out of her own home and now Rowenna must find a way to break the curse but there are darker things at play and Gawen isn’t who he says he is. Soon Rowenna will find herself caught in the clutches of an evil tyrant, her brothers blaming her, Gawen lying to her, and her being forced to decide how she will be able to live with her decisions and what she is willing to do to break the curse. Sadly this one just wasn’t for me, the romance fell extremely flat and I was not invested in them as a couple and Rowenna definitely mellowed out from her sharp thorniness which I had liked into something else by the end. The overall story just didn’t hook me as much as other young adult retellings of this story that I’ve read. Though this didn’t work out for me definitely give it a go if you like this particular fairytale.

Can true love persist or is it over for the dark fairy and her princess? Picking up where the first book left off Alyce has destroyed Briar and has spent a majority of her time trying to find an elixir to cure Aurora from her curse.. anything but letting someone else kiss her to wake her up. Then she is greeted by Regan, another Vila, and soon they create the Dark Court, a court for all the dark creatures that have been mistreated and abused... and suddenly a handsome stranger washes ashore and its been 100 years since Alyce destroyed Briar.. and he kisses Aurora... and she wakes up. Except, the wounds between Aurora and Alyce are extreme, it’s like the love between them doesn’t exist anymore. There is pain, angst, betrayal, and lies. With a war on the forefront Alyce will have to decide who she can trust and if she and Aurora will make it? Let me first begin by saying this was one of my most anticipated books but this book sadly suffers from second book syndrome, it’s as if the entire relationship between Alyce and Aurora went out the window. The pain they caused one another? The constant miscommunication? The way the book ends? It just felt completely off to me. I loved the first book and this one missed the mark for me. Nothing really happens until 50% into the book and the Alyce in this one seems more juvenile and flawed than the Alyce in the first book, and you would think with 100 years of ruling and working on building her court it would have matured her out a bit. I found myself not even caring or rooting for Alyce and Aurora by the end of the book, in fact I didn’t really like either character in this book which is saying a lot since I loved them in the first book. The real shining stars for me were Neve, Torin, Regan, and even the imps. This whole thing kind of felt like a long drawn angst fest with drama and an anti-climatic wrap up. I guess I was just expecting something more for a second book considering how fantastic the first book was. I felt bad for Alyce cuz she was pining for 100 years and I honestly found myself rooting for Alyce to end up with her other potential love interest. Overall I’m happy I was able to find out what happens to these characters and read this book, I was happy to get to see the end of the duology and would highly recommend this series to any fans of Sleeping Beauty retellings,

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A collection of short stories that are each so atmospheric and unique, it really just blends together to form a sort of queer, magic, horror, science fiction and amazing storytelling picture. Each story is so fascinating and creates about a mood that just captures you. I had a great time reading this and it really does queer representation and horror so well, it explores relationships and such and its just, go read it. Thats all I have to say, go forth!

*Thanks Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review”*

Witches, sisterhood, and women’s right all come together in this story by Alix E. Harrow. The story follows three estranged sisters who come together to fight for women’s rights in 1993 in New Salem. Not only do they want to bring women’s rights they want to bring back the old magic. This book started off strong but unfortunately it lost me the more I read it, it’s a pretty hefty read at times and the characters fell a bit flat for me. I wish I could be more invested in them but unfortunately I never did. There is a lot of pretty prose in the book but the pace was slow and it just kind of dragged on for me. However, definitely give this book a try if you want a story about witches and feminism and sisterhood. I do love the author’s other works and will definitely continue to read them!

Secrets, music, and death come together in this story set on Prince Edward Island. Beatrice “Beet” MacNeill loves her home, loves the salt in the air and the sound of the sea. She loves her family and her cousin Gerry who was her best friend. One day when she sees Gerry, soaking wet and playing a haunted tune on his fiddle, Beet knows something is wrong. Soon more death comes to the island and a sinister new stranger comes into town and takes an interest in Gerry’s wife and new baby. Beet soon starts to suspect something is happening, something evil, and when mysterious music starts being heard and Beet is clued into the local lore of vicious shape-shifting sea creature and the beautiful woman who controls him... a beautiful cold woman who looks like Marina, the evil stranger that Beet dislikes she will soon embark on a hunt to find out what truly happened to her cousin and how to save the new boy who is winning her heart. The overall story was atmospheric and okay however I had issues with the constant jumping of time, POVs, and characters. The plot seems very loosely placed and the story really doesn’t have that much of a structure. Overall, this one just didn’t work for me but definitely give it a try.