An urban fantasy romance novella between a witch and vampire. We’re talking age gap, professor/student relationship, instalove, and (sorta) fated soulmates. 

Adela is a lightning witch attending university to achieve a plant magic degree. She had a bad experience with her affinity so she is suppressing it. In her final year, she takes Javier’s class. He’s a centuries old vampire and her  professor, but they have a spark between them. When some creatures of the night attack Adela, Javier is there to protect her. Together they try to understand the connection between them while trying to solve who wants to harm Adela. 

Soooo many spelling and grammatical errors in this book which is a shame cause it was fairly entertaining. It could’ve been a whole novel since the concept is pretty interesting. It reads like it’s rushing through the story and the dialogue was cringey and cheesy at times. Given some time and development, this could’ve been a decent standalone urban fantasy romance. There was just too much the author was trying to cover in 182 pages for it to be good. 

It contained some minor spicy scenes that were fun. The “plot” was very much in the background and then rushed through at the end. Mostly just to add drama for the couple. I laughed a few times and thought Javier was adorable at times. I can’t say I really saw the chemistry between Adela and Javier, but their sex scenes were still decent enough. 

Not your average romantic comedy. This is a paranormal contemporary romcom that takes place between a cynical romance author and her ghost editor. 

Florence is a ghostwriter for her romance idol. She’s struggling to finish the last book in her contract because she’s coming off of the worst breakup after a series of bad relationships. She believes love is dead. Her new editor, Ben, refuses to give her another extension on the manuscript, and is adamant that love is very much alive. It seems like Florence’s world is crashing down around her when she gets that call we all dread, from her mom telling her her father has suddenly died. Now, Florence is returning to her South Carolina hometown after ten years, because, oh yeah, Florence can see ghosts, a gift she inherited from her father. Her gift caused others to torment and bully her for most of her life, hence avoiding her birthplace for a decade. In an ironic twist, her family also owns a funeral home. While Florence and her family make funeral arrangements, Ben comes to Florence as a ghost. Florence has taken on several impossible tasks while trying to help Ben move on and simultaneously falling for him. Ghost stories don’t have happy endings…right? 

Okay, but literally, I cried approximately 83 times while reading this book. Honestly, it’s a love letter to all burnt out older siblings who try to do everything without asking for help for the sake of the family. It’s a story about beginnings and endings, death and grief, and above all, love. All kinds of love. The love of a child and parent, the love for friends, the love between bickering siblings, and, of course, romantic love. 

It was honestly the perfect book for me at this time of my life. I couldn’t put it down, and as I write it’s 5am and people are getting ready for work, that’s how hard it was to put this book down. It made me laugh, like a lot, it made me cry so much, and it made my little Grinch heart swell three times its size. I completely related to Florence as someone who wanted to escape and live out her dreams, but who struggles to succeed. The sibling relationship between her, Carver, and Alice was incredibly accurate. I loved Bella and all the side characters, too. It’s also nice that even though her dad was dead the whole book, he almost seemed like a living character through the words and actions of his loving family. 

It was so beautifully written. I adore Ben and Florence. Their love and chemistry was just… *chef’s kiss*. They couldn’t touch, y’all, but it was the most romantic shit I’ve ever read. It was also incredible how the Day family just celebrated life and death. It made me so happy to see this family that is surrounded by death constantly, just be happy and bubbly and functional. There was so much love and color in their lives. I can also appreciate the dark humor since my family jokes about death and such. 

Sometimes, for me, it seems silly to have a book where everything is normal in the world except the main character can see/speak to the dead. I quickly got over that with this book since Poston wrote it so well. I loved the corniness and silliness of it. It’s got a nice Just Like Heaven vibe to it, too. It takes a talented writer to make me appreciate the use of clichés. And though I could predict the end, and knew it was a romance, I still felt like it could’ve had a bittersweet end to it, and yet the end still took my breath away. 

All in all, READ THE BOOK. 

A witty, enemies to lovers Victorian romance between a European Crown Princess and a rakish Scottish marquess.  

Justine is the heir apparent of the fictional European country of Wesloria. She struggles with crowds and is coming back from a scandal involving an affair that nearly ruined her reputation. With her father gravely ill and Justine still unmarried, she and her sister, Amelia, are sent to England so Justine can receive advice on reigning as a queen in her own right from Queen Victoria and receive the aid of matchmaker, Lady Lila Aleksander, to find a husband. Since her prime minister and her mother don’t trust Justine to make the right choice, they each enlist someone to help keep them informed: the queen chooses Lady Bardaline and the prime minister chooses Scottish marquess, William Douglas.  Unfortunately, William and Justine dislike each other from their first meeting several years previously. Justine works hard to dismiss him while William can’t seem to stay away. The two get closer and closer as Justine is presented with ill-matched suitors, and despite a possible scandal coming between them, they fall in love. 

I have to say, this was a rather charming and sweet Victorian romance. It was borderline clean, but had a few steamy moments that stay vague. I love the banter between William and Justine. I could definitely see their chemistry. I wasn’t a fan of William’s accent though, it felt forced and unauthentic. Plus, as a Scottish lord in the 19th century, it’s most likely he would’ve been taught in English boarding schools and his accent/speech would be pretty close to the Queen’s English. I know it’s historical fiction, but given the historical aspect, the customs, language, and clothing should be semi-on par with the times and geographical location. I will say, the hunt for a husband as a queen in her own right during this period, was pretty similar to the process other English queens had to go through. 

There were a few lulls in the story that made it difficult to stay engaged. This is the type of romance where the burning and the longing is anticipated and that just wasn’t here. We went from one kiss to full on hand sex, like it obviously happened in this period, but it just escalated rather quickly. 

And though it goes with the time period, I didn’t like the sexism. That Justine needed to get married so her husband could guide her to rule and she believed the same? Just bleh. I would’ve preferred that she went out of her way to find a match that would respect her role as queen and that he would fall in line as one of her subjects rather than just happening upon him. Even William believed she needed a Prince consort to steady her. 

Slight Spoilers Ahead. 

I couldn’t see the purpose of Queen Victoria’s role given Justine only saw her thrice despite being mentored by the Queen being the main reason of her traveling to England. William’s potential scandal was also resolved quickly and it felt rushed. I did like that there wasn’t any miscommunication or break up before the HEA. The side characters were pretty unbearable. Amelia was whiny, Lady Bardaline was nosy, her mother was mean and controlling, and Lila was just incredibly smug. I thought it could’ve done with some more unfortunate suitors to amp up the comedy and the tension between Justine and William. Though I was definitely glad Justine didn’t end up almost marrying her genuinely good suitor just to leave him for William. 

It was pretty funny and witty. Just a really cute historical romance. Will consider reading the next book in the series. 

High school academic rivals to lovers contemporary smutty romance. 

Wren and Crew go to Lancaster Prep named for Crew’s family. They’re both rich, but Crew’s richer than rich. While Crew’s the campus rakish “bad boy”, Wren is the virginal “good girl”. They both hate each other until they’re paired together for a school project and can’t deny their attraction to one another. 

There’s a lot to unpack. For starters, Wren is 17 for the entire book and Crew is 18. And I know she was like a month away from 18, but it’s not okay to write explicit sex involving a minor. Being 18 with this extremely experienced sexual encounters is already a stretch. Also, neither character was likable. I’m really tired of seeing these billionaire “bad boys” as if they’re these hardened mafia types when they haven’t had anything bad happen to them in their lives outside of just emotionally negligent parents. Crew has zero redeeming qualities and his inner monologue is so cringe. And making Wren’s entire personality center her virginity is not okay. So gross. She’s also judgmental as hell which is so friggin annoying. The whole promise ceremony with her dad was cringe. The book is riddled with misogyny and her dad’s borderline incestuous obsession with her was so gross. A teenaged girl can make the choice to promise to stay celibate until marriage without her father or church being involved. 

Look, I’ve read plenty of books where the guy is possessive of the FMC and calls her “mine”, and I can enjoy them only if they’re done right and this one was not done right. It made me so uncomfortable and some of it had to do with the fact that her being a virgin was this huge thing, her father’s involvement, and just the icky misogynistic tones. Crew’s brother treats women like shit until he realizes he’s having daughter? Barf. 

Also, what the hell was the point of the predatory teacher storyline? Why was that involved? And how the hell does a teacher that is rumored for years to have been sleeping with his MINOR students not get investigated? It was friggin disgusting and completely unnecessary. 

I can’t believe this book has such a high rating and is recommended all the time on BookTok.

A sapphic paranormal upper YA about high school mean girls with werewolves! 

Becca is a new girl in her junior year of high school and she catches the eye of the three popular girls: Amanda, Ariana, and Marley. In a quick “Mean Girls”-esque montage, they dress her up and give her rules to follow by. Then one night, the girls show Becca their secret: they’re werewolves and every month they have to feed on human flesh. They choose to eat “bad guys” only. Becca agrees to join their pack and things are going well until a boy from their school dies and ruins everything. 

As a short YA graphic novel, it was an interesting fast pace story. It’s definitely predictable but still entertaining. I kind of wished it was a short series rather than a short stand alone so it could expand on the story and characters. 

The basic storyline is entertaining and interesting to me and the artwork is just beautiful. The art style reminds me of the Archie comics. 

The girl power feminism is very surface level with the anger for toxic masculinity and using murder to avenge the actions of predators. I’m kind of over the story line of women killing abusive and predatory men and the leader of the women ends up just painting all men with the same brush and they end up killing innocent men. Just let women kill rapists and abusers in these books! (For legal reasons, this is a joke). Also, the story is filled with micro-aggressions against the main East Asian character and the Black side character. These micro-aggressions are just ignored or brushed off. Also, Amanda (the only black character) is the one character that’s brushed aside despite playing a very important role. Not addressing the micro-aggressions just felt weird and pointless. 

Also, in stereotypical mean girl fashion, dieting and obsession with one’s weight was also prominent and never challenge. Literally they were criticizing one of the girls for being a size 4 and not a size 0 or 2. It made it even more obvious there was no mid to plus size representation. 

The bones are there but the execution was problematic and lackluster. 

A queer coming-of-age that takes place during the most difficult time of most teens’ lives: senior year of high school. 

Quinn is a senior in high school dead set on playing soccer for UNC. However, she still hasn’t heard back from UNC and her long term girlfriend, Jamie, has broken up with her before their final year starts. All of Quinn’s plans are falling apart around her and she’s desperately trying to keep it together. Then she starts dating cool girl (and longtime crush), Ruby. However, the more she spends time with Ruby, the more she misses Jamie. Oh, and she tries to save her local queer coffee shop from closing for good. 

I didn’t hear much about the book, I just happened to be in the YA section of the library and saw this book. Since I wanted to expand my queer reading, I decided to give it a shot with an open mind despite the fact I hate the cover since the two characters look exactly the same. 

Unfortunately, the book didn’t pass the vibe. At first I thought I was being too sensitive or quick to judge about the bi representation (or really the lack thereof). But as it turns out, I’m not the only one that saw the biphobia in this book.  The characters assume straight and gay are the only two sexualities someone can be, and Quinn even thinks Ruby could be using Quinn as an “experiment”. Also, Ruby is depicted as being flaky and unable to commit (which are extremely harmful stereotypes about bisexuals). And I also learned the author apparently has been biphobic in the past. Needless to say, this is the last book I read of Heaney’s.

And it seems they live in a pretty progressive area given the queer coffee shop, yet Quinn and Jamie are the ONLY queer people in their school? Yeah okay.

It’s a very white centric book as well. And I find the “old school” lesbians, Gaby and Dee, to be really problematic. Already the book is just some white feminism BS, but these older lesbians take it to another level while also being casually transphobic (the whole “womyn” thing?). It’s just a gross depiction of queer adolescence. 

I think it’s accurate in its depiction of senior year for a lot of students waiting to hear responses from universities. It’s an incredibly nerve wrecking time, even if you are a good student or a top athlete there aren’t spots for everyone. I also think that the overthinking, overreacting, back and forth between crushes and making them their whole world, obsessing over texts, and self-centerness is on brand for a lot of teenagers, though Quinn takes it to a level where it was difficult to like her as a character. Her mental health is kind of brushed over and seen as silly.

I couldn’t stand Quinn or her friends or Jamie. I didn’t see Jamie or Ruby as love interests since beyond physical attraction, there was nothing there. Quinn isn’t perfect but Jamie seems to control and gaslight Quinn, while Quinn makes her whole identity about soccer and who she’s dating. All the side comments it makes about heteronormativity and yet, despite being lesbians, that’s exactly how the relationships are depicted. Also, just because it seems to be a stereotype that lesbian/queer group date each other and break up and stay friends, does not mean you have to stay friends with your ex. 

Also, I didn’t really see the point of the book. It just made me annoyed and irritated. 

YA science fiction graphic novel following four 12-year-old paper girls from 1988. 

This first book just jumps right into the action and the meat of the plot. Barely introduced to the four characters: Erin, Max, K.J., and Tiffany before they’re thrust into some alternate dimension with monsters, aliens, and modified humans from the future. The girls start their paper route dealing with pervy older bullies before Tiffany’s walkie talkie is stolen and the group tries to hunt down the thieves. They come upon a strange machine and are transported to an alternate dimension that looked like their home but has monsters and weird humans. Now they’re racing for their lives to get home. 

It’s very fast paced. There’s no real introduction, it just jumps right in. It’s also pretty graphic for a young adult book. It does have a little of a Stranger Things vibe to it, but it’s its own story. However, there’s quite a few homophobic comments that I’m sure someone justified as being “part of the times”. There’s also an attempted sexual assault. And there’s a suicide attempt and a child is shot. So check your triggers. It is a little out there and confusing. Every other panel is jerking you from one direction to another. 

The art is beautiful and it’s interesting enough to want to come back for more.

Incredible book on feminism and patriarchy. Eltahawy does an excellent job explaining the different ways patriarchy is presented around the world. She highlights feminism from the points of view of women of color, Muslims, immigrants, and queer women and non-binary people. She calls out the issues of white feminism and the consequences of non-intersectionality. Eltahawy was able to educate me on issues I was not aware of while also giving me the language to vocalize my own thoughts. I’m fired up after reading this book! I think it’s an excellent tool not just in the classroom but for people looking for solidarity and those looking to understand patriarchy and feminism from the perspective of marginalized, non-white, non-Western communities. 

A compelling epic political YA fantasy about prophecies and the end of the world told through multiple POVs. 

The end of the world is nigh. Magically gifted people called the Graced have dominated the upper and ruling classes for several millennia. It’s also been a hundred years since a Prophet lived. Now, a militant group known as the Witnesses led by the Hierophant are planning to eradicate the world of the Graced. The Last Prophet has been found and the Keeper of the Word must protect them. The final prophecy spoken a hundred years ago speaks of three harbingers and they will either bring about or stop the Age of Darkness. 

It’s quite ambitious to start off a series with multiple POVs. It’s difficult to get a reader invested into any of the characters when the time is split between 5 of them and then the side characters that interact with each of them. The timelines also got a little confusing towards the end, it was hard to pinpoint whether or not the different POVs were happening around the same time or several days/weeks apart. 

I found that I didn’t really care for the characters for majority of the book. It took until about 70% of the way for me to care about Anton. The information dump was also very daunting. I get this is only a trilogy, but there was just so much information being thrown at me. The concept was interesting enough, but it took nearly until the halfway point for me to even care about what was going to happen. 

I love politically driven fantasies with multiple POVs and little to no romantic subplot, I also really like YA fantasies, but this one was difficult to say engaged with. I love the concept of it, and maybe in the future I’ll read the next two books, but I’m not rushing to them any time soon. 

Contemporary romance drama about a single mom and a grumpy neighbor that’s mildly steamy. It’s a mega slow burn. Like they don’t kiss til like 80% kind of slow burn. 

Madison had Jamie when she was 17 years old and now at 25 as a single mom working 65 hours a week at three jobs and going to school full time, so she doesn’t have time to date. Madison gets judged for being a young mother on top of the usually crap single moms get. She was married to an abusive man (not Jamie’s dad) but has been divorced for 3 years. They’ve moved into a new apartment next to grumpy 34 year old, Garrett. He’s tall and hot. Her childhood best friend, Layla has moved in to help with Jamie until she’s finished school and can get one full-time job. Layla spends most of her time trying to get Madison laid, particularly with the neighbor Madison can’t help be attracted to. 

Okay so it wasn’t my favorite but it had its moments. I loved the representation of a single mom, particularly a young mom. I also have to say this is the best kid I’ve read written in romance books. He doesn’t sound like an adult and he also isn’t babyed down. It had some funny moments and sweet moments. I even got misty eyed at a few scenes. It also addressed things like domestic violence, abuse, sexual harassment, poverty, slut shaming, and anxiety. It does address these themes pretty well. 

I have to say I didn’t really like Layla, she’s a bit annoying and really toed the line of respectfully and disrespectfully pushing your friend. She was too into Madison’s business and it just irritated me. I wasn’t a fan of Madison trying to get Jamie to feel grateful for having food because that’s the bare minimum of the bare minimum that you’re supposed to provide for your child. I just think it’s really toxic parenting to guilt your child into needing to be grateful that you provide the basic necessities of life for a child YOU brought into the world. 

Garrett also was a difficult love interest to like. He kept doing things that you just shouldn’t do to survivors of domestic violence. And pushing Madison was not okay, constantly reassuring? That’s fine. But the pushing was not okay. He’s also waaaaay too possessive. Madison can’t even talk to men? MAJOR red flag. If I wanted to read a toxic romance or dark romance I would’ve, but this was not advertised as either. 

The spice scene (at 90% by the way) was pretty decent. I respect it. Okay, it was hot. 

I’m glad there wasn’t a miscommunication or break up part of the book. 

I think just on a personal level, it’s not my cup of tea which is why I wouldn’t recommend this unless you for sure love a controlling, jealous ex-Marine type that will parent your kid without a second thought (the only redeeming quality). If you have kids, are a single mom, or someday want kids, then this book will probably be good for you. My feelings aside, I graded it based on how well I think it was written. Honestly if Garrett wasn’t a factor I would’ve liked it as just a drama about single motherhood. 

Overall, a decent book.