Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for letting me read an e-ARC of The Blood Orchid by Kylie Lee Baker! This book releases on October 22, 2024, so you have no excuse not to pick up the first book in this duology, The Scarlet Alchemist, before its release. I promise these books are so fast-paced, that you’ll devour the first one right in time for the second book to release!

We pick right up where we left off as Zilan and her cousin, Wenshu, are on the hunt for a way to get to Penglai Island. This knowledge has been lost to history, but thanks to her father’s research, they have a lead to one of the most talented alchemists of history: the Sandstone alchemist. It will come as no surprise that they barely survive this encounter with their lives, but they also manage to make it out with an ancient scroll containing a transformation that means nothing to them. Little do they know, this scroll paves the path before them and sets them on the journey toward understanding alchemy more deeply than they ever could’ve imagined. With the most unlikely companion (and Durian the duck), this eventual party of three encounters endless obstacles, powerful, ancient alchemists, and some characters who just can’t seem to stay dead. Will all of their efforts be enough to resurrect the lives of those they lost and help ensure Li Hong’s reign as Emperor? Only time will tell.

If you love fast-paced fantasy, really REALLY cool magic systems, and an historic backdrop in China, this duology might just be for you! There’s a lot of character development, but it’s mostly plot-driven; it has the barest dash of romance (a subplot, really); and every plot twist makes the book that much more un-put-downable! I can’t wait to read more by Kylie Lee Baker, now. Check it out, and share your thoughts with me when you’re done. I’m dying to talk about this series with more people!

This book was a warm hug from start to finish. Humans visit a realm only in their sleep. They walk around consuming goods to aid in sleep, comfy clothes, and visit all sorts of department stores that sell dreams. The most popular is run by Dallergut - one of the famous dreammakers. It’s been a dream of Penny’s to work here and she’s off on her own adventure of a lifetime working next to Dallergut, himself. Readers find out about what a dream costs the dreamer, what it means to be a dreammaker, and just how far some people will go to live out their wildest fantasies in their sleep. If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air and a quick read, I highly recommend this one (I hope to be able to pick up the second book of this duology soon!) and the audiobook was fantastic!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for letting me read an e-ARC of Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake! This is a standalone holiday romance, so you can don your fluffy socks and cozy up by the fire with your hot beverage of choice and dream of colder days while you read this one. It releases TOMORROW, October 1, 2024, giving you plenty of time to hit that preorder button or place a hold on a copy at your local library.

Charlotte is doing just fine after her fiancée, Brighton, left her at the altar five years ago in December. She never thinks about her. She has the life she always dreamed of in New York. As a matter of fact, Brighton is doing just as well. She’s been pursuing her dream of being a musician in Nashville ever since she left Charlotte all those years ago. (Yes, yes, neither of them is, in fact, all right.) When Brighton’s parents have a last-minute change of plans for the Christmas season, her friend invites her home for the holidays to chase away the winter blues. What Brighton doesn’t expect is to see her ex-fiancée show up at the same family holiday gathering. Apparently her friend, Adele’s, sister is part of the string quartet that Charlotte put together in NY. Charlotte pretends she doesn’t know her and chaos ensues from there. A second-chance romance filled to the brim with pining, unresolved grief and regret, and more holiday cheer than my heart could contain in the month of September. I ate up every page!

This is technically the second book in a collection of 6 Doctor Who novellas spread over 6 decades (1960s-2010s), but I had to start with this one, as Tasha Suri is a favorite author of mine. Set in the 1970s in the middle of Southall, 3 teenagers face racist and homophobic attacks on a regular basis. Our narrator, Seema’s, older sister is fighting back in her own way now that she’s out of the house, but Seema’s having a hard time standing up for herself and others after her father’s tragic and recent death. On their way to school one morning, they end up on a broken down bus that seems to be outside of time and space with an additional classmate and a man who calls himself the Doctor. The bus (spaceship) feeds on their deepest desires and responds to them, though it is particularly sensitive to Seema. These 4 teens must band together with the Doctor as their guide to find their way off this bus and back to their lives where they hope to help shape a better world and future for all.

It took me MONTHS to track down a copy of this book. No library in my state had a requestable copy, so I relied on (and am ever so grateful for) our ILL system to provide me a copy from two states away (ILL, ily). After finishing this book, I immediately requested the other 5 (ironically from the same state). I found it particularly entertaining to enjoy one of my all-time favorite tv shows in a new (to me) format! I would highly recommend this book and this series of novellas to others who crave bite-sized Doctor Who content in book format.

This graphic novel is a fever dream (complimentary). And interesting mix of modern and medieval scenery/themes, this book has a LOT. (Definitely intended for an adult audience as there is nudity and sexually explicit content.) A trans man is living his life as a nun, but makes a deal with a demon to be (basically) invincible and live out his true life as a man. Agreeing to this, Jules embarks on the adventure of his life. He also happens to meet Casper, another trans man, along the way. Chaos and debauchery ensue as they fall in love and face death at every turn throughout the story. If you’re looking for a graphic novel with amazing t4t representation and the most beautiful and vivid images, this might be the one for you.

It took me almost an entire year to finish this book, but it was worth the journey! I LOVED the Shades of Magic trilogy and was so excited when Schwab announced a companion trilogy starting with this book. It is extremely slow-paced, as Schwab is very invested in character development to the tiniest degree and she’s introducing a brand new generation of readers to this world with Threads of Power, but the time investment is so worth it. I know it’ll be a couple of years, at least, until she publishes the next book in this series, but I’m already looking forward to revisiting these characters that I’ve come to care for so dearly.

You may have noticed I haven’t even touched on plot, here. That’s because it’s hard for me to personally explain without embedding information from the original trilogy, but I don’t want to introduce more than is necessary to a potential new wave of readers. Let me just say that this cast of characters is colorful, feisty, resilient, and the magic system is SO COOL. The banter and snark is also on point, but that might just be my personal preference for how characters communicate with each other.

I love every single thing Samantha Shannon puts out into the world, but oh my goodness this book is (currently) sitting at the top of my favorites list. I’m not sure how she manages to raise the stakes with each installment of this series, but she’s somehow done it again! Paige and Warden settle into life and their missions in Paris, France. They work together to track down the syndicate in this new territory while trying to keep a low profile and not disturb the tenuous peace of France (Paige is not supposed to be alive, after all). There are beautiful, heart-wrenching, tender moments; heartbreak and betrayal; the forging of new alliances; and even more questions that come to light about Paige’s dreamwalker abilities than we had before this book. I’m barely able to cover any plot points in this book without spoiling the entire thing or ruining fun parts of the series up until this point! Honestly, I’m just grateful that I have a copy of the DRC for book 5 sitting on my Kindle bookshelf to get me through the waiting period before its release in February.

If you love non-stop action, slow (SLOW) burn romance, powerful women, and fighting back against a tyrannical government (not to mention a really REALLY cool magic system), this series is something I would highly recommend. Seriously, LET’S TALK ABOUT IT. It’s one of my absolute favorites.

Marjorie, Wendell, and Eliza have become extremely close. Marjorie and Eliza share a secret about the presence of ghosts and keep Wendell company all the while. Ever since Marjorie fell out with the popular girls at school, she’s stayed fairly happy in their little trio. Wendell has started to become more curious about the circumstances of his death, though. It is up to Marjorie and Eliza to track down the Sea Witch of his past and find out the truth about how he drowned. Can Marjorie navigate this delicate investigation while also juggling her friendship with Eliza and a tenuous new group of friends without losing grasp of everything?

Marjorie has been accepted by the popular kids at school, but with this new status comes its own sets of challenges: she must keep her ghost companions even more secret than before. Wendell feels left out and forgotten as Marjorie prioritizes her living friends more than him. Eliza, a new MC, is used to being ignored or made fun of at school. She has made it her mission to photograph ghosts, after all, a fact for which her peers tease her. Marjorie’s values come into conflict with the life she wishes she could lead and she must decide if popularity is worth the price of true friendship and people who need support.

Absolutely obsessed with this graphic novel. It tactfully navigates the intersections of race, disability, mental health, queerness, and socioeconomic status to tell a heart-wrenching story of first love between two young girls. Neesha and Gabby meet for the first time on their first day at a new school in North Carolina. Their friendship kicks off with a bang when they realize that they grew up reading (but not finishing) the same obscure manga series: Navigator Nozomi. Almost instantly they decide to form a book club to track down and reread (and actually finish) the 7-volume series. They didn’t account for falling in love with their best friend along the way. This story is absolutely precious containing gorgeous artwork AND even includes the different volumes of Navigator Nozomi as our MCs read them.