Synopsis: Just as Maya thinks she can relax into recovery and a budding romance with a demon general, the afterlife throws her a curveball.
The Grim Reaper who saved her wasn’t just locked away—he was erased from existence.
What starts as a rescue mission quickly becomes a masterclass in magical bureaucracy, inter-realm politics, and one seriously unhinged plot twist.
Join Maya again as she blogs her way through enough supernatural shenanigans to short-circuit reality.
Review: “Don’t they realise I’m just a girl with a weird brain, a ghost cat, and questionable coping mechanisms?” (Page 64)
Maya’s life seems so different after the capture of someone who shall not be named, yet in many ways life continues. I wasn’t upset by the changes she had in her life because she is becoming more stable but there were times it was a bit frustrating that she would continue to fixate on something as a problem that very much was not. I quite enjoyed the new characters introduced and getting to know a bit more of their backstories. I wasn’t expecting the very huge life altering event within this blog sequence (but I bet Maya wasn’t either!)
I loved how everyone that Maya has worked with is willing to come together for her. Slowly she is realizing she is the glue (or the light, as many like to say) that helps everyone work together and stay on the same path. Learning more about Charlotte and her brilliant defense for Gary was truly spectacular. I would love to hear more of Charlotte, and I am very infested in continuing on to see where life takes Maya!
Synopsis: Maya, a human barista, takes a job at a coffee shop inside the supernatural Umbrafore Complex.
She’s ready for demanding customers and the occasional brooding vampire.
She’s not ready to become supernaturally famous, attract a theatrical serial killer, or stumble into a situations that spans five books and changes the course of her life.
Follow Maya as she blogs her way through murder, romance, and learning where she truly belongs.
Review: “Choose a drink for a demon? Sir, I’m just a barista and don’t have soul insurance.” (Page 25)
This book starts a bit chaotic and because of the way it’s set up; I wasn’t sure I was going to like it but I was quickly drawn into a fast paced, humourous story that I couldn’t get enough of. While we learn of Maya from the standpoint of her work, throughout her blog she slowly starts introducing the reader to more about her; her home life, what the complex she works at is like. All of the descriptions of supernaturals she serves are outright delightful, especially because she gives most interesting nicknames because she doesn’t know their names. All of the characters introduced have such depth and unique stories of their own that while it’s great to see what’s happening at Pulse (the coffee shop she works at; no spoilers here!) It’s also awesome to see what adventures she ends up going on with people she works with. The found family trope is done perfectly in this novel, and once you get in to this, especially given the chapters are little blogs, it’s almost impossible to set down.
This is a new style of epistolary fiction that has more depth and emotion than most older novels of the same genre. The pacing is perfection because every blog generally is the space of one day or major event in the storyline– you can read as much or little as you want, but if Maya didn’t think it was important enough to blog, you don’t have to read about it (no overwriting). The book also plays a bit in and on itself and the tropes it has within and Maya calls it like it is, which some may consider breaking the fourth wall, but really just makes it realistic as a blog-turned-book. That being said, Maya also is there for everyone reading; those who feel unloved, unloveable, feel that they are taking up too much space– her words call out to everyone, with affirmations she learns and tries to embody along her journey.
“You don’t have to be magical to matter.” (Page 159)
Serious Kudos to Lara McKenzie– Maya’s blogs are as addictive as fancy foam lattes, and I’m already on book 3 in the series at the time of writing this review.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for modern/contemporary/urban fantasy with found family vibes featuring a human who gets a crash course in all things supernatural.
Synopsis: A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.
“Mom seems off.”
Her brother’s words echo in Sam Montgomery’s ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.
She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam’s excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.
But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.
To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.
Review: Creepy is for old Gothic mansions and run-down cabins out in the woods, not cookie-cutter houses in the middle of a subdivision. (Page 31)
I absolutely loved this book. While a haunted house story, this is the very opposite of a house you would expect something ominous to occur in; it’s in a subdivision! The characters have great depth, with clear interests and desires and while Sam likes how her life has turned out, it is also clear why that life might not have appealed to older relatives. Like any proper southern gothic story there is a proper build up of what ifs and someone must be messing with the family moments.
I loved that the neighborhood was so fleshed out and that everyone was clearly not just what the stereotype around them/their interests would make them out to be. There are a great amount of twists and turns and I loved that Sam really looked at everything happening from every scientific angle, especially when worrying about her mother. Despite the strangeness going on, she didn’t suddenly change her entire mindset to just accept what she had always known as not possible. The ending was quite peculiar but most gothic horror (here’s looking at you Lovecraft) has a bit of oddness to it. While the ending concept was certainly unique, I loved how Kingfisher interwove known oddballs of history to make up some of the ancestors’ pasts.
I greatly enjoyed this book and if you like haunted houses, realistic protagonists, vultures, and very sensible people being drawn into something that can’t easily be explained, this book is for you. (I do think most who enjoyed H. P. Lovecraft of Algernon Blackwood would like this book.)
Synopsis: Includes Vol. 13-15 of Noragami: Stray God.
PLAYING WITH FIRE Hiyori knows Koto’s real identity, and she’s determined not to let him mess with her anymore. When he comes to pick on her again, she confronts him about Yato and refuses to back down. She’s not afraid of him, but incurring the wrath of Yato’s father comes with dire consequences.
Review: This book was both so sad and liberating for Hiyori. While I love her standing her ground I wonder what will happen in her future thanks to a certain god of (mis)fortune. This book also left one very worried about Bishamon! Hoping she finds more clarity and healing in the next omnibus.
Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
*Although reviewed not this book was read in February.
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Review: “My life purpose has always been to make Mom happy, to be who she wants me to be. So without Mom, who am I supposed to be now?” (Page 2)
“I’m allowed to hate someone else’s dream, even if it’s my reality.” (Page 207)
I wanted and needed something different after my last fantasy read and this had been in the forever growing TBR (and literal kindle unlimited cache) since May. I wish I had read this sooner. If all autobiographies were written like this, I may come to like nonfiction as much as I do fantasy. While there is serious trauma worked through and mentioned, the autobiography is written as if the reader is along for the ride as McCurdy starts acting and ages up.
There are so many ways in which McCurdy struggled as a youth and young adult, and while many may think it crass that she not only would say that she is glad her mother died, but would write a book about it, if one were to read said book they may find some understanding in her sentiment. From a young age she was treated as expendable, a life size doll, someone meant only to emotionally and mentally support her mother while merely going along a path set for her. McCurdy suffered many things from her mother: emotional and psychological abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse and in the end she still chose to share her past, the tribulations, embarrassments, and heartbreak with others. This book hits hard, perhaps because of her fame; if someone who was that much in the public eye was going through so much behind closed doors it’s possible that anyone could be facing a world of horrors that could never be imagined.
I thought this book was thought provoking, sad, but hilarious at times and overall I am very glad I read it. I cannot say who I think would benefit from reading this book, but if you do, you’ll go along on quite the journey.
Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
*Read in February, though reviewed now.
***This is the first autobiography I have reviewed!
Synopsis: What happens when a first-born bargain goes wrong?
Princess Gisele has spent her life preparing for an evil fae sorcerer to claim her. That was the bargain her mother was tricked into: one royal first-born in exchange for spinning straw into gold.
But it’s been decades, and he still hasn’t shown up.
The unfulfilled fairytale-debt, however, is refusing to lie quietly. When its chaotic magic reaches unbearable levels, Gisele takes matters into her own hands. Terrifying fae sorcerer or not, she’ll hunt him down and force him to stop ruining her life.
But instead of an evil mastermind, she finds the scholarly, nameless lord of a magical house. He wants nothing to do with the angry knife-wielding spinster on his doorstep. Unfortunately, the fairytale-debt has other ideas.
Now magically bound to her lifelong nemesis, the only way to break the magic between them is to work together to find the nameless fae’s lost name. Assuming they don’t strangle each other first.
HOW TO FIND A NAMELESS FAE is a cozy fantasy romance retelling of Rumplestiltskin with spice, featuring a middle-aged heroine, a buttoned-up hero, and an interfering sentient house.
Review: “On her fortieth birthday, Princess Gisele of Isshia realised she was going to have to save herself.” (Page 9)
This book started so strong with a middle aged heroine who has lived a very different life to what one in her position was expected to do, due to the bargain holding her life hostage. It was easy to like Gisele as you learn of her blight and see how well she has learned to navigate life despite her curse. While I love the humanization of a character that has been seen as a villain for most of time, I was not a fan of his less than human side. All the characters were relatively well developed, but I found the romance aspect to have been assumed and immediately on the nose from the moment those two characters interacted. I did find most of the major plot points to be predictable, and while there was still enough of a surprise where/how in the story, I personally did not find this book to be for me (mostly due to lack of humanity as stated). There is some spice, but as I skimmed it very quickly, I will not be rating it.
Synopsis: She’s supposed to find him the perfect match. Falling for him herself was not part of the deal.
Mallory has zero magic. No spells, no shape-shifting and no flashy Preternatural strength. But in the magical city of Coldstream, Mallory has made knowledge her power and she turns secrets and favours into currency.
Enter Alexander MacTire: alpha werewolf, wealthy businessman, and walking temptation. He wants Mallory to find him a mate. She wants absolutely nothing to do with him.
But MacTire isn’t used to hearing no—and Mallory’s not immune to his charm, no matter how hard she tries. What starts as a reluctant business arrangement soon turns into something dangerously personal. Because the more she gets to know him, the less she wants to help him find love … with anyone but her.
The first book in the Coldstream Chronicles is jam-packed full of magic, mayhem, and slow-burn heat. It can be read as a standalone or alongside The Cat Lady Chronicles.
Review: “You present yourself as flowers and sunshine, Ms Nash, but in truth you possess a core of steel.” “Titanium.” (Page 14)
I started this after finishing the last Cat Lady Chronicles book that is out now (see my review of A Skirl of Sorcery here). I already was interested in what Mallory’s backstory was going to be; she doesn’t have magic but she does have power. She is wily and has her own sense of self. In many ways Mallory is similar to Kit; more than she appears. This book was very different than those in the Cat Lady Chronicles and while the general who ends up with who was something I had predicted, wanted, and hoped since a certain restaurant scene in one of said Cat Lady Chronicles books, I was oh so pleased by the experience and interwoven client problem Mallory had to work through while dealing with Alexander MacTire. It was also so nice to see Ethan (MacTire’s nephew) again, even though he was a side character in this novel. I quite enjoyed the interactions between Mallory and Alex, and her straight to the point unwillingness to deal with him being an alpha-hole. I am interested to see what Mallory and MacTire end up dealing with in future installments, and hope that Kit becomes involved in helping with their maybe not so little vampire problem. The characters and world were well fleshed out, and of course I cannot wait for the next book.
Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
*This was read in February, but reviewed just now.
Synopsis: He was the other half of my soul—the mirror to my every dark desire. My destruction, my redemption, my salvation: my Heathcliff.
Cathy Earnshaw’s got the devil inside her—or at least that’s what the small, cultish community she’s spent her whole life trapped inside would say. She can sense death coming, and every loss sends her spiraling into a violent, uncontrollable episode of grief, wailing like a banshee across the swampy forests of the Lowcountry. With a secret as dark as hers, there’s no hope of relief, or escape, or finding someone with a chance of understanding.
Until she meets him.
Heathcliff’s got his own trauma, and a secret just as dangerous as Cathy’s. Stolen as a child, raised by necromancers, he’s the most forbidden sin she could ever imagine…and the most desperately tempting. Violent in his passions, tender in his affection, he feels like the other half of her soul, but even as they claw desperately to be together, the world seems just as determined to keep them apart.
Because it turns out their little Southern community was built long ago on a graveyard of lies…and every cult needs its sacrificial lamb.
Review: “… his soul and mine were cut from the same shimmering fabric, hewn from the same rock, dipped from the same pool. Wherever souls come from, we share the same source.” (Page 274)
I wasn’t sure that anyone or anything could make the story of Wuthering Heights have Cathy and Heathcliff be redeemable characters that you would actually care about and not just think about as horrible people but Kenney did the impossible! There were a lot of changes to the original in family matters etc that I did wonder for the first 3/4 of the book why she decided to have this be a Wuthering Heights spin off and not let the story live on it’s own without the very flimsy connections but in the end it did make sense. In many ways I think this story stands as a Dark Modern Fantasy book of its own. There was an extra dimension to this retelling by mixing in religion and cult practices, with much thought given to how people can be persuaded to do things that might usually be against their better judgement or interests. This book also features a lot about death and what can go into mourning.
There are complicated family dynamics, lots of different types of magic, and a love that could not be separated even by death. If that sounds interesting to you, I’d highly recommend this book. Once I started it, I found it near impossible to put down, even though I didn’t really want it to end.
Synopsis: Get reintroduced to the internet’s favorite cat with I Am Pusheen the Cat and learn all about this cuddly feline who has won hearts around the world.
Then go on fun escapades with Pusheen as she dives in her unicorn, dragon, alien, mermaid, dinosaur, and even dog alter egos in The Many Lives of Pusheen the Cat.
Finally, get her expert advice and adorable wit with Pusheen the Cat’s Guide to Everything.
Review: I absolutely love these books! They have all the feel good Pusheen comics put together in colour and paper and it’s just perfection. While there are lots of interesting fantasy bits of Pusheenicorn or Mermaid Pusheen, there are also a lot of very relatable comics about how cats live/view things. If you love cats, I highly recommend this book collection for you!
Synopsis: BACK FROM THE DEAD Yato is still trapped in the underworld and Izanami is doing everything in her power to prevent his escape. The only one capable of helping him now is his old nemesis Bishamon. Will she find it in her heart to rescue her hated foe? Or is there another way?
Review: This book gives you all the feels about Yato and his upbringing. There is so much more about our favourite stray god than what we give him credit for, and it explains why he seems to lost about things all the time. Bishamon evolves quite a bit in these volumes as well, and we even learn more about Yato and his connection to Kazuma.
Amy S. Brown 