The nitty-gritty: Louisa Morgan tackles the tale of King Arthur in this magical, imaginative, character focused retelling, perfect for fantasy fans looking for less plot-heavy stories. Arthurian retellings aren’t really my thing, but Louisa Morgan is my thing, so of course I was excited to read The Faerie Morgana. And because she’s a pro, Morgan […]
The nitty-gritty: The giant lizard steals the show in Jackson Ford’s first foray into fantasy, an enjoyable but uneven story. It pains me to give anything by Jackson Ford a middling rating, but unfortunately The Bone Raiders didn’t completely work for me. As someone who is backing away from reading a lot of fantasy these […]
The nitty-gritty: Academic rivalry, romance and past trauma come together in Sara Raasch’s new series opener. I’m a big fan of Sara Raasch’s Royals and Romance series, so I was excited to see she’s started yet another series called Magic and Romance. These are all MM romances (at least so far), and her latest book […]
The nitty-gritty: A sweet, uplifting story about finding yourself, complete with witchy magic and adorable spiders. Now that I’ve read Cackle, I’m officially caught up on Rachel Harrison’s backlist (except for her short story collection Bad Dolls, which I’m not interested in). And Cackle was a lot of fun! This is much lighter than some […]
The nitty-gritty: An entertaining, cheeky fantasy with outstanding humorous banter, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy is a solid series starter by a very promising writer. Some readers love this book and others don’t, and after reading it for myself I can appreciate both opinions. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy […]
The nitty-gritty: The House on Utopia Way is a weird cabinet of wonders, set in a mind-bending, mystery-filled landscape. “It was a drawn breath of a day, sky the colour of a computer error screen, low wind.” The author told me this book was “too weird” for traditional publishing, but I read and review a […]
The nitty-gritty: A twist on the magical school trope told from the parents’ point of view, Caitlin Rozakis’s latest is a fun, heartfelt story with wry humor and a cozy vibe. “Oct 27 12:05 p.m. A kind reminder after last year’s incident that many of the off-the-shelf (Halloween) costumes sold in mundane stores are considered […]
The nitty-gritty: Tochi Onyebuchi’s latest melds hard boiled noir and fantasy in a perfectly paced story with humor and heart. “The français are a Harmattan that never ends.” Harmattan Season is a tautly written crime story with magical overtones, set in a fantasy version of postcolonial West Africa. This is a slow-burn mystery told from […]
The nitty-gritty: A spell gone wrong turns a prince into a horse in this funny (at times) fantasy where the horsey antics are the best part of the story. “Virtue of Mercy. I was married to a horse.” Behooved is a fun and silly romantasy that offers a lot of laughs and some feel good […]
The nitty-gritty: I loved the magical worldbuilding and stellar writing, but the plot felt scattered and confusing, resulting in a story with mixed results. Don’t Sleep With the Dead is a companion novella to Nghi Vo’s The Chosen and the Beautiful, a magical retelling of The Great Gatsby which I read almost four years ago […]