Mini Reviews (and a Reading Woe): The Shadows by Alex North & Red Heir by Lisa Henry

How does one...read a book? If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to mail out a note to my brain detailing step-by-step instructions, as the poor thing has clearly forgotten. Which, turns out, is a bit of an inconvenience when you're trying to run a book blog. It's not that I don't have the time …

Review: Burn by Patrick Ness – Dragons, Prophecies, and the Cycle of Violence

Title: Burn Author: Patrick Ness Publisher: Quill Tree Books Genre(s): YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction Subject(s)/Themes(s): War, Discrimination, Dragons Representation: Biracial MC, Gay MC Release Date: June 2nd, 2020 Page Count: 384 (hardback) Rating: 8.0/10   On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957, Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the …

Review: Mayhem by Estelle Laure – A Gorgeous Chaotic Mess

Title: Mayhem Author: Estelle Laure Publisher: Wednesday Books Genre(s): YA Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Magical Realism Subject(s): Multigenerational, Abuse Release Date: July 14th, 2020 Page Count: 304 (hardback) Rating: 4.0/10 It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, …

Review: Dragon Age Tevinter Nights – Burn, Thedas, Burn

Title: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Author(s): Patrick Weekes, Sylvia Fektekuty, John Epler, Lukas Kristjanson, Brianne Battye, Caitlin Sullivan Kelly, Courtney Woods, Ryan Cormier, Arone LaBray Publisher: Tor Books Genre(s): Epic Fantasy, Game-to-Novel Subject(s): Gods, LGBTQ+ Release Date: March 10th, 2020 Page Count: 496 (paperback) Rating: 8.0/10     The Dragon Age games are dark, heroic, …

January & February 2020 Wrap-Up: Begone, Cursed Months! (Feat. Pretty Lights)

Happy March, everyone! These past two months felt overly short and dragged out at the same time. And I'm torn between wanting to re-do them or wanting to stuff them into a burlap sack filled with rocks and hurl them into the nearest lake. I ended up re-reading a lot of old comfort books, partly …

Review: The Unspoken Name – A Saga of Badass Lesbian Orc and Wonder Bread Boy

Title: The Unspoken Name Author: A.K. Larkwood Publisher: Tor Books Genre(s): Epic Fantasy, Portal Fantasy Subject(s): Gods, Coming-of-Age, LGBTQ+ (main and secondary) Release Date: Feb 11th, 2020 Page Count: 464 (hardback) Rating: 6.0/10         What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does. She will climb the mountain, enter …

News & Review: The Hanged Man (Tarot Sequence 2) – I Got Blurbed On a Book Cover

So um. A thing happened several months ago. Well, okay, a bunch of things happened. And they're all interconnected and relevant to THE thing I want to talk about, so let's just go through them in chronological order. Imagine the countdown from Hamilton's "Ten Duel Commandments."   ☀️ Number one! ☀️ I got to read …

Spotlight + Giveaway (US): The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah

Yup, it's yet another blog tour! (Seriously, how did I sign up for so many tours? Did I accidentally clone myself one night?) And my YA curse continues because The Light at the Bottom of the World didn't exactly light up my world. So my review will be posted later this week after the tour …

The Hanged Man (Tarot Sequence 2) Promotion Extravaganza

Happy Samhain, New Atlanteans!! The hotly anticipated sequel to K.D. Edwards' The Last Sun is arriving on December 17th, and KD, Sia, and I want to make the next two months a fun, exciting, and involved affair for everyone. We have some seriously cool events planned--for current fans of the series and readers who aren't …

DNF Reviews: Tarnished are the Stars & The Good Luck Girls – Why does YA Hate Me? (I’m Open to Suggestions)

Here's a fun stat for you: I DNFed 5 books in the past month and a half, and four of them were YA SFF. And I'm pretty sure they're at least 60% responsible for the reading slump I'm currently in. Conclusion? 1) Recent YA SFF is just missing a lot of the stuff I crave. …