Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

Our favorite prickly English folklorist and deposed Irish faerie king are back, this time on an adventure to the Austrian Alps. Professors Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby are on a dual quest: to search for a hidden door to Wendell’s kingdom, and, in the process, to find signs of Danielle de Grey, the infamous dryadologist

Book Review: The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

Gareth Inglis, unwanted child turned dismissed law clerk, unexpectedly inherits his absent father’s title and country estate. Tench House is situated in Romney Marsh, a remote wetland not-so-secretly controlled by smuggling gangs. Much to Gareth’s surprise, his local area is under the control of the Doomsday clan, led by none other than his one-time lover.

Book Review: Rubicon by JS Dewes

Happy New Year! I started this blog with a review of The Last Watch by JS Dewes, so it brings me great pleasure to come back with a review for her upcoming novel, Rubicon! On a pathfinding mission with the 803rd, Specialist Adriene Valero dies. Again. She rezones into her new husk – a synthetically-grown

Book Review: City Witchery by Lisa Marie Basile

A book about city witchcraft can go one of two ways: either a primer on adapting witchcraft practices to a city setting, or an exploration of the magic/energies of the city itself. City Witchery focuses more on the latter. My favorite thing about this book is the focus on accessibility. Basile, a disability advocate herself, is aware

Book Review: Seasons of a Magical Life by H. Byron Ballard

I was super excited about this book when I first saw it, especially because the author is from my region of the world! Unfortunately, it didn’t end up being what I was looking for. I think the first chapter on Animism, Mutual Aid, and Permaculture was the strongest. We were discussing important and interesting concepts

Book Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” I’ve always said that Sense & Sensibility is my favorite Austen novel, but I think my Great 2020 Austen Reread may have taught me otherwise. Unclear. I’m

Book Review: ‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ and ‘One Last Stop’ by Casey McQuiston

History, huh? Red, White & Royal Blue Note: This review of RWRB was originally written in February 2019, when the world was in a very different era from the one we’re in now. 5 stars aren’t enough for how much I loved this book. Something McQuiston says in the acknowledgments really explains the overarching plot/setting/structure

Book Review: Asperfell by Jamie Thomas

“For fans of Jane Austen who always wished she’d dabbled in blood magic”? Sign me up. This is the first time in a long time that I have not wanted a book to end, so immersed was I in the world and so attached to the characters. The writing flows beautifully, I never found the

Book Review: Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon

With friends like these, who needs enemies? This was a fascinating portrait of both Wollstonecraft and Shelley, two authors I mistakenly believed I already understood. They led intense, complicated, and, frankly, messy lives, surrounded by people who seemed determined to make everything more difficult. Many modern folks mistakenly believe that women of the past were

Book Review: Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

This read was both enjoyable and challenging (in subject, not in the writing). There are a number of philosophical and ethical questions raised to which neither the book nor the characters claim to have answers. Is truth a human right? How does trauma isolate us from each other? Is it possible to overcome our differences