Synopsis Death is missing – presumed… er… gone. Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn. Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There’s a harvest to be gathered in… Review […]
Cozy Fantasy
Review: A Rose Among Thorns (Hall of Thorns #1) by Ash Fitzsimmons
Synopsis: No one said anything about an attack vine. Rose Thorn should never be left unsupervised around plants. Potted things tend to die around her as if on principle. But when her great-aunt calls and asks Rose to watch her garden nursery for a few days, Rose can hardly say no. After all, Aunt Lily […]
Book Review: Upscaled by Joseph John Lee
TL;DR Review: How to Train Your Dragon with the flavor of A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. Good, clean comedic fantasy fun. Synopsis: It begins and ends, as things do, with a girl throwing a birthday party for a dragon. Or it would, if things were ever that simple. Generations ago, the Inquisition of the […]
Book Review: Cursed Cocktails by S.L. Rowland
TL;DR Review: Cozy, heartwarming, and instantly engaging. A great look at a “second act/second career” so many of us can resonate with. Synopsis: When life gives you lemons, squeeze them into a stiff drink and stir. After twenty years defending the frozen north against some of the most dangerous threats in the nine kingdoms, […]
Book Review: The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
TL;DR Review: Fun, easy reading. Cozy fantasy that becomes wonderfully epic by the end. The perfect binge-reading book. Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable […]
Book Review: Easy Guide to Escape Hell by Elisa Menz
TL;DR Review: Urban fantasy that strikes an excellent balance between cozy and epic. An insightful exploration of healing from parent-inflicted trauma. Synopsis: You inherited a house, but it has a minor demon problem… Dagon Gunthersson—a powerful demon warrior and a renowned member of Hell’s nobility—stands accused of treason by his commander. His abrupt escape leads […]
Review: The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
This is a beautiful, uplifting story exploring a kind of ‘in-between’ place where the dead go to view their memories before they move onto the afterlife. It’s a story that deals with death and grief without actually touching on those subjects directly. You feel for all these people and those they’ve left behind, but it’s also a celebration of their life and what they achieved. The outlier here is the final character, Mitsuru, who tragically dies at the hands of her parents, but ultimately she gets her happy ending still.
Book Review: The Bartender Between Worlds by Herman Steuernagel
TL;DR Review: A dimension-hopping exploration of friendship, love, and the magic of a well-mixed cocktail. Synopsis: Low-stakes magic, crafting cocktails, and discovering the power of who we truly are. Emma grew up as a Hunter of the Cursed—those charged with eradicating monsters and magic from the Kingdom. She’s revered as one of the King’s most […]
Book Review: Amethysts and Alchemy by Rachel Rener
TL;DR – A grumpy/sunshine match made in neurospicy heaven, and a singularly ADORABLE animal companion. Synopsis: I used to eat rocks as a child. The family doctor diagnosed me with pica, dooming me to years of intensive therapy and extensive dentistry work. It wouldn’t be until much later that I would understand the all-consuming, insatiable […]
Review: Even a Hero Needs a Vacation Every Now and Then by August (Tipsy Pelican Tavern #1)
A literary equivalent of playing a video game with your tremendously OP character after the credits have rolled.
Review: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
With The Spellshop, Durst brings us a tale of bravery and change in the face of life altering events and she does so through characters that are endlessly relatable by virtue of highlighting how we all are but an echo chamber of all those who came into our lives and left something behind, all the events that shaped us into who we are, and all those feelings that we sort through each day regardless how ugly or good they might be. And, finally, this is a book about how sometimes settling or even languishing into certain roles is more dangerous than squaring your shoulders and trying the daunting thing.
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Synopsis Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz―a magically sentient spider plant―have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up […]