Publisher: Flatiron Books

Recent Reads | Nightwatching and This Story Might Save Your Life

Posted March 26, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This book has been on my radar for a while but I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it. Many reviews said the book starts one way and kind of turns into something else for the second half, so I was just on the fence. I saw it at the library and decided I was in the mood for it, then randomly picked it up when we got a blizzard. This book is also set during a snowstorm so I thought the vibes would be perfect. I ended up being really glad I picked this one up! The book starts with a bang – a mother is alone in her house with her two kids when she notices an intruder. They manage to hide while she figures out what to do, and realizes who the man is. I won’t say anything else that happens because yes, the book takes a bit of a turn. It was incredibly suspenseful and creepy from the jump, especially to read at night. I’m glad I didn’t have this on my Kindle to read in bed! The next part of this paragraph is generally/slightly spoiler-y but not in a way that would ruin the book: I was so frustrated in many scenes with the cops (shocker) but really enjoyed the often tense ride. There are some intentional/interesting choices by the author though. I didn’t realize until I finished that she doesn’t include names for literally any characters, I’m fairly positive – I’m assuming this was a […]

Recent Reads | The Fiancee Farce and My Husband’s Wife

Posted March 9, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I made it a goal to read more books with sapphic romance this year and this has been sitting on my shelves for a few years. It called to me so I went for it, and I’m so glad I did! I need to read more of her books immediately. The story follows Tansy and Gemma as they embark on a fake engagement/marriage to help them both out. Tansy used Gemma, a model on a book cover, as a fake girlfriend when making excuses with her family. When she actually meets Gemma in person, she’s shocked to see that Gemma joins the charade and reveals they’re together and engaged. Gemma needs to be married to inherit her family business and she’s willing to do anything to make it happen. What happens from here is a super cute, sometimes corny, love story. It’s not perfect but honestly exactly what I needed in that moment. I absolutely loved them as a couple and how well they communicated. With a plot this “big” where you know that something bad may happen outside of their control, we don’t also need miscommunication or in-couple issues too. The author did a great job of making the conflict work. The premise was over the top but highly enjoyable. I was rooting for them from the beginning and really loved it. This is the kind of book that will be polarizing – a lot of people have loved it and I’ve started to see some negative reviews trickle […]

Recent Reads | Razorblade Tears and Can You Solve a Murder?

Posted February 9, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’d heard good things about Cosby’s work but for some reason I assumed he wrote horror novels. It may be the covers or the fact that so many reviews talk about violence and darkness. Either way, we decided to read this one for my mystery/thriller book club and it created a lot of great conversation! Buddy Lee and Ike are two fathers whose sons were married with a young daughter. They’re from the south and of a certain generation/upbringing so they were not supportive of their sons’ relationship with each other. When Derek and Isiah are brutally murdered, Ike and Buddy Lee pair up on a quest for vengeance and to make amends for being bad fathers. I really loved watching Ike and Buddy Lee go on this journey… and I’m not sure what that says about me, rooting for all of the chaos and murder along the way. The book brings Ike and Buddy Lee together – again not only on a quest to avenge their sons deaths and figure out what happened, but also to come to terms with their relationship. The book tackles homophobia, transphobia, and racism. I thought their character arcs were believable and powerful. It was definitely hard to read at times but hard to put down at the same time. This was so brutal but so important. I absolutely loved the ending too. While this is not ~for me~ given all the violence and darkness and male-centered plot, I will be reading all of […]

Recent Reads | Wild Dark Shore and A Curious Beginning

Posted January 22, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This is a book I’ve been very intimidated by but was determined to read at some point. I’ve found that I always enjoy literary mysteries more than I expect to, so this was somewhat of a pleasant surprised (but also expected in some ways). The book follows a tight cast of characters in a remote area, which was incredibly atmospheric. I knew I wanted to read this one in the winter given the chilly Antarctica location. Rowan washes ashore the remote island currently inhabited by the Salt family. How did she get there? What or who is she looking for? Dom and his three kids appear to be hiding secrets of their own as well. There were a lot of little mysteries but this was by no means a fast-paced thriller. Emphasis on the “literary” in “literary mystery.” There was a heavy scientific / climate change element to this book that I appreciated. The Salt family are the only remaining people/scientists on this island protecting the seed bank and have only a few weeks left before they move back to a mainland. Each of the kids has a special interest area, whether its whales or biology or penguins, and it was cool to see how their life was on the island. Again, super atmospheric – I felt like I could picture everything (and would love to see this as a movie!). I really loved the writing style and would be eager to read more by McConaghy, if I can pluck […]

Recent Reads | Alchemy of Secrets and All of Us Murderers

Posted December 29, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 1 Comment

Apparently I just have unpopular opinions about Stephanie Garber’s books, and in this case I’m happy about that! I loved the Caraval trilogy and preferred it overall to Once Upon a Broken Heart, unlike most people. I was a little nervous going into this book because so many Garber stans thought it was generally kind of mid or gave it 3-3.5 stars. I’m happy to report that I actually loved this one. The story is set in our world (urban fantasy vibes) but super magical. The main character, Holland, took a folklore class by a mysterious professor where she learned about urban myths and local legends. She’s always been convinced that magic is real while many others in the class think it’s just fiction. Holland soon realizes that her instincts were right and the myths are real. She needs to find the mythical Alchemical Heart by the end of the following day or she dies. It was really fun to get pulled into the magic of Los Angeles with Holland and her companions. The story is INCREDIBLY fast-past for a fantasy book and I loved that. My attention was rapt the entire time, with the characters uncovering more as they traveled around the city. The reason this isn’t five stars is because the fast pace did lead to a lack of character development (or development in general in some places). The book is short at 324 pages and could have benefited from 25-50 more to flesh out a few more […]

Recent Reads | Not Quite Dead Yet and Mean Moms

Posted August 22, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Holly Jackson and have loved all of her books (I still haven’t read one of them though), so I was really looking forward to her adult debut mystery. The concept sounded so interesting: the main character is attacked in an attempted murder and the aneurysm in her brain will trigger within the week, so she has less than seven days to try to solve her own murder before she dies. I loved the idea that she’s really “not quite dead yet” and by the time she does die, it will be literally her solving her own murder. I started this book via audio when I was setting up our new house and unpacking, so I managed to read the first third of it in one sitting. However, the audiobook narrator was utterly terrible. I thought her normal voice and Jet’s narration were perfectly fine but the voices she used for other characters were SO bad. She was basically using weird accents and caricatures of how normal people talk. Her mom, sister-in-law, and friend all had horrific voices and I couldn’t bring myself to listen to any more of it. I read the rest of the book physically. Jet goes out on the case with her childhood best friend, Billy, and they get really close during this time period. It makes her inevitable fate even sadder honestly. I’ll say my biggest issue with this book is that I really did not like Jet – she was […]

Recent Reads | A Killing Cold and The Five Year Lie

Posted February 19, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been saying for years that I need to read a Kate Alice Marshall book and I’m glad I finally did! Apparently it just took me getting it in my BOTM. (By the way, I am getting much better at reading those…) The book follows Theo as she heads to her new fiance’s remote cabin in the woods to meet his family for the first time in their whirlwind romance. The mysterious, uber-wealthy family has spent years of summers and Christmases at their compound with cabins up in Vermont. When she finds a photo of herself in the abandoned cabin, memories of her childhood slowly come back. Is it possible she’s somehow been there before? I really loved this one and read the majority of it in a day. I found myself continually turning the pages to see what happened next. I was suspicious of the entire family at different points in the book and it really wasn’t what I expected to be honest. I think the majority of things I could discuss would be spoilery so I’ll just say that the atmosphere of this book was really well-done and perfect to read on a snowy weekend like I did! Some things were a little convenient (fate? IYKYK) and didn’t seem realistic at all. There were a couple of explanations for those things but do think the reader needs to suspend their disbelief to really buy into it. I ended up really liking the end of the book and the […]

Recent Reads | Onyx Storm and Beautiful Ugly

Posted February 6, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

If you thought IRON FLAME was a slog to get through with all of the filler and unnecessary fighting, allow me to introduce you to ONYX STORM! Also a slog with even more filler and (at least) less fighting. This book would be boring for 100 pages and then offer 50 pages of intrigue and then keep repeating until the end of the book. I’m starting to question the sanity of myself and others who continue to read the series – I genuinely don’t get it. FOURTH WING was a comparatively fun ride, especially for those nostalgic for old school YA fantasy, aged up into romantasy with sex scenes. I still didn’t really understand the five star reviews of that book because of the horrible, repetitive romance and writing style but at least I could understand why the experience was fun for folks. This book and its predecessor brought to the table a whole lot of nothing except for at the very end. And this one doesn’t have me itching to pick up the next book like IRON FLAME did. I’m wondering if this is where me and my FOMO part ways with this series… We’ll see how I feel when the next one comes out but as of now I’m mostly frustrated and confused. I’m gonna go read some theories because this book pretty much answered nothing that was brought up in the previous two books. If it’s true that this was originally a trilogy and got pushed to […]

Holiday Reviews: I’ll Be Gone for Christmas and Spectacular

Posted December 11, 2024 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

Story I’m a sucker for THE HOLIDAY and any book that promises that kind of “holiday house swap” will certainly make it on my TBR. I went and requested a bunch of Christmas books a few weeks ago and this was the first one that came in on Libby, so I ended up making it my first holiday book of the year! Clover and her ex-fiance, Knox, are still living on the same property, working the family farm after her mom passes away. Bee is living in San Francisco and looking to escape her twin sister, Beth, after she made some mistakes with their shared company. Luckily Bee’s friend invented a house swap app and the two gals end up leaving their lives behind for the holiday season. The book saw Clover start to fall for Bee’s sister and Bee begin to fall for Knox – as expected. The story itself was absolutely a cute, drama-free, slow burn romance with practically zero spice. It certainly is a more diverse version of THE HOLIDAY and exactly what I wanted in that regard. There were a lot of character names for no real reason (one of them was named Dee and another was Bee, which should be illegal) and I got a little confused when trying to keep two plotlines straight. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels The premise of following a holiday season in the city along with one in a “Christmas-obsessed” small town in Ohio sounded like the best of both […]

Series Review: Once Upon a Broken Heart

Posted November 2, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I was a huge fan of the CARAVAL trilogy and can’t really think of a good reason for not reading this spin-off trilogy until the same year the final book was released! I kept seeing amazing reviews where so many people read and loved this (without even reading CARAVAL). My expectations were pretty high. I decided to finally take the plunge and read all three books in October (right after another series binge by a favorite author). I didn’t remember anything from CARAVAL really but definitely found that you don’t need to. I think the backstory on Jacks and the previous trilogy as a whole were helpful in understanding the world for sure, but I can see why many people jumped right into these books. I would honestly recommend reading CARAVAL first though – that’s just my opinion! Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART trilogy. I was shocked at how quickly I read this book, considering that fantasy usually takes me a looong time to get through. I would absolutely recommend this series (as well as CARAVAL) to anyone who is curious about fantasy but nervous about understanding a new world. This is super accessible fantasy that anyone could read and enjoy IMO. Garber has a great writing style. This story follows Evangeline Fox and Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, from the first series. I really like that the synopsis doesn’t give away nearly anything in the book! You only learn that […]