Time's Agent by Brenda Peynado

A melancholy exploration of love, guilt and grief, Time’s Agent will stay with you.

Ways into what are called Pocket Worlds (PW) are popping up everywhere. Archaeologist Raquel and her wife Marlena have been exploring them, to catalogue extinct flora and fauna and look for evidence of the Taino peoples.

Raquel and Marlena are both trapped in a long time dilation world and while in it, capitalism and climate change take over.

Recommended for thoughtful teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

I am not familiar with Regency romances at all (I think I’ve read one. Maybe two.) but I think I would have read far more of them if T. Kingfisher was writing them.

This is an absolute gem of a book. It mashes up fairy tales, Regency and low key horror and what comes out is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s hard to explain why this is so good, but trust me, it really really is.

A retelling of "The Goose Girl", Kingfisher has an absolute knack for reimagining fairy tales and genre mixing. Recommended for tweens (depending on the tween) and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst said in the afterword that she wanted to write ‘a warm hug of a book’ and she knocked it out of the park.

Librarian Kiela flees the Great Library of Alyssium with her assistant Caz (who is hilarious and unexpected) when revolutionaries take control of the city and set fire to the Library. (NGL, did not approve of this bit, but plot, so whaddya gonna do?) With the few crates of spellbooks she managed to save, she and Caz sail to the only place of safety she can think of – her childhood home.

This is absolutely lovely. It’s sweet without being twee, romantic without being cloying. Cozy fantasy at its best! Halfway through reading this, I realized that it was now on my list of ‘books to read when things are not going well in my world and I need comfort’.

Recommended for everyone (some tweens would love this, I would think), go read it, you’ll love it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland

Rowland has delivered a hilarious romp for fans of Our Flag Means Death and One Piece. There are pirates and unrequited love (and a fair bit of steamy scenes). Treasure and sea creatures and ships.

It’s all good and I chuckled my way through this. I really liked this universe and wouldn’t mind spend-ing more time here.

Recommended for older teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons

Matthew Lyons has written a tight, terrifying horror/thriller (holler? I’ll workshop it).

A botched robbery forces career criminal Anne Heller and companions to flee, and the only place she can think of to go is her childhood home – which she and her mother fled one night with tragic conse-quences. This choice leads her and her companions to dig into just why she and her mother had to flee and what her mother was running from.

I loved this book. The horror and thriller aspects are perfectly balanced and the plot moves at break-neck speed. (Although I think I need to stop reading horror set in rural areas, now that I’ve moved back to a rural area.)

Absolutely recommend this to older teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

There seems to be a sub-genre of “traumatized queer couples engage in politics, mostly feudal adjacent” popping up in SF/F and I am HERE FOR IT. (See also Everina Maxwell, Foz Meadows and Freya Marske)

TSoTB is soaked in trauma (Samotin provides trigger warnings at the beginning, and you should heed them) but it doesn’t feel exploitative at all. Every horrible thing that happens propels the story forward or provides explanations for why the characters behave the way they do. Set in a feudal Russian-esque world, Jewish mythology underpins the story and provides mystical explanations and background.

The novel ends on a cliffhanger, and book 2 is scheduled to be published in 2025. I will definitely be looking for it.

Recommended for older teens and up and again, please heed the trigger warnings.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

I will never not be delighted to read an InCryptid novel and Aftermarket Afterlife was no exception.

Mary Dunlavy is a ghost. Mary Dunlavy is also the Price family babysitter. I loved seeing the Price family through Mary’s eyes, it’s a unique perspective on the family we’ve come to know and love over the years. Sad things happen but they’re not shoehorned in, they do serve the plot, so I was mostly ok with them.

Recommended for teens and up (tweens depending on said tween).

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

#AftermarketAftermath #NetGalley

Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr

Melissa Marr sets up a conflict that you want to see resolved in Remedial Magic. The premise is fairly simple – magic is real, witches live in a city hidden from mundanes but there is an ecological disaster happening, threatening said city.

We follow four new witches as they decide whether or not to stay in the city and older residents as motives are explored, and potential relationships (both gay and straight) develop in fits and starts. The point of view shifts between characters with each chapter so we get to know all main characters. The ending is a real cliffhanger and I will be looking for the next book!

Recommended for older teens and up. I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

#RemedialMagic #NetGalley

The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves

This is a lovely meditation on grief and how each person processes it differently. Each grief situation is shown to be just as valid as another – nothing is made to feel lesser. It’s also how adults should relate to each other in real life and a romance that ends very happily. (There’s also a sadly real situation on how women move through the world.)

I learned more about geocaching, which I’d been somewhat aware of for years, but didn’t realize that a) it was still a thing and b) the rules around it. If I was more of a hiker, I’d try it myself.

I really liked this and thought that everything was handled deftly and loved the conclusion.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my unbiased opinion.

#TrailOfLostHearts #NetGalley

Heir, Apparently by Kara McDowell

The sequel to “The Prince and the Apocalypse”, “Heir, Apparently” wraps everything up satisfactorily.

There were a few things I kind of had to handwave away under “it makes the plot go”, but overall, this was a sweet romance that leaves you with a happy ever after. In the end, conflicts are resolved by communication, which is refreshing.

Recommended for teen readers and up (possibly tween, depending on said tween), I’ll be watching for McDowell’s next book.

I received a free ARC for my unbiased opinion from NetGalley.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson

I loved this book. I find that with most of the historical novels coming out lately that I’ve read, I tend to get turned off by the ‘hand-waving’ of consequences for breaking the social mores of the time. (This is also why I couldn’t watch a very popular Canadian mystery series – I tried watching a couple episodes with my mom and found myself gibbering at the screen.)

BUT I DIGRESS. The characters in this book are well aware of both the social mores and the consequences for breaking them. Even in 1919, class and sex mattered far more than we can understand on a gut level. So it was refreshing to read a novel that understood that.

The plot also made sense and it’s just a nice book all around. (That is not derogatory at all. Sometimes you just want ‘nice’ and low stakes.)

Definitely recommend this!

I recieved a copy from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

#TheHazelbourneLadiesMotorcycleandFlyingClub #NetGalley

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

The second book in T. Kingfisher's Sworn Soldier series (which I devoutly hope she continues with! Everyone in these books is delightful – even [especially?] the horse!)

Anyways.

I loved this sequel. This one is not based on anything specific (like What Moves the Dead was based on The Fall of the House of Usher) as far as I can tell, it’s more generic Eastern European mythology. Which absolutely works! I like the moving away from a specific source material and more into the exploration of this particular world.

This will absolutely keep your interest and keep you turning pages to find out what happens.

Nicely atmospheric and more creepy than scary, I would not hesitate to hand this to a teen (perhaps even a tween reader, depending on said tween) reader.

I received a digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions.

#WhatFeastsatNight #NetGalley.