Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Title: Mate

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Publisher: Berkley 2025

Genre: Romantasy

Pages: 457

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Nightshade Society Club (Full Moon Fever); Cover Lover - Mythical creature

Spice Rating: 6

Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.

As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.

But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…

I really enjoyed Bride when it came out and was hoping the same level of plot and romance. Unfortunately, this one disappointed me. My biggest issue was the romance. What romance exactly? For most of the book, the main characters have no interest in each other. Even after they start having sex it’s because of Serena being in heat, not because they really want to. I never bought them actually being into each other at all. I really really dislike the being in heat trope for werewolf stories. Come to think of it, I really dislike werewolf stories. I dislike the power dynamics and misogynistic undertones to every interaction. I much prefer the vampire dynamics. As to the plot itself, so much was left unresolved. What happened to the bounty? Who was behind the bounty? What about Serena’s disease? Did sex magically cure that? What about the cult and all the weird things surrounding that? And even beyond the plot holes, there was so much unresolved trauma in this book. Not everything needs to be tied up in a neat bow, but my goodness, they never even addressed the trauma. So bad.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Wildest Things by Andrea Hannah

Title: The Wildest Things

Author: Andrea Hannah

Publisher: Wednesday Books 2025

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 320

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fairytales - Snow White; Cover Lover - Palindrome (Author Name); Winter - Fairytale

Where I Got It: Library

When her glass coffin unexpectedly shatters, Snow White awakens to anything but a dream. The land is rotting. The animals have mutated. In the twenty years that have passed since Snow bit into the poisoned apple, the kingdom of Roanfrost has transformed from a luscious wild land to a blight-ravaged nightmare. In search of answers and a way to restore her kingdom to its former glory, Snow sets out on a dangerous journey that will test the strength she never knew she had.

Friends will become foes.

New alliances will form.

The Queen with the blood red lips will stop at nothing to seize her power as well as her heart.

If Snow has any chance to survive and restore not only her kingdom, but all of Garedenne, her only option is to become the Seasonkeeper and access the life-giving magic that will heal the plague. But the path to becoming the Seasonkeeper is more treacherous than she could ever imagine―because the wild things have awakened and Snow’s darker impulses yearn to set them free.

I was hoping for a fun dark fairy tale retelling with a sapphic twist. Instead, I got a plodding tale devoid of fun or adventure and definitely no sapphic relationship. My first book of 2026 was definitely a disappointment. I just couldn’t get behind Snow at all as a character. She was too naive for her own good even after the audience learns more about their world and the things she should figure out much more quickly than she does. The entire process of becoming a season keeper was just pretty boring. Nothing exciting to really hold my attention. And do not get me started on the fact that she never really interacts with the Queen’s daughter in person. I wanted so much more! The only thing that saved the book was the chapters told from the mirror’s POV. Those were at least interesting!

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Next up on the TBR pile:

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks

Title: Morbidly Yours (Love in Galway #1)

Author: Ivy Fairbanks

Publisher: Lassen Press 2023

Genre: Romance

Pages: 328

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Luck of the Irish; She Reads Romance - Contemporary

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 5

Callum Flannelly would rather dive into an open grave than take a stranger to dinner. But he can only inherit the family undertaking business under one condition: He must marry before his 35th birthday. So it’s out of the mortuary and into the dating scene. Lark Thompson came to Galway, Ireland to embrace life, not be reminded of losing her husband by moving in next to a funeral home.

Then the vivacious Texan animator learns of painfully shy Callum’s dilemma and makes it her mission to help him find The One. Although sworn off love herself, she’s certain Callum will find his match. But as the dating project progresses and their friendship grows, their attraction is undeniable. Spending time with serious, sarcastic Callum starts to crack the ice around Lark’s heart, and the more color Lark brings to Callum’s monochrome existence, the less he can imagine life without her.

If they think they can ignore their connection, they’re dead wrong.

Pretty disappointed in this one. I liked Callum, but Lark just seemed to be very one-dimensional. Her “quirky” Texan personality just left me wanting more. And her insistence of not telling Callum about the fact that she is a widow really annoyed me. I’m not wanting everyone to tell all their secrets within minutes of meeting someone, but it should have been brought up. I liked Callum and the discussions about his stutter and social anxiety. I just didn’t buy those two together. And don’t get me started on the spicy scenes. Really for not happening until over 50% of the way through the book, the sex scene came off stilted and not very hot. I just didn’t buy the sexual chemistry between the two characters. Unfortunately, this book really fell flat for me.

Love in Galway

#1 Morbidly Yours
#2 Heart Strings
#3 The Autumn Affair

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Next up on the TBR pile:

Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert

Title: Tender Cruely (Dark Olympus #9)

Author: Katee Robert

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2025

Genre: Romance

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; She Reads Romance - Suspense

Spice Rating: 5

The barrier that's protected Olympus for generations has fallen. The enemy's breached the gates and the Thirteen are scrambling to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the city they've sworn to protect. At least they would be if they weren't at each others' throats instead.

Hera has no intention of letting her husband, Zeus, survive the oncoming storm. But despite the white-hot hatred burning between them, when Hera and Zeus are forced to work together, enmity crystalizes into something brighter. Hotter. Too powerful to deny or destroy.

Hera never bartered on falling in love with the man she married―the man she once swore to kill. But now, standing back-to-back in the ruins of Olympus, she may be forced to admit that she's been wrong about Zeus all these years…and there may be something about their marriage worth saving if they can survive long enough to turn sworn enemies into something more.

Finally finally finally we get Hera and Zeus’s story!!!! I have been waiting basically the entire series for this story. After the last two volumes, I was hoping that this one was going to be good one but was leery going into it. Thankfully there is a great blend of larger plot and romance in this one. We get to finally see the inner workings of Callisto and Perseus as they find their way through the cluster fuck of Olympus and their own marriage. There is so much packed into this slim novel, but I loved every page of it. The political dealings have come to a boil and things are changing in the city. Seeing our two main characters attempt to fix their situations was suspenseful. The romance aspect isn’t lovey dovey as appropriate for our characters, but much much more realistic. I loved seeing these two frosty closed-off characters slowly open up and become close. This sets up the last book in the series perfectly. I cannot wait until next summer!

Dark Olympus

#0.5 Stone Heart
#1 Neon Gods
#1.5 Hades and Hades
#2 Electric Idol
#2.5 Zeus and Hera
#3 Wicked Beauty
#4 Radiant Sun
#5 Cruel Seduction
#6 Midnight Ruin
#7 Dark Restraint
#8 Sweet Obsession
#9 Tender Cruelty
#10 Shattered Gods

Next up on the TBR pile:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 27

Title: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 27

Author: Junji Ito

Publisher: VIZ Media 2025

Genre: Manga Horror

Pages: 192

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

Gojo has been defeated! Without time to process this loss, Kashimo takes on Sukuna, but will he stand a chance once the King of Curses completes his transformation? Meanwhile, the entertainer Takaba takes on Kenjaku one-on-one!

Um… this was a bit jumbled. Parts of this were confusing as to who actually was speaking. I got lost on several pages and really had to puzzle out what characters were saying. Blergh. I have really enjoyed this series overall, but this volume just didn’t work for me.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Next up on the TBR pile:

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Title: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch

Author: Rivka Galchen

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 275

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: The Raven Bookstore, Lawrence KS June 2022

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch.

Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's enough to make anyone jealous, and Katharina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone's business.

So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katharina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.

I desperately wanted to love this book, but it really fell flat for me. I didn’t realize when I bought it that this was a fictionalized account of a real witch trial. I did not get the connection to famed scientists Johannes Kepler until almost halfway through the book. I completely missed that point! Beyond my lack of understanding, I found the plot and pacing to be very dull and plodding through most of the pages. We get a few fun paragraphs of Katharina’s commentary about her neighbors and the society she lives in. We get some wit and wisdom in there. But most of the chapters are just slow and meandering. This was definitely not the book for me this year.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fiend by Alma Katsu

Title: Fiend

Author: Alma Katsu

Publisher: GP Putnam 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 243

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Love Horror - Katsu

Where I Got It: Library

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

I love love loved Katsu’s previous book The Hunger and was really hoping for lots of creepiness and suspense. Instead, we get a book were nothing happens for like 70% of the pages. Seriously there wasn’t enough supernatural or creepy things in this one to keep my attention. Also, the summary of the book gives away the big reveal, even if I figured it out about 40 pages into the story. Beyond the actual plot, every one of these characters are completely terrible people. I was rooting for the demon to turn and kill all of them. Seriously.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Tomes of Terror by Mark Leslie

Title: Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries

Author: Mark Leslie

Publisher: Dundurn Press 2014

Genre: Nonfiction - Horror

Pages: 272

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Nonfiction Reader

Where I Got It: Library

Throughout history, books have inspired, informed, entertained, and enriched us. They have also kept us up through the night, thrilled us, and lured into their endless depths. Tomes of Terror is a celebration and an eerie look at the siren call of literature and the unexplained and fascinating stories associated with bookish locations around the world.

Mark Leslie's latest paranormal page-turner is a compendium of true stories of the supernatural in literary locales, complete with hair-raising first-person accounts. You may even recognize a spectre of your local library lurking in these true stories and photographs. If you have ever felt an indescribable presence hanging about a quiet bookshop, then you’ll enjoy these fascinating and haunting tales.

Not that scary. Not that interesting. I am really striking out on books lately. The author’s writing style annoyed me. Not sure as to why, but it did.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Rosen Blood Vol. 3

Title: Rosen Blood Vol. 3

Author: Kachiru Ishizue

Publisher: VIZ Media 2020

Genre: Manga

Pages: 160

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

After a horrific carriage accident, Stella Violetta awakens in a Gothic mansion to find that her saviors are gorgeous young men. The manor’s residents let her stay as a maid, but Stella soon realizes that their allure hides a savage thirst.

Gilbert reappears to warn Stella about sweet and friendly Yoel. Can she trust the man who attacked her? Stella also fends off Friedrich’s advances while deepening her relationship with Levi. As the beautiful men Stella lives with reveal their secrets, her life depends on protecting herself from their dark impulses.

Why do I love Gilbert so much? Of course he ends up being a misunderstood character all the while protecting Stella from Yoel. I should have seen this all coming. Thankfully this volume gives us more answers to all the questions surrounding the boys. We find out more about their mysterious creator and each of their purposes. I do wonder about Friedrich’s purpose though…

Rosen Blood

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers by Jen Campbell

Title: The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers and Other Gruesome Tales

Author: Jen Campbell

Publisher: Thames & Hudson 2021

Genre: Horror Short Stories

Pages: 120

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; Cover Lover - A key

Where I Got It: Library

Do you dare read this collection of terrifyingly gruesome tales? In this gripping volume, author Jen Campbell offers young readers an edgy, contemporary, and inclusive take on classic fairy tales, taking them back to their gory beginnings while updating them for a modern audience with queer and disabled characters and positive representation of disfigurement.

Featuring fourteen short stories from China, India, Ireland, and across the globe, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is an international collection of the creepiest folk tales. Illustrated with Adam de Souza’s brooding art, this book’s style is a totally original blend of nineteenth-century Gothic engravings meets moody film noir graphic novels. Headlined by the Korean tale of a carnivorous child, The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers is a truly thrilling gift for brave young readers.

I picked up this slim volume of horror short stories randomly from the library. In it, we get a revised selections of classic folklore stories with some beautiful illustrations. Most of the stories were delightful and spooky. But my biggest issue is how short some of the stories are. Some of them really just end abruptly with no satisfying conclusion. I just really wanted more from this collection. The illustrations really did bring this collection up for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud

Title: The Strange

Author: Nathan Ballingrud

Publisher: Saga Press 2023

Genre: Science Fiction; Horror

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season; I Read Horror - Black, Gray, Orange, or Red Cove

Where I Got It: Library

Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic father’s diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher, as her only companion. When the Silence came, and communication and shipments from Earth to its colonies on Mars stopped, life seemed stuck in foreboding stasis until the night Silas Mundt and his gang attacked.

At once evoking the dreams of an America explored in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chroniclesand the harsher realities of frontier life in Charles Portis True Grit, Ballingrud’s “brilliant” (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World) novel is haunting in its evocation of Annabelle’s quest for revenge amidst a spent and angry world accompanied by a domestic Engine, a drunken space pilot, and the toughest woman on Mars.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

Title: A Short Stay in Hell

Author: Steven L. Peck

Publisher: Strange Violin 2011

Genre: Speculative Fiction

Pages: 104

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Spooky Season

Where I Got It: Library

An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he’ll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life.

Our book club selection for October. I am very unsure what I feel about this novella. I went into the story completely blind (as I think you should as a reader), but at the end, I wasn’t sure that I actually enjoyed the story. We get about a hundred pages of existential rambling. Overall, I enjoyed the philosophical thought-experiment. But that’s basically all this is. We cannot read this as an actual story with characters and an arc. We get just a snippet of some rambling thoughts. I would have liked to se more from the main character and more from his journey. This story feels incomplete.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Title: Worth Fighting For (Meant to Be #5)

Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto

Publisher: Hyperion Avenue 2025

Genre: Romance

Pages: 320

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series; Romanceopoly - The Highpoint (Workplace Romance)

Spice Rating: 3

Following one’s heart isn’t easy when family honor is at stake.

As the right hand of her father’s hedge fund company, Fa Mulan knows what it takes to succeed as a woman in a man’s world: work twice as hard, be twice as smart, and burp twice as loud as any of the other finance bros she works with. So when her father unexpectedly falls ill in the middle of a critical acquisition, she is determined to see it through. There’s just one hitch: the family company in question is known for its ultra masculine whiskey brand, and the brood of old-fashioned aunts, uncles, and cousins who run it—lead by the dedicated but overworked Shang—will only trust Mulan’s father, Fa Zhou, with the future of their business.

Rather than fail the deal and her father, Mulan pretends she’s Fa Zhou. Since they’ve only corresponded over email, how hard could it be to keep things moving in his absence?

But the email leads to a face-to-face meeting, which leads to an invitation to a week long retreat at Shang’s family ranch. One meeting she can handle, but a whole week of cattle wrangling, axe-throwing, and learning proper butchering techniques, all while trying to convince Shang’s dubious family that this young woman is the powerful hedge fund CEO they’ve been negotiating with? Not so much—especially as she finds it harder and harder to ignore the undeniable spark between her and Shang. Can she keep her head in the game and make her father proud, all while trying not to fall into a trough, or in love with Shang?

Rom coms are really not my jam right now. I mostly felt bored while reading this one. I got all the Mulan references, but they seemed very off-putting to me. I truly dislike the miscommunication trope and this entire plot hinged on that. I just kept yelling at the characters to talk to each other. And then there is the family. Patriarchal bullshit really makes me angry. Shang’s family was absolutely trash and I wanted all of them to go away. And then we get to the insta-love trope. I just couldn’t really understand why our main characters loved each other. Not the book for me.

Meant to Be:

#1 If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy
#2 By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
#3 Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova
#4 Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren
#5 Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Next up on the TBR pile:

Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens

Title: Is She Really Going Out with Him?

Author: Sophie Sousens

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 2024

Genre: Romance

Pages: 368

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER; Romanceopoly - Starlight Cinema (Group read)

Where I Got It: Kindle deal

Spice Rating: 3

Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children.

From awkward encounters to unexpected connections, Anna gamely begins to put herself out there, asking out waiters, the mailman, and even her celebrity crush. But when a romantic connection appears where she least expected it, will she be brave enough to take another chance on love?

Our in person book club selection this month. My reading has really been impacted with life and fan fiction, but I was determined to read this one before the meeting on Tuesday. I started on Sunday night and finished Monday night. So a very quick read for me. Unfortunately, this book was a little too predictable and bland for me. I found it to be reminiscent of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Which would have been okay, but it’s 2025. I just didn’t want to read about a beautiful woman who complains about how frumpy and disheveled she is. The conceit of the dates set up by her kids was kinda fun, even if it was aborted halfway through. I liked the glimpses of Anna’s columns, but felt like we spent too much time talking about how print media is dying. Yeah, it has been for decades… Will was a fine MMC, but didn’t find him particularly swoony. I didn’t hate this book, but it really was not for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Title: The Bewitching

Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publisher: Del Rey 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 357

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Read Around the USA - Massachusetts; I Read Horror - Folk Horror

Where I Got It: Library

“Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales.

In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch.

Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

Moreno-Garcia is such hit or miss author for me. I absolutely loved a few of her books and then I really really disliked a few of the books. The summary of this one really caught my eye. I love witch themed books and was looking forward to a fun spooky mystery book. The first few chapters were intriguing. But as the book went on, I was less and less interested. The story seemed to just drag and drag. There were a few spooky things here and there, but mostly nothing for the longest time. I just wasn’t compelled to keep reading. I kept at it because it was a book club selection, but mostly I was just really really bored.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Seoulmates by Susan Lee

Title: Seoulmates

Author: Susan Lee

Publisher: Inkyard Press 2022

Genre: YA Romance

Pages: 314

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Lotus and Lei (AAPI Author); Cover Lover - POC

Where I Got It: Library

Hannah Cho had the next year all planned out—the perfect summer with her boyfriend, Nate, and then a fun senior year with their friends.

But then Nate does what everyone else in Hannah’s life seems to do—he leaves her, claiming they have nothing in common. He and all her friends are newly obsessed with K-pop and K-dramas, and Hannah is not. After years of trying to embrace the American part and shunning the Korean side of her Korean American identity to fit in, Hannah finds that’s exactly what now has her on the outs.

But someone who does know K-dramas—so well that he’s actually starring in one—is Jacob Kim, Hannah’s former best friend, whom she hasn’t seen in years. He’s desperate for a break from the fame, so a family trip back to San Diego might be just what he needs…that is, if he and Hannah can figure out what went wrong when they last parted and navigate the new feelings developing between them.

Two friends recommended this book because of my love of K-Pop and K-Dramas. I went into it knowing very little. One of those things is that I didn’t realize that it was YA until I got the physical book. Not my usual cup of romance tea, but I thought I would try it. And overall, it was good. Not great, but good. There is some teenage angst sprinkled, but not too much. Mostly I was annoyed by the whole “let’s pretend to be dating to make my (IMO worthless) ex-boyfriend jealous so he takes me back.” UM, girl. Step away from the bland boy who clearly does not see you at all. I did want to see more adventures between Hannah and Jacob around San Diego. There was a lack of fun! I wanted to really buy them as a couple. So ultimately, I ended up giving this one 3 stars. Good, but nothing to get super excited about.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 21

Title: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 21

Author: Junji Ito

Publisher: VIZ Media 2022

Genre: Manga Horror

Pages: 216

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural!

Hakari and Panda head for Tokyo No. 2 Colony in search of Kashimo. When they enter, they get separated, and Hakari faces Charles, a culling game player and wannabe manga creator! Meanwhile, Panda encounters Kashimo and finds himself overwhelmed by their difference in strength!

Meh! I was not really excited by this volume at all. We focus on some other characters and fill the pages with confusing action panels. Seriously, this volume felt more chaotic than usual. It just wasn’t holding my attention very well. I ended up skimming more pages than usual. Oh well. Guess I will just move on to the next volume.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Next up on the TBR pile:

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Title: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #2)

Author: TJ Klune

Publisher: Tor Books 2024

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Quarter of a Century - 2024; Cover Lover - A Lighted Window

Where I Got It: Library

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there's the island's sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Honestly, I think that my expectations for this book were too high. The House in the Cerulean Sea was an absolutely amazing book. I loved every page. And then we waited years for the sequel. I think I was too excited and built this one up too much to truly enjoy it. In this book, we focus on Arthur’s history. I was intrigued about his mysterious past while reading the first book. This one just doesn’t seem to have enough content to actually fill out a 400 page book. I found the pacing to be very frustrating. Long stretches of the book could have been edited out as they do nothing to development characters or the plot. Really I wanted more and more from the relationships between Arthur, Linus, and the kiddos. A pretty big disappointment for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion Vol. 1

Title: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 1: A His-and-hers Contract

Author: Milcha

Publisher: Yen Press 2017

Genre: Manga

Pages: 272

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series

Where I Got It: Library

Eunha Park thought she was getting another chance at life when she awoke in the world of a novel. The only problem? Raeliana McMillan, the character she was reborn as, is fated to be killed by her fiancé! For the sake of her survival, she comes up with an idea—get into a fake marriage with a man more powerful than her groom-to-be. But when that protection comes in the form of Noah Wynknight, the duke with a warm smile and cold heart, Raeliana realizes she might be a bit in over her head…She’s going to regret this plan, isn’t she?

Okay… the premise of thus series is just silly and yet I was very intrigued by it. I was wanting something a bit more lighthearted and fun after my focus on horror manga. We dive into a book within a story and follow Eunha as she inhabits Raeliana’s body and life. The first volume was pretty slow, but that was to be expected. We needed to meet all the characters and acclimate to the world. Still I was entertained and cannot wait to keep reading.

Why Raeliana….

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Title: The Familiar

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Publisher: Flatiron Books 2024

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 379

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf

Where I Got It: Book of the Month May 2024

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to improve the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

So incredibly boring. That’s my review…

I was so very excited to get this from BOTM last year. I was hoping for a magical fantasy mystery with great characters. Instead, I got a very very very slow moving story with just a little bit of magic and no interesting characters. Luzia wasn’t going to be that interesting, but I hoped that she would be the entry point for the readers to get involved in a great expansive mystery. Most of the book is so incredibly slow and and boring. I kept wanting the plot to actually pick up. When it finally does, it includes a romance that I really never bought at all. Why include that part? No need. I finished this reluctantly.

Next up on the TBR pile: