What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

Title: What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier #3)

Author: T. Kingfisher

Publisher: Tor Nightfire 2025

Genre: Horror

Pages: 179

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR - Horror; Cover Lover - Compound word in title or author’s name

Alex Easton does not want to visit America.

They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.

But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin―who went missing in that very mine―well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...

Another really good novella featuring the indomitable Alex Easton! This time finds our hero deep in an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia searching for a friend’s cousin. Of course Easton is going to find something creepy and probably dangerous down in that mine. I love how Kingfisher can ramp up the tension throughout the chapter until the big reveal to Alex and the audience. This one wasn’t quite as terrifying as the first one or as atmospheric as the second one, but it was definitely a solid horror novella. I cannot wait to see what Kingfisher dreams up next for our favorite Sworn Soldier.

Sworn Soldier

• #1 What Moves the Dead

• #2 What Feasts at Night

• #3 What Stalks the Deep

Next up on the TBR pile:

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Title: Binti (Binti #1)

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Publisher: Tordotcom 2015

Genre: Scifi

Pages: 96

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Speccy Fiction - Speculative Novella

Where I Got It: Library

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself ― but first she has to make it there, alive.

Our book club selection for January and it was a novella. I was glad for the shorter length after a frantic holiday season. We are dumped into a very strange world based partly on our own history and partly on imagination. It took me a few pages to get my bearings, but once there, I really enjoyed this short story about a woman discovering herself and the world outside her planet. I loved watching Binti transform in just a short amount of pages. She truly feels like a new character but also the same by the end. I am interested in seeing where this series goes. I may just pick up the other two books soon.

Binti

• #1 Binti

• #1.5 Sacred Fire

• #2 Home

• #3 The Night Masquerade

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:

Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert

Title: Damaged Goods (Ravenswood #1.5)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Publisher: Nixon House 2018

Genre: Romance

Pages: 181

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: COYER

Spice Meter: 5

Second chances shouldn’t feel so sinful.

Laura Burne‘s husband is a monster, her diamond ring is a trap, and her pregnancy is the push she needs to finally escape. She runs away seeking safety… and finds Samir Bianchi, her long-lost teenage sweetheart.

With his kind eyes and dirty smile, Samir’s still hot as hell—and he still treats Laura like a goddess, baby bump and all. The wild boy she spent one magical summer with is every inch a man, and he’s more than ready to care for her tiny family.

But Laura’s been keeping a secret Samir might never forgive. When she finally confesses, will he remain by her side? Or is this fairytale ending too good to be true?

CW: Domestic Violence (in past, but discussed on the page)

And here we get Laura’s story as touched on very briefly in the previous book. I really wanted to love this story of empowerment and opening up to love, but ultimate, I didn’t love it. Laura is a prickly character that I really wished had sought out therapy instead of solitude. And I must say that pregnancy storylines are really not my favorite. They’re fine, but I have lots of mixed feelings about them. Samir is great and I really fell for him over the course of the novella. But their pairing just didn’t work for me. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.

Ravenswood

• #1 A Girl Like Her

• #1.5 Damaged Goods

• #2 Untouchable

• #3 That Kind of Guy

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Worst Christmas Ever? by Rebecca Paulinyi

Title: The Worst Christmas Ever? (South West #1)

Author: Rebecca Paulinyi

Publisher: 2018

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 194

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Spice Meter: 4

When Shirley 'Lee' Jones returns home from an awful day at the office, the last thing she expects to find is her husband in bed with another woman. Six weeks until Christmas, and Lee finds the life she had so carefully planned has been utterly decimated.

Hurt, angry and confused, Lee makes a whirlwind decision to drive her problems away and ends up in Totnes, an eccentric town in the heart of Devon. As Christmas approaches, Lee tries to figure out what path her life will follow now, as she looks at it from the perspective of a soon-to-be 31-year-old divorcée.

Can she ever return to her normal life? Or is a new reality - and a new man - on the horizon?

Finding herself and flirting with the handsome local police officer might just make this the best Christmas ever.

A very cute Christmas story about a woman finding her place after a devastation revelation. At first, I was unsure if this really would be a romance as it seemed to have a different tone. But eventually we did get there. Lee is a great character to follow as she upends her life and move to the South West. I fell in love with the village of Totnes and would love to read more about the inhabitants. Small towns at Christmas are my reading kryptonite. It’s a cute little pick-me-up kind of story.

South West

• #0.5 Deadlines and Dates

• #1 The Worst Christmas Ever?

• #2 Lawyers and Lattes

• #3 Feeling the Fireworks

• #4 The Best Christmas Ever

• #5 Trouble in Tartan

• #6 Summer of Sunshine

Next up on the TBR pile:

Love in a Blizzard by Britney M. Mills

Title: Love in a Blizzard (Christmas at Goldwater Creek #1)

Author: Britney M. Mills

Publisher: Crystal Canyon Press

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 168

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Spice Meter: 2

His heart is closed off, her life is mapped out, and the snowstorm that forces them off course.

Jobless and heartbroken, Lauren Burke returns home to Coldwater Creek hoping to find comfort. On her way home, a blizzard hits, sending her car into a fence and her into the arms of her longtime teenage crush, Walker McBride.

After being dumped, ex-bull rider Walker McBride throws himself into restoring an old lodge in his small hometown of Coldwater Creek. With the grand opening only weeks away, he has no time to rescue damsels in distress, or for that matter, love. But when Lauren shows up, the loneliness he’s been ignoring quickly bubbles to the surface.

Now snowed in, they’re forced to confront their past.

Two hearts.

One snowstorm.

And the chance to find love.

Overall, a cute little Christmas romance novella. So-and-so’s little sister/brother trope is not a favorite of mine, but this one didn’t seem too forced or cutesy. I really hate it when all parties make a huge deal out of the circumstances. This story mostly focused on their current situation and looking to the future. My biggest complaint was the odd references to Christianity throughout the novella. It felt weirdly out of place and forced. And clearly, a spice rating of 2 is not going to be an absolute favorite of mine.

Christmas at Coldwater Creek

• #1 Love in a Blizzard

• #2 Love in the Lights

• #3 Love in a Snapshot

• #4 Love in the Details

• #5 Love a Contract

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

Title: A Holiday by Gaslight

Author: Mimi Matthews

Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press 2018

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 175

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Spice Meter: 1

A Courtship of Convenience

Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion--or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she's ready to put an end to things.

A Last Chance for Love

But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn't as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there's Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What's a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there'll be no false formality. This time they'll get to know each other for who they really are.

Cute little Christmas romance story. I enjoyed the setting and a slightly different time than the usual Regency romances I read. But mostly, I really enjoyed the communication between Ned and Sophie. It’s refreshing to see two main characters talk to each other instead of relying on miscommunication.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

Title: Thornhedge

Author: T. Kingfisher

Publisher: Tor Books 2023

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 116

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

A lovely fracture fairy tale full of great writing and a fast-paced plot. This little story gives us another perspective on the Sleeping Beauty tale. We get to fall for Toadling in all her other-worldly quirk. We see Toadling connect with a human. And we learn about just how Toadling came to be the guard for an overgrown keep and a sleeping form. I loved how Kingfisher took the Sleeping Beauty story and turned it on its head. I have a real weakness for the “what if the princess was evil?” type of fracture fairy tale. This slim novella was tons of fun with a satisfying ending.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Stone Heart by Katee Robert

Title: Stone Heart (Dark Olympus #0.5)

Author: Katee Robert

Publisher: Trinkets and Tales 2022

Genre: Romance

Pages: 108

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Spice Rating: 4

In the city of Olympus, people only speak about Medusa in whispers. She’s Athena’s knife hand, the one sent when Athena wants someone to disappear. No one asks Medusa what she wants, but she owes Athena her life, and if staining her hands with blood is the only way to repay the debt, it’s a small price to pay.

Until Athena sends her after Calypso, the mistress of the rich politician Odysseus. Calypso is beautiful and cunning and she’ll do anything to keep her life—including seducing her would-be assassin.

What starts as a ploy to escape quickly spirals into genuine interest. But it doesn’t matter that they’ve finally found something special together. Athena will have her blood, and this time not even crossing the River Styx will save them…

Meh… There just wasn’t enough here for me to really enjoy. We learn just a tiny bit about Medusa and Calypso. We get some insta-love and light banter, but it wasn’t enough. My favorite part was the reveal of Hades of at the end. That bumped this novella up in my opinion. Now I have to wait for the next actual novel in the series…

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

Next up on the TBR pile:

Comfort me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Title: Comfort Me with Apples

Author: Catherynne M. Valente

Publisher: Tordotcom 2021

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 103

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.

It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze....

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?

I won’t spoil this slim volume, but it most definitely is an interesting retelling of a very old story. I spent the first half puzzled over what was actually going on. Then very quickly all the pieces fell into places. Once Sophia meets a being in the park, everything came rushing to a conclusion. This is a book that must be read without looking at reviews. They will spoil everything! I opened this one up and read it in one sitting. I found myself getting angrier and angrier as the story progressed (as I should have, it’s kinda the entire point). Once the reveals happen, I felt very justified in my anger towards religion and the patriarchy. Only after I read it did I see that this is from Tordotcom. I adore that publishing house; no wonder I loved this one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Dawn Most Wicked and Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Title: Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)

Author: Susan Dennard

Publisher: HarperTeen 2013

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project

Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Fitt’s brother is missing. And when she discovers that the Dead are rising in Philadelphia and wreaking havoc throughout the city, she knows that her brother is involved.

So Eleanor enlists the help of the Spirit-Hunters. This motley crew, hired to protect the city from supernatural forces, is after the necromancer who has been reanimating corpses. Their skills can save her brother. But as Eleanor spends time with the Spirit-Hunters, and their handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. Now not only is her reputation at risk, but her very life may hang in the balance.

This volume has been sitting on my shelves for a few years now. Of course I had to read it during Spooky Book Month to stay on theme. The first few chapters were a bit confusing as we don’t get the backstory of the Dead or the current state of the world. Once I settled in and started following Eleanor’s storyline, I slowly got a handle on the world and began enjoying myself. This is a typical YA adventure fantasy full of slightly whiny characters and some predictable light romance. I really got into the story once we meet the Spirit Hunters and the mystery starts unraveling. From there, I sped through the rest of the book. This volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger but the main mystery is concluded before the end page. I imagine that I will finish this series, but probably not right away.

Title: A Dawn Most Wicked (Something Strange and Deadly #0.5)

Author: Susan Dennard

Publisher: HarperTeen 2013

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 150

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Daniel Sheridan is an engineer’s apprentice on a haunted Mississippi steamer known as the Sadie Queen. His best friend–the apprentice pilot, Cassidy Cochran–also happens to be the girl he’s pining for … and the captain’s daughter. But when it looks like the Sadie Queen might get taken off the river, Daniel and Cassidy have to do whatever they can to stop the ghosts that plague the ship.

Fortunately, there happens to be a Creole gentleman on board by the name of Joseph Boyer–and he just might be able to help them …

My paperback copy of the first book in the series included this prequel novella at the end. I didn’t realize that Daniel had a big backstory, but I did enjoy following him during his first encounter with Joseph and Jie. the ghost scenes are truly creepy and I definitely want more from that angle in the next book.

Something Strange and Deadly

• #0.5 A Dawn Most Wicked

• #1 Something Strange and Deadly

• #2 A Darkness Strange and Lovely

• #3 Strange and Ever After

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR #3.5)

Author:Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2018

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 272

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Feyre, Rhysand, and their friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly altered world beyond, recovering from the war that changed everything. But Winter Solstice is finally approaching, and with it, the joy of a hard-earned reprieve.

Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, her concern for those dearest to her deepens. They have more wounds than she anticipated-scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.
Bridging the events of A Court of Wings and Ruin with the later books in the series, A Court of Frost and Starlight explores the far-reaching effects of a devastating war and the fierce love between friends.

A short novella to tide us over until the next book. Nothing too big happens but we do get to see the story from multiple perspectives. We get some more information on the dynamics between characters. And we get to see how some have fared since the war with Hybern. It was a good novella but without much action. It’s a very quiet story.

A Court of Throns and Roses

• #1 A Court of Thorns and Roses

• #2 A Court of Mist and Fury

• #3 A Court of Wings and Ruin

• #3.5 A Court of Frost and Starlight

• #4 A Court of Silver Flames

Next up on the TBR pile:

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Title: Ring Shot

Author: P. Djèlí Clark

Publisher: Tor.com 2020

Genre: Horror

Pages: 192

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

IN AMERICA, DEMONS WEAR WHITE HOODS.

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful's brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

Simply horrifying! And I loved every page of it! I read Clark’s novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and was intrigued by his writing enough to seek out his other works. This one is very different than Tram Car; heavy on the horror and racial commentary, while the previous novella was very steampunk fantasy with a bit of social commentary in a very different part of the world. This story reminded me a lot of Lovecraft Country in it’s mixing of racial commentary, history, and Lovecraftian style horror. There is some serious body horror going on in these pages; not for the feint of heart. I also loved that it was told by Maryse in her own language. We get a lot of dialect on the pages including some dialogue in Gullah. Makes me want to know more about the Gullah culture. I was sad when the story ended as I really wanted to spend more time with all the characters (okay maybe not the Ku Kluxes, but the rest).

Next up on the TBR pile:

A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

Title: A House at the Bottom of a Lake

Author: Josh Malerman

Publisher: 2016

Genre: Horror

Pages: 114

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

The story begins: young lovers, anxious to connect, agree to a first date, thinking outside of the box.
At seventeen years old, James and Amelia can feel the rest of their lives beginning. They have got this summer and this summer alone to experience the extraordinary.
But they didn’t expect to find it in a house at the bottom of a lake.
The house is cold and dark, but it’s also their own.
Caution be damned, until being carefree becomes dangerous. For the teens must decide: swim deeper into the house—all the while falling deeper in love?
Whatever they do, they will never be able to turn their backs on what they discovered together. And what they learned:
Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

I randomly picked this on up after seeing a review on another book blog. I was intrigued by the premise and had a hankering for a horror story. I absolutely adored this one for the atmosphere and descent into an almost dream state over the course of just a few pages. The lake becomes this otherworldly setting that morphs into a creepy horror show once we start exploring the house. I loved how the characters were adamant about not asking “how.” The premise is fascinating and i was very unsettled by the end of the story. Loved it!

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark

Title: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (Fatma el-Sha'arawi #2)

Author: P. Djeli Clark

Publisher: Tor.com 2019

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 116

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Cairo, 1912: The case started as a simple one for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities — handling a possessed tram car.

Soon, however, Agent Hamed Nasr and his new partner Agent Onsi Youssef are exposed to a new side of Cairo stirring with suffragettes, secret societies, and sentient automatons in a race against time to protect the city from an encroaching danger that crosses the line between the magical and the mundane.

I picked this up as a free ebook from Tor.com. I also remember seeing it on one of the various book blogs I follow and had added it to my TBR at some point. This is a delightful little adventure story featuring some Ministry Agents, a mysterious entity haunting a tram, and a variety of interesting side characters. We’re dropped right into the action, but I quickly caught onto the story and the world. It’s a great mix of supernatural and true history of Cairo. I sped through this short story, but loved every page of it. Such fun! And I piqued my interest in reading more from Clark.

Next up on the TBR pile: