Happy book birthday to The Storm by Rachel Hawkins! I read her first thriller, The Wife Upstairs, three years ago, and I'm excited to be getting back into her books. The Storm is set between 1984 and 2025 at a seaside town in Alabama. A hurricane in 1984 claimed the life of the rising politician,... Continue Reading →
My first read of the new year is A Steep and Savage Path by JJA Harwood. I slowly read this over the holidays, getting absorbed into the Transylvania and underworld settings. After a bad fall, Irina's seven-year-old sister Catalina is alive physically, but her soul is trapped in the underworld. Irina is sure that, if... Continue Reading →
Years ago I loved The Broken Girls by Simone St. James, and I've been wanting to read more from her ever since. The Sun Down Motel has been on my list the longest, and now that a new book set in the same universe is about to come out, it was high time I finally... Continue Reading →
For me December is always a month of reflection, making it the perfect time to read The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten. The English edition came out last month; it was translated from Norwegian by Alison McCullough. This short book follows Nils on the last day of his life. As he boards his... Continue Reading →
There has been such an increase in cat fiction being published lately! I'm on a mission to read it all, and I'm ending this year with Yuta Takahashi's The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen, the first in his Meals to Remember at the Chibineko Kitchen series. This short book was translated from Japanese by... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated romances this year was Her Time Traveling Duke by Bryn Donovan. It's actually a sequel to Her Knight at the Museum, which I haven't yet read, but it still works on its own, too. Rose is just a regular woman who works at a Chicago art museum and dabbles in... Continue Reading →
When I saw the cover for Falon Ballard's Something Wicked—first in her Idle Reputations series—I was instantly intrigued. And that it's inspired by Macbeth and Moulin Rouge? An interesting combination; sold! Something Wicked is set in a country called Avon, divided into four territories, plus a capital city. There's been political unrest for years, and... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to Sparks Fly by Zakiya N. Jamal! Her adult debut, this contemporary romance has been on my radar for months. It starts with Stella, a 27-year-old who's never had sex and never had a real romantic relationship. She wants to just get the whole thing over with, so she goes to a... Continue Reading →
Gothic tales always catch my eye, and I've been especially interested in ones set in different countries. This drew me to The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo, set in the Philippines. Filipina-American Sophie travels to the Philippines for the first time with her boyfriend, Adrian Sepulveda, when his grandfather passes away. The Sepulveda villa... Continue Reading →
I loved Rachel Runya Katz's 2023 debut, Thank You for Sharing, and have been wanting to read her more recent books. Before I get to her newest release, I decided to catch up on last year's Whenever You're Ready. For years, Nia, Jade, and Michal were best friends. Later, Jade's twin brother Jonah was part... Continue Reading →
One of my most anticipated horror novels this year has been I'll Make a Spectacle of You, the debut from Beatrice Winifred Iker. Set at a Tennessee HBCU, it follows Zora, a grad student in Appalachian Studies who's researching religions, folklore, and hoodoo... and a beast that supposedly lurks the university woods at night. A... Continue Reading →
Despite reading almost no YA books in the past few years, I was unable to resist My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich. This paranormal romance follows Owen during his first semester of college. His dorm roommate turns out to be a literal demon, Prince Zarmenus, come straight from hell. Zar seems friendly, but he's... Continue Reading →
C. J. Cooke is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors, and her latest book is my favorite one yet. The Last Witch takes readers back to 1485, where Helena Scheuberin is a young wife trying to finally conceive a child. But just when she discovers she's pregnant, she's arrested on charges of witchcraft. She... Continue Reading →
Last week, Once We Are Safe by Alessandra Carati become available in English. Translated from Italian, it follows a Bosnian family fleeing the Bosnian War in 1992. They end up in Milan, Italy, where they must rebuild a life. Still tethered to Bosnia, still hoping to at some point return, they spend decades in their... Continue Reading →
Ever since I met my husband, I've been drawn to reading books set in his home country, Peru. Now that our family is in Lima, I'm increasingly interested in Peruvian literature. This led me to The Year of the Wind by Karina Pacheco Medrano, just released in English. It was first published in 2021; this... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to Deeper Than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito! Set between the Canary Islands and Cuba, this novel follows multiple generations of women affected by love, loss, and a fractured sense of belonging. What I Liked: Getting to know the Canary Islands. I love books set throughout Spain, but this is the first... Continue Reading →
Alix E. Harrow is a master of building multilayered worlds, and that skill is on full display in her latest novel, The Everlasting. It's a tale of time-travel, love, ambition, and memory, one where the ending is never really the end. Owen Mallory has spent his whole life obsessed with the legend of Una Everlasting,... Continue Reading →
I've been enjoying Jenn McKinlay's romance novels for the past few years, but I was excited to see that she's trying out another genre now: fantasy. Her new book, Witches of Dubious Origin, is the first in a cozy series about books, magic, and a found family united against dark forces. Zoe has spent the... Continue Reading →
Happy book birthday to Sasha Laurens's adult debut, When I Picture You! I've been eagerly reading every music-related romance that has come out this year, so when I heard about this one, I couldn't wait to read it, too. Lola Gray is a wildly successful pop star known for her songwriting. But after a breakup,... Continue Reading →
Ever since I lived in Spain for a year, I'm eternally drawn to books set there. This is why Suzanne Redfearn's new novel, Call of the Camino, first caught my eye. Set between two timelines, it follows two different women who walk the Camino de Santiago through northern Spain. In 1997, Isabel is on the... Continue Reading →
Happy release week to Alexandria Bellefleur's first paranormal romance, The Devil She Knows. I've been wanting to read this author for a few years, and I was excited to finally dive in with this sapphic demon love story. Samantha Cooper has just proposed to her girlfriend Hannah... but after being dumped instead, Sam is in... Continue Reading →
I've been all about vampire romances the past few years, so I was excited for Lucy Lehane's debut, Thirsty. This M/M vampire romance just came out earlier this week, and it's the perfect cozy read for this time of year. Charlie is a struggling advice columnist, and now that supernatural creatures are "out," most of... Continue Reading →
Last week KJ Charles released her new Gothic novel, All of Us Murderers. This is my first time reading her, but it will not be my last! This was such a fun and deliciously creepy book! Zebedee has been invited to spend a fortnight at his distant cousin Wynn's home, along with Zeb's brother, sister-in-law,... Continue Reading →
Happy release day to Kill the Beast, the debut novel by Serra Swift! This was one of my most anticipated books this fall, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! Thirteen years after a horrible beast killed her brother, Lyssa has made a career of slaying evil fairy creatures. But her ultimate goal... Continue Reading →
Amanda's Book Corner 