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 →
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 rerelease to Hollow by Karina Halle! First published two years ago, it has just been republished with a gorgeous new cover. Hollow is the first half of A Gothic Shade of Romance duology; the second part, Legend, comes out in December. Hollow is a retelling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving.... Continue Reading →
My year of demon romances continues with Charlotte Stein's new novel, Dealing with a Desperate Demon. Though this is actually the second in the Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series, this works as a standalone, too. (Thankfully, as I wasn't aware of the first book until after I'd finished this one—oops!) Nancy is a quiet bookstore... Continue Reading →
Jenna Levine's My Vampires series has been one of my favorite things to happen in the last couple of years. After loving the first two books, I was excited for the third installment in the trilogy, Road Trip with a Vampire. This one introduces new characters (though Zelda was mentioned in the previous book). Zelda... Continue Reading →
Today Silvia Moreno-Garcia releases her eleventh novel, The Bewitching. By now I've read nearly everything she's released, and I know that, no matter the genre or setting, I'll be in for a mesmerizing tale. Here readers get three timelines: On a rural farm in Mexico in 1908, Alba faces a series of losses and increasing... Continue Reading →
Yesterday the U.S. finally got to see the release of C. J. Cooke's novel, The Ghost Woods. It originally came out in 2022, the final in a trio of books she wrote surrounding themes of motherhood (the other two being The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches). This Gothic novel follows two timelines, Mabel in 1959... Continue Reading →
Following the reprint of My Funny Demon Valentine in January, Aurora Ascher's second Hell Bent novel, My Demon Hunter, is out today. Here, instead of focusing on one of the four "brother" demons escaped from Hell, it follows the hunter sent to find them and his decision to find a human pet—ahem, girlfriend. Mist ends... Continue Reading →
There's something about folkloric horror and thrillers that always captures my immediate interest. Such was the case when I first heart about Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce. Set in a small English town in 1989, it follows a recently graduated child psychologist, Mina, and her first patient, a teen girl named Alice who... Continue Reading →
Today Raquel Vasquez Gilliland releases her second Wild Magic novel, Lightning in Her Hands. This book follows middle sister Teal, a volatile woman whose gift is changing the weather according to her moods. But she was four when her mother abandoned the family, taking a piece of Teal's magic with her; Teal has never had... Continue Reading →
Tomorrow Raquel Vasquez Gilliland releases her second Wild Magic book, of which I have an ARC... but I hadn't yet read the first installment! Witch of Wild Things had been on my TBR since it came out last year, and I'm glad I read it first. In Witch of Wild Things, Sage is back home... Continue Reading →
Last winter, I enjoyed reading The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke, so I was excited to read more from her. This week she released her newest novel, The Book of Witching. Divided between two timelines, it deals with a mysterious group known as the Triskele on the Orkney Islands of Scotland. In 1594, Alison... Continue Reading →
C. J. Cooke is an author I've been wanting to read for a few years now, so I've started with The Lighthouse Witches. Scotland, dual timelines, a theme of witches... it has all the makings of a great work of Gothic fiction. Summary In the 1990s, Liv has few options as a single mother of... Continue Reading →
Although I had November reading plans lined up, all that got derailed when I saw this month's Amazon First Reads selections. Salt & Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher was compared to one of my favorite novels, Jane Eyre, and I was helpless to resist. And after having some health issues lately, I was in need... Continue Reading →
I’m officially in my paranormal romance era! And my pirates era, too? For months, I’ve been intrigued about Hunt on Dark Waters, the first in Katee Robert’s Crimson Sails series. Equal parts romance and fantasy, it’s set in the magical sea realm of Threshold, connecting many other realms, including one just like our own. It... Continue Reading →
I’m not alone in saying that Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite classic novels, and I’m always happy to see new retellings of it. One that I’ve greatly been looking forward to is The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub. As the title suggests, this novel focuses on the wild,... Continue Reading →
For the last couple of years, one of the books that's been highest up on my TBR has been The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec. With her second novel, The Weaver and the Witch Queen, coming out imminently (July 25th, to be exact!), I decided that it was officially time to read her debut. Though... Continue Reading →
I have long been a fan of horror and gothic tales, so ever since I first heard of The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas, I was eager to read it. In the end, I waited until early October to dive in; it worked for both Latinx Heritage Month and Spooky Season, and I was in the... Continue Reading →
It was a little over a year ago when Cemetery Boys, the debut novel by Aiden Thomas, came out. It was a book I was looking forward to, but although I bought it pretty quickly, I've held off on reading it. Until now, that is. This seemed like the perfect book for early October: both... Continue Reading →
Last September I read (and adored) You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria. It's the first in her Primas of Power series, and I'm eagerly awaiting its second installment, A Lot Like Adiós, due out in two months. Luckily, the countdown was made a bit easier with the release of her new novella, What the... Continue Reading →
Let me preface this review with a confession: I was really excited when A Witch in Time, the debut novel by Constance Sayers, was about to be published in February 2020. Then I was ecstatic when I won it in a Goodreads giveaway! But the version I won was an ebook, and I've never been... Continue Reading →
At the end of last year, back when I still went into book stores without a mask or fears of Covid, I stumbled across an enchanting novel called Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw. Its intricate cover arrested my attention - with its web of branches and roots reaching for an ominous half moon. But beyond that,... Continue Reading →
Amanda's Book Corner 