Fab tries to catch up with her reviewing challenge. So have some more mini reviews to make space for bigger features again. Work is kicking my ass so I don’t get around to reading and blogging as much as I’d like…

A Summoning of Souls by Leanna Renee Hieber is the last in her Spectral City trilogy. It is a solid last installment, wrapping up many of the story threads from previous books nicely. I breezed through this supernatural mystery about a medium in NYC, and her coven of girls who help the police with crimes including ghosts. I love Eve, the main character, and her budding relationship with Detective Jacob Horowitz is a big draw of these books. They are fast paced and entertaining, full of loveable protagonists. If you’re looking for supernatural detective stories with a romance element, I suggest you check this series out! Order a copy from Blackwell’s here.

The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst is a wonderful story of necromancy, the corruption of power and the aftermath of winning a war. Twenty-five years ago, Kreya and her friends defeated the evil necromancer Eklor. Since then, Kreya has been obsessed with finding a way to give her dead husband a second life. Now, she has finally managed with the help of an old friend. But as they travel to the old battle grounds, they figure out that Eklor isn’t really gone, and return to him having found a way to gain power again. But does her experience with necromancy make her evil too? This is a story in which these gray areas are explored in detail. Like so few books it looks at what happens after a big win, and how so-called heroes deal with their past and having a future after it seemed impossible. If you’re into murky morals and interesting world-building, this is a book for you. Pre-order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers is not technically a book I have to review. I bought it myself, and it blew my mind in the best possible way. It is the story of Grace Porter, a fresh PhD graduate in Astronomy, raised by a military father who insisted on achievement. To celebrate her graduation, she travels to Las Vegas with her two best friends, and accidentally gets married to Yuki Yamamoto. Lost in her life now that she has reached her goal, which she’s worked for for years, Grace decides to give this stranger she married a shot and spends the summer in New York with Yuki. Honey Girl is heartwarming, but also evil – as someone around Grace’s age, many of her struggles (including with mental health issues) feel familiar, and the way she is looking for her next steps hits home. This is a book that will tear you apart, make you cry, but it is extremely worth it. A truly stellar debut. Order a copy from Amazon here (I’m sorry for linking to them, but all my indies are out of stock!).

As I’ve been working a ton, I’m once again behind with writing reviews. So I decided to do another round of mini reviews – have a read and see if there’s something that appeals to you!

I was extremely excited for The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Michael Joseph, February 2021). But sadly, the execution of the concept was just not for me. The story centres Taryn, a self-absorbed woman who has issues dealing with her sister’s murder. She hires a hitman to take out her killer and ends up being pulled into a supernatural threat. I found the characters superficial, and I was bored by the writing. As this promised to be a book about books, something that I usually adore, I was very frustrated throughout reading it, and would not recommend it. If you are interested, you can get a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

The Four Profound Weaves (Tachyon, 2020) by R.M. Lemberg is a wonderful novella set in the author’s acclaimed Birdverse. It has the air of a fairytale, with trans and queer characters at its centre. The story drew me in and made me cry multiple times as characters were able to just live their realities. The eponymous four profound weaves are magical ways in which the characters in this world are able to weave things (and themselves) from nature. But to vanquish an evil ruler, they have to learn how to weave from death… I really liked this novella, and I highly recommend it if you like lyrical, magical stories. Get a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell (Bantam, 2021) reads a bit like a Terry Pratchett book transposed into a present-day setting. I loved the concept, but the execution did not work for me. The humour was too crude and there were a lot of discriminatory jokes. I feel like the setting of a newspaper focusing on the weird and supernatural could have offered itself to far better stories, but the characters frustrated me to no end and I couldn’t get over some of the comments that were made. Added to that was that the plot just tried to do everything, rather than focus on one direction and do it properly. I don’t recommend this one, but if you want to check it out yourself, you can get a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link)

The City of a Thousand Faces by Walker Dryden (Orion, 2020) is based on the world created in the podcast Tumanbay. There are a lot of elements to recommend this story, but ultimately they did not come together in a satisfying way. I really enjoyed the setting, and some of the characters were really interesting. Still, I felt like the writing and the plot was too all over the place to hold my attention. While events happened, it did not feel like the individual characters were headed anywhere. The story happened to them, rather than the POV characters moving it forward. You can get a copy of this one from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

Towards the end of 2020 I was reading like crazy to hit my target of 366 books read (yes, I am absolutely insane, and no I will not be reading anywhere close to that in 2021 with my new job and everything). So here are a bunch of mini-reviews. I hope one of these takes your fancy!

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue will be published by Walker Books on February 4th. The book centres on Maeve Chambers, who finds a mysterious Tarot deck while cleaning out a storage room at school. Set in Ireland, Maeve at last finds her calling in these cards and starts providing uncannily accurate readings for her schoolmates. Until her ex-best friend Lily goes missing after a reading goes awry. Together with her friend and her crush Roe, Lily’s sibling, she sets out to get her back before it’s too late. Gripping, mysterious and addictive, I read All Our Hidden Gifts in a single sitting. It’s not a perfect book by any means, but it’s an enjoyable read and a solid addition to the current UKYA market (well, Irish YA, but published in the UK). If you’re anything like me and love Tarot, creepy but intriguing books and wonderful teenage characters, check this one out. Add it to Goodreads here, and order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni, out on April 1st from Hodder, is the start of an exciting series. Set in Zalindov, a prison for multiple kingdoms, the book centres around Kiva, the seventeen-year-old in charge of medicine in the facility. When a high-profile prisoner gets brought in and Kiva tasked with her survival until the prisoner is supposed to undergo a trial by ordeal, Kiva unexpectedly volunteers to take her place. Aided by a mysterious young man, a guard who is more compassionate than any of the others and a boy Kiva feels responsible for, she fights to survive the trial which no one has survived before. An intriguing world full of rebellion and deception. I enjoyed The Prison Healer, although I felt that some of the plot twists were too left field and for me personally destroyed much of the build-up. I am curious to read book two though. Add The Prison Healer on Goodreads here, or order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters is a wonderful queer Southern Gothic debut. It came out from HarperTeen in August 2020 (WOW am I behind!). Shady Grove can conjure spirits with her father’s fiddle, and has to embrace her powers when her brother is accused of murder. Together with her new friends, she fights to figure out the truth with the help of the magic fiddle. A haunting story, with a bisexual main character and blossoming love triangle, Ghost Wood Song is perfect for fans of Anna-Marie McLemore or Rosemary Clement-Moore. The characters are wonderfully crafted and deal with grief throughout the book. I loved this one and highly recommend it – I’m also very excited for Erica Waters’ next book, The River Has Teeth! Add it to Goodreads here, or order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).

Master of One by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett will be out on the 7th of January from HarperTeen in the UK. A queer heist story, Master of One is set around Rags, a thief, a sadistic sorcerer and a fae prince, Shining Talon. Rags is forced to steal an ancient fae relic, which turns out to be Shining Talon who can then lead them to the remaining parts, and things just get weirder from there… Sadly, I didn’t get along with Master of One at all – I started reading the eARC and was bored, and then switched to audio on Scribd. I had to force myself to finish, as I wasn’t pulled in by the plot, and the characters fell flat. I can see fans of The Cruel Prince and similar books really liking this one, but sadly it wasn’t for me. Find Master of One on Goodreads here, and on Bookshop here (affiliate link).

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with eARCs of all of these, all opinions are entirely my own.

To end 2020 with, I have decided to do an audiobook mini review roundup. A couple of months ago Netgalley started letting us read our ARCs as audiobooks, which is amazing. So have a read to see if one of these might be for you!

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor, 20/08/2020) is a solid mix of fantasy and science fiction with parallel worlds. Lee and Mal went to explore rumours of monsters in a moor, but only Lee came back. Now, four years later, she is drawn in to a story bigger than anything she ever expected. Another strand of the story focuses on Kay Amal Khan, a trans physicist who is the only one who can help an alien race and is abducted. The Doors of Eden includes six or so points of view in an epic story that spans multiple worlds. It is interesting, smart and well-researched. However I had issues connecting to the story and characters, which led to me not enjoying this one as much as I’d hoped. I think it’s a very good book, though a bit too much on the hard science fiction side for me personally. Add it to Goodreads here, and order a hard copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link) or find the audiobook from Audible here.

The Key To Fear by Kristin Cast (Head of Zeus, 05/11/2020) is set in a world that has been ravaged by a virus, leaving society ruled by the Key. Much like in 2020, people in this story are not allowed to touch or kiss and live according to strict rules. It was disconcerting to listen to a story of a pandemic while being in the middle of a pandemic ourselves. I didn’t particularly enjoy the implications of this story, where years after the disease itself ravaged the population they still live under the thumb of sanctions. While the story didn’t necessarily focus on this, I could not stop my mind from wandering in these directions while listening. It is not the right book if you are anxious in terms of where society is heading and struggle with the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, I couldn’t enjoy the story of young love, rebellion and defiance that I would have ordinarily enjoyed much more. Find The Key To Fear on Goodreads here, and order a hardcopy from Bookshop here (affiliate link) or the audio from Audible here.

Secrets of the Starcrossed by Clara O’Connor (One More Chapter, 21/01/2021) is a tale of young love in a world where the Roman Empire never fell and still dominates part of the UK. Cassandra, Devyn and Marcus live in Londinium, which is cut off from the parts of the country still under Celtic rule, and Britons are very much second class humans compared to citizens of the Empire. It’s an enjoyable story, though a bit basic and predictable. A girl falls in love with a mysterious boy while betrothed to another and at the same time finds out that most of her life so far has been a lie. Secrets of the Starcrossed makes heavy use of tropes to tell its tale of woe and resistance. But ultimately, there isn’t much special to this YA/adult crossover fantasy. Find it on Goodreads here, and order a hardcopy from Bookshop here (affiliate link) or pre-order the audio from Audible here.