3/5 stars Shark Heart: A Love Story, by Emily Habeck (2023) Wren and Lewis have a sweet meet-cute in a restaurant, marry, and plan to live happily ever after... only, a few months into their marriage, Lewis is diagnosed with a rare form of mutation which means he will gradually morph into a great white shark. He's not alone - transforming into other animals seems to be a fairly common occurrence (in whatever version of reality Shark Heart is set in). It's just that turning in

4/5 stars The Hounding, by Xenobe Purvis (2025) In the small English village of Little Nettlebed in the eighteenth century, everyone loves to hate the Mansfield sisters, who range in age from about six to seventeen. Having lost both of their parents, and, more recently, their grandmother too, they live with their aging grandfather, who is losing his sight. The sisters are Anne - the eldest, Elizabeth - the pretty one, Hester - the tomboy, Grace - the quiet one, and Mary - the

5/5 stars A Sorceress Comes to Call , by T. Kingfisher (2024) TW: Emotional/psychological abuse I didn't realize when I read this that it is sort of a re-telling of a Grimm's tale called "The Goose Girl," which I'm not familiar with. But having read a bit about that story, I can pretty confidently say that this is a very loose interpretation, and that for all that the Brothers Grimm fairytales are dark and often disturbing, I think A Sorceress Comes to Call takes the creepy

4/5 stars A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping , by Sangu Mandanna (2025) Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches last year, I was excited to read Mandanna's most recent witchy novel. The characters are all new, though the premise is similar - loner witch hiding from society finds community with other witches and misfits. But here, she owns a B&B! A special one that can only be found by people who are in need of a safe space. Sera Sw

4/5 stars An Academy for Liars , by Alexis Henderson (2024) A hidden school of magic in the heart of Savannah, GA, complete with lots of beautiful, atmospheric hanging moss and lots and lots of secrets. Protagonist Lennon has just run away from an ill-advised engagement, after having found her fiancé with another woman at their engagement party. She takes his car and hits the road, without any more direction than "away from here." When she pulls off the road, she gets a ver

3/5 stars The Everlasting , by Alix Harrow (2025) If you like the Arthurian legend then you'll either love this, because it's an homage, or you'll hate this, because it's derivative. The Everlasting is a time travel fantasy novel. Owen Mallory is a historian living in the nation of Dominion. His field of study is the legend of Una Everlasting, the Lady Knight (or the Red Knight), whose valiant stories of conquest in the name of the Queen form the very bedrock of the nation.

5/5 stars The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption , by Robert Jackson Bennett (2024 & 2025) These books really deliver when it comes to a well-developed fantasy world, intriguing murder mysteries, and quirky, compelling characters! If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, but also would like that to be happening in a place where people have magical powers grafted to their bodies using the blood of sea leviathans who lumber ashore and try to destroy the kingdom... you'r

1/5 star The Book of Love , by Kelly Link (2024) This should have been a short story. Instead it was SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE PAGES. I enjoyed Link's quirky book of short stories, Magic for Beginners - creative little dramas about witches and zombies, and a lot of interesting interactions between the world of the living and the world of the dead. I was curious to see what her first full length novel would bring. It did bring a lot more of that fuzzy line between life and

4/5 stars The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches , by Sangu Mandanna (2022) Delightful! "A warm & witchy hug of a book" is right! Reminded me a lot of The House in the Cerulean Sea , but with female witches (kids and adults) instead of the motley crew of various "magical youths." Mika Moon is witch, but has been taught all her life that she must not only hide her magic, but stay away from all other witches, save for once a year when a group of about 10 get together for

2/5 stars The Staircase in the Woods , by Chuck Wendig (2025) I cannot recommend this book because of all the needlessly disturbing content. Honestly, if there's a trigger, this book has it. TW: Blood & gore, Extreme violence, Sexual abuse, Pedophilia, Self-harm, Drug & alcohol abuse, Death of a child/parents, Torture, Rape, Incest, Addiction, Domestic abuse .... you can view them ALL here: Storygraph - Content Warnings . With that in mind, it's hard to review this book beca

2/5 stars Somewhere Beyond the Sea , by T.J. Klune (2024) I wanted this to be great, because The House in the Cerulean Sea was great. In the end, though, we really did not need this sequel. I'll just say at the top here - if you loved Cerulean Sea , don't bother with this one. Just treasure your happy memories of the first book! Here, we return to Marsyas island to rejoin Arthur and Linus and their ragtag gaggle of magical children, who are all up to the same old antics. A

3/5 stars My Best Friend's Exorcism , by Grady Hendrix (2016) TW: The one part I actually had to skip was the torture of a dog. You can fully skip over those pages and not miss anything. The second there's a dog in a bathroom - flip forward a few pages! "Like Beaches meets The Exorcist , only it's set in the Eighties." This book was recommended to me by a local librarian, and I had a lot of fun reading it. It's a quick read. Kind of spoofy and silly with a dark sense of hum

4/5 stars The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales & Dangerous Magic , by Leigh Bardugo (2017) Illustrated by Sara Kipin I guess I'm...

3/5 stars Magic for Liars , by Sarah Gailey (2019) Private investigator Ivy Gamble's meat-and-potatoes work is mostly following cheating...

4/5 stars Green Frog: Stories , by Gina Chung (2024) Short story collections can be tough for me. Often I feel like some are great while...

5/5 stars The Girl in Red (2019), and Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook (2017) , by Christina Henry Trigger Warnings (both...

3/5 stars Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery , by Brom (2021) A fun read for lovers of witch &/or Puritanical witch-hunt era stories. Abitha...

4/5 stars The Crane Husband , by Kelly Barnhill (2023) Barnhill does magical realism very well. I've read two other novels by her - The...

4/5 stars Witchmark and Stormsong , by C.L. Polk (2018 and 2020) A great one-sentence summary from a post on Goodreads:...

4 & 3 out of 5 stars What Moves the Dead and What Feasts at Night , by T. Kingfisher (2022 & 2024) 4/5 stars What Moves the Dead A...