The Flight Risk by Macon Leigh
Macon Leigh’s writing is free and sharp, tough yet tender, like the MC of this book Sometimes, you’ve barely started reading a story and you know it’s going to be good. The kind of good that makes you want to swear because it’s so fucking good. The kind of good that makes you have to […]
Blood Rituals (Boston Preternatural Investigations Unit, Book 1) by Aoibh Wood, narrated by Abby Craden
A complex and thrilling debut I usually find out about new books and new authors through fellow reviewers and readers. This one, however, came to my attention when Abby Craden tweeted about it. It’s a debut, another very exciting and promising debut. Cait Reagan is a police detective working on a gruesome murder. Her boyfriend […]
The Veracity of Lies by Anna Woiwood
A difficult but captivating story This is a hard book to read. It’s often discouraging and tragic. It’s also very good. I’ll start with content warnings so you can decide if you’re up to it. There’s a lot of abuse of all sorts: drugs and alcohol, abuse of power, men over women, sexual and emotional. […]
Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko
Beautiful writing and an MC I loved from the beginning First, there was a video and a song. Now there’s a book. I’ll be honest (when am I not?), I requested this book because I was curious: if a story fits in a five-minute video, is there enough for a entire novel? Turns out that […]
Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst, narrated by Marcella Cox
A very powerful debut As is too often the case (why?), the synopsis gives too much away, so do yourself a favour and don’t read it. Or forget it. Because if you expect it to be only the start of the story, you’ll be disappointed, the main events are all there. On the surface, Mickey […]
Reflector by C.X. Myers
A breathtaking debut novel Reflector is everything I like in fantasy, more specifically in urban fantasy (my favourite kind of fantasy). Great worldbuilding, fantastic characters, magic, elves, demons and it all works so well that it never feels foreign. It’s plausible and relatable and that is so impressive to me. All the more so as […]
Sucker Punch (Wrestling Girls #1) by Kayla Faber
Found family at its best I don’t know why it took me so long to start this book. I enjoyed it a lot, it’s full of fantastic people and found family and exactly the kind of story I like. The author sets the mood brilliantly right from the start. Pam and her cousin Sean inherited […]
Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black
A stunning and beautifully dark debut We all have authors whose books we know we’ll enjoy reading whatever the story is. Bywater Books is the publisher equivalent of that. Whenever I open a book they release, I know I’m in for a treat. I don’t love them all but they’re all exciting and interesting and […]
Paradise Pending by Kris Purdy
An absolutely thrilling and entertaining debut novel In Kris Purdy’s debut thriller, a planned vacation in beautiful Spain turns into a hell of a trip and a nightmare. So if you’re about to travel abroad, you might want to consider reading the book afterward. An emergency hospital stay is about the last thing I would […]