Another roundup of several smaller reviews I wrote in Summer 2025. Beware of spoilers!
Title: The Otherwhere Post
Author: Emily J. Taylor
Series: n/a
Thank you to Emily J. Taylor, Penguin, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Apologies for this review being overdue.
Something felt off to me the entire time I listened to this audiobook. I think I didn’t get oriented on the time period or worldbuilding quite right at the outset, whether that be a failing of the writing or my focus, so I felt disoriented the whole time. Where are we? When is it? What’s going on? These questions were eventually answered, except maybe when, but I never really got fully immersed. It also went over my head just why these scribes were so important, which the story hinges on. All my uncertainty about it caused the story to overall feel kinda pointless. Maeve was okay but her standoffishness wore on me; she didn’t have enough charisma to pull it off, she just seemed like an asshole. I loved Tristan. And I was interested in the world, I just didn’t really understand it.
Title: Servant of Earth
Author: Sarah Hawley
Series: The Shards of Magic #1
Title: Ghostly
Author: Kate Serzenta
Series: Perks of Being Paranormal #1
Thank you to Kate Serzenta, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Longer than it needed to be by at least an hour, if not two. Took way too long to conclude. I wanted to make the “get to the point” gesture, you know, circling one’s hand at the wrist.
Not sure how I felt about Ida’s ability to “haunt” things–go inside them and learn every piece of information available. A little too convenient–and why didn’t Ida do that to the spellbook? I can’t remember if that possibility was addressed or not. But they had so many questions about the spells, yet she didn’t “haunt” it to absorb it in its entirety? Also, were the missing pages in the library copy ever explained? And I’m surprised the author of the book never came into play. With a name like “Brenda B. Bustin” and all their questions about the magic, I’d have thought they’d try to track her down to learn more. Never crossed their minds.
And being able to experience movies and TV as if in real life by “haunting” the TV? That made no sense to me whatsoever. Not a fan of that. Manipulating electronics isn’t new for ghosts, but a TV isn’t people on a stage, it’s just a box of light. I could imagine a ghost going into it and being able to manipulate the light and thus the image on screen, but not being able to view a movie as if on set with the actors.
The characters were likeable, endearing, and sympathetic, even Perry and the townspeople, and when we finally, finally got to the epilogue, the HEA felt well-deserved.
Title: My Feral Romance
Author: Tessonja Odette
Series: Fae Flings and Corset Strings #2
Thank you to Tessonja Odette, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free ALC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF 72%. I wanted to DNF at half that but gave it the benefit of the doubt because this review is way overdue—apologies—and I think I partly was just not in the mood for it. But the desire to DNF did not diminish, so I’m calling it.
This is a 12-hour romance and it feels like it. Omg, does it take its effing time. If it were a typical 8ish hours, not only would I have finished it already, the faster pace probably would have kept me engaged enough that I wouldn’t have wanted to DNF.
The plot is trite and uncompelling. The characters have some charm but aren’t anywhere near endearing enough to disguise the bloat; Daphne is likeable enough but Monty’s a selfish prick. The friends of the MCs are annoying, especially the bookworm. The wedding was included, why? So shoehorned in. I had no idea who those characters were and got a strong feeling I was missing a lot of backstory/context. Perhaps Thorn and Briony featured in a book from a different series? If not, I hate it even more.
At times I would forget I was reading a fantasy in a historical setting, because everyone was in human form doing human things with modern American language and attitudes. Every now and then something would be mentioned that reminded me—Daphne was a kit rather than a child, dancing multiple times with the same person held implication—and it would throw me for a moment. I’m disappointed more at the lack of fantasy and world building, because therein lay most of the book’s charm and originality.
Too long, too boring, and doesn’t embrace its own uniqueness. Moving on.
Title: Path of Bones
Author: L. T. Ryan and K. M. Rought
Series: Cassie Quinn #1
PSA: This is a spinoff featuring a secondary character from the Mitch Tanner series; the events of those novels factor heavily into this book’s main character’s development and backstory. If it bothers you to feel like you’re missing important information, I’d advise you to check out the Mitch Tanner series before venturing into this one.
That bothered me, plus there’s no romance (what? Jason? Ha, you’re funny), and there’s very little sleuthing and, consequently, suspense. As a mystery it’s incredibly lazy–Cassie just lucks onto the first antagonist, then someone literally walks into the police station and says they know who the other antagonist is, and Cassie and Harris find them without much trouble. Thank god, because the police are pretty incompetent in this narrative.
The author certainly tried to make Cassie complex and approachable, and while I found her likeable enough (her reluctance to help wasn’t very endearing), I did not find her relatable. She loves art, works in an art museum in Savannah, Georgia, can see ghosts and consults with the police on murder cases, and she survived being the victim of a serial killer twice. Absolutely matches my to-do list last weekend. An interesting character for sure, but not one I see myself in, aside from her stress and anxiety.
I also did not appreciate that there were 4 points of view. And why was it called Path of Bones? There was no path, there were no bones, there certainly wasn’t a path of bones.
Title: A Botanist’s Guide to Rituals and Revenge
Author: Kate Khavari
Series: Saffron Everleigh #4
Much thanks to Kate Khavari, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a really slow burn. I wanted to DNF so bad around 30% because I’d only been half listening from the start and nothing had yet to grab me, but I liked the characters and was in the middle of doing something and didn’t want to take the time to stop and find something else to listen to, so I let it play. There isn’t a murder mystery, it’s more of a thriller as the villain looms and threatens Saffron if she doesn’t find her father’s old research. So the entire mystery is who’s Bill (which doesn’t get answered) and where is her father’s research (which doesn’t have a satisfying or entirely clear answer, either). Not very compelling. That’s about half the plot, maybe even less; the rest is navigating social politics and family drama, which was also not compelling to me. You get a bunch of classism and misogyny shoved down your throat—been there, done that—and nothing’s changed by the end except the grandfather’s very reluctant gesture to Alex. Overall I found the novel uncompelling and unsatisfying. I do like the characters, though, which is probably why I keep reading this lackluster series.
Title: A Tarnished Canvas
Author: Anna Lee Huber
Series: Lady Darby Mystery #13
Much thanks to Anna Lee Huber, Berkley, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a great installment to the series! I was fully engaged until about 75%-80%, when it began to feel long and my brain started to tune out, like it was over it and ready to move on. The pace was overall steady until that last quarter, when events seemed to stretch out and grow tedious when they should have been ramping up and getting more exciting; the climax was pretty anticlimactic.
As far as the denouement, I was surprised that Keira’s exhibition was glossed over! It was such a big deal to her, she was so anxious about it, then we just get a couple lines saying it went well? She deserved better.
I continue to lament Heather Wilds as the narrator. She’s very talented and sounds very proper and mature, which makes her a natural pick for British historicals (or Scottish, as it were)–but she’s too steady and monotone. She reads blah exposition with the same tone and pace as a super tense, near-death experience. “The floor ruptured beneath our feet” is delivered the same as “Emma has cute golden curls.” I.e., she makes the story sound more boring than it is at times, which doesn’t help keep my attention.
Otherwise it was lovely spending time with these characters again. Though I wish Bree and Anderly would get their stuff figured out so they can be happy already. I understand Bree’s position, but after several books, I’m getting tired of their it’ll-never-work angst.
And I continue to love Bonnie Brock. Looove me an anti-hero love-interest-who’s-not-really-a-love-interest-so-it-doesn’t-count-as-a-love-triangle-and-therefore-I-don’t-have-to-hate-it.
Looking forward to 14!
Title: Thus with a Kiss I Die
Author: Christina Dodd
Series: Daughter of Montague #2
Loved this installment too!
It’s brimming with anachronisms and Rosie has a very modern attitude, which I’m sure will drive some readers nuts, but it didn’t bother me. Probably because I don’t know much about life in the 1300s other than it had to be unsanitary and miserable, especially for brood mares—excuse me, women. If the narrative’s voice and tone was historically accurate, I’m sure I, for one, would be bored out of the my mind and unable to access/relate. So I shove my skepticism down and try to just have fun with it.
What fascinates me about this book is that my complaints about the first were turned inside-out. For instance, Lysandre annoyed me in book 1, but here I liked him. I still knew he wouldn’t be endgame, but toward the end, I had the thought that the only thing I hated more than a love triangle was a love triangle in which I liked both love interests and was torn about which one I wanted the MC to end up with. Lol!
I also didn’t like the narrator, Suzy Jackson, in book 1, but this time around I thought she was great and perfectly suited to the material. Whether it was how Dodd wrote Rosie this time or how Jackson narrated her, this time Rosie didn’t come across as immature, reactionary, shrill, or shrewish. She sounded youthful and energetic, and the only immature thing she did to my recollection was insist that Lysandre was her one true love. But that was part of her arc, so it’s not really a true fault (though it did get a little annoying to hear her talk about him with such rosy idealism). As for Jackson’s handling Italian terms, I don’t think there were many of them, so if she still handled them awkwardly I didn’t notice.
I loved protective father Romeo, exhausted mama Juliet, both so happy with their big family and still in love, the precocious younger siblings, handsome and capable Lysandre, awkward and honorable Cal (even despite his misogyny—Rosie’ll straighten him out), steadfast nurse, Elder, Nonna, the other old lady with attitude. The mystery plot almost felt like an afterthought amidst all the social and family drama. It seemed Rosie hardly did any sleuthing but rather lucked into important information. And that whole deal with the Flagellants (I internally giggled EVERY. TIME. because all I heard was “flatulence” and for too long I thought the people of Verona had a problem with farting) seemed rather inorganic (such a dark concept for the otherwise light tone), but I was honestly so taken with the characters that the plot was very secondary.
AND Rosie could see and speak to a sassy ghost, which is my favorite kind of story always. So that was awesome. I would LOVE for that to continue, but it struck me as a one-off.
I’m still wrapping my mind around Dodd writing a YA-toned series about the daughter of Romeo and Juliet, but I’m here for it.
