Book Review

Book Review: BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall

| Jessica Crawford

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is a 320 page standalone novel published in 2025 by Simon & Schuster.

Genre:

Literary Fiction

Subgenres:

Romance, Suspense

Opening Line:

The farmer is dead, he is dead and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.

My Thoughts:

4.5 stars

This is an emotional story following Beth, a young woman in North Dorset, England. Chapters alternate between timelines, one in 1955 when teenaged Beth meets and falls in love with Gabriel Wolfe, and one in 1968 when she is married to a farmer named Frank Johnson. Interspersed are also chapters showcasing a murder trial occurring after the other timelines, although who is on trial for whose murder is not made clear until near the end.

There is a touching story here about relationships before and after the loss of a child, both broken relationships and healing ones. A love of the natural world is on display in the writing. I found the parts describing infidelity difficult to read, but everyone at least winds up addressing their wrongdoings. Beth’s complicated feelings and the looming murder we know is going to happen create a tense atmosphere set against the simple pleasures of the pastoral setting and the love for a child.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC of this moving story in exchange for my unbiased review.

CW: death of a child, infidelity

Book Review: THE MERCY OF GODS by James S.A. Corey

| Jessica Crawford

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey is a 423 page novel published by Orbit of Hatchette Book Group published in 2024, and is Book One of the Captive’s War, a planned trilogy that will also feature additional novellas in between main installments. Like the author’s previous series, The Expanse, this work has also already been confirmed to be in the works as a television adaptation.

Genre:

Science Fiction

Synopsis:

A spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old as the universe itself.

How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy.  Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.   Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team.  Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.  Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination.  He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.

First Line:

You ask how many ages had the Carryx been fighting the long war?

My Thoughts:

“I think some important scientific questions have finally been answered. Alien life exists, and they are assholes.”

I’ve only read one other James S.A. Corey book, the first in The Expanse series, Leviathan Wakes. Looking back at my review, it seems I thought that one started and ended with a bang, but was a real slog in between. In contrast, this book was much more consistent throughout.

I did watch The Expanse TV show and loved it. In many ways, The Mercy of Gods felt reminded me of that other series: humanity laboring to learn about a previously unknown alien threat.

If they survived this alien hellscape, it would be because of this. Because in the face of trauma and violence, what they wanted first was to know, to understand.

In the far future, an alien race called the Carryx has made a habit of conquering other worlds and assimilating its native intelligent species, IF said species can prove themselves useful to their new overlords. Otherwise, they get culled. Humanity has now fallen into the clutches of this merciless intergalactic empire. Can they prove their worth? Should they revolt, even knowing it’s a death sentence? In the meantime, the reader is aware that there is another race if aliens locked in a generations-long war with the Carryx, and maybe they might be the ones to finally topple the tyrants.

The characters are a collection of humans the Carryx found most likely to be useful – top tier scientists and scholars, for example. There is the young research assistant who knows how to read other people and act in a way to set them at ease; the man who irritates his fellows by defaulting to making jokes in times of stress (mentioned to be gay, although this aspect of does not come into play in this part of the story); the researcher whose suicidal ideation comes flooding back once she runs out of her routine medication as a prisoner. This work group serves as this book’s version of the crew of the Rocinante, and while I wasn’t overly fond of or super connected to any of them, I didn’t actively dislike any of them like I did in Leviathan Wakes (I enjoyed the characters as they were portrayed on the TV show MUCH more!)

“Stop sciencing all over my story,” Jellit said. “The fact is that it worked.”

Overall this was an interesting story, with a lot of intriguing ideas and a sense of tension carrying it forward. But I am disappointed that this is a case of Book One of the series offering zero resolution of any kind. Obviously I expected the overarching story to continue, but often each installment in a series has a more focused arc that meets with some kind of resolution, but not so here. If I do read on, it will have to be with the understanding that the next book while likely also leave me feeling this way, waiting until the end of book three to feel any satisfaction whatsoever. I might be willing to do that, but honestly, since it’s already been announced this series is being turned into another television show, I am more likely to just wait to watch that.

Book Review: THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden

| Jessica Crawford

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden is a 272 page standalone novel published byAvid Reader Press of Simon & Schuster in 2024, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024.

Genre:

Historical fiction, literary fiction

Synopsis:

An exhilarating, twisted tale of desire, suspicion and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961-a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing…it is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routing and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabels develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation—leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabella has ever known. The was might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is a brilliantly plotted and provocative debut novel you won’t soon forget.

Opening Line:

Isabel found a broken piece of ceramic under the roots of a dead gourd.

My Thoughts:

She had made the kitchen a lovely place. Isabel could cry at it: at how a room could be made, and left behind, and turn terrible by way of absence. How a space could miss a person. How a person could stop–

This book is literary historical fiction set in the Netherlands in 1961, with references to the years of World War II. I was digging it at first, but then wound up getting really bored by it for a while, as plot advancement stalls and we are treated to many, many pages of the main character just being angry and hateful. Things then take a turn and get quite spicy for Isabel (who seems to be portrayed as on the autism spectrum, as well as with some OCD/paranoia/anxiety stemming from the wartime).

Eva said this often: You know what I mean, and Isabel mostly never knew what she meant, not exactly. Only that Eva was frightened and that she saw people as danger. Isabel understood fear. Isabel rarely considered other people at all.

The romance aspect of the story was certainly not boring, but was portrayed in a way I found quite awkward and uncomfortable (there was a whole lot of “pushing” and “pulling” going on in the love scenes, and I understand why these terms might be used once for an affair in which the lovers don’t want to want each other, but these sentiments were a bit overused).

About two thirds of the way in, reading a non-POV character’s diary really flips things around with some magnificent revelations that blew me away. But unfortunately by the end I was bored again.

The writing on the sentence-level overall was good, certainly, but I did get tired with the stilted nature of the prose (a lot of sentences and thoughts and dialogue cut off midway without being completed).

Although I was predominantly underwhelmed by this book, the payoff from reading the diary entries alone was worth it. It will have you seething about man’s inhumanity to man, as it unveils some experiences of being a Dutch Jew in and around the time of the Holocaust.

Book Review: THE FAVORITES by Layne Fargo

| Jessica Crawford

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is a 448 page standalone novel published by Random House in 2025.

Genre:

Contemporary Fiction, Retelling

Opening Line:

Today is the tenth anniversary of the worst day of my life.

My Thoughts:

Guys, I think I already read one of my top ten books of 2025.

When I was strong and self-assured, people recoiled from me. They told me I was too competitive, too ambitious, too much. But when I was brought low, bruised and bleeding, a princess in need of rescue instead of a conquering queen, they loved me.

This book is a reimagining of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights with modern competitive ice dancers, and I was absolutely addicted to it! I did enjoy Wuthering Heights, although it boggles my mind that people call it a romance. I consider it a pure revenge story, and for whatever reason, I really seem to dig the revenge stories (that one, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Stars my Destination.) Although The Favorites has revenge, it is definitely more of a love story, albeit one that is a bit toxic at times.

At first I thought the comp of this book to the classic just meant it was inspired by it and had many of the same themes, but it’s more than that. Our characters are Heath Rocha (Heathcliff), Katarina Shaw (Catherine Earnshaw), Lee Shaw (Hindley Earnshaw), Isabella Lin (Isabella Linton), and Garret Lin (Edgar Linton). There are similarities to the story arc, but it is definitely not an exact copy in a new setting.

Kat has long idolized Olympic gold medalist Sheila Lin, and wishes fervently to follow in her footsteps to become a champion ice dancer. Because this is what she wants, Heath learns to be her ice dance partner. The two have been skating together since children, and in love with each other almost as long. The rub is that Kat is the most important thing in the world to Heath, and while Kat loves Heath like crazy, becoming champion is the most important thing to her.

They wind up presented with the amazing opportunity to train with Sheila Lin herself at Lin Academy. There they work alongside Sheila’s twin children, Garrett and Bella. The Lins are wealthy and entitled, and Heath can’t say he loves the way Kat changes when she’s around them and training at such a prestigious facility.

I really liked the best frenemy situation between Kat and Bella. They become friends, but both are incredibly ambitious and have the same goal, so they use one another as motivation to always push to improve and best the other. Even as competitors, the way they understand one another is a strong glue binding them.

“Any bitch can get married, but-“
“It takes a special bitch to be national champion?”
“Exactly.”

Interspersed between some chapters are transcripts from the documentary that commemorates the ten year anniversary of what Kat calls the worst day of her life, while the rest of the book is written in Kat’s POV, first person past tense. This style was great, it added a lot.

Kat and Heath realize the public respond more to their romance story as skate partners than they do to their performances as elite athletes, and decide to play it up for the press. Some in the industry consider them something of a scandal. Through it all, Heath’s number one goal in life is to be enough for the woman he loves, while Kat doesn’t take her eyes off the prize of taking home the Olympic gold. Unsurprisingly, some of the other hopefuls don’t shy away from trying to sabotage rival teams.

The characters in this book just all felt so real to me, multilayered, not 100% good or bad throughout. I loved taking this wild ride with them.

And as a side note, I also really enjoy the playlist the author put together for this book. Usually I avoid those, because although authors say it’s music that inspired them while writing, I can like the book and yet still not share their taste in music. In this case I took a look at the playlist because so many songs are mentioned in the book as the pieces the ice dancers are performing to. And it turns out this extra long playlist has many, many songs I am loving and would never have otherwise found on my own.

All the stars for this book, which had a 41 year old woman who doesn’t dance and hates being the center of attention asking, “Is it too late for me to start training in ice dance?” It did seem a bit overlong, but as I wanted to live in its pages forever, that didn’t bother me. I would love to see this as a movie some day!

People seem to have a strong preference for either the US or UK version of the book cover. How do you feel about them?

Book Review: THOSE FATAL FLOWERS by Shannon Ives

| Jessica Crawford

Those Fatal Flowers by Shannon Ives is a 384 page standalone novel from Dell of Ballantine Books with a publish date of January 21, 2025.

Genre/Subgenres:

Mythology Retelling, Historical Fiction, Romance

Opening Line:

The night before Ceres’ palace becomes a tomb, it’s halls are filled with music.

Synopsis:

Greco-Roman mythology and the mystery of the vanished Roanoke colony collide in this epic adventure filled with sapphic longing and female rage—a debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, and Natalie Haynes.Before, Scopuli. 

It has been centuries since Thelia made the mistake that cost her the woman she loved. As the handmaidens charged with protecting Proserpina, the goddess of spring, Thelia and her sisters are banished to the island of Scopuli, cursed to live as sirens—winged half-woman, half-bird creatures. In luring men to their death, they hope to gain favor from the gods who could free them. But then ships stop coming and Thelia fears a fate worse than the underworld. Just as time begins to run out, a voice emerges, Proserpina’s voice; and what she asks of Thelia will spark a daring and dangerous quest for freedom.

Now, Roanoke. 

Thelia can’t bear to reflect on her last moments in Scopuli, where she left behind her sisters. After weeks drifting at sea, Thelia’s renewed human body is close to death. Luckily, an unfamiliar island appears on the horizon—Roanoke. Posing as a princess arriving on a sailboat filled with riches, Thelia infiltrates the small English colony. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that this place is dangerous, especially for women. As she grows closer to a beautiful settler who mysteriously resembles her former love, Thelia formulates a plan to save her sisters and enact revenge on the violent men she’s come to hate. But is she willing to go back to Scopuli and face the decisions of her past? And will Proserpina forgive her for all that she’s done?Told in alternating timelines, Those Fatal Flowers is a powerful, passionate, and wildly cathartic love letter to femininity and the monstrous power within us all.

My Thoughts:

What happens when you mix a mystery from America’s history with mythology, feminist rage, and romance?

This book right here.

It presents an interesting case: what if sirens from Greco-Roman mythology were responsible for the disappearance of the inhabitants of the lost colony of Roanoke? The author explains that her aim with this story was to explore the effects of loss and guilt on the psyche while also examining structural violence. It does a fair job in this endeavor, while also including a sapphic love story.

Our main character is Thelia, one of three sisters who acted as handmaidens to Proserpina (Persephone), and who were transformed into winged creatures to assist in the search for their charge when she was abducted by Dis (Hades). When they fail to find and rescue the goddess, they are imprisoned on an island as punishment. There, they lure sailors with their singing. (This book alternately refers to them as harpies and sirens, but I think the singing and luring part indicates they were just sirens, not harpies?)

After centuries have gone by, Thelia learns there may be a way to lift the curse she and her sisters are under, but it requires the sacrifice of many treacherous men…something the English colony of Roanoke in the Americas has more then a few of.

I liked the unique premise of the story and the bits detailing the lives of Thelia and her sister sirens on the island of Scopuli, and the writing on the sentence level was good.

On the other hand, I questioned the reliability of the behavior and speech of the Puritans depicted here. The men and women of Raleigh drank an awful lot of alcohol in this book, and said things like, “Fun little secret for you, my lady” before revealing some bit of gossip. I’m no scholar of history, but these things didn’t seem right to me. And I just wasn’t much feeling the romance — it was a bit of instalove on Thelia’s side (although in part because the object of her affections apparently looks so much like her long lost love that for a time she is trying to determine if it might actually BE her); and also, when on a timed mission for redemption, shouldn’t a centuries old divinity be able to keep it in her skirts?

All the hate for anything male really bothered me, BUT this does get addressed later on in the book, as Thelia finally learns that “monsters are made, not born”.

So while this book wasn’t a home run for me, it was decent and presents some intriguing concepts. If I were allowed half or even quarter star ratings, I’d say this was a 3.25 or 3.5 read for me.

Thank you the NetGalley and Dell/Penguin Random House for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

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Book Review: NIGHT WATCH by Jayne Anne Phillips

| Jessica Crawford

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips is a 276 standalone novel published by Knopf in 2023, and the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Genre:

Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

Synopsis:

In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives.

The omnipresent vagaries of war and race rise to the surface as we learn their their flight to the highest mountain ridges of western Virginia; the disappearance of ConaLee’s father, who left for the War and never returned. Meanwhile, in the asylum, they begin to find a new path. ConaLee pretends to be her mother’s maid; Eliza responds slowly to treatment. They get swept up in the life of the facility—the mysterious man they call the Night Watch; the orphan child called Weed; the fearsome woman who runs the kitchen; the remarkable doctor at the head of the institution.

Opening Line:

I got up in the wagon and Papa set me beside Mama, all of us on the buckboard seat.

My Thoughts:

This book, the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is stirring literary historical fiction. It tells the story of ConaLee and her family and the many ways their lives are affected by the Civil War.

The fighting has ceased, but not the grief.

The family includes a daughter of Irish immigrants working as indentured servants on a plantation, and the infant born of a slave raped by the master who can pass as white. When the latter leaves his pregnant wife to fight for the Union, he is obviously subjected to the horrors of war – but so are his family, left on the homestead to protect themselves from deserters from both sides of the war. After enduring the resulting traumas, ConaLee and her mother find sanctuary at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum of Weston, West Virginia, and its moral treatment regimen.

It’s common in these times. So many of our patients, all classes of society, find themselves sole survivors, nine years on, of our–national catastrophe. It is still–unspooling, O’Shea said, like malignant thread.

Important to note that this novel is written in a way that will turn some readers off. Dialogue is not in quotation marks. The flow of each paragraph meanders a bit. It worked for me, but it won’t for everyone. It is a very well researched book, and includes several photographs of the asylum as well as contemporary artwork of the Civil War era.

I greatly enjoyed this story overall, but the writing style did have me feeling rather distanced from the climax scene, making it much less impactful than it should have been, and I was underwhelmed by the ending as a result. But still 4.75 stars altogether!

Book Review: THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by Ally Carter

| Jessica Crawford

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter is a 304 page standalone novel published in 2024.

Genre:

Romance, Mystery

Opening Line

Excerpt from the Official Police Interrogation of Margaret Chase and Ethan Wyatt

December 25

Mrs. Chase: Well, of course I have his blood on my hands.

Synopsis:

Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:

She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.

He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.

She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

My Thoughts:

This book was pretty good, but a bit confusing in that it seemed to try to be many kinds of stories all at once. Was it a murder mystery or a romance? Cozy and lighthearted comedy, or dark and twisty?

I was the most excited when I thought it was an elaborate game in which our characters, a colorful and eccentric group gathered at an English estate, were to compete against one another to be the first to solve a fabricated mystery. But then it winds up being about actual attempted murder, and being snowed in with a would-be killer who continues to create mayhem. Then the final answer to the murder mystery portion of the story seemed to kind of come out of left field (the motive is something that the reader is not aware of until the actual moment of the final reveal). And I hesitate to call it a locked room mystery, because you never actually get the answer to the how the missing person disappeared from the locked room.

But this book is actually mostly a romance. While I liked Maggie and Ethan each individually, the romance was actually a tad creepy (he has loved her from afar for years and is way, way too intimate way too fast for someone who has yet to receive any indication that his attentions are welcome). And Maggie repeatedly doubting and needing constant reassurance had me annoyed with her by the end.

This review sounds like mostly complaints, but really it wasn’t bad. Part of my issue, too, may be that I listened to this on audio, which doesn’t always work for me. There is one narrator for Maggie’s chapters (the majority of the book), and a separate one for Ethan’s chapters. One seems very talented in general, but has some very noticeable vocal fry. Both were a bit cringey when doing voices for the opposite gender, but one far moreso than the other. And they acted out some of the same characters quite differently (e.g. one of them portrays a particular character speaking in a bold and sassy manner, while the other acts her out as super timid). With all of these things taken together, I gave this one 3.75 stars, but it may have been a 4 if I had read it with my eyes instead of my ears.

Book Review: THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach

| Jessica Crawford

The Wedding People by Alison Espach is a 384 page standalone novel published in 2024 by Henry Holt and Co.

Genre:

Contemporary Fiction

Opening Line:

The hotel looks exactly as Phoebe hoped.

My Thoughts:

“I suppose I didn’t realize that’s what it would feel like getting older.”

“…it is all about moving on. Saying goodbye to whoever you thought you were, whoever you thought you would be.”

I LOVED this book that is equal parts cathartic and laugh out loud funny.

Phoebe’s life has imploded over the past several years. One final straw in the midst of a deep clinical depression sends her to The Cornwall (a fancy historic hotel in Newport, Rhode Island she had always hoped to visit one day) in a green silk dress, equipped with no luggage but instead a plan to end her life.

But she decides that’s how some people are (she decides that she likes deciding things now that she is forty and alone, that’s how some people are). Some people don’t ask for what they need. Some people are like religious children that way, mistaking suffering for goodness.

In the meantime, Lila has booked the hotel for her wedding week, and it was supposed to only have guests for the wedding staying. Phoebe’s reservation was a clerical error. The two women meet on the elevator and Lila asks Phoebe what she’s doing there. Unemcumbered by any concerns about what may or may not be socially appropriate, experiencing a sense of freedom by the thought that she will not live past the night, Phoebe tells the truth. She is there to kill herself. Lila, who has spent years and one million dollars planning the perfect wedding, is horrified. This could totally ruin everything!

In her bid to talk Phoebe out of her decision, Lila is more her true self around her new acquaintance, not putting on an act of the perfect bride like she is for everyone else. Phoebe, thinking it won’t matter for long, continues to feel able to speak and act in a brutally honest, direct manner. This itself opens up to her a new way she could choose to be moving forward. Coming across the wedding people like this actually helps her realize that there is another option besides taking her own life, a different way to approach living.

Over the course of a week the two women help each other face hard truths and find a way forward, which was really heartwarming. As someone who has struggled with depression, I loved reading about Phoebe moving through it and coming out on the other side stronger with a little help from authentic human connection. I laughed, I cried! This is a strong contender for my favorite book of the year.

There is a metaphor with a Newport diner that has been demolished by hurricanes and rebuilt several times:

Phoebe imagines that rebuilding after each devastation must be a real chore, especially for a place like Flo’s, which has knickknacks covering every inch of the walls. To rebuild each time with the same level of bursting, idiosyncratic personality–how do you do that?…How do you act like this singular and quirky existence is entirely natural and will never be destroyed again?

All the feels! ❤️❤️❤️

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Book Review: THE SPELLSHOP by Sarah Beth Durst

| Jessica Crawford

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is a 384 page standalone novel published in 2024. (I saw it labeled as “Librarians of Alyssium #1” somewhere, but I can’t find where – but either way, this story can stand by itself.)

Genre:

Fantasy

Subgenres:

Cozy Fantasy, Romantasy, Romance

Opening Line

Kiela never thought the flames would reach the library.

My Thoughts

When revolution makes the city of Alyssium a dangerous place to be, librarian Kiela and her sentient spider plant assistant flee to the outer island of Caltrey. There they meet caring neighbors, winged cats, merhorses, and more, while also growing their own ingredients to make and sell jam. If anyone from the city ever learns that Kiela is illegally using spells to heal the island’s ecosystem, there could be dire consequences. Also there is a gentle romance.

This book was intended to be like a warm hug, eliciting the coziness of drinking hot cocoa and eating pastries. In this regard, it is a success. My preferred reads tend to be darker, grittier, and more dramatic, so based purely on my personal enjoyment I would say this was a 3 star read. But I knew to expect a warm cozy fantasy with sweet relationships, and that’s exactly what I got, so taking that into account it’s a 4.

🌿🍓🧜🥧❤️🌈

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