Ezeekat Press

Book Review: SHE’S A DOLL by Barbara Truelove

| Jessica Crawford

She’s a Doll by Barbara Truelove is a 313 page standalone novel coming September 8, 2026 from Ezeekat Press of Bindery Books.

Genre

Horror(ish), Humor(ous)

Description

Lucy isn’t a normal girl. Ghost. Victim. Killer. She’s a doll on a mission—to find the man who killed her and return the favor.

Lucy McQuinn has been murdered, but she’s not about to go quietly.

If she doesn’t get to keep breathing, then neither does Kyle, her killer. Possessing the body of an antique doll, she sets out on a quest for revenge. But it’s hard when you’re eighteen inches tall and made of porcelain.

For help, she turns to Nicola, a human and fellow outsider with her own reasons to hate Kyle. But in their small idyllic town, no one wants to hear the truth, especially not about such a promising young man. If they can’t expose his crimes, Lucy will have to roll up her lacy little sleeves and teach him a lesson the old-fashioned way—as slowly and painfully as possible.

From LA Times bestselling author Barbara Truelove, She’s a Doll is a ghoulish and gleeful tribute to the unstoppable power of female rage and a love letter to the friends who have our back—in this life and the next.

Opening Line

There are a lot of really profound, poetic people who have said a lot of really profound, poetic things about death.

My Thoughts

A wickedly funny wild ride that also hits you right in the feels.

When Lucy McQuinn is murdered, the last thing she lays her eyes on before everything goes dark is an antique doll sitting on a nearby shelf. So focused is she on this item that the moment her soul (or whatever you’d like to call it) leaves her body, she winds up transferring it right over–Lucy is now a vengeful spirit possessing a porcelain doll. And she’s out for blood!

Lu is a book nerd (favoring the classics), gamer (even if her console is three gens ago), and cosplay winner (second place, novice division) at the beginning of what doesn’t seem to be a very promising career when her mortal remains meet their end. Because a revenge killing while stuck in a doll’s body and still learning the ropes of being a ghost seems like a nigh impossible task, she’ll need an (embodied, living) ally. This is where the edgy Nic, whose hearing aid is able to pick up Lu’s projected thoughts, comes into play. Plenty of snarky banter between the two ensues.

…she bought a strawberry milkshake that smelled so sugary I wished I had a stomach so I could hurl. Have you considered eating real food?

“Have you considered that you’re still on thin ice, you porcelain piece of shit?” she said, exhausted and without venom.

What kept this from being a 5 star read for me is the fact that it did take me a good while to really get all in on the story (right around when Lu teams up with Nic is when I became engaged, and I think that’s over 25% in), and that some of it was a bit repetitive (any time the two of them disagree, for instance with the logistics of how to go about enacting revenge, they tend to make the same arguments to one another over and over again). But overall I wound up enjoying this dark, amusing, emotional story with wonderful representation quite a lot!

I actually think I miss spending my time with ride or die gals Lu and Nic already. Sadge.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Ezeekat Press of Bindery Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES by Barbara Truelove

| Jessica Crawford

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove is a 407 page standalone novel published by Bindery Books through Ezeekat Press in 2025.

Genre:

Science Fiction, Fantasy

Synopsis:

Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.

Demeter just wants to do her shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.

To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.

The queer love child of pulp horror and ​classic ​sci-fi, Of Monsters and ​Mainframes ​is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.

Opening Line:

Awaiting input…

My Thoughts:

From the laugh out loud humor to the nerve-wracking escapades, the hodgepodge group of vibrant characters to the heartening narrative threads of love and found family, this story is an absolute delight!

I hate it. I hate is as much as I hate docking systems that put zeros on the end of my name. I hate it more because it destroyed my spider drones, who were only ever polite and useful, and killed my passengers, who were neither of those things but were mine to look after. I hate it as much as I’ve ever hated anything. I hate it as much as I hate Dracula.

Demeter is the AI of a large passenger ship that shuttles people between Earth and habitation units lightyears away. She always tries her best within the confines of her programming, and it’s really not her fault that all the humans onboard are slaughtered by the ancient vampire who stowed away in a container of soil in the cargo hold before reaching their destination. Or that almost all of her next group of passengers fall at the hands (paws?) of a werewolf. But unfortunately for her, the humans don’t believe in the existence of the supernatural, and assume Demeter’s programming is faulty in some way and she has been malfunctioning.

After a few more similar encounters with the preternatural (not all of whom are necessarily enemies), Demeter winds up with a ragtag crew that, in some ways, have become family to one another. They set out for revenge on the creature who started Demeter’s downward spiral into infamy, the one that earned her the nickname of ghost ship and got her painfully optimized by the engineers of the transport company that owns her: they are going to take down Dracula.

The chapters (many of which have hilarious names – for instance, one chapter ends with the question, “Am I desperate enough to go along with it?”, and the next chapter title is, “Yes.”) cycle through several POVs throughout this book. Two of these characters are AI, and in some ways this fact along with the humorous style brought The Murderbot Diaries to mind, only in a somewhat less satisfying way as these AIs seemed a bit more anthropomorphized (i.e. Demeter’s disks shake with relief and terabytes of fear run through her wires) (also, disks in a computerized spaceship several centuries in the future?). But it was still quite entertaining.

Even though this adventurous tale has some intense moments with high stakes, it’s told in a style that had me laughing regularly. Like when Demeter says,

Agnus says she is not as smart as Isaac. I inform her this faulty assessment is likely the result of a rounding error.

or when the ship’s medical AI asks her since when she was programmed with a desire for adventure and she answers, “I’m writing the code right now”.

So we’ve got the action, adventure, and humor, but this book also delivers some really sweet messages about love, familial/platonic as well as romantic. The relationships and the lengths the characters go to for one another despite being so drastically different from one another in a multitude of ways were really very heartwarming.

“Yes,” I say. “I…I thought I was protecting my family. But I wasn’t, because I wasn’t protecting you.” “Error. I am not your fam-” “Shut up, bitch. You’re family.”

I am truly impressed with this author for producing a story that is so equally fun and touching, and I look forward to reading more of her work. Three cheers for Barbara Truelove and Of Monsters and Mainframes!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bindery Books, and Ezeekat Press for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review: HOUSE OF FRANK by Kay Synclaire

| Jessica Crawford

House of Frank by Kay Synclaire is a standalone novel coming October 15th from Bindery Books.

Genre:

Cozy Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQIA+

Opening Line:

“Sing for me,” you whisper. “Please.”

My Thoughts:

3.5 stars for this is a cozy fantasy story with grieving as a major theme throughout, and an LGBTQIA+ romance.

Saika is a music witch mourning the death of her sister. Fiona made her promise to see that her ashes were planted at the arboretum at Ash Gardens, where they will grow into something beautiful. Even after she arrives at Ash Gardens, Saika finds she is not yet ready to part with her sister’s ashes, and she winds up staying on and helping out around the place. She gets to know the others employed there, including cherubs, an elf, a half-gargoyle, and a one-of-a-kind beast. It turns out they are all suffering their own losses, and develop relationships that allow them to help one another navigate through their grief.

This was nice story of love, loss, friendship, and healing. The range of characters was nice, although you only get to know a few of them beyond surface level. I wasn’t really feeling the romance between our two lovebirds, personally–their interactions with one another were more irritating than anything, in my opinion, but it made for a sweet story. This is a slower-paced character driven tale, and though it takes place in a fantasy world, we are only shown this one specific part of it at Ash Gardens (with one day trip into the city). Potential readers should also know the narration often veers into second person, as Saika addressing her departed sister. It’s not like the entire book is written in second person point of view, but some people may be turned off even by a portion of it being so.

Now if I may grumble a little bit – when Saika reads that a dragon laying eggs means it’s trying to start a family and explains this to others, and their response is, “I had no idea!’…what exactly was their understanding of how eggs work?! Also, this is another case of me being taken by surprise by the occasional F-word sprinkled throughout–cursing in books doesn’t bother me (as long as it’s not excessive), but was surprising in what otherwise seemed like such a wholesome story.

But overall this was a decent cozy, emotional yet hopeful read.

Thank you to Bindery Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

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