romance

Book Review: THE EVERLASTING by Alix E. Harrow

| Jessica Crawford
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The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow is a 320 page standalone novel published by Tor Books in 2025 and based off of her short story, The Six Deaths of the Saint

Genre:

Fantasy

The Blurb:

From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story–they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Opening Line:

It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree.

My Thoughts:

You had to die, and I had to watch you die, and then I had to wipe the blood from my hands and make sure it had been worth it.

Bestill, my heart!

The other two novels I’ve read by this author were fine, but not standouts for this reader. Her short stories, however, are absolutely fantastic – and The Six Deaths of the Saint remains one of the most impressive things I’ve ever read. So when I learned this novel was based off of (inspired by?) that, I was equal parts excited and nervous – the latter because it was already so perfect as it was!

I will say that I still love the short story version best, because the shorter format means the incredible storytelling packs more of a punch. But this book is also amazing! In fact, I’m already fairly certain it will be one of my top ten reads of the year.

“There are only two kinds of story worth telling: the ones that send children to sleep, and the ones that send men to war.”

I struggle knowing what to say about this book without being too spoilery, so I feel it’s safest to share what the author herself has written about it: told in alternating second person POV, Alix E. Harrow describes it as the tale of a big sad lady-knight stuck in a time loop and the anxious historian trying to save her, and says it’s about the endless cycle of authoritarian abuse which fabricates the past in order to justify the present, but made more fun by the inclusion of a romantic arc and some sword fights.

“You know that history is mostly happenstance…It is not a lesson, until we learn it. It is not a story, until we tell it. And every story serves someone.”

I LOVE LOVE LOVED this smart, emotional time loop story about the power of narratives and an epic romance. That being said, it’s obviously probably not the best book for readers who get frustrated with time loop stories. But if that doesn’t bother you, and you love getting your heart ripped out before being placed back inside your chest (possibly with the addition of a little something extra???), you should definitely give this book (and The Six Deaths of the Saint!) a read.

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Book Review: GRACELESS HEART by Isabel Ibañez

| Jessica Crawford

Graceless Hearts by Isabel Ibañez is a 488 page standalone novel with a publish date of January 13, 2026 by Saturday Books.

Genre:

Historical Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis:

A lush, atmospheric and achingly magical standalone adult fantasy romance set in Renaissance Italy from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

In 15th-century Volterra, sculptress Ravenna Maffei enters a competition hosted by a secretive, immortal family who offer an invaluable boon to the victor. Desperate to win so she can save her brother, Ravenna reveals a rare magical talent-a dangerous act in a city where magic is forbidden. Her revelation makes her a target, and she is kidnapped by the Luni family and taken to Florence, a city of breathtaking beauty and cutthroat ambition.

There, Ravenna is forced into an impossible task where failure means certain death at the hands of Saturnino dei Luni, the family’s enigmatic and merciless heir. But under his cold reserve hides a vulnerability that draws her closer than she ever intended.

Meanwhile, Ravenna’s forbidden magic does not go unnoticed. The Pope, waging war against Florence, the Medici, and magic itself, has his own interest in her abilities, seeing her as a potential weapon in his ruthless campaign.

As alliances shift and war brews on the horizon, Ravenna must navigate the treacherous line between survival and betrayal, between love and duty. With time running out and her every move watched, the choices she makes will determine the fate of not just her own life, but the fragile balance of magic and power that could unravel Florence itself.

Opening Line:

Ravenna Maffei disliked magic because her parents did, but on the day her aunt took her to visit the quarry for the first time, she learned what it was to truly loathe it.

My Thoughts:

First of all, Readers, let’s please take a moment to appreciate the stunning cover of this Historical Romantasy novel. So pretty!

Okay, now with that out of the way…

Sculptress Ravenna’s story takes place in a version of fifteenth century Italy that includes elements of the supernatural and the magical: fae, witches, and vampyres, oh my! This captivating set dressing adorns a tale deeply rooted in actual history. There is a large focus on the political unrest that featured Lorenzo de Medici and his various family members and associates at its center. The story takes us from Volterra to the glittering jewel of Florence during the height of the Renaissance…and then there’s the pope of unholy greed. He condemns anything that bears even a whiff of magic, while using its power to his own benefit. Our main character Ravenna has inherited a hint of magic herself, and thus becomes a pawn in the machinations of powerful people.

The premise of this story is great, and the setting is ::chef’s kiss::. Unfortunately, I felt the romance part of the tale leaves much to be desired, and between that and what seemed to me an unnecessary length for the story being told, my final rating dropped down a star.

It was a bit frustrating that so much of what Ravenna does in this story she is forced to do by one party or another, rarely having any agency of her own. And while I often dig the morally gray characters and antiheroes, I have to agree with another reviewer that what homegirl actually experiences with Saturnino here is Stockholm Syndrome, not true love with her captor for showing her a couple acts of kindness amidst regular abuse. And while this is an “Adult” romance due to a few spicy scenes (mostly blanketed in euphemism, so not terribly explicit), the romance aspect came across to me as sort of…unsophisticated? I just mean that, although the characters were certainly unique, the writing specific to their romance felt like the same stuff I’ve read a hundred times before. It seemed like I could predict what would be said next in the writing, just when the hero would lean back against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles and say something condescending while looking smoldering hot and smelling like snow-covered pine trees. Really, in general this felt more like a YA book, but marketed as Adult simply so the sexy scenes could be included.

Additionally, when the switch flipped in the relationship between Ravenna and Saturnino, it was a sudden and complete 180. And I just couldn’t understand why Ravenna did some of the things she did, like so often doing risky things when she feared he was in mortal danger, despite knowing that he is, you know, immortal.

I also think the pacing here fell a bit short. After things being drawn out for so long, all of a sudden a lot of major things happen near the end – at least, the reader is told they are, without actually being shown much of it happening. At least up until the climactic scene, which was good (although I did predict the “twist” at least a couple hundred of pages earlier).

So there was certainly a lot to enjoy here, but by the end I felt let down. Still 3 solid stars for the things that worked well, though.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Saturday Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

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Book Review: WE FELL APART by E. Lockhart

| Jessica Crawford

We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart is a 320 page novel published in 2025 by Delacorte Press. It may be read as a standalone, but it takes place in the same world as We Were Liars and Family of Liars, and references events from those books.

Genre:

Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction

Synopsis:

The invitation arrives out of the blue.

In it, Matilda discovers a father she’s never met. Kingsley Cello is a visionary, a reclusive artist. And when he asks her to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, Matilda expects to find a part of herself she’s never fully understood.

Instead, she finds Meer, her long-lost, openhearted brother; Brock, a former child star battling demons; and brooding, wild Tatum, who just wants her to leave their crumbling sanctuary.

With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.

And everyone here is lying.

Opening Line:

It was a bad place to fall in love.

My Thoughts:

We Were Liars is one of my all-time favorite books! It’s a powerful, heart-wrenching story told in a unique manner, and it left me in a total book hangover after finishing it. It tells the story of a family with great privilege, but also the responsibility to never admit that anything is less than perfect, even if that means lying.

I will prove myself strong when they think I am sick. I will prove myself brave when they think I am weak.

Family of Liars is a prequel that wasn’t as much of a homerun for me, because although it offered a lot of the same of what we got from its predecessor, it therefore felt sort of unneeded. It was once again well written, but just didn’t really offer anything new. I rated that one 3 stars, as opposed to the 5 glittering stars I showered onto the first book.

They hadn’t come to see how I was feeling. They had come to tell me to stop feeling that way.

Now, We Fell Apart comes in at a solid 4 stars for me–not as mind-blowing to me as We Were Liars, but neither did it come across as gratuitous. I enjoyed accompanying Matilda on her journey to Hidden Beach looking for connection. The themes of Kingsley Cello’s artwork and the inclusion of The Chronicles of Narnia references were hits with me (my own dearly departed sister once named a pet after Puddleglum!) And though some dark family secrets are always bound to be unearthed from the sandy beaches in these stories, I find them so eminently readable. These particular characters won’t leave much of an impression on me, but it was just a pleasure being along for the ride as Matilda learned about this strange pocket world while trying to puzzle out the mystery of her father, all while learning what it means to decide if someone is worth committing yourself to, whether that’s in a familial, platonic, or romantic sense.

And for the record, the print book itself is quite pretty!

A to reiterate: you can easily jump into this book without reading the others, but just know there will be huge spoilers.

Book Review: THE WHITE OCTOPUS HOTEL by Alexandra Bell

| Jessica Crawford

The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell is a 369 page standalone novel with a publish date of 10/28/25 by Del Rey

Genre:

Fantasy/Magical Realism

Subgenres:

Historical Fiction, Romance

Blurb:

Journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps, where two lost souls living in different centuries meet and discover that behind its many doors, they may just find a second chance.

‘Have you travelled a long way?’ she asked carefully. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. ‘Well, yes,” he said slowly. ‘Yes, you could say that. But it was worth the wait.’

London, 2015

When reclusive art appraiser Eve Shaw shakes the hand of a silver-haired gentleman in her London office, the warmth of his palm sends a spark through her.

His name is Max Everly – curiously, the same name as Eve’s favourite composer, born one hundred sixteen years prior. And she can’t shake the feeling that she’s held his hand before . . . but where, and when?

The White Octopus Hotel, 1935

Decades earlier, high in the snowy Swiss Alps, Eve and a young Max Everly wander the winding halls of the grand belle epoque White Octopus Hotel, lost in time.

Each of them has been through the trenches – Eve in a family accident and Max on the battlefields of the Great War – but for an impossible moment, love and healing are just a room away . . . if only they have the courage to step through the door.

Opening Line:

Eve didn’t want to turn around because then she would see it.

My Thoughts

What a special story this was about regret and finding a steady hand to hold yours in the dark! It’s got:

✓ A magical hotel
✓ Time travel
✓ Scavenger hunt/puzzles
✓ Working through grief

Eve Shaw is haunted (quite literally) by a tragic event from her childhood, and she would do anything to change what happened. When she finds herself transported back in time to a magnificent hotel known to house various magical objects, she might just get that chance.

I will say that I think this book took too long setting up before starting the meat of the story. Even without reading the synopsis, the story has the reader expecting Eve to travel to the White Octopus Hotel and to the past, but this doesn’t actually happen until around 40% into the book. Up until that point I thought the book was just fine, but that’s when it got good–and then, as I read on, it wound up being something rather extraordinary!

We have Eve, an artwork appraiser at an auction house in 2016 whose octopus tattoo moves itself around her body at will, and who finds herself participating in a scavenger hunt at the White Octopus Hotel in 1935 for the chance to win a magical object that could allow her to rewrite her past.

And then we have Max Everly, music composer and junior officer in World War I who is sent to the hotel in the Swiss Alps in 1918 to convalesce as a POW.

These two meet multiple times throughout history (but it’s always only the first time for one of them!) The bond between them acts as a light in each of their lives, and “after all, a single candle could make all the difference in the dark”. Eve eventually is forced to reckon with the knowledge that changing her own story will have consequences that ripple through time. Either way, someone she cares for is going to have to get hurt.

I really loved the specifics of the different magical aspects in this story. Was I left with some questions, for logistics? Sure. But the helpful tentacles, the creepy yet sympathetic Eavesdropper, the war horse returning lost objects in the steam baths–delightful!

Personally, I don’t usually appreciate comps because so often they set me up for disappointment, but for readers who look for that kind of information I will say that this book had me at different times feeling hints of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Warm Hands of Ghosts vibes.

In all I found this to be an exciting, touching, and hopeful magical love story with an overall theme of making peace with the past. I plan to check out more of this author’s work for sure.

Now, if I may share a couple of quibbles, which obviously were not egregious enough to drop my rating from 5 splendid stars. The writing itself was not bad by any means, but it was just a bit basic. And this last bit could be considered a tad spoilery, so please avoid if that bothers you, but it was odd to me that Eve, despite already having a crush on Max before meeting him, did not form any romantic feelings for him when she knew him in his thirties and he pledged to help her with whatever she needed, but then fell in love with him while he was a traumatized teenager in the midst of a mental health crisis. This seemed a bit ick to me.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to Del Rey and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review!

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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: 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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