These books feature characters and content for adults.
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The Four Winds: Depressing and enlightening
This story follows Elsa as famine swallows her life and home, eventually forcing her to make the agonizing choice between staying on the farm (but facing unrelenting dust storms) or going west (but with no certainty of a better life for her and her children).
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Weyward: Witchy feminine rage
This story follows three women across five centuries who must take their destinies into their own hands. One is accused of witchcraft, one is locked inside her home, and one is on the run from her abusive partner.
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The Silent Patient: Solid audiobook
Theo, a criminal psychotherapist, is determined to unravel the mystery of Alicia Berenson, a patient locked up for murder who refuses to speak – even in her own defense.
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A Fate Inked in Blood: Action-packed romantasy fun
After Freya is forced to reveal that she has a drop of Goddess’s blood — marking her as the legendary shield maiden — she must fight to unite a nation while learning to control her magic. At the same time, she must resist her attraction to another of the God-blessed. Otherwise, she risks everything she’s…
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Call the Canaries Home: Not what I expected, but not bad
Three estranged sisters convene at their Meemaw’s house for a weekend, where they must confront their differences as they try to understand the decades-old disappearance of their fourth sister.
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Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Worse the more I think about it
In a small café in Tokyo, patrons can travel in time – but they have to return before their coffee gets cold. This book follows four different women who decide to do just that.
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August 2023 DNF Roundup
In lieu of a review this week, I’m covering a quick list of some recent DNFs (books I gave up on). Come sip the tea.
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Warbreaker: An instant favorite
One princess is forced to marry the God King and another begins a quest of vengeance, setting off a chain of magical and political events.
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House of Sky and Breath (Book 2): Entertaining, but overall just okay
Bryce and Hunt are dragged into the rebel cause, only to discover that nothing about their world is as it seems.
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House of Hunger: An addicting sapphic gothic tale
In a world where blood is a valuable commodity, a young woman named Marion agrees to become an indentured bloodmaid for a noblewoman – but not everything in the mansion is as it seems.
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Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Book 1): Cozy and delightful
Emily Wilde is a socially awkward scholar of fairies. In this diary, she records the encounters and events she faces in a small Scandinavian village as she attempts to study their previously undocumented “Hidden Ones.”
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A Dowry of Blood: Dark and seductive
Told from the perspective of Constanta’s letters to Dracula, we follow her through the centuries of her second life as the ancient vampire’s first bride.
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane: Whimsical and creepy
A middle-aged man suddenly remembers the strange, magical happenings he experienced as a child when he returns to visit the house at the end of the lane from his childhood home.
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Ninth House (Book 1): Gripping and creepy
Alex Stern, who has lived a hard life of drugs and petty crime, is offered a place in Yale’s secret dark magic societies because of her unique ability to see ghosts. One semester in, a woman turns up dead – and Alex thinks the societies are involved.
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Outlawed: Intriguing, but slow
Ada’s life of crime begins after she fails to conceive a child, is accused of witchcraft, and runs away to a gang of non-conforming outlaws.
These books target an audience in the 18-23 age range. New Adult tends to straddle the line, featuring tropes or plot points beloved in Young Adult, but with Adult characters and content.
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A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book 3): The worst of ACOTAR
Book 3 for the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
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A Court of Mist and Fury (Book 2): The best of ACOTAR
Book 2 of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
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A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book 1): A good introduction
A human girl is whisked away to a magical High Lord’s court as retribution for killing one of the Fae.
These books have characters and content for teenagers.
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My Lady Jane: Funny and charming
In an alternate history where some humans can shift into animals, Lady Jane Grey’s history is completely rewritten. In this version of events, King Edward, her cousin and dearest friend, marries her off to Gifford – who’s a horse. Not only that, but in the process, she’s unwittingly swept up in a plot to steal…
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Tress of the Emerald Sea: Fun and whimsical
When the boy she loves disappears, Tress sets sail to find him – except on her planet, the seas are made of deadly spores.
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The Isles of the Gods (Book 1): Surprisingly enjoyable
In a world where slumbering gods are awakening, a young sailor, a prince, and a scholar must survive both the ocean and their enemies if they’re going to prevent a war.
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Lies We Sing to the Sea: A decent YA debut
Leto’s story begins with her death. After she is sacrificed to the sea god, she finds herself transformed – and saddled with a mission to kill the prince.
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The Book of Essie: Compelling and interesting
Essie, the youngest daughter in an evangelical family with a reality TV show called Six for Hicks, is pregnant. Now she must orchestrate her freedom.
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Ruthless Vows (Book 2): An okay sequel
Iris and Roman deal with the fallout as the war front heads toward Oath.
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Throne of Glass: Full series review
This series follows a young assassin with a mysterious past who was raised by an infamous Assassin’s Guild leader. Everyone wants to use her unique skills for themselves – or otherwise eradicate the threat she poses. As she struggles for freedom, she is also forced to confront her deepest secrets.
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A Study in Drowning: Entertaining but predictable
Effy, a freshman and the only girl in her college, is accepted to take on the daunting task of redesigning a mansion that pays homage to her favorite author – but things at Hiraeth Manor are stranger than she realized.
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Little Women: Sweet as a toothache
Little Women follows the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as they grow up in the American Civil War era.
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Divine Rivals: Sweet and well-written
Two competing young journalists navigate life, love, and the front line in the midst of war between gods.
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August 2023 DNF Roundup
In lieu of a review this week, I’m covering a quick list of some recent DNFs (books I gave up on). Come sip the tea.
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A Deadly Education: Perfect for teen readers
At the Scholomance, half the students won’t survive to graduation. El is doing well enough – except her magic is powerful and inconveniently primed for evildoing, so she has to be careful not to raze the whole place down.
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane: Whimsical and creepy
A middle-aged man suddenly remembers the strange, magical happenings he experienced as a child when he returns to visit the house at the end of the lane from his childhood home.
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The Hawthorne Legacy (Book 2): Entertaining but not mind-blowing
The plot thickens as Avery tries to find the one man who may know why a stranger left his billions to her instead of his own family.
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Mary Jane: A delightful, cozy read
In 1975 Baltimore, 14-year-old sheltered Mary Jane takes a summer nannying job in a home where the psychologist father is treating a drug-addicted rock star and his movie star wife.
