bad parents

Good Spirits

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by B. K. Borison
First sentence: “On the first day of December, the universe gave to me –“
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Content: There is some swearing, including f-bombs, and on-page sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Harriet York is a decent person who absolutely adores Christmas. So, she’s incredibly surprised when Nolan, a Ghost of Christmas Past, shows up at her house, saying that she is due for a reckoning. However, things don’t go as usual: Harriet’s not a bad person, though she has some regrets, and Nolan is finding that being with Harriet is more important than doing his afterlife job. Though the deadline of Christmas Eve is quickly approaching, and they need to figure out why it’s Harriet being haunted.

Ok, the premise of this one is so silly: she falls in love with the Ghost of Christmas Past. I mean, c’mon. However, Borison does it well. She makes it work. She’s developed a whole Department of Hauntings and Spirits, that I definitely want to know more about, and made the magic part of this book actually work. Harriet was a delightful character – quirky but not that girl – to spend time with, and she made some tough decisions, standing up for herself to her (admittedly rotten) parents. While it was a bit slow to start, I found myself enjoying this one enormously.

So yeah, silly but worth it. And I’m hooked on Borison’s books now.

First-Time Caller

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by B. K .Borison
First sentence: “Love is a lie.”
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Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Aiden is the host of a local call-in Romance advice show in Baltimore, but he’s lost his way. He’s gotten snippy with the callers, lost his will to care about their problems, and – possibly worst of all – has lost his faith in love.

Lucie is a single mom who’s not unhappy with her life. She’s co-parenting with her child’s dad and his husband, she’s got a good job as a mechanic. Except her 12-year-old daughter thinks differently. So, when her daughter calls in to Aiden’s show asking for help with her mom’s love life, he’s intrigued. And, after getting annoyed/upset/frustrated, Lucie is also intrigued. And what if, in the middle of trying to find someone for Lucie, they discover that maybe they don’t want to find someone else?

I haven’t read Borison’s work before, but I loved the cover of this one (yes, I do judge a book by it’s cover sometimes), and so I picked it up when it was on sale at the store. And I wasn’t disappointed! It’s such a delightful romance, with everything I want: fun characters, snappy dialogue, and a romance worth having (plus some spicy scenes!). It’s a good thing I liked this, because I have her other two books on my pile to read as well!

The Kiss Curse

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by Erin Sterling
First sentence: “Given that the spell had been ‘Turn this leaf into something else,’ and Gwynnevere Jones had indeed turned that leaf into something else, it seemed extremely unfair that everyone was now screaming at her.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Ex-Hex
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, as well as a few on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

All Gwyn wants to do is live her life in Graves Glen, run her little witch shop, and enjoy her family being in charge of the magic. So when Wells Penhallow shows up and has the nerve to open a witch shop across the street from hers, she is more than upset. She’s livid. She’s okay with her cousin’s husband, Rhys, but she wants nothing to do with Wells. At all. Except, they can’t seem to stay away from each other (“friendly competition” and all), and when a weird coven shows up, Gwyn needs Wells’s help to figure out why her magic has weakened.

I didn’t really think The Ex-Hex needed a sequel, but once I got back into the world of Graves Glen, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying being back there. It’s such a delightful town, with such delightful characters, and I really liked the push-and-pull of Gwyn and Wells. (Also: props for a bi queen!) It’s not a deep book, but it is a lot of fun.

Maybe I’ll even read the third book in the series.

Audiobook: The Library of Unruly Treasures

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by Jeanne Birdsall
Read by Sorcha Groundsell
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of neglectful parenting and some mildly harrowing moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

When Gwen MacKinnon is sent to live with her great-Uncle Matthew (whom she has never met) because her mother is off to Costa Rica with her boyfriend and her father got kicked out of the house of his third (soon-to-be-ex) wife, she doesn’t know what to expect. Probably nothing good, since nothing good ever happens. But what she finds when she gets there is a delightful human being in Matthew, a boon companion of a dog named Pumpkin, and the Lahdukan – who are NOT faeries, don’t even think that. The Lahdukan are convinced that Gwen is their new kalba (Matthew’s grown-up daughter Nora is their current one) and that Gwen is destined to help the MacKinnon clan and the Stewart clan (which is helpfully housed in the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston) join together. Gwen, however, has her doubts: she’s never succeeded at much of anything. How can she succeed at leading not one, but TWO Lahdukan clans?

Oh, this was charming. I probably would have enjoyed it had I read it – I do love Birdsall’s writing (especially the way she writes dogs!) – but I adored it on audio. Groundsell is a delightful narrator, and she captures everything – from charming Uncle Matthew to Gwen’s anxieties, to Julia, the 6-year-old who lives upstairs, to the myriad personalities of the Lahdukan. It was one of those books that made me happy every time I turned it on, and one I didn’t want to stop listening to.

I think, too, that Birdsall did just the right amount of fantasy to make it work. She didn’t create new huge worlds, just added a fantastical element (but they could be real!) to this one. It came across just as charming and just as perfect as the Penderwicks books did. Which means, honestly, I’ll read pretty much anything Birdsall writes.

Highly recommended for kids of all ages (this one would make a great read-aloud!).

Audiobook: Problematic Summer Romance

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by Ali Hazelwood
Read by Elizabeth Lamont & Eric Nolan
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, as well as some pretty detailed on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Maya’s brother Eli and his fiance Rue are getting married in Italy, and everything about this is perfect. Except that Eli’s best friend, Connor, is going to be there. The Connor that Maya has been in love with for three years, and who Connor has very gently, but very firmly, discouraged. See: Connor is 38, and Maya is 23. Connor can’t get over the age difference, so even though they spent years talking daily, and they’re pretty perfectly matched, he won’t give in. Much to Maya’s dismay. She wants nothing more than to be with Connor, his imperfections and all.

First off: the book is, in fact, problematic. I’ve been thinking about it since I finished, and I’m not sure why I couldn’t get over the age gap. It’s the same as in Emma, why is that 21-to-37 age gap okay (I mean, Mr. Knightly literally saw Emma grow up!) and this one is not okay? I was talking to another friend about it, and she pointed out that if we switched the roles – Maya was older, and Connor was the younger one pining and not letting her “no” be final – then it would be really problematic. I don’t know. It could just be the way Hazelwood wrote Maya and Connor – she’s very flirty and aggressive and he is very reserved and protective. Maybe I’m not comfortable with that? (Which, yes, says more about me than the book. Maybe all of this says more about me than the book.)

That said, I adored the narrators on this one. Lamont was fantastic as Maya/the general narrator and though I don’t usually like a duet narration, I liked the way Nolan did the men. Maybe I’m just a sucker for an Irish brogue. So, even with the whole problematic part of it, I did end up enjoying the book. If only because the narrators were just amazing.

Witchkiller

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by Ashlee Latimer
First sentence: “Hansel Henoth had not thought much or often about his death, but he was determined it not happen at the hands of a witch.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There is domestic violence – both Gretel’s father and brother abuse her. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

The world for Gretel after the witch died (did she kill her?) is not a good one. Sure, it’s a grand one: her brother, Hansel, stole the witch’s treasure, and he and their father bought a title so they have clothes and a home and servants. But Gretel lives in fear of the tempers of the men in her life. The best way out, she determines, is a good marriage. So, when Prince Wilfried offers his hand in marriage, she takes it. Except it doesn’t feel right. And then, one night, she stumbles on the witches in the woods, and suddenly feels… home. Will she have the courage to defy her family and follow her heart?

I was excited to read this one – I love a good feminist retelling of a fairy tale, one in which the main character finds her way to something new, something outside of the box. And this one seemed to have all the elements: gaslighting by the men, witches who lived outside of the patriarchial norm, a main character who slowly gains confidence in herself. And while this one had all those elements, it still didn’t quite land for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t believe the Wilfried really fell in love with Gretel? Maybe I wasn’t convinced by Gretel’s decision in the end? Maybe it was too much Ansel and Hansel being cruel and not enough of Gretel standing up (she snuck around, more like)? I think, in the end, it just wasn’t enough of what I wanted. It’s not that it’s a bad book – it’s not! It’s a very good “what happens after” tale.

It’s just that I wanted more.

Audiobook: The Knight and the Moth

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by Rachel Gillig
Read by Samantha Hydeson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s violence, including violence towards women; swearing, including multiple f-bombs; and some on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Six is a diviner for the Abbess of Ashling in the country of Traum. Which means, people come to her, paying her in blood and the Abbess in money, and she drowns in the spring water and divines their futures for them. It’s all she’s ever known, and while she doesn’t love doing it (um, I would wonder if she did), she is very good. What she and her sister diviners (creatively: one through five) really want is for their ten year term to be up and for them to move on with their lives.

Except, over the course of a few nights, Six’s sister diviners go missing. Thankfully, the king and his knights are passing through, and Six escapes with them (well, with the one devilishly handsome, and yet not very nice – the use of the word “ignoble” happened more than once) to go visit each of the omens and to find out what happened to the only things (okay, they’re not “things”) she cared about.

I wanted to like this one much more than I actually did. I had issues with the world (why would you get six diviners at once, and have them all leave at the same time? Why would you NOT stagger their times of service?) and eventually, with the romance. Sure, the knight was all considerate and whatever, but when I finally got to the first sex scene, it was kind of… silly. There was absolutely no chemistry there, and I kept rolling my eyes at it all. And then the twist at the end? I’m not sure it made me mad because it was out of left field (there were clues, but not great ones), or because it was just stupid.

I finished the book (it was a book group book), but I didn’t love it, and I have no intention of reading the sequel.

Sounds Like Love

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by Ashley Poston
First sentence: “Most summer nights in the small beach town of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, there was music at the Revelry.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some off-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Joni grew up surrounded by two things: the ocean and music. Her parents owned the Revelry, a music hall in a town in the Outer Banks. She was happy, but she had big dreams: she wanted to be a songwriter, so after college (and a heartbreak), she headed west. She worked, and finally hit it (relatively) big, but over the past year, she’s had writer’s block. Mostly because her mother has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and Joni is afraid she’s going to miss, well, everything.

Then, as she heads back to Vienna Shores for a month-long break, she starts hearing voices in her head. It turns out that it’s Sebastian Fellows, a former boyband member, and who is trying to resurrect his career. Can the two of them work together long enough to get out of each other’s heads? (And do they even want to?)

After the mediocre reaction of Novel Love story (I think I’m one of the few who liked it), I didn’t know what to expect with Poston’s next one. But, she’s back on her game. This was fun, full of music and heart, with enough conflict and tension to keep the book interesting. I liked all the characters and the setting of a beach town in the summer. I liked the relationship between Joni and her parents, and the heartache of her mother’s memory fading. It not as good as Seven Year Slip, but it’s up there.

And it’s a perfect summer novel.

DNF: Say You’ll Remember Me

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by Abby Jimenz
Read by: Christine Lakin & Matt Lanter
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It’s in the Romance Section of the bookstore.

I do not have a good track record with Abby Jimenez. Of the three I’ve started, I’ve only finished one, and I did like that one. But, the other two, not so much.

My problems with this one were the plot: Samantha and Xavier had a first date that was to-die-for (instalove anyone?) but it turns out that Samantha is moving out of Minnesota and back to California to help with her mom who is fading due to early-onset dimensia. “Forget me” she tells him. Of course he doesn’t. And they spend the rest of the book pushing and pulling: wanting to be together, but it’s “impossible”. *eye roll* So, have a long-distance relationship? But no, Samantha only wants in-person relationships. They can’t afford to keep flying back and forth. They want to be together and just can’t. Round and round we go. After about 40% of this (I was listening to audio), I jacked it up to 1.4x speed, hoping it would help with the boring round and round, but after another 40%, I got sick of it and just stopped. I don’t even care how it ends. I don’t care that Samantha’s grandmother dies, that Xavier’s parents are complete assholes… I just don’t care.

I’m a little miffed that I made it through 80% before bailing (I should have bailed at 40%), but the narrators were good enough to keep me somewhat interested. Though – and this must be the director’s decision – whenever one of them was narrating (say she was), the other narrator would read the dialogue that their character said (so every time Xavier spoke, Latner would say his words). It was weird, and I’m not sure I liked it. It may have contributed to my dislike of this one overall.

I’m sure there’s going to be some Jimenez stans out there who love it, but I am not one of them.

The Bridge Kingdom

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by Danielle L. Jensen
First sentence: “Lara rested her elbows on the low sandstone wall, her eyes fixed on the glowing sun descending over the distant mountain peaks, nothing between here and there but scorching sand dunes, scorpions, and the occasional lizard.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is violence (lots- the body count is high in this one), on-page sex, and swearing including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Lara – along with 19 of her half-sisters – has been trained by her father, the king of Maridrina – with one goal in mind: marry King Aren, the king of the Bridge Kingdom, gain his trust, infiltrate his country, and help her father bring the country to its knees. At first, Lara is all-in on this plan: she has come to believe that Aren and his country are responsible for the starvation and plagues in her own. But, as she comes to know Aren and his people, she’s not so sure. Perhaps, just maybe, things are not quite as they seem.

I had kind of low expectations going into this one, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a solid fantasy – I liked the world-building that Jensen did, which never felt overly expository, and I liked the characters she developed. I didn’t get much of a sense of many of the minor characters (there were so many!), but Lara and Aren were really fully developed, which I liked. I did think the sex was a little bit… performative? If that’s the right word; it just didn’t feel as connected as I feel it could have been. My biggest complaint though was the twist with 40 pages left in the book. I don’t mind reading a sequel, but I do get a bit annoyed when the story is left unfinished and I feel I have to read the sequel to finish it out. That said, though, Jensen is a decent writer, and this was a solid book