magic

The Kiss Curse

Leave a comment

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.

The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel

Leave a comment

by Maggie Stiefvater, Stephanie Williams, Sas Milledge
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Much like the source material, there is some mild swearing and references to teenage drinking. It’s in the Teen Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

I’m not going to rehash the plot here because I read the audiobook earlier this year. My thoughts on this can be boiled down to this: I loved the art, but I missed the words. Milledge did an excellent job of capturing the boys and Blue. She was able to portray their personalities in the art (though I’d always pictured Gansey as a blonde, but oh well), and I loved seeing her interpretations of the locations in the book. The art is, in fact, quite lovely.

But I don’t read Stiefvater for the plots. (Unusual for me, but there it is.) I missed her words. The book -because it’s a graphic novel – it boiled down to the plot and honestly, there’s not much there there. Which means I didn’t get the soaring descriptions, the lovely turns of phrase, the things that make me truly love these books. It was…. just okay.

That’s not to say I’m not going to collect these for the art. It’s just not as good a read as the original is.

Queen Demon

Leave a comment

by Martha Wells
First sentence: “The sun was high and bright when Kai rode into Benais-arik in Bashasa’s wake, their cadres on horseback around them.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Others in the series: Witch King
Content: There is death, including several murders, and some mild swearing. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

I’d say spoilers for Witch King, but I’m not sure there are?

This one is split into two intermingling parts: the past and the present. The past tells how Kai became the Witch King, how he came to fight the Hierarchs, and how he and Bashasa’s relationship (of sorts; it’s unclear how much their relationship was, still) came to develop and deepen. The present is mostly Kai and his family – his witch friend, her wife, her wife’s brother, and a couple of children – end up chasing after what may or may not be a new Heirarch, which (obviously) they want to stop.

This one took me a bit to get into, partially because I read Witch King more than a year and a half ago, and I honestly couldn’t remember much from it. That said, I persevered, and after a bit, I got the rhythm of the story, and I found myself really loving Kai and his adventures again. My only real complaint is the ending – it’s dramatic and grand, but Wells left strings dangling, and I’m not sure the story is complete. At least I hope the story isn’t complete. Because while I thought this was a duology, I hope that she will be able to give it a more satisfying ending. But that’s a small complaint. It’s an excellent story, and Wells is as gifted with fantasy as she is with science fiction.

Fingers crossed for more.

Audiobook: The Knight and the Moth

1 Comment

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.

Alchemy of Secrets

Leave a comment

by Stephanie Garber
First sentence: “Holland St. James had been counting down the minutes until tonight.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some murders, and talk of deaths and killing, and some mild swearing. It will be in the Science-Fiction/Fantasy section (probably; it’s not really a romance) of the bookstore.

Holland St. James is a PhD student studying folklore and has become interested in these urban tales about the devil making deals with Hollywood actors. Then, one night, she stumbles on one of the tales – the Watch Man – who tells her she has 24 hours left to live, unless she finds the Alchemical Heart and delivers it to the devil. Thus begins a mystery and a “treasure hunt” that takes Holland through old Hollywood and into the past, uncovering truths about her parents’ deaths.

My initial reaction to this was that it’s pretty much exactly like every other one of Garber’s books. It felt like Caraval, just aged up a bit and set in the real world instead of in a fantasy world. There’s a conflicted heroine, trying to do her best; a couple of questionable love interests (though the spice level on this is basically at just kissing); a sister who has questionable motives but also the heroine’s “best interests” in mind; and several twists and turns, some of which were surprising.

It’s not a bad book, it just didn’t floor me the way I was hoping it would.

A Harvest of Hearts

Leave a comment

by Andrea Eames
First sentence: “They said that magic, real magic, not the shite that hedgewitches peddled with all their little bags of powders and herbs, could only be performed in exchange for a human heart.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some swearing (including one or two f-bombs), pretty gruesome deaths, and an off-page sex scene. It’s in the Romance section but it’s more of a fantasy.

The kingdom that Foss has grown up in has had no war, no disease, the plants and animals are always healthy. The cost: the king and his 12 sorcerers — 11 women and one man — harvest hearts from the citizens to keep the magic going. Foss wants nothing to do with it – she is just an awkward butcher’s daughter – but one time, her heart got snagged by the male. He didn’t actually take her, but it was painful to be away from him, so she followed him to the city and to his house, where she volunteered to be his housekeeper. She resented herself for this, even though she knew it was magic. But once there, she set about looking for her heart to make it whole again and discovered the rotten underbelly of the kingdom and the magic.

I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I was pleasantly charmed by this one. I adored Foss, she was very pragmatic, often funny, and headstrong enough to make me want to root for her. Eams has created a very unique magic system, something dark and grisly – I mean, cruelly taking people’s hearts to fuel magic! – but the book isn’t dark or creepy. It gave off strong Kingfisher vibes – a bit of humor and heart underneath something terrible and daunting. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Audiobook: Return to Sender

Leave a comment

by Vera Brosgol
Read by Michelle H. Lee
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments and it begins with a dead parent. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Oliver has moved a lot in the past year after his dad passed away. He has desperately wanted two things: his own bedroom and to grow up and follow his dad’s dream by opening a restaurant. He gets his first wish when his mom’s great-aunt passes away and leaves the apartment to her. Except there’s something weird in the apartment: A mail slot in the wall that goes nowhere. But, when Oliver slips in an accidental “wish” (for pizza!) and it comes true, he realizes what he’s got: his own personal wish-fulfiller. But, as his wishes get more and more grand, he starts realizing that the consequences of his actions are bigger and bigger.

I’ve enjoyed Brosgol’s graphic novels in the past, and I know she’s a good storyteller, but I didn’t know what to expect out of a prose novel from her. I didn’t need to worry (I didn’t, really): she’s an excellent writer, and this has everything that a middle grade novel needs. It reaches the kids where they are at, it’s funny and fast-paced, and it’s got a huge heart. I loved that at its heart it’s about the butterfly effect – how our actions have consequences, for good or ill – and about the disparity between rich and poor, and how unfair it is that rich people don’t often see the consequences of their actions. There’s a silly villain, there’s action and tension, and it’s just a lot of fun.

This one is good whatever way you read it: in the print version, Brosgol has included illustrations; in the audio version, Lee is an excellent narrator who makes the story that propels the story forward.

I hope many kids find this one, because it’s fantastic.

Hemlock & Silver

1 Comment

by T. Kingfisher
First sentence: “I had just taken poison when the king arrived to inform me that he had murdered his wife.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: August 19, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some violence, and swearing, including a few f-bombs. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

All Anja wanted was a quiet (enough) life to study poisions and to attempt to find antidotes and cures for as many as she could. Unfortunately, that means she is very good at what she does, and that catches the notice of the king, who comes and “asks” (do kings really ask?) her to save his daughter, Snow, who is slowly wasting away, probably being poisoned. Anja doesn’t want to do this – if she fails, it will be the ruin of her and her father – but she doesn’t have a choice. Once she sees Snow, however, things become more complicated: this is not any ordinary poison.

It’s a very loose, and very clever, retelling of Snow White, one that doesn’t focus on the princess, but rather in which you see the story unfold completely outside of it. It’s incredibly clever (even though it does take nearly 100 pages for the story to really get going – but Kingfisher’s writing is good enough that I didn’t mind that) in both its use of magic and the way in which the fairy tale is interpreted. But, mostly I liked it for what I have come to like about Kingfisher’s books: Anja is not your typical heroine. She’s older, she’s grumpy, she’s single-minded, she’s frumpy, she’s stubborn, and I adored her. I love that Kingfisher gives us main characters that aren’t what you usually think of when you say “fairy tale retelling”, and I am here for pretty much anything that she writes.

This is no exception: it’s truly a delight to read.

Audiobook: The Raven Boys

Leave a comment

by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Will Patton
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including a couple of f-bombs, talk of teenage drinking, and a murder. It’s in the Teen Bestsellers section of the bookstore.

I wasn’t going to write a post about this one, since I don’t have much new to say from my first review 13 years ago. Then I realized that even though I have reread this a couple of times, I finally experienced it in a different format, and that warranted mentioning. I’ve heard that Patton – who narrates the whole series – is a good narrator and that the audiobook is a good experience, but I haven’t felt the need. Until this year. I decided I needed Maggie’s stories in my life, and I was feeling a gravitational pull towards the Raven Cycle, so I decided to do the audio. And they’re right: Patton is an excellent narrator for this book (and I’m assuming the series – I’ve got Dream Thieves on hold already) and it’s an excellent way to experience Henrietta and Blue and the boys. I plowed through it because I didn’t want to stop listening (because good story + good narrator = a remarkable experience).

I’m glad I finally got around to listening to this one!

Audiobok: The Honey Witch

Leave a comment

by Sydney J. Sheilds
Read by Mia Hutchinson Shaw
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including a couple f-bombs, and some attempts at on-page sex (long story). It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Marigold Claude has never fit in in her early 19th-century upper class home. She doesn’t really have talents, she has no interest in marrying, and after a botched relationship with George, she’s convinced she’s never even going to fall in love. She’s convinced she has no purpose. That is, until her grandmother comes and tells her that she’s actually a Honey Witch and she’s destined to take over the isle of Innisfree. Once there, she re-meets her childhood friend, August, and his best friend, Lottie, whom she’s attracted to. Except there’s a problem: as the Honey Witch of Innisfree, she’s been cursed to never fall in love.

That’s basically a plot – I told someone earlier that it’s a sapphic love story where they’re battling against an evil witch (which they do, but not until the last 5 chapters of the book). There is no historical accuracy – if it’s not the magic that gives it away, no one seems to have any issue with queer romance and there’s even queer marriage. Go figure. That said, I really enjoyed this one. I think a lot of it was the narrator. Shaw was fantastic. I adored her accents, and she kept me interested and engaged the whole way through. I did feel that the end dragged out a bit, but other than that, it was good fun.