I'm in Love with Mothman by Paige Lavoie

To be honest, after reading this book, I might be in love with Mothman, too.

I've been following Paige Lavoie on social media for a while and her videos promoting her Mothman books are amazing, but I was a tiny bit hesitant to read them because I wasn't sure if I was into monster romance or not. But she kept sharing these tantalizing quotes where he called her his "flame," and some primal scenes, and finally, I couldn't take it anymore, I was like, SOLD.

Heather is a burned-out influencer with a chronic illness (Hashimoto's). After trying a new skincare line gives her a bad breakout and leads to a PR snafu, she has a little bit of a mental breakdown and decides to go dark, abandoning her online persona to go live in a cabin in the middle of the woods. As one does.

She quickly finds out that she might not be the only thing in those woods. A brother-sister duo is quick to inform her about the local lore involving a certain moth creature that has been rumored to terrorize locals. The brother, Chris, even has scars. But when Heather finally encounters her cryptid neighbor, he's not what she expected at all.

This was great. It had romcom vibes but with a darker edge that kept it grounded. I loved the casual representation of Heather's chronic illness and bisexuality. I also liked Moth's shapeshifting abilities and how his imperiousness was juxtaposed against his hilarious social faux-pas (drinking syrup out of the bottle at a pancake house, trying to eat the tablecloth in her kitchen, etc.). The cottagecore vibes were everything and I will absolutely be reading the sequel. I had SO much fun with Moth and Heather.

4 out of 5 stars

Whatever Whispers by Genna Black

This was honestly such a delight-- so many of my favorite tropes: sadist with a heart of gold, nanny x single dad, student x professor, anxiety rep, secret societies, and a slapdash of dark academia. Quinn Ivor attends Cypress U, in no small part because of her father's influence. But he's cold and harsh, and since Quinn is oblivious to the steps he's taken to protect her, she hates him. When he dies, she obviously feels conflicted, but she needs to stay in school for her trust.

Enter Jack Hollis: her professor, although when she meets him, she doesn't know that yet. He's raising his niece like his own daughter because his sister is a drug addict, and he's been trying to balance teaching with being a full-time dad. Given Quinn's nanny experience and financial woes, she seems like the perfect candidate for the job. But her father's legacy has dark ties that go well beneath the skin...

I liked this book a lot. Quinn and Jack had explosive chemistry, and even though this is pretty light for a dark romance, Jack was just dangerous enough to deliver on the "touch her and die" energy that I crave. I wish the secret society had been fleshed out a little more, and that maybe the stakes were a little higher, but it feels like the author left a lot of that intentionally vague so she could explore the mystery behind the school even more in the sequel, which I will absolutely be reading.

I'm gonna have to get my hands on all of this author's other books, because damn.

4 out of 5 stars

Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney

 

CHAPTER AND CURSE was literally everything I look for in a cozy mystery: it's got a likable heroine, a swoon-worthy hero, a little black cat, cozy English village setting, secret bookshop inheritance, and, of course, lots of sinister murders. If this took me a while to get through, it was mostly because I didn't want it to end. 

Wish fulfillment fantasy at its finest, a mother and daughter trio move from Vermont to Cambridge to live with a distant aunt in her bookshop. But she's having thorny issues of debt and inheritance and then somebody frames her for murder! OH NO! Luckily, her aunt has tons of friends, and there's the son of a hot duke to help them look into things. But as it turns out, some of auntie's friends aren't so friendly, and they have secrets that go back DECADES.

Reading this made me want to move back to the UK. Lord, I miss those tiny little villages. 

4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars

Bloodmoon Ritual by Kate Rivenhall

 

I thought this sequel to THE ECLIPSE RITUAL was going to take place in the same compound so color me surprised when BLOODMOON actually took place with a different sect of the cult, with a different leader. Temperance, our heroine, is the twin sister of one of this rival sect's enforcer's, Rhyder, and he's been obsessed with her since they were both children. But during a raid, she was rescued from the cult and rehomed with a foster family. Now she lives in the city, where she has a boyfriend and a job. So when the cult comes through looking for hos to bring back for fun and she sees her brother, all hell breaks loose... because boy, does he remember her.

I loved Ronan and Bee so much that I knew any following act would have a difficult time matching my expectations, but I did really enjoy this book. Temperance is a quieter, bookish heroine, but she still has these unexpected moments of bravery that made me appreciate her a lot as a character. Rhyder had to win me-- and the FMC-- over, after he BURNED HER LIBRARY (excuse me), but his devotion to her and willingness to put himself on the block for her every time, made it hard to stay *too* mad at him for long.

Also, we love a virgin hero. It was great to see a dark romance where the hero was a virgin and the heroine had actually had multiple partners, and besties, HE DOES NOT SLUT SHAME HER FOR IT.*

*he just gouges out her ex-boyfriend's eyes :')

I was a little confused about the world-building because this sequel made the series seem almost dystopian(?) whereas when I was reading THE ECLIPSE RITUAL I just figured it took place in our present day, but on an isolated compound, like the ones the FLDS had in Utah. The Bloodmoon Ritual itself also kind of confused me, because I wasn't sure what the point of it was, and considering that it was the title of this book, I felt like it could have been foreshadowed more and maybe played more of a significant element between the development of the couple and the furthering of their relationship.

But overall, this was such a treat to read. I think I might have scandalized the old lady who was reading over my shoulder on the cruise ship when I was just chilling with my incest smut in the cafe. WHOOPS.

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with a copy!

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

 

I picked this up from a lending library because I really liked the cover and it had a mixed media mystery format that kind of reminded me of Marisha Pessl's NIGHT FILM, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY is a pretty bizarre book. This literary phenom of an author (compared to authors like Borges, Ishiguro, and Murakami) is in the middle of the Polish wilderness, surrounded by a summit of her translators who at first self-identify and identify each other by the languages they work on. Our narrator is Spanish, but there's also Swedish, Serbian, English, etc.

Irena Rey is about to release a new book, which is why they're all there, but instead she's acting super weird. Her husband is nowhere in sight, now she's claiming that there isn't a book, she's feeding them weird mushrooms and shit, and ceremonially dispenses these weird and creepy goodie bags that none of them can figure out.

And then she goes missing.

I liked the premise of this book a lot but it didn't feel like it knew what it wanted to be. So it ended up being one of those really strange and bizarre books where I couldn't tell if it got lost in its own mythos or if I genuinely was too stupid to figure out what was going on. I often feel this way after reading some of Mona Awad's work, so if you're a fan of that author, you may well enjoy this. I almost DNFed but I wanted to pull through just in case the ending was worth the pay-off (it was not, imo).

2.5 out of 5 stars

Given to the Ghoul by Desirée M. Niccoli

 

GIVEN TO THE GHOUL was a free download during the Monster SYKD event and I was excited for this one because even though I don't read a ton of monster romance, I was familiar with this author's work and knew I really enjoyed her writing style.

GIVEN TO THE GHOUL is a very short novella about a woman living in a desert town that kind of has a sort of death cult lottery system: to appease the ghouls that live in the desert, they occasionally sacrifice one of their own. This year, because she rejected his advances, the sheriff has decided to rig the system and make sure that Mina's name is the one that is called. Not before he offers her a Judge Claude Frollo "choose me or the fire" moment first, though.

Mina is dumped in the dessert with a single bottle of sunscreen and a canteen of water. The days are hot and the nights are freezing, and when she meets the ghoul she's exhausted-- but he isn't what she's expecting: he brings her a sandwich and promises he isn't going to eat her. Well... not in that way, anyway. Hehehe.

I really liked this story, for what it was. Like other reviewers, I wish it was longer. I think she could have gotten a whole book out of this premise and raised it to R. Lee Smith survivalist horror heights. Not that I'm telling the author how to write-- I just wanted more, because their society was so twisted, and it was such a "maybe humans are the real monsters" moment that I was curious about how they functioned. The pacing is super fast burn but I thought the relationship between Garyth and Mina was cute. Get you a man who gets you the skulls of your book-burning enemies for your garden.

Read this book and then get yourself FOLLOW ME TO THE YEW TREE as a little treat afterwards.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Such A Good Guy: A Brother's Best Friend Dark Romance by Kate Raven

 

SUCH A GOOD GUY was a surprisingly humorous read: it's about a sociopath who's obsessed with the younger sister of his so-called best friend. He's also a pop star with a bubbly golden retriever personality that the heroine describes as a "psychotic surfer" and who self-describes as having a "reptilian" personality with a "brain full of a forest of knives." So yeah, he's a fun, rabid little golden retriever man.

Luna, the object of his affections, is an introvert who owns a crystal shop. She bemoans the lack of good men out there, and sees Luke, Mr. Psychopop, as one of the last morally decent guys out there. We know better of course, but part of the fun is waiting for her to realize that he's been busy hoarding her hair and teeth and impregnating her in her sleep, when he's not murdering people in Plant Daddy t-shirts.

I don't know how Kate comes up with these stories but I hope she never stops. Luke is up there now with Viscount St. Erth and Je Sweet as one of my favorite psychos.

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with a copy!

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

 

If you're a dark romance author or content creator and you have a video go the tiniest bit viral on Instagram or TikTok, you will have no shortage of comments telling you to go to therapy. Ironically, I'm in therapy, and both therapists I've had have been fully supportive of my writing career, which kind of makes me suspect that these helpful armchair diagnosticians might not have my interests at heart (ikr?!).

When I first heard about this book, I was a little skeptical because it felt like it could be another gimmicky pseudo self-help book like EAT, PRAY, LOVE (which I struggled with-- especially in the PRAY and LOVE portions). But to my surprise, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE hooked me right in from the get-go: it's about an LA therapist talking about some of her more difficult and emotionally draining clients, but also about what led her to get into therapy in the first place... and what eventually made her seek out a therapist of her own.

This book made me laugh and it also made me cry multiple times. I just lost my dad to cancer, and we sometimes had a difficult relationship, so a lot of passages in this book really hit hard. But it also provided a lot of consolation, too, knowing that a lot of other people are in the exact same boat, and that life goes on... until it doesn't. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE is like reading a book from a comforting friend who doesn't pull back any punches when it comes to the hard truths. And it turns out, I really needed that.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

 

There's something very old-fashioned about THIRST. It has the vibes of one of those older vampire novels from the 90s and before that go heavy on the old skool goth vibes (mausoleums, family tragedies, creepy statues, Europe), but it feels fresh even as it feels familiar because of the unique Argentinian setting: this book is set entirely in Buenos Aires.

There are two parts in this book. Part I is about the vampire herself and the shenanigans she gets up to, making people into her helpless thralls who are only too happy to give up their blood (eventually), her doomed attempt at making companions, and the solitude that comes from having a thirst that spells out doom for anyone mortal.

Part II is about the human, a single mom newly separated with a mother who has MS (I think?). She's trying to navigate her newly single status even as she attempts to come to terms with her mother's looming death. The way that the two stories intertwine is unsurprising, but what makes this read interesting is the listlessness of the narrative, and the dimensionality given to both protagonists.

If you read a lot of vampire books, I don't think you'll be surprised by anything in THIRST. It's sapphic and Argentinian so even though it's an old story, the portrayal of the characters and the setting are what make it novel and different. It's a pretty depressing read so if you've recently had a loved one pass of a degenerative disease, this book could be triggering because it dives into full detail about the psychological effects of seeing that and as someone who just lost her father to brain cancer, that was really hard for me.

Overall, though, this book was great and I really enjoyed it.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

 

Darcy Coates is one of my autobuy authors but some of her books can be a little hit or miss. That said, I think THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE might actually be her best one yet. It has everything I love about books by authors like T. Kingfisher-- scrappy heroine who feels a little neurodivergent coded, animal sidekicks that don't die, emphasis on female relationships-- with some genuinely scary moments of horror that actually gave me nightmares.

Adrienne is surprised when she inherits Ashburn from her distant aunt Edith. She only has one memory of ever going there as a child, and it involved her and her mother fleeing in a car and the scent of blood. When she gets to the house, something is immediately off. Only the downstairs is wired for electricity, there are strange notes and instructions carved into every surface, and paintings of the family that seem to shift and turn to watch her as she goes down the hall.

The townsfolk remember her grandmother as a cold and distant woman who occasionally demonstrated moments of goodness, but that seems at odds with the portrait the house paints of her: a twisted and increasingly unstable woman who might have done terrible things whose marks remain in the very walls. Adrienne must find out what kind of woman her aunt really was-- her life may depend on it.

I thought Adrienne was a fantastic and resourceful heroine and I adored her cat, Wolfgang. I also thought that in addition to the focal horror element, this book is primarily focused on relationships between women (Adrienne meets a group of would-be friends that end up playing a significant role in the story) and connections between family matriarchs (in this case, her aunt Edith). It felt empowering and surprisingly touching, and even though I generally prefer my gothic horror with a generous side of romance, there's nothing I would have changed about this book. I read it in about three hours.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

 

BLESSINGS is a fascinating coming-of-age story about Obiefuna, a queer Nigerian man who navigates his sexuality amidst the changing landscape of the country, starting from its post-militarization and ending with the criminalization of homosexual marriage in Nigeria.

If you love boarding school settings, I think you'll really enjoy this book. Obiefuna's school is draconian, and filled with hypocrisy (similar to the books I've read about the British school system, older boys take advantage of younger boys, sometimes sexually, and some of the teachers and admins are predatory). In boarding school, he meets his first love, a boy named Sparrow, who makes him feel things that he's never felt about anyone, which makes him feel valid and whole.

The story about his mother, Uzoamaka, was less interesting and also very sad. She ends up sort of being the catalyst that ultimately ends up leading to the conversation that Obiefuna never had with his father, but this also makes her kind of feel like a literary sacrifice. But many parents sacrifice for their children, so this narrative device didn't bother me as much here as it might have in another story. Especially when all of the characters were so poignant, and they all felt very realistically flawed and troubled.

Picked this up on a whim and was, once again, not at all disappointed. An excellent work of African lit.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit by Julian Randall

 

THE DEAD DON'T NEED REMINDING is a collection of essays by a queer biracial man (Latinx and Black) about everything from growing up in the South under the looming legacy of slavery to how he associates with various mediums of pop-culture. I grabbed this randomly in the cruise ship library and enjoyed it a lot. In some ways, this kind of reminded me of Brian Broome's PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS, although I didn't like this collection quite as much.

That said, Randall's poetry background really comes through in how he can spin a phrase, and I actually really loved his essays on Bojack Horseman and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Seeing how much he related to Miles, and the portrayal of his Afro-Latinx roots, was truly heartwarming. And as someone who suffers depression, I really liked how Bojack made him feel seen (because it did for me, too).

I had never heard of this book before but I'm so glad I picked it up on a whim because I ended up liking it quite a bit.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury by Geraldine DeRuiter

 

IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT is a fantastic collection of essays about food and the author's own life, on a myriad of topics such as the problematic ways women are portrayed eating (or not eating) in media, the "eat... but not so much that you get fat" sentiment that is predominant in so many cultures revolving around food (but of course, this only really applies to women), the sexism of male chefs and male celebrities in the food industry, and of course, what it means to be a woman online.

I don't think there is anything particularly new or ground-breaking in this book but I still loved it. DeRuiter is charming, funny, and likable, and I honestly feel like her essay condemning women with food intolerances as being high maintenance healed something in me (indeed, this was why I chose to make one of my own romance heroines have a food allergy, which was validated by the hero). It SUCKS being treated like a pain for something you can't help, but honestly, even if it was just a preference, it feels weird shaming people for having a preference.

After finishing IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT, I kind of want to be DeRuiter's friend. Especially after her scintillatingly hilarious essay in what has to be the Italian frat boy equivalent of Ralph Fiennes's The Menu dining experience at the Michelin-starred molecular gastronomy dining experience: Bros'. I would suffer through an entire over-priced five course meal if she were there with me, making me laugh my ass off through the whole event.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

 

RIPE is probably one of the most bizarre books I've read in a while. When I put it down, I actually had to think about how I felt about it-- did I like it? The writing style is very clean and spare, but the story itself is a downer: a depressed woman experiencing existential angst is working a tech job that she hates, and her CEO is asking her to do increasingly immoral things to keep her job.

Based on the back blurb, I was a little confused about what this book was actually about. I thought this would explore the relationship between the heroine and her boss more, but he was more of a secondary character. The blurb also makes it sound like they have a sexual relationship because it's so vague, but she's involved with a chef whose name we never learn, but who is in an "open" relationship.

Overall, this was a decent read. I wouldn't read it again but I would read more by this author.

3 out of 5 stars

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon

 

DNF @ 42%

Absolutely gorgeous cover and very creative and potentially humorous premise, but this wasn't what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be a comedic book about an older magical girl having an existential crisis and it was sort of that, but it wasn't very funny. It reminded me a lot of I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI in the sense that the focal element is more about Asian women struggling to manage their depression and how it makes them feel selfish and unpleasant at people in a culture that not only values togetherness and putting other people first, but also doesn't really talk about mental illness publicly out of shame and stigma.

I found it to be really boring and a little too weird for me personally, and even halfway through this novella, it still didn't feel like it had all its shit together. It might be funny to others and maybe it just wasn't my personal sense of humor, so if you enjoyed Baek Se-hee and also enjoy anime, you might be the target audience for this book.

2 out of 5 stars