Firethorne by Nikki J. Summers

Nikki J. Summers is a new-to-me author but I will definitely be checking out more of her work. I heard about FIRETHORNE from TikTok. A reader put it on a list of gothic dark romance novels and I really liked the title. I would say it's kind of like a cross between Cruel Intentions and Haunting Adeline. A girl named Maya Cole comes with her father to a place called Firethorne, owned by the Firethorne family, to work as a maid in their mansion. As soon as she sets out on the trip, though, she starts getting mysterious warnings to stay away. And we soon find out that the Firethorne family has sinister intentions for her, including a bet to see who can steal her virginity first.

Look, I'm a sucker for melodrama and mystery and this book had both. If I had one complaint, I would say that the first half was slightly better than the second half simply because it went in a direction that I wasn't quite expecting (and isn't one of my personal favorite plot devices). But the author made me like it and she made it work, and honestly, Damien and Lysander's characters were both so interesting and twisted that I really enjoyed seeing what they would do next.

This is an interesting modern twist on the traditional gothic format, and it's heavy on the spice, and features a dark romance hero who isn't quite as evil as some. Also ***SPOILER*** the heroine bites someone's ween off. I'm surprised more people aren't talking about that. I'm all for a female rage moment and trust me, here, the action was more than justified. Work it, girlie.

3.5 out of 5 stars

If The Fates Allow by Chloe I. Miller

IF THE FATES ALLOW was a Stuff Your Kindle Day find and I finally got around to reading this little gothic novella today. This story is set at a Florida mansion called Haven House, which is owned by the Fairweathers, a rich family whose fancy pockets are starting to grow thin. Because of this, the family patriarch, Stephen Fairweather, is trying to force his three children, Lucy, Cal, and Willa, into advantageous marriages.

Willa is supposed to marry a man named Richards, but her sister, Lucy, is writing to him instead since she's the charming one and a lifetime of chronic illness and breathing fits has made Willa self-conscious around men. But then one day, she meets a doctor named Noah who challenges her without ever making her feel like an inconvenience or a burden. And she starts to question her family's plan for her, which leads to an uncovering of some very dark secrets...

I liked this story a lot. The way it starts out, you think it's just going to be a sweet, light Victorian romance, but it ends on a surprisingly dark note. I appreciated the wintry vibes, and the "love conquers all" message of the story, couched in a surprisingly bittersweet and sinister setting. I think I own one of this author's full length novels, and while I was excited to read it before, I'm even more so now.

4 out of 5 stars

Midnight Mischief by Lyla Andrews

MIDNIGHT MISCHIEF is a smutty short story set during Halloween and features age-gap and light primal. There's not a lot to say about it, except that the author does a good job of keeping the story moving and making consent sexy and a natural part of the story. I don't think I've ever read anything by this author before but I'll definitely be reading more from her.

4 out of 5 stars

Her Soul for Revenge by Harley Laroux

I liked the first book a little more but this was still a wonderful continuation of a story I am growing to appreciate the complexities of with every new installment. Abelaum and the Liberi and their sinister death cult and eldritch god are truly the stuff of nightmares, and in addition to the spice and the horrors, I love how each book has themes of recovering from religious trauma and finding strength in adversity. Harley's female characters are flawed and have many weaknesses, but they're also incredibly strong in their varying ways, and I love that their heroes draw out this strength and cause it to burn all the more brightly, without trying to command the flame.

Juniper is a very different heroine than Raelynn. Rae was like an alt-goth Disney princess; quietly enduring and inherently good, but very much a damsel in distress (although she learns to save herself eventually). Juniper, on the other hand, is a menacing tornado of a girl. After the people she called friends tried to sacrifice her and betrayed her and her family in the worst possible way, she's ready for blood, and will do anything to get it, even sell her soul to a demon.

The chemistry between Juniper and Zane was great, almost as good as Rae and Leon (although they're such different characters, it's hard to compare). I feel like Leon has more of a protective, paternalistic role towards Rae, whereas Juniper and Zane feel more like equals-- in and out of the bedroom. I also really loved Zane's malicious playfulness and dry sense of humor. All of the best one-liners in this book were his. The violence level is upped a lot, too. Book one wasn't exactly a charming walk in the park, but this book has the leads banging on top of a freshly killed corpse and slaughtering infernal behemoths.

HER SOUL FOR REVENGE was a dark delight and I can't wait to read the last installment (even though I don't think I'm ready for this series to end yet-- when is their next book coming out again?? SOON?).

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

Why didn't I read this sooner? THE MAGPIE LORD is a glorious supernatural gothic, featuring Lucien Vaudrey, the lord of a sinister and corrupt legacy, and Stephen, a magical enforcer. They meet when Lucien's manservant, Merrick, goes out to fetch a magician to save him from a curse that is trying to drive him to kill himself. Even after he finds the cause, what the magician unravels turns out to be far more complex and depraved than either of them ever banked on.

This book basically ticked all of my boxes: enemies to lovers, sexual tension, sinister houses, family curses, dark secrets, and evil magicks. I've read other books by K.J. Charles before but I honestly think that this is one of her best. I devoured it in just a couple hours and couldn't put it down. Parts of this book reminded me of old school bodice-rippers from the 1970s, which is basically one of the highest compliments I can pay a book.

I waffled between 4 and 5 stars, and I think ultimately I'm giving it 4.5 rounded up because this felt like a queer Ilona Andrews book, or like an M/M version of Grace Callaway's ABIGAIL JONES.

4.5 out of 5 stars

How to Get a Girlfriend (When You're a Terrifying Monster) by Marie Cardno

HOW TO GET A GIRLFRIEND WHEN YOU'RE A TERRIFYING MONSTER was an impulse buy. I love that it starts out in a liminal space occupied by a monster known as the Endless. The monster heroine, Trillin, is a shape-shifting shard that chipped off of the whole. She's developed both a sense of consciousness and irony, and knows that if the Endless finds her again, it will devour her.

Luckily, its attention is occupied by a portal that keeps opening in their realm. The portal is opened by an Australian witch named Sian, who is working with her professor. They're studying portals and Sian is fascinated by the Endless. When she meets Sian, she is enchanted, especially when Sian saves her from being eaten by another "shard."

This was short and cute. The writing was great and I liked the dry humor and the introduction of a pet cat-bunny-tentacle creature named Bunny. I wish there had been more depth to the world-building and more chemistry between the MCs, but if you're looking for a short, sweet sapphic monster romance, you will probably really enjoy this.

2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars

Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen

I've seen a lot of books comparing themselves to Knives Out but a lot of the time, what they just mean is that it's a locked room mystery. Knives Out has a very specific vibe and tone, and when those vibes aren't there in a book, the comparison falls way short. Out of the dozens and dozens of comps I've read, only two books have really nailed the Knives Out vibe: Rachel Hawkins's THE HEIRESS... and this book, LAVENDER HOUSE.

From start to finish, I adored LAVENDER HOUSE. The hero, Evander Mills, used to be a cop. But it's the 1950s and people still regard homosexuality as a criminal act. When he's caught at a gay club by his now-ex colleagues, he's booted off the force and essentially turned into a pariah. When we meet him, he's drowning his sorrows in a bar, which is how he's approached by Pearl.

Pearl is the secret wife of a soap making magnate, Irene, who just died suspiciously. Pearl thinks it was murder, but she can't quite bring herself to face the truth, because in her house-- Lavender House-- she and her found family have created a safe progressive haven that protects them from the homophobia of the outside world. She and her wife were the matriarchs, and then their gay son lived in secret with his boyfriend, Cliff, and his "beard": Margo, and her girlfriend, Elsie.

Even their staff are gay!

Evander is fascinated by the dynamics of Lavender House and part of him wants the murder to have come from outside the house as well. Because he's already haunted by the demons of having turned against his own people for self-gain, and the knowledge that nobody can be trusted kind of cements the grim feelings he already has about the world: that maybe, everyone is in it for themselves and you can't trust anyone.

The film noir vibes of LAVENDER HOUSE were everything. I've read Rosen's YA and loved it, and he brings the same energy to the table with this adult novel. Evander is morally grey and sometimes unlikable, but all of his decisions make sense. I also adored how this book is so steeped in San Francisco Bay Area history. It was fascinating to see this little glimpse into what San Francisco was like in the 50s. He clearly did so much research and I felt like he really brought the setting to life.

I'm already reading book two in the series.

5 out of 5 stars

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Holy shit, I want to live in this world. LEGENDS & LATTES is one of those TikTok books that deserves all of the hype. I loved Viv, the grizzled and world-weary adventurer orc who is tired of bounty-hunting and just wants to open a gnomish coffee shop. I loved Tandri, the succubus; Amity, the direcat (I want a direcat!); Cal the hob; and Thimble, the rattkin. This is probably the most likable crew of characters I've encountered outside of a Terry Pratchett novel, and even though this book advertises itself as having low stakes, I was still very concerned for all of their various well-beings.

I think it's hard to do cozy books well because the tension has to be replaced by something, and that something is usually character-driven, and if the author isn't good at writing compelling characterization, the book kind of falls flat. But this whole book was like playing Dungeons and Dragons over tea and crumpets with an enthusiastic and kind-hearted dungeon master who is gleefully reading off his character sheet while rolling nat 20 after nat 20.

I loved this book so much and read through it in a single day, which was a mistake, because after it was over, I still wanted more. I was so desperate for more cozy fantasy content that I immediately went out and bought a book called TIL DEATH DO US BARD that was comping itself to this one, because apparently I'm not ready to let go of my cozy queer fantasy wanderlust yet.

5 out of 5 stars

Ash by Malinda Lo

I am honestly shocked that so many of the top reviews for this book are tepid at best and negative at worst, because I thought this was a beautiful, vivid, melancholy story-- there's something about pre-2000s YA fantasy. I think being written before the proliferation of the internet meant that they could be more experimental, and less at the mercy of appealing to the demands of the algorithm. They feel remote, isolated, and hopeful; islands onto themselves. I love that about them.

ASH is a Cinderella retelling about Aisling, a girl who lives on the edge of the wood with her mother and father. Her father is upright and traditional but her mother has pagan beliefs and believes in the faeries (and her father loves her so much that he indulges this). When her mother dies and her father remarries, Ash is heartbroken, especially when her new stepmother and stepsisters seem to want little to do with her, leaving her to grieve on her own in the woods.

I don't want to say too much, but this is a queer awakening as much as it is a story about bargains, different kinds of love, and the power of illusions. The way that Lo writes is both simple and ornate, and I adored the way that she wove magic into the "real world," to the point where everything feels like a shimmering illusion and you find yourself questioning what is and isn't real.

At times, this story feels almost gothic (the scenes where Ash sleeps on her mother's grave), and there is such powerful imagery in ASH. It's definitely a book that came out well before its time (I mean, a sapphic YA Cindrella story in 2009??), and it's aged so well. Especially with how Ash has a more complicated relationship with her stepsisters that goes beyond "slutty, gold-digging bitches = bad." I'm glad to see it getting a second wind, because I honestly think anyone who loved ELLA ENCHANTED will love this.

And yes, she saves herself in this one.

4.5 to 5 out of 5 stars

Providence Girls by Morgan Dante

DNF @ 30%

Morgan Dante is a favorite of mine but this book just wasn't it. The characters both felt kind of flat and the progression of the story was slow and uninteresting to me. I have loved most of what I have read by this author and I know that they can do slow-build well because they did that in UNHOLY WITH EYES LIKE WOLVES, but this one just lacked tension, in my opinion. Still an auto-buy author for sure, but PROVIDENCE GIRLS was a disappointment for me.

I do seem to be in the minority on that opinion, however.

2 out of 5 stars