2025 book 5

 Sharon Lynn Fisher's Grimm Curiosities

I saw people talking about this on Bluesky and it sounded cute, but there is a LOT going on. It's set in Victorian England, and the romance is between a young woman who is trying to run her family's antique shop after the death of her father, and the young man whose father is the local baron. They're brought together because her mother and his sister both are suffering the same probably-magical ailment. Also, there are some mysterious books that another wealthy young man is trying to buy. ALSO, there are ghosts AND other mysterious things revealed along the way. Also, there are legit fears for her reputation since it is the 1850s. I will say whenever I was reading about the characters and their feelings, I was rooting for them, but then some other character would be like "you're in LOVE with her!" and I'd remember this whole book takes place over like a week, and then would feel weird about the romance. The second half dragged a lot for me, and the end was extremely silly. Not really my jam, but if the author writes a book about the secret lesbian side characters, I might read it. Lol. B.

2025 book 4

 Linda Holmes' Back After This

Hooray for a new Linda Holmes book! This one involves a podcast producer (obviously something Holmes knows a lot about) who /finally/ gets a chance to host her own show, except the show is gonna be about her taking advice from a dating coach and going in twenty blind dates. Complicating matters is a meet-cute with a cute guy chasing after a dog, and then she keeps running into the guy. (I loved this dog!!) The protagonist is occasionally frustrating and I think Holmes did a better job fleshing out the secondary characters in her previous books, but this was still a very fun read. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.

2025 book 3

 Rachel Neumeier’s Silver Circle: Shattered Skies

Solid conclusion to this series. This wasn’t my favorite series by Neumeier—I think it was just a little too dark/gross at times—but I always enjoy her characters and worldbuilding and emphasis on diplomacy and good leadership. A-.

2025 book 2

 Rachel Neumeier’s Silver Circle: Rising Winds

This suffers a little from being the second book in a trilogy—there are some cool moments and reveals, but there is also a lot of setting things up for the big finale. There’s also a lot going on and a lot of POV characters, so by the time it gets back around to say, Ethan, it’s easy to forget what’s been happening. But I have faith that book three will be satisfying! A-/B+.

2025 book 1

 Rachel Neumeier’s Silver Circle: Scattered Sparks

Apparently when Neumeier went to write the conclusion to the Black Dog series, there was so much going on that it turned into three books. And this one is a solid first volume—lots of attacks are being directed toward our black dogs, and they have to figure out how to survive—and take down the witch who’s gunning for them. Good pacing here and I am invested in these characters at this point. I’m also glad I read all the novellas, I think a reader would be very confused if they didn’t. A-.