2026 book 177

 HG Parry’s The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood

I’m somewhat lukewarm on Arthurian stories—they’re fine, but there are SO MANY, just not my particular favorite subgenre—but I really enjoy HG Parry, so figured I’d try it. This is an interesting take—the main Arthurian POV is Nimue, here raised by Morgan Le Fay to bring about Merlin’s doom—but this is interspersed with the story of a young librarian sent to catalog the library in an isolated Welsh manor, and to escape the Blitz, because it’s 1941. Also, tons of ppl are having dreams about Arthur—but she’s dreaming of Nimue. This went some cool and unexpected directions, and even when I found the plot a little silly, I enjoyed the writing. I will recommend this to my Arthurian nerd friends! A-.

2026 book 176

 Alix Harrow’s The Everlasting

Rereading this for book club! Turns out I remembered all the time travel/history stuff and totally forgot all the bits about war. Sorry, book club! I loved this just as much on a reread, and this is one of those books that benefits from rereading because you can see little hints before all the reveals. But it’s also just really moving, and about how hard and necessary it is to fight for a better world.

2026 book 175

 Kim Fay’s Kate and Frida

The sequel to Love and Saffron is set in the early 90s, and centers on the letters between Frida, the daughter of one of the women from the first book, living in Paris, and Kate, a bookseller in Seattle. It took me a little while to get into this one for some reason but I ended up liking it a lot. I appreciate the message Fay is sending about finding moments of joy even in (especially in) a fucked up world. I also added a ton of books to my to-read list, Kate has cool taste! A-.

2026 book 174

 Kim Fay’s Love and Saffron

I just discovered this extremely delightful novel has a sequel so obviously I had to reread it! It’s epistolary, letters between two women in the 1960s, exploring new cuisines, sharing about their lives, encouraging and caring for each other. Just really lovely. We need more books about friendship. As a side note, I often see people complain that epistolary novels don't feel like real letters--too much exposition, properly written dialogue, etc--but the letters here do feel like real letters to me (ok, maybe the ones about JFK's assassination feel a little clunky, but maybe in real life they would too?). Anyway, excited to read the 90s-set sequel!

2026 book 173

 Juliet Marillier’s The Hidden Way

The second book in this duology honestly drags a lot, just lots of plodding around and nothing much happening. There are couple of really nice scenes—I liked Stasya’s storyline a lot and was glad to finally meet Leja and have her as a POV character, and there’s a great bit with monsters in an underground cavern, but generally I wasn’t super into this. I only kept reading to see if I was right about the antagonist’s deal (yes, though it did not entirely make sense/work with the events of book one). I was really looking forward to this, too! A bummer. The very end is pretty cool but eh. B.

2026 book 172

 Juliet Marillier’s The Amber Owl

This has still not gotten a US release, but I’m rereading it now bc the sequel is out! I liked this just as much as the first time I read it, still a very cool story about a young woman who can talk to animals (and has a shape shifting companion!!) drawn into politics and adventures and a search for a better future! I love the characters here, especially her travel companions. And the animals!!!

2026 book 171

 Maria Turtschaninoff’s Red Mantle

The second book in this trilogy is a prequel, so I skipped it in favor of reading the one that was new to me! It picks up where the first one left off, and it’s epistolary!, as a young woman from the Abbey returns to her remote village to try and start a school, writing to her friends and mentors as she goes. Really lovely story about making things work, about justice and power, about family and secrets. And some funny parts too. Super satisfying. A.

2026 book 170

 Maria Turtschaninoff’s Maresi

I first read this like ten years ago and liked it a lot, and realized recently that I never read the third in this series, so figured I could do with a reread! It’s the story of a young novice in a religion that worships the maiden/mother/crone goddess, her life there, her love of learning, plus a new novice fleeing an abusive father, and what happens when men come after her (nothing good). Really great heroine and worldbuilding here. I’m into fantasy religions lately!  

2026 book 169

 Sarah Addison Allen’s Paper Ghosts

I usually enjoy Sarah Addison Allen’s books, but I was pretty lukewarm on this one. It’s about a teen girl in the 70s being raised by her stern grandmother, who rules the town (near Chapel Hill??) with an iron fist thanks to her ability to see ghosts. And it’s also about her own granddaughter and how she tries to avoid making the same mistakes with her, but instead makes new ones. And there are some ghosts hanging out. I mean, it’s fine! Maybe it just needed to be fleshed out more? Or to be less obvious about everything? I was mildly annoyed by it, honestly. B.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 1st.

2026 book 168

 Laura Weymouth’s The Castle & The Cloister

Oh, this is exactly the sort of fantasy I like—lots of political machinations AND cool religions! The main characters are a young mother, a postulant who serves the sun goddess; the Priest of the other religion and brother of the king; and the young queen who is caught between both worlds. Really enjoyable story, great characters, I cannot wait for book two. A/A-.

2026 book 167

 SM Hallow’s How to Survive This Fairytale

What a great book!! If you like fairytale mashups that take things like the trauma these poor characters face seriously, you gotta read this. The main character is Hansel, but plenty of other stories come into play. And I love the way it’s told. Really lovely. A/A-.

2026 book 166

 Shannon Hale’s Christmas in Austenland

I am decidedly not a Christmas girlie (I’m Jewish and didn’t grow up doing anything Christmas-y, aside from watching Frosty the Snowman), but I do enjoy the Austenland books and was psyched for a new one! Our protagonist is Kestrel, who had an awful childhood and longs to feel like she belong to a family, and she’s won a trip to The Twelve Days of Christmas at the Austen-themed estate, where she’s psyched to be romanced by various gentlemen—especially after hearing that sometimes the actors fall in love FOR REAL. And that’s when her ex shows up. SUPER cute and funny, and I loved reading about a woman who is sure she’s too much figuring out where she fits in the world. Really fun and satisfying. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 22nd.

2026 book 165

 Victoria Goddard’s The River That Ran Away to Paradise

Hooray for a new Victoria Goddard novella! This one is set in her Nine Worlds and the protagonist is the captain of a crew team dealing with a friend’s lack of commitment to practice (she’s also in the school play, playing Pali!). The whole story takes place during a rough practice that soon turns into a rescue mission. Really satisfying story! I was going to say that it’s rare to see teens in this universe (Jemis and his cohort are out of college already) but maybe some of the Red Company characters are teens still? I’ll have to reread and see! 

2026 book 164

 Janice Hallett’s The Silent Appeal

Hallett’s latest returns to the acting troupe from her earlier The Appeal, which I only vaguely remember, so I definitely felt like I was missing some stuff at first. Once again lawyers are reading a bunch of emails and text messages, this time to see if they can figure out why a client may have pleaded guilty to a murder they didn’t commit. Some good twists here and I enjoy the format a lot, though at a certain point I’m was like, who is dead??? (The murder doesn’t happen until very late in the story.) Very entertaining, regardless. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 1st.

2026 book 163

 Sarah Wallace’s The Viscount Says Yes

I was really hoping we’d get some POV from the Viscount in this one, bc he has never felt like a real character to me and so it’s hard to be invested in his romance. It is great to see Pip going through his healing process (after being forced into prostitution by his abusive boyfriend/pimp, dark shit in a cozy series) but Bertie is just a perfect supportive happy rich guy with no nuance. If you’re into that sort of thing, awesome! I thought it was a teensy bit dull. Also like if you are trying to figure out what a magical monocle does, why would you not LOOK THROUGH IT, I thought yall were magical geniuses. It’s all very sweet though. B/B+.

2026 book 162

 Sarah Wallace’s The Spellmaster of Tutting-on-Cress

FINALLY a book for Gerry (the sister of various other characters, who’s been a big part of all the other books). This one changes format again, lots of POV characters, as basically every character plots to matchmake Gerry with the new young man in town (whose father has died and now he has seven adorable and hilarious siblings and a grieving stepmother in his life), who is very impressed by her career. Very funny and sweet. A-.

2026 book 161

 Sarah Wallace's Dear Bartleby

This was super sweet!!! No tragic backstories here!!! Just the mildly immature and rascally younger brother coming to stay in the country and learning to be a better person from the example of all the nice people around him. And assisting the Viscount with a magical competition to determine the next Royal Spellcaster--and falling for one of the candidates! All told to his journal, one of my favorite storytelling devices. Very pleasant and engaging. A/A-.

2026 book 160

 Sarah Wallace’s The Education of Pip

Not sure how to feel about this one! Pip comes up in the previous book—he’s friends with that protagonist—and his backstory is pretty dark—his abusive boyfriend pimped him out against his will—so of course he’s all cower-y when the nice rich people from the previous books adopt him and teach him magic (the viscount seems to be his love interest and even in this queer-normative fantasy world, I have no idea how that’s societally acceptable, not to mention there is a touch of the white knight). It was just a weird vibe for me. Like yeah I want this poor guy to be happy but this is beyond my suspension of disbelief. B/B+. (Gonna keep reading bc it looks like the next one is told as the diary of the troublesome younger brother and I am psyched for it.)

2026 book 159

 Sarah Wallace's One Good Turn

So the second book in this series is not epistolary (now I wonder if any of the others are) but I enjoyed it regardless! The protagonist is a young woman who was raised as a thief and wants to live an honest life, and ends up taking magic lessons from the Viscount from book one (who expressly stated he loves teaching people magic!). There's not a romance between them, though, which was nice (they're both gay). The focus in this one is really on friendship, which I appreciated. Very cute story, if a bit slight. A-/B+.

2026 book 158

 Sarah Wallace’s Letters to Half Moon Street

WHO is in the mood for an epistolary novel set in a magical and queer-normative version of Regency England? Me, always. This extremely cute book involves a shy and grumpy younger son being sent to London for business reasons, and he’s corresponding with his sister (who is talented at creating spells!) as he’s taken under the wing of a notorious rake who’s determined to show him the city. I love epistolary stories and this was super adorable!!!! I hope the next book centers his sister! A/A-.

2026 book 157

 Kate Elliott’s The Labyrinth Gate

I’m still occasionally reading the Elliott books I’ve missed—I think this is actually her first novel, published under the name Alis Rasmussen. It’s a cool take on a portal fantasy, as a newlywed couple find themselves transported to another world by some magical tarot cards. Adventures and archaeological digs and magic ensue! I loved all the characters here and I enjoyed this a lot, though I did side-eye the severe heteronormativity a bit (pregnancies for all!). I would have loved more of the bad-ass Aunt Letty and the court politics, but overall this was very fun. A-.