First Love Language Is an Exploration into Many Firsts

 

Image copied from NetGalley

First Love Language by Stefany Valentine is a refreshing YA contemporary romance that explores so much more than love. In fact, it explores many firsts from first love to firsts in terms of one's birth country, language and identity. The premise for the story is also very timely for the Gen Z readers it is marketed to. Love language represents many things for these young adult readers and it is a very important thing for them in terms of communicating how they care for those important to them whether they be friends, sweethearts or their family. I have often heard my children refer to someone's form of expressing themselves as their love language. I think it was very on point and clever for Valentine to develop her romance for her main character, Catie, around this concept. It also provides a vehicle in the plot for us as readers to engage with Catie's dad even though he has passed away before the story begins. He gifted Catie, before he died, with a book that he'd annotated called The Five Love Languages. It was a book he referred to both while he was dating Catie's mom and later as his daughter and stepdaughter grew up.

In addition to this romantic element the novel also gives a first-person account of what it is like to be a biracially adopted child struggling to find your identity after losing touch with your culture from your birth country. At the beginning of the story, we learn that Catie has lost her white dad from cancer and is faced with moving to Salt Lake City, Utah from San Diego the summer before her senior year with her stepmom, Andrea, and stepsister, Mavis. The upheaval brings to the fore the missed opportunities she had to question her dad before he died about why he and her Taiwanese birth mom divorced and why he brought Catie to the U.S. afterwards, causing her to lose touch with her birth mom. Not only that, but the move means living with her stepmom's very conservative Mormon sister and her family. But things begin to look up for Catie when she finds a summer job at a successful Korean spa and beauty salon. Her first day on the job, Catie lies to a customer about having a boyfriend to stop him from hitting on her, and Catie's co-worker, Toby, concocts a plan to have Catie coach him on dating if in return he'll help her re-learn Mandarin, Catie's original language. Using the book on Love Languages that her dad gave her, Catie begins putting together a series of practice dates for her and Toby to go on. From there their friendship soon starts to blossom and Catie's quest of self-discovery, on so many levels, begins.

Of the many things I loved about this novel, one is the humor involved around Catie and her practice dates with Toby. She becomes a surprisingly glib liar about her knowledge of dating and relationships. The most amusing part is that she is no more experienced on either than Toby. With each date, their friendship deepens and their connection slowly blossoms into first love. The ideas centered around expressing love through the different languages such as acts of service, gift giving, among others is very sweet, making for a quiet and tender romance. In relearning her first language, Catie also learns to open up to Toby about things she hasn't ever felt she could discuss with her adoptive family since losing her dad. Even before her dad got sick, Catie had trouble finding the courage to ask him so many of the questions about what happened between him and her birth mom, about why her birth mom agreed to give her up. We also see firsthand the racial bigotry and negative stereotyping that Catie has endured growing up in the U.S. that are sometimes intentional and sometimes not, but still annoying and painful. 

Other themes that are explored in this novel are ones about reconciling one's religious upbringing with one's own identity if you are not white or straight. In Catie's case, her dad and stepmom were both raised in the Mormon faith, but stepped back from the faith when Mavis, Catie's stepsister, identified as being pan sexual as a young teen. Being with Catie's aunt and uncle, who are both strict Mormons, is a hard adjustment for both Catie and Mavis for different reasons and the author does not shy away from portraying how hurtful and confusing it can be to be told that God only accepts those who fit a very narrow and restrictive mold for Christianity. In the midst of being forced to attend church with her stepmom's family, in return for being able to move in with them, a door opens for Catie, though, and she does find unexpected support and acceptance from a woman of the church who works in the genealogy office. There she helps Catie search for answers to what became of her birth mom and for how Catie can reconnect with her Taiwanese roots.

The journey of love and self-discovery and acceptance that Catie, Toby and even secondary characters Mavis and cousin Rayleigh go on is rich and includes a few unexpected twists and turns along the way. However, the way the story ends is both realistic and satisfying. Catie not only learns to importance of accepting herself, she also learns the importance of facing up to the truth when her false claims about being a love expert are exposed. But as this is a romance at it's heart, nothing stands in the way of true love in the end. Nevertheless, I think that the many themes explored in this book make it so much richer than that. I think many YA readers who might have similar things they are coming to terms with will find themselves represented here, whether it be searching for answers as an adopted child, dealing with cultural bias as an Asian American, or facing bigotry and intolerance for identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. In her author's note at the end, Valentine admits that this book was loosely based on her own experiences as a biracial adoptee and that her hope is that anyone reading this book will feel seen in some way in it. If you love contemporary YA romance and can appreciate one that is quiet and sweet while also complex and heartfelt in terms of other things it explores, I highly recommend First Love Language which comes out for publication in mid-January of 2025.

I cannot believe that this is the last book review post for 2024. I hope you have found this a good source of reading material throughout the year. I plan to continue posting more reviews in 2025 and invite you to continue exploring new works coming out in the new year with me along with some older published gems. For January, I will be reviewing an adult romance, Here Beside the Rising Tide by Emily Jane from NetGalley and I will be reviewing an old favorite that is a work of historical fiction from Judith Merkle Riley, A Vision of Light. Below are book covers and blurbs of both copied from NetGalley and Goodreads, respectively.

A romance author takes a trip to her childhood beach home, but her summer is upended by the startling return of a deceased childhood friend, newfound love, and . . . sea monsters?

At age ten, Jenni Farrow and her new best friend, Timmy Caruso, enjoy a glorious summer on Pearl Island filled with fireworks, beach days, and carnival rides (not to mention that strange sea creature they rescue from a tide pool). Then, one late summer day, Timmy disappears.

Thirty years later, Jenni—now Jenn Lanaro, bestselling author of the Philipia Bay action-romance series—is desperate to escape the fatigue of her career and her soon-to-be-ex-husband. With her Pokémon-obsessed kids in tow, Jenn rents a summer house on Pearl Island. But shortly after she arrives, a boy emerges from the nighttime sea. His name, he says, is Timmy Caruso. He’s ten years old. He’s on a mission to save the world, and he needs her help.

In the days that follow, as Jenn grapples with work deadlines, spirited children, and her burgeoning interest in a very sexy contractor, alarming and mysterious events unfold along the coast. And when a terror appears in the deeper waters, Jenn begins to wonder if, just maybe, Timmy is onto something.

This second book by the author of On Earth as It Is on Television continues her voice-driven, genre-bending multiverse of fiction that is just flat-out fun.

Set in England during the fourteenth century, A Vision of Light introduces Margaret of Ashbury, an unforgettable heroine who resembles a contemporary woman in spirit and thoughts. Young, wealthy, twice married, Margaret has a modest enough ambition: she wishes to write a book. But this is 1355, and the notion of a woman wanting to record her experiences and thoughts is not just arrogant, it's possibly heretical.

Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret's scribe, and it is only starvation that persuades Brother Gregory, a renegade Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the unseemly task of chronicling her life. As she narrates her life story to Brother Gregory, we discover a woman of unusual resourcefulness who has survived the Black Plague, invented the forceps, and been accused—but acquitted—of witchcraft. But most astonishing, Margaret has experienced a Mystic Union—a vision of light that illuminates her soul and endows her with a miraculous gift of healing. To every person she encounters in her life, she becomes special—to her traditional parents, to the band of traveling players who adopt her, to the bishop's court that tries her for heresy, and ultimately to the rich merchant who saves her and whom she marries.

With exceptional narrative power, Judith Merkle Riley has recreated in full and rich detail a period that has fascinated her since her adolescence. Although her professional career has taken her into other byways, it has never lessened her long and intense interest in the fourteenth century. At the world-renowned Huntington Library in California, where she did much of her research for the book, Judith Merkle Riley uncovered remarkable primary-source documents. When she felt she knew the fourteenth century as well as a twentieth-century woman could, she set her pen to paper. The result is a remarkable novel that challenges all of our notions about women's roles in the medieval era. Anything but ordinary, Margaret of Ashbury is a heroine for all time.

YA Fantasy, Dark and Grimm

 

Image copied from Goodreads

So, before starting off with the book review can I just say that this cover gives teen romance fantasy vibes that remind me of the old 80s romance book covers. The artwork and colors are gorgeous though and I think the artist captured the romantic lead, Axel, very well based on his description in the story. Just saying. 

Anyhow, on to the review! 

What did I think of The Forest Grimm? Well, I really enjoyed it! From the first line I was drawn into the story. Who wouldn't be intrigued when the book begins with:

Tell me again, Grandmére, the story of how I die.

From there we learn the Clara and her family live in a village that has a magical book that can grant each villager one wish. The village was gifted this book by the magical forest that borders it. We also learn that Clara's grandmother is able to read someone's future with a special tarot deck and that it foretells an early death for Clara in the magical forest. Years later we discover that things have taken a turn for the worse for Grimm's Hollow. Someone used their one wish in a nefarious way and the forest retaliated by cursing the entire village and taking away the Book of Fortunes. Not only that, but since then several villagers have disappeared after venturing into the Forest Grimm to either find their magical book and break the curse, or to seek those who have gone into the forest and become one of the Lost. 

Sadly, the first to become one of the Lost after the curse was Clara's mother. Since then, she's been determined to find her. A task that has been made nearly impossible by the forest, who repels any villager who tries to enter it, sometimes in a deadly way. But clever heroine that she is, Clara figures out a way to circumvent the forest's magic. Her quest begins from there to save her mother, accompanied by her best friend, Axel. It seems Axel's fiancé Ella is also one of the Lost. She was seen entering the forest in her wedding gown and veil on the eve of their wedding day and has been missing for over a year. 

The setting of this whole novel is rich, dark and yes, magical. Once Clara and Axel enter the forest, even with their protection that Clara has devised for them, we don't know what to expect. The Forest Grimm is ancient and full of life and vegetation, something neither Axel or Clara has seen in their drought riddled village in a long time. But it is not welcoming to those under its curse and finds ways to still put Clara and her companions in peril at every turn. It also becomes obvious early on why no one can navigate their way through it and return home again. It's very hard to know where you are heading when trees and landmarks can literally change overnight. 

As promised in the book blurb they also encounter fairy tale characters. But oh, are these characters different from what you might expect. They are subversions of the original tropes, but in a way that completely fits with the original versions of any Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Let's face it, those stories were full of devious and monstrous beings who were often out to kill and murder any unwary traveler or hero that came across their path. The way that Kathryn Purdie accounts for the madness of these fairy tale beings fits in so well with the overall plot of the story as well. When the rules of gifted magic are broken, these are the consequences and as always, in order for a curse to be lifted a price must be paid. 

I found main character, Clara, very easy to empathize with and her love interest, Axel, was funny, kind and brave. I liked Clara's best friend, Henni, as well, though she seemed a little less fully developed to me. I also liked that Clara has a disability we don't often see portrayed in stories. But she perseveres in spite of it. The friends-to-lovers trope is also one I often enjoy and it was done very well in this case. 

The main reason I gave this a 4/5 stars though was that there were a few plot points throughout that I didn't quite feel were ever fully explained. For instance, how did the people who ventured into the forest and become lost not get instantly repelled like so many other villagers have who've tried to enter the forest? In one part of the story one of the characters they encounter implies that she's able to live there because she and the forest have made their peace. But it is never fully explained how this came about and why this seems to lead to the characters in question then being able to tap into and control some of the forest's magic for themselves. How is this possible and why? These were questions I didn't feel I got clear answers to. However, this did not deter me from enjoying the story overall. 

If you enjoy dark fantasy with some strong horror elements to it, you will likely enjoy The Forest Grimm. But be warned, entering the forest is definitely not for the faint of heart and you do so at your own peril.

As for what's up next, I am switching gears in a couple of weeks. After reading and reviewing two dark fantasy novels in a row, I will be switching to contemporary YA dramedy for my next review of Stefany Valentine's debut novel, First Love Language. It is a NetGalley read and is set to come out in mid-January of 2025. Check out the cover and blurb, both copied from NetGalley below.

For fans of Frankly in Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways.

Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. 

So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.

With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.

Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.

Gothic Suspense at its Best!!

 

Image copied from NetGalley

Oh my! Where to begin with this novel? The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen is one of the best gothic suspense novels I think I’ve read in sometime. It is set in 1830s England at a time when women had no rights and were considered abnormal for living alone or not following the rigid rules set for them by society. In addition to the gothic elements and the mysteries surrounding Harriet, it also weaves in elements of magical realism for both Harriet’s garden and the house she lives in. I won’t say her home, because Sunnyside is not and has never been a home for Harriet.

The story begins slowly, but builds quickly in its suspenseful elements. When we first meet Harriet, she is alone in a house that echoes it’s so empty. Her father has disappeared and left her with a mountain of debt that she must pawn most of her household goods to pay off. We immediately sympathize with her as in moving about the dark, gloomy interior of Sunnyside, we realize that despite its name it has been anything but sunny. In fact, Harriet’s neglect and abuse at the hands of her father and his housekeeper are reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. While in her garden, Harriet is confronted by a police inspector named Stokes, who seems to suspect that Harriet had something to do with her father’s disappearance. He implies that she is unnatural for living alone and not seeming to miss her father, making her afraid that if she cannot prove her father left of his own volition, she might find herself committed to the insane asylum. During their conversation, Harriet watches the plants in her garden, trying desperately to keep her emotions under control. It seems that once Harriet lost control, causing her garden to do something horrible as a result in its attempt to protect her. Because of this, Harriet is convinced that even if her father never returns, she cannot leave Sunnyside, or the garden could run wild and cause others harm. This encounter with Stokes and Harriet's fear of what her garden might do, becomes the the catalyst for all of Harriet’s decisions for the rest of the novel.

What follows are more and more mysteries to be unspooled as Harriet begins her own search into what happened to her father. We learn that Harriet is not considered beautiful because of a terrible scar she bears on one side of her face. In reflecting on her life up to this point, we also find out that Harriet’s mother died when she was very young  in some terrible way that Harriet blames herself for. At the same time, a man named Davies begins sending Harriet intriguing and ominous sounding missives, stating that he has crucial information about her family that he must share with her urgently. But in trying to reply to him, setting a time and a place for them to meet, Harriet encounters a handsome and earnest young man named Christian Comstock who seems to find her charming and fascinating. Comstock begins avidly pursuing her and all too soon convinces Harriet to marry him. She believes this will solve all of her problems by giving her a measure of respectability and protection from Stokes and his enquiries. However, rather than offering her the peace, freedom and companionship she was hoping for, Harriet finds in her marriage to Comstock, that she has traded one controlling abusive man in her life for another. 

In reading this, as things went from bad to worse for Harriet, I found myself unable to put this novel down. I wanted to follow each thread in the story to find out why Harriet feels her garden could be such a danger to others, what happened to her when she was younger that caused her to have that mysterious scar, who is Davies and what does he know about Harriet and her family, what happened to Harriet’s father really and finally but certainly not least, why is Comstock so cruel to Harriet and whatever made someone who only seems interested in money and status decide she was worth tricking into marriage? All of these mysteries on top of Harriet’s more and more tenuous situation with Comstock made for a fast-paced and ultimately satisfying read. In the end, not only does Harriet learn to survive, she bravely faces down her personal demons from her past that haunt her and eventually learns to appreciate herself for who she is flaws and all, allowing Harriet to finally step into her own power to save herself. While many of the themes explored in this book are very dark, such as child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and discrimination, other more positive themes are given equal weight as well. Those include themes of friendship, loyalty, female empowerment, found family and learning to stay true to yourself in the face of great adversity. I give this book five stars and would happily read it again. However, I would warn anyone who finds some of the darker themes handled in this tale triggering to keep that in mind before reading it. I am very grateful to both NetGalley and Sourcebooks for giving me the opportunity to read a free ebook ARC of this novel in exchange for this honest review. For anyone who loves well-written gothic suspense, The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt will be available anywhere books are sold in early December 2024.

Stayed tuned for my upcoming reviews for December which will be a young adult fantasy, The Forest Grimm by Kathryn Purdie and my next NetGalley read, the young adult romance First Love Language by Stefany Valentine. Book covers and blurbs below copied from Goodreads and NetGalley, respectively.

Where fairy tales come to life with dark, deadly twists...

"Tell me again, Grandmère, the story of how I die."

The Midnight Forest. The Fanged Creature. Two fortune-telling cards that spell an untimely death for 17-year-old Clara. Despite the ever-present warning from her fortune-teller grandmother, Clara embarks on a dangerous journey into the deadly Forest Grimm to procure a magical book - Sortes Fortunae , the Book of Fortunes - with the power to reverse the curse on her village and save her mother.

Years ago, when the villagers whispered their deepest desires to the book, its pages revealed how to obtain them. All was well until someone used the book for an evil purpose―to kill another person. Afterward, the branches of the Forest Grimm snatched the book away, the well water in Grimm’s Hollow turned rancid, and the crops died from disease. The villagers tried to make amends with the forest, but every time someone crossed its border, they never returned.

Now, left with no alternative, Clara and her close friend, Axel―who is fated never to be with her―have set their minds to defying fate and daring to accomplish what no one else has been able to before. But the forest―alive with dark, deadly twists on some of our most well-known fairy tales―has a mind of its own.

For fans of Frankly in Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways.

Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. 

So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.

With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.

Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.

Fun, Witchy, Holiday Romance

 

Image copied from Goodreads

For this month, I'm going to start off my reviews with a fun and light-hearted paranormal holiday romance with Erin Sterling's The Wedding Witch. After the whirlwind of news and politics for this election season, I figured it was time to focus on something less serious in the realm of fiction. Also, The Wedding Witch starts off just before the winter holiday season, so November is a perfect time to review it as we are headed into that time of year. This book is the final one in Sterling's Graves Glen trilogy, but it could also definitely be read as a stand alone as it doesn't take place in Graves Glen as the first two books did. 

This adventure centers on the middle Penhallow brother, Bowen. I have long looked forward to reading Bowen Penhallow's story and it was worth the wait. All throughout the series Bowen has been the reclusive brother always off in the Welsh mountains alone, doing some sort of mysterious occult research. However, we finally find out why in this book. Bowen, it seems, blames himself for a terrible accident that harmed a friend and he has been searching for a way to fix it ever since. Part of his search has involved procuring magical items or artifacts to see if any of them might hold the key to saving his friend, Colin. That is where Tamsyn Bligh enters the picture. She has been helping Bowen for sometime now in his search for magical items. But one such item ends up bringing the two of them together for the first time face-to-face. It is after this encounter that the sparks begin to fly, for even though Tamsyn knew full well who Bowen was and that he was a witch, Bowen had no idea that Tamsyn was a beautiful, clever and fully human woman. Not only that, but she's a procurer who ran amok and caused some pretty serious mayhem back in Graves Glen for one of Bowen's brothers.

When the two end up at the same wedding at a grand Welsh estate though, chasing after the same magical object, things get even more complicated. Somehow they end up getting thrown back in time to Yuletide of 1958 and must solve the mystery of why they've been sent there in order to get back to their own timelines. I loved the fact that in this one we finally truly get to know and understand Bowen. I also enjoyed the fact that Tamsyn gets a redemption arc in this story. The intrigue of why they are suddenly thrust into 1958 was another fun element to the story. It seems the magical brooch they were both chasing after is somehow related to why Tywyll House is haunted in their own time. Even more surprising, one of the couples at this past Yuletide celebration happens to be Bowen's grandparents. So, not only do they have to come up with a quick explanation as to why they are there and a good cover story on who they are, they also have to be careful not to change anything in a way that could put Bowen's future existence in peril.

It is a fun holiday romp with some really nice twists and turns in addition to the romance between Tamsyn and Bowen. Reading this book was a little bittersweet for me as this was the last one in this series. But it provided a good resolution for the trilogy. If you like romantic mysteries with fantasy elements woven into the story, I recommend this book and the others in the series. I was very pleased to get to read an early ebook ARC of this novel thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager. But if you would like to pick up a copy to read The Wedding Witch is currently available now anywhere books are sold and if you click on the title name it will take you to bookshop.org where you can order a copy online. Plus, all purchases made on bookshop.org can help you support local independent bookstores.

Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for my next book review of a gothic suspense that will be coming out in early December entitled, The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen. Check out the book cover and blurb below to find out more!

Image copied from Goodreads

True magic is found among the bluebells and brambles

Harriet Hunt is completely alone. Her father disappeared months ago, leaving her to wander the halls of Sunnyside house, dwelling on a past she'd rather keep buried. She doesn't often venture beyond her front gate, instead relishing the feel of dirt under her fingernails and of soft moss beneath her feet. Consequently, she's been deemed a little too peculiar for popular Victorian society. This solitary life suits her fine, though – because, outside, magic awaits.

Harriet's garden is special. It's a wild place full of twisting ivy, vibrant plums, and a quiet power that buzzes like bees. Caring for this place, and keeping it from running rampant through the streets of her London suburb, is Harriet's purpose. 

But a woman alone in the world is vulnerable. Soon, a sinister plot involving her father's disappearance begins to take shape, with Harriet herself at its center. Everything she holds dear – from the thorny roses she tends to her very freedom itself – is at stake. To save herself, Harriet will have to unearth her past, discover the secrets of her garden, and finally embrace the wild magic inside of her.

Book blurb provided courtesy of NetGalley.

Slayers, Vampires, and Paranormal Fantasy that Represents!!!

 

Image copied from Goodreads

I received a copy of this novel in my book box from the RSJ Virtual Romance Book Convention I attended this past summer. When I read the blurb on the inside cover and saw that Sign of the Slayer was comped as being Full Metal Alchemist meets Vampire Diaries I was instantly intrigued. Most paranormal romances with vampires geared towards young adults that I've read have been compared to cult classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Twilight series. So, it was hard saving this Sharina Harris novel for Spooky Season. 

As soon as the leaves on the trees started to change, I was ready to crack the cover and delve in to see how this book could be anything like its comp titles. I was not disappointed. From the very first page main character Raven jumps off the page, her voice as clear as a bell as she begins narrating her story. She opens by asking if it is possible for a person to "take part in photosynthesis" (Harris). An interesting question since we know that Raven is about to meet up with vampires at some point, creatures who are severely allergic to sunlight. From there we see and hear Raven's interactions with her friends and fellow band geeks on what seems like a typical Friday Night Lights football game in the Texas town she lives in. However, in the midst of what seems like a mundane high schooler's evening Harris weaves in moments of suspense and some spine-tingling moments for Raven that had me, as the reader, sitting on the edge of my seat. We're also given hints that all may not be as it seems with Raven either, as she tells us that she lives with her grandmother after both her parents were killed and that at some point in her life Raven got in trouble because she has a violent temper she has to keep under tight control. All clues that build tension before tragedy strikes and Raven suddenly  comes into her powers as a vampire slayer in the wake of a violent and gruesome attack. One that causes her to lose everyone she loves.

From that moment on we are whisked into another world with Raven. One where she has to learn to utilize her newfound strength and supernatural gifts all while figuring out what a clan of vampires was doing in rural Texas in the first place. Along the way Raven is forced to team up with the mysteriously sexy boy who helped save her, only to find out that he is one of the very monsters she's vowed to herself to exterminate. Not only is Khamari a vampire, he's a vampire prince and next in line for the throne as king to his clan. What follows is a slow-burn romance and urban fantasy that is hard to put down. I enjoyed every moment of it. I can also see where the comps it was compared to come in as well. The complex world of vampire politics and supernaturals that Harris has created is very much reminiscent of Vampire Diaries. While Khamari's desire to save his brother in the story at any cost, bears hallmarks to Full Metal Alchemist. Other things I appreciated about this novel were the pop culture references Harris included that would appeal to an adult audience but that young adult readers wouldn't necessarily get. The author cleverly works them in by having the vampires reference them only to have their attempts at humor or levity go right over Raven's head. I also loved the fact that Raven, Khamari and most of the main cast of characters in this novel are all people of color. Seeing representation like this in young adult fiction is always a joy, especially in fantasy fiction. 

All in all I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys young adult paranormal romance or urban fantasy with a diverse cast of characters, slayer academies and vampires. I look forward to seeing what Sharina Harris cooks up next in the sequel for this series.

Enemies-to-Lovers Romance in a Haunted Castle...Umm...Yes, please!!

 

Image copied from Goodreads

If I Stopped Haunting You is the first paranormal romance that I've read by Colby Wilkens. It is a spicy and entertaining enemies-to-lovers romance with plenty of paranormal touches that are often fun nods to horror classics such as Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It also features Native American main characters who are each writers in their own right and delves into the struggles to get published if you are a BIPOC novelist.

The enemies-to-lovers trope between the main characters, Penelope and Neil, opens with them at a horror writer's convention where each are author panelists. The two have been pitted against one another by traditional publishers as "the competition" in large part because there are still abysmally few Native writers who have managed to successfully break into traditional publishing. Both Neil and Pen are novelists who who have each struggled to tell their authentic stories because the publishing world still seems to want to whitewash their experiences or promote negative stereotypes about their people. Penelope accuses Neil of selling out at the convention and when Neil responds to her accusation, he so infuriates her that she throws a book at him. Months later, they are horrified to find they will be stuck with each other at a writing retreat they both agreed to attend in a haunted castle in part to overcome the writer's block each are facing after the horror convention fiasco.

Despite the fact that Pen and Neil start out as rivals in the story, they've both secretly admired one another too. Neil has admired Pen for being brave and not letting any publisher coerce her into telling her stories differently from how she wants to write them. Pen admired Neil's earlier work and looked up to him as a role model she could aspire to be like as a writer until she felt he sold out to achieve traditional publishing success. But as they are holed up together for the writing retreat at a haunted castle in the Scottish Highlands, they slowly begin to understand each other more fully and their attraction begins to transform their animosity into passion of a different kind. As for the ghost story, the hauntings in the castle are introduced in creepy and fun ways such as the feel of cold fingers grazing one's neck, names whispered in one's ear, and the compulsion of Pen to want to open that door in the forbidden and spooky west wing they've been told to stay away from. It lends a bit of mystery to the story, as well, that made me want to keep reading to figure out how they would resolve whatever was keeping these spirits trapped in the castle. All in all I recommend this book for fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope who also like a bit of paranormal suspense mixed in with their romance. It is a fun, spicy and slightly spooky read. 

I want to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me the chance to read this free eARC in exchange for this honest review. If I Stopped Haunting You will be available for purchase everywhere books are sold on October 15th.

Stay tuned for my next spooky season review in a couple of weeks of Sign of the Slayer by Sharina Harris, a young adult paranormal romance. The image and book blurb below are both copied from Goodreads.

Full Metal Alchemist meets Vampire Diaries in this fun and clever dark  academia series…

High school is supposed to be about studying, socializing, and marching- band practice. Not fighting vampires. Then one night flipped my world  inside out―now, my life sucks. But it isn’t all bad. I’m at a slayer academy, learning things like the real origin of vamps and how to make  serious weapons out of thin air.

 Every last one of them will pay for what they did. I’m doing great.

Until I come face-to-face with the actual vampire prince…and I’m not sure of anything anymore. Vampires are supposed to be soul-sucking demons. But Khamari is…something else. He’s intelligent and reasonable―and he seems to know things about me that could change everything.

He’s also hiding something big, even from his own kind. And when a threat from an ancient evil is so extreme that a vampire will team up with a slayer to take it down, it isn’t just my need for revenge that’s at stake anymore.

It’s the whole damn world.

All Aboard for Wild West Mysteries and Ghost Train Adventures

 

Image Copied from Goodreads

 The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling was the book pick for September for my Kidlit Reading Book Club. I'm so glad it was! This novel has a fun and engaging main character and is a cute contemporary mystery to boot.

Aven Green has always treated her disability as an opportunity to weave outlandish tales about how she lost her arms. In some she lost them in a wrestling match with an alligator, in others she lost them in a trapeze accident in the circus. But the truth is Aven was born without her arms. Instead, she has learned to do everything with her feet, an accepted fact for her classmates in Kansas since Aven has grown up with them. But then after her father loses his job and accepts a new one, Aven is faced with a new home, in a new town, in a new state. Granted her new home is a wild west theme park in Arizona, but starting school in the middle of her eighth grade year someplace where no one is familiar with her or her disability is still daunting and scary. 

I loved the way Aven faces her challenges in this novel. She doesn't sugarcoat them, and they certainly aren't easy at first. In fact, the way the author portrays Aven's fears is very realistic and relatable. It makes the reader want to keep turning the page to see how she will learn to adjust to her new school and home. At first, Aven copes by hiding away to eat her lunch. But eventually she finds her own way and a new set of friends both of whom face challenges of their own. Aven also stumbles across a mystery in the novel, one that involves the reclusive owner of Stagecoach Pass, the park where her parents work. 

Aven is able to make the true friends she does through her ability to look beyond a person's exterior to see who they truly are and she is able to ultimately solve the mystery of Stagecoach Pass with the help of those same individuals and the support of her parents. She does this using the determination being born without arms has given her because she's spent her whole life having to learn to do things most people take for granted a new way. It turns out that not having them has given her something unique in the face of adversity, resilience. 

This book was a true joy to read and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a middle grade reader (8-12 year-olds) who enjoys a good mystery and reading about characters that offer them a new perspective on life. Also, if they enjoy this book they will be pleased to learn that it is the first in a duology. 

Image copied from Goodreads

Meanwhile, on the supernatural track, bestselling author Kwame Mbalia has a new series coming out that starts with Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek. This novel is a non-stop action adventure, and the character of Jax leaps off the page from the very first chapter. Jax starts off telling us he has been sent away from home by his parents to go and live with his Gran and his Uncle Moe. Some unknown occurrence that Jax seems ashamed about has forced this move in the hopes it will give him a fresh start. But when he arrives in Chicago, his bags are lost, his uncle, who was supposed to meet him at Union Station, is not there, leaving Jax literally cold and alone in a train station late at night. His situation and the mystery of why he is there makes Jax an instantly relatable character. From there the fantasy world of learning about magic, connecting with his ancestors and learning the power of true friendship begins.

Jax encounters spirits both helpful and malevolent as he waits for his family to arrive and pick him up. He barely escapes one malevolent spirit who threatens to steal his skin. Later, in his new home, Freeman House, he encounters other strange occurrences, such as signage that changes in the messages and words of wisdom it imparts and rooms that appear where none were there before. At school, Jax thinks he is just another sixth grader until he reaches his enrichment class and learns that he's been placed in it because he is a summoner. Someone who can see spirits and utilize magic with the help of his ancestors.

Mbalia has created an imperfect character who admits he has done some stuff he wasn't proud of in the past and doesn't want to mess up again. But Jax is also brave and from personal experience has learned that you can't always take what you hear about others at face value. To atone for his past mistakes, Jax is determined to stand up to bullies, do his family name proud and prove that he isn't just another screw up. He also strives to bring about unity between the other summoner families. 

Mbalia has cleverly worked in a valuable message of looking below the surface to take time to truly get to know someone rather than allowing false information, rumor, or unconscious bias dictate impressions about people. A powerful and timely message for young people in today's society. He does this through his vivid character, Jax. I also enjoyed the bits of history of African Americans and other minorities that are sprinkled throughout the story as well. Those overlooked and underrepresented individuals and names woven into the narrative will hopefully give readers new insight into the history of America from a different perspective than they might be used to. All in all I would encourage anyone with younger readers in the middle grade reader age range to get this book when it comes out. It's a fun page-turner with a great message and it is the first in an exciting new series by Kwame Mbalia. I have to thank both NetGalley, Disney Hyperion and Freedom Fire for allowing me to read a free eARC in exchange for this honest review. Jax Freeman hits shelves on October 1, 2024.