Ah, cozy fantasy, my beloved. The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. MacLean tells the story of Aila, who works at a zoo for magical creatures. Her specialty—and passion ever since she was young—are phoenixes, which are critically endangered. She is determined to revitalize the zoo’s breeding program, which hasn’t been successful for over a decade. …
Book Review | A Banh Mi for Two (ARC)
I received a digital advance reader’s copy (ARC) of A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general. In A Bánh Mì for Two, Lan loves working at her family’s food truck in Sài …
Book Review | Lady Macbeth
I love a good retelling. And this is a good retelling! In Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, Roscille has been raised her whole life knowing that, firstly, she is only useful as a wife and not as a person, and secondly, that she is witch-touched and so her direct gaze will drive men to madness. …
Book Review | The Red House Mystery (ARC)
I received a digital advance reader’s copy (ARC) of The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general. Yes, that A. A. Milne. The Winnie the Pooh guy. Apparently he wrote one mystery novel …
Book Review | The Spellshop
In The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, Kiela is a librarian in the empire’s best and most elite library of magical texts. But when a revolution leads to the place burning, she must abandon everything she knew and escape the city. With only a few crates of rescued books and her assistant Caz—a sentient spider …
Righter of Words 