Genre: Fantasy

#BookReview What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods @torbooks #WhatLiesBeyondTheVeil #OfFlesh&BoneSeries #HarperLWoods #torbooks

categories: 8/10, Book Review, Fantasy
#BookReview What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods @torbooks #WhatLiesBeyondTheVeil #OfFlesh&BoneSeries #HarperLWoods #torbooks Title: What Lies Beyond the Veil

Author: Harper L. Woods

Series: Of Flesh & Bone #1

Published by: Bramble on Feb. 11, 2025

Genres: Fantasy

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Tor Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Once, we’d worshipped them as Gods.

For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame.

Then, we died on their swords.

All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There’s no choice but to flee everything I’ve ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.

Now, they’ll claim what’s theirs.

But before they capture me, Caelum saves me from the Wild Hunt. Fae-marked and on the run, he is able to fight back in ways I only dream of. From tentative alliance to all-consuming passion, our bond strengthens as the fae close in and evil lurks ever nearer. With my life on the line, he is everything I shouldn’t dare to want and a distraction I can’t afford. I can’t seem to stay away, not even with something greater on the line.

My heart.

Review:

Complex, adventurous, and seductive!

What Lies Beyond the Veil is a suspenseful, action-packed tale that takes us into the life of Estrella Barlowe of Mistfell, who after the veil protecting the land from the Fae of Alfheimr shatters, and her skin becomes marked by the magic of Faerie, embarks on a treacherous journey with the help of a mysterious marked stranger, Callum, to flee to a haven of safety before she can be captured by her fated mate.

The prose is brisk and tight. The characters are multilayered, dependable, and fearless. And the plot is a riveting tale full of twists, turns, angst, loyalty, duty, heartbreak, danger, deception, family, friendship, sizzling tension, tormented pasts, and supernatural abilities.

Overall, What Lies Beyond the Veil is an imaginative, passionate, epic, fantastical first novel in the Of Flesh & Bones series by Woods that is bursting with soul-searching dilemmas, ancient prophecies, sizzling romance, dangerous quests, unforeseen twists, and complex, intriguing characters.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Tor Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Harper L. Woods

Harper L. Woods is the USA Today bestselling fantasy romance alter ego for Adelaide Forrest. Raised in small-town Vermont, her passion for reading was born during long winters spent with her face buried between the pages of a book. She began to pass the time by writing short stories that quickly turned into full-length fiction. Since that time, she has published over 15 books and has plans for many more. When she isn't writing, Harper can be found spending time with her two young kids, curled up with her dog, dreaming about travel to distant lands, or designing book covers she'll never have enough time to use.

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#BookReview The Garden by Nick Newman @PenguinRandomCA #TheGarden #NickNewman #PenguinReads

categories: 8/10, Book Review, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction
#BookReview The Garden by Nick Newman @PenguinRandomCA #TheGarden #NickNewman #PenguinReads Title: The Garden

Author: Nick Newman

Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons on Feb. 18, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction

Pages: 313

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

A beautiful eerie, hypnotic novel about two elderly sisters living alone at the edge of the world, and how their lives unravel when their sanctum is breached, for fans of Piranesi and The Testaments.

In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. Evelyn and Lily have only ever known each other. What was before the garden, they have forgotten; what lies beyond it, they do not know. Each day is spent in languid service to their tending the bees, planting the crops, and dutifully following the instructions of the almanac written by their mother.

So when a nameless boy is found hiding in the boarded house at the center of their isolated grounds, their once solitary lives are irrevocably disrupted. Who is he? Where did he come from? And most importantly, what does he want?

As suspicions gather and allegiances falter Evelyn and Lily are forced to confront the dark truths about themselves, the garden, and the world as they’ve known it.

Review:

Unique, chilling, and atmospheric!

The Garden is a sharp, engaging tale that takes you into the life of two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, who have been content to spend the majority of their lives contained to the boundaries of their property and following the rules their mother left for them, until one day a strange young man breaks into their home, and they suddenly start to question everything they’ve ever known or believed about the world at large, the past, and themselves.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are obedient, lonely, and intelligent. And the compelling plot sweeps you away into an intricately woven tale that touches on life, solace, sacrifice, dread, beliefs, fears, and survival.

Overall, The Garden is, ultimately, a speculative, haunting, well-written story by Newman that did a wonderful job of incorporating a creative storyline, postapocalyptic fiction, and an atmospheric setting into a compelling tale full of isolation, reflection, compliance, loneliness, and sisterhood.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nick Newman

Nick Newman is the adult pen-name of Nicholas Bowling, author of several children’s novels including Witchborn and In the Shadow of Heroes, which was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award. He has previously worked as a teacher, musician, and a stand-up comedian and is currently working as a bookseller at Daunt Books in London.

Photo by Robin Christian

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#BookReview Witchcraft for Wayward Girls @PenguinRandomCA #WitchcraftForWaywardGirls #GradyHendrix #PenguinReads

categories: 8/10, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror
#BookReview Witchcraft for Wayward Girls @PenguinRandomCA #WitchcraftForWaywardGirls #GradyHendrix #PenguinReads Title: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Author: Grady Hendrix

Published by: Berkley on Jan. 14, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror

Pages: 496

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

Review:

Dark, visceral, and atmospheric!

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is an intricate, ominous tale that transports you back to 1970s Florida and into the lives of several teenagers who, after being dropped off at a home for unwed pregnant girls and treated barbarically, decide to impart their own type of revenge using the spells they find in the “How to Be a Groovy Witch” book they are gifted by a strange bookmobile librarian with an agenda of her own. 

The writing is vivid and sharp. The characters are vulnerable, desperate, and impulsive. And the plot is an eerie tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, abuse, survival, childbirth, female friendship and violence, all interwoven with the supernatural.

Overall, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is an intense, creative, disturbing page-turner by Hendrix that, being the unique mix of horror, fantasy and historical fiction genres, certainly left me unnerved and highly entertained from start to finish.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling novelist and screenwriter living in New York City. He is the author of How to Sell a Haunted House, The Final Girl Support Group, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, We Sold Our Souls, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and Horrorstör. His books have sold over two million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages. He also writes nonfiction and his history of the horror paperback boom of the seventies and eighties, Paperbacks from Hell, received the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction.

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#BookReview Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout @torbooks #FallOfRuinAndWrath #AwakeningSeries #JenniferLArmentrout #torbooks

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Fantasy
#BookReview Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout @torbooks #FallOfRuinAndWrath #AwakeningSeries #JenniferLArmentrout #torbooks Title: Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Awakening #1

Published by: Bramble on Nov. 12, 2024

Genres: Fantasy

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: Tor Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian—royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning—and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he’ll be her doom.

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

Calista must choose: follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall. 

Review:

Fierce, spicy, and action-packed!

Fall of Ruin and Wrath is a suspenseful, seductive tale that takes us to a world where the wrath of gods has left only nine cities remaining and where the orphan, Calista (Lis), with the power of intuition, lives her days comfortably as one of the Baron of Archwood’s courtesans until her life gets turned upside down when she saves a Hyhborn prince from the hands of some ruthless mortals, the attraction between them is hot enough to burn them both, and a rebellion is brewing right around the corner.

The prose is intense and passionate. The characters are complex, unique, and gifted. And the plot is a riveting tale of twists, turns, passion, angst, fury, loyalty, heartbreak, duty, sizzling tension, violence, secrets, mysterious pasts, and supernatural abilities.

Overall, Fall of Ruin and Wrath is an imaginative, gripping, highly entertaining tale by Armentrout that is brimming with grit, determination, bloody battles, heat, sexual chemistry, adventure, gods, healers, and other magical elements. It kept me invested and engaged from the very first page, and with its cliffhanger-type ending, has undoubtedly left me counting down the days until I have the opportunity to read the next novel in the Awakening series to discover how this epic battle might end.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Tor Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Photography courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #HeavenlyBodies #ImaniErriu #PenguinReads

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Fantasy
#BookReview Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #HeavenlyBodies #ImaniErriu #PenguinReads Title: Heavenly Bodies

Author: Imani Erriu

Series: Heavenly Bodies #1

Published by: Random House Canada on Jan. 14, 2025

Genres: Fantasy

Pages: 496

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A runaway TikTok sensation, Heavenly Bodies is the first book in a dazzling new romantasy series that blends mythology and shadow magic with a tantalizing enemies-to-lovers romance that will rewrite the stars.

“You know the most dangerous kind of villain? A woman with nothing left to lose.”

In a world ruled by the cruel and merciless Stars, Elara has been cursed by fate. A prophecy promises she will fall for a Star, but that it will kill them both.

So when Ariete, Star of Wrath, War and Chaos, descends to wreak havoc on Elara’s kingdom, she flees her home—the Kingdom of Night—for the neighbouring Helios, Kingdom of Light.

And strides straight into the arms of an enemy prince.

Fearing that Ariete might turn his sights to Helios next, Prince Lorenzo is forced to train Elara as a weapon—one worthy of battling against the tyrannical reign of the Stars. But there are shadows even within the Kingdom of Light—and they threaten to reveal the darkness in Lorenzo’s past and the ancient magic that slumbers in Elara’s veins.

And with it all comes an undeniable, star-crossed pull between Elara and Lorenzo that neither can seem to resist…

Review:

Fantastical, suspenseful, and action-packed!

Heavenly Bodies is a fierce, gripping tale that takes us to both the Kingdoms of Night and Light and into the lives of the powerful, fiery Elara and her nemesis the ruthless, handsome Prince Lorenzo as they reluctantly join forces to battle the King of Stars all while trying to resist the ever-growing attraction quickly building between them.

The prose is intense and passionate. The characters are complex, gifted, and unique. And the plot is a riveting tale of twists, turns, passion, angst, betrayal, wrath, loyalty, heartbreak, duty, sizzling tension, violence, secrets, prophecies, fate, mysterious pasts, and supernatural abilities.

Overall, Heavenly Bodies is an imaginative, seductive, highly entertaining tale by Erriu that’s brimming with bloody battles, grit, determination, heat, sexual chemistry, gods, stars, and other magical elements. It kept me invested and engaged from the very first page and has undoubtedly left me counting down the days until I have the opportunity to read the next novel in the Heavenly Bodies series, Fallen Stars, to find out how this epic adventure will continue.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Imani Erriu

IMANI ERRIU is the author of the romance fantasy series Heavenly Bodies. She is a graduate from the Manchester Metropolitan University where she received a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She spent most of her childhood in the forests of the English countryside, which definitely gifted her an overactive imagination. When she isn't crying over her own fictional characters or daydreaming up her next plot twist, she can be found eating pasta and watching "The Office" on repeat.

Photo by Alessia Erriu

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#BookReview The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman @leverus @PenguinRandomCA #TheBrightSword #LevGrossman #PenguinReads

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
#BookReview The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman @leverus @PenguinRandomCA #TheBrightSword #LevGrossman #PenguinReads Title: The Bright Sword

Author: Lev Grossman

Published by: Viking on Jul. 16, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 673

Format: Hardcover

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.

Review:

Poignant, creative, and compelling!

The Bright Sword is a captivating, mystical tale that takes us back to Camelot two weeks after the death of King Arthur as kingdoms are falling, Britain is in chaos, the remaining colourful, mediocre knights are struggling to find a leader amongst themselves, and a young man with a dream to become a Knight of the Round Table finds himself a little too late but nevertheless swept up in a journey to bring Excalibur back where it belongs and a responsibility to bring harmony to a world cloaked in ruin.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are lost, conflicted, and burdened. And the plot is an enigmatic, absorbing tale of life, loss, battles, love, betrayals, friendship, self-identity, magic, confrontations, adventure, courage, and heart.

Overall, The Bright Sword is an imaginative, passionate, epic, fantastical novel by Grossman that combines the classic Arthurian legend with the magic of the supernatural to weave a fresh, contemporary spin on a centuries-old story that is bursting with soul-searching dilemmas, dangerous quests, and complex, intriguing characters.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy—The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician’s Land—which has been published in thirty countries and adapted as a TV show that ran for five seasons on SYFY. He is also a screenwriter and the author of two children’s books, The Golden Swift and The Silver Arrow, and his journalism has appeared in Time, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, among many other places. He lives with his wife and children in New York City.

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#BookReview The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston @StMartinsPress #TheHauntingOfHecateCavendish #PaulaBrackston #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

categories: 8/10, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
#BookReview The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston @StMartinsPress #TheHauntingOfHecateCavendish #PaulaBrackston #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish

Author: Paula Brackston

Series: Hecate Cavendish #1

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 23, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is book one in New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston’s new, magic-infused series about Hecate Cavendish, an eccentric and feisty young woman who can see ghosts.

England, 1881. Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. But this is no ordinary collection of books. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves. The most prized artifact, however, is the medieval world map which hangs next to Hecate’s desk.

Little does she know how much the curious people and mythical creatures depicted on it will come to mean to her. Nor does she suspect that there are lost souls waiting for her in the haunted cathedral. Some will become her dearest friends. Some will seek her help in finding peace. Others will put her in great peril, and, as she quickly learns, threaten the lives of everyone she loves.

Review:

Atmospheric, whimsical, and action-packed!

The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is a creative, thrilling novel that takes you to Victorian England and into the life of Hecate Cavendish, a young woman who, after starting her new job as a librarian assistant at the Hereford cathedral, quickly finds herself spending her days enthralled by a magical map, surrounded by supernatural creatures, investigating odd occurrences, communing with lost souls, protecting sacred texts, and trying her best to keep the dead away from the living.

The writing is rich and dark. The characters are spunky, inquisitive, and fearless. And the plot is an adventurous tale about life, loss, friendship, family, secrets, deception, action, wandering spirits, danger, and magical realism.

Overall, The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is an imaginative, passionate, fantastical start to a new series by Brackston that is bursting with soul-searching dilemmas, a dab of romance, dangerous endeavours, and complex, endearing characters.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Paula Brackston

PAULA BRACKSTON is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter and The Little Shop of Found Things, among others. Paula lives with her family in the historical border city of Hereford in the beautiful Wye valley. When not at her desk in her writing room, she enjoys long walks with the dog in a sublime landscape filled with the imprints of past lives and ancient times.

Photo Credit: Skyla Holman

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#BookReview A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke @SimonSchusterCA #AShortWalkThroughAWideWorld #DouglasWesterbeke #SimonSchusterCA

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
#BookReview A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke @SimonSchusterCA #AShortWalkThroughAWideWorld #DouglasWesterbeke #SimonSchusterCA Title: A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Author: Douglas Westerbeke

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving.

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.

When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days nor return to a place where she’s already been.

From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s…

Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.

Review:

Poignant, hopeful, and creative!

A Short Walk Through a Wide World is an immersive, evocative tale that sweeps you away to Paris during 1885 and into the life of nine-year-old Aubry Tourvel who, after throwing her beloved wooden puzzle ball into a well, becomes inflicted with a mysterious disease that seems to only be healed by never staying in one place for more than a few days and thus begins a lifetime adventure that sees her looping the globe multiple times while experiencing such wondrous things as fishing in Greece, love on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and the joy of perusing unimaginably vast libraries where time and space don’t even exist in order to stay alive.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are vulnerable, conflicted, and burdened. And the plot is a enigmatic, absorbing tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, self-identity, magical realism, solitude, and joy.

Overall, A Short Walk Through a Wide World is a mystifying, impactful, hopeful debut by Westerbeke that combines a contemplative imagination with the magic of the supernatural to weave a heart-tugging, bittersweet tale steeped in an abundance of loneliness, optimism, tenderness, and pain.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Douglas Westerbeke

Douglas Westerbeke is a librarian who lives in Ohio and works at one of the largest libraries in the US. He has spent the last decade on the local panel of the International Dublin Literary Award, which inspired him to write his own book.

Photograph by Roan.

Goodreads

#BookReview The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard @SimonSchusterCA #TheOtherValley #ScottAlexanderHoward #SimonSchusterCA

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Fantasy, General Fiction, Science Fiction
#BookReview The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard @SimonSchusterCA #TheOtherValley #ScottAlexanderHoward #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Other Valley

Author: Scott Alexander Howard

Published by: Scribner on Feb. 27, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, General Fiction, Science Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A literary speculative novel about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future

Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it’s the same valley, the same town–except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it’s twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness.

When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn’t supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he’s still alive in Odile’s present. Edme––who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly see Odile––is about to die. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate, yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future.

Review:

Intricate, unique, and thought-provoking!

The Other Valley is a clever, absorbing tale that takes you into the life of Odile, a young girl who has her life turned upside down when she accidentally glimpses people visiting from the east who are living twenty years in the future, one of her close friends suddenly dies, she destroys her chances of becoming a member of the influential Conseil, and she must decide whether she will risk her life to go twenty years in the past and enter the duplicate valley to the west to alter the one tragedy that changed so many lives forever.

The prose is raw and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, conflicted, and inured. And the plot is a mysterious, immersive tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, self-identity, power, security, control, duty, desperation, and magical realism.

Overall, The Other Valley is a gripping, pensive, speculative story by Howard that did a beautiful job of incorporating a creative storyline, what-if fiction, and an atmospheric setting into a compelling coming-of-age tale full of reflection, friendship, and first love.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Scott Alexander Howard

Scott Alexander Howard lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where his work focused on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature. The Other Valley is his first novel.

Photograph by Veronica Bonderud

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#BookReview Inheritance by Nora Roberts @StMartinsPress #InheritanceNovel #TheLostBrideTrilogy #NoraRoberts #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

categories: 9/10, Book Review, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
#BookReview Inheritance by Nora Roberts @StMartinsPress #InheritanceNovel #TheLostBrideTrilogy #NoraRoberts #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Inheritance

Author: Nora Roberts

Series: The Lost Bride Trilogy #1

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Nov. 21, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 419

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Inheritance is the first in The Lost Bride Trilogy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts―a tale of tragedies, loves found and lost, and a family haunted for generations.

1806: Astrid Poole sits in her bridal clothes, overwhelmed with happiness. But before her marriage can be consummated, she is murdered, and the circle of gold torn from her finger. Her last words are a promise to Collin never to leave him…

Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about―and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, which the will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. Her engagement recently broken, she sets off to find out why the boys were separated at birth―and why it was all kept secret until a genealogy website brought it to light.

Trey, the young lawyer who greets her at the sprawling clifftop manor, notes Sonya’s unease―and acknowledges that yes, the place is haunted…but just a little. Sure enough, Sonya finds objects moved and music playing out of nowhere. She sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid, whom the lawyer refers to as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse, and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it…

Review:

Unique, captivating, and romantic!

Inheritance is a dramatic, mysterious tale that takes you into the life of Sonya MacTavish, a hardworking graphic designer who, after finding her fiancé cheating and learning she has inherited a mansion from her father’s twin brother no one even knew existed, moves into the stately home in Maine only to discover that it is haunted by a generational curse cast in 1806 that will take not only the help of the dashingly handsome Trey to break but also all the friends she can muster.

The writing is smooth and effortless. The characters are kind, tolerant, and endearing. And the plot is a captivating tale of life, love, friendship, family, intrigue, desire, temptation, attraction, supernatural phenomenon, romance, and danger.

Overall, Inheritance is a creative, atmospheric, brilliant start to the new Lost Bride Trilogy by Roberts that I absolutely devoured and highly recommend.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Come Sundown, The Obsession, The Liar, and coming in December 2017, Year One -- the first book in The Chronicles of The One. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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