“A River of Golden Bones” (The Golden Court #1) by A.K. Mulford (Review)

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Mulford, A.K. A River of Golden Bones. New York: Harper Voyager, 2023.

ISBN-13: 978-0063291423 | $28.99 USD | 385 pages | Fantasy Romance

Blurb

From bestselling author and TikTok sensation A.K. Mulford comes the first riveting, enchanting book in the all-new Golden Court romantasy trilogy—A River of Golden Bones begins a journey of self-discovery, romance, and adventure for a young heir as she/they comes out of hiding to save her sister from a malicious, powerful sorceress and her dangerous sleeping curse.

A sleeping curse. A fallen court. A secret twin.

Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom…and from the humans who don’t know they are Wolves. Each twin has their own purpose in life: Briar’s is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla’s purpose is to remain a secret, her twin’s shadow . . . the backup plan.

No one knows who Calla truly is except for her childhood friend—and sister’s betrothed—the distractingly handsome Prince Grae. But when Calla and Briar journey out of hiding for Briar’s wedding, all of their well-made plans go awry. The evil sorceress is back with another sleeping curse for the last heir to the Golden Court.

Calla must step out of the shadows to save their sister, their kingdom, and their own legacy. Continuing to hide as a human and denying who she truly is, Calla embarks on a quest across the realm, discovering a whole world she never knew existed. Outside the confines of rigid Wolf society, Calla begins to wonder: who could she be if she dared to try?

Full of adventure, love, gender exploration, and self-discovery, A River of Golden Bones follows Calla’s journey through treacherous Wolf kingdoms, monster-filled realms, and the depths of their own heart in this thrilling romantic fantasy.

Review

4 stars

I heard about A.K. Mulford in passing on Threads, but didn’t really know what they wrote, until I found A River of Golden Bones among the new books at the library. The premise piqued my interest, being a loose Sleeping Beauty retelling with LGBTQ+ rep. There’s a twist on some familiar concepts to create a fairly fresh and engaging story.

The world and its history are engaging, with the world once having been ruled by a pack of wolf-shifters called the Golden Court. There’s also another ally court, the Silver Court, that plays a major role in the story. I did sometimes feel like some aspects were a tad unclear, but as a fairly uncomplicated “romantasy,” it’s fairly comprehensible

Calla and her twin, Briar are the daughters of the cursed deposed queen of the Golden Court, with Briar initially being the prized heir. Calla’s responsibility has always been to stay in the shadows and protect her sister, while her sister makes a match with the prince from the Silver Court, but things change when Briar is put under a sleeping curse.

Calla is a great protagonist, and I really liked seeing them take the lead and try their best for their sister’s sake. Compared to Briar, they’ve been much more sheltered, but I respect how they rise to the occasion. I also loved the bits about their gender exploration, and it’s very rare for a character to use more than one set of pronouns. While I’ve chosen to use “they” for clarity’s sake, I also appreciate how even the blurb used both interchangeably. It was somewhat less pronounced in-text, as it was in first person, but it’s great to see different types of queer affirmation from trad publishing nonetheless.

The romance is fairly sweet, with Calla and Grae being childhood friends, with the complication being he was betrothed to Briar. While I felt the book more heavily centered on Calla’s journey of self-discovery in the wake of her new position, I feel the romantic developments with Grae complemented it very well, with their natural chemistry developing in a believable way.

If the book has one real flaw, I think it’s a little slow paced. There’s simultaneously a lot going on, but also a lot of lull. And given that the romance seems to be self-contained (book two follows a different couple), I did feel a tad disappointed that there wouldn’t be more space to flesh the relationship out, even if in some ways it might be superfluous. But given that the proportion of each genre is a common complaint I’ve had with books that straddle the line between SFF and romance, and this is a more mild offender, I can’t say I’m surprised, and I hope it gets better with subsequent books.

Fairly minor quibbles aside, I enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more from Mulford in the future. I recommend this if you’re looking for an inclusive fantasy romance.

Author Bio

A.K. Mulford is a bestselling fantasy author and former wildlife biologist who swapped rehabilitating monkeys for writing novels. She/they are inspired to create diverse stories that transport readers to new realms, making them fall in love with fantasy for the first time, or all over again. She now lives in Australia with her husband and two young human primates, creating lovable fantasy characters and making ridiculous TikToks.

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“Lavash at First Sight” by Taleen Voskuni (ARC Review)

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Voskuni, Taleen. Lavash at First Sight. New York: Berkley, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-0593547328 | $18.00 USD | 304 pages | Contemporary Romance

Blurb

Sparks fly between two women pitted against each other in this delectable new romantic comedy by Taleen Voskuni, author of Sorry, Bro.

Twenty-seven-year-old Nazeli “Ellie” Gregorian enjoys the prestige of her tech marketing job but is sick of the condescending Patagonia-clad tech bros, her micromanaging boss, and her ex-boyfriend, who she’s forced to work with every day. When Ellie’s lovingly overbearing parents ask her to attend PakCon—a food packaging conference in Chicago—to help promote their company and vie to win an ad slot in the Superbowl (no big deal), she’s eager for a brief change and a delicious distraction.

At the conference, she meets witty, devil-may-care Vanya Simonian. Ellie can’t believe how easy it is to talk to Vanya and how much they have in common—both Armenian! From the Bay Area! Whose families are into food! Their meet-cute is cut short, however, when Ellie’s parents recognize Vanya as the daughter of the owners of their greatest rival, whose mission (according to Ellie’s mother) is to whitewash and package Armenian food for the American health-food crowd.

Sworn as enemies, Ellie and Vanya must compete against each other under their suspicious parents’ scrutiny, all while their feelings for each other heat to sizzling temps.

Review

1 star

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Taleen Voskuni’s first book, and I had high hopes for her follow-up, Lavash at First Sight. Sadly, all hopes were dashed, and it’s a severe case of sophomore slump. And while, typically I’d DNF books if I felt they would be this bad, I inexplicably chose to stick this one out to the bitter end.

The writing is serviceable, and perhaps the only thing that kept me going. It’s not the best thing ever, but it’s not a grievance the way other aspects of the book are. Again, I have no idea what compelled me to keep going with this book.

The protagonist, Ellie, frustrated me. I can understand having complicated feelings about your heritage, and I can’t speak to what it is to be Armenian, but I still found her rather insufferable to spend the book with. There was a lot of drama with her ex and her job, and that also contributed to my dislike.

And Vanya was…there? Was this a romance? You could practically delete Vanya and it would make almost no difference.

And for a book with such a punny food title, I didn’t even get the large presence of food and family-restaurant rivalry to the extent I feel was promised.

It was just all-around bland and flavorless, and while I’m clearly in the minority, I suspect a lot of the people rating this highly might not be avid romance readers. I’d encourage anyone who’s interested to go through the reviews and/or read the book for themselves to come to their own conclusions.

Author Bio

Taleen Voskuni is an award-winning writer who grew up in the Bay Area Armenian diaspora. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in English and currently lives in San Francisco, working in tech. Other than a newfound obsession with writing rom-coms, she spends her free time cultivating her kids, her garden, and her dark chocolate addiction. Her first novel, Sorry, Bro, received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, was named an Amazon editor’s pick, and was favorably reviewed in The New York Times. Sorry, Bro is also winner of the 2023 Golden Poppy award for best romance. Lavash at First Sight is her second published novel.

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“A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic” by Yi Shun Lai (Review)

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Lai, Yi Shun. A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic. New York: Atheneum, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-1665937764 | $19.99 USD | 326 pages | YA Historical Fiction

Blurb

A teen’s fight for suffrage turns into one of survival when her crew’s Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice in this historical novel told in journal entries perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen and The Downstairs Girl.

November 1914.

Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is one of twenty-eight crew members of The Resolute—a ship meant for an Antarctic expedition now marooned on ice one hundred miles from the shore of the continent. An eighteen-year-old American, Clara has told the crew she’s a twenty-one-year-old Canadian. Since the war broke out, sentiment toward Americans has not been the most favorable, and Clara will be underestimated enough simply for being a woman without also giving away just how young she is. Two members of the crew know her nationality, but no one knows the truth of her activities in England before The Resolute set sail.

She and her suffragist sisters in the Women’s Social & Political Union were waging war of a different kind in London. They taught Clara to fight. And now, even marooned on the ice, she won’t stop fighting for women’s rights…or for survival. In the wilderness of Antarctica, Clara is determined to demonstrate what a woman is truly capable of—if the crew will let her.

Review

3.5 stars

A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic drew me in based on the title alone. The promise of a story involving women’s suffrage, plus a survival narrative in the Antarctic piqued my interest, being things I’ve read about in the past. And while in some ways, it wasn’t entirely what I expected, it was more or less an enjoyable experience.

I love the historical detail put into the narrative, from the chronicling of the troubles the crew of the Resolute faced and the struggle to survive to the more minute, coloring the time period in general. I was intrigued by details about the roles of women on the Resolute to Clara’s interactions with prominent suffragettes of the day, like Ida B. Wells and Alice Paul, but I was also drawn to how Clara being American was treated (or would be, hence why she concealed it from people). While I knew about Woodrow Wilson’s inconsistency regarding whether the US would enter World War I, I had no idea that it led to a negative opinion of Americans internationally.

Clara is a solid focal point for the book, as she highlights how the journey and disaster impacted a young woman in her position. While I can’t say I was all that attached to her as a character, given “she” wrote in journal entries that were just as much about providing travel and survival advice as conveying story, there is still a hint as to the impact of her experiences throughout.

In spite of lack of character depth, the general intrigue and danger of the journey were well-conveyed, keeping me in suspense for the most part. While it’s a bit simple, it’s also fairly readable, with exception of a few intense scenes, including an attempted sexual assault, showing the variety of dangers women faced and still face today.

While I have my quibbles with some aspects of the execution, it still does a lot that I really appreciate. With the caveat that you’ll probably enjoy it if you like the diary format, I recommend it if you’re interested in YA historical fiction focused both on women’s suffrage and Antarctic exploration and survival.

Author Bio

Yi Shun Lai lives in Southern California, and she can talk to you forever about plants and animals and deserts both hot and cold. She volunteers for ShelterBox, an international disaster relief organization, and was once invited to be a crew member aboard an Antarctic cruise line. She’s the author of novels Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu and A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic and memoir Pin Ups. You can read her essays in Shondaland and Brevity. Find her on the web at TheGoodDirt.org.

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“The Return of Ellie Black” by Emiko Jean (ARC Review)

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Jean, Emiko. The Return of Ellie Black. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-1668023938 | $28.99 USD | 320 pages | Thriller

Blurb

“The Return of Ellie Black is a page-turning suspense novel, a shrewd character study, and a captivating mystery, all at the same time. The last fifty pages are magnetic. I couldn’t put it down until I’d experienced every last twist and turn.” —STEPHEN KING

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

Review

2 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve loved seeing Emiko Jean grow as an author and explore different genres. But sadly, while I was hopeful for her first thriller, it was a major miss for me. The premise is great, but there was a lot of missed potential in the execution.

My favorite bits ended up being the chapters written from the “captured girl’s” perspective. While it’s not spelled out specifically, it’s made pretty obvious that we’re in Ellie’s head while she was trapped, with the rest of the story focusing on the investigation into her return.

But sadly (although understandably), those bits were a small part of the book, placed sparingly throughout the narrative, and they only mildly saved this book from being absolutely . The main narrative with the investigation follows the detective Chelsey Calhoun, and I found her much less compelling, with the main interesting thing about her being that her sister also went missing several years back. The way this was conveyed, with occasional jarring flashbacks mid-chapter, down to full reams of dialogue conveyed in italics almost made me DNF a chapter in, before deciding to tough it out to give an author I had previously liked a fair shot.

And while I didn’t expect Chelsey to be fleshed out much, the present narrative didn’t do much to keep me invested in Ellie either. The story moved at snail’s-pace, and I frequently found my attention flagging. And then there’s a plot twist towards the end that had me going “WTF?” and not in a good way.

This was a massive disappointment, especially as it was from an author I’d previously enjoyed. And while I’m clearly in the minority on this one, I realize my tastes in thrillers are rather niche and contrarian, so I wouldn’t discourage you from trying it if it sounds like it would work for you.

Author Bio

Emiko Jean is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult novels Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Ever After, a Reese Witherspoon/Hello Sunshine pick, as well as the novel Mika in Real Life, which was a Good Morning America Book Club pick. She lives in Washington with her husband and two kids.

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“Finally Heard” (Finally Seen #2) by Kelly Yang (Review)

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Yang, Kelly. Finally Heard. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-1665947930 | $18.99 USD | 339 pages | MG Contemporary

Blurb

From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes the sequel to Finally Seen in which Lina gets a phone and tries to navigate social media, only to discover not everything online is what it seems.

When ten-year-old Lina Gao sees her mom’s video on social media take off, she’s captivated by the potential to be seen and heard! Maybe online she can finally find the confidence she craves. Whereas in real life she’s growing so fast, she feels like microwave popcorn, bursting out of her skin!

With the help of her two best friends, Carla and Finn, and her little sister, Millie, Lina sets off to go viral. Except there’s a lot more to social media than Lina ever imagined, like:

1. Seeing inside her classmates’ lives!Is she really the only person on the planet who doesn’t have a walk-in closet?
2. Group chats! Disappearing videos!What is everyone talking about in the secret chats? And how can she join?
3. A bazillion stories about what to eat, wear, and put on her face. Could they all be telling the truth? Everyone sounds so sure of what they’re saying!

As Lina descends deeper and deeper into social media, it will take all her strength to break free from the likes and find the courage to be her authentic self in this fast-paced world.

In the series

#1 Finally Seen

Review

4 stars

I wasn’t anticipating a sequel to last year’s Finally Seen from Kelly Yang, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear about Finally Heard nonetheless. It was great to see Lina and Co. again, and see more of Lina’s growth in particular, especially as far it relates to the overall arc of the book this time around. She’s still dealing with a lot of similar challenges related to growing up, but there’s a new focus on cyberbullying, and how there’s an impact on her to the point where she fights back in a consequential way.

While issues with social media drama are almost ubiquitous at this point for all ages, I love that Yang chose to tackle it for a young audience, especially since I can’t think of many books tackling it in a way that is very relevant for the tween reader. But I love how it is also written in a way that speaks not just to them, but to their parents and families, especially by providing research and resources related to tweens and teens and social media at the end.

But even with the central narrative slowly escalating toward an intense confrontation, I still liked that there were some “fun” bits. With book banning being such a prominent theme in the prior book, I loved that this theme lived on in a love-fest for other middle grade and YA books, many of which I recognized. Yang even references another of her titles in-text, in a fun, meta bit of “book-ception.”

This was a great follow-up, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for an approachable story highlighting the dangers of social media for younger readers.

Author Bio

Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk (winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature), Parachutes, Three Keys, Room to Dream, New from Here, Finally Seen, and Finally Heard. Front Desk also won the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, was the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors including being named a best book of the year byThe Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and NPR. Learn more at KellyYang.com.

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“You Could Be So Lucky” by Cat Sebastian (ARC Review)

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Sebastian, Cat. You Should Be So Lucky. New York: Avon, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-0063272804 | $18.99 USD | 400 pages | Historical Romance

Blurb

An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.

Review

4 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

You Should Be So Lucky is the latest offering from Cat Sebastian, and while not in an “official” series, it’s technically a companion novel to her prior release, We Could Be So Good. As such, while it’s a standalone, some of the major characters do overlap (Andy from WCBSG is a supporting character!), so, if you like one, you’ll inevitably like the other.

I love that Cat Sebastian is continuing to explore the mid-20th century, in spite of it not being a massively popular time period in historical romance. And while I’m not a baseball fan, or sports fan in general, I loved getting some nuggets of baseball history amid the fiction. And the narrative continues a thread explored in Sebastian’s previous mid-century works (including WCBSG), regarding the prevalence of homophobia in the 50s and 60s, and how much more complicated it is when you’re a professional baseball player.

The two leads are great, and the central romance is really sweet. Mark is rather closed-off and prickly, while Eddie is much sweeter (although they both have their dickish moments). They’re bonded by their mutual experiences with grief and loss, and provide a lot of support for each other. Their relationship is also full of great banter and humor, as well. Sebastian’s books of late have often been more slow-burn, and largely vibes-based, but this book, like its predecessor, worked really well in that regard thanks to the strong central romance.

This was another enjoyable read by Cat Sebastian, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for a mid-century historical sports romance.

Author Bio

Cat Sebastian writes queer historical romances. Cat’s books include We Could Be So Good and the Turner series, and have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher and did a variety of other jobs she liked much less than she enjoys writing happy endings for queer people. She was born in New Jersey and lived in New York and Arizona before settling down in a swampy part of the South. When she isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, having one-sided conversations with her dog, or doing the crossword puzzle.

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“The Notes” by Catherine Con Morse (ARC Review)

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Con Morse, Catherine. The Notes. New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-0593711385 | $19.99 USD | 320 pages | YA Contemporary

Blurb

A reserved Chinese American teen at a Southern performing arts boarding school comes into her own under the tutelage of a glamorous new piano teacher. A moving coming-of-age-novel from a debut novelist about first love, adolescent angst, and academic pressures.

“Compellingly readable. Make room in the boarding-school book canon for a new classic.” – Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light and The Serpent King

“A moving, highly virtuosic, and heart-rending portrait of an aspiring teen pianist trying to find her way…it made me feel seen.” – Patricia Park, author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confession of Alejandra Kim and What’s Eating Jackie Oh?

Claire Wu isn’t sure that she has what it takes to become a successful concert pianist.

It’s the fear of every student at Greenwood School for the Performing Arts: becoming a washed-out performer who couldn’t make it big. And Claire’s no Rocky Wong, the ace pianist at their boarding school.

Then Dr. Li shows up. She’s like no other teacher at Greenwood: mysterious, sophisticated, fascinating. Under Dr. Li’s tutelage, Claire works harder and dreams bigger than ever. And her crush Rocky finally seems interested. Maybe she’ll even be “Chinese enough” to join the elusive Asian Student Society.

Everything is falling into place until eerily personal notes about Claire’s bond with Dr. Li appear. Claire starts to feel the pressure. But she isn’t the only one. Everyone is feeling the strain. Especially Rocky, whose extreme perfectionism hides something more troubling.

As the Showcase tension crescendos, Claire must decide if she’s ready to sink or swim. Only then can she discover who she really is and learn if she’s ready to give her all for a shot at greatness.

The Notes is a powerful and poignant debut YA novel from award-winning writer Catherine Con Morse about dealing with academic pressures, falling in love for the first time, and finding yourself.

Review

4 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Catherine Con Morse is a new-to-me author, but I was drawn to the cover and premise of The Notes. I know next to nothing about the world of music, but I appreciated how the pressure of being a musician was depicted, along with dealing with academic pressure, first love, and other issues a young teen deals with.

Claire is a sympathetic protagonist, juggling all these concerns early on in the book. The cultural nuance is also woven through the book, interrogating the common archetype that Chinese Americans excel at everything. I really liked how she came into her own, developing self-confidence in her abilities.

The relationships in the book are pivotal to Claire’s growth. Dr. Li, the glamorous music teacher, is instrumental in Claire pushing herself to succeed and strive to achieve her dreams. And while it’s not a romance, I really liked her growing bond with fellow student Rocky, who she bonds with over the intense expectations placed upon them.

This was an enjoyable debut, and I’m interested to read more from Catherine Con Morse in the future. If you’re looking for a multicultural coming-of-age story, I’d recommend checking out this one!

Author Bio

Catherine Con Morse is the author of the coming-of-age boarding school novel THE NOTES, which was shortlisted for the CRAFT first chapters contest. A Kundiman fellow, she received her MFA from Boston University, where she taught undergraduate creative writing for several years. Her work appears in Joyland, Letters, HOOT, Bostonia, the Racist Sandwich podcast, and elsewhere. Catherine was one of the inaugural Writers in Residence at Porter Square Books.

In high school, Catherine attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a public arts boarding school, where she was as intrigued with her teacher as Claire is with Dr. Li. Catherine continues to play and teach piano today. Most recently, she taught English at Choate Rosemary Hall, and lives in the Connecticut River Valley with her husband and daughter.

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“Because the Baron Broods” (Rogue Rules #2) by Darcy Burke (ARC Review)

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Burke, Darcy. Because the Baron Broods. [Place of publication not identified]: Zealous Quill Press, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-1637261798 | $4.99 USD | 292 pages | Regency Romance

Blurb

Growing up in isolation in Cornwall, Tamsin Penrose looks forward to the one month each year that she spends in an idyllic seaside town with her best friends. She’s shocked to receive a letter from her reclusive father informing her of a potential groom—they’ve never even discussed marriage and she rather expected to be a spinster. But she’s met a charming, if serious, baron and now she’s dreaming of a romantic, wedded life.

During his annual trip to a friend’s seaside estate, broody Isaac Deverell, Baron Droxford finds himself in an objectionable situation: socializing with a group of ladies over several days. He is not prepared for the storm of cheerfulness that is Miss Penrose, nor can he deny that she makes him feel…good.

Because Isaac is an unheroic rogue with a devastatingly sinful secret, he should flee this delightful ray of sunshine. However, he can’t keep his distance, and when her overzealous suitor arrives and won’t take no for an answer, Isaac protects her in a scandalously public fashion. Now he can’t run from her. Can these attracted opposites find a happy ever after, or will the past destroy their chance?

In the series

#1 If the Duke Dares

Review

4 stars

I received an ARC from the author and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Because the Baron Broods is the second book in Darcy Burke’s latest series, Rogue Rules. It can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend checking out the first book as well, as it’s just as enjoyable as this one.

Both leads are fairly likable and sympathetic. Tamsin has grown up isolated in Cornwall, only permitted to visit with her friends for a month each year, not to mention her father is a recluse who did not have much of a role in her upbringing, and her mother died when she was young. Isaac, meanwhile, isn’t necessarily a rogue as you’d think of him, but he does have a scandal in his past. He did take longer to get to know and understand, given he’s very closed-off, but as I (and Tamsim) got to know him, I really understood him.

The romance is super sweet, and a slower burn than many of the books I’ve read from Darcy Burke in the past. The circumstances of how Isaac and Tamsin are thrown together means they spend a lot of time getting to know each other, and I appreciated that that took precedence, while building the anticipation and tension. While the first kiss occurs rather late in the book, things pick up from there, and their emotional connection translates into great physical chemistry.

This was an enjoyable second installment, and I’m excited for what the next book brings. I’d recommend this if you’re looking for a slower burn historical romance.

Author Bio

Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. Click here to Join her Reader Club.

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“The Reappearance of Rachel Price” by Holly Jackson (Review)

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Jackson, Holly. The Reappearance of Rachel Price. New York: Delacorte Press, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-0593374207 | $20.99 USD | 430 pages | YA Thriller

Blurb

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of the multimillion-copy bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series and Five Survive comes a gripping mystery thriller following one teen’s search for the truth about her mother’s shocking disappearance—and even more shocking reappearance—during the filming of a true crime documentary.

Lights. Camera. Lies.

Eighteen-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dredged up from the past when the Price family agrees to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And—could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

From world-renowned author Holly Jackson comes a mind-blowing masterpiece about one girl’s search for the truth, and the terror in finding out who your family really is.SEE LESS

Review

4.5 stars

While I didn’t love Holly Jackson’s first Good Girl’s Guide to Murder standalone, I had hope that she’d write another winner soon. And she definitely does this time around with The Reappearance of Rachel Price. It could merely be the similar “true-crime mystery” feel that I simply prefer from Jackson. And while this book was lighter on the presence of multimedia, I liked that there was some at the beginning to set up the eponymous documentary that the major characters are participating in.

Bel is a solid protagonist. She was immediately relatable for how she’s been dealing with having been raised without her mother, and is now dealing with the reopening of those old wounds in the wake of a documentary digging into her disappearance, especially since young Bel was the only witness at the time it happened. I loved the exploration of her complex feelings about the initial incident itself, and how those changed with her mother’s reappearance.

The plot was truly engaging, with so many twists and turns. I loved how it turned from (an admittedly shaky) case of kidnapping by a stranger to something much more sinister highlighting the cracks in the foundation of the Price family. Pretty much no one on that side of the family was immune from suspicion, except Bel and her cousin, Carter (although even Carter is something more than she appears). I admit that some of the choices made to resolve things, while making sense to avoid too much blood on the hands of the innocent characters, felt slightly implausible, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the most part.

I really enjoyed this book, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for a fairly fast-paced YA thriller.

Author Bio

Holly Jackson is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, an international sensation with millions of copies sold worldwide as well as the #1 New York Times bestseller and instant classic, Five Survive, and her forthcoming novel, The Reappearance of Rachel Price. She graduated from the University of Nottingham, where she studied literary linguistics and creative writing, with a master’s degree in English. She enjoys playing video games and watching true-crime documentaries so she can pretend to be a detective. She lives in London.

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“What’s Eating Jackie Oh?” by Patricia Park (ARC Review)

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Park, Patricia. What’s Eating Jackie Oh? New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2024.

ISBN-13: 978-0593563410 | $19.99 USD | 336 pages | YA Contemporary

Blurb

A Korean American teen tries to balance her dream to become a chef with the cultural expectations of her family when she enters the competitive world of a TV cooking show. A hilarious and heartfelt YA novel from the award-winning author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim and Re Jane.

“Park’s novel delivers authentic characters who will make you laugh…and cry. Not to be missed!” –Ellen Oh, author of The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee

Jackie Oh is done being your model minority.

She’s tired of perfect GPAs, PSATs, SATs, all of it. Jackie longs to become a professional chef. But her Korean American parents are Ivy League corporate workaholics who would never understand her dream. Just ask her brother, Justin, who hasn’t heard from them since he was sent to Rikers Island.

Jackie works at her grandparents’ Midtown Manhattan deli after school and practices French cooking techniques at night—when she should be studying. But the kitchen’s the only place Jackie is free from all the stresses eating at her—school, family, and the increasing violence targeting the Asian community.

Then the most unexpected thing happens: Jackie becomes a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off! Soon Jackie is thrown headfirst into a cutthroat TV world filled with showboating child actors, snarky judges, and gimmicky “gotcha!” challenges.

All Jackie wants to do is cook her way. But what is her way? In a novel that will make you laugh and cry, Jackie proves who she is both on and off the plate.

Patricia Park’s hilarious and stunning What’s Eating Jackie Oh? explores the delicate balance of identity, ambition, and the cultural expectations to perform.

Review

3 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I mostly enjoyed the previous book I read from Patricia Park, and What’s Eating Jackie Oh? Sounded similarly promising. And while I liked the ideas presented, I found the execution a tad lacking.

Jackie Oh is a relatable protagonist, and I respect what the story was trying to do in interrogating the “model minority” archetype. I like how we see her grapple with parental pressure, especially as her parents already “lost” one child who failed them, and her true passion for cooking doesn’t fit into the mold they’ve set for her.

And the cooking competition was a lot of fun, and was a solid structure for the book itself, presenting realistic obstacles for her to battle against in her quest to prove her abilities, not to mention providing myriad food-related references.

But in the effort to create such a hard-hitting book, I feel like some of the issues got lost in the shuffle. I kept wondering if her brother being in prison would be developed more, and it wasn’t. Even the pressure and disapproval from her parents felt weirdly sidelined at times. I became very confused as to what exactly the message the reader was meant to take away from the book.

While I didn’t 100% love this, I do like the ideas presented here, even if I wish they had been more fleshed out or focused. If you’re looking for a book that interrogates the “model minority” and follows the journey of becoming oneself, I’d recommend giving this book a chance.

Author Bio

Patricia Park is the author of the award-winning novel, Re Jane (a Korean American retelling of Brontë’s Jane Eyre), and the YA novels Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim (an NPR Best Books of 2023 and a Gotham Book Prize finalist) and the forthcoming, What’s Eating Jackie Oh? She is a tenured professor of creative writing at American University, a Fulbright scholar, an Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, and other awards. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, and others. Patricia was born & raised in Queens, NY. Her novels are all linked in the “Queens multiverse.”

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