#BookReview: The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche

Ancient sorcery. Magic gemstones. Only one woman can save a city in ruins…1348. As the Black Plague ravages Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile. Ginevra has a gift—harnessing the hidden powers of gemstones, she can heal the sick. But when word spread of her unusual abilities, she was condemned as a witch and banished. Now the same men who expelled Ginevra are begging for her return. Ginevra obliges, assuming the city’s leaders are finally ready to accept her unorthodox cures amid a pandemic. But upon arrival, she is tasked with a much different she must use her collection of jewels...

#BookReview: The Luminaries (Luminaries, #1) by Susan Dennard

Hemlock Falls isn't like other towns. You won't find it on a map, your phone won't work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie's town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family's good name. Or die trying.But in order...

#BookReview: If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley

Fate connects two people in life-changing ways in a deeply romantic and emotional novel about hope and second chances by the author of Would You Rather and The Roommate Pact.Uncertain of what tomorrow brings, Elliott Holland decides to live it up—on the eve of a stem cell transplant to treat her leukemia. It’s destiny when she crosses paths with handsome and charming Jamie Sullivan. The chemistry is magic. So is a beautiful evening that ends with a bittersweet kiss goodbye and no expectations of ever seeing each other again.One year later, Elliott’s future looks good. Her cancer is in remission. Her career in graphic...

#BookReview: The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze

Cross into the spirit realm with this thrilling supernatural debut about sisterhood and female defiance, perfect for fans of Kerri Maniscalco— inspired by lives of real teenage twin mediums in the 19th century.  "Deliciously chilling and edge-of-your-seat suspenseful.”—Nina LaCour, Printz Award–winning author of We Are OkaySacramento, 1885  Edie and Violet Bond know the truth about death. The seventeen-year-old twins are powerful mediums, just like their mother—Violet can open the veil between life and death, and Edie can cross into the spirit world. But their abilities couldn’t save them when their mother died and their...

#BookReview: My Kind of Trouble by L. A. Schwartz

A slick conwoman meets her match in a hot and nerdy small-town librarian in this debut romance, perfect for fans of Spoiler Alert and Act Your Age, Eve Brown.Conwoman Harmony Hale has sold lies up and down California for years, never looking back at her crafty scams or one-night stands. Now she’s come to Brookville, California, with her sights set on its wealthy mayor—the man who stole her father’s music-streaming algorithm and ruined his life. Harmony is finally ready to take him down, with her trusty con of selling a nonexistent music festival. All she needs is the cooperation of the man who owns the potential festival site.Autistic...

#BookReview: Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot

Love comes home for the challah-days in this sparkling romance.Snow is falling, holiday lights are twinkling, and Abby Cohen is pissed. For one thing, her most annoying customer, Seth, has been coming into her café every morning with his sunshiny attitude, determined to break down her carefully constructed emotional walls. And, as the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town, Abby's been charged with planning their fledgling Hanukkah festival. Unfortunately, the local vendors don’t understand that the story of Hanukkah cannot be told with light-up plastic figures from the Nativity scene, even if the Three Wise Men...

#BookReview: A Reign of Rose (The Sacred Stones Trilogy #3) by Kate Golden

From Kate Golden, author of viral phenomenon A Dawn of Onyx, comes the seductive, action-packed conclusion to her sweeping Sacred Stones trilogy.They must save the world—but can they also save each other?Kane Ravenwood, King of Onyx Kingdom, would go to the ends of the continent for Arwen Valondale, but what if she’s beyond even that? Broken in ways he never imagined he could be, Kane must find a way to fulfill the prophecy and kill his father, Fae King Lazarus. And after what he’s endured, he’s willing to save Evendell by whatever means necessary—even if that spells his own death.Little does Kane know, he’s not the only one fighting...

#BookReview: How to Summon a Fairy Godmother (Fairies and Familiars, #1) by Laura J. Mayo

If a fairy godmother can get one sister into a marriage, getting another out of one should be easy… Lady Theodosia Balfour has certainly gotten the short end of the stick—her stepsister, the newly crowned Princess Beatrice, is telling everyone in polite society that Theo, her sister, and their mother are evil, wicked, and horrid people who treated her like a slave. Though Theo knows this isn't exactly true, it seems her life is thoroughly ruined by the rumor. With the Balfour family estate on the verge of bankruptcy, Theo's only path forward is a forced betrothal to the Duke of Snowbell,...

#BookReview: Prince of Song & Sea (Prince, #1) by Linsey Miller

For fans of Twisted Tales and Villains is a brand new YA series that retells the classic Disney stories you thought you knew from the Disney Princes' perspectives.Before Prince Eric’s mother, the Queen of Vellona, went missing two years ago, she reminded him about the details of the deadly curse that has plagued his entire life. The curse? If he were to kiss someone other than his true love, he would die. With a neighboring kingdom looking for any excuse to invade their shores, and rumors of ghost pirates lurking the seas, Eric is desperate for any information that may help him break his enchantment and bring stability...

#BookReview: Direwood by Catherine Yu

In this velvet-clad 1990s gothic horror, Aja encounters a charming vampire who wants to lure her into the woods—just like her missing sister.No one ever pays attention to sixteen-year-old Aja until her perfect older sister Fiona goes missing. In the days leading up to Fiona’s disappearance, Aja notices some extraordinary things: a strange fog rolling through their idyllic suburban town, a brief moment when the sky seems to rain blood, and a host of parasitic caterpillars burrowing their way through the trees. Aja’s father, the neighbors, and even her ex-friend Mary all play down this strange string of occurrences, claiming there must...

#BookReview: The Liar's Crown (Dominions, #1) by Abigail Owen

Some shadows protect you…others will kill you in this dazzling new fantasy series from award-winning author Abigail Owen.Everything about my life is a lie. As a hidden twin princess, born second, I have only one purpose—to sacrifice my life for my sister if death comes for her. I’ve been living under the guise of a poor, obscure girl of no standing, slipping into the palace and into the role of the true princess when danger is present.Now the queen is dead and the ageless King Eidolon has sent my sister a gift—an eerily familiar gift—and a proposal to wed. I don’t trust him, so I do what I was born to do and secretly take her place...

#BookReview: A Venom Dark and Sweet (The Book of Tea, #2) by Judy I. Lin

The enthralling conclusion to Judy I. Lin's Book of Tea duology—A Magic Steeped in Poison and A Venom Dark and Sweet—is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.A great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust.Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess' loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning's newly healed sister, Shu. Together...

#BookReview: The Drowned Woods (The Bones Houses, #2) by Emily Lloyd-Jones @em_llojo

Once upon a time, the kingdoms of Wales were rife with magic and conflict, and eighteen-year-old Mererid “Mer” is well-acquainted with both. She is the last living water diviner and has spent years running from the prince who bound her into his service. Under the prince’s orders, she located the wells of his enemies, and he poisoned them without her knowledge, causing hundreds of deaths. After discovering what he had done, Mer went to great lengths to disappear from his reach. Then Mer’s old handler returns with a proposition: use her powers to bring down the very prince that abused them both.The best way to do that is to destroy the...

#BookReview: Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

High school sucks. Especially for the undead.“This is the lesbian vampire boarding school story I've always needed, but it's smarter, nastier, and more fun than I ever could have dreamed." —Kylie Schachte, author of You're NextKat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school...

#BookReview: Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne

The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away.After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s terrifying legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doom...

#BookReview: The Magician's Daughter - A Memoir by Katy Grabel

The Magician’s Daughter – a Memoir is a coming-of-age story set within the motion and light of a traveling magic show. Fourteen-year-old Katy has a craving for grandeur and an imaginary world in her bedroom. She is the daughter of Lee Grabel—a former professional magician stuck behind a desk in the suburbs—who yearns to rekindle the lost fame of his former magic show. When he decides to hit the road again in a grand bid to be a Las Vegas headliner, Katy is delighted to enter the leagues of show biz as his stage assistant. With a floating piano, vanishing horse, and other wonderments, the Grabel family and their crew go on tour...

#BookReview: Curtsies & Consequences by Melissa Constantine

Kira, Princess Royal of the Known Kingdoms, has a big, particularly hairy secret. That terrifying thing running through the woods around Corlea Palace? That's her.And she plans to keep it up, using the magic of an old cloak to be the mythical Beast of Barlow. It's all going just fine until she receives an urgent request from her cousin Bertie to help him figure out why a group of orphans is turning into little copies of the Beast whenever they go outside. To help solve the mystery Kira is paired with Sir Robert, perhaps the most infuriatingly beautiful (and far too preceptive) knight on the continent, before a planned hunt...

#BookReview: My Vampire Plus-One (My Vampires #2) by Jenna Levine

Nothing sucks more than fake dating a vampire in this paranormal romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of My Roommate Is a Vampire.Amelia Collins is by definition successful. She would even go so far as to say successfully single. But not according to her family, and she’s tired of the constant questions about her nonexistent dating life. When an invitation to yet another family wedding arrives, she decides to get everyone off her back once and for all by finding someone–anyone–to pose as her date.After a chance encounter with Reginald Cleaves, Amelia decides he’s perfect for her purposes. He’s a bit strange, but that’s...

#BookReview: The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski

A cozy and uplifting debut novel about three clairvoyant sisters who face an unexpected twist of Fate at the bottom of their own delicate porcelain cups.Ever since the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that rest in the swirls of ginger, cloves, and cardamom at the bottom of their customers’ cups. Their days at the teashop are filled with talk of butterflies and good fortune intertwined with the sound of cinnamon shortbread being snapped by laced fingers.That is, until the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her...

#BookReview: Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi

A kitchen witch with a penchant for baking and a (literally) cursed love life meets someone who's worth breaking a hex for in this sweet and spicy debut romance.As a skilled kitchen witch, Dina Whitlock knows her way around a pastry recipe. In fact, she runs her very own London café serving magic-infused pastries for her loyal customers. But only a select few friends know about her magical abilities or the hex that has plagued her love life. It’s hard to fall in love when your partner is guaranteed to have a string of bad luck the second they start to have feelings for you. Scott Mason is back from traveling the world and is excited...