Review: Costumes for Time Travelers, by A.R. Capetta

 

Anyone who has hiked through time knows the town of Pocket. It’s the place travelers first reach after they stumble away from their hometime, passing through on their way to any other when. To Calisto, Pocket is home. They love their grandmother’s shop, which is filled with clothes from every era that are used to make costumes for time travelers. Calisto has no intention of traveling—it’s too dangerous. For Fawkes, traveling is life. He put on time boots when he was young and has been stumbling through eras ever since. When he floats into Pocket, Calisto meets him for the first time, though Fawkes has seen Calisto—in glimpses of what hasn’t happened yet. He’s also seen the villains chasing them both. Now Calisto and Fawkes must rush—from Shakespeare’s London to ancient Crete to California on the eve of a millennium—to save Pocket, and travelers, from being erased. From the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The Heartbreak Bakery comes a fairy-tale romance that weaves in and out of time, from kiss to kiss and costume to costume.

"Destiny is a temporal disorder."

A.R. Capetta's Costumes for Time Travelers is a delightfully cozy time travel adventure. It pays homage to a few staples of the genre while giving its own spin, with a fun focus on tailoring not only as an art but also as a kind of time travel. The nonbinary main character Calisto is a young and enthusiastic tailor apprentice who has never time traveled, and the contrast with time savant Fawkes makes for a fun dynamic.

Theirs is a love story out of order, sweet and gentle. In fact, given the premises I expected far more angst than what I got, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The book ambles gently, setting up a threat to reality, but it never feels like the stakes are too high. Perhaps the narration lacks some urgency in that regard.

The points of view are also all over the place, with an open third person narration that jumps too suddenly from one perspective to the next. It's a lovely book, but it may have benefitted from some rewriting.

Costumes for Time Travelers is a sweet summer read.

✨ 3.5 stars

 

📚🥾 So you want to read about out-of-order time-travelers?

Here's my review of Ian McDonald's Time Was  

 

Review: Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame, by Neon Yang

 

The fiercely independent nation of Quanbao is isolated, reclusive, and something of a mystery to the rest of the world. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper but instead loved and worshiped. Yeva is perhaps a strange emissary to these people. Not only because their face has never been seen in public, but because they are a hero born to a birthright that makes them suited for their task—hunting dragons.
And so the dragon hunter must woo Quanbao's queen—the Lady Sookhee—to understand what secrets she is hiding. A woman reasonably suspicious of Yeva's intentions, and the imperial might of the throne she represents, Sookhee bears the burden of the safety of her entire people. How can she trust this stranger newly arrived to her court, a weapon forged in blood and fire, to understand what her people need and how best to safeguard their future?

"It feels like part of her has cracked, but in the way frost cracks in the spring."

Neon Yang's Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a sapphic novella about dragons and about what it means to hide all you are in order to fit in. The worldbuilding is easily the best part, painted with a few deft strokes that enchant the reader, also thanks to the beautiful prose.

The story might fall a little short in the timing, as it condenses a long amount of time in short passages, for instance recounting with stunning speed the main character's formative years, or glossing over her stay in the palace of the girl-king, so that the sapphic development and even the resolution feel a bit unearned.

It's still a stunning novella with gorgeous prose, with the distinct feel of a tale from long ago, almost forgotten.

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is ideal for a cozy evening read.

✨ 4 stars

 

🐲👸🏻 So you want to read about dragons and sapphic knights?

Here's my review of Charlotte Bond's The Fireborne Blade 

Review: The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh

 

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.

"What matters is how you meet failure, and how you face up to it."

Emily Tesh's The Incandescent is a scintillating standalone novel following a competent professor in her thirties as she faces the greatest battle of all: grading. This book really delves into the minutiae of working as a teacher, with a focus on the dynamics of a classrom, the relationships with colleagues, and the administrative part, with the added twist of it being a magical academy of course. It's fresh and interesting and it really breathes to life in a captivating way. At the same time, it handles the challenges of acadamia from an intersectional point of view while also showing that adults don't have everything perfectly together and it's a challenge of its own. It's very hopeful in its discussion of depression, trauma, and bad coping mechanisms. 

The magical plot slowly unveils itself as powerful demons living in the shadow of the school make themselves known and it falls to Saffy to face them. The book can be roughly divided in two parts, with two different threats to face, while Saffy, a true disaster bisexual, is also torn between the hot magical guard in charge of school security, a competent butch with a sword, and the new security advisor, an asshole who feels very sure of himself. The resolution of this particular plot point is worth the wait and frustration.

The star of the book, though, is the phoenix, a powerful demon who learns to navigate the human world and human concepts while being so utterly alien. Their PoV gave me chills and moved me to tears.

The Incandescent is an intriguing concept done perfectly right.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

📖🦚 So you want to read about queer magical professors?

Here's my reviews of Madeleine Nakamura's duology  

Snippet: The Bloodless Princes, by Charlotte Bond

Cursed by the previous practitioner in her new role, and following an incident with a supremely powerful dragon, High Mage Saralene visits the afterlife with a boon to beg of the Bloodless Princes who run the underworld. But Saralene and her most trusted advisor/champion/companion, Sir Maddileh, will soon discover that there's only so much research to be done by studying the old tales, though perhaps there's enough truth in them to make a start. Saralene will need more than just her wits to leave the underworld, alive. And Maddileh will need more than just her Fireborne Blade.

“Justice is like iron.”

Charlotte Bond's The Bloodless Princes is a novella concluding the duology that began with The Fireborne Blade (HERE you can read my review). Set three years after the events recounted there, it employs the same format of narration, with the story proper being interrupted by chapters about the history and lore of the world. The plot is pretty simple, as Maddileh and Saralene need to contend with the consequences of what they did at the end of the first book, and this leads to a voyage to the Underworld with a taste of the myth of Orpheus; at the same time, they must face their feelings for each other, which have only grown during the time between the two books. This makes for a sweet story where the stakes are pretty low, all things considered. The cat on the cover does absolutely have a part to play, and in fact it was a definite highlight of the book, a great character.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, by John Wiswell

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.
However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she’s found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don’t think about love that way.

"Hatred was the fear people let themselves enjoy."

John Wiswell's Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a cozy horror story about love, loving yourself, and overcoming abuse, from the perspective of the monster, a blob who can rearrange her insides and her outsides to her liking. Her voice is so clear, and funny, with her matter-of-fact observations about humans and what little she understands of them, but she's also a deep character, with what seems to be a moral compass and a clear understanding of what is right and wrong in the human world.

The narration swings wildly between mild gore and sweet musings, in a mix that makes for an incredibly interesting read. We follow Sheshesen's terrible first day after hibernation, and we see her stumble right into some horrifying human drama while rapidly falling in love with a woman who saved her, not knowing what she is. This book has some pointed things to say about what trauma does to a person, and what it means to fall in love with traits that are trauma responses, and how to be there for someone who grew up in an abusive household.

I didn't see the twist coming, but keener readers might have no problem identifying it. I do think that it takes away some of the strength of the story, because it's a neat explanation and doesn't allow for true accountability, but the strong ending makes up for it. I also might have missed the logistics of some things.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is a wild tale from start to finish.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Mal, by Perla Zul

Once upon a time, Mal was a spinster who could weave magic into his thread. Hired by the royal family, he met the young prince and the two became inseparable. But when the two attempted to save the kingdom, Mal was the only one to pay the price. He wakes up from a hundred year sleep with a body made of thorns and roses, his prince having never returned for him. Now, when that same kingdom he saved doesn't invite him to celebrate the birth of the princess, Mal brings his own gift...

"In the same way you'd love a flower, love yourself with that same power."

Perla Zul's Mal is a delightful novella retelling of The Sleeping Beauty, with a twist: Mal himself was victim of a sleeping curse, and as such bestows the same gift to the baby princess descended from the king of the realm he tried to save. He'll need to learn to let go of regret and resentment, and to love himself. As the hundred years of the princess' curse go by, we witness him grow and find friendship and love.

The novella has a strong fairy tale feel; the time jumps and the leaps of logic, which are very hit-or-miss in more straighforward stories, here work because of the dream-like quality of the narration. It really reads like an old story, sweet and magical. This effect also comes from the writing decision to have almost all dialogue rhyme, which is absolutely delightful, but it might not be for everyone. I know I loved it so much that I was grinning everytime a character spoke.

The characters' development is mostly off-screen, but again, given the strong fairy-tale feel that the author is going for, this works. The cast is a delight, with seven fairies who take Mal under their wings, and the fantastic character of the princess, and the prince destined to wake her up. We know how the original story goes, but we might be surprised by the fresh take of this retelling and by the narrative, circular direction.

Mal is a delightful retelling.

✨ 4 stars

Snippet: Until the Last Petal Falls, by Viano Oniomoh

When Eru was eleven years old, he met an unforgettable boy.Only a few weeks after, he forgot all about that boy. Ten years later, after his parents’ sudden deaths, all Eru wants is to find a way out of the village he was supposed to leave behind, and escape the abuse of his grieving grandmother. When he receives a summons from Able Mummy, the wife of the High Chief, it seems all of his prayers have been answered.
Able Mummy needs his help. But she and the High Chief have a secret. Once Eru uncovers the truth, he finds that the fate of the village, and that of the boy he’d been made to forget, could lie solely in his hands.

“Choose to live.”

Viano Oniomoh's Until the Last Petal Falls is a sweet queerplatonic retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in present-day Nigeria, a cozy novella featuring Nigerian folklore, many pop culture references, and a lovely exploration of the blossoming bond between two young men who are both aroace. The book races through their relationship, making it difficult to really care about them, especially with many developments being off-screen. It's still a sweet read, a perfect palate cleanser.

✨ 3 stars

Review: Swordcrossed, by Freya Marske

Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. Sword-challenge at the ceremony could destroy all hope of restoring his family's wealth, something that Matti has been trying—and failing—to do for the past ten years. What he can afford, unfortunately, is part-time con artist and full-time charming menace Luca Piere.
Luca, for his part, is trying to reinvent himself in a new city. All he wants to do is make some easy money and try to forget the crime he committed in his hometown. He didn't plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible—and inconveniently handsome—wool merchant like Matti. However, neither Matti's business troubles nor Luca himself are quite what they seem.

"You broke me out of the box."

Freya Marske's Swordcrossed is a low-stakes romantasy with very little fantasy elements and a focus on fencing and wool. Set in a queernormative world, it follows workaholic Matti as he struggles to juggle his merchant family duties and faces a wedding he doesn't really want. His chance meeting with swordsman Luca will help him find a better balance in his life and allies he wasn't sure he had.

This is a cozy story with great things to say about managing familial expectations and finding one's own way, even when one's family is supportive. It's also a fun adventure featuring interesting customs such as the one about using duelists during formal events such as a wedding, which makes for nice shenanigans.

The progression of the attraction between the two main characters was handled beautifully and led to many steamy scenes, but there was some well-placed angst as well. The plot truly is minimal, and the twists are pretty obvious, but sometimes that's all you need. I will say that the fact this was written before the remarkable Last Binding trilogy is made clear by the simplicity of the story, but it's not inherently a bad thing.

Swordcrossed is a fun romp that will make you learn many things about the wool industry.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Yield Under Great Persuasion, by Alexandra Rowland

Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant. When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry into the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam hasn’t forgiven the bastard. No one understands how deeply he was hurt that day, how it set a pattern of small disappointments and misfortunes that would run through the rest of his life. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods don’t care and won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates), and that life is inherently mundane, joyless, and drab.
And then, the very last straw: Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favor of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good. But the journey doesn’t take him far, and Tam soon finds himself set on a quest for the most difficult of all possible prizes: Self care, forgiveness, a second chance... and somehow the unbelievably precious knowledge that there is at least one person who loves Tam for exactly who he is—and always has.

"But if you want to be loved, really loved, first you have to be you."

Alexandra Rowland's Yield Under Great Persuasion is a cozy adventure of self-exploration, featuring an unlikable protagonist who becomes less unlikable as he starts working on himself and experiences love and acceptance. It's a soft story about second chances, coming to terms with all the ugly parts of you, and coming out willing to do the work to become the better version of yourself.

On the others side of the equation is Lyford, hopelessly in love with the main character, a paragon of understanding. He, too, learns something: to challenge the one you love and allow yourself to get angry sometimes and stand up for himself, and to stop just accepting whatever's sprouted at him. Together, the two will learn to complete each other and coexist, accept and challenge each other.

The worldbuilding is exquisite, featuring a meddling hearth goddess and her equally meddling siblings. Gods have people they favor, and they bestow upon them gifts that can help others; learning to navigate this favor and find community and acceptance is also a main theme of the book.

But most of all, this is a book about working on yourself and features therapy lingo very heavily.

Yield Under Great Persuasion will drag you to therapy kicking and screaming.

✨ 4 stars

Review: The Phoenix Keeper, by S.A. MacLean

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila's childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There's just one glaring caveat: her zoo's breeding program hasn't functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighbouring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins. But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons... Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. Inspiring zoo patrons? That's another story. Mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo's most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.
Especially when the hotshot griffin keeper in question just so happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and even more annoyingly insufferable know-it-all with the grace of a goblin and the face of a goddess who's convinced that Aila's beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than as a passive conservation exhibit.

"Let her prove she could be worth something."

S.A. MacLean's The Phoenix Keeper is a cozy fantasy novel about bisexual zoekeeper Aila and her struggle with anxiety and with the zoo program that's trying to save a Phoenix species from extinction. It's a low-stakes story, sweet and slow-paced, taking its time to describe the daily life at the zoo and the steps taken to bring the program back to life, while chronicling her journey to become a more functional person. It's marketed as a sapphic romantasy, but while the romance is lovely, it's not focussed on and it's more of a subplot.

The tension between Aila and her love interest crackles as Aila has to first navigate a blooming relationship with another zookeeper, a man who on the surface looks perfect for her. But looks can be deceiving, and when Aila lets herself see people for who they truly are, she might reach a different conclusion than she thought.

Throughout the book, she's helped by her best friend, whose friendship has to overcome a few hurdles. Aila is a self-centered protagonist, trapped inside her anxiety that makes her not quite so insightful, but as she slowly comes out of her shell, she becomes more mindful. Her love interest is a more well-rounded character than her, showing hidden depths behind a cool demeanor.

The worldbuilding isn't too elaborate, but it works. The world looks mostly like our own, with the notable exception of magical fauna that's preserved in zoos. The book excels in describing these habitats and enclosures with a lush and colorful prose, showing a zookeper's life with the joy and enthusiasm of a child's visit, building on that nostalgia to really pluck at the heartstrings.

The Phoenix Keeper is a quiet story of self-realization.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: Til Death Do Us Bard, by Rose Black

It's been almost a year since Logan 'The Bear' Theaker hung up his axe and settled down with his sunshiny bard husband, Pie. But when Pie disappears, Logan is forced back into a world he thought he'd left behind. Logan quickly discovers that Pie has been blackmailed into stealing a powerful artifact capable of creating an undead army. With the help of an old adversary and a ghost from his past, Logan sets out to rescue his husband.
But the further the quest takes him, the more secrets Logan uncovers. He'll need all his strength to rescue his husband - but can he save their marriage?

"Everything's a story."

Rose Black's Til Death Do Us Bard is an adventure that attempts to be cozy and funny, but the humor falls flat and the coziness disappears very quickly. The main characters' relationship, which is established by the time the book starts, is recounted from its inceptions in vignettes in-between chapters, painting a sweet story of grabbing second chances and finding love in one's forties.

The main plot reveals secrets and lies that should color at least a bit of the relationship, but the conflict solves pretty quickly as the two husbands focus on saving the realm from a threat. The world was generic, painted quickly, which is a shame, because there were interesting things about necromancy and unicorns, and an intriguing backstory about the world was introduced towards the end, which didn't give enough time to really appreciate the sudden dramatic paradigm shift.

The supporting cast was strong, with a ghost ex-wife, a sheltered shepherd, and an old necromancer countess whose sexual harassment of all the male characters was unfortunately used as a source of humor.

The ending ties up all loose threads, and it's certainly creative.

Til Death Do Us Bard is a book that had great potential.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: Bookshops & Bonedust, by Travis Baldree

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it. What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine. Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

"Sometimes, we aren't the right people yet."

Travis Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust is the perfect prequel to the lovely Legends & Lattes, a prequel the author hadn't anticipated but that allowed him to flesh out more the protagonist, Viv, and expand on her backstory and her motivations. This is another low-stakes story wherein Viv learns the art of staying still in one place, finds friends, has a fling, and makes connections; she starts to read, and learns the magic of books.

This books is soft and tender and charming, and it has very poignant things to say about there being a time for everything, about missing chances and growing and finding one's place. The characters are all so vivid, we even see some old faces, and the epilogue especially was delightful. New races are explored, the worldbuilding grows, and there's more of a coherent plot regarding a magical threat, than in the first book of the series. It takes what worked so well in the first installment, and gives more, for a beautiful exploration of the ties that bind people.

Bookshops & Bonedust is a worthy prequel/sequel and a cozy marvel.

✨ 4 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Bookshop and the Barbarian, by Morgan Stang

for: low-stakes, bookshops

ARC Review: Running Close to the Wind, by Alexandra Rowland

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world―and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea. To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit.
The only things in their way? A calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom. But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings―and, more importantly, they'll be legends.

My thanks to the author for providing an ARC copy.

Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind is a cozy low-stakes pirate adventure set in the same world of the excellent A Taste of Gold and Iron, loosely connected to it by a plot point. The two books couldn’t be more different, as Running Close to the Wind is funny. Hysterically, being-in-stitches, laughing-on-the-floor funny. It’s so funny that it’s too funny sometimes, but it’s a joy to read a book that doesn’t take itself so seriously while simultaneously delivering some very profound reflections in the more serious segments.

The trio of main characters is a delight, their banter on point as the dynamic between Avra and Teveri expands with the arrival of the mysterious Julian and his wiles. The characters are unapologetically horny, but the book is surprisingly chaste in that regard, while also being incredibly tender in parts. I especially enjoyed the few conversations about having and defending one’s boundaries. The rest of the cast, from the colorful crew to the pirates on the island, were all painted in deft strokes, resulting in vivid characters with so much to say. It really was reminiscent of Our Flag Means Death, as it was pitched, and it was an absolute romp.

The world gets expanded in a really clever subversion of what we know from A Taste of Gold and Iron, showing what the outside world thinks exactly of the choice to keep for themselves the only way to sail safely during a certain time of the year. There’s sea serpents and giant turtles and ghosts that need a complex reference guide to be handled, and it’s all so delightful. This choice to have loosely interconnected stories where the world is explored more and more is an intriguing one, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Running Close to the Wind is a fun adventure with hidden depths.

✨ 4 stars

Snippet: The Bachelor's Valet, by Arden Powell

Alphonse Hollyhock is blessed with wealth, class, and more beauty than brains. Though he hasn't got a lick of wit or magic to his name, he's perfectly content living life as an airheaded bachelor with his valet—the clever, unflappable Jacobi—by his side to ensure everything runs smoothly. All he lacks, according to his mother, is a wife. Despite Alphonse's protests, he's to marry Aaliyah Kaddour: a bright, headstrong young woman who would probably be charming company if she didn't threaten everything about Alphonse's way of life. Marrying means giving up his fashionable flat, his fast car, and, worst of all, it means losing Jacobi.
Perhaps most distressingly, this talk of marriage is bringing all sorts of confusing feelings to the forefront. Because rather than falling for the beautiful girl being pushed into his arms, Alphonse seems to be falling for his valet. Except a man can't fall in love with another man. Can he? Meanwhile, Aaliyah has plans of her own. She's as devious as she is pretty, but if Alphonse wants to get through this marriage business in one piece, he'll have to trust her. Her and Jacobi, and, most dangerously, his own feelings.

"Like stepping into summer sunshine". Arden Powell's The Bachelor's Valet is a sweet low-stakes fantasy story about an air-headed bachelor and his loyal valet with magical powers. It's incredibly cozy and it never once attempts to be more than it is; I found it a perfectly relaxing read to cleanse the palate in-between heavier books. This is the same author of the book about a nightmarish eldritch fairy creature, so I'm really happy to have given them another chance. This novella is part of a series of loosely connected queer romantasy books, so I might pick up something else from the series. There's also a nice wlw relationship that takes some space in the narrative.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Witchmark, by C.L. Polk

Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veterans' hospital, Miles can’t hide what he truly is.
When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witchmark, he must put his anonymity and freedom at risk to investigate his patient’s murder. To find the truth he’ll need to rely on the family he despises, and on the kindness of the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen.

"Amaranthines had no choice but to speak the truth, so they lied with honest words". C.L. Polk's Witchmark is a cozy fantasy mystery with a steampunk feel that delves into PTSD and classism. It's the first book in a trilogy, but it works well enough as a stand-alone novel; the protagonists fade into the background in the two sequels, that focus on different characters seen here. This is a debut, and it shows in the writing.

The plot follows the protagonist's attempts to find out what is happening in his country and to escape the clutches of his family, while also having a cute romance with a gentleman that is more than he seems. The most engaging part was the conflict with the system of the families of mages, that control the weather at the cost of enslaving less powerful witches in their families, while low-born witches are committed to asylums while the general public seems to have no clue that magic does exist. This conflict meshed well with the mystery that was set up, and the struggles of soldiers coming home took also center stage in the narrative. But the world isn't really well-developed, and the conflict with another nation is never explained well, until we get to a rushed finale that sets up bigger things with very little preparation.

While matters unfold, Miles also has the time to pursue a relationship with the mysterious man helping him. The romance is very cute and sweet and charming; it feels a bit like insta-love, but it works well in the context of the story. This book however seems very focused on the aesthetic, more than anything else. There's bikes and waistcoats and carriages and it feels more like they're there for the vibes, than for some actual world-building. There is character development, and an interesting journey, but the only character who is explored with any depth is the protagonist, and while he really is explored well, his sister and his romantic interest are more like cardboard figures.

Having also recently read Polk's most recent story, I'd say the author hasn't changed much over the years. The ideas are fascinating, but the execution feels lacking. While I'm mildly intrigued to know how the trilogy continues, I might wait a while before tackling it.

Witchmark is a cozy fantasy mystery for a quick, easy read.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: The Bookshop and the Barbarian, by Morgan Stang

Running from strife in her homeland, Maribella Waters becomes the new owner of the fabled Cozy Quill. After finding squatters on her property, she employs Asteria Helsdottir, a giant, barbarian warrior woman more accustomed to swinging an axe than opening a book. Together, the odd couple must make a success out of the bookshop—and survive a dizzying procession of seasonal festivals.
But the local evil noblewoman has other plans in mind. Threatened with being run off the land, Maribella and Asteria must use their wits to outsmart Lady Malicent and keep their business open. Along the way, the whole town lends a hand, friendships are forged, and mysteries are revealed.

This was such a delightful read! Morgan Stang's The Bookshop and the Barbarian is a low-stakes cozy novella about the importance of reading and finding new friends. It's also frankly hilarious, to the point where I laughed out loud more than a couple of times. The author gently makes fun of the conventions of the genre, while following them to a T. It even references another famous cozy fantasy novella almost directly, to much hilarity.

This is an incredibly sweet, fun little adventure that I'm really glad to have read. The soft blooming romance between the young businesswoman and the barbarian warrior is the icing on the cake. The dialogue is so incredibly witty, and the funny parts are balanced well with more profound moments. The fourth wall is constantly broken and it's fantastic; the way the haunted books were handled, particularly, had me in stitches.

The Bookshop and the Barbarian is perfect to cleanse your palate in-between heavier reads.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

 

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.
If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to do it alone. But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

You don't need a big conflict to make a good story. Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes is a cozy fantasy novella set entirely in a coffee shop, detailing Viv's journey as she puts up her sword and navigates the exciting life of a barista. This includes renovating, decorating, and finding partners to join her on this adventure. At its core, it's a book about connections and warmth and building up a new life.

The novella is absolutely brimming with life and warm feelings and so many great characters, from the succubus showing up to bartend, to the carpenter with big ideas, and the cook with even bigger ideas, to the magic student, to the lute player. The coffee shop grows, and Viv with it, building connections with so many people and falling into a delicate love story with the succubus, a fantastic character on her own right. Viv's ragtagag band of adventurers show up as well, to help and support her. Even the local crime boss isn't immune to a cup of good coffee and a delicious cinnamon roll.

Legends & Lattes is just what you need if you want to read a cozy high fantasy with low stakes.

✨ 3.5 stars