Y'all, I really need to stop buying books blind. Sure, it worked out fine enough when I bought I am Made of Death, but I knew rationally that buying a book just because the cover looks nice isn't going to pan out every time. But when I came across Elizabeth Bedlam's 2021 self-published novella The Way the Light Falls…

ALT: Scary Creepy

Hey, uh...you wanna hear a funny story? So, waaaaaaaaaay back at the end of April of this year, I got a notification that Mandy Webster, editor of Bad Moon on the Rise from Elderfly Press (read my review of it here), was taking submissions for another anthology. This one would be titled Mother Monster, Father Fiend: An Anthology of the Monsters Who Raised Us.

September 25 is celebrated as National Comic Book Day here in the United States. Now, I didn’t grow up reading comic books; I was a comic strip girly. But that doesn’t mean that I don&#…

Y'all, spending money sucks a bunch. That's why I'm here with another list of free books from Smashwords! That's right, as a follow-up to my previous post, which in turn was a follow-up to my initial post, I've compiled a list of five books of various genres that you can download now without paying a single cent. Check 'em out...

When I go to the library, I tend to gravitate toward the nonfiction books. I love browsing through texts of philosophy, psychology, and self-improvement to find something that could better my life.…

One of the earliest reviews I did on this website was for Matt Haig's popular novel The Midnight Library, and I had mixed feelings about it. When I found out that Viking had published the second book in Haig's "Midnight World" series, The Midnight Train, earlier this year, I decided to download the audiobook to find out if it was better than the first book.

There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes, and me being a nerd who loves to read. One of those three things is the topic of this blog post: the plot-triggering death. A plot-triggering death is the passing away of a character near the beginning of the story that puts the rest of the narrative into motion. More often than not, this results in a mystery to solve a killing.

Every year around this time, I have a yen to go back to school. Unfortunately, since I am not of school age and don't want to take out loans for college, the best I can do is live vicariously through a book. Longtime readers of my blog know already that I'm a fan of dark academia, so that's why I was excited to pick up Jessica Ward's 2023 young adult thriller from Gallery Books, …

I miss going to school. I miss learning things. I miss getting information from experts. I miss taking what I've learned and applying it to the rest of my life. I miss flexing how smart I am (a hold-over from being a "gifted kid"). Unfortunately, I don't have the time to take on a new degree, and I definitely don't want to take out any more student loans since I just paid them off about two years ago.

Remember how we had the whole "Greek mythology reimagining" trend in books for a while there? Is it still going on? I have no idea. Anyway, I figured a good way to tiptoe into the genre would be by reading a novelette. That's why I picked up the free download of Love for All Seasons, the first in the…

Donate to my “Read Every Day in August” Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society here! (Ends August 31, 2025) "Ohhhhh back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool..." Yep, classes are back in session. Students are trying to keep their sanity as they're torn between lessons, extracurricular activities, social interactions. Y'know what helps?

Donate to my “Read Every Day in August” Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society here! (Ends August 31, 2025) I'm back on my book blog, fam. First, I want to explain why I left. My mental health went to hell there for a while. I lost connections with people due to my own unhealthy behaviors. The good news is, I've been working on myself--I got a new diagnosis, I started new medications, and I'm learning skills to manage my symptoms.

Donate to my “Read Every Day in August” Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society here! (Ends August 31, 2025) You know me...I like getting books for free. I've mentioned previously my appreciation for BookBub, and that's where I happened across the book Bleak Waters, Gary Kruse's self-published 2025 novel. Free ebook? Indie author? Mystery? Sign me the heck up!

Donate to my “Read Every Day in August” Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society here! (Ends August 31, 2025) When reading is hard--and it has been for me lately, for a number of reasons--sometimes it helps to find a book with an un-put-down-able quality to it. What helped me a ton was getting an advance reader copy of Victoria Helen Stone's…

Gonna try to keep this sweet 'n breezy. I'm taking a break from this book blog. Due to recent events that I shan't regale you with, I need to take all the excess off my plate and put in a renewed focus on my mental health. (I'm not going to do anything to "unalive" myself. Chill.) I am still doing my “Read Every Day in August” Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, which you can still donate to