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The Duke: A Review

Today, we’re mixing things up a bit with a review a bit outside my usual wheelhouse here. I don’t usually talk up romance novels, but something about Anna Cowan’s The Duke struck me as being worthy of focus. Maybe it’s because it’s a queer romance, maybe it’s because it’s set in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Regardless, it’s fun.

Celine is a courtesan, desperate to escape the political turmoil of France in the late 1700s. When a client and protector, Bastien, is informed that his own head is on the line, he promises Celine that he’ll match her with the Duke of Howard, a British noble and childhood friend of his coming to visit. Celine knows that name and the reputation that follows. The Duke of Howard is a woman, Kate, known for her refusal to take a man into her bed. That very night, Celine finds herself cornered by a stranger in Bastien’s home. The two briefly exchange words before Celine realizes that this person rifling through Bastien’s desk in search of something is none other than the Duke herself, arrived nearly a week earlier than anticipated. Tensions rise quickly, and the two pass the remainder of the night in a heated flurry of kisses and climaxes. In the morning, the Duke departs, convinced that Bastien is no longer in possession of a letter she had once written him. With his impending demise, Kate thoroughly believes that no one in France now knows of the secrets it contained. Her business concluded and her appetites exhaustively sated, Kate returns to England, but not before leaving a gold ring on Celine’s finger. The remainder of the ongoing revolution should have erased any other traces of her trip.

Three years later, the Duke has established herself in her role in London and its politics. All is going her way until a guest calls at her estate, bearing her once-gifted ring. Celine, it seems, has survived the turmoil in Paris and made her way across the channel. She informs Kate that, not only did she find Bastien’s letter from long ago, she read it. Celine is now aware of the potential treason that Kate committed in youth, the act that removed the rest of her family from society and established herself as the Duke of Howard. Furious at being used and abandoned by Kate, Celine threatens her with blackmail. She demands that Kate find her a husband and a place in society so that she will never again know want or loneliness. Not entirely unreasonable, considering how the Duke treated her. With everything to lose, Kate begins her hurried plan to find the most eligible bachelors in London, trying to make Celine over from prostitute to proper lady.

Years, though, have done little to curb the deep desire that both women still feel for one another. For Kate, guiding Celine through the parts of British society that she had personally shunned for years only serves to increase her need for the other woman. Neither of them is fully willing to forget what they had that one night in Paris. Will Celine give up her pursuit of a husband if she can win over the Duke? Will Kate surrender to her long-hidden emotions and allow herself to publicly take a wife? They could be the most powerful couple that London has seen… if they don’t kill each other first.

The Duke is a spectacularly well-written sapphic romance. Anna Cowan weaves a tale of a version of London that might have been, seamlessly blending regency standards with compelling queer characters and ridiculously intense sex scenes. It’s out in the world as of yesterday, 4/28/26, and I would highly recommend that you check it out. My thanks as always to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom: A Review

When Xiomara decides to brave a threatening storm to attend the reading of her Papi Ramon’s will, she has no idea just what she’s in for. She expects her aunts and uncles (Papi’s surviving children) to be horrible, and for her cousins to gossip. For her, that’s all part of being a member of a large Dominican family. Still, since her mother died, Xiomara feels obligated to represent her part of the family and to spare her own father from dealing with his in-laws. It won’t be for more than a few hours anyway, and then she’ll be free of them.

Arriving at Papi Ramon’s house, she finds her grandfather’s home aide, Naomi, and a handful of the other members of the Abreu family waiting for the arrival of Papi’s lawyer. Tensions only rise as old conflicts resurface, with each other arriving relative bringing plenty of baggage. For Xiomara, memories are fiddly. It seems that there are stories of Papi Ramon’s life as a minister that only she remembers him telling, and no one has any idea why she would have been told that he was an exorcist.

When the lawyer finally arrives, the chaos only grows. The will simply states that one of the people in the room is a demon that Papi made a deal with years ago. The Abreus have twelve hours to destroy the demon or they will all be damned. Almost immediately, the family begins to argue with the lawyer, demanding to see the real will that must have been replaced. There’s no way this can possibly be real. Papi Ramon was a good man, wasn’t he? How could he possibly have made a deal with a demon? There’s no such thing, right?

Xiomara, though. Xiomara sees the paper, and realizes that what the lawyer had read as “Hugs and Kisses” was simply XO. A nod to her childhood nickname. A directive. She knows then that she has to solve this mystery to save herself, and Naomi, and, she supposes, the rest of her aunts, uncles, and cousins. This is the beginning of her quest, but an additional complication is soon added. When the lawyer leaves to go find the “real will” that must have been swapped out, Naomi finds a letter demanding that the Abreus confess to their sins, or they will be revealed to the world.

The storm outside soon matches the energy of the drama inside. While they’re trapped by the raging weather, Xiomara has to navigate her toxic family members as their darkest secrets begin leaking online, and a demon may or may not be stalking them all throughout the rooms of Papi Ramon’s house.

Vincent Tirado has absolutely nailed the dynamics of the Abreu family. You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom is a tight, thrilling horror novella. I love that they included a piece at the end of the book giving less informed readers (like myself) a nice primer on the conflicts between Dominicans and Haitians that play such a large role in the story. It provided some excellent context for the Abreu family’s feelings toward Naomi and why they felt so entitled to continue to treat her like hired help even after Papi Ramon’s death. All in all, this was a ridiculously enjoyable book to read. The tension is played brilliantly, and Xiomara’s growing desperation and increasingly transparent attempts to get away from her relatives are nearly flawless. My utmost thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom hit shelves on Tuesday, 3/10/2026. Go check it out.

But Not Too Bold: A Review

Do you like Gothic romance? Do you like spiders? Oh, do I have a book recommendation for you.

Dália has lived most of her life in Capricious House, serving as an apprentice to Ms. Matilde, the Keeper of the Keys. The massive manor house is isolated, surrounded by fields of poppies and filled with tarantulas (which serve as pets to many of the servants in addition to being utilized as a food source). The Lady Anatema provides well for her house’s servants, and Dália wants for very little. When her supervisor/caretaker dies suddenly, Dália is appointed as the new Keeper of the Keys. The Lady summons her to the third floor of the house, forbidden to most of the servants, but the dwelling place of Anatema herself. There has been a theft, and the Lady needs answers. Someone has stolen one of her memories, an intricately woven replica she made of her most recently deceased bride.

The Lady Anatema is not, as you quickly learn, human. She is an enormous spider-like creature, and one of the few remaining Archaic Ones in existence. Archaic art is highly sought after, so there’s a small chance that one of the servants in the house has simply stolen Lady Anatema’s weaving to sell. It would fetch a high price, allowing one to live extremely well outside of Capricious House, but that would mean betraying Lady Anatema. Dália can’t imagine ever wanting that, and so she agrees to assist the lady of the house with the investigation. On her way into the library to meet Anatema, she passes by the house motto, written into the flooring: BE BOLD, BUT NOT TOO BOLD. With that in mind, she enters the library and brings herself to the attention of Lady Anatema.

Upon the discovery of a second theft, Dália begins to compile a list of suspects to question. Who has stolen from Anatema and why? After all, most of her brides have ended up devoured by her. The investigation requires Dália and Anatema to spend a considerable amount of time together. As they grow closer, new feelings and desires come to light for both of them, but they are not the only residents of Capricious House who have been hiding secrets.

But Not Too Bold is a stunning sapphic novella. It’s an unsettling but romantic story that races along in 128 short pages, weaving through the halls and grounds of Capricious House like a spider’s web. Hache Pueyo has won a new fan with this one. The English translation will finally be available on Tuesday, February 11th, and I hope you check it out! Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Midnight

1 “Hi, my name is Rufus, and I’m in a loop.”

2 “Hi Rufus. Would you like to share tonight? When did it stop for you?”

1 “It’s New Year’s Eve, Eddie. Every goddamn day, it’s New Year’s Eve.”

2 “That must be rough.”

1 “It could be worse. I had a buddy who decided that never moving past his wife’s death was too much. Ended up joining her after a month of it.”

2 “Damn.”

1 “Yeah. I figure folks like us are the lucky ones. If time’s going to freeze up, stick you on one day for the rest of your life, it might as well be a good one. What about you? What day is it?”

2 “June 8th. Nothing special or personally significant about it whatsoever. Wish I could’ve said something more exciting, but hey, that’s why we’re here, right? To talk about the day things locked?”

1 “I suppose so. They say scientists are working on a solution. No ideas as to why everyone who caught it still has their own time. Did you ever see Groundhog Day?”

2 “Haven’t we all by now?”

1 “I suppose. Does that give any of us any more hope, though? I mean, we’re all still reliving a given day. Some of us have just been lucky enough to come across a support group like this one.”

2 “Yeah, this is true. I don’t know if I could’ve made it without the others.”

1 “Same. Do they have any sort of count, you think? Of how many of us there are?”

2 “Proven cases, or just by claims?”

1 “Proven.”

2 “Probably less than a half a percent. Still, that’s a hell of a lot of people worldwide.”

1 “Yeah it is. Damn strange thing.”

2 “Stranger still that it didn’t happen to all of us at the same time.”

1 “Definitely. That we’re not all on the same day.”

2 “Nah, that’s Vonnegut, with Timequake.

1 “Oh yeah, I read that one back in high school. Everybody knows what’s going to happen next because they’re all going through it together, but they can’t change anything.”

2 “Yup. One of his best, but he always did handle the whole ‘time is weird’ thing well.”

1 “Hell, I wrote my AP Lit final on his stuff. Not Billy Pilgrim, but Edgar Derby.”

2 “Poor, doomed, Edgar Derby.”

1 “Anyway, where were we?”

2 “Intros, I think.”

1 “Hi, my name is Rufus, and I’m in a loop.”

2 “Hi Rufus. Would you like to share tonight? When did it stop for you?”

1 “It’s New Year’s Eve, Eddie. Every goddamn day it’s New Year’s Eve.”

The West Passage: A Review

There is a great evil approaching. The last Guardian of the West Passage is dead, and rather than officially naming her apprentice as her successor, she used her last words to give him a single command. “Tell Black it’s coming.”

Kew should have been named as the next Hawthorn of Grey, the new Guardian, the most recent of a long line of people to hold the name and the title designating him for duties not fully understood in living memory. Now he must make the journey from the Grey Tower to the Black Tower in order to pass along his teacher’s message. If he can accomplish this, then he might prove himself worthy of recognition as a Hawthorn, taking the place he has been training for all his life.

Pell is an apprentice to the Women in Grey, an ancient order who exist to provide funerary care to the other people of the city. When Hawthorn is brought to the women for her funeral, Pell briefly crosses paths with Kew and sneaks away with a book that Hawthorn had in her possession.

The first indicator that something is wrong occurs during Hawthorn’s services, when her funerary mask is accidentally broken. Between that and the theft of the book, Pell begins to fear that her actions are bringing time itself out of alignment, with snow beginning to fall in what should be the middle of summer. Rats are pouring out of statues, and none of the women can be bothered to guess if something is truly amiss.

Jared Pechaček has created a somehow vibrant ruined world, reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s Book of New Sun, blending things both magical and technological and decades or centuries past their prime. Frankly, I love worldbuilding that deliberately hides or doesn’t worry about how everything works, leaving plenty of mysteries in place. A massive palace ruled over by the Ladies (mysterious and powerful giant beings) serves as the setting for the entire novel, and it’s filled with ominous creatures as well as new allies for Kew and Pell as they go their separate ways to set things right.

The West Passage came out on Tuesday, 7/16, and it’s an absolute joy of a novel. It’s weird and truly fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what Pechaček does next. My utmost thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Butcher of the Forest: A Review

I read Premee Mohamed’s The Butcher of the Forest yesterday, and I’m pretty sure I’m not okay. It’s a fantastic novella, and that’s the problem. It’s too good, and now it’s done.

Veris lives in the valley that is ruled over by the Tyrant. She spends her days raising rabbits and helping her aunt and her grandfather with gardening and other tasks around the house. Most days, that would be more than enough, but today is not like most days.

Today, Veris was shaken out of bed by the Tyrant’s soldiers attempting to tear down her front door. Today, she was put into a carriage and taken to the Tyrant’s castle. Today might be the last day of her life. Last night, the Tyrant’s two children, Eleonor and Aram, vanished into the woods that lie north of the castle. Where the southern woods are often traveled by foragers and hunters, the northern woods are understood by the locals to be dangerous. No one who goes into the northern woods comes out again. Except, that is, for Veris.

Years ago, Veris ventured into those woods to rescue a child, and they both returned. Somehow, that information made its way to the ears of the Tyrant, and now he has had his soldiers drag her to the castle. Today, he has ordered her to find his children and bring them back home, or her life and those of her aunt and grandfather are forfeit. So it is with rapidly dwindling hope that Veris returns to her house to prepare. The northern woods are more dangerous than anyone other than her knows, and all she can do is try. Today, she will gather up her totems and supplies, and she will go to the woods. Today, she will risk everything she has in order to save it from the Tyrant’s whims. Today, she will try to save the children of a monster.

The Butcher of the Forest is quick and beautiful and painful as a knife through the ribs. Premee Mohamed has created a fairy tale to rival legends, with fae creatures and monsters and all the rules one must follow in order to survive. My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. It’s available for purchase on February 27th, but if you can, preorder it through your favorite bookstore today. You’ll thank yourself.

Nowhere Special: A Review

“Who you are isn’t in your blood. What’s in your blood is an idea, like something whispered to you from the past. You have to decide what to do with that.”

Elpidia is tired of her cousins beating her up for something she didn’t do. School is miserable when the three of them decide to come pick on her, and no one at the school cares enough to do anything about it. When her abuela decides that it’s time for a change, Elpidia finds herself being delivered to Charlie, who lives out in a compound that he built in the middle of the desert. Charlie, Elpidia is told, is going to teach her to fight.

Stan is tired of being unable to protect his mother from her abusive husband, and the violence that he drunkenly explodes with. He’s the one white kid at school, and that plus his size makes him a prime target for bullies at school. When his mom says that she has a surprise for him, he’s truly shocked to be driven out to Charlie’s, where he finds a girl that he knows from school.

Together, Elpidia and Stan begin to find a new strength, both in their Escrima training and in their friendship. She’s trying to move beyond the disaster that destroyed her home and resulted in her mom and dad no longer being in the picture (it’s not stated outright, but it looks like an attempt to cook meth in their house went awry), and the ripples that have impacted both sides of her family in the aftermath. Stan is trying to find where he belongs, and right now it looks like that might be serving as a nice, white face on behalf of the local gang, Los Cocos (the gang leader would love to have a friendly looking gringo to interact with law enforcement for him). Together, they might be able to make a better future for themselves and their families.

Matt Wallace is a phenomenal writer, and he’s put together another brilliant middle grade fiction title. Nowhere Special is a great depiction of life in a small town, where no one wants to actually talk about the issues that the people face. It’s a quick read, and a necessary story to tell, tackling issues of bullying, drug use, domestic violence, and more in a format that makes the story accessible for younger readers who are dealing with these issues in real life.

Nowhere Special is out tomorrow, 10/24. Do yourself a favor and give it a read. My utmost thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Starter Villain: A Review

I’ve enjoyed quite a few of John Scalzi’s books over the last few years, so it was a definite treat to be asked to review a copy of his latest novel, Starter Villain.

Starter Villain introduces readers to Charlie, a former business writer and current substitute teacher. Charlie lives with his cat, Hera, in the house his dad left him and his half-siblings. He’s been trying to get back on his feet for a few years, and things have not been going well. He wants to buy the neighborhood pub and take over as operator, but his current financial situation doesn’t encourage the bank to loan him the several million dollars he’d need to make that happen. In short, he’s hit a dead end.

Then, his uncle Jake dies.

Uncle Jake had not been present in Charlie’s life for decades, barely a thought in Charlie’s mind since the wedding gift he sent contained a (painfully accurate) prediction of how long the marriage would last. But Jake was rich. Jake was rich, and Charlie is his last living relative. Soon, one of Jake’s business associates arrives to inform Charlie that he has inherited his uncle Jake’s business empire. No, not the parking garage empire, although technically that too. The real business.

Uncle Jake was a supervillain.

Before he really knows what’s happening, Charlie is whisked away to his uncle’s volcano hideout to learn the ins and outs of being a modern villain connected to an organization that inspired the creation of James Bond and SPECTRE. His uncle was deeply involved in a cutthroat world of anti-satellite weapons, superintelligent cats, and unionized dolphins, and now it’s up to Charlie to face down all of Jake’s rivals. It’s going to be a long week.

Starter Villain is a quick, fun read with all of Scalzi’s standard humor (and references to his own cats, the Scamperbeasts). It was highly enjoyable, and I’m very grateful to the folks at Tor Books and NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for a fair review. It’s out in the world on Tuesday, September 19th.

Night of the Living Queers

Hallowe’en is a magical time of year. It’s my favorite holiday, and like any other such night, it’s made all the more magical by the presence of a full moon. Since all Hallowe’en full moons are blue moons (the second full moon in a single calendar month) [source: literally NASA], they are exceptionally special, happening only once every 19~ish years. Enter Night of the Living Queers, an LGBTQIA+ horror anthology that features stories by queer authors of color about queer characters, all set on the night of a Hallowe’en blue moon.

Night of the Living Queers has a little bit of horror for everyone over the thirteen stories. We get classic haunted house stories, possession tales, and spooky revenge. They’re brief, yet powerful stories highlighting the dread that is faced by the queer community on a daily basis. The stories flow beautifully from one to another, a testament to the editing work of Shelley Page and Alex Brown, who also contributed stories to the collection. If you’re at all a fan of own-voices work and horror, you owe it to yourself to check it out. You’ll find some familiar names in these pages, and come across some spectacular new voices as well.

My utmost thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an eARC of the book in exchange for a fair review. Night of the Living Queers is out today, 8/29.

Oh, and look at that. Tomorrow’s a Blue Moon. Have a good week, y’all.

Unexpecting: A Review

Benjamin’s school year is not going according to plan. His best friend and robotics club teammate, Maxie, is pregnant, and he’s the father. And he’s gay. It’s complicated.

When Ben learns that Maxie’s pregnant, he’s immediately struck by the urge to take custody of the baby, providing the father figure that none of his three stepdads have been able or willing to be for him. When Ben’s mom and stepdad #3 learn about the baby, it’s all-hands-on-deck. His mom contacts stepdad #2, a lawyer, to get advice regarding Ben’s legal standing and path toward custody. She also reaches out to stepdad #3, a restauranteur, to arrange for Ben to get an after school job.

Soon, Ben is navigating a labyrinth of high school complications, juggling work, school, impending parenthood, and romance. He needs to find a path forward, and he’s going to have to learn the hard way which consequences he’s going to be able to live with. Everything that he’s done in his academic career hinges on his robotics team’s success, but Maxie’s pregnancy forces her to quit and leaves all of them grasping for understanding.

Unexpecting is a brilliant story. Jen Bailey does a fantastic job of presenting a realistic window into a high schooler’s life. It explores what family means (and the importance of different types of families), dives into the difficult choices that come with being a parent, and serves as a solid coming-of-age story for queer teens.

Unexpecting is available as of yesterday, 8/22/23. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.