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Review: The Demonic Inventions of Aurelie Blake (The Broken Veil # 1) by Mara Rutherford

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: YA Fantasy/Dark Academia

Release Date: April 14 2026

The kingdom of Wisteria is cursed. All creativity and innovation is forbidden, and any act of willful disobedience results in a demon lurking in the shadows. No music, no books, and no inventing thinking. None of that stops Aurelie. Des is a demon hunter tasked with tracking both demons and the people who create them, and he quickly becomes obsessed with Aurelie.

Almost every star I give this book is due to the world-building and premise. I loved the idea of a kingdom where creativity is banned, the FMC is rebelling, and I love how Rutherford gives us the lore of Wisteria and explaining how it came to be this way. Aurelie’s refusaI to accept the law made for an interesting FMC, and the  forbidden romance and dark academia vibe added a lot to the story. Rutherford is a great writer and can keep a reader hooked.

Aurelie was not always a character I rooted for, and because Des was utterly obsessed with her, it was harder to like him as well. They were typically so petite and so big, and just once I want to read a story where the woman is 6 feet tall.

Overall I enjoyed the story, I’m invested in this world, and I’m very interested in reading the next book!

Thank you HarperCollins and Netgalley for the eARC!

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Review: The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Release Date: May 5, 2026

“In the ocean, no one can cry without drowning. Sorrow is silent beneath the waves.”

Mercy Chan woke up during WWII on the shores of Hong Kong with no memories. She has rebuilt her life in the ghost-infested Kowloon Walled City as a ghost-talker. But when an extraordinarily strong ghost infests Kowloon’s waterways, Mercy is confronted with her forgotten childhood.

The world Sunyi Dean created is incredible, an alternate reality ghost story set in Hong Kong during WWII and after. The story unfolds in layers, has just the right amount of horror, while portraying themes of grief and loss.

About halfway through this book, I was confused with the switch from third person, and it became a little difficult to keep up with or pay attention to. BUT, this changed quickly once things started to come to light.

The ending was beautiful but haunting.

And Bao was the best ghost kitty. 

Thank you Netgalley and Tor for the eARC!

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March 2026 Reads

I read 18 total books in March! I knocked out a lot of eARCs this month, kept up with my audiobook Libby holds, and continued my very long journey through the Outlander series.

It was a slower month for physical books, but I finished out the Beasts of Prey trilogy with Beasts of Ruin and Beasts of War. I rated all three books in this series 4 stars. I also picked up And Now, Back to You after loving First-Time Caller last month. Both were 5-star reads! I read the sixth book in the Outlander series, a solid four-star read (much, much better than the fifth book). And finally, I read Time-Tripping Over You, which was an enthusiastic five stars.

I wanted to read all of the Castle Knoll Files before reading the eARC of the third. This was an all-three-star series! I read Dungeons and Drama a couple of years ago, so I read Dating and Dragons before moving on to the third in the series, Rolls and Rivalry. Solid 4-star series. I also read the advanced copies of Obstetrix and Dolly All the Time.

People We Meet on Vacation on audiobook surprised me — 5 star rating for sure (and it’s far better than the movie, but that’s another post for another time). I listened to First Lie Wins for local book club. I’m in the process of listening to the Crescent City graphic audiobooks (as a re-read) to prep for ACOTAR 6. The Three Lives of Cate Kay was SO good! A little hard to keep up with, but so good.