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book news, book reviews, and blogging

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Review: How to Cheat Your Own Death by Kristen Perrin

3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In this third book in the Castle Knoll Files, Annie gets pulled into another case to solve, this time one that seems tied to her family’s past. As she investigates in the present, Frances’s journals take us back to the 1960s and reveal the connections between two deaths, mixing a modern mystery with a historical one.

I like the dual-timeline via journal entries, as it feels like they add more to the story throughout the series and it’s satisfying to see how the two stories line up. Annie is a fun lead to follow.

It’s hard to keep track of who and when at points, which is a typical issue in a dual-timeline novel.

Overall, it’s a cozy mystery and fun little series.

Thank you netgalley and Dutton for the eARC.

How to Cheat Your Own Death will be published April 28.

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Review: And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jackson and Delilah have to figure out how to work together. Having only run into each other a few times, they are now sharing an assignment to cover a huge snowstorm.
The two couldn’t be more different. After becoming a parent figure at a young age, Jackson is careful, diligent, and hates cameras. Delilah loves the spotlight and chaos, is bold, and spontaneous. Still, they have some deep things in common, and the chemistry heats up between them seemingly in no time. These (nearly but not quite enemy) colleagues become friends, and then much more.

“I can love you in the mountains and I can love you back home. Watch and see how good I’m going to be at it.”

🛏️ there’s only one bed
🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️ forced proximity
☁️ ☀️ grumpy/sunshine
🧲 opposites attract

I really didn’t think I’d love this as much as the first in the series, but I was WRONG.
I love it just as much.

I love Jackson and I’d love for him to talk more about weather… and anything, really.

“Be too much with me.”

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My 5-Star Rated Book List

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Since 2020, I have read so many amazing books (as well as some absolutely unhinged ones, but that’s for another blog post). These are my absolute, not just five-star books, but I wish I could give them six, seven, ten star books. These are MUST READS!

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Groundhog day x King Arthur, in the most heartbreaking way. Alix E. Harrow is one of my favorite authors, and this is, in my opinion, her best work yet.
Read my review here.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

I will never stop talking about The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. I cried my way through Gideon the Ninth, and have spent every day since finishing Nona checking to see if there are any announcements for Alecto. I have reread these a few times, now, and will probably do another re-read this year!

The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemison

The first time I read The Fifth Season, I was awestruck. Jemison’s world building is unmatched. It is a brilliant, emotional fantasy series set in a world that keeps ending. Multiple characters try to survive apocalypse after apocalypse. This series will change how you look at the fantasy genre.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Would you like to cry? Because this might make you cry. An unlikely correspondence between two rival agents turns into something romantic and gut-wrenching. Good luck.


Sisters of the Salt Series by Erin A. Craig

A gothic retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I am a big fan of Erin A. Craig‘s writing, and House of Salt and Sorrows was a fantastic debut novel.

Cinderella is Dead

This book made Kalynn Bayron an auto-buy author for me. I love this YA LGBTQ retelling!


The Letters of Enchantment series by Rebecca Ross

I was instantly obsessed with Iris and Roman. Rebecca Ross combined historical fiction, romance, and fantasy in this duology, and while it does not feel like we have the whole story in Divine Rivals, it’s because we don’t. There’s a whole other book, plus an incredible standalone prequel. Ross’s writing is poetic, and I will read anything she writes.