Emma Törzs’ Ink Blood Sister Scribe (William Morrow 2023) is a unique and propulsive novel about magic and family, and it was one of my biggest surprises of the year! Ink Blood Sister Scribe follows Joanna and Esther, the most recent generation of the Kalotay family, who are tasked with their family’s mission: guarding a collection of rareRead More
A Sweet and Vibrant Later-in-Life Romance Comic: Motherlover by Lindsay Ishihiro Review
On paper, Imogen and Alex couldn’t be more different. Alex is a single mother by choice, a professional musician, and a recent transplant from New York City to the suburbs. Imogen is a former teen mom who’s been married for eleven years and spends her days as a stay-at-home mom of four. But when theRead More
The Camp of “Bottoms” Meets the Drama of “The Bachelor”: Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen Review
Whatever you think you’re getting into with this one…think again. Patricia Wants to Cuddle is a queer comedy/horror novel told from multiple POVs, including contestants after the star of a dating show called The Catch, the producer of said dating show, the host of a remote bed & breakfast, and a series of blog posts. It starts withRead More
Old Gods, New Cities, and An Arsonist’s Lullaby: When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee
One of my favorite tropes in fantasy is magic linked to body horror. Especially more so when it is treated as a volatile resource, calling into question the price of chasing power. Naturally, I had a fantastic time with Wen-Yi Lee’s When They Burned the Butterfly (October 21, 2025): a bloody, fiery saga about the horror andRead More
A (Christmas) Light in the Darkness: All is Bright by Llinos Cathryn Thomas
Full disclosure: the author is a friend and provided me with an eARC of this novella in exchange for an honest review. Thankfully, I tend to enjoy everything she writes, so this is neither a hardship nor a friendship-ending challenge! It was actually a humid, sunny, 31-degree late summer Toronto day when I wrote thisRead More
A Slow Burn Work of Art: Learning Curves by Rachel Lacey
For Audrey Lind, working with clay still evokes memories of her favorite professor. The woman’s zeal for art history ignited Audrey’s own academic career—and her tweed blazers and British accent kindled her first female crush. After fate brings Audrey back to Northshire University to teach, she’s thrilled to be working alongside her former mentor, butRead More
Power, War, and Self-Knowledge: The Weavers of Alamaxa by Hadeer Elsbai
The Weavers of Alamaxa picks up right where the previous book, The Daughters of Izdihar, left off—on a giant cliffhanger, so if you’re wary of spoilers for book one, read no further! Daughters ended with Nehal abducted and Giorgina an escaped prisoner. The Daughters of Izdihar have been disbanded by the corrupt government, and weavers,Read More
Growing Up in the Intersections: Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia Review
This memoir tells the story of growing up at multiple intersections — queer, Indian, and female — in West Virginia. But it also follows the author as she transitions into city life in Boston with a white Jewish partner. It’s not written in a linear or chronological order, so each chapter doesn’t read as aRead More
A Revolutionary Tale: The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai
The Daughters of Izdihar is Hadeer Elsbai’s debut novel. It’s the first in The Alamaxa Duology, and I raced to the second book the moment I finished this one (tune in next month for that review). It’s always a thrill to read a fantasy novel that’s not set in the Western tradition, and with aRead More
Curses, Forgeries, and Family Secrets: The Original by Nell Stevens Review
When Grace’s parents are institutionalized, she’s sent to live with her uncle’s family, where she’s looked at with suspicion. The family considers her an inconvenience at best: they think she’s strange and destined to go “mad,” like her parents. She mostly tries to stay out of the way. It doesn’t help that she has faceRead More
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