by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ Original, poetic, and dreamy with comedic timing There is a slow dreamy feel to this book, a slow wandering through a mystery. This book reminds me of those poems where the shape and rhythm match the … Continue reading →
by Rabia Gale ★★★★★ Rainbird may be a despised half-breed, but she may be just what the world needs Rainbird is an exotic scifi-fantasy-steampunk story that throws you right into the middle of a strange and original world. Rainbird works … Continue reading →
by Garth Nix and Sean Williams ★★★★★ Have sword, has attitude … Loved the story and characters so much! Eleanor has wanted to be a knight her entire life, while Odo… well, Odo knows he doesn’t want to be a … Continue reading →
by Rabia Gale ★★★★★ Who ripped Arabella’s spirit from her body? Arabella’s wandering around looking for her friends in a not-so-nice part of town, when Trey comes to her rescue. While she’s assuming that he’s there to help her navigate … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach ★★★★★ What if your favorite game was real and built on a lie? So many players use Forever Fantasy Online (FFO) to escape their real life, whether it’s due to stress, low self-esteem, or … Continue reading →
If the Princess Bride and Terry Pratchett had a love child – Well, but then there are probably genetic crosses to Garth Nix, Diana Wynne Jones, Brandon Sanderson, Ransom Riggs, and others. Stop trying to imagine what that would look … Continue reading →
by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ Two fae and a vampire move into your house, what do you do? Hide and spy on them, of course! Loved, loved, loved Between Jobs (The City Between Book 1)! Pet, a 17-year-old squatter, has woken … Continue reading →
by Jay Kristoff ★★★★☆ Who is truly human? LifeLike feels like a mashup of Mad Max, Terminator, Total Recall, and various mythologies. It’s really written for the younger generations with its constant use of slang and incomplete sentences, using repetition … Continue reading →
by Charlie N. Holmberg ★★★★★ When a bookish girl studies to be a plastic magician, her peculiar talents might just be world-changing… …if Alvie Brechenmacher and her mentor can outwit a dangerous rival. Alvie is apprentice to Marion Praff, a … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Can Ivan prove he’s actually related to his cousin Miles? We all know that Ivan is anything but an idiot, a favorite descriptor (Ivan-You-Idiot) of cousins and compatriots, but he manages to skate through life … Continue reading →
by Nancy Springer ★★★★★ Nancy Springer has still got it! The Oddling Prince is a wonderfully fantastic story of two brothers. One, Aric, has been raised as the king’s heir; the other, Albaric and son of the Queen of Elfland, … Continue reading →
by Connie Willis ★★★★★ Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Connie Willis has a way of writing stories that engage us but more importantly that capture the complexity and conflict in defining moments and force us to resonate … Continue reading →
by A. M. Morgen ★★★★★ Can George change his luck? The first few paragraphs of The Inventors at No. 8 sweeps aside a family – and several servants – in a one-day streak of bad luck that spares only the … Continue reading →
by L. Penelope ★★★★★ That ragpile on the path is trouble; it just happens to be a man. Jasminda doesn’t need trouble. She’s on her way home from a trip to town and worried about losing her home, being asked … Continue reading →
by Jessica Day George ★★★★★ What if everything you knew was a lie? Anthea has been passed from home to home since her parents’ death. She wants only to be a proper young lady that a family would want, to … Continue reading →
by Tom Reynolds ★★★★★ Can Midnight find what was lost? This novella is a great peek into the psyche of Midnight, letting us understand more about the legendary man who lived, worked, and fought with and against metahumans. Midnight is … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Bujold’s wit rides again Mira’s Last Dance: Penric & Desdemona Book 5 is the shortest Penric novellas so far, and yet it is in many ways the most enjoyable. It is a brief sojourn into … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Where there’s a demon, there’s a way. The Penric novellas are must-read if you love Bujold or fantasy. While they’re short and rather episodic novellas, the books are deep, mystical, and thoroughly enjoyable and each … Continue reading →
by M.C. Dwyer ★★★★★ WOW!! Not your mom’s Beauty and the Beast ! Just wow! Having read Dwyer’s stories in Still Waters: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology and Fell Beasts and Fair: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology, I grabbed Bleddynwood the minute … Continue reading →
by Amy A. Bartol ★★★☆☆ What happens when you mash-up Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, and Cinder? I wanted to like this book. Despite a few days of pondering and trying to come up with a more positive review, for me … Continue reading →
by Bokerah Brumley ★★★★★ What if almost everything you knew about your life wasn’t true? What if you were hiding in plain sight in a human world and human school, but you were really fae? What if your mom’s favorite … Continue reading →
by Karen M. Bryson ★★★☆☆ Short fast read, cliffhanger I didn’t realize before I started this book, that it’s more of an installment. While it’s got some interesting concepts and decent character-building so far, it ends on a cliffhanger. Overall, … Continue reading →
by Rowenna Miller ★★★★★ Torn made me wonder how far I would go to protect my brother. Torn (The Unraveled Kingdom) is about a seamstress torn between her brother and her lover, her ancestry and her adopted culture, her class … Continue reading →
by C.J. Brightley ★★★★★ Wonderfully original tales, amazing world-building, strong writing This is an absolutely brilliant collection of noblebright stories by the same editor who coordinated the Luminous: A Noblebright Fantasy Boxed Set and the Still Waters: A Noblebright Fantasy … Continue reading →
by Melissa McShane ★★★★★ He’s no Prince Charming, but then again, she’s not a brainless beauty… Servant of the Crown turns a trope on its ears. What happens when the beautiful girl knows she’s beautiful (let’s face it, she’s got a … Continue reading →
by Alwyn Hamilton ★★★★★ What a ride! Be careful what you wish for… a Djinni may grant it. What an epic conclusion! Alwyn Hamilton is an incredible writer who weaves intense action with personal peril, overarching themes of what it … Continue reading →
by Kristen Pham ★★★★★ Joan was made, can she make a difference? Joan Fasces has been raised as an Evolved (natural) human. On her 18th birthday, her Status meeting blood test reveals that she’s actually a Throwback, a clone of … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron ★★★★★ Do nice dragons always finish last? Will Julius be the last dragon standing? Wow, what a brilliant ride! Last Dragon Standing starts out showing us why Bob has been plotting for all these centuries, and it … Continue reading →
by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ Being the queen heir isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but neither is finishing school… Accompanied by some old friends and a crafty new friend, Annabel faces one of the hardest challenges of her life: … Continue reading →
by Rachel Hartman ★★★★★ Almost DNF’d, but I read on to discover what can happen when a girl takes to the Road!! This is a hard book to review, and I almost DNF’d more than once as the beginning is … Continue reading →
by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★ Who dares kill a demon? In the sequel to Penric and the Shaman, Penric and Desdemona team up with Inglis and Oswyl to figure out why a sorceress has been struck down in the depths … Continue reading →
by Alethea Kontis ★★★★★ Can you survive in a mountain of glass? The Glass Mountain instantly became my favorite Alethea Kontis story. It’s a fast read, but written so well that you are instantly transported into this seemingly effortless fairytale. … Continue reading →
by Melissa McShane ★★★★★ Ever thought that your new job was a killer? Try working at THIS bookstore!! Helena just took a job at a quaint bookstore, and her first day’s a doozy. She quickly discovers that Abernathy’s is everything … Continue reading →
by Carrie Pulkinen ★★★★★ What happens when Red Riding Hood IS the wolf?!! Soul Catchers paints a dystopian world where people are huddled in cities behind walls, frightened of monstrous wolves and anyone endowed with supernatural powers. The only problem … Continue reading →
by S.R. Johannes ★★★★★ Ada’s the Dark Angel, hacktivist, and life just went offline. Can she get wired and hack the real killers? Rewired is a fast-paced YA thriller that will appeal to a large audience. There’s enough hacking, espionage, … Continue reading →
by Marko Kloos ★★★★★ If the human race was to come to an end, where would you choose to be? Andrew and Halley choose to be on the furthest spearhead, defending humanity alongside old comrades and new allies. If they’re … Continue reading →
by Bo Boswell ★★★★★ Exciting middle-school adventure into the future The Century Cube by Bo Boswell is a fun, fast read with enough cultural references, cool future gadgets, and excitement to appeal to kids and adults. I think this book … Continue reading →
by Melissa McShane ★★★★★ Another strong heroine, great story. Melissa McShane’s Extraordinaries series has its third amazing heroine. Written as a near-history with believable world-building, McShane’s novels evoke colonial Britain. Abounding Might takes a foray to India with Lady Daphne … Continue reading →
by C. J. Brightley ★★★★★ Hits it out of the park with original concepts and amazing world-building Still Waters: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology is a quirky collection of noblebright stories by the same editor who coordinated Luminous: A Noblebright Fantasy … Continue reading →
by C. J. Brightley ★★★★★ Wonderful collection of fantasies! Almost every one of the books included is worth the price of Luminous: A Noblebright Fantasy Boxed Set all by itself. So many of these collections just aren’t that great, but … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron ★★★★★ More of our favorite nice dragon… and Bob. Rachel Aaron hits it out of the ballpark again with our favorite nice dragon. If you’ve enjoyed the previous books, you’ll love this continuation. (If you haven’t read … Continue reading →
by Kate Elliott ★★★★★ Dark, complex, compelling Wow! If you liked the first two books in the Court of Five series, you’re going to love Buried Heart. Gritty and heart-wrenching in many ways. Buried Heart is a great continuation of … Continue reading →
by Rachel Aaron ★★★★★ Awesome insight into Miranda Spirit’s Oath is an enjoyable novella with Miranda at the helm. If you enjoyed the Eli Monpress books, you’ll love this Miranda story. If you haven’t read the Eli Monpress books, go … Continue reading →
by Megan Whalen Turner ★★★★★ It takes a thief to set a captive free. Kamet is happy to be a powerful slave to a powerful man. His master, Nahuseresh, may have fallen in favor a bit over that small disaster … Continue reading →
by Rabea Scholz ★★★★★ Brilliant, beautifully-written, engrossing, and heartbreaking. Wow! This is a book that you won’t want to put down until you reach that last sentence. I decided to take a risk and grab four free random fantasy books … Continue reading →
by Melissa McShane ★★★★★ Enjoyable, original, great characters I love how real Melissa McShane makes her magic system. And I love that Kerensa is so incredibly strong and endures so much while remaining so human. I love it when authors … Continue reading →
by W.R. Gingell ★★★★★ You can’t go wrong with Gringell’s fairy tales If you like fairy tales or re-imaginings of fairy tales, you will enjoy W.R. Gingell’s stories. And the Shards of a Broken Sword trilogy shows that Gingell’s writing … Continue reading →
by Christopher Mari and Jeremy K. Brown ★☆☆☆☆ Too much thinking, not enough action I was happy to see Ocean of Storms on Kindle First this month, since I enjoy near-science fiction. (Edited to add: This book would be better … Continue reading →
