This book messed me up. In a good way. The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is a debut novel by Breanne Randall, marketed as Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls, and I couldn't agree more. Though I've only seen one of those, and neither are necessarily favourites of mine, this is one of those rare examples when the comp titles are right on the money. This book takes you in, wraps you up in a cosy knitted blanket, hands you a warm cup of tea, and invites you to partake of the ...
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WOMS: The Pomegranate Gate
It's been too long since I shared my latest read, and I cannot wait to tell you more about it. Allow me to introduce you to the novel, and also the beginning of a new series, which has stolen my heart in every way imaginable: The Pomegranate Gate by A. E. Kaplan. Rich, imaginative, lush, exquisite—I could gush about this book, but let me get to the substance of how it is all those things and more. The Pomegranate Gate is a Jewish historical epic fantasy set in an alternative version of ...
WOMS: The Wolf and the Woodsman
This week’s book that’s on my shelf is Ava Reid’s The Wolf and the Woodsman, a novel suggested to me by a fellow writer friend when I asked for good examples of fantasy romance, or as it is quickly becoming, romantasy. It’s a good thing, then, I’m entitled to my own opinion, one which I’ll share now, because I’m not certain I would classify this as that. Then again, perhaps my tastes are too regulated and not varied; maybe I haven’t sampled enough of the different flavours of romantasy to ...
WOMS: Nocturne
Remember how a few weeks back, my husband took me to Barnes & Noble at my behest to get out of the cramped hospital room I'd been trapped in for about a week? And remember how I fondly caressed the cover of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries? There was another book. That book was none other than Alyssa Wees's Nocturne. It had one of those employee recommendation labels beneath it, describing it as The Phantom of the Opera meets "The Beauty and the Beast." Of course I wanted ...
WOMS: A Sinister Revenge
This week for "What's on My Shelf," it's a Veronica Speedwell mystery, A Sinister Revenge, by Deanna Raybourn! I've shared before with how much I enjoy the plucky heroine of this series, but more especially, how these books helped me fall in love with mystery again. This book is no exception; rather a continuation of why I think these are some of the best historical murder mysteries out there in the market today. In this latest installment, Veronica and Stoker's relationship is a bit ...
