If you’re a horror fan who also wants to cozy up with a book and a bite to eat, I have the perfect pairing for you. Cake Craft by Hannah-Freya Blake will satisfy any craving for haunted houses and dark comeuppance, but also balance it out with some light, sweet romance. There are notes of …
Whether you’re a longtime devoted fan of JPop, curious about Japanese or pop music culture, or just looking for a good short read, we’ve got you. Hybrid Heart and Idol, Burning are both compelling, nuanced takes on the promises and perils of fame via the idol system, one from the perspective of an idol herself, …
I am a sucker for fantasy adventure stories. I’m a sucker for necromancers as protagonists. Between all that and my considerable experience with the fantasy genre, The Warden by Daniel M. Ford seemed made for me. Though settling in was a little bumpy, once I was in I was hooked. Our protagonist Aelis is an …
Want to read the quietly prolific, increasingly popular, and mega-amazing Ursula Vernon (pen name: T. Kingfisher) but don’t know where to start? Well, start here. I’ve broken down her books by category and series so that you can choose your preferred format. While the books aren’t ranked, each book that’s first on the list would …
That’s a Stephen King quote, by the way. The fuller quote is, “Fiction is a lie. Good fiction is the truth inside the lie.” It’s a statement that makes a complicated thing seem simple, which is another litmus test for good writing. Moses Ose Utomi succeeds on both accounts with The Lies of the Ajungo, …
Ever since conspiracies exploded into the mainstream in America and started ruining lives and families, I have been leery of them in fiction. As with our collective disinterest in dystopia, it’s hard to escape to a world that isn’t, well, much of an escape. And that’s a shame, because high-stakes espionage and the thrill of …
Technically, these are just my picks for the first half of 2023. There are too many good books, what can I say? Well, I can say: clear your calendars and get your favorite cozy chair ready, because here are 15 of the most awesome books coming out between January and July. The Saint of Bright …
In the world of Rebecca Schaeffer’s new City of Nightmares, a hundred years ago, people started having Nightmares. Unlike dreams that came before, and for reasons no one has yet been able to figure out, people who dreamed about their worst fears would become that which terrified them. A century of monstrousness followed, and the …
Cozy Fantasy is having a moment right now and for good reason: things are terrible. Not as terrible as they have been, mind you, but that’s a pretty low bar to trip over. The Mimicking of Known Successes however is the first Cozy Sci-Fi book I’ve read so far. You wouldn’t think the cold dark …
Fantasy has always had a gift for being malleable to incorporate other genres of fiction from horror, historical, mystery, folklore, fairy tale, humor, romance, suspense, and westerns, so why not slice of life? It has been a staple for anime for years and has become quite popular as a video game genre, so it’s about …