Run First, Mourn Later - the Perfect Motto for Morganville

~Glass Houses~
The Morganville Vampires
Book 1
By Rachel Caine
Amazon ~ Powell's

College freshman Claire Danvers is a 16-year-old math whiz whose parents decided she should spend two years at a small local college instead of taking her scholarships to an Ivy League school. And she has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation.

When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life, but they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

Will she be able to face the town's terror or will she drown like everyone else?


The theme for this month's Vampire Book Club was start-to-a-series. I actually have owned this book for ages but haven't had a good excuse to start a new series (hence this year's reading goal), so I welcomed this chance to finally pick it up. Straddling the line between YA and NA, would this be the start to a compelling series I'd be chomping at the bit to continue, or would these vamps leave me feeling stale?

The Fowl Phantom Solution

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books in the Artemis Fowl series, specifically The Fowl Twins & Deny All Charges, or don't mind knowing spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT

The Fowl Twins
~Get What They Deserve~
Book 3
By Eoin Colfer
Amazon ~ Powell's

Irish twins Myles and Beckett, Artemis Fowl's younger brothers, return in their third and most bizarre adventure yet.

For almost two years, Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye, the Duke of Scilly, has been plotting revenge against the Fowl Twins, who humiliated him in Book One. Teddy plans to give them exactly what they deserve: permanent death.

He threatens Myles with his weaponized jet and Beckett and Specialist Lazuli succeed in disarming the aircraft and causing an accident that kills the duke. But does it really?

Ghosts, clones, and fairy magic come to play in this ultimate and ridiculous showdown between the twins and their worst enemy.


Being a long-time fan of Colfer and his Fowl series, it was a no-brainer to see this was coming out and immediately know I had to read it. Actually, the only reason I didn't read this book sooner was that the release of the book was a bit...off. For some reason, the book was scheduled for release in October 2021, but all that became available was the audiobook. Then, when the text versions released a month later, my library got the physical book but not the ebook. Well, I finally decided I was through with waiting, picked up the previous books for recollection's sake, and was ready to see just what Lord Teddy had in store for our favorite twins.

Earth Always Needs Saving, and It Is Usually a Fowl Who Saves It

~The Fowl Twins~
Book 1
By Eoin Colfer
Amazon ~ Powell's

Criminal genius runs in the family... Myles and Beckett are eleven-year-old twins, but the two boys are wildly different. Beckett is blonde, messy and sulks whenever he has to wear clothes. Myles is fanatically neat, he has an IQ of 170, and he wears a fresh suit every day like his older brother, Artemis Fowl.

Perhaps you have heard of the Fowl family and their adventures?

This Fowl adventure is filled with the most unusual of individuals: an immortal duke, a miniature troll, a nunterrogator and a Police Specialist that's 42% elf. And of course, the Fowl twins - one a certified genius with a criminal leaning, and the other possessing an unusual talent that has not been fully explored... yet!

Here begins the second documented cycle of Fowl Adventures.

Original Review

Read by Nathaniel Parker

Finding the Music, Losing Myself

~Mind Games~
Book 1
By Kiersten White
Amazon ~ Powell's

Fia and Annie are as close as two sisters can be. They look out for each other. Protect each other. And most importantly, they keep each other’s secrets, even the most dangerous ones:

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Annie is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

When the sisters are offered a place at an elite boarding school, Fia realizes that something is wrong . . . but she doesn’t grasp just how wrong. The Keane Institute is no ordinary school, and Fia is soon used for everything from picking stocks to planting bombs. If she tries to refuse, they threaten her with Annie’s life. Over and over again the sisters are forced to choose between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

Original Review

Since it's been nearly a decade since I last read & reviewed this one, I want to share some thoughts and impressions from this latest read-through.

A Failed Queen Without a Kingdom

~This Woven Kingdom~
Book 1
By Tahereh Mafi
Amazon ~ Powell's

Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.

To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.

The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.


I'm obviously no stranger to Mafi's works, having made my way through her entire 11-part Shatter Me series. But upon finishing the last installment of that series last fall, I noticed a 2-chapter preview of her upcoming fantasy work, This Woven Kingdom, and decided to try it. Having also read through her fantasy books, Furthermore & Whichwood, I knew she'd dabbled in the genre before, but I was interested to see what track she'd take with fantasy, romance, and YA. Needless to say, I was immediately hooked, and was then forced to eagerly await the book's release. A secret queen of a magical people, forced to hide her identity in squalor and servitude, tormented by whispers from the devil, and unknowingly headed toward a forbidden romance—what more could I ask for?

The Lost Girls Who Could’ve Been So Much More

~The Lost Girls~
By Sonia Hartl
Amazon ~ Powell's

When Elton Irving turned Holly Liddell into a vampire in 1987, he promised her eternal love. But thirty-four years later, Elton has left her, her hair will be crimped for the rest of immortality, and the only job she can get as a forever-sixteen-year-old is the midnight shift at Taco Bell.

Holly’s afterlife takes an interesting turn when she meets Rose McKay and Ida Ripley. Having also been turned and discarded by Elton—Rose in 1954, and Ida, his ex-fiancée, in 1921—they want to help her, and ask for her help in return.

Rose and Ida are going to kill Elton before he turns another girl. Though Holly is hurt and angry with Elton for tossing her aside, she’s reluctant to kill her ex, until Holly meets Parker Kerr—the new girl Elton has set his sights on—and feels a quick, and nerve-wracking attraction to her.


Another YA pick for Maven's Vampire Book Club, and a shorter one at that. Mainly this was due to scheduling issues that cropped up in January, pushing back the official discussion of that month's book a couple weeks, so she figured a shorter option would be easier to slot in and get things back on track. Besides the length, and the GoodReads blurb citing "dark humor and queer love," I really didn't know anything going in. Would this vampire story edge more cutsie, or have some real bite?

Alive in Her Thoughts and Dreams

~Once Upon A Dream~
Twisted Tales
Book 2
By Liz Braswell
Amazon ~ Powell's

It should be simple—a dragon defeated, a slumbering maiden, a prince poised to wake her. But when said prince falls asleep as soon as his lips meet the princess's, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over.

With a desperate fairy's last curse infiltrating her mind, Princess Aurora will have to navigate a dangerous and magical landscape deep in the depths of her dreams. Soon she stumbles upon Phillip, a charming prince eager to join her quest. But with Maleficent's agents following her every move, Aurora struggles to discover who her true allies are, and moreover, who she truly is. Time is running out. Will the sleeping beauty be able to wake herself up?

Though these books are part of a series, they don't actually share any continuity from one to the next, so there's no risk of spoiling one with another. Likewise, there's really no need to read them in any particular order—I'm simply choosing to do so for simplicity's sake. So coming to the tale of Sleeping Beauty, which features one of my least favorite heroines but one of my most favorite villains, I had mixed feelings. Would the heroine be elevated by having more time and depth added? Would the villain be re-imagined with a(nother) sympathetic backstory? Would this story reside in my dreams, or haunt my nightmares?

We All Live Happily Ever After in My New World, Agrabah Ascendant

~A Whole New World~
Twisted Tales
Book 1
By Liz Braswell
Amazon ~ Powell's

When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Partly inspired by a certain internet movie reviewer, and partly because I am a bit of a fangirl, I decided I wanted to dedicate the month of December to all that is Disney! This series of reviews will focus on Disney-inspired media, obviously, and will hopefully expand over the years. This year I wanted to get the ball rolling on their Twisted Tales series, books that promise to reimagine the Disney stories we know and love as new, darker takes. Will they be successful, or will the originals' magic still hold?

I Lost My Identity and They Helped Me to Find It Again

~The Library of Lost and Found~
By Phaedra Patrick
Amazon ~ Powell's

Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people - though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she's invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend - her grandmother Zelda - who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda's past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.


I had utterly no clue what this book was about. Basically, I needed a book recommended on BookBub for a reading challenge, and I found this on a list of books that featured libraries and bookstores. I thought the summary made it sound light, mysterious, and kinda cozy. Little did I know just what I was in for...

Do You Wish to Know the Truth of the Divine?

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, Axiom's End, or don't mind knowing spoilers for it. This book, however, will not be spoiled.
SPOILER ALERT

~Truth of the Divine~
Noumena
Book 2
By Lindsay Ellis
Amazon ~ Powell's

The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define “person” in the first place?

Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora’s unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.

Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with—and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.


No complicated backstory with this one. I follow the author on YouTube, read the first book, knew the sequel was coming out, and picked it up when it did. After the quasi-cliffhanger we were left, with regard to Cora and Ampersand's newly formed bond, it was really a no-brainer that I'd feel compelled to continue the series. And so I did.

Words That Translated the Meaning of the Music

~Axiom's End~
Noumena
Book 1
By Lindsay Ellis
Amazon ~ Powell's

Truth is a human right.

It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.

Original Review

Read by Abigail Thorn & Stephanie Willis

Her Mouth Got Long, and Her Big Teeth Got Bigger

~What Big Teeth~
By Rose Szabo
Amazon ~ Powell's

Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

Exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, and strange, this fierce paranormal fantasy will sink its teeth into you and never let go.


Coming off of two somewhat disappointing werewolf stories, and having a surprise spot opened up for October, I decided to seek out another werewolf story to see if I could satiate my craving for fangs and fur. Enter What Big Teeth which happened to be available in both e-book and audio formats in my library. I remembered this book mainly from its enticing cover, its wolfish reference to Red Riding Hood, and seeing it doing the rounds on Facebook earlier this year, but otherwise had no idea what it was about. So, deciding not to question my luck, I went ahead and sank my teeth into this story.

Vampires Are United by One Unavoidable Fact: We Are Our Hunger

~Certain Dark Things~
By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Amazon ~ Powell's

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.

Atl needs to quickly escape the city, far from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn’t include Domingo, but little by little, Atl finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.

Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Do Atl and Domingo even stand a chance of making it out alive? Or will the city devour them all?


This month's pick for Maven's Vampire Book Club is a recent reprint following the author's wildly successful Mexican Gothic, which I admittedly haven't read yet. So, other than knowing that this author has gotten a lot of praise for her suspenseful and beautiful writing, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I'm not one who usually enjoys gritty stories (I'm a bit put off by the mention of "narco-vampires"), but a kick-ass vampire on the run with a charming human sounds like it could be fun, right? Right?

That, My Dear Sir, Is What You Call Life

~To Sir, With Love~
By Lauren Layne
Amazon ~ Powell's

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just five months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout to turn the store into a parking garage. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.


I actually have no idea how I found this book. I want to say it was someone's blog post, but I can't, for the life of me, find where I found it. Regardless, I was immediately drawn to this book by its promised combination of You've Got Mail setup with the enemies-to-lovers trope. Plus I figured it would be a cute, quick book that I could read along with my mom. At least, I hoped it would be.

With Every Flap of the Strixes’ Ink-Black Wings Came Shadows

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, Crown of Feathers & Heart of Flames, or don't mind knowing some spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT

~Wings of Shadow~
Crown of Feathers
Book 3
By Nicki Pau Preto
Amazon ~ Powell's

I had a sister, once…

Veronyka is no longer an orphaned stable boy or a nameless Phoenix Rider apprentice: she is the daughter of Pheronia Ashfire, the last queen of the Golden Empire…and the niece of Avalkyra Ashfire, the resurrected rebel queen who tore the empire apart.

We shone brightly, burned fiercely.

Now that the secret is out, everyone at the Eyrie treats Veronyka differently, and with Tristan still a hostage of the scheming Lord Rolan—and Sev with him as a spy—Veronyka feels very much alone. Except for her beloved phoenix, Xephyra, of course, and her new friend, Kade, who has his own reasons for wanting to save Tristan.

Was it always going to come down to this? Sister against sister? Darkness against light?

Veronyka is determined to do whatever it takes to get Tristan back, even if that means revealing her identity to the world and inheriting a throne she’s not sure she wants. But when she discovers that Avalkyra has bonded with a strix—a legendary creature of darkness that feeds off the life force of others—Veronyka realizes she has more to deal with than an encroaching war with the empire. Val is willing to destroy everything to get her revenge on a world that rejected her, and if Veronyka wants to bring peace to the empire and Pyra alike, she must face down her sister once and for all.

The world began with Ashfire queens…perhaps they will also be its destruction.


I can't begin to tell you how pumped I was for this book. I didn't even want to read the book's summary, I was so ready to just dive in. With the last couple series enders I've read being a bit disappointing, I probably should have had a bit more apprehension going in, but with my re-read out of the way (and two amazing audios enhancing my experience) I was eager to see what the shadows had in store for me...

Soon the Music of Phoenix Song Filled the Air

~Crown of Feathers~
Book 1
By Nicki Pau Preto
Amazon ~ Powell's

I had a sister, once…

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

I promised her the throne would not come between us.

Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.

But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled.

Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders’ return and intends to destroy them once and for all.

Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken.

Crown of Feathers is an epic fantasy about love’s incredible power to save—or to destroy. Interspersed throughout is the story of Avalkyra Ashfire, the last Rider queen, who would rather see her empire burn than fall into her sister’s hands.

Original Review

Read by Cassandra Campbell, Samantha Desz, Gibson Frazier, Joy Osmanski, and Jacques Roy

Roses Can Bloom in the Hardest Conditions

~Concrete Rose~
By Angie Thomas
Amazon ~ Powell's

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.


Returning to the world from The Hate U Give, this time in a prequel featuring Starr's dad, I'll admit I was hesitant to jump in this time. Not only have I been continually heartbroken and dejected the more I hear and read about Black people's ongoing plight in the US lately, and I know this author never pulls her punches, but I was also apprehensive about focusing on gang activity, recalling some of Maverick's past from the first book. Even knowing what he would become in the future, I was hesitant to know just what her dad had been involved in before turning his life around. Still, I trust Angie Thomas by now, so I went ahead and took the plunge.

Welcome to Cheshire Crossing

~Cheshire Crossing~
By Andy Weir & Sarah Andersen
Amazon ~ Powell's

The three meet here, at Cheshire Crossing--a boarding school where girls like them learn how to cope with their supernatural experiences and harness their magical world-crossing powers.

But the trio--now teenagers, who've had their fill of meddling authority figures--aren't content to sit still in a classroom. Soon they're dashing from one universe to the next, leaving havoc in their wake--and, inadvertently, bringing the Wicked Witch and Hook together in a deadly supervillain love match.

To stop them, the girls will have to draw on all of their powers . . . and marshal a team of unlikely allies from across the magical multiverse.


I actually came upon this book when I was searching the library catalog to put an early hold on Project Hail Mary. So when I pulled up Andy Weir on Libby, along with his other sci-fi novels, this one popped up. A MG/YA illustrated fanfic about Alice, Wendy, and Dorothy exploring multiple universes together? Uh, sounds kinda crazy, but sign me up!

It'll Be Alright - As Long as Hail Mary Succeeds

~Project Hail Mary~
By Andy Weir
Amazon ~ Powell's

A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.


Having loved watching The Martian and loved reading Artemis, I was really looking forward to jumping on Andy Weir's latest book nice and early. I'll admit, while eager I was also a little anxious about diving into something more science-focused, since Artemis was more heist-centric, and I haven't read The Martian yet for that very reason. I mean, I'm not anti-science by any means, but I did avoid it as much as I could by getting a BA in college. So with my excitement balanced with a healthy apprehension, I took the plunge.

Damned to Darkness for All Eternity

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, The Beautiful, or don't mind knowing spoilers for it. This book, however, will not be spoiled.
SPOILER ALERT

~The Damned~
The Beautiful
Book 2
By Renée Ahdieh
Amazon ~ Powell's

Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.

Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn.

Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.


This is the first sequel The Vampire Book Club has picked thus far, so I was pretty excited to enter this world. I caught up on The Beautiful earlier this week and really enjoyed it, finding it a fun and well-crafted mix of familiar modern and classic stories. With that experience fresh in my mind, and a bombastic ending to boot, I was eager to continue the story and see just where Bastien and Celine got to next.