BOOK REVIEW: WHEN CICADAS CRY BY CAROLINE CLEVELAND

**Crossposted from the Circulation Desk**   When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland Union Square & Co, 2024 ISBN 978-1-4549-5231-2 ISBN 978-1-4549-5232-9  (e-book) Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:  Amazon.com | Bookshop.org   When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland is an engaging murder mystery. A beautiful, young, white woman is bludgeoned to death in rural South Carolina church. A young black accountant, […]

Book Review: The Raven’s Crux by Julie Boglisch

**Cross Posted from The Circulation Desk.**   The Raven’s Crux by Julie Boglisch Black Rose Writing, 2024 ISBN: 9781685133672 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com   The only drawback to The Raven’s Crux is the cartoonish, completely uninspiring cover of the book.  It doesn’t do justice to the thrilling ghost story contained inside, a story that manages the “crossover” […]

Book Review: Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi.

Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593309032 Available:: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com     Bitter is a prequel to Pet. In Pet, Jam accidentally brings a monstrous angel created by her artist mother through a gate to our world, opened by her bleeding on the image. In Bitter, we […]

Book Review: Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

  Siren Queen by Nghi Vo Tor.com, 2022 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250788832 Available: Hardcover, paperback, library binding, KIndle edition, audiobook Buy:    Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com   This is not so much a horror novel as it is an homage to classic monster movies and a critique of golden-age Hollywood. Readers looking for blood and gore will not find […]

Book Review: House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildstein

ISBN: 9781948463553 Somewhere between YA and full paranormal romance House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildstein begins with Fallon, a half-fae young woman living in a world where everyone has strict expectations of her, but they mostly–infuriatingly–just expect her to “Be good and not cause trouble”. Everyone, it seems, knows secrets about her. All Fallon […]

Book Review: Generation Annihilation by Tracy Hewitt Meyer

ISBN: 9781643973579 BHC Press, 2023   Generation Annihilation is a bitter, dark YA horror book that starts with a murder, specifically main character Shaun Treadway killing his step father. More complicated than that, the killing comes after his stepfather has put his mother in the hospital again, and launches Shaun into a journey into adulthood […]

BOOK REVIEW: HOW TO SUCCEED IN WITCHCRAFT BY AISLINN BROPHY

  **Cross posted from The Circulation Desk** How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readees, 2022 ISBN-13: 978-0593354520 Available: Hadcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com Shay is one of the few students of color at T.K. Anderson Prep. In a world where only licensed magic users can get top […]

BOOK REVIEW: NETTLE & BONE BY T. KINGFISHER

  **Cross posted from The Circulation Desk** Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher Tor, 2023 ISBN-13 ‎978-125024404 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook. Buy: Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com   There is a thin line between fantasy and horror, and between YA and adult fiction. Nettle and Bone dances on that line in this dark fairytale by T. Kingfisher, closer in tone to The […]