2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Happy New Year – Shana Tovah to all who celebrated over the weekend! We had a lovely dinner with friends, who did an amazing job hosting a very large crowd and making it all feel special.

Other than that, it’s been another busy week, but I fit in a couple more walks than I usually have time for, did some great outdoor dancing, and enjoyed time with family too.

A programming note.

I’m heading out of town for several days at the end of the week and will be mainly offline while I’m away. Hopefully, I’ll have lots of reviews to share by the time I’m back! As of now, I’m thinking I’ll pre-write and schedule next week’s TTT post, but that’s probably about it until I get home.

Bookish bits & bobs:

Random items to share!

Seen on my drive to work one day last week:

This is so relatable:

And in actual books news… I was thrilled to come across the announcement for Kristin Hannah’s upcoming new book! The Fire will be published in May 2027; see more about it here.

What did I read during the last week?

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie: One of the best books I’ve read in 2026. I posted a review this past week; see it here.

Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #1) by Jodi Taylor: I’m so happy to have finally started this series! My review is here.

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher: Loved this follow-up to Swordheart! My review is here.

Pop culture & TV:

I finished watching Little House on the Prairie (Netflix), and mainly liked it, although it definitely doesn’t feel like the Little House from my childhood! I don’t expect to have time to get involved with anything new this week before we head out of town — but with the Emmy awards Monday night and a new season of Dancing with the Stars kicking off, I’ll have plenty to watch in any case.

Fresh Catch:

I treated myself to two new books this week:

I also received an advance copy of the upcoming new October Daye book — can’t wait to start it!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher: This book wasn’t on my reading radar at all, but after seeing a New York Times book column proclaiming this the “Best Book Our Fantasy Columnist Has Read All Year”, I just had to check it out.

Now playing via audiobook:

Well… I finished Daggerbound on Sunday, and haven’t had a chance yet to start something new. I’m not sure what I feel like listening to next, especially since I may not have much listening time on my trip. I’ll probably go with something relatively short for starters, most likely one of the above

Ongoing reads:

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 83%. Coming up this week: Volume 4, chapters 7 and 8.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

13Sep2026

Book Review: Daggerbound (Swordheart, #2) by T. Kingfisher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Daggerbound
Series: Swordheart, #2
Author: T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: August 25, 2026
Length: 436 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. Another great adventure for the ages…

But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, instead of unsheathing a rusty, ancient weapon, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down.

This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who’s been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him.

But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.

T. Kingfisher’s fantasy novels are always a delight, and this sequel to Swordheart is every bit as wonderful as I’d expected it to be! Swordheart told the story of Sarkis, a man condemned to immortality while bound to a sword and whoever wields it. Here in Daggerbound, we pick up the story with the Dervish, one of Sarkis’s two fellow soldiers sentenced to the same fate.

As the story opens, Learned Edmund, a scholar and dedicate of the Many-Armed God, is leaving his temple to transport books and an ancient sword to recipients in a distant city. His temple doesn’t know, however, that he’s taking this opportunity to leave his religious order behind, having grown disillusioned from years of pushing for progress and change. Edmund’s journey does not go well — set upon by bandits, he accidentally unsheathes the sword, and is astonished by the appearance of what he at first takes to be an angel — a ridiculously handsome man with silver markings who appears out of nowhere in a flash of silver and proceeds to dispatch the men assaulting Edmund.

The man is no angel — it’s the Dervish, a man bound to the sword and forced to serve whoever wields it, compelled by the sword’s magic to defend his wielder, if need be at the cost of his own life. Of course, being immortal, he can only be temporarily dead, and some time spent back inside the sword heals him up again.

The Dervish is gorgeous, fierce, and angry, and is tormented by memories of the anguish he suffered at the hands of a particularly sadistic former wielder. He’s understandably irritated to find himself bound to yet another wielder, but quickly comes to see that Edmund is very different from those he’s served before. Edmund is a scholar, who only wishes to learn and apply his knowledge to helping others. He’s not interested in personal power or glory, and doesn’t wish to manipulate Dervish, and in fact agrees to help him figure out if there’s a way to break the curse and free him from his immortal, sword-bound existence.

As the pair travel onward, they acquire some highly unusual companions, find themselves in a variety of dangerous situations, and must fight their way out of more than one trap. The more time they spend together, the more evident it becomes that there’s something beyond a wielder/sword dynamic going on here — despite Dervish constantly reminding himself that Edmund is not his type.

Dervish is a fantastic character. His blend of hardened toughness and self-assuredness make him a formidable opponent for anyone who even looks like they might threated Edmund, and his ego — especially about his astonishing good looks — is never not hilarious. And yet, the terrible memories from his former wielder rise to the surface at unpredictable moments, revealing his unhealed psychic wounds and leaving him emotionally vulnerable.

Dervish and Edmund have a fabulous dynamic — opposites in so many ways, they find a deep appreciation for one another, and come to realize just how much they care and are willing to risk to keep the other person safe.

Other characters are also quite memorable (I won’t go into specifics — it’s so much fun to discover them on your own!), and having key characters from Swordheart join the adventure later in the book feels like meeting up with old friends.

Daggerbound is a wonderful follow-up to Swordheart. I loved being back in the world of this series, and enjoyed every twist and turn, every dangerous escapade and every tender moment. Daggerbound‘s love story is humorous, charming, and quite beautiful, and the characters are terrific, together and on their own.

I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book in the series. Book #3, which will focus on the third person cursed alongside Sarkis and Dervish, is scheduled for release in August 2027 — much too far away from now!

Book #3, *Shieldborn*; to be released 8/2027

Daggerbound succeeds as a sequel to Swordheart and as a terrific fantasy adventure story. Another outstanding book from an incredibly talented author. Highly recommended.

A note on the audiobook edition:

Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
Released: 2026
Audio length: 16 hours 9 minutes

I enjoyed the audio version of Swordheart so much that I opted to go the same route with Daggerbound, and I’m so glad that I did. Once again, narrator Jesse Vilinsky knocks it out of the park with her excellent character voices and expressive storytelling.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

12Sep2026

Book Review: Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #1) by Jodi Taylor

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Just One Damned Thing After Another
Series: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #1
Author: Jodi Taylor
Publisher: Headline
Publication date: June 1, 2013
Length: 282 pages
Genre: Time travel
Source: Purchased
Rating:

They say that History is just one damned thing after another. Welcome to St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research – where damned things happen every day.

When Dr Madeleine ‘Max’ Maxwell is recruited by St Mary’s, she finds their methods to be somewhat unorthodox. They don’t just study the past – they actually visit it, carefully observing historical events as they unfold in real time.

And not dying. This last part is important.

The whole of History now lies before Max and her new colleagues, but, as she will discover, time travel is never straightforward. Because History doesn’t like to be messed with, and danger lurks in every century…

The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series has been on my to-read for years now. Back in January, I committed to finally starting it in 2026… and now I have, and I can’t believe I waited this long!

‘You’re feeling a bit under the weather,’ he said soothingly. ‘I know it’s natural for historians, but try not to dwell so much on the past.’

Book 1, Just One Damned Thing After Another, introduces us to the crazy world of St. Mary’s, a seemingly normal, possibly even boring, institute of historical research. But behind the front doors, something else entirely awaits. Max, a history professor in her late 20s, is recruited by St. Mary’s and learns what they’re really up to: Rather than relying on books and artifacts to understand the past, the St. Mary’s team uses time travel to visit and observe key moments and document their findings.

“… Although the phrase “time travel” is so sci-fi. We don’t do that. Here at St Mary’s we investigate major historical events in contemporary time.”

They can’t change anything while they’re there, but they’re able to report back with incredible new findings to pass along through the more official university channels. Their work is revolutionary, but government and university funders are breathing down their necks, and their continued existence is always a question mark.

Max is outspoken and fierce. After a rigorous training period — which includes everything from hand-to-hand combat to field medicine — she begins going on missions with other historians. And as she sees, these missions really are just one damned thing after another. Things go wrong often, and dramatically. Meanwhile, secrets about her colleagues at St. Mary’s change her understanding of certain situations, and betrayal from within threatens Max and everyone she cares about.

Some descriptions of this series describe it as madcap, hilarious, full of hijinks… and that may be true (and granted, I’ve only read the first book) — but I found that Just One Damned Thing After Another gets quite dark at time too. There are certainly plenty of humorous moments, and the dialogue truly makes me laugh at times. Still, there are some pretty awful things that happen to Max and others, including scenes of death and destruction, emotional collapse, and a couple of terrible moments between Max and people she trusts that are upsetting and heartbreaking.

On the whole, though, the book’s fast pace and sense of adventure keeps things moving and doesn’t force (or allow) readers to dwell for very long on the more painful moments. Meanwhile, there are ancient artifacts and extinct creatures to encounter! Even back at St. Mary’s, the inventors and scientists and researchers keep everyone on their toes (explosions, mainly unplanned, abound).

You can say this about historians, we may be the tea-drenched disaster-magnets of St Mary’s but bloody hell, can we think quickly when we have to.

My small quibble with Just One Damned Thing After Another is that there are just so many characters to keep track of! The book has a “Dramatis Thingummy” section at the beginning, listing and defining over 30 characters — which, yes, is helpful as a reference while reading, but feels really daunting as well. There are some people I never did manage to keep straight — we’ll see how many show up in the next books in the series.

Overall, I really enjoyed Just One Damned Thing After Another. The writing is upbeat and engaging, and even through the darker moments, there’s always another bright spot to look forward to. I came to love Max herself and her close colleagues and allies, thought the approach to time travel and the idea of historians as the ultimate explores were amazing, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the St. Mary’s crew.

Will I continue this series? Absolutely. As of this moment, there are 14 novels in the series (and a long list of associated short stories), and apparently a 15th book scheduled for release in 2027. With so many books ahead of me, I’m going to try to pace myself — but I do hope to read at least one or two more by the end of this year.

*Up next: Book #2, A Symphony of Echoes*

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

11Sep2026

First Lines Friday 9/11/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
Finally… reveal the book!

Today’s line are from the upcoming new book in a favorite series:

According to the clock on the bedside table, it was almost noon, the solid middle of the day, when all good fae should be asleep and dreaming of better worlds.

So what’s the book?

A Divided Duty (October Daye, #20) by Seanan McGuire
Release date: September 29, 2026
384 pages

Synopsis:

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated October Daye series finds Toby Daye torn between caring for her newborn daughter and keeping the world of Faerie—and her found family—safe.

October “Toby” Daye is settling into life with a baby, remembering the ins and outs of motherhood, and trying to find ways to balance her work with her desire to keep her baby safe at home and away from all the terrors Faerie has to offer. Her whole household is pitching in, from May all the way down to Raysel, the estranged daughter of Toby’s liege lord, who is currently serving out a term of offense in Toby’s home.

Naturally, as everything is beginning to find a balance, it’s time for Raysel’s term of offense to end, and Luna Torquill very much wants her daughter back.

But Toby has been helping Raysel get the help she desperately needs, from giving her a safe place to hide all the way to finding her a licensed therapist who works with the fae, and Raysel isn’t ready to leave. Luna isn’t taking no for an answer, and before anyone can realize what she’s planning, she steals her own child away to Blind Michael’s lands.

Not even Luna knows all the terrible secrets her father and his works hid from the world, and not even she can protect her daughter from the monsters in their lineage. All too quickly, Toby must race the clock to save Raysel—before it’s too late for her to ever come home.

It’s been years, but now the question will be asked again: can she get there and back by the light of a candle?

October Daye is one of my all-time favorite fantasy series… and it amazes me that it remains so incredibly strong after so many books! Can’t wait to get started!

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

10Sep2026

Cover reveal: Steel Rain (Alpha & Omega, #7) by Patricia Briggs (coming April 2027)

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Thrilled to see the cover reveal a few days ago for the next book in Patricia Briggs’s terrific Alpha & Omega series:

Blurb from the publisher’s page:

Mated werewolves Charles and Anna Cornick must withstand the deadly magic of the Wild Hunt in this haunting entry in #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs’s Alpha and Omega series.

Something dangerous has been stirring in the Olympic Peninsula, but that’s not unusual. The rainforest has been attracting the attention of the supernatural denizens of the Pacific Northwest since before the first Western settlers appeared on the shores of North America.

But this time, that stirring is . . . convenient.

Charles and Anna Cornick have been tasked with keeping Charles’s brother’s child safe and hidden. But keeping a baby who is obviously of fae and werewolf descent secret is no easy charge. They need to give the infant an origin story that doesn’t involve family.

While Charles’s father, the Marrok, and his mate protect the baby, Charles and Anna travel to the Washington coastline. But the forest is old, and its shadows are deep. To survive, Anna must bargain with elemental powers, and Charles must dig deep into the treacherous heritage he has long suppressed.

For ancient magic is rising, and the woods ring out with the call of the Horn of the Wild Hunt.

Once again, the amazing cover art is by artist Dan Dos Santos — you can see more of his artwork here).

By the time Steel Rain is released, it will have been six years since the last Alpha & Omega book came out! I’ll definitely need a refresher… but I love these characters and this world so much that doing a reread while waiting for the new book will be no problem at all.

Preorder links: Amazon – Bookshop.org
Note: These are affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

9Sep2026

Book Review: Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Into the Blue
Author: Emma Brodie
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: April 7, 2026
Length: 448 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

From the award-winning author of Songs in Ursa Major comes an epic, decade-spanning love story that blazes through the worlds of acting and comedy, and charts a connection so powerful it might just break space and time itself.

“The truth is there’s no such thing as a normal life. There’s just the time you get and how you spend it.”

In the summer of 2000, AJ Graves dreams of writing for Saturday Night Live; instead, she’s stuck working in a video rental store, with slim odds of escaping her small Massachusetts town. Then in walks Noah Drew, the enigmatic and intense scion of the Drew acting dynasty, and her life changes forever. Despite wildly different upbringings, the two forge a deep, cosmic bond, first as friends, then as acting partners—until one day, Noah disappears without a word.

Seven years later, in New York City, AJ is shocked to find herself cast in the same intergalactic TV production as Noah, by then a well-known Hollywood heartthrob. As their on-screen characters grow closer every day, the lines between reality and acting begin to blur. Unable to stay away from each other, AJ and Noah are forced to confront the truth of what happened years ago—and the devastating secret that will send their lives careening apart, even as fate continues to draw them together.

Blending unforgettable characters, explosive chemistry and yearning, and profound emotion, Into the Blue is a journey unlike any other—one that asks: What does it mean to diverge from the script to forge your own story?

Into the Blue is a hard book to describe. It’s a story of love and acting, geekiness and intensity and fandoms, commitment and abandonment, and so much more. There are incredibly funny moments, and scenes so raw that I felt as though my heart had been pulled out and stomped on.

At age seventeen, AJ Graves works at a video rental store in her small Berkshires town, obsessed with old movies and classic cult TV, especially the 60s-era improvisational sci-fi series, Astronauticals. A short-lived, one-of-a-kind series, the show centered on a space crew and their adventures, but with scenes completely improvised. One of the actors, Eudora Drew, is local to AJ’s town, and her character Glimmette especially fascinates AJ. When Eudora’s nephew Noah, four years older than AJ and a former classmate of her big brother, walks into the store to start a summer job alongside her, AJ’s hackles are raised. He must clearly be slumming it — he’s a descendant of the Drew acting dynasty, and certainly doesn’t need a minimum wage job to support himself.

As the summer progress, though, AJ and Noah bond over Astronauticals and other movies, and when Noah brings her by the Drew mansion, she meets Eudora — who immediately insists that she’s going to train AJ and Noah. AJ dreams of a comedy writing career, but Eudora demands that she and Noah learn her improv and acting methods, and puts them through a rigorous, intensive program that somehow forges an intense, rare connection between them. As they “play” together all summer, they become highly attuned to one another’s thoughts and feelings, and it goes way beyond acting. And yet, something goes wrong, and one day Noah is just gone, and AJ find herself shut out by Eudora as well. Bereft and heart-broken, she has no choice but to throw herself into finishing school and getting on with her future.

Years later, as AJ works in New York as a writer with an improv/comedy troupe, Noah shows up… but in the intervening years, Noah has become a star with an Oscar nomination and huge movie roles to his credit. His appearance at the improv center has a purpose: He’s slated to be a part of an Astronauticals reboot, to be called Into the Blue… and with it going into production at the time of the writers’ strike, it’ll have a novel approach. While the general story line and premise are layed out, the episodes themselves will be completely improvised. To AJ’s shock, she’s cast in the show as well, and as the production progresses, it becomes clear that she’ll become the major female lead and love interest for Noah’s character.

The intense connection between AJ and Noah sparks back to life — clearly, it had never really died out. Yet AJ is still devastated by his abandonment years earlier and the silence since then, and is unwilling to let him back in. But their bond is so powerful that it can’t be avoided forever, and their relationship burns bright… until certain truths push them apart once again.

It’s hard to discuss this book without giving details away, and that would be a shame. The intensity and power of the connection between AJ and Noah drives the plot forward, and there has to be a very good reason for the estrangements that continue to drive them into separate lives… and there is, but that doesn’t lessen the impact or help AJ or Noah forget what’s between them.

There are lighter moments too — the descriptions of fandoms and cons and obsessions over pop culture are all really well done. I was reminded throughout of Firefly… which was reinforced later in the book when I came across this brief line:

But as Ana, such sounds broke from her as to burn the land and boil the sea.

Powerful moment, and those particular words really drive it home. (IYKYK)

The final section of the book is one of the most evocative, unusual, and emotionally devastating pieces of writing I’ve come across in a long time. Again, I really can’t say why or provide details without diminishing the way this book gets under your skin and into your heart. All I can say is that it blew me away.

I loved the characters, felt their joy and pain, and wanted to stay in their world for as long as possible. Beyond that, the chapters set in the worlds of SNL, improv, and filming Into the Blue are an amazing mix of creative expression, humor, and blazing connection between people who find a way to share inspiration and bring it to life.

One small quibble left me questioning whether to reduce my star rating: This book makes use of one of the break-up tropes I find most maddening — the “I’m breaking up with you for your own good and won’t tell you why” approach — and it makes me crazy every time, especially when the person on the receiving end believes the fake reasons for the break-up when clearly they’re being told a whopping lie. I was pretty mad at the characters over this issue… but at the end of the day, I’m sticking with my 5-star rating, because I simply can’t overlook or downplay how the book as a whole made me feel.

Into the Blue has easily become one of my favorite books of 2026. It made me laugh and cry, and shows so much about love and the power that exists in forging a bond with the person who means the world to you. This book is truly a unique reading experience. Don’t miss it.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

8Sep2026

Top Ten Tuesday: Let’s hear it for indie bookstores!

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Indie Freebie with the prompt: This topic encompasses a lot: your favorite indie bookstores, indie books, indie authors, indie publishers/presses, indie books on your to-read list, indie authors I read before they became traditionally published, etc.

My list today includes some favorite indie bookstores, plus a few ways to support indie booksellers.

First, my local faves:

1. The Love Potion Library: A new romance bookstore!

2. Borderland Books: Mainly sci-fi and fantasy, but also horror, mystery, and all sorts of cool and eclectic items for sale.

3. Green Apple Books: A San Francisco destination for new and used books (now with two locations).

4. Peninsula Books: A non-profit bookstore selling used books and hosting a variety of bookish events, supporting Peninsula Book Collective.

Next, a few other ways to shop and show support for indie bookstores and authors:

5. Poisoned Pen Bookstore (Arizona): For non-locals like me, a great source for virtual events and for ordering signed books copies, especially for Outlander books (but also plenty of others)

6. Bookshop.org: An online alternative to you-know-what, with purchases supporting the bookstore of your choice.

7. Libro.fm: Up to now, a great resource for audiobooks, but about to expand into ebooks as well. And like the previous item on my list, you can designate a bookstore to support via your purchases.

8. Independent Bookstore Day, sponsored by the American Booksellers Association: The last Saturday in April each year, this is a terrific event offering all sorts of opportunities to get out and enjoy indie bookstores across the country.

9. Check your favorite authors’ websites for preferred sellers! Many authors I follow have a designated local bookseller where we can order signed books (and sometimes fun extras too! It’s a nice way to support an indie bookseller while also getting access to a bookish treat for ourselves.

10. Gumroad: A place for creators to sell directly to consumers (rather than through the big A). I only know about this thanks to author Gail Carriger, who has several of her books and audiobooks available here.

What indie bookstore or resources do you recommend?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

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7Sep2026

The Monday Check-In ~ 9/7/2026

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

The super annoying late summer cold that’s been going around finally caught up to me. (Cue the sneezing and coughing…) I ended up staying home for most of the week, still able to work but trying not to share my germs with all my nice coworkers. My symptoms finally eased up over the weekend, with time to get out and be a bit more active. On the plus side, all that time stuck in the house left me with plenty of time to read, which I’ll never complain about.

Bookish bits & bobs:

Awesome new book announcement this week!

Tor Publishing has announced the publication of Tamsyn Muir’s new novel, Floralinda, coming in July 2027. According to Tor:

The novel is a massive expansion of Muir’s 2019 short fiction Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower, previously published by Subterranean Press.

Well… I happened to have LOVED the Princess Floralinda novella (read more about it here), so yup, I’m totally down for reading a full-length version of her story!

What did I read during the last week?

My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows: An incredibly fun, off-the-wall alternate history mash-up involving Mary Shelley, Ada Lovelace, and a very inquisitive automaton. My review is here.

Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison: Terrific new horror novel about a woman stuck in a time loop at a very deadly wedding. My review is here.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier: My most recent Classics Club Spin book — my 2nd du Maurier in a row! Loved it. My review is here.

We Chase Shadows (We Solve Murders, #2) by Richard Osman: Another fun entry in a fast-paced caper series. My review is here.

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie: Finished late Sunday. This book just stomped all over my heart — incredible. Watch for my review later this week.

Pop culture & TV:

I’ve mainly been in the mood for comedies and light viewing lately, and finally got around to watching season 2 of The Four Seasons on Netflix. It was… okay. Talented cast, of course, and some funny moments, but also a lot of marital strife and mid-life angst. I liked it well enough to want to see the next season, whenever it comes out, but there weren’t quite as many laughs as I’d hoped for.

Over the weekend, I started the new Little House on the Prairie series on Netflix. The two episodes I’ve watched so far were good, but left me with the overall impression that Charles Ingalls makes spectacularly bad decisions on behalf of his family — and granted, it’s been a long, long time, but I don’t remember feeling that way about the original TV series at all. I’ll keep watching — I do like the storytelling approach, and the young actors are all quite good.

Fresh Catch:

No new books this week.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #1) by Jodi Taylor: I’ve been talking about reading this book (and series) for such a long time! Now feels like a good opportunity to finally jump in. Just starting today — fingers crossed that I’ll like it as much as I expect to!

Now playing via audiobook:

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher: Being stuck at home most of the week, I really didn’t get much audiobook time, so I’m still in the early chapters of this book. I’m glad to be back in the world of Swordheart, and look forward to powering through a lot more of the story in the week to come.

Ongoing reads:

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe: My book group’s classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 80%. Coming up this week: Volume 4, chapters 5 and 6.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

6Sep2026

Book Review: We Chase Shadows (We Solve Murders, #2) by Richard Osman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: We Chase Shadows
Series: We Solve Murders, #2
Author: Richard Osman
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date: September 15, 2026
Length: 345 pages
Genre: Mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Back together.
Back on the case.
And back to solving murders . . .

At sunrise, high in the Italian hills, a body is found on the steps of a beautiful private villa. On the body is a threatening note, signed by a mystery man.

Back at We Solve Murders HQ, Amy, Rosie, and Steve leap at the chance to take on their first proper case. So what if their new client seems to have his own reasons for avoiding the police? All they need to do is uncover who left the note, and then find them. Simple.

But once they start digging, the suspects keep piling up: there’s Sweden’s most-wanted criminal, a canny ex-wife and a fierce business rival – yet the murderer keeps evading them. And as the trio chase a villain through the shadows, danger travels closer to home . . .

Between Italy and Palm Springs, via Barcelona and Steve’s village pub, can the team catch an elusive killer who knows EXACTLY where to hide?

The awesome trio formed during the first book in this clever series (We Solve Murders) is back in action in We Chase Shadows. Rosie, an internationally bestselling mystery writer of indeterminate age, Amy, her former bodyguard, and Steve, a retired cop and Amy’s father-in-law, may seem like an odd mix, but after the events of the first book, they’ve teamed up to open a detective agency called… We Solve Murders.

That’s what makes them a great team. Rosie will sleep with you, Amy will hit you, Steve will tell you a fact about public transport. They’ve got all angles covered.

The problem is, no one has actually called upon them to solve any murders. Amy, for one, is getting bored — she hasn’t had anyone to punch in far too long. When Rosie goes on the Graham Norton Show to promote her newest book, she slips in a mention of We Solve Murders, and boom! They finally get a case.

Secretive tycoon Vern Blackwood summons them to his Tuscany villa to find the person who murdered one of his bodyguards. Conveniently, his body was found with a note in his pocket, taking responsibility for the murder and threatening Vern with further murders to come — and the note is even signed by the killer, someone who’s one of Vern’s chief competitors in their super shady and illegal business world. But, Vern insists, the note is a distraction: He’s sure that person isn’t the actual killer and he wants them to find out who is.

Globe-hopping ensues, as Rosie, Amy, and Steve use Rosie’s private jet to zoom around the world chasing leads, connecting with allies, and popping back home for Steve’s weekly pub quiz. As more bodies pile up, the list of suspects gets weird, and weirdly narrower, as the likely suspects are the people who keep turning up dead.

We Chase Shadows is a fun-filled, not terribly serious caper book. The mystery is engaging, but it’s the banter and escapades of our mismatched trio that keep the plot zipping along.

“Stevie,” says Tommy “I’ve been alive for seventy years, right? And I ain’t died yet. That can’t be a coincidence?”

“I think that’s just how life works,” says Amy. “No one dies until they die.”

“All I know is what I know,” says Tommy. “Hundred percent record of not dying. […]”

Interesting twists and red herrings come into play, and the bad guys aren’t psychopaths or darkly evil, just people with highly questionable moral compasses who’ll do anything for a profit. Yes, they’re internationally wanted criminals… but their motive is money, not cruelty, which keeps the book from ever getting too grim.

The We Solve Murders books are a bit lighter on character depth and development than the Thursday Murder Club series, but this newer series shows promise too. I might argue that no one in real life would ever talk the way these people do, but that’s okay. Their quips and ridiculousness are part of the fun, and certainly keep the atmosphere bubbly even when danger looms for the characters.

The author’s notes indicate that his next book will be a return to the Thursday Murder Club series (yay!), but that a 3rd book in We Solve Murders will be on the way after that. I’m looking forward to both!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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5Sep2026

Spell the Month in Books: September

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Spell the Month in Books is a monthly meme hosted by Jana at Reviews from the Stacks. To participate, find a book title that starts with each letter in the month’s name, make a list, share your link, and that’s it! You can share anytime by the end of the month. Some months have additional themes, but feel free to participate however you’d like!

There isn’t a theme set for September (or at least not as far as I’ve seen)… so I’m choosing my own. Since September is traditionally the start of the school year (although where I live, school already started up again in August), my theme for this month is books with a school setting.

Here are my SEPTEMBER books: