Book Review: Green Rider (Green Rider, #1) by Kristen Britain

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Title: Green Rider
Series: Green Rider, #1
Author: Kristen Britain
Publisher: DAW
Publication date: 1998
Length: 481 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Magic, danger, and adventure abound for messenger Karigan G’ladheon in the first book of the New York Times-bestselling Green Rider fantasy series 

On her long journey home from school after a fight that will surely lead to her expulsion, Karigan G’ladheon ponders her uncertain future. As she trudges through the immense Green Cloak forest, her thoughts are interrupted by the clattering of hooves, as a galloping horse bursts from the woods.

The rider is slumped over his mount’s neck, impaled by two black-shafted arrows. As the young man lies dying on the road, he tells Karigan he is a Green Rider, one of the legendary messengers of the king of Sacoridia.

Before he dies, he begs Karigan to deliver the “life and death” message he bears to King Zachary. When she reluctantly he agrees, he makes her swear on his sword to complete his mission, whispering with his dying breath, “Beware the shadow man…”

Taking on the golden-winged horse brooch that is the symbol of the Green Riders, Karigan is swept into a world of deadly danger and complex magic, her life forever changed. Compelled by forces she cannot understand, Karigan is accompanied by the silent specter of the fallen messenger and hounded by dark beings bent on seeing that the message, and its reluctant carrier, never reach their destination.

With memorable characters, unique magic, and a story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, this action-packed, feminist fantasy is a must-read for lovers of the genre.

Where has Green Rider been all my (reading) life? I only became aware of this series in 2023, after stumbling across a promo for a soon-to-be released novella set in the world of the larger series. I don’t know why I wasn’t aware of Green Rider sooner… but I suppose this falls into the category of “better late than never” books!

Green Rider is a high fantasy series involving magic, legacies of ancient battles, rivalry for the throne, struggles between the nobility, merchant, and lower classes, and so much more. Our main character is Karigan G’ladheon, teenaged daughter of a successful shipping merchant. Karigan has just been suspended from school after humiliating a nobleman’s son at swordplay. On her trek home, Karigan encounters a Green Rider — a member of the King’s elite messenger corps — who’s been mortally wounded. Dying in front of Karigan, he begs her to complete his mission. Although she has no training in such matters, she swears to do so, and takes up his green cloak, his mysterious horse-shaped gold brooch, and his horse (whom Karigan proceeds to name The Horse).

Almost immediately, Karigan discovers that her own life is now in danger. She’s pursued by a variety of bad guys, who are clearly willing to hurt or kill her in order to get their hands on the message she carries. But Karigan is committed to keeping her promise, and has the dead Rider’s ghost to encourage her onward when she falters.

Much of Green Rider focuses on Karigan’s journey along dangerous roads, fighting off threats while also meeting intriguing others who seem to wield magical gifts and are willing to offer her help. Karigan learns that wearing the cloak and brooch of a Green Rider imbues her with certain powers — and while she keeps insisting that she’s not really a Rider herself, her actions seem to prove otherwise.

The stakes and tension escalate further when she finally reaches the kingdom’s capitol and finds her way to the court. Meanwhile, scattered throughout are chapters showing a devious plot to overthrow the king, with nefarious parties willing to allow the blackest magic back into the kingdom in order to promote their own power plays. A dramatic, deadly face-off between the forces of good and evil provides a thrilling climax to the story — and the ripple effects are sure to be felt throughout the next books in the series.

Green Rider is an absorbing, complicated book, with intricate world-building and a wide cast of characters. I think I hesitated to start because of the length and size of the book — my edition is an oversized paperback, and it really looks and feels like a doorstop! Fortunately, it’s fast-moving, and I never felt bogged down or overwhelmed.

Karigan is a terrific character, as are so many of the others we meet. I’m curious to learn more about the king and the other riders, and would love to know more about certain of the unusual people Karigan meets during her journey.

A map of the kingdom and surrounding lands would have been helpful! My edition does not include this, although a quick Google search leads to several fan-made versions, as well as a map drawn by the author when book #6 was released.

As for the series as a whole, it currently consists of eight novels plus two shorter works. The eighth novel was just published this week! The main novels are all pretty massive, well over 500 pages each. No wonder I was hesitant about starting!

Will I continue? Absolutely! I loved Green Rider, and can’t wait to see what’s next for Karigan. There’s clearly so much more to explore about this rich fantasy world. Given the length of the books, I’m not sure when I’ll actually dive into book #2 (596 pages!), but at the very latest, it will be a priority read for me in 2026.

Overall, I highly recommend Green Rider, and I’m delighted that I’ve finally taken the time to start this series. A must-read for fantasy fans!

The Green Rider series:

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – 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.

Book Review: A Pirate’s Life for Tea (Tomes & Tea, #2) by Rebecca Thorne

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Title: A Pirate’s Life for Tea
Series: Tomes & Tea, #2
Author: Rebecca Thorne
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: February 23, 2023
Length: 444 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

“You asked for this, Rain. Let’s go capture a pirate.”

While searching for stolen dragon eggs, newly engaged couple Kianthe and Reyna find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a swashbuckling love story.

On one side is Serina, a failed farmer turned river pirate. Her booty? Wheat, grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It’s quite the embarrassment to Diarn Arlon, the powerful lord of the Nacean River, and he’ll conscript anyone to bring her to justice. Especially Kianthe, the elemental mage who just crashed his party, and her somewhat-scary fiancée.

Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon’s constables–who happens to be Serina’s childhood friend. Bobbie is determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serina didn’t absolutely loathe her now.

As Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Reyna’s favorite past time. The dragon eggs may have to wait.

When does cozy cross over into boring? I’m not exactly sure, but A Pirate’s Life for Tea definitely approaches the line.

While I enjoyed the first book in this series, Can’t Spell Treason without Tea, in which a Queensguard (highly skilled swordswoman sworn to protect a terrible Queen) and the Arcandor (a.k.a., the Mage of Ages, the most powerful mage in the land) fall in love and run off together to open a teahouse/bookshop… this second book lacks a lot of the charm, and spends entirely too much time moseying up and down a river.

Here, our heroes Reyna and Kianthe (the Queensguard and Arcandor, respectively) are off on an adventure, trying to chase down missing dragon eggs that they’ve sworn to find and return to the dragons (who otherwise threaten to burn down their newly adopted home town). Following clues that lead to the wealthy lands bordering the Nacean River, they discover a corrupt ruler, a pirate trying to mete out justice single-handedly, and a constable whose duty it is to stop the pirate… but whose heart is standing in the way.

The story follows Serina and Bobbie’s adventures up and down the river onboard various stolen ships, with a motley crew of deckhands and would-be pirates to aid and abet their schemes. Meanwhile, Reyna and Kianthe become involved, realizing that the pirates’ enemy is also the person most likely to have clues to the whereabouts of the missing eggs, if not the eggs themselves

There are plenty of action sequences — ship to ship combat, shipwrecks and raging rapids, exploding magical traps — and yet the storyline itself feels strangely stagnant. The action set-pieces are offset by the cozier elements of the book as a whole, including wine tastings, crocheting, dancing, and plenty of lovey-dovey flirting (as well as Kianthe’s never-ending puns, which are, I admit, kind of cute). The cozy side of things may be sweet, but it has a tendency to grind the action to a halt. The up-and-down pacing makes the whole book feel like a slog after a while.

Beyond that, the main problem for me is that I couldn’t quite bring myself to care about the pirate storyline, and Bobbie and Serina didn’t capture my imagination as a couple. They spend far too much time agonizing over their differences, and while we’re told that they’ve always deep-down loved one another despite their current antagonism, I didn’t feel their chemistry at all.

Reyna and Kianthe are often great together, but their story here feels lacking as well, perhaps because the entire book takes place away from their town and bookshop — which makes the story as a whole feel untethered. A lot of the first book’s charm revolves around seeing them settle into their new chosen home and build a life together; here, they’re off on an adventure, but it’s not nearly as engaging as I expected it to be.

I’ll be honest: I had a hard time staying interested in this book, and even considered walking away. Ultimately, I stuck with it, largely because I own the paperback edition of this book and wanted to see it through.

I’m feeling very ambivalent about continuing with the series… but since I also own #3 (yes, I bought all three on a whim on a bookstore visit earlier in the year), I’m guessing I’ll read it eventually. And honestly, the synopsis for #3 makes it sound like it’ll be an improvement!

Up next:

Tomes & Tea, #3: Tea You at the Altar

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – 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.

Austen-inspired two-fer: A pair of mini-reviews

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Somewhat accidentally — I really didn’t plan for this to happen! — I ended up reading two light, cute, Austen-inspired romances during my recent vacation. Both were lots of fun. Let’s dive in!

Title: Emma of 83rd Street
Series: For the Love of Austen, #1
Authors: Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding
Narrators: Brittany Pressley and Teddy Hamilton
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: May 23, 2023
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 40 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.

Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.

Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.

As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.

Not all contemporary Austen retellings work — the emphasis on marriage can be jarring in a supposedly modern-day setting. And yet, Emma of 83rd Street manages to tell a familiar tale in a way that’s amusing and nicely tailored to today’s world of online dating, high-pressure jobs, and dressing to impress.

The Upper East Side is a natural location for rich, spoiled Emma Woodhouse. Sure, the designer name-dropping gets a bit tedious — but that’s Emma’s world, and feels right for who she is. She’s flighty and meddlesome, thinks she knows what’s best for everyone, and seems to be pursuing a master’s degree in art history mainly for the fun of it… but underneath that shallow exterior, we get to see Emma’s kind heart and her devotion to her friends and family.

I liked that the original cast of characters from Austen are repurposed here in ways that fit the story, given new names and occupations, but remaining true enough to certain essentials to make them recognizable (and fun to spot).

The Knightly relationship has a bit less of an age difference here… and yes, he can be overbearing, but the chemistry with Emma works well, and the progression to romance feels mostly organic. (We see it coming well before either of the characters do.)

A running complaint I have with contemporary Austen retellings is that it can be jarring to see well-loved characters — even modern-day versions of them — hopping into bed together, and that’s true here as well. I could have used a bit less of the details! She may be wearing today’s couture, but she’s still Emma Woodhouse! Closed door would have been better, is all I’m saying.

Overall, Emma of 83rd Street is quite a lot of fun, and the audiobook version’s narrators bring the characters and dialogues to life.

This is apparently the first in a series. I’m on the fence right now about continuing — the wealthy New York setting could get old after a while, I’m afraid. We’ll see; for now, these are on my TBR:

Title: The Austen Affair
Author: Madeline Bell
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication date: September 16, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this delightfully clever and riotously funny debut

Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. It’s not just the role of a lifetime, but it’s also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it’s her opportunity to honor her mom, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess’s way—well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour.

A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don’t quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. But the film needs chemistry—and Tess’s career depends on it.

Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen’s era. 200 years in the past with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home, and hopefully not screw up history along the way. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches…well, Tess won’t be complaining.

A wickedly funny, delightfully charming story, The Austen Affair is a tribute to Jane Austen, second chances, and love across the space-time continuum.

The cover of The Austen Affair is what first caught my eye… and then I read the synopsis, and had to laugh out loud. An Austen retelling with time travel?? Yes, please!

In this entertaining story, Tess Bright is in England for the filming of Northanger Abbey. Playing Catherine Morland is her dream role, and also a tribute to her late mother, whose love of Jane Austen was a constant for Tess throughout her childhood. Mired in grief, Tess has all but tanked her career, and this film may be her very last chance to prove to herself (and all the vicious naysayers) that she’s worth taking seriously.

Filming does not get off to a good start, thanks to tension (and not the good kind!) with her costar, Hugh Balfour. Hugh is an uptight, classically trained Method actor who thinks Tess is flighty and chaotic, and doesn’t believe she knows her Austen from her elbow. When a freak electrical accident flings them back in time 200 years, Hugh and Tess are forced to rely on one another as they attempt to fit in in their new setting, convince Hugh’s ancestors that they’re who they say they are, and figure out how to get back to their real lives.

Tess and Hugh seem ill-suited at first, but as they adapt to their new circumstances, their animosity peels away. Each is revealed to have more depth than the other originally perceived, and their forced proximity turns into friendship, understanding, and a sense of support and respect.

The time travel conundrums are quite fun, as is Tess’s delight at finding herself living out her Regency-era dreams, down to the bonnets and gloves and games of whist. While there’s a lot of silliness on the surface, we see how Tess’s grief is a constant for her, and how living in Austen’s world helps her find joy in remembering her mother.

I didn’t necessarily buy everything in this story, especially Tess’s insistence that the universe and/or her mother intentionally caused the time travel… but overall, the romance, the family complications, and the focus on Jane Austen really work well.

The Austen Affair is a sweet, engaging, funny book with a warm heart. Sure, the time travel mechanics are worthy of a few eye-rolls… but this is romantic fiction, not sci-fi. Suspend your disbelief, and just go along for the ride!

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

Emma of 83rd Street: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
The Austen Affair: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fmSave

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers that Give off Autumn Vibes (2025 edition!)

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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 Book Covers that Give off Fall Vibes. I last did this TTT topic in 2020 and 2019 — let’s see if I can come up with a fresh batch of 10!

When I think of autumn, I think of browns and oranges and yellows — so here are a selection of books from my shelves with cover colors in a fall palette.

What books make you think of autumn? Please share your TTT link!

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The Monday Check-In ~ 9/29/2025

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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.

I’m back! My husband and I just spent a week in Hawaii… pure relaxation! Our trips tend to be go, go, go all the time — whether daily hikes or road trips or running from point A to point B to point Z. This time, though… we basked in the glory of having no plans other than enjoying the beach, the sun, the waves, and good food.

We basically spent every day swimming, walking on the beach, and reading by the pool, then headed out in the evenings for casual to nicer dinners — and even made it to a terrific Cirque du Soleil experience!

I loved getting some time away (and it also was a great way to celebrate my birthday)!

What did I read during the last week?

I have a LOT of catching up to do when it comes to reviews. Meanwhile, here’s a look at everything I’ve read since my last Monday Check-In post two weeks ago:

Silver and Lead (October Daye, #19) by Seanan McGuire: Fantastic addition to one of my all-time favorite series! My review is here.

Alone in the Wild (Rockton, #5) by Kelley Armstrong: This series is SO good! I’ve been trying to pace myself, but it’s hard to resist reading straight through. My review of book #5 is here.

Reviews to follow later this week:

The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell: Cute Austen-inspired romance with a time-travel twist.

Green Rider by Kristen Britain: Just as good as everyone says! I’m so happy that I finally took the time to read this terrific fantasy.

A Pirate’s Life for Tea (Tomes & Tea, #2) by Rebecca Thorne: Sad to say, this cozy fantasy is so-so at best.

Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Bellezza & Emily Harding: Even more Austen! This contemporary retelling of Emma was lots of fun as an audiobook.

Pop culture & TV:

My reality competition shows all started this past week, and I’m behind! I didn’t watch a single thing while we were away, so over the next few days, I’ll be looking forward to starting the new seasons of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Dancing with the Stars.

Fresh Catch:

No new books this week.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White: This wasn’t on my priority reading list for fall, but it somehow suited my mood last night when I was ready to start a new book, so here we are! This Dracula retelling/reinvention is off to a good start.

Now playing via audiobook:

Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney: I don’t remember where I first heard about this book, but my library hold came in and I decided to grab it! I should be starting this audiobook today.

Ongoing reads:

My longer-term reading commitments (current and coming up):

  • Villette by Charlotte Brontë: Group classic read, two chapters per week. Progress: 73%. Up next: Chapters 31 and 32.
  • The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien: My book group’s newest reading journey, continuing our LOTR adventure. Progress (relative to the entire LOTR opus): 45%.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

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Book Review: Alone in the Wild (Rockton, #5) by Kelley Armstrong

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Title: Alone in the Wild
Series: Rockton, #5
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: February 4, 2020
Length: 369 pages
Genre: Thriller/mystery
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

In #1 New York Times bestseller Kelley Armstrong’s latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.

Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that’s what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there’s always something to worry about.

While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.

A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of eighteen, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from – and whether she’s better off where she is.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong again delivers an engaging, tense thriller set in perhaps the most interesting town in all of contemporary crime fiction.

I’m completely hooked on the Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong, and waited less than a month after finishing book 4, Watcher in the Woods, before diving back in with the 5th book, Alone in the Wild. Needless to say, book #5 provided yet another immersive, exciting reading experience — I couldn’t put it down!

Once again, a quick recap of the series premise:

Rockton is a secret hidden town in the Yukon wilderness, a haven for those seeking extreme shelter from dangers in their real lives — or those who’ve committed some sort of wrongdoing and need a place to start over. Rockton, population 200, is filled with an uneasy mix of crime victims and white-collar criminals — although as Sheriff Eric Dalton and Detective Casey Butler come to discover, the town council is willing to defy its own rules for a price and allow more dangerous people to take advantage of Rockton’s protection.

Alone in the Wild picks up the story about six months after the events of the previous books. Casey and Eric are taking a much-needed vacation from their policing duties in Rockton, enjoying a couple of nights of camping out in the wild, when Casey hears an unexpected sound: a baby crying. She makes a disturbing discovery: a dead woman cradling a living baby, both buried under the fresh snow. The death is obviously very recent, but there’s no time to investigate — the baby is alive, but barely; Casey and Eric rush the baby back to Rockton for immediate medical care before returning to the corpse to look for clues.

Their primary focus is identifying the baby, a girl who appears to be about a month old. From examining the dead woman, it’s clear that she is not the mother of the child… and it’s also clear that she’s been murdered. While crimes not related to the residents of Rockton are outside Casey and Eric’s jurisdiction, they realize that solving this woman’s murder might lead them to the baby’s family, and their priority is returning her to her rightful parents, if they can be found.

Meanwhile, Casey and Eric become the baby’s de facto foster parents, with the help of the rest of Rockton, raising important questions for them as a couple. Due to serious injuries sustained during a life-changing attack in her teens, Casey doesn’t know whether she’ll ever be able to carry a pregnancy to term. Caring for the baby forces Casey and Eric to discuss whether they could see themselves as parents, and what it might mean for them as a couple. Meanwhile, concerns about whether the baby’s parents are capable of raising her bring up uncomfortable memories from Eric’s own past. The complicated emotions brought on by confronting these issues move Eric and Casey’s relationship forward in important ways.

Of course, the investigation itself is fascinating, as it involves venturing far beyond Rockton’s borders and making contact with settler communities who abide by very different rules, beliefs, and ethical standards. This broadens the world of the series in new and interesting ways, and I’m sure will have important implications in future books.

As always, there are plenty of twists and turns, and every time I thought I had something figured out, I was surprised yet again by how inventive and unpredictable Kelley Armstrong’s mystery writing can be.

With two books left in the series, I’m trying to pace myself rather than rushing straight through. It’s a challenge! My goal is to finish the Rockton books in 2025, then start the spin-off series, Haven’s Rock, in 2026.

Next up in the Rockton series:

Book #6, A Stranger in Town

Interested in this series? Check out my reviews of the previous books:
City of the Lost (Rockton, #1)
A Darkness Absolute (Rockton, #2)
This Fallen Prey (Rockton, #3)
Watcher in the Woods (Rockton, #4)

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – 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.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall 2025 TBR List

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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 Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List.

Once again, summer whooshed by! I read 8 out of 10 books on my summer TBR list, and I’m including one of the two remaining on my TBR for fall. (I do still want to read the other one… eventually.) Looking ahead now that fall is here, I have a new set of books to prioritize — and hope to do a decent job balancing commitment books (ARCs, book group books) with books that I just feel like reading!

In the interest of not repeating myself, I’m not including any of the books already featured in my list of anticipated new releases for the 2nd half of 2025… but yes, I still intend to read the five remaining from that list too!

My top 10 for fall are:

  1. Green Rider by Kristen Britain: I swore I’d start this series in 2025, and the clock is ticking!
  2. Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree: These books are always so much fun.
  3. Alone in the Wild (Rockton, #5) by Kelley Armstrong: I’ve been loving this series, and I’m kinda, sorta hoping to get through the three books I have left by the end of the year.
  4. My Friends by Fredrik Backman: I’ve been waiting for the mood to strike to pick up this book, and I think it’s about time I make it happen.
  5. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: My summer holdover. Again, I’ve just been waiting to be in the mood… which hasn’t happened yet, but I know I always end up loving this author’s books, so I think I just need to commit and get started.
  6. A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne: The first book in this cozy fantasy series was sweet and entertaining — just waiting for my library hold to come in for book #2.
  7. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Another series that I swore I’d finally start, and since this book also checks a box on a reading challenge I’m trying to finish, I think it’s about time to read it.
  8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: I think everyone has read these books but me!
  9. The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell: I apparently have an insatiable appetite for Austen retellings!
  10. A Town with Half the Lights On by Page Getz: I randomly grabbed a copy of this book when I saw I price drop, and I think it sounds like fun.

What books are you most excited to read this fall? Do we have any in common?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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Taking a break… see you in a week!

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My husband and I leave tomorrow for a one-week getaway… looking forward to blue skies, white sand, and refreshing ocean breezes. Plus, you know, lots of time to site on the beach and read, preferably with a fruity, blended, icy drink in hand.

I don’t expect to be online much (or at all) while away, so this space will be pretty quiet until I return. I’ve scheduled a Top Ten Tuesday post for this week — it’s the fall TBR topic, and I always enjoy those — and if you happen to stop by to check out my post, please do share a link to your TBR post as well! I’ll look forward to catching up once I’m home.

Got my pre-trip mani, so I’m ready to go!

Meanwhile, I’m packing my bags, making sure I have sunscreen, and double-checking that my Kindle is fully loaded!

Wishing everyone a great week! See you soon!

Birthstone Book Covers: September = Sapphire!

Posted in Bookish Thoughts, Fun and Whimsy by

I participated in Birthstone Books Covers for the first time in August, and now I’m hooked! Leslie at Books Are the New Black hosts this fun monthly meme — and since I love anything related to spotlighting amazing book covers, I just had to jump in.

The rules are simple:

  • Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black ) and link back so she can see your post!
  • Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
  • HAVE FUN!

September’s birthstone is sapphire. According to the American Gem Society, sapphire gemstones symbolize loyalty, nobility, sincerity, and integrity. Learn more about their history. 

Sapphire is my birthstone (yay, September!), and I’ve always loved the rich color (and love checking out sapphire jewelry of all sorts). But more importantly…

Onward to the books! Here are the sapphire book covers I’ve found on my shelves:

  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
  • The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
  • Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  • Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
  • Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
  • The Poisoner’s Ring by Kelley Armstrong
  • Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Do you have any favorite sapphire book covers to share?

Next month is Opal for October… seems like it’ll be a tricky one!

Book Review: Silver and Lead (October Daye, #19) by Seanan McGuire

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Title: Silver and Lead
Series: October Daye, #19
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: September 30, 2025
Print length: 400 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated October Daye series continues as Toby Daye is thrust once again into danger… and this time she has more than ever to protect.

Something is rotten in Faerie. In the aftermath of Titania’s reality-warping enchantment, things are returning to what passes for normal in the Kingdom in the Mists―until it’s discovered that the royal vaults have been looted, and several powerful magical artifacts are missing. None are things that can be safely left unsecured, and some have the potential to do almost as much damage as Titania did, and having them in the wrong hands could prove just as disastrous

At least the theft means that Sir October “Toby” Daye, Knight errant and Hero of the Realm, finally has an excuse to get out of the house. Sure, she’s eight and a half months pregnant, but that doesn’t mean she can’t take care of herself. But with the sea witch offering to stand godmother to Toby’s child, maybe there are greater dangers ahead for Toby and her family than it appears….

Old enemies will resurface, new enemies will disguise themselves as friends, and Queen Windermere must try to keep her Hero on the case without getting herself gutted by the increasingly irritated local King of Cats. Sometimes, what’s been lost can be the most dangerous threat of all.

What can you say about a series that’s now 19 books long… and going strong? Quite a lot actually… but the short version is: The October Daye series remains sharp, exciting, and as immersive as ever — and it’s never too late to jump in! (But start at the beginning, of course.)

In 2023, author Seanan McGuire published TWO new volumes in the series (Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep), focusing on the same set of cataclysmic events, but told first through the POV of our usual narrator, Toby (October) herself, and then through the POV of Toby’s husband, Tybalt. Both were excellent… and I suppose it’s understandable that we had a two-year wait for another book in the series. (Understandable — hey, get some rest, Seanan McGuire! — but painful as a reader to have to wait to see what happens next!!).

But now, Toby is back! The ripple effects of the disasters from the previous books are still being felt by our beloved characters, in all sorts of distressing ways. Quick recap: Toby is a changeling (part fae, part human), a knight and hero of the realm, and both daughter and niece of First Borns, the most powerful fae other than the big three (Oberon, Titania, and Maeve) themselves. When Titania reemerged into the world and decided to recraft it as she wished, Toby and all those around her were trapped in an illusion that transformed their lives and relationships. Now that Titania’s illusions have been broken, they’re all still recovering from what that experience did to them.

Further complicating Toby’s life, as the book opens, is the fact that she’s in her final month of pregnancy, and her already traumatized family won’t let her do anything — not even get off the couch to grab her own snacks. For a woman who lives her life carrying out dangerous quests, being coddled and confined is beyond frustrating, and while she knows her family is acting from a place of love, she still can’t stand it.

“I’ve got another few weeks of this, you know,” I said. “You don’t want to use up all your fretting on me before the baby even gets here.”

“I promise, I have more fretting in me than you can imagine,” he said.

The action in Silver and Lead kicks off when Toby is summoned to Queen Arden’s court to give testimony against one of the more evil people in the series, the false Queen. Once there, Arden tells Toby that many dangerous artifacts were looted from the royal treasury while Titania’s illusions were in place, and while she’d love to wait until after Toby has the baby to send her back into action, these items could be disastrous in the wrong hands. There’s no time to lose in getting them back. Before Toby can commit one way or the other to this new quest, she discovers that the false Queen is actually someone enchanted to appear to be the false Queen, and that the actual false Queen herself is nowhere to be found.

From here, Toby sets out to gather evidence… cautiously. She won’t endanger herself or the baby; she’s just going to do a bit of detective work on behalf of the realm. Of course, nothing goes according to plan, and she and her household end up in mortal peril, facing unexpected adversaries with truly evil intentions.

The action in Silver and Lead escalates dramatically, and the sense of menace and danger go higher and higher with each chapter. I was on the edge of my seat and practically screaming by the time I got past the first third or so of the book and simply could not put it down. I was terrified for the characters, enthralled by each new development, and scared to death that this was finally something that Toby couldn’t get out of. (Well, I assumed she’d get out of it, as the series isn’t over… but it’s all definitely very tense and frightening!)

At the same time, Silver and Lead is actually very funny at times!

“Look. My hormones are all over the place. Yesterday I burnt a piece of toast and I started crying because what if I’d hurt the bread’s feelings.

Having Toby — eight and a half months pregnant — waddling off on a quest, needing to pee every few minutes, complaining about her aching knees, and in general suffering all the indignities and physical impacts of a late pregnancy is just so incredibly entertaining. This is a woman who’s practically indestructible, and yet people have to help her up the stairs. Good stuff.

The ending of Silver and Lead is quite satisfying, but leaves the door open for yet more drama — because in the world of October Daye, no one gets to just sit and be happy for very long. This book’s main plot is tied up well, but the final pages let us know that bad things — potentially, very bad things — are just around the corner.

As always, I’m left dying to see what’s next… and dreading a year of waiting for the next book.

Silver and Lead is an excellent edition to a can’t-miss fantasy series. I’ll give the same push I give every time I talk about these books: Go pick up a copy of Rosemary and Rue. I’m betting that once you get a taste of October’s world, you won’t want to stop.

As is the custom throughout this series, Silver and Lead includes a novella at the end. This one, Seas and Shores, focuses on Simon, Toby’s father figure — a man with whom Toby has one of the most complicated relationships in the series. The novella is narrated by Simon, and takes place at the same time as the events of Silver and Lead, as Simon heads back to his new home in the Undersea. Seas and Shores is a relatively quiet story, and it’s quite lovely. Simon is a man who’s been through a lot of trauma, and this novella shows the next stage in his attempts to build a good life for himself and those he loves. After the extreme dangers in Silver and Lead, it’s nice to finish on a sweet, happy note.

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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