Book Review: Butterfly Effects (InCryptid, #15) by Seanan McGuire

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Butterfly Effects
Series: Incryptid, #15
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: March 10, 2026
Length: 432 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Seanan McGuire’s New York Times-bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated InCryptid series continues with the fifteenth book following the Price family, cryptozoologists who study and protect the creatures living in secret all around us.

Chaos, noun:
1. The inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system.

Chaos theory, noun:
1. A branch of mathematical and physical theory that deals with the nature and consequences of chaos and chaotic systems.
2. The study of unpredictable systems.
3. See also “impossible math.”

Sarah Zellaby is a Johrlac, a member of a species of psychic ambush predators colloquially referred to as “cuckoos.” Eight years ago, she survived the difficult, painful process of becoming a cuckoo queen…although not without costs. In the wake of her transformation, the man she loved was entirely erased from his own mind, forcing her to reconstruct him from the memories of the people who knew and loved him.

Sarah has been struggling to come to terms with her actions ever since. But there’s no one else on the planet with the power to hold her accountable―until the Johrlac authorities show up. It’s time for her to stand trial for what she’s done, something which can only happen on Johrlar, home world of her species, where the population is controlled by a system of unyielding hiveminds and crime is punishable by erasure.

With Sarah’s life on the line, her family will need to find a way to cross dimensional borders and survive a hostile, telepathic world in order to get her back―before the Sarah they know ceases to exist.

But no matter what happens, actions have consequences… and Sarah Zellaby is about to learn that lesson the hard way.

Fifteen books in, the Incryptid series remains wildly inventive, with a stunningly huge array of characters and nonhuman species to keep track of. The Price-Healy family remains at the center of it all, but the details and mythology at this point are so complex that it feels next to impossible to talk about this book specifically in any sort of way that makes sense.

But I’ll try.

Butterfly Effects is the 3rd book in the series to focus on Sarah Zellaby as the main character, which is tricky. Despite appearances, Sarah is not human — she’s what’s known as a “cuckoo”, a descendent of a group of Johrlacs exiled generations earlier from their home dimension Johrlar. Johrlacs are telepathic, and cuckoos are considered ambush predators here on Earth. Through the power of their minds, they can take over anyone else’s thoughts and rewrite them — so a cuckoo child, for example, can convince a new family that they’re loved, that they belong, and that they’ve always belonged. And that’s among the least harmful examples. When a cuckoo wants to influence someone, the person being influenced has no defenses and won’t even know it’s happening.

The Price family has been studying and interacting with cryptids — non-humans — for generations, and is uniquely suited to providing Sarah with a home. Sarah is the adopted daughter of one of the family matriarchs, and has been raised to use her abilities responsibly. What’s more, Sarah was raised with love — she’s part of the family. But eight years before the events in Butterfly Effects, she evolved into a cuckoo “queen”, and her powers essentially exploded beyond her control, causing damage that she never intended. Now, years later, Sarah has been forcibly extracted back to Johrlar, supposedly to be held accountable for her actions… but more sinister motivations are at play.

When Sarah is taken, her family springs into action — including her cousin Antimony, Antimony’s boyfriend Sam, and her grandparents Alice and Thomas who — for… reasons — appear to be no older than their grandchildren. This team of fighters and sorcerers heads off on a rescue mission, but once on Johrlar, finds themselves in grave danger as well.

Like I said, it’s complicated. Fortunately, this book has Sarah share the narration, so while she’s the main POV character, there are sections where Antimony takes the lead. Honestly, it’s a relief. Not to be all speciesist… but Antimony’s human mind is a much less headache-inducing place to be than Sarah’s. Sarah thinks in math and equations, and her telepathy and worldview can be insanely twisty and hard to relate to.

I do love this series as a whole, but it’s so wide-ranging that it can be hard to keep track of. With books focusing on so many different characters, I constantly need a refresher on where we left off, where the major players are, and whose lives are dealing with which crises. (Books #13 and #14 were told from the perspective of the family’s ghost babysitter… to give you an idea of just how strange a series this is!)

Maybe it’s just because they were introduced first, but the core Price family siblings and their immediate families remain my favorites, and when they’re off-page for too long (or for entire books, except for brief drop-bys) I miss them. Butterfly Effects seems to provide a definitive wrap-up to most of Sarah’s ongoing issues (at least, for now), so I’m hoping the next books in the series will move back to focusing elsewhere within the family.

Butterfly Effects took a while to draw me in. Eventually, I was hooked on the latest adventure and started feeling like I was reading a page-turner… but there were definitely moments where I felt like I was reading this one more out of obligation than enjoyment. Still, Seanan McGuire is a terrific storyteller, and overall, I’m sticking with the series, even though I didn’t connect with this particular book quite as much as with some of the earlier installments.

Once again, I’ll point out the obvious: This is not a book to start with! The Incryptid series is so complicated by now that it can only be appreciated by starting at the beginning — which I recommend! It’s a truly creative series with lots of entertainment value, interesting plot twists, and deeper emotional beats. And for those devoted to this world, there are countless spin-off/prequel stories available via the author’s Patreon and elsewhere, so you’ll never run out of Price-Healy family history to explore.

So, while book #15 wasn’t actually my favorite… I’ll certainly be back for #16, and can’t wait to find out whose story we’ll be getting next!

As with other books in the Incryptid series, this one includes a novella at the end, We Sing It Anyway. This story is really more of an epilogue to the main book, although with a different character in the lead role, who deals with the immediate aftermath of the events of Butterfly Effects. It’s a sweet conclusion, and provides both closure and healing to Sarah’s story’s impact on other family members.

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.

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28Mar2026

Novella review: Nobody’s Baby (Dorothy Gentleman, #2) by Olivia Waite

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Nobody’s Baby
Series: Dorothy Gentleman, #2
Author: Olivia Waite
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: March 10, 2026
Length: 144 pages
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in the second entry of this cozy sci-fi mystery series, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.

A wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship detective, is put to the test once again when an infant is mysteriously left on her nephew’s doorstep. Fertility is supposed to be on pause during the Fairweather’s journey across the stars—but humans have a way of breaking any rule you set them. Who produced this child, and why did they then abandon him? And as her nephew and his partner get more and more attached, how can Dorothy prevent her colleague and rival detective, Leloup, a stickler for law and order, from classifying the baby as a stowaway or a piece of luggage?

Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, this novella series is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the next installment.

Dorothy Gentleman is back! In the second installment in this delightful sci-fi/mystery novella series, our favorite spacefaring detective has another doozy of a case to solve.

The HMS Fairweather is a generation ship, currently 300 years into a millennium-long journey to a new planet. Passengers essentially live forever by preserving their minds in the ship library’s memory books, then downloading themselves back into new bodies when their current bodies wear out. Carrying 10,000 people, the ship is comfortable and well-provisioned, but can’t accommodate population growth, so reproductive abilities are put on hold for the duration of the journey.

Imagine everyone’s surprise when a baby — a real, human baby! — is left on Dorothy’s nephew’s doorstep. He and his husband are instantly smitten, but Dorothy knows there’s something serious afoot. How is a baby even possible? Who abandoned it and why? And who’s been taking care of it so far?

Her sleuthing leads her to the biological parents, who are just as confused as everyone else and have no memories of where this baby came from. Meanwhile, after a thwarted kidnapping attempt, Dorothy’s nephew wants custody — but there’s the legal conundrum of whether the baby is to be considered a legitimate passenger on the ship, entitled to memory preservation and bodily renewal, or if (because he’s not on the official passenger manifest) he’s a stowaway, with no rights beyond the length of a normal mortal life.

The mystery is a fun, not terribly serious tangle of people, technology, and motives which Dorothy unravels with style. Meanwhile, life on the Fairweather is a strange mix of advanced tech — memory books and journeying through the stars — and low tech even by our standards: There don’t appear to be computers, much less smart phones — everyone is always shuffling paperwork… as in, literally piles of paper!

I love the noir vibes that the writing gives off — basically, a noir detective story in space! The writing captures the tone perfectly:

I […] opened the door — only to find Violet St. Owen there on the threshold, looking like all my weaknesses made flesh.

I mean, doesn’t that just practically scream “and then this dame walked into my office…”?

I really enjoy the world of these novellas and the details of life aboard ship. As the 2nd in a series, Nobody’s Baby doesn’t offer quite the same level of delightful discovery as the first novella, Murder by Memory, but it’s still fun to revisit the characters and setting. I did feel a bit let down by the solution to the baby’s origin, which seemed not all that consequential in the end after quite a big build-up, but otherwise found the clues and legal wrangling to be highly amusing.

Overall, Nobody’s Baby is a nice, short treat. At novella length, it’s a quick, all-in-one-sitting sort of read, and offers great entertainment throughout. I enjoyed this newest adventure with Dorothy, and hope there are plenty more to come!

27Mar2026

First Lines Friday 3/27/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ve had fun seeing other people’s First Lines Friday posts, and finally decided to give it a try myself! Here’s an overview:

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?

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!

Note: The original host blog does not appear to be active any longer — but if anyone knows of a new host, please share the information!

This week, I’m featuring lines from an upcoming new release that I’m really eager to read:

It’s interesting to note that there are two groups of people who are rarely, if ever, suspected of murder. These groups are elderly women and little girls.

So what’s the book?

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
St. Martin’s Press
Release date: April 21, 2026
352 pages

Synopsis:

From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth comes a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet.

Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea—or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying.

Because Elsie hasn’t always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller—Australia’s youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she’s kept her secret buried for decades.

Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road (armed with stickers, questions, and no sense of personal boundaries); Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest—the cops are sniffing around, and the media is circling like seagulls at a picnic.

So Mabel does what she’s always done best—she takes matters into her own hands.

Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Or just someone who’s finally ready to tell her side of the story?

Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who’s spent a lifetime being underestimated—and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again.

Sound like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

22Mar2026

Book Review: Once and Again by Rebecca Serle

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Once and Again
Author: Rebecca Serle
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: March 10, 2026
Length: 256 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Serle, the author behind “heartbreaking, redemptive, and authentic” (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) modern classic In Five Years, returns with an unforgettable tale of a family of women with an astonishing gift: the ability to redo one moment in their lives.

The women of the Novak family were each born with a gift: they can, just once, turn back time.

Lauren has known since she was fifteen that her mother Marcella saved Lauren’s father from a deadly car accident. Dave is alive and happy, and out on the Malibu waves. But ever since, Marcella, her power spent, has lived in fear of what she won’t be able to reverse. Her own mother, Sylvia, is her polar opposite: a free-spirited iconoclast with a glamorous past she only hints at. Lauren has spent her life between these two role models—and waiting for her own catastrophe to strike.

Then one summer, Lauren’s husband takes a job in New York and she moves back to Broad Beach Road, back into her childhood home on the shores of Malibu. Lauren looks forward to surfing with her dad again and perhaps repairing an unspoken fracture in her relationship with her mother. What she doesn’t expect is for the boy next to door to return home as well: Stone, Lauren’s first love, who broke her heart nearly a decade before.

As Lauren falls into familiar patterns, with her family and, more dangerously, Stone, she finds herself thinking about all the choices, large and small, that have brought her to this moment. And wondering, finally, if one of them should be undone.

In Once and Again, main character Lauren’s family has a secret — a superpower, of sorts. Each woman in the family is gifted with the ability to undo one event that’s already happened, but it’s a gift that’s a one-time deal. Use it, and it’s gone forever. While we might think of this as an amazing opportunity, in these women’s lives, it’s also a burden. How do you know when is the right time to use it? What if you use it, and then end up needing it even more later on?

Lauren is 37 years old, married for three years at this point to her wonderful husband Leo — but things have become fraught between them as they struggle with infertility. After multiple attempts at IVF and IUI, Leo is ready to stop trying, but Lauren is not, and the stress of the financial, physical, and psychological burdens is straining their marriage almost to the breaking point.

When Leo heads to New York for a short-term work opportunity, Lauren decides to rent out their West Hollywood home and spend the summer at the shambling Malibu bungalow where her parents and grandmother live. Back home in Malibu, Lauren reintroduces herself to the surfing and slower beach rhythms that she grew up with, while also spending time with her cool surfer dad, uptight mother, and loving, super-hip grandmother. But being there also brings up memories for Lauren of the intensity of her teen years, especially her mother’s obsessive worry over her father’s health.

Meanwhile, Lauren encounters Stone while out surfing — the man she loved and was involved with for a solid ten years, only ending the relationship when he moved away from Malibu and left her behind. Seeing Stone again brings up old feelings, even as Lauren juggles her love for Leo and how much she misses him with the pain of their current marital problems.

Lauren has an opportunity to fix something using her gift — but is this the right moment? If she uses it, will she regret it later? And what will her choice mean for the rest of the family?

Once and Again presents a unique take on the subjects of regret and second chances. There’s no explanation offered for the family’s gift, and there doesn’t need to be. It’s a magical element that just is — and if you have a hard time with this sort of magical plotline, this may not be the book for you. To be clear, there’s nothing else that’s fantasy or magic-based in the story. This is a family that’s ordinary in every way… but one.

I appreciated the insights we get from the intermittent chapters that provide Lauren’s mother’s and grandmother’s backstories, as well as the story of the first woman to have the gift. The family’s Jewish heritage features in both the gift and their ongoing lives as a lovely background element. It’s fascinating to learn more about how each woman chose to use the gift and what the ramifications were — and there’s a major twist later in the book that made me look at it in an entirely new way.

The ability to turn back time isn’t trivial and has consequences. The characters experience joy with their second chances, but also carry a unique pain: The woman who uses the gift still remembers what they’ve changed, even if no one else does, which means they may be grieving for something that no one else understands. Another fascinating element is the choice to undo everything that’s come since the event that they’re changing. How far back can or should they go? And if they change something terrible that happened, can they live with losing all the good things that happened too?

I’ve had hit or miss experiences with Rebecca Serle’s books in the past — I’ve loved two of her books, and felt less connected with two others. Once and Again belongs firmly in the “hit” category. I found it emotional, thought-provoking, and engaging, with characters to care about and a plot strongly rooted in reality even with a magical gift in the mix. Highly recommended.

For more by this author:
The Dinner List
In Five Years
One Italian Summer
Expiration Dates

Purchase links: Amazon – Audible audiobook – 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.

18Mar2026

Audiobook Review: One & Only by Maureen Goo

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: One & Only
Author: Maureen Goo
Narrator: Jeena Yi
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: February 3, 2026
Print length: 364 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

In Five Years meets a millennial The Joy Luck Club in the adult debut from the author of YA Reese Pick Throwback— a funny and fresh love story of a woman thrown a curveball by fate, and the family secret that will make her question everything.

She’s seen what her happily ever after looks like. And it’s not him.

Cassia Park believes in soul mates. Fated love stories. It’s her family business, after all—for centuries, from Korea to Los Angeles, Park women have peered into clients’ past lives to find their one true love, their fated. This magical secret is why One & Only Matchmaking has a 100% guarantee…for everyone but Cassia.

For ten years, Cass has been searching for her fated, a man named Daniel Nam. But he’s still nowhere to be found.

And so, on the eve of her 40th birthday, Cass decides to do something for herself. She impulsively has a fling with Ellis. He’s twenty-eight, indecently handsome, and not destined to be the love of her life. But she’s surprised by their connection and their fling feels like something more—up to the moment he introduces her to his boss…Daniel Nam.

As she battles between fate and chance, head and heart, a family secret is revealed that will make her question everything she’s ever known. Cassia will have to decide if she’ll follow her fate…or make her own.

Before jumping into the review, can we just talk for a minute about how weird the blurb is? “In Five Years meets a millennial The Joy Luck Club“?? Is that the marketing team’s way of saying this book has some woo-woo elements plus it’s about a multi-generational Asian family and the main character is about to turn 40? I think these blurbs that try so hard to compare a book to other books have now stretched themselves to the breaking point. Anyway…

One & Only is a recent Read with Jenna pick, and since I’ve had good experiences with many of that book group’s picks (see my post about celebrity book clubs), I thought I’d give the audiobook a try.

In One & Only, the concept of meant-to-be is given quite a workout! Main character Cassia is about to turn 40, and has yet to meet her one and only… although she knows exactly who he is, or at least, she knows his name. Cassia works for the One & Only matchmaking company in LA, a family business run by her grandmother which carries out traditions that go back centuries within her Korean family.

To their customers, One & Only is a hugely successful matchmaking business. They even offer a guarantee and boast of a 100% success rate! They use the ancient art of face-reading to understand who someone truly is and then find the perfect match for them — but what they never tell anyone is that the women of their family also have a gift: As they read their clients’ faces, they get visions of their past lives which show them their “fated” — the person they’re destined to be with, and whom they’ve loved throughout shared lives together. Cassia has the gift as well, and as the only woman of her generation in the family, she knows that the business’s future rests on her having children to carry on the gift… something that seems frustratingly out of reach.

Ten years earlier, Cassia finally agreed to have her grandmother read her face and reveal her fated, and Cassia has known his name — Daniel Nam — ever since. But after a decade of searching, she’s still unable to find him. Meanwhile, she’s had a string of short, uninvolved romances. Why bother giving her heart to anyone when she knows her future lies with someone else?

And then Cassia meets Ellis. He’s a younger man with a lovely energy and personality, and the two click right away. They spend a passionate weekend together, and their chemistry is obvious. But when Cassia runs into Ellis on a work retreat, their new relationship comes to a screeching halt, because Ellis’s boss is Daniel Nam. Yes, that Daniel Nam. Adopted as a child, Daniel grew up with a different last name, and only recently added his Korean surname to his public persona.

Cassia does feel a connection to Daniel right away… and he’s so much better a choice for her — at least, on paper. And he’s her fated! She owes it to herself and to Daniel to pursue this, so she dumps Ellis and begins dating Daniel. And it’s good… for a while. But every time she runs into Ellis, there’s a pang over what might have been, and a nagging sense that maybe her fated doesn’t quite fit her life after all.

As the story progresses, we see Cassia attempt to forget about Ellis and focus on her meant-to-be life with Daniel, but there’s an element of unease. If Daniel is her fated, why does she still have feelings for someone else? Also, Cassia discovers months into her relationship with Daniel that they’re not on the same page about a huge issue, which is confusing and distressing: If they’re perfect for each other, why doesn’t this critical piece match up?

There’s a lot to appreciate about One & Only, especially the dynamics between the women of the Park family. Cassia’s grandmother is a force to be reckoned with, and her great-aunt and aunt are entertaining and dynamic too. The love between the generations of women is fierce and protective. Cassia’s mother died when Cassia was eight years old, and she was raised by her grandparents, who showered her with love and did their best to nourish a broken-hearted little girl.

Cassia’s grief related to her mother’s loss is a dominant theme throughout the book, as are some of the mysteries surrounding her mother’s life. Yvette was a rebel, an artist who chose to pursue her own path and not follow her elders into a life in the matchmaking business. More crucially, Cassia has known all her life that Yvette chose to marry someone she met in college, who wasn’t her fated… and who left her and Cassia because he couldn’t handle fatherhood. Cassia’s core beliefs are tied to this family history. See what happens when you ignore your fated?

Of course, the truth is more nuanced. Late in the book, Cassia tracks down the father she’s never known, and learns more about his years with her mother. Starting to heal this broken part of her life is a major step that gives Cassia fresh perspectives on her own choices — including finally acknowledging that she has more options than she once believed.

Cassia’s actions related to Ellis and Daniel can be troubling at times. She handles neither relationship particularly well, and I wished she’d been more honest with both about her reasons for ending and starting things with each of them. Her behavior toward Ellis feels particularly problematic. He’s a cinnamon roll character, totally sweet and caring and giving. Cassia dumping him in order to immediately start dating his boss is cruel. The fact of Daniel being her fated is Cassia’s excuse to herself for her behavior, but it’s just all so painful and awkward, not helped by going with Daniel to company events where this uncomfortable love triangle is on full display.

In real life, Cassia definitely wouldn’t get the happy ending she gets here… but given that this is a romance, we know she’ll find her way to true love by the final pages. The book takes a bit of a hand-wavy approach to settling the issue of fateds and past lives and reconciling this with Cassia’s choices. Honestly, I didn’t quite buy the matchmaking company’s business model or their astonishing success rates, and felt it might have helped readers suspend disbelief if we got to spend more than a few minutes with other matched couples, to get a sense of how finding your fated translates into building a relationship and a life together.

Despite not entirely loving the entire matchmaking storyline and feeling really uncomfortable with some of the love triangle scenes (including one near the end where Cassia behaves very badly), I found the plot overall to be engaging and unusual. The generational aspect and the focus on the impact of Cassia’s mother’s death on her life add depth to the story and provide some of the deepest emotional impacts.

The audiobook narration by Jeena Yi is lovely. She brings a lot of spirit to the narrative, and lets us really feel what Cassia is going through. I also enjoyed her portrayal of the older women in the family — they truly sparkle.

One & Only held my interest and made me care about the characters. The storyline feels fresh, I really enjoyed the vivid depiction of the LA setting, and the family dynamics greatly enrich the romantic framework. This is a nice option to pick up for a mix of entertaining set pieces and deeper emotional experiences.

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15Mar2026

Book Review: Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Lady Tremaine
Author: Rachel Hochhauser
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Publication date: March 3, 2026
Length: 341 pages
Genre: Fairy tale retelling
Source: Library
Rating:

Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her deceased husband’s title affords her, hoping it will secure her daughters’ future through marriage.

When a royal ball offers the chance to change everything, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of her daughters—only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the wellbeing of the stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.

As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world’s most famous fairy tale. It is a battle cry for a mother’s love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.

Lady Tremaine was not on my reading radar for this month — but I was curious after seeing that it was the newest pick for Reese’s Book Club, and then was lucky enough to have my library hold come in within a week. I love when the book gods put something unexpected in my path this way, and I end up reading a terrific book that I might otherwise have missed.

Lady Tremaine is a retelling of the Cinderella story, set in an unnamed kingdom with a prince in need of a bride. The story is told through the first-person narration of Lady Etheldreda (Ethel) Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley — the “evil stepmother” of fairy tale infamy, who tells us a very different story than the one we think we know.

Note: Apparently, the Tremaine surname was a Disney invention! Before the 1950 film, the character and her daughters were basically just known as the evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters.

We first meet Ethel in the woods, muddy and disheveled, hunting with her trained falcon Lucy to put food on her family’s table. “Poaching” might actually be more accurate than “hunting” — she’s crossed over to the king’s land on the other side of the river where there’s more game to be found… but it’s that, or her girls will go hungry.

Ethel’s family is in dire straits. Twice widowed, her most recent husband, Lord Bramley, left her a crumbling estate and a step-daughter to care for. All of Bramley’s money has been left for his daughter Elin’s dowry, and is untouchable. Ethel and her daughters Rosamond (Rosie) and Mathilde slowly sell off all of the property’s valuables, desperately clinging to the bare essentials as the manor’s rooms empty and the roof develops leaks. They work hard to scrape by, while clinging to the surface necessities when in public so that no one knows just how low they’ve fallen.

All except Elin, who lives her life according to a book of maxims about virtue, all she has left of her own deceased mother. Rebuffing all attempts at kindness or maternal comfort from Ethel, Elin holds herself apart and trains herself on the accomplishments prized in marriageable girls — decorative skills that do nothing to help the struggling household. Still, Ethel makes sure Elin is safe and fed, despite the growing resentment over her unwillingness to work as the rest of them do.

The plot kicks off with the announcement of a royal ball. As the carriages of the royal messenger roll up to the Bramley estate, Ethel scrubs off the mud and hides the evidence of their decaying home, presenting three pretty girls to hear the messenger’s words. But the invitation that’s presented is only for Elin — Rosie and Mathilde are passed over.

When I’d first heard the rumors, I wasn’t afraid of not being invited to the royal ball; I was afraid of one existing. For if it existed, we must go. And if we went, we must succeed. And if we were successful, my daughters would be married and move away from me forever. My own desires contradicted each other.

The ball represents not just a party. In Ethel’s viewpoint, it’s key to their survival. Clinging desperately to their precarious social status, Ethel knows that good marriages — representing physical and financial safety — are only available to young girls of high enough social standing. The ball is an opportunity for her daughters to be seen in society and make connections, and may be their last hope. Ethel takes a gamble to secure invitations for her girls, but as the date of the ball approaches, a new opportunity arises: One of her daughters has caught the eye of the prince. Now, not just a noble marriage, but a royal one, may be within reach.

Opportunities came and they were small and unlikely and easy to overlook. You had to stick your fingers into them and pinch the edges and pull. You had to widen the aperture of possibility.

Lady Tremaine achieves startling results by making Ethel a strong, relatable, and sympathetic character. She doesn’t yearn for royalty or nobility for the sake of power or money. She simply wants her daughters to be safe and have better lives than the one she can provide for them. Over the course of the book, through scenes showing her backstory, we learn much more about Ethel’s struggles, as well as what she’s learned about women’s lack of power and agency in their society.

Driven by love for her daughters — even including Elin, despite their prickly relationship — Ethel is willing to do practically anything to protect them. Ethel’s reflections on motherhood and what it means to love one’s children are startling, powerful, and moving. The book’s plot becomes darker than I would have expected, and Ethel is forced to make drastic decisions that put the entire family’s future at risk, for the sake of making sure that all those that she loves are protected.

Lady Tremaine is a compelling story, dramatically told and utterly absorbing. I couldn’t put it down! We may think we know every last version of the Cinderella story, and yet, Lady Tremaine provides a fresh take with a thoughtful viewpoint and memorable characters. Highly recommended.

Of course, Lady Tremaine got me thinking about other Cinderella retellings, so I had to look back through my shelves to find other versions that I’ve read. There are a lot!

What Cinderella retellings have you read?

11Mar2026

Audiobook Review: This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: This Book Made Me Think of You
Author: Libby Page
Narrator: Zadeiah Campbell-Davies
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: February 3, 2026
Print length: 411 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 26 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

A woman receives an unexpected gift from the man she loved and lost—a year of books, one for every month—launching a reading-inspired journey to live, dream, and love again in this glimmering and heart-stopping novel.

Twelve books. Twelve months. One chance to heal her heart…

When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. But mainly because Joe died five months ago….

When she goes to pick up the present, Alfie, the bookshop owner with kind eyes, explains the gift—twelve carefully chosen books with handwritten letters from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.

At first Tilly can’t imagine sinking into a fictional world, but Joe’s tender words convince her to try, and something remarkable happens—Tilly becomes immersed in the pages, and a new chapter begins to unfold in her own life. Monthly trips to the bookstore—and heartfelt conversations with Alfie—give Tilly the comfort she craves and the courage to set out on a series of reading-inspired adventures that take her around the world. But as she begins to share her journey with others, her story—like a book—becomes more than her own.

This heart-warming book is a story about grief, support, and healing. It’s also very much a love letter to the power of reading and a huge note of appreciation for independent booksellers.

I am the person I am because of the books I have read. My reading history is a map that shows the path of my life.

Tilly is a young widow, buried under the grief of losing her beloved husband Joe after a brief, intense battle with cancer. Immersing herself in her career as an editor of non-fiction books — specifically, ghost-written celebrity tell-alls — Tilly flounders in her personal life, living in the flat she and Joe shared, surrounded by his papers, clothing, and other belongings, and unable to return to her lifelong love of reading. In fact, Tilly can’t recall a single book she’s read since Joe’s terrible diagnosis.

Five months after his death, she’s shocked to receive a call from Book Lane, her neighborhood bookshop, asking her to come in to pick up a book on hold for her. Tilly thinks there must be a mistake — she didn’t order any books. But when she goes into the store, she’s handed a wrapped book and receives an explanation. Prior to his death, Joe ordered a year of books for Tilly. She’ll receive one book each month, each one specifically chosen by Joe. Tilly is floored, to say the least. After her months of pain and loneliness, here is Joe reaching out to her one final time.

As the year unfolds, the books from Joe and the letters he’s enclosed with each one open up a small window for Tilly to start seeing the world outside herself once more. The books are varied (and are delightful to discover each month, so I won’t name names). Each is chosen for a reason — and with each, Tilly is challenged to expand her horizons ever so slightly, to venture out of her flat, and to try to reengage with the people and experiences she’s shut herself away from.

Meanwhile, we also follow Alfie, the owner of Book Lane, who deals with his own challenges in maintaining the family bookstore after his father’s death years earlier, trying to live up to his legacy while also keeping the store afloat. Alfie is immediately drawn to Tilly, and becomes a friend and confidante over the months as they interact about Joe’s books, and then find other common ground to share.

Romance is a backburner plot in This Book Made Me Think of You, which feels appropriate. The story is really about Tilly’s personal growth. It’s clear that there are romantic feelings that will emerge over the course of the book, but this aspect is handled tastefully and in a way that feels true to Tilly’s process of grieving and honoring Joe’s memory.

The book is structured by month, as we (and Tilly) see Joe’s new book choices as the year goes by, and see Tilly’s reactions and experiences in relation to the book. As well, each month’s section opens with thematic book recommendations from Book Lane. Between these and Tilly’s memories of important books in her life, reading This Book Made Me Think of You feels like a delicious feast for book lovers.

Start to finish, This Book Made Me Think of You is a beautiful reading experience. It made me tear up quite a few times (always a bit embarrassing while listening to an audiobook in public!), and made me laugh too. I loved hearing about all the books in Tilly’s life, loved seeing her adventures and how she reconnects with so many people in her life, and loved how delicately and realistically the book portrays the idea of living with grief, rather than seeing grief as something to be gotten over.

The audiobook is very well done. The narrator conveys Tilly’s inner thoughts well, and provides variation for the various characters with whom Tilly interacts. She even does a convincing American accent for Joe!

Overall, I really loved this book — both the plot and the way the books expresses all the ways in which books enhance lives. Highly recommended.

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6Mar2026

Book Review: First Sign of Danger (Haven’s Rock, #4) by Kelley Armstrong

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: First Sign of Danger
Series: Haven’s Rock, #4
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: February 17, 2026
Length: 337 pages
Genre: Thriller/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong continues the atmospheric Haven’s Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town.

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven’s Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven’s Rock, they realize they’re in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they’re no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven’s Rock. Only by tracing the hikers’ movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven’s Rock–and their safe, secure new existence–are at risk.

After seven Rockton books, a bridging novella, and three Haven’s Rock books, Kelley Armstrong delivers yet another terrific installment in what’s become one of my very favorite fictional worlds.

Set in a remote Yukon village that’s completely off the grid, the Haven’s Rock series focuses on husband and wife team Eric and Casey as they manage their little town, keep its residents safe, and solve the murders that seem to crop up every time they turn around. In First Sign of Danger, book #4, about six months have past since the events of the previous book, Cold As Hell. Which means that Eric and Casey’s baby girl is now six months old — and it’s endlessly entertaining to see this crime-busting duo juggling baby care with dealing with dead bodies, among other job-related duties.

Haven’s Rock provides shelter for those needing to disappear for a while, a refuge for those fleeing a variety of threats in their real lives. In exchange, residents give up their phones, the internet, and all contact with the outside world, and must live by the very strict rules that keep the town and its resident hidden. While the location of the town was chosen for its isolation, a shady mining camp set up shop just a few miles away soon after Haven’s Rock opened its doors, much to Casey and Eric’s dismay. And now, in First Sign of Danger, these unpleasant neighbors might be causing even more havoc than usual.

As First Sign of Danger begins, Casey and Eric stumble across a pair of hikers needing assistance. This is alarming — their area is so remote that odds are very low that anyone from the outside world would just happen to approach their town. And what if the hikers go back home and mention that they’ve run into a couple (with a baby!) out in the woods? This seemingly random encounter could mean exposure for Haven’s Rock, putting everyone there at risk.

The situation becomes even worse when one of the hikers is found dead, clearly murdered. Suspicions are immediately raised — were they truly random hikers? Are they spies connected to the mining camp? Or could they possibly be connected to Haven’s Rock itself, perhaps in pursuit of someone Casey and Eric have sworn to protect?

As with the rest of the books in the series, there are no easy answers. As Casey and Eric chase clues, the twists and turns and red herrings pile up. The mystery is complex and confusing — in all the best ways! — and the overall plot ties back with earlier events in the series, bringing together a complicated web of conspiracies and bad guys and manipulations.

Meanwhile, we get to go along for the ride as Casey and Eric do what they do best, while also handling parenthood and interacting with the broad cast of characters, who at this point feel as familiar as long-time neighbors. The author has created a unique community through these books, and simply seeing the main characters going about their days — even without murder and mayhem — is oodles of fun.

I appreciated the fact that we get through this book without horrific threats to Casey herself, other than the usual line-of-duty danger she faces due to her job. After the extreme danger of the last book, it’s something of a relief to not have her personally targeted. That’s not to imply that there aren’t high stakes here. The murder mystery is terrific, and the always-present threat presented by certain outside forces comes to a head in startling ways.

First Sign of Danger is a an excellent installment in the series. It seems to wrap up a major overarching storyline, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes next.

Sadly, the book wraps up with these heartbreaking lines:

Watch for Casey and Eric’s final Haven’s Rock adventure, coming in February 2027.

Noooooo!!! Don’t say it’s the end! If this means that Casey and Eric get to have a murder-free life from that point on and live happily ever after, I guess they really deserve it. But still, I’ll be heartbroken when it’s all over.

It’s obvious that I adore the world of the Rockton and Haven’s Rock series, and wish it could continue forever. Meanwhile, I’m happy (and not surprised) to share that First Sign of Danger is a terrific read. Once again, let me encourage anyone who hasn’t tried this series yet to pick up the very first Rockton book, City of the Lost… and be prepared to be hooked!

Interested in the worlds of Rockton and Haven’s Rock? Check out my reviews of these previous books:
City of the Lost (Rockton, #1)
A Darkness Absolute (Rockton, #2)
This Fallen Prey (Rockton, #3)
Watcher in the Woods (Rockton, #4)
Alone in the Wild (Rockton, #5)
A Stranger in Town (Rockton, #6)
The Deepest of Secrets (Rockton, #7)
Dead Letter Days (Rockton, #7.5)
Murder at Haven’s Rock (Haven’s Rock, #1)
The Boy Who Cried Bear (Haven’s Rock, #2)
Cold As Hell (Haven’s Rock, #3)

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.

25Feb2026

Book Review: Where the Girls Were by Kate Schatz

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Where the Girls Were
Author: Kate Schatz
Publisher: The Dial Press
Publication date: March 3, 2026
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

In this electrifying and heartfelt historical coming-of-age novel, set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1960s San Francisco, a pregnant teenager reckons with womanhood and agency after being sent to a home for unwed mothers.

It’s 1968, and the future is bright for seventeen-year-old Elizabeth “Baker” She’s the valedictorian of her high school, with a place at Stanford in the fall and big dreams of becoming a journalist. But the seductive free-spirited San Francisco atmosphere seeps into her carefully-planned, strait-laced life in the form of a hippie named Wiley. At first, letting loose and letting herself fall in love for the first time feels incredible. But then, everything changes.

Pregnancy hits Baker with the force of whiplash—in the blink of an eye, she goes from good girl to fallen woman, from her family’s shining star to their embarrassing secret. Sent to a home for unwed mothers, Baker finds herself trapped in an old Victorian house packed with a group of pregnant girls who share her shame and fear. As she reckons with her changing body, lack of choice, and uncertain future, Baker finds unexpected community and empowerment among the “girls who went away.”

Where the Girls Were is a timely unearthing of a little-known moment in American history, when the sexual revolution and feminist movement collided with the limits of reproductive rights—and society’s expectations of women. As Baker finds her strength and her voice, she shows us how to step into your power, even when the world is determined to keep you silent.

Where the Girls Were is a powerful look at the changing world of young women in the late 1960s, centered on high school senior Baker — the bright, ambitious daughter of a suburban family that hides financial woes behind a veneer of pool parties and social engagements and neighborhood clubs. Baker is her parents’ pride and joy — until she ends up pregnant after her first sexual encounters with a hippie named Wiley.

Devastated and in denial, Baker first attempts to access an abortion through an underground provider, but is scared off before she can go through with it. When she finally confesses to her parents, her mother secures her a spot at a home for unwed mothers in San Francisco, where she’ll stay for the remainder of her pregnancy. Meanwhile, Baker’s family concocts a cover story for her: She’ll be spending a semester in Paris, before returning in the spring to start at Stanford.

At the home, Baker is surrounded by other pregnant teens, all with their own stories to tell. The girls are not allowed outside except for supervised walks — for which they put on fake wedding rings, so as not to scandalize the neighbors. The longer Baker stays at the home, the more she comes to understand about her limited choices, and how little control she has over her own body or decisions about her baby.

“We can tell you’re confused. But let me remind you: you got yourself into this situation. We are helping you out of it. Do you realize how lucky you are to be here?”

Where the Girls Were offers a spot-on depiction of the convergence of 1950s morality and 1960s rebellion. Baker’s world is full of political unrest and anti-war protests and the “turn on, tune in, drop out” mentality, but the free love vibe doesn’t last once pregnancy roles around. And how free can these girls truly be without safe access to either birth control or abortion rights? Baker and the other girls at the home have their choices taken away from them by their families, who seem to value appearance and saving face much more than the feelings or well-beings of their daughters.

Because what she realizes as she talks to the other girls is that she’s not as isolated as she’d believed. She’s not the only one to feel this, to have this happen. Other girls are angry and ashamed. Other girls are embarrassed. Other girls are full of rage. Other girls know how she feels, even if they don’t talk much.

I found Where the Girls Were to be a compelling, moving read, with a realistic depiction of the era and with a main character to truly care about. We get to really know Baker and understand her struggles and her inner life. Seeing her navigate life in the home and figure out how to stand up to those who try to manipulate her is quite inspiring.

At the same time, it’s shocking to see how little information even a well-educated girl like Baker has. Yes, she knows the basics about how pregnancies come about, but she has no information about pregnancy itself — how it progresses, what to expect, what labor entails — not to mention a very fundamental lack of knowledge about how to avoid pregnancy other than being a “good girl”.

Two very minor quibbles to note: First, I wish the ending had been a little less ambiguous. I can understand why the author chose to leave the story where it ends, but I would have appreciated a more definite wrap-up. (Not going into details here in order to avoid spoiling anything…) Second (and this is largely my own reading pet peeve, not necessarily a flaw in the book), I tend not to like when books introduce a large group of characters at once. Here, Baker meets all the girls at the home in one big round of introductions, and perhaps as a result, all but a few particular girls seem to blend together. I wished for a bit more to distinguish some of the girls who figured more as background characters.

Those quibbles aside, I enjoyed this book very much, and strongly recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, women’s history, and/or fiction set during the 1960s. The story and main character are both terrific and make a big impression.

Reading note: This is actually my 2nd book within a year about a home for unmarried pregnant girls set during roughly the same time period. The other, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, is a horror novel, but the two books share many of the same themes and feature girls in similar circumstances. Really interesting to compare and contrast!

For further reading: In the author’s notes, she references a non-fiction book, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler. Sounds fascinating! I’ve added this to my TBR, and hope to track down a copy. Find out more, here.

14Feb2026

“It’s not you, it’s me” two-fer: A pair of mini-reviews for books that didn’t work for me

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Two of my anticipated books for February just didn’t work for me… and I’m left wondering how much of my reaction is due to the books themselves… and how much was more about being the wrong books for me in the moment. I think it’s probably somewhat of a mix — but here’s what I read and what I thought.

Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean: I have loved previous books by this author, especially her Tokyo duology (Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Ever After), so I was primed to love this new YA novel as well. Sadly, I did not.

In Love Me Tomorrow, a promising young violinist who lost her faith in love after her parents’ divorce starts receiving letters from the future, from someone who claims to have always loved her and who, thanks to the invention of time travel, can write to her in the past and offer encouragement on taking chances and believing in love once again.

Emma becomes obsessed with figuring out who the letter writer might be, looking for clues in each of the three boys in her life. Meanwhile, she cleans houses to support her mother and grandfather and is on the verge of giving up the opportunity to attend a prestigious music conservatory in order to stay home and care for her family.

The family dynamics are interesting (although I didn’t see why her father, an apparently successful author, doesn’t seem clued in to the fact that his daughter needs financial support), and the different connections Emma share with the three boys develop in unexpected ways. The time travel element is more annoying than innovative, however, and is not at all convincing — it distracts from an involvement in Emma’s life and choices, rather than enhancing the story.

As for the “it’s not you, it’s me” element: I no longer read much YA, and perhaps that has something to do with my lack of engagement with this story. Still, given that I have really enjoyed this author’s previous YA novels, my suspicion is that if the plot itself had appealed to me more, I would have found myself drawn in regardless of genre or target demographic.

Publication date: February 3, 2026
Length: 352 pages
Rating:

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett: Unpopular opinion time! I’ve seen bunches of rave reviews for this book… and for the life of me, I just can’t get into it.

The story revolves around a young widow who runs a charity cat shelter in a version of Montreal where magicians are seen as a threat, slinging around dangerous spells and endangering the non-magical people around them.

I’m stopping at 25%. I’ve tried — really tried — to push through, but this story simply isn’t grabbing me. Oh, there’s a dangerous magician living in the basement of the cat shelter! Oh, the feuding magicians are wreaking havoc and disturbing the cats! Sigh.

On the “it’s not you, it’s me” front, I suspect that my interest in cozy fantasy has dried up. There are plenty of examples from this genre that I’ve loved, but I’m feeling like the concept has run its course. I’m a bit sad about my reaction to this book: I loved the author’s Emily Wilde series. Here, though, the subject matter and characters have not piqued my curiosity, and I’m finding it a slog to get through each chapter.

I’m calling it now, and setting aside the book. Maybe at some other point I’ll feel the urge to pick it up and try again. Meanwhile, I’m off to find something to read that actually feels like it’s calling my name,

Publication date: February 17, 2026
Length: 368 pages
Rating:

So, was it me, and not the books? Clearly, I wasn’t in the mindset for either of these books… but I also feel that if the stories themselves had been stronger, I would have gotten into them anyway.

If you’ve read either of these books and have other opinions, I’d love to hear them!

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