Book Review: An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: An Infinite Love Story
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: July 7, 2026
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him, in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes.

When Joe Mitchell launches into space, the world is watching. It’s 1968, and the country waits with anticipation and excitement for another successful mission, another celebration as America sets its sights on the Moon. And then comes the knock at the door.

Joe Mitchell’s spacecraft has lost contact. He and his fellow astronauts onboard are feared to be dead. It’s his wife Vivian’s worst nightmare come to life, her grief suddenly taking center stage as the nation waits and mourns. In her quiet moments, Vivian relives their memorable story, unable to accept that this is the end to a love that felt as though it was written in the stars.

As the investigation surrounding Joe’s lost spacecraft intensifies and the mishap is written off as an operator error, Vivian is determined to clear her husband’s name and uncover the mystery of what happened in space. When someone starts sending Vivian messages—messages she believes only Joe could send—she begins to wonder if their love is stronger than space and time, and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring her husband back to her.

Space exploration and space-related historical fiction are always favorite topics for me, so picking up An Infinite Love Story seemed like an obvious choice. And while I found a lot to love about this book, its foray into a more speculative resolution didn’t quite work for me.

An Infinite Love Story is, as the title promises, first and foremost a story about love. When Vivian meets Joe in the early 1960s, she’s a hard-working reporter trying to break into the boys-club DC newsroom business. Despite her obvious talents, she’s too often shoved aside or assigned to coffee-making duties rather than getting to sink her teeth into real reporting. One of Vivian’s hard and fast rules for her personal life is no dating pilots — her own childhood was a blur of being dragged around the country as her mother pursued one risky relationship after another, after Vivian’s fighter pilot father was killed in action when she was quite young. Vivian wants a career first and foremost, and maybe a safe, quiet dating life on the side.

All that changes when she meets Joe Mitchell, the stereotypical fighter pilot whose charisma and good looks dominate whatever room he’s in. Joe and Vivian share an instant spark, but she’s absolutely not interested… and yet, each time they meet, they find that they can’t resist or walk away from the connection that draws them together. Even once they’re married, Vivian is unhappy with Joe’s career, as his dream of getting selected as an astronaut finally comes true and he begins his NASA training. And yet, she can’t help but support him, despite the pain of knowing that the man she loves works at a job that entails daily risk and uncertainty.

When Joe is assigned command of the first mission to orbit the moon, he’s elated and Vivian is fearful. With launch approaching, he makes a promise:

“Fine, let’s take the issue of whether or not I’m a great pilot and try it this way—have I ever broken a promise to you?”

“No.”

She’d learned that early on in their relationship—that when Joe gave his word about something, he meant it, wholly, completely. It was one of the things she admired most about him.

“Then I’ll make you a promise now. I’ll always come back to you. Always.”

“You can’t make a promise like that. No one can.”

“I can and I will.”

The day after launch, the worst possible news arrives: Mission Control has lost contact with the spacecraft. No communications, no telemetry, no signals at all — it’s just gone. Vivian refuses to believe it. If something terrible had happened, wouldn’t there be evidence? Debris? Something in the communication history to indicate a problem? But as days pass, the world seems ready to accept the tragic fact that the mission has failed and the spacecraft is lost. Vivian’s worst fears have come to pass — but then odd things begin to happen. Moved objects, a note in Joe’s handwriting, a strange book showing up on his nightstand. Is she imagining things, or is Joe somehow out there, trying to reach her?

First, what I really enjoyed about An Infinite Love Story: I’m always fascinated by stories set during the space race, whether faithfully recreated historical fiction or alternate versions (see my comments on The Calculating Stars and AppleTV’s For All Mankind as examples). By using a dual timeline to show Vivian and Joe’s early courtship starting in 1961, interwoven with the failed mission in 1968, the book provides readers with a good sense of the focus and fervor associated with the space program as well as the expectations and burdens placed on astronauts’ wives and families.

But… where I struggled with this book has to do with the more “woo-woo” aspects, specifically what Vivian perceives as Joe’s communication after the disaster and her belief that he’s still out there somewhere. While her experiences and investigation are interesting, I didn’t buy the resolution, and felt that the conclusion betrays some of the sentiment so important to the rest of the story. I suppose some readers will have quite an opposite reaction and will find the ending uplifting and hopeful. To me, it was simply not believable or palatable, and made my overall experience of the book a bit of a letdown.

An Infinite Love Story held my attention, and I came to truly care about the characters. Plot choices later in the story made this a less successful read for me, but I still found much to enjoy earlier on.

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

27Sep2026

Book Review: Newbourne Park by Jennifer Thorne

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Newbourne Park
Author: Jennifer Thorne
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: September 29, 2026
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGallety
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Diavola comes a darkly funny, blood-soaked horror novel about the terrifying seduction of unlimited power.

After years of caring for her dying mother, Martha Shaw feels empty, exhausted, and far older than her twenty-six years. So when her brother invites her to a weekend getaway at the opulent, two-hundred-acre country estate where his friend works, Martha reluctantly agrees. After all, what’s the harm? The owners and all their staff will be gone. Security cameras will be off. The house will be theirs. For the first time in years, Martha might actually have fun.

And it is fun, taking advantage of the historic mega-mansion and its vast grounds. Martha begins to feel human again. But when night falls, the rightful master of Newbourne Park returns—and she’s not alone. Suddenly, being caught trespassing is the least of their worries, because what steps out into the moonlight is something vicious. And hungry.

What began as a lark becomes a bloody battle for survival, where greed and morality collide—and a woman must choose to bow, break, or bite back.

Have you read books where you went in knowing only the bare basics, and had a sharply defined moment where you thought, “Oh, so THAT’s what this book is about!”? That was my reading experience with Newbourne Park, and I have to say, I loved experiencing it that way. So, with that in mind, I’m going to be as general as I can when talking about this book… although I suspect most reviews will tell you straight away that this is a [insert theme here!] story.

What the brief bits of the blurb I’d paid attention to told me, and what I’ll share here, is this: Martha Shaw has spent years caring for her dying mother in their cottage in a working-class village. Martha was expected to rise above her station; as a child, her mother took her and her brother on outings to visit great houses and estates, and Martha’s intelligence and gift for learning earned her a place in a prestigious school and an offer to study medicine at Oxford. Her shining future collapsed when her mother became ill, and now, months after her mother’s death, Martha finds herself lonely, depressed, and with not much going for her.

But as Martha tells us in the first few pages:

You’ll likely hate me by the end of this — but oh, my darlings, I could not care less.

Doesn’t sound like the woman I’ve described so far, does it? Clearly, something changes.

Martha’s brother insists on getting her out of the house once a week for pub nights, and convinces her to join him, his girlfriend, and his best friend Tommy on a weekend adventure. Tommy is a footman at a lavish estate, and the owners and staff will all be away. With even the security cameras disarmed for the weekend, it’s a rare opportunity to sneak onto the grounds and live like the rich folks do for a few days. Reluctantly, Martha agrees to go along, and feels drawn by Newbourne the moment she enters the estate.

At first, it’s a crazy risk that pays off. Yes, they’re trespassing, and of course, Tommy could be fired and they could all be arrested if caught… but Newbourne Park is beautiful and isolated, and its luxuries are too much to resist. But on their second day there, unexpected deliveries and arrivals interrupt the trespassers’ country getaway… and things take a turn toward violence and extreme danger.

And that’s only in the opening chapters!

Author Jennifer Thorne creates an unforgettable story out of familiar elements, showing Martha’s evolution into a person of power — both through elements outside of her control and through her own deliberate decisions. The descriptions of what she experiences at Newbourne are blood-soaked and scary, and yet, there are social elements that are downright funny as we see Martha skewering expectations and forcing her way into a world where she’d more naturally be excluded.

The horror elements are well-drawn, imbuing certain tropes with new twists as well as providing startling and often entertaining character moments. I loved seeing what becomes of Martha, how she changes from mousy and beaten-down into someone to be reckoned with, and what she’s willing to do in order to make sure her place at Newbourne is secure.

The pacing in Newbourne Park is fabulous, giving space for the personal moments and interactions while also keeping the sense of menace going full-tilt, and with scenes of violent action interspersed so the readers never lose sight of just what’s going on here.

Jennifer Thorne’s 2022 novel Lute remains my favorite of her books… but Newbourne Park is a close second! This author is incredibly talented, with a flair for compelling, complicated characters and vivid storytelling. I’m already eager to hear what she’ll be writing next!

Meanwhile, if my vague description of Newbourne Park has piqued your interest in any way… absolutely make a point of checking out the book! I couldn’t put it down. For horror fans, it’s a must-read.

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

26Sep2026

Book Review: A Divided Duty (October Daye, #20) by Seanan McGuire

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: A Divided Duty
Series: October Daye, #20
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: September 29, 2026
Print length: 400 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 October Daye series finds Toby Daye torn between caring for her newborn daughter and keeping the world of Faerie―and her found family―safe.

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

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

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

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

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

October Daye is back, and going strong! The 20th book in an ongoing series is clearly not the place to jump in… but for readers who’ve been along for the ride so far, A Divided Duty hits all the high marks we’ve come to love and expect from Seanan McGuire’s brilliantly detailed fantasy world.

In short: Toby, a hero of the realm, is also a new mother. Her baby girl Miranda is fully fae, although it’s still too early to know how much of each of her parents’ magical lineages she carries. Toby and her husband Tybalt are sleep-deprived but happy, as are the rest of the assorted people who make up their quirky household.

One of these is Raysel, daughter of Toby’s liege, recovering from a tormented past in which she committed major crimes and offenses. Toby offers her the space to heal, but her officially sanctioned time in Toby’s household is coming to a close, and Raysel’s mother wants her back — but going home to Luna would be terrible for Raysel, and she’s desperate to stay where she is. The law of the realm backs Raysel’s wishes, but Luna refuses to accept the Queen’s ruling, and steals Raysel away to a land of darkness and terror, where she believes they’ll be untouchable.

Toby and Tybalt must set out on yet another dangerous, practically impossible quest to rescue Raysel, leaving baby Miranda at home while they attempt to bring back the stolen member of their found family — and hoping with all their might that they won’t end up leaving Miranda an orphan.

A Divided Duty is another excellent adventure for Toby, and a terrific showcase for the dynamics of her relationship with Tybalt. The two have navigated tremendous ups and downs over the course of the series; it’s fascinating to see all the ways in which they balance one another, recognizing their individual strengths and vulnerabilities and how they work best in tandem.

The characters in Toby’s world are still in recovery from the traumatic events of books 16 – 18, which upended their lives and the entire fae world in ways still having ripple effects. The author skillfully shows how the various characters have experienced life-altering changes due to those events, and how the traumas continue to linger and reverberate even after the main threats have been dealt with.

A Divided Duty wraps up well, and of course leaves plenty more issues and conflicts to explore. Central mysteries of the series remain unresolved, and it feels as though there are endless more adventures ahead for Toby, Tybalt and the rest of these beloved characters.

At this point, the world of the October Daye series is vast. In addition to the twenty main books, there are novellas (often included as bonus sections in the main books) and countless short stories, including many on Seanan McGuire’s author website and on her Patreon. Some of these provide older histories, while others fill in the gaps between main novels, and honestly, it’s overwhelming (for me, at least) to even attempt to keep up. I’d love it if someone published/maintained a directly of all of these, including where they fit into the main stories chronologically and in which characters’ story arcs. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll have enough time on my hands (ha!) to actually do a deeper dive!

In any case… A Divided Duty provides a compelling next chapter for Toby and Tybalt. The danger and drama are terrific, as are the lighter character moments. As always, quirky moments and quippy banter provide entertainment, and it’s always a pleasure to spend time in Toby’s world.

I’ll close with my typical statement about the October Daye series: Starting at the beginning is a must. Pick up Rosemary and Rue — you won’t want to stop!

As I mentioned, main books in this series tend to include a novella at the end. For A Divided Duty, the novella is But by Degrees, narrated by Toby’s squire Quentin, a complicated young man who finds himself at a loss after the events of books 16 – 18. In those books, Quentin — along with everyone else — found himself living in an alternate version of reality, and now that the real world has been restored, he’s struggling to reconcile the person he’s always believed himself to be with what he saw himself become in that alternate world. But by Degrees is a moving character study, and I appreciated the insights into Quentin’s emotional state as well as this look at the lingering effects of unresolved trauma. It’s a fitting closing piece for A Divided Duty and works well as a companion to the main novel.

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

17Sep2026

Book Review: The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones
Author: Lex Croucher
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication date: June 9, 2026
Length: 447 pages
Genre: Fantasy / dark academia
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Casey McQuiston meets The Secret History in this unmissable dark academia fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher following former childhood best friends who reunite at magical boarding school after years, only to find themselves enemies on opposite sides of the ugly secrets hidden within the gilded walls.

Welcome to the Temple School of Thaumaturgy … and your newest dark academia obsession.

For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite prep school—the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history—is whispered to be magical.

Briar’s best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple or believed in the rumors. He just wanted them to stay together forever.

When, at age 11, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn’t, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple’s grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can’t completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.

Then, seven years later, Briar secures a temp job sorting through the junk in Temple’s attics. And they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian: a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by the entire school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so magical after all, but a dark conspiracy with implications that extend far beyond the gates.

If you’d asked me a week ago whether I wanted to check out a new dark academia novel, my answer would have been no. And then… I saw a New York Times book review column with the headline This Is the Best Book Our Fantasy Columnist Has Read All Year… and how could I resist at least giving it a try?

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is a story of a broken friendship, a shot at dealing with childhood pain, and a deep, dark conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of British society and beyond. Sounds like a lot, right? Somehow, the pieces all come together to form an intense, compelling drama that’s impossible to put down. (The NYT columnist says she forgot to eat while reading this book… I didn’t quite have that problem, but it was hard to focus on anything else until I finished the book!)

Briar and Seb were best friends from before Briar can even remember. Despite being on quite different ends of the economic divide — Seb’s family has a gorgeous estate and piles of money and connections; Briar’s mother and stepfather run a small farm and get by — the two are inseparable throughout their childhoods. Seb is sensitive and easily wounded, both by a cruel, cold father and by the mean village kids who bully him. But Briar is a fierce defender, and they protect Seb as best they can. The two of them dream about Temple, the mysterious school located behind forbidding walls just a short bike ride from their village. Temple is rumored to be a school of magic, although no one knows for sure — but what is fact is that Temple has produced more Prime Ministers, CEOs, and other influential people than any other school in the UK.

Seb and Briar have concocted all sorts of fantasies about what their magical lives will be like once they’re admitted to Temple and learn its secrets… but at age eleven, their applications have very different outcomes. Seb is accepted — not surprising, as his father and older brothers all attended Temple — and Briar is not. With no connections and no money, Briar doesn’t even get the courtesy of a reply to her application. And while we don’t learn the details until much later in the book, Seb and Briar’s friendship is irreparably broken. Seb leaves for Temple, Briar is left behind, and the two never see each other again.

Until… seven years later, Briar gets a summer temp job at Temple. Their assignment is to sort, organize, and clear out decades worth of junk from an unused attic on campus. Meanwhile, they’ll be assigned a dorm room and will live at Temple as well. It’s a redemption of sorts for Briar. The pain of their rejection has never really gone away, and while they made friends and got by at the local high school, the yearning for Temple and Seb have left them feeling like something’s been missing all these years.

Briar’s work isn’t all that interesting, but they soon befriend a group of 17-year-old students entering their final Temple year, who explain the ropes to them and help them navigate what’s quickly revealed to be a dangerous world. School society is dominated by the Mons, the powerful advanced students who control everyone else, mete out punishments, carry out the Trials required for all first-years (“pips”), and answer to the school’s mysterious board of governors. Briar has spent years defending underdogs, but their instinct to protect gets her on the wrong side of the Mons almost immediately, and to their dismay, one of these is revealed to be Seb, now known as Bastian, the most powerful and cruelest of them all.

How did the sweet, gentle boy of Briar’s childhood turn into this cold, dangerous person? Bastian has mastered the Work, which is what Temple’s magical powers are called. Students learn Workings with different areas of focus, and all seem to revolve around influence over others — including the ability to force others to answer questions and obey orders without hesitation, and to induce feelings of acceptance even in the most horrific of circumstances. What’s worse, there’s no defense against Workings, other than by studying and learning them. Pips are defenseless; as Temple students (known as scholars) advance through their studies, their knowledge of Workings shield them from having these types of influence being used against them.

I realize this is quite a lot of explanation! But The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones has some complicated world-building to accomplish, and author Lex Croucher does it incredibly well. Temple is not a happy place; there’s no cutesy moving staircases or charming professors or silly charms bouncing around — it’s more like going to school with nothing but Slytherins, but worse. Faculty turn a blind eye or passively encourage the torments going on around them; Temple is a legacy school, and they’ve all been through it. It’s the price of power, steeped in generations of tradition. Temple’s connections are everywhere, and it’ll do anything to keep its secrets and maintain its access to the power the Workings provide.

Briar’s growing friendship with the three people she meets early on gives her some small measure of security, but they’re all vulnerable, especially when these friends seem determined to disrupt the Trials, placing a huge target on all of their backs. But while Briar’s friends are able to protect themselves through knowledge of the Work, Briar has no defenses at all, and ends up subject to terrible punishments at the hands of a particularly sadistic Mons.

While Bastian at first seem indifferent, even unhappy, to see Briar once again, his reaction to them is shown to have more complex layers. He’s horrified to see Briar entering such a dangerous setting, and conflicted over the unresolved complications of their childhood — yet he also can’t stand by while Briar is threatened and hurt, and his involvement eventually places him at odds with the very power structure he so strongly represents.

The storytelling in The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is fast-paced and breathless, so while the book is on the longer side, it absolutely flies by. Readers discover Temple’s dark secrets alongside Briar, and their sense of dismay, helplessness, and anger is palpable. It seems impossible that an unmagical person such as Briar could ever make a difference, but they can’t walk away from their new friends. As Briar spends time at Temple, they keep encountering Bastian, and the two eventually confront their pasts and the truths that had been hidden for so many years — and Bastian becomes yet another reason that Briar can’t walk away.

Some fascinating themes emerge, especially around self-image and the concepts of good and evil. Briar has spent years convinced that they’re the hero, the defender of the weak, and upon arrival at Temple, immediately categorizes Bastian as a villain. But the truth is more nuanced than these surface-level distinctions. Part of Briar’s growth arc throughout the story is how they come to understand past actions and learn that they themself contain darker elements than they want to admit.

One of the reasons I typically shy away from dark academia is my challenge in suspending disbelief long enough to accept that parents would willingly send their children to such scenes of mayhem and danger, or to find that the schools’ structures and rules make sense in a way that would allow them to continue to operate. Yet here, I bought it completely. The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is fantasy in that magic exists, but in every other way, it’s rooted firmly in our own real world. Temple is a source of wealth and power and influence; it seems entirely realistic to me that should such a place exist, the powers that be would do everything to protect and preserve it.

There may be a tendency to categorize dark academia fantasy as young adult fiction. That would be a mistake here. The author makes clear in the book’s introduction that this is not intended for young readers, and a content warning section fills up a good half a page. I won’t go into all the details; you can find them on the author’s website (https://www.lexcroucher.co.uk/the-unmagical-life-of-briar-jones-content-warnings). Suffice it to say, the content can be very disturbing; readers with content sensitivities should be aware ahead of time what they may encounter.

Overall, I found the premise, characters and plotting of The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones completely fascinating, and could barely breathe at times from all the stress, tension, and danger as the story progresses. Briar is a complex lead character, and their relationship with Bastian as well as with their new-found friend group adds depth and emotion to an action-packed, dramatic story. Highly recommended.

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

13Sep2026

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

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A note on the audiobook edition:

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

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

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

11Sep2026

First Lines Friday 9/11/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

So what’s the book?

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

Synopsis:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!

9Sep2026

Book Review: Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6Sep2026

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

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3Sep2026

Book Review: Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Kiss Slay Replay
Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 1, 2026
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Every wedding guest’s worst nightmare is on repeat in this wild and twisty new horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of So Thirsty and Play Nice.

It’s the picture-perfect wedding The venue is dreamy, the weather is beautiful, love is in the air—and Willa Sullivan is having a bad time. She’s excited to celebrate her best friends finally having the big wedding they’ve always wanted, but this is the first time she’s seen her ex-fiancé in months, and he brought a date. Everything feels off, like she stumbled into an alternate universe. But things start to look up when Willa meets Danny, the groom’s charming and single childhood best friend. When they sneak off together, their rendezvous is interrupted by a masked killer terrorizing the reception. Willa and Danny fight to save the ones they love and survive the night, but the killer is unrelenting. A final girl, Willa is not.

Or is she? She wakes up and it’s the morning of the wedding. She just had the most intense nightmare of her life. Only as the day unfolds, there are some uncanny coincidences that make her question whether it was really a dream, déjà vu, or something more sinister. After a horrifying turn of events, Willa comes to understand that she’s stuck in a loop of carnage and terror that she must learn how to escape or else suffer a fate worse than death—being an eternal wedding guest.

Don’t be fooled by the cutesey (but bloody) cover — Kiss Slay Replay is not a light-hearted romp with a hint of horror. Instead, it’s a full-on horror nightmare, with an interesting mix of introspection and terror.

What’s worse than going to your best friends’ wedding, months after calling off your own wedding just three weeks in advance and then living in a quagmire of what-ifs, regrets, and second guessing? All of the above, but with slaughter!

Willa is dreading the wedding weekend, despite its charming rural lakeside location in the Hudson Valley. She’s happy for Steph and Jace, but being there will mean being with her college best friends, all of whom, some ten years later, seem to have found happiness and meaning in their lives. Meanwhile, Willa has just ended her own long-term relationship, feels isolated and directionless and questions every decision she’s made, and has to not only go celebrate her friends’ marriage, but also see her ex at the wedding.

She knows her friends are running out of patience with her, despite how much they love her. She just needs to get her act together long enough to get through the weekend. The rustic setting is gorgeous — a wedding venue that was once the location of a lakeside summer camp. (Uh oh…) When Willa escapes into the woods to give herself a break from the wedding intensity, she sees a strange masked man in the distance… or does she? Maybe the stress and alcohol are getting to her. Maybe she’s seeing things.

She isn’t. What feels like a typical horror movie scenario unfolds. The masked man is a terrifying slasher who attacks the wedding (where, of course, there’s no cell reception, no one is armed, and everyone is too drunk to defend themselves). It’s awful… and (not really a spoiler) ends with Willa herself being murdered.

Except not. Because after a painful death, Willa wakes up back in her own bed, fully aware of everything that just happened. But when she checks her phone, it’s Friday again — the day she woke up and drove to the wedding. Checking in with her friends, she allows herself to be convinced that she had an incredibly vivid nightmare, and sets off for the wedding… only to arrive and see how it’s all exactly the same as it was in her supposed dream.

But things don’t go exactly the same way… and I won’t go into further detail, other than to say that Willa is really and truly caught in a time loop, and that each new version of the wedding day features a brand new type of carnage, mayhem, and death.

Kiss Slay Replay is the trippiest of time loop stories. I’ve read a bunch with a rom-com focus, which this most assuredly is not. Instead, Willa experiences horror trope after horror trope, but in a visceral, terrifying way, always ending in her painful, sometimes disgusting death, as well as the deaths of all of her friends. Stuff of nightmares for sure!

At the same time, Willa is deeply mired in the self-doubt and inner paralysis stemming from her break-up. She knew things with Ravi weren’t working, and hadn’t been for a long time. Calling off the wedding was the right thing to do — but she feels that she’s come adrift in her own life, and sees no point in anything. Starting over is awful. Feeling like a burden to her supportive friends makes her tired and upset. As her friend Cass tells her, the only way out is through… but Willa can’t see her life ever truly changing or how things will get better.

When will I know if I’ve made it out of the loop? At the stroke of midnight? Tomorrow morning? Never? Am I going to spend the next week, month, year, the rest of my life waiting for another monster to show up? Wondering what horror lurks in the shadows?

It occurs to me, that’s actually not so different from how I’ve been living Preemptively experiencing misery. Ye of little faith.

The time loop horror serves as a bloody representation of Willa’s inner life. Give up, or fight? Persevere, even though every day is terrible? Can she hide from the horror, or will it find her anyway? What if this is all life is?

The introspective moments in no way slow down the momentum of Kiss Slay Replay. From the moment I started, I simply couldn’t put it down. At first, I assumed each time loop would bring back the slasher, which I was kind of dreading, as slasher movies/books are not my favorites by a long shot. But no — while each day unveils some fresh hell, none of the horror scenarios repeat. Each is horrifying and terrifying in its own way. And while it’s amazing that Willa doesn’t just give up, we also get a vivid example of what happens on a day when she decides not to go to the wedding. (Hint: It’s not good).

Rachel Harrison’s novels are always a delight, and she never fails to produce a twisted take on what might at first glance seem like a familiar horror sub-genre (witches, haunted houses, vampires, and more). This author is a masterful storyteller, and her unique characters and premises make for compelling reads, every single time.

Kiss Slay Replay is not for the faint of heart, obviously. But if you enjoy horror and want something that will hook you from start to finish, don’t miss this newest (terrifying) gem.

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

28Aug2026

First Lines Friday 8/28/2026

Posted in Fun and Whimsy by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

Today’s line are from a contemporary romance that’s been sitting on my TBR for a few months now:

Of the many psychological tricks Layla Bailey had played on herself in preparation for this — only her second trip ever to her favorite… well, was it better to say, former favorite? onetime favorite? nostalgic, painful, heartbreaking favorite?… city in the world — typing positive affirmations into her translation app was possibly the most personally embarrassing.

So what’s the book?

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn
Published 2026
454 pages

Synopsis:

A woman tests the limits of her so-called amicable divorce when she flies to Paris for the destination wedding of her former sister-in-law, only to butt heads with the deliciously gruff best man, in a poignant and romantic novel from Kate Clayborn.

Physician Layla Bailey has spent over a year telling herself she’s moved on from a painful but amicable divorce from her college sweetheart. Staying friends with her ex seemed like the mature thing to do, but when Layla is invited to her former sister-in-law’s destination wedding in Paris—where Layla once spent her own romantic honeymoon—she knows her commitment to maturity might be her worst enemy…especially since her ex isn’t attending alone.

The only thing that could make the week more difficult is getting through it without the distraction of the wedding…. But when what Layla thought was a harmless conversation about the choices of her younger self leads to the bride getting cold feet, Layla finds herself facing down the groom’s mysterious, taciturn best man, Griffin, who will do anything to make sure this wedding happens.

Since she broke it, Griff demands she help him fix it. Going along with his plan to alleviate the engaged couple’s doubts seems like Layla’s best chance at maintaining a good relationship with a family she once called her own. But as she learns more about the past heartbreak that’s driving Griff to help his friend, she gets closer and closer to confronting the true depth of her own pain…while finding herself more and more willing to risk it all again for Griff.

I’ve been on the fence about picking this up, mainly because it’s longer and seemingly a bit heavier than I tend to prefer when it comes to romance reading. If you’ve read this book already, do you recommend it? And if not, does this sounds like something you’d enjoy?

Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!