4/5

I always enjoy how these collections of science fiction and fantasy short stories introduce me to new authors. There were three standouts for me: We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read by Caroline M. Yoachim, Country Birds by Kiji Johnson, and The Weight of Your Own Ashes by Carlie St. George. I had also previously read and enjoyed The Audit by Olivie Blake.

#netgalley

4/5

This was a quick and inspirational read about how to engage with and create your own public art in the world. The ideas range from what is more commonly thought of as public art, as well as ideas that are smaller and more approachable to someone who is new to the idea of putting their art out into the world.

#netgalley

5/5

Healer Anja is obsessed with curing poisons, but when she's called on by the king to save his poisoned daughter, she is drawn into a world beyond her understanding of science.

I loved this re-imagining of Snow White. I thought the setting from the culture to the religion was so fascinating. I loved Anja as the type of sensible protagonist that is frequently drawn into magical worlds in T. Kingfisher's writing.

#netgalley

e-book: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 edited by Nnedi Okorafor and John Joseph Adams

audiobook: Hemlock and Silver by T. Kingfisher

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4/5

After being isolated by his community, Henryk travels to his uncle's town, but they've reacted to the climate apocalypse by becoming insular, and Henryk struggles to find his place on his own.

I was frustrated at Henryk's choices early in the book, but overall I thought this was a good conclusion of the trilogy where both Reid and Henryk leave home and find understanding about how to live in the aftermath of apocalypse.

#netgalley

4/5

In a post climate apocalypse world, four men who set out to create a paradise in space return to earth as gods. In their plans to recreate Earth as they see fit, they are unconcerned with the lives of those who still live there, like Amri whose people were destroyed in their landing.

I thought this was a really great novella about what happens when you believe “great men“ can single handled save humanity from destruction.

#netgalley

September #bookspin list

@TheAromaofBooks

4/5

Javi knows things have gone very wrong, when Mari introduces him to her new fiance Alex, who Javi has never even met. Javi only has two months before the wedding to figure out what's wrong with Alex and why he doesn't belong with Mari, before everything changes.

I thought this was a great friends to lovers. I loved the jumps back in time to explain their friendship as well as where it all went wrong.

#netgalley

4/5

Eva goes viral when she criticizes her social media famous ex on TikTok. She, and Riley Cooper, have to do damage control by working together by going on dates and discussing them on his podcast. But Riley doesn't seem to care how rude Eva is and something begins to grow between.

I loved the chemistry between Evan and Riley. I did think it took Eva way too long to figure out her job was terrible and using her.

#netgalley

4/5

The Demon King has risen must faster than expected, and Yui isn't content to wait seventy-seven more years for a Hero to be reborn to save the world. She finds ways to game the system, so she can defeat the Demon King.

The was a very entertaining read. I enjoyed all the references to rpg games in general, but specifically to The Legend of Zelda.

#netgalley

4.5/5

Nym expect to fail to heal Prince Renn, as all those summoned before her have. When Nym is the first healer to make even a tiny improvement, she is held captive as his official healer.

I thought the first chapter was a little slow, but it quickly picked up. I was very interested in the craftlock magic, and the politics surronding it. I thought the ending of the book was so unexpected, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

#netgalley

4/5

After a few years out of the spotlight, Mackenzie is ready to re-start her her music career, but the label won't back her, unless she sings with her former rival Sam Blaze. But their rivalry has always hidden deeper feelings for one another.

This was everything I love in a rivals to lovers romance. I thought it was the perfect mix of rivalry and complicated feelings for one another.

#netgalley

4/5

Lo and Aidan's short lived romance left Aidan with enough heartbreak to fill an album, and Lo with no desire to ever see Aidan again. They're brought back together for a wedding, and find that maybe they both had a part to play in their painful breakup.

I thought this was a really nice second chance romance. I liked the way their complex family relationships as well as the different pressures they were both under were depicted.

#netgalley

4.5/5

Ceelander and Ste Etienne are forced to land on Shroud, a planet where the atmosphere is so think that no light makes it to the planets surface and life evolved to “see“ through ever louder radio waves. Escape is all but impossible, and they've attracted the attention of Shroud's many forms of life.

I couldn't put this book down. I loved everything about the journey across Shroud as well as the alien life that lives on Shroud.

#netgalley

3.5/5

The world is over, and all that's left of humanity are the scientists that created the apocalypse and their handful of companions, trapped in the Tower of London, surrounded by the Sleepless, the feral humans with chips implanted in their brains. When two survivors arrive, Thea and the others are forced to consider if a cure is truly possible, and if it is, what that would mean for humanity.

continued in comments

4/5
When Jen forms a group chat with people she met in the Aliens Among Us forums, she doesn't expect that her crush might be alien, Tam, who has been stuck on Earth for year. They all agree to meet at Space Con, and no one expects what will be revealed.

I did feel like I still had questions about the state of aliens living on Earth at the end, but I think that just leaves space for sequels to explore. Overall, it was a cute, fun read.
#netgalley

4/5

I enjoyed this short introduction to bird-watching, which briefly covers the history of bird-watching, why people bird-watch, and how to begin bird-watching. I appreciated the focus on how bird-watching can be a very mindful activity. I also really enjoyed the illustrations through the book.

#netgalley

e-book: Pocket Nature: Bird-Watching by Andrea Debbink
audiobook: Awakened by Laura Elliot

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

5/5

It took me way to long to read this book after it was recommended by so many people (@rachelsbrittain and @soubhiville for #auldlangspine a few years ago). I knew nothing about it going in, and I loved the premise and the characters so much.

5/5

An incredible historical fiction book set during the 80s space shuttle era of NASA, Joan finds her place as an Astronaut.

3.5/5

Demeter is an economy passenger ship taking people on the multi-year journey between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Life is normal until a monster attacks the people on board, and Demeter is forced to fight back.

I really enjoyed the early part of the book where all the different monsters were introduce3, and I loved the ending, but I felt like there were parts in the middle that were a little slow. I really loved the characters.

#netgalley

3.5/5

Lore failed to save herself and Bastian from Apollius and now she's separated from her friends and trapped on the Burnt Isles. She, and her friends, must fight the gods living in their heads and try to stop the cycle before the world they know is destroyed.

I loved getting the perspective of all the main characters. I had mixed feelings about the ending, but overall I enjoyed the conclusion to the series.

#netgalley

Very exciting book mail!

I didn't realize when I ordered all the books are signed, so even more exciting than I expected!

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is my favorite read of June.

#ReadingBracket2025 @CSeydel

4/5

Bastian is King and Lore is tied more closely to him than ever before, but the more they channel, the more strangely Bastian behaves.

The beginning was a little slow, since the characters were taking a long time to understand something I felt was clear from the first book, but I thought the second half did a good job of raising the stakes and finding the right amount of conflict and resolution for the 2nd book in a trilogy.

#netgalley

5/5

Four robots wake up in the restaurant where they work, to learn they've been shut down for six months and are at serious risk of being repoed after their scammer boss fled the country. Now, these robots have an opportunity to make something of their own, in a world that isn't always accepting of robots. I really loved this cozy sci-fi about community that touches on serious topics global warming, war, trauma, and prejudice.

#netgalley

#bookspin: I've Got Questions Guided Journal by Erin Hicks Moon

#doublebookspin: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

#bookspinbingo @thearomaofbooks

Two bingos in June!

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

July #bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

5/5

Marshal Rosie is assigned to stay with Adam when he goes to fix Tanria's broken portals, but the portals prove unfixable, and Rosie and Adam end up stuck in Tanria.

I loved how much deeper this got into the lore of new and old gods in this series. And I loved that the time jumps showed how much Tanria and the marshals have changed since the first book in this series. I loved the way the series touched on love and family and death and grief.

4/5

Miss Juliet Tilney and Mr. Jonathan Darcy find themselves both in Londonn. Jonathan wants to take advantage of the opportunity to convince everyone that he is an appropriate match for Juliet. But soon they are drawn into another murder investigation.

I continue to enjoy this series combining Austen's characters with cozy mystery. I continue to enjoy the way Jonathan and Juliet's relationship is developing over the series.
#netgalley

3.5/5

Nox, Siobhan, and Bastian are forced to work together despite their tangled romantic history as the rebellion against the false Cŵn Annwn. I thought this was a good conclusion to the series, with a little more of a focus on the adventurous plot than the romance between the characters. I did really enjoy how large a role all the characters from the previous books in the series had.

audiobook: The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Banet
e-book The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

e-book: The Rushworth Family Plot by Claudia Gray
audiobook: Rebel in the Deep by Katee Robert

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

3/5

Isabella Nagg acquires the local wizard's magic book and begins a journey to change her generally unpleasant life as the wife of an unsuccessful farmer who she doesn't particularly like to something new and magical.

There were many things about the book that I loved: Goblins being a type of fungus, Bottom the talking Donkey, and the grimalkin. There were some pacing issues, but I still thought it was a fun and engaging book.

#netgalley

4/5

On this year's earl's trip, Effie admits not only has he been writing for a woman's magazine for sometime, but he's fallen in love with his editor who believes Effie is a woman named Euphemia. When Juliana decides to take a holiday, the two finally meet and Effie's secrets are revealed. As they begin to know each other as their true selves, they have to figure out if there's a path forward for two people with such different lives.

#netgalley

5/5

This was an incredible expose of corporate greed and devastated communities. It goes into detail in all the ways companies knew PFAs were dangerous to humans, covered up that knowledge, and exposed communities to dangerous levels of the chemicals. It shows how the communities were affected by these chemicals and how individuals were forced to become activists to fight back against powerful companies who place profit over all else.

#netgalley

Audiobook: Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood
E-book: They Poisoned the World by Mariah Blake

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

#bookspin: Manic Pixie Dream Earl by Jenny Holiday
#doublebookspin: They Poisoned the World by Mariah Blake

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I managed two bingos in May.

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

It was easy to pick The Incandescent as my May pick, since it has a huge standout for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being my favorite read of the year.

#readingbracket2024 #bookbracket2024 @CSeydel

June list

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I managed a bingo this month!

#ispybingo @thearomaofbooks

5/5

If you work at a magical boarding school, preventing demonic incursions is just part of the job, and Doctor Walden is extremely good at her job, despite her own past experience with demonic incursions.

I loved this book. I thought the perspective of a magical school from a teacher was incredible. I also loved the magic system within the book and the way it intertwined with everything. Overall, I loved the directions this book went in.

2.5/5

I had mixed feelings about this one, especially the lack of cw about the death of Heracles's children. The summary did mention the children die, but the way it happened was very upsetting, and the descriptions were worse than I expected. I almost put the book down. I kept reading, but even though there were great found family elements to the rest of story; it was never enough to make up for the upsetting source of Heracles's labors.

4.5/5

As a child, Yeva put on the armor of a dragon-slayer and did her best to forget what life was like before. But when she is sent to Quanbao, she is forced to face the part of herself she has tried to hide and the fact that she may not know all there is to know about dragons.

This was an incredible novella that packed in so much mythology and world-building
into a beautiful story about suppressing self for misplaced loyalty and duty.

4/5

Kat is just a legionnaire, not one of the nobles who manage to defeat the Demon Lord. But in the aftermath, Kat has to navigate the attention of the prince who suspects the war isn't over and the romance she began with her battle partner, when they both assumed they would die in battle.

I loved how this book took a common fantasy story line and told it from the perspective of one of the soldiers, rather than one of the stereotypical heroes.

ebook: Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell
audiobook: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

4/5

Molly and Robin are both hoping to stay in the Bed and Breakfast they ran together before they split up, but they certainly weren't hoping to stay there with each other. Now they have a chance to find some closure, actually get divorced, and sell their B&B.

Parts of the romance felt a little rushed, but I enjoyed the bed and breakfast setting, and I thought the book really brought Eureka Springs to life on the page.

#netgalley

4.5/5

The perspective of a livesuit solider, on the other side of an endless and timeless war.

I'm really enjoying this series. There are definitely a lot of horror elements to the series and the aliens.