Gods and Goddesses

B+
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

An undertaker and a zombie hunter in a steampunk/western fantasy realm is probably the least expected way to adapt The Shop Around The Corner (which is more famous in another adaptation, You’ve Got Mail). At times, the story forces itself to adhere too closely to the source material, and these str ...

B+
A Curse of Queens

In A Curse of Queens, book four in Amanda Bouchet's Kingmaker Chronicles, series leads Cat and Griffin make way for Jo and Flynn’s romance to play out, and take on more of a supporting role - though their trials and tribulations make up a large part of this story. The three kingdoms of Thalyria ...

B
Shadow Blade

Seressia Glass’s The Love Con indicated the author is someone who gets geek culture, so I was curious to see how she’d do as the author of an urban fantasy series. Shadow Blade is quite competent, with dashes of excellence. Kira Solomon is a Shadowchaser, dedicated to fighting forces of Shado ...

B-
Electric Idol

Katee Robert continues her exploration of Greek and Roman mythological tales with Electric Idol, which retells the story of Cupid (or Eros) and Psyche. While the world building is good and the romance well-paced, the tale misses out entirely on the best point of tension in the legend, making it some ...

A
Lore Olympus

I adore Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus on Webtoon (it was one of the comics I recommended in my blog post about Webtoon), so I was thrilled when they announced there would be a physical paper edition. My preorder arrived last week and it is everything I’d hoped for. Billed as “Witness what th ...

C
Never Say Never

For a concept as out-there as the one presented in Never Say Never, the story’s delivery and execution are distressingly ordinary.  It’s 2021 – we’re a bit beyond “I’m not like other girls, love is gross and I wear a leather jacket” heroines. Brynn Stark wants nothing to do with lo ...

B-
Neon Gods

Persephone and Hades are the O.G.s of the Beauty and the Beast archetype, which is one of my favorites, so I’m always game for a retelling. But if this particular Persephone story disappeared to the Underworld, I wouldn’t really miss it. Olympus, in this version, appears to be an East Coast c ...

A-
Neon Gods

I’ve always been a fan of fantasy romances, and so Neon Gods easily caught my eye as a mix of fantasy, Greek mythology, and erotica. While it took me a little while to orient myself in the author's world, overall this book proved to be a promising start to this new series by Katee Robert. In th ...

A
The Beast of Blackmoor

The Beast of Blackmoor was first published as part of the Night Shift anthology, and it was far and away my favorite part of that collection. This review is an adaptation of the original review I wrote for the whole anthology, because Milla Vane has reissued her story. It’s a prequel to her A Gath ...

A-
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

There are plenty of books about teens discovering that they have supernatural powers, and even a strong subset of those involving gods and demon-slayers. What Genie Lo brings to the table to make The Epic Crush of Genie Lo stand out from the crowd is the infusion of Chinese and Chinese-American elem ...