I have really gotten into Stationery. Here is my weekly spread! It's not perfect but it is mine <3

If Wearing the Lion had you rethinking heroism, grief, and what it truly means to heal, this one’s for you. 🦁✨

The Wearing the Lion Book Club Kit is now live, created to help your discussion move beyond myth and into meaning. Inside you’ll find a thoughtful, trauma-informed discussion guide, a themed menu with comforting Greek-inspired recipes, reflective activities, and door prize ideas that honor compassion, chosen family, and healing without violence.

👉 Tap the link for access and let us handle the planning so you can focus on the conversation, the care, and the connections this story sparks. https://tinyurl.com/ymb48p3e

❗️And don’t forget to come back and tell us all about your book club meeting!

📚Some books spark a discussion. Others crack something open and invite everyone at the table to step inside from a different angle. Wearing the Lion did exactly that for our book club.

1️⃣Jess: I came for the mythology and I stayed for the healing.

I love a good Greek myth retelling, but I wasn’t prepared for how emotionally intimate this one would be. This isn’t a story about conquest; it’s about survival after unimaginable loss. Watching Heracles refuse violence and instead choose care felt radical in a genre built on bloodshed. It made me rethink what heroism really means.

2️⃣Alisha: I didn’t expect to feel sympathy for Hera and yet here we are.

Hera has always been a villain in my mental mythology catalog, but Wiswell complicates her in the most human way. Her guilt, denial, and desperate attempts to fix what can’t be undone felt painfully real. I didn’t excuse her actions but I understood her, and that made the story so much richer.

3️⃣Kaci: I was undone by the monsters.

The way Heracles connects with the Nemean lion, the hydra, and the bull absolutely wrecked me in the best way. These scenes were gentle, quiet, and deeply moving. I found myself tearing up over creatures I’d only ever seen as obstacles in other retellings. This book made me ask who we label as monsters and why.

4️⃣Stacey: I saw trauma represented with rare care.

As someone who pays close attention to how trauma is written, I was blown away. Heracles’ avoidance of violence, his emotional shutdown, his slow, uneven healing all of it rang true. This book doesn’t rush recovery or glamorize pain. It lets healing be slow, relational, and imperfect.

5️⃣Lisa: I loved how this story redefines power.

What struck me most was how power shifts throughout the book. Physical strength matters less than emotional honesty, accountability, and connection. Heracles amassing an army not through fear, but through kindness, felt like a quiet revolution against traditional epic narratives.

6️⃣Ashley: I closed the book and immediately wanted to talk about it.

This is a perfect book club pick. The moral gray areas, the reimagining of gods, the question of responsibility versus intention there’s so much here to unpack. I finished the final page feeling tender, thoughtful, and eager to hear how everyone else experienced it.

📬Final Book Club Thoughts! Wearing the Lion is a myth retelling that doesn’t just change how we see Heracles it changes how we think about strength, guilt, healing, and what it means to live with the aftermath of harm. John Wiswell brings a deeply human touch to divine figures and legendary monsters, creating a story that feels both ancient and urgently modern.

If your book club loves character-driven fantasy, emotionally intelligent storytelling, and conversations that linger long after the meeting ends, this one belongs on your list.

✨Bonus for book clubs: A themed Wearing the Lion book club kit is available in The First Editions membership,  complete with discussion prompts and extras designed to deepen your reading experience.

❔️Bookish question to leave you with: Do you think a hero can still be heroic if they refuse violence and what does that say about the stories we’ve been telling all along?🦁📚

The thinking brain, centered in the prefrontal cortex, is the part that helps you reason, plan, make decisions, and regulate impulses. Under normal conditions, it balances the reactions of the survival brain and feeling brain. It can calm the body by recognizing when a threat is over, applying logic, and choosing healthy responses.

During trauma or a trauma trigger, the thinking brain goes offline. The survival brain and feeling brain send overwhelming signals that the body is in danger, which shuts down access to higher reasoning. Blood flow and energy are redirected to survival functions instead of logical thought. This is why in the middle of a trigger, it can feel impossible to “think your way out” or use reminders that you are safe.

For the thinking brain to re-engage, the body first needs to receive signals of safety. This often starts from the bottom up, through calming the nervous system and reducing activation in the survival brain. Grounding exercises, slow breathing, movement, or sensory input like touch or sound can help. These cues tell the survival brain the danger has passed, which in turn quiets the feeling brain. Once the alarm settles, the thinking brain can come back online and assess the situation more clearly.

When the thinking brain is active again, it can work with the feeling brain to regulate emotion and put experiences into context. For example, it can recognize that a loud noise today is different from the traumatic event of the past, which helps the hippocampus store the memory accurately. It can also help create new patterns by practicing responses that reinforce safety instead of fear.

This process of re-engaging the thinking brain is central to trauma recovery. The goal is not to silence the survival and feeling brains—they are essential for protection and connection—but to bring the three systems back into balance. Over time, repeated practice helps the thinking brain stay more accessible, even during stress.

Hello Galaxy folks!

As mentioned as part of your perks, all Galaxy tier members get access to my "unhaul" list where they can claim 1 book/ARC to be sent to them. These are books that I have bought or that have been sent to me that I no longer need as part of my collection. I have not read all of these books so I cannot make a judgement on their content, and in most cases they are books that were sent to me without my express knowledge or permission. However—I would love for them to go to good homes with all of you <3

Please consult the sheet HERE for the full list of books and then head to THIS FORM where you will be asked to provide your top 3 choices and your address, and I will try my best to send you 1 of your picks.  THE FORM CLOSES ON JAN 31ST at 11:59PM!

THIS PERK IS LIMITED TO U.S. AND CANADA MEMBERS ONLY due to shipping costs.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

February is almost upon us! If you’re participating in the Read Disabled 2026 challenge, you may be planning what to read for February’s prompts, so I wanted to tell you a bit about the books I’m planning to read, and recommend some other books I’ve loved that fit next month’s prompts! 

February Main Prompt: A Book by a Black Author

What I’m Reading: King of the Neuro Verse by Idris Goodwin (ADHD representation, lived experience)

February is Black History Month here in the U.S., and I wanted to honor that with this month’s prompt. For much of American History, Black voices and their role in our country’s history was silenced. The aim of Black History Month is to uplift those previously suppressed stories and the impact that the Black community has had on America, as well as continue to strive for racial equality and justice.

Because Black History Month celebrates Black History, specifically, I originally wanted to prioritize a historical fiction book by a Black author for this prompt. However, because I am choosing to read only books by disabled authors for this challenge, I was unable to find a book that fit those prompts.* I will be prioritizing books about Black history in my reading outside of this challenge, and decided to instead choose a book about Black disabled joy with King of the Neuro Verse by Idris Goodwin. This is a YA coming-of-age novel in verse following Pernell as he finds his self-expression and first love while working to catch up on his classwork during summer school. 

*There are not no books by Black disabled authors that are historical fiction! In my searching I found Sorrowland (set in the 20th century ft. low vision rep) and An Unkindness of Ghosts (technically this is futuristic scifi, but the society that the MC lives in is based on the Antebellum South ft. lived experience autism rep) by Rivers Solomon, however these books are also horror novels, which is a genre that I personally cannot read. Alternately, Octavia E. Butler’s works all heavily metaphorize disability in their themes and worldbuilding according to modern disability scholars, which makes them eligible for this prompt as well–I just chose to go with a literal representation of disability in my choice for this prompt. I intend to also read Kindred in February, just not specifically for this challenge.

My Recommendations:

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (non-verbal representation)

I do not know how to pitch this book, but bear with me–it feels high concept literary-fantasy to me, while still being accessible to read, as it is a YA novel written with teens in mind. Our main character Lucille lives in a utopian world in which monsters no longer exist, but when her blood seems to accidentally summon Pet, a winged and horned creature, she is forced to reconsider what she has always been told. Pet says that he is here to hunt a monster, and Lucille must learn what monstrosity really is, and save the world from the monsters that no one else will admit exist.

My Rating: 3.75 stars (circa 2024)

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert (autism representation, lived experience)

If you have not read Get a Life, Chloe Brown, start there–but since our book club already read books 1 and 2 in this series, I thought I’d skip straight to book 3 for this recommendation. Eve Brown is the youngest of the Brown sisters, and she’s also kind of a hot mess. Desperate to prove herself, Eve interviews for a job at a bed and breakfast…and then proceeds to run over the owner with her car. Now Jacob is in a cast and Eve has taken the job and committed herself to taking care of him as he heals. Though Eve and Jacob could not be more different on the surface, the more time they spend together, the more the animosity between them grows into something else.

My Rating: 5 stars (circa 2022)

Icarus by K. Ancrum (EDS representation, lived experience)

Another YA book that reads like literary fiction, though this one pitches itself as a contemporary romance. Our titular character Icarus is a thief who steals priceless artefacts and replaces them with his father’s forgeries. When Icarus is caught by the son of the man he is stealing from, he expects to be turned in, but Helios has been under house arrest by his father, and he gives Icarus something far more dangerous in exchange for freedom: friendship that grows into something more, something that could damn them both.

My Rating: 3.75 stars (circa 2024)

February Bonus Prompt: A Romance Novel

What I’m Reading: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams (unsure of representation)

February is, of course, also the month that features Valentine’s day, and as such a romance prompt is all but required. The book for this prompt does need to be capital-R Romance, aka genre romance–and not just romantic fiction. Paranormal, historical, and even (arguably) fantasy romance all count, so long as the romance storyline is the A-plot and the book ends in a Happily Ever After (or a Happily For Now).

I decided to go with A Love Song for Ricki Wilde for this one because I adored Seven Days in June and finally snagged myself a copy of this one back in November. It’s also set in February, which makes this the perfect time to read it. I’ve seen this one on disability recommendation posts with a mixture of vague disability categories assigned to it (“mental health”, “invisible illness”, “chronic pain”), but have been unable to ascertain specifics. If it turns out there isn’t disability representation I’ll end up using the Chronically Romantic book club’s February pick (Dukes and Dekes by Torie Jean) but I’m trying to push myself to read additional books alongside the book club selections to push myself to read even more books by disabled authors.

I know very little about this book except that it follows our main character Ricki as she moves to Harlem to chase her dream of opening a flower shop, and on one February evening meets a mysterious man who turns her life upside down. There is a magical realism bent to this one as well, and I believe it involves time travel/blurring between the present day and the Harlem Renaissance.

My Recommendations:

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese (anxiety and autism representation, both lived experience)

Chloe Liese is a master of disability representation, and Two Wrongs Make a Right is no exception. This is a Much Ado About Nothing retelling following Jamie and Bea, who could not be more wrong for each other, as they join forces to concoct a plan for revenge on their meddling, matchmaking friends: They’re going to fake date, and then they’re going to fake a disastrous break-up. But the longer they pretend, the less they feel like they’re faking, and they can’t help but wonder if their friends were so off the mark with their matchmaking.

My Rating: 4.75 stars (circa 2022)

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie (anxiety, lived experience)

Vale’s life revolves around soccer, but when she starts a fight with her long-time rival Leticia, everything she’s been working towards becomes suddenly out of reach. Her only hope for redemption? Winning the tournament at her summer soccer camp. But when she arrives, she learns she will be co-captaining the team with none other than Leticia herself.

My Rating: 4.75 stars (circa 2023)

Finding Gene Kelly by Torie Jean (endometriosis representation, lived experience)

If I have the opportunity to recommend Torie’s books, I will be doing so. She writes what is, truly, some of the best chronic illness representation I have ever read. When Evie needs a fake date to bring home to keep her overbearing mother at bay, she last person she wants it to be is Liam Kelly, her childhood friend turned nemesis, but when he unexpectedly turns up in Paris, it appears he’s her only hope. But in order to make this farce convincing, Liam insists on practice dates that ignite long-suppressed sparks in Evie.

My Rating: 5 stars (circa 2022)

Both Prompts: A Romance Book by a Black Author

I know for some people, reading two books per month for a reading challenge can be too much of a stretch, but if you’re interested in being a completionist: here are books that count for both prompts simultaneously!

Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling by Elise Bryant (migraine representation, lived experience and dyslexia representation)

This YA contemporary romance follows Reggie and Delilah when they first meet on New Year’s Eve, and then continue to connect through chance meetings on subsequent holidays (Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s Day, etc)--as if the universe itself is pushing them together. I loved this book, and I don’t want to say more for risk of spoiling things, but it’s one of my favorite YA contemporaries.

My Rating: 4.75 stars (circa 2023)

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan (depression representation, lived experience)

This is one of the (if not the) best books I have ever read in my entire life. It will tear your heart out of your chest, crush it into a million pieces, and stitch it back together in a way that makes you believe in love like never before. After the devastating loss of a stillbirth, Yasmin and Josiah’s marriage fell apart. Now, they are finding a new rhythm, coparenting their children and learning to find joy again. But they are drawn to each other, even know, and as they heal they begin to reconnect–but doing so reopens old wounds, and they must find out if it is too late for them to find forever.

My Rating: 5 stars (circa 2024)

Outdrawn by Deanna Grey (anxiety representation, lived experience, and carpal tunnel representation)

Noah has finally gotten her foot in the door to achieving her dream–her viral web comic scored her a job at a legendary comic company. There’s nowhere for her to go but up, if not for the fact that Sage is standing in her way. Sage and Noah have been rivals since art school, and now they’re assigned to work as a team on a career-defining comic release. The more they butt heads and are forced to spend time in close proximity, the more sparks begin to fly.

My Rating: 4.5 stars (circa 2024)

What will you read?

I love how much people show up for the Read Disabled challenge every year, and I love seeing what everyone reads--if you've decided what you're reading for either prompt, leave a comment!

And if you have Storygraph but haven't officially joined the challenge yet, you can do so HERE.

While reading books by disabled authors is not required for this challenge, it is encouraged, and all of the authors featured here are disabled, though they may not have the specific disabilities represented.

Thank you all so much for participating--I hope you enjoy your February reads!

I'm still using this space as a place for understanding more about how trauma impacts us. The triune brain model basically breaks that brain into three major brain structures which are thought to be in control of three major aspects of human thought and behavior. The survival brain, the feeling brain and the thinking brain, which I gave a brief overview in the last post.

I'm going to start with a more in-depth look at how trauma impacts the triune brain, starting with the survival brain.

The survival brain sits at the base of the brain and includes the brainstem and hypothalamus. Its primary job is to keep the body alive. It regulates automatic functions like breathing, heartbeat, and digestion, and it controls reflexive responses to danger. Because survival is its focus, this part of the brain reacts much faster than conscious thought.

The brainstem is responsible for keeping us safe. The health and functioning of this brain region largely determines our ability to detect and respond to threats. At the most basic level, the brainstem helps us identify familiar and unfamiliar things. Familiar things are usually seen as safe and preferable, while unfamiliar things are treated with suspicion until we have assessed them and the context in which they appear.

When you face a threat, the survival brain takes charge before you even realize what is happening. It sends signals through the nervous system that release stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals speed up the heart, sharpen the senses, and prepare the muscles to fight, flee, or freeze (and like four more f responses - flop, fawn, friend, faint/feint). This process is automatic and does not involve choice - I'll go more in depth on these, later, as well.

Trauma changes how the survival brain works. In situations of extreme stress or danger, the survival brain activates repeatedly and strongly. Over time, this can rewire it to stay on high alert, even when no threat is present. This is why trauma survivors often experience hypervigilance, startle easily, or feel unsafe in ordinary settings. At this point, if you've been awake and paying attention for years, we have a sort of collective trauma of witnessing Black and Brown folks get gunned down in the streets, a genocide live on tiktok, war crimes committed in front of our very eyes, gaslighting by the current administration and all of the past administrations (to a degree) and so much more, on top of the personal traumas we have all experienced. The survival brain learns to treat neutral cues—like a tone of voice, a smell, or a crowded space—as if they signal real danger. Which is why opening social media, seeing a post by someone you thought was an ally, watching the news, the phone ringing, going to the grocery store, they can all be triggering. We are all living in a state of hypervigilence, and if you aren't, you have been asleep.

Another impact of trauma on the survival brain is difficulty switching off once the alarm has sounded. In non-traumatic stress, the body returns to balance after the threat passes. But with trauma, the survival brain struggles to reset. Stress hormones remain elevated, keeping the body tense and on guard. This prolonged activation can lead to problems like sleep disruption, physical health issues, and exhaustion.

When the survival brain dominates, it overrides the thinking brain. Logical reasoning, planning, and perspective-taking shut down because the body prioritizes survival. This is why during a trauma trigger, a person may not be able to calm themselves with rational thoughts or reminders of safety. Instead, their body reacts as though the original danger is happening again.

Ok I know I have inundated you with a lot, but I wanted to start with this foundation, stay tuned because tomorrow I'll post about the feeling brain.

A good book to read right now is My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. In this house we do not support Bessel van der kolk as he profits off the work of women of color and does harm in multiple ways to his own community.

As always, the discord is a place to process and talk about what you're experiencing, I love you, I'm holding space for you all. I'm here as a resource.

"Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till". 

- Gandalf; The Lord of the Rings (The Return of the King); Book 5; Chapter 9: The Last Debate

One of the more important books I have read (and reread) is The Lord of the Rings. It is a story of hope in the face of darkness and hopelessness, and a story of how good people doing what they can often makes all the difference in the world. Reading about how each individual, however small, struggles to do what they can, and to find hope, always inspires me.

I have always been a problem solver. Over the last few years, I have really struggled to figure out what I can do, and what role I can play in trying to make the world a better place for everyone, and stand up to injustices where I can. One of the reasons I started making book content was to try to help people rediscover the joy of reading, and share stories that can teach us about our lives. But I want to do more, and do what I can. It can feel hopeless - like Frodo and Sam, how can one person make a difference when there is so much out in the world over which we have no control. For me, I have decided there are a few things I can do.

I have been fortunate enough to have the chance to monetize some of the book content I make, and I would like to use that to support some good causes. So going forward, each month, I will total up whatever I get from any social media monetization (including Bindery memberships, Bindery book sales, my bookshop.org affiliate store, my bookshop.org and Amazon affiliate links, as well as future YouTube monetization), match it up to $100, and donate the total of that to the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia. The New Sanctuary Movement is a local Pennsylvania group, connected to similar national nonprofits, whose goal is to "work to end injustices against immigrants regardless of immigration status, express radical welcome for all, and ensure that values of dignity, justice, and hospitality are lived out in practice and upheld in policy."You can learn more about them at their website. Additionally, while I tend to focus on fantasy, horror, and sci fi, I am going to start introducing some educational nonfiction content to my social platforms that I feel are important, or relevant to a well informed people. Most of my content is going to stay the same, but I also feel that, as someone who has been fortunate to have some semblance of a platform, I want to do what I can with what I have.

I have never liked asking for likes, follows, shares, or trying to upsell myself (in fact if you watch my videos, you notice I never ask for engagement or follows). I make content because I have fun doing it, and I love being able to make connections with people and talk books in a safe welcoming space. So without being too sales-e, if you are interested in supporting, consider becoming a Bindery member, buy a book from the links here on Bindery or from my Bookshop affiliate store, and share my info with anyone who you think may be interested in joining a great book community. And if any kind of membership or book purchasing is not something you can do right now, just subscribing/following and sharing on whatever platforms you are on makes a big difference. The more people I can reach, the more good I hope to be able to do.

Thank you all for being part of this wonderful community, and for your support!

I'm starting with a brief breakdown of the three main parts of the brain often discussed in trauma work and how they function:

1. Survival Brain (Brainstem and Hypothalamus)

• Responsible for: Basic life functions like breathing, heart rate, and the fight-flight-freeze response.

• Impact of trauma: Becomes hyper-alert, quickly activating danger responses even when threats are not present. This can cause panic, dissociation, or physical shutdown.

• During a trigger: It takes control immediately, pushing the body into survival mode before other parts of the brain can assess the situation.

2. Feeling Brain (Limbic System, especially the Amygdala)

• Responsible for: Emotions, attachment, memory, and scanning for safety or danger.

• Impact of trauma: The amygdala becomes overactive, tagging safe experiences as threats, while the hippocampus (memory system) struggles to place events in context. This can lead to flashbacks and intense emotional reactions.

• During a trigger: It floods the body with fear, sadness, or anger, often overwhelming rational thought.

3. Thinking Brain (Prefrontal Cortex)

• Responsible for: Logic, problem-solving, planning, impulse control, and perspective-taking.

• Impact of trauma: Trauma reduces access to this part of the brain during stress. It becomes harder to regulate emotions, think clearly, or recognize that the danger has passed.

• During a trigger: It often goes offline, leaving survival and emotional responses in charge.

How they interact during a trauma trigger
When a trigger occurs, the survival brain reacts first, signaling danger. The feeling brain amplifies the alarm with strong emotions and distorted memories. The thinking brain, which could normally calm the body and assess reality, is shut down or slowed, so logic and self-soothing feel out of reach. This creates the cycle where the body feels unsafe even if no real danger exists.

If I don't lose power, I'll post something longer tomorrow. Please know that there is a channel on the discord for people to let me know that they would like to schedule something one on one. Also, it's ok to be not ok. And I'm here to support you during this time.

As a reminder, I'm a licensed clinical social worker and my area of focus is trauma work.

As Bindery members, you get early access to horror books to be on the look out for this upcoming month! February has a ton of amazing titles! These are the ones I’m most excited for.

See the full list here 👉🏻 Bookshop

Ps. Please stay warm and safe this weekend to all who are affected by Winter Storm Fern ❄️ I’m supposed to get hit with some type of wintery weather—the jury is still out on what’s to come.

My most anticipated books releasing in Feb ❄️

Cruelty Free by Caroline Glen

Ten years ago, Lila Devlin was an A-list actress with a movie star husband and a beautiful baby girl, Josie. When Josie was kidnapped out of her home and never seen again, Lila’s previously pristine public image twisted into that of an Unfit Mother. Driven mad by the hungry press, incompetent cops, and relentless true crime–obsessed “fans,” she disappeared into anonymity. 

Now, Lila Devlin returns to LA with a grand vision for a radical new skincare brand to reinvent herself and honor Josie’s legacy. She's prepared to move into the next chapter of her life with forgiveness in her heart, when an encounter with a parasitic blogger ends with him dead. Lila suddenly discovers forgiveness isn’t nearly as satisfying as a body hitting the floor.

With the help of her devoted publicist Sylvie, Lila begins a relentless, blood-soaked hunt through LA. Giving her skincare the edge it needs, they introduce a secret ingredient—revenge-sourced—from the bodies piling up. But as the company’s success skyrockets and Lila begins unraveling the truth behind her daughter’s kidnapping, her murderous side hustle threatens the life she’s painstakingly rebuilt.

Greedy by Callie Kazumi

They will kill me soon, Edward Cook thinks. And when the Yakuza are unable to collect what he owes, Ed realizes, theyʼll go after his wife and child next. Broke, desperate, and unemployed, he stumbles upon an unusual ad: Chef wanted! Private chef for a high-profile businesswoman. One million yen per day.

Ed accepts the job. He hasnʼt earned any Michelin stars, but he knows his way around a kitchen. Leaving his life in Tokyo behind, he departs for an opulent estate in the mountains owned by the enigmatic and reclusive Hazeline Yamamoto, a disgraced socialite with a predatorʼs smile and an exacting palate. Hazelineʼs world is one of taste, connoisseurship, and experimentation—she is a certified gourmand. But when you can afford filet mignon for every meal, you begin to seek out the strange and forbidden.

The closer Ed gets to Hazeline and the brighter future that she promises—if he remains loyal—the nearer he is to realizing the chilling truth about her altruism. In this shadow world of unimaginable wealth, there are worse monsters than two-bit gangsters. The wind blowing through Hazeline’s home carries the sound of screaming, and Ed finds himself feeding all kinds of beasts.

Mama Came Callin by Ezra Claytan Daniels

A gripping graphic horror novel set in the Florida bayou, following a young biracial woman as she uncovers her estranged father’s role in a grisly hate crime. 

Kirah was born from an improbable interracial relationship that, in central Florida’s infamous Asurupa County, defied all the odds. But her idyllic childhood was shattered by an urban legend come to life. The “Gatorman” was a nightmare on the lips of kids and grown-ups alike all the way back to Jim Crow: a monster with the body of a man, the head of an alligator—and a taste for Black children. That’s who crawled into Kirah’s window when Kirah was just five years old. According to the police, it was Kirah’s own father who put on that gator mask and tried to kill her.

Twenty years later, Kirah works hard to build a life unburdened by the traumatic events of her childhood. Just when it seems like she’s managed to find her stride, her dad, fresh out of prison, crashes back into her world with a chilling message: “He’s coming for you.”

Finally forced to face the hideous family history she’s been avoiding, Kirah sets off to discover where, and who, she truly came from. And the more she learns, the more disturbing the whole picture becomes. Turns out there’s a lot more to the Gatorman than Kirah thought, and even worse: he isn’t through with her just yet.

House of Splinters by Laura Purcell

Belinda Bainbridge has spent her life in the shadow of her anxious mother, so when her father-in-law dies at The Bridge, his remote ancestral seat, she is secretly thrilled. His death means she, her husband Wilfred and their children can relocate and finally begin to create their own happy home together: born a merchant’s daughter, she will now be lady of the manor.

But their new home quickly proves far from ideal. The garden is a wilderness, the estate is struggling financially, there are whispers about the mysterious death of a servant many years before while their young son, Freddy, seems unusually fixated on the strange wooden figures – so-called ''silent companions'' – that were once owned by his ancestors.

When Wilfred''s charismatic brother, Nathan, arrives unexpectedly from abroad, bringing a very different account of the family’s past, Belinda begins to question what her husband has told her. What really lies behind the sad history of the house?

And are Belinda’s children truly safe here?

Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer

When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband, Graham, have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never grow out of its infancy.

When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterward, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true.

Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever posted—so what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a traditional wife is worth it.

The Ravine by Maia Chance

Harlow has almost everything she ever wanted: a passionate marriage, an adorable stepson, and a fresh start at her husband Gregor’s boyhood home on the water. If only she could get pregnant, her happiness would be complete.

But soon after they arrive on the misty, tree-cloaked island, Gregor starts to change—and Harlow is shaken by his odd connection to their neighbor Kirsten, a luminous tradwife influencer.

Then, deep in a wooded ravine, Harlow finds evidence of an unspeakable murder—or thinks she does. Desperate to know what’s real and what’s only in her mind, she tracks down rumors of missing girls and bloody rituals, and begins to suspect that her marriage, too, hides a menace she never saw coming.

Each day the feeling grows: the safest thing she can do is run. But from what, Harlow can’t even begin to imagine.

Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward

Riley and her brother Oliver set off in the pitch-black night, fleeing their troubled home. They are heading for Nowhere―an abandoned ranch, once the playground of its former eccentric movie-star owner, now a haven for runaways.

What awaits could be the freedom they crave.

But this mysterious clan guards dark secrets, and the scorched grounds hold the ghosts of the past. Riley quickly realizes that while she and Oliver may have escaped the devil they knew, something darker lurks in the burnt shell of Nowhere.

Something which asks a terrible price for sanctuary…

What book are you looking forward to this February?

The votes are in and we are reading Red City by Marie Lu in February! I’m very excited about this pick and hoping that reading an urban fantasy will be a fun change of pace for us ☺️ Also, don’t forget to check the Discord for the giveaway winner this month!

Hey all, in no particular order because ain't nobody got time for that, here are all the sapphic books I could find, both trad and indie, releasing in Febrauary. Since you are amazing and are here on the bindery, you get a peek at this calendar a full week before everyone else!

There are literally too many good options to choose from and I'm still wading through the new releases from January. I started Mine, Yours & Ours by Karmen Lee, and after that I'm going to read the book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee!

Oh and I'm currently also listening to For Love and Blood and Fury by JJ Arias! I have downloaded a million books and I have all my devices and backup battery packs charged and if all else fails I can always read my physical books for this ice storm we are allegedly getting. I'm actually mostly terrified that we won't have power and I'll miss my submission date for The Tenth Muse, so I'm going to try and get it up early.