Just the number I've been waiting for!

666!

It's a lucky number! We are 334 preorders away from our 1,000 book preorder goal.
For those of you who need a calculator like me, that's about 4 preorders a day until launch?

Does anyone think they can convince 1 person a day to preorder?

Great news for paid subscribers - it looks like arcs have started to arrive!

On Friday, look out for the first of my weekly prompt series for WFB posts!

If you love the book, please tag me in your reviews.

If there are any criticisms (even if it's overall 5 stars) please do not tag Tatiana.

Let's get this preorder # up to 1,000!

(and again, huge thanks to everyone who has been, reading, reviewing and posting!) <3

✨ 10/10

I was in a 2-3 week reading slump and then not only was I able to finish this book in few days, I was crying towards the end. Dolly, you won my heart! 💞

If there was one word to describe Dolly, it would be a fixer. She fixes everything and everyone - she is there for her brother, her son, father, friends; sacrificing her dreams for them. And then she meets Stewart, the cold CEO-to-be, who needs to date a "nice" girl to improve his image.

Annabel Monaghan really nailed the writing for this book. I was hooked since page one, the writing sent me in an almost flow state of reading. The character Dolly is well thought. The side characters are great medium to highlight the lead characters.
Stewart is also great, but Dolly steals the show

Do read it! It's a must.

Thank you so much @annabelmonaghan for writing this beautiful book!

Thank you @booksparks for this copy 🫶

#SRC2026 #TheBookOdyssey

"It makes trusting myself to enjoy the high of a day like today like a normal person kind of difficult... It's not like ... like I'm not functional. It just makes things hard for me, sometimes."(Yael)

"It seems like you associate a certain kind of happiness with pain... so it makes sense that you'd be wary of it." (Ravi)

GENRE: Romance
RATING: 3.75/5
FORMAT: eBook
Tropes: Hidden Identity, Epistolary Romance, Forced Proximity, Workplace Romance, Enemies to lovers

Review:

This was a cute, wholesome book! I really enjoy Romance books in which we get both of our MCs falling in life online and meeting in real life and this did not disappoint.

I really enjoyed getting to know both Yael and Ravi and watching how they got to know each other as Elle & Kevin vs Yael & Ravi as well. My favourite POV in Romance books are Dual and I love that we get an insight into both Ravi and Yael's lives. I also really loved getting to see Ravi interact with his family and getting to know Mia

Also, Isn't It Obvious has Bipolar representation, which I loved! I think this was handled really well and we got to see it through Yael in different ways, with Yael talking about her med's effect and the focus on how it impacts her self-esteem, which was very relatable.

What fell a bit short for me is that I felt we jumped from emails to real life interaction quite quickly and the way they get together overall. I think we get a lot of amazing things throughout the book, like getting to know both Yael and Ravi individually, understanding who they are and how their lives were shaped. We also get to see them with their families and friends and watch them learn to be vulnerable with each other in some things.

What I felt we didnt get is watching the transition of them falling in love in real life. We see how Elle and Kevin build their relationship online but I think I didnt feel how this was built in real life with Yael and Ravi. I did understand WHY this was the case and it played out well to the story but it did impact how connected I felt to their story when they eventually find out who they are in real life and it all comes together.

All in all, I enjoyed Isn't it Obvious and I am excited to read more by Rachel Runya Katz.

Content warning: This post includes information and testimonies about torture, war crimes, and murder.

Summary
Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities. The book presents the words of former unit members themselves, taken from remarks they made at a traveling Unit 731 exhibition held in Japan in 1994-95. They recount vivid first-hand memories of what it was like to take part in horrific experiments on men, women and children, their motivations and reasons why they chose to speak about their actions all these years later.

Review
It doesn’t feel fair to give this book a rating, but wow. I had no idea about this horrifying piece of history before I read this book. The eyewitness and perpetrator accounts given in this book were some of the most disgusting stories I’ve read from human history (so I wouldn’t recommend this book lightly). However, I do think it’s so imperative that more people learn about the war crimes committed for the sake of “science”.

What I learned
Unit 731 was a secret research facility run by Japan in Manchukuo (now part of China). In this facility, they ran biochemical weapon research by experimenting on humans. It's hard to say the exact human cost due to destruction of evidence, but it's estimated that 200,000-300,000 people were murdered as a part of this program.

• Manchukuo was a puppet state of Japan in China that existed during WWII from 1932-1945. The land was occupied by Japan during its invasion of Manchuria.
  

• Victims were primarily Chinese, but there were also Russian and Korean victims as well. These victims were often civilians and included women and children (even children born within the unit as a result of rape). There were no survivors.

  “The Chinese had a saying about us, that Japan had a ‘three-way complete policy: burned completely, killed completely, and pillaged completely.’ Yet, when we were doing those things, we had no sense of guilt or of doing anything wrong. It was for the emperor-for the country!”
  

• The human experiments conducted on these victims was vast and included infecting prisoners with diseases, live vivisection (invasive surgeries that involved the removing of organs that often didn't invovle anesthesia), amputation, forced frostbite, forced STD infection, and more.

  “Some of the experiments had nothing to do with advancing the capability of germ warfare, or of medicine. There is such a thing as professional curiosity… What medical purpose would be served by performing and studying beheadings? None at all. That was just playing around. Professional people, too, like to play.
  

• As part of the experimentation of biochemical weapons, the unit also conducted experiments on civilians outside the unit by contaminating water supplies, food, and land. This contamination included releasing plague-invested fleas that they harvested and raised, anthrax, and typhoid.
  

• Most individuals invovled in these war crimes were never tried or punished (only 12 were) and it wasn't until 2002 that Japan acknowledged its role in them. This lack of punishment was largely due to the fact that the U.S. found the learnings from the experiments to be valuable, which ultimately led to the immunity for the perpetrators.
  
  
  

The Demon Star, we need to talk.

This book was... something else entirely. I'm going to try and pull apart all of the themes and I am sure I am going to miss one, there were just so many.

The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon is an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) I was so lucky to receive at the last minute from the publisher because I said yes to a totally different book. I was so excited about this one because the premise looks crazy and just up my alley. Demons, exorcism, living gods, revenge? Sign me up. I love a bleak fantasy

What I got, instead, was a little bit of every single genre I love, complicated characters, deep themes I never get to see in a book, and a fresh and unique take on storytelling that I just fell in love with. Let's start with the writing itself. Aragon is an action writer. Period. Cinematic, vivid, visceral. She knows how to get in your head and make you see exactly what she wants from you. I felt like I was alongside her characters in their breathless race to win against their demon "gods", I was shocked and horrified several times, I gasped, I punched the air. Whatever she was looking to convey, she did it.

There were some moments in the middle I felt we could have used a breather or a bit to pause and gather our thoughts, which did make me pause reading and feel a little overtired. Overall, though, I loved the pacing of the first 2/3. The last 1/3 had it's moments where it felt a little slower or more meandering, but I interpret that as the feeling of having a leash yanked after running full sprint. Of course it's going to feel slower and different after nonstop running. And honestly? Everything about the book is so wild and fun and engrossing that it didn't make my experience any less fun.

Now let's get into her characters. Oh boy, the characters!

I have so much to say!

Nobody in this book is a hero. I love, love, love that. I love it so much I can't even explain. Every single character was morally complicated, a disaster, right, wrong, evil, good. Everyone.

Jacen, our resident exorcist, was a complete disaster. Messy, complicated, addicted to faith and then adrenaline and never sure if he's making the right moral decisions. He chooses his paths and sticks with them to the bitter end. Jacen sees the gods for what they are and what they are doing to everyone and he chooses to stop being a mewling sycophant and weaponize his faith. Is he right? It's not clear. He is plagued constantly by whether or not he's making the right choices and he never knows if his choices are his, he just knows he's sick of the church's lying to him. He channels his own hurt about his discoveries into his actions and uses that to justify them. In the end, though, he stands at the edge of the world with Seth and Ysira and asks himself: What have I done?

Speaking of Ysira. Ysira, my love. What an amazing, complicated female main character. She has a son, a demon that regenerates her body forever, and has to decide what power means and what it will cost her. She is a horrible mother. Not maternal at all. But she is always considering what she's doing in the grand scheme of a greater good. Yes, she says awful things to her son, but Neri is the only one who can save them in their time of need and she has to decide if it's Neri or the world. Ysira is faced with a classic trolley problem and she is decisive. She acts. She is always the actor. I, personally, am also a decisive person and Ysira's character resonated with me hard. She doesn't know how to be maternal, how to love or be loved, how to take herself out of survival mode. Ysira recognizes that the only thing she can use in her world to keep herself and anyone she cares about safe is power. Nothing else will matter. She sets her son up to do the unthinkable for the greater good of their species and planet. But still, she stands with Jacen and Seth at the edge of the world and asks herself: Did I make the right choice?

Finally, we have Seth. Seth. My love. My lynchpin. Seth is the closest we get to a hero in this story. He loves Neri for Neri. Neri has been used and neglected and forgotten, powerless and pointless, but not to Seth. Seth loved Neri just because he was a curious and gentle kid who deserved to be loved. He fell in love with Jacen, a complete disaster exorcist who dealt with unimaginable grief, but was able to keep his heart open to him when Jacen came back to himself. Seth sees Ysira clearly and all of her pain and fear, but he makes a place for her in his heart she doesn't have to fight for. Seth is trying so hard to be good in this world where goodness is snuffed out like a candle. And he stands with Jacen and Ysira at the edge of the world and asks himself: Can I love you through your worst decisions?

Their relationship isn't so much about romance as it is about self-loathing and coping with impossible circumstances. Jacen and Seth love each other, they always have. For them, this connection is always where they wanted to be. Ysira is not in love with either of them, but she has love for both of them. The inverse is true. The three of them are the only ones who can be full present and together and understand what they all have done. It makes sense they would destroy themselves by leaning into an intensely emotional, volatile connection that has a foundation of destruction and usury and weaponization. Will it be lasting and strong? It's impossible to know. All we do know is they're three people who have to bear a horrible weight that nobody else can carry and it makes perfect sense they would descend into each other to cope.

Aragon talked so, so well about the theme of religious exploitation and the complexity of faith. Faith is something you are supposed to question every day, but in the White Church, you can be executed for it. Questioning your living demon gods results in a Harvest chip and you're never seen again. That stamping out of questioning has let to centuries of suffering, so when a new living god comes around and offers a better deal? Of course there's a group that decide the devil they don't know might be better than the devil they do. Ysira and Jacen allying to turn the church into their greatest weapon to save their people is smart and thoughtful and demonstrably true when we look at the history of religion and how it's been manipulated and bent and changed to suit the needs of conquering nations. She brings that to light in a way that doesn't feel forced or preaching or shoved down your throat--she's just frank and deliberate about it in this world and trusts her reader to take it out into their own.

I loved how she made this so messy. Is Naxal actually better than the Firstborn Empire? Are these small, violent blips in Neri just moments or signs of something else? When they consider the horrors of the Firstborn Empire, are they really opting for a lesser evil? When they discover the weapons of their enemies and consider harnessing them if they must, are they any better than them?

Nothing in this story is clean, nothing is forgiving. It ends with more questions than answers, but about the decisions they have all made and whether or not they were right. Aragon does a phenomenal job of making you consider right versus wrong, good versus evil, and if those things even exist in the first place.

If you're looking for something that's one big moral quandary and grabs elements of horror, science fiction, and fantasy? The Demon Star was a 4.5 star read for me and I think it will be for you, too.

One of my favorite conversation starters is: Where are you temporally? What time do you live in? Five minutes in the past? Four weeks in the future? In your head, are you most often reviewing memories from three years ago? Or are you envisioning what you're going to do tomorrow?

For many years, my answer has been two to four hours in the future. I'm always trying to work out what is around the very next corner and how I should adjust and prepare to meet it. 

Recently, my answer has changed. Motherhood has unmoored me from my time zone.

This past Saturday, my son turned 6 months old, which is strange because he was born two days ago and also I have known him my entire life. 

To celebrate his half birthday, my husband and I brought him to a Toys R' Us inside a Macy's to buy stuff with a gift card I got at my work baby shower. A true relic from the past. I no longer work at that job, and I can barely remember what life was like before my son was here.

While browsing the clothing section, I found a pair of pajamas with dogs on it and held it up for my husband, my tear ducts firing up.

"These look like his newborn pajamas, remember?" I moaned. After I said this, it hit me that this memory I was mourning was only five months ago.

Almost every day my husband and I are blindsided by 4 pm. Where did the day go? I think it slips by us while we’re buckling and unbuckling, velcroing and unvelcro-ing, putting down and picking up. The preparation to go somewhere and do something takes more time and effort than the actual activity itself. My husband and I are aware of this irony. Our baby isn’t. For him, it's all the main event. 

The last time I rented roller skates, the person behind the counter asked how old I was. Without skipping a beat, I answered "27." I was 31. Those four years hadn't made much of an impression, apparently. Time is often measured by change, and changes feel minuscule when you’re an adult.

My son is change embodied. Every day he unveils a new skill, a new sound, a new strength. For example, he now sleeps exclusively on his stomach. As soon as we put him down in the crib, he confidently rolls over and snuggles his face against the mattress. This is a sleeping position that would have had CPS called on us only two months ago. 

I can't believe time is going to continue at this rate. Is rate even the right word? Rate implies a fixed speed, and time's new speed strikes me as erratic. One wake window is an eternity. The next is gone in a blink of an eye. Sometimes I am nailed to the present with my baby, so engrossed in him that my concept of time evaporates. Other times, I can't keep myself glued to the here and now, instead floating years into the future and imagining him as a little boy, a teen, a man. 

With my new temporal dislocation, the call isn't just coming from inside the house. Other people are often asking me to time travel.

"You think it's hard now? Just wait until they're older."

"He looks like you when you were this age."

"You'll miss this."

These comments ask me to zoom forward or zoom backwards or, most trippy of all,  zoom forward and then look backwards. 

I understand why parents say these things. In the first weeks of his life, I saw my newborn as just a newborn. Now I see that he contained the seeds of my 4 month old and my 5 month old and my 6 month old. When I gaze at early photos of him, tiny and pink with puckered lips and marble eyes, I see the beginnings of his gummy smile and long eyelashes. We can't let a child be a child. We see them as an invitation to reflect on time's machinations.

One of the pleasures of narrative is how writers can manipulate time. Shrink it. Expand it. Skip it. Weave it together to reveal something unexpected.

The recent popular thriller The Silent Patient's memorable twist toys with the reader's assumptions about the two narrative threads' timing. This twist reminded me of the twist in the first season of Westworld. And of course, before Westworld, Saw II (iykyk)

When I think of writers manipulating time, I think of Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, which I read back in 2016 before the movie adaptation Arrival came out. I thought Chiang's subversion of chronology, mirroring the heptapods' teleological approach to time and causality, was very clever. Now I don't think it's clever at all. Just true. Parenthood alters how you feel about time and causality. 

I've thought a lot about Story of Your Life over the last few months, thought about it more than I have in years. Something about the sensation of living two timelines at once – the beginning of my baby's life and the beginning of my life as a mother – reminded me of the novella's structure. Juggling these two experiences, I worry I neglect one in favor of the other or let one overshadow the other. The physical pain and sleep deprivation of early motherhood made me want time to speed up while my awe over my son made me want to slow it down. It doesn't feel right that the two experiences had to unfold simultaneously.

Midwife and writer Robina Khalid shared this excerpt from her longer Substack essay "We might be hollow but we’re brave: mothering through the unfathomable Inevitable" on her instagram:

I related to how motherhood inspired Khalid to time travel. To teleport back to moments from her past and see them in an entirely new light.

In my third trimester, I spent a lot of time ruminating on my impending labor. One therapy session, while vocalizing all my worries, I stopped mid-thought and asked my therapist, "But whatever happens, it'll all make sense, right?."

She nodded.

I trusted time. It had done its magic on every shock, every heartbreak, every mystery and eventually granted me a sense of meaning and peace.

But it's not the same time anymore. It doesn’t move the same. It doesn’t feel the same. It’s not as inconsequential as it once was. I won't ever lose four years again. 35 isn’t the same as 39 because, at 39, my son will be 4, and he will never be 6 months old again. 

My trust that I can let time pass and do the meaning-making for me is gone. Instead, I must bring the meaning to each moment. A jumble of grief and gratitude for all the versions of my son that exist too briefly in the world and then live on forever inside me. I light a candle for each. Being his mother means holding a never-ending vigil. I'm happy to do it.

One of my favorite things about Tuesdays is seeing just how many wildly different stories can hit shelves on the exact same day.

This week's releases have everything from a grumpy three-headed dragon searching for belonging, to Black Mafia family drama, to speculative romance, gothic horror, dark academia, and romantasy packed with deadly trials. No matter what kind of reader you are, there's probably something here calling your name.

As always, these are simply my personal reactions. A book that didn't work quite as well for me may end up being your next favorite, and a five-star read for me might not be the right fit for you.

Let's get into it.

🐉 The Dragon Has Some Complaints

Read or Skip: READ

Rating: 4.75 stars

John Wiswell has officially cemented himself as one of my auto-buy authors.

On the surface, this is an incredibly charming cozy fantasy about a grumpy, disabled three-headed dragon pretending to be tame so he can get free meals. The banter between Garrodigh's three heads is genuinely hilarious, and I laughed far more than I expected.

But beneath all of the humor is an incredibly moving story about belonging.

This is really a novel about feeling different, about believing you're too broken or too strange to ever find your place in the world, and discovering that family isn't always something you're born into.

Wiswell continues to write some of my favorite found-family stories in fantasy. His worlds are naturally diverse and welcoming, his characters feel deeply human (even when they're dragons), and somehow he manages to balance warmth, humor, adventure, and heartbreak all in the same book.

Final thought: Cozy fantasy fans shouldn't miss this one. Come for the dragon. Stay because it quietly reminds you that there's a place where you belong.

🔥 Ember

Read or Skip: READ

Rating: 4 stars

A Black Mafia Cinderella retelling was not something I knew I needed...until now.

Ember is immediately easy to root for. She's intelligent, ambitious, and constantly underestimated simply because she's a woman. Watching her fight for her place inside her family's criminal empire made this incredibly bingeable.

Asad is exactly what dark romance readers look for: morally gray, obsessive, possessive, and willing to burn everything down.

The family politics were honestly one of my favorite parts. Every chapter seemed to reveal another betrayal, another secret, or another shift in power, making it impossible to know who could actually be trusted.

My biggest hesitation comes down to the romance itself. I love obsessive heroes, but I also need accountability. There were moments where I didn't feel Asad completely earned Ember's forgiveness, and I wanted a little more growth before their happily-ever-after.

Final thought: If you love dark romance, mafia families, morally gray heroes, betrayal, and plenty of spice, this is an easy recommendation.

💙 The Romance Revival

Read or Skip: READ (with expectations adjusted)

Rating: 3.75 stars

This may be Christina Lauren's biggest genre swing yet.

I expected a second-chance contemporary romance.

Instead, I got something that felt like The Vow collided with Frankenstein.

Personally...I had a lot of fun with that.

The speculative science adds a completely fresh twist to the romance because Luca has to fall in love with her all over again after losing every memory of their relationship.

I also loved the supporting cast. The nosy neighbor, the dog, and the quirky community gave the story so much heart.

The mystery wasn't particularly surprising, but that never really bothered me because this is ultimately a romance about grief, memory, and choosing love again.

Final thought: Go in expecting sci-fi romance rather than romantic comedy and I think you'll have a much better experience.

Also Hitting Shelves This Week

Didn't see your next read above? Here are several other releases arriving this week that caught my attention.

🏚️ No One Leaves the Manor

Four debutantes. One haunted estate. One massive inheritance. And a manor that doesn't plan on letting anyone leave alive.

Pick this up if you enjoy: gothic horror, haunted houses, The Inheritance Games, and dark YA mysteries.

🖋️ Unreliable Narrator

A psychological thriller about a young woman whose darkest secret is stolen by a famous novelist and turned into his bestselling book.

Pick this up if you enjoy: literary thrillers, revenge stories, toxic power dynamics, and psychological suspense.

🌙 Among the Thorns

Dream magic, rival sorceresses, yearning, morally gray characters, and dark cottagecore romance.

Pick this up if you enjoy: romantasy, fairy-tale vibes, tragic romance, and atmospheric fantasy.

💌 The Intrigue

Silvia Moreno-Garcia returns with a seductive historical noir set in 1940s Mexico, featuring con artists, greed, deception, and dangerous attraction.

Pick this up if you enjoy: historical noir, morally complicated characters, slow-burn suspense, and glamorous crime stories.

💀 Ruinous Ends

The explosive conclusion to the Blackwood Academy duology, where the battle for the afterlife is only just beginning.

Pick this up if you enjoy: dark academia, magical schools, morally gray ensembles, and high-stakes fantasy.

🐅 Dominion

Fourth Wing meets Chinese mythology in an epic romantasy filled with magical battle tygers, political conflict, deadly trials, and forbidden attraction.

Pick this up if you enjoy: dragon-rider vibes, epic romantasy, elemental magic, and enemies-to-lovers.

⚔️ The Mortal Trials

Every decade, thirteen mortals compete for immortality. Everyone else dies.

Pick this up if you enjoy: ACOTAR-style romantasy, deadly competitions, elves, spicy romance, and epic fantasy adventures.

Whether you're in the mood for dragons, dark romance, gothic horror, or romantasy, this week's releases have a little bit of everything. I'll see you next Tuesday with another roundup!

Good morning!

Due to some unexpected circumstances, I need to cancel the events I had planned for the rest of this week. I will reschedule them in a few days, but for now, I just wanted you to be aware that we wouldn't be meeting as planned!

That includes:

• Cost of Freedom meeting tonight

• My Insta LIVE with Inez Ray tomorrow, discussing Liberating Abortion chapter 5

I will reschedule both of these in a few days!

Thanks, y'all!

Happy Tuesday, mis internet amigxs!

I realized as I was putting together this newsletter that I missed a book releasing today in the early newsletter that Lectores and Libritos received at the end of June, so scroll all the way to the bottom of the newsletter to check it out!

Our August Bien Leidos book club selection, The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, releases TODAY! I hope you plan to pick up your copy and join us in August.

As many of you know, my Mami was in the hospital for the past few weeks. She is out of the hospital now and we're figuring out what our new normal looks like. I'll be back to more regular posting soon. Thank you so much for your patience during this difficult time.

I am chatting on Discord, where we're reading our July pick P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became The Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance AND our sidequest, Cuba: An American History, if you want to chat a little bit in the meantime.

And without further ado, all the July 14th releases on my radar...

NOIR & AUGUST BIEN LEIDOS BOOK CLUB PICK!

The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Audiobook)

TRANSLATED LITERATURE

One Hundred Guinea Pigs Gustavo Rodriguez and translated by Daniel Hahn

FANTASY

Ruinous Ends by I.V. Marie Young Adult (Audiobook)

GRAPHIC NOVEL

To Dance The Moon And Stars Tasia M S & Barbara Perez Marquez

LITERARY FICTION

It Will Come Back To You by Sigrid Nunez (Audiobook)

If you're a Libritos or Lectores member, I missed a contemporary YA Mystery that's out today called...

What Lies Beneath The Flowers by Natasha Diaz (Audiobook)

xo,

Carmen

Couldn't have asked for a more special event at Second Time Books this weekend! Thanks for welcoming our family and friends (and selling us a bunch of books). Was so nice to finally meet some of the longtime supporters of Collectible Science Fiction and now American Triage. Thank you!

Let's add some books.

SICKOOOOOOOS! You know what it is by now, time to tell me what you're reading this week in the comments (or what you finished recently) and I'll do the same (plus some other media and life updates).

READING

REVIEW

NOT BUILT IN A DAY: HOW SLAVERY MADE THE ROMAN EMPIRE by EMMA SOUTHON

Progress: Finished

I've praised this book here, there, and everywhere and will continue to do so, so I'll go in a different direction. Our equivalent of the "Viggo broke his toe for real in this scene" over-cited piece of LOTR trivia is "did you know I'm in the acknowledgements of Not Built In a Day"? I've known this for a while, but seeing it in the natural flow of finishing this wonderful book did fill me with the good 'n' fuzzies. One of my very first videos with my book account was about Southon's Agrippina biography and I remember telling somebody that she doesn't know it yet but we are gonna be besties. And now we are, which is dope as hell.

MEN AT ARMS by TERRY PRATCHETT [City Watch #2, Discworld #8] (satirical fantasy)

Progress: 302/428

You know what I found to be absolutely riiiiipping now that I'm older, dude? A tasty multi-book fantasy world that I can appreesh. Men at Arms has a strong hook and it's taking a while to cash in on that, but it does seem that we are in the stages of ramping up towards the real stakes. The Carrot/Vimes arcs are getting stronger and I want to know everything about Angua.

As a side note I think part of my delay in picking up Discworld is that I was never drawn in by the covers, which is shallow I know, but I'm happy to find these style of covers that give me the full on 90s quirky fantasy vibes that match the style of this world.

DEFIANCE: A MEMOIR OF AWAKENING, REBELLION, AND SURVIVAL IN SYRIA by LOUBNA MRIE (nonfiction memoir)

Progress: 102/417

No new progress made but as promised this is now my priority nonfiction read so I'll have more to say on it soon.

PREVIEW

I need to order the next Discworld so while I wait I'm either going to dive back into the cowboy life with Streets of Laredo or I'll decide to be a Hobbgoblin by starting The Rain Wild Chronicles. Yesterday I went book shopping in my own home to hunt for a nonfiction to have on deck and in the process started vetting options for the next History Sickos Book Club vote. So what I read next will probably be dependent on what you weirdos vote on when that goes live.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• A Complement of Scoundrels got another review from a trad publication, this time from Publishers Weekly (who are the biggest of their kind!), check out this blurb: "... an imminently delightful cast working a deliciously complex scheme filled with well-developed politics and moments of true catharsis. Indeed, Lockwood imbues this tale of cynical criminals with a surprising amount of heart. Fans of Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora and Robert Jackson Bennett’s Foundryside will want to check it out."

• Getting on ADHD meds was apparently a good decision, as my work flow has become much more efficient (when I'm not bugged eyed snorting Civilization VI and Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced). Meaning all the videos for this week are already shot, huzzah! Reminder that the TikTok blackout is still happening for another couple of weeks, simply because I hate that app and need a break from it.

• I saw John Cena recommend Million Dollar Secret and I gotta say, he was right. I inhaled both seasons and enjoyed the psychological complexity. I'm chasing that same high with The Traitors and while it has some of the same aspects (and the endgame of S1 was super strong), the mid-episode challenges are mostly useless gibberish and I feel less connected to seasoned reality hoppers, especially when they're coming from Bravo shows. So any recommendation for competitive reality shows that aren't filled with unbearable C-listers would be appreciated.

• Connor McGregor found Jesus and Jesus promptly fried the ligaments in his knee. Fair play to Big J.

• Spain is making me root for France and Argentina is making me root for England in the World Cup semifinals... and I resent both of them for it. Nobody could ever make me hate Jude Bellingham tho (heja BVB fam!).

• Haven't hit the climbing gym since last Tuesday as I've been trying to not aggravate a minor TFCC sprain and the gym was unexpectedly closed this morning. Basically it's a common wrist strain that you feel from your pinky to the lower, inside forearm. It's mostly fine now but certain movements (like turning the key to the medicinal gummy safe) are unpleasant. I am gnawing at the bars of my enclosure waiting to get back to it.

• Now that we've been doing these Weekly Checkpoints for some weeks, I'm curious if you're missing the old video format. I've included a poll to gauge where y'all are at with this. The idea behind the switch was to provide y'all with more exclusive content while also accommodating for the fact that I typically climb on Monday mornings and making that a filming day wasn't super optimal. Happy to reassess depending on how y'all vote.

First, THANK YOU to everyone who followed me over here and even signed up for Bindery 💕

I know leaving one platform and joining another (especially one you may not know much about) is a lot, so I truly appreciate you being willing to come along with me. Thank you for being a part of The Nerdy Babe Community!

So yes… I kind of stole y’all from my other platforms and dropped you into the Bindery wild west without any directions. My bad. 😂

So… what is Bindery?

Bindery is an independent publishing company that publishes amazing books and uplifts authors in the bookish space. They also created this literary community platform (the very one we’re on right now!) where creators can connect with their audience more deeply around the books we love.

Also… did you know Bindery has an app? 👀

The app is the easiest way to keep up with everything, imo! Whenever I post an update, you’ll get a push notification, and clicking it will open right into the app.

A few things you can do:

• Home — See posts from tastemakers you follow

• Search — Find books and other tastemakers

• Notifications — See when someone posts something new

• Profile — Manage your settings and explore Bindery books

One of my fave features is that you can save my book recommendations to your own shelves!

Just click on one of my bookshelves, tap the little bookmark icon on a book cover, and you can add it to your own personal TBR. Basically, you can create your own little digital bookshelf right here on Bindery.

Whenever you get a chance, I recommend playing around with the app, following other tastemakers, updating your profile and creating your own shelves!

I’m figuring this platform out with you, but I really think this is going to be such a fun space for us to build our little bookish community 💕

Hey there book besties,

I told you yesterday that the September new release alert was coming your way this week. Well, wait no longer! This is an incredible list of books that I KNOW you're going to love. There are SO many big releases, plus a few that have flown under the radar. I can't wait to dig into some of these books, especially the new Lawhon and Hoffman. Let me know which are going on your reading list!

Without further adieu, here's the link: https://shesbecomingbookish.com/new-historical-fiction-books-september-2026/

Secret Password: cozy

Get those library holds in stat!

xoxo

c

Guess who's back?

Thanks for bearing with me as I prioritized my family. I may not have been making content here, but I was still reading!

So let's get back to the books. These are the new releases for July 7th and 14th that I'm excited for and think should be on your radar!

Good Morning Means I Love You by Kendra Allen 4/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you like a woman who stands up for patriarchal norms, doing what she wants with her family/love life, not what is expected of her.

Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee 3/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you enjoy contemporary fiction that explores raising teenagers in this age as well as figuring out your own ish at the same time.

Tsubaki Stationery Store by Ito Ogawa 3.25/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you enjoy the exploration of language.

The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong 3/5 stars

Put this on your TBR if you enjoy East Asian cozy fantasy (and how can you not) or exploration of the meaning of life.

And a few I haven't read yet...but will soon!

The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders

Why it interests me: a capitalism dropout explores her family's past with the help of (I think?) friendly ghosts.

Some People by Parini Shroff

Why it interests me: complicated family relationships, yes please.

Dominion by Jean Kwok

Why it interests me: I tend to shy away from romantasy, but this is supposed to be inspired by Chinese mythology, so I'm game.

The Devoted by Catherine Cho

Why it interests me: literary fiction about family set in Asia.

Astronaut! by Oana Aristide

Why it interests me: a coming of age story set in 1989 Romania.

Not with a Bang by Temi Oh

Why it interests me: a post-apocalyptic work by the author of Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

This was a very slow reading week for me. I plowed through two books last weekend during the heatwave and then...stopped, ha. I couldn't focus, and then a migraine whacked me at the end of the week. Anyway, here's what did get read. Books marked with a * are books I was gifted.

Murder In The Dressing Room by Holly Stars* - A cozy mystery about the murder of the owner of a drag cabaret? Yes, please! With this one, I loved the characters and story but not the execution. The MC kept endlessly rehashing old clues without getting anywhere new, and then everything happened right at the end. I did love that our MC was a nonbinary drag queen, and that we got to see how them being Joe vs being Misty was both separate personalities and also impossible to separate.

I Love You Don't Die by Jade Song* - Anyone who gave this one a low rating is INCORRECT. I love love love Song's writing style. This book is less physically visceral than CHLORINE was, but it's...emotionally visceral? Is that a thing? Well, it is. This book is super heavy, but I loved the explorations of the intersections of friendship and love, life and death.

Well, that's all for this week. Come on over to the Discord and share what you've been reading!

Where do you store your books? 

If you watched my video showing all of the books on my physical TBR, I mentioned that my books are kind of, well, everywhere. In boxes, on two bookshelves, and on the floor of my bedroom. There's also probably some in my closet!

Are you chaotic like me and just put books wherever you can store them or do you have a system?

This week was my first in-person author event at Village Books. I was incredibly anxious leading up to it, but it turned out to be such a wonderful night. People came to hear me talk about Hiding Lies and Small Town Slasher, asked thoughtful questions, bought books, and reminded me why I keep doing this even when the behind-the-scenes parts feel impossible sometimes.

Village Books was so welcoming, and it still feels surreal that such a beautiful local bookstore hosted me. I’ve already reached out about possibly returning for an event after Small Town Slasher releases, even if it happens a few months later.

I finished up my round of edits for I Wish I Was a Vampire and now it's with beta readers and my editor is also working on it. Small Town Slasher releases August 4, which is now only a few weeks away. I’ve finished final formatting, the acknowledgments, and an Author’s Note. I also spent an unreasonable amount of time fighting with Amazon over an ISBN trapped inside a draft listing. This is the kind of publishing work nobody sees, but it can eat an entire day while making you question every decision that led you there.

There has been a lot of outreach happening behind the scenes too. I’ve been contacting bookstores throughout Washington and Oregon, pitching future author events andlooking into horror film and book programming. There have also been screener requests and attempts to get on the right PR lists.

Events are challenging for me because I’m disabled and never know exactly how I will feel when the date arrives. That uncertainty is always there, even when I’m excited about an opportunity. The Village Books event gave me a little more confidence that I can find ways to make these things work without pretending they are easy.

I also was invited to a TBRCon 2026 panel, “Problems with the Final Girl Trope.” I’ll get to talk about final girls who move beyond the usual stereotype, including disabled characters and stories that make room for more than one final girl. I’ve wanted to be part of TBRCon for a long time, so I’m very happy to be on this panel. I can't wait to share who I'm on the panel with. OMG! https://fanfiaddict.com/tbrcon2026/ It's free!

The first Death by TBR Books novella open call is now up. I’m looking for horror novellas that use journal entries, documents, or other forms of mixed media as part of the story. The summer slasher submission call for the fourth Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night anthology is still open too.

Work continues on the Yuletide horror anthology. The cover is looking incredible so far, but two invited contributors who had committed to the project had to withdraw. I’m disappointed, but there isn’t anything I can do except adjust and keep moving forward.

I write these updates for everyone following along, but I also write them because my gremlins have a way of looking at a week like this and insisting I didn’t accomplish enough.

That is obviously not true.

I held my first in-person author event. I worked on two upcoming books while running a bookstore and press. I handled outreach, publishing problems, client work, submission calls, and all the smaller tasks that never make it into an announcement.

BOOKS
Witch Season by Julia Bianco
The Divine Gardener's Handbook by Eli Snow
The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives by Barbara Truelove

Currently reading: Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison and The Creed Falls Massacres by Jon Cohn

SHOWS

NEW
Sharkfest

FILMS/DOCS - I'm on LetterBoxd - horrormaven13
Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea

Rewatches that I'm enjoying as I pretend to live in the late 90s/early 00s.

TV
Gravity Falls
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The X-Files
Law and Order: SVU
Owl House

FILMS
I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025
Independence Day
The Bay
Scream 4
Doctor Sleep

That's all for this week! Please share what you've been reading and watching!

xoxo

Spooky Girl

Photo Credits

Welcome back to Goosebumps Bookclub. Today we are diving into some readalikes to Return Of The Mummy. The books below all feature some kind of ancient evil awakening--just like a mummy ;D

The Reddening by Adam L.G. Nevill--A journalist and lone parent investigate strange happenings in a coastal town, uncovering ancient horrors and facing their own personal demons.

The Hollows by Daniel Church--Folk horror meets ancient gods in a remote snowbound Peak District town where several murders take place…

The Ruins by Scott Smith--Trapped in the Mexican jungle, a group of friends stumble upon a creeping horror unlike anything they could ever imagine...

Ararat by Christopher Golden--When an earthquake reveals a secret cave hidden inside Mount Ararat in Turkey, a daring, newly engaged couple are determined to be the first ones inside...and what they discover will change everything.

The Anomaly by Michael Rutger--Nolan sets out to retrace the steps of an explorer from 1909 who claimed to have discovered a mysterious cavern high up in the ancient rock of the Grand Canyon. And, for once, he may have actually found what he seeks. Then the trip takes a nasty turn, and the cave begins turning against them in mysterious ways.

How is everyone enjoying the book?