I adored Hungerstone when I read that at the end of 2024 and I think if you also enjoyed that book then this will hit for you. Spoiled Milk is a slow paced lesbian horror set at a crumbling all girls boarding school in the British countryside. Our protagonist, Emily, is perfectly terrible and moody which makes her a really interesting character to read from. You get to watch her parse through a former toxic friendship and finally come to terms with her sexuality. The scenes of self actualizing are then paired with some really well done horror moments. Everything that the author did with Sophie in the latter half the book spooked me out in the best way.

What made this book more of a four star read was the slow pacing. It's definitely an intentional choice to reflect the encroachment of the supernatural horror that's picking off our girls. There was just a point where we kept going from spooky school scene to seance, where it felt slow and repetitive. Otherwise, this was a really fun read that I would definitely recommend if you're looking for a slow paced horror that utilizes suspense in a really nice way.

CW: murder, gore, implied past CSA, past teacher/student relationship, cannibalism

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a silly silly read. I have no interest in reading the assistant to the villain series because it seems trite and annoying, but I think that this book does what those books want to. It’s able to be tongue in cheek, while also having a main character that’s doing bad things. The satirization of office culture was very fun and the Human Resources reveal in the first chapter tickled me. Most of this book worked really well for me, my only issue is that the romance felt kinda half baked. I just didn’t feel the connection between the two and that makes the climax not quite stick the landing. I think if you’re wanting something that feels like Welcome to Nightvale meets The Office then this will definitely hit.

CW: past sexual assault/harassment, gore, murder

I'm a lover of a second chance romance because they generally have really great tension, but when they're bad oh boy they're bad. Initially I was really enjoying this book and thought it could be a four star read. Jace was being set up as a really interesting and dynamic character. She's single minded and a bit stubborn especially when it comes to her job. However, you get to see her start to see how she pushed Paloma away and that perfectly segues into the Paloma POV shift at 50%. Honestly, I think that the pressures of fame and mental health struggles were entirely justifiable reasons for Paloma to disappear from fame. It's forgivable and feels equivalent to Jace's actions. The moment that my perspective totally shifted on this book was when it was revealed that Paloma had cheated on Jace with a man and subsequently got pregnant. Cheating on your girlfriend of five years and having a secret child is way too big of a conflict to try and resolve in like 30% of a novel. I'm also not a fan of how the narrative feeds into broader cultural ideas of bisexual women being cheaters. Theoretically this plot could have worked, but I think the fact that this is a romance novel and not a genre like lit fic causes an issue. I just couldn't really root for the romance when we didn't do the work to repair this huge betrayal. If I hadn't enjoyed some of the more interesting character work in the first 50% this would likely be a one star read from me.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

🌟2.75 Stars🌟 I just didn't feel gripped by this story, which is kind of a problem when it comes to a sci-fi heist. There was a lack of tension and build up with the final heist since there were chunks of the book set entirely in cyberspace. Malia having a special connection to the digital world which makes her a great hacker is an interesting idea, but I struggled to conceptualize when she was corporeal in a location or using technology. This becomes a bit of an issue when we're writing a heist and knowing timing and location of our characters is important. I've also never read a heist book that is single POV first person and to be honest I think you need the multiple character perspectives to make a story interesting. I don't think that this was a painfully offensive read by any means, I liked the things that we were doing with Malia's backstory and her beginning to form interpersonal relationships. Sadly that just wasn't enough to really pull me into the story.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Vasti is out here writing some of the most whimsical and sweet historical romances. Her heroines are always so spunky and not afraid to formulate some wild scheme to get what they want. I also really liked that Margot and Matilda have lived full lives prior to falling in love. So many historical romances repeat the same plot of having an inexperienced virgin FMC and a rake MMC; it's just so derivative and feeds into broader narratives about women's sexual purity. Vasti's FMCs are not going to have a Daphne Bridgerton moment where they don't understand where babies come from. Overall, this was a silly little read and it makes me really excited for Vasti's pirate book dropping later this year.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.