Cozy fantasy is in and it appears that we're trying to make cozy paranormal happen. I'll be honest it doesn't really work for me and mostly ends up being grating. I really loved the cover of this book, it feels so evocative of a fun melodramatic vampire romance and instead I got a story about the behind the scenes of a Dear Abby column. I thought the little advice requests were cute, however the romance felt pretty lukewarm. I just didn't care for either of these characters which makes it hard to root for the romance. However, I think you may enjoy this if you liked The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy or Rules for Ghosting.

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

DNF 60% I remembered I had free will and didn’t need to finish this. The world building was bonkers. What do you mean it’s the early 1900’s and our FMC is talking like a millennial. It made me feel like I was reading a Katee Robert book without the fun smut.

The set up of this book could easily result in you hating the main character but Zipps deftly handles the moral mess it could become. Lying to a man's family that you're his girlfriend while he's in a coma and then falling in love with his sister in the process, is a whole can of worms. Despite the wild ride you are rooting for Alice and the way that she ends up in this situation feels logical. She's a people pleaser who lacks a support system and the way she latches on to the Altman family makes sense. Alice has been kicked around by life, which makes her and our gentle stable butch Van feel like a perfect couple. They compliment each other so well and the growing relationship between them just adds to the existing tension. If you're worried about everyone immediately forgiving Alice and the resolution feeling nonsensical, don't be. There is definitely a level of rom com magic, however, I think that the ending feels as realistic as it could

CW: death of a parent due to cancer historical, house fire historical, on page cardiac arrest and CPR, ableism

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

It is well known that I love some toxic lesbians and this book hit the spot. I really enjoyed the cat and mouse dynamic that these two had going on and the way that the book made each reincarnation fresh. What I wanted a bit more of was more character development for Harding and Mariam. These women are intentionally isolated which means that we don't see much of their personality when interacting with others. For me there was just a little something missing and it's hard to articulate. This book is a really fun time and perfectly slots into my reading month of reincarnation/time loop books. If you enjoyed some of the themes and concepts surrounding reincarnation present in The Isle in The Silver Sea or The Everlasting, this book is worth picking up.

Unrelated to the plot, this book made me start to examine how gender dynamics play a big role in my enjoyment of a book. If this same relationship was heterosexual, I don't think that I would have enjoyed it at all. The power imbalance that is so common in hetero romance just creeps me out, partially because of the sexism and me being a huge lesbian.

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

I grew up devouring YA urban fantasy series and now that I'm an adult I've really been lacking those stories. I was really hoping that this would hit for me but alas it did not. This wasn't bad by any means, but just bland. For this book to succeed I needed to be invested in the found family but I didn't have a connection with any of the characters. What we really needed were multiple POVs so that we could get a little snippet of each character, the Shadowhunter books do this quite well. I also did not feel the romance and it came out of left field. We needed more flirty vibes and way more of Astoria so that we could understand what the deal with her character was. I might give book two a chance if I'm in the mood for it.

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

Lev has said on his insta that at this time this will be the last Evander Mills book, not because he doesn't have more to write but because the publisher has not picked up the series for more instalments. Every year I look forward to getting the next installment in Andy's story and I'm bummed at the prospect of not having more. However, if this ends up being the final instalment in the series, then it's a really good one. We've got a Hollywood connection, the Mattachines, and gay biker gangs; what more could you want? Andy has grown so much since book one and you can really see it in this story. He has a community, he loves his queerness, and he's not afraid to do hard things if it means protecting other LGBTQ folks. I also appreciate the way in which Lev is able to make this historical mystery series relevant to current issues facing the community. The Mattachines do valuable things but at their core they are assimilationists and are happy to turn on more marginalized members of the community. It all felt very reminiscent of the recent LGB without the T movement that I despise. I really hope we get to see more of Andy, but if not I can't wait to check out Lev's next venture.

CW: conversion therapy depicted on page, torture, drug overdose, substance abuse disorder, homophobia

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

🌟3.75 Stars🌟 I have yet to read A Day of Fallen Night so this was a great way to jump back into this world. I enjoyed getting to see another part of the world that wasn’t focused on in book one. I wish I would have had my copy of Priory to consult while reading this cause I couldn’t remember what all of these characters got up to in that book. For example the lady scholar and dragon hunter, I’m like 90% sure they’re new characters but I’m not 100%. What made this book clunky were the character POVs we chose to focus on. Honestly this should have just been a Marosa book. Don’t get me wrong I loved my lesbian scholar and dragon hunter, but why have them around for three chapters and then have the rest be Marosa? I would love to see more of those two but their story just didn’t feel well integrated.