This is my valiant attempt to catch up with this year’s reviews – brief as they are – before the end of the year. There are several books here I’ll want to reread, and others I want to explore more of the author.

Adult

• Longshadow by Olivia Atwater. Orbit, 2022 – The Regency Faerie Tales conclude with this romantic meditation on courage and death. Abigail Wilder is the adopted daughter of the Lord Sorcier and Dora, the central couple of Half a Soul, now herself old enough to be on the marriage market. As a former low-class orphan, she’s never felt welcomed into the upper-class circles she’s now expected to inhabit, and she’s certainly not interested in a husband. Still, when a string of young ladies her age start dying, she’s determined to use the magical skill she has to investigate, despite what her father says. When Mercy, a laundress with starry night skies in her eyes, appears under the bed of the most recent victim and one of Abby’s worst tormentors, the two of them team up to find out what’s going on – but Abby finds herself as interested in Mercy as she is in solving the mystery. There are many more books by Olivia Atwater that I need to read!
• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. Berkley, 2025 – The much-anticipated, long-awaited follow-up to The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches! As a teen, Sera Swan was the most powerful witch of her generation – until she kind-of accidentally used up all her magic resurrecting her beloved aunt and guardian, Jasmine. This act also got her permanently banned from the Guild of Magic, which had been training her. Now she’s running an inn with her grandmother, one that still has the spells she put on it years earlier to keep it cozy and to attract only the people who need it, including several eccentric long-term residents and the enchanted fox (self-cursed) who talked her into resurrecting her aunt. Cue the discovery of a spell that just might return her magic to her, and the entrance of the very handsome, very reserved magic researcher Luke Larsen and his autistic 8-year-old sister and you’ve got the perfect set-up for adventure, self-discovery, and a delicious romance. Was it better than The Very Secret Society? I might just have to re-read both to make up my mind. And I see she has a new middle grade out, as well!
• The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst. Bramble, 2025 – This second book set in the world of The Spellshop takes on the creator of Caz, the enchanted talking spider plant. Terlu was a people-loving librarian in the Great Library. When it turned out she never got to talk to people, she made Caz to keep her company – only to be turned into a statue to serve as a warning for others. Before the library burned, a kind friend sent her to an island of enchanted greenhouses – with just one other human, the very grumpy and solitary but dedicated gardener Yarrow left on it. This is a cozy story of renewal and tenacity, love and community. Its culmination at a Winter Solstice feast would make it a great holiday read.

• Transitions: a Mother’s Journey by Élodie Durand. Translated by Evan McGorray. Top Shelf Productions, 2023 – I finally got around to reading this graphic novel based on interviews with a real French mother and her trans son. Realistic panels alternate with large, more metaphorical art as the biologist mother reconsiders her beliefs in the wake of her son’s coming out. This is a nuanced and thoughtful look at a topic that is all to easy to look at in black and white, no matter which side of the political spectrum you’re on.
• Daindreth’s Traitor by Elisabeth Wheatley. Book Goblin Books, 2022 – I keep going with the series! I don’t have much to say here without spoilers for the first.
• Gender Identity Guide for Parents by Tavi Hawn. Callisto, 2022 – I read this in preparation for a presentation to the local PFLAG group. It is a gentle look that’s nonetheless firm on the innateness of gender sense separate from sex assigned at birth, and works to help parents be open to that both in their own children and with helping children not to make gender assumptions about others.

• Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala. Read by Danice Cabanela. Berkley, 2021 – This is the series opener for a smart Filipino-American foodie cozy mystery series. It’s one of my love’s favorites, and I’m slowly working my way through it on audio.
• Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See. Narrated by Jennifer Lin and Justin Chien. Scribner, 2023 – This was our fall read for my English Language Learner’s book club. As popular as I know Lisa See is, I’d never read any of her books before, and this is an excellent introduction. There’s lots to think and talk about in this story of 14th century Chinese noblewoman trained to doctor women.
• A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis. Five Fathoms Press, 2025 – Lord and Lady Riven attempt take their honeymoon in this sequel to A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience. They’d hoped that an inn catering to supernatural beings in the Black Forest would be a suitable place – but Lady Riven still being human gets them off on the wrong foot, while something has the residents of the inn on edge. Naturally, Lady Riven can’t resist a puzzle to solve. I am very much enjoying this spooky-cozy-romantic series!

• The Summer War by Naomi Novik. Del Rey, 2025 – There is a plot, of course, revolving around a young noblewoman who finds out that she’s grown into having magic when she accidentally curses her beloved older brother. I checked this out, though, solely because of it being written by Naomi Novik. It is beautiful and dreamy, but also heartfelt and witty.
• Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala. Read by Danice Cabanela. Berkley, 2022 – Book 2 has our protagonist helping with the local beauty pageant, confronting its racism and long-standing narrow views of acceptable body types while dreaming of starting her own cafe and of course eating lots of delicious halo-halo. It’s a good thing literary treats don’t trigger my many food allergies!
• The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. St. Martin’s Press, 2022 – As much as my English Language Learners enjoyed Lady Tan, the other tutors and I thought that something lighter might be in order as our next pick. This low-spice rom-com came highly recommended by one of my colleagues, and was just delightful – the perfect mix of banter, simmering attraction, and soul-searching. Contemporary romance isn’t normally one of my top genres, but this was so addictive that I want more of Katherine Center.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts – what have you been reading lately? Have you read any of these books yourself?