TV Review: Little House on the Prairie

August 17, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Little House on the Prairie (2026), screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine and based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Showrunner: Rebecca Sonnenshine
Starring: Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Alice Halsey, and Skywalker Hughes
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Romance, Holiday, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Ingalls family lives and works on a farm in Midwestern America during the late 19th century.

Anything is possible on the open prairie.

So many iconic moments from the book were explored here. I’d say my favorite one involved what happened when the Ingalls family was snowed in over Christmas and had to become creative when planning how to celebrate that special day. Another notable moment involved a natural disaster that the characters had no advance warning of but had to react to quickly in order to prevent something catastrophic from happening. These were moments I imagined over and over again while I read the Little House books growing up, and it was fun to see a modern reimagining of them.

I was surprised by how many changes this adaptation made to the original material which had already softened many of the more difficult moments of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life. Some of the changes made sense for a 2026 interpretation of this classic as western society has changed quite a bit in the last hundred and fifty years or so, but I would have loved to see Laura and Mary played by actors who were closer to the original ages of these girls when the book was written. Some of their scenes simply fit better for younger children and felt a little unusual for a preteen and a young teenager to still be interested in. For example, most older kids have a very different experience of Santa than what was portrayed here.

With that being said, this first season did a great job of setting up what happens to these characters as they grow older. There was some wholesome foreshadowing for the Ingalls children in particular that Little House fans might find amusing, and I liked the way so many of the important people in their lives were either introduced early on or included in conversations that will hopefully be revisited in the future.

Little House on the Prairie was a heartwarming introduction to what will hopefully be a long-running series.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Minding Earth – A Collection of Contemplative Geological Science Fiction by Russ Colson

August 12, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Minding Earth – A Collection of Contemplative Geological Science Fiction by Russ Colson
Publisher: Real Dragon Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Action/Adventure, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Take a light-hearted journey to the age of dinosaurs with Nate and Sandy as they consider whether the best inclinations of human nature might sometimes win out over the worst. Join Allan and Anna at an alien dig site as they explore the foundations of belief and bias amongst the petrified artifacts of a vanished race. Grapple with the morality of terrorism with Karzak and Janilla as they fight to save their alternate world from climatic catastrophe and bureaucratic intransigence.

Engage with six contemplative short stories that address the search for Truth, including the complexity of preconceived bias, the value of honoring the past, the importance of sometimes deceiving ourselves, the seductive prejudice of wanting to be right, and others. Each story is followed by short prompts and questions for reflection and discussion.

The past can never be unwritten.

Allen and his colleague Anna were tasked with finding out whether an extinct alien race had practiced any religion in “And the Rocks Cried Out.” One of the most unique parts of this tale was that the characters were investigating a species that had died out a long time ago. Anything that could be learned about what they were like must be found in the things they left behind. This isn’t typically how alien stories go, and I enjoyed the challenge of piecing together the clues along with the protagonists.

I would have liked to see more plot development in “Overturn.” It surprised me that this future version of Earth didn’t necessarily see climate change as a big deal, and knowing more about why they felt that way would have helped me to better understand their reaction to the newest threat to life on this planet that involved methane leaking into the atmosphere. The scientific evidence for why this was happening was fascinating. I simply needed more from the storyline itself.

“A Matter of Stratigraphy” explored what Syana and the other scientists discovered when visiting a planet that had sent out an emergency message a little over two hundred years ago and then gone silent forever. I especially appreciated the philosophical questions that were asked in this story as not everyone is necessarily eager to know the truth if they suspect having that information might conflict with their current beliefs about how the universe works.

Minding Earth – A Collection of Contemplative Geological Science Fiction is making me wish for more from this author. What an intriguing collection!

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

So Passes the Night by Cassidy McKay

August 3, 2026 By Leave a Comment


So Passes the Night by Cassidy McKay
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

One wild night, two sexy seamen and a voluptuous woman — three broken souls seeking completion.

First Mate Cade Talbot disobeyed a direct order, sacrificing himself to save his best friend. Since then, Captain Grant Rowen rules his ship with an iron fist, demanding strict compliance from all aboard.

Coffers are low, and when a lone woman requests passage to St. Thomas, Captain Rowen accepts her payment. But the stormy sea crossing holds more than just nature’s surprises.

Aurora Journade reveals that she not only speaks to spirits, she makes love to them –and she doesn’t follow orders. With Aurora’s help, Cade has one last chance to reach out to his captain. Not even death can keep them from seeking passion’s redemption.

Healing comes in many different forms.

The setting was as unique as it was well-suited for this erotic tale. I wasn’t initially sure if it was supposed to be set in contemporary or historic times, so figuring that out was part of the fun of reading it. Other readers should discover for themselves exactly when this was set, of course, but do keep an eye out for clues along the way as they do influence how everything played out. It was also interesting to see how the characters dealt with such a violent storm when help could be so far away due to the technology of the time.

I would have liked to see more plot development in this piece, especially as it related to Grant’s relationships with Cade as well as with the mysterious woman who asked to board his ship on a stormy night. The bonds between them were incredibly important later on in the storyline, so it was a little disappointing for me as a reader to not have as much information about them as I would have preferred by that point.

The slightly ambiguous ending suited these characters well. While the most important conflicts were wrapped up, there was still plenty of space for readers to speculate about what might happen next and fill in the gaps about the things the narrator didn’t spell out directly. Yes, it would have been nice to have more resolution about them, but it also left room for a sequel if the author decides to write one!

So Passes the Night was a sexy romp.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

TV Review: Widow’s Bay (Season 1)

August 3, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Widow’s Bay (Season 1) created by Katie Dippold
Directors: Hiro Murai, Ti West, Sam Donovan, and Andrew DeYoung
Starring: Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey
Publisher: Apple TV
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Horror, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A New England mayor trying to boost tourism on his island must navigate strange events suggesting it might be cursed.

It may be a small town, but it’s anything but sleepy.

The plot twists in this show were fantastic, and I was surprised by them on more than one occasion. What made them even better was how much effort the creator put into not only giving the audience fantastic clues but also making plenty of space for alternative interpretations of them as well. This meant that even when I was wrong about where the plot was headed, I still felt satisfied by my attempts to predict the ending of season one as my theories were perfectly reasonably at the time.

Horror and mystery are even more enticing to me when mixed together, and I loved digging into the history of Widow’s Bay as secrets were slowly revealed and a few explanations as to why this small community had such terrible luck were put forward by various characters. The paranormal themes only made everything scarier and more thrilling, and I’m hoping that these types of scenes are given even more screen time in the future as they provided ample opportunities not only for frights but also for some memorable character and plot development as well.

Speaking of small towns, I thought this was an honest portrayal of both what it’s like to live in a rural community as well as what it feels like to move to one and interact with people who have all known each other for their entire lives and may not always be that interested in getting to know outsiders. The tensions between various groups of people including newcomers, lifelong residents who wanted to see their community grow, and those who strongly preferred for things to remain the same forever were well written, fair, and sometimes downright hilarious. Honestly, I could understand everyone’s perspectives even if I didn’t necessarily agree with all of them, and I thought this added some nice conflict as well early on when the paranormal antagonists weren’t as active yet.

This first season of Widow’s Bay has me eagerly anticipating what might happen next. What a wild ride!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Kiki by Tommy B. Smith

July 31, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Kiki by Tommy B. Smith
Publisher: Black Diamond
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Action/Adventure, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

An unmarked plane crashes in the desert. A creature escapes from its burning wreckage, a byproduct of experiments in biological and chemical warfare—a cat.

As the multi-eyed feline mutant known as Kiki roams the Mojave Desert, terrorizing the crumbling town of Calpacia at its border, some seek to capture her. Gun-for-hire Salvadore Shaw, disgraced former Soviet Petrov and his group of mercenaries, and a professor and his chimpanzee assistant commence a vicious race to intercept Kiki’s rampage.

Who will survive the savagery of the Mojave Cat? Not many, if any.

Never underestimate your opponent.

A kitten is just about the last animal I’d imagine could pose a threat to mercenaries, so the premise of this tale appealed to me immediately. Mr. Smith has a creative imagination, and I enjoyed seeing how much he stretched it in order to come up with scenarios in which full grown adults could be terrorized by such a creature despite all of their weapons and history of engaging in dangerous activities as they lived outside the scope of mainstream society.

As intrigued as I was by the first chapter or two, the storyline wasn’t able to sustain that buildup of tension for me later on. Characters made decisions that didn’t always quite make sense given their backgrounds, and the plot began to feel a little too dramatic for my tastes as Kiki began testing the boundaries of their abilities and attempting to satiate their deep hunger. This is something I’m saying as someone who enjoys wild animal horror in general and was expecting to be a huge fan of this adventure in particular.

The final scene set this up nicely for a sequel if the author ever decides to write one. While I don’t know if that will actually occur, it’s always nice as a reader to see such possibilities on the horizon, especially in cases like this one where not every conflict was thoroughly resolved and there are plenty of ways to return to the setting to see what could happen in the future.

Kiki made me shudder.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

July 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Publisher: Hanover Press
Genre: Historical, Fiction, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.

Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.

Moved my heart. This was such an enjoyable read. It has good times and bad times. It has a bookshop, a curmudgeonly but sweet old man, a lonely old woman having lived through the hells of wars, and young girls trying to make their way in the world all in the midst of World War 2. Don’t get me wrong. This book is not all set during WW2. The story begins as Grace and Viv grow up in a small town and dream of leaving their unfortunate lives and running to make or break it in London. It’s a story of dreams. One of people who know they must work hard to succeed and find they can live through more than they ever dreamed.

This could be perfect for Young Adults, and yet I enjoyed every minute of it as an adult. There might be a lot of sweetness here, but there are some very realistic parts of the British living in London during the bombings in WW2. And in today’s world, a sweet story isn’t such a bad idea.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tawny by Chas Carner

July 15, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Tawny by Chas Carner
Publisher: Scholastic and Macmillan
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Trey and Troy Landry are 12-year-old twin brothers growing up on a New Hampshire farm. Even though Troy is the impulsive trouble maker, and Trey the more dutiful and introverted one, they share an incredibly close bond.

One day Troy is accidentally killed by hunters poaching deer on the farm. Trey is devastated and channels his grief into caring for an injured deer, which he names “Tawny.”

As their friendship deepens, however, Trey finds it harder and harder to release Tawny back into the wild.

What he learns in the process of letting go—about loss, love, and the healing power of nature has even more relevance for youth today than when this critically acclaimed novel was first published.

Grief has many faces.

Mr. Carter had a smooth and descriptive writing style that was a joy to read. I especially liked the passages in this novella that talked about the rhythms of life on a farm and how one season of the year would gradually give way to the next. As someone who had spent his entire life on that same property, Trey was so accustomed to what every month felt like that he didn’t quite seem to realize how special they were, but his descriptions of his childhood were still beautiful and showed me so much about his personality and the empathic and patient man he would become in a few short years as a result of his rural childhood.

It was the passages dealing with Trey’s grief over the death of his twin brother that ultimately convinced me to choose a five-star rating. Many stories that deal with death and loss focus on how it feels immediately or, at most, several months later, but healing can require a much longer period of time than that and sometimes involves old pain returning in quiet moments when the outside world might assume someone is doing much better now than they actually are. I loved the scenes later on that explored how Trey dealt with these feelings while also going about his usual routine of school, chores, and looking after Tawny as she healed from her injury.

The many cultural difference between the 1950s and modern times also piqued my interest. For example, Trey and Troy were taught how to drive at age eight and, a few years later, were doing potentially dangerous chores on the farm like helping cows to deliver their calves or shooting guns. Many children in the Western Hemisphere today would not allowed to participate in these activities, so it was fascinating to see how much more freedom and autonomy people that age had a few generations ago.

Tawny was heartfelt and bittersweet. It made me want to read more from this author!

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson

July 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Historical, Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Look who’s back in hot water! The highly anticipated new novel in The Tea Ladies cosy crime series, a runaway bestseller of the year. Available for pre-order now!

Welcome back to Zig Zag Lane in the heart of Sydney’s rag-trade district, where our intrepid tea ladies, Hazel, Betty and Irene, have their work cut out. Solving a murder, kidnapping and arson case, and outwitting an arch criminal, earned them the respect of a local police officer. Now he needs their assistance to help solve a plot that threatens national security.

As if that’s not enough, Irene gets a coded message directing her to the spoils of a bank robbery, which sends the tea ladies on a treasure hunt with an unexpected outcome.

There’s also trouble brewing within the walls of Empire Fashionwear, where an interloper threatens not just Hazel’s job but the very role of tea lady. It’s up to Hazel to convince her friends to abandon their trolleys and take action to save their livelihoods – before it’s too late.

Hazel and her fellow Tea Ladies are back for another rollicking adventure. It’s 1966 in Sydney, Australia and the world is moving along at a fast pace. The Sydney Opera house is being built to much political posturing and arguments, the fashion warehouses are changing their designs with the new short skirt craze gripping the world, and the Tea Ladies are banding together to save their livelihoods as a new Café-Bar machine threatens their very jobs. Can Hazel and her friends successfully navigate everything while still sharing the best cuppa around?

I really enjoyed this historical cosy mystery story. Hazel and her fellow tea ladies all came across to me as well rounded and deeply empathetic characters, even Irene who was absolutely somewhat out of the usual mould for a well-aged working class woman. I definitely think readers who haven’t read the first book in this series can easily pick this story up by itself. The characters are all well explained and this book is quite separate from the first. The strong relationships between the ladies doesn’t need too much explanation and their solid friendship and history is easily understood.

I thought it was quite a well written book. Not necessarily a mystery in the usual sense as there were at least three or four main sub-plots all threaded together and unwinding at their own pace. Many of these were very neatly tied up by the end of the book but I did feel a few of these plots didn’t have a final conclusion as yet – Pixie and her new line in particular I feel will likely show up in the next book for a bit more action. I really enjoyed the slower pace of the mysteries and the quite cosy feel the story as a whole had. I feel readers who like historical based novels – or just a slower plot in general should absolutely find this an excellent book.

That said, I absolutely found the mysteries to be well plotted and quite entertaining. A lot seems to be happening in this book and so while I don’t feel it’s action-orientated or fast moving, the author really has crammed a lot into the space of this one book. I am very eager for the next in the series and hope there are many more to come. I also found it quite refreshing that Hazel and her friends are not young woman – and really aren’t even middle-aged as such but more a little older than that, while still being completely fit and healthy and certainly of a working age with all the wisdom and patience that comes from having been around the block a time or two before.

Fun and interesting, with complicated and layered characters this is an excellent book and one I can strongly recommend.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Red Tenant by Donovan M. Neal

July 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Red Tenant by Donovan M. Neal
The Nain Rouge Chronicles Book 1
Publisher: TornVeil / Independently published
Genre: Horror, Paranormal, Inspirational, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Most horror stories ask a simple question:

What is out there?

The Red Tenant asks something far more unsettling:

What has been with you all along?

1701.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac sails toward a future he intends to build—a legacy he believes he controls.

But control was never his to begin with.

Because something older than his ambition has already laid claim to his name… and everything that comes after it.

As the ship cuts through the Atlantic, the illusion of progress begins to break apart.

Men lose their bearings.
Objects refuse to remain contained.
Whispers move where no one stands.

And slowly, unmistakably, a truth emerges:

This is not a random terror.

This is something that followed him.
Something that was carried—generation after generation—waiting for the moment it could no longer be ignored.

This is where the transformation happens.

You begin the story expecting fear.

You leave it asking different questions:

What do we inherit that we never agreed to?
What do we carry forward without realizing the cost?
And what happens when what we’ve ignored finally demands to be acknowledged?
The Red Tenant does not offer an easy resolution.

Because the most unsettling realization is not that evil exists…

It’s that it can be carried, protected, and passed on—quietly—until it is too late to pretend it was never there.

Temptation can lurk anywhere, and sometimes it even hides in plain sight.

Strong character development is essential in order to tell a memorable tale, and all of the major characters in this piece were complex and felt like real people to me. It can take time to develop personalities and backstories to this extent, so be patient as everything is being pieced together in the beginning. The payoff later on was not only worth the wait but it made me go back and reevaluate little moments from the beginning of this voyage that take on much deeper significance once one knows more about the moral fiber of those involved. There were many shades of grey in this universe which makes for a nuanced and thought-provoking read.

This was one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of how to seamlessly blend the horror and inspirational genres together in ways that not only complemented them both but also enriched the storyline as the characters wrestled with their sins. While I can’t go into too much detail about this without sharing spoilers, learning more about their lives and the things that tempted them only made me more interested in what might happen to them next.

There was a cliffhanger ending that was as intriguing as it was appropriate for everything that had already been established about the setting. I’m saying this as a reader who generally struggles with this type of conclusion, but in this case it only made me more excited to find out what happened next due to how much care was put into setting everything up and explaining why the audience would need to wait until next time to have certain questions answered.

The Red Tenant kept me perched on the edge of my seat from the first sentence to the last one, and I am highly anticipating any sequels that may be in the works already.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Cherry Creek by Linda Griffin

July 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Cherry Creek by Linda Griffin
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When her fiancé died, Eileen said, “Then I’m free,” words that her younger sister Molly didn’t understand and never forgot. In 1850s Ohio, a girl doesn’t have that many options, and marrying Andrew MacLeith may be the best she can hope for. He promises to cherish her, but they have to live with his parents, and he can’t even protect her from his mother’s sharp tongue. After a quarrel, Molly impulsively joins his gambler brother Hugh on a journey to the Pike’s Peak gold region. Perhaps the romance and freedom she longs for lie elsewhere. Or were they right under her nose all along?

Freedom always comes with a cost.

I loved Molly’s assertive personality and willingness to do anything necessary in order to improve her life. Her strained relationship with her judgmental and mean-spirited mother-in-law could have intimidated a less self-assured protagonist, so it was refreshing to see how she stood up for herself in that situation as a new bride. Marriage is a big enough adjustment to make on its own, after all, even for someone who knew what she wanted as clearly as Molly did.

There were some plot holes in this story that I wish had been explained in more detail. For example, Hugh’s fate was not clearly explained, and neither was Andrew’s reaction when Molly decided to run away from home soon after he married her. These were both important aspects of the storyline, so I was surprised by how quickly they were glossed over later on. A few more chapters developing this would have encouraged me to choose a higher rating.

It was also interesting to see how Molly’s dreams about what life would be like elsewhere were tempered by her actual experiences. Nobody has everything they want or even necessarily knows what all of their other options are, and sometimes fantasizing about a change can be quite different from actually experiencing it. The strongest passages in this tale in my opinion were the ones that explored the gap between the two and showed some examples of how to try to build a better future for oneself.

Cherry Creek made me smile.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,
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