The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter by Brionni Nwosu

November 12, 2025 By Leave a Comment


The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter by Brionni Nwosu
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Most humans cower in the face of Death. Not Nella May Carter. She sees him. She doesn’t hide. Instead, she bargains.

Born enslaved in eighteenth-century Georgia, Nella still believes in the will to survive amid the most untenable of conditions, in the glory of life, and in the ultimate goodness of the human race. She asks that Death, doubtful and curious, allow her to live long enough to prove it. He’s giving Nella all the time in the world.

Challenged, Nella embarks on an epic journey across the globe and centuries. Each new incarnation records the joys and losses, and the friendships and heartbreaks, throughout her lifetimes. When she meets handsome and passionate professor Sebastian Moore―the first man to whom she has ever revealed her secrets―Nella yearns for the mortality that escapes her. She can’t bear to leave this love behind.

As Death keeps watch, has Nella’s journey come to an end? Or is a new one just beginning?

Love is eternal.

Some of my favourite passages in this book were the ones that debated the true nature of humanity and whether our collective good deeds make up for the horrific things we’ve done to one another throughout the generations. While I tended to agree more with Nella, both protagonists made intelligent points with their arguments, and it was quite interesting to see them go back and forth with evidence for their positions. This is something I’m saying as a reader who generally shies away from philosophical works. Ms. Nwosu did a wonderful job of blending philosophy into an exciting story in ways that made those scenes feel natural and encouraged me to think critically about every argument that was made and refuted.

I would have preferred to see stronger world building in this novel. Some of the settings were easy to visualize, especially the first one in 1774 as well as Nella’s experiences during World War II, but other ones like France didn’t include enough descriptions for me to easily imagine what the main character’s life was like there. Had this been included, a five-star rating would have been a strong possibility from me!

The complex relationship between Nella and Death made it difficult for me to stop reading. It was delightful to see how her reactions to him evolved over the centuries as she grew accustomed to her immortality and began to question some of the rules that Death had put into place about what she could and couldn’t do during her quest. Without sharing too many spoilers, these developments made the last hundred pages or so incredibly rewarding for me as a reader.

The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter was beautiful.

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

Gifts Between Us by C.C. Adams

October 30, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Gifts Between Us by C.C. Adams
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Elderly Londoner Augustus has lived a long, miserable life. Having driven his few remaining loved ones away years ago, he now whiles away his time drinking rum and hoping for the end.

One night his death wish is nearly granted by a mugger, but a local youth called Michael intervenes. Much to the old man’s horror (and fascination) Michael promptly begins to devour the mugger’s body.

Slowly, Augustus and his mysterious saviour form an unlikely friendship, one built on sharing the gifts of trust, camaraderie, and acceptance.

And one last gift: a secret. It is the cause of Michael’s cannibalistic nature. And, perhaps, a reason for Augustus to go on living…

Second chances are nothing to sneeze at.

This was an excellent example of how to create deeply unlikeable but still compelling characters. Neither Michael nor Augustus were men I’d ever want to cross paths with, especially in a deserted alley after sunset, and yet I was fascinated by their terrifying secrets and how well they kept them hidden. Anyone who walked past them on the street would have no idea what lay behind their calm and unassuming personas which only made the later events in their lives even more frightening.

The horror in this novella was grisly and violent. It’s not something I’d recommend to the faint of heart, and yet every one of those scenes was critical in order to understand the final one. One must know exactly what these characters have been capable of in the past in order to be prepared for their futures. I thought the scenes that described how Michael had turned into the person Augustus knew were especially important given what they shared about his personality and character before the plot escalated.

Creativity is something I look for in every tale I review, and it revealed itself early here. The plot twists weren’t that common for this genre in my experience, but they worked beautifully with the established character development to create something I couldn’t possibly stop reading. I loved being surprised by where the storyline was headed next and will definitely keep an eye out for more of Mr. Adams’ work in the future.

Gifts Between Us was deliciously scary.

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

Murder in the Monashee Mountains by JP Behrens

October 29, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Murder in the Monashee Mountains by JP Behrens
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

After barely escaping the haunted streets of Arkham and Miskatonic University, Travis Daniels is on the run with his ward, Leslie Owens. Seeking refuge in the remote woods of Monashee Mountain, their lives take another dark turn when they witness a brutal, savage murder. Now, they’re thrust into a web of deceit, danger, and old grudges as they are drawn into a conflict between warring factions in the small town of Tonasket.

Travis must navigate the escalating tension between the town’s residents, the Native American tribes, and the ancient, shadowy creatures that dwell in the wilderness. The clock is ticking as dangerous rivalries between Sasquatch and werewolves threaten to erupt, and the local logging operations are sabotaged by forces more sinister than anyone can imagine.

As Travis works to uncover the truth behind the murder, he must decide who he can trust before it’s too late. With danger closing in, only one thing is certain: the truth will come at a cost.

Power is never given away freely.

In my review of Missing of Miskatonic earlier this year I wished for a stronger storyline and am happy to report that this second instalment in the series was well rounded in this area. As someone who loves reading about Sasquatch, I immersed myself in all of the details about this famous and mysterious cryptid that the narrator provided. It’s difficult to dig into the details of what Bigfoot is like in this universe except to say that it fits in well with other mythologies about them while also providing new layers of information about what their culture, language, and beliefs were like.

It would have been helpful to have more character development, especially for the characters who were introduced for the first time here. This is such a plot-focused series that I wouldn’t expect pages of introspection or anything, but a few more sentences here and there would go a long way in helping me to get to know everyone better. Here’s hoping that future books that follow Travis’ adventures, if any are in the works, will dive more deeply into this.

The strong pacing kept my interest levels high as I read. I especially enjoyed the action scenes that included both physical and verbal conflicts as they were well written and kept the storyline moving forward at a steady pace. It was easy to imagine what was happening in these scenes due to how clearly they were written and how much effort was put into describing what all of the main characters were doing in those tense but generally brief moments. This isn’t always an easy thing to accomplish, so I must tip my cap to the author for not only pulling it off but also making it look effortless.

This series should be read in order for character and plot development reasons.

Murder in the Monashee Mountains kept me guessing until the end.

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

Silversong by Rhonda Parrish

October 28, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Silversong by Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: Poise and Pen Publishing
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Growing up in The Warren — gnomish slums in a big, human, city — Garryn Silversong has one goal. He wants to become a powerful wizard and use that power to rescue himself, his mother and his best friend from the dream-destroying poverty they are forced to exist in.

Armed with only a harp, a stolen book about arcane theory, and single-minded determination, Garryn claws his way up from obscurity, becoming a household name.

But when unimaginable tragedy comes to The Warren, Garryn discovers there are things that fame and money can not buy. Will he find a way to protect those who are most important to him or he will spiral down into oblivion, taking them with him?

Friendship is forever.

Garryn and Lildira had a beautiful lifelong friendship that I deeply enjoyed reading about. They were an excellent example of how family ties can be built between people who aren’t related through typical means like blood, marriage, or adoption. I loved the friendly banter between them and seeing how they fussed over each other when one or both of them were going through hard times. Their genuine platonic love for one another made it hard for me to stop reading this story because of how emotionally invested I was in what would happen to them next.

The pacing did feel a little slow to me at times due to how much world building and character development was sandwiched between more action-oriented scenes. This was especially true in the beginning, and it did become less noticeable as I moved closer to the ending. While it was definitely worth it for me to keep going, it is something I wanted to mention for readers who tend to prefer faster pacing styles.

Being familiar with Dungeons and Dragons isn’t necessary in order to enjoy this book, but readers who have played that game may notice some fun references to it as well as to roleplaying games in general. I sure enjoyed picking them out and trying to guess what might happen to the characters next. It was especially interesting to find out what the various races of intelligent, human-like creatures thought of each other and how they got along – or sometimes didn’t get along – in the cramped quarters of their city.

Silversong made me yearn for more.

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

The Headless Horseman by Marteeka Karland

October 23, 2025 By Leave a Comment


The Headless Horseman by Marteeka Karland
Jack-O-Lanterns
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

One too many Flying Broomsticks and a phobia about Halloween aren’t the only thing chasing Isabelle Crane into the darkness. She’s got one very real-life family legend on her — err — tail.

Literally.

Anything can happen on Halloween.

This was the most creative instalment of the Jack-O-Lanterns series that I’ve read so far. I liked the way Ms. Karland used the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow to bring a few frights to this tale. It balanced out the steamier scenes nicely and made me wonder what could possibly happen next. While I’d recommend reading the original ghost story first to those who aren’t already aware of it, the plot is still perfectly understandable without that prior knowledge. It’s simply a nice bonus for those who are already familiar with it.

There were some plot holes involving Isabelle’s reactions to the Headless Horseman that I would have liked to see explained better as she behaved differently to him in nearly every scene. She changed her mind about him so often that I was never quite sure how she really felt, especially given the limited amount of time they had together. With more development in this area, I would have felt comfortable choosing a higher star rating.

The ending made me smile as I wondered if a sequel might be in the works. While I don’t know whether or not that will happen, there were hints dropped about the fates of the characters that made me hope it will. There’s nothing like a little foreshadowing to keep a reader interested, after all, and the author did leave space for many different possibilities in these characters’ futures.

The Headless Horseman was a fun take on a classic part of this time of the year.

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

Cat Out of Hell by Isabella Jordan

October 21, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Cat Out of Hell by Isabella Jordan
Jack-O-Lanterns
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Joey has gone to Hell.

OK, so it’s not the real hell. It’s still an exciting hotbed of women and sex this Halloween night and that’s just what he’s looking for. When a beautiful blonde dressed as an angel catches his eye, he knows he has to have her and he’s willing to pay to make that happen. Yet, he senses something isn’t quite right here.

Katrina’s been kidnapped by an group of evil werewolves and now she’s being forced to sleep with a man for money. If she resists, they’ll kill her. Still, it could be worse. He’s gorgeous and makes her feel things she’s never felt before.

On top of all of this, when she’s done pleasuring this man, the wolves are coming for him. Will either of them get out alive?

Run faster if you want to survive.

Some of the most interesting scenes in my opinion were the ones that played around with the audience’s expectations of how certain characters should act or what might happen next. This is something I’m always happy to find in any genre of fiction, and it kept my interest levels high as I continued to read. Playing around tropes is a great way to make a storyline fresh and exciting.

It would have been helpful to have more plot development in this tale. I had some trouble understanding the rules of this universe and why, for example, Joey was able to travel freely while Katrina didn’t seem to be able to do the same thing. There were some other rules involving how characters behaved in a crisis that I also would have liked to have clarification on. With a few more paragraphs of exposition, this could have been easier to understand and would have encouraged me to choose a higher rating.

With that being said, I did enjoy how open-ended the final scene was. It left space for all sorts of possibilities for the characters which I thought was a good choice given how much danger they’d already faced and how much more they’d have to endure in the near future. There is definitely something to be said for allowing readers to come up with their own theories about what characters will do once the final sentence is written and the audience is no longer aware of anything.

Cat Out of Hell made me wonder what would happen next.

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

19 Doors by Rob Roy O’Keefe

October 15, 2025 By Leave a Comment


19 Doors by Rob Roy O’Keefe
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

From the author of Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel, shortlisted by the Chanticleer International Book Awards, 19 Doors ranges far and wide, diving into magical realism and science fiction, then adding a dash of steampunk and surrealism for extra flavor. The collection of short stories and flash fiction ricochets from the poignant to the comically absurd, each story a work of imaginative fiction.

• A community remembers the lives they have yet to live.
• An intergalactic tour bus arrives in Hollywood … Montana.
• A shopping network super-fan relives every infomercial scenario he watches.
• The first sentient being in the universe applies for a job as a sous chef.
• A preternatural wind comes to collect a long-owed debt.

Through 19 Doors, we are immersed in the unraveling lives of characters who are just like us and nothing like us. Whether they succeed or succumb, conform or rebel, we are treated to a compilation of stories that are frequently fraught, often fun, and always fantastic.

Balance will be restored eventually.

Dylan loved taking late night walks by herself, but she ended up in a mysterious diner instead of at home in “We were beautiful.” I loved the paranormal elements of this tale and how the main character reacted to things that shouldn’t have been possible. She had such a curious and upbeat personality that I couldn’t help but to like her and wish I could read more about her adventures.

I found myself wishing for more plot development in some of these tales, one of which was “Borrowed time”. It followed a man who figured out how to manipulate time so that he could sell pieces of it to people who had enough money. There were some plot holes involving the storage and use of time that I sure would have liked to see explained more thoroughly. With that being said, I still enjoyed the reading process and would love to hear if other readers had the same experience with this portion and other ones like it.

Buying a new home often includes a few surprises, but “The untethered house” took that to an entirely different level when the characters realized their purchase was doing things that a building should never be capable of doing. I appreciated the playful sense of humor in this piece and the way the characters reacted to what the average person would consider to be deeply unsettling at best. The conclusion, too , was filled with funny moments that only made me like the protagonists even more than I already did.

19 Doors was a whimsical and thought-provoking collection.

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

Twice Born by Graeme Smith

October 10, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Twice Born by Graeme Smith
Publisher: Books We Love
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

There should have been thunder. There should have been lightning tearing the skies and the very heavens weeping. There should have been portents and comets and demons of fire riding skeletal horses of ice-white bone—but if there had been, this would have been a movie. Probably with very artistic lens flare. So there wasn’t. There was a cottage. And a future I was going to make damn sure never happened. Once upon a time…

Every legend must have come from somewhere.

The world building was well done and sometimes made me forget I was reading a novel as opposed to hearing true stories about someone else’s ancestors. This felt genuinely real to me which can be difficult to accomplish in this sort of fiction but has made me extremely curious to read more from Mr. Smith in the future. He is a talented writer who knows exactly how to use a few carefully selected words to make a world come alive in my imagination.

I struggled to keep up with the plot at times due to how often it jumped back and forth in the timeline as well as among the perspectives of a few different characters. As much as I enjoyed the complexity of it as far as the world building went, having a more linear sequence of events would have made it easier for this reader to keep up with what was happening versus what happened in the past or would happen in the protagonists’ near futures.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that explored why certain characters were terrified of witches. Many modern fantasy authors have taken a much softer approach to what exactly a witch is and how dangerous she might be, so it was refreshing to read something that brings back the fear and uncertainty that swirled around these women in older stories. This was even more true since I happened to read this shortly before Halloween season began!

Twice Born was a wild ride.

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

Sabrina Tells Maddie the Truth About Her Past by George Bachman

October 7, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Sabrina Tells Maddie the Truth About Her Past by George Bachman
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBTQ, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Drawn back to the ruins of the house she nearly burned down a year ago to escape her imprisonment and torture at the hands of a madwoman, Sabrina watches the apocalypse approach. Beings of immense power are trying to force their way into our world to devour it, and her mysterious destiny tasks her with stopping them here. Her companion, Maddie, interrogates her incessantly as she performs ancient magic to keep them back.

Sabrina recounts how escape led her to St. Andrew’s Academy for immortals, and she discovered her true nature as a being with special powers that make her the target of eldritch forces beyond comprehension and others who would possess her at all costs.

When Maddie’s questions gradually reveal she may have secrets as terrifying as Sabrina’s, Sabrina faces a choice whether to remain in the dark world of immortals as our protector or pursue the normal life she cherishes and risk leaving humanity to its fate.

Being irresistible isn’t always a positive thing.

I loved the fact that this was written mostly from the perspective of a couple texting each other about the very odd things that were currently going on in their lives. It was a creative way for the characters to tell their story after the fact and for the investigators looking into their disappearances to have access to all sorts of information that would not normally be available when all of the witnesses are gone. Kudos to Mr. Bachman for experimenting with the horror and fantasy genres in this manner as it was definitely out of the ordinary in a good way.

The plot was sometimes difficult to follow due to how seldomly Sabrina and Maddie explained what was going on. Obviously, they were pressed for time and couldn’t tell readers everything, but I would have happily chosen a higher rating if at least some of the unfamiliar words and phrases they used to describe various supernatural beings were given more context clues so that fans could make educated guesses about what they were referring to.

Knowing when and how often to share gory details can be a tricky thing, but the author made it seem easy. Yes, this was firmly and bloodily rooted in the horror genre, but the scariest scenes were paced out nicely and always had intelligent reasons for their inclusion. That’s exactly what I prefer to find in this genre, and it kept me reading no matter what else was happening in the story or in my real life. There’s definitely something to be said for being so absorbed by a plot!

Sabrina Tells Maddie the Truth About Her Past made me shudder.

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

The Torus Run by Harry Buck

October 3, 2025 By Leave a Comment


The Torus Run by Harry Buck
Publisher: Calliopezen Publishing LLC
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by YellowEye

Four months after the Blackout, San Francisco is back to its old habits—building the future by day and worrying about it by night. Stash Novak has done his share of both, but now he’s out of time. Zero, his AI Twin, is weeks away from upgrading. The new version will make him smarter than Stash, smarter than anyone, and some of them are not amused. With the NSA, tech rivals, and an elusive hacker network closing in, Stash is ready to gamble on unlikely allies. Zero tried to talk him out of it, but Stash wouldn’t listen. Convinced there’s a way to protect his Twin and save humanity’s future, he’s ready to do whatever it takes: join forces with his enemies, make new ones, or even dive into the Torus—the AIs’ churning new world.

The Torus Run pulls readers into a labyrinth of shifting alliances, where the line between human and machine blurs and the future of both hangs in the balance. It’s a true story. It just hasn’t happened yet.

The Torus Run, by Harry Buck, is a fast-paced, near-future sci-fi thriller that revolves around Stash Novak, a visionary technologist who is racing to protect his AI twin, “Zero”, from powerful adversaries. The story takes place a few months after a catastrophic blackout in San Francisco. Stash is on the brink of upgrading Zero into a full AGI (artificial general intelligence), but he faces hostile entities that include the government, his corporate rivals, and the open source hacker community. To survive, he must form uneasy alliances and journey into the enigmatic digital realm known as the Torus.

The novel is fast paced, with themes that speak to our world today. They include AI ethics and the societal fallout from rapid technological advancement. Harry Buck explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between humans and machines, and offers us a glimpse of a possible near-future that is both tactile and compelling.

The novel’s pace is relentless and almost cinematic in its feel. While some readers will enjoy the non-stop ride through a digital landscape, with new plot twists appearing at every turn, I found it a bit too complicated and intense at times, even though I am at home with computer programming and the technical aspects of digital culture. There was a lot of left-brain, logical, rapid-fire explanations of the technologies involved, however I felt somewhat cheated with the human side of things. In many instances, the “twins” (AI bots paired with humans) had more personality than their human partners. There was ample opportunity for Buck to make deeper dives into the human psyche, and while he did reveal some of the characters’ pasts and motivations, they often felt somewhat convenient and contrived.

But in spite of any shortcomings, “The Torus Run” is a solid piece of hard science fiction, spun so that it keeps the reader on his toes, and delivered in an articulate and literate voice. The near-future scenario, with its political factions–both for and against AI–was well thought-out and researched, and provides the reader with much food for thought, especially in a time when we are just beginning to deal with the effects of AI on our world.

If you are a fan of hard science fiction and are looking for an escape into a very plausible near future, The Torus Run might be just what you’re looking for.

Filed Under: Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , ,
Next Page »