Map of Otherlands

 By:  Heather Fawcett

Location: FIC FAW

Genre:  COZY Fantasy- Faeries

Series: Emily Wilde  #2 

When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late, in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.

REVIEW BY GOODREADS

What an absolute delight this series continues to be. footnotes! bad spooky fox fae! academic ambition! a cold, brilliant woman and her charmingly indolent fairy king!! and such clever little turns--you're always a step behind Emily, and there are few places i'd rather be...

The Wishing Game

 By: Meg Shaffer

Location: FIC SHA

Genre: Realistic Fiction

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY- BUT BOOK THEMED!!!!

I wish, I wish, I wish the game of life could be this simple, this beautiful, and this rewarding. A feel-good book that has an abundance of adorable and generous hearted people, endless good deeds, and expressions of kindness that would just melt your heart. What more could you wish for?

Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.

Make a wish. . . .

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

The Light Pirate

 By: The Light Pirate

Location: FIC PIR

Genre:  Fantasy- ClimFic

Oh no, you didn’t. Oh yes, you did!!! You took me on a dystopian tour. Me, who isn’t a fan of the genre. But that’s what I said and you had me in Good Morning, Midnight. Now you’ve spun your talent again and sucked me right into the vortex.

Wanda is a 9 year old child born during the largest hurricane ever in Florida. Named after the storm even. There is power in that name.
Florida continues to disappear as hurricanes pummel the state. I lived through this one. It was a powerfully frightening one.
The themes of climate change, politics, loss, survival at the centre of this action packed story.
Well played!  Canada Jen

Set in the near future, this hopeful story of survival and resilience follows Wanda—a luminous child born out of a devastating hurricane—as she navigates a rapidly changing world.

Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.

As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.

Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.

Find Me Later

 By;  A Connors

Location: FIC CON

Genre: Sci Fi

Where do you go when you're not quite gone? After suffering an epileptic seizure, Kyle finds himself in a world that looks like ours but where nothing feels the same. This is the Stillness: an eerie, liminal alternative reality populated by those who are caught between life and death.

Here, he meets his real-world crush, Farah, who is also unconscious back home. But as they get to know each other in the Stillness, they must face the possibility of forgetting each other in the real world. The way back to life is fraught with danger, and time, for both of them, is running out...

A. Connors was inspired to write this novel based on his own experience with epilepsy A slow-burn romance at the centre of the story that is perfect for anyone who loves BookTok tropes.

Review Peppler

A wonderfully intense and deeply involved read that explores a dark and mysterious world between life and death.
The story centres around Kyle who enters a strange liminal space - the Stillness - after suffering an epileptic episode. Whilst trying to make sense of his new world, he runs into Farah, his real-life crush who is also unconscious back in the real world. They then encounter Chui, a young coma casualty with a brilliant mind who seeks an understanding of their world and a route of escape. Whilst the Stillness is portrayed as unsettling from the outset, it plunges into new depths of darkness as the three venture on a mission to return to the real world. Sinister characters are drawn into the story which make for some disturbing scenes. This is certainly a gripping read from start to finish that’s told at a phenomenon pace.
The dark elements of the story are beautifully balanced by the warmness of the friendships between the three central characters and particularly the love story that develops between Kyle and Farah. Kyle is an endearing protagonist - a gentle realist that grows and blossoms in character as the book progresses. 

Matterhorn

 By: Christopher Reich

Location: FIC REI

Genre: Thriller

Matterhorn” by Christopher Reich was one of the most exciting thrillers I have read in a long time! An American agent who has been in hiding in the Swiss Alps because of a double cross has to return to his real identity. He finds himself wanting revenge for the murder of his son by his double crossing ex best friend and partner. He did not know his son was a CIA agent, he did not know why he was climbing the Matterhorn, or what his deadly mission was, or that there was a terrorist plot to kill millions. These comments are just a hint to tell you that this book left me breathless! The author’s skillful storytelling and vivid characters had me reading way into the night. This book is #1 of a new series and I can’t wait for the next installment!!! Goodreads Review

A sudden family death and an old nemesis bring retired agent Mac Dekker in from the cold in this alpine thriller from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Reich. Robbie Steinhardt lives a peaceful life. A fixture of his small alpine village, he tends cattle, minds his own business, and doesn't dwell on his former life and the family and lover he left behind--back when he was Mac Dekker, CIA. But when he learns his son Will died following in his footsteps, he needs answers. What mission took Will up into the alpine heights, and why is Ilya Ivashka on the same trail? Ilya--his close friend, his rival in love. Ilya, who framed Mac for treason and sent him into hiding. Wiping away the years, Mac returns to the field to find the secrets Will hid and finds himself facing the Herculean task of stopping a terrorist plot that threatens thousands. But in a field of double agents, who can he trust?

Pretty Girls

 By: Karin Slaughter 

Location: FIC SLA

Genre: Thriller

 ...a sophisticated and chilling psychological thriller of dangerous secrets, cold vengeance, and unexpected absolution, in which two estranged sisters must come together to find truth about two harrowing tragedies, twenty years apart, that devastate their lives.

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful thriller from one of the finest suspense writers working today.

Headshot

 By: Rita Bullwinkel 

Location: FIC BULL

Genre: Realistic Fiction and Boxing

An electrifying debut novel from an “unusually gifted writer” (Lorrie Moore) about the radical intimacy of physical competition

An unexpected tragedy at a community pool. A family’s unrelenting expectation of victory. The desire to gain or lose control; to make time speed up or stop; to be frighteningly, undeniably good at something. Each of the eight teenage girl boxers in this blistering debut novel has her own reasons for the sacrifices she has made to come to Reno, Nevada, to compete to be named the best in the country. Through a series of face-offs that are raw, ecstatic, and punctuated by flashes of humor and tenderness, prizewinning writer Rita Bullwinkel animates the competitors’ pasts and futures as they summon the emotion, imagination, and force of will required to win.

Frenetic, surprising, and strikingly original, Headshot is a portrait of the desire, envy, perfectionism, madness, and sheer physical pleasure that motivates young women to fight—even, and perhaps especially, when no one else is watching.

Review by Clare

This might be my sleeper hit of Booker season 2024. Although I know my enthusiasm isn’t shared by all, I really loved this gritty story of a young women’s boxing tournament in Reno. It is a story about 8 teenage, female boxers, and explores how they have found themselves in the sport, and in the ring in this tournament in front of a small audience. Bullwinkel’s story looks at how small and big moments in our lives lead to other, considers complex families, poverty, the trials of adolescence and identity, female aggression, and the issues in youth and women’s sport. It’s told in dispassionate, direct prose that reminded me often of Kick the Latch (which I also loved). Highly evocative of place, and very sensory. I think it would stand up well to a re-read. Not for everyone perhaps but lots to enjoy for some.

The Housemaid

 By: Freida McFadden 

Location: FIC McF

Genre: Thriller

I'm giving this highly earned five stars and diving into the next novel of Millie the Maid as fast as possible! This story has truly captivated me, and I can't wait to see where Millie's adventures take her next.- Nilfur

Don't miss the New York Times and USA Today bestseller and addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist that’s burning up Instagram and TikTok–Freida McFadden’s The Housemaid is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell, and Verity.

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

Spin Of Fate

 By: A A Vora

Location: FIC

Location: Fantasy

Magnificent Beasts. Buried Gods. Unforgiving Magic. Epic Battles.

Perfect for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Naruto, this propulsive high fantasy debut features intricate world-building, and a scientific hard magic system inspired loosely by the law of karma.

The world is governed by Toranic Law, an ancient magical force that segregates people into upper and lower realms based on their morality. It’s said that if the sinful lowers commit themselves to kindness, their souls will lighten, allowing them into the blissful upper realms.

But Aina, one of the few lowers to ever ascend, just wants to go back. Desperate to reunite with her mother, who remains stuck in their horror-infested homeland, Aina joins the Balancers—a group that defies Toranic Law by bringing aid to those condemned to a life of suffering in the lower realms.

Alongside Aina are two new recruits: Aranel, a spoiled noble spying for the upper authorities; and Meizan, a ruthless fighter trying to save his clan from extinction.

Before long, Aina, Aranel, and Meizan find themselves in the midst of a brewing war. On one side, a violent lower king is bent on destroying Toranic Law; on the other, the upper authorities will do anything to stay on top.

The trio must face both sides head-on if they want to stop a conflict that could break not only Toranic Law... but the universe itself.

"An exhilarating series opener." - Kirkus (Starred Review)

Review by Chloe:

Now this is a book that kind of broke my brain wide open.

The character dynamics are beyond excellent, with each of their worldviews clashing to create the examination of the effects of oppression that runs throughout the book. It also makes for some wonderful tension and banter, because while this book delves deeply into its themes in a very philosophical way, it is also such a blast to read with its completely realized characters and starkly beautiful worldbuulding. There are giant, stunning creatures such a snake like peacocks and winged dolphins, with a few evil monkeys thrown in there too.

There is also a deep emotional core, one where there is such a yearning for love, and goodness, to prevail, but the result of violence and imperial forces unlock such an anger.

All of it, it is truly magnificent to behold.

Vivid

 By: Ashley Bustamante

Location: FIC BUS

Genre: Fantasy 

Series: Colour Theory #1

DANGER LURKS BEHIND EVERY COLOR

Ava Locke dives into the mysteries of forbidden Yellow magic and discovers a dark path filled with secrets and injustice.

When Ava Locke was five years old, she began a journey to join the Benefactors—the leaders of the magical continent of Magus. Twelve years later, she unwittingly started down the road to betray them.

On Magus where colors fuel magical abilities, yellow is banned in an effort to protect people from its mind-controlling capabilities. When a rogue Yellow magic-user named Elm escapes imprisonment Ava becomes innocently fascinated with his story. Once this mysterious Elm shows up at her school, Ava pushes her interest to the next level by helping him evade the Benefactors. Ava grows increasingly conflicted as her intrigue leads her down a dark road of secrets about her world. As she learns more about Yellow magic’s potential to control its victims, Ava now must question whether her rash decisions are all her own or if someone else is pulling the strings.

Review by Erin

Vivid also has some very fun twists and turns, starting off with a bang right at the beginning! The tension was handled perfectly with carefully rising stakes, so that you can never fully relax but you also have room to breathe.

And at the core, Vivid is a story about bigotry, discernment, and truth. Being able to separate the truth from the lies can be tricky at times, but things are not always what they seem, and discernment is a valuable tool. Sometimes we have to be willing to give up what we know to discover what is actually true, and nothing is more important than the truth: the truth about the world, the truth about others, and the truth about ourselves.

Overall, this book definitely deserves all five stars! Vivid has a whimsical world filled with fantastic characters (and an adorable romance), placed in an exciting plot that all contribute to a heartfelt story. Looking for something fresh to read next? Grab Vivid!

The Wind Upon Her Back

 By: Samantha Mills

Location: FIC MIL

Genre:  Sci Fi Fantasy

“we do what’s right because it’s right, because it helps the most people live their lives the way they want to live them. We protect the vulnerable and we use our strength to shield the weak, and if they don’t care, we carry on anyway, because that’s our path.”
― Samantha Mills, The Wings Upon Her Back

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Nebula and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, brutal war, and unquestioning loyalty.

Five gods lie mysteriously sleeping above the city of Radezhda. Five gods who once bestowed great technologies and wisdom, each inspiring the devotion of their own sect. When the gods turned away from humanity, their followers built towers to the heavens to find out why. But when no answer was given, the collective grief of the sects turned to desperation, and eventually to war.

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out, and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

Greg review

This book is incredible.

It's a book that, somehow all at once, manages to explore the fanatic loyalty and isolation that comes with abusive relationships or cultish commitment to a cause. And the hurt and introspection that comes with breaking that cycle of abuse. All in the wrapper of a steampunk-y revolution with mecha-winged warriors and apathetic & unknowable gods.

It's impeccably structured, carefully crafted, and has a defined, narrow focus that complements the themes perfectly, and makes it so that every chapter means something.

The Four Winds

 By: Kristin Hannah  

Location: FIC HAN

Genre: Historical Fiction

“My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable marriage to a man she barely knows.By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

Champions

 By: Kara Thomas

Location: FIC THO

Genre:  Mystery

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town's deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls' killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school's championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes--something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past.Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team's latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team.It's becoming clear Sunnybrook's golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago?As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she's the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left--people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.

Love Requires Chocolates

By: Ravynn K, Stringfield

Location: FIC STR

Genre: Romance

Whitney Curry is primed to have an epic semester abroad. She’s created the perfectitinerary and many, many to-do lists after collecting every detail possible about Paris, France. Thus, she anticipates a grand adventure filled with vintage boutiques, her idol Josephine Baker’s old stomping grounds, and endless plays sure to inspire the ones she writes and—ahem—directs!

But all is not as she imagined when she’s dropped off at her prestigious new Parisian lycée. A fish out of water, Whitney struggles to juggle schoolwork, homesickness, and mastering the French language. Luckily, she lives for the drama. Literally.

Cue French tutor Thierry Magnon, a grumpy yet très handsome soccer star, who’s determined to show Whitney the real Paris. Is this type-A theater nerd ready to see how lessons on the City of Lights can turn into lessons on love? 

Gabreille review on Goodreads

“He wasn’t on the list.
Well, Whit, the best things in life usually aren’t.”

If you’re looking for a simple and quick YA grumpy x sunshine romance then this one might be for you!

I really like the easy to read writing style, I love the way the author can describes some of the places mentioned vividly which makes me feel like I’m in Paris.

I adore the grumpy x sunshine trope from this story.
I love seeing Whitney and Thierry relationship slowly changes to something more as they spend more time together. Whitney definitely has her own unique way to melt Thierry’s cold heart! Absolutely adore them both!

I also like getting to know more about Black history in Paris especially about Whitney’s idol – Josephine Baker which I’m not familiar with before reading this book.

Overall, this is such a cute and entertaining read. I devoured this sweet romance in just one day!
I’m looking forward to read more books by this author in the future!

Better then Revenge

 By: Kasie West 

Location: FIC WEES

Genre: Romance

Kirsty said -I had a lot of fun reading Better Than Revenge. Kasie West always writes sweet YA rom-coms, and I’m always here for that.

A swoony new romance from the author of Sunkissed! When her football-player boyfriend and now ex lands the podcast job she’s been dreaming of, a girl takes matters into her own hands by enlisting the help of his nemesis to get revenge.

Seventeen-year-old Finley has only ever had one to become a famous podcaster. This includes coming up with the perfect pitch to land her on her school's podcast team. But when her football-obsessed boyfriend, Jensen, decides to also try out—and uses her idea—she's left confused and betrayed. 

Determined to get back at him, Finley and her friends try to find the perfect revenge scheme, but quickly discover that Jensen is almost-impossible to best. Keyword, almost. 

By chance, Finley discovers a knack for kicking and decides to take Jensen's spot on the football team. To help her train, she recruits Jensen's cute but conceited nemeses, Theo. Soon the two discover that their connection runs deeper than football. But Finley can't let herself get distracted, and Theo has secrets of his own. Is true love really better than the perfect revenge?

The Blood Years

By: Elana K Arnold

Location: FIC ARN

Genre: Historical Fiction- Holocaust 

The harrowing story of a young girl's struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania.

Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. He’s done his best to provide for them and shield them from antisemitism, but now, seven years later, being a Jew has become increasingly dangerous, even in their beloved home of Czernowitz, long considered a safe haven for Jewish people. And when Astra falls in love and starts pulling away from her, Rieke wonders if there’s anything in her life she can count on—and, if so, if she has the power to hold on to it.

Then—war breaks out in Europe. First the Russians, then the Germans, invade Czernowitz. Almost overnight, Rieke and Astra’s world changes, and every day becomes a struggle: to keep their grandfather’s business, to keep their home, to keep their lives. Rieke has long known that she exists in a world defined by those who have power and those who do not, and as those powers close in around her, she must decide whether holding on to her life might mean letting go of everything that has ever mattered to her—and if that’s a choice she will even have the chance to make.

Based on the true experiences of the author's grandmother’s childhood in Holocaust-era Romania.

Review by Martha:

This is a gorgeously written book set during the Holocaust in a place I knew nothing about. It's a story of courage, endurance, of self-discovery, and of the brutality of human beings to each other, which makes the beauty of human kindness feel even more astonishing. This will be one of the very best books you read this year—if not ever.

Medusa's Sisters

By: Lauren J A Bear 

Location: FIC BEA

Genre: Mythology

A vivid and moving reimagining of the myth of Medusa and the sisters who loved her.

The end of the story is only the beginning…

Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were unique among immortals. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned—too late—that a god's love is a violent one.

Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from sea-born origins to the outskirts of the Parthenon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.

Monsters, but not monstrous, Stheno and Euryale will step into the light for the first time to tell the story of how all three sisters lived and were changed by each other, as they struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood and individuality, myth and truth, vengeance and peace. 

Lauren what a great book. You don’t have to be a fan of Greek mythology to enjoy this book. It is a easy read and very interesting. A witty, addictive read that plunges you into the Medusa origin story.
Highly recommend.

Road to Ruin

 By: Hana Lee  

Location: FIC Lee

Genre: Sci Fi

An electrifying, gritty fantasy from debut author Hana Lee that takes a royal messenger on a high-speed chase across a climate-ravaged wasteland, featuring motorcycles, monsters, and magic.

Jin-Lu has the most dangerous job in the wasteland. She’s a magebike courier, one of the few who venture outside the domed cities on motorcycles powered by magic. Every day, she braves the wasteland’s dangers—deadly storms, roving marauders, and territorial beasts—to deliver her wares.

Her most valuable cargo? A prince’s love letters addressed to Yi-Nereen, a princess desperate to escape the clutches of her abusive family and soon-to-be husband. Jin, desperately in love with both her and the prince, can’t refuse Yi-Nereen’s plea for help. The two of them flee across the wastes, pursued by Yi-Nereen’s furious father, her scheming betrothed, and a bounty hunter with mysterious powers.

A storm to end all storms is brewing and dark secrets about the heritability of magic are coming to light. Jin’s heart has led her into peril before, but this time she may not find her way back.

ROBIN REVIEW:

Road To Ruin is like Fury Road x Death Stranding x Borderlands but like add lightning and make it queer. It has magic motorcycles and love letters! Forbidden romance! Vengeance! Yearning! in a desert setting!

This is a perfect fantasy for people who want something light on the politics but heavy on action. There is a lot of movement and zoom zoom and pow pow. I think the main character literally says they don't care about politics and the topic is completely dropped. LOVE THAT. But there are heavy themes, like diaspora and blood lines and other social issues. All of that is interspersed with some cute romantic tension.

If you're in the mood for an action-packed badass little romp, Road To Ruin is absolute perfection. I had such a blast and need y'all to read it asap okay thanks.