By Rebecca Ferrier
** Publication Date 27 January 2026 **
​4 stars




Before modern medicine were healers, wise women, herbalists. People who understood what it took to care for others through injury and illness and even death. In Portscatho, Cornwall, a young girl is about to be chosen to become a wise woman.


Kensa is a strong-willed young girl. She is stubborn and wears the face of her father, a pirate executed for his crimes. Her half-sister, Elowen, is fair-haired and good-natured. Some in the town treat Kensa as though she is responsible for her father’s crimes. Kensa herself lives with a chip on her shoulder, brought on by the loss of her father. Not to mention living with her step-father who treats her as though she’s a burden.


One day when Kensa is supposed to be watching her sister, Elowen escapes and runs to the sea. When Kensa finds her, Elowen is standing with a giant sea creature. When the local wise women Isolde asks who found the creature first, Kensa says she did. Thus begins Kensa’s journey to become the next wise woman of Portscatho. 


Along the way, Kensa will encounter a lot of challenges, love, anger, and loss. 


The book dives into Cornish folklore, sea creatures, and mythology. Honestly I did struggle through the first part of the book, which details Kensa’s and Elowen’s childhood. I found the first part of the novel painfully slow, but understood that it was necessary to understand what was to come. The second part of the book flew by for me. While the first part was a slow burn, the second a raging wildfire. 


It’s a beautifully written novel. Loved the history of this part of England with its superstitions and traditions. 


Definitely a novel to be savored, not devoured. 

By Matthew F Jones
** Publication Date 27 January 2026 **
​3.5 stars


Sometimes you read a novel and you aren’t quite sure how you feel about it at the end. This novel had my head spinning, and I really don’t know how much I liked it. I suppose the fact that I hung on until the very end means something. 


Spinks is a former Marine, current insurance salesman with a side gig selling marijuana. One night after a visit to a client’s property off Black Cat Hollow Road, he comes across a young girl. The young girl stumbles out of the forest and up to his truck. When another vehicle approaches, Spinks grabs the girl and hauls her into the truck.


From there, everything becomes kind of a blur. The story hops back and forth between Spinks time in Afghanistan, his current place and time, and before, the time with his wife and daughter. It becomes a confusing mix of reality and fantasy and not knowing what’s real. I think what keeps the reader going through all this is to try to sort the reality from fiction or the hallucinations of a madman. Because there were times while reading this that I had to reread a sentence or paragraph several times just to understand it. 


We know Spinks suffered greatly in Afghanistan. We know that his current situation whether real or imagined sucks. Perhaps you will have a better understanding when you reach the end.


Not quite a mystery. Not quite horror. Not sure what I truly think.

By Annie Summerlee
** Publication Date 13 January 2026 **
​4 stars




If you had the opportunity to attend a university that was previously only open to vampires, would you? As a human would you risk your own life to live and study amongst them? Knowing that they are humane vampires. They drink synthetic blood. They do not feed from humans. Would that make you more comfortable with your surroundings?


Rebecca Charity is a vampire hunter who is going to attend such a university. As an undercover agent of Callisto, the vampire hunting organization, Rebecca is going to try to find a mysterious book. All of this she will do because she wants to know who killed her parents. It was vampires after all. 


Only what undercover Rebecca is going to find, is a vampire roommate that she finds herself attracted to, rather than repelled by. She finds vampires and other humans that are more like friends than anything she’s ever had. Which will definitely lead her to be very confused and unsure about her previous mission - locating this mysterious book and possibly doing away with the people she’s befriended.


Really amazing novel that while dealing with vampires vs humans, really shows us that underneath the labels are still people. Rebecca and the strikingly beautiful Aliz will tread dangerous ground as enemies and maybe even frenemies and more. It will make you think about the labels that are ascribed to us, which sometimes don’t describe us at all. They just lump us in with everyone else. It will make you question the motives of people you think are your friends, even family, when they ask you to do something.


This novel leaves us on a cliffhanger, which can only mean there is a second novel coming. Not an easy ask as this cliffhanger is a doozy.


Definitely recommend. 

By Emily Austin
** Publication Date 13 Jan 2026 **
​4 stars


Darcy is a librarian. A gay, married, blue-haired librarian. She recently went through a mental crisis brought on by her ex-boyfriend’s sudden death. Darcy has just returned to work at the library when a man watching porn on a library computer sparks a heated battle for the rights of library patrons. This combination of situations going on in Darcy’s life makes her therapy sessions rather productive.


Joy, Darcy’s wife, is very supportive. But Joy’s sister has just given birth and needs Joy with her during these early days. Darcy is going to have to navigate the current challenges in both hers and Joy’s lives long distance. 


A really lovely book about mental health and love. Darcy is truly trying to find who she is and how to process the feelings she had for her ex Ben. The background fodder of a conservative writer and protestor versus the more liberal and progressive public library brings to light a lot of issues going on in the world today. The novel brings together opposing viewpoints to perhaps teach us a bit about tolerance. 


I enjoyed this book immensely. 

By Jeff Rake and Rob Hart
** Publication Date 13 January 2026 **
​4 stars




I love books that twist your brain in numerous ways. Rob Hart is a master of this, with his previous books such as Assassin’s Anonymous and The Paradox Hotel. Jeff Rake comes from an entertainment background with shows like Manifest. So it’s no wonder that this novel will rattle you.


John Ward is a billionaire. Richest man in the world. I could make parallels here, but I’ll refrain. Let’s just say he has all the money to do pretty much whatever he wants, and own both people and property. He’s currently working on a mission to send humans to Titan, a moon of Saturn. The earth is dying. Humans need a backup plan. Titan is Ward’s backup plan.


Ward has created a ship that very much resembles the ship from the movie The Martian. A ship that will house the astronauts as they live and work in space on their way to the far reaches. It travels much faster than any other ship in history, getting the astronauts there in a year and back in a year. 


The people chosen for this mission are three stellar and experienced astronauts - Mike, Della, and Alonso. The remaining three are an astrophysicist, Padma, who was the one originally credited with finding Titan more hospitable than Mars; Stitch, a graffiti artist with a Mensa brain who was chosen by lottery; and Ryan Crane, who saved Ward’s life. These six people will have to navigate their way through space and time to drop a satellite in Titan’s orbit before another mission heads there in a few years.


While the astronauts train and become a cohesive unit, Ward has his own goings on. He is running for president. Of course he has skeletons. And out there is a man named Lerner that has some suppositions of his own about this journey to space.


This was the first book of a series, as it does end with ‘to be continued.’ While I would have loved to wrap this wild tale up at the end of one book, more than one will certainly do it way more justice. The first part of the book really just gives us insight into the lives of these six humans prior to the space expedition. Each one has their own messed up lives, so we get to know all about them. And Ward. But then you hit the time in space and after, and it then gets really interesting. 


Fans of sci-fi and concepts of multiple or alternate universes will love this one. If you enjoyed any of Hart’s previous novels, this one follows a similar pattern of chaos, keeping you on the edge of your seat.


Cannot wait for the next installment.