By Ova Ceren
** Publication Date 26 August 2025 **
​4 stars


Folklore, or legends, or fables, or fairy tales all contain some element of morals. Ethical lessons. This is a retelling of a Turkish tale about a maiden and her tower. How she was imprisoned to save her life. 


Sare’s mother fled Turkey for reasons unknown to Sare. Now almost 18, Sare has had her fill of heartbreak. Each time, her guardian angel Munu has been able to save her. But Sare is running out of heartbreaks. After her mother passes suddenly, she suffers her fourth heartbreak. If she has a fifth, she will die. If she makes it to 18, she will lose her heart forever, but will live as well. It’s a conundrum no one wants to encounter. 


In steps her long lost grandfather, a man she thought was dead. He arranges for her to return to her mother’s homeland of Istanbul. Sare has no one else. And being under the age of 18 is subject to becoming a ward of the state until her birthday. Reluctantly, Sare accepts and heads to her mother’s former home. 


But her grandfather isn’t kind or warm. Sare is essentially locked in her room there with nothing to make her happy. However, this might be a way to make it to her birthday without another heartbreak. Until she meets Leon, a neighbor, and her heart starts fluttering for a completely different reason. 


Will Leon be her undoing? Or will Sare be able to break the curse that has determined Sare’s future one way or another? This ancient curse is going to rock the heavens and those running things. 


Such a captivating tale. Romance, fantasy, and mystery all collide to tell this ancient story of love and betrayal. Sare is a very likable heroine. Leon is an adorable hero. You can’t help but love them and what they stand for. Beautifully written and composed. I was just enthralled at the suspense of what would happen to Sare and Leon. Add in the snippets of the old book of curses and the correspondence between those in the ethereal realm, and you have a mesmerizing story. 


Truly a fun and fascinating story. 

By Nicole Lesperance
** Publication Date  26 August 2025 **
​4 stars




Witchcraft and paganism is more popular than ever, especially with young women. This book tackles the subject with two teenage girls, who are more than practiced in the art. Out on Cape Cod, they cast a spell found on the internet, with severely unintended consequences.


Mazzy and Nora are the best of friends. Outcasts for the way they dress and the fact that they are practicing witches. Mazzy is the practical one. Known for being down to earth and responsible. Nora is more flighty and dramatic. Yin and yang. So when Nora wants to cast an unknown spell under a full moon at the beach, Mazzy has her doubts. Rather than be the buzzkill, Mazzy goes along with it. And they bring Elliot, the third part of their group, with them. 


The spell doesn’t seem to do much, but then they discover a body. A woman, washed up on shore. It’s bad enough to find the body, but then the discovery consumes Mazzy and Nora, and they are convinced they have to solve the mystery. Just that they have no idea what they are up against.


This was a fabulous novel about youth and expectations and figuring out who you are. I love these coming of age novels that immerse you in something other than your own experiences. Mazzy tries so hard to be the responsible one to balance out the frivolous Nora. While this is a YA novel, it was so good. I truly believe that YA is for everyone. Capture a little bit of youth once again.

Really well constructed, this novel takes you into the flexible and willing minds of young women. Shows you that even what is so well-intentioned is sometimes very dangerous. Also, that looks can be deceiving. What you think you know so well, isn’t always what’s fact. People can surprise you in ways you never expected. 


Loved it. 

By Paula Sanders
** Publication Date 26 August 2025 **
​4 stars


A coming of age tale of pursuing your dream and the stumbling blocks along the way.


Rene is a young girl with a gift for ballet. She’s grown up in a small town in South Dakota, but dreams of being a prima ballerina someday. When her local teacher retires and moves away, Rene is bereft, lost without someone to guide her in her training. So follows several cities and several homes and many unexpected follies. Rene hasn’t even finished high school but has been around the block. 


This novel touches on what it takes to pursue what your heart desires more than anything. While for Rene it is ballet, you could substitute your dream for Rene’s and most of us have been there. Told with honesty and pain and triumph, Starting from Here takes us through several years of a young, naive girl’s life in the 1970s.


While I did love most of this novel, some of it was hard to take. There were times that I felt as though Rene’s family had forsaken her completely - sending her off to other states to live with people they didn’t know and situations that she never should have been subjected to. Yet, then there is Rene’s desire to do this one thing - dance. Maybe the family was just doing what they could to help her escape her small town life.


This novel was so beautifully composed and presented. I loved the shorter chapters that really captured a moment in time. The only two characters that were fully formed were Rene and her mother Eve, though that’s all I felt you really needed. The remainder of the characters were simply supporting cast members seen through Rene’s eyes.


I read this book in two sittings, which points to how engrossing it is. I enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it. 

By Stephanie Reents
** Publication Date 26 August 2025 **
4 stars



I was a runner. When you’re a runner, you understand what makes people run. Is it the endorphins? The feeling of isolation? The freedom? I don’t know, but I understand what this book conveyed about running.


For a group of young women in college, running consumes their lives during the cross-country season. Every morsel of food that goes in their mouths is counted. Every moment of their lives is focused on the next workout, the next race. For Kristin, her season is being consumed by control. If she can win races, she is in control. Danielle, a senior and team captain, is still fighting demons from her freshman year she would like to forget. Chloe is looking for connection to her teammates, but sometimes she doesn’t understand how to be friends. Harriet is in love. Liv, also in love, but worried. Patricia just misses her pueblo in New Mexico.


The story mostly focuses on Danielle and Kristin. Danielle’s nurturing qualities make her an excellent team leader, until they don’t. Kristin had an awful experience over the summer that she’s trying to outrun. But you can’t outrun or forget the terrible things that happen to you. You have to make peace with them. This is the focus of the novel.


It’s an amazing tale of female companionship, love, relationships, maturing. Watching the women evolve over the course of a season isn’t much time, but so much happens to them. Each of them grows and matures in so many ways. 


The first part of the novel moves rather slowly, and I did worry that I wasn’t going to become engaged with the characters. But as the story unfolds, it becomes so interesting. You want to know why Kristin is so focused and in some ways, so angry. What is Danielle suppressing? Their personal tales make you want to continue to move forward and see if there is any resolution for any of them.


Beautifully written. The end of the novel captures the essence of what these girls live for, running. This novel is about so much more than just the act of putting one foot in front of the other. Although, that is what life is about. Putting one foot in front of the other no matter what. 


Definitely recommend. So happy that I read this one.

By Kerryn Mayne
​** Publication Date 19 August 2025 **
4 stars




Time travel is one of the things that most of us would love to try. For Joy Moody, she knows that her twins will be leaving her someday to travel to the future and save the world. She has raised her girls to know they’ll be going on their 20th birthdays. Only her girls don’t share the belief.


Cassiopeia and Andromeda were born nearly 21 years ago. Raised by their mum Joy, they’ve always known they have a bigger purpose in life. To return to the year 2050 and save the world. Only as they get closer to the time of their impending travel, their mother seems to become more unstable. Cassie, the more compliant twin, is prepared, but nervous. Andie is the twin most likely to rebel, and she’s starting to.


They live in a suburb of Melbourne, just a short way from the beach. Their little house is behind their mum’s shop, Joyful Suds, a laundromat. The girls have always worked in the laundromat - folding clothes, cleaning, taking orders. Joy is a rather strict disciplinarian. The twins are not allowed to wander far from home, they’ve never gone to a traditional school, and they have no television, mobile phones, or computers. Other than traveling to the future, these two are not prepared for life. 


So when they find Joy dead one morning, their lives are turned upside down, and they are forced to learn how to be independent. 


Great story. So fascinating how isolated the two girls were growing up and how immature they truly were for being 21. The series of events that lead to Joy’s passing are told in current time and the past. How Joy comes to take care of the twins, the conviction she has of going to the future, the twins reluctance to go. It’s all so fascinating the way that Mayne has put this tale together. Interesting premise and execution. 


Definitely recommend.