By John Fram
** Publication Date 21 October 2025 **
​4 stars


I love books that take you on an unexpected journey. Where concepts of time and space are just blown away. Where nothing is as it seems and even the format of the book is simply crazy. The Midnight Knock is one of these.


Ethan and Hunter are traveling from Ethan’s home in Ellersby, West Texas, when they stop at a diner. Ethan has an encounter with a really strange man in a gabardine suit that has seen better days. The man tells Ethan things that are odd and frightening. 


Fernanda and Kyla are also traveling down the same road. They pass the diner where Ethan and Hunter left shortly before them. They do not stop. They continue down the road.


Somewhere along this road Ethan and Hunter run out of gas. They stop on the side of the road underneath a sign that tells them a motel is 5 miles ahead with gas and food. They begin to walk. Fernanda and Kyla pass them, but do not stop for them. Eventually they will all reach the motel.


This is no ordinary motel. And the things that will happen there will make little to no sense at all. The four travelers will be joined by others - the twins who run the motel, Stanley and his granddaughter Penelope, Sarah the physicist, Ryan Phan, and of course, the man in the gabardine suit. It is in this motel that time will bend, creatures will appear, and death will come. Again and again. 


Wild and weird and terrifying and haunting. This is a book like no other. I’m sometimes blown away by the creativity that some writers have. The way that they can catch you in a novel and trap you there. Your mind cannot let it go. This is one of those. The format of the novel will throw you at first, but then you’ll catch on. There are so many surprises throughout the story. The people you least expect to be your heroes, somehow will be. 


A little bit of fantasy, a little bit of horror, a little bit of suspense, and a lot of brilliant writing. Absolutely recommend. 

By John Hornor Jacobs
** Publication Date 7 October 2025 **
​4 stars


I finished this book in record time for me. Like literally the same day. That’s how crazy good I thought it was. What a page turner. Couldn’t wait to see what happened next. 


Samantha Vineyard is a sailor. Owner of her own boat, she runs charters. At least she did. Until the boat was forced into dry dock for major repairs. Which Samantha currently can’t afford. Samantha is also an alcoholic when she’s on land. Or she is now with her boat in dry dock.


So when her old sailing pal Loick contacts her to be the chief engineer on a boat destined for the UK, she can’t turn down the pay. Loick stoically announces that the boat is haunted. He also says that is just to drum up interest in the boat. Samantha laughs it off. And then she meets the Blackwatch. 


This boat has a history, and the longer that “Vines” is on the boat, the more she starts to believe the haunted aspect. Strange things start happening. Voices are heard. Strange shadows appear. Maybe the boat isn’t so innocent after all.


Great novel. Perfect for spooky season. Jacobs definitely catches the attention of the reader and keeps you wondering what’s next through the novel. I spent the entire day glued to it. Blew my mind the kind of absolute craziness going on. It wasn’t a terribly long novel which suited me just fine. Sometimes it’s better to get to the good stuff and see what happens, than drag the book out for extra pages. 


For the horror, suspense crowd, I think it’s a must read. 

By Iva-Marie Palmer
** Publication Date 30 September 2025 **
4 stars



Some of us love the cheesy tropes of Hallmark movies. I mean, what is better than watching a movie that you know is going to turn out to be the perfect romance?


In Christmas People, Jill Jacobs doesn’t consider herself a Christmas person. After all, she broke up with her ‘perfect’ man right before Christmas, moved herself out to Los Angeles, and has staunchly avoided her hometown since. When Jill finds herself alone for Christmas, her mom only has to apply a little pressure to get Jill to come home. 


But things don’t go as planned for Jill. She runs into her ex. She runs into her high school crush. And she basically finds herself immersed in a “Heartfelt” movie. She has to figure out how to escape and get back to her real life before things get more topsy turvy.


Super cute novel that is ideal for holiday reading. It’s not perfect - like a Hallmark movie - Jill is anything but perfect. But the concept of Hallmark movies and how they portray the perfect romance, usually with some humor, is the cornerstone of this great holiday novel. 


Jill is a mess. Her layers run deep with self-loathing, but she is 100% redeemable. Her parents are adorable. This is not a picture-perfect family at all. They have serious flaws, but they are real. The story covers both reality and rom-com, and blends them into a wonderful novel.


I greatly enjoyed this one and suggest you pick it up for reading with a cup of hot cocoa and a homemade “messy Santa."

By Lydia Gregovic
** Publication Date 30 September 2025 **
​5 stars


In the land of Balmoore live silkwitches. Their hair is magical. Silkwitches have until the age of 21 to be wed to Weavers, a line of sorcerer men, who will use their hair to weave Magesilk. Should the silkwitches not find a Weaver husband before their 21st birthdays, they are sent to the Cloisters, to spin magesilk. But then they are never seen of again.


Lovett Tamerlane is a silkwitch. Born into a life that deemed her unacceptable, she escaped to the city where she now uses her Wit, opening doors, to steal from wealthier families. Until she meets a handsome stranger, Eliot Lear. Eliot proposes that she be entered into the Vainglory, a competition to find a silkwitch wife for the most eligible bachelor, the son of the Weaver King. 


Lear’s motives are simple. His sister Ophelia died during the Vainglory the previous year, and he wants to know who is responsible. If Lovett can solve the mystery of Ophelia’s death, Lear will find Lovett a suitable Weaver to marry. But if she fails, so many things can happen that might find Lovett in the Cloisters, or worse. 


This novel was enchanting. Lovett is a fierce woman who thinks she always has the upper hand. Until she meets Eliot. Their companionship will bring both to their knees, but in the end, Lovett truly has one goal, win the Vainglory and become the bride of Noé Alaire. While Eliot does wish to know his sister’s murderer, he will find working with Lovett maddening. They are two extraordinarily stubborn people. 


So many characters with dominant personalities. Men who have had pretty much everything handed to them on silver platters. Silkwitches who have grown up on the right side of the tracks and know that the Cloisters will likely never be their fates. I loved this novel. I loved the intrigue of the Vainglory. Not so much the actual competition, but how the challenges were handled. I loved how fearless Lovett could be, even at the risk of her own life. 


What I didn’t love? Knowing I will have to wait for the next book to know how this one is going to play out. 


If you love fantasy with a lot of intrigue, this novel should be something you’d enjoy. It has all the elements. Mystery, catty women, beautiful aloof men, romance, crime. Very long, but worth every page.

By Sophie Sullivan
** Publication Date 23 September 2025 **
​4 stars


I am a confessed hockey-aholic. Why have I not read a hockey romance before this one? Good question, but better late than never.


Maisie is a photographer. Not just any photographer, but a very well respected one, who is booked out a year in advance for events. She has an older brother, Jacob, and an older sister, Natalie. Both are married. Jacob is a lawyer. Natalie a veterinarian. And Natalie is pregnant with their first child. 


This year the whole family is headed to a Christmas tree farm for the holidays. The farm belongs to Jacob’s husband’s close friend Ellie. Ellie was recently divorced and moved to the farm to both live and work. She has a 4 year old named Asher.


Maisie is looking forward to the holidays with her family, but is also dreading that she will be with her parents, who feel she’s never achieved her full potential. Little does she know that Ellie has an older brother, Nick, who Maisie has met before. In fact, not only met before, but someone Maisie felt was possibly her future. 


With all of this going on, Maisie doesn’t know how she’s going to handle this holiday with her family, her extended family, and now these new friends, one of whom ghosted her. Just a tad bit of tension for the holidays! 


I’ve been reading a bunch of dark, mystery or horror novels, and this was like a breath of fresh air. I absolutely loved Maisie. Loved Nick. Loved their backstory. Each one of them definitely has baggage, but then, who doesn’t. Each one of these characters feels like a real person. Everything about this novel just charmed me to the core. I am not a crier, but I definitely teared up at sections of this. The mom with her passive-aggressive attitude towards Maisie’s life choices. Maisie’s worry over Nick. It was a romance novel, but with a lot of reality tossed in. There is just so much to love about it. 


Look, romance novels are what they are. You either love them or hate them. Personally, I think that this novel was the perfect amount of spice, romance, and real life. It was fun. It was endearing. I would definitely recommend it.