I love it when books have a mix of genres. The Monsters We Defy is such a great mix of historical fiction and fantasy. Set in the 1920s in Washington DC, some characters and events in the book were actually inspired by real life. I’m not at all familiar with what happened in DC around this time, and while a fictional book isn’t the best source, learning about it was still really cool!

Before we get to the review part, here’s something fun. To get in the right mindset of the book, I made a mood board for it! The book is super cute and cozy and witchy and that’s what I tried to convey with this mood board. I loved making it, and I definitely want to make more! Let me know if that’s something you’d like to see.

The two of us are super excited to bring you a cover reveal today for one of our highly anticipated books! The book is The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard. The UK cover has already been revealed, so today we get to show you the US cover!

The biggest pull this book had on me was its title – how controversial is it to say you’re glad your mom died? And then I saw who wrote it and became even more intrigued. I knew of Jennette McCurdy through iCarly, a show my sister and I watched on Nickelodeon when we were younger. I always liked Jennette’s character, Sam – she was rambunctious, loved food, and was often a great source of comic relief. On the outside, it would seem that Jennette had it all. Who wouldn’t love to be famous and be a co-star on a popular show? It wasn’t until I read her memoir that I learned she actually hated acting, and it was her mom’s dream, not hers.

I’m probably the last person who should be starting another series considering I’m already in the middle of many others BUT… how could I not read this? I’m always on the look out for diverse books because my shelf has been dominated by white authors for a long time, soo I’ve been doing my best to read and champion BIPOC voices when I can.