You can only come up with so many unique titles, guys.
Anyhow! Part seven of this series. Here’s the link to part six, which has the link to five, which has the link to four, and you can probably fill in the rest. As a quick note, all five of these books were choices I made for my 2026 Book Bingo. You can find my intro article here, and stay tuned in the coming months for my article where I briefly discuss all 25 selected books for that.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Hazelthorn – C.G. Drews – 4 Stars
Having read and discussed another Drews book, Don’t Let the Forest In, I was excited to read this one. More queer longing and botanical horror? Yes please! It’s safe to say, I wasn’t disappointed.
While this book didn’t blow me away, it did check the boxes I was looking for. It centers on Evander, a troubled and ill boy who lives in the secluded Hazelthorn estate after the death of his parents. He is cared for, his health conditions treated, and he follows the rules. He cannot leave, he cannot explore the gardens, and he cannot spend time with Laurie, the grandson of his guardian. But Laurie knows things about Evander and the estate. Evander is haunted by the fading memories he has of Laurie, where there is dirt in his mouth and death close at hand.
When the master of the estate dies and Evander is named as the heir, all eyes turn to him. Suddenly, he is free to explore and attempt to piece together the mysteries of Hazelthorn. Was Lord Byron murdered? Can any of his family be trusted? Why do the gardens call to him? Why does Laurie want to help, when seven years ago, he tried to kill Evander?
Most of the book centers on Laurie and Evander figuring out what happened to Lord Byron, while they navigate the rest of the family, who want the manor and inheritance to themselves. Of course, the two boys also wrestle with their complicated past, their heightened emotional states, and the secrets they are keeping from one another. It was a lot of fun to have so many questions all at once, since answers were slowly fed to you along the way. I never had to wait painfully long for a reveal.
One of the best parts of the book was the slow dissent into the madness of the mystery. The more Evander learns, the worse he feels. And as he feels worse, he gets literally swallowed up in it all. He’s suffocated by vines and chocked by the truth. While this book isn’t hard-core horror, the descriptions of the spreading plants and the way they interact with Evander was nice and haunting.
Like I said, I quite liked this book. There were some parts of the pacing I wasn’t sold on, and some of the reveals were a touch confusing/anti-climactic, but none of my ‘issues’ were glaring enough to give this book anything lower than four stars. I easily recommend it to anyone wanting some plant-based horror in their life.
The Witch Haven – Sasha Peyton Smith – 3.75 Stars
I’ve read and revied another book by this author, The Rose Bargain, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I wanted to check out another one of her projects while waiting for The Thorn Queen, so I picked up The Witch Haven! Again, it didn’t wow me, but I don’t have too much to poke at, so it gets the modest 3.75 stars. Let’s get into it.
This book is about Frances Hallowell, a girl living in New York City in 1911. She works as a seamstress, and is mourning the recent death of her brother when the novel starts. She’s convinced her brother was murdered, but has learned very little about his death. To make things worse, while working late one night, her boss tries to take advantage of her. During the stress of the assault, Frances’s scissors fly through the air and stab him, killing him on the spot. Frances does her best to clean the crime scene, but knows that the police may still pin the murder on her.
As police officers are attempting to question her after the body is found, an ambulance pulls up, claiming Frances has tuberculosis, and most join them at a sanitarium upstate. Frances flees with them and learns that they are witches, who sensed her magic awakening and have come to rescue her and train her to harness her newfound magic. Frances begins her studies at Haxahaven, an academy that teaches girls like her to use their magic without letting it overpower them. Frances enjoys her studies, finding fellowship in the other girls, but she soon becomes entangled with a boy named Finn, who also has magic, and may know something about the death of her brother.
The book is more than just a magical school book, as Francis explores the city with Finn and learns about the gentleman’s club that he is a part of. She learns about her brother’s connections to it, and that the club is entangled with male magicians who have great ambitions with their power. And with Francis’s. It shines some light onto gendered power dynamics of the time, and how those deemed lesser need to go to great lengths in order to rise up.
I liked the magic school aspects of this book, and think it used the time period well. there are discussions of the industrial revolution, the dangers of city life, the Woman’s Suffrage movement, immigration, and more, that add to the plot without bogging it down. I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the twists, and thought the ending was a little meh, but I know there is a sequel and I think it may alleviate some of my gripes should I read it. This book had far more ups than downs and is worth picking up if you crave some magic and some mystery.
Flowerheart – Catherine Bakewell – 3 Stars
This book was okay. Maybe I need to put it lower, but it wasn’t a bad book, just predictable and repetitive. Let’s dive in.
Clara is a witch, but she’s really bad at it. She’s had several mentors and many years to hone her magic, but it is unpredictable and literally grows wild. The council of magic decides that for her own good, they need to dampen her magic to avoid causing any issues. The news is obviously very hard to hear, and it starts the precedent for the thing Clara does the most in this books: cry. Seriously. She spends most of it either in tears or on the brink of tears.
Anyways. As if to prove the council right, Clara accidentally curses her father, causing poisonous azaleas to bloom in his heart. If Clara can’t find a way to bless him and get rid of the blooms, he will die, and the council will likely strip her of all of her magic.
Clara is forced to confide in her childhood friend Xavier, who she has grown distant from. Xavier is on the council, and agrees to a deal: He will help train her to cast the blessing, in exchange for her transferring her magic to him. Clara feels she is forced to accept, beginning her training.
This book feels a little off pacing and tonally. Some parts feel rushed, while others feel dreadfully slow. The stakes feel very low, somehow, despite her dad being bedridden and sick. I personally would not feel like rekindling my feelings for a boy while knowing my dad is on the brink of death. And there’s a weird secondary plotline about a magical potion that is taking over the minds of all those who drink it, making them feel like emotionless husks, and it’s a metaphor for depression somehow? The emotions are all over the place, magic is inconsistent, and I didn’t feel attached to either one of the characters.
There’s also a whole plot about Clara’s mom being an outcast witch, who uses magic with little to no care for what happens around her. Her mom blessed/cursed Clara with her powerful magic, so she can somewhat be blamed for the events of the book. But Clara seeing her mom felt like such a anti-climactic moment after the whole book, because her mom doesn’t really do anything wrong? She mostly just lets people make the decisions they want to, even if they’re risky, because they deserve to have their own autonomy (even if that means they drink the euphoria potion that eventually turns them catatonic).
Do you see what I mean? There were some cool concepts here, and the heart of the novel is in the right place, but there was a lot that I would have changed or liked to see done a little differently. Still, I didn’t mind it, and think for a debut novel, it holds up well. I’ll keep an eye on Bakewell to see what she does next.
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter – Heather Fawcett – 5 Stars
You likely know how much I like Heather Fawcett’s books, if you’ve read my other book review articles. I think she’s a great author, and she has a great talent for combining good characters with well crafted worlds and unique magic systems. And this book was no different.
This book is about Agnes, a well-organized woman who runs her own cat shelter. She does her best to take care of the cats, find them owners, and keep her business running. Until some stray magic from a pair of dueling magicians destroys her storefront, forcing her to find a new place to rent. Agnes eventually comes to rent in open building owned by the mysterious Havelock Renard, even though the deal seems too good to be true. Because it is. In the cellar, Havelock entertains mysterious clientele, and strange magics keep happening in and around the shop.
Agnes has a slight disdain for magic after her shop blew up and all, and she wants to ensure that her cats are safe, She eventually confronts Havelock, and discovers that he may or may not be responsible for the almost-apocalypse that happened a few years earlier. Overtime, Agnes begins to understand the eccentric magician, and learns that he mostly wants a peaceful life, and he would, if it weren’t for his nefarious sister, who wants a magical artefact that she thinks is in his posession.
Desiring some more organization and proof that the artefact is not in fact in the shop, Agnes begins to organize the cellar, and in turn, becomes more familiar with the usage of magic. Here is where two of my favorite parts of the book come into play: Agnes’s character growth, and the magic system. You see, Agnes doesn’t have any major tragic reason to distruct magic (other than the shop burning). It wasn’t the cause of her late husband’s death, she didn’t have a traumatic encounter with a wizard, and she isn’t prejudiced against it. It’s just uncomfortable because it’s new. She learns to use minor artefacts and appreciate magic, getting closer to Havelock all the while.
He explains to her that the magicians are able to wield magic only through the usage of atrefacts, which they enchant with all manner of abilities. They’re almost more artificers than they are traditional magicians, and I thought it was a unique system. Eventually, Agnes gets more involved with the magical elements of the world and wnats to help Havelock not just for the sake of her cats and the shop, but because she wants to, as well.
I’m rambling, and I won’t spoil more of the book for you. But suffice it to say, I really enjoyed it. I thought the romance was perfectly paced and wonderfully simple, I liked Agnes as a character and found her relatable, and the plot was enjoyable in both its execution and directness. And, of course, for all of the cats.
The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden – 4.5 Stars
I really enjoyed what this book had to offer. I’ve done a few reviews on books before that touched on Slavic folklore (Where the Dark Stands Still and This Fatal Kiss), and while the folklore aspects of those books were interesting, the novels themselves fell flat for me. Imagine my pleasure when this book was chock-full of folklore, and was a delight to read!
This book is about Vasilisa, a girl who lives with her family at the edge of the wilderness in 14th century Russia. She has been raised on tales of forest spirits and demons, which hevaily influenced her already wild nature. She believes in the spirits, and even learns to speak to them.
Her father eventually remarries, both to have a mother to raise Vasya, and for political benefit for his family. His new wife, Anna, has been plagued with visions of demons and spirits, and quickly forbids Vasya from communing with them. She sees them as pure evil, rather than creatures of nature. Vasya must worship in secret, in order to protect their land, which is falling to the frost. To make things harder for the villiage, a new priest, Father Konstantin, is sent to their villiage church, and he agrees with Anna. Soon, the whole villiage turns their back on the spirits that they should be honoring.
This book has a lot of lovely conversations about modern religion versus pagan beliefs. It effectiveley blended the two without being offensive to either, letting both beliefs exsist through Vasya.
Eventually, Vasya’s rebellious ways land her in more and more trouble. Anna threatens to send Vasya to a convent, which would leave their home unprotected from the growing danger in the woods. Vasya leaves, and becomes accquanited with Morozko, one of the beings from her childhood stories. He teaches her more about magic and how she can withstand the dangers of his brother, whom they refer to as The Bear. Vasya will go on to save her home with his help, but at the cost of the trust of the villiagers, who see her as a being of the forest now.
I could go on and on in detail about more of the things I liked, but I think this book needs to be experienced. I’ve been a fan of Russian culture since I took a class on it in middle school, I’ve appreciated the language through my dad, who lived in Russia for a time, and I’ve grown to enjoy the folklore of the region as I’ve become more and more engrossed in fairy tales. It makes me really want to dig into the actual historical tales, many of which are featured in this novel. I look forward to jumping into the second book soon.
And there we have it! The first set of reviews since the infamous book bracket. It’s good to be back. As always, be sure to check out the previous reviews, and thanks for reading!
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