Genre: New Adult

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Entangled: Mayhem Books. Part two of Nisha J. Tuli’s Storm Breaker series, Storm Caller picks up after the first book’s high‑energy and cliffhanger ending. Featuring more overt dystopian elements, this book leans away from the typical academy setting and training arc, instead focusing on heavy world‑building that substantially expands the scope of the story far beyond New Manhattan. While this novel continues the signature storm motif and builds on the first book’s dystopian elements, it can unfortunately feel less balanced and lacking notable progression, giving it a transitional and somewhat underwhelming feel in addition to having a more juvenile tone. Following Poet’s escape through the tunnels with Rook, Storm Caller sees her outside New Manhattan and into The Wastes. While the first book largely consists of a traditional academy training arc common in YA books, this one switches up the formula and focuses on expanding the world outside the protected city. As the second book in a now‑planned trilogy, it carries much of the burden of expanding the lore: life and culture in The Wastes, the history and conflicts with New Manhattan, General Sol’s spark‑channeling ability, and exploration of…

What do you get when you take the concept of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, add in the family business and fatherly mysteries of Supernatural, and wrap it up with the warded magical academy from Fate: The Winx Saga? Besides a whole lot of CW-esque teen drama nostalgia, you end up with a rough synopsis of Half City by Kate Golden. An urban paranormal romantasy about eldritch slaying wrapped up in modern BookTok tropes, it’s an entertaining read that features solid action, interesting mystery elements, and new adult/adult academy storylines. It’s not the type of book that’s going to win a literary award or break the romantasy mold with its fairly generic elements, but it’s a fun and casual brain-off kind of read provided one can overlook its inconsistent writing and its weak early chapters. Usually when writing my reviews, I follow a rough template that roughly covers the book’s story, then notable positive highlights, followed by possible drawbacks or weak elements. However, when reviewing Half City, it makes more sense to flip it around as the majority of the book’s weaknesses are most notable and evident early on. Pitched as an urban paranormal romantasy book with demon slaying and a…

Set point, forty‑love to Austin Hardy’s intrusive thoughts. The Open Era by Edward Schmit is a wonderfully written queer lit novel that doubles as a sports romance book. Covering difficult topics such as mental health and anxiety, grief and familial loss, and finding one’s confidence beneath stadium spotlights and public judgment, Schmit serves and delivers an ace of a debut novel (I know these puns are bad, just let me roll with it). Humorous, relatable, and romantic when it wants to be, this book is incredibly wholesome and warm in all the right ways. A sports romance with actual sports content and a book of queer joy without feeling contrived or sanitized, The Open Era is a brilliantly written novel that I picked up and wouldn’t put down until I finished it. “Anxiety wrecks me almost daily. It makes me question everything. It makes me believe things that aren’t true. It makes me spiral. It knocks me out. Falling in love does all those things too. At this point it’s all the same.” Sporting one of the most beautiful and striking covers of the year, The Open Era was one of my most anticipated queer titles. While I don’t consider…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Entangled: Mayhem Books. The faction-based training of Divergent crossed with the adrenaline rush and energy of storm chasing, Nisha J. Tuli’s YA debut Storm Breaker is an engaging dystopian book that successfully invokes all the elements that made the 2010’s post-apocalypse era so popular. Featuring a well-crafted plot and a unique take on Manhattan that’s both futuristic and retro, Storm Breaker is a solid story that nicely mixes cadet training, societal conflict, academy life, and some romance within a snappily paced book. While it inevitably also features some of the common drawbacks such as conflicting plot devices and perplexing dueling factions that many YA dystopian books struggle with, Storm Breaker is still a lot of fun to read and more importantly, does enough to differentiate itself from the excessive trend of YA trial stories. Set in a post-apocalyptic and futuristic version of Manhattan, Poet Graves is enrolled and set to attend Amery Academy. The last sanctuary in a world destroyed by ecological disaster and raging storms, the city is divided into four factions or houses that serve different roles in this constrained and resource limited city. The daughter of…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by St. Martin’s Press. Like a fluffy sweater on a breezy Fall day or a sugar-spiked pumpkin spice latte, take your pick of equally appropriate autumn metaphor, the Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky is a warm-hearted and sweet M/M contemporary romance / queer literature book. Inspired by The Invisible Man genre-swapped, this book crosses boyband pop star music with scientific inquiry and the charm of the rural New England bay islands. A story about self-worth, values, family, and what it means to be seen, the Invisible Roommate is a wonderfully pleasant book that’s the perfect weekend kind of read. “…life was not about having everyone notice you; it was about finding the one person who would see you and love you even when you were at your most invisible.” Pitched as the Invisible Man meets Love is Blind, the book follows Gerard Well, a popstar boyband member who has flown to rural Iping Island in the Chesapeake Bay to get away from the mental pressure and stress associated with stardom. Following the lyrics of a childhood favorite song Island State of Mind by a folk duo Hallowitz & Hart, Gerard…