Lightfall
The Everlands Trilogy #1
Ed Crocker

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pub Date: Jan. 14th, 2025
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Genre: High Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
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Synopsis:


No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.

(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)

'Lightfall' by Ed Crocker single-handedly did something no other book has ever done. It convinced me that I've been making a mistake by insisting on finishing books whether or not I enjoy them. Not only is it a waste of my time, it makes me not want to read at all for awhile because I've forced myself to finish what I started and been miserable all along the way. That doesn't mean I'll put one down easily, but when I'm certain it's not going to improve for me.. I'm going to call it.

That being said, I'm calling it here for this one. I will not rate this book, as I didn't finish it and that's not fair to the author. But I do have a lot of thoughts already and I'm probably sparing everyone by sharing what I have so far instead of adding to it.

I was really excited to give this book a try. I love a great vampire story, I loved the idea of what a normalized world would look like for them and other immortals from a sociopolitical point of view. Conceptually, this story held a lot of promise. And from a purely technical standpoint, there's nothing wrong here with the structure of the material. It is not a bad book, it's a book I did not like.. though despite the technical soundness of its form, it definitely has weaknesses. 

Honestly, I expected it to be some dense, high-fantasy tale.. between the synopsis and the 'for fans of' tags, but it was not. It lacked the intellectual nature of such stories and frankly seemed more like an attempt of mimicking them.

There is a constant attempt at banter that just never lands. The dialogue is weak, filled with unimaginative 'quips' implied to carry some cleverness. The characters lack any real sense of substance and aren't even charismatic enough to inspire interest in me. 

The author is overly obsessed with details that don't matter to begin with, let alone to the degree he addresses them. Paragraphs full of excessive specificity about who is drinking what every time they move and directional explanations that double back on themselves so much they end up sounding more like a Monty Python skit than world-building. It's exhausting and it feels lazy. It feels like an author just trying to put as many words on a page as possible to fill them and it bored the hell out of me.

It's told in a multiple-pov narrative, which always requires some level of control.. in my opinion. Unfortunately, since these characters are already so one-dimensional, they certainly don't have any unique voice of their own and regardless of the brief indicator at the top of a switch as to who we're reading, it all runs together.

I'm just so glad my journey with 'Lightfall' is over. I don't know what book people were reading to call it things like "wildly entertaining" or "exciting," but it couldn't have been this one. Nor do the "brilliant dialogue" comments hold true. If this is brilliant dialogue for you.. then you need to meet new people.

On the bright side, it is only a debut and the author could improve. After all, there's nowhere to go but up.

Bingsu for Two
Sujin Witherspoon

Publisher:
Union Square & Co. / Sterling Publishing

Pub Date: Jan. 14th, 2025
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Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
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Synopsis:

This outrageously charming and infuriatingly adorable enemies-to-lovers coffee shop romance is perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Better Than the Movies.

Meet River Langston-Lee. In the past 24 hours, he’s dumped his girlfriend, walked out of his SATs, and quit his job at his parents’ cafe in spectacularly disastrous fashion—even for him.

Somehow, he manages to talk his way into a gig at a failing Korean cafe, Bingsu for Two, which is his lucky break until he meets short, grumpy, and goth: Sarang Cho. She’s his new no-BS co-worker who’s as determined to make River’s life hell as she is to save her family’s cafe.

After River accidentally uploads a video of his chaotic co-workers to his popular fandom account, they strike viral fame. The kicker? Their new fans ship River and Sarang big-time. In order to keep the Internet’s attention—and the cafe’s new paying customers—River and Sarang must pretend that the tension between them is definitely of the romantic variety, not the considering the best way to kill you and hide your body variety.

But when Bingsu for Two’s newfound success catches the attention of River’s ex and his parents’ cafe around the corner, he faces a choice: keep letting others control his life or stand up for the place that’s become home. And a green-haired girl who’s not as heartless as he originally thought.

About the Author:


Sujin Witherspoon is a Korean-American author, artist, and lover of words she can’t pronounce.

She gravitates towards stories that will either plague her nightmares or make her stomach hurt from laughter – no in between. Having earned her degree in English from the University of Washington, she spends her time writing, thinking about writing, or exploring Seattle.

You can find her online at sujinwitherspoon.com

The Last Bookstore on Earth
Lily Braun-Arnold

Publisher:
Delacorte Press / Random House Children's

Pub Date: Jan. 7th, 2025
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Genre: YA Fiction, Dystopian, Coming of Age
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Synopsis:


The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.

'The Last Bookstore on Earth' is a dystopian look at the remnants of living after a catastrophic storm brings the kind of Storm that leaves death in its wake to the tune of a post-apocalyptic setting.

Written primarily from the POV of the main character, there are occasional entries from others she has met along the timeline. Just brief glimpses at who they were. The narrative shifts between current day for Liz as she goes about her days inside the bookstore where she worked prior to the cataclysmic event and flashbacks of her life before the Storm arrived.

Only seventeen, she's a bookish girl who's set up a trading post.. using the books she has and her unique ability to maintain a sort of pre-disaster feeling of some normalcy for her customers in exchange for much needed supplies she might not otherwise have access to. 

After a break-in brings Maeve into her life, there's immediate distrust between the two girls. But having learned another Storm is on the way, the pair end up combining their efforts in hopes of surviving. There are repairs desperately needed for the bookstore if it's ever to ride out the second Storm. Yet amidst the anxiety and danger the two face as they attempt to ready themselves for another oncoming disaster, something lovely begins to grow.

To be honest, this book started out a little rough for me. It was just failing to hook me I guess.. between Liz's narrative voice and some overly simple phrasing that had me worried the rest of the book was going to be that way. 

Though I struggled through the first twenty percent of the book, once the pair started really interacting.. it was much more engaging. I realize in hindsight, the main character just simply seems to lack the charisma to carry the entire story alone.. and that's fine. She's a normal girl in a terrible situation and it makes sense that from her perspective, she conveys the vitality of those in her orbit much more vibrantly than herself.

The story is billed as perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us.. and while I don't disagree with that generalization.. know that the biggest difference is it's not as cerebral. It's a YA story with some grit and a couple of really brutally visual scenes. In fact, if you're squeamish.. this might not be the book for you.. but I really ended up enjoying it.

There are a couple of decisions made toward the end of the book that I felt were a little bit of a stretch, but 'suspension of disbelief' and all that. I definitely got plenty of drama and worry, a clear sense of urgency, and an investment in the pair as they found themselves fighting for their lives.

An Honored Vow
The Halfling Saga #4
Melissa Blair

Publisher:
Union Square & Co.

Pub Date: Jan. 7th, 2025
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Genre: YA Fantasy
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Synopsis:

“Your land is not the one you take, it is the one you die for.”  

Still reeling over her discovery of a staggering secret about her closest ally, Keera has no time to rest. She and her fellow rebels plan a desperate rescue mission after King Damien takes one of their own hostage. Opening the kingdom’s magical seals has transformed Keera in ways even the wisest Fae elders could not have anticipated. With the kingdom’s Halfling population suddenly posing a risk to the crown, the land is plunged into violence as the king begins a new blood purge.     Keera and her allies gather an army to meet Damien’s forces in a final confrontation of epic, and tragic, proportions.  

The epic final installment in the Halfling Saga will thrill fans of Melissa Blair’s lush, action-packed, romantasy series.

About the Author:


Melissa (she/her/kwe) is an Anishinaabekwe of mixed ancestry living in Turtle Island. She splits her time between Treaty 9 in Northern Ontario and the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg in Ottawa, Canada.

She has a graduate degree in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, loves movies, and hates spoons.

​Melissa has a BookTok account where she discusses her favorite kinds of books including Indigenous and queer fiction, feminist literature, and non-fiction. A Broken Blade is her first novel.

Lies on the Serpent's Tongue
Kate Pearsall

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers / PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group

Pub Date: Jan. 7th, 2025
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Genre: YA Fantasy
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Synopsis:


In this haunting companion to Bittersweet in the Hollow, a girl who can smell the lies of others uncovers the incendiary mysteries of her small Appalachian town.

Everybody lies. And in knowing their lies, I become the keeper of their secrets.

As Caball Hollow slowly recovers from a tumultuous summer, the James family must also come to terms with their own newly revealed secrets.

18-year-old Rowan James has spent her whole life harboring unpleasant truths—that’s what happens when you can smell lies on the teller’s breath—and building walls around herself to block them out. Like her younger sister, Linden, who can taste the feelings of others, Rowan has long struggled with her gift, which has taught her that everyone distorts the truth, and no one is who they seem to be. So when her old rival Hadrian Fitch shows up on her front porch—bloodied and bruised and asking for the kind of help only she can provide—her first instinct is distrust.

Except Hadrian’s attack isn’t the only strange occurrence. Now small items are disappearing, but rather than report the losses the owners act as if their missing things never existed. Rumors of a new monster prowling the Hollow begin to swirl. But how can Rowan smoke out the culprit in a town full of secrets? And worse, how can Rowan trust beautiful, solemn Hadrian when every other word he speaks has the distinct burnt smell of a lie?

'Lies on the Serpent's Tongue' by Kate Pearsall is billed as a companion title to 'Bittersweet in the Hollow.'

Though I had the latter on my TBR list, I never quite got around to checking it out, but the set-up for book two sounded even more interesting to me.

Unfortunately, 'bittersweet' is a good choice of words for my feelings on this story. 

The tale has plenty of great concepts and interesting possibilities, but they're just not executed that well. Pearsall has a tendency to sort of just cough up those pieces in what appears to be some random location, though we all know that's not the case, and often with little or no development. 

To be honest, I found the writing to be a bit unpolished. While the author is capable of lovely lines.. her elegant sentences cannot make up for the fact she doesn't seem to have a solid understanding of how to tie them together. The result is sort of a jittery mess, sort of like someone's second or third attempt at dancing if they had only ever seen what it looked like beforehand.

Character development is also weak and with that.. insubstantial connections between those characters that are clearly supposed to have deep bonds and shared purpose. From familial attachments to love interests, it's all very bland. 

Time spent dwelling on overly detailed magical concoctions only makes that all worse. While I love to be able to visualize scenes as much as anyone, there's a point where too much focus is being wasted on them.. and that was the case here.

I really think I could have enjoyed this story with a lot more fine-tuning. I certainly could have liked the main character much more and fallen for Hadrian, they just didn't get the development they deserved. 

Hopefully, when Pearsall gets a few more books behind her, a lot of those things will smooth out.. because I do see potential in her.