Shouting from the Shelftops #5

Shouting from the Shelftops is a bimonthly feature to gush over book news that come to my attention, to celebrate good news amidst whatever the year is delivering to you. The basic mood for these posts is just Enthusiastic Screaming™. The last two weeks have been rocked with yet another set of shockwaves in book …

ARC Review: The Beauty of the Wolf by Wray Delaney

The Beauty of the Wolf by Wray Delaney My rating: 3 of 5 stars What some might call beauty, I find monstrous' In the age of the Faerie Queene, Elizabeth I, Lord Francis Rodermere starts to lay waste to a forest. Furious, the sorceress who dwells there scrawls a curse into the bark of the …

ARC Review: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Sea Witch by Sarah Henning My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars Release date: July 31, 2018 Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, …

Review: Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard My rating: 4 of 5 stars What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of? Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one …

ARC Review: Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Two (anthology by various authors)

Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Two by Jennifer Cosgrove My rating: 3 of 5 stars Your favorite stories from childhood have a new twist. Eight fairy tales of old with characters across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Coming Home by Jennifer Cosgrove – No one ever expects to be Prince Charming. Snow Fox by Sara Codair – …

ARC Review: Wanted by Betsy Schow

Wanted by Betsy Schow My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars Fairy-Tale Survival Rule No. 52: No matter how difficult the obstacles or all-powerful the evil villain, one can rest assured that the hero of the story never dies. The sidekicks though... they should be worried. Rexi Hood is proud to be an outlaw. After all, she's …

Review: Spelled by Betsy Schow

Spelled by Betsy Schow My rating: 3 of 5 stars Fairy Tale Survival Rule #32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day. Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald …

ARC Review: Spindle Fire

Spindle Fire by Lexa Hillyer My rating: 5 of 5 stars Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the king’s headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always …

Review: Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale

Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale by Ashley Poston My rating: 4 of 5 stars Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to …

ARC Review: The Wish Granter

The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine My rating: 4 of 5 stars Release date: February 14, 2017 The world has turned upside down for Thad and Ari Glavan, the bastard twins of Súndraille’s king. Their mother was murdered. The royal family died mysteriously. And now Thad sits on the throne of a kingdom whose streets …

Review: Deathless

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente My rating: 4 of 5 stars Child of the revolution, maiden of myth, bride of darkness A handsome young man arrives in St Petersburg at the house of Marya Morevna. He is Koschei, the Tsar of Life, and he is Marya's fate. Koschei leads Marya to his kingdom, where she …

ARC Review: Crimson Bound

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge My rating: 4 of 5 stars When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But when Rachelle was fifteen she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in pursuit of a way to free her world from the …

Review: Gilded Ashes

Gilded Ashes by Rosamund Hodge My rating: 4 of 5 stars Orphan Maia doesn't see the point of love when it only brings pain: Her dying mother made a bargain with the evil, all-powerful ruler of their world that anyone who hurt her beloved daughter would be punished; her new stepmother went mad with grief …

Review: Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge My rating: 5 of 5 stars Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him. With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her …

Review: Winter

Winter by Marissa Meyer My rating: 5 of 5 stars Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t …