Blodeuedd's Monday: The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn

Format: 283 pages, Paperback

Published: June 18, 2013 by 47North

Horror/borrowed

It started sort of slow. A group of friends heading to a remote luxury cabin. Lots of talking. Two siblings, their friend, his new girlfriend. Blah blah. BOOOM!!!!

Then it got scary, It started to build. See it was not scary as others on that mountain died, but then it got close, and then it was too late. Wtf was out there! First shadows, then showing to be creepy humanlike beings that hunt the house that they now can not leave.

And it gets bloodier, and gore, and omg I am not going up a mountain or into the woods in winter. That is some scary stuff out there!

Also the end, omg, omg, omg.

SO yeah ended up liking it.

They only come when it snows, and nobody ever gets away.

A group of close friends gathers at a secluded cabin in the wintry mountains of Colorado for a final holiday hurrah. Instead, it may be their last stand. First a massive blizzard leaves them marooned. Then the more chilling realization: something is lurking in the woods, watching them, waiting...

Now a weekend of family, friends, and fun has turned into a test of love and loyalty in the face of inhuman horrors. The only hope for those huddled inside is to fight—tooth and nail, bullet and blade—for their lives. Otherwise, they'll end up like the monsters' other victims: bright pools of blood on glittering snow, screams lost in the vast mountains.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Elena Rey

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Release date: 12-01-25

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Paranormal

I did not know what to expect from this one, and this was not it. Ha, it was fun.

Selena is running from a relationship. She has anxiety issues, and he is holding her down. So she runs to an aunt in the desert. An aunt who is dead and now she has her house. But there are gods and spirits in the desert. And her aunt seems to have hooked up with one.

To help her she has her dog Copper, her neighbor Grandma, oh she was a hoot. And slowly gaining friendships she did not think she was capable of. Which is what you get from years of trauma by her mother and boyfriend.

There are scary roadrunners and a god called Snake-Eater. Selena is in for more than she bargained for.

I liked it. It took me somewhere I did not know I was going. The narration was great too. A good experience

With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town of Quartz Creek. The scorpions and spiders are better than what she left behind.

Because in Quartz Creek, there’s a strange beauty to everything, from the landscape to new friends, and more blue sky than Selena’s ever seen. But something lurks beneath the surface. Like the desert gods and spirits lingering outside Selena’s house at night, keeping watch. Mostly benevolent, says her neighbor Grandma Billy. That doesn’t ease the prickly sense that one of them watches too closely and wants something from Selena she can’t begin to imagine. And when Selena’s search for answers leads her to journal entries that her aunt left behind, she discovers a sinister truth about her new It’s the haunting grounds of an ancient god known simply as “Snake-Eater,” who her late aunt made a promise to that remains unfulfilled.

Snake-Eater has taken a liking to Selena, an obsession of sorts that turns sinister. And now that Selena is the new owner of his home, he’s hell-bent on collecting everything he’s owed.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Itch! by Gemma Amor

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Published: October 9, 2025 by Hodder

Horror/borrowed

Ohh I like weird. Josie left her ex after said ex put her in a coma. She went home with her widowed dad, she works at a pub, and life is just pretty shitty. Then she finds a dead body and everything becomes effed up.

It itches, the ants from the dead body are inside her. There is an legend from the woods that there is something there, something that demands offerings.

But it is also a murder mystery. As she is spiraling out of control she tries to figure out what happened to the dead woman.

I liked it. Messed up, creepy and good

Something moves on the forest floor...

Josie is at rock bottom. Burned out, heartbroken and recovering from an abusive relationship, she lives a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean.

But the tall, dense pine trees are not the only things casting shadows across her skin.

Josie's hopes of a fresh start are horribly derailed when she stumbles across a dead woman's decaying, ant-infested body in the woods. The grim discovery sends her into a downward spiral, forcing her to face uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling the swarming black ants that seem to have burrowed into her mind... and her flesh.

As Josie struggles with infestations of all kinds, she scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by ancient folklore and strange customs. So when the village dresses up for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask

Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth?

Or is she their next victim?

Blodeuedd's Monday: Abducted by a Prince by Olivia Drake

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 29, 2014

Series: Cinderella Sisterhood (#3)

Historical romance /own

I have had this book for probably 10 years, oops! I am trying to get to my old forgotten books.

Ellie works as an unpaid servant to her uncle. She is the governess, nursemaid, chaperone, you name it. They took her in when her father died and did not really care.

Damien wants a key back that was stolen long ago, and he will kidnap someone to get it.

Oops, he kidnapped Ellie! Mistake. And her family do not give a damn. But Damien is hot, and Ellie is really nice. How can they ever let each other go?

Short answer. They can not! Cos this is a Cinderella story and they will live happily ever after and her family can go f themselves

I enjoyed it. Cute

She Was Stolen Away...

Ellie Stratham gave up her childhood dreams of a fairy tale romance long ago. To repay her late father’s debts, she’s forced to serve her spoiled cousin, Lady Beatrice. But Ellie has devised a secret plan to escape her life as a drudge. A plan that is thrown into jeopardy when she’s abducted by a mysterious stranger.

But Can He Steal Her Heart?

A notorious seducer of women—and a scoundrel to boot—Damien Burke has earned his nickname as the Demon Prince. But his plot to kidnap Lady Beatrice to make her brother return a priceless heirloom backfires—and he ends up with their penniless cousin, Ellie, as his hostage. By the time Damien realizes his mistake, he and his fiery-willed captive are trapped in a remote castle during a wild winter storm. And he soon finds that the true hostage may be his own heart.

Blodeuedd's Monday: The Women by Kristin Hannah

Format: Paperback, 476 pages

Published: May 1, 2026 by Pan Books

Historical fiction/own

I liked that I read this one, but at the same time I do not think I will read any more of her books. It felt simplistic. It felt like one of those translated books where you feel something was lost.

Still good though! It made me cry! It made me MAD!

Frances signs up to be a nurse in Nam. Her brother is killed. War is hell! She finds good friends. She lives her life the best she can. And she realise she is good at this.

But that was war. This is also about coming home and this is what made me mad. Yes the war was bad, but people spitting on her!? She was trying to save lives! And that is not the worst part. She has some serious ptsd. But there were no women in Vietnam so she is fine. Arghh!

I liked this book. It was an easy read about a difficult subject.

Their friendship changed lives. Their bravery changed history.

'Women can be heroes, too'. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances "Frankie" McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California's idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.

Blodeuedd's Monday: The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Series: Spellshop (#2)

Format: 374 pages, Paperback

Published: July 15, 2025 by Tor UK

Cozy fantasy/library

I like this series, it is sweet, cozy and low stakes.

Terlu was turned into a statue. The capital was set on fire, and somehow someone sent the statue away to an island filled with greenhouses.

And that is the drama we get. Oh no, the green houses are failing! And the hot gardener does not know what to do.

Sure I like my fantasy with war, gods, and such. But this is just so cozy to read. Saving a greenhouse or several. Meeting a romantic interest. Becoming friends with talking plants.

Lovely.

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium.

This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet, one day, Terlu awakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She's starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes and freshly baked honey cakes - at least until she's ready to sail home.

But Terlu can't return home and doesn't want to - the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing - causing the death of everything within them - Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again.

This time, though, she isn't alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.

Blodeuedd's Monday: John of John by Douglas Stuart

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

Published: May 5, 2026 by Grove Press

Fiction/library

This one was, honestly I do not know, it was well written, very very slow, and I did want to know what would happen. But omg there was no closure! I wanted closure, I need closure. So yeah I got nothing at the end.

I did not know that the islands up north are very religious. The right kind of course too. God forbid. Also everyone is very sexually oppressed.

Cal is finished with uni, he has no job, no place to live so he comes back cos his grandmother is sick. He is also gay, and no he could not tell anyone. He also had a strange relationship with his former bestie. Do not know what to say there.

Oh and his dad is also gay, but would never tell anyone.

And everyone gossips about everyone.

But I wanted closure! Now, like what the f happens?

Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the Island of Harris to find that not much has changed except for him.

In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, caught between the two poles of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver, and pillar of their local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has kept a faltering peace with her son-in-law for decades.

While Cal wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, John is dismayed by his son’s long hair and how he seems unwilling to be Saved. As the seasons pass, everything is poised to change as the threads holding together the fragile community become increasingly entangled.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: A Match Made at Matlock

By: Jan Ashton, Julie Cooper, Amy D'Orazio, Jessie Lewis

Narrated by: Stevie Zimmerman

Series: The Engaged to Mr Darcy Series

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Release date: 04-01-22

Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing

Pride and prejudice variation/audible

I enjoyed this one, but at the same time it shows that it is written by many authors and I would have preferred a Darcy Lizzy book.

Now it is about a houseparty and there are so many POVS. Viscount Saye and his Lillian that he is trying to catch, Lizzy and Darcy obvi who are engaged but her father is dragging his feet letting them marry and I wanted more of them!

Then there is there cousin Georgette with her own love troubles, her friend Sarah who also would like to find romance at this party.

So lots of romances going on.

Good narration, enjoyable, but obvi hey I want more Lizzy

Viscount Saye, eldest cousin of Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, is startled one wintry day by the news that his beloved, Lillian Goddard, is to become engaged to another. Unwilling to lose her, he quickly plans a party at his ancestral estate to woo her away from her suitor. Twenty ladies and gentlemen respond to his invitation, eager for a fortnight of revelry in Saye’s inimitable style.

Fitzwilliam Darcy, at last engaged to his beloved Elizabeth Bennet, finds himself stymied by her father. Mr Bennet has consented to the engagement but forces them to endure a prolonged courtship, with too much time spent apart. Getting Elizabeth to the house party is only the first in a series of frustrations and challenges that confront them. Will their love and attachment prevail?

Georgette Hawkridge has all the finest qualities of a lady of fashion. Alas, she has fallen in love with a decidedly unfashionable man, an affection they have kept well-concealed. Two weeks is a long time to hide, however, and the truth of what they mean to one another—and the man her suitor really is—must eventually emerge.

Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam attends his brother’s party with no thought for anything but time among friends; after all, he is too poor to marry, an idea that rankles, particularly when he must watch love bloom around him. Then he meets Sarah Bentley, a pretty, wealthy girl with a predilection for admiring the unlovable, but will he know his heart before it’s too late?

Amid masques and marvels, love will abound; attachments will be formed, tried, and tested, and one couple’s engagement will come to an end. For all who heed the summons, it will be an unforgettable fortnight at Matlock!

Blodeuedd's Monday: If I Have to Be Haunted by Miranda Sun

Format: 368 pages, Paperback

Published: October 4, 2023 by Magpie Books GB

Ya paranormal/borrowed

I was unsure at first, but it picked up.

Cara can see ghosts but she pretends not too. Her gran was a ghost talker, her mother says she has to be normal. But then she finds her "enemy" dead in the woods, and damn, fine, she will talk to his ghost and try to see what she can do. There is this whole other thing about a snake and maybe that she can save his life. I do wonder though, shouldn´t he be rotting?

Most of the book takes place on this other plane as they are racing against time to find an antidote. Dangers, and perhaps a budding romance ;)

I did enjoy it in the end because it was light and easy

Cara’s just trying to stay on top of all her classes, excel at her extracurriculars, and prepare for college – which means not speaking to the dead, an ability she inherited from her grandmother. Ghosts are trouble, and Cara doesn’t need to add their problems to her own.

But then she stumbles upon the body of Zach – the super popular but very newly dead high school golden boy – in the woods, and guess what? He wants her to resurrect him.

Cue trouble.

Blodeuedd's Monday: Flawless by Elsie Silver

Series: Chestnut Springs (#1)

Format: 378 pages, Paperback

Published: August 29, 2023 by Bloom Books

Contemporary romance/own

Cowboy romance, hey I love it. But it also got me thinking, I have seen people lately complain about 3rd person, and this was 1st person and well I prefer 3rd, it makes me one step away. Which is good when it gets really down and dirty.

Rhett is a bullrider who gets in trouble as he says bad things about his sponsor. So he gets a babysitter named Summer, who is also the daughter of his PR agent. Don't get to close!

But ovbi they get really close. First they dislike each other, but then feelings grow and maybe this could work after all. Insert drama!

I enjoyed it. I will read more

The rules were simple: keep his hands off his agent's daughter and stay out of trouble. But now he's stuck with her. There's only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.

Rhett Eaton is the face of professional bull riding. The golden boy. Or at least he was until it all blew up in his face after a public brawl. Now his agent says he has to clean up his image, and sticks Rhett with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as "full-time supervision."

But Rhett doesn't need a goddamn babysitter--especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can't stop running.

And he quickly learns that Summer Hamilton isn't just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn't run--she pulls him closer, even when she shouldn't.

She says this means nothing. Rhett says this means everything.

She says there are boundaries they shouldn't cross. That Rhett's reputation can't take any more hits...and neither can her damaged heart.

Rhett says he's going to steal it anyway.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews

Series: Belles of London (#2)

Format: 432 pages, Paperback

Published: October 11, 2022 by Berkley

Historical romance/own

Julia loves reading, she hates parties and gatherings. Her parents are hypochondriacs, and she does pretend to be ill at times so she does not have to attend balls.

Jasper is called the hero of Crimea, but at the same time people gossip about how sadistic he was and about his brood of bastards. Also he needs a rich wife since his estate needs repairs. And he has his eye on Julia.

Of course it will happen, and sure he wants her money but he is falling. And she really needs to get out of her house, her parents are horrible.

I liked it, they fit well together. At first I was a bit worried about those kids, I hate when a stepmum comes in and the kids are just mean beyond words. But it all works out.

A London heiress rides out to the wilds of the English countryside to honor a marriage of convenience with a mysterious and reclusive stranger. Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood. For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, navigating a London ballroom is absolute torture. The only time Julia feels any degree of confidence is when she’s on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt. In exchange for her dowry and her hand, Jasper must promise to grant her freedom to do as she pleases. To ride—and to read—as much as she likes without masculine interference. He readily agrees to her conditions, with one provision of his own: Julia is forbidden from going into the tower rooms of his estate and snooping around his affairs. But the more she learns of the beastly former hero, the more intrigued she becomes…

Blodeuedd's Monday: Bunny by Mona Awad

Series: Bunny (#1)

Format: 375 pages, Paperback

Published: February 6, 2020 by Head of Zeus

Lit fic/borrowed

This was surreal on crack, and I do like weird lit.

Samantha has writer´s block. She is a student and her group is scary. They all just all call each other bunny and hug. Then they invite her, she does hesitate but she goes and shit happens, like what is going on? I can´t tell you either because that means spoilers, but someone mentioned Alice in Wonderland and it fits. It gets surreal, there is weirdness and when you think you know, you do not.

Weird lit is fun. You never know where it is headed. I guess this is under horror, but it is never like SCARY, just wtf am I on?

I liked it a lot.

Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort – a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.

But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.

Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny is a spellbinding trip of a novel from one of fiction's most original new voices.

Blodeuedd's Monday: The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

Format: 322 pages, Paperback

Published: September 19, 2023 by Alcove Press

Paranormal/borrowed

The person I borrowed it from dnfed it, people on my friend list had dnfed it, and it was meh, but I wanted to see if the romance would pay out. BOOM! I got hit in the face, wtf happened? The romance part suddenly imploded. Was this not a cozy paranormal romance? Eh..ok?

Nope, now we are all about the curse because this is a family of witches. And oh no, grandma is dying and we are all doomed!

Boom! Bloody hell, that effing romance is back. I hate this romance. It sucked! What the heck was that?!

I honestly do not know what this book was meant to be. Paranormal cozy? Nope changed. Romance? Nope, changed. It was messy and it made me mad at the end.

Yes yes I should have given up, but I wanted to know.

Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.

With the news of their grandmother's impending death, Sadie's estranged twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie's world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her death, Sadie isn't sure she'll have the strength to keep the family, and her magic, together.

As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother growing sicker by the day, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?

B's Monday Review: Slewfoot by Brom

Format: 305 pages, Paperback

Published: April 25, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Horror/borrowed

Oh you know what is coming, 1600s, the colonies. Men thinking they know better. Men saying women should do this and that, but not other things.

And here comes Abitha, struggling with her husband on their farm. His brother being a total ahole. A guy pointing fingers in town and group mentality. Abitha does speak her mind, she works hard, she forgets to be prim and proper.

And then she is alone, and vulnerable. And that brother really wants her farm. But something is in the woods, something that was wakened. Something angry....

It was never like eeek, horror! Mostly it made me angry at men at the end and I might have cheered at some things cos men suck.

I liked it. But ugh, puritans sucked!

Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector.

The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil.

To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.

Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake.

This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Format: 400 pages, Paperback

Published: April 7, 2026 by Fourth Estate

Fiction/library

 I kept seeing reviews how I would hate Natalie, and sure I did not like her. She was horrible. But at the end I just felt sorry for her.

She was clearly depressed already in College, after the first kid even more. She should have gotten help then. Instead she seems to turn more manic, people throw money at her. And she has enablers. No one ever seems to point the finger at the ever more rightwing conspiracy freak of a husband. I just cant hate someone who seems really mentally unstable, and I do not think she ever got help. She is just evil, nah, the woman needs some psychiatric help.

I feel like I read another book then everyone else. Why did no one ever help her?! I get it is hard to help someone who does not know they need help but come on.

Natalie marries young, moves to a farm, starts to film her life. Think Ballerina farm. Smile and pretend everyone is happy, even though everyone is miserable. She only cares about likes. She is focused and driven and pretends to be the best Trad Wife there is.

And then she is transported to the 1800s. And being a real trad wife sucks....

I liked it, it was good. I enjoyed the twists, but, srsly, why did no one ever help her?

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and has the social media accounts to prove it. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What Natalie’s followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

Series: The Cosmere Universe (#19)

Format: 385 pages, Paperback

Published: March 4, 2024 by Gollancz

Sci.fi/own

I did feel like I was thrown into the middle of a story. Nomad is on the run and jumps from planet to planet to escape some bad guys. And this planet sucks. You have to be on the move constantly escaping the sun. It is so powerful that it melts everything in its path. Luckily the planet is small but yes run run run around the planet.

And a crazy guy wants to rule everyone. He also leaves people to burn to death and then collect their souls to power the machines that take them across the world.

Nomad must save the planet....

Interesting world. Scary world. I enjoyed the story, but at the same time. Maybe I am like beginning to tire, everything is good, but not fantastic anymore

Years ago he had comrades in arms and a cause to believe in, but now the man who calls himself Nomad knows only a life on the run. Forced to hop from world to world in the Cosmere whenever the relentless Night Brigade gets too close, Nomad lands on a new planet and is instantly caught up in the struggle between a tyrant and the rebels who want only to escape being turned into mindless slaves-all under the constant threat of a sunrise whose heat will melt the very stones. Unable to understand the language, can he navigate the conflict and gain enough power to leap offworld before his mind or body pay the ultimate price?

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Format: 319 pages, Paperback

Published: August 30, 2022 by Berkley

Paranormal/borrowed

So this is listed as a horror. Someone called it pink horror. But yeah there is no horror, it is more a supernatural story.

Annie decides to make a new life as her boyfriend leaves her. This takes her to a teaching job in a small town. There she meets a Fabolous woman! Everyone loves this woman....or do they?

Her and Sophie becomes great friends. Sophie in her big empty house. Spiders. Strange things happening.

But this was about Sophie finding herself and being happy what she finds.

I liked it. It was another easy fun read

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.  

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum

Format: 309 pages, Paperback

Published: April 22, 2025 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Litfic/own

This book had calm pace, and sure not a lot happened, but it was good and sometimes you will just drift along.

It is about Yeongju who is burned out and opens a bookstore. At first it goes, not so well, but little by little she finds herself and the bookstore starts to to become a place people wants to visit.

She meets new people who becomes friends. The man who cant find a job and becomes a barista. A student unsure about his path in life, a office guy turned writer, a woman who turns about and just stares for hours. They all have their reason and they all fall in love with the bookshop.

Have I heard about Korean work ethics? Sure, but damn, no wonder people are burned out. And there is a lot of talk about that here. People who work until midnight, go home and start again. People who have non permanent positions but are not given real ones because they are easy to fire. And then those who downtrade, they have a better job but then do a lesser one. But are happier, still society values those better jobs more.

Will this bookshop thrive? Who knows, but Yeongju and the people she has met will do their best.

I enjoyed it, but yes it is a slower one and about people. You just have to go with the flow.

Yeongju is burned out. With her high-­flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. Yet an abandoned dream nags at her, and in a leap of faith, she leaves her old life behind. After quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop.

For the first few months all Yeongju does is cry, but the long hours in the shop also give her time to mull over what makes a good bookseller and store. As she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she eases into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Paved With Good Intentions by Peter McLean

Series: War for the Rose Throne (#5)

Format: 265 pages, Paperback

Published: January 15, 2026 by Arcadia

Fantasy/own

This takes place after the previous books, and yes I did miss Priest. But you do not have to have read those to understand this one. It is a new chapter.

Eline kills her husband because he was a controlling, abusive ahole. But then she also realises that she killed her husband and this is bad. The Queen's Men show up and offer her a deal and it is a bad deal, but it is better than being hanged.

Take a job at a local brothel and solve who killed a Duke.

Little bit of mystery, thriller in a dark fantasy setting. The world feels very bleak. But Eline is tougher than she thinks and grows a lot in this book.

I liked it.

Eline is a mother, a wife, and a survivor. But her life is about to change dramatically. Following an act of horrific - if righteous - vengeance, Eline is blackmailed into the service of the Queen's Men. She knows it will be a hard life of violence and fear. But Eline will do what it takes to survive, and to protect her children . . . and if she's lucky, she won't die in the process.

But the Queen's Men aren't just asking her to risk herself. They're asking her to risk everything she knows and loves. And if she fails . . . civil war and the deaths of everyone she loves will be just the beginning.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Series: Hoid's Travails (#2), The Cosmere Universe (#18)

Format: 365 pages, Paperback

Published: January 1, 2023 by Gollancz

FantasyScifi/own

I am conflicted, I love Sanderson, but it is just...this was sort of dull.

I love the idea of it. Two worlds, two souls that visit each other. Yumi is powerful for her people and not really allowed to do anything except get spirits to come. Then she ends up in another world and meets Painter, but as their souls kind of switched he is kind of a ghosts. Painter as she calls him protects sleeping people from living nightmares, but now he cant do anything. Except when he is in her world, where he is in her body and there he is helpless too and the people wonder why she can not bring out spirits anymore.

BUT, I do not know, I was kind of meh about the whole thing. I did not give up, cos hello Sanderson. But for me this was not one of his better ones

Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each other’s communities from certain disaster??