There's a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms. Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He's the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne. Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

REWARD OFFERED: Apprentice to The Villain wanted for treason (light), magical property damage (alleged), and one incident involving a weaponized scone (accurate). Frequently seen with a grumpy frog (crowned, judgmental). Answers to “Evie” or “Stop that.” Evie Sage didn’t mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom’s most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised “light paperwork and occasional beheadings,” and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss. Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire―or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread. Being evil-adjacent was never part of the five-year plan. But then again…neither was falling for The Villain

In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls who call themselves “Bunny.” An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with deadly and wondrous consequences. When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers—and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny. Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete stand-alone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to another dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever-dream, Mona Awad

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends. Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice. Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier. She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier's to use. Grey would do anything for Kier - be anything for him - if he would only ask. When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret. For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke - the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her

Don’t walk the halls late at night. Don’t disturb the ancient magic. And don’t, under any circumstances, ever trust a spellcaster. When my magic bloomed at twenty-two, the last thing I expected was to receive an acceptance letter to the most prestigious witch college in the world. It’s not that I don’t have magic. It’s just…unpredictable. But with Weatherstone a part of my family legacy, I’m determined to live up to their expectations. A task that’s almost derailed on my very first day when I come face-to-face with Logan Kingston, the son of my father’s enemy. I’m warned to avoid the powerful spellcaster at all costs, but apparently Logan did not receive the same memo. The more time I spend around him, the more I crave his unsettling attention, and as hate flirts with obsession, I’m left wondering if there’s another side to the decades-old feud between our fathers. On top of that, Weatherstone is not at all like I expected. Built on the ancient blood of necromancers and battle, the magic here is as unpredictable as mine, and I sense a dark energy stalking my footsteps. When a monster attacks me, I have no choice but to turn to the strongest warlock in our school: Logan. After all, to fight a monster, I’ll need a monster

Everyone in the neighborhood was getting ready for the party. Everyone knew somebody on the guest list. . . . This was the day the dead returned. There's a party tonight, but Cala doesn't want to go. While her family prepares for the celebration, Cala grieves her grandfather and tries to pretend she's not afraid. But when she is separated from her family at the cemetery, Cala encounters four mysterious riders who will show her she is actually quite brave after all. Brimming with magic and humor, The Invisible Parade is the first picture-book collaboration between award-winner John Picacio and New York Times bestselling Leigh Bardugo. Set on the night of Día de Muertos, Cala's story is one of love, loss, and the courage that can be found in unexpected places.

An ultimatum from Summer Preston’s thesis advisor thrusts her into an unexpected collision with the hockey team’s captain, Aiden Crawford. She’s caught between conflicting desires of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the god-awful sport. And once she meets Aiden—well, let’s just say he confirms all her worst assumptions about hockey players. Being the captain of the college hockey team has its perks, except when a reckless mistake by Aiden’s team threatens to jeopardize their entire season. As punishment, Aiden’s coach nominates him as the subject of a student research project. Participating is the last thing he wants to do, especially since the girl leading the project looks like she could wield his skates as a weapon. Summer can’t stand Aiden’s blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn’t understand why she’s twenty years old with a twenty-five-year plan. But their bickering soon turns to bantering—and once they let their guards down, there’s nothing to check their feelings

Goodbye 2025, hello 2026! Last year had some incredible moments for me (I made some amazing memories). But I'm also happy to look forward, toward what good things 2026 will bring. That being said, here are my top reads of the year which definitely count as kernels of happiness peppered  throughout 2025! Note: I listed these in order that I finished reading them. ⤖ One ⬻ Constance Fay, Chaos ⤖ Two ⬻ Hache Pueyo, But Not Too Bold ⤖ Three ⬻ Kaylie Smith, Phantasma ⤖ Four ⬻ Suzanne Enoch, A Duke Never Tells…

Fables and fairytales collide with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and monstrous myths in a world where no one knows what to believe. In his eighth book of poems, Paul Vermeersch responds to the increasing difficulty of knowing what is real and what isn’t, what is our genuine experience and what is constructed for us by The Algorithm. In a “post-truth” society rife with simulations, misinformation, and computer-generated hallucinations, these poems explore the relationship between the synthetic and the authentic as they raise hope for the possibility of escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where the promise of “real life” still exists. These poems — all precisely 16 lines long, identically formed as though mass-produced — are themselves artificial creations, products of the imagination, sometimes disorienting but always vivid. They hold up a mirror not only to nature, but also to its unnatural distortions and facsimiles. In NMLCT, Vermeersch gives us his answer to an existence in thrall to the artificial. But it also foretells a different future, one where the air and the grass and the trees, and all the life they engender, might always be genuine and sensed and safe.

I never thought getting hacked would happen to me... Early this past December, something happend to me that I never thought would... My sister called me to ask if I had done something to my Instagram because it looked strange. I checked my email inbox, and a few hours prior, I was alterted that my Facebook password was changed and asked whther I had logged into my account from France... I had done neither of these things. There was a link I could use to change my password again, but it was too late by that point as my Facebook account had beeen permanently disabled.