Review | The Twilight Walker by Nic Minnella

DeAnneLeave a comment

Finn thought campfire stories were just stories. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Eleven-year-old Finn can’t stand camping and is fed up with being picked on by his seemingly perfect older brother, Matt. Everything changes when their mother starts acting like a different person, and Finn-—along with his cat, Pepper—is the only one who realizes the truth: she’s been replaced by an impostor. Will Matt believe him?

With the fake mom hot on their trail and time running out, the brothers must put aside years of misunderstandings and resentment to save their family from a haunted forest where sinister legends come to life.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

From the start of the book we can tell that this is a family in a bit of a crisis, though they are trying to enjoy time as a family on a camping trip. Finn pretty clearly struggles with aspects of anxiety and his older brother Matt is more interested in girls than spending time with him – plus dealing with his own baggage after a tough period the family went through. Their parents are fighting pretty constantly, so there is a lot of tension from the get go.

A round of ghost stories leads to some odd events and their mom going missing for a while, when they find her something is off and that’s really the beginning of the mystery. Finn and Matt, with the help of Pepper their cat struggle through the perils of the forest, mostly supernatural, to unravel the mystery of what happens to their parents.

As they progress they slowly start to understand each other more and some truths are spoken. By the end of the book, not only have they solved the mystery of the Twilight Walker, but they’ve managed to come back together as a family. It’s a great read and I’m interested to pick up the previous installments in the series.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | This Beautiful Lie by Taylor Sullivan

DeAnneLeave a comment

Some secrets don’t stay buried.
They wait—quiet and patient—for the exact moment they can ruin you.
I learned a long time ago that surviving means keeping my heart locked down. No expectations. No hope. No love that asks me to trust like it won’t disappear. Because love doesn’t just leave scars—it takes pieces of you that never heal quite right.
Dean Weston intrigues me.
He’s successful. Steady. The kind of man who shows up without being asked.
Which is why, when he asks me to pretend to be his fiancée, I know right away it’s a terrible idea.
One week at a business retreat.
One carefully crafted love story.
One lie meant to protect us both.
The rules are simple.
Play the perfect couple.
Convince everyone we’re in love.
Walk away without getting hurt.
Only Dean doesn’t fake affection—he offers it easily. Gentle touches that linger longer than they should. Soft smiles meant just for me, like we share something no one else can see. Late-night conversations that stretch past midnight, where he listens in a way that makes me forget I ever learned how to be guarded. He makes me feel safe without promising anything at all, and somewhere along the way, the pretending turns into this beautiful lie I’m terrified to lose. I stop bracing for the fall I know is coming.
Because the truth always surfaces.
Lies unravel, no matter how carefully they’re told.
And some secrets don’t just hurt you.
They break you.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

In this one we follow Dean and Emily, both of which have a lot of scars relating to love and relationships. Against her better judgement she agrees to play as Dean’s fake fiancé for a business trip and realizes it is a slippery slope from there because somewhere in the act of making others believe they’re in love, things start to feel real.

This is definitely not a light romance, there’s a lot of emotional upheaval and depth. The way the two both learn how to trust each other and their feelings is heavier to read, but so worth it. The characters are three dimensional and it definitely feels like they are truly experiencing the ups and downs of their romance.

Though this is the third book in the series, it seems like they read perfectly fine as standalones – though after checking out Taylor Sullivan’s writing I will definitely be picking up more.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar by Kristine Rudolph

DeAnneLeave a comment

Perfect for fans of Laurie Morrison and Jenn Bishop, this lively middle-grade mystery follows a vibrant group of teens and tweens navigating grief, authenticity, and—above all—soccer, while taking an enjoyable romp through the Texas Hill Country.

Every year, spring in Texas means two very different things to sixth grader Cassaty her beloved Barons Creek High School soccer team, the Battling Billies, will contend for the state title, and the anniversary of her twin brother’s death will plunge her family into a deep, unspoken grief. But this year, the script changes when the Battling Billies’ star midfielder goes missing right before the playoffs begin. Presented with this mysterious disappearance, Cassaty seizes the chance to heroically bring the missing girl home—and hopefully, in doing so, help fill the hole her brother’s death left in her family so many years ago.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Cassaty idolizes the star of her town’s high school soccer team, so when she goes missing just before the playoffs Cassaty feels she has to be the one to find out what happened and find Katey. She recruits some of her friends to help and uses the mystery to help her escape difficulties going on at home.

This is a book about grief, both from a parent and a sibling, the guilt of being the survivor and healing in general. Cassaty as a character is very believable in her actions, feelings and motives. While it’s an impactful read, it’s also a great story with a mystery. I felt the ending was appropriate and believable, not everything is perfect, but they are in a good place. The writing flows really nicely, as a middle grade it reads really easily and is well paced. A great story out the gate.

Happy reading!

Review | Best Wishes From the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

DeAnneLeave a comment

From the bestselling author of the Japanese sensation The Full Moon Coffee Shop, this charming and heartfelt novel showcases the magic of Christmas as lost souls find themselves—with a little help of from an enchanted café run by cats.

In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a Christmas-time Kyoto moon.

Satomi is devoted to her job in Tokyo, but when her boyfriend hints that he is going to propose to her on Christmas Day, she becomes torn between the career in the city that she loves and a quieter life with her boyfriend in the country. What will the magical cats see for her future?

Koyuki, meanwhile, works at Satomi’s company. Ever since her father passed away in an accident on Christmas Day, she has been playing the role of the good, cheerful girl—and now that her mother has remarried, she is forced to pretend she is part of a happy new family. But this Christmas, what will the cats reveal as her true wish?

Junko, Satomi’s sister-in-law, lives in a small town with her husband and their daughter Ayu, a first grader. When her estranged father becomes ill, Junko returns home with Ayu in tow—and with the help of the magical cats, she learns something surprising that will change her life forever.

This holiday season, each stands at a crossroads, confronting their past and present struggles. With the help of some feline divinations, each will finally have the courage to seek happiness and contentment in their lives.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 5 out of 5.

After loving The Full Moon Coffee Shop, I knew I would be picking up pretty much anything Mai Mochizuki was writing – so I was excited to see a series featuring the Full Moon Coffee Shop. While this installment in the series is centered around Christmas time, that is not the theme of the stories or the people featured, it’s simply the time of year. I wasn’t sure how things were going to be connected, but was pleasantly surprised to see some tie ins to the first book in that one of the people the coffee shop cats help is talked about. That being said, they can be read independently of each other, but so far I would recommend going in order – it helps to understand the cats better and what they do and it’s nice to see all of the character connections.

The cats once again are helping people through treats and drinks, revealing the secrets of their astrological charts and helping them with their sometimes inner turmoil or dilemmas. We delve a little more into the astrological side of things with the cats explaining. This book mostly concerns different members of one family/social circle, so when we reach the end it’s really like things have come full circle and the loose ends have been wrapped up.

This series so far is the perfect cozy translated fiction, with a touch of fantasy and magic. It’s heartwarming seeing the different outcomes as the characters resolve the matters that might be troubling their hearts.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop

DeAnneLeave a comment

Meet the alien species that put the humanity into human beings
Discover the fate of Slefonia III once warp travel became obsolete
Visit the Mind Library to commune with the dead

Kim Choyeop became an instant literary sensation in Korea with her debut short story collection. Each of these bitesize speculative masterpieces represents a journey into the unknown, guided by a writer blessed with a boundless imagination.

From alternative futures to distant alien planets, in the company of scientists, space explorers and ordinary citizens in extraordinary situations, Kim Choyeop revels in making the impossible seem not only possible but somehow inevitable.

Each story focuses on an specific issue of discrimination against women or other marginalised groups, adding a mind-bending twist to hold a mirror to modern society and its everyday iniquities.

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sci-fi is a genre I’m still very much dipping my toes in and figuring out what works for me – so when I saw a sci-fi anthology that was translated from Korean I definitely wanted to pick it up. The stories in this collection I felt take a look at the human condition, and how the human condition may evolve depending on how technology and the world advances. What if instead of burying and cremating people when their dead, they instead have their minds scanned and catalogued, to be kept in a library where family and friends could visit and essentially have a conversation with them. Would they be conversing with their actual soul/consciousness or just a simulation built from their memories? What would happen to humanity if someone figured out how to manipulate genetic code from conception to ensure they were for lack of a better word – perfect?

Each story is a different lens looking at different components of society and humanity and what some of the individuals in these futures might experience. It’s definitely a collection to sit with and absorb, not something to fly through. There is a depth in the writing that takes time to really take in and it was a wonderful experience. I’d love to see more of Kim Cho-yeop’s writing in the future.

Happy reading!

If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light review

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | A Realm of Masks and Sorry by Payton Rose

DeAnneLeave a comment

Blamed for her brother’s death, Lia is sent by her father to a remote mental facility in Greece. There, she discovers that her ability to see and communicate with lost souls connects her to a world of divine secrets, ancient prophecies, and binds her fate to the gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon.

Haunted by her past and battling the facility’s oppressive practices, Lia discovers unexpected connections, new found love, and friendships in a place she thought would offer none. Now, haunted by the Elders, she holds the key they have searched hundreds of years for. Lia must summon strength from within to ensure the survival of both the divine and mortal realms alike, and keep the Titans from being awoken.

The first installment in a gripping saga of Greek mythology and self-discovery, Lia’s odyssey will resonate with readers, delving into themes of identity, sacrifice, and the enduring power of hope amidst darkness.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Any book featuring mythology or folklore will immediately pique my interest and this one was no different. The progression of this story did start off pretty slow, but I felt the building of momentum as it went on was good. The writing is well done, especially considering this is a debut.

Lia really goes through it, especially when she has at a mental healthy facility after being accused of murdering her brother. There are a lot of topics that would benefit from a trigger warning (SA references especially).

This felt like a really solid start to a series with solid foundation. It’s clear who Lia is and the other characters are also pretty well formed and unique. All in all an interesting take on Greek mythology and I’m interested in seeing where it goes.

Happy reading!

Review | The Backup Plan by K. Bromberg

DeAnneLeave a comment

Sometimes love isn’t part of the plan. Sometimes it’s the backup plan.

Lucas Hale built his entire life around football.
The franchise quarterback.
The GOAT.
The man everyone on his team counts on.

Recovering from a devastating shoulder injury, the veteran quarterback signs with the Lone Star Rebels for one last chance to prove he still belongs in the league.

There’s just one problem—Dr. Emery Porter.

The Rebels’ new injury specialist isn’t impressed by Lucas’s charm—or his determination to push through pain.

She’s seen the scans.
She knows the damage.
And if she clears him to play, it might mean destroying his career for good.

But the more time they spend together, the more dangerous everything becomes.
For Emery’s career.
For Lucas’s future.
And the harder it becomes to remember where professional boundaries end—and where love begins.

Because if Lucas keeps playing, he could lose everything.
And if Emery stops him . . . she might lose the man she’s fallen for.

Sometimes the biggest risk isn’t losing the game.
It’s losing what you never thought you wanted.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Emery is starting over in a new city, trying to reclaim her life after her marriage ended. Lucas is also starting over, trying to salvage his career in a new city, with a new team and a shoulder that has probably been injured too many times.

From their first meeting, who they are as people becomes pretty clear. They have a chance meeting, not knowing who the other is, and then find out later that they are going to be part of each other’s daily life in a work capacity. The attraction is for the most part pretty immediate, so the yearning as they come to terms with their feelings as well as war with if they can risk a relationship considering they both work for the Lone Star Rebels is pretty intense.

Watching their developing friendship and then romantic relationship while both working through their own problems is great, and further enhanced by the fact that we get POVs from both of them. Lucas doesn’t know who he is if he can no longer play football and Emery is fighting her own battles to cement herself with the team and keep her dream job. Their desires clash when questions arise regarding Lucas’ shoulder and Emery has to decide what to reveal to the coaches and trainers.

I appreciated that while there was definitely conflict and some difficulties faced by them, they worked their way through them and became stronger. Their chemistry and banter were top notch and had me laughing.

I’d love to check out the upcoming books in the series as well as I felt there were definitely some side characters I could see getting their own stories.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | Shards of Silence by Brian Lee Young

DeAnneLeave a comment

In his first YA novel, award-winning author Brian Lee Young (Diné) bridges the generational divide between a Navajo teen at an elite prep school and his great-grandmother’s experience at a federal boarding school for Indigenous students. The book is an eye-opening call for community healing and a profound coming-of-age story.

Even if it hurts to leave behind his friends and family in Navajo, New Mexico—especially his great-grandmother, Mildred—Derrick knows his scholarship to an elite East Coast boarding school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Sagefield Academy is totally different from life on the rez: His new classmates vacation in Europe and take study drugs. Derrick wants to stick to caffeine, but handling sports, school, and a twenty-page term paper, all while dodging comments about his hair and heritage, feels straight-up impossible.

Back home, Másání Mildred’s health is fading quickly. On the phone, she begs Derrick to leave Sagefield. When he realizes her fear comes from her time in federal Native boarding schools, he knows he’s finally found the term paper theme he believes carrying her voice into the future.

Derrick will need to shatter a steadfast generational silence to untangle his great-grandmother’s memories—though her story might change him, and his family, forever.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I am always happy to see books with representation of other cultures or books that tackle subject that in a lot of ways today’s society is trying to ignore or bury. So much of history is being intentionally buried or erased, so stories like this need to be told – especially in the young adult and middle grade spaces.

We follow Derrick, who has had to relocate because he got the opportunity to attend an East Coast boarding school – a far cry from Navajo, New Mexico. Add onto that the pressure of keeping up in school, worries regarding his family members and the shadows of the past regarding Native boarding schools.

I do feel like this read a little young for the way it was marketed and there were some areas where the story could have gone more in depth to give Derrick and his story more dimension. It felt like it was almost there in some areas.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Review | Holloway by Elana K. Arnold

DeAnneLeave a comment

It is the late summer of 2021, and a girl named Nora is on the Paris Metro.

Nora, whose mother loved her, even though Nora was broken.

Nora, who couldn’t help her mother when her mother needed her most.

Nora, from whom the pandemic has taken nearly everything, save the object she clings to: a cylinder containing her mother’s ashes.

With no family left, no friends to speak of, and no way to turn back time, Nora has come to France to keep a promise she never got to make: to spread the ashes in a place her mother never got to see. But instead, Nora finds herself on the run through a forest in the night, taking refuge in a dark holloway. And when she wakes, and tries to make her way back to something she recognizes, she realizes that is impossible.

Because it is no longer 2021.

Questioning everything—including her own sanity—Nora sets out on a journey through a time and place completely foreign to her, and yet one that, much like the time and place she came from, is defined by death, loss, fear, and uncertainty. A journey in which she must find a way to honor her mother—and heal herself—in a world that feels irrevocably broken.

Amazon | Goodreads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Holloway is definitely a slower read, but it is so worth it – so if a slower pace puts you off, but you really enjoy family dynamics between mothers and daughters (not always good ones) and exploring of found families and friendships, then you still may want to give this one a try. It’s definitely a story you should take your time with and absorb fully.

The relationship between Nora and her dead mother, and the revelations of what they were before her mother’s death, were quite an exploration in the dynamic where a parent thinks they know what is best for their child, but in fact they do not. The child coming to that realization is even more of a revelation in the story.

Nora’s story is a wonderful journey, not just in her realizations and healing but also in the time travel aspect. After dealing with the pandemic and losing her mother, she is heading to France to decide where to scatter her mother’s ashes, and that leads to her waking up in 1946. The lens through the world after the worst events of the pandemic juxtaposed with the view of post World War II Europe.

This is a heartfelt story with far more depth than you would originally think. The writing is beautiful and poignant and worth taking your time with.

Happy reading!

*Disclaimer: Amazon links included may be affiliate links that I receive a commission on if purchased through.

Life Update | 5/21/2026

DeAnneLeave a comment

Hey everyone – I suppose I have some explaining to do as I kind of ghosted the blog for a little bit.

A little over a month ago Calypso started limping (honestly I can’t tell you exactly when simply because the time has blurred and everything is a mess in my mind). Now since she’s a very active cat and also getting up there in age we figured she either pulled something or her arthritis was acting up. I already had her yearly vet appointment scheduled so decided I would bring it up then if it hadn’t resolved (at this point her vet appt was only about a week away). We ended up taking her to the ER vet a few days before her appointment simply to get her some pain relief and make sure it wasn’t anything else. The ER vet believed we were right and gave us some pain meds to give her relief. Her primary vet also believed it to be a minor injury when we saw them.

Less than a week later we just felt she wasn’t improving at all and was obviously in a lot of pain, we went back to the ER vet as it was the weekend and requested x-rays. What they found…was not good. There was a tumor on her tibia and since I’d mentioned offhand that she had an occasional cough, they also did a chest x-ray – and discovered what looked like a mass on her lungs as well.

I’m not going to go into the full details of the rest of the story, but we did seek out an oncology consult (even though the closest oncology vet was 3.5 hours away) to find out if it was treatable and what our options were.

It’s not treatable. More was found during the CT scan and tissues were taken as a result of it since they had time and we gave the ok. Calypso has an aggressive lung carcinoma that has metastasized to her leg and also affected her lymph nodes and spleen.

There were no signs, no warnings. She had a cough that until recently was super infrequent and had been brought up to the vet more than once (upon viewing videos it was believed that it was allergies or GERD because of the way it presented). The only other indicator was when she started limping and by then it was already too late.

We don’t know how long she has. I’m understandably not in a great place and my reading has definitely suffered. Right now we’re keeping her as comfortable as we can with pain meds and letting her tell us how she feels. Though she’s not moving around a whole lot thanks to the pain in her leg, she’s still eating, drinking, alert and giving us sass. As long as she’s doing all that, we’ll do what we can.

Please give me some grace as I get back into the swing of things. I’ve had Calypso since she was 8 weeks old. Almost 13 years ago she climbed up to my shoulder and chose me and has been by my side ever since.

I’ll be back into the swing of things shortly, but I wanted to explain what has been going on, especially since Calypso has always been a part of my content too. I’ll likely post more regular updates on her health on my instagram but will make sure to share here with any major updates as well.