Those who would suppress and destroy you stand not a chance when confronted with the power that lies within these pages . . .

Elliott D’Angelo-Brandt is sick and tired of putting up with it all. Every week, she attends a support group for teen victims of sexual assault, but all they do is talk. Elliott’s done with talking. What she wants is justice.

And she has a plan for getting it: a spell book that she found in her late mom’s belongings that actually works. Elliott recruits a coven of fellow survivors from the group. She, Madeline, Chloe, and Bea don’t have much in common, but they are united in their rage at a system that heaps judgments on victims and never seems to punish those who deserve it.

As they each take a turn casting a hex against their unrepentant assailants, the girls find themselves leaning on each other in ways they never expected—and realizing that revenge has heavy implications. Each member of the coven will have to make a choice: continue down the path of magical vigilantism or discover what it truly means to claim their power.

For Girls Who Walk Through Fire is a fierce, deeply moving novel about perseverance in the face of injustice and the transformational power of friendship.

First and foremost it would probably go without saying, but trigger warnings that there is talk of sexual assault and other sensitive subjects and sometimes that talk is very raw and detailed. That being said, it was a great revenge story, a heavy story mixed with some supernatural hijinks, making the heavier side of the story easier to read. I would have liked a little more depth in the characters and their relationships with each other, but I understand why some things were more surface level when considering their trauma, revenge and healing in the story itself. The writing style made the story easy to consume and I felt there was a good balance overall between the heaviness of topics and the events in the story.

Happy reading!

When Marise Leeson gets her hands on a crystal ball, she believes her knowledge of Wicca is about to expand. The magic, however, goes horribly wrong. In short order, she’s thrown into an alternate world, attacked by a dragon, and rescued by Javeer, a young male dragon in search of a friend.

Marise is desperate to get home alive. Instead of dabbling in scrying and spells, she must now use her Wicca skills to survive in Moerden―navigating rival dragon factions, riding Javeer without falling, and dodging unknown perils of an alien landscape. Through a series of adventures and mishaps, she learns that the dragons face slow extinction from a mysterious disease. Some see Marise as part of the cause. Some hope she’s a key to a cure.

Marise grows up fast as her focus switches from escape from Moerden to saving the dragons. She draws upon her powers, intuition, and some help from home as she and Javeer begin a quest to solve the puzzle of the stagger. If they survive, and if their trust and courage are strong, they may succeed. If they do not, the dragons of Moerden will cease to exist.

Anything that is remotely like a portal fantasy, or someone getting kicked into another world is something I’m willing to look more into. In this story Marise plays with some occult things and ends us getting sucked into a world with dragons. With all the dragon hype that has happened lately this book is definitely coming at a great time and I found it a fun start to a series. I certainly could have used some more world building and background, but when thinking about it in respect to the target audience more backstory could have proved overwhelming. The writing was easy to read and though there was some pacing slow downs here and there, it was never to a point that I put down the book. Overall an enjoyable dragon fantasy and a good start to a series.

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Behind every great hero is an Aristene.

Aristene are mythical female warriors, part of a legendary order. Though heroes might be immortalized in stories, it’s the Aristene who guide them to victory. They are the Heromakers.

Ever since she was an orphan taken in by the order, Reed has wanted to be an Aristene. Now, as an initiate, just one challenge stands in her way: she must shepherd her first hero to glory on the battlefield. Succeed, and Reed will take her place beside her sisters. Fail, and she’ll be cast from the only home she’s ever known.

Nothing is going to stop Reed–until she meets her hero. Hestion is fiery and infuriating, but what begins as an alliance becomes more, and as secrets of the order come to light Reed begins to understand what becoming an Aristene may truly cost. Battle looming, she must choose: the order and the life she had planned, or Hestion, and the one she never expected.

Since I’ve enjoyed Kendare Blake’s writing in the past I was hoping for this to be a fantastic start to a YA fantasy series, and it was even more than I was hoping for. The worldbuilding this book, as well as some of the unique portions of the world itself, were very well done and definitely kept me interesting. The book itself is very fast paced, but never to the point that I felt like it was going too fast. Overall I really enjoyed the characters, plot and the world that she had set up. This is a solid start to what looks to be an action packed and fantastic series.

Happy reading!

Poppy Banks would rather be writing mysteries than writing listicles for her dead-end job at Thought Buzz. But after a series of rejections, she’s ready to accept life on the sidelines as a plus-size woman. Her aunt Margot is the one person unwilling to give up on her niece’s dreams and tells her so at their secret yearly lunches.

But all of Poppy’s beliefs about herself are challenged when her beloved aunt dies and leaves her niece a grand surprise—a trip to her villa in the French Riviera. There, she learns her aunt intends to leave her stunning villa and secretive writer’s residency to Poppy—if she can finish her novel in six months.

When the writing countdown begins, Poppy realizes she has more to confront than her writer’s block. Family drama, complicated romances and self-doubt all threaten to throw her off course. In this fun and heartwarming debut, Poppy must decide if she can live up to her aunt’s—and her own—desire to be the main character in her own life.

Buy Links | HarperCollins.com | BookShop.org | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Books-A-Million

This book was quite the journey. Where we start Poppy has kind of reached a crossroads so to speak, there are a lot of things stacking against her and making her feel like she needs a change. Cue changing things up and challenging herself, while also trying to get back into her groove so to speak. I did really enjoy the journey and definitely found this read to be very fun read. I would say it has a very similar vibe to some other books about women going to a foreign country to find themselves, especially after a hiccup in life, but it definitely had enough that set it apart to make it a unique experience.

Jamie Varon is an author, branding expert, course creator, and graphic designer living in Calabasas, California. Her nonfiction book Radically Content was published in 2022 with Quarto and is currently being adapted into a feature film with Camilu Productions LTD. Main Character Energy is her debut novel.

Social Links | Author Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Happy reading!