Books Received in March 2026

Many thanks to the publisher and author who sent me books/approved my review requests on Netgalley.

Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe - This was my first cozy fantasy romance and I loved it. I really needed a low stakes feel good story and it fit the bill perfectly. It's a sweet romance with a lot of books and a lot of heart. I really enjoyed it.

 

Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.

During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart’s desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among the stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.

She even starts to believe she's stumbled into her very own happily ever after.

There's just one, minor problem: as Tandy's royal duties go unfulfilled, her frantic parents start sending princes to woo her, each one of them certain their kiss will break the curse. After all, what more could a princess want but a prince?

Bound to be Beautiful by Bari Zaki - I love the look of hand made books. I was hoping to pick up a few skills but the craft is rather intimidating. The book has nice step by step instructions and pictures, but I think I need something even more basic as a beginner's guide.

 

Discover the joy of hand-binding with this inspiring guide from expert bookbinder Bari Zaki.

Whether you're new to bookbinding or looking to refine your skills, you'll find more than 20 stunning projects here to spark your creativity – from classic soft and hardcover books to elegant albums, journals and folders.

Learn how to create eye-catching details such as window spines, recessed collage covers, and intricate exposed bindings using the Coptic stitch. Explore a variety of formats including envelope-page albums and drop-spine accordion books with hidden pockets – perfect for preserving memories.

Each project is infused with Bari's love of paper as she walks you through every step, sharing techniques for folding, glueing, and stitching, as well as her go-to tools and materials.

Even the more advanced case-bound and screw-post spine books feel achievable with Bari's clear, step-by-step approach – making this guide a must-have for bookbinders of all levels.

Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim - This is a thought provoking piece of alternative SF. I didn't particularly like the protagonists, but I thought their story was compelling and found the book hard to put down. The cover copy is a little misleading in that borders don't force an instance to be created, but there is the possibility of one being created whenever you cross one. The book follows 2 people who instanced in different ways.

The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.

She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.

How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?

Wildflower by Becky Jenkinson - I only made it 48 pages in before I had to stop reading. I found the world-building simply did not make any sense. While I loved the premise, the execution annoyed me too much.

Cursed from birth to always tell the truth, magical florist Felicity “Fliss” Farrow chooses her words carefully to avoid trouble. But when she receives an anonymous request for a mysterious flower, her search leads her directly into trouble’s path: to Willoh Vane.

Fliss knows the outcast—yet teasingly handsome—sorcerer is rumored to have used dark magic to corrupt the northern forest five years ago. She’s witnessed the resulting feud with Prince Bastion, whom her best friend, Card, is soon to marry. Despite her divided loyalty, Fliss reluctantly accepts Will’s help with gathering rare flowers and finds herself increasingly drawn to him.

As the royal wedding approaches, Fliss fears the flowers she’s delivered are intended for a sinister purpose. But when her warnings are ignored, can she and Will save the kingdom from disaster, and ultimately discover what Fliss has sought for so long—the truth.

Chai and Charmcraft by Lynn Strong - I'm currently on chapter 2 of this book. It has a lot of flowery language and long passages. The protagonist seems very sweet.

What's a prince to do when the man of his dreams doesn’t want a crown and his cat is banned from the palace?

His Imperial Highness Faraj al-Nadhir has never thought himself a charming sort of prince. He’s shy, round, middle-aged, and always dutiful. But he has also secretly spent years dreaming of a man tending jasmine in a sun-lit window — prophetic visions that led him at last to one blissful night with someone who sees his heart, not his crown.

He did not expect to wake up with a cat walking on his face.

Cat-familiars are forbidden in the Imperial fortress. They might be spies. They might be soul-charmers. They might even sharpen their claws on thousand-year-old tapestries. But Faraj cannot regret that sweet little Sahar chose him — just as he cannot regret Asharan bir Chameli, the enchanting owner of the House of Jasmines. Asharan wants nothing to do with Faraj’s title and power, only his kindness. And Faraj hadn’t expected either the delights or the dilemmas of Asharan’s magical, soft-pawed little gift.

The rules have always been different for the God-Emperor's brother. Faraj never before realized how much.

Now he's breakfasting from community cauldrons in back alleys full of children and kittens. His foresight shows him a thousand paths toward disaster, but not the way through. His devoted chamberlain fears that Faraj has been bewitched by a purring agent of chaos, and Faraj can’t exactly say he’s wrong.

When the choice comes down to betraying his lover's name, his cat-familiar’s life, or his own use of forbidden magic, Faraj does the only thing he can: He gets himself put on trial for heresy, trying to change the laws of the Empire itself.

If his visions always lead him into trouble, he might as well make useful trouble.

Video Game Review: Strange Horticulture

Strange Horticulture is a video game developed by Bad Viking and published by Iceberg Interactive. It's an interactive story where you play a character who's recently inherited their uncle's plant shop. As you help patrons by giving them the flowers they ask for, you gain pages in your botany book that help with the identification. Letters and other interactions lead you to locations on a map where you can find new plants for the shop. Meanwhile, a horrible murder has taken place and people involved with it come to you for various forms of aid.

The game is a lot of fun. I love plants and herbals, so putting the book together and reading about the plants was great. The story has several points where you can choose between 2 plants to give someone, a decision that impacts future options and the ending of the game. There is some mention of the occult, and you have the ability to personally kill one person. I've gotten 3 of the 8 endings so far. The game also has some mapping puzzles to solve, which keeps things interesting. A few of the puzzles were challenging until I figured out their trick. The visuals are gorgeous, including the petable cat that sits and sleeps on the counter. It's a point and click game, so there's no time based stress involved. The controls are easy to figure out and it takes about 6-8 hours to play through the first time.

I highly recommend the game if you like plants, the occult, and simple puzzles.

Book Review: The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Pros: sweet story, gorgeous and inventive setting, interesting magic

Cons:

Cursed to become a statue for performing an illegal act of sorcery, Terlu is surprised to be awakened in a snowy forest. She finds herself on an island full of enchanted greenhouses whose magic is failing. Their keeper, Yarrow, believes she can fix them, but she doesn't know how to and isn't sure it's worth the risk of performing more illegal magic.

I loved the book. It's the second in the Spellshop series but stands alone very well. I haven't read the first book yet, but plan to after reading this. The stakes were mostly low key, so I never felt stressed about how the plot would be resolved. And I really needed to read something cozy and unstressful. The few tense moments the book had were filled with hope and heart and people doing their best, working together in difficult circumstances. Terla and Yarrow were both honestly good characters who wanted the greenhouses to survive for each other to be happy. The food Yarrow cooked sounded delicious, though I did start to wonder why everything tasted like spring or summer to Terla.

While the idea of greenhouses on their own isn't inventive, Durst fills them with a mix of practical garden vegetables, beautiful flowers, and exquisite magic. Some of the rooms and the creatures within are wondrous and I'd love to visit for real and see them for myself. The sentient plants were a mix of fun and annoying, but I love the idea of them and enjoyed the variety of personalities on display. I loved how magic worked in this world. As someone who's studied several languages, it was neat seeing Terla parse the various meanings words can have and experiment with spells. I loved the winged cat and feel that more fantasy worlds should include them.

The romance was understated and sweet. It progressed naturally and felt measured. There's nothing on the page beyond a few kisses and cuddles, making this appropriate for YA and adult audiences. It is LGBT friendly, with one lesbian couple showing up a side characters later in the book.

If you're looking for a feel good romance with a lot of plants and no spice, this is for you.

History Book Review: Ancient Nubian Art: A History by Rita E. Freed

The book consists of 8 chapters in addition to the introduction: Beginnings; Expanding World: A-Group; C-Group and Pan-Grave Cultures Move In; Nubia’s First Empire: Kerma; An Interlude with Egypt; Nubia’s Second Empire: The Napatan Period; Nubia’s Third Empire: The Meriotic Period; and Beyond the Meroitic Empire. There’s a forward by Henry Louix Gates, Jr. that explores what Nubia and Egypt meant to enslaved Africans in America, and why learning about ancient African nations and their accomplishments was so important to black Americans.

The book follows the chronological history of Nubia, as we can piece it together through archaeological evidence. The early chapters are fairly short, as there isn’t much evidence or material objects. There are at least a few photos per chapter illuminating the text. The chapters get more detailed as empires rose, since they left significantly more behind. The book constantly compares the artwork, homes, clothing, and habits (as well as can be determined) to the more well known Egyptian one. So we’re told that Egyptian artwork is more formulaic, while Nubian artwork has more of a naturalistic look, with freer forms and curvier figures. I was especially interested to learn the ways Nubian metalworkers experimented with enamel to create mixed forms much earlier than appeared elsewhere in the world.

In addition to images of artworks, the book also has some floor plans for palaces and temples, diagrams of houses, etc.

It’s fascinating learning about such a little known culture. Their artwork deserves to be known in its own right, separate from that of Egypt. Hopefully this book will encourage people to learn more about the Nubians and their culture.

Books Received in January 2026

My thanks to Yale University Press for allowing me to read an advance copy of Ancient Nubian Art: A History, by Rita E. Freed. It's an interesting look at an ancient African nation that's been largely overlooked due to its proximity to Egypt. While it had periods where the artwork of the Nubians was similar to that of the Egyptians (due to the nations conquering each other), Nubian art also has a lot of originality to it that's worth studying in depth for its own sake. The book can be dry and academic at times, but it has some great artwork. I'll be posting my review of it in a few days.  

Lushly illustrated with stunning artifacts, this volume is the first comprehensive and accessible publication to explore the art, architecture, and material culture of ancient Nubia.

Kings and queens of Nubia reigned over one of the largest empires in the ancient world and had contacts extending north to Greece and Rome, south to sub-Saharan Africa, east to the Red Sea, and west across much of the Sahel. Even a quick look at Nubia’s artifacts reveals the incredible creativity of its artists, architects, craftspeople, and thinkers. Despite their significance, the achievements of ancient Nubia are little known to the public and are often viewed as a subculture, a derivative offshoot of Egypt, Nubia’s northern neighbor. Nothing could be further from the truth. During its over eight-thousand-year lifespan (beginning around 8000 BCE), Nubia indelibly shaped the art and architecture of the ancient world, an influence still felt today.

Ancient Nubian Art is the first comprehensive and accessible treatment of Nubian artistic culture and showcases its vast range—from ceramics, sculptures, and jewelry to tombs, temples, and palaces. Rita E. Freed, curator emerita at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which has the largest collection of Nubian artifacts outside the Nile Valley, contextualizes the development of Nubian art against a vivid backdrop of kingship, power, worship, identity, gender, technology, and internationalism. Her text is accompanied by a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and sidebars by expert voices from the field.

Book Review: The One by John Marrs

Pros: interesting characters, constant plot twists, suspenseful, thought provoking

Cons:

What would you do if there was a scientific way of finding THE ONE, that one person in the whole world who completes you? This is the story of 5 people who take the test, get their matches, and discover that finding THE ONE isn’t at all what they expected.

The book is a near sci-fi psychological suspense. While I did anticipate a few twists, the characters made so many unexpected decisions and were thrown such wild situations that I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next.

The book cycles through the five protagonists, and leaves you on constant mini cliffhangers as they discover something new before the narrative swaps to the next character. This keeps things fast paced and interesting. The characters themselves were intriguing and varied, with all of them coming from different backgrounds and wanting something different from their match. It’s interesting seeing what they’re willing to give up and do for their matched partners.

I found the premise thought provoking and the author does a great job of showing how a variety of people react to finding their match. While a lot of the turmoil the program unleashed is hand waved away by some of the protagonists, it’s clear that this has largely reshaped the world and how people approach marriage and relationships.

I though the ending followed the consequences of the protagonists choices and so felt satisfying.

This is an exciting, quick paced, read.

Book Review: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold By Seanan McGuire

Pros: interesting world-building, beautiful prose

Cons:

The book picks up a few months in our world after the events of Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. Nancy, living in the Halls of the Dead, where time passes slower, is forced to flee when the hungry ghosts start killing her fellow living statues. She asks her former classmates at Miss Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children for aid, and though it’s against the school’s rules, they embark on another quest.

The book has a beautiful lyricism to it. McGuire’s prose often reads like poetry with a lot of pointed commentary on the human condition. Though the Halls of the Dead have shown up in previous books, we get to learn more about it and it’s rulers. We also get to learn more about Talia, who’s briefly mentioned in the previous book.

It’s cool seeing how the kids’ various talents help them solve the problem. The novella’s the perfect length for this adventure.