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Another book with a found family. I'm not sure if it's becoming a popular setup, or if I'm just unconsciously leaning into it myself.

This is a cozy book. The protagonist, Mika, is a lonely witch that's somewhat given up on people. She's a person of color (which I think is rad), but that doesn't factor heavily in the story. This book isn't meant to change minds or shine a light on prejudice or any such thing. It's a cozy romance with magic.

Mika lands a job tutoring three young witches (which is very much against the Rules), and finds delight with a mismatch group of caring people.

The characters are a delight to read. There's lots of funny moments, lots of touching moments, and a very spicy scene between Mika and her romantic interest. I loved it, and if you like light-hearted romance, you probably will as well.

I'm not even sure where to start with this one. The book focuses on the crew of the Ambit, a ship that's part of a peace-keeping organization.

Each member is a delight to read about, and the author switches perspectives to get a sampling of the characters' internal thoughts and motivations. Each one has feelings and beliefs and a history that makes them feel like real people. Some of the personality quirks feel a little cliche if you think about it too hard, but it didn't detract for me from how much I cared for them by the end of the book.

The author did a fantastic job pulling my emotions this way and that while the crew traveled the galaxy. I strongly recommend giving this one a read.

I grabbed a couple mass-market paperbacks from my local library. I wasn't expecting an amazing read, but I was expecting a little better than I got.

For a murder mystery, there wasn't a whole lot of mystery happening. The victim dies early in the book, but the majority of time is spent following the main character, Tori, being threatened by her boyfriend's former girlfriend. Tori and her friends are implicated in the murder, and the chief of police takes turns harassing each one without looking for actual clues or checking alibis. He just interrogates them repeatedly, hoping that one of them will confess. In the few moments when Tori does investigate the murder, she has clue and connections drop into her lap, but she doesn't put anything together until the final pages of the book.

"A novel of high fantasy... and low stakes"

You get exactly as it reads on the tin for this book. It feels to me like a romantic comedy in book form. An orc woman stops adventuring to start a coffee shop. What follows is hi-jinks, suspiciously convenient events, and mostly non-conflicts. Even the worst thing that happens to the main character in the book is not so very terrible in the end.

Unless you are bothered by same-sex relationships, nothing in this book is a game changer for fantasy nor will it challenge your view of the world. Personally, I loved it. It's like a warm cup of coffee in the morning.