The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos

 

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Watkins Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you love urban legends and hope to learn more, this might be the book for you! Inside, you will find a collection of urban legends across nine chapters based on how they’ve been categorized. It was so interesting to discover the inspiration behind some well-known fictional characters while reading this book! It was also really fun reading different versions of urban legends I grew up listening to. For example, the version I always heard of the babysitter and the man upstairs involved a clown statue that was actually a man dressed as a clown.

All in all, this was an excellent read. It’s very well researched and covers urban legends from around the world. While it can be information heavy at times, I don’t think it will be overwhelming for most people as long as they don’t try to read a large chunk of the book in one go. This reads as more of a text book than an anthology, so keep that in mind if you plan on picking this up.

Tarot for Creativity: A Guide for Igniting Your Creative Practice by Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

 

Tarot for Creativity: A Guide for Igniting Your Creative Practice by Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Chronicle Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’ve been looking for a Tarot book to help you expand your Tarot knowledge, then this might be a good book for you! Inside, you will find an introduction, and some basic information on Tarot before diving into the cards. The rest of the book goes through each card in the Major and Minor Arcana. The book helps readers look at the cards differently than they may normally look at them. I’ve used my Tarot and Oracle cards for creative inspiration before, so I like that this book will help people look at their cards in a new light. I also love that there’s so many different spreads included in the book. There’s a spread after each card plus seven spreads at the end of the book.

I think this is an excellent book to have in your collection if you are a Tarot reader, especially if you are artistic in any way. There’s a ton of little creative prompts throughout the book, so even if you don’t pull some cards for yourself or someone else, the prompts may get the wheels in your mind spinning when you feel like you’re stuck.

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell, Vol. 1 by unfins

 

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell, Vol. 1 by unfins

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from WEBTOON Unscrolled through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Astaroth, a Great Duke of Hell, was minding his own business when a teenage boy named Paul summoned him to the mortal realm. It’s a shame Paul has failed to notice that one does not just sell their soul to a demon to get a date! In six days, Astaroth will return to hell with Paul’s soul, but not before chaos ensues!

I knew this book was going to be funny when I started it, but I was not expecting to be laughing so hard at almost every turn. We follow Astaroth, Paul, and Paul’s sister Elena from the moment that Astaroth is summoned from hell to aid Paul in his romantic pursuits. One of the things I love about this story is that no one is on the same page, which adds to the absolute hilarity that ensues. The artwork is fun and really helps drive the humor home. The characters' facial expressions alone had me cracking up at times. However, even if the artwork didn’t help with that, I think the humor would stand up well on its own.

I don’t want to say too much and risk accidentally spoiling the story, but if this sounds like something you’d be interested in reading, I say do it. I was laughing so hard throughout each chapter. I’m actually debating on following the story’s original format on WEBTOON when I prefer published volumes in book format. That’s how much I enjoyed this book!

Threads That Bind (Threads That Bind #1) by Kika Hatzopoulou

 

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

My Rating: ★★★★★

In a world where the descendants of the Fates can inherit their abilities, that very same world is not very kind to the people blessed with powers. Io Ora is the youngest of her Fate-born sisters, and her ability is one that people fear. She’s a cutter, and people are terrified because her abilities could be deadly in the wrong hands. Io spends her days as a skilled private investigator, but her latest job is taking her out of her usual realm of work. There’s someone turning women into wraiths and using them to kill specific people. Now Io finds herself working for the Queen of the Silts to find who is behind the killings, which has her working closely with the fated mate that she’s been avoiding meeting for years.

I absolutely loved this book. We follow Io as her life is turned upside down by her latest investigation. Someone is turning women into wraiths and sending them out to do their bidding, and now she needs to figure out who is behind this and how to save whoever is turned into the next wraith. Insert the Mob Queen, aka Queen of the Silts, and her soulmate, and Io has a lot on her hands here. Did I mention that Edei Rhuna has no idea about their Fate-string that’s connected them as soulmates their whole lives? Or that her oldest sister has always told her to cut that strong? I wasn’t joking when I said that Io has a lot on her plate, and that includes guilt!

The first chapter was a little rough because we were given so much information in such a short period of time. However, it was setting up the world that Io lives in, it was just A LOT. If you can get past that first chapter, you are good to go because this is such a good story. We have a variety of interesting characters that are great to follow. There’s also so many layers to the story, and family is a big part of that.

I was a little confused about how Io didn’t notice a particular character was a red herring being thrown at her by the culprit, but then the story would’ve been shorter, so I guess I can’t complain. However, I didn’t figure out who the actual culprit was even though the signs were there. I really enjoyed reading this story and seeing the mystery slowly unravel. That ending was both crazy and sad, but it has me ready to start the next book ASAP!

Into the Quiet (Cupid's Fall #2) by Beth C. Greenberg

Into the Quiet by Beth C. Greenberg

My Rating: ★★★★

When Cupid discovers that his punishment isn’t over yet, he never expected his heart to lead him to a married woman. While he’s not excited to have his heart broken all over again, he’s a little confused about why he’s been led to Ruthie when she’s already married to her true love. Now Cupid gets to take a crash course in construction and other housework as he converts a nursery into a dream office for Ruthie while figuring out how to fix her marriage.

I’ve been enjoying this series and loved this book even more than the first! This time around, we follow Cupid, Pan, Ruthie, and occasionally Zach through their rotating perspectives. I really like how we get to learn more about Cupid and Pan this time around. It was so interesting to see how lonely Cupid has been and how much he’s realizing as much now that he’s been thrown into mortal life.

In fact, I enjoyed seeing how much character growth there was on Cupid’s end throughout this book. It was less hitting the town and getting laid and more settling in, getting to know people, and figuring out the harder sides of life. I loved how Ruthie played into this because the attraction was there, but she was determined to not cheat on her husband. Instead, they have a meeting of minds and life experiences. It took their almost romance on an unexpected but delightful journey that I wouldn’t say was an emotional affair, but it could’ve been if that was what Ruthie was interested in. It was great to see how this friendship of sorts led them to grow in ways they weren’t expecting.

The only thing that was weird was Zach’s alleged affair. It seemed like he was cheating but then we got to his chapters and saw things weren’t as they seemed. It was extremely confusing because it seemed like everyone, including Athena, knew what was going on only to discover even they didn’t know for sure. It was just really strange and didn’t quite add up.

That said, I really enjoyed reading this. While Cupid and Ruthie don’t have the romance he was hoping for when he met her, this was still a romance novel. We also see Pan continue his romance of the moment while Cupid romances a few older women. Plus, Ruthie and Zach’s marriage was an excellent plot that I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I did. Now I’m excited for the next book and seeing if Cupid and Pan will finally do something about their attraction toward each other!

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn, Volume 1 by Trí Vương

 

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn, Volume 1 by Trí Vương

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Ten Speed Graphic through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Follow Oscar Zahn as he tells the stories of the souls he’s doing his best to help. While avoiding his own demons, this floating skull with a heart of gold does everything within his power to help his friends, ghosts who haven’t realized they’re dead, and even those who have been long forgotten.

I really enjoyed reading this book. In this volume, we get to know Oscar through the stories he shares with us. We start with the story of a young soldier. Long dead, he and his fellow soldiers have been trapped on the battlefield that took their lives for decades. This story was probably the saddest out of the stories we see by the end of this volume. It was easy to almost forget that these characters weren’t ghosts reliving a version of their final days.

The first story really pulled me in, so by the time Oscar moves onto the next soul in need, I was fully sucked into the book. I like that the first story is more about the souls he helps than him, and then we slowly get to know more about Oscar once we already know about how important his work is. It’s surprisingly character driven and manages to have a lot of depth no matter what’s happening. It’s truly an intriguing story full of wonder and mystery. The artwork helps tell the story beautifully, and I’m really looking forward to eventually learning about the memories that Oscar has been running from.

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

 

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from HarperAlley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

George is enjoying life as much as they can with their two close friends, Eleanor and Charlotte. Things are good as long as they ignore the fact that they have to wear men’s clothing in secret and dodge their aunt’s attempts at finding them a husband. Meanwhile, Eleanor and Charlotte are excited at facing their marriage prospects, only Eleanor can’t picture falling in love with a man and most of Charlotte’s potential suitors see her as beneath them. As they all reach adulthood, they’re facing their friendships falling apart and learning that what’s considered proper isn’t always right.

I absolutely loved this and the Jane Austen and Little Women vibes it gave. We follow George, Eleanor, and Charlotte through their rotating perspectives, but we mainly follow George and Eleanor. It starts out as following a great friendship between the trio before the cracks start to appear as adulthood and the realities of the pressures of society begin to take their toll. I don’t want to say too much and accidentally spoil the story, but it was an excellent read. The storytelling is wonderful and I especially loved seeing how the characters grew as the story progressed.

The artwork is stunning and I loved seeing some of the concept art at the end of the book. It also includes a crash course in history at the end with some resources for readers to check out! I can’t wait to check out more of Hari Conner's other work because this was amazing.