Sally Bend's Blog, page 4

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

It was my birthday this week, so I treated myself to a small stack of books – one because I’ve wanted it for a while, one because I’ve been anxiously awaiting it, and one because I’ve enjoyed her other books.

Idolfire by Grace Curtis: An epic sapphic fantasy roadtrip inspired by the fall of Rome, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Frontier and Floating HotelHuman Rites by Juno Dawson: With Her Majesty’s Royal Coven in shambles and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the sisterhood of friends and witches must find a new way of putting together the pieces if (wo)mankind is to stand a chance, in this final chapter to Juno’s “irresistible” series.The Bone Season: Author’s Preferred Text by Samantha Shannon: The New York Times bestselling first novel in the sensational Bone Season series, a heart-pounding epic fantasy by the author of The Priory of the Orange Tree.For Review

Two new review titles this week, one physical and one digital. Arriving on the doorstep was The Witch Roads, the first in an epic duology by fan favorite Kate Elliott (courtesy of Tor Books), and approved on NetGalley was The Isle in the Silver Sea, heart-shattering standalone romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore by Tasha Suri.

Currently Reading

To be honest, this week was all about Human Rites by Juno Dawson, which I finished late last night and will be reviewing very soon. That doesn’t mean I haven’t made progress on last week’s reads. I’m nearing the end of both Dancer’s Lament by Ian C. Esslemont and Blood and Embers by Jordan Michelle, but in the absence of witches, The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton is stepping back to the forefront.

Weekend Freebies – Kink the Rainbow

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Enjoy!

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

No new purchases this week.

For Review

New to the review shelves this week is Journey by Shannon Phillips & German Yanovsky, a sci-fi novel that braids together a number of diverse stories, including a transfem lesbian romance and multiple nonbinary characters. It’s kind of “Black Sails” meets “The Expanse” — punk/noir with a cyberpunk edge.

Currently Reading

The same eclectic batch of reads this week, including Dancer’s Lament (the first Path to Ascendancy Malazan prequel novel) by Ian C. Esslemont, The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton (so, so, so good!), and Blood and Embers by Jordan Michelle (an enemies-to-lovers, fake fiancée, WLW romantasy with a dark, magical edge).

Weekend Freebies – Rainbow Kink Edition

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Enjoy!

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

Two new purchases this week. The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton has been on my radar for a long while, but Sia’s review over at Every Book a Doorway ensured I ran out on my lunch break to grab a copy the day it was released! Paladin’s Strength by T Kingfisher is a book I pretty much forgot I ordered, way back at the end of April, so it was a pleasant surprise in the mailbox this week.

For Review

Nothing new on the review front this week.

Currently Reading

A rather eclectic batch of reads this week, including Dancer’s Lament (the first Path to Ascendancy Malazan prequel novel) by Ian C. Esslemont, The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton (yes, I started it the day I purchased it!), and Blood and Embers by Jordan Michelle (an enemies-to-lovers, fake fiancée, WLW romantasy).

Weekend Freebies – Rainbow Kink Edition

Well, if it’s another weekend, then it must be time to bend our hearts and minds around preparing for the week ahead, and how better to do that than with some Weekend Freebies!

Every weekend I search through the free titles on Amazon, looking for those that might interest visitors to the ruins. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon’s free reading applications.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Enjoy!

Digging up A Rare Find with Joanna Lowell

Title: A Rare Find
Author: Joanna Lowell
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Genres: Romance
Representation: Lesbian/Nonbinary

Even though it wasn’t the book I expected to be, and it took me a while to get over that disappointment, I still enjoyed A Rare Find for what it was.

Let me start with what this isn’t. The blurb is heavy on the treasure hunting aspect, talking about a proper excavation, a hidden hoard of Viking gold, and unexpected adventures, but that’s something that’s talked about far more than explored. The actual treasure hunting scenes are scattered few and far between, and there’s really only one that has any sense of tension or excitement to it. There is some strong history behind it, with some interesting research into the possibility of treasure, but even that is mostly surface level.

Now, as for what it is, this is a historical romance that delivers on the relationships. Elf and Georgie have a deep history, and it makes their enemies-to-lovers journey even more exciting. Wrapped around that relationship is deep discussion about gender, gender roles, and gender politics at a time when women weren’t free to choose their own path, and their circle of friends brings fantastic color to the scandalous opportunities of their world.

The story is low-stakes and slow-burn, but the supporting cast of characters bring enough life to the story to keep it moving. Not my favorite WLW regency romance, but still a pleasant read.

Rating: 1/2

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Father is Pleased (and rather disturbed!) by L. Andrew Cooper.

Title: Father is Pleased
Author: L. Andrew Cooper
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Genres: Fiction
Representation: Gay/Bisexual

When a book comes your way with a caution about being extreme, about containing most of the major triggers, you know you’re going to be in for something bloody and messy and possibly even obscene. I’m not opposed to that – I do, after all, have my dark side – but when you add a queer label onto it, my interest is well-and-truly piqued.

Before I get into the extreme, let me talk a bit about the horror. Father is Pleased is a well-written story with some powerful language, (disgustingly) well-developed themes, and characters who are entirely abhorrent, yet somehow relatable. L. Andrew Cooper doesn’t just throw the reader into an apocalyptic death cult, and he doesn’t belabor the point about brainwashing or mass psychosis. Instead, he drops us into a cult, lets us experience it through the eyes of its members, invites us to understand how they came to believe in it, and leaves it to us to pass judgment and take meaning from it. There’s no omniscient narrator to lead the reader along and define mortality for us, just a young man who is fully committed to Father and their cult, and who isn’t about to apologize for the monstrous things he’s about to do.

That brings us to the extreme. This is a story with murder, masochism, abuse, arousal, delusions, and deviations. Without saying too much, there’s a whole subplot about motherhood, the value (and, more importantly, the cost) of fathering a boy, and a ritual that owes as much to the belief about eating the placenta as the flesh of God. There’s a brutal orgy that reaches the heights of mass hysteria and initiation battles that demand torturous creativity, but it’s the practice murder of an outsider, witb all its accidents and missteps, that may be the most chilling part of the story.

The Father in Father is Pleased is a messianic figurehead, there to be loved and respected and obeyed at all costs, but even he’s not safe from the cult he oversees. In a story about themes of power and belief, of life versus death, of deviance and nonconformity, the choices we make have consequences beyond what you can imagine.

Rating:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Stacking The Shelves (Reading Reality) and The Sunday Post (Caffeinated Reviewer) are both blog memes about sharing the books we’re adding to the shelves and sharing news of the week ahead.

New Purchases

Not sure they technically count as purchases, but I snagged a bunch of Pride books from M/M Romance Freebies, including titles by Bella Beaumont and Natalie Wish.

For Review

One new review title this week, and it’s an exciting one – episode 23 of the erotic sci-fi soap opera The Dominion and the Sugilite by B.J. Frazier

Currently Reading

A rather eclectic batch of reads this week, including Dancer’s Lament (the first Path to Ascendancy Malazan prequel novel) by Ian C. Esslemont, A Rare Find (archaeology and a WLW romance with a nonbinary love interest) by Joanna Lowell, and Father is Pleased (disturbing, extreme, cult horror) by L. Andrew Cooper.

The Taking by Dean Koontz – A Solid Read

Title: The Taking
Author: Dean Koontz
Publication Date: Aug 31, 2010
Genres: Fiction
Representation: N/A

Dean Koontz and I have had our differences over the last few years. I’ve disliked or DNF’d the last few books of his I read, and in one case, I even declared that I was done with him, that it was time to agree our paths had diverged, never to meet again. But I was looking for a good alien invasion tale, and The Taking kept coming up in my recommendations, so I gave it a chance.

You know what? This I liked. Is it perfect? No, not at all, but where it’s good, it’s very good, and where it’s bad, it’s still kind of ok.

It all starts out as an alien invasion apocalyptic tale that borrows heavily from similar tales that have come before it, but does some really cool stuff with the material. It’s gross and creepy and horrifying, almost dreamlike or surreal at times, but it’s almost plausible. As it develops, the story introduces heavier and heavier questions, and where Koontz can be heavy-handed with his moralizing, he strikes the right balance here.

While I give him credit for a few twists I didn’t see coming, there was one in the second half that largely pulls the rug out from under any real tension or sense of danger, and another closer to the end that halts, rather than ends, the tale, making for a lazy but thoughtful conclusion. Ironically, for an author who used to be so closely compared to Stephen King, it’s very much like some of King’s more recent climaxes, bypassing any sort of big reveal or in-your-face confrontation in favor of something . . . safe . . . almost lazy.

That said, as much as I’ve seen reviewers bemoan the religious themes behind that abrupt conclusion (something that’s turned me off in the past), I give Koontz full credit for structuring things in such a way as to leave room for interpretation. Knowing his style and his themes, I suspect I know how he’d like us to take it, but I appreciate that there’s room to take it another way.

Rating: