Jane Litte's Blog

Review: Price of a Thousand Blessings by Ginn Hale (Book Two)

Having escaped conscription to the Storm Towers at the last moment?thanks to some very quick train-hopping?Cymin is thrilled to at last be living his dream of seeing new lands and making friends with the fascinating secular mages outside Lux Temple. There’s even a chance he could win over the enigmatic Laithondi and officially join the ranks of the student bound for Saigrath.
Laithondi has already entrusted him with his dazzling ancillary sword, as well as the sacred Fei’suul Scepter. But that ...

REVIEW: Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant

An exuberant, hilarious, and profound memoir by a mailman in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, who found that working for the post office saved his life, taught him who he was, gave him purpose, and educated him deeply about a country he loves but had lost touch with.

Steve Grant was laid off in March of 2020. He was fifty and had cancer, so he needed health insurance, fast. Which is how he found himself a rural letter carrier in Appalachia, back in his old hometown.

Suddenly, he was the ...

REVIEW: Catapult: A Sci-Fi Heist with a Grumpy Sunshine Romance (Cat Ship Book 2) by Jody Wallace

Lincoln doesn’t want trouble. Briar is trouble personified.

Lincoln Caster owes everything he has to the Trash Planet recycling plant that hired him, allowing him to lead an uneventful life for a change. When he’s asked to plan a heist from a less than savory rival factory, he wonders if his checkered past is the only reason he got the job.

That is, until he realizes the priceless item he’s been asked to steal will save a top-secret generation ship full of cryopreserved humans…and freakishly ...

REVIEW: Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie

Alex Lyons always has his mind made up by the time the curtain comes down at a performance—the show either deserves a five-star rave or a one-star pan. Anything in between is meaningless. On the opening night of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he doesn’t deliberate over the rating for Hayley Sinclair’s show, nor does he hesitate when the opportunity presents itself to have a one-night stand with the struggling actress.

Unaware that she’s gone home with the theater critic who’s just written a ca...

REVIEW: The Accidental Boyfriend by Lori Freeland

Content notes – might be mildly spoilery so I’ve hidden them behind a spoiler tag

Spoiler: Show

alcoholic parent, parent with early onset dementia, absent parent, grief,

Dear Lori Freeland,

The Accidental Boyfriend popped up in my NetGalley choices earlier this year but it seems the book originally came out in 2023. 

Jessica Grey, aka Jessica Thorne, is a 17-year-old debut author. She wrote a book on “Digireads” (which I think of as a kind of Wattpad) and it went viral. It was then picked ...

Open Thread for Readers for July 2025

Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post about it here!

Review: Price of a Thousand Blessings by Ginn Hale (Book One)

Cymin’s final tournament representing the East Deity for Lux Temple promises to be thrilling and bittersweet. After it’s done, all his skill and power must feed a Storm Tower to protect the world from fei’lux storms. But before his conscription, he intends to put on a dazzling show and enjoy his last glorious outing.

The streets are thronged with cheering crowds, and the grand procession shimmers with spells. Film stars and government ministers claim the best seats in the stands. And most excit...

REVIEW: A Murder of Convenience by Kathleen Buckley

Ellen Cuthbert’s husband, Randolph, is now the Earl of Keswick’s heir. Their marriage is a sham, and Randolph’s mistress, Lydia, is present at the house party. When she is found murdered in a locked room, all the evidence seems to point to Ellen. And how could the murderer have escaped the locked room except by witchcraft?

Sir Hugh accompanies his cousin, a magistrate, to the scene of the murder. They investigate, appalled to find their childhood friend Ellen appears to be the chief suspect. H...

Reading List by Jayne for Summer

[image error] Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive

A rollicking, big-hearted story of long-lost love, friendship, and a life well-lived, set at a Florida retirement resort for queer women, on the last day of resident Hannah Cardin’s life—perfect for readers of Less and The Wedding People.

It’s 2067 and Florida is partially underwater, but even that can’t bring down the residents of Palm Meridian Retirement Resort, a utopian home for queer women who want to revel in their twilight years. Inside, Hula-Hoopers shimmy...

Viscounts and Villainy (Roaring Twenties Magic #3) by Allie Theron

Don’t miss the conclusion to this spin-off series from Allie Therin’s acclaimed Magic in Manhattan universe!

Love redeemed them, but the past isn’t done with them yet.

New York, 1925

For jaded Lord Fine—Wesley, to the friends he’s surprised he now has—falling into his lover Sebastian’s world of magic and intrigue has changed everything. But when a plot to destroy magic is linked to Wesley’s own aristocratic world, he’s determined to root it out—especially when it threatens newly vulnerable Sebas...