Svetlana's Reads and Views

  Name of Book: I'll Make a Spectacle of You Author: Beatrice Winifred Iker ISBN: 9780316575249 Publisher: Run For It Type of book: Appalachia, Afrolachia, 1823 to 2027, Tennessee, USA, horror, beast, protection, LGBtQ relationships and characters, friendships, family  Year it was published: 2025  Summary: This heart-pounding horror debut from Beatrice Winifred Iker, takes readers to Bricksbury University, the oldest and most storied HBCUs in the nation. But as one student is about to find out, a long history comes with a legacy of secrets.   Zora Robinson is an ambitious grad student at her dream program, the Appalachian Studies at Bricksbury university. When her thesis advisor suggests she research the local folklore about a beast roaming the woods surrounding campus, Zora finds a local population uneager to talk to an outsider.   As she delves into the history of the beast, she uncovers a rumored secret society called the Keepers that has tenuous ties to the ...

  Name of Book: For Human Use Author: Sarah. G Pierce ISBN: 9780316586535 Type of book: Humor, horror, financial issues, dating, 2020s, death, modern culture about influencers, hinted grooming  Year it was published: 2026 Summary: An unforgettable debut, For Human Use is a twisted tale of modern love that bends every genre, sears itself into your brain, and presents a horrific romantic comedy unlike anything you’ve ever read before. ★ “An utterly ingenious horror-romcom, darkly zeitgeisty, and unnervingly plausible—funny as hell, too. You will not forget this book.” ―Heather Aimee O’Neill, author of Read With Jenna book club pick The Irish Goodbye Modern dating is dead. Sarah G. Pierce’s debut, For Human Use, is a glossy, razor-cut spiral into algorithmic obsession and capitalist absurdity where the dread hits hardest because it reads like a headline you’ve already scrolled past. With darkly funny dialogue and a premise that shouldn’t feel this plausible, Pierce lures you in w...

  Name of Book: Lord of Ruin Author: K.M Enright  ISBN: 9780356521169 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: Age of Blood Type of book: vampires, dark,  LGBtQ+ romances, romantasy, power, blood, adult content, fantasy, love triangle, throuple, MFM relationship, female to male trans character  Year it was published: 2025 Summary: Dark, sexy, and twisty, this book will seize you by the throat and hold your attention to the very end' Andrea Stewart, author of Bone Shard Daughter, on Mistress of Lies LOVE WILL BE THEIR RUIN It has been six months since the failed coup led by Isaac De La Cruz, and Shan LeClaire is struggling under the mantle of Royal Blood Worker. Left with a dwindling blood supply and a ravenous nation whose thirst will drown them, Shan is forced to turn to darker means to fill the need. And that is only the start of the horrors her Eternal King asks of her. Now Councillor to the King, Samuel is trapped in a labyrinthine world of politics and bylaws. C...

  Name of Book: Mistress of Lies Author: K. M. Enright  ISBN: 9780356521138 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: Age of Blood Type of book: Dark, romance, fantasy, romantasy, immigrant narrative, foreigner narrative, female to male trans character, LGBtQ+ romances, immortality, blood, cutting, vampires, gothic  Year it was published: 2024 Summary: FATE IS A CRUEL MISTRESS The daughter of a powerful but disgraced Blood Worker, Shan LeClaire has spent her entire life perfecting her blood magic, building her network of spies, and gathering every scrap of power she could. Now, to protect her brother, she assassinates their father and takes her place at the head of the family. And that is only the start of her revenge. Samuel Hutchinson is a bastard with a terrible gift. When he stumbles upon the first victim of a magical serial killer, he's drawn into the world of magic and intrigue he's worked so hard to avoid - and is pulled deeply into the ravenous and b...

  Title of the book: Our Fragile Freedoms: Essays Author: Eric Foner Publisher: W.W. Norton Publishing Date: 2025 ISBN: 9781324110613 Summary: A treasury of current writings by one of the most acclaimed and influential historians of the United States. Eric Foner has done more to shape the public and professional understanding of American history than any other scholar. The preeminent historian of the Civil War era, Foner’s keynote has been American freedom and its changing meanings and boundaries. We see in his award-winning works how freedom has been a birthright for some and a struggle for others, that rights gained can also be lost, that they must always be tended with knowledge and vigilance. This volume collects fifty-eight of Foner’s more recent reviews and commentaries. Together they show the range of his interests and expertise, running from slavery and antislavery through the disunion and remaking of the United States in the nineteenth century, Jim Crow and the c...

  Name of Book: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me Author: Django Wexler ISBN:  9780356519005 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Sequel to How to Become Dark Lord and Die Trying (Dark Lord David duology) Type of book: Fantasy, humor, earth girl stuck in fantasy novel, relationships, love, another world, battles, war, friendships  Year it was published: 2025 Summary: The hilarious sequel to How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler! Dark Lord Davi rules the kingdom, but she must now break the time loop that binds her in this hilariously bloody conclusion to the Dark Lord Davi duology. Davi has left the horde behind her, hoping to find a peaceful solution to keep the Kingdom from being destroyed this time. But her plan to guide the Kingdom to peaceful prosperity is thwarted when she finds her usual love interest, Prince Johann, already married and the bloodthirsty Duke Aster running the government. Johann's new husband is everything Davi is n...

  Title of the book: F*cked up fairytales; sinful cinderellas, prince alarmings, and other timeless classics  Author: Liz Gotauco Publisher: W.W. Norton Publishing Date: 2025 ISBN: 9781324106333 Summary:  Bawdy, shocking, and hilarious interpretations of classic and rare fairy tales from a beloved TikTok storyteller. Based on the wildly popular TikTok series, F*cked Up Fairy Tales presents modern retellings of some of the strangest and darkest stories humans had the audacity to invent. Inspired by sources across the world, “Cosbrarian” Liz Gotauco conjures gossipy animals, homicidal royals, doomed commoners, and shape-shifting beaux—all reckoning with complicated, adult problems that “Disney versions” have sanitized. In entertaining asides, Gotauco offers insight into the stories’ contested origins, spills deliciously weird details about fairy tale authors like Madame de Aulnoy and the Brothers Grimm, and explores timeless themes that have long tickled the huma...

    Name of Book:Once Was Willem Author: M.R. Carey ISBN: 9780316505123 Publisher: Orbit  Type of book: Medieval, England, 1152, fantasy, magic, angels, wizardry, manipulation, villages, kidnapping, shapeshifters, friends  Year it was published: 2025 Summary: From the bestselling author M. R. Carey comes an utterly unique and enchantingly dark epic fantasy fable like no other. This is the tale of Once Was Willem, who - eleven hundred and some years after the death of Christ, in the kingdom that had but recently begun to call itself England - rose from the dead to defeat a great evil facing the humble village of Cosham. Pennick for all its beauty was ever a place with a dark reputation. The forests of the Chase were said to be home to nixies and boggarts, and there was a common belief, passed down through many generations, that the castle housed an unquiet ghost of terrible and malign power. These rumours I can attest were all true; indeed they fell short of...

      Name of Book: Red Sonja Consumed Author: Gail Simone ISBN: 9780316475679 Publisher: Orbit  Type of book: Fantasy, steppes, politics, fights, secrets, survival, gladiator, scorned love, magic, dark legends  Year it was published: 2024 Summary: Red Sonja, the iconic, fiery, she-devil with a sword, is reinvented for a new generation of readers in this action-packed epic fantasy by legendary comic book writer Gail Simone. The gutsy, wild, tortured free spirit, forged in pain yet unafraid of life or death, Red Sonja, the famous, fiery She-Devil and barbarian of Hyrkania has never concerned herself with the consequences of her actions. She’s taken what she wanted, from treasure to drink to the companionship of bedfellows. She’s fought who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn’t). And she’s never looked back. But when rumors start bubbling up from her homeland—rumors of unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to th...

     Name of Book: Victorian Psycho Author: Virginia Feito ISBN:  9781631498633 Publisher: Liveright  Type of book: England, horror, Victorian Era (1870s) physical horror and psychological, evil, governess, secrets, fall and winter,  Year it was published: 2025 Summary: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect Victorian governess. She’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But the longer Winifred spends within the estate’s dreary confines and the more she learns of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family, the more trouble she has sticking to her plan. Whether creeping across the moonlit lawns in her undergarments or gently tormenting the house staff, Winifred struggles at every turn to stifle the horrid compulsions of her past until her chillingly dark imagination breaches the feeble boundary of reality on Christmas morning. Wield...

      Name of Book: Warriors of god  Author:  Andrzej Sapkowski (trans David French)  ISBN: 9780316423717 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: Hussite Trilogy (sequel to The Tower of Fools, prequel to Light Perpetual)  Type of book: Poland, historical fiction 1427-1429, some fantasy, Hussite wars, battles, endless Latin, romance, damsels in distress, spying, loyalty, revenge, determination  Year it was published: 2004 (2021)  Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Reynevan—scoundrel, magician, possibly a fool—travels into the depths of war as he attempts to navigate the religious fervors of the fifteenth century. When the Hussite leaders entrust Reynevan with a dangerous secret mission, he is forced to come out of hiding in Bohemia and depart for Silesia. At the same time, he strives to avenge the death of his brother and discover the whereabouts of his beloved. Once again pursued by multiple enemies, he...

      Name of Book: The Third Rule of Time Travel Author: Phillip Fracassi ISBN:  9780316572514 Publisher: Orbit  Type of book: time travel, memories, alternative worlds, 2044, secrets, higher force, widowhood, science fiction, technology  Year it was published: 2025 Summary: Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime. Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds. Rule Three: You can only observe. The rules cannot be broken. In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning. Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the pas...

Name of Book: How to become the dark Lord and die trying  Author: Django Wexler  ISBN: 9780316392204 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Dark Lord Davi  Type of book: comedy, satire, fantasy, adventure, flipping the fantasy tropes, power of evil vs good, quest, humans vs other humanoids, mastermind  Year it was published: 2024  Summary: Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy in Django Wexler’s laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself. Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time. This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord al...

Name of Book: An education in MALICE  Author: S.T. Gibson ISBN: 9780316501453 Publisher: Redhook Type of book: vampires, lesbian relationship, 1968, college, dark academia, enemies to lovers, Massachusetts, unhealthy relationships, jealousies, dark romance, dark love, choices  Year it was published: 2024  Summary: Sumptuous and addictive,  An Education in Malice  is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from Sunday Times bestselling author S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit  A Dowry of Blood . Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold. On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding p...

Name of Book: The Good The Bad and The Aunties Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto  ISBN: 978-0-593-54622-2 Publisher: Berkley  Part of a Series:  The Aunties Type of book: Modern times, cozy mystery, the aunties, Chinese-Jakarta culture, Lunar New Years, family, relationships, travel, sleuthing, "business"  Year it was published: 2024  Summary: What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe, Meddy Chan and her husband Nathan have landed in Jakarta to spend Chinese New Year with her entire extended family. Chinese New Year, already the biggest celebration of the Lunar calendar, gets even more festive when a former beau of Second Aunt’s shows up at the Chan residence bearing extravagant gifts—he’s determined to rekindle his romance with Seco...

Name of Book: A Flame in the North Author: Lilith Saintcrow ISBN: 978-0-316-44033-2 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Black Land's Bane  Type of book: Elemental magic, hostage, secrets, legends, myths  Year it was published: 2024  Summary: An elemental witch and her shieldmaiden journey into a world of ancient myth and unexpected destiny in this sweeping Norse-inspired epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow. The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark. That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day. The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is ...