The Astral Library

The Astral Library

by Kate Quinn
 
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: William Morrow
Pub Date: February 17, 2026
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Magical, Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?

 
My Review: LOVE this, absolutely a must read! 

Alix is having one heck of a hard time. Working more than one job, all of various hours and days. None of which are enough for her to survive on. She's behind on giving her roommates her part of the rent. Getting groceries comes with a lecture from the cashier no one asked for. She has an IOU for a fancy outfit that she wont have a place to need it for. 

Really, life just sucks. 

A stop at the library will do just the trick to change everything. What's not to love about a library or a good book? How about when a door opens and brings her right into the Astral Library.

SO much happens in this book. Costume changes by her good friend who just happens to find this world near the end. Book traveling. Saving people in books, learning about their stories and sending them to other realms.  

BUT what happens when all the danger was coming from inside all along?? OH and I HATE the board so much, oh so very much.  They all should've been eaten... 

I LOVED the way Alix stood up for the Astral Library, for books, for what it stands for, for what it means for so many people. The passion was felt. A Library, a book or even both is a sanctuary. Books gave me my reason for existing and still is the only the reason.  

I loved the passion and would have loved to be right there fighting like she did. Though, the Library can hold its own just fine too.  

The story was amazing. Beautifully done it brought out all the emotions. The pace was fantastic and moved so well that I haven't read something so well paced in a while. Everything about this book was perfect. Every single book lover, book dragon, etc. needs to read this book.   

My ONLY complaint is that the Astral Library is fiction. Oh what I wouldn't give to find sanctuary like that.   

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Books set in Japan

 

Shadow of the Fox
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.

Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.

Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.

There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll… at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.

With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.

My Review

 

A Mortal Song
Sora's life was full of magic—until she discovered it was all a lie. 

Heir to Mt. Fuji's spirit kingdom, Sora yearns to finally take on the sacred kami duties. But just as she confronts her parents to make a plea, a ghostly army invades the mountain. Barely escaping with her life, Sora follows her mother's last instructions to a heart-wrenching she is a human changeling, raised as a decoy while her parents' true daughter remained safe but unaware in modern-day Tokyo. Her powers were only borrowed, never her own. Now, with the world's natural cycles falling into chaos and the ghosts plotting an even more deadly assault, it falls on her to train the unprepared kami princess.

As Sora struggles with her emerging human weaknesses and the draw of an unanticipated ally with secrets of his own, she vows to keep fighting for her loved ones and the world they once protected. But for one mortal girl to make a difference in this desperate war between the spirits, she may have to give up the only home she's ever known. With its breathtaking action, heart-wrenching conflict, and unexpected romance, this vivid standalone contemporary fantasy will delight fans of Julie Kagawa and Laini Taylor. Dive into the captivating world of the kami today!

Get it Here

 

 

Ink
On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

My Review

 

 

The Woman in the White Kimono
Oceans and decades apart, two women are inextricably bound by the secrets between them.

Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor, a gaijin—and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.

America, present day. Tori Kovač, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation—one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family and herself. Setting out to learn the truth behind the letter, Tori’s journey leads her halfway around the world to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption.

In breathtaking prose and inspired by true stories from a devastating and little-known era in Japanese and American history, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

Get it Here

Gracie Gets Lucky

Gracie Gets Lucky
by Lexi Davis
 
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: Author
Pub Date: March 3, 2026
Genre: Adult, Romance, Dark, Friends to Lovers
Format: ARC
Source: Author
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon
 
She wants a one-night stand. He wants forever.
Gracie Smith has a plan for St. Patrick’s Day.
Find a bar. Find a stranger. Have a reckless, forgettable one-night stand.
No feelings. No promises. No complications.
There’s just one problem.
A man.

Her lifelong friend, Beck.
Best friends since kindergarten, they grew up in each other’s backyards, scraped knees and whispered secrets. A first kiss they promised meant nothing.
He’s her safe place. Her comfort. The one person she can truly be herself with.
But this St. Patrick’s Day, with green lights flashing and beer cups overflowing, Beck is done standing by while Gracie gives herself to men who don’t deserve her. Done pretending friendship is enough. Done watching her break her own heart.
Tonight, he’ll make her see him.
Make her see herself.

Tonight, he'll ruin the friendship.
A spicy, emotional friends-to-lovers novella about crossing the line, choosing forever, and realizing the most dangerous thing isn’t losing your best friend, it’s never taking the chance at all.

My Review: Ah! I'm loving these Holiday themed Novellas.

Gracie is ready to get lucky tonight. Ready for a one night stand, Gracie is going to look around the bar and find someone to take home and all will be well. 

Uh, until her bestie Beck overhears that and he isn't happy about it. Beck wants Gracie and their forever friendship is going to be more or nothing.

Gracie and Beck are best friends since kindergarten. Gracie doesn't see it as more, yet when her friend asks to make a move, she feels more than she may want to admit. 

Beck finally spits out why he wasn't really talking with Gracie for a while and said its now or never. If he can't have all of her than he can't be friends anymore. 

Maybe it was Beck going all out on a guy that wouldn't leave Gracie alone. Maybe they both knew all along. But tonight their friendship is going into a new territory. 

Boy was it worth it. To watch the night play out, to them finally giving into each other and then seeing how their life unfolded was so beautiful and will pull on your heart strings. Seeing what a lifelong friendship to lovers can become and knowing that these two are destined to make it forever AND their parents are besties too. You know those two probably knew this was bound to happen too. 

So amazing, as usual. Can't wait for the next Holiday special. 

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

Soul Screamers Vol. 4

Soul Screamers Vol. 4
by Rachel Vincent
 
Book: Soul Screamers
Publisher: Harlequin
Pub Date: January 1, 2014
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy
Format: Print
Source:  Bought
Book Links:  Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
Saving the world has never come easy and Kaylee Cavanaugh's died to prove it.

The final collection of New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series is packed with emotion, with intrigue, with secrets, with family and above all, with love.

Don't miss WITH ALL MY SOUL, FEARLESS and a brand-new novella, LAST REQUEST.
 

My Review:  DNF.

After the last book, I was very hesitant to continue with the final volume. But I gave it a try and just couldn't get through it, not even half way. The last book really made it hard to continue this series and this book didn't change my opinion on it enough to like it again.

 

My Rating:

✪

Soul Screamers Vol. 3

Soul Screamers Vol. 3
by Rachel Vincent
 
Book: Soul Screamers
Publisher: Harlequin
Pub Date: July 30, 013
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
What happens when the reapers come for Kaylee? 
Don't miss Volume Three of New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent's compelling, spellbinding Soul Screamers series. 

IF I DIE 
Thanks to her mother's sacrifice, Kaylee Cavanaugh has lived most of her life on borrowed time, but now that borrowed time is almost up. Kaylee has only seven days left to prepare for the end. To say goodbye. And yeah, to stop an incubus from preying on her high school. Tick tock… 

NEVER TO SLEEP 
First time in print! 
Sophie Cavanaugh is sick of the social fallout from her cousin Kaylee's mental issues. Doesn't she realize people think "crazy" runs in the family? But then a cute boy, a fateful scream and a trip to a nightmare world leave Sophie wondering just what's real and how to get home….

 
BEFORE I WAKE 
Dying wasn't easy for Kaylee, but faking life is a whole new kind of struggle. The only good moments are those spent in Tod's arms. But death hasn't stopped her old enemies, and now everyone Kaylee loves is in danger….  

 
My Review:  Welp, it finally happened. The series went down hill for me. I  had high hopes the series would continue like the other two that I loved but this book changed all of that. 

First off, it should be no surprise something is going to go down that's going to get everyone involved into something bad and dangerous. Also, I'm really tired of breaking down who and what everyone is in every book. Once is enough for the main characters and then its fine for any new ones. But to repeat it over and over again is really annoying and makes me want to throw the book across the room. 

Nash is also getting on my last nerve. He is so codependent on Sabine its really just sad at this point. He's keeping Sabine at a distance, least trying to while she's all hot and bothered for him. Nash is still so fascinated with getting Kaylee back and will jump at any glimmer of hope she will give him. 

Eventually the love triangle came to play and Kaylee went from being together with Nash again to kissing Todd and soon found her soul mate so to speak. It was all just a hot mess. If that wasn't already enough we finally get to telling Sophie the truth about everything and her family. Though, it doesn't really stop how she both treats and sees Kaylee. Oh and to top it all off, Kaylee gets news about her life and how her second chance at it won't be as long as anyone had hoped for. Not that a sealed fate is going to change the fact that her enemies are still out there trying to hurt those she cares about and wanting to get a hold of her. Then a new after life role and really this book had so much going on as the other too but the way it screamed immaturity at points, the nagging, etc. It really disappointed me. 

 

My Rating:

✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - March Anticipated Reads

 

The Fox and the Devil
An obsession with a beautiful serial killer entangles a vampire hunter’s daughter in an immortal sapphic romance in this enthralling gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy Undying.

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to studying vampires—up until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that plague Anneke every night.

Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest in forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch her mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicably dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.

But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps some crucial evidence to infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to Anneke, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola. Devil. The obsession is mutual, and all the more dangerous for it.

The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman, after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Because as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.

A heart that beats for Anneke alone.

Get it Here

 

Game On
I hate that woman.
Tyler Neumann has spent years looking for his father, and not because he wants to meet the man. No, he wants to destroy him. And he'll manipulate whoever he can to exact his revenge.

Including Stella McCormick. She's everything Tyler hates. Her wealth and privilege have protected her for her entire life, and Tyler thinks it's time she finally paid the price. Whether she's ready to or not.
I hate that man.

Stella might not believe in love at first sight, but loathing at first sight - no question. From the moment she sets eyes on Tyler in her tattoo parlor, she knows he's the devil planning to make her life hell.

Forced to play the part of his girlfriend and invite him into her family's glittering circles, Stella quickly clocks Tyler's ulterior motives. But love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and soon she doesn't know which is being blackmailed by a man who wants to ruin her, or that they can't seem to keep their hands off each other.

Get it Here

 

The Wings that Bind
The night's chaos left us breathless. Now the real nightmare begins.

A second dragon has awoken–her heart tainted and her power commandeered by two ruthless highbloods whose cruelty knows no bounds.

My dearest friend teetered on the brink of death. A dragon saved her, but now she's tied to him in a way I can scarcely understand. What will this new bond do to the woman I've come to love as a sister?

And then there’s Blake. Once my relentless tormentor—he betrayed me again, nearly condemning Nyxaris to a cursed, stone-cold fate. Now something has shifted in him. His gray eyes hide a secret he’s desperate to keep.

I saved Blake’s life, despite everything. Yet now my every heartbeat questions where we go from here.

With Bloodwing Academy in turmoil and a new headmaster no one saw coming, only one thing is This is going to be one hell of a term.

At Bloodwing Academy, power comes with blood, and betrayal is as common as ambition. This dark fantasy series tackles mature themes. Readers are advised to consult the trigger warnings before embarking on this intense, morally gray/black journey through the realm of Sangratha!

Get it Here

 
 

Midnight on the Celestial
Roe Damarcus has never been afraid of the dead. Her power to summon spirits has awed the guests of her esteemed family’s galas for as long as she can remember. Her future is certain, and her gift will be another shining jewel in the Damarcus legacy.

But when she fails her realm’s trial to keep her magic and is deemed too dangerous for society, she faces a harrowing choice: give up her gift or serve a punishment sentence aboard the Celestial, a luxurious magical cruise ship where staff members compete for guest votes to earn a coveted retrial.

As a concierge, Roe juggles the demands of affluent guests, cruel bosses, and the suspicion that an infuriatingly handsome silks performer, Ivander, is determined to keep her from a retrial.

But the true dangers surface after her shift ends when the Celestial transforms into halls of nightmares that kill staff members after dark. Faced with the reality of serving aboard, Roe begins to question the ship, trials, and the system that put her there. But the moment Roe sinks into the ship's dark history, she's wrongly framed for a guest's murder. Vowing to conjure her own second chance, Roe will use whatever power she has to uncover the secrets of the ship, her family, and their entwined bloody past... before she becomes the Celestial’s next victim.

Get it Here

March Reading Challenge

 

Let's get reading! March Reading challenge is here!  

Here is a list of books to help you get started:

Historical Fiction:

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand

Rules for Ruin by Mimi Mathews 

The Gods Time Forgot by Kelsie Gonzales 

 

Humor Books:
The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

To Kiss a Knight by Grace Hitchcock

We welcome you to comment with your suggestions and tell us which bingo spot you’re most excited about this month!

Book Spotlight - Pretty Vicious

 

Pretty Vicious 

Laurel just wanted to survive college, keep her father fed, and fly under the radar.

Delivering pizzas was supposed to be the safe kind of side hustle, until the night she witnesses a murder at Ashford House, the most elite and secretive fraternity on campus.

Now she’s a prisoner of The Order, a blood-bound society that controls everything from politics to police. They rule with ritual, obedience, and violence, and they’ve decided Laurel doesn’t get to leave.

At the center of it all is Carrson Ashford, heir to the powerful Ashford legacy.

Cold. Commanding. Infuriatingly magnetic.
Under the rules of The Order, he “bonds” her, marking Laurel as his.

Body. Mind. Soul.

But Laurel isn’t here to be claimed. Not without a fight.
To save her father and her future, Laurel must navigate a twisted realm of initiation rites, brutal secrets, and a bond that may destroy them both.

In this world, there’s one rule: obey or die.

But love doesn’t follow rules. And neither does Laurel.

Talking Point:

Pretty Vicious explores several themes, but at its core is a question I couldn’t stop thinking about:

How much power, control, and even violence does a society needs in order to function successfully?

Carrson Ashford was raised inside a secret society called The Order. His world is built on loyalty, legacy, and control. He was taught from childhood that love is weakness, vulnerability is dangerous, and survival requires dominance.

Then the FMC of the story, Laurel crashes into his world.

She witnesses Carrson murder a rival, and under the rules of The Order, he “bonds” her to him. He does this to keep her silent, but also to keep her safe. 

However, Laurel is no damsel in distress. She challenges Carrson at every turn. She questions the system that shaped him. Carrson in particular, doesn't know what to do with Laurels' questions, her curiosity. He was raised for blind obedience. He also doesn't know what to do with the feelings he develops for Laurel. He was trained for everything except for love.

 The more time they’re forced together, the more the tension between them builds, not just physical, but ideological.  

I think it's this dynamic that fascinates readers about morally gray heroes in secret society/dark academia romance novels. It isn’t just their darkness. It’s the tension between who they were trained to be and who they become when love forces them to choose differently.

Carrson believes he’s the villain.

Laurel refuses to let him be one.

Now feast your eyes on this GORGEOUS character art

 

Author Bio:

Melissa Dymond is a mom, doctor, and writer. When she’s not working, you can find her drinking an iced white chocolate mocha while voraciously reading, scrolling social media, or planning her family’s next Disney vacation.

Always surrounded by boys, Melissa lives with her doctor husband, three amazing sons, and her adorable Siberian husky Buddy.

 

Links:

Goodreads

Amazon