The Fox and the Devil

The Fox and the Devil
by Kiersten White
 
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: Del Rey
Pub Date: March 10, 2026
Genre: Adult, Horror, Fantasy
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
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.

 
My Review: Kiersten continues to dish out one masterpiece after another and I'm so here for it. 

Anneke is working to avenge her father's death. She knows he was murdered and didn't take his own life and she is going to prove it. She saw a woman that night who did and will stop at nothing to hunt her down. 

Anneke is one of the best detectives out there. She can notice things that many can't, has the skills and knowledge to show off these men. Which, I loved considering it was during the times where it was still a male dominate field and they would never want to admit how much they need her, even though it's true. 

Years of hunting down this Diavola leads to many travels and letters over the years and one day she gets the biggest break she needs. The village where she comes from and the story that goes with it. So Anneke makes plans to go there, find her and end her once and for all. 

When Anneke gets to the village, it doesn't go exactly as planned. She runs into the Diavola and despite attempts to stop her, nothing has worked. But this Diavola isn't all as we thought her to be. So, she explains to Anneke what happened to her, how she came to be what she is and how she went after her father because of his great betrayal and the effects that came from it.

Anneke now has a new purpose. A new person to hunt down. But, finally she has the answers she was looking for regarding her father. Now she understands more on what her mother has been saying about him and how it was a lesson she had to learn herself to finally understand and see what was there all along and how he doesn't deserve this much attention, this much time and effort from her. 

Now, face with a new case, a new suspect, she must reconcile with her friends and gather their help to hunt down the true devil behind all these murders. 

I absolutely LOVED this book. The dark themes, the setting, the world building, the characters and overall story was everything I expect from the author. 

I'm so glad I choose this as my first book of the year. I have no idea if anything is going to top this right now. I'll always be a Kiersten fan and can't wait for next masterpiece!

If you enjoyed her Lucy Undying, Vampires, Dracula and similar settings, then this book is certainly for you!

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - For Teens but Adults Will Love

 

House of Salt and Sorrows
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last--the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge--and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who--or what--are they really dancing with?

When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family--before it claims her next. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with...

Get it Here

 

The Raven Boys
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

Get it Here

 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

This is the story of an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.

Get it Here

 

All My Rage
Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Cloud’s Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.

Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.

Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever.

When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.
From one of today’s most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness—one that’s both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.

Get it Here

Even If We Last

Even If We Last
by Molly Barlowe
 
Book: Huntley Square #3
Publisher: Author
Pub Date: February 17, 2026
Genre: Adult, Romance
Format: ARC
Source: Author
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon
 
I’m what people call a charmer. Maybe it’s the drawl, maybe it’s the dimples, or maybe it’s the entire ex-Special-Forces package. Either way, I’ve never met a woman I haven’t been able to sweep off their feet . . . until Mallory Monroe. The only female on our team, she’s all fierce words, brave actions, and impenetrable walls around her heart. She’s also the only girl I’ve ever loved.

After burying my feelings for over a decade, I’m not surprised I dream of waking up married to her. Except, it isn’t a dream; the certificate claiming we’re husband and wife is real, and neither of us remembers a thing. Dream come true or not, I never wanted this. Not when my new bride looks horrified, accuses me like our situation is my fault, and demands we “fix it.”

But while I’d do almost anything for her—including taking a bullet for her, again—leaving her, in any sense of the word, isn’t one of those things. And when Mallory makes no move to annul our secret marriage, even months later, I decide to test the waters by attempting to date my wife.

My Review: Does this book have to be your next reads?! YES, a millions times over. 

I love everything Molly writes, to this day I've yet to say anything is less than 5 stars and this one is no exception. 

Hudson and Mallory finally get their story and it was worth the wait. 

Mallory has a past that really stays with her and it comes out when it comes to her relationship with Hudson. She needs to feel, she needs to be happy, loved, wanted and all the things. Plus Hudson is the guy she swore wouldn't be someone she falls in love with. That's her best friends and that it. No secret swoons, no crossing the line, just none of that now. 

So uh.... what happens when drinking leads to getting drunk that leads to getting married?? Um, oops?? 

But that's okay because Hudson hasn't a clue what's happened either, so it's all good.  A drunken mistake and they can undo it right? But do they really want to....will this finally be the reason Mallory can give into her feelings for Hudson. Will Hudson stop working his magic on others and finally get it to work on Mallory??

The way my heart was aching for them, heartstrings pulled, edge of my seat screaming for these two to hurry it along already and so much more. 

If you want romance, tension, friends to lovers, fake marriage, and a book just packed with everything you need to require the tissue box. Then look no further. You need these books on your self like yesterday. 

Seriously though, get the tissues. Idk how she does it, but Molly's writing always gets to me. Heck, to this day I still have feelings over her Taking Chances series that holds a special place in my heart. So get ready for an emotional but amazing romantic read!!

I can't wait to see what Molly is going to come up with next!!!

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

The Rising

The Rising
by Kelley Armstrong
 
Book: Darkness Rising #3
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub Date: 
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
The race for survival comes to a thrilling conclusion in the heart-stopping finale to the Darkness Rising trilogy, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control. But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.

With all the twists, thrills, and romance that have made Kelley Armstrong an international bestseller, plus the surprising return of some fan-favorite characters, The Rising will hold you under its spell long after its breathtaking end.
 
My Review: Meh. Unfortunately, I'm glad that this series is finally over. The predictability was so strong that really, it didn't give much joy to this series anymore and you just wanted it to be over already.

Maya and her friends are getting ready to take down this corporation, take back their lives and reunite with their families. They all just want to live normal lives again and put this all behind them. 

But it's pretty much easier said than done. But they will have help along the way. Maya and her friends will give into their abilities and use them to fight back, to show them what they can do. 

The ending though, was really the best part of this series. The way the families get reunited, a new community, a new sense of peace and calmness. New members and family. All seems to finally fall into place and they can live as normal as it can get for them.

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪

The Calling

The Calling
by Kelley Armstrong
 
Book: Darkness Rising #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub Date: April 10, 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is - a skin-walker. 

She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.
 
My Review: Welp. Things are pretty much getting predictable at this point and it kind of takes away from what the book could have been.  

Maya is a skin walker. She is learning more about who she is, how it came to be, her parents and so much more. It might be a lot but things are only just starting. 

Maya and her friends all have some sort of ability. They are what this organization wants and will do anything to get a hole of them and keep them captive. 

A fire was set on purpose, forcing the entire town to vacate. Maya and her friends thought they'd be getting into the helicopter to get to the safe point and all will be well. They didn't expect to lose someone, crash, go into hiding/on the run and everything just got chaotic. 

The story is pretty predictable . You can tell where this is all going to go before it's even mentioned. I'm also seeing that Kelley basically writes the same book in her series. It all follows the same pattern and ideas that make all the series so predictable that it doesn't make you want to go grab them. 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Darkest Powers

 “You know children, always playing with the forces of darkness.”

― Kelley Armstrong, The Reckoning

The Summoning

Chloe Saunders used to have a relatively normal life.

But now she finds herself in the middle of some really strange situations because:
~She suddenly starts seeing dead people.
~She gets locked up in a group home for unstable teens.
~The group home isn't what it seems.

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost—and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a "special home" for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House... before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

My Review

The Awakening

If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl - someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment - not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters. I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

Now I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends - a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch - and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

My Review

The Reckoning 

Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be 'cursed'?) friends are now running for their lives from the evil corporation that created them.

As if that's not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf...

Definitely not normal.

My Review

On the Brink of Bliss

On the Brink of Bliss
by A.L. Jackson
 
Book: Moonlight Ridge #5
Publisher: Author
Pub Date: February 10, 2026
Genre: Adult, Romance
Format: ARC
Source: Author
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
A sizzling single mom, fake marriage, heroine in danger romance from New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author, A.L. Jackson
The last thing I expected when I found the trespasser bathing in my river was for it to be her…

Daisy Adair has always been my dream girl. From when we were best friends in high school to finding her now.
A gorgeous mother who shows up on my property with three kids in tow.

But I became a recluse for a reason.
The life I chose is full of wickedness and peril. The last thing I need is the object of my every fantasy invading my space and risking her life because of me.

Only when she tells me she’s on the run from her ex, I promise to do anything to keep them safe, even marry her to protect her kids.
That single kiss at the altar rips through every barrier, our passion unleashed.
Now, living under the same roof blurs the lines I’ve drawn.
Each glance of her down the hall and I am splintering.
Each brush of her hand and I am brought to my knees.
Our future—bright, hopeful, and almost within reach—hovers on the edge of becoming real…

Until we discover the threat surrounding her is grimmer than either of us imagined.
Now I’m fighting to save her and her children before our second chance at forever is burned to the ground…

 
My Review: WOAH, this book wasted no time in pulling me in. Just two pages in and you have Cash and Silas talking about Silas's sister and how they are gonna get to her and away from someone they once dealt with back in their MC days.  

Yup, I'm a sucker for these books. Well, really anyone A.L. writes cause I've yet to meet a character I don't love nor a story I wish I could read again for the first time because its always just that good. 

Anyway...

Cash and his dog Duke are walking through his massive property to survey the are as he does when he gets this feeling that someone is there on his property. When he comes to it, he never expected it to be a woman and her kids camping out on his property let alone that women to be Daisy. 

Daisy needs help. She is worried about her ex coming after her and needs help and to be somewhere safe. Leading herself back to Cash, the one she feels safe with, the one she was always meant to be with. She took a scrap of info he mentioned once and used it to find him and now here she is. 

The initial interaction wasn't exactly how she planned it out to be and Cash is well being a grump aka grumpy giant. Cash agrees to help Daisy and her kids. He eventually even agrees to her request that needs of him. Daisy and her kids are now safe and can take a moment to breathe. Cash who never has anyone over now has a home full of people and his grumpy exterior is going to melt if Daisy and the kids have any say.

When a family outing went from a perfect day to ambush, things change and they change fast. Cash is emanating everything you can think of after that, but mainly his protectiveness over Daisy and the kids. How he wont let anything happen to them and after this, he is going to need to reveal himself to Daisy. He needs to open up more and finally let her in all the way. 

Cash has been loved in all the other books and always this grumpy, mystery, recluse kind of guy. But the way Daisy and those kids changed all of that. He finally let's it happen, he finally lets her love him and be given a family again. Not just what he already had with the guys but now his own into the mix and now all of guys have their families and this grumpy giant is the softest giant you'll meet.

I LOVED this entire series with everything I have. There is nothing that a book by A.L. can't fix. You'll have an emotional rollercoaster that was worth every moment. A bad day, week or year? Grab her book to lift you back up. Just in a reading slump? Yup her books will fix that right up.

Seriously love the guys in this series and I'll be thinking about them for years to come. Now go and get your hands on these books and get ready to meet some of the best characters ever written.

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

The Gathering

The Gathering
by Kelley Armstrong
 
Book: Darkness Rising #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub Date: April 12, 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon  Bookshop
 
Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel...different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.

 
My Review: Maya is your average teenager. She just happens to live in a small town, constantly dealing with the wildlife and goes to school where everyone attends in one building. Yes, the town is that small that all grades fit in one school building. 

Her birthday is coming up and her main request is getting a tattoo. She just wants to better fill out her birthmark, the only thing connecting her to where and who she came from. 

A simple birthday tattoo becomes this big massive thing. An older woman says so many things that they had to leave. But what if this woman wasn't wrong, what if her tribe's story and legends are true? 

As the first book in the series, it's a good start into this new world. It could've been a bit faster paced for me. Some things dragged out a little bit too long, but overall I'm excited for this series. This series also might have come off better if I had read it when I first got it instead of leaving it on my TBR for so long. Now that I'm older, YA books aren't my main age group anymore. 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪