Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Publisher: Titan Books UK
Pub Date: 6 August 2024
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes a dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic.
Perfect for fans of Naomi Novic, Alix E. Harrow and Nettle & Bone.
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms―there are no secrets in this house!―Cordelia isn’t allowed to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him.
But more than a few quirks set her mother apart. Other parents can’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless―obedient―for hours or days on end. Other mothers aren’t… sorcerers.
Ableism, physical & emotional child abuse, parental mariticide recounted, murder, infidelity, loss of autonomy (possession) including forced self-harm, murder & suicide, animal attack (horse), animal death & harm (horse, geese)
TL;DR: I don’t know why I was so pleasantly surprised by this, but I was and I’m so glad that I read it! Kingfisher has definitely won her way into my auto-buy author list by this point. I love her writing and the way she balances the dark and hopeful moments, and still manages to work in witty banter between the horrifying without diminishing or cheapening the seriousness of such events. Cordelia and Hester were fantastic characters who I had no trouble rooting for—I loved the found family in this so much! I will say that if you’re interested in an unlikely band of protagonists (who are older!), good overcoming evil, fantastic found family, and delightful banter amidst darker moments, I would highly recommend checking it out!
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Hi friends, I’m excited to be back for another blog tour today and this time it’s for an upcoming graphic novel memoir! I’m here to share my thoughts as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for Until We Meet Again by Lily Kim Qian.
Thanks to First Second Books for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
Until We Meet Again
Publisher: First Second Books
Publication Date: 21 April 2026
Genre: Memoir
Rep: Chinese, AAPI, Depression
A poignant and vividly illustrated graphic memoir about a young woman’s search for belonging as her immigrant family moves between Canada and China.
Lily isn’t sure where home is anymore. Her family is constantly on the move, resettling in different towns across Canada and, eventually, in Shanghai, China. Her father plays the role of primary caregiver while her mother is absent for long periods of time. When she reappears, her strange behavior turns Lily’s life upside down. As Lily enters her college years, she strives to better understand her family and her place in the world. But can she escape the inherited trauma passed down by her immigrant parents?
Trauma, mental health struggles
Until We Meet Again is a heartfelt and introspective memoir. The author reflects on her childhood moving from state to state, coming-of-age in a place that should feel like home but doesn’t quite, and dealing with a parent who struggles with mental health. The way the story is written feels almost cathartic to the author. I don’t know if that’s the right way to put it, but there was so much vulnerability reflected on the pages, and recounting what she’s been through felt like a release, or at the very least another way to process her experiences. I don’t know if this was written with younger audiences in mind either, but I think it would be suitable, as the author touches on heavier topics without diving too deeply.
It was heartbreaking to read about her relationship with her mother, but I loved the depiction of a fairly healthy relationship between father and daughter. What I especially appreciated was how the author drew attention to the stigma of mental health in Asian culture—something which is still prevalent today, especially with older generations. A lot of what she said about it rang true to my own experiences—you push it aside so you pretend it doesn’t exist and that the person who has mental health issues, in a way, doesn’t exist beyond someone to pity or politely ignore. It was sad, but thankfully, it seems that those who most needed help in her story got it in the end and to this day are doing much better for it.
The reason this piqued my interest because I too am a child of frequent moves and I always seek out stories about people who have experienced something similar, if not had a mirror experience to my own. I wished that she had delved deeper into her experience of the diaspora child returning to her “home country”. There were a few things about language and expectations from the people are you (based on how you present, your name, etc.) that did ring true to my own experience, but I think it would’ve been nice to get a deeper reflection on how that changed her perspective about her upbringing and experiences.
Ultimately though, I did enjoy this memoir. The art style was vivid and rich in colour and expression. The combination of colour and illustration created stunning and visceral imagery, and I think did a great job of emphasizing the turmoil she experienced in her childhood, and other experiences growing up. You could feel the confusion, fear, and frustration, but also the quiet, peaceful and healing moments in the author’s journey.
Read More » Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
It was more than a little jarring to me when I saw Celeste and Mehsi post the Quarter Year Crisis Book Tag because what do you mean a quarter of the year has already come and gone?! I had to sit with that fact for a bit and let my brain catch up to what it already knew, lol. 2026 has been… so weird and awful in so many ways, and I guess I’ve started blocking a lot out, which has made the year feel simultaneously too long and yet incredibly short. Sigh.
So I guess it’s time to look back on Q1 of my reading year! Surprisingly, it hasn’t been too bad in terms of numbers at least in comparison to last year. If you’re curious, you can view my past quarterly check-ins: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022.
This tag was originally created by @Roisin’s Reading on BookTube.
Read More » Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
Hi friends, I’m excited to be back for another blog tour today and this time it’s for an adorable new graphic novel! I’m here to share my thoughts as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa.
Thanks to First Second Books for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
Forgive-Me-Not
Publisher: First Second Books
Publication Date: 14 April 2026
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rep: LGBTQIA+, Queer
Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
A queer “enemies to lovers” journey of a lost princess and a changeling who was made to take the heir’s place as part of a fey scheme.
Aisling is many things to many people: princess, heir to the throne, teenage daughter of two loving parents… She’s also about to learn a lot more about herself: changeling. Fey creature. Hunted. Feared. Loved?
Forgive-Me-Not is the name given to the true princess — the lost teenage biological daughter to the king and queen, who’s grown up in the chaotic and untrustworthy realm of Faerie. When Forgive-Me-Not breaks into Aisling’s room the night before their 18 th birthday looking for revenge, the two embark on a long and arduous journey. And what starts as a confrontational and adversarial pairing grows into a bond of mutual understanding, friendship, and maybe something more…
Kidnapping, torture (recounted), blood, murder, mild violence
TL;DR: Oh my, what an adorable feel-great graphic novel! This had the cheesiest ending but it still had me giggling and feeling a buoyant giddiness that left a big smile on my face long after I’d finished reading. This is a timeless fairytale where princess meets knight and they fall in love, but with a changeling twist and a sapphic bent that I loved.
The artwork was fantastic and complemented the story really well. I loved the contrast between the brighter spring palette human world and the darker autumnal palette of the faerie world. I think this contrast was also reflected well in the personalities between Aisling and Not. I loved the art style so much, with clean lines, intense colours, and very emotive character expressions and actions! There were some chibi-adjacent illustrations that I found adorable, and I particularly loved how the expressions in those scenes were conveyed too.
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What happened in March? I honestly have no idea. It passed by in a blink, but with the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid, half of the month was practically a holiday for the majority of the country. 😂 While my family doesn’t celebrate, we still got a holiday, and though I literally did close to nothing for my 5-day weekend, it was still very nice, lol. 🐼 Something I started again this month was gaming. After years of putting aside Disney Dreamlight Valley, I decided to pick it up on a whim and have found myself enjoying the gameplay so much more this time around! There are tons of new characters and quests, as the “base game” has developed further since its launch. Despite the tons of frame drops and massive lags, it’s been a great way to unwind daily and I’m a little obsessed.
The big event this month was celebrating my dad’s 72nd birthday with Korean BBQ and a delicious fluffy chocolate strawberry cake. Other than that, I experienced a few more gorgeous sunsets in the car on the way home, and I also ate some mouthwateringly good Indian food! Here’s some snaps from the month…
Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
Hi friends, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve done a tour (not since September 2025!), so I’m excited to be back with a blog tour review today! I’m here to share my thoughts (and a few favourite quotes) as part of the blog tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours for The Wicked Sea by Jordan Stephanie Gray.
Thanks to Requited for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
The Wicked Sea (The Wicked Sea #1)
Publisher: Requited
Publication Date: 7 April 2026
Genre: New Adult Fantasy Romance
Rep: LGBTQIA+, Pansexual
Rating:
(3.5 pandas)
In this dark and sultry romantasy a mermaid battles hatred—and lust—for the wretched warlock who saved her life.
Mermaid Zephyra of the Syl dreams of freedom. On the run from a dangerous captor and years of abuse, she’s shed her tail, grown legs, and hidden herself on land in the merrow-loathing kingdom of Mortia, left to steal and barter on the dirty streets. But her freedom is short-lived when she’s caught and sentenced to death by the brutal warlock, Arion Stone.
Arion is as beautiful as he is cold and deadly, only interested in punishing the merrow he views as evil. He has grown as strong as any warlock might, but at great personal cost…which can only be remedied by the heart of the God of Death, lost to a fabled kingdom beneath the ocean’s treacherous depths.
So Arion offers Zephyra a deal she can’t refuse; help him find the mystical heart, and he’ll spare her life. With no other options, Zephyra agrees, entangling their souls and forbidden desires in a magical bargain until death do they part. But Zephyra’s past is catching up to her, and the enemy she fled seeks vengeance. If Zephyra and Arion can’t learn to fight together–and trust each other–there are worse things awaiting them than just death.
Of course, in the wicked sea, everyone has secrets, and no one should be trusted.
For fans of: Enemies-to-lovers, Magic Sensual Bonds, Winged Romantic Lead, Forced Proximity
Imprisonment, graphic descriptions of torture, gore, dismemberment, blood, violence, death, and murder
TL;DR: The Wicked Sea is a fun fantasy romance featuring killer mermaids and warlocks, a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance, and a thrilling race against time across this world, trailed by powerful and deadly enemies. Don’t let this (beautiful) pastel cover fool you—this story gets dark and very gory, and covers fairly tough topics, so I would recommend checking content/trigger warnings beforehand. While there were elements I wish had been done better to deliver a stronger story, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this! If you’re a fan of Quicksilver and Phantasma, chances are you’ll like this too.
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