Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

A fun, thought-provoking collection that brings old tales to new life in unique fashion

The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories explores the worlds of well-known fairy tales by coloring in the empty spaces with unique re-imaginings. Throughout this collection, the author seeks answers to questions like, “Why did Jack and Jill need that pail of water in the first place?”

There are five reimagined tales in all, with each one being told in its own way. The visual structuring of the short stories works well. Before each story there is a question page with a reference to a classic fairy tale along with the question that started the unraveling of the reimagined story. There are also themed icons used as breaks within the stories (i.e. a broomstick for the wicked witch or a spindle for sleeping beauty) that add a nice whimsical element—essential for a fairy tale collection.

“The Witch’s Apprentice” is from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the East’s younger cousin. This first person account of what was happening in Munchkinland prior to Dorothy’s arrival is a more serious and detailed view into the Oz universe. The ending of the story provides a twist that introduces another classic into the mix. This is definitely in contention for my favorite story of the book.

The second story, “Denying Hamelin” is a short poetic telling of what happened in a town whose children were all led away by the Pied Piper. A rather grim tale, it bounces back and forth between a conversation of great consequences and prose describing the toll of those consequences. The execution is excellent.

“The Honor of Emperors and Thieves” adds depth and tension to a world based on the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes. While captivating the reader with a love triangle, Garg drops in a reference to “Magic Beans,” a nod to yet another great fairy tale. The references don’t stop and neither do the delicious breadcrumbs.

The adaptation of Jack and Jill seems to be set in the United States during the 1950s, “The boys couldn’t stop talking about Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, and Jack would have dared anyone to say that the Yankees could be beat that year.” This adds color and personality to the otherwise straightforward nursery rhyme.

Some stories take elements of original versions, and others, the original is only a building block of a forward-looking iteration. For example, with “The Beauty Before She Sleeps,” the author uses one of the oldest versions of the story as inspiration with the 1634 Italian version “Sun, Moon, and Talia,” with Talia being the name chosen for the princess.

Each story has a different vibe and they all could pass as stories from five different authors. The variety from story to story makes it feel like the collection goes by in the blink of an eye. The thought experiments before each story set up each story well, but they al can be enjoyed without having background knowledge of the source material.

Like so many of my favorite fairy tales, these stories are not necessarily child-friendly in the modern sense. Teens and adults will eat up these stories that are grim in nature and brimming with nuance.

Thank you for reading Chelsey Tucker’s book review of The Witch’s Apprentice and Other Stories by Ekta R. Garg! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Samantha Hui

Hopeful, introspective, and lyrical—a work of literary realism tinged with the grit of recovery

Wethersfield Road is a story about confronting the darkness within, facing addiction head-on, and learning what it means to love. Its author, Anna Binder Reardon, draws on her background in therapy to infuse the story with emotional insight and authenticity; she’s made a world that feels lived-in and characters whose struggles cut close to the bone. Themes of autonomy, self-confidence, and love as action anchor this moving tale.

“As she gazed out the bay window at the barely dark sky and inhaled that first, immaculate hit, a rare city-sky shooting star leaped across the horizon—as if the Universe, the house, and the Texas sky were conspiring against her indifference, insisting that Hope lived here too.”

Amelia Glickman has borderline personality disorder, suffers from bulimia, and is addicted to self-destruction in every form. But Amelia Glickman is also a musical theater-loving equestrian, who loves her dog Delilah, and longs to live a life worth living.

Wethersfield Road follows Amelia, a young woman in her early twenties, as she tries to rebuild her life after the implosion and final violence of a toxic relationship. In an attempt to run from her past, she moves to a new home on Wethersfield Road. But she keeps running right back into herself.

As her self-destructive behaviors escalate and begin to endanger the very things she loves, Amelia is forced to reckon with herself. The journey through rehabilitation that follows is neither linear nor easy, but it brings her closer to sobriety, self-respect, and a deeper understanding of love as something chosen, built, and sustained rather than stumbled upon.

“The bottom line is I’ve got a lot to figure out, but this place is making me fall in love with humans again. And I’m human, aren’t I?”

Told in the third person, the novel maintains a measured distance from Amelia, allowing readers to observe her life without being fully immersed in her perspective. What gives the book so much depth are the inclusions of Amelia’s journal entries that begin when she enters rehab. These intimate interludes are some of the book’s most powerful moments, revealing Amelia’s private longings, self-criticism, and flashes of romanticism. They remind us of how she is still just a young woman at 22 years old, searching for security though instinctually drawn to the rush of chaos. The interplay between the broader third-person narrative and the raw, confessional tone of the journals deepens our understanding of Amelia’s contradictions: her emotional intelligence shadowed by her self-protective cynicism, her capacity for love buried beneath self-defense mechanisms.

“There was no way to apologize to a horse. Amelia couldn’t simply sit down with Hope over coffee and own up to where she’d been wrong and say how sorry she was. The only way she had to clear the air was through her actions.”

Reardon depicts the realities of addiction and recovery with precision. She captures the cyclical nature of self-destructive behavior, the push and pull between wanting to change and cling to what’s familiar. Reardon’s background in therapy shows in the nuanced, believable portrayals of counselors and recovery spaces, as well as in the book’s underlying belief that healing is possible. The relationship between Amelia and her horse, Hope, is written with special tenderness; it becomes a metaphor for trust, responsibility, and the slow work of repair. There’s also a quiet beauty in the novel’s sensory moments, in the feel of a Texas evening sky, the grounding presence of animals, and the strange, stubborn hope that can surface even in despair.

“You’re a life force powerful enough to spring up through the concrete and grow towards the sun.”

Wethersfield Road is a meaningful exploration of what it means to save yourself. It asks its readers to reconsider love as deliberate, sustained action rather than whirlwind endeavors for dopamine. It’s a strong debut with real emotional honesty and a protagonist whose flaws are heartbreakingly human. A book for anyone who has ever had to rebuild, one brick at a time, while learning to live in their own skin.

Thank you for reading Samantha Hui’s book review of Wethersfield Road by Anna Binder Reardon! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Samantha Hui

A tender story about family, healing, and the power of rediscovering childhood amidst life’s hardest truths

“I guess some things will grow without tending.”

Family secrets grow like weeds in a garden: no matter how many times we try to pull them out, they always seem to return. But when we confront those secrets and care for ourselves and our families with the compassion of a guardian, rather than the control of a gardener, a beautiful, unruly garden can bloom.

Lisa Gerlits’s Rewilding is a middle grade novel that tackles heavy topics such as depression, abuse, and gaslighting through the lens of an eleven-year-old child. Through the symbolism of rewilding nature, the book invites readers to reflect on their own need for healing and self-care.

“What if my sweet, talkative brother spills all our family secrets?”

Joy is the caretaker for her seven-year-old brother, Ian, shielding him from the harsh realities of their world. Since their father left and their mother’s depression has kept her largely confined to bed or the couch, Joy has taken on the responsibility of looking after Ian, providing for their mother, and guarding their family’s secrets. When the school guidance counselor starts asking questions and the threat of Child Protective Services looms, Joy redoubles her efforts to protect her family. But she’s also hiding a secret of her own, one that has earned her the nickname “Bruiser.”

“‘Rewilding? It’s an attempt to undo the damage humans have done and return the land to nature.’”

When Joy and Ian discover a baby bird in their yard, whom they lovingly name Lady, they embark on a journey that not only deepens their connection to nature but also teaches them powerful lessons about childhood, love, and resilience. In their quest to care for the bird, they form an unlikely friendship with Ezzie, the neighborhood pariah, known for her overgrown yard. In exchange for letting Lady stay with her during the day, the children help Ezzie “rewild” her yard, and in doing so, learn how to “rewild” themselves.

“I need to get on with landscaping our life so that no one will have reason to question what we’re doing.”

Rewilding is a poignant exploration of trauma through the eyes of a child. Joy’s character has been forced to grow up too quickly, shouldering responsibilities that no child should bear. Yet, young readers will relate to Joy’s naivety about her home life. She doesn’t see her situation as unfair or traumatic; she simply feels frustrated and confused. While most coming-of-age stories focus on the transition from childhood to adulthood, Rewilding follows Joy as she regains the wonder and excitement of childhood. The book beautifully reminds readers of the virtues of childhood.

“I think of the food webs we’ve drawn in school, the lines connecting sun to plant to animal to bigger animal. I wonder if there are more lines than we ever thought to draw.”

Throughout the novel, touching illustrations by Savanna Durr bring the story to life. Gerlits’s lush descriptions of Ezzie’s garden, teeming with wildflowers and wildlife, alongside the vivid portrayal of Joy’s inner world—her excitements and anxieties—help make the story feel immersive, as though the reader is right there with the characters. The simple, yet emotionally charged illustrations offer a powerful complement to the narrative, drawing readers even deeper into Joy’s journey.

“‘Oh, don’t get all mopey about it. You did the wrong thing. Now you know better, and you’ll do better.’”

Rewilding is a book full of life—innocent and loving, yet unflinching in its portrayal of grown-up struggles. It’s a story for both children and their parents, especially those who feel the weight of family problems on their shoulders. This novel shows us that children understand more than we often give them credit for. But without truth and guidance, their understanding can twist and turn inward, leaving them to carry burdens that aren’t theirs to bear.

I highly recommend Rewilding to young readers and their parents, as it opens a space for honest conversation about the complexities of family, love, and growing up.

Thank you for reading Samantha Hui’s book review of Rewilding by Lisa Gerlits! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Samantha Hui

Trapped by a broken system, a girl fights to reclaim herself and regain hope.

“Four walls. Encased behind steel. / Yes, still, the system steals the dreams / of men whose destiny it is to still dream.”

The world can be harsh and unforgiving, and often, there’s little we can do about it. But sometimes, the real struggle lies in recognizing that we also play a role in holding ourselves back.

Nathan Jarelle’s Finding Casey offers a poignant and empathetic exploration of the abuse and corruption within the criminal justice system. It delves into how such a system can deeply affect one’s sense of self and self-worth, creating a vicious cycle of repeating past mistakes. Through authentic portrayals of characters suffering through addiction and suffering the traumas of abuse, Finding Casey is unflinching in its depiction of these challenges, yet ultimately hopeful.

“Look, if you’re gonna mourn, learn to mourn with a hobby. If you don’t have one, get one. That’s the only way you’re gonna make it in here. Life’s gonna happen whether you like or not.”

Casey experiences despair from an early age, shuffled between abusive, neglectful relatives and taunted by children who mock her albinism. Caught between two worlds (Black, yet mistaken for white ), she struggles with a deep sense of not belonging. But her circumstances seem to improve when the well-to-do Haughtons adopt her at thirteen.

Casey gains a kind sister, Courtney, who becomes her confidant and protector. Yet the damage is already done. Distrustful of kindness and fueled by anger, Casey pushes away those who care for her. She turns to drinking to numb the pain, stealing to fund her drug habit, and resenting others to avoid facing her own issues.

“She noticed her bully reflection staring back at her. Flashes of her childhood flickered on the shattered surface.”

At seventeen, Casey’s life takes a darker turn when she’s caught robbing a convenience store at gunpoint with two boys. Though still a minor, she’s charged as an adult and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Within the confines of the St. Agnes Reformatory Center for Women, Casey is forced to confront her past, reconcile with Courtney, and navigate the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood behind bars. Though Casey has a felony on her record, she is not a criminal. Ultimately, Casey Haughton will need to determine who she is and what kind of person she will become.

“I’m here today because I’m hoping you’ll allow me to somehow go back the way I came and find a new route to take.”

The novel is brilliantly paced, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in each scene. We feel Casey’s anxiety and fear as she watches inmates and correctional officers assault each other, her elation when her parole is approved, and the frustration and disappointment when she relapses. Casey’s character development is anything but linear; her growth is fluid, like the ebb and flow of a river.

What makes Casey so compelling, despite her hotheadedness and impulsivity, is her genuine desire to improve. No matter the setback, she never returns to square one; she learns from her mistakes. Additionally, through glimpses of Casey’s childhood, where she longed to be good, to giggle, and to be loved, we understand that the adult Casey, making mistakes, is still carrying the child who was never allowed to fully grow.

“Her soul departed each time their lips connected, liberating her from the enslavement of her own self-consciousness.”

Finding Casey is a raw portrayal of personal transformation and the impact of systemic injustice. Nathan Jarelle crafts characters who are often dangerously imperfect, but they are nonetheless deserving of love, forgiveness, and change.

Readers looking for a story about resilience, redemption, and hope will find much to connect with in this novel of personal struggle. Through this journey, we come to understand what practical empathy looks like in the face of larger systemic issues.

Thank you for reading Samantha Hui’s book review of Finding Casey by Nathan Jarelle! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Nick Gardner

John Chrostek’s stories hop the fence to the bizarre side while still rooting themselves deep within the heart in his debut story collection, Boxcutters.

Each of the 13 stories in this collection is distinct. While “Finding the Joy” plays with present day realism, featuring an Amazon package thief, “Jesus Christ, Human Relations,” (a title worth a laugh and a ponder in itself) bumps into the miraculous, the supernatural. And “Vice and Virtue” is set in a freely fictionalized B.C. Greece and features mythical creatures alongside ageless themes of love, courage, and generally just figuring out who you are. Chrostek’s characters are also varied: Artists, office workers, the aforementioned thief. All have deep lives, dense clouds of confusion to fight through.

“Finding the Joy” is a firecracker of a lead into Chrostek’s collection. A hint of denial plays around in the prose, a sense that the criminal still believes himself to be right. The first line, “Let the record show I lived in that neighborhood for seven years before I committed a crime,” carries an excuse and an admission of guilt. The narrator is immediately complex to the point where it’s impossible to not read on and figure out what makes him tick.

And the successive stories, though often not quite as fast-moving or as punchy, still follow this theme of complex and perfectly revealed characterization. Even when that character is an angel or a washed-up actress locked in on her fame-based obsession, each character is one-hundred-percent themself.

And just as the characters are complex and diverse, the prose varies slightly from story to story as well. While “Finding the Joy” (a personal favorite) begins with such direct and succinct prose, “The Conduit of All Things” takes a slower pace with more robust paragraphs. The first line, “Dawn simmered on the cool flat air in Saddle River,” doesn’t relay a breakneck story. It plods. It ponders. But that pace portrays the mood. By the time Richard Nixon returns home in time for breakfast, it becomes evident that the pace fits the content, the character, the hilarious-yet-somehow-still-deep meaning of the story.

Because of the varied nature of Chrostek’s stories, it seems important to issue a warning: Read in rapid succession, the stories in Boxcutters could cause mental whiplash. In a world of tightly-woven and linked story collections, Chrostek doesn’t offer the reader an easy merge between times, places, or people, but overall themes do emerge. Many characters feel trapped. Whether it be by societal norms or a literal glass cage, they are imprisoned in lives that aren’t necessarily the lives they want to live. And just like with all trapped things, it’s beautiful to see their full potential, their entire freedom, once they’ve been set free.

Thank you for reading Nick Gardner’s book review of Boxcutters by John Chrostek! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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by Nick Gardner

Indie lit has always been counterculture.

It would honestly be nuts for a small press to open their door to submissions without the desire to fight the status quo. The very idea of indie lit is anticapitalist (small presses probably won’t get you rich), anti-establishment (the “Big Five” can eat it), and, for the most part, small presses like fiction that breaks the rules. But what makes a book punk-as-fuck goes beyond the author’s antiauthoritarian leanings. It must have some other pull. It needs music.

While this list is far from exhaustive, it focuses on books of literary fiction that don’t just have that punk fierceness, that blatant challenging of authority, but those that also have the music.

Think Bad Brains, Buzzcocks, Pere Ubu. You can get behind the lyrics, the message, the ethos, the power, but a punk group is nothing if the sound doesn’t make you want to mosh. That’s what makes these specific literary fiction authors stand out: not only the shared goal of challenging the way the reader sees the world, but also an understanding of the aesthetic necessary to keep a reader glued to the page. 

Here are 7 literary fiction books that challenge the status quo.

(Book lists on Independent Book Review are chosen by very picky people. As affiliates, we earn a commission on books you purchase through our links.)

1. Someone Who Isn’t Me

Author: Geoff Rickly

Publisher: Rose Books (2023)

Print Length: 258 pages

ISBN: 9798987581827

Asterism

Amazon

Okay, some can argue that he’s more post-hardcore than punk, but Geoff Rickly’s debut novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me, hums with musical prose that rivals the best lyrical writers of literary fiction.

A heroin addict and lead singer, the protagonist, Geoff, seeks sobriety through the psychedelic drug Ibogaine. His trip sends him on a psychic spiral through his guilt-laden past, forcing him to contend with the person he has become. Rickly depicts Geoff’s wild tour across the United States, not holding back on the bickering or the drugs. It’s a dirty novel in the way that addiction can be dirty. But it also breaks the trend of stories about addiction. Refusing to pause on the fallout, Rickly writes beyond into recovery and hope. 

2. No Names

Author: Greg Hewett

Publisher: Coffee House Press (April 2025)

Print Length: 352 pages

ISBN: 9781566897259

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Greg Hewett’s No Names is by far the slowest moving of the works of literary fiction in this list. Think Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Okay, maybe it’s doom metal. Whatever the case, punk is the root.

As Hewett skips around from POV to POV, a large focus is a punk band called, of course, The No Names, and the sketchy European tour that ended the band. But there’s also quite a bit of classical music in the background, as well as a long exploration of friendships entangled with sexual experimentation. Maybe the end drags on a bit longer than expected, but the prose holds up, a song that slowly diminishes rather than ending with a crash. 

Looking for more literary fiction recommendations? Check out our best books of 2024!

3. Earth Angel

Author: Madeline Cash

Publisher: CLASH Books (April 18, 2023)

Print Length: 152 pages

ISBN: 9781955904698

Bookshop

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Easy to read cover-to-cover in a single sitting, Earth Angel is all power chords, heavy and fast. Cash’s sentences are short and piercing and her endings cut to nothing rather than attempting a summation or even a meaning. Because everything is meaningless, right? 

Think Biblical plagues, Isis recruits, childless millennials and millennials with children that they’re not quite sure what to do with. Think designer drugs, broke city dwellers, homicidal fantasies, porn. Maybe Earth Angel is too modern to hold to the ‘80s DIY ethos, but it’s still counterculture AF. It still questions authority, culture, and god. It’s a witty collection for confused kids who definitely don’t want to grow up.

4. Scumbag Summer

Author: Jillian Luft

Publisher: House of Vlad Press (June 2024)

Print Length: 192 pages

ISBN: 9798320644059

Bookshop

Amazon

More sex, more drugs, more blood and fallout, Scumbag Summer explores smoky bowling alleys and dive bars, the crass scenery of Orlando. Though she’s a college grad, the protagonist seems intent on continuing her nihilistic young-adulthood, refusing to settle into any kind of square, middle class grind.

Orlando for her is No Doz and 7 layer burritos, and as she lodges herself more deeply into the dumpster fire, she spots the pages with social commentary, a distrust of wealth and power and an understanding of  “trash culture,” of those stuck in on the lower rungs of the social hierarchy who sometimes can’t even imagine the climb. Scumbag Summer also contains one of the most punk lines I’ve ever read: “Love is a friendly butcher.”

5. Ghosts of East Baltimore

Author: David Simmons

Publisher: Broken River Books (2022)

Print Length: 202 pages

ISBN: 9781940885544

Amazon

A Baltimore native with a deep understanding of the underground, David Simmons shrugs off the rules in his debut literary crime thriller. As with the other books on this list, there’s a unique and manic music behind Simmons’ prose. It’s rough music, blasted loud. I mean what’s more punk than a protagonist named Worm who gets out of prison to find that he’s the only one who can take out a drug ring smuggling dangerous chemicals into his community?

Simmons raises the bar for punk AF literature with his cutting social commentary, including “crack epidemic” history lessons and a deep understanding of Baltimore’s crime and corruption-ridden past. 

6. Hellions

Author: Julia Elliott

Publisher: Tin House Books (April 15, 2025)

Print Length: 272 pages

ISBN: 9781963108064

Bookshop

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Witches, Cryptids, Ghosts, and other supernatural entities plague the pages of Julia Elliott’s strange collection of longer short fiction. No flash stories here. But just like when you enter a DIY venue and feel surrounded by like minds, the pages of Hellions is a comforting place for those who have normalized the weird.

In “The Maiden,” a community trampoline allows a witchy girl to show up the popular kids with her otherworldly acrobatics before disappearing to her woodland squat. And in “Hellion,” a tough twelve-year-old tames an alligator. Elliott’s stories are filled with loners and weirdos outperforming their normative peers and youngsters challenging their parents’ conservative ideals. What’s more punk than that?

7. Hey You Assholes

Author: Kyle Seibel

Publisher: CLASH Books (March 25, 2025)

Print Length: 272 pages

ISBN: 9781960988393

Bookshop

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Seibel’s story of trying to publish this debut book of short literary fiction, Hey You Assholes is filled with almost as many bizarre twists as the book itself. It reminds me of a 21st century reenactment of ‘80s punk bands banging down doors to book a studio or distro a record. He couldn’t have found a better home for his book than Clash Books, a publisher of some of the strangest and most energetic fiction on the market. Energetic is the word, because even the longer stories don’t stop driving. ThinkLandowner Plays Dopesmoker 666% Faster and with No Distortion.

Hey You Assholes is a deep dive into the lives of unpopular people: soft-hearted alcoholics, wiley factory workers, and Navy veterans who feel forever lost at sea. None of Seibel’s characters have money or power and they definitely don’t have any respect for The Man. 

Want some thrills in your bookshelf? Check out the best indie thrillers!

About the Author

Nick Gardner is a writer, teacher, and critic who has worked as a winemaker, chef, painter, shoe salesman, and addiction counselor. His latest collection of stories from the Rust Belt, Delinquents And Other Escape Attempts, is out now from Madrona Books. He lives in Ohio and Washington, DC and works as a beer and wine monger in Maryland.

Thank you for reading Nick Gardner’s “Literary Fiction Books That Are Punk AF!” If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Joelene Pynnonen

A convention-breaking novel that explores the intricacies of human experience

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul, a young doctor working in an intensive care unit, discovers a piece of writing online. Touting itself as a New World Storyline, it grows and changes as people around the world interact with it.

In this New World book, an author, a musician, and the doctor begin a dialogue about the state of the world. They lament the formulaic nature of stories, bitterly reject the palatable scene that is now music, question the ethics of medicine, and discuss the state of the world.

As this novel progresses, more people arrive to partake in the discussion. Between shifts at the increasingly overrun hospital, Paul realizes that he is becoming a part of this strange new story. As others get caught up in the narrative, it becomes clear that the story is closer to his reality than he might have expected. And that it has the power to change everyone who encounters it.

The Other Book is an experimental work that draws on existing literature to showcase something new. Layers of rich intertextuality are woven through the discussions in this novel. It draws from sources that are both ancient and contemporary, from as far back as Gilgamesh, the Bible, and Norse Mythology to books like Sophie’s Choice.

The perpetual question posed in these pages is, what makes a book? Or, perhaps more specifically, what makes a story? Is a dialogue held by several people on the nature of the world, and of the Arts, considered one? This question permeates through the text, as there’s no clear answer.

While The Other Book is experimental, it builds on existing narrative forms. The novel within the novel is written in a similar way to a script but is more analogous to current online stories told through a series of screenshotted message exchanges. In a modern sense, this could be considered an epistolary. The characters within the pages write to each other, and the interactions become the body of the text. A perpetual, ongoing story that shifts to new characters but seemingly is without end.

The prose in The Other Book can be difficult. This is partially because the descriptive language is stylized, formal, and challenging rather than conversational. The issue this poses is that we need to comprehend the ideas being explored in order for the experiment to land. There’s also a white page problem happening in The Other Book —not much description to ground readers into the novel. There’s the feeling of reaching around in the dark, looking for a marker to orientate yourself. Instead, we find difficult to decipher dialogue happening in a vacuum.

This is a creative philosophical journey that probes at the heart of what makes us human. An ultra-modern take on traditional storytelling conventions, it opens readers to the possibility of seeing an old story with fresh eyes. The Other Book is a read that hosts a wide range of interesting discussions.

Thank you for reading Joelene Pynnonen’s book review of The Other Book by Alexey L. Kovalev! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph

A dynamic coming-of-age adventure in Wonderland

Two young royals must leave their home—what we know as Wonderland, and they call Brigantia—to find someone who can rescue their homeland from a mysterious, powerful, rapidly expanding darkness.

You don’t need to be deep into the Alice in Wonderland lore to understand or enjoy this story, but if you are, you’re about to have a blast. Author W.A. Simpson has transformed this world into something new, interesting, and totally dynamic.

In this world, Alice is known as “the Heroine,” and her adventures form the base of local legends. This isn’t her story, even if she does show up at the end. Our protagonists are Faith and Rowan, and the story is told from their alternating perspectives. Faith, the titular Hatter’s daughter, lives a charmed life in Simpson’s interpretation of Wonderland. Brave and bookish Rowan, the Prince of Hearts, is the son of the Queen and King of Hearts. Unlike Faith and “unlike the rest of his family, Rowan desired to explore what lay beyond the borders of Brigantia.” The Hatter is Faith’s adoring, supportive father; the Cheshire Cat, whose fur tickles Rowan’s nose into sneezing, appears as a helper when needed.

We meet Faith on her birthday—literally, the story opens on the day of her birth, during which she remembers being held by her mother and almost immediately sent down into what we know as Wonderland to live with The Hatter.

The story jumps to Faith’s 21st birthday, which is (at first) another perfect day in her perfect world. But then everything changes: Faith has a dream, a vision of a future where something dark is trying to invade Brigantia, and the natural world is crying out for her help. She isn’t certain what it is, and she’s not sure why she’s the vessel to deliver this message and carry the responsibility of rescuing Brigantia, but she knows that it is urgent and important. 

At the beginning of this story, when all she had to worry about was which of the royals from other palaces would be attending her birthday party, she realized that there was only “one person she really wanted to be there. Rowan, Prince of Hearts, son of the Queen and King of Hearts.”

Both of them, it turns out, individually inspired by a love of their homeland, embark on the same adventure. Lucky for us, they reunite along the way. Together, they discover a dark magic that has turned crops to poison, put people into a permanent slumber, and radiates a putrid smell that lingers. The effects are like a decay in the once-idealistic Brigantia, turning not only their plants to death, but the eyes and hearts of people to black sludge. It even happens to Rowan at a point, when he’s caught up in a fierce spell of anger and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror: “His eyes were coal-black in their sockets. Rowan cried out, filled with fear and surprise.” 

Their partnership is so authentic. It feels true to the experience of reconnecting with someone at that age after so long, equipped with the same ego and attitudes that arise with the way they were both raised. And yet it still feels so honest in that they genuinely want to reunite and trust each other.

Both Faith and Rowan gain wisdom, courage, and more independence as they go through the trials and tricks the darkness throws at them. There’s a really fun dynamic at first where they’re interested in seeing each other again but also find the other person annoying. Still, they’re both mature enough to put their kingdoms first and move past the annoyance to solve the problem plaguing their home.

I loved reading their relationship strengthening and them growing more protective over each other (in equal measures). It’s a union between two brave young people but also of two loving families who love their kids. It’s satisfactory in a way that will appeal to readers who love an adventure and aren’t interested in investing too deeply in a romance plot—though readers who want a blossoming romance won’t be disappointed either. 

Author W. A. Simpson made sure to include laugh-out-loud funny moments, too: Faith and Rowan have lived quite an isolated life, raised in palaces and never having left Brigantia, which apparently has meant they never tasted spicy food. It’s genuinely hilarious when, “‘He could swear his tongue was on fire. ‘How do we stop this?’” I giggled more than a few times along the way, from heading out to find Alice, their Heroine, without knowing anything else and expecting to find her, to Faith having never opened a faucet before. This is the first time in twenty-one years that Faith must fend for herself at home, and she’s stunned by the way she can get water of two different temperatures from different levels. The possibility of this seems almost another feature from a new magic.

This is an effortless and believable read. Whether we’re exploring Faith’s perspective on her adoptive home, Rowan’s perspective on his father’s behavior around his all-powerful mother, or their shared narration on the rot, we’re discovering what feels like truth. Simpson explores themes of men who can’t (or won’t) control their emotions, to the detriment of kingdoms, and women who break all the rules they’ve known to save as many people as they can. There are family dynamics of various types, and there’s joy in the angles of reference to Alice in Wonderland. 

Shocking plot twists await in the second half of the book too, right until the very end. The Hatter’s Daughter is a breeze to read, complete with the whirlwinds of a dynamic leading couple. I loved every minute of it!

Thank you for reading Andrea Marks-Joseph’s book review of The Hatter’s Daughter by W.A. Simpson! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Frankie Martinez

A compelling, classic-feeling time travel novel with intriguing politics, a secret spy, and waking up 18 again

In the year 2020, an unnamed man living in Wonder Lake, Illinois undergoes a strange phenomenon. After a completely normal day of work, chatting with his girlfriend Leigh, and caring for his dog, the man goes to sleep. But when he wakes up, he knows that something is wrong even without opening his eyes. 

When he does, he sees his brother Joseph asleep in a twin bed across from him, though he hasn’t shared a room with his brother since high school. As the strange feeling increases, the man notices other changes; his tattoos are gone, and he finds a silver flip phone by his bedside instead of a smart phone. When he gets out of bed, he finds his 1995 Pontiac Gran Am sitting in the driveway. This is when he realizes he’s back in high school: “Jesus fuck.”With absolutely no idea what is happening to him, the man starts his own investigation into the reason why his 32-year-old consciousness has traveled back in time, hoping that backtracking to his future home will lead to answers. 

Meanwhile, in the basement of a normal office building in 2020, security guard and glorified equipment manager Javier Del Carmen of Strategic Anomaly Observation Control notices a blinking orange light on the machines he is supposed to be watching over. These machines, which are supposed to monitor for anomalies in time and space as part of a research group called Project Outrigger, have detected an anomaly—the first and only time-space anomaly since the division’s founding in 1990. 

The team at Project Outrigger scramble to observe the anomaly and figure out how it happened, while legacy researcher H.S. Baumann conspires behind the scenes to get his hands on the technology that did the job. 

A story told between multiple perspectives and periods of time, Travel is a sci-fi thriller about a man trying desperately to get back to his own time period, all while his fate rests in the hands of an organization that has become entangled in politics and potential conspiracy, of which he has no part. 

This classic sci-fi premise starts with an en-medias res beginning, mysterious gadgets with blinking lights and laser beams, and secret basement laboratories, but the interpersonal dynamics within the scientists at Project Outrigger give the novel its most compelling edge. 

While multiple perspectives appear in the sections that focus on Project Outrigger’s activities in 2020, Javier’s perspective dominates most of these sections. While the Outrigger team argue about what to do with the time machine they’ve discovered, Javier reveals a secret background that results in some seriously mysterious intrigue and fun action sequences in the latter half of the novel. Javier is also the only person who seems to have a bit of humanity in him, showing concern for the unnamed man who was sent back in time by watching over him and feeding his dog. Baumann’s sections are also especially interesting with their history of time travel research.

The other half of the novel is focused on the first-person perspective of the unnamed narrator. These scenes are especially cinematic in their vivid detail and high emotion, but some of that narrator’s characterization leaves some to be desired. His story is highly focused on the present problem of trying to get back to his own timeline, resulting in a narrative that seems to leave little room for agency or difficult choices that would give more hints to who he is as a person.

Travel introduces many mysteries; a teacher lost in the past, a spy, and the secrets of time travel hidden in a strange machine that only one person seems to understand. After finishing, one thing is clear: If answers can be found, it can only be done with the passage of time. 

Thank you for reading Frankie Martinez’s book review of Travel (Project Outrigger) by Kevin Rowlett! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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Reviewed by Tomi Alo

A heartfelt reminder that even the iciest hearts melt in the warmth of true love

Dr. Charlie Kriel has spent years guarding her heart, burying herself in work, and avoiding any emotional entanglements, especially when it comes to children. But her carefully built walls start to crack when she meets curious eleven-year-old Emilia and her irresistible yet emotionally distant father, Dr. Thomas Ribeiro. A skilled anesthetist with a reputation for being as cold as the operating room he works in, Thomas has his own reasons for keeping love at bay.

Set against a rich, engaging medical drama backdrop, Prescription for a Frozen Heart follows Charlie and Thomas, two emotionally scarred hearts, as they navigate their fears, past wounds, and undeniable attraction. As their relationship deepens, Charlie is forced to confront her longing for a family, while Thomas must decide if he’s willing to open his heart and be honest with the people who matter most.

Trust is the foundation of every new relationship, but are these two different yet similar souls ready to lay themselves bare? Or will fear keep them from embracing the love that fate has placed in their path? 

Prescription for a Frozen Heart is a sweet, heartwarming romance about healing, survival, and second chances. The novel is light, fun, and includes so much of what romance readers look for: chemistry, love, tenderness, found family, and a happily ever after.

Duffett creates a world where vulnerability and strength coexist. Charlie and Thomas’s story isn’t just about falling in love but also about finding the courage to move on and let go of the past. I love that Duffett gives both characters the space to grow, heal, and embrace the happiness they deserve. She also lightly touches on  the challenges women struggling with infertility face in the workplace and society in general, which adds more depth to the story. 

Another thing Duffett does well is seamlessly integrating the setting of the novel with the story, allowing readers to watch these brilliant medical professionals in action as they go through their daily, demanding work routines and interact with the patients they save along the way. 

The novel’s pacing does tend to drag a little, especially halfway through the book, with repetitive scenes from the past. The back and forth, coupled with Thomas’s indecisiveness, can become somewhat tiring too, as it feels out of character for someone in their mid-40s. I guess I hoped for more decisiveness and not to slow down the story too much.

Prescription for a Frozen Heart is ultimately a beautifully written story that embodies resilience and showcases love’s ability to mend old wounds. It’s a touching, feel-good romance that reminds us that even the coldest hearts can thaw with the right person.

Thank you for reading Tomi Alo’s book review of Prescription for a Frozen Heart by Jo-Anne Duffett! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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