Nicky (Unofficial)

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2026-10-28 12:48:01 GMT

Review – After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, vol 2
After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine
by Liu Gou HuaGenres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 400
Series: After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine #2
Rating:
Synopsis:
IS A PROMISE OF PROTECTION ENOUGH?
Jiang Suizhou, a history professor transmigrated into the frail and hated Prince of Jing, has been dealt quite the losing hand. His only bastion of hope? The captured, incapacitated Huo Wujiu, his concubine—and the general whose vengeance will end the Jing dynasty.
But Jiang Suizhou’s not going down with the ship! He joins hands with Huo Wujiu with a promise—protection now for protection in the future—and seeks out a physician to heal Huo Wujiu’s legs. The two men’s bond and trust deepens as they step beyond their mutual obligations to trade blows with Minister Pang, the puppeteer pulling the corrupt court’s strings.
Stained reputations, hidden motivations, and political assassinations abound as Huo Wujiu and Jiang Suizhou fulfill their promise. But is this protection alone enough to keep them both safe…and is it all they seek from one another?
I just had to read the second volume of Liu Gou Hua’s After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine right away, and I wasn’t disappointed — if anything, I think I liked it even more. The slow burn continues, and I’m so glad I could at least get volume three right away as well, even if I have to wait until November (I think) for the last volume.
Volume two features the misunderstandings/miscommunications thickening even more, since people don’t trust each other and don’t know who knows about what. This all pretty much makes sense in context: it’s not a situation where it’d make more sense for people to communicate, because they need to withhold information for safety purposes. There are a couple of cases that could be straightened out sooner, but mostly it all follows logically from the setting and plot. The only one that’s kinda superfluous is Jiang Suizhou’s lie to Meng Qianshan about why he’s interested in Huo Wujiu, but mostly Meng Qianshan’s investment in the relationship as a result of that is just. the. cutest.
I’m finding the slow burn really exquisite, too: the moments where each realises how they’re beginning to feel about the other are lovely, but I also loved the non-romantic scene where they’re celebrating together, Jiang Suizhou gets drunk, and starts telling Huo Wujiu all kinds of stuff, finally sleepily telling him that he’s so glad to be able to talk to him and that he’s been lonely. Just, aaah! So cute.
I’m very curious how this is going to resolve exactly, and how the two of them are going to triumph against their enemies — and whether Jiang Suizhou’s transmigration is ever properly explained, or likely to end?! We don’t know anything about why he transmigrated, really. I really really hope there’s a good happy ending for these two.
And please, a happy ending for the side characters too! Meng Qianshan, Gu Changyun and Xu Du, and even the friend from the Ministry of Rites who likes novels — please, please let them all come out okay.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/28/review-after-the-disabled-god-of-war-became-my-concubine-vol-2/
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2026-10-27 20:05:47 GMT

Review – Yankee & Carameliser
Yankee & Carameliser
by Chiuko UmeshibuGenres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 164
Rating:
Synopsis:
Take one influencer and one bad boy extraordinaire, whisk in a sprinkling of sweets, a scoop of social media and you get...? Maki and Akito's love story, hot out of the oven! After all, even though Maki might have a bit of a bad rep, the guy must be just as gooey on the inside as the glorious goodies he posts all over social media. So when Akito gets a taste of how dangerously delicious his desserts are, he can't help wanting a taste of the man himself...
Chiuko Umeshibu’s Yankee & Carameliser is pretty cute: a bad boy teenager, Maki, gets caught anonymously posting images of gorgeous desserts by his classmate, Akito. Akito eagerly encourages him to post videos and talk more about how he makes food, drawing him out of his shell, and as they work together on that, Maki quickly falls in love.
There’s a pretty standard misunderstanding bit when Akito runs into Maki coming out of a love hotel with another man; Maki thinks Akito’s relieved when he says he didn’t have sex with the guy because Akito thinks that means he’s not gay (and to be fair, Akito’s sentiments are extremely badly expressed), while Akito simply means that he’s glad that (older) guy didn’t do anything to him that he didn’t end up wanting.
There’s also a bit of homophobia/transphobia in the air, since Maki’s cultivated the bad boy image to look ‘less weird’, after a childhood interest in playing cooking and liking cute things. He blames himself for his parents’ breakup after they caught him wearing lipstick. This is handled relatively lightly and isn’t addressed specifically between Akito and Maki: Akito just keeps being enthusiastic and loving Maki’s baking, thinking he’s cute, and eventually realising that he returns his feelings.
The result is a short-and-sweet love story that doesn’t really dig into the darker stuff implied at its edges. The relationship maybe feels a tiny bit rushed, but the chemistry does genuinely feel real, and Maki’s embarrassment at his growing feelings (and Akito’s returning them) is adorable.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/27/review-yankee-carameliser/
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#akito #maki #carameliser #yankee #rating #synopsis #pages
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2026-10-27 12:14:09 GMT

Top Ten Tuesday: Scary Books This Wuss Enjoyed
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post is a Halloween freebie. I thought about maybe trying to get my wife to write a post for me, since I exhausted my creativity on freebies lately (and Lisa’s a horror fan, much more so than I am), but then I figured… I’ve been reading quite a bit of horror lately, despite thinking it’s not a genre I really enjoy — and I mentioned a rather creepy children’s book in my last Book Blogger Hop post.
So let’s see what I can do! These won’t all be horror, but they all had me on the edge of my seat in one way or another, sometimes creeped out, sometimes grossed out.
Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey.
I felt like the series didn’t hold up quite the same level of creepy space horror that this book came out the gate with, pivoting to something that was often more political. But this particular book creeped me out quite a bit!
Wylding Hall, by Elizabeth Hand.
The spookiness in this one is all quiet unease. I feel like the build-up does more than the actual ending, to be fair; I feel like that gets a touch too obvious, perhaps. But there’s a sense of building unease that really works for me.
The Salt Grows Heavy, by Cassandra Khaw.
Khaw’s work has often been hit and miss for me, but this one I loved. There’s a sense of tenderness amidst the horror that disarmed me completely.
The Summer Hikaru Died, by Mokumokuren.
I haven’t finished this manga series yet, and I haven’t got a review up to link yet, but writing about the tenderness of the last one made me think of it: this one is sad, and wrenching, and sometimes oddly erotic — but also intimately horrifying.
But Not Too Bold, by Hache Puyo.
A monstrous romance. Another one with that sense of tenderness amidst the horror. Apparently that’s something that I really like — I think mostly because it’s something that takes careful handling, so it’s often a mark of a good writer.
Love Everlasting, by Tom King et al.
This comic falls more on the gross-out end of horror than the creep-out, except that it follows the main character through repeated cycles of love stories and each time she begins to surrender to them, everything goes horrifically wrong, usually in an absolute bloodbath. It’s funny and plays around with tropes, and I really hope that it’s going to stick the landing (and soon; the repeated cycles are beginning to wear on my nerves).
What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher.
It’s hard to pick which of Kingfisher’s books should make the cut here, because 2025 and 2026 have been the years of T. Kingfisher for me, tearing through her backlist. Her horror is inventive and yet also often has moments of wry humour which keep it from being too much.
Teddy Bears Never Die, by Cho Yeeun.
This one is profoundly weird, but I had a lot of fun. Sometimes it feels like a gritty contemporary crime thriller, and then suddenly there’s ghosts and some really supremely creepy moments. Also a possessed teddy bear.
Play Nice, by Rachel Harrison.
This is a very recent read, and might be my favourite of the books I’ve read by Harrison so far — though it’s hard to say, because there was much I liked about all of them. In this one I enjoyed the way it played on the everyday creepiness that many of us have experienced: the house making weird sounds, the sense of being watched, the feeling that there’s someone else there…
Into the Dark, by Jordan L. Hawk.
This series is a lot of fun, following a group of people who chase the paranormal for their streaming show, with a touch of romance and a heaping spoonful of creepiness. This was the third instalment, and maybe my favourite so far, with some deeply creepy moments I don’t want to think too much about.
There were actually (to my surprise), a lot of runners-up for this, like other books by Rachel Harrison and T. Kingfisher, A.C. Wise’s Out of the Drowning Deep, and some of the danmei I’ve been enjoying (despite being romance-oriented, and usually billed as fantasy, there are some deeply horrifying moments in Heaven Official’s Blessing).
But this is something like a top ten!
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/27/top-ten-tuesday-scary-books-this-wuss-enjoyed/
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#tentuesday #topten #book #bookblogger #bloggerhop #sometimes #kingfisher #too
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2026-10-26 22:59:38 GMT

Fantasy with Friends: Magical Realism
Monday means Fantasy with Friends time! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is about whether fantasy is about magical realism:
Do you see magical realism as related to fantasy? Do you enjoy reading it? Why or why not?
I think this question means to ask about “magical realism” as in the off-brand, non-Latin American stuff that gets used to spice up literary and contemporary fiction sometimes. As far as the “original”(?) stuff goes, I don’t know a lot about the Latin American literary tradition of magical realism, and though I’ve read (and largely enjoyed) my Gabriel García Márquez, I haven’t read a lot of magical realism that actually stems from that tradition. As such, discussing that aspect would feel pretty out of my lane as a white Welsh person living in the UK and not well-versed in the tradition, even with two literature degrees.
It’s my understanding that magical realism as a tradition is considered to be separate from fantasy, anyway; what I’ve read about it and what I quickly revised about it before writing this post makes me think that that explanation is using a very specific definition of fantasy that I don’t necessarily endorse… but at the same time, “fantasy” can still be a pretty white space with a lot of baggage and assumptions, so I can understand drawing lines around magical realism to make it clear it’s something else. Plus, there’s definitely a different feel to the OG magical realism to most fantasy: magical and surreal occurrences just happen in magical realism, and the point isn’t to get to what and why, as it might be in fantasy.
There is a fair bit of magical realism that isn’t Latin American, of course, and for me that usually seems to be at the very least fantasy-adjacent. Maybe a matter of degree, sometimes; whether it’s a light touch of magic, or something that’s dug into and which the narrative tries to understand… stuff like Before the Coffee Gets Cold could arguably be called magical realism. I think that same lack of interest in understanding why the magic is happening or what the magic is doing, etc, is often the marker of something that’s more “magical realism” than “fantasy”.
And sometimes it seems like a matter of deciding what awards you want to be eligible for: the Booker prize or the Hugos, or whatever: if you want one, you’ll call it magical realism and literary fiction, and if you want the other, you’ll probably call it fantasy.
(Of course publishers are also involved there.)
I’ve enjoyed some magical realism, both the actual Latin American magical realism and the Starbucks version that’s borrowed the term, but that’s not a surprising statement to anyone who knows the range of genres I read. That said, I’m not a huge fan of postmodernism, so some of the more postmodernist writers don’t work for me.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/26/fantasy-with-friends-magical-realism/
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#magicalrealism #fantasy #latinamerican #pagesunbound #garciamarquez #gabrielgarcia #gets
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2026-10-26 22:25:05 GMT

Review – Tigress
Tigress
by Jessica MookherjeeGenres: Poetry
Pages: 70
Rating:
Synopsis:
Jessica Mookherjee, highly commended in the 2017 Forward Prizes, presents her second collection of poems, Tigress. Mixing myth, magic and migration, these poems explore the impact of choice upon our lives and concentrate their magnificent, kaleidoscopic imagination on the intricate and often fraught nature of childhood and family, selfhood and womanhood.
Fierce, often funny, always charged and revealing, Mookerjee’s acute attention to detail tracks lives lived between Bengal, Wales and London. In exploring the intense displacement and loss that marks the experience of migration, the poems move into territories of danger and safety, illness and heartbreak, and ultimately into self-discovery; a rich and sensual moonlit menagerie of bears, big cats, wolves, and ‘forest mothers’. At every step, Tigress is wildly inventive, elegant and utterly distinctive.
I quite like Jessica Mookherjee’s Tigress, particularly the title poem — I saved this snippet, for example, which really jumped out for me:
Caged deep inside her chest,
she sedates it every morning and every night
before bed. Around tea-time,
her eyes flick open
as her heart-beat quickens.
[…]
Behind her husband’s back,
she plans an attack.
Until it starts to get dark. Until it’s time
to take her pills.
It helps as well that she knows Wales (I think grew up there?) and mentions places I know, little familiar things, along with the darker and sadder stuff about mental illness and family troubles. I don’t know how much of it is persona and how much is autobiography, but the poems were pretty powerful, and I like Mookherjee’s verse.
I’d definitely read more by her!
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/26/review-tigress/
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#tigress #jessicamookherjee #forwardprizes #wales #rating #synopsis #pages #bengal #london
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2026-10-25 22:24:37 GMT

Review – Servus
Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire
by Emma SouthonGenres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 448
Rating:
Synopsis:
We associate the Romans with majesty and greatness: we marvel at their straight roads and innovative underfloor heating, at the dominance of their army and navy, at the grandeur of their palaces and temples. But the Romans were also enslavers. They built an empire on the backs of millions of people snatched from their homes in the aftermath of war, kidnapped from the streets, sold into slavery as punishment or, simply, born enslaved.
Servus takes us into the invisible spaces of the Roman world, where millions of enslaved lives were unwillingly dedicated to the perpetuation of the empire that owned them. From the fields of wheat required to give every Roman their daily bread, to the actors and gladiators who provided their circuses, and the miners who kept Rome a city of gold and marble, enslaved people were the bedrock of the Roman Empire. These enslaved people were ubiquitous, but silenced. Through the fragments they left behind, historian Emma Southon traces the pain and tragedy of their lives alongside the love stories, lifelong friendships, small victories and hard-won freedoms.
Servus tells the truth about the Roman empire and the unseen lives that made it so dominant.
I’ve enjoyed Emma Southon’s books on ancient Rome quite a bit, and that’s partly due to her writing style (well evidenced but fairly flippant) and partly due to her particular angle, which often focuses on women. I actually originally got Servus to review, but didn’t finish it before I lost access to the ARC, so my reading was pretty drawn out.
Which honestly helped a little in one way, because this history of slavery in the Roman Empire is really horrifying. Southon spares little detail — indeed, to the point where it begins to feel a touch fetishistic, wallowing in the misery, though I do believe that the intention is to highlight how truly awful it was and make it clear that the claims of Roman slavery being remarkably tolerable are bullshit. It definitely succeeds at that.
For me, though, the level of detail and the number of times Southon reiterated that we don’t have direct evidence but this is what slavery in America was like all sort of wore on me. There are definitely interesting things and things I didn’t know, but less so than in her other books, perhaps because I’m fairly familiar with evidence about slavery in ancient Rome and I knew very little about murder in ancient Rome or about Agrippina.
And… given the heaviness of the topic, repeatedly emphasised, sometimes the flippant tone I usually enjoy didn’t entirely work for me here.
It’s definitely a detailed look at slavery in ancient Rome, and it’s plentifully furnished with citations, but it didn’t quite hit the spot for me.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/25/review-servus/
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#romanempire #servus #rome #slavery #emmasouthon #review #rating #synopsis #pages
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2026-10-25 01:24:47 GMT

Review – The Abbey Court Murders
The Abbey Court Murder
by Annie HaynesGenres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 217
Series: Inspector Furnival #1
Rating:
Synopsis:
“A crime of a peculiarly mysterious nature was perpetrated some time last night in a block of flats called Abbey Court.”
Lady Judith Carew acted furtively on the night of the Denboroughs’ party. Her secret assignation at 9:30pm was a meeting to which she took a loaded revolver. The Abbey Court apartment building would play host to violent death that very night, under cover of darkness. The killer’s identity remained a mystery, though Lady Carew had a most compelling motive – and her revolver was left in the dead man’s flat…
Enter the tenacious Inspector Furnival in the first of his golden age mysteries, first published in 1923. Though there are many clues, there are just as many red herrings and the case takes numerous Christie-esque twists before the murderer can be revealed.
Annie Haynes is a writer I hadn’t come across before, so I was quite interested to read her biography. I wonder why her books were forgotten so quickly? Perhaps in part it’s to do with the fact that she got quite severely ill quite young, and spent a lot of her time housebound. I was also interested to note that she moved in with a friend, Ada Heather-Bigg, and stayed there for years as a “guest”; one is definitely tempted to speculate about a romantic relationship between the two!
In any case, despite the comparisons to Christie, I do think Haynes was a slightly better writer, though The Abbey Court Murder does have quite the share of melodrama (e.g. a child falling conveniently ill just at the moment it heightens tension, and lots of fainting and so on) — to me her characters felt a bit more real, though that’s partly because she focuses more on that than the mystery.
The mystery itself was relatively obvious from the clues, some of which I think were maybe given a little too early if it was supposed to be hanging onto the tension of what evidence might arise to exonerate the main couple. We don’t see a lot of the process of solving, so most of the tension relies on the characters waiting breathlessly, believing themselves to be doomed, and that’s helped along when there’s less explanation of the detective’s methods.
Overall, it’s not 100% to my taste, but I did enjoy it, and I’d try more of Haynes’ work!
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/25/review-the-abbey-court-murders/
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2026-10-24 11:36:47 GMT

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post
Oof, busy week! Shoutout to all the tech and tech-adjacent folks who had long days due to the PHP2Shell and TLS certificate security issues this week (including the friend who hosts my blog, who had to spent quite some time on it — thanks, Adam). It’s been a rough week, let’s buy ourselves some new books about it! Uh, I mean… um.
Books acquired this week
Though I joked about buying myself books about it, I thought about doing so and ended up not really able to choose — and I know my reading plate is very full for the upcoming week, if I want to finish my planned TBR for October! I did pick up one book on Kobo, because it filled a reading prompt:
Fun cover, but alas, the book itself was kinda meh. Oh well!
I did also learn that Susanna Clarke has a new book… and that my library had an ebook copy. So I snagged that, obviously.
And like the previous book, I’ve already read it (it’s not long), ahaha.
Posts from this week
Though it’s been busy and eventful, I’ve started to get back into my routine, so I’ve got something more like my usual number of reviews posted! As ever, here’s the round-up:
Horror: Teddy Bears Never Die, by Cho Yeeun (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Mystery: Murder in the Maze, by J.J. Connington (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Non-fiction: Egypt’s Golden Couple, by John Darnell & Colleen Darnell (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Poetry: A Man, a Woman, & A Hippopotamus, by Selima Hill (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
Manga: Cat + Gamer, vol 8, by Wataru Nadatani (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
SF mystery: The Double Dorothy, by Olivia Waite (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
As ever, these aren’t the books I’ve been reading this week (see the next section), and a 3/5 star rating does really for real mean I liked the book! It might not’ve knocked my socks off, but I had a good time.
And now for the other posts:
Discussion: Why Book Bloggers Should Avoid Substack
Fantasy with Friends: Real Things
Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Up My Perfect Day
What Are You Reading Wednesday
Book Blogger Hop: Creepiest Book That Isn’t Horror
A pretty successful week all round, despite how busy it was!
What I’m reading
The October readathon on Litsy, Haunted Shelf, has continued to have me reading so much! So here’s a sneak peek at the books I read this week. Reminder: this isn’t a recommendation, and I don’t advise you to read them just based on this post (in fact, I had a run of bad luck with several one- or two-star reads this week). Reviews will come later!
Click the thumbnails to see the full covers:
As I mentioned above, I have a lot of reading to do if I want to complete my planned Haunted Shelf TBR. I definitely want to finish Caitlin Rozakis’ Startup Hell this weekend, and probably at least one other chunkier book left from this month’s planned TBR… maybe Sara Raasch’s The Nightmare Before Kissmas?
But, as ever, it will be down to my whim in the end; I am really not into turning reading into an obligation, so I’ll only keep to my TBR as long as it’s fun! I am also eyeing some non-TBR books like Auralee Wallace’s The Haunted Librarian and Emmeline Duncan’s Chaos at the Lazy Bones Book Shop, which seem well-suited to the season… and I’d love to read more of the manga The Summer Hikaru Died, which is surprisingly tender and sad for also being horror.
Later in the week I’ll probably be reading Cherie Priest’s The Toll, which I somehow never got to when it came out, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things, likewise. I also have Deena Helm’s Our Cut of Salt, which I’m fairly determined to get to this month.
Whatever I read, you can be sure it’ll keep me busy, ahaha.
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at The Book Date.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/24/stacking-the-shelves-the-sunday-post-150/
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2026-10-24 01:23:24 GMT

Review – The Double Dorothy
The Double Dorothy
by Olivia WaiteGenres: Crime, Mystery, Science Fiction
Pages: 112
Series: Dorothy Gentleman #3
Rating:
Synopsis:
Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in the third entry of this cozy sci-fi mystery series, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective.
As the Fairweather approaches the halfway point of its journey, Dorothy Gentleman may have reached the end of hers…
It’s been a long lifetime, and Dorothy’s current body is on its last legs. With a new terminal diagnosis from Medical, she’s counting the days until her next reembodiment. But then a young man with someone else’s face sits down and claims he is Dorothy’s next embodiment — someone has triggered the system early, using the memory-book Dorothy last updated over a month ago.
Meaning that according to the laws, when Dorothy dies this time — it will be permanent.
Now Dorothy and her doppelganger must sift through that last month of memories, looking for a secret someone’s trying to erase. And all the threads lead back to the very first murder that happened on the Fairweather, five hundred years ago. A case which remains unsolved — and in which Dorothy was a witness, not a detective. All while an old enemy finally dares to step out of the shadows…
I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Olivia Waite’s The Double Dorothy is the third book of the series, and she’s certainly not happy to simply relax into things: this book introduces another new character, of a sort, because Dorothy’s been re-embodied while still alive — in the body of a young man — presumably because of something she’s learned since her last memory book update. The two Dorothys have got to work out what that is exactly, and also deal with the whole problem of having two of them alive at the same time.
In the process, we learn a little more about the embarkation of the ship, the first murder that occurred on board, and yes, finally, a significant amount more about Violet. All in all, it kept adding stuff to the world and was a really fun read.
I think there are some problems it didn’t really reckon with — look away if you don’t want any spoilers, though I’ll try to keep things general! — like the fact that “Uncle Dorothy” was going around in the body of another person, which is briefly alluded to as a logistical problem, but handwaved in the denouement, despite the fact that his fingerprints will be identical to those of the other version of that body. Or like the fact that Uncle Dorothy is also attracted to Violet, and has much more recent memories with her than with Celia… but also any gender dysphoria that they might feel is fairly handwaved, even though they reference finding it weird to be taller than usual.
I get that that isn’t super cosy, but given that gender and sex are a big deal to many, many people, it felt weird to have both Celia and Uncle Dorothy handwaving it, without a larger previous context of people just choosing to try out other bodies and everyone being blasé about it (unless it was there previously and I missed it?). It’d make a certain amount of sense, but then I’m a bit confused about Dorothy having been so thrown by Gloria’s body in the first book.
Anyway, I don’t want that to overshadow the fact that I really enjoyed this — I think I might’ve read it faster than either of the previous books! It was definitely enjoyable, and I’m curious what happens with “Uncle Dorothy” in future books.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/23/review-the-double-dorothy/
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2026-10-23 17:49:54 GMT

Book Blogger Hop: Creepiest Book That Isn’t Horror
It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!
This week’s prompt is about creepy books:
What’s the creepiest book you’ve read that isn’t officially horror, but gave you chills?
Alan Garner’s The Owl Service immediately comes to mind. It’s a children’s book (allegedly) and marketed generally as fantasy, but it’s full of real menace. It plays with the Welsh story of Blodeuwedd, with the story replaying itself with an unwilling cast, playing with tensions between English and Welsh, between classes, etc.
The cover on the edition I had (included in this post) was kinda creepy too…
I think it was actually Garner’s Elidor that really freaked me out, but I’ve never reread that one. I reread The Owl Service as an adult and… yep, still powerful and creepy. And recommended!
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/23/book-blogger-hop-creepiest-book-that-isnt-horror/
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#bloggerhop #bookblogger #creepiestbook #owlservice #addictedwriter #coffeeaddicted #annashvets #garner #welsh #billy
#rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

2026-10-22 20:02:29 GMT

Review – Cat + Gamer, vol 8
Cat + Gamer
by Wataru NadataniGenres: Manga
Pages: 160
Series: Cat + Gamer #8
Rating:
Synopsis:
Office worker Riko Kozakura lives to play video games, but her life changes forever when she adopts a kitten! Soon, she has two playful cats and takes lessons from video games to help raise them.
Riko Kozakura has been level grinding as a pet owner for a while now, and has learned many new skills. Life continues in the Kozakura household with two cats and one videogaming-obsessed human in this finale to the popular manga series! “Leveling up” in skills, surprises, and adventures, Riko discovers how to adjust her apartment and daily habits for two cats!
I can’t believe volume 8 of Cat + Gamer ends the series! It seems like one that could go on forever — but then, maybe that’s why it’s a good thing that it ends, rather than spinning out the idea into infinity and maybe getting a bit (whisper it) boring/repetitive.
Volume 8 is more of the same sort of story, but features Riko making some big life decisions… with some help (comically, as you’d expect) from the cats. There are other aspects of it, like the cats getting a spa day, and Riko playing along with cat trends… but it also draws the series to a close in a way, though I won’t spoiler.
I did wonder… Riko’s fairly openly talking about the cats in the office in this volume. When did she stop being worried about her coworkers working out that she was the author of the kitty account posting Musubi pictures?! That feels like it just faded out. Or did I miss something…?
Anyway, still cute/silly, and I’ll kinda miss the series, even if it’s very simple.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/22/review-cat-gamer-vol-8/
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#rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

2026-10-22 05:59:12 GMT

WWW Wednesday
What have you recently finished reading?
The last thing I read was, uhhh… right, Delilah S. Dawson’s Bloom: slow-burn sapphic romance turns horror. The ending is genuinely horrific; it feels like a jump-scare out of nowhere after the dreamy atmosphere of the first half, though is definitely foreshadowed in a couple ways. I need to write my review of it; I had criticisms, but overall had fun.
What are you currently reading?
I’m partway through Caitlin Rozakis’ Startup Hell, but not very far into it, so it’s hard to say exactly what I think so far!
I’m also reading John Wiswell’s Wearing the Lion, which I think I mentioned last week… and honestly, I’m not far into that either, and I’m still not sure I like it. Might be a case of “not for me, DNF”.
What will you be reading next?
No idea, honestly. Maybe a reread of Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning, on something of a whim and because it meets the criteria for a reading challenge (and the sequel meets a different prompt in the same challenge). I remember liking the two books, but some of the details have faded, so it might be nice to refresh.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/22/www-wednesday-322/
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#www #startuphell #johnwiswell #rebeccaroanhorse #bloom #delilah #might #dawson #dnf #lion
#rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

2026-10-21 01:28:52 GMT

Review – A Man, A Woman & A Hippopotamus
A Man, A Woman & A Hippopotamus
by Selima HillGenres: Poetry
Pages: 269
Rating:
Synopsis:
Selima Hill’s twenty-second collection A Man, a Woman & a Hippopotamus presents ten sequences of short poems, prose poems and short pieces on relationships and doings between people, animals and the world at large.
I borrowed Selima Hill’s A Man, A Woman, & A Hippopotamus from the library pretty much just because of the title (and cover), I must admit. I really wanted to know what the hippo had to do with anything. In the end, I’m not much the wiser: the poems are very small fragments, and it’s not clear to me that they were meant to be connected or build on each other much.
There were some interesting images/fragments, and it’s not that I thought the writing was bad, it’s more that I just didn’t find the very disconnected/fragmentary nature of it very engaging or enjoyable.
I don’t think I’m totally put off Selima Hill’s work; I’d be game to try something else! But if it’s all like this, perhaps it’s just not for me.
Rating: 1/5 (“didn’t like it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/21/review-a-man-a-woman-a-hippopotamus/
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#selimahill #man #woman #hippopotamus #rating #synopsis #pages
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2026-10-20 11:09:43 GMT

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Up My Perfect Day
Today’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl is a little less bookish than some! This time we’re talking about “Things That Make Up My Perfect Day”, which is a fun prompt.
Plenty of time to read! I’m sure variations on this will be common answers among this crowd, but it’s nonetheless true for me. If I can carve out at least an hour overall for reading, that’s ideal, though I haven’t been super good at meeting that recently.
New books. It’s not the be-all and end-all, but I can’t help but enjoy having a good stack of new books to acquaint myself with!
Time with my rabbits. I work in the same room with them which is nice — they get to snoopervise me, I get to watch their antics. And sometimes pick them up for a cuddle.
A bubble bath with a book. I couldn’t do this in the summer, the weather was just way too warm and humid, but now we’re in the thick of autumn it’s a perfect way to unwind at the end of the day. The book part is a necessity, though; I like a long soak with a book to keep my brain busy, and no distractions from social media, text messages, etc.
Wearing something cute/nerdy. My mood fluctuates, and I don’t always feel like leaning into femme… but I love my dinosaur and kitty dresses from Popsy, my nerdy t-shirts like my Scum Villain “OOC! OOC! OOC!” shirt, my “cultural awareness” petri dish shirt, etc.
Gaming time. Which game I might be logging into fluctuates a bit — at the moment I’ve not been spending a lot of time in FFXIV, for example, but I have been chugging along with Dressmaker and some puzzle games.
Crochet time. I only recently started being able to find time for crochet again, but it’s been a fairly constant companion in the last three months, which is nice.
Cheese in dinner. I mean, I don’t have to have cheese, but I do love it. Chorizo works, too.
Being in Wales. This isn’t likely in the very near future, but I prefer to be home in Wales. And who knows, maybe soon, if my parents move as planned.
Getting a chance to go cycling. I wouldn’t want to do this every day, because it’s time-consuming to get kitted up and go (though less if I’m just riding for fun and don’t need to take my panniers) and right now I get pretty tired. But it’s so good to be cycling again after a year of being unable to thanks to my wrist injury!
I’m sure I could think up some other factors, but these sound like a pretty good time to me!
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/20/top-ten-tuesday-things-that-make-up-my-perfect-day/
#perfectday #make #artsyreader #readergirl #ooc #which #wales #scumvillain
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2026-10-20 00:16:57 GMT

Review – Egypt’s Golden Couple
Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth
by John Darnell, Colleen DarnellGenres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 384
Rating:
Synopsis:
Two celebrated Egyptologists bring to vivid life the intriguing and controversial reign of King Tut's parents.
Akhenaten has been the subject of radically different, even contradictory, biographies. The king has achieved fame as the world's first individual and the first monotheist, but others have seen him as an incestuous tyrant who nearly ruined the kingdom he ruled. The gold funerary mask of his son Tutankhamun and the painted bust of his wife Nefertiti are the most recognizable artifacts from all of ancient Egypt. But who are Akhenaten and Nefertiti? And what can we actually say about rulers who lived more than three thousand years ago?
November 2022 marks the centennial of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and although "King Tut" is a household name, his nine-year rule pales in comparison to the revolutionary reign of his parents. Akhenaten and Nefertiti became gods on earth by transforming Egyptian solar worship, innovating in art and urban design, and merging religion and politics in ways never attempted before.
Combining fascinating scholarship, detective suspense, and adventurous thrills, Egypt's Golden Couple is a journey through excavations, museums, hieroglyphic texts, and stunning artifacts. From clue to clue, renowned Egyptologists John and Colleen Darnell reconstruct an otherwise untold story of the magnificent reign of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
John and Colleen Darnell’s Egypt’s Golden Couple focuses on the Amarna period, which of course means Akhenaten and Nefertiti are frequently centre-stage. It’s important to know going in that each chapter begins with a bit of fictional reconstruction, going beyond just explaining finds in an illustrative way and imagining the personalities of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. It isn’t clear how many of the details are grounded in any kind of historical fact, and I find it a pretty suspect way of going about writing history, even history for a popular audience. That’s one of my personal preferences/bugbears, even when it’s fairly unobtrusive, and it’s very frequent in this book: sometimes the fictional sections are as long as the chapter they accompany, or maybe even longer.
I did find the authors’ interpretations of Akhenaten more sympathetic than typical, and directly contradictory to what I previously knew at times. For example, suggesting the letter from an Egyptian queen to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma was from Meritaten, not Akhesenamun as frequently believed. They do put forward a reasonable explanation and they’re not totally alone in making the suggestion, but they don’t mention certain things (like the throne name of the dead king, or the part about the queen not wanting to marry a servant) that would tend to suggest the letter was from Ankhesenamun. The selective nature of some of the evidence is a bit suspect.
Overall, though, I found it interesting to read even though as a layperson I only know enough to know that I’d be wary of accepting any of this completely at face value.
Weirdly, I note that someone comments in their review that there are zero illustrations, but there are plenty — where they are relevant — e.g. reproducing the scenes from stelae that are under discussion. They are in black-and-white, but they are definitely there and appropriately sized and clear enough to examine for yourself.
My rating mostly reflects my dislike of the heavy level of fiction in this book, which I honestly find simply inappropriate. If you want to write a novel about Akhenaten and Nefertiti and their amazing love, then write it; I am certain you will find an audience.
Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/19/review-egypts-golden-couple/
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#goldencouple #kingtut #colleendarnell #earthpages #egyptologists #egyptian #gods
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2026-10-19 16:24:00 GMT

Fantasy with Friends: Real Things
Monday means Fantasy with Friends time! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is about whether fantasy is about “real things”:
Some people argue that fantasy isn’t worth reading because it’s not about real things. What is your response?
Mostly, I think that if fantasy isn’t for you — if you can’t suspend disbelief, or you argue too much with basic premises, or can’t keep the worldbuilding straight, or whatever it is — then… don’t read it, that’s no skin off my nose!
But I do think fantasy is still about real things. It’s written by people, and inevitably it’s about people, even if those people have pointy ears or fangs or transform into werewolves or have implausible monarchies or whatever it is. I think there are probably some exceptions, because there always are, but we’re a pretty self-centred species and I think it’s often about us, really, and the themes and plotlines are generally things of interest to humans — just wrapped up in a fantasy setting.
And like I said, I can get if that’s not your jam, absolutely, but I don’t think it’s factually correct to say that “fantasy isn’t about real things”. On a superficial level, sure, it’s about potions, spells, fantastical beasts, transformations, fairies, etc, etc. But that’s just the way we dress it up; it isn’t just about that. Even the simplest fantasies aimed at kids get at real human things that kids are interested in!
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/19/fantasy-with-friends-real-things/
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#realthings #fantasy #pagesunbound #even
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2026-10-19 03:28:48 GMT

Review – Murder in the Maze
Murder in the Maze
by J.J. ConningtonGenres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 240
Rating:
Synopsis:
When twin brothers Roger and Neville Shandon are murdered by poisoned darts in Whistlefield's famous hedge maze, Sir Clinton Driffield arrives to restore order. He finds two terrified witnesses - visitors to the estate - and clues aplenty in this brilliantly conceived and meticulously realized country-house mystery.
J.J. Connington’s Murder in the Maze is the second book I’ve read by him, if I recall correctly, and I admit I’d expected slightly better from what I remembered of The Ha-Ha Case — though admittedly that was a later book. This is the first one featuring Sir Clinton Driffield, and it suffered from both culprit and detective being incredibly obvious.
There are a few efforts at misdirection that just don’t come off because they’re incredibly obvious. I think the story does try to lampshade this a bit by the “Watson” character realising what Driffield’s up to belatedly, but… the reader understood chapters and chapters ago, and much of what’s coming up is obvious too. I could almost predict every step, from the fake attacks to a side character’s romantic feelings, and it was clumsy as well that several characters (like the two who find the bodies at the start, along with the man they find in the maze) simply slip out of sight.
The whole thing isn’t particularly ingenious, in part because it relies on ye olde exotic poisons (curare, in this case), which immediately narrows the field due to access. It’s never pointed out that, for example, it rules out a particular character — but where would he have got curare from?
I don’t want to spoiler people who might be interested, so I won’t go into too many specifics — suffice it to say, I was disappointed with the quality of this one, and it wore out its welcome pretty quickly. Besides that, the dramatic denouement is then somewhat spoiled by a lengthy debriefing (detective speaks to the various former suspects to explain everything) and by the detective taking justice into his own hands because he knows best, a bugbear of mine in these stories.
Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/19/review-murder-in-the-maze/
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#maze #murder #clintondriffield #sirclinton #mazepages #nevilleshandon #rating #synopsis
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2026-10-18 17:58:17 GMT

Discussion Post: Why Book Bloggers Should Avoid Substack
Spoiler: it’s the Nazis.
This has come up surprisingly often lately on several blogs I’ve been casually reading or linking up with or visiting via weekly linkups, leading to me actually deciding to add a couple of points to my commenting policy banning promotion of Nazism on my blog (including promotion of Substack). It seems that there’s still a fair few people in the world who don’t realise that Substack provides Nazis with a platform, makes money from Nazis and promotes Nazis. At least, I hope that’s what it is, and that people aren’t choosing Substack knowing that!
I’m not going to browbeat people for not knowing about Substack’s policies here; the temptation is there, but though it feels like the news has been out there a long time, whether you’ll come across it depends on the circles you run in, how proactive you are in looking up this kind of thing, and also on general life stuff. If something horrifying came up about a service I use, it’s quite possible I wouldn’t have noticed during my busy last few weeks… or even in general, given sometimes I just prefer to stick my head in the sand and read books instead.
But I do want to be clear: if you know about Substack’s Nazi problem and you keep on using Substack, and giving them your content to help legitimise their Nazi content, then other people might well wonder about what other compromises you’re willing to make. It’s one thing to know that a site has a far-right presence when promoting Nazism is at least against its Terms of Service, even if that ToS is difficult and time-consuming for the website to enforce. I’ve been part of a content moderation team, and user content is an exhausting firehose and you can never be sure something hateful hasn’t slipped the net and piled up in some corner.
But it’s quite another thing to know that the service in question proudly and deliberately hosts this content. That it has actively sent out a push notification to random users with a Nazi swastika and text inciting hatred against Jewish people (they later claimed this was a mistake, but that doesn’t fix the underlying problem that they host this content on purpose, leading to the possibility of such errors). That the service makes money off antisemitic content, and allows Nazis to earn money from posting their views on Substack. That they’re okay with hosting it on their servers and paying Nazis money for the privilege, because it brings them clicks and gets them money, even as it connects Nazis to other Nazis, gives Nazis money to fund their movements, and radicalises more people to become Nazis.
If you really think this is about Substack being all for free speech, I’ve got a bridge or two to sell you. Three, if you’re game.
And of course it’s not just Nazis: it’s other forms of bigotry as well. Of course it is: it all goes hand-in-hand. And it’s all allowed on Substack.
So, gently and with love: I believe firmly that book blogging does not belong on a platform where people will run into it side-by-side with posts calling for genocide, where that is permitted and promoted by the management. I’m aware that lots of people make different choices, and prefer to close their eyes to this truth.
But now I’ve said it, and you know; people who’ve read this post know. I’ll leave it to your imagination what I think people should do about it.
Here are some alternatives to Substack.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/18/discussion-post-why-book-bloggers-should-avoid-substack/
#substack #nazis #service
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2026-10-18 03:03:33 GMT

Review – Teddy Bears Never Die
Teddy Bears Never Die
by Cho YeeunGenres: Horror
Pages: 304
Rating:
Synopsis:
The horrormance genre mash-up you've been waiting for - from the award-winning Korean author Cho Yeeun comes a new novel where a young girl and a teddy bear team up to enact revenge!
A poisoned city - A grieving daughter - A boy trapped in a bear's body.
When the fledgling coastal town of Yamu is rocked by a mass-poisoning attack at The Seaview Parc, the luxury high-rise meant to revitalise the city, Hwayoung is one of many who lost family members. Except, she has never believed that her mother was poisoned. Now, fuelled by grief and a desire for revenge, Hwayoung spends her time hustling to save every penny and bring those responsible to justice.
Across town, Doha wakes up in a teddy bear and realizes something sinister has taken his body. When fate brings Hwayoung and Doha together, the two team up for a revenge quest that will shake the city's shiny façade to its rotten core.
This time, revenge is not just personal - it's supernatural.
I picked up Cho Yeeun’s Teddy Bears Never Die thanks to other bloggers’ reviews, and was very curious whether I’d find it easier to get oriented to the world given I’ve read a few other books/series in translation from Korean (like Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, A Magical Girl Retires, Walking Practice, Solo Leveling — a mix of manhwa and novels) so there’s a bit of cultural familiarity there. And yep, that did help: some of the locations were familiar, some of the untranslated words (like “gosiwon”) were ones I knew, and I didn’t get too tangled up with the names.
It is, of course, still a really weird book, since one central point is that one of the characters spends most of the book possessing a teddy bear. The cover is really striking, showing him as being huge, but that’s not a literal rendition — he’s just a normal-sized bear that the other main character can hold in her arms, though he does on occasion wield a knife.
There are horror elements, but the main feel is of being something of a thriller, with tense scenes of Hwayoung needing to escape being knifed by a perfectly ordinary non-possessed man, get away from the guy exploiting her and trying to sell her, etc. I don’t know how realistic the portrayal of the poverty and crime Hwayoung got mired in is, but it felt like a gritty crime drama at that point.
That said, some of the horror elements are pretty dang creepy, like the ghost of “Grandma”, the ghost-composite that goes after the assassin, and of course, a lot of the stuff to do with Dohyun’s father.
Overall, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The translation read pretty well for me, and I enjoyed Doha and Hwayoung’s journey, and their strained but realistic friendship. The things they’ve gone through are well-evoked; I think sometimes the narrative feels a little on the simplistic side, fairly exterior to the characters, but it still does a good job of making it clear what they’re feeling (at least to my mind!) and thinking, and the intense twisted feelings that Dohyun’s father feels are quite compelling, even while they’re repellent.
I did also like that we get a translator’s note! I’ve noticed that in a few Korean novels (less the webnovel type but more stuff like this and A Magical Girl Retires), and I enjoy reading a bit about the translation experience.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/18/review-teddy-bears-never-die/
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#neverdie #bearsnever #teddybears #diepages #hwayoung #choyeeun #doha #seaviewparc #korean #girl
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2026-10-17 16:32:13 GMT

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post
After a busy week last week with lots of library books and lots of reading, this week’s been a bit quieter!
Books acquired this week
This month’s British Library Crime Classic was their Christmas release, which is how they usually do things, and that dropped onto my doormat this week:
That’s it, after the recent excesses, hahaha. I haven’t been back to the library this week, since I haven’t done a lot of reading in that time.
Posts from this week
Time for the usual roundup! Reviews first, and as ever, they’re not books I read this week but reviews written sometimes quite a while ago, since I try to keep things varied and plan in advance.
History: A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering, by Elinor Cleghorn (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Poetry: Dream Work, by Mary Oliver (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Fantasy manhwa: Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, vol 3, by Sleepy-C, Umi & singNsong (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
And as usual, I really mean it when I say 3/5 stars means I liked a book! I know other people have other rating systems, but I stick with the old Goodreads definitions that were around over twenty years ago now.
Here are the other posts from this week:
Fantasy with Friends: Fantasy Worlds to Live In
Top Ten Tuesday: Autumnal Colours
What Are You Reading Wednesday
Book Blogger Hop: Bookish Escape Room
And that’s it for the week! I hope to get back to posting more reviews again, since work should be quieting down a bit for now (though just in time for the Christmas/New Year rush, ack).
What I’m reading
As ever, I’ll start with the books I’ve been reading in the last week! Mostly last weekend — I didn’t get as much reading time as I’d have liked during the workweek, this time round. As I mentioned last week, I want to be clear: these are just the books I’ve finished this week, and I’m not saying I recommend them at this time. You’ll have to watch out for my reviews for that! Please don’t read them because I mentioned them and then blame me when you don’t like a book that I’m planning to give one star…
For this weekend, I’m a chunk of the way into Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep and Francis Vivian’s Dead Opposite the Church, so those are my priority to finish. I’d like to read more of The Summer Hikaru Died as well… but otherwise, I’m not sure. I’ll probably go by whim!
Hope everyone else has a great weekend.
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at The Book Date.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/17/stacking-the-shelves-the-sunday-post-149/
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2026-10-16 20:03:25 GMT

Review – Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (manhwa), vol 3
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint
by Sleepy-C, Umi, singNsongGenres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 248
Series: Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (manhwa) #3
Rating:
Synopsis:
With all the food destroyed by the goblin, Dokja’s group is forced to venture into the dark tunnels teeming with vicious creatures. But in the cruel new world, monsters are not the most dangerous enemies. When the atrocities committed by the “Major Group” come to light, chaos ensues in Geumho Station. And amidst the bloodshed, Huiwon’s true power awakens...the Time of Judgment is nigh!
The third volume of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa covers the aftermath of the group’s arrival at the next station, and their trek to Chungmaro Station. The pacing and storyline all feel pretty much the same as the light novel, so you could almost read them interchangeably (except that the volume numbers don’t match up due to the formats, and maybe missing out on some of Dokja’s internal monologue here and there).
I really love Huiwon; though she’s introduced through a “damsel in distress” type situation where sexual assault has been attempted and she’s in bad shape, that’s a key part of how her character evolves and why she gains the abilities she does. It doesn’t feel gratuitous to me, though I’ve seen some other people complaining about it; amongst all the other violence in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, it feels significant that it’s mostly not sexual. The story doesn’t want to focus on that, even while we’re seeing a post-apocalyptic breakdown of society: it’s just important that Huiwon was so vulnerable, that people were so vile to her, more so than stealing food or attacking her or something like that.
Still, your mileage may vary and it’s worth keeping in mind that that’s part of Huiwon’s origin story, and may be touched on again.
I continue to enjoy Dokja’s scheming, of course, and I look forward to getting to the “cinema” section in the manhwa (maybe next volume? or the one after?).
N.B. This is being posted a couple months after I read it and I’ve actually read up to volume 10 by now and have 11 coming up on my TBR.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/16/review-omniscient-readers-viewpoint-manhwa-vol-3/
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2026-10-16 14:43:40 GMT

Book Blogger Hop: Bookish Escape Room
It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!
This week’s prompt is about designing a bookish escape room:
If you designed a book-themed escape room, what puzzles would be part of it?
I have no idea about anything specific, but I’d steer away from using details of specific books in order to appeal to a range of bookworms, using mostly general knowledge. There might be some puns on the names of authors and titles of books, for example, but they’d be guessable by people with a general knowledge of literature.
I imagine there could be something with organising books, possibly with a clue to how they should be organised (I think alphabetical by author is usually the sensible way, but I know other bookworms prefer to make rainbows, sort by book title, or sort by height)… perhaps to open a secret panel or something like that.
If I were to design something specific, it’d be an escape room based on some kind of vintage mystery, and I’d definitely put some decipherment in — if possible, based on a Playfair cypher, as a reference to Dorothy L. Sayers’ Have His Carcase. I don’t think those need to be too difficult, if you left some way to decipher the key word in the room, and I know I’ve written notes to my wife in Playfair cypher once or twice, and they did get deciphered!
I’m not really very good at coming up with stuff like this, though, so generally I’ll leave it to the enthusiasts!
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/16/book-blogger-hop-bookish-escape-room/
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2026-10-16 09:30:31 GMT

Book Blogger Hop: Running Blogs
It’s Friday, so it’s time for the Book Blogger Hop again, hosted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. I’ve made my own image from a stock photo (credit: Anna Shvets) to avoid adding images created via generative AI to my blog. Feel free to use it too if you would like!
This week’s prompt is about having multiple blogs:
Do you run more than one blog? If so, how do you manage your time?
Not really. I have in the past had this blog and a science blog, but it was indeed very time-consuming to try to keep up with both! I tried to write something once or twice a week for the science blog, while I was posting something here just about every day. The science blog depended a bit on whether there was some interesting news.
Obviously I do a lot for this blog alone, and that does take quite a bit of time. Reviews get written within a day or two of finishing the book, so I don’t forget details, but at the moment I mostly set aside some time at the weekends to pre-write discussion posts like this one and prep some (pre-written) reviews ready to post. Then during the week I mostly come on, tweak the draft with anything that comes to mind, and then write the little blurb I use when posting to social media… and that’s it.
Of course, there’s also responding to comments and visiting other people; I tend to do that either on my lunch break or just after work, and never to skip it for more than a day. When people do me the courtesy of commenting, I do my best to return it — and to do so as thoughtfully as I can. It can be tough if we have little in common, but I do try to be a bit more substantial than just “have a nice day!” or something, as long as time permits.
I do have a journal on one of the successors to LiveJournal, but my friend list there is relatively small, so it’s mostly a tradition of writing something about my day at the end of it, dropping a few comments here and there on others’ posts, etc. I’m not active in communities in the way I was in the golden years of LJ.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/09/book-blogger-hop-running-blogs/
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2026-10-16 08:51:27 GMT

Review – The Duke of York’s Steps
The Duke of York's Steps
by Henry WadeGenres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 280
Series: Inspector Poole #1
Rating:
Synopsis:
Henry Wade's The Duke of York's Steps intricately weaves a tapestry of suspense, intrigue, and social commentary set against the backdrop of post-World War I England. The novel is marked by Wade's sharp prose and attention to psychological depth, creating multifaceted characters whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. The narrative unfolds with a sense of foreboding, as the protagonist navigates the underbelly of society, exposing themes of loyalty, betrayal, and the societal changes of the time, showcasing both the personal and communal challenges faced by the British populace in a rapidly evolving landscape. Henry Wade, notable for his mastery of detective fiction, brings his own experiences and keen observations of English society to his writing. Having served as a soldier during the war, Wade deftly captures the disillusionment that many felt upon returning home. His deep understanding of the human psyche and social dynamics informs the nuanced characters and plot twists that are hallmarks of his style. As an accomplished author whose works reflect a keen awareness of contemporary issues, Wade's insights elevate his narrative beyond mere entertainment. Readers seeking a gripping blend of mystery and social exploration will find "The Duke of York's Steps" to be an essential addition to their collection. Wade's engaging narrative invites the reader into a world rich with complexity and moral ambiguity, challenging them to ponder the implications of personal choices against the broader societal shifts of the period. This is not just a novel of suspense but a commentary on the human condition, making it a compelling read for those interested in literature that reflects both timeless themes and specific historical contexts.
The Duke of York’s Steps is a classic crime story written by Henry Wade, an alias for a baronet (Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet) who wrote a surprising number of detective novels which are surprisingly hard to find — I got this one via Kobo Plus US, and none of his books seem to be available on Kobo at all in the UK, and precious few elsewhere. I’d have expected a crime writer baronet to have a bit more novelty value!
In any case, I quite enjoyed The Duke of York’s Steps; it’s fairly slow and methodical, with Inspector Poole working carefully to unpick the mystery and avoid jumping to too-obvious conclusions. There are a few oddities, like all the male characters being attracted to Inez Fratten, daughter of the deceased… including her own “half-brother” (who, in the course of the story, is revealed to be no blood relation of hers — and almost as soon as he learns that, they’re clearly headed somewhere romantic, which is more than a bit weird, even if she already knew).
I mostly found myself liking the characters, at least in the limited sense where they seemed enough like decent and interesting people to give me firm opinions about who I wanted to be the culprit, and who I decidedly did not. I was kind of sad about the outcome, though it made perfect sense once that piece was finally revealed. I’d been to some degree “taken in” by that character; overall, the way it works itself out is pretty neat, if dramatic, albeit with a convenient “instant karma” death that adds little.
Overall, I’d happily read more of Wade’s work — if I could! It’s not fast-paced stuff, but I enjoy this kind of methodical mystery.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/10/review-the-duke-of-yorks-steps/
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2026-10-16 08:12:29 GMT

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post
Hurrah, it’s the weekend again! And I have no plans (that’s a good thing).
Books acquired this week
I finally finally ended up going out for a ride on my bike this week, which means I made it to the library for the first time in a while! So here’s what I picked up on that adventure.
I picked up The Beheading Game because someone tantalised me by saying they felt there are links to the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in it, so I’m curious about that, despite it not being totally my thing… and I picked up a bunch of poetry collections almost at random because they were on a display, I didn’t know any of the poets, and I do like to explore poetry lately.
I did also get a book in the mail for review from Orbit/Hachette, too!
I actually got another one as well, but I’ve put it aside until I can get the first book in the series, as I hadn’t realised it was a sequel when I requested it (the email was not super clear, or I was daft, I don’t know which).
And finally, my rabbits (helped by my wife, of course, who definitely wasn’t the actual source) bought me two books on Kobo, and I accumulated enough Kobo Super Points to get myself a third:
So that’s quite a lot of new books on my plate this week. Oh nooo, etc.
Posts from this week
As ever, let’s do a bit of a roundup. Since it’s a busy time, I haven’t managed to post a review every day — the review posts are all ready to go, since I write reviews as soon as I finish a book generally, but I kept forgetting to come back and send a review post out as well on days I had other features. Still, there’s been a post every day, so there’s plenty to catch up with!
First up, the reviews:
Fantasy: Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die, by Greer Stothers (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
Historical romance: After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine, vol 1, by Liu Gou Hua (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Classic crime: The Duke of York’s Steps, by Henry Wade (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
As ever, please do take my rating definitions literally! If it says I liked it, I liked it, even if you don’t use 3/5 stars that way. And these aren’t books I’ve read this week — those are discussed in the next section below!
Here are the non-review posts:
Fantasy with Friends: Over the Years
Top Ten Tuesday: Happy Memories
WWW Wednesday
Book Blogger Hop: Running Blogs
What I’m reading
As a quick note, it’s come up a few times that people assume me posting books I intend to review here constitutes a recommendation, so just to clarify: nope! I didn’t enjoy all of the books below, and at least one was a one-star read. I review everything I read, regardless of whether I liked it. If you see me post a book in the ‘What I’m reading’ section then try it yourself and don’t like it, that is not my problem. Even if the book is racist/misogynist/transphobic/etc, I don’t put a warning/disclaimer on this bit because I’m purely showing people what I’ve been reading; you’ll have to wait for my review (or ask me!) if you’re really keen to know my actual thoughts. Yelling at me about it or calling me out on your blog isn’t going to help anything!
Anyway! It’s been a good week for reading, thanks mostly to the month-long readathon I’ve been taking part in on Litsy! It’s been encouraging me to read some novellas and shorter books, and honestly that’s been nice, since sometimes it means taking a chance on something new to me. Here’s a sneak peek at the books I’ll be posting reviews for sometime in the foreseeable future…
As for this weekend’s reading, I want to focus on finishing Rachel Harrison’s Kiss Slay Replay and dig deeper into my actual October TBR, but I’m also planning to read some poetry and manga for palate-cleansing purposes (inasfar as trying different horror manga is very palate-cleansing, I suppose), and more of The Summer Hikaru Died because it’s really good so far.
In the end, as ever, it’ll be whatever my whim drives me to, though!
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at The Book Date.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/10/stacking-the-shelves-the-sunday-post-148/
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2026-10-16 07:30:19 GMT

Review – A Woman’s Work
A Woman's Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering
by Elinor CleghornGenres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 416
Rating:
Synopsis:
Mothers make history. For centuries, motherhood has sparked social and political change. Yet the acts of growing, birthing and nurturing children - and the power they hold - have been pushed to the margins, overlooked in our narratives of the past.
In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery.
Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people.
A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.
Elinor Cleghorn’s A Woman’s Work feels like an obvious thematic follow-up to her previous book, Unwell Women, which I liked a lot. From delving into why women have been sidelined medically and distrusted about their own experiences, it isn’t much of a step to discussing how motherhood has been devalued, the way it’s been constructed by men instead of people who actually give birth, the limits that have been placed on women (and people perceived as being women)… and the problems that has caused for them.
It would be easy to be really gender essentialist in this book, but Cleghorn does use terms like “birthing people” at times, focusing on people who’ve been treated as mothers in general — which does usually mean women, and does mean that in many cases in this book because that’s the nature of a lot of the historical evidence we have about mothering.
It’s not as directly my interest as her previous book was, but I did enjoy it and find her discussions of mothering in different societies, and where those ideas came from, what they were influenced by, etc. At times it’s a little depressing, when you think about how recently some of those attitudes were widespread, and how easy it would be to slip-slide back into them (and how we are already doing so, or never did as much better as we’d hope).
Overall, it’s hard to say it’s “enjoyable” given the topic, but it’s interesting, and worthwhile.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/11/review-a-womans-work/
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2026-10-16 06:01:06 GMT

Fantasy with Friends: Fantasy Worlds to Live in
Monday means Fantasy with Friends time! All the prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, if you’d like to join in. This week’s prompt is about fantasy worlds you’d want to live in:
What fantasy world(s) would you want to live in? Why?
None, really. I know that’s a really boring answer, and it’s also the same answer I give to questions about what period you’d like to travel to. I like where I am, mostly! Obviously there’s things I’d change in the wider socioeconomic and political environment, if I could wave a magic wand, but I have few regrets about my life, where I live, what I do, etc.
I suppose if I’m to play the game here and pick, it’d have to be something with portal fantasy: I can be here, but I can also visit a fantasy world. Preferably one without dire events, thanks: Narnia or Fionavar in times of peace and plenty, say. I’m a wuss!
If the question were about visiting other fantasy worlds for some brief period, if I could get a safe conduct so I’ll be totally fine… well, there’s plenty. Middle-Earth, for one.
But mostly, I like this world, even with all its flaws.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/12/fantasy-with-friends-fantasy-worlds-to-live-in/
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2026-10-16 05:17:46 GMT

Top Ten Tuesday: Autumnal Colours
Just a couple of weeks ago I already did a variation on this theme, and swore I’d try to do ten more totally different ones for this week. So let’s see what I can do!
Plenty of reds, yellow and oranges there! I think I win (at my self-imposed game, haha).
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/13/top-ten-tuesday-autumnal-colours/
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2026-10-16 04:34:19 GMT

WWW Wednesday
What have you recently finished reading?
I think the last thing I finished was Yuta Yagi’s Why I Adopted My Husband, which is about the practicalities of getting around the fact that gay marriage isn’t legal in Japan. I don’t think it’s super useful for most people outside of Japan, honestly, because the issue (and solution) is pretty specific to Japan.
Still, if you’re researching and if you want to read some commentary about what it’s like to be a gay couple in Japan, this could work.
What are you currently reading?
I have three books on the go that I started more or less at the same time, because I was having difficulty settling down. The first was John Wiswell’s Wearing the Lion and… I don’t know. I don’t disagree with Hera that Zeus is a dipshit, but the narration is grating on me in general. It’s hard to say exactly why, because I don’t think the Greek myths have to be treated with dignity or anything. Maybe it’s just a tone I don’t get on with in general.
I’ve also started Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep, which has been cited by several people I know lately as their favourite of her books. I’m not far enough into it to judge, really, but I was relieved to have a character with a decidedly different (less mopey) feel to Willa in Kiss Slay Replay or Annie in Cackle. Something about those two characters was a little similar, but Vesper does feel a bit different.
Aaaand I’m also digging into The Demon Overlord’s Retirement Plan, which is fun so far. I’m curious where it’ll go, because I’ve heard comparatively little about the plot.
What will you be reading next?
Uhhh, let’s focus on my current reads first, mostly! Don’t tempt me to pick up more, ahaha. But I would like to read more of The Summer Hikaru Died; I’ve read three volumes, and I definitely want to read more.
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/14/www-wednesday-321/
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2026-10-16 03:38:06 GMT

Review – Dream Work
Dream Work
by Mary OliverGenres: Poetry
Pages: 96
Rating:
Synopsis:
Dream Work, a collection of forty-five poems originally published in 1986, follows both chronologically and logically Mary Oliver’s American Primitive, which won her the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1983. The depth and diversity of perceptual awareness, so steadfast and radiant in American Primitive, continues in Dream Work. Additionally, she has turned her attention in these poems to the solitary and difficult labors of the spirit, to accepting the truth about one’s personal world, and to valuing the triumphs while transcending the failures of human relationships.
I liked Dream Work a bit more than A Thousand Mornings, but I’ve developed such high hopes for Mary Oliver’s poetry, and this collection didn’t quite hit the spot either. There were more poems that I loved here, at least, and as always the whole thing is suffused with her love of the world exactly as it is, her attention to detail, and her ability to find joy.
The poems in this collection are perhaps a little less wide open and accessible than some of her later ones, which gives her a bit more room for depth, but at the same time, that accessibility is something I enjoyed about her work. Not that these poems are particularly difficult, at least not in the deliberate “I’m writing something difficult just to be difficult” sort of way, but they are a bit less… straightforward. That’s very much a matter of taste, in any case!
Overall, a good collection, though not a favourite.
Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)
https://breathesbooks.com/2026/10/15/review-dream-work/
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