NetGalley Review: Bound to be Beautiful: Over 20 Bookbinding Projects that Inspire and Delight by Bari Zaki

Bound to be Beautiful: Over 20 Bookbinding Projects that Inspire and Delight by Bari Zaki

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

First, as a book to just look at-this is amazing. Even if you had no interest in doing bookbinding projects, this is a feast for the eyes. Simply perusing the photos, beautiful papers, gorgeous tools and stunning journals will make a crafters heart sing.

Now, the major side effect of this gorgeous book is that your fingers itch to play with paper and thread. The projects are lovely and encompass all levels of difficulty. The comprehensive directions, complete with easy to follow pictures or graphics, mean you can jump right in on making your own books. In addition, tha format makes it easy to see how you can mix and match techniques and start designing your own approach to making journals.

This was not only a fantastic how-to guide, but a genuine inspiration. As soon as recital costume season is over my hoarded "pretty papers" collection will be taking on a new life.

Published on 16 June 2026 by Bloomsbury

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NetGalley Review: The Trouble With Seduction by Jess Michaels

The Trouble With Seduction by Jess Michaels

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

I have very much enjoyed this series and this book. That said, of the three Comerford Courtesans books, this one was the weakest for me.

My main issue, i just did not feel the chemistry. I think it was meant to be a soft "he falls first" as it was hinted that our MMC finds the FMC perplexing, but it just didn't seem to hit. I found the plot of them falling for eachother in the background of the marriage plot to be a bit shoehorned in. The character development did not lead to that outcome, until suddenly it did? I just wasn't feeling it.

Overall however, it was just what readers like from Michaels. The world building is immersive and includes characters across series. There is some vague intrigue, some spice and solid HEA. As a historical romance it checks all the boxes.

Even though this one was not my favorite, I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series and to reading more from Jess Michaels.

Published on 7 April 206 by The Passionate Pen LLC

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NetGalley Review: Love at First Bite by Katherine Dyson

Love at First Bite by Katherine Dyson

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

I really wanted to like this, and I did like parts of it, but overall this one just didn't hit for me.

I was excited by the idea of modern vampires in a quaint English town...sounds like fun! It started with a slightly humorous set up of what could have been a genuinely spooky take on a fantasy rom-com. From there it devolved a fair bit. Too much exposition dragged the vibe down, the cumulative trauma of these characters took it from "tragic hero" to "maybe therapy would be better than a relationship with your diametric opposite." The plot introduced many potential twists, but then nothing really came of them making it feel like they existed just to fill some plot. While it was a fun fast read, it felt like so many manufactured tropes just so two people could get a shoehorned HEA.

Other reviews seem to be mixed, so I will allow that this book was just a bad fit for me. For those that want a lighter, more sunshine-y (less gothic) vampire romance , this could be a perfect fit.

Published on 3 April 2026 by One MOre Chapter (Harper Collins UK)

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NetGalley Review: While You Were Seething by Charlotte Stein

While You Were Seething by Charlotte Stein

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ 

I honestly don't know if I loved or hated this book.

The writing struggles. Hopefully this is an editing issue, but some of the prose and dialog took 3-4 re-reads to actually decipher what it was saying. Following the already stilted dialog was not helped by this. The characters are not much more than archetypes: he is grumpy and stoic, she is a fragile soul hiding behind sunshine...eh, it was fine. No one grows as much as acts out of character to further the plot and honestly, neither of them are in any way prepared to have a functional relationship.

The plot is fairly obvious from the start, the only person surprised in a any way is our fair FMC. Since the book is written from her POV, mostly the book is listening to two people be mean to each other (You were enemies in college? We can tell! Stop acting like 20-year-old jerks!) while the slowest woman on the planet puts together a puzzle that has literally one piece. The grand crisis of the relationship is some nonsense that gets shoehorned in via the mechanism of FMC "forgetting until just this perfect moment" key details of a college interaction.

Now, all that said, I could not put it down. I read the entire thing in a night and could not wait to see what these two annoying people did next. The spice was grade A, Stein knows her stuff, even if it didn't make a lot of sense for the characters/chemistry/plot development. Even though I know this was not a technically great novel, somehow Stein is becoming one of my "must-read" authors...so do with that what you will!

Published on 9 April 2026 by  St. Martin's Griffin

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NetGalley Review: The Last Lady B by Eloisa James

The Last Lady B by Eloisa James

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

This was a quirky (in a good way) take on the historical novel. What starts as a fairly straightforward "bad marriage of convenience means FMC takes a lover" quickly spins in so many directions. From the simple premise, James spins a tale that combines the vibes of "Jane Eyre" (crazy gal in the attic anyone?), "The Importance of Being Earnest" (comedy gold) with gothic horror and fun HEAs all around. So much happens, and with such a fun band of characters, that it is almost hard to describe. Overall though, it is about women looking at the weird prison of hypocritical men and silly society rules and choosing...lets say...alternate pathways. If you like the idea of "Clue" as a historical gothic romance, add this one to your TBR right now.

Published on 12 May 2026 by Gallery Books

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NetGalley Review: No Place Like You by Jillian Meadows

No Place Like You by Jillian Meadows

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

I really liked this read. I will apply the caveat that the overall trope is "sad girl cured by magic penis," but that actually didn't deter my enjoyment one bit. Tropes are tropey and that is a part of why we all love the genre.

Otherwise this is a light "enemies to lovers" doughnut with a dark gooey "fake-dating" center. The characters are likable and make expected changes and grow in ways that don't require anyone acting totally out of character. The chemistry is good with lots of relationship building shorthanded by their previous time together as kids. All together not much actually happens, so it feels like a very realistic relationship viewed through a cozy romantic lens.

This would make a perfect "welcome to spring" read for fans of contemporary romances.

Published on 10 March 2026 by Avon and Harper Voyage

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NetGalley Review: Corpse de Ballet by Megan Kearney

Corpse de Ballet by Megan Kearney

My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

This graphic novel was a mixed read for me. While it had an interesting premise, and teased some fun spooky tropes, it did not feel like it really ever came together.

I really liked:

• The art-style and the color palette. In terms of creating an atmospheric feeling for a spooky tale, Kearney nails it.
• The representation of teenhood, especially in a high pressure environment. Showing the ebb and flow of what the undeveloped prefrontal cortex perceives as truth was well illustrated in many clever ways.
• The ballet! Really getting into the history, traditions and challenges of ballet was very well done. The multi-layered metaphor of the chosen dance, the casting etc was very effective.

With the caveat that this graphic novel if for YA readers and not 40-something year olds, what I didn't really like:

• The mysteries were pretty obvious. Without getting into spoilers, the clues are not just there, they are illuminated by neon signs. None of the big reveal felt big, so the climax and conclusion of the story didn't feel remarkable.
• The girls are rarely shown being nice to each other. While the realities of competing to be the best in field already riddled with misogyny might not lead to lots of chances for kindness, everyone here felt like archetypal mean girls. I would have liked to see some genuine girls-girls in contrast to the conflict that was the core of plot progression.

I would still recommend this to YA readers, it feels like Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall but with ballet. However, for me, it was not a winner.

Published on 7 July 2026 by First Second Books

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