The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

While you wait for Bethany Baptiste’s The Poisons We Drink to come in May, check out this magical adventure also set in an alternate reality where magic is real and once again, the fate of the world rests in the hands of a teenager. This was originally posted in July 2021.

Available Now

I am a sucker for any book with “library” in the title. Add in “the dead” and I’m instantly intrigued. It’s science. 

Set in a complex and strange near future, The Library of the Dead, is a genre-bending mix of fantasy, post-apocalyptic dystopia and mystery. With all that it has going on, it would be easy to stray off course, but Huchu keeps the story tight and the characters never stray from the world’s rules that have been crafted for them. 

After losing their home, Ropa, along with her sister and grandmother move into their caravan and are barely making ends meet. With her grandmother’s ailing eyesight and her sister still being quite young, it’s up to Ropa to make enough money relaying messages from the dead to the families they left behind. It’s also up to Ropa to run all errands, maintain the caravan, and protect her family. Needless to say, Ropa has a lot of responsibility and it is really, really starting to wear on her. But, Ropa is also incredibly smart and loyal and does all she can to protect her grandmother and sister from the stress. 

When a deceased mother begs for Ropa to find her missing son, Ropa is more than hesitant to take on a non-paying job. But as mysterious occurrences around town begin to point to a larger child abduction operation, Ropa quickly realizes that if she doesn’t help the children, no one will. It’s through her investigation that Ropa discovers her best friend Jomo has begun to work at a private and prestigious Library. When she convinces him to sneak her in so she can utilize the Library for her investigation, the two are quickly caught and Ropa has somehow defied a death sentence to become a member of the mysterious Library. Upon meeting Priya, a powerful healer who herself is confined to a magical wheelchair, Ropa finds a fast and loyal friend. But as much as Ropa would love to lose herself in the immense collection of occult knowledge found within the Library, she has bills to pay and missing children to find. 

Ropa’s sharp instincts and keen intellect save her from one near death experience after another. I was immediately drawn to her no-nonsense attitude and fierce love for her family and friends. Ropa’s world is similar to our own, full of economic disparity and power imbalances. Even the magical power and knowledge is reserved for those with wealth and connections. Ropa has no problem with pointing out the unfairness of it all and it’s her lack of refinement, and amazing courage,  that let her get by with calling out the members of the Library for their unwillingness to help her find the missing children. But Ropa does find a few allies within the Library and I really hope that books are written in this world so we can find out more about the Library’s history and I would love to see how much change Ropa could bring as she gets older and more powerful in her magical ability. 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Library of the Dead and if you are interested in adding this wonderful adventure to your shelves, you can find ordering information here:

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

Available now

Here’s a list of CW from The StoryGraph.

From the Publisher:

With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home.

The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked doors: a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own.  

Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey’s previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library’s mysteries in order to reclaim her own story—before it vanishes forever.

Reader Friends, this book contains a secret family, a secret library, a secret society, and a magical secret! It’s just secrets on secrets on secrets! I’m a sucker for a gothic romance and one that contains a hidden library with magical powers? Instantly hooked. I listened to this one on audio and the things I did to make sure I could keep listening…my floors were so clean and my house has never been so free of dust.

Fox does an excellent job of crafting one of the most sympathetic and enraging characters I’ve read. Ivy, young, alone, and living in poverty, is like a fish out of water in her new home. She wants nothing more than to spend her days in the hidden library cataloging and reading every book she can reach, but her household staff do everything in their powers to keep her away from her precious books. Unsure of how to truly conduct herself, Ivy is torn between asserting her place of power in the home and her easy-going, non-confrontational nature. At every point that I wanted to shake Ivy for acting so naive and trusting, the author not so gently reminds the reader of the era in which Ivy lives and her lack of agency as a young, single woman. Nearly every character felt like they had their hands tied in some way when it came to protecting Ivy, which was both infuriating and begrudgingly made sense with the story.

I really enjoyed how much Ivy was completely enthralled by her new home and it’s secrets. A former abbey, Ivy’s new home is incredibly large and she is constantly getting lost in newly discovered halls and rooms and there are even hidden passageways! She is hopelessly in love with her Library and immediately wants to share her new-found literary wealth with the rest of the village. It’s pretty hard to get too mad at a character who finds herself newly titled and her first thought is to start a Bookmobile!

For such a charming and magical story, this book is actually quite dark and disturbing. There is some serious gaslighting that goes on and Ivy is placed in some seriously dangerous situations by people who are supposed to care for her so definitely take care when reading this one.

If you want to add this enchanting tale to your library, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information. I borrowed the audiobook version from my local Library using the Libby app so don’t forget to check if your Library already bought it for you.

This post may contain links, including Amazon Associate Links, and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

Available Now

I am a sucker for any book with “library” in the title. Add in “the dead” and I’m instantly intrigued. It’s science. 

Set in a complex and strange near future, The Library of the Dead, is a genre-bending mix of fantasy, post-apocalyptic dystopia and mystery. With all that it has going on, it would be easy to stray off course, but Huchu keeps the story tight and the characters never stray from the world’s rules that have been crafted for them. 

After losing their home, Ropa, along with her sister and grandmother move into their caravan and are barely making ends meet. With her grandmother’s ailing eyesight and her sister still being quite young, it’s up to Ropa to make enough money relaying messages from the dead to the families they left behind. It’s also up to Ropa to run all errands, maintain the caravan, and protect her family. Needless to say, Ropa has a lot of responsibility and it is really, really starting to wear on her. But, Ropa is also incredibly smart and loyal and does all she can to protect her grandmother and sister from the stress. 

When a deceased mother begs for Ropa to find her missing son, Ropa is more than hesitant to take on a non-paying job. But as mysterious occurrences around town begin to point to a larger child abduction operation, Ropa quickly realizes that if she doesn’t help the children, no one will. It’s through her investigation that Ropa discovers her best friend Jomo has begun to work at a private and prestigious Library. When she convinces him to sneak her in so she can utilize the Library for her investigation, the two are quickly caught and Ropa has somehow defied a death sentence to become a member of the mysterious Library. Upon meeting Priya, a powerful healer who herself is confined to a magical wheelchair, Ropa finds a fast and loyal friend. But as much as Ropa would love to lose herself in the immense collection of occult knowledge found within the Library, she has bills to pay and missing children to find. 

Ropa’s sharp instincts and keen intellect save her from one near death experience after another. I was immediately drawn to her no-nonsense attitude and fierce love for her family and friends. Ropa’s world is similar to our own, full of economic disparity and power imbalances. Even the magical power and knowledge is reserved for those with wealth and connections. Ropa has no problem with pointing out the unfairness of it all and it’s her lack of refinement, and amazing courage,  that let her get by with calling out the members of the Library for their unwillingness to help her find the missing children. But Ropa does find a few allies within the Library and I really hope that books are written in this world so we can find out more about the Library’s history and I would love to see how much change Ropa could bring as she gets older and more powerful in her magical ability. 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Library of the Dead and if you are interested in adding this wonderful adventure to your shelves, you can find ordering information here:

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The Archive of the Forgotten by A.J. Hackwith

Available October 6, 2020

Claire, Hero and Brevity are back with another mystery set in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell. After a mysterious flood of ink threatens the Arcane Wing, Former Librarian Claire must discover it's source and it's possible implications for the rest of the Library. With Brevity as the new Librarian, Claire is struggling to balance their friendship with their new job titles and responsibilities. Probity, another Muse, joins the Library to assist Brevity in the investigation but her appearance sets everyone on edge. Meanwhile, Hero is on his own mission to discover the secrets of the ink and the truth about the characters by traveling to other realms with the help of Rami.

The deeper the unconventional Library staff digs to find the truth behind the ink, the more secrets they discover within the depths of the Library.

I absolutely love this series from A.J. Hackwith and I truly hope there will be more adventures set in the Library of the Unwritten. The world of the Library of the Unwritten is so interesting and unique in the way that it handles it's place in the world. While all the characters seem like genuinely nice people who are loyal to their friends-as loyal as they can be-the small off-hand remarks about it being in Hell makes it that much more enjoyable. It seems to operate exactly like a large Library just with a slightly different collection-if you can call books with characters that wander around and an Interworld Loan program slightly different. The curios are filled with arcane treasures such as finger bones, ruby seeds and magical rings. A little different then the pottery collection at my Library. I just love when an author can casually mention a crown that was part of a deal with a demon.

Claire's interaction with the ink places her life in danger and the race to save her keeps the story moving rather quickly. Hero is on a quest to discover the ink’s ties to characters and their books and with the help of Rami, travels through the realms seeking answers. A new muse has entered the story and is causing strife between Brevity and Claire. Adding to that tension, Claire is no longer Brevity's boss, but instead her colleague and the two struggle to find their place within their new working relationship. Neither Claire nor Brevity were given the amount of training necessary for their positions and the journal entries from former Librarians at the beginning of each chapter really highlight the amount of time each Librarian spent in that role. The relationships between all of the characters are explored far more in depth in this book and the sequel feels more focused on characters than plot. Like in the first novel, I thoroughly enjoyed how we get to see new parts of the Library and how those areas interact with each other.  The Library is full of secrets that I'm hoping will be explored in further novels.

If you like high stakes adventures, found family, magic, and a little dark humor, this is the perfect book for you. I would highly recommend you read book one before jumping into this. While it’s great on it’s own, the first book really explains the relationships between all the characters.

 Want a copy for yourself? You can find ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

Start Your Library Holds for Spooky Season

If you are the type of Reader who loves to fill the month of October with spooky, magical stories, like I am, you need to start your Library Holds now. Here are six books that I have read recently with elements of horror, magic, all things supernatural, and a book series that takes place in a Library in Hell. Click on the covers for more information about each title and ordering information.

Set in a strict, religious colony led by a feared polygamist patriarch, Immanuelle Moore was born a crime. Her mother was one of the many wives of the leader and her betrayal led to the death of her lover and her banishment from the colony. A dark forest on the edge of the colony is rumored to be inhabited by dark witches and when Immanuelle finds herself drawn to it, she discovers her mother’s ties to the darkness and inadvertently releases a plague upon her colony.

Claire is the Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing of the Library in Hell. Yep, a Library in Hell. Charged to protect the books of the Unwritten, books unfinished by authors and whose characters are always trying to escape the Library, her retrieval of a missing character goes horribly wrong when fallen angels interfere. I loved this book and the second book, The Archive of the Forgotten, comes out on October 6.

This one gave me nightmares! Four high school friends go on a hunt that violates their tribal law. Now, ten years later, something is hunting them. It is bloody, gory, intensely graphic, and absolutely terrifying. It’s so good.

One of the best books I’ve read this year! When her cousin sends her a cryptic letter fearing for her life, Noemí is sent to determine if it’s just new marriage nerves or an actual crisis. Noemí discovers her cousin horribly ill and surrounded by her in-laws that give Noemí the absolute creeps. What the family doesn’t understand, is Noemí is far from a shrinking violet and is more than willing to do whatever it takes to free her cousin. Set in a dark, damp mansion, this is one of the most atmospheric books I’ve ever read.

This is a fabulous collection of short stories that will leave you terrified. I love short stories for when you have limited time but still need to get some reading in. Each story in this collection is unique and chilling and Machado’s writing is so deceptively beautiful. Beautiful words should not terrify you, but she does it.

Told through multiple points of view, this book tells the story of a mother and daughter who have the ability to heal through magic and the lengths they will go to survive through the tumultuous years of the Civil War. This is a heavy one-enslavement, torture, kidnapping, and dark secrets that could tear apart an entire community. At the core, this story is about the secrets women keep to protect those that they love.

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian by Jacob Sager Weinstein

Happy 2019 everyone! While I’ve been away I’ve had the opportunity to read some amazing new books and started to dive into my backlist titles and I can’t wait to share them all with you. I’m very lucky to work in a Library that takes vacations seriously-we were closed for almost two weeks over the winter holiday so today has been a little crazy being back at work.

The best part of today has been going through the deliveries that came in while we were gone and one book in particular really caught my eye-Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian. Full disclosure: this is from my Junior Library Guild subscription for the Library and was not purchased by me. I just got really excited and wanted to share how cute this book is!

Lyric is here to save the day!

Isn’t that the most delightful title? I love it! It’s also illustrated by Vera Brosgol who wrote Be Prepared, one of my favorites graphic novels from last year. Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian is a very bright and colorful picture book that tells the story of the evil Doctor Glockenspiel and his devious plan to get one billion, trillion dollars or else he’ll set loose an army of moths to eat all the world’s books! When the world’s best superheroes are defeated by Doctor Glockenspiel there’s only person who can save the day-Lyric McKerrigan! She has just the right book at just the right time to distract guards, help the superheroes escape, and defeat the evil moths.

It’s so stinking cute friends. Books are definitely powerful weapons against evil and I love how well this book shows this. Locked behind bars? A book on picking locks can save the day! A picture book with a strong, intelligent female lead character? Yes, please!

Need a copy for someone in your life? Want to donate one to your local Library? You can get a copy, and help support this site, here:

Also, here’s a link for Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol.

I could have sworn I did post on this but I must have missed it. It’s absolutely delightful and I highly recommend it. The Kid devoured it in one sitting.

Sunday Library Love

Like many people this time of year, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks around here. On the heels of a chaotic Halloween week we attended the first of several winter holiday parties and need to plan future ones that we’re hosting. Meetings, school events, and just everyday housework always seem to be more work when it’s cold outside. The dining room construction is at the true messy stage and it’s starting to impact my last minute jelly making for Christmas gifts.

But it’s not all work. We had business to attend to in the same town as our favorite comic book store so of course a visit was in order. We finally got to meet the Bear at A Boy and His Tiger in Macomb. It’s an overall great shop-great service, great selection, and a great doggo. The Kid picked out a few new books and comics and I managed to keep myself to only one new book.

All of the home construction, holiday cooking, and constant clean up has had one amazing perk-I’ve listened to 3 audiobooks just this last week. All have been Library loans and paired with our overwhelming DVD selection-ALL my holds came in at once- from the Library, it’s been a Library Love type of week. That’s right-we rarely purchase or rent movies, we borrow nearly everything from the Library. Thanks to our wonderful interlibrary loan network, we have access to nearly every title and usually have a very short wait.

Listened to:

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

This was great on audio-the narrator was really good and there is no way I would have pronounced the main character’s names correctly. From the Publisher: Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself; his wife, Neni; and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty - and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.

However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers' façades. When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende's job - even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.

Who Thought This was a Good Idea?  By Alyssa Mastromonaco

Read by the author, this was another great listen that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time.  Funny, honest, and not at all gossipy, this book takes us behind the scenes of political campaigns, the inner workings of the White House, and how incredibly stressful it is to work in Washington.  Mastromonaco gives advice throughout the book on how to prepare for job interviews, the do’s and don’ts of negotiations, and how to not be your own worst enemy. It’s a lot like listening to a really great friend over a glass of wine.  A definite listen for those who would like to reminisce about the time we had intelligent, capable, and caring people in the White House.

Some Enchanted Eclair by Bailey Cates

If you want mouthwatering descriptions of food, some light witchcraft, a murder mystery, and southern accents-this is your series. From the Publisher: When Hollywood invades Savannah's historic district to film a Revolutionary War movie, magical baker Katie Lightfoot and her witches' coven, the Spellbook Club, take a break from casting spells for casting calls. One of the witches snags a part as an extra, while Katie's firefighter boyfriend, Declan, acts as on-set security. Katie and her Aunt Lucy decide to stay out of the action, but after the movie's "fixer" fires the caterer, the Honeybee Bakery comes to the rescue, working their magic to keep the hungry crew happy. But when someone fixes the fixer - permanently - and a spooky psychic predicts Katie will find the killer, the charming baker and her fellow conjurers step in to sift through the suspects - before someone else winds up on the cutting room floor.

Watched:

Paddington 2

Super cute and funny.

Father Figures-The Boys picked this one.

Yeah, The Boys picked this one too.

Read:

Charlie Hernández & The League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo

This was a really great middle great adventure filled with Latino and Hispanic mythology.  I purchased it for the Library and snuck it out before the kids saw it.