Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Wednesday Books and Wattpad Books for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Cursed Princess Club, Vol. 2
Author: LambCat
Genre: Graphic Novel, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Webtoon Unscrolled
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: July 4, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Just because you’re cursed doesn’t mean you’re not special.
Gwendolyn, the youngest of the King’s three daughters, is living proof that princesses don’t always have it all. She isn’t like a typical fairy-tale princess, or other princesses in the Pastel Kingdom. Gwendolyn, with her big heart and love of baking, isn’t particularly attractive. Unlike her sisters who have woodland creatures do their hair and makeup, or have flowers blossom wherever they sleep, Gwendolyn is a bit…different. So when her father proposes marriage for her and her sisters to make an alliance with the Plaid Kingdom, it breaks Gwendolyn’s heart to hear that Prince Frederick thinks she’s “really ugly.” Overwhelmed and ashamed, she runs away into the forest and encounters the twisted world of the Cursed Princess Club, where her life will never be the same.
The Cursed Princess Club are a ragtag band of outcasts, misfits and cursed princesses who have created an incredible friendship circle. It is among these friends where Gwendolyn learns to embrace her uniqueness and find her people.
In this second book of the series, we learn low self esteem isn’t just for girls! Meet the Princels―princes who have shunned society not because of curses (although one has to wonder…) but because of their own insecurities about their physical appearance and their inability to find romantic partners. And then we have Prince Frederick, who starts to worry if he even deserves Gwen. Plus, you too can learn to be as pretty as a Cursed Princess!
This series is so fun! Gwen has joined the Cursed Princess Club because she is always treated differently from her traditionally beautiful sisters. Now, when Gwen looks in a mirror, she can’t see her face, so she has to figure out how to fix this problem. Even though there are some serious and emotional parts, with the way Gwen is bullied, there were many laugh out loud moments too!
Cursed Princess Club, Vol. 2 is a fun graphic novel!
Have you read Cursed Princess Club, Vol. 2? What did you think of it?
Title: Acception, Vol. 1
Author: Coco Ouwerkerk
Genre: Graphic Novel, Young Adult, LGBTQ
Publisher: Webtoon Unscrolled
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Rating: ★★★★★
For fans of high school comedy drama with quirky, lovable characters, this is a comic from debut author Colourbee about love, acceptance, and surviving high school (while keeping your secrets intact).
It’s the start of a new school year at Apollo High and Arcus just moved from England to the Netherlands. With his rainbow-colored hair and love of all things fashion, Arcus is anything but your average teenager.
He’s an upbeat independent thinker, proud fashionista, and like the rest of us, is looking for a few fiends to call his own. This won’t be easy for Arcus, because his best options for friends are prickly goth Maud and self-centered queen bee Iris.
This graphic novel is about Arcus, who doesn’t follow the status quo in his new school. Other students make assumptions based on his appearance. Arcus and his new friend Maud had opposite styles, with Arcus having rainbow hair and Maud dressing all in black, but they had a lot in common. They were both bullied by other students and they had to deal with some serious family issues at home. There were some funny moments though with students mishearing things when they eavesdropped or making completely wrong assumptions.
Acception, Vol. 1 is a great graphic novel with a mix of serious and funny moments!
Thank you Wattpad Books for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: bullying, transphobia, homophobia, alcoholism, cancer
Have you read Acceptation, Vol. 1? What did you think of it?
Title: Higher Love
Author: Joanne Kukanza Easley
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Red Boots Press
Source: iRead Book Tours
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 12, 2025
Rating: ★★★★
Higher Love—a captivating new novel from Joanne Kukanza Easley, the multi-award-winning author of Sweet Jane, Just One Look, and I’ll Be Seeing You.
Set against the eclectic backdrop of Austin, Texas, in 1986, Higher Love introduces sixteen-year-old Stephanie, a teenager scarred by a turbulent past, who steps into the quiet life of sixty-two-year-old Lauren, her uncanny resemblance cracking open a buried past. Stephanie claims to be the granddaughter Lauren never knew—the daughter of the child she relinquished for adoption forty-five years earlier. Her arrival disrupts Lauren’s carefully rebuilt world, already strained by her recent remarriage to Brett after years of separation. Reeling from the revelation that her adoptive grandmother hid the truth about her mother’s adoption, Stephanie carries the weight of tragedy and self-harm, yet her vulnerability forges an unexpected, fragile bond with Lauren and Brett, two people grappling with their own regrets.
As Stephanie integrates into their lives, her aspirations for college are shattered when the 1987 stock market crash obliterates her trust fund, leaving her future in jeopardy. For Lauren, haunted by the loss of her child decades earlier, Stephanie represents a chance to rewrite her story. Fueled by fierce, unconditional love, Lauren sacrifices her financial security and emotional reserves to give Stephanie a path forward only to face a bittersweet twist that echoes the past and changes everything, reshaping their understanding of family, trust, and forgiveness in profound, lasting ways.
Higher Love is a sweeping, heart-wrenching family drama that explores the enduring weight of secrets and the transformative power of love. Through its richly drawn characters, the story delves into the courage it takes to face painful truths, the resilience found in embracing the present, and the unexpected joy of building a family from broken pieces. At its core, Higher Love celebrates the messy, redemptive beauty of human relationships, delivering a deeply moving tale of loss, healing, and the unbreakable bonds that define us.
This book is a powerful story following two generations of a family. The story alternated between the perspectives of Lauren, the grandmother, and Stephanie, her granddaughter. There were some emotional parts about adoption, loss of parents, and a second chance at love. The ending had a couple of twists, and I would have liked to see how they affected the characters’ futures.
Higher Love is a powerful and emotional story!
Thank you iRead Book Tours for providing a copy of this book as part of a paid campaign!
Content warnings: adoption, death of parents, sexual assault, alcoholism, self harm, cancer, teen pregnancy, miscarriage
Have you read Higher Love? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for providing a copy of this book!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Last Prom Standing
Author: R.H. Bird
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 21, 2025
Rating: ★★★★
After surviving the most insane prom day ever, Luca and Piper are madly in love. Only one problem. She’s going off to college while he’s still in high school. They swear to weather the challenges of a long-distance relationship. But on her first day, Luca notices the college guys already circling. When his senior-year starts, the new girl has her sights set on him. Meanwhile, he needs to win a state championship against an unbeatable opponent or kiss his wrestling scholarship good-bye.
Will Luca and Piper be dancing under the stars at his prom, or will the pressures of love and life tear them apart?
This book is a great sequel to Promposal. Even though it’s a sequel, it could be read as a stand-alone. I liked that these two stories are told from the perspective of the male love interest. I haven’t read many straight romances that are from the male perspective, so it’s an original POV.
Last Prom Standing is a great YA romance!
Thank you The Wild Rose Press and Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book as part of a paid campaign!
Have you read Last Prom Standing? What did you think of it?
Title: The Duke’s Denial
Author: Carolkina Prescott
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Source: Publisher
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 31, 2025
Rating: ★★★★★
What do you do when your almost-fiancé forgets all about you? You go as far away as you can, bury yourself in work, and try to forget about him—at least that’s what Lady Genevieve Richards is determined to do. Eve has heard nothing from Hill, the Duke of Camberton, since he was called back to London, but rumor has it that he’s back to his old philandering ways. In truth, Hill is on a secret to uncover the identity of Monsieur Jones, Napoleon’s notorious spymaster and set a trap for his capture. But Jones has set his own trap—for Eve. Hill is desperate to find Eve and warn her, but when he does, will she ever trust him again?
This was a spicy historical romance! It’s part of a series but it can be read as a stand-alone, as I haven’t read the rest of the series, and I understood and enjoyed it. The events of the past books were briefly referred to by the other characters. It was a short and fast paced story with some spicy scenes towards the end!
The Duke’s Denial is a great spicy historical romance!
Thank you The Wild Rose Press and Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book as part of a paid campaign!
Content warnings: death, gun violence, knife violence, death of parent (off page)
Have you read The Duke’s Denial? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Minotaur Books and Union Square and Co. for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Emperor and Hierophant (Arcane Oracle #3)
Author: Susan Wands
Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism
Publisher: SparkPress
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Rating: ★★★
The next installment in the thrilling Arcana Oracle series finds heroine Pamela Colman Smith kidnapped, imprisoned, and fighting to protect her tarot deck from Aleister Crowley once again.
On tour with the Lyceum Theatre in Manchester, Pamela Colman Smith is kidnapped by a mysterious force. In captivity, she begins a relationship with her mute keeper, a strange creature at the beck and call of her nemesis, Aleister Crowley. Experiencing visions and visitations from other ethereal beings, Pamela works to escape her prison before Aleister harms another one of her muses over the ownership of her magical tarot deck.
Meanwhile, her guardian and mentor, Bram Stoker, tries to find her as he tours with the stars of the Lyceum Theatre, Pamela’s muses for the Magician and Empress cards. Alerted to Pamela’s plight, Ahmed Kamal, Pamela’s Egyptologist friend, joins Bram to come to her aid. Plotting against the mysterious forces who abducted her, Pamela must outwit and out magic Aleister, as he tries to destroy her muses and tarot deck. Learning the lessons of her Emperor and Hierophant, she must free herself and command the power manifesting from her tarot deck.
This is the third book in the Arcane Oracle series. This one had a bit of a mystery with Pamela being kidnapped, but there was a lot of magical realism that overshadowed it. Sometimes it was hard to tell if the characters were hallucinating or actually doing magic. I feel like that distracted from the main plot, which I was enjoying reading about.
Emperor and Hierophant is a good book for fans of magical realism.
Thank you BookSparks for providing a digital copy of this book!
Content warnings: kidnapping
Have you read Emperor and Hierophant? What did you think of it?
Title: Boyfriends, Vol. 1
Author: Refrainbow
Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Romance
Publisher: Wattpad Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: November 21, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Boy meets boy . . . meets boy . . . meets boy!
Jock, Goth, Nerd, and Prep are all juniors in college. But studying is the last thing on their minds as they are mainly interested in getting a boyfriend. Or multiple boyfriends.
The first two to couple up are Goth (cool and sexy) and Nerd (bubbly and flirty). As their budding relationship deepens, they can’t deny their chemistry with Goth’s other friends, Jock (sweet and easygoing) and Prep (sensitive and anxious). Nerd suggests they try something totally brand new to all of a polyamorous relationship. Everyone’s game to try, because they all agree the only thing better than one cute boyfriend…is three cute boyfriends!
But the transition isn’t so smooth, as Jock and Prep have issues of their own to settle, and all four need to learn how to make their new polycule work. Through navigating the adventures of dating life, the boyfriends come to understand themselves and each other in new and profound ways.
Laugh-out-loud funny and always heartwarming, Boyfriends is filled to the brim with moments of pride big and small.
Collects episodes 1–55 of the delightful WEBTOON comic Boyfriends .
This was such a fun graphic novel! It follows four boys in college who like each other. They decide to have a polyamorous relationship with each other. It wasn’t until halfway through the book that I realized none of them had names. Instead, they each had a distinct style: Goth, Nerd, Jock, Prep. The four of them were so sweet to each other! I can’t wait to read the next book!
Boyfriends, Vol. 1 is a cute graphic novel!
Thank you Wattpad Books for sending me a copy of this book!
Have you read Boyfriends, Vol. 1? What did you think of it?
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