A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

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hardcover 130 pages

From the Publisher:
Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White's Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she's desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone.

Will Zinnia accept the Queen's poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

This is so good! It’s a super-fast, action packed novella that is full of heart. It’s delightfully snarky, a little sad, and very sapphic. I loved A Spindle Splintered and this is a perfect follow-up to our intrepid fairy-tale explorer’s story. Zinnia is a very chaotic character and her journey is not an easy one, but there are still plenty of light and humorous moments to keep the story from being depressing. There may or may not be a scene with an orchard that had me giggling like crazy…

If you’re looking for something quick and entertaining, this book is perfect. Because it’s summer and hot and who wants to hold a massive book? This is light, super portable, and can be finished in just a couple of hours.

If you’d like to add this fractured fairy-tale to your shelf, you can click on the cover above or here for more ordering information. I was lucky enough to find this at my local Library and if you haven’t done so yet, join your Library’s Summer Reading Program! I have a book and a tote bag waiting for me to pick up because this little novella bumped me up the next prize tier!

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The Queen's Gambit by Jessie Mihalik

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This year, I’m trying my best to read as many books as possible from the various stashes around my home. Apparently, I have 720 unread books on my Kindle and you better believe I’m NOT counting my unread physical books. No one needs to know that number. I loved the Consortium Rebellion series from Jessie Mihalik and I was beyond delighted to find this novella tucked away in my Romance for Roe Kindle folder. This was from a fundraiser back in 2020 from a bunch of romance authors that donated money to Planned Parenthood (I’m pretty sure) and in exchange for a donation receipt, I received a large collection of romance ebooks from various authors. In true Michelle fashion, I’ve only read a handful of those books but I’m making up for that this week.

The Queen’s Gambit is a fantastic space adventure romance set in its own universe. Queen Samara sets out on a dangerous mission to rescue/capture Valentin, Emperor of the Kos Empire, who is imprisoned by the rival Quint Empire. Desperate to save her people from starvation, Samara uses her wits, neural implants, genetic enhancements, and a badass space ship to pull off this daring rescue.

Samara and Valentin have an instant and electric connection. As both are world leaders, they have to battle with putting their people ahead of their feelings for each other. Mihalik does an excellent job balancing this tension with loads of exciting action sequences. It’s fast paced with a good balance of plot and character development. Samara is a great character. She’s a tough leader who cares deeply for her people, but also knows how to play the political game and keep up appearances with those around her. She also has some great rapport with her closest friends and the banter is top notch. We only get a glimpse of Valentin’s character in this book, but he seems worthy of Samara and knows the way to her heart is through her people. I’m hoping to see more of him in books 2 and 3 which I’m planning to read this week.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novella. It’s a perfect balance of action-packed sci-fi and romance and with the right amount of humor and heart. The Queen’s Gambit introduces us to a new world of fascinating space and human technology as well as complicated political alliances and rivalries. It’s full of my favorite bookish things: badass women, strong friendships, danger and romance. Plus, it’s a completed trilogy of novellas so you’re in for a quick, enjoyable read.

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

Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson

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While this is not my first read of 2025, I actually read this in September, it feels like a very prescient book to share now. If you love a “Horrible Rich Person Gets What They Deserve” book, this is exactly what you need. Delilah S. Dawson has become an auto-buy author of mine because she is so skillful at crafting stories that are horrifying, humorous, and still oddly hopeful. The day I read this, I was with my favorite small child who had stayed home from school with the sniffles, and while we watched too many children’s movies, I gleefully read through this insane thrill ride of a book and trust me, it was a wild reading experience.

Guillotine is a short read, just 196 pages, and it is so packed with action that it just flies by. It is full of horrible people, and a few not-so-horrible people, who make life horrible for the people around them, making horrible decisions and horrible things happen to them. It’s intensely violent. It’s bloody, gory, vividly detailed, and also…cathartic? It’s a wild and incredible ride and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s one of those incredible books that makes you wonder if you should be giggling at such a horrifying scene, but the scene was genuinely funny! It’s a fantastic book that if you find yourself loving it as much as me, let’s be friends ;)

Happy Reading!

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