So this a dark, witchy tale with a dual-POV romance where sides are unclear in a mix of gray. I feel like this should’ve been straight up my alley, but for some reason, it really just didn’t grab me, and the religious hypocrisy and misogyny themes were a little thick for my taste. Around the 60% mark, I started rooting for the characters, and there some nice reveals between 60%-80%, but overall I think the pacing was a little slow for me and I thought the relationship and plot just didn’t quite develop as naturally as I would’ve liked. The narration on the audiobook is great though, and this one’s extremely popular so if you’re looking for a dark fantasy with marriage of convenience / forced proximity / enemies to lovers tropes, this might be for you!
⭐⭐⭐¼
At this point, I was literally starting to worry my book radar was broken. The ready slump growsss. 😭
So I loved book 1 of this series, I thought book 2 was okay, and I think I feel about the same about book 3. Though I really like the quick-flowing writing style, over the course of the series, I feel like we just kept adding characters to the Scooby Doo crew and in this one they all kind of blended together. The only one that popped for me is Nate, and while I enjoyed getting more of his story, I felt like the climax felt a just little flat. However if you enjoyed book 2, I’d definitely recommend giving this a try!
I knew it would be hard to follow up the first book after I loved it so much, but this wasn’t the sequel I hoped for.
I felt like in so many ways, we were re-treading the ground covered in book one, and I didn’t see as much magical world-building as in the first book. While the writing was wonderful and I still loved the characters, I feel like we didn’t dive deep enough into them in this book. I think all of those elements combined really slowed the pace down. And yet the ending felt weirdly rushed?
Overall, this left me with mixed feelings about this duology, but of course, if you loved the first one, I’d still recommend picking this one up and seeing what you think. (And the audiobook narration is fantastic!)
⭐⭐⭐¾
Sequels are hard, man! (Did I mention I was in a reading slump? x_X)
What I liked: Wes. I totally wished this had been a dual POV! Wes is so obviously head over heels with Liz from the beginning, but he does what he can to help her get what she wants. And he had so many clutch saves when she was in a bind.
What I didn’t like: Liz. The clueless heroine is one of my least favorite tropes and I got pretty impatient with her. She goes through a big lying phase, treats her best friend poorly, does the whole “makeover for a guy” thing, gives the “it’s complicated” excuse for not communicating, and doesn’t treat Wes very well.
Neutral: This book was chock FULL of pop culture, movie, and song references. I don’t really have any strong feelings about them, but I know some do so I’m throwing it in here.
I don’t think this one was really for me, but if you’re interested in a classic-feeling YA romance, it might be for you!
⭐⭐⭐¼
At 3 “not-for-me” books in a row, I think I can’t deny that I’ve entered into the dreaded reading slump.
Okay, so obviously, this is going to vary greatly depending on the author. Processes and writing speeds vary tremendously from person to person and actually my own process and writing speed has evolved a ton since I first started. Mostly, I just wanted to post this because I get a lot of people who become very confused when I write a book and then it pops into a black hole before getting published (insert non-zero number here) months or years later.
So I made this chart of all the books I’ve written to date, when I wrote them, and their published date or status (if they are still unpublished.)
My first book, Odriel’s Heirs, too the longest by far with 8 years between finishing the first draft (which took three months) and publishing it. But for 5 of those years, I never thought I would take it beyond that first draft. Then it took me a lot of time to figure out how to revise effectively, write consistently around all the other life demands, and stumble through the querying learning curve.
My second book, The Gatekeeper of Pericael, with three years from draft to publishing, also had a long wait for a lot of the same reasons.
Then, I actually started to figure out what I was doing! Once I had a go-to writing process, everything became so much smoother. And since I didn’t query any of the Odriel’s Heirs sequels, I was able to churn those out fairly quickly (especially the novellas.)
However, the querying process was still slowing everything down. I queried the Whimsical TBA title for two years😱 (of which, I had full requests out that entire time) before it was acquired. And once the Into the Churn series had a home with Whimsical, it sped the process up again for those sequels because I no longer had to query for an indeterminate amount of time.
Then I signed with my wonderful agent, Kristen Terrette, in 2023, and everything changed for me again! Now I have entered an entirely new era: On Submission. Which, much like querying, is an indeterminate amount of time in which the literary agent pitches the manuscript to editors. And even when/if it’s picked up by a publisher, the amount of time between getting acquired and being published could be over a year!
So—when will Inky & Heater, Ninth Circle, and Midnight Falls be published? At this point, the earliest I could imagine would be 2025, and it could very well be beyond. But I still have a super exciting line-up with ITC #2.5 coming in December, ITC #3 in March, and the Whimsical TBA title coming in September 2025.
For everything else, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed for as soon as possible!
If you have any fairy dust to sprinkle on my inbox, I’ll take it!
So beta readers are a *huge* part of my revision process. I usually have around 8-10 beta readers review and critique my manuscript before I send it to my agent or publisher, and they make it *so* much better. However… feedback, critiques, and suggestions on your beloved book baby aren’t always easy to absorb. In fact, the first time I got feedback from a developmental editor on my first book, I was so discouraged, I had to put down the manuscript for three months before picking it up again. But you know, that feedback made my book *so* much better, it made me grow as a writer, and I’m incredibly grateful for it. So, I put together some tips that have helped me to work through feedback efficiently, effectively… and with minimal emotional damage.
Skip to the bottom. This may sound weird, but it’s easy to get lost in the weeds when you’re looking through line feedback. If you skip to the bottom, you’ll get a feel for what the reader thought of your book as a whole, which will help you put their feedback in perspective.
Condense their feedback. Pages and pages of feedback can be super overwhelming and scary! It looks a lot easier to handle if you condense it into a bullet list of problem points.
Reword their problem points in your own words. This helps take the emotion out of it so you can just focus on the content. (A lot of times this also helps to condense the feedback.
Change the comments into actions that you can check off. (Note: if they suggested a fix, you *do not* have to use the fix they suggested if it doesn’t feel right.) Like perhaps if they said “Chapter three drags on and on, you should just cut it.” Maybe you would write, instead: “Add tension between characters A & B in chapter three and trim dinner scene” or something. Make it as specific as possible.
If you feel overwhelmed at any point in the process, let it sit! Sometimes distance helps us process while the problem points simmer on the backburner. I always feel better coming back to feedback after letting it percolate for a while, and it’s easier to read them without emotion the second time.
And if the suggestion/problem point just absolutely doesn’t feel right to you, delete it! If I followed every single suggestion of every beta reader I have on a manuscript, it would quite literally ruin the book. Sometimes beta readers miss things, and they often have differing opinions. When you make a change, make sure it aligns with your gut!
And since beta readers *do* often have differing opinions, I recommend you have at least 2-3. (Three works great as a tie-breaker for contrary opinions.) But *please* make sure they each have their own document to work off of. If they influence each other, it’s tough to get each of their true, unswayed opinions.
I also recommend that once you read it, you don’t let them read it twice. Often, when beta readers point out a problem, they often have a solution in mind. And it may not be *your* solution. If you’re still unsure about a problem point, I highly recommend getting a fresh beta coming in with no preconceived notions.
And remember, if one beta reader says it, it’s an opinion. If two beta readers say it, it’s a problem.
If a beta reader finishes your story and has *no* feedback other than something like “I liked it,” or *only* gives you positive feedback, that’s a great morale boost… but not super helpful for making a story better. If a beta reader cannot give constructive criticism or feedback that you feel in your bones, I would find another one. If a beta reader is unsure how to give general feedback, I would point them to this awesome questionnaire by Stacy Claflin. I use it myself to summarize feedback when I’m beta ready.
Where to find beta readers
This is a question I get *all* the time. I have found beta readers all over the place. You have basically two options here. You can use professional beta readers or you can swap with another writer (where they beta read your manuscript and you beta read theirs). My general suggestion is if you’re strapped for cash, you swap. If you’re strapped for time, you pay.
I have found Fiverr to be an amazing source of professional beta readers, many with specialties in different genres. I’ve used @maddy216’s beta reading service on my last like seven manuscripts. As of this writing, her service is $35 for up to 125k words, and her feedback is honest and solid.
I also consistently use MK Editing‘s beta reading service. As of this writing, they offer a $25 standard beta read, and a $75 in-depth beta. I’ve used both depending on the book.
Update, 11 Jul 2025: No longer recommended due to undisclosed use of Gen AI.
If you’re looking to swap beta reads, the hashtags: #writingcommunity, #betareader, #cpmatch, or #critiquepartner on X/Twitter, Instagram, or Threads can be a good place to start. There are beta reader groups/forums on Goodreads where you can post your pitch, and critiquematch.com makes it very straightforward to find a good match.
For me, I use a mix of swaps and professional beta readers. While I’m most often strapped for time, there’s also a huge benefit in *being* a beta reader. It’s a great way to make lasting friends and connections in the writing commmunity, I always learn something new from each and every critique partner, and critiquing also helps me to think critically about my own work.
Anyways, hopefully these tips were helpful, and I wish you all the luck in your revisions. If you have any questions or blog topic requests, feel free to shout them out in the comments!
Happy revising! (Yes, I’m writing this as I walk on the treadmill, because multi-tasking.)
So, normally, my husband and I’s vacations are these breakneck international boondoggles where we try to cover as much ground as possible with lots of hiking and we rarely stay in the same hotel for more than two nights in a row. To be honest, that’s *my* cup of tea, and my husband comes along because he loves me. Since we’d been doing a lot of hiking and our lives have just been super busy, in April 2024, I decided to try to plan a very different kind of vacation that mostly centered around his #1 interest—food!
Although I had been to NYC before, it was either for a fencing tournament or I was too young to remember now, and my husband had never been and wanted to go. Hence, our 1-hotel, food-centric NYC itinerary was born!
As usual, our itinerary and pictures are below with my overall thoughts at the end. Hopeflly it’s helpful, but if you have any questions, let me know!
Day 1: Wednesday, 24 Apr – Leave at 0600 on Delta flight. Arrive at JFK at 12:20 – Take Airtrain and Metro to Hotel (Super easy to use. We just scanned our phones to pay instead of getting a metro card.) – 1500 lunch reservation at Tonchin (Ramen found in the Michelin Guide) – Walk to Empire State Building & Flat Iron Building – Take metro to Central Park (highly recommend): See The Plaza, Central Park Carousel, the Bethesda Terrace, Alice in Wonderland statue, the Loeb Boathouse, & Belvedere Castle. – 1900 Sleep No More show. – Stay at the Motto by Hilton in Time’s Square (great location and nice rooms, but recommend ear plugs and eye mask as you can hear others through the walls, and the lights from Time’s Square make the rooms bright)
Notes: This day went by really smoothly! My favorite thing was strolling around Central Park. It was such a pretty spring day, everything was in bloom, and it was so cool to see some of the iconic spots from my favorite movies and shows.
Okay, and the Sleep No More show. Things I knew going in: it was an immersive show, it was based on MacBeth, people either loved it or hated it, you could either pick a character and follow them around the hotel or just wander the hotel (in the dark, silently, with your plague-doctor mask on) and see what you see.
The show was SO bizarre but it makes me smile just thinking about it. Honestly, it was truly a unique experience I’m glad I have… but it just straight up makes me laugh thinking about it. However, we ran into multiple people as we toured about the city that LOVE Sleep No More and had seen it multiple times. For me, it was incredibly interesting, but not something I would do again
My husband would probably advise you against it. (There is no dialogue, and it was *very* crowded, so even when you were witnessing a scene, sometimes it was hard to get a good look at the what was going on.)
Day 2: Thursday, 25 April – 0830: Take a picture of the Manhattan bridge view from DUMBO (recommend) – 0900: Walk the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan (recommend) – 1030: Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tour by Ahoy New York Food (recommend) – 1330: Take Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall Terminal to see/pass by Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (sit on the right) – 1500: See the Charging Bull, Wall St, Trinity Church, Alexander Hamilton’s Grave – 1900: See Hamilton (highly recommend)
Notes: This was a really great day! The Manhattan bridge view from DUMBO is amazing but be sure to get their early, and we loved walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Also the food tour was so fun! We loved learning the history of both the neighborhood and spots we were eating at, our guide was awesome, and we ended up stuffed by the end. (I actually had a dinner reservation for us and had to cancel it.)
And Hamilton. (Happy sigh.) So I’ve seen the Disney+ recorded Hamilton with the original cast as well as seen a live show when it came through New Orleans, but this was my favorite rendition. It was so crazy, though, because when we saw the show in New Orleans, Nik Walker played Aaron Burr and he was *incredible*– just his charisma and stage presence is jaw-dropping After that show, I told my husband: “I didn’t realize Aaron Burr was the main character.” Nik Walker remains my favorite Burr.
Okay, well in this show, Trey Curtis played Alexander Hamilton and he *changed the show for me.* He completely stole the show, and it, with no question, revolved around *him.* And it made EVERYTHING HIT DIFFERENT. Dude. I have never cried watching Hamilton before, but I *bawled.* And I wasn’t the only one! The people to my left, right and behind me were ALL crying. Anyways, husband and I are both huge hamilfans, and even though we’d seen it before, we agreed that this was our favorite part of visiting NYC.
Day 3: Friday, 26 April – 0900 Take metro to Twin Towers Memorial & Oculus Building – 1000: Tickets to go up in One World Trade Center – 1100: Early lunch at Real Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns (found in Micheline Guide) – 1415: Greenwich Village Walking & Food Tasting Tour by Nice Guy Tours (recommend) – 1845: Comedy Cellar Show (recommend)
Notes: Another solid day. When planning our trip, I had to decide between going up in the Empire State Building, One World or the Rock. One World had a great view, but I think if I went back I might try the Empire or the Rock. The food tour was awesome (we went through Washington Park and the Friends building among other highlights in the area), and I think food tours are now my favorite way to learn about a city/neighborhood while eating my way through it. And the Comedy Cellar show was fantastic. It was so good, we thought about going again while we were there.
Day 4: Saturday, 27 April – 0830 See grand central and stroll 5th Ave, walk to St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Rockefeller Center, and the NY Public Library (I wish we’d gone in but it was closed when we walked by.) – 1015: Lower East Side Foodie Tour by Nice Guy Tours NYC (recommend) – 1400: Blue Man Group – 1800: Dan White’s The Magician
Notes: Foodie tour once again fantastic! I’ve seen Blue Man Group a couple times, but it’s been ten years, and my husband had never seen it in one of their small theaters. It turns out I totally forgotten most of it, so it was a lot of fun! The Magician was a really interesting show with a ton of audience interaction in a relatively small space. Dan White was a great performer with some cool surprises, and if you’re into magic shows, I recommend it!
Day 5: Sunday, 28 April – Go see Tom’s restaurant (from Seinfeld) – 1015: Chelsea Market and High Line Food Tour by Like a Local Tours (recommend) – 1400: The Met – 1730: Dinner at Mala Kitchen – 1830: Cheesecake from Junior’s
Notes: At this point, I was starting to come down with some kind of bad cold, but we still had a great day. The food tour was still the highlight for me, and the Chelsea Market was super cool. I also liked the High Line and its macabre sculptures but it was *super* crowded. Although we went to the Met, and the scale of it was very impressive, I think it was at that moment that I realized I’m not much of a museum person.😅 Still a great day, but at this point, I was glad we were going home the next day.
Day 6: Monday, 29 April – Fly Home at 10 a.m.
Overall Thoughts Okay, so I’m still not a city person (I still prefer hiking), but I definitely enjoyed this trip. NYC is an easy place to get around and there’s ENDLESS stuff to do there. When my kids get into their teens in seven years or so, I’d love to go back with them to see some shows and the highlights. That said, as it’s relatively easy for us to fly up there, 5 days was the perfect amount of time for a visit. I did totally underestimate how much food we’d be eating. I originally had plans for where we would eat breakfast and lunch, but it turns out the food tours stuffed us every single day. Of course, we saw a lot of the iconic NYC sights because it kind of feels like you have to, but none of them really blew my mind. My favorite things were going to Central Park, the food tours, seeing Hamilton, and the Comedy Cellar, and I would do them all again. Next time we go though, I’d definitely like to branch out and see more broadway shows.
I think that’s all I’ve got for now, but if you have any questions, just let me know!
Okay, this was fabulous. Fresh tongue-in-cheek horror at its finest. I loved rooting for Margaret, as bizarre as she was with her love for her house and her acceptance of its… quirks. Loved the deeper parallels of the cycle of abuse and strength. Even the journey of Catherine’s (audiobook listener, so I’m not sure how she spells it) understanding and acceptance of her mother. Loved how it didn’t pull punches with the graphic horror, but Margaret’s reaction to it had me smiling every time. And then that ending was just *chef’s kiss.*
Excellent audiobook narration and I already recommended it to a friend within seconds of finishing. Such a satisfying read, and highly recommend for anyone looking for a paranormal horror with a likable main character and a straight-up cathartic conclusion.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chef’s kiss and definitely in the running for a favorite read of the year.
The thought of a whimsical halfway tea house on your way to the afterlife
Lovely writing
Most of the supportive characters were engaging and likable
The audiobook narration was good
What I disliked:
The main character, Wallace. At the beginning he is awful, and I thought his redemption and personality shift was way too quick. Honestly, I think the ending he got was completely undeserved, and the speed in which he changed everything about himself made his relationships with the other characters seem shallow.
The pacing. For me, this book progressed very slowly, with the characters 0ften waxing poetic on life and death.
So overall, I didn’t really think this one was for me, but if you’re looking for a philosophical, whimsical paranormal that takes its time, this could be for you!
⭐⭐⭐½
Another recommendation from my coworker. I love the idea of a magical tea house for obvious reasons, but I can’t even with Wallace.
I’m a sucker for a time loop, and I liked Solomon’s Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, so I picked this one up. Overall, I think it was a satisfying new adult romance with slowburn type of romance, but I also thought it was on the slow side and kind of predictable. The audiobook was well-narrated, so if you’re looking for a college time loop story very similar to Palm Springs with sweet but awkward protagonists, give this one a try.
⭐⭐⭐½
Where are all my breakneck pace books at? I need you in my life.
Hayley Reese Chow 