Book Review: Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales by Soman Chainani, illustrated by Julia Iredale

**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.** HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2021 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062652638 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com ) In Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales, Soman Chainani brings us tales so sharp they cut, with teen protagonists who seize their agency, and subversive, unexpected re-visionings of 12 familiar stories. The standout story in this collection […]

Book Review: Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes with a foreword by Jane Yolen

**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.** Tor.com, 2021 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250781505 Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com ) In Burning Girls and Other Stories, Veronica Schanoes brings the present day into a literary and folkloric past that brings fairytales, history, and Jewish tradition together to form something new and unique.  I don’t think I have ever  […]

Book Review: Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk** Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com  ) Coach House Books, 2020 ISBN-13 : 978-1552453957 Available: Paperback, audiobook, Kindle edition   Although Disfigured  focuses on the relationship between fairy tales and disability, there is a lot here that should provide food for thought in the horror genre, where […]

Graphic Novel Review: Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Colleen Doran

*Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk.* Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Colleen Doran Dark Horse, 2019 ISBN-13: 9781506709796 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, comiXology   Adapted from Gaiman’s short story in the collection titled Smoke and Mirrors, Snow, Glass, Apples is a dark fairy tale version of Snow White. The Queen, terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter, has her […]

T.V. Review: Lost Girl season 1

Yes, this is a series about a sexual predator and murderer, but bear with me. Bo may be a special snowflake super powered woman who can kill people with a kiss, but this series has a lot of surprising things to offer. One: Bo is succubus who feeds off people through sexual contact, but she […]

Book Review: Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

From ML’s Circulation Desk Disney-Hyperion, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1484720974 Available: Hardcover, Audible, Audio CD, Kindle edition The premise of Isle of the Lost is that all the Disney villains, along with their children, have been imprisoned on an island without any magic or access to technology, by King Beast (of Beauty and the Beast). King Beast […]

Book Review: Dog with a Bone by Hailey Edwards

Thierry is the daughter of the Black Dog, a fearsome, often vicious enforcer of the fae, and a human mother. She’s just graduated marshal school and is now on her first real case with her trainer turned partner and romantic interest, Shaw (the only person known to be immune to her power). Someone is poaching […]

Review: Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

Darkest Mercy is the fifth and final book in Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely YA urban faery series, and is a finale to a number of the plotlines that have run through the other books. The book begins where Radiant Shadows ended. Summer King Keenan has left, former Dark King Irial is injured after a confrontation with Bananach, and the veil […]