I can't believe I forgot to share my Janurary reads with y'all! Better late than never, I guess. I read 5 books in January and most of them were audiobooks because my brain was not cooperating with reading print and e-books. Here are the books I read and my mini reviews.

The Undertakers (Murder and Magic #2) by Nicole Glover

Black American • Historical Fantasy Mystery

The Undertakers is a multi-genre adventure! 

We follow magical investigators Hetty and Benjy Rhodes, living in Philly after the Civil War, as they investigate the death of Raimond Duval. Raimond appears to have died in one of the many fires plaguing the city’s Black communities. When his son Valentine is also found dead, they suspect that this mystery is deeper than it seems.

Hetty and Benji’s investigation skills compliment one another, which makes this story entertaining. Each time I thought I’d figure out the case, another clue emerged! While I was glad that I couldn’t immediately figure out who the culprit was, I also felt like there may have been too many moving pieces. This made the pace drag a bit for me.

The Improvisers (Murder and Magic #3) by Nicole Glover

Black American • Historical Fantasy Mystery

The Improvisers is probably my favorite book of the Murder and Magic series, so far. 

Book 3 focuses on a new generation of the Rhodes family through Velma Frye, a woman of manyyyy talents. She’s a pilot, a former bootlegger, a jazz pianist & can wield celestial magic. Although her favorite thing to do is fly, Velma also works as an investigator for arcane oddities for a magic rights organization. When her latest investigation leads her to a murder on her family’s stomping grounds, she realizes that she might not have to do this work alone.

I had a fun time following the twists & turns this story took! We get a look at what people thought of flying planes & exploring the arts scene for Black folks in the early 20th century United States.

Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola

Black British Contemporary Romance

Bolu Babalola’s follow-up to Honey & Spice is full of life!

I got lost in her world and forgot myself because the characters feel so true and yet, poetic. Kiki Banjo has always been relatable to me as someone who puts my whole heart into music. Her vulnerability, sharp wit, loyalty, and passion are addictive in this story. It was longer than I expected but I hardly noticed and actually got sad when I finished it.

This is romance but it is also literature! I wholeheartedly recommend this book as well as Honey & Spice to anyone looking for that 90s R&B kind of love.

Summoner's Circle by Coral Alejandra Moore

AfroLatina • New Adult Urban Fantasy

If you’re looking for an entertaining urban fantasy novel w/ a college-aged lead & non-western magic, Summoner’s Circle may be for you!

Dari Jiménez is an average student at a college in Moonlight Bay, Oregon. One day, while working in the library, she’s attacked by a mysterious creature and quickly saved by a tattooed woman with a mohawk. The woman claims that Dari has untapped powers inherited from her mother & needs to learn to harness them quickly to protect herself. In between combat sessions, classes, and work, her boyfriend Tyler is starting to suspect that she’s keeping something from him.

Summoner’s Circle is a relatively quick read packed w/ themes of self-discovery and intuition. I enjoyed the magic system & exploring Dari’s family’s past. I wish there was more on that & hoped there would be a second book because the ending is a bit open-ended.

The Chainbreakers by Julian Randall

Black & Caribbean • Middle Grade Fantasy

This middle grade/YA fantasy centers on community, resistance, and memory. I love the original storytelling that imagines Africans who freed themselves and others from their would-be enslavers and lived.

The Chainbreakers follows a young girl named Violet Moon, of the Sun People, who must rescue her father from the Children of the Shark. According to their lore, the chainmakers were cursed by the gods for their cruelty & forced to the depths of the ocean where they became Children of the Shark, creatures endlessly hungry for the souls of the chainbreakers aka The Sun People.

The actions & creativity of Violet and her crew are thrilling & sometimes playful. Her community is loving & compassionate as well as fierce. I'd definitely recommend this book to everyone!

If any of these books interest you, I hope you'll check them out from your local library and/or purchase them via Bookshop.org or Libby.fm!

There's a reason why this one is one of my all time favorites! I love amusement parks and this one definitely delivers! One Day At Horrorland delivers nonstop scares and action!

Today's book recs feature some twisted amusement parks.

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven--When a hurricane traps workers in an amusement park for over a month, it turns into a Lord Of The Flies situation.

Hide by Kirsten White-- An abandoned amusement park becomes the site of a killer contest.

Shockwaves by Matt Kurtz--An amusement park gets attacked by giant bugs and creatures in this fight for survival.

Ride or Die by Delilah S. Dawson-- A sleepover at an abandoned amusement park turns into a night of terror in this middle grade novel.

Bennytown by Matt Carter--A Disney like amusement park with a dark history.

Wow! That week flew by fast. 🏃🏻‍♀️ It feels like just yesterday I was telling y'all about my terrible flight back to Los Angeles (10/10 do not recommend flying right now), and here we are for another weekly update.

We'll keep this one sweet and short, because not much reading has been going on around here. Instead, I've been playing with my website, Pinterest, and prepping for the April historical fiction look-ahead. I've also posted a few things on Instagram that I'll share below. Plus, I've been posting again on TikTok, though I still refuse to add the app back to my phone.

I finished The Hired Man, the new Sandra Dallas Dust Bowl book, and, unsurprisingly, I loved it. She has a knack for character development and atmospheric storytelling that brings her books to life. I also really appreciate that her books with young characters never feel YA, which suits me just fine. I can't wait to finish prepping my Dust Bowl Historical Fiction blog post/YT video. That book will DEFINITELY make the list. 4⭐️s

With Love From Harlem was up next for me and, boy, did it blow me away! I won't lie, Reshonda Tate's debut wasn't my favorite, though I did find it enjoyable. I think I rated The Queen of Sugar Hill 3.5⭐️s, so I wasn't sure what to expect from her latest. My chief complaint about Sugar Hill was the pacing and the character's cyclical story arc, but I did really appreciate the inside view of Hattie McDaniel, the first Black woman to win an Oscar. Well, I'm happy to report that With Love, From Harlem was spectacular! I really hadn't heard of Hazel Scott before reading the book, and now I'm wondering why? Hazel was an incredibly gifted musician/performer and was one of the most famous Black women in America in her heyday. Learning about her life through Tate's eyes was really fun! So many great Black artists, writers, and activists made an appearance that I couldn't help but think about Harlem Rhapsody, one of my favorite books of 2025. I highly recommend With Love From Harlem if you enjoy fictionalized biographies. 4.75⭐️

I'm still reading Before We Were Yours and The Secret Lives of Murderer's Wives, but I'm getting close to finishing both. To be honest, I haven't been in a rush to finish a book lately, instead feeling very inspired to create, create, create. I suspect that's because I know I'll soon be traveling, so I'm trying to batch content. But I also have a LOT to say lately.

I'll finish this update with a look ahead: the April newsletter will be out soon, so that means first looks at the May Historical Fiction Heads Up blog post and a few other fun new things I have up my sleeve. If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, I encourage you to do so. It's truly my favorite part of this whole passion project.

Until next week my friend!

This Week in SBB:

• Last, Now, Next Audiobook Edition

• The Vanishing Half book review

• Five Star Book Tag

• Sunday Morning with Me and Sandra Dallas

Hear it Here First:

My next giveaway will be a copy of In the Great Quiet, a debut novel by Laura Vogt! I'll announce it soon, so watch for that on your favorite social media channel.

The BBFL April poll hasn't closed yet, but it looks like we will be reading Go as a River. Join the club and read along if that one's still on your TBR!

xoxo

C

Hello, Sickos! The April polls for the History/Fiction Sickos Book Clubs are live! You can go vote on them in the appropriate Discord channels (scroll down a bit and you'll see #fiction-vote and #history-vote). The polls run for 72 hours so you've got plenty of opportunity to bribe and bully people into voting for your choice.

If you're not seeing the channels, make sure you've linked your Bindery subscription to Discord via the Account Settings page. Those vote/discussion channels unlock at the Sicko plus paid tiers, so if you're a "Follower", you'll need to upgrade. Along with the book club forums you also get access to a ton of other channels for various genres, book recommendation requests, movies/TV, buddy reads (like Project Hail Mary, Lonesome Dove, Red Rising, Malazan, Discworld, Robin Hobb, John Gwynne, A Complement of Scoundrels, etc) and much more.

Back to the options... These are the 8 books across the 2 clubs that we're voting on.

FICTION SICKOS

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

An immortal monster-hunter sharing his body with a heart-eating demon must reunite with his estranged lover in 1785 France to finally slay the legendary Beast of Gévaudan. (dark historical fantasy)

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

A small, hockey-obsessed Swedish town is torn apart when a violent act involving its star player forces the community to choose between its dreams of victory and the pursuit of justice (contemporary literary)

There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

A single drop of water and the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh bridge the lives of a Victorian London urchin-turned-scholar, a young Yazidi girl in 2014 Turkey, and a modern-day hydrologist. (historical literary w/magical realism)

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki

A journalist attempts to solve a series of murders by befriending a legendary gourmet serial killer who manipulates her victims through the seductive power of high-end cooking. (contemporary literary psychological thriller)

HISTORY SICKOS

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer

chronicles the 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh to reinstate the Shah, forever altering Middle Eastern politics and U.S. foreign relations. (narrative nonfiction history)

A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

Blends personal memoir with sharp criticism to explore the profound impact of Black performance on American life, from the joy of Soul Train to the complexities of Minstrelsy. (cultural history/essay collection)

The Celts: Search for a Civilization by Alice Roberts

Uses modern archaeological discoveries and genetic evidence to debunk myths and reveal the true, diverse identity of the ancient Iron Age peoples known as the Celts. (narrative nonfiction history)

The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman interviews his father about his harrowing survival of the Holocaust as a Polish Jew, famously depicting Jews as mice and Nazis as cats to explore intergenerational trauma and the haunting nature of memory. (nonfiction graphic memoir)

That's it, go vote! (also remember to pre-order A Complement of Scoundrels!)

Folk horror feels as if it was made for the spring and fall seasons. Reading this subgenre during these months really immerse me in the reads.

Here are a few folk horrors that are perfect for the season of fresh life and fertility.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss-- A family's two week vacation to live as if they are in the Iron Age in the woods takes a dark turn when the group encounters a ghost wall.

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister-- A family that tends a cranberry bog has always been sustained by it. But when the bog fails to provide it's promised "bog wife," the family is left to face an unknown future.

Lost In The Garden by Adam S. Leslie--A dreamlike novel trapped in an endless summer. A group of women travel to the town of Almanby--a town known for disappearances. They say if you go to Almanby, you won't come back.

Itch! by Gemma Amor-- A woman finds a body in a forest. A killer stalks the small town in the present, and some shocking discoveries are unveiled about her past.

Something In The Walls by Daisy Pearce--A young girl claims she's being haunted by a witch. This sparks both the interest of the media, and child psychologist Mina. The more Mina uncovers, the more disturbing she finds the town.

Welcome back to my Director's Cut Reviews! Today I'm diving into Morsel by Carter Keane.

Book: Morsel

Author: Carter Keane

Page Count: 208

Setting: Ohio

Genre: Horror

Subgenre/Themes: Folk, Woods, Workplace, Cults, Survival, Eco, Bugs, Appalachian

Comps: The Blair Witch, The Ritual, The Twisted Ones, Run On Red

Rating: 4 stars

Release Date: 04-14-26

Brief Summary: Lou dedicated her time to her job. But when her mom fell ill, she took a step back in order to take care of her. Now that she's at risk of being fired, she greedily takes the offer her boss gives her: go take some pictures of a property in rural, Appalachian Ohio. When she gets there, a terrifying encounter leads to a sabotaged car. Stranded with her dog Ripley in the woods, Lou must fight to survive both humans and monsters alike.

My Thoughts: I FLEW through this one so fast. IN less than 24 hours I was able to finish this delicious book. Is it perfect? No. But did I have a fantastic, fun time reading it? Absolutely I did. I loved how fast-paced this one was. I was never bored. The plot was always moving. It felt like a true survival horror with twists and turns around each corner.

While I wish there was a little more time in the woods, I loved the setting. The tense atmosphere was definitely conveyed across the page. I also loved that the author tells us that the dog makes it right at the start of the book. Ripley was the bestest girl and while she went through hell, I was glad to know she would come out on top. The culty aspect and jabs at capitalism were also really well done.

Lou was a very complex character. I loved how she adored her dog and would fight tooth and nail to ensure her safety. Both her and her dog are put through the ringer in this book. Lou has a lot of intrusive thoughts that she attributes to her inner goblin. These thoughts progressivly get darker as the novel goes on. We also see that Lou is not scared to defend herself against her attackers, with some pretty gnarly descriptions of body horror and the actions that cause it.

Overall, I loved this book and definitely think it's worth your time.

I'm live for book club sprints until 1pm ET. Bring your book club pick and join us!

CLICK HERE to access the stream.

Just received one of my most anticipated books of the year! Jake Skeets new poetry collection will be released in 4 days by Milkweed Editions! We will be posting our giveaway next week so stay tuned. They also sent me extra copies for friends and family so I’ll probably save a couple for more giveaways! :)

I will be reading this over the weekend and will try to get a review up.

About:

“Beauty is possible even when it appears impossible. An astounding book.” —Joy Harjo, author of Washing My Mother’s Body

“For now, go out and dream of joy, we know the labor of feeling it.”

With Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, Jake Skeets emerged as a visionary new literary voice, offering readers a queer, Indigenous poetics inextricable from a connection to land. With Horses, Skeets tracks the shifting land of the Navajo Nation: What changes and what remains the same in a place that has been inhabited for thousands of years?

In poems employing numbers significant to Diné thought and lifeway, Skeets explores the reclamation of land, imagination, and language—a world beyond environmental apocalypse, where joy is possible and where transformation is embraced over erasure. Arranged as a quartet, Horses begins with a meditation on two hundred horses found dead, mired in mud that had once been a stock pond on Navajo land in Arizona. What was once a source of life had become a death trap for a herd living on the edge of survival. From here, Skeets’s poems radiate outward, tracing the body and its relationship to a landscape marked by geologic time and the fragile, eroding moments of the present.

Fiercely observant, brilliantly constructed, and hauntingly incisive, Horses evokes both the end of a world and a new dawn emerging on the horizon.

And we have a winner! April's Book Club read will by Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (or The Color of Magic if you prefer). The first in his incredible Discworld series. Definitely a little lighter after Same Bed Different Dreams. Can't wait to hear what you think and a new poll for May will be up soon!