Tag: LGBTQAI+

Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton: A haunting literary mystery about civilization, memory, and the stories we choose to tell

Mandy Webster

In Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton (releasing March 31, 2026), an ambitious archaeologist chases proof of a lost empire—and in the process, confronts the fragile architecture of her own world. After loving The Light Pirate, I could not wait to read this one. I was not disappointed. Ruins just catapulted itself to the number one spot on my best books of 2026 list.

Get your copy of Ruins from my independent online bookstore today!

I read an advance review copy as an ebook, as I do with most ARCs. I usually prefer print, but you can’t argue with free. This, however, was one of those rare cases where I found myself wishing the book had already been released so I could run out and buy a physical copy. I wanted to hold it in my hands. I wanted the weight of it. The experience of immersion felt so complete that a screen almost seemed insufficient.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders: A dark, seductive debut about revenge, race, and dangerous devotion

Mandy Webster

A viral video destroys one young woman’s future in The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders, and what follows is a gothic-tinged descent into revenge, obsession, and the perilous gap between justice and annihilation.

Get your copy of The Plans I Have For You from my independent online bookstore today!

Releasing March 17, 2026, Sanders’s debut has already been named one of Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2026, but this novel resists easy categorization. It blends psychological suspense with sharp social critique and an undercurrent of supernatural ambiguity that keeps the reader unsettled from the first page.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

What price are you willing to pay? Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It explores ambition, class, and compromise on a college campus

Mandy Webster

What starts as a college novel about an overworked RA quickly builds into something darker, messier, and far more interesting. In Come and Get It, Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age) pulls readers into the fluorescent-lit hallways of a University of Arkansas dorm where ambition, identity, and power quietly grind against one another until the friction threatens to ignite.

Get your copy of Come and Get It from my independent online bookstore today!

The book centers on Millie Cousins, a 24-year-old “super senior” RA with big goals and a razor-sharp budget spreadsheet. She dreams of homeownership, financial stability, and a long-term campus job—ideally in housing, a world she knows inside and out. Millie genuinely enjoys dorm life, even the rituals of roommate drama and bulletin boards. But despite her clear-eyed focus, she’s mired in the emotional labor of Belgrade Dormitory, where she splits duties with another RA and is expected to monitor the mental health and behavior of dozens of residents—all for just $250 a month.

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Author Interview

From the Pacific Northwest to the Page: Meet Author Sara Elisabeth

Mandy Webster

Meet Sara Elisabeth, a romance author whose passion for storytelling began when she was just six years old. Inspired by literary legends like Ursula K. LeGuin and S. E. Hinton, her work carries the emotional depth and vivid imagination of the stories she grew up loving. With roots in both Washington State and British Columbia, Sara weaves romance, nostalgia, and personal truth into every page. In today’s interview, she shares what drives her creativity, how music and video games fuel her worldbuilding, and what readers can expect from her upcoming novel, Someone Like Me.

In Sara Elisabeth’s first novel, Someday Away, college freshman Quinn is caught between two very different guys—Lincoln Evans, the broody bad boy, and Trey Walker, the charming playboy. Despite their differences, Quinn can’t seem to escape the tangled web they weave together, and the chemistry between them intensifies in unexpected and sometimes heartbreaking ways. But when her cheating ex reappears, Quinn is forced to confront the past she’s been trying to outrun, threatening everything she’s built with Lincoln and Trey.

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Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: I was a huge reader as a kid, and I loved epic fantasy, so authors like Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Brooks, and Raymond E. Feist were heavy influences when it came to my writing. I also loved reading The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton wrote that book when she was only fifteen, so I wanted to be just like her.

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