Dead Teenager Movie by Cethan Leahy

She loved scary movies… until she had the starring role.

A spree of murders is haunting Cork city, leaving behind stories of ghost parties and dismembered janitors, of dead diner owners and folkloric entities.

Die-hard horror buff April ignores it all for one perfect weekend of debauchery with Carl and his group of rich, hot and dangerously irresistible friends.

Together, they head to the West Cork countryside for an unforgettable trip before college begins. But in a remote mountainside house with views to die for, the dream party turns into a nightmare. Because some stories don't stay stories. And someone, or something, inside the house wants more than fear. They want blood.

Princess (Apparently) by Siren Knight

Two weeks ago and a few thousand miles away, Della was just a normal teenage girl. She didn't fit in at her posh school in London, she didn't think her crush would ever like her back, and she certainly didn't know anything about a Caribbean royal family.

But when a video of her protesting goes viral, she receives a royal invitation that changes everything. Now, she's at a lavish ball in a Caribbean palace, caught in a love triangle with her best friend and a dreamy islander, and discovering dangerous royal secrets.

With so much at stake, the last thing Della needs is to find out that her connection to the royal family runs far deeper than she ever imagined...

All we Have Left by Emily Paxman

Thirty years after the end of the world, a young woman enters into a marriage of convenience with a man she hardly knows so she can secure vital medical care for her beloved younger sister.

The world might not have ended all at once. But end it did.

Kayla Hollins is a survivor. Living in the fragmented wasteland of the Canadian Pacific Northwest, she's outlived a colony, a cult, a paramilitary group, and most of her family. So when her younger sister April falls seriously ill, Kayla will do anything to save her. They trek to Salt Spring Island, a beacon of hope in their otherwise brutalized world, which is rumoured to still have a hospital. But Salt Spring's utopia comes with a price. Not just anyone can enter paradise or access their medical care, and Kayla's past is chequered.

Desperate, Kayla makes a deal with Sid Charles, an aspiring politician with whom she had a chance encounter before arriving on Salt Spring. If Kayla and Sid get married, it will boost Sid's chances of election, and grant April automatic access to the medical treatment she desperately needs. And in two years, when Kayla is eligible for citizenship herself, they can get a divorce. Simple, right?

Sid is distant and cranky, but Kayla comes to learn he is also shockingly kind. The more time she spends with him and his ragtag group of rescued boys, the more she comes to admire him. But with April's treatment and Sid's election on the line—and the constant terror of her past being discovered—Kayla isn't sure she can risk trying to change their arrangement.

Trapped together in the closest thing left to paradise, Kayla and Sid both know what it means for the world to end. But as they try to rebuild with the people of Salt Spring Island, there may be time left to save—if not the world—themselves.

Secret of the Selkies by Laura Keohane

‘They came from the sea, shrouded in cloaks and mystery’

A lonely summer looms ahead for Lana, with only Nan and Grandad for company. Still, it’s better than being stuck at home, living in her perfect brother’s shadow. But Carrig Cottage has magic and secrets of its own. When Lana finds a strange coat in the attic, and a book about mysterious, magical seal people – selkies – she also uncovers an incredible family secret. Lana is on the edge of a whole new, impossible world. Is this where she truly belongs?

An Accident of Dragons by Cheri Radke

In theory, the dragoness of Summer can make any resident on her island the ruler, if the previous Lord Summer is so careless as to die without an heir. In practice, absolutely no one expected her to choose Teddy, the last lord’s middle-aged fancy man. With his quick wit, heaps of charisma, and excellent dress sense, Teddy brings plenty of virtues to his new role, but statecraft, pedigree, and decorum are not among them. That’s all right: he’s done his duty to the island, and his five-year-old daughter, Zinnia, will make a brilliant Lady Summer when her time comes.

Except when a ship of desperate mainlander thieves arrives, Zinnia’s caught in the fracas and taken hostage. Teddy jumps into the rescue mission without delay, even though his days of adventures on the mainland are long buried with his lover. But his sailors have never seen their destination, and worse, the hard-liner admiral who leads them thinks Teddy’s a worthless dandy. Against a conniving robber baron, a sorceress who’s tamed her own dragon, and ordinary people with everything to lose, the crew faces terrible odds. But with all he loves in danger, Teddy must prove there’s more to him than he’d ever intended to show.

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

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✦ BLURB ✦

Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats.

Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock—who also happens to be the world’s most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past—including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.

Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop—and the cat shelter—in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart.

Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn’t need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue—and romance—in her life. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats. . . .

Red as Royal Blood by Elizabeth Hart

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✦ BLURB ✦

Ruby has never found a puzzle she couldn’t solve. Even though she’s destined to spend the rest of her life as a servant to the royal family, her mind itches for a true challenge. But no puzzle could prepare her for the king’s decision to name Ruby as the next heir to the throne just before his death.

Thrown into the viper’s nest of court, Ruby is forced to contend with a kingdom in crisis, the dead king’s angry wife, and the three entitled and annoyingly handsome princes. Then, as if being newly crowned queen wasn’t enough, she discovers a note left by the king that claims he was murdered . . . and that she might be next.

Unsure of who she can trust, Ruby makes uneasy alliances with each of the princes as she tries to solve the king’s murder. But with the clock winding down, she will face her most difficult challenge finding the truth before the killer comes for her.

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A servant girl turned heir, a kingdom of secrets, and a deadly puzzle at the heart of the throne—this thriller is as sharp and sumptuous as its title.

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PRE-READING THOUGHTS

The cover compares this to The Inheritance Games, and I wasn’t sure if it would feel too derivative. A puzzle-solving heroine thrust into unexpected wealth and power is a fun premise, but would it deliver its own twists?

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POST-READING

As I thought…
It was clever, fast-paced, and easy to sink into. Court politics, rivalries, and high-stakes intrigue kept the tension humming, and I had a blast watching Ruby navigate a kingdom where everyone’s motives are murky.

It surprised me by…
Standing firmly on its own despite the comparison. The royal court backdrop, the mix of murder mystery with romance, and the layered betrayals all gave it a unique identity. My only (very small) quibble was Ruby missing some fairly obvious clues—but in fairness, hindsight is always kinder from the outside looking in.

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🎵 MUSIC PAIRING

• Featured Song: Royals — Lorde (tongue-in-cheek but fitting for Ruby’s unlikely elevation)

• Vibe Album: Froot — Marina (lush, clever pop with sharp edges and layered themes of power, desire, and identity)

• Artist Recommendation: Florence + The Machine (regal, dramatic, and emotionally charged—just like this story)

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🎨 VIBE CHECK

• Colour Palette: Crimson velvet, black marble, and burnished gold

• Soundtrack: Chamber strings swelling under whispered conspiracies

• Season: Late summer turning to autumn—ripe, decadent, and dangerous

• Mood: Opulent paranoia

• Scent: Spiced wine and candle smoke in an echoing hall

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🃏 TAROT PULL

Seven of Cups (Gilded Tarot Royale): Seven ornate cups shimmer with jewels, gold, and fleeting visions of danger and desire. This card perfectly mirrors Ruby’s royal puzzle: every choice carries risk, every alliance conceals hidden motives, and illusions abound. It captures the dizzying swirl of options and threats she must navigate, reminding us that clarity comes only from careful observation and steady wit.

Side note: Ruby herself radiates Queen of Swords energy—intelligent, precise, and growing into her authority—while the Seven of Cups reflects the chaotic, high-stakes world surrounding her.

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FOR FANS OF

• Book: The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

• TV: Reign (royal drama, scheming, and beautiful gowns concealing knives)

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DISCLAIMER

Red as Royal Blood publishes on the 18th November, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

🃏 The deck had opinions: [The Tower] — [Can't get more obvious than this! Ruby's whole world crashes down, but a better one rises from the ashes.]

🧹

Violet Thistlewaite is not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz

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✦ BLURB ✦

Guy Shadowfade is dead, and after a lifetime as the dark sorcerer’s right-hand, Violet Thistlewaite is determined to start over—not as the fearsome Thornwitch, but as someone kind. Someone better. Someone good.

The quaint town of Dragon’s Rest, Violet decides, will be her second chance—she’ll set down roots, open a flower shop, keep her sentient (mildly homicidal) houseplant in check, and prune dark magic from the twisted boughs of her life.

Violet’s vibrant bouquets and cheerful enchantments soon charm the welcoming townsfolk, though nothing seems to impress the prickly yet dashingly handsome Nathaniel Marsh, an alchemist sharing her greenhouse. With a struggling business and his own second chance seemingly out of reach, Nathaniel has no time for flowers or frippery—and certainly none for the intriguing witch next door.

When a mysterious blight threatens every living plant in Dragon’s Rest, Violet and Nathaniel must work together through their fears, pasts, and growing feelings for one another to save their community. But with a figure from her past knocking at her door and her secrets threatening to uproot everything she’s worked so hard to grow, Violet can’t help but wonder…does a former villain truly deserve a happily-ever-after?

Body of Water by Adam Godfrey

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✦ BLURB ✦

Don't let the water drag you down...

It's been six years since Glen Masters lost his wife in a tragic accident. In hopes of reconnecting with his grieving teenage daughter, Lauren, he decides to take her on a road trip through the Appalachian mountains, where he has fond memories of their past as a family. But what was supposed to be a quick diner pit stop suddenly transforms into a nightmare when armed men stumble in, ranting about a mysterious and deadly "living water" that attacked several people up the road. The story the men spin seems to be the rantings of drunken lunatics, but soon Glen, his daughter, and the other diners find themselves hostages to both the gunmen and the inexplicably terrifying entity.

Because there's truly something wrong with the water, and it has no mercy.

Panic grows as the diners play witness to a nature-defying being that seeks only to swallow everything in its path. With help nowhere in sight, the group of strangers must work together to devise an escape, and ultimately, Glen will have to face his worst fears to reconcile with the past or risk losing everything.

No Escape by M A Bennett

✦ BLURB ✦

Estranged twins Mabel and Kai each receive an unexpected invitation to stay for a week at their grandfather's Parisian chateau. Neither remember meeting their grandfather, and neither had any idea that he was still alive.

The author of a notoriously difficult puzzle book, their grandfather is bed bound and dying. His last wish? For Mabel and Kai to solve it. The prize: unimaginable riches. The catch? They are trapped in the house until one of them wins ... or dies trying.

Their only other hope for escape is a mysterious student who has been working for their grandfather and seems to have eyes for both twins. But the walls are closing in and the contest takes darker and darker turns towards the supernatural. In this deadly game, there can only be one winner.

Exit Stage Death by Ava Eldred

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✦ BLURB ✦

Livi Campbell’s summer to-do list is simple:

1. Have the best final summer at Camp Chance.

2. Prove to her parents that acting is an acceptable career choice.

3. Smash all her rehearsals and get the lead in the senior showcase.

But when a fellow camper shows up dead under mysterious circumstances and Livi finds a note suggesting all is not as it seems, she must team up with her camp-mates to catch the culprit before they kill again.

Enter Juliet, the social media influencer with everything to prove; Aaron, the nepo baby who isn’t sure he wants to be in Hollywood at all; Daisy, the inexperienced newbie trying to find her place; and Sam, the leading man who broke Livi’s heart last summer.

The players are in place. The stage is set. Curtain up.

The Magickal Summer of Evie Edelman by Harriett de Mesquita (spoilers in review)

✦ BLURB ✦

People at Synagogue say she is weird. A psychiatrist says she has Asperger’s. But Evie knows she is a witch.

Leeds, England 1982. After the sudden death of her eccentric aunt Mim, Evie Edelman is left with a sizeable fortune, a yellow Alpine Sunbeam and a chihuahua named Peggy. Seizing her chance at independence, she escapes the claustrophobia of her parents’ house and the disapproval of her tight-knit Jewish community and moves to the country to practice her true calling: witchcraft.

But trouble follows Evie in the form of her first-love Alex, and property developer Malcolm who just might be Satan himself. As Evie finds herself increasingly torn between magick and reality, and the past and present, rumours begin flying about what exactly a single young woman is doing in a remote village on her own. Soon, Evie starts to wonder whether she is always destined to be misunderstood – and if she will ever figure out who she truly is.

Aphrodite by Bryony Pearce

She’s just the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

And that’s exactly what she wants them to think.

Naked and salt-soaked, Aphrodite is born from the waves. Knowing nothing of who or what she is, she quickly discovers that she has incredible power and the kind of beauty that makes men mad. Her blood pulses with the same call: home, home, home.

Cue Olympus, the home of the gods.

But Olympus turns out to be a seething snake-pit, and love is never simple. Ordained the mere Goddess of Love and Beauty, the threatened and spiteful gods and goddesses seek different ways to control Aphrodite. As a trap closes in around her, she learns that it is a curse to be seen as nothing but beautiful – but it may also be her strongest weapon.

The gods of Olympus will soon learn not to underestimate the Goddess of Love and Beauty.

Bad Influence by Claire Ahn

In this contemporary YA novel, high school student Charlotte Goh is an aspiring Asian American fashion influencer desperately trying to lift her family out of hardship, only to find it may come at a cost higher than any Chanel bag.

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Goh is juggling two very different personas: the dutiful Korean daughter, and the hustling NYC fashion influencer. Her best friend Steven scoffs at her ambition, but she secretly hopes that her posts will help financially support her struggling family. Then one night, after posting about a racist experience she had at an influencer event, Charlotte finds herself going viral and garnering the fame she’s always craved. And as much as she doesn’t want her newfound popularity to change her, she can’t help but be swept away by the exciting perks: chic new friends, the attention of one of Hollywood’s hottest heartthrobs, and a slew of companies clamoring to sponsor her.

But as she falls deeper into the influencer world, she finds that she may have to sacrifice more than she bargained for—including her unexpected new feelings for Steven. Will Charlotte be able to stay true to herself, or will she lose the things that are most important to her?

Spellbound by Georgia Leighton

What if Beauty never went to sleep?

In a remote castle perched atop a windswept island, a long-awaited royal heir is born. In accordance with ancient custom, a blessing ceremony takes place to bestow the princess with magical gifts – along with a terrible curse.

But this is not the love story you may think you know.

There is no enchanted sleep for the princess, and no handsome prince to save the day. Just three women, who together concoct a desperate plan of misdirect that changes the course of all their lives.

Except dark magic cannot be tricked, and as the end of the curse edges closer, Violanna, Meredyth and Sel each has a choice to make.

They can wait to find out if the worst will happen, or they can turn to face the coming storm . .

Thieves by Lucie Byron

Um... What happened last night?

Ella wakes on the morning after a house party surrounded by a hoard of objects that are NOT hers. With no idea how they got there, she DEFINITELY doesn't need anyone to see her like this—which is precisely when her adorable crush, Madeleine, decides to ring the doorbell and tell Ella that she was robbed last night.

Join this loveable pair on a capering adventure to navigate their feelings for each other, pass a final high school exam, and withstand the chaos caused by house party thievery.

A Witch's Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Qureshi

Bisma knows three things to be true: the Enchanted Forest will always be her home, she would go to the ends of the Earth to protect her sisters, and Xander Chapman is the most irritating guy she's ever met.

Since finding a home in the Enchanted Forest, Bisma - a garden witch with a penchant for potions - has always been protective of other runaways. So, if a drop of one of her poisons finds its way into the porridge of those who have hurt them . . . that's none of her business.

But Xander, the charmingly handsome son of the apothecary, sees things differently and is fast becoming known for creating cures - much to Bisma's annoyance.

When her sisters are poisoned themselves, Bisma will need to put her feelings aside and enlist Xander's help to find out who is responsible and save the only family she has, before it's too late.

Snails of the Unexpected by Terrie Chilvers

Shapeshifting snails on a mission to save the world! Struck by lightning one fateful night, Fergus and Shelby receive the power to transform into whatever they want: custard, crisp packets, giant plastic crabs – you name it, they can change into it. And with a slug uprising taking place, things are about to get even stranger… Can Fergus and Shelby save humankind from being turned into lettuces by an evil slug masquerading as the Prime Minister? Expect the unexpected in the best thing since sliced cucumber!

The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton

At sixteen, Honora Nora Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money--and all the magic--in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there's a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora's aunt. When Lotte's absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she'd abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.

And soon, Nora discovers that her mother's death wasn't random--it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

With everyone against her, Lotte's last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition--and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls' sworn protectors--turns her world upside down.

Incredible tests, impossible choices and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

HomeGrown Magic by Rebecca Podos and Jamie Pacton

Yael Clauneck is the only scion of an obscenely wealthy banking family with its fingers in every pie in the realm. They’re on the precipice of a predetermined life when they flee their own graduation party, galloping away in search of…well, they’re not sure, but maybe the chance to feel like life can still be a grand adventure.

Margot Greenwillow—talented plant witch, tea lover, and greenhouse owner—has never felt further from adventure in her life. She’s been desperately trying to keep what remains of her family's magic remedies business afloat. So when her childhood friend and former crush, Yael, rides back into her life, she’s shocked. But perhaps this could be a good thing. After all, Margot could use an assistant in the greenhouses.

Yael has no experience or, honestly, practical skills, but they’re delighted to accept. They can lay low for a while, flirting with Margot while they figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, Margot has plans of her own—but plans are notoriously unreliable things, unlikely to survive a swiftly blooming mutual attraction, not to mention the machinations of parents determined to get their heir back . . . no matter the cost.