Serial Killer Games

 Serial Killer Games by Kate Posey (2025), 384 pages

After reading Chani's review, I wanted to give this book a go. It seemed like a fun concept. It ended up not being what I expected, especially from the title. Chani mentions that it is a bit chaotic and unexpected and I completely agree.  The question is: what is this book actually about? Serial killers? Family? Temp jobs? Genetics? Blow-up dolls? It is all over the place, but, at its heart, it is a love story. Which is fine, but I was kind of expecting some actual serial killer drama. Weirdly, though, it keeps you interested and leaves you with the feeling of confusion of "what did I just read?". 

Delicious in Dungeon vols 9-14

 Delicious in Dungeon vols 9-14 by Ryoko Kui (trans. Taylor Engel), 1256 pages.

This final arc of Delicious in Dungeon follows the party as they finally reach the lowest levels of the dungeon, and find deeply hidden secrets about its basic nature. While previous volumes have dealt a lot with exploration and eating monsters, this gets more deeply into the meat of the plot (if you'll forgive the pun). Reaching the mad mage is only the beginning. 

 This was a very satisfying end to a series I was really enjoying. The twists felt well implemented, and I really liked the arcs for all of the characters. I want especially to shout out volume 14, which allowed the series one slow volume right at the end to wrap everything up in a way that felt very relaxed and complete. This, as much as anything else, really emphasizes what a character focused series this was. Highly recommended as a relatively short, approachable manga to enter the genre through. 

Sorcery and Small Magics

 Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy, 416 pages.

Despite his father's aspirations, Leovander Loveage is a writer of only small magics, minor charms to cause fireworks or change people's hair color. Any time he has tried to work great magic it's backfired spectacularly, so he has sworn it off for good. A conviction that is shaken when a magical mix-up involving forbidden magic leaves him compelled to follow the orders of longtime rival and perpetual stick-in-the-mud Sebastian Grimm. As the spells magic tightens the two grow increasingly desperate to break the spell, even as their forced cooperation seems to be irrevocably changing something between them.

This book grabbed me completely right from the start. The magic system, which relies on one person to write magic and someone with different capabilities to do the actual casting, leads to some fascinating character possibilities and world building ideas. I also found Leo to be a really compelling character, expertly balancing humorous deflections with genuine emotional feeling. The adventure is fun, while giving enough of substance to chew on to be really satisfying. I'm only sad that there is no release date for a sequel yet. I'm really looking forward to discussing this one with Orcs & Aliens on Monday!

The Fallen

 The Fallen: The Lost Girls of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries and a Legacy of Silence by Louise Brangan, 368 pages.

The Magdalene Laundries were the last stop for so-called "fallen" women in 20th century Ireland. Any number of things could get a woman committed to a Magdalene Laundry; the most common in the public imagination was becoming pregnant out of wedlock, but in practice many women were committed for cutting school too much, wearing skirts that were too short, aging out of state institutions, or just generally being too "high-spirited." Once a woman entered the laundry they were forced to do hard industrial labor for no wages under conditions that were intensely emotionally abusive, and was not allowed to leave until someone came to claim her or the nuns felt she was reformed. For many of these women, forgotten and hidden away, that time never came. And the Laundries were only one part of Ireland's carcel system, which even as it boasted about its low prison population held around 1% of its population institutionalized. 

After independence, Ireland started on the endeavor of nation building, and hung much of its modern national identity on the purity of its people, and especially its women and girls. This fear that girls could cause the corruption of the nation led to a culture of shame and silence, and droves of young women immigrating or being institutionalized. Brangan does and excellent job tracing not only the full history of the laundries, but also their context in both the past and present. She delves into a history of injustice  that had been intentionally repressed, and attempts to create a more complete record of the truth.

This is, overall, a very approachable work of nonfiction. It highlights several girls who spent time in the laundries through the decades, and uses this human element for both primary source material and a narrative that is easy to digest. Her dedication to context also means that the reader does not need much knowledge of Irish history at all to understand the information being presented. My only major complaint is that Brangan is often not very clear about when events are happening. She will transpose the stories of girls who were in the laundries decades apart on the same page, sometimes making it difficult to trace the evolution of the institution. That being said, I do consider this a very solid history of the Magdalene Laundries, and would recommend it for people interested in Irish history, or women's history.

This book will be published 5/5/2026. 

Stay for a Spell

 Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe, 384 pages.

Princess Tanadelle is a working princess, spending most of her year on the road cutting ribbons, kissing babies, attending formal dinners, and so forth. The only upside to this unsettled lifestyle is that is gives her plenty of time to read, but when shopping for books to feed this habit in an unbelievably picturesque little town, she instead get cursed to be unable to leave the bookshop until she has unlocked her heart's desire. She is eager to make the most of it as Tandy, humble shopkeep, while her parents are determined to break her curse the traditional way, by sending every available prince to kiss her. But Tandy feels more content in her bookshop, with the people she's coming to know, then she ever has in her royal duties, and she can't help but wonder if her heart's desire is closer than she thinks.

In a purely complimentary way, I don't know if I've ever read a book that was more purely wish fulfillment. What if instead of doing your boring duties you literally can't leave a bookstore? One complete with beautiful old books, comfy but pretty clothes, a magical cat, a lovely garden, and an extremely handsome pirate who won't stop bothering you? In addition to the general coziness of this premise, I thought this book was more generally very well done. Tandy's arc felt emotionally compelling, and I really liked how the princes gave a sense of external progression, in addition to allowing characters to be added slowly and in an easy to process way. Coombe also consistently chose narrative options that I found the most satisfying, which is perhaps praise specific to me, but did help push this book over to 5 stars for me. I highly recommend this as the new ultimate in cozy fantasy.

This book will be published 04/14/2026. 

Her Last Breath

 

Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams (2026), 323 pages

There have been some mixed reviews of this book, but I enjoyed it. I was looking for a suspenseful, twisty thriller and this is it. Yes, there are some predictable parts. But, honestly, if you read enough thrillers, there are always some predictable parts.  I am not sure that last time I read a completely out of the blue surprise ending. So I am going to give this one some grace.

The book follows two friends as they embark on a caving adventure. A stranger follows them down and things get intense and dangerous. Secrets come out. I listened to the audiobook (the narrator does a fantastic job) and spent most of the time trying not to hyperventilate from claustrophobia. Obviously, I wasn't there, but the author does such a great job describing the cave, you can feel the walls closing in. I 100% do not want to go caving after reading this book. 

History Lessons

 History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (2025), 373 pages.

After reading Annie's review, I thought I would check this out. Overall, I really enjoyed the cozy mystery and insight into higher academia. My only (very slight) gripe is that Daphne is almost too worldly with too much of an interesting family background to be relatable. Although - it does serve her well in detecting. 

Everything Is Probably Fine

 

Everything Is Probably Fine by Julia London (2025) 352 pages

Lorna is in her early forties, practically alone in the world since her mother and grandmother died and her father and her sister live in Florida. Her sister Kristen has been an addict since a very young age, and her addiction has cost the family in many ways: their parents' marriage, their home, their finances, their friends, their peace. 

Lorna is an excellent saleperson in a software company, but the team she leads does not like her because she drives them too hard and is unkind. Her only advocate in the company is Deb, who says that Lorna must take an immediate leave of absence to attend a wellness program over the course of the next thirty days, in order to deal with her anger and her life in general. Lorna resists, but it's the only way to keep her job.

The novel follows Lorna's path, including lookbacks on her life and her sister's addiction. The issues are presented realistically, along with the fits and starts by which Lorna works on her life, including an apology tour, as well as her attempt to add people to her life.

Giovanni's Room

 Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (1956) 192 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Libby narrated by Matt Bomer. It included an Introduction by poet Kevin Young that provided a lot of context. In a not-quite chronological narrative we meet David, a white American, having a "gap year" in Paris. There are conventional expectations back home and he is engaged to a young woman, but she is spending time away from him in Spain. David has a passionate affair with Giovanni, an Italian working in a bar in Paris. The two young men become roommates, but through self-denial and homophobia, David cannot admit that he is gay. When his fiancé joins him some sexist views come to light and a murder adds tension to the situation. The mysteries of the human heart are brilliantly explored by Baldwin.  

March Totals

 Wow! A fabulous reading month for UCPL, as we blow last years best month out of the water by a whole 10 books! Without further ado: the March totals.

Annie: 4 books, 1011 pages

Byron: 4 books, 1332 pages

Chani: 3 books, 967 pages

Jan: 5 books, 1731 pages

John: 2 books, 740 pages

Kara: 29 books, 10207 pages

Kevin: 2 books, 656 pages

Regan: 10 books, 3343 pages

Tracey: 10 pages, 3174 pages

Totals: 69 books and 23,161 pages