FORMAT/INFO: Savage Blooms will be published on October 9th, 2025 by Orbit Books. It is 464 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Adam has spent being told stories by his grandfather of an enchanted place known as Craigmar. So when his grandfather passes away, Adam, along with his best friend Nicola, decides to seek out the isolated manor in Scotland. But what starts as a simple holiday jaunt becomes something entirely else when Adam and Nicola not only find Craigmar, but meet its owner Eileen and her groundskeeper Finley. Adam at first is thrilled that Eileen will allow him to stay and investigate the manor's past in the hopes of learning more about his grandfather. But the longer Adam and Nicola stay at Craigmar, the more they become drawn into Eileen and Finley's seductive games - all of which may serve a nefarious purpose.

Savage Blooms is an atmospheric gothic tale that drags out a thin plot to an underwhelming conclusion. I will say that the author initially did an excellent job of setting up the tension and the mood. There's a fantastic sense of foreboding and all the hallmarks of the gothic romance the story wants to be. You have an isolated, decaying house, a windswept moor, and mysterious characters clearly harboring secrets. It isn’t long before we know that the family of Craigmar has a dark history tied with threatening faerie magic. I enjoyed the sense of danger lurking unseen and waited for the trap to be sprung.

Unfortunately, that’s about as much as you’re going to get in this 450 page book: unseen dangers. Information is revealed at a glacial pace. While there’s mysterious voices, strange lights, brief moments of peril, and the tease of a sinister plot, all that tension leads to a truly underwhelming finale. For hundreds of pages, Eileen and Finley’s POV chapters have them brooding over their guilt at how Adam and Nicola will feel betrayed when their plot is revealed. And yet when their grand plans came to light, it was absolutely nothing that lived up to my expectations for what their big evil secret could possibly be. It’s the kind of ending that makes you go, “I waited 400 pages for THAT?”

Here's the thing: I think the grand plan DOES make sense. It's just that there was such a build up and so much hand-wringing by Finley and Eileen over what they planned to do, that I was completely baffled at the simplicity of what they wanted, ESPECIALLY given that I had to wait until the last few chapters of the book to find out. If the reveal had come at the halfway point, it would have landed a lot better.

Given that this was marketed as erotica, I tried to go in open minded about some of the story elements I might encounter. I tried very hard to accept that four people come together (more specifically two pairs of people come together) and immediately all insta-lust after each other. And not only is everyone into everyone, everyone is okay sharing. This is an erotica, and the name of the game is people having sex. But by the end of the book, it was beginning to feel like the plot was a checklist to make sure that every single character had hooked up with every other character, and I found myself bored, not titillated.

CONCLUSION: I would have given all that a pass if the premise had lived up to the promise. This is, after all, about an unnerving pair of people (Eileen and Finley) hiding dark secrets, who are slowly ensnaring another pair of people (Adam and Nicola) into their world. If the overall plot had moved faster and delivered a more satisfying ending, I would have said it was a solid read, if ultimately not for me. But unfortunately, Savage Blooms wastes its premise and atmosphere, leaving me uninterested in the sequel.

 

FORMAT/INFO: Kill the Beast will be published by Tor Books on October 14th, 2025. It is 320 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: All faeries must die. That's the creed Lyssa lives by as she makes her living slaying all manner of faerie creatures. It's a task she's pledged herself to ever since her brother was killed by a faerie monster known as the Beast. She's spent over a decade trying to track this elusive creature, but she's never been able to find it - until one day, she's approached by an eccentric dandy named Alderic. Alderic recently stumbled across the Beast's lair, and having also lost family to the monster, he's willing to pay handsomely for its death. Unfortunately for Lyssa, she'll need to bring the hapless Alderic along to collect the ingredients she needs to forge a weapon capable of killing the Beast. But as the two slowly bond over their past losses, Lyssa may find friendship in the most unlikeliest of people.

Kill the Beast is an excellent story of friendship, love, grief, and loss, all told while fighting monsters. This is all grounded in its two central characters, Lyssa and Alderic. They are complete opposites, clashing over how to handle almost every aspect of their quest. Lyssa is competent, efficient, and stubborn, the kind of person who believes force is the most expedient way to solve problems. Alderic, meanwhile, delights in life's pleasures, and prefers empathy and conversation (and occasionally large sums of money) to overcome problems. Alderic would be so easy to dismiss as useless if there wasn't often some wisdom in his actions. His compassion and willingness to simply talk to people opens more doors than Lyssa can break down, and with far less collateral damage.

I absolutely loved watching Lyssa and Alderic learn from each other and slowly, ever so slowly open up to each other. This is a slow-burn enemies to friends to lovers story (no spice) that earns every step along the path. It isn't without some heartbreak along the way, but I was never mad at the story or thought that any bumps were unnecessary. In fact, those bumps often WERE necessary to break through the last few walls preventing emotional growth.

There was one thing I didn't love, though it largely has to do with personal preference. There is an element in this story that I don't think will take many people long to figure out, and I think the author is aware of that fact. But I HATE being ahead of a character when it comes to discovering information. I fully realize that the structure of the story demands things get revealed when they do, but I personally was impatient for everybody to finally be on the same page.

Kill the Beast is a lovely standalone tale that I highly recommend. It has action, mystery, and romance, with two characters I adored. It's an excellent debut and I will definitely be back to see what the author writes in the future.