Book Review: Dude! Where's My Princess?

Arwin swerves off the road to avoid a dragon and ends up in another world. It’s exactly the change of scenery he needs, a new direction in life.

He meets Yaz, a talking skeleton on an epic quest. Together, they set off to find a long-lost princess, the former knight’s great love, who was magically imprisoned hundreds of years ago by an evil necromancer, the same man who cursed Yaz into undeath. Their first destination is the remote castle of the legendary, evil Dark Enchantress in the eerie Swamp of Spiders. But getting there won’t be easy. There are regions filled with dangerous puns and magic, a revolution to assist, forest nymphs, and a whole tribe of ugly green goblins standing in their way.

Book Review: Sit Write Here

In Sit Write Here, award-winning novelist and certified mindfulness instructor April Dávila presents a groundbreaking approach to writing that integrates the practice of Insight Meditation. Drawing from her personal journey and professional experience, Dávila reveals how mindfulness can help writers improve their craft and navigate common challenges such as writer's block, self-doubt, and ubiquitous distractions. Through practical exercises and relatable anecdotes, she demonstrates how cultivating present-moment awareness can enhance creativity and bring greater ease to the writing process.

Book Review: The Hidden Staircase

A haunted mansion, eerie happenings, thefts, and a search for her missing father—amateur teen sleuth Nancy Drew braves secret tunnels and sinister suspects in this thrilling classic from the 1930s. The suspense builds to a spine-tingling crescendo when she discovers cryptic clues, unraveling the truth behind ghostly events and a hidden staircase. Will Nancy’s fearless detective work expose the mansion’s chilling secrets and unmask the villain behind them? A spooky page-turner for mystery lovers of any age!

Nancy Drew Mysteries book 2: The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene will be republished June 16, 2026. Dover Publications provided a galley for review.

Book Review: The Secret of the Old Clock

She’s smart, fearless, and always one step ahead of the mystery. An enduring symbol of wit, courage, and girl power for generations, teenage amateur sleuth Nancy Drew makes her iconic debut in Book no. 1 of this legendary series. When a missing will could change the fortunes of the kind Turner family, Nancy races against time to uncover clues and outsmart the scheming Topham family. Originally published by Grosset & Dunlap in the 1930s, this captivating mystery, written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, continues to fascinate millions of readers.

Nancy Drew Mysteries book 1: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene was republished May 19, 2026. Dover Publications provided a galley for review.

Book Review: The Side Questers

Anya Dazel is a burnt-out barkeep in Eternity: The Endless Realm, the world’s premier online role-playing game. As a non-player character, her life is stuck in a programmed loop—forever serving the same drinks to the same patrons and helping players with an automatic quest event that unfolds when they enter her pub. She longs for any disruption to this monotonous existence, even if that feels like an impossible dream.

But when Eternity receives an update, and Cyrus Blackwood is added to Anya’s pub, her dream unfurls as a nightmare. Cyrus is everything that Anya is not—a mysterious, brooding warrior with a gigantic sword and a tortured past. Everyone in the tavern is fascinated by him, and even worse, when the next player arrives, it’s Cyrus who helps them with their quest, not Anya. Realizing that she’s being replaced, Anya lashes out at Cyrus, inadvertently knocking them both out of her tavern and into the wider realm of Eternity.

Book Review: Dick Tracy volume 2

Still reeling from the fallout of the bloody gang war that gripped the city, Detective Dick Tracy has little time to recover as he confronts a series of grisly murders. With bodies piling up, a newly deputized Pat must grapple with his new path, and Tess makes a startling discovery--all kicking off the must-read second arc of one of the most acclaimed new series of the year!

Dick Tracy volume 2 by Alex Segura, Michael Moreci, and Geraldo Borges, was published on July 1, 2025, by Mad Cave Studios.

Book Review: Too Much Too Young

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national conscience as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born. 2 Tone was black and a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism.

The music of 2 Tone was white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid. The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown.

Book Review: Marvel Dimensions

The story opens with a sweeping tour through the classic origins of Marvel’s most iconic characters. Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Wolverine, and many others appear in dramatic, fully painted spreads that echo their earliest stories. A narrator describes each moment with confidence, guiding the reader through these touchstones of Marvel’s history. But as the story moves forward, the tone begins to shift. The voice behind the narration is not who the readers expect and carries a motive that slowly pushes the narrative somewhere darker and far more unpredictable.

Once this change becomes clear, the book expands into something larger and more surprising. Storylines twist in on themselves, characters behave in unexpected ways, and events ripple across the Marvel Universe with growing tensions. Ross uses the structure of the book to create anticipation and pull the reader deeper into a mystery that keeps widening. Every new sequence reveals another layer, building toward a final act that reframes everything that came before it.

Book Review: Eternally Electric

Debbie Gibson was just sixteen when she released her multi-platinum debut album Out of the Blue and recorded “Foolish Beat” in 1988, making her the youngest person to ever write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. A child actress who became the original pop princess, Debbie had full creative control over her music and, when that no longer aligned with a transitioning arts scene, she went on to star in Broadway’s Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, and Cabaret, as well as in the London production of Grease. Yet, for all the accolades and achievements, her success came at a high price.

Book Review: Future Boy

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest stars on television. His world was about to get even bigger, but only if he could survive the kind of double duty unheard of in Hollywood. Fox's days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom Family Ties, but then the chance of a lifetime came his way. Soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg, Back to the Future. Sitcom during the day, movie at night - day after day, for months.

Fox's nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. It was in this time portal that Alex P. Keaton handed the baton to Marty McFly while Michael J. Fox tried to catch a few minutes of sleep. Alex's bravado, Marty's flair, and Fox's comedic virtuosity all swirled together to create something truly special.

Book Review: Pretty Girls

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia's teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

Book Review: Prompt Me to Write

With rich story ideas, advice on pitfalls to avoid, and examples and quotes from the great writers of today and the legends of the literary world, Prompt Me to Write stands out from other books of writing prompts. Each prompt and exercise is designed to both spark ideas and help you develop your writing. It includes:

• • Original and varied writing prompts, with a final section where best-selling authors each contribute their own story ideas.
• • Full-page writing exercises to help you build worlds, craft fascinating characters, and develop page-turning plots.
• • Photos and illustrations by Vocal Vagabond that add extra inspiration and help clarify complex points. These are full colour in the hardback and black and white in the paperback.

Every chapter includes bite-sized theory so, with a little persistence, you will master the craft and create a collection of stories or a finished novel even if you only have a few minutes a day.

Book Review: The Twilight Cap

Hank and Lucy Dewitt are new arrivals in Jemison, Wisconsin. It is a rural town, and home to a brand-new species of mushroom, one that glows in the night, and is the subject of Lucy’s research. Settled in and ready to start a family, the couple begins searching for a place to call their own, but the town is overtaken by a high-powered land developer, who buys everything in sight, prepared to transform it into a corporate community.

As they lose house after house to the firm, they feel as though home ownership is out of their reach, until the mushrooms call Hank into the woods, where he stumbles upon an abandoned home, surrounded by the strange, glowing fungi. With a promise to the owner to never open the locked door in the basement, the home becomes theirs, to the dismay of the developer, who thought the land was already his. Moved in and ready to turn the page, they think the battle with the corporation is over, but the mushrooms appear to be more than just a simple fungus, and the developer is just getting started.

Book Review: Retro

When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll, she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the caption: "Come away with us! We’re hiring." So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots.

She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West; she chaperones “’20s for your twenties” birthday excursions to speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot during the Gold Rush. It’s all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.

Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she’d always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling truth: Escaping into the past was never really an escape at all.