I'm A Voracious Reader

Sunday, November 8, 2026

AVR Weekly News ~ 672nd Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer.
~ Recap the past week ~
~ Show what's upcoming ~
~ Share news ~
~ Display book hauls ~

BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight: Jester by Tim Carter

In a realm ruled by idiots, their only hope is the Fool.

You’d think an army of zombie trolls and undead ogres would catch the nobility’s attention. You’d be wrong. The rulers of Halfsock are deeply in denial. Besides, they have taxes to avoid, neighbors to plunder, and relatives to backstab.

With war looming, a goblin latrine slave named Shelly resolves to save Castle Halfsock from itself. He must take on many roles… jester, detective, spy, and political fixer. But his most challenging role—especially after a lifetime spent cleaning other people’s toilets—is as a confident secret agent worthy of trust, friendship, and maybe even love.

Can the least powerful person in the realm overcome his insecurities to depose rulers, forge alliances, and fend off an undead horde?

A comic tale of politics, friendship, and found family for fans of Nicholas Eames, Terry Pratchett, and J. Zachary Pike.

Sable Montgrief wishes her curse would let her die. Unfortunately for her, fate has other plans.

Sable longs for release from her centuries-old fate. Living alone in a remote cabin, she's close to breaking the spell keeping her alive—until her solitude is shattered by a desperate father, Adem Ozturk.

Adem is in a race against time to save his daughter, Ailith, who is haunted by terrifying visions of a future she cannot control. Their only hope lies with Sable, whose unique abilities could prevent a coming catastrophe—but convincing her to help means binding her to another lifetime of torment.

Dive into a gripping tale of sacrifice, fate, and the thin line between life and death in this spellbinding urban fantasy adventure!

Friday Featured Spotlight ~ The Write Reads Blog Tour: He Loves Me (Not) by Márie Zepf

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA

BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight: Insider by K.B. Gazeena

Yang Lin is a rising star at Hauser Incorporated, one of the three corporations that rule Earth. But Lin has a secret that could destroy everything she’s worked to achieve.

She wasn’t born on Earth, but on a refugee ship fleeing a faraway colony. Lin has lived her whole life in two worlds, associating with other refugees from the colonies at home but passing as a successful Earth-born woman at work and school.

Now Lin has to choose.

Her mother and a group of fellow colonists have a plan to get more refugees past the deadly defenses guarding Earth, and they need Lin’s help. Joining the cause could mean losing everything—even her life. Refusing to help will mean the death of thousands from her homeworld.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lin, someone powerful is about to blow her cover. In Insider, a gripping sci-fi thriller, Lin’s next move could save her people or doom them all.

BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight: Holtondome by Ryan Southwick

Seg Holton yearns to leave his isolated farming dome and travel the ravaged Earth, or even to Mars Colony. Only a few things stand in his way: an authoritarian government, deadly storms, and an enchanting outsider who may be the most dangerous of all.

Fast-forward 500 years. Civilization has nearly wiped itself out of existence, and is on the long, slow road to recovery, held together by an agreement called the Pact between cities, agricultural domes, and a new global government.

Seg is a farmer in Holtondome. Like his ancestors, he's chosen a life of ignorance about technology and the outside world in favor of a simple existence, free of the corruption that almost destroyed the human race.

His world turns upside down when Fi arrives. Tall, exotic, and far too wise for her age, she challenges everything he's been taught to believe, making him question for the first time if a simple life is right for him or, indeed, for the rest of humanity.

But Fi has secrets darker than her black-ringed eyes — bigger than the Pact — that have implications far beyond Seg and the residents of Holtondome.

Some monsters are born. Others are made.

Caroline Landers has always known the darkness lived inside her. Not hidden. Not controlled. Simply waiting for the right moment to be unleashed.

That moment came the night she crossed paths with Samuel Corby—a man who stalked her from the shadows, only to awaken a hunger in her that even she couldn’t tame.

Samuel is everything the world warns you about: obsessive, lethal, untouchable. But the most dangerous thing about him isn't what he does—it's how deeply he loves her. How completely he sees her for what she truly is... and still demands she belongs to him.

When a sadistic new enemy rises from the wreckage of her past, threatening everything Caroline has fought to protect, she doesn’t break. She doesn’t run. She does what monsters do best.

She hunts.

As secrets unravel, betrayals ignite, and another shadow steps forward—one who has loved her from the dark all along—Caroline must face the brutal truth:
She was never the prey.
She was always the predator.
And sometimes... you don't have to choose between your monsters at all.
You can have them both—and let the world burn.

The Write Reads Blog Tour Book Review: He Loves Me (Not) by Márie Zepf

A chilling YA thriller told in verse about online romance, obsession and the dangers hiding behind a screen.

He made her feel seen. Then she vanished without a trace.

Daisy has always been quiet – the kind of girl who fades into the background. So when she meets a boy online who really sees her, she falls fast. He listens. He understands. He makes her feel special in a way no one at school ever has. Soon, Daisy’s world shrinks to a glowing screen. Her mum worries. Her best friend Erin is pushed aside. But Daisy doesn’t notice – she’s in love.

Then Daisy goes to meet him in real life. And she never comes back.

Left behind with guilt and unanswered questions, Erin is forced to confront the truth Daisy never saw. In a world where screens can lie and love can be faked, how can anyone know who to trust?

BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight: Fimbulvinter's Fires by A.M. Weald

Worlds and hearts will be set aflame…

Within moments of his escape pod crash-landing in a night-clad frozen forest, musician Asher Hollin is frostbitten, bleeding, a thief, and a killer. If not for technology looted from a dead prison guard, he’d be long dead, either from hypothermia or from being attacked by battleaxe-wielding not-quite-human marauders.

Without hope of rescue from those he’d fled, there’s only one choice: keep going. Fight. Survive for those who didn’t. Somewhere out there is food, shelter, civilization. Indeed, just as the darkness threatens to consume him, help comes from an initially unwilling source.

Compassion and a yearning for companionship spark an unlikely relationship, but a lack of understanding of language and culture endangers Ash and everyone around him.

Inspired by the tale of Ragnarök and its harbinger, Fimbulvinter’s Fires combines achillean love stories with first-contact sci-fi, survival horror, and apocalyptic tragedy: a heart-pounding yet tender tale of empathy, survival, and the lengths we'll go to protect those we love.

This snowpocalypse contains violence and death, steamy scenes, strong language, deep snow, and high heat.

Tread carefully.

False God.

At the dawn of the 11th Century in a small Icelandic settlement, these words, daubed in blood, herald the arrival of a killer. Soon, a spate of murders threatens the fragile peace between pagans and a growing Christian minority. Arinbjorn, a young pagan farmer resolves to track down the killer before the community is permanently torn apart. His investigations draw in Freya, an isolated housewife whose secrets could either condemn or free her.

Meanwhile in Norway, King Olaf Tryggvason has his own designs upon Iceland and its people. War is rife in Scandinavia, and a Christian Iceland would bolster his control over the region.

Only one thing is certain: these murders will change Icelandic society forever.