#BookTour: SASQ'ET by @sasqetthebook @RABTBookTours

 

Historical Fiction / Mythology

Date Published: ‎April 7, 2026

Publisher: ‎ Manhattan Book Group

IN 1939, A DEADLY CONFRONTATION IN THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS shatters young Albert Pingree's life and leaves him the keeper of a truth so staggering it could tear apart mankind's understanding of itself. Sixty years later, his granddaughter Mallory - a small-town veterinarian in rural New Hampshire, inherits more than his fortune; she inherits his secret. When Albert is found dead behind his remote British Columbia cabin, Mallory is drawn into a world of deception, lost identity, and scientific obsession. Inside a locked candle box, she uncovers a horrific relic - a severed hand too large to be human - and a note that beckons her toward the impossible.

Mallory recruits Dr. George Avery, the world's leading field zoologist to help her identify what she has found. At first, he is reluctant, unaware of the magnitude of what she has brought to him. As the puzzle begins to take shape, he is confronted by what the answers they find, reveal.

Exploring deeper, their growing affection ignites a sense of purpose, even as they face the shadows of the past and the dangers of their pursuit. In the haunting wilds of the Pacific Northwest, nature's grandeur and brutality are ever-present. Tangled forests and untamed rivers, bears, wolves, and the ancient reverence of Indigenous traditions surround them, blurring the lines between myth and reality. Their quest becomes a journey not only to solve a mystery, but to reconcile love, loneliness, and the immortal question of our place in a world still ruled by secrets.

#AudiobookReview: Sea of Charms (Spellshop #3) by @sarahbethdurst

Synopsis: Marin is a supply runner with her own boat that she sails from island to island, delivering whatever anyone will pay her to deliver: letters, flour, even the occasional enchanted lemur. It’s a lonely life, but it’s hers, and she wouldn’t trade the freedom of the sea for anything. Her only companion is a sea serpent, Perri, whom she saved from a fisherfolk’s net.

One day, she sails to Alyssium and discovers the city is on fire. There’s been a revolution, and the empire has fallen. Marin, with Perri, begins transporting refugees, finding them new homes where they can start over. One such refugee is Dax, a composer who refuses to leave behind his instruments, no matter how much she tries to emphasize the gravity of the situation. Intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, and his charming smile, Marin discovers perhaps she isn’t saving him ― maybe it’s the other way around.

From the acclaimed author of The Spellshop, Sea of Charms is a delightful cosy fantasy for fans of Travis Baldree and TJ Klune.

#AudiobookReview: The Girl with a Thousand Faces by @sunyidean

Synopsis: From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters comes The Girl with a Thousand Faces, a Gothic tale set in a historical Hong Kong that meshes ancient myths and local legends into a haunting story of ghosts, grief, and women who will not forgive.

When Mercy Chan washed up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, she was thrust into the horrors of World War II. She only survived by hiding in Kowloon Walled City, an infamous, ghost-infested slum full of lost and traumatized civilians. Since the end of the war, she has rebuilt her life and found work with the local triad as a ghost-talker, dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt this place. These days, the filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon feel like home.

But the past she can’t remember won’t let her go. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. Unnervingly, it claims to know Mercy―and her forgotten childhood. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

33 years before, mere days ahead of the Japanese invasion, Sung Siu Yin and her mother flee Hong Kong, intending to hide out on her mother's ancestral island home. It’s beautiful, tranquil, and remote. . . but also inhabited by ghosts ever since the entire village drowned in a storm many years ago. Still, it’s better than living under occupation.

But as the war drags on and isolation sets in, Siu Yin is increasingly drawn into the island's grim past―a past that may still have a hold on the present. There is a darkness lurking beneath that idyllic ocean, and it has been waiting many years for someone to return.

"The Girl With a Thousand Faces confirms Sunyi Dean as one of the most interesting voices in genre fiction.”―Gareth Brown, USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Doors

#AudiobookReview: Empire of Death (Death, #6) by @penelopebarsetti

Synopsis: With my father indisposed, I become Queen of the Southern isles -- and it's the heaviest responsibility of my life. I know the Barbarians will come for the kingdom, and I have to prepare for war.

But I don't have to do it alone...because Wrath is with me. My advisor and my protector, he helps me secure the aid of my allies, helps me remember my strength. And when I become lost in despair, he tells me I can do this. That I'm the only one who can do this.

The God of the Underworld is my silent partner, a powerful ally that no one can see, and it becomes clear there's nothing he won't do for me. He watches my back when I trust no one else to do it. He helps me move pieces across the board against the Barbarians. My mother and brother grow suspicious of my powers, and I grow tired of telling them lies.

Despite being swallowed by misery, as time goes by, it becomes harder not to fall for this man. And he doesn't bother hiding it either. Wears his heart on his sleeve and bares his loyalty like the crest in his armor.

Except there's no way for us to be together...ever. He says there's no escape for him in the Underworld, that this is all we'll ever be. That he'll help me win this war and then leave me to find someone I deserve.

But he's the man I want -- and I won't stop until I find a way.

#AudiobookReview: The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne by @summernengland

Synopsis: Love grows in the most impossible of places in Summer N. England's debut sweet and spicy cozy romantasy for fans of The Spellshop and For Whom the Belle Tolls! 

All gardener Clara Thorne wants is to live "happily ever after" in her beloved town of Moss, magically growing herbs and vegetables and trying to write her book. But Fate has other plans when The Goddess unexpectedly bestows her with an impossible quest. Clara has one month to travel to the cursed and abandoned town of Dwindle and grow them a garden. If she fails, she will be banished.

Only Clara's magic doesn't work outside of Moss, a fact she has kept hidden for years. Worse, the Goddess has assigned the absurdly sexy, annoyingly cheerful Hesper Altanfall to keep her safe. All leather and crossbows, Hesper is as determined to protect Clara as she is full of secrets—but Clara would rather eat thorns than accept help. Nevertheless, the two can't help but grow closer as they make their way across enchanted woods, share one too many tavern beds, and work together to rebuild Dwindle one garden bed at a time.

Clara, however, refuses to give in to their blossoming romance. She’s had one too many losses, and Hesper might the one to break her beyond repair. But if Clara can find the key to opening her heart, she may just unearth the life and love she's always believed to be impossible.  

#BookReview: Gifted (Gifted #1) by @author.mavi

Synopsis: “Because… you’ll become a legend, Legionnaire. You just don’t see it yet. But I do. And the gods do too.”

Over forty years ago, a foreign ruler conquered a fractured kingdom and forged it into one Empire. Then, he purged the gods from history.

Elaine Lyanthian was only twelve when she joined the Imperial Army to escape poverty and starvation. Twelve years later, she’s one of the few women who have survived its brutal ranks. But despite enduring everything the army threw at her, greatness is not in her plans. After a messy affair with her general, she’s stopped believing her luck will ever change.

But there are forces, both ancient and new, that would bend her fate to their will.

When the Emperor himself Gifts her into the prestigious Legion of Barrymore, her world tilts on its axis. The Legion is led by the cold and feared Alexander Courtenay, and so Elaine finds herself not just a soldier among millions, but one of the elite Thirty Barrymore Legionnaires.

Determined and stubborn, Elaine rises to meet her new path. But Barrymore isn’t the end of her road—it’s only the beginning.

There, she will forge the family she never had, experience a forbidden and all-consuming love, and discover the strength to transform from the hollow, hopeless girl she once was.

As Elaine learns the true cost of loyalty, love, sacrifice, and friendship, a strange power begins to stir in her veins. And as the Empire trembles on the edge of rebellion, she’ll come to realize her role in its salvation may be far greater—and far more dangerous—than she ever dared to imagine.

A rebellion rises.
A Legionnaire is challenged.
A family is forged.

#BookReview: The Serpent's Bride (Bloodlines #1) by @kathrynannkingsley

Synopsis: I will disguise myself as the vampire’s bride. I will win over his family. And then I will murder every last one of them. 

All my life I’ve been training to take revenge on the vampire who killed my parents. But Raziel Nostrom is a prince of the city’s most powerful mafia clan—completely untouchable.

When I learn that Raziel is marrying a woman he’s never seen before, I know my chance has finally come…

I will disguise myself as Raziel’s sacrificial bride. I will gain access to his vicious and beautiful family. And I will murder every last bloodsucking one of them.

Raziel is just as ruthless and deadly as I expected, but I had no idea how magnetic he would be up close, with an intoxicating smile and ruby-red eyes that seem to look right into my soul. There’s a dangerous tension between us that I’m struggling to ignore.

I have to strike fast. Every second I wait brings new danger to my life—and my heart. But as I sharpen my blades and prepare to take my revenge at last, I need to face the truth…

I’m falling in love with Raziel Nostrom.

The first book in a spicy vampire romantasy series perfect for fans of true enemies-to-lovers romance and marriages of convenience tropes. Readers who could not get enough of The Serpent and the Wings of Night and Haunting Adeline will love The Serpent’s Bride.