Review: Dolls & Daggers (Serial Killer Book Club #1) by D.L. Darby

Dolls & Daggers (Serial Killer Book Club #1) by D.L. Darby ★★★★½ (4.5) Read: October 28, 2026 378 pages Source: Personal library

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Finally! A dark rom-com that's genuinely both. I've been duped by a few books with dark rom-com-ish covers but were actually dark romance, so Dolls & Daggers made my heart sing.

Dove is a 5-foot pink-and-lace ray of sunshine in four-inch heels, the star journalist who saved a failing paper by covering a vigilante serial killer who hunts predators. Small detail: she's the killer. Enter Ren, a tall, gorgeous, arrogant new hire who wants her column and is a little too obsessed with the Doll. What follows is a prank war so petty and unhinged I was cackling on my walks to work. Salt. Hair dye. A furry innocent bystander. Snacks you will never look at the same way again.

What I loved most is that the rivalry actually stays a rivalry. So many enemies-to-lovers books give up the fight in the first chapters. These two keep sabotaging each other well after things heat up, and every inch of ground they give feels earned.

Under all that chaos there are two deeply wounded people, and the author handles their trauma with real weight without losing the humor.

Why not 5 stars? One plot thread gets swept under the rug way too easily, and it bugged me. Maybe book 2 will pick it up. (And I am SO ready for that side couple to get their own story.)

🎧 Audiobook notes: Lucy Rivers and Aaron Shedlock did an amazing job. Lucy's bubbly, high-pitched Dove grated on my nerves, but that's exactly the point. It's perfect for the character and nothing like her usual voice. Fair warning: their pacing is very different, so I listened at 1.25x the whole way, instead of my usual 1.7x speed.

Tropes: Rivals to lovers · Workplace romance · Vigilante FMC / she's the villain · Morally grey heroine · Secret identity · Obsessed MMC · Touch her and die · Prank war · Size difference (tiny FMC, tall MMC) · Found family · Trauma healing

⚠️ Check the content warnings: child sexual abuse/grooming (past), graphic murder, torture, gore, violence, and spice.

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by Tynga at Thursday, November 05, 2026

 D.L. Darby, Dark Rom Com, found family, obsessed MMC, Review, rivals to lovers, serial killer, Serial Killer Book Club, she's the villain, touch her and die, Workplace Romance  Leave your mark

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Review: Threshing Day (The Empyrean, #3.5) by Rebecca Yarros

Threshing Day (The Empyrean, #3.5) by Rebecca Yarros ★★★★★ Read: October 11, 2026 224 pages

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I didn't expect a collection of short stories to pull me back into the Empyrean world this hard. But here I am, completely wrecked by a book with no central plot, no romance arc, and no villain to hate (well there was Alic I guess 🤣) — just twelve bonding stories that quietly rearranged everything I thought I knew about characters I've been reading for three books.

That's what Threshing Day does. It takes the riders you already love — or haven't forgiven yet — and strips them back to the moment before they became who you know. Before the wars, the betrayals, the alliances. Before any of it. Just a person on a field, facing a creature that sees straight through them.

And every dragon asks the same question, in a different way: who are you, really?

Some answers are defiant. Some are devastating. Some made me laugh until I ached. One made me want to reach into the pages and hold someone, because I had no idea — none — what they were carrying underneath the composure the main books showed me. Yarros doesn't just fill in backstory here. She rewrites how you'll see these people when you go back. The steady ones weren't always steady. The brave ones weren't always sure they wanted to survive.

What surprised me most is how different each bonding feels. Some are earned through combat, others through stubbornness, one through pure chaos and mutual insults up a tree. And then there are the ones that aren't earned at all — they're recognized. Grief meeting grief. Loss meeting loss. A dragon saying not prove yourself but let's carry this together. Those are the ones that stay in your chest.

The collector's edition is gorgeous — full color dragon illustrations at the start of each story — and the audiobook production is smart: each story gets its own narrator, so every rider has a distinct voice. For a book this short, the care that went into the presentation says everything about what this collection means to the series.

If you've read the Empyrean series, this isn't optional. It will change your reread. And when book four finally comes — whenever it's coming — this is the emotional primer you didn't know you needed.

Tropes: found family · sacrifice · chosen bonds · grief and survival
Trigger warnings: Violence, death, suicidal ideation

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by Tynga at Tuesday, November 03, 2026

 dragons, found family, Rebecca Yarros, Review, Romantasy, short stories, The Empyrean  Leave your mark

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Stacking the Shelves [466]

 

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, ebooks and of course audiobooks now that they are so prominent in the book community!

In other words, no matter the shape or form your book has – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves.

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It's been over a month since I last posted a stacking the shelves, so buckle up, because there are a lot of books!! 

But before I get to them, I'd like to invite you to check my latest blog post in case you missed it! 

I'm a bratty mood reader. Here's how I still survive ARC season!

Stuff you kindle day "purchases"

Perfect Chaos by D.M. Midnight
The Fates Between Us by H.L. Hamilton
Bloody Quarte by Brooklyn Cross
Knot for Sale by Caroline Cole
Shadows of Rage by Adeline Storm
Be My Sinner by A/L/ Maruga
The Heir by A. Gordon
Henley & Mason And Then it Happened by Alyssa Milani
Once I Find You by Adrianna Cross
Sins and Virtue by Bree Voltiare
Dangerous Allure by Ashlynn
The Stowaway series by Alyssa Milani

Fractured Fear by Ivy King
Knot Enough by JP Sina & Allie Santos
Minor Incident by Lola Vixen
Tormented & Tulips by L.B. Vines
House of Blood and Fury by Dakota Brimage
Fleeing Fate by Fiona Rowan
Swipe Right for Murder by Erica Jade

Book Outlet haul:

The Lunatics by Navessa Allen
Braving the Storm & Chasing Wild by Elliott Rose

Pink Ink by Avina St-Graves
Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter
Rain of Shadows and Endings & Storms of Secrets and Sorrow by Melissa K Roehrich
Crown of War and Shadow by J.R. Ward
Scorched Earth by Danielle L Jensem

Love Me Stalk Me by Laura Bishop

Pre-orders:

Lightwing by Caroline Peckham & Suzanne Valenti
With Hearts of Flame by Briar Boleyn

A Court of Splintered Harmony by Sarah J Maass

I also got Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros but I forgot to include it in the picture! 

Special Editions:

The Long Game by Rachel Reid
Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe

Audiobook:

Of Ink and Alchemy by Sloane St-James (Libby)
Of Karma and Corridors by Sloan St-James (ALC from Podium Audio)

ARCs:

Biker's Pretty Little Property by Cate Roi

Holly & Havoc by Evan Rose Butcher

Did you get anything nice? 

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by Tynga at Saturday, October 31, 2026

 ARC reading, audiobook, Dark Rom Com, Dark Romance, Romantasy, Stacking The Shelves  5 People left their mark

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I'm a Bratty Mood Reader. Here's How I Still Survive ARC Season.

 Let me start with a confession: I'm terrible at deadlines.

Not because I don't care. I care a lot. I get giddy over new releases, I stalk cover reveals, I hit request faster than you can say "morally grey." The problem is what happens after the yes. The second a book becomes something I have to read, my inner brat folds her arms and refuses. Tell me I must read it by Friday, and suddenly I want to read literally anything else.

I'm a mood reader. A bratty one. And ARCs, as much as I love them, come with homework.

The ARC that lands a week before release

You know the one. You requested it ages ago, forgot about it, and then it shows up in your inbox barely a week before release day, with a review due the same week. For a lot of reviewers, that's a sprint. For me? It's almost a guaranteed miss. The pressure kills the mood, and the mood is the whole engine.

So over time I made peace with a hard truth: I can't read like a machine, and I'd rather stop pretending I can.

My rules for a deadline-averse reader

1. I request fewer ARCs. I'd honestly rather read most books at my own pace, without a deadline breathing down my neck. Fewer yeses means the ones I do say yes to actually get my best attention.

2. I need at least a month of breathing room. If an author or team says upfront that the turnaround is short, I don't apply. It's not a judgment on the book. It's me knowing myself, and it's fairer to the author than taking a copy I probably won't review on time.

3. I track a book the moment it lands.

Because no matter how careful I am, surprises happen. A late approval. A copy that arrives way closer to release than I expected. Two books that suddenly want me the same week. The only way I catch those collisions before they catch me is to write everything down the second it's real: who sent it, when it releases, when the review's due.

4. When a short one sneaks through, I decide fast. Either it jumps to the top of the pile right now, or I'm honest with the author early instead of ghosting at the deadline. Silence is the worst option for everyone.

Why I built a journal for this

This exact chaos is why I made The Devoted Reviewer's ARC Journal. Before designing a single page, I surveyed sixty ARC readers, and the same story kept coming up: too many yeses, too little room, and deadlines that sneak up on you.

The journal gives every ARC a number, a card with its key dates, and a spot on a deadlines calendar, so you can see a pileup coming weeks before it hits. For a mood reader like me, that's the difference between "oops, I forgot" and "okay, I can still make this work."

If you want to see exactly how it works, page by page, I walked through the whole thing in my Journaling Talk article: Five ARCs Landed on the Same Day. Here's What I'd Do.

Your turn

Are you a deadline queen who reads every ARC in order, or a mood reader like me, hiding from her own review queue? Tell me in the comments. No judgment. I'm literally the girl with the overdue library book. 😏

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by Tynga at Friday, October 30, 2026

 ARC reading, book journal, Journaling Tips, Reading Journal  1 Person left their mark

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Review: The Predator (Dark Verse, #1) by RuNyx

The Predator (Dark Verse, #1) by RuNyx ★★★★☆ Read: October 4, 2025 318 pages

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The Predator by RuNyx is dark, tense, and full of secrets—exactly the kind of story that pulls you into a world of danger and obsession. I was hooked by the slow build of trust between two broken people and the promise of what could come from it.

But when the last page hit, I felt... robbed of closure. After everything these characters endure, there’s no emotional landing, no breath of “finally.” It’s gritty, well-written, and full of potential, but the ending left me restless and craving more answers, more connection, more them.

Still, RuNyx’s writing is addictive, and I’ll be diving into the next book in hopes of finding the threads left hanging. If you like slow-burn tension, complex trauma, and morally grey characters tangled in power and secrets, it’s worth the read—just brace yourself for an ending that feels more like a pause than a conclusion.

Tropes: Mafia Romance · Morally grey hero · Hacker heroine · Slow burn tension · Forced proximity · Found family (in the making) · Dark romance · Trauma healing (in progress) · Secrets & hidden pasts · Enemies to uneasy allies

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by Tynga at Thursday, October 29, 2026

 Dark Romance, Dark Verse, forced proximity, Hacker, killer, mafia, morally grey, Review, RuNyx, slow burn  Leave your mark

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Review: Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs

Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs ★★★★☆ Read: August 29, 2026 271 pages

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If you've been living in the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson universe for years and you've ever wondered what it would be like to sit inside Asil's head — this is your book. And honestly, it's a delight to be there.

The premise is simple and kind of perfect: someone in the pack sets the Moor up on five blind dates right before Christmas, frames it as a challenge, and bets on the outcome. Because of course a wolf who won't respond to sympathy, therapy, or centuries of gentle nudging will absolutely respond to a dare. It's a loving act of manipulation, and it works because the people behind it know him.

Each date is its own short story — three previously published in anthologies over the past decade, two brand new — and Briggs threads them together with enough connective tissue that it reads as one continuous narrative. I listened to the whole thing without realizing some of these stories were over ten years old. The seams don't show, which is genuinely impressive craft.

The adventures escalate from hilariously awkward to genuinely dangerous, and through all of it, Asil is exactly who you'd expect him to be: dry, controlled, self-aware, unexpectedly empathetic, and deeply tired in a way that has nothing to do with sleep.

What got me was how quietly the shift happens. He walks into the first date out of sheer competitive stubbornness. By the midpoint, he's looking forward to the next one. By the end, he's choosing something he stopped believing he'd ever have again. Briggs never makes a speech about it. She just lets you watch a man lean forward by inches until he's reaching for something instead of waiting to be done.

His inner monologue is the best part. He reads people the way old wolves do — patiently, precisely, without judgment. He's funny without trying to be, dangerous without performing it, and decent in a way that feels earned rather than written.

That said — this is a love letter to longtime readers, not a standalone. If you don't already know this world, you'll be missing half the weight. And while I enjoyed every date, there's no central plot pulling you through. It reads more like a very generous bonus story than a novel, and knowing that three of the five stories already existed makes the full-price hardcover packaging feel like a stretch. If I saw this on Book Outlet at a discount, I'd grab it for the collection in a heartbeat. But this isn't one I'd pay full price for at the bookstore.

Still — if you love Asil, if you've been waiting to see him get his moment, this is warm and fun and just a little bit heartbreaking in the best way. Worth the visit.

3.5 stars.

Tropes: grumpy loner · reluctant dating · found family meddling · urban fantasy · interconnected short stories · slow emotional thaw

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by Tynga at Monday, October 26, 2026

 Alpha amp; Omega, found family, grumpy loner, Patricia Briggs, Review, Urban Fantasy, werewolf  Leave your mark

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