ARC REVIEW: Kingdom Of The Owl by Christine Drummond

SO…. I apparently signed up to become an ARC reader for this book. I completely forgot about it until I got an email saying I was selected as an ARC reader! This book looks like a romantasy lover’s dream. KINGDOM OF THE OWL is set to be a cross between a modern-day Outlander mixed in with ACOTAR romantasy. Let’s dive deeper!

Kingdom Of The Owl

Expected Publishing Date: April 6th 2027

Genre: Fantasy, romantasy, portal fantasy

Featured Tropes include:

⚔️ Enemies to lovers

🔥 Spice

🤝 Forced proximity

🔥 Slow burn

🛏️ One bed / 🐎 one horse / ⛺ one tent

🌊 Elemental powers

🕶️ Fake name/secrets everywhere

✨Celtic mythology, reimagined

🖤 Real-world girl, otherworld problems

✨ Enemies-to-lovers slow burn

🖤 “Who did this to you?”

✨ Magic, monsters, and morally grey men

🖤 One bed at the inn

✨️ A heroine who just wants to go home… until she doesn’t

Addie Howell has perfected the art of holding it all together—until her anxiety-fueled sleep hallucinations rip her out of Manhattan and drop her into Threllwood, a realm teetering on the edge of destruction.

Captured by a mysterious commander with too many secrets and eyes like cobalt flame, Addie must decide: risk everything to save a world she barely understands—or run back to the safety of her own, and break both their hearts in the process.

REVIEW

What a whirlwind read! This was the most beautiful read I had read in a long time. I went in grumpy and came out smiling. Drummond’s world-building is spectacular, and you surprisingly get lost in her magical world of Threllwood. We meet Addie, who is going through some stuff, as well as being plagued with nightmares of a strange forest and owls that she shrugs off as anxiety; at least that is what her therapist is telling her- but when her dreams start seeping into her reality, she finds herself falling through the portal into a world that is strange, yet oddly like home.

Addie is unsure how she got to this world called Threllwood. When she gets caught by the Queen’s commander, he thinks she could be his dying kingdom’s hope, and more.

This book is absolutely captivating, and I did not want to admit it. As I said, I went into reading this grumpy, not feeling romantasy at the moment. That mood soon changed the moment I started reading. You instantly get invested in Addie’s life and journey where, if you take away all the magic and fantasy, this book is about finding yourself. Finding your home.

Also, I had been reading thrillers and horror books lately, so reading this portal romantasy was actually a breath of fresh air and cleansed my reading palate. I have to step back into the world of horror for my next review read, so The Kingdom Of The Owl has refreshed me. I really enjoyed it; therefore, my rating is

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐5/ 5 stars.

HEY! Want a chance to get this book early like me? Starting August 18th – September 11th 2026, you can join the KICKSTARTER hosted by City Owl Press and Guilded Wings Books to sign up and receive a signature edition copy that features:

Foil-Stamped Hardcover
Curved Classic Spine
Sprayed Edges
Full-Color Endpapers
Specialty Interior Formatting
Hand-Signed

Plus LOTS of surprise add-ons!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christine Drummond has been weaving tales of unlikely heroes finding courage, love, and belonging since childhood.

Her work blends slow-burn chemistry, immersive settings, and emotional journeys—whether set in modern cityscapes or magic-touched realms—and is known for its complex characters and a healthy dose of wit. Her work has earned recognition:

Her debut Romantasy sold to City Owl Press for publication in 2027
Kingdom of the Owl was long-listed for Uncharted Mag’s 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest
Christine has grown an audience of thousands of followers on Bookstagram
In a prior life, Christine’s writing on her culinary exploits was published in Huffington Post

When she’s not writing (or chatting about it), Christine can be found chasing after her two young daughters, hiking scenic trails with her husband, or cozying up with her latest read.

She brings a business-savvy mindset to every project, thanks to dual degrees in Marketing and International Business from the University of Maryland—and a touch of sensory detail from her Culinary Arts training at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

Follow Christine at christinemdrummond.com and on Instagram and TikTok

June 5, 2026

ARC Book Review: DON’T LET IT OUT by N.A. Betts

First, a big thank you to the author for giving me an ARC copy of DON’T LET IT OUT to review.

Don’t Let It Out

Publish Date: October 13th 2026

Publisher: Legend Forge Press

Genre: psychological thriller, horror, Eldritch horror, Cosmic horror

The assignment was simple: contain the forest. Don’t let anything out.

FBI Agent Daniela Rojas arrives with a secret mission of her own. To uncover the truth behind Project Greenfall, a classified experiment buried by the Canopy Collective. RCMP Corporal Cade Mercer is there for a different reason. Two years ago, his wife vanished inside these woods. No body. No answers. Only the quiet certainty that something took her.

Now they stand watch at the edge of a quarantined wilderness that shouldn’t exist. The forest is changing. Spreading. Breathing. Time slips. Reality bends. And beyond the fence they are ordered never to cross, someone is calling to them. A woman tied to both of their pasts—a woman who should be dead.

As the pull of the forest tightens, so does the infection taking root beneath the trees. What waits inside isn’t just survival horror, it’s something far more intimate.

Because this forest doesn’t just infect the body. It gets inside you. Learns you. Remakes you.

And by the time Daniela and Cade understand what’s happening to them…it may already be too late to escape it.

REVIEW

Now, let me say, if they rebooted Tales from the Crypt for 2026, I think “Don’t Let it Out” would fit right in. It is the kind of story that has a message at the end. Mother Nature always wins.

Don’t Let It Out is an eco-horror thriller in which we meet our MC (Main Character). Dani Rojas, who was a Ranger assigned to guard a quarantine forest with her group. A forest no one should have gone inside, as Dani is the only one to come out alive. Traumatized, she tried to escape it, hide. She is now in an FBI position, but her past comes back to haunt her, and she is assigned to return there. PTSD kicks in big time, or so she thinks, but her nightmares, visions, and voices might just be real as she partners with Cade Mercer, who has ties to what happened in the woods as well. His wife, Sera, also went missing in those woods back then, too. And when they find her, Dani is shocked because she should not be alive… cause she had been the one to kill her. Dani is now determined to find out the truth. Sadly, she might not survive even if she learns it.

This book is psychologically fast-paced until we get to the final fallout, where Betts lets it simmer in horrifically tense goodness. The outcome I was shocked yet satisfied, as I love it when an author doesn’t leave everything black and white. The ending is grey, oh so grey is all I can say.

Oh! And working the title of the book into the story, chef’s kiss! My Rating⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ out of 5 stars.

DON’T LET IT OUT is set to release on October 13th, 2026

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

N.A. (Nick) Betts is a Canadian author of epic fantasy with a love for timeless storytelling. A Veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, he crafts sweeping tales of good versus evil, drawing inspiration from Tolkien and other classic works of the genre. His stories are filled with tropes such as coming of age, self-discovery, and found family, while exploring themes of physical perseverance and mental resilience. When he’s not busy creating new worlds, Nick can be found diving into stories of the unexplained or relaxing with some good jazz. He lives just outside Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and their cats, Bandit, Carter, and Addley.

Follow him and his books on Instagram @authornickbetts

October 13, 2025October 12, 2025

ARC Book Review: I’m Not Sorry by Rissa Blakeley

What could strengthen friendships better than a murder, a funeral, and digging up a body?

I’m Not Sorry

Publish Date: October 14th, 2025

Genre: Mystery/ Supernatural/ LGBTQ+ Mystery/Mystery Thriller/ Mystery Suspense

Pages: 430

Eighteen-year-old Billie-Ashley arrived at Thornes University with a secret and an envelope, containing a promise of a life-changing amount of money and to learn more about her past once she completes a task.

The problem? The task wasn’t stated.

She planned to be a wallflower. But within minutes that plan becomes a tangled mess. She is placed in the room once occupied by the girl who disappeared a couple of weeks prior.

Thanks to a handsome stranger, who is now wearing her iced mocha, Billie-Ashley learns the value of friendships. She intertwines herself within a group of guys while secretly gathering tidbits of information even when a warning turns deadly.

With the threat breathing down her neck, can Billie-Ashley keep her secret and complete the task?

GET IT HERE

REVIEW

When fellow author Rissa Blakeley came asking if I’d do an ARC review of her new book, “I’m Not Sorry,” I was more than happy to. My kindness almost killed me, though, as I piled too much on my work plate. By some miraculous grace, I did manage to finish the book just in time for its release day tomorrow (October 14th), and oh my gosh, what a book! Blakely writes with a nice contemporary realism that carries you through this suspense thriller mystery. We met a college-age Billy- Ashley. Someone gave her a ton of money to attend the specific Thorne University. It could hold the secrets to her twin sister’s disappearance. Billy-Ashley was just going to be a wallflower while she searched for the truth, but when she was greeted and welcomed by the welcoming Rex and his crew, Billy-Ashley could not help but feel accepted for the first time in a long time.

Billy-Ashley wasn’t there to make friends, though. When Billy-Ashley investigates the school’s recent mystery of a former student whose room she now occupies, she uncovers a connection to the cold case of her missing sister. Danger ensues for Billy-Ashley and her friends.

“I’m Not Sorry” is beautifully written. A haunting story that will linger in your soul long after you have read it. It’s a mix of a stealth murder mystery thriller with a dash of supernatural, which hooked me instantly. Every character is essential and written to be well-rounded and believable.

It also made me think. If you read Blakeley’s introduction before reading, you will discover how this story was personal and a struggle for her to write. Keeping this in mind, while reading, I thought I’d see the revelation, but I didn’t. It was not until I read the acknowledgment that I understood why this story was personal to Blakely. Which made me wonder what this means about myself? All I saw was a beautiful story with beautiful characters and an engrossing murder mystery. I did not see this as an LGBTQ themed story. It was just a story, and a darn good one. It’s also a story about friendship and feeling accepted, which I think everyone on earth can relate to, yet we exclude so much in this world.

Therefore, I give “I’m Not Sorry” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 stars.

Like this review? Feel free to support and buy me a coffee, and read other book goodie stuff at

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rissa Blakeley is the author of a fantasy paranormal series, Corvidae Guard, a post-apocalyptic series, Shattered Lives, and a horror short, Grammy’s Supper.

As a native New Yorker, Rissa is now a Georgia transplant, who is completely addicted to black coffee and La Croix. When Rissa isn’t writing, she can be found procrastinating on social media.

Follow Blakeley and her books at https://www.rissablakeley.com/ and on Instagram @rissa_blakeley