2-1-26 — Christina Critiques

FUNERAL SONG

By: Carly Racklin

Release: 1/27/26

Page Count: 138

KU: No      Hoopla: No

Synopsis: Friede is the local pianist for funerals, even though she’s dead. By her wife.

First line: Friede tried to scream, but no sound came out.”

Favorite line: “However you cut it, dying was often inconvenient. An interruption. Scheduled had to be amended, arrangements made, and family pulled from their own important business.”

Thoughts: THIS? THIS IS THE DEBUT?! Holy shit. Between the love triangle and the layered storyline representing grief, death, and the lengths others would go to to keep their loved ones around, Racklin gives us more than the reader could ask for. It’s sapphic, but make it a possible bisexual novella as well. The reader must decide on their own what is truly happening between the characters and I think I loved that more than anything.

Rating: 5/5

Other recommendations: N/A

Find it here: https://a.co/d/0p5X7rm

RED AND THE WOLVES: A Graphic Novel

By: Cherry Zong

Release: 1/13/26

Page count: 365

KU: No       Hoopla: Yes

Synopsis: Red and her grandma are the last humans in the area but there are still other beings that hope things will change. When Red happens upon a trapped animal, it proves to be something more and will expose secrets that are decades old.

First line: “In order to protect her newly formed children, she broke part of her own soul into small fragments.”

Favorite line: “Weird human. What have I gotten myself into…”

Thoughts: By far, the most interesting and beautiful re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood. Sapphic as well, familial secrets, and found family, this graphic novel shows readers a different and more emotional story. The illustrations and writing are superb. I just wish the earlier lives of the characters were explored a bit more.

Rating: 4/5

Other recommendations: N/A

Find it here: https://a.co/d/29oyQp3

TOWHEAD

By: Jason Nickey

Page count: 136

Release: 1/23/26

KU: Yes           Hoopla: No

Synopsis: A town with a secret, a mother put in the middle and a problem with missing bodies piling up.

First line: “A cool breeze flowed through the town of Bramble, West Virginia as Tommy Kline and his friends, Danny and Scott, decided to call it a night.

Favorite line: “‘I have a family now,’ she’d said. ‘You made your choice.’”

Thoughts: I am rarely creeped out by a book - I can plant myself firmly in reality, but Nickey likes to ruin my personal streaks. There are two scenes - no bloody deaths, nothing of the sorts, but it will cause the reader to turn on every light in the house. And the characters; the readers go through just as much evolution as they do. Get that DM straight to Nickey open because you are going to send a message cursing him out until your fingers are numb.

Rating: 10/5 (the first one of the year)

Find it here: https://a.co/d/d6IOkIO