tinkaton | 119 ☆ March-April 2026 Reads

I almost forgot I didn't do my reading round up yet, so here are the books I read in March and April! A much more productive couple months than the beginning of the year lol. A lot of comics/manga this time around.

NOVELS

The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

A retelling of the 12th-century tale of Bisclavret, a man who becomes a knight despite being afflicted with turns-into-a-wolf-sometimes-disease. I knew nothing of the original story before reading this, but looking at the summary on Wikipedia this book does mostly follow the plot of the original lai while also expanding upon it. There are multiple POVs in different styles (Bisclavret's in third person, the king's in second, and the wolf's in verse) and Bisclavret is the only named character, which must have been a pain in the ass to write imo so I was impressed.

My only nitpick is that the most interesting stuff doesn't happen until about the last third of the book, and that includes the romance. I feel like whatever advertisement/recommendation I saw for this book made it seem like a romance? It's not, not in the modern genre sense. It's more a romance in the medieval romance literature sense. Lots of one-sided yearning and courtly loyalty and such. But it does have a happy ending and was entertaining throughout, so I do recommend it!

A Vow Made Twice by Emma Denny (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

The conclusion to Denny's Barden sibling medieval romance series featuring my favorite kind of historical romance man: guy fucked up by a war. Add in a poly romance and some genderfuckery and this was a lot of fun. There is basically no external plot but that's okay because I read like 60% of this book in one day anyway. It's way smuttier than the previous two books which is great, I would love to know what made Denny be like "and for my final act I will do a poly romance with added kink." A+ idea whatever the reasoning.

In all seriousness, I enjoyed this one the most out of the trilogy. Ash, Olly, and Agnes were all fun characters, all a little angsty in various ways, and I enjoyed their dynamic, both 1 on 1 and as a trio. Personally I would've liked Olly to be more jealous/cause more problems along the way, but what can you do. I also enjoyed seeing Penn and Raff again; the only disappointment is that Lily and Jo weren't there too, boo. It would've been nice seeing Agnes and them interact.

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

A mostly silly modern fantasy romcom about two rival grad student wizards who have to work together on their final project. I say mostly silly because the tragic trauma backstory for the MC and his best friend is so out of place in this otherwise unserious book that it's kind of funny. Girl why are you bringing wizard military bootcamps for teens into this.

Anyway, same feelings on this as The Nightmare Before Kissmas: perfectly average contemporary romance novel with some humorous fantasy worldbuilding. Sebastian and Thio were fine, though once again it's not much of a rivalry they have to overcome, it's just one guy being kind of a dick Because Trauma lmao.

All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles (★★★★★) [goodreads]

4.5 stars rounded up for another KJ Charles banger. Summoned to a wealthy relative's remote Gothic manor, Zeb Wyckham becomes embroiled in possible hauntings and something even worse: family drama over who will inherit the family's vast fortune.

This is a mystery more than Charles's usual romance fare, but there is romance involved, and more than I expected which was nice. I'm not much of a mystery genre reader but I had fun with this and thought it was kind of spooky in places, so the creepy Gothic vibes are definitely there. I really enjoyed Zeb's character, and the tone of the prose had a cheeky slant that amused me.

My biggest nitpick is that the ending is a bit of a letdown, mostly because I always expect mysteries to wow and shock me for some reason lmao. I would've liked a proper epilogue too, for how abrupt the end is.

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Aliens vs. Avengers by Jonathan Hickman & Esad Ribić (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

0/10 Tony would never abandon Steve like that and Jonathan "and a blowie" Hickman knows that.

no lmao I heard this was good so I picked it up (and I do enjoy a dumb crossover), but I must confess I've never actually seen an Alien movie and I was a little lost with the Prometheus-era film lore--

sorry I got distracted reading the Wiki entries for those movies. anyway I think if you're a fan of both Marvel and Alien this will be an entertaining comic for you! my main criticism is that it feels like it should have been an issue or two longer? like give the stuff with Mr. Sinister some time to breathe, it all wrapped up real quick.

Just Between Us by Adeline Kon (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

A timely release following the popularity of Heated Rivalry and the Winter Olympics ending (of which figure skating is the only bits I watch). While Just Between Us is pretty much your standard sports rivalry plot, I enjoyed the relationship between Lydia and Elaine and their struggles, and the art was very nice! Great for figure skating fans and yuri enjoyers.

The Demon of Beausoleil by Mari Costa (★★★★★) [goodreads]

A really fun graphic novel about a half-demon exorcist and his bodyguard in a vaguely pseudo-Victorian fantasy setting. Honestly I don't even have anything to complain about so huzzah five stars all around. The art is nicely done with a muted color color palette, and Helianthes (aka Hell) and Elias are entertaining characters with a fun, slightly antagonistic relationship. The plot is relatively simple--there's an increase in demonic activity that must be stopped as a figure from Hell's past returns--but it's Hell and Elias's relationship that was the highlight of the book for me. I love an annoying gay tsundere with a pining bodyguard that doesn't take any of his shit. The bonus comics at the end are super cute too.

SideQuested (Vol. 1) by K.B. Spangler & Alexandra Presser (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]

Volume 1 of a YA comedy-fantasy webcomic about a librarian-in-training, a princess with superstrength, and a dumb prince going on a quest to discover the truth about magic. There's a prologue and 2 chapters of the webcomic compiled here and they don't actually leave for the quest until the end of the book, so this is mostly just worldbuilding and character setup. The art very much reminds me of all the webcomics I used to read in the mid-2000s lmao. It's a decently fun read, I could see myself continuing this if the next volume comes out.

There's a love triangle in this and for once I don't want it to end in a throuple lmao Leopold stay the hell away from Charlie and Robin 🔫

In The Shadow of the Throne by Kate Sheridan & Gaia Cardinali (★★☆☆☆) [goodreads]

A YA portal fantasy about a teen who ends up in a fantasy world and gets caught up in a magical scheme. If you're like "that sounds pretty generic" yeah it is. Unfortunately this comic was just "okay." I like the art, which is what enticed me to pick this up in the first place, but the book is just too short to really do much with either plot or character development. And Jordan is very chill about training with a sword for like three hours total and then fighting people and being in danger. There's some romance, but it's also not very developed. (tbh it felt like Jordan had more chemistry with Griff than Astel??)

I will say I really liked Ysengrim's design, it was cool! But yeah this one is pretty skippable.

Castle Swimmer (Vol. 3) by Wendy Martin (★★★★☆) [goodreads]

Finally the story leaves the shark castle as Siren and Kappa venture out into the ocean doing their own thing. Kappa and the witches were especially entertaining; I'm curious to see where their plot goes with their minigod hunt. I do hope Siren and Kappa reunite soon because I miss them being cute!!

Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell (★★☆☆☆) [goodreads]

A YA fantasy graphic novel about a nonbinary teen who wants to leave their mundane life as a potion barista behind and join the infamous Brigade of Shade as an evil villain. This is a fun premise and the art is nice/I like the character designs, but otherwise it feels lacking in execution. Like there should have been more of everything? Why does the MC want to be a villain yet not want to do anything villainous lmao. It just felt like there wasn't much going on here unfortunately.

MANGA

Girl Crush (Vol. 5)
Gokurakugai (Vol. 5)
The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All (Vol. 3)
Marriage Toxin (Vol. 11)
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (Vol. 7)
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (Vol. 8)
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (Vol. 9)
Witch Hat Atelier (Vol. 14)
Witch Hat Atelier (Vol. 15)

Apparently the next English volume of WHA doesn't come out until December and I decided I cannot wait that long lmao so I caught up with the latest chapters online. The Qifrey angst reveal and the Qifrey/Olruggio backstory is crazyyyyy I'm so glad I know what's going on because dancing around spoilers was killing me. What a good series!! It's funny that the time between English releases was taking so long I completely forgot the main plot was about Coco taking her witch tests and trying to get into the Tower of Tomes until the anime reminded me shdfkjsds

119 ☆ March-April 2026 Reads

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