eARC Review: Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous
by Autumn K. England
Publication Date: May 26th 2026
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Find This Book: Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous
Source: NetGalley eARC
Rating: 2.5/5

When Oaklin Nettlewood accidentally joined an evil world-ending cult, mind control magic forced them to do unspeakable things. Years later, the realm's heroes have finally saved the day, defeated the villain, and shattered the last remnants of the spell...leaving destruction in their wake. And so, with a spell-damaged memory and whole bushel of trauma, Oaklin escapes to a small farm on the edge of Mossley's Rest and swears an After all the things they were forced to do with their magic, they will never use it again. Ever.

The no-nonsense ghost granny who lives in Oaklin's house has other ideas. As she coaxes Oaklin out of their shell and back into the world, they find companionship (a grumpy horse and a very good dog), friendship (a local bard and magical baker who should just kiss already), and tentative romance (a paladin-librarian who makes Oaklin's heart come alive for the first time in ages.) Magic even seems possible again—though strictly for foraging magical mushrooms and protecting the farm from bugs.

Healing comes in gentle waves, and Oaklin doesn't have to do it alone. So what does it mean when an inquisitor comes to town to hunt former cultists just as Oaklin begins to think that maybe, just maybe, they deserve a happy ending after all?

I went into Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous expecting a cozy fantasy, but it ended up being much quieter than I anticipated. The conflict is small-scale: the biggest question is whether Oaklin will be accepted by the town they've chosen to call home. The book explores themes of redemption, community-building, trauma recovery, and finding a place to belong, all of which sounded like they would make for a heartfelt story.

Unfortunately, the execution didn't work for me.

The biggest issue was that the book relied far too heavily on telling rather than showing. We're often told that Oaklin is making friends, settling into the community, or healing from their past, but we rarely get to experience those moments alongside them. Instead of watching relationships deepen through conversations, shared experiences, and vulnerable interactions, we're simply informed that those connections exist (especially with their baker and bard friends). As a result, I never felt emotionally invested in Oaklin or their relationships.

The pacing also felt slow. Cozy fantasy doesn't need high-stakes action to be engaging, but when a story intentionally keeps the external conflict minimal, the emotional journey has to carry the narrative. But as mentioned above, that emotional payoff really suffered from moments of "tell, don't show" when we're looking for moments of "show, don't tell." Without the emotional journey, the story lacked the momentum needed to keep me engaged.

I can appreciate what this book was trying to do. It offers a gentle story centered on healing and second chances rather than epic quests or dramatic battles, and I think readers who enjoy extremely slow-paced, slice-of-life fantasy may find comfort in it. For me, though, the combination of sluggish pacing and the persistent "tell, don't show" writing style kept me at arm's length from both the characters and the story, making it a miss for me.

Review: Grit by Gillian French

Grit

by Gillian French

Publication Date: May 9^th 2017

Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher

Find This Book: Grit

Rating: 2.5/5

*****CW: RAPE, SEXUAL MANIPULATION BY TEACHER, SLUT-SHAMMING, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, KIDNAPPING/DISAPPEARANCE*****

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for honest review.

This book was a disappointment to me. It feels like it barely scratched the surface. I don’t read a lot of contemporary, so it was refreshing in that regard, and I enjoyed Darcy and reading from her perspective. Darcy is slut-shamed throughout the book which isn’t really warranted and was upsetting the whole way through. Even her aunt trash-talks Darcy in her own home. It was disgusting to read those scenes to be honest. I hate her aunt so much. The ‘tragic’ backstory of her aunt does not excuse her present behavior. Though apparently it does to the characters within the novel. All of the characters were flawed in their own way but there was so much going on it was hard to find a main plot or point. Darcy’s ex-best friend is missing, Darcy’s dad is dead, Nell’s father left her family before she was born, there’s rape, and sexual manipulation of a teacher to a student… there’s a pageant thrown in there, it’s a lot going on at once.

I think the slut shaming was done in semi-good taste. Slut-shaming by the main character is so prevalent in books these days that it was fantastic to read about the damage the rest of YA protagonists inflict. Darcy gets so much crap from everyone around her based off of rumors. Nobody ever listens to her truths and she takes the brunt of it to protect those she cares about from getting similar harassment. Hopefully a learning lesson for young readers to just keep an open mind about their peers.

What really disappointed me was that the rest of these issues aren’t actually addressed. Most of the events happen before the start of the novel, and the novel is Darcy living her life harvesting blueberries in Maine as secrets slowly spill out. It felt weird not knowing what all the horrible secrets were until the end of the novel. It didn’t leave any room for doing something about all of the secrets, or moving forward, or opening the discussion up for readers. It mostly felt like these serious issues were just quick plot points- aka my disappointment. The secrets-revealed-the-end sort of thing doesn’t work with stuff this huge.

The author says one of the characters may have been depressed and suicidal in one sentence and then never brings it up again. It needed to be addressed. Similarly, the rape happens and then it’s never brought up again with any sort of resolution. They even have to encounter their rapist multiple times throughout the book pretending like nothing happened. And the rapist is so casual and oblivious about how encountering him makes her feel. This was the biggest issue in the book for me, primarily because the other problems got more ‘screen-time,’ the whole town knew about them, and felt more resolved. This rapist is walking around and nobody knows and it’s implied that nobody will know. It was very uncomfortable to read. The victim doesn’t really take the time to address her situation either because they’re dealing with so many other people’s problems too. Suicide, kidnapping, sex, alcohol, rape, and teacher manipulation are deep and important issues. It felt like the least the author could’ve done is go in a bit more, hash out the problematic stuff, and leave the reader more fulfilled. Not closure per-say, but with more doors opened for discussion about these issues instead of just making them feel like plot points.

The author had the opportunity here to really do some good and bring light and understanding to tough situations, and I was really let down by how it turned out. Sure the book was more complicated and in-depth than I’m making it sound, pretty much all the characters are realistically flawed and have reasons for being problematic. I also don’t think I could really expect the author to do much more while still being under 300 pages, but I’m dismayed that the author created this platform… and then just did nothing with it.