{"id":5737,"date":"2026-03-05T04:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5737"},"modified":"2026-03-05T04:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T04:12:43","slug":"monthly-features-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5737","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Features \u2013 February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Twin Rivers by Jeremy Bender<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>The High Priest rules the city of Twin Rivers in the name of the Lord of Mercy, his AI god. In this land, where robotic Brothers complete all labor and humans are left to enjoy the fruits of this Eden, something rotten grows. Yonatan, a newly ascended Priest in the sclerotic Priesthood, is meant to shore up the faith of those left behind. Yet as Yonatan\u2019s preaching takes him deep into the city\u2019s bowels, he must confront heresy far deeper rooted than he ever imagined. When he sees one of the city\u2019s paramilitary Keepers leave a young woman to die because of her unsanctioned implants, Yonatan must decide whether his faith in the Lord of Mercy outweighs his own belief in human exceptionalism.<\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>Overall,\u00a0Twin Rivers<\/em>\u00a0is a dense, unsettling dystopian sci-fi novel about a city that calls itself paradise while feeding on control, faith, and violence. Through priests, enforcers, and those left outside the walls, it explores how power hides behind ritual and how mercy becomes a weapon. Dark, intense, and uncomfortable in the right ways, it\u2019s a story about what people are willing to ignore to keep believing they\u2019re safe.<\/p>\n

See the full review here: Twin Rivers<\/em><\/a>
Purchase here<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Dog Years of Ananias Zachenko by Paul H. Lepp<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>What do you do when you run out of time? Ask Ananias Ezra Zachenko what he did after he was diagnosed. He set an agenda, took care of finances, delved into relationships, considered the heroic act. Didn\u2019t go into denial, but defiance, there\u2019s a difference.<\/p>\n

He put it all in motion during the time he had left. A dog gets seven years to our one. Chenko rationalized the relationship by taking the best from both, our days the dog\u2019s years and began to calculate. Anything to lengthen the short leash he is on.<\/p>\n

During his dog years he planned for everything, but nothing turned out as expected. He concentrated on time, when he should have been looking at weight. No matter the type of year, when one runs out of time on this side, one has to figure out how to make weight on the other side.<\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>Overall,\u00a0The Dog Years of Ananias Zachenko<\/em>\u00a0 is a\u00a0quiet, thoughtful novel about illness, time, and the way diagnosis forces a person to renegotiate their relationship with living. Grounded, reflective, and emotionally restrained, this story explores how we measure time when the future becomes uncertain \u2014 and whether time can ever really be controlled at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See the full review here: The Dog Years of Ananias Zachenko<\/em><\/a>
Purchase here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Her Ravishing Heartless Prince by A P Von K\u2019Ory<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>He\u2019s a European prince with a thousand-year lineage\u2014and he hates her as much as he craves her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alyssa:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Prince Carl-Theodor Frederick Maximillian Christoph Albert Maria Johann Anselm is as insufferable as his name is long. Arrogant, powerful, entitled\u2014everything I despise wrapped in devastatingly gorgeous packaging.<\/p>\n

So I do what I do best: verbally eviscerate him and his precious bloodline with razor-sharp insults. I avoid him like the plague.<\/p>\n

But avoidance only delays the inevitable.<\/p>\n

Soon he has me exactly where I\u2019ve been secretly fantasizing\u2014on my knees before him. The problem? I can\u2019t tell if this is seduction or revenge. Prince Hot and Cold swings between arctic ice and molten lava, dragging me to the edge of beautiful insanity.<\/p>\n

The real question: will I survive the fall?<\/span><\/p>\n

Prince Carl-Theodor:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Alyssa obliterates my world like a derailed train the moment we meet. Her beauty blinds me\u2014then her vicious tongue insults thirteen thousand years of noble bloodline.<\/p>\n

No one has ever dared.<\/p>\n

As Head and Defender of the House of Saxony-Bremer, I vow on my ancestors\u2019 graves to make her pay. I\u2019ll bend her. Break her. Make her beg until she drowns in regret.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the twisted irony that threatens everything: hurting her destroys me too.<\/p>\n

I can watch her crumble, hear her wounded cries\u2014but the moment she surrenders, something in my chest stops cold.
Have I sworn an oath that will damn us both? And why does her pain feel like my own destruction?<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>Overall, this is a high-drama, ego-heavy royal romance where attraction and revenge walk hand in hand. If you enjoy dominant alpha tension, pride-fueled misunderstandings, and romance wrapped in luxury and lineage, this delivers an intense, indulgent ride.<\/p>\n

See the full review here:\u00a0Her Ravishing Heartless Prince<\/em><\/a>
Purchase here<\/a><\/p>\n

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The 7 Albums of Stovepipe by Paul H. Lepp<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.<\/p>\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>From 1948 to 1982 nothing was as high mileage as a turntable. The speed limit was set at 331\/3 rpms to take a spin down a highway of tunes on a ten-inch vinyl LP (Long Play) record album. The turning point 1982 when Compact Discs began to put the albums in our attics and closets. To some the change from LP to CD was a turning point on the same level as BC to AD. A wealthy collector has a well-trained staff they spend their time on finding the artifacts the turning points of the Boomer Generation left behind, items like Lee Harvey Oswalt\u2019s belt, Jack Ruby\u2019s cuff links. His staff comes across a nine word offer on the net, \u201cAny Albums Made by the Stovepipe \u2013 Name Your Price.\u201d He allows his staff to investigate, the project becomes an obsession. What they find out is a group known as The Chronologists are also interested in the authenticity of Stovepipe, the Musical Massiah between LP and CD, master of voice and instrument, lord of technology. Both Collector and Chronologists want to prove Stovepipe beyond a myth like Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed, but for different reasons. One wants to prove he is alive, the other dead, and only one can be right.<\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>Overall, a\u00a0dense, unconventional novel that blends conspiracy, cultural history, and myth-making,\u00a0The Seven Albums of Stovepipe<\/em>\u00a0is less about proving whether its central figure exists and more about why we need him to. The book rewards patient readers who enjoy experimental fiction, unreliable narrators, and stories that feel part oral history, part conspiracy file \u2014 especially those interested in music culture and how influence gets erased or mythologized.\u00a0<\/p>\n

See the full review here: The 7 Albums of Stovepipe<\/em><\/a>
Purchase here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twin Rivers by Jeremy Bender I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion. Synopsis: The High Priest rules the city of Twin Rivers in the name of the Lord of Mercy, his AI god. In this land, where robotic Brothers complete all labor and humans are left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}