Mini Review: We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune

Title: We Burned So Bright

Author: TJ Klune

Genre: Queer Adult Fiction

Year of publication: 2026


BLURB

The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how—impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

God this book was utterly powerful and totally emotional. It was fabulous. All the stars.

Don and Rodney say goodbye to their friends and hit the road as the end of the world approaches, with one final thing left to do.

What follows is their journey, memorable people they meet along the way and their back story. It was beautiful, heartbreaking, and somehow still full of warmth. Absolute perfection.

⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5


Sound like something you’d like?

June 2026 Book Releases You Can’t Miss!!!

Here are some new books releasing in June 2026 that I’m most excited for…

When I say ‘books’ I mean 1. Believe me, no one is more shocked than I am that there is only 1 book on my list!!!

Light Wielder by Rachel Schneider

Will you be getting any of these?

TTT – Favourite Secondary/Minor Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: Favourite Secondary/Minor Characters

I could’ve gone on for years with this topic!!!

Chauncey (The House in the Cerulean Sea) – love that green blob!
Liam Mairi (Fourth Wing) – loyal, lovely – say no more 😭
Manon Blackbeak (Throne of Glass) – ruthless and 100% compelling – I love her!
Kip (Ashes/Legends of Thezmarr) –  charming, humorous, cunning and loyal.
Bartholomew (Knight and the Moth) –  gargoyle, funny and utterly sweet.

Suriel (ACOTAR): knows everything, an unexpected ally – loved.
Matthew Fairchild (The Last Hours) – broken, fabulous and totally chaotic!
Lysandra (Throne of Glass) – fierce, loyal and a shape-shifter to boot!
Kieran (From Blood and Ash) – loyal, witty, protective best friend.
Sevro (Red Rising) – v strange, fierce and loyal friend.

Who would be your choices?

20 Books of Summer is back!

I try and take part every year…and this year is no exception…20 Books of Summer is back!
This year its being hosted by AnnaBookBel

I will be doing my usual:

📚 10 books
📖 Not picking titles
😉 Enjoying my summer reading!

Here are the details:

• The #20BOS26 challenge runs from Monday June 1st to Monday August 31st
• The first rule of 20 Books is that there are no real rules, other than signing up for 10, 15 or 20 books and trying to read from your TBR. (If you think you’ll only manage 5, that’s fine too.)
• Pick your list in advance, or nominate a bookcase to read from, or pick just at whim from your TBR.
• If you do pick a list, you can change it at any time – swap books in/out.
• Don’t get panicked at not reaching your target, it’s not really a challenge as such.
• Don’t forget to add your posts to the monthly linkys. The final one will stay open till for a week into September to catch the last reviews.

Will you join?

Blogiversary – 11 years! 🥂

Happy Blogiversary to me!!

Eleven years! Wow! It really only feels like yesterday!

I love seeing your posts, replying to comments and have made some fab online friends! I will admit, however, that I wish I had more time to do more!

Here’s to 11 more years and I am thankful for each and every one of you!

Illumicrate Unboxing – April 26: Faerie Bargains

April 2026
Theme = Faerie Bargains


Those in need do hear the call, for under spells most humans fall. To colour beyond mortal margins, they will swear on faerie bargains.

Items inspired byThe Courting of Bristol Keats, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries and the monthly theme.

💛 Wayward Realm Mug – artwork by @rosiethorns88 inspired by Emily Wilde.
💛 Twisted Bargains Oven Glove – artwork from @_smurfee inspired by The Courting of Bristol Keats
💛 Faerie Bookshelf Cross Stitch Bookmark Kit with artwork from @escheeseman
💛 Fae Enchantments Stamp Washi Tape Set inspired by Lore of the Wilds, These Hollow Vows and The Rose Bargain. Artwork by @forensicsandflowers



💛 FEATURED BOOK 💛

Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan

✨ An exclusive redesigned cover (art by @niallcgrant)
✨ Full colour artwork on the hardback with foil details (art by @harkalelinai)
✨ Digitally printed edges on all three sides (by @harkalelinai)
✨ Endpaper artwork; different front and back (by @olyfrogg)
✨ Bonus content
✨ Bound-in author letter
✨ Digital signature


BLURB

Faeries disappeared over one hundred years ago, as suddenly as slipping through a doorway. It was only the very foolish, or the very determined, who held out hope for their return.

Welcome to Thistlemarsh—a ramshackle estate where an impoverished orphan and a beguiling Faerie collide in an enchanting novel of love, revenge, and ruin.

In the wake of World War I, the world is a decidedly unmagical place for Mouse Dunne. She once dreamed of becoming a Faerie anthropologist, but with one telegram, her world shattered. At the Battle of the Somme, her cousin’s body disappeared into the mud, and her brother was left with debilitating shell shock. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish dreams.

When Mouse receives news that her uncle has left her the Faerie-blessed Thistlemarsh Hall, a dilapidated manor in the English countryside, she must leave her brother’s side and return to her childhood home to claim her birthright. But there is a catch in her uncle’s will: If Mouse does not rehabilitate the crumbling house in one month’s time, she will forfeit her inheritance and any hope of caring for her brother.

It quickly becomes clear it’s impossible to repair the manor in the allotted time, until a mysterious Faerie appears with a proposition. He offers to restore Thistlemarsh…for a price. Mouse knows better than to trust a Faerie—especially one so insufferably handsome and arrogant—but she is out of options. There are dark and magical forces at work in the house, and Mouse must confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets of her heart or lose Thistlemarsh, and herself, in the process.

TTT – May Flowers

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Topic: May Flowers

A companion to the April Showers topic from last month.

I’ve chosen books with flowers, trees and leaves!

The Poet Empress
The Everlasting
A Dark Forgetting
Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

The Enchanted Greenhouse
A Steep and Savage Path
The Spellshop
The Honey Witch
House of Roots and Ruin

What books would you choose?

The Sunday Post! Long weekend plans were a bust!!!!!

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.

Hope you’ve had a good week!

We had a long weekend as it was May Day on Monday and I can safely say I didn’t do any of the jobs I wanted to do!!! I procrastinated the days away! I did do all my washing and put it away though so I call that a win!

My son starts his GCSE’s tomorrow and I am more nervous than he is!

I did read a whole book though (who am I?!) I also thoroughly enjoyed it!


🎧 We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

See my review soon!


Book Review – Shadow Prince by Helen Scheuerer
Feature – Stacking the Shelves: April 2026


Unboxing – Illumicrate: April 2026
Celebration – My Blogiversary!

What have you read lately?

Stacking the Shelves – April 2026

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! And audiobooks. Don’t forget audiobooks!

In other words, if you can read it or if it can be read to you – no matter how you got it – it belongs in Stacking the Shelves.

The Stacking the Shelves meme was originally hosted at Team Tynga’s Reviews. It is currently hosted by Reading Reality.


3 pre-orders, a book box book and an e-arc. Honestly, I don’t think that’s too bad! What do you think?

Books I Bought

A Heart So Green by Lyra Selene
The Mating Game by Lana Ferguson
Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry
Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan (Illumicrate)


Advanced Reader Copies

The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden

I’d better get reading!