March 2026 Reads
March has come and gone already!! The weather has been up and down, with extreme highs and lows (we had snow the day after the temperatures hit the 80s at one point!) and that honestly pretty accurately represents my energy levels this month. My birthday is in March, which is always great, but between social obligations, work, and general life events, I really spread myself a bit thin this month, and it felt like I didn’t get to read as much as I would have liked, and certainly it wasn’t always as invigorating for me as I usually find it to be.
This month, I delved into romantasy for the first time, followed up new volumes in various series that I’ve been following, and read some great nonfiction as well!
THE NIGHTBORN DUET
THE SERPENT & THE WINGS OF NIGHT, THE ASHES & THE STAR-CURSED KING
Carissa Broadbent (2022, 2023)
I’m not very well-versed in the “romantasy” genre, and I will admit to falling prey to the assumptions and jokes based on romantasy stereotypes in the past. I’ve never been hugely into fantasy novels, and romance even less so, these types of books were never really destined to be among the first I grab off the shelf. However, I took a chance on this duology of books, having found them in a neighborhood Little Free Library, and was actually quite pleased.
The Nightborn Duet takes place in the fictional kingdom of Obitraes, a land shared by vampires, broken down into three kingdoms, — Bloodborn, Nightborn, and Shadowborn, and of course, there is a much subjugated human population as well.
Our main character for these two books, Oraya, and later her love interest Raihn, are Nightborn: Oraya is a human who has been adopted and trained for combat by the Nightborn king, Vincent. Raihn is a turned human, now a vampire. The Nightborn is divided into two different races, the Hiaj and the Rishan, who have of course been warring as long as anyone can remember.
The world is actually quite interesting, and is the only time I can think of where I’ve read a vampire novel where I got an ancient, dusty, almost desert-like vibe from the world we’re inhabiting, except for maybe Queen of the Damned, but that’s dealing so specifically with ancient Egypt, which is of course real, I hesitate to compare them. I would love more background and fleshing out about the difference between the three kingdoms, and their cultures, but given that there are many more books and novellas in this series (Crowns of Nyaxia), I expect that should I choose to keep reading, I’ll get more of that in the future.
Serpent & Wings, the first book in the series, deals a lot with growing up in fear and isolation, and learning how to let people in when you’ve been taught everything and everyone around you is a danger; and Ashes revolves around how to reconcile with the betrayal of those you DO let in, when the people you trust let you down or fail you, whether or not that’s a lover, a parent, or an entire system.
The first book has a more….defined feel to it, fitting into structurally neat sections based around a tournament, while the second book takes place in the aftermath of said tournament, and delves deeply into the characters’ internal struggles with their choices in the first book.
For a first foray into romantasy, this book actually kinda….hit??? I'm somewhat indifferent to the steamy scenes — I’m not a prude, I guess that’s just not what I read for — but these were well executed (if a little long for me, personally) and I do find myself curious about what the rest of the Crowns of Nyaxia series has to offer.
SUPER PSYCHIC POLICEMAN CHOJO VOL 2
Shun Numa (2024; 2026)
The misadventures of our titular super psychic policeman and his comrades continue in the second volume of this series! While it doesn’t quite deliver on the same level of funny faces and visual gags that had me laughing out loud in volume one, this volume has a few multi-chapter storylines, breaking up the more single chapter slice of life feel that volume one had. While we don’t get to know the characters any more in a meaningful, story-driven kind of way, we do get to spend more time with them and get to know the feel of them, if that makes sense. A solid second volume in the series!
NANA 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION VOL 3
Ai Yazawa (2002; 2026)
I am loving these 25th anniversary editions of NANA. I’m a longtime fan, having originally read the chapters when they were first serialized in English, in Shojo Beat magazine in the early ‘00s. These 2-in-1 editions of the manga have gorgeous, trendy covers showcasing Ai Yazawa’s art and incredibly cool plaid printed pages. Volume 3 contains what was originally printed in volumes 5 and 6.
If you haven’t read Nana before, you absolutely should — but much of what I could say here would make absolutely no sense to you. This is the volume where we see Nana O. and the members of Blast start to get more serious about their Tokyo careers, and we get to meet the members of Trapnest. The love triangle between Nana K., Nobu, and Takumi is established here, remaining a key plot point for the a good chunk of the series, and we also get a closer look at Trapnest’s vocalist and one of two universally fan-despised characters, Reira, who we learn is the former girlfriend of everyone’s favorite skinhead, Yasu, and currently entangled with Blast’s youngest (read: definitely not of legal age) member, Shin. If you haven’t read Nana yet, this is your sign!
THE BELLE OF BEDFORD AVENUE
Virginia A. McConnell (2019)
After a long jaunt in the land of steamy fantasy, followed by classic shoujo manga drama, I needed a bit of a change, and decided to return to one of my favorite wells when looking for something to read: true crime. Specifically, Victorian and Gilded Age true crime is one of my favorite things to read, and this book didn’t disappoint.
While not up there with some of my favorite cases, this was really interesting. The book itself, to me, read almost more like a biography of the titular belle herself, Florence Burns, rather than strictly a true crime book, although her life is so defined by the crimes she was in and around, it would almost be impossible not to write a true crime book about her life, whether you wanted to or not.
While I think the term “affluenza” is kind of corny, there’s no better word to describe the life of Florence Burns. Born to a life of privilege and determined to squander it, Florence Burns was a turn-of-the-century ne'er-do-well for the ages. To be completely honest, I find something kind of….well, I wouldn’t say aspirational, but maybe endearing about Florence, with regards to her bad behavior - much of it would be pretty normal teen behavior by modern standards. Her commitment to acting out and doing what she wanted, when she wanted, in the face of the social expectations of the time, particularly with regards to class and gender, feels feminist in its own way. That being said, Florence Burns had PLENTY of flaws (let’s just say any feminism one might be willing to ascribe to her would certainly not be intersectional) and was prone to making insanely bad choices, ones I certainly can’t and won’t support.
Florence Burns is a fascinating character of America’s Gilded Age, and her outrageous life is well worth a read.
LAST CALL TO LEAVE EARTH
Cassio Ribeiro (2025, 2026)
This graphic novel by Brazillian writer and artist Cassio Ribeiro wears its manga influences on its sleeve. To be honest, I’m not one of those people who is not really a stickler on when and why we define “manga” — should it only apply to Japanese comics, as per the term itself? Or does a graphic novel that follows the form and its trappings so closely deserve to be listed among peers like Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction by Inio Asano? I’d personally argue that this is manga, to me, but I digress.
Three friends capture an extraterrestrial sighting as children; as adults, they all lead lives influenced by that sighting. Lucas has remained in their hometown, still living with his family, and full of regret at things left unsaid. The other two are in a relationship in the present day; Carlos is a professional UFO hunter and podcaster, living the content grind hustle. As for Rita, the girl who took the photo but wasn’t named in the initial sighting, she’s a photographer for a newspaper, but seems to view the camera as a boundary between herself and the lives of those around her; referring to herself as a ghost more often than not. There’s also Rebeca, another woman still living in town, who has befriended Lucas in the absence of Carlos and Rita, and who seems to have a connection with the unworldly.
This manga is a quick read, but packs a cathartic punch, exploring the different ways people can feel “alien” to each other, and the world around them, and the lengths folks would go to to be seen, or to stay hidden.
THE LUMINOUS FAIRIES AND MOTHRA
Shin’ichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, Yoshie Hotta, Jeffrey Angles
This book was lent to me by a customer, and was a real treat to read!!
The first half of the book is the original short story that was written for adaptation into the first Mothra film, and the second half is a wonderful, well-researched essay going deep into the background of the book and film.
The short story itself was fine, although a little peculiar at parts — you can very much tell it was written to be adapted into a different medium from the start, by three different people. But I genuinely loved the back matter essay, covering everything from the socio-poliltical current events around the film that likely inspired aspects of the story, to why certain changes were made for the adaptation, to even interesting linguistics discussion about the gender of Mothra, and challenges in translating the story.
For anyone who loves Kaiju, I HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest this quick, informative read!
SAYURI
Rensuke Oshikiri (2015, 2026)
Originally published in two volumes, Sayuri is collected into one complete omnibus in this edition, giving first time readers such as myself the chance to get the full story in one collected edition.
Sayuri is a ghost story, as many of the best J-horror stories are, however this one feels a little more nuanced than it comes across at face value. The premise of the story will feel familiar to even the most casual consumer of a spooky story — Norio and his family have just moved into their dream home, but nearly immediately things begin to go awry. As the mysterious presence haunting Norio’s family claims them one by one, what will he do to protect his family, and himself?
I found it interesting that there’s a short letter from the author at the back of the book, noting that he was inspired to write this manga after feeling dissatisfied with many J-horror films, which he found frustrating because the protagonists never seemed to do anything to fight back against the forces oppressing them. And boy, do the characters in Sayuri fight back.
The ghost itself, and the situation surrounding it, are kind of interesting. Spoiler alert: the ghost haunting Norio’s home is that of a teen girl named Sayuri. She seems to feed on the fear and misery of those in the home, which is honestly not that different from a living teen girl, sometimes. Sayuri is described as being like a hikikomori, a kind of extreme antisocial disorder, where sufferers withdraw entirely from society, often never leaving their home. I am no psychologist so take anything I say here with a grain of salt, but it seems it can often go hand in hand with other things like depression and anxiety, too. If we consider Sayuri and her haunting as a teenage girl who was killed during a difficult point in her life, whose entire afterlife seems to revolve around paranormally super-powered teen girl emotions and behaviors, it’s interesting to consider the methods Norio takes to combat her: staying active, keeping a clean home, eating enough, and generally “living well”. Well, that, and a healthy dose of revenge, too.
I didn’t super love the art in this manga, but it served the story well, and deserves a footnote for that, for sure. A few pages reminded me of something from PTSD Radio by Masaaki Nakayama, which I adore, so if you like his works, you may like Sayuri as well!
A BLACK WOMEN’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross
This was a super fascinating, accessible read about some incredibly dark topics, but more than that, I found it to be an incredibly informative and uplifting read about some incredible women I had never once heard about.
This book is broken down into chunks of history, book-ending each chapter with the story of one particular woman and how she lived and made history in her day. These chapters are filled out with countless stories of women whom history has remembered (or not remembered, in many cases), succeeding despite insurmountable odds, in many cases.
I like to try and keep my reading list varied, and pick up books that help me continue to educate myself because the process of unlearning things, and striving to be a better human being in general is a constant one. This was an excellent book, very readable and enjoyable at the same time it educated and elucidated. Highly highly recommend!!
That’s all for my March wrap-up! I feel like I wasn’t reading as much this past month, because I just had SO much going on, and often felt really exhausted and spread thin. Still, I’m excited to share these with whoever is reading this! Join me next month.
—M.