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This Apartment Eats Strays
Skadi is twelve, angry, and one bad night away from disappearing for good.
Then she ends up in a filthy little apartment above the Dragon District with Falcon and Sparrow—two dangerous, damaged teens with too much blood on their hands, too many ghosts at their backs, and a habit of collecting strays they have no business trying to keep alive.
It should be temporary.
Instead, it becomes everything.
Behind that apartment door, Skadi finds the closest thing she’s ever had to family. Sparrow is all reckless loyalty and sharp-tongued chaos, forever one bad joke away from a fight. Falcon is harder to read—older, rough-edged, already half-swallowed by the world Waylon Drac built around him—but with Skadi, his guard slips just enough to make room for something dangerously close to care. In the middle of the hunger, the violence, and the constant threat breathing down their necks, the three of them build something fragile and feral that almost feels like home.
But nothing good survives untouched in Novadorin.
The Dragon District was built to devour kids like them, and the Drac hounds don’t stop hunting just because their prey found somewhere to hide. As danger closes in and the apartment begins to crack under the weight of fear, loyalty, and all the ways broken people can fail each other, Skadi has to learn fast: in a world full of monsters, survival always costs something.
And when the walls finally come down, she’ll have to decide who she is willing to become for the only people who ever made room for her.
This Apartment Eats Strays is a dark, gritty found-family novel about survival, trauma, loyalty, and the brutal love that grows between kids the world already gave up on.
Then she ends up in a filthy little apartment above the Dragon District with Falcon and Sparrow—two dangerous, damaged teens with too much blood on their hands, too many ghosts at their backs, and a habit of collecting strays they have no business trying to keep alive.
It should be temporary.
Instead, it becomes everything.
Behind that apartment door, Skadi finds the closest thing she’s ever had to family. Sparrow is all reckless loyalty and sharp-tongued chaos, forever one bad joke away from a fight. Falcon is harder to read—older, rough-edged, already half-swallowed by the world Waylon Drac built around him—but with Skadi, his guard slips just enough to make room for something dangerously close to care. In the middle of the hunger, the violence, and the constant threat breathing down their necks, the three of them build something fragile and feral that almost feels like home.
But nothing good survives untouched in Novadorin.
The Dragon District was built to devour kids like them, and the Drac hounds don’t stop hunting just because their prey found somewhere to hide. As danger closes in and the apartment begins to crack under the weight of fear, loyalty, and all the ways broken people can fail each other, Skadi has to learn fast: in a world full of monsters, survival always costs something.
And when the walls finally come down, she’ll have to decide who she is willing to become for the only people who ever made room for her.
This Apartment Eats Strays is a dark, gritty found-family novel about survival, trauma, loyalty, and the brutal love that grows between kids the world already gave up on.
641 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 21, 2026
About the author
Kova Killian
19 books28 followersKova lives in the heart of Southern California where she weaves tales that defy the boundaries of reality. When she's not attending to her three wildlings, her bonus daughter, her feline familiar (secretly plotting world domination), and her husband (also harboring grand schemes), she's out and about.
You'll often find her roaming Renaissance faires where magic and mayhem collide. Or perhaps, she's embarked on an epic quest into the unknown, camping in magical places where the very earth seems to whisper ancient secrets. And when the moon graces the night sky, she's been known to meet a metal band or two.
You'll often find her roaming Renaissance faires where magic and mayhem collide. Or perhaps, she's embarked on an epic quest into the unknown, camping in magical places where the very earth seems to whisper ancient secrets. And when the moon graces the night sky, she's been known to meet a metal band or two.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2026
I don’t even know where to start with this one because the characters are MESSY in the best possible way.
Skadi absolutely broke my heart. She’s so young, so angry, and so clearly just trying to survive in a world that keeps proving it doesn’t care about kids like her. But she’s also funny and sharp and stubborn, and I loved how she slowly became part of this little disaster family even when none of them knew how to be normal about caring.
Falcon… oh my god. Falcon is such a complicated character. He’s dangerous, protective, damaged, and kind of impossible not to care about even when you want to shake him. He has this big scary presence, but then you see the way he reacts to Skadi and Sparrow and Roan, and it’s like, okay, there’s a heart under all that blood and bad decisions. A very stressed out, probably traumatized heart, but still.
Sparrow was honestly one of my favorites. He’s gritty and chaotic and funny, but there are these little moments where you remember he’s not just comic relief. He’s another broken kid trying to act like he isn’t. His relationship with Skadi gave me such sibling energy, and I loved every bit of it.
And Roan? Roan hurt me. He felt like the one person trying to hold the whole apartment together with duct tape and sheer exhausted love. He has such a quiet weight to him, and every scene with him made me feel like I needed to pay attention because something about him just matters.
Waylon, though… Waylon is terrifying. Not in a cartoon villain way either. He feels like the kind of dangerous that sits in the room and makes everyone else breathe differently. Every time he showed up, I was tense.
This book is dark and messy and full of characters who make terrible choices because they’ve never really been taught how to be safe, but somehow it still has so much heart. The found family in this is not soft and cozy. It’s sharp, bloody, damaged, and held together by people who don’t always know how to love each other right, but they’re trying.
I need more of all of them immediately.
Skadi absolutely broke my heart. She’s so young, so angry, and so clearly just trying to survive in a world that keeps proving it doesn’t care about kids like her. But she’s also funny and sharp and stubborn, and I loved how she slowly became part of this little disaster family even when none of them knew how to be normal about caring.
Falcon… oh my god. Falcon is such a complicated character. He’s dangerous, protective, damaged, and kind of impossible not to care about even when you want to shake him. He has this big scary presence, but then you see the way he reacts to Skadi and Sparrow and Roan, and it’s like, okay, there’s a heart under all that blood and bad decisions. A very stressed out, probably traumatized heart, but still.
Sparrow was honestly one of my favorites. He’s gritty and chaotic and funny, but there are these little moments where you remember he’s not just comic relief. He’s another broken kid trying to act like he isn’t. His relationship with Skadi gave me such sibling energy, and I loved every bit of it.
And Roan? Roan hurt me. He felt like the one person trying to hold the whole apartment together with duct tape and sheer exhausted love. He has such a quiet weight to him, and every scene with him made me feel like I needed to pay attention because something about him just matters.
Waylon, though… Waylon is terrifying. Not in a cartoon villain way either. He feels like the kind of dangerous that sits in the room and makes everyone else breathe differently. Every time he showed up, I was tense.
This book is dark and messy and full of characters who make terrible choices because they’ve never really been taught how to be safe, but somehow it still has so much heart. The found family in this is not soft and cozy. It’s sharp, bloody, damaged, and held together by people who don’t always know how to love each other right, but they’re trying.
I need more of all of them immediately.
April 1, 2026
I am absolutely sobbing and I wasn't expecting it!!!!
This book is so grimy and neon and mean in the best possible way, but underneath all of that it has such a huge heart. This Apartment Eats Strays feels like stepping into a city that has already decided what kind of kids get chewed up and which ones get to make it, and then watching Skadi, Falcon, and Sparrow refuse to go down quietly.
Skadi is one of my favorite kinds of characters because she doesn’t come in easy or sweet just to be likable. She’s hurting, she’s defensive, and she feels very much like a kid who learned way too early not to trust anyone. Falcon absolutely fascinated me because he has that dangerous older-boy vibe, but there’s so much more going on under the surface. He’s not soft, exactly, but the care is there in these tiny cracks that somehow hit even harder because he’s trying so hard not to show it. And Sparrow made me laugh even when I wanted to scream because he’s got that sharp little gremlin energy, but you can feel how loyal he is too.
The plot kept me locked in because there’s always this tension running under everything. Even the quieter scenes feel like something bad could happen any second. The world around them is ugly and violent and hungry, and the story never lets you forget that, but it also never forgets to show why these relationships matter. That’s what got me. Not just what happens, but how much every little scrap of safety means when the characters have had so little of it.
This is absolutely a found family book, but not the cute polished version. This is found family with blood under its nails. It’s about damaged people trying to make room for each other in a place that was never built for softness. And somehow it made me emotional as hell. I loved it.
This book is so grimy and neon and mean in the best possible way, but underneath all of that it has such a huge heart. This Apartment Eats Strays feels like stepping into a city that has already decided what kind of kids get chewed up and which ones get to make it, and then watching Skadi, Falcon, and Sparrow refuse to go down quietly.
Skadi is one of my favorite kinds of characters because she doesn’t come in easy or sweet just to be likable. She’s hurting, she’s defensive, and she feels very much like a kid who learned way too early not to trust anyone. Falcon absolutely fascinated me because he has that dangerous older-boy vibe, but there’s so much more going on under the surface. He’s not soft, exactly, but the care is there in these tiny cracks that somehow hit even harder because he’s trying so hard not to show it. And Sparrow made me laugh even when I wanted to scream because he’s got that sharp little gremlin energy, but you can feel how loyal he is too.
The plot kept me locked in because there’s always this tension running under everything. Even the quieter scenes feel like something bad could happen any second. The world around them is ugly and violent and hungry, and the story never lets you forget that, but it also never forgets to show why these relationships matter. That’s what got me. Not just what happens, but how much every little scrap of safety means when the characters have had so little of it.
This is absolutely a found family book, but not the cute polished version. This is found family with blood under its nails. It’s about damaged people trying to make room for each other in a place that was never built for softness. And somehow it made me emotional as hell. I loved it.
May 17, 2026
*Reader copy review - Thank you to the author and BookSirens for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!*
I truly loved this book! It is such a phenomenal story about kids living in a tough city and environment that just wants to chew them up and never let them go. It's about love and survival within that city and the true meaning of a found family without all the butterflies and rainbows - it is heartache, blood, sweat, tears, and learning to cope. The book consistently left you wanting more, wanting to know what happened next because it always seemed like something bad was just around the corner.
The characters were developed perfectly for the story. Each one had such an emotional pull on me while reading. They are fun, emotional, and strong. They leave you on an emotional rollercoaster the entire time.
I rated this book 4 stars for a few reasons: I felt like there was a lot of background missing and parts that could have been developed better. For example - Roan went searching for information on Skadi and her family from before but that was the end of it. I would have liked more back story on her and why she ran away. There also could have been more development into their life/jobs working for Waylon. We saw a lot of the after jobs and their way of life dealing with them but never much of them DOING jobs.
I also felt like the ending was very rushed. It was abrupt without promise of another book and I just felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions.
I truly loved this book! It is such a phenomenal story about kids living in a tough city and environment that just wants to chew them up and never let them go. It's about love and survival within that city and the true meaning of a found family without all the butterflies and rainbows - it is heartache, blood, sweat, tears, and learning to cope. The book consistently left you wanting more, wanting to know what happened next because it always seemed like something bad was just around the corner.
The characters were developed perfectly for the story. Each one had such an emotional pull on me while reading. They are fun, emotional, and strong. They leave you on an emotional rollercoaster the entire time.
I rated this book 4 stars for a few reasons: I felt like there was a lot of background missing and parts that could have been developed better. For example - Roan went searching for information on Skadi and her family from before but that was the end of it. I would have liked more back story on her and why she ran away. There also could have been more development into their life/jobs working for Waylon. We saw a lot of the after jobs and their way of life dealing with them but never much of them DOING jobs.
I also felt like the ending was very rushed. It was abrupt without promise of another book and I just felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions.
March 25, 2026
I don't even know what to say. This hit me in a way that not many books have, and I just have no words.
Skadi Falcon and Sparrow are so well written that they each grab a piece of your heart and don't let go. Skadi is a girl just looking for somewhere safe, she learns and grows through the whole book. Falcon is a protector at heart and holds space for Skadi and Sparrow to grow and feel relative safety. Sparrow is, well, he's Sparrow. Fun, outgoing like being seen and remembered is safety and trying to keep things from ever feeling too serious.
The world this is set in feels big in a way that not many authors can manage. We don't hear a lot about places outside of where things occur but what you do see of it has depth and detail making you wonder what the world is like outside of the life these guys lead. This story is grim and there's trauma associated with each of their pasts. This book will make you laugh with Sparrow, take pride in Skadi's growth, rage at misguided people who do dumb things, and cry over, well, you'll see. And all of these emotions happen within a handful of pages.
This book will definitely sit with me for a while I'm so glad I took a chance on it!
Skadi Falcon and Sparrow are so well written that they each grab a piece of your heart and don't let go. Skadi is a girl just looking for somewhere safe, she learns and grows through the whole book. Falcon is a protector at heart and holds space for Skadi and Sparrow to grow and feel relative safety. Sparrow is, well, he's Sparrow. Fun, outgoing like being seen and remembered is safety and trying to keep things from ever feeling too serious.
The world this is set in feels big in a way that not many authors can manage. We don't hear a lot about places outside of where things occur but what you do see of it has depth and detail making you wonder what the world is like outside of the life these guys lead. This story is grim and there's trauma associated with each of their pasts. This book will make you laugh with Sparrow, take pride in Skadi's growth, rage at misguided people who do dumb things, and cry over, well, you'll see. And all of these emotions happen within a handful of pages.
This book will definitely sit with me for a while I'm so glad I took a chance on it!
March 24, 2026
I am utterly obsessed! I binge read this thing. I cant tell you how many times I cried sad and happy tears during this book.
Waylon is scary as fuck and the line “just a dad with money” is chilling because that’s exactly what he is. A terrifying man, but sweet to his kid? Ew…in a good way.
This book hurts in the best way because beneath all the grit and violence and fear, it’s so deeply about survival, loyalty, and the way broken people still find each other and make something that almost feels like home. I got so attached to these characters it was ridiculous. They felt raw and real and messy, and I wanted to scoop all of them up and fight for them myself.
There were so many lines that punched me straight in the chest, and the emotional payoff hit so hard. It’s dark, it’s gritty, it’s heartbreaking, but it also has so much heart. I already know these characters are going to live in my brain for a long time.
If you love found family, high emotional stakes, dangerous men, and stories that absolutely wreck you while making you feel everything, read this.
Waylon is scary as fuck and the line “just a dad with money” is chilling because that’s exactly what he is. A terrifying man, but sweet to his kid? Ew…in a good way.
This book hurts in the best way because beneath all the grit and violence and fear, it’s so deeply about survival, loyalty, and the way broken people still find each other and make something that almost feels like home. I got so attached to these characters it was ridiculous. They felt raw and real and messy, and I wanted to scoop all of them up and fight for them myself.
There were so many lines that punched me straight in the chest, and the emotional payoff hit so hard. It’s dark, it’s gritty, it’s heartbreaking, but it also has so much heart. I already know these characters are going to live in my brain for a long time.
If you love found family, high emotional stakes, dangerous men, and stories that absolutely wreck you while making you feel everything, read this.
June 18, 2026
…I don’t really know what to say now that I’ve finished this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that never got dull at any point, until now. This book is amazing, insane, and as Sparrow would say, “put my soul in the blender” I screamed at the characters, I stayed up till 1am—not once but twice reading, and I will admit I did cry several times. I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel so much. I am so happy that this author decided to share just a sliver of her insanely wild and inspiring mind into this book! I am ending this review now so I can go look through more of her books! ❤️
Ten out of ten recommend!
Ten out of ten recommend!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews