2025 book 197

 Naomi Kuttner’s The Retired Assassin’s Guide to Country Gardening

Very entertaining story that does what it says in the tin: it’s about an MI6 assassin who retires to a small New Zealand town where he’s soon caught up in a murder investigation. And the prime suspect is the sweet young guy who does his gardening! And also sees ghosts! Luckily an older woman with a mysterious past is there to take everything in hand. Plus there’s a cat. I do think this could have been a bit tighter, but it was very fun and I have already pre-ordered the sequel. A/A-.

2025 book 196

 Magda Szabo’s Abigail

Sometimes you just want to reread a beautiful and classic book about resistance to the Nazis. Actually this  is the story of a girl in 1944 Hungary whose army general father suddenly puts her in a very strict religious boarding school. Even knowing the ending, this is a satisfying read and a very moving coming of age story. Totally makes me cry, but with like hope. 

2025 book 195

 Annie Mare’s Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon

Very cute queer romance involving two women in a Lake House situation, where they’re texting each other from five months apart. Except it turns out the woman in the earlier timeline has gone missing in the interim, and the other woman and all their friends have to figure out if they can mess with the timeline enough to save her. Great characters, interesting philosophical conversations, spicier than I usually prefer but I was totally rooting for them, all their friends, and their cats. Really sweet. A-.

2025 book 194

 Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent 

I do love an epistolary novel, and this one involves the correspondence of a 73 year old woman in Maryland, a retired lawyer and avid reader (I think this book is tailor-made for book clubs, and particularly for my book club). There are a lot of funny moments, some surprising moments, and, as expected, I cried buckets. Really beautiful story about loss, grief, and human connections. A.

2025 book 193

 Lois McMaster Bujold’s Testimony of Mute Things

The latest Penric and Desdemona novella is set much earlier in their chronology, which is a nice change. I do enjoy daddy Penric and the adventures of his children, but it’s nice to have a story focused on politics and solving a murder. We also find out more about the spy who held Desdemona before Penric, which is fun. I love these characters so these are always gonna be highly rated. A.

2025 book 192

 EK Johnston’s The Sky on Fire 

This did turn out to be a sequel to Aetherbound, so I’m glad I reread that one! There is a different main character here, a young woman in academia who’s just been approved for her first fieldwork! But of course she encounters some characters from the first book along the way, and gets caught up in adventures and intrigue. It weirdly felt like the action-y plots and the character plots were both underdeveloped? I had a lot of questions about the science stuff too. But it was entertaining enough. B+.

2025 book 191

 EK Johnston’s Aetherbound

Johnston put out a new book in this world recently, so I figured I’d reread the first one, since all I remembered about it was that I liked it. (That’s not shade on this book—I read a LOT of books and have read a few hundred since this one! That’s why I started this blog in the first place, to help remember what I’ve read. Though of course I have, on more than one occasion, reread a book I had no recollection of reading before.) Anyway, this YA sci-fi book involves a girl with the power to manipulate genetics, which is somehow not a power that’s useful on her family’s spaceship, so she runs away before they can sell her off, and ends up on a space station run by rebels… and in a marriage of convenience, lol. A fun read for sure. A-.

2025 book 190

 Richard Osman's The Impossible Fortune

I was having one of those things where I would get like 20 percent into a book and completely lose interest, but this one grabbed me right away and held on! It's not even that the mystery, which involves the best man from Joyce's daughter's wedding in fear for his life, is what kept me interested (though it is action-packed), or even the side plots, it's just that this book has a really fun narrative tone and great characters and lots of hilarious little moments. This felt more light and optimistic than the previous ones (aside from some mentions of domestic violence). Just a joy to read. A/A-.

2025 book 189

 Rachel Neumeier’s Sekaran

The latest book in the Tuyo-verse is basically a series of events in the life of the summer king’s son Sekaran, who pops up in a couple of the other books. A lot of these events involve Aras (his cousin) and as it goes on, there are a ton of references to the other books—this one is definitely not a standalone (I have read all the books, some more than once, and still was occasionally like, wait what’s going on?). I actually liked the ones best that weren’t references; I especially liked seeing Sekaran and his family (his sister is awesome), as well as hints at future storylines. A-.

2025 book 188

 Skip Hollandsworth's She Kills: The Murderous Socialite, the Cross-Dressing Bank Robber, and Other True Crime Tales

Back when Longform and Longreads were websites on the ol' internet, I read a lot of Hollandsworth's essays in Texas Monthly, so even though I rarely read non-fiction books, I wanted to check out his collection. It's good! I read a couple a day so it wouldn't get overwhelming (both in terms of reading a bunch of essays in a row and the theme of the thing, mostly desperate women). I had read a couple of these before, but each essay has a little postscript update, which is nice. I don't really have anything in particular to say about this--I guess I recommend it to ppl who like thoughtful writing about true crime. A-.

2025 book 187

 Lily King's Writers and Lovers

This is another one that is SO good and engrossing even though the plot description sounds like whatever!! And it was so interesting to read after Heart the Lover, knowing how Casey's life will be in the future. Here, she's in her early thirties, struggling to write her first novel, drowning in student loan debt, grieving her mother, waitressing for a living, and dealing with various romantic situations. Again, doesn't necessarily sound like anything unique based on that, but it IS. (Also, I am already invested in Casey as a character--but I think I'd have loved this anyway. Ps she did go to Duke!) Another beautiful book and I can’t believe I waited so long to read it. I am now a Lily King stan. A.

2025 book 186

 Lily King’s Heart the Lover

Ah y’all this was so good. The description makes it sound like an average literary novel—a college student in involved in a love triangle, then the story flashes forward to her as a married mother of two—but reviewers I trust raved about it and I totally get why. (Sidebar to NC locals—I think the college parts are set here, as the author did her undergrad at UNC and Raleigh is briefly mentioned.) Just beautiful writing and characters, I was so moved by this, and I am pleased to have discovered the narrator here is also the protagonist of King’s novel Writers & Lovers, which I will be starting immediately. A.

2025 book 185

 Emma Lathen’s Death Shall Overcome

The plot here involves a Black man being appointed to an important finance guy role (this was written in the mid-60s), and some of the other finance guys are openly racist, some are quietly racist, and others are like “well he’s a millionaire and rowed crew at Yale so I’m actually fine with this”—and of course there ends up being a murder that Thatcher has to unravel. Another very funny mystery, though the explanation did drag a bit. A-.

225 book 184

 Sofia Samatar’s The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

I do enjoy a literary sci fi novella, and this one involves major class distinctions, unity, philosophy, ancademic politics, and a fair amount of humor. It’s beautifully written and I loved the character arcs. I did not necessarily/understand/ it fully (lol) but it was a great vibe for the political moment. A/A-.

225 book 183

 Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting

Omg yall this was EXCELLENT and will one hundred percent be on my favorite books of the year list. It involves a historian in a fantasy empire who’s obsessed with their legendary hero, a lady knight, and what happens when he receives a mysterious book in the mail… I loved these characters so much and I feel like this is the perfect book for Our Troubled Times, as they are striving to build a better world, and there’s so much hope, even when it’s hard. No spoilers but I think there are some interesting comparisons with other favorite fantasy books of mine. Hit me up when you’ve read this so I can discuss! A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 28th.

2025 book 182

 K.J. Charles’ All of Us Murderers 

Hooray for a new KJ Charles book! This one if a gothic thriller type of book involving a gay man who goes to see a cousin her barely knows, only to discover a bunch of his horrible relatives there, AND his ex is his cousin’s secretary! And then his cousin is all “whoever marries my ward will inherit the family fortune” and all hell breaks loose! But when he tries to leave, he discovers they’re trapped there… I really enjoyed this, this had great pacing, a sweet romance, was a little creepy but not TOO much for me, and it was fun to watch it all come together. Perfect October book. A.