Seanan McGuire's In An Absent Dream
This one was really good! It’s the story of Lundy, who went to the Goblin Market as a eight-year-old. It’s interesting to read these stories knowing how they end, but they’re no less satisfying. Great characters in this one especially. A.
Seanan McGuire's Beneath the Sugar Sky
I can already tell I’m gonna tear through these, both because they’re short and because they’re fun. This one involves the daughter of a character who died in book one, demanding they save her mother or else she’ll vanish bc the timelines are messed up. There's also a new student who’s a mermaid! (This was my only issue with the book—the character is fat and keeps dwelling on people being assholes to her about it, and worrying about other people being assholes other about it, and I wished there was a little less of that.) Very fun adventures otherwise. A-/B+.
Seanan McGuire's Down Among the Sticks and Bones
We got the basics of Jack and Jill's story in the first book, but here is the whole thing, beautifully told. I do hope we revisit these characters in another book, because I’m so curious about what happens next. A/A-.
Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway
Sometimes I like to sink into a big series while I’m on vacation, and this seemed like it might hit the spot. I have actually read this first one before, but I thought it was supposed to be a mystery and didn’t think it totally worked as one. Of course, this is actually a whole series about children who have been to magical worlds and come back and have to deal with all that, which is more interesting. I definitely liked it way more with that in mind. A-.
Kelly Murashige's The Lost Souls of Benzaiten
This is about a depressed teen girl who makes a wish at a Japanese shrine (her wish is to be a robot vacuum cleaner lol) and the goddess appears and is like “I’ll help you find the joy in life in the next five weeks!” I will say this wasn’t always predictable, but the second half kind of loses the thread for a while and the ending is maybe too neat. Also, I’m in my mid-40s and not the target audience for a YA book, so YMMV. B/B+.
Natalie Sue's I Hope This Finds You Well
I think I was hoping this would be reminiscent of Rainbow Rowell's Attachments, since it’s about a women who accidentally gains access to all her company's emails/messages, but that is a pretty high bar, I guess. This was fine. The woman is a depressed, bitter, traumatized mess, and parts of this were weirdly tense, even as she starts to fall for the HR guy who’s supposed to be monitoring her. I liked the bits involving her family, and there are some very funny bits when she finds out she’s a coworker's fake fiancée. Normally I like books about people getting their shit together, but this just didn’t totally work for me for some reason. B/B+.
T. Kingfisher's A House With Good Bones
I am historically a T. Kingfisher superfan, but there's a few of hers I haven't read because I am a wuss! This was a kindle daily deal recently though, and then I had it on my kindle, and so I was like, let's try it. And it starts off with so much trademark offbeat Kingfisher humor, as an archaeologist/entomologist goes to stay with her mom....but something isn't right. It’s not too hard to figure out what’s going on, and it does end up being creepy! But it felt a little rushed, I actually think this would have benefited from being a little longer and creepier (on the other hand, I don’t know how much more creepiness I could take). Cool characters and images for sure. B+.
It's about that time again--here are my ten favorite books of 2024, alphabetical by author, links go to my reviews:
Micaiah Johnson's Those Beyond the Wall
T. Kingfisher's A Sorceress Comes to Call
Aimee Pokwatka's The Parliament
Margaret Tabor's Unity Penfold
Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles
Freya Sampson's Nosy Neighbors
I thought this was going to be a cute British mystery based on the description, but it’s really more of a women's fiction book featuring the POVs of two women who live in the same building--a cranky 70-something and a pink-haired twenty-something who have to come to terms with past trauma. And also their landlord is trying to tear their building down. I was into it at first but it gets really repetitive in the second half with the women alternating between liking each other and saying hurtful things to each other, and then it just jumps to the ending, which is tidy and mildly cheesy. B.
Kate Fagan's The Three Lives of Cate Kay
Yall, this was really good! I had to force myself to put it down and go to bed last night! The eponymous Cate Kay is the VERY reclusive author of a trilogy of bestselling books--which led to a trilogy of blockbuster movies, etc. But only like two people know her real identity. And this book is the memoir telling her whole life story, including chapters from childhood friends, colleagues, ex-girlfriends (this book is very queer), and more. The description says this is a thriller but it totally isn't— it's a really engaging, occasionally messy, and sweet novel. I could quibble and say some of it is too neat or some characters could be more fleshed out, but I don’t want to quibble! I loved this! Apparently the author is best known as a sportswriter, but I hope she keeps putting out fiction. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 7th.
Rainbow Rowell's Carry On
Rainbow Rowell's Wayward Son
Rainbow Rowell's Any Way the Wind Blows
I reread the Simon Snow series (including the story in the Scattered Showers collection) while traveling this weekend; things have been stressful lately and that calls for rereading a favorite series I know will be satisfying, full of magic and action and (queer) romance. So good.
Celia Lake's Complementary
This author writes romances set in a fantasy version of England in the early 1900s, and this one involved ladies so I figured I’d try it. It was a very sweet romance but the plot just like stopped existing after a while (initially it involves the ladies going to investigate magical weirdness at an artists' colony). Like I get that is is a novella and a romance but you gotta have more than “we'll do this thing to solve the problem” and then the next chapter is several weeks later after things presumably got solved. Or at least I like a tiny bit of actual plot in my romances. But still, very pleasant characters and the romance is cute. B/B+.
John Wiswell's Someone You Can Build a Nest In
I've seen this recommended so many times, and I was intrigued.... I saw it described as like "cozy horror" and while there are some funny moments and some sweet moments, this is actually pretty dark.The narrator is a sort of shapeshifting blob creature, who can disguise herself as a human using parts of the people she eats. But then she starts to FALL for a woman who helps her, and has to rethink a lot of stuff! The dark stuff mainly involves the love interest's background, as opposed to monster murder shenanigans (though there is also a fair bit of that). It gets a little slow in the second half but I loved how things wrapped up. A-.
Charlotte Vassell's The In Crowd
I’ve seen this mystery recommended a few times recently—it’s actually the second in the series, but the first didn’t really grab me, so I just went for this one instead (there are a lot of references to the first book but I felt like I got the gist of it). Anyway, this involves a London detective working on two cold cases involving rich British people—there’s also a lot of shady political shenanigans going on. I enjoyed this but there were a few too many coincidences for my taste. I did like the detective and was rooting for him/his romance/his colleague pals. I’d read another involving him. B+.
Beth Brower's The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: vol. 8
Still enjoying this series when a new one pops up—I always like an epistolary novel (this one is a diary). Some funny parts, some tense parts, some secrets of the past revealed, and as always I love the camaraderie between this motley crew of friends. Just a nice chill read. A-.
Jill Bearup's Just Stab Me Now
This was the perfect cute palate cleanser for my brain! It involves a writer working on a fantasy romance novel, except her heroine isn’t particularly interested in being part of an enemies-to-lover romance and keeps doing her own thing. Totally engaging narrative voice and very amusing meta plot. I even liked the romance(s)! Really fun read. A-.
Christopher Bollen's Havoc
This popped up on a couple of year-end lists and the description seemed interesting—it’s about an elderly woman living in a hotel in Luxor, who has a history of meddling in people's lives and is on the run from something that led to murder. And then she meets her match when a little boy comes to the hotel with his mother. But like, this was exceedingly unpleasant, and not in a fun or even an interesting way. I can’t list all the things that bothered me bc of spoilers, but yikes. I realized halfway through that I wasn’t going to end up liking this, but the sunk cost fallacy got me. I am gonna have to read something really cute to get this one out of my head. B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing Of The Dog
I’m blogging on my phone because Lexie is laying on me, so excuse the lack of usual formatting! I do love this book; it just have been such tonal whiplash for fans of Doomsday Book to go from something so beautiful and heartbreaking to something much more light and humorous. But I am the target audience for this-/a cat lover who also loves classic mystery novels. 😹😹
Connie Willis' Doomsday Book
I decided to reread all the Oxford Time Travel books together in publication order, without realizing there's a new one that's supposed to come out in June (!!!!!), so not great timing, but on the other hand, it's always great timing to reread great books. This one is less stressful on a reread, even with dire time travel errors, the Black Death, and a future pandemic--though it is even more heartbreaking. GREAT characters and world. I cried three times.
Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles
Rereading this for book club and it’s definitely going to be on my list of favorite books of the year. I love how it plays with narrative to tell the story of a pregnant college student, her former-pro-wrestler father, and the community she creates through OnlyFans. There is also realistically stressful stuff, like how to raise a baby and take care of yourself as a college student, and the judgement you get for doing OnlyFans, etc. I already know two other book clubbers loved this as much as I do, and one…did not. Lol. Should be an interesting discussion.
Victoria Goddard’s The Sisters Avramapul
This is actually three novellas/novelettes, but they’re each under 70 pages so I’m counting them as one book for tracking purposes. I’ve read the first two but the third is new, hence a reread.
In the first one, older sisters Arzu and Pali (the latter a major character from various other Goddard works) go on a quest to rescue their youngest sister from her ill-fated marriage to a Wind God. Great fairy-tale atmosphere, very Bluebeard.
This is a good read because I love Sardeet and Pali, but there isn’t a ton going on plot-wise. But those are some of my favorite Goddard stories—I like the way she writes families.
The Weaver of the Middle Desert
The third book finds Arzu and Pali once again going on a visit to their sister, but it’s a chiller trip this time (and involves a beanstalk!). Lots of humor and some mild adventure (other adventures are glossed over, a pity). I did like that this was more from Arzu's POV, since she’s not as present in the other series.
Christianna Brand's Green for Danger
Two points of interest: 1) Brand is also the author of the books the Nanny McPhee movies are based on; 2). It turns out I’d already read the first book in this series, back in 2013–I was even madder about the antisemitism then. This second book is way better in all regards, centering on several nurses and doctors at a military hospital during WWII, and what happens when a patient dies suddenly. The mystery was interesting enough and the setting was certainly unusual. I will probably read more in this series after a break for some other stuff. B+.
Christianna Brand's Heads You Lose
Sarah Weinman mentioned another book in this series recently, and I'm always looking for classic mysteries, but wanted to start from the beginning. I did almost put this down due to some casual antisemitism, but it seemed limited to one unpleasant character so I moved on, since I was enjoying the writing otherwise (sadly, the casual antisemitism does recur throughout). Anyway, the mystery involves a dead woman and the main suspects are the six friends/relations staying at a house, which is my favorite kind of mystery, but the ending was sooooo ridiculous, like reallllllly silly. Giving this a B.
Victoria Goddard's The Hands of the Emperor
Once again I am rereading the 800 page fantasy novel about government reform and making a better world--gee, I wonder why.
Ally Carter's The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year
I am decidedly NOT into Christmas romances (I'm Jewish), but I am VERY into locked-room mysteries set in fancy English houses, plus mentally I can't handle anything more complicated than a book like this right now. Anyway, this involves two mystery authors who get invited to a mysterious Christmas visit at the home of a VERY FAMOUS elderly mystery writer--who then vanishes from a locked room! The romance was cute, the mystery was solid, this wasn’t very Christmassy besides the setting, and it was JUST what my brain needed right now. Highly recommended if you want an adorable and entertaining book. A/A-.
Olivia Waite's Hen Fever
After slogging through a long and slow epic fantasy series, and with the election on the horizon, I needed something LIGHT and FUN to read. Enter this historical romance novel I've been saving for a rainy day, which involves queer ladies and also chickens. (It’s not a hundred percent fluffy—one of the women is a war widow with PTSD.) Anyway, it was just what I wanted, and my only complaint is that it's a novella and could have benefited from more pages developing things. But definitely very fun. A-.
Kate Elliott's The Traitor's Gate
Ok, this was super slow and I don’t think it needed to be 900 pages. I was more interested in some characters than others, or course, but some parts reallllllly dragged. The last quarter was solid and I did like the end, even if a lot of stuff that came before was a major bummer. Interesting series for sure but I think if it was more streamlined,it’d have been stronger. B+.
Kate Elliott's Shadow Gate
OK, this RULED. I was totally hooked from page one and was honestly mad I had to put it down to go to sleep. A lot of times second books in a trilogy are busy putting pieces into place, but this introduces some new characters, answers some questions, and raises the stakes. A/A-.
Kate Elliott's Spirit Gate
This was a slow start for me—I almost put it down a few times, but the characters I was interested in (primarily Mai) kept me going, and I ended up liking it. I’m not going to try and explain the plot, except there’s a shadow on the land, and dark things are happening, and the characters need to come together to try and stop it. I liked the look at different cultures/traditions/religions especially. I do think this could have been shorter and the sections in the first half (especially with Joss) could have been cut down a lot, but the back half moves more quickly and I enjoyed it much more. B+.
Alison Espach's The Wedding People
On the face of it, I should be rolling my eyes reading a novel about a depressed, recently divorced, adjunct professor who encounters a hotel full of people celebrating a “wedding week,” but the narrative voice was so immediately engaging AND Christina recommended this to me, so I was actually super into it! I don’t want to say more about the plot, because I enjoyed seeing things unfold without knowing anything about it. Lots of good discussions of books too (the protagonist works on 19th century lit, particularly Jane Eyre). Very satisfying read. A/A-.
Eva Ibbotson's A Song for Summer
After reading several dark books in a row, I needed a palate cleanser, so I reread this pleasant and funny book about a sensible English woman taking a job at a boarding school for the arts in Austria. In 1937. It's not a traditional romance, but there is a love story at the heart of it (and the love interest is busy rescuing people from the Nazis, so high five there). I actually had forgotten that the last third is set later, during and after the war, but it’s still somehow a lighter read. Very satisfying.
Maggie Thrash's Rainbow Black
There is a lot going on here, and most of it is very dark! It’s basically a thriller involving a woman looking back on her life, starting with when her parents were arrested during the Satanic Panic and accused of being child molesters—and things get grimmer from there. But it’s very readable, and there's actually an interesting queer love story at the center. Compelling stuff. A-.
John Bowen's The Girls
What a weird little book! (Complimentary.) I think I thought this would be dark and funny, and parts of it were, but I would describe the narrative voice more as “wry.” Anyway, this is the story of a lesbian couple living in a small town in England in the 1970s, and what happens when one goes on vacation to find herself, and the other sleeps with a young dude and ends up pregnant. Spoiler: what happens is murder. I loved this depiction of village life and Mrs Marshall especially was *chef's kiss*. It was also kind of sad though. :( A-.
Kristen Lepionka’s Once You Go This Far
Still love these characters, but I wasn’t really into the mystery here, which involves a woman who dies in a fall, but was it really an accident, and also there’s a creepy evangelical church. It was all very over the top. B.
Kristen Lepionka's The Stories You Tell
Another entertaining outing in the Roxane Weary series. This one involves Roxane trying to track down an acquaintance of her brother who seems to be in trouble, but things of course are more complicated than that. I did think the conclusion to the mystery was kind of eh, but enjoyed the ride, and loved the characters as always. A-.
Kristen Lepionka's What You Want to See
This was way less grim than the first book (though there are several murders and more than one shootout) and was another interesting and satisfying mystery. Anyway, things kick off with Roxane on the tail of a woman whose fiancé thinks she’s cheating, but when the woman ends up dead, Roxane is sucked into something way more complicated (perhaps too complicated but I enjoyed it nonetheless). I also can’t decide if I’m rooting for her to get with her on-again/off-again girlfriend or her late father's cop partner which adds another level of interest. Fun series. A-.
Kristen Leipionka's The Last Place You Look
THE Malka Older recommended this series to me, with the note that it probably was grimmer than I was looking for—and it was, but still a solid mystery with great characters. Our heroine is a queer PI whose hard-drinking cop father has recently died, and she’s not really coping well, when she gets a job looking into a long-missing woman and a death row case. Like I said, the mystery here is totally solid and I really enjoyed this characters and her family/friends/associates. I was super frustrated with how reckless she gets toward the end, but I will still be checking out book 2. A-.
Julie E. Czerneda’s A Play of Shadows
This is the second book in the Night's Edge series—I read the first a couple months ago, and this did a pretty good job of catching me back up. A lot happens, the plot is all over the place, but also this book is SO SLOW. I definitely need to take a break before the third book. B.
John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos
Rainbow Rowell has been raving about Wyndham lately, and I trust her recommendations, and also enjoy classic sci-fi/horror, so here we are! I started with this one because it has an intro by Kelly Link, another one whose recommendations I trust. And it was great! Really great writing/narrative voice, telling the story of a small town in England where there is a weird event and all the women of child-bearing age (including at least one who seems to be in a lesbian relationship) become pregnant. Compelling and unsettling. A-.
Betsy Lerner's Shred Sisters
This has been getting so much buzz! It was fine. I mean, I liked it enough to read in one sitting, but didn’t think it was doing anything especially interesting? I’m surprised this hasn’t been picked up by one of the big book clubs because it had that kind of vibe to me—fiction for book clubs that actually want to discuss the book. Anyway, it’s the story of a family, told through the POV of the younger sister, whose older sister is wild (and maybe mentally ill). And the younger sister, though academically gifted, also struggles to figure her life out. But like, I felt like the story skimmed over all the /details/ of her life—maybe if it was longer it would feel more fleshed out? But also it is kind of about a depressed woman in unhappy hetero relationships, which just isn’t super compelling. B+.
Melissa Caruso's The Last Hour Between Worlds
The worldbuilding here is kind of complicated and I’m not going to try and explain it! Basically this is about a woman who’s on maternity leave in a fantasy world, and she takes a break and goes to a party, only a bunch of weird magic stuff is going down, and the party keeps sinking into layers of reality, and people keep getting murdered, and she has to stop it to save the city. And the only person who can help her is her nemesis-slash-sort of ex girlfriend. (And a mysterious little girl.) A fun read, looks like the start of a series, I will probably check out the next one. A-/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
Louise Erdrich's The Beet Queen
Reading this for book club—I’m not sure I’ve actually read it before! It's Erdrich's second novel, and shares some characters with Love Medicine (it’s also set in the same town as her new one, The Mighty Red, which is an interesting companion/bookend, but not a direct sequel). It’s also surprisingly queer for a book that came out in 1986! I enjoyed the characters here (some better developed than others), though the writing is a bit more disjointed compared to some of Erdrich's later books. Still, obviously great. A-.
Sarah Gailey's Have You Eaten?
Is there such a genre category as “cozy dystopia”? Because this book features a queer found family group who is on the run but also every chapter revolves around a meal they’re cooking. I mean there are definitely non-cozy elements—one of their group is missing, perhaps detained. But it has a cozy hopeful feel anyway. Plus there are recipes! I was hoping for one more chapter to really tie things up, but I liked this a lot. A-.
Lev AC Rosen's Rough Pages
Hooray for a new book in the Evander Mills series, which involves a gay ex-cop solving crimes for queer people in 1950s San Francisco (so content warning for a fair amount of homophobia directed toward the characters). In this one, Andy is investigating a missing bookseller, who has a queer book subscription service--and the list of subscribers could cause problems for a lot of people. I really love this series—great characters and solid mysteries, and such a cool atmosphere. And the discussion of forbidden books is very timely. A.
H.G. Parry's The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door
Parry's The Magician's Daughter was one of my favorite books of 2023, so I was eagerly awaiting this one. I was mildly dubious about the plot, which involves a) a secret magical school and b) a scholarship girl seduced by the friendship of a group of wealthy, powerful students, and then it all goes wrong. I mean that is fine for a plot, but it's kind of a cliche? But once again Parry's writing drew me in, and the post-WWI setting made things interesting. I did think the ending was reminiscent of another somewhat recent fantasy book involving a magical school (being vague for spoiler reasons). I’m not sure how intentional all those similarities were? I did really enjoy reading this, though. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 22nd.
Agatha Christie's Crooked House
This was on a list of “best Christie books” that I saw one time, it was on sale for kindle today, and I’ve been jonesing for mysteries, so I decided to give Christie another try, hoping for a lack of racism (there is one ethnic slur towards a Greek man). Anyway, this doesn’t involve any of her famous detectives—the narrator is a young man who wants to marry a young woman, except her wealthy grandfather has just been murdered. Luckily his dad is the head of Scotland Yard, so he’s dispatched to hang out with his fiancée and see if he can get to the bottom of things. I DO love a mystery like this and this did have an interesting conclusion, though I didn’t really love the way things wrapped up (Christie is prone to having her characters moralize). Very entertaining though and just what I was in the mood for. A-.
Louise Erdrich's The Mighty Red
Erdrich is one of my favorite authors, but this was kind of a stressful read! It’s set in 2008-2009, and the economic downturn is affecting a lot of the characters, particularly one woman, whose husband embezzled the church reconstruction fund and secretly mortgaged her house before running off. But the main storyline involves her daughter's marriage to the son of the wealthy family who owns the local beet farm—a marriage no one is on board for, besides the groom and his mother. I will say there is a fairly sprawling cast of characters, plus some interludes about history and the environment, so every time I was frustrated with one chapter, the next usually turned things around. It was a slow start for me, but my halfway through I was hooked, and of course the ending was lovely. Erdrich does endings so well. I think this is set in the same corner of Erdrich's literary universe as a few of her other books (particularly The Beet Queen)—someday I’ll reread them all and figure out how they all fit together. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Margaret Tabor's Unity Penfold
What a JOY to go from reading a book where you’re like “I’m not really into this” to one where you’re like “I AM SUPER INTO THIS!!!” Originally published in 1980, and set in the 60s or 70s (I didn’t do the math), it’s the story of a woman (the eponymous Unity) who comes home from spending time with friends—except her house isn’t there. And apparently she, and her children, and her husband, don’t exist. Eventually the authorities determine she’s a missing woman named Sarah who's had a nervous breakdown, and she has to settle into Sarah's life while figuring out what’s real and what happened. It’s narrated in turns by her and by a musician she befriends, and it’s totally gripping. Apparently different versions of this novel were published, so this includes an added-on ending to one of the later editions, and it kind of weakened the story for me. But otherwise I loved this. A.
Nghi Vo's The City in Glass
This is about a demon woman who's been hanging out in a city for hundreds of years, shaping it and enjoying it (it seems like a nice city!). So when a team of angels comes and completely destroys it, she's pissed, and manages to curse one of the angels. Then she's dealing with grief, and trying to rebuild, and the angel is hanging around because he can't go home, and they start working together. But like it's kind of slow and there isn't much character development or really any plot developments until close to the end. I did end up really liking the end! It just didn’t grab me until then. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Sherwood Smith's The Phoenix Feather: Dragon and Phoenix
Solid and satisfying ending to this series—it was so great to see all the characters come together finally! Action packed and great relationships (family, friendship, and romantic). My only complaint is that I feel like one of the antagonists needed more foreshadowing or something—it felt really tacked on. But a minor complaint in the scheme of things, I really enjoyed being caught up in this world (and am pleased there’s another series set there!). A-.
Sherwood Smith's The Phoenix Feather: Firebolt
Another totally engrossing volume! Court politics galore now that the missing price has returned, a prison break, all sorts of plots… plus Ari gets a teacher and a cool sword! I especially enjoyed Jion's sections this time around. I am really looking forward to seeing how this wraps up. A/A-.
Sherwood Smith's The Phoenix Feather: Redbark
This second volume primarily focuses on the younger two siblings--our protagonist, still in disguise as a boy, making her way as a "gallant wanderer" with her compatriots (some of whom are also hiding their identities), looking for a teacher, and having various adventures, and her older brother, held hostage as an artist at the imperial palace. (We do get a couple chapters of the oldest brother starting his army career.) As engrossing as the first one, and I can’t wait to see where things go next.
Sherwood Smith's The Phoenix Feather: Fledglings
Rachel Neumeier (an author I love) recommended this series at some point, and I was in the mood for a well-written and immersive fantasy story--which this was. The main character is a little girl in an Asian-inspired fantasy world, learning magic and healing, and secretly learning fighting alongside her older brothers. Her parents, though, are on the run from the Emperor--and a phoenix feather appeared at their wedding, indicating that one of their children is destined for greatness. (It’s obviously her, lol, especially once she follows her oldest brother to train as a warrior, for those of you who love girls pretending to be boys.) Both of her brothers get brief POV scenes as well. Anyway, exactly the kind of story I was in the mood for and I can’t wait to see what happens next! A/A-.
Sarah Pinsker's Haunt Sweet Home
This is about a young woman who takes a job as a PA on a reality show hosted by her cousin—a reality show that involves renovating haunted houses. Lolllllllll. But eventually it become clear that there is at least one actual ghost in the mix. Now, I am a GIANT wuss and I was fine with this book—it’s occasionally creepy but mostly just about a young woman trying to figure out her life (and also some fun behind the scenes reality tv stuff). I liked this a lot! A-.
Moray Dalton's The Stretton Darknesse Mystery
Jo Walton mentioned this in one of her recent reading roundups, and I'm always looking for a new mystery to read. This involves a young man, a nefarious vicar, and the vicar's niece-by-marriage. The murder doesn't happen until like a third of a way in and the detective doesn't show up until the halfway mark. I enjoyed reading this but it wasn’t a particularly compelling mystery. B+.
Vivian Shaw's Bitter Waters
This is basically a cozy fantasy novella involving the major characters of the Greta Helsing series and what happens when they encounter a little girl who's been turned into a vampire. I believe the upcoming book in this series is the final one, and there are some hints at the end of this that there are some vampires up to nefarious activities that will have to be stopped, but no action or real tension in this volume. A-.
Vivian Shaw's Grave Importance
This has a LOT going on—mysterious mummy ailments, angels from another world, art heists, even an apocalypse. Not to mention various romances. Still very fun, I enjoy these characters a lot. A-.
Vivian Shaw's Dreadful Company
I might have liked this one even more than the first one??? Maybe because I actually had read the books all the literary references are to, lol. Anyway, in this one, Greta is in Paris for a conference and gets kidnapped by vampires who hate one of her vampire pals, but there's a larger mystery going on that may collapse reality itself! Can her vampire friends and some new characters (a werewolf, a couple of psychopomps, and an inexperienced demon) track her down and stop terrible things from happening? Will she befriend adorable little creatures along the way? VERY fun story, I am digging this series big time. A.
Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice
Several people whose tastes I trust mentioned this series recently, and it lived up to the hype! It centers on a woman in London who has taken over her father's medical practice, treating non-human people. But when a serial killer who's been killing people starts targeting the supernatural, she has to band together with a motley crew of vampires, demons, and museum curators to stop them. Very entertaining book and I look forward to the next one. A/A-.
Cat Rambo's Rumor Has It
This is the third book in Rambo's Disco Space Opera series, and it’s another fun sci-fi adventure! This time the crew is heading to a planet full of cool gardens to do some trade, do a pop-up restaurant, deal with interpersonal issues, and see an old friend. There’s nothing as MAJOR as the stuff from the last two books, but I enjoy these characters a lot and am looking forward to the next one. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 24th.
Alice Bell's Displeasure Island
As I hoped, Grave Expectations was the start of a series, and this one was just as fun! The protagonist and her new pals decide to take a trip to a new resort on an island in Ireland, except they aren’t supposed to be there and the only other guests are a Glass Onion-esque crew of old college friends who all kind of hate each other. And of course one of them ends up dead, and their inclination is to blame the weird girl who talks to herself (well, really to ghosts—not just her friend, but the many ghosts on the island, including pirates). So she decides to solve the case (while dealing with trauma and lots of feelings)! It's a pretty solid mystery and I quite enjoyed her sleuthing. This book is also pretty funny (I loved the skeleton who’s hanging out). Can’t wait for more. A/A-.
Frankie Barnet's Mood Swings
I absolutely read this because of the cover. It's fine, it starts off about several mildly annoying people in their early 20s living in a world like ours (based on all the pop culture references) but where all the animals started attacking people--until some billionaire created a machine that killed all the animals. In the back half one of the early 20s girls starts dating said billionaire, who’s working on a time machine. Interesting book but I wasn’t super into it. B.
Content warning for mentions of sexual assault and depictions of domestic violence.
C.M. Waggoner's The Village Library Demon Hunting Society
Ok, this was a SUPER fun take on cozy mysteries. So it centers on an aging librarian who is known for solving all the murders in her small town, but at a certain point she’s like, it’s very WEIRD that there are so many murders in my small town and that I always solve them! [This does always bug me in long running series! How does that one tiny town in the Louise Penny books have so many murders??] And she realizes demons are involved! Also, her cat is possessed by something claiming to be the ghost of his namesake, Lord Thomas Cromwell. I loved the narrative voice here and I especially loved the protagonist with her friends (including a young priest). This was very funny and entertaining, and the mystery plot worked really well for me. There is a hint at the end that this could be the start of a series, and I say YES PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!! A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 24th.
Sarah Rees Brennan's Long Live Evil
I love Brennan's In Other Lands, so was eagerly awaiting this one, her first adult novel. And it was one of those books that I liked while I was reading, but was never in a hurry to pick it up again. It centers on a young woman dying of cancer, who finds herself a character in her little sister's favorite book series—and if she can get a specific magical flower, she can heal herself and return to her own world. Except the character she finds herself inhabiting is a villainess on the eve of execution. And so she decides her best bet is to lean into being evil. Some interesting twists along the way for sure and I did giggle out loud more than once, and I ended up being really invested in all the other POV characters. Things get extra entertaining in the last quarter and I ended up liking this a lot. Looking forward to book two. A-.
Premee Mohammed's The Apple-Tree Throne
Cool novella about a young war veteran in an alternate version of 1900s England, who’s being haunted by the ghost of his commanding officer. Apparently this is based on a song by Stars?? Extra cool. I really enjoyed the characters and setting; this is like six years old and the author has written all sorts of other stuff since then, but I’d love to see more set in this world. A-.
Rainbow Rowell's Slow Dance
Rereading this for book club and it was just as good the second time, so much so that I read it all in one sitting. I just love how Rowell writes characters and relationships and friendships and family. So satisfying.
A.G. Slatter's The Briar Book of the Dead
Normally I really enjoy Slatter's books, but this wasn’t my favorite (it’s related to Of Sorrow and Such, which I really liked). It involves a young woman from a family of witches, but she’s the only one without powers (it’s pretty clear she will eventually discover a power if you’ve ever read a book before, but I did like the reveal when it came, so I won’t spoil it). It's pretty slow, though—there are lots of secrets and the reveals are very dragged out. Still, interesting characters and I liked the focus on storytelling. B+.
Shelly Jay Shore's Rules for Ghosting
OK, this is a very cute queer romance featuring Ezra, a young Jewish trans guy who
a) is a doula!
b) is moving into a house full of cool queer people, including his ex-boyfriend
c) for Reasons, has started working at his family's funeral home, which is problematic because
d) he sees ghosts!
e) including the recently deceased husband of
f) his downstairs neighbor, who volunteers at the funeral home
g) and who he has major sparks with.
Also, Ezra's mom just left his dad for the rabbi's wife--who is the cute neighbor's former mother in law (mother of the ghost husband).
This book is also SUPER Jew-y, which obviously I am here for, and I loved Ezra's relationships with his siblings and friends. There is kind of a lot going on and the end is a little busy, but it’s all very sweet. A-.
Janice Hallett's The Examiner
So Hallett's whole thing is mystery stories involving collections of documents, text messages, etc. This one involves six students in a new arts MA program, and the examiners who are supposed to judge whether their grades are fair or whatever, but instead are reading their assignments and chats with increasing horror and it becomes clear something shady has happened. I did like this, but I think it had some major pacing issues, and the end was all over the place. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 10th.
Julie E. Czerneda's A Turn of Light
It took me a hella long time to read this, partially because it's over 800 pages, and partially because I was still getting over covid. But I really liked it! It has guardian toads and carnivorous horses, and dragons and magic, and some romance, and lots of mysterious things going on, but also a whole village of cool people hanging out and harvesting and stuff. The main storyline involves a young girl who dreams of seeing the world, until she finds out she can’t leave her village because of magical reasons, and she learns she herself has magic and comes to understand it. I don't remember where I saw this recommended but I'm glad I did, it was very satisfying. And there's even a sequel AND a third one is coming out next month! Perfect timing. (I might take a break before the sequel, though, just to give my brain a break and read something a little quicker.) A.
Madeline Ashby's Glass Houses
So this is billed as a story in which a near-future tech mogul and his start-up team crash land onto a mysterious island, and what’s the deal, and how will they survive. But REALLY it’s a story about one of the women there, the mogul's chief of staff, with lots of flashbacks to how she ended up here. I think the flashbacks and her narrative arc are more compelling than the island stuff, which is actually pretty weak—it feels like mis-marketing. A few interesting surprises and some less cool ones. Good summer kind of read. B+.
Peter S. Beagle's Innkeeper's Song
I had always heard good things about this book, and obviously I love The Last Unicorn, so when it finally became available for kindle I picked it up. And at first I was really into it—there's a lot going on, and it’s told from a variety of POV characters, and it feels really lively. But then there’s weirdly a group sex scene that goes on for several chapters? And then it becomes clear everyone is going to have to find and defeat an evil wizard, and I was just like, I don’t think I care anymore. But I wanted to know how it would turn out for some of the characters, so I picked it back up. It ended up being fine. B.
Juneau Black's Shady Hollow
I bought this ages ago just because the cover is so cute, and I’m finally getting around to reading it due to rebound Covid. :( Anyway, this has a great concept: it’s set in a town of anthropomorphic animals, and the main character is star reporter Vera Vixen, a fox (her best friend is a raven named Lenore who owns the local bookstore). Things kick off with the murder of the local grumpy toad. I did enjoy the characters and world here a lot, but the mystery wasn’t very interesting. I might check out this series again next time I want something chill, though. B/B+.
Kate Atkinson's Death at the Sign of the Rook
It’s a new Jackson Brodie book! And this one somehow involves a murder mystery party*, a series of art thefts, a vicar with no voice, a beekeeping veteran, and of course Reggie Chase. This felt a LOT lighter (and funnier!) than some of the other books in this series and I loved every minute of it. I really hope Atkinson writes more in this vein. A.
* Fun fact: in high school, my best friend and I were VERY into murder mystery parties. Lol.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 3rd.
Jordan Ifueko's The Maid and the Crocodile
This is billed as a stand-alone set in the world of Raybearer, but I think you’d be better off reading those first, since some of the characters recur (and I think it would have been easier for me if those details were fresher in my mind). But it’s a good story either way! The protagonist is a girl who has aged out of her orphanage and wants to find a job as a maid, but people think she’s unlucky because of her appearance and her damaged foot. Also, there’s a whole thing where she can see and clean away remnants of magic/feelings/it’s hard to explain. And then she ends up bound to a cursed young man with godly powers. Ok you know what, there’s a lot going on here, plot-wise, and explaining it isn’t getting me anywhere. I really liked this, especially how it ended, lots of cool friendships and a little romance and a little bit of political revolution. Good times. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 13th.
Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here
Christina recommended this so enthusiastically to me that I immediately bumped it to the top of my to-read list! And it lived up to the hype! I can give a brief plot summary but it won’t capture how compelling this is, and how much I loved the narrative voice. But ok, it’s about a woman working a couple of dead end jobs, living in her mother's attic, when her wealthy best friend from high school—now married to a senator—gets in touch, wanting to hire her to take care of her two step-children, who occasionally catch on fire. This book is so charmingly weird and I love all these weird people caring about each other. So good. A.
Olga Wojtas' Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar
I have Covid (boo) so wanted something light to read, and this fit the bill? It’s about a Scottish librarian who time-travels to tsarist Russia, and she thinks her mission is to help a shy young heiress get married, but meanwhile someone is definitely murdering people. Everything is VERY clear to the reader which makes the protagonist’s cluelessness really frustrating. But there are a lot of very funny and silly moments. I might read the next in the series. B/B+.
Casey McQuiston's The Pairing
I will admit the description didn't make me excited to read this book, but I was sucked in by the writing as soon as I started. I actually am going to be vaguer than usual, because I enjoyed all the little plot reveals along the way, but the story involves childhood best friends and young adult couple Theo and Kit, who had a messy breakup in their mid-20s, and now four years later, find themselves on the same food-and-wine tour in Europe. And despite CLEARLY still having feelings for each other, they're sweet horny dummies who just can’t figure it out. There is an aggravating plot where they have a half-hearted hookup contest and I’m just like, can you please figure your shit out already?? This is all balanced by LOTS of descriptions of food and wine, which I was here for. I ended up thinking this was super cute and look forward to whatever McQuiston does next (a novel about one of the side characters here, according to an interview I read!). A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Tanya Huff's Into the Broken Lands
Perfect example of the sunk cost fallacy: like halfway through I was like, I’m not actually enjoying this, it’s just endless journeying in a land full of dangers led by an insecure heir and a weapon who’s a person, with some really annoying scholars, interspersed with flashbacks to an earlier journey in the same land of dangers. But like, I’ve been reading it all week! If I stop now, that's just wasted time! So I kept going, when instead I could have been reading something I liked better, and who cares if I didn’t blog a book for a few days (I’ve been playing a lot of Stardew lately so have been reading less, too). Anyway, this was fine, I wasn’t into it but I’m sure other people would be. B.
Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me
After those last couple disappointing books, it was time for a refresh with a reread of one of my all-time favorites. This book is beautiful and sad every time, and all the better for a reread when you know what’s coming. I always marvel at how a story about game shows and adolescent friendship woes is also a bittersweet story about time travel and fate. So good.
Jacqueline Winspear's The Consequences of Fear
I remembered why I hadn’t read the last few books in this series: I’m just not that into them! I had a conversation recently with Christina about how they fit some of the tropes of a cozy mystery (all the focus on family and friends), but they’re not cozy at all. They’re bleak as hell! Anyway, this one involves a little messenger boy witnessing a murder, but only Maisie believes him. Also she’s training spies now so there’s a lot of business with that. I’m going to take a break from these for a bit, I do plan on reading the last two eventually just to see how it all turns out, but I find these books mildly frustrating. B.
Jacqueline Winspear's The American Agent
Ok, that was a little bit of whiplash—I decided not to reread the whole series and just jump ahead to the first one I hadn’t read, but suddenly we're in 1940 and there’s a lot I’m pretty hazy on! Anyway, this one involves the murder of an American woman, a war correspondent. I will say, I do like that this series focuses so much on Maisie and the other characters and what they're up to, but it would be nice if they made more of an effort to solve this crime. Like she doesn't talk to the victim's best friend for AGES, and when she does she doesn’t ask the important questions, as though to keep the mystery going for longer--it's very frustrating. I need to come to terms with the fact that these are a series of historical novels where the protagonist solves crimes sometimes, and not true mysteries. Mixed feelings on the ending, too. But I still like the characters! B/B+.
Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs
I was in the mood to read a historical mystery, and this is the book club pick for this month, so I figured I’d go ahead and reread it and catch up on the last few books in the series (normally I like to read the book club pick right before we meet so the details are fresh, but the heart wants what it wants, and mine wants a historical mystery!). I forgot this is like BARELY a mystery, more a historical novel set in 1929 about a woman opening a sort of detective agency and also dealing with PTSD from being a nurse in WWI. She does investigate a shady retreat for wounded soldiers, but this book is mainly giving her (interesting!) backstory. We'll see how book club likes it!
Emma Alban's You’re The Problem It's You
The second book in Alban's Mischief and Matchmaking series involves a cousin of each of the women from the first book, who are: a new Viscount who has no idea what he’s doing and has a horrible stepfather, not to mention a long-time crush on the other dude, a second son who the family convinces to help the Viscount be good at viscounting. This felt more stressful than the first one. It’s billed as enemies to lovers but it’s just two awkward dudes having a bunch of miscommunications while an over-the-top villain makes things messy. I did think it was interesting that both of these books had side plots about actual politics (getting bills passed etc). It does get very cute in the last quarter, I just think it would have benefited from having Beth and Gwen more prominent throughout (or maybe I’m just more invested in them). A-/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in August.
Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor
I needed a bit of a palate cleanser after those last couple books, so decided to reread a favorite that involves court politics, a murder investigation, and a young leader thrust into power trying to do the best he can. Love watching him build alliances, get to know relatives, thwart plots, etc. This is satisfying and engaging every time.
Marlen Haushofer's The Wall (trans. by Shaun Whiteside)
I definitely did not PLAN to read another book that is the diary of a woman who is maybe the last person in the world right after reading I Who Have Never Known Men, but that happened somehow. This was originally written in Austria in the early 1960s, and it's about a woman who goes with some friends to visit their remote hunting lodge. They go out one afternoon but never return, and soon she realizes she in inside a sort of transparent wall, and every living creature outside the wall is dead (she assumes this is some sort of war thing). So she has to survive in this weird circle that's left--along with a dog, a cat, and a cow. (WARNING: some of these animals die! But the narrator makes that clear pretty early on--there is still some dread leading up to those deaths though.) This was a slower book, but an interesting companion (both authors were children during WWII and I think there's a discussion to be had about that for sure). I will say after all that slowness, the end felt VERY abrupt. A-/B+.
Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men (trans. by Ros Schwartz)
I absolutely could have gobbled this down in one sitting had bedtime permitted, the narrative voice is SO ENGAGING and the story is so....unusual? Compelling? So the premise is there are 40 women trapped in a bunker, under heavy guard, and they have no idea where they are or what happened or why they are there. But one of them, the narrator, was just a small child when they were captured, and has no memory of their former world. Fascinating sort of coming of age story, interesting characters and social dynamics. Weirdly, I was looking up the author and apparently she was the inspiration for a google doodle just a couple days ago! (I don’t see the doodle on my devices so that is a weird coincidence!) A/A-.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Long Island Compromise
Brodesser-Akner's second novel is inspired by the true story of the kidnapping of a wealthy Jewish man, but it’s kind of hard to get into, because after the actually kidnapping, the story jumps ahead to the adult life of the man's middle child, and he is a sad, horny, drug-addled mess. His section is lengthy and often unpleasant. I had read good reviews so I was determined to stick with it, hoping later sections and characters would be less relentlessly vile. But the next section involves his anxiety-ridden older brother, who’s made some poor financial and professional decisions, and it’s even more claustrophobic. (The horrible hot weather may not have helped my reading experience here.) The back half is more readable, focusing more on the women of the family, but I found the end to be pretty frustrating. Is the message here that rich people are assholes? And more so if they’ve had traumatic experiences? I dunno. This was kind of a bummer. B.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle
I don’t want to give myself credit for reading these two books back-to-back, because I think I saw someone mention it online recently when everyone was discussing The Lottery, but they are actually a perfect doubleheader! Each is narrated by a younger sister who has a close relationship with her older sister, they live fairly isolated lives, things change when a new young man comes to town… Of course Jackson is playing in a totally different ballpark than Dodie Smith! And this holds up so well to a rereading, when you know what actually happened the night most of the Blackwoods died, and can just read with a sense of dread and sadness. Satisfying in an unsettling way.
Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
I read this blog post recently (about the difficulties of translating the title of this book), which made me want to reread it, since it’s been a long time. And it’s basically as enjoyable as I remembered, told as the journal of a teenage girl living in 1930s England in a decrepit castle in genteel poverty, with her eccentric family, and what happens when the new young heir comes to live nearby. Lots of very funny parts, but also lots of dated language and very hilariously dated discussions of psychology (the book was written in the late 40s). I found the teen romantic angst a little more tiresome this time, but still like this book a lot.
Liz Moore's The God of the Woods
I almost put this down a couple times in frustration and actually had to get up and finish it instead of going to bed, because I needed to know what would happen and if it was going to piss me off! But actually, it ended up being pretty satisfying. It’s about a wealthy girl who goes missing from her summer camp, which is on her family property—and where her older brother went missing 14 years earlier. Lots of POVs—her self-medicating and checked-out mother, her camp counselor, her camp friend, and a young woman police investigator. I was very worried this would end up being a story about rich assholes literally getting away with murder (and the locals they crushed along the way) but it ended up being a different story entirely. A-.
Katie Siegel's Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher
I didn’t love this AS much as the first one, but it was still very entertaining! This one finds Charlotte taking a job as a substitute teacher where her friend works, and getting involved in a case involving blackmail letters being sent to another teacher—and to her aunt, who’s on the board of ed. And also, the school is the same one she attended, and where she became famous as a tween detective—and where she’s inspiring a new generation of kids. The mystery was fine, I really enjoy the characters and their friendships and that’s what kept me interested. A-/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on July 23rd.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and the Bandit
Hooray for a new Penric and Desdemona novella! This one involves Penric on a journey to try and find a long-abandoned monastery, and the bandit who assumes he's an easy mark. Lol. Adventures and actions ensue, as they are wont to do. I just love spending time with these characters in this world. A-.
Kate Ross' Cut to the Quick
This first book in the Julian Kestrel series introduces the protagonist, a charming dandy, as he's invited to be the best man in a wedding where the groom is a dude he's only met once. And obviously he's like, this is so weird and also I'm kind of broke right now, so let's head to the country and see what's up. And what's up is a wedding where one family is being blackmailed into things! And then a dead body turns up in Kestrel's bed! Lots of suspects on hand, but with the help of the grumpy local doctor and his pickpocket-turned-valet, Kestrel is sure to figure things out. I really enjoyed this, the ending is fairly melodramatic but overall a satisfying read. A-.
Kristin Cashore's There is a Door in this Darkness
I saw some discourse recently about how "there's no pandemic novels" (which, have you read Louise Erdrich, bro?), but hey, here's a pandemic novel for ya. I actually had no idea what this was about, I just like Kristin Cashore, so I perhaps wasn't expecting a novel set in fall 2020 that constantly talks about masking and the election. Too real. Very stressful. But GREAT characters and very readable! So the main character is teen Wilhelmina, who always spent summers with her great-aunts (one biological, the other two in a throuple with her), at least until one of them died of cancer. And then her best friends formed a pandemic bubble without her. And now she's seeing weird mysterious signs and sparkles and keeps running into a cute boy from school. I am not at all into teen romances in books but this was super cute (it's not a romance novel per se, much more coming of age, but the romance is a thing). Sweet story but I did have a hard time stomaching 2020 flashbacks in light of current events. A-.
Emma Alban's Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend
Very cute historical romance involving two young women who are supposed to be finding husbands during the Season, but they’re not super interested in marriage (not really a spoiler: they’re lesbians but aren’t initially aware lesbianism is a thing), so they decide to matchmake their widowed parents, who have a Romantic Past, which will solve various financial problems and mean they don’t have to find dudes to marry. But of course they’re also busy falling for each other, and things only get more complicated when a wealthy lord becomes interested in one of the women. I really enjoyed this, especially the pack of hilarious cousins (it looks like one of them is the main character in the sequel and I can’t wait). A/A-.
T. Kingfisher’s A Sorceress Comes to Call
HOORAY for new T. Kingfisher! I actually texted a friend when I was like a third of the way in “it’s SO GOOD and nothing creepy has happened yet!” Well, that didn’t last, lol. Anyway, this has two POV characters—a fourteen year old girl whose mother is a powerful sorceress, and who punishes her daughter by controlling her body so she’ll be “obedient.” Mega yikes. AND a fifty year old spinster, whose brother the sorceress is determined to marry. And what better way to try and interrupt a proposal than inviting over some friends for a house party? This is like a straight up Regency style mystery romance setting, one of my FAVORITE settings. Of course, with an unscrupulous sorceress on hand, things quickly get grimmer, and stuff does get unsettling! I would expect nothing less. This has elements of the Goose Girl fairy tale—there’s a horse named Falada, and the spinster sister breeds geese (I was here for the geese)—but it’s telling a different story entirely. It’s GREAT. Very funny, amazing characters, satisfying ending. Another awesome Kingfisher book. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 6th.
Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars
What a GREAT ending to one of the more interesting series I’ve read! Lots of diplomacy and politics and religious wrangling, great characters, surprises, etc. I mean also some dark parts, this series was grim at times, but what a satisfying and lovely ending. A.
I think this was my favorite in this series so far, even though some super brutal stuff goes down. A lot happens,but also not that much happens? Lots of plotting and intrigue and sorcery. I have hope for a satisfying outcome and happy endings for all my favorite characters…. Maybe. A/A-.
Blair Braverman's Small Game
Taking a break from epic fantasy to reread this for book club! For some reason I enjoy survival stories, maybe bc I am NOT outdoorsy and will hopefully never experience anything similar. Anyway, this is the story of contestants on a survival reality tv show and of course things go wrong. Braverman IS very outdoorsy and has been on Naked and Afraid so lots of great little details. Great characters, terrifying and sad moments too. Very quick and entertaining read.
Kate Elliott's The Gathering Storm
This one was pretty slow for me—I’m not super interested in armies traveling all over—but once again the ending is so good that I immediately forgot all the parts that frustrated me. I will also say a lot of stuff that I didn’t think would happen till the last book happened here, so like what are the next two books going to be about?? Here’s hoping for political and magical intrigues! But first I have to take a break to reread my book club book. :) B+.
Kate Elliott's Child of Flame
This was so long and there was so much journeying (metaphysical and otherwise), and yet I still really liked it! Parts are slow but that is balanced by characters I’m very invested in, ongoing mysteries, and several HOLY SHIT moments. There are still some characters I hope meet grisly deaths sooner rather than later, but there are still three books to go. A-.
Kate Elliott's The Burning Stone
SO MUCH happens in this book. It starts off a little bit slow but when things get rolling, they really roll. I admire Elliott for letting plot things happen quickly instead of dragging them out for all seven books. But there is starting to be a lot to keep track of! I am so intrigued about what is going on in this series, which is very compelling and mildly confusing. I love it but also be warned this one is somehow even darker than the first two. A-.
Kate Elliott's Prince of Dogs
The second book in this series has even more POV characters, even more religion, even more politics and war! Riveting stuff. The nice thing about the POV changes is that it makes it easier to balance dreadful stuff with nice and hopeful stuff (I love you, Alain). There is one character who REALLY stresses me out and I hope he meets a grisly end soon, but I expect we'll be stuck with him through all seven books. I’m really enjoying this, though! Elliott definitely takes things in directions I don’t expect. A-.
Kate Elliott's King's Dragon
I've enjoyed what I've read of Elliott's more recent work, so here I am checking out her older mammoth fantasy series. There is a LOT going on here and I was into it!! It has a lot of classic fantasy stuff going on--an alternate version of Europe, lots of politics, lots of magic, etc--but it also has a VERY interesting religion/society (both feature women in very prominent roles) and it goes to a lot of unexpected places. The two main characters are a girl who's lived life on the run with her dad for secret magical reasons, except then he dies and a local powerful dude manipulates things so that she becomes his slave, because he wants her knowledge, and also to sleep with her (this is all pretty unpleasant, check content warnings). The other main character is a young man with mysterious origins AND a gift with animals, who has a vision of a war goddess and ends up embroiled in some high level politics/war stuff. There are also other POV characters who pop up occasionally to flesh things out, which I appreciated, primarily the girl’s best friend, the king's illegitimate son, and a woman historian/adviser to the king. This book was long but it never dragged, I’m looking forward to the next one! A-.
Rebecca Fraimow's Lady Eve's Last Con
This was a very fun sci-fi book involving a woman who, along with her little sister, is basically a hustler, but now she’s on her biggest con yet—disguising herself as a debutante and getting engaged to the very wealthy dude who broke her sister's heart (and left her pregnant). Buuuuuut she’s way more interested in his older sister, and complications ensue. This was a little slow at parts but the last third was all fire emoji. Plus I loved the glimpses of future Judaism. A-/B+.
Rachel Neumeier's Rihasi
Oh, now this is interesting--it's set in the Tuyo universe, but I think this is the first one that doesn't involve/center the Ugaro people--all the major characters are Lau. Anyway, this involves a woman who's determined to expose a lot of injustices to Aras (who of course is a major character in the other books), and the mercenary she hires to travel with her, who has a secret from his past that means he absolutely does not want to see Aras. Also, she's in disguise as a dude, and there are so many fun details there. I LOVED both these characters (I always love Neumeier's characters but really loved these), and as always loved the writing and plot. Lots of light and funny moments balancing out the action and traveling. And the very end of this one is particularly entertaining. Neumeier writes such satisfying stories, but I am really partial to the Tuyo-verse. A.
Yume Kitasei's The Stardust Grail
Kitasei's first book was one of my favorites of 2023, so obviously I was psyched for this one, and it was SO GOOD! Our protagonist is a renowned intergalactic thief (or repatriator of stolen objects) who, after a job went very wrong, has gone back to Earth to be a grad student. But when she gets wind of a legendary artifact--that could save her old friend's species from extinction--she's back in the game, trying to track it down (with a motley crew, of course!) before more powerful people can get their hands on it. Cool world building, action packed, great characters—VERY fun! A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 11th.
Leah Hager Cohen's To & Fro
This is one of those books where you can read one half of it, or flip it over and the other half of the story is on the other half of the book (this is one thing ebooks don’t do well, and the last chapter has the stories come together in a cool formatting thing, which doesn’t translate to the ebook at all, and I wonder how the audiobook would handle it). Anyway, I started with “To,” which involves a young girl traveling on a journey accompanied by a tiny kitten, and it STRESSED ME OUT. So I switched over to “Fro,” which involves a young girl in our world, and loved it. And then I had more context and went back to “To” (important note: THE KITTEN IS OKAY). Really interesting book, sad but hopeful. A-.
Moniquill Blackgoose's To Shape A Dragon's Breath
Rereading this for book club and I think I liked it even more the second time. There are still some bits that I think could have been pared down/more subtle, but I was way less distracted this time trying to translate all the words/places. I was like it’s just a fantasy novel, it’s fine, go with the flow! I mean, also I knew that I loved the characters and was way more focused on them. Anyway, this is the story of an indigenous girl in a version of North America that was colonized more by Vikings/Northern Europeans, and what happens when she bonds with a baby dragon and has to go to a dragon-training school run by white people (because her people have lost their dragon raising lore). A lot of people are super racist to her but she also makes some cool friends and continues to buck the system! With a baby dragon! So good and I hope the next book is announced soon.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Falling Free
This is kind of a stand-alone set in the Vorkosigon universe, set a few hundred years earlier, so I skipped it when I was reading that series. But I was in the mood for some classic sci-fi, so here we are! I will say this felt VERY cliched, but I'm not sure if that's because I've read a lot of books that were influenced by it, or that it's just super cliched (the human savior of the childlike slaves and the romance especially). I also found all the technical talk to be pretty slow. It ended up being enjoyable enough, I do enjoy Bujold's characters. B.
Rufi Thorpe's Margo's Got Money Troubles
Y’all, I have really liked all of Rufi Thorpe's previous books, so I had high expectations, and this WAY exceeded them. It’s SO GOOD. It’s about a nineteen year old girl in junior college who gets pregnant after a brief affair with one of her professors, and decides to keep the baby, assuming things will work out. But then she loses her waitressing job bc she has no childcare, and her roommates move out because they don’t want to live with a baby. And that’s when her former pro wrestler dad shows up and moves in, and she decides to try and make money on OnlyFans. And also, the whole thing alternates between first and third person, so you’re aware that this character is writing a novel of her life. Even when I was worried for the characters, I was totally engrossed, this absolutely hooked me from page one and was beautiful and moving and weird and bittersweet. Definitely going to be on my favorites of the year list. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in June.
Sharon Shinn's Echo in Amethyst
Now this was interesting--the main character of this one is an echo who has become sentient (there were some hints in the first book that some echos had some awareness, but I don't think to this extent). It's also interesting because it actually starts before the events of the first book and kind of plays through all those from another perspective. But I didn’t really enjoy the romance—it’s not as well-developed as the ones in the other books. And the political stuff and the end were both somewhat unsatisfying. This one was more romance focused than plot focused, and I think that balance was better in the first two. B.
Sharon Shinn's Echo in Emerald
I liked this better than the first one—the plot is a lot stronger, I think. The protagonist here is a young woman, the illegitimate daughter of a noble, who has learned to disguise her echoes and make her own way in the world. And then she’s drawn into helping solve a murder and an assassination attempt (and obviously falls for the noble leading the investigation, who is a perfectly nice love interest, if not super compelling). The mystery helps carry things along and there are some interesting twists along the way. Looks like things are heading toward some serious political intrigue for book three! A-.
Sharon Shinn's Echoes in Onyx
I've been having a hard time getting into books lately, but luckily I had this unread Sharon Shinn trilogy saved for a rainy day (or a reading rut), since I always enjoy her writing and world-building. This is set in in a fantasy world where nobles sometimes have mysterious copies of themselves, and the main character is a young woman who becomes the lady's maid for a noblewoman with three such echoes. I thought this would be a fairly typical court politics story but soon enough there are clumsy attempts to cover up a murder AND secret lesbians. And of course the protagonist's love interest is investigating the murder. I actually really liked how this wrapped up, even though I was uncertain of that along the way. B+.
Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower
Yes, I have like a billion unread books on my kindle, but I wanted to reread this book! I didn’t really remember anything about it, except that it’s narrated by a god, telling its story to the local heir's aide (and narrating the humans dealing with Hamlet-esque political machinations). I love stories about gods and court politics! This one is particularly riveting, I love the narrative voice. My only complaint is that the end is somewhat abrupt/anti-climactic. Still, I love it, and I hope Leckie does more fantasy someday.
Coco Mellors' Blue Sisters
I do like books about sisters, and this one was great! It deals with how three very different women are floundering a year after the death of their fourth sister (how she died is revealed partway through and I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I did have a lot of thoughts about it as someone with endometriosis). All three are really compelling, and I was worried this was losing steam toward the end but I ended up really liking it. Definitely one for the book club list. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September (but it's already out in the UK so I got confused and read it early, oops!).
Park Seolyeon's A Magical Girl Retires
Ok, this was really fun! It starts with a young woman planning to commit suicide bc of credit card debt, when she’s stopped and told she’s a magical girl! And not just any magical girl—the Magical Girl of Time, who has to help save the world… from climate change. Great characters and fun action here, I just wish this had been a little longer to kind of build up the second half more. But I liked this a lot. A-.
James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Falls
A weird and interesting conclusion to a weird and interesting series. Great characters as always, the plot was sometimes exhausting (which was the case for several of the books). I did appreciate how there was a sort of throughline for the whole series. But I’m ready for something lighter! A-/B+.
James S.A. Corey's Tiamat's Wrath
Ok, we're on book 8 of 9 and this was SO GOOD, WHOA, I’m not even going to try to do a plot summary because SO MUCH happens and it’s all really interesting and sad and cool! These characters are so good and I’m so intrigued to see how this series wraps up.
Lindsay King-Miller's The Z Word
So I am a HUGE wuss and am particularly not into zombies, but this was so fun that I didn’t even mind? The official description says “it’s the queer zombie romp you didn’t know you needed” and I can’t argue with that! The main character is dealing with queer angst as Pride kicks off and she's still hung up on her ex-girlfriend, but then things start getting weird and violent. Great characters here (I was partial to the very awesome pizza delivery person) and a fairly realistic look at a response to a zombie outbreak, I mean, considering. Lol. Obviously things get over the top but like, again, zombies. VERY FUN READ. I hope this becomes a movie. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 7th.
James S.A. Corey’s Persepolis Rising
This was kind of weird, because there’s like a THIRTY YEAR TIME JUMP, but the main characters are all exactly the same, doing the same jobs on their same ship and haven’t even managed to adopt any new crew members in all that time. I mean, it’s kind of sad! But I get why there has to be a big time jump for plot reasons, as we finally see what the people behind all the bad stuff from the last couple books have been up to—namely, planning an empire under an immortal dictator. SURE, WHY NOT. I actually liked this book a lot despite *hand waving* all that, because there’s lots of interesting political stuff going on and lots of little plots and plans, and I enjoy that sort of thing. Plus Bobbie! Very intrigued to see where things go next. A-.
Janice Hallett's The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
I'm rereading this for book club, and it's one of those mysteries that's fun to reread because once you know what's going on, you can see how the clues are laid out/how it all works. At first, though, I was finding things kind of tiresome, because of the sort of gimmicky nature of the book—it’s all transcripts and emails and excerpts of novels etc. But after a good's night sleep I got caught up in the story again—the story is WILD and I’m not sure it really holds up on a rereading, but it sure is entertaining!
Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time
This is being described as “part time travel romance, part spy thriller” and honestly I’m here for all of that? The narrator is a young woman who works for the government in England, who’s assigned a job as a “bridge” for one of several people who’s been pulled out of her time—in her case, Graham Gore, from the lost Franklin exploration of the arctic. I ended up being VERY invested in their relationship, and thought the first half of this especially was very funny. I’m not sure the spy thriller aspects ended up totally working, but I loved this book anyway. GREAT narrative voice and beautiful characters. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 7th.
James S.A. Corey’s Babylon's Ashes
I am still very invested in a lot of these characters, and I bet this all makes for a really compelling tv show, but this book was EXHAUSTING. I lost track of how many POV characters it had, and honestly, lost track of who a lot of them even were. But again, great characters! The plot is mostly just action scenes though and those aren’t always fun to read. I want more diplomacy and politics! I’m gonna take a brief break to rest my brain but I do plan on continuing the series. B/B+.
Victoria Goddard’s Terec and the Wild/
Taking a quick break from the Expanse series because Victoria Goddard put out a new novella, which is the sequel to this novella, and so obviously I had to reread this one to refresh my memory. It’s the story of the long-lost love of one of the dudes from the Hands of the Emperor books, and the journey he takes when he exiles himself due to his wild magic. This is the first of four, apparently, and hard to judge on its own since it really feels like an introduction. Still, I like everything Goddard writes.
I’m counting these as one book since they’re both just 52 pages. Like its predecessor, it’s pretty much all vibes until near the end, when Terec has an Unexpected Encounter (or perhaps not, if you’ve read anything by Goddard before) and some plot kicks in. Looking forward to the third.
James S.A. Corey's Nemesis Games
This was interesting, because Holden and his three crew members all are off on their own adventures (which do, of course, collide), which means we have POV sections from Naomi, Alex, and Amos for the first time—very good for their character development. Some of my favorite characters from earlier books also return, which I was obviously psyched about. The political situation in the larger story is really heating up, and I’m intrigued to see where things go next, since now we're like halfway through the series. A-.
James S.A. Corey's Cibola Burn
I liked this one a lot more than the third one—it mainly involves Holden being sent to mediate between two groups of colonists on a new planet, and I just found the plot and most of the characters more engaging (two of the POV characters are minor characters from earlier books, on opposite sides of the conflict). I say “most of” the characters because the main villain is very one note and at a certain point I was wishing someone would shoot him so I didn’t have to read any more of his nonsense. On the plus side, I thought Naomi was way better developed in this one (maybe because we're seeing her through eyes that aren't Holden's?). Looking forward to the next one. A-.
James S.A. Corey's Abaddon's Gate
I didn’t like this as much as the second one, because all the new characters from that one that I was invested in aren’t in this one (Holden and his crew are in all of them I guess). There are some new POV characters: a guy who's chief security officer on a spaceship (he’s cool); Julie Mao's sister, working on a convoluted plan of revenge against Holden; and a lesbian Methodist minister, which meant a lot of talk about Christianity, which is not my bag. Things do pick up in the second half once all the plotlines come together, and it does get action-packed, but I do hope all these pastors don’t come back. B+.
Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance
It’s my birthday, and as a birthday treat I read this ARC! I love the way Rowell writes characters and feelings and characters talking about feelings and I knew this wouldn’t disappoint. And it didn’t! Her first adult novel in years is sort of a second chance romance, focusing on newly divorced Shiloh and her high school best friend Cary, who meet for the first time in years at a wedding. And the story flashes back and forth between their high school years, and the adult years they spent apart, and their college years, and them in the now (well, 2006) as they try and figure their shit out. And I do love a book where nice people figure their shit out. Very relatable and vividly drawn characters, as Rowell does so well. So satisfying. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in July.
(I tagged this as LGBTQ because Shiloh is queer, but this is an m/f romance.)
James S.A. Corey's Caliban's War
Ok, I did like this one way more, and there were way better lady characters, as I was told. (One is a Martian Marine, the other a powerful politician from Earth, and I love them.) The plot, such as it is, kicks off when a scientist's daughter is kidnapped by nefarious scientists who are tied to the nefarious stuff from book one, and the Rocinante crew are on board (lol) to help get her back, but of course there are wars and politics and PTSD and more to deal with. Plus a baller ending that makes me eager for book three (except I’m taking a quick break before I come back to these!). A-.
James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes
I was thinking about starting the Expanse tv show, but I am exactly the kind of person who wants to read the books first, so here we go! There is a LOT going on in this first one, but it mainly involves two characters: the first is a washed-up cop looking for a missing woman (the reader knows nothing good has happened to her), which leads him into a much bigger mystery; the second is an XO on a water hauling spaceship who also gets drawn into the bigger mystery after witnessing several weird attacks on spaceships, and he's just trying to keep his remaining crew alive, but also has started a war? The pace picks up a lot once these characters collide, and there are a lot of surprises for sure. It was still a bit slow and no comment on the women characters (I hear this improves in later books and look forward to finding out). B+.
T. Kingfisher's What Feasts at Night
Ok, I liked this one so much more, probably because it’s barely scary and way less gross! (Reminder that I am a GIANT WUSS.) This one finds Alex on their way to their hunting lodge to hang out with Beatrix Potter's aunt, who they befriended in the previous book. But the caretaker has died, and a malevolent spirit may be the cause. Oh, also, Alex is dealing with major PTSD. This one is playing much more with dark folklore instead of monstrous nature, which is way easier for me personally. I also love the characters and the humor, as always. A/A-.
T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead
Normally I’ll read anything Kingfisher writes, but I’m a giant wuss and the cover of this book scared me!! But she did a reading from the sequel recently and that and the way she talked about the series made me want to read it, so here we are. It’s a take on The Fall of the House of Usher, set in the 1800s in a made-up European country, and involves a solder (from a country where soldiers have their own set of pronouns) going to visit some old friends who are ill. I will say this is not jump scare kind of horror, but it is very eerie and also gross!!! But I do love Kingfisher's writing. A-/B+.
Patricia Wentworth's Mr Brading's Collection
I was in the mood for a mystery so decided to check back in on the Miss Silver series. This was perfectly adequate. Lol. It involves a rich jerk who wants to hire Miss Silver but she refuses! But when he gets murdered she ends up involved anyway. The main characters are a divorced couple who will obviously reconcile by the end, all of the Miss Silver mysteries have a couple that will get together by the end. The mystery itself was interesting enough, and I enjoy reading this, but this wasn’t a fave. B/B+.
Effie Calvin's Daughter of the Sun
I did like this one more than the first—as I mentioned, the one thing I really liked in that one was the religion stuff, and this one leans more into that, as it involves a chaos goddess trapped in a mortal body falling for a (lady) Paladin of the sun god. Lol. Very cute. It drags a little in the middle but was definitely a stronger story with even better characters. I don’t think I’ll continue with the series though. B+.
Effie Calvin's The Queen of Ieflaria
I wanted to read something light/cute, and this WAS very cute, but not much else. It’s about a young princess who comes to a new country to get married,but her betrothed has died and now the heir is his younger sister, who doesn’t want to rule. Also, dragons keep attacking. So am I here for a sapphic fantasy romance? Yes, and I liked the characters a lot, and thought the stuff with religion was really interesting. BUT the plot and romance are both totally underbaked. It’s frustrating because the writing is good and the bones of a solid story are there, but I really needed it to be way more fleshed out. Still, I’ll give the next book in the series a try bc this world is interesting. B/B+.
Grace Curtis' The Floating Hotel
I really liked Curtis' first novel and was excited for this one, which was also super enjoyable! It’s set in a giant spaceship hotel, which has seen better days, and each chapter is from the POV of a different staff member or guest, all coming together to tell the story of a wonderful place. Lots of fun stuff comes up—movie nights, heists, music, etc—but there are also some spies on board, trying to track down a political dissident. Curtis nails the ending, too; this was a very satisfying read. A/A-.
