2024 book 22

 Melissa Marr's Remedial Magic

Right away I was like, OH, am /I/ the target audience for this book! Because the main character is a lesbian librarian who lives in Ligonier (not far from my hometown of Pittsburgh, site of childhood field trips). She lives an aggressively uninteresting life, until a mysterious woman appears in the library one day! BECAUSE ALSO, this book involves a magic school, a community college of sorts for adults whose magic has suddenly awakened (due to a near-death experience), which is in a hidden magical town. But the town is dying. And there's a prophecy that the librarian will save them! And much of the book is a romance between the librarian and the mysterious woman, but there are also POV sections from an array of other characters, such as the guy on the run from gambling debts (and cancer); the lawyer determined to escape and get back to her son; the morally ambiguous headmaster of the school; various other witches (witch is a gender-neutral term here), etc. So there is a LOT going on. I was mostly into this; some of the romance-related writing is the sort I don’t like, and I hope they fix all the typos for the final version. Also had some mixed feelings about the end, even though it’s clearly setting up book two. Pretty fun though! A-/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.

2024 book 21

 Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice

I saw a mention of Shute the other day and realized I hadn’t reread this in far too long- it is one of my favorite books with one of fiction's most compelling heroines, as narrated by her elderly lawyer/trustee. (General note that there’s a lot of colonialism and racist language in here as much of it takes place in Malaysia during WWII and in Australia during the 1950s.) I would gush about this more but my hand hurts so no more typing today.

2024 book 20

 Malka Older's The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

I loved the first book in this series so was super psyched for this one, and it was also very entertaining! In this one, the academic is once again called into assist the detective, this time with a missing persons case, but a) now they’re sort of girlfriends!! and b) the case quickly becomes more complicated. I will say that like the first one, the mystery here is fine but not especially interesting, but I love the characters and their world and am happy to be along for the ride. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 13th.

2024 book 19

 Emily Austin's Interesting Facts About Space

This is being marketed as “hilarious and hopeful” but I actually found it kind of claustrophobic most of the way through! It centers on a lesbian woman with a complicated family, commitment issues, an obsession with true crime, and a debilitating fear of bald men (that might sound funny but she is legitimately unable to function). Her increasing paranoia is hard to read and I spent the whole book waiting for the reveal of some horrible trauma. But the ending is actually kind of sweet and, yes, hopeful, so apparently it’s not that kind of book at all. There are a lot of funny moments with her dating and I did end up liking this a lot but it is very real about mental health issues. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 18

 Sharon Shinn's Fortune and Fate

This ended up being pretty cute. The main character is a very minor character from the previous book, a King's Rider who blames herself for things going wrong, and now she sorts of rides around taking jobs and helping people but never settling down. Until she rescues a young noble girl from being kidnapped and ends up captain of her guard! There is a romance here, but the focus is more on the character learning to forgive herself. And of course the characters from the previous books make an appearance. I did like the bits about the post-war political situation too. A-/B+.

2024 book 17

 Sharon Shinn's Reader and Raelynx

I see now why I stopped with this volume last time I read this series, because it’s a great conclusion—again, kind of romance-forward, this time involving the powerful young mystic and the princess—but also wrapping up all the political plotlines, leading to the war that’s threatened the whole series. The friendships between the core group members are still the heart of things, and I do like the variety of awesome and powerful women in this series. 

2024 book 16

 Sharon Shinn's Dark Moon Defender

The third book in this series is also pretty romance-forward, but in this case both parties are adorable and available—the young soldier from the previous books, and a girl at the creepy convent run by the woman who wants power and wants to kill magic users. (The girl has magic powers and also worships a different goddess—some very interesting religion stuff in this one.) The romance here is also balanced by frequent check-ins with the other characters of the series, lots of action, lots more glimpses of the world, and awesome friendships. Very enjoyable and satisfying.

2024 book 15

 Sharon Shinn's Thirteenth House

I forgot that I really don’t like this second volume of the series, because while I love all the new and returning characters and the political intrigues, most of the plot revolves around a romance between the shape-shifting noblewoman and a married man. I mean, I really can’t tell if the reader is supposed to be on board for this, but I personally am /not/ into it. I do like how things conclude, but it’s kind of an annoying one to read.

2024 book 14

 Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider

I’m rereading this series bc chilly days call for fantasy novels, and also bc I never actually read the fifth book (I think it focuses on a secondary character) but I’ve seen it mentioned positively a few times recently. Anyway, this first one does a good job of introducing the world and the characters, a small band made up of a few people with magical abilities and a couple of the king's elite guard. They’re on a mission across the country to investigate rumors of rebellion—and growing hatred for magic. I do like political intrigue and this also has a sweet slow-building romance. But the friendships are the best part. 

2024 book 13

 Laurie Frankel's Family Family

I don’t think I’ve read anything by Frankel before, but I’m curious to check out her other books now. This novel is about a well-known actress who’s recently filmed a drama involving adoption; when she makes some offhand comments about the film to a reporter, she’s suddenly facing a lot of backlash. And then her children try to help and make everything a lot more complicated. This is interspersed with flashbacks to her teen years and up, showing how she became famous and how her family grew. Lots of interesting moments along the way and a few surprises. I was very into this at first—read the first two-thirds in one sitting and only stopped to go to sleep. But it was sort of getting a little muddled at that point and never quite recovered. It ended up being fine but that was kind of disappointing after such a strong start! B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 12

 L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon

When this essay ran in the NYT last month, of course Christina and Arianne and I were discussing it, which led to this month's book club pick! This was one I owned as a child but I never reread it as often as the Anne books. (I think Anne is more interesting and I like the characters and relationships in those much more.) This has a lot more Christianity than the Anne books, as well. There are some fun and funny parts, and beautiful descriptions of scenery, but some of this is very tiresome, and some is just creepy. I have a feeling book club is not going to be into this. In fact, upon finishing, I discovered that last time I read it, I rated it two stars, so I guess I wasn’t that into it either. ;)

2024 book 11

 Patricia Wentworth’s Wicked Uncle

First of all, what a great title! Second of all, the uncle in question is indeed very wicked, as he’s a blackmailer hosting a party of his victims (very Clue). Obviously he gets murdered, but who did it? As a mystery this didn’t totally work for me, it was much more telling instead of showing, just lots of Miss Silver explaining everything that happened. But once again, great characters, I kind of hope Dorinda pops up again. B+.

2024 book 10

 Patricia Wentworth’s Latter End

One of the things I like about these books is that even when I correctly guess the solution, it’s still satisfying to watch how it all plays out. Plus I do always enjoy the characters. This one involves a bitchy wealthy woman who ends up poisoned, but which person with reason to hate her did it? Only Miss Silver can figure it out. A-.

2024 book 9

 Patricia Wentworth’s Dark Threat

Just when I thought these were getting formulaic, this one managed to surprise me! But I don’t want to give spoilers so I’ll just say Miss Silver comes into it earlier than usual, which I always like, and we get to see her interact with two of her police detective protégés, which I also find enjoyable. The plot involves a man who fears someone is trying to kill him to prevent the sale of the family home, and the suspect pool is therefore pretty small. More interesting late-war/post-war stuff too. I do hope some of this gets revisited though. A-.

2024 book 8

 Patricia Wentworth’s She Came Back

WWII certainly does allow for a lot of mystery-related drama, and this Miss Silver mystery has a very dramatic plot indeed! It involves a wealthy young woman who everyone thinks died in 1940 returning from France three years later, but her husband is sure she’s an imposter (her look-alike cousin, very Patty Duke). I feel like in the classic stories it’s a soldier returning from war whose identity is in question, so this is a fun twist. Anyway, lots of twists and turns in this one, very entertaining. A-.

2024 book 7

 Patricia Wentworth's The Key

Well, this was certainly interesting, from a historical perspective. Published in 1944, it starts by introducing us to an Austrian-Jewish refugee who’s working on some sort of explosive for the war effort, and we find out his wife and daughter have died under the Nazis (his daughter explicitly in a concentration camp). I was psyched that it seemed like the main character would be a Jewish refugee, except then he gets murdered, and the main character turns out to be a guy with local ties sent to investigate by the War Office. And of course he needs the help of Miss Silver! No one is better at handling the personages of a small British town. I don’t really have strong feelings about the mystery here, it was fine. I do love Wentworth's characters, though. A-/B+.

2024 book 6

 Patricia Wentworth's The Clock Strikes Twelve

Looks like I’m back on my bullshit, ie reading classic mysteries! In this one, Miss Silver is called in to deal with a case involving stolen blueprints (this was written in and is set during WWII), an estranged married couple, a complicated set of family members, and murder. I will say that in these books (so far) it’s always clear who the villains aren’t, because they’re always young couples who will get a happy ending, but this was an interesting enough mystery anyway. My one minor complaint is that Miss Silver is always COUGHING! (Presumably, politely clearing her throat?) I started to wish for someone to hand her a lozenge, they had lozenges in the 1940s, right? B+.

2024 book 5

 Aimee Pokwatka's The Parliament

Pokwatka's second novel (after Self-Portrait With Nothing) is another kind of weird and cool concept, but I liked it SO MUCH. The protagonist is a woman who, as a favor to an old friend, has come to her hometown library to teach a group of middle-schoolers a class on chemistry in beauty products. Except then the library is surrounded by hundreds of murderous owls, and no one can get in or out, and the kids and the other library denizens (including the man the protagonist secretly loves, who she shares a tragic past with) have to survive. (Of all the places to be trapped by deadly birds, I think a library is a top notch setting.) This is all interspersed with chapters from the protagonist's favorite obscure fantasy novel, which she's reading out loud to the kids. This was just a beautiful book, it made me cry and it made me smile, just really so good. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 4

 Lois McMaster Bujold’s Demon Daughter

HOORAY for a new Penric and Desdemona novella! This one involves Pen and Des and Nikys dealing with a little girl lost from a ship—a little girl who has a brand new demon in her. This has big cozy vibes and some great emotional moments, very sweet and satisfying and GREAT! A. 

2024 book 3

 Kelly Link's The Book of Love

I had high hopes for Link's debut novel (after several short story collections and a MacArthur Genius Award), and I think this managed to exceed them?? I’d seen nothing but positive buzz, but the description (involving several teens who have come back from the dead and are caught up in a game between some immortal beings) seemed like it could go either way. But this was beautiful, heartbreaking, meditative, and  moving (and a little bit weird!), full of vividly drawn and meaningful characters. I can’t think of the last time I SAVORED a book like this. Really satisfying, in a deep way. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.

2024 book 2

 Patricia Wentworth's The Fire Within

This is Wentworth's first novel, and at first I thought it was going to be an entertaining mystery involving a sassy old man (what is the male version of sassy?) who’s dying, but instead it ended up being kind of a depressing romance? Girl, he doesn’t deserve you! There /are/ some funny moments, and I liked a lot of the stuff between the protagonist and her sister and best friend, but there were also some very … weird parts. Also very draggy in the back half. Some glimmers of her later stuff but this is probably a miss unless you’re a completist. B/B-.

2024 book 1

 Janice Hallett's The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels 

Hallett writes these mysteries presented as like found documents—this one involves a true crime writer working on a book about a cult, two teenagers, and a baby they all believed was the anti-Christ, and consists of her correspondence with colleagues, editors, sources, a rival author, plus interview transcripts, excerpts of trashy novels and screenplays, etc. Now that the baby in the case is turning eighteen, the heat is on to track the survivors down (and of course whip up a new frenzy about the case and sell some books). Totally engaging to read, some fun twists, the ending was a teeny bit off the rails but in an entertaining way. I might make my book club read this one. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 23.