2025 book 87

 Janelle Brown’s What Kind of Paradise 

I feel like I’ve read several books with this basic premise—a girl raised in isolation with her paranoid father who is obviously keeping secrets from her—but this is a pretty solid entry in the genre. It’s set during the 90s dot-com boom, which was a fun nostalgia trip. I liked this enough to read in one sitting, but did find parts of it overwrought. I think this author usually does mystery/thrillers, but this feels like more of a coming of age story with some weird/bad stuff happening offscreen, and also thoughts on technology. Shrug emoji? A-/B+.

__

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

2025 book 86

 Rachel Hartman’s Among Ghosts

I’m a huge fan of Hartman’s, and this was another great one from her! It involves a boy who can see ghosts, and dragons and spies and assassins, and a bunch of extremely cool girl ghosts, and nuns, and stories, and it’s funny and sweet and sad and wonderful! (I started trying to explain the plot but got lost in the weeds a little, but the story itself is straightforward.) I think this is a standalone but I do hope these characters pop up again sometime. A.

__

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

2025 book 85

 Karen Dukess' Welcome to Murder Week

This was fun! It’s about a thirty something woman who discovers that her recently deceased (and mostly estranged) mother had purchased a murder-mystery-themed vacation for the two of them in a small town in England. Since she’s unable to get a full refund, she decides what the hell, and is off to solve a mystery with her teammates, a cool gay man (trying to figure out his life) and a romance novelist (and new divorcee). (There’s also a couple of Jewish middle-aged sisters from Pittsburgh, one of whom is a lesbian, and obviously now I want to take a vacation like this, lol.) But of course there are ACTUAL mysteries afoot—why did her mom book this trip?? Is the hot distillery owner into her or is he playing a part? Will they solve the fake murder and win the competition???? Very sweet and satisfying story, I think this will be a great summer read! A/A-.

__

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

2025 book 84

 Sherwood Smith’s Treason’s Shore

The conclusion to the Inda series was fine? Again, lots of great character moments, but I still don’t care about sea battles and the ending dragged a lot. I did like this series but will be glad to move onto something else. B/B+.

2025 book 83

 Sherwood Smith’s King’s Shield

I was a little less into the third book in the Inda series, because it’s a lot of journeying to war and then fighting in war. It’s also more straightforward than the first two books. Still, I am very invested in the characters and there are some really great moments in here between all the trudging around on horses. Looking forward to the next one. A-/B+.

2025 book 82

 Sherwood Smith’s The Fox

This book was like 800 pages long and soooo much happened but also some parts were soooo slow? There is a lot of business with fighting pirates and I did get tired of it after a while. But I remain invested in all these characters and can’t wait for book three (I’m hoping for more court politics and diplomacy in that one). A-.

2025 book 81

 Sherwood Smith’s Inda

I’ve really enjoyed the other books by Smith I’ve read, so decided to try one of her earlier series. It’s interesting to see which sorts of plots/settings she’s interested in that have recurred across series (ie nilitary academies), as well as the way she always turns the story in its head! The story here involves the eponymous Inda, the younger son of a prince, being sent to military academy in the midst of all sorts of political intrigue. But there are lots of other POV characters and I loved the women in this world (I also love Inda!). I do love stories with this level of political plotting and I hope the good guys triumph soon (but it’s a four book series so who knows lol). A/A-.