2026 book 217

 Julie Orringer's Luna, Phoenix, Queen

I really like Julie Orringer and her new one was getting great reviews, but I had a hard time getting into it at first--it's about a woman with early-onset Alzheimer's, and the first section is from the POV of her husband who's a) professionally jealous of her, b) finds the secret novel she was writing, c) realizes from the novel that she's been having a long time affair with her best friend (a woman), and d) rewrites the novel, publishes it, and receives great acclaim. Also he's confessing all of this to a badly burned dog (the dog becomes important to the story and I love her!). Anyway, I don't like stories about people stealing work and I'm impatient with whiny old literary men, so I did put this down for a few days. Luckily we get other POVs pretty soon, and it got much more interesting to me. This ended up being a BEAUTIFUL book. Beautiful and sad and hopeful. I should not have doubted. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now. 

2026 book 213

Alexandra Rowland’s Yield Under Great Persuasion 

I had started a book that I thought was going to be hopeful but was actually super upsetting, and rereading this book was the perfect cure. I love books where gods and goddesses meddle with people to help them get their acts together! This new edition actually an expanded edition from when it first came out, there are a couple of bonus chapters. I’m not sure they’re necessary but they were nice nonetheless! This is a really sweet (and mildly horny) book that did make me tear up a couple times. Maybe I need to do a big Rowland reread?

2026 book 212

 Jeannelle M. Ferreira’s Ochre, Quartz, Or Ivy

I’m going to be honest, I did not understand what was happening in this book at all, but I enjoyed the vibes. There’s a Selkie married to the nonbinary Pendragon (this is Arthurian I guess?), they have a son, there’s magic and ghosts and time travel? Or alternate versions of the characters throughout time?? No clue!!! Seriously, none. It was interesting though. B+. 

2026 book 210

 AG Slatter’s Fitcher’s Bird

SO I thought this was another book set in Slatter’s Sourdough world, full of magic and dark fairy tales, and I was well into it before I realized I was reading a straight up modern horror novel with a serial killer. OOPS. Not my favorite type of story! I did actually like this though—it’s about the oldest sister of three, and her younger sisters go missing, and it actually DOES have dark fairy tale vibes, lots of Bluebeard action going on. Great ending. A-.

2026 book 209

 Sarah Rees Brennan’s In Other Lands

Look, sometimes someone on Bluesky goes into rhapsodies about a book and I’m like, oh yeah I fucking love that book, let’s reread it! And I actually forgot how MUCH I loved this book??? It’s SO FUNNY AND GOOD AND DELIGHTFUL IN EVERY WAY, as grumpy awkward bisexual teen Elliot does the whole portal fantasy magic military school thing, falling for an elf maiden warrior (elf ladies are warriors and love gentle nerdy men) and very begrudgingly making friends with the school’s golden boy. Elliot is a little asshole and I love him. I’m realizing that one of the reasons I love the Scholomance books is the similar narrative voice/themes. I need to reread this as much as I do those, this one makes me cackle out loud. SO GOOD.

2026 book 208

 Tanya Huff’s Saved by the Spell

Honestly, I’ll be psyched if novels about queer lady teachers at magic schools become the next big thing. This one features a Canadian magic school and is more in the funny/cozy vein, very enjoyable. The story here involves a student who exhibits all the signs of being a Hero—she saves ppl from danger, helps others, has two sidekicks (one can turn into a lil elephant!!!!), etc—which is great and all, except that the rise of a Hero means the rise of a Villain, ie, lots of danger and lots of classroom disruptions! (It is extremely obvious from the beginning who the villain is and very frustrating that no one even suspects, even though this does have an explanation. This is the exact problem I had with The Incandescent, the OTHER book about teachers at a magic boarding school.) I did end up liking this a lot, really great characters and the ending ruled, I hope there will be a sequel of some sort! A-.

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

2026 book 207

 Riley Bauer’s Worth the Trade

After reading a series of slow historical fantasy novels, obviously I needed to read a smutty gay hockey novel as a palate cleanser! This is the start of a new series in Bauer’s hockey-verse, where the Finnish guy with the last kitten from the previous series gets traded to a new team. Yes, this series also has cats! (I so related to the cat screaming in his carrier for a whole longass drive to a new home, the worst.) Anyway, the traded guy is staying with a new teammate, who’s the brother of a former teammate, and they fall for each other. (At least one of the other books in the previous series had the same roommate premise, minus the brothers, but whatever.) Instead of group chats about hockey romances, this team watches old teleromans (French telenovelas???) to improve the Finnish guy’s French, which is pretty funny. The romance has the usual annoying communication issues, just once I wish the third act conflict would be something else! I also wish these books had one more pass with a proof-reader, bc once again I saw a repeated cat sentence (obviously I pay the most attention to the cats) as well as an incorrect apostrophe. These books are well-written otherwise! I will keep reading smutty hockey books I guess! They’re fun. I don’t even like smut but there’s cats! A-/B+.

2026 book 203

 Jessica George's Love By the Book

Despite its title, this is not a romance novel! It's a friendship novel! And mildly meta, as one of the characters, a thirtysomething queer Black woman in London, has written a bestselling novel about the friendship between four women--based on her own friend group, which is now drifting apart due to moves, families, etc--and is struggling to write a second. Her friend interest (friend version of love interest? I dunno) is a Black woman who has never really sought out friends before, as she was super close to her sister, until a dramatic falling out. And then the author starts writing about the two of them. This was super engaging, perhaps a little too over the top, but I’m definitely adding it to the list for my book club. A-. 

2026 book 202

 Virginia Black’s No Shelter But the Stars

I’m not really into enemies-to-lovers as a plot, but it kind of works here because these two women are ACTUAL enemies, the only survivors of a spaceship battle, stranded on a fairly inhospitable moon, and they have to work together to survive. I did think this bogged down a bit in the middle, and the political stuff was pretty basic, but it was a solid romance! I’d read more stories set in this world. B+.

2026 book 199

 Marissa Lingen’s A Dubious Clamor

What a GREAT book! Sometimes novellas feel rushed or incomplete but this is the perfect length for this story. Which involves a young woman who was once cursed to be a harpy, but the spell was broken and now she helps people with magical problems. When one of her friends comes to her with a magical sword that is trying to control him, she needs all of her friends and allies (and her harpy ex girlfriend) to save the day. Great friendships and family relationships here, and I loved the mentions of Gilbert and Sullivan. I am probably the target audience for a book like this but I ATE IT UP. Definitely will be keeping an eye out for more by Lingen. A.

2026 book 189

 Naomi Novik's The Golden Enclaves

What a great conclusion to this series! I think I've liked it more on each reread--not that I ever DIDN'T like it, but there is a LOT going on and parts of the end confused me the first time I read it. Also, I was so IMPATIENT to know what was going to happen the first time I read it! It's hard to just enjoy and experience when you're in that mindset. But yet, lots happens, and it ends up being awesome. Now I'm going to reread the Scholomance story in Novik's collection Buried Deep.

2026 book 186

 Becky Chambers’ As You Wake, Break the Shell

Chambers’ latest took me a minute to get into— it’s a sci-fi story about two women—one, a botanist, who secretly makes illegal medicine, the other, a pilot for a living spaceship (my fave!!!!) that she has a sort of psychic bond with—who meet and fall in love, which is interspersed with their lives like a decade or so later. And it all felt very JUMPY at first! Just when I would settle into a narrative, we’d suddenly be somewhere else entirely (some of the early chapters are really short). There are also a lot of lengthy discussions of science stuff that had my eyes glazing over a little. BUT there are also so many cool moments and I loved all the characters, and by the end I was super into it. It’s the first in a duology and I hope the second comes out soon!! A-.

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

2026 book 185

 T. Kingfisher’s Daggerbound

Look, sometimes you just need to reread a hilarious fantasy romance full of action and great characters, old friends and new (AMAZING new friends). Truly Kingfisher is firing on all cylinders with this one.

2026 book 183

 Riley Bauer’s Shut Out

When I saw this romance involved the two goalies, and not the rookie who adopted the fifth kitten, I was more than a little concerned there wouldn’t be a cat! And like, do you think I’m here for the hockey playoffs?? (Actually, hockey is one of the sports I have a mild interest in, I’m from Pittsburgh and got to go to a couple games during the Pens’ peak Stanley Cup years, but watching it and reading about it aren’t the same lol.) BUT DON’T WORRY, there is a cat!!!!! I mean, it’s mostly hockey games and feelings and smutty scenes, but there is a cat. I also kind of expected a reveal that the coach and owner of this new team had deliberately hired all the dudes in hockey who were rumored to be gay bc statistically there are a LOT of queer dudes/couples on this team. Anyway, fun series, I liked all the group chats about cats and book clubs. B+.

2026 book 182

 Riley Bauer’s Breakaway

This has one of those SEO subtitles that’s like “an age gap romance” which I was like ugh about, but it’s not gross/terrible, they’re hockey teammates, and the age thing doesn’t even come up? Anyway the main character here is Berger, who’s clearly been going through it in the background of the last couple books—because he was in a secret relationship with a teammate on his previous team, and now he’s been traded to this new team, and the distance is not working, especially since Berger is massively depressed. Solid story, could have used a little bit more of the cat. B+.

2026 book 180

 Riley Bauer’s Face Off

The second book in this gay hockey series involves two teammates who hate each other (or DO they) but have to co-parent a pair of bonded kittens. Lol. The impression I’m getting from these books is that hooking up with a guy makes you better at playing hockey together, bc of vibes or something? I only briefly played team sports and did not hook up with any field hockey teammates, but maybe I’d have been better if I had? 😹 Minor complaints: the inevitable third act drama is annoying; some bits are repetitive and I never remembered which POV was which when that happened so I wasn't sure if they were both noticing the same things or if the author was just recycling sentences about the cats. The inevitable outside friend character isn't developed at all. I liked it anyway!! I’m invested in the cats!! B+.

2026 book 179

 Riley Bauer's Fresh Ice

I really MEANT to read the latest Catherine Newman novel next, but then Claire Willett on Bluesky was recommending this series of queer hockey romances where each book has a CAT, so obviously that took priority!!! (I haven't read the Heated Rivalry books, but did watch the show, so no idea how these compare.) There's also a whole thing with a hockey team group chat discussing hockey romance books. It's a DELIGHT. I giggled so much reading this. I told my group chat to read it. The cat was great, the hockey dudes were great, it was all great. (Also no idea on the accuracy of the hockey or the sex.) I mean I am a hundred percent reading these for the cats but it was way more readable than it needed to be. A-.

2026 book 178

 Catherine Newman’s Sandwich 

I’ve been meaning to read this forever, and somehow this late summer season felt like a good time, as it’s a story about a (menopausal) woman and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, the same beach house they visit every summer. But it’s also really funny and moving! They’re somehow nothing like and exactly like my family. I’m. It even a mom and I was still like oh wow yes about her motherhood feelings! Also there’s a cat! Newman is really nailing the vibes here. Can’t wait to read the follow-up. A.

2026 book 167

 SM Hallow’s How to Survive This Fairytale

What a great book!! If you like fairytale mashups that take things like the trauma these poor characters face seriously, you gotta read this. The main character is Hansel, but plenty of other stories come into play. And I love the way it’s told. Really lovely. A/A-.

2026 book 163

 Sarah Wallace’s The Viscount Says Yes

I was really hoping we’d get some POV from the Viscount in this one, bc he has never felt like a real character to me and so it’s hard to be invested in his romance. It is great to see Pip going through his healing process (after being forced into prostitution by his abusive boyfriend/pimp, dark shit in a cozy series) but Bertie is just a perfect supportive happy rich guy with no nuance. If you’re into that sort of thing, awesome! I thought it was a teensy bit dull. Also like if you are trying to figure out what a magical monocle does, why would you not LOOK THROUGH IT, I thought yall were magical geniuses. It’s all very sweet though. B/B+.