2025 book 63

 Leonie Swann's Big Bad Wool

The sequel to Three Bags Full is more of the same, as the flock of sheep starts investigating some mysterious happenings in the first near their chateau. I love the vibes of this, the sheep are great and there are some funny bits! Plus a bunch of goats! But also there is a serial killer on the loose and it’s mildly grim, and it’s not necessarily a satisfying mystery. But again, it’s mainly the vibes at work here making this an entertaining read. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 6th.

2025 book 62

 John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids

Still enjoying some classic sci-fi by Wyndham thanks to Rainbow Rowell's recommendation! This one involves a dude who is one of the few people left with sight after a mysterious meteor shower, and also there are killer plants. But really it’s the narrative voice and the characters that kept me interested! My only disappointment is that I really did want to read a book about the new society being built, and not necessarily just the more immediate days after the collapse of civilization. Which somehow felt relevant/current even as it was all science fiction-y. Sigh. A-.

2025 book 61

 Stephen Graham Jones' The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

I'm not usually one for horror, but I do like a revenge story, and I'm here for a Blackfeet vampire killing a bunch of white buffalo hunters. This has an interesting framing device--an academic is reading the recently discovered diary of her great-something-grandfather, a Lutheran pastor who was being told this story by the mysterious Good Stab. I think that helps it not be so creepy, though it is very tense and definitely gory. Things are pretty slow at the start

2025 book 60

 Connie Willis' Inside Job

Cute and mildly silly novella involving a guy who runs a magazine that debunks psychics and mediums and stuff, with the help of his beautiful rich actress employee, and what happens when they investigate a woman who may actually be channeling a spirit without meaning to. I like Willis' lighter stuff and this was a fun read. B+.

2025 book 59

 Patricia McKillip’s Od Magic

Sometimes you just want to read a beautifully written and satisfying story with a variety of interesting and likable characters dealing with power and magic and politics. 

2025 book 58

 Antonia Hodgson's The Raven Scholar

Normally I’d be like, a book with a bunch of trials to determine the future ruler is sooo 2010, but that's really just the backdrop to everything ELSE going on in this book. There’s plotting and politics! There’s a murder mystery! There’s interpersonal dynamics! There’s revenge missions! There's mystical spirits! There's factions all named after animals! There's twists I did NOT see coming. Not to make this sound silly or overly dramatic—it’s actually really good, great writing and an engrossing story. The protagonist is the eponymous Raven Scholar, a commoner raised up by the current emperor due to her extreme nerdiness, but on the eve of his retirement/the start of the trials to find his successor, things are falling apart for her. Soon she’s in the middle of all sorts of intrigue and I was here for it. (I should note all the major characters are adults—the protagonist is in her thirties.) This is the first in a trilogy and I cannot wait for book two, I hope this is a huge hit. A.

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

2025 book 57

 TJ Alexander's A Gentleman's Gentleman

Aaaahhhh this was so sweet and good!!!! It's about a young Earl who needs to hire a valet so he can go to London for the season to find a wife or he loses his Earl-dom/inheritance, but he's super not interested in a wife, because he's gay, and is equally uninterested in having a valet, because he's trans. But soon the handsome and capable valet is on board and it's a really nice slow-burn romance. There are occasionally silly scenes (the trellis scene in particular really challenged my suspension of disbelief as to how humans act) but on the whole this was a delight with really great characters. Fingers crossed for a sequel featuring Miss Montrose. A/A-.

2025 book 56

 Alison Lurie's Real People

I'm not sure why I wanted to read this book/bought it, but it was sitting on my kindle so I figured I'd see what the deal was. It's a novel written as the diary of a woman, a short story writer, at at artist's retreat. It was published in 1969 so it's an interesting view of the times for sure, and I do love an epistolary/diary story. I did enjoy this, though I was never super invested in the plot or characters. The look at the creative process and the compromises an author may or may not make was pretty compelling. Pretty lightweight though. B+.

2025 book 55

 Anna-Marie McLemore's The Influencers

I was so into this book! I was mad when I had to put it down to go to bed last night! It’s that perfect blend of fun soapy story and mystery and cultural commentary—a smart beach read maybe? And timely, as it’s about a family whose mother is a famous influencer, and the five daughters whose lives she used for content, now adults, and they’re all suspects when the mother's new husband is killed. But it’s not a thriller type book—it bounces between the POVs of the mother, the sisters, the collective we of their audience (I loved this device), and others, including a mysterious dude dubbed “Luke Sweatshirt” by the internet. It also gets into issues like racism (the girls are biracial with a white mom). Really solid and entertaining read, I know McLemore is mainly a YA author but I hope they write more for adults because this hit the spot. Definitely making my book club read this. A.

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

2025 book 54

 Bob The Drag Queen's Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert

I love Bob the Drag Queen and would have been interested in any novel he wrote, but this is unexpected: it’s set in a world where historical figures have come back to life (this is never really discussed or explained in any way, which I liked), and the narrator is a washed-up record producer who’s called up to make an album with Harriet Tubman and her band of freed slaves to tell her story to a new generation. Apparently the audiobook has some actual songs and a stage show is in the works, and it’s an awesome concept and I bet it will be really cool to see. As a novel, maybe less so—the writing is a little clunky for sure, though there were parts I laughed out loud at—it’s unsurprisingly funny, considering the author. A-/B+.

2025 book 53

 Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones

So here’s the thing, I chose this for book club this month without knowing much about it, besides that it won a million awards. But here’s the other thing, I have read way less in the literary type genre since 2020 bc I’m already depressed about the world, and I don’t want to read depressing books. I was kind of dreading actually starting this once fellow book clubbers said it was “stressful” and “like homework” and “has a lot of dog fighting, like the whole book is dog fighting.” That’s not entirely true, but this book was definitely rough on my delicate vegetarian sensibilities. There’s also a whole thing where the protagonist (a pregnant 15 year old) is doing mythology for her summer reading and she talks about Medea a LOT, and I think this could have been used a little more sparingly. Not to bitch too much about this book, which deserves all the awards it won! The descriptions of Hurricane Katrina are especially visceral and the last section kind of made me love the story. But I will be looking for something fluffy to read next. A-.

2025 book 52

 Grace Curtis' Idolfire

OK, this is the third book by Curtis I've read, and WHY do I not hear more people talking about her? She is GREAT! This was great!!! It's about two young women, each on a quest to a legendary city--one to reclaim a stolen god and save her dying town, the other to claim her place as an heir to her throne--who end up journeying together. And normally I HATE books where people are journeying the whole time, but this unfolds so well that I was into it. This is all interspersed with sections addressed to the leader of the legendary city, gradually explaining what happened in the past. Just a really cool book with awesome characters, I really enjoyed this and am giving it an A.

2025 book 51

 KJ Charles' Death in the Spires

Excellent mystery involving a group of Oxford students in the late 1800s—ten years after the leader of their gang was murdered, one receives a blackmail letter at his office, and is determined to finally solve the mystery and confront his old friends (and lover). Really great characters and pacing, solid conclusion, I did want a little more from the end but was generally very satisfied. A/A-.

2025 book 50

 C.S.E. Cooney's Saint Death's Herald

The sequel to Saint Death's Daughter is more of the delightful same, if your definition of delight involves a sweet lil necromancer. (Mine does!) I will say this bogged down in the middle a bit for me (it’s frustrating to be like, ugh, just KILL that guy already) but by the second half I was all in. Really great and interesting characters, particularly the undead tiger rug. And very cool magic and gods. Two thumbs up. Can’t wait for more. A/A-.

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

2025 book 49

 CSE Cooney's Saint Death's Daughter

This was one of my favorite books of 2022, so I'm happy to reread it, especially since a sequel is out soon! I honestly didn't remember anything about it besides loving it, so it was a joy to revisit the story of a girl from a family of necromancers/assassins who work for the royal family. Very cool characters and concepts, I like books that have well-thought-out religion stuff going on. Also here for an undead puppy, haha!