2024 book 179

 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-.

2024 book 178

 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+.

2024 book 177

 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-.

2024 book 176

 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+.

2024 book 175

 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-.

2024 book 174

 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.

2024 book 173

 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-.

2024 book 172

 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-.

2024 book 171

 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.

2024 book 170

 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-.

2024 book 169

 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-.

2024 book 168

 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-.

2024 book 167

 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.

2024 book 166

 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-.

2024 book 165

 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+.