2026 book 198

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warsong

The last book in this series was kind of a slog. Lots more POV sections should have livened things up, but the villains are especially unpleasant, and the story keeps referring to things I didn’t know about, as though I missed an entire book. (This annoyed me so much that I just stopped typing and spent a bunch of time reading all her other book descriptions and I’m pretty sure I have to read an entire other trilogy to see what I missed—no thanks.) There are also a lot of typos and other errors. I did enjoy all the non-evil characters (especially the middle aged gay exes!) but the pacing for this was just really weird. B.

2026 book 197

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s WarDance

The romance here is between Simus, the smart and funny Black warrior, here taking on more of a leadership role, and Snowfall, a Black warrior-priestess (the warrior-priests have largely been antagonists to this point, but she’s on board for the changes our characters want to make). The focus here is mainly on all the inter-tribal political stuff (plus some external political stuff AND magical threats as well), which is great, because although I really liked both these characters, I wasn’t super invested in their romance. It really feels like an afterthought, just occasionally awkwardly inserted in. I am looking forward to seeing how everything plays out in the final book! B+.

2026 book 196

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warcry

So it looks like the last three books in this series continue the ongoing storylines but each has a new couple/romance at the center, which is fine, but I was kind of eh about this couple—the former protagonist’s childhood friend (a dude) and the woman warrior who was healed in book one. He wants to be a serious/married couple! Her people rarely do that! Etc. There are a lot of court politics and intrigues though, which I love. There’s an attempted rape, which I could have done without. And there are some hints of mystical happenings that will presumably play a role in later books (and everyone is still trying to get the cute gay couple back together—why don’t THEY get a whole book). B+.

2026 book 195

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warlord

 Very entertaining third volume as our protagonist makes it to the center of the nomadic lands and has to prove herself. There is an awesome moment where she has to let various other warlords court her and one is a sexy lesbian—and she is kind of into it! (She’s from a society where queerness is not okay and the nomads have no issues with it, and it’s pretty clear that getting two specific dudes together is going to be a thing in later books and she’s gung-ho about it.) Anyway, very fun. A/A-.

2026 book 194

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warsworn

Interesting second volume of this series as they begin their journey to the Plains, but are waylaid by events beyond their control, exacerbating the inter-tribal tensions. Otherwise it’s mainly all character development, which I enjoy. I was very annoyed about one specific death. I am intrigued to see where things go in volume three. A-/B+.

2026 book 193

 Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warprize

T. Kingfisher mentioned this book in a recent Reddit AMA, and I do enjoy a fantasy romance that's the start of a six-book series! This involves a woman, the younger half-sister of the (sucky) king--she's trained as a healer and insists on also treating their prisoners of war--and then her brother's forces are defeated and the Warlord they've been fighting demands her as tribute for peace. I loved her learning about their culture/sharing hers, lots of fun characters there, and I like that there are some politics going on (politics/culture clashes are my FAVORITE). I also liked the romance! This is more of a fantasy novel with romance than a romance novel in a fantasy world, which I personally prefer. I did find some of the writing at the beginning to be clunky, and the villain doesn't feel super fleshed out, but I liked this a lot. Looking forward to book two! A-.

2026 book 192

 Shannon Sanders’ The Great Wherever

I’m not sure if I can describe this in a way that will explain how good it is—it’s the story of a Black woman who’s inherited part of the old family farm in Tennessee, and goes to visit it and meet the other owners, her cousins, and it’s also the story of the family ghosts who live on the farm, and also the story of their whole family. Like a generational drama, but often funny, and narrated by a ghost who died in the Obama years. Really well-paced with its reveals and super moving but also hopeful? Adding this to my list for my book club. A. 

2026 book 191

 John Steinbeck’s East of Eden

I was mildly peer-pressured into reading this because of the upcoming miniseries with Florence Pugh as Cathy—I have read a bunch of Steinbeck, but this one was new to me. It lives up to its reputation as a classic American novel! It was super fascinating and I now want to read a million essays about it—on how it portrays women, on Lee (what an interesting and amazing character, especially as written by a white guy in the 1950s), on all the Cain and Abel stuff, etc. I will gently point out that “timshel” is all wrong, but I did love the image of all the Chinese scholars learning Hebrew to translate that one line. General warning for racist language, including a character who is just called The N-word. Looking forward to seeing Zoe Kazan’s take on all of this. 

2026 book 190

 Lydia Millet’s Fair Ones

Millet’s latest is interesting, sort of two novels in one, each narrated by one of a pair of friends. The first half is narrated by Mara, in the months after the shocking death of the third friend of their trio. And the second half is narrated by Jen, a year or so after that. Great takes on being a forty-something woman, dealing with friends and aging parents and jobs and New York lives, sad and hopeful at the same time. Side note to locals, one secondary character is a UNC professor and the Cradle gets a mention, very random and delightful (it seems Millet went to UNC for undergrad and did a Master’s at Duke). A/A-.

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

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 188

 Naomi Novik’s The Last Graduate

With a lot of trilogies, the second book feels like a place-holder, just kind of setting the pieces for the grand finale. But Novik was clearly like FUCK THAT, I’m raising the stakes and showing the importance of friendship and community and working together (her shorter fiction also does this very well!). It’s my favorite of the series for sure, it just fills me up with good feelings. 

2026 book 187

 Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education

I was in one of those moods where I had a ton of new books to read and yet wasn’t in the mood for any of them, which means it’s time to reread a best-beloved book like this one. I just really vibe with an angry and grumpy heroine with a secret soft side learning to make friends and allies and saving the day in her deeply unpleasant magic school. Also, it’s funny as hell. Satisfying every time. 

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 184

 Catherine Newman’s Wreck

I loved Sandwich, but was not super into this follow-up. The narrator is dealing with a medical problem and also thinking too much about the death of a local man who was classmates with her son. There wasn’t as much humor here (obviously) and I really missed it. It’s well-written but I just didn’t vibe with it! B+.  

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+.