2026 book 145

 Seanan McGuire’s A Divided Duty

The twentieth (!!!) book in the Toby Daye series takes a break from the world-upending of the last few books to focus on the mystery of who kidnapped one of Toby’s band of teens, and how to rescue her. Satisfying all around and I enjoy how Toby is learning to use more aspects of her powers. The novella in this one involves squire Quentin dealing with emotional trauma from the whole parallel world thing from a few books ago. Good stuff with the sea witch in both stories, she might be my favorite character these days. A/A-.

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

2026 book 144

 Claudia Gray’s The Late Mrs Willoughby

I do wonder how this is on ongoing series—like wouldn’t you run out of Austen characters to kill off at a certain point? Anyway, this one involves the characters from Sense and Sensibility, there’s another death, Darcy jr and Girl Tilney are visiting for various reasons and start trying to solve things again. I like both these characters a lot, but I think this series is one that benefits from being read in between other things, and not all in a row (or maybe I was just a little bored after correctly calling the killer and waiting for ages for the reveal). I was also annoyed about romantic miscommunications but that can partially be chalked up to the time period. This was fine but I’m definitely taking a break for something else. B+.

2026 book 143

 Claudia Gray's The Murder of Mr Wickham

All right, trying out some Jane Austen fanfic here, lol. (There has been a lot of Pride and Prejudice discussion on Bluesky recently, and these were recommended--and I have enjoyed books by Gray before.) I can't tell if the audience for these is die-hard Austenites (who probably don't want fanfic!) or more casual fans like me, though it definitely assumes a lot of knowledge of her less-popular works that I only vaguely remember. Anyway, everyone is married blah blah, there's a house party at Emma's with all the main couples and some of their kids, and Darcy Jr and the daughter of the main character from Northanger Abbey have to solve a murder! I actually love murder mysteries set at British house parties, so ok! The victim is, of course, Mr Wickham, who seems to have invented Ponzi schemes and shows up unannounced for a spot of blackmail—and many of the guests have reason to hate him. Solid mystery, and I liked the main characters a lot (Darcy Jr seems to be on the autism spectrum). The solution is a little eh but I don’t think there was a way to make this really work. Entertaining anyway, I’ll definitely be picking up book 2. A-.

2026 book 142

 T.Kingfisher’s Nine Goblins

Turns out I’d never read this one, which was a nice surprise! Nothing better than a new book by a beloved author! This is a very funny and light story (except for the scary bits lol) about a goblin troop who get sucked into a magical mystery, and the kindly elf, a veterinarian, they encounter. Lots of good stuff involving a teddy bear, a kitten, and occasional creepy magic. The usual good Kingfisher stuff! A/A-.

2026 book 141

 TB Markinson and Miranda MacLeod’s Book Lovers

Ok, I am totally the target audience for a book where a Jane Austen nerd in Bath for a Jane Austen festival befriends a waitress and ends up doing the whole festival with her, since her boyfriend bailed. And then they TRADE KINDLES (romantic or terrifying??) to explore Austen vs contemporary genre fiction (my complaint here is that the book says they text about their reading, but never shows any of that! I want to know what books they read and what they say about them! If this book is called Book Lovers I want book talk!!). Anyway, the waitress is a lesbian and is totally falling for the (presumably straight) Austen nerd. I was super into this at first (lots of online posting!), but the second half dragged and annoyed me. I didn’t really feel like the Austen nerd figuring out her feelings worked (this book was all telling, not showing—same reason I was mad about the lack of specific book talk). The ending is pure wish fulfillment but it doesn’t feel earned. I’m disappointed, this had such potential and didn’t end up working for me at all. B.

2026 book 140

 Lucy Foley’s Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

Normally I eschew modern writers pairing up with the estates of long-dead writers to resurrect beloved characters, but I am a sucker for Miss Marple, so figured I’d try this. Murder at an isolated luxury hotel in the Alps in 1950 (where Miss Marple is hanging out with her friend from The Body in the Library), war secrets, affairs, lost treasure, etc. Honestly a solid mystery—it dragged a bit in the second half but then picked back up—but it doesn’t at all feel like an Agatha Christie story to me. It didn’t feel like Miss Marple. A fun read though! A-.

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

2026 book 139

 Naomi Salman’s Nothing But the Rain

I’m always looking for more novels that are epistolary/told as diaries, and this novella was a doozy. It’s told by a 63 year old woman, a doctor, trapped in a town where the rain erases your memories—and it’s almost always raining. Honestly haunting! I’ll be thinking about this one for a while and will definitely check out whatever Salman writes next. A/A-.

2026 book 138

 Rachel Runya Katz’s Whenever You’re Ready

I’m here for a romance novel featuring queer ladies on a tour of southern Jewish history (weirdly the second book I’ve read this summer featuring the RDU airport)! The story here is about two best friends who have been in love with each other forever, and now they’re taking a trip they planned with their third best friend, who died of cancer three years earlier (also the one has a twin brother and a dog along on the trip). So lots of interesting (and upsetting) Jewish and southern history and cool ladies pining for each other, what’s not to love? This is interspersed with flashbacks to their friendships with each other and their lost friend. Really sweet and enjoyable. A-.

2026 book 137

 Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay

I wasn’t actually planning on rereading this one after I reread the first two and was mildly annoyed by Katniss’ POV (and also the whole rebellion thing seen through her eyes makes very little sense), plus I wasn’t really up for the whole Peeta being tortured thing. But I couldn’t stop thinking about all of it! And this was amazingly even grimmer than I remembered! And also doesn’t really make a ton of sense if you think too hard. But it’s nice to read about authoritarian regimes being dismantled.

2026 book 136

 Seanan McGuire’s Velveteen vs The Consequences of Her Actions

I do enjoy the ongoing adventures of Velveteen! These books are long and I was a little burned out by the end of this one, but still, lots of cool stories and characters to enjoy! A-.

2026 book 135

 Seanan McGuire’s Velveteen vs The Early Adventures

I have actually read these stories—about a woman with the power to bring toys to life who left her superhero world behind and is trying to just make a living, until she ends up drawn back into corporate superhero mishegas—before, when they were first collected, but a NEW collection is out, so obviously I had to refresh myself! I always enjoy McGuire’s writing, but yall know I’m a comic book nerd so I love seeing her playing in this setting (she invents so many cool characters!). Really a fun read and I’m psyched to dive into the new one! A/A-.

2026 book 134

 Claire Keegan’s Foster

Lovely short novel about a little Irish girl who’s sent to live with relatives for the summer because her mother is pregnant again and has too many kids to look after. Not much happens but it is just suffused with good feeling. A/A-.

2026 book 133

 Suzanne Collins’ Catching Fire

Ok, this one does not really hold up that well! Knowing more backstory on these characters (and the great performers like Jeffrey Wright in the movie) helps, but this plot is all over the place. Having Katniss be so clueless is ok the first time you read it, as you’re caught up in all the twists as you discover them, but on this read I was just like, this is not working for me! I also hate the love triangle stuff but I’m pretty sure I hated that on previous reads too.

2026 book 132

 Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

This was very interesting to reread in light of Sunrise on the Reaping—little things like Haymitch calling Katniss sweetheart are suddenly resonant. I will say this does feel more YA-y than Sunrise, not just because of the love triangle stuff, but the narrative voice. Not a complaint, this holds up very well! I’m looking forward to the sequel now that we’ve gotten backstories on some of those characters.

2026 book 131

 Suzanne Collin’s’ Sunrise on the Reaping

Finally getting around to reading the Hunger Games prequel about Haymitch! (A local teen has assured me I can skip the one about Snow, which I have very little interest in.) This turned out to be a perfect read for the Fourth of July, not just thematically, but because it turns out the reaping takes place on that very day. Super compelling and heartbreaking, I cried at least three times. And now I guess I will reread the original trilogy? Good vacation reading? A.

2025 book 130

 Alexis Hall’s Father Material

Super cute and bittersweet conclusion to this series, where our dudes adopt a dog, foster a teen, throw a horrible dinner party, and run a music festival for beetles. Good stuff. Hall is great with feelings and messiness and love, very satisfying all around. A/A-.

2026 book 129

 Alexis Hall’s Husband Material

I had been warned that this wasn’t as awesome as the first one, but I really enjoy the narrative voice here so still liked it a lot. I’m just not personally interested in wedding-related angst. Again, really fun side characters, lots of humor and feelings, just a plot that I was a little meh about. Still very fun though. A-.

2026 book 128

 Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material

Somehow I’d never read this before, even though many of my friends love it, and I liked it a lot! Fake dating is not a favorite trope of mine but it worked well here, as the messy son of a rock star has to find a respectable boyfriend to be seen with or risk losing his job, and only one friend of a friend will suit. The dudes were cute together and realistically messed up, in really enjoyed the protagonist’s work colleagues and his French mom (I did think his friend group was underdeveloped but there’s already a lot going on in this book). And it was all very engaging, I read this just about in one sitting. I’m kind of glad I never read this before, because now I get to read a whole trilogy! A/A-.