2026 book 230

 Lisa Lutz’s Trail of the Spellmans

Ok, actually, if you’re not seething with anger, this book is good! I am still VERY BUMMED the author spent three books building up a romance only to break them up, even if it did make sense for the characters! I just really loved them together!!! I was able to get past that on this reread and enjoy the story, some fun little mysteries going on and some really nice moments too. I do think it’s funny that past Alicia gave this book a bad grade bc I was so mad about the romance thing. I’ll bump it up to an A- bc the mad has settled into resignation lol.

2026 book 229

 Lisa Lutz’s The Spellmans Strike Again

I truly believe this is a perfect book, just Lutz firing on all cylinders with humor, interesting mysteries, romance, and heartbreak. Clearly this should have wrapped up the series, but how can you stay away from such vivid characters? I will try and read book five with an open mind even though I am still angry about it! (More details in that review when I finish rereading.)

2026 book 228

 Lisa Lutz’s Revenge of the Spellmans

This third book in this series is a DELIGHT, as Izzy deals with trying to figure out her future, unwillingly going to therapy, romance, and more family antics. The mystery she’s working on here is a nice low-key one but still interesting and satisfying. And so many hilarious moments. So good!!!! 

2026 book 227

 Lisa Lutz’s Curse of the Spellmans

The second Spellmans book has one of the weaker plots (Isabel goes way overboard investigating a new neighbor and it’s frustrating, especially on a reread) but makes up for it with amazing new characters (elderly Jewish lawyer Mort!), some great Henry moments (Henry!!!), and more hilarious family shenanigans. Love this series.

2026 book 226

 Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files

I discovered today that there’s a new book coming out in this series, one of my FAVORITE series, for the first time in thirteen years. So obviously I have to reread the first six!! (The new one isn’t out until June but a woman can only have so much patience when it comes to beloved series making a surprise comeback.) Anyway, this series follows Isabel Spellman, a PI in San Francisco who works for her family’s detective agency, and she’s kind of messy, and everything about this book is a hilarious delight. I also appreciate a mystery series that doesn’t solely involve murders! (The plot here primarily involves introducing the world/buildup and then dealing with her missing teen sister, as well as a missing person cold case.) I enjoyed this just as much as the first time I read it and remain amazed that it’s not a tv show. 

2026 book 225

 Sarah McCarry’s Possession Island

Omg yall, THIS BOOK!!!! This book has a murder mystery, and mysterious deaths, and lesbians, and a novel within the novel about lesbian vampires! (It’s basically their version of Interview With the Vampire except the story is being told to a therapist lol.) It’s so good and occasionally very funny! The plot involves the death of a young woman and her two former friends who are trying to solve it—but I will let you read this to learn all about them. They are both delightful. I had one minor issue with a plot point toward the end but this whole thing was *chef’s kiss*. Perfect ending too. A???

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on December 1st.

2026 book 224

 Everina Maxwell's Call Me Traitor

This was SO GOOD. I enjoyed Maxwell's previous books but this one was chef's kiss. It involves a woman who has had her memories erased and been turned into a magical soldier, on a mission to track down a traitor on a mysterious island. But things go wrong pretty quickly--luckily a pretty deserter is on hand to help out! (It is not a spoiler to tell you that she is one of the ostensible traitors, as her story is interspersed with the current adventure.) Action, adventures, and magic ensue. This somehow manages to balance sad parts, tense parts, parts that are pure romance, horrifying parts, and hopeful parts. Really compelling characters. I loved this. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on December 1st.

2026 book 223

 Rebecca Perry’s May We Feed the King

The Booker-nominated novel involves a woman whose job as a curator is to arrange historical replica rooms in museums and the like—I see the appeal of this, it’s like creating a life size dollhouse. Really riveting writing that grabs you. I did lose a little bit of interest once the story switches focus to the reluctant historical king and the inhabitants of the castle. Interesting book for sure. A-.

Side note: ARCHIVISTS DON’T WEAR WHITE GLOVES!!!!! Or at least they shouldn’t!!!!! (Ok I think they do for photos but not for delicate old books and papers, which is the case here.)

2026 book 222

 Naomi Kuttner's The Retired Assassin's Guide to Amateur Theatrics

In the third volume in this mildly silly but very entertaining series, retired assassin Dante and pals get roped into a local production of Macbeth (Dante is cast as "Murderer number one" lol), but unfortunately a cast member dies in an apparent accident pretty quickly, and also the theater is haunted by an angry ghost, who may have been murdered during the LAST local production of Macbeth. Solid mystery and great characters. A-.

2026 book 221

 Rachel Neumeier’s Medical Emergency

This novella deals with some of the backstory of the ship’s doctor in the Invictus series—namely, how did he learn so much about treating people from the other side? It also provides some info on another group that will presumably feature in the upcoming duology set in this world. This was enjoyable! I really like the doctor character. A-.

2026 book 220

 Rachel Neumeier’s Invictus: Crisis

This was a little slow on a reread for me, though I love the last third! Really satisfying conclusion. I’m psyched the author is returning to this world. 

2026 book 219

 Rachel Neumeier's Invictus: Captive

Rereading this because Neumeier has a few books set in this world coming out soon, and also, I really like this book! It has a lot of my favorite things: politics, diplomacy, people trying their best, etc. The story is sci-fi and involves a dude from a genetically-engineered people whose escape pod is captured by the titular ship Invictus--piloted by people from their former enemies (and creators), who they have an uneasy peace with. Is he the innocent survivor of a tragedy as he claims, or a deep-cover operative? Really interesting world-building here, especially with the genetically engineered people and their skillsets, and I love all the characters. This was fun to reread and see how things all fit together, knowing what was going to happen. Also interesting to reread this as I've been rewatching Battlestar Galactica recently. I will say this does end very abruptly, as it’s really just the first part of a longer story. Luckily the second half already exists and I will be rereading that one starting now! 

2026 book 218

 Molly Harper’s A Cute Little Murder

VERY fun story involving a woman who was the sidekick in a mystery-solving-teen vlogging duo. Now she needs money, so when her now-television-star friend wants her to come help solve a cold case for a new program, she’s on board. Lots of fun characters, I did think the cold case mystery solving was more interesting than the modern day mystery, but this story manages to balance everything (including new friendships and romance!) really well. I LOVED Lainey and hope this is the start of a series. A.

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 216

 Kathy Miner’s The Journey Is Our Home

So this series ended up being pretty compelling even as parts of it annoyed me (it was written over ten years ago but there are still way too many Harry Potter references). It was fine. Happy endings and heteronormative pairings (ok there is one gay couple) for all. B+.