2026 book 151

 Emily St John Mandel’s The Singer’s Gun

This is the other book that the author noted has overlapping characters with Exit Party (major ones this time) but it turns out I’ve never read it before???? I’ve been reading her since the early days so I’m not sure how I missed it. This is one of her earliest novels so it’s missing that sci-fi tinge, and at first I was like, is this a literary novel about a sad Brooklyn dude? But there are other characters keeping things going, plus a crime investigation AND a cat! I am actually not going to talk about the plot or characters because this is totally the backstory for Exit Party! Wild to bring these guys back after almost twenty years! I love the Emily St John Mandel Universe! A-.

-2026 book 150

 Emily St John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel

Well,  I’m doing it! I’m rereading all the Emily St John Mandel books to see all the connections! This was a great one to start with because it ends up sort of being all about the connections between people. (Also, the author’s note for Exit Party says there are some shared characters in this one—minor in both books but I do love finding those links.) Anyway, this involves the titular glass hotel, isolated in Canada, some of the people who have worked there, a Ponzi scheme, some of the people ruined by the Ponzi scheme, etc. Like I said, connections. I had remembered this being slow but I really didn’t find it so—it’s super readable, I never wanted to put it down. 

2026 book 149

 Emily St John Mandel’s Exit Party

Mandel’s latest STRESSED ME OUT, but was also beautiful? She’s good at that. We start in Los Angeles 2031, where after a coup and a civil war, the former United States has splintered into a bunch of new countries and republics, controlled by militias. TOO REAL. Our main character is a woman who’s just gotten out of prison, and she and her roommate go to a party—where suddenly two dopplegangers of party guests appear, and their host vanishes. The story moves on from there to cover arms dealers, art heists, and other worlds. It’s totally engrossing, like I gulped this down. There is definitely some overlap with some of the other St John Mandel books and I might do a big reread of her backlist to see all the connections? And hope none of her visions of the future come to pass????? A????

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

2026 book 148

 Marian Keyes’ My Favorite Mistake

Christina loved this, and I EXPECTED to love it, but I had some issues with the romance—namely, I didn’t buy the love interest. He’s a character in a couple of the other books but he and Anna have been secretly pining for one another for decades? What? I get that a lot of it happened in between books (and we have the usual dramatic reveals) but even as I enjoyed the writing, a part of me was like nahhhhh. I mean this was fine, I love all the characters in the Walsh books, I love the sister relationships, but I side-eyed this romance a bit. A-.

2026 book 147

 Marian Keyes' Again, Rachel

Turns out I also missed a new book in the Walsh series about Rachel, but she's such a big part of Anna's book that I didn't need to reread hers. There's a big time jump here, like ten or twelve years, and Rachel is back in Ireland, divorced, and working as a counselor at the recovery center she attended. Not to mention dealing with a fair amount of grief and denial. And that's when her ex comes to town for a funeral. The whole time I'm like "work it out you crazy kids [middle aged people]!!!" There is also a lot of great stuff with the addicts that Rachel works with. This isn't one of the funnier books in this series, but it's very moving and satisfying. A. 

2026 book 146

 Marian Keyes' Anybody Out There

I somehow missed that there were a couple new books in Keyes' Walsh Family series, and Christina highly recommended the new one about Anna, so of course I wanted to reread the first book about Anna, forgetting how absolutely heartbreaking it is. She's dealing with major grief and pain after an accident while also balancing her job in PR for a cosmetics brand and shenanigans with her family and friends. Plus hilarious emails from various relatives back in Ireland. Really funny at times and so sad at others. I don't know anyone who does it like Keyes. 

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-.