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.
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.
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-.
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-.
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-.
Julia Seales’ A Most Agreeable Murder
This is a firmly tongue-in-cheek historical mystery, full of Austen references, involving a young woman who is obsessed with true crime (and a handsome detective with a newspaper column). When a very eligible bachelor (Mr Croaksworth) is murdered at a ball (at Stabmort Manor), she has to figure out who did it—while still being a proper lady. Luckily the detective’s disgraced former partner is on hand! Also, her youngest sister is definitely a werewolf, if you suspected this book is a little bit silly. I liked this a lot, and will probably read the sequel at some point, but I need a break first. 😹 A-/B+.
Victoria Goddard’s Urbanite
I’m glad Goddard is writing again and I’ll read pretty much everything she does! This novella is a bit of a departure, since it’s not set in her Nine Worlds, but instead a magical version of Toronto. The main character is having a terrible day when she’s hired by two sorcerers to perform a task! Very entertaining story but I did wish there were more—maybe someday! A-.
Kate Elliott's The Law of Becoming
Elliott has a lot to balance in this final volume of the Jaran series--the whole rebelling against alien overlords thing has been simmering on the back-burner for the last couple books, and that comes into play, plus all the on-planet politics and battles we're invested in. Plus there's a whole thing with two sects of a religion that each think the other are heretics. But actually it’s pretty clear she meant to write at least one more book in this series—this does wrap up a lot of plot lines but it does feel like there’s so much more to tell! So obviously I loved this but am bummed it doesn’t seem like any more will be coming (since these came out over twenty years ago). Or maybe I’m just bummed that I can’t spend more time with these characters (even the minor ones get some awesome moments in this one, I especially would love to know what happens next with Sonia and the ke). A.
Kate Elliott’s His Conquering Sword
I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!! Not much else to say about the third volume in an awesome epic sci-fi/fantasy series, just lots of friendship and love and acting and battles and different cultures starting to mix and some very funny parts and some very sad parts and so many characters to root for. Seriously, this series is now a fave. A.
Kate Elliott’s An Earthly Crown
Elliott shakes things up in book two of the Jaran series by adding a bunch of new POVs and greatly expanding what’s going on, with politics and culture clashes and war and a troupe of Shakespearean actors all playing a part. I’m super into this series!!! Note that some of the culture clashes involve one group being totally cool with queerness and the other more of a don’t ask, don’t tell situation, so there are more openly queer characters but also some homophobia. Still, for a book written in the 90s, it’s pretty awesome. A.
Kate Elliott's Jaran
The SHEER DELIGHT of stumbling onto a series by an author you like that you somehow didn't know about, and it's everything you like in a series, and you can just SINK INTO IT! This is the start of a sci-fi series in which a young woman, whose brother is an important dude in the galaxy, isn't sure she's capable of being his heir--and then she stumbles onto political shenanigans on another planet involving their alien overlords. A planet her brother is supposed to control, in order to let the indigenous people thrive and not be taken over by all the STUFF in the galaxy (though he is absolutely and hilariously trickling in books on like Newtonian physics to their university). Anyway, she gets adopted by a group of nomads and I LOVE THEM, this is such good world-building, adventures and politics and romance ensue! A!
Meg Charlton’s Voyagers
Really interesting novel about a dude who, when he was six, disappeared with his friend, and when they returned, they told a story that seemed like an alien abduction, and became somewhat famous as a result. Now he’s an adult, living under a different name, working as a lawyer, when the whole world starts getting a signal from space. Is this contact? This is all interspersed with flashbacks to his childhood and his friendship, and how they eventually became estranged, as well as pieces involving their imaginary alien friend. The writing is super engaging, I really loved reading this! A/A-.
Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family
Honestly I wish this had a better title, it’s so generic when this book is SO GOOD and funny and heartbreaking and super queer! It centers on a woman, Eve, whose partner Nell has left her and their child and cut contact completely, and flashes back to how they met as twelve-year-olds, became best friends, and everything along the way. Just really engaging writing full of messy queer people, I resented having to put this down to go to sleep last night. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on July 14th.
Grace Curtis’ Heaven’s Graveyard
I was psyched already for a new Grace Curtis novel, but then it turns out this is a sort of companion to her book Idolfire! See, the protagonist here is an archivist who’s determined to prove her favorite legendary heroine was a real person—but also, that heroine is one of the two main characters of Idolfire. I haven’t seen this mentioned in any of the marketing, I’m guessing because this works perfectly fine as a standalone? But I love connections like that! I seriously like sat straight up when I realized! This did feel a lot darker though (I don’t remember any animal sacrifices in the previous book), which wasn’t my fave. Anyway, our historian also has to solve the murder of her mentor—with her ex girlfriend’s help, of course—plus there’s a whole impending war she’s been ignoring. The second half is super entertaining and action-packed, really fun. Another great one from Curtis! A/A-.
T. Kingfisher’s The Wonder Engine
Satisfying follow-up to Clockwork Boys, as our merry band (well, band) tries to unravel the mustiness of the Clocktaurs. This is a very fun read, though perhaps not as well-developed as some of her more recent works. I’m not gonna complain about a fun read though.
T. Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys
Reading Daggerbound made me want to reread this duology, since both feature Learned Edmund! I forgot how good this is—lots of action and dark humor as our little band (featuring three criminals—a formerly demon-possessed paladin, an assassin, and the lady forger leading them all—plus an earnest and super sexist young scholar) goes on a suicide mission to investigate some mysterious war machines. And have some supernatural adventures along the way! Fun stuff!!!
Nina LaCour’s Meet Me in the Garden
I’ve loved all of LaCour’s novels, but this one really feels different, more ambitious (is this her first adult novel? I know it’s all marketing categories). It’s the story of a (deeply closeted) Creole woman and her family from 1944 through the 1960s, as they move from New Orleans to Los Angeles and raise their children. Just a really beautiful story about art and various kinds of love and families and friends and making a life. Maybe some bits were a little on the nose but I loved this. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 4th.
Sarah Orne Jewett’s A Country Doctor
This classic novel (originally published in 1884) is getting reissued in August, and I’ve never read it, and the premise sounded interesting, so here we are. It involves a country doctor who takes a young girl in as his ward, and she grows up to want to be a doctor too, but much of society is skeptical of a lady doctor. I see why this is a classic! A little too much Christianity for my personal taste but a really well-written story.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This edition will be released in August.
