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-.

2026 book 127

 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+.

2026 book 126

 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-.

2026 book 125

 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.

2026 book 124

 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. 

2026 book 123

 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.