2026 book 31

 KJ Charles’ How to Fake It in Society

So I do love a KJ Charles book, but this wasn’t my favorite. It is a very cute historical romance with great characters, but the plot didn’t totally work for me. The one guy is a shopkeeper who makes paints who suddenly becomes VERY wealthy when he marries one of his clients on her deathbed (she wants to disinherit her nephew). And the other is a French guy who was hoping to marry her himself and get the money, which he desperately needs. And the thing is that he’s kind of lying about everything and it’s just the kind of thing that annoys me. Fine, he sort of has reasons for his lies but also I know it’s going to have a happy ending so just work it out already. I hate plots that rely on ppl being unwilling to have a conversation. And we could spend more time on the girl cousin pretending to be a dude valet and courting the butler’s daughter. I loved the butler and his family! Anyway, obviously it was still a nice romance, just didn’t totally work for me. B/B+.

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

2026 book 30

 CE Hulse’s Vivian Dies Again

Ok, this was SO FUN. If there are three things I love, they’re a) time loops; b) mysteries; and c) messy British ladies—and this features all of the above! The main character is at a family party and apparently keeps getting murdered, and the only one who is aware of the loop is one of the waiters, so he’s trying to help her figure out who’s killing her, and why. Plenty of her relatives have reasons to dislike her, but murder?? It’s all very funny and fast-paced and I loved it. I will definitely be checking out more by this author. A/A-.

2026 book 29

 Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice

I’m making my book club read this this month, and our meeting is still a couple weeks away but I’m rereading it now anyway bc it’s one of my faves and because nothing else I start is striking my fancy. Jean Paget is truly one of the great heroines of literature (at least as told by her aging lawyer). I think I once said she was “plucky” but that doesn’t really do her justice as she leads a group of women and children through WWII in Malaysia and later builds a fricken city. Amazing story. Side note that this was written in 1950 and uses some racist language.

2026 book 28

 Seanan McGuire’s Butterfly Effects

The latest Incryptid novel deals with cuckoo Sarah (one of my favorite characters in this series) getting kidnapped by people from her home dimension and put on trial for her supposed crimes. Of course a motley assortment of her relatives mount a rescue mission! (The other POV character is Antimony, who I verbally like, but for some reason do not like how she and her fiance are written as a couple.) Anyway, this was really fun and had a solid ending, I am psyched to see where things go next. There’s a novella at the end featuring cousin Elsie, a cool lesbian who should get to be in more of these books. A-.

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

2026 book 27

 Martha Wells’ The Gate of Gods

I never really remember the plot of this one (it’s mildly confusing) but there are so many great character moments that I don’t even care. I really love this series. 

2026 book 26

 Martha Wells’ The Ships of Air

This is SUCH a good second volume of a trilogy, not one where it just feels like pieces are being moved to play the final act. Some great reveals, new conflicts, lots of action, and a little bit of sweet romance. This series is so underrated. 

2026 book 25

 Martha Wells' The Wizard Hunters

A lot of times when I read books, I immediately forget almost everything about them (not sure if it's my memory or just the sheer volume of books I go through--but on multiple occasions I have read a book, gone to rate it on StoryGraph, and discovered I've read it before), but some of the images of this story really stick with me. Especially the bits in the cave--ages after I read this the first time, I found myself thinking about that and being like, was that that Martha Wells book? (It happened later with the boat, too.) That is to say--this is very atmospheric and compelling and more memorable than most things I read! Anyway, it's the story of a suicidal playwright (daughter of the characters from Death of the Necromancer) and how she's drawn into a wartime magic experiment that takes her to another world, where she befriends the locals and tries to figure out how to fight a war against forces they don't understand. Amazing characters—I love this series and this world.

2026 book 24

Martha Wells’ The Death of the Necromancer

Sometimes you see people discussing Wells’ Ile-Rien series and you’re like, I gotta reread those right now! This one isn’t part of the trilogy proper, but a lot of the characters come into play so it’s important backstory—and a fun story too, involving thieves and secret identities and prison escapes and revenge and also defeating a necromancer. Such good characters! I do think it would be stronger if it was a little tighter—some parts are slow—but I love this book anyway.

2026 book 23

 Tal Bauer's You and Me

I needed a palate cleanser after the previous book, and what's better than a queer romance about SPORTS DADS???? (As recommended by Captain Awkward and Claire Willet on Bluesky!) Their sons play on the high school football team together! This was so freaking adorable, just dads hanging out and drinking wine and cooking for each other and volunteering at football games and doting on their sons and LONGING FOR EACH OTHER in the cutest possible way. (I don’t mean to make it sound purely fluffy—the main character’s wife died, their marriage wasn’t great, and he doesn’t have a great relationship with their son when the story starts.) It was maybe a little too horny and had too much football for my own personal tastes, but I enjoyed this a LOT. A-.

2026 book 22

 T. Kingfisher’s Wolf Worm

I’m notoriously a wuss, but I was all, I can totally handle a creepy T. Kingfisher book about bugs!!! Y’all. I was wrong. This was a little slow to start so I was falsely confident, as the main character, a scientific illustrator in late 1800s North Carolina, takes a job with a scientist who studies insects, hears the local scary stories, wonders about her predecessor, etc. And then halfway through came a scene that creeped me out SO BAD. SOOOOOO BAAAAAD. And there was worse to come! My heart was literally pounding fast!!! It sucked!!!! I mean, top notch writing but also I do regret reading this because it will keep me up nights. What grade does that get? A-?

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

2026 book 21

 Meihan Boey's The Mystical Mr. Kay

Solid end to this trilogy--lots of funny moments and I love all the different goddesses popping up! I will say there's a late-ish reveal that ties this to book two that I thought was really unnecessary and kind of confusing. But still an enjoyable read. B/B+.

2026 book 20

 Meihan Boey’s The Enigmatic Madam Ingram

The second Miss Cassidy book involves unraveling a complicated supernatural mystery, but I didn't like it as much as the first. The story is pretty circular and I think takes too long to get where it’s going. I do still enjoy the characters (and am rooting for Mr Kay!) and love the use of mythology so will try the third, but this one was a B.

2026 book 19

 Meihan Boey’s The Formidable Miss Cassidy

This was a very cute and entertaining book about a woman who goes to be a governess in Singapore—luckily, she is more than equipped to deal with the various supernatural problems she runs into! I really enjoyed watching this story unfold and am psyched there are three to read, perfect escapism. A-.

2026 book 18

 Tayari Jones’ Kin

Hooray for a new Tayari Jones novel! This one centers on two Black girls who grow up as best friends in the 1950s and 50s, but head down different paths when one runs away to Memphis to find the mother who abandoned her, and the other heads to Spelman for college. I was super into this when I was reading, but the world is such a dumpster fire that it was sometimes hard for me to pick this up when I wanted to be reading something for escapism. But this was really a beautiful book and broke my heart in ways I wasn’t expecting. A.

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

2026 book 17

 Lily King's Heart the Lover

Rereading this for book club! It was one of my favorites of last year and absolutely holds up. (I think I cried more knowing what was coming.) Christina and I saw Lily King speak about this book a couple months ago and I’m looking forward to discussing the book and her comments with everyone!

2026 book 16

 Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Teacup Magic: The Second Collection 

Back on my adorable historical fantasy bullshit! And this one has LESBIANS!!! Yes!!!! Anyway, it’s another few novellas, the first focused on one of the secondary characters from the first collection, featuring jewel heists, stepmothers, and artists galore. The second focuses on the new Duchess of Storm dealing with ghosts—including her mother in law and her unpleasant first husband. The third has a bunch of queer pirates! And mermaids and kidnappings and bringing all sorts of characters from the other stories together and it’s absolutely delightful. I really enjoyed this series, just what I needed right now. A/A-.