2024 book 82

 Janice Hallett's The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

I'm rereading this for book club, and it's one of those mysteries that's fun to reread because once you know what's going on, you can see how the clues are laid out/how it all works. At first, though, I was finding things kind of tiresome, because of the sort of gimmicky nature of the book—it’s all transcripts and emails and excerpts of novels etc. But after a good's night sleep I got caught up in the story again—the story is WILD and I’m not sure it really holds up on a rereading, but it sure is entertaining!

2024 book 81

 Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time

This is being described as “part time travel romance, part spy thriller” and honestly I’m here for all of that? The narrator is a young woman who works for the government in England, who’s assigned a job as a “bridge” for one of several people who’s been pulled out of her time—in her case, Graham Gore, from the lost Franklin exploration of the arctic. I ended up being VERY invested in their relationship, and thought the first half of this especially was very funny. I’m not sure the spy thriller aspects ended up totally working, but I loved this book anyway. GREAT narrative voice and beautiful characters. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 7th.

2024 book 80

 James S.A. Corey’s Babylon's Ashes

I am still very invested in a lot of these characters, and I bet this all makes for a really compelling tv show, but this book was EXHAUSTING. I lost track of how many POV characters it had, and honestly, lost track of who a lot of them even were. But again, great characters! The plot is mostly just action scenes though and those aren’t always fun to read. I want more diplomacy and politics! I’m gonna take a brief break to rest my brain but I do plan on continuing the series. B/B+.

2024 book 79

 Victoria Goddard’s Terec and the Wild/ 

Taking a quick break from the Expanse series because Victoria Goddard put out a new novella, which is the sequel to this novella, and so obviously I had to reread this one to refresh my memory. It’s the story of the long-lost love of one of the dudes from the Hands of the Emperor books, and the journey he takes when he exiles himself due to his wild magic. This is the first of four, apparently, and hard to judge on its own since it really feels like an introduction. Still, I like everything Goddard writes. 

Terec and the Wall

I’m counting these as one book since they’re both just 52 pages. Like its predecessor, it’s pretty much all vibes until near the end, when Terec has an Unexpected Encounter (or perhaps not, if you’ve read anything by Goddard before) and some plot kicks in. Looking forward to the third. 

2024 book 78

 James S.A. Corey's Nemesis Games

This was interesting, because Holden and his three crew members all are off on their own adventures (which do, of course, collide), which means we have POV sections from Naomi, Alex, and Amos for the first time—very good for their character development. Some of my favorite characters from earlier books also return, which I was obviously psyched about. The political situation in the larger story is really heating up, and I’m intrigued to see where things go next, since now we're like halfway through the series. A-.

2024 book 77

 James S.A. Corey's Cibola Burn

I liked this one a lot more than the third one—it mainly involves Holden being sent to mediate between two groups of colonists on a new planet, and I just found the plot and most of the characters more engaging (two of the POV characters are minor characters from earlier books, on opposite sides of the conflict). I say “most of” the characters because the main villain is very one note and at a certain point I was wishing someone would shoot him so I didn’t have to read any more of his nonsense. On the plus side, I thought Naomi was way better developed in this one (maybe because we're seeing her through eyes that aren't Holden's?). Looking forward to the next one. A-.

2024 book 76

 James S.A. Corey's Abaddon's Gate

I didn’t like this as much as the second one, because all the new characters from that one that I was invested in aren’t in this one (Holden and his crew are in all of them I guess). There are some new POV characters: a guy who's chief security officer on a spaceship (he’s cool); Julie Mao's sister, working on a convoluted plan of revenge against Holden; and a lesbian Methodist minister, which meant a lot of talk about Christianity, which is not my bag. Things do pick up in the second half once all the plotlines come together, and it does get action-packed, but I do hope all these pastors don’t come back. B+.

2024 book 75

 Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance

It’s my birthday, and as a birthday treat I read this ARC! I love the way Rowell writes characters and feelings and characters talking about feelings and I knew this wouldn’t disappoint. And it didn’t! Her first adult novel in years is sort of a second chance romance, focusing on newly divorced Shiloh and her high school best friend Cary, who meet for the first time in years at a wedding. And the story flashes back and forth between their high school years, and the adult years they spent apart, and their college years, and them in the now (well, 2006) as they try and figure their shit out. And I do love a book where nice people figure their shit out. Very relatable and vividly drawn characters, as Rowell does so well. So satisfying. A.

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

(I tagged this as LGBTQ because Shiloh is queer, but this is an m/f romance.)

2024 book 74

 James S.A. Corey's Caliban's War

Ok, I did like this one way more, and there were way better lady characters, as I was told. (One is a Martian Marine, the other a powerful politician from Earth, and I love them.) The plot, such as it is, kicks off when a scientist's daughter is kidnapped by nefarious scientists who are tied to the nefarious stuff from book one, and the Rocinante crew are on board (lol) to help get her back, but of course there are wars and politics and PTSD and more to deal with. Plus a baller ending that makes me eager for book three (except I’m taking a quick break before I come back to these!). A-.

2024 book 73

 James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes

I was thinking about starting the Expanse tv show, but I am exactly the kind of person who wants to read the books first, so here we go! There is a LOT going on in this first one, but it mainly involves two characters: the first is a washed-up cop looking for a missing woman (the reader knows nothing good has happened to her), which leads him into a much bigger mystery; the second is an XO on a water hauling spaceship who also gets drawn into the bigger mystery after witnessing several weird attacks on spaceships, and he's just trying to keep his remaining crew alive, but also has started a war? The pace picks up a lot once these characters collide, and there are a lot of surprises for sure. It was still a bit slow and no comment on the women characters (I hear this improves in later books and look forward to finding out). B+.

2024 book 72

 T. Kingfisher's What Feasts at Night

Ok, I liked this one so much more, probably because it’s barely scary and way less gross! (Reminder that I am a GIANT WUSS.) This one finds Alex on their way to their hunting lodge to hang out with Beatrix Potter's aunt, who they befriended in the previous book. But the caretaker has died, and a malevolent spirit may be the cause. Oh, also, Alex is dealing with major PTSD. This one is playing much more with dark folklore instead of monstrous nature, which is way easier for me personally. I also love the characters and the humor, as always. A/A-.

2024 book 71

 T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead

Normally I’ll read anything Kingfisher writes, but I’m a giant wuss and the cover of this book scared me!! But she did a reading from the sequel recently and that and the way she talked about the series made me want to read it, so here we are. It’s a take on The Fall of the House of Usher, set in the 1800s in a made-up European country, and involves a solder (from a country where soldiers have their own set of pronouns) going to visit some old friends who are ill. I will say this is not jump scare kind of horror, but it is very eerie and also gross!!! But I do love Kingfisher's writing. A-/B+.

2024 book 70

 Patricia Wentworth's Mr Brading's Collection 

I was in the mood for a mystery so decided to check back in on the Miss Silver series. This was perfectly adequate. Lol. It involves a rich jerk who wants to hire Miss Silver but she refuses! But when he gets murdered she ends up involved anyway. The main characters are a divorced couple who will obviously reconcile by the end, all of the Miss Silver mysteries have a couple that will get together by the end. The mystery itself was interesting enough, and I enjoy reading this, but this wasn’t a fave. B/B+.

2024 book 69

 Effie Calvin's Daughter of the Sun

I did like this one more than the first—as I mentioned, the one thing I really liked in that one was the religion stuff, and this one leans more into that, as it involves a chaos goddess trapped in a mortal body falling for a (lady) Paladin of the sun god. Lol. Very cute. It drags a little in the middle but was definitely a stronger story with even better characters. I don’t think I’ll continue with the series though. B+.

2024 book 68

 Effie Calvin's The Queen of Ieflaria

I wanted to read something light/cute, and this WAS very cute, but not much else. It’s about a young princess who comes to a new country to get married,but her betrothed has died and now the heir is his younger sister, who doesn’t want to rule. Also, dragons keep attacking. So am I here for a sapphic fantasy romance? Yes, and I liked the characters a lot, and thought the stuff with religion was really interesting. BUT the plot and romance are both totally underbaked. It’s frustrating because the writing is good and the bones of a solid story are there, but I really needed it to be way more fleshed out. Still, I’ll give the next book in the series a try bc this world is interesting. B/B+.

2024 book 67

 Grace Curtis' The Floating Hotel

I really liked Curtis' first novel and was excited for this one, which was also super enjoyable! It’s set in a giant spaceship hotel, which has seen better days, and each chapter is from the POV of a different staff member or guest, all coming together to tell the story of a wonderful place. Lots of fun stuff comes up—movie nights, heists, music, etc—but there are also some spies on board, trying to track down a political dissident. Curtis nails the ending, too; this was a very satisfying read. A/A-.

2024 book 66

 Holly Gramiazo's The Husbands

This premise is a bit hard to explain but it’s kind of a magical realism/alternate universe sort of thing, where one evening a woman comes home and a dude is in her apartment; he’s apparently her husband but she isn’t married and doesn’t know him. And then it turns out every time a husband goes into the attic, a new husband comes down, and she’s in a different version of her life. I really liked the narrative voice here and this story was compelling enough that I read it all in one sitting. And I ended up really liking how it wrapped up, too. Recommended if you want something on the lighter side that is still interesting! A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on April 2nd.

2025 book 65

 T. Kingfisher's Nettle and Bone

Rereading this for book club and it’s just as good every time I read it! Dark, funny, full of great women characters, just so satisfying.

2024 book 64

 Martha Wells' The Gate of Gods

Ughhhhh I LOVE this series and the end of this one is so good and satisfying! I love all these characters so much! I don’t even have anything else to say about this, haha.

2024 book 60

 Martha Wells' The Ships of Air

Ughhhh I love this series, this is such a good second chapter. The characters remain great, I’m fully on board for the matter of fact romance, villains and secrets abound, the women rule, everyone is hanging out on a luxury cruiser turned warship/refugee camp, there’s magic and mystery galore. SO GOOD.

2024 book 59

 Martha Wells' The Wizard Hunters

I last read this like four years ago, and I’ve read a few hundred books since then (brag), but certain scenes/images have been stuck in my mind that whole time because they’re so vivid (all the stuff with the caves, and the giant passenger ship that I think is a big part of the second book). Anyway, this is the first book in the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy and the protagonist is a depressed playwright who is also the daughter of the badass couple from Death of the Necromancer. Their country is in a losing war against a mysterious enemy and she ends up in another world in a bid to find out more—lots of cool adventures ensue. The pacing and characters here are just on fire, totally captivating, this is such a good book. 

2024 book 58

 Martha Wells' The Death of the Necromancer

This was also recently reissued as a revised edition by Wells, and I’m not sure if that was why, but I liked it way more than the first time I read it (when I thought it was just fine). Things start with a heist but revenge plans are put to the side when a dangerous sorcerer starts to come after our protagonist. (And he and his actress girlfriend/partner in crime are one of my favorite fictional couples right now.) I loved how this built up and came to a very satisfying conclusion. I love all the mutual respect/friendship/dedication to stopping evil dudes. Really good stuff. A/A-.

2024 book 57

 Martha Wells' The Element of Fire

This was recently reissued in a newly edited version by Wells, so I figured that was a good excuse to reread this series, which I remember liking. This one is a pretty classic style fantasy novel featuring evil sorcerers, powerful fairies, court politics, etc. I love the main characters, the captain of the queen's guard and the queen's stepdaughter, who is half-fairy. It’s a little slow in the second half but still entertaining. 

2024 book 56

 Natasha Pulley's The Mars House

I didn’t really look at the description before picking this up—I was like, hey, I like Natasha Pulley, cool! Our main character is a dude named January who’s a principal dancer for the London Ballet, except it’s the future and London ends up totally flooded bc of climate change, so January has to move to Mars. And Earth humans on Mars have to undergo a painful and debilitating surgery to adapt to Mars gravity, or else they’re second-class citizens, and he ends up as a factory worker, where he gets into a televised argument with a powerful politician. And then things pivoted to a place I didn’t expect: the politician proposes an arranged marriage for Reasons (it makes sense, as far as fake marriages in books ever make sense). Yes, y’all, this book involves A FAKE MARRIAGE ON MARS. Oh, and ALSO, they’re on a reality show. AND there are major politics at play. This book should not work!! And yet, it mostly does! Things get a little slow in the second half and one plot reveal takes WAY too long to come, but there are so many cool moments (mammoths!) and I was totally caught up in this world. Very fun read, slightly all over the place but I enjoyed that. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on March 19th.

2024 book 55

 Rachel Neumeier's Marag

Another delightful entry in the Tuyo series, this one is a prequel involving how Ryo's parents met and for married, solving some tribal problems and some supernatural problems along the way. This was a bit slow but in sort of a meditative way, and I was already invested in the characters and enjoyed seeing their early interactions. And seeing lots of other familiar faces. Very satisfying. A/A-.

2024 book 54

 Richard Osman's The Last Devil to Die

The mystery in this one was easier to figure out than in some of the earlier ones, but that almost doesn’t even matter when the character stuff is so good. The story here involves some missing heroin and the murder of an acquaintance, plus the usual shenanigans. Osman is apparently starting a new series but has said this one isn’t finished, but this is a pretty solid finale if he doesn’t return to it. A/A-.

2024 book 53

 Richard Osman's The Bullet That Missed

This was so good!!! The plot involves the team working on the cold case of a journalist who was killed ten years ago while investigating some heavy duty financial fraud, but also a guy is trying to get Elizabeth to kill an old spy colleague. Some absolutely hilarious moments, some heartbreaking ones, amazing friendships and relationships as always, just very solid and entertaining. A.

2024 book 52

 Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice

Another very fun and entertaining read! This one involves spies, the mafia, stolen diamonds, ex-husbands, and lots of very hilarious senior citizens. I do think you can’t think about this series too hard because it is a little silly/unrealistic, but that’s why I like it—I mean, also the characters and their friendships are wonderful, but these are pretty escapist as murder mysteries go. A-.

2024 book 51

 Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club

Several people I know have enjoyed this series, so I figured I’d give it a go, and I also enjoyed this first one a lot! It centers on a small group of people who live in a retirement village and look at cold cases as a hobby, at least until there’s an actual local murder. Soon they’re adopting detectives and basically taking over the investigation. It’s all pretty funny, but the characters were solid enough to keep me very invested, and the mystery ended up being more interesting than I anticipated. Looking forward to the next one. A/A-.

2024 book 50

 Barbara Comyns' Our Spoons Came From Woolworths

So this has been on my to-read list for years (my best guess is I read a good review when it got reissued like ten years ago), but I’m reading it now because Ann Patchett raves about it in one of her recent videos where she discusses backlist books, and she compared it to both The English Understand Wool AND Nancy Mitford, so you bet your bippy I bought it immediately. Buuuuut maybe my expectations were too high after those comparisons? It was fine, but didn’t reach the heights of those books, and I really felt like the characters weren’t super well developed. Very charming narrative voice though. (Oh, plot summary: it’s narrated by a naive young woman who has married a young artist and they have to try and survive in poverty because he won’t get a real job.) B+.

2024 book 49

 Tana French's The Hunter

This was JUST as good as The Searcher; I love these characters and this mildly sinister Irish town. Trey and Lena both get to be POV characters in this one, which I think fleshes things out a lot. Anyway, this is set two years later and centers on Trey's deadbeat dad coming back to town, and also there’s a whole thing with a scam involving mining for gold, and eventually someone ends up dead. I did end up really liking this as a mystery, but for me the story is so much more about the characters and their relationships, just really compelling. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.

2024 book 48

 Tana French's The Searcher

I never read this when it first came out, partially because I didn’t love her previous book, and partially because it was fall 2020 and I wasn’t in the mood for a literary mystery. But there is a sequel out tomorrow, I am back in the mood for literary mysteries, and this was GREAT! It’s about a former Chicago cop who has moved to a small town in Ireland basically on a whim after his wife leaves him and he leaves his job, and he’s looking forward to restoring his lil house and fishing and whatnot, when a local kid asks him to investigate a missing brother. But he’s new to this small town and doesn’t really understand the locals and their secrets. AMAZING characters and atmosphere here, totally sad but a wonderful ending. A.

2024 book 47

 Micaiah Johnson's Those Beyond the Wall

I have been VERY eagerly awaiting the sequel/companion to The Space Between Worlds, and this may have even surpassed my expectations?! The story is set ten years later and the protagonist is a minor character from the first book, Nik Nik's girl runner/mechanic—but many of the characters from the first book are prominent. Anyway, things kick off with a series of grisly deaths that are clearly related to world-hopping, and our protagonist and her cohort have to figure out how to stop it. I loved seeing the inner worlds of the emperor and the runners, and seeing more of the politics between the city and the people outside it. Once again, totally gripping action and trenchant commentary on class and poverty, but most importantly, amazingly vivid characters and world. I can’t wait to see what Johnson does next. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on March 12th.

2024 book 46

 Micaiah Johnson's The Space Between Worlds

This was one of my favorite books of 2020, and I've had it on my list to read for book club ever since, and I finally made it a pick this month because a companion novel is out in a couple weeks! Anyway, it was JUST as good on a reread, still totally gripping and fun but also really hitting on some complex themes. The protagonist is a young Black woman whose job is to hop between different worlds for research purposes, but she can only travel to worlds where that version of her has died--and she's died on so many worlds. SO much happens in this and it's such a fun but also a GOOD read, can't wait for the followup.

2024 book 45

 Seanan McGuire’s Aftermarket Afterlife

Gonna give this one a big YESSSSS bc it’s from the POV of ghost babysitter Mary, who rules, and which means we get to spend time with ALL the characters as she bounces around, plus it’s super action packed. I mean, SO much goes down. I think this may actually have been my favorite of the series (despite some dark moments), which is impressive since it’s like the thirteenth book. But Mary is such a good POV character, so much insight into an increasingly complicated family. Really good stuff. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on March 5th.

2024 book 44

 Seanan McGuire’s Backpacking Through Bedlam

This one picks up where book eleven leaves off, wrapping up those storylines and hopping back to our world for some family reunions and more battles with the Covenant. Another fun and action-packed one and I do like seeing the larger groups of the family and their various friends and allies together, very entertaining. I do wonder when one of the major characters of this series had a kid though; I have skipped a couple of the novellas because sometimes I’m not in the mood for bonus material, so maybe it was mentioned in one of those? A-.

2024 book 43

 Seanan McGuire’s Spelunking Through Hell

Ooh, now THIS was firing on all cylinders! It’s the story of Grandma Alice, who’s spent the last fifty years hopping through different dimensions searching for her missing husband. If you’re like, awesome, I want to read about a badass eighty year old, she looks twenty and has a bunch of magical tattoos, but she’s still pretty cool. This was just really fun, lots going on, new allies and new enemies. My only complaint is that these need a better proofreader; at one point she calls a character her son-in-law and the character is her daughter-in-law's father. I’ve noticed other things like that along the way as well. Still, very minor in the grand scheme of things. A/A-.

2024 book 42

 Seanan McGuire’s Calculated Risks

This was an interesting one, seeing as it takes place in another dimension, but it felt a lot slower than the rest of the series. Solid ending though, and I was here for the adorable spider. B+.

2024 book 41

 Seanan McGuire's Imaginary Numbers

Ooooh it's finally a SARAH book!! (And Artie, too!) She was very prominent in the first two books, and made appearances in the two after that, but wasn't in the next three (which was fair, since they focused on Annie being away from her family). This is set five years after Sarah did major damage to herself at the end of book two, and she's mostly healed and coming to visit the extended family for the first time. Well, until she's kidnapped, anyway. Lots of cuckoo lore here, I did think the story dragged a little towards the end but the very ending had me skipping the included novella to get right to the next book. B+.

2024 book 40

 Seanan McGuire’s That Ain't Witchcraft

This volume involves Annie and her friends adopting a young sorcerer in Maine who wants to destroy the crossroads—lots of adventures ensue, especially once the Covenant pops back up. More solid plotting in this one too, and I keep forgetting to mention that I love Annie for her pop culture references. There’s a novella at the end about Alex and Shelby helping out their local gorgon friends, which also answers a question that was raised during this book or the one before (they sort of blend together at a certain point when you’re racing through them). A-.

2024 book 39

 Seanan McGuire’s Tricks for Free

So the plot on this one was a little flimsier, but it was definitely more fun than the previous one! Here, we find Antimony taking a job at a theme park in Florida (not that one) to basically try and stay in hiding from the people after her. She also finds a powerful cabal of magicians running things at the park and they want to train her to use her powers (this needed more buildup for the plot to work—we don’t see much of this, just hear about it after the fact). What I like most here is the friendships, just such good friendships! And if, like me, you were bummed at the lack of Aeslin mice, there is a novella at the end featuring Mindy and Mork (and Sam, but I was obviously more interested in the mice). A-.

2024 book 38

 Seanan McGuire’s Magic for Nothing

This one stressed me out quite a bit, since it involves youngest Prince sibling Antimony being sent on an undercover mission to infiltrate the Covenant, the evil organization of monster hunters, who consider her whole family traitors and will absolutely kill her if she’s found out. Also, she secretly has magic powers and can’t control them. It eventually comes to her joining a circus and meeting a cute boy, so really a lot of emotional highs and lows. I did really end up liking this one, very interesting ending and A+ Aeslin mice action. A-.

2024 book 37

 Seanan McGuire’s Chaos Choreography 

This was a VERY fun one, not only because it returns to Verity as the main character, but because it involves her going back to be on the all-star season of a dancing reality show. Except of course a snake cult is killing the contestants. Solid mystery, entertaining conclusion, occasionally hilarious, and I always love seeing dragons and Aeslin mice. Not to mention finally meeting Grandma Alice. A-.

2024 book 36

 Seanan McGuire's Pocket Apocalypse

The fourth Incryptid books finds scientists Alex and Shelby off to visit her family in Australia—and to deal with a werewolf outbreak. Another fun and action-packed adventure, if occasionally heartbreaking. B+.

2024 book 35

 Seanan McGuire's Half-off Ragnarok

This third book in this series switches up the protagonists—here, it’s the older brother of the woman from the first two books, who works at a zoo in Ohio, where he’s trying to keep his more supernatural studies hidden from his girlfriend. Until dead bodies start showing up, that is. The villain is pretty obvious and is also not super interesting, but it is interesting to see another corner of this world (and to see more of cousin Sarah). B+.

2024 book 34

 Seanan McGuire's Midnight Blue-Light Special

The title of this one is silly and also has nothing to do with the story, which involves some members of the group of vicious monster-hunters coming to New York. Again, lots of action, fun characters (cousin Sarah gets to be a POV character for a while), cool powers, very entertaining read. A-.

2024 book 33

 Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon

I was in the mood to read something on the more fun/entertaining side, and remembered that I only ever read the first few books of this series and then never got back to them, so here we go! I remembered the major plot beats of this one and it is very fun and action-packed—about a young woman who’s a cryptozoologist in Manhattan, and also a ballroom dancer (way too much dance related info for my tastes but ymmv). Things kick off when a dude from a notorious group of monster hunters comes to town, various supernatural people start disappearing, and rumors of dragons start popping up. I like the big extended worlds of family and friends—McGuire's Toby Daye series does that really well too. B+.

2024 book 32

 Elspeth Barker's O Caledonia

This was interesting, and beautifully written, but ended up leaving me kind of cold. It starts with the burial of a teenage girl who was murdered, and the prevailing emotion seems to be “good riddance.” And then it flashes back to tell her life story, growing up in Scotland in the 1940s and 50s in an eccentric family, loving animals, loving learning, never fitting in. But I ended up just feeling depressed about it all. B+.

2024 book 31

 Ann Aguirre's The Only Purple House in Town

This was VERY cute, definitely for fans for Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. It centers on a young woman from a family of psychic vampires, except she’s never figured out her own powers, and her family judges her for not living up to her overachieving older sisters. And her love interest is a dude who’s a were-hawk who had a crush on her when they were little kids! Things kick off when she inherits her great-aunt's house and decides to rent out the rooms, and he takes one, along with a fun cast of other characters. (The main couple is straight but all the other characters are queer in some capacity, including several elderly people.) So there is a romance, and it’s sweet (until the inevitable last stage annoying disagreement), but this is just as much about the found family vibes, which I loved. GREAT characters, very fun. A-.

2024 book 30

 Joma West's Twice Lived

This was such an interesting book! The premise is hard to explain (it makes sense when you’re reading it)—the main character is a girl who switches between two worlds at random, living totally different lives as totally different people. But most people who shift settle down on one side or the other when they’re young, and as she gets older it starts to become more dangerous. But how can she choose between two lives, two families? I’m not sure what to think about the ending but like I said, very interesting. And totally gripping writing; I read this in one sitting. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 20th.

2024 book 29

 Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver Comes to Stay

I think I’m burning out on these a little—this was fine, I just wasn’t super into it. Things start off with Miss Silver going to visit an old school friend, but when an unpleasant local rich man is murdered, she has to help get to the bottom of things. I did like all the characters and the mystery ended up being pretty interesting, so I do think I just need a little break from classic mysteries as a palate cleanser. A-/B+.

2024 book 28

 Patricia Wentworth’s The Catherine Wheel

This is one of the ones where Miss Silver comes into things early on and we get to see her in action, very satisfying! The mystery involves a bunch of cousins who have never met due to a family argument being invited to the old family inn for a reunion—and Miss Silver is on the scene because the police suspect it’s the center of some smuggling activity! But soon she has to solve a murder as well. I did figure the whole mystery out, I think because Miss Silver is always schooling the policemen and so the reader has extra clues. :) A-.

2024 book 27

 Premee Mohammed's The Butcher of the Forest

This has T. Kingfisher vibes to me--which is obviously a compliment! It's about a woman, the only person ever to return from a mysterious forest, who is forced to go back there to rescue the Tyrant's children. But she only has a day. There are some creepy parts and some dark parts and it has a fairy-tale feel to it (hence the T. Kingfisher comparison), great pacing and characters. Really beautiful writing too. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 27th.

2024 book 26

 Patricia Wentworth’s Eternity Ring

I do enjoy these, even when they are on the more formulaic side. This one involves a pair of estranged newlyweds, a girl who swears she saw a man dragging a dead body, but no one can find the body, and some stolen diamonds. Ok, maybe only the young couple is formulaic--there’s always a couple! And yet I am always invested in their dilemmas! Miss Silver is on the case early in this one, but isn’t super active. I do appreciate that she can solve a mystery while knitting, though. I can barely read a mystery while knitting. :) A-.

2024 book 25

 Patricia Wentworth's The Case of William Smith

I am just really vibing with the Miss Silver mysteries! I would have read this all in one sitting had my schedule allowed. This one involves a young man with amnesia due to a head injury during WWII; he now works at a toy store but there are hints he has a loftier background. Also, someone is trying to kill him. And someone else is keeping secrets! Leave it to Miss Silver to unravel everything. I really liked this until the end; the explanations for villainous behavior were weird and the “here's what happened” was long and boring because we knew it all already. Otherwise entertaining! B+.

2024 book 24

 Victoria Goddard’s The Bone Harp

This is an interesting departure for Goddard—not just because it’s a stand-alone, not set in her usual world (she has many series and characters but the rest are all related to some degree), but also the writing style feels very different. The central character is an immortal elf, who after centuries of war and cursed wandering, has awoken someplace different, healed. His journey home (literal and metaphysical) is a slow one, and the history of the world is revealed slowly as well—it’s all very beautiful and meditative. Great characters as always, and I do love how Goddard writes families and friendships. I’d read another one set in this world. A-.

2024 book 23

 James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

I didn’t purposely read this during Black History Month (I actually assumed I’d finish it while it was still January, but this week ended up being busy), but it was certainly an appropriate pick! It centers on a bunch of the residents of a small town in Pennsylvania during the 1930s, particularly a Black couple and a Jewish couple trying to protect a little Black boy from being institutionalized. But there are plenty of other characters in the mix (obviously I loved Chona and Addie, but I was partial to Paper). Great atmosphere here, the neighborhood really feels vivid. Parts of this are pretty grim, though, and parts were a little slow. Still, definitely worth being on all the 2023 best-of lists! A/A-.

2024 book 22

 Melissa Marr's Remedial Magic

Right away I was like, OH, am /I/ the target audience for this book! Because the main character is a lesbian librarian who lives in Ligonier (not far from my hometown of Pittsburgh, site of childhood field trips). She lives an aggressively uninteresting life, until a mysterious woman appears in the library one day! BECAUSE ALSO, this book involves a magic school, a community college of sorts for adults whose magic has suddenly awakened (due to a near-death experience), which is in a hidden magical town. But the town is dying. And there's a prophecy that the librarian will save them! And much of the book is a romance between the librarian and the mysterious woman, but there are also POV sections from an array of other characters, such as the guy on the run from gambling debts (and cancer); the lawyer determined to escape and get back to her son; the morally ambiguous headmaster of the school; various other witches (witch is a gender-neutral term here), etc. So there is a LOT going on. I was mostly into this; some of the romance-related writing is the sort I don’t like, and I hope they fix all the typos for the final version. Also had some mixed feelings about the end, even though it’s clearly setting up book two. Pretty fun though! A-/B+.

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

2024 book 21

 Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice

I saw a mention of Shute the other day and realized I hadn’t reread this in far too long- it is one of my favorite books with one of fiction's most compelling heroines, as narrated by her elderly lawyer/trustee. (General note that there’s a lot of colonialism and racist language in here as much of it takes place in Malaysia during WWII and in Australia during the 1950s.) I would gush about this more but my hand hurts so no more typing today.

2024 book 20

 Malka Older's The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

I loved the first book in this series so was super psyched for this one, and it was also very entertaining! In this one, the academic is once again called into assist the detective, this time with a missing persons case, but a) now they’re sort of girlfriends!! and b) the case quickly becomes more complicated. I will say that like the first one, the mystery here is fine but not especially interesting, but I love the characters and their world and am happy to be along for the ride. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 13th.

2024 book 19

 Emily Austin's Interesting Facts About Space

This is being marketed as “hilarious and hopeful” but I actually found it kind of claustrophobic most of the way through! It centers on a lesbian woman with a complicated family, commitment issues, an obsession with true crime, and a debilitating fear of bald men (that might sound funny but she is legitimately unable to function). Her increasing paranoia is hard to read and I spent the whole book waiting for the reveal of some horrible trauma. But the ending is actually kind of sweet and, yes, hopeful, so apparently it’s not that kind of book at all. There are a lot of funny moments with her dating and I did end up liking this a lot but it is very real about mental health issues. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 18

 Sharon Shinn's Fortune and Fate

This ended up being pretty cute. The main character is a very minor character from the previous book, a King's Rider who blames herself for things going wrong, and now she sorts of rides around taking jobs and helping people but never settling down. Until she rescues a young noble girl from being kidnapped and ends up captain of her guard! There is a romance here, but the focus is more on the character learning to forgive herself. And of course the characters from the previous books make an appearance. I did like the bits about the post-war political situation too. A-/B+.

2024 book 17

 Sharon Shinn's Reader and Raelynx

I see now why I stopped with this volume last time I read this series, because it’s a great conclusion—again, kind of romance-forward, this time involving the powerful young mystic and the princess—but also wrapping up all the political plotlines, leading to the war that’s threatened the whole series. The friendships between the core group members are still the heart of things, and I do like the variety of awesome and powerful women in this series. 

2024 book 16

 Sharon Shinn's Dark Moon Defender

The third book in this series is also pretty romance-forward, but in this case both parties are adorable and available—the young soldier from the previous books, and a girl at the creepy convent run by the woman who wants power and wants to kill magic users. (The girl has magic powers and also worships a different goddess—some very interesting religion stuff in this one.) The romance here is also balanced by frequent check-ins with the other characters of the series, lots of action, lots more glimpses of the world, and awesome friendships. Very enjoyable and satisfying.

2024 book 15

 Sharon Shinn's Thirteenth House

I forgot that I really don’t like this second volume of the series, because while I love all the new and returning characters and the political intrigues, most of the plot revolves around a romance between the shape-shifting noblewoman and a married man. I mean, I really can’t tell if the reader is supposed to be on board for this, but I personally am /not/ into it. I do like how things conclude, but it’s kind of an annoying one to read.

2024 book 14

 Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider

I’m rereading this series bc chilly days call for fantasy novels, and also bc I never actually read the fifth book (I think it focuses on a secondary character) but I’ve seen it mentioned positively a few times recently. Anyway, this first one does a good job of introducing the world and the characters, a small band made up of a few people with magical abilities and a couple of the king's elite guard. They’re on a mission across the country to investigate rumors of rebellion—and growing hatred for magic. I do like political intrigue and this also has a sweet slow-building romance. But the friendships are the best part. 

2024 book 13

 Laurie Frankel's Family Family

I don’t think I’ve read anything by Frankel before, but I’m curious to check out her other books now. This novel is about a well-known actress who’s recently filmed a drama involving adoption; when she makes some offhand comments about the film to a reporter, she’s suddenly facing a lot of backlash. And then her children try to help and make everything a lot more complicated. This is interspersed with flashbacks to her teen years and up, showing how she became famous and how her family grew. Lots of interesting moments along the way and a few surprises. I was very into this at first—read the first two-thirds in one sitting and only stopped to go to sleep. But it was sort of getting a little muddled at that point and never quite recovered. It ended up being fine but that was kind of disappointing after such a strong start! B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 12

 L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon

When this essay ran in the NYT last month, of course Christina and Arianne and I were discussing it, which led to this month's book club pick! This was one I owned as a child but I never reread it as often as the Anne books. (I think Anne is more interesting and I like the characters and relationships in those much more.) This has a lot more Christianity than the Anne books, as well. There are some fun and funny parts, and beautiful descriptions of scenery, but some of this is very tiresome, and some is just creepy. I have a feeling book club is not going to be into this. In fact, upon finishing, I discovered that last time I read it, I rated it two stars, so I guess I wasn’t that into it either. ;)

2024 book 11

 Patricia Wentworth’s Wicked Uncle

First of all, what a great title! Second of all, the uncle in question is indeed very wicked, as he’s a blackmailer hosting a party of his victims (very Clue). Obviously he gets murdered, but who did it? As a mystery this didn’t totally work for me, it was much more telling instead of showing, just lots of Miss Silver explaining everything that happened. But once again, great characters, I kind of hope Dorinda pops up again. B+.

2024 book 10

 Patricia Wentworth’s Latter End

One of the things I like about these books is that even when I correctly guess the solution, it’s still satisfying to watch how it all plays out. Plus I do always enjoy the characters. This one involves a bitchy wealthy woman who ends up poisoned, but which person with reason to hate her did it? Only Miss Silver can figure it out. A-.

2024 book 9

 Patricia Wentworth’s Dark Threat

Just when I thought these were getting formulaic, this one managed to surprise me! But I don’t want to give spoilers so I’ll just say Miss Silver comes into it earlier than usual, which I always like, and we get to see her interact with two of her police detective protégés, which I also find enjoyable. The plot involves a man who fears someone is trying to kill him to prevent the sale of the family home, and the suspect pool is therefore pretty small. More interesting late-war/post-war stuff too. I do hope some of this gets revisited though. A-.

2024 book 8

 Patricia Wentworth’s She Came Back

WWII certainly does allow for a lot of mystery-related drama, and this Miss Silver mystery has a very dramatic plot indeed! It involves a wealthy young woman who everyone thinks died in 1940 returning from France three years later, but her husband is sure she’s an imposter (her look-alike cousin, very Patty Duke). I feel like in the classic stories it’s a soldier returning from war whose identity is in question, so this is a fun twist. Anyway, lots of twists and turns in this one, very entertaining. A-.

2024 book 7

 Patricia Wentworth's The Key

Well, this was certainly interesting, from a historical perspective. Published in 1944, it starts by introducing us to an Austrian-Jewish refugee who’s working on some sort of explosive for the war effort, and we find out his wife and daughter have died under the Nazis (his daughter explicitly in a concentration camp). I was psyched that it seemed like the main character would be a Jewish refugee, except then he gets murdered, and the main character turns out to be a guy with local ties sent to investigate by the War Office. And of course he needs the help of Miss Silver! No one is better at handling the personages of a small British town. I don’t really have strong feelings about the mystery here, it was fine. I do love Wentworth's characters, though. A-/B+.

2024 book 6

 Patricia Wentworth's The Clock Strikes Twelve

Looks like I’m back on my bullshit, ie reading classic mysteries! In this one, Miss Silver is called in to deal with a case involving stolen blueprints (this was written in and is set during WWII), an estranged married couple, a complicated set of family members, and murder. I will say that in these books (so far) it’s always clear who the villains aren’t, because they’re always young couples who will get a happy ending, but this was an interesting enough mystery anyway. My one minor complaint is that Miss Silver is always COUGHING! (Presumably, politely clearing her throat?) I started to wish for someone to hand her a lozenge, they had lozenges in the 1940s, right? B+.

2024 book 5

 Aimee Pokwatka's The Parliament

Pokwatka's second novel (after Self-Portrait With Nothing) is another kind of weird and cool concept, but I liked it SO MUCH. The protagonist is a woman who, as a favor to an old friend, has come to her hometown library to teach a group of middle-schoolers a class on chemistry in beauty products. Except then the library is surrounded by hundreds of murderous owls, and no one can get in or out, and the kids and the other library denizens (including the man the protagonist secretly loves, who she shares a tragic past with) have to survive. (Of all the places to be trapped by deadly birds, I think a library is a top notch setting.) This is all interspersed with chapters from the protagonist's favorite obscure fantasy novel, which she's reading out loud to the kids. This was just a beautiful book, it made me cry and it made me smile, just really so good. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2024 book 4

 Lois McMaster Bujold’s Demon Daughter

HOORAY for a new Penric and Desdemona novella! This one involves Pen and Des and Nikys dealing with a little girl lost from a ship—a little girl who has a brand new demon in her. This has big cozy vibes and some great emotional moments, very sweet and satisfying and GREAT! A. 

2024 book 3

 Kelly Link's The Book of Love

I had high hopes for Link's debut novel (after several short story collections and a MacArthur Genius Award), and I think this managed to exceed them?? I’d seen nothing but positive buzz, but the description (involving several teens who have come back from the dead and are caught up in a game between some immortal beings) seemed like it could go either way. But this was beautiful, heartbreaking, meditative, and  moving (and a little bit weird!), full of vividly drawn and meaningful characters. I can’t think of the last time I SAVORED a book like this. Really satisfying, in a deep way. A.

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

2024 book 2

 Patricia Wentworth's The Fire Within

This is Wentworth's first novel, and at first I thought it was going to be an entertaining mystery involving a sassy old man (what is the male version of sassy?) who’s dying, but instead it ended up being kind of a depressing romance? Girl, he doesn’t deserve you! There /are/ some funny moments, and I liked a lot of the stuff between the protagonist and her sister and best friend, but there were also some very … weird parts. Also very draggy in the back half. Some glimmers of her later stuff but this is probably a miss unless you’re a completist. B/B-.

2024 book 1

 Janice Hallett's The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels 

Hallett writes these mysteries presented as like found documents—this one involves a true crime writer working on a book about a cult, two teenagers, and a baby they all believed was the anti-Christ, and consists of her correspondence with colleagues, editors, sources, a rival author, plus interview transcripts, excerpts of trashy novels and screenplays, etc. Now that the baby in the case is turning eighteen, the heat is on to track the survivors down (and of course whip up a new frenzy about the case and sell some books). Totally engaging to read, some fun twists, the ending was a teeny bit off the rails but in an entertaining way. I might make my book club read this one. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 23.