SM Hallow’s How to Survive This Fairytale
What a great book!! If you like fairytale mashups that take things like the trauma these poor characters face seriously, you gotta read this. The main character is Hansel, but plenty of other stories come into play. And I love the way it’s told. Really lovely. A/A-.
Sarah Wallace’s The Viscount Says Yes
I was really hoping we’d get some POV from the Viscount in this one, bc he has never felt like a real character to me and so it’s hard to be invested in his romance. It is great to see Pip going through his healing process (after being forced into prostitution by his abusive boyfriend/pimp, dark shit in a cozy series) but Bertie is just a perfect supportive happy rich guy with no nuance. If you’re into that sort of thing, awesome! I thought it was a teensy bit dull. Also like if you are trying to figure out what a magical monocle does, why would you not LOOK THROUGH IT, I thought yall were magical geniuses. It’s all very sweet though. B/B+.
Sarah Wallace’s The Spellmaster of Tutting-on-Cress
FINALLY a book for Gerry (the sister of various other characters, who’s been a big part of all the other books). This one changes format again, lots of POV characters, as basically every character plots to matchmake Gerry with the new young man in town (whose father has died and now he has seven adorable and hilarious siblings and a grieving stepmother in his life), who is very impressed by her career. Very funny and sweet. A-.
Sarah Wallace's Dear Bartleby
This was super sweet!!! No tragic backstories here!!! Just the mildly immature and rascally younger brother coming to stay in the country and learning to be a better person from the example of all the nice people around him. And assisting the Viscount with a magical competition to determine the next Royal Spellcaster--and falling for one of the candidates! All told to his journal, one of my favorite storytelling devices. Very pleasant and engaging. A/A-.
Sarah Wallace’s The Education of Pip
Not sure how to feel about this one! Pip comes up in the previous book—he’s friends with that protagonist—and his backstory is pretty dark—his abusive boyfriend pimped him out against his will—so of course he’s all cower-y when the nice rich people from the previous books adopt him and teach him magic (the viscount seems to be his love interest and even in this queer-normative fantasy world, I have no idea how that’s societally acceptable, not to mention there is a touch of the white knight). It was just a weird vibe for me. Like yeah I want this poor guy to be happy but this is beyond my suspension of disbelief. B/B+. (Gonna keep reading bc it looks like the next one is told as the diary of the troublesome younger brother and I am psyched for it.)
Sarah Wallace's One Good Turn
So the second book in this series is not epistolary (now I wonder if any of the others are) but I enjoyed it regardless! The protagonist is a young woman who was raised as a thief and wants to live an honest life, and ends up taking magic lessons from the Viscount from book one (who expressly stated he loves teaching people magic!). There's not a romance between them, though, which was nice (they're both gay). The focus in this one is really on friendship, which I appreciated. Very cute story, if a bit slight. A-/B+.
Sarah Wallace’s Letters to Half Moon Street
WHO is in the mood for an epistolary novel set in a magical and queer-normative version of Regency England? Me, always. This extremely cute book involves a shy and grumpy younger son being sent to London for business reasons, and he’s corresponding with his sister (who is talented at creating spells!) as he’s taken under the wing of a notorious rake who’s determined to show him the city. I love epistolary stories and this was super adorable!!!! I hope the next book centers his sister! A/A-.
Audrey Niffenegger's Life Out of Order
Normally I'd reread The Time Traveler's Wife before reading its long-awaited sequel, but I wasn't sure that a book I loved in my early 20s would hold up (and didn't want to find out, lol). I appreciate that Niffenegger is doing something different here and trying to write something relevant to our current times--lots of fascism, AI, and climate change woes--but it didn't always work for me and I wasn't always interested in Alba. I loved the sections about Clare, though, especially when she falls for a cool academic woman! I also appreciated that the author brings in trans and Black characters, though I did think some of their depictions were maybe not great? (Another issue is that while the Henry/Clare relationship is specifically called out as “squicky,” apparently it’s fine for an adult lady time traveler to get with a seventeen year old boy.) Anyway, some highs and lows, definitely an engaging read, new character Oliver is cool, the vision of the future is grim and yet optimistic, I have some lingering questions about the mechanics of everything but maybe sometimes it’s better to just let it be and enjoy it. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 6th.
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.
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-.
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-.
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-.
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 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.
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 (VERY) 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-.
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.
