Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six
After reading several of this author's previous works, I was prepared for another fun read--but she straight up busts out a novel in the oral history format, chronicling the rise (and fall) of a 70s rock band! This isn't the first oral-history-of-a-band novel I've read (cf Elizabeth Hand's Wylding Hall, which is going for something different), but it is probably the first to sort of be in the mainstream.
Anyway, it's awesome. I did not want to put it down at all. Jenkins Reid does a great job with the characterizations, the different voices, the conflicting memories, the ladies dealing with sexism, and of course the sex drugs and rock and roll. I think I might quibble about the VERY end, but on the whole I thought this was great. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be available in March.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Monday, February 11, 2019
2019 book 22
Laura Wood's A Sky Painted Gold
Well, I enjoyed this VERY much. It’s one of those books where you are prettttty sure it will all work out okay, but there is just enough narrative tension to keep you hooked! The story is set in 1929 Cornwall, where a teenage girl finds refuge in the library of an abandoned house—at least until the Bright Young Things who own it come back and she gets sucked into their whirlwind. The story of a poorer person getting seduced by the wealthy lifestyle of a new friend is not a new one by any means, but I liked the characters here a lot and the way the story depicted friendship (and ambition!). And I was super here for the various romances! My only minor complaint was that the narrative voice sometimes over-explained things. But in general, this was very cute. A-.
Well, I enjoyed this VERY much. It’s one of those books where you are prettttty sure it will all work out okay, but there is just enough narrative tension to keep you hooked! The story is set in 1929 Cornwall, where a teenage girl finds refuge in the library of an abandoned house—at least until the Bright Young Things who own it come back and she gets sucked into their whirlwind. The story of a poorer person getting seduced by the wealthy lifestyle of a new friend is not a new one by any means, but I liked the characters here a lot and the way the story depicted friendship (and ambition!). And I was super here for the various romances! My only minor complaint was that the narrative voice sometimes over-explained things. But in general, this was very cute. A-.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
2019 book 21
G. Willow Wilson’s The Bird King
I really enjoyed Wilson's first novel, and of course am a fan of her comic books, so was really looking forward to this one. It’s set in Granada, during the reign of the last sultan (and the last bit of Islamic Spain) and centers on his concubine and his mapmaker—who is particularly gifted. And then the Spanish Army and the Inquisition come to call. I did find this enjoyable and definitely interesting, and I liked how Wilson uses fantasy elements in the story, but this didn’t grab me as much as some of her other work. I wanted just a little bit more from the ending, even though I did like the general way it wrapped up. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
I really enjoyed Wilson's first novel, and of course am a fan of her comic books, so was really looking forward to this one. It’s set in Granada, during the reign of the last sultan (and the last bit of Islamic Spain) and centers on his concubine and his mapmaker—who is particularly gifted. And then the Spanish Army and the Inquisition come to call. I did find this enjoyable and definitely interesting, and I liked how Wilson uses fantasy elements in the story, but this didn’t grab me as much as some of her other work. I wanted just a little bit more from the ending, even though I did like the general way it wrapped up. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
Friday, February 08, 2019
2019 book 20
Elizabeth McCracken's Bowlaway
This novel starts with an unconscious woman being found in a cemetery; soon she is starting a local candlepin bowling alley (and claiming to have invented the sport) and marrying a local (black) doctor. From there, a sort of family epic unrolls, dealing with several generations in a changing town. I will say that while I was reading this, I enjoyed it a lot, but when I put it down, I was never in a huge hurry to pick up up again. After the first few chapters, it kind of introduces characters and drops them again, so that I never felt super invested in most of them. I thought the writing itself was excellent though--a few sentences had me like oh dang! I liked the way it wrapped up, too. B+.
This novel starts with an unconscious woman being found in a cemetery; soon she is starting a local candlepin bowling alley (and claiming to have invented the sport) and marrying a local (black) doctor. From there, a sort of family epic unrolls, dealing with several generations in a changing town. I will say that while I was reading this, I enjoyed it a lot, but when I put it down, I was never in a huge hurry to pick up up again. After the first few chapters, it kind of introduces characters and drops them again, so that I never felt super invested in most of them. I thought the writing itself was excellent though--a few sentences had me like oh dang! I liked the way it wrapped up, too. B+.
Wednesday, February 06, 2019
2019 book 19
Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes
The confluence of two events--all the Shoes books being released for the first time as e-books, and my discovery that no one else in my book club had read this classic British story--meant our February book pick was an easy one! I grew up reading this book over and over and so cannot possibly talk about it objectively, but I feel like it holds up to adult modern readers (we'll see if my book club agrees!). Anyway, this is the story of three adopted sisters (all acquired by an elderly fossil-hunter during his travels) who go into the performing arts to earn money for their family--and to try and make a name for themselves. There are also interesting boarders at hand! It's a very funny, but also touching and sweet, book, with a lot of details about dance classes and stage productions of the 1930s (and a bit about colonialism if you're looking). Petrova 4-Eva.
The confluence of two events--all the Shoes books being released for the first time as e-books, and my discovery that no one else in my book club had read this classic British story--meant our February book pick was an easy one! I grew up reading this book over and over and so cannot possibly talk about it objectively, but I feel like it holds up to adult modern readers (we'll see if my book club agrees!). Anyway, this is the story of three adopted sisters (all acquired by an elderly fossil-hunter during his travels) who go into the performing arts to earn money for their family--and to try and make a name for themselves. There are also interesting boarders at hand! It's a very funny, but also touching and sweet, book, with a lot of details about dance classes and stage productions of the 1930s (and a bit about colonialism if you're looking). Petrova 4-Eva.
Monday, February 04, 2019
2019 book 18
Sarah Perry's After the Eclipse
Perry's memoir is a devastating love letter to her mother, who was murdered when the author was twelve--a murder that went unsolved for years. As an adult, Perry is re-examining the crime, while talking about her own childhood and the life of her mother. I don't want to make this sound tawdry, because it really isn't at all (though parts of it are brutal). Just really compelling stuff. Side note, Perry lived in Durham for a while! A-.
Perry's memoir is a devastating love letter to her mother, who was murdered when the author was twelve--a murder that went unsolved for years. As an adult, Perry is re-examining the crime, while talking about her own childhood and the life of her mother. I don't want to make this sound tawdry, because it really isn't at all (though parts of it are brutal). Just really compelling stuff. Side note, Perry lived in Durham for a while! A-.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
2019 book 17
Elly Griffiths' The Stranger Diaries
I enjoy Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series (though could take or leave her other series), so was interested in reading her first stand-alone mystery. Things start off interestingly, with a 40-something English teacher, attempting to write a book about a famous reclusive author (who lived in the building where she now teaches), when a colleague and friend is murdered (the lead detective on the case is also a POV character, along with the teacher's teen daughter). But then things take a decidedly creepy turn. Griffiths does a great job with the atmosphere and tension here, though I did find the ending to be a let-down. It just left me feeling a bit flat after all that awesome build-up. OH WELL. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
I enjoy Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series (though could take or leave her other series), so was interested in reading her first stand-alone mystery. Things start off interestingly, with a 40-something English teacher, attempting to write a book about a famous reclusive author (who lived in the building where she now teaches), when a colleague and friend is murdered (the lead detective on the case is also a POV character, along with the teacher's teen daughter). But then things take a decidedly creepy turn. Griffiths does a great job with the atmosphere and tension here, though I did find the ending to be a let-down. It just left me feeling a bit flat after all that awesome build-up. OH WELL. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
2019 book 16
Zen Cho's The True Queen
The sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown is more of the delightful same! In this one, a pair of Malaysian sisters with amnesia are being sent to England to go to magical girl school, but the path through the fairy court might not be easy. Of course they encounter characters from the last book, and magical adventures (and romance!) ensue. The plot is slightly more predictable than its predecessor's, but it is charming just the same. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
The sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown is more of the delightful same! In this one, a pair of Malaysian sisters with amnesia are being sent to England to go to magical girl school, but the path through the fairy court might not be easy. Of course they encounter characters from the last book, and magical adventures (and romance!) ensue. The plot is slightly more predictable than its predecessor's, but it is charming just the same. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
2019 book 15
Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown
Rereading this book is always a delight, but especially now, because a sequel is coming out! Anyway, this first one is a Regency-with-magic sort of story, teeming with politics and fairies and witches and education reform and lots of humor. Both protagonists are people of color dealing with a bunch of racist jerks, so readers are cheering for their triumphs even more. Great stuff, one of my favorites, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next.
Rereading this book is always a delight, but especially now, because a sequel is coming out! Anyway, this first one is a Regency-with-magic sort of story, teeming with politics and fairies and witches and education reform and lots of humor. Both protagonists are people of color dealing with a bunch of racist jerks, so readers are cheering for their triumphs even more. Great stuff, one of my favorites, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next.
Friday, January 25, 2019
2019 book 14
Sandra Newman's The Heavens
In this surprising and compelling novel, it's the year 2000, and NYC 20-somethings Ben and Kate meet at a party thrown by a wealthy friend, and fall in love. But Kate has a recurring dream where she is actually Emilia, a woman living in England in the 1590s (actually a real person!) and whenever she wakes up from the dream, things are slightly different in the present. But Ben is sure she's mentally ill. Newman's previous novel was The Country of Ice Cream Star, and so I should have expected things to get a little intense, but this is heartbreaking in an entirely different way. I think I loved this? But damn. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 12th.
In this surprising and compelling novel, it's the year 2000, and NYC 20-somethings Ben and Kate meet at a party thrown by a wealthy friend, and fall in love. But Kate has a recurring dream where she is actually Emilia, a woman living in England in the 1590s (actually a real person!) and whenever she wakes up from the dream, things are slightly different in the present. But Ben is sure she's mentally ill. Newman's previous novel was The Country of Ice Cream Star, and so I should have expected things to get a little intense, but this is heartbreaking in an entirely different way. I think I loved this? But damn. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 12th.
2019 book 13
Karen Foxlee's A Most Magical Girl
This middle grade novel centers on a proper young girl in Victorian England whose mother sends her to live with her great-aunts--who are a pair of witches! Soon the girl is tangled up in a magical crisis, dealing with wizards and broomsticks and the like--not to mention a new friend, with whom she must take a magical journey to defeat DARK MAGIC. This was a fun little adventure story, good focus on friendship and bravery, but I wanted a little more from the ending. B+.
This middle grade novel centers on a proper young girl in Victorian England whose mother sends her to live with her great-aunts--who are a pair of witches! Soon the girl is tangled up in a magical crisis, dealing with wizards and broomsticks and the like--not to mention a new friend, with whom she must take a magical journey to defeat DARK MAGIC. This was a fun little adventure story, good focus on friendship and bravery, but I wanted a little more from the ending. B+.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
2019 book 12
Maureen Johnson's The Vanishing Stair
The long-awaited sequel to Truly Devious is here, and Johnson does a good job of reminding readers of the events of the first book (which I only vaguely remembered) and getting things moving again. I will say that I was annoyed by the events of the very beginning, which seem to have been included to spur later needless conflicts, and so I went into this a bit crankily. Also, it turns out this series is a trilogy now, so while some plot threads are wrapped up, there is still a general sense of dissatisfaction. I should not have to wait ANOTHER YEAR to find out the conclusion of a mystery!!!! But of course I will read the third one. Crankily, though. B+.
The long-awaited sequel to Truly Devious is here, and Johnson does a good job of reminding readers of the events of the first book (which I only vaguely remembered) and getting things moving again. I will say that I was annoyed by the events of the very beginning, which seem to have been included to spur later needless conflicts, and so I went into this a bit crankily. Also, it turns out this series is a trilogy now, so while some plot threads are wrapped up, there is still a general sense of dissatisfaction. I should not have to wait ANOTHER YEAR to find out the conclusion of a mystery!!!! But of course I will read the third one. Crankily, though. B+.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
2019 book 11
Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile
I randomly bought this last month when it went on e-book sale, and the timing was fortuitous, because it turns out a movie is in the works starring Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, and Jodie Comer! YESSSS. In this Inspector Poirot mystery, the man finds himself on a tour of Egypt with a large cast of suspicious characters--and much of the action is centered on a rich young newlywed, whose husband was previously her best friend's fiance. The murder doesn't take place till almost halfway through, but Christie does a good job building tension and throwing out red herrings leading up to it. I will note that there is some inevitable Orientalism here, and some of the characters say racist things in the way of genteel white British people of the 1930s. And the mystery itself isn't too hard to figure out, though it's still a fairly satisfying resolution (I disliked the very end though--Poirot playing God is a bit much). B+.
I randomly bought this last month when it went on e-book sale, and the timing was fortuitous, because it turns out a movie is in the works starring Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, and Jodie Comer! YESSSS. In this Inspector Poirot mystery, the man finds himself on a tour of Egypt with a large cast of suspicious characters--and much of the action is centered on a rich young newlywed, whose husband was previously her best friend's fiance. The murder doesn't take place till almost halfway through, but Christie does a good job building tension and throwing out red herrings leading up to it. I will note that there is some inevitable Orientalism here, and some of the characters say racist things in the way of genteel white British people of the 1930s. And the mystery itself isn't too hard to figure out, though it's still a fairly satisfying resolution (I disliked the very end though--Poirot playing God is a bit much). B+.
Monday, January 21, 2019
2019 book 10
Kate Mascarenhas' The Psychology of Time Travel
So this novel is about four British women in the 1960s who invent TIME TRAVEL, which quickly becomes a big ol' business—but it triggers a manic episode in one of the inventors, and she's exiled from the team. Now it’s fifty years later and she is determined to be part of the group again—and meanwhile, her granddaughter is getting caught up in a time travel mystery. Mascarenhas does a great job fitting all the pieces of this story together—I really was not sure at first how this would work, but it totally did, and I liked it a lot. I liked her depiction of time travel culture a lot too—just a really fun and intriguing story. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
So this novel is about four British women in the 1960s who invent TIME TRAVEL, which quickly becomes a big ol' business—but it triggers a manic episode in one of the inventors, and she's exiled from the team. Now it’s fifty years later and she is determined to be part of the group again—and meanwhile, her granddaughter is getting caught up in a time travel mystery. Mascarenhas does a great job fitting all the pieces of this story together—I really was not sure at first how this would work, but it totally did, and I liked it a lot. I liked her depiction of time travel culture a lot too—just a really fun and intriguing story. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
2019 book 9
Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs
Sometimes you just have to indulge in a classic mystery! In this one, a young woman comes to Inspector Poirot asking him to investigate a murder from sixteen years earlier--a murder where her mother was convicted of killing her father. But she is sure her mother was innocent! Only Poirot can figure out what truly happened--did one of the other five people on the scene do the deed? Another well-plotted and compelling mystery from Christie. The men in it are generally horribly sexist, but the woman are all pretty interesting. I did figure out the solution here, but there are so many balls in the air that I wasn't SURE, which is always nice. B+.
Sometimes you just have to indulge in a classic mystery! In this one, a young woman comes to Inspector Poirot asking him to investigate a murder from sixteen years earlier--a murder where her mother was convicted of killing her father. But she is sure her mother was innocent! Only Poirot can figure out what truly happened--did one of the other five people on the scene do the deed? Another well-plotted and compelling mystery from Christie. The men in it are generally horribly sexist, but the woman are all pretty interesting. I did figure out the solution here, but there are so many balls in the air that I wasn't SURE, which is always nice. B+.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
2019 book 8
Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbon's Decline and Fall
Do you know, I'm not sure I've ever read any Tepper before--at least not since I started this blog in 2004, anyway. I want to read more feminist speculative fiction classics, though, and this one seemed interesting (and surprisingly relevant to Our Current Times). Things start with five college girls in 1959, struggling with the societal issues of the day, vowing lifelong friendship--and then the story jumps ahead to the year 2000 (still slightly in the future when the novel was written), where one of the women, a retired lawyer, is asked to defend a young woman being used as a political pawn by an ambitious politician, and a mysterious epidemic is spreading. At first I was into the narrative voice--everything with the women is great--but things soon turn sinister and grim and weird. (I was also not into the various characters written in dialect.) I kind of wished things were less heavy-handed? I just can't decide how I feel about this. It was awesome to have a group of middle-aged ladies fighting the forces of evil, though. Content warning for a lot of rape. B.
Do you know, I'm not sure I've ever read any Tepper before--at least not since I started this blog in 2004, anyway. I want to read more feminist speculative fiction classics, though, and this one seemed interesting (and surprisingly relevant to Our Current Times). Things start with five college girls in 1959, struggling with the societal issues of the day, vowing lifelong friendship--and then the story jumps ahead to the year 2000 (still slightly in the future when the novel was written), where one of the women, a retired lawyer, is asked to defend a young woman being used as a political pawn by an ambitious politician, and a mysterious epidemic is spreading. At first I was into the narrative voice--everything with the women is great--but things soon turn sinister and grim and weird. (I was also not into the various characters written in dialect.) I kind of wished things were less heavy-handed? I just can't decide how I feel about this. It was awesome to have a group of middle-aged ladies fighting the forces of evil, though. Content warning for a lot of rape. B.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
2019 book 7
Faith Erin Hicks' Comics Will Break Your Heart
I am not super into YA romances, but I am here for books about nerds into comics AND for books by Faith Erin Hicks (this is her first novel that isn’t a graphic novel) so here we go. The story starts with Miriam, working in a comic book store in a small Canadian town, when a cute new boy walks in—who turns out to be the heir to a major comic book company, whose new movie is about to premiere. Except her grandfather co-created those characters, and their families were involved in a messy lawsuit for years. Oops! Obviously Hicks nails the comic book nerd aspect, and the two protagonists are likable enough that I was not annoyed by their romance. She does the family stuff well, but subplots involving Miriam's friends were kind of underbaked. Still, a very enjoyable and fun nerdy read! B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
I am not super into YA romances, but I am here for books about nerds into comics AND for books by Faith Erin Hicks (this is her first novel that isn’t a graphic novel) so here we go. The story starts with Miriam, working in a comic book store in a small Canadian town, when a cute new boy walks in—who turns out to be the heir to a major comic book company, whose new movie is about to premiere. Except her grandfather co-created those characters, and their families were involved in a messy lawsuit for years. Oops! Obviously Hicks nails the comic book nerd aspect, and the two protagonists are likable enough that I was not annoyed by their romance. She does the family stuff well, but subplots involving Miriam's friends were kind of underbaked. Still, a very enjoyable and fun nerdy read! B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
Friday, January 11, 2019
2019 book 6
Kate Heartfield's Alice Payne Arrives
Well, this was VERY fun. In 1788, a biracial bisexual woman poses as a highwayman to try and deal with her father's debts (and to support herself and her partner, a mechanical genius), and if that's not complicated enough, soon a time traveling woman trying to avert a future war (and stop feuding time traveling groups from interfering with history) enters the mix. I liked all these characters a lot and my only beef with the story is that there wasn’t more to it. Luckily a sequel is forthcoming! A-.
Well, this was VERY fun. In 1788, a biracial bisexual woman poses as a highwayman to try and deal with her father's debts (and to support herself and her partner, a mechanical genius), and if that's not complicated enough, soon a time traveling woman trying to avert a future war (and stop feuding time traveling groups from interfering with history) enters the mix. I liked all these characters a lot and my only beef with the story is that there wasn’t more to it. Luckily a sequel is forthcoming! A-.
2019 book 5
Sharma Shields' The Cassandra
Shields' latest novel centers on a young woman in the 1940s, a young woman who sees visions of the future, who goes to work as a typist at the Hanford Site. While at first she doesn't know what their Project is, she is soon seeing terrifying visions of the terrible devastation it will bring--but of course, she is a Cassandra, and no one listens to her. I found this to be fairly bleak, though not exactly how I expected, but also I found it very interesting. It was engrossing, but am not sure I’d say I enjoyed it, per se. Content warning for rape and violence. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
Shields' latest novel centers on a young woman in the 1940s, a young woman who sees visions of the future, who goes to work as a typist at the Hanford Site. While at first she doesn't know what their Project is, she is soon seeing terrifying visions of the terrible devastation it will bring--but of course, she is a Cassandra, and no one listens to her. I found this to be fairly bleak, though not exactly how I expected, but also I found it very interesting. It was engrossing, but am not sure I’d say I enjoyed it, per se. Content warning for rape and violence. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
Monday, January 07, 2019
2019 book 4
Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera's What If It's Us
Two different book club members suggested we read this book, and who am I to deny my book club so much adorableness?? It’s the story of a summer romance between two gay teen boys who have an excellent meet-cute, told from their alternating perspectives. It’s by turns funny, sad, bittersweet, romantic, and super cute, and I like the way it wraps up a lot. Definitely holds up to a second read.
Two different book club members suggested we read this book, and who am I to deny my book club so much adorableness?? It’s the story of a summer romance between two gay teen boys who have an excellent meet-cute, told from their alternating perspectives. It’s by turns funny, sad, bittersweet, romantic, and super cute, and I like the way it wraps up a lot. Definitely holds up to a second read.
Saturday, January 05, 2019
2019 book 3
Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends
The description of this book (two young friends caught up in the whirlwind of an older glamorous couple) makes it seem like it could be a great book, or an unbearably annoying one, so I had never gotten around to reading it. Then this New Yorker profile of Rooney came out and I was like, oh, I bet this falls more on the interesting side of things. And it does. It ends up being more the story of one of the girls, a college student and poet. If I was still in my twenties, I’d have found the narrator even more relatable, but as someone on the older side of things I did roll my eyes at her a teeeeeensy bit. Still, it was easy to sit down and read this more or less in one sitting—very compelling writing and narrative voice. A-/B+.
The description of this book (two young friends caught up in the whirlwind of an older glamorous couple) makes it seem like it could be a great book, or an unbearably annoying one, so I had never gotten around to reading it. Then this New Yorker profile of Rooney came out and I was like, oh, I bet this falls more on the interesting side of things. And it does. It ends up being more the story of one of the girls, a college student and poet. If I was still in my twenties, I’d have found the narrator even more relatable, but as someone on the older side of things I did roll my eyes at her a teeeeeensy bit. Still, it was easy to sit down and read this more or less in one sitting—very compelling writing and narrative voice. A-/B+.
Thursday, January 03, 2019
2019 book 2
Lianna Oelke's Nice Try, Jane Sinner
This was a very good and very entertaining book! It centers on the titular Jane Sinner, who has left high school (for reasons disclosed later in the book) and is now planning to reinvent herself through a community college reality show. It's all very funny and darkly relatable, told through Jane's journal entries. I guess I could complain that some of the other characters could have used more development, but then again, it is supposed to be a teenager's journal, so that works. Anyway, I thought this was very good and surprisingly deep. A/A-.
This was a very good and very entertaining book! It centers on the titular Jane Sinner, who has left high school (for reasons disclosed later in the book) and is now planning to reinvent herself through a community college reality show. It's all very funny and darkly relatable, told through Jane's journal entries. I guess I could complain that some of the other characters could have used more development, but then again, it is supposed to be a teenager's journal, so that works. Anyway, I thought this was very good and surprisingly deep. A/A-.
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
2019 book 1
Melissa Lenhardt's Heresy
Here we are, back at the beginning! I had heard great things about this book--it's a Western about an all-female gang of outlaws, and should have been right up my alley. I had issues getting past the framing device, though (it's presented as a series of documents collected by a historian, but the likelihood of TWO characters writing journals in such a literary way, complete with dialogue, strains belief), and found it to be a little bit slow. I did like the main characters a lot, and think it would make a great movie. B/B+.
Here we are, back at the beginning! I had heard great things about this book--it's a Western about an all-female gang of outlaws, and should have been right up my alley. I had issues getting past the framing device, though (it's presented as a series of documents collected by a historian, but the likelihood of TWO characters writing journals in such a literary way, complete with dialogue, strains belief), and found it to be a little bit slow. I did like the main characters a lot, and think it would make a great movie. B/B+.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
2018 book 193
Natalie Parker's Seafire
Y'all know I am here for books about GIRL PIRATES. And this book is about a ship with an all-girl crew--a crew bent on REVENGE against the nefarious criminal who controls the seas and who killed their families and friends. I liked that the focus was primarily on the girls and their various relationships, but could have done without the little heterosexual romance there was. Lots of girls to root for and good action scenes, too. Based on the somewhat unsatisfying ending, I’m guessing this is the first in a series, and I liked this enough to read the inevitable sequel(s). B+.
Y'all know I am here for books about GIRL PIRATES. And this book is about a ship with an all-girl crew--a crew bent on REVENGE against the nefarious criminal who controls the seas and who killed their families and friends. I liked that the focus was primarily on the girls and their various relationships, but could have done without the little heterosexual romance there was. Lots of girls to root for and good action scenes, too. Based on the somewhat unsatisfying ending, I’m guessing this is the first in a series, and I liked this enough to read the inevitable sequel(s). B+.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
2018 book 192
Mette Ivie Harrison's Not of This Fold
The latest Linda Wallheim mystery—about a fairly progressive Mormon woman in Utah—is pretty entertaining, though as usual I am more interested in the character, her family, and her experiences with the Church than in the actual mystery. The mystery here involves the murder of a woman from the Hispanic branch of their local Mormon church, but that part of the story mainly involves the protagonist and her friend being bumbling white women; there isn’t much for a reader to solve. Again, I like the protagonist a lot and enjoy the series, the mystery elements in this one are just kind of weak. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
The latest Linda Wallheim mystery—about a fairly progressive Mormon woman in Utah—is pretty entertaining, though as usual I am more interested in the character, her family, and her experiences with the Church than in the actual mystery. The mystery here involves the murder of a woman from the Hispanic branch of their local Mormon church, but that part of the story mainly involves the protagonist and her friend being bumbling white women; there isn’t much for a reader to solve. Again, I like the protagonist a lot and enjoy the series, the mystery elements in this one are just kind of weak. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
2018 book 191
Mary Adkins' When You Read This
This is being compared to books by Rainbow Rowell and Maria Semple, so I was eager to read it. I will say that I found it enjoyable, but it didn’t really reach the emotional depth of either of those authors, for me. It's all told in emails and texts, which can only go so far. The story is set into motion by the death of a young woman, who it turns out was blogging her cancer experience, and has asked her boss/friend at a PR firm to try and get it published—which means he has to get permission from her prickly sister. Some parts of this were too neat, and at first the obnoxious intern character was TOO obnoxious for me, but I really came around to his story by the end. I did appreciate seeing the two main characters working on their grief, but just wished for something slightly meatier. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
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This is being compared to books by Rainbow Rowell and Maria Semple, so I was eager to read it. I will say that I found it enjoyable, but it didn’t really reach the emotional depth of either of those authors, for me. It's all told in emails and texts, which can only go so far. The story is set into motion by the death of a young woman, who it turns out was blogging her cancer experience, and has asked her boss/friend at a PR firm to try and get it published—which means he has to get permission from her prickly sister. Some parts of this were too neat, and at first the obnoxious intern character was TOO obnoxious for me, but I really came around to his story by the end. I did appreciate seeing the two main characters working on their grief, but just wished for something slightly meatier. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
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2018 book 190
Jaclyn Moriarty’s A Tangle of Gold
I love this trilogy so much. I love how Moriarty brings it all around again, and how the world is saved by a couple of teen girls—one dreamy and romantic, one hardheaded and practical—and also a cool teen boy (and assorted other teens, to be honest). This book is funny and bittersweet and just gorgeous.
I love this trilogy so much. I love how Moriarty brings it all around again, and how the world is saved by a couple of teen girls—one dreamy and romantic, one hardheaded and practical—and also a cool teen boy (and assorted other teens, to be honest). This book is funny and bittersweet and just gorgeous.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
2018 book 189
Jaclyn Moriarty's The Cracks in the Kingdom
What a great second volume in a trilogy this is! Often the second book is used to just move pieces around for the epic finale, but this one answers some mysteries, introduces more, deepens the characters and their relationships, and is all-around awesome. Like I don’t want to even type words about it, just have this review be a bunch of incoherent gleeful noises.
What a great second volume in a trilogy this is! Often the second book is used to just move pieces around for the epic finale, but this one answers some mysteries, introduces more, deepens the characters and their relationships, and is all-around awesome. Like I don’t want to even type words about it, just have this review be a bunch of incoherent gleeful noises.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
2018 book 188
Jaclyn Moriarty's A Corner of White
Rereading some favorites to close out the year! I love the Colors of Madeline trilogy—in this first one, a crack between world allows a teen girl in Cambridge to correspond with a teen boy in a different world (though she believes he is a nerd writing a fantasy story for much of the book). There are great friendships here, and great moms, and mysteries are solved, and optics are discussed at length. I love the writing here; no one can bring me into a world like Moriarty.
Rereading some favorites to close out the year! I love the Colors of Madeline trilogy—in this first one, a crack between world allows a teen girl in Cambridge to correspond with a teen boy in a different world (though she believes he is a nerd writing a fantasy story for much of the book). There are great friendships here, and great moms, and mysteries are solved, and optics are discussed at length. I love the writing here; no one can bring me into a world like Moriarty.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
2018 book 187
Mary Stewart's Airs Above the Ground
This classic mystery centers on a young woman whose husband has cancelled their vacation because he has to go to Sweden for business--except then he turns up in a newsreel featuring Austria, with a pretty young woman at his side. So she heads off to Europe to track him down--with a teenage boy, a family friend, in tow. Soon enough everyone is involved in a CAPER--a caper involving famous horses! Sure, why not. This book was a lot of fun, even if the dated-ness made me cringe a couple times (ie one racial slur, some terrible descriptions of a little person in a circus, weird attitudes about women, etc). I am surprised this was never made into a movie, as it seems like it would have been a fun one, like one of those 60s live action Disney movies (though perhaps slightly more menacing). Anyway, good fun. A-.
This classic mystery centers on a young woman whose husband has cancelled their vacation because he has to go to Sweden for business--except then he turns up in a newsreel featuring Austria, with a pretty young woman at his side. So she heads off to Europe to track him down--with a teenage boy, a family friend, in tow. Soon enough everyone is involved in a CAPER--a caper involving famous horses! Sure, why not. This book was a lot of fun, even if the dated-ness made me cringe a couple times (ie one racial slur, some terrible descriptions of a little person in a circus, weird attitudes about women, etc). I am surprised this was never made into a movie, as it seems like it would have been a fun one, like one of those 60s live action Disney movies (though perhaps slightly more menacing). Anyway, good fun. A-.
Monday, December 17, 2018
2018 book 186
Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers
The hazard of putting out your favorite books of the year list before the year actually ends--you might finally get around to reading one of the well-reviewed books and get completely wrapped up in it and regret not including it. I hadn't read this earlier in the year because I had read one of Makkai's previous books and thought it was just okay, and assumed this one would be just okay as well. But damn if it isn't a tour de force. It alternates from the mid 80s, telling the story of a group of gay men in Chicago and the devastation of the AIDS crisis, to 2015, when one of the characters from the 80s section is in Paris, looking for her missing daughter. That sentence maybe makes it seem like a smaller story than it is, when really it is engrossing and amazing and as you start to see where the stories are leading you are just trying not to start sobbing. Ugh, this was so good. A.
The hazard of putting out your favorite books of the year list before the year actually ends--you might finally get around to reading one of the well-reviewed books and get completely wrapped up in it and regret not including it. I hadn't read this earlier in the year because I had read one of Makkai's previous books and thought it was just okay, and assumed this one would be just okay as well. But damn if it isn't a tour de force. It alternates from the mid 80s, telling the story of a group of gay men in Chicago and the devastation of the AIDS crisis, to 2015, when one of the characters from the 80s section is in Paris, looking for her missing daughter. That sentence maybe makes it seem like a smaller story than it is, when really it is engrossing and amazing and as you start to see where the stories are leading you are just trying not to start sobbing. Ugh, this was so good. A.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
2018 book 185
Alexandra Rowland's A Conspiracy of Truths
This novel centers on an aging man, a storyteller who travels the world, who's been arrested for witchcraft, and now must navigate the politics of the country and its five rulers using all the skills and stories at his disposal. This was a little bit slow but satisfying anyway; I liked the narrative voice a lot and especially enjoyed the protagonist's relationship with his apprentice. A-.
This novel centers on an aging man, a storyteller who travels the world, who's been arrested for witchcraft, and now must navigate the politics of the country and its five rulers using all the skills and stories at his disposal. This was a little bit slow but satisfying anyway; I liked the narrative voice a lot and especially enjoyed the protagonist's relationship with his apprentice. A-.
Friday, December 14, 2018
FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2018!
All right, I think we have finally reached the point in the year where I admit to myself that I am not going to read any more of the big books of the year, and will stop checking them out of the library and then ignoring them. As always, this is a list of my FAVORITE books that were released, and not the "best" ones per se. Alphabetically by author!
--Rumaan Alam's That Kind of Mother
--Sara Gran's The Infinite Blacktop
--Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road
--Chelsey Johnson's Stray City
--Tayari Jones' An American Marriage
--Ling Ma's Severance
--Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers [LATE ADDITION TO LIST!]
--Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
--Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver
--Robin Stevens' Death in the Spotlight
--Scarlett Thomas' The Chosen Ones
--Rumaan Alam's That Kind of Mother
--Sara Gran's The Infinite Blacktop
--Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road
--Chelsey Johnson's Stray City
--Tayari Jones' An American Marriage
--Ling Ma's Severance
--Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers [LATE ADDITION TO LIST!]
--Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
--Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver
--Robin Stevens' Death in the Spotlight
--Scarlett Thomas' The Chosen Ones
Monday, December 10, 2018
2018 book 184
Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Christina recommended this to me, and I’m glad she did, because it was a really fun read. It centers on a young journalist who is tapped by a famous actress to write her biography, and flips back and forth from the actress' life story to the journalist's experiences. I found this to be very entertaining and appreciated the queerness (which makes the story a bit more interesting). A/A-.
Christina recommended this to me, and I’m glad she did, because it was a really fun read. It centers on a young journalist who is tapped by a famous actress to write her biography, and flips back and forth from the actress' life story to the journalist's experiences. I found this to be very entertaining and appreciated the queerness (which makes the story a bit more interesting). A/A-.
Saturday, December 08, 2018
2018 book 183
Sophie Mackintosh's The Water Cure
Whoof. This is one of those well written and compelling, but brutal and upsetting, sorts of stories. It centers on three young woman, sisters, who have been raised in isolation by their parents after some sort of societal collapse. And then men come to their island. I read this with a sense of dread the entire time; in fact, I read it in one sitting because when I put it down, I worried about what terrible things might happen. I had a hard time with this, but also it was excellent? B+?
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 8th.
Whoof. This is one of those well written and compelling, but brutal and upsetting, sorts of stories. It centers on three young woman, sisters, who have been raised in isolation by their parents after some sort of societal collapse. And then men come to their island. I read this with a sense of dread the entire time; in fact, I read it in one sitting because when I put it down, I worried about what terrible things might happen. I had a hard time with this, but also it was excellent? B+?
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 8th.
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
2018 book 182
Jennifer Mathieu's Moxie
This book centers on a teen girl who is fed up with the sexist jerks at her school, and inspired by her mom's Riot Grrl past, starts a ZINE. (This made me feel very old. Why are my teen years retro??) Anyway, this was very awesome and girl power-y and had some great female friendships. I could have done without the romance, which mainly exists to add a sappy touch (and to argue with the “not all men” viewpoint), but on the whole I found this fist-pumpingly good. A/A-.
This book centers on a teen girl who is fed up with the sexist jerks at her school, and inspired by her mom's Riot Grrl past, starts a ZINE. (This made me feel very old. Why are my teen years retro??) Anyway, this was very awesome and girl power-y and had some great female friendships. I could have done without the romance, which mainly exists to add a sappy touch (and to argue with the “not all men” viewpoint), but on the whole I found this fist-pumpingly good. A/A-.
Monday, December 03, 2018
2018 book 181
Claire LeGrand's Sawkill Girls
This is being billed as horror, but I am a giant wuss and didn't find it especially scary--mildly creepy and kinda atmospheric, I guess? It's set on a small island, a place where girls mysteriously vanish. And a couple of girls are determined to get to the bottom of it—though as the reader quickly finds out, things aren’t so simple. Content warning for terrible men, murder, violence, etc. But on the plus side, cute queer teens/awesome girls! I would say the end is farfetched but I am not sure you can point out farfetched things in a novel with teleportation. B/B+.
This is being billed as horror, but I am a giant wuss and didn't find it especially scary--mildly creepy and kinda atmospheric, I guess? It's set on a small island, a place where girls mysteriously vanish. And a couple of girls are determined to get to the bottom of it—though as the reader quickly finds out, things aren’t so simple. Content warning for terrible men, murder, violence, etc. But on the plus side, cute queer teens/awesome girls! I would say the end is farfetched but I am not sure you can point out farfetched things in a novel with teleportation. B/B+.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
2018 book 180
Alice Oseman's Radio Silence
I am perpetually grateful to friends who recommend good books to me, especially ones I would not have discovered on my own. I actually like the little description blurb here so will copy and paste for your viewing pleasure:
“Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying.
I am perpetually grateful to friends who recommend good books to me, especially ones I would not have discovered on my own. I actually like the little description blurb here so will copy and paste for your viewing pleasure:
“Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying.
Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As.
You probably think that they are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and she is a girl.
They don’t. They make a podcast.”
I liked this A LOT, it touches on fandom and friendship and families (good and bad), on fitting into society's boxes, on love and creativity. Just an unexpectedly moving story. A/A-.
2018 book 179
T. Kingfisher's Swordheart
The latest from Kingfisher (pen name of Ursula Vernon) is set in the same universe as her Clockwork Boys series, but works fine as a standalone. It has all the things I always love in her works--adventures, adorable and awkward romance, and most of all, hilarity. This one centers on a 36 year old widow who has inherited some money, and now her relatives are scheming against her. When she draws a sword for reasons, a magical soldier guy appears, now her sworn protector! Obviously murder, mayhem, and religious sects ensue. And it's awesome! This is the first in a trilogy and I CANNOT WAIT to read the other two, please release them IMMEDIATELY, thanks. A.
The latest from Kingfisher (pen name of Ursula Vernon) is set in the same universe as her Clockwork Boys series, but works fine as a standalone. It has all the things I always love in her works--adventures, adorable and awkward romance, and most of all, hilarity. This one centers on a 36 year old widow who has inherited some money, and now her relatives are scheming against her. When she draws a sword for reasons, a magical soldier guy appears, now her sworn protector! Obviously murder, mayhem, and religious sects ensue. And it's awesome! This is the first in a trilogy and I CANNOT WAIT to read the other two, please release them IMMEDIATELY, thanks. A.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
2018 book 178
Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of this book this year, so I have been reading the occasional thinkpiece, which of course made me want to reread the book! It’s funny that it’s fifty years old, because it feel fresh every time I read it. Is that because the movie and book were the formative media of my childhood (and still my best beloved) or because the writing is just that good? I mean, it IS that good! Funny, bittersweet, unusual, and full of heart.
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of this book this year, so I have been reading the occasional thinkpiece, which of course made me want to reread the book! It’s funny that it’s fifty years old, because it feel fresh every time I read it. Is that because the movie and book were the formative media of my childhood (and still my best beloved) or because the writing is just that good? I mean, it IS that good! Funny, bittersweet, unusual, and full of heart.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
2018 book 177
Chelsey Johnson's Stray City
I think I say this every month, but the best thing about book club is forcing my friends to read my favorite books and discuss them with me! And this will one hundred percent be on my list of favorite books of 2018. It’s a beautifully written story about queer communities, identity, love, family, and music, not to mention Portland in the 1990s. I love everything about this. A.
I think I say this every month, but the best thing about book club is forcing my friends to read my favorite books and discuss them with me! And this will one hundred percent be on my list of favorite books of 2018. It’s a beautifully written story about queer communities, identity, love, family, and music, not to mention Portland in the 1990s. I love everything about this. A.
Monday, November 19, 2018
2018 book 176
Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane
Here is an interesting thing about this book—the official description makes it seem like the story of a young man who seeks out a famous slayer of dragons, and goes off with him and a witch woman on a journey back to his homeland—BUT the main character is actually the witch! This was written in 1985 (and so has some 1985ness going on) but a lot of the themes are still relevant today—stories vs history, women being torn between families and their own desires/careers/magical powers, how easy it is to stoke up bigotry, etc. Really compelling, even if the writing style is a bit slow. I got a bit of a Last Unicorn vibe (maybe bc I have been reading articles about the 50th anniversary of that book), though this story is crueler and more violent. I loved that witch though. What a great character. A-.
Here is an interesting thing about this book—the official description makes it seem like the story of a young man who seeks out a famous slayer of dragons, and goes off with him and a witch woman on a journey back to his homeland—BUT the main character is actually the witch! This was written in 1985 (and so has some 1985ness going on) but a lot of the themes are still relevant today—stories vs history, women being torn between families and their own desires/careers/magical powers, how easy it is to stoke up bigotry, etc. Really compelling, even if the writing style is a bit slow. I got a bit of a Last Unicorn vibe (maybe bc I have been reading articles about the 50th anniversary of that book), though this story is crueler and more violent. I loved that witch though. What a great character. A-.
Thursday, November 15, 2018
2018 book 175
Courtney Summers' Sadie
Summers' latest novel centers on a nineteen year old girl whose little sister was murdered, and the killer was never caught--but the titular Sadie is convinced she knows who it was and sets out to get revenge. Meanwhile, a podcast is narrating the story of the girl's death and Sadie's subsequent disappearance. Sometimes framing like that can feel gimmicky, but it worked for me here. I will say this is a grim, dark, and tense story, though a very compelling one. But very grim and dark. A-.
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Content warning for child abuse.
Summers' latest novel centers on a nineteen year old girl whose little sister was murdered, and the killer was never caught--but the titular Sadie is convinced she knows who it was and sets out to get revenge. Meanwhile, a podcast is narrating the story of the girl's death and Sadie's subsequent disappearance. Sometimes framing like that can feel gimmicky, but it worked for me here. I will say this is a grim, dark, and tense story, though a very compelling one. But very grim and dark. A-.
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Content warning for child abuse.
Monday, November 12, 2018
2018 book 174
Stephanie Burgis' The Girl With The Dragon Heart
The sequel to Burgis' The Dragon With The Chocolate Heart is cute, but not quite as good as its predecessor. In this one, the fairy royals come for a visit and the crown princess enlists the best friend of the girl from the first book to act as a spy. She isn’t very . . . measured in her approach and I found it mildly frustrating. Just didn’t hit the heights of the first in the series, for me. B.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
The sequel to Burgis' The Dragon With The Chocolate Heart is cute, but not quite as good as its predecessor. In this one, the fairy royals come for a visit and the crown princess enlists the best friend of the girl from the first book to act as a spy. She isn’t very . . . measured in her approach and I found it mildly frustrating. Just didn’t hit the heights of the first in the series, for me. B.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
2018 book 173
Agatha Christie’s At Bertram's Hotel
This is a later (the Beatles are mentioned) and somewhat lesser Miss Marple story. For one thing, she’s not in it enough; the central figure is the Chief Inspector, and she helps a little. For another, the mystery itself is kind of all over the place and not too hard to figure out. Still entertaining enough, but not one of her stronger works.
This is a later (the Beatles are mentioned) and somewhat lesser Miss Marple story. For one thing, she’s not in it enough; the central figure is the Chief Inspector, and she helps a little. For another, the mystery itself is kind of all over the place and not too hard to figure out. Still entertaining enough, but not one of her stronger works.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
2018 book 172
Tansy Rayner Roberts' The Shattered City
The second book in the Creature Court series is more of the same, but it feels duller and more repetitive here. I thought about just stopping several times while reading, but I didn’t have anything else I wanted to read, so slogged along with a sigh. I mean, it's interesting enough, I just think it could have used a tighter edit. I am not sure if I’ll read the third. B.
The second book in the Creature Court series is more of the same, but it feels duller and more repetitive here. I thought about just stopping several times while reading, but I didn’t have anything else I wanted to read, so slogged along with a sigh. I mean, it's interesting enough, I just think it could have used a tighter edit. I am not sure if I’ll read the third. B.
Thursday, November 08, 2018
2018 book 171
Jaclyn Moriarty's The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
I swear, there is no author who writes such consistently charming books as Jaclyn Moriarty. This is a follow-up to Bronte Mettlestone, set fifteen years earlier (but featuring several familiar characters). It's the same sort of hilarious, sweet, and action packed story, narrated in turns by a boy from the local orphanage and a girl from the local ritzy boarding school, who . . . Well, that would be a spoiler. Suffice it to say there are adventures and magic afoot. Great and delightful stuff. A.
I swear, there is no author who writes such consistently charming books as Jaclyn Moriarty. This is a follow-up to Bronte Mettlestone, set fifteen years earlier (but featuring several familiar characters). It's the same sort of hilarious, sweet, and action packed story, narrated in turns by a boy from the local orphanage and a girl from the local ritzy boarding school, who . . . Well, that would be a spoiler. Suffice it to say there are adventures and magic afoot. Great and delightful stuff. A.
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
2018 book 170
Tansy Rayner Roberts' Power and Majesty
I no longer remember why I backed this author's Kickstarter that gave me the Creature Court trilogy (of which this is the first) and a new novella in the series. Anyway, it's nice to have a big hunk of a story to read, though this does lean into the dark fantasy stuff (lots of violence, erotic blood-sucking, chaos and mayhem, etc. A content warning for rape and associated trauma, not to mention abuse and torture, seems appropriate here too). In this world, cities are protected by magical people who can transform into animals, and they're all decadent hedonists with weird power struggles. A young seamstress had this power but it was stolen from her; now, years later, the thief has died and her powers have been restored, and she (and her friends) are thrust into this shadowy world. I liked the human characters in this a lot; the magical people were mildly annoying in that melodramatic way. If this was slightly less grim, I’d love it, but instead I just liked it a lot and am looking forward to the next one. B+.
I no longer remember why I backed this author's Kickstarter that gave me the Creature Court trilogy (of which this is the first) and a new novella in the series. Anyway, it's nice to have a big hunk of a story to read, though this does lean into the dark fantasy stuff (lots of violence, erotic blood-sucking, chaos and mayhem, etc. A content warning for rape and associated trauma, not to mention abuse and torture, seems appropriate here too). In this world, cities are protected by magical people who can transform into animals, and they're all decadent hedonists with weird power struggles. A young seamstress had this power but it was stolen from her; now, years later, the thief has died and her powers have been restored, and she (and her friends) are thrust into this shadowy world. I liked the human characters in this a lot; the magical people were mildly annoying in that melodramatic way. If this was slightly less grim, I’d love it, but instead I just liked it a lot and am looking forward to the next one. B+.
Monday, November 05, 2018
2018 book 169
Makiia Lucier's Isle of Blood and Stone
This is a sort of fantasy-mystery hybrid and I LOVED IT! So eighteen years ago, the two little princes were kidnapped, along with the king's mapmaker, and everyone else at their picnic was slaughtered. A man from a neighboring kingdom confessed, saying their king was behind the kidnappomg, but everyone taken drowned in a shipwreck, leading to war and chaos. But now two maps have been discovered that indicate the mapmaker did not die that day, and his now-grown son and the king's (lady) spy cousin must figure out what the heck happened, who was behind the terrible event--and are the princes still alive? The villain is not too hard to puzzle out, but I found the story very satisfying anyway, and the characters were all extremely well drawn. I can’t wait for the follow up! A/A-.
This is a sort of fantasy-mystery hybrid and I LOVED IT! So eighteen years ago, the two little princes were kidnapped, along with the king's mapmaker, and everyone else at their picnic was slaughtered. A man from a neighboring kingdom confessed, saying their king was behind the kidnappomg, but everyone taken drowned in a shipwreck, leading to war and chaos. But now two maps have been discovered that indicate the mapmaker did not die that day, and his now-grown son and the king's (lady) spy cousin must figure out what the heck happened, who was behind the terrible event--and are the princes still alive? The villain is not too hard to puzzle out, but I found the story very satisfying anyway, and the characters were all extremely well drawn. I can’t wait for the follow up! A/A-.
Sunday, November 04, 2018
2018 book 168
Eugenia Kim's The Kinship of Secrets
This book is a sequel to Kim’s The Calligrapher's Daughter, which I read like eight years ago and in fact have no memory of reading, so it works fine as a stand-alone. It takes place from the 1950s to the 1970s and centers on two sisters—one, the elder, who was brought to America with her parents in the late 40s, and the other, who was left behind with family but then is stuck there through the war years and beyond. Sections of this are told in letters and diaries, but they appear seemingly at random, and it’s a little bit of a jarring shift in the narrative each time. I also thought the back half felt a little bit rushed. Still, an engaging and interesting read. I liked the relationship between the sisters a lot. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
This book is a sequel to Kim’s The Calligrapher's Daughter, which I read like eight years ago and in fact have no memory of reading, so it works fine as a stand-alone. It takes place from the 1950s to the 1970s and centers on two sisters—one, the elder, who was brought to America with her parents in the late 40s, and the other, who was left behind with family but then is stuck there through the war years and beyond. Sections of this are told in letters and diaries, but they appear seemingly at random, and it’s a little bit of a jarring shift in the narrative each time. I also thought the back half felt a little bit rushed. Still, an engaging and interesting read. I liked the relationship between the sisters a lot. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Friday, November 02, 2018
2018 book 167
Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone
I am rereading this delightful book because the second in the series is on its way to me! It's about a ten year old girl whose parents, who have been away her whole life adventuring, have been killed by pirates, and their will forces her to go on a series of adventures (to deliver gifts to her many aunts). This book has it all--eccentric and adorable relatives, water sprites, magic, helpful librarians, dragons, and a bunch of bad-ass ladies (and children). I can’t wait to see what the second book brings!
I am rereading this delightful book because the second in the series is on its way to me! It's about a ten year old girl whose parents, who have been away her whole life adventuring, have been killed by pirates, and their will forces her to go on a series of adventures (to deliver gifts to her many aunts). This book has it all--eccentric and adorable relatives, water sprites, magic, helpful librarians, dragons, and a bunch of bad-ass ladies (and children). I can’t wait to see what the second book brings!
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
2018 book 166
Marian Keyes' The Break
I am still digging the Marian Keyes vibe. In this one, the protagonist's husband announces he needs a six-month break from their marriage to travel in Asia and find himself. But of course, that means she's in a break too. As always, I loved Keyes' characters and their complicated families, and I enjoyed reading this very much, though I did find the ending to be mildly unsatisfying. B+.
I am still digging the Marian Keyes vibe. In this one, the protagonist's husband announces he needs a six-month break from their marriage to travel in Asia and find himself. But of course, that means she's in a break too. As always, I loved Keyes' characters and their complicated families, and I enjoyed reading this very much, though I did find the ending to be mildly unsatisfying. B+.
Monday, October 29, 2018
2018 book 165
Laura Weymouth's The Light Between Worlds
Weymouth's debut novel is working in the aftermath of a portal fantasy; sixteen year old Evelyn and her two older siblings spent years in another world, escaping from a London bombing in WWII, but were eventually sent home. Five years have passed and her older brother and sister are making the best of things, but Evelyn is determined to return. (I feel like Seanan McGuire has been doing things in this realm as well, kids traumatized after returning from a magical land, but I've only read the first of those and didn't love it.) Anyway, the first half of the book is from Evelyn's perspective and the second is from her sister's, and I thought both were very well-done. I have not yet decided how I feel about the ending, but on the whole this was a really good read. A-.
Weymouth's debut novel is working in the aftermath of a portal fantasy; sixteen year old Evelyn and her two older siblings spent years in another world, escaping from a London bombing in WWII, but were eventually sent home. Five years have passed and her older brother and sister are making the best of things, but Evelyn is determined to return. (I feel like Seanan McGuire has been doing things in this realm as well, kids traumatized after returning from a magical land, but I've only read the first of those and didn't love it.) Anyway, the first half of the book is from Evelyn's perspective and the second is from her sister's, and I thought both were very well-done. I have not yet decided how I feel about the ending, but on the whole this was a really good read. A-.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
2018 book 164
Nicole Chung's All You Can Ever Know
I feel like I have been waiting foreverrrrrrr to read this, but it was undoubtedly worth the wait! Chung's memoir is beautifully written, intensely personal, and extremely compelling, discussing her childhood as a Korean-American adopted by a white family (in a very white area of Oregon), and then her journey to find her birth family as she was on the verge of having her first child. A quick and moving read. A/A-.
I feel like I have been waiting foreverrrrrrr to read this, but it was undoubtedly worth the wait! Chung's memoir is beautifully written, intensely personal, and extremely compelling, discussing her childhood as a Korean-American adopted by a white family (in a very white area of Oregon), and then her journey to find her birth family as she was on the verge of having her first child. A quick and moving read. A/A-.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
2018 book 163
Marian Keyes' The Woman Who Stole My Life
I was in the mood to read something . . . I don’t even know what, but this satisfied! I liked the other Keyes books I had read, she is sort of on the meatier side of the women's fiction beat. This one, which bounces around time-wise, centers on a woman who wrote a book, had a major health crisis, has various family and romantic issues, and is now flailing a bit. I loved the narrative voice, loved the characters, and even if it was a tad silly, found it very enjoyable. I need to read more of Keyes' work. A-.
Friday, October 19, 2018
2018 book 162
Kij Johnson's The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
Ooh, this was so up my alley. It centers on a woman, a professor at a prestigious women's college, who sets off to find one of her star student, who has eloped with someone from our world, and he plans to bring her there from their world—the world of dreams. Plus she is accompanied on her journey by a little black cat! This did get a teensy big draggy toward the end (but then picks back up), and I guess there were Lovecraft references I was missing, but I enjoyed this a lot and would read more set in this world. A-.
Ooh, this was so up my alley. It centers on a woman, a professor at a prestigious women's college, who sets off to find one of her star student, who has eloped with someone from our world, and he plans to bring her there from their world—the world of dreams. Plus she is accompanied on her journey by a little black cat! This did get a teensy big draggy toward the end (but then picks back up), and I guess there were Lovecraft references I was missing, but I enjoyed this a lot and would read more set in this world. A-.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
2018 book 161
Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, The Serial Killer
Well, this was an exceedingly entertaining novel! If the title didn’t clue you in, the story here centers on a young woman, a nurse in Nigeria, whose beautiful younger sister is, yes, a serial killer, who has killed several of her boyfriends. And now a doctor at the hospital—the very one our protagonist has a crush on—wants to date her! This is a quick read and a lot of fun (aside from, you know, the murdering. And also some mentions of domestic violence), really strong writing and characterization here. Gonna be a big fall hit for sure. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
Well, this was an exceedingly entertaining novel! If the title didn’t clue you in, the story here centers on a young woman, a nurse in Nigeria, whose beautiful younger sister is, yes, a serial killer, who has killed several of her boyfriends. And now a doctor at the hospital—the very one our protagonist has a crush on—wants to date her! This is a quick read and a lot of fun (aside from, you know, the murdering. And also some mentions of domestic violence), really strong writing and characterization here. Gonna be a big fall hit for sure. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
2018 book 160
Louise Candlish's Our House
This novel centers on a fortysomething mother of two who returns home from a trip to a family moving into her house . . . which has apparently been sold. And now she's telling the story on a podcast. This is interspersed with her husband's POV, ostensibly in a word doc, along with some brief scenes from their actual lives. The problem is that both the word doc and the podcast read like . . . a novel, and not like a word doc an actual human would write, or like a podcast (I did like the little fake tweets about the podcast though). As is par for the course for this sort of book, there were plenty of twists and turns, some guessable, some infuriating. Candlish does kind of nail the ending, but on the whole this was a little bit slow and EXTRA implausible. B.
This novel centers on a fortysomething mother of two who returns home from a trip to a family moving into her house . . . which has apparently been sold. And now she's telling the story on a podcast. This is interspersed with her husband's POV, ostensibly in a word doc, along with some brief scenes from their actual lives. The problem is that both the word doc and the podcast read like . . . a novel, and not like a word doc an actual human would write, or like a podcast (I did like the little fake tweets about the podcast though). As is par for the course for this sort of book, there were plenty of twists and turns, some guessable, some infuriating. Candlish does kind of nail the ending, but on the whole this was a little bit slow and EXTRA implausible. B.
Sunday, October 14, 2018
2018 book 159
Jen Doll's Unclaimed Baggage
This was a fairly cute YA book about three teens who becomes friends while working at a store in Alabama that sells unclaimed baggage from airports. I liked the friendship between the two girls a lot, and found the boy's struggle with alcoholism to be compelling, but the romance didn’t feel organic, and some of this veered a little bit into after school special territory. Enjoyable read though. B+.
This was a fairly cute YA book about three teens who becomes friends while working at a store in Alabama that sells unclaimed baggage from airports. I liked the friendship between the two girls a lot, and found the boy's struggle with alcoholism to be compelling, but the romance didn’t feel organic, and some of this veered a little bit into after school special territory. Enjoyable read though. B+.
Friday, October 12, 2018
2018 book 158
Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced
This Miss Marple mystery rules because the police straight up recruit her to help solve the case (and she and the inspector share the denouement scene!). And the case is a doozy, as it involves a newspaper advertisement listing a time and place where a murder will be committed. And of course all the small town neighbors are like, we better check this out. And things spiral from there. Satisfying plotting, even if one reveal in particular is easy to guess, and I love when Miss Marple gets her due. There is a slight whiff of post-war anti-Semitism/xenophobia that I could have done without, but what can you do, rich British post-war people could be assholes. A-/B+.
This Miss Marple mystery rules because the police straight up recruit her to help solve the case (and she and the inspector share the denouement scene!). And the case is a doozy, as it involves a newspaper advertisement listing a time and place where a murder will be committed. And of course all the small town neighbors are like, we better check this out. And things spiral from there. Satisfying plotting, even if one reveal in particular is easy to guess, and I love when Miss Marple gets her due. There is a slight whiff of post-war anti-Semitism/xenophobia that I could have done without, but what can you do, rich British post-war people could be assholes. A-/B+.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
2018 book 157
Agatha Christie's The Moving Finger
This is a satisfying mystery from a MYSTERY point of view, but not very satisfying as a Miss Marple story, because she’s barely in it and we don’t really get to see her at work! Anyway, in this one a young man and his sister take a house in the country so he can recover from an injury, and find themselves in the midst of a scandal involving nasty anonymous letters. The narrative voice here is enjoyable enough, if mildly sexist/patronizing (and I could do without the word “Jewess” in my novels, thanks), and even remembering some of the details, I was still surprised by several of the twists. But it needed more Miss Marple! A-/B+.
This is a satisfying mystery from a MYSTERY point of view, but not very satisfying as a Miss Marple story, because she’s barely in it and we don’t really get to see her at work! Anyway, in this one a young man and his sister take a house in the country so he can recover from an injury, and find themselves in the midst of a scandal involving nasty anonymous letters. The narrative voice here is enjoyable enough, if mildly sexist/patronizing (and I could do without the word “Jewess” in my novels, thanks), and even remembering some of the details, I was still surprised by several of the twists. But it needed more Miss Marple! A-/B+.
2018 book 156
Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library
When a hurricane keeps you at home instead of on a vacation, Miss Marple is some small consolation. In this one, a body is discovered in a library even though no one in the house knows her, but luckily the wife is a friend of Miss Marple's and immediately calls her in to solve the case! (In the most recent tv series, this character is played by Patsy from AbFab and she is amazing.) And frankly, the police defer to Miss Marple too, and it is hilarious and great. Great plotting. I love an old lady who knows what's up.
When a hurricane keeps you at home instead of on a vacation, Miss Marple is some small consolation. In this one, a body is discovered in a library even though no one in the house knows her, but luckily the wife is a friend of Miss Marple's and immediately calls her in to solve the case! (In the most recent tv series, this character is played by Patsy from AbFab and she is amazing.) And frankly, the police defer to Miss Marple too, and it is hilarious and great. Great plotting. I love an old lady who knows what's up.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
2018 book 155
Rena Rossner's The Sisters of the Winter Wood
If there is one thing I am HERE FOR, it is explicitly Jewish fantasy novels, though this particular one did not work for me. It's the story of a pair of sisters, told in alternating viewpoints (one speaks poem-style and I was not into it). Their parents have to leave town for family reasons, but before they leave, their mother reveals some family secrets. And then weird things start happening in the woods, and something is stirring up anti-Semitic feelings in the town. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories where I found the characters/narrative voices to be kind of frustrating(ly stupid) and repetitive, and I became impatient for things to wrap up. especially when the villains become even more sinister (and evil to Jewish ppl). Just unpleasant stuff. B-.
If there is one thing I am HERE FOR, it is explicitly Jewish fantasy novels, though this particular one did not work for me. It's the story of a pair of sisters, told in alternating viewpoints (one speaks poem-style and I was not into it). Their parents have to leave town for family reasons, but before they leave, their mother reveals some family secrets. And then weird things start happening in the woods, and something is stirring up anti-Semitic feelings in the town. Unfortunately, this is one of those stories where I found the characters/narrative voices to be kind of frustrating(ly stupid) and repetitive, and I became impatient for things to wrap up. especially when the villains become even more sinister (and evil to Jewish ppl). Just unpleasant stuff. B-.
Friday, October 05, 2018
2018 book 154
Robin Stevens' Death in the Spotlight
YAYYYY it’s a new Wells and Wong mystery!! Just what I needed at this precise moment in time. In this seventh outing, the girls are spending some time in London with Uncle Felix and his new wife, who decide to get the girls bit parts in a local production of Romeo and Juliet to keep them out of trouble. But then the leading lady starts receiving threatening notes, and the Detective Society is on the case! With the help of some old friends, of course. There is a hilarious bout of the flu here, as well as a revelation about Daisy that I was pleased by, to say the least (I might have started crying, but things are a bit emotional these days). And of course very solid mystery plotting, as always. Anyway, I am grateful to Robin Stevens for these books and recommend them to everyone. A.
YAYYYY it’s a new Wells and Wong mystery!! Just what I needed at this precise moment in time. In this seventh outing, the girls are spending some time in London with Uncle Felix and his new wife, who decide to get the girls bit parts in a local production of Romeo and Juliet to keep them out of trouble. But then the leading lady starts receiving threatening notes, and the Detective Society is on the case! With the help of some old friends, of course. There is a hilarious bout of the flu here, as well as a revelation about Daisy that I was pleased by, to say the least (I might have started crying, but things are a bit emotional these days). And of course very solid mystery plotting, as always. Anyway, I am grateful to Robin Stevens for these books and recommend them to everyone. A.
Wednesday, October 03, 2018
2018 book 153
Helene Tursten's An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good
Translated from the Swedish, this is a darkly hilarious set of stories about elderly Maud, who just wants peace and quiet—and will straight up commit murder to get it. And who would suspect a poor old lady?? I enjoyed this very much, and now want to check out Tursten's other works (though I doubt they involve murderous old ladies). A- but only because I wanted MORE.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
Translated from the Swedish, this is a darkly hilarious set of stories about elderly Maud, who just wants peace and quiet—and will straight up commit murder to get it. And who would suspect a poor old lady?? I enjoyed this very much, and now want to check out Tursten's other works (though I doubt they involve murderous old ladies). A- but only because I wanted MORE.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
2018 book 152
Laini Taylor's Muse of Nightmares
Here is the second book in Taylor's Strange the Dreamer series! I went in remembering absolutely nothing about its predecessor, and Taylor kind of throws the reader right into the midst of things--but some new characters provide some interesting exposition and things kind of fill in as you go. Taylor does a great job with plotting here--characters are redeemed, new relationships are formed, unexpected stuff happens, the overwrought romance isn't too annoying, etc. I really liked the way this wrapped up, too, and hope Taylor has more stories planned for this universe. A-.
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Content warning for mentions of rape.
Here is the second book in Taylor's Strange the Dreamer series! I went in remembering absolutely nothing about its predecessor, and Taylor kind of throws the reader right into the midst of things--but some new characters provide some interesting exposition and things kind of fill in as you go. Taylor does a great job with plotting here--characters are redeemed, new relationships are formed, unexpected stuff happens, the overwrought romance isn't too annoying, etc. I really liked the way this wrapped up, too, and hope Taylor has more stories planned for this universe. A-.
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Content warning for mentions of rape.
Monday, October 01, 2018
2018 book 151
Robin Stevens' A Spoonful of Murder
In book six of the Wells and Wong series, the girls find themselves on Hazel's home turf--Hong Kong--and of course are soon enmeshed in a murder and kidnapping case! It's nice to see Hazel taking the lead for once and Daisy being a supportive friend (more or less). I do have some mixed feelings about how the mystery of this one resolves, but of course can't be any more specific because of SPOILERS. Still a great entry in the series.
In book six of the Wells and Wong series, the girls find themselves on Hazel's home turf--Hong Kong--and of course are soon enmeshed in a murder and kidnapping case! It's nice to see Hazel taking the lead for once and Daisy being a supportive friend (more or less). I do have some mixed feelings about how the mystery of this one resolves, but of course can't be any more specific because of SPOILERS. Still a great entry in the series.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
2018 book 150
Robin Stevens' Mistletoe and Murder
In the fifth Wells and Wong mystery, the girls are visiting Cambridge at Christmas—and trying to prove their Detective Society is better than that of a pair of BOY detectives. But when there is a MURDER, will they all have to team up to solve the case??? As usual, the plotting is spot on, and Daisy and Hazel and their friendship are all adorable and wonderful. LOVE IT.
In the fifth Wells and Wong mystery, the girls are visiting Cambridge at Christmas—and trying to prove their Detective Society is better than that of a pair of BOY detectives. But when there is a MURDER, will they all have to team up to solve the case??? As usual, the plotting is spot on, and Daisy and Hazel and their friendship are all adorable and wonderful. LOVE IT.
Friday, September 28, 2018
2018 book 149
Robin Stevens' Jolly Foul Play
If having a series of middle grade mysteries be my comfort reading is wrong, I don’t want to be right! In this fourth volume, the girls' school is torn apart when their cruel Head Girl is murdered—and the suspects are the prefects. Plus, Daisy and Hazel's friendship is at risk! How can they solve the case when they aren’t speaking to one another?? Such good character work and plotting here, as usual.
If having a series of middle grade mysteries be my comfort reading is wrong, I don’t want to be right! In this fourth volume, the girls' school is torn apart when their cruel Head Girl is murdered—and the suspects are the prefects. Plus, Daisy and Hazel's friendship is at risk! How can they solve the case when they aren’t speaking to one another?? Such good character work and plotting here, as usual.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
2018 book 148
Robin Stevens' First Class Murder
The third Wells and Won mystery is a loving homage to Murder on the Orient Express, as Daisy and Hazel are on said train with Hazel's father on a tour of Europe when a murder takes place! He's forbidden them from detective work, but with a bunch of VERY amateur detectives on board, how can they resist doing it right? Another funny and very clever mystery with characters that keep being awesome.
The third Wells and Won mystery is a loving homage to Murder on the Orient Express, as Daisy and Hazel are on said train with Hazel's father on a tour of Europe when a murder takes place! He's forbidden them from detective work, but with a bunch of VERY amateur detectives on board, how can they resist doing it right? Another funny and very clever mystery with characters that keep being awesome.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
2018 book 147
Robin Stevens' Arsenic for Tea
The second book in Stevens' delightful historical mystery series finds schoolgirls Hazel and Daisy at Daisy's estate to celebrate her birthday—but one of the houseguests is behaving very suspiciously. And then there is a MURDER! And most of the suspects are Daisy's relatives! Anyway, another satisfying, funny, and well plotted mystery with a great friendship at its center. I love these books.
The second book in Stevens' delightful historical mystery series finds schoolgirls Hazel and Daisy at Daisy's estate to celebrate her birthday—but one of the houseguests is behaving very suspiciously. And then there is a MURDER! And most of the suspects are Daisy's relatives! Anyway, another satisfying, funny, and well plotted mystery with a great friendship at its center. I love these books.
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
2018 book 146
Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike
The latest book in this series comes out soon, so I decided to reread them all! Anyway itmis getting near to SPOOKY MYSTERY SEASON and this series is a fun version of same. This first one introduces us to our Detective Society, Daisy Wells and narrator Hazel Wong, students at an elite British boarding school in the 1930s, and what happens when Hazel stumbles onto the body of their science teacher. I Love these characters and Stevens does a great job showing Hazel dealing with clueless racists. It’s also a solid and well plotted mystery. YAY BOOKS.
The latest book in this series comes out soon, so I decided to reread them all! Anyway itmis getting near to SPOOKY MYSTERY SEASON and this series is a fun version of same. This first one introduces us to our Detective Society, Daisy Wells and narrator Hazel Wong, students at an elite British boarding school in the 1930s, and what happens when Hazel stumbles onto the body of their science teacher. I Love these characters and Stevens does a great job showing Hazel dealing with clueless racists. It’s also a solid and well plotted mystery. YAY BOOKS.
Monday, September 24, 2018
2018 book 145
Kitty Zeldis' Not Our Kind
It's the late 1940s, and a young Jewish woman is on her way to a job interview at a school--for a job she really needs--when she's involved in a car accident. The society woman in the other car feels bad about it, and invites her home for lunch, and decides to hire the young woman to tutor her daughter, who is recovering from polio. I appreciated (and was of course infuriated by) the depiction of sort of high-class anti-Semitism (as the title suggests) and liked the characterization here. Sometimes the dialogue felt a little wooden, especially toward the end, but this was in general a satisfying read. B+.
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Content warning for a scene of attempted rape.
It's the late 1940s, and a young Jewish woman is on her way to a job interview at a school--for a job she really needs--when she's involved in a car accident. The society woman in the other car feels bad about it, and invites her home for lunch, and decides to hire the young woman to tutor her daughter, who is recovering from polio. I appreciated (and was of course infuriated by) the depiction of sort of high-class anti-Semitism (as the title suggests) and liked the characterization here. Sometimes the dialogue felt a little wooden, especially toward the end, but this was in general a satisfying read. B+.
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Content warning for a scene of attempted rape.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
2018 book 144
Tasha Suri's Empire of Sand
So this is an interesting and engaging fantasy novel sort of inspired by the Mughal Empire of India, centered on a woman who is half magic on her mom's side (I really don’t feel like explaining the world building and magical system here, so just go with it), and what happens when the creepy religious leader of their empire finds out about her. I liked the central relationship here a lot, as well as all the relationships between various women characters, but be warned that the middle section of this is somewhat grim. This wraps up on a satisfying way, but is apparently the first in a series, and I am curious as to where it will go next. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
So this is an interesting and engaging fantasy novel sort of inspired by the Mughal Empire of India, centered on a woman who is half magic on her mom's side (I really don’t feel like explaining the world building and magical system here, so just go with it), and what happens when the creepy religious leader of their empire finds out about her. I liked the central relationship here a lot, as well as all the relationships between various women characters, but be warned that the middle section of this is somewhat grim. This wraps up on a satisfying way, but is apparently the first in a series, and I am curious as to where it will go next. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in November.
Saturday, September 22, 2018
2018 book 143
Mary H.K. Choi's Emergency Contact
Rereading this for book club, and it is just as cute and charming and captivating as last time I read it! I mean, not to make it sound TOO fluffy, bc the characters have legit issues. It centers on a college freshman at UT Austin who wants to be a sci fi writer, and the coffee shop dude/wannabe filmmaker she starts texting after helping him with an emergency. It’s just really great and honest about relationships and friendships and mental health issues. I can’t wait to read whatever Choi writes next.
Rereading this for book club, and it is just as cute and charming and captivating as last time I read it! I mean, not to make it sound TOO fluffy, bc the characters have legit issues. It centers on a college freshman at UT Austin who wants to be a sci fi writer, and the coffee shop dude/wannabe filmmaker she starts texting after helping him with an emergency. It’s just really great and honest about relationships and friendships and mental health issues. I can’t wait to read whatever Choi writes next.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
2018 book 142
Robert Galbraith's Lethal White
Insert usual spiel here about the author being JK Rowling. Anyway, all I remembered from the previous book in this series is how furious the very end made me. This one picks up right where that one left off, which is fine, but the character drama seems like it’s taking precedence over the whole mystery part of the story—and the mystery has a bit of a slow start in general. Plus having to read about the crappy relationship is just infuriating. “Leave him, girl! You’d be better off alone! You don’t have to leave a guy for another guy, you can just LEAVE! DON'T STAY WITH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T SUPPORT YOU!!!” was my internal monologue on at least twelve different scenes. (I read a lot of this book on Yom Kippur, when admittedly I am extra cranky. But my point stands.) Anyway, eventually the mystery gets going, with blackmail, politics, and a possible cold case all in the mix, and the back half moves more quickly. I liked how this one wrapped up, even if one character does do something implausibly stupid. I don’t know enough about British politics and classism to say if that aspect was accurate or not, but I enjoyed this. A-.
Insert usual spiel here about the author being JK Rowling. Anyway, all I remembered from the previous book in this series is how furious the very end made me. This one picks up right where that one left off, which is fine, but the character drama seems like it’s taking precedence over the whole mystery part of the story—and the mystery has a bit of a slow start in general. Plus having to read about the crappy relationship is just infuriating. “Leave him, girl! You’d be better off alone! You don’t have to leave a guy for another guy, you can just LEAVE! DON'T STAY WITH SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T SUPPORT YOU!!!” was my internal monologue on at least twelve different scenes. (I read a lot of this book on Yom Kippur, when admittedly I am extra cranky. But my point stands.) Anyway, eventually the mystery gets going, with blackmail, politics, and a possible cold case all in the mix, and the back half moves more quickly. I liked how this one wrapped up, even if one character does do something implausibly stupid. I don’t know enough about British politics and classism to say if that aspect was accurate or not, but I enjoyed this. A-.
Monday, September 17, 2018
2018 book 141
Natasha Solomons' The House of Gold
Solomons' latest novel is another engrossing historical story, this time centering on an influential European-Jewish family of bakers (loosely inspired by the Rothschilds), primarily through the lens of one of the Austrian daughters, who is being married off to one of her unknown British cousins. The story begins in 1911 and draws to a close toward the end of WWI, which was a bit disappointing as this was billed as a “sweeping family saga,” in which case I wanted more than seven years of story. I did find the story of her marriage (and garden) compelling, as well as her relationships with her brother and mother, but I just wanted a little bit more here. Maybe because I enjoyed reading this so much and wanted the story to keep going? Or maybe because some parts, particularly the subplot with the orphaned Jewish boy, don't come to any conclusion. Either way, the end was a trifle unsatisfying to me. Still, another solid one from Solomons—I enjoy her books a lot. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Solomons' latest novel is another engrossing historical story, this time centering on an influential European-Jewish family of bakers (loosely inspired by the Rothschilds), primarily through the lens of one of the Austrian daughters, who is being married off to one of her unknown British cousins. The story begins in 1911 and draws to a close toward the end of WWI, which was a bit disappointing as this was billed as a “sweeping family saga,” in which case I wanted more than seven years of story. I did find the story of her marriage (and garden) compelling, as well as her relationships with her brother and mother, but I just wanted a little bit more here. Maybe because I enjoyed reading this so much and wanted the story to keep going? Or maybe because some parts, particularly the subplot with the orphaned Jewish boy, don't come to any conclusion. Either way, the end was a trifle unsatisfying to me. Still, another solid one from Solomons—I enjoy her books a lot. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
2018 book 140
Kirsten Miller's Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
I think being holed up at home during a hurricane is the perfect time to reread a great adventure story about a band of girls with unusual talents exploring the underground tunnels of NYC—and maybe solving some mysteries along the way. This is the first of a series of three books, though I always hope Miller will find time for a couple more (she is currently busy co-writing a bunch of books with actor Jason Segal). A/A-.
I think being holed up at home during a hurricane is the perfect time to reread a great adventure story about a band of girls with unusual talents exploring the underground tunnels of NYC—and maybe solving some mysteries along the way. This is the first of a series of three books, though I always hope Miller will find time for a couple more (she is currently busy co-writing a bunch of books with actor Jason Segal). A/A-.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
2018 book 139
Vic James' Bright Ruin
The final book in James' Dark Gifts trilogy—set in an alternate version of England ruled by elite people with magical powers—is more of the fun same. James brings all the various threads together here—politics, revolution, historical research, family drama, etc—and it all works out in a more or less satisfying way. I was delighted by one romance here, felt some characters were underserved, but in general liked this a lot. If you want a slightly dark but enthralling series (with a little bit of humor), this is definitely one to check out. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
The final book in James' Dark Gifts trilogy—set in an alternate version of England ruled by elite people with magical powers—is more of the fun same. James brings all the various threads together here—politics, revolution, historical research, family drama, etc—and it all works out in a more or less satisfying way. I was delighted by one romance here, felt some characters were underserved, but in general liked this a lot. If you want a slightly dark but enthralling series (with a little bit of humor), this is definitely one to check out. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Sunday, September 09, 2018
2018 book 138
Kate Milford's Bluecrowne
I think, with this latest book, Milford has managed to smush together something from all of her previous books! It centers on the first residents of Greenglass House, and is billed as a Greenglass House story, but the characters are from her book The Left Handed Fate, among others. Well done, Ms Milford. Anyway, 12 year old Lucy finds herself off a ship for the first time in her life and settling into Greenglass House with her stepmother and little brother—at least until some mysterious men come for him and his talents. Lots of adventure, time travel, family, fireworks, and magic, though this felt a little darker than some of its predecessors. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
I think, with this latest book, Milford has managed to smush together something from all of her previous books! It centers on the first residents of Greenglass House, and is billed as a Greenglass House story, but the characters are from her book The Left Handed Fate, among others. Well done, Ms Milford. Anyway, 12 year old Lucy finds herself off a ship for the first time in her life and settling into Greenglass House with her stepmother and little brother—at least until some mysterious men come for him and his talents. Lots of adventure, time travel, family, fireworks, and magic, though this felt a little darker than some of its predecessors. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Labels:
book reviews,
fantasy,
historical,
mysteries,
YA
Tuesday, September 04, 2018
2018 book 137
Kendare Blake's Two Dark Reigns
The latest in Blake's Three Dark Crowns series, the third of I believe a planned four, is more of the same--magic and politics and friends and romance and sisters and rivals and cliffhangers galore. I do feel like the rebellion aspects needed a bit more buildup, and this one's ending isn’t as HOLY WHAT as the previous two, but I definitely still want to see how this all comes together. B+.
The latest in Blake's Three Dark Crowns series, the third of I believe a planned four, is more of the same--magic and politics and friends and romance and sisters and rivals and cliffhangers galore. I do feel like the rebellion aspects needed a bit more buildup, and this one's ending isn’t as HOLY WHAT as the previous two, but I definitely still want to see how this all comes together. B+.
Monday, September 03, 2018
2018 book 136
D.E. Stevenson's Anna and Her Daughters
Stevenson wrote pleasant British books where everything works out in the end, and sometimes that’s what I’m in the mood for! This one is narrated by the youngest of the titular daughters, and details what happens after her father dies and it turns out they have very little money—so the family decamps from London to their mother's small hometown in Scotland. The youngest had hopes of attending Oxford, but ends up working as an assistant to a local writer, while her older sisters fall for the same guy (who, of course, she also likes). I did wonder how this would work out in the end, but it mostly did (with perhaps a little bit of moralizing). I especially liked the relationship between the mother and the narrator. Side note, some scenes are set in Africa and the characters express racist/colonial views. So not my favorite of Stevenson's works, but entertaining enough. B.
Stevenson wrote pleasant British books where everything works out in the end, and sometimes that’s what I’m in the mood for! This one is narrated by the youngest of the titular daughters, and details what happens after her father dies and it turns out they have very little money—so the family decamps from London to their mother's small hometown in Scotland. The youngest had hopes of attending Oxford, but ends up working as an assistant to a local writer, while her older sisters fall for the same guy (who, of course, she also likes). I did wonder how this would work out in the end, but it mostly did (with perhaps a little bit of moralizing). I especially liked the relationship between the mother and the narrator. Side note, some scenes are set in Africa and the characters express racist/colonial views. So not my favorite of Stevenson's works, but entertaining enough. B.
2018 book 135
Lauren Oliver's Broken Things
Ok, I loved this book, except for one minor thing that made me FURIOUS, which I will get to in a moment. Now here is the usual stuff: I think Oliver is a great author and this has been getting a ton of really interesting buzz, so I was super looking forward to it. And it is soooo up my alley—it’s about two middle school girls who were accused of the murder of their best friend, because it was done in a ritualistic manner that was straight out of the fan fic they wrote for an obscure portal fantasy novel. But there was really no evidence against them, so now it’s five years later and they’re total outcasts in their town, and one of them thinks she’s found a clue to the real murderer. So they get together with a motley assortment of friends and love interests to see if they can figure this thing out. And it is GREAT.
Now here is what made me mad—one of said friends is a teen plus size Instagram model, which is awesome. But Oliver says she is 5'4' and 180 pounds, which is . . . not that large? And both she and her best friend talk about how fat she is, in a negative way, not in a reclaiming the word way. Like, maybe the numbers didn’t need to be specific here? Don’t girls have enough issues without seeing a fairly normal number and then characters saying the girl is FAT, has pre-diabetes, etc.? So judgy!!
Anyway, that was a minor thing, and I really liked the rest of this. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 2nd.
Content warning for graphic violence to an animal.
Ok, I loved this book, except for one minor thing that made me FURIOUS, which I will get to in a moment. Now here is the usual stuff: I think Oliver is a great author and this has been getting a ton of really interesting buzz, so I was super looking forward to it. And it is soooo up my alley—it’s about two middle school girls who were accused of the murder of their best friend, because it was done in a ritualistic manner that was straight out of the fan fic they wrote for an obscure portal fantasy novel. But there was really no evidence against them, so now it’s five years later and they’re total outcasts in their town, and one of them thinks she’s found a clue to the real murderer. So they get together with a motley assortment of friends and love interests to see if they can figure this thing out. And it is GREAT.
Now here is what made me mad—one of said friends is a teen plus size Instagram model, which is awesome. But Oliver says she is 5'4' and 180 pounds, which is . . . not that large? And both she and her best friend talk about how fat she is, in a negative way, not in a reclaiming the word way. Like, maybe the numbers didn’t need to be specific here? Don’t girls have enough issues without seeing a fairly normal number and then characters saying the girl is FAT, has pre-diabetes, etc.? So judgy!!
Anyway, that was a minor thing, and I really liked the rest of this. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 2nd.
Content warning for graphic violence to an animal.
Sunday, September 02, 2018
2018 book 134
Ashley Weaver's An Act of Villainy
The latest Amory Ames mystery finds Amory and her husband investigating a series of threatening letters directed at the star of a new play—who happens to be having an affair with her director. I like these characters a lot, but this mystery didn’t work for me. It’s one of those where they all just have a lot of conversations until the solution is revealed. I did guess one major portion of it, but then the end strained credulity so much that I probably would have thrown the book across the room had I not been reading on my Kindle. I will probably give this series another chance but this one did not work for me. B/B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
The latest Amory Ames mystery finds Amory and her husband investigating a series of threatening letters directed at the star of a new play—who happens to be having an affair with her director. I like these characters a lot, but this mystery didn’t work for me. It’s one of those where they all just have a lot of conversations until the solution is revealed. I did guess one major portion of it, but then the end strained credulity so much that I probably would have thrown the book across the room had I not been reading on my Kindle. I will probably give this series another chance but this one did not work for me. B/B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Friday, August 31, 2018
2018 book 133
Claire Legrand's Furyborn
Hey, it's the start of another fantasy trilogy about queens with magical powers etc etc. This is a pretty good entry in the genre, focusing on a young woman who is revealed to be the prophesied Sun Queen, and has to prove herself through seven trials, and then another young woman a thousand years later who knows the legend of the Sun Queen but has her own stuff to deal with, namely being a morally ambiguous assassin who is also one of those stubbornly stupid YA characters. I got a pretty strong Queen of the Tearling vibe, which is generally a good thing. Parts of this were easy to predict and some of the romances were underbaked, and I’ll give a general warning that some of this is grim, but I'm interested enough to read the next in this series. B/B+.
Hey, it's the start of another fantasy trilogy about queens with magical powers etc etc. This is a pretty good entry in the genre, focusing on a young woman who is revealed to be the prophesied Sun Queen, and has to prove herself through seven trials, and then another young woman a thousand years later who knows the legend of the Sun Queen but has her own stuff to deal with, namely being a morally ambiguous assassin who is also one of those stubbornly stupid YA characters. I got a pretty strong Queen of the Tearling vibe, which is generally a good thing. Parts of this were easy to predict and some of the romances were underbaked, and I’ll give a general warning that some of this is grim, but I'm interested enough to read the next in this series. B/B+.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
2018 book 132
Melina Marchetta's Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil
It's been long enough since I read this that the details were pretty murky, which meant it was the perfect time for a reread! This is sort of a mystery but more of a story about families, loss, justice, and love. It centers on a disgraced London police officer whose teen daughter's school trip is interrupted by a bomb--a bomb that may be related to a bombing from years ago. And so some higher ups ask him to do some informal investigating, to find some missing kids and figure out what the heck is going on. There are so many great moments here and I love all of the teens, especially the surly ones. Marchetta does write the best teenagers. Anyway, this book makes me sob buckets and I love it.
It's been long enough since I read this that the details were pretty murky, which meant it was the perfect time for a reread! This is sort of a mystery but more of a story about families, loss, justice, and love. It centers on a disgraced London police officer whose teen daughter's school trip is interrupted by a bomb--a bomb that may be related to a bombing from years ago. And so some higher ups ask him to do some informal investigating, to find some missing kids and figure out what the heck is going on. There are so many great moments here and I love all of the teens, especially the surly ones. Marchetta does write the best teenagers. Anyway, this book makes me sob buckets and I love it.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
2018 book 131
K.E. Ormsbee's The House in Poplar Wood
The plot of this one is a little weird to explain so bear with me: there are two boys, twin brothers, and their father works for Death and their mother for Memory, and each has one son as an assistant, and because of an Agreement the two sides can never meet, living in a house divided in two. Until a local girl decides she needs their help to solve a MURDER (this isn't really a mystery, though) and the three of them determine to change their town, and their fates. Really good stuff! I could have done without the minor romance subplot but enjoyed all the family stuff a lot. A-.
The plot of this one is a little weird to explain so bear with me: there are two boys, twin brothers, and their father works for Death and their mother for Memory, and each has one son as an assistant, and because of an Agreement the two sides can never meet, living in a house divided in two. Until a local girl decides she needs their help to solve a MURDER (this isn't really a mystery, though) and the three of them determine to change their town, and their fates. Really good stuff! I could have done without the minor romance subplot but enjoyed all the family stuff a lot. A-.
Monday, August 27, 2018
2018 book 130
Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver
I loved this so much when I first read it that I made book club read it as soon as possible just so I could reread it. And even having read it before, it's still the sort of story that just hooks you and you sink right into it. I like that Novik centered this in a (more or less) specific place and time in history, unlike the vague Eastern European forest of Uprooted, because making it explicitly about Jews in Lithuania in the pre-war years adds a large chunk of verisimilitude. Anyway, the story itself is a sort of take on Rumplestiltskin, focusing on the Jewish daughter of a moneylender who says she can turn silver into gold . . . and then the local gold-stealing fairies come for her. There are several other POV characters, primarily women struggling to make the best of their limited options, but also a couple of interesting males, who help round out the story. Anyway, I love this, it makes me cry, it’s awesome, great ladies, etc etc, A.
I loved this so much when I first read it that I made book club read it as soon as possible just so I could reread it. And even having read it before, it's still the sort of story that just hooks you and you sink right into it. I like that Novik centered this in a (more or less) specific place and time in history, unlike the vague Eastern European forest of Uprooted, because making it explicitly about Jews in Lithuania in the pre-war years adds a large chunk of verisimilitude. Anyway, the story itself is a sort of take on Rumplestiltskin, focusing on the Jewish daughter of a moneylender who says she can turn silver into gold . . . and then the local gold-stealing fairies come for her. There are several other POV characters, primarily women struggling to make the best of their limited options, but also a couple of interesting males, who help round out the story. Anyway, I love this, it makes me cry, it’s awesome, great ladies, etc etc, A.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
2018 book 129
Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning
I feel like I have been waiting to read this book FOREVERRRRRR, especially as Roanhorse's short story "Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM" was sweeping up all the speculative fiction awards this season. I kind of worried that I had expectations that were too high going into this, but it lived up to them and then some. It's a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy type deal (or whatever the Western non-actually-urban version is), steeped in Native American folklore. It centers on a young woman with mysterious powers who is a monster-hunter--because while most of the world has collapsed, the gods and monsters of Navajo culture have risen. Parts of this are pretty dark and violent, which is not usually my thing, but I found the protagonist and the other characters tamd their journeys to be interesting enough to keep going. This is the first in a series and I look forward to seeing what happens next. A-.
I feel like I have been waiting to read this book FOREVERRRRRR, especially as Roanhorse's short story "Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience TM" was sweeping up all the speculative fiction awards this season. I kind of worried that I had expectations that were too high going into this, but it lived up to them and then some. It's a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy type deal (or whatever the Western non-actually-urban version is), steeped in Native American folklore. It centers on a young woman with mysterious powers who is a monster-hunter--because while most of the world has collapsed, the gods and monsters of Navajo culture have risen. Parts of this are pretty dark and violent, which is not usually my thing, but I found the protagonist and the other characters tamd their journeys to be interesting enough to keep going. This is the first in a series and I look forward to seeing what happens next. A-.
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
2018 book 128
Rosie Walsh's Ghosted
Based on the reviews, I wasn't sure going into this whether it was a women's fiction sort of thing, or a thriller. It centers on a thirtysomething woman who has a whirlwind romance with a man over the course of a week, but she KNOWS it was something real, and when he doesn't get in touch after a quick vacation, she KNOWS something is very wrong. Anyway, not to give much away, but it does turn out to be a women's fiction sort of story, the kind that I find overly ridiculous. It lags in the middle but once the reveals start coming it does pick up a bit. Still, fairly ridiculous. B.
Based on the reviews, I wasn't sure going into this whether it was a women's fiction sort of thing, or a thriller. It centers on a thirtysomething woman who has a whirlwind romance with a man over the course of a week, but she KNOWS it was something real, and when he doesn't get in touch after a quick vacation, she KNOWS something is very wrong. Anyway, not to give much away, but it does turn out to be a women's fiction sort of story, the kind that I find overly ridiculous. It lags in the middle but once the reveals start coming it does pick up a bit. Still, fairly ridiculous. B.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
2018 book 127
Seanan McGuire's Night and Silence
For a while there, I had grown disenchanted with this series, which kept throwing curveballs instead of coming to any sort of conclusion. But now I am just leaning into it, which is good, because this twelfth volume of the Toby Daye series has curveballs galore (it also has way too many characters, so the plot occasionally screeches to a halt so there can be exposition about something that happened several books ago). Anyway, in this one, Toby's daughter has been kidnapped . . . again. And the usual band of misfits is on the case! As ever, the sea witch remains my favorite character, but the whole team is great (I at first typed “a lot of fun” but several of them are dealing with PTSD at this point so maybe not). B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.
For a while there, I had grown disenchanted with this series, which kept throwing curveballs instead of coming to any sort of conclusion. But now I am just leaning into it, which is good, because this twelfth volume of the Toby Daye series has curveballs galore (it also has way too many characters, so the plot occasionally screeches to a halt so there can be exposition about something that happened several books ago). Anyway, in this one, Toby's daughter has been kidnapped . . . again. And the usual band of misfits is on the case! As ever, the sea witch remains my favorite character, but the whole team is great (I at first typed “a lot of fun” but several of them are dealing with PTSD at this point so maybe not). B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.
2018 book 126
Vanessa Hua's A River of Stars
Well, this was pretty GREAT. It's centered on a young Chinese woman, pregnant, whose married boyfriend sends her to the US to have their baby--and then she decides to find a new life for herself. I did have to keep putting this down because I was dreading all the bad things that COULD happen, but things progressed in a way I didn’t expect. I did find the very end a bit disappointing, but this is still a really engaging story about immigration and motherhood. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
Well, this was pretty GREAT. It's centered on a young Chinese woman, pregnant, whose married boyfriend sends her to the US to have their baby--and then she decides to find a new life for herself. I did have to keep putting this down because I was dreading all the bad things that COULD happen, but things progressed in a way I didn’t expect. I did find the very end a bit disappointing, but this is still a really engaging story about immigration and motherhood. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
2018 book 125
Gail Carriger's Competence
After my last couple of reads, I was in the mood for something on the fluffier side, which this decidedly is. It's part of the Custard Protocol series, but instead of focusing on the girl from the first two, it centers more on her best friend Primrose, who I found much much more interesting (and adorable). Or maybe I was just more invested in the romantic plot here, seeing as it involves a WERELIONESS!!! Get it, girl! (Which applies to both of them, really.) Prim's twin brother gets more to do here and is more interesting as well, and I enjoyed the friendships between the three of them. This one was also funnier than its predecessors, particularly every scene that involves a fez. Anyway, I liked this a lot, it was very cute and fun, check it out if you like adventures on floating dirigibles and vampires and lady romances and found families. A/A-.
After my last couple of reads, I was in the mood for something on the fluffier side, which this decidedly is. It's part of the Custard Protocol series, but instead of focusing on the girl from the first two, it centers more on her best friend Primrose, who I found much much more interesting (and adorable). Or maybe I was just more invested in the romantic plot here, seeing as it involves a WERELIONESS!!! Get it, girl! (Which applies to both of them, really.) Prim's twin brother gets more to do here and is more interesting as well, and I enjoyed the friendships between the three of them. This one was also funnier than its predecessors, particularly every scene that involves a fez. Anyway, I liked this a lot, it was very cute and fun, check it out if you like adventures on floating dirigibles and vampires and lady romances and found families. A/A-.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
2018 book 124
Tana French's The Witch Elm
This is French's first stand-alone (outside her Dublin Murder Squad series) and it feels . . . unexpected. It’s the story of a man in his late 20s, a happy go lucky guy with a good job and a great girlfriend. Everything goes his way. Until a burglary in his apartment leaves him with a traumatic brain injury and other assorted issues, and he goes to live with his uncle who's dying of cancer, and a skull turns up in the garden. French builds up to all that, though. I will say that I did find the narrative voice very compelling, and the mystery was interesting enough, but a very ugly scene at the end felt out of place to me and kind of turned me off. I understand WHY it’s included, I suppose, but it didn’t work for me. It just left me feeling a bit disconcerted. I guess this is more of a psychological portrait than a straight mystery, and it is well written, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Content warning for threats of sexual violence and a lot of other violence.
This is French's first stand-alone (outside her Dublin Murder Squad series) and it feels . . . unexpected. It’s the story of a man in his late 20s, a happy go lucky guy with a good job and a great girlfriend. Everything goes his way. Until a burglary in his apartment leaves him with a traumatic brain injury and other assorted issues, and he goes to live with his uncle who's dying of cancer, and a skull turns up in the garden. French builds up to all that, though. I will say that I did find the narrative voice very compelling, and the mystery was interesting enough, but a very ugly scene at the end felt out of place to me and kind of turned me off. I understand WHY it’s included, I suppose, but it didn’t work for me. It just left me feeling a bit disconcerted. I guess this is more of a psychological portrait than a straight mystery, and it is well written, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Content warning for threats of sexual violence and a lot of other violence.
Monday, August 13, 2018
2018 book 123
Joanna Cannon's Three Things About Elsie
I actually finished this last night on the plane, but still haven’t decided how I feel about it. It’s centered on an 80-something woman in an assisted living facility in England, who has fallen and is waiting to be rescued, and in the meantime is narrating her recent adventures—starting with the arrival of a new resident, who she’s convinced is someone who supposedly died in the 50s, using a false name for nefarious purposes. This is an interesting portrayal of dementia, and the parts from the POVs of two of the facility's staff round out the picture. And I like the little connections Cannon makes throughout the story. But I just found the ending to be a bit muddled, despite having guessed one aspect of it on page three. Not to say I wasn’t crying about it on an airplane (apologies to the teen girl next to me), and I didn’t need the story wrapped up in a bow, but I’m not sure it actually made sense. Still, pretty entertaining and touching stuff. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
I actually finished this last night on the plane, but still haven’t decided how I feel about it. It’s centered on an 80-something woman in an assisted living facility in England, who has fallen and is waiting to be rescued, and in the meantime is narrating her recent adventures—starting with the arrival of a new resident, who she’s convinced is someone who supposedly died in the 50s, using a false name for nefarious purposes. This is an interesting portrayal of dementia, and the parts from the POVs of two of the facility's staff round out the picture. And I like the little connections Cannon makes throughout the story. But I just found the ending to be a bit muddled, despite having guessed one aspect of it on page three. Not to say I wasn’t crying about it on an airplane (apologies to the teen girl next to me), and I didn’t need the story wrapped up in a bow, but I’m not sure it actually made sense. Still, pretty entertaining and touching stuff. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
Tuesday, August 07, 2018
2018 book 122
Martha Wells' Exit Strategy
In the fourth (and final?) Murderbot novella, Murderbot has to go on a RESCUE MISSION!!!! Ugh, I love this series, Murderbot is such a great character and Wells does such a good job with the action and plotting. If you are someone who is maybe not into hard sci fi but like the Becky Chambers books, this is definitely a series to look into. I can’t wait to see what Wells does next. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
In the fourth (and final?) Murderbot novella, Murderbot has to go on a RESCUE MISSION!!!! Ugh, I love this series, Murderbot is such a great character and Wells does such a good job with the action and plotting. If you are someone who is maybe not into hard sci fi but like the Becky Chambers books, this is definitely a series to look into. I can’t wait to see what Wells does next. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
2018 book 121
Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera's What If It's Us
Aaaaaaahhh this was SO CUTE. It’s about two teen boys who meet-cute at a post office in NYC, with each author handling one boy's POV. Obviously I was all in on Albertalli's excitable musical theater nerd, but Silvera's more insecure and quiet guy (secretly writing an epic fantasy novel starring himself) won me over big-time too. I am often not into YA romances because they are predictable and overwrought, but this avoids a lot of those traps, and even if it didn’t, the world needs more YA romances with queer kids. Race and class issues come up as well, and I also appreciated the way the authors depicted the characters' friendships. Super cute all around. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Aaaaaaahhh this was SO CUTE. It’s about two teen boys who meet-cute at a post office in NYC, with each author handling one boy's POV. Obviously I was all in on Albertalli's excitable musical theater nerd, but Silvera's more insecure and quiet guy (secretly writing an epic fantasy novel starring himself) won me over big-time too. I am often not into YA romances because they are predictable and overwrought, but this avoids a lot of those traps, and even if it didn’t, the world needs more YA romances with queer kids. Race and class issues come up as well, and I also appreciated the way the authors depicted the characters' friendships. Super cute all around. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Sunday, August 05, 2018
2018 book 120
Sara Gran's The Infinite Blacktop
A big YAY for a new book in Gran's Claire DeWitt series, about a troubled woman who is the world's best detective, with some eccentric methodology. (That makes this series sound quirky, but really it is dark and weird and wonderful.) In this one, someone is trying to kill Claire, and she has to figure out who, and why. This is interspersed with flashbacks to earlier in her career, when she is working on a cold case involving a dead artist, as well as flashbacks to her childhood as part of a group of Girl Detectives. I really hope Gran is planning more in this series, because I find it completely captivating. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.
A big YAY for a new book in Gran's Claire DeWitt series, about a troubled woman who is the world's best detective, with some eccentric methodology. (That makes this series sound quirky, but really it is dark and weird and wonderful.) In this one, someone is trying to kill Claire, and she has to figure out who, and why. This is interspersed with flashbacks to earlier in her career, when she is working on a cold case involving a dead artist, as well as flashbacks to her childhood as part of a group of Girl Detectives. I really hope Gran is planning more in this series, because I find it completely captivating. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.
Friday, August 03, 2018
2018 book 119
Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic
The library finally added a ton of new e-books this week, but this book (and its new prequel) both became available from my holds as well, and I was in the mood for a story about witchy sisters. I was sure I had read this years ago, but can find no evidence that is true, and I'm not sure I've seen all of the movie either. Anyway, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting; I liked that most of it focused on the family relationships, but found the romances to be a little much. I wanted more witchiness though! Accept your destiny as witches! B.
The library finally added a ton of new e-books this week, but this book (and its new prequel) both became available from my holds as well, and I was in the mood for a story about witchy sisters. I was sure I had read this years ago, but can find no evidence that is true, and I'm not sure I've seen all of the movie either. Anyway, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting; I liked that most of it focused on the family relationships, but found the romances to be a little much. I wanted more witchiness though! Accept your destiny as witches! B.
Wednesday, August 01, 2018
2018 book 118
Busy Philipps' This Will Only Hurt a Little
I have read a lot of memoir/essay books by funny ladies, and often they do have very funny parts, but others fall flat on the page (I imagine the audiobooks are better). This one, however, was GREAT. I am a long-time fan of Philipps (and have been rewatching Cougar Town lately to boot) and her narrative voice here comes across as a very honest conversation (and is also very funny). It gets super real at times—I cried at least twice when she was talking about her very relatable and awful teen years. And all her showbiz stories are great and hilarious. Unsurprisingly, James Franco IS an asshole, and Michelle Williams is a sweetheart. I still have never seen Dawson's Creek but I loved hearing her talk about North Carolina! AND did you know she co-wrote Blades of Glory? Anyway. All those stories were great, but her writing style draws you in so much that you are viscerally angry when she is angry, and devastated when things don’t work out for her, and cheering when they do, even the smaller things. It’s really well done and I can’t wait to see her upcoming talk show. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
I have read a lot of memoir/essay books by funny ladies, and often they do have very funny parts, but others fall flat on the page (I imagine the audiobooks are better). This one, however, was GREAT. I am a long-time fan of Philipps (and have been rewatching Cougar Town lately to boot) and her narrative voice here comes across as a very honest conversation (and is also very funny). It gets super real at times—I cried at least twice when she was talking about her very relatable and awful teen years. And all her showbiz stories are great and hilarious. Unsurprisingly, James Franco IS an asshole, and Michelle Williams is a sweetheart. I still have never seen Dawson's Creek but I loved hearing her talk about North Carolina! AND did you know she co-wrote Blades of Glory? Anyway. All those stories were great, but her writing style draws you in so much that you are viscerally angry when she is angry, and devastated when things don’t work out for her, and cheering when they do, even the smaller things. It’s really well done and I can’t wait to see her upcoming talk show. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
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