2019 book 72

Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys
And Whitehead knocks it out of the park again. In his latest novel (following up the multiple-award-winning Underground Railroad), the focus is on a young black boy in the early 60s, whose promising future is derailed by bad luck and systemic racism. And then he’s sent to an ungodly reform school—loosely based on a real place—where, in the present day, a group of archaeologists have found a secret graveyard full of young boys. Much of the novel takes place in Tallahassee; it is always a little weird to read about a place where you’ve lived, but as far as I’m concerned, Whitehead nailed it. Obviously parts of the novel are beyond grim, but the writing and narrative voice made me eager to keep reading. I just thought this was excellent, in a gut-punch sort of way. A.


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

2019 book 71

Season Butler's Cygnet
So this book is about a teen girl living on an island exclusively populated by the very elderly—she was left there with her grandmother for what was supposed to be just a couple weeks, but her parents have not come back in months. And some of the population is hostile, and all feel like she doesn’t belong. This is a beautifully written sort of coming of age story, but it kind of depressed me. There were some weirdly grisly scenes too (ie the butchering of a chicken). B/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 25th.

2019 book 70

Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six
We're discussing this in book club this week, so I figured I'd glance through to refresh my memory . . . and dang if I didn't sink right back into it and reread the whole thing! The novel is told in an oral history format, charting the spectacular rise and dramatic fall of a 1970s rock band, with all the sex and drugs you could imagine a 70s rock band having. Great characters, good reveals, interesting clashes in narrative--a really fun read, even the second time (though I still don't love the very very end).

2019 book 69

Laura Lippmann's Lady in the Lake
I love when Lippman turns her gimlet eye to mid-century Jews in Baltimore, so was pleased to dive into her latest. In this one, a thirty-something Jewish housewife, dissatisfied with her life and wanting to make a mark on the world, leaves her husband and tries to get a job as a reporter at a local paper. And then she becomes pretty obsessed with the murder of a young black woman, the titular Lady in the Lake, a murder that someone wants to sweep under the rug. I liked the way Lippman constructed the narrative here—the main narrators are the wannabe reporter and the murder victim, but almost everyone the reporter encounters gets their own little POV chapter. It’s a nice way to build up the world and makes for a fun and quick read. I haven’t quite decided how I feel about the ending, but I definitely enjoyed reading this. A-.


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

2019 book 68

Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry's Hello Girls
I’ve read and more or less enjoyed Cavallaro's books about the descendants of Holmes and Watson, so figured I’d try out this new book she co-wrote with an author friend. And it was GREAT! Real Thelma and Louise vibes for the teen set, as two girls—one menaced by a controlling, abusive father, the other by a drug-dealing brother—go on the run on an epic road trip. The risks and the adventures both ring true, but their amazing friendship is what I really loved about this. Just a fist-pumping good time. A/A-.

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

2019 book 67

Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Party
The third book in Guillory's romance series has the same stuff I’ve liked in her other books—fun characters, believable chemistry, interesting work and personal issues—but also has the one thing that I slightly dislike from her previous books. “Oh no, we were trying to do a casual thing but we both caught feelings and refuse to admit it and will instead have a silly fight!” But at least it happens LESS  in this one? Anyway, the (hetero) romantic duo here are the two best friends of the protagonist from the /first/ book (her stylist and her coworker) and both are in her wedding party! (I really needed more wedding planning shenanigans in this plot, seriously.) They hate each other until they don’t and vow to keep their fling a secret from their friend. Things go about as you’d expect but, again, Guillory does such a good job with the characters that you’re just like, oooh work it out! Kiss and make up! And rooting for them etc. Another fun read, and I can’t wait for her next one, which is about the stylist's MOM and involves British royals?!? Yessssss. A-.


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

2019 book 66

Felicity McLean's The Van Apfel Girls are Gone
This novel centers on a young woman, heading home to Australia from the US to visit her older sister, who is undergoing treatment for cancer. But both women are haunted by the disappearance of the titular Van Apfel girls, their friends and neighbors, twenty years earlier. The story weaves between the past and present to good effect—the story has a kind of Virgin Suicides vibe, though the women here seem slightly better adjusted than the narrators of that one. I thought this was good, but it didn’t necessarily stand out to me in the sea of books about missing girls? Definitely better written than most. B+.


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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in June. Content warning for brief scenes of animal abuse and child abuse.

2019 book 65

Sarah Gailey's Magic for Liars

I liked Gailey's novella about historical hippos a lot, so was psyched to check out her first full length novel. Our protagonist is your typical world weary, hard drinking, hard boiled private eye, taking on the usual cases involving adulterous spouses—until the headmaster of the school where her twin sister teaches hires her to investigate the murder of another teacher. And, oh yeah, IT'S A MAGIC SCHOOL. Bam! This was a really fun book and the mystery and magical elements both totally worked for me. Great characters too. I can’t wait to see what Gailey does next. A/A-.

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

2019 book 64

Julia Phillips' Disappearing Earth
Phillips' debut is sort of a series of interconnected stories, involving the locals of a town in Russia where a pair of young sisters were abducted. I found some of these characters more interesting than others, of course, and wished they had come together a little bit sooner. Still, this is a complicated portrayal of grief, loss, love, family live, inter-generational conflicts, etc. I especially appreciated Phillips' depiction of white Russian racism toward ethnic Northern populations. I did have mixed feelings about the ending, but mostly liked it? I don't know. B.


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

2019 book 63

K.J. Charles' Proper English
I'd heard good things about this and was in the mood for something cute, so a lesbian romance novel set at an English house party seemed like it would fit the bill. And I was already super into it--the characters are interesting, the romance is sweet, and the writing is great--when, halfway through, a murder occurs, and our new romantic duo must solve it! YESSSSS!!!!!!! The mystery is mildly underbaked, but of course this is primarily a romance novel that just happens to have a lil murder mystery in it, and is satisfying in that regard. This was awesome and I will definitely be reading more by this author. A/A-.

2019 book 62

Scarlett Thomas' Galloglass
Yayyyyyy the third book in Thomas' Worldquake series! This series is set in a near future world where all technology has basically gone back to 1992, there's an Otherworld full of magic and a mysterious Underworld, there are lots of rival groups of magic users, and a band of magical kids! The kids are once again learning more about themselves and their powers, which Thomas does a great job with, plus there are lots of cats in this one (one of the cats is a POV character!), and everyone has to come together to foil another evil plot. Content warning here for child abuse, though Thomas handles and resolves it really well. Anyway, hooray magic and research and cats! Can’t wait for more in this series. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 21st.

2019 book 61

Scarlett Thomas' The Chosen Ones
The second book in Thomas' Worldquake series deepens the world building, introduces new characters and mysteries, and has lots more magical friend action adventures! I like that the kids make realistic mistakes and then learn from them, and how they support and care about each other. I also like when they work together to foil evil plots! Yeah! By the way, if you are into personality tests, this series' website has a great one. I’m a witch-interpreter!

2019 book 60

Scarlett Thomas' Dragon's Green
The third book in Thomas' marvelous Worldquake series is out soon, so of course I wanted to reread the first two so everything would be fresh (and also because I love them!). This is a great start to a series—lots of magical adventures, a band of friends coming together and learning about their talents, bad guys, BOOKS, dragons, animal friends, etc. What more could you want in a book?

2019 book 59

Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Fleishman is in Trouble
The entire internet seems to be buzzing about this book, and I love the author's essays and profiles, so I was psyched to read her first novel. But it left me a little bit cold. It centers on a 41-year-old man, in the process of divorcing, who's trying to be a good dad to his kids and a good doctor where he works, except he’s obsessed with hooking up with women via dating apps. Like I really needed about 80 percent less of this guy and his horny thoughts. Once we meet the narrator, things are a little more interesting, and I liked the last say 20 percent a lot (the end is amazing), but I just was not feeling this. Maybe it’s because I’m not married and don’t have kids, and it seems to be thinking deeply about those subjects? Or maybe because so much of it is about a dude thinking about all the ladies he is banging or wants to bang. Maybe both! But the more I think about it, the more depressing I find it. B.

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

2019 book 58

Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog
I've actually never read anything by Willis before--I had the impression from reading reviews of her more recent works that they tended toward the ponderous--but this was an absolute delight. Time travel shenanigans, a heroine who lives by the sage writings of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers (a woman after my own heart), a hero who looks good in a boater, a lovable dog and incorrigible cat, etc etc. It's all very hilarious, though there is a fair amount of tension--CAN the time-traveling duo get history back on track in time for the big church restoration thing their determined patroness is organizing? This was a lot of fun, though the hero is frustratingly slow on the uptake. Open the basket, Ned!!! Anyway, hooray cats and dogs and time travel. A-.

2019 book 57

Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky
The fifth Jackson Brodie book finds Jackson . . . oh who cares about that, REGGIE IS BACK! And it’s ten years later and she's a police detective!! I mean, Jackson is also there, doing the private eye thing with his teen son in tow, and there's a human trafficking ring and ALSO a ring of pedophiles, so that is all pretty grim. I’m not sure this was a mystery, per se, but it’s interesting to watch all the pieces come together. And all of the POV characters are interesting, especially Reggie and the trophy wife of a local bigwig. (Give Reggie a spin-off series!) The framing sections felt a bit shoehorned in but I liked them just the same. I do hope to see more with these characters. A-.

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

2019 book 56

Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog
The fourth Jackson Brodie book is rough going—neglected children, gruesome crime scenes, lots of talk of serial killers, etc—but there is a very good DOG in it (Atkinson writes great dogs!). I actually am not sure what I want to say about this one, it leaves me feeling all in a muddle.

2019 book 55

Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News
One of the things I'm noticing on these rereads is the way Atkinson starts these books and how the initial scenes just draw you right in. And I love how the story comes together here—I had a friend say recently that all the coincidences in these books bother her, but I think it works better here than in the second one. Anyway, all of that is overpowered by my love for REGGIE, who a wonderfully determined and funny girl. I would watch hours of a Jackson-Reggie buddy cop series (featuring the actors from the actual BBC show, of course).

2019 book 54

Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn
The second Jackson Brodie book revolves around events and people at the Edinburge Fringe Festival--a sad-sack crime novelist, the wife of a crooked businessman (she's my favorite), a terrible comedian, a policewoman dealing with a teenage son, a mysterious road rage incident, a dead girl lost beneath the waves, etc etc--and Jackson finds himself caught up in the middle of things. And it’s all very chaotic and sometimes even funny before it comes to a wild and satisfying conclusion!

2019 book 53

Kate Atkinson's Case Histories 
Atkinson has a NEW JACKSON BRODIE BOOK coming out this summer, the first in eight years, which means I have to reread the first four to get ready! Not that I'm complaining; this is a compellingly-written and moving series of well-plotted mysteries. In this first one, private detective (and former cop) Jackson Brodie deals with a series of cases involving murdered or missing women and girls—and is tormented by one from his own past. The stories are all resolved in a satisfying way to the reader, and leaves one eager to see what Brodie will get up to next.

2019 book 52

Laila Lalami's The Other Americans
If I have any complaints about Lalami's earlier novels, it's that they were sometimes a little bit dense, but this one was getting great reviews so I wanted to give it a chance--and I found it VERY readable, with great writing, while still touching on serious themes. It centers on the death of an immigrant from Morocco in a hit-and-run; was it an accident or not? And it's narrated by a really interesting cast of characters--primarily the man's daughter and wife; a childhood friend of his daughter, a war vet who is now a sheriff's deputy; and an illegal immigrant who witnessed the death; but there are others as well (including the man himself, as flashbacks). I did find the antagonists somewhat clumsily written (or maybe I just don’t spend time with openly racist white people and so it just seemed that way), but otherwise this was a beautiful book. A/A-.

2019 book 51

Melina Marchetta's The Place on Dalhousie
Don’t mind me, I’m just over here blubbering about the latest novel from Marchetta! This is the third of her books set in the world of Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son; the kids are now in their mid-twenties, so I guess we're out of the YA realm now. Jimmy is the focus of this one—along with the girl he's impregnated, and her stepmother, who are feuding over the house her father built. As usual, the plot is interesting (and has a couple of surprises), but it's the characters that really shine. I just love all these kids and their friendships and love for one another, and now they support each other. I don’t see that enough in books. Anyway, I loved this, of course. A.

2019 book 50

Melina Marchetta's The Piper's Son
God, I love Marchetta's characters and this world she's built. This takes place I think five years after Saving Francesca, and focuses on Francesca's friend Tom and his family--which fell apart after a tragic loss, and is struggling to come back together. Just gorgeous writing and compassion here, and a lot of humor as well. SO GOOD.

2019 book 49

Jessica Day George's The Queen's Secret
The second book in the Rose Legacy series is more fun magical horse girl adventures, though things are serious this time around, as the horse brigade tries to stop a deadly disease from spreading. I think the plot here could have been a bit better developed, and the villain's villainy is WAY over the top, but I liked the lady scientists and of course still love all the horses and their riders! Cute series for sure, I look forward to seeing how the next one turns out. B+.

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

2019 book 48

Melina Marchetta's Saving Francesca
I'm rereading this old favorite because Marchetta wrote a THIRD book featuring these characters, currently winging its way to me from Australia, and I need to brush up before it arrives! Anyway, I straight up LOVE this book and these characters dealing with their messy teenage lives (and a mother dealing with serious depression). Just funny and sweet and sad and really moving. Great stuff.

2019 book 47

Nell Freudenberger's Lost and Wanted
As of the time of this writing, this book is the "#1 best seller in ghost fiction" on Amazon, which I didn't even know was a category, but ok. I think Freudenberger is an underrated author, but this book may do something to change that, because it's great! It's narrated by a physicist who is receiving communications from the phone and email accounts of a recently deceased friend. It's also about being a woman in a male-dominated academic field, about the friendship between the women, about grief, about sexism and racism, about motherhood, and about physics. I found the narrative voice here really engaging and really did think this was GREAT. A.

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

2019 book 46

K. Chess' Famous Men Who Never Lived
Literary novels about things like multiverses are my catnip, y'all. This one centers on Hel, a woman whose version of America was beset by terrorism and nuclear war, so when a portal to our version was created, 156,000 people made it through before the world apparently ended on the other side. Now Hel is obsessed with why the timelines split, and with starting a museum to preserve her world's lost culture. Meanwhile, her partner is more interested in assimilation. I thought this was a really interesting book--great concept and world-building--but it kind of went off the rails for me a little bit. Like I needed it either to settle on being an action-packed sort of story or a psychological one. I did like it a lot--I found the end to be satisfying--but parts of the middle felt a bit muddled. Still, a cool take on multiverses, if you are into that sort of thing! B/B+.

2019 book 45

Agatha Christie's 4:50 From Paddington
The public library recently added a bunch of e-books by Christie, and here we go, a Miss Marple mystery I hadn't read yet! I had actually seen an adaptation of this in one of the tv shows, but it was still an exciting read. It centers on a middle-aged lady, returning from a shopping trip, who sees a man strangling a woman in a passing train! But no one believes her--except Miss Marple. So Miss Marple--and a very capable assistant put into position as a housekeeper--take the case! And she is is much more efficient than the police, haha. I love Miss Marple. A/A-.

2019 book 44

Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower
In general, I eagerly await new books from Leckie, but was especially anticipating this one—her first fantasy novel! It’s narrated by an old god, in the second person singular, directed to the young (trans) aide to the local leader's heir. Lots of interesting politics and adventure and gods and power and a bit of mystery, etc etc. I enjoyed this a lot! Great characters and world-building. I think I wanted sliiiiightly more from the end, but I did find it fitting. Yeah, this was good. A/A-.

2019 book 43

Miriam Toews' Women Talking
Toews' latest novel was inspired by a true story--where the women and girls in an isolated Mennonite community were repeatedly drugged and raped, and finally the eight men behind the heinous acts were caught. In Toews' novel, in the aftermath of the event, two families of women are meeting to decide what to do in two days when the men return from being bailed out of prison--will they do nothing, and forgive the men (as their pastor urges, and to ensure they are admitted to heaven), will they stay in the community and fight back, or will they leave? The novel is narrated by a man, something of an outsider, who is taking meeting minutes as none of the women can read or write. It’s a stunning novel, almost entirely a conversation among these women, who are basically having a philosophical debate. And it’s not too brutal, considering the subject matter. I do actually think “stunning” is the best word to describe it, because it’s so well written but also I feel a bit stunned. A.

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

2019 book 42

Ursula Vernon's Castle Hangnail
Sometimes you just want to reread something cute and funny and SATISFYING! And this fits the bill. It’ll have you rooting for the heroes . . .  even if they are twelve year old Wicked Witches, minions, and Minotaurs! Which, I mean, they are, and it’s awesome.

2019 book 41

Linda Holmes' Evvie Drake Starts Over
Do you want to read a book that is really GOOD, with a cute romance, but that is also really REAL? Read this book, y’all. It’s set in a small town in Maine, where the titular Evvie is a young widow—who secretly was planning to leave her husband the day he died. And now her best friend has a friend who is coming to live in her attached apartment, and he is a famous baseball player suffering from THE YIPS. Their burgeoning friendship is really satisfying, I found all the characters to be really realistic, flaws and all, and I was rooting for pretty much all of them. I just like reading a book where nice people get their shit together, you know? Just really engaging all around. A/A-.

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

2019 book 40

Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop
I don't think I've read anything by Fitzgerald before, but this volume was a good introduction. It centers on a middle-aged widow who decides to open a bookshop in her small town--thereby igniting a very slow-moving war of wills with a local prominent society woman. Also, her bookstore has a poltergeist. This did not go where I expected it to, though it was a realistic view of society. Great and powerful story but definitely got me in the gut. A-.

2019 book 39

Julie Berry's Lovely War
It's 1942, and the Greek god Hephaestus has just trapped Aphrodite and Ares with a golden net, and now Aphrodite is telling the story of one of her great works of love, of a young girl and a soldier during WWI. It is convenient for an author to have a love goddess meddling in the story, as the reader can more easily buy into the characters' insta-love. I was caught up in the story for a while, but eventually grew impatient with the melodrama and cheesiness. Just not for me. B/B-.

2019 book 38

Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread
I’ve been a fan of Oyeyemi's writing for a long time, but I am really feeling her recent books in a big way. When I finished this one, I seriously like sighed and said out loud, “that was AWESOME.” I am not going to try and summarize the plot because I don’t think I can do it in a way that makes it properly appealing. Instead I will say that it involves fantasy and fairy tales and gingerbread (this made me so hungry for my own lost-childhood-gingerbread) and mothers and daughters and and and anyway I loved it. It WAS awesome. A.

2019 book 37

Amy Rose Capetta's The Lost Coast
I am pretty much here for any and all books about queer teen witches, so enjoyed this for sure. There is kind of a lot going on here, with new girls and magic and spells and storms and romance and a whole murder mystery element. I actually think the book would have been better without the mystery stuff, which just popped up occasionally, felt shoehorned in, and had an unsatisfying conclusion. The story about a group of girls bonding and trying to rescue one of their own was enough on its own, for me. Anyway, this should be made into a movie, because today's teens need their own version of The Craft. B+.

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

2019 book 36

Margaret Dumas' Murder at the Palace
Don't be fooled by the title--this isn't like a Regency-era historical mystery. It's contemporary and the titular Palace is a movie theater that shows classic movies! Our heroine is fleeing Hollywood and her famous actor husband (and his famous affair with a famous actress) and her best friend sets her up managing said movie theater in San Francisco. Of course she immediately finds a dead body and we're off to the races. Also, the theater is HAUNTED! There is not a ton of plot to the mystery, and the Macguffin is pretty obvious, but the characters and setting were a lot of fun—this is the first in a series that I’ll definitely be reading more of. A-.

2019 book 35

Melina Marchetta’s Quintana of Charyn
Marchetta's Lumatere trilogy concludes with a book that feels lighter-hearted than its predecessors, despite having more battle scenes. There is just more humor and more justice in this one! And more kindness. A satisfying final chapter.

2019 book 34

Melina Marchetta's Froi of the Exiles
Woof, I forgot that a lot of the plot of this one revolves around sexual assault/unwanted sexual contact (a princess who has to try and conceive a child to reverse a curse). So major warnings there. Otherwise, this is a solid second chapter of an interesting epic fantasy trilogy--lots of politics and action and newfound families and friends, and stubborn men dealing with their romantic feelings. I am sometimes more interested in the secondary characters in this one, but that's because Marchetta makes them so compelling!

2019 book 33

Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock
I wanted to read another epic fantasy sort of story, but nothing I started was hitting the right note, so I decided to reread this. I like this story a lot—Marchetta is one of my favorite authors—but there is a lot of rape and brutality that makes it hard to read. Anyway, it’s kind of your classic fantasy story, gotta reclaim a kingdom from a magical curse, but the focus here is really on the relationships between the characters, which I appreciate.

2019 book 32

Victoria Goddard's The Hands of the Emperor
Sometimes the best thing is just to sink into a very long and very interesting fantasy novel! This is a stand-alone, I think, but set in the same universe as Goddard's Greenwing and Dart books. And like those, the central relationship is a friendship between two men—only here, one is the Secretary and de facto head of the government to the other, the Emperor, who is also a living god. I will say this is a very absorbing story considering that it is not particularly action-packed—there’s lots of politicking, and feelings, and improving governments, and family stuff, and friendships between a bunch of middle aged men, and I enjoyed it very much. I did wish there had been a closer edit—there are several typos and a fair number of repetitions. That is a minor quibble, though. I am definitely excited for whatever Goddard does next. A/A-.

2019 book 31

Minnie Darke's Star-Crossed
I wanted to read something cute, and the description of this made it seem like it could either be cute or kind of annoying. Unfortunately, it was more of the latter. It’s about a young woman (in Australia) who wants to be a journalist. Then she encounters the boy she grew up with—and had a crush on—and uses her job at a local paper to start messing with his horoscope in an effort to spark a romance. I was not at all invested in either of them, but Darke does introduce some little side characters who are ALSO impacted by the fake horoscopes, and that little throughline was a lot more interesting to me. Still, I kept putting this down to play iPhone games and was in no rush to get back to it. It was FINE, just not particularly satisfying to me. B.

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

2019 book 30

Lauren Wilkinson's American Spy
I was really excited to read a spy novel centering on a black woman in the 1980s, and while the book does get a bit into the discrimination she faced, it went off the rails a bit for me. Like, I wanted her to be competent, and we don’t see that much—instead she is distracted by romantic feelings. The novel is written as a letter to her young sons, so some information is missing by default, but it also means the end is somewhat inconclusive. I liked the way the character and her relationships with her family were all written, but just found the actual spy parts kind of disappointing. B.

2019 book 29

E.K. Johnston's The Afterward
I think I have loved all the books I’ve read by Johnston, and this was no exception! It’s your typical epic fantasy magical quest sort of novel, except it mostly takes place after said quest (there are occasional flashbacks, mainly dealing with the romantic relationship between the two protagonists). Lots of great diversity of all kinds here, and it feels effortless, which is nice. Said protagonists are a pair of young women, an apprentice knight (almost all the knights are women!!) and a thief, and both are interesting and likable POV characters who you'll be rooting for. This was a lot of fun and just a really nice read, if you know what I mean. A/A-.

2019 book 28

Cecelia Ahern's Roar
Ahern's latest feels like a departure for her—it’s a collection of feminist fables, each with a different unnamed woman as its protagonist. Some are biting, some incisive, some funny, some moving; all are  angry. I will say that I kept thinking they were going to build to something, all come together, and that wasn’t really the case. I also don’t recommend reading this all in one go, as they sort of lose power when you read one after another after another. But I definitely do recommend checking this out. A-.

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

2019 book 27

Kate Hope Day's If, Then
This debut novel was SUPER interesting and compelling. It centers on a few people who suddenly start seeing visions of alternate versions of their lives—a chief of surgery who sees herself married to a (woman) coworker instead of her husband; said husband, who sees a ravaged version of himself and  falls into a prepper hole; a young realtor who sees her recently deceased mother; and a philosophy grad student trying to balance her career with her newborn baby. I feel like it all came together in a way that worked and was also satisfying. And anyway, you know I love a novel with parallel worlds! Lots of good stuff here and I look forward to seeing what this author does next. A-.

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

2019 book 26

Sally Rooney's Normal People
Rooney writes books that, when you describe them, sound maybe like general/women's fiction, but she definitely has a more literary bent. That is maybe why I found this sliiiiightly dissatisfying! It's about two people, starting as teens, when she is a rich social outcast, and he is the popular son of her house cleaner, and how they come together and apart through high school and college. I read this pretty much in one sitting and was totally into it, even though much of the conflict could have been cleared up if either party was willing to have an honest conversation about their feelings. I don’t know what sort of resolution would have satisfied me here, but the ending here left me a little empty. A-.

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

2019 book 25

Fran Wilde's Riverland
So this book is a bit of a rough read—it’s about a girl in a physically and emotionally abusive home, trying to protect her younger sister and herself, when a river to a magical place appears under her bed. There is some good stuff here about learning to trust, and I liked the relationship between the sisters, but I wanted a bit more from the ending. B+.

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

2019 book 24

Jaclyn Moriarty’s Gravity Is The Thing
I know this book isn’t out until July, but I couldn’t wait to read Moriarty's first novel aimed at adults! This has everything I love about Moriarty's books—the hilariously dry narrative voice, complicated families, lots of love. It centers on a woman who has received chapters of a mysterious Guidebook over the years, and now is being invited to a retreat where The Truth will be revealed. Why not check it out? This was just wonderful. Moriarty is one of my favorite writers, one I read when I am down or just in a reading rut, and she always makes me happy. I hope this brings a lot of new readers her way. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher.

2019 book 23

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.

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-.

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.

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+.

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.

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-.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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+.

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+.

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+.

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.

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+.

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.

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.

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-.

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.

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.

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+.

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-.

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+.

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+.

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.

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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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.

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.

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.

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-.

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.

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-.

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

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-.

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.

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-.

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+.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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-.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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+.

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-.

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.

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!