Stitched

Stitched by Eli McCann (2026), 280 pages  

 The Ogden Quilter's Association is in need of new members. It has just been announced that the largest quilting competition in the US will be next to their hometown and they are determined to beat out their rival quilter's guild. Enter two gay men whom have never quilted but are up to the challenge.

This was a very endearing story. I am an unskilled (but trying) quilter and very much enjoyed hearing about their process. Even I, though, knew that their idea for the competition quilt was a bit shaky. The novel really follows the friendship of the women who have been quilting together for decades; how they have worked together, became friends, irritated each other, but still managed to show-up. While the new recruits for the association bring some humor, it is the long-lasting friendship that really drives the novel. It was a fun, quick read. 

 

ExtraOrdinary

 

ExtraOrdinary by V.E. Schwab and Enid Balám, 112 pages.

After a near-fatal bus crash, Charlotte Tills gains the ability to see people's deaths in their reflections. Her own reflection is haunted by a strange man, a man in a prison uniform named Eli Ever. Waiting for her fate is driving her crazy, as is seeing her family's deaths in every surface, so she decides to go hunting for him instead. 

 This comic falls between books one and two in Schwab's Villains series, and I'm afraid it just didn't work for me as well as Vicious. I liked what we saw of the new characters, but with so many in a very short book what we saw of them wasn't very much. I also didn't appreciate that we played a little loose with the events of the first book. I expect changes in a comic adaptation to make things shorter, but as there realistically wasn't a lot of point in rehashing the same scenes to start with, it felt like a weakness. There were a few cool concepts, but I wouldn't exactly call it a standout graphic novel.

 

Vicious

 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab, 402 pages.

Ten years ago Victor and Eli discovered the secret to superhuman abilities, running dark and dangerous experiments that changed them both forever. Now their college days are far behind them; Victor has broken out of prison and Eli has gone down a darker path, seeking to eliminate every super-powered person he can find. Victor's drive for revenge will set them on a collision course, and heroics aren't part of the agenda. 

This was a really interesting take on superpowers with a bit of a dark academia bent. I liked how the story moved back and forth between the past and the present, allowing for backstory and getting to the action in a timely way. This book is a lot of fun, and I plan to get to the sequel soon!

Daughters of the Sun and Moon

 Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See (2026), 384 pages

It is 1870 Los Angeles and Dove, Petal, and Moon have just arrived in this foreign land. They soon discover that the Gold Mountain (America) is not as welcoming as promised. While they each end up in very different circumstances, they remain connected as they navigate this new world while trying to survive. 

The novel is a very interesting look into early Chinese immigration, especially through the lens of women. I had not heard of the Night of Horrors or much about violent gangs that ruled the Chinese neighborhoods in early Los Angeles. As with most early immigrants, the number of hardships they faced makes you appreciate how bad it was at home that they kept arriving. I am not sure I would have survived long. I enjoyed the novel but wish there would have been a bit more connection to the main characters. They often seemed separate and aloof - especially since they were dealing with some pretty hard situations.

Please Enjoy Your Stay

Please Enjoy Your Stay by Tara Goedjen, 320 pages

When Mia was a child, her cousin was murdered while they stayed at a remote Austrian inn. Mia's aunt was a true crime writer planning a book about the inn's sordid history when it happened, and while Mia's testimony put the killer behind bars, the court of public opinion pinned the blame on Mia's aunt. While things have died down over the past several years, a new true crime podcast is reopening the case and casting doubt on Mia's testimony. In an attempt to shield her aunt from further scrutiny, Mia finagles her way into a job as a nanny for the influencer who is renovating the inn, hoping that by being back at the scene of the crime, she can find some more proof.

As with a lot of thrillers, there's a serious disconnect between reality and the high-stakes antics of the plot. Most of them, I can forgive. However, the one that I just can't buy is that the helicopter mom influencer would hire a woman with ZERO childcare abilities as the new nanny in a construction zone. It was a good escape, but nothing amazing.

Whistler

Whistler by Ann Patchett (2026) 295 pages

Daphne and her sister Leda are extremely close. They have careers and husbands they love. When Daphne and her husband chance upon their mother's second husband Eddie in a New York City museum, all sorts of feelings come flooding back to Daphne after 40-something years apart. What follows is a series of visits and conversations mostly about how special Eddie was to the girls for the couple of years that Eddie and their mother were together. Eddie and Daphne were in a car accident when she was nine, which seemed to result in the end of their mother and Eddie's marriage, but why? The various relationships between the family members, including Daphne and Leda's mother and father, as well as Daphne's stepdaughters and Leda's son, all mesh beautifully into a book that is hard to set down. And why is there a horse on the book's cover. Read and find out! Highly recommended.

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, 480 pages

Maggie has woken up naked, cold, and dirty in an alley, which she quickly learns is Kair Toren, the central city of her favorite book series. Then she promptly dies. Next thing she knows, she's waking up again in the same state as before, only this time, she's determined to survive. While it takes a few more life reboots to achieve her goal, she's soon ensconced among the dangerous and elite of Kair Toren, positioning herself as a seer by using her knowledge of the series. The only problem is that the series is unfinished, so there's definitely a limit to how much she can know, and if she changes things too much, well, that's pretty rough  too.

The fantasy trope of waking up in a favorite fictional world is an increasingly popular one (it's official name is "isekai," as it started as a common manga trope), and this is definitely a good example of the subgenre/trope, with the protagonist waking up in a vaguely Game of Thrones-esque world. However, as we never learn how Maggie got there or why she keeps reviving after her various deaths, it feels a bit unfinished. Similarly, the readers are told about the upcoming events only by Maggie's POV recollections of the books, so it feels like we're just along for the ride instead of becoming fully immersed in the world. I would've loved to get a bit of backstory before Maggie was deposited in Kair Toren, just to give us a glimpse of outcomes in the unaltered book-within-a-book. As it is, the plot meanders with no arc that is clear to us. That said, I'll definitely read the next book in this series, as I am curious as to where it all goes. But there are plenty of other isekai books I'd recommend first.

The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays

The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston, 416 pages

Oona the St. Berdoodle is known throughout the neighborhood, either as a loveable and smart pal or as a pesky and smart annoyance. When Oona and her current owner Zsuzsu start to investigate the death of a local celebrity, Oona's ability to travel between universes becomes a necessity to finding the killer. Unfortunately, the killer knows who Oona is, and the dog and her humans have to work fast to stay ahead of the murderer.

This is quite possibly one of the strangest and most scattered books I've read in a while. The characters are vibrant, but the plot is confusing, and a couple months after reading it, I still have no idea what I read. I may give it another go at some point, but that first go-round was a doozy.

Ode to the Half-Broken

Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer, 416 pages

Thirty years after a war that has left humans and robots on generally bad terms — most robots are afraid of humans and vice versa, so they stay away from each other as much as possible. As this book starts, an old robot who was involved in that war (but has purposely tried to remove himself from the dystopian world he helped create) has woken up with his systems rebooting and a leg missing, and there's only a chatty cyborg dog around to offer help. As he heads out to track down his leg, he soon discovers that tensions are again rising, and teams up with a human mechanic and a handful of other damaged bots to stamp out the source of the problems.

This is a lovely found-family story that, at its heart, gives us hope that the titular half-broken individuals can do powerful things when they come together. It's also a route to self-discovery and healing from the mental trauma of war, which exists no matter what role you played in the conflict. I loved this book, and I highly recommend it to fans of Becky Chambers and Annalee Newitz.

Girl's Girl

 

Girl's Girl by Sonia Feldman, 241 pages

A suburban Midwest summer from the eyes of a 15 year-old girl and her two best friends. As girlhood fades away, Mina struggles with the boundaries and tensions in her friendships with Margaret and Eleanor, while also grappling with her sexuality and a complex relationship with her mother. 

This book paints a beautiful and painful picture of girlhood, reminiscent of how big every emotion can feel at 15. There is definitely a specific audience for this book, and those who grew up queer in the Midwest might find themselves in this audience, but it will not speak to every reader.