Lady Eve's Last Con

 

Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow, 368 pages.

Ruthi has been looking after her younger sister her whole life, taking them from cardsharking as kids to small-time cons on the interstellar cruise line circuit. Then Jules falls in love with a mark, who leaves her pregnant and heartbroken, and Ruthi swears revenge. She makes herself a debutante disguise and goes to glamorous New Monte, where the rich and privileged live it up to a degree only possible in this kind of glitzy sci-fi. But the mark has a sister, and Sol Mendez-Yuki is much sharper than her brother (also less self-absorbed, and much hotter), and it doesn't take long for Sol to sense something off. Ruthi will have to choose wealth and revenge or her heart, and the choice isn't nearly as easy as she would hope. 

There's a lot of character decisions in this book that weren't particularly plausible, but it was just so darn stylish. Anti-grav operas, Venetian-style fashion rebreathers, and a tiny beach satellite held together by gravity sell a very specific flavor of sci-fi that I find very fun, and I had a great time reading this book. Everything is over-the-top in a way that feels totally unselfconscious, and I think it really works. Definitely recommend for anyone looking for some fun, silly sci-fi.

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage

 

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, 237 pages

In this memoir, Belle Burden recounts the shock of her husband leaving her and her children at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, after 20 years of marriage. She revisits the early days of their marriage, their family dynamics, and warning signs she might've missed. She also writes about picking up the pieces after he leaves, dealing with lawyers and divorce court, financial troubles, depression and raising her kids during the pandemic. 

I will admit, as a young person who has never experienced marriage, I was probably not the target audience for this book, however I did enjoy reading it for the most part. Belle writes her story with grace and honesty. I particularly enjoyed her journey to finding her own voice as a single woman after being controlled for so many years by her husband. I think her privilege as a white woman with generational wealth makes this a hard read at times, especially when she is describing her financial and living situations, it can be hard to empathize for her. 

The Disappearers

The Disappearers by Marlon James (2026), 640 pages 

This book is A LOT. It is not an easy read. The novel follows several men after they are brutally attacked in 1980s Jamaica. I have not read Marlon James before, but have heard this is his writing style - incessant, gritty, and a no-holds barred look on life as a gay man. James definitely conveys what it feels like to be a gay man in 80s Jamaica; from the homophobia, hatred, moral struggle, ostracization, and violence to the very real fear of contracting AIDs and what it means to be HIV+.  He does not hold back in describing all of it in very intimate details. The novel explorers the different ways the men handled the brutal attack and how they moved forward (or not) in processing it. My one small quibble is the ending. I won't spoil it, but I don't believe it would have happened like that. He meant too much to him. 

Carls' Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler book #2)

 Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman. 400 pages. © 2026

These books are a wild ride. I feel like I've been reading them forever and I'm only on the second book! There's so much going on in this series, these books are crammed with weirdo alien creatures, weirdo alien creature talk shows, hobgoblin dynamite, magic spells--it almost seems like too much, but somehow everything still works. This second book is starting to get into some world-building once Carl and Princess Donut get past the training levels and start getting an intergalactic following even though Carl seems determined to smash the system from within. Hopefully by the 8th book that happens. And no, I have not finished the Veiled Prophet book yet, but I'm almost done :) 

The Chronicles of Doom

 The Chronicles of Doom: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast by S.H. Fernando Jr. 352 pgs. © 2024

This was a great introduction into a fascinating figure in modern hip hop. Doom was born Daniel Dumile and was the anti-rap performer--he didn't want notoriety, he didn't want to be recognized on the street or flash a bunch of cash and expensive cars everywhere he went. He grew up on a steady diet of cartoons and comic books and Japanese monster movies. His first music project with his brother Subroc was KMD in the late 80s/early 90s. When Subroc died young and the record label abandoned the group, Doom adopted his favorite comic book villain as his namesake and donned a eerily similar looking mask to that of Victor Von Doom, aka Doctor Doom from Marvel Comics. The mask gave Dumile anonymity but more importantly, it gave him a mysterious presence that was missing from the genre. Much of Doom's creative contributions to hip-hop include using old cartoon samples for his beats while rhyming in the third person. He played the villain for everything he could, even booking shows and having other people pretend to be him during the performances, infuriating promoters and concert goers alike, but his fan base never seemed to falter from hanging on his every word. 

The Daisy Chain Flower Shop

The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore (2026) 364 pages

A florist in a small resort town is considered by her townspeople to be cursed because of bad luck in her lovelife: a broken marriage and more recently, a broken engagement. She loses the biggest money-making part of her business‒weddings‒because no one wants to have her curse ruin their marriage. (Mind you, the story is set in modern times.) This florist, Daisy, is from a line of Daisies working in this shop: her mother, her grandmother, and so on. She's afraid her buisness will not survive.

Enter Elliot, a shy man who has moved to this town to get away from New York, where he had lived with his wife until she abruptly left him. His self confidence is shot. His mother and brother are worried and constantly checking up on him, even a couple of years later. If he had a relationship with someone else, his family would not fret so much.

Daisy, who is also fearful of another bad relationship, comes up with the idea of them having a fake relationship, thinking that the townspeople might think her curse is over and that they can trust her with their weddings again. All of this lead-up feels so contrived. But. If you want a light read and can just accept the implausible, it's not a bad story, even if its outcome seems obvious.

Strange Girls

 

Strange Girls by Sarvat Hasin, 307 pages

Aliya and Ava develop a close friendship during their years at University in London, a friendship that is formed on their shared interest of creative writing. They spend every minute together, staying up late intertwined on the couch watching movies, bringing each other coffee in the morning, and planning a future as drifting writers together. From their friends and families perspectives, they are too close and are becoming increasingly codependent on each other. As things get more intense, their time at University comes to a close, and their lives take different paths. 

What I loved about this story is the narration. Each chapter switches between the past, told by Aliya, and the present told by Ava. The present chapters follow Ava in adulthood, as she is back in London for a weekend to stay with Aliya for their mutual friends bachelorette party. Aliya's chapters talk about their time at University, focusing heavily on Aliya's fascination with Ava and the mental toll this takes on her. Neither character is necessarily likable, but it is interesting that the narration twists together these two characters as the story unfolds. 

I had a few small qualms about this book, mostly because the trope of characters in literary fiction can get worn out and that is how I felt during parts of this book. It made some parts feel too predictable and scripted, although other aspects of the story made up for this. 

The Pirate Queen

 

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon, 528 pages.

Gráinne Ní Mháille (or Grace O'Malley, as she is better known to English speakers) was born in Ireland in the 16th century, coming of age right as the English crown decided to strengthen their claim to Ireland. Grace was the daughter of a powerful chief, leader of a sea-faring clan, and all her life she longed not only for the sea, but for the independence her dominance could offer her. Her political control of many of the clans of Ireland, combined with her fearless piracy, rendered her the most powerful woman in Ireland, someone bold enough to appear before Queen Elizabeth herself. 

There isn't really a way to make the story of an anti-colonial pirate queen boring, so I can grant that this book had interesting parts, but I don't believe the style it was written in does it any favors. The chapters rotate between Maiden, Mother, and Matriarch, following Grace through various stages in her life. Unfortunately, what I found this did in effect was kill any possible momentum the book was building. The structure already often felt like a series of vignettes, which makes an amount of sense when trying to cover nearly six decades of a life, but the sense of disconnect was strengthened by having long stretches of events that occurred decades before whatever exciting thing was interrupted. I had a hard time remembering what was happening when by the end, as the three timelines began to join together.

There were a few other writing choices I found minorly frustrating, such as the narration usually referring to the protagonist as Grace to appeal to the recognizable historical figure, even though every time she is called Grace by another character it is taken as an insult; the somewhat two-dimensional supporting cast; or the sort of over-saturated "girl power" tone it sometimes took. I did appreciate that Lawhon did a good job of setting the scene for 16th century Ireland. Despite how interesting the subject is, I don't know that I'll be recommending this book. 

The Grandmother Plot

The Grandmother Plot by Caroline Cooney (2021) 269 pages

Freddy lives in his grandmother's house and visits her frequently in the memory care facility where she now lives. She doesn't always call him by the correct name, but she seems to recognize him and she likes it when he pushes her in her wheelchair on walks. He's solicitous of her wellbeing. But he also smokes a lot of weed when he's not with her. He barely makes a living creating glass beads and glass bongs. To complicate everything, somehow he has gotten himself on the wrong side of a crook who has sent his muscle to find Freddy.

Meanwhile, a woman who lives in the memory center with Freddy's grandmother has died, and the police say it was murder by smothering. Freddy's sisters, who are all out of town, are after him to get Grandma out of the center, but they can't help and they don't realize that Grandma couldn't safely live in her house anymore. Freddy's in a panic about what to do about his grandma and he is also worried about a couple of his friends who were arrested after being set up. Could he be next?

Although this novel is somewhat depressing, there are enough characters who grabbed my interest, including a dog named Snap, who has a reputation for biting, and Mrs. Maple, whose aunt is in the same facility. Freddy is likeable, even as he makes questionable choices. A final thought: the author really knows people who live with dementia and what it's like inside a memory care facility.

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness

 

I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness by Irene Solà trans. Mara Faye Lethem, 176 pages.

In a small farmhouse deep in the Guilleries mountains, an impossibly old woman is about to die. Long ago, longer than should be possible, her great grandmother made a deal with the devil, a whole man for a husband in exchange for her soul. A trick leaves Joana with her soul, but the generations who will live and die in the house are not unaffected, as everyone born in the house is born lacking something essential, and even now their spirits prepare a feast to welcome Bernadeta to their number. 

 

I picked up this strange book in Barcelona knowing very little about it, and while I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, I'm definitely glad I did. The author started as a poet, and you can definitely tell from how visceral the prose is. The book often transfers seamlessly from the past to the present, and it is often hard to tell if the character we are following is alive or dead. This makes for a slightly confusing reading experience, but definitely an interesting one. This reminded me quite a bit of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, with the strange insular family and the magical realism. This book is undeniably weird, but it packs a real punch for such a little novella, and I think it's definitely worth reading.