Siren Queen by Nghi Vo, 281 pages.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore, 480 pgs.
Mickey has always been a protector. She works hard to take care of herself, her son, and her community--all while fulfilling her duties as a Kensington police officer. This is no simple task, especially in the midst of the opioid crisis, and it is made more difficult by her close connection to the situation through her sister, Kacey, who has struggled with addiction most of her life. When Kacey's disappearance coincides with a string of suspicious deaths, Mickey must search her past and present to protect her loved ones.
It is rare that a story grabs my attention right from the beginning, but this book is immediately gripping. Liz Moore paints a complete picture of Kensington with a recognition of its problems and an overwhelming sense of empathy for its community. Mickey is flawed and strong and interesting. The switches between the past and present are really well done. Highly recommend as a thriller and as a thoughtful examination of the opioid crisis and the networks of people it impacts
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
The author's conversational first-person-style includes a huge number of footnotes, sometimes describing which real-life people her characters look like, discussing the works of other mystery writers, and much more. There are a number of times when she breaks the fourth wall and addresses her readers directly. I thought it was a quick fun read (although my colleague Kara has a differing opinion.) I'm looking forward to catching Mack's next book in the series, No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding. A television series is in the works for this series, as well.
Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen, 560 pages.
For the past couple of years, transportation tech firm Journy has been the hottest thing in Silicon Valley, making money hand over fist for its founders, investors, and executives. So when Journy's founder and CEO is found murdered in his office, it sends shockwaves through the tech industry, especially once it's revealed that the murdered man had changed his will a week beforehand, freezing all his assets until someone was on trial for his murder. As personal investigator for one of Journy's biggest investors, Mackenzie Clyde is put on the case with the FBI to find the murderer and unfreeze those assets, which include nearly $20 billion in shares. But as Mackenzie and the FBI dig into the case, they learn that there is a lot more to the murder than your average jealousy or greed, and this investigation will definitely not be a safe one.
This is a fast-paced and twisty tale that plays on all sorts of assumptions and stereotypes, urging the reader to follow the money while keeping us guessing. I'm not usually much of a thriller reader, but this one is as solid as they come. Hard to believe this is a debut novel, and I can't wait to see what Kerr comes up with next.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, 400 pgs.
Haymitch Abernathy is up before the sun. He has chores to complete if he is going to see his girl before the reaping, and she is the main thing on his mind. At first glance, this day is just like the reaping day of last year, and the year before that one, but today will change Haymitch's entire life. Before the sun sets, he will be carted off to the 50th annual Hunger Games, where he and forty-nine other teenagers will fight to the death until one "victor" prevails. Haymitch will soon learn that nothing is certain, and as much as one may try to mold their future (and past), outside forces are constantly trying to change its shape.
We have heard part of Haymitch's story before, told second-hand in the original Hunger Games trilogy, but his first-person account adds so much depth to what we already know. As readers, we come to realize that our prior knowledge is largely based on the Capitol-sponsored version of events, and we see how Haymitch's experience was twisted and misrepresented. Suzanne Collins has done it again.
Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer, 352 pages.
The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught, 147 pages.
Velveteen vs. The Early Adventures by Seanan McGuire, 629 pages.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi, 326 pages.
Emily is just 32 when her husband, Sandy, dies after being struck by a car. After Sandy's death, Emily begins to learn things about him that she didn't know—for one, that he had cheated on her.
Both of their points of view are told in alternating sections. The story grabbed my interest from the start, but when it was clear that Sandy was now giving his points of view from the body of a dog, I wasn't sure that the author could keep my interest. But she did. Somewhat weird, but the story is otherwise quite believable. I needed to find out what would happen in this fast-paced novel set in New York City.
Mose Sharp was the only son in a Jewish family with 7 children. His mother died young. His father had plans for Mose to join him in running his men's clothing shop. But Mose had a thirst for show business. He left his home in Iowa and worked doing anything to get himself on stage. His life became more stable when he filled in as the straight man for Rocky Carter, a slapstick comedian, which led to their partnership, a pairing which lasted decades, from the 1920s to well beyond WWII. The author often mentions many real-life performers in this era, which added to my interest.
I wasn't sure at first whether this book was for me, but it's got everything: realism, self-awareness, bits of sadness, all marinated with a good share of humor and love.
Sarah and Caleb got married right out of high school, racing against the clock so that Sarah's mom could be at their wedding before she lost her battle with ALS. Caleb was Sarah's rock and savior during those rough years, taking care of her while she dealt with the weight of caretaking and then struggled with her grief. Eleven years later, while Caleb works too many hours at his startup company, Sarah's struggling to remain relevant in her own life. When a friend suggests a weeklong couples camping trip (something that is completely foreign to the distinctly non-outdoorsy couple), Sarah sees it as a hail mary pass to save their marriage.
This is billed as a romance, and the cover makes it look like a pretty lighthearted one at that. But while there is a bit of spice, it's much more a book about a couple working on themselves to get through the rough spots in a marriage gone stale, and any of the authors attempts to lighten the mood feel a bit off. It's not a bad book per se, but I don't know that I'd recommend it to someone seeking a light romance.
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old by Hendrik Groen (trans. Hester Velmans), 400 pages.
This book is sweet and sad, but I do have to admit that I frequently found it a little dull. The end was devastatingly sad, and not in a way I personally found particularly satisfying. That being said, it was an interesting window into an underrepresented population.
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis, 304 pages.
Byron: 12 books, 3306 pages
Jan: 6 books, 1784 pages
John: 1 book, 328 pages
Kara: 10 books, 3721 pages
Kevin: 1 book, 272 pages
Regan: 11 books, 3234 pages
Totals: 41 books, 12,645 pages
A People's History of the Vampire Uprising by Raymond A. Villareal, 432 pages.
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman, 544 pages.
This was a slightly different type of book than the first two, but I think it did a really good job delving deeper into the themes of the series. I also don't think I've ever been more grateful for an author's note, which assured me before the book started that I didn't have to remember the many, many, many train line names and station numbers, thereby freeing me up to actually think about the story. I'm having a lot of fun with this series! I am currently impatiently waiting for book four to come in on hold.
You've seen Married to Medicine; you've seen The Real Housewives of New Jersey; now, get ready for Garden State Goddesses! This up-and-coming reality TV series is on its third season, and Eden was just named show-runner, after years of hard work. Nothing can get in Eden's way, as she captures (and at times orchestrates) the drama between a dynamic cast, including Carmela, the sharp-tongued socialite, Renee, the more amenable business-woman, and Hope, the naive newcomer and Eden's cousin with whom she shares a dark past. The organized chaos of upper-class pettiness spirals out of control after the death in the Garden State Goddesses community. Everyone expects drama, not death--what can be done?
This book is so much fun, especially for reality TV lovers! The characters are catty, the plot is full of wild twists, and--best of all--the switching perspective of the story gives readers a chance to understand the world of reality TV through the players' eyes.
When she was a teenager, elite ballerina Allie and her younger sister were saved from drowning by aspiring rescue diver Hudson, sparking a friendship that burned brightly for two summers before the death of Allie's eldest sister drove a wedge between them for more than a decade. Now Allie is back in Hudson's small hometown, recuperating after an injury that she hopes won't end her career. While she'd love to stay as far from Hudson as possible, a revelation about Allie's sister and Hudson's niece pushes them together again, causing the romantic spars that never caught before to suddenly flare up. But will their two high-stress careers, as well as their own past, allow them to be together?
Having read a couple of Yarros' romantasy books, I was intrigued to try something of hers without dragons. And while this was a compelling, quick read with complex characters, a few things regarding the main characters' family members (particularly Hudson's siblings and Allie's mom) hit me as a bit questionable. I don't want to go into more detail here, as it is a decent read and I don't want to give anything away (I particularly enjoyed the ballet insights), but I will say that I felt like some of these things could've been handled with more care and honesty between the characters.
Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel (2012) 290 pages
Berlin by Jason Lutes (2018) 580 pages
Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story by Nicole Maines with art by Rye Hickman (2024) 205 pages
Woman, Life, Freedom edited by Marjane Satrapi, 272 pages.
This book was both informative and accessible. I knew fairly little about the history of Iran (and a lot of what I do know actually came from Satrapi's own graphic memoir), but I didn't have any difficulty understanding the events presented here. I was startled by this books thoroughness. I also felt that the fact that each chapter was drawn by a different artist (and therefore had a different art style) helped the reader really feel how collective the movement it depicts is. My only regret is that I didn't read this book sooner.
Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, 166 pages.
As the youngest daughter of shipping magnate Jean-Baptiste Leon, Lucinde lives what many would consider a charmed life in a sprawling French estate, with tutors, invitations to fancy balls, and her father doting on her as his favorite child. However, Lucinde has always felt the call of the sea, and often sneaks out to swim in the cove and learn how to sail from an English smuggler. When she saves the son of another wealthy family after his ship crashes, Luce's life becomes much more complicated, spurred in part by the man's attentions to her and her sisters.
Set in the 1700s in Saint-Malo, France, this novel is the epitome of historical fantasy, effortlessly mixing elements of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella into a fairy tale all its own. The attention to historic detail was fantastic, but that didn't stop the magic system from being well-woven into the fabric of the world. An excellent story, and I look forward to reading more by Woods.
When drag queen Misty Divine discovers her drag mother, Lady Lady, poisoned in her dressing room, Misty is determined to see Lady's murderer caught and punished. Unfortunately, the detective assigned to the homicide is more concerned with the stolen vintage dress Lady Lady was wearing, and he's not making things easier by referring to drag performers by their non-stage names and dismissing drag as an oddity instead of a celebrated lifestyle. So Misty takes it upon herself to investigate, and ends up learning way more than she anticipated about her fellow performers.
This was an excellent murder mystery, one that manages to combine a solid mystery with a compelling amateur sleuth who has a legitimate reason for not trusting the police (that's always a pet peeve of mine), as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the world of drag. Drag plays an integral role in the character development and the story as a whole, and manages to not overwhelm the story. I absolutely loved this one, and so far, it's one of my favorite mysteries of the year. I will definitely be reading more Misty Divine books, as soon as Holly Stars writes them!
The Yeonnam-Dong neighborhood of Seoul is quickly being gentrified, and the neighborly feel of the area is evaporating. But with its signature scent, 24-hour warmth, and a mysterious community diary, the Smiley Laundromat has become a place for people to connect with strangers and create new friendships with their neighbors. Told in a series of loosely related vignettes, this book is a cozy, feel-good story of intergenerational neighborhood friends. It was lovely.
Charlotte Cross was an archaeology student in the 1930s when she helped discover a female pharaoh's tomb in Egypt. Fifty years later, she's helping curate the arrival of an exhibit of King Tut's riches at the Met when a necklace from the female pharaoh's tomb — a necklace previously thought lost in a horrific accident — reappears at the Met on loan from an anonymous source. Pair that with the theft of an important Egyptian artifact and Charlotte's own research (both stolen during the Met Gala, no less!), and Charlotte is forced to confront her own past in an attempt to salvage her career and find the missing artifacts.
I'm a sucker for both Egyptology and the Met Gala, and I read this book with high hopes that it would deliver on both fronts. Instead, it was kinda meh, and focused more on the relationships than on the historical elements. (Also, it drove me nuts that, just for fun, the author created a red carpet for the 1978 Met Gala, when it didn't have one at all — and then told us exactly that in the afterword.) There are better historical fiction titles out there.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021) 168 pages
System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023) 245 pages
As of now, this is the conclusion of the series. I continued with the same GraphicAudio editions with a full cast. I really enjoyed book 6. It is the most straightforward murder mystery of the series. The Sec Unit uses his skills to be a detective on Preservation Station with help from many returning characters. The security staff on the station does not often have to solve murders, so his surveillance and analysis skills are very helpful. Book 7 has the return of the AI ship system ART, who I suddenly realized was missing from the murder mystery adventure previously. This is the first time we really get to see what the Preservation crew does as they go on a planet survey mission. There are colonists, who have faced a dangerous alien contamination incident. Then they learn of a separate colony that the first colony has lost contact with. A small Preservation party travels across the planet to investigate. It becomes a competition to convince the people there that Preservation's humanitarian goals in connection with a University are better for them than the corporation Barish-Estranza's aim to enslave them. The corporation does not present their deal in those terms. Preservation's crew puts together a documentary. It has the excitement of "let's put on a show," but, of course, is more how do we present the most compelling facts to unselfishly help these isolated survivors. A good message to close this series, but I could see this series continuing.
In this fascinating exploration of evolution and natural history, Bohannon delves into the science of various mammalian and human traits and behaviors and explains how these things may have come to be because of the female of the species. From milk production to bipedalism to the development of language and story, there's a strong argument for each of these originating and developing because of our female ancestors. While there are a few things I questioned while listening to this audiobook (brilliantly read by the author), overall it was a wonderfully thought-provoking book that has me thinking about many historic and contemporary issues from a new angle. Highly recommended!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 277 pages.
I like a good epistolary novel, and I found the characters in this novel very charming. It was a little light on plot for me personally, and I think it didn't help that this isn't a period of history that is particularly interesting to me. However, I do think that fans of WWII historical fiction, especially centered on women and relationships, would probably like this book a lot.
Nora usually writes for sappy tv movies that have holidays and romance in them. But her latest script is based on her life and her failed marriage, and doesn't have a happy ending. Except that it does: the script is being be made into a movie for the Big Screen.
Her story's outcome depended on the peace that she found while writing in a charming outbuilding on her property in upstate New York. The movie director wants to film part of the movie at her place. Nora meets the cast, including Leo, the actor who's playing the role of her ex-husband, and while he's very famous, she's not sure what she thinks about him: he helps himself to her beer and hangs out on her porch where she watches the sunrise every day.
After the movie wraps, he asks if he can stay in her little outbuilding for a week, and offers to pay her well. She really needs the money, so she agrees. What she doesn't expect is how Leo melds into her life with her kids. Can a relationship with a man who's famous and has 3 homes last?
The writing style flows and the conversations feel real. In spite of one misdirection by the author which was never addressed, I definitely enjoyed the novel.
This story has a lot of plot lines to follow--the mystery of Quebec's founder, the mystery of the historian's murder, the case in Three Pines, and the recent case which left Gamache and Beauvoir so wounded--so many that I think the impact of each is dulled. As you move through the book, you learn a little about each plot line at a time, meaning that at times it does not even feel like you are progressing, rather taking four steps to the side before moving forward. I do, however, love how unabashedly Canadian this book is. I loved learning about the tense situation between languages spoken in Quebec, and I loved getting a glimpse of Canadian history (the good, the bad, and the ugly) through the Louise Penny's lens. This is an interesting story; it is just a lot.
Joe is ready to start his senior year of high school when he and his mother move because they can't make it on her income in a small town after his father dies. They share a house with his mother's sister in Minneapolis. Joe gets a job at the local grocery store and gets to be great friends with the owner. Joe is considering a career as a journalist. He wishes that Kristi, the head cheerleader at school, would go out with him. Well, that is not exactly what happens. Meanwhile, his best friend is Darva, a young woman who is not afraid to follow her own dream, up to a point.
This novel follows these mostly realistic people into adulthood and shows how life doesn't always turn out the way we plan. Except that Kristi's path is rather strange, and reminds me somewhat of our own society almost 20 years later. Slice-of-life with some weirdness built in. Nice book.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, 247 pages.
Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman, 384 pages.
Edward Adler and his family are moving from New York City to Los Angeles. The twelve-year old and his 15-year old brother are homeschooled by their father, while their mother makes a living as a screenwriter. The action begins with check-in at the airport before their flight to LA, where the reader is introduced to this family and to several other people who will be boarding. However, we learn early on that the plane crashes in Colorado. Edward is the only survivor.
Two timelines are intertwined from this point: Edward in the hospital (and later at his aunt and uncle's home) recovering from his physical and emotional injuries, and descriptions of things that occurred on the flight, both with the other people and the plane itself. I think the author did a great job dealing with the physical and emotional issues that Edward dealt with and how he eventually is able to move forward again. Napolitano has also researched airplane mechanisms and describes in detail the fateful series of things going wrong that resulted in the crash.
Yes, a bit tear-jerking, but uplifting, too.
Lonnie recounts growing up in a strict Orthodox family. He's the youngest of three brothers, and he tries to be everything his parents want because of the turmoil that his older brothers put his parents through in their teenage years. But later, when when Lonnie realizes he is gay, he's torn between religion and his own autonomy: in Orthodox Judaism, being gay is not acceptable.
This graphic lit memoir is well-drawn and a fast read. Lonnie, his family, and his friends are realistically depicted. I learned a bit more about Orthodox Jewish traditions through this insider's view.
A.J. Fikry is a 39-year-old bookseller who was widowed a couple years ago and remains in a grumpy—sometimes drunken—funk. His bookstore is on Alice Island off of Boston, and in spite of an influx of summer visitors, his business is not doing that well. A couple people enter his life – Amelia, a young book representative who's not afraid to mix clothing styles, and Maya, a baby.
Each chapter in the book is preceded by one of A.J.'s book reviews. It's a sweet book with a great cast of characters.
Alice Guy: First Lady of Film by Jose-Louis Bocquet with art by Catel Muller (2021) 400 pages
Guardian of Fukushima by Fabien Grolleau with art by Ewen Blain (2021) 144 pages
The Library Mule of Cordoba by Wilfred Lupano with art by Leonard Chemineau (2021) 263 pages
The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel by Patti Laboucane-Benson with art by Kelly Mellings (2015) 128 pages
Seven years ago, Meena and Nikhil spontaneously (AKA drunkenly) got married on a trip to Las Vegas, and while it was a bit of a shock to them both, they decided to give this marriage thing a go anyway. But now, Meena lives in DC, Nikhil lives in Houston, and it's been six years since they've spoken when Meena travels to Texas to make Nikhil sign the divorce papers she sent him. See, she has political ambitions, as well as a guy who wants to marry her, in DC, and all that's standing in the way is a signature. But just hours after she arrives in Houston, so does a hurricane that traps her with her estranged husband through the storm and subsequent flooding, and the forced proximity also forces some latent feelings back to the surface.
I'm always up for a good second-chance romance trope, but something about this one just didn't work for me. I don't know if it's the fact that Meena (a very capable and intelligent woman) was completely unaware of the hurricane that was heading toward Houston until well after she got there (wouldn't it have been on the news or talked about in the political circles she's part of, at least in passing?) or the fact that the whole problem could've been resolved if Meena and Nikhil had a single conversation at some point over the course of those 6 years apart or the fact that somehow Meena kept her marriage a secret from EVERYONE for that long... maybe it was all three. There are better romances out there.
Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood, 384 pages,
The identity of bestselling author J.R. Alastor has been a well-guarded secret for 30 years, so when a handful of authors are invited to Alastor's island mansion for a writing retreat, they're all excited to go and meet the master in real life. But he's not there when they arrive, and his assistant, Mila, doesn't seem to know when he'll arrive. And before long the authors quickly learn that their host has no intention of revealing himself, as the authors start dying one by one, just like murders they wrote in their own books.
It's hard to tell if this locked-room story is a mystery (there are so many tropes!) or a thriller (there is so much suspense!), though that shouldn't prevent people from checking this book out. Yes, there are a few twists that felt a bit unnecessary or obvious, but for a debut novel, it was still a lot of fun. I'm intrigued by what Pliego will bring us in the future.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, 368 pages.
This fictional oral history worked very well as an audiobook. Funny enough, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this book had I not been listening to it. Very little happened in the way of plot, and to hammer home the nature of unreliable narrators in an oral history much of it was covered repeatedly from different angles, which made the book move at a crawl at times. It is also guilty of something that's relatively common in books where the characters know the end at the beginning, wherein they allude to a big, bad event for the whole time that, on it's arrival, is ultimately pretty anticlimactic. All of that being said, I did still find myself invested in the characters and the book. I suspect people who enjoy celebrity stories and messy interpersonal drama as the driving force of their books would like this one, but for my tastes I'm afraid it was only fine.
