Gallant by V.E. Schwab (2022, 338 pages)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz (2025, 368 pages)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Josie Marcus and her new husband Ted are house hunting in the St. Louis area. Ted's partner at the veterinary clinic, Christine, inherited a house that seems perfect, except for the kitchen. A gazebo in the yard also needs to be removed. After they buy the house, when the renovations are underway, it turns out that there's a body buried under the gazebo steps, and the body is Christine's hippy-ish sister, Rain, who had lived in the house. After a fight between the sisters some months ago, Rain said she was moving to an ashram in California and hasn't been heard from since then.
Christine is arrested for her sister's murder. Josie is determined to find out who really killed Rain. Rain had a couple of iffy boyfriends who are still in the area. The neighbors are worth getting to know, too, in case they have any ideas.
Meanwhile, Josie's 12-year-old daughter Amelia is having bully problems at the private school she attends. And Josie is busy scouring resale shops for mid-century cabinets and appliances to have fixed up and installed in the kitchen.
The conversations between the characters feel real and the action keeps moving. As a bonus, there are numerous reference to St. Louis landmarks by the native St. Louis author.
2025 was QUITE the reading year for UCPL, with what I suspect is a record setting 535 books! See the infographic below to see all sorts of other fun stats about our reading for the year (including the funniest possible line graph and Kara's ALA committee continuing to make her read more books than any human was ever meant to read).
We also have new bonus categories for the new year!
Titles that include a person's name: Examples include Anna Karenina, I Am Malala, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, and pretty much any biography.
Books that feature cooking: We're looking for any sort of on-page cooking. Be sure to tag your qualifying books to score a bonus point!
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This novel is in the form of a teenaged girl's journal, with entries between 2024 and 2027. Lauren Olamina lives in an unsettling world where food and water are scarce, and safety is never taken for granted, with robbers and arsonists often causing havoc. Her family lives in a walled and gated enclave within the Los Angeles area. Leaving the compound is risky, with bodies frequently found outside the walls. Not everyone has a job where they can work from home, plus they need to leave to get supplies periodically, so the families unite to provide resources including safety patrols. Climate change and drug use has caused some of society's troubles, and the privatization of some cities has led to exploitation of people, where some people opt to work and live in somewhat safer areas, not for money, but for company script (and not much of it).
Lauren has a condition called hyperempathy, where she feels pain that she sees others experiencing. Part of how she deals with life is by developing a religion she calls Earthseed, where she recognizes not a personal god, but a god which is Change.
Little by little, the security of Lauren's neighborhood feels less sure, until all at once, the neighborhood is compromised and the people must flee for their lives. In a place where resources are few and danger is high, watching how those who flee attempt to survive is scary and fascinating.
Sean owns gyms and works out all the time. His friend Rob (also one of his gym clients) is a book editor who is still mourning the death of his husband a year ago, and he's working hard to help one of his writers, Tremble Woodspill, finish her book based on her blog "Life As We Fucking Know It," when he finds out he's fired by Isabelle, a young "sensitivity associate" recently hired by the publishing house.
Sean, the gym owner, who had also been a superhero in a TV series, finds out that his ex-wife, Linda, is getting married to a billionaire, Trone Meston (a nicer version of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk). Sean is still in love with Linda, even though he cheated on her multiple times. These are just some of the characters whose perspective we experience as the story unfolds.
Bring all of these people‒and more‒to the wedding on an island that Trone owns off the coast of Maine, and see what happens. This is a fun book, and I really loved the characters.
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| Stick with us in 2026 for more book recommendations! |
Annie: 6 books, 1951 pages
Byron: 12 books, 2360 pages
Hammy: 3 books, 1047 pages
Jan: 5 books, 1600 pages
Kara: 20 books, 7176 pages
Kevin: 3 books, 961 pages
Regan: 10 books, 4350 pages.
Totals: 59 books, 19445 pages
Edward McPherson's book touches on many subjects that intersect with his love of maps, from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, to maps drawn by artists traveling from town to town in the 1800s, to photos taken from airplanes and satellites.
McPherson interviews an official at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, as well as former homeowners who lived in the footprint of the new facility for the NGA. He also discusses the Cahokia Mounds, which in 1250 was a very large settlement east of St. Louis that was abandoned without any obvious reason. There's also a discussion of the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, and how a mapmaker came onto the battlefield two days later, sketching out what had happened based on the bodies of men and horses still lying on the ground.
Some of McPherson's strongest views come from cameras recording citizens going about their day-to-day activities, including in our own city (St. Louis). He is concerned about Project Maven, an AI endeavor that attempts to harness machine learning and computer vision to teach drones appropriate targets to hit in wartime. He is especially concerned that drones piloted by AI make far less accurate guesses about targets than those that are piloted by humans: 60% (or much less depending on the weather) versus 84%.
McPherson teaches creative writing at Washington University. His book is thoughtful and somewhat lyrical, and a bit difficult to describe, but well worth the read.
Louisa wasn't looking for trouble when she got thrown out of the auction. She just wanted to see the painting, up close and in person, once before starting her new life. In the moments before she was kicked out, though, Louisa saw more of the painting than she ever had in the small postcard version of it she'd kept with her in the foster home. She had always focused on the three friends in the picture, somewhat hidden from most viewers, but now she could see the tiny, intricate details of it all in full display. Somehow, getting thrown out ends up setting Louisa on a journey across the country where she learns about the summer portrayed in the famous painting, and the group of friends whose love made it possible.
This is a story about believing in people, even when you don't much believe in yourself. It is about friendship and love sustaining against all odds. It is about art, and it is about grief, and it is about connecting with others. It is a funny, sad, hopeful tale of the summer that created a painting and the friendship which formed twenty five years later because of that painting. Fredrik Backman does a great job of balancing deep, introspective, heavy moments with light-hearted, silly jokes. He writes a beautiful story which paints a beautiful picture.
Four events hold the center of this novel of Appalachia, AI, and a militant cult:
Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler (1984) 241 pages
Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler (1976) 208 pages
Ghostwriter Olivia has long been estranged from her father, Vincent, despite the fact that he's a famous horror writer and they occasionally turn up at the same writing conferences. When he was an awkward loner teen, Vincent's two siblings were found murdered in their family home, and while he was never convicted, most of the residents of their small hometown assume he killed his brother and sister. Growing up in that same small town, Olivia had to deal with more than her share of rumors and bullying based on her dad's notoriety, so it's only natural that she'd try to distance herself from it as much as possible. But when a new work offer comes along — ghostwriting her father's memoir of his siblings' death — Olivia literally can't refuse, and starts to dive into her family history.
Told in chapters that bounce back and forth in time, this thriller is good and twisty. I particularly like the way it handles difficult family relationships that are further complicated by dementia, outsized egos, and unreliable narrators (and that's all one person, at different times of his life). Definitely worth a read.
Smuggler Fionamara has the handy ability to easily pop between worlds, helping the wealthy and unscrupulous transfer items without the taxes that usually come along with such shipments. However, her most recent job has gone sideways, unknowingly transporting a cartful of explosives in an attempt to kill the demon Antal, who rules over the territory where she lives. However, when she meets Antal following the assassination attempt, she slowly learns that while yes, physically terrifying, he's also a much more thoughtful and complex creature than she assumed. As the two hash out a plan to assist each other in bringing some lasting peace in the territory, they also discover an undeniable attraction to one another.
Solidly placed in the romantasy realm, this book has all the hallmarks of a good fantasy (well-created world and magic system) as well as a steamy romance (though I don't know if I'd call it enemies-to-lovers when one of them is an obligate carnivore that eats the other's species — maybe predator-prey?). It's the first of a series, and I'm intrigued to see where the rest of this goes. Not sure I'd recommend it to a romance reader, but for the masses of romantasy readers, sure.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan
Anyone who enjoys Harry Potter and/or Greek mythology will love this middle-grade series. The characters are loveable, and they really grow throughout the series. Rick Riordan does a great job balancing humor and drama, and each book has higher stakes than the last, but it never feels overdone.
When she was born, Marguerite was heir to a huge fortune and large estate in France. However, after her parents both died while she was young, her guardian uses her lands and fortune to buy his way into leading an expedition to the "isle of Canada," a journey that he forces Marguerite to take alongside him. Along the way, Marguerite falls in love with her guardian's secretary, and as punishment for this atrocity, her volatile guardian maroons the lovers (and Marguerite's longtime servant) on a desolate island off the coast of Canada. There, Marguerite must set aside the ways of her pampered lifestyle if she is to survive.
Based on the real life account of a 16th Century French noblewoman, this tale was gripping, harrowing, and compelling, while still remaining historically accurate. I finished this book wanting to know more about Marguerite, and more about the French exploration of Canada. An excellent read, and highly recommended, especially if you loved Island of the Blue Dolphins as a kid.
After Alice Law accidentally causes the death of Professor Grimes, her academic advisor at Cambridge, she figures that the only way she'll get the recommendations and accolades she was hoping for (he's a REALLY BIG NAME in the field) is to retrieve him from Hell. Which is something that isn't beyond the realm of possibility when you're a student of magic like Alice is. Except right as she plans to step through the pentagram into Hell, Peter Murdoch, her biggest competition for Grimes' recommendations, hops in to join in the quest. Soon, the unlikely pair is struggling through the Fields of Asphodel and the eight courts of hell in search for their advisor.
Kuang has an incredible ability to write fantastical academia that really rings true, and Katabasis is no exception — the ever-increasing stress, the nonstop work on hard-to-explain theses, the poor diet that does nothing but keep the stomach from grumbling too much, the self-important and misogynistic behavior of tenured professors — it's all there, only this time with magic. While the travels through Hell are intriguing (especially because it appears to Alice and Peter as a college campus), the story sometimes gets bogged down with discussions of theory, logic, and paradoxes, which made my brain hurt. Still, for fans of Kuang's previous works, it's definitely worth a read.
Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett, 368 pages.
(As an aside, I'm obsessed with this cover)
Grad student Minerva has always loved scary stories, most likely because her great grandmother Alba told her stories of witches all her life, and has made a little-known horror author, Beatrice Tremblay, the subject of her thesis. An international student from Mexico, Minerva has enrolled in the same university where Tremblay studied, and hopes to access the author's journals to include in her thesis. What Minerva discovers, however, is the story of a missing woman that inspired Tremblay's cult classic horror novel, a story that echoes in Minerva's present and in Alba's stories of long-ago Mexico.
Told in three interweaving stories, this tale of three eras of women dealing with evil witches is spooky, atmospheric, and engaging. I felt a bit skeptical that the same types of witches would exist in New England and in Mexico, as I haven't heard of commonalities between the witchy folklore of both places in the past, though that's a fairly minor quibble with an otherwise excellent book.
Mia Almas is a quiet Muslim young woman who works as a fact-checker for a media corporation and harbors a longtime crush on her boss. However, when she leaves the office, before heading home to her grandparents' basement apartment, Mia often indulges in her secret hobby — standup comedy. She's been secretly honing her act for five years when a few of her coworkers stumble upon her performance, one of them writes a profile of her, and suddenly Mia is going viral. Afraid of what this will mean to her undocumented grandparents — both in terms of their living situation and their opinion of her — Mia's thrown into a panic, something soothed only by her grandmother's scandalous journal of her youth in Palestine.
Set in 2011 in New York City, this story takes place during an era that wasn't quite as culturally sensitive as we try to be today, and Hamdan shows that well in the book. Really, though, the story of Mia's grandmother is much more compelling than Mia's more modern crisis — I would've happily read a whole book about her history! An entertaining book however, and definitely worth a read.
At the request of her patron, Effie Flite has returned to England following a few years as a lady's companion in Paris. As an orphan trained in the Crinoline Academy, Effie has the ability to blend in seamlessly in London's society while also holding her own in less savory situations (that's where the sharp hairpins and steel-pointed parasol come in handy), both of which will be needed in her next assignment: take down Lord Compton, a seemingly upstanding member of Parliament who holds enough sway to prevent the married women's property act from coming to a vote. Unfortunately, Effie's assignment has her at odds with formidable betting shop owner Gabriel Royce, who needs Compton's influence to help secure funding to rehabilitate the slums of St. Giles. Too bad that Effie and Gabriel can't deny the attraction between them.
This is an intriguing historical romance, with plenty of meaty historical elements and compelling side plots and backstories for the characters, making it an enjoyable read. (It's also somewhat inspired by Miss Havisham's story in Great Expectations, so no, you're not imagining that.) However, something about the way the romantic elements come together in the end feels a bit disingenuous to Effie's character, which keeps this from getting an enthusiastic recommendation from me.
