Mooncakes

 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu, 255 pages.

This paranormal romance centers on Nova, a hard of hearing witch, and Tam, a nonbinary werewolf. Nova and her grandmothers run a bookshop cafe that also seems to double as a center for magical research. The action starts when Tam comes back to town, chasing a cult who are intent on using their wolf magic for nefarious purposes. Soon they are staying with childhood friend (and crush) Nova, and their bond quickly deepens to romance.

While I did enjoy this comic, it was not at all the fluffy bakery story I was expecting from the cover. It's really more of a mystery/action type story, with the titular mooncakes only being mentioned in passing. Still fun and very sweet, but not quite what I was hoping for.

How to Order the Universe

How to Order the Universe by Maria Jose Ferrada, 175 pages

In 1970s Chile, M is a young girl who idolizes her salesman father, D, doing whatever she can to spend time with him on sales calls. As they grow closer, M starts skipping school to help out her dad, as he's found that a cute kid can really help move the product and she loves meeting the people he interacts with. One of those people, E, is a mysterious photographer, whose involvement in their lives threatens to upend a lifestyle that M has come to love.

What a quirky, haunting, and ultimately unsettling novella. With a tip of a hat to Paper Moon, Ferrada's sparse writing and characterization of M is pitch perfect. Well worth the short while it will take to read.

While Justice Sleeps

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams, 384 pages

Avery Keene is a second-year clerk for Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn, just trying to survive she can start searching for jobs after the term ends in June. But Wynn has different plans for her. Just as the court is preparing to release its final decisions (including one in which Wynn is the swing vote), Wynn slips into a coma and Avery learns that, inexplicably, she's been named as his legal guardian and given power of attorney over his life. He's also managed to pass along a few pieces to a puzzle that he thought would uncover an explosive political scandal. While Avery tries to determine if he's right or simply paranoid and senile, the FBI, Homeland Security, the White House, and the media are all banging down her door...and someone seems desperate to stop Avery's investigations.

This is a great political thriller that weaves together recent Supreme Court concerns, biotech innovations, addiction, and legal challenges, all with a well-realized cast of characters and a fast pace (slowed down only by a few sections of legalese). My only question: is there anything Stacey Abrams CAN'T do? Because she sure can write a fantastic thriller.

*This title has not yet been published. It is scheduled for release May 11, 2021.

The Heiress Hunt

The Heiress Hunt by Joanna Shupe, 384 pages

When Harrison Archer's family tells him he must marry to secure the family fortune, he's reluctant to do so...until he learns that his lifelong friend, Maddie Webster, is still unmarried three years after her debut. But she's about to become engaged to a duke. Harrison comes up with a plot to ask Maddie for her assistance finding a bride, with the true goal being her hand in marriage. While Maddie's happy to see her old friend and help him with his quest (or what she thinks is his quest), she's surprised by the new feelings she has for him, after not seeing him for three years.

This is a classic friends-to-lovers story, and it's definitely a steamy one. I liked Maddie's directness, as well as her non-traditional penchant for competitive tennis (scandalous for a society lady to sweat like that in public!). The one thing that bugged me was the conflict between them — if they've been friends for so long and Maddie's so direct in her nature, couldn't they just talk this out? But then we wouldn't have the book... oh well. It was fun!

The Conductors

The Conductors by Nicole Glover, 422 pages

During the war, Hetty and her husband Benjy used their celestial magic skills to help slaves escape to freedom. Now that the war is over, they've settled in Philadelphia, where they take on investigative cases ranging from finding loved ones to dealing with the odd dead body. When the body of a prominent member of the Philadelphia Black community turns up with a cursed sigil carved into his body, Hetty and Benjy are on the case, one that makes them suspect everyone around them.

This was an intriguing premise for a novel, and I love that Glover used the same constellations that helped so many escape slavery as the basis for her magical ideas. Honestly, I would have loved to get more detail about that practice. Instead, Glover seemed to try to juggle too many ideas and plotlines, making the fantasy element suffer. As such, this one's hard to categorize: it's a historical mystery with fantasy elements? Not bad, but also not the best fantasy I've read recently.

Killer Content

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke, 289 pages

Odessa is a recent Brooklyn transplant, still dealing with the culture shock of moving to a bustling urban environment from her sleepy Louisiana hometown, when a fellow waitress at the cafe/bookstore where she works dies in a VERY public manner. While Odessa's friends and the police are convinced her friend's death was an accident, that doesn't feel right to true-crime-podcast-obsessed Odessa, and she begins to dig into her pal's life in the hopes of doing her justice.

The idea of a cozy mystery set in Brooklyn is fresh and appealing, and the dog-like cat Rufus and bookstore mutt Huckleberry are charming. But Odessa's penchant for over-explaining hipstery Williamsburg (I think we're all pretty familiar with the whole eat local thing and craft breweries by now) and using millennial slang, as well as the nearly constant reminder of her southern background, grated on me too much for me to really enjoy this one. (Also, the pinks/oranges/greens on the cover made my colorblind husband ill. Not super helpful design work.) Meh.

The island of sea women, by Lisa See

The large South Korean island of Jeju lies south of the mainland in a semi-tropical area.  Like the rest of Korea, it has had a long and troubled history with its Japanese neighbors who occupied Korea for many years before the end of World War II.  This history is mixed into the story of a family of haenoyeo divers, women who free-dive without any artificial breathing apparatus in the waters off the coast of Jeju.  The divers support their families by harvesting the sea of its shellfish, octopi, and seaweeds while the men stay at home tending the children and hanging out under the village trees.  It’s a hard life and missteps underwater can be deadly. However, the special bonds between the women in this matrifocal society and their central importance to their culture are unique. Two friends grow up together – Young-sook, whose mother is teaching her to dive, and Mi-ja, an orphan whose father was a Japanese collaborator. Therefore, she is a social outcast.  Mi-ja has been taken in, reluctantly, by her aunt and uncle, who are abusive.  Young-sook’s mother and family become her salvation and teach her diving skills as well offering her support.  Closer than sisters, the two young girls will be driven apart in their early twenties, shortly after both marry, by civil and global wars and heart-breaking misunderstandings.  The novel is a fascinating glimpse into the lives and shamanist traditions of the haenoyeo, who are fast disappearing, and the complex political situation during the years between the World War II and present day.  It’s a difficult book to read since the brutality of war times are graphically depicted and have tragic effects on the main characters.  365 pp. 

Beartown

 Beartown by Frederik Backman (2016, translation 2017) 418 pages

Even if you don't especially care for hockey, this book, set in wintery Sweden, will draw you in with its superbly believable characters and compelling storytelling. The Andersson family is shown in depth: Peter, the dad, was a professional hockey player whose injuries aborted his NHL career. He and his wife Kira, an attorney, are raising their two children in the small town of Beartown, where Peter grew up and is now general manager of the Beartown Ice Hockey Club. The town and the Club are both struggling as store closings and factory layoffs reduce the population. The junior hockey team has been thriving, though, and it is the fervent hope that a win in the upcoming semifinals and then finals will help put Beartown back on the map. 

Kevin, seventeen and a top player, has been single-mindedly honing his hockey skills for over a decade, in spite of‒or because of‒his rich parents' lack of attention. Benji's seventeen, smokes a lot of weed and is late for school, but he's forgiven because he spends his ice time protecting Kevin from hits. Amat is fifteen and poor, a player on the slightly younger boys team. He skates his heart out every morning before school after helping his mother clean in the arena, and is one of the fastest skaters around. Peter's daughter, Maya, fifteen, has little interest in hockey; she wants only to play her guitar and spend time with her best friend Ana, while dreaming about Kevin, while Amat, in turn, pines for her. The Club Board now wants Peter to replace his mentor, the coach for the A-Team, with the Junior coach, which he's finding a difficult task. All of these pieces, and many more, shape a riveting storyline. When Peter's daughter Maya is raped by a hockey player, the town chooses up sides. Serious topics are handled with realism and compassion, and kept me on edge until the last page.

Winter's Orbit

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell, 430 pages

When Prince Kiem is called into the Iskat Emperor's room, he isn't completely surprised by the order to marry for diplomatic reasons. He is, however, surprised to be marrying Count Jainan — a man from the foreign planet Thea, and one whose previous partner (Kiem's cousin) died just a month before — just one day later. The reason for this rush is the upcoming re-signing of the Resolution, a 20-year treaty that will guarantee peace within the sector of space in which Iskat and Thea exist. Serious and intelligent, Jainan is everything that charming Kiem isn't, and as the two ease into their marriage, they begin to realize that Jainan's first husband may have been murdered, and the man certainly wasn't who he seemed to the public.

This is a fun read that combines a love story with plenty of political intrigue, and Maxwell does justice to both parts equally, which is no mean feat. It's almost like reading a lighter version of the award-winning A Memory Called Empire (which should be taken as a compliment). Definitely recommended.

Pretty Little Wife

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane, 402 pages

While it looks great from the outside, Lila and Aaron's marriage is rotten to the core. Aaron constantly subjects Lila to emotional and verbal abuse that eventually turns physical, and Lila has discovered some fairly horrible habits of Aaron's, that could land him in jail if the info gets out. So when Aaron goes missing, the rest of the community is concerned. Lila, however, is frantic — after all, she killed him, and dead guys don't just walk away, do they?

It's an interesting premise, and Kane does a good job of creating suspense and shifting suspicions. There are, however, absolutely ZERO likeable characters in this book, so keep that in mind if you pick it up. Fans of Gone Girl would probably enjoy this one.