As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying is Faulkner’s harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury Addie, their wife and mother. Narrated in turn by each of the family members — including Addie herself — as well as others; the novel ranges in mood, from dark comedy to the deepest pathos. Considered one of the most influential novels in American fiction in structure, style, and drama, As I Lay Dying is a true 20th-century classic.
Goodreads.com
I read this classic, as I often do, with the assistance of Spark Notes, which really helped me to appreciate it more. The multiple viewpoints, which were groundbreaking for the time, were the most interesting aspect of this short novel. However, the unlikability of most the characters was difficult for me to get around. Anse, the father–I haven’t hated a character as much as I hated him in a very long time. I wish he had had some kind of comeuppance, but it wasn’t that sort of book. In summary, the writing was great (I’m sure Faulkner would be relieved to hear me say that, haha!), but the story and the characters made me so mad that I couldn’t really enjoy it.
Rating: Good but Annoying
A New New Me
Kinga is a woman who is just trying to make it through the week.
There’s a Kinga for every day: on Mondays, you can catch Kinga A deleting food delivery apps. By Friday, Kinga E is happy to spend the days soaking, wine-drunk, in the bath.
Kingas A-G, perhaps unsurprisingly, live a varied life – between them is a professional matchmaker, a scent-crazed perfumer and a window cleaner, all with varying degrees of apathy, anger, introversion and bossiness. At least three of them are Team Toxic.
It’s an arrangement that’s not without its fair share of admin, grudges and half-truths. But when Kinga A discovers a man tied up in their apartment, the Kingas have to reckon with the possibility that one of them might be planning to destroy them all.
In A New New Me, master storyteller Helen Oyeyemi cleverly asks: what if the different sides of your personality had trust issues with each other? How many versions of oneself can one self safely contain?
Goodreads.com
I enjoyed this book but, to be honest, I did not always understand it. Kinga is a Polish woman who has just become a Czech citizen, and she leads an unusual life–each day of the week is helmed by a different facet of her personality, none of which can remember the things that happen to her other personalities. When a man shows up inside her apartment making wild claims, the seven women suffer a crisis of trust and, over the course of a week, have to band together to figure out what to do. I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of what each personality knew, especially when they contradicted each other, and I’m still not exactly sure what happened at the conclusion of the novel. Still, I enjoyed the writing, and the unusual plot! Tho was my first Oyeyemi book, so I have no idea if this style is typical for her or not, but I will certainly keep an eye out for her books in the future.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win
A fresh spin on the cult-classic Election meets Darius the Great Is Not Okay in Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win when an international incident crashes into a high school election, and Jasmine is caught between doing the right thing and chasing her dream.
It’s 1979, and Jasmine Zumideh is ready to get the heck out of her stale, Southern California suburb and into her dream school, NYU, where she’ll major in journalism and cover New York City’s exploding music scene.
There’s just one teeny Due to a deadline snafu, she maaaaaaybe said she was Senior Class President-Elect on her application―before the election takes place. But honestly, she’s running against Gerald Thomas, a rigid rule-follower whose platform includes reinstating a dress code―there’s no way she can lose. And she better not, or she’ll never get into NYU.
But then, a real-life international incident turns the election upside down. Iran suddenly dominates the nightly news, and her opponent seizes the opportunity to stir up anti-Iranian hysteria at school and turn the electorate against her. Her brother, Ali, is no help. He’s become an outspoken advocate for Iran just as she’s trying to downplay her heritage.
Now, as the white lie she told snowballs into an avalanche, Jasmine is stuck between claiming her heritage or hiding it, standing by her outspoken brother or turning her back on him, winning the election or abandoning her dreams for good.
Told with biting insight and fierce humor, Susan Azim Boyer’s Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is a fresh, unforgettable story of one Iranian-American young woman’s experience navigating her identity, friendship, family, her future, and a budding romance, all set against life-changing historical events with present-day relevance.
Goodreads.com
This YA novel, about an Iranian American girl’s run for student body president just as the Iranian hostage crisis occurs, is powerful and painful to read. Jasmine’s choices are understandable but difficult to read about, as she makes all the wrong choices, denying her heritage and family and playing dirty in order to win the election (and hopefully a coveted acceptance to NYU). I loved the plot and found the characters relatable, but it wasn’t always an enjoyable read.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Good but Stressful
A Killer Wedding
Christine can’t believe her luck. The iconic Gloria Beaufort, founder of the billion-dollar beauty empire Glo, has personally chosen her to cover her grandson’s wedding for Bespoke, the cult fashion magazine that every A-list bride dreams of being featured in. A career-making scoop and a free trip to a castle turned five-star hotel on the Emerald Isle? It feels too good to be true…
Because it is.
Gloria is found dead on the very first morning of the celebratory weekend, and her entire family wants to keep her death a secret and for the wedding to march on. When Gloria’s heirs issue a chilling warning to Christine to keep things quiet, she can’t help but wonder if one of them is guilty. There’s the son who’s hiding a damaging lawsuit; the resentful daughter-in-law; the grandson who’s had a few too many run-ins with the law; the ambitious granddaughter who’s hiding more than one secret; and Gloria’s favorite grandchild, the too-good-to-be-true groom. As Christine navigates a world where glamour masks grimy secrets and everyone she meets is a suspect, she realizes that among this glitzy elite, nothing is as it seems.
Set against the dazzling backdrop of ultimate luxury and an endless reveal of surprises, A Killer Wedding is a fast-paced, humorous mystery that proves you’ll never forget your wedding day…especially if it starts with a murder.
Goodreads.com
This atmospheric, fast paced mystery about rich people behaving badly was a lot of fun. Christine, an ambitious wedding reporter, is recruited to cover the wedding of a billionaire’s grandson, but when a murder occurs and secrets start to come out, it’s clear that Christine is in over her head. Never knowing which characters to trust, watching the stormy weather from the foreboding Irish castle, and seeing the (occasionally convoluted) plot unfold was a really fun ride.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Grace of Wild Things
Grace has never been good at anything except magic—not that anyone believes her. While other children are adopted from the orphanage, nobody wants Grace. So she decides to make a home for herself by running away and offering herself as an apprentice to the witch in the nearby woods. After all, who better to teach Grace to use her magic? Surely the witch can’t be that bad.
But the witch is that bad—she steals souls for spells and gobbles up hearts. So Grace offers a deal: If she can learn all 100½ spells in the witch’s grimoire, the witch will make Grace her apprentice. But if Grace fails, the witch can take her magic. The witch agrees, and soon an unexpected bond develops between them. But the spells are much harder than Grace expected, and when a monster from the witch’s past threatens the home Grace has built, she may have to sacrifice more than her magic to save it.
Inspired by Anne of Green Gables, this is a magical story of found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination.
Goodreads.com
I didn’t realize until I had already finished the book that this is supposed to be a magical retelling of Anne of Green Gables, but of course many of the iconic scenes and characters are recreated here. However, as my own reading experience shows, this book can definitely stand on its own. Sweet, wild, and magical, Grace’s adventures (and misadventures) in trying to become a wicked witch’s apprentice, making friends and growing up along the way, are a joy to read.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli
Dual stories of two young people—one in 731 China, and one in 1931 Chinatown—on perilous journeys to save their families.
In ancient Chang’An, Han Yu sells steamed buns in a bustling market full of whispers about his ability to summon tigers.
In New York’s Depression-era Chinatown, Luli gazes out from the roof of her parents’ restaurant, dreaming of dim sum and Chinese art.
Familiar rhythms rule the contained-but-contented lives of Han Yu and Luli. But when plague strikes Chang’An and financial crisis threatens Luli’s family, Han Yu and Luli must each venture out into the larger world—and into danger-filled adventure—to save what they love most.Goodreads.com
This dual timeline novel was hard for me to get into at first, as I found it a little jarring to go from one story to the other every single chapter. However, once I got into it, I truly enjoyed it. Han Yu, traveling the trade routes during the Tang Dynasty, and Luli, living in Chinatown in New York City during the Great Depression, both have to overcome many obstacles in order to help their families. It’s touchingly sweet and also filled with historical information about both time periods. Very enjoyable.
Newbery 2026.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Escape Game
It’s all fun and games until someone ends up dead.
Six months ago, season four of The Escape Gameended in horror when contestant Alicia Angelos was found murdered on set.
Now season five is underway, and new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test solving the show’s trickiest escape rooms. There’s Adi, the cryptographer; Carter, the math whiz; Beck, the wannabe game master, and . . . Sierra Angelos, the girl who got away with her sister’s murder. Or so everyone believes.
But Sierra’s not just here to win. She’s here for justice.
When the contestants begin uncovering clues that hint at the identity of Alicia’s true killer, it becomes clear that the stakes aren’t high in this competition, they’re deadly. If these teens want to win—and survive—the game, they must solve the biggest mystery of who killed Alicia Angelos?
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer and rising star Tamara Moss comes a twisty thrill-ride, filled with sabotage, betrayal, and puzzles to die for.
Goodreads.com
Fun and a little dangerous, this YA murder mystery has a little bit of everything. It’s a truly enjoyable start to a new series (duology?) from Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss, and I am definitely on board to find out what happens next.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
Clare is the undead fox of Deadwood Forest. Here, leaves grow in a perpetual state of fall: not quite dead, but not quite alive—just like Clare. Long ago, he was struck by a car, and, hovering between life and death, he was given the choice to either cross into the Afterlife or become an Usher of wandering souls. Clare chose the latter: a solitary life of guiding souls to their final resting place.
Clare’s quiet and predictable days are met with upheaval when a badger soul named Gingersnipes knocks on his door. Despite Clare’s efforts to usher her into the Afterlife, the badger is unable to leave Deadwood. This is unprecedented. Baffling. A disturbing mystery which threatens the delicate balance between the living and the dead.
Desperate for help, Clare and Gingersnipes set out on a treacherous journey to find Hesterfowl—the visionary grouse who recently foretold of turmoil in Deadwood. But upon their arrival, Hesterfowl divulges a shocking revelation that leaves Clare devastated, outraged, and determined to do anything to change his fate.
Goodreads.com
A fun, creepy Newbery book. It is surprisingly sad and centers around an undead fox who is not ready to move on to the Afterlife. Both Clare and his new companion Gingersnipes are funny and relatablly flawed. The book is funny and sweet, but it’s also a bit of a tearjerker.
Newbery 2026.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Teacher of Nomad Land
1941. The German armies are storming across Europe. Iran is a neutral country occupied by British forces on one side, Soviet forces on another. Soldiers fill the teahouses of Isfahan. Nazi spies roam the alleyways.
Babak and his little sister have just lost their father. Now orphans, fearing they will be separated, the two devise a plan. Babak will take up his father’s old job as a teacher to the nomads. With a chalkboard strapped to Babak’s back, and a satchel full of textbooks, the siblings set off to find the nomad tribes as they make their yearly trek across the mountains.
On the treacherous journey they meet a Jewish boy, hiding from a Nazi spy. And suddenly, they are all in a race for survival.
Against the backdrop of World War II comes an epic adventure in the faraway places. Through the cacophony of soldiers, tanks, and planes, can young hearts of different creeds and nations learn to find a common language?
Goodreads.com
This short novel uncovers some lesser known WWII history, the invading forces and refugees that made their way into Iran. Babak and Sana, two young and recently orphaned children, have to overcome obstacles such as uncaring adults, lack of food and water in the wilderness, and even Nazi spies in their quest to keep their little family together. Both sad and sweet, I enjoyed learning the history of this fictional story, as well as its connection with modern day events in Iran.
Newbery 2026.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
All the Blues in the Sky
Sage’s thirteenth birthday was supposed to be about movies and treats, staying up late with her best friend and watching the sunrise together. Instead, it was the day her best friend died. Without the person she had to hold her secrets and dream with, Sage is lost. In a counseling group with other girls who have lost someone close to them, she learns that not all losses are the same, and healing isn’t predictable. There is sadness, loneliness, anxiety, guilt, pain, love. And even as Sage grieves, new, good things enter her life — and she just may find a way to know that she can feel it all.
Goodreads.com
Crushingly sad, but with moments of joy interspersed. This free verse novel, in which thirteen year old Sage struggles to come to grips with the sudden, violent death of her best friend, would be a wonderful companion for someone who is experiencing their own grief.
Newbery 2026.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
A Sea of Lemon Trees
Based on the true story of Roberto Alvarez and the Lemon Grove Incident, this middle grade debut novel in verse is about one young child’s courage to stand up for what is right, and the determination of the Mexican community.
Twelve-year-old Roberto Alvarez is the first one in his family born on United States soil. He’s el futuro, their dream for a life away from the fire of the Mexican revolution.
Moved by anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican propaganda, the Lemon Grove School Board and Chamber of Commerce create a separate “Americanization” school for the Mexican children attending the Lemon Grove Grammar School. But the new Olive Street School is an old barn retrofitted for the children forced to attend a segregated school.
Amidst threats of deportation, the Comité de Vecinos risk everything to stand their ground, and with the support of the Mexican Consulate, chose Roberto as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the school board.
A novel in verse set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and Mexican Repatriation, based on the true story of the United States’ first successful school desegregation case, two decades before Brown v. Board of Education ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
Goodreads.com
A beautiful novel in verse, discussing the true story of what happened in Lemon Grove in the 1930s. The writing is gorgeous, both heart wrenching and joyous. I am so glad to have been taught about this historical event that I had never heard of before. It has unfortunate echoes in our current events, which makes this book even more important for this moment in history.
Newbery 2026.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Elsewhere Express
You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train carrying very rare and special cargo: a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging.
Raya is one of those lost souls. She had dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead.
One day on the subway, as her thoughts wander, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, a charming, handsome artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.
Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lily pads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds.
But they also discover that the train harbors secrets—and danger: A mysterious stranger has stowed away and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy the train.
But in investigating the stowaway’s identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate question: What is her life’s true purpose—and might Q be connected to it?
Goodreads.com
This book was like reading a dream–magical and whimsical, dark and scary, filled with the sense that time is meaningless and locations can be switched in the blink of an eye. It’s a love story, or maybe a story of friendship; a treatise on thoughts and memory, identity, purpose and guilt; almost a reflection on the afterlife. I found the whole story beautiful with its combination of magic and dark memories. The physical copy of this book is also gorgeous, with beautiful sprayed edges and coloring pages of the train for the inner cover pages.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Unseelie
Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde…but as an autistic changeling left in the human world by the fae as an infant, she has always known she is different. Seelie’s unpredictable magic makes it hard for her to fit in—and draws her and Isolde into the hunt for a fabled treasure. In a heist gone wrong, the sisters make some unexpected allies and find themselves unraveling a mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.
Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister and herself?
Goodreads.com
This YA faerie fantasy, in which the author explores the experience of autism through the idea of being a changeling, is pretty fun. Seelie, bullied since childhood for being a changeling, is on the run with her twin sister Isolde. When a petty theft goes wrong and Seelie ends up with a magical compass, she and her sister must pair up with Raze and Olani, who have their own reasons for using the compass. Heartwrenching but also sweet, I can’t wait to read the second book in this duology.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Labors of Hercules Beal
From award-winning author Gary D. Schmidt, a warm and witty novel in the tradition of The Wednesday Wars, in which a seventh grader has to figure out how to fulfill an assignment to perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules in real life–and makes discoveries about friendship, community, and himself along the way.
Herc Beal knows who he’s named after–a mythical hero–but he’s no superhero. He’s the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules’s amazing feats in real life, he’s skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod–and not a single Hydra in sight.
Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn’t working all the time, Herc figures out how to take his first steps along the road that the great Hercules himself once walked. Soon, new friends, human and animal, are helping him. And though his mythical role model performed his twelve labors by himself, Herc begins to see that he may not have to go it alone.
Goodreads.com
Hercules has lost both parents in a car accident, and his older brother, who is now caring for him, is making a lot of decisions that make Hercules unhappy. One of these decisions is to send him to a new school closer to home, where Hercules’ home room teacher, Lieutenant Colonel Hupfer, assigns him the labors of Hercules (the myth) to complete and write about over the school year. The things that happen to Hercules that parallel the mythological labors are funny, heartwarming, and tear jerking. The entire Cape Cod community is filled with interesting and admirable characters, both children and adults. It is a joy to read about Hercules and his adventures.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone
The third in the witty and captivating series following bestselling author Eleanor Dash, who once again has to swap her sun hat for her detective hat, when a body is found at a murder mystery writing conference in the Bahamas.
Eleanor Dash can never catch a break. Not only has she had to solve two real-life murder plots in the past year, but both times it was when she was meant to be on vacation. Now she’s finally got a ticket to a relaxing weekend—an all-inclusive resort at the Bahamas where she’s speaking at a conference for murder mystery writers—but she arrives to find a body on the floor of her hotel room. Because of course she does.With plenty of familiar faces at the resort, any one of them could have been the intended target or the culprit behind it all. Was it Oliver Forrest, Eleanor’s dashing boyfriend who’s in danger of getting dropped by his publisher because his sales are dwindling? Or Connor Smith, Eleanor’s infuriating ex-lover-turned-bestselling-rom-com-author with a sordid past of his own? Or her sister Harper, whose own stilted writing career has been a sore point for years as Eleanor’s has soared? Perhaps it’s one of the other writers also in attendance, as friends, frenemies and foes from Eleanor’s past all seem to be invited to the island.
Surrounded by mystery writers who know all too well the many ways to craft the perfect crime, Eleanor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and do whatever it takes to get out of this weekend alive.
Goodreads.com
This third in the Vacation Mystery series was fun but convoluted. As the story progressed, I found it difficult to keep track of what was going on and what the prevailing theory was. Eleanor is an interesting but often self absorbed, annoying character (something that is pointed out by other characters in the book). Some of the bits in the book also get a bit annoying (I don’t mind the footnotes, but every chapter title being a rhetorical question has started to feel forced at this point). The epilogue sets up for a fourth installment, but I’m not sure I’m interested enough to return for it.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Good but Forgettable
King Lear
Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the suffering of others. Lear himself rages until his sanity cracks. What, then, keeps bringing us back to King Lear? For all the force of its language, King Lear is almost equally powerful when translated, suggesting that it is the story, in large part, that draws us to the play.
The play tells us about families struggling between greed and cruelty, on the one hand, and support and consolation, on the other. Emotions are extreme, magnified to gigantic proportions. We also see old age portrayed in all its vulnerability, pride, and, perhaps, wisdom—one reason this most devastating of Shakespeare’s tragedies is also perhaps his most moving.
Goodreads.com
Confusing and tragic, but mostly confusing. I admit that most of Shakespeare’s works are lost on me, unless I see them actually performed in the theater.
Rating: Good but Forgettable
The Confidence Games
Two female con artists must pull off the ultimate heist in this rollicking caper from a dazzling new voice.
Emma Oxley and Nellie Yarrow have been inseparable their whole lives. Ever since they reinvented themselves, changing their names and wiping clean their digital footprints, they have made a game of following wherever the next adventure leads and challenging themselves to thefts, street cons, and mind games.
Adhering to only two rules—they will only swindle men, and only ones who deserve it—Emma and Nellie are secure in their reputation as the most trustworthy swindlers on the European black market. Until suddenly, they must play to save their own lives.
Blackmailed into stealing a priceless bracelet from a high-security exhibit, Emma will reexamine everything she believed to be true. This heist takes her far beyond her comfort zone…and she and Nellie will need allies among the glitzy bejeweled gathering in London in order to survive. Will they be able to do the right thing before it’s too late?
Goodreads.com
This fun and cathartic heist, complete with a precocious child and hapless hacker side characters, was a quick and breezy read. Who doesn’t want to read about sparkling jewels, danger, and terrible men getting their comeuppance? It was a lot of fun.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
A Trade of Blood
In the canton of Sapirdad, two of the Empire’s most powerful families are moments away from going to war with each other, their hundreds of retainers gathered with swords drawn. If blood is spilt, the whole of the empire may be plunged into starvation and chaos.
To de-escalate matters, someone must do the impossible: prove that one family’s eldest son is innocent of a gruesome and unforgivable murder, despite the incontrovertible evidence against him.
It is with this undertaking that the great detective Ana Dolabra is tasked, her assistant Din at her side—and the two find themselves racing with great speed and little dignity to the scene.
As ever, the impossible proves little obstacle for the deadly combination of Ana’s intellect and Din’s keen eye, and mere hours after riding into the dusty town, Ana glimpses the greater pattern behind the crime. A deeper, subtler web of death is being woven in plain sight, by a mastermind with an ancient magical technology at his disposal.
But even Ana’s uncanny insight is of little use when each new suspect she uncovers ends up dead–with each new killing calculated to bring tensions between the two rival clans past the boiling point. And as Din pursues their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses, he finds his loyalties divided in unexpected ways.
Goodreads.com
This third in the series is just as enjoyable as the first two. The mystery, the fantasy setting, the characters of Din and Ana–all are great. I can’t wait to continue the adventures in this magical world, uncovering more of its dark history.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Ruby Falls
One body. Five suspects. Total darkness.
A tense, claustrophobic historical mystery set almost entirely underground at the onset of the Great Depression about the discovery of a 150-foot waterfall in the middle of a mountain, the unthinkable crime that happens in its caves, and a woman who’s never felt more alive.
In 1928, a Chattanooga man disappears down a hole in the ground and discovers a 150-foot waterfall in the middle of a mountain that he names after his Ruby Falls. Within months, visitors can buy tickets to see the falls for themselves. Ada Smith has been sneaking into the caves at night, entranced by the natural wonders around her and the freedom granted by this new underground world.
But it’s tough timing for a natural wonder. As the country flounders in the Great Depression, a shrewd public relations ploy seems like the only way to save Ruby Falls. A famous mind reader and mystic agrees to launch himself into the Ruby Falls caverns where he will attempt to locate a hidden hatpin using only his psychic abilities. He’ll be joined by five his manager, his wife, a guide, a Chattanooga businessman, and a reporter from the Chicago Times. But they’re not alone in the caverns. Ada and another guide, Quinton, have been asked to follow the mind reader’s party at a distance, staying out of sight. They are a safety net, in case of a broken leg or busted flashlights.
One of them will be dead before the end of the day.
Faced with a corpse and the stark reality that one of the people in her midst is a killer, Ada needs to get everyone—the murderer and the innocents—back aboveground before their light runs out.
Ruby Falls is both a unique twist on the locked-room mystery and an exploration of loss and what it means to start over. It’s a heart-racing story of survival and a testament to the threads that bind strangers together. Set against the true story of the discovery of Ruby Falls, the novel also draws on the memoirs of Katie Stabler, a female guide at Wind Caves in South Dakota.
Goodreads.com
I was really excited to read this, as it is based on a tourist attraction in my hometown. It does feature some of the history of the location (the story is set shortly after its discovery, in the early 30s), as well as being set almost exclusively in the caves of Lookout Mountain. However, as a big mystery genre fan, this book left something to be desired. It is really a literary mystery, with more focus on the internal experience of Ada and her exploration of the caves than on the actual mystery. The murder does not take place until page 200. I enjoyed seeing the characters make their claustrophobic journey through the caves and the building tension as it becomes clear that each person has something to hide. However, if you are looking for an Agatha Christie style locked room mystery, as the cover copy touts, this is not that.
Rating: Good but Forgettable
Yesteryear
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.
Goodreads.com
This buzzy novel was just about everything I expected, plus some extra twists and turns. The slow reveal of Natalie’s rise as a tradwife influencer, interspersed with the mystery of how she has traveled back in time to a nightmarish, pioneer version of her multimillion dollar hobby farm, Yesteryear. Clearly based on the real life influencer Ballerina Farm, we are treated (??) to all of Natalie’s internal dialogue, everything from her twisted relationship with God to her most uncharitable (to put it politely) thoughts about the Angry Women who leave comments on her account. The two-faced hypocrisy of Natalie’s words versus actions on homemaking, being a wife and mother, and working on an organic farm make this book hard to put down. There are few, if any, truly likable characters in this book, but it is extremely compelling as the book makes its way to the shocking but inevitable conclusion.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
The Matchmaker
A society matchmaker realizes she’s in danger when her clients’ weddings are sabotaged in increasingly disturbing ways—an utterly original mystery from New York Times bestselling author Aisha Saeed.
Nura Khan is a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta and business has never been better. Her exclusive clientele benefits from her impeccable track record. And while a single thirty-one-year-old matchmaker would normally raise some perfectly threaded eyebrows in the community, Nura’s childhood best friend Azar is willing to double as her pretend fiancé at her clients’ weddings—as long as Nura is able to hide that her feelings for him might not be so pretend.
But Nura quickly learns that all that glitters isn’t gold. While it’s not uncommon to get the occasional hate mail from rejected prospective clients, after a couple’s carefully constructed wedding implodes, Nura is blindsided by a cascading chain of increasingly terrifying events and realizes someone is taking things too far. With Azar by her side, Nura embarks on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that threatens not only her safety but everything she’s worked so hard to build.
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This novel left me feeling a bit confused, as it swings wildly between thriller and romance. I wanted more of the matchmaking and descriptions of the Indian wedding events. I found both the solution to the mystery and the resolution to the love story abrupt and slightly unsatisfying.
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Rating: Good but Forgettable
Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams
Biography of Roger Williams. Three hundred years ago Roger Williams was fighting for many of the principles of democracy threatened today. He was the first American to demand that a government should be the instrument of the people, working for the greatest good of the greatest number. He was the first champion in the western hemisphere for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state. Time and again he risked his own life in his crusade against religious and racial intolerance, as he battled successfully for fairness and lack of prejudice in dealings with the Indians [sic] and with early settlers of all religious faiths.
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Newbery. Skimmed. A boring book about the life of Roger Williams. I couldn’t make it through, and I’m sure today’s kid readers couldn’t either.
Rating: Meh
New Found World
A young person’s history of Latin America, covering the Aztec, the Mayan and the Inca civilizations, the Conquistadors, the search for El Dorado, the coming of Christianity, and the struggle for independence of the colonial powers.
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Newbery. Skimmed. A pretty boring history of indigenous peoples in the Americas, followed by a history of Spanish colonization. There is nothing about this book that recommends it for modern day readers.
Rating: Meh
Men of Athens
Once again, Olivia Coolidge puts flesh and blood on the bones of history. In these short stories that frame the Golden Age of Athens she spreads before the reader a dramatic, highly colored panorama of the times and men who made the glory of Athens’s Golden Age.
Here is the barbaric splendor of the Persian court at Sardis; a stirring view of the battle of Salamis; here is Themistocles, the ambassador from Athens, cleverly outmaneuvering the smug and simple Spartans; Criton, the athlete, defending the honor of his city at the Olympic games; the bustle of the marketplace where even a potter strives for an excellence worthy of his city.
Finally, after the flashing brilliance of Athens at its height of power, there is a moving account of the day that Socrates is condemned to death, a verdict that seems to spell the death of Athens itself.
As with the author’s Roman People, which Library Journal called “absolutely essential,” the book makes excellent reading just as a collection of fine and exciting stories; at the same time it will make the Athenian century a living reality and give the reader a sense of participation in the Golden Age.
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Newbery. Skimmed. This story, dramatizing some characters from Ancient Greece, is somewhat better written than the other old Newbery books I have skimmed recently, but I still think it holds little value for today’s readers. There are surely better books—maybe a graphic novel?—that young readers would find more engaging.
Rating: Meh
Hammajang Luck
HAMMAJANG | adjective. Definition: In a disorderly or chaotic state; messed up. Chiefly in predicative use, esp. in all hammajang. Etymology: A borrowing from Hawaiian Pidgin. Source: Oxford English Dictionary.
Edie is done with crime. Eight years behind bars changes a person – costs them too much time with too many of the people who need them most.
And it’s all Angel’s fault. She sold Edie out in what should have been the greatest moment of their lives. Instead, Edie was shipped off to the icy prison planet spinning far below the soaring skybridges and neon catacombs of Kepler space station – of home – to spend the best part of a decade alone.
But then a chance for early parole appears out of nowhere and Edie steps into the pallid sunlight to find none other than Angel waiting – and she has an offer.
One last job. One last deal. One last target. The trillionaire tech god they failed to bring down last time. There’s just one thing Edie needs to do – trust Angel again – which also happens to be the last thing Edie wants to do. What could possibly go all hammajang about this plan?
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This space heist, complete with a diverse, likable, believable cast of characters, is gripping and fun. I really loved following Edie, Angel, and the rest of the crew as they navigate shifting alliances and attempt to steal from the richest tech developer on the space station. I enjoyed the fast paced, high energy heist moments, but Edie’s time with their family and their grappling with money versus loyalty created the emotional stakes that kept the story going (along with the “will they won’t they” dynamic they have with Angel). I really enjoyed it and will keep an eye out for the author’s next book.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Song of the Pines
Song of the Pines: A Story of Norwegian Lumbering in Wisconsin is a children’s historical novel which was written by the husband and wife team of Walter and Marion Havighurst. Song of the Pines was part of the “Land of the Free” series of children’s books.
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Newbery. This book was more interesting than several of the ones I have skimmed recently. I actually found the characters engaging and the story, of several Norwegians who immigrate to America to find their fortune in the farmlands of Wisconsin, fairly well written. Unfortunately several parts of the book are marred by racist comments and ideas about Indigenous people, so despite the much more interesting story, this book is best left in the past.
Rating: Good but Forgettable
The Last Murder at the End of the World
Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.
On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.
Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.
But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don’t even know it.
And the clock is ticking.
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A fascinating, gripping murder mystery/sci fi/postapocalyptic story about what is really most valuable at the end of the world. This book has plenty of twists and turns to keep readers invested, all the way to the last page. This book was right up my alley, and if you, like me, grew up on a combination of YA dystopia and Agatha Christie, I think you’ll like it too.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Legendary Frybread Drive-In
The road to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June’s serves up more than it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again.
That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.
Featuring stories and poems Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young.
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This interconnected collection of short stories, written by a broad array of Indigenous authors, is a really beautiful and varied collection. These YA authors introduce characters from all over the continent, who are all able to access Sandy June’s frybread drive in at the moment they need it the most. Joyful, bittersweet, tender; each story brings a new emotion and a new viewpoint. I found this super enjoyable, and it introduced me to several new authors whose work I now want to explore.
Rating: Pretty Darn Good
Birthdays of Freedom: From Early Egypt to the Fall of Rome
Birthdays of Freedom is a children’s history book written and illustrated by Genevieve Foster. The book was originally published in two volumes, Book One being first published in 1952, Book Two in 1957. Book One was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1953.
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Newbery. A short, illustrated collection of historical figures and events that, in the author’s opinion, constitute the history of freedom throughout the world. It’s simplistic, boring, and promotes some views of the world that I think most of us would disagree with in the modern era. There’s no value here for kids today.
Rating: Meh
Newbery and Beyond 