A catch-up post most of the way through April, but I’m gonna hold on the including April books with the hope that my April post will be on time. No way to know really. Who’s even in charge of this anyway?? Oh well, I am being kind and giving myself grace. Hobbies are for fun, after all.
Anyhoo, here goes.
The Spook in the Stacks by Eva Gates. A perfectly fine, ladylike, traditional cozy mystery. Sounds like I am being sarcastic or snide, but I’m not. Just noticing that the general temperature of this genre seems to be getting a little racier and this addition to the field is not.
The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood. A delightful entry into the hall of eccentric elderly sleuths. This is the first of a series, and I’ll look forward to reading more.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. Another fake relationship turned twue wuv story. But I can’t hate on it. There’s a reason I keep reading these books. The formula is rich with possibilities, and I love happy endings. In this case, it’s a love-hate-love dance between two men, an uptight business type and a manic pixie dreamboy. And it’s honestly hilarious. I read passages out loud to Dave when he asked what I was laughing at. Fun!
Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark. just thinking about this story kind of gives me the willies - like the physical horror shudder down the spine kind of willies. What a read. It’s a dark (fantasy genre, I guess?) reimagining of what happened when the movie The Birth of a Nation in 1915 led to the real-life rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. Except in this telling, some of the demons wearing white hoods are actual demons. If it’s ever made into a movie, which it should be, I won’t watch it because I’d never sleep again.
The Defector by Chris Hadfield. The follow-up to The Apollo Murders, this novel did not have me quite as entranced. I think having the setting on good ol’ Planet Earth made it just a little less of a page turner. It was very good, mind you.
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver. A YA novel about a young person trying to make it through their final year in a new high school, having been rejected by their parents after coming out as non-binary. Thankfully, their older sister offers a safe place to live, and an outgoing fellow student takes them under his wing. Sweet and affecting.
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan. An attractive young rabbi and a former porn star turned sexual intimacy coach walk into a bar… Chemistry abounds. Fun!
The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain. After a Parisian publishing house releases a brilliant debut murder mystery, life begins to imitate art when a series of murders starts to echo the events of the events of the book. And the pseudonym-using author is nowhere to be found. The editor is not the hook to produce the author, but she’s just survived an accident and has gaps in her memory. Intriguing!
Murder in the Margins by Margaret Louden. Another highly conventional, booky cozy novel. Different details, same story.
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian. A love story set in the world of 1950s newspapermen – one the silver spoon son of the owner, the other a rough-around-the-edges reporter who’s had to work for every break he’s ever gotten. Lovely and heartfelt and sad.
Eat, Poop, Die by Joe Roman. The thesis is basically that all living things on our planet, through the actions of the title, have a massively underestimated effect on our ecosystem. These basic biological activities make and remake our world in ways that we seldom consider or don’t understand at all. As well-written as this book is, I struggled to get through it. I’m just not in a non-fiction place, I guess.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I heard of this series in the same way I did Fifty Shades of Grey - through whispers between various mildly embarrassed women at work. Let me be abundantly clear though, that’s where the similarity ends. While there is mild sexual content in this book, it also has plot and world building and characters. This is a full-fledged fantasy series (humans, magic, elves, etc.) not BDSM erotica dressed up as a novel. I’ll definitely read the next instalment when my hold comes up!
