

Review of Isola by Allegra Goodman
Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment...
Feb 5, 2025


Review of There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
There Are Rivers in the Sky weaves together three stories set in three timelines, featuring disparate characters, to explore...
Feb 4, 2025


Review of All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
Nonie is the young protagonist of this stark climate-change dystopian future, in which her small community fights to survive and to...
Jan 30, 2025


Review of Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1) by Sebastian de Castell
Kellen begins as a principled, headstrong young man lacking in the magic crucial for power, familial stability and social standing in his...
Jan 29, 2025


Review of Fallen Land by Taylor Brown
The debut novel from one of my favorite authors tracks a horse thief and an orphan who bond and find love amid the turmoil and...
Jan 23, 2025


Review of Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Lula Dean focuses on the incredible power of books and truth-telling as characters discover their bravest selves and confront difficult...
Jan 22, 2025


Review of My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
My Oxford Year takes a light, romantic tone and within it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and...
Jan 21, 2025


Review of Death at the Sign of the Rook (Jackson Brodie #6) by Kate Atkinson
Atkinson's cozy, Agatha Christie-style novel features former lawman Jackson Brodie, a mystery within a mystery, a real-life killer who...
Jan 16, 2025


Review of The Blood of the Old Kings (Bleeding Empire #1) by Sung-Il Kim
In this first installment of The Bleeding Empire, Kim sets three characters on paths to discover their worth, their purpose, and their...
Jan 15, 2025


Review of The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
Dunlap's debut novel explores early Edinburgh surgical schools, questionable methods of obtaining study subjects, a main protagonist's...
Jan 14, 2025


Review of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Much of The Safekeep feels claustrophobic, quiet, and hopeless, but unexpected shifts late in the story turn accepted histories on their...
Jan 9, 2025


Review of Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
I loved the premise of Creation Lake , and I was captivated by the mocking, ruthless, fickle freelance spy "Sadie." But the story and...
Jan 8, 2025


Review of Hum by Helen Phillips
The dystopian future of Hum is haunting in its familiar elements, its plausible, terrible climate-change effects, the extreme reliance on...
Jan 7, 2025


Review of Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
Frances White's debut is a locked-room mystery on a magical ship full of uncertain alliances, deadly vendettas, and a sassy and...
Jan 3, 2025


Review of The Last Hour Between Worlds (Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso
I may not have followed all of the echoes in time, creatures convincingly impersonating other creatures, or protagonists' complex,...
Jan 2, 2025


Review of The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into...
Dec 19, 2024


Review of Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher
Croucher's young adult queer medieval adventure romance is sweet, spunky, and full of great banter, with characters finding their way...
Dec 18, 2024


Review of The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne
Gwynne's epic, Norse-inspired saga tracks three fascinating main protagonists through battles, shifting alliances, strengthened resolve,...
Dec 17, 2024


Review of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Robinson's gentle novel Gilead spans generations of fathers and sons and explores a reverend's complicated relationship with his troubled...
Dec 12, 2024


Review of Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
Our Evenings explores a young, often cruel, existence at a British boys' boarding school; later fits and starts of exploring sexuality...
Dec 10, 2024
