

Review of Volatile Memory (Volatile Memory #1) by Seth Haddon
Seth Haddon's slim science fiction debut offers action and a risky space quest, revenge, and love, but it's also a poignant, lovely story about being seen for your true self, being vulnerable, and thinking beyond traditional standards. Wylla's ship has seen better days, and she's desperate for a break. When she catches wind of a valuable, mysterious piece of technology on another planet, she banks on her wiliness and speed to beat other treasure hunters to it. Wylla's own mas
3 days ago


Review of Woodworking by Emily St. James
Woodworking explores interconnected transgender characters' experiences, fears, challenges, and joys as they work toward living true, fulfilling lives. Emily St. James's debut novel is poignant, funny, heartbreaking, often surprising, and heartwarming. It's called woodworking. Someday they will wake up and you will be gone. To have a future, you cannot have a past. You will have to disappear into the woodwork to finally be seen. Emily St. James crafts a tender, funny story wi
Dec 2


Review of The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Grossman's reimagined Arthurian legend gives center stage to a ragtag band of misfits, celebrates diversity, and builds a patchwork of adventures, discovery, and widened horizons culminating in a satisfying new, reimagined path forward. Collum is an instinctually gifted, strong knight who has literally fought for sword training as a lowly ward; his family has little use for him; and his heart is set upon joining King Arthur's court. But when he finally makes his way to the Ro
Nov 4


Review of The Summer War by Naomi Novik
Novik's novella The Summer War reads like a fable, with unexpected twists and turns; duty, clever evasion, and curses; a strange world...
Oct 1


Review of The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
The Briar Club employs nine points of view to tell the story of life in a female-only boarding house in 1950s, McCarthy-era Washington,...
Sep 23


Review of Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
Patrick Ryan's literary fiction traces decades of the messy, poignant lives of two families shaped by uncompromising societal...
Sep 18


Review of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
This wonderfully creepy lesbian vampire story is largely about female empowerment, but also about love, discovery, reinvention, and...
Jul 24


Review of Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I love an astronaut story, and while Reid spent far more page time on relationships than on the astronaut or space aspects, there was...
Jul 23


Review of An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6) by Deanna Raybourn
While Veronica and Stoker stay close to home while entering into danger and solving the mysteries in book six of this series, Raybourn...
Jul 10


Review of All Fours by Miranda July
The unnamed main protagonist in All Fours frequently made me feel uncomfortable because of her unorthodox decision-making and...
Apr 8


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


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


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


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 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


Review of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
The reality-show setting and LGBTQIA+ representation in Ever After flips the traditional fairy tale in satisfying, heartwarming ways in...
Oct 23, 2024


Review of Grey Dog by Elliott Gish
Grey Dog begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s rural England, but it becomes a...
Jul 31, 2024


Review of In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Alice Winn's account of the unrelenting slog of World War I and the beautiful young men set against each other in the trenches serves as...
Jul 30, 2024


Review of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
The tone of Martyr! was tough for me to get a handle on for much of the book. The story is dark, nerve-racking, irreverent, tragic, and...
Mar 28, 2024


Review of Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
Lex Croucher's queer medieval rom-com--the author's debut young-adult novel--is an absolute gem; it's full of excellent banter and lots...
Feb 13, 2024
