Three Books I'm Reading Now, 7/7/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm listening to the first in Gail Carriger's young adult steampunk mystery Finishing School series, Etiquette & Espionage; I'm listening to An Unexpected Peril, the sixth book in Deanna Raybourn's great Veronica Speedwell series; and I'm reading We Don't Talk about Carol, Kristen L. Berry's recently published debut novel, a twisty mystery.

What are you reading, bookworms?

---

01 Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School #1) by Gail Carriger

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia Temminnick constantly tests her mother's patience, as she's more apt to occupy herself by dismantling a clock or arrive to tea disheveled, having climbed a nearby tree to ponder life's mysteries, than she is to master the proper curtsy or perfect her needlework, as is becoming to a young lady.

So she is horrified to learn that she's been enrolled in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. But Sophronia soon realizes that the students at Mademoiselle Geraldine's aren't simply learning to dance and dress, but to use household items as weapons, use their feminine wiles to distract, and use assumptions about young women to spy on unsuspecting victims.

This is the first in the four-book young adult steampunk series Finishing School. I loved the first book in Gail Carriger's five-book (plus a prequel short) Parasol Protectorate series, Soulless. and its sequel, Changeless.

---

02 An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6) by Deanna Raybourn

In the sixth book of the wonderful Deanna Raybourn's feisty Veronica Speedwell series of historical fiction mysteries, Veronica remains a strong and unorthodox main protagonist who finds herself entangled in a dangerous set of circumstances.

It's January 1889, and Veronica and her natural historian beau Stoker are working on a memorial exhibition showcasing the achievements of climber Alice Baker-Greene. But evidence indicates to Veronica that Alice may have been murdered. And Princess Gisela of the Alpenwald, a dear friend of Alice's, goes missing just after Veronica shares her suspicion--requiring Veronica to pose as the princess in order to preserve a secret peace treaty that's being brokered.

I'm listening to An Unexpected Peril as an audiobook.

Raybourn is the author of A Curious Beginning, as well as the sequels A Perilous Undertaking, A Treacherous Curse, A Dangerous Collaboration, and A Murderous Relation. (There are currently nine books in the series, with a tenth scheduled for publication in 2026.) Raybourn is also the author of the wonderful title about retired middle-aged assassins, Killers of a Certain Age, and its sequel Kills Well with Others.

---

03 We Don't Talk about Carol by Kristen L. Berry

After her grandmother dies, Sydney finds an old photo that looks almost exactly like her--but she has never seen or heard about this relative before. It turns out that the mystery girl is her Aunt Carol, who was one of six Black girls to go missing in the 1960s.

No one ever speaks about Carol. But as Sydney looks to start her own family, she becomes determined to first dig into what happened to her aunt and solve the long-held mystery.

One complication: when Sydney worked the crime beat as a journalist years ago, she explored a young girl's disappearance--and the emotional trauma led to a psychotic break for Sydney.

This is Kristen L. Berry's debut novel.

I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group: Ballantine, Bantam.