Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/8/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

Please don't ever let me read such disturbing nonfiction again--I'm reading Caroline Fraser's fascinating and exhaustively researched Murderland; I'm also listening to the first in Antonia Hodgson's smart, charming, intricately plotted fantasy series, The Raven Scholar; and I'm listening to the first in Devney Perry's romantasy series, Shield of Sparrows.

What are you reading, bookworms?

---

01 Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser

File my reading of this nonfiction book under Why Didn't I Listen to My Inner Voice...and Not Read This?

I was intrigued by the environmental factors Fraser tied to developmental disruptions and the creation of eventual serial killers. I was overly ambitious and thought I could handle any nonfiction book topic. I lied to myself about how much horrifying material I could stomach--and how much more disturbing I would find it because the content is all exhaustively researched and true. I forgot that getting frightened when I read at night disrupts my sleep. I didn't think about how I don't actually like to take in extensive information about murder and psychopaths.

Anyhoo, Caroline Fraser puts forth a fascinating link (she's not the first to do so, but her painstakingly detailed account offers a cohesive argument) between the numerous atrocious mass-murderers who grew up to terrorize the Pacific Northwest and an era in which devastating amounts of toxic pollutants were pumped into the air, water, and soil in that region.

If I never sleep again, it will be because I read the entirety of this book.

---

02 The Raven Scholar: Eternal Path Trilogy #1

Neema Kraa has been keeping busy as High Scholar in the land of Orrun, and her focus hasn't been on making friends. The imperious genius is desperate to preserve the peace that has reigned for twenty-four years--but forces she doesn't yet understand are tearing apart the kingdom.

A representative from each of the seven regions must compete to replace their ruler, who is about to step down. The ruthless young competitors are warriors and strategists who have been cultivating the skills and cunning for this their whole lives. And after a series of unlikely, unfortunate events, bookworm Neema becomes one of them--the least threatening, as she is clearly doomed to fail and probably won't survive the ordeal.

Neema can never resist pointing out when others are wrong; she is a social outcast with only a childhood friend (and sometimes nemesis) to lean on, yet her dogged determination and brilliant insights eventually earn her others' grudging respect. As nefarious plotting and crimes are uncovered and the stakes of the competition become ever heightened, characters must forge previously unthinkable loyalties and use every bit of knowledge and craftiness at their disposal in order to survive.

The Raven Scholar is smart, charming, and wonderfully weird. I love the character of Neema. There are magical, talking ravens with ties to Neema and to the plot. There is a romantic element, but this is, happily for me, a richly built fantasy and not a romantasy.

I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook.

---

03 Shield of Sparrows (Shield of Sparrows #1) by Devney Perry

Odessa is the oldest daughter of a king, but she has always felt like a placeholder; her father has focused on vigorously teaching and training her younger sister May as his heir.

But when a prince from another region arrives and demands a bride price for protecting the land Odessa's family rules--and specifies that only Odessa will do--what she understood to be her destiny is upended. Her father frantically demands that she spy, steal, cheat, and lie in her marriage in order to protect her homeland. But the only ones who have shown her loyalty or respected her abilities are her unlikely new family and friends. Is she beholden to her origins or to her future?

This first romantasy in Perry's planned trilogy offers monsters, royalty, secrets, hidden identities, battle training, some oddly modern-seeming profanity, and, abruptly, some steamy scenes.

I'm listening to this as a TWENTY-HOUR audiobook.

Devney Perry is also the author of forty romance novels.