Walls uses a journal structure to draw the reader into a singular story I can't stop thinking about. In Field Notes from an Extinction, we witness the innermost thoughts of a grumbly hermit ornithologist who is thrust into a parenting role, then must face a pirate queen out for revenge on British colonial rulers amid the Irish Potato Famine. Eoghan Wells's Field Notes from an Extinction is a novel told in journal form from the perspective of a stodgy, single-minded 19th-century ornithologist. Ignatius Green is sent by the Royal Society to the remote Irish island of Tor Mor to study some of the last Great Auks left in the world. Meanwhile the potato famine ravages the mainland Irish population and all order seems lost. A trickle-down effect begins to break down the strict systems Ig has imposed upon his wild surroundings. When the ruffian local suppliers row over not only his (rifled-through, partially stolen) supplies but also a small, feral child (he eventually learns that her name is Bridget), all hope seems to be lost of continuing his seemingly doomed mission of observation, documentation, and providing an orderly report of the endangered birds. Add to the complicated situation that Bridget's mother is said by the untrustworthy rowboat operators to be the most dangerous, fabled, infamous pirate in the land, Grace O'Malley. Grace is rumored to be carrying out renegade justice on the British officers kicking Irish tenant families out of their homes during the Irish Potato Famine, leaving the people to starve. Her formidable, fearsome presence looms from afar, and Ig dreads the possibility that she might come to fetch the child she has mystifyingly sent his way. I was drawn into Ig's insular world and his heartbreaking dedication and singleminded focus on the tragic Auks. He holds prejudices against the Irish, and he is unaware of his closemindedness and assumptions. The journal structure of the novel allows us to witness all of his grumbly nitpicking, his large-scale fears and concerns, his existence on a knife-edge, dependent on his primitive, remote systems and self-discipline--and his altered perspective after the upsetting, upheaving, destructive, horrifying, wondrous arrival of the child. Soon everything shifts, and we see the sea change within Ig, with the Auks themselves, with young Bridget, and in the world surrounding their spare, strange, isolated island. I was fully intrigued by the story and by Ig's vivid point of view, the relentless and increasingly outrageous interruptions to his status quo, and the building power of change, leading to the eventual complete destruction of his prior life. I was so delighted by the tone, the structure, and the unexpected evolution within Field Notes from an Extinction. I can't stop thinking about this book. I received this title as part of my Books Are Magic monthly book subscription. More Books for You to Explore Eoghan Walls is a Northern Irish poet who is also the author of The Gospel of Orla. You might also like these books set in Ireland, books about found family, or books about island life.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Rebecca Thorne's cozy sci-fi adventure Moss'd in Space; I'm listening to Laurie R. King's dry, lovely mystery featuring a retired Sherlock Holmes and a young Mary Russell, The Beekeeper's Apprentice; and I'm reading Sara Nović's memoir which explores her experiences in the deaf community, Mother Tongue. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne In Rebecca Thorne's cozy sci-fi adventure, it's sometime after the year 90,000, and Torian's years of saving have finally allowed her to buy a spaceship. Now she can finally take her sister to a distant planet where the air quality will allow her to live longer than her current prognosis. She just has to convince her to come with her...and get her centuries-abandoned, moss-covered ship in working order. But the moss is sentient, bossy, and suffering emotionally from having been left alone for so many years. This is charming, creative, and wonderfully strange so far. I'm listening to Moss'd in Space as an audiobook courtesy of my public library and Libby. Rebecca Thorne is the author of many other books, including Can't Spell Treason Without Tea. For more books about ragtag crews on quests, please check out the titles at this link. 02 The Beekeeper's Apprentice (Mary Russell Mystery #1) by Laurie R. King It's 1915 and Sherlock Holmes is bored out of his mind in retirement...until he happens to meet 15-year-old Mary Russell on the Sussex Downs. She's curious, clever, doesn't mince words, and isn't concerned about social niceties. He's drawn back into life by Mary's promising intellect--and vague interest in his extensive knowledge and methods of investigation. Soon he is teaching her all he knows, and she is reluctantly absorbing his information and adding her own observations. Soon they're working together to solve the mystery of a senator's kidnapped daughter, and Mary is quickly beginning to grow to be Holmes's equal. I'm listening to this title as an audiobook courtesy of Libby and my local library. Laurie R. King is also the author of many other mysteries. 03 Mother Tongue: A Memoir by Sara Novic When Sara Nović was young, she loved hearing stories and listening music. But after she failed her school's mandatory hearing test, she feared being labeled deaf, treated differently, and ostracized. She told no one of the test results and became doggedly determined to remain in the mainstream, hearing world. After she could no longer pretend that she could hear, she learned American Sign Language, met other deaf people, learned about the vibrant deaf community, and reimagined her own labels and expectations. Now the mother of a biological child who is hearing and an adopted child who is deaf, she mothers them within her own context and within the deaf community. Sara Novic is also the author of the wonderful novel True Biz and Girl at War, which I haven't yet read.

Do you enjoy a character-driven Western? I appreciate an unflinching reflection of our nation's complex history--which includes the atrocities visited upon the indigenous peoples of our continent because white people explored and settled in the West. I'm also fascinated by the optimistic explorer spirit--and I love reading about strong female characters in a time when the world around them didn't typically support women's strength and determination. One of these books is narrative nonfiction, but I Bossily included it in this list. If you're interested in books like those listed here, you might also like the titles on my Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West. And for great historical fiction of all types, look at these historical fiction greedy reading lists. Happy reading, bookworms! 01 Inland by Téa Obreht Much of Téa Obreht's Inland is centered around Nora, an impulsive, hot-tempered, strong woman fighting for a hardscrabble life for her family in a remote town during a devastating drought. The other plotline concerns Lurie, a man who has adventures and challenges with his surprising, loyal, exotic companion. The two disparate stories intersect in an unlikely way in 1890s Arizona Territory, and fantastical elements throughout make even the most jaded characters believe in the odd and implausible in this remarkable book. I read this story as an e-book and was therefore robbed of gazing at this gorgeous cover. I adore it. Random House Publishing Group provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. For my full review of Inland, please click here. 02 Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison In 1885, Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on the homestead. Seventeen-year-old girls aren't safe on their own, so Jess cuts her hair, binds her chest, and saddles up for a trip across the mountains in search of her lawless brother Noah. Jess is such a good shot, she ends up working for the mean-as-a-snake governor of the territory--and finds that the governor's armed forces are hunting for Noah and intend to capture him, dead or alive. “What started the war, Pa?" His eyes settled on me. "Stories, Jessilyn. We tell ourselves the wrong stories.” I love love love a character-driven western. Jess's voice was fantastic. She grapples with the stories she's been told as compared to the reality she experiences as she makes her way. Whiskey When We're Dry is a rough, heart-wrenching, wonderful story from John Larison. 03 A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird Isabella Bird's nonfiction account of her 1873 travels through the rugged, wondrous American West is full of her irresistible determination to discover; offers fascinating details of flora, fauna, and the people she encountered; and showcases her sparkling personality. British Isabella Bird explored the wild, rugged western United States in the late 1800s, and she journeyed the challenging terrain in shocking solo fashion. Through the vividly recounted adventures in this lively narrative nonfiction, Bird shares her many discoveries, difficulties, and wonders. The book is built from letters Bird wrote to her sister (with some key notes added after the fact), which paint an unflinching account of her own occasionally dangerous missteps, her soaring hopes and deep connection to the stark mountains, and a sometimes-scathing social commentary related to Indians, class, ecological irresponsibility, and the dramatic inspiration she finds in nature. Bird was an understated trailblazer with irresistible determination and feistiness. Her wonder-filled fascination with the flora, fauna, and characters she encounters in the west combined with her mix of no-nonsense practicality and ambitious traveling goals and incredible fortitude make for a captivating read. For my full review of this book, please see A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. 04 Doc by Mary Doria Russell Surprise! Doc is nonfiction, but it reads like historical fiction (as opposed to a heavier nonfiction title like Tom Clavin's Tombstone, which also includes lots of Doc Holliday information), so I'm Bossily including it. I love Mary Doria Russell’s character-driven books, and this Western, set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the late nineteenth century, is a slow build rather than a dramatic, gun-slinging action story. Doc doesn’t focus on the Tombstone shootout, but instead on Doc Holliday’s life, his brotherlike friendship with the Earps, and his longtime relationship with a Hungarian noblewoman-turned-prostitute, Kate. Mary Doria Russell also interestingly explores Holliday's career as a dentist (at a time when the dental profession was tainted by traveling butchers and thieves), and his gallant, grumpy, well-read, mischievous, and generous-to-a-fault personality. The author also wrote The Sparrow, which I adored and gave five stars. She's such a gorgeous writer, I'd read anything she tried her hand at writing. 05 Into the Savage Country by Shannon Burke Into the Savage Country is a serenely told story of a band of fur traders--some wild, some considered gentlemen, some one of these but striving to be the other--striking out into the West in the first half of the 1800s. The writing style involves a lot of telling, which seemingly intentionally slows the pacing--and which I usually don't love, but here it gives a fittingly old-fashioned quality to the writing that feels as though it suits the time, the main protagonist, and the tale itself. The group encounters friendly and hostile Native Americans; copes with antagonized and antagonistic British trappers; is threatened with imprisonment; experiences cruel and potentially fatal betrayal by one of their own; faces the wild and its many dangers; suffers grave wounds; and saves each other's skin countless times--including after foolish situations (which seem as though they would have been easily avoided) such as literally waking a sleeping bear and baiting an injured bull. Yet because of the pacing, I didn't necessarily feel on the edge of my seat while I read about all of it. There is a deeper, quiet, surprisingly affecting story beneath the Western adventure, which is about trust, loyalty, sometimes begrudging but deeply felt affection, discovery of self-worth, celebrating differences, and love. And it's the pacing and tone of the story that allows for all of those elements to feel real. 06 News of the World by Paulette Jiles Captain Kidd has fought in three wars, and after the Civil War's end, he serves as a traveling news reader, providing eager listeners along his route with news from the world. Kidd somewhat reluctantly ends up agreeing to transport a young, recently rescued Kiowa captive 400 miles to her extended family. They'll have to pass through lawless lands to get to San Antonio, and Johanna isn't a willing participant in this venture, having become more culturally Kiowa over the years than white and unfamiliar with her remaining blood relatives. Not all of the members of my book club felt as strongly about this one as I did, but I adored every bit of this--Captain Kidd's reluctant but gentlemanly involvement and his voice, the character of Johanna, the Texas setting, the fits and starts of adventure, the noble heart of the story, the humor, and the heartbreak. I loved loved loved it. Jiles also wrote Simon the Fiddler and the glorious The Color of Lightning. Click here for my full review of The News of the World.

In this perfect summer read, Harrison explores 1950s life for three women facing complicated personal challenges. Tennis brings them together, and they use their inner strength and smarts to fight through troubles as they rely on each other. I recently gave a talk about newish books I recommend for spring and summer reading (stay tuned for the full post), and I also mentioned that I was in the middle of reading this one. Luckily, The Island Club stood up to its entertaining, immersive start and turned out to be a great summer read. Nicola Harrison's The Island Club is set in the 1950s on Balboa Island off the coast of California. Tennis ultimately brings together three women, formerly strangers to each other. Their lives intersect in their small community, and they reluctantly become vulnerable with each other, sharing secrets, challenges, and devastating problems they wouldn't tell anyone else. A secret past is revealed, marital troubles are laid bare, and financial devastation becomes clear. The women feel deeply and lean on each other. They're each reeling, but ultimately they realize their resilience; they're clever, determined, and creative with problem-solving. Harrison raises some weighty issues, and there are some dark periods within the story, but the tone of The Island Club is that of a summer book. The Island Club delivers full-on 1950s immersion while exploring LGBTQ issues, privilege, sacrifice, second chances, and redemption. As I was reading, I had faith that all would work out, but that the resolutions would be just tricky enough to make it feel satisfying. The author spoke here last week, and she talked about her inspirations, her writing process, and her life. I loved being there. More Books You Might Love Nicola Harrison is also the author of Montauk, The Show Girl, and Hotel Laguna. For more Bossy reviews of novels set in the 1950s, please check out this link.

Cash crafts a delightfully campy, oddball novel around a family of characters who for various reasons abandon social acceptability as they aim to find fulfillment, solve a mystery, discover compatibility, seek purpose, and coexist together. This is a darkly humorous, sometimes quirky tale that's edgy and provocative. In Madeline Cash's darkly funny, oddball novel, the reader can tell what Catherine and Bud Flynn cannot: their open marriage is either directly or indirectly further destroying their dysfunctional family. Abigail is a high schooler dating a man in his twenties, a former military man nicknamed War Crimes Wes; Louise's online boyfriend seems to almost certainly be recruiting her to be a terrorist; and brilliant Harper is sent to a behavioral reform camp because she is relentless in her (accurate) accusations about a corrupt conspiracy involving all of the powerful men in their town. Cash actively makes over-the-top choices that are likely to cause discomfort--Louise's online boyfriend is an outrageously caricatured Muslim who is online clumsily recruiting potential terrorists; Abigail is a minor having a relationship with an adult; human trafficking victims get a cheery, Pollyannaish new start; and a neighbor child is differently abled but referred to in somewhat and also outright offensive terms. Take those elements along with the open marriage that pushes the family off balance in the first place, and nothing here is considered taboo. Cash commits her protagonists to unsympathetic behavior and uses their out-of-bounds acts and words to illustrate her characters' multifaceted abandonment of societal norms and acceptability. In some ways, the messy, chaotic Flynn family reminded me of the sometimes feral Herdman family in The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever. The stakes of the story's situations are quite high, but the tone of Lost Lambs assures the reader that no untimely deaths or horrors will occur (outside of the lunacy and tragedies Cash has already put in place). This was surprisingly heartwarming and wonderfully sardonic. Other Books to Explore Madeline Cash is also the author of the short story collection Earth Angel. You might also like these edgy books, darkly funny books, oddball, and bonkers books, as well as books about families.

At times this debut novel about an octogenarian and mistaken identity was too cloyingly sweet for me, but Fred's stumbling through life after grief and loss is poignant, and the story of mistakes and redemption is undoubtedly heartwarming. Frederick Fife is a widowed octogenarian living in Australia whose spark for life has dwindled significantly since the death of his beloved wife. He's a day away from being kicked out of his apartment (his wife's long cancer treatment bankrupted him). He has no idea of where to go or what to do, and he's worrying over it all when he takes a forlorn walk along the river. The coincidental sudden death of Bernard, a man who's Fred's doppelgänger, right in front of him, along with a series of outlandish events, together lead to Fred's being accidentally folded into the life of a nearby retirement community. All of his protests and his escape attempts are ignored as evidence of dementia, although unlike Bernard's, Fred's mind is as sharp as ever. Before he knows it, Fred is fully entrenched in living the lie that he is actually another man. Fred is faced with the awkward realities of Bernard's intimate clothing (it all fits, even the shoes!), Bernard's previously burned bridges due to his grumpy demeanor, Bernard's liaisons with a racy, aggressive fellow resident, Bernard's supposedly worsening dementia, Bernard's documented incontinence, and Bernard's daily medications. Fred enjoys the shelter, three meals a day, and especially the company and new friendships, and he knows that Bernard was without any family and destitute, so he doesn't feel he's abusing the deceased man's money. But a revelation about Bernard's past very much affects Fred's present, and Fred's situation becomes far more complicated, emotionally rich, and full of guilt when he meets Bernard's grown and newly pregnant (and single, and financially struggling) daughter, who was estranged from her father for decades due to his disruptive gambling addiction (which is said to explain why she doesn't recognize that Fred is not who he says he is)--an unfortunate life-ruiner of a habit that luckily happened to pay off in the form of an enormous, previously secret, windfall that should rightfully be hers. This is very sweet--at times it felt too cloyingly sweet for me. The story is heavily reliant upon the suspension of disbelief so that all of the coincidences work. I was nervous while reading about Fred's growing deceit, but as he blunders his way through various sticky situations, he undoubtedly improves the lives of all he encounters, and the heartwarming circumstances made me sure we were headed for the somewhat clean resolution Johnston ultimately delivers. I listened to this title as an audiobook courtesy of Libby and my local library for my book club. More Books to Explore The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is Anna Johnston's debut novel. You might also like these Bossy books that are heartwarming.

The premise of this novel hooked me, and the relatively slow pacing throughout felt suited to an insular island life that exists outside of time. It's ultimately romantic to the nth degree, with damning climate-change effects that felt somewhat abrupt. The stormy night Clay Lockhart's wife and children die, he flies into a raging grief, and seemingly as a result of the power of his pain, his home and the land beneath it break from Scotland and float into the sea. When Ellie Mills is a young girl in Nova Scotia, she stumbles onto Clay and his island and upon stepping foot upon its land, enters into a mysterious time warp. But upon her return home her account is largely dismissed as a delusion. She is almost certain that her experience was real, and the pull of the island haunts her into adulthood, so that she constantly feels as though something is missing from her life. Now Clay's island has been spied by a cruise ship of passengers, and everyone is now prepared to believe Ellie's original tale, but she is torn. Can she revisit the strange island from her youth, and does she even want to unravel the secrets of that distant memory and place? Will the mysterious man on the island answer her questions or allow her to enter it, if she can even access that strange place again? And with the oddities of time on the island, would she be giving up her predictable yet comfortable future, years of her life, for merely a visit to that strange land? I appreciated that the floating island and its time warp existed alongside realistic factors here without Earnshaw attempting to explain the circumstances. Why is the island actively drifting around the world? Who knows? Why does it exist within a time vacuum so that those living on it don't age? No clue. It's an invitation to suspend disbelief and roll with it, and I was happy to do so. I don't know why this house and this land broke away from the mainland all those years ago. I don't know why Clay was swept out to sea, and I don't know why I was drawn here as a young girl, why this island has called to me my whole life. I don't know why time moves strangely against its shores. Ellie's lifelong yearning for the island leads her to it again, but upon her arrival she immediately seeks to leave. When she is unable to do so, she doubts whether she should have come at all. This self-doubt and wondering takes up the bulk of the page time in the book, and the pacing of all of this is slow (this does suit the island life, which is unchanging apart from weather-related issues). I didn't mind this extensive navel-gazing for a long while, because Earnshaw's writing is lovely, but ultimately I began to grow somewhat impatient. I was puzzled by a few elements. Clay's intense grief, presumably unprecedented in the world or at least in his part of the world, which was due to the loss of his wife and unborn twins, was powerful to do the impossible: create the island, set it in motion, and form the time warp. Ellie supposes: "Maybe Clay's broken heart severed time, cracked it like an egg. Maybe a man's heart is capable of powerful things." Yet when it comes to Clay and Ellie, his fondness for his wife is clarified as having been simply companionship, not at all a deep love like Ellie and Clay have. Huh. At times I wondered why the main protagonists didn't fear the obvious things that would doom them: loss of the bees (which allowed their garden to grow) to a storm, or sheep to a mishap or illness, or chickens to either of the above. Clay and Ellie's respective "should I, shouldn't I?" internal warring about potential intimacy felt like a luxury--and, ultimately, crises do occur for the couple, who must adjust and face difficult circumstances. The eventual romance and passion were lovely and all-encompassing for the characters. I felt repeatedly surprised that Ellie didn't miss more creature comforts; she mentions only a few aspects of modern life that she wishes for. I also expected at least a few brief grumpy periods in which the two characters bristle at having only each other for company, conversation, entertainment, and stimulation. Because Clay and Ellie and their creatures don't age, they witness a fast-forwarding of climate change. It's a powerful element in the book in that it affects their trajectory around the globe and their landing options and conditions, yet it takes up relatively little page time. Ellie makes some seemingly flippant comments about the hypothetical rejection of everyday life, and it's unclear what alternative she imagines for others; as far as we know, only two people in the world have been able to escape to a timeless island: "I would tell them to burn it all down. So they can build something new. I wasn't the only one dying back there on the mainland. We all were; our lives poisoned by the very things we thought would save us." Earnshaw largely seems to leave this directive and the environment's bleak developments for the reader to contextualize. I was intrigued by the early story, willing to put aside any temporary impatience about the pacing of the middle, then felt that the ending was somewhat abrupt--yet its resolutions were somewhat satisfying. I read a prepublication edition of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books. More Books to Explore Shea Ernshaw is also the author of The Wicked Deep, A History of Wild Places, Winterwood, and other titles. Check out these links for Bossy books that play with time, books about island life, and books with Scottish settings.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Madeline Cash's heartwarming and so far morbidly funny debut novel Lost Lambs; I'm listening to Anna Johnston's extremely sweet story of an octogenarian benefiting from a case of mistaken identity, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife; and I'm reading Eoghan Walls's novel told in journal format and set in 19th century Ireland, Field Notees from an Extinction. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash In Madeline Cash's darkly funny, oddball novel, the reader can tell what Catherine and Bud Flynn cannot: their open marriage is either directly or indirectly further destroying their dysfunctional family. Abigail is a high schooler dating a man in his twenties, a former military man nicknamed War Crimes Wes; Louise's online boyfriend seems to almost certainly be recruiting her to be a terrorist; and brilliant Harper is sent to a behavioral reform camp because she is relentless in her (accurate) accusations about a corrupt conspiracy involving all of the powerful men in their town. In some ways, the messy, chaotic Flynn family so far reminds me of the sometimes feral Herdman family in The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever. This is surprisingly heartwarming and wonderfully sardonic. Madeline Cash is also the author of the short story collection Earth Angel. 02 The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston Frederick Fife is a widowed octogenarian whose spark for life has dwindled significantly since the death of his beloved wife. He's a day from being kicked out of his apartment (his wife's cancer treatment bankrupted him) and without any idea of where to go or what to do when he takes a forlorn walk along the river. The sudden death of a man who's Fred's doppelganger and a series of outlandish events lead to Fred's being accidentally folded into the life of a nearby retirement community, all of his protests ignored as the rantings of a man with dementia, although his mind is as sharp as ever. Before he knows it, he's entrenched in living the lie that he is actually another man, and he's at a loss as to what to do. This is very sweet so far, and it's heavily reliant upon the suspension of disbelief so that all of the coincidences work. I'm listening to this title as an audiobook courtesy of Libby and my local library for my book club. The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife is Anna Johnston's debut novel. 03 Field Notes from an Extinction by Eoghan Walls Eoghan Wells's Field Notes from an Extinction is a novel told in journal form from the perspective of a stodgy, single-minded 19th-century ornithologist. Ignatius Green is sent by the Royal Society to the remote Irish island of Tor Mor to study some of the last Great Auks left in the world. Meanwhile the potato famine ravages the mainland Irish population and all order seems lost. A trickle-down effect begins to break down the strict systems Ig has imposed upon his wild surroundings. When the ruffian local suppliers row over not only his (rifled-through, partially stolen) supplies but also a small, feral child, all hope seems to be lost of continuing his seemingly doomed mission of observation, documentation, and providing an orderly report of the endangered birds. Eoghan Walls is a Northern Irish poet who is also the author of The Gospel of Orla.

Bossy Favorites of the Month Bookworms, I present to you: my six Bossy favorite reads of August. This list is a varied collection: historical fiction, a couple of rom-coms, a nonfiction journey, contemporary fiction, and a fantasy sequel. Have you read any of these titles? What were some of your favorite reads this month? 01 Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan This nearly perfect rom-com hit all the right notes for me. Monaghan's tone was spot-on, and her fake-dating story and characters had me abandoning real-life duties to get back to reading this delightful, banter-filled, layered, lovely novel. Single mom Dolly Brick (her mother was a country music fan) returns to her seaside Rhode Island hometown of Whitfield for the summer to help her hardworking dad with his fish shop, support her brother, who has schizophrenia following a traumatic brain injury, and repair the family home following a fire. When she runs into handsome Stewart, the son of the local millionaire Whitfield family, who has a flat tire and no clue how to change it, capable Dolly helps him out. One thing leads to another, and reserved Stewart proposes a fake-dating scenario that should allow him to save face after a humiliating and public breakup--and more importantly, (pretend to) prove to his family that he can lead a balanced lifestyle outside of work. This rom-com hit allll the right notes for me. Fake dating, seeming-opposites attracting, moneyed/financially strapped disparities, relationship hiccups (which do not revolve around miscommunication), complicated family dynamics, peeks into privileged and working-class seaside lives, voyeuristic forays into high-class society, and "they're just like us" moments. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Putnam. Annabel Monaghan is also the author of books including Nora Goes Off Script, Same Time Next Summer, Summer Romance, and It's a Love Story. For my full Bossy review, please check out Dolly All the Time. 02 Night Night Fawn by Jordy Rosenberg In this wonderfully bonkers, darkly funny novel, a dying Jewish matron with rigid views and a litany of disappointments to share with those who caused them experiences drug-induced hallucinations and faces vulnerability as the end of her life draws near. Jewish matron Barbara Greenberg is terminally ill, medicated out of her mind with opioids, and writing down key elements of her life, particularly the laundry list of her failures--including, in her view, her raising of her only child (to be a confident, noncomforming, open-minded person). Tracking back in history, she recounts her front-desk work at a questionable plastic surgeon, to her marriage to a man with declining aspirations, her failed attempt at a career as a film actress, her estrangement from her former (and now famous and successful) best friend, and most especially sticking to her outdated and close-minded views on gender and sexuality--illustrated by her inability to understand the motivations of or identity of her trans son. Barbara offers her extensive, unwavering opinions and doesn't sugarcoat a thing. Through it all, death looms, and as Barbara prepares to exit the corporal world she is at times afraid, unmoored, and alone. The pending end of her life eliminates some of her previously die-hard cocksureness, and she shows moments of vulnerability as her frailty becomes overwhelming--and at times humiliating. Barbara is an unreliable narrator, and she digs in her heels on points that the reader can see are shadowed by her spectacularly misguided and relentlessly held convictions about how things should be, but aren't. For my full review of this book please see Night Night Fawn. 03 This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage Historian Beverly Gage chose thirteen pivotal places across our nation to illustrate key points in our history, explore our complicated path to the present day, and inspire our growing stronger as we face our past truths as well as our future. This is fascinating nonfiction, perfect to read during our nation's semiquincentennial year. Beverly Gage traveled across the United States in order to write this work highlighting key points in our history, unforgettable characters who shaped our past, various conflicts and cooperation, and our mistakes as well as hope for a better future. She begins the book by reflecting on her youth and longtime interest in history, her travels as a young person, and the trips she has taken with her own, now college-aged child. She recalls her own dives into participating in history and celebrating our nation, including, endearingly, dressing up as a peanut for a bicentennial parade. Gage asserts that our nation's history is complicated and fraught, and that this layered story of our collective past belongs to all of the groups who have lived on the land we call the United States. As current debates rage about how to tell the truths of our history, some groups fight to erase uncomfortable facts, shape the narrative to be softer, and omit painful historical failures. But Gage notes that every event, however painful, has built our country, that our stumbles and abject failures have inspired change, and that we are not finished growing. We can continue aiming to be better, do better, and take pride in our diverse nation, its checkered past, and its promising future. This nonfiction work is perfect to read during our nation's semiquincentennial year. For my full review, please check out this link. 04 The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren The Romance Revival is a departure for Christina Lauren; we get a couple who has drifted apart and gets a second chance, but a futuristic, science-fiction twist is key to the plot. The relationship is one to root for, and I really liked the minor mystery, supporting characters, and new direction for the writing pair. Scientist Emery Finch has always been hyper-focused on her top-secret career, but when she fell for landscaper Luca, she fell hard. Their passionate married life was joyful and fulfilling at first...but Emery is hardly ever home, Luca carries all of the weight of the household, and they feel like they're not connecting anymore, if they ever truly did. As Emery misses yet another important anniversary, an unfathomable tragedy throws everything into a spiral. Emery breaks every code of ethics to save Luca. But afterward, Luca retains no memory of Emery, their life, or his own personal past. He realizes that he was unhappy before the accident, and also that Emery was keeping secrets he had seemed willing to overlook. Will this be a chance to start over, or the heartbreaking end of the relationship. Luca's memory loss propels the "second-chance" aspect of the romance, and the couple's redoubled efforts, increased understanding, and heartfelt getting-to-know-you-again pieces of the story allowed for a deeper, more believable, more anchored feeling to the relationship. The writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings also authored the books The Paradise Problem, The True Love Experiment, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, Love and Other Words, Something Wilder, and Autoboyography. Please click here for my full review of this title. 05 When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward The tone of this historical fiction novel was at first too earnest for my taste, but ultimately I was intrigued by the real-life basis of the Halifax Explosion and the intersecting stories of two women coping with the local accident and crisis, the effects of World War I, societal limitations placed on women, judgment around single motherhood, finding and losing love, and more. It's 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and two women are coping with the ripple effects of World War I--and their own personal struggles and situations. Nora, a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Nursing Corps, is living with her beloved sister and nieces while her brother-in-law is off at war. Nora is determined to find joy in any possible moment. Charlotte still reels from the news that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen live with her husband's cold, demanding family, with Charlotte serving as an unpaid maidservant of sorts. When a tragedy strikes Nova Scotia, both of the women's lives will be turned upside down--along with the lives of thousands of others. The storytelling here is earnest, and it took me a little work to get past this to appreciate the representations of the struggle between work and motherhood, the crushing societal judgment of unwed mothers, the widespread destruction and complicated effects, and the stalwart moving forward in the face of grief and unimaginable destruction. I felt confident throughout the book that some version of a happy ending would be delivered after the heartache and loss, and that did come to pass. The accident in the story was based upon the real-life Halifax Explosion. When the World Fell Silent is Donna Jones Alward's debut historical fiction novel. For my full review, please see When the World Fell Silent. 06 The Tapestry of Fate (Amina al-Sirafi #2) by Shannon Chakraborty Amina al-Sirafi is an irresistible character--spicy, determined, nurturing, cutthroat, loyal, inventive, and unpredictable. In this second novel of adventure, the pirate faces seemingly impossible challenges and must do the unthinkable: rely on others and trust them with her life so she can safely return to her daughter and family. I loved every bit of Chakraborty's first novel about willful, sometimes grumpy pirate Amina al-Sirafi and her complicated quest, strategic swearing, strength, fierce loyalty, struggle to balance work and family, and messy, grand, swashbuckling adventures. In this second book in the series, Amina is obliged to seek a magical artifact on behalf of a powerful group to whom she is beholden. She imagines a fairly stress-free escape across the sea with her pirate crew, an efficient recovery, and a victorious return home. But she finds herself on an island ruled by a sorceress whose powers prevent Amina's escape. Strong women are at the heart of this story, as are their unfailing loyalties to family and friends, the forcing of impossible decisions, and the facing of excruciating losses. I'm in for all the Amina books I can get my hands on, and the cliffhanger at the end of this novel clinches that. I listened to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby. Shannon Chakraborty wrote the first book in this series, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and also writes books under the name S. A. Chakraborty, such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold. You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of novels about pirates and life at sea. For my full review, please check out The Tapestry of Fate.

The tone of this historical fiction novel was at first too earnest for my taste, but ultimately I was intrigued by the real-life basis of the Halifax Explosion and the intersecting stories of two women coping with the local accident and crisis, the effects of World War I, societal limitations placed on women, judgment around single motherhood, finding and losing love, and more. I thought I understood what love was, but now I know what it’s not. It’s not being swept off my feet and romanced, not about being reckless. It’s about being with someone who sees you at your worst and loves you anyway. Who knows what you need and gives it unreservedly. It's 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and two women are coping with the ripple effects of World War I--and their own personal struggles and situations. Nora, a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Nursing Corps, is living with her beloved sister and nieces while her brother-in-law is off at war. Nora is determined to find joy in any possible moment. Charlotte still reels from the news that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen live with her husband's cold, demanding family, with Charlotte serving as an unpaid maidservant of sorts. When a tragedy strikes Nova Scotia, both of the women's lives will be turned upside down--along with the lives of thousands of others. The storytelling here is earnest, and what felt like an initial Pollyanna-esque tone of the scene-setting didn't sit well with me; when I first started listening to this audiobook, I didn't intend to continue. I took a break (and apparently coped with my own jaded feelings) and tried again, the second time around appreciating the detail of Alward's intersecting stories. I was especially struck by the struggle between work and motherhood, the crushing societal judgment of unwed mothers, the widespread destruction and complicated effects, and the stalwart moving forward in the face of grief and unimaginable destruction. I felt confident throughout the book that some version of a happy ending would be delivered after the heartache and loss, and that did come to pass. The accident in the story was based upon the real-life Halifax Explosion, in which a French cargo ship carrying explosives for use in World War I struck a Norwegian ship in Halifax Harbor, creating the largest manmade explosion prior to the atomic bomb. Two thousand people were killed, and nine thousand more were injured. I listened to this novel as an audiobook for my book club this fall. More Books to Check Out When the World Fell Silent is Donna Jones Alward's debut historical fiction novel. For other Bossy historical fiction favorites, please check out the reviews and Greedy Reading Lists linked here.

The Romance Revival is a departure for Christina Lauren; we get a couple who has drifted apart and gets a second chance, but a futuristic, science-fiction twist is key to the plot. The relationship is one to root for, and I really liked the minor mystery, supporting characters, and new direction for the writing pair. Scientist Emery Finch has always been hyper-focused on her top-secret career, but when she fell for landscaper Luca, she fell hard. Their passionate married life was joyful and fulfilling at first...but Emery is hardly ever home, Luca carries all of the weight of the household, and they feel like they're not connecting anymore, if they ever truly did. As Emery misses yet another important anniversary, an unfathomable tragedy throws everything into a spiral. Emery breaks every code of ethics to save Luca. But afterward, Luca retains no memory of Emery, their life, or his own personal past. He realizes that he was unhappy before the accident, and also that Emery was keeping secrets he had seemed willing to overlook. Will this be a chance to start over, or the heartbreaking end of the relationship? The Romance Revival is a departure for the writing team of Christina Lauren: the story is a romance, but it includes science-fiction plot points in the form of futuristic science that allows a shocking back-to-life transformation. (The book's Acknowledgments mentions that the working title was The Necromancers.) I love an element of science fiction, so I enjoyed this aspect of the book. Luca's memory loss propels the "second-chance" aspect of the romance, and the couple's redoubled efforts, increased understanding, and heartfelt getting-to-know-you-again pieces of the story allowed for a deeper, more believable, more anchored feeling to the relationship. A minor mystery runs through the story (was Luca targeted, by whom, and why?), adding a thread of danger. Add in intense love for a dog, a couple of unshakable best friends, a grumpy elderly neighbor with a heart of gold, a renewed focus on work-life balance, some steamy scenes, and we've got ourselves an entertaining story. I read this as a physical book through my library, but Julia Whelan narrates the audiobook, and she's fantastic. More Christina Lauren Gems The writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings also authored the books The Paradise Problem, The True Love Experiment, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, Love and Other Words, Something Wilder, and Autoboyography.

I loved McAllister's first twisty, clever, surprising mystery. This novel left me wanting more plausibility, more development, and more reasons to feel invested in the story of three siblings making morally questionable choices and doing a poor job of sticking to the plan. Siblings Joe, Cathy, and Frannie work together (at the vet practice their mother started), they live very near each other, they have weekly traditions, and now they are vacationing together at their jointly owned villa in Italy. After youngest sibling Frannie makes a frantic late-night call to her brother and her sister, they arrive to find that she has hit a man with her car. She is covered with blood, and he may no longer be alive. She explains that it was a mistake, tells a convoluted story, and begs them to help her, if only to protect her young son, to whom she is a single parent. The cover-up occurs immediately, with the book focusing on the repercussions of secrets, lies, loyalty, and sacrifices required of the siblings. Paranoia, fear, poor judgment, and panic all constantly threaten to reveal the truth and send all three of them to prison. They are terrible at keeping their secret. They cannot keep straight faces, they discuss incriminating facts where others might hear them, compound their own problems, and don't seem to understand how a basic cover-up would work. I was continually astounded at the poor decision-making that followed their original, tragically flawed plan. I was anticipating a twist, but there were only a couple of illuminating revelations. One is related to the first accident, and made its impact far more damning; and one is related to the ultimate punishment for the snowballing crimes the family commits. The fact that Cathy and Joe immediately stepped in to do what they did for Frannie, despite her thin and strange story, just never felt plausible to me, so it was difficult for me to read on without that troubling element in mind. Meanwhile, I also didn't believe some of the more minor elements: I didn't at any point buy that thuggish Joe was intelligent as he is said to be, nor that he was capable of having successfully pursued veterinary studies and become a vet. I had a hard time believing that Tom would enter into the situation at the time he did and be able to bring himself to stay involved. I was left doubting that Frannie's eventual situation would have been allowed and possible. And I was shocked that the punishment doled out for those who are punished was as lenient as it was. The characters are not sympathetic, and their judgment is terrible; I appreciated the layers of particularly Cathy's back story, but the present-day situation consistently frustrated me. I was puzzled by the issues that made the characters feel indignant and wronged, particularly after their actions, and I never fully understood the siblings' general babying of and extreme allowances shown to grown Frannie, even with the past family tragedy in mind. I received a prepublication audio version of this title through Libro.fm and William Morrow. More Gillian McAllister Novels Gillian McAllister is also the author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time, a book I loved, as well as Famous Last Words.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Donna Jones Alward's historical fiction debut focused around a real-life tragedy in Nova Scotia during World War I, When the World Fell Silent; I'm listening to mystery author Gillian McAllister's story of three siblings bound together by terrible secrets, That Night; and I'm reading the newest from the writing team of Christina Lauren. The Romance Revival is somewhat of a departure for them, and I'm intrigued. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward It's 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and two women are coping with the ripple effects of World War I. Nora is living with her sister and nieces while her brother-in-law is off at war. Nora is a lieutenant in the Canadian Army Nursing Corps, and she's determined to find joy in any possible moment. Charlotte reels from the news that her husband has died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen live with her husband's cold, demanding family. When a tragedy strikes Nova Scotia, both of their lives will be turned upside down. This is earnest, and I feel sure that some version of a happy ending will be delivered after the heartache and loss. I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook for my book club. 02 That Night by Gillian McAllister Joe, Cathy, and Frannie are vacationing in Italy. After Frannie makes a frantic late-night call to her brother and her sister, they arrive to find that she has hit a man with her car. She is covered with blood, and he may no longer be alive. The cover-up occurs immediately, with the book focusing on the repercussions of secrets, lies, loyalty, and sacrifices required to stick together. Paranoia, fear, poor judgment, and panic all threaten to reveal the truth and send all three of them to prison. I received a prepublication audio version of this title through Libro.fm and William Morrow. Gillian McAllister is also the author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time, a book I loved, as well as Famous Last Words. 03 The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren Scientist Emery Finch has always been hyper-focused on her career, but when she fell for landscaper Luca, she fell hard. Their passionate married life was joyful and fulfilling at first...but Emery is hardly ever home, Luca carries all of the weight of the household, and they feel like they're not connecting anymore, if they ever truly did. An unfathomable tragedy throws everything into a spiral, and Emery breaks every code of ethics to save Luca. But Luca retains no memory of Emery, their life, or his own personal past. Will this be a chance to start over, or the heartbreaking end? The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The Paradise Problem, The True Love Experiment, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, Love and Other Words, Something Wilder, and Autoboyography.

Bossy Historical Fiction Standouts Summer's oppressive heat and humidity feels like the perfect inspiration to immerse myself in another place and time. These varied historical fiction reads have been some of my favorites this summer. I omitted two other titles that likely deserve to appear here as well: I left off Calamity Club because I recently included it in my Is This the Perfect August Reading List? post, and I'm taking a while to get through Maggie Shipstead's wonderful book Land, so I can't share that review yet. Have you read a favorite historical fiction work (or a book in another genre) this summer? 01 Walk an Unusual Path: The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline Kline takes what might be a voyeuristic-feeling story of two North Carolina sisters (distant relations of hers) who married the world-famous conjoined twins from Siam, Chang and Eng, and builds a suitably complicated set of dynamics; a layered story of hope, emotion, and tragedy; and enough details of the time to bring it all to life. The Foursome paints a fascinating story of of the uncommon family structure and its logistics. The couples collectively had twenty-one children, and the novel delves into supposing the how-to of procreation and sex--including the participants' imagined mental tricks to creating distance in the mind to cope with complications around physical ability, emotional reactions, and lack of privacy. As with all relationships, things get complicated; here, the stakes are higher and the ability to create space or have one-on-one conversations is impossible. The relationships between the sisters, the brothers, and the four adults evolve and show cracks, are repaired, then threatened again. Kline puts forward plausible doubts, magnetism, conflict, seeming impossibilities, and outsiders' desire for salacious details in this sympathetic, layered story. She is skilled at building a story within a specific place and time, and the details made this story come alive. I received a prepublication version of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Mariner Books. Christina Baker Kline is also the author of Exiles, which I liked, Orphan Train (which I really liked), and A Piece of the World (which I loved). For my full review of this book please see The Foursome. 02 Face Devastating Loss and Follow a Search for Forgiveness: A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman Stedman takes a remote Australian sheep farm and drops our main protagonists into agonizing scenarios that threaten to break their spirits and ruin them forever. This was a beautifully written tale of anguish, penance, and redemption. A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by secrets, hopes, and resignation. We meet the MacBride family in the 1950s, in the midst of a long family history of sheep farming on their million-acre station Meredith Downs. Stedman plunges the family into the depths of despair, throwing at them physical and mental damage, emotional angst, and painful shifts in family dynamics. As things seem to settle into a new rhythm, Stedman introduces a strictly taboo scenario--a devastating mistake that was tough to read and that was so disturbing for me, it made it difficult to continue with the story afterward. Aside from that enormous issue, the story offers so many elements I loved: the remote Australian setting, living off the land, reimagined family dynamics, characters who show depth and growth (including my favorite, Pete Peachy!), and an epic years-long tracking of the various players. I appreciated Stedman's optimistic-feeling final scenes and ending. Please click here for my full review of A Far-Flung Life. 03 Immerse Yourself in a Rich Culture at a Volatile Time: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali Kamali's powerful story of enduring friendship spans decades and is shaped by years of political turmoil in Iran. The childhood best friends at the heart of the novel grow apart, then reunite in complicated circumstances. This is wonderful. Marjan Kamali's The Lion Women of Tehran is historical fiction that begins in 1950s Tehran, where young Ellie lives in opulence with her mother and father. But after her father's untimely death, daughter and mother quickly face the hard reality of women's inability to own property or assert rights. Ellie turns to Homa, a local girl, for companionship, and their deep, volatile friendship endures; as they grow up this friendship shapes the novel. With enormous shifts in Iran as catalysts for changes in their own lives, the friends dramatically diverge in their life goals--marriage for one, activism for the other--and life pushes and pulls them in different directions so that they are eventually both figuratively and literally a world apart. This was powerful, beautiful, and poignant. I loved this story. You might also want to check out these books featuring friends like family and these historical fiction Bossy favorites. For my full review, please check out The Lion Women of Tehran. 04 Be Inspired by a Female Doctor in a Man's World: All in Her Hands by Audrey Blake I love reading historical fiction about female physicians before they were common. Nora Gibson is a willful, clever woman fighting against prejudice in 1849 London and aiming for better healthcare for women--until cases of cholera emerge and all rules must be reimagined. Blake includes wonderful scientific detail and details of life in that time. I love how Blake shapes a story in which privileged education comes up against gritty, real-world life experience, and I love how she works in the gaps in knowledge as well as the leaps and bounds that were taking place in science in that era. Blake also weaves in issues around body autonomy, pregnancy challenges, and societal and professional issues for women who might become mothers. This is the third book in a series, but it works beautifully as a stand-alone read. I had no idea there were prior books until I finished; this is seamless and fascinating. I listened to All in Her Hands as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and Recorded Books, Inc. For my full review, please see All in Her Hands. You might also like these novels that include female physicians. 05 Go Behind the Scenes of a Seemingly Perfect TV Family: Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven This peek behind the scenes of a fictional 1960s sitcom is layered with the complex issues of the changing world at that time for women, people of color, gay people, and others. Niven doesn't make characters' paths to self-actualization too easy, but there's a sense that everything will turn out in some version of a happy ending. Del and Dinah Newman, along with their sons Guy and Shep, have been mainstays on the TV for years. Their wholesome, bighearted, clean-cut show has long been easy viewing, with everything turning out all right each week and with the traditional Newmans happily settled by the end of each episode. When Del suffers an accident and is unable to run the show, Dinah, Guy, and Shep have new directions in mind to close out what might be the very end of Meet the Newmans. And if Del wakes up, he's going to be as shocked as the sponsors that the rest of the Newmans are pushing the envelope at last. I loved Niven's exploration of feminism and strong women, characters' rethinking of the dynamics of some longstanding relationships, and the behind-the-scenes peeks at a fictional television world. Dinah is the star of the novel, and I loved her zigzagging journey toward self-actualization. I also just love Niven's writing and the tone of her novels. I feel like I'm in good hands when I read them, and I'm in for all of her books. Jennifer Niven is also the author of All the Bright Places, a young adult novel I adored, Holding Up the Universe, Breathless, When We Were Monsters, and other books. For my full review, please check out this link. 6 Witness a Frenzy of Renaissance-Era Religious Visions and Manipulation: The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown Brown's dual-timeline debut novel concerns 16th-century prophecies and a modern-day murder mystery, linked through time by a historian, a hidden book, an illiterate young girl, the powerful men who aimed to manipulate her, and two brave women who tried to save her life. Historian Alison Sage recently made the discovery of a lifetime--she unearthed the fabled writings detailing the prophecies of a 16th-century nun, Elizabeth Barton, a slim book which had been thought to be lost forever. The discovery of the book leads to Alison's first ever invitation to the exclusive Codex Consortium, where select historians gather to discuss discoveries and ideas. But when a murder takes place on the grounds, everyone is a suspect. Clues to the murder--and, possibly, to vast riches from Barton's era--may lie in the story of Elizabeth Barton herself. Brown toggles back and forth in time, so that we see Alison's experiences in present day as well as Barton's rise to fame centuries earlier. An illiterate serving girl, Elizabeth initially has a true vision: she accurately predicts the death of a child in the household where she works. When powerful, religious and political figures get hold of Barton, they encourage her to speak about and "prophecy" in ways that benefit their causes, which the eager to please girl willingly does. We spend far more page time with Alison, her professional passion, and her interpersonal struggles. Brown lays out clues (I wouldn't have minded more twists or elements to wonder about) for Alison (and the reader) to follow to a fairly neat and tidy conclusion, albeit with significant casualties. For my full review, please click this link.

Historian Beverly Gage chose thirteen pivotal places across our nation to illustrate key points in our history, explore our complicated path to the present day, and inspire our growing stronger as we face our past truths as well as our future. This is fascinating nonfiction, perfect to read during our nation's semiquincentennial year. Beverly Gage is a lifelong historian who traveled across the United States in order to write this work highlighting key points in our history, unforgettable characters who shaped our past, various conflicts and cooperation, and our mistakes as well as hope for a better future. She begins the book by reflecting on her youth and longtime interest in history, her travels as a young person, and the trips she has taken with her own, now college-aged child. She recalls her own dives into participating in history and celebrating our nation, including, endearingly, dressing up as a peanut for a bicentennial parade. Gage doesn't focus only on the most popular or well known facts and landscapes; she offers thirteen essential places and their stories, which interconnect and build from each other, sharing context and fascinating details to bring it all to life. From museums to battlefield reenactments, historic sites to amusement parks, well-known places and under-the-radar spots, Gage inspects each of their places in our nation's complicated history. Gage asks up front whether celebrating our spaces and places and feeling pride in our nation's strengths and triumphs can occur while we simultaneously recognize our failings, our cruelties, our paradoxes, and our mistakes. This is far from a comprehensive history, nor is it intended to be. I found Gage's writing and perspective so engaging, I would have happily read a book twice this length. Yet I am fascinated and impressed by her disciplined whittling down of potential instructive locations to the thirteen she dives into here. Gage asserts that our nation's history is complicated and fraught, and that this layered story of our collective past belongs to all of the groups who have lived on the land we call the United States. As current debates rage about how to tell the truths of our history, some groups fight to erase uncomfortable facts, shape the narrative to be softer, and omit painful historical failures. But Gage notes that every event, however painful, has built our country, that our stumbles and abject failures have inspired change, and that we are not finished growing. We can continue aiming to be better, do better, and take pride in our diverse nation, its checkered past, and its promising future. This nonfiction work is perfect to read during our nation's semiquincentennial year. I listened to this title as an audiobook through my library and Libby. More Books You Might Enjoy Beverly Gage is also the author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror, and other books. You might also be interested in Bossy reviews of other nonfiction works.

Amina al-Sirafi is an irresistible character--spicy, determined, nurturing, cutthroat, loyal, inventive, and unpredictable. In this second novel of adventure, the pirate faces seemingly impossible challenges and must do the unthinkable: rely on others and trust them with her life so she can safely return to her daughter and family. For there are indeed a great many capable, cunning women that the world would prefer to remember as witches. I loved every bit of Chakraborty's first novel about willful, sometimes grumpy pirate Amina al-Sirafi and her complicated quest, strategic swearing, strength, fierce loyalty, struggle to balance work and family, and messy, grand, swashbuckling adventures. In this second book in the series, Amina is obliged to seek a magical artifact on behalf of a powerful group to whom she is beholden. She imagines a fairly stress-free escape across the sea with her pirate crew, an efficient recovery, and a victorious return home. But she finds herself on an island ruled by a sorceress whose powers prevent Amina's escape. With a sinking feeling, Amina fears she may have met her match--although of course Amina never gives up. Add in complications like the solemn promise she made to her daughter before departure to return home quickly, her best friend's lies about Amina's visions and health, and the appearance of Amina's demon of an ex husband, and it's more imperative than ever that Amina find a way out of this deadly, cursed land. The novel is long enough (496 pages, or 20 hours of audio) that Chakraborty has time to truly sink the reader into Amina's frustrating reality as she discovers the emerging truths about her situation and the mysterious, dark, seemingly sinister land where she and her crew have ended up. Characters surrounding Amina play essential roles, and she must resist her impulse to shoulder all duties and dangers as she's forced to trust and lean on each of them to defeat a witch more powerful than Amina ever imagined. Dalila, the ship's poisoning expert, grows into a prominent role; crew members like Tinbu and Majed are essential stalwart figures; and Raksh the demon, Amina's infuriating, intoxicating, disingenuous, dangerously powerful ex-husband, shows unforeseen layers. It was not a good place for me to do business when I had a whole slew of ex-husbands, double-crossed business partners, and smuggling rivals who’d be happy to see me hang. Strong women are at the heart of this story, as are their unfailing loyalties to family and friends, the forcing of impossible decisions, and the facing of excruciating losses. Fittingly, the plot is largely shaped by spindles, fabric, and weaving, often traditionally female concerns. Here, they carry unimaginable power. Along with signature Chakraborty-imagined complicated magical elements; Amina's spiciness, passion, and determination; and unexpected twists and turns, and we've got ourselves the makings of an irresistible adventure story. I'm in for all the Amina books I can get my hands on, and the cliffhanger at the end of this novel clinches that. I listened to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby. More Adventure Stories Shannon Chakraborty wrote the first book in this series, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and also writes books under the name S. A. Chakraborty such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold. You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of novels about pirates and life at sea.

Vera Stein fits the bill for summertime escapism; some small moments didn't resonate with me and the pacing didn't always flow, but the retirement community setting is surprisingly sassy and fun for this second-chance romance that blossoms amid retired B-list Hollywood types. "Just because something is offered doesn't mean it's worth taking." Vera Stein has been working below her abilities as an assistant for her college friend, actor, longtime crush, and sometime hookup Brody. That is, until she stumbles across Brody's email laying out how he's prepared to sack her in favor of a younger, cost-saving alternative. Now Vera, her decades-old, languishing attempt at scriptwriting, her dog Marlon, and her few other possessions are headed from Brody's pool house to the only other place she can think of to shelter: her non-nurturing former scream-queen grandmother's wild retirement community, Starlight Palms. But surprises await Vera, and she'll need to undergo some painful self-discovery in order to face the new phase of her life. One unexpected element she immediately comes up against is Elias Buckley, her long-lost ex-husband (they married in Vegas on a dare in college, when he was Brody's roommate and seemed to detest Vera) who is the on-site doctor. They had a sexy fling on their wedding night, but various issues almost immediately forced them apart. Murphy includes many charming elements: the large number of sassy former Hollywood types in the free-love eldercare facility; Vera's prickly, complicated relationship with her far-from-perfect grandmother; a past that includes Vera's having postponed living her own life while caring for her dying mother until she passed away; and a second-chance love (one of my favorite romance setups). "...We try to raise children using the same rules we succeeded by, but by the time they need those rules, they're obsolete. As much as it pains me to say it, maybe the roads have changed and my map is out of date." The pacing didn't always feel like it flowed, and I didn't buy into many of the small moments that make a story come alive for me. The sex scenes involved a lot of encouraging "that's a good girl" type of conversation that seemed likely to be distracting for those involved--and was definitely distracting for me as a reader--but to each their own; the characters seemed to be into it. As in Murphy's novel Dumplin', the main protagonist is a body-positive, plus-sized woman. In that novel, I didn't think this element was essential but I appreciated the representation and matter-of-fact inclusion. Vera's full-figured status is mentioned but only in what felt like throwaway moments; it seems presented as a potential challenge for her to cope with, but she hardly reflects upon it, and her beau is obsessed with her curves. Vera falls into an event-planning role at Starlight Palms and gracefully offers up edgy activities for her eager audience. The retirement-community setting and Vera's eventual role in it were two of my favorite elements. The second-chance romance is sweet, and Eli is obsessed with Vera. The misunderstandings that occurred in the past to keep them apart didn't all hold water for me, but the ongoing Brody-Vera entanglement felt like enough to be a barrier. And I enjoyed that everyone involved recognized that coming to a relationship with the current amount of life under their belts allowed for a love they couldn't have had earlier. This is entertaining reading; it doesn't very often feel realistic but it's fun, and it offers the happy ending it seems to promise from the very beginning. I received a prepublication electronic version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Avon, and I also received a prepublication audio version of Vera Stein through Libro.fm and Avon! More Books You Might Like Julie Murphy is also the author of Dumplin'. You might also enjoy these books that offer body positivity messages.

The Books I'm Reading Now I took a break from posting (and everyday life) last week to spend time with family and friends in cooler climes, hiking, beer-tasting, exploring, and catching up. It was a wonderful vacation--but I didn't have time for much reading except for during my plane rides. I love the variety of books I have going now: I'm reading Shea Ernshaw's mysterious, fantastical Habits of the Sea; I'm reading the lighter title Vera Stein Is Fine by Dumplin' author Julie Murphy; and I'm listening to Beverly Gage's nonfiction truth-telling and celebratory exploration of our nation's history, This Land Is Your Land. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw The stormy night Clay Lockhart's wife and children die, he flies into a raging grief, and his home and the land beneath it break from Scotland and float into the sea. When Ellie Mills is a young girl in Nova Scotia, she stumbles onto Clay and his island and enters into a mysterious time warp, but upon her return home her account is largely dismissed as a delusion. Now Ellie is an adult, and Clay's island has been spied by a cruise ship of passengers. Now everyone is prepared to believe her original tale, but Ellie is torn. Can she revisit the strange island from her youth, and does she even want to unravel the secrets of that distant memory and place? Shea Ernshaw is also the author of The Wicked Deep, A History of Wild Places, Winterwood, and other titles. I'm reading a prepublication edition of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books. 02 Vera Stein Is Fine by Julie Murphy Vera Stein has been working below her abilities as an assistant for her college friend, actor, longtime crush, and sometime hookup Brody. That is, until she stumbles across Brody's email laying out how he's prepared to sack her in favor of a younger, cost-saving alternative. Now Vera, her decades-old, languishing attempt at scriptwriting, her dog Marlon, and her few other possessions are headed from Brody's pool house to the only other place she can think of to shelter: her non-nurturing former scream-queen grandmother's wild retirement community, Starlight Palms. But surprises await Vera, and she'll need to undergo some painful self-discovery in order to face the new phase of her life. I received a prepublication electronic version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Avon, and I received a prepublication audio version of Vera Stein through Libro.fm and Avon. Julie Murphy is also the author of Dumplin'. 03 This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History by Beverly Gage Beverly Gage is a lifelong historian who traveled across the United States in order to write this work highlighting key points in our history, unforgettable characters who shaped our past, conflicts and cooperation, and mistakes as well as hope for a better future. Gage doesn't focus only on the most popular or well known facts and landscapes; she offers thirteen essential places and their stories, which interconnect and build from each other, sharing context and fascinating details to bring it all to life. This nonfiction work is perfect to read during our nation's semiquincentennial year. I'm listening to this title as an audiobook through my library and Libby.

I hope August is treating you well so far! I think hot weather is perfect for reading--on the beach, on a breezy porch, or in air-conditioned comfort. In honor of my birthday (today!) I'll be taking a little break from posting in order to travel to visit with family and my BFF in cooler climes. While I'm getting there and back and offline. I hope to read lots of books to share with you once I'm back! In case you missed it, on Friday I posted what I think might just be the perfect summer reading list for August. If you haven't already, please check out Is This the Perfect Reading List for August? and let me know what you think! I'll be back soon to talk about more Bossy books I think you'll love. Meanwhile, feel free to search or peruse titles on the blog by category, rating, or theme--or dive into one of hundreds of Greedy Reading Lists of books I've loved. Whether you're into time travel, memoirs, historical fiction mysteries, riveting nonfiction, witchy tales, fantasy gems, great rom-com reads, offbeat books, funny titles, or something in between, I've got Bossy favorites to recommend to you!

Soaking Up Summer with the Perfect Reads I present to you: a little of this, a little of that, and a list that may collectively be the perfect array of books to get you through the end of the summer: a practically perfect rom-com; the immersive memoir you didn't know you needed; weird, funny, wonderful nonfiction; a doorstop of a book all your friends are talking about; a lovely, quiet story with depth--and a 2026 Booker Prize nominee; and a perfect summer read about strong women, friendship, and bonding through tennis on a California island in the 1950s. What makes a perfect summer read for you? Are there any books you'd like to read before fall? 01 A Practically Perfect Rom-Com: Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan This nearly perfect rom-com hit all the right notes for me. Monaghan's tone was spot-on, and her fake-dating story and characters had me abandoning real-life duties to get back to reading this delightful, banter-filled, layered, lovely novel. Single mom Dolly Brick (her mother was a country music fan) returns to her seaside Rhode Island hometown of Whitfield for the summer to help her hardworking dad with his fish shop, support her brother, who has schizophrenia following a traumatic brain injury, and repair the family home following a fire. When she runs into handsome Stewart, the son of the local millionaire Whitfield family, who has a flat tire and no clue how to change it, capable Dolly helps him out. One thing leads to another, and Stewart proposes a fake-dating scenario that should allow him to save face after a humiliating and public breakup--and more importantly, prove to his family that he can lead a balanced lifestyle outside of work. Monaghan's tone is spot-on, so I eagerly ate up all of her characters' romance scenarios, interpersonal challenges, heartfelt moments, heartbreak, and resolutions. The banter, the hesitant steps forward, the experiences that built the relationship--yes to all of this. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Putnam. For my full review of this book, please see Dolly All the Time. Annabel Monaghan is also the author of books including Nora Goes Off Script, Same Time Next Summer, Summer Romance, and It's a Love Story. 02 The Memoir You Didn't Know You Needed: Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher Cher's lack of agency in her relationship with Sonny Bono came through in passive, reactive behavior, but as she grew older, she found her voice, rode a roller coaster of personal and professional adventures, overcame difficulties, and set her sights on an even bigger, more fulfilling life than ever. I'm alllll in for book two. Early on, the memoir felt like more of a factual account of what occurred in her life than it felt like illuminating self-examination. I was curious to find out if Cher would provide more reflection around events as she grew older and more emotionally mature within her own story. Her relationship with Sonny Bono (eleven years older) began when she was a teenager, and his control over her professional and personal life grew stronger and stronger without Cher's recognizing her limitations, her lack of knowledge about finances and business, and her squashed self-esteem about her performance ability. As she recounts the ups and downs of her early relationships and rides the roller coaster of success and failure, Cher begins to want to express her own voice and to become assertive, and this is when she starts to show more vulnerability and growth--and when I felt drawn into her story. This is part one of two, and toward the end of this installment she has made her way through the nurturing link with David Geffen, her complicated relationship with Gregg Allman, her connection to her children, her career, and her creativity. She has her eye on diving into becoming a serious actress. And I am hooked. Please click here for my full review of Cher: The Memoir. 03 Weird, Funny, Wonderful Nonfiction: The Land And Its People: Essays by David Sedaris Sedaris's first collection of essays in four years offers his delightfully jarring observations and rejection of social niceties, including a hilarious emotional reliance on Duolingo, various entertaining and nerve-racking encounters, and powerfully poignant reflections on his decades-long friendship with his best friend. In David Sedaris's latest book of essays, The Land and Its People, his first in four years, he brings his offbeat humor, acerbic observations, and surprising heart to recounting stories about travel, adventures, mishaps, shortcomings, true friendship, love, families, loss, aging, and the complicated, fascinating, sometimes disappointing nature of human beings. As always, Sedaris delivers enough edge to keep me feeling slightly, delightedly nervous about what's to come, yet much of the time he manages to end essays on a thoughtful or surprisingly heartwarming note. Some of the poignancy in his essays shows up when you read between the lines, which feels only fitting for his sharp observations and his often-barbed voice. The final lines of the essays felt at times a little bit sentimental or cute, but he does have to wrap these up, after all. David Sedaris is also the author of Happy-Go-Lucky, The Best of Me, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Santaland Diaries, and other books. You might also like these Bossy reviews of other collections of essays. For my full review, please check out The Land and Its People. 04 A Doorstop of a Book All Your Friends are Talking About: The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett The Help author's 656-page Depression-set historical fiction tackles issues of poverty, body autonomy, women's rights, race, and more within two timelines featuring spirited, determined, underestimated females who prove how strong they are. In Kathryn Stockett's newest novel--her first since her debut 17 years ago--we dive into dual, linked storylines. It's 1933, the peak of the Great Depression, and in Mississippi, everyone is struggling. We meet two main protagonists: independent young adult Birdie, who travels from her rural hometown to Oxford to beg her socialite, newly married sister for financial assistance for the family; and young Meg, who suffers cruelty in an orphanage after the disappearance and abandonment of her beloved mother. Both are spirited, smart, sassy, and full of personality. The story is long enough to meander at times; we drift in and out of Birdie's and Meg's lives without hurry, spending some days in which little occurs but scene-setting and a building of the story's tone, all of which I enjoyed. But by the time key matters are resolved, after so much page time, the resolutions feel somewhat abrupt. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau. For my full review of this book please see The Calamity Club. 05 A Lovely, Quiet Story with Depth--and a 2026 Booker Prize Nominee: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout In Strout's newest novel, we meet an irresistible new character in high school history teacher Artie Dam. Only the reader understands Artie's deep loneliness, only we live through his discovery of a shattering secret, and only we witness the life-altering power of his kindness and connections with other characters. This is lovely. Artie Dam is a high school history teacher, father to a grown son, longtime husband to his wife, and friend to all. The thoughtful, kind former teacher of the year loves sailing, connects with his students, and is a calming force in all of his circles. Artie is friendly and kind, but private. As readers, we are privy to Artie's closely held ups and downs, his annoyances and triumphs, his secret joys and his devastating disappointments. Only we fully realize that Artie is feeling desperately lonely, disillusioned, and depressed. His connections with his students are wonderful and, sometimes unbeknownst to him, powerful. When Artie discovers a deep secret about his life, he's unsure how to cope. This enormously impactful unearthing of information profoundly shakes him. But in typical Artie fashion, he doesn't burn everything down as a result; he is circumspect, even when restraint feels impossible, and thus he protects others. Elizabeth Strout's signature voice comes through--in this case, it actually felt as though multiple characters took on similar speech patterns to each other and to those in other Strout books. This cross-character speech pattern is not something I'd noticed in other Strout novels, and I'd be curious to know if it was present in other works or not. This is beautiful, poignant, heartbreaking, and heartwarming. I loved reading about Artie's life and being allowed into his inner world. Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Tell Me Everything, Lucy by the Sea, Anything Is Possible, Olive, Again, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and Oh William! Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge. For my full review, please check out this link. 6 A Perfect Summer Read: Strong Women, Friendship, and Tennis on a California Island in the 1950s: The Island Club ​In this perfect summer read, Harrison explores 1950s life for three women facing complicated personal challenges. Tennis brings them together, and they use their inner strength and smarts to fight through troubles as they rely on each other. Nicola Harrison's The Island Club is set on Balboa Island off the coast of California, where tennis ultimately brings together three women, formerly strangers to each other. Their lives intersect in their small community, and they reluctantly become vulnerable with each other, sharing secrets, challenges, and devastating problems they wouldn't tell anyone else. Harrison raises some weighty issues, and there are some dark periods within the story, but the tone of The Island Club is that of a summer book. The Island Club delivers full-on 1950s immersion while exploring LGBTQ issues, privilege, sacrifice, second chances, and redemption. As I was reading, I had faith that all would work out, but that the resolutions would be just tricky enough to make it feel satisfying. The author spoke here this spring, and she talked about her inspirations, her writing process, and her life. I loved being there. For my full review, please check out The Island Club.

The promising premise (normal-everyday romance with a show-business background) unfortunately didn't translate to a story that worked for me; the execution of this romance felt melodramatic, cyclical, and unsatisfying, with details that didn't ring true for me as a reader. AJ is a high schooler in 2000, dreaming of writing for Saturday Night Live, but working at her local video rental store and writing fan fiction with an audience of a few dozen. Then Noah walks in as a new hire; he's a few years older--her brother's age--and infamous for once burned down a local building (the details are sketchy). For some reason he's returned home and is living with his reclusive, famous actress of an aunt, and AJ is immediately tongue-tied. She's writing fan fiction about his aunt's former television show, after all. One thing leads to another, and the two become involved in daily acting lessons with Noah's quirky aunt. Muuuuuuch later they find themselves acting opposite each other in a hit show--we see a glimpse of this early in the book. I loved much of the premise of this novel. But the execution didn't land for me. The tone felt melodramatic, particularly regarding the relationship at the story's heart. The structure of the book necessitates jumping around in time, feeding the reader a highly charged scene up front, then diving back to the beginning of AJ's and Noah's friendship and tracking forward toward the situation we first entered. The leaps left me feeling unmoored and less emotionally invested than I might have been. Note that AJ is 17 and he is 21 when they first connect; I'm not sure why Brodie wouldn't simply make AJ's age 18 to avoid legal and moral issures around this age differential. Noah abruptly exits AJ's life at one point, and we later find out that he was coping with something extraordinarily painful and that he was trying to prevent AJ from experiencing and suffering because of it. This is potentially powerful and heartbreaking. But I didn't feel expected emotions around this because of many of the issues I mention here. Noah and AJ's deep mind connection felt overstated and unrealistic within the novel; it's a telepathy that felt unnecessary and, for me within this context, offputtingly unrealistic. More importantly, Noah and AJ feel consistently stunted, trapped in immature patterns without showing any growth. Their bond feels less passionate and irresistible than simply destructive to their potential emotional evolution and possible maturity in a way that didn't feel intentional. AJ feels unworthy of famous Noah's attention; Noah closes himself off emotionally to "save" AJ. They cycle through the same patterns over and over again in the book, seemingly without learning anything (aside from honing their sex skillz!); this was somewhat frustrating and certainly unsatisfying to me as a reader. The sex scenes were extremely specific, at times pages long, and at certain points the sexual elements so strange as to make me cringe and laugh nervously. One striking example: Late in the book AJ reveals that--note, this was when she was 17 and he was 21--she orgasmed in her pants when she and Noah were simply dancing. He's always been irresistible to her, and at that point in the book readers are well aware, so sharing this previously unknown and oddly specific moment felt unnecessary to me and took me out of the moment. The science fiction show within the book seemed like it would be a slam-dunk element for me, but it didn't feel real; it lasted for longer than I anticipated, yet I couldn't get my head around it visually or plotwise. Improv seems particularly tricky to convey on the page, and that also felt disjointed to me here. I read this title for one of my book clubs. Other Books to Check Out Emma Brodie is an executive editor at Clarkson Potter and is also the author of Songs in Ursa Major. You might be interested in the titles on my list of Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies.

In this wonderfully bonkers, darkly funny novel, a dying Jewish matron with rigid views and a litany of disappointments to share with those who caused them experiences drug-induced hallucinations and faces vulnerability as the end of her life draws near. Jewish matron Barbara Greenberg is terminally ill, medicated out of her mind with opioids, and writing down key elements of her life, particularly the laundry list of her failures--including, in her view, her raising of her only child (to be a confident, noncomforming, open-minded person). Tracking back in history, she recounts her front-desk work at a questionable plastic surgeon, to her marriage to a man with declining aspirations, her failed attempt at a career as a film actress, her estrangement from her former (and now famous and successful) best friend, and most especially sticking to her outdated and close-minded views on gender and sexuality--illustrated by her inability to understand the motivations of or identity of her trans son. Barbara offers her extensive, unwavering opinions and doesn't sugarcoat a thing. Add in vivid hallucinations in which her son takes the form of a bird; hints late in the novel that not every character featured in present-day, detailed interactions with the Oxy-addled Barbara is as they seem; striking (somewhat jarring, and puzzling), brief forays into the past where the reader witnesses the actuality of firsthand events, not colored by Barbara's yearning for fame, fortune, and acceptance; and you'll need to buckle up for this wild ride. Through it all, death looms, and as Barbara prepares to exit the corporal world she is at times afraid, unmoored, and alone. The pending end of her life eliminates some of her previously die-hard cocksureness, and she shows moments of vulnerability as her frailty becomes overwhelming--and at times humiliating. This is darkly funny, poignant, and surprising. Barbara is an unreliable narrator, and she digs in her heels on points that the reader can see are shadowed by her spectacularly misguided and relentlessly held convictions about how things should be--but aren't. Barbara's voice is so particular and perfect, it felt as though Rosenberg was well versed in real-life characters with bossy certainties and little hesitation in voicing a litany of disappointments regarding the person sitting in front of them. This is bonkers in the best possible way, and I'm in for reading Jordy Rosenberg's other books. More Books to Check Out Jordy Rosenberg is also the author of Confessions of the Fox and Transgender Marxism. Click here to check out other oddball reads I've reviewed. And check out these other books about death and dying.

This nearly perfect rom-com hit all the right notes for me. Monaghan's tone was spot-on, and her fake-dating story and characters had me abandoning real-life duties to get back to reading this delightful, banter-filled, layered, lovely novel. Single mom Dolly Brick (her mother was a country music fan) returns to her seaside Rhode Island hometown of Whitfield for the summer to help her hardworking dad with his fish shop, support her brother, who has schizophrenia following a traumatic brain injury, and repair the family home following a fire. When she runs into handsome Stewart, the son of the local millionaire Whitfield family, who has a flat tire and no clue how to change it, capable Dolly helps him out. One thing leads to another, and reserved Stewart proposes a fake-dating scenario that should allow him to save face after a humiliating and public breakup--and more importantly, (pretend to) prove to his family that he can lead a balanced lifestyle outside of work. What could go wrong? I don't want to oversell this rom-com, but for me it hit allll the right notes. Fake dating, seeming-opposites attracting, moneyed/financially strapped disparities, relationship hiccups (which do not revolve around miscommunication), complicated family dynamics, peeks into privileged and working-class seaside lives, voyeuristic forays into high-class society, and "they're just like us" moments. Monaghan's tone is spot-on, so I eagerly ate up all of her characters' romance scenarios, interpersonal challenges, heartfelt moments, heartbreak, and resolutions. Characters cope with tricky life changes and developments; parents worry about their kids; siblings struggle to communicate; family members rise to the occasion or disappoint; and the pressures of life realistically get in the way of unhindered love. The banter, the hesitant steps forward, and the myriad highs and lows and experiences that build the relationship--yes to all of this. Is this a perfect rom-com? For me, this was absolutely the right book at the right time. I laughed out loud, I teared up, and I kept wanting to abandon my real-life duties to get back to reading this one. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Putnam. More Rom-Com Reads to Dive Into Annabel Monaghan is also the author of books including Nora Goes Off Script, Same Time Next Summer, Summer Romance, and It's a Love Story. For some of my favorite rom-com reads that are likely to be available through your library--and for endless other lists of past favorites, please check out this link.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Chris Bohjalian's upcoming novel about an accident and a messy path out of grief, The Amateur; I'm reading Annabel Monaghan's excellent seaside rom-com with fake dating in which seeming opposites attract, Dolly All the Time; and I'm listening to the second in Shannon Chakraborty's seafaring adventure-fantasy novel featuring the fantastically spirited Amina al-Sirafi, The Tapestry of Fate. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian Mira Winston is 18 years old in 1978, hitting golf balls at the country club on a summer day when she drives a ball into a practice net--but the net breaks, and a nearby caddy is struck in the temple, a deadly blow. After the accident, the golf prodigy turns to all the wrong places while trying to cope with her grief, and her affluent community passes judgment on her messy attempts to find solace. Chris Bohjalian is also the author of books such as The Jackal's Mistress, Hour of the Witch, Skeletons at the Feast, and others. I'm reading a prepublication edition of this novel, which is scheduled for publication August 4, courtesy of NetGalley and Doubleday Books. 02 Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan Single mom Dolly Brick (her mother was a country music fan) returns to her seaside Rhode Island hometown of Whitfield for the summer to help her hardworking dad with his fish shop, support her brother, who has schizophrenia following a traumatic brain injury, and repair the family home following a fire. When she runs into handsome Stewart, the son of the local millionaire Whitfield family, who has a flat tire and no clue how to change it, capable Dolly helps him out. One thing leads to another, and Stewart proposes a fake-dating scenario that should allow him to save face after a humiliating and public breakup--and more importantly, prove to his family that he can lead a balanced lifestyle outside of work. What could go wrong? I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Putnam. Annabel Monaghan is also the author of books including Nora Goes Off Script, Same Time Next Summer, Summer Romance, and It's a Love Story. 03 The Tapestry of Fate: An Amina al-Sirafi Adventure, Part Two by Shannon Chakraborty I loved every bit of Chakraborty's first story of willful, sometimes grumpy pirate Amina al-Sirafi, her quest, strategic swearing, strength, fierce loyalty, and messy, grand, swashbuckling adventures. In the second book in the series, Amina seeks a magical artifact, but she finds herself on an island ruled by a sorceress whose powers prevent Amina's escape. Add in complications like her solemn promise to her daughter to return home soon, her best friend's lies about Amina's visions and health, and the appearance of Amina's demon of an ex husband, and it's more imperative than ever that Amina find a way out of this deadly, cursed land. Shannon Chakraborty wrote the first book in this series, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, and also writes books such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold under the name S. A. Chakraborty. I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby.

Bossy Favorites of the Month Here are my six Bossy favorite reads of July. I was already in love with five of these six authors' other books before I read these newest works, and I'm thrilled that the sixth is a new-to-me author with a backlist I can now explore. Have you read any of these titles? What were some of your favorite reads this month? 01 Country People by Daniel Mason Mason plays with the tone of his newest literary fiction, offering vast rural expanses, claustrophobic woods, childlike wonder, growing paranoia, sudden danger, haunting beasts, and the comfort of everyday familial patterns as a backdrop to characters' struggles to grow, adapt, and, in some cases, reimagine their paths. Patriarch Mike is a dreamer and a romantic--over a decade late achieving his Russian folklore PhD, and increasingly worried that he is a disappointment to everyone. When his wife Kate is offered a visiting professorship at a university in Vermont, their family treks from California and traipses into a town with a colorful cast of characters, legends and stories, and woods that seem magical--making a life unlike anything they've experienced before. Mason plays with the tone of the book, meandering between pastoral, peaceful settings, what seems to be magical realism with dark undertones, Mike's growing paranoia, and reassuring familial comforts. Various levels of disaster and darkness exist alongside the widespread, convoluted, intriguing, outlandish hopes of many within the community. The novel leads to a heartwarming conclusion in which certain fates are accepted and other shifts in life are achieved. Characters' reimagined futures feel all the more powerful after the struggles within the book. I'm in for all the Daniel Mason books, always. I read a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. Daniel Mason is also the author of other wonderful books like The Winter Soldier, North Woods, and The Piano Tuner. For my full Bossy review, please check out Country People. 02 The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline Kline takes what might be a voyeuristic-feeling story of two North Carolina sisters (distant relations of hers) who married the world-famous conjoined twins from Siam, Chang and Eng, and builds a suitably complicated set of dynamics; a layered story of hope, emotion, and tragedy; and enough details of the time to bring it all to life. The Foursome paints a fascinating story of of the uncommon family structure and its logistics. The couples collectively had twenty-one children, and the novel delves into supposing the how-to of procreation and sex--including the participants' imagined mental tricks to creating distance in the mind to cope with complications around physical ability, emotional reactions, and lack of privacy. As with all relationships, things get complicated; here, the stakes are higher and the ability to create space or have one-on-one conversations is impossible. The relationships between the sisters, the brothers, and the four adults evolve and show cracks, are repaired, then threatened again. Kline puts forward plausible doubts, magnetism, conflict, seeming impossibilities, and outsiders' desire for salacious details in this sympathetic, layered story. She is skilled at building a story within a specific place and time, and the details made this story come alive. I received a prepublication version of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Mariner Books. Christina Baker Kline is also the author of Exiles, which I liked, Orphan Train (which I really liked), and A Piece of the World (which I loved). For my full review of this book please see The Foursome. 03 Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin Cronin's heartwarming, charming novel about nonagenarian Eddie and his new, younger best friend offers hope after grief and loss and the possibility of redemption in second chances. Eddie Winston is a 90-year-old gentleman who has loved but somehow has never been kissed. He spends his days working at a charity shop, a benevolent recipient of others' unwanted items, sometimes garbage-level junk, and, often, beloved items with associations so painful, they must be removed from sightlines and daily life. Eddie and 24-year-old Bella become friends after she comes in to donate items from a loved one who has died. Bella is grieving, and as they spend time together, she puts her energy into renewing Eddie's potential for a love life. I loved this sweet story of renewed hope, platonic love, and romantic promise. It's often funny and consistently charming, but never cloyingly sweet. Cronin strikes the perfect tone with these wonderful characters and their lives. I read this book for my book club, and it was a perfect summer read. Marianne Cronin is also the author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, a book I loved and gave five Bossy stars. You might also like these books I found heartwarming, or more titles that features friends who are like family. For my full review, please check out this link. 04 The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher Lex Croucher's foray into dark academia is fantastic, with angst, mature themes, magical adventure, sinister plots, far-reaching repercussions, and a childhood heartbreak that is revisited and revised in heartbreaking, satisfying form. Briar and Sebastian are childhood best friends, but when Sebastian is accepted into the renowned nearby magic school at age 11 and Briar is not, the two have a heartbreaking, fraught split. Then Briar works their way into a temporary maintenance job at the school and soon realizes that their old friend (now called Bastian) has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus. And Briar also discovers that the school is hiding dark secrets with unimaginable potential repercussions for the world. The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is dark, edgy, yet also warm, with mature magic-focused plot points, deep friendships, romance, adventure and strategizing, plus opportunities for redemption. (This is the type of tone and grown-up magical adventure and dark academia that I had hoped Lev Grossman's The Magicians might be; for me, the feel of that book was grim and lacked satisfying character development.) I'm a huge Lex Croucher fan and I'm in for all Croucher books, always. I listened to this novel as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Voyager. Lex Croucher is also the author of the wonderful Not for the Faint of Heart and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, as well as the upcoming Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay. Croucher also wrote romcoms with a Regency-era twist, Reputation, which I'm about to dive into, and its sequels Infamous and Trouble. Please click here for my full review of this title. 05 Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth I loved the octogenarian main protagonist of Elsie and the darkly funny start to the book. Her heartbreaking history surprised me, as did the revelations at the end of the novel. This was my first Sally Hepworth read but won't be my last. Elsie is an 81-year-old living in a Melbourne suburb, grumbling and mainly keeping to herself, aside from her best friend since childhood, a persistent 7-year-old girl who's determined to befriend her, and Peter, a kind young man across the street who she doesn't mind running into. The playful tone of the early pages reminded me of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series, which I love. But there's darkness in Elsie's past, and ultimately, tragic, poignant aspects of her life become clear. Delving into Elsie's childhood is heartbreaking. She experienced staggering loss, disappointment, glimmers of hope, and a few key loved ones who anchored her. Her coping mechanisms, which we come to understand, are wrapped in shocking truths. My heart ached for the child she was and all that she endured. Some of the modern-day denouements were surprising, and those, along with the friends-like-family elements, made for an ending I didn't wholly expect. Sally Hepworth is also the author of The Good Sister, Darling Girls, The Mother-in-Law, The Family Next Door, and other books. For more Bossy reads featuring elderly protagonists, check out this link. And for more mysteries, please check out these Bossy titles. For my full review, please see Mad Mabel. 06 The Land and Its People: Essays by David Sedaris Sedaris's first collection of essays in four years offers his delightfully jarring observations and rejection of social niceties, including a hilarious emotional reliance on Duolingo, various entertaining and nerve-racking encounters, and powerfully poignant reflections on his decades-long friendship with his best friend. In David Sedaris's latest book of essays, The Land and Its People, his first in four years, he brings his offbeat humor, acerbic observations, and surprising heart to recounting stories about travel, adventures, mishaps, shortcomings, true friendship, love, families, loss, aging, and the complicated, fascinating, sometimes disappointing nature of human beings. As always, Sedaris delivers enough edge to keep me feeling slightly, delightedly nervous about what's to come, yet much of the time he manages to end essays on a thoughtful or surprisingly heartwarming note. Some of the poignancy in his essays shows up when you read between the lines, which feels only fitting for his sharp observations and his often-barbed voice. The final lines of the essays felt at times a little bit sentimental or cute, but he does have to wrap these up, after all. David Sedaris is also the author of Happy-Go-Lucky, The Best of Me, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Santaland Diaries, and other books. You might also like these Bossy reviews of other collections of essays. For my full review, please check out The Land and Its People.

I loved the octogenarian main protagonist of Elsie and the darkly funny start to the book. Her heartbreaking history surprised me, as did the revelations at the end of the novel. This was my first Sally Hepworth read but won't be my last. Elsie is an 81-year-old living in a Melbourne suburb, grumbling and mainly keeping to herself, aside from her best friend since childhood, a persistent 7-year-old girl who's determined to befriend her, and Peter, a kind young man across the street who she doesn't mind running into. But when Elsie's next-door neighbor and nemesis dies and Elsie's the one who discovers the body, details of her past come out, and she's suddenly suspect number one in her neighbor's death. The playful tone of the early pages reminded me of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series, which I love. But there's darkness in Elsie's past, and ultimately, tragic, poignant aspects of her life become clear. Delving into Elsie's childhood is heartbreaking, and some moments she relates without passion might take your breath away; they were too much for a child to internalize. She experienced staggering loss, disappointment, glimmers of hope, and a few key loved ones who anchored her. Her coping mechanisms, which we come to understand, are wrapped in shocking truths. My heart ached for the child she was and all that she endured. Some of the modern-day denouements were surprising, and those, along with the friends-like-family elements, made for an ending I didn't wholly expect. This was my first Sally Hepworth read, and now I'm hooked. I listened to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby. More Reads You Might Like Sally Hepworth is also the author of The Good Sister, Darling Girls, The Mother-in-Law, The Family Next Door, and other books. For more Bossy reads featuring elderly protagonists, check out this link. And for more mysteries, please check out these Bossy titles.

Horror isn't my favorite genre, but a medieval-set quest and a battle between good and evil is an irresistible setup for me. I was intrigued by the latter elements while nervously cringing through the former. It's 1348, and Thomas, formerly a knight but now fallen in with brigands, encounters Delphine, a young, innocent girl whose father has died of the Black Death, which is ravishing France. Thomas almost immediately falls back into his honorable past persona, protecting Delphine from abuse even as he is clearly personally broken from loss and generally hopeless about the state of the world. We soon see that he cannot resist diving into danger, and that he begrudgingly feels it is his duty to do what he can for the people he can--even if he seems to assume each day is likely to be his last. Delphine tells Thomas that a battle is afoot between fallen angels--led by Lucifer--and heaven above. She must be delusional, but as Thomas reluctantly accompanies her toward Avignon, along with a local priest (a wonderful, wonderfuly faulted character) they encounter stranger and stranger events, and Thomas begins to believe that she is telling the truth--and is possibly an angel in human form. I admittedly missed the subtitle of this one before I began reading it, so I wasn't prepared for the horror genre of the novel. While the gore and terrifying elements aren't my personal favorite aspects of a story, I was intrigued by the medieval setting, the constant, violent struggle between good and evil, and the precious preservation of innocence--then a shift into resigned existence within the cruelties of reality. This is dark dark dark, with constant clashes between good and evil, crises of faith, and horrifying monsters bent on terror and destruction. I was cringing as I listened to various agonies, which compounded as the story progressed. The ending offers modest, heartwarming hope out of the rubble and smoking destruction that has been wrought upon the world in Buehlman's novel. I listened to Between Two Fires as an audiobook through my library and Libby. The male voicing of young Delphine felt at first like a caricature, and it distracted me, but I eventually became used to it. More Books You Might Like Christopher Buehlman is also the author of The Blacktongue Thief and The Daughters’ War. Please check out other Bossy medieval-set reads and horror reads.

Sophie Chen Keller's love story to music and the bonds between mothers and sons plunges the reader into traumatic loss, hesitant hope, and, ultimately, a heartwarming and heartbreaking resolution in this Beijing-set novel. That was the hollowness chewing at him, reminding him that people weren't birds. They weren't made to be free of all burdens. They claimed their place in the world with the weight of their bones, which kept them from becoming ever more lost. Song is a poor, single, devoted mother who secretly brings her young son River with her when she cleans houses in Northeast China. But when River is just four, he shocks Song as he picks out a tune he's just heard on a piano in a grand home where Song is working. She is determined to find a teacher for him and does, and after years of sacrifice, musical giftedness, and hard work, at age 11 he's invited to study with a prestigious teacher in Beijing. But in the madness of the Beijing train station on the busiest travel day of the year, Song and River are separated. This is stressful reading--Keller plunges the reader into the discomfort of layers of what-ifs, grief, all-consuming terror, and fear of seemingly endless, potentially devastating ends that a young boy alone might meet in an unforgiving big city. Mother and son spend days, then weeks, then months and longer searching for each other, even as their lives diverge more and more fully. A piece of each of them remains locked away for the other, yet they must dive into their present circumstances, wake each day, and exist. Eventually, they each thrive within their insular worlds, which are as disparate as could be imagined. The description of the rhythms of life in Beijing--as well as that of Song's earlier life in rural Northeast China--is powerful and serves as almost another character in the novel. It was little wonder, what had happened to her. It was little wonder that her son was lost. Different rules applied to different people. For someone who mattered, more people would've listened and cared enough to help. They would've believed her. They would've made exceptions for her, and her lost child would've been found. Music is both a buoy for River and a millstone around his neck, and Keller's training as a classical pianist is evident in her rich accounts of music, playing, interpretation, showmanship, dedication, and frustration. When River pulls back from quitting piano altogether and becomes set on winning a famous competition in order to garner his mother's attention--wherever she is--the book shifts into an urgency that mirrors that of the earlier, traumatic scenes when mother and son are ripped apart. She willed for her son a broad sky and a clear road and a swift run, and then she willed herself to hang on. The ending of the story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming; the rest of the book's blend of highs and lows, joy and loss guides the reader toward this poignant resolution. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine Books. More Books You Might Like Sophie Chen Keller is also the author of The Luster of Lost Things. For more books about difficult family situations, please check out the books at this Bossy link. For more books about music, please check out these Bossy lists and reviews.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Christopher Buehlman's horrifying medieval-set novel Between Two Fires; I'm reading Sophie Chen Keller's love story to music and the bonds between mothers and sons, Little Wonder; and I'm listening to Sally Hepworth's mystery featuring an octogenarian main protagonist, Mad Mabel. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman It's 1348, and Thomas, formerly a knight but now fallen in with brigands, encounters a young, innocent girl whose father has died of the Black Death, which is ravishing France. The girl tells Thomas that a battle is afoot between fallen angels, led by Lucifer, and heaven above. She seems to be delusional, but as Thomas reluctantly accompanies her toward Avignon, he encounters stranger and stranger events, and begins to believe that she is telling the truth--and is possibly an angel in human form. This is dark dark dark, with constant clashes between good and evil, crises of faith, and horrifying monsters bent on terror and destruction. Christopher Buehlman is also the author of The Blacktongue Thief and The Daughters’ War. I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby. 02 Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller Song is a poor single mother who secretly brings her baby River with her to clean houses in Northeast China. But when River is just four, he picks out a tune on a piano in a grand home where Song is working. She is determined to find a teacher for him, and after years of musical giftedness and hard work, at age 11 he's invited to study with a prestigious teacher in Beijing. But in the madness of the Beijing train station on the busiest travel day of the year, Song and River are separated. Mother and son spend days, then weeks, then months and longer searching for each other, even as their lives diverge more and more fully. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Ballantine Books. Sophie Chen Keller is also the author of The Luster of Lost Things. 03 Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth Elsie is an 81-year-old living in a Melbourne suburb, grumbling and mainly keeping to herself, aside from her best friend since childhood, a persistent 7-year-old girl who's determined to befriend her, and Peter, a kind young man across the street who she doesn't mind running into. But when Elsie's next-door neighbor and nemesis turns up dead, and Elsie's the one who discovers the body, details of her past come out, and she's suddenly suspect number one in her neighbor's death. Sally Hepworth is also the author of The Good Sister, Darling Girls, The Mother-in-Law, The Family Next Door, and other books. I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook through my library and Libby.

Book club love! My OG book club has been together in some form for almost twenty years, meeting monthly to talk about life and--particularly if we are split or generally dislike a title--talking about a book, and for a good while I've been lucky enough to (surprise!) be the Bossy Final Decider of the books on our annual book list. I ask for book suggestions from my fellow book clubbers, add my own ideas, make sure early reviews look solid enough for us, establish when an intriguing book is likely to be generally widely available from the library, vary our genres throughout the year--and adhere to our 400-page-ish page limit. We read an array of types of books--often lighter titles in the summer, a nonfiction doorstop in the winter, historical fiction always, and sometimes a mystery or contemporary fiction book. Oddly, there is only one World War II-set book and there are zero Alaska-set books on this list. (These are elements I used to try to shoehorn into every list, until my friends rightfully began to resist.) I thought I'd pick a point in time and highlight my favorite reads from that year--in this case, 2020, the year everything shut down and reading became even more essential for my own mental health and for many of my friends' as well. For more of my favorite book club reads from the past, please check out the Greedy Reading Lists centered around book club. Are you in a book club? What have been some of your favorite book club reads? 01 Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout Strout is truly a marvel in the way she crafts full, complicated lives through sharing small moments. I loved every bit of this and felt it was even stronger than the original novel that introduced Olive. Oh, Olive! In Olive, Again, she ambles through town and reflects on aging, on her life, and especially on memories of moments that shaped her life’s direction, her attitude, her viewpoint—and those of the people close to her. Because this is the bristly character of Olive from Olive Kitteridge, these are not saccharine snippets of wisdom from a warm, cozy grandmother. The moments are sometimes sour, sometimes regretful, sometimes heartbreaking, but often lovely in their rough honesty. I could spend days reading about Olive's introspection and her outward gruff and straightforward ways. I received an advance copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley. For my full review of this book, please see Olive, Again. Elizabeth Strout is also the author of The Things We Never Say, Tell Me Everything, Lucy by the Sea, Anything Is Possible, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and Oh William! as well as the prequel to this title, Olive Kitteridge. 02 The River by Peter Heller I loved the deep friendship; details of outdoorsy expertise and adventuring; and life-and-death moments that hinge on skill or luck or both. Low-key young men and best friends Jack and Wynn have taken many challenging outdoor expeditions together. They're skilled and joyful adventurers. But when a wildfire rages near where they're canoeing the Maskwa River in northern Canada, everything turns upside down. Oh, Peter Heller! The details of running the Canadian river, traveling and camping, and Jack and Wynn's friendship itself all hooked me completely. The final scenes were exquisitely painful and beautiful, and they hit me hard. Heller is also the author of Burn, The Last Ranger, The Guide, The River, and The Painter, as well as the stellar novel The Dog Stars. For my full review of this book, please see The River. 03 Call Your Daughter Home by Deb Spera Although the three interconnected women face sometimes staggeringly tragic challenges, Spera injects moments of joy and wonderful details of 1924 life in South Carolina. I worried during the first chapter that Gertrude was going to feel like a caricature of a backwoods Southern woman. But she and the other characters were developed fully. And despite the often devastating circumstances--believably reflecting real-life conditions at the time--Spera does manage to show joy--often related to the women's relationships to each other. You can see where one of the storylines is going before the character involved understands it, and it might make your blood boil to see the evil situation go on unchecked. I wasn’t sure I bought into the reasoning for a character’s drastic and sudden turnaround in thinking—it seemed that she’d had previous reminders of this reasoning without being inspired to shift course. But the details of cooking, surviving, race relations, and life in 1924 South Carolina were powerful, and I still think about this book although I read it some time ago. For my full review of this book, please see Call Your Daughter Home. 04 The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman Hoffman made me feel anchored to the characters and the emotions, concerns, and life-and-death decisions with which the three women grappled. The world is unraveling on the cusp of World War II, and three strong women will be tested beyond anything they imagined before the end of the war and the end of the book. The strong, gruff Hanni has a heart of gold; young Ettie is idealistic and grows to be tough as nails yet capable of deep love; and the heartbreakingly loyal golem Ava becomes satisfyingly powerful. This was a beautiful book. The golem and heron and other ethereal elements could have been distracting or take the book in a direction that made for a strange tone, but they worked. I was most struck by the character-driven WWII stories, which were haunting and lovely. Hoffman made me feel anchored to the characters and made their concerns in 1941 felt immediate and relevant. For my full review, please see The World That We Knew. Alice Hoffman is also the author of many other books, including The Invisible Hour. 05 Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come by Jessica Pan Pan is wonderfully honest, appealingly thoughtful, and often so so funny. I was happy spending time in her point of view throughout this book. I loved it. Jessica Pan was an introvert out of a job. Her closest friends had moved away, and she found herself lonely, living in another country, and feeling too reliant on her husband for her entire social life. Pan decided to deliberately put herself into extremely uncomfortable social situations for a year, and she fully commits. She does improv, approaches strangers on the Tube, goes on friend dates, attends networking events, takes a vacation alone (to a destination she doesn't learn until she's at the airport), and more. She regrets her one-year plan almost instantly but feels compelled to continue her terrifying exercises. Her interviews and experiences with others who mentor her journey in different ways could have felt disruptive or jarring but didn't; they added a layer to her story that I found interesting and often revelatory. I loved it and I'd read another book by her in a second. For my full review of this book, please see Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come. 6 Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano ​This story was so much more than I expected. Napolitano created an irresistible and true-feeling character in Edward. I loved this book. I kept thinking about it while I was doing other things, and I just wanted to get back to Edward to find out how things were going. Thankfully Napolitano didn’t rely solely on her book’s promising premise. She wrote the hell out of this and created an irresistible and true-feeling character in Edward. Edward tries on the mantle of taking responsibility for every life lost; he wallows in the despair of others and their hopes that he will pursue their loved ones’ lost dreams and right their wrongs; then he messily works out how to create his own lucky, unshackled, truest life. Nothing is too easy here, nor is it ever melodramatic in Napolitano’s hands. I was given an advance reader’s copy of this book by Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. For my full review, please see Dear Edward. Ann Napolitano is also the author of Hello Beautiful.

Kline takes what might be a voyeuristic-feeling story of two North Carolina sisters (distant relations of hers) who married the world-famous conjoined twins from Siam, Chang and Eng, and builds a suitably complicated set of dynamics; a layered story of hope, emotion, and tragedy; and enough details of the time to bring it all to life. Here's the truth: even the most extraordinary life feels ordinary when you're living it. In The Foursome, Kline offers the imagined day-to-day reality of the real-life nineteenth-century rural North Carolina sisters--distant relatives of hers--who astonished the world when they married famous conjoined twins from Siam. Chang and Eng Bunker were known worldwide for their enormously popular stage show, built upon the curiosity of their physical connection and the seeming impossibility of being separated. After the twins made a home in Wilkes County, North Carolina, buying up land, slaves, and establishing themselves as increasingly powerful businessmen, word went out that they were seeking wives. And Adelaide and Sallie Yates, sisters who had been brought low in society by scandal were seeking a broader scope in their lives. (Side note, the imbalance of power of men and women and the females' responsibility to keep up appearances of piety are a rage-inducing element.) It's strange how relief and longing can live side by side in the same heart. Kline paints a fascinating story of of the uncommon family structure and its logistics. The couples collectively had twenty-one children, and the novel delves into supposing the how-to of procreation and sex--including the participants' imagined mental tricks to creating distance in the mind to cope with complications around physical ability, emotional reactions, and lack of privacy. As with all relationships, things get complicated; here, the stakes are higher and the ability to create space or have one-on-one conversations is impossible. The relationships between the sisters, the brothers, and the four adults evolve and show cracks, are repaired, then threatened again. As time passes, Sallie becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the family's slave-holding, and matters come to a head when a devastating dynamic within the houshold is revealed. Sallie's desire to set free their slaves and her lack of power are set against the coming of the Civil War in a potent recipe for destruction and change. The land held the war like a bruise. Kline puts forward plausible doubts, magnetism, conflict, seeming impossibilities, and outsiders' desire for salacious details in this sympathetic, layered story. She is skilled at building a story within a specific place and time, and the details made this story come alive. I received a prepublication version of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Mariner Books. More Books You Might Like Christina Baker Kline is also the author of Exiles, which I liked, Orphan Train (which I really liked), and A Piece of the World (which I loved).

Mason plays with the tone of his newest literary fiction, offering vast rural expanses, claustrophobic woods, childlike wonder, growing paranoia, sudden danger, haunting beasts, and the comfort of everyday familial patterns as a backdrop to characters' struggles to grow, adapt, and, in some cases, reimagine their paths. The world trembled in his nostrils. Some of this was new, and some familiar. Closing his eyes, he took it in, all in, and then he pricked his ears and stared in the darkness. Something extraordinary was in the air. Daniel Mason's newest novel, Country People, tracks a year of a family's life as they strike out for a rural existence and leave many of the comforts of the urban wprld behind. Patriarch Mike is a dreamer and a romantic--over a decade late achieving his Russian folklore PhD, and increasingly worried that he is a disappointment to everyone. When his wife Kate is offered a visiting professorship at a university in Vermont, their family treks from California and traipses into a town with a colorful cast of characters, legends and stories, and woods that seem magical--making a life unlike anything they've experienced before. To have no sense of what lay beneath him: the caves, the pith, the plunge. He looked down at the floor. And imagined, far below, within his earthy barracks, another person looking up. Giuseppe rose from his bed and ambled over. And you? thought Miles. Was that what you've been telling us? Mason plays with the tone of the book, meandering between pastoral, peaceful settings, what seems to be magical realism with dark undertones, Mike's growing paranoia, and reassuring familial comforts. The scything and ties to Russian peasant life were fantastic, as was the years-long evolution of Mike's dissertation topic, inspired by his ongoing curiosity about the world and his insatiable interest in the Next Thing. As Mike questions his own worth and path, I worried along with him that his marriage might be crumbling, but Mason ultimately draws together the threads of doubt and fear about that relationship into a satisfying resolution. Meanwhile, various levels of disaster and darkness exist alongside the widespread, convoluted, intriguing, outlandish hopes of many within the community that a magical world might be accessible to them. Once the facts in both matters are straight, the novel leads to a heartwarming conclusion in which certain fates are accepted and other shifts in life are achieved. Characters' reimagined futures feel all the more powerful after the struggles within the book. I loved that Giuseppe the dog is given so much page time and importance here. I'm in for all the Daniel Mason books, always. I read a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. More from Daniel Mason Daniel Mason is also the author of other wonderful books like The Winter Soldier, North Woods, and The Piano Tuner.

Cronin's heartwarming, charming novel about nonagenarian Eddie and his new, younger best friend offers hope after grief and loss and the possibility of redemption in second chances. Eddie Winston is a 90-year-old gentleman who has loved but somehow has never been kissed. He spends his days working at a charity shop, a benevolent recipient of others' unwanted items, sometimes garbage-level junk, and, often, beloved items with associations so painful, they must be removed from sightlines and daily life. Luckily for Bella and those like her, who might regret the culling of personal belongings from those they've loved who have died, Eddie sets aside a special stash of items that donors might seek out again in a panic. This practice allows Eddie and 24-year-old Bella to meet. They become friends after she comes in to donate items from a loved one who has died. Bella is grieving, and as they spend time together, she puts her energy into renewing Eddie's potential for a love life. We see glimpses of Eddie's past and understand more about how he came to be in this never-been-kissed status that threatens, as he ages, to become permanent. His present-day kind, gentle manner carries through from his youth, but it's even more powerful when we know about his past pain. We learn more about Bella's history as well, as well as her relationship with her young love. The friends' bonds grow deeper, and new avenues open up for each of them because of their support for each other and their willingness to experience joy again. The second-chances aspect of the novel is satisfying and quietly powerful. I loved this sweet story of renewed hope, platonic love, and romantic promise. It's often funny and consistently charming, but never cloyingly sweet. Cronin strikes the perfect tone with these wonderful characters and their lives. I read this book for my book club, and it was a perfect summer read. More Books You Might Enjoy Marianne Cronin is also the author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, a book I loved and gave five Bossy stars. You might also like these books I found heartwarming, or more titles that features friends who are like family.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm back from a fanstastic Bossy break at the beach, and I've been reading some great books. I'm reading The Foursome, the newest historical fiction from a favorite author of mine, Christina Baker Kline, which is based on the real story of her distant relatives, in which rural North Carolina sisters marry famous conjoined twins; I'm reading light summer romantic fiction for one of my book clubs, Into the Blue by Emma Brodie, about teenage friends who end up acting opposite each other in a hit show as adults; and for my OG book club I'm reading the sweet novel of a nonagenarian looking for his first kiss in Marianne Cronin's Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love. It's a great summer array of reading! What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline In The Foursome, Kline offers the imagined reality of the astonishing true story of two nineteenth-century rural North Carolina sisters--distant relatives of hers--who married famous conjoined twins from Siam. Chang and Eng Bunker were known worldwide for their enormously popular stage show, built upon the curiosity of their physical connection and the impossibility of separating them. After the twins made a home in Wilkes County, North Carolina, buying up land, slaves, and establishing themselves as increasingly powerful businessmen, word went out that they were seeking wives. And Adelaide and Sarah Yates, sisters who had been brought low in society by scandal, were seeking a broader scope in their lives. Kline puts forward plausible doubts, magnetism, conflict, seeming impossibilities, and outsiders' desire for salacious details in this sympathetic, layered story. Christina Baker Kline is also the author of Exiles, which I liked, Orphan Train (which I really liked) and A Piece of the World (which I loved). I received a prepublication version of this novel courtesy of NetGalley and Mariner Books. 02 Into the Blue by Emma Brodie AJ is a high schooler in 2000, dreaming of writing for Saturday Night Live, but working at her local video rental store and writing fan fiction with an audience of a few dozen. Then Noah walks in as a new hire; he's a few years older and infamous for having burned down a building (the details are sketchy). For some reason he's returned home and is living with his reclusive, famous actress of an aunt, and AJ is immediately tongue-tied. One thing leads to another, and the two become involved in daily acting lessons with Noah's quirky aunt, and eventually they find themselves acting opposite each other in a hit show. I'm reading this title for one of my book clubs. Emma Brodie is also the author of Songs in Ursa Major. 03 Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin Eddie Winston is a 90-year-old gentleman who has loved but somehow has never been kissed. He spends his days working at a charity shop, and that's how he meets 24-year-old Bella. Bella is grieving, and she puts her energy into renewing Eddie's potential for a love life. We see glimpses of Eddie's past and Bella's history as well, as their bonds grow deeper in this story of renewed hope, platonic love, and romantic promise. Marianne Cronin is also the author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, a book I loved and gave five Bossy stars. I'm reading this book for my book club.

Brutality and Bravery in the American West These books explore the brutality of pioneer times, when indigenous peoples were killed and abused at the hands of white people who explored and settled in the West, while also offering characters of all stripes who show bravery and unbreakable spirit. Historical fiction set in the West also lends itself to stories of strong female characters in a time when the world around them didn't support women's abilities, independent thinking, or determination. You might also be interested in the titles on Greedy Reading Lists including: Six More Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West, Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You, Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved in the Past Year, and Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved This Year. 01 Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman I loved this young adult Western, and not just because of its amazing cover. Kate is a tough young woman posing as a male cowboy. She's got revenge on her mind, and she and her unlikely band of allies aren't afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. But Kate also slowly, reluctantly finds a little bit of love to soften her hardened heart. In Vengeance Road, Erin Bowman offers up great action along with what I thought were perfect amounts of self-actualization and character development, without ever being heavy-handed and with wonderful pacing. Vengeance Road is a rough and tumble story with enough suspense that I wasn't ever confident that the main characters would emerge alive. I wished a little more care had been taken with the resolutions at the end, and I would have liked some more justification for characters' decisions late in the book, but I loved this. The cowboy dialect didn't distract, although it was notably distinct throughout. Vengeance Road is the first book in Bowman's Vengeance Road duology; Retribution Rails is the second. 02 These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner My advice is to ignore the title on this one. The syntax seems to indicate something altogether different than the beautifully written "grown-up Little House on the Prairie" (as my friend Kirstan called it) that I adored. Turner's story is inspired by her family's memoirs, and her Sarah Prine is a strong woman living on the unforgiving frontier of the Arizona Territories near the turn of the twentieth century. The details Turner provides of life at that time and in that place bring to life Sarah's stories of growing up, struggling, finding love, and persevering. Sarah's voice is just wonderful. There are additional books in the Sarah Agnes Prine series: Sarah's Quilt, The Star Garden, and Light Changes Everything. Turner has also written a couple of other historical fiction books that look promising. 03 West by Carys Davies ​This isn't strictly a Western, but the main protagonist does travel west, and the feeling of it is in line with the genre, so I'm Bossily including it on this list. Cy is a widower in a small Pennsylvania town who is drawn in by a newspaper article about enormous ancient bones found in a swamp. He feels unshakably compelled to travel west to find out if the mammoth animals he's heard described are still roaming the area. So Cy leaves his ten-year-old daughter Bess with his sister, Bess's short-tempered aunt, although he expects to be away on his irrational, foolish travels for two years. (Two years!) Bess, stuck at home, traces Cy's optimistic travel route on a map (and, disturbingly, struggles multiple times with being preyed upon by a man--I needed her aunt to tune in to this horrifying situation, stat). Cy isn't a sympathetic character (Bess is the one I was feeling for here), but his ill-fated journey is full of misplaced hope, then mistakes and regret, but over all of it, a compulsion to continue toward an end. It's compelling, and Bess's faith in her faulted father is heart-wrenching. West is a quick read with an important case of implausibly (but satisfyingly) impeccable timing that saves the day, twice. The ending is beautifully wrought. Davies includes fantastic details of amateur Western exploration that I adored. 04 One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker Oh, I loved this book! In Olivia Hawker's One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, it's 1870 in Wyoming. The Bemis and Webber families have no other neighbors for miles, so they're not only inextricably interconnected to the land, they're connected to each other. When a sudden upheaval results in both husbands' absences and a crisis point for supplies, neglected farm work, and animals' and humans' desperate need for food and safety, the wives must face their hard feelings toward each other and forge an unlikely alliance if they and their families are to survive the brutal winter. This was a slow build and a beautiful story, satisfying and often sweet, complete with young love. Hawker includes rich details of farming and rural life. I loved the explorations of the spirits of various creatures and the characters’ awareness of the spirals and cycles of nature and of life. I adored the character of the fiercely unique Beulah. I received an advance copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Hawker is also the author of The Ragged Edge of Night. 05 The Widow Nash by Jamie Harrison Dulcy has traveled all over with her beloved, quirky father Walton. He's wealthy beyond all reason, fascinated with natural disasters, obsessed with wandering the globe--and determined to identify an as-yet-undiscovered cure for his syphilis. His mind seems to be failing him just as the proceeds from his gold mines go missing, and Dulcy is suspected. She must decipher his enigmatic notebooks and codes to clear her name. Or could she simply disappear, be presumed dead, and escape unwarranted attention--and avoid the clutches of unwanted matrimony? In a small Montana town Dulcy reinvents herself as Mrs. Nash, a wealthy young widow. If she's lucky, she can build a new life and shed the limitations of her real identity. The before and after of certain pivotal events almost felt like two separate books, but I was hooked on all of it--the early twentieth-century settings (Seattle, New York City, Montana, various clinic sites); Dulcy's deranged but maddeningly intriguing syphilitic mining magnate of a father; the layers of smart dialogue; the undercurrent of fear beneath the soothing comfort of the details of everyday life. I loved this. 06 Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes. Walk on Earth a Stranger tells the story of Lee, a young woman with a powerful secret: an ability to sense gold. Her gold sense has kept her family fed and sheltered, but it's dangerous too. If others knew of it, they'd likely use it--and Lee--to their own advantage. When Lee's power is discovered, she has to run, and she runs toward the gold. I thought this was great: an adventure story of a teenaged girl fleeing from Georgia to California during the gold rush. This was really nicely paced with gripping details of the trek and of Lee's life on the road. This is the first book in Rae Carson's young adult Gold Seer trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America; the second is Like a River Glorious, which I gave 3.5 stars, and the third is Into the Bright Unknown, which was a great final book and satisfying-revenge wrap-up. Carson is also the author of the Fire and Thorns series, which is made up of four young adult fantasy books plus related novellas and a prequel.

Stedman takes a remote Australian sheep farm and drops our main protagonists into agonizing scenarios that threaten to break their spirits and ruin them forever. This was a beautifully written tale of anguish, penance, and redemption. A light coating of death dusts any scene you care to observe in the bush.... Death twinkles in this landscape like mineral sand. A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by secrets, hopes, and resignation. We meet the MacBride family in the 1950s, in the midst of a long family history of sheep farming on their million-acre station Meredith Downs. Patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo while driving on a remote road with his two sons, and one moment leads to a tragedy, loss, and lives changed forevermore. Stedman plunges the family into the depths of despair, throwing at them physical and mental damage, emotional angst, and painful shifts in family dynamics. As things seem to settle into a new rhythm, Stedman introduces a strictly taboo scenario--a devastating mistake that was tough to read and that was so disturbing for me, it made it difficult to continue with the story afterward. But the truth of the dark decision truly haunts our main protagonist Matt. After he learns what occurred, he feels that it's impossible to go on. Yet he lives through a day, then another, detesting himself and refusing joy and fulfillment, but going through his life largely in order to fulfill commitments to his mother, the land, and an innocent young boy. The reverberating repercussions of that one night largely shape the story, and the story pivots on other lapses in judgment and momentary mistakes, which while less devastating, contribute to key events and characters' story arcs. Aside from that enormous issue, the story offers so many elements I loved: the remote Australian setting, living off the land, reimagined family dynamics, characters who show depth and growth (including my favorite, Pete Peachy!), and an epic years-long tracking of the various players. I appreciated Stedman's optimistic-feeling final scenes and ending. More Australia-Set Books M. L. Stedman is also the author of The Light Between Oceans. Click here for more books set in Australia.

The premise of this novel is irresistibly cute as two writers find themselves living and writing about endless romance tropes, but the tone shift and the story's veering into poignant tragedy surprised me and felt out of synch with the beginning of the book. Katie and Tyler were childhood neighbors and friends, on the verge of young love, then devastated, bound together, and pushed apart by a shared tragedy. Years later, they are completely estranged. Katie is a ghostwriter for a successful romance author and Tyler is an aspiring literary fiction author in need of a paycheck when chance leads to a shocking meeting--then their pairing for an unlikely project. Katie is well aware of the power of romance conventions and explains them to Tyler. Meanwhile, Lauren Okie playfully works every imaginable trope into both the story Katie and Tyler are writing and the situations in which they find themselves. I loved the beginning of the book, in which the characters were fully aware of the classic romance tropes they were writing and finding themselves living within. This self-conscious, winking, meta approach felt creative and fun. An omniscient voice continued to introduce tropes, but as the story went on, the tone became less playful and the characters and their lived tropes felt less self-referential. Ultimately a couple of giant secrets are revealed which explain both the frequency of the tropes and the puzzling circumstances surrounding Katie and Tyler. These connections and the over-the-top outlandishness of the Big Reveal seem on the surface potentially playful, which would have matched the tone of the start of the book, but they're actually tragic--and I was in for a different kind of book and ending after the fun initial setup. I found myself frequently distracted by the audiobook narrator's often breathy, teary delivery. I listened to an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Avon. More Books You Might Like Lauren Okie is also the author of The Best Worst Thing. You might also want to check out my favorite romance reads from the past year--as well as many other Bossy lists of romance gems--at this link.

I love Amy Bloom's books, but her first foray into mystery writing left me wanting more character development and more resolutions. I love a woman PI, unorthodox investigative methods, and a darkly playful tone, but I ultimately wanted a longer book that let me dig further into Bloom's academia-adjacent world and its secrets. Amy Bloom is the author of one of my favorite historical fiction novels (see below), but she is no stranger to writing in varied genres. In Blunt Instrument, she dives into mysteries, offering a private investigator whose father's past association with Cromwell University leads to her hiring. A prickly professor has turned up dead (his head crushed by a bronze bust of Nathaniel Hawthorne), and self-taught PI Dell Chandler uses her unorthodox approaches to try to determine which of the tenure-desperate, self-satisfied, resentful, overconfident, entitled, or simpering suspects--many of whom are academics who are dissatisfied with their lots--is responsible. I'm a big fan of a woman PI using unorthodox methods to solve a case, and Bloom offers that setup here. I love an academic setting, and I also enjoy a conflict between renegade justice-seekers and law enforcement. Dell faces earth-shattering personal revelations in the book, and I loved that. But I wish that this book were longer and that the pacing were easier to latch onto. The romance element seemed to happen too quickly; it felt rushed and therefore not particularly believable to me. One crime leads to another crime, and the first crime is largely abandoned--along with the university's president and Dell's boss, who disappears after a seemingly significant introduction, until she reappears at the very end of the book wondering why she never received any updates on the case. Dell's piecing together of the factors that lead to various crimes felt largely abrupt and too easy. Some of her determinations were figured out out of the reader's view, so that we missed Dell's train of thought and realizations, and so that the limited Big Reveals felt jarring. I wished for more exporation of Dell's own background as an academic and I would have appreciated more character development all around. Bloom set up promising scenarios for rich depth, introduced dichotomies (for example, Dell generally loves men and leaves them but she is also a hopeless romantic), then backed off somewhat. Perhaps my biggest issue with the novel is that multiple loops weren't closed. I wondered if I somehow missed the resolution of various mysteries (who cut the brakes, who threw the rock through the window, who are the definitive killers), but Bloom leaves these somewhat or completely dangling. Yet I love Amy Bloom's writing, her voice, and her characters. I'm up for reading all of her books. I'm hoping that subsequent Dell Chandler mysteries will offer more elements I found myself hoping for here. I received an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Highbridge Company, and I received a prepublication electronic version of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Penzler Publishers: The Mysterious Press. More Amy Bloom Works Bloom is also the author of White Houses, which I gave 5 Bossy stars, the heartbreakingly beautiful In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, I'll Be Right Here, Away, Lucky Us, Come to Me: Stories, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Jordy Rosenberg's offbeat novel about a yenta on her deathbed examining her many failures, Night Night Fawn; I'm reading Daniel Mason's upcoming novel about two academics and their family move to rural Vermont, Country People; and I'm listening to Amy Bloom's first foray into mystery writing, Blunt Instrument. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Night Night Fawn by Jody Rosenberg Barbara Greenberg is terminally ill, medicated out of her mind with opioids, and writing down the laundry list of failures in her life--including, in her view, her raising of her only child. From her front-desk work at a questionable plastic surgeon, to her marriage to a man with declining aspirations, to her failed attempt at a career as a film actress, her estranged former (and now famous and successful) best friend, and most especially her outdated and close-minded views on gender and sexuality--illustrated by her inability to understand the motivations of or identity of her trans son--Barbara doesn't pull punches when considering herself or anyone else. Add in hallucinations in which her son takes the form of a bird, and you'll need to buckle up for this wild ride. This is darkly funny, poignant, and surprising so far. Jordy Rosenberg is also the author of Confessions of the Fox and Transgender Marxism. 02 Country People by Daniel Mason Country People tracks a year of a family's life as they strike out for rural life and leave the comforts of urban life behind. Patriarch Mike is a dreamer and a romantic--and over a decade late achieving his Russian folklore PhD, increasingly worried that he is a disappointment to everyone. When his wife Kate is offered a visiting professorship at a prestigious university in Vermont, their family traipses into a town with a colorful cast of characters, legends and stories, and woods that seem magical--making up a life unlike anything they've experienced before. I'm reading a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. Daniel Mason is also the author of The Winter Soldier, North Woods, and The Piano Tuner. 03 Blunt Instrument (Dell Chandler #1) by Amy Bloom Amy Bloom is the author of one of my favorite historical fiction novels (see below), but she is no stranger to varied genres. In Blunt Instrument, she dives into mysteries, offering a private investigator whose father's past association with Cromwell University leads to her hiring. A prickly professor has turned up dead, his head crushed by a bronze bust of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and self-taught PI Dell Chandler uses her unorthodox approaches to determine which of the tenure-desperate, self-satisfied, resentful, overconfident, or simpering suspects is responsible. Bloom is also the author of White Houses, which I gave 5 Bossy stars, the heartbreakingly beautiful In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss, I'll Be Right Here, Away, Lucky Us, Come to Me: Stories, and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories. I received an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Highbridge Company, and I received a prepublication electronic version of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Penzler Publishers: The Mysterious Press.

My Favorite Bossy Reads I've read about 70 books so far this year, and these are my six favorites. They vary in genre, in tone, in plot, and in style, but they all delighted me, made me want to keep reading, took me inside another place and time, and made me feel invested in what happened to the characters and their situations. I love to look back and take stock of my reading, and I'm always curious about whether my year-end overall favorites will include the titles on my favorites list from halfway through the calendar year. Only time will tell! But for now, I hope you'll check out these great books if you haven't already. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! What are your favorite reads so far this year? 01 Wolvers by Taylor Brown Taylor Brown offers up a suspenseful, adventure-filled story in Wolvers. Trace is an angry young man who sets out on an ill-advised, illegal revenge journey, but he's not the only wolf tracker in the New Mexico forest. He's starting to rethink his mission and be headed toward a fresh start--if he can survive that long. Trace Temple is a disillusioned, angry young man whose family lost its ranch after hard times. Then Trace, a gifted tracker who knows the woods better than almost anyone around, is hired by a shadowy, powerful militia group to take out One-Eleven, the female leader of the most famous wolf pack in New Mexico, the Dark Canyons. But One-Eleven is uncannily gifted in eluding human pursuit, and Trace is far from the only outdoorsman in these woods. And the longer Trace tracks One-Eleven, the more he begins to second-guess everything about his life. This is an outdoor adventure story that explores tensions between the preservation of nature and development, and between power and vulnerability. But it’s also layered with elements of redemption, love, unlikely loyalties, and character growth. I'm a huge Taylor Brown fan. Check out my Bossy reviews of his novels Rednecks, Wingwalkers, The Gods of Howl Mountain, and Fallen Land, a title I loved and included in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War. Click here for my full review of Wolvers. 02 The Once and Future Queen (Lives of Guinevere #1) by Paula Lafferty A medieval setting, time travel, a quest, and intriguing complications--did Paula Lafferty write this book especially for me? She wrapped some of my favorite elements in funny banter, poignant (non-swooning) romance, and enough plot complexity to keep the whole thing chugging along and keep me riveted. I loved this. Twenty-two-year-old Vera is feeling generally aimless and unseen. Then a strange man comes to town, telling Vera an unbelievable story of her true origins and her destiny. He says that she is actually from Camelot, in King Arthur's time, and that he himself is Merlin. Oh, and that her full name is Guinevere, as in "Queen." He says that she was placed in her current time to grow up in safety into the woman she needed to be. The existence of the kingdom and magic itself are reliant upon Vera's time-travel back to Arthur's world, and only she can save them. Upon her arrival, she must figure out how to help the kingdom. Meanwhile, she finds that the traditional thinking about a Guinevere-Lancelot romance is off base, but Vera builds a friendship for the ages with Lancelot. This funny, poignant, powerful connection is one of my favorite aspects of the novel. I liked the injection of just enough modern feminism into a medieval setting (running! speaking her mind! wearing that modern underwear! jousting!). A newly imagined relationship with Arthur is hard-won and lovely. For my full review, please see The Once and Future Queen. 03 Whistler by Ann Patchett This may be my favorite Ann Patchett novel. It's a story of chosen family, a chance reunion, illuminating and poignant revelations about the past, and unexpected, reimagined relationships and treasured paths forward. In Ann Patchett's newest novel, Daphne and her husband are visiting the Met Museum when they notice an older gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, Daphne's long-lost stepfather, the second of her mother's three husbands and a beloved figure from Daphne's childhood--whom she never saw nor heard from after a car accident that occurred when she was a young girl and Eddie and Daphne's mother divorced. Their deep connection is immediately evident once again, and, at times with Daphne's sister Leda and Daphne's husband Jonathan, but most often alone, Eddie and Daphne revisit old memories, compare notes, and treasure their time together as a gift. The structure of the story is wonderful, tracking back in time to Daphne's childhood and the pivotal events that led up to her cherished stepfather's departure, with revised memories and varied accounts revealing truths that change the tenor of the life-changing occurrences that follow. This is lovely, poignant, and unexpected--and it's possibly my favorite Ann Patchett novel ever, certainly since The Magician's Assistant. I received an audiobook version of this novel courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper. Ann Patchett is also the author of Tom Lake, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, State of Wonder, Run, Bel Canto, The Dutch House, The Magician's Assistant, These Precious Days, and other books. For my full review, please check out Whistler. 04 When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén Ridzén's beautiful, poignant novel centers around Bo, an elderly Swedish man living out his last days in his woodland cabin as the past becomes more vivid to him than his present. This is lovely, heartbreaking, and practical while offering hope. Bo is an elderly Swedish man living in the woodland cabin where he grew up. He exists in somewhat of a haze between naps, frequent carer visits, calls and check-ins from his son Hans, short walks with his beloved elkhound Sixten, and vivid memories of his life--which sometimes feel more real than his reality. His wife, who suffers from dementia, is in a care center, and his memories of her pop up in painful, poignant vibrancy. When the Cranes Fly South is a beautiful, tragic, hopeful examination of end-of-life issues for an aging person as well as the loved ones who are trying their best to support their elderly person, keep them safe, and promote autonomy within a framework of care. In Ridzén's novel, while the past and Bo's many memories begin to become more vivid and realistic to Bo than the present-day or near-past, we watch Bo letting go, and from a distance we witness his son, grandson, best friend, dog, and carers as they see him slipping away. I loved this lovely novel and the hope and practicality that overcomes heartbreak. Ridzén places us deeply in Bo's point of view, which was valuable to understanding his perspective on matters related to his own body and his pending death. Click here for my full review of When the Cranes Fly South. 05 This Is Happiness by Niall Williams This is gorgeous Niall Williams literary fiction, centering around an Irish country village, a young man searching for his path, and his unofficial mentor, zigzagging his way through life, embracing adventure, and bridging the gap between the old ways and modernity. Quiet connections and reflections make the story, with understated poignancy, humor, and heartbreaking moments that bring the book's world to life. In the rural Irish village of Faha, in County Clare, the years-long rain (whether sprinkling, torrential, misting, steady dripping) is stopping, and electricity seems poised to finally move from "the notional" to "the actual," as Father Coffey proclaims. Young Noe (short for "Noel") has abandoned the seminary but is unsure of his next steps, and he takes refuge at his beloved grandparents' cottage in the village. A stranger, Christy, arrives to begin coordinating the installation of electricity in the area, and he boards with Noe at Ganga and Doady's home. He is older, kind, capable, yet somewhat lost, and he's bent on making amends for past mistakes. He and Noe become fast friends and in the span of a few months go through weighty moments with each other. This Is Happiness explores the small moments that make up a life worth living as well as explorations of the meaning of existence, religion, spirituality, reconciliation, commitment, and facing death. I adore this novel and its countless gorgeous passages, its understated, poignant, heartbreaking elements, and its unexpected moments of connection and beauty. When I was almost finished reading my (overdue) library copy, I bought a copy for a friend's birthday gift and ordered another for myself so I could finish reading it at my leisure and keep it forever. For my full review of this book please see This Is Happiness. For my review of Niall Williams's lovely Time of the Child, please click this link. 06 Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser This loose retelling of the Cinderella folk story offers the perspective of the "evil" stepmother, who is here actually a savvy, strong woman determined to provide for her household after being widowed in a patriarchal, 1700s-feeling society. I loved Hochhauser's turning the traditional tale on its head, the details, and the twists. This is my favorite read of the spring so far. Lady Tremaine is a loose retelling of the damsel-in-distress Cinderella folk tale, here from the perspective of the "evil" stepmother--who is shown to actually be a strong, determined, clever widow stuck in an era where men hold all of the property, power, and freedom. Lady Tremaine is single-minded about protecting her daughters and trying to secure futures for them in a world where the safety and security of unmarried women is shaky. A royal ball opens up the opportunity for Lady Tremaine to use the respectability of her deceased husband's title to secure invitations for her daughters (who are not, after all, shallow and greedy horrors of young women, as in the Disney story) and her standoffish but beautiful stepdaughter Elin. Elin is this novel’s version of Cinderella, and here she is a mostly insufferable girl, gloriously and willfully obtuse, dedicated to needlework and pious prayers while the rest of the househould is scrambling, hustling, and exhausting themselves to make ends meet. There’s some gritty business, there are difficult choices, and there's a surprising shift of loyalties I loved. I adored the details of the late-1700s-feeling setting; the exploration of women’s struggles to carve out lives for themselves in a patriarchal society; and the creativity, strength, and resolve necessary to survive. The story would have stood on its own for me, but the references to the Cinderella story were a fun added bonus. I received a prepublication edition of Lady Tremaine courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. Click here for my full review of Lady Tremaine. You might also be interested in Bossy reviews of other retellings.

Sedaris's first collection of essays in four years offers his delightfully jarring observations and rejection of social niceties, including a hilarious emotional reliance on Duolingo, various entertaining and nerve-racking encounters, and powerfully poignant reflections on his decades-long friendship with his best friend. In David Sedaris's latest book of essays, The Land and Its People, his first in four years, he brings his offbeat humor, acerbic observations, and surprising heart to recounting stories about travel, adventures, mishaps, shortcomings, true friendship, love, families, loss, aging, and the complicated, fascinating, sometimes disappointing nature of human beings. The author takes a striking or absurd situation and follows it through an uncomfortable series of twists and turns, or pushes it to its limit; this is wonderful. In The Land and Its People, he specifically dives into his emotional reliance on Duolingo and its AI character; recounts his unwilling, unreliable, and abandoned caregiver role after his husband Hugh's surgery; shares the circumstances surrounding meeting the pope, which peripherally involved Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sedaris's order for a custom vestment; and offers a strange and lovely account of his decades-long best-friendship with Dawn. This year Sedaris revealed for the first time that his longtime partner Hugh has secretly (even from Sedaris's family) been his husband for ten years, and here, he notes the dry financial reasoning for the official union alongside wry observations about their relationship. As always, Sedaris delivers enough edge to keep me feeling slightly, delightedly nervous about what's to come, yet much of the time he manages to end essays on a thoughtful or surprisingly heartwarming note. Some of the poignancy in his essays shows up when you read between the lines, which feels only fitting for his sharp observations and his often-barbed voice. The final lines of the essays felt at times a little bit sentimental or cute, but he does have to wrap these up, after all. I listened to The Land and Its People as an audiobook through my library and Libby. The percussion between his essays (all recorded at live performances) in the audiobook felt jarring to me; I wondered if my "cut out that racket" reaction was simply full old-ladydom setting in and/or if it was a deliberately mischievous move designed to induce it. More Sedaris and Other Essays David Sedaris is also the author of Happy-Go-Lucky, The Best of Me, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Santaland Diaries, and other books. You might also like these Bossy reviews of other collections of essays.

Lex Croucher's foray into dark academia is fantastic, with angst, mature themes, magical adventure, sinister plots, far-reaching repercussions, and a childhood heartbreak that is revisited and revised in heartbreaking, satisfying form. Briar and Sebastian are childhood best friends, but when Sebastian is accepted into the renowned nearby magic school at age 11 and Briar is not, the two have a heartbreaking, fraught split. Briar has always dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy, and the rejection in their youth has always stung. Their unhappiness is compounded by the complete lack of correspondence from Seb. Briar pours themself and their resentment into working out, doing menial jobs, and fully abandoning ambition or dreams. Then Briar works their way into a temporary maintenance job at the school and soon realizes that their old friend (now called Bastian) has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus. And Briar also discovers that the school is hiding dark secrets with unimaginable potential repercussions for the world. The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is dark, edgy, yet also warm, with mature magic-focused plot points, deep friendships, romance, adventure and strategizing, plus opportunities for redemption. (This is the type of tone and grown-up magical adventure and dark academia that I had hoped Lev Grossman's The Magicians might be; for me, the feel of that book was grim and lacked satisfying character development.) Croucher offers rich characters, romantic turmoil, some steamy moments, LGBTQ+ representation, and enough intrigue to keep the pacing and my own interest moving right along. I'm a huge Lex Croucher fan and I'm in for all Croucher books, always. I listened to this novel as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Voyager. More Great Lex Croucher Books Lex Croucher is also the author of the wonderful Not for the Faint of Heart and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, as well as the upcoming Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay. Croucher also wrote romcoms with a Regency-era twist, Reputation, which I'm about to dive into, and its sequels Infamous and Trouble.

Kamali's powerful story of enduring friendship spans decades and is shaped by years of political turmoil in Iran. The childhood best friends at the heart of the novel grow apart, then reunite in complicated circumstances. This is wonderful. I feel as though I've been hearing rave reviews of this book for so long, it must have been published five years ago. (It actually came out in August 2025.) Marjan Kamali's The Lion Women of Tehran is historical fiction that begins in 1950s Tehran, where young Ellie lives in opulence with her mother and father. But after her father's untimely death, daughter and mother quickly face the hard reality of women's inability to own property or assert rights. Ellie and her mother must move to a poor section of town, where Ellie's mom stews with resentment at her loss of status and comfort. Her mother is unable to accept their new situation, and she is disgusted by what she perceives is the low class of their neighbors, as well as by Ellie's school, which is not as well-respected as her former one. She refuses to work or better their circumstances in any practical way...until she gives in and marries her brother-in-law, immediately benefiting from his financial security. Ellie turns to Homa, a local girl, for companionship, and their deep, volatile friendship endures; as they grow up this friendship shapes the novel. With enormous shifts in Iran as catalysts for changes in their own lives, the friends dramatically diverge in their life goals--marriage for one, activism for the other--and life pushes and pulls them in different directions so that they are eventually both figuratively and literally a world apart. But Kamali offers a messy, heartwarming, heartbreaking story in which against all odds the women come back together--their betrayals, disappointments, shortcomings, and secrets threatening to thwart their closeness, but their love and loyalty evident. This was powerful, beautiful, and poignant. I loved this story. More Books You Might Like Marjan Kamali is also the author of The Stationery Shop and Together Tea. You might also want to check out these books featuring friends like family and these historical fiction Bossy favorites.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the newest novel by the author of The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman's Australia-set A Far-Flung Life; I'm listening to Lauren Okie's play on romance tropes, Tropesick; and I'm listening to David Sedaris's newest book of oddball, edgy, and heartwarming essays, The Land and Its People. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by secrets, hopes, and resignation. We meet the MacBride family in the 1950s, after a long family history of sheep farming on their million-acre station Meredith Downs. Patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo while driving on a remote road with his two sons, and one moment leads to a tragedy, loss, and lives changed forevermore. M. L. Stedman is also the author of The Light Between Oceans. Click here for more books set in Australia. 02 Tropesick by Lauren Okie Katie and Tyler were childhood neighbors and friends, on the verge of young love, then devastated, bound together, and pushed apart by a shared tragedy. Years later, they are completely estranged. Katie is a ghostwriter for a successful romance author and Tyler is an aspiring literary fiction author in need of a paycheck when chance leads to a shocking meeting--then their pairing for an unlikely project. Katie is well aware of the power of romance conventions and explains them to Tyler. Meanwhile, Lauren Okie playfully works every imaginable trope into both the story Katie and Tyler are writing and the situations in which they find themselves. I'm listening to an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Avon. 03 The Land and Its People: Essays by David Sedaris In David Sedaris's latest book of essays, he brings his edgy, offbeat humor, acerbic observations, and surprising heart to recounting stories about travel, adventures, mishaps, shortcomings, true friendship, love, families, loss, aging, and the complicated, fascinating, sometimes disappointing nature of human beings. David Sedaris is also the author of Happy-Go-Lucky, The Best of Me, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Santaland Diaries, and other books.

Bossy Favorites of the Month I had a solid reading month, including a five-star read by one of my all-time favorite authors. Spoiler alert: that title will also appear in my Bossy Favorite Reads of the Year So Far, a list of six books I'll post next Friday. Meanwhile, here are my six favorite reads of June. I like to post my Greedy Reading Lists on Fridays, and this one is a little early (the month doesn't end until Tuesday, after all) so that I can schedule the aforementioned half-year best-of list for next Friday. You can also check out my favorite ten reads of the spring here. Have you read any of these titles? What were some of your favorite reads this month? 01 John of John by Douglas Stuart A young man is called back from the overwhelming, limitless city to his rural Scottish hometown, which is ruled by piety and inflexibility. His claustrophobic community and rigid father gradually give way to glimmers of hope for new beginnings and self-actualization. Cal is fresh out of art school, deeply in debt, and desperately poor, staying on acquaintances' couches, cleaning buildings (and being cheated out of most of his modest pay), and dipping in and out of soulless trysts with other men. Then his gruff father John calls him home to their rural Scottish croft on Isle of Harris to help take care of Cal's grandmother, who is sick and lives with John--her ex-son-in-law. Cal's father John is emotionally closed-off and is at times physically abusive. John's expectations of his son are sky-high, and his churchgoing, stoicism, dogged work weaving tweed and caring for the sheep, and repeated denial of his own potential joy all serve to cement his rigid view of what his child should do and who he should be. Within the complex web of his father's harsh manner, his mother's abandonment, his childhood best friend's pain, his former lover's disastrous addiction, and his town's blind focus on piety and its unfailing inflexibility, we also witness strange, poignant versions of acceptance, of loyalty, of mercifully averting eyes to certain behavior, of sacrifice for one another, and of instances of incredible selflessness. This was heartbreaking, often dark, frighteningly confining, and, ultimately, redemptive, containing beautiful gems of delight and hope. Douglas Stuart is also the author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo. You might also like these Bossy reviews of other books set in Scotland. 02 How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson Jenny Lawson's self-help book is comforting, practical, and frank; while the content may not be revolutionary, her personal approach, humor, and candor are delightful and reassuring. Readers looking for coping tools will also know they are not alone in facing challenges. This is my first Jenny Lawson read. In this gently reassuring self-help book, she explores, as the book cover details, Tips and Tricks That Kept [Her] Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of [Her]self. Her depression is treatment resistant, so she has explored various avenues to getting by and getting through each day, pursuing creativity and continuing to write. Lawson is vulnerable in sharing her mental health struggles; she is practical with her approaches to coping with various challenges; and she's often funny, revealing absurd, awkward, hilarious moments in her life. The measures Lawson highlights don't feel revelatory, yet her exploration of, personal experience with, and evaluation of their power and success feel like a friend sharing heartfelt, lived advice. Lawson emphasizes that we all deserve grace and empathy, and that perfectionism should not be the goal, but that finding joy and getting by are. I listened to an audiobook version of this short title (it's 288 pages), read by the author, through Libby and my library. For my full review of this book please see How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay. 03 The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout In Strout's newest novel, we meet an irresistible new character in Artie Dam. Only the reader understands Artie's deep loneliness, only we live through his discovery of a shattering secret, and only we witness the life-altering power of his kindness and connections with other characters. This is lovely. Artie Dam is a high school history teacher, father to a grown son, longtime husband to his wife, and friend to all. The thoughtful, kind former teacher of the year loves sailing, connects with his students, and is a calming force in all of his circles. Artie is friendly and kind, but private. As readers, we are privy to Artie's closely held ups and downs, his annoyances and triumphs, his secret joys and his devastating disappointments. Only we fully realize that Artie is feeling desperately lonely, disillusioned, and depressed. His connections with his students are wonderful and, sometimes unbeknownst to him, powerful. When Artie discovers a deep secret about his life, he's unsure how to cope. This enormously impactful unearthing of information profoundly shakes him. But in typical Artie fashion, he doesn't burn everything down as a result; he is circumspect, even when restraint feels impossible, and thus he protects others. Elizabeth Strout's signature voice comes through--in this case, it actually felt as though multiple characters took on similar speech patterns to each other and to those in other Strout books. This cross-character speech pattern is not something I'd noticed in other Strout novels, and I'd be curious to know if it was present in other works or not. This is beautiful, poignant, heartbreaking, and heartwarming. I loved reading about Artie's life and being allowed into his inner world. Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Tell Me Everything, Lucy by the Sea, Anything Is Possible, Olive, Again, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and Oh William! Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge. For my full review, please check out this link. 04 Forty Love by Jane Costello This charming British-set novel takes a fortysomething widow facing empty nesting, hormonal changes, and professional uncertainty and opens up friendship, competition, and a new path forward through a recreational tennis league, new and old friends, a supportive brother, and an old crush. Jules is a widow, single mom, and a busy buyer for a chain of lifestyle stores. She's lived next to the local Liverpool tennis club for years but hasn't played since she was a young woman--when her early love for the game was squashed before she ever became comfortable playing. A run-in with her old school crush Sam, her daughter's move from home, and stress and uncertainty at work, along with the beginner-team's desperate need for players, lead Jules to reluctantly decide to give tennis another go. This is charming and satisfying; Jules is a sympathetic character searching for answers as to how to live the next chapter of her life. Her life is appealingly complicated, and she doesn't magically have all the answers. Forty Love is a rom-com with depth, my favorite type. I received a prepublication audio version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Zibby Publishing. You might also like these other Bossy reviews of books about tennis. The author has written about 15 other novels, some under the name Catherine Isaac. Please click here for my full review of Forty Love. 05 Famesick: A Memoir by Lena Dunham The creator of the series Girls explores the details of her years of physical and emotional turmoil, which happened concurrently with her rise to fame. Her pain and the mysterious sources of her frequent agony affected every aspect of her life, and Dunham doesn't shy away from bringing the reader into her inner circle of discomfort, worry, insecurity, and suffering. In her new memoir, the creator of the series Girls revisits the years in which she went from an unkown to a well-known writer, director, producer, and actor. She shares professional and personal tradeoffs, her frequent inability to balance the breakneck speed of her work and maintain creativity, and a painful, often problematic host of illnesses and physical isssues that plagued her and affected each aspect of her life. Through years of various mysterious, excruciating, debilitating ailments, conditions, and limitations, Dunham tries to overcome her own blood, vomit, addiction to pills, and interminable hospital stays in order to put her work first. But in doing so, she realizes she is losing sight of her identity, her emotional connection to her life, and her ability to sustain most of her relationships. I was struck by the author's transparency. I listened to an audiobook library version of this title through Libby. For my full review, please see Famesick. You might also want to check out these Bossy reviews of other celebrity memoirs or these lists of favorite memoirs the years I read them: this one and also this one. 06 Whistler by Ann Patchett This may be my favorite Ann Patchett novel. It's a story of chosen family, a chance reunion, illuminating and poignant revelations about the past, and unexpected, reimagined relationships and treasured paths forward. In Ann Patchett's newest novel, Whistler, Daphne and her husband are visiting the Met Museum when they notice an older gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, Daphne's long-lost stepfather, the second of her mother's three husbands and a beloved figure from Daphne's childhood--whom she never saw nor heard from after a car accident that occurred when she was a young girl and Eddie and Daphne's mother divorced. Their deep connection is immediately evident once again, and, at times with Daphne's sister Leda and Daphne's husband Jonathan, but most often alone, Eddie and Daphne revisit old memories, compare notes, and treasure their time together as a gift. The structure of the story is wonderful, tracking back in time to Daphne's childhood and the pivotal events that led up to her cherished stepfather's departure, with revised memories and varied accounts revealing truths that change the tenor of the life-changing occurrences that follow. This is lovely, poignant, and unexpected--and it's possibly my favorite Ann Patchett novel ever, certainly since The Magician's Assistant. I received an audiobook version of this novel courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper. Ann Patchett is also the author of Tom Lake, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, State of Wonder, Run, Bel Canto, The Dutch House, The Magician's Assistant, These Precious Days, and other books. For my full review, please check out Whistler.

This is a story about sisters coping with past trauma and resentments trying to find their way back together, with a missing-persons story in the background. The tone of the novel felt difficult for me to settle into, but I appreciated the realistically complicated elements of addiction, abuse, and neurodivergence. “True crime scratches that itch,” she says. “It gives shape to the darkness. It makes the senseless feel—if not understandable, at least real. Like I’m not crazy for being scared all the time. Like the fear has evidence.” In Northern California, grown sisters Mere and Frankie have been circling each other for years, often bristling, brewing resentment, and holding their tongues about each other's lives and families, while trying to find a way to become close like they were when they were young. Then a woman in Frankie's social circle goes missing, and the disappearance serves as a catalyst for examinations of past trauma, relapses in behavior, and an erasure of verbal filters, so that ugly truths are voiced and are unable to be ignored. Only time will tell whether the crisis will usher in a new era of honesty and support. The sisters each want to get past their current-day superficial connection, but bitterness about their past festers--until a cathartic blowup allows them to air their pain and determine if they can move past it into a new relationship. The tone of the novel was difficult for me to pin down. The main story is focused on the individual sisters, their relationship, and their own marriages. In the background is the haunting disappearance of local mother Brie (who is, unknown to most, an addict). The disappearance involves layers that feel poised draw in Mere and Frankie's husbands, who were camping in the region where Brie went missing, and may have encountered her while they were in an impaired state. This element doesn't exactly lend the novel a mystery feel, but there's an undercurrent of uncertainty and shadowy possibilities. (This seems positioned to potentially destroy the families, but ultimately doesn't become a significant element.) I didn't feel fully privy to the women's inner lives or their families' complicated dynamics; I felt a half step removed from emotional investment. I loved the element of bookstore ownership--although it felt like somewhat of an afterthought. Based on the page time spent on the business, it didn't involve significant involvement. Guerrieri explores issues around abuse, addiction, infidelity, and neurodivergence. The author's notes following the novel explain her own experience with addiction, relapse, and sexual assault. I wished I'd known her real-life inspirations before reading the book; the novel's representation of addiction felt authentic to me as a reader. I listened to an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Muse. More Bossy Books to Check Out Jessica Guerrieri is also the author of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Please check out these links for Bossy reviews of other books about sisters, addiction, or missing persons.

The novel's premise hooked me, and while I was eager to find out whether April and Leo's relationship would survive so many challenges, and I enjoyed the extended family storyline, I wanted to feel more emotionally invested in the high-stakes situations, secrets, and traumas. When April and Leo's house burns down in the middle of the night, they're luckily able to escape safely with their two young children. But as they reel from the loss of their home, the reader learns that the evening of the fire, the couple discussed divorce. In fact, the distress and distraction around the conversation is probably what led to the fire itself. Now the family of four is living with April's parents, determining what can be salvaged from their house, and keeping up appearances as April's family reels from her father's troubling health diagnosis and a host of secrets coming to light from each member of the family, including Leo and April themselves. Damoff tracks back in time to how April and Leo first met, and to their courtship and early days. In the present-day storyline Leo and April realize (along with the reader) how little they really knew about each other's inner lives and, in Leo's case, past trauma, before they married and until this moment. Past secrets related to Leo's life are revealed, and April tenderly enters into trying to manage their effects on her estranged husband. In the present-day timeline, Leo and April are hurt, betrayed, heartbroken, angry, and hopeless. They slowly creep toward each other again, but in light of the many life-changing events of recent days, weeks, and months, a resolution seems far from assured. April's supportive family is in the background, coping with their own challenges, and the precious nature of life and love is emphasized at each turn. I was fascinated by the premise, but the story felt a little disjointed to me. I didn't feel deeply about situations when I would have expected to. But The Burning Side is an intriguing read, and it would make for a great discussion. I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of Simon & Schuster and NetGalley. More Books You Might Like Sarah Damoff is also the author of The Bright Years. You might also want to check out these books featuring difficult family situations.

This may be my favorite Ann Patchett novel. It's a story of chosen family, a chance reunion, illuminating and poignant revelations about the past, and unexpected, reimagined relationships and treasured paths forward. In Ann Patchett's newest novel, Daphne and her husband are visiting the Met Museum when they notice an older gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, Daphne's long-lost stepfather, the second of her mother's three husbands and a beloved figure from Daphne's childhood--whom she never saw nor heard from after a car accident that occurred when she was a young girl and Eddie and Daphne's mother divorced. Their deep connection is immediately evident once again, and, at times with Daphne's sister Leda and Daphne's husband Jonathan, but most often alone, Eddie and Daphne revisit old memories, compare notes, and treasure their time together as a gift. The structure of the story is wonderful, tracking back in time to Daphne's childhood and the pivotal events that led up to her cherished stepfather's departure, with revised memories and varied accounts revealing truths that change the tenor of the life-changing occurrences that follow. We also learn about Eddie, who was essential in encouraging Daphne to dream about her future, and we hear more of his life story, his work as a book editor, his unorthodox choices, and his love and heartbreak. This is lovely, poignant, and unexpected--and it's possibly my favorite Ann Patchett novel ever, certainly since The Magician's Assistant. I received an audiobook version of this novel courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper. More Ann Patchett Books Ann Patchett is also the author of Tom Lake, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, State of Wonder, Run, Bel Canto, The Dutch House, The Magician's Assistant, These Precious Days, and other books.

The Books I'm Reading Now It's Green Books time! I'm reading the wonderful Lex Croucher's grown-up magical school tale, The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones; I'm listening to Jessica Guerrieri's story of sisters trying to find their way back to their childhood closeness in the midst of a local woman's disappearance, Both Things Can Be True; and I'm reading Marjan Kamali's story of class, politics, and enduring friendship in Tehran and New York, The Lion Women of Tehran. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher Briar and Sebastian are childhood best friends, but when Sebastian is accepted into the renowned nearby magic school at age 11 and Briar is not, the two have a heartbreaking, fraught split. Briar works his way into a temporary maintenance job at the school and soon realizes that his old friend has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus. And he also discovers that the school is hiding dark secrets with unimaginable potential repercussions for the world. So far, The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones is the type of book I had hoped Lev Grossman's (for me, grim) The Magicians would be: dark, edgy, yet also warm, with mature magic-focused plot points, deep friendships, romance, intriguing adventure and strategizing, plus opportunities for redemption. I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Voyager. Lex Croucher is also the author of the wonderful Not for the Faint of Heart and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. 02 Both Can Be True by Jessica Guerrieri In Northern California, grown sisters Mere and Frankie have been circling each other for years, often bristling, brewing resentment, and holding their tongues about each other's lives and families, while trying to find a way to become close like they were when they were young. Then a woman in Frankie's social circle goes missing, and the disappearance serves as a catalyst for examinations of past trauma, relapses in behavior, and an erasure of verbal filters, so that ugly truths are voiced and are unable to be ignored. Only time will tell whether the crisis will usher in a new era of honesty and support. I'm listening to an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Harper Muse. 03 The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali I feel as though I've been hearing rave reviews of this book for so long, it must have been published five years ago. (It actually came out in August 2025.) This is historical fiction that begins in 1950s Tehran, where young Ellie lives in opulence with her mother and father. But after her father's untimely death, daughter and mother quickly face the hard reality of women's inability to own property or assert rights. Ellie and her mother must move to a poor section of town, where Ellie's mom stews with resentment at her loss of status and comfort. Ellie turns to a new local girl for companionship, and their deep, volatile friendship shapes the novel.

Great Rom-Com Reads I've been highlighting recently published romantic novels as well as those I've read in the past year, many of which are still highly in demand. If the library waitlists are feeling interminably long, you might want to check out these great novels published a little longer ago--so they'll be easier to check out. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! Have you read any other rom-com or romantic novels that you loved? 01 Betting on You by Lynn Painter Lynn Painter delivers funny, charming banter and an opposites-attract tension in this heartwarming rom-com about divorce, trust, blended families, and vulnerability. In Lynn Painter's rom-com Betting on You, rule-following seventeen-year-old Bailey and sarcastic, joking Charlie meet at a fraught moment--they're both leaving Alaska and coping with their parents' divorces. They're polar opposites, and they drive each other crazy. Now they're living in the same hometown again, and, coincidentally, they're about to be working together at a bizarre hotel fun park. When Bailey and Charlie fake date in order to try to thwart the new relationship between Bailey's mom and her always-around boyfriend, Bailey realizes she's got feelings for Charlie. And Charlie's emotionally immature, but he's never let his guard down the way he does with Bailey. Painter delivers charming and funny banter, emotional growth, deep friendship, plausible missteps that keep the couple apart, heart-wrenching moments of vulnerability, and heartwarming looooove. Please click here for my full review of Betting on You. Lynn Painter is the author of another rom-com I adored, Better Than the Movies, as well as Nothing Like the Movies, Happily Never After, Accidentally Amy, Mr. Wrong Number, and other books I haven't yet read. 02 The Rule Book by Sarah Adams This love story about an emotionally sensitive NFL player and his quirky, irresistible female agent is a sweet second-chance romance perfect for light summer reading. Nora Mackenzie is a sports agent who's constantly fighting against misogyny and double standards as one of few women in the field. She's young and hungry--and thrilled that she's about to get her first really big client. But Nora and the client, NFL tight end Derek Pender, were college sweethearts, and Nora abruptly broke things off years ago. They haven't seen each other since. Derek is determined to make Nora so miserable, she'll quit her position as his agent, but Nora's never given up on anything in her life--except her youthful relationship with Derek. She's determined to look out for her career above all else. I love Nora's passion for her career and the single-mindedness that has led to her success. In concept, I also love her quirkiness and refusal to bend to societal pressures--whether by behaving in a more tough manner because she's a woman in a career where fewer women exist, or by using her femininity as a tool in that career. But her silly language and childlike manner grated on me, and I found it distractingly corny. I loved the fake marriage, the push and pull of career and love, and the second-chance romance. Click here for my full review of The Rule Book. 03 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 of heart. I smiled while reading this one. “Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, Gwendoline. So it's up to you --you can put them aside forever, if you can live with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself.” It's hundreds of years after King Arthur's reign, and his descendant and namesake Arthur, a future lord and committed partier and social butterfly, has long been betrothed to the short-tempered princess Gwendoline. But Gwendoline and Arthur detest each other. And when they're forced to spend the summer together at Camelot to prepare for their upcoming nuptials, it doesn't take long for them to realize that Art has been kissing a boy and that Gwen has a crush on the only female knight in the kingdom. The premise of Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is irresistible, the pacing is great, and the banter is excellent--funny dialogue is a favorite element of mine. I adored the voices of the characters and witnessing their growth over the course of the story. Lex Croucher is also the author of Not for the Faint of Heart. For my full review, please see Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. 04 Love, Lists and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz Sarah Grunder Ruiz serves up an irresistible rom-com with great banter and with interesting and difficult, complex issues of loss, grief, and responsibility at its heart. Jo Walker is a yacht stewardess. She fell into the job years ago while trying to find herself--after a youth in which her father died, her mother fell apart, her older sister Beth became pregnant by (and married) her beloved high school sweetheart--and after Jo moved in with the young married couple while she finished high school. But none of Jo's losses or disappointments or life experiences could have prepared her for the horrific, shocking loss of her young nephew Samson, Beth's youngest child (and Jo's birthday twin), in a biking accident. The tension that keeps apart Jo and Alex (a handsome, charming man new to town) feels plausible, and I accepted the difficulties each faces when considering a commitment to the other. I loved the best-friendship with Nina, the messy path of grief, and the imperfect characters all doing their best. I welcomed with open arms the happy ending served up by Sarah Grunder Ruiz. For my full review, please see Love, Lists and Fancy Ships. 05 I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang Ann Liang's newest young adult rom-com pits high school nemeses against each other: one relentless perfectionist and people-pleaser and her effortlessly successful classmate. But neither is as perfect as they seem...except in being perfect for each other. In Ann Liang's I Hope This Doesn't Find You, Sadie Wren is perfect...on paper. She's valedictorian, school captain, and a model student. Sadie's one vice is writing scathing, no-holds-barred email drafts. She never sends them, but crafting the furious hypothetical replies to anyone who is frustrating her is helpfully cathartic. That is, until everyone--from her co-captain to her teachers to her classmates--knows how shockingly blunt the "real" Sadie is. And the only one who seems to embrace her accidental show of full honesty is her longtime nemesis, Julius. This young adult story is sweet and fun; the pacing often feels somewhat slapstick and frantic--as is the relentlessly ambitious, over-the-top super-pleaser Sadie herself. The feeling settles down when she finally begins to explore her feelings for Julius in a wonderfully sweet and romantic set of exchanges that feels all too brief. The vulnerability that Sadie and Julius allow each other to see at long last was lovely. Ann Liang is also the author of the wonderful fake-dating young adult novel This Time It's Real, as well as A Song to Drown Rivers and other titles. For my full review, check out I Hope This Doesn't Find You. 06 Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez Just for the Summer is another Jimenez story with wonderful banter and a romantic connection that's anchored in and shaped by incredibly complicated life circumstances. Abby Jimenez is wonderful at crafting a satisfying romance that's anchored in serious issues, and in Just for the Summer, she offers up an irresistible rom-com premise with weighty, messy, real-life-imperfect conflicts galore. Justin and Emma are strangers, but they both seem to have the same curse: after they break up with someone, the next person that person dates ends up being their soulmate. A Reddit thread and unlikely coincidences bring Justin and Emma into contact, and their initial spark is undeniable. The conflicts that repeatedly keep Emma and Justin from their happy-ever-after feel plausibly limiting, yet their affection and banter are adorable, and their inability to overcome the obstacles in their way is heartbreaking. I think Emma's best friend Maddy probably needs her own book (a la Christina Lauren's fantastic True Love Experiment spinoff for best friend Fizzy). I listened to Just for the Summer as an audiobook. Jimenez is also the author of The Night We Met, Part of Your World, Yours Truly, The Friend Zone, and The Happy-Ever-After Playlist. For my full review, please see Just for the Summer.