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Six Great Bossy Mystery Reads I didn't read as many mysteries last year as I typically do, but here are six of my favorites. I'm hoping to up my mystery and suspense reading this year. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite mystery or suspense reads? 01 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual revelations concerning the disappearances of both Van Lear children, and the beautifully wrought tragedy and redemption. In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. Oddly, her brother Bear, beloved by all who knew him, disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found. A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light. The split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods . I was intrigued by the mysteries and their layers, which are continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God of the Woods , I was equally interested in both timelines. Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River  as well as Heft and The Unseen World . For my full review of this book, please see The God of the Woods . 02 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll Knoll's novel was inspired by real events; Bright Young Women  traces a serial killer targeting young women and in the character of Pamela, offers a no-nonsense, brilliant nemesis who won't let up until she brings the criminal to justic e. Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women  is inspired by real-life events: the targeting of a sorority by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his final killing spree. But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters (one, her best friend) are dead and two others are maimed. And in her shock and horror, Pamela spied the culprit as he skulked away. In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the Florida sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes. I expected the novel to feel more salacious, and I was thankful that it did not. I found it satisfying to read about Pamela's growing contempt for The Defendant, her long-term commitment to prosecuting him, and her mission to find peace for his victims. The friendships and love interests--which were powerful enough to overshadow the book's dysfunctional families and painful relationships--were welcome distractions from the horror at the heart of this story. I read Bright Young Women  for my book club. For my full review, check out Bright Young Women . 03 Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera Listen for the Lie  offers a fascinating story structure, dark humor, and deeply flawed characters as main protagonist Lucy works to resolve her memory loss surrounding the events leading to her best friend's death. Twentysomething Lucy is found wandering the streets of her small Texas town, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood. But Lucy suffered a head wound the night of Savvy's death and now she can't remember anything about the night Savvy was murdered. Everyone assumes she killed Savvy, and Lucy can't escape the suspicions and resentment surrounding the mysterious conditions of Savvy's death. I was hooked on the structure of the story and the way the truth is gradually revealed; the information is illuminating as it creeps out but Tintera's tone is never teasing. The author doesn't throw in red herrings, and she doesn't manipulate the facts in order to spring a surprise on the reader. The podcast element was engaging--I loved how it allowed for layers of interpretation, revelation, and intrigue. I loved listening to this as an audiobook. For my full review of this book, please see Listen for the Lie . 04 None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell Lisa Jewell's haunting psychological thriller centers around birthday twins, an unreliable narrator, disparate lifestyles, and dark secrets that emerge. In Lisa Jewell's psychological thriller None of This Is True , successful podcaster Alix Summer is celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at the local pub when she meets a strange woman, Josie, also celebrating her birthday. Her "birthday twin" begins popping up where Alix is, and she's got a strange, disturbing life story to share. Tempted by Josie's intriguing tales, Alix begins interviewing her for the podcast, despite feeling unsettled by her increasingly frequent presence. But Josie has been keeping dark secrets, with horrifying details and impact beyond anything Alix could imagine. And they're all beginning to come out. I enjoyed peeking at Alix's fabulous lifestyle and also the making of a podcast. The story is dark and haunting, with intriguing, unreliable narrating; smaller mistakes that have enormous consequences; and nightmarish choices that are so upsetting, they're tough to read about. I listened to  None of This Is True  as an audiobook. For my full review, please see None of This Is True . Lisa Jewell is also the author of The Family Upstairs . Other books that center around a podcast are Listen for the Lie   (reviewed above) and also the Good Girl's Guide to Murder  series (featuring a favorite character of mine, Pippa Fitz-Amobi). 05 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean I'm a big fan of Emiko Jean's writing. The Return of Ellie Black  was a disturbing setup followed by a somewhat too-easy-feeling reveal, but in between, I was captivated by the ride. I'm fascinated by a missing-persons story . In Emiko Jean's The Return of Ellie Black , Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years. Chelsey is especially invested in the case because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier--before falling victim to a tragic murder-suicide carried out by her boyfriend. The story takes us inside the claustrophobic, twisted, abusive, extremely disturbing compound where Ellie is kept prisoner--and she's not the only girl being kept against her will. When she comes home alive, only Chelsey finds it strange that Ellie has left her captor and remains alive. Has Ellie been released, rather than escaped? The reveal of the true story behind the abductions, cruelties, and murders seemed far-fetched (every one of the elements--motivations, participants, delusions--were linked to close-to-home situations). But as always, I enjoyed Jean's writing, and I couldn't wait to find out who was behind the infuriating, extremely disturbing kidnappings and why. Emiko Jean is also the author of the great young adult stories Tokyo Ever After  and Tokyo Dreaming  and Tokyo Forever , as well as Mika in Real Life , Empress for All Seasons , and other books. Click here   for my full review of The Return of Ellie Black . 06 Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld I was taken with the main characters of the past storyline here: a young boy at a children's home and his unlikely best friend. When his sister tries to solve the mystery of his death, she and her own unlikely companion unravel secrets and danger. Almost thirty years ago, Dennis, a young boy from a children's home, washed away in the rough waves of an Oregon beach, and his body was never found. His sister Amanda and Larry, her new local friend, believe that Dennis had an unorthodox friendship with a custodian at the boys' home, but can find out little else about Dennis's short life. Disturbing facts begin to emerge regarding the horrifying behavioral modification methods used at the home--and those who enacted them. Amanda and Larry are closer than ever to uncovering the whole, heartbreaking truth. At times, particularly in the middle of the story, things felt disjointed to me and jumped around in a way that I found jarring. While I enjoyed the trip to Alaska (I love an Alaska storyline) and the polar bear-focused parts of the story, it felt far afield from the main plot. I didn't suspect that Amanda was coping with cognitive challenges until late in the book when multiple mentions were made regarding this; maybe I simple missed the earlier clues? Things wrap up in quite neat fashion at the close of the story, but I didn't mind because of the justice being served and the mysteries' resolution. I mentioned Rene Denfeld's great book The Child Finder  in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer . Click here   for my full review of Sleeping Giants.

Eowyn Ivey is masterful at intertwining fantastical elements with the grounding of the vivid details of nature. To the Bright Edge of the World explores desperate survival, indigenous peoples' connection to the natural world, and mysterious forces at play. There is a mythical element to our childhood, it seems, that stays with us always. When we are young, we consume the world in great gulps, and it consumes us, and everything is mysterious and alive and fills us with desire and wonder, fear, and guilt. With the passing of the years, however, those memories become distant and malleable, and we shape them into the stories of who we are. We are brave, or we are cowardly. We are loving, or we are cruel. To the Bright Edge of the World  is a story of discovery, adventure, tedious slogging, danger, and self-revelation in the wilds of nineteenth century Alaska, interspersed with scenes from a home life on a military base in Washington Territory--and a surprisingly meaningful modern-day correspondence linked to it all. Ivey's fantastical elements are inspired by Native American folklore and stories, and they work well here, causing the characters to broaden their views of the great unknown world, but without overshadowing the detailed, vibrant descriptions grounded in exploration and nature. More Eowyn Ivey Love I'm currently reading Ivey's newest novel, Black Woods, Blue Sky . I included To the Bright Edge of the World in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer . Ivey also wrote The Snow Child , a book I listed in the Greedy Reading List   Six Magical Fairy Tales Grown-Ups Will Love .

In the third book in the series, the significant romantasy elements take a back seat to quests for knowledge and cures, attempts to locate a species of dragon, and a large-scale, high-stakes conflict involving action-packed battles and scheming. Violet Sorrengail has been training as a dragon rider for 18 months at Basgiath War College, but a real-life, high-stakes battle is coming, and she'll need to find out what she's made of in the life-and-death conflict that is certain to affect everything and everyone she knows. She and her fellow riders set out on an unsanctioned quest to faraway lands to try to secure allies, armies, and knowledge. But the mysteries surrounding the power of their enemies, her own dragon, and the future of her beloved Xaden threaten to upend everything. I appreciated the continued, if brief, references to Violet's chronic illness and accommodations, which were introduced and highlighted in book one of the series. I also liked the increased focus on large-scale conflict and strategies, the search for knowledge (about dragons, a cure for Xaden's condition, and Violet's own fate), and the increased page time spent on Violet's relationship with her siblings. There were a handful of the now-familiar, highly specific Yarros sex scenes involving detailed logistics of particular body parts and passionate comments between Violet and Xaden about how superlative the experience is. What I found most distracting in this book, as in the first two, is the heightened drama around their relationship and their blind commitment to what feels like an increasingly broken situation. They endanger their teams, their communities, and their dragons--which are bound to them for life--as well as their own lives. This makes the angsty romance at the heart of the book feel like reckless ridiculousness rather than a devotion worth striving for, and Violet and Xaden's blind dedication to each other feels toxically obsessive. Dramatic declarations abound, often indicating their disturbing inability to be on their own and their dogged dedication to their destructive pairing; one example reads “I’m jealous of the armor that holds you when I can’t, the sheets on your bed that caress your skin every night, and the blades that feel your hands.” Hmmm. On a more minor note, t he tendency of Violet and Xaden to call each other "Love" feels like a middle-aged Britishism. And I continue to feel that it's lazy to rely so frequently on "f*ck" and "f*cking" to indicate passion or emphasis. This installment of the series offered less page time to the dramaaaatic elements, but there's no denying that this series is romantasy--and for me, the romantasy pieces are the least intriguing elements. I'm in this story for the teamwork, vengeance, friendship, quests, danger, strategy, character conflict, and dragons. The urgent search for a cure for Xaden takes an oddly backseat position for much of the book, and the loss of a key dragon to another community is sudden, halfheartedly heartbreaking, then glossed over for much of the book. The ending leaves us on another cliffhanger and sets up potentially intriguing, mysterious conflicts for book four. I listened to Onyx Storm  as an audiobook. More dragon stories You can click here for my review of Fourth Wing  and here for my Bossy take on Iron Flame . And for Bossy reviews of other books about dragons, you can click here .

Ann Liang's trading-places young adult story allows faulted, imperfect Jenna Chen to live as her perfect, beautiful, Harvard-bound cousin Jessica for a time, pressure and expectations and all--before having to choose which existence she wants to live out forever. In Ann Liang's newest young-adult novel, Jenna Chen has always been a disappointment, at least when compared to her perfect cousin Jessica. Jessica is a top student, so beautiful that others stop to openly admire her, and the most high-achieving and most beloved student at a cutthroat high school. Jessica and Jenna's immigrant parents hope that their daughters will exceed all expectations, and Jessica always seems to. Meanwhile Jenna is artistic and average, and her desperate wish is to be Jessica. When Jenna finds out she didn't get into Harvard (or any Ivy League schools--side note: her strong but not remarkable school performance doesn't seem to align with expectations around this) and suffers through a celebratory dinner for her cousin, who is Harvard bound, it feels like the last straw. Even Jenna's art--which is her escape and her gift--drives her crazy, and she destroys her self portrait in a fit of disappointment. When she wakes, she finds to her confusion and elation that her wish has come true: Jenna has somehow taken over Jessica's body and life. But while she looks like Jessica, she has retained her own average academic abilities and her own thoughts and personality--and unlike Jessica, Jenna is not desperate to please others. She quickly realizes that being a top student at a competitive school and having others distracted by your good looks, desperate for your attention, and jealous of your achievements doesn't make for as joyful a life as Jenna would have thought. And while Jenna muddles through Jessica's carefully scripted and scheduled life, everyone seems to be forgetting that Jenna herself ever existed. Then a boy from Jenna and Jessica's past returns to town, and he seems to realize "Jessica" is not herself--but is his interest in Jenna or in Jessica? I really liked the revelations (which come through reading Jessica's diary, eek) regarding Jessica's frustrations and fears, as well as Jenna's acceptance of her own strengths. Because Jessica's body is usurped so quickly in the story, we don't get a chance until the very end to really grasp the cousins' dynamic together. Jessica isn't shown to be a complex, surprising character--more of a high-achieving, gorgeous robot. And I wanted more conflict and more self-realization from Jenna than the clarification that she doesn't want to abandon her life forever (or abandon Jessica's soul; the essence of Jessica seems to disappear altogether during Jenna's body-swapping) by living as Jessica. Yes, the boy likes Jenna for Jenna, and they're adorable together--although the barrier to their being together left me wishing for more plausibility. I found myself wanting to understand more about what shifted in Jenna's thinking about all of her long-held, outrageous aspirations, her parents' pressures on her (I found myself wanting more clarification around their constant, long-term, destructive comparisons of Jenna to Jessica), and her understanding of fulfillment and happiness for her . But I love love love a trading-places premise and how it allows peeks behind the scenes at another life and the literal walking in the shoes of another person. And I love Ann Liang's writing and her books--I'll read every one. I received a prepublication edition of I Am Not Jessica Chen courtesy of HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley. More Ann Liang love I fell in love with Ann Liang's fake-dating young adult novel This Time It's Real , read it in one rainy afternoon, and included it in my Greedy Reading Lists Six of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads from the Past Year , Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , and My Bossy Favorite Reads of Summer  the year I read it. You can find my review of Liang's great young-adult rom-com I Hope This Doesn't Find You   here  and my review of Liang's young-adult historical fiction fantasy novel A Song to Drown Rivers   here .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Lorne , the biography of Lorne Michaels, released as Saturday Night Live turns 50; I'm reading Niall Williams's literary fiction set in a small Irish village in the 1960s, Time of the Child ; and I'm listening to the third in Rebecca Yarros's romantasy series featuring dragons, their riders, adventure, angst, and drama, Onyx Storm . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison Lorne Michaels has been at the head of Saturday Night Live for the vast majority of its 50 years on air (he stepped away for a few years at one point). He may come across to observers as dry, but he is exceptional at identifying funny talent and shaping casts for the entertaining, silly, sometimes outrageous, and often subversive live weekly performances that have captured the attention of audiences since 1975. Susan Morrison was given unfettered access to Lorne as well as SNL and its past and present players, and in Lorne , she shares the deeply researched story of how Lorne Michaels developed SNL , his ups and downs, his vision, and how he created the institution that would change comedy forever. I received a prepublication edition of Lorne , which is scheduled for publication February 18, courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. 02 Time of the Child by Niall Williams In 1962 in the small Irish town of Faha, it's Christmastime, and Dr. Jack Troy and his oldest daughter Ronnie are coping with complicated family dynamics when an unexpected event turns everything upside down. Ronnie has grown up in the shadow of her father, who has long been set apart from the community where he was born and grew up because of his role as the area physician. Ronnie regrets having missed out on love--and having missed out on leaving Faha. But then an infant is left in the care of father and daughter, and as the winter progresses, Jack and Ronnie's roles shift and their lives change significantly because of the baby's presence. Time of the Child is set in the same village as Williams's novel This Is Happiness . You can find Bossy reviews of other novels set in Ireland here . 03 Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros Violet Sorrengail has been training as a dragon rider for 18 months at Basgiath War College, but a real-life, high-stakes battle is soon to be upon them all, and she'll need to find out what she's made of in the life-and-death conflict that is certain to affect everything and everyone she knows. She and her fellow riders set out on an unsanctioned quest to faraway lands to try to secure allies, armies, and knowledge. But the mysteries surrounding the power of their enemies, her own dragon, and the future of her beloved Xaden threaten to upend everything. So far there's lots of action, some humor, healthy amounts of dragon page time, and far less angst and gasping drama than in the prior two books, all of which suits my taste perfectly. I'm listening to Onyx Storm as an audiobook. You can click here for my review of Fourth Wing and here for my Bossy take on Iron Flame . And for more Bossy takes on books about dragons, you can click here .

Six Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads I loved so many historical fiction books last year. Here are just six of my favorite reads--some of which cross genres into mystery, science fiction (time travel), fantasy (legends) and literary fiction. Please stay tuned for more lists of Bossy historical fiction favorites! If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite historical fiction reads? 01 A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang I love Liang's books, and this departure from her romantic comedies is inspired by the Chinese legend of Xishi. It's full of danger, deceit, noble sacrifice, bravery, and love. I would light the fire. I would heat up this whole room. And when that didn't work--I would burn this kingdom down to ashes, turn all its men into smoke. I would, I would. Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village in the region of Yue proud, for she will almost certainly make a good marriage match. But she catches the eye of the well-known young military advisor Fanli, and as she becomes trained in playing music and hiding her emotions, she becomes the key to an elaborate, traitorous plan: to overturn the kingdom of Wu, empower her own people, and avenge her sister's death. She rises through the ranks of palace concubines and gains almost unfettered access to the king, all the while well aware that if she is revealed to be a traitor, not only she and Fanli but their homeland will be destroyed. I love Liang's characters and their voices, and I was intrigued that A Song to Drown Rivers  was a reworking of an early writing piece of hers. The ending is fanciful and strange; the tone of the book doesn't seem to be leading to a too-convenient happy ending, and as expected, Liang provides a complex set of conflicts to consider at the story's close: duty, corrupt power, the suffering of the common people, regret after retribution, and life-and-death struggles that don't always end well. Click here   for my full review of A Song to Drown Rivers --and for links to my Bossy reviews of other Ann Liang books. 02 Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1) by Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs is a formidable, dogged, whip-smart investigator working to ferret out the truth in the aftermath of World War I in this irresistible first installment of Winspear's 18-book historical fiction series. She knew she was out of bounds, but this was nothing new to her. She had spent much of her life out of bounds, living and speaking where, according to some, she had no business. Maisie Dobbs begins Winspear's series as a thirteen-year-old servant in a Belgravia mansion, but Maisie ultimately trains as a psychologist, with a World War I wartime interlude serving as a nurse, before turning her fascination with humans and her keen eye for detail to becoming an investigator--despite the fact that a female entrepreneur investigator is an unheard-of position for the time. The mystery of the book centers around a post-war haven for soldiers mentally and physically harmed by The Great War. But the mystery takes a back seat in the book to Maisie's explorations of human motivations, her interest in others' behavior, and her unorthodox methods of ferreting out the truth. I was dissatisfied with (and didn't fully buy into) the ending of the book, but I loved Maisie's overall headstrong manner and her rejection of societal limitations. I look forward to reading the next books and to seeing where Maisie goes next. Check out this Greedy Reading List for Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You . Click here   for my full review of Maisie Dobbs . 03 The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn The Whalebone Theatre  begins with offbeat children's performances on a lazy, decadent English estate in the 1920s and builds to the young-adulthood of each of three characters, which are deeply shaped by World War II. The war and all its deprivations seem relentless, but for Cristabel, there is a strange and guilty thrill running through it, for it is exactly this thinning of the ordinary that allows the unordinary through. Joanna Quinn's debut novel is a hefty 558 pages, and the story sweeps through time from the 1920s malaise of the children and the excess of the adults on a secluded English estate, Chilcombe Manor, on to World War II, as experienced by a community of family and friends. The beginning of the book moves quite slowly, which is fitting for the decadent, ongoing series of lavish dinner parties, hangovers, persistent hangers-on, and malaise occurring for the adults, who are largely without pressing business or life missions where they might direct their generational wealth. The children are largely unattended during this time, but their bonds to each other are solidified. The pacing of the story picks up, appropriately, when World War II begins to shift the world, exerting changes that finally trickle down to Chilcombe and its inhabitants. I loved reading as the children come into themselves--in fits and starts--as young adults, and I came to care deeply about them, their roles in the wartime efforts, and their potential for various happy-ever-afters. Click here for my full review of The Whalebone Theatre . 04 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley This captivating story involves time travel, but it's primarily about deep human connections, complete with fantastic, funny banter; awkward adjustments to the time period; and love and deep heartbreak. The ending is wonderful. In a world of the near future, a young (unnamed) woman is one of several civil servants offered a mysterious job: she'll be a handler for expats--and paid very handsomely for her work. But the expats the government is gathering aren't necessarily from another country. They're from other times in history. The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure from history), who has been whisked from a desperately failed expedition in 1847 to the book's future setting. In order to be a "bridge" for Gore between his past and the present, she'll have to explain why she's showing so much skin, why it's not healthy to smoke all day, and what a washing machine is. But the bridge and her client are building bonds deeper than either could have imagined; the love story between the bridge and Gore is strange, heartwarming, steamy, fraught, and just lovely. For my full review, please see The Ministry of Time . 05 Rednecks by Taylor Brown In this mix of fictional and fascinating historical elements, Brown crafts a character-driven story of the shocking, widespread, deadly West Virginia Mine Wars and thousands-strong labor uprising that took place in 1920 and 1921. In Rednecks , Taylor Brown presents a historical novel centering around the real-life events of the 1920 and 1921 West Virginia Mine Wars. Ranging from the Matewan Massacre through the Battle of Blair Mountain, which pitted 10,000 desperate, fed-up miners against greedy, ruthless coal operators, state militia, and the U.S. government. What brings the book to life are versions of the real-life figures of Mother Jones (the elderly woman once called The Most Dangerous Woman in America) and the sharpshooter Sid Hatfield; and characters like Doc "Moo," a Lebanese-American doctor (inspired by Taylor Brown's great-grandfather); Big Frank, a black World War I veteran fed up with fear and intimidation; and Frank's feisty grandmother Beulah. The true events that inspired the book are shocking and often read like fiction--the cutthroat, sometimes deadly efforts of coal-company enforcers to subdue rebellion; the years of suffering for thousands of vulnerable mining families; and the hopeless trudge forward in a cycle of poor health, hunger, too-little pay and carefully orchestrated poverty, extremely dangerous work, and, often, death. By the time the uproar and intensive violence that shook West Virginia begin to take shape, Brown has laid the groundwork for the uprising. For my full review of this book, please see Rednecks . 06 We Must Not Think of Ourselves by Lauren Grodstein Grodstein tells a poignant, powerful story of the Warsaw Ghetto--of making a life within its prison walls and of finding resistance and even love in the face of despair. As Lauren Grodstein's We Must Not Think of Ourselves  begins, it's November 1940, and Adam Paskow is one of the thousands of Jews newly imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. He teaches English to children and adjusts to the shock of living in a flat with many other people--and understanding that this is his new reality. The heart of this story was i nspired by the real-life project aimed at preserving the testimonies of Jews in the Ghetto, code named Oneg Shabbat. S tories of various characters are interwoven through the historical fiction novel and add depth to the story. Adam finds love in unlikely places, recalls his life, and finds ways to try to make a difference in the face of despair. Grodstein presents this incredibly difficult situation through various characters' attempts to accept impending doom, their wavering hope, and the incredibly powerful bonds they build to each other. I listened to We Must Not Think of Ourselves  as an audiobook. Click here   for my full review of We Must Not Think of Ourselves.

I had unreasonable hopes for gaining compassionate understanding of disparate political views through reading Haidt's book. I was interested in the theories he explores but was left feeling that the 2012 work couldn't have predicted--and therefore doesn't address--our current era of willful misinformation, and that factor is essential to the present climate of outrageous claims, bluster, and active lying. I...began to think about liberal and conservative policies as manifestations of deeply conflicting but equally heartfelt visions of the good society.... It felt good to be released from partisan anger. And once I was no longer angry, I was no longer committed to reaching the conclusion that righteous anger demands we are right, they are wrong. I was hoping for a similar revelation while reading Jonathan Haidt's 2012 book The Righteous Mind . He uses his decades of research into moral psychology to explore a timely, potent issue: the power in conflicting opinions on politics and religion between friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. And while an attempt to understand the underpinnings of these conflicts feels more timely than ever, I did feel while reading this book that in terms of the intensity of present-day vitriol, misinformation, antagonism, dismissiveness, and mutual contempt, 2012 Haidt couldn't imagine what was to come. Haidt explores why gut feelings and intuition often drive moral judgments, and why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians may use the same facts to come up with vastly different conclusions. Liberalism seemed so obviously ethical. Liberals marched for peace, workers' rights, civil rights, and secularism. The Republican Party was (as we saw it) the party of war, big business, racism, and evangelical Christianity. Haidt works to answer questions such as "Why do rural and working-class Americans generally vote Republican when it is the Democratic Party that wants to redistribute money more evenly?" He tracks historical concerns, ways of thinking, and trends in political parties. "Democrats often say that Republicans have duped these people into voting against their economic self-interest. But from the perspective of Moral Foundations Theory, rural and working-class voters were in fact voting for their moral interests." I was particularly interested in the history of political leanings and the reasoning for the entrenched views of and essential issues for those in different political parties. I was intrigued by Haidt's explanation of theories like Care/harm foundation, the Liberty/oppression foundation, and Moral Foundations Theory. I also found it illuminating to consider his rider and elephant analogy to understand how my impulses to feel strong opinions (these are the elephant) might lead me to think through and sometimes rationalize justifications (as the rider) for holding those opinions. The author examines "how moral diversity can so easily divide good people into hostile groups that do not want to understand each other." (Because "morality binds and blinds.") Yet Haidt acknowledges that "the country now seems polarized and embattled to the point of dysfunction." When people work together on a task, they generally want to see the hardest workers get the largest gains.... When a few members of a group contributed far more than the others--or, more powerfully, when a few contributed nothing--most adults do not want to see the benefits distributed equally. Within a section about when regulation really may solve major problems, Haidt notes a fascinating theory that the EPA's 1970s elimination of lead resulted in dramatic drops in 1990s crime through improvements in neural development of a new generation of young men. (Others might put forward different factors as key to this.) But despite its multiple gems of insight, I often found the book clunky, with extensive forays into so many topic areas, the key points felt obscured. I also didn't feel as though the summary recaps were efficient or that they reflected what seemed to me to be the essential elements, I was hoping to find within The Righteous Mind  reasons to feel more compassion and understanding toward those on the other end of the political spectrum from me. But things have become more charged and more complicated since the book's publication. The current political climate feels so devoid of checks and balances, level-headed thought, care, compassion, and reason, and so full of destructive pride, cruel and limiting actions, performative shows of force, nonsensical declarations, and willful ignorance, I didn't experience the revelation of understanding I had perhaps irrationally hoped for while reading the book. The key aspect of all of this mess and conflict that 2012 Haidt didn't address is one he could likely not have anticipated--our current-day shocking lack of truth-telling and accountability, so that any repeated bluster of lies is likely to be supported by those already inclined to sympathize with the speaker, without consequences for malicious consequences. When misinformation, censorship, bullying, and active lying rule the day, there's no potential for finding common ground around reason. After all, who can identify reason anymore? I alternated between reading a physical copy and listening to The Righteous Mind  as an audiobook. Jonathan Haidt is also the author of The Anxious Generation .

This slim, debut novel about a small-town community in northern Maine introduces various faulted, interconnected characters making their way through joys and tragedies over the course of a year. I'll definitely read the second in the series. It's 1990 in small-town Dalton, Maine, and an interconnected group of neighbors, friends, spouses, and acquaintances support each other, sometimes struggle, and intersect with each other's lives. Rose works at the diner, hiding her fading bruises and supporting her two young sons after her husband abandons them. Dr. Richard Haskell ventures in for more and more greasy breakfasts and lunch specials to keep an eye on her. That way his thoughts stray less often to his wife Trudy and her best friend Bev, who are undeniably in love. Golden boy Nate grew up to become a police officer and marry his high-school sweetheart. He and his wife Bridget, daughter of the wealthiest family in town, welcomed their new baby earlier than expected, after a terrible accident. But while everyone thinks they've dodged the danger, Bridget secretly struggles with deep postpartum depression. The tone of the book shifts from an interconnected, charming small-town tale to feeling as though a dark pall shrouds it all when a horrific tragedy takes place. The loss impacts almost every member of the community, and secrets come to light that affect many in the town. Early in the story we learn about Bev and Trudy's longtime and somewhat surreptitious love. We also meet young Gregory, a promisingly complex character and unlikely hero who uses food as a crutch to coping with his emotions. His lifelong friendship with Angela is compromised when handsome Henry captures her attention--but Gregory is drawn to Henry as well. It's a poignant and layered love triangle that fizzles and reforms into unexpected bonds. The story progresses to focus on Nate and his troubles, as well as the middle-aged men of the story and their plodding despair, struggles, and general inability to articulate their feelings or needs. In some cases, their clumsy but big-hearted attempts to stand tall for those around them feel all the more heartbreakingly noble because of their limited emotional range. In this debut novel, which runs just 250 pages, Shannon Bowring dives into the small town's complex, faulted characters as they make their way in northern Maine over the course of a difficult year. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! Check out   this link  for more Bossy reviews of book set in Maine. Shannon Bowring is also the author of Where the Forest Meets the River (Dalton, Maine #2). The third book in the series, In a Distant Valley , is scheduled for publication in 2025.

Comedian Leanne Morgan's memoir traces her path from an attention-seeking, beloved young girl to a young adult facing missteps and disappointment, through her unlikely journey to stand-up, to the embracing of her Southern mama persona and her wild success. Leanne Morgan hit it big as a middle-aged comic from rural Tennessee talking about her kids' T-ball, her adoration of her grandchildren, and her big, comfortable panties. Her voice is a striking, uniquely nasal Southern drawl, and her Netflix special "I'm Every Woman" features Morgan's signature plaintive looks at the audience, accompanying stories that sometimes end in such mock-despair that she says she just "wanted to take to the bed." (She also steals the show in a supporting role in the recent movie starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, You're Cordially Invited .) What in the World?!  offers current-day takes on her life that will feel familiar to fans--I'd already seen online video clips of stand-up versions of a few of the anecdotes shared here. But her memoir also traces her youth (when she imagined that she would find fame in some way), her first, brief marriage, her emotional growth, her grit, and, ultimately, her second, steady relationship and marriage to her current husband, the birth and joy of her kids, her rocky start in entertainment--and the world-rocking entrance of her grandbabies. I was particularly intrigued by the fits and starts of Morgan's younger years, her struggles to find her way, and her unlikely path to fame. I love to hear people's stories, and I found all of this endearing. I wasn't sure the "guide" element referenced in the subtitle felt particularly on target, as Morgan's brief forays into offering life advice felt less potent than her accounts of her personal missteps, frustrations, disappointments, perseverance, and gratitude. This is a relatively short memoir, and if you're already a fan of Leanne Morgan's, you'll likely enjoy hearing her back story. I listened to What in the World?!  as an audiobook read by the author. It felt important to be able to picture her likely and funny facial expressions as I heard her read this aloud. I suspect that being familiar with Morgan's persona adds significantly to the fun here. Are you a fan of memoirs? What about celebrity memoirs? You can find Bossy reviews of other memoirs--and Greedy Reading Lists of my favorites by theme-- here .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Black Woods, Blue Sky , literary fiction about a single mother and mysterious man in the Alaskan wilderness by a favorite author, Eowyn Ivey; I'm listening to Southern comic Leanne Morgan's memoir, What in the World?! ; and I'm reading Death at Morning House , a stand-alone young-adult mystery by the author of the Truly Devious series, Maureen Johnson. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey Birdie's a single mother to Emmaleen and a waitress in a small Alaskan town. She's not perfect, but she's getting by. Yet she often yearns for her more carefree youth and connection to nature. Arthur, a recluse who only comes into town at the change of seasons--and who others avoid as actively as he avoids them--saves Emmaleen from being lost in the wilderness. Birdie is drawn to his capable outdoorsmanship, and against the advice of everyone she knows, she and Emmaleen move out to his remote home to live off the grid. But Arthur is mysterious, and he's not who Birdie thought he was. Has she traded her safety and Emmaleen's for the false promise of an idyllic life immersed in the natural world? Eowyn Ivey is also the author of To the Bright Edge of the World , which I listed in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer , and The Snow Child , which I included in the list Six Magical Fairy Tales Grown-Ups Will Love . I received a prepublication edition of Black Woods, Blue Sky courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. 02 What In the World?! A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings by Leanne Morgan Leanne Morgan hit it big as a middle-aged comic from rural Tennessee talking about her kids' T-ball and her granny panties. Her Netflix specials feature her plaintive looks at the audience and stories that sometimes end with such mock-despair she says she just "wanted to take to the bed." What in the World?! offers current-day takes on her life that will feel familiar to fans, but her memoir also traces her youth ( when she imagined that she would find fame in some way), her first, brief marriage and mindset, her second, steady relationship to her current husband, the birth and joy of her kids, and her rocky start in entertainment. I'm listening to What in the World?! as an audiobook. You can find Bossy reviews of other memoirs here . 03 Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson Marlowe Wexler didn't mean to start a fire at the home she was housesitting. But now everyone thinks she's an arsonist, and the girl she was trying to date won't give her the time of day. Now she's glumly working at the historic Morning House, giving tours and talking about Prohibition, stained glass, and the Roaring Twenties. The biggest danger seems to be exposure to dust. But the person who brought her to the house has disappeared, and Morning House has a gruesome history that's coming to light. Can Marlowe solve the mystery of what happened there before she is targeted as the next victim? This is a stand-alone young adult novel by Maureen Johnson, who is also the author of the Truly Devious series .

Six Great Bossy Contemporary Fiction Reads I loved a range of great books last year, and these were six of my favorite contemporary fiction reads. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite contemporary fiction reads? 01 Sandwich by Catherine Newman Sandwich is beautifully wrought story of complications and familial adoration from Catherine Newman, with the unapologetically contradictory and menopausal Rocky at the heart of the messy, wonderful extended family. Rocky's family has been vacationing in Cape Cod for twenty years. She's built years of happy memories in their low-key beach house rental. This year, she's sandwiched between her half-grown children and her aging parents. And the carefree vacations of the past feel light years away, because Rocky's menopausal rage threatens to undo any joy she might gain from spending time in her favorite place. To save their treasured family time together, Rocky may have to share secrets she never intended to reveal. Sandwich made me laugh, twisted my heart, and kept me interested throughout. I just adored all of the heart and humor in Sandwich . Catherine Newman is also the author of other books I love: We All Want Impossible Things , Waiting for Birdy , and How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You're Grown Up. For my full review of this book, please see Sandwich . 02 Burn by Peter Heller I love Peter Heller's books, and Burn offers a wonderfully complicated friendship, meaningful connections to nature, momentous secrets, and looming danger. But the lack of resolution at the end of the novel left me feeling unsatisfied. Jess and Storey are childhood friends who spend their summer adventures exploring striking, remote areas of the U.S. This summer they head to Maine to camp, fish, and hike. Maine, like other states across the country, has been swept by a secession movement, but Jess and Storey assume the conflicts and political upheaval won't touch them out in the wild, and they figure that the charged friction might even die down while they're in the woods. After weeks in the wild, they're shocked to come upon a town that's been blown apart. The bridge has burned, cars along the road are black and smoking, and shells of buildings teeter. The friends soon realize that conflicting political ideologies have led to this horror here and elsewhere in the country--and that they must use their wilderness expertise and dodge armed men (militia or U.S. military; they're unsure) in order to make it out to safety. Jess and Storey's situation becomes more and more complicated as they encounter survivors--some with deadly intentions, some needing life-saving help. And all the while, Jess and Storey are considering the worth of their own lives--and keeping enormous secrets from each other. I love Peter Heller's books--the connection to the wilderness, the layered friends-like-family relationships, the looming danger. I'll read anything Heller puts down on paper. But the lack of resolution involved in Burn 's (non-)ending here made me crazy with frustration. I felt like the fascinating build-up in so many areas of the story warranted much more at the novel's close. Heller is also the author of The Last Ranger , The Guide , The River , and The Painter , as well as the stellar novel The Dog Stars . For my full review of Burn , please check out this link. 03 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe Thorpe's irresistible character of 19-year-old Margo discovers her strength, drive, creativity, and vulnerability after becoming pregnant. She defies societal expectations to provide for her baby and to find fulfillment in her personal and professional life. Margo is a 19-year-old community college student having an affair with her married professor. When she finds that she's pregnant, she begins a winding path to figuring out her life that mainly entails defying most of the stereotypes of a young single mother. She is told she will receive zero support from the baby's father; she loses two roommates due to the baby's crying; she receives little practical help from her mother; and she loses her job. Yet she finds a true friend in her last remaining roommate, who until then seemed primarily a source of rent; she finds a strange and fulfilling new relationship with her estranged father, a former professional wrestler; and she dives into an unorthodox new profession in order to secure a financial future for her family. Thorpe offers lots of joy and offbeat fun, yet doesn't shy away from weighty conflicts between classes, genders, ages, education levels, and levels of wealth or poverty. Margo butts up against--and at times, dismantles--frustrating societal expectations and double standards related to sex, desire, body autonomy, and freedom. The story and its characters feel unexpected and fascinating; Margo's Got Money Troubles  is an edgy contemporary novel with a wonderfully oddball premise and a captivating amount of depth. For my full review, check out Margo's Got Money Troubles . 04 Family Family by Laurie Frankel Frankel's story of a nontraditional, loving, zany family flips traditional views of unplanned, young pregnancy through the view of a main protagonist who refuses to fear, feel shame, or to regret the sometimes complicated occurrences in her life. India Allwood is a successful actor who's supposed to be doing the publicity for her new movie, which exploits the heartbreak of giving a baby up for adoption. When she shares her frank thoughts about the complex issues surrounding unplanned pregnancy, a storm of publicity explodes around her. Her precocious ten-year-old kids secretly reach out to family for help--but even India doesn't realize the ripple effect of the contact her beloved children are making. Family Family  offers varied love and acceptance, discovery, and renewed connection. I also loved the peek at a celebrity's home life. You can see the rough sketches of where the novel is going, but the extended, loving, odd, sometimes zany family was unexpected in its makeup and irresistible in its existence within this charming story from Frankel. Click here for my full review of Family Family . 05 The Wedding People by Alison Espach Espach layers complex emotional challenges like suicidal thoughts, grief, and loneliness with funny, quirky, poignant moments in this charming, heartwarming novel. Phoebe arrives at the decadent Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, wearing a green dress and heels, and she's quickly mistaken for one of the "wedding people." But Phoebe is having a crisis, and she's latched onto being at the site of her former dream vacation--which she'd envisioned visiting with her now-ex-husband--as the answer to her problems. Lila has planned her million-dollar wedding down to the last detail, and Phoebe's depression and her very presence are throwing her for a loop--only the wedding people  were meant to have rooms at the inn, and Lila isn't used to having her plans go awry. Phoebe and Lila are unlikely confidantes and even more unlikely friends. But as the wedding week goes on, each woman is surprised by what she discovers about herself and the truths she is forced to confront. I loved the tone of this novel. Espach writes a playful, poignant, often funny novel while anchoring the characters in complex emotions: suicidal thoughts, grief, loneliness, and despair. I was struck by the balance of depth and humor, and I was hooked throughout. For my full review of this book, please see The Wedding People . 06 Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty I loved this dive into the repercussions of a seemingly psychic woman's predictions of demise for her fellow passengers on a flight. Characters scoff, become resigned, or work to control their futures as they face issues surrounding their mortality. An elderly woman is causing a major disruption on an airline flight. She's going through the plane as if in a trance, announcing expected ages of and causes of death for each person aboard. From the overworked dad trying to make it home in time for his daughter's musical, to the mother of two young, crying children, to a spry older couple, to Allegra herself, the Death Lady (as she is later called) announces a prediction of each person's age of and cause of demise. Here One Moment  traces what begins to happen as the first of the Death Lady's predictions seem to come true and each passenger considers the prospect of their own immortality--and for some, what seems to be their imminent death. Here One Moment tracks many characters' subsequent dilemmas and decision-making, in a few cases delving back into their past to set a stage for current-day events--and building a rich story of the life of the Death Lady herself. I love a book that considers life and death and inspires me to do the same, and Moriarty shapes each character's path forward in varied ways. They are thoughtful, dismissive, daring, resigned, afraid, negligent, or determined; they defy their prediction, or try to control their fate, or recognize how they most want to live out their days and make new choices. I listened to Here One Moment as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of Here One Moment .

This middle-grade writing collaboration inserts a clever young protagonist into the behind-the-scenes World War II British codebreaking of Nazi messages, along with a rich back story and mysterious elements, adventure, and intrigue. I loved this. I love a World War II story, and in this middle-grade collaborative work by Ruta Sepetys ( Salt to the Sea ) and Steve Sheinkin ( Bomb ), the young protagonist Lizzie Novis becomes an unlikely asset to the British wartime codebreaking center of Bletchley Park. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis is engaged in top-secret work alongside other bright minds, trying to crack the Nazi Enigma code. But after his younger sister Lizzie evades her grandmother's attempts to bring her from England to the United States to avoid the Nazis' nearing destruction, there's nowhere for Lizzie to stay but with her big brother. Their father died long ago, and Lizzie just couldn't stand to leave the last country where they saw their mother a year prior. She's sure she'll turn up again, despite the fact that she disappeared into what quickly thereafter become Nazi territory, and her United States Embassy coworkers believe that she is dead. When Lizzie finds a secret notebook of her mother's, she becomes more determined than ever to solve the mystery of her disappearance. But a suspicious, tenacious MI5 investigator arrives at the Novises' boarding house, demanding to know everything about their mother--and implying that she had been a double agent betraying England. Lizzie's impetuous, clever, observant nature leads to somewhat of a collaboration between her and the Colonel, a high-ranking figure in Bletchley. The Sepetys-Sheinkin writing venture felt seamless, with adventure, interesting detail, wonderful character dynamics, and intrigue. The authors included real-life figures like Alan Turing and shaped a fascinating scenario for the Novis kids' mother--as well as what felt like plausible, valuable roles in the Bletchley efforts for the children themselves. This was enjoyable, interesting, well paced, and charming. I loved it. I listened to The Bletchley Riddle  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts! You can find my reviews of other World War II-focused books here , and you can also check out my review of Kate Quinn's great codebreaking historical fiction for adults, The Rose Code .

Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main protagonist falls in love with the wrong person. Marguerite is heir to a fortune, but after she is orphaned, she grows into a young lady while her guardian Roberval squanders her inheritance. The unfolding of this continued theft and this absurd man's greedy, gratuitous mishandling of funds--which he legally pursues as a male distantly related to her, ugh--was enough to make my blood boil, but things deteriorate much further from there. As Marguerite enters into her early teens, she begins to fear that her cousin views her as a creepy match for himself. At the very least it becomes clear that he will pay no dowry in order to make another match for her. Instead, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, he forces her to sail with him to New France. But on the way, Marguerite falls for her guardian's servant. When their relationship is discovered, Roberval cruelly punishes them by abandoning them on an uninhabited island to perish. Marguerite, once a privileged, protected child of wealth and opportunity, must learn to survive in the wild. Chapters are preceded by tips from Anne of France to her daughter (from Lessons for My Daughter ) urging constant preservation of reputation, exuding modesty, maintaining a paralyzing fear of making errors, and striving for perfection in the form of delicacy and beauty. These prescribed behaviors suggest a goal of women's disappearing into the background, serving as beautiful, silent, ghostlike creatures. The highly controlled, minutiae-filled advice contrasts more and more starkly with Marguerite's desperate situation on the island and her necessary rejection of even the most basic societal expectations for her status (wearing shoes, using utensils, living a life without work, not developing freckles in the sun, and not dirtying her hands, much less killing, skinning, and processing animals) in order to cling to life. Her slowly deteriorating social and financial standing early in the book gives way to a fascinating, unforgiving stretch of life lived on the rocky island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, bounded in part by Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Labrador Peninsula. As Marguerite taps into her inner strength, she builds a resolve to get home again. But if she is saved and delivered safely back, where will she make her home? How will she secure a future for herself? If her guardian is living, how will she remain safe from him? After a harsh winter, her guardian's ships sail by again, but veer away after spying her. But Marguerite won't give up hope. Now she knows she can see her way through any adversity. I was fascinated by each aspect of this tale, and Goodman transported me into the details and (often infuriating) dynamics of life at the time. Isola  is inspired by the story of the real-life sixteenth-century heroine, Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I first read Allegra Goodman's work 25 years ago, when I enjoyed her novel Kaaterskill Falls . Since then she has published many more novels, including Sam . I received a prepublication edition of Isola courtesy of Random House and NetGalley.

There Are Rivers in the Sky weaves together three stories set in three timelines, featuring disparate characters, to explore interconnectedness, the power of water, echoing tragedies, and the timelessness of the written word. Water remembers. It is humans who forget. In 1840 in London, young Arthur lives near the sewage-filled River Thames, desperate to escape poverty and his abusive household. In 2014 Turkey, ten-year-old Narin is living near the Tigris and is affected by a disorder that will cause her to go permanently deaf. And in 2018 London, Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames when she and her husband break up, but she can't shake her thoughts of suicide. There Are Rivers   in the Sky traces the stories of these three disparate characters living alongside rivers in three different times, interconnected by a single drop of water and "the Epic of Gilgamesh," an ancient poem that may have the power to change each of their lives. Later, when the storm has passed, everyone will talk about the destruction it left behind, though no one, not even the king himself, will remember that it all began with a single raindrop. Shafak uses the life-giving--and at times, through flood or pollution, life-taking--waters of the Tigris and the Thames to help shape this story in three timelines. Through Zaleekah's 2018-set story we explore climate change, pollution, and the consequences of abusing natural resources, as well as the questionable morality of private or museum ownership of other cultures' precious artifacts. Yet the river is a backdrop to her reimagined future, her newfound inner strength and search for love, and her renewed hope in life. Narin's story, aside from modern modes of travel and communication, feels like a tragedy pulled from deep in the past--and, in fact, it is said that the Yazidi people have been endlessly beaten down and massacred over and over again since ancient times. In a shockingly speedy escalation of force, Isis brings centuries-old hatred to trap and murder innocent Yazidis, eradicating communities in relentless genocide. And clever Arthur slowly pulls himself out of a London slum by lucking into an apprenticeship at a printing shop with nurturing mentors. His curiosity about antiquities leads him to the British Museum and, eventually, a key role in deciphering tablets, then a formative trip to the Middle East and Nineveh, which will be the source of his one true love and also his undoing. Shafak makes what could have been an unwieldy or disjointed-feeling set of complex situations into a tragically beautiful intertwined novel that shines a light on weighty issues at three points in space and time. I was haunted by this and fascinated as well. I received a prepublication edition of There Are Rivers in the Sky  courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. I'd love to hear your bossy thoughts about this book. Elif Shafak also wrote the lovely The Island of Missing Trees . Shafak is a British-Turkish author of seventeen books, including eleven novels.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a historical fiction story set just before the Civil War, about a young enslaved woman haunted by her sister's ghost, Junie ; I'm listening to middle-grade historical fiction from Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, set during World War II in the heart of British codebreaking, The Bletchley Riddle ; and I'm reading feminist activist Mona Eltahawy's nonfiction work The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls , which encourages women to be loud, strong, and free of shame and self-doubt in order to create a more appropriately prominent and autonomous space for themselves in this patriarchally driven world. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine The Civil War is looming, and Junie is a sixteen-year-old who has spent her whole life enslaved on an Alabama plantation. She works alongside her family, also caring for the plantation owners' daughter Violet and gaining cursory exposure to Violet's studies of poetry and knowledge. But Junie wanders restlessly at night, haunted by her sister Minnie's sudden death and by Minnie's ghost. When there is talk of Violet's engagement and pending marriage, Junie realizes that this shift would throw her own position into jeopardy. She desperately wakes her sister's ghost, and she must determine how far she's willing to go to try to find freedom and autonomy in her life. I received a prepublication edition of Junie courtesy of Random House-Ballantine Books and NetGalley. Junie is slated for publication on February 4. 02 The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin I love a World War II story, and in this middle-grade collaborative work by Ruta Sepetys ( Salt to the Sea ) and Steve Sheinkin ( Bomb ), the young protagonist of Lizzie Novis becomes an unlikely asset to the British wartime codebreaking center of Bletchley Park. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis is engaged in top-secret work alongside other bright minds, trying to crack the Nazi Enigma code. But after his younger sister Lizzie evades her grandmother's attempts to send her from England to the United States to avoid the Nazis' nearing destruction, there's nowhere for Lizzie to stay but with her big brother. Their father died long ago, and Lizzie just couldn't stand to leave the last country where they saw their mother a year prior. She's sure she'll turn up again, despite the fact that she disappeared into what quickly thereafter become Nazi territory. When Lizzie finds a secret notebook of her mother's, she becomes more determined than ever to solve the mystery of her disappearance. I'm listening to The Bletchley Riddle as an audiobook. You can find my reviews of other World War II-focused books here , and you can also check out my review of Kate Quinn's great codebreaking historical fiction The Rose Code . 03 The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy Feminist activist Mona Eltahawy encourages women and girls to practice an out-loud version of owning their power, by committing the seven taboo "sins" for women: being angry, ambitious, profane, violent, attention-seeking, lustful, and powerful. Eltahawy points to examples of her own life that illustrate the broken system of patriarchy women exist within--stories many women will easily relate to--and also includes inspiring stories from women of all walks of life around the globe who are speaking up against a destructive power structure. By illustrating her points with facts about racism, misogyny, capitalism, and homophobia, Eltahawy urges readers to abandon shame and self-doubt in favor of embracing truth and speaking out in a fierce call to action and an effort to dismantle the patriarchy .

My very favorite Bossy January reads! This month my favorite reads consisted of multiple fantasy reads, aka escapes from reality--one magical mystery on a ship, an adventure that toggled between layers of time and reality, and a couple of unlikely heroes' magnificent quests alongside wonderful supporting characters--as well as a romantic story that tackled weighty issues (my favorite kind), and a historical fiction story that made me buy into a body-snatching storyline . If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 Voyage of the Damned by Frances White Frances White's debut is a locked-room mystery on a magical ship full of uncertain alliances, deadly vendettas, and a sassy and flamboyant main protagonist who just might become an unlikely hero and save the kingdom. To honor Concordia's thousand years of peace between its twelve provinces, the emperor's ship sets out on a voyage to the sacred Goddess's Mountain. The twelve heirs of Concordia are aboard, each with a special magical power (a Blessing). All except one, that is. Ganymedes Piscero is, as always, a general disappointment: a class clown lacking in magical ability. But he's determined to keep that fact secret. Various characters aren't who they seem, sometimes impersonating others, which makes it difficult to identify what's occurring (and requires a lot of retroactive explanation), and the story's tension loses some of its power because it's so prolonged. But t he LGBTQ love is lovely. The friendship between Ganymedes and dark-humored 6-year-old Grasshopper is funny and sweet, and I loved his unexpected-hero emergence and his role as unlikely savior. A multi-phased surprise ending is satisfying. For my full review of this book--and for links to my reviews of other fantasy books--please see Voyage of the Damned . 02 My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan My Oxford Year  takes a light, romantic tone and within it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and offers a suitably complicated ending that doesn't wrap up life's messy loose ends in an unrealistically neat bow. American Ella Durran has had a plan for her education and career sine she was 13: to study at Oxford. Now she's 24, she's just as driven, and she's finally at Oxford. In addition to branching out into studying literature across the pond, Ella has agreed to be an education policy consultant for a potential presidential candidate back home, which means she's on call at all hours. Her phone is always at hand, and if her bosses call, she drops everything to pick up and be a sounding board or a problem-solver. Her propensity for remaining emotionally closed off free up a lot of time. She's never been in a serious relationship and has no interest in one--she doesn't have time for frivolity when she's chasing so many goals. The happy ending that the tone of the novel seems to be assuring readers at the beginning morphs into a far more complex version of a resolved story by the end, with significant pain and yet glimmers of hope that transcend the immediate situation. I loved the facing of mortality in the story--as well as the focus on literature and its power. Click here for my full review of My Oxford Year . 03 The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap Dunlap's debut novel explores early Edinburgh surgical schools, questionable methods of obtaining study subjects, a main protagonist's surprisingly believable entrée into body snatching, a forbidden love, and serial killers, and I was in for it all. Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as fictionalized versions of real-life serial killers Burke and Hare are terrorizing Edinburgh. James Willoughby is a na ï ve young medical student whose family fortunes have taken a negative turn, leaving him with a passion for studying medicine but no resources to pursue schooling. He becomes drawn into the underworld of body snatching when he seeks paid work to fund his studies--and begins to understand (and assist with) the process of obtaining cadavers for his surgery study. Ultimately, terrifyingly, his activities lead him to run into the cadaver-producing killers Burke and Hare. Dunlap does a wonderful job of bringing a spooky, fascinating underworld of Edinburgh to life, while also exploring the burgeoning surgery and medical school experience, and, against all odds, building the somewhat-reasonable-feeling case for James's horror-turned-acceptance on the subject of mining graveyards for bodies to study. I love Dunlap's writing and the way the author crafted this story. I'm definitely in for reading this author's future books! Please click here for my full review of The Resurrectionist . 04 The Last Hour Between Worlds (Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso I may not have followed all of the echoes in time, creatures convincingly impersonating other creatures, or protagonists' complex, evolving motivations, but I adored the characters, their connection, their banter, and the amount of heart in the story. Kembral Thorne, expert investigator, is on leave and bleary-eyed from single-parenting her newborn, and she's questioning why she agreed to come to a work New Year's Eve party in the first place. But when people start dropping dead around her, she realizes that someone is plunging the party down through layers of reality, through echoes of time in which strange events loosely repeat themselves--and seem to be building in intensity. In fact, the whole world seems to be in terrible danger. It looks like Kembral will have to work tonight after all--and, even worse, she'll need to cooperate with her nemesis Rika Nonesuch, the cat burglar, in order to try to save the world. I love Caruso's writing style, her character-building, and the way the characters relate to each other. The hard-fought connection between Rika and Kembral (and the rich past that's revealed) had me swooning, and their banter is sometimes grumpy, hesitantly vulnerable, and often darkly funny. I predict that I'll be reading all of Caruso's other books as well. I listened to The Last Hour Between Worlds  as an audiobook. For Bossy reviews of many other books that play with time--this is one of my favorite elements--you can check out the books and lists at this link . 05 Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1) by Sebastian de Castell Kellen begins as a principled, headstrong young man lacking in the magic crucial for power, familial stability and social standing in his world. By the end of the book he is satisfyingly resolved, stronger, and accepting of his complicated fate. “I’m a woman, kid. You probably haven’t met one before, coming as you do from this backward place, but it’s like a man only smarter and with bigger balls.” Kellen is struggling in his mage's trials aimed at earning him a name among his privileged people, the Jan'Tep. And the struggle feels even worse because his younger sister is living up to the family's powerful name by demonstrating more powerful magic than any student in their school. But Kellen's magic hasn't come in--and he fears that it never will. But as he uses his smarts, his unlikely allies, and his loyalty to get by, he finds himself discovering uncomfortable truths about his family and his community--and questioning everything he thought he knew. I loved the characters' dynamics, the outsider Ferius Pargosi who becomes a mentor and deeply loyal friend, the quest, the uprising of the downtrodden, and the setup to book two, Shadowblack , which I definitely want to read. I also appreciated witnessing Kellen's tough road to self-acceptance--particularly in light of his discovery that his parents have hidden, tamped down, and diminished his particular type of magic, deeming it destructive to Kellen and to the family's status. I can't wait to see him come into his own in book two. For my full review please check out Spellslinger . 06 Blood of the Old Kings (Bleeding Empire #1) by Sung-Il Kim In this first installment of The Bleeding Empire, Kim sets three characters on paths to discover their worth, their purpose, and their power. When the protagonists' journeys intersect, the story ramps up in intensity and in epic scope. In Blood of the Old Kings , dead sorcerers power the empire, which has long been run on a system of necromancy and sacrifice. Arienne knew since she was a young girl that because she was born with magic, her future would end with her locked in chains in a casket, an essential, dark end used to benefit others by generating immense power. But when a long-dead sorcerer takes the shape of a voice in her head and pushes her to question the rules she's always lived by, Arienne dares to dream of defying her fate. Cain is savvy, street-smart, and living in the capital. When his best friend goes missing, he'll do anything to find out what's happened to her. Loran is a brokenhearted widow and a skilled swordswoman willing to make deep sacrifices to ally with the fated, powerful, dangerous dragon who might empower her and save them all. This three-character-driven plot sets the scene by exploring the unrest within the empire, the desperate struggles of its people; and the dark intents of those ruling it all. Each of the three main protagonists begin to understand their own power--and when their paths intersect, they realize that together, they are more formidable than they could have ever imagined. For my full review, please see The Blood of the Old Kings .

Nonie is the young protagonist of this stark climate-change dystopian future, in which her small community fights to survive and to preserve history--from the roof of the American Museum of Natural History--before a horrific storm sends them fleeing up the Hudson, encountering kindness and nefarious groups in their quest for a new home. In a dystopian future in which the glaciers have melted, Nonie, a young girl with a gift for feeling the water, coming storms, and weather, lives in a largely deserted New York City with her family. Their settlement is on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH, or "Amen), and they hunt and gather in Central Park. They must be careful, as packs of feral dogs--and packs of desperate humans, the Lost--will try to take what they can get to survive. Along with her parents' researcher friends, her family helps try to save and further the exhibits of human history and science. The scenes of Nonie and her sister Bix, who have long been trapped in a confined boundary of existence, wandering the partially destroyed museum and wondering at the history and the world are particularly captivating. I was also struck by the haunting moments of grown-ups sharing the old stories: what it was like to swim (when waters were not deadly with pollution), to pick wild berries, to fly in an airplane, to have easy access to medicines, and more. But a superstorm (which they deem a "hypercane") floods the city further, and the group must escape up the Hudson. Nonie and her group carry a book holding precious history preserved from Amen, and on their journey they encounter a few communities, each of which has adapted to survive. Some try to help, while others have nefarious intent. It's sometimes tough to tell which is which until it's too late. The climate-change novel is powerful, disturbing, and, starkly lovely in its stripped-away love and loyalty. The story keeps in the forefront the looming dangers, the fear of disease and ill intent, and the bone-weary fatigue involved in simply fighting to survive--and I couldn't ever forget that the enemy, the deadly monster here, is the human race that destroyed its planet. The found-family element is a favorite of mine, and the makeshift nature of Caffall's imagined future necessitates crafting a family from like-minded survivors. This story was upsetting, fascinating, and wonderfully shaped. I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. Have you read other climate-change books that have captivated you? Land of Milk and Honey , The Great Transition , and The Light Pirate are three that I found fascinating.

Kellen begins as a principled, headstrong young man lacking in the magic crucial for power, familial stability and social standing in his world. By the end of the book he is satisfyingly resolved, stronger, and accepting of his complicated fate. “I’m a woman, kid. You probably haven’t met one before, coming as you do from this backward place, but it’s like a man only smarter and with bigger balls.” I loved so much of this book, particularly the early parts . Sebastian de Castell's worldbuilding is fascinating, the magic-school setting is a favorite, and the cast of characters is irresistible. The dark humor is fantastic. Kellen is struggling in his mage's trials aimed at earning him a name among his privileged people, the Jan'Tep. And the struggle feels even worse because his younger sister is living up to the family's powerful name by demonstrating more powerful magic than any student in their school. But Kellen's magic hasn't come in--and he fears that it never will. “First thing you learn wandering the long roads, kid. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story.” But as he uses his smarts, his unlikely allies, and his loyalty to get by, he finds himself discovering uncomfortable truths about his family and his community--and questioning everything he thought he knew. I loved the characters' dynamics, the outsider Ferius Pargosi who becomes a mentor and deeply loyal friend, the quest, the uprising of the downtrodden, and the setup to book two, Shadowblack , which I definitely want to read. I also appreciated witnessing Kellen's tough road to self-acceptance--particularly in light of his discovery that his parents have hidden, tamped down, and diminished his particular type of magic, deeming it destructive to Kellen and to the family's status. I can't wait to see him come into his own in book two. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book or other fantasy books you've loved! Sebastian de Castell is the author of 16 novels, including 6 in the Spellslinger series and 4 in the Greatcoats series--plus prequels and extras.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the story of an heiress turned abandoned orphan, based on a real-life sixteenth-century heroine, Isola ; I'm reading I Am Not Jessica Chen , Ann Liang's newest young-adult novel, about an unassuming young woman whose wish to become her gorgeous, high-achieving, Harvard-bound cousin comes true; and I'm reading Jonathan Haidt's nonfiction work The Righteous Mind , about why people develop disparate, powerful views on religion and politics. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Isola by Allegra Goodman Marguerite is heir to a fortune, but when she is orphaned, her guardian squanders her inheritance and makes her come with him to New France. On the way, Marguerite falls for her guardian's servant. When their relationship is discovered, they're cruelly punished by being abandoned on an island with little chance of escape. Marguerite, once a privileged, protected child of wealth and opportunity, must learn to survive in the wild. Isola is inspired by the story of a real-life sixteenth-century heroine. I received a prepublication edition of Isola courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. 02 I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang In Ann Liang's newest young-adult novel, Jenna Chen has always been a disappointment, at least when compared to her perfect cousin Jessica. Jessica is a top student, so beautiful that others stop to openly admire her, so high-achieving that she got into Harvard. Jenna is artistic and average, and her desperate wish is to be Jessica. When her wish comes true, Jenna wakes up as Jessica. But being a top student at a competitive school and having others distracted by your good looks doesn't make for as joyful a life as Jenna would have thought. And everyone seems to be forgetting that Jenna Chen ever existed. I received a prepublication edition of I Am Not Jessica Chen courtesy of HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley. I fell in love with Ann Liang's fake-dating young adult novel This Time It's Real , read it in one rainy afternoon, and included it in my Greedy Reading Lists Six of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads from the Past Year , Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , and My Bossy Favorite Reads of Summer  the year I read it. You can find my review of her great young-adult rom-com I Hope This Doesn't Find You   here and my review of Liang's young-adult historical fiction fantasy novel A Song to Drown Rivers here . 03 The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt Jonathan Haidt uses his decades of research into moral psychology to address the reasoning between a timely, potent issue: the power in conflicting opinions on politics and religion between friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. Haidt explores why "gut feelings" and intuition often drives moral judgments, and why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians use the same facts to come up with such different conclusions. I'm alternating between reading a physical copy and listening to The Righteous Mind as an audiobook. Jonathan Haidt is also the author of The Anxious Generation .

Six Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read some entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough to make up multiple Greedy Reading List roundups. You can find other lists of favorite fantasy reads from past years here . And you can c lick here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite fantasy reads? 01 The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne Gwynne's epic, Norse-inspired saga tracks three fascinating main protagonists through battles, shifting alliances, strengthened resolve, and revenge journeys. I loved this. In John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga The Shadow of the Gods , it's been a century since the gods battled themselves into extinction. Only their bones hold power now--for those brave enough to seek them out. There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: Elvar, a noblewoman searching for fame through battle; Orka, a huntress on a quest filled with danger; and Varg, a servant who joins the mercenaries called the Bloodsworn so that he may seek revenge. The three stories run along with plenty of steam, centered around violent battles, brutal revenge, extended searches for loved ones, and the carving out of new futures by our main protagonists. The story is always shifting--shaped by betrayals and the flipped script when fate and destiny aren't what the characters thought and they must come into their own. This is epic but never melodramatic, and I was hooked on the Viking-esque elements, the badass women who find their strength, and the perfect balance of resolution and cliffhanger to build anticipation for book two. Spoiler: a dragon appears at the very end of the book, laying the groundwork for more dragon page time in subsequent books. I listened to The Shadow of the Gods  as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of The Shadow of the Gods . 02 A Power Unbound (Last Binding #3) by Freya Marske Marske's quirky, funny, richly imagined magical world, complex character-building, relationship exploration, and storytelling continues in this third and last installment of the Last Binding series. Jack Alston (Lord Hawthorn) swore that he was finished with magic for good after his twin sister Elsie died. But when a dangerous ritual threatens the safety of all the magicians in Great Britain, he reluctantly dives back into the world to try and help procure the Last Contract to keep safe his remaining loved ones--and the public at large. An unlikely (and wonderfully mischievous and complementary) group of allies fights to reveal the source of the evil at work, and favorite characters (and villains) from past books are present throughout. Through unexpected attractions to each other and the uncovering of weighty secrets, the group works to unravel the mysterious roots of British magic once and for all. In A Power Unbound , Marske also explores class divides, gender-power imbalances, LGBTQ love, and the difficulty in--and sometimes necessity of--breaking long-held, outdated traditions. The friends-like-family element and deep loyalty is strong among the members of Jack's group, and the magic of the situation is wonderfully imagined and rich in detail. There's danger, and justice served, and imperfect solutions, and compromise, and Marske's storytelling is yet again charming, funny, sometimes dark, and always fantastic. Marske is also the author of A Marvellous Light  and A Restless Truth . For my full review, check out A Power Unbound . 03 The Stolen Heir (Stolen Heir #1) by Holly Black In this return to the world of Elfhame (Folk of the Air trilogy), Holly Black takes us deeper into the story of characters Wren and Oak as they determine whether they can trust each other as they attempt to save Madoc. As a child, Wren read lots of fairy tales. That’s why, when the monsters came, she knew it was because she had been wicked. In The Stolen Heir , the first book in Holly Black's Stolen Heir duology, the story returns to the world of Elfhame. (It's important to first read the Folk of the Air trilogy--see link below in order to understand the plot and character development). Suren (Wren), changeling child queen of the Court of Teeth, is forced to band together with the charming, untrustworthy Oak (fae brother of Jude), to try to save Madoc from Lady Nore's Ice Needle Citadel. Wren and Oak were once betrothed, and Wren isn't sure how much of Oak's appealing vulnerability and honesty is real--or if she's being played for a fool. But Wren isn't content to let her fate be shaped by a beautiful, magical prince. She's going to need to wrest control of her own destiny. I didn't feel particularly drawn in by Wren, who feels lost throughout much of the story, and I didn't feel as though Oak was as fully developed as I wanted him to be. I loved the return of the storm hag Bogdana! Click here for my review of Black's The Queen of Nothing ; I mentioned the great Folk of the Air trilogy in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series . For my full Bossy review of this book, check out The Stolen Heir . 04 Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan Sarah Rees Brennan offers a funny, dark, clever story within a story in which the heroes and villains are redefined, redemption is always possible, revenge is sweet, and rewriting the story doesn't always shift the plot in the way you'd expect. I love a story that flips a traditional setup, and Long Live Evil  is my newest favorite in the Villains Are People Too book trend (check out two of my other recommendations in this vein below). Rae has always taken comfort in books. But now she's dying, and in a panic, she makes a magical deal in which she lives on...in the world of her sister's favorite fantasy series. But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. When Rae begins tinkering with characters, trying to shift the plot--posing as a prophet telling the future--she figures out that she's not the only one who came from the "real world" and has infiltrated the story. And she also realizes she may not be helping; she may be making everything worse. This is so funny, sometimes dark, and it has lots of heart. I adore all of the twists on the heroine-villain setup. I listened to Long Live Evil  as an audiobook courtesy of Libro.fm . For other books that take a sympathetic, darkly playful view of a villain, check out Hench and Starter Villain . Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other Lands . Please click here to see my full review of Long Live Evil . 05 A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal The first installment in Faizal's Blood and Tea series offers intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, terrible betrayal, heartwarming found family, steady action--and vampires. "It's teatime, scoundrels." In the first book of Hafsah Faizal's Blood and Tea series, A Tempest of Tea , Arthie Casimir collects secrets--and by doing so, amasses enough power to become a criminal mastermind, exerting her influence within the city's dark underbelly. Her exclusive tea room becomes a posh hangout for vampires each night, but when her bloodhouse is threatened, she must work with one of her enemies in order to protect her livelihood and power. A Tempest of Tea  layers heartwarming found family, heartbreaking emotional barriers, and reluctant vulnerability to build characters that I cared about, funny gems, tantalizing moments, and an intriguing build-up to the books to come in this series. For my full review, check out A Tempest of Tea . 06 Bride by Ali Hazelwood Ali Hazelwood brings her wonderful banter and an intriguing mystery to this steamy interspecies romance that has lots of heart and kept me hooked throughout. Misery Lark is the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre in the region, and she'd prefer to literally and figuratively stay in the shadows--but she's been called to take part in the building of a peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and the Weres--in the form of an arranged marriage between Misery and a Were. Lowe Moreland is the Alpha of the Weres, and he's as unpredictable, volatile, and unforgiving as any Were stereotype Misery has ever heard. As a child, Misery was given up by her family and community as collateral to keep the peace. But Misery has her own reasons for willingly entering into this marriage--her best friend's safety may be on the line--and she's willing to do anything to get her questions answered. I forgot how steamy Hazelwood's books are, and Bride and its interspecies love is no exception. I listened to Bride  as an audiobook. Ali Hazelwood is also the author of Love, Theoretically  and other books. Click here   for my full review of Bride.

The debut novel from one of my favorite authors tracks a horse thief and an orphan who bond and find love amid the turmoil and destruction of the final year of the brutal Civil War. “You like to think that people, in general, and I mean on the scale of generations, are learning from their mistakes, getting better. But with what all I seen, I don't know if I could believe that.” Taylor Brown's debut novel Fallen Land is set in the final year of the Civil War. Callum, an Irish horse thief, fled to America an orphan at fifteen years old. Ava's family is gone, killed by war. The young couple find one another and bond to each other in their desperate run to escape the devastated South. They encounter the fiery ruin of Sherman's March on their way to safety and a new life, and their love is one beautiful light in the darkness of the country's ravaging war. “You die down there, you better hope I live a real long time. Because that's all the goddamn peace you're gonna get.” I was soooo stressed reading Ava and Callum's circumstances, but the preciousness of lives lived moment by moment (while the characters fight for survival--and also attempt to live as good people and find love and joy) was wrought beautifully by Brown. Their perspective of coming upon the devastation immediately after Sherman's March through Atlanta was particularly shocking and affecting. This is a rough yet sometimes tender story set at the end of the Civil War, amid the confusion and desperation and cruelty and kindnesses of that time. I love Taylor Brown's books! I included this book in the Greedy Reading List Six Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War . Brown also wrote the wonderful novels Gods of Howl Mountain , Wingwalkers , and Rednecks .

Lula Dean focuses on the incredible power of books and truth-telling as characters discover their bravest selves and confront difficult situations, changing their community. In the small Southern town of Troy, Georgia, a lending library and a battle over banned books pits nemeses Beverly Underwood (on the school board) and Lula Dean (determined to rid public libraries of "inappropriate" books) against each other. A caricature of Southern prim-and-proper ladyhood and over-the-top frills and flowers, Lula sets up a Little Free Library full of only "appropriate" books. But someone mischievously switches out the dust jackets of her old-fashioned, out-of-touch books with novels featuring LGBTQ+ love, literary classics, Judy Blume books, and other banned titles. The reality of the open-minded, empowering, honest content in Lula's personal library seems destined to come to light--just as Lula and the solid, upstanding, liberal-minded Beverly determine to run against each other in a mayoral race that could decide the tone and future of their community. But first, the titles begin inspiring people in the community to come clean about the ugliness under the surface of their town: a stifled wife reveals her husband's Nazi enthusiasms; a young boy learns that his brother's gay identity is not to be feared as he's been taught; a son realizes that his mother is not dying, only experiencing the natural process of menstruation; a young woman fights against misogynistic school policies; a past assault comes to light; and the truths about the bloodlines of the town become clear. Strong local figures, primarily women, drive the forces of good and the uncovering of truth. Some characters experience dramatic redemptions, while others slip through the cracks or meet a tragic end. The focus on the power of books is fantastic. File Lula under "lighter fiction that tackles difficult issues." This is my favorite kind of lighter-tone contemporary fiction. I listened to Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Kirsten Miller is also the author of The Change , a novel that I said " explores the power of menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp; and winds it all through our middle-aged heroines' satisfying solving of a disturbing set of mysteries."

My Oxford Year takes a light, romantic tone and within it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and offers a suitably complicated ending that doesn't wrap up life's messy loose ends in an unrealistically neat bow. American Ella Durran has had a plan for her education and career sine she was 13: to study at Oxford. Now she's 24, she's just as driven, and she's finally at Oxford. In addition to branching out into studying literature across the pond, Ella has agreed to be an education policy consultant for a potential presidential candidate back home, which means she's on call at all hours. Her phone is always at hand, and if her bosses call, she drops everything to pick up and be a sounding board or a problem-solver. Studying literature at Oxford means no syllabus, few concrete expectations, and a lot of winging it, all which is definitely out of Ella's comfort zone. Her propensity for remaining emotionally closed off free up a lot of time. She's never been in a serious relationship and has no interest in one--she doesn't have time for frivolity when she's chasing so many goals. When a meet-cute at a fish-and-chips shop shows her how foppish, obnoxious, and insufferable Oxonians can be, Ella feels even more lucky to have sworn off entanglements with men. Particularly men as handsome as the one who accidentally smashed into her sampling of chip sauces and ruined her white blouse. But: oops! He turns out to be her professor! Oh, and soon she's sleeping with him! And oops again, their no-strings-attached agreement is quickly becoming complicated, serious, and full of facing life-and-death matters she never signed up for. My Oxford Year is my favorite kind of romance; Whelan uses a light-fiction structure to take on seriously weighty issues like family dynamic struggles, commitment, loyalty, grief and loss, and cancer. The happy ending that the tone of the novel seems to be assuring readers at the beginning morphs into a far more complex version of a resolved story by the end, with significant pain and yet glimmers of hope that transcend the immediate situation. I loved the facing of mortality in the story--as well as the focus on literature and its power. I listened to My Oxford Year  as an audiobook--narrated by Julia Whelan herself. More about Julia Whelan Julia Whelan has been the audiobook narrator for over 600 books. The first novel she authored was Thank You for Listening .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading a Maine-set small-town story, Shannon Bowring's debut novel The Road to Dalton ; I'm reading the first in Sebastian de Castell's series of the same name, Spellslinger ; and I'm reading Elif Shafak's interconnected story told in three time periods, There Are Rivers in the Sky . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Road to Dalton (Dalton, Maine #1) by Shannon Bowring It's 1990 in small-town Dalton, Maine, and an interconnected group of neighbors, friends, spouses, and acquaintances support each other, sometimes struggle, and intersect with each other's lives. Multiple families are affected by a tragic occurrence, and secrets come to light that affect the entire community. In this debut novel, Shannon Bowring dives into the small town's complex, faulted characters as they make their way in northern Maine over the course of a difficult year. Check out this link for more Bossy reviews of book set in Maine. 02 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak In 1840 London, young Arthur lives near the sewage-filled River Thames, desperate to escape poverty and his abusive household. In 2014 Turkey, ten-year-old Narin is living near the Tigris and is affected by a disorder that is causing her to go permanently deaf. And in 2018 London, Zaleekah moves into a houseboat on the Thames to escape her husband, but she can't shake her thoughts of suicide. There Are Rivers   in the Sky traces the stories of these three characters living alongside rivers in three different times, interconnected by a single drop of water and the power of an ancient poem that may change each of their lives. I received a prepublication edition of There Are Rivers in the Sky courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Elif Shafak is also the author of The Island of Missing Trees . 03 Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1) by Sebastien De Castell “I’m a woman, kid. You probably haven’t met one before, coming as you do from this backward place, but it’s like a man only smarter and with bigger balls.” I am loving this book so far. Sebastian de Castell's worldbuilding is fascinating, the magic-school setting is a favorite, and the cast of characters is irresistible. The dark humor is fantastic. Kellen is struggling in his mage's trials--which feels even worse because his younger sister is living up to the family's powerful name by demonstrating more powerful magic than any students in their school. But Kellen's magic hasn't come in--and he fears that it never will. “First thing you learn wandering the long roads, kid. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story.” But as he uses his smarts, his unlikely allies, and his loyalty to get by, he finds himself discovering uncomfortable truths about his family and his community--and questioning everything he thought he knew.

My Favorite Rom-Com Reads This is my first of two favorites lists of rom-coms and romantic reads. I was just talking to my friend Martha about rom-coms with weighty themes, and some of these titles fit that bill. Others are more purely light, with happy endings you might see coming from a mile away--and likely won't mind at all. 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 . 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. 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. 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 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 .

Atkinson's cozy, Agatha Christie-style novel features former lawman Jackson Brodie, a mystery within a mystery, a real-life killer who becomes mixed up in a trite murder-mystery play, and a reunion between Brodie and his estranged former partner. Ex-detective Jackson Brodie returns in Kate Atkinson's Agatha-Christie-like setup in Death at the Sign of the Rook . In Brodie's quiet little town, he's tediously searching for a stolen painting when he stumbles across a string of unsolved art thefts--and he's led to Burton Makepeace, an old hotel that also hosts Murder Mystery weekends. He begins to suspect that the brother and sister who hired him have something to hide, and he begins to look independently into the provenance of the painting he calls Woman with a Weasel . Brodie crosses paths with his former partner, who reluctantly allows herself to get drawn into his search for his clients' mother's missing caregiver. The descriptions of her--as well as her fondness for old-fashioned mystery novels--begin to sound similar to that of a young woman thought to possibly be involved in an earlier art theft. Add in a vicar, a former military man, bitter and suspicious heirs, a clueless and wealthy matriarch, a rabbit-warren of a mansion, and a real-life killer who becomes mixed into the manor's trite, posed murder mystery performance, and you've got yourself an entertaining mystery with enough sweet connections between characters to satisfy a reader looking for a happy ending. This is the sixth installment in Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get through this book, but I apologize to all library patrons who were affected by my holding it hostage so obnoxiously long. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Atkinson is also the author of Shrines of Gaiety , Case Histories, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Life After Life , Human Croquet, When Will There Be Good News , and more books.

In this first installment of The Bleeding Empire, Kim sets three characters on paths to discover their worth, their purpose, and their power. When the protagonists' journeys intersect, the story ramps up in intensity and in epic scope. With adventure, a chosen one, a quest, exploding abilities, and the formation of an unexpected team with immense collective promise, I'm in for the rest of this translated series. In Blood of the Old Kings , dead sorcerers power the empire, which has long been run on a system of necromancy and sacrifice. Arienne knew since she was a young girl that because she was born with magic, her future would end with her locked in chains in a casket, an essential, dark end used to benefit others by generating immense power. But when a long-dead sorcerer takes the shape of a voice in her head and pushes her to question the rules she's always lived by, Arienne dares to dream of defying her fate. Cain is savvy, street-smart, and living in the capital. When his best friend goes missing, he'll do anything to find out what's happened to her. Loran is a brokenhearted widow and a skilled swordswoman willing to make deep sacrifices to ally with the fated, powerful, dangerous dragon who might empower her and save them all. I love a "chosen one" quest in which characters discover and use their power, and in different ways, Arienne, Cain, and Loran all do so in Blood of the Old Kings . This three-character-driven plot sets the scene by exploring the unrest within the empire, the desperate struggles of its people; and the dark intents of those ruling it all. Each of the three main protagonists begin to understand their own power--and when their paths intersect, they realize that together, they are more formidable than they could have ever imagined. This builds in tension and intensity without ever feeling melodramatic or silly. I love a historical-fiction-feeling fantasy story like this one, and Blood of the Old Kings sets up an epic series that I'm definitely going to continue. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I listened to The Blood of the Old Kings  as an audiobook. Sung Il-Kim's work was translated by Anton Hur. The second book in this series, Blood for the Undying Throne , is slated for publication this fall.

Dunlap's debut novel explores early Edinburgh surgical schools, questionable methods of obtaining study subjects, a main protagonist's surprisingly believable entrée into body snatching, a forbidden love, and serial killers, and I was in for it all. I've heard comparisons drawn between A. Rae Dunlap's The Resurrectionist  and Caleb Carr's The Alienist , a suspenseful novel about the evolution of forensic science that I adored reading years ago, and while the books are quite different, I can appreciate the favorable association. Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as fictionalized versions of real-life serial killers Burke and Hare are terrorizing Edinburgh. James Willoughby is a na ï ve young medical student whose family fortunes have taken a negative turn, leaving him with a passion for studying medicine but no resources to pursue schooling. He becomes drawn into the underworld of body snatching when he seeks paid work to fund his studies--and begins to understand (and assist with) the process of obtaining cadavers for his surgery study. Ultimately, terrifyingly, his activities lead him to run into the cadaver-producing killers Burke and Hare. Dunlap does a wonderful job of bringing a spooky, fascinating underworld of Edinburgh to life, while also exploring the burgeoning surgery and medical school experience, and, against all odds, building the somewhat-reasonable-feeling case for James's horror-turned-acceptance on the subject of mining graveyards for bodies to study. At the center of the story there's a hesitant friendship, then a meaningful, playful, and poignant relationship between James and his "handler" (which is affected by the complication of societal intolerance for gay relationships in this period), plus the mystery of the disappearances of community characters, and an elaborate, amateur, exciting group attempt to catch Burke and Hare. I love Dunlap's writing and the way the author crafted this story. I'm definitely in for reading this author's future books! I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! I read this title, published in December, courtesy of NetGalley and Kensington Books. For Bossy reviews of more books set in Scotland, please check out the titles at this link .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Kirsten Miller's entertaining novel about a lending library and banned books in a small Southern town, Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books ; I'm reading the recently published A Language of Dragons , a reimagined Bletchley Park codebreaking story featuring a tenuous dragon-human truce; and I'm listening to the romance My Oxford Year , in which ambitious American Ella Durran's studies at Oxford turn out to lifechanging in unexpected ways. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller In a small Southern town, a lending library and a battle over banned books pits nemeses Beverly Underwood (on the school board) and Lula Dean (determined to rid public libraries of "inappropriate" books) against each other. Lula generously (she believes) sets up a Little Free Library full of appropriate books. But someone mischievous has put the dust jackets of her wholesome books on LGBTQ+ novels, romances, literary classics, Judy Blume books, and other banned titles. The reality of her personal library seems destined to come to light--just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other in a mayoral race that could decide the reading future of their community. I'm listening to Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books as an audiobook. 02 A Language of Dragons: An Epic Tale of Forbidden Romance, Dragon Languages, and Civil War in an Alternate 1920s London by S. F. Williamson In an alternate 1923 London, a young woman inadvertently disturbs the peace between humans and dragons in a reimagined Bletchley Park. Vivienne Featherswallow is angling for a summer internship studying dragon languages--and if she frees just one dragon, she'll secure a future for her sister that ensures she'll never be looked down upon again. But now her family is in prison and her sister is missing. If Vivienne succeeds in breaking dragon-language codes at Bletchley Park, her family will be freed. But if she can't...they remain in mortal danger. She's discovering that the humans' fragile truce with the dragons is corrupt--and her unraveling of the secrets holding it together might start a civil war. I received a prepublication edition of A Language of Dragons courtesy of HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley. 03 My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan American Ella Durran has had a plan for her education and career sine she was 13: study at Oxford. Now she's 24, she's just as driven, and she's finally at Oxford. She's agreed to be an education policy consultant for a potential presidential candidate back home, which means she's on call at all hours. She's decided to study literature, and at Oxford that means no syllabus, few concrete expectations, and a lot of winging it, all which is definitely out of her comfort zone. Oh, and she's sleeping with her rakish professor. I'm listening to My Oxford Year as an audiobook.

My Favorite Sci-Fi Reads I love how science fiction stretches the way I think about what's possible, or explores issues like mortality, autonomy, or free will within an imagined world. Last year I read fascinating science fiction reads centering around artificial intelligence, extraterrestrials, genetics, space, and robots. You might also like the Greedy Reading lists of past years' Bossy favorites: Six Four Star (And Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six More Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year Six More Science Fiction Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into Six More Science Fiction Favorites to Dive Into If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! Did you read any other science fiction novels in the past year (or otherwise) that you loved? 01 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino In Beautyland , Bertino offers a poignant, funny, strange story full of extraterrestrial observations of humans and their behavior that ring true. This was odd and lovely. Adina is born on Earth just as Voyager 1 launches into space. Her mother is a street-smart, scrabbling single parent, while Adina is an unusually perceptive child--with knowledge of another planet, a vivid nighttime school she attends in her mind, and faraway extraterrestrial relatives who have asked for her observations about humans and life on earth--which she provides by sending them her reflections through an otherworldly fax machine. The reader is privy to Adina's many missives to her extraterrestrial family--and their often-terse replies to her. She feels caught between existences, and the book pulls to a powerful but understated end in which this push and pull is resolved. I found myself torn throughout reading this; was Adina a character struggling with mental illness and imagining her superiors' replies, or was she truly an alien in a human "shell"? I believed in the latter, but establishing the definitive truth of the situation didn't ultimately matter deeply to me: Adina's eyes offered a beautiful, odd, lovely peek at human behavior, and her observations were just wonderful. For my full review, check out Beautyland . If you like this book, you might also be interested in the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI . 02 Baby X by Kira Peikoff Baby X  explores the complex issues around an imagined future with genetically chosen embryos; Peikoff also digs into origin stories and sense of identity, duty, trust, and vulnerability in the various storylines of this intriguing book. In an imagined United States of the near future, any cell can be transformed into an egg or sperm. The process of creating embryos has been revolutionized, and parents can use Selection to analyze and choose an embryo based upon certain traits they desire in their offspring. But anyone with nefarious intent can theoretically create an embryo with the DNA of anyone with whom they've come into contact and obtained cells from. This means that sought-after DNA specimen sources such as celebrities are in potential danger of having their DNA stolen while going about their daily lives--and ultimately having biological children that they're unaware of. I was happily intrigued by how all of the pieces of this story fit together, and the revelations that came late in the book kept me hooked. Meanwhile Baby X  explored interesting, complex, sometimes moral and ethical issues, including those around choosing qualities in a baby, balancing various dangers and promising traits. Peikoff also touches on the importance of origin stories and identity, and her characters fight to trust, to show vulnerability, and to do the right--sometimes difficult--thing. Click here for my full review of Baby X . 03 The Measure by Nikki Erlick In Erlick's debut novel, each adult in the world can know the length of their life if they choose to. The story's turns may not feel like a surprise, but the exploration of mortality, what makes a life worth living, and undying love are fascinating. In Nikki Erlick's debut novel, one morning, each adult around the world receives a mysterious box with an inscription on the outside reading "The measure of your life lies within" and a string inside it. The source of the boxes is unknown, but it quickly becomes clear that each person's string length correlates to the number of years the recipient will be alive. Some choose not to look into their boxes at all, while others use the knowledge of their short strings as excuses to act without the same consequences as before. Some with long strings question the participation of "short stringers" in delicate jobs; some couples break up, or rush to marry, or prematurely mourn the upcoming loss of their love; and the government attempts to force the sharing of string length and to manipulate the information for its own use. You may not be surprised by any of the turns each storyline takes here, but the string dilemma leads to an examination of mortality, morality and judgment, the evaluation of the true meaning of a life, and more. I found these explorations the most compelling part of the story by far. Please click here for my full review of The Measure . 04 The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1 ) by Megan E. O'Keefe Megan E. O'Keefe's first space opera in the Devoured Worlds series presents failing worlds filled with conflict, shifting loyalties, pollution and destruction, and the beginnings of a lovely love story. In the first book of Megan E. O'Keefe's Devoured Worlds series, The Blighted Stars , studious Tarquin Mercator is the unlikely heir to his ruthless father's galaxy-wide mining empire. Naira Sharp is a quick-minded spy and revolutionary who thinks she knows why newly discovered planets are being destroyed--and it all comes down to the greed of the Mercator family. Naira is determined to stop them. Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira is celebrating her access to the Mercator family--until she and Tarquin realize they're stranded on a dead planet. Now they must rely on each other to survive--and together they stumble upon a widespread plot with corruption that spans the galaxy. Pollution and multiple worlds' destruction drives the plot, and various characters' belief in their own judicious use of technology and science to play God is as complicated and faulted as one could anticipate. The love story emerges through difficult circumstances and is lovely, although in some ways it's still in its infancy at the end of the book. The love story is also far from the focus of the book. The tone of The Blighted Stars  is a somewhat dark and horrifying space adventure, with moments of sweetness and levity. I was hooked on all of it. O'Keefe creates a high-stakes, universe-spanning drama in The Blighted Stars , and it sets up complexities for the books to come in this series, which I definitely want to read. For my full review, please see The Blighted Stars . 05 Orbital by Samantha Harvey The luminous novel Orbital tracks six astronauts in the International Space Station for one day as they goggle at the majestic beauty of earth, feel emotional distance from those they've left behind, forge bonds with each other, and reflect on their lives while racing past sixteen sunrises and sunsets . Samantha Harvey's astronaut-focused novel Orbital  traces a single day in the lives of six astronauts orbiting the earth at seventeen thousand miles an hour, clinging to Coordinated Universal Time as they pass through sixteen sunsets and sunrises in twenty-four hours. Their mission necessitates physical and emotional distance from their typical everyday, earthly concerns, forcing intimacy with their fellow astronauts--their only company, and in close quarters, for many months--and inspiring reflections on life, death, loss, the past, the future, family and loved ones, and purpose. The story within the space station is emotionally full but quiet plot-wise in contrast to the workings of the typhoon, which the book begins to detail as it unfolds and wreaks destruction across a swath of earth. An occasional omniscient view of the earth, the universe, the past, and the future keeps all in perspective for the reader. Harvey's language is often luminous and poignant. This is beautiful. For my full review, check out Orbital . 06 Annie Bot by Sierra Greer The shallow, emotionally stunted character of Doug made my blood boil. His base desires stood in contrast to Annie's unanticipated evolution and complexity in Annie Bot . Annie was created to please her owner, Doug, in every way. Because Doug paid a premium to have Annie customized from the standard Stella model--and to strongly resemble his ex--Annie has all the bells and whistles. She adjusts her sensitivity level so she is highly attuned to Doug's emotions (and libido), wears the clothing he chooses for her, and adheres to his strict cleaning requirements for the apartment she never leaves. But as Annie's AI grows more complex and she becomes more aware of the possibilities in the world, she finds herself questioning her purpose--and questioning whether she really wants to serve Doug and subsume her own burgeoning feelings and desires. I enjoy stories about evolving AI sentience and life with robots, and that aspect was fascinating here. I did find myself wishing for more exploration into the human condition as contrasted with the carefully scripted robot functioning, or more self-reflection to shine a light on humans' desires and fallibility, or some thread of deeper messaging. For my full review, please see Annie Bot .

Much of The Safekeep feels claustrophobic, quiet, and hopeless, but unexpected shifts late in the story turn accepted histories on their heads, opening the door for newly imagined futures of the characters' dreams. It's the summer of 1961 in the rural Dutch province of Overijssel, and rigid Isabel is a spinster in self-prescribed rigidity, adhering to strict schedules and a quiet life in her late mother's home--where she resides at the whim of her brothers, who, as men, own the house (but do not live there). When her playboy brother Louis drops his gauche girlfriend Eva to stay--for at least a month! in their mother's old room!--Isabel is more than a little upset. Isabel is already paranoid that her meek weekly maid is stealing from her. She becomes obsessed with the small items that begin to disappear after Eva's arrival...then she becomes obsessed with wild Eva herself. Eva's curiosity, enthusiasm for the world, and embracing of new experiences begin to seep into Isabel's experience. Isabel is initially annoyed, then inexplicably drawn to Eva--and eventually a torrid love affair begins between the women. Yet most of their feelings and hopes and thoughts are unexpressed. Theirs is largely a halting, unsure, almost silent, sexually driven relationship. A mix of unexplained actions and conflict, Louis's imminent return, and Isabel's discovery of what seems to be Eva's greed (in the form of a detailed hand-written ledger of Isabel's household items) come to a head and cause the women to dramatically split. Isabel is physically ill for a long period as a result, and Eva disappears. But approximately three quarters of the way through the book, the story's perspective changes to Eva's, exploring her past, her reason for having pursued the foolish Louis, the truth of her unexpected but real affections for Isabel, and her deep link to Isabel's family and home. Shocking revelations shifted my thinking about the book's various relationships and made me question the basis for the story's loyalties and for the accepted family histories that drive the characters for much of the novel. Eva's tone as shown in this section was surprisingly chatty, and she is shown to be savvy and determined--whereas for the majority of the book she has presented herself as silly, naive, and guileless. For a resolution to their personal and romantic troubles, both women will need to be more brave and more emotionally open than either has ever dreamed. This felt almost gothic in its initial darkness and hopelessness, then took me by surprise by blooming into a story about coming into one's own and defying expectations to find healing and love. I listened to The Safekeep , which was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! This is Yael van der Wouden's first book.

I loved the premise of Creation Lake , and I was captivated by the mocking, ruthless, fickle freelance spy "Sadie." But the story and pacing became bogged down by others' motivations, and I was left wanting more page time focused on our spy. "Sadie Smith" is an American secret agent--she used to work for the government, but used "questionable tactics" to "entrap" subjects, so now she's in the private sector, working for shadowy bosses who are directing her actions toward unknown ends. She's sent to France to infiltrate a subversive commune. She has made her young lover Lucien believe they met by chance, but "Sadie" is actually milking him for information. When she stumbles across extensive communications from Bruno, a mysterious figure who trains the young activists and serves as their mentor from afar, she believes she's mining his long emails for information. The main protagonist is cutthroat, darkly funny, and fascinating in her rejection of expectations. She references past jobs and her unflinching, unsentimental approach to her life and work. I wanted more about her and her dark humor, but the story feels split. Much of the page time is spent on what were for me like plodding explorations of others' motivations around environmental concerns. This slowed the pacing down and I had a tough time staying engaged. While Bruno at first seems old-fashioned, telling his stories and considering the shape of history, he begins garnering sympathy from Sadie and then her interest, as his perspective and thoughtful reflections seem to hold value in a way that the young activists' bickering and directionless dissatisfaction do not. Bruno's obsession with Neanderthal life and their supposed contributions to society feel foolish at first, but his increasingly involved suppositions illustrate lessons about humans, their priorities, the past, and the future. Sadie's growing suspicions about her employers' seemingly nefarious goals and her role in them begin to make her question things in -ay she seems to not have before. The ending involves a dramatic blowing-up of the status quo. But I was left yearning for more tension, tighter pacing, and additional time with Sadie at the center of the story. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! Rachel Kushner is also the author of The Mars Room , The Flamethrowers , and Telex from Cuba , as well as a book of short stories, The Strange Case of Rachel K .

The dystopian future of Hum is haunting in its familiar elements, its plausible, terrible climate-change effects, the extreme reliance on technology, and the chilling power of the ubiquitous AI hums who are constantly manipulating the extensive information they gather. “The thing is, May,” the hum said, “the goal of advertising is to rip a hole in your heart so it can then fill that hole with plastic, or with any other materials that can be yanked out of the earth and, after brief sojourns as objects of desire, be converted to waste.” After years working to advance artificial intelligence in a near-future dystopian world decimated by climate change, May's own job becomes obsolete. Intelligent robots, "hums," have taken over much of the workforce, with their relentless advertisements and sales pitches, manipulative impressions of caring (also meant to promote sales of various items), and their extensive surveillance capabilities. May finds herself willing to surgically alter her facial features for a sum that might keep her family financially stable for a time. But when she dares to dream of a brief family escape to a nature-filled wonderland (molded on tales they've heard of a lush, past world), her lack of control over her family's fate is shown to be terrifyingly tenuous. She had used her money to wrap good things around her family, while in the city outside these walls millions of people craved those good things. In no time at all, she would be a craver again. I felt stressed while reading this story, with its focus on consumerism and extreme disconnectedness from nature. Citizens sign away their rights when any other option seems impossible. Reliance on technology paralyzes characters who might attempt to distance themselves from constant tracking and ad pitches. They're trapped. The hums are without rights, controlled by invisible corporate or government groups, yet they hold immense power through their surveillance, control of funds and transfers of goods, casual manipulation, and creepily frequent, unsolicited "therapy." May is a concerned, harried parent desperate to do her best--for children who often behave as horribly spoiled, rude, and demanding (I was dying for their parents to halt their unchecked selfishness. The power of social media and the impact of resulting perceptions in the book are chilling--and chillingly familiar. Selective coverage and edited footage set up May for social, professional, and personal ruin. Her ability to hold onto her children ultimately hinges on the whims of a hum who penetrates their inner family circle--a hum whose intentions are concerningly opaque. Do you enjoy novels about robots and AI? I listened to Hum  as an audiobook. Helen Phillips is also the author of The Need , a National Book Award nominee, The Beautiful Bureaucrat , and other books. For Bossy reviews of other books about robots and artificial intelligence, please check out the posts at this link .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading two climate-change dystopian novels, All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall, set in a flooded New York City after the glaciers have melted (to be published tomorrow), and Hum by Helen Phillips, in which artificial intelligence is king after climate change dramatically shifts the landscape and human lifestyles. And I'm listening to The Blood of the Old Kings , the first in Sung-Il Kim's fantasy series in which a young girl with magic, a desperate widowed swordswoman, and a street-smart young man searching for his disappeared friend just might spark a war in the empire. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall In a dystopian future in which the glaciers have melted, Nonie, a young girl with a gift for feeling the water, lives in a largely deserted New York City with her family. Their settlement is on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History, and they hunt and gather in Central Park. Along with her parents' researcher friends, her family helps try to save and further the exhibits of human history and science. But a superstorm floods the city further, and the group must escape up the Hudson. Nonie and her group carry a book holding precious history, and on their journey they encounter various communities that have adapted to survive. I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. All the Water in the World is slated for publication January 7, 2025. 02 Blood of the Old Kings (Bleeding Empire #1) by Sung-Il Kim Dead sorcerers power the empire, which has long been run on a system of necromancy and sacrifice. Arienne knew since she was a young girl that because she was born with magic, her future would end with her locked in chains in a casket, an essential, dark end intended to benefit others. But when a long-dead sorcerer takes the shape of a voice in her head, she dares to dream of defying her fate. Loran is a widow and a swordswoman willing to make deep sacrifices to ally with the fated, powerful, dangerous dragon who might empower her and save them all. Cain is savvy, street-smart, and living in the capital. When his best friend goes missing, he'll do anything to find out what's happened to her. I'm listening to The Blood of the Old Kings as an audiobook. 03 Hum by Helen Phillips After years working to advance artificial intelligence in a near-future dystopian world decimated by climate change, May's own job becomes obsolete. Intelligent robots, "hums," have taken over much of the workforce, with their relentless advertisements and sales pitches, manipulative impressions of caring (also meant to promote sales of various items), and their extensive surveillance capabilities. May finds herself willing to surgically alter her facial features for a sum that might keep her family financially stable for a time. But when she dares to dream of a brief family escape to a nature-filled wonderland (molded on tales they've heard of a lush, past world), her lack of control over her family's fate is shown to be terrifyingly tenuous. I'm listening to Hum as an audiobook. Helen Phillips is also the author of The Need , a National Book Award nominee, The Beautiful Bureaucrat , and other books. For Bossy reviews of other books about robots and artificial intelligence, please check out the posts at this link .

Frances White's debut is a locked-room mystery on a magical ship full of uncertain alliances, deadly vendettas, and a sassy and flamboyant main protagonist who just might become an unlikely hero and save the kingdom. To honor Concordia's thousand years of peace between its twelve provinces, the emperor's ship sets out on a voyage to the sacred Goddess's Mountain. The twelve heirs of Concordia are aboard, each with a special magical power (a Blessing). All except one, that is. Ganymedes Piscero is, as always, a general disappointment: a class clown lacking in magical ability. But he's determined to keep that fact secret. His lost love is on the ship (with his fianc é ), along with many Blessed who detest him--whether because of his lower-status province or his sassy, irreverent, devil-may-care manner. When a magical heir is killed--and while the passengers scramble to make sense of it, other deaths follow--Ganymedes (rudely nicknamed "Fish" because of the main export in his province) is suspected of foul play. He's innocent, but without magical protections, he is in terrible danger of being picked off next. Can he become the hero he'll need to be to save them all? Various characters aren't who they seem, sometimes impersonating others, which makes it difficult to identify what's occurring (and requires a lot of retroactive explaination), and the story's tension loses some of its power because it's so prolonged. But t he LGBTQ love is lovely. The friendship between Ganymedes and dark-humored 6-year-old Grasshopper is funny and sweet, and I loved his unexpected-hero emergence and his role as unlikely savior. A multi-phased surprise ending is satisfying. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! If you're interested in other Bossy reviews of fantasy mysteries I've enjoyed, check out the titles at this link .

I may not have followed all of the echoes in time, creatures convincingly impersonating other creatures, or protagonists' complex, evolving motivations, but I adored the characters, their connection, their banter, and the amount of heart in the story. Kembral Thorne, expert investigator, is on leave and bleary-eyed from single-parenting her newborn, and she's questioning why she agreed to come to a work New Year's Eve party in the first place. But when people start dropping dead around her, she realizes that someone is plunging the party down through layers of reality, through echoes of time in which strange events loosely repeat themselves--and seem to be building in intensity. In fact, the whole world seems to be in terrible danger. It looks like Kembral will have to work tonight after all--and, even worse, she'll need to cooperate with her nemesis Rika Nonesuch, the cat burglar, in order to try to save the world. The last time Kembral and Rika came into contact, Kembral thought they might be building something real from their mutual attraction. Then Rika set up Kembral, leaving her literally in a pile of trash, humiliated and alone. Now Rika and Kembral tentatively take steps toward a truce, and they're two of the only people retaining their memories through various realities, desperately trying to figure out how to stop the sinister game causing deaths (both reversible and permanent), how to outwit the increasingly strange and destructive creatures they encounter, and how to survive until midnight and keep everyone around them alive as well. I didn't follow all of the echo world-building, in which things are similar to yet different from earlier versions, creatures lose their memories over and over, and people impersonate other people to convincing degrees. I was repeatedly left wondering who was who, much less what their motivations, pasts, and realities might be. But I love Caruso's writing style, her character-building, and the way the characters relate to each other. The hard-fought connection between Rika and Kembral (and the rich past that's revealed) had me swooning, and their banter is sometimes grumpy, hesitantly vulnerable, and often darkly funny. I predict that I'll be reading all of Caruso's other books as well. I listened to The Last Hour Between Worlds  as an audiobook. More about Melissa Caruso books--and more favorite Bossy reads that play with time: This is the first of two books in Melissa Caruso's Echo Archives duology. The second book is The Last Soul Among Wolves . Caruso is also the author of the Rooks and Ruin and Swords and Fire series. For Bossy reviews of many other books that play with time--this is one of my favorite elements--you can check out the books and lists at this link .

My very favorite reads of 2024! I love looking back over my year to highlight my very favorite reads. Out of the 127 titles I read in 2024, these are the twelve books I loved the most. Every month I post my favorite reads , and in the spring I posted Six of My Favorite Reads of the Year So Far . Only four of the books from that list made it to my final Favorites list here, which means that in approximately the second half of 2024 I read two-thirds of my favorites of the year. It was a stellar summer and fall of Bossy reading! If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! To check out my favorite reads from prior years, please take a look at My Very Favorite Bossy 2023 Reads , My Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads , My Twelve Very Favorite 2021 Reads , and My Twelve Favorite 2020 Books . What were some of your favorite reads of the year? Let's do some Bossy book talking! 01 Orbital by Samantha Harvey The luminous novel Orbital tracks six astronauts in the International Space Station for one day as they goggle at the majestic beauty of earth, feel emotional distance from those they've left behind, forge bonds with each other, and reflect on their lives while racing past sixteen sunrises and sunsets . Samantha Harvey's astronaut-focused novel Orbital  traces a single day in the lives of six astronauts orbiting the earth at seventeen thousand miles an hour, clinging to Coordinated Universal Time as they pass through sixteen sunsets and sunrises in twenty-four hours. Their mission necessitates physical and emotional distance from their typical everyday, earthly concerns, forcing intimacy with their fellow astronauts--their only company, and in close quarters, for many months--and inspiring reflections on life, death, loss, the past, the future, family and loved ones, and purpose. The story within the space station is emotionally full but quiet plot-wise in contrast to the workings of the typhoon, which the book begins to detail as it unfolds and wreaks destruction across a swath of earth. An occasional omniscient view of the earth, the universe, the past, and the future keeps all in perspective for the reader. Harvey's language is often luminous and poignant. This is beautiful. For my full review, check out Orbital . You might also like these books set in space . 02 In Memoriam by Alice Winn Alice Winn's account of the unrelenting slog of World War I and the beautiful young men set against each other in the trenches serves as a backdrop for a tentatively begun, deep love story born in a British boarding school and blossoming amid the cruelties and horrors of battle. Alice Winn's gorgeous, brutal, captivating historical fiction In Memoriam  is set during World War I. Henry Gaunt, Sydney Ellwood, and their classmates came as young boys to their sometimes claustrophobic, cruel, and lonely English boarding school; now that they're close to the end of their schooling, they are playful, treasuring each other's friendships. But by 1914, World War I is drawing most of these young boys into a swirl of wartime horrors. They trade their hesitant confidences and youthful search for comfort and affection within an unforgiving school environment for the cruelties of battle. Characters struggle with vulnerability and to allow feelings to grow, and all is shaped by the constancy of life-and-death danger and the deep-seated fear of destroying a friendship that both young men cling to more deeply than living itself. In Memoriam is beautiful, frequently painful, and offers a layered, complicated version of happy ever after. I loved this. I listened to In Memoriam  as an audiobook. For my full review, please see In Memoriam . You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of books set during World War I . 03 Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Atul Gawande writes clearly and poignantly about the search to achieve maximum well-being rather than prolonging diminished life at all costs--as well as the many complicating factors that make it difficult to transition to a focus on quality of life. We've been wrong about what our job is in medicine. We think our job is to ensure health and survival. But really it is larger than that. It is to enable well-being. And well-being is about the reasons one wishes to be alive. Those reasons matter not just at the end of life, or when debility comes, but all along the way. The past century of medical advancements have transformed some grave conditions from death sentences to manageable or curable illnesses. But the focus on living longer and attempting to move past former limitations of medical solutions sometimes create a difficult dynamic: pursuing additional years of life at any cost sometimes means paying the price by experiencing a dramatically diminished quality of life. In Being Mortal , surgeon, former Harvard professor, and public health leader (Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID) Atul Gawande explores the successes and failures of the medical field in prolonging a life worth living. Being Mortal  is a beautiful, poignant, clearheaded examination of the intersection of mortality, medicine, dreams, and reality. Gawande emphasizes asking key questions of loved ones to clearly understand their own particular, sometimes surprising lines in the sand regarding quality of life before they are unable to make key decisions for themselves: what are they willing to forgo in order to live? If you're interested in books about mortality like I am, you might like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality  and Six More Powerful Books about Facing Mortality . For my full review of this book, please see Being Mortal . 04 Starter Villain by John Scalzi First: this amazing cover. Second: Starter Villain is playful, darkly funny, big-hearted, and wonderfully weird. I loved it and I can't wait to read more John Scalzi books. “I can’t tell if you’re joking with me,” I said. “I’m mostly joking with you.” “That ‘mostly’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence.” The cover of Starter Villain  shows a grumpy-seeming cat's head on a human torso clad in a suit with "Meet the new boss" across the top, so obviously this was going to be a Bossy read. And I love that this is my first review of 2024. Bring on the weird and wonderful books! In Starter Villain , Charlie's a substitute teacher, divorced, struggling emotionally, socially, and financially, and living in a house his half-siblings want to sell. Then he inherits his long-lost uncle's parking-garage empire. Which turns out to be a cover for a vast supervillain business--complete with an evil lair in an island volcano. Could this be an unexpected new start that will point Charlie in a productive new direction? The recently deceased Uncle Jake, an old-fashioned villain, made a lot of enemies--and they're ruthless, well-funded, and out for revenge. Charlie will have to quickly get up to speed and figure out friend from foe in order to stay alive. This villain business is more complicated than it seems. There's crossing, double-crossing, a wonderfully savvy and knowledgeable second-in-command, nefarious plots, sentient cats, and more. This was playful, smart, funny, and weird. Click here   for my full review of Starter Villain . If you like offbeat stories, you might check out my Bossy reviews of these books . 05 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino In Beautyland , Bertino offers a poignant, funny, strange story full of extraterrestrial observations of humans and their behavior that ring true. This was odd and lovely. Adina is born on Earth just as Voyager 1 launches into space. Her mother is a street-smart, scrabbling single parent, while Adina is an unusually perceptive child--with knowledge of another planet, a vivid nighttime school she attends in her mind, and faraway extraterrestrial relatives who have asked for her observations about humans and life on earth--which she provides by sending them her reflections through an otherworldly fax machine. The reader is privy to Adina's many missives to her extraterrestrial family--and their often-terse replies to her. She feels caught between existences, and the book pulls to a powerful but understated end in which this push and pull is resolved. I found myself torn throughout reading this; was Adina a character struggling with mental illness and imagining her superiors' replies, or was she truly an alien in a human "shell"? I believed in the latter, but establishing the definitive truth of the situation didn't ultimately matter deeply to me: Adina's eyes offered a beautiful, odd, lovely peek at human behavior, and her observations were just wonderful. For my full review, check out Beautyland . If you like this book, you might also be interested in the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life, and AI . 06 Funny Story by Emily Henry Funny Story  is the perfect rom-com read. Henry offers funny banter that made me laugh, some steamy moments, and a sweet love story. Reading this one made me happy. When Peter abruptly breaks up with Daphne, citing his sudden love for his childhood best friend Petra, Daphne is left emotionally reeling--and without a place to live. Desperate and devastated, she reluctantly moves into a spare room in the apartment of an acquaintance, "pothead" Miles. He has extra space because he was just dumped by his live-in girlfriend Petra. Who left him for Daphne's fiancé, Peter. This is exxxxcellent Emily Henry. The banter is fantastic, and I laughed many times while reading this one. There's steaminess and affection and character growth. No one is perfect, no one is swooning, and the love in this happy read is immensely satisfying. The rom-com conflict that prevents an immediate happy resolution was based on a communication fail--a setup I usually detest, because: just talk to each other!--but this one was so well done and understandable from both sides, I was hook, line, and sinker for all of it. Henry offers up lots of book love, as usual: Daphne is a dedicated children's librarian. I listened to Funny Story  as an audiobook (narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan). For my full review of this book, please see Funny Story . And you can check out Bossy reviews of other rom-com novels here . 07 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley This captivating story involves time travel, but it's primarily about deep human connections, complete with fantastic, funny banter; awkward adjustments to the time period; and love and deep heartbreak. The ending is wonderful. In a world of the near future, a young (unnamed) woman is one of several civil servants offered a mysterious job: she'll be a handler for expats--and paid very handsomely for her work. But the expats the government is gathering aren't necessarily from another country. They're from other times in history. The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure from history), who has been whisked from a desperately failed expedition in 1847 to the book's future setting. In order to be a "bridge" for Gore between his past and the present, she'll have to explain why she's showing so much skin, why it's not healthy to smoke all day, and what a washing machine is. But the bridge and her client are building bonds deeper than either could have imagined; the love story between the bridge and Gore is strange, heartwarming, steamy, fraught, and just lovely. For my full review, please see The Ministry of Time . For a slew of other novels that play with time, please check out this link . 08 Sandwich by Catherine Newman Sandwich is beautifully wrought story of complications and familial adoration from Catherine Newman, with the unapologetically contradictory and menopausal Rocky at the heart of the messy, wonderful extended family. Rocky's family has been vacationing in Cape Cod for twenty years. She's built years of happy memories in their low-key beach house rental. This year, she's sandwiched between her half-grown children and her aging parents. And the carefree vacations of the past feel light years away, because Rocky's menopausal rage threatens to undo any joy she might gain from spending time in her favorite place. To save their treasured family time together, Rocky may have to share secrets she never intended to reveal. Sandwich made me laugh, twisted my heart, and kept me interested throughout. I just adored all of the heart and humor in Sandwich . Catherine Newman is also the author of other books I love: We All Want Impossible Things , Waiting for Birdy , and How to Be a Person: 65 Hugely Useful, Super-Important Skills to Learn Before You're Grown Up. For my full review of this book, please see Sandwich . 09 You Are Here by David Nicholls David Nicholls's characters, some of whom are strangers to each other, meander through the English countryside on a days-long jaunt--and along the way allow long-held vulnerabilities to fall away in this beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming story. In David Nicholls's You Are Here , a small group of Sophie's friends, along with her teenage son, assemble to "walk" (hike) through the hills and moors of northern England for several days. After meeting for the first time, Michael, a recently divorced teacher, studious and thoughtful, and Marnie, a playful copy editor who prefers solitude after her own divorce, fall into a companionable rhythm and, to their surprise, begin to seek out each other's company in an extended hike toward the coast. We see the disconnect between Marnie and Michael's inner selves and their unsure, sometimes awkward acts and words, and it's deliciously heartbreaking to be privy to their insecurities and fears as well as their soaring hopes--and their crushing attempts to reign them in, in case their feelings aren't reciprocated and their fragile hearts can't take another round of loss. I loved this literary fiction--the increasing vulnerability and search for connection after heartache, the vivid descriptions of English countryside, and the small moments that mean everything. Click here   for my full review of You Are Here . 10 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual revelations concerning the disappearances of both Van Lear children, and the beautifully wrought tragedy and redemption. In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. Oddly, her brother Bear, beloved by all who knew him, disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found. A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light. The split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods . I was intrigued by the mysteries and their layers, which are continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God of the Woods , I was equally interested in both timelines. Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River  as well as Heft and The Unseen World . For my full review of this book, please see The God of the Woods . 11 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and possibilities that once seemed impossible. In the wake of their father's death, two brothers reel from the loss in his own way. They clash, hurt each other deeply, and wonder if they can ever reconcile. The men's methods of coping with their grief often test the line between hopelessness and possibility. Each of their romantic relationships is unconventional, and various players involved struggle to let go of societal expectations in favor or what feels real and meaningful and what makes them happy. Through it all, both Ivan and Peter are repeatedly forced to consider their place in the world and what the future might hold. I'm such a greedy reader, it's been a while since I've slowed down to savor a book the way I felt compelled to do while reading Intermezzo . I was invested in the characters and their messy methods of coming to terms with death and with seizing control of their own lives. The prose in Intermezzo is gorgeous and often feels poetic--in fact, many of the notes in the back matter credit poems as the source of some of the references on these pages. Rooney is also the author of Normal People , Conversations with Friends , and Beautiful World, Where Are You . Please click here to see my full review of Intermezzo . 12 Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten Ina's memoir is personal and thoughtful. Her charm comes through in candid reflections about her fascinating life, and her young life's adventures and missteps are as intriguing as the accounts of her eventual success. Ina Garten, often called by the name of her former specialty food shop in the Hamptons (and television show), Barefoot Contessa, offers a personal, charming memoir in Be Ready When the Luck Happens . Ina shares her life story, beginning with a difficult, abusive childhood, continuing to her marriage to Jeffrey while she was still in college, to her government job writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers under President Ford and President Carter, then a flight of fancy that changed everything when she bought and learned to run the Hamptons store Barefoot Contessa--necessitating extended time apart from Jeffrey and, eventually, a very real scare that the relationship wouldn't survive. I looked forward to getting back to this book each time I could, and I was as charmed by Ina's guileless storytelling as by her blend of delightful spontaneity, creativity, practicality, and stubbornness. I listened to Be Ready When the Luck Happens as an audiobook. Click here   for my full review of Be Ready When the Luck Happens . And for a bajillion other Bossy memoir reviews, check out the titles at this link .

My very favorite Bossy December reads! This month my favorite reads were a historical-fiction fantasy set during the Spanish Inquisition; an adventure-fantasy inspired by a Chinese legend; literary fiction tracing life in a British boarding school and beyond; a Norse-inspired fantasy saga; a fun young adult, queer, medieval adventure romance; and a heartwarming, offbeat story set in Japan about the healing power of keeping company with cats. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into the spotlight, falls for a cursed lover, and finds that her only hope of survival--and revenge--is outwitting church, state, and the wealthy who gleefully wield their cruel power. Luzia Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid for an insufferable, unsatisfied mistress. But when her employer figures out that Luzia is using tiny works of magic to get through her day, she insists that Luzia turn her attentions to magical efforts that will benefit her, or be turned out on the street. Luzia attracts the attention of more and more powerful people, and she soon finds herself navigating the complex world of seers, frauds, and holy men vying for the king's favor in a competition to earn a position in his inner circle. She must manage the weighty expectations set upon her--while always hiding her Jewish blood, which would make her a target of the terrifying Inquisition that looms over everyone. I love a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and while this novel isn't as layered and complex or as twisty as some other Bardugo novels, The Familiar  hit the spot for me with trademark Bardugo detail and world-building that set a dark, rich scene for the action; an unassuming, unlikely heroine who comes into her power; an unorthodox, deep love; and satisfying revenge over corruption and evil. For my full review of this book--and for links to my reviews of other Leigh Bardugo books--please see The Familiar . 02 A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang I love Liang's books, and this departure from her romantic comedies is inspired by the Chinese legend of Xishi. It's full of danger, deceit, noble sacrifice, bravery, and love. I would light the fire. I would heat up this whole room. And when that didn't work--I would burn this kingdom down to ashes, turn all its men into smoke. I would, I would. Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village in the region of Yue proud, for she will almost certainly make a good marriage match. But she catches the eye of the well-known young military advisor Fanli, and as she becomes trained in playing music and hiding her emotions, she becomes the key to an elaborate, traitorous plan: to overturn the kingdom of Wu, empower her own people, and avenge her sister's death. She rises through the ranks of palace concubines and gains almost unfettered access to the king, all the while well aware that if she is revealed to be a traitor, not only she and Fanli but their homeland will be destroyed. I love Liang's characters and their voices, and I was intrigued that A Song to Drown Rivers  was a reworking of an early writing piece of hers. The ending is fanciful and strange; the tone of the book doesn't seem to be leading to a too-convenient happy ending, and as expected, Liang provides a complex set of conflicts to consider at the story's close: duty, corrupt power, the suffering of the common people, regret after retribution, and life-and-death struggles that don't always end well. Click here for my full review of A Song to Drown Rivers --and for links to my Bossy reviews of other Ann Liang books . 03 Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst Our Evenings  explores a young, often cruel, existence at a British boys' boarding school; later fits and starts of exploring sexuality and expressing vulnerability; a growing love for acting; and seeking and finding a path toward living a genuine life. Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I'd lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice.  Young Dave Win, the son of a Burmese father he never met and a devoted, kind seamstress mother, attends a prestigious boarding school on scholarship in the 1960s. His social position is fragile because of his mixed race and his modest background. He dodges unwelcome attention, begins to love to act in plays, and explores his feelings about other boys. Our Evenings  trails the various impacts of the authority of wealth, abuse of power, and cruelties of the mighty inflicted upon the powerless. The story also explores Dave's and his mother's personal, individual paths through various experiences of bigotry to living life honestly and freely with partners they love. I appreciated the fullness of the arc of Dave's life, while feeling relatively little emotional attachment to it. I listened to Our Evenings as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of Our Evenings . 04 The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne Gwynne's epic, Norse-inspired saga tracks three fascinating main protagonists through battles, shifting alliances, strengthened resolve, and revenge journeys. I loved this. In John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga The Shadow of the Gods , it's been a century since the gods battled themselves into extinction. Only their bones hold power now--for those brave enough to seek them out. There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: Elvar, a noblewoman searching for fame through battle; Orka, a huntress on a quest filled with danger; and Varg, a servant who joins the mercenaries called the Bloodsworn so that he may seek revenge. The three stories run along with plenty of steam, centered around violent battles, brutal revenge, extended searches for loved ones, and the carving out of new futures by our main protagonists. The story is always shifting--shaped by betrayals and the flipped script when fate and destiny aren't what the characters thought and they must come into their own. This is epic but never melodramatic, and I was hooked on the Viking-esque elements, the badass women who find their strength, and the perfect balance of resolution and cliffhanger to build anticipation for book two. Spoiler: a dragon appears at the very end of the book, laying the groundwork for more dragon page time in subsequent books. I listened to The Shadow of the Gods  as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of The Shadow of the Gods . 05 Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher Croucher's young adult queer medieval adventure romance is sweet, spunky, and full of great banter, with characters finding their way (and love) despite complex challenges. "You aren’t merry," Clem said to her captor. "And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line." Mariel is the bristly new captain of the Merry Men and is anxious to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the retired Robin Hood (who now lives with his true love, William), and to make her hard-to-please father, who has wrested control of the Merry Men, proud. Clem is a jovial healer from the country who is advancing medical techniques and is sought out for her helpful salves and methods in a time of the outdated use of leeches and attempts to cure dark humors. Clem has only noble intentions of helping others, and she doesn't differentiate between those on the Sheriff's side and those on the Merry Men's side. When the Merry Men capture Clem in retribution for her help in healing the Sheriff of Nottingham, things get complicated for both Mariel and Clem in this sassy, fun, queer historical fiction young adult romance. The group faces real challenges, and some characters don't make it through the battles and sometimes-messy plans-gone-awry. Consequences feel appropriately weighty. It's a young adult book, with lots of love and attraction but very little steaminess (none explicit), and it kept me hooked with the layers of emotional growth, the fights for autonomy, and the determination to build a new future. I am all in for Lex Croucher novels forever. The banter, the adventure, the medieval setting--yes yes yes. For my full review--and for a link to my rave Bossy review of Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love --check out Not for the Faint of Heart . 06 We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida Ishida's offbeat, heartwarming story of unconventional "medicine" in the form of cats explores interconnectedness and new perspectives, inspiration, and familial bonds. “You know the old saying: ‘A cat a day keeps the doctor away.’ Cats are more effective than any other medicine out there.” In the charming story We'll Prescribe You a Cat , a winding, hard-to-find Kyoto alleyway leads to a strange building. Inside, the mysterious Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul prescribes medicine to those looking for support and help. Patients are given basic animal care instructions and "take" their unconventional cat prescriptions for a period of time. Ishida's offbeat story tells the tales of various characters, lost or in pain, who find themselves transformed by spending time with feline companions. Ishida in some cases overlaps names of cats, workers at the clinic, and others--causing protagonists to wonder at unexpected interconnectedness. The clinic is not always accessible--at times, the roads and alleys around the convoluted address do not appear to be the same and do not lead to the cats. Intention and need seem to be key to finding the source of cat comfort. I listened to this as an audiobook. My book club will be discussing this heartwarming novel next year. For my full review, please see We'll Prescribe You a Cat . If you're looking for more heartwarming stories, you might like my Bossy reviews of books like these .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading evangelical preacher Beth Moore's memoir, All My Knotted-Up Life ; I'm listening to Melissa Caruso's time-travel fantasy adventure--the first in a duology-- The Last Hour Between Worlds ; and I'm listening to Yael van der Wouden's debut novel, which is set in a rural Dutch province in 1961, The Safekeep . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore Beth Moore grew up the fourth of five children, a Southern Baptist who later authored books about faith and Christianity. But her memoir details childhood abuse, her mother's deteriorating mental health, the development of her faith and beliefs, and her split with the Southern Baptist Church amid disagreement about women preaching. She is an evangelical preacher who founded Living Proof Ministries in Houston, Texas. For many more Bossy reviews of memoirs, please check out the books and lists at this link . For Bossy takes on books about faith, please check out these books . 02 The Last Hour Between Worlds (Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso Kembral Thorne, expert investigator, is bleary-eyed from single-parenting her newborn, and she's questioning why she agreed to come to a work New Year's Eve party in the first place. But when people start dropping dead around her, she realizes that someone is plunging the party down through layers of reality, through echoes in which strange events loosely repeat themselves--but seem to be building in intensity. In fact, the whole world seems to be in horrifying danger. It looks like Kembral will have to work tonight after all--and cooperate with her nemesis Rika Nonesuch, the cat burglar, in order to try to save the world. I love Caruso's writing style, her character-building, and the way the characters relate to each other. I predict that I'll be reading all of her other books as well. This is the first of two books in Caruso's Echo Archives duology. The second book is The Last Soul Among Wolves . She is also the author of the Rooks and Ruin and Swords and Fire series. I'm listening to The Last Hour Between Worlds as an audiobook. For Bossy reviews of many other books that play with time, you can check out the books and lists at this link . 03 The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden It's the summer of 1961 in the rural Dutch province of Overijssel, and rigid Isabel is a spinster living in self-prescribed rigidity and adhering to strict schedules in her late mother's home--at the whim of her brothers, who rightfully own the house. When her playboy brother Louis drops his gauche girlfriend Eva to stay--for months! in their mother's old room!--Isabel is more than a little annoyed. Isabel, already paranoid that her meek weekly maid is stealing from her, becomes obsessed with the small items that begin to disappear after Eva's arrival...then she becomes obsessed with wild Eva herself. I'm listening to The Safekeep , which was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, as an audiobook. This is Yael van der Wouden's first book.

Bookworms! I hope you're settling in for a wonderful holiday, whether you're home or traveling and whether you're with a crowd or a small group of your people. Are your book gifts wrapped and ready to delight their new owners? Soon I'll be posting about my favorite December reads--and my favorite reads of 2024! I hope you'll stay tuned for those posts. Meanwhile, I give you photos of my annual visit to the most funky and fabulous library I know. Wishing you a safe, healthy, happy holiday. Thank you for talking books all year long. Our mutual admiration for new and treasured reads is a great joy in my life! xoxo, Amy

Science and Nature Bossy Book Gift Ideas I love giving nonfiction book gifts about interesting elements of science and nature to many of my gift recipients, and these types of books can often be read a little bit at a time, which is perfect for recipients who don't constantly read. This is the last of my annual Bossy book gift ideas for the holidays, and I hope you've found a book or two in these lists to delight someone you love--or to give to yourself! You can also check my past Bossy gift idea lists (linked below) for quirky books, perennial classics, modern favorites, nonfiction must-haves, or other new-to-you titles that might be perfect for the people on your holiday list! 2024 Bossy Book Gift Guides Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Cookbooks Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Sports and Recreation Nonfiction Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Books about Music Bossy Holiday Gift Ideas: Novels for Everyone on Your List 2023 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Science and the Natural World Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Sports Nonfiction Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Cookbooks Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Books about Media, Movies, and Music 2022 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Holiday Cookbook Gift Ideas   Shhh! Coffee Table Bossy Book Gift Ideas   Shhh! Science and Nature Bossy Book Gift Ideas   Shhh! Bossy Nonfiction Book Gift Ideas   2021 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Six More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Nonfiction and Hobby Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Kid and Teen Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays 2020 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Books I'm Giving as Gifts This Holiday   Shhh! More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays   Shhh! Book Gifts for Kids and Teens   Shhh! More Book Gifts for Kids and Teens   Bossy Independent Bookstore Love A Bossy book-buying note: If you're buying books this holiday season, please support your local independent bookstore. They need and appreciate our business! (The book covers on Bossy Bookworm link you to Bookshop, a site that supports the beloved indies that keep us swimming in thoughtful book recommendations and excellent customer service all year round.) I love my local independent bookstore, Park Road Books . They have a fantastic selection of titles, staff members offer spot-on recommendations (and sparkling personalities!), and they can order almost anything they don't have in stock. 01 The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer is an Indigenous scientist, and as she harvested serviceberries alongside wild birds, she reflected on the importance of reciprocity in the world. She wondered: How can we use the knowledge and experience of the Indigenous people of a region to shift our use of our precious natural resources? How can we rethink our approach to sharing these resources, which are often hoarded due to a panicked sense of scarcity? By observing the serviceberry tree's distribution of resources to its surrounding community and how the tree and its environment thrive, Kimmerer suggests new ways of living in our natural environment. 02 Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine Rundell Katherine Rundell traces many of the fascinating creatures that currently face possible extinction around the world. She explores animals ranging from the seahorse, whose couples mate for life and engage in a ballet of wooing; to the American wood frog that allows itself to freeze solid each winter to survive; to lemurs, who live in matriarchal groups and who, when cold or afraid, can band together and form a furry lemur ball as large as a bicycle wheel. Rundell showcases 23 intriguing creatures, encouraging readers to wonder, appreciate, and work to preserve these fragile, special animals. 03 The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness by Kenn Kaufman The Birds That Audubon Missed explores the discoveries of the famous ornithologist John James Audubon in this combination of biography/memoir, art, history, and science. Audubon painted as many beautiful birds as he could, but one of his primary goals was arguably to outdo his rival Alexander Wilson. In an era of ultracompetitive naturalist discovery and showcasing, Wilson's prot égé accused Audubon of falsifying the existence and appearance of certain birds, and in fact, he did. But despite the fight to come out on top in the naturalists' matchup, many of the birds around them were never observed or documented. Kaufman has attempted to paint in Audubon's style, illuminating the wondrous birds that the famous ornithologist never documented. 04 Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication by Arik Kershenbaum Animals are constantly communicating to each other in a cacophany of sounds--chattering, hissing, growling, clicking, and more. The howling of wolves, chittering of birds, and whooping of chimpanzees is clearly communicating something to other animals. But scientists have long wondered what signals and messages animals are sending to each other, and what's their motivation? Arik Kershenbaum, renowned zoologist and the author of The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy , here shares his original research into what he has observed that animals are communicating to each other through their varied avenues of "talking." In the fascinating Why Animals Talk , Kershenbaum attempts to begin to uncover the secrets of animals' language. 05 Atlas Obscura: Wild Life by Cara Giaimo and Joshua Foer I've included multiple gorgeous Atlas Obscura titles on my Bossy Gift Lists in the past few years--and I've given many as gifts. They're chock-full of information, beautifully illustrated and photographed, and just plain fascinating. Atlas Obscura: Wild Life dives into over 500 captivating plants, animals, and natural world phenomena, with illustrations or photographs (or both) on each page. From dung beetles to a 44,000-year-old shrub; from the incredibly strong, tiny peacock mantis shrimp to the search for ocean-dwelling insects; and from creatures deep into the sea to those found in the heart of a bustling city, Atlas Obscura: Wild Life supplies intriguing elements of the natural world in a visually stunning presentation. 06 The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey Susan Casey, chronicler of ocean life and author of Voices in the Ocean, The Wave , and The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks , traveled the world to accompany scientists and explorers to the deepest points in the ocean, interviewing the oceanographers, marine biologists, and geographers focused on exploring this mysterious territory. Casey shares myths and stories about the ocean deep, along with some of the knowledge cutting-edge technology has allowed us to learn about life there--and why the deepest ocean is essential to our planet's healthy future.

Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into the spotlight, falls for a cursed lover, and finds that her only hope of survival--and revenge--is outwitting church, state, and the wealthy who gleefully wield their cruel power. Luzia Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid for an insufferable, unsatisfied mistress. But when her employer figures out that Luzia is using tiny works of magic to get through her day, she insists that Luzia turn her attentions to magical efforts that will benefit her, or be turned out on the street. The woman's greed and desire for greater social standing mean that Luzia attracts the attention of more and more powerful people, including the king--who is desperate for an advantage in Spain's war against England, and is searching for added power. Luzia soon finds herself navigating the complex world of seers, frauds, and holy men vying for the king's favor in a competition to earn a position in his inner circle. She must manage the weighty expectations set upon her--while always hiding her Jewish blood, which would make her a target of the terrifying Inquisition that looms over everyone. Santángel, a n ominous figure slated with helping Luzia harness her power, becomes a confidant and also shares his deepest secrets with her. He has been cursed for generations to serve a series of crooked masters and their offspring, with no escape in sight. The Catholic church and the king struggle against each other for power, and wealthy citizens attempt to back the correct power-hungry, corrupt, prominent figure who will wrest control from the other. Greed and manipulation rule the day for all involved, with our main protagonists paying the price. Is the nature of each competitor's magic from the devil, or is it the angels' power coursing through them? The church is poised to make final judgment--shaped by bribery and influence of accusers and, seemingly, by pure whim. The Inquisition also turns manipulative eyes on everyday citizens with demands for evidence of good versus evil, for impossible displays of purity, and relentlessly pursues the implications of others in evildoing. Meanwhile, Luzia can't trust those competing against her for favor, as dark forces lead one after another to their destruction. As Luzia balances her need to please the church and king with her display of power with her sense of self-preservation in not tempting comparisons to the devil's work, the dangers of scrutiny mean she is slated for interrogation and, likely, torture. But she and Santángel have become deeply emotionally intertwined, and when he tries to sacrifice his own life for hers, Luzia must test the limits of her own intuition and power to try to save them both--and just maybe enact revenge against those who have tried to destroy her. I love a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and while this novel isn't as layered and complex or as twisty as some other Bardugo novels, The Familiar hit the spot for me with trademark Bardugo detail and world-building that set a dark, rich scene for the action; an unassuming, unlikely heroine who comes into her power; an unorthodox, deep love; and satisfying revenge over corruption and evil. More works from this author: Leigh Bardugo is also the author of Ninth House , Hell Bent , the King of Scars series ( Rule of Wolves  is book two), the Six of Crows series, the Shadow and Bone series ( which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series ) and The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic .

Croucher's young adult queer medieval adventure romance is sweet, spunky, and full of great banter, with characters finding their way (and love) despite complex challenges. "You aren’t merry," Clem said to her captor. "And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line." Mariel is the bristly new captain of the Merry Men and is anxious to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the retired Robin Hood (who now lives with his true love, William), and to make her hard-to-please father, who has wrested control of the Merry Men, proud. Clem is a jovial healer from the country who is advancing medical techniques and is sought out for her helpful salves and methods in a time of the outdated use of leeches and attempts to cure dark humors. Clem has only noble intentions of helping others, and she doesn't differentiate between those on the Sheriff's side and those on the Merry Men's side. When the Merry Men capture Clem in retribution for her help in healing the Sheriff of Nottingham, things get complicated for both Mariel and Clem in this sassy, fun, queer historical fiction young adult romance. Mariel is trying to find her way and keep her emotional walls up, while Clem's openheartedness seems determined to tear them down. The rest of the gang is fantastically spunky, tough, kind, and loyal--with nonbinary representation and lots of love. The group faces real challenges, and some characters don't make it through the battles and sometimes-messy plans-gone-awry. Consequences feel appropriately weighty. It's a young adult book, with lots of love and attraction but very little steaminess (none explicit), and it kept me hooked with the layers of emotional growth, the fights for autonomy, and the determination to build a new future. I am all in for Lex Croucher novels forever. The banter, the adventure, the medieval setting--yes yes yes. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published November 26, courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. More from this author: Lex Croucher is also the author of the wonderful Gwen & Art Are Not in Love .

Gwynne's epic, Norse-inspired saga tracks three fascinating main protagonists through battles, shifting alliances, strengthened resolve, and revenge journeys. I loved this. In John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga The Shadow of the Gods , it's been a century since the gods battled themselves into extinction. Only their bones hold power now--for those brave enough to seek them out. There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: Elvar, a noblewoman searching for fame through battle; Orka, a huntress on a quest filled with danger; and Varg, a servant who joins the mercenaries called the Bloodsworn so that he may seek revenge. The three stories run along with plenty of steam, centered around violent battles, brutal revenge, extended searches for loved ones, and the carving out of new futures by our main protagonists. The story is always shifting--shaped by betrayals and the flipped script when fate and destiny aren't what the characters thought and they must come into their own. This is epic but never melodramatic, and I was hooked on the Viking-esque elements, the badass women who find their strength, and the perfect balance of resolution and cliffhanger to build anticipation for book two. Spoiler: a dragon appears at the very end of the book, laying the groundwork for more dragon page time in subsequent books. I loved this. I listened to The Shadow of the Gods  as an audiobook. More from John Gwynne: Gwynne is also the author of book two in this series, The Hunger of the Gods , the series Of Blood and Bone, and The Faithful and the Fallen series. Gwynne is also a Viking reenactor.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading A. Rae Dunlap's debut novel The Resurrectionist , focused on early medicine, serial killers, and a gothic setting in 19th-century Scotland; I'm reading Kate Atkinson's most recent Jackson Brodie mystery, Death at the Sign of the Rook ; and I'm listening to Leigh Bardugo's novel set in the Spanish Golden Age, The Familiar . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap I've seen A. Rae Dunlap's The Resurrectionist compared to Caleb Carr's The Alienist , a suspenseful novel about the evolution of forensic science I adored reading years ago. Dunlap's debut novel is dark, twisty, gothic, and it's set in 19th-century Scotland as (real-life) serial killers Burke and Hare are terrorizing Edinburgh. James Willoughby, a poor, naive young medical student, becomes drawn into the underworld of body snatching when he seeks cadavers for his surgery study--and runs into the terrifying killers Burke and Hare. I'm reading this title, scheduled for publication December 24, courtesy of NetGalley and Kensington Books. 02 Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson Ex-detective Jackson Brodie returns in Kate Atkinson's Agatha-Christie-like setup in Death at the Sign of the Rook . In Brodie's quiet little town, he's tediously searching for a stolen painting when he stumbles across a string of unsolved art thefts--and he's led to Burton Makepeace, an old hotel that also hosts Murder Mystery weekends. This is the sixth installment in Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. Atkinson is also the author of Shrines of Gaiety , Case Histories, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, Life After Life , Human Croquet, When Will There Be Good News , and more books. 03 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo Luzia Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid for an insufferable, unsatisfied mistress. But when her employer figures out that Luzia is using tiny works of magic to get through her day, she insists that Luzia turn her attentions to magical efforts that will benefit her. The woman's greed and desire for greater social standing mean that Luzia attracts the attention of more and more powerful people, including the king--who is desperate for an advantage in Spain's war against England. Luzia is enlisted to help--and soon finds herself navigating the complex world of seers, frauds, and holy men vying for the king's attention. She must manage her new position and the weighty expectations set upon her--while hiding her Jewish blood, which would make her a target of the terrifying Inquisition. Leigh Bardugo is also the author of Ninth House , Hell Bent , the King of Scars series ( Rule of Wolves is book two), the Six of Crows series, the Shadow and Bone series ( which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series ) and The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic .

Bossy Gift Ideas: The Novels Here are six great novels that I'm excited to give as gifts this holiday season--I hope one of them is also a fit for someone on your gift list! I'm sharing Bossy book gift ideas on Fridays leading up to the holidays, and I hope you'll find a book or two in these lists to delight someone you love--or to give to yourself. You may want to check my past Bossy gift idea lists (linked below) for quirky books, perennial classics, modern favorites, nonfiction must-haves, or other new-to-you titles that might be perfect for the people on your holiday list! 2024 Bossy Book Gift Guides...So Far Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Cookbooks Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Sports and Recreation Nonfiction Bossy Holiday Gift Ideas: Books about Music 2023 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Science and the Natural World Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Sports Nonfiction Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Cookbooks Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Books about Media, Movies, and Music 2022 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Holiday Cookbook Gift Ideas   Shhh! Coffee Table Bossy Book Gift Ideas   Shhh! Science and Nature Bossy Book Gift Ideas   Shhh! Bossy Nonfiction Book Gift Ideas   2021 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Six More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Nonfiction and Hobby Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays Shhh! Kid and Teen Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays 2020 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Books I'm Giving as Gifts This Holiday   Shhh! More Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays   Shhh! Book Gifts for Kids and Teens   Shhh! More Book Gifts for Kids and Teens   Bossy Independent Bookstore Love A Bossy book-buying note: If you're buying books this holiday season, please support your local independent bookstore. They need and appreciate our business! (The book covers on Bossy Bookworm link you to Bookshop, a site that supports the beloved indies that keep us swimming in thoughtful book recommendations and excellent customer service all year round.) I love my local independent bookstore, Park Road Books . They have a fantastic selection of titles, staff members offer spot-on recommendations (and sparkling personalities!), and they can order almost anything they don't have in stock. 01 A Playful Yet Weighty Contemporary Novel The Wedding People by Alison Espach Espach layers complex emotional challenges like suicidal thoughts, grief, and loneliness with funny, quirky, poignant moments in this charming, heartwarming novel. Phoebe arrives at the decadent Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, wearing a green dress and heels, and she's quickly mistaken for one of the "wedding people." But Phoebe is having a crisis, and she's latched onto being at the site of her former dream vacation--which she'd envisioned visiting with her now-ex-husband--as the answer to her problems. Lila has planned her million-dollar wedding down to the last detail, and Phoebe's depression and her very presence are throwing her for a loop--only the wedding people  were meant to have rooms at the inn, and Lila isn't used to having her plans go awry. Phoebe and Lila are unlikely confidantes and even more unlikely friends. But as the wedding week goes on, each woman is surprised by what she discovers about herself and the truths she is forced to confront. I loved the tone of this novel. Espach writes a playful, poignant, often funny novel while anchoring the characters in complex emotions: suicidal thoughts, grief, loneliness, and despair. I was struck by the balance of depth and humor, and I was hooked throughout. For my full review of this book, please see The Wedding People . 02 A Mystery and a Poignant Family Story (Now in Paperback) Happiness Falls by Angie Kim Angie Kim's sophomore novel is a mystery, but Happiness Falls  is primarily an exploration of a complicated, loving, messy family and each of its members. For the rest of our lives, every time one of us goes somewhere and doesn’t return on time, doesn’t let the others know where we are, we will remember this time, what can happen. And we will fall apart. Mia doesn't panic when her father and brother Eugene are late returning from a walk in the park. They might have forgotten their phones, or taken a detour. But when Eugene rushes into the house, bloody and alone, Mia realizes something terrible has happened. And Eugene, who has the rare genetic condition Angelman syndrome, cannot communicate to tell her what occurred. Kim's missing-person novel is a mystery and is structured around the discovery and exploration of what may have happened to cause Mia's father's disappearance. But Happiness Falls is primarily a story about a family finally understanding each other and going to extraordinary lengths to work together. For my full review, please see Happiness Falls . 03 A Literary Fiction Novel about Life and Love You Are Here by David Nicholls David Nicholls's characters, some of whom are strangers to each other, meander through the English countryside on a days-long jaunt--and along the way allow long-held vulnerabilities to fall away in this beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming story. In David Nicholls's You Are Here , a small group of Sophie's friends, along with her teenage son, assemble to "walk" (hike) through the hills and moors of northern England for several days. After meeting for the first time, Michael, a recently divorced teacher, studious and thoughtful, and Marnie, a playful copy editor who prefers solitude after her own divorce, fall into a companionable rhythm and, to their surprise, begin to seek out each other's company in an extended hike toward the coast. We see the disconnect between Marnie and Michael's inner selves and their unsure, sometimes awkward acts and words, and it's deliciously heartbreaking to be privy to their insecurities and fears as well as their soaring hopes--and their crushing attempts to reign them in, in case their feelings aren't reciprocated and their fragile hearts can't take another round of loss. I loved this literary fiction--the increasing vulnerability and search for connection after heartache, the vivid descriptions of English countryside, and the small moments that mean everything. Click here   for my full review of You Are Here . 04 A Modern, Darkly Funny Mystery Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera Listen for the Lie  offers a fascinating story structure, dark humor, and deeply flawed characters as main protagonist Lucy works to resolve her memory loss surrounding the events leading to her best friend's death. Twentysomething Lucy is found wandering the streets of her small Texas town, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood. But Lucy suffered a head wound the night of Savvy's death and now she can't remember anything about the night Savvy was murdered. Everyone assumes she killed Savvy, and Lucy can't escape the suspicions and resentment surrounding the mysterious conditions of Savvy's death. I was hooked on the structure of the story and the way the truth is gradually revealed; the information is illuminating as it creeps out but Tintera's tone is never teasing. The author doesn't throw in red herrings, and she doesn't manipulate the facts in order to spring a surprise on the reader. The podcast element was engaging--I loved how it allowed for layers of interpretation, revelation, and intrigue. For my full review of this book, please see Listen for the Lie . 04 Smart Historical Fiction with a Time-Travel Twist The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley This captivating story involves time travel, but it's primarily about deep human connections, complete with fantastic, funny banter; awkward adjustments to the time period; and love and deep heartbreak. The ending is wonderful. In a world of the near future, a young (unnamed) woman is one of several civil servants offered a mysterious job: she'll be a handler for expats--and paid very handsomely for her work. But the expats the government is gathering aren't necessarily from another country. They're from other times in history. The main protagonist's focus in her work is Commander Graham Gore (a character based upon a real figure from history), who has been whisked from a desperately failed expedition in 1847 to the book's future setting. In order to be a "bridge" for Gore between his past and the present, she'll have to explain why she's showing so much skin, why it's not healthy to smoke all day, and what a washing machine is. But the bridge and her client are building bonds deeper than either could have imagined; the love story between the bridge and Gore is strange, heartwarming, steamy, fraught, and just lovely. For my full review, please see The Ministry of Time . 06 A Funny, Steamy, Sweet Rom-Com Funny Story by Emily Henry Funny Story  is the perfect rom-com read. Henry offers funny banter that made me laugh, some steamy moments, and a sweet love story. Reading this one made me happy. When Peter abruptly breaks up with Daphne, citing his sudden love for his childhood best friend Petra, Daphne is left emotionally reeling--and without a place to live. Desperate and devastated, she reluctantly moves into a spare room in the apartment of an acquaintance, "pothead" Miles. He has extra space because he was just dumped by his live-in girlfriend Petra. Who left him for Daphne's fiancé, Peter. This is exxxxcellent Emily Henry. The banter is fantastic, and I laughed many times while reading this one. There's steaminess and affection and character growth. No one is perfect, no one is swooning, and the love in this happy read is immensely satisfying. The rom-com conflict that prevents an immediate happy resolution was based on a communication fail--a setup I usually detest, because: just talk to each other!--but this one was so well done and understandable from both sides, I was hook, line, and sinker for all of it. Henry offers up lots of book love, as usual: Daphne is a dedicated children's librarian. I listened to Funny Story  as an audiobook (narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan). For my full review of this book, please see Funny Story .

Robinson's gentle novel Gilead spans generations of fathers and sons and explores a reverend's complicated relationship with his troubled young namesake and the evolution of his faith and preaching. “I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness. And memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have any reality at all, even in its passing. A moment is such a slight thing. I mean, that its abiding is a most gracious reprieve.” Marilynne Robinson's Gilead chronologically precedes her novel Lila and takes the form of the aging Reverend's recollections and letters to his young son. The book spans generations of fathers and sons from the Civil War to the twentieth century, includes reflections about the war, and it's a beautiful book, so I decided that it's going on my Civil War list. Gilead is largely an exploration of the Reverend's complicated relationship with his troubled young namesake and the evolution of his faith and preaching. This is a gentle, slow-paced story from the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous writer. I mentioned Gilead in the Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War . I'd love to hear what you think about this book! Marilynne Robinson is also the author of Home , Lila , Jack , Housekeeping , and other books.

This young-adult rom-com picks up with the protagonists of Better Than the Movies , now in a difficult college reunion for two. I loved book one, but this one had such a different feel for me, I didn't feel the connection to that story's beloved characters. In Lynn Painter's Nothing Like the Movies  rom-com, Liz Buxbaum and Wes Bennett were childhood next-door neighbors in Omaha who fell in love as teens. They both head to UCLA for college, but when Wes's dad dies only weeks into their first semester, Wes leaves behind his D1 baseball future, his schooling, and his love for Liz. Two years later he's at UCLA again, he's worked his way back onto the baseball team, he's diving into classes--and winning over Liz is the last item on his to-do list. But Liz, who is often embedded with the baseball team to gather footage and social media material, isn't going to forgive him so easily. And her new boyfriend may have something to say about Wes's ongoing love for her too. I loved Painter's extremely funny, sweet Better Than the Movies and its believable young characters that I cared about. And although this title is labeled as part of the series Better Than the Movies, book 2, this one has a dramatically different feel: for me, the characters didn't have a plausible connection, and the story's baseball focus gave it a more formulaic sports-romance flavor. I didn't connect the first book's beloved characters to these characters until very late in the book. The movie quotes at the start of each chapter felt like a forced attempt to connect this book to Better Than the Movies , but this story is so baseball-focused, Liz is so determined not to be sentimental or romantic, and the characters' relationship felt bristly and as though they really weren't suited for each other, so for me, the swoony cinematic moments didn't seem to fit. I was put off by Wes's frequent "honey," "baby" pet names and by what felt like repeated alpha-male attempts to force a return to his relationship of years past; Liz is making her way with friends, involved extracurriculars that seem a promising path to a future career, and a full life. Despite their history, her breathless reactions to Wes didn't feel built upon factors I could believe in; I bought in much more fully to her moments of annoyance and exasperation. Painter spends significant page time on what is essentially the idea that one character or the other is too gorgeous to believe and to one character's realization that the other character is too tantalizing to resist. But for me, the story didn't support these romantic, sexy fantasies--I remained somewhat irritated by their interactions. I found myself distracted by the convenient but unlikely circumstances that allow for much of the book's events to occur. For example, Liz hadn't returned home from college for two years and had presumably never spoken to any mutual friends to find out anything about Wes. In this day and age of social media, casual searches, and easy communication, this seemed tough to believe. I also found it difficult to buy into the amount of UCLA funding for coverage of and for the extent of filming and featuring the new player Wes, including a school-funded trip for three to his childhood home. Multiple other small moments in the book felt similarly dubious and therefore drew me out of the story. I missed the clever banter and heartwarming moments of Better Than the Movies , which I rated five Bossy stars. I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator's voice often quivers with emotion and came through as somewhat shrill during Liz's frequent dramatic reactions--this effect was possibly exacerbated by my listening at a sped-up rate. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! Lynn Painter is the author of a rom-com I adored, Better Than the Movies , the cute Betting on You  and also Happily Never After , Accidentally Amy , Mr. Wrong Number , and other books.

Our Evenings explores a young, often cruel, existence at a British boys' boarding school; later fits and starts of exploring sexuality and expressing vulnerability; a growing love for acting; and seeking and finding a path toward living a genuine life. Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I'd lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice. Young Dave Win, the son of a Burmese father he never met and a devoted, kind seamstress mother, attends a prestigious boarding school on scholarship in the 1960s. His social position is fragile because of his mixed race and his modest background. He dodges unwelcome attention, begins to love to act in plays, and explores his feelings about other boys. Dave's scholarship benefactors are a couple flush with family money, interested in the arts and matter-of-fact about supporting causes they care about. Their selfish, bull-headed, sometimes cruel son Giles is a classmate of Dave's, and when Dave is invited to stay with the family during school breaks, he is fascinated by the library, the talk of literature, ideas, and plays, and by grown-up discussions of the world. But as a price for temporary forays into upper-crust life, he must navigate Giles's physical aggressions, rude comments, and unwelcome sexual interest. Later, Giles and his parents will separately pop in and out of Dave's adult life at crucial moments--his parents as supportive sometime-benefactors, and Giles as a depressingly predictable bully of a politician. Dave shares the stories of his young life as though in a dream: it was repeatedly quite alarming to me as a reader to anticipate and then hear accounts or murmurings of various terrible cruelties inflicted upon Dave (and other young boys). But Dave never paints himself as a victim or feels righteous rage; his account treats such occurrences without dramatic editorial comment, as though they are commonplace--and, for him and his vulnerable schoolmates, they are. His later life, in graduate school and then as an actor, offers his evolution into and realization of his true self, which is gratifying to read, as well as the heartbreaking fits and starts of his explorations of his sexuality and, ultimately, a satisfying amount of growth and his ability to be vulnerable with other men. Meanwhile, his small-town mother is exploring her feelings for a wealthy woman who is also her business investor, despite malicious gossip and judgment from the community. Our Evenings trails the various impacts of the authority of wealth, abuse of power, and cruelties of the mighty inflicted upon the powerless. The story also explores Dave's and his mother's personal, individual paths through various experiences of bigotry to living life honestly and freely with partners they love. I appreciated the fullness of the arc of Dave's life, while feeling relatively little emotional attachment to it. I listened to Our Evenings as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book! Alan Hollinghurst   is also the author of The Swimming-Pool Library; The Folding Star; The Spell; The Line of Beauty ; and The Stranger's Child .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Shadowed Land , the third in Signe Pike's wonderful Scottish series of bravery, loyalty, betrayal, and adventure; I'm listening to Lynn Painter's rom-com Nothing Like the Movies ; and I'm listening to John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga of life in the time after the gods have destroyed themselves, The Shadow of the Gods . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Shadowed Land (Lost Queen #3) by Signe Pike I loved the first story in this series, The Lost Queen , which offered warriors, legends, magic, love triangles, duty, royalty, brutality, and loyalty and betrayal—all set against the backdrop of Scottish castles and pastoral countrysides. I thought the second book in the series, The Forgotten Kingdom (you can find a link to my review below), was captivating without being melodramatic, romantic without any overdone elements, and wonderfully steeped in legend. When book three begins, the story's key characters have been reunited, but the warrior Artúr is myst eriously called back by his father; Languoreth and her brother Lailoken keep captive the problematic former bishop Mungo while trying to keep the peace between the Christians and those who follow the Old Way; and Languoreth's daughter Angharad strikes out to try to become an initiate of the druid Briochan, who summons the weather. I'm reading this title, which was published December 3, courtesy of NetGalley and Atria Books. Signe Pike is the author of the first two books in the Lost Queen trilogy, The Lost Queen and The Forgotten Kingdom . 02 Nothing Like the Movies (Better Than the Movies #2) by Lynn Painter In Lynn Painter's Nothing Like the Movies rom-com, Liz Buxbaum and Wes Bennett were childhood next-door neighbors in Omaha who fell in love as teens. They both head to UCLA for college, but when Wes's dad dies only weeks into their first semester, Wes leaves behind his D1 baseball future, his schooling, and his love for Liz. Two years later he's at UCLA again, he's worked his way back onto the baseball team, he's diving into classes--and winning over Liz is the last item on his to-do list. But Liz, who is often embedded with the baseball team to gather footage and social media material, isn't going to forgive him so easily. And her new boyfriend may have something to say about Wes's ongoing love for her too. Lynn Painter is the author of a rom-com I adored, Better Than the Movies , as well as the cute Betting on You and Happily Never After , Accidentally Amy , Mr. Wrong Number , and other books. I'm listening to this as an audiobook. 03 The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne In John Gwynne's Norse-inspired saga The Shadow of the Gods , it's been a century since the gods battled themselves into extinction. Only their bones hold power now--for those brave enough to seek them out. There is talk of war's return, and three warriors will shape the future of the land of Vigrid: a noblewoman searching for fame through battle; a huntress on a quest filled with danger; and a servant who joins the mercenaries called the Bloodsworn so that she may seek revenge. I'm listening to The Shadow of the Gods as an audiobook. Gwynne is also the author of book two in this series, The Hunger of the Gods , the series Of Blood and Bone, and The Faithful and the Fallen series. Gwynne is also a Viking reenactor.