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The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Sarah Rees Brennan's darkly playful dive into life as a villain in a fantasy story, Long Live Evil ; I'm reading Liz Moore's newest mystery, set in a 1975 Adirondack summer camp where the young camper daughter of the owners has disappeared, God of the Woods ; and I'm listening to Joy Callaway's historical fiction set in the time of the building of North Carolina's Grove Park Inn in Asheville, What the Mountains Remember . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan I love a story that flips a traditional setup, and I have high hopes that Long Live Evil is going to be my new favorite in the Villains Are People Too book trend (check out two of my 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 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. I'm listening to Long Live Evil as an audiobook. Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other Lands . For other books that take a sympathetic, darkly playful view of a villain, check out Hench and Starter Villain . 02 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adironack 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. And her brother 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, and the split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant. Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River as well as Heft and The Unseen World . 03 What the Mountains Remember by Joy Callaway I love a North-Carolina-set story, and Joy Callaway's historical fiction What the Mountains Remember has me hooked: the novel traces the building of the famous Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. It's 1913, and Belle Newbold hasn't been into the mountains since her father died in a tragic West Virginia mining accident. In the seven years since, Belle's mother has reinvented herself as a society woman and has remarried, and Belle has learned to keep the family's past poverty, hunger, and struggles a secret. Belle is set up to marry an eligible (and wealthy) bachelor, Worth Delafield, and since she and Worth have each sworn off love, they're sure to keep their heads on straight as partners, no drama or heartbreak. But when they meet, sparks fly. Belle is determined to write the stories of the extraordinary everyday men who are building the Grove Park Inn, and Worth is distracting her--and finding himself overwhelmed by the magic of Belle herself. For more North Carolina stories, check out the books on this Bossy list . I'm listening to What the Mountains Remember as an audiobook.

Powerful Books about the Experiences of Immigrants I could have listed many other powerful books about immigrants. But these four fiction works and two nonfiction titles resonated with me, each offering glimpses into the challenges and triumphs of leaving one land and tackling another; striving to hold on to culture while navigating unfamiliar pitfalls; and facing the fears and joys of seeking a new life in a new place. 01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s, a teenager falls for a silver-tongued stranger on the coast of Korea. But when the relationship falters, she flees into a marriage with a sickly traveling minister and escapes to Japan, setting in motion the events that will shape the generations to come. Noa didn’t care about being Korean when he was with her; in fact, he didn’t care about being Korean or Japanese with anyone. He wanted to be, to be just himself, whatever that meant; he wanted to forget himself sometimes. Pachinko is a sweeping generational story of hardship, sacrifice, and fifty years of Korean-Japanese cultural conflict beginning in the early twentieth century, as seen through the experiences of one family. The many details of daily life (food, dress, tradition) in Korea and Japan made the almost-500-page story come alive for me. 02 The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya Wow. Wamariya writes beautifully and brutally honestly about her journey of fleeing from Rwanda and through six other African countries—with her tough, hustling older sister Claire—during and after the Rwandan genocide. In The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After , Wamariya recalls her experiences through her childlike point of view, which allows for a painfully pure set of painful memories, betrayals, horrors, and sometimes a steeled numbness. Wamariya shares her views of the world, her often jarring experiences in the US—with her sister and family on weekends in inner city Chicago and her weekday life and schooling in wealthy Kenilworth, then Hotchkiss and Yale and beyond—and her search to help other refugees’ stories be known and for her own peace. The author's tone and voice is like poetry at times, raw and spare and true. 03 In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero The heart of Diane Guerrero's story is powerful: a hardworking family is preyed upon by criminals' financially ruinous scams against undocumented workers; the family members experience years of constant fears of deportation; and then they must face the shocking potential reality of deportation itself. Guerrero's interest in drama and her later fame ultimately help buoy her up despite her personal agony and family heartbreak, and she ultimately becomes an activist for immigration reform. Meanwhile, Guerrero is young and often sounds like it as she flits from topic to topic in her account of her life and especially her experiences as an actress in Orange Is the New Black . The details of her immigrant family's challenges, struggles, and strength were the elements I found most affecting about In the Country We Love . 04 The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob When practical surgeon Thomas begins speaking aloud and at length to his long-dead Indian relatives, his daughter Amina is called home to try to soothe him and help her mother figure out what's going on. In The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing , Jacob alternates between the past and present, India and Seattle, shaping the stories of each of the family members Thomas is conversing with and ultimately telling the story of an extended family and its many ups and downs. The title may be a little self-conscious, but the book itself is darkly funny, with wonderfully paced dialogue and compelling characters' lives you can get lost in. The title may be a little self-conscious, but the book itself is darkly funny, with wonderfully paced dialogue and compelling characters' lives you can get lost in. Jacob writes beautiful meditations on allowing oneself to either be haunted by the past or embrace its everyday presence in your life; accepting fateful choices and their ongoing impact; carving out an identity that both encompasses and is separate from a family's immigration, ethnicity, and familial ties; and letting go. 05 Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli Because—how do you explain that it is never inspiration that drives you to tell a story, but rather a combination of anger and clarity? How do you say: No, we do not find inspiration here, but we find a country that is as beautiful as it is broken, and we are somehow now part of it, so we are also broken with it, and feel ashamed, confused, and sometimes hopeless, and are trying to figure out how to do something about all that. This is a long essay (but a short book) illustrating the complex behind-the-scenes challenges and tragedies surrounding the child migration crisis in the US. Luiselli structures Tell Me How It Ends around the forty questions interpreters ask of undocumented children during their intake interviews upon arrival in the country. She explores the contradictions between potential safety and a future for immigrants and a reality that is more brutal and uncertain than the children and their parents may have feared. ​ 6 A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum In A Woman Is No Man , Etaf Rum explores the often powerless and essentially voiceless statuses of her female characters within their conservative Arab culture, both in Palestine and as immigrants and first-generation Americans in New York. Much of this is dark. Yet there are bright points: some rare friendships emerge, sisters build intense loyalty to each other, girls and women find joy in secret reading and in books, women find strength and demand truth rather than secrecy, and there are occasional breaks to freedom. The details Rum provides as a thread throughout the book of the food, spices, and meals that create much of the structure of the women’s days are wonderful. A Woman Is No Man ultimately explores the superhuman drive and bravery required by Rum's female characters--but also many other real-life women in comparable situations--to write a new history, one in which they enjoy basic freedoms and a voice. For my full review of this book, please see A Woman Is No Man .

In the third Emma Makepeace novel, British spy Emma goes rogue in order to save world leaders and prevent an assassination at the hands of Russian mobsters. In the newest Emma Makepeace suspense novel from Ava Glass, The Trap , British spy Emma must work at breakneck speed to prevent a high-profile assassination by the Russians in the days leading up to the momentous G7 summit in Edinburgh. Emma's efforts are significantly complicated by the fact that the potential victim is unknown-- and by the fact that those in charge of her own spy network have discounted the Russian threat and are no longer supporting efforts to unravel its source or its possible impact. But Emma and her small team are convinced that if the Russians' plan is allowed to take shape, it will be disastrous. They must determine how many boundaries they can push and how many lines they're willing to cross in order to uncover the truth in time to thwart the deadly plan. I questioned one of Emma's forays into the past, which seems likely to place a person she treasures in danger. There aren't significant subplots, so this is a straightforward-feeling story, a sort of "mystery light," without complicated layers. But I love a spy-thwarting-Russian-plots storyline, and Ava Glass delivers yet again on that front. Glass briefly reviews how Emma's past has strengthened her motivation to take down Russians with nefarious intent, and she offers an opportunity for Emma to go rogue--within a team determined to save the country and leaders from around the world. Gadgets, disguises, alternative identities, bugs and surveillance-- The Trap  involves many of my favorite spy-story elements. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 3, courtesy of Ballantine and NetGalley. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you've read this book! Ava Glass is also the author of Alias Emma   and The Traitor .

Among the Bros is a disturbing true story of increasing greed, shocking carelessness with human life, drug addiction, tragic turns and deaths, and outrageous hubris that is the undoing of the young men at the heart of the nonfiction account. Max Marshall's Among the Bros  is a nonfiction peek into a multi-million-dollar drug ring and its many intersections with fraternities in the southeast. By tracing the college lives of Mikey and Rob, friends at the College of Charleston, as they pledge fraternities and then carve out paths for themselves--Mikey drops out, while Rob seems to be a golden child who does and has it all--Marshall details the young men's increasingly dangerous and illegal choices and their involvement in an interstate drug ring. Marshall notes that he himself was a member of a fraternity, ostensibly to allow for an insider perspective to these communities or at least some context from his own experience. But this doesn't feel like a fraternity story. The boys who are interviewed and highlighted in the book generally have access to money, some live together, and in many cases they demonstrate a desire to have a good time, which might be said to allow for the spread and abuse of substances detailed here. But Among the Bros focuses on what feels like something well beyond fraternity life: the book subjects are ambitiously greedy, drug-fueled, and they show growing disconnects from reality, society, basic survival strategies, and common sense. The young men involved are insufferable: they are selfish, frequently idiotic, and callous. They demonstrate shocking carelessness with human life and a disregard for its worth; compounding greed; extreme foolishness; lack of awareness; a prevalent sense of entitlement and arrogance; an irrational sense of being above the law; and devastating levels of hubris that end up being the men's undoing. Marshall ultimately links the drug ring to multiple tragic stories of addiction, several deaths, and a murder. The scale of the drug ring is terrifying--involving thousands of pills, huge units of cocaine, and more, all moving across state lines and through chains of sale and use. About 75 percent of the way through the book, the facts begin to focus on the sting and the chain of informants, which I found particularly interesting. But I didn't feel there were other illuminating angles to the story beyond the shock and awe of the account. As I read the disturbing sequence of events, I felt increasing despair and disgust as well as horror at the synthesizing of hundreds of interviews, text messages, and accounts, and at times I questioned the hearts and souls of the human beings being discussed. I was relieved to finish reading this one. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book! I listened to Among the Bros as an audiobook. For other Bossy reviews of nonfiction books, check out the titles at this link .

I'm intrigued by a missing-persons story, and I'm a 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. While Chelsey is thrilled that Ellie is back, she's frustrated by Ellie's refusal to provide information that might lead the police to her captor. While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes that Ellie's hiding something--and she may be putting her own life and the lives of others in danger. 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? I was distracted by the way Ellie wasn't held accountable (despite her significant trauma) and wasn't pressed for details regarding the culprit who snatched her, where she might have been, and who else was there--all of which could have helped police get to the bottom of multiple other disappearances, past and present. I also found it strange that Chelsey operated as a solo actor in the investigation to the extent she did. 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. I listened to The Return of Ellie Black  as an audiobook. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! 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.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Molly Aitken's historical fiction novel set in 13th-century Ireland, Bright I Burn ; I'm listening to Among the Bros , Max Marshall's nonfiction investigative account of the intersections between Southern fraternity members and a multi-million-dollar interstate drug ring; and I'm listening to a suspenseful mystery about a missing young woman who reappears after two years, The Return of Ellie Black . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken Molly Aitken's historical fiction Bright I Burn is based on the true story of the first woman in Ireland to be burned as a witch. In 13th-century Ireland, Alice witnesses her mother's difficult domestic life and lack of autonomy, and she swears she will find a way to take more control of her own life. Women in the 1200s aren't given much freedom, and she must wrest her power from her father, her husbands, and society. But a powerful woman is resented and feared, and threatening accusations begin to fly regarding how Alice earns so much money and how her deceased husbands met their maker. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 10, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. 02 Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall Max Marshall's Among the Bros is a nonfiction peek into a multi-million-dollar drug ring and its many intersections with fraternities in the southeast. By tracing the college lives of Mikey and Rob, friends at the College of Charleston, as they pledged fraternities and then carved out paths for themselves--Mikey dropped out, while Rob seemed to be a golden child--Marshall details the young men's increasingly dangerous and illegal choices and their involvement in an interstate drug ring. Marshall links the drug ring to several deaths, a murder, and tragic stories of addiction, as well as shocking carelessness with human life, greed, intense foolishness, and hubris that ends up being the men's undoing. I'm listening to Among the Bros as an audiobook. 03 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean 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 her boyfriend's tragic murder-suicide. While Chelsey is thrilled that Ellie is back, she's frustrated by Ellie's refusal to provide information that might lead the police to her captor. While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes that Ellie's hiding something--and she may be putting her own life and the lives of others in danger. I'm listening to The Return of Ellie Black as an audiobook.

Are you intrigued by reflections on life and death? This is a departure from many of my more playful Greedy Reading Lists: witchy books, young adult favorites, or gifty book ideas, for example. But I find a memoir about facing mortality fascinating. We're all headed toward the same end in this life, after all, and those brave enough to commit their feelings, experiences, fears, thoughts, and even joy to paper when their death feels imminent seem to lay bare the true roots of the human experience. Reading the reflections of someone facing death is powerful in that it forces me to consider my own life and how I choose to live it. If you like memoirs, you might like the books I list on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six More Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six Musicians' Memoirs that Sing Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into Six Illuminating Memoirs I've Read This Year Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose Yourself In Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality Six of My Favorite Memoir Reads Last Year Have you read books about mortality--or memoirs that aren't on this topic--that you'd recommend? 01 The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams In Yip-Williams's memoir, the subtitle of which is A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After , she candidly shares the many heartbreaking aspects of facing her own imminent death from metastatic colorectal cancer. Yip-Williams is a beautiful, intelligent writer who reflects deeply on life and on her situation. The Unwinding of the Miracle serves as her powerful farewell to her family but is also meaningful for anyone considering the way they live and how they might choose to face their own mortality. The details of Yip-Williams’s childhood and the obstacles she overcame to simply be alive as an adult to face this sobering reality are incredible. But she is truly amazing in the way she honestly recounts her fury and panic, her excruciating treatments and effects, her exhaustive search for new life-extending options, and her reckoning with the realization that at some point desperate hope for survival must transform somehow into an effort for grace in dying and making plans for leaving loved ones behind. 02 I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's memoir of pivotal near-death experiences that shaped her life and affected the way she considers her existence. Her recollections include a childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, an encounter with a potentially dangerous man in the vulnerable middle of nowhere, and her struggle to protect her daughter. The seventeen snapshots of O'Farrell's life at different stages highlight the frighteningly fragile nature of life. The construct of tracing near-death experiences to tell the story of her life didn’t feel forced at all, and O’Farrell’s meditations on the precious nature of life felt new, honest, raw, and fascinating. I loved this. O’Farrell’s writing is exacting but lyrical, capturing the nuances of the moments that lead to and make up sudden crises, arising challenges, and the dangers and narrow escapes that shape a life. For my full review of this book, see I Am, I Am, I Am . 03 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi “I began to realize that coming in such close contact with my own mortality had changed both nothing and everything. Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. But now I knew it acutely. The problem wasn’t really a scientific one. The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.” Kalanithi, a young neurosurgeon facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, found himself with many thoughts about existence and little time left in which to consider his life and his impending death. Kalanithi makes a shocking shift from being a doctor helping terminally ill patients to being a patient with inoperable lung cancer and terminally ill himself. The author was thoughtful, intelligent, and searching for purpose, grace, and meaning in life and death--whether through studying literature, practicing medicine, loving deeply, or becoming a father. His book is rich in reflections and explorations, if too short, like his life. 04 I've Seen the End of You by W. Lee Warren Warren's book, the subtitle of which is A Neurosurgeon's Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know , made me cry on an airplane, repeatedly. Warren’s life story, both personal and professional, and his push and pull between faith and science, is complex and deep. His experiences as a neurosurgeon, in the war, with his divorce and his remarriage, his beloved blended family, and his suffering unimaginable loss all inform his explorations of doubt, resilience, hope, and joy as related to his faith. Watching his up-and-down, sometimes wonderfully messy self-discovery take shape through this book was a beautiful thing. I wondered if his answers would be too easily reached or too pat, but Warren digs deeply into the realities of doubting his faith, God, his life’s work, and his vision of an afterlife. Warren admits when he’s a mess, and he shows us the zigzag of a route he himself took through coping with tragedy, sharing that there are many opportunities to feel defeated, and that it’s natural to feel doubt and rage and disbelief in the face of enormous pain and tragedy. There was just a little bit of repetition at times, but I read an advance reader's copy, so this likely changed before publication. I received an advance copy of this book from WaterBrook and Multnomah and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 05 The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs “I am reminded of an image...that living with a terminal disease is like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss. But that living without disease is also like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss, only with some fog or cloud cover obscuring the depths a bit more--sometimes the wind blowing it off a little, sometimes a nice dense cover.” It seems crass to critique a book like this one. How can you wish for more of a synthesis of a life, more of an expression of heartbreak, more more more, when the real question is: how did Riggs manage to step back from her urgent life-and-death situation to write any of it? The Bright Hour is a North Carolina woman's thoughtful account of events, written with an aim of preserving the essential history and memories from her life for her two small boys. She wrote the book while she was dying of breast cancer. I don't believe Riggs's intention was to portray her husband as a largely unsympathetic figure, but that's how he came across to me as a reader. Her, waiting on the street in Paris while he visits his favorite bookstore but she's too sickly to climb the stairs to it; him, out for beers with friends while she's home coping--even though I know caregivers have to create well-earned breaks; and his funny but often dark humor. 06 Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler Plans are made. Plans come apart. New delights or tragedies pop up in their place. And nothing human or divine will map out this life, this life that has been more painful than I could have imagined. More beautiful than I could have imagined. Bowler, a young mother and divinity professor coping with long-term stage IV colon cancer, shares her faith, fury, despair, humor, and even joy as she faces difficult and beautiful truths about mortality--such as her family's future, which will continue even if she is gone. Bowler considers the flawed idea that all challenges are tests of character. There’s a frequent focus on the prosperity gospel—which I’d never heard named but that is familiar as being preached and pursued by some evangelical pastors and their followers, as well as the #blessed crowd. Bowler tackles this "God's reward/punishment" mindset within her personal framework of cancer treatment and the ebbing and flowing of hope for recovery. She tackles the biggest human issues with humor, and I love her voice. Bowler spoke at a virtual women's retreat I attended and has spoken at my church as well. She was gracious, funny, unassuming, and a pure delight to listen to. If you haven't listened to it yet to find this out for yourself, Bowler's podcast, Everything Happens, is wonderful. Kate Bowler's book No Cure for Being Human is a five-star, all-time favorite read of mine.

Annis is a young Southern woman enslaved, sold, and abused in the years before the Civil War. In Let Us Descend , she leans on the stories of her warrior female ancestors as she draws increasing strength from her own instincts and drive for survival. Some pull back. Some cry. Some scrabble for crying babies, rot-gutted women, soft-eyed men, shivering children clustered about us in the dim cold before dawn. To this death before death. To this selling.... Hell, my mother said, and more of us marching there every day. Annis lives with her mother on a Carolina rice plantation in the years before the Civil War, and when her white enslaver--the man who raped her mother and sired Annis--turns his lascivious attention to her, she fears that new horrors are in store. But her troubles are about to be compounded: she's separated from her mother, sold, and forced to begin walking in a trail of roped women many miles toward the slave markets of New Orleans. Without her mother's protection--and inspiring tales of their warrior-woman ancestors--Annis is left with only the ghost of her fierce African grandmother, who seems to be following Annis's path south, dropping crumbs of information about her mother's fate, which may or may not be true. Ward employs magical realism through the presence of this accompanying female spirit, which ties Annis to her ancestry and family history. The spirit is presented as powerful, and it is able to control storms, but its advice, based upon accounts of the histories of the women in Annis's ancestral line--including that of her mother--are increasingly suspect and seem unreliable. Annis leans on the comfort of the presence of this fierce spirit during grim or terrifying times, but as the story progresses and she relies more fully on her own instincts, she has waning interest in shifting her behavior at the spirit's frequent suggestion. The horrifying, specific, dark cruelties throughout the story, which are inflicted upon Black people by white people, are extremely difficult to read. In order to see the story through, I kept reminding myself that I was bearing witness to a fictional version of real-life atrocities, and that reading about and recognizing such events is important. I read Let Us Descend  for my book club. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Feel free to comment and let me know! Jesmyn Ward is also the author of Sing, Unburied, Sing . You can find other Bossy reviews of books that tell the stories of enslaved persons here .

I was hooked on the behind-the-scenes feeling of Moran's historical-fiction conversations between Maria von Trapp and an assistant to Oscar Hammerstein. In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richly built period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. The demanding, exacting, elderly Maria insists that the depiction track more closely with her real life, and she furiously shares detailed notes with Fran, an up-and-coming young assistant in Hammerstein's office. I was fascinated by the script and production's departures from the facts within the story--most of which track with the movie version--which Maria highlights in her conversations with Fran. For example, the depiction of the Captain in the script at hand is as the family disciplinarian, but Maria asserts that she was the more strict and demanding parent. The family's singing is romanticized, but Maria reveals that one daughter had extreme anxiety about performing, and that while the singing was well received by the American public, the grueling touring schedule was rooted in a desperate bid to put food on the table for the family when few other prospects existed. A minor note regarding the modern timeline: Fran's love interest is petty, jealous, chauvinistic, and unappealing--the end of the relationship seems to come far later than it should. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music  sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, it's irresistible to learn more about Maria through the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book. I listened to Maria as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Michelle Moran is also the author of Cleopatra's Daughter.

This historical fiction story in two timelines introduces the little-known real-life figure of librarian Jessie Carson, who traveled from the NYPL to war-torn France and introduced a novelty to communities there during World War I: children's libraries. “I’m sorry that you lost your mother,” she said. “I suppose that the best ones are like mine. Somewhat annoying, forever pushing you to do what you don’t want to do. But gentle, too, like a pillow that softens a thousand blows from this hard life.” I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction novel Miss Morgan's Book Brigade takes that setup farther into favorable Bossy territory by sending an idealistic, headstrong young librarian from the US to Europe and into a World War I setting. The story is told in two timelines. The past timeline is based on the real-life NYPL librarian Jessie Carson, and Charles tracks Carson's journey to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, funded by billionaire heiress Anne Morgan. In France, Carson not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but along with her ambitious, inspired team of women, establishes something never before seen in France: children's libraries, where kids in war-torn communities can dream, lose themselves in fictional worlds, and try to recapture some carefree hours of their youth. The more modern timeline introduces Wendy, a NYPL librarian in the 1980s. In a book-within-a-book structure, the aspiring author Wendy is searching for a book topic when she stumbles upon the bare-bones story of Jessie and the Cards, as the group of women working in France were informally known. The more recent timeline allows for context for Jessie's story--little known and not well documented--beyond our reading of the original sequence of events, but the more recent story otherwise feels somewhat thin. Much of it centers around Wendy's falling in love with her vivacious coworker Roberto. I listened to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Janet Skeslien Charles is also the author of The Paris Library .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Ava Glass's newest Emma Makepeace spy mystery, The Trap ; I'm listening to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade , Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction in two timelines, focused on a World War I-era NYPL librarian who makes waves in France; and for my book club I'm reading Jesmyn Ward's novel, set in the years before the Civil War and told from the point of view of an enslaved young woman, Let Us Descend . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Trap by Ava Glass In the newest Emma Makepeace suspense novel from Ava Glass, The Trap , Emma must work at breakneck speed to prevent a high-profile assassination by the Russians in the days leading up to the momentous G7 summit in Edinburgh. Emma's efforts are significantly complicated by the fact that the potential victim is unknown-- and by the fact that those in charge of her own spy network have discounted the Russian threat and are no longer supporting efforts to unravel its source or its possible impact. But Emma and her small team are convinced that if the Russians' plan is allowed to take shape, it will be disastrous. They must determine how many boundaries they can push and how many lines they're willing to cross in order to uncover the truth in time to thwart the deadly plan. I received a prepublication edition of this book, which was published September 3, courtesy of Ballantine and NetGalley. Ava Glass is also the author of Alias Emma and The Traitor . 02 Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's historical fiction novel Miss Morgan's Book Brigade takes that setup farther into favorable Bossy territory, by sending an idealistic, headstrong young librarian from the US to Europe and into a World War I setting. Basing the past timeline (there's also a modern timeline of discovery that allows for context beyond the original sequence of events) on the real-life NYPL librarian Jessie Carson, Charles tracks Carson's journey to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. There she not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but establishes something never before seen in France: children's libraries, where kids in war-torn communities can dream, lose themselves in fictional worlds, and try to recapture some carefree hours of their youth. I'm listening to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade as an audiobook. Janet Skeslien Charles is also the author of The Paris Library . 03 Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward Annie lives on the Carolina rice plantation of her white enslaver, and when he turns his attention to her in lascivious ways, she fears that new horrors are in store for her. But her troubles are about to grow in ways she hadn't anticipated: she's separated from her mother, sold, and forced to begin walking in a trail of roped women many miles toward the slave markets of New Orleans. Without her mother's protection--and tales of their warrior-woman ancestors--Annie is left with only the ghost of her fierce grandmother, who seems to be following her path south. Ward's language is frequently poetic, and the cruelties throughout the story are difficult to read. I'm reading Let Us Descend for my book club. Jesmyn Ward is also the author of Sing, Unburied, Sing .

Historical Fiction Story Love If you're into historical fiction, you might also like to take a look at the books I listed on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West , Six Historical Fiction F avorites , Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You , and Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War . You can also search by category under the Bossy Book Reviews menu to find other historical fiction books I've liked that you might like too! What are some of your favorite historical fiction reads? 01 The Huntress by Kate Quinn I'm all in for World War II-set books with tough, brave female protagonists, and I loved this book. Nina Markova always wanted to fly, and when Nazis begin to wreak havoc on the Soviet Union, she joins the Night Witches, an all-female regiment of night bombers pushing back the Germans. That is, until Nina becomes stranded behind enemy lines. I thought this character-driven post-WWII story was wonderful, with compelling and lush detail about tough female pilots; life in the Siberian wild; Boston; antiques and photography; and the patient, persistent, creative detective work done by Ian, Tony, and Nina. The reader is able to see events unfolding while the characters remain unaware, but watching the pieces shift and click into place is immensely satisfying. Kate Quinn is also the author of the fantastic titles The Rose Code , The Diamond Eye , and The Alice Network. Please click here for my full review of The Huntress . If this book sounds down your alley, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II . 02 A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler Fowler captures wonderful details in A Well-Behaved Woman , both in the surroundings and the rigid views of the period about women, marriage, sex, politics, public and private behavior—and of course "society," which almost serves as a main character in this book, it so constantly shaped behavior, views, marriage and divorce decisions, and everything else. But Fowler also does an excellent job of delving into the all-consuming obsessions the desperate young Alva likely had with appearances and others’ opinions in order to grasp and keep hold of her position as a Vanderbilt. As she grows as a person, in her perspective on the world, and in her role and responsibilities within it, Alva questions being a slave to society, money, and expectations. Fowler strikes a realistic balance between what feels frivolous and what is Ava's meaningful growth, including her important role in the women’s suffrage movement. I loved it! Fowler also wrote A Good Neighborhood . For my full review of A Well-Behaved Woman , click here . 03 The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino ​ Well well well! A lady’s maid in love with the lady, racy scenes, angst, wonderful details of a life in service to a wealthy family in 1830s New York, immigrant challenges, Irish gangs, people pretending to be different than they are, shifted expectations, true friendship—I loved this debut from Guadagnino! In this upstairs/downstairs novel, set in nineteenth century New York, Mary Ballard is a lady’s maid to high society's wealthy and respected Charlotte Walden. But on her own time, Mary is Irish exile Maire O’Farren, and she keeps mixed company as part of a secret society of rabble-rousers. Meanwhile, privileged Charlotte has her own secrets, and when both women's true situations begin to be revealed and to unravel, Mary finds that she and her brother are in jeopardy. With powerful looks at the widespread nineteenth-century prejudice against the Irish and other immigrant groups, as well as introducing a heart-wrenching, forbidden, unrequited love of one woman for another. 04 The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker The Ragged Edge of Night centers around a World War II-era friar-turned-husband, Anton Starzmann, during the dark days of the war. When his school is shut down by the Nazis, he weds a widow who seeks a husband to help her raise her three children. The story beautifully lays out details of quiet life in the German countryside set against a background of unpredictable violence and destruction; tragedy; and gloriously stubborn, subversive resistance to the Reich. The wise asides in what felt like another point of view drew me out of the story, but generally I was all in on this one. Anton is searching for redemption after horrific events surrounding his students and school. His wife Elisabeth fears his involvement in the resistance that plans to assassinate Hitler. When the SS realizes what's going on, Anton's bravery and Elisabeth's dedication to this quiet, steady man are both tested. If you like historical fiction set during World War II, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World War II . Hawker also wrote One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow , which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West and the upcoming The Fire and the Ore . 05 Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird Bird's Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is based on the story of an actual female Buffalo Soldier, Cathy Williams, with many liberties taken for the sake of shaping a compelling, captivating story. I was happy to suspend my disbelief at the many conveniently outlandish circumstances or coincidences—which led key characters to cross unlikely paths, caused characters to avoid making important discoveries until the timing was more convenient to the arc of the tale, or set events essential to a resolution in a magical otherworld to allow imagined outcomes. Bird does an excellent job of keeping up the tension and making clear the high stakes of Williams’s enormous secret and the destruction that would befall her if it came out. She explores in fascinating detail the hardscrabble life of a newly freed black person—and the often desperate circumstances of women (especially black women) in that time who were without men to protect them. The major and minor love stories are sweet, if also tragic. 06 All the Forgivenesses by Elizabeth Hardinger Oh, I loved this story! I was so sad when I finished it. Bertie! I would very happily read a full Little House on the Prairie -length series about Bertie and her life. Bertie is tough on herself and lives a hardscrabble farming life in the early twentieth century Midwest. She broke my heart over and over by feeling as though she didn’t deserve happiness and by never realizing the value of the important and continual sacrifices she willingly made for her family. Hardinger offers up many crisp and varied details of the time, she captures Bertie’s speech patterns, and, most importantly, she transports the reader into the gruff but hopeful mindset of a young woman forced to grow up too quickly--a woman who for years feels she must push away any hopes for a life that is easier or full of joy. And all of this is set against the backdrop of Bertie's endless daily and bone-wearying tasks of plucking chickens, caring for siblings, carting water, and all the rest. When the promise of a better life started to glimmer at the edges of her vision, I almost cheered.

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 deeply 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. Flashbacks delve into their friends-like-family years of linked lives--and a disturbing revelation that either stretches the bounds of acceptability or goes well beyond conventional limits on a skewed pairing of power, age, and relationship. I love Peter Heller 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. I read Burn courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? 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 .

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. Young Margo finds herself in the midst of the significant complications of single motherhood, an insecure financial situation, the weight of responsibility for a tiny, helpless human, the shocking power of others' judgments (a custody battle; ominous Child Protective Services visits), all while navigating complex family dynamics--and maybe even a hint at a future romance. 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. I received a prepublication edition of this novel (which was published in June, oops!) courtesy of NetGalley and William Morrow. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Rufi Thorpe is also the author of The Knockout Queen . A book that takes a very different look at unexpected single motherhood--its tone is much lighter, and many of the logistical complications are glossed over--is Ready or Not .

Percival Everett's James is a fascinating retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of enslaved Black character Jim, who here demonstrates intelligence, ambition, defiance, unbridled fury, and the ability to wrest control of elements of his life. In James , Percival Everett's retelling of the Mark Twain novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , we hear a version of that novel's story told from enslaved Jim's point of view. James is secretly teaching other enslaved people to read; sneaking to delve into the library of books in the big house, including works of philosophy by John Locke (he also holds imagined arguments and discussions with noted philosophers during several delirious moments of the story); and is an expert code-switcher who tailors his language to follow white people's expectations of a submissive Black person. When the book begins, James's escape is imperative--he hears that he is about to be sold, and that his wife and daughter are to remain on the plantation. In an inconvenient coincidence, Huck Finn has just faked his own (gruesomely bloody, courtesy of pig blood) death in order to run away from what he feels are oppressive rules. The timing will almost certainly set white folks on James's tail as a presumed child murderer. The two are stuck together for a time, and the James-Huck Finn connection built by Everett is unexpected and intriguing. But the real heart of the book is James: the crushing limitations put upon him due to the color of his skin; his growing inability to abide by the constricting, frequently deadly stakes of being a slave on the run; and his sometimes violent, scrabbling struggle to wrest control of his life. James is beleaguered by the ignorance, skewed power structure, and cruelty of the white people surrounding him. Through a stint as a performer in a minstrel show; a pivotal encounter with versions of the scam artists from Huckleberry Finn , the Duke and Dauphin; and the making and losing of allies and enemies, Everett turns multiple situations from Huckleberry Finn on their heads, frequently empowering James to shift the course of events. Yet the true horrors of life as an enslaved Black person in the deep South at the time of Twain's novel are brutally evident, and Everett doesn't shy away from depicting the resulting abuse, casual cruelty, and, often, death of Black enslaved people at the hands of white people. The trauma on the page is difficult to read, but more difficult to consider in its origins, as it is rooted in horrifying fact and reality. I listened to James as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Percival Everett is also the author of Erasure , Assumption , Wounded , The Trees , and other books.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Michelle Moran's novel Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp ; I'm listening to James , Percival Everett's retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim; and I'm reading Rufi Thorpe's unexpected and unorthodox contemporary novel, Margo's Got Money Troubles . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richer period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, learning more about Maria and the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book is irresistible. I'm listening to Maria as an audiobook. Michelle Moran is also the author of Cleopatra's Daughter. 02 James by Percival Everett In James , Percival Everett's retelling of the Mark Twain novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , we hear a version of that novel's story told from enslaved Jim's point of view. James is secretly teaching other enslaved people to read; sneaking to delve into the library of books in the big house, including works of philosophy by John Locke; and is an expert code-switcher who tailors his language to follow white people's expectations of a submissive Black person. The James-Huck Finn connection built by Everett is unexpected and intriguing, but the real heart of the book is James: the crushing limitations put upon him due to the color of his skin; his growing inability to abide by the constricting, frequently deadly stakes; and his sometimes violent, scrabbling struggle to wrest control of his life. I'm listening to James as an audiobook. Percival Everett is also the author of Erasure , Assumption , Wounded , The Trees , and other books. 03 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe 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. This feels unexpected and fascinating; Margo's Got Money Troubles is an edgy contemporary novel with a wonderfully oddball premise and a captivating amount of depth. I received a prepublication edition of this novel (which was published in June, oops!) courtesy of NetGalley and William Morrow. Rufi Thorpe is also the author of The Knockout Queen .

My very favorite Bossy August reads! Welcome to the last gasp of summer---and the final Bossy summer book reviews. I hereby present to you historical fiction, literary fiction, romance, fantasy, and science fiction. I'm just that well-rounded! 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 Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd The Final Act of Juliette Lloyd  is a historical fiction art-focused mystery told in two timelines. I found the story immensely satisfying. In The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby , Ellery Lloyd (the husband and wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos) offers a gorgeously wrought historical fiction mystery in two timelines. In 1938, runaway heiress and aspiring artist Juliette Willoughby gives up her inheritance (and dark family history) for love, then disappears into Europe with surrealist painter Oskar Erlich. She works tirelessly on a painting that garners significant interest, while Oskar's work doesn't get the attention he was hoping for. The tension between Juliette and Oskar begins to drive them apart, and Juliette begins to fear that her family has tracked her down in Paris. Then Juliette and Oskar perish in a Parisian apartment fire--along with Juliette's brilliant painting. Fifty years later, Caroline and Patrick, two Cambridge students who are falling in love, are also on the hunt for dissertation topics. They stumble upon a treasure trove of items belonging to Juliette Willoughby--and indications that the famous Paris apartment fire was no accident at all. The modern-day timeline follows Caroline and Patrick through twists and turns, through the ins and outs of the art world, to the eventual collapse of their relationship (minor note: this occurs off page, and I found it somewhat unsatisfying). The mysterious appearance of what seems to be a Juliette Willoughby original, followed by a tragic death within Caroline and Patrick's circle, bring the two back together, fueled by their knowledge of Juliette's motivations and their desire to understand the past more fully. I was intrigued by the structure, and I liked the gradually revealed elements of Juliette's painting and of her past. This was immensely satisfying historical fiction. I listened to The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby  as an audiobook. For my full review of this book, please see The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby . 02 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 . 03 The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren The Paradise Problem  is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main protagonists' falling deeply in love, art > wealth, and plenty of Christina Lauren's signature steamy scenes. In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a tantalizing prospect of a Happy Ever After ending. The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . Click here for my full review of The Paradise Problem --and links to lots of other romantic fiction titles I've loved. 04 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, their imperfections, and their explorations of the meaning of life. In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long perceived as an enemy of the town's young children. But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out who really killed Bob's mother. Tell Me Everything  digs into secrets and lies, revenge, forgiveness, resignation, heartbreak, second chances, abuse, and addiction. And the story weaves in characters from other Strout books, including Olive Kitteridge. But the story is primarily about human connections. Bob and Lucy explore the complexities of life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves as they take their weekly walks and become more dear to each other. And Olive and Lucy share stories from their own lives and those they've encountered, trying to come to terms with the meaning of life and the human condition. Please click here for my full review of Tell Me Everything . 05 The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett A leviathan lurks in the ocean, threatening destruction on a grand scale, while an unorthodox, brilliant investigator and her stalwart new assistant work to solve a murder mystery that reaches into the highest levels of society and government. In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story. In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body. Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire. I was fascinated by the tone of The Tainted Cup . The partnership between impatient, extremely intelligent Ana and the closed-off, steady, intuitive Din was a standout. Ana is Sherlock Holmes-esque in that she holds many of the answers to the mysteries that abound--but she doles them out on a need-to-know basis. The Tainted Cup  explores issues of class, wealth and privilege, duty, the power of nature, handicaps and gifts, and betrayal and loyalty. I loved this book and the extended story that Robert Jackson Bennett has begun here. For my full review, check out The Tainted Cup . 06 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 .

The Paradise Problem is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main protagonists' falling deeply in love, art > wealth, and plenty of Christina Lauren's signature steamy scenes. In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a Happy Ever After ending. I loved this! Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . You might also be interested in the books on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six of My Favorite Light Fictions Reads of the Past Year Six More of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads of the Past Year Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories

Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, their imperfections, and their explorations of the meaning of life. In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long perceived as an enemy of the town's young children. But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out who really killed Bob's mother. Tell Me Everything digs into secrets and lies, revenge, forgiveness, resignation, heartbreak, second chances, abuse, and addiction. And the story weaves in characters from other Strout books, including Olive Kitteridge. But the story is primarily about human connections. Bob and Lucy explore the complexities of life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves as they take their weekly walks and become more dear to each other. And Olive and Lucy share stories from their own lives and those they've encountered, trying to come to terms with the meaning of life and the human condition. I read an advance copy of Tell Me Everything courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Click here to check out my reviews of Strout's Lucy by the Sea , Anything Is Possible , Olive, Again , My Name Is Lucy Barton , and Oh William!  Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge .

The fantasy-science-fiction novel Moonbound spans time and splits into several stories, for me never quite gelling into a coherent tale I could sink my teeth into. In Robin Sloan's science-fiction-fantasy tale Moonbound , it's eleven thousand years in the future, and young Ariel lives with his brother in a land controlled by a powerful wizard. Yet to the wizard's constant dismay, Ariel seems destined to never quite live up to his destiny, and he never behaves quite evilly enough, either. Dragons feature heavily in the lore of the kingdom, including their ages-old trip to the moon, where they still reside and, we are told, wield control over the Earth. An ancient, sentient AI creature takes up residence inside Ariel, serving as an internal voice and a documentarian of Ariel's life experience. A young girl arrives, telling the story of her own timeline, and she and Ariel begin to figure out they may be able to advance their own goals if they work together. For me, the many disparate pieces of the novel never really fit together in a coherent way. The dragons are a large part of the history--and are purported to exercise control over humans and creatures on earth--yet are never present, nor does the threat of their wrath ever feel real. The Ariel storyline feels most compelling when it focuses on the interplay between Ariel and the omniscient Anth inside him, but the book moves in several other directions, making the tale feel disjointed. Clever beavers feature heavily in this book, and I never felt as though this strange element gelled with the rest of the story. I listened to Moonbound as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Robin Sloan is also the author of M r. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore  and Sourdough .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Christina Lauren's newest fake-marriage, tropical-island-set rom-com The Paradise Problem ; I'm listening to Moonbound , Robin Sloan's fantasy-science-fiction story; and I'm reading Lisa Wingate's Oklahoma story told in two timelines 90 years apart, Shelterwood . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a tantalizing prospect of a Happy Ever After ending. The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . You might also be interested in the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading , Six of My Favorite Light Fictions Reads of the Past Year , Six More of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads of the Past Year , Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . 02 Moonbound by Robin Sloan In Robin Sloan's science-fiction-fantasy tale Moonbound , it's eleven thousand years in the future, and young Ariel lives with his brother in a land controlled by a powerful wizard. Yet to the wizard's constant dismay, Ariel seems destined to never quite live up to his destiny, and he never behaves quite evilly enough, either. Dragons feature heavily in the lore of the kingdom, including their ages-old trip to the moon, where they still reside and, we are told, wield control over the Earth. An ancient, sentient AI creature takes up residence inside Ariel, serving as an internal voice and a documentarian of Ariel's life experience. A young girl arrives, telling the story of her own timeline, and she and Ariel begin to figure out they may be able to advance their own goals if they work together. Clever beavers feature heavily in this book, which feels odd to me. I can't wait to figure out how each of the story's seemingly disparate pieces fit together. I'm listening to Moonbound as an audiobook. Robin Sloan is also the author of M r. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough . 03 Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate In 1909 Oklahoma, one Choctaw sister goes missing from a white settlement, and young Olive takes the younger Native American sister to find the only family the girl has left. In 1990 Oklahoma, law enforcement ranger Valerie Boden-Ordell is seeking some peace and quiet in her new post. But controversy over a new national park in the area, a missing teen hiker, and the discovery of the decades-old graves of three children mean there's a lot of work for Valerie to do. Lisa Wingate is also the author of Before We Were Yours . To find Bossy reviews of other missing-persons stories I've read, check out the books at this link . For Bossy reviews of Western stories, check out the books listed here .

Memoir Love! In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have a major thing for memoirs, and I especially love listening to an author read their experiences in audiobook form. Here are six personal stories that I found captivating! For more more more memoirs I've loved that you might want to try, check out these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six More Fascinating Memoirs to Explore Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose Yourself In Six Foodie Memoirs to Whet Your Appetite Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality Six Musicians' Memoirs that Sing 01 Leaving the Witness by Amber Scorah In Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life , Amber Scorah takes the reader into her confidences. Scorah lays bare her sheltered experiences, religious indoctrination, societal and gender pressures, hearty evangelism, and her eventual questioning and subsequent freezing out from the Jehovah’s Witnesses—which meant she was cut off permanently from almost everyone she knew. Scorah retraces her steps from being a covert, illegal proselytizer in Shanghai through the implosion of her marriage and her realization that she is stranded--without her husband, without formal education, and without her faith any longer--and therefore really without any framework at all. She’s thoughtful and helps readers track her mindset as she moves from control to freedom and how jarring and cruel and wonderful and odd a “worldly” life can be. I'm intrigued by stories of those who have left constricting faith systems. Scorah tells a fascinating personal story of growth and fear and change. For my full review of this book, please see Leaving the Witness . 02 The Unexpected Spy by Tracy Walder I love a peek at a secret world, and in The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World's Most Notorious Terrorists , Tracy Walder offers fascinating glimpses of her life as a CIA and an FBI agent. Walder includes training details, political machinations, and significant and rankling discrimination. Walder explores her own glowing pride in doing her job well and protecting others from danger—even when anyone without security clearance remains necessarily ignorant of the invaluable nature of the work and the imminent dangers she and her fellow agents manage to help our country avoid. Her evolution as a person and transition into her current profession was satisfying to witness as well. St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. For my full review of this book, see The Unexpected Spy . 03 The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip This book is Yip-Williams's powerful farewell to her family, but it's also valuable for anyone considering meaning and priorities in their own life. Wow. Julie Yip-Williams is a beautiful writer who is so smart, reflects deeply, and candidly shares the many heartbreaking aspects of facing her own imminent death from metastatic colorectal cancer. This book serves as her powerful farewell to her family but also holds meaning for anyone considering the way they live and how they might choose to face their own mortality. I feel like a meditation on dying is a heartbreakingly beautiful way to consider how we live our lives and a poignant reminder of what makes our one life so special. That said, I have a tough time reading memoirs in which someone is fighting cancer, and this one may not be everyone's cup of tea. I listened to the audiobook, read wonderfully by Emily Woo Zeller, with an afterword by Yip-Williams's husband Joshua Williams. For my full review of The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes After , click here . 04 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb Gottlieb offers network of sometimes interconnected and consistently meaningful searches for purpose and peace. This book really hit the spot for me. I was going to be happy with a light, surface-level look at therapy and the ins and outs of a therapist's providing and receiving therapy. But the book quickly grows into a network of sometimes interconnected and consistently meaningful searches for purpose and peace. This book was so much more meaningful than I had counted on. Gottlieb was honest about her own situation and showed herself to be wonderfully faulted, and she also delved into the details of others' struggles and journeys and joys. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed offers a beautiful exploration of dying, death, appreciating the beauty of the impermanence of our lives, planning for loved ones after our death, and living life fully. For my full review, please see Maybe You Should Talk to Someone . 05 Know My Name by Chanel Miller Miller is a beautiful, powerful writer with clear and sophisticated arguments and a compelling identity separate from the attack that led to her being in the spotlight. Miller has a strong, passionate grasp of widely experienced inequalities—and ideas of how to chip away at some of the injustices and faulty norms that should be excised from society. I began reading Know My Name because I thought I should, not because I wanted to. Miller surprised me with the delicately balanced tone she was able to strike, her passionate belief in right and wrong, her emotional reactions to her situation, and her measured arguments and calm determination. I was fascinated by her. Do not become the ones who hurt you. Stay tender with your power. Never fight to injure, fight to uplift. Fight because you know that in this life, you deserve safety, joy, and freedom. Fight because it is your life. Now I'd like Miller to write more books about varied topics, because I like spending time in her head. For my full review of this book, please see Know My Name . 06 Open Book by Jessica Simpson Open Book is a mainly guileless look at stardom, motherhood, alcohol abuse, and finding herself. In Open Book , Jessica Simpson explores her life, her ups and downs, her drinking-related missteps, and her failed loves. She tracks her scrappy and determined rise to stardom, her religious faith, her reliance on and love for her friends, her deep familial attachments and conflicts, and her path to therapy, sobriety, and a happy marriage and parenthood. I've liked JS since Newlyweds , and she takes us back to the show here too. At times there is some silliness and some superficial focus, but I felt as though Simpson was laying it all on the table and going through some real self-examination. Interestingly, she spends a lot more page time on John Mayer than Nick Lachey—and provides what ultimately amounts to a takedown of Mayer that explores his extensive emotional manipulation, his elaborate interview accounts of his sexual escapades with her and others, and, incredibly and most damningly, his use of the N-word during an interview. For my full review, see Open Book .

A leviathan lurks in the ocean, threatening destruction on a grand scale, while an unorthodox, brilliant investigator and her stalwart new assistant work to solve a murder mystery that reaches into the highest levels of society and government. “Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed. But harden your heart and slow your blood. The towers of justice are built one brick at a time. We have more to build yet.” In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story. In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body. Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire. I was fascinated by the tone of The Tainted Cup . There's a constant looming threat of enormous ocean-dwelling leviathans threatening to break the significant walls erected to keep them out. The leviathans are grotesque, and their natures and motivations are a mystery. Human civilization has built its cities in reaction to the perceived danger from the beasts. And we find out late in the book that the monsters may be able to speak! Eeeks. The partnership between impatient, extremely intelligent Ana and the closed-off, steady, intuitive Din was a standout. Ana is Sherlock Holmes-esque in that she holds many of the answers to the mysteries that abound--but she doles them out on a need-to-know basis. We did not talk any more of what we’d witnessed, he at the walls and I in the city. The things we’d seen and done now felt too big for words. Silence was a better language. The Tainted Cup explores issues of class, wealth and privilege, duty, the power of nature, handicaps and gifts, and betrayal and loyalty. I loved this book and the extended story that Robert Jackson Bennett has begun here. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Robert Jackson Bennett is also the author of the Founders Day trilogy and the Divine Cities trilogy.

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. She helps plot to infiltrate the Athereum, an exclusive vampire society, but complex, dark conspiracies threaten to upend all of her plans, endangering Arthie and everyone aligned with her. “Aren’t you afraid?” she asked. “Fear stops life, not death.” Faizal combines secret identities, intricate plots, vampires!, hidden feelings, and wonderfully complex relationships in this mystery. 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. The cover artwork, palette, and the book's title felt off to me; they seemed to indicate Cozy Mystery (well, aside from the blood in the teacup), while the story feels more intricate and strange and deep. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I listened to A Tempest of Tea  as an audiobook. Hafsah Faizal is also the author of We Hunt the Flame .

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. The premise of O'Keefe's imagined universe involves reprinting into new forms after they die, so that death is never definite. People can print into preferred forms or take on a new "print," so that impersonating others is possible, and when secretive plots are going on and characters are posing as members of the opposition, they must fall back on speech patterns, habits, or tics to identify each other. Memories can be manipulated and erased, as characters' minds take the shape of a previous reboot and lose recent knowledge, affections, and loyalties. 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. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I listened to The Blighted Stars  as an audiobook. Megan E. O'Keefe is also the author of the The Protectorate series and The Scorched Continent series.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the novel Liars , Sarah Manguso's exploration of art, marriage, and power; I'm reading Catalina , Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's novel about a Harvard student raised by undocumented grandparents and her struggles around belonging and securing her future; and I'm listening to the first in Megan E. O'Keefe's Devoured Worlds series, The Blighted Stars , in which the heir to a galaxy-wide mining fortune and a revolutionary determined to ruin the family and its business must band together when they discover a plot much bigger than themselves. What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Liars by Sarah Manguso Jane is an ambitious, aspiring writer who falls in love with John, a filmmaker. Their inspiration and passion seem to complement each other's hopes and dreams in a web of artistic creativity and room to explore, and they marry. Jane's beginning to believe she can have it all when on top of it all, she becomes a mother. But her own career is soon subsumed by the needs and priorities of John's. When she does enjoy success, John is incapable of celebrating her. Will their conflicting needs and expectations blow apart their marriage? And would that be the worst thing in the world, after all? I'm reading Liars courtesy of Random House Publishing Group: Hogarth and NetGalley. Sarah Manguso is also the author of Very Cold People . 02 Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicenzio Catalina Ituralde is a senior at Harvard. But she's not only a lucky, determined, brilliant girl who cheated death in Latin America, escaped to Queens, and was raised by her grandparents. She's also facing complex issues surrounding belonging, the frightening limbo of the undocumented, and the deep responsibility she feels to her family. Catalina is a high-energy coming-of-age novel about a spirited young woman trying to save everyone she loves--and preserve her own bright future too. I'm reading Catalina courtesy of Random House Publishing Group: One World and NetGalley. Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is also the author of The Undocumented Americans . 03 The Blighted Stars (Devoured Worlds #1) by Megan E. O'Keefe 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. I'm listening to The Blighted Stars as an audiobook. Megan E. O'Keefe is also the author of the The Protectorate series and The Scorched Continent series.

You Had Me at "Time Travel" I love a time-travel story in any genre, and this Greedy Reading List offers a little of everything: light fiction/rom-com, mystery, fantasy, contemporary fiction, and science fiction. Time-travel and time shifts allow a story to go places it otherwise never could, allowing for unusual perspective, second chances, and realizations. Books that play with time almost always go straight on my to-read list. If you're intrigued by time-travel stories, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore and Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories . Are there any stories you love that play with time? 01 One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston McQuiston's love letter to New York offers charming song references, LGBTQ love, steamy scenes, character growth--and an irresistible playing-with-time element. In One Last Stop , twenty-three-year-old August keeps to herself--she's kind of cynical, she doesn't have a lot of friends, and she's holding true to form after her recent move to New York. Her mother dedicated her life to searching for her own brother, who disappeared decades ago, and enlisted daughter August in her obsessive research and in her driven questioning of even the most tangentially connected potential contacts in order to try to find out what happened. One Last Stop plays with time in a really fun, interesting way, and through the time-jump premise McQuiston's characters explore loyalty, love, connection, and heartbreak in poignant, funny, irresistible ways. The book revels in wonderful LGBTQ love and tons of sexiness; fantastic New York-centric details; and enough musical references that multiple Spotify playlists exist that are inspired by the songs in the book. For my full review of this book, check out One Last Stop . 02 The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell In Lisa Maxwell's The Last Magician , a smart master thief bends time and finds her loyalties divided in turn-of-the-century New York. I appreciated the character of Esta as a smart master thief who can bend time, and I loved the 1901 New York setting, Dolph Saunders as a kindly magical mobster, Viola as a lesbian tough girl (with a heart of gold!) who's a genius with knives, and Harte Darrigan as a stage (and actual) magician whose loyalties are difficult to pin down. Add in the Brink as a method of controlling those with magic, the Book and its unclear powers, and the discriminatory, powerful, and dangerous Order and there's a steady, sinister underlying feel to the story. I don't think it benefited me to listen to The Last Magician , the first in Maxwell's series, as an audiobook, what with the jumps through time; varied points of view; layered disloyalties, misdirections, and motivations; and the extensive double-crossing. Some of the twists at the end felt implausible, but others wrapped up frustrating revelations in satisfying ways. For my full review of this book, check out The Last Magician . 03 Lost in Time by A.G. Riddle A.G. Riddle's time-travel story centers around reconciling the inability to change what has already occurred, but the necessity of doing so to save loved ones. With a twist! When we created Absalom, we weren't trying to build a time machine. We were trying to build a machine that saved our families. In A.G. Riddle's 450-page multiple-timeline story Lost in Time , a group of scientists have developed a device called Absalom. First intended to revolutionize shipping, its limitations and its vast possibilities lead to a new purpose: to send dangerous criminals back in time. When Sam, one of the creators of the system, is framed for the murder of another creator, he finds himself about to be sent back in his own creation as punishment. But his physicist friends are determined to try to get him back to the present again somehow. If only Sam had had time to do more than give himself a crash course in reading about the Triassic Period (weather, Pangea, dinosaur identification) or to hear his friends' ambitious plan for his return before being whisked back in time. For my full review of this book, check out Lost in Time . 04 Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister Gillian McAllister offers a smart, intriguing, twisty story that plays with time and offers second chances, revelations, betrayals, deep connections, and an unusual route to uncovering the truth. I loved it. Gillian McAllister's twisty mystery begins with a mother awaiting her teenage son's return home late one night. She peers out the window to see him walking down the street--then she sees that he is armed, and to her horror, she sees him kill another man on the street. But when she awakens the next morning bracing to face the living nightmare her family has begun living in, she's relieved to find that her son hasn't killed anyone, he hasn't been arrested, and in fact, none of last night's events have happened after all. She must be losing her mind. But she knows that last night was real. Somehow she's reliving yesterday again. Can she shift the future by changing the past? Wrong Place, Wrong Time offers a smart, mind-bending structure that is complex and interesting but not difficult to follow. McAllister develops her characters fully and uses the time jumps wonderfully--to explore relationships, truth-telling and lies, assumptions, terrible realizations, and heartwarming reassurances. For my full review of this book, check out Wrong Place, Wrong Time . 05 This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub Straub offers a story that plays with time, explores sentimental moments, offers do-overs, and sweeps the reader into a love-filled, hopeful heartbreaker of a tale. On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s job, apartment, and love life are solidly okay. The only dark spot in her life is her father’s grave illness. When she wakes up the next morning...it’s her 16th birthday again. And it isn't just that being in her teen body again shocks her, or that seeing her high school crush is jarring. It's incredible to see her healthy, vital, young dad. This Time Tomorrow indulged my own personal desire for sentimentality, while also emphasizing the value of cutting to the heart of a situation without wasting time. The story offers up lots of loving moments as well as perfectly imperfect decisions and mistakes. The story is heartbreaking and lovely in its ultimate insistence that one must let go of the past. This was one of my favorite reads of the year last year. For my full review of this book, please see This Time Tomorrow . 06 Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel In this nested story that spans centuries, Mandel explores a pandemic, moon colonization, the universal connection of music, the temptation to change the past, portals and time loops, loyalty, fear, love, and wonder. In this science fiction novel, Mandel plays with time and time travel as well as mysteries surrounding what may be a portal linking individuals through time. Mandel explores an emerging pandemic in a future with a colonized moon, considers the universal connection of music, and digs into the difficulty and danger in changing the past. But all of these players and times feel in place mainly to serve as a structure to surround our true main protagonist, Gaspary, and we see the most depth and development and change; loyalty and love and grief; wonder and danger; resignation and hope in his portion of the story. This was where I was captivated and delighted and emotionally engaged. This book appeared on the Greedy Reading List Six More Science Fiction Reads I Loved in the Past Year . Click here for my review of Mandel's Station Eleven . For my full review of this book, please check out Sea of Tranquility .

The author of Disappearing Earth offers a story of bleak prospects, poverty and illness, a sister bond with fault lines ready to crack open, and a slow build to a destructive end. Along with their ill, bedridden mother, young-adult sisters Sam and Elena struggle to get by on an island off the coast of Washington. Frustrated by the challenge of supporting themselves on Sam's pay from driving the tourist ferry and Elena's job bartending, the sisters dream of escaping to somewhere new. But when Sam spots a grizzly bear swimming alongside the ferry--a bear that then shows up near their home--she is terrified. Elena chooses to see the bear as a sign of something positive, and she begins drawing the bear in with food and believing she is safe in its presence. A wildlife expert offers assistance but threatens to drive a wedge between the sisters, and Sam is torn between wanting to protect her sister from this terrifying, deadly creature (and, jealously, wanting to destroy the bond Elena is feeling with it) and wanting to trust Elena's instincts and allow her to feel wonder like she has never experienced. Their mother is failing, the bear is beginning to destroy their home, Elena is increasingly convinced of her connection with the beast, and Sam is shocked to her core when Elena seems to be abandoning the long-held plan of eventually leaving the San Juan islands with Sam. The bear is a lumbering, drooling, stinking metaphor for the brutal truths set to implode Sam and Elena's lives. Sam has always believed she and Elena were a lifelong team, about to spring to freedom, whereas Elena never realized the half-truths and comfort she murmured to Sam when they were young have been taken as truth, against all evident clues to their grim financial status and how stuck Elena feels. Sam has always kept herself emotionally distant from anyone outside the household, believing this to be loyalty, but comes to understand that Elena has secretly been building bonds all along. Everything Sam has stubbornly understood to be true and real is suddenly coming unfurled and undone. I took a really long time--unusual for me--to read this book, all the while dreading what feels like inevitable destruction barreling toward the sisters. The bear does ultimately shift everything for their family, and the story is brutal in its climax, yet glimmers of hope do emerge. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I mentioned Julia Phillips's fascinating novel Disappearing Earth  in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer . I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published earlier this summer, courtesy of NetGalley and Random House.

Ready or Not is a light take on unplanned pregnancy. It felt so easy for Eve to plan to enter into single parenthood despite the many practical challenges she faces; but the love story that emerges is lovely and offbeat, satisfying and sweet. Eve Hatch is an administrative assistant at a wildlife conservation organization who's obsessed with creating a homey, personalized tiny Brooklyn apartment for herself to cozy into. Eve's parents died when she was younger, and her Midwestern brothers are far older. But she's got Willa close by--her friend-like-family best friend since childhood. While Eve's largely letting her life happen to her, Willa and her husband are struggling to conceive a child. But another beloved figure in Eve's life, Willa's older brother Shep, has moved to Brooklyn, and the three of them are ready for some carefree fun. Then a one-night stand with a cute neighborhood bartender leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and suddenly everything changes in Eve's world. I was on the fence about this book at first; the tone initially felt silly, and Eve seemed to be creating nonsensical complications for herself. (For example: Why keep bringing peanut butter sandwiches in her purse, knowing her officemate was allergic to peanuts? The first time she repeatedly found herself short on time so that she wouldn't be able to brush her teeth following the sandwich-eating and therefore couldn't eat at all, she did not learn and change her lunch plan for the future. I found this too dangerous for the officemate and too generally ridiculous to believe.) But the novel settled into a lovely set of back stories and a deliciously loving found-family situation. Eve spent very little time exploring options upon discovering her unplanned pregnancy; it was so easy for her despite her complete lack of a plan, she knew she would keep the baby despite the many challenges and unknowns (lack of money, single parenthood, lack of space, lack of a plan, lack of career security). And while the trajectory of the novel was evident, it was fun to watch the nontraditional love story and blended family unfold. I listened to Ready or Not as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You might also like the novels on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Lighter Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and you can find other Bossy light fiction reviews here .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to the first in Hafsah Faizal's Blood and Tea series, A Tempest of Tea , in which our main protagonist runs a tea room by day and a vampires' bloodhouse by night--until her livelihood and power are threatened by dark forces; I'm reading Peter Heller's upcoming wilderness adventure, Burn , which is set in Maine against a destructive attempt at secession; and I'm reading Tell Me Everything , Elizabeth Strout's upcoming novel (also set in Maine!) in which a terrible crime brings together beloved Strout characters Lucy Barton, Bob Burgess, and even Olive Kitteridge. What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 Burn by Peter Heller 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. I'm reading Burn courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. 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 . 02 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother. He and Lucy explore the complexities of a life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves. The story includes a cameo by Olive Kitteridge! I'm reading Tell Me Everything courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. Click here to check out my reviews of Strout's Lucy by the Sea , Anything Is Possible , Olive, Again , My Name Is Lucy Barton , and Oh William!  Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge . 03 A Tempest of Tea: Blood and Tea #1 by Hafsah Faizal 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. She helps plot to infiltrate the Athereum, an exclusive vampire society, but complex, dark conspiracies threaten to upend all of her plans, endangering Arthie and everyone aligned with her. I'm listening to A Tempest of Tea as an audiobook. Hafsah Faizal is also the author of We Hunt the Flame .

Lighter Fiction Set in Show Biz I love a peek behind the scenes, and each of the novels here provides a fictionalized version of a movie or TV backdrop for the romance at its center. Whether the stories explore reconciling one's body image, making nice with a costar nemesis, adapting to the shock of a media whirlwind, or another set of complications, each of these novels captivates with its plausible look inside a secret, "glamorous" world--and often a far-from-perfect reality--that's foreign to most of us. Have you read any of these books? Have you read other novels with a TV, movie, or other media backdrop? 01 Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld Sittenfeld's funny and sweet take on an unlikely romance sparked by a longtime SNL -type weekly skit show immediately had me hooked, never felt too easy, and charmed me throughout. I love Curtis Sittenfeld's books, and in Romantic Comedy she offers an outstanding premise: Sally Milz is a sketch writer for a late-night comedy show, and she's sworn off love. That is, until she pokes fun at her fellow writer in a sketch about talented but average-looking men dating gorgeous women...and then gorgeous pop sensation and serial model-dater Noah Brewster hosts the show and turns his attentions on Sally. I was delighted to find that much of the book is focused on the behind-the-scenes making of the SNL -like Saturday night sketch comedy show in the book, The Night Owls , and I was fascinated by this aspect. Romantic Comedy offers lots of funny, funny dialogue that delighted me. This was the right book at the right time for me, and I loved everything about it. Sittenfeld is also the author of American Wife , You Think It, I'll Say It , Prep , Rodham , and Eligible . Click here   for my full review of Romantic Comedy . 02 The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore Laurie Devore's novel goes behind the scenes of a reality dating show, complete with sordid details, manipulation, and manufactured moments, all serving as a backdrop to a fearless contestant's creeping toward destruction--and her struggle to figure out if the love she feels is real. Jac Matthis is a romance novelist whose first book tanked (the main protagonist chose her career over a man, enraging readers who'd been counting on a different happy ever after), leaving little audience for her second published book and nonexistent demand for a third. In an attempt to boost her exposure and thereby resuscitate her writing career, the frank and cynical, unapologetically brutally honest, casual-sex fan Jac is set to appear as a contestant on a Bachelor -type reality TV show in which the ultimate goal is a proposal and marriage. After one last fling, Jac reports to the set--only to find out that her one-night stand is a producer on the show who had been absent during her auditions. Complications abound as the eligible TV bachelor seems to be falling for Jac, she makes enemies of multiple fellow contestants, she struggles with the staged and manipulated nature of every moment--and she realizes that she's being painted as the villain of the show. I found it fairly challenging to connect with Jac. For me, her pretending was frequently difficult to parse from what was real. Yet the cutthroat, often chilling behind-the-scenes dating-show dynamics and logistics seemed plausible and were horrifyingly fascinating. Devore offers a version of happy ever after, and of revenge, that was fun to watch take shape. For my full review, please see The Villain Edit . Laurie Devore is also the author of A Better Bad Idea, Winner Take All , and  How to Break a Boy . 03 Will They or Won't They by Ava Wilder Ava Wilder's rom-com takes us behind the scenes of a hit teen TV show whose lead characters once liked each other in real life but now can't stand each other. This was funny, sweet, steamy, and poignant--a fantastic summer light-fiction read that I loved. Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are the stars of the popular paranormal television show Intangible , and for multiple seasons they've yearned for each other on screen, but their characters have never gotten together. Lilah has dreams of directing and of breaking into movies, but she's back for the sixth and final season of the show, in which her character and Shane's will finally get together. But in real life, Shane and Lilah detest each other. Their secret tryst at the end of season one ended badly, and they've been far from friendly ever since. I LOVED this. The premise sounded like a slam dunk for me, and the reality of the book was a funny, poignant, banter-filled, behind-the-scenes, realistically complicated, wonderful story. There's a ton of steaminess as Lilah and Shane at times can't deny their attraction and act upon it. I smiled a lot, I teared up, and I loved this romantic read! For my full review of this book, check out Will They or Won't They. 04 Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter I LOVED this young adult book. It's perfectly charming, funny, quirky, and sweet, yet it deals with grief and fear, hope and forgiveness, being true to oneself and growing up, and of course love. Lynn Painter's adorable young adult rom-com Better Than the Movies is about Liz Buxbaum, a fabulously eccentric high schooler coping with the grief of having lost her mom--while navigating the sparkly idea--and messy reality--of romance, with the inspiration of her mom's favorite romantic comedies. Liz is a hopeless romantic who has been waiting her whole high school career to be swept off her feet in quintessential romantic-comedy fashion--with the perfect soundtrack playing in the background. But it looks like she may have to rely on her annoying next-door neighbor Wes to try to gain the attention of dreamy Michael with the perfect hair, who has just moved back to town. Better Than the Movies  is funny funny funny and so lovely and sweet, I adored the whole story, the characters, the growth, the banter, the heartbreaking, heartwarming growth, the fun--this is basically a perfect young adult romantic comedy. For my full review of this book, please see Better Than the Movies . 05 The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren The True Love Experiment is a wonderful, romantic read about forbidden attraction and heartwarming vulnerability, with steamy scenes, will-they/won't-they tensions, funny dialogue, behind-the-scenes televised moments, and loooooooove. I loved T he Soulmate Equation  from the writing team known as Christina Lauren. That book introduced the fantastic best-friend character of Felicity "Fizzy" Chen. The True Love Experiment is Fizzy's story. Fizzy is a straight talker, a sex-positive woman, and a successful romance writer, but she's never been in love, only in lust. Now she's beginning to feel like she's been selling her readers a lie. Connor Prince ( his last name is Prince! ) is a single dad and documentary filmmaker slated by his boss to create a reality TV program about finding love. He's completely out of his comfort zone and the pressure is on--but when he meets Fizzy, he just knows he's found the perfect star for the show. The True Love Experiment  is an irresistible exploration of a spark of feelings, impossible difficulties, terrifying vulnerability, and hard-won joy. The issues keeping the two love interests apart felt powerful and heartbreaking and offered tantalizing tension to the story. The happy ending made me tear up and also made me want to cheer. I loved this. For my full review, check out The True Love Experiment . 06 One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London One to Watch  is engrossing escapism into a world of reality TV, romantic possibilities, and luxurious fashion, where things don't always go according to plan. In Kate Stayman-London's One to Watch , Bea Schumacher is a popular plus-size fashion blogger who has Instagram fame, wonderful friends--and an unhealthy obsession with a male friend who's attached to someone else. After she drunk-blogs scathing comments about the unrealistic body images of the stars of Main Squeeze (a reality TV show in which a single woman dates strangers hand-picked by the producers and aims to marry one of them), Bea is surprised when a show producer reaches out to her with an unexpected question: Would Bea consider starring in a season of Main Squeeze ? Bea finds the proposal laughable, then considers what it might mean for her career, for promoting body positivity, and maybe even for her lackluster romantic life. She decides that she's in--for a fantastic wardrobe, incredibly awkward moments, scripted romance, and a beautiful Malibu backdrop. What could go wrong? I was especially intrigued by how Bea navigated multiple suitors ( Bachelorette -style) and by her attempts to give each his due while simultaneously dating and honestly considering the others. She didn't lose sight of embracing each new experience while reflecting on what she wanted her future to look like after the show, above and beyond what others attempted to script or suggest. For my full review of this book, please see One to Watch .

Wilson overcame tough childhood circumstances before setting her sights on becoming a performer, and her memoir celebrates her self-discovery and her unapologetic enjoyment of her success and privilege. I love to listen to the audiobook version of a memoir (if you haven't yet, you might want to check out the many stand-alone memoir reviews and memoir-focused Greedy Reading Lists  I've posted on Bossy Bookworm). A friend recommended actress Rebel Wilson's memoir Rebel Rising , and I listened to the Australian's account of a challenging youth, familial conflicts, her growing love for performing, her discovery of her sexuality, her desire to have a child, and her struggle with separating issues of good health from issues of weight. Wilson doesn't come across as particularly introspective, but she overcame many tough circumstances before becoming somewhat delightfully, unapologetically privileged and wealthy (she owns two houses in Los Angeles for her own convenience). The sections regarding Wilson's childhood were most engaging to me, as well as her zigzagging path toward understanding, celebrating, and embracing her sexuality and her determination to become a mother. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Rebel Wilson starred in the Pitch Perfect movies as well as in Bridesmaids .

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. “It’s true I do have time and freedom and I love it, sometimes. But the notion that I should be 'making the most of it,' travelling the world or out every night, there’s a kind of tyranny in that too.... 'You don’t have kids, why can’t you speak Portuguese?' Do I have to have hobbies and projects and lovers? Do I have to excel? Can’t I just be happy, or unhappy, just mess about and read and waste time and be unfulfilled by myself?” 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. Private, intimate, a book was something she could pull around and over herself, like a quilt. I adored every moment I spent with these characters, particularly while witnessing their hesitancy blooming into brave, tiny acts of risk that build and build. I was riveted, reading as Michael and Marnie began to recognize the wonder in each other and delve beneath the protective facades they've built up for so many years. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? David Nicholls is also the author of One Day , Us , Sweet Sorrow , and Starter for Ten . I listened to You Are Here  as an audiobook.

Laurie Devore's novel goes behind the scenes of a reality dating show, complete with sordid details, manipulation, and manufactured moments, all serving as a backdrop to a fearless contestant's creeping toward destruction--and her struggle to figure out if the love she feels is real. "Romances are about the complexities of human beings, about the way we all have a best and worst self, and they both live in the same body, and the most generous person you know can have the most toxic ideas of what a relationship is or how you can so desperately want the worst person to end up with someone perfect for them, can peel back all of their layers." "Is that what you told the producers?" Rikki asks. "Nah," I say. "I told them what they wanted to hear." Jac Matthis is a romance novelist whose first book tanked (the main protagonist chose her career over a man, enraging readers who'd been counting on a different happy ever after), leaving little audience for her second published book and nonexistent demand for a third. In an attempt to boost her exposure and thereby resuscitate her writing career, the frank and cynical, unapologetically brutally honest, casual-sex fan Jac is set to appear as a contestant on a Bachelor -type reality TV show in which the ultimate goal is a proposal and marriage. After one last fling, Jac reports to the set--only to find out that her one-night stand is a producer on the show who had been absent during her auditions. Complications abound as the eligible TV bachelor seems to be falling for Jac, she makes enemies of multiple fellow contestants, she struggles with the staged and manipulated nature of every moment--and she realizes that she's being painted as the villain of the show. I found it fairly challenging to connect with Jac. The show is purportedly about making a love connection, but we know Jac is using it as a publicity stunt. She knows and we know that she's putting on an act, yet she sometimes toys with the idea of really falling for the bachelor. At the same time, Jac is continually fighting against her feelings for the producer--and he is fighting against his feelings for her--with varying degrees of success. For much of the book, her pretending was frequently difficult for me to parse from what was real. The hometown visit and blatant lying to her parents felt particularly uncomfortable and tough to reconcile, although she had worked herself into a fully problematic situation by then. Yet the cutthroat, often chilling behind-the-scenes dating-show dynamics and logistics seemed plausible and were horrifyingly fascinating, and I definitely wanted to read on to find out how Devore reconciled the situation. Devore offers a version of happy ever after, and of revenge, that was fun to watch take shape. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Laurie Devore is also the author of A Better Bad Idea, Winner Take All , and  How to Break a Boy . This book's reality television dating show setting reminded me somewhat of the novel One to Watch .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby , an art-focused historical fiction mystery in two timelines; I'm reading The Tainted Cup , a fascinating fantasy-science-fiction mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett; and I'm listening to a romantic story with complications that feels sure to have a happy ending, Ready or Not by Cara Bastone. What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd In The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby , Ellery Lloyd offers a gorgeously wrought historical fiction mystery in two timelines. In 1938, runaway heiress and aspiring artist Juliette Willoughby gives up her inheritance for love, then disappears into Europe, only to perish in a Parisian apartment fire. Fifty years later, two Cambridge students (who are falling in love) on the hunt for dissertation topics stumble upon a treasure trove of items belonging to Juliette Willoughby--and indications that the fire that ended her life was no accident at all. I'm very much enjoying Lloyd's writing style and structure so far. Ellery Lloyd is also the author of The Club and People Like Her . 02 The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story. In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body. Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire. Robert Jackson Bennett is also the author of the Founders Day trilogy and the Divine Cities trilogy. 03 Ready or Not by Cara Bastone Eve Hatch is an administrative assistant at a wildlife conservation organization who's obsessed with creating a homey, personalized tiny Brooklyn apartment for herself to cozy into. Eve's parents died when she was younger, and her Midwestern brothers are far older. But she's got Willa close by--her friend-like-family best friend since childhood. While Eve's largely letting her life happen to her, Willa and her husband are struggling to conceive a child. But another beloved figure in Eve's life, Willa's older brother Shep, has moved to Brooklyn, and the three of them are ready for some carefree fun. Then a one-night stand with a cute neighborhood bartender leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and suddenly everything changes in Eve's world. You might also like the novels on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Lighter Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and you can find other Bossy light fiction reviews here .

My very favorite Bossy July reads! I did a lot of traveling and some great reading last month, but I didn't do a lot of reviewing. My Bossy takes on more great reads are to come--but I do have some fantastic July favorites to share with you here. 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 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 All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker Whitaker offers several interconnected storylines, and while each one individually appealed to me, I felt a growing lack of connection to the characters as the tales melded into another: young friendship, serial killer, outlaw search, small-town intrigue, and longtime mysteries revealed. Chris Whitaker's novel All the Colors of the Dark  builds a story of a deep friendship between two young outcasts in small-town Monta Clare, Missouri: Patch, a pirate-playing young man missing one eye, whose mother is unreliable and a substance abuser; and Saint, a tomboy raised by her fearless grandmother. A kidnaper and serial killer intrudes on the quiet community and directly impacts Patch and Saint. The horrifying crimes seems to be motivated by religious fanaticism, and both Patch and Saint's futures are shaped by their ties to the darkly disturbing events. I adored the early building of the deep connection and affection between Saint and Patch. And I was intrigued by the disparate-seeming story that soon emerges, beginning with the premise of a serial killer whose actions haunt our main characters and whose horrifying spectre looms over them. But the storytelling frequently felt scattered to me, with overly dramatic moments, abrupt statements that are seemingly meant to add impact, and what felt like self-conscious attempts to be offbeat. Characters frequently offer grand speeches to each other about how the world works, and these didn't feel genuine or likely to me. Yet the cast of characters is colorful, and I enjoyed the time I spent with them. Click here for my full review of All the Colors of the Dark . Chris Whitaker is also the author of We Begin at the End , a novel I adored. 03 Grey Dog by Elliott Gish Grey Dog  begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s rural England, but it becomes a haunting feminist, magical realism story about taking back power and letting go of restrictive expectations. It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and abrupt departure from her last post. Her cruel, controlling father is high up in the school board, so while he lords over her this "favor" of allowing her to serve a new role, he also forces her to be a teacher in the first place. Ada boards with a staid, kind, slightly boring couple and also befriends the minister's wife. She's determined not to make any waves. But a young, half-feral female student and a shockingly unorthodox widow both seem to hold mysterious secrets--and both intrigue Ada. Ada begins to learn delicate secrets of those in the community even as she protects her own scandalous past. A haunting power seems to swirl through the small village, both disturbing and intriguing Ada. And the more often she encounters it, the more difficult it becomes for Ada to check her temper, her opinions, her yearning for freedom, and her desire to speak her mind. This is a feminist historical fiction story in which women--long kept quiet and still, supervised to prevent their freedom, and dismissed and condescended to--strike back, lash out, and reject the constraints put on them. Magical realism allows the force that haunts, challenges, and pushes them to take the form of a beast, whose presence only the bravest women embrace and accept. I loved the setting and detail of the historical fiction story, but I became fully hooked as the tale morphed into something wonderfully eerie and unusual. I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. Click here for my full review of Grey Dog . If this book sounds appealing to you, you might also be interested in my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s or my Bossy reviews of Gothic stories . 04 Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles Amor Towles revisits a character from the wonderful Rules of Civility  and also offers multiple New York-set tales. Towles's evocative stories drew me in, sometimes made me uncomfortable, and illuminated characters' true natures. In Table for Two: Fictions , Amor Towles offers six short stories set in New York City and a novella featuring a beloved Towles character that's set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the novella Eve in Hollywood , Towles imagines the events following Rules of Civility , which ends with Evelyn Ross's departure from New York in 1938 and the train journey she extends to Los Angeles. The six New York-set stories all take place around the year 2000, and they consider the impacts of chance encounters, the complications of modern marriages, and more. Towles's writing is so lovely, I'm willing to follow his stories and his characters anywhere. This one took me a while to finish, but I savored each word. Amor Towles is also the author of The Lincoln Highway , A Gentleman in Moscow ,  a book I really liked, and Rules of Civility ,  which I was even more taken with--the old NYC setting was so vivid, it felt like its own character. Please click here for my full review of Table for Two . 05 The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr Lisa Barr's World War II-set historical fiction follows a Jewish resistance fighter and spy through the Warsaw Ghetto to her second act as a Hollywood movie star, linking the story's two timelines and revealing long-held secrets and mysteries. In Lisa Barr's newest historical fiction, The Goddess of Warsaw , the author tells a story in two timelines. In 1943 Warsaw, socialite Bina Blonski is imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto with her husband and thousands of her fellow Jewish citizens. She becomes a spy and begins to resist against the Nazis--but when she falls for another resistance fighter (her brother-in-law), things get even more complicated. In 2005 Los Angeles, Sienna Hayes is a Hollywood actress looking to direct. When she meets Golden Age movie star Lena Browning, she becomes determined to make a documentary about Lena's life. But Lena is actually Bina--and her life has been far more complex than almost anyone knows. Some moments felt overly dramatic--as with Bina's frequently explored obsession with her brother-in-law Aleksander (and her unwise diary entries concerning her passion for him), as well as when Bina immediately inserts herself into the resistance as a key player--but the issue of these elements, which distracted me, paled against the intrigue of the story. The details of World War II and of resistance to the Nazis are heartstopping, and I was hooked on each of the two timelines in this interconnected story. I loved that brave women that drive the novel in both timelines. Lisa Barr is also the author of Woman on Fire , The Unbreakables , and Fugitive Colors . For my full review, check out The Goddess of Warsaw . 06 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 .

Amor Towles revisits a character from the wonderful Rules of Civility and also offers multiple New York-set tales. Towles's evocative stories drew me in, sometimes made me uncomfortable, and illuminated characters' true natures. [It's] a funny aspect of life, thought Charlie, how a group of grown people can convince themselves to do something that none of them really want to do. They start by talking an idea into existence. Once the idea begins to take shape and dimension, they’ll talk away their hesitations, replacing them with all the supposed benefits, one by one. They’ll talk away their instincts and their second thoughts and their common sense too, until they are moving in lockstep together toward some shared intention that doesn’t appeal to any one of them. In Table for Two: Fictions , Amor Towles offers six short stories set in New York City and a novella featuring a beloved Towles character that's set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the novella Eve in Hollywood , Towles imagines the events following Rules of Civility , which ends with Evelyn Ross's departure from New York in 1938 and the train journey she extends to Los Angeles. The six New York-set stories all take place around the year 2000, and they consider the impacts of chance encounters, the complications of modern marriages, and more. Towles's writing is so lovely, I'm willing to follow his stories and his characters anywhere. This one took me a while to finish, but I savored each word. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Amor Towles is also the author of The Lincoln Highway , A Gentleman in Moscow ,  a book I really liked, and Rules of Civility ,  which I was even more taken with--the old NYC setting was so vivid, it felt like its own character.

Grey Dog begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s rural England, but it becomes a haunting feminist, magical realism story about taking back power and letting go of restrictive expectations. A good woman. How odd that the phrase has such a particular meaning. One might say “a good man” and mean anything — there are as many ways of being a good man, it seems, as there are of being a man at all. But there is only one way to be a good woman. It is such a narrow, stunted, blighted way to be that I wonder any woman throughout history has been up to the task. Perhaps none of us ever have. It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and abrupt departure from her last post. Her cruel, controlling father is high up in the school board, so while he lords over her this "favor" of allowing her to serve a new role, he also forces her to be a teacher in the first place. Ada boards with a staid, kind, slightly boring couple and also befriends the minister's wife. She's determined not to make any waves. But a young, half-feral female student and a shockingly unorthodox widow both seem to hold mysterious secrets--and both intrigue Ada. Ada begins to learn delicate secrets of those in the community even as she protects her own scandalous past. A haunting power seems to swirl through the small village, both disturbing and intriguing Ada. And the more often she encounters it, the more difficult it becomes for Ada to check her temper, her opinions, her yearning for freedom, and her desire to speak her mind. She finds herself shocking others and herself with her frank speech, her rejection of societal norms for women, and her moments of cruelty when others show vulnerability. This is a feminist historical fiction story in which women--long kept quiet and still, supervised to prevent their freedom, and dismissed and condescended to--strike back, lash out, and reject the constraints put on them. Magical realism allows the force that haunts, challenges, and pushes them to take the form of a beast, whose presence only the bravest women embrace and accept. I loved the setting and detail of the historical fiction story, but I became fully hooked as the tale morphed into something wonderfully eerie and unusual. I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You might also like my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s .

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. Our bodies were used to stop bullets, thought Ellwood. He could think of nothing else. Tragedy and looming doom are twisted through this story of a hard-fought love story between Gaunt and Ellwood. The wartime mud and trench nightmare, endless slog, relentless death, horrifying gore, and mostly pointless-seeming pushing onward toward mutual destruction--all of this serves as a backdrop for a heartwarming, heartbreaking story of friendship and love. 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. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of books set during World War I .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Villain Edit , a contemporary romance novel about a dating-focused reality TV show by Laurie Devore; I'm listening to You Are Here , a charming story of hiking through northern England and opening up after heartbreak by David Nicholls; and I'm listening to Australian actress Rebel Wilson's memoir, Rebel Rising . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore Jac Matthis is a romance novelist whose first book tanked (the main protagonist chose her career over a man, enraging readers who'd been counting on a different happy ever after), leaving little audience for her second published book and nonexistent demand for a third. In an attempt to boost her exposure and thereby resuscitate her writing career, the frank and cynical, unapologetically brutally honest, casual-sex fan Jac is set to appear on a Bachelor -type reality TV show in which the ultimate goal is a proposal and marriage. After one last fling, Jac reports to the set--only to find out that her one-night stand is a producer on the show who had been absent during her auditions. Complications abound as the eligible bachelor seems to be falling for Jac, she makes enemies of multiple fellow contestants, she struggles with the staged and manipulated nature of every moment--and realizes that she's being painted as the villain of the show. Laurie Devore is also the author of A Better Bad Idea, Winner Take All , and How to Break a Boy . 02 You Are Here by David Nicholls “It’s true I do have time and freedom and I love it, sometimes. But the notion that I should be 'making the most of it,' travelling the world or out every night, there’s a kind of tyranny in that too.... 'You don’t have kids, why can’t you speak Portuguese?' Do I have to have hobbies and projects and lovers? Do I have to excel? Can’t I just be happy, or unhappy, just mess about and read and waste time and be unfulfilled by myself?” 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 begin to seek out each other's company in an extended hike toward the coast. This is lovely so far--the increasing vulnerability and search for connection after heartache, the vivid descriptions of English countryside, and the small moments that mean everything. Private, intimate, a book was something she could pull around and over herself, like a quilt. David Nicholls is also the author of One Day . I'm listening to You Are Here as an audiobook. 03 Rebel Rising by Rebel Wilson I love to read a memoir--if you haven't yet, you might want to check out the many stand-alone memoir reviews and memoir-focused Greedy Reading Lists I've posted on Bossy Bookworm. A friend recommended actress Rebel Wilson's memoir Rebel Rising , and I'm listening to the Australian's account of a challenging youth, familial conflicts, her growing love for performing, her discovery of her sexuality, her desire to have a child, and her struggle with separating issues of good health from issues of weight. Rebel Wilson starred in the Pitch Perfect movies as well as in Bridesmaids .

Some Lighter Fiction Favorites What I love about a romantic, rom-com, lighter fiction read is that real, weighty issues can be raised within the satisfyingly sweet story: characters may cope with abuse or alcohol abuse; they may struggle to feel self-respect, a healthy body image, or to establish a true and real sense of self; and they might also find themselves capable of demonstrating strength in difficult circumstances. In a rom-com or lighter fiction story, all of these issues can be explored within a safe space--amid swirling attraction, burgeoning romance, self-discovery, some temporary heartbreak, and, typically, a satisfying ending. I love this balance. I'm due to create another Greedy Reading List of my more recently read light fiction favorites, but meanwhile, you can find other Bossy light fiction reviews here . I'm solidly in love with Christina Lauren's and Emily Henry's books, and I haven't yet read everything by the other authors listed here. What other lighter fiction authors or stories do you love? 01 Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein Nineteen-year-old Avery Abrams was set to be the next big gymnastics Olympic champion. She had the training, the talent, and the drive. But during the Olympic Trials, she sustained a career-ending injury. For the next few years she dabbled in college, she partied, she drifted, she dated a professional football player, but she didn't find peace and wasn't able to truly come to terms with her new reality. When she hits a version of rock bottom and moves home, Avery's former teammate and crush Ryan (who did become an Olympic champion) talks her into helping him coach Hallie, a young phenom at the gym where Avery spent much of her youth. With lots of gymnastics details that made the setting come to life, Head Over Heels was the engrossing, light fiction book I needed. Orenstein didn't hit any false notes for me and kept me satisfyingly wrapped up in the elite gymnastics world of the story. For my full review, see Head Over Heels . 02 Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis Sometimes in order to delve into a lighter fiction book I find that I have to suspend my disbelief about typical human behavior. But letting go of expectations about realistic cause and effect in order to buy into a romantic setup (see my review of What You Wish For ) is far more difficult for me than suspending my disbelief in order to buy into outlandish or supernatural aspects of a romantic but otherwise truly oddball book (see my review of My Lady Jane ). The premise of Dear Emmie Blue made me wonder if the story would feel too far-fetched. But Lia Louis's characters are appealingly faulted and sometimes selfish and foolish. Unlikely bonds are forged and reforged within the story. And there's a love triangle in this book that I adored. For my full review, please see Dear Emmie Blue . Lia Louis is also the author of Eight Perfect Hours and The Key to My Heart . 03 Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center This book hit the spot for me. Katherine Center's Cassie is a tough-as-nails firefighter who has closed herself off emotionally to protect herself. Her life is orderly and regimented and under control. So clearly everything is about to be upended so that Cassie will be forced to alter her plans and careful schedule and figure out how to come through it all. Although I saw some of the big plot events coming in Things You Save in a Fire , Center makes the journey so enjoyable that I just didn't care. This novel is satisfying escapism, but it's not silly or outlandish. Things You Save in a Fire is a quick read that addresses serious matters—betrayal, loyalty, duty, trust, and love, with a little sleuthing and romance to round out things. I thought it was great. For my full review of this book, please see Things You Save in a Fire . 04 Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating totally fits the bill for light-fiction escapism--in this case, with lots of sexy talk and sexy scenes and sexy thoughts and sex. Hazel is a strong personality, and I found myself bristling at her questioning whether she's too much sometimes. Yet the authors clearly care deeply about their characters, the characters care deeply about each other, and I cared that they cared. All of this makes for a heartwarming read in which everyone is trying to love and live and be happy. You can see a satisfying version of happily ever after coming, but I didn't predict the circumstances. For my full review of this book, please see Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating . Click here for my reviews of Lauren's The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , The Soulmate Equation (a favorite), and Autoboyography (another favorite and a young adult LGBTQ+ gem). 05 Beach Read by Emily Henry Is it fair for a person (me) with particular requirements for light fiction (ideally: not too outlandish of a hook and premise, characters who follow somewhat logical steps in their lives, inner voices that feel real, human connections that warm my heart, and a little romantic something-something) to continue reading rom-coms and lighter fiction while constantly kind of expecting disappointment? Yes. Yes, it is. Because I suspected that Emily Henry's Beach Read might be a major gem on my light fiction-escapism-pandemic-era reading list and a book that might bring me fully into the bosom of this genre. And fortunately, I was correct. The initial scene-setting didn't feel as authentic to me as the rest of the book. But after that, Beach Read met all of my criteria above and more; it's sweet and funny, it's about writing and books, there are wonderfully faulted love-crossed main protagonists with a shared history, and they share a sexy-playful-obsession that might lead to heartbreak or might lead to love. For my full review of this book, see Beach Read . And click here for my review of Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation . Stay tuned for my upcoming review of her newest, Book Lovers . 06 One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London In Kate Stayman-London's One to Watch , Bea Schumacher is a popular plus-size fashion blogger who has Instagram fame, wonderful friends--and an unhealthy obsession with a male friend who's attached to someone else. After she drunk-blogs scathing comments about the unrealistic body images of the stars of Main Squeeze (a reality TV show in which a single woman dates strangers hand-picked by the producers and aims to marry one of them), Bea is surprised when a show producer reaches out to her with an unexpected question: Would Bea consider starring in a season of Main Squeeze ? Bea finds the proposal laughable, then considers what it might mean for her career, for promoting body positivity, and maybe even for her lackluster romantic life. She decides that she's in--for a fantastic wardrobe, incredibly awkward moments, scripted romance, and a beautiful Malibu backdrop. What could go wrong? I was especially intrigued by how Bea navigated multiple suitors ( Bachelorette -style) and by her attempts to give each his due while simultaneously dating and honestly considering the others. She didn't lose sight of embracing each new experience while reflecting on what she wanted her future to look like after the show, above and beyond what others attempted to script or suggest. For my full review of this book, please see One to Watch .

Lisa Barr's World War II-set historical fiction follows a Jewish resistance fighter and spy through the Warsaw Ghetto to her second act as a Hollywood movie star, linking the story's two timelines and revealing long-held secrets and mysteries. Survival is about secrets, about extraordinary measures taken to stay alive. If you survived, it means others did not. The trauma of a second chance at life, a second act, is at once miraculous and unendurable. In Lisa Barr's newest historical fiction, The Goddess of Warsaw , the author tells a story in two timelines. In 1943 Warsaw, socialite Bina Blonski is imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto with her husband and thousands of her fellow Jewish citizens. She becomes a spy and begins to resist against the Nazis--but when she falls for another resistance fighter (her brother-in-law), things get even more complicated. In 2005 Los Angeles, Sienna Hayes is a Hollywood actress looking to direct. When she meets Golden Age movie star Lena Browning, she becomes determined to make a documentary about Lena's life. But Lena is actually Bina--and her life has been far more complex than almost anyone knows. Some moments felt overly dramatic--as with Bina's frequently explored obsession with her brother-in-law Aleksander (and her unwise diary entries concerning her passion for him), as well as when Bina immediately inserts herself into the resistance as a key player--but these elements paled against the intrigue of the story. The details of World War II and of resistance to the Nazis are heartstopping, and I was hooked on each of the two timelines in this interconnected story. I loved that brave women that drive the novel in both timelines. I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of Harper Perrenial and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Lisa Barr is also the author of Woman on Fire , The Unbreakables , and Fugitive Colors .

Sandwich is another case of beautifully wrought complications and mutual adoration from Catherine Newman, with 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. I love Catherine Newman! She writes characters that are so funny, so poignant, so beautifully oddball, and so wonderfully open about their deep adoration of their complex loved ones--and the frustrations and challenges that make up a perfectly imperfect life. Rocky is menopausal and adjusting to her own shifts--in thinking, in physicality, in mood, and all--as she struggles to remember the joy of the past and accept the beauty in the present with her aging parents and her growing young-adult children. Sandwich made me laugh, twisted my heart, and kept me interested throughout. I just adored all of the heart and humor in Sandwich . I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of Harper and NetGalley. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? 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.

Whitaker offers several interconnected storylines, and while each one individually appealed to me, I felt a growing lack of connection to the characters as the tales melded into another: young friendship, serial killer, outlaw search, small-town intrigue, and longtime mysteries revealed. Chris Whitaker's novel All the Colors of the Dark  builds a story of a deep friendship between two young outcasts in small-town Monta Clare, Missouri: Patch, a pirate-playing young man missing one eye, whose mother is unreliable and a substance abuser; and Saint, a tomboy raised by her fearless grandmother. A kidnaper and serial killer intrudes on the quiet community and directly impacts Patch and Saint. The horrifying crimes seems to be motivated by religious fanaticism, and both Patch and Saint's futures are shaped by their ties to the darkly disturbing events. I adored the early building of the deep connection and affection between Saint and Patch. And I was intrigued by the disparate-seeming story that soon emerges, beginning with the premise of a serial killer whose actions haunt our main characters and whose horrifying spectre looms over them. There's yet another somewhat separate-feeling story of an outlaw, and a study on prison life, as well as an extended look at a life spend in law enforcement and seeking justice. There are deep betrayals, long-term mysteries, and, finally, many revealed truths (some of which you may anticipate, including the biggies). Each of these storylines would be one I'm interested in, and Whitaker offers a fascinating interconnectedness between them. But the storytelling frequently felt scattered to me, with overly dramatic moments, abrupt statements that are seemingly meant to add impact, and what felt like self-conscious attempts to be offbeat. Characters frequently offer grand speeches to each other about how the world works, and these didn't feel genuine or likely to me. A key character gives up everything to relentlessly seek out a dreamlike possibility of something that might be real, and this didn't sit comfortably with me after the early devotion illustrated between our main protagonists and the character growth evidenced in the meantime. This character's youthful romantic relationship, whose impact becomes pivotal in some ways, also didn't feel real to me. Yet the cast of characters is colorful, and I enjoyed the time I spent with them. I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published June 25, courtesy of NetGalley and Crown Publishing. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Chris Whitaker is also the author of We Begin at the End , a novel I adored.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading All the Colors of the Dark , the newest novel by Chris Whitaker ( We Begin at the End ); I'm listening to In Memoriam , a historical fiction LGBTQ love story set in World War I from Alice Winn; and I'm reading Elliott Gish's fascinating gothic horror feminist historical fiction, Grey Dog . What are you reading these days, bookworms? 01 All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker Chris Whitaker's novel All the Colors of the Dark builds a story of a deep friendship between two young outcasts in small-town Monta Clare, Missouri: Patch, a pirate-playing young man missing one eye, whose mother is unreliable and a substance abuser; and Saint, a tomboy raised by her fearless grandmother. A kidnaper and serial killer intrudes on the quiet community and directly impacts Patch and Saint. The horrifying crimes seems to be motivated by religious fanaticism, and both Patch and Saint's futures are shaped by their ties to the darkly disturbing events. I received a prepublication edition of this title, which was published June 25, courtesy of NetGalley and Crown Publishing. Chris Whitaker is also the author of We Begin at the End , a novel I adored. 02 In Memoriam by Alice Winn 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. Tragedy and looming doom are twisted through this story of a hard-fought love story between Gaunt and Ellwood. The wartime mud, endless slog, relentless death, and mostly pointless-seeming pushing onward toward mutual destruction--all of this serves as a backdrop for a heartwarming, heartbreaking story of friendship and love. You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of books set during World War I . I'm listening to In Memoriam as an audiobook. 03 Grey Dog by Elliott Gish It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and abrupt departure from her last post. Her cruel, controlling father is high up in the school board, so while he lords over her this "favor" of a new role, he also forces her to be a teacher in the first place. Ada boards with a staid, kind, slightly boring couple and befriends the minister's wife. She's determined not to make any waves. But a young, half-feral female student and a shockingly unorthodox widow both seem to hold mysterious secrets--and both intrigue Ada. A haunting power seems to swirl through the small village, both disturbing and intriguing Ada. And the more often she encounters it, the more difficult it becomes for Ada to check her temper, her opinions, her yearning for freedom, and her desire to speak her mind.

I hope you're having a wonderful summer, bookworms! I'm going to take an unprecedented Bossy break to spend time with family, but I hope to be reading a lot while I'm offline. Check out the books pictured above for some of the titles I'm hoping to read this month. Wherever you are and whatever you're up to, I hope you're able to take a break and read some great books. I look forward to hearing about your favorite summer reads once I'm back to the blog! xoxo, Amy

My very favorite Bossy June reads! Here are the six books I most loved reading this past month. 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 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 . 02 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 . 03 The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard The Other Valley  is literary fiction with a captivating setup: three adjacent valleys, each of which is a different timeline of the same world--and the complicated repercussions if interactions occur between them. Duty, love, redemption--I loved this. In Scott Alexander Howard's The Other Valley , teenaged Odile lives in an isolated community that's bordered by two worlds: one in which her same community is living in the past and one in which it's living in the future. Quiet Odile and her classmates are readying to apply for apprenticeships, and as she considers applying for the powerful Conseil, which makes decisions about who is allowed to anonymously travel between the worlds to observe loved ones from a distance, she accidentally sees and identifies visitors to her own world--and they're the parents of her young love. The Other Valley  builds from a captivating premise and kept me hooked--through despair, love, duty, and resignation--with quiet power until the slightly twisty ending, which I loved. Howard's literary speculative fiction explores fate, free will, changing the past and implications for the future, and other fascinating issues. Click here for my full review of The Other Valley . 04 The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center Katherine Center offers a writing-focused story in which forced proximity, past secrets, complicated life circumstances, and a fear of vulnerability complicate the professional and personal lives of an unlikely writing duo. Emma Wheeler writes romantic comedies, and she longs to be a screenwriter. But her life in Texas is complicated: her father requires a full-time caregiver, and Emma is it. When, due to her promising talent and her best friend from high school (who's now a high-powered agent), Emma gets the chance to rework a script by the famous screenwriter Charlie Yates (whose works and quotes are posted all over her room), she bends over backward to make it happen. Her sister steps in to help with their dad at home, and Emma moves to Los Angeles for six weeks of inspiring, career-building, lucrative, and life-changing work. Only, the last thing Charlie Yates wants is someone changing his (terrible) script. He doesn't even believe in love, and he's quite certain that Emma is not a solution to any of his problems. As in all good rom-coms, there's a conflict keeping the potential couple apart, and I appreciated the nuances of this one. Center doesn't rely on a miscommunication trope (my very least favorite), and I could see where both sides were coming from emotionally within their prolonged heartbreak of having to be apart. Please click here for my full review of The Rom-Commers . 05 Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley Crosley's memoir traces a treasured friendship and the gutting loss of that dear friend. She's vulnerable enough to allow the reader in on her messy, sometimes fantastical, often poignant search for answers, meaning, and hope in the future. In Sloane Crosley's memoir Grief Is for People , she explores life after the loss of her closest friend. A month before that horrible loss, her New York City apartment is burgled, and at that time, all of her tenuous physical links to her past and family members--mixed though her emotions may be concerning some of them--are suddenly gone. She obsesses over trying to track down the robber, can't let go of the fear that he might have targeted her specifically, and feels as though solving the mystery of who stole from her and why could resolve other, larger problems in her life. Crosley mentally links the theft to the gutting death of her beloved friend, retracing the path of their friendship, her struggle to understand her friend's reasoning and unknown despair, and her deep, dark sense of loss. I was intrigued by Crosley's mindset and the dark humor, devastating grief, and powerful memories she shares here. I listened to Grief Is for People  as an audiobook. For my full review, check out Grief Is for People . 06 Wellness by Nathan Hill Flawed main characters Jack and Elizabeth try to find their way back to an emotional connection in this literary fiction work. Wellness is wry and poignant, and the absurdities of modern life that Hill explores sometimes feel disconcertingly on point. Jack and Elizabeth are strangers living across an alley in a gritty artists' area of 1990s Chicago, and they're immediately and powerfully drawn to each other. As they grow older, their mutual rejection of societal expectations begins to soften. They marry, have a baby, and aim to own a house. But somewhere along the way, they lose sight of each other--and of themselves. Nathan Hill pokes fun at the absurd extremes of the search for modern wellness and the manipulative power of social media and the order of internet searches. We learn about Elizabeth and Jack's histories and motivations, their stunted emotional statuses and the deep hurts inflicted upon them. They must dive into their own secrets, trauma, career weaknesses, faulted parents, and fractured families if they have any hope of salvaging their own marriage. Wellness is darkly funny, intriguing, and, at times, poignant. I was frequently uncomfortable reading the grim truths about our world that Hill lays bare, but I smiled at the wry humor here as well. I listened to Wellness  as an audiobook. For my full review, please see Wellness .

ICYMI: Daniel Mason's atmospheric, mysterious, languorous story is of a shy piano tuner's trip to Burma to get the piano of an eccentric army surgeon up and working. A good piano tuner must have knowledge not only of his instrument but of “Physics, Philosophy, and Poetics,” so that Edgar, although he never attended university, reached his twentieth birthday with more education than many who had. In 1886 England, middle-aged, shy piano tuner Edgar Drake is asked to do something unusual for the British War Office: travel to the jungles of Burma. There, Edgar is asked to repair a temperamental piano owned by an eccentric surgeon who has become essential to the war effort. The Piano Tuner is a strange, slowly paced adventure story but also an anti-imperialist, pro-music take on the world. The story's jungle setting and music focus mean that the languorous and sultry tone feels just right. Motivations aren't always clear, and characters seem enigmatic to Edgar and therefore to the reader. It would be lovely to read the book while listening to a playlist of the works mentioned throughout. This isn't my absolute favorite Mason book, and I didn't connect to the characters as I did in The Winter Solider, but the author's writing is gorgeous as always. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Daniel Mason is also the author of The Winter Soldier and North Woods.

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. I've been reading more rom-coms lately--which always seems like a good idea during the summer--and my latest read is Sarah Adams's The Rule Book. 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. When the two realize that their feelings for each other never fizzled, one thing leads to another (drunken Vegas wedding, anyone?) until they're faced with increasingly complicated life challenges as they try to balance their careers with making space for each other. 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. The football players felt extraordinarily emotionally sensitive and sentimental. It is possible that professional football players are this involved in each other's lives, in exploring each other's passions and dreams, and in creating outlandishly precious celebrations of such. But I kept feeling like it was too far from any likely reality to be believed, and while it was sweet, it repeatedly stopped me as I read. The tone throughout is cheerfully reassuring, and there's no edge here. Despite the plot hiccups in our main characters' work and love lives, there's no question that everything is going to turn out the most happily here, with plenty of swooning and unrelenting vulnerability and maximum adoration and complete fulfillment along the way. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I listened to The Rule Book as an audiobook. Sarah Adams is also the author of The Cheat Sheet and Practice Makes Perfect.

Katherine Center offers a writing-focused story in which forced proximity, past secrets, complicated life circumstances, and a fear of vulnerability complicate the professional and personal lives of an unlikely writing duo. Emma Wheeler writes romantic comedies, and she longs to be a screenwriter. But her life in Texas is complicated: her father requires a full-time caregiver, and Emma is it. When, due to her promising talent and her best friend from high school (who's now a high-powered agent), Emma gets the chance to rework a script by the famous screenwriter Charlie Yates (whose works and quotes are posted all over her room), she bends over backward to make it happen. Her sister steps in to help with their dad at home, and Emma moves to Los Angeles for six weeks of inspiring, career-building, lucrative, and life-changing work. Only, the last thing Charlie Yates wants is someone changing his (terrible) script. He doesn't even believe in love, and he's quite certain that Emma is not a solution to any of his problems. In fact, he seems determined to undermine any potential progress on the script, which puts Emma in a terrible position. Oh, and because of several (ahem, rom-com-type) issues, Emma is living in Charles's house for the duration of the project. And Charles's documentary-filmmaker ex-wife is showing up unannounced, seemingly protective of Charles. Can Emma make Charles believe in true love long enough for them to create something wonderful? Or will the growing obstacles in their path keep them not only from building a great script, but from each other? As in all good rom-coms, there's a conflict keeping the potential couple apart, and I appreciated the nuances of this one. Center doesn't rely on a miscommunication trope (my very least favorite), and I could see where both sides were coming from emotionally within their prolonged heartbreak of having to be apart. There's a romantic gesture centering around a script, and it didn't quite sit right with me (regarding who wrote it, who is credited, etc.). But I loved the book's focus on writing, the peek at L.A. life and the movie industry, and that Emma and Charles are both fish out of water who only find peace and success both professionally and personally when they are true to themselves. I listened to The Rom-Commers as an audiobook courtesy of NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Katherine Center is also the author of Hello Stranger, What You Wish For, Things You Save in a Fire, The Bodyguard, How to Walk Away, Happiness for Beginners, and other books.