adventures of a feminist woman in the 18th century wilderness of New York, and offers copious romance and lush book of Donati's Wilderness series, it's 1792 and Elizabeth Middleton has traveled with her malcontent lush realizes that her father's oblique promises that she could teach school in their new home may have been a ruse to get her to New York--and he then planned to push her into considering marriage in order to serve Donati is also the author of the wonderful book The Gilded Hour as well as Where the Light Enters and

intense love for a dog, a couple of unshakable best friends, a grumpy elderly neighbor with a heart of gold

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Ron Rash's newest novel, to be published tomorrow, The Caretaker 01 The Caretaker by Ron Rash In Ron Rash's newest novel, The Caretaker, Blackburn Gant is the sole caretaker I included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List North Carolina's Rash (he teaches at Western Carolina University) is also the author of other books set

“You need a plan,” she hears—or seems to hear—her old nurse, Sofia, say, from a place near her elbow. She is considered odd and emotional, and her siblings exclude and tease her, pushing her further into Wearing an enormous gold dress meant for her now-deceased sister, Lucrezia marries a stranger, immediately Maggie O'Farrell is also the author of Hamnet, I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, The Vanishing

But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper  and The Empire of Gold .

“I should rather have you than a heap of gold, even if it were very comfortable to sleep on.”

It was not a good place for me to do business when I had a whole slew of ex-husbands, double-crossed Chakraborty such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold

The traveling librarians were all irresistible variations on “tough as nails with hearts of gold” characters loved their searches for love and their yearning for living a life that was true to themselves (by pushing

Click here for my full review of The Change. 04 Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel Stephanie Wrobel's Darling Rose Gold is a wonderfully twisted tale, with double-crossing, codependence, and dark turns. Good thing we’re extra strong. In Darling Rose Gold, Wrobel gives us Münchausen syndrome by proxy, lies, betrayals, and double-crossing For my full review of this book, check out Darling Rose Gold. 05 The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey This sci-fi

Then Iris spies a storefront familiar from one of her mother's old photos, a gelato store...where she this first book of Donati's Wilderness series, it's 1792 and Elizabeth Middleton has traveled from a lush realizes that her father's oblique promises that she could teach school in their new home may have been a ruse to get her to New York--and then push her into considering marriage in order to serve his business interests Sara Donati is also the author of the wonderful book The Gilded Hour as well as Where the Light Enters

Jonathan Haidt is also the author of The Righteous Mind : Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and But a dramatic event stops their journey to the gold medal--and breaks them up for good.

Armageddon was a fire in the harbor, a box delivered on a cold day. The story's pacing felt quite slow and the tone extremely dark and hushed for the majority of the book The slog of fighting and of the horrifyingly deadly war is conveyed with vivid, crushing, uncomfortable

Something about the post-holiday cold gray of January lends itself to stories that chug along and keep into the pressures, pain, and hope within extreme isolation, the power of external forces, and the push So when Emmy's best friend's teen daughter Madison brushes her off, then shows up, needy and asking for But the nonbeliever is in a bind, because without God, who forgives? Amity Gaige is also the author of O My Darling , The Folded World , Schroder , and Sea Wife .

Bossy Short Story Love Some of my fellow readers have told me in the past that they don't gravitate toward She also wrote the Apothecary trilogy for young readers. 04 Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash In Nothing Gold Can Stay, a collection by Ron Rash, the stories take place in different eras, but all are set in The state is as prominent as a character as Rash explores trapped despair, haunting choices, and the Rash's writing here is, as always, exquisite, and within these 14 stories, he turns his attention to

Fairy Tales and Retellings For this list, I focused on books with fantastical elements; clear good-and-evil pitted against dark, feared forces, turning on its head what the village collectively believes to be good But the writing was ethereal and practically brought a chill to my skin as I read about the snow and cold My book club was not unanimously sold on this book, to the point that I'm tempted to include it in a collecting the debts owed to her family, earning her the reputation of being able to spin silver into gold

first installment of this series of stories about sharp, disparate septuagenarians who meet to resolve cold sister-in-law was enjoying this book while we were at the beach this summer, which is what finally got me to push Joyce is their newest member, and the four put their wits to the test to try to resolve cold cases. personalities, pasts, motivations, and abilities, and each of them feels willing to skirt the law and push

But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold .

the ship are likely Too Much for Annie, and she's not dying to come face to face with the celebrity crushes first as though it will lead to something momentous, but in a more realistic turn, the moment that holds The ending felt a little rushed after that point, but I appreciated that Straub didn't go of the rails

I was in this for the characters, among them Cordell, the tough captain with a heart of gold; Boots, White is also the author of Alien: The Cold Forge and Every Mountain Made Low.

of the future, a desperate chef is enlisted to create elaborate dishes for the wealthiest elite on a lush in a polluted, dying city flees to a mountaintop retreat--and finds that fresh food, clear air, and lush Zhang is also the author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold? I listened to Good Material  as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of Good Material .

that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen live with her husband's cold to get past this to appreciate the representations of the struggle between work and motherhood, the crushing Chakraborty, such as the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold

But when her husband pushes her too far with abhorrent behavior, Del hops a train and dives into the Click here for my full review of The Great Transition. 03 The Caretaker by Ron Rash Ron Rash's newest I included the wonderful Ron Rash short story collection Nothing Gold Can Stay in my Greedy Reading List Hold on to your hats: the Veronica-Stoker relationship gains clarity at long last!

ice, and when they eventually advanced to the Olympics, a dramatic event stopped their journey to the gold medal--and broke them up for good. Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey Eowyn Ivey offers elements familiar from her other two novels--a cold Black Woods, Blue Sky is a cold-setting story--one of my favorites--in which the unforgiving weather, In 2014 Turkey, ten-year-old Narin is living near the Tigris and is affected by a disorder that will

Vanderah is also the author of The Oceanography of the Moon. 02 Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel Darling Rose Gold is a wonderfully twisted tale, with double-crossing, codependence, and dark turns. In Darling Rose Gold, Wrobel offers readers a story involving Münchausen syndrome by proxy, lies, betrayals For my full review of this book, please see Darling Rose Gold. 03 When We Were Vikings by Andrew David

A prickly professor has turned up dead (his head crushed by a bronze bust of Nathaniel Hawthorne), and The romance element seemed to happen too quickly; it felt rushed and therefore not particularly believable

collecting the debts owed to her family, earning her the reputation of being able to spin silver into gold

ago, and while Amina once thought of herself as a one-woman show, despite having had a full crew, her old is the author of the Daevabad Trilogy: The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold

reading-interest boxes--the setting is an isolated island (Antarctica is the closest land mass), the climate is cold (check out these other Bossy reviews of titles with cold settings ), and climate change  and shifting , preserved seeds for the future--if they can trust each other long enough to work together for the good into the pressures, pain, and hope within extreme isolation, the power of external forces, and the push

loved, a great enemies-to-(not-quite)-lovers setup, a strong young female protagonist with a heart of gold

among cultures in a mid-nineteenth century community in the Arctic Circle, immersing the reader in a cold location in the Scandinavian tundra, they're each carving out lives shaped by the unforgiving snow and cold I was fascinated by Pylväinen's explorations of how the old ways and new ways pushed against each other The reindeer herders, for example, hold immeasurable knowledge of the habits of their animals and of For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings

An astronaut playing golf on the moon! Did she know about the cheese-rolling competitions? It was as if credulous medieval masses had burst through into modernity, rushing into the wrong theatre They were brilliant in their avarice, quarrelsome beyond imagining, ready to die for bad and good ideas protagonists force or are faced with resolutions, which are not always peaceful or wholly satisfying, but push

think it's for the same reason I'm captivated by wartime stories: the books are about characters being pushed In the young adult science fiction novel Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, young Sena has lost both of In Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves, Long offers an intriguing story of brutal conditions, determined I was hooked by Long's world-building, her evocative, immersive descriptions of the cold climate, and To see my full review, check out Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. might possibly get tiresome, but Reid skillfully builds the story, the complex relationships, and the pushes

young people fighting to find out the truth might just upend established, corrupt power structures for good Fifteen-year-old loyal Republic citizen June has been groomed her whole life for a military position Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Day was born in a slum and is the Republic's most-wanted criminal. When the murder of June's brother pushes June and Day together, the two must fight to uncover the truth gold.

Liam, only ten years old and a reluctant participant in the work, must figure out how to finish the job Maggie O'Farrell is also the author of The Marriage Portrait, Hamnet, I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes Liverpool tennis club for years but hasn't played since she was a young woman whose love for the game was crushed A run-in with her old school crush Sam, her daughter's move from home, and stress and uncertainty at

that her husband died in the fighting overseas, and she and her baby Aileen live with her husband's cold I was especially struck by the struggle between work and motherhood, the crushing societal judgment of

location in the Scandinavian tundra, they're each carving out lives shaped by the unforgiving snow and cold The old ways and new ways push against each other, as do the Finn, Lapp, Sámi, Swedish, and Russian influences For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1) by Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs begins Winspear's series as a thirteen-year-old

wonderful: the complicated workings of different groups' postwar efforts; the bombed--or jarringly lush historical fiction mystery, which skips back and forth in time, four years later, Iris's twin sister Ruth Ruth is soon on her way to Russia to try to extricate Iris from danger--but the truth about Iris's marriage and past is more complicated and fraught than Ruth could have imagined. The character of the brothel madam with a heart of gold has probably been overdone in literature.

Here are the books I most loved reading in May: Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, Lucinda Williams's In Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, songwriter, singer, and musician Lucinda Williams shares Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You was wonderful--spare yet fully developed, often surprising, western landscapes Val passes through, gritty San Francisco, and the powerful cliffside ocean as well as lush loved, a great enemies-to-(not-quite)-lovers setup, a strong young female protagonist with a heart of gold

When she was old enough, Sarah ran from an emotionally cold childhood in Michigan and mysterious circumstances in Ireland, and Hurtubise doesn't skimp on building an evocative setting on blustery cliffs and in lush blew through this novel, and the whole time I was reading Saoirse , I held my breath that it would hold

Do you have any favorite cold-setting books? Do you like reading cold-setting books in the summer? Have you read any of these books? closed-in forests, and the traps and dangers of the winter and the wild that I could almost feel the cold The rural Siberian settings are exquisitely wrought, with stark, rugged, lush landscapes serving as the In what is now a famously ill-fated turn of events, the ship Endurance became trapped in the ice and crushed

duty and loyalty versus desire for individuality and imagination; emotional frigidity in the face of a crushing This creates a cold, distant tone for periods of the book.

among cultures in a mid-nineteenth century community in the Arctic Circle, immersing the reader in a cold I was fascinated by Pylväinen's explorations of how the old ways and new ways pushed against each other For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings feels caught between existences, and the book pulls to a powerful but understated end in which this push nuptials, it doesn't take long for them to realize that Art has been kissing a boy and that Gwen has a crush

There are some old-fashioned elements, but for me, the big heart of this story outweighs the outdated And why would a baby want gifts of oil and gold--wouldn't a ham be better and more useful?

This collection of previously published Sedaris works is a gold mine of discomforting, edgy, offbeat I hadn't read (or listened to) a good number of these selections, and I was repeatedly surprised and

The World That We Knew features the strong, gruff Hanni with a heart of gold; young Ettie, who is idealistic Who Save Us by Jenna Blum Most of us are drawn to this time period thinking it was a war of absolute good I had trouble with the convenience of the ending, but the story was so darn good, the weight of the ending

But an unwed mother in that time and place has little chance of keeping a child once the Church has a hold collection, we meet imperfect characters, often fortysomething women, in moments large and small that push master plan for a performance--and talks her unfriendly teen coworker, Nathan, into making his gamer crush ice, and when they eventually advanced to the Olympics, a dramatic event stopped their journey to the gold medal--and broke them up for good.

The sequel to Long's young adult fantasy/science fiction debut Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves takes young female protagonist on a bitterly cold and unforgiving planet, and her desperate journey across emotional arc, and more in a brutally cold, vividly described landscape. The book ends with indications that the fight for justice and the push to right wrongs is far from over The first book in this series from Meg Long was Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

by Barbara Kingsolver Kingsolver offers an epic story of a faulted, unlikely hero in danger of being crushed For my full review, please check out The Bone Clocks . 03 The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati I loved digging The Gilded Hour  explores how these women's abilities and constraints intersect with women's rights of For my full review, please check out The Gilded Hour . The Gilded Hour is part of the Greedy Reading List Thankful for Five-Star Bossy Reads . 04 The Rose

In Johnson's book, her fifteen-year-old self struggles with an eating disorder and enters a residential A Very Large Expanse of Sea , it's been a year since the events of 9/11, and Shirin, a sixteen-year-old The ending felt rushed, but my love for this book outweighs any disappointment about the ending by a nuptials, it doesn't take long for them to realize that Art has been kissing a boy and that Gwen has a crush everyone--Eli's angry twin sister with her attempts to freeze out Carver at school; Mars's father with his push