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#timetravel, #robots, #epistolary, #fantasyscifi, #LGBTQ

Here For It is refreshing and playful yet thoughtful. I loved spending time with the uproariously funny Thomas. In Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas, the creator of Elle's sassy and smart daily column "Eric Reads the News," shares his thoughts, experiences, and reflections about life and the world around us with honesty and humor. In essays that are sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, and that frequently made me laugh out loud, Thomas explores his sheltered youth, his growing realizations that he was different than most people he knew, his shame and fear about living as his authentic self, and his meandering path toward his current life circumstances, in which he is living as he once only dreamed: he is joyfully challenged professionally, he is unapologetically his own unique self, he is exploring his complicated relationship with religion, and he deeply loves and is loved by his (pastor) husband. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I adored hearing Thomas's voice take me through his essays. His voice and delivery are fabulous. Here For It is refreshing and playful yet thoughtful. I loved spending time with the uproariously funny Thomas as he recounts how he's navigated situations large and small in his life. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Thomas is also a host of The Moth storytelling podcast in D.C. and Philadelphia--and he certainly knows how to craft a compelling and full story out of a momentous moment. I mentioned this book (along with the new mystery The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins and the young adult book I'm reading with my book club for January, Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon) in my first Greedy Reading List of the year, Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/1/21 Edition. My friend Katherine recommended this book to me last spring and despite how long it took me to get to it, I'm so glad she did!

Schwab's stories take place within her detailed fantasy worlds, but her characters' conflicts, hopes, and fears feel real and true for any genre. A Conjuring of Light is an epic finish to V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series. There are four Londons in Schwab's trilogy, and in this final book, darkness threatens to upend the delicate balance the few, essential, magical Antari have struggled to establish among the worlds. The fantastic main players are back: Kell, the ward of the Red London's royal family who once thought he was the last Antari alive; Lila Bard, the gloriously contrary, mischievous pickpocket from Grey London who is learning to control her considerable magic; Holland, White London royalty Lila loves to hate; Rhys, Kell's prince and brother; and one of my favorites, Captain Alucard Emery. Then there's Osaron, Black London's villain who's trying to destroy everyone and everything the whole world over through his shadows and dark control. Necessity makes for strange bedfellows; as crisis after crisis erupts, situations require ingenuity, teamwork, selflessness, and a more sophisticated mastery of magic, skills, clever thinking, and politics than any of the characters could have imagined. Schwab's stories take place within her detailed fantasy world (with some historical fiction elements of London and life at the time mixed in), but her world-building never feels manufactured or self-conscious. Her characters' dynamics, conflicts, hopes, fears, and determination feel real and true. There's a great layer of twisty-turny love/denied feelings/ confusion/misunderstanding (Lila and Kell; Alucard and Rhys) that comes into play and adds nice depth. A small detail: the cutthroat magical bartering and "shopping" scene was a standout. The series is adult fantasy but would be appropriate for a young adult reader--if not averse to Lila's occasional and wonderfully foul-mouthed fury in the face of various indignities. The book is 600+ pages; I listened to the audiobook, and the dual narrators Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are spot-on. What did you think? The first two books in the Shades of Magic series are A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows, each of which I gave four stars. Schwab is also the author of the Villains trilogy, which I really like. The first book in that series is Vicious and the most recent is Vengeful, with a third not yet published. Schwab also recently published The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, a stand-alone book I'm eager to read.

#LGBTQ, #youngadult, #mysterysuspense 02 A Very Punchable Face ​ Has Colin Jost lived long enough to Concurrently reading a young adult LGBTQ mystery, a comedian's memoir, and a historical fiction story

#robots, #fantasyscifi, #series, #offbeat, #uniquePOV, #LGBTQ, #threestarbookreview

Evaristo offers a set of twelve interconnected stories about Black women in contemporary Britain and their friendships, loves, struggles, and successes. The twelve women in Girl, Woman, Other --each of whom gets a chapter to tell her story, which is often joined in progress--are mothers, daughters, friends, and lovers concerned with sexuality, autonomy, race, artistic expression, tradition, class, education, loyalty, and how each of these factors shape their past, present, and future identities as Black British women. We get to know something about life in contemporary Britain through the varied interconnected friendships, partnerships, loves, struggles, successes, and the ways in which these twelve women's lives are affected by past colonialism and the present-day British environment. Evaristo expresses the women's linked life stories using largely concrete language, without a lot of fluff and often limited dialogue. The characters frequently intersperse political, historical, feminist, cultural, and other context throughout their stories and conversations. All of this--along with the sheer number of protagonists Evaristo presents--could potentially and naturally keep the reader at somewhat of a distance from the characters. Yet the stories of several of the protagonists felt particularly easy for me to connect with (for example, Dominique and Carole) as they shared their adventures, hopes, missteps, and joys. I was most fascinated by the looping and sometimes surprising interconnectedness of the characters. During the multiple lessons the characters gave each other about feminism and gender--complete with references to authors, activists, texts, and more--I felt as though I were taking a class; I was interested in the facts but didn't feel drawn into the characters or their stories during those sections. Any Bossy thoughts about this book? This title garnered a lot of attention in 2019 when Evaristo won the Booker Prize for it. I listened to Girl, Woman, Other as an audiobook (as directed by my smarty friend Kirstan) to get the full, glorious effect of having the story told to me in a British accent. I mentioned this book in the Greedy Reading List Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/18/21 Edition.

01 Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon It's the last day of high school, and nemeses Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have battled bitterly for every title, position, honor, and moment of recognition during their high school career. They wake up today texting their usual taunts and challenges. But today will be different: this is the day they'll find out which of them has earned the desired title of class valedictorian. For the unfortunate one, the only hope of regaining glory would be to win the elaborate seniors' game of Howl, a challenging competition that spans the city of Seattle. And if Neil and Rowan look like they're teamed up for the game, it's only because they each intend to use their teammate to get into a winning position--and then take them down. But spending time working together for once allows Rowan and Neil to see sides of the other person that aren't so infuriating and off-putting after all. It sounds crazy, but in a way, they almost seem like the perfect match. Rachel Lynn Solomon's young adult novel Today Tonight Tomorrow feels like a smart, sweet read to start the new year. (For my review, see Today Tonight Tomorrow.) 02 The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins In Rachel Hawkins's mystery The Wife Upstairs, set for January 5, 2021 publication, the main players and their histories aren't what they seem. Jane is a young woman who is new to Birmingham, Alabama. She's seemingly trustworthy and nonthreatening, the perfect dog-walker for upscale Mountain Brook families. And if, while she's taking care of their beloved pets, Jane slips a few small valuables into her pockets, to sell for cash or just because she can, no one is likely to ever be the wiser. But Jane--who's taken on this new name and is desperate to leave her dark past behind her--has wormed her way into the idyllic community in the aftermath of a tragedy. Two of the neighborhood's cherished young wives, longtime best friends, died months earlier in a boating accident. When Jane places herself in the path of one of the widowers and he shows interest in her, she can't believe her luck. This could be a better new beginning than even she could have manipulated into reality. But is Jane doing the scheming, or is something more sinister going on? I received a prepublication copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. (For my review, see The Wife Upstairs.) 03 Here For It by R. Eric Thomas In Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas, the creator of Elle's sassy and smart "Eric Reads the News" column, shares his thoughts, experiences, and reflections about life and the world around us with honesty and humor. In essays that are sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, and that frequently make me laugh out loud, Thomas explores his sheltered youth, his growing realizations that he was different than most people he knew, his shame and fear about living as his authentic self, and his meandering path toward his current life circumstances, in which he is living as he once only dreamed: he is joyfully challenged professionally, he is unapologetically his own unique self, he is exploring his complicated relationship with religion, and he deeply loves and is loved by his (pastor) husband. My friend Katherine recommended this book to me last spring and I'm finally getting around to reading it--I'm actually listening to it as an audiobook, and I adore hearing Thomas's voice take me through his essays. This is refreshing and so playful yet thoughtful, I love it so far. (I finished! For my full review, see Here For It.) What are you reading to start the new year? I've just started Today Tonight Tomorrow, my book club's first title of the year, and I do like the idea easing into 2021 with a young adult nemeses-fall-in-love premise. The Wife Upstairs has been aging nicely in my Kindle for months, until my realization that its publication date was fast approaching. It's a fast and engaging read so far, which also feels just right for these gray days of winter. And I'm listening to R. Eric Thomas read his audiobook, which I highly recommend. His voice and delivery are fabulous. What are you reading at the start of this new year? I just picked up an armful of library holds, and along with the stack of books I received as holiday gifts, I am now in possession of all the books. I hope this weekend holds some cozy reading time with books you love.

#fantasyscifi, #LGBTQ, #youngadult What are you reading now?

#youngadult, #LGBTQ, #heartwarming, #fivestarbookreview, #autoboyography

The LGBTQ+ love conveyed in the story is lovely, and Veronica's matter-of-fact approach to this relationship

mischievously switches out the dust jackets of her old-fashioned, out-of-touch books with novels featuring LGBTQ

But someone mischievous has put the dust jackets of her wholesome books on LGBTQ+ novels, romances, literary

novel by Chris Whitaker ( We Begin at the End ); I'm listening to In Memoriam , a historical fiction LGBTQ

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston McQuiston's love letter to New York offers charming song references, LGBTQ The book revels in wonderful LGBTQ love and tons of sexiness; fantastic New York-centric details; and

contemporary fiction, young adult, nonfiction, fantasy, and light fiction titles, including several LGBTQ One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston McQuiston's love letter to New York offers charming song references, LGBTQ The book revels in wonderful LGBTQ love and tons of sexiness; fantastic New York-centric details; and

feminist heroine; a great lakeside summertime romance; a 1980s-set astronaut story with feminism and LGBTQ The LGBTQ+ love conveyed in the story is lovely, and Veronica's matter-of-fact approach to this relationship

Right now I'm reading the recent Lucky Red, Claudia Cravens's LGBTQ Western set in a brothel in 1877

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston McQuiston's love letter to New York offers charming song references, LGBTQ The book revels in wonderful LGBTQ love and tons of sexiness; fantastic New York-centric details; and

Klune, the author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, offers another whimsical, tender, light-LGBTQ-love

There's LGBTQ representation here as well.

of variety, I've included a book each from these genres: faith-focused science fiction, young adult LGBTQ this book, please see The Sparrow. 02 Autoboyography by Christina Lauren I adored this young adult LGBTQ

Klune offers another whimsical, tender, striking, LGBTQ story about finding your true self, recognizing

this book, please see The Sparrow. 02 Autoboyography by Christina Lauren I adored this young adult LGBTQ

right-hand-man); the unorthodox and touching loyalty within a reimagined Gwen-Arthur relationship; and the LGBTQ-positive

Words , The Soulmate Equation (a favorite), and Autoboyography (another favorite and a young adult LGBTQ

But t he LGBTQ love is lovely.

In A Power Unbound , Marske also explores class divides, gender-power imbalances, LGBTQ love, and the

this book, please see The Sparrow. 02 Autoboyography by Christina Lauren I adored this young adult LGBTQ

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston McQuiston's love letter to New York offers charming song references, LGBTQ

Other Words, The Soulmate Equation (a favorite), and Autoboyography (another favorite and a young adult LGBTQ

Other Words, The Soulmate Equation (a favorite), and Autoboyography (another favorite and a young adult LGBTQ

Beginners , and other books. 03 The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun The reality-show setting and LGBTQIA I loved the open discussions of mental health, the characters' realistic imperfections, the LGBTQIA+ For more Bossy reviews of books with LGBTQIA+ representation, please check out this link .