heroine; a great lakeside summertime romance; a 1980s-set astronaut story with feminism and LGBTQ love; a Maine-set full review of this book please see An Unexpected Peril . 02 One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune The main second installment of the series, retired CIA agents build stronger bonds with each other in rural Maine If you're interested in stories set in Maine, you might like the titles on my Greedy Reading List Six Fascinating Books Set in Maine . 05 Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.

; a strange world full of vengeful creatures; and satisfyingly proud, brave moments for each of our main I don't read very many novellas, and regarding Novik and her rich world-building, charming supporting Love for Naomi Novik's Fiction Naomi Novik is the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main

This was smart and intriguing, a fast and compelling read with a main protagonist I was rooting for. Cavanagh's twisty Kill for Me, Kill for You , or the most recent in Tess Gerritsen's retired-spies-in-Maine details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main Harrow The Everlasting  involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main Each timeline produces a vastly different boy, a significantly shaped sister Maia, drastically different

at the moment: recently published fantasy-historical fiction, the second in a mystery series set in Maine

I'm reading the first in Tess Gerritsen's Martini Club series about a retired CIA operative in rural Maine #1) by Tess Gerritsen Maggie Bird, a retired CIA operative who has made a home for herself in rural Maine But Purity, Maine, has drawn multiple former intelligence agents (the "martini club" in the series title

relationship stresses, and issues surrounding race in a stream-of-consciousness account from a nameless main (Note that the main protagonist's miscarriages are described here in unflinching detail.) I loved the way the main-protagonist photographer viewed others around her and pieced together what felt

Readers will likely have a clear sense that our main character is prepared to burn it all down on her Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson In Ava Robinson's debut novel, she offers an appealingly imperfect main Our main protagonist knows little about her situation or location, yet persists in her quest for answers and builds a rich inner life filled with wonder. forty women (one is a young girl, our main protagonist Yet I was intrigued by the post-apocalyptic, puzzling situation and by the main protagonist's persistence

The gods' war provides the structure for the book's main conflict, but the story feels primarily focused When one main character becomes a war correspondent and the other comes to the front, they create a deep

of empathy might have unraveled the increasingly devastating whirlwind of conflict between the two main Kingfisher writes my favorite kind of fantasy novel: a wonderfully oddball main protagonist, a strange imagines richly imagined fantasy worlds, and within them she slots fantastically imperfect and wondrous main Desai offers an ambitiously meandering tale in which many issues stretch out, increasingly twisted and fear, missteps, danger, and obtuse elements whose significance only in the end become clear(er) to our main

I loved the octogenarian main protagonist of Elsie and the darkly funny start to the book. Elsie is an 81-year-old living in a Melbourne suburb, grumbling and mainly keeping to herself, aside since childhood, a persistent 7-year-old girl who's determined to befriend her, and Peter, a kind young man

friendship between two young outcasts in small-town Monta Clare, Missouri: Patch, a pirate-playing young man disparate-seeming story that soon emerges, beginning with the premise of a serial killer whose actions haunt our main There are deep betrayals, long-term mysteries, and, finally, many revealed truths (some of which you may anticipate, including the biggies). might be real, and this didn't sit comfortably with me after the early devotion illustrated between our main

I loved the headstrong, powerful but untrained main character Nahri, the complex cultural backgrounds uncertain as well; and the pacing left me feeling somewhat unsettled, moving from event to event without gaining

much as book one, but Faizal keeps the pace moving and progresses the bonds and affection between the main

This is another whodunit winner from Wendy Walker: a character-driven mystery with a neurodivergent main I loved Charlie as our main protagonist. I appreciated the choice to have main protagonist Charlie be neurodivergent--and to name the book about

overused from use in other stories (a tough, closed-off investigator, broken by her past; a strong, kind man unrequited love for her; the general outline of the disturbing situation at the heart of the book’s main

my full review of Yesteryear. 05 Kin by Tayari Jones Jones throws every issue imaginable at her two main For me, a main strength of Kin is Jones's ability to build a rich Southern setting and to layer issues This is a feel-good romance celebrating books while its main protagonist reels with grief. There are so many branches of this story, and so many complicated implications of the main players’ actions Jimenez knows how to layer difficult situations and messy complications into her rom-coms, and her main

This group of genius, odd, complementary main protagonists often felt like an FBI version of Slough House Bossy Love for Mysteries The next installment of this series, Inside Man , was recently published.

I was taken with the main characters of the past storyline here: a young boy at a children's home and love an Alaska storyline) and the polar bear-focused parts of the story, it felt far afield from the main

The playful tone and clever main protagonist in Olivia Waite's science-fiction novella make for an appealing More Olivia Waite Olivia Waite is also the author of the Feminine Pursuits series and many other stand-alone

Cain is savvy, street-smart, and living in the capital. chosen one" quest in which characters discover and use their power, and in different ways, Arienne, Cain Each of the three main protagonists begin to understand their own power--and when their paths intersect

SecUnit is a fantastic main character; it's grumpily and charmingly obsessed with keeping its people Lora Beth Johnson hooked me immediately with the premise of Goddess in the Machine and with main protagonist she's ready to be reunited with the team, which includes her mother and the rest of her family, plus many But Divya is too busy crafting strong female main protagonists (complete with working mother guilt, which A mysterious prisoner from the front arrives who could be friend or foe, and our main protagonist Talin

Doesn't Find You; and I'm listening to a historical fiction mystery based on a real-life 18th-century Maine Maine setting? Check. Female character in the medical profession? Check. The Frozen River ticks so many Bossy boxes, I knew this one had to zip to the top of my to-read list. It's 1789, and in a rural Maine community, a local man turns up dead--frozen into the river. Many aren't sad to find that he is no longer a belligerent threat in town.

other Hawkins novels I've read, the story's relationships, hidden truths, and setting feel like the main The Heiress has a satisfying ending that also retains some of the story's intrigue among the main characters

Six authors, many who are strangers to each other, and each one part of the dreaded publishing "midlist have 72 hours to write well enough to fight for the money and recognition they're each desperate to gain I wanted to know a little bit more about Fletch, his long-running series, and his main protagonist, Julia You can find my Bossy reviews of many other V. E. Schwab books here.

I like a story driven by a female investigaor of a main protagonist, and in this small-town mystery and

She expects to manage this job--whatever it may turn out to be--without much difficulty. This was smart and intriguing, a fast and compelling read, with a main protagonist I was rooting for,

In one timeline, an abused wife makes a stand for a whimsical name suggested by her daughter Maia, Bear While I feel resistant to Knapp's placing of the weight of the main characters' fates on Cora's shoulders Each timeline produces a vastly different boy, a significantly shaped sister Maia, drastically different

they are fated to reenact their own battles, love stories, and ends so that the isle and those on it may Elements shift and the main protagonists insist on free will over fate, gradually succeeding in attempts

fiction rom-com is a funny, poignant, and sometimes frustrating deep dive into the emotionally stunted main Baby steps are hard-won progress for the often-clueless main protagonist.

Six Great Bossy Literary Fiction Reads I read so many read literary fiction books last year, I'll need This book was one of My Very Favorite Bossy 2024 Reads . 02 Wellness by Nathan Hill Flawed main characters But when the boss's daughter begins tinkering with precious resources, our main protagonist is swept fiction rom-com is a funny, poignant, and sometimes frustrating deep dive into the emotionally stunted main Baby steps are hard-won progress for the often-clueless main protagonist.

I'm a huge Amy Bloom fan, and while I appreciated the strong main female character here and the World I'll Be Right Here  tracks decades in their lives, including victories, pain, unorthodox choices, and beautiful In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss , Away , Lucky Us , Come to Me: Stories , and A Blind Man

In Ava Robinson's debut novel, she offers an appealingly imperfect main character making missteps and

We meet two main protagonists: independent young adult Birdie, who travels from her rural hometown to After the women in the novel develop an audacious plan to make money and thereby gain the power to shift find out the reason for her petty, shocking evil), and somehow remains married to a kind, if weak, man

left feeling unmoored and repeatedly wondering what the heck was going on as I tried to take in the many Yet This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me shines in so many ways: Maggie's love of books, Maggie's entering into celebrates the importance of books for coping, celebrating, and exploring, while also delving into our main This is a feel-good romance celebrating books while its main protagonist reels with grief. After a time the mystery is no longer a mystery; the main unknown is which form the community's renegade

mothers and sons, Little Wonder; and I'm listening to Sally Hepworth's mystery featuring an octogenarian main 03 Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth Elsie is an 81-year-old living in a Melbourne suburb, grumbling and mainly since childhood, a persistent 7-year-old girl who's determined to befriend her, and Peter, a kind young man

This group of genius, odd, complementary main protagonists often felt like an FBI version of Slough House Inside Man is the newly published sequel. Bovalino Bovalino's story hooked me with a main protagonist who's a female knight, her best-friend mage What keeps the main protagonists apart is a realistic-feeling set of emotional barriers intended to preserve The final section of the novel captures many of the characters in extended scenes together.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Rebecca Serle's upcoming novel in which the main protagonist receives of love-life predictions, Expiration Dates; I'm reading Amy Tintera's upcoming novel, in which the main protagonist may or may not have murdered her best friend and is tracked down by a podcast investigating Daphne Bell meets a potential love interest, she receives a mysterious slip of paper that details how many

Abby Jimenez layers tough situations and messy complications into her rom-coms, and here, her main protagonists Xavier is a young veterinarian who feels grumpy, exhausted, and as though he may be losing faith in humanity But Xavier's painful past and Samantha's challenging present might make a future for the two impossible

Strangers grew out of a "Modern Love" essay and is her account of her pain, confusion, and reemergence This is gorgeous Niall Williams literary fiction, centering around an Irish country village, a young man It's necessary for the reader to sustain a suspension of disbelief so that this hole in our main protagonist's The main protagonist (who is not named) in Charlotte Wood's literary fiction Stone Yard Devotional  is Each of the main characters drives the story in a different way, and I was invested in the struggles

connection, but bitterness about their past festers--until a cathartic blowup allows them to air their pain The main story is focused on the individual sisters, their relationship, and their own marriages. poised draw in Mere and Frankie's husbands, who were camping in the region where Brie went missing, and may

Evie Beaulieu becomes obsessed with marine life and diving when as a young girl she tests her father's crafting art as her only constant; two friends at an elite Chicago high school, a privileged young man Each of the main characters drives the story in a different way, and I was invested in the struggles

could have been a treacly story about old friends reliving the past and coming back together after many Some of main protagonist Mikey's revelations and growth aren't completely satisfying, but the tone and

opera August Kitko and the Mechas from Space, about deadly AI robots coming to destroy space--until our main pianist, is tasked with saving humanity; and I'm listening to This Other Eden, historical fiction set in Maine group of underdogs saving the day. 03 This Other Eden by Paul Harding Back in 1792, a formerly enslaved man Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife found a safe haven on an island off the coast of Maine. scratch and claw to subsist--yet they remain on their island, safe from the judgment and danger of the mainland

The Everlasting involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main protagonists

Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out

London Falling is about the disappearance of a young man, Zac. London; into the pressures and alternate universe of high society and extreme wealth; and into the many He was a trickster who confected a mysterious persona that may have been ridiculous but ultimately served There are so many branches of this story, and so many complicated implications of the main players’ actions imagine anyone but Patrick Radden Keefe successfully imposing this much order on so much chaos and so many

I loved the Ottoman Empire setting, the strong female main protagonist, and the complications and sometimes Main protagonist Ismae escapes an arranged marriage, arrives at a convent, and is ultimately trained She finds that she may be the only hope to save her war-torn country. King , surprising revelations, shifting alliances, opaque political machinations, and enmity between main which offers wonderfully flawed characters, plot twists and revelations, great banter, and endings you may

The story features main protagonist Natalie, a fundamentalist Christian who subscribes to male-dominated

Not everyone is who they seem, and someone the group trust's may have let greed and deception compromise The main protagonists' tendencies and personalities have room to shine in book two of the Thursday Murder I listened to The Man Who Died Twice  as a library audiobook.

James doesn't lay out neat endings tied up with bows, but there is promise and hope for each main protagonist