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:) I love a memoir, and I love reading about people doing what they love, and I also love eating. So I therefore love memoirs written by chefs and by people who are obsessed with food, and the books If you like memoirs, check out these Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading Lists: Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into, Six Illuminating Memoirs I've Read This Year, and Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality And which other books should I add to my food memoir to-read list?

you're interested in books like this, you might also like the books on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans, and Alien Life and AI Six More Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year Have you read any of these books The memories are beginning to slowly shift back into focus, but he needs them now.

My Favorite Rom-Com Reads This is my first of two favorites lists of rom-coms and romantic reads. I was just talking to my friend Martha about rom-coms with weighty themes, and some of these titles fit that bill. Others are more purely light, with happy endings you might see coming from a mile away--and likely won't mind at all. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! Have you read any other rom-com or romantic novels that you loved? 01 Betting on You by Lynn Painter Lynn Painter delivers funny, charming banter and an opposites-attract tension in this heartwarming rom-com about divorce, trust, blended families, and vulnerability. In Lynn Painter's rom-com Betting on You , rule-following seventeen-year-old Bailey and sarcastic, joking Charlie meet at a fraught moment--they're both leaving Alaska and coping with their parents' divorces. They're polar opposites, and they drive each other crazy. Now they're living in the same hometown again, and, coincidentally, they're about to be working together at a bizarre hotel fun park. When Bailey and Charlie fake date in order to try to thwart the new relationship between Bailey's mom and her always-around boyfriend, Bailey realizes she's got feelings for Charlie. And Charlie's emotionally immature, but he's never let his guard down the way he does with Bailey. Painter delivers charming and funny banter, emotional growth, deep friendship, plausible missteps that keep the couple apart, heart-wrenching moments of vulnerability, and heartwarming looooove. Please click here for my full review of Betting on You . 02 The Rule Book by Sarah Adams This love story about an emotionally sensitive NFL player and his quirky, irresistible female agent is a sweet second-chance romance perfect for light summer reading. Nora Mackenzie is a sports agent who's constantly fighting against misogyny and double standards as one of few women in the field. She's young and hungry--and thrilled that she's about to get her first really big client. But Nora and the client, NFL tight end Derek Pender, were college sweethearts, and Nora abruptly broke things off years ago. They haven't seen each other since. Derek is determined to make Nora so miserable, she'll quit her position as his agent, but Nora's never given up on anything in her life--except her youthful relationship with Derek. She's determined to look out for her career above all else. I love Nora's passion for her career and the single-mindedness that has led to her success. In concept, I also love her quirkiness and refusal to bend to societal pressures--whether by behaving in a more tough manner because she's a woman in a career where fewer women exist, or by using her femininity as a tool in that career. But her silly language and childlike manner grated on me, and I found it distractingly corny. I loved the fake marriage, the push and pull of career and love, and the second-chance romance. Click here for my full review of The Rule Book . 03 Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher Lex Croucher's queer medieval rom-com--the author's debut young-adult novel--is an absolute gem; it's full of excellent banter and lots of heart. I smiled while reading this one. “Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, Gwendoline. So it's up to you --you can put them aside forever, if you can live with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself.” It's hundreds of years after King Arthur's reign, and his descendant and namesake Arthur, a future lord and committed partier and social butterfly, has long been betrothed to the short-tempered princess Gwendoline. But Gwendoline and Arthur detest each other. And when they're forced to spend the summer together at Camelot to prepare for their upcoming nuptials, it doesn't take long for them to realize that Art has been kissing a boy and that Gwen has a crush on the only female knight in the kingdom. The premise of Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love  is irresistible, the pacing is great, and the banter is excellent--funny dialogue is a favorite element of mine. I adored the voices of the characters and witnessing their growth over the course of the story. For my full review, please see Gwen & Art Are Not in Love . 04 Love, Lists and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz Sarah Grunder Ruiz serves up an irresistible rom-com with great banter and with interesting and difficult, complex issues of loss, grief, and responsibility at its heart. Jo Walker is a yacht stewardess. She fell into the job years ago while trying to find herself--after a youth in which her father died, her mother fell apart, her older sister Beth became pregnant by (and married) her beloved high school sweetheart--and after Jo moved in with the young married couple while she finished high school. But none of Jo's losses or disappointments or life experiences could have prepared her for the horrific, shocking loss of her young nephew Samson, Beth's youngest child (and Jo's birthday twin), in a biking accident. The tension that keeps apart Jo and Alex ( a handsome, charming man new to town) feels plausible, and I accepted the difficulties each faces when considering a commitment to the other. I loved  the best-friendship with Nina, the messy path of grief, and the imperfect characters all doing their best. I welcomed with open arms the happy ending served up by Sarah Grunder Ruiz. For my full review, please see Love, Lists and Fancy Ships . 05 I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang Ann Liang's newest young adult rom-com pits high school nemeses against each other: one relentless perfectionist and people-pleaser and her effortlessly successful classmate. But neither is as perfect as they seem...except in being perfect for each other. In Ann Liang's I Hope This Doesn't Find You , Sadie Wren is perfect...on paper. She's valedictorian, school captain, and a model student. Sadie's one vice is writing scathing, no-holds-barred email drafts. She never sends them, but crafting the furious hypothetical replies to anyone who is frustrating her is helpfully cathartic. That is, until everyone--from her co-captain to her teachers to her classmates--knows how shockingly blunt the "real" Sadie is. And the only one who seems to embrace her accidental show of full honesty is her longtime nemesis, Julius. This young adult story is sweet and fun; the pacing often feels somewhat slapstick and frantic--as is the relentlessly ambitious, over-the-top super-pleaser Sadie herself. The feeling settles down when she finally begins to explore her feelings for Julius in a wonderfully sweet and romantic set of exchanges that feels all too brief. The vulnerability that Sadie and Julius allow each other to see at long last was lovely. For my full review, check out I Hope This Doesn't Find You . 06 Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez Just for the Summer is another Jimenez story with wonderful banter and a romantic connection that's anchored in and shaped by incredibly complicated life circumstances. Abby Jimenez is wonderful at crafting a satisfying romance that's anchored in serious issues, and in Just for the Summer , she offers up an irresistible rom-com premise with weighty, messy, real-life-imperfect conflicts galore. Justin and Emma are strangers, but they both seem to have the same curse: after they break up with someone, the next person that person dates ends up being their soulmate. A Reddit thread and unlikely coincidences bring Justin and Emma into contact, and their initial spark is undeniable. The conflicts that repeatedly keep Emma and Justin from their happy-ever-after feel plausibly limiting, yet their affection and banter are adorable, and their inability to overcome the obstacles in their way is heartbreaking. I think Emma's best friend Maddy probably needs her own book (a la Christina Lauren's fantastic True Love Experiment  spinoff for best friend Fizzy). I listened to Just for the Summer  as an audiobook. Jimenez is also the author of Part of Your World , Yours Truly , The Friend Zone , and The Happy-Ever-After Playlist . For my full review, please see Just for the Summer .

Six More Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads It's March, and I'm still spending Fridays obsessing over For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings In Table for Two: Fictions , Amor Towles offers six short stories set in New York City and a novella The six New York-set stories all take place around the year 2000, and they consider the impacts of chance

Here are six novels across genres that kept me hooked on their revenge-filled storylines. I loved his gritty, character-driven mystery-thriller Blacktop Wasteland so much that it made my Six

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 . This book appeared on the Greedy Reading List Six More Science Fiction Reads I Loved in the Past Year

Six More Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read lots of entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic

Six Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I knew I was reading some gooood science fiction and fantasy, but didn't You can find last year's version of this list here: Six Favorite Bossy Fantasy Reads from the Past Year find my recent-ish two lists of favorite science fiction and fantasy reads from the past year here: Six Four Star (And Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year Six More Science Fiction Spooky, Gothic Tales and Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You.

you might also like some of my many other Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading Lists; here are just a few: Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved in the Past Year Six Historical Fiction Mysteries to Intrigue You Six Great Historical Fiction Books Set in the American West Six More Great Historical Fiction Books Set And memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. I also mentioned this book in the Greedy Reading List Six Historical Fiction Novels I Loved . 06 Lincoln

Here are six I've loved set in the Tar Heel State. Have you read any of these? Rory Docherty has returned to rural North Carolina with a wooden leg and haunting memories of his time also the author of Pride of Eden, Fallen Land, a title I loved and included in the Greedy Reading List Six The Last Child appears in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries I Read Last Year.

After the World Falls Apart I have a fascination with postapocalyptic (set in a time after a disaster) and dystopian (set in a time of darkness and desperation) books, and I think it's for the same reason I'm captivated by wartime stories: the books are about characters being pushed to their limits by an incredibly challenging situation, which allows them to show their true selves and discover their abilities. This category also includes the Hunger Games series, the Insurgent series, Station Eleven, The 5th Wave, The Chosen Ones, The Road, and The Handmaid's Tale. I think I have enough other favorite reads in these categories to make two more Greedy Reading Lists. Which other postapocalyptic or dystopian books do you love? 01 A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher And there may be no law left except what you make of it, but if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. If we’re not loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?... That’s a kind of death, even if you keep breathing. The thief came and shattered what was left of young Griz's life. Now Griz and his dog are making their way through the world. Griz is capable of fury and revenge, but also great love and loyalty, bravery, and creativity. He's a fantastic character I loved. This great book by C.A. Fletcher was tough to read at times because of the frequent reckless, life-and-death, sometimes ill-advised decision-making in a postapocalyptic world. Fletcher somewhat frequently hints at later events in the book in the middle of early scenes, which added to my anxiety. The main protagonist Griz is tough as nails and determined and wonderful, and things do ultimately improve in satisfying ways. I thought this was wonderful. 02 The Grace Year by Kim Liggett It feels like freedom, but we know it's a lie. This is how they break us. They take everything away, our very dignity, and anything we get in return feels like a gift. The Grace Year is the type of book I could’ve stayed up all night reading. I was totally hooked by this Lord of the Flies-esque situation of trapped girls devolving into paranoia, mayhem, fury, and destruction, with a wonderfully strong and imperfect heroine trying to upend the situation. I felt as though the later sections glossed over some major issues (consorting with the gruesomely brutal enemy; the prospect of folding back into the world that created the horrific system of oppression, control, torture, and death—even with a promise of potential change; fast emotional movement past the loss of a beloved character), but there’s hope for the slow but significant evolution into a new era. I thought the teen girls’ “magic” and their perception of it (and especially the perceptions of the men and women in the society) was particularly haunting. This was a fast and engaging read. 03 The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. I didn't have a clue what this book was about going in, which worked wonderfully for me. This is listed as an adult title but felt to me like a dark young adult postapocalyptic novel, and it offered several twists. I found this engrossing, really interesting, and also character driven, which feels unusual given one of the aforementioned twists. Some of this is odd, other parts are disturbing, and there are some wonderful implausibly amusing standoffs. And M.R. Carey's story is also hopeful, but not in the way I might have expected. If you like this one, you're going to also want to read Carey's The Boy on the Bridge, which is a standalone book in the same series, is fantastic, and is also on this list. 04 The Dog Stars by Peter Heller Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley. Then Hig gets an indication that he is not alone and that there is life out there after all. He must decide if he'll risk a one-way journey to seek out the good, bad, and ugly that may be awaiting him. It's a true life-or-death dilemma for a man with two stark options: safety and loneliness or potential danger and finally making contact with others. And he just might find himself questioning his decisions either way. My initial review of this book was "I loved this book. Nerve-wracking and beautiful, unconventional, real. I love this author. Love." This is one of my all-time favorite books. I'm in for reading anything Peter Heller writes (e.g., The River and The Painter, both of which I loved, and The Guide, none of which are postapocalyptic). 05 The Power by Naomi Alderman It follows that there are two ways for the nature and use of human power to change. One is that an order might issue from the palace, a command unto the people saying “It is thus.” But the other, the more certain, the more inevitable, is that those thousand thousand points of light should each send a new message. When the people change, the palace cannot hold. In The Power, Naomi Alderman offers a dark and fascinating look at a world where the traditional male-female and old-young power structures are turned on their heads. The Power explores the destructive nature of the greed for control and influence--especially damaging when coupled with the certainty that your opinion is infallible and correct. I found this book fascinating. 06 The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey Months into their save-the-world mission, the soldiers and scientists on the Rosalind Franklin (a tanklike RV with flamethrowers that's nicknamed Rosie) are close to retrieving all of the samples their predecessors left throughout Scotland during an earlier expedition to try to find a cure for the plague. But it begins to become clear that idealistic Dr. Samrina Khan, the head epidemiologist; single-minded young Stephen the wunderkind; gruff, bighearted Colonel Carlisle; and the others on board may not have been meant to succeed in their grand mission after all. Political machinations meant that some of their party needed to be out of the way for corrupt power plays back home. Against enormous odds, the team may just be finding some of the lifesaving answers they were sent to discover. But bringing back their surprising findings might very well mean the wholesale rounding up and destruction of those affected by the plague. The Boy on the Bridge offers adventure, twists, turns, love, scientific exploration, betrayal, and an odd twist of hope. This is the second M.R. Carey book on this list, but I couldn't help myself. There's a character in common between the two books; this person appears at the end of The Boy on the Bridge but is a main character in The Girl With All the Gifts.

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 .

My first Greedy Reading List of books that focused on this theme was Six Satisfying Novels about Revenge Here are six more novels across genres that kept me hooked on their revenge-filled storylines. I mentioned Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone series in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young This book appears on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Novels Set in the American You might also like the books on the list Six More Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American

My first Greedy Reading List of books that focused on this theme was Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore, which I followed with Six Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore. You might also like the books on the list Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories. Here are six more novels across genres that kept me hooked on their time-travel stories.

Here are six stories with gothic undercurrents that I really liked. on a desperate search for a missing child in Victorian London--and must also confront her own dark memories a desperate search through London and the countryside beyond, as well as through Bridie’s own messy memories her parents' accounts hold merit, and begins to wonder with horror whether she can trust even her own memories

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 .

you like books about magic, here are two other Bossy Bookworm Greedy Reading Lists you might enjoy: Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series and Six Magical Fairy Tales Grown-Ups Will Love. This book also appears on the Greedy Reading List Six Magical Fairy Tales Grown-Ups Will Love. 03 Wicked

Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family is the true story of a family with twelve children, six

If you share that obsession, you might like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about

below, and Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy, both of which were listed on the Greedy Reading List Six The books on the Greedy Reading List Six Captivating Nordic Stories would also fit nicely here. I also listed Disappearing Earth in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries I Read Last Year. With the passing of the years, however, those memories become distant and malleable, and we shape them Ivey also wrote The Snow Child, a book listed on the Greedy Reading List Six Magical Fairy Tales Grown-Ups

young adult supernatural mystery series of the same name, and in it, author William Ritter provides memorable

lighter fiction with some romance and laughs, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories. For my full review of this book, please see The Dead Romantics. 06 Happy Place by Emily Henry Six longtime Now they've been engaged for six years, they're desperately in love, and they've been dating long-distance

Books I Loved Last Year, Six Book Club Books I Loved in 2021, and My Six Favorite Book Club Books of 01 Uncultured: A Memoir by Daniella Mestyanek Young Young offers a brutally honest behind-the-scenes and a front-row view of the misogyny and gaslighting she experienced in the military in this powerful memoir For my full review, check out Lucy by the Sea. 04 Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora Zamora's memoir of perspective, which also serves to keep us focused on moment-by-moment sensations and concerns and makes the memoir

Six More Bossy Favorite Reads I've been posting lists of some of my favorite reads of last year by genre

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 Favorites, Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You, and Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War If this book sounds down your alley, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Great historical fiction set during World War II, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six

The Second-Chance Stories I love a good second-chance book in which the main character gets the opportunity to go back and try again, redo their life, shift their circumstances, or change the situation around them. It's an irresistible do-over premise for me: a flawed human gets another shot at existing in this unpredictable, problematic, glorious world--and appreciating it more fully while changing their original outcomes. Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear what you thought! Which other books should I add to my second-chance book list? 01 All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai There are flying cars in the alternate reality of this book. I think you should know that going in, because it’s not the only fantastic thing, but it is one of the fantastic things in Elan Mastai's All Our Wrong Todays . Our main protagonist Tom makes a decision that strands him in our version of the world, which feels like a dystopia to him. He encounters alternate versions of his loved ones and universe, which are jarring, but they grow on him. He strikes out to explore time and place in an effort to figure out which reality to preserve. Mastai provides a fascinating story with time travel, alternate realities, love, loss, humor, bravery, and moments that made me laugh out loud. I didn't always follow the logic as laid out in the book--including the supposed development of time travel itself and how time travelers affect realities--but I loved suspending my disbelief to be part of it. I loved All Our Wrong Todays . 02 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North “What is the point of me? Either to change a world--many, many worlds, each touched by the choices I make in my life, for every deed a consequence, and in every love and every sorrow truth--or nothing at all.” Harry August has been born (in a train station in 1919) many times. From his second birth on, he is born each time carrying the knowledge from his previous lives, yet nothing seems to change the fact that he will die and begin again. Until his eleventh life, when a young girl arrives at his deathbed. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." Claire North has crafted a fascinating, twisty, thoughtful time-travel story. The first-person perspective drew me deeply into Harry's life. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is often funny, but North layers darkness into her book, as well as fascinating layers of betrayal. This story really hooked me. Side note: Claire North is a pen name for Catherine Webb, a young-adult author who wrote her first book, Mirror Dreams , when she was 14. 03 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Nora Seed feels like she can't go on. Life is too much, there's no hope for anything better, and her future contains nothing more for her. Her despair leads her to try to end her life. But she finds herself transported to an in-between state that is not life and not death, in the form of a library that exists outside of time and holds shelves full of the "books" of all of her possible lives, from that frozen moment (midnight) forward. Each possibility of a present and future is built upon different combinations of decisions Nora could have made in her life in the past. Some lives are notable, others comfortable, and still others are full of pain. Nora dips in and out of different lives, trying on careers, love lives, travel adventures, fame and fortune, and a settled family life. But not having experienced and remembered each moment that led to her various life options--which she joins in medias res--keeps Nora at a distance from them. I didn't feel emotionally invested in Nora's story although I appreciated the implications of her experiences and was very interested in what would happen. The ending isn't unexpected, but it does feel hard-fought and satisfying. 04 Life After Life by Kate Atkinson Ursula didn't survive her own birth. But during her next go-round, she survived being born--only to die young in an accident. When she lived her next life, she met her demise another way. She often feels buoyed or hindered by a feeling of déjà vu , and occasionally she feels compelled to take another path, rush to check on a loved one, or take some other seemingly odd action, and she can't quite explain why. In Life After Life , Atkinson focuses her literary fiction lens on the character of Ursula, her relationships with members of her family, and details of life during World Wars I and II. This would be a captivating book even without the redoing-life element. But Atkinson's thrusting of Ursula back into her same existence as she shifts her circumstances slightly (with enormous repercussions); opens up her life to be bigger and more fulfilling (and, often longer); and develops inner strength, conviction, and self-assuredness--that's the real magic. I listened to this immersive story about do-overs from Kate Atkinson, Life After Life , at the recommendation of my wise friend Laura. Please click here for my full review of Life After Life . 05 In Five Years by Rebecca Serle Dannie is on the path to achieving her five-year goals in spectacularly efficient fashion. She goes to sleep one evening satisfied--but she wakes up in another life: with a strange apartment, a different boyfriend, and an alternate set of choices behind and before her. And perhaps most confusingly of all, in this second life she's lost some of her original, lifelong, rigid plans for her future, yet she's happy. Very very happy. She returns to her original reality, but Dannie can’t shake the possibilities and uncertainty created by what felt like an actual, temporary shift in her existence. What happened? But more importantly: What does that vastly different set of circumstances and her satisfaction within it mean about how she can and should live her life? Serle's In Five Years totally hit the spot for me, and it also wasn’t exactly what I expected. The setup seems like it’s a romance, but it’s really a story about loyalty and devoted friendship without easy or saw-it-coming resolutions, and not everything is as it seems. I loved it. 06 The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver Lydia had planned to spend the rest of her life with her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Freddie, in their hometown of Shropshire, England. Now she's coming to terms with the recent and tragic loss of the person she loved and the future she had envisioned. But a medication aimed to help her sleep during this difficult time induces an incredible side effect: when she sleeps after taking it, she exists in a dream world where Freddie is still alive. She can see him, smell him, and touch him. He is unaware that this is a second reality for Lydia and unaware of anything odd about this life, and Lydia must fight to not seem as though she is grieving him--fortunately, this is made easier by how real he seems in this other timeline. Life in this alternate sleep reality continues branching off from the daytime life in which Freddie is gone; her sleeping life involves its own joys, tragedies, and increasingly complicated set of circumstances that show the realistically plausible challenges and crossroads the couple might have faced because of their real-life career tracks, senses of responsibility, and diverging paths toward happiness. Josie Silver's lovely book is heartwarming and doesn't feel overly sentimental or emotionally manipulative. The characters' feelings of anger, crushing grief, and hope feel real in both realities she's created. There's joy, and there's sadness, and there are messy routes toward forgiveness and cautious optimism. For my full review, please see The Two Lives of Lydia Bird .

Six More Bossy Favorite Reads So far in 2024 I've been posting Friday Greedy Reading Lists of some of The Celebrants centers around college friends who made a pact after Alec, one of the original six, died Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality and Six More Powerful Books about Facing Mortality. I mentioned Dani Shapiro's fascinating memoir Inheritance in the Greedy Reading List Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose Yourself In.

If you like witchy books, I hope you'll also check out the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Wonderfully Witchy Stories to Charm You and Six More Wonderfully Witchy Stories to Charm You. Deadly Education: Lesson One of the Scholomance by Naomi Novik (I listed it in my Greedy Reading List Six

intertwined beauty and pain of our finite trips around the sun, you might also want to check out the memoirs I've loved on my first Greedy Reading List on the subject, Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality 01 In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom Amy Bloom writes with brutal honesty about her heartbreak In her memoir In Love, author Amy Bloom shares the story of an impossible situation: the pending loss Reading memoirs centered around cancer is not always a go for me, but this book was special.

You might also like the books on my first Greedy Reading List of short stories: Six Short Story Collections

The Robot Books I love a good artificial intelligence- or robot-focused story, and these six (plus, in

The Summer Favorites These titles aren't light "summer reads," but they were my favorites from a summer past, and they all stand the test of time. In case you missed them the first time around, I'm reposting them as this summer begins so you can add to your to-read list at will. If you've read any of these, I'd love to hear what you think! For classic light fiction that's also great for summer reading, check out these titles and Bossy reviews. 01 The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Bennett explores the complicated implications of perception as reality when it comes to race and its meaning. In The Vanishing Half, Bennett follows the history of the fictional Vignes twins, Desiree and Stella, as they grow up in a town made up of those who identify as light-skinned black people. As teenagers they run from a prescribed future as maids in the small town, where tragedy in the form of evil white men took their father from them and left their mother scrambling to provide for them. Upon reaching freedom, their paths diverge. One twin secretly passes at work for white, then vanishes into a life based upon this premise. The other twin marries a dark-skinned black man and lives as a black woman. The book explores the complicated implications of perception as reality when it comes to race and its meaning; the subjectivity of and intense power within race labels; and the tension of living under false pretenses. For my full review, see The Vanishing Half. 02 Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland Atlantic City just before WWII, with its giant hotels, piers, and general hubbub, is the backdrop for the story of a few summer months in the life of an extended family. I loved watching the story's events unfold in this lovely debut from Rachel Beanland. Florence Adler Swims Forever, the story of a few summer months in the life of an extended family--including a stolid patriarch and matriarch, a free-spirited daughter, a spunky and fantastic granddaughter Gussie, a daughter with another grandchild on the way, a deadbeat son-in-law, and family friends to round out the group. There’s an undercurrent of concern about Hitler and his increasingly punitive behavior toward Jewish families’ businesses and emigration in Germany. I loved watching the book’s events unfold—even if I could predict some of them. Anything that was wrapped up a little too neatly didn’t bother me at all; I was all in and satisfied. Beanland based some of the basic events of her debut novel on her ancestors’ experiences, which I thought was fascinating but didn't realize until the end. Click here for my full review of Florence Adler Swims Forever. 03 Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby This is a fantastic blend of realistic complications, mistakes, adjustments, and spunk. It's action-packed yet character driven. Bug is a respectable business owner nowadays with a family. But some old acquaintances show up with an idea that might offer some financial breathing room--if the others on the job can keep their heads on straight, and that's looking like a big if. Blacktop Wasteland took a little while to get going for me, but just shy of halfway through, the setup is complete and the action starts singing along. I'm not inherently interested in the preparation and modification of vehicles or in skillful evasive driving, but I was all in for S.A. Cosby's writing about all of it. Bug is a wonderfully faulted character. who when not in crisis takes stock of himself and aims to be a better person. He's forced to consider what loyalty means, and to face how dark the path ahead might become when the bad guys are truly evil, very powerful, and the stakes couldn't be much higher. The ending of Blacktop Wasteland is a little abrupt and opaque, but not without hope. See my full review of Blacktop Wasteland here. 04 Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell In Utopia Avenue, Mitchell takes us through the twists and turns of a fictional psychedelic British sixties band on its rocky rise to popularity. Utopia Avenue explores the band members' crises, joys, fears, and triumphs. Mitchell made me care about a singer connecting with an audience, the cathartic heartbreak-writing of songs, and the magic spark of a performance. The book contains endless imagined cameos, fictional adventures, and gems of wisdom from real-life musicians like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Jerry Garcia, and members of the Rolling Stones--not to mention wild parties, betrayals, leaps of faith, breakups, and tragedy. But Mitchell expertly builds the band members into rich characters you're rooting for through their individual ups and downs as well as through the triumphs and setbacks of the band Utopia Avenue. Mitchell doesn't provide too easy or neat of an ending to this weird and wonderful book, but it felt fitting and left me satisfied. This was a really captivating story that kept me intrigued throughout. For my full review of Utopia Avenue, click here. 05 When These Mountains Burn by David Joy Joy offers an often dark work of Southern literary fiction through which bubbles of hope emerge. Ray has outlived his beloved wife in the mountains of North Carolina. He has a precious old girl of a dog, a fascination with (and healthy fear of) coyotes, a love of reading, and a no-nonsense manner that makes clear he doesn't brook fools. He has almost resigned himself to the heartbreaking idea that his addict son is too lost to be saved. There's an undercover cop nearby who's trying to help take down a robust drug ring, and then there's Ray, who uses old-fashioned methods and his knowledge of mountain terrain to address injustices in a straightforward way. When These Mountains Burn isn't always easy to read, but it isn't over the top, and Joy's characters are fascinatingly faulted and keep you humming right along. I read this in 24 hours while wishing I were making it last longer. For my full review of When These Mountains Burn, click here. 06 This Is All He Asks of You by Anne Egseth Luna has a unique and lovely voice and is an irresistibly odd bird of a twelve-year-old girl. I just loved This Is All He Asks of You. Luna stumbles into encounters that shape her life dramatically, in unorthodox and heartbreakingly meaningful ways. She is facing her mother’s decline in health and exploring her own identity and meaning in her life, and she shapes her sometimes practical but often mystical thoughts and reflections through writing letters to her father, who she has never met, in the conversational tone of a pen pal writing to someone who will love her and her words unconditionally. I simultaneously wanted to scoop up Luna and take care of her and to follow the lead of this wise-beyond-her-years, intensely spiritual young person. She has a unique and lovely voice and is an irresistibly odd bird of a twelve-year-old girl. For my full review of This Is All He Asks of You, click here.

Solid Mystery and Suspense Reads These six four-star mysteries are all so good and so different--they In case her books aren't already on your radar, French is the author of six Dublin Murder Squad books

#memoir, #faith, #dysfunctionalfamily, #fourstarbookreview, #leavingthewitness 02 The Unexpected Spy ​ That said, I have a tough time reading memoirs in which someone is fighting cancer, and this one may For my full review of The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes #memoir, #nonfiction, #heartwarming, #fourstarbookreview, #theunwindingofthemiracle 04 Maybe You Should #memoir, #fourstarbookreview, #openbook What are the most interesting memoirs you've read recently?

interested in books like those listed here, you might also like the titles on my Greedy Reading List Six And for great historical fiction of all types, look at: Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved in the Past Year and Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved This Year. second chances take shape, a little retribution, and an attempt at a changed existence—but the haunting memories

She is banished from her kingdom, her six brothers are turned into cranes, and Shiori is cursed to not The Dragon's Pearl, the second and final book in the Six Crimson Cranes duology, is expected to be published

Meanwhile, here are the six books I've loved and have given 4.5 Bossy stars this year. author of Things in Jars, a mystery I gave four Bossy stars--and listed in two Greedy Reading Lists, Six Spooky, Gothic Tales and Six Historical Fiction Mysteries Sure to Intrigue You. For my full review, check out The Night Ship. 04 Solito by Javier Zamora Zamora's memoir of his grueling perspective, which also serves to keep us focused on moment-by-moment sensations and concerns and makes the memoir

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. This book appeared on the Greedy Reading List Six More Science Fiction Reads I Loved in the Past Year

These six did the trick for me in the past year. (Stay tuned for another list to come of six more favorites!) More Great Light Fiction Stories Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect Time-Travel Stories to Explore, Six More Riveting Time-Travel Stories to Explore, and Six Second-Chance

Six Great Australian Reads Fridays are for highlighting books I've loved, and I have a thing for books second chances take shape, a little retribution, and an attempt at a changed existence—but the haunting memories I listed this book in the Greedy Reading List The Six Best Mysteries I Read Last Year.

Six Favorite Fiction Reads I recently posted about Six Four-Star Mystery Reads I Loved Last Year, Six More Four-Star Mysteries I Loved Last Year, Six Four-Star Historical Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year , and Six Four-Star (And Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year. Here are six of my favorite fiction reads from last year--with more lists to come. If you're interested in books that explore mortality, you might want to check out Six Powerful Memoirs

After the World Falls Apart I have a fascination with postapocalyptic (set in a time after a disaster) and dystopian (set in a time of darkness and desperation) books, and I think it's for the same reason I'm captivated by wartime stories: the books are about characters being pushed to their limits by an incredibly challenging situation, and they show their true selves and abilities. This category also includes the Hunger Games series, the Insurgent series, Station Eleven, The 5th Wave, The Chosen Ones, The Road, and The Handmaid's Tale. I think I have enough other favorite reads in these categories to make two more Greedy Reading Lists. Which other postapocalyptic or dystopian books do you love? 01 A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher And there may be no law left except what you make of it, but if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. If we’re not loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?... That’s a kind of death, even if you keep breathing. The thief came and shattered what was left of young Griz's life. Now Griz and his dog are making their way through the world. Griz is capable of fury and revenge, but also great love and loyalty, bravery, and creativity. He's a fantastic character I loved. This great book by C.A. Fletcher was tough to read at times because of the frequent reckless, life-and-death, sometimes ill-advised decision-making in a postapocalyptic world. Fletcher somewhat frequently hints at later events in the book in the middle of early scenes, which added to my anxiety. The main protagonist Griz is tough as nails and determined and wonderful, and things do ultimately improve in satisfying ways. I thought this was wonderful. 02 The Grace Year by Kim Liggett It feels like freedom, but we know it's a lie. This is how they break us. They take everything away, our very dignity, and anything we get in return feels like a gift. The Grace Year is the type of book I could’ve stayed up all night reading. I was totally hooked by this Lord of the Flies-esque situation of trapped girls devolving into paranoia, mayhem, fury, and destruction, with a wonderfully strong and imperfect heroine trying to upend the situation. I felt as though the later sections glossed over some major issues (consorting with the gruesomely brutal enemy; the prospect of folding back into the world that created the horrific system of oppression, control, torture, and death—even with a promise of potential change; fast emotional movement past the loss of a beloved character), but there’s hope for the slow but significant evolution into a new era. I thought the teen girls’ “magic” and their perception of it (and especially the perceptions of the men and women in the society) was particularly haunting. This was a fast and engaging read. 03 The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. I didn't have a clue what this book was about going in, which worked wonderfully for me. This is listed as an adult title but felt to me like a dark young adult postapocalyptic novel, and it offered several twists. I found this engrossing, really interesting, and also character driven, which feels unusual given one of the aforementioned twists. Some of this is odd, other parts are disturbing, and there are some wonderful implausibly amusing standoffs. And M.R. Carey's story is also hopeful, but not in the way I might have expected. If you like this one, you're going to also want to read Carey's The Boy on the Bridge, which is a standalone book in the same series, is fantastic, and is also on this list. 04 The Dog Stars by Peter Heller Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley. Then Hig gets an indication that he is not alone and that there is life out there after all. He must decide if he'll risk a one-way journey to seek out the good, bad, and ugly that may be awaiting him. It's a true life-or-death dilemma for a man with two stark options: safety and loneliness or potential danger and finally making contact with others. And he just might find himself questioning his decisions either way. My initial review of this book was "I loved this book. Nerve-wracking and beautiful, unconventional, real. I love this author. Love." This is one of my all-time favorite books. I'm in for reading anything Peter Heller writes (e.g., The River and The Painter, both of which I loved, and The Guide, none of which are postapocalyptic). 05 The Power by Naomi Alderman It follows that there are two ways for the nature and use of human power to change. One is that an order might issue from the palace, a command unto the people saying “It is thus.” But the other, the more certain, the more inevitable, is that those thousand thousand points of light should each send a new message. When the people change, the palace cannot hold. In The Power, Naomi Alderman offers a dark and fascinating look at a world where the traditional male-female and old-young power structures are turned on their heads. The Power explores the destructive nature of the greed for control and influence--especially damaging when coupled with the certainty that your opinion is infallible and correct. I found this book fascinating. 06 The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey Months into their save-the-world mission, the soldiers and scientists on the Rosalind Franklin (a tanklike RV with flamethrowers that's nicknamed Rosie) are close to retrieving all of the samples their predecessors left throughout Scotland during an earlier expedition to try to find a cure for the plague. But it begins to become clear that idealistic Dr. Samrina Khan, the head epidemiologist; single-minded young Stephen the wunderkind; gruff, bighearted Colonel Carlisle; and the others on board may not have been meant to succeed in their grand mission after all. Political machinations meant that some of their party needed to be out of the way for corrupt power plays back home. Against enormous odds, the team may just be finding some of the lifesaving answers they were sent to discover. But bringing back their surprising findings might very well mean the wholesale rounding up and destruction of those affected by the plague. The Boy on the Bridge offers adventure, twists, turns, love, scientific exploration, betrayal, and an odd twist of hope. This is the second M.R. Carey book on this list, but I couldn't help myself. There's a character in common between the two books; this person appears at the end of The Boy on the Bridge but is a main character in The Girl With All the Gifts.

Six Four-Star (and Up) Bossy Mystery Reads This is the time in the year when you may be asking yourself about reading lists like I am, you can also check out the lists I posted last year around this time, Six Four-Star Mystery Reads I Loved Last Year and Six More Four-Star Mysteries I Loved Last Year.

lighter fiction with some romance and laughs, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading, Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading, and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories.

Six Bossy Favorite Nonfiction Reads Fridays are for highlighting books I've loved! I've been posting about favorite reads from lots of genres that I've loved reading in the past year: Six Six More of My Favorite Fiction Reads from Last Year Six Four-Star Mystery Reads I Loved Last Year Six Six Four-Star (And Up) Science Fiction Reads I Loved Last Year, and Six of My Favorite Memoir Reads Last His book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland was one of my Six of the

Six Bossy Favorite Light Fiction Reads from Last Year I love spending Fridays highlighting books I've These six did the trick for me in the past year. (You can check out my roundup list Six of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads from the Past Year, which I More Great Light Fiction Stories Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect

Helena Smith is a neuroscientist creating technology to preserve memories and allow people to relive are not real, and that they’re actually mentally ill, suffering from False Memory Syndrome. Recursion also appears in the Greedy Reading List Six Riveting Time-Travel Escapes. 02 The Long Way to This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life This book was mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Stories about Robots, Humans and Alien Life

You might also like the books on the Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Books about Brave Female Spies and Six More Books about Brave Female Spies. 01 The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy The Skylark's Secret

Six Favorite Fantasy Reads I love spending Fridays raving about books I've loved! of My Favorite Fiction Reads Last Year Six More of My Favorite Fiction Reads from the Past Year Six Four-Star Mystery Reads I Loved Last Year Six More Four-Star Mysteries I Loved Last Year Six Four-Star Year, and Six of My Favorite Memoir Reads Last Year And check out My Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads Click here for my full review of Herrick's End. 04 Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes #1) by Elizabeth

I hope you'll also check out the books on my first Greedy Reading List of Six Fantastic Dystopian and referred to in the book's title, there is a captivating, dark, in-between world of floating, nebulous memories