Greene was a fair-skinned Black woman who hid her heritage in order to serve in this powerful role—one that was unusual for a woman to serve in at the time, and which would have been all but impossible for a Black woman to fill because of racism and the race-based constraints of the day. Morgan's potential open-mindedness about race seem wildly optimistic in light of his voiced views about women Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Carnegie's Maid, and Lady Clementine.

She's reporting on the case of Meena, a Hindu woman who was brutally punished by her village and her could enter a casual romantic entanglement--while she desperately fights for justice regarding another woman's While throughout the book Smita is (at least initially) reluctantly working to aid a woman in need, various

Quinn's historical fiction offers the stories of multiple women in a females-only Washington, D.C. boardinghouse But none of the women is precisely as she seems.

With plenty of youthful explorations of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, plus young women striving to strike structures of the time, Shoulder Season spans forty years, an important love triangle, and the course of a woman's I very much enjoyed her vulnerability as a young woman and especially the glimpses we got into her self-assured training and strict rules surrounding Bunnies' behavior (and even their allowed body movements), and the women's

successful podcaster Alix Summer is celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at the local pub when she meets a strange woman, Josie, also celebrating her birthday. Her "birthday twin" begins popping up where Alix is, and she's got a strange, disturbing life story to She's falling for her famous client, the musician Trace Thorne--but when a woman shows up claiming to

Bridie is a strong female protagonist, and Things In Jars offers solid historical fiction details of Veronica to benefit from the author's own modern sensibilities in A Curious Beginning, but Veronica is a strong Abigail is clever, and her strong role in her partnership with the wonderfully odd Jackaby is satisfying Ji Lin speaks her mind and ruffles feathers even as she exploits assumptions about women, sexual attraction She doesn’t fit the mold of a typical woman from 1930s Malaysia or that of the British colonists living

She felt that once she developed a strong female character with her own rich backstory, Fortune was able

ICYMI: Morton offers a strong historical fiction mystery, with assumed identities, dual timelines, twists

are lied to about their bodies; where women are objects of sexual desire but not subjects of sexual pleasure; where sex is used as a weapon against women; and where women believe their bodies are broken And I am done living in a world where women are trained from birth to treat their bodies as the enemy Come As You Are is about the way women's sexuality works and why. how feelings are at the center of women's sexuality; and explain how women's sexuality is as varied

The Books I'm Reading Now For my book club I'm reading Lady Tan's Circle of Women, Lisa See's newest story of women in ancient China; I'm reading Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge, Lizzie Pook's upcoming 01 Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See No mud, no lotus. Lady Tan's Circle of Women is my first book club read of 2024, and wow, does this one start off with

But the women's impassioned brunchtime discussion about the plot of Finlay's suspense novel--along with He is in love with and married to a wonderfully strong woman, Irene, "Attolia"--and she is the real power

Now Clementine must figure out if her heart is strong enough to cope with losing the unlikely love she's and I loved that the relationship between Clementine and her aunt is said to have been special and strong

attention to unspoken bonds, deep and unorthodox friendships, makeshift families, legendary dogs, and strong

Cribb, Widow of the South by Robert Hicks, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy b y Karen Abbott, and Enemy Women It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have detail the hardscrabble life of a newly freed Black person—and the often desperate circumstances of women (especially Black women) without men to protect them at the time.

This selection might be the perfect coffee-table perusal for the vinyl lover in your life. 06 The Only Woman by Immy Humes The Only Woman is made up of 100 group photographs, each showing a lone woman in a male-dominated present and from countries around the world, Hume highlights photos emphasizing the concept of "the only woman Visually striking, The Only Woman features unknown and famous women who are astronauts, conductors, writers

While Chelsey struggles to be patient with the young woman who is coping with layers of trauma, she realizes When she comes home alive, only Chelsey finds it strange that Ellie has left her captor and remains alive I also found it strange that Chelsey operated as a solo actor in the investigation to the extent she

I was taken with the first half of this book--a rural cult, a teen mother, a strong female protagonist Self-pity from a man was something she could not abide, not when she had a woman's issues to deal with The Invisible Hour begins with the story of Ivy, a feisty young woman who becomes pregnant, is threatened

02 The Last Legacy by Adrienne Young In Young's story, loosely set in the world of her Fable series, strong I was thrilled to find that Young's wonderful, signature strong-young-female protagonist-in-a-man's-world A strange fellow offers to lead Ollie to Gwen. In Hartman's Tess of the Road, Tess doesn't fit the mold of an obedient, quiet young woman in her medieval

and I'm reading Kate Manning's Gilded Mountain (to be published tomorrow), historical fiction about a strong young woman and her mining community in 1900s Colorado.

This story started off strong: fascinating, fun, elaborately plotted, and irresistible.

gloriously unapologetic competitor, an emotionally closed off romantic partner, a dedicated daughter, and a woman And her dedicated manager Gwen is an inspiring, strong, independent woman who believes in any goal Carrie

There's an enormous career shift that felt an awful lot like a woman giving up a career for a guy, although As a former Mainer, I loved that the book was set in Maine, but I didn't get a strong sense of the place

company...but she and her grandmother are folded into what feels like an oddly tight-knit community of women about the premise of a sleek, powerful company serving as a front for a coven of witches pulling the strings

character secretly meets a stranger for intimacy--despite actively feeling disgust and complicated and strong believe that after all of the trauma and betrayals—and what ultimately felt like thin bonds holding the women

Vasya is an irresistibly and wonderfully strong and defiant main protagonist, and Arden includes lots Vasya is a young woman now, and she must consent to an arranged marriage or enter the convent--but Vasya Vasya is an irresistibly and wonderfully strong and defiant main protagonist, and Arden includes lots

manner in which Violet attempted to free herself from the shackles of marriage and the subsummation of a woman me of the measures taken by the main protagonist in another book I recently read, A Study of Scarlet Women

One standout for me was the strength of the women in the face of men's abuses of power and physical cruelty gender roles and the reimagining of a rigid faith, marriage/child/parental/educational expectations for women , adventure, strong female loyalty and friendship, love, and lots of fascinating details of life at the a young volunteer, Bridie, over the course of three tumultuous days as the fiery, complex, capable women Donoghue immersed me so fully in the moment-by-moment health and emotional crises; the women's determined

The Girl with the Louding Voice, Abi Daré's book about a strong young woman in rural Nigeria who shows emerge from her oppressive situation against all odds, and she's wonderfully spirited, creative, and strong Namesake by Adrienne Young Namesake is the second and final book in Young's duology about the wonderfully strong

not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but along with her ambitious, inspired team of women for a book topic when she stumbles upon the bare-bones story of Jessie and the Cards, as the group of women

Kate is a tough young woman posing as a male cowboy. Turner's story is inspired by her family's memoirs, and her Sarah Prine is a strong woman living on the Walk on Earth a Stranger tells the story of Lee, a young woman with a powerful secret: an ability to Yet I'm also fascinated by the optimistic explorer spirit--and I do love reading about strong female characters in a time when the world around them didn't always support women's strength and determination

Cora is a strong young ballet dancer when she meets her future husband, and it is excruciating to repeatedly

Story, Dana Schwartz's young adult gothic mystery, it's 1817 in Edinburgh, and Hazel Sinnett is a young woman desperate to become something women in her time do not: a surgeon. But when she's kicked out of his lectures because she's a woman, she realizes a chance encounter with particularly inclined to search for opioid drug addicts like her--in fact, no one seems to believe the young woman

in the story Grey, Kier, and choice members of their army are assigned to the protection of a young woman The magic in Bovalino's world is strange and the circumstances around the island feel like a grayscale

Frankie and Zeke want to create something--something strange, something people will notice, yet something The retelling swirls with family drama, intrigue, bravery--all centered around a young woman determined Years of Lenni and Margot. 06 The Change by Kristen Miller The Change explores the power of menopausal women In Kristen Miller's novel The Change, set in Mattauk, Long Island, three women cope with various challenges The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes

This is a feminist historical fiction story in which women--long kept quiet and still, supervised to that haunts, challenges, and pushes them to take the form of a beast, whose presence only the bravest women I loved that brave women that drive the novel in both timelines. Lisa Barr is also the author of Woman on Fire , The Unbreakables , and Fugitive Colors .

But the situation isn't exactly what it seems, and when a woman comes to town using Evie's birth name I loved the key elements of this story: the capable con woman, the past coming back to haunt her, the In Steve Cavanagh's twisty mystery Kill for Me, Kill for You , two strangers, women bearing the brunt Ruth, a young married woman living elsewhere in the city, is brutally attacked in her own home--and the

late grandmother, based on voicemails from and exchanges with with the formidable, fiercely loving woman She's reporting on the case of Meena, a Hindu woman who was brutally punished by her village and her Through Bell's voice we also learn what has shaped the other women of the family: we hear rich stories the difficult relationship between Bobby and her daughter (Kalb's mother) and how it affected each woman's Rebecca Donner's nonfiction work All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days is The True Story of the American Woman

Kate is a tough young woman posing as a male cowboy. The women realize they may know too much about where the bodies are buried--literally--to be allowed I loved the women's complicated bonds, their crafty planning, their fights for justice, and their ability She's asked to play the role of maid to an unassuming, wealthy young woman in a dastardly plot to take the woman's inheritance and leave her to rot in an insane asylum.

Xishi is a beautiful young woman who makes her village in the region of Yue proud, for she will almost The ending is fanciful and strange; the tone of the book doesn't seem to be leading to a too-convenient This is epic but never melodramatic, and I was hooked on the Viking-esque elements, the badass women In the charming story We'll Prescribe You a Cat , a winding, hard-to-find Kyoto alleyway leads to a strange

robot-focused story (A Psalm for the Wild-Built), the newest novel by the fantastic Blake Crouch (Upgrade), a strange The strong, ruthless, intelligent women in Harrow the Ninth absolutely steal the show--which is saying The story is full of heart and strange, captivating details of Chambers's imagined world--and of an unorthodox

regrets and irritations, and as a reader I was left wondering if much of it was driven by hormones and strong

The Romance Revival is a departure for Christina Lauren; we get a couple who has drifted apart and gets a second chance, but a futuristic, science-fiction twist is key to the plot. The relationship is one to root for, and I really liked the minor mystery, supporting characters, and new direction for the writing pair. Scientist Emery Finch has always been hyper-focused on her top-secret career, but when she fell for landscaper Luca, she fell hard. Their passionate married life was joyful and fulfilling at first...but Emery is hardly ever home, Luca carries all of the weight of the household, and they feel like they're not connecting anymore, if they ever truly did. As Emery misses yet another important anniversary, an unfathomable tragedy throws everything into a spiral. Emery breaks every code of ethics to save Luca. But afterward, Luca retains no memory of Emery, their life, or his own personal past. He realizes that he was unhappy before the accident, and also that Emery was keeping secrets he had seemed willing to overlook. Will this be a chance to start over, or the heartbreaking end of the relationship? The Romance Revival is a departure for the writing team of Christina Lauren: the story is a romance, but it includes science-fiction plot points in the form of futuristic science that allows a shocking back-to-life transformation. (The book's Acknowledgments mentions that the working title was The Necromancers.) I love an element of science fiction, so I enjoyed this aspect of the book. Luca's memory loss propels the "second-chance" aspect of the romance, and the couple's redoubled efforts, increased understanding, and heartfelt getting-to-know-you-again pieces of the story allowed for a deeper, more believable, more anchored feeling to the relationship. A minor mystery runs through the story (was Luca targeted, by whom, and why?), adding a thread of danger. Add in intense love for a dog, a couple of unshakable best friends, a grumpy elderly neighbor with a heart of gold, a renewed focus on work-life balance, some steamy scenes, and we've got ourselves an entertaining story. I read this as a physical book through my library, but Julia Whelan narrates the audiobook, and she's fantastic. More Christina Lauren Gems The writing team of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings also authored the books The Paradise Problem, The True Love Experiment, The Unhoneymooners, In a Holidaze, Love and Other Words, Something Wilder, and Autoboyography.

Heather Webb In post-World War I London, female lawlessness in the form of the Forty Elephants gang of women the Elephant and Castle men's gang, butts up against law enforcement, which only recently includes women When the two aspiring women's bids for victory clash, traditional female roles and power structures may

Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey This sci-fi thriller is about betrayal and revenge, but it's not the other-woman Divya has crafted strong female main protagonists who navigate the sometimes dark, always complicated When her mother disappears, Josie begins to track down the other Girls, and together the young women discover strange, unique powers as they rely on each other and attempt to unravel their shared history

When she emigrates to New York City, she is befriended by two strong young sisters, Anne and Alma, and

I was intrigued by the intersection of the women's personalities and lives, and Beagin kept me consistently Big Swiss. 04 Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall Marshall's debut historical fiction centers around women's Looking for Jane is a story of women living in three timelines who are linked through decades by a mysterious letter--and by enormously important, recurring dilemmas for women through the ages: unexpected pregnancies parts of themselves away; she doesn't shy away from sharing the sometimes-tragic outcomes of pregnant women's

This is epic but never melodramatic, and I was hooked on the Viking-esque elements, the badass women The friends-like-family element and deep loyalty is strong among the members of Jack's group, and the

can to help those in need--including giving away her own papers and ration cards to a hungry Jewish woman You might also like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Great Stories about Brave Women During World

situation of trapped girls devolving into paranoia, mayhem, fury, and destruction, with a wonderfully strong thought the teen girls’ “magic” and their perception of it (and especially the perceptions of the men and women

Is Not About Us ; I'm listening to Paula Lafferty's first novel in a series about a modern-day young woman Then a strange man comes to town, telling Vera an unbelievable story of her true origins and her destiny