Happy new year, folks and hope your holiday season was a good one there. As for me, I decided to make gift gifting easier on my family by using both Book of the Month and Aardvark for their one stop shopping for me.
I must confess that I did get a couple of books early, due to adding Christmas themed titles (one of which I will talk more about later) but the other ones I received fit very nicely under my tree indeed:
Aardvark: The Once and Future Queen
Since I already started reading this one from Aardvark, it makes sense to begin with this debut novel by Paula Lafferty. Our leading lady is Vera, a modern day young woman who tends to feel out of place in the world and can’t quite figure out why.
As it turns out, she’s not truly meant to be here as a visit from the legendary wizard Merlin reveals. Vera is actually Queen Guinevere , sent to this future time as an infant due to a deadly spell that could only restore her by this unusual rebirth.
Now, she has to return to Camelot to help Arthur save their realm but those past memories are locked away, leaving her confused about what needs to be done. Having Lancelot as a ready ally seems to be more hinderance than help yet can his connection with her past self be the key to saving all of their futures?
So far, this is a rather lively and engaging read, intended to be the first in a trilogy. I certainly hope Aardvark keeps up with this twist on the classic tale as it certainly makes for an enchanting story indeed:
My other Aardvark pick was Local Heavens by K.M. Fajardo. Set in the year 2075, cyberspace diver Nick takes on a corporate espionage job that brings him in the middle of a twisted love triangle among the idle rich that involves body modification, a failing pharmaceutical fortune and class warfare.
Yes, this is a cyberpunk take on The Great Gatsby, a book that I haven’t read in a long time (and will be rereading now) and for a sharp look at the future of corporate greed upon our society, Gatsby is an excellent template for a fresh look at the subject. I am intrigued to check this out, particularly in the special ombré edition that Aardvark had in stock(I think I got the last copy!):
Book of the Month: Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil
V.E. Schwab is a writer that I’ve heard much about but never read before and yet, her latest work has gotten such praise from critics and readers alike that I just had to add this book to my gift pile.
This multi generational journey of three women, from Maria in 16th century Spain to Charlotte in London during the 1900s and then to Alice in 2019 Boston , takes us down the Gothic garden path of love, despair and literal blood lust. Is there a way to find true happiness in this eternal turmoil or is that the price of immortality?
I do like lady vampires and hopefully, this is a good introduction to Schwab’s writing for me. At the very least, I can use this book as an excuse to rewatch The Hunger:
On the lighter side, Violet Thistlewaite is not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz is a cozy fantasy featuring a bench woman seeking redemption and perhaps a bit of romance.
With her former employer having been dispatched, Violet has settled down in a small town as a flower shop owner, hoping to put her times as a wicked botanical witch behind her. Keeping her past(as well as a certain murderous house plant) in check should be easy enough.
Yet, when a new danger threatens her new home as well as her new friendship with local alchemist Nicholas, Violet finds that she may have no other choice but to open up that nasty bag of tricks again to save the day. However, even if she wins, what will she lose?
This does sound like charming fun and I do enjoy seeing a villainess trying to make a comeback in the better sense of the term:
By the way, one of the early holiday books that I got happened to be the last book that I finished in 2025!
Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman is a beautifully bittersweet delight that follows the pair of widowed people of the title into an unexpected friendship aided by watching a number of holiday themed films (and yes, Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie!).
The story blends heartbreak and humor so skillfully that it’s destined to be a seasonal classic in this genre, if you ask me. As for the other early gift, I will be saving that for a future readathon-watch this space!
Anyway, once again, hope you all had a good start to this new year and I look forward to reading more good books and talking about them . Stay warm, folks and with any luck, this time next year, all of us will be in no doubt of better days ahead:
I’ve seen a good number of “read what you own/read down your TBR” type of challenges talked about online over the past couple of years and this year, I felt it was high time that I did one of my own.
So, my take on this turned out to be Book of the Month club centric with a tip of the hat to Agatha All Along; Down the Reader’s Road(with each chosen title showcased on the side panel of this blog) has been pretty successful for me as my current total of completed books adds up to a baker’s dozen so far.
I did consider doing full on reviews for each one but as time went on, a year end look at my Top Three reads seemed to be the best bet:
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel takes a character from the Ramayana and tells her side of the story, transforming her from wicked stepmother to mystical warrior queen.
Kaikeyi begins life as a princess who discovers that she has magical abilities but is forced to suppress them due to the patriarchal nature of society. When she becomes the third wife of a prominent king, finding her way to use her gifts to help other women (as well as connect with the other queens) is rewarding in more ways than one.
However, when one of her stepsons starts to show godlike powers that he can barely control, hard choices have to be made that cost Kaikeyi dearly.
Not being familiar with the source material, I was completely drawn into this vividly described world and rooting for the leading lady all the way, despite some of the decisions that tested her spirit. As a debut novel, this book was definitely a royal triumph that will lead me to seek out the author’s other stories as soon as can be:
The Mayor of Maxwell Street, another debut novel, from Avery Cunningham is set in 1920s Chicago where an ambitious young debutante seeks out the title character as part of her journalistic ambitions.
Nelly Sawyer is meant to be marrying a suitable man in order to solidify her family’s horse breeding empire yet when tasked to find the secretive go-between for the underworld gangs of Chicago by a newspaper editor, she can’t resist the challenge.
With the help of new acquaintance Jay, Nelly takes quite a walk on the wild side with consequences that are more life changing than she could have imagined.
It’s a steady paced , absorbing read that focuses on character development along with some action. Think of this as a well made miniseries, one that might give you an idea of what Chicago was like for the twin brothers Smoke and Stack before they headed home to face Sinners:
Jennifer Close’s Marrying the Ketchups is a more modern day story, following a fractured family as each of them tries to cope with a changing world once the male mainstay, Bud Sullivan, passes away.
With eager to please Teddy running the family restaurant that desperately needs an upgrade, the return of wayward sister Gretchen is quite the shake up and even the supposedly perfect suburban wife and mother Jane realizes that her reality is not what she thought it would be. Figuring out what to do next is something they all have to decide on their own but still need a little support along the way.
I know that the plot may sound sobering but there are brilliant moments of humor and relatable character development that make the pages turn briskly here. I have read one of Close’s earlier works(The Hopefuls) so I had some familiarity with her writing but clearly this particular book was truly next level for her:
I do plan to continue this challenge in the new year and with any luck, make some serious progress. It’s nice to discover that your reading choices can turn out to be better than you expected and taking a chance on new literary horizons can be fun and formative to boot.
This is my last post of 2025 and it has to end on a couple of sad notes(par for the course this year, I’m afraid). Recently, the news of Sophie Kinsella (aka Madeline Wickham) departure from this life , due to cancer, has given her worldwide readers much to mourn. My sincere sympathies are sent to her loved ones.
Best known for her entertaining Shopaholic series featuring the well meaning but prone to impulsive purchases Becky Bloomwood, Kinsella wrote 30 books with titles aimed at teens and children as well as her adult audience. Her stand alone stories dealt with romance but also other subjects such as coping with trauma, found family and emotional development.
Kinsella outlasted the “chick lit” era of publishing and created a solid niche of stories that brought more than one generation together to embrace the touching and relatable struggles of her characters quite nicely.
At the moment, I am doing a reread of Christmas Shopaholic (not the book to start this series, btw, Confessions of a Shopaholic is the place for new readers to begin) in her memory and I have no doubt that many others are doing the same. She will be greatly missed but never forgotten:
The other sad note is the tragic passing of writer/actor/director Rob Reiner and his beloved wife Michele, a prominent photographer and producer. In such a miserable year as this, the news of this terrible event is especially difficult, although much more for their circle of family and friends and all of my deepest condolences goes out to them.
The less said about a certain disrespect to their memories the better, although as one Jane Austen character might say , their sorrowful situation should secure your compassion not your ridicule! Then again, one can not offer the fruits of a crop that they never grew in the first place.
If one good notion can come out of this horrible moment, it is that it shows the importance of living a good life. Not necessarily a wealthy or public one, just being a kind and caring person that people are all too happy to think well of when they are no longer with us is enough.
Part of Rob Reiner’s legacy as an entertainer was showing the many ways that love can make the world better.
Take for example, When Harry met Sally, which is a romantic story but at the core of it is the tale of two people with completely opposite outlooks on life who discover that the best way to deal with an ever changing world is with each other, facing it together.
Love doesn’t have to be romantic or set in the expected social formats to connect people but when you give it a honest chance, great things can happen. It takes time and patience but always worth a try.
Rob Reiner came back to that theme quite often in his work, whether it was about friends, family or fellow travelers on the stage we call life. Perhaps by this time next year, we can prove him right:
With the 250th birthday of our dear Jane Austen fast approaching this month(December 16, to be precise), choosing the best way to honor such an auspicious occasion was difficult indeed.
However, as I put my mind to the task of selecting just the proper approach for such a literary icon, the answer came as loud and clear as a bell; a musical soirée. After all, Jane was fond of music in her day and that has been reflected in many of her characters for better (Marianne Dashwood) and for worse(poor Mary Bennet!).
So, presented here for your entertainment is a gathering of Austen folk using quite a bit of creative license in the manner of Julia Quinn’s charming Bridgerton series to perform some very rollicking music pieces:
We begin with Miss Anne Eliot, lately of Kellylynch Hall, on the pianoforte to play in honor of a renewed acquaintance that promises to be a more congenial connection as time goes on, Double’s “The Captain of her Heart”:
Next, we have a duet from the newly married Mr and Mrs. Darcy ,who have chosen to recreate the first proposal of marriage between them that did not directly lead to their presently contented union.
As Mr. Darcy’s new father-in-law is wont to say”What do we live , but to make sport for our neighbors and be laughed at them in return?”, in that spirit, this rendition of The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” is performed:
From our visitors from Mansfield Park, here’s another duet with Miss Mary Crawford on harp and Miss Fanny Price in song(accompanied on piano by her cousin Maria) with the assistance of Mr. Edmund Bertram, a rather playful number that might remind one of a sadly cancelled amateur theatre production of Lovers Vows.
For which young lady to be considered either the Brandy or the Monica of this particular version of “The Boy is Mine”, I allow the audience to discern for themselves:
For our finale, Miss Jane Fairfax is, as her aunt Bates repeatedly assures us, is most happy to delight us on the piano that was just sent to her.
Perhaps the musical gift came from her benefactor Col. Campbell or may perhaps someone else eager to gain her attentions before she went visiting to Highbury, as suggested to Miss Emma Woodhouse the other day.
Regardless, the sender was kind enough to include some Irish melodies with this gift, such as the late Sinead O’Connor’s beautifully composed “Nothing Compares to You”:
As our ensemble takes their bows, we here at LRG do wish the memory of Jane Austen and her brief yet spectacular body of work our very best, with fond hopes of this pleasure being repeated for another two hundred and fifty years or more.
As for our assembly of devoted readers, may we all take a delightful moment of celebration for all of the joy that Miss Austen’s books have given us, perhaps a bid of posh dancing might be in order indeed:
Well, the winter holiday season is definitely upon us and as a break from the seasonal frenzy all around me, I decided to join in on Seasons of Reading’s Yuletide Spirit reading challenge, held by Michelle Miller(who also has a separate series dedicated to the Christmas season).
For the challenge, you just need to select a level of holiday themed reading to go for; mine is Mistletoe which is between two to four books and I have three in this TBR at the moment. One is on order , the other arrived a couple of days ago and currently, I am in the midst of…
The Christmas Tree Farm:
In this third entry of Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series, we met Kira, a new arrival to town, who is surprised to learn that the quaint piece of property that she brought is a tree farm that everyone expects her to reopen in time for the holidays.
Due to spending more than she intended on the land, Kira finds that she has no other choice but to restart the business and finds unexpected help in the form of Bennet, a temporary visitor (his sister runs the local cafe) who has been recruited by the town to revive the farm as well as keep an eye out for a possible buried treasure on the grounds.
Since Kira is more fond of Bennet’s dogs(one of them is named Odie as in the Garfield comics!) than she is of him, this relationship is not off to a promising start to say the least. However, they do begin to slowly warm up to each other and by the time a major snow storm hits the area, those few sparks are ready to set off a roaring fire indeed!
I have read the first two books in this series (and there are more to follow after this one) and enjoyed them quite a bit. The “Gilmore Girls with a sexier edge”vibe of these stories works for me and that each book has a musical playlist attached to it especially helps for setting the right holiday romance mood here:
After that, my next pick is The Mistletoe Mystery, a novella from the Molly the Maid series by Nita Prose.
Molly hasn’t had a good Christmas since her beloved grandmother died yet this year promises to be different. With her circumstances becoming much better than before and having Juan Michael to share this season with, Molly hopes to not have any mysterious events to look into.
However, a bizarre exchange during the Regency Grand Hotel’s Secret Santa party brings up a lot of questions about who she can trust, particularly when it comes to Juan Michael. Is Molly able to solve this mystery without having her heart broken into the bargain?
Since this book is still on its way to me via Better World Books, I hope to find out before Christmas Eve. Molly is a delight to know on page and if anyone fictional deserves a romantic happy ending, she’s the one:
Fortunately, the last book in this TBR is already awaiting to be opened, thanks to Book of the Month Club.
Good Spirits by B.K. Borison is best described as “A Christmas Carol meets The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” with our leading lady Harriet being haunted by a spirit of Christmas Past named Nolan.
With Harriet being a rather sweet natured soul, Nolan wonders why he was sent to haunt her in the first place. She is curious about that as well and the more they get to know each other, the distinct possibility that he’s the one in need of saving begins to cross their minds. Can this the case and if so, do they want to risk the love connection forged between them to earn a redemption by Christmas Eve?
This does sound charming and since I did read one of Borison’s other works this year(First Time Caller), this ought to the perfect holiday read for me. An added bonus is the ghost angle as one of my favorite sitcoms has similar themes in abundance:
If you’re interested in signing up for either the readathon or the challenge, there is a link in the second paragraph of this post that will steer you towards the correct website. As always, much thanks to Michelle Miller for getting us band of eager readers on the proper path this and every other year.
Look, I know good and well how chaotic this year alone has become, with more difficult challenges perhaps in the year to come. However, one thing to keep in mind as the end of the year approaches is that renewing your energy for what lies ahead is the best way to start off on the new adventures before us.
Also, appreciating the good that we do have in our lives such as family, friends or loved ones of all sorts are treasures that no one can truly rob us of, despite their dubious best efforts. While it’s hard to reimagine our lives from what they once were in the past, we can use our present moment in time to give ourselves a better future for all to share in.
So, let’s keep our spirits bright with some good books and of course, a classic song in our hearts:
As it turns out, next week is going to be busier than I expected so LRG is going to have to take a Thanksgiving break. However, I did want to leave some festive bookish goodies out for all of you to snack on:
First, if you’re in the mood for a good cozy mystery with seasonal flair, Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone series is a sure bet for savory fun.
Her small town leading lady of the title covers the holiday and special occasion front (Wedding Day Murder and Bake Sale Murder are just two examples)quite well and in the later books, she often adds a sprinkle of social justice issues to boot.
The two titles that are well suited here are Turkey Day Murder and Turkey Trot Murder, the latter involving a 5K race and obnoxious rich people (take that as you will). What I do enjoy about this series is the sitcom vibes of the setting that offsets the murders rather nicely, strange but true! If you’re looking for some light hearted reading in between recipe planning and TV specials, these turkey tales are certainly worth a taste:
If you happen to be more interested in what’s coming up in next year’s book adaptation at the movies, these new teaser trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping has just been released.
This second prequel for The Hunger Games series follows the gruesome Quarter Quell that future mentor to Katniss Everdeen Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zara) had to endure. The casting includes such notables as Maya Hawke, Lili Taylor, Ralph Fiennes, Billy Porter and Glenn Close, with a release for November of 2026.
While I didn’t read the first prequel or see that movie(both of which had mixed reviews), the praise for Sunrise on the Reaping has been strongly solid from day one, making me a little intrigued to check this out, plus Glenn Close’s entrance is cinematic diva gold, if you ask me!:
Also, this upcoming January has an adaptation of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation due to arrive on Netflix with a trailer already out and about.
Emily Bader and Tom Blyth star as Poppy and Alex, who having been taking vacations together as friends for a number of years. After a serious falling out that divided them for two years, Poppy manages to convince Alex to take one last trip together to see if they can make things right.
This is the first of Emily Henry’s rather popular novels to get the major movie treatment so expectations are quite high to say the least.
While I haven’t read this particular book yet, I did read the novel written by Yulin Kuang(How to End a Love Story)who adapted this screenplay and that book was heartbreakingly good which bodes well for this movie indeed:
With that, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and look forward to wrapping up the rest of this bizarrely memorable year in December.
Look, I know that it’s hard to relax and just get into the holiday groove these days but we can take a break to recharge and reassess before New Year’s Eve strikes that final chime into a fresh set of twelve months into the unknown.
Yet, we did have a few good things happen along the way and if we give each other the proper emotional support to get us through another round of this, that number of good things might rapidly increase by this time next year. Worth trying for at the very least.
So, do take that well deserved time off and find some fun with a good book, movie or song. Speaking of song, I leave you with this excellent take on a truly trippy classic perfect for a hotel stay on the wild side-enjoy!:
It’s that time of year when book lovers both cheer and lament over the Goodreads Choice Awards, which opened up the voting last week for the long list of categories such as Best Fiction, Best Romance and Best Romantasy(looks like that one here to stay).
The final round of voting, which cuts down the number of contenders, begins on November 25 and the winners to b announced on December 4. While the GR awards are mostly the literary version of the People’s Choice Awards (if you know, you know), they still are useful as a way to go over your current reading for the year.
To that end, I decided to set up a TBR based on the long list of books I need to catch up on by the end of 2025 into the early part of 2026.
Two of these books are Book of the Month club and the other two are Aardvark selections. These are not the only GRCA nominees I have in the unread category but if those others make it to the finals, I might add them in(even one of my Cozy November reads is on the long list!)later. For now, this should be a good starting point:
Aardvark
In the Debut Nivel category, I was thrilled to see Venessa Vida Kelley’s When the Tides Held the Moon and yes, I voted for it right away!
It will be read, I promise. This gorgeously illustrated novel tells the tale of Benny, who used his blacksmith skills in the 1910s to create a unique cage for the sideshow in Luna Park that holds Rio, a merman captured in the East River.
While Benny finds friendship among his new coworkers, his feelings for Rio grow much stronger, leading him to choose between freeing his beloved or becoming another cynical human doing what he can to survive a harsh world.
This book is such a gem to behold in and of itself yet ultimately a book is made to be opened and appreciated for its words as well. Perhaps saving the best for last isn’t such a bad idea after all:
In the Fantasy section, The Devils by Joe Abercrombie was still among the unread on my shelf so I clearly needed to add it here.
I’ve heard nothing but praise about Abercrombie’s offbeat take on the genre and this book certainly sounds like fun. Set in an alternate medieval universe, Brother Diaz is tasked by the female Pope to claim an ancient crown with the help of a motley crew of mystical misfits before her political rivals can get to it first. Adventures, bloody action and a touch of romance follows along the perilous pages.
I don’t know if this is the best book to start reading of this author’s but since this does have The Suicide Squad(James Gunn.version) vibes, it sounds like the ideal one to me:
Book of the Month Club
In Historical Fiction, the latest by Fiona Davis, The Stolen Queen, was to be found and I wonder if being chosen by the Calvi Book Club earlier this season didn’t give this one an extra boost of reader attention.
Set in New York of 1978, museum curator Charlotte Cross must enlist the aid of Anne Jenkins when an Egyptian artifact is discovered missing during the iconic Met Gala, which Anne was organizing.
Charlotte is very familiar with the stolen item as she was on the archaeological team that found it in 1936, with dire consequences that came along with it. Having no other choice, the pair must go to Egypt to reclaim what was once owned by a female Pharaoh whose curse may doom them both.
I’ve enjoyed Davis’ work before, with her solid New York centric settings and well crafted characters. This book might benefit from the recent buzz around the Lourve heist but I prefer the focus on untold feminine rulers all the more:
The Horror section was pretty strong this time around and among the ones that I haven’t gotten to yet, The Posession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas stood out strongly to me.
Fleeing from a plague in 1865, Alba and her family take refuge at the home of her fiancé near a remote mine. This proximity to such a haunted place causes a slow yet steady series of changes in Alba that only her future cousin in law Elias seems to notice.
With a demonic force taking over, Alba finds that Elias is her strongest ally in fighting off this particular evil and perhaps their true chance at some form of salvation.
Having read Canas before, it’s great to see her get more recognition for her increasingly good and sinister storytelling that ought to make her the next big thing in this field indeed:
Having a reading plan in motion for this time of yearly transition is good, especially since I will need room for the books I’m hoping to get this Christmas! Also, this gives me a nice focus for my page turning future.
While the Goodreads Choice Awards are far from perfect (having one author with multiple books in one category is way too much) and does need to showcase better diversity in books and authors, it can be a boon to highlighting many titles that could benefit from an extra spotlight here.
At the very least, it’s a worthwhile distraction from the real world chaos we’re dealing with right now and that’s not an excuse for the awards being less than fully representative of their entire audience. All I am saying is that for now, this can be both a rallying cry for change and a welcome relief from our collective anxiety. The two goals are not mutually exclusive.
Think of the Goodreads Choice Awards as akin to the Dundies given out on various seasons of The Office; somewhat well meaning yet awkwardly presented and at the best of times, enduringly amusing. Just don’t get too overwrought about it, find that Pam Beasley balance if you can!:
It may be November but those end of the year round-ups are already starting and with book award season in full swing, what better time to share my LRG Best Books List for this rather tumultuous year of 2025?
This is a basic top five(with some honorable mentions coming up) of books that I read to completion this year and throughly enjoyed. My picks are all fiction (didn’t want to get into too much nonfiction as the daily headlines give me enough to deal with) and for the most part, published this year.
There’s a TBR reading challenge that I’ve been doing this year that will get a separate post of top reads later this month( none of those titles are listed here for that reason), Okay, time to present my literary winners in a somewhat chronological order of when I read them:
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert: This debut novel from Drag Race superstar Bob the Drag Queen gives us a what if scenario; what if legendary figures from the past just suddenly showed up and decided to use modern day means to talk about their experiences with the rest of us?
As the title suggests, our narrator Darnell is recruited by Harriet and a small number of her historical traveling companions to produce their rap album as well as set up their tour. During this process, Darnell not only gets to work on the project of a lifetime, he also comes away with learning a few truths that could help him get over one of the worst moments of his personal and professional life.
The book is a short ride but filled to the brim with history, humor and heart, plus a couple of songs (added to the audio book edition) that make for a meaningful emotional soundtrack indeed:
Storybook Ending: Moira Macdonald’s charming ode to romcoms is set in a bookstore, of course, with an offbeat love triangle to say the least.
For one thing, two women are trying to romance the same man without each other knowing it along the guy in question!
It starts with April, who leaves a note in a book for handsome store clerk Westley, only he doesn’t read it. Instead, the note is found by Laura, who thinks that Westley wrote it for her.
As for Westley, he’s more interested in the big league indie movie being filmed at the store than anything else and the camera really seems to love him as he takes a small part in the production. A charming sort of chaos soon follows.
This is the kind of novel that makes you wish that Nora Ephron was still with us in order to bring this engaging romantic comedy of errors to vivid cinematic life. For a debut novel, Macdonald shows the steady hand of a seasoned pro when it comes to this type of prose:
The Will of the Many: If I had to sum up this epic book in one Hollywood style pitch, I’d have to say “Hunger Games meets I,Claudius”yet it’s much more than that.
This first entry in James Islington’s
fantasy series introduces us to Vis, once a prince but now alone and orphaned by the empire known as The Hierarchy, which gains its powers by draining people of their actual will power.
Living a rough and tumble existence, Vis is recruited by Ulciscor Telimus, a high ranking official, to infiltrate Catenan Academy, a training ground for young future leaders, to discover the truth behind the mysterious death of Ulciscor’s brother . Having a hidden agenda of his own, Vis takes the offer yet finds that there’s much more that he bargained for here.
I won’t say more than that but I can say that now I understand the immense praise this story has been getting from readers and critics alike.
Granted, I had a rushed reading time with it(had to return it to the library sooner than I expected) but this intense blend of political drama, fantasy and coming of age saga was quite the page turning intoxicating bookish delight that I haven’t had the pleasure of in such a long time.
The second book, The Strength of the Few, was released earlier this month and I don’t know when it will be in my hands but I do know for a certainty that it will be worth the wait and then some:
Love is a War Song: On that same library trip that brought me to Will of the Many, I considered myself blessed by the bookish gods upon finding Danica Nava’s second novel on the shelves as well.
Our leading lady is Avery Fox, a rising pop star whose career has taken a major stumble due to a controversial magazine cover.
To ride out the backlash in private, Avery’s mom/manager sends to Oklahoma to stay at the horse ranch of her grandmother Lottie, whom she’s never met due to unresolved emotional issues. While there, Avery begins to learn more about her heritage and family history as well as clash with Lucas , Lottie’s right hand man who finds her shallow upon first sight.
Having read Nava’s first novel, The Truth According to Ember, not long before taking up this book, it was a treat to see the quick leaps and bounds in storytelling skills that the author has made so far. No doubt about it, Nava is on her way to being a literary chart topper with this riveting romcom that shows love is a battlefield yet worth winning nonetheless:
Lucky Day:
This wild new ride by Chuck Tingle has a number of interesting themes in it, such as the depths of corruption, recovery from trauma and bi erasure, yet the overwhelming universal theme that I found within these pages is facing the utter chaos of life itself.
The novel follows Vera, who lost her mother during a bizarrely tragic occurrence called the Low Probability Event, in which the most unlikely events happened all at once. This LPE lead to massive deaths and emotional aftershocks that even four years later, Vera hasn’t been able to start to recover from.
Having been a devoted statistician, Vera’s faith in stability has been shattered severely but when a government agent asks her to join in an investigation on a suspiciously lucky casino that may hold the answers to what happened that terrible day, she takes him up on that offer and her true journey begins.
To say that the story that unfolds here is unimaginable is an understatement and a compliment all at once. Tingle has an amazing talent in mixing horror, humor and finely tuned emotional depth that is breathtaking to behold. It’s a strong cup of tea to be sure yet worth taking a taste of true literary magic worthy of being seriously savored:
Lucky Day, as it happens, is a nominee in the Horror category of the Goodreads Choice Awards, which started their opening voting rounds today, Yes, I voted for Lucky Day and a few others ( which I plan to post about soon) and hopefully, it will make the finals. Keeping my fingers crossed for sure on that one!
In the meanwhile, here are my honorable mentions, books that are great reads that I highly recommend:
The Build-a-Boyfriend Project by Mason Deaver
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
A couple of those book are also Goodreads nominees but regardless of that , they are definitely awesome books on their own merits. I just didn’t want to overwhelm my post with such massive praise for them!
Here’s to looking forward to more wonderful books in our collective future, despite how fraught our timeline looks at the moment. Yes, it’s hard to deal with these times that we’re going through yet it does help to take a break for simple moments of joy.
This morning, I saw the first snow of the season( snow flurries but still..) and while running my usual errands, discovered to my delight that it was cold enough for my breath to fog up. It happened briefly but that once was plenty enough for a small surprise of fun.
Not much of a thrill, I know, but being able to do that was always a mini magical bit that I have been charmed by since childhood and it’s nice to get that little jolt of bliss from such a mundane thing after all these years.
It may not be much but those tiny things that give you a sense of pure happiness are treasures worth protecting. Whether it’s the weather, a favorite cookie or a good book, those are gifts that no one can take away, no matter how much they try. Happy reading, folks , this and every year to come:
