I wanted more detail from this book but it was still an enjoyable read.

An explanation had never been the point. She had simply liked being the only one who wanted to find out the truth.

The crime that must be solved, as always, veered into unreality. I still love Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. They are both decent people that really, really want to get together but can‘t quite overcome the obstacles to doing so.

This both funny and bittersweet. I liked it.

The development of both of these characters and their relationship is well done. They are both functioning adults dealing with their own trauma. Nya is trying to break away from the control of her abusive father. Johan suffers from a fear of abandonment because his mother died when he was young. Johan also has a younger brother that he wants to protect. This was funny, engaging and sexy.

This book was far better than I thought it was going to be when I first picked it up. The protagonist, a woman with blue skin living in the mountains of Kentucky in the early twentieth century, proved to be independent and self sufficient. Cussy Mary faces discrimination because of her “color.” Her dad is a coal miner and is involved in efforts to unionize. She just wants to be left alone to work her route as a pack horse librarian.

There was not nearly enough tension in this book. It felt like Atwood didn‘t want to let her characters suffer so almost all of the suffering is off the page. It feels a little like a cop out. I did really enjoy the cunning and planning of Aunt Lydia though. Atwood could have cut the other testimonies and just told the story from her perspective and the book would have benefited.

This historical fiction, set in Malaysia in the 1930‘s, is a murder mystery and a romance and is grounded in Malaysian and Chinese folklore. Ji Yin and her stepbrother Shin grow up under the control of Shin‘s abusive father. Shin can escape to school when he comes of age but Ji Yin is denied that opportunity even though she dreams of being a nurse. She and Shin are drawn into a mystery involving a severed finger. And weretigers.

She would do everything her mother told her. Everything her mother wanted.

Lydia is the sun in the galaxy that is the Lee family. All of her parents contradictory expectations rest on her shoulders. In the meantime both of her siblings are alternately jealous of the attention she receives but also relieved to be free from its pressure. Lydia is living her life for her parents and when she stops, each member of the family has to examine all of the things that they have left unsaid.

This was funny and sweet and ultimately heart warming. Set in the Muslim community of Toronto, Ayesha and Khalid initially clash but eventually their relationship grows. I really loved this book.

Jay is an African American lawyer in 1980‘s Houston with a flailing law practice and a pregnant wife and a past that has broken him and left him a prisoner of his own fear. And then he rescues a woman who may have been fleeing an abusive lover or may be a murderer. Whatever it is Jay is afraid of getting involved but just seems to be pulled deeper and deeper into a web of lies, corruption and violence. I loved it.

He hated that perfection was what the world required to mourn her.

This was taut, real and insightful. Perfect

The romance in this novel pissed me off because the female protagonist becomes very concerned about the wants of a man she has spent a total of a couple of hours with. I enjoyed the other parts of the novel though. The magical realism was fun.

There are worlds within worlds in this novel and stories within stories. So many threads, that eventually come together in the end.

This retelling of Frankenstein is dark and the monsters here are all human

I had worked so hard to be Victor‘s Elizabeth, and I had failed

Willfully ignoring and erasing truths about myself

Two parallel storylines make up this novel set both in present day and in 2041 when a multi year drought has made much of the earth uninhabitable and people are fleeing to refugee camps. Signe, an aging but still passionate environmental activist, lives a solitary life on her sailboat in the present day. David and his young daughter Lou flee their home as it‘s ravaged by fire and end up in a refugee camp.

It took me about halfway before I started to get into these characters. They refuse to communicate with each other and it was really irritating. The happy ending is REALLY happy though.

Probably the least interesting thing about the woman who came to be known as Linda Taylor was that she was a welfare cheat.

On which side of history do you want to be?

This had echoes of pride and prejudice, but with sex. I loved it.

Fast moving with a very satisfying ending

A not too dark but a little bit dark fairytale set in medieval era wales. Ryn, the main character, is brave and brash and stubborn. She saves the day again and agin. Ellis is more of a mystery but proves himself to be tough. I really enjoyed this book.

This book was angsty and hormonal and a little gory in places and I basically loved it. The author takes several tropes— a witch with a familiar, a secret cult dedicated to protecting the world steeped in “ancient wisdom” and run entirely by men and the sacrifice of a young woman— and turns them@on their head. In this book the women save themselves and that is the best.

I liked this book but didn‘t love it. It‘s told from alternating perspectives of four different narrators. 2 of the narrators are enslaved women, one is a free black woman living during the time of slavery and one is a woman living in present day America. All four are able to manipulate material matter. All four use this power to help others. My only criticism is that I didn‘t feel like I got to know any of them well and the ending felt unfinished

The mystery was twisty and the personal lives of the main characters are intertwined and bittersweet.

Don‘t go first

A gruesome form of natural selection

Nikki is a first generation daughter of Indian immigrants in London. She is separated by social class from the Punjabi community until she starts teaching classes at the Temple. There she learns that there is much more to these traditional women than she realized. Over the course of the novel Nikki learns from these women and comes to feel that she is also a part of this community.

An engrossing nonfiction narrative that reads as smoothly as a novel. I found this fascinating and horrifying. The book focuses most heavily on a few leaders in the IRA during The Troubles— Dolours and Marian Price, Gerry Adams, Brendan Hughes and, as a counterpoint, the kidnap and murder of Jean McConville. Through this lens we see the movements and motivations of the militant IRA and the effect those actions had on ordinary Irish people.

This historical mystery set in Singapore during the wind up to World War II leaves enough bread crumbs along the way that the end isn‘t a complete surprise.

This novel blends fantasy with Mayan folklore to tell an epic quest and a bittersweet love story.

I only wished this were longer

Well written and imaginative but heavy handed with messaging toward the end.

Much of this didn‘t ring true for me

Immensely satisfying. Every person gets exactly what they deserve.

A rollicking good adventure for middle grade readers

I am still processing this book. It was real. It was true.

Much if this book was thoughtful. However, I wish the author had been more reflective of the ways that his own privilege effected his experience.

A vast magical puzzle with no obvious beginning and the end is not revealed until, well, the end. And the end is devastating. I cannot say that I didn‘t cry. One flesh, one end.