Read THE EMPRESS OF SALT & FORTUNE by Nghi Vo if you love novellas, nonbinary clerics, snarky birds, ephemera & debris, political marriages, quiet revolutions, friendship, ghosts, knowing the ending but not how you'll get there, fortune tellers, games, anger & imperfect records.
A DISGRACED DETECTIVE RETURNS to help catch a serial killer whose unique signature is creating sculptures from victims’ bones. Gritty Louisiana thriller adds some fresh twists and a strong sense of place. B PLUS
Read CAN'T SPELL TEA WITHOUT TREASON by Rebecca Thorne if you love adorable lesbians, evil queens, running away, endless cups of tea, small towns, ley lines, dragons, baked goods, starting over, home renovations, so many books, griffins, moonstones & not so secret identities.
THE DIARY OF A SLACKER MOM starts in a whirl of exhaustion, playground angst, and post-partum libido, then expands as the protagonist faces her deep grief at the recent loss of her beloved sister. Gritty, distinctive voice with heart. B PLUS
THE COMPLICATIONS OF TIME TRAVEL prove to be bureaucratic, logistical, psychological, and even romantic in this high concept, high energy science fiction thriller. B PLUS
ELEGANT SHORT NOVEL does an excellent job of capturing the post-university doldrums of a sensitive, confused young woman and the social life and wildlife of a Massachusetts university town. SOLID B
Read THE SIREN, THE SONG, AND THE SPY by Maggie Tokuda-Hall if you love mermaids, shipwrecks, hyenas, broken families in a broken world, bloodshed, lies, evil empires, resistance, oases, pirates, mothers, dragons, lovers, reckonings, cycles & noodle soup.
SURPRISINGLY TENDER HORROR tale uses clear, precise prose to capture the profound uncanniness of liminal spaces like a shopping mall in decline, with the accompanying terrors of aging and loss of ability. Insightful and scary! B PLUS
AN ARTIST YEARNING FOR TRANSCENDENCE finds an unlikely path toward it in her complicated attraction to an injured ballerina. Lyrical prose both lush and austere traces a many-leveled tale of longing and self-knowledge. B PLUS
Read THE MERMAID, THE WITCH & THE SEA by Maggie Tokuda-Hall if you love ships, arranged marriages, queer love, mermaids (obvi), the sea as a character, the horrors of colonialism, learning to read, genderfuckery, good soup, learning your own magic, escape, comeuppance & doilies.
LAYERS OF TREACHERY IN PARADISE—or as close to Paradise as the California coast and a whole lot of money can take you—abound in this brilliant and bitingly satirical riff on both The Stepford Wives and Herodotus. B PLUS
LIFE IS MORE THAN GENDER for Zoë Bossiere, whose tale of a hardscrabble, hard-luck boyhood on the outskirts of Tucson winds through androgyny and young womanhood into a place of self-acceptance as a genderfluid writer and teacher. B PLUS
Read THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey if you love blood & guts & viscera, eldritch horrors, corporate bullshit, eyeballs (so many eyeballs), backstabbing, best friends, vodka, New York, more blood, more guts, more viscera, magic, takeout, doors & bookstores.
A Triad in Three Acts by @BlaineDArden is a unique blend of fantasy, mystery and romance. I really enjoyed the unique worldbuilding and lovable characters in this star-crossed romance.
This omnibus is on sale for only #99cents so snap it up now!
Read PALADIN'S FAITH by T. Kingfisher if you love global politics, spies, big brothers, feeling hollow, taking baths, remote locations, mudslides, cults, doggos, feeling safe, running for your life, strike solidarity, gadgets, gods, a good pair of boots & salt.
AN EXTRAVAGANT, SPRAWLING PICARESQUE set in Zaire in the last years of the Mobutu regime is a symphony of voices from every walk of life, from tough street kids to the secret police to high society. Vivid and fascinating. B PLUS
HIGH TECH AND HOODOO and the powers of love, art, and community are mighty weapons in this unique adventure set in a near-future dystopian Massachusetts. Rich with the Afrofuturist spirit of funk and beautiful evocations of nature. B PLUS
THE WORLD OF 1950s BOMBAY comes alive in this story of twin sisters trying to follow their own dreams and meet the expectations of their very proper Punjabi family, still unsettled by the violence of Partition. Lovely, rich saga. A MINUS
TWO INTERTWINED STORIES, one a spookily poetic tale of sisters haunted by the past and one a Chicago police procedural, converge in startling ways. Lovely, rich with a great city’s history, beauty, and tragedy. B PLUS