The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor Lavalle
This one had been on my TBR list since I read The Changeling. It’s delightfully creepy. Yet, it’s also a serious commentary on police brutality and systemic racism that is incredibly timely for a book set in the 1920s. Tom is a young hustler from Harlem who gets caught up in a rich white man’s gambit to unleash an eldritch horror. For a novella, it has a lot of plot twists and some seriously sad events. Overall, it is a great read.
 
This Was Our Pact, by Ryan Andrews
This graphic novel is soooo good. A friend gave it to me for my birthday more than a year ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf. The cover does nothing to explain what the book is about, which is probably why I didn’t read it earlier. Ben and his friends vow to follow the lanterns released on the river for the autumn festival until they reach the sea or they turn into the Milky Way, which is what the stories say. Ben’s friends veer off, except for Nathaniel—the class misfit. From there, he and Ben follow the river meeting a talking bear, a witch and her dog, find a cavern filled with stars, and have more dream-like adventures. Beautiful artwork, super imaginative, and filled with delight, I wish I had read this sooner.
 
Strange Weather in Tokyo, by Hiromi Kawakami
A quirky romance between a 30-something woman and her retired former high school teacher. Tsukiko and her teacher, Sensei, wind up drinking at the same bar and strike up a friendship (even though she had been a terrible student). Over the months and years, they become more than drinking buddies. Tsukiko dates a man she went to school with, but never feels like she fits in his world. Subtle and understated, this is a gem of a story. I’m not generally a fan of May/December romances, but here, Tsukiko has all the agency which makes this romance more palatable (for me).
 
Skein Island, by Aliya Whiteley
So, this book. I started it last December, but it was just too scary for me. I was enjoying the building horror, but had to have the heart to finish—and this past half year has not been in the least calming. However, I did finish and really enjoyed it. It takes on themes of male/female relationships—the mythos around them—and the mythological ideal of hero, victim, sage, sidekick, and heroine. Basically, the stories we tell ourselves to make the world work. This book is not for everyone. In fact, I’m not sure who I’d recommend it too and that’s what I love to do. But it does make you think.
 
Sorcery of Thorns, by Margaret Rogerson
A fun YA fantasy about a series of libraries that hold all the grimoires of sorcery in the country and the girl who grew up among their magic. In this world, sorcerers are evil but their books of magic—which are practically alive—are important works of knowledge, so kept safe by librarians. Elisabeth’s greatest desire is to be a warden, a protector/soldier of the libraries. When her library’s most evil book is unleashed, she battles it to the death, but is then accused of setting it free and sent to trial in the city, escorted by a young sorcerer, Nathaniel Thorn, and his demon servant. Once there, they have to stop a plot that seeks to unleash the greatest demon. Sorcery of Thorns felt a bit derivative to me. It takes a lot from Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, the movie version of Howl’s Moving Castle, and several other stories—and doesn’t shy away from acknowledging those influences—but it does make the story its own in a completely enjoyable way.
 
Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter, by Atelier Sento
Another graphic novel, this time on one of my favorite subjects, Japanese Yokai. Yokai are spirits or ghosts. This story follows two siblings from France as they explore some of Japans most haunted places trying to get pictures of yokai. This story uses a lovely compilation of drawn comics and altered photography to tell a fun story.

The Library of Legends, by Janie Chang
I picked this one up because of the library part in the title. It doesn’t have a whole lot to do with books. It was a very good story that was more of a historical novel really. Students in a Chinese university must evacuate inland when the Japanese invade mainland China in 1937. Stored at the university is the remaining volumes of a book about Chinese myths and each student is given a copy to transport inland. We follow Lian, a young woman, as she discovers the magical truth behind the volume she carries—the spiritual guardians of China are leaving. I didn’t know about this little piece of history (the student evacuations) or that China was fighting a two-front war against the Chinese communists, so this was really interesting to me. Very well written, with a nice love story subplot.
 
I Lost My Girlish Laughter, by Jane Allen
Madge Lawrence is new to Hollywood and she lands a job as personal secretary to one of the biggest producers in town. What follows is a months long back-and-forth trying to get his next big hit made. And it is hilarious. This book was written in 1937, but it could have been written today it was so fresh. The insight into not only Hollywood egos but also human nature makes this a true classic. A not-quite-epistolary novel, written in letters, memos, and diary entries, I Lost My Girlish Laughter is just plain fun. Highly recommend it.
 
Take a Hint, Dani Brown, by Talia Hibbert
The second book in Hibbert’s presumed trilogy about the Brown sisters. This one follows last year’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown, which I loved. This is about Chloe’s second sister—a PhD candidate in literature who likes to have sex but wants no strings attached. Enter Zafir, a former rugby player turned security guard. They have a friendship that turns into something more when they’re caught on camera looking like lovers during a fire drill. It’s good marketing for Zafir’s charity, so Dani can’t turn down his plea for a fake relationship. And you can guess how it ends. Sweet and fun, Hibbert makes both main characters so full of history and personality you can’t help but want to hang out with them.
 
Kerry & the Knight of the Forest, by Andi Waston
A graphic novel. I’ve been behind on reading comics/manga/graphic novels lately, but am making up for it. This is a tale about a big-hearted boy trying to get through an evil forest in order to save his parents from an illness. The guide is a sentient, mobile rock that used to be a guardian of the forest before the forest was taken over by an evil spirit. The boy and the Knight have to battle evil trees, ghosts, and monsters to get to the other side. There were a surprising number of twists and turns in the story and the art is awesome, but the story didn’t dig deep enough into the characters to make this anything other than a nice read for a couple of hours.
 
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
A reread of one of my favorites from the last few years. You can’t go wrong with Elma’s story, following a meteorite that takes out Washington, D.C. in 1952 and triggers a rise in temperature that means that all life will be gone in a hundred years. The space program is accelerated to get people off Earth and into space and math genius, expert pilot Elma means to be one of the first astronauts. Such a good book! I read it in anticipation of the release of the third book in the series, The Relentless Moon.
 
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire is a beloved author of fantasy, but I hadn’t read any of her work before. This was a great introduction. The first of six (so far) novellas in the Wayward Children series, Every Heart is about a school for children who have visited one of myriad of fairylands and have returned home. Nancy is new to the school, having spent several years in the land of the dead, and is soon involved in searching for a murderer at the school. Surprising at every turn, this was a well-written story that was as engrossing as it was imaginative.
 
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Imperial colonials desperate to own the world, pirates who don’t abide by the code, the sentient sea and her mermaid daughters, memory and loss, a girl disguised as a boy, and a witch that lives on the side of an enormous cliff. Seriously, why wouldn’t you want to read this? Add in a lovely romance and a truly satisfying ending (though a little sad) and you will have a delightful read. This young adult novel is getting a lot of buzz and deservedly so. Highly recommended.