We're in the process of packing up and moving, so lots more audio books than usual. I think that May will have few books than usual (though still more audio) as that's when we're actually moving. So much work to do, so little time to read. 

​The Fallen Angels Book Club, by R. Franklin James
Hollis  is a convicted felon after her former husband set her up to take the fall for his insurance scams. Having done her sentence, she now is working as a law clerk, aspiring to be a lawyer, and trying to get a pardon. All of this is complicated when a member of her book club—for convicted felons—is murdered and signs point to one of the members having done it. With the clock ticking on her pardon hearing, Hollis investigates the murder herself. Nice mystery if rather basic. I liked Hollis and many of the supporting characters. While I kind of knew who the murderer was at the beginning, it was still well plotted and fun to read.
 
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Finally I got around to reading this classic. While the language used is … let’s say overly romanticized … it was still a lot of fun. I don’t think I need to give you a plot summary on this one. It ends abruptly and I think it would have been a more complete circle had the narrator come back after the last letter to tie things up. Definitely worth the read.
 
What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher
Second horror novella staring Alex Easton. The previous one used Poe’s House of Usher as a jumping off point. This one is based on a Eastern European folktale. Alex travels to visit her property in rural Gallacia and walks into a nightmare that steals your breath, literally. I’m really liking these snack-sized horror tales and Alex is a delightful character to follow through adventures.
 
Station Eternity, by Mur Lafferty
A relisten. Still love this book a year plus after listening to it and then reading it.
 
This Part is Silent: a life between cultures, by SJ Kim
An essay collection that is experimental, poetic, and literary while exploring what it means to be a struggling immigrant, an othered academic, and the yearning to express oneself. I enjoyed this a lot as it made my brain really think about the liminal space that Kim lives in, as a person untethered without a true home. Her use of experimental prose, essays told in second person, and rambling letters to a city were really unique and offered a new way for me to see her experiences. Not an easy read, but super interesting.
 
Arabella, by Georgette Heyer
Reread. Needed a chill book. Not my favorite, but it’s still one of the better ones.
 
The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James
Told from two characters living in the same place 35 years apart. In 1982, Viv finds herself stuck in Fell, New York after escaping her home. While working night shift at the local motel, she discovers that a serial killer is visiting frequently, and nothing will stop her from getting the evidence to catch him. In 2017, Carly comes to Fell to find out what happened to her aunt Viv, who disappeared long before she was born. As she investigates Viv’s disappearance, she takes on aspects of the life Viv lived while in Fell. Also, there are ghosts. Lots and lots of ghosts. Very good, very creepy and an ending that is truly surprising.
 
The Murder of Mr. Ma, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
Another audio book. I really enjoyed this mystery set in 1920s London. It is definitely a playing off of Sherlock Holmes, with a famous Chinese judge and diplomat, Dee Ren Jie, and Chinese academic and immigrant, Lao She, standing in for the roles of Sherlock and Watson. Mystery was very good, well-plotted, and kept me guessing until the end. The clues were subtle (always the best). The characters and London as a backdrop were all well done. Looking forward to the next in the series. 
 
Ready or Not, by Andi Porretta
A well-told story about the summer four friends spend together before the split apart for college. Told from the POV of Cassie, the only one not leaving home, we follow her as she fears what will happen when she and her friends are no longer close in proximity. What I liked best is that each friend has a fully distinct and fleshed-out personality and each are learning more about themselves as the summer goes on. Really good contemporary YA graphic novel.
 
Navigational Entanglements, Aliette de Bodard
This is a novella and it would take me almost as long as the story to try to describe the story. Suffice it to say, it’s about four misfits sent by their clans to thwart an other worldly monster or die trying. Told in alternating POVs—Việt Nhi, a quiet methodical thinker, and Hạc Cúc, a temperamental assassin—as they uncover a terrible plot while fighting their attraction for one another. Space Opera at its best. 

I got through a lot more books than I thought I would in March. We’re working on moving house, so I listened to a lot of audio books which upped my numbers. Probably a lot more audio next month too.
 
The Ojja-Wojja, by Magdalene Visaggio, illustrated by Jenn St-Onge
A spooky middle grade graphic novel about two tweens who accidentally unleash a demon on their New England town. Lanie and Val love all things supernatural, so when they are working on a report about their town’s history with the supernatural, they inadvertently summon the demon that the town founders made a terrible pact with. Good storytelling, the usual kind of eighth grade tensions, and two well done main characters.
 
Siren Queen, Nghi Vo
A reread. I recommended this for my book club as I read it last year, loved it, and had no one to talk to about it. My group liked it as much as I did. Luli is one of those characters whose determination, will, and pride cause her most of their own problems and I love it. It was as fun the second read as it was the first.
 
Red Rabbit, by Alex Grecian
I really enjoyed listening to this tale of the Wild West with a horror twist. Witches, ghosts, body snatching demon, cannibals, this story combines all of these in a way that feels true to Western mythos while spinning a fun, freaky yarn. I’ll definitely be looking for more books by this author.
 
The Kamogawa Food Detectives, by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
A former police detective turned chef and his daughter run an unmarked restaurant in the back streets of Kyoto. People visit the restaurant to have recreated for them a memorable dish or meal that they want to revisit. The chef uses his skills to track down the ingredients, people, and feelings that would have made the meal memorable to their client. Each client’s story is told on its own making the feel of the story as comforting as their comfort food. There is little to no character development for the main characters and it feels like the daughter was added as an afterthought. Overall, though, a nice read.
 
The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston
A nice light romance. I was going to write a sum-up of the story, but there is too much going on to do it succinctly. So, we’ve got a ghostwriter who can see the dead, a hometown that hates her, a family mortuary, a dead father, her mean editor’s ghost, and lots of southern charm. Nothing mind-boggling, just a sweet person and a sweet romance.
 
The Gimlet Slip, by Fiona Davis and Greg Wands
This audio-only novella was a fun romp through early 1930s prohibition bootleggers. It follows three people: Jo, a young woman who made a name for herself as a driver; Lydia, the queen-pin of a bootlegging empire; and Sam, a square police detective who has revenge in his heart. Not a lot of substance but still a delightful listen.
 
The Reluctant Widow, by Georgette Heyer
A reread. I was stressed and needed a comfort read. It was my second read of this one and I liked it more on second reading. That seems to happen with frequency with Heyer novels. Maybe because I’ve lowered expectations? In this one, a young woman traveling to be a governess gets in the wrong carriage and before the night is through is married to a stranger and then widowed. Unknown to everyone though, is that the man had been working as a spy for the French and had information that some parties would do anything for. Not as serious as it sounds. Delightful.
 
The Haunting of Velkwood, by Gwendolyn Kiste
The Velkwood neighborhood was once a quiet suburban street with picture perfect houses and happy families…or so it looked. Underneath was layered family indifference and violence. One night the street became a ghost along with all the inhabitants inside. Except for three young women. Now twenty years later, Talitha must reunite with her two former friends to try to end the curse that lay over their families. Pretty good. The mystery of the haunting is well-done with just enough tension. I didn’t find any of the main characters all that sympathetic, but still a decent read.
 
Drowning in Light, by Taylor Steele
Poetry. An interesting collection, but only one or two poems that I liked all the way through. Themes of identity—queer, female, disabled—along with family ties and binds. There were some very lovely lines that I had to write down. QUOTE HERE.
 
The Busy Body, by Kemper Donovan
Another audio book. I’m conflicted on this one. There were things I liked and a lot that left me ‘meh.’ An unnamed ghostwriter is our MC and narrator. She gets her dream job to write the memoir for a failed female presidential candidate, Dorothy, just weeks after she lost. The two women become fast friends, but before long the death of a neighbor catches the attention of Dorothy who sets out to find her murderer with the help of her ghostwriter sidekick. The mystery, supposedly in the vein of Agatha Christie, was good as there were two twists I didn’t see coming. But the setting and the characters were both over-the-top and underdeveloped. And I don’t understand why the ghostwriter made the decision she did at the end. It was weird.
 
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
This was a reread for my book club. It’s been probably close to twenty years since I first read it and enjoyed it. I enjoyed it again now because I had totally conflated it with the second book in the series (which I liked better). Another club member had done the same thing, so neither of us felt too bad about it. In the absurdity vein of Douglas Adams with a hefty dose of Terry Pratchett, Fforde’s world is crazy, imaginative fun.

​Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett
A witches Discworld novel and one that I hadn’t read before. It is always a pleasure to fall into Terry’s wonderful, weird Discworld. In this one, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg work to keep the fae world from gaining access to their world, while Magrat gets ready to marry the king while questioning herself and her magic. There is also a wonderful substory involving Unseen University wizards. Not my favorite witches story, but still fantastic.
 
Illuminations, by T. Kingfisher
Another book by an author I always love to read. In Rosa Mandolini’s world, artists with a little magic can create artwork that also serves as protections, curses, or can come alive. Rosa’s family has a long history as these artists, but have fallen on hard times. When she finds an ancient box in the storage room and opens it, she unleashes a tiny monster that begins to terrorize her family home. With the help of a sometimes friend and a painting of a crow come alive, she has to capture the monster. It’s always a delight to read any of Ursula Vernon’s work. She’s amazing.
 
The Unmaking of June Farrow, by Adrienne Young
An Appalachian town, a family of women with a curse, and a woman determined to break it so that her own future daughter will be able to live her own life. In June’s family, women lose their minds starting at an early age. June has just lost her grandmother and is now starting to see things that aren’t there, particularly a door. When she realizes the door is real and she goes through it, she really begins to understand what the curse means. A bit of time travel, a bit of time looping. A fun read but not one that I’m likely to recommend.
 
Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry
This was one of my  mom’s favorites as a kid and she recently reread it, then handed it to me to read. It’s a nice story and really made me want to visit that part of North Carolina/Delaware. The wild horses that this book is about are still there on Assateague island. The language and attitudes of the kids are dated in a way that is particular to the 1940s and 1950s, but overall an interesting story of a wild horse and its colt.
 
Harvest House, by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Somewhat of a ghost story, this YA book reads more like middle grade to me. Muskogee native Hughie lives in a small town in Kansas with his family. After making a new friend at the start of the school year, they volunteer to help create a haunted house attraction in town. But it’s the part of town where women are often stalked by a creepy man. It’s also supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a young Indian woman. Hughie and his friends start investigating the rumors after a friend is harassed by the stalker, all leading to a haunting confrontation on Halloween night. Overall, a good story with well-developed characters (that were a little too nice and optimistic). Not scary at all.
 
The Box in the Woods, by Maureen Johnson
Stevie Bell is back! After the original Truly Devious trilogy, this is Stevie’s first standalone mystery. I missed her. She’s such a great character. In this installment, she takes on a forty-year-old unsolved group murder at a storied summer camp. She brings along several members of her crew and together they investigate a horrible crime. I absolutely recommend this book, and you can read it without reading the others, but why would you want to start on book 4? This is such a fun series.
 
Killing Me, by Michelle Gagnon
This is a weird, twisty thriller/mystery. Small-time con artist Amber thought she had put crime behind her when she went to college to get a degree in psychology. But just a few months shy of graduation, she is kidnapped by a serial killer … and is somewhat rescued by a vigilante who kills the killer. Unfortunately, Amber (not her real identity) has to flee before the FBI can look into her history. She makes it to Las Vegas through a series of uncanny coincidences and stumbles upon the mystery of another serial killer who is profiling sex workers. Turns out her vigilante savior is also on the case and Amber’s involvement has just made finding the killer easier and far more dangerous. This one has a ton of dark humor and absolutely great characters. I want to befriend them all—though my life has been much too easy to really connect with any of them.
 
Gentrification is Inevitable and Other Lies, by Leslie Kern
I’m officially a Leslie Kern stan now. After reading her last book, Feminist City, my eyes were open to a whole new way of looking at urban, social geography. (Not that I even knew what that was before reading the book.) This book is jam-packed full of great history, great ideas, and great frustration. I learned so much about the underlying issues that goes into gentrification and how thorny an issue it really is—without any simply solutions. She does offer suggestions ideas about counteracting gentrification, which ends the book on a hopeful note.
 
Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers
The last of the Harriet Vane books in the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Peter and Harriet are finally married and go to a rural home they’ve just purchased to spend their honeymoon. Only the house isn’t ready for them, no one seems to know that they were coming, and the original owner seemed to have left in a hurry…until he’s found dead in the basement. So the honeymoon is put on hold while the pair investigate this very twisty murder. This series is always fun and I really enjoy the characters’ interpersonal relationships.
 
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
Reread, but first time listen. I really loved the audio book. This is one of my very favorite comfort reads and the narrator was just so good. The way she made each character distinct was a delight. I will definitely be looking up more of Rachel Dulude’s work. (OK, I just looked and she has done tons of romantasy, some mystery and regular romance.)

​A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin
A classic and a reread. This is such a great book and Ged is such a striking character—not good not bad but with the capacity for both. Nobody can build a world in so few strokes as Le Guin.
 
Tell Me I'm Worthless, by Alison Rumfitt
I listened to this book and it was a hard one to listen to. It would have been equally as hard to read. But. It was worthwhile as it explored privilege, queerness, nationalism, and race through the filter of fear. Trans woman Alice hasn’t been in contact with her best friend Ila, who is lesbian, since the night they visited an abandoned house with another friend and were subjected to invasive horrors. Their friend never left. Haunted by what they experienced at the truly malevolent house, they connect again to face what happened. This is a truly harrowing story. It also gave me a lot of food for thought. I recommend it with major caveats about sexual assault and abuse.
 
Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow
I read this one for the inaugural meeting of my new book club! I liked this book a lot. Opal lives in a dying backwater town in Kentucky. Being the soul caretaker of her teenage brother since their mom died, she is willing to do just about anything to help her brilliant brother escape town. Even taking on a cleaning gig at the sagging mansion whose owner is never seen. This is Southern Gothic at its best. Perfect if you like magical realism, portals to other worlds, and rich people comeuppance. 
 
The Dark Lord's Daughter, Patricia C. Wrede
This middle grade novel was a blast. I loved the author’s Dealing With Dragons and another book she coauthored. This one was different than both and delightful. Adopted Kayla, along with her brother and mother, are somewhat kidnapped to another world where Kayla is the missing child of a fearsome (and dead) dark lord. As she discovers more about her crazy inheritance and powerful magic, she starts making her own reputation as a much nicer dark lord.
 
You Sexy Thing, by Cat Rambo
Another space opera about retired soldiers and their space exploits. This one was fun, not groundbreaking—definitely influenced by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. There was a lot of action, not a lot of plot.
 
The Clackity, by Lora Senf
Kids horror. The Clackity is such a great name for a creepy creature that haunts the shadows of an abandoned abattoir, and who kidnaps a woman and forces her niece to face seven trials in a dark mirror world to get her back. Has lots of uncanny situations that remind me a bit of Atreyu’s journey in The Neverending Story. It’s a good story overall, but not my favorite. It’s the first in a series and I don’t know that I want to continue on.
 
Removal Acts, by Erin Marie Lynch
A book of poetry that was nominated for the Golden Poppies awards. Themes of understanding family history, disordered eating, and loneliness. The thread that runs through the book is the unmaking of her grandfather’s ties to his indigenous history and how that affected her, contrasted with the story of her white grandmother’s perfectly preserved Native American costume passed down through the generations. A lot of the experimental forms used felt academic and turns out Lynch is. There were some interesting elements, but overall not that moving.
 
Murder By Degrees, by Ritu Mukerji
Lydia is a doctor in 1875 Philadelphia. When one of her patients goes missing and a body matching her description is found, Lydia feels compelled to find out what happened to the girl. Decent mystery overall, but the writing wasn’t all that great. 

Once Upon a Tome, by Oliver Darkshire
For book lovers everywhere, this book is a delight. A memoir, of sorts, of Oliver Darkshire’s apprenticeship at Henry Sotheran Ltd—a centuries old bookstore specializing in rare books. Oliver’s tales of sub basements, forgotten collections, weird non-book items, assorted fellow booksellers, and oddball shoppers is written so deliciously that you can’t help but cackle. I enjoyed every page.
 
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson
In November, I listened to the second book in this series and thoroughly enjoyed it. So I listened to the first one and enjoyed it as well. (Though I think I enjoyed the mystery in the second book more.) Ernest Cunningham’s family is having a reunion at a remote mountain resort in the middle of winter. It’s to celebrate his brother’s release from prison, but there are tensions between nearly every family member even before a dead body is found. It’s a lot of fun. Looking forward to more books in this series.
 
Beholder, by Ryan La Sala
A teen horror that follows young Athan. He’s a charming dropout whose family is cursed, at least according to his grandmother—his only family—who is declining rapidly. Also, he can see the past when he looks in mirrors or reflections, which also runs in his family. When he is the only witness to a heinous crime (like really gross), he discovers that his benefactor may not be the nice guy that he seems and is into searching for an ancient power. I enjoyed this one, but it’s not for everybody.
 
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J. Ryan Stradal
Stradal has made a career writing about the quirky midwest—particularly Minnesota. This is an OK story. I think it’s meant to showcase how times change for an old type of restaurant, but the story is disjointed and doesn’t quite come together. The last bit felt tacked on as if he was trying to get his word count in. It was all right, but not great.
 
Calamity, by Constance Fay
Another space romance. I just can’t seem to stay away from these. Plucky Temperance has just gone into major debt to acquire her ship from her smarmy former captain. Against her better judgement, she takes on a lucrative job from one of the ruling families in the galaxy, which also means that a scion of the family is joining her crew for the job. Of course, sparks fly. There is a mission within the job and a major discovery that could have repercussions among all the ruling families. It’s good. Even if it did have the ubiquitous work-out sparring scene between the potential lovers. I’ll probably read the next one too.
 
Friday’s Child, by Georgette Heyer
Reread, of course. I love this book. It’s so funny and heartfelt. And the joke about Nemesis will never get old.
 
Nomenclatures of Invisibility, by Mahtem Shiferraw
This is one of the poetry books nominated for the Golden Poppy award. It wasn’t my cup of tea. The poet focuses on themes of displacement—as an immigrant or refugee, and the strength of her family history. Those poems touched me more than the some of the more experimental immigration-focused poems. Shiferraw does have some lovely phrases.
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The Core of an Onion, by Mark Kurlansky
I really enjoyed this “natural history” of the culinary onion. Describes the history of its cultivation and how it has been prepared through millenia. Highly recommend. The author also has a book titled, Salt, which I think I need to read too.
 
The Spanish Love Deception, by Elena Armas
Lovely, frothy romance with the tropes of enemies to lovers and fake dating. Lina needs a date for her sister’s wedding because the recently engaged best man is her hated ex. Her colleague and rival, Aaron, volunteers to be her date. Desperate, she agrees. As she gets to know him, she gets to know her own true feelings about him.
 
The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp, by Leonie Swann
A group of spunky, elderly seniors living in their version of a retirement community are accidentally involved in a murder investigation. Agnes, who used to do police investigations, can’t let the murder go and begins her own investigation—which makes her rethink her own memory and abilities. Fun, twisty, murder mystery. Recommend.