June 2025 reads
The Crescent Moon Tearoom, by Stacy Sivinski
A nice story about triplet witches who open up a successful tea leaf-reading café who find that they have been cursed. Also threatening their livelihood is the local Council of Witches who demand the sisters help three witches find their purpose. As the sisters begin to find their own path in the world, it seems like all they have worked for will fall apart. This is definitely a book of cozy magic. I listened to it and it was entertaining. I realized during this book, that I don’t like stories about, or with, circuses. I mean, I tend to avoid them, but realize now that I don’t like circus stories. Weird.
The Railway Conspiracy, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
Book two in the Dee & Lao mystery series set in 1920s London. A riff on Holmes and Watson, this mystery involves a plot to restore the emperor as ruler in China that Judge Dee Ren Jie has followed clues leading him back to London, where he again involves the young professor Lao She in his escapades. Good mystery, well-written setting, and a really talented audio book narrator makes for a great read.
Cascade Failure, by L.M. Sagas
A mismatched group of people on an advanced AI ship, Ambit, set out to foil a new technology that could destroy planets. A fun adventure with well-developed characters in a filled-in world. It moves POV among the characters and got a little wordy when people were thinking about their problems, but overall I enjoyed it. Will likely read the next in the series.
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, by Malka Ann Older
Third book in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series set in a far future Jupiter the last humans live on a ring built around the planet. I read the first two in February and loved them and was excited for the third. Now I’m bummed because if there will be more, a new one won’t be out for a year or more. Pleiti joins former classmates to investigate threats to one of them on the cusp of being made a full professor. Mossa can’t help but be lured into the mystery. I just realized this one is another mystery riffing on the Holmes/Watson relationship.
The Village Beyond the Mist, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, transl. by Avery Fischer Udagawa
An enchanting children’s tale about a girl who is sent for the summer to a remote village which turns out to be magical. Apparently Spirited Away, one of my favorite films, was inspired by this story. Simple and engaging, it reminded me of stories for younger readers by Dianna Wynne Jones. I loved it.
Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani
A graphic novel about a teenage American-Indian woman, Priyanka, who wants to know about her roots and family in India. When she discovers a beautiful pashmina hidden in her mother’s closet, it gives her visions of the India she’s always wanted to know. Her mother lets her go to visit her sister still living in India. There they research the history of the magical pashmina. I’ve had this book for years and kept forgetting to read it. A truly lovely story about family history and generational trauma.
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
This is a major departure for Okorafor’s usual sci-fi/fantasy. I didn’t love it, but I liked it a whole lot. Until the end, it seems like a straightforward story of a Nigerian-American woman’s struggles for identity and independence, interlaced with excerpts from her own novel, Rusting Robots. And it is, but it also isn’t. It is very readable, though, just like all of Okorafor’s writing, and there is a big twist at the end which I did not see coming.
In An Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire
This is book #4 in the Wayward Children series. It was more unconnected than the first three. It definitely wasn’t my favorite. A girl in the 1960s finds a door to a fairy world and in that world of the Goblin Market she gets to be brave and willful. Over the rest of her youth, she comes and goes between the worlds, but has to decide which she wants to remain in before she’s 17. As with all these books, this choice is edged on either side.
Sabriel, by Garth Nix
For years, this was my comfort listen, but I haven’t read or listened to the series in at least ten years. Usually, I stop reviewing books that I read/listen to over and over. *cough* Murderbot *cough* But since it’s been awhile, I though I would include this relisten. Loved it. Still love it.
Lireal, by Garth Nix
Ditto. And the Library!!!
The Fifth Elephant, by Terry Pratchett
I’m still working on my reread of all the Watch series of Discworld books. In this book, Sam and Sybil travel to Uberwald for the crowning of the new dwarf king. There they quickly come into a plot by a family of werewolves to break a long-standing peace treaty. Sam kicks butt as usual. Not my favorite in the series, but we do get to know many of the recurring characters much much better.
The Crescent Moon Tearoom, by Stacy Sivinski
A nice story about triplet witches who open up a successful tea leaf-reading café who find that they have been cursed. Also threatening their livelihood is the local Council of Witches who demand the sisters help three witches find their purpose. As the sisters begin to find their own path in the world, it seems like all they have worked for will fall apart. This is definitely a book of cozy magic. I listened to it and it was entertaining. I realized during this book, that I don’t like stories about, or with, circuses. I mean, I tend to avoid them, but realize now that I don’t like circus stories. Weird.
The Railway Conspiracy, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
Book two in the Dee & Lao mystery series set in 1920s London. A riff on Holmes and Watson, this mystery involves a plot to restore the emperor as ruler in China that Judge Dee Ren Jie has followed clues leading him back to London, where he again involves the young professor Lao She in his escapades. Good mystery, well-written setting, and a really talented audio book narrator makes for a great read.
Cascade Failure, by L.M. Sagas
A mismatched group of people on an advanced AI ship, Ambit, set out to foil a new technology that could destroy planets. A fun adventure with well-developed characters in a filled-in world. It moves POV among the characters and got a little wordy when people were thinking about their problems, but overall I enjoyed it. Will likely read the next in the series.
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, by Malka Ann Older
Third book in The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series set in a far future Jupiter the last humans live on a ring built around the planet. I read the first two in February and loved them and was excited for the third. Now I’m bummed because if there will be more, a new one won’t be out for a year or more. Pleiti joins former classmates to investigate threats to one of them on the cusp of being made a full professor. Mossa can’t help but be lured into the mystery. I just realized this one is another mystery riffing on the Holmes/Watson relationship.
The Village Beyond the Mist, by Sachiko Kashiwaba, transl. by Avery Fischer Udagawa
An enchanting children’s tale about a girl who is sent for the summer to a remote village which turns out to be magical. Apparently Spirited Away, one of my favorite films, was inspired by this story. Simple and engaging, it reminded me of stories for younger readers by Dianna Wynne Jones. I loved it.
Pashmina, by Nidhi Chanani
A graphic novel about a teenage American-Indian woman, Priyanka, who wants to know about her roots and family in India. When she discovers a beautiful pashmina hidden in her mother’s closet, it gives her visions of the India she’s always wanted to know. Her mother lets her go to visit her sister still living in India. There they research the history of the magical pashmina. I’ve had this book for years and kept forgetting to read it. A truly lovely story about family history and generational trauma.
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
This is a major departure for Okorafor’s usual sci-fi/fantasy. I didn’t love it, but I liked it a whole lot. Until the end, it seems like a straightforward story of a Nigerian-American woman’s struggles for identity and independence, interlaced with excerpts from her own novel, Rusting Robots. And it is, but it also isn’t. It is very readable, though, just like all of Okorafor’s writing, and there is a big twist at the end which I did not see coming.
In An Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire
This is book #4 in the Wayward Children series. It was more unconnected than the first three. It definitely wasn’t my favorite. A girl in the 1960s finds a door to a fairy world and in that world of the Goblin Market she gets to be brave and willful. Over the rest of her youth, she comes and goes between the worlds, but has to decide which she wants to remain in before she’s 17. As with all these books, this choice is edged on either side.
Sabriel, by Garth Nix
For years, this was my comfort listen, but I haven’t read or listened to the series in at least ten years. Usually, I stop reviewing books that I read/listen to over and over. *cough* Murderbot *cough* But since it’s been awhile, I though I would include this relisten. Loved it. Still love it.
Lireal, by Garth Nix
Ditto. And the Library!!!
The Fifth Elephant, by Terry Pratchett
I’m still working on my reread of all the Watch series of Discworld books. In this book, Sam and Sybil travel to Uberwald for the crowning of the new dwarf king. There they quickly come into a plot by a family of werewolves to break a long-standing peace treaty. Sam kicks butt as usual. Not my favorite in the series, but we do get to know many of the recurring characters much much better.
