​Murder at the End of the World, by Akane Araki, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)
The world is due to end in two months by asteroid. Japan is where it will hit. Most people have left to try to stay alive a little longer. Haru and her family have stayed. Her mom ran away, her dad suicided, and her younger brother doesn’t leave his room. Her only outside connection is with her driving instructor. She still wants to know how to drive. When they find a body hidden in one of the practice cars, Haru and her instructor, a former police detective, will go to any length the find the killer. I loved this book. Unreliable narrators, end of the world craziness, well-written characters with unusual motives. I highly recommend.
 
Moss'd in Space, by Rebecca Thorne
Cute, space story by the author of You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea. It has very little romance as, I think, that will be more spelled out in future books. Torian lives on a space station which is killing her sister. She saves all her money to buy a derelict space ship that has been in impound for 100 years. Turns out the ship is run by sentient moss and was developed by an alien species that has since gone extinct. Adorable characters, including Moss, fun world-building, and I’ll probably read the rest of the series as they come out.
 
Fly by Night, by Frances Hardinge
A reread of one of my favorite books. I believe it has been 14 years since I last read it. For a young reader book, it is very deep with a complicated plot and themes. It was as good as the first time I read it. Highly highly recommend.
 
Fly Trap, by Frances Hardinge
Since I was rereading the first, I felt like I should just go ahead with the second. While not as complicated as Fly By Night, in terms of plotting, still has a lot going for it. And no one world builds like Hardinge. Plus, we get more Mosca and Saracen.
 
The Sign of Four, by Arthur Canon Doyle
Since I read A Study in Scarlet in July, I thought I’d follow-up with the second Sherlock novel. I think I’ve read this one ages ago, or maybe have seen film adaptations. This one was far more interesting to me than the first. And, I didn’t realize that Watson’s future wife, Mary, was introduced so early in the series.
 
In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn
I was cataloging my collection of Hearn books in August and decided to read one. This one has some excellent folk tales, like his other work, but also gives some insight into classic Japanese Buddhist poetry and several essays on living among the Japanese. Read some Hearn. It will do you good.
 
The Foundling, by Georgette Heyer
Reread and first listen. This is one of my mid-level favorites. There is really no romance in this at all as the MCs get engaged at the outset. Someone online described it as a “boys’ own adventure,” and it is, but it is still a lot of fun following the Duke of Sale as he goes from a wishy-washy boy to a man who makes his own decisions. 

Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge
Reread. What can I say, Hardinge’s worlds are so well developed that I fall right into them. I’m beginning to think how all her books that take place in different worlds could possibly be one planet. Wonderful book.
 
Little Eve, by Catriona Ward
A tiny island with a large house off the course of Scotland, a man creates his own cult indoctrinating his women and children into his mad imaginings. Eve, one of the girls, wants to be his chosen one, but she begins to see that her life on the island is not all she thought it was. Atmospheric and creepy. I enjoyed this one overall.
 
Yotsuba, volume 15
LOVE LOVE LOVE! Not much to add since I’m so far into the series.
 
Chilling Effect, by Valerie Valdes
Reread for bookclub. Well, I listened to it. I loved it the second time around, but my friends weren’t as into it. Also, I don’t think I’ve read a book that has so many uses for ‘shit’ and its related iterations. Captain Eva Innocente swears in both English and Spanish. The references to pop culture is absolutely hilarious.
 
Most Ardently Yours, Freya Sampson
Cute romance about an aspiring writer who inadvertently reads Mr. Darcy out of Pride & Prejudice. Hilarity and romance ensue. This book is a fine escape read.
 
Prime Directive and Fault Tolerance, by Valerie Valdes
I had so much fun listening to Chilling Effect, I decided to listen to the whole series. SO.MUCH.FUN.
 
Murder at the End of the World, by Akane Araki
On a completely different note, a murder mystery during the last two months of life on earth. A comet will be destroying East Asia in two months, but Haru is insistent that she get her license in a Japan that has evacuated. One day, she and her instructor, Isagawa, find a murdered woman in the trunk of a car. Isagawa is a former police detective with an overdeveloped sense of justice. Together, the two women go in search of the murderer. I really liked this story. It is asking the question, “How do I find meaning in life when I have an end date for my life and everyone else’s?” A lot of people can’t, while others turn to caretaking, to duty, or to violence.
 
The Ginghams, by T.C. Kemper
A middle-grade “thriller” that is creepy and uncanny. Joni comes back from summer camp to find some new neighbors who appear to be living in the 1950s. After they start a book club that only reads the self-help book by the father, the community starts turning into copies of the Gingham family. Joni and her friend Tyler try to work out how to turn everyone back to normal.
 
The Winter Folk, by Jen Julian
Horror, supposedly. I really don’t understand why this book was marketed as horror when it is clearly fantasy with troubling mother-daughter relations. Moth spent winters as a young woman in another dimension serving creatures and monsters. Twenty plus years later, she wants to find her way back in. I don’t have much to say about this book other than it was not what I was expecting and only a so-so read.

​False Colours, by Georgette Heyer
First listen/reread. Delightful with some twin hijinks, a satisfying romance, and a darling older couple. Plus very funny.
 
Trouble, by Lex Croucher
Odd but nice romance set in a sort-of Regency era. Emily takes her sister’s position as a governess in order to provide money for her sick sister and mother. She hates the rich and at first schemes against the brooding Captain Edwards, until she is reluctantly drawn in to their family drama.
 
The Fox Hunt, by Caitlin Breeze
Emma attends an ancient, prestigious university where she falls for Jasper, the hero of the school. He is also the leader of a secret society who produces the Britain’s top leaders and entertainers. But when she finds herself hunted in a “Fox Hunt” she winds up in a world just underneath the real one. I liked this one, but didn’t love it. It was a book club read and everybody was on the same wavelength for this. If I come across it, I will likely read the second book, but I won’t be in a hurry to get to it.
 
The Great Shadow, by Susan Wise Bauer
Nonfiction book about how humanity has thought of and interacted with illness from our earliest times. It really put into perspective how recently our modern ideas about illness have developed. Fascinating read.
 
School Bus Graveyard, by Red
Graphic novel based off a webcomic. A group of misfits get cursed while on a school field trip. From midnight to seven am they are in a dream world with monsters trying to kill them and struggling to figure a way out. Really good. I might have to read the web comic so that I can continue on the story. I don’t want to have to wait for each new GN.
 
The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie
Hilarious, irreverent, and ghastly, this book takes place in an alternate medieval period where the western Christian church is run by women and sorcery is real. “The Devils” are a group kept by the pope to be wielded on dangerous, important missions. An immortal, an elf, a werewolf, and others must get the heir to the Eastern throne from the Holy City to Troy. Weird, but super enjoyable. I’ll definitely be reading book two.
 
Arabella, by Georgette Heyer
Another first listen/reread. This one is beloved by a lot of fans, but it doesn’t really do it for me. As with all of her books, Arabella is a delight, but I feel like the titular character’s lack of agency makes it less enjoyable for me.
 
A Long and Speaking Silence, by Nghi Vo
The latest book in the Singing Hills series of novellas. Newly promoted Cleric Chih is stuck waiting tables during a festival, having lost their money to a thief. Unrest is brewing as the citizens of Lutien balk against the recent influx of immigrants seeking refuge. An introspective look at what it means to be an immigrant having to flee the place they know as home.
 
Yotsuba, volume 14
It’s weird to think that I’ve been reading this series for more than twenty years now. It is an intermittent series, with issues coming out when the creator feels like it. And, I still love it so much! I recently found out volume 16 had come out, but when I pulled out my copies to see where I left off, I found that I was three behind. Oh darn…
 
Broken Girls, by Simone St. James
I’m coming to like St. James’s books because they are thrilling and I know they will have a satisfying ending. This one revolves around the disappearance of a girl in 1950 from a boarding school in Vermont and a woman still reckoning with the murder of her sister twenty years before.
 
A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Cannon Doyle
Somehow, I have never gotten around to reading the very first Sherlock Holmes book. And I found it weird. Definitely a very early version of Sherlock, though all his characteristics are set up from the beginning. The mystery is somewhat interesting, but the second chapter to the end is another story entirely. It was fine. I could see how people in the 1880s would be caught up with it though.
 
Spring, by Michael Morpurgo
An ode to the season from Morpurgo’s farm in rural Cornwall, UK. Blending memories and poetry with the present, this is his meditation on the unfolding of Spring from March to June. Quiet, thoughtful and heartwarming. Short and sweet read. 

Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones
Reread for book club. While I enjoyed the book the first time I read it, the end of book romance gave me the ‘ick’ because of the age difference. Knowing that was coming allowed me to enjoy the mastery of the plotting and the overall basis in the lore of fae. DWJ was a master and this book shows it.
 
Platform Decay, by Martha Wells
While I read the advance digital copy of this last Oct/Nov, I reread the actual book twice and then listened to the audio book twice. Not sure when the Murderbot Diaries will stop being a comfort read to me. Loved it.
 
The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, by Xue Shan Fei Hu
This is what is termed a ‘light novel’ which is a popular format in East Asian countries. They are often novelizations of original graphic novels. This one, I believe, is an original book. The premise is a young man has been turned into a fish to play a video game version of a book he read, and is charged with making the future tyrant less tyrannical. It is very weird and enjoyable. I read this off-an-on before bed for a couple of months (it’s a very long book and the first in a series), and it was perfect bedtime reading. No stress at all. I see people buy stacks of this type of book. I don’t think I’ll be joining them, but it was a fun read.
 
If We Were Villains, by M.L. Rio
My second book club read of the month (we had our meetings close together this time). I did not really like it. Not my thing. Theater kids at an exclusive arts college with a heavily co-dependent relationship. The member who suggested it loved it—it’s very much her kind of book. The others of us not so much.
 
A Mouthful of Dust, Nghi Vo
An installment in the Singing Hills Cycle series and, as always, a delight. Like the last one, there is an element of horror. Chih is visiting a land that was cursed with famine 18 years before, and finds that no one wants to talk about it. Chih must find out what secrets people are keeping as hungry ghosts seem to be following them.
 
The Nameless Land, Kate Elliot
This is the follow-up to The Witch Roads, which I read a few months back. I didn’t love the book, but I enjoyed the world building and wanted to see where the author took things. All over the place, really. It wasn’t terribly satisfying, all told. I did enjoy the character building, the world, and political intrigue, but I think there was just so much going on that it overwhelmed the fundamental storyline. 

I didn't read all that much in May as I was still (am!) stressed about losing my job. I spent a lot of time relistening to Georgette Heyer books.

​Tea You at the Altar, by Rebecca Thorne
Third book in the series that started with You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea. Sweet, comfortable story with some high stakes that never result in too much tension. Perfect book to read when anxiety is creeping up on you.
 
The Final Problem, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
A mystery set in the 1960s on a remote Greek island hotel that is isolated by a storm. Famous for playing Sherlock Holmes in movies, British actor Basil is recruited to look into the apparent suicide of one of the hotel guests. When another guest is murdered, it becomes apparent that someone is playing Moriarity to Basil’s Sherlock. Great mystery where the line between fact and fiction is blurred.
 
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
So. I had a major setback in April and began listening to more Heyer books. Basically on repeat because I too stressed out for anything that might cause me to feel more tension. This book is a blast to listen to with its reluctant swash-buckling hero and heroine whose sense of humor is adorable.
 
Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer
Definitely in my top three favorites. I will always love the story of Freddie and Kitty.
 
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, by Shailee Thompson
Hilarious. Slasher horror rom com. What starts as a round of speed dating becomes the epicenter of serial killer’s latest killing spree. Good thing horror expert Jamie is there to help everyone navigate the nightmare. Too bad that the killer seems to be focused on her. My fellow booksellers were all reading this at the same time and all loved it. I couldn’t resist reading it too and also loved it.
 
Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett
This is such a sweet story. It’s by the author of the Emily Wilde fairy series, which I loved. Agnes rescues cats in a Montreal where sorcerers often battle each other in the streets. When she moves into a new store front, she finds herself caught up in the middle of a pitched battle between her landlord, considered the most evil sorcerer in the world, and his sister, who really is. Even with the high stakes and tension, this is still a cozy story with lots of personable cats.
 
The Quiet Gentleman, by Georgette Heyer
Another stressless listen. This was my first Heyer and it will always be one of my favorites.
 
Wolf Worm, by T. Kingfisher
You would think that a horror novel would be too stressful for me right now, but T. Kingfisher’s brand of cozy horror hit perfectly. It’s 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a botanical illustrator without a job. She takes a position at a grand house in rural North Carolina and is immediately thrown into a suspicious situation. Leaning heavily towards Southern Gothic, this is an awesome gross-out story.
 
Friday's Child, by Georgette Heyer
This will always be one of my beloved if for no other reason that the whole “Nemesis” passage. Hilarious. During April, I actually relistened to a whole bunch more Heyer, but the four I have listed, I have reread in awhile, so thought I could safely add them to my completed reading list.