3/5 stars (some of) The Grisha Series, by Leigh Bardugo (2012 - 2016) TW: Graphic violence, Allusions to rape Of the seven books in this...

3/5 stars Nowhere Boy, by Katherine Marsh (2018) This should be required reading for all middle grade students (middle school, or higher...

3/5 stars Firekeeper's Daughter, by Angeline Boulley (2021) TW: grief, suicide, murder, drug addition, & rape Despite the heavy nature of the content warnings above, this is a fun, YA mystery novel. Daunis, an 18-year old young woman, lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the shores of Lake Superior and just across the border from Canada. She is half white, half Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwe or Chippewa). Her "Nish" father and her uncle on her mother's side are bot

3/5 stars Conjure Women, by Afia Atakora (2020) An impressive debut of historical fiction, the book is set on a large plantation in the...

3/5 stars If We Were Villains, by M.L. Rio (2017) A murder mystery for fans of Shakespeare! It's a very dramatic, literary, theatrical...

3/5 stars Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters (2021) TW: Trans- and Homophobia, Miscarriage/Abortion, Suicide, Sexual Content & Violence...

3/5 stars Nights When Nothing Happened, by Simon Han (2020) This book is a slow, ponderous burn. I found myself feeling distracted at...

3/5 stars The Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh, by Ho Chi Minh (1943) Translated from the Vietnamese by Aileen Palmer My mom is going through...

3/5 stars Once Upon a River, by Diane Setterfield (2018) This book is a mythical fairy tale of magical realism. Suspenseful at times,...

3/5 stars overall Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation, Authority, & Acceptance, by Jeff Vandermeer (2014) Rating this was tough because...

3-5/5 stars - Homegoing (2016) & Transcendent Kingdom (2020), by Yaa Gyasi I just finished reading Transcendent Kingdom, and realized...

3/5 stars The Near Witch, by V.E. Schwab (2011) This is Schwab's first novel, originally published in 2011, then republished in 2019...

3/5 stars The Ladies of Grace Adieu, and Other Stories, by Susanna Clark (2006) Favorite quote from the book: “The governess was not much...

3/5 stars The Devil and the Dark Water, by Stuart Turton (2020) This murder-mystery thriller has a very Sherlock & Watson vibe, and like...

3/5 stars The Museum of Whales You Will Never See, and Other Excursions to Iceland's Most Unusual Museums, by A. Kendra Greene (2020) On...

3/5 stars The House in the Cerulean Sea, by T.J. Klune (2020) This book combines the magic (and, more specifically, Ministry of Magic) of...

3/5 stars Parable of the Sower (1993) & Parable of the Talents (1998), by Octavia Butler Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought....

3/5 stars The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, by Suzanne Collins (2020) Listen, I'm just a sucker for a good prequel. I enjoyed this book,...

3/5 stars Twelve Years a Slave, by Solomon Northup (1853) This is the true story of one man's experience of slavery in the South, as a...

3/5 stars In the House in the Dark of the Woods, by Laird Hunt (2018) "Here be magic birds, killer swarms, tepid wells, glamor magic,...