Adult Fiction

Vengeful

Leave a comment

by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “The night Marcella died, she made her husband’s favorite dinner.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Vicious
Content: It is very violent, with a super high body count, and some of the deaths are quite violent. It’s also swearing, with multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Vicious, obviously.

Marcella Riggs is a powerful woman, married to a rising mob man. But when she discovers that he’s been cheating on her, she loses her temper. And then he kills her. She doesn’t die, though, but is turned into an EO – an ExtraOrdinary – with an unusually dangerous power. Eli Ever is still in custody at EON – the organization that was created to track and capture/neutralize EOs – but has become useful (by force? by choice?) to helping them track EOs (since that’s what he was doing before he was captured). Victor Vale has evaded death again, with the help of his sidekick/ward, Syd, who can raise things from the dead. The problem is that she didn’t do it quite right, and Victor’s power overwhelms his system and kills him for an increasingly larger length of time.

And then there’s June.

I found June to be the most interesting of the characters that Schwab introduces. We don’t know much about her: she’s a shapeshifter, she’s a hitwoman, and she takes a fascination/liking to Syd.

A lot happens, plot-wise: Marcella gets revenge and then collects June and another EO and decides to take over the mob and then the city. Eli’s dealing with EON and trying to get his freedom again. Victor spends most of the book trying (and failing) to find a cure. But in Schwab’s deft hands, all these moving parts coalesce into a grand finale that not only wraps this book up but also sets up a third (out this fall! Reading soon!) quite nicely.

Did I love it? No. But then, this series isn’t my favorite of Schwab’s. That said, it is compelling to read about people who are so morally questionable, and explore the idea of what if EO’s really existed and the consequences of their actions (which superhero movies never seem to do). It’s very Watchmen-like in its DNA, which, if you like that, then this is a solid read.

That said, I am curious to see how Schwab wraps this up, and I have the ARC of the third book, so I’ll be reading it.

Audiobook: The Girl with a Thousand Faces

Leave a comment

by Sunyi Dean
Read by Natalie Naudus
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of violence, including some gruesome killings, as well as swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Mercy Chan has spent the past 30 years since she washed up on the shores of Hong Kong being a ghost talker in the walled Kowloon neighborhood of Hong Kong. She’s made a bit of a reputation for herself and works for the largest gang in town, helping them keep the streets of Kowloon safe (ish). But a new demon has infiltrated the walls of the neighborhood, one that can’t be talked down to and one that is killing indiscriminately. As Mercy finds out more about the demon, she slowly comes to realize that maybe this one has more to do with her than she thought.

I was told by my SFF reading buddies at work (whom I trust to send good books my way) that this was excellent. And when I saw it on audio, I picked it up. First, that was an excellent choice. Nadus is a FANTASTIC reader, one of those that I will actively seek out books she reads. She added a level of atmosphere to this one that added to the creepiness and to the story, which really made it engrossing.

Second, I might have given up on this one if it weren’t for Nadus. It’s interesting but not really compelling until nearly through the second part, when it just hits a different level. The problem for me, though, was that the second part was written in the second person. Which I loathe. I really hate feeling like a book is talking to me rather than just reading a story, but listening to it on audio softened this annoyance. I get why Dean made that choice, but it still was mildly annoying. Even so, this was a fantastic ghost story – horror lite, which I’ve discovered I don’t hate – and one definitely worth listening to.

Wild Goose Chase

Leave a comment

by Sarah Adler
First sentence: “Dear Dr. Worthy – My name is John Otis Morse.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: July 28, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and on-page sex. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

As part-owner of an antique store, Cal knows his stuff. He’s been working there since the previous owner (who has since died) caught him attempting to steal, became a surrogate father, and completely changed his life. So when the other part-owner takes off for Italy (to get married!) and sends his niece, Annie, to help Cal out, Cal’s a bit put out. Especially since Annie comes in, all whimsy and charm, threatening to upend everything. It also doesn’t help that Cal has suddenly had an illegal taxidermied goose thrust on him. He just has to figure out where the goose came from, and what to do with Annie (NOT fall in love, ha), and all will be as it was.

There are flashbacks to the early 1900s and a woman ornithologist to explain where the goose came from, and that’s a sweet little story in itself. As for the main one, I liked it a lot. I don’t think I loved it – I may be a bit burned out on romance right now – but I had fun with it. I liked both Cal and Annie, and while the 3rd act breakup seemed a bit forced, it wasn’t terrible.

In all, it’s much like Adler’s other books: it’s fun, it’s sweet, and it’s not a bad read.

Love Song

Leave a comment

by Elle Kennedy
First sentence: “Wyatt Graham is staring at me.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Lots and lots of on-page pretty graphic sex, plus lots of swearing and some (kind of – she’s not quite 21) underage drinking. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Blake Logan and Wyatt Graham have known each other their entire lives, mostly because their fathers are best friends. (See: The Deal.) Wyatt is four years older, which has always been a problem, especially when Blake confessed her crush to Wyatt when she was 16. And then there was the Christmas two years ago when they came close to having sex, but Wyatt was drunk and pulled away. And now, on the heels of a breakup, Blake finds herself at the family house on Lake Tahoe, looking for some solace to recover. Except Wyatt is there, dealing with songwriter’s block. Of course, there is tension between the two. Of course, they (eventually) give in to it. And, of course, there is fallout.

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. And my big problem was with Wyatt. The first 250 pages (yes, you read that right) was Wyatt going “oh I’m obsessed with her, but I CAN’T” over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. To say it got repetitive is an understatement. Then at the 280-page mark, I got tired, skipped 100 pages and picked it up again. (Yes, you read that right, too.) I didn’t miss anything. (Well, I missed a subplot item, but I was beyond caring at that point.) I got the Drama with the pregnancy (drunken sex will do that to you) and then the aborton (well, it was an etopic pregnancy, so it had to happen), and then the fallout. And it was all so. much. Drama. Eventually, Wyatt gets his act together, but Blake kind of just mopes around the whole ending until she gets to drop out of college and be Wyatt’s full-time girlfriend.

Ugh.

At the bare minimum, this book was 100 pages too long. But, it was just not good. I liked the idea, I even read The Deal in preparation (it wasn’t bad). It was all very disappointing. Then again, maybe I’m just a little bit burned out on romance right now.

Either way, this was not good.

Audiobook: Piranesi

Leave a comment

by Susanna Clarke
Read by Chiwetel Ejiofor
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s some talk of murder; it’s pretty intricate in its writing, and there are about a dozen f-bombs at one point. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore

I don’t have a lot to add to my original review; let’s just say if you’re among those who have not read this yet, the audiobook is incredible. We picked it up because we were going to St. Louis and back, and my husband hadn’t read it yet (though our daughters have urged him to). I didn’t remember much from the last time I read it, so I was willing to listen to it. And it was remarkable. Ejiofor did an incredible job with the narration, and I was captivated from beginning to end.

It’s a truly remarkable book.

Sea of Charms

Leave a comment

by Sarah Beth Durst
First sentence: “Marin was alone on her sailboat, and the sea was singing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: July 28, 2026
Others in the series: The Spellshop, The Enchanted Greenhouse
Content: There are some tense moments. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ever since she found out her ex-fiancé was swindling her and her family, Marin has been at sea. She makes her living as a runner, slowly paying off the debt her parents accrued when the bottom came out of Marin’s relationship. She’s alone, and she likes it that way. Until she picks up a sea serpent, a sentient wax myrtle (Ree!), and finally a musician she rescued from the revolution happening on the capital island. Suddenly, Marin isn’t alone anymore, and maybe, just maybe, she likes it better that way.

This one is going to be billed as a romance, but it’s barely that. It’s going to be billed as fake dating (there is a little bit of that). What it is, rather, is a super cozy fantasy, with a side of romance (just kissing at the very end), about found family. Which is to say: I loved it. This is everything I want in a romantasy: fully developed characters, a heroine that is smart and capable and not pining over someone all the time, a MMC that is smart and capable and interesting. And MOST OF ALL: a fantasy world that makes sense, is thoroughly built up, and is a place I want to spend time.

And (of course) Durst gives me all of that. And a charming sentient plant on top of it.

If you haven’t picked this series up yet, you’re missing out.

Dolly All the Time

Leave a comment

by Annabel Monaghan
First sentence: “‘Good sports.'”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: May 26, 2026
Content: There is some fade-to-black sex and mild swearing. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Dolly Brick is trying to live life. Her mother left the family when Dolly was 12, and she’s been taking care of things ever since. She got pregnant at 26, her boyfriend left her, and she’s been taking care of things ever since. And so, when she’s called because of a fire at her dad’s house, she and her son, Gus, head out there to take care of it. The problem, though, is that replacing the roof is going to cost $50,000. Which she doesn’t have. Enter Stewart Whitfield. He’s off a bad breakup with his fiancé, and is looking for a girlfriend so the board of his family’s company thinks he’s serious enough to be CEO. When he and Dolly accidentally meet, he comes up with a plan: he’ll give her the money she needs for the roof, and she will pretend to be his girlfriend for the summer.

Of course, things are more complicated than that. But I’m not sure it matters. I have discovered over the years that I like a good fake dating trope, and I do appreciate that Monaghan’s women are fully fleshed out people with concerns and hangups, and not young twenty-somethings who are just trying to figure things out. I also just really like the way she tells a story. It feels real, it feels fully dimensional.

And I really adore this particular story and the way it ended up. Everyone grew, everyone changed, and everyone’s lives were better for it in the end.

It was a delight.

Audiobook: Star Shipped

1 Comment

by Cat Sebastian
Read by Joel Leslie
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are a couple of on-page non-graphic sex scenes, and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Simon and Charlie have been co-stars for the past seven years, working on a space TV show called Out There. They have fought constantly, griping at each other. Simon doesn’t particularly like Charlie, and is convinced that the feeling is mutual. But then, Charlie needs help on a road trip to Arizona, and suddenly Simon’s life is turned upside down: maybe what he was thinking/feeling wasn’t right at all.

There’s more to the story than that – mostly because Sebastian does an excellent job with Simon’s issues: he has migraines, he is very anxious, and he has mild OCD. Charlie has panic attacks. They are real people with real problems (even if they are rich and semi-famous actors), and Sebastian does an excellent job weaving that into this romance. Simon started off cold and distant, and it was delightful to watch him grow and open up as his and Charlie’s relationship grew.

It was also a love letter to fandoms (I was describing this to my husband when I realized that it was very much a Kirk-Spock fanfic), and the impact that having stories that center queer characters have have in the lives of queer kids.

I absolutely loved it, and I’m definitely going to seek more of Sebastian’s books out!

Sunlight Finds You

Leave a comment

by Laura Moriarty
First sentence: “I’m named Eleanor because I was born a week after Eleanor Roosevelt came to Kansas City to campaign for her husband.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: August 4, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some mild swearing, talk of extra-marital sex, as well as some off- page sex, and some spousal abuse. It will be in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Nora is an outgoing teenager. Leonard is a shy one. He’s an only child from a wealthy family in St. Petersburg; she’s from a working-class blended family. It’s an instant attraction. But that’s just the beginning. As they get older, both Nora and Leonard get trapped in lies that their parents tell them, discraces that they did nothing to earn, and choices that they made with the best of their knowledge they had at the time.

It’s really hard to describe the plot of a book that covers 16 years.

My coworker tried to sell me on this one by saying it’s a romance. Except that it’s not. Sure, there’s a love story – Nora and Leonard have a Passion, and yet Well=Meaning Adults tell them NO, and yet they defy them to live their passion (sort of) (but throw in the Korean War) (and an abusive husband). It was… fine. It was well-written; Moriarty knows how to tell a story. The problem was I didn’t care. (Well, I cared enough to finish.) I wanted to feel something for Nora and Leonard. I wanted to feel the tragedy of their situation, the heartbreak of so many lies being told to them, the joy when they eventually found a way to live together. But it all felt so impassive. So distant. Even though it was told from a first-person perspective (Nora’s). Maybe it was because she was reflecting on things when she was older, and there was distance between the events and the narration. But whatever it was, I didn’t feel anything when reading this.

So, in the end, it was just fine. Which is sad because it could have been more.

Audiobook: How to Fake it in Society

Leave a comment

by KJ Charles
Read by Will Watt
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen on Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Titus Pilcrow is the fifth son of a wealthy (now dead) English landowner, and so has had to make his own way in the world. He was given an apprenticeship in making paints for artists, something he has come to love, and even has his own ship. Except that his landlord (a former lover) is raising the rent. Titus is pretty despondent, and when he goes to collect a bill from a wealthy customer, he is roped into her dying wish: marry her, inherit her fortune, so she can cut her despicable nephew off.

The problem was: she was going to marry Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte. So when Nico comes back from a business trip to find the woman dead and another man in his place, he’s a bit… upset. Especially since he and his cousin owe a money lender 2,000 pounds. So, of course, he’s going to find his way into Titus’s good graces. What he didn’t expect was to fall in love.

There was so much silliness in this one, and I found it absolutely delightful. Titus goes from a beleaguered and battered man – a terrible father and older brother as well as a cruel lover will do that to a man – to a more confident person because of Nico’s influence. And Nico learns to trust. And in between there are fabulous clothes, art, outrageous French accents, and a whole lot of delight. I really enjoyed this one a lot. It was silly, yet there was an undercurrent of seriousness (especially when Titus’s former lover was trying to blackmail him) and the reminder that not even wealthy people are exempt from people taking advantage of them.

An absolute delight of a book.