Monthly Round-Up: August 2024

1 Comment

Where did August go? How is it already September? What has happened? I have no idea how we got here…

That said, I did have an absolute favorite this month:

A Sorceress Comes to Call

I love T. Kingfisher, and will read practically anything she writes (except for her horror, though I have been tempted). It’s such a good story. (We did a blind date with a book for August, and my blurb for this one was “Old Ladies being absolute badasses” and it sold quite a few. So. good.)

YA:

The Prisoner’s Throne
Ultraviolet
Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment (audiobook)

Graphic Novel:

The Deep Dark

Adult Fiction:

The Faculty Lounge (audiobook)
I’ll Have What He’s Having
The Seventh Veil of Salome (audiobook)
The Bloodless Princes

Middle Grade:

Drawing Deena
The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

Non-Fiction

The Serviceberry

What was your favorite this month?

Audiobook: Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment

Leave a comment

by Arushi Avachat
Read by Nikhaar Kishnani
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is mention of mental illness, including depression, and some kissing. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Arya’s senior year has been super complicated so far: she’s ben at odds with the school council president, Dean, since the year started; and her older sister has finally come home after three years to get married. It’s a lot to deal with, especially since she might have feelings for Dean. The question is: how is she going to manage everything.

Yes, it’s a fluff plot, and not a very deep book, but it was cute. The narrator was fun to listen to and there was enough to keep me entertained, My favorite part about it all, though, was the Bollywood references. I desperately needed a playlist (both audio and video) for the book, and was sad that I couldn’t find one.

So, no, not the best book out there, but a fun one.

Ultraviolet

2 Comments

by Aida Salazar
First sentence: “Who invented love, anyway?”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some sexual objectification of middle-school girls by middle-school boys. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

At the start of eighth grade Elio Selis starts noticing changes. Specifically girls. There are other changes too, with his body and with his friends, but all of a sudden girls are on his radar. Camellia in particular. He most definitely likes her, and she likes him back. Things are perfect for a while – ultraviolet, Elio things – but then things go south. Camellia takes up with a guy that Elio thinks is trash, and his heart is broken. He discovers he has an undetected heart problem that needs to be fixed. His parents decide that he and his dad need to join a Circle as a way to express and learn about masculinity. It’s all very confusing.

In the afterword, Salazar says she wrote this for her son, once she realized that there weren’t many books out there depicting what it’s like for boys to go through puberty, to feel their feels, to explore what it means, and how to be a man, and she wanted to write one. Which she nails. I didn’t particularly like puberty or being 13 or eighth grade, but I think Salazar gets all the big emotions and the big feelings and the confusion that goes along with that time in one’s life. She handles it all with grace and with compassion: Both Elio and Camellia make mistakes as they try to figure out what “relationships” and “liking” and just what feeling feelings mean. And it’s wonderfully age-appropriate. It’s an excellent book to hand kids in the 11- to 12-year-old range, on the cusp of all of this, to help them navigate it. I’m not sure there are many adults who would buy this for their boys, but honestly: they should. It’s an excellent book about growing up, learning to be a compassionate and kind person, and how to navigate an incredibly confusing and difficult time of life.

The Deep Dark

Leave a comment

by Molly Knox Ostertag
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at work.
Content: There is some talk of sex, and there is some swearing, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the Graphic Novel Section of the bookstore.

Mags hasn’t ever left the small California town she grew up in, for good reason: she has a secret that is preventing her from going. So, when her childhood friend Nessa shows back up, Mags is wary: she doesn’t want anyone to know her secret, mostly because people could get hurt. But Nessa is persistent, and Mags has a weakness for Nessa.

Of course, Nessa asks questions, which leads to complicated answers, and maybe Mags might be ready to share the secret she’s carried alone for her whole life.

I’m not doing the plot justice, here: Ostertag is a better storyteller than that plot summary indicates. She is good at characterizations, at creating chilling, but ultimately hopeful situations, and for bringing the monsters out in the open. You could look at this one on several levels: yes, it’s a monster story, but perhaps it’s a metaphor for the secrets we all have, and how it’s always better to share the secrets (but maybe not always, because there will be people who shun you for them). Like all of her books, this one is superbly well-drawn, and I loved the small details in the art that bring the characters to life.

Another excellent graphic novel from Ostertag.

The Bloodless Prince

Leave a comment

by Charlotte Bond
First sentence: “When the universe was young and dark, light existed inside an egg.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 29, 2024
Others in the series: The Fireborne Blade
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at work.
Content: There is some violence. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first, obviously.

Maddileh and Saralene have won the blade, killed the dragon, cheated death, and have gone on with their lives. Saralene is High Mage with Maddileh as her Champion. Except all is not well: both Maddileh and Saralene keep having disturbing dreams and they are becoming increasingly intrusive. Also: maybe the dragon is not actually dead. And: maybe the Tales of Old are not just stories, but actually true, and they need to travel to the underworld to bargain with the Bloodless Princes for their lives.

Much like the first, this slim novel packs a punch. There is so much world-building in so few words, it’s breathtaking. I love the dragon in the book – it’s different from the first in this duology and it fits with what we already know and expands upon it. Bond is an incredibly talented writer, both with her plotting and characterizations. I liked how the romance was understated until it wasn’t, how Bond never let anything get overdone, and how both Maddileh and Saralene stand on their own and know how to work together. It’s quite a brilliant little book.

All this to say: I’m probably going to read whatever Bond decides to write.

Audiobook: The Seventh Veil of Salome

Leave a comment

by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Read by Caitlin Kelly, Atlanta Amado, Victoria Villarreal, Arthur Morey, Andrew Eiden, Kristen DiMercurio, Frankie Corzo, Lauren Fortgang, Javier Prusky, Fred Sanders, Lee Osorio & Cassandra Campbell
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is violence, sexual harassment, racist slurs, and swearing, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the fiction section of the bookstore.

It’s 1955 and Hollywood is all-in on big-budget Biblical films. In this case, the story of Salome, the woman who danced for Herod and asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. The problem the director is having, though, is finding the right woman to play the title character. Enter Vera Larios, a newbie from Mexico City. She’s the perfect person, except…. she won’t entertain the advances of the playboy leading man. And she “took the role” from another aspiring actress. (And she also “took” the aspiring actress’s boyfriend.) And, worst of all: she’s Mexican.

One of the things we have said about Moreno-Garcia at the store is that she doesn’t write the same book twice. A big, sweeping historical drama was not really on my bingo card for her, but that’s not to say she didn’t do it well. It’s very character-driven, especially the three female characters: Vera, of course; but also Nancy (the aspiring – and failing – actress); and Salome herself. At first, I thought the Salome chapters were a bit weird, but as the book went on, I saw the parallels between that story and the one playing out around the movie. I ended up thinking about halfway through that this was a book about the ways women use their sexuality to gain power, and maybe that’s so. I’m not entirely sure, though, now that I’m done.

The full cast recording was really well done, however. There are no chapters, just narratives by various people – from other cast members to the director, a screenwriter, and other Hollywood notables – and the full cast helped distinguish that. I did wonder why most of the narratives were in first-person, kind of documentary-style, but the Nancy, Vera, and Salome sections were in third-person. Again, it was a choice, and while I did not mind it, I was a bit put off initially.

I am glad I read it, though, even if it’s not my usual fare.

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

Leave a comment

by Gennifer Choldenko
First sentence: “My name is Hank Hooperman, but my little sister calls me Pooperman.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some mild swearing and bad parenting (including drinking and driving). It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Hank has a problem: his mother left a week ago to run an errand, leaving 11-year-old Hank in charge of his three year old sister Boo. They’ve managed, so far, but they’ve run out of food and money. So, Hank decides what he needs to do is find Lou Ann, the person his mother put down as his emergency contact. Once there, though, Hank has a whole new set of problems: Lou Ann isn’t fond of “teenagers” (even though Hank is only 11), and she really isn’t fond of the way his mother just left. As Hank tries to find her, and to find footing in this life that he’s suddenly been thrust into, the only thing that grounds him is he knows that he and Boo need to stick together.

This was a gut punch of a book that went down so well. Choldenko knows how to write kids, and knows how to write difficult situations that give the A book weight without dragging it down. I liked that Hank still had good days – he made friends at his new school, found out that he liked basketball, and learned to rely a bit on the adults around him, instead of needing to do it all himself – and yet, Choldenko didn’t brush over all the trauma that Hank had to deal with. His mother being unreliable, Lou Ann being super strict and not liking Hank much at all, the fear that he and Boo would be separated. There was a lot of heartbreak here. But there was also a lot of joy, which I suppose is what life is.

I’m not sure if it’ll appeal to kids, but I really liked this one.

Audiobook: A Sorceress Comes to Call

1 Comment

by T. Kingfisher
Read by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing, and instances of child abuse. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Cordelia’s mother is… not great. She’s a sorceress who has always gotten everything she wanted by any means possible. When Cordelia did anything her mother didn’t like, she just made Cordelia “obedient” – basically taking over her body and controlling it. Now that Cordelia is 14, though, her mother has decided they need to move on to bigger and better things – and has her sights set on a squire to marry.

Hester is that squire’s brother, and she sees Cordelia’s mother as Doom, and is going to do everything she can to stop it.

That’s the plot in a nutshell, but like other of Kingfisher’s books, the beauty of it is not in the plot. It’s in the characters and in the little things that just make her books wonderful. It’s in the portrayals of the women in all their complexity – Hester is insecure about being older and having a cranky knee (I can relate!); Cordelia is traumatized and unsure of herself but grows immensely throughout the book. It’s in the sly asides (Penelope! Imogene!), and in the way the magic is used throughout the book. Additionally, the narrators were just perfect for the characters – it alternates between Cordelia and Hester – and I found myself not wanting to stop listening.

In short, this book stole my heart, and I love that it did.

I’ll Have What He’s Having

Leave a comment

by Adib Khorram
First sentence: “Farzan was crying.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: August 27, 2024
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is on-page sex, as well as lots of swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

Farzan is stressed that he’s the family screw-up. He’s 37, single, and the guy he thought he was dating just broke up with him. He’s hopeless. So, he heads to a local restaurant to drown his sorrows in wine and french fries where he meets their very attractive sommelier, David.

David’s back in Kansas City studying for his master sommelier test. He doesn’t want relationships, but when he sees Farzan, he’s instantly attracted. After an evening of flirting (there’s a bit of mistaken identity in there as well), they have a one-night stand. But that one-night stand turns into something more… and suddenly David and Farzan are questioning what their dreams and plans really are.

On the one hand, this was a very sweet story. I liked Farzan and his family and friends, and their relationships with each other. I liked that Khorram writes about older(ish) men, who aren’t super successful or super fit. The book is incredibly body-positive, and I liked how David and Farzan are with each other. I liked the way it’s very centered in Kansas City; I felt like this was very much a “Kansas City is a really cool city and cool things happen here” kind of book, which I didn’t mind at all.

On the other hand, I just didn’t find it sexy. I did appreciate that there was consensual gay sex (a lot of it), which I think is important, but I just didn’t get the chemistry between David and Farzan at all. I wanted to; I liked both of the characters, but I just didn’t feel it between them. (I might just be me, honestly.) This made the book – since the sex was a huge part of the book – less than I wanted it to be.

Is it bad? I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I am glad that it’s out there.

The Prisoner’s Throne

Leave a comment

by Holly Black
First sentence: “
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, The Queen of Nothing, The Stolen Heir
Content: There is some violence, including torture, and mild swearing. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Spoilers for all the rest of the series, obviously.

Oak and Wren have successfully overthrown the Court of Teeth, but the problem is that even though Wren is queen, Oak has been thrown in prison. It’s not fun, being a prisoner in ice, and watching Wren use her magic to unmake things. It’s not until Oak’s sister, Jude, decides to rescue him that he makes his move: ask Wren to marry him. But, that creates a whole other level of conflict: there are attempts on Jude and Cardan’s lives, and there’s a hag witch that has Wren under her spell. The question is: can Oak play his cards right to stop everything.

I’m not sure if Black is going to keep writing books set in Elfhame, but honestly, I’d read them if she does. I love this world, I love these characters, and Black spins such a good tale. It’s been too long since I’ve visited the world, and yet I found myself slipping back into the rhythms and the magic of the stories that Black spins. I appreciate that the danger feels real, that nothing is safe, and that the stakes are high. It makes for an unputdownable book.

Another excellent addition to the Elfhame series.