January is light on new releases, but February is going to be jam-packed so budget accordingly. In the meantime, look for my Favorite Novels and Favorite Comics posts coming later this month.
I hope you read something great!
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December is usually light on new book releases and this year is no exception. There are still a bunch to look forward to and I've read a couple I can recommend!
Now that I've finished grad school, I'm hoping to have some brain energy for writing again. This is a short post, however, because I have a lengthy feature due and ought to be spending my time on that. Sigh.
Wishing you well. Don't forget to contact your reps.
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November is here! The world is once again/still an overwhelming place, but I continue to find solace and hope in books. I've recently read actionable nonfiction, insightful time travel fiction and a downright filthy (used lovingly) shifter romance. Books do all the things.
If you're seeing this between November 7th and 11th, please take a look at the Books for Palestine auction, which is fundraising for humanitarian aid for displaced and imperiled Gazans. The last time they did this was in 2021 and if that doesn't say something about the state of the "Israel-Hamas War"... The situation is complicated, but the parallels immediately drawn to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks were telling. Israel, like the U.S. has used this attack as justification for launching a disproportionate response with no clear path to "success." Worse is the fact that the population of Gaza has already been walled off, effectively under siege, for sixteen years.
I urge you to read about the background here, both prior to 1948, the Nabka and up through the present. I also recommend reading about Christian Zionism. There are more Christian Zionists than there are Jews in the world. This is largely because many evangelicals believe that the end times and the rapture will happen in Jerusalem/Israel and only if it's a Jewish-controlled area. So all the Christians are raptured, the big end times battle happens and after the dust settles (and the remaining humans aka Jews there are dead), the good Christians get to come back and live in paradise once again. Understandably, Jewish politicians accept this dubious support in a most pragmatic way.
There's a ton of misinformation going around and, especially in times of crisis, it can be difficult to tell what's real. I urge you to resist sharing pieces of content until you've looked into the source a little. I myself shared something during the big protests in Iran last year that was incorrect. I let my emotions get the best of me and should have evaluated the source first. (I'm supposedly an information professional. Ha.)
Anyway, there are loads of book lists easily available and a lot of public libraries have curated collections for you to browse, so go do some reading. Contact your reps, ask for a ceasefire. As Alyssa Cole mentioned, look up the ongoing situations in Sudan and Congo, too. Also of note is the genocide of Uyghurs in Northwestern China. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are carried out again and again, often enabled by our purchasing and political power. It's all connected.
With all that in mind, here are some books that aren't about genocide for you to peruse this month. Normally I'd highlight a couple of titles, but I don't have it in me this time. I wish you well and will.
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October is packed with books I'm excited to read and I can't wait to dive in. As usual, I only highlighted three, but there are so many more I could have rambled about. Gargoyles and Shakespeare and a mid-century gay detective... An embarrassment of riches this month.
There are also lots more Christmas romances this month and I've again opted to leave them off my list, with the exception of Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone's A Holly Jolly Ever After because I'm really enjoying that series. (My list, my rules.)
That's enough intro, I'm off to read!
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A few months ago, I was offered a copy of a book that's essentially catnip for me: The Court of Shadows, by Victor Dixen, out today! This is a long review, so here's the quick version:
September is usually a big month for new books, so this year I've decided that rather than listing them all, I'd prune aggressively. The longer list below is made up of books I think people in my audience might be interested in, rather than an attempt at being comprehensive. I didn't include any of the fifty-ish Christmas romances, for example. The only holiday romance on the list is Three Holidays and a Wedding, which takes place once upon a time when Christmas, Hannukah, and Eid all fell during the same week.
Happy Autumn! I'll be back in a few weeks with a bunch of Spooky Season reads.
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We've been fans of Felicia Grossman's books since the beginning, but I think she's outdone herself with Marry Me by Midnight. Since the death of her father, businesswoman Isabelle's place in the family surety business is at risk. She needs to marry, but she also needs to make sure the man she gives that much control to won't steamroll her or squander her money. Fending off the advances of the Barab brothers, who own the other half of the business, she hatches a plan: she'll hold a series of balls at which she will entertain suitors from the Jewish community... and pick one by midnight at the final ball.
These mini-reviews are all second-chance contemporary romances. Those of you who know my reading preferences might be surprised to learn that I liked and recommend all of them. One of them is maybe cheating a bit, but I'll get to that in the post.
I read all four of these in the last month and have determined I require most of the following criteria:
With those very me-specific requirements in mind, here are my reviews of Jana Goes Wild, Happy Place, The Seven Year Slip and Snow Place like LA! I also wrote about Julie Soto's debut, Forget Me Not back in May and I think the same list above applies to that book, which is probably why it worked so well for me.
Ratings are based on whether or not I recommend them to fellow readers - DNF (Did Not Finish), Pass, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), Read It, Read It Soon.
Lots of fun releases on the way in August! For example, I was lucky enough to read an early copy of Regina Black's debut, The Art of Scandal, and I think you should read it. More about that below.
I'm trying to squeeze every last drop out of summer so I'm keeping this short! Hope you find something great to read this month.
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Here in the Northern Hemisphere it's the hottest month of the year. I'm trying to push the non-urgent responsibilities away and spend more time in my garden and with friends and family. That means less reading and that's fine by me. Books don't spoil! I'll still be chipping away at the newest Shop Your Shelves board, but some of these July releases are sneaking onto the TBR anyway.
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