October
By the numbers: 7 total, 6 by women, 4 by POC, 1 nonfiction, 1 YA, 1 middle grade, 0 5 Stars.
All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
Read by Robert Bathurst. This is the latest in Louise Penny’s Three Pines/Armand Gamache books. I adore these books, and I especially delight in listening to them read aloud. In general, I highly recommend listening to books when there is a lot of writing in a language you don’t speak. It’s so much better to hear the narrator speak in French than to my in head ‘pronunciations.’
This story finds our intrepid Inspector and his family in Paris. I think it is a solid middle-of-the-pack entry in the series; Penny is starting to repeat some themes/tropes but I love them so I give her a forever pass. Highly recommended for others who enjoy this series; not recommended if you haven’t yet read anything by Penny. In which case, start with ‘Still Life.’ Like, today.
3 stars
A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole
<Fans self> this book is HOT! I read an historical romance by Cole in 2019 and enjoyed it well enough. But I much preferred her contemporary work. A shy wallflower and a playboy prince fall in love. Obviously, it’s a Happily Ever After ending - that’s part of the author-reader contract in romance. But THIS story also includes triumph over emotional abuse, amazingly hot making out WITH amazingly hot consent, and matter of fact inclusion of bisexuality and nonbinary gender. Not too shabby!
Note: this is actually the third in a loosely related series, which I realized about halfway through the book. It doesn’t really matter, but I think enjoyment would be maximized by reading them in order. Don’t worry I review the first two below :)
3 stars
Everlost by Neal Shusterman
I enjoyed this book while I read it but haven’t thought about it since. It’s a story of kids in a kind of purgatory and is setting up future stories. The crisp writing introduces unique ideas and strong characterizations. The next volumes in the trilogy will likely be worth reading and probably have more plot?
2 1/2 stars
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
I am fairly certain Naomi Novik is my favorite author.* This book takes a well-worn (for good reason) trope - magical kids in boarding school - and twists it into something dark and unique. Because this school has no teachers; instead, the building itself provides course material and assignments and food. And the school is neutral-at-best on whether students survive various essentially constant monster attacks. Oh, and the narrator is a very angry/angsty young woman whose gift is for dark magic. If you’re looking for escape (and who isn’t these days?) yet neither mystery (see above) nor romance (see above and below) are your preferred paths to bliss…pick this book up.
4 stars
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
<Yes, those are orange test tubes/potion vials on my staircase. I really love Halloween> Oh hey, did you need more evidence re: the insidious nature of the patriarchy and how little designers/scientists/safety engineers/everyone thinks about women? Do I have the book for you! This book is not an upper. It is, however, 1) written by a British woman and therefore full to the brim with wry and dry humour and extra u’s in many words, 2) full of convincing data, and 3) enraging. It’s a bit of a slog if i’m honest, but I enjoyed the author’s company and came away with some research ideas.
3 1/2 stars
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
Folks, this is the actual first book in the ‘Reluctant Royals’ romance series. It’s very feisty and very funny. It starts with an email to our heroine informing her that she is betrothed to an African prince and can she just send all her identifying info so that verification can be made? Which she, being an intelligent woman living in the 21st century, treats as spam. And which, of course, turns out to actually be true. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of mistaken identity, romantic cooking, and hot sexcapades before it all gets figured out. Plus, real talk about gender bias in academia, the trauma of growing up in foster care, environmental justice in developing countries, the long reach of colonialism, and (again!) super sexy consent. Alyssa Cole, I think I love you.
3 stars
A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole
I DO love you, Alyssa Cole! I DO!!
This is the second book in the ‘Reluctant Royals’ series, and, if you’ve been paying attention, you know to expect a strong Black woman actively working on herself, a man who is vulnerable in all the right ways and rightly turned on by said strong woman, and some unexpected tendrils of bittersweet reality. BUT THIS TIME IN SCOTLAND!! BECAUSE THE GUY IS A MODERN DAY ARMORER I.E. HE MAKES SWORDS!!! Innuendo abounds.
3 stars
* This is a lie. Because Madeleine L’Engle and E.L. Konisburg are my favorite authors. No I mean N.K. Jemison. Or maybe Ann Patchett? No definitely A.S. Byatt. Or was that A.S. King… Hmm.
My rating scale, for all media:
1 star - Did Not Like
2 star - Fine
3 star - Liked
4 star - Loved
5 star - Personal All Time Classic
All images link to titles at bookshop.org, similar shipping to <ahem> larger retailers, but with products sold by indie bookstores (you can choose to support indie bookshops generally OR to order through your local bookstore); they also have their own eReader. For audiobooks, I recommend libro.fm. And most of all, I recommend being a frequent patron of your local library. Most libraries also loan out digital and audio texts, and the Libby app for reading or listening to library eBooks is as good or better than Kindle/Nook.