Review

Image of roses and a bee. Text says "New York Times Bestselling Author Before Romeo loved Juliet, he loved FAIR ROSALINE Natasha Solomons A Novel." Cover blurb says "'Irresistible. An Excellent spin on a timeless classic.'–Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne"

Fair Rosaline

FAIR ROSALINE rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. In FAIR ROSALINE by Natasha Solomons (Sourcebooks Landmark, September 12, 2023), a retelling of Shakespeare’s play THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET, this ain’t Franco Zeffrelli’s Romeo, not that I liked him that much either. At least the 1968 movie Romeo looked the same age as Juliet. In fact, […]

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Image shows a man on a horse in the distance between trees and shrubs under a colorful sky. Text says "New York Times Bestselling Author of News of the World Paulette Jiles Chenneville a novel of murder, loss, and vengeance"

Chenneville

CHENNEVILLE rating: 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. After the Civil War, former Union soldier John Chenneville tracks his sister Lalie’s killer, a crooked deputy named Dodd, across hundreds of miles of battle-ravaged Indian territory and the U.S. frontier. His hard and painful journey takes him from Missouri to the Gulf Coast of Texas in CHENNEVILLE by Paulette

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Image of bones crossed over flowers and fruit. Text says "Stephanie Foo What My Bones Know A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma." The cover blurb says, "'Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal.'–Lori Gottlieb, New York Times Bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone."

What My Bones Know

WHAT MY BONES KNOW rating: four stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. CW: child abuse. Got deep trauma? Feel like true healing is impossible? You need to read this stunning memoir, WHAT MY BONES KNOW, by radio producer and journalist Stephanie Foo (Ballantine/Penguin Random House, February 21, 2023). She explains how she ended up with complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and

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Image show a robot in a helmet half-kneeling in a rocky landscape looking back at a spider-like robot creature in the sky in the background. Text says "Martha Wells Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Series! System Collapse The Murderbot Diaries The New York Times Bestselling Series." Cover blurb says: "'One of the most human experiences you can have in sci-fi right now.'–NPR on the Murderbot Diaries."

Murderbot

SYSTEM COLLAPSE rating: four stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. This book is 7th in the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. If you’ve never read any Murderbot books, this review has spoilers. If you’re up to date, I’ll try not to spoil SYSTEM COLLAPSE (Tor/Macmillan, November 14, 2023). This is the first book in the series I’ve read;

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Image shows a green female ogre holding a bun, carrying a sword and an an open book, a rat with a quill pen and a notebook, and a pet that looks like a dog with an owl head. They are all in a bookshop. Text reads: Bookshops & Bonedust Travis Baldree New York Times Bestselling Author." Cover blurb says: "'A warm hug of a book.'–T Kingfisher on Legends & Lattes."

Viv on How to Live

BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. Audiobook will bump it to 5. This honest, big-hearted orc knows what’s good. Wherever Viv is planted, she blooms. BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST by Travis Baldree (Tor/Macmillan, November 7, 2023) is a prequel to LEGENDS & LATTES (Tor/Macmillan, November 8, 2022), which proved that the Tiktok kids are sometimes

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Cover has a blue sky background, and a palm tree superimposed over a fire. Text says "BLUE SKIES T.C. BOYLE A NOVEL"

Climate Apocalypse Now

BLUE SKIES rating: 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. In BLUE SKIES, out today, May 16, 2023 (Liverlight/W.W. Norton), T.C. Boyle gives us the blackest satire of social media influencer culture you can imagine, set in a near-future climate dystopia. As you can tell from the cover, California is on fire. Florida has the opposite problem: it’s drowning.

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mage of a big backpack, a little backpack, and a stuffed mouse. Text says "A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education Class Stephanie Land New York Times Bestselling Author of MAID"

Ends, Not Meeting

CLASS by Stephanie Land rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. To read CLASS (Atria/Simon & Schuster, November 7, 2023), and Stephanie Land‘s prior book MAID, is to re-live the second-worst period of my life, from 2001 to 2009. The worst period was my first marriage, 1990 to 2001, but poverty and the family court system have a

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Text reads: Jessica Ward The St. Ambrose School for Girls A Novel." Bright pink image of a large mansion with turrets and two wings surrounded by black branches as if in a forest. Cover blurb: "'Completely original, quietly chilling. Mean Girls Meets We Were Liars.'–Lisa Gardner"

Girls, Cohabiting

THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS rating: 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐. (To be released by Gallery/Simon & Schuster, July 11, 2023). This could have been any one of three great, or at any rate very good, novels: 1. a psychological thriller, which gets progressively creepier and creepier, which is how the publisher is pitching it right

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