THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE – Abi Daré

“This flower be the brown of a wet leaf that suffer a stamping from the dirty feets of a man that forget the promise he make to his dead wife.” Abi Daré’s debut The Girl with the Louding Voice (Dutton 2020) has been on my TBR for ages. I was admittedly a bit reluctant toContinue reading “THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE – Abi Daré”

BANYAN MOON – Thao Thai

“He’s polish without substance, and I’ve hitched my wagon to nothing but a handful of glitter.” “The living must trespass on the dead; everything left behind a gift, an inheritance, no matter how unintentional.” Thao Thai’s debut Banyan Moon (Mariner Books 2023) is a heart hug of a family saga. From the 1960s Vietnam toContinue reading “BANYAN MOON – Thao Thai”

THE MEMORY OF ANIMALS – Claire Fuller

“This is grief, Neffy… It is awful and terrible, and it will never truly leave, but you will learn to live with it, and you have to let me help you.” I didn’t anticipate having a pandemic book framed by a woman’s teetering-into-inappropriate relationship with an octopus as one of my top reads of theContinue reading “THE MEMORY OF ANIMALS – Claire Fuller”

A DAY OF FALLEN NIGHT – Samantha Shannon

“We will all be stories one day, and I’d want someone to believe we existed. Wouldn’t you?” When I found out Samantha Shannon was returning to the world of The Priory of the Orange Tree, I was already smitten; she is a special author to me because I’ve been along for the ride since theContinue reading “A DAY OF FALLEN NIGHT – Samantha Shannon”

THE FORBIDDEN TERRITORY OF A TERRIFYING WOMAN – Molly Lynch

Molly Lynch’s The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman (Catapult 2023) was an unsatisfying but thankfully quick read.  Billed as an exploration of motherhood during an ecological collapse, I was expecting more of a developed and likable even if morally grey character in Ada.  Unfortunately, I didn’t care what happened to her, why it happenedContinue reading “THE FORBIDDEN TERRITORY OF A TERRIFYING WOMAN – Molly Lynch”

THE LAST RUSSIAN DOLL – Kristen Loesch

“She stood, with her doll beneath her arm, and she walked, across the blood-red floor, over her blood-red siblings, through the blood-red door, out of the blood-red house, all the way to the blood-red river. She forgot to wash her blood-red hands.” Spanning the period from 1916 to 1993, Kristen Loesch’s The Last Russian DollContinue reading “THE LAST RUSSIAN DOLL – Kristen Loesch”

PROBABLY RUBY – Lisa Bird-Wilson

“…like a salmon swimming upstream. In her blood to go there. An irresistible pull. Only she didn’t swim away in the first place. That’s why it was so hard to know the way back. She was a little salmon scooped up in a big net.” Lisa Bird-Wilson’s Probably Ruby (Coteau Books(Canada), 2020 & Hogarth (US)Continue reading “PROBABLY RUBY – Lisa Bird-Wilson”

THE EAST INDIAN – Brinda Charry

For my birthday, I ordered a mystery box from Chapters Books & Gifts, an indie bookstore out of Seward, Nebraska.  They tossed a couple of ARCS into the package as a fun little bonus, one being Brinda Charry’s The East Indian (Scribner – pub date 9 May 23). This is an ARC I want theContinue reading “THE EAST INDIAN – Brinda Charry”

THE JASAD HEIR – Sara Hashem

Sara Hashem’s debut, The Jasad Heir (The Scorched Throne #1) (Orbit Book, publication date 7/18/2023) is a slow burn of an enemies to lovers, which takes a backseat to political intrigue, genocide, and the meaning of self.  The novel is chock full of fantasy tropes that bleed into each other – Reluctant Hero, Orphan Hero,Continue reading “THE JASAD HEIR – Sara Hashem”

MAAME – Jessica George

“I love you, Dad. Very much, okay?” Without meaning to, I’ve been on a reading journey of books about young women in the UK “growing up;” Cassandra in Reverse, The Rachel Incident, and my most recent read, Maame are all “later in life” bildungsromans that make comparisons to Bridget Jones’s Diary a no-brainer – especiallyContinue reading “MAAME – Jessica George”