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”
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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”
THE RACHEL INCIDENT – Caroline O’Donoghue
“The smell of pastry, the chocolate melting on my tongue, the bitter black coffee. I needed to remind myself of my anger, so I didn’t inadvertently mix up good snacks with a good man.” Set primarily in 2009-2010, Caroline O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident (Knopf expected 27 June 2023) is a slice of life work that’sContinue reading “THE RACHEL INCIDENT – Caroline O’Donoghue”
CASSANDRA IN REVERSE – Holly Smale
“Because if things can be broken, then things can be changed; and if things can be changed, then it stands to good and logical reason that they can also be fixed. That’s all I need to know.” Holly Smale’s Cassandra in Reverse (Mira 2023) was my June Aardvark selection. It’s a cheeky novel that remindedContinue reading “CASSANDRA IN REVERSE – Holly Smale”
BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE – Ruth Emmie Lang
“Only rain, not tears, ran down his cheeks. He wasn’t a real boy after all. He was a wolf, and he cried like one.” Ruth Emmie Lang’s Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) is one of my favorite reads of the year so far, and I almost didn’t read it. You may rememberContinue reading “BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE – Ruth Emmie Lang”
LONE WOMEN – Victor LaValle
Larry McMurtry meets Stephen King in Victor LaValle’s genre-bending Lone Women (One World 2023), and I couldn’t put it down. The novel opens with 31-year-old Adelaide Henry fleeing her family’s farm and heading to Montana. She has a travel bag, a locked steamer trunk, and plans for a fresh start under the Homestead Act. She’llContinue reading “LONE WOMEN – Victor LaValle”
A Girl Named Tommi 