Summer is coming to an end, I guess. The autumn equinox doesn’t hit until September 22nd, but we can already get pumpkin spice lattes, so I’m saying summer is over. A few more books read this month. No interviews, but I have so much excitement coming in September.
Read Cover-to-Cover in August
The Shadows by Alex North
- Adult thriller about a murder stemming from kids’ obsession with lucid dreaming and appeasing an entity
- Jaw-dropping twists
- Takeaway: How to execute incredible dual timelines
The Dark Tide (#1) by Alicia Jasinska
- Young adult fantasy about a girl falling in love with the witch cursed to eat a boy every year to appease an evil ocean
- Atmospheric like a fairy tale
- F/F enemies to lovers
- Takeaway: Threading gray morality through the lens of definitions
The Monster Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade #2)
by Seth Dickinson
- Adult fantasy sequel to Traitor Baru Cormorant
- Baru is a mess and having a hard time maintaining her cover
- The side characters are so good in this one (many queers throughout)
- Takeaway: Another book that takes its time processing the trauma of the previous book
Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling
- Adult horror novella about a botanist trying to contain and new threat
- Gothic af
- F/F pining
- Takeaway: Gothic atmosphere both in the setting and the interior journey
Drowned Country (The Greenhollow Duology #2) by Emily Tesh
- Adult fantasy novella in which the boyfriends from Silver in the Wood hunt a vampire and go to fairy land
- New fun characters and same old disasters gays
- Takeaway: Atmospheric, fairy tale storytelling
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
- Adult horror novella that reads like a slasher film
- Maybe it’s paranoia, maybe it is a sentient mannequin
- Left me squealing in delight
- Takeaway: Stream of consciousness at its finest
City Under the Stars by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
- Adult science fiction dystopia about a guy who commits a murder and goes off to meet god
- Vivid setting, good aesthetic
- Takeaway: Characters need to be more than just a vehicle for the plot
The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg
- Adult fantasy novella about trans elders who go to learn a fourth weave to take down a ruler
- Older main characters going on an adventure
- Art as magic, names as magic
- Takeaway: Intertwining identity and themes for a delight of a read
Audiobooks
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
- Adult horror that’s a memoir of a cannibal food critic
- Eat, Pray, Love but the love is pray
- Absolutely wild from start to finish
- Takeaway: How to write a despicable character without flinching
The Boatman’s Daughter by Andy Davidson
- Adult horror about a bog witch, her found family, gangs, and more
- I thought this was going to be a cool blend of horror and fairy tale (it wasn’t)
- Takeaway: Sometimes less is more
Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
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- Adult horror about a pregnant woman and her doctor best friend trying to reach a hospital so she can give birth
- 28 Days Later meets Bird Box meets the literal year 2020
- Takeaway: Combining done tropes doesn’t necessarily add anything new
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party
by Daniel James Brown
- Adult nonfiction that’s a deep dive into life on the Oregon trail while not avoiding the real tragedy of the Donner and Reed party
- Horrifying and like a novel
- Takeaway: Trying to find humanity in mind-bogglingly harrowing circumstances
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
- Adult mystery with ghosts and a motel’s mysterious past
- Dual timelines with beat-for-beat parallels
- Perfect pacing
- Takeaway: Satisfying mystery that centers female friendships and support structures
Raybearer (#1) by Jordan Ifueko
- Young adult fantasy inspired by West Africa about a girl whose mother created her to kill the boy she loves
- Excellent world-building and layered characters
- Nuanced look at complicated parental relationships
- Takeaway: Using a magic system that evolves with the characters and never feels like a deus ex machina
The first half of September is busy on the blog front. Otherwise, the same grind of job hunting, reading, and writing.
Until next time,
Jo
