A Land so Wide by Erin A. Craig

 genre: fantasy

Greer's town, Mistaken, is a tiny safe haven in a harsh new world.  Ever since Mistaken was settled, the Warding Stones have kept the forest and its host of creatures at bay - all the horrifying creatures that can kill a person as easily as they can destroy a town will leave Mistaken alone.  When the certainty of their safety is threatened and Greer is forced to obey her father's wishes, wild chances have to be taken.  If Greer is strong enough to accept the consequences.  

This is a bloody, spooky book.  Greer isn't a particularly memorable character but I did love how much she loves maps - her internal dialogue was just fairly wishy washy in a way that grated.  The creatures here are wildly evil but the plot itself just had some gaping holes that never really felt filled for me by the time it was over.  I liked the backstory and the frontier/backwoods kind of vibe.  I'm not sure why I didn't love it more, maybe because it felt like YA. but the protagonist is 27 and yet in her head, for sure younger.  Regardless, I was interested enough that I was engaged until the end but I didn't finish feeling anything in particular.

A Quiet Life in the Country: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery by TE Kinsey (audiobook)

genre: historical mystery

Lady Hardcastle has determined that a move out to the country is JUST the thing, a quiet life amid pleasant country people.  Of course, she's brought along her multi-talented and capable maid, Flo, to keep her organized and comfortable.  But before being there a week they stumble upon a very dead body and cannot help themselves from becoming involved with the solving of this mystery.

Oh my goodness, this was a delightful romp.  The relationship between these two ladies is actually hilarious and I found myself guffaw outloud more than once.  There is a genuine mystery here and although I did have a bit of a hard time keeping all the characters straight, I managed well enough to SUPER enjoy myself.  The narrator of the audiobook is phenomenal and I know that this will not be my visit with Lady Hardcastle and the ineffable Flo. 

Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline L. Tobin , Raymond G. Dobard

 genre: non-fiction 

The premise of this book is that quilts and their patterns were used during the time of slavery in the United States in order to help escaping slaves know where to go and what to do.  It's a fascinating idea that really captured my imagination.  And while I learned a LOT in this book about the Underground Railroad and several of the key players in this emancipation organization, this book did not actually convince me of the quilt code, unfortunately.  Hidden in Plain View is based on a story told by one woman that the authors met at a market in Charleston and from there, a LOT of conjecture was made.  The authors are honest with the fact that nearly all of their ideas are unsubstantiated but good "guesses," based on various children's book plots, narratives and spiritual songs.  To be clear - I enjoyed learning all I did about the spirituals and the escape routes etc.  I just couldn't get my brain to be convinced by what the authors were hypothesizing regarding the quilts, even though I do still love the idea of it, I can acknowledge that it just may not be true.

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (audiobook)

 genre: historical fiction/mystery/crime

This novel, told in two time periods, has at its heart a hobby and an obsession that I have maybe never thought about before: egg collecting.  There is a crime committed against a young man and his mother with tentacles that reach back over a hundred years, to a young girl, a tall Yorkshire cliff, and one extraordinary bird.  I almost don't want to explain more, because I loved my journey in this story where greed can manipulate the desperate and where neurospicy characters who look at the world through a unique lens can be the ones to figure out the missing pieces.  While part of it is upsetting (especially as a bird lover), I'm still thinking about this one, the world it introduced me to and a cliff full of wonders.

Curveball: The Alabama Son They Never Saw Coming by Joshua Cole

genre: memoir

This book was recommended to me by a friend of the author, otherwise it may have never made it into my hands - and I’m so glad it did. Joshua is a good storyteller, willing to share both the both raw and funny of his journey to finding the kind of life he was meant to life. It is so good for me to read real accounts of gender transitions because I always finish feeling so much compassion and respect for the price that so often has to be paid for authenticity. The little vignettes are sometimes a tiny bit out of chronological order but I never had a problem keeping my footing. I wish Joshua all the best.

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

genre: contemporary fantasy/romance

Sera's kind of magic is a gift, so powerful when that an unbelievably complex spell is needed to save someone she loves, Sera doesn't hesitate. But using that kind of power has consequences and Sera's magic is diminished in a devastating way. With her reservoirs of power a mere shadow of what they once were, Sera leans into running her family's inn. The Inn is a quirky old thing, enchanted by Sera's spells, a haven for all who might need a gentle place to land. 

This is a family-you-choose kind of story with a lovely romantic thread, solid banter and the kind of whimsy that made for a cozy and really fun read. The characters, the setting, the plot - it worked together for me in a perfectly snug sort of way. There is pain here, it's not just fluff, but the way it's processed and learned from made this more than just fun - it was thoughtful too. I didn't know that romantic light fantasy was what I needed right now, but apparently it is.

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes by Chanel Cleeton (audiobook)

 genre:  historical fiction

This book is a blending of three storylines.  In the present day we have Margo who has been hired to find a rare book for a client.  In the 1960s, we have the Cuban librarian Pilar, struggling to live in post-revolution Cuba where any hint of anti-Fidel sentiment is swiftly dealt with.  And in the 1900s, we meet Eva, the author of the rare book Margo is trying to find.  

I didn't find the moving between three time periods to be frustrating, I enjoyed it.  Each story is different enough that it's easy to track and all of these women find themselves making tough choices and living with the consequences.  I always like to learn about Cuba and the Diaspora, and this novel does a good job of helping us have compassion for the hardships of this country and its people.  I didn't love the writing, sorry to say.  It often felt cliche and just never really surprised me - I could practically guess the dialogue. What I did enjoy is it's homage to the written word and how important stories are when the human experience can be so deeply painful.  It's not a bad book at all, it just doesn't stand out to me literarily.

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh

 genre: contemporary romance

Molly and Andrew both live in Chicago and, as luck would have it, they both travel back home to Ireland for the holidays every year.  Soon, being on this flight together is a tradition and even as years go by and partners come and go for both of them, this friendship is a solid thing.  One crazy flight, though, and friendship no longer seems like enough.  This friends-to-lovers, holiday travel, quirky family love story actually kinda hit the spot for me, I'm not gonna lie.  The cheesy title had initially turned me off and made my family make fun of me, honestly, ha ha.  But I'm glad I gave it a try because Andrew is a darling and Molly is just complicated enough and it was just the brain candy I needed for this time of year.  It goes back and forth in time but you're never out of the current plot for too long.  There's some good banter and just enough tenderness, I genuinely had a good time.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle (audiobook)

 genre: speculative fiction

When Lily arrives at The Compound, she has no memory of getting there.  That's part of the shtick.  The girls all get there first, the boys arriving a few days later.  The goal of being at The Compound?  Be the last to leave.  But getting to the end is the point of the whole game.  

It's reality TV/dystopian brain candy.  There are relationship dramas and easy tasks and hard tasks, and everything comes with a prize - or a punishment.  Backbiting and betrayals are rampant, of course, as are true friendships and maybe even love.  And Lily wants it ALL.  She's not a particularly empathetic heroine.  Nothing really makes her standout and we see the entire competition through her eyes.  As a narrator, she can be frustratingly materialistic and shallow.  But she also knows it?  Honestly, this just was an really interesting listen.  It really surprised me sometimes and the whole concept never felt like I had to work hard to suspend my disbelief.  

Love, Sex, and Frankenstein: A Novel by Caroline Lea

genre: historical fiction

This past summer I learned the amazing fact that the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, early American philosopher and women's rights advocate, is Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. It felt so powerful to me, the idea that having a mom who saw the world with such clarity could possibly have had an impact on this girl and her famous story.  When we meet the woman who will become Mary Shelley, she is already the lover of poet, Percy Shelley, and has had his child. She’s living in poverty and is scraping by not only in a very literal sense but also intellectually and emotionally. She is adrift and scrambling so hard for love that she is constantly betraying herself in the strange love triangle she finds herself in as both a stepsister and the lover of a man who is already married.

Mary’s desperate need to process her life in writing is constantly undermined by the people around her and by that little voice inside her telling her that that she is not good enough.  Not only is this book a retelling of what let up to the book Frankenstein being written, but it is also about the power of female rage. It is about a woman's brain being being so focused on making everyone everyone around her happy that she can literally forget who she even is. It’s about what can happen to a person who chooses to live beyond that place.  This book is about childhood trauma and the act of creation and about how creating can change us.  It is also about betrayal and forgiveness, and, most, especially, about realizing that living up to our own expectations of our ourselves is more important than pleasing anyone else. The word "sex" in the title is less about the act (although there is that) but more about "sex" as gender and a woman having her blinders removed to the reality of how her gender has been used as a vice to control her and keep her small.   It is lush and painfully sad and gorgeous and atmospheric, and I loved it.