Multilayered, mysterious and lovely
This isn't your typical mysterious death mystery. The death that starts the book off is explained in the first chapter, so now what? Turns out the now what is quite a lot and all of it good.
MADreads
Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Investing in each other
This is a tribute to one of society's most enduring yet under-recognized relationships: female best friends. Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman met at a Gossip Girl viewing party when they were in their mid-twenties and struggling to start their careers. They've seen each other through heartaches and heartbreaks, job triumphs and disasters, health scares and holidays. More than a decade later, these are their stories of real-life and recognizable female friendship. I saw myself in their stories and if you've been nurturing your own big friendships, you will, too.
He'll shake the universe
I knew nothing about Ruocchio's debut, first in the Sun Eater series, other than it's pretty long, it's going to take a long time to read. If I say I finished it in a couple days, you'll get an idea as to how exhilarating it was and how much I loved it.
After the ever after
Is there any guilty pleasure quite as satisfying as royal watching? We all love to tune into the elaborate weddings, analyze sartorial choices and coo when a royal baby arrives on the scene. But as basically every generation of royalty throughout history has shown, the happy ever after surface doesn’t always match what’s happening behind palace walls, and occasionally that unhappiness breaks into the public.
More than she bargained for
I've been delving into Overdrive for titles that are a little older (so they don't have a long wait list) and re-discovered Amanda Kyle Williams and her Keye Street series. And a happy discovery it was! Keye is an investigator/consultant running her own office in Atlanta. She does a little bit of everything; including background checks, catching bail jumpers, and because of her former job as an FBI profiler, sometimes consulting with local police when a serial killer may be working. The most recent request comes from the small town of Whisper, Georgia.
From Mogadishu to Minneapolis
I've been super motivated this summer to read political memoirs and manifestos, starting with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's life story, This is What America Looks Like.
Royally matched
Alyssa Cole has become an auto-read for me since I discovered her Reluctant Royals series and this start to a new, tangential series, Runaway Royals, keeps the streak going. Though How to Catch a Queen isn't my very favorite of her books (A Princess in Theory), it has two great things going for it.
Taking a gamble
Laura Lee Guhrke continues her American Heiress in London series with another delightful love story, How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days. This story of an arranged marriage that turns into a true love match follows When the Marquess Met His Match.
Beach read with satirical bite
Self Care, a new novel by Leigh Stein, is a breezy beach read with satirical bite.
For the distracted among us
My reading these past few months has gone in fits and starts as life and world events have had a major impact on just what can grab and hold my attention. And when nothing can hold my attention for longer stretches of time, I turn to writing and podcasts about books rather than to the books themselves. If you're like me, then I offer some options for your shorter reading attention needs.
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