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Stephen Graham Jones offers an intriguing premise--an Indigenous man with supernatural abilities enacts brutal justice--but I found the story exceedingly long and both thoroughly gruesome and extremely tedious in its slow pace and details. “What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.” A young professor determined to make her mark is inspired to pursue a project that just might earn her tenure: exploring the story of her ancestor's 1912 diary, found within a wall of a church during recent construction. The diary's author is a Lutheran pastor who met and was witness to the fantastical, frightening, brutal story of a Blackfeet man who faced death, was an outcast to his community, and became set on deadly revenge against the white men bent on destroying buffalo and the Blackfeet and other indigenous tribes. The man, who reveals that he was called Good Stab by his family and friends, appears mysteriously in the congregation week after week, dressed in robes and dark glasses. He insists on confessing to the pastor, and his story grows increasingly haunting as he recounts a harrowing series of events in which he pursues hunters, watches and waits, enacts brutal justice upon the white men, protects buffalo calves, and observes his former tribe while remaining outside their community. As Good Stab's tale builds, it becomes clear that the horrors he admits to are only part of the story--his motivation in being with the pastor are deeply rooted and personal. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter  is a horror/historical fiction story with key supernatural elements. I was intrigued by the premise, the revenge from a wronged Indigenous person upon the race aimed at extinguishing them, and the Western land and life. I found the story long --the book runs 448 pages--and simultaneously grotesque and extremely tedious, as so many moments of Good Stab's supernatural transformations and details of gruesome killings are recounted, alongside long, slow accounts of his thoughts and internal debates. I received a prepublication audiobook edition of this title courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm . More about Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones is also the author of The Only Good Indians , I Was a Teenage Slasher , and many other horror books.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Stephen Graham Jones's historical fiction-horror story, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter ; I'm listening to Abby Jimenez's newest romance with heavy emotional underpinnings, Say You'll Remember Me ; and I'm reading Olivia Waite's slim science fiction-mystery, the first in a series, Murder by Memory . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones A young professor determined to make her mark is inspired to pursue a project that just might earn her tenure: exploring the story of her ancestor's 1912 diary, found within a wall of a church during recent construction. The diary's author is a Lutheran pastor who met and was witness to the fantastical, frightening, brutal story of a Blackfeet man who faced death, was an outcast to his community, and became set on deadly revenge against the white men bent on destroying buffalo and the Blackfeet and other indigenous tribes. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a horror/historical fiction story with key supernatural elements. The book is hefty and runs 448 pages. Jones is also the author of The Only Good Indians , I Was a Teenage Slasher , and many other books. I received a prepublication audiobook edition of this title courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm. 02 Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez Samantha creates zippy social media posts for a local mustard company--and doesn't take any attitude from anyone. Xavier is a young veterinarian who feels grumpy, exhausted, and as though he may be losing faith in humanity--but he loves the animals he cares for. After one disastrous encounter and one magical, extended date, the two are falling for each other. But Xavier's painful past and Samantha's challenging present might make a future for the two impossible. I received a prepublication audiobook edition of Say You'll Remember Me courtesy of Hachette Audio and Libro.fm. Jimenez is also the author of Just for the Summer (one of my Favorite Rom-Coms of the Year last year) , Part of Your World , Yours Truly , The Friend Zone , and The Happy-Ever-After Playlist . 03 Murder by Memory (Dorothy Gentleman #1) by Olivia Waite In Olivia Waite's slim science-fiction mystery, Dorothy wakes up...in a body that's not her own. It's uncomfortable but not unheard of. Still, Dorothy was supposed to be in stasis for years after suffering an emotional loss. Yet even more concerning than her situation is the spaceship HMS Fairweather 's current state. An electrical storm has knocked systems offline, and even worse, it seems that someone has deliberately been sabotaging the Library, where the backup for each passenger on the ship is stored. In this outer-space-set mystery, Dorothy must figure out who's behind the destruction and how to save the ship's passengers from further danger.

My very favorite Bossy April reads! I've been reading like a maniac this past month, and I had so many favorite books, it was tough to narrow them down here. I'm giving a talk today about my favorite spring books, and many of these titles are on the list! If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think. And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall In Hall's Broken Country , characters do their duties, find wondrous love, feel heartbreak, suffer tragedies, sometimes act impulsively, and reel from the consequences of all of the above. A mystery surrounds a deadly moment, and the book ends with a hopeful, imperfect, heartbreaking way forward. Beth and her kind husband Frank live and farm outside the small English village where they grew up. They love each other, but they are able to stay married only because they push down the memories of tragedies that could haunt them, and because secrets from the past stay buried. But when Frank's brother shoots a dog going after the family's sheep, the gunshot sets into motion events that will change everything. The dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, Beth's childhood love, and his return to town brings back long-suppressed complications around jealousies, love, choices, and the weighty consequences of the past. Broken Country  is a study of an extreme, life-and-death-stakes fallout after heartbreaking tragedy, but it's also a story of young love blossoming, then shriveling under the first pressures of the outside world; it's a mystery in which duty overpowers the difficult truth; and it's a hopeful view of how an imperfect set of characters can find their clumsy, sometimes beautiful, way forward. I read this immersive story in a flash. For my full review of this book please see Broken Country . 02 The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett In this heartwarming story of wonderfully faulted characters who face tragedy and often make a mess of things, loyalty and steadfastness overcome all and allow a makeshift family to heal, find adventure, discover their individual strengths, and realize that they're meant to be together forever. PJ Halliday is 63 and won the million-dollar lottery. Now he's about to set off on a cross-country road trip to track down his high-school sweetheart following the death of his former nemesis and rival. But not everything in his life has been luck and adventure. PJ has weathered terrible tragedies in his life.  Before he can set out for Arizona to try to win back his young love, his estranged brother dies, and PJ becomes the guardian for his brother's grandchildren. So he packs them into the car, enlists his grumbling grown daughter to help him, and hits the road. Tough situations are real but are surrounded by lighthearted, zany circumstances; characters are faulted and make missteps but learn to forgive themselves and those around them; loyalty and steadfastness serve as bridges to love and caring; and animals work with magical realism to shift and affect outcomes. While the characters in The Road to Tender Hearts  face sometimes devastating turns of events, the tone of the story is such that you won't wonder whether a happy ending is coming. Past hurts aren't erased, but love overcomes, and the ending is sweet sweet sweet. Annie Hartnett is also the author of the wonderful novel Unlikely Animals , which was one of my  Bossy Favorite Fiction Reads of the Year  when I read it. Click here for my full review of The Road to Tender Hearts . 03 This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg Comedian Zarna Garg lived several lives before falling into comedy in midlife and realizing it was where she'd belonged all along. Her memoir is candid, poignant, funny, and always entertaining. I loved this peek into her fascinating life. Zarna Garg fled her comfortable lifestyle and her widower father to avoid an unwanted arranged marriage at age 14. She begged places to stay from friends and acquaintances in Mumbai, homeless. Desperate for food and shelter and tired of overstaying her welcome and never having security, she was returning home and on the verge of agreeing to be married off, until her long-hoped-for visa to the US came through. Instead of becoming a child bride, she ran from home and began a dramatically different new life in Akron, Ohio. In midlife, she reimagined her future again and became a hard-working comedian who opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and then warranted her own headliner spots. Garg offers an honest, funny account of overcoming sobering challenges and determining her own destiny after years of struggles and constant worries about being a burden on those who might help her. Her intense push to achieve is accompanied by doubt, periods of low self-esteem, and feelings of unworthiness that stem from her childhood. At the very beginning the pacing felt a little uneven to me, but then Garg hit her stride. I laughed out loud repeatedly while I was reading this charming memoir by this strong, funny woman. Please click here for my full review of This American Woman . 04 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy Mysteries abound within McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore , but the story is largely an atmospheric story of isolation and loss set against the drama of climate change, tragedy, and finding the will to trust again. The description of Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore  immediately ticked several of my reading-interest boxes--the setting is an isolated island (Antarctica is the closest land mass), the climate is cold (check out these other Bossy reviews of titles with cold settings ), and climate change  and shifting weather patterns are bringing matters to a head. When a mysterious woman washes up half-dead on the remote island of Shearwater, home of the world's largest seed bank and formerly a research hub, she finds only Dominic Salt and his three children manning the lighthouse. The lonely, broken characters reach out to each other. Although hesitant because of past hurts, they begin to form intense bonds. With violent storms on the horizon, no line of communication open with the outside world, and enormous secrets being harbored on all sides, the disjointed group seems doomed to fail each other. But regardless of their interpersonal complications, they may collectively be the only hope of saving the precious, preserved seeds for the future--if they can trust each other long enough to work together for the good of the world. There are mysteries at the center of the story, but for me this was a captivating, atmospheric dive into the pressures, pain, and hope within extreme isolation, the power of external forces, and the push to protect each other at all costs. I was intrigued throughout. For my full review of Wild Dark Shore , please check out this link . Charlotte McConaghy is also the author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves . 05 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Henry's story-within-a-story adds a historical fiction element to her signature big-hearted, banter-driven, steamy, intriguingly complicated interpersonal dynamic exploration in Great Big Beautiful Life . This is an excellent rom-com with enough weighty themes to offer appealing depth. Alice Scott is a celebrity feature writer for The Scratch in LA. She's got a sunny disposition, wears bright, cheery colors, and is hoping for her first big writing break. Hayden Anderson, from New York, has won a Pulitzer Prize and is humorless, highly scheduled, and work-obsessed. They're both currently on Georgia's tiny Little Crescent Island, vying to become the memoir author for the reclusive former tabloid darling Margaret Ives, whose whereabouts have long been unknown to the general public. Their strict NDAs mean Alice and Hayden can't talk about their work, and they're developing more questions than answers. Why is Margaret willing to share her personal tale now? What is she hiding? And what on earth is her purpose in stringing along Hayden and Alice for a month--if she even intends to follow through with this project, which they're each beginning to doubt? But the writers can't deny that opposites are attracting in inconvenient fashion in their case. They're drawn to each other and discover unexpected joy, emotional intimacy, steaminess, and maybe even a promise of something real together. Henry brings her signature warmth, great banter, and sultry romance to this story within a story. I loved the historical fiction aspect of Margaret's recounting of her history. This is an excellent rom-com with weighty themes that make it all feel anchored in something real. I got a little teary during some of the characters' vulnerability at the end, and I laughed out loud at times too. For my full review please check out Great Big Beautiful Life . Henry's Beach Read  was one of my favorite books the year I read it, and it also made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism . People We Meet on Vacation  was another great Henry story; you can check out my review here , and you might like to check it out on the Greedy Reading List Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . Emily Henry is also the author of Funny Story  (one of my Favorite Reads of the Year ),   Happy Place , and Book Lovers . 06 Kills Well With Others (Killers of a Certain Age #2) by Deanna Raybourn Killers of a Certain Age  was darkly funny, action-packed, feminist, and friend-focused. I love the second installment's return to my favorite aging assassins and their quick-thinking, spry, deadly answers to those who have broken moral codes--and who have our protagonists in their sights. The first installment of Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age series was a fun, darkly funny, feminist story about a retiring female team of elite assassins. It was the right book at the right time for me: entertainment in the perfect combination of action and suspense, loyal friendship, clever plotting, and the promise of love. Book two picks up when our main characters, having laid low  and lived their own lives for a year, are contacted by the Museum, the elite assassin organization they used to work for. An Eastern European gangster has obtained the names of agents who have stood in his way over the years, and our aging assassins seem likely to be next on his hit list. They must figure out who's turned traitor on the Museum and shared this information--and stay alive long enough to bring them to justice. Kills Well with Others sometimes feels a little bit as though Raybourn is gamely giving her readers what they want (more Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, Natalie--and Tanner!) rather than writing a book she felt compelled to put out into the world. But I'm one of those who are eager for more time with these clever, sometimes grumpy, often spontaneous, satisfyingly quick-thinking assassins who are loyal to each other above all. The mind-bending examinations of what other characters might be up to and the combat and narrow escapes keep the pacing lively and engaging. In between, Raybourn allows friendships and love to grow and change. If Raybourn keeps writing this series, I'll read every last installment. For my full review, please see Kills Well with Others . Raybourn is also the author of the wonderful   Killers of a Certain Age , which was the first in the Killers of a Certain Age series. And I loved A Curious Beginning , the first book in Deanna Raybourn's feisty Veronica Speedwell series of historical fiction mysteries, as well as the sequels A Perilous Undertaking , A Treacherous Curse , A Dangerous Collaboration , and A Murderous Relation . (There are currently nine books in the series.)

The deep bond that builds between an injured Union soldier and the Virginia woman who secretly takes him in is touching and complicated, and Bohjalian doesn't make Libby's dangerous choices feel too easy. The author was inspired by a true story. In Chris Bohjalian's newest historical fiction novel, Libby Steadman lives in Virginia on the edge of the Confederate-Union Civil War conflict.  Her  husband has been away fighting for the Confederacy since soon after they were married, and Libby is warden to her orphaned, strong-willed niece Jubilee. She's also living alongside a hired hand, Joseph, who became a freedman when Libby's husband's family reconsidered their stance on slavery, and his wife Sally. Together the family members work grueling hours milling grain for the Confederacy.  Then Libby finds a gravely injured Union officer in a neighbor’s abandoned home. Because she hopes that a Union woman would take pity on her husband in the same situation, she secretly cares for Weybridge's injuries, realizing that if Confederate soldiers were aware of his presence in her home, the family would be considered traitors. Weybridge begins to bond with each member of the household, but particularly in the case of Libby, a growing friendship adds to an i mpossibly complicated situation. He is married, she is married--although she's becoming more and more certain that her husband has been killed in battle--and Weybridge's mere presence is dangerous to a deadly degree. The decision to take in Weybridge is morally clear to Libby, but the realities of the potential harm it could bring aren't lost on her. Bohjalian never makes the decision-making too easy, and the ending was not the neatly tied-up bow of a resolution I had begun to anticipate. The story is based upon a real account of a Southern woman who helped a Union soldier during the Civil War. I received a prepublication edition of The Jackal's Mistress  courtesy of Doubleday Books and NetGalley. More Chris Bohjalian Love This is Chris Bohjalian’s 25th book. He also wrote Hour of the Witch  and Skeletons at the Feast  (a WWII-set book that I read about 15 years ago and loved). For more Bossy reviews of books set during the Civil War, check out this link .

Dream State felt like different genres in one book; what felt like a romance became a story of characters who are often bitter or disappointed with the imperfections of their lives; then the novel examines memory and memory loss along with a zigzagging journey to forgiveness, ultimately set against the backdrop of dramatic local implications of climate change. Cece is at her in-laws' summer home in Montana several weeks before her wedding, solo and handling the details while her doctor fiance Charlie works. Charlie has asked his friend from college, Garrett, to look in on Cece--really intending for Cece to be positive company for Garrett, who tends to be morose--particularly after the tragic death of their dear friend years earlier. But Cece's time with Garrett begins to make her question her future with Charlie. When a stomach bug ravages the wedding guests and Charlie himself, will Cece use it as a chance to bow out, or will her determination to see through her commitment see her married and a doctor's wife? I often felt as though the story was trying to do too many things, with a shifting tone I couldn't always get a handle on. The book's cover design says "literary fiction" to me, but the novel felt at first very much like a light, formulaic romance (will she or won't she? who's the better match for her--on paper, they're both great, and she wants them both? also, men are so bad at communicating, am I right?). Then Dream State takes the reader on a journey through decades of characters' irritated angst (alternating between satisfaction and wanting what once was possible but can no longer be had). At first I didn't have a lot of patience for the temptation of regret and the characters' wallowing when faced with real-world complications and imperfections. But the draw to the romanticized past and what might have been, alternating with the waxing and waning allure of the messy present, created a structure for the book and its characters' actions that I found compelling. The story and its characters are largely focused on a place (the Montana lake) that feels pivotal to so many aspects of their lives, then much later, and seemingly abruptly, the story is somewhat focused on climate change and its destruction as related to this location. Side note: Before the dramatic events related to the lake compound, I did at times feel impatience somewhat similar to my frustration while reading The Dutch House ; it feels childishly unfair and sometimes facile for characters to pin their own regrettable decisions or follies on having been away from a place, or to imagine that more or different access to this place would have formed their lives in different, dramatic, essential ways. They were acting all along with free will, after all, and reasonable adults must realize that life twists and turns and is not perfect, nor should a place be expected to impart perfection upon your life. Anyway, later Dream State is a meditation on memory and memory loss as related to personhood. Finally, the story focuses on the fits and starts of a version of complicated forgiveness after years of pain and emotional barriers. But the bulk of the story is, appealingly, about the ups and downs of a marriage and parenting; the messy bonds of commitment and partnership; the precious building of inside jokes and a unique history together; forgiveness for past missteps; then a poignant considering of what it all means if one person's memory of these gems and challenges is lost. I listened to Dream State as an audiobook. More about Eric Puchner Eric Puchner is also the author of the novel Model Home as well as two collections of short stories, Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor .

After a devastating earthquake, nine-months-pregnant Annie desperately searches the city of Portland, Oregon, for her husband. Pattee alternates the immediacy of the crisis with various moments preceding the devastation, including earlier, now quaint-feeling worries about money, fulfillment, and love. Annie is nine months pregnant and finally getting around to choosing a crib at IKEA when a devastating earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. The story alternates between the present-day crisis, with mass destruction, frantic, often hurt citizens, and Annie's own worried, dangerous slog across town to find her husband; and imperfect moments in the past that lead up to the morning before the quake. Pattee places Annie's periodic, sometimes steady dissatisfaction with her life in the months leading up to this fateful day against the immediacy of urgent needs: wanting to see her husband again, protecting her unborn baby, and the struggle of simply trying to survive. The past concerns of fulfillment and fears around financial security feel grotesque when set alongside the life-and-death crisis she finds herself--and her unborn baby--living within. She was a promising young playwright, but life got in the way, cost of living pressures led her to find an unsatisfying office job, she fell into marriage for health-insurance convenience, her husband is still searching for his acting break and working in a coffee shop, and now she's facing life with a baby and a more uncertain financial future than ever. Much of the book centers around Annie's relatively recent regrets and irritations, and as a reader I was left wondering if much of it was driven by hormones and strong emotions, or whether Annie had been considering a break from her spouse. While I have sympathy for her situation, in which she looks around and is in her 30s and life is not what she had imagined it would be, I became impatient with and fairly unsympathetic regarding the heavy grumbling around the decisions she actively made, her inertia, and her procrastination. I'm typically fascinated by a post-apocalyptic setting for a story, and the earthquake in the story is so disruptive, so destructive, it alters the landscape in a horrifyingly dramatic manner. Some buildings and landmarks are flattened, others still standing. People are dazed, they are often wandering without cars or phones, and they're desperate to find their loved ones. In a situation like that, people determine what they're made of, what they're capable of, what they must to do survive--and to stay human and be part of a society. Annie's quest across the city--with all of its missteps, tragedies, frightening encounters, and heartwarming moments--is the highlight of the novel for me. More about Emma Pattee Emma Pattee is a climate journalist as well as a fiction writer. She notes that there is a 37% chance of a massive earthquake in the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years, and that it would be one of the biggest natural disasters in North American history. This chilling possibility was her inspiration for this novel.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading climate journalist Emma Pattee's novel, which is set during a devastating earthquake, Tilt ; I'm reading Chris Bohjalian's newest historical fiction, The Jackal's Mistress , set during the Civil War; and I'm listening to Erich Puchner's novel Dream State . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Tilt by Emma Pattee Annie is nine months pregnant and finally getting around to choosing a crib at IKEA when a devastating earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. The story alternates between the present-day crisis, with mass destruction, frantic, often hurt citizens, and Annie's own worried, dangerous slog across town to find her husband; and imperfect moments in the past leading up to the morning before the quake. Pattee places Annie's periodic, sometimes steady dissatisfaction with her life in the months leading up to this fateful day against the immediacy of urgent needs: wanting to see her husband again, protecting her unborn baby, and the struggle of simply trying to survive. Emma Pattee is a climate journalist as well as a fiction writer. She notes that there is a 37% chance of a massive earthquake in the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years, and that it would be one of the biggest natural disasters in North American history. This chilling possibility was her inspiration for this novel. 02 The Jackal's Mistress by Chris Bohjalian In Chris Bohjalian's newest historical fiction novel, Libby Steadman lives in Virginia on the edge of the Confederate-Union Civil War conflict. Her husband has been away fighting for the Confederacy since soon after they were married, and Libby is warden to her orphaned, strong-willed niece. She's also living alongside a hired hand, who's a freedman, and his wife. Together they’re working grueling hours milling grain for the Confederacy.  Then she finds a gravely injured Union officer in a neighbor’s abandoned home. Because she hopes that a Union woman would take pity on her husband in the same situation, she cares for him. He and Libby slowly begin to bond, but it’s an i mpossibly complicated situation. I received a prepublication edition of The Jackal's Mistress courtesy of Doubleday Books and NetGalley. This is Chris Bohjalian’s 25th book. He also wrote Hour of the Witch  and Skeletons at the Feast  (a WWII-set book that I read about 15 years ago and loved). 03 Dream State by Eric Puchner Cece is at her in-laws' summer home in Montana several weeks before her wedding, solo and handling the details while her doctor fiance Charlie works. Charlie has asked his friend from college, Garrett, to look in on Cece--really intending for Cece to be positive company for Garrett, who tends to be morose--particularly after the tragic death of their dear friend years earlier. But Cece's time with Garrett begins to make her question her future with Charlie. When a stomach bug ravages the wedding guests and Charlie himself, will Cece use it as a chance to bow out, or will her determination to see through her commitment see her married and a doctor's wife?

Six More Great Bossy Literary Fiction Reads I read so many read literary fiction books last year, this is my second best-of-the-year list; you can find my first list here . For me, literary fiction focuses on realistic characters and themes, the author's writing style is showcased, plot takes a backseat, and you're never assured of a resolution or happy ending. A couple of these titles might stretch the definition, but I am Bossily including them. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite literary fiction reads? 01 Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her limits--her mother's alcoholism, her father's death, and her small outer Belfast community, where violent Protestant-Catholic tensions are threatening to rule every act, thought, and dream. Cushla is a young teacher (who also fills in at the family pub) living through growing violence outside of Belfast. Along with her alcoholic mother and her impatient barkeep brother, she grieves the loss of her father while going about her day and living her modest lifestyle. But Cushla--along with many other citizens--is more and more astounded by the increasing conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the violent acts stemming from the growing schism. Kennedy draws the reader into the specific place and time of the story, vividly building the constant undercurrent of tension, the twinges of fear, the devil-may-care affair, the sickening reckonings. This is beautiful and heartbreaking, but Trespasses is never maudlin or too easy. Both the world and the characters' personal lives are complicated, messy, wonderful, and fragile. I listened to Trespasses  as an audiobook. Click here   for my full review of Trespasses . 02 Bear by Julia Phillips The author of Disappearing Earth  offers a story of bleak prospects, poverty and illness, a sister bond with fault lines ready to crack open, and a slow build to a destructive end. Along with their ill, bedridden mother, young-adult sisters Sam and Elena struggle to get by on an island off the coast of Washington. Frustrated by the challenge of supporting themselves on Sam's pay from driving the tourist ferry and Elena's job bartending, the sisters dream of escaping to somewhere new. But when Sam spots a grizzly bear swimming alongside the ferry--a bear that then shows up near their home--she is terrified. Elena chooses to see the bear as a sign of something positive, and she begins drawing the bear in with food and believing she is safe in its presence. The bear is a lumbering, drooling, stinking metaphor for the brutal truths set to implode Sam and Elena's lives. Sam has always believed she and Elena were a lifelong team, about to spring to freedom, whereas Elena never realized the half-truths and comfort she murmured to Sam when they were young have been taken as truth, against all evident clues to their grim financial status and how stuck Elena feels. Everything Sam has stubbornly understood to be true and real is suddenly coming unfurled and undone. The bear does ultimately shift everything for their family, and the story is brutal in its climax, yet glimmers of hope do emerge. For my full review, please see Bear . I mentioned Julia Phillips's fascinating novel Disappearing Earth  in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer . 03 After Annie by Anna Quindlen Young mom Annie's abrupt death leaves her four children, husband, and best friend reeling. Each of them must find a way back to themselves and back to each other without their key person in After Annie . In Anna Quindlen's novel After Annie , the abrupt death of the titular young mother--which occurs in the kitchen in front of the family just before dinner--leaves her four children, husband, and best friend reeling. Over the course of the next year, each of those who had been closest to her and who are left behind struggles and threatens to fall apart--both individually and also to collectively fall away from each other in a way that would have infuriated Annie. The thing that saves each of them from bottomless grief and from giving in to their most desperate, despairing, hopeless impulses is Annie's frequent voice in their heads, reassuring them, loving them, sticking by them. It was unsatisfying to see only glimpses of the pivotal figure of Annie--I found myself wanting more of these. She makes up the heart of the book and is the center of the wheel of characters rotating around her, yet little page time is spent with her directly because she dies so early in the novel. The key characters make mistakes and stumble repeatedly before finding their way back to their new selves and their existence without Annie . For my full review, please see After Annie . If you're interested in books about mortality, you might like the books on my Greedy Reading Lists Six Powerful Memoirs about Facing Mortality  and Six More Powerful Books about Facing Mortality . 04 Grey Dog by Elliott Gish Grey Dog  begins as an immersive historical fiction story of a young teacher with a shocking past in 1900s rural England, but it becomes a haunting feminist, magical realism story about taking back power and letting go of restrictive expectations. It's 1901, and Ada Byrd has accepted a teaching position in a rural community following a scandal and abrupt departure from her last post. Her cruel, controlling father is high up in the school board, so while he lords over her this "favor" of allowing her to serve a new role, he also forces her to be a teacher in the first place. Ada boards with a staid, kind, slightly boring couple and also befriends the minister's wife. She's determined not to make any waves. But a young, half-feral female student and a shockingly unorthodox widow both seem to hold mysterious secrets--and both intrigue Ada. Ada begins to learn delicate secrets of those in the community even as she protects her own scandalous past. A haunting power seems to swirl through the small village, both disturbing and intriguing Ada. And the more often she encounters it, the more difficult it becomes for Ada to check her temper, her opinions, her yearning for freedom, and her desire to speak her mind. This is a feminist historical fiction story in which women--long kept quiet and still, supervised to prevent their freedom, and dismissed and condescended to--strike back, lash out, and reject the constraints put on them. Magical realism allows the force that haunts, challenges, and pushes them to take the form of a beast, whose presence only the bravest women embrace and accept. I loved the setting and detail of the historical fiction story, but I became fully hooked as the tale morphed into something wonderfully eerie and unusual. I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. Click here for my full review of Grey Dog . If this book sounds appealing to you, you might also be interested in my Bossy reviews of other historical fiction books set in the 1900s  or my Bossy reviews of Gothic stories . 05 Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar The tone of Martyr! was tough for me to get a handle on for much of the book. The story is dark, nerve-racking, irreverent, tragic, and poignant. Late in the story a fateful connection made the story really take off and feel meaningful. Cyrus Shams is an orphaned young adult, the child of Iranian immigrants, and a recovering addict and alcoholic. He is also a self-doubting poet. Cyrus seeks meaning in art, in a close, sometimes-sexual friendship, and in the idea of trying to craft his book. For the majority of the novel I felt as though I appreciated the story more than I was taken in by it or enjoyed it. The book really took off and intrigued me once Cyrus traveled to New York to visit an artist whose final exhibit was made up of living in the Brooklyn Museum and having conversations with visitors until her death. The ripples of their meeting and connection reached farther than I could have imagined, and this portion of the book was fascinating. I listened to Martyr!  as an audiobook. Click here   for my full review of Martyr! 06 Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout Elizabeth Strout examines the range of characters from her many books and their intersecting stories, their imperfections, and their explorations of the meaning of life. In small town Crosby, Maine, acclaimed writer Lucy Barton and attorney Bob Burgess walk and talk about everything under the sun--their pasts, their missteps, what they wonder about, and their dreams. Bob is defending a man accused of a terrible crime: killing his mother, a mean, reviled lunch lady long perceived as an enemy of the town's young children. But the young man, a self-taught artist, is counting on Bob and an unorthodox approach to figuring out who really killed Bob's mother. Tell Me Everything  digs into secrets and lies, revenge, forgiveness, resignation, heartbreak, second chances, abuse, and addiction. And the story weaves in characters from other Strout books, including Olive Kitteridge. But the story is primarily about human connections. Bob and Lucy explore the complexities of life, revealing more and more about their own inner selves as they take their weekly walks and become more dear to each other. And Olive and Lucy share stories from their own lives and those they've encountered, trying to come to terms with the meaning of life and the human condition. Please click here for my full review of Tell Me Everything . You can also check out my Bossy reviews of Strout's Lucy by the Sea , Anything Is Possible , Olive, Again , My Name Is Lucy Barton , and Oh William!  Elizabeth Strout is also the author of Olive Kitteridge .

Mysteries abound within McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore , but the story is largely an atmospheric story of isolation and loss set against the drama of climate change, tragedy, and finding the will to trust again. The description of Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore  immediately ticked several of my reading-interest boxes--the setting is an isolated island (Antarctica is the closest land mass), the climate is cold (check out these other Bossy reviews of titles with cold settings ), and climate change  and shifting weather patterns are bringing matters to a head. When a mysterious woman washes up half-dead on the remote island of Shearwater, home of the world's largest seed bank and formerly a research hub, she finds only Dominic Salt and his three children manning the lighthouse. The lonely, broken characters reach out to each other. Although hesitant because of past hurts, they begin to form intense bonds. With violent storms on the horizon, no line of communication open with the outside world, and enormous secrets being harbored on all sides, the disjointed group seems doomed to fail each other. But regardless of their interpersonal complications, they may collectively be the only hope of saving the precious, preserved seeds for the future--if they can trust each other long enough to work together for the good of the world. There are mysteries at the center of the story, but for me this was a captivating, atmospheric dive into the pressures, pain, and hope within extreme isolation, the power of external forces, and the push to protect each other at all costs. I was intrigued throughout, as the characters' relationships build to a head (they must reveal the secrets they've kept in trying to save each other; they tentatively become vulnerable with each other; they share difficult truths and dare to imagine a bright future) alongside the relentless, unforgiving weather and storms that seem destined to destroy not only their fragile bodies but the work of lifetimes--as well as the characters' hope for the world in years to come. Wild Dark Shore is both hyperfocused on the nuances of facial expressions, word choice, and interactions as well as vast in its scope, considering climate change's immense effects on the world along with the characters' specific island--as well as the implications of the deadly threat of deterioration of the precious, singular reserves of plant life for generations to come. More about Charlotte McConaghy Charlotte McConaghy is also the author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves .

In this heartwarming story of wonderfully faulted characters who face tragedy and often make a mess of things, loyalty and steadfastness overcome all and allow a makeshift family to heal, find adventure, discover their individual strengths, and realize that they're meant to be together forever. PJ Halliday is 63 and won the million-dollar lottery. Now he's about to set off on a cross-country road trip to track down his high-school sweetheart following the death of his former nemesis and rival. But not everything in his life has been luck and adventure. PJ has weathered terrible tragedies in his life. His oldest daughter died as a teenager, and the grief destroyed his marriage. He's self-obsessed and sloppy, and he's allowed himself to become distant from his only living daughter, now a young adult who's drifting in her life. He's spent years drowning his sorrows in drink, and now that he's had three heart attacks (and secretly given away almost all of his money, while living in a hoarding-type home situation), he realizes his time may be almost up. But before he can set out for Arizona to try to win back his young love, his estranged brother dies, and PJ becomes the guardian for his brother's grandchildren. So he packs them into the car, enlists his grumbling grown daughter to help him, and hits the road. When I read Hartnett's novel Unlikely Animals , I said it was an irresistible, oddball tragicomedy with heart, in which characters explore the limits and solidity of friendship and family loyalty, show mistakes and imperfections, and cling to hope. While The Road to Tender Hearts is its own story, the same charming elements show up here: tough situations are real but are surrounded by lighthearted, zany circumstances; characters are faulted and make missteps but learn to forgive themselves and those around them; loyalty and steadfastness serve as bridges to love and caring; and animals work with magical realism to shift and affect outcomes. While the characters in The Road to Tender Hearts face sometimes devastating turns of events, the tone of the story is such that you won't wonder whether a happy ending is coming. Past hurts aren't erased, but love overcomes, and the ending is sweet sweet sweet. Hartnett employs dramatic irony, as the reader knows the full story of protagonists' motivations, abilities, and true selves, while her characters do not. I received a prepublication edition of The Road to Tender Hearts , scheduled for publication April 29, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley. More Annie Hartnett love Annie Hartnett is also the author of the wonderful novel Unlikely Animals , which was one of my  Bossy Favorite Fiction Reads of the Year  when I read it, as well as the novel Rabbit Cake , which I have yet to read.

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading comedian Zarna Garg's upcoming memoir, This American Woman ; I'm reading Annie Hartnett's upcoming novel The Road to Tender Hearts ; and I'm reading John Green's nonfiction book Everything Is Tuberculosis . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg Zarna Garg avoided an unwanted arranged marriage at age 14 in India; she fled from her father to the streets of Mumbai, homeless; then she started a dramatically different new life in Akron, Ohio--only to reimagine her future again in midlife and become a comedian. But first she was an Indian matchmaker, a stay-at-home mom, and a prizewinning screenwriter. Then, on a dare, she hopped onto an open mic stage, spouted off comedic takes on her life, and the rest was history. Garg offers an honest, funny account of overcoming sobering challenges and determining your own destiny. I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published April 29, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley. 02 The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett PJ Halliday is 63 and just won the million-dollar lottery. Now he's about to set off on a cross-country road trip to track down his high-school sweetheart following the death of his former nemesis and rival. But not everything in his life has been luck and adventure. PJ has weathered terrible tragedies in his life. His oldest daughter died, and the grief destroyed his marriage. After that, he spent years drowning his sorrows in drink, and now that he's had three heart attacks, he realizes his time may be almost up. Before he can set out for Arizona to try to win back his young love, his estranged brother dies, and PJ becomes the guardian for his brother's grandchildren. So he simply packs them into the car, enlists his grown daughter to babysit, and hits the road. What could go wrong? I received a prepublication edition of The Road to Tender Hearts , scheduled for publication April 29, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley. Annie Hartnett is also the author of the wonderful novel Unlikely Animals , which was one of my Bossy Favorite Fiction Reads of the Year when I read it, as well as the novel Rabbit Cake . 03 Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green In John Green's nonfiction book Everything Is Tuberculosis , he tells his story of befriending a young man, Henry, who was suffering from tuberculosis and living in a hospital in Sierra Leone. Green uses his tender eye and piercing analysis to explore the health care inequalities that allow the world's poorest citizens to disproportionately contract the incurable disease tuberculosis and to advocate for greater access to quality care and a search for a cure. John Green is also the author of the nonfiction collection of essays The Anthropocene Reviewed (which was one of my six favorite nonfiction reads the year I read it) as well as the young adult novels An Abundance of Katherines, Turtles All the Way Down, The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska ,   and Paper Towns .

Comedian Zarna Garg lived several lives before falling into comedy in midlife and realizing it was where she'd belonged all along. Her memoir is candid, poignant, funny, and always entertaining. I loved this peek into her fascinating life. Zarna Garg fled her comfortable lifestyle and her widower father to avoid an unwanted arranged marriage at age 14. She begged places to stay from friends and acquaintances in Mumbai, homeless. Desperate for food and shelter and tired of overstaying her welcome and never having security, she was returning home and on the verge of agreeing to be married off, until her long-hoped-for visa to the US came through. Instead of becoming a child bride, she ran from home and began a dramatically different new life in Akron, Ohio. In midlife, she reimagined her future again and became a hard-working comedian who opened for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and then warranted her own headliner spots. But along the way Zarna was not only a homeless runaway, but an Indian matchmaker, a law student, a stay-at-home mom, and a prizewinning screenwriter. On a dare from her daughter, she hopped onto an open mic stage, spouted off comedic takes on her life, and after lots of scrapping and scrambling, the rest was history. Garg offers an honest, funny account of overcoming sobering challenges and determining her own destiny after years of struggles and constant worries about being a burden on those who might help her. Her intense push to achieve is accompanied by doubt, periods of low self-esteem, and feelings of unworthiness that stem from her childhood. At the very beginning the pacing felt a little uneven to me, but then Garg hit her stride, and I was taken with her frank narrative, her relentless optimism and drive, her self-deprecating accounts of her imperfections, and her poignant reflections. I love an honest memoir that lets a reader into the author's inner world, and Zarna has lived a fascinating life that I wanted to learn more about. I laughed out loud repeatedly while I was reading this charming memoir by this strong, funny woman. I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published April 29, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley.  More memoir love For more memoirs you might like, please check out these Bossy reviews as well as Greedy Reading Lists of my favorites .

The pacing of The Life We Bury built from slow and steady to a whirlwind. It always seemed clear that we would have clean resolutions to the mystery; the sometimes-gruesome aspects of the path to the story's final answers were the surprise for me. In this mystery by Allen Eskens, Joe Talbert is busy trying to build a life apart from his mother, who's an addict, and his brother, who has autism. Joe is far from a star college student, but between his job as a bouncer and his dedicated studying, he's learning a lot and getting through. When he meets the elderly Carl Iverson at a nearby nursing home, he's eager to hear Carl's life story in order to complete a school assignment. But Carl is a convicted murderer who was released from jail because he's so gravely ill and close to death. And his story is introducing more questions than answers for Joe--who is coping with his own complicated personal challenges but can't leave Carl's story alone. Joe's mom is an unredeemable, selfish, and immature character with a bad-news boyfriend who's the perfect punching bag for Joe. Joe's brother can't live independently, but when Joe must bring him into his busy college life, he conveniently inspires the decoding element for an unfolding mystery related to Carl. Joe's neighbor Lila is a tough young woman who's endured hardship and is slow to trust. You might see Lila and Joe's budding love coming from a mile off (his early, eager interest in her came off as a little strong to me, as she clearly wasn't initially open to him or to a relationship). Carl is a dying man who's seemingly been wrongly convicted of murder, and if Joe and Lila can just prove their hunches to be true before he passes away, they can clear his name. The pacing of this one felt strange to me. The Life We Bury offers a slow start focused on Joe's personal situation, and when the mystery ramped up to a dramatic whirlwind tempo toward the end, I was left feeling startled and a little bit discombobulated. It never felt as though the loose ends that needed resolving would be anything but cleanly unraveled--and then some (there's a windfall that seemed potentially unnecessary and overly convenient, if heartwarming); the rough, sometimes gruesome path to the final answers was the surprise for me. I had no idea this was the first in a series; it didn't feel to me as though it was leading up to another book. I listened to The Life We Bury as an audiobook. More mystery novels to check out This is the first in a series of three books about Joe Talbert. If you like reading mysteries, you might enjoy some of my Bossy reviews of other mystery novels .

Henry's story-within-a-story adds a historical fiction element to her signature big-hearted, banter-driven, steamy, intriguingly complicated interpersonal dynamic exploration in Great Big Beautiful Life . This is an excellent rom-com with enough weighty themes to offer appealing depth. Alice Scott is a celebrity feature writer for The Scratch in LA. She's got a sunny disposition, wears bright, cheery colors, and is hoping for her first big writing break. Hayden Anderson, from New York, has won a Pulitzer Prize and is humorless, highly scheduled, and work-obsessed. They're both currently on Georgia's tiny Little Crescent Island, vying to become the memoir author for the reclusive former tabloid darling Margaret Ives, whose whereabouts have long been unknown to the general public. But each writer has what feel like the opposite approach, manner, and voice from the other--and they're not sure how they became the two trial candidates for the job of a lifetime. In separate interviews with each writer, Margaret recounts her family's checkered past as well as memories of her own true love and famous relationship with Cosmo, who died years earlier in a terrible accident. But Margaret is still wary of the press and jaded by the spin that has shaped her public persona for decades, and she's clearly not telling either of them the whole story. Their strict NDAs mean Alice and Hayden can't talk about their work, and they're developing more questions than answers. Why is Margaret willing to share her personal tale now? What is she hiding? And what on earth is her purpose in stringing along Hayden and Alice for a month--if she even intends to follow through with this project, which they're each beginning to doubt? But the writers can't deny that opposites are attracting in inconvenient fashion in their case. They're drawn to each other and discover unexpected joy, emotional intimacy, steaminess, and maybe even a promise of something real together. Henry brings her signature warmth, great banter, and sultry romance to this story within a story. I loved the historical fiction aspect of Margaret's recounting of her history. This is an excellent rom-com with weighty themes that make it all feel anchored in something real. I got a little teary during some of the characters' vulnerability at the end, and I laughed out loud at times too. I received a prepublication audiobook edition of this title, to be published April 22, courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm.   More Emily Henry love Henry's Beach Read  was one of my favorite books the year I read it, and it also made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism . People We Meet on Vacation  was another great Henry story; you can check out my review here , and you might like to check it out on the Greedy Reading List Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . Emily Henry is also the author of Funny Story (one of my Favorite Reads of the Year ), Happy Place , and Book Lovers .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Emily Henry's upcoming romance story-within-a-story, Great Big Beautiful Life ; I'm listening to the first mystery in a series, The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens; and I'm reading Charlotte McConaghy's haunting and mysterious Wild Dark Shore . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Alice Scott is a writer for The Scratch in LA. She's got a sunny disposition, wears bright, cheery colors, and is hoping for her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is from New York, he's won a Pulitzer Prize, and he seems humorless, highly scheduled, and work-obsessed. They're both currently on Georgia's tiny Little Crescent Island, vying to be the author of the memoir of the reclusive former tabloid darling Margaret Ives. But each has their own distinct and disparate approach, manner, and voice--and they're not sure how they became the two trial candidates for the job of a lifetime. Their strict NDAs mean they can't talk about their work--but when opposites attract, Henry brings the characters together with warmth and romance in this story within a story. I received a prepublication audiobook edition of this title, to be published April 22, courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm. Henry's Beach Read  was one of my favorite books the year I read it, and it made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism . People We Meet on Vacation  was another great Henry story; you can check out my review here , and you might like to check it out on the Greedy Reading List Six More Great Light Fiction Stories . Emily Henry is also the author of Funny Story , Happy Place , and Book Lovers . 02 The Life We Bury ( Joe Talbert #1) by Allen Eskens In this mystery by Allen Eskens, Joe Talbert is busy trying to build a life apart from his mother, an addict, and his brother, who has autism. He's far from a star college student, but between his job as a bouncer and his dedicated studying, he's learning a lot and getting through. When he meets the elderly Carl Iverson at a nearby nursing home, he's eager to hear Carl's life story in order to complete a school assignment. But Carl is a convicted murderer who was released because he's so gravely ill and close to death. And his story is introducing more questions than answers for Joe--who is coping with his own personal challenges but can't leave Carl's story alone. I'm listening to The Life We Bury as an audiobook. This is the first in a series of three books about Joe Talbert. 03 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy The description of Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore immediately ticked several of my reading-interest boxes--the setting is an isolated island (Antarctica is the closest land mass), the climate is cold (check out these other titles with cold settings ), and climate change and shifting weather patterns are bringing matters to a head. When a mysterious woman washes up half-dead on the remote island of Shearwater, home of the world's largest seed bank and formerly a research hub, she finds only Dominic Salt and his three children manning the lighthouse. With violent storms on the horizon, no line of communication open, and secrets being harbored on both sides, the disjointed group may be the only hope of saving the precious, preserved seeds for the future--if they can trust each other long enough to work together for the good of the world. Charlotte McConaghy is also the author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves .

Six More Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read lots of entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough to make up multiple Greedy Reading List roundups. You can find my first list recapping last year's favorites here . You can find other lists of favorite fantasy reads from past years here . And you can c lick here for other science fiction and fantasy books I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite fantasy reads? 01 To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1 ) by Moniquill Blackgoose Blackgoose offers a fascinating, layered story about a strong-willed, whip-smart young Indigenous woman in a steampunk 1800s Nordic setting, with plenty of dragons, dragon science, and dragon bonding alongside activism and bravery. Moniquill Blackgoose's To Shape a Dragon's Breath  delivers the dragons: in-depth training around being partnered with dragons, dragon-related science, emotional and physical ties to dragons, and the cultural importance, historical significance, and potential power of being linked to dragons. It's also a steampunk, mid-1800s Nordic setting for some radical rethinking of nonsensical, destructive rules and regulations. A fifteen-year-old Indigenous Masquisit girl Anequs finds a dragon egg, and when it hatches, she befriends and bonds with the hatchling, Kasaqua. But the Anglish conquerers of Masquapaug insist that a dragon must be raised a certain way, and if Anequs fails to demonstrate that she can control and shape Kasaqua's behavior, the dragon will be killed. But everyone's about to find out how disruptive a whip-smart, open-minded, and strong-willed young woman can be. Because the restrictive Anglish world--and its selective history of the destruction of the Indigenous people--is due for some changes. And Anequs is just the fearless catalyst who might be able to shift it all. Blackgoose takes on issues of Indigenous people and colonization, wealth and privilege, gender power imbalances, nontraditional sexual and relationship conventions, the bucking of societal traditions, and more. And my thirst for boarding school/magical school settings was quenched by the feminist-activist Anequs's dragon academy experience. For my full review, please see To Shape a Dragon's Breath . I love books about dragons  (check out the link for some of my favorites). 02 Starter Villain by John Scalzi First: this amazing cover. Second: Starter Villain is playful, darkly funny, big-hearted, and wonderfully weird. I loved it and I can't wait to read more John Scalzi books. “I can’t tell if you’re joking with me,” I said. “I’m mostly joking with you.” “That ‘mostly’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence.” The cover of Starter Villain  shows a grumpy-seeming cat's head on a human torso clad in a suit with "Meet the new boss" across the top, so obviously this was going to be a Bossy read. And I love that this is my first review of 2024. Bring on the weird and wonderful books! In Starter Villain , Charlie's a substitute teacher, divorced, struggling emotionally, socially, and financially, and living in a house his half-siblings want to sell. Then he inherits his long-lost uncle's parking-garage empire. Which turns out to be a cover for a vast supervillain business--complete with an evil lair in an island volcano. Could this be an unexpected new start that will point Charlie in a productive new direction? The recently deceased Uncle Jake, an old-fashioned villain, made a lot of enemies--and they're ruthless, well-funded, and out for revenge. Charlie will have to quickly get up to speed and figure out friend from foe in order to stay alive. This villain business is more complicated than it seems. There's crossing, double-crossing, a wonderfully savvy and knowledgeable second-in-command, nefarious plots, sentient cats, and more. This was playful, smart, funny, and weird. Click here   for my full review of Starter Villain . 03 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into the spotlight, falls for a cursed lover, and finds that her only hope of survival--and revenge--is outwitting church, state, and the wealthy who gleefully wield their cruel power. Luzia Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid for an insufferable, unsatisfied mistress. But when her employer figures out that Luzia is using tiny works of magic to get through her day, she insists that Luzia turn her attentions to magical efforts that will benefit her, or be turned out on the street. Luzia attracts the attention of more and more powerful people, and she soon finds herself navigating the complex world of seers, frauds, and holy men vying for the king's favor in a competition to earn a position in his inner circle. She must manage the weighty expectations set upon her--while always hiding her Jewish blood, which would make her a target of the terrifying Inquisition that looms over everyone. I love a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and while this novel isn't as layered and complex or as twisty as some other Bardugo novels, The Familiar  hit the spot for me with trademark Bardugo detail and world-building that set a dark, rich scene for the action; an unassuming, unlikely heroine who comes into her power; an unorthodox, deep love; and satisfying revenge over corruption and evil. For my full review of this book--and for links to my reviews of other Leigh Bardugo books--please see The Familiar . 04 Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang I loved the dark academia setting, Sciona's bid to become the first female in the High Magistry, and her rethinking of long-held assumptions and prejudices. Wang doesn't shy away from a dramatic reckoning for the story's main characters in the end. For twenty years, Sciona has single-mindedly set out to learn enough complex, intuitive, precise, powerful magic to become the first woman to be accepted into the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry.   But after Sciona blasts the competition at her entrance exam and is admitted, she finds that not all of her dreams have come true. The misogyny and contempt of her peers means she faces a lack of respect and resources at every turn. For example, instead of a lab assistant, she is assigned a janitor without magical training. The janitor is a cultural outsider with a complicated history, and what he lacks in training he makes up for with the desire to learn more about the forces that may have long ago destroyed his family. When he and Sciona uncover an enormous magical secret, it could not only mean the undoing of the magical hierarchies that many have come to take for granted--it's dangerous enough that those in power want to silence the two of them for good. I loved the dark academia setting, Sciona's sassy spirit, and the outsider-becoming-an-insider theme. Sciona's fight to pursue magic and her oft-frustrated ambition, her personal journey of reconsidering her assumptions about the Tiranish culture and its people's intentions, and an immense reckoning for all. Please click here  to see my full review of Blood Over Bright Haven . 05 The Fragile Threads of Powe r (Threads of Power #1) by V. E. Schwab Schwab returns to the world of the four Londons in the first of a wonderfully paced new series featuring established characters, their banter, and their in-progress stories as well as a new antagonist and a new potential hero who are both strong, fascinating young women. “If you only think of the wrong hands magic can fall into, you forget that now and then there are right ones.” The Fragile Threads of Power  is set in the world of Schwab's Shades of Magic, with a return to the four Londons. The Londons are connected by magic but separated by doors, which were created in a desperate attempt to protect the magic of each world. Only a few Antari have been born in a generation, and they have long been the only ones with the power to open these doors. If you've read the Shades of Magic books, you'll already be acquainted with the fantastic characters of Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk of White London. Schwab does an excellent job of reinforcing characters from prior stories while introducing new ones; in this first of her new series, she weights the story more heavily toward names we already know and storylines in progress, which I found satisfying. Meanwhile, two young women, a new antagonist and a new potential hero, trickle into the story until their presences are a flood. One may upend everything across four worlds--and one may possibly be able to save them all. For my full review, and to link to my reviews of other V. E. Schwab books, please check out The Fragile Threads of Power . 06 A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated #1) by Danielle L. Jensen The first in Jensen's fantasy series ticked many of my boxes--strong female main character, a tension-filled Chosen One premise, a fight for respect and to trust others, action, Norse-inspired elements, and a romantic storyline in the background. A Fate Inked in Blood  is the first book in Danielle L. Jensen's Norse-inspired fantasy duology, and when the book begins, Freya is yet again gutting fish alongside her brutish, cruel, selfish husband. But things get worse: her husband's foolish bluster causes Freya to have to fight to the death against Bjorn, the firstborn son of the jarl. In the heat of battle, Freya discovers that the secret her late father had been holding in order to try to keep her safe is that she is a shield maiden. The drop of a goddess's blood she possesses means she can repel any attack. Now those who would control her want her to do their bidding, and her people's enemies want her dead. Only the irritatingly handsome, arrogant Bjorn may be able to team up to keep Freya alive--allowing her to discover and fulfill her true destiny. But can her feelings for Bjorn be trusted? Can Bjorn himself be trusted? This is my kind of "romantasy": adventure, fate, a strong main female character, a Chosen One setup--with a slow-build attraction and romance in the background. I loved the Nordic influence as well as Freya's fight to determine who she can trust, which part of the visions and future she may take as written in stone and which she can reimagine, and her noble, imperfect warrior's heart and intention. I can't wait to read the next in this series, A Curse Carved in Bone . Click here   for my full review of A Fate Inked in Blood.

I love a frigid setting, and Rene Denfeld's The Child Finder immerses the reader in an icy, wild forest as instinctive, savvy, and haunted private investigator Naomi Cottle seeks the truth about a young girl's disappearance. This book is dark and beautiful, with such expansive descriptions of the mountains, the closed-in forests, and the traps and dangers of the winter and the wild that I could almost feel the cold. The elements that feel potentially familiar or could have felt overused from use in other stories (a tough, closed-off investigator, broken by her past; a strong, kind man’s singular, devoted but unrequited love for her; the general outline of the disturbing situation at the heart of the book’s main case) are cushioned by Denfeld’s skillful setting of the scene and lovely shaping of the story. This was a fast and engrossing read. There's a second book in this Naomi Cottle series, The Butterfly Girl , which I haven't yet read, and Denfeld also wrote The Enchanted , which I found haunting and arresting, as well as Sleeping Giants . I mentioned The Child Finder in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer . More missing-person stories If you like unlikely heroines and missing-person plots, you might also like Before She Disappeared . And check out this link for more Bossy reviews of novels with missing-persons plots.

Pony Confidential is a cute story of a bond between a pony and its long-ago owner. It's nominally a mystery, but it's mainly a heartwarming story about determination and honoring old loyalties, and it makes clear that a happy ending is coming. In Pony Confidential 's alternating points of view, Christina Lynch offers a playful story of Penny, an elementary schoolteacher accused of a murder she didn't commit, and the grumpy pony she used to love, who resents Penny's long-ago abandonment of him but knows that the girl he once adored is an innocent woman who needs his help. Industrious, observant, headstrong Pony finds his hard feelings fading as he develops an elaborate plan to find Penny and save her from her unwarranted imprisonment. Penny doesn't remember the events around the death for which she's imprisoned, but she recalls other events from her youth, and she revels in her early connection to Pony. We track back in time to her youth as pieces of the mystery are revealed. Pony's adventurous zigzagging around the country, which makes up the bulk of the book, tired me out. The story is nominally a mystery, but more so a tale of a pony who is thwarted at nearly all of its headstrong, grand, admirable efforts, with a few pivotal successes and a great payoff at the end. There are funny moments, and this is a cute--at times a little too cute for my taste--tale that always seemed sure to be headed toward a heartwarming ending for both Penny and Pony. More by Christina Lynch Christina Lynch is also the author of Sally Brady's Italian Adventure and The Italian Party.

The unnamed main protagonist in All Fours frequently made me feel uncomfortable because of her unorthodox decision-making and near-constant navel-gazing, but she ultimately uses her unorthodox detour from her everyday life to shape a fulfilling path forward. In All Fours , Miranda July offers the story of an unexpected midlife journey, in which a semi-famous creative type (her medium and work is unspecified) sets out on a road trip from LA to New York to meet with friends and find inspiration--but impulsively exits the freeway thirty minutes from home and checks into a motel instead. The unnamed narrator leads her (steady, unthrilling) husband and her child Sam to believe that she is following her carefully planned route and then that at the end of her cross-country adventure, she is immersing herself in the wonders of New York. But she is actually redecorating her nearby motel room (using the $20,000 windfall she was to spend on her NYC trip), wandering the nondescript town, making up stories about her New York experience, and developing an all-consuming obsession with a younger man who works at Hertz. I generally feel extreme personal discomfort at witnessing others' questionable decision-making, and at times I felt as though All Fours was sent to test my limits. I had visceral reactions to some of the protagonist's choices, and, early on and often I was exhausted by her relentless, intense navel-gazing and the picking-apart of each minute detail within each of her experiences. Her revved-up sex drive was so heavily featured, it felt like its own character. But I settled into the constant unease of traveling alongside a character whose author seemed hell bent on making the reader uncomfortable. (Beyond the main protagonist's overreaching intention to burn it all down in her life, there are extended scenes that involve bonding through cutting matted poop hair away from a dog's butt; one character's removal of a tampon from another in a bid for unorthodox intimacy; and putting hands into a stream of another person's pee for the same purpose.) The shape of the character's primary relationship after these weeks in the hotel room is unusual (she polls her friends to determine that it is so within her circle as well) and for me was a relief, as it was an actively chosen path rather than a reactive, motel-based, lie-founded, drawn-out floundering that heavily featured and often relied upon various bodily fluids. I appreciated the exploration aspect of the story, and ultimately I could appreciate its existence within a claustrophobia-inducing and self-imposed set of impulsively imposed and drawn-out circumstances. I laughed out loud once and did enjoy the dark humor that emerges at times. The title references a scene in which the main character's sculptor friend is working on a headless piece of a woman on all fours, and her note that it is not the most vulnerable pose as we might think, but the most stable position for the human body. I listened to All Fours as an audiobook. More about Miranda July A performance artist, actress, and director, July is also the author of the books The First Bad Man and It Chooses You and the stories No One Belongs Here More than You .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Jennifer Weiner's upcoming novel, The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits ; I'm listening to Miranda July's All Fours ; and I'm reading Christina Lynch's bighearted mystery Pony Confidential . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner Cassie and Zoe Greenberg are sisters who have always been opposites. Cassie, a musical prodigy, avoided the limelight, while Zoe dreamed of stardom since she was a child. For one mindboggling year when they're young adults, the sisters reach the heights of fame as the pop duo The Griffin Sisters--featured in Rolling Stone , performing on Saturday Night Live , and with their videos on MTV. Then their run abruptly ended, and for the public, the reasons for their breakup were a mystery. Twenty years later, Zoe is a housewife and Cassie is a recluse. But when Zoe's headstrong daughter Cherry determines to become a star, she digs into the reasons for the sisters' falling out and the band's breakup. I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published April 8, courtesy of William Morrow and NetGalley. Weiner is also the author of the novels Good in Bed, That Summer, Good Summer , The Summer Place , and more. If you like to read fiction about music, you might also like the titles I included in the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music . 02 All Fours by Miranda July Miranda July offers an unexpected midlife journey, in which a semi-famous creative type (her medium and work is unspecified) sets out on a road trip from LA to New York to meet with friends and find inspiration--but impulsively exits the freeway thirty minutes from home and checks into a motel instead. She leads her (steady, unthrilling) husband and her child Sam to believe that she is following her carefully planned route and then that she is immersing herself in New York. But she is redecorating the nearby motel room (using the $20,000 windfall she was to spend on her NYC trip), wandering the nondescript town, and developing an all-consuming obsession with a younger man who works at Hertz. I'm listening to All Fours as an audiobook. 03 Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch In alternating points of view, Christina Lynch offers a playful story of Penny, an elementary schoolteacher accused of a murder she didn't commit, and the grumpy pony she used to love, who resents his own abandonment but knows that the girl he once adored is an innocent woman. Industrious, observant, headstrong Pony finds his hard feelings fading as he develops an elaborate plan to find Penny and save her from her unwarranted imprisonment. So far this is a cute--at times a little too cute for my taste--mystery that seems sure to be headed toward a heartwarming ending for both Penny and Pony.

More of My Favorite Rom-Com Reads This is my second favorites lists of rom-coms and romantic reads from the past year. In my last list I mentioned rom-coms with weighty themes, and some of these titles fit that bill. Others are more light, with happy endings you might see coming from a mile away--and won't mind predicting at all. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! Have you read any other rom-com or romantic novels that you loved? Check out these Bossy links for more romantic novels or lighter fiction . You might also be interested in the books on these Greedy Reading Lists: Six Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six More Great Rom-Coms Perfect for Summer Reading Six of My Favorite Light Fictions Reads of the Past Year Six More of My Favorite Light Fiction Reads of the Past Year Six Great Light Fiction Stories Perfect for Summer Reading , and Six More Great Light Fiction Stories 01 Funny Story by Emily Henry Funny Story  is the perfect rom-com read. Henry offers funny banter that made me laugh, some steamy moments, and a sweet love story. Reading this one made me happy. When Peter abruptly breaks up with Daphne, citing his sudden love for his childhood best friend Petra, Daphne is left emotionally reeling--and without a place to live. Desperate and devastated, she reluctantly moves into a spare room in the apartment of an acquaintance, "pothead" Miles. He has extra space because he was just dumped by his live-in girlfriend Petra. Who left him for Daphne's fiancé, Peter. This is exxxxcellent Emily Henry. The banter is fantastic, and I laughed many times while reading this one. There's steaminess and affection and character growth. No one is perfect, no one is swooning, and the love in this happy read is immensely satisfying. The rom-com conflict that prevents an immediate happy resolution was based on a communication fail--a setup I usually detest, because: just talk to each other!--but this one was so well done and understandable from both sides, I was hook, line, and sinker for all of it. Henry offers up lots of book love, as usual: Daphne is a dedicated children's librarian. I listened to Funny Story  as an audiobook (narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan). For my full review of this book, please see Funny Story . Henry's Beach Read  was one of my favorite books the year I read it, and it made it onto the Greedy Reading List Six Lighter Fiction Stories for Great Escapism . People We Meet on Vacation  was another great Henry story; you can check out my review here , and you might like to check out its spot on Six More Great Light Fiction Stories , plus the five other titles on that Greedy Reading List. Emily Henry is also the author of Happy Place  and Book Lovers . 02 The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center Katherine Center offers a writing-focused story in which forced proximity, past secrets, complicated life circumstances, and a fear of vulnerability complicate the professional and personal lives of an unlikely writing duo. Emma Wheeler writes romantic comedies, and she longs to be a screenwriter. But her life in Texas is complicated: her father requires a full-time caregiver, and Emma is it. When, due to her promising talent and her best friend from high school (who's now a high-powered agent), Emma gets the chance to rework a script by the famous screenwriter Charlie Yates (whose works and quotes are posted all over her room), she bends over backward to make it happen. Her sister steps in to help with their dad at home, and Emma moves to Los Angeles for six weeks of inspiring, career-building, lucrative, and life-changing work. Only, the last thing Charlie Yates wants is someone changing his (terrible) script. He doesn't even believe in love, and he's quite certain that Emma is not a solution to any of his problems. As in all good rom-coms, there's a conflict keeping the potential couple apart, and I appreciated the nuances of this one. Center doesn't rely on a miscommunication trope (my very least favorite), and I could see where both sides were coming from emotionally within their prolonged heartbreak of having to be apart. Please click here for my full review of The Rom-Commers . Katherine Center is also the author of Hello Stranger , What You Wish For , Things You Save in a Fire , The Bodyguard , How to Walk Away , Happiness for Beginners , and other books. 03 The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun The reality-show setting and LGBTQIA+ representation in Ever After  flips the traditional fairy tale in satisfying, heartwarming ways in this romantic story. Dev has dedicated his career to the reality dating show Ever After , helping to shape it into the popular, long-running franchise it is. He's typically the handler for the "princesses" as they vie for the attentions of the show's star ("the prince"). But when his producers cast disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its newest eligible bachelor and assign Dev to be his handler, Dev isn't sure he can salvage the situation. Charlie is devastatingly handsome--but he's awkward, clumsy, private, and quiet...not exactly the most promising television presence. How will they capture enough usable moments to make a show? Dev spends countless hours with the bachelor, working to get him to loosen up and open up. Dev shares that he's recently broken up with Ryan, who also works on the show. And Charlie begins to realize he feels more of a connection to Dev than to any of the twenty beautiful women currently parading through his life. The story's romantic storyline depends heavily upon one character's never having entertained thoughts of the sexuality and desire that blooms dramatically within the book. This revelation opens the door to the discovery of and the discussion of various characters' newly realized or revealed sexual identities--as well as, in some cases, the expressed aim of not defining sexuality with traditional rigidity. I loved the open discussions of mental health, the characters' realistic imperfections, the LGBTQIA+ representation, and the deeply felt romance. If you like the sound of this book, you might also like the books on my Greedy Reading List Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies . For more Bossy reviews of books with LGBTQIA+ representation, please check out this link . For my full review, please see The Charm Offensive . 04 The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore Laurie Devore's novel goes behind the scenes of a reality dating show, complete with sordid details, manipulation, and manufactured moments, all serving as a backdrop to a fearless contestant's creeping toward destruction--and her struggle to figure out if the love she feels is real. Jac Matthis is a romance novelist whose first book tanked (the main protagonist chose her career over a man, enraging readers who'd been counting on a different happy ever after), leaving little audience for her second published book and nonexistent demand for a third. In an attempt to boost her exposure and thereby resuscitate her writing career, the frank and cynical, unapologetically brutally honest, casual-sex fan Jac is set to appear as a contestant on a Bachelor -type reality TV show in which the ultimate goal is a proposal and marriage. After one last fling, Jac reports to the set--only to find out that her one-night stand is a producer on the show who had been absent during her auditions. Complications abound as the eligible TV bachelor seems to be falling for Jac, she makes enemies of multiple fellow contestants, she struggles with the staged and manipulated nature of every moment--and she realizes that she's being painted as the villain of the show. I found it fairly challenging to connect with Jac. For me, her pretending was frequently difficult to parse from what was real. Yet the cutthroat, often chilling behind-the-scenes dating-show dynamics and logistics seemed plausible and were horrifyingly fascinating. Devore offers a version of happy ever after, and of revenge, that was fun to watch take shape. For my full review, please see The Villain Edit . I mentioned The Villain Edit in the Greedy Reading List Six Romantic Novels Set in the World of TV and Movies . 05 The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren The Paradise Problem  is the perfect light fiction read to close out the summer, with a high-stakes fake marriage, comeuppances for the greedy bad guys, our main protagonists' falling deeply in love, art > wealth, and plenty of Christina Lauren's signature steamy scenes. In Christina Lauren's newest romantic fiction, Anna and West are a young married couple on the verge of divorce. But this isn't heartbreaking for either party, because they were only married to reap the benefits of married student housing at UCLA. Several years after saying goodbye, Anna is struggling to pay for her father's cancer treatment and has just been fired from her cashier's job at the corner store...when West shows up on her doorstep. The two were never divorced after all, West has a trust fund--and he has to stay married to Anna to collect on it. Which means traveling together to a tropical island for his sister's wedding, pretending to be soulmates, and fooling West's family. This is an adorable fake-dating-in-paradise setup with funny dialogue, a wonderfully imperfect main protagonist, steamy moments, and a tantalizing prospect of a Happy Ever After ending. The writing team of Christina Lauren also authored the books The True Love Experiment , The Unhoneymooners , In a Holidaze , Love and Other Words , Something Wilder , and Autoboyography . Click here for my full review of The Paradise Problem . 06 Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher Croucher's young adult queer medieval adventure romance is sweet, spunky, and full of great banter, with characters finding their way (and love) despite complex challenges. "You aren’t merry," Clem said to her captor. "And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line." Mariel is the bristly new captain of the Merry Men and is anxious to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the retired Robin Hood (who now lives with his true love, William), and to make her hard-to-please father, who has wrested control of the Merry Men, proud. Clem is a jovial healer from the country who is advancing medical techniques and is sought out for her helpful salves and methods in a time of the outdated use of leeches and attempts to cure dark humors. Clem has only noble intentions of helping others, and she doesn't differentiate between those on the Sheriff's side and those on the Merry Men's side. When the Merry Men capture Clem in retribution for her help in healing the Sheriff of Nottingham, things get complicated for both Mariel and Clem in this sassy, fun, queer historical fiction young adult romance. The group faces real challenges, and some characters don't make it through the battles and sometimes-messy plans-gone-awry. Consequences feel appropriately weighty. It's a young adult book, with lots of love and attraction but very little steaminess (none explicit), and it kept me hooked with the layers of emotional growth, the fights for autonomy, and the determination to build a new future. I am all in for Lex Croucher novels forever. The banter, the adventure, the medieval setting--yes yes yes. For my full review--and for a link to my rave Bossy review of Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (which was on my first list of rom-com favorites from the past year)--check out Not for the Faint of Heart .

I loved the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy setting. I found myself yearning for the expert pacing, intrigue setup, and rich character development of my beloved Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by the same author. Nahri makes a living on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, skillfully thieving and honing her skills as a con artist. The only thing that isn't a lie is her mysterious ability to instinctually, instantaneously heal others and herself. During a con she accidentally summons a djinn warrior, Dara, and the two must flee across the desert to Daevabad, a magical city whose most powerful citizens rely on fire. But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living on the streets. Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival only serves to feed the flames of conflict. I loved the headstrong, powerful but untrained main character Nahri, the complex cultural backgrounds clashing in the book, and the Middle Eastern-based, fantastical worldbuilding. I was in for the political inrigue, mythology, magic, and battles--but I'm not sure I fully grasped the intricacies of the political histories, conflicts, and intentions; the Nahri-Dara relationship felt difficult for Nahri to settle into, and therefore left me uncertain as well; and the pacing left me feeling somewhat unsettled, moving from event to event without gaining steady footing. I listened to The City of Brass as an audiobook. It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper  and The Empire of Gold . More Chakraborty love Chakraborty is also the author of the wonderful novel The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi , the first in the series of the same name; she published that book under the name Shannon Chakraborty. I listed Amina in the Greedy Reading List Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I Loved in the Past Year .

Killers of a Certain Age was darkly funny, action-packed, feminist, and friend-focused. I love the second installment's return to my favorite aging assassins and their quick-thinking, spry, deadly answers to those who have broken moral codes--and who have our protagonists in their sights. You could get a real job instead of this endless loop of make-believe, this merry-go-round of cover stories and covert assignments. But you don't. Because the person you're supposed to kill has been chosen for a good reason. Whatever contract exists between human beings, a contract of decency and common humanity, they've broken it. The first installment of Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age series was a fun, darkly funny, feminist story about a retiring female team of elite assassins. It was the right book at the right time for me: entertainment in the perfect combination of action and suspense, loyal friendship, clever plotting, and the promise of love. Book two picks up when our main characters, having laid low and lived their own lives for a year, are contacted by the Museum, the elite assassin organization they used to work for. An Eastern European gangster has obtained the names of agents who have stood in his way over the years, and our aging assassins seem likely to be next on his hit list. They must figure out who's turned traitor on the Museum and shared this information--and stay alive long enough to bring them to justice. I remain fully invested in this premise of aging elite assassins who feel deep affection for and, at times, annoyance with each other. Their age plays into their potential disguises (and the ribbing they give each other about vanity or work they've had done), but generally they remain mentally and physically spry enough to think several steps ahead and to move lithely and with deadly precision (whew, that train ride!). Somebody has to put the chessboard to rights, pick up the wrecked pieces and set it back at the start. So you pick up your bag and you close the door behind you, just like you've closed a hundred other doors. And you know that every time you do, you've left another piece of you behind. Kills Well with Others sometimes feels a little bit as though Raybourn is gamely giving her readers what they want (more Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, Natalie--and Tanner!) rather than writing a book she felt compelled to put out into the world. But I'm one of those who are eager for more time with these clever, sometimes grumpy, often spontaneous, satisfyingly quick-thinking assassins who are loyal to each other above all. The mind-bending examinations of what other characters might be up to and the combat and narrow escapes keep the pacing lively and engaging. In between, Raybourn allows friendships and love to grow and change. If Raybourn keeps writing this series, I'll read every last installment. I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley. More Deanna Raybourn love Raybourn is also the author of the wonderful Killers of a Certain Age , which was the first in the Killers of a Certain Age series. And I loved A Curious Beginning , the first book in Deanna Raybourn's feisty Veronica Speedwell series of historical fiction mysteries, as well as the sequels A Perilous Undertaking , A Treacherous Curse , A Dangerous Collaboration , and A Murderous Relation . (There are currently nine books in the series.)

In Hall's Broken Country , characters do their duties, find wondrous love, feel heartbreak, suffer tragedies, sometimes act impulsively, and reel from the consequences of all of the above. A mystery surrounds a deadly moment, and the book ends with a hopeful, imperfect, heartbreaking way forward. Beth and her kind husband Frank live and farm outside the small English village where they grew up. They love each other, but they are able to stay married only because they push down the memories of tragedies that could haunt them, and because secrets from the past stay buried. But when Frank's brother shoots a dog going after the family's sheep, the gunshot sets into motion events that will change everything. The dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, Beth's childhood love, and his return to town brings back long-suppressed complications around jealousies, love, choices, and the weighty consequences of the past. I love a farm-life novel, and in Broken Country , Hall creates a background of relentless care, feeding, planting, harvesting, repair, routines, life, and death. Against the straightforward, duty-driven work, Hall sets a complex, twisted set of past affections, heartbreak, vulnerability, and hurt, then offers up faulted, broken, hopeful, impulsive characters who are at times wondrously stoic, and at other times act against their best interests, complicating everything and potentially destroying everything in their wake. Broken Country is a study of an extreme, life-and-death-stakes fallout after heartbreaking tragedy, but it's also a story of young love blossoming, then shriveling under the first pressures of the outside world; it's a mystery in which duty overpowers the difficult truth; and it's a hopeful view of how an imperfect set of characters can find their clumsy, sometimes beautiful, way forward. I read this immersive story in a flash. More books about forbidden love I received a prepublication edition of Broken Country  courtesy of Simon & Schuster and NetGalley. For more books about forbidden love, check out the titles at this link .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's upcoming novel, Dream Count ; I'm listening to the first in S. A. Chakraborty's Daevabad fantasy trilogy, The City of Brass ; and I'm reading Olivia Hawker's upcoming historical fiction, The Stars and Their Light . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count , Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in the US, is living through the pandemic alone. She considers her past loves as well as the lives, choices, and challenges of three strong women in her life: her best friend Zikora, a successful lawyer who must regroup after devastating heartbreak; Omelogor, Chiamaka's loud, confident cousin in Nigeria, professionally fulfilled but in a crisis of identity; and her housekeeper Kadiatou, sacrificing so much to raise her daughter in America but facing grueling hardship. I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published April 1, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Adichie is also the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Americanah . 02 The City of Brass (Daevabad #1) by S. A. Chakraborty Nahri makes a living on the streets of eighteenth-century Cairo, skillfully thieving and honing her skills as a con artist. The only thing that isn't a lie is her mysterious ability to instinctually, instantaneously heal others and herself. During a con she accidentally summons a djinn warrior, Dara, and the two must flee across the desert to Daevabad, a magical city whose most powerful citizens rely on fire. But the city is split between two groups, those holding the throne and palace and those eking out a living on the streets. Centuries-old resentments and conflicts threaten to bubble up into war--and Nahri and Dara's arrival only serves to feed the flames of conflict. I'm listening to The City of Brass as an audiobook. It's the first in a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold . Chakraborty is also the author of the wonderful novel The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi , the first in the series of the same name; she published that book under the name Shannon Chakraborty. 03 The Stars and Their Light by Olivia Hawker It's 1947, and Sister Mary Agnes is in Roswell, New Mexico, to establish a monastery. The effort is in direct response to the reported crash of an unidentified craft in the area--and the area's ensuing, growing crisis of faith and turning to the stars for divine guidance. Drawn to locals like high schooler Betty Campbell, who is physically and psychologically changed after the event, and handyman Harvey, who witnessed the crash, Mary Agnes aims to draw those in doubt back to the church. But she experiences a wavering and changing faith of her own. Olivia Hawker is also the author of October in the Earth , The Fire and the Ore , The Ragged Edge of Night , and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow , which I mentioned in the Greedy Reading List Six Great Historical Fiction Stories Set in the American West . I received a prepublication edition of this title, scheduled for publication April 1, courtesy of Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley.

My very favorite Bossy March reads! I'm taking a break from social media for Lent, and while I love to talk books on Instagram and Facebook and to peruse other people's reads, it's no surprise that I've been loving putting my extra time into reading great books. Here are six of my March favorites. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 Time of the Child by Niall Williams Time of the Child  feels like poetry in prose form, and Williams richly shapes a small-town Irish community's everyday and extraordinary events in this poignant, gorgeous literary fiction novel. In 1962 in the small Irish town of Faha, it's Christmastime, and Dr. Jack Troy and his oldest daughter Ronnie are coping with complicated family dynamics in their drafty, rural Irish home when an unexpected discovery turns everything upside down. During the annual, chaotic community fair preceding this holidays, which this year is a rainy business full of haggling, disappointments, and triumphs, an infant is left by the church gates. Young Jude and Faha's grown twins, Tim and Tom, bring the baby girl to Dr. Troy and Ronnie, believing her dead but not sure what else to do. And she does seem to have passed on to another realm, until Dr. Troy is able to revive her. In an impulsive pact, the four men agree not to share the news of the baby with anyone. Meanwhile Ronnie quickly falls in love with the infant girl, who she begins to call Noelle, and Jack opens his heart with the same devotion to the baby. As weeks go on the two of them care for her and go to extremes to try to keep Noelle's existence a secret. When her presence is revealed, they form desperate plans to keep her. But an unwed mother in that time and place has little chance of keeping a child once the Church has a hold of it. What really shines in Time of the Child  is the power of the small-town Faha community--gossipy and desperate for dirt as its citizens may largely be. The miracle of unity brought about by a baby's presence is poignant without feeling too easy. This story is beautiful and powerful. Williams's writing feels like a poem in prose structure; no word is wasted, and I read this novel slowly in order to savor the world the author so gorgeously created. For my full review of this book please see Time of the Child . 02 Show Don't Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld In Curtis Sittenfeld's wonderful second short-story collection, we meet imperfect characters, often fortysomething women, in moments large and small that push them to determine what they're made of as they consider friendship, betrayal, fear of failure, the power of memory, art, parenthood, and more. In Curtis Sittenfeld's first short-story collection, You Think It, I'll Say It , she offered ten stories of fully realized, fascinating characters that stuck with me. I loved it and rated the collection five stars. In her second fantastic short-story collection, Curtis Sittenfeld explores middle age, fame, friendship, artistry--and "Lost but Not Forgotten" is a story featuring Lee Fiora, a character from Sittenfeld's novel Prep , in which Lee attends an alumni event at her boarding school. My favorite writing often turns expectations on their heads, and In Show Don't Tell , Sittenfeld draws us into crucial stages of faulted characters' lives, in which they figure out what they're made of. Throughout the book, characters, often middle-aged women, consider art, expression, love, respect, friendship, and limitations as they live their fascinatingly imperfect lives. This is more excellent Curtis Sittenfeld; I'm a forever fan. You can click here for my review of Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy , here for my Bossy take on American Wife , and here  for You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories . If you enjoy short story collections, you might like to check out Six Short Story Collections to Wow You  and Six More Short Story Collections I Loved . Click here for my full review of Show Don't Tell . 03 Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison Lorne is a thorough, 650-page look at Michaels's creation of and steering of SNL . What I found most fascinating were the behind-the-scenes peeks at assembling a cast; the show's evolving vision, sketches, and position in society; and the incredibly hectic manner in which a weekly show is put together and performed live. Susan Morrison was given unfettered access to Lorne as well as SNL  and its past and present players, and in Lorne , she shares the deeply researched story of how Lorne Michaels developed SNL , his ups and downs, his vision, and how he created the institution that would change comedy forever. I was intrigued by Michaels's role in creating SNL , growing it, and adapting it, as well as his taste-making, often inspired casting, hands-on production--and hands-off avoidance of many interpersonal conflicts. But Lorne's fascination with his celebrity friends came off as somewhat insufferable, then kind of tiresome, and ultimately so intertwined with his manner and lifestyle that I became resigned to the incessant name-dropping as just how Michaels is. The fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at a week shaping a show (Jonah Hill is the host for the featured episode) are interspersed with past evolutions of the show, its cast, and Lorne's personal life. After five decades, it feels surprising that the hectic schedule and method by which the show's sketches are discussed, tinkered with, tried out, shortened (or abandoned) in dress rehearsal, then finalized just before air  continue to occur so seemingly haphazardly and last-minute, yet a show always comes out of the mayhem. Please click here for my full review of Lorne . 04 Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce In Kristy Boyce's young-adult charmer, high schoolers Riley and Nathan, coworkers who have nothing in common, end up in a fake-dating drama as they try to win over their love interests. High schooler Riley has a grand plan to become a Broadway director. But the always-epic school musical has been canceled because the school thinks there isn't enough support for it. So first she wants to get the spring musical set, then she'll mastermind her future. But when she borrows her mom's car without permission (to go see Waitress  out of town with her best friend, so: worth it) and gets grounded, she suddenly has to spend afternoons working at her father's game store instead. Determined not to give up on the musical, Riley sneaks and works on a master plan for a performance--and talks her unfriendly teen coworker, Nathan, into making his gamer crush jealous by doing some convincing flirting with him. Meanwhile, she agrees to take part in some nerdy game play. But role-playing in Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons game turns out to be...fun. And liking Nathan is starting to feel like less of an act than simply a reality. I love a fake-dating premise, and the Nathan-Riley setup is irresistible. I was hooked on their ups and downs--and the reasons for their "downs" are plausible enough that I loved rolling with them. The supporting characters and their side plots are funny and oddball and cute. This was a sweet world that I loved spending time in, and the fact that absolutely everything works out is immensely satisfying. For my full review of Dungeons and Drama , please check out this link . 05 The Favorites by Layne Fargo I loved the behind-the-scenes peeks at the drama, punishing hard work, sequins, and mind games of competitive figure skating. The backdrop for Kat and Heath's tumultuous mutual obsession was a series of destructive forces trying to tear them apart. The interview format and multiple perspectives add to the layers of the story. Young Katarina Shaw always felt that she was meant to become an Olympic champion. Heath Rocha was stuck in the foster care system. When he and Kat met, they made a connection that first built into a best-friendship between two lost young people, then love. Their mutual obsession ultimately translated into a powerful partnership on the ice, and when they eventually advanced to the Olympics, a dramatic event stopped their journey to the gold medal--and broke them up for good. Ten years later, we join the voyeuristic public and the insider news bursts in exploring what really happened years earlier. The delving into the past draws Kat and Heath back into each others' orbits--and reveals secrets they never could have imagined. The Favorites  is heavy on the skating--which I loved. (The prominent sports element reminded me of the tennis-focused novel Carrie Soto Is Back .) I love a peek behind the scenes, and I loved the politics, rivalries, determination, mind games, and sabotage in the story. The relentless pacing, romantic obsession, twists and turns, dramatic setbacks, exhilarating success, and sometimes over-the-top sabotage within The Favorites is immersive and irresistible. Johnny Weir is a standout audiobook narrator in the role of Ellis Dean, a mischievous rival of Kat and Heath's and an attention-grabbing behind-the-scenes reporter with redemptive, golden moments of loyalty. For my full review please check out The Favorites . 06 Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister The author of the fantastic Wrong Place, Wrong Time  is back with a smart, twisty mystery that's wonderfully heavy on character development and a story that hooked me. Famous Last Words  is another smart, twisty mystery from Gillian McAllister. Camilla is a new mother who has just dropped off her baby for her first day of daycare when the police arrive at her London office. It seems that her fun, carefree ghostwriter of a husband is involved in a hostage situation--as the one wielding the gun. Camilla, shocked, mostly cooperates with the police and the negotiator--until the hostages are shot and her husband escapes--then disappears. But in the ensuing years, Camilla can't stop obsessing over the unusual aspects of the siege: the violence is so out of character for Luke, the hostages are never identified, and Luke was behaving strangely beforehand and left her a cryptic note the morning of the horrifying events. Are the strange coordinates she's receiving on her phone after seven years a message from Luke? And if they are and could lead her to Luke, would her love possibly overcome her devastation at knowing that somehow her beloved partner became a coldhearted killer? McAllister's Wrong Place, Wrong Time  relied on an intriguing time-travel element as its twist. I thought that element would crop up and be in play here too, and I set myself on some early and wild mental goose chases trying to figure out how. But Famous Last Words  doesn't use--or require--that structure; the twist is largely internal. I loved this smart mystery that relies heavily on character development and mental agility for our narrator. I saw some plot points coming but not others, and a couple of essential details worked quite conveniently, but I didn't mind. The ending offers answers and resolution. Sign me up for all the Gillian McAllister books, please. Camilla is a literary agent, and I loved her escapes into books and her love for them. For my full review, please see Famous Last Words .

Gagne never experienced emotions the way other kids did, and when she grew older, while acting out, lying, stealing, and fighting violent impulses, she self-diagnosed herself as a sociopath. This is a fascinating peek at her motivations, impulses, discoveries, and self-discovered coping mechanisms--which she now uses as a therapist for others with sociopathy. I don’t care what other people think. I’m not interested in morals. I’m not interested, period. Rules do not factor into my decision-making. I’m capable of almost anything. Patric Gagne always knew she didn't experience emotions the way other people did. She wasn't concerned with consequences, danger, or other people's feelings. When she was a girl, she adhered to her mother's rule of always telling her the truth--but the truth seemingly made her mother (and everyone else) upset. So she began to keep secrets--because she was stealing loved ones' treasured possessions, breaking into homes, lying, and frequently fighting the urge to inflict violent harm on others. All I knew was that I didn’t feel things the way other kids did. I didn’t feel guilt when I lied. I didn’t feel compassion when classmates got hurt on the playground. For the most part, I felt nothing. And I didn’t like the way that “nothing” felt. So I did things to replace the nothingness with…something. During college, Gagne self-diagnosed herself as a sociopath. (The DSM-5 uses the term "antisocial personality disorder," but Gagne explains why this does not seem to properly capture her condition.) Frustrated by depictions of sociopaths as villains in the media and by the prospect of there being no treatment and little knowledge of how to manage sociopathy, Gagne examined herself, went to therapy, continued her studies, and researched everything she could. Meanwhile she introduced the topic of her sociopathy promptly upon meeting people, she reconnected with her teenage love, and she tried to shape a future knowing that little guidance existed regarding sociopaths' leading successful lives. Gagne often seems stuck; she wants others to immediately know of her sociopathy, but doesn't want to be reduced to only her mental health condition. She explains that she does not love or feel the way others do, so she mimics body language and borrows others' caring words--but she doesn't want to be discounted or perceived as unable to be a fulfilling partner, parent, or daughter. I was fascinated by the author's in-depth explorations of her motivations, triggers, abilities, needs, and fight for control. Her self-examination leads her to shape her life's work toward helping those who share her experiences and struggles. The memoir is structured with the engaging pacing of a novel--danger, discovery, redemption, and hope. Gagne asserts that she and others with sociopathy feel very little, don't adhere to societal safety standards or moral codes, and do not experience remorse or fear consequences. They may intrude in others' lives, take unwanted liberties, steal, lie, and experience a desperate, ongoing yearning to exert violence on others. Yet she seems to be frustrated and indignant that those without her mental health condition would be concerned about sociopaths' sense of nothing to lose--and that others would be concerned about suffering the consequences of sociopaths' impulsive, potentially destructive, behavior. This felt like a repeated disconnect for me. The author acknowledges her position of privilege, which certainly benefited her while she figured out how to assimilate into society while acting out in dangerous, illegal, and socially unacceptable ways. Those without her resources and safety net could (and likely do) very well have had their story cut short and end in a dramatically different fashion. I was fascinated by her one-woman trial and error method of determining her triggers, impulses, and coping mechanisms. The epilogue offers additional context for her current-day life and adds to my curiosity about her husband, who has lived beside her and within this whirlwind for many years as she has acted out, lied, and entered into danger, and who is now parenting along with Gagne. I listened to Patric Gagne read Sociopath as an audiobook; it's an upcoming read for my book club. More memoir love If you're looking for more Bossy reviews of memoirs--which I almost always listen to as audiobooks read by the author--please check out these books .

Mayer's memoir focuses on straddling two cultures without feeling fully integrated into either; the various frustrations, injustices, and wrongdoings she witnesses in the world; and her zigzagging path to feeling autonomous and in control. Youngmi Mayer is a stand-up comedian and podcast host, and she is intrigued by dark humor, aiming to inject it into her memoir I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying . She notes that she and her mother particularly leaned on laughing and joking during bleak moments. Mayer tracks her parents' mental illness as well as the complications of her combined Korean heritage and that of her white GI father. Regarding race, she specifically explores white people's involvement in the oppression of women in Korea, the Korean hierarchical views of white race, and mutual Japanese-Korean contempt. With the basis of not feeling as though she belongs fully in each culture, Mayer explains her zigzagging path to where she is now, through drugs, danger, demeaning situations, a disinterest in success, low self-esteem, and more. Her stint of involvement in the restaurant business was particularly interesting. I haven't heard Mayer's stand-up comedy, and this book is not humorous--nor is it somber. Mayer's tone is conversational and frank (her repeated mentions of "hairy buttholes" were jarring although these seemed intended to serve as funny illustrations of her white legitimacy?). Much of the book feels like a series of heartfelt tirades and they're presented without a clear path to answers. At the book's end the author directly acknowledges the circular nature of her topics and arguments. Mayer's own mind doesn't seem entirely clear on these often messy, complex, difficult matters, which may make it difficult for her to provide clarity for the reader. But clarity doesn't seem to be the point. The author is evolving in her views on the world, and while becoming a mother brought spotlight focus to her commitment to her son, she, like most of us, otherwise seems to be a work in progress. I listened to I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying as an audiobook. Bossy memoir love Youngmi Mayer is a standup comedian and host of the podcasts Feeling Asian and Hairy Butthole . For more memoirs I've loved, check out the titles and Bossy reviews at this link .

Lorne is a thorough, 650-page look at Michaels's creation of and steering of SNL . What I found most fascinating were the behind-the-scenes peeks at assembling a cast; the show's evolving vision, sketches, and position in society; and the incredibly hectic manner in which a weekly show is put together and performed live. Lorne Michaels has been at the head of Saturday Night Live  for the vast majority of its 50 years on air (he stepped away for a few years; this is detailed in the book). He comes across to observers as dry, but he is exceptional at identifying funny talent and shaping casts for the entertaining, silly, sometimes outrageous, and often subversive live weekly performances that have captured the attention of audiences since 1975. Susan Morrison was given unfettered access to Lorne as well as SNL  and its past and present players, and in Lorne , she shares the deeply researched story of how Lorne Michaels developed SNL , his ups and downs, his vision, and how he created the institution that would change comedy forever. Despite having been the one who requested a copy of this title, I (possibly unfairly) at times wondered, do I really need this much information about Lorne Michaels? His youth and background are thoroughly explored, and these illustrate how Michaels was shaped, but the Saturday Night Live -focused elements were far and away the most intriguing parts of the book for me. I was intrigued by Michaels's role in creating SNL , growing it, and adapting it, as well as his taste-making, often inspired casting, hands-on production--and hands-off avoidance of many interpersonal conflicts. But Lorne's fascination with his celebrity friends came off as somewhat insufferable, then kind of tiresome, and ultimately so intertwined with his manner and lifestyle that I became resigned to the incessant name-dropping as just how Michaels is. The fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at a week shaping a show (Jonah Hill is the host for the featured episode) are interspersed with past evolutions of the show, its cast, and Lorne's personal life. The structure works well to tell this story. The adoration of Lorne by so many former SNL cast members is a tribute to what a formative figure he is; when he believes in someone, he supports their projects and creative efforts even against logic and financial responsibility. His loyalty to not just the show but his cast and writers is powerful. (But his bristly breaks with those he feels haven't left in the right way or paid the proper respect to Lorne are chilling.) After five decades, it feels surprising that the hectic schedule and method by which the show's sketches are discussed, tinkered with, tried out, shortened (or abandoned) in dress rehearsal, then finalized just before air  continue to occur so seemingly haphazardly and last-minute, yet a show always comes out of the mayhem. More memoir love I received a prepublication edition of the 656-page Lorne courtesy of Random House and NetGalley. For more memoirs you may like, please check out the reviews of various titles at this link .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading an upcoming mystery set in glamorous Capri by Katy Hays, Saltwater ; I'm listening to standup comedian Youngmi Mayer's memoir, I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying ; and for my book club I'm listening to Patric Gagne's memoir, Sociopath . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Saltwater by Katy Hays Thirty years ago, Sarah Lingate was found dead under suspicious circumstances below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her young daughter Helen--and a host of relatives who might have wanted Sarah dead. Each year, the wealthy, powerful Lingate family returns to Capri as thought to quash rumors about Sarah's mysterious death. But this year, the family arrives at the villa to find a haunting relic from the past: the necklace Sarah was wearing when she died. Helen, determined to get to the bottom of her mother 's death, begins to dig into the truth, uncovering danger and beginning to fear that not everyone in her family may leave Capri alive. I received a prepublication edition of this title, to be published March 25, courtesy of Ballantine Books and NetGalley. Hays is also the author of The Cloisters . 02 I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying: A Memoir by Youngmi Mayer Youngmi Mayer is a standup comedian and podcast host, and she is intrigued by dark humor, aiming to inject it into her memoir I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying . She tracks her Korean heritage and her white GI father's complicated connection as part of the white oppression of women in Korea; explores issues of race; and explains her zigzagging path to where she is now, through drugs, danger, demeaning situations, a disinterest in success, low self-esteem, and more. So far her tirades feel heartfelt but without a clear path; I'm interested to find out where this is going. I'm listening to I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying as an audiobook. 03 Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne I don’t care what other people think. I’m not interested in morals. I’m not interested, period. Rules do not factor into my decision-making. I’m capable of almost anything. Patric Gagne always knew she didn't feel emotions the way other people did. She wasn't concerned with consequences, danger, or other people's feelings. When she was a girl, she adhered to her mother's rule of always telling her the truth--but the truth seemingly made everyone upset. She began to keep secrets--because she was stealing loved ones' treasured possessions, breaking into homes, lying, and frequently fighting the urge to inflict violent harm on others. All I knew was that I didn’t feel things the way other kids did. I didn’t feel guilt when I lied. I didn’t feel compassion when classmates got hurt on the playground. For the most part, I felt nothing. And I didn’t like the way that “nothing” felt. So I did things to replace the nothingness with…something. But during college, Gagne self-diagnosed herself as a sociopath. Frustrated by depictions of sociopaths as villains in the media and by the prospect of there being no treatment and little knowledge of how to manage sociopathy, Gagne examined herself, went to therapy, continued her studies, and researched like crazy. Meanwhile she introduced the topic of her sociopathy very quickly upon meeting people, she reconnected with her teenage love, and she tried to shape a future knowing that little guidance existed regarding sociopaths' leading successful lives. I'm listening to Sociopath as an audiobook; it's an upcoming read for my book club.

Six More Great Bossy Historical Fiction Reads It's March, and I'm still spending Fridays obsessing over my favorite reads of the past year in different genres. I loved so many historical fiction books last year, this is my second list of favorite reads. You can find the first list of favorites here . If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite historical fiction reads? 01 Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles This historical fiction story in two timelines introduces the little-known real-life figure of librarian Jessie Carson, who traveled from the NYPL to war-torn France and introduced a novelty to communities there during World War I: children's libraries. I love a book about scrappy librarians , and Janet Skeslien Charles's novel Miss Morgan's Book Brigade takes that setup farther into favorable Bossy territory by sending an idealistic, headstrong young librarian from the US to Europe and into a World War I setting. The story is told in two timelines. The past timeline is based on the real-life NYPL librarian Jessie Carson, and Charles tracks Carson's journey to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, funded by billionaire heiress Anne Morgan . In France, Carson not only helps rebuild communities destroyed by war, but along with her ambitious, inspired team of women, establishes something never before seen in France: children's libraries, where kids in war-torn communities can dream, lose themselves in fictional worlds, and try to recapture some carefree hours of their youth. The more modern timeline introduces Wendy, a NYPL librarian in the 1980s. In a book-within-a-book structure, the aspiring author Wendy is searching for a book topic when she stumbles upon the bare-bones story of Jessie and the Cards, as the group of women working in France were informally known. The more recent timeline allows for context for Jessie's story--little known and not well documented--beyond our reading of the original sequence of events, but the more recent story otherwise feels somewhat thin. Much of it centers around Wendy's falling in love with her vivacious coworker Roberto. I listened to Miss Morgan's Book Brigade as an audiobook. Charles is also the author of The Paris Library . Click here   for my full review of Miss Morgan's Book Brigade. 02 The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen Pylväinen's novel explores the cooperation and conflict among cultures in a mid-nineteenth century community in the Arctic Circle, immersing the reader in a cold, unforgiving climate and in the long-held traditions of its varied characters. ...she wondered, was this what love was, to persist when you didn't want to, to try for patience another time.... In Hanna Pylväinen's The End of Drum-Time , it's 1851 in the Arctic Circle, and a small community of reindeer herders, a minister's family and his flock of followers, and a local shop owner whose greatest profit comes from liquor are all trying to get through the winter. In their remote location in the Scandinavian tundra, they're each carving out lives shaped by the unforgiving snow and cold. Their cultures are sometimes mysteries to each other, and at times conflict greatly with others' traditions. I was fascinated by Pylväinen's explorations of how the old ways and new ways pushed against each other, as did the Finn, Lapp, Sámi, Swedish, and Russian influences of the region. Religion is a particular conflict in the novel, with the Christian characters proving themselves to be naïve, rigid, judgmental, greedy, vain, and foolhardy. The End of Drum-Time  was intriguing and kept me interested throughout; it was brutal and frustrating (these foolish men--!) but its setting was beautifully crafted. For more cold-setting stories, check out my Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire . For my full review of this book, please see The End of Drum-Time . 03 Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles Amor Towles revisits a character from the wonderful Rules of Civility  and also offers multiple New York-set tales. Towles's evocative stories drew me in, sometimes made me uncomfortable, and illuminated characters' true natures. In Table for Two: Fictions , Amor Towles offers six short stories set in New York City and a novella featuring a beloved Towles character that's set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. (The novella's historical fiction setting is what earned Table for Two a spot on this list.) In the novella Eve in Hollywood , Towles imagines the events following Rules of Civility , which ends with Evelyn Ross's departure from New York in 1938 and the train journey she extends to Los Angeles. The six New York-set stories all take place around the year 2000, and they consider the impacts of chance encounters, the complications of modern marriages, and more. Towles's writing is so lovely, I'm willing to follow his stories and his characters anywhere. This one took me a while to finish, but I savored each word. Amor Towles is also the author of The Lincoln Highway , A Gentleman in Moscow ,  a book I really liked, and Rules of Civility ,  which I was even more taken with--the old NYC setting was so vivid, it felt like its own character. Please click here for my full review of Table for Two . 04 The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang Quinn and Chang share an adventure- and danger-laden story of women artists, women of color, and women of various social classes--as well as their determination to find justice--in San Francisco just before the Great 1906 Earthquake. In 1906 San Francisco, two very different women seek new beginnings: Gemma is a gifted soprano whose career is in need of an overhaul, while Suling is an embroideress in Chinatown who is set against entering into the marriage that's been arranged for her. Henry Thornton is a wealthy railroad magnate and owner of the mysterious Phoenix Crown, an artifact legendary because of its origins in Beijing's Summer Palace. Thornton draws both Suling and Gemma into his world by offering to be their patron. But Thornton isn't a selfless, kind benefactor--he's a cruel, cutthroat, flighty villain holding deadly secrets. When San Francisco is devastated by an earthquake and the widespread destruction of its aftermath, Thornton disappears--and the Phoenix Crown with him. At times the story felt as though it was shifting into overly dramatic soap-opera territory for me, and while I understood the buildup to the earthquake, I didn't enjoy the interjections of multiple omniscient countdowns to the event. Yet I loved the rich early-1900s San Francisco setting, the focus on the arts, the strong women characters, and the varied representation of classes and circumstances, so I was willing to go wherever Quinn and Chang were taking me. It's evident that the authors exhaustively researched the era, prominent figures, and circumstances within San Francisco for women, artists, people of color, and others. For my full review, please see The Phoenix Crown . Kate Quinn is the author of the fantastic titles The Diamond Eye , The Huntress , The Rose Code , and The Alice Network. 05 Maria: A Novel of Maria Von Trapp by Michelle Moran I was hooked on the behind-the-scenes feeling of Moran's historical-fiction conversations between Maria von Trapp and an assistant to Oscar Hammerstein. In Michelle Moran's novel Maria , she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music . In the past, richly built period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family. In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. The demanding, exacting, elderly Maria insists that the depiction track more closely with her real life, and she furiously shares detailed notes with Fran, an up-and-coming young assistant in Hammerstein's office. I was fascinated by the script and production's departures from the facts within the story--most of which track with the movie version--which Maria highlights in her conversations with Fran. For example, the depiction of the Captain in the script at hand is as the family disciplinarian, but Maria asserts that she was the more strict and demanding parent. The family's singing is romanticized, but Maria reveals that one daughter had extreme anxiety about performing, and that while the singing was well received by the American public, the grueling touring schedule was rooted in a desperate bid to put food on the table for the family when few other prospects existed. This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music  sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, it's irresistible to learn more about Maria through the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book. I listened to Maria as an audiobook. For my full review, please see Maria . 06 Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh I loved each of the historical fiction story's two timelines--following a stewardess on board The Titanic  as well as a British spy working with the WWII French Resistance--and the details of life in each time, but I found the ending's resolutions too easy. The book's past timeline is set in the early 20th century, as Violet, a young ship's stewardess bent on providing for her family after her father's death and mother's onset of illness, works aboard ships including, as the story sweeps along, The Titanic . I love a ship-life story, and I was taken with the details of Violet's caring for the elite passengers. The story's later timeline takes place in the time of World War II as Daphne, an intelligent and educated young woman who is emotionally closed off and desperately trying to impress her estranged, famous father, serves as a spy assisting the French Resistance. Throughout Unsinkable , Daphne and Violet fought through unimaginable difficulties, focused on their duties at the expense of their romantic happiness, witnessed various horrors, and yet recognized and cultivated an unlikely spark of hope for themselves and their futures that felt hard-won and intriguing. The final scenes felt oddly clean and neatly wrapped up with a bow as though according to a formulaic "happy ending" equation, and I found this shift from the appealingly messy, imperfect, wonderful, adventurous, tragic lives shown in the bulk of the book to a smooth, no-loose-ends set of outlandish coincidences and resolutions jarring rather than wholly satisfying. Please click here for my full review of Unsinkable .

The author of the fantastic Wrong Place, Wrong Time is back with a smart, twisty mystery that's wonderfully heavy on character development and a story that hooked me. Famous Last Words  is another smart, twisty mystery from Gillian McAllister. Camilla is a new mother who has just dropped off her baby for her first day of daycare when the police arrive at her London office. It seems that her fun, carefree ghostwriter of a husband is involved in a hostage situation--as the one wielding the gun. Camilla, shocked, mostly cooperates with the police and the negotiator--until the hostages are shot and her husband escapes--then disappears. But in the ensuing years, Camilla can't stop obsessing over the unusual aspects of the siege: the violence is so out of character for Luke, the hostages are never identified, and Luke was behaving strangely beforehand and left her a cryptic note the morning of the horrifying events. Are the strange coordinates she's receiving on her phone after seven years a message from Luke? And if they are and could lead her to Luke, would her love possibly overcome her devastation at knowing that somehow her beloved partner became a coldhearted killer? Niall, the single-minded, lovable oaf of a hostage negotiator reels after the siege. While Camilla struggles to manage her single-parenting life and career after the tragedy, Luke's disappearance, and the surrounding scandal that pushes its ugly fingers into any peace she finds, we track Niall's life as his obsession with work upends his marriage, then as his failure in bringing out Luke and the hostages unharmed during the siege destroys his career. On separate but essential tracks, Niall and Camilla begin to piece together the truth of what happened that long-ago day in June--and then to work together. McAllister's Wrong Place, Wrong Time relied on an intriguing time-travel element as its twist. I thought that element would crop up and be in play here too, and I set myself on some early and wild mental goose chases trying to figure out how. But Famous Last Words doesn't use--or require--that structure; the twist is largely internal. Does Camilla believe in the Luke she knew? Does she trust that what doesn't add up could shape a new narrative around the events of that fateful day, one in which things aren't at all what they appeared to be? I loved this smart mystery that relies heavily on character development and mental agility for our narrator. I saw some plot points coming but not others, and a couple of essential details worked quite conveniently, but I didn't mind. The ending offers answers and resolution. Sign me up for all the Gillian McAllister books, please. Camilla is a literary agent, and I loved her escapes into books and her love for them. I listened to an audiobook edition of Famous Last Words courtesy of HarperAudio and Libro.fm . More Gillian McAllister love Gillian McAllister is also the author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time , a book I loved and not only listed in my Greedy Reading List Six More Time-Travel Stories to Explore , but included as one of my favorite books of the year  when I read it.

In Curtis Sittenfeld's wonderful second short-story collection, we meet imperfect characters, often fortysomething women, in moments large and small that push them to determine what they're made of as they consider friendship, betrayal, fear of failure, the power of memory, art, parenthood, and more. How did I think for so long that the tidbits my mother shared didn't contain lessons? I see in retrospect that they were nothing but lessons. As you make your way through the world, you will feel bewildered, appalled, and charmed by other people. In Curtis Sittenfeld's first short-story collection, You Think It, I'll Say It , she offered ten stories of fully realized, fascinating characters that stuck with me. I loved it and rated the collection five stars. In her second fantastic short-story collection, Curtis Sittenfeld explores middle age, fame, friendship, artistry--and "Lost but Not Forgotten" is a story featuring Lee Fiora, a character from Sittenfeld's novel Prep , in which Lee attends an alumni event at her boarding school. My favorite writing often turns expectations on their heads, and In Show Don't Tell , Sittenfeld draws us into crucial stages of faulted characters' lives, in which they figure out what they're made of. In "A for Alone," a married artist seeks to disprove the "Mike Pence Rule" (which actually did not originate with him; it asserts that married men should not meet with women alone, even in a work setting) by meeting with male acquaintances, friends, and coworkers from various points in her life and documenting the experience. The project shifts her thinking in unanticipated ways. In another story, a white woman makes racial assumptions, is caught on camera, and faces the consequences. Throughout the book, other characters, often middle-aged women, consider art, expression, love, respect, friendship, and limitations as they live their fascinatingly imperfect lives. This is more excellent Curtis Sittenfeld; I'm a forever fan. I received a prepublication version of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley. More Bossy Curtis Sittenfeld (and short-story) love You can click here for my review of Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy , here for my Bossy take on American Wife , and here  for You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories . If you enjoy short story collections, you might like to check out Six Short Story Collections to Wow You  and Six More Short Story Collections I Loved .

I loved the behind-the-scenes peeks at the drama, punishing hard work, sequins, and mind games of competitive figure skating. The backdrop for Kat and Heath's tumultuous mutual obsession was a series of destructive forces trying to tear them apart. The interview format and multiple perspectives add to the layers of the story. Young Katarina Shaw always felt that she was meant to become an Olympic champion. Heath Rocha was stuck in the foster care system. When he and Kat met, they made a connection that first built into a best-friendship between two lost young people, then love. Their mutual obsession ultimately translated into a powerful partnership on the ice, and, with scrappy Kat at the helm of their ambition and Heath a willing participant, they found unlikely avenues to training, and their connection, hard work, and talent combined into success. When they eventually advanced to the Olympics, a dramatic event stopped their journey to the gold medal--and broke them up for good. Ten years later, we join the voyeuristic public and the insider news bursts in exploring what really happened years earlier. The delving into the past draws Kat and Heath back into each others' orbits--and reveals secrets they never could have imagined. The Favorites is heavy on the skating--which I loved. (The prominent sports element reminded me of the tennis-focused novel Carrie Soto Is Back .) I love a peek behind the scenes, and I loved the politics, rivalries, determination, mind games, and sabotage in the story. Side note: Kat is said to be quite naturally talented; it felt awfully convenient in light of Heath's devotion to Kat that hard work was able to lead him to the level of success that was required for the story to proceed around their partnership. The couple's dramatic emotional turmoil and external sources of conflict (when they're advised to "trust no one," they would have been wise to follow the suggestion, phew) pushed any reasonable bounds of reality, but I didn't mind and was hooked on the roller coaster of a story, wondering what the heck would happen next. The events after Kat and Heath's later reunion push limits (Heath's modern-day betrayal of Kat feels potentially unforgivable; their return to success certainly feels implausible because of their ages alone), and again I was up for the disasters, the blood (!), sweat, and tears, and the appealingly messy second-chance attempts at being true to themselves and finally finding professional and personal satisfaction. The relentless pacing, romantic obsession, twists and turns, dramatic setbacks, exhilarating success, and sometimes over-the-top sabotage within The Favorites is immersive and irresistible. Johnny Weir is a standout narrator in the role of Ellis Dean, a mischievous rival of Kat and Heath's and an attention-grabbing behind-the-scenes reporter with redemptive, golden moments of loyalty. I received an audio version of this book courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm . More Bossy love for multiple narrators The list of narrators is extensive; the many points of view used to offer varied perspectives to past events beg comparisons to Daisy Jones and the Six  ( a title I included in the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music ).

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the recently published Kills Well with Others , the newest novel in Deanna Raybourn's irresistible Killers of a Certain Age series about aging, sassy female assassins; I'm reading Karen Russell's recently published, intriguing magical-realism historical fiction set during the Dust Bowl, The Antidote ; and I'm listening to Gillian McAllister's newest twisty, smart mystery, Famous Last Words . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Kills Well with Others (Killers of a Certain Age #2) by Deanna Raybourn The first installment of Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age series was a fun, darkly funny, feminist story about a retiring female team of elite assassins. It was the right book at the right time for me: entertainment in the perfect combination of action and suspense, loyal friendship, clever plotting, and the promise of love. Book two picks up as our main characters, having laid low for a year, are contacted by the Museum, the elite assassin organization they work for. An Eastern European gangster has obtained the names of agents who have stood in his way over the years, and our aging assassins seem likely to be next on his hit list. They must figure out who's turned traitor on the Museum--and stay alive long enough to bring them to justice. I received a prepublication edition of this title, published March 11, courtesy of Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley. Raybourn is also the author of the wonderful Killers of a Certain Age , which was the first in the Killers of a Certain Age series. And I loved A Curious Beginning , the first book in Deanna Raybourn's feisty Veronica Speedwell series of historical fiction mysteries, as well as the sequels A Perilous Undertaking , A Treacherous Curse , A Dangerous Collaboration , and A Murderous Relation . (There are currently nine books in the series.) 02 The Antidote by Karen Russell A terrible dust storm is raging through the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska, but the Great Depression and Dust Bowl are far from its only grave problems. The Antidote tracks multiple characters to tell a story of caution, folly, and redemption: a Prairie Witch who holds others' memories and secrets, a Polish farmer who hoards his wheat, his orphan niece who is apprenticing under the Prairie Witch in between basketball sessions, a New Deal photographer, and a talking scarecrow. I received a prepublication edition of The Antidote , published March 11, courtesy of Knopf and NetGalley. Karen Russell is also the author of Swamplandia! 03 Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister Famous Last Words is another smart, twisty mystery from Gillian McAllister. Camilla is a new mother who has just dropped off her baby for her first day of daycare when the police arrive at her London office. It seems that her fun, carefree, ghostwriter of a husband is involved in a hostage situation--as the one wielding the gun. Camilla, shocked, mostly cooperates with the police and the negotiator--until the hostages are shot and her husband escapes--then disappears. But in the ensuing years, Camilla can't stop obsessing over the unusual aspects of the siege: the violence is so out of character for Luke, the hostages are never identified, and Luke was behaving strangely beforehand and left her a cryptic note the morning of the horrifying events. Are the strange coordinates she's receiving on her phone after seven years a message from Luke? And can her love overcome her devastation at knowing that somehow her beloved partner became a coldhearted killer? Gillian McAllister is also the author of Wrong Place, Wrong Time , a book I loved and not only listed in my Greedy Reading List Six More Time-Travel Stories to Explore , but included as one of my favorite books of the year when I read it. I'm listening to an audiobook edition of Famous Last Words , published February 25, courtesy of HarperAudio and Libro.fm.

Whitehead, inspired by a real-life reform school that abused and terrorized boys for over a century, shares a tale of racial injustice, abuse and horrors, terrible fear, and the very real threat of death at the hands of openly, willfully cruel white men. We must believe in our souls that we are somebody, that we are significant, that we are worthful, and we must walk the streets of life every day with this sense of dignity and this sense of somebody-ness. Elwood Curtis is a promising young man in 1960s Tallahassee. But when he hitchhikes with the wrong guy to his first day of scholarship university classes, he's unfairly sent to a boys' reform school, The Nickel Academy. The "Nickel Boys" endure endless injustices, abuse, and horrors, including the looming threat of being "disappeared" out back, never to be heard from again. But as naive as it may be, Elwood persists in pursuing justice and clinging to the moral high road just like his idol Martin Luther King, Jr., and he is unwavering in his ideals regardless of the dangers. His best friend Turner is more savvy, careful, and jaded, while loyal to Elwood. If everyone looked the other way, then everybody was in on it. If he looked the other way, he was as implicated as the rest. That's how he saw it, how he'd always seen things. In the midst of becoming pawns in the crooked trading away of the school's supplies to line the pockets of the corrupt men in charge, Elwood and Turner form a friendship that has repercussions for the rest of their lives. The Nickel Academy is based on a real-life reform school that, horrifyingly, abused boys for 111 years. The Nickel Boys doesn't shy away from infuriating, relentless, insidious, damaging, often deadly racial injustice and cruelties. I felt a little manipulated regarding the "twist" Whitehead introduces late in the book, but the living out of an identity and living into an envisioned future is a powerful element. I listened to The Nickel Boys  as an audiobook. For more fiction and nonfiction books about race Colson Whitehead is also the author of The Underground Railroad . For other titles that center around race, please check out the books at this link . For more nonfiction titles that focus on race, please click here .

Jonathan Haidt's examination of the power of smartphones and social media may feel logical and disturbingly unsurprising, but he offers valuable points for discussion and practical measures that could benefit our children. The subtitle of Jonathan Haidt's nonfiction title The Anxious Generation  is How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness . Haidt explores the explosion of smartphones and social media along with the decline of play-based childhood, and he links this combination to the current mental health epidemic in young people. Haidt's book offers parents an opportunity to examine their own and their children's screentime and social media habits. He points to the harmful effects of excessive screentime, such as distraction and harmed attention spans as well as social comparison and perfectionism, and he offers suggestions of widespread measures and family-based changes that can help push back the control smartphones and social media have on our kids. I recently heard the author speak online at the Tennessee Symposium for Online Health and Safety. I was able to do so courtesy of The Goldfinch Foundation , which was formed in honor and in memory of Owen Willers, and which shines a light on the importance of mental wellness and invites young people to lead efforts toward change. The content of the book is interesting and valid, and while it doesn't feel revolutionary, for me its greatest worth is in providing a framework for community discuss ion--and through that, hopefully, the adoption of some of the proposed measures. I'm in weekly discussions of The Anxious Generation  with a group of parents and youth leaders at church. More nonfiction inspiration Jonathan Haidt is also the author of   The Righteous Mind : Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion . For more Bossy nonfiction reviews, please check out the titles at this link .

In Kristy Boyce's young-adult charmer, high schoolers Riley and Nathan, coworkers who have nothing in common, end up in a fake-dating drama as they try to win over their love interests. High schooler Riley has a grand plan to become a Broadway director. But the always-epic school musical has been canceled because the school thinks there isn't enough support for it. So first she wants to get the spring musical set, then she'll mastermind her future. But when she borrows her mom's car without permission (to go see Waitress out of town with her best friend, so: worth it) and gets grounded, she suddenly has to spend afternoons working at her father's game store instead. Determined not to give up on the musical, Riley sneaks and works on a master plan for a performance--and talks her unfriendly teen coworker, Nathan, into making his gamer crush jealous by doing some convincing flirting with him. Meanwhile, she agrees to take part in some nerdy game play. But role-playing in Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons game turns out to be...fun. And liking Nathan is starting to feel like less of an act than simply a reality. I love a fake-dating premise, and the Nathan-Riley setup is irresistible. I was hooked on their ups and downs--and the reasons for their "downs" are plausible enough that I loved rolling with them. The supporting characters and their side plots are funny and oddball and cute. This was a sweet world that I loved spending time in, and the fact that absolutely everything works out is immensely satisfying. I received an electronic edition of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press. More rom-com love! For more Bossy reviews of rom-com stories I've loved, please check out the titles at this link . The second book in this series is Dating and Dragons .

"I’d long since learned that if you plan to survive in the Arctic, you must choose one of two paths: emulate the bear...by holding fast to yourself as the last reliable chunk of ice.... Or choose the fox instead: ...learn fast. Dig a hole and cling tightly to those who can stand you." "For now, take stock of yourself. This is the chance you waxed about so long ago. Listen for the voice that speaks when all others go silent. Be alone--be entirely alone. I am not saying you will find anything of worth there--certainly no cosmic truth--but maybe you will begin to feel as pared down, efficient and clean as a freshly whittled stick." It's 1916, and Sven Ormson has left the bustle of his life in Stockholm for solitude and quiet in the Arctic. In his self-banishment in remote Svalbard, his only company is the haunting, beautiful Northern Lights. “…Fate is empty. Any Arctic explorer or common sailor can tell you this. So you must make the best choices you can, knowing they may lead you astray, but proceeding boldly lest your life become one long monotonous drift between death and your last interesting choice.” Letters from family and friends get him through multiple winters--until an unexpected visitor changes everything, opens up Sven's world, and shows him a life and a future he could never have imagined or hoped for. The pacing of The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is measured, as befits a story that is largely about daily life in the unforgiving, brutal cold and wild. There's a minor, secondhand, yet powerful focus on the brutality and destruction of war, but also significant attention to unspoken bonds, deep and unorthodox friendships, makeshift families, legendary dogs, and strong emotional ties to nature and the rhythms of the seasons. “Dogs are like children." He gazed down at Skuhl. "Terrible beasts, universally reviled, until you find a good one. This is a good one. It has spirit.” Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven is Nathaniel Ian Miller's first novel. If you like books set in the unforgiving cold, you might also like the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Books with Cold, Wintry Settings to Read by the Fire .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading the recently published Red Dog Farm , Nathanial Ian Miller's fiction about a young man growing up in Iceland; I'm listening to Colson Whitehead's fiction based upon a real-life boy's reform school, The Nickel Boys ; and I'm reading Laila Lalami's recently published literary fiction that explores technology, freedom, privacy, and vulnerability, The Dream Hotel . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Red Dog Farm by Nathaniel Ian Miller Young Orri has grown up on his family's cattle farm in Iceland, appreciating the beauty of nature, the relief in green shoots after a stark winter, and quiet joys like his trusty farm dog and his steadfast parents. But he yearns to see more of the world, and after he journeys to Reykjavik to study at the university, his existence expands--until his father needs him back on the farm. Torn between two lives, he falls back into home life but misses the city. He must make a difficult choice: family and familiarity, or uncertainty and new adventures? I received a prepublication edition of this title, published March 4, courtesy of Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley. Nathaniel Ian Miller is also the author of The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven . 02 The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead Elwood Curtis is a promising young man in 1960s Tallahassee. But when he hitchhikes with the wrong guy to his first day of scholarship university classes, he's unfairly sent to a boys' reform school, The Nickel Academy. The "Nickel Boys" endure endless injustices, abuse, and horrors, but Elwood persists in pursuing justice, and he is unwavering in his ideals. His best friend Turner is more savvy and jaded, while unfailingly loyal to Elwood. The Nickel Academy is based on a real-life reform school that abused boys for 111 years. I'm listening to The Nickel Boys as an audiobook. 03 The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami Sara is returning from a work trip when the Risk Assessment Administration determines that, based upon her recent dreams, she is in danger of harming her husband and must be kept under observation for 21 days. Sara is detained along with other women who are desperately asserting their innocence. The center's managers keep changing the rules so that he women's stays are prolonged--until a new inmate shakes up everything and becomes the women's biggest hope of escape. Lalami explores issues of technology, privacy, freedom, and our vulnerability to faulted systems. I'm reading a prepublication edition of The Dream Hotel , published March 4, courtesy of Pantheon and NetGalley.

Six Great Bossy Literary Fiction Reads I read so many read literary fiction books last year, I'll need another best-of-the-year list. But for now, here are six of my favorites. In my mind, literary fiction focuses on realistic characters and themes, the author's writing style is showcased, plot takes a backseat, and you're never assured of a resolution or happy ending. A couple of these titles might stretch the definition because they don't adhere to real-world elements, but I am bossily including them. If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite literary fiction reads? 01 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and possibilities that once seemed impossible. In the wake of their father's death, two brothers reel from the loss in his own way. They clash, hurt each other deeply, and wonder if they can ever reconcile. The men's methods of coping with their grief often test the line between hopelessness and possibility. Each of their romantic relationships is unconventional, and various players involved struggle to let go of societal expectations in favor or what feels real and meaningful and what makes them happy. Through it all, both Ivan and Peter are repeatedly forced to consider their place in the world and what the future might hold. But wars are being waged, and Rae quickly figures out that she's not the heroine of the story. She's the villain. And only she can organize the rest of the plotting, dark, moody, sometimes exasperating bad guys (and girls) in an attempt to change all of their futures. I'm such a greedy reader, it's been a while since I've slowed down to savor a book the way I felt compelled to do while reading Intermezzo . I was invested in the characters and their messy methods of coming to terms with death and with seizing control of their own lives. The prose in Intermezzo is gorgeous and often feels poetic--in fact, many of the notes in the back matter credit poems as the source of some of the references on these pages. Rooney is also the author of Normal People , Conversations with Friends , and Beautiful World, Where Are You . Please click here to see my full review of Intermezzo . This book was one of My Very Favorite Bossy 2024 Reads . 02 Wellness by Nathan Hill Flawed main characters Jack and Elizabeth try to find their way back to an emotional connection in this literary fiction work. Wellness is wry and poignant, and the absurdities of modern life that Hill explores sometimes feel disconcertingly on point. Jack and Elizabeth are strangers living across an alley in a gritty artists' area of 1990s Chicago, and they're immediately and powerfully drawn to each other. As they grow older, their mutual rejection of societal expectations begins to soften. They marry, have a baby, and aim to own a house. But somewhere along the way, they lose sight of each other--and of themselves. Nathan Hill pokes fun at the absurd extremes of the search for modern wellness and the manipulative power of social media and the order of internet searches. We learn about Elizabeth and Jack's histories and motivations, their stunted emotional statuses and the deep hurts inflicted upon them. They must dive into their own secrets, trauma, career weaknesses, faulted parents, and fractured families if they have any hope of salvaging their own marriage. Wellness is darkly funny, intriguing, and, at times, poignant. I was frequently uncomfortable reading the grim truths about our world that Hill lays bare, but I smiled at the wry humor here as well. I listened to Wellness  as an audiobook. For my full review, please see Wellness . 03 In Memoriam by Alice Winn Alice Winn's account of the unrelenting slog of World War I and the beautiful young men set against each other in the trenches serves as a backdrop for a tentatively begun, deep love story born in a British boarding school and blossoming amid the cruelties and horrors of battle. Alice Winn's gorgeous, brutal, captivating historical fiction In Memoriam  is set during World War I. Henry Gaunt, Sydney Ellwood, and their classmates came as young boys to their sometimes claustrophobic, cruel, and lonely English boarding school; now that they're close to the end of their schooling, they are playful, treasuring each other's friendships. But by 1914, World War I is drawing most of these young boys into a swirl of wartime horrors. They trade their hesitant confidences and youthful search for comfort and affection within an unforgiving school environment for the cruelties of battle. Characters struggle with vulnerability and to allow feelings to grow, and all is shaped by the constancy of life-and-death danger and the deep-seated fear of destroying a friendship that both young men cling to more deeply than living itself. In Memoriam is beautiful, frequently painful, and offers a layered, complicated version of happy ever after. I loved this. I listened to In Memoriam  as an audiobook. For my full review, please see In Memoriam . This book was one of My Very Favorite Bossy 2024 Reads . You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of books set during World War I . 04 You Are Here by David Nicholls David Nicholls's characters, some of whom are strangers to each other, meander through the English countryside on a days-long jaunt--and along the way allow long-held vulnerabilities to fall away in this beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming story. In David Nicholls's You Are Here , a small group of Sophie's friends, along with her teenage son, assemble to "walk" (hike) through the hills and moors of northern England for several days. After meeting for the first time, Michael, a recently divorced teacher, studious and thoughtful, and Marnie, a playful copy editor who prefers solitude after her own divorce, fall into a companionable rhythm and, to their surprise, begin to seek out each other's company in an extended hike toward the coast. We see the disconnect between Marnie and Michael's inner selves and their unsure, sometimes awkward acts and words, and it's deliciously heartbreaking to be privy to their insecurities and fears as well as their soaring hopes--and their crushing attempts to reign them in, in case their feelings aren't reciprocated and their fragile hearts can't take another round of loss. I loved this literary fiction--the increasing vulnerability and search for connection after heartache, the vivid descriptions of English countryside, and the small moments that mean everything. Click here   for my full review of You Are Here . This book was one of My Very Favorite Bossy 2024 Reads . 05 Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang In the dystopian food desert of the future, a desperate chef is enlisted to create elaborate dishes for the wealthiest elite on a lush mountaintop compound, and she loses more and more of herself and her morals with each passing day. In C. Pam Zhang's slim dystopian novel Land of Milk and Honey , an unnamed chef in a polluted, dying city flees to a mountaintop retreat--and finds that fresh food, clear air, and lush opportunities for pleasure abound for the most wealthy elite. The faulted, privileged few are terrifying in their elaborate, exclusive plans, which exclude all but a fraction of humanity. Money talks--and money is the only thing that buys food in a smog-ruined world. The chef finds herself forced to ignore her training and knowledge of how to treat ingredients in order to preserve her own safety and adhere to the base wishes of her benefactor and controlling group. But when the boss's daughter begins tinkering with precious resources, our main protagonist is swept up into a relationship she never anticipated--the cooking and romance and gross negligence all tied up in one giant, guilty wonder of a mess. This was an interesting dystopia and premise, and the writing about food is rich and captivating, but it took me foreeeeever to read this one. Zhang is also the author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold? For more dystopian stories, check out Six Fascinating Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels  and Six More Fantastic Dystopian and Postapocalyptic Novels . Click here   for my full review of Land of Milk and Honey . 06 Good Material by Dolly Alderton Alderton's literary fiction rom-com is a funny, poignant, and sometimes frustrating deep dive into the emotionally stunted main protagonist's extended heartache and the rehashing of key moments of his recent relationship. Andy and Jen were in love and living together. But now Andy, a struggling stand-up comedian, is left reeling, trying to figure out what went wrong. He's obsessed with trying to figure out why Jen broke up with him, and no amount of rehashing, deception regarding the manipulation of mental-health professionals, or mining for information is too much, in Andy's mind. The breakup came out of the blue. He and Jen had just gone to Paris--they were blissfully happy! Weren't they? Much of the story is told from Andy's point of view, and his capability for emotional growth is...limited. Baby steps are hard-won progress for the often-clueless main protagonist. He begins a Reasons Why I Loved Being with Jen list as well as a list of reasons why he's glad their relationship is over--tracing the funny, silly, nitpicky, ridiculous, and poignant moments they shared. The reader sees what a mismatch Jen and Andy are, despite their real affection for each other, but the clarity about their incompatibility is longer in coming to Andy, who remains wistful, hopeful, and heartbroken for much of the book. I listened to Good Material  as an audiobook. Please click here for my full review of Good Material .

Taylor Jenkins Reid offers the story of a band, its making, and its unmaking, through interviews with various characters that illuminate the mysterious breakup as well as the characters' complexities, love, conflict, creative inspiration, and heartbreak. “You have these lines you won’t cross. But then you cross them.... You’ve taken a big, black, bold line and you’ve made it a little bit gray. And now every time you cross it again, it just gets grayer and grayer until one day you look around and you think, There was a line here once, I think.” In Daisy Jones & the Six , Reid offers a fictionalized account (written as fictional interviews) of the meteoric rise of a 1970s band, their mesmerizing lead singer Daisy, the group's complicated interpersonal conflicts, and the band's mysterious breakup, which broke hearts around the world. I thought the interview format might possibly get tiresome, but Reid skillfully builds the story, the complex relationships, and the pushes and pulls of the characters’ lives. The structure allowed for fascinating point of view shifts, subtleties, and humor. Daisy Jones & the Six  explores multiple layers of love and heartbreak, all against a fantastic backdrop of rock and roll and the bonds and stresses of a band and a relentlessly grueling tour life. I adored Camila and her love and faith and outlook on life, and I loved this book. More Taylor Jenkins Reid Love Taylor Jenkins Reid is also the author of Carrie Soto Is Back , The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo , Malibu Rising , and other books. I mentioned Daisy Jones & the Six in the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music . The story has been adapted into one season of a television series.

In Kelly Link's wonderfully oddball debut novel The Book of Love , she uses every bit of the book's 640 pages to build realities, possibilities, magical developments, quirky fun, deep connection, and second chances you'll be cheering for. In Kelly Link's strange, intriguing debut novel, The Book of Love , teenagers Mo, Daniel, and Laura have tragically disappeared from their hometown of Lovesend, Massachusetts, and have been presumed dead. One year later, they find themselves sitting in a fluorescent-lit classroom in their seaside town with Mr. Anabin, their high school music teacher, before them. He is, as always, wearing a corny, optimistic motto on his T-shirt. But they soon realize that Mr. Anabin is capable of powerful magic, that he knows where the teens have been trapped for the past year and why, and he's advising them on what to do next. Along with a quirky, sassy magical being whose intentions are unclear, Mr. Anabin offers them a chance to compete in magical tasks in order to reclaim their lives. Meanwhile, mysterious forces with dangerous plans converge upon Lovesend, drawn by the resurrection of the kids and the hope of regaining a key that will allow access to dark places and big magic. Their friends and family all believe the three teenagers have been in Ireland at a music program--but can't shake a vague sadness lingering from the real grief they've been experiencing for a eyar. The teens are trying to come to terms with what their existences might look like now, and their families are still reeling from their loss. Plus, Mo is falling for a new guy in town who might or might not be real, Daniel is trying to remember why he broke up with Laura's sister Susannah before he died, Laura is determined to use logic to figure out what's happening, and music seems to be instrumental (see what I did there?) to the whole situation. The kids will need to remember what happened the night they died and figure out the reason for their disappearance--and their return--if there's any hope of a future for them. I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, but I also appreciate that Link didn't take an easy way out in which the teens and their allies fix everything, voila! Some aspects are resolved, while others are left in a limbo that feels appropriate in its uncertainties and dark shadows. This is twisty and odd, quirky and fun, and has lots of heart. At almost 650 pages long, there's enough page time for Link to build various realities, tear them down, and reimagine new ones while the reader scrambles to keep up. The Book of Love explores reality, connections, loyalty, possibilities, and second chances. I was hooked. I received a prepublication edition of this book (which was published this time last year, oops!) courtesy of NetGalley and Random House. More Bossy love for oddball novels and second-chance stories For more oddball novels, check out the titles at this link . And for Bossy love for alternate realities, check out these books .

Time of the Child feels like poetry in prose form, and Williams richly shapes a small-town Irish community's everyday and extraordinary events in this poignant, gorgeous literary fiction novel. In 1962 in the small Irish town of Faha, it's Christmastime, and Dr. Jack Troy and his oldest daughter Ronnie are coping with complicated family dynamics in their drafty, rural Irish home when an unexpected discovery turns everything upside down. Ronnie, a single and dutiful daughter, has grown up in the shadow of her father, who has long been set apart from the community where he was born and grew up because of his role as the area's physician. She is capable and smart, and assists at the front desk in his in-home clinic, but she feels she has more to give. Her books, secret writing of stories and accounts, and daily cycling trips around the area aren't fulfilling her anymore. Ronnie once kept company with a young man who's now living in America--but her father disapproved, and now it seems she will live in Faha forever. Unbeknownst to Ronnie (she and her father live together but rarely communicate) her father is feeling remorse about his reserve regarding the young man. He's also bemoaning his own chance at love; as a widower he worked with Annie Mooney at the pharmacy, but never told her about his feelings for her before Annie died. During the annual, chaotic community fair preceding this holidays, which this year is a rainy business full of haggling, disappointments, and triumphs, an infant is left by the church gates. Young Jude and Faha's grown twins, Tim and Tom, bring the baby girl to Dr. Troy and Ronnie, believing her dead but not sure what else to do. And she does seem to have passed on to another realm, until Dr. Troy is able to revive her. In an impulsive pact, the four men agree not to share the news of the baby with anyone. Meanwhile Ronnie quickly falls in love with the infant girl, who she begins to call Noelle, and Jack opens his heart with the same devotion to the baby. As weeks go on the two of them care for her and go to extremes to try to keep Noelle's existence a secret. When her presence is revealed, they form desperate plans to keep her. But an unwed mother in that time and place has little chance of keeping a child once the Church has a hold of it. What really shines in Time of the Child is the power of the small-town Faha community--gossipy and desperate for dirt as its citizens may largely be. The miracle of unity brought about by a baby's presence is poignant without feeling too easy. This story is beautiful and powerful. Williams's writing feels like a poem in prose structure; no word is wasted, and I read this novel slowly in order to savor the world the author so gorgeously created. More Irish story love Time of the Child  is set in the same village as Williams's novel This Is Happiness . You can find Bossy reviews of other novels set in Ireland here and more reviews of literary fiction titles here .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Anxious Generation , nonfiction by Jonathan Haidt that explores technology and an explosion of mental illness in young people; I'm reading an upcoming novel about secrets, past love, and dangerous revelations in a small village, Broken Country ; and I'm reading Layne Fargo's novel about young ice dancing champions who dramatically split--until a documentary tell-all comes back to tell their story, The Favorites . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt The subtitle of Jonathan Haidt's nonfiction title The Anxious Generation is How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness , and in this book, Haidt explores the explosion of smartphones and social media and links it to the mental health epidemic in young people. I recently heard the author speak at the Tennessee Symposium for Online Health and Safety. I was able to do so (online) courtesy of The Goldfinch Foundation , which was formed in honor and in memory of Owen Willers, and which shines a light on the importance of mental wellness and invites young people to lead efforts toward change. I'm reading The Anxious Generation with a group of parents and youth leaders at church. Jonathan Haidt is also the author of The Righteous Mind : Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion . 02 Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall Beth and her kind husband Frank live in a small village, and they are able to stay married only because secrets from the past stay buried. But when a local farmer shoots a dog going after his sheep, the gunshot sets into motion events that will change everything. The dog belonged to Gabriel Wolfe, Beth's childhood love, and his return to town brings back long-ago jealousies, love, choices, and their weighty consequences. I received a prepublication edition of Broken Country courtesy of Simon & Schuster and NetGalley. 03 The Favorites by Layne Fargo Young Katarina Shaw has always felt that she was meant to become an Olympic champion. Heath Rocha is stuck in the foster care system, and when he and Kat meet, they make a connection that translates into a powerful partnership on the ice. The two become childhood sweethearts and, ultimately, advance to the Olympics as ice dancers. But a dramatic event stops their journey to the gold medal--and breaks them up for good. Ten years later, a documentary exploring those events draws Kat and Heath back into each others' orbits--and reveals secrets they never could have imagined. I received an audio version of this book courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm. The list of narrators is extensive; the many points of view may explain some comparisons of this book to Daisy Jones and the Six ( a book I included in the Greedy Reading List Six Rockin' Stories about Bands and Music ).

My very favorite Bossy February reads! February is the shortest month, but I squeezed in some great reading: compelling historical fiction based on a real-life figure; a beautiful, haunting story told in three timelines; a captivating celebrity memoir from a larger-than-life performer; a comedian's funny memoir; a fast-paced WWII-set mystery for young readers that came out of a writing collaboration; and historical fiction with a touch of magical realism about a brave young enslaved woman in the South. If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think! And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads? 01 Isola by Allegra Goodman Isola , based upon the story of a real-life sixteenth-century woman, shifts between details of a life of moneyed ease and an abandonment on an unforgiving, uninhabited island after our main protagonist falls in love with the wrong person. Marguerite is heir to a fortune, but after she is orphaned, she grows into a young lady while her guardian Roberval squanders her inheritance. As Marguerite enters into her early teens, she begins to fear that her cousin views her as a creepy match for himself. At the very least it becomes clear that he will pay no dowry in order to make another match for her. Instead, in a somewhat shocking turn of events, he forces her to sail with him to New France. But on the way, Marguerite falls for her guardian's servant. When their relationship is discovered, Roberval cruelly punishes them by abandoning them on an uninhabited island to perish. Marguerite, once a privileged, protected child of wealth and opportunity, must learn to survive in the wild. I was fascinated by each aspect of this tale, and Goodman transported me into the details and (often infuriating) dynamics of life at the time. Isola  is inspired by the story of the real-life sixteenth-century heroine, Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval. For my full review of this book please see Isola . 02 There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak There Are Rivers in the Sky  weaves together three stories set in three timelines, featuring disparate characters, to explore interconnectedness, the power of water, echoing tragedies, and the timelessness of the written word. Water remembers. It is humans who forget. In 1840 in London, young Arthur lives near the sewage-filled River Thames, desperate to escape poverty and his abusive household. In 2014 Turkey, ten-year-old Narin is living near the Tigris and is affected by a disorder that will cause her to go permanently deaf. And in 2018 London, Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves into a houseboat on the Thames when she and her husband break up, but she can't shake her thoughts of suicide. Shafak makes what could have been an unwieldy or disjointed-feeling set of complex situations into a tragically beautiful intertwined novel that shines a light on weighty issues at three points in space and time. I was haunted by this and fascinated as well. Elif Shafak also wrote the lovely The Island of Missing Trees . Click here for my full review of There Are Rivers in the Sky . 03 Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher Cher's lack of agency in her relationship with Sonny Bono came through in passive, reactive behavior, but as she grew older, she found her voice, rode a roller coaster of personal and professional adventures, overcame difficulties, and set her sights on an even bigger, more fulfilling life than ever. I'm alllll in for book two. Early on, the memoir felt like more of a factual account of what occurred in her life than it felt like illuminating self-examination. I was curious to find out if Cher would provide more reflection around events as she grew older and more emotionally mature within her own story. Her relationship with Sonny Bono (eleven years older) began when she was a teenager, and his control over her professional and personal life grew stronger and stronger without Cher's recognizing her limitations, her lack of knowledge about finances and business, and her squashed self-esteem about her performance ability. As she recounts the ups and downs of her early relationships and rides the roller coaster of success and failure, Cher begins to want to express her own voice and to become assertive, and this is when she starts to show more vulnerability and growth--and when I felt drawn into her story. This is part one of two, and toward the end of this installment she has made her way through the nurturing link with David Geffen, her complicated relationship with Gregg Allman, as well as her connection to her children, her career, and her creativity. She has her eye on diving into becoming a serious actress. And I am hooked . Please click here for my full review of Cher: The Memoir . 04 What in the World?! A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings by Leanne Morgan Comedian Leanne Morgan's memoir traces her path from an attention-seeking, beloved young girl to a young adult facing missteps and disappointment, through her unlikely journey to stand-up, to the embracing of her Southern mama persona and her wild success. Leanne Morgan hit it big as a middle-aged comic from rural Tennessee talking about her kids' T-ball, her adoration of her grandchildren, and her big, comfortable panties. Her voice is a striking, uniquely nasal Southern drawl, and her Netflix special "I'm Every Woman" features Morgan's signature plaintive looks at the audience, accompanying stories that sometimes end in such mock-despair that she says she just "wanted to take to the bed." (She also steals the show in a supporting role in the recent movie starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, You're Cordially Invited .) What in the World?!  offers current-day takes on her life that will feel familiar to fans--I'd already seen online video clips of stand-up versions of a few of the anecdotes shared here. But her memoir also traces her youth (when she imagined that she would find fame in some way), her first, brief marriage, her emotional growth, her grit, and, ultimately, her second, steady relationship and marriage to her current husband, the birth and joy of her kids, her rocky start in entertainment--and the world-rocking entrance of her grandbabies. I was particularly intrigued by the fits and starts of Morgan's younger years, her struggles to find her way, and her unlikely path to fame. I love to hear people's stories, and I found all of this endearing. I listened to What in the World?!  as an audiobook. 05 The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin This middle-grade writing collaboration inserts a clever young protagonist into the behind-the-scenes World War II British codebreaking of Nazi messages, along with a rich back story and mysterious elements, adventure, and intrigue. I loved this. I love a World War II story, and in this middle-grade collaborative work by Ruta Sepetys (Salt to the Sea) and Steve Sheinkin (Bomb), the young protagonist Lizzie Novis becomes an unlikely asset to the British wartime codebreaking center of Bletchley Park. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis is engaged in top-secret work alongside other bright minds, trying to crack the Nazi Enigma code. But after his younger sister Lizzie evades her grandmother's attempts to bring her from England to the United States to avoid the Nazis' nearing destruction, there's nowhere for Lizzie to stay but with her big brother. When Lizzie finds a secret notebook of her mother's, she becomes more determined than ever to solve the mystery of her disappearance. But a suspicious, tenacious MI5 investigator arrives at the Novises' boarding house, demanding to know everything about their mother--and implying that she had been a double agent betraying England. The Sepetys-Sheinkin writing venture felt seamless, with adventure, interesting detail, wonderful character dynamics, and intrigue. The authors included real-life figures like Alan Turing and shaped a fascinating scenario for the Novis kids' mother--as well as what felt like plausible, valuable roles in the Bletchley efforts for the children themselves. This was enjoyable, interesting, well paced, and charming. I loved it. I listened to The Bletchley Riddle  as an audiobook. For my full review please check out The Bletchley Riddle . You can find my reviews of other World War II-focused books here , and you can also check out my review of Kate Quinn's great codebreaking historical fiction for adults, The Rose Code . 06 Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine Erin Crosby Eckstine's richly detailed historical fiction explores the life of Junie, an enslaved young woman in rural Alabama haunted by her sister's speaking, demanding ghost while she dares to dream of love and maybe even a life of freedom. The Civil War is looming, and Junie is a sixteen-year-old who has spent her whole life enslaved on an Alabama plantation. She works alongside her family, caring for the plantation owners' daughter Violet, who is her own age, and gaining cursory exposure to Violet's studies of poetry and knowledge. But Junie wanders restlessly at night, haunted by her sister Minnie's sudden death not long ago and by Minnie's ghost, which is demanding that Junie complete dangerous tasks and face truths she never imagined. Erin Crosby Eckstine balances the horrors of living in an enslaved situation with the complex interpersonal relationships Junie forges. Without shying away from the often hopeless lack of autonomy, lack of power, and lack of say-so and constant fear of the enslaved, Eckstine builds a rich story of detail of life at the time. She also explores the complicated Violet-Junie dynamic, in which Junie is Violet's only company for many years, yet is at her mercy for all opportunities to learn, explore, and pause from backbreaking work. For my full review, please see Junie .

Cher's lack of agency in her relationship with Sonny Bono came through in passive, reactive behavior, but as she grew older, she found her voice, rode a roller coaster of personal and professional adventures, overcame difficulties, and set her sights on an even bigger, more fulfilling life than ever. I'm alllll in for book two. In the first installment of Cher's two-part memoir, she traces some of her ancestors' pivotal stories, putting heavy emphasis on her mother's unusual, difficult childhood and youth--before sharing the personal impact of her mother's many marriages and their family's resulting moves, vacillation between poverty and extreme wealth, and her mother's general inability to consider others' situations and difficulties because of her own tough past. Early on, the memoir felt like more of a factual account of what occurred in her life than it felt like illuminating self-examination. I was curious to find out if Cher would provide more reflection around events as she grew older and more emotionally mature within her own story. Her relationship with Sonny Bono (eleven years older) began when she was a teenager, and his control over her professional and personal life grew stronger and stronger without Cher's recognizing her limitations, her lack of knowledge about finances and business, and her squashed self-esteem about her performance ability. As she recounts the ups and downs of her early relationships and rides the roller coaster of success and failure, Cher begins to want to express her own voice and to become assertive, and this is when she starts to show more vulnerability and growth--and when I felt drawn into her story. This is part one of two, and toward the end of this installment she has made her way through the nurturing link with David Geffen, her complicated relationship with Gregg Allman, as well as her connection to her children, her career, and her creativity. She has her eye on diving into becoming a serious actress. And I am hooked . I listened to Cher as an audiobook. Cher reads the beginning of each chapter herself, before bowing out due to the strains of reading with dyslexia. Then Stephanie J. Block (who won a Tony for portraying Cher in the musical The Cher Show , and who has a somewhat similar voice), reads the rest. This is very minor, but Block's occasional emphasis on certain words and infrequent, but present, perplexing pauses threw me off at times. Memoir love For more Bossy reviews of memoirs I've loved--and there are a lot of titles on this site, my friends--please check out the books at this link .

Cynthia and Sanford Levinson, a noted children's author and a constitutional scholar, have created a fascinating nonfiction book for young people--useful to readers of any age--that considers how the constitution was shaped, factors that continue to push its evolution, processes that guide our governance and laws, stumbling blocks toward progress, and how we can improve our guiding principles as our nation's needs continue to grow. Cynthia has extensive experience authoring about big issues and making them feel accessible and understandable (she's a former teacher and educational policy consultant), such as Who Owns the Moon? and We've Got a Job . Teaming up with Sanford, a legal scholar, professor, and author of several books about the Constitution, has resulted in the valuable, needed book Fault Lines in the Constitution . Designed for young people, Fault Lines is illuminating for anyone looking to get up to speed on the Framers' considerations, why the Constitution was shaped the way it was, its evolution, the possibilities and barriers in place regarding changing it, our current, growing needs, and how all of this affects our day-to-day leadership, rights, and lives. Is a book for young people about the Constitution possibly the extent of the scope of my own current abilities to understand the ins and outs of all of this? Possibly, yes. Do the Levinsons' clear content along with the engaging book design (with graphics, examples from the past and present day, and plain language around challenges and opportunities) make for informative, entertaining, important reading? Yes. And does grasping the information contained in Fault Lines feel more relevant and essential than ever, as the current administration--and its unelected influencers--challenge and disregard the power of the Constitution and its impact on our lives in large-scale, destructive, and often terrifying ways? Definitely. By explaining decisions formed in 1787 and how they impact us today, the Levinsons lay out the ins and outs of voters' rights, the Electoral College, gerrymandering, representation across states, vetoes, term limits, pardons, succession, emergency powers, and amendments. Fault Lines considers what might need to develop in order to best serve and reflect the realities of our present-day nation, finishing with a grade for each aspect of the Constitution and a tone of empowerment for change. More nonfiction love Note that a new edition of this title is in the works that will reflect relevant factors and events through early 2025. For more Bossy nonfiction book reviews and love, please check out the books at this link .

Erin Crosby Eckstine's richly detailed historical fiction explores the life of Junie, an enslaved young woman in rural Alabama haunted by her sister's speaking, demanding ghost while she dares to dream of love and maybe even a life of freedom. The Civil War is looming, and Junie is a sixteen-year-old who has spent her whole life enslaved on an Alabama plantation. She works alongside her family, caring for the plantation owners' daughter Violet, who is her own age, and gaining cursory exposure to Violet's studies of poetry and knowledge. But Junie wanders restlessly at night, haunted by her sister Minnie's sudden death not long ago and by Minnie's ghost. She fears that Minnie's death is her fault, and when Minnie asks her to complete three mysterious, questionable-feeling tasks, Junie feels compelled to do so. When a potential suitor for Violet and his sister come for an extended stay, he makes known his casual cruelty toward Junie as well as toward his own enslaved servants--meanwhile, Junie is falling for his right-hand man, Caleb, and is finally letting down her guard with him. When there is talk of Violet's engagement and pending marriage, Junie realizes that this shift would throw her own position into jeopardy. She feels torn by serving her sister's ghost when she wants to explore possibilities with Caleb, and she must determine how far she's willing to go to try to find freedom and autonomy in her life. Erin Crosby Eckstine balances the horrors of living in an enslaved situation with the complex interpersonal relationships Junie forges. Without shying away from the often hopeless lack of autonomy, lack of power, and lack of say-so and constant fear of the enslaved, Eckstine builds a rich story of detail of life at the time. She also explores the complicated Violet-Junie dynamic, in which Junie is Violet's only company for many years, yet is at her mercy for all opportunities to learn, explore, and pause from backbreaking work. The slow pace of uneventful Alabama life shifts dramatically when guests come to stay, and the story's events and the book's pacing begin snowballing in urgency as the story draws to its end. More books about the Civil War I received a prepublication edition of Junie courtesy of Random House-Ballantine Books and NetGalley. For more Bossy reviews of books about the Civil War, please check out this link .

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Cher , the first in Cher's planned two-part memoir; I'm reading an upcoming science-fiction novel about interspecies relations and conflicts, The Fourth Consort ; and I'm reading Curtis Sittenfeld's soon-to-be-published short-story collection (her second), Show Don't Tell . What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Cher: The Memoir, Part One by Cher In the first of Cher's two-part memoir, she traces some of her select ancestors' intriguing stories, moving into heavy emphasis on her mother's unusual, difficult childhood and youth before sharing the personal impact of her mother's many marriages and moves, poverty and extreme wealth, and inability to consider others' difficulties because of her own. I'm curious to find out if Cher will provide more illumination around events as she grows older and more emotionally mature. So far the memoir feels focused on more of an account of what occurred, with emotional confusion and vulnerability (I'm up to the late Sonny Bono years), than it seems intended to offer extensive self-reflection. I'm listening to Cher as an audiobook. Note that Cher reads the beginning of each chapter herself, before, due to the strains of reading with dyslexia, bowing out. Then Stephanie J. Block (who won a Tony for portraying Cher in the musical The Cher Show , and who has a somewhat similar voice), reads the rest. Block's occasional emphasis on certain words and infrequent, but present, perplexing pauses is at times throwing me off. 02 The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton Dalton Greaves is a celebrated envoy to Unity, a pan-species confederation aimed at bringing all sentient creatures together into a cooperative coalition. He's one of the first humans to be sent to Unity. At least, that's what he was told. But Dalton and the only two other envoys he's met (a giant snail and his human sidekick) soon realize that Unity isn't the group aiming to create a peaceful brotherhood--that one's called Assembly, and Assembly detests Unity members. Especially humans. After an encounter between Assembly and Unity members ends in a dangerous standoff, Dalton must navigate obtuse political maneuvering, a bizarre love triangle, and life-and-death proposals in order to survive. I received a prepublication edition of this science fiction title courtesy of St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. Edward Ashton is also the author of Mickey7 , the inspiration for the motion picture Mickey 17 . You can find Bossy reviews of other science fiction novels here . 03 Show Don't Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld In her second short-story collection, Curtis Sittenfeld explores middle age, fame, friendship, artistry, and a story featuring Lee Fiora, a character from Sittenfeld's novel Prep , in which Lee attends an alumni event at her boarding school. I received a prepublication version of this book courtesy of Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley. You can click here for my review of Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy , here for my Bossy take on American Wife , and here for You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories . If you enjoy short story collections, you might like to check out Six Short Story Collections to Wow You and Six More Short Story Collections I Loved .