Review: "The Hunter" by Tana French

The Hunter by Tana French
Published March 2024 via Viking
★★★★

Cal Hooper is back for book two, and things are about to get messy...or perhaps just messier. A few years have passed since Cal moved to Ardnakelty. He's more entrenched in the town's daily life, Trey—the local kid for whom he serves as mentor and, often, family—is growing up, and of course things are never quiet long enough.

The Hunter brings back in most of the usual suspects, this time on a less usual quest: to find gold on their land...or rather, to plant gold on their land to con a con man. And so Cal finds himself needing to decide just how involved he wants to get in some local crime, and how best to protect the people he cares about, and just how dangerous the new faces in town are.

[She] may be doing Ardnakelty's bidding, but her aims and her reasons are all hers. She's not the townland's creature in this, or Lena's, or Cal's: she's rising up as no one's creature but her own. (410)

I'll be honest: Some of the plot points in this one stressed me right out. When Cal is deciding how involved to get, he's also aware that he can't necessarily decide what it will cost him or when to get out...especially as the stakes get higher and higher. Eventually there is a catalyst, and that catalyst provides instant relief...but it also raises other stakes.

It's a slow burn of a summer in The Hunter, and a slow burn of a book. I'm enjoying how much this series is about community, and the ties that bind, and the things that tear people apart—there's a mystery and a murder, sure, but what moves me forward and keeps me reading is wanting to know what happens to Trey, to Lena, to Cal.

Review: "My Life on Standby" by Heather Smith

My Life on Standby by Heather Smith
Published 2023
★★

A quick collection of the author's experiences growing up as a third-culture kid. There's a lot of interesting material here, but the stories trend towards anecdotes rather than fully fleshed-out...well, stories. My rating is actually pretty neutral, as far as these things go—it's just that this feels like a great book to pass down to children or grandchildren, and as a random reader who likes books about far-off places and experiences that are not my own, I wanted a great more detail and plot and character development. (And...I chose this partly on the basis of "Lesotho Flying Doctors" on the cover, but of course Smith doesn't really have stories about that because she was only a wee child when her father was part of the flying doctors!)

Smith wrote another short memoir about teaching in Uganda, and I might yet pick that up; sometimes more recent memories make for more detailed stories.

Review: "See You at the Summit" by Jordyn Taylor

See You at the Summit by Jordyn Taylor
Published January 2026 via Gallery Books
★★★

Simone is finally out of the closet and ready to live her best bi life—new job at a gay museum, new coming-out post, new clothes, new...boyfriend? That wasn't part of the plan.

I picked this up for, well, the hook. Bi erasure is well documented, and the struggle to portray bi characters well comes in numerous forms—you get side characters in books who seem like they're bi for the sake of diversity; you get main characters who are bi in a "realized she was bi in college and this book is all about her het relationship" way; you get main characters who are bi in a "realized she was bi in college and this book is all about her queer relationship" way; and on it goes. I know there's a lot out there that I haven't read, but in my reading at least it's been really rare to see the sort of thing that Simone struggles with throughout the book: that now that she's bi, she doesn't feel queer enough if she's dating a man; moreover, some people around her think that she's only bi if she's dating a woman. It's a little unsubtle in See You at the Summit (Simone is trying really hard to embody "messy bisexual"), but I can't mind that much because it's the sort of thing that I want to see more characters talking about openly. It's something that I thought about a fair amount when I took up with a man, actually; in many ways it feels as though, in doing so, I exited the queer community, even though I'm as queer as ever. The difference between me and Simone (erm...one of several) is that I'd been well and truly out for years by then, and had dated people across the gender spectrum, and had gotten over any need I might have felt to establish...I don't know...queer cred.

Plot-wise, the book is kind of divided in three conflicts—first there's Simone's feud with Ryan (more on that in a moment); then there's Simone's internal struggle to see herself as queer enough (fueled by some family drama); then there's a separate biphobia plot. It's valuable to have both the second and the third plotlines in terms of exploring the bi erasure theme; we see how that affects Simone both inside and outside of the queer community. I think I would have liked a little more overlap, though, as I kept checking how far along I was because it seemed like everything was wrapping up, only to find that there was plenty of book left (telling me that there must be another conflict just around the corner).

Character-wise, I found Ryan easier to take than Simone. They have a rocky start: Simone has one of many her-flaw-is-clumsiness moments (combined with the terrible choice of timing her coming-out for just hours before her first day on the job, despite knowing that coming out will be incredibly stressful and that her mother will react badly) and damages something Ryan has been working on for weeks...plus injures him slightly, plus dumps coffee all over him. Ryan's reaction is unnecessarily rude, but his frustration makes some sense. And to her credit, Simone feels awful and tries to apologize...but when Ryan doesn't immediately accept her apology, she decides that he's her work nemesis (and complains about him, repeatedly, to their mutual coworkers, which is not a great look ever, but especially in the first couple of weeks of a new job?) and then decides to kill him with the fakest kindness she can summon. By then she's decided that everything's his fault anyway, so when he doesn't fall over himself to apologize for being a grump (Simone thinks she's the sunniest sun that ever did shine), she resorts to things like having an intensely personal phone call, in which she recounts her less-than-sunshine-and-rainbows coming-out experience, while Ryan is a captive audience...and then gets huffy because Ryan doesn't fall all over himself to express his condolences for the stuff in the conversation she subjected him to.

Things get better from there, at least for a while. But I really struggled to get past Simone's early-book brattiness (especially when she then keeps needling Ryan about how he was soooo mean to her at first). In a romance featuring a queer lead, I never want the bulk of my sympathy to go to the straight man. It's not the last time she makes herself into the victim, and it's just not always that fun to be stuck in her POV.

All of this is an unnecessarily long way of saying that I love the intent here; I love the themes; I don't love the characters. I don't know how marketing people envision their target readers, but for this one I'm going to imagine the target reader as a cis-woman in her late teens or early twenties who self-identifies as a bisexual disaster, emphasis on disaster. (I knew someone once who talked a huge game about how much she hated drama, all the while being one of the most dramatic people I knew. We did not stay in touch. She and Simone would get along great right up until the point that they had a gigantic, messy falling-out.)

Tropes: #EnemiesToLovers, #BisexualDisaster, #OneBed, #GrumpyAndFauxSunshine #HerFatalFlawIsThatShe'sClumsyAndKeepsFallingIntoHisArms

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar" by Anahita Karthik

Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar by Anahita Karthik
Published January 2026 via HarperCollins
★★★★

Krishna had a goal for her summer in India—get out of her comfort zone, have adventures, and obtain her first kiss so that she isn't the only first-year college student in the history of the universe to have Never Been Kissed status.

The problem, part I: Summer's almost over, and she's done, well...none of this.

The solution: a last-minute road trip from Mumbai to Goa, where her summer crush is attending a wedding and just might be down to give her that first kiss.

The problem, part II: The road trip involves Krishna's cousin Priti, who is her best friend turned enemy, as well as a boy who makes her question who she's interested in after all...

This is one of those 3.5-stars-or-4-stars-and-a-caveat books for me. I absolutely love seeing a classic YA road trip book that takes place somewhere other than the US or, for that matter, other western, heavily white countries. Karthik is originally from Pune (ohh, suddenly it makes more sense why Krishna & co. detour through Pune!), so she's writing from some experience, though her story is definitely not Krishna's. Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar shows a side of India that I haven't seen a lot of in fiction or in the media; Krishna's cousins (and friends/acquaintances in India) are contemporary and urban teenagers; they're confident and adventurous; they're not interested in being pigeonholed. Most of the people I know from India (partner included) are older than the characters in this book and/or they grew up in smaller cities, where change is—as in smaller cities everywhere—slower.

Two things I would have liked to see: first, some of the dialogue is in Indian languages (Hindi, Marathi, etc.), and though there are footnote translations I'd have loved rough pronunciation as well; I can sound out just enough Devanāgarī to absolutely butcher it, and it would have been nice to know just how far off I was. Second, more descriptions of the food—there are many mentions of different dishes and how delicious they are, but unless it was something I was already familiar with there wasn't always much to go on in terms of figuring out what was what. But that being said: on both points, I'm aware that I'm writing this as a white person from the West; this book is being published for an American market, but it would be wildly unfair/US-centric of me to expect that everything be explained in more detail than an Indian or Indian-diaspora reader would need (as, I'm sure, much of it already has been without me noticing). So I can class both of those as "if I can look it up, who am I to complain?"

The caveat: Some of the characters are so often drama-llama-ding-dongs.* I know—they are teenagers, and is both their right and a rite of passage for them to be drama-llama-ding-dongs, but that didn't stop me from cringing a bit every time Krishna or Priti (but mostly Krishna) picked another fight. They do have their moments—e.g., Priti acknowledging that at some point being rude just became habit, and it might take some time for that to even out—but I could have used a little less drama at times, and a few fewer misunderstandings. (On the plus side: Krishna is well aware that at least part of her shifting attraction is down to teenage hormones, which entertained me quite a bit.)

I'll be curious to see the response from readers who are closer to the target age range and also those who have a closer understanding of contemporary India (and, more specifically, the experience of growing up in contemporary India) than I do, but this was a fun and fast read for me. I'd like to see more along these lines.

*I know the song uses lama, but I prefer the mental image of a really dramatic camelid.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Squeak" by Vera Valentine

Squeak by Vera Valentine
Published August 2022
★★★

Welp, I have another temporary Kindle Unlimited deal, and as it has become tradition for me to start one of those off with some of the odder romance/erotica floating around...here we go.

This isn't so much a monster romance as it is a shifter romance—something to do with an omegaverse (I do not know what this is and don't really care enough to find out, so...oh well). The heroes of the story have a fairly intense backstory involving being created by a kind of...wannabe witch?...for her own entertainment, escaping, and trying to find a way to make that escape permanent. Meanwhile, the heroine is an art student who thinks that if she goes to the zoo and only looks up at her subjects (humans who are visiting the zoo, not animals) every few minutes, they'll still be in the same place they were when she last looked at them...but I digress.

I found the story overall to be inoffensive but largely nonsensical, and the end to be rushed to the point where I have to wonder if the author hit fifty pages and thought "okay, that's enough now, I can just chuck in the outline and be done with it". I'm leaving it at three stars because it's on par with the genre as a whole and generally inoffensive (assuming that you aren't offended by the genre in the first place!), but it's one to be read for the novelty, entertainment, and not all that much else.

Review: "Who's All Going (to Die)?" by Lisa Springer

Who's All Going (to Die)? by Lisa Springer
Published September 2025 via Delacorte Press
★★★

It should have been the perfect getaway—Ariana has been invited to the soft opening of a new wellness retreat on a secluded island. She's brought her best friends along, and she's looking forward to a break.

That is...until a girl disappears, and nobody seems concerned. And then the bodies start to pile up...

I loved Springer's first book (nice and gory) and was looking forward to this one, since it promised more gore (I don't know, man, sometimes my reading habits are weird) plus a pretentious-as-hell wellness-culture island, which is always good fun. Ariana's sharp enough to notice early on that things aren't...quite...right...and that, for example, the newish friend who invited her to take part seems to have invited almost exclusively newish friends. Ariana seems to have at least some sort of online following (back to this in a moment), but she's not in this to build her profile; she just wants a free week of vacation and pampering. She does not want to be pressured into spending money that she doesn't really have to "level up" her wellness commitment, or her commitment to this specific brand of wellness.

The influencer thing ended up confusing me more than anything, though. None of Ariana's circle seems to be online-famous, though they (and everyone else) are encouraged to post a lot about their experience; they're given hashtags to use, and because the retreat already has some big names behind it, those posts get a lot of engagement. But: the entire influencer-and-people-posting-things seems to disappear as soon as the bodies start to pile up, and in an odd way that took me out of the story. Like...of course a bunch of teenagers, some of whom seem to want to be influencers proper, are going to post (and post a lot, and post dramatically) when somebody dies. They're also going to post dramatic things when, e.g., they're forced to spend hours doing manual labor in harsh conditions. The potential for the retreat getting a bunch of very publicity, very quickly, is huge with so many of the book's plot points...but that's just dropped. I think I would have preferred some kind of semi-convoluted plot point about there being no reception or wifi on the island (bonus: can't contact anyone to GTFO), so nothing can be posted until later (and the retreat people would still have time to do damage control)...and maybe something like an extensive nondisclosure agreement that most teenagers (most adults!) wouldn't bother to read before signing.

Ariana is also a little inconsistent in what she does with her information. She realizes early on that something is awry...but that doesn't stop her from trying out activities with high potential for someone to make something go wrong. It doesn't stop her from wearing the smartwatch that the retreat has assigned her and that can track her movements. It doesn't stop her from openly challenging people—and while she's generally right, she'd have been much safer if she smiled and nodded and raised hell later, when back in safety.

By the end of the book it's hard to imagine that this wellness retreat ever would have made it past the first round of visitor-guests; there's just too much violence and too many dangerous "treatments" and too much unrelenting pressure to spend spend spend. No subtlety to it—am I being overly optimistic to think that more people would share Ariana's skepticism and distaste for the spend spend spend pressure? Especially when that pressure repeats over and over (and this is a bunch of teenagers, most of whom are not paying their own bills...surely some of them think that they should check with their parents)? Still a very fun read, but as usual I struggled to suspend my disbelief.

Review: "Sisters of Belfast" by Melanie Maure

Sisters of Belfast by Melanie Maure
Published February 2024 via Harper Paperbacks
★★★

Aelish and Isabel are two peas in a pod. Raised in a Catholic orphanage in Northern Ireland, their paths diverge early: Aelish ever the good student, the good girl; Isabel not so content to be told what to do. We meet them as children, then again as adults, with Aelish—now a nun—traversing an ocean to be with her sister, who is now a married mother of two and seriously ill. They've been estranged for years at this point, and it's only as the story continues that we understand why.

I had high hopes for this book but ended up struggling quite a bit with it. Some of that is style: lots and lots of short sections, switching between viewpoints as the sections change; for me, the sections were too short and the shifts too abrupt. Some of that is structure: I think we're supposed to care deeply about what has torn these two sisters apart, but because we don't see any of that estrangement (just hop from them being children to them reconnecting as adults), it's hard to be all that invested in that storyline.

A significant chunk of the story takes place in the convent in Belfast. It's helpful if you have some idea of what convents in Ireland and Northern Ireland (and elsewhere) were doing at the time; I've done some reading on the Magdalene laundries, and if you have too, there won't be that many surprises here. We see only a few nuns, one of whom is kind but perhaps a bit ineffectual, another of whom is...maybe not evil, but distinctly unkind. (I guess she's supposed to have gotten her comeuppance, because we're reminded over and over again that she's now not only infirm but fat and smelly—not loving the constant fat-shaming of the one "bad" character in the book.)

I think this would have worked better for me with a different structure—more chronological, perhaps, with Isabel's secret not held back until later in the book. Or perhaps with more moments of levity and less Sturm und Drang between Isabel and Aelish. As it was, the book had its moments but wasn't really what I was hoping for.

Review: "Her Beautiful Life" by Brianna Labuskes

Her Beautiful Life by Brianna Labuskes
Published January 2026 via Thomas & Mercer
★★★★

Holland hasn't spoken to Cat in years, not since they lived together in Savannah. Those days, Cat was an up-and-coming chef, irreverent, biting, with no interest in being tied down. Now she's Catriona, a successful tradwife influencer with a passel of children. And Holland finally has a reason to reach out again—and the chance to check whether, really, Cat is okay. Because the Cat she knew would never in a lifetime willingly subject herself to this tradwife life. And she misses the Cat she knew.

It was so strange how much leeway society gave us to mourn romantic relationships but then acted like breakups between friends just never happened or never affected anyone if they did. They could be just as—or more—devastating. (146*)

Like Holland, I'm a little bit fascinated and a lot appalled by the rise of the tradwife movement. Unlike Holland, I don't know anyone who's actually living that life...but I'm intrigued by the parallel rise of the tradwife thriller, so here we are. The book is split between then and now, Holland's perspective and Cat's and that of the detective investigating when (not a spoiler) Cat's husband turns up dead.

The wife, Catriona, was a social media influencer, one of those women who pretended it was 1950 while ignoring the fact that, in 1950, she wouldn't have been allowed to have a career making a spectacle of herself for the public to consume. (2)

Catriona is compelling, electric, ambitious—and also impulsive, selfish, and jealous. Holland knows this; Catriona knows this; they both accept this as the status quo. So do most people in Catriona's life, honestly. Now...this isn't really a book about Catriona's tradwife life. I actually would have liked a bit more of that—the part of her life that Holland, who comes in as a journalist for this reconnection, is allowed to see is fairly limited, and although it's immediately clear to Holland that not everything is as Catriona presents to the Internet, it's all so curated that even Holland, with her inside knowledge, spends much of the book wrestling with what she should believe.

There are twists here, and some of those twists are big. I guessed one of the major ones fairly early on, but others, including related ones, I didn't see coming; better, because the end of the book is not reliant on twists so much as it is reliant on what will happen next and how far each individual character will go, I didn't know how the book would end until, well, the book ends. Love that although some information that the POV characters know is withheld until it's useful, that mostly doesn't happen in a "dun dun dun we're building this up" kind of way; the plotting is something fierce.

I'm not sure that the end would really be as final as it seems—numerous characters seem to be overlooking the use of forensic evidence and the impact that it might have on an investigation. There are also a number of unanswered questions about various relationships (e.g., why Catriona's husband isn't on good terms with his parents). But mostly this was just delightfully, compulsively readable.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Review: "On Fire for God" by Josiah Hesse

On Fire for God by Josiah Hesse
Published January 2026 via Pantheon
★★★★

Growing up without a lot of resources in an unassuming town in the Midwest, Hesse was on fire for God. His parents had fallen into conservative Christianity before he was born, and in it they saw promise—but for Hesse, his church's conservative, fire-and-brimstone beliefs were less a promise than a threat; his faith did not so much bring him peace or stability as it convinced him that he was worthless and never farther than half a step away from an eternity in hell. Home was chaotic. School was...not a refuge. And as an adult, Hesse gradually started to realize that the bill he'd been sold—among other things, the promise that the world would end before he had to worry about the future—was not grounded in reality.

This is a book about religion, to an extent, but it's just as much about childhood lost, and family dysfunction, and power, and the way religion so often isn't actually about religion. As he grew up and left school and started working, Hesse's world started to open up, but...I suppose that gaining good things often comes at the loss of something else. Not an easy course to take.

It makes for a complicated story and a complicated book. In On Fire for God, Hesse is both processing the trauma of his youth and digging into how all this came about—what competing forces were invested in children's souls, invested in keeping children scared, invested in profit and power. It's not a new story. I've read many exvangelical books at this point and expect to read many more. But it's a powerful and timely voice in the chorus of writers and speakers and survivors saying, Enough. No more.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "A Year Without Home" by V.T. Bidania

A Year Without Home by V.T. Bidania
Published January 2026 via Nancy Paulsen Books
★★★★

1970s Laos: Home is the only place Gao Sheng has ever wanted to be—but with the end of the Vietnam War and the withdrawal of the American troops comes a different kind of instability, and her family has no choice but to flee.

A Year Without Home is a fictionalized version of Bidania's family's story, told from the perspective of her older sister. Despite the dramatic setting and context (to say nothing of near misses), it's a relatively quiet story; Gao Sheng and her family are incredibly fortunate (insofar as one can be fortunate while also having to flee one's home) to get out before things get even worse, but "fortunate" still means living in various refugee camps with very little agency and very few opportunities and, sometimes, not so much as a roof over their heads.

This is middle grade, but I think it might work just as well or better for YA readers who are interested in something that's largely romance-free. Gao Sheng has so much more to worry about than an eleven-year-old should have to consider, but there are lots of details in here to pique the curiosity. The discussion of refugee camps also feels very topical—that is, perhaps it's never not been topical, but it's still a timely reminder that many refugee accommodations and options are no better (and often worse) than they are for Gao Sheng and her family in the 70s.

A fast read and a thoughtful one.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Gaslit" by Megan Davidhizar

Gaslit by Megan Davidhizar
Published January 2026 via Delacorte Press
★★★

It's New Year's Eve, and when Ella's plans go awry, she pivots to babysitting her cousin—except when she gets to her aunt's house, the door is open. Her aunt and cousins are inside—and the air isn't breathable. And despite Ella's best efforts, she can't save them all. It seems like a terrible accident...but things don't quite line up. And the police aren't moving fast enough. And it looks like Ella will have to take things into her own hands...

This one is full of twists and turns and red herrings. I highlighted a passage early on that I knew was going to be either a clue or a red herring (or even both), and I was right, but lo and behold, there were numerous other twists that I didn't see coming. Some of them worked a little better for me than others (vaguesauce to avoid spoilers), though what was interesting is that a lot of the surprise elements weren't really about who was responsible but around the circumstances surrounding the events.

One thing maybe worth noting: Ella and her teenage cohorts are...uh...absolute dummies at times. Some of that is pure Ella, who withholds information from most of the characters in the book because she's afraid of being looked at differently, then gets furious with them when there is actually reason to wonder whether an ask-no-questions policy is actually a good idea. Some of it is teenage stupidity (it's not clear to me how good a job the police would eventually do, but Ella at least is convinced that they would do nothing). There's vague mention of the possibility of consequences at some point, but I honestly wouldn't have minded something more concrete. (This isn't even a "don't interfere with police investigations"—it's a "if you're going to interfere with police investigations, don't be incredibly short-sighted about it.")

Overall, though, a quick and engaging read with plenty of surprises to keep things interesting.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Wandering Wild" by Lynette Noni

Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni
Published May 2025 via Blackstone Publishing
★★★

It's the trip of a lifetime, even if Charlie doesn't want it: a multi-day adventure trip with a Hollywood star (plus an adventure-television star). The catch: Zander is using her to salvage his reputation. The other catch: The reason his reputation needs salvaging is also the reason she can no longer stand him.

Initially, I loved this. Give me a wandering-in-the-woods book any day of the week, but more than that, I loved that Rykon (the adventure-television star) isn't out to make the characters look dumb. Charlie isn't out to be humiliated—she's encouraged to learn new skills and push her limits. Rykon and his husband-slash-cameraman Bentley are thoughtful, supportive (supporting) characters.

But then things take a turn. Major spoilers below.

There was a long enough pause between me seeing the book and reading it that I'd forgotten the details of the summary—which is just how I like it—but I retained a vague sense that Charlie and Zander would eventually be separated from Rykon and Bentley and need to survive on their own. I liked R&B enough to be genuinely worried that something would happen to take them out for good (death, life-changing accident, etc.). Instead, it's simpler: Rykon breaks his ankle.

"Someone has to stay with Rykon," Bentley answers for him. I'm about to point out that perhaps it shouldn't be the only other person who has any real survival experience, but he continues before I can, "And I'm not leaving my husband behind." (171)

My suspicions shot up at this point, because if this were genuine, it would be wildly irresponsible. (Well, it's wildly irresponsible regardless, but...) Leaving two untested teenagers with minimal skills to traverse the Australian wilderness by themselves...? Rykon talks them into "going for help" rather than staying put and, like, lighting a signal fire. Their planned route involves rappelling down a 300-foot waterfall without harnesses and with only a 100-foot rope, traversing a slot canyon prone to flash floods, and crossing a bridge that they already know is unsafe. And that's the version of things that has things going to plan.

Nothing goes to plan.

As it happens, the teens later learn that the only thing about this that was to plan was Rykon's "injury"—they were always meant to be stranded alone in the wilderness (better for Zander's reputation!), and because they didn't read their contracts properly, they don't know that they're actually being streamed live rather than 1) having a normal one-off show or 2) the cameras not being around at all, which is what they think when they set off on their two-person misadventure.

The irresponsibility of it all is breathtaking. Naturally the already dangerous obstacles (that Rykon thinks they should be able to handle, no problem!) become immediately life-threatening: they fall into the waterfall; the canyon is flooded; the bridge collapses while they're on it; etc. etc. To add to this, Charlie and Zander are on an artificial deadline: they've been told that if they're not at the designated meeting point before the extraction helicopter lands, the helicopter will leave, and a search party will be sent out, and it could take days for anyone to reach them. (It does not occur to them, at any point, that the people searching would likely start with their route, so, say, staying on the far side of a falling-apart bridge that is on their route would likely only delay their escape by a matter of hours, and they'd have a much lower chance of dying by falling into a canyon.)

How Rykon and Bentley are supposed to come out of this as good guys is beyond me. How Zander does not immediately fire his agent (who tricked him into this) is also beyond me.

Separate from this, incidentally, is the true story of Zander's fall from grace. Said fall came about because he was caught driving under the influence. Now...he's a YA hero, so I figured that there was probably more story there, some circumstances that would make him look better. And indeed: It transpires that not only did Zander 1) drive to save a suicidal friend, but he 2) didn't even know he was under the influence, because someone spiked his drink. He's still beating himself up for driving when he didn't feel 100%, of course, so he still takes responsibility, and he hasn't publicly shared that he was roofied because it might make the friend whose party he was at feel bad.

In other words: He's supposed to be, still, a squeaky-clean good guy who is not at fault for anything. And...it's YA. I get it. But I think he'd have been a lot more interesting if he weren't able to explain it all away, and he was horrified by how out of control he'd gotten and determined to make real changes.

So that's...where we are, I guess. Whiplash! I wanted to love this, but I just couldn't get past the part where a bunch of adults tricked a couple of teenagers into doing <i>wildly</i> dangerous things while unknowingly being streamed live, and it doesn't matter in the end because romance. Three stars and a whole lot of side-eye.

Review: Short story: "The Last Father-Daughter Dance" by Lisa Wingate

The Last Father-Daughter Dance by Lisa Wingate
Published January 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

A love story, after a fashion: Kalista has taken a break from her California life to help out her father, who is in desperate need of a heart transplant...but who might or might not get that transplant. With the long-term future up in the air, they decide to make the most of the immediate future.

Always nice to see short stories (and longer works, but this is a short story, so...) focusing on non-romantic relationships. There are characters here beyond Kalista and her father, yes, and there is potential for a romance to develop, but mostly this is about family, and what is important, and to a certain extent how you carry on anyway. I'm not sure I needed Kalista-as-Olympian (it adds to the backstory, but something else could easily have been substituted without changing the trajectory of the story), and I will say that any side character who is so blatantly uninterested in a main character's desire for privacy is not going to last in that main character's life. (Said character is not written to be a bad person, but ooof. "Let's capitalize on the family trauma your family wants to keep private" is never a good look.)

At any rate, it's a quick read and a sweet one.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Homeschooled" by Stefan Merrill Block

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block
Published January 2026 via Hanover Square Press
★★★★

When Block was nine, his mother pulled him out of public school in favor of homeschool. Ostensibly, this was because public school was stifling his creativity; in practice, the way Block describes it, his mother was lonely and bored and floundering (among other things, the family had recently moved to Texas for Block's father's career, so his mother had given up her own career). In theory, Block had the freedom to get ahead of his peers academically while pursuing his passions. In practice, well. That's where it gets complicated.

I read this out of curiosity about homeschooling. I went to public school from kindergarten all the way through grade twelve (even my nerdy boarding school was public—but that's another story), but I've known people with stories not too dissimilar to Block's, and more recently I've also read a fair amount about homeschooling that is done for religious or political reasons. Block's mother didn't have religious motivation, but Block touches lightly on the political climate that made his homeschooling (and often lack of schooling) possible.

It became clear to me, midway through the book, that there would have had to be some kind of cataclysm at some point between Block's youth and the present day to make it possible for him to publish this book: either his mother having a major change in perspective, or her dying, or Block cutting ties with her. Maybe there are other options, but those were the major three I could think of. This is not to say that Block speaks unkindly of his mother—he describes a deep filial love for her that made it hard to go against her wishes and instructions, even when those things made it much harder for him to navigate the world (and, more to the point, high school in Texas) in a way that was comfortable for him. It's to say that he speaks bluntly about how off-kilter so many of his mother's decisions were, and how much that impacted him, and I couldn't imagine that he'd be writing so openly about it if nothing had changed.

Two things that struck me: First, at some point in Block's middle school years, his mother started something of at at-home tutoring business, based on her success (or whatever you want to call it) with Block...but what she did as a tutor involved a great deal more actual teaching than what she did as a homeschool teacher with Block, and also seemed (at least, as I read it) to bring her a great deal more satisfaction. Block doesn't get into this in detail, but it makes me wonder about what could have been—if she'd found a paying job earlier in Texas, for example, might that have brought her the purpose she seems to have sought in homeschooling? And second, late in the book, Block (speaking of himself as a young man in New York), says Still, I've never met an actual writer (loc. 3101*). No great insights about this, it just...in the context of Block having spent so much of his tweenage years in his room, writing (something his mother encouraged because she was sure he'd be a famous writer), it seems to me so sad and rather strange that he'd never had the opportunity to sit down with a writer and ask all sorts of questions.

Homeschooling can be great...for the right kid, and with the right supervising adult, and with broader oversight. But that wasn't the kind of homeschooling that Block got, and frankly I don't know what proportion of homeschooled kids get the right confluence of factors. Here's hoping that this can be a loud and critical voice for the lack of regulation.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Blade" by Wendy Walker

Blade by Wendy Walker
Published January 2026 via Thomas & Mercer
★★★

Then, Ana was a promising young skater living away from home for the first time. Now, she’s moved on to a law career and put skating behind her—put it in a box, taped the box up, put the box on a high shelf in the closet, closed the door, and walked away. But the past has a way of coming back to find you, and when Ana is brought in to defend a young skater accused of murder, she has to face the strange world she once inhabited.

Skating books are up there with ballet books and gymnastics books for me—I have virtually no experience in the actual sports, but I'll read about them til the cows come home. And this particular book contains a tantalizing author's note:

When I was thirteen, I was accepted into an elite figure skating program in Colorado. I moved far from my home to live in a dormitory and train with promising skaters and champions from around the world. While this story is a work of fiction, the personal impact of my own experience remains with me to this day.

I know I'm not alone. (loc. 4110)

I'll assume, of course, that a murder was not part of Walker's experience as a skater—and, also of course, I won't assume anything else about her own experience. But Blade hints at the damage that can be wrought upon talented young girls, far away from home. Because the obvious objective of the Palace, where first Ana and now her client trained, is clear: Create champions. But the lengths to which the Palace will go to achieve those goals...well, let's just say that that's not part of the marketing materials. And moreover, the stated objective is not the only one. Every adult responsible for the care of these girls has his or her own priorities, and rarely does the health and well-being of the girls in question top anyone's priority list.

While some of the reveals I could see coming, others provide dramatic twists in the story. There is an extent to which Ana is hiding things from the reader for much of the book, which is not a writing choice that particularly appeals to me (I like to be on the same page as the POV character!), but it does keep that element of surprise in. I'd have liked to see a bit more skating, though; Walker is in a unique position to write with authority about the daily ins and outs of a training program like the Palace, and I would have liked more about that: other than landing or falling on given skills, and getting praise or rejection in response, what would a typical practice look like, a typical day, a typical week?

A good one for readers who want their ice-princess dreams shattered and grit rubbed in the resulting wound.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Dreamland" by Sarah Dessen

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Published 2000
★★★★

When Caitlin's sister rejects the life that has been set out for her, Caitlin finds herself floundering in the shadows. With attention elsewhere, she throws herself into new things—cheerleading, a new boyfriend. Cheerleading she hates. The boyfriend, though, takes up more and more of her time...and gradually leaves her with more and more bruises.

Dessen made her name on summer (or summer-like) romances set in North Carolina, but once upon a time, before she'd settled into the rhythm of YA romance, she wrote Dreamland. I was twelve when this came out, and I probably read it that year or the next. I read (and loved) a lot of Dessen's books, but this one still stands out—darker, not a romance (or not really), a time in Dessen's writing when her heroines were allowed to make mistakes and find themselves in unhealthy relationships and not be squeaky clean. It's so interesting to see reviews from people who read some of Dessen's later work first and prefer that, because I have always felt that this is one of Dessen's stronger works—no healthy happy romance, a heroine who get wrapped up in drugs, etc.

I realized I'd grown out of Dessen's books some time ago, when I read yet another book about a heroine with problems that weren't her fault and concluded that I wasn't likely to see another heroine who got to be at all messy (and definitely not one who was poor or fat or queer or political or from somewhere other than small-town-but-not-too-small-town North Carolina). I remember this one as one of Dessen's only books that allows for that messiness (an abusive relationship isn't Caitlin's fault, of course, but she at least goes willingly into her experiments with pot and class-skipping—agency, yay?). But, rereading it now, it's perhaps not so big a difference; Caitlin is still a White, wealthy (or wealthy enough to never worry about money) teenage girl with an enormous safety net. I'm still so happy to see a YA character who gets to make some mistakes, but even the dramatic drug plotline feels quite late-90s these days; while I wouldn't recommend that high school students go get stoned, an author writing this in the 2020s would probably have to get Caitlin hooked on something stronger for it to carry the same weight that it did then.

Because this was published 25 years ago, it's interesting to see what else still feels contemporary and what doesn't—Caitlin calling every number where she thinks she can reach Rogerson, for example, is a distinctly pre-cell-phone vibe. A few word choices and targets of not-quite-snark would give me pause today but aren't so out of line for 2000s NC. Late in the book, there's some stuff involving residential treatment and characters who are in said treatment for months, even more than a year—partly a sign of changing times (contemporary insurance companies would likely give most of the patients the boot within weeks), partly a sign of this being a world populated by people with a certain degree of financial comfort, partly perhaps just that Dessen might not have considered insurance policies when writing the book back then.

As a nostalgia read, this was a win, and I can still imagine it resonating with teens, especially those in unhealthy relationships. But...these days, I'd probably recommend something else.

Review: "The Girl You Know" by Elle Gonzalez Rose

The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose
Published February 2025 via Bloomsbury YA
★★★

Luna's world fell apart when her twin, home for winter break, was found dead—and with the police planning to make this an open-and-shut case, there's only one thing to do: take over her sister Solina's identity, infiltrate her fancy boarding school, and find proof that her sister's death was murder...as well as proof of who did it.

I love me a boarding school book, but I ran up against my inability to suspend disbelief pretty quickly here. Hard to believe that Luna was able to financially support herself and her sister (who has a scholarship, but one that doesn't cover anything by way of incidentals) on a less-than-minimum-wage diner job; hard to believe that she lasts more than a day in a school where everyone should know her, she doesn't know even the barest details; hard to believe several different event sequences. Like...Luna realises once she gets to the fancy fancy prep school that Solina was presenting a different version of herself to the people there, one Luna knows nothing about, and yet nobody calls Luna on...really anything? She struggles in her classes, and despite Solina having a GPA that nobody else can even touch, nobody questions Luna-as-Solina struggling; she can barely mask her revulsion when kissing Solina's boyfriend; she runs around ready to stab people with her rusty-but-trusty knife, and nobody really notices.

I can't help but think of Tana French's The Likeness, in which the main character is called in to impersonate another woman, one who visually could be her twin. She has to swallow buckets of information in a minuscule amount of time, but she's trained to do it, and also, she plans and practices in the limited amount of time; she holds her breath and watches people's reactions and adjusts on the fly; things are weird, and she actively works to smooth things over. I know the rules are different for YA, but if I do a reread, it'll be of The Likeness, not of The Girl You Knew.

Review: "Death and Other Occupational Hazards" by Veronika Dapunt

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt
Published January 2026 via Poisoned Pen Press
★★★★

Death needs a sabbatical: Life is exhausting, the Boss takes centuries to mull over every change in their image (really, he needs a marketing department), the VP for Pandemonium & Perdition is up to all his usual shenanigans, and the Human Communications Director has stretched his three-day vacation into more than two millennia. (He hasn't been totally slacking, though: He has a side gig as a hair model.)

So yes—Death needs a sabbatical. Unfortunately, her sabbatical coincides with the first Unplanned deaths she's seen in her career...and those deaths could have devastating consequences if she doesn't figure out who (or what) is behind them.

This was just about as tongue-in-cheek as I could have hoped for, with a serving of murder on the side. It's a pretty delightful romp (if that can be said about a book about Death): Death is fed up with the black robes and scythes and eager to mix and match the loudest patterns and brightest colors she can find, but for all her experience, she doesn't always quite...get...humans, and she often doesn't understand when she gets things not quite right, or why.

It's worth noting that the setup here is oriented in a very Specific Western Religion direction; although Death mentions having spent time all over the world (picking up souls—it's not clear how she is managing the workload of tens and tens of thousands of people dying each day, but that's kind of beside the point), nearly the entire book takes place in London, which for whatever reason seems to be favored not only by Death but also by the VP for P&P and the HCD, and there's never any mention of how Death comes into play when, for example, a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim etc. etc. etc. person dies. In some ways it's maybe for the best that that isn't explored (I do not want a book that tried to make it global but in which the answer is "it's all the same outcome for everyone! But oh, haha, it just so happens that it looks a lot like a very white version of Christianity!"), and it would have had to be a very different book to get into the weeds without making it super problematic, but...well, just a heads-up that the vision here is pretty specific.

All that said—it was a ride. I'd love to have a coffee with this version of Death.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Tales of Enchantment" by Shanna Swendson

Tales of Enchantment by Shanna Swendson
Published August 2023
★★★★

Enchanted, Inc. is one of my all-time favorite chick lit series, and I do not use "all-time favorite" lightly. In Tales of Enchantment, Swendson adds a few short (and not so short) stories to the mix, fleshing out the series with moments that didn't fit into the main event.

I've read two of these before, as the stories featuring Sam were also published separately, but the others were new to me. The ones that resonated most were those about Owen and Rod, before the series starts (not sure why, but they felt the most playful), but most of all I loved the short essays and commentary from Swendson—a bit of background on each given story, some cultural context, etc. My poor little millennial brain can't really wrap itself around the idea that younger readers need reminders that there was a time when you couldn't just whip out your cell phone and call someone (or look something up), but here we are. My least favorite story was probably the last one, narrated by Katie's grandmother, I think just because the voice didn't feel as distinct...but that's a pretty minor quibble.

As ever, reading anything by Swendson is a reminder to reread the whole Enchanted, Inc. series...especially as it's been a decade since I last read the earliest books. Will this finally be the thing that pushes me to give the German versions a go? Only time will tell.