Review: "One Day, Hard and Clear" by Anne Baldo

One Day, Hard and Clear by Anne Baldo
Published June 2026 via Rare Machines
★★★★

Lucy and Sami are best friends in the early 2000s, dreaming of bigger and better things, dreaming of Paris. They assume, then, that their friendship will stay the same forever, even as everything else changes around them. But things rarely work out that way.

One Day, Hard and Clear follows Lucy and Sami—mostly Sami—as they grow up and drift apart. Sami is infatuated with her sometimes boyfriend, True, even as they body slip in and out of other relationships. I wanted to know if my body would always feel like a live wire next to his, she says. If I would one day forget how I used to fall asleep up against his big back and finally feel anchored to the world. (loc. 328*)

I like a coming-of-age story, and that's just what we have here. Circumstances dictate a lot of Lucy and Sami's choices—they both imagine a world full of possibilities, at least at first, but it's clear that Lucy will simply have more resources to pursue things she wants to pursue, and also that there are limitations even before they get out of the gate.

"Young man" was a compliment, an honour, but even then I knew "young lady" was different, cool and corrective. You only heard it when you were doing something wrong. (loc. 466)

The book moves further through time than I initially expected—I'd thought it might stay in 2004 (so strange that my high school years have become historical fiction), but instead it moves forward and forward again. Sami has a burst of initiative relatively early on, moving away and trying to have an adventure, but, well, things change, and after that she seems largely to take life as it comes to her, accepting the hands she's dealt.

I looked at Bodie, wondering when the moment "I've chosen you right now" mutated somehow into "forever." By then I'd realized what we were, two broken fingers taped together, a busted buddy system. (loc. 757)

I wouldn't have minded a bit more of Lucy's life, for contrast and to see how much their paths truly diverge or don't (is Lucy happy, by the end?), but I liked how real this felt—no great choices or big declarations, just life moving forward and friendship morphing over time.

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

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

Review: "We Became Wild" by H.D. Carver

We Became Wild by H.D. Carver
Published June 2026 via Norton Young Readers
★★★

Val is dead—and Lottie had a hand in it. Wracked with grief and guilt, she and her other best friend, Messina, set out on the Pacific Crest Trail, Val's ashes in tow, to escape their pasts, their demons, their home lives. Officially, they're hiking towards something. Unofficially...they both have a lot to run from.

I love a long hike and I love a long-hike book. Lottie and Messina don't set out on the PCT for themselves, exactly; it's something Val had dreamed of doing, and about their only consistent source of information is Val's annotated copy of Wild. They have packs full of supplies, but to say they go in unprepared is an understatement: They are dangerously unprepared, with a lack of knowledge that has potentially lethal consequences. They don't have a viable map; they're in the desert without sunscreen; they don't know how far they might have to walk without water or what a water cache is. The PCT is not for the faint of heart, and well, while neither Lottie nor Messina is the faint of heart, it's also not something that should be approached without forethought and preparation. And yet: Here they are.

This is not a light book. Quite aside from the girls' grief over the loss of Val, they have a lot of reasons to want out of their present-day lives—neither of them has a happy home life, and Messina in particular knows that going home is really not an option. The girls are best friends, but neither of them is in a position to trust anyone with their secrets; at most, they can acknowledge how much they haven't said. They become stronger on the PCT, stronger and to some degree more knowledgeable and more capable (though they're always pretty much flying by the seat of their pants), but the extent to which they become happier or learn to trust each other (or trust themselves!) more is limited at best.

It's messy. These girls' lives are messy, and not in a way that can be untangled through a restorative tromp through nature. (Don't we all wish!) Their physical experience is messy too; there's enough mention of vomit and farts and period-blood-as-warpaint that I checked to see if the writer was a man (old habit that I learned when I was reading Camino books by the handful—women and nonbinary people puke and fart and get horrific weeping blisters and so on, of course, but in my unscientific opinion they're less likely than cis men to write about those things in detail). I think I struggled a bit with both of these things; I really don't enjoy detailed discussion of bodily function (this isn't even that detailed, it's just pretty present), and I also wanted some emotional relief or levity. It makes some sense that there isn't that levity: Their best friend has just died! Messina is constantly looking over her shoulder in fear! They both badly need therapy and responsible role models and a promise of stability. (Also water and electrolytes, both of which are in short supply throughout the book.) In that context, it's probably not realistic to expect a great deal of levity and joy from them...just, when some things did get easier, it was so late in the book, and with so little that came before to indicate something positive to come. The messiness and darkness aren't bad things, and I'd certainly prefer a grungier take to one that is all sunshine and roses (and romance). In the end I'd probably call this a mood read; best if read when in the mood for trauma and grief and grit and grime.

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

Review: "Bethesda" by Lisa Morris

Bethesda by Lisa Morris
Published June 2026 via Quill & Crow
★★★★

Tryss is just trying to get home to say goodbye to her father, who doesn't have much time left—but when her car runs out of gas (and then breaks down) in a small town she's never heard of, things get...weird. There's no cell phone service, no mechanic, and no apparant way out...and to top it all off, the town's residents appear to be dead. Taxidermied, embalmed, crumbling to dust, you name it.

I don't read a lot of horror, but you know what I do read? I read weird trad wife books, apparently, and when I saw this one I had a sneaking suspicion that it would fit into that subgenre in a weird and unexpected way. It does and it doesn't, though I'm going to count this one as a trad wife book win for being so different from the others that I've read (well—Tryss is still a journalist, which seems to be a theme in these books—but just about everything else is different).

Now, we must be realistic here. In a horror movie, Tryss would die real fast; she has some survival instincts, but she also has a lot of journalistic instincts, and the latter tend to win out. She'd rather run around town and break into buildings to take pictures of dead bodies than she would try to cover her tracks; she's readier to trust the creepy women running the town than she is to, you know, maintain an appropriate level of caution. But then again: This is not a town in which keeping your head down and trying to sneak out past the town lines is really an option.

I did end up with some unanswered questions (in particular, mild spoilers in footnotes*). On the whole, though? Delightfully creepy. Don't read it while eating.

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

*What exactly is Barbara's backstory? Who was the deep voice before Tryss was knocked out? Is Barbara running the show, or not?

Review: "Good Luck, Babe!" by Erin Baldwin

Good Luck, Babe! by Erin Baldwin
Published June 2026 via Viking Books for Young Readers
★★★★

Until nine months ago, Noelle and Yumi were inseparable. Then they kissed, and it torpedoed their friendship. But now a reality-show application they sent in before they fell out has come back to haunt them—and because of events of the past nine months, Noelle really needs the prize money. So they're thrown together into a relationship that is strictly for the cameras...and for better or for worse.

I noted when I read Baldwin's first book that it was a delight to have YA enemies who are not awful to each other, and the same is true here. Yumi doesn't want anything to do with Noelle—but under the circumstances she'll do what it takes to work together anyway. They still know each other; if you asked either of them who their person is, they might no longer admit it, but they both know who would come to mind. And more than that, there are no real villains here: There are competitors who Noelle and Yumi don't like, and they're both vividly aware that the reality show has drama rather than their best interests at heart, but the stakes of the story don't come from evil villains.

There are some other small things that could be overdone but that the book turns on its head: Early on, for example, Noelle is given something with intensely personal value. I immediately worried that she'd lose it on the competition—but before I could worry too much about that, she brings that up as a concern, and she's reminded that it is only a thing and it will be okay if she loses it. Not that she won't lose it; that the world will not stop spinning if she does. This is a small thing, but I think it's illustrative of the way the book says "we see those standard plotlines, and we're taking a tangent, thanks".

The plot is lively (though I did spend some time wondering about the environmental impact on, and ethics of, this show), with entertaining side characters and main characters who are easy to root for. I could have used a bit more to the conversation about how the relationship torpedo went down, and also a bit more about how financial matters shook out in the end. But overall? A delight; well worth reading.

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

Review: "A Hard Freedom" by Dan Chung

A Hard Freedom by Dan Chung
Published July 2026 via Bloomsbury Academic
★★★

Years ago, Chung got involved with an organization dedicated to supporting North Korean refugees and defectors who have made their way to China and, sometimes, beyond. A Hard Freedom tells some of his stories, and some of the stories of the people he's met along the way.

I read Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy more than a decade ago, and it's stuck with me enough that I take a second look whenever I see a book about North Korea. To be fair, I am curious about most places I've never been (exceptions include Delaware and Tampa), but North Korea is of course unique for its closed-off nature and secretiveness.

A Hard Freedom wasn't really what I expected. Based on the description, I thought this would be largely about defectors' journeys through China (where detection by authorities can mean deportation back to North Korea, and consequently imprisonment in a labor camp) and into third countries (including South Korea). Maybe some anecdotes, but a few people's stories told in full throughout the book. I didn't expect so much of this to be about religion—it turns out that Crossing Borders, the organization Chung is involved in, is a Christian organization, and a lot of what they do centers on religion. Chung says early on that the point of the book is not to proselytize, but that religion is part of his story (and I suppose the organization's), and so he's included it. I do think he tried to limit how much he talked about religion, but it feels like perhaps religion is so ingrained in his life that even limiting how much it comes up in the book makes for...well, quite a lot more than I expected, when I thought I was just going to be reading a book about North Korea.

The book itself was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There's some interesting research and some devastating stories. Crossing Borders works mostly with women, many of whom were sold as wives or slaves when they crossed into China, and many of whom have suffered the sorts of hardships that should be unimaginable. I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about the demographics of people who try to get out of North Korea, but Chung notes that, for various reasons, it's often women of low social status. And again for various reasons, they're incredibly vulnerable in China, and even if they make it to South Korea, it can take a long time and a lot of work and support to reach any kind of emotional and physical stability.

The structure of the book felt disjointed, though, with a fair amount of repetition. Chung talks about a number of women he and Crossing Borders worked with, and returns to some of their stories throughout the book, but I found myself wishing he'd worked with a journalist who was used to teasing out stories and digging deep for details. There are also some odd things, like an out-of-left-field quotation from Elon Musk talking about how much better it is to be a prisoner of war in the US than in North Korea, and like...while I don't doubt that, there's also, like...Guantanamo...and everything the US is currently doing to immigrants...and if someone is going to be quoted on the subject, I'd prefer it to be an expert than it to be an egotistical billionaire.

With all this said: I'd likely still have read the book if I'd known that it was about the experiences of a specific, religious organization, but I'd have adjusted my expectations accordingly. And I'm curious now about the book Chung's former colleague wrote—but I'll go into that one with my expectations a bit clearer, and then I'll go read something a bit more academic on the subject.

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

Review: "Gutted" by Maide Korte

Gutted by Maida Korte
Published June 2026 via She Writes Press
★★★★

Korte was a city person through and through—but her husband dreamed of life in the country, so they compromised with a rambling old Victorian house in a smaller town. They were better qualified than most to take on a house Project: Korte's background was in interior design, and her husband was a contractor. So she had the vision, and he had the know-how to make it happen...once they got past the structural issues.

I have a longstanding love of house-restoration books. It's not a project that I particularly want to take on—keeping a one-bedroom apartment clean is enough for me!—but to me reading about house restoration is the real estate equivalent of armchair traveling. Bring on the floor plans, the unexpected termites, the dithering over which tile to use, the walls torn down to reshape the space...

Gutted is partly a house-restoration memoir, but more than that I'd say that it's Korte's story of growing up and finding a place for herself, and then finding a new place when things changed. It's a quick read but a fairly quiet book: The basic house restoration took years, and if I had to guess I'd say that the finer details are ongoing; Korte doesn't chart the process from beginning to end but rather dips in and out, highlighting certain areas (my mind was boggled by the idea of a space that may have been designed with pre-burial casket viewings in mind) and leaving others untouched. 3.5 stars for me (predictably, I would have liked more house details), but will be higher for those looking for something that is more about family and figuring oneself out.

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

Review: "In Every Possible Way" by Alicia Thompson

In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson
Published June 2026 via Berkley
★★★★

Jess is fresh off a bad first date in her home of Florida, and she's ready to throw in the towel when life throws her for a loop: She's mugged, she hits her head...and she wakes up in Ireland. No passport, no money, no idea how she got there or how to get home. And no contacts except Eamonn, the first man she meets there...

I am predictable: I like travel books (even if that travel is accidental), and I like books set in places I don't know well, and I like nontoxic relationships. Also, I don't always read (or remember) the entire description before I commit to reading a book, because aren't books a bit more fun with an extra element of surprise?

Fortunately, this one delivered. Jess ends up seeing a fair amount of Ireland over a short couple of days, some of it touristy and some of it a little more off the beaten path. There's a sort of dreamy sense to her experience there, because she knows full well that she shouldn't be there, that it makes no sense that she's there, that it can't last. And every so often we get a reminder from Florida that the universe, too, knows that the time can't last. (Jess tries to go to the US embassy to get things sorted out, but it is conveniently a holiday weekend, so there's time to get caught up in things.)

The romance is sweet. Jess and Eamonn have a good dynamic, initially pretty uncertain but always respectful. We have some of the typical "he thinks she's dating someone else", but they get over that reasonably quickly. The chemistry is there early, but the figuring out what to do with it is more complicated...especially for Jess, who of course knows things Eamonn doesn't.

A few quibbles: I didn't like the epilogue—in retrospect I should have just skipped it, but of course you never know that going in! Late-in-game POV shifts always throw me for a loop, and it just didn't feel necessary. I'd also like to know just what Jess would expect at the US embassy in Ireland. Contacting the embassy is the logical thing to do if you've lost your passport on vacation, yes...but imagine the questions for someone in Jess's situation! No passport, but also no record of ever entering the country...and also no record of her ever having a passport, because, well, she doesn't have a passport. I mean, obviously there's a reason the story goes off in a different direction, but I am bad at suspending disbelief (see: me being predictable), and I think I just could have used a bit more acknowledgement that as complicated as things are, they have the capacity to get much worse, very quickly.

But overall? Much fun. This is the second of Thompson's books that I've read, and it was a better fit for me than the first (which was also fine, just—it wasn't set in Ireland). Would read more along these lines.

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

Review: "Long Island Girls" by Gabrielle Korn

Long Island Girls by Gabrielle Korn
Published June 2026 via St. Martin's Press
★★★★

Long Island, 2005: Susan feels awkward and out of place in her teenageness. A chance encounter with Eliza leaves her reeling—both because of her own inadequate reaction to revelations about Eliza's experiences and because Eliza awakens something in Susan that she hadn't really been aware of. It goes nowhere. And for years after, Susan wonders: Was she the one?

It's so odd to be old enough that formative periods of my childhood are now historical fiction. Long Island Girls doesn't stay in 2005—every so often it jumps forward, and Susan ages, and the historical context changes. Susan is involved in the music scene, parts of which go a bit over my head (I skipped the whole pop culture thing when I was a teenager), but her understanding of what is normal and what is okay in the music scene changes as she ages and as cultural understandings change.

Susan thinks: I'm just learning a lot about who gets to make art in this city. (loc. 930*)

A number of themes run through the book, but one of the ones with the most sticking power is Susan's nonrelationship with Eliza. Their first interaction is something fleeting, but over the years they run into each other again, and again, and each interaction rewrites what Susan knows about Eliza, and sometimes what she knows about herself.

"You're not going to want to hear this," he says, "But I don't think we ever really get over the things that end before they begin." (loc. 2647)

At times I wished Long Island Girls had stayed in the 2000s, just because it felt so strange and specific to read about my own teenaged years—I turned 17 and graduated from high school in 2005—through the lens of historical fiction. The book wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things it is doing without spanning decades, though. I'm so curious to see how this will land for people from different generations—from we millennials (nary a mention of avocado toast, I should note) who remember a time when landlines were the norm to those who have grown up with and on social media.

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

Thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me to read a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "The Rise and Fall of the Non-trad Wife" by Natasha Ansari

The Rise and Fall of the Non-trad Wife by Natasha Ansari
Published June 2025
★★★

I recently went down a rabbit hole that started with a tradwife murder mystery and kind of...went from there. This came up in my search, and I couldn't tell whether or not it was about, well, tradwives (women voluntarily staying at home and, like...being 1950s housewives, but in the 2020s?). But it was on Kindle Unlimited, and I make questionable reading choices when I temporarily have Kindle Unlimited, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Now: This was not the sort of tradwife story I was looking for. That's just as well (because tradwife life sounds terrible, and I wouldn't wish it upon Ansari or almost anyone else), but I'll just put that up front in case the title raised questions for anyone else. But this is a story of expectation vs. reality: Ansari got married in part because that was the societal expectation, and over time she found that what she wanted and expected out of marriage was not what her marriage looked like, and not what it was going to look like. And: that she was going to feel more like herself if not in this marriage.

This is one for readers who have followed convention and then realized that convention isn't, or isn't entirely, for them. It wasn't what I was looking for, but that's not a fault of the book (I was looking for something pretty specific!), but it's a very fast read. Here's hoping that Ansari's life looks more like one that she wants now.

Review: Short story: "Julia at the Drive-In" by Rainbow Rowell

Julia at the Drive-In by Rainbow Rowell
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Julia was invisible until Chloe came along—came along and made her over and treated her like someone worth talking to, worth listening to. But Julia still feels like her old self, and when the boy she likes starts talking to her at the drive-in, she's afraid to ask: does he recognize her?

I've read and liked a few of Rowell's full-length books, and honestly, I would follow these characters into a full-length book. Julia is insecure but practical; she knows she's third-wheeling on her friend's date, and she's fine with that to a point, after which she's well prepared to go, ah, un-third-wheel herself.

Most of the story is about Julia's interaction with her crush (and whether it will go anywhere, and whether he knows she's the same girl who used to be invisible), but I was most interested in the friendship part of things. Because: Whether Chloe is in fact a supportive friend could go either way in this story, and we don't really know until the end. Does she only like Julia when Julia does what Chloe says? Does she notice when Julia's not there? How much will she prioritize her date (or perhaps we should say hookup) over her evening with her friend? And ultimately, if this were something longer (though the story feels complete as it is), it's that look at friendship that would keep me reading.

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

Review: Short story: "Safe Harbor" by Nicola Yoon and David Yoon

Safe Harbor by Nicola Yoon and David Yoon
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Isabel isn't sure of much, but she is sure that she doesn't want to be at the Safe Harbor therapy program. Her parents' divorce is bad enough; having to discuss it with other teenagers whose families are going through divorce is adding insult to injury.

The authors do a good job of differentiating the various characters throughout the story, which is impressive given the length of the story and that almost all the characters are introduced pretty much all at once at the beginning. I'm not wildly impressed by the therapist in the story; on the one hand, she's human, which is great (I do not stan Miracle Therapists in books), but on the other hand, I found her pretty unprofessional. Nice to see the teenagers connecting anyway, and finding ways to bring their walls down a bit.

Reading short stories from this collection has been super interesting, because many of the authors are ones whose books I've seen but not (yet) read; nice to get a chance to try them out.

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

Review: Short story: "Winter Breakage" by David Levithan

Winter Breakage by David Levithan
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

It's winter break, and Eric is meeting up with his college friends in New York. He likes them (mostly), but he still feels like an odd one out...like maybe none of them has quite seen him yet.

This makes for a sweet and very relatable short story. I wonder how many people have felt just the same way as Eric—these are sort of his friends by default, and he's not sure if he really fits in, if they actually like him or if he's just the one tagging along. And that feeling when you think you've finally found someone you actually click with!

I quite liked the sense that there could be something romantic or there could be something platonic—or, I guess that's not entirely accurate; maybe it's more the reminder that a fledgling friendship can feel as exciting and daunting as a fledgling romance. This felt just right for a short story, too; satisfying without inspiring a wish that it were longer.

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

Review: Short story: "The Price of Admission" by Dustin Thao

The Price of Admission by Dustin Thao
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Evan's life isn't easy, but he makes do: between scholarships and part-time jobs, he's confident that he can move up in the world and fulfill his mother's dreams for him. And there's a boy—one who comes from an entirely different world, but who seems to see Evan for who he is...at least, behind closed doors.

This is one in a collection of coming-of-age stories, and one of the most interesting things about it is the ambiguity of the role of Dalton, that boy from a different world, for so much of the book. Evan is not ashamed of who he is or who his family are or the world he comes from (immigrant background, tight financial situation), but he's aware that Dalton might have reservations about their different financial backgrounds, and he responds accordingly, bending over backwards to fit better into Dalton's world. I wondered, for much of the story, how far he might be willing to go to excuse Dalton's behaviour, and at what point one of the boys would have to change their tune.

The telling is a little bit removed—the story isn't long, but it covers a significant chunk of time, so a lot of the events of the story are told through summary rather than scene. I think I might have preferred to see fewer events, but in more detail; or maybe just a longer work where the individual elements of the book could be given a bit more room to breathe. (Also interesting, in the end, who Evan chooses to criticise, and what type of work he chooses to pursue in the long run; I'd have loved to see that explored more.) Still, it explores interesting themes and allows most of the characters to have some complexity.

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

Review: Short story: "Back to You" by Ann Liang

Back to You by Ann Liang
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Allison has done all the "right" things—competitive degree, high grades, prestigious job...and she's miserable. And maybe she wouldn't act upon that, but then there's a little incident with a late-night snack, and suddenly she finds herself with a chance to redo things...

I've read a few of Liang's novels, so it was interesting to pick up this short story for a change. For a moment I thought the book would be adult fiction, as, when the book opens, Allison is working her first job out of college...but then we got back into a more YA feel. It has a bit of a sliding-doors sense, or at least a do-over sense.

One quibble: Allison never really questions her do-over. This makes some sense in a short story (there's only so much room to figure out what might happen if two different timelines), but as someone who really loves a sliding-doors story (or, for that matter, a do-over story!), I would have liked to read something longer with this same premise. What if she had to choose? What if she didn't have to choose, but she did have to give up things she loved? What if her do-over were more temporary? Still cute, but I'd be really curious to see a longer-form version.

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

Review: "Somebody Worth Killing" by Jessica Payne

Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne
Published June 2026 via Berkley
★★★★

Nadia is good at what she does. Officially, that's wedding planning—but unofficially? She takes the bad guys down. Violently. And if if just so happens that this aligns with her need for destruction, well, at least it's for a good cause. There's just one problem: She's pretty sure she's been mommy-tracked...and when she demands a bigger job, the target turns out to be none other than her husband.

The Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibes are real in this one, and I am here for it. It's quite distinct, not to fear, but it's playful and fast-moving and, frankly, who hasn't wanted a secret room hidden inside their closet? Nadia also makes for a fascinating main character: She doesn't experience the world the same way most people around her do, not the world or emotions or relationships. That doesn't mean that she doesn't have emotions or relationships, or that they aren't healthy...but it informs the way she sees the world and the way she interacts with it.

Honestly, I'd be delighted if this became a series. No spoilers, but much of the book is about Nadia figuring out who her husband is—it becomes clear early on that he is not in fact who he says he is, any more than she is—but what she ultimately finds out has major implications for her actions throughout the book, as well as anything that might happen in any theoretical books. There are so many directions this could go in, and quite a lot of characters who could provide fodder for future books.

Very good fun—if you're into a bit of tongue-and-cheek assassin action, this is very much a book for you.

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

Review: "Be My Endgame" by Zarah Detand

Be My Endgame by Zarah Detand
Published June 2026 via Storm Publishing
★★★★

Alex is thrilled to be named to England's World Cup team—even if his excitement is dampened somewhat by knowing that he'll be playing alongside Lee, with whom he's had something of a (dare I say it?) heated rivalry for years. But it turns out that they have a spark on the field, and perhaps off it too...

I read Detand's Operation Boyfriend not so long ago, and it was on the strength of that that I read Be My Endgame. I'm pretty picky about m/m romance (not least because I prefer f/f!); Operation Boyfriend worked for me for the hook, but also because the characters spend so much time actually getting to know each other before they fall into bed, and although they have their dummy-dumb-dumb moments (as do we all), they're mostly adults who remember to talk things out before jumping to conclusions.

And here we have the same: Alex and Lee have unresolved history, and early on in the book they don't really know how to meet each other in the middle. But because they're both, ultimately, determined not to let their personal issues get in the way of their jobs, they work it out. This sounds like such a small thing! Yet I've read so much romance (m/m, m/f, f/f) in which that's not a given or in which misunderstandings spin out over chapters. It's really lovely to see these two ready and willing, from early on, to work through their differences...and then become friends before anything, erm, saucy happens. (I also love that there are a few things that would have been easy conflicts or catalysts—but that have already been done to death—that are quietly passed over here in favor of more complex conflicts.)

I will note that the names Alex and Lee are both generic and similarly short, and it took longer than I would have liked to differentiate between them. I think they may have been secondary characters in Detand's earlier books (which would make it difficult to change their names for this one!), but I suppose I could have used a bit more distinction between voices to combat that.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to look for a copy of Wear It Like a Crown...

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

Review: Short story: "Three of Hearts" by Katie Cotugno

Three of Hearts by Katie Cotugno
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Ellery's ready to pack it in and transfer to a college closer to home—until she meets Camp and Danny. She was one, but now they're three, and suddenly New England seems a bit more manageable. Except...maybe things aren't that easy.

This is a quick one—at something like forty pages, I read pretty much the whole thing over dinner. And between this and "Julia at the Drive-In", it's been nice to see some short stories aimed at a YA audience; I don't read a ton of short stories (I read quickly, so short stories feel over almost before they've begun), but I like the chance to dip into a new-to-me author and see what kind of story only needs a few dozen pages.

This one covers a fair amount of time, so there's also a fair amount of the story skimming over time. These are characters I wouldn't mind following throughout a full-length book; we learn more about Ellery and Camp than we do about Danny (or, for that matter, about Ellery's roommate), but they all feel pretty solid.

This is a romance, but only after a fashion. It became clear not too far in that it wasn't going to be a romance in the conventional sense, and there were a couple of ways it could go. And that turned out to be...well, no spoilers, but it was one of the outcomes I thought most likely, but not in the way I expected. A fun quick read.

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

Review: "My Childhood Experience of Anorexia Nervosa and How I Recovered" by Clare Purkiss

My Childhood Experience of Anorexia Nervosa and How I Recovered by Clare Purkiss
Published November 2022
★★

A very short memoir. The writing is solid, but there just isn't enough here—though Kindle put this at 83 pages, I'd put it closer to 30 (double-spaced) pages. I wouldn't usually track something so short, but I like to have an account of my Kindle Unlimited reads.

So more of an essay than anything, tracking Purkiss's experience through illness at a young age but simply without the space for a complex story. Might be a fit for younger readers who find themselves trying to recover and looking for a "been there, done that" (though: I will note that it isn't really a "how I managed" book, again simply because there isn't space for real interrogation of experience and thought), but not really the book for me.

Review: "Blood City Rollers: Move It or Bruise It" by VP Anderson and Tatiana Hill

Blood City Rollers: Move It or Bruise It by VP Anderson and Tatiana Hill
Published January 2026 via Labyrinth Road
★★★

The Blood City Rollers are back at last. This second instalment finds Mina searching desperately for her missing team...who eventually show up with a new home, but also some complications.

These books are super cute, but I find the story a little lacking. I thought the same in book 1—I was so excited for the book (vampires playing roller derby? yes please), but I was left wanting a lot more detail. Why is derby the most important thing in these vampires' unlives? When they find a new place, they give themselves about eight hours to make it safe for vampires to sleep in during the day...and also to lay their new track. I want to know what the stakes are for these vampires, other than being able to say that they've won, and what they do with their time other than play derby.

There are one-time stakes for the match this book focuses on. I'm not sure I love the outcome—lots more new characters, but the books are short, and I already don't have a great handle on the existing characters (not enough time and space for significant character development).

Still fun, and I'll still eagerly read future books, but Roller Girl would be my go-to roller derby graphic novels.

Review: "Nymph" by Sofia Montrone

Nymph by Sofia Montrone
Published June 2026 via Avid Reader Press
★★★★

The hotel has been in the family for a century and, in one way or another, has always been a place for people to pass through. (loc. 58*)

At ten, Leo's world is secure—summers in Italy helping her grandmother at the family's agriturismo, a brother to share in her games, a father who has the answer to any question she might ask. If her mother struggles to get out of bed and her father's exuberance sometimes tips into something darker, she can write those off.

They share everything in the manner of siblings who have not yet distinguished themselves with time. (loc. 71)

As a teenager, poised to start university, Leo's world feels less certain. She's still scavenging forgotten items from hotel rooms, still swimming in the pool and still (or, well, now) playing cards with the town's contingent of old men. But things have changed, for better and for worse, and when an American drifts into town her perception of the world changes again.

The body is a long series of betrayals. (loc. 151)

I read this, I think, for the sensation of a slow, sticky Italian summer. It's a relatively quiet story: a climax in the middle, yes, and some big shifts in Leo's understanding of her Italian life (maybe less of her American life) and her family and her place in it all. But mostly it is two summers in a girl's life, summers that would unfold exactly as she expects were it not for the unpredictabilities of life. Think litfic with a high readability factor; think coming of age; think hot weather and dry seasons and complicated characters and bows left intentionally untied. Satisfying.

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

Thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me to read a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Good Enough to Eat" by Lesléa Newman

Good Enough to Eat by Lesléa Newman
Published 1986
★★★

Good Enough to Eat introduces us to Liza, a twenty-something woman living in Boston. She describes herself as a writer, but mostly she's a part-time daycare worker who spends the rest of her time eating and then throwing up her roommates' groceries, making elaborate plans for starvation diets that she'll start tomorrow, and judging other women based on their weight.

Some spoilers below the fold, but this book is older than I am, so if you've made it even this far you've probably either read the book already or have no plans to.

Now. This had been on my to-read list for almost fifteen years, and it was time. And also...I really struggled with the book. There are a bunch of reasons for this, but there are also some caveats, the latter of which are why I left this at three stars.

First, there's the stylistic choice of what I guess I'll call hyperrealism—Liza tells the reader every time she sweats or lets one rip or pops a pimple or has diarrhea. I guess it's supposed to be immersive, but it's not the sort of immersion that I enjoy.

Second...Liza is kind of horrible. This is largely intentional—she's depressed and unhappy with her life, and that impacts the way she interacts with the world and with people around her. I get that, and I would also rather have a character who is flawed than a character who is perfect (and boring). But, gosh, Liza is hard to take, and I'm not sure there was ever a moment in the book when I'd have wanted to be in the room with her, let alone interact with her on a regular basis. See: Liza constantly judging, and internally belittling, just about every woman she sees. She's also the kind of person to think that, as a presumed straight woman (the first half of the book) who has a lot of gay friends, she can use whatever slur she wants to refer to them, which is...fun...and is compounded by her reaction when one of those gay friends calls her a lesbian (she turns up at his work to sabotage him and demand a public apology). And then she has sex in her roommate's bed, and I just...couldn't with her anymore.

That takes us up to about the halfway mark, at which point Liza determines that she is in fact a lesbian and goes about trying to find other lesbians. There was a terrible moment when I thought that the moment Liza came out to herself, her eating disorder would start magically disappearing, and we'd learn that radical-feminism lesbianism cures eating disorders, but then she gets right back to hating her own body and resenting everyone else for having bodies, so...maybe not. But she does manage to decide that she's in love with the first lesbian she meets, who conveniently is willing to help introduce Liza to queer 80s culture and eating disorder resources (because all of the lesbians Liza meets also have current or past eating disorders) and while we're at it lesbian sex.

Reader, I did not enjoy this book. I'm tired. But first, some caveats.

Caveat the first: This was published in the mid-80s. Language was different, and understanding of eating disorders was different, and what was available in queer fiction was different. It wasn't so far off the period when lesbian books involved somebody being murdered at the end, or at least someone being beaten up and/or arrested. By those standards, this is low-key radical—almost none of the plot involves homophobia (only Liza's internalized homophobia); the lesbians who conveniently know everything about eating disorders frankly do have a better understanding of them than some people do forty years later; when Liza gets over her internalized homophobia, she treats being a lesbian as something to be celebrated rather than something negative. I'm sure there were other books doing related things in the 80s, but they've proven elusive.

Caveat the second: Liza is, as we have established, not my future bestie. If we existed on the same plane, I would be ducking around the corner to avoid her, and she'd see the hem of my coat as I went and think nasty thoughts about me for avoiding her (all the while not wanting to talk to me either, so there's that), and then she'd throw in some bitchy thoughts about my body for good measure. However...it's worth noting that the book is doing some interesting things with Liza throughout this. She really has very little self-awareness, which leads her to think, for example, that a small child's mother should give her carrot sticks [instead of cookies] or something. If I had a daughter, I'd never let her get fat (loc. 1350)—conveniently ignoring the fact that she's previously mentioned resenting being given carrot sticks instead of cookies when she was a child. Or, in reference to someone she once knew who lost weight and then gained it back, she thinks I know if I ever got thin, I'd stay that way forever (loc. 2081)...conveniently forgetting that she herself has sometimes lost weight to a point she's happy with, but it never lasts (not least because her weight-loss attempts are generally starvation diets). Does it make Liza more likeable? No. But it really does tell you something about what the book is doing, and how entrenched Liza is in it all.

So—no. I did not enjoy the book, and I struggled to get past my dislike of Liza and the hyperrealism to see the more interesting things the book was doing. And at the same time, it is doing interesting things, so take that as you will.

...but then there's the part where the lesbian sex at the end devolves rapidly into baby kink, and reader. I cannot. Never again.

Review: "To the End of the World" by Dimitrios V. Smirnich

To the End of the World by Dimitrios V. Smirnich
Published December 2025
★★

A short, terse chronicle of walking the Camino de Santiago.

Smirnich mentions taking notes, so I imagine this memoir is pulled from those notes. The focus here is almost exclusively on the external (where and when and who), with very little of the internal (...why). Smirnich's prose is spare to the point of brusque; though he identifies himself as a former soldier, the most he says on the subject is that he doesn't care to talk about it and that he went through sniper training. I'm not sure in which country's military he served; it's page 135 before he says where he was born and where he grew up, and he doesn't return to the subject. (That's the full extent of the background information in the book.) Obviously how much he wants to say about his background—to people he met on the Camino or in this book—is his choice, but it's odd to me to say so little about it in a book subtitled A Soldier's Camino de Santiago.

Though various people wander on and off the page, my impression is that Smirnich was more irritated by than engaged with the people he encountered, and I occasionally wondered whether a less populated route would have been a better fit for him. For me this was a low 3 stars, but it was not a great fit, and your mileage might vary.

Children's books: Disabilities: "More Than What Eyes See", "I Spark Like Lightning", and "Tic-errific Me"

More Than What Eyes See by Miso Kwak, illustrated by Thaís Mesquita (Free Spirit Publishing)
I Spark Like Lightning by Jenna Elyse Johnson, illustrated by Sue Teodoro (Free Spirit Publishing)
Tic-errific Me by Alicia Meyers, illustrated by Cait Brennan (Free Spirit Publishing)

Back into the world of children's books...this time about disabilities!

In More Than What Eyes See, Maya is blind—but that doesn't stop her from doing, well, whatever she wants to do. The book takes young readers through some of the realities of being blind, from the irritation of being called "inspirational" for just existing to some of the sports designed for blind and vision-impaired players.

I think the best fits here are sighted young readers who know somebody who is blind and perhaps children who have recently lost or are likely to lose their sight—could also be one for kids born blind, of course, but some of this is informative in a way that not all kids with this lived experience would need. That said, it's a nicely empowering read that goes beyond just simple representation. I love Kwak's explanation at the end of why she opted not to include guide dogs in the book (the short version: they're not actually common, especially for young kids). There's also mention of several "brilliant blind people", and I can't tell you how delighted I was to realize that one of them is an acquaintance! Which is neither here nor there, I suppose, but it's proof positive that the book mentions contemporary, not just historical, people kids might look up to.

Simple but full-page, colorful illustrations complete the book. Obviously some kids with vision loss will be able to see all or some of the illustrations, while others won't; I'd be super curious to see a version of the book that took that into account, because I bet there are ways to make a textured storybook for kids who can't see the illustrations.

Meanwhile, Jen's brain sparks. Well, everyone's brain sparks, sending electricity through the body to connect mind and muscle. But in I Spark Like Lightning, we hear from a girl whose brain sometimes misfires, causing a seizure.

I read this as something of a follow-up to More Than What Eyes See, because I love that these books are helping to normalize disabilities for kids. Here, the book reinforces the point that Jen can do all the things other kids can (dance, swim, play), just sometimes with extra considerations. It also gently acknowledges some of the indignities that can come along with neurological differences, which seems like a useful conversation-starter for kids. I might have liked a little more detail (e.g., the difference between a tonic-clonic seizure and an absence seizure), but I think that's partly just me being terminally curious, and not having read many (or possibly any!) other books that discuss epilepsy in any detail.

The illustrations are simple but well done. The ones where we see Jen in dance class are probably my favorite, as they best convey a sense of movement, but in general they're soothing and bright (and the service dog looks like a floofball, which is nice).

And as a follow-up to both More Than What Eyes See and I Spark Like Lightning...Tic-errific Me! This one takes kids through some of what it means to have Tourette syndrome, which is characterized by uncontrollable vocal and motor tics.

When I think about Tourette syndrome I remember a classmate when I was a kid who had (I learned only later) Tourette syndrome. In elementary school I don't think kids really noticed, but in middle school he'd sometimes tic during tests (which makes sense in retrospect), and a couple of kids would get annoyed, and he'd try to make it a joke, and the teacher (who presumably knew more than we did about this all) would laugh with him and redirect the other kids. I'm not sure why that has stuck with me, but whenever I think about it now I think I hope his other teachers were also supportive and also I hope things got easier for him socially. I knew absolutely nothing about Tourette syndrome at the time, and I assume the same was true for most of our classmates. I don't know what would have changed if we'd known more, but I'm glad for books like this that give kids a little more information in a compassionate way.

Anyway. That was a long digression! I like that this book acknowledges the variety of tics that someone with Tourette syndrome might have, and that there are some things that can help but that at the end of the day tics aren't a choice. When the book mentions that lots of other people have Tourette syndrome, I did wish specific people had been mentioned (assuming that they're open about their condition, of course!), because I love a good rabbit hole and it would give interested kids more people to look up. The art isn't super interesting, but it's consistent and bright, and there's a cute illustration/game/strategy board included at the end.

Thanks to the authors and publisher for providing review copies through NetGalley.

Review: "Girl's Girl" by Sonia Feldman

Girl's Girl by Sonia Feldman
Published June 2026 via The Dial Press
★★★★

Mina's friendship with Margaret and Eleanor is at the center of her world—until she starts to wonder whether she and Eleanor might become something more, and whether or not the friendship can survive it.

Margaret made my world large. Eleanor made it into a room only the two of us could enter. It was a room in which Eleanor kept her hand on the doorknob. (loc. 2109*)

Give me all the platonic friendship books, honestly—and yes, despite the fact that the major conflict of the book is a will-they-won't-they romantic relationship, this is fundamentally a platonic friendship book. Mina is as close as close can be with her friends, but it's not a friendship without its pitfalls and perils: For Mina, being fifteen means constantly weighing up how who will react to what; actions and consequences; being interesting enough but not too interesting, and willing enough but not a pushover; being fifteen means knowing who she is in her group but also starting to understand that that things can't stay the same forever...and that she doesn't want them to.

This is not a kind of friendship I ever had—intense ones, yes, but not this kind of simultaneous certainty and uncertainty, not this kind of constant calculation and evaluation and reevaluation. But other things: It genuinely hadn't occurred to me that teenage girls playing the Sims together (something I did back in the 90s!) was something that persists, albeit now with the Sims 4 instead of the OG Sims. I think that in particular really hit the nail on the head for me in terms of the way these girls are just on the cusp of something—growing up but not quite ready to let everything go.

The book is told over the course of a summer, though Mina is looking back from the relative wisdom of adulthood. That's one of few things that gave me some pause as I read; I think I would have preferred the perspective to stay a little closer to Mina at fifteen. Then again...maybe not. It would make for Mina being unusually perceptive. Maybe I just didn't necessarily want the last bit where we speed up to the present, whenever that happens to be, and get the barest taste of where things have gone since this one summer.

A high four stars. One for overthinkers who like a good coming-of-age friendship (and then some) story. I think I'll be (over)thinking this on and off for a while.

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

Thanks to the author and publisher for inviting me to read a review copy through NetGalley.

Review: "Red Woman" by Pearl E. Casias

Red Woman by Pearl E. Casias
Published June 2026 via University of Nebraska Press
★★★

Casias grew up in a context of poverty and neglect—not without love, but with dangerous amounts of instability and alcohol. It is perhaps fair to say that she wasn't expected to go far in life, and perhaps also fair to say that she didn't expect much other than the limited options she was presented with either. Luckily for herself and her community, she ended up defying pretty much all expectations.

I wish I could impress upon my grandchildren and great-grandchildren how quickly the world can change. They were brought up in a time of plenty, and my stories of growing up Indian without cell phones and dividend checks (and occasionally without food) sound like a movie script to them. They sound like quaint old tales of times long ago, so long ago they no longer matter. Except they do. (loc. 940*)

I dithered over whether or not to read this book, because I'm very interested in Indigenous stories and voices but not even a tiny bit interested in Wall Street. Happily, very little of this story is about Wall Street or about legal battles (important legal battles, to be clear, and ones worth knowing about; these are just not things that align with my personal reading interests). Most of it is instead about Casias, her upbringing, and the context of her relatives and ancestors. She tells a clear and compelling story that manages to cover a tremendous amount of ground over a very short book.

Some of the numbers in here are staggering—that there are only about 1,500 Southern Ute tribal members, for example (though that is not the smallest that the tribe has ever been), or that Casias estimates that only about 95 people speak Ute fluently. Many of those who speak Ute are elders, she writes, who, like me, will take our language with us when we pass on (loc. 926). It's a stark reminder of how quickly things can change, some for the better (e.g., deals that brought financial wealth to the tribe) and others for the worse.

The writing is clear and without frills. At times I would have liked more detail—more description, more to evoke time and place and a feeling of being there. But even without that it's a thoughtful book that tells an important story. 3.5 stars; would recommend, and I hope this makes it into a lot of libraries.

As a final aside: Casias quotes Tanaya Winder more than once, and now I desperately want to read her poetry in full.

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

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