What a silly premise. A silly-goose premise, if you will. But what a delightful book. I was sceptical when I picked this one up. Really? A stuffed goose is a huge deal?! But I had enjoyed both of the author’s previous books that I’d picked up so I felt compelled to give this one a go too. And I am so glad I did. First – and this is included in the book, but you … Continue reading Wild Goose Chase by Sarah Adler
Oh man, I had a GREAT time with Fossil Feud! Rich in detail, drenched in chemistry and wonderfully, bitingly smart. Ripley is a private paleontologist. She dropped out of her PhD programme after some seriously nefarious shit by her then-boyfriend, Will, and moved from academia into the private sector. At the start of the story, she’s working on an Indigenous-owned ranch in Montana excavating fossils in a partnership with Cara, the ranch owner’s granddaughter. There … Continue reading Fossil Feud by Maggie North
I made a tactical error with this book. While I originally picked this one up because of the cover (a clearly plus size main character? Sold!) I read the acknowledgements before writing the review. In that piece of writing, it became clear just how much of the author’s own life was put on the page. Big things. Life changing things. It made me look at the book differently. I really enjoyed Vera Stein is Fine … Continue reading Vera Stein is Fine by Julie Murphy
I absolutely loved The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub so you can imagine my glee when she wrote a second book, The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet. Even the fact that it was a library book and my dog chewed up the cover and I had to pay for it did not lessen my joy. Here is the publisher’s summary of the plot: Awkward, plain, and overlooked, Mary Bennet has … Continue reading The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet by Melinda Taub
I am RIDDLED with flu and seem to have spent most of the weekend waiting for my flu meds to kick in. To pass the time, I picked up Dearest Beast and it did a very good job of distracting me from my revolting sinuses and aching body. Rebecca works as a midwife in London in the early 1800s. Our hero Roger’s truly horrific 9-year-old daughter Fannie sets fire to Rebecca’s workroom (and house) through … Continue reading Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman
I read Hell’s Heart months ago, and my opinion of the book has only risen since then because I give extra points to any book that sticks in my head over time. Every time I think about Hell’s Heart I smile, even though all I really remember of it is that everyone is queer, everyone is in thrall to capitalism, and the characters spend their time hunting giant creatures through space. In other words, it’s … Continue reading Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall
While looking ahead at upcoming releases, I came across The Body in the Kitchen Garden, the sequel to The Potting Shed Murder. The sequel sounded intriguing and from time to time I’m quite partial to a cosy mystery and it has been a while since I read one. Why not see if I still enjoy them? So off to the library I went. Daphne, her husband, and her three children move to the English countryside … Continue reading The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton
Amanda and I have discussed many times on the RT Rewind podcast episodes that reviewing a book that’s deep into an existing series is a fraught proposition. The potential for spoilers is significant, and the question of audience can be a puzzler, too. Am I writing for new readers who might enter the series with this book (TL;DR, don’t do that, you deserve the whole Murderbot series!) or am I addressing folks who already love … Continue reading Platform Decay by Martha Wells
The Midnight Show is a ridiculously immersive and compelling celebrity mystery told through interview transcripts, email messages, texts, and articles as a Rolling Stone journalist and sketch comedy fan researches and compiles a history of a late-night program clearly based on SNL. The journalist, Madeline, interviews all the original surviving cast members, and is attempting to both investigate the history of the first seasons and establish a timeline for the central mystery: what happened to … Continue reading The Midnight Show by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne
I read this book in snatched moments and stolen hours and I adored it. It features tropes that I’m not all that interested in: single dad, nanny x boss, and small town romance, but the writing is so immersive and rich that these didn’t feel like familiar tropes. They felt original and fresh. Like this was the first nanny on the planet to fall in love with her boss. THAT original. But I’m getting ahead … Continue reading Fundamentals of Being a Good Girl by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Cinder House is such a clever, inventive, re-imaging of Cinderella! This novella stuffs in a lot at the last minute, but other than that, it’s perfect. Here is how the book begins. It’s not a spoiler – I’m literally quoting the first words of the book. Ella’s father died of the poison in their tea. Ella drank less and so might have lived, and not turned ghost at all, if the house hadn’t shrieked for … Continue reading Cinder House by Freya Marske
