Tag: Reading

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (speculative fiction)

An Academic, a Hero, and a Wicked, Wicked, Queen who must be overcome — tumbled about via a magical book and a unique and somewhat poetic instantiation of time travel. Nobody can write like Alix E. Harrow and (most of) her characters are compellingly relatable as they come to terms with the barrenness and often hopelessness of their lives when closely examined. There is an insistent love story, which is both sweet and determined in the face of some pretty intense road blocks, and there is a very satisfying conclusion (thank goodness). The characters have real depth, and there is plenty of the reflection that I like. There is also plenty of action (the Hero is a fighter par excellence — demonstrated frequently lest we forget it!) and some nice twisty gender bending as your unconscious biases are challenged by the fact that the Academic is a man and the Hero a very strong and very believable woman. The story was well-paced with twists and explanations doled out to a curious and hungry reader brain.

I’m a long time fan of Harrow and have read (and mostly loved) everything she has written. This book is just as well-written as my favorites but I do have a few issues which make it not one of my favorites. It starts quite slowly — I almost gave up but read a few reviews which insisted that I get to the 35% mark before stopping and they were right — things got much more interesting at that point. My real complaint, however, is how bad the “bad guy” was — no complexity, just complete selfish evil — and how depressing and dystopic lives were across all of time. It’s a familiar and somewhat comforting (assuming a good ending) trope about the High Stakes, good vs evil, outcome, but I didn’t enjoy all the sadness, weariness, and hopelessness that comprised most of the pages. It may be that my tastes and needs are changing, but I prefer to read about people having the agency to improve their own lives, rather than the no-other-option need for rescue from the larger-than-life oppressor. Still — masterfully done by Ms. Harrow, as always.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 28th, 2025.

Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer (Literary Fiction)

I can’t say this is a happy or uplifting book, but it is a strong, powerful, complex, and very, very real book about a strong marriage and the intricacies of how it weathers the derailers of life. On page two, Eliot and Claire say goodbye to the oncologist who has treated her breast cancer for nine years. The end is near and there is nothing more that he can do. The book takes us from this point until the end, actually, has been reached. But while I think we all feel as though we’ve read this “story” a million times, I found this version quite different.

This story is told from Eliot’s perspective. After a surprising, and somewhat heartbreaking, last request, we see Eliot’s struggle with isolation, communication, understanding, and retrospective introspection. While it is easy to read and make judgements about what people think, say, and do, I don’t think that is really the point. This is life and a marriage and a family and a circle of friends, and there is no “correct” behavior, no hard and fast guidelines to what is right. But it is all exquisitely detailed — the conflicting thoughts, the desires, the dears, the selfishness and simultaneous generosity. I’m not surprised by the quality of the writing (this book could not have been an easy thing to pull off) because it is Ann Packer — I’m pretty sure I’ve read and loved all of her books. Hard to read such a story without having a heavy heart, but it relates to a part of life that we will all experience in one way or another. The depth of insight was worth the trip.

Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on January 13th, 2026.

Isn’t it obvious by Rachel Runya Katz (Fiction)

Yael: public school librarian, runs a queer teen book club, podcasts on books that should be banned (she is highly opinionated), searches for the right antipsychotic. Ravi: part-Trinidadian social media designer and tech wizard who uprooted his life to help his brother care for his young daughter. The opening scene in the book? Where the two “sort of” meet? Masterfully done and priceless.

It’s a mix of “you’ve got mail” and “enemies to lover” tropes immersed in a multi-racial, queer, social media saturated situation. Great dialog, fun epistolary (email based) segments that perfectly recreate the excitement of slowly emerging emotions, interesting characters who are both completely foreign to me and surprisingly relatable and likable. I enjoyed getting to know them, though I doubt I would have had any opportunity to do so in real life.

I liked that the book felt like a story, not an agenda. The characters spent more time trying to make things better and not being confrontational and argumentative (although snide comments were obviously both allowed and encouraged). I liked the phrase “competency crush,” which I hadn’t heard before (but which I have a lot of). I generally enjoyed it and picked up several new ways of looking at things.

BUT — some bizarre (to me) nasty asides about a couple of my favorites. Ray Bradbury racist and homophobic? I’ve read everything the man has ever written and can’t think of anything that would earn him those epithets. The author of the Five Love Languages? The ONLY self-help book I’ve found illuminating and helpful? Katz writes: “the guy who wrote the love languages book is actually an intensely conservative Christian, who basically thinks the solution to all marital problems is to conform to gender roles.” I have no idea about Chapman’s background or opinions of gender roles, but there is nothing in the book that suggests Katz’ opinion. For me this smacks of labeling anyone negatively if they don’t completely adhere to your way of thought. Still enjoyed the book, but those barbs hurt and made me wonder at a generation so willing to toss aside a whole person’s work because someone tossed an unpopular label on them.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 21st, 2025.

No Two persons by Erica Bauermeister (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3/5
An interesting premise — in the first chapter, Alice Wein writes, and manages to publish, a deeply felt book, drawing on her own emotional experiences. It is titled “Theo.” Each of the next nine chapters (extending over a number of years) is a story about an individual who interacts with the book in a way that has a significant impact on his or her life: the Assistant who discovers the manuscript, the actor who narrates the audio book, a blocked artist, a driven diver, a deserted teenager, a bookseller, a ghost town caretaker, an intimacy coordinator (my favorite), and a book agent.

Each story is deeply personal; several brought tears to my eyes. While I didn’t find the book depressing, many were quite poignant. As the stories continue, we learn more about the book itself from it’s opening line — “wandering is a gift given only to the lost” — to succinct summaries of its development and denouement. Kind of clever embedding a book within a book without actually having to write it! I did find one story trite (I won’t tell you which — it may not feel that way to you!)

I greatly prefer novels to short stories, so I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t really a novel. On the other hand, I read them all (I often stop after the first few in a story collection). Bauermeister is a lovely writer, and the characters have real depth. And I have always liked the concept of books and how subjective each reader’s experience is. As an aside, I also really like the cover!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on May 2nd, 2023