Secret Identity by Alex Segura
30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 4 Book 2/30 DNF @ 30% I gave it the ole college try, as none of the kids say these days. But this book was not for me! I’m really sad about it, because the gritty 70s NYC atmosphere, the love of comics built in to it, and the MC being a queer daughter of Cuban immigrants trying to make it in comics publishing all really sounded like something I would love, but this book was so dull. What […]
Treachery on Tenth Street by Kate Belli
When I put the fourth book in the Gilded Gotham Mystery series (just released) on a Christmas list, I realized I may not have read the third, so I got it from the library. Almost fitting in a way, since Treachery on Tenth Street actually (non-spoiler) ends with a reference to the eventual arrival of Christmas. The mystery is almost secondary here, since there is a good bit of emphasis on characters realizing how they feel about each other. The obvious attraction has been clear […]
The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin
Bingo 17: North America This might be a little obvious but since The World We Make could actually fit several categories, I’m using for North America because it takes place largely in New York City, and most of the main characters are living avatars of the boroughs of NYC, as well as an avatar for the city overall. The gist of the novel remains similar from the prequel (this is part 2 of a duology): the avatars of Manhattan (Manny), Queens (Padmini), Brooklyn (Brooklyn), Bronx […]
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
I read Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy last year and loooooooved it, so when The City We Became showed up as the choice for a meetup group book club, I was excited enough to plan to attend and not just lurk. While I did like it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did Broken Earth. When a city has enough people, history, culture, and personality, it can come alive, with a person becoming the living avatar of that city. New York City has hit […]
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Vera Kelly Is Not A Mystery by Rosalie Knecht
Never Easy, Never Pretty: A Fan, A Team, A Championship Season by Dean Bartoli Smith
Knocked out three books this weekend, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees… The Book of Three A cute, charming fantasy novel. Perhaps a little too derivative of LOTR (the wolf-like character might as well have been called “Gollum”) but still entertaining and occasionally refreshing when compared to the rest of the genre. I also enjoyed a compelling female character that had autonomy without having to be everyone’s Hashtag Badass Woman (in other words: I appreciate a male writer who can write a […]
The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter
Another scary, psychological thriller with an unwell woman at the center (and a person on the cover #cbr13bingo). Delta Dawn is a photographer in New York City, and she spends most of her time taking photos of children’s birthday parties having discovered her knack for making children look happy and healthy and like their parents’ dreams. She routinely photoshops images that are less than perfect to fulfill the fantasy these wealthy families pay her to portray. When she meets the Straub family, Delta feels she […]
