Bookish Mewsings: The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson

It took three statues to plant doubt in my mind. ~ Opening of The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks 

The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks by Shauna Robinson
Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022
Fiction/Romance;336 pgs

I, Maggie Banks, solemnly swear to uphold the rules of Cobblestone Books.

If only, I, Maggie Banks, believed in following the rules.

When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.

And in Maggie's world, book rules are made to be broken.

To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.

Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all. [Goodreads Summary]

The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks was December's TBR List Poll Winner and it was the perfect fit! Maggie Banks feels like she has no real direction in life. She flits from job to job and is not sure what it is exactly she wants to do or where she belongs. When the opportunity arises to help her friend out in her bookstore, Maggie does not hesitate. She's always admired her friend, Rochelle, and Rochelle's knowing just what she wants to do with her life. Perhaps this time at Cobblestone Books will give Maggie the time and incentive to discover just what it is she wants to do with her own life. 

Bell River seems like a nice small town. The residents are friendly and supportive. At least for the most part. The Bell River Society seems to cast a shadow on a lot of people and businesses, unfortunately, with its strict rules. Over a century ago, well-known author Edward Bell had written his most famous book at the town bookstore and his legacy lives on. The director of the society, a descendant of Edward Bell himself, has set his sights on tourism bringing life and money to the town, only it has not quite worked out that way. Still, he's determined to continue the Bell legacy. 

I pictured Maggie as a breath of fresh air to the town. Someone new and energetic, full of life and ideas--none of which are welcomed by the society. I really liked Maggie and her out of the box thinking. As her friend Rochelle points out more than once, Maggie has a gift of drawing people to her, and she certainly does that in this novel. Maggie actually was not much of a reader before she came to the small town of Bell River. Oh, she reads the Edward Bell books she's told she has to read to run the bookstore, but she does not become a fan. It isn't until a local romance author comes into the store that Maggie's interest in reading is piqued.  

"[...] if the books I liked had been assigned in school, I might have actually got into reading. Being forced to read Hamlet and The Great Gatsby and having to analyze everything to death made me hate the concept of literature. Finding meaning in an eyeball and then patting yourself on the back just didn't make sense to me." [excerpt from 27%]

When it looks like the bookstore is doomed, Maggie decides she must do something to help keep her friend's business afloat. Maggie is extremely creative and I loved her idea of the underground book club and hosting events in which an author shares a twist on a favorite or reviled classic in a different genre. These types of events aren't just fictional, as the author points out, having gotten her inspiration from a real life bookstore's  monthly literary erotic fanfiction parody event she once attended (Shipwreck at the Booksmith). I also appreciated that Maggie went behind the society's back and sold books the community wanted as opposed to just those books written over a century ago. She saw a demand and offered to supply it--what clearer way to make money? There were several times throughout the book that I found myself holding my breath, worried Maggie would get caught. So much suspense!  I wanted so much for her to succeed in her endeavors. 

There is a slow burn romantic element that runs throughout the novel that I think was probably this book's weakest thread. Even so, I enjoyed seeing the varying layers of Malcolm, Ralph Bell's loyal assistant, come off as the novel progressed, in particular the little game Maggie and Malcolm played with each other, getting each other to step outside their comfort zones. 

I am big on endings matching the type of book being written and Shauna Robinson did not disappoint. While not a surprise perhaps, it was very satisfactory and left a big smile on my face. The mysterious secret was well played. The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks was funny and at times heartbreaking. I loved all the characters from Maggie, Vernon, Malcolm, Rochelle to all the other characters. Okay, so maybe not Ralph. He was a stick in the mud. I had hard time putting this book down and am eager to read more by Shauna Robinson. 

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Can't Wait to Read Wednesday: Snuffed Out / Exes and O's / Black Sun

The New

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

A new paranormal cozy mystery series! Yay! I cannot wait to dive into this one when it comes out.

Snuffed Out (Magic Candle Shop Mystery #1) by Valona Jones 

(Crooked Lane Books; January 10, 2023)

Twin sisters Tabby and Sage co-own a candle shop, but will it all go up in flames in Valona Jones’ series debut, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Bailey Cates.

30-year-old fraternal twins Tabby and Sage Winslow own The Book and Candle Shop in Savannah. Sage is hot-headed and impulsive while Tabby is calm and collected, making them the perfect partnership. When one of their customers is found murdered, from a blow to the head, that partnership is put to the test.

Blithe McAdam had been seen in a heated argument with shop clerk Gerard, which immediately makes him suspect number one. The twins are convinced of Gerard’s innocence and start digging into Blithe’s past. But no one is cooperating. The neighbor who found the body isn’t talking, medical examiner Quig won’t give any details about the autopsy, and nasty rumors begin surfacing about the drowning of Blithe’s father years earlier—evidence that could seal Gerard’s fate.

Tabby and Sage dig desperately for the truth. But it’s not only their friend who’s in peril. With the clock ticking, the twins find themselves in the grip of an unseen and deadly energy that has seeped into their midst—and in the sights of a ruthless killer. [Goodreads Summary]

Finding love while re-visiting the past can make for such a great story! Especially when the heroine is a romance novel connoisseur. It's sure to be a fun read!

Exes and O's by Amy Lea 

(Berkley Books; January 10, 2023)

A romance novel–obsessed social media influencer revisits her exes on her hunt for true love in this romantic comedy from the author of Set On You.

Romance-novel connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men--all of whom dumped her because of her "stage-five clinger" tendencies. Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One. The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead thanks to modern dating apps. So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance.

Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship. Love just isn't his thing. When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But Tara's journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter.

The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily-ever-after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection? [Goodreads Summary]

Do any of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

The Old(er) 

Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight those unread books on my TBR in her Books from the Backlog feature, reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

I have thought about pulling this book off my TBR shelf to read for quite some time, but, for some reason, keep putting it back. Will this coming year be its turn? 

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery/Saga Press, 2020)

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return

When the earth and sky converge

Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. [Goodreads Summary]

Have you read Black Sun?  Does this book sound like something you would like to read? 

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Bookish Mewsings: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches / The Witches of Moonshyne Manor / Witchful Thinking

The Very Secret Society of Witches met on the third Thursday of every third month, but that was about the only thing that never changed.  ~ Opening of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Berkley, 2022

Fantasy/Romance; 334 pgs

Sometimes a book comes along at just the right moment in my life and is everything I need and more than I hoped it would be. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was was exactly that read for me this past fall. 

It is described on Goodreads as "a warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family—and a new love—changes the course of her life." It is the story of Mika Moon. She is part of secret society of witches with  very strict rules about not exposing their magic to outsiders. And they must remain separate from one another so as not to draw attention to themselves. They meet very rarely as a group, and then only to check in. Mika, who was orphaned as a child, keeps to the rules--somewhat. She has her own vlog, positing videos in which she pretends to be a witch. No one takes those too seriously, after all. That is until she receives a message from a stranger offering her a job as a nanny for three young witches. Taking a chance, Mika travels to Nowhere House, in a remote part of the country. She is not sure what to expect, but knows full well she is breaking every rule. There she meets the children, along with a retired actor, the estate's caretakers, and the grumpy librarian, who makes it clear he does not want her there. 

I liked Mika from the start. She's good hearted and independent minded, used to moving every few months to avoid getting too attached or close to anyone. When she gets the message from Ian, a retired actor now in his 80's, she is curious, but does not take it too seriously. She makes the drive out to Nowhere House fully anticipating to turn the job down. She does her best at first to deny the existence of magic, but it is clear early on that magic is not a well kept secret at Nowhere House. It was hard not to fall in love with all the residents of the house: Ian, of course, who  is witty and charming, and his husband, Ken, who has is a gifted gardener; the housekeeper Lucie who is inviting and kind; Jamie who has his own set of charm but in a rough sort of way, and who is very protective of the girls; and then there are the three young witches, all orphans themselves who had been taken in by their absent guardian. 

It's obvious the residents of Nowhere House are hiding something, but they are clear about one thing. They hope that Mika can teach the girls to control their magic in a short amount of time--at least before the guardian's lawyer arrives to pick up some papers. No one can find out they are witches, especially not the lawyer. Mika isn't sure she can manage it, but she reluctantly agrees to try. 

This novel is funny and sweet with a dash of romance and mystery thrown in. Jamie may not trust Mika at first, but the two realize early on they have to come to some sort of an arrangement, if only for the girls' sakes. The characters had interesting backstories, and I liked the authors approach to the diversity of backgrounds of those characters. I enjoyed the funny moments and situations the characters would sometimes get into. Mika, who longed so much for connection and yet pushed it away at every turn, comes to really care for the Nowhere residents. She needs them as much as they need her. 

When I first started reading The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches I was hoping for a novel that would leave me smiling--and I definitely got that. There were even some tears mixed in. This book has a lot of heart. 

Half an hour before the alarm will be sounded for the first time in decades--drawing four frantic old women and a geriatric crow from all corners of the sprawling manor--Ursula is awoken by insistent knocking, like giant knuckles rapping against glass. ~ Opening of The Witches of Moonshyne Manor 

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais 

Mira, 2022 

Fantasy; 400 pgs

I eagerly dove into The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, looking forward to this tale of octogenarian witches trying to save their home as the bank threatens to foreclose on their mortgage and a town that seems to be turning against them. I enjoyed getting to know these five women, each of them with their own strengths and abilities. 

With the threat of losing the home they have built their roots in for the majority of their lives, the sisterhood is counting on the return of Ruby, who has been gone for over thirty years, to somehow save them all. Their hopes are dimmed when Ruby does come home, however, because she's quite changed. They can only hope that, with time, Ruby will be able to help. In the meantime, help comes from an unexpected source. A young woman named Persephone, a spirited TikToker, is quite intent on helping save Moonshyne Manor and who is also out to destroy the patriarchy.

The elderly witches are plagued with the aches and pains of growing older. Their magic is not what it used to be, but they still can wield it quite well.  Bianca Marais does a good job creating characters who are as diverse as they are interesting. I liked that these women didn't fit completely into that "grandmotherly" mold we so often see older woman cast in. 

The novel moves between the past and present as the witches do what they can to come to terms with their past and to get out of their current predicament. I particularly liked reading about the women when they were younger and how their actions and choices tied into what was going on now. There is a heist, love, betrayal, revenge, greed, regrets, and the ever growing thirst for power. All of these things play a part in The Witches of Moonshyne Manor. Interspersed between chapters were recipes from the grimoire, which I found entertaining and a nice break between the story itself. Overall, I enjoyed The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, although I never felt fully connected to any of the characters. I cared about what happened to them and liked many of them, but there was something missing. At times I found this book funny and other times incredibly sad. 

The seaside town of Freya Grove, New Jersey, was founded in 1871 during the boom of the nationwide spiritualist movement. ~ Opening of Witchful Thinking 

Witchful Thinking (Elemental #1) by Celestine Martin 

Forever, 2022 

Romance/Fantasy; 352 pgs  

I went through a dry spell when I rarely read romance novels, and now I find myself gravitating towards them more and more. It wasn't just the romance of this novel though that drew me to it. It had a lot to do with the "witch" part too. I have a soft spot for anything witchy.  While magic does not play a large part in this novel, it is there and I liked how naturally it was interwoven into the novel. 

This was such a fun read. I loved everything about this second chance romance. Freya Grove is a mystic cozy seaside town where magic and magical beings are out in the open. Lucinda Caraway is a high school history teacher and witch. She reads tea leaves at night and loves to garden. She's happy with her life. Mostly. When the opportunity arises to use a wish spell, Lucy, against her better judgement, takes a chance and says yes. That yes turns into quite a few yeses. When she accidentally sends in a fake bio for her upcoming reunion, all those things she mentioned seem to be coming true. She is suddenly taking risks she normally wouldn't, including helping her high school crush, Alexander Dwyer. 

Alex is a merman and award winning photographer who does not believe in putting down roots. He travels the world and never stays in one place too long. He almost did. Once. And it turned out to be a mistake. He won't make the same mistake again. But then, his parents buy him a house and he runs into his old flame, Lucy. He's still determined not to stay, but it's getting harder not to want to. 

I loved Alex and Lucy together. Their romance is one that takes time developing as each of them struggle with admitting their feelings even to themselves because of their conflicting plans for their own futures. It was something they each needed to work through and come to terms with. Oh, and Adam's house! It was like a character of its own in a way. I would not have minded the side characters having been more fleshed out, but I imagine that will happen in future books in the series--which I very much look forward to. 

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Can't Wait to Read Wednesday: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries / Loathe to Love You / The Hunting Party

The New

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by the marvelous Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight upcoming release we are excited about that we have yet to read.

This is one of the books at the top of my wish list. How could I not want to read this one?! This sounds right up my alley.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 

(Del Rey Books; January 10, 2023)

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love, in this heartwarming and enchanting fantasy.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world's first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party--or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily's research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones--the most elusive of all faeries--lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she'll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all--her own heart. [Goodreads Summary]

Ali Hazelwood and her books pop up on just about every must read romance list and this collection of novellas caught my eye. 

Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood 

(Berkley; January 3, 2023)

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a collection of steamy, STEMinist novellas featuring a trio of engineers and their loves in loathing—with a special bonus chapter!

Under One Roof - An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell—a detestable big-oil lawyer who won't leave the thermostat alone.

Stuck with You - A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry—and love—to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.

Below Zero - A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival. [Goodreads Summary]

Does either of these books interest you? What upcoming releases are you looking forward to reading?

The Old(er) 

Carole of Carole's Random Life in Books has given me the perfect excuse to spotlight those unread books on my TBR in her Books from the Backlog feature, reminding me what great books I have waiting for me under my own roof still to read!

I added this one to my TBR shelves at a time when thrillers especially appealed to me about three years ago. It seems a fitting time to read it now--set around the Christmas and New Year holidays. I could use an intense twisty thriller right about now.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (William Morrow, 2019)

Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge . . . and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close? [Goodreads Summary]

Have you read The Hunting Party?  Does this book sound like something you would like to read? 

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© 2022, Musings of a Bookish Kitty. All Rights Reserved. If you're reading this on a site other than Musings of a Bookish Kitty or Wendy's feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten (or twelve, who is counting?) Books Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana at The Artsy Reader Girl.

My Top Ten Tuesday topic is the Top Ten Twelve Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year. This list was fun to compile and is taking a lot of will power not to run out and get right now. I have quite a few books on my wish list, but these are the current top ten. I don't know if any will find their way under my Christmas tree this year, but what a nice surprise even one of them does! Of course, any book would be a welcome gift! 

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis

In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever.

This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.

As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. We are forced to reinvent them to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.

Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you. [Goodreads Summary]

Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher 

A fake relationship between a magic-less witch and a wolf shifter turns to more in the start of a bewitching new paranormal rom-com series.

Magic-less witch Violet Maxwell wants nothing to do with alpha wolf shifter Lincoln Thorne—the man who broke her fragile, teenage heart. But when the two of them are forced by arcane Supernatural Laws to find mates, Violet and Lincoln agree to fake-date their way to a fake-mating in order to conjure themselves some time.

The joke’s on them. When old feelings make a reappearance—along with Violet’s magic—they both realize there’s nothing fake about their feelings. But there are old secrets and looming threats that could snatch away their happily ever after, again. One thing’s for sure: magic doesn’t make dating and love any easier.

In Not the Witch You Wed, April Asher brings all the hilarity and sweet, sexy moments you love in a romantic-comedy—plus a fun dose of magic—to this spell-binding new series about being sexy, single, and supernatural in New York City. [Goodreads Summary]

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

From the #1 bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, comes one of the most highly anticipated books of the year – the inspiring new novel about a mother’s unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact. [Goodreads Summary]

 

Under a Veiled Moon (Inspector Corravan #2) by Karen Odden

In the tradition of C. S. Harris and Anne Perry, a fatal disaster on the Thames and a roiling political conflict set the stage for Karen Odden’s second Inspector Corravan historical mystery.

September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule.

For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion, and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.

Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.

As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself. [Goodreads Summary]

 

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

A mythic love story set in Trinidad and Tobago, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's radiant debut introduces two unforgettable outsiders brought together by their connection with the dead.

You were never the smartest child, but even you should know that when a dead woman offers you a cigarette, the polite thing to do would be to take it. Especially when that dead woman is your mother.

The St. Bernard women have lived in Morne Marie, the house on top of a hill outside Port Angeles, for generations. Built from the ashes of a plantation that enslaved their ancestors, it has come to shelter a lineage that is bonded by much more than blood. One woman in each generation of St. Bernards is responsible for the passage of the city's souls into the afterlife. But Yejide's relationship with her mother, Petronella, has always been contorted by anger and neglect, which Petronella stubbornly carries to her death bed, leaving Yejide unprepared to fulfill her destiny.

Raised in the countryside by a devout Rastafarian mother, Darwin has always abided by the religious commandment not to interact with death. He has never been to a funeral, much less seen a dead body. But when his ailing mother can no longer work and the only job he can find is grave digging, he must betray the life she built for him in order to provide for them both. Newly shorn of his dreadlocks and his past and determined to prove himself, Darwin finds himself adrift in a city electric with possibility and danger.

Yejide and Darwin will meet inside the gates of Fidelis, Port Angeles's largest and oldest cemetery, where the dead lie uneasy in their graves and a reckoning with fate beckons them both. A masterwork of lush imagination and immersive lyricism, When We Were Birds is a spellbinding novel about inheritance, loss, and love's seismic power to heal. [Goodreads Summary]

The Fervor by Alma Katsu

A psychological and supernatural twist on the horrors of the Japanese American internment camps in World War II.

1944: As World War II rages on, the threat has come to the home front. In a remote corner of Idaho, Meiko Briggs and her daughter, Aiko, are desperate to return home. Following Meiko's husband's enlistment as an air force pilot in the Pacific months prior, Meiko and Aiko were taken from their home in Seattle and sent to one of the internment camps in the West. It didn’t matter that Aiko was American-born: They were Japanese, and therefore considered a threat by the American government.

Mother and daughter attempt to hold on to elements of their old life in the camp when a mysterious disease begins to spread among those interned. What starts as a minor cold quickly becomes spontaneous fits of violence and aggression, even death. And when a disconcerting team of doctors arrive, nearly more threatening than the illness itself, Meiko and her daughter team up with a newspaper reporter and widowed missionary to investigate, and it becomes clear to them that something more sinister is afoot, a demon from the stories of Meiko’s childhood, hell-bent on infiltrating their already strange world.

Inspired by the Japanese yokai and the jorogumo spider demon, The Fervor explores a supernatural threat beyond what anyone saw coming; the danger of demonization, a mysterious contagion, and the search to stop its spread before it’s too late. [Goodreads Summary]

The Verifiers (#1) by Jane Pek

Introducing a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century: a new amateur sleuth exploring the landscape—both physical and virtual—of New York in a debut novel about love, technology, and murder.

Claudia Lin is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client goes missing, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age. [Goodreads Summary]

Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian by Ellen Jovin

For fans of Mary Norris and Benjamin Dreyer, an unconventional guide to the English language drawn from the cross-country adventures of an itinerant grammarian.

When Ellen Jovin first walked outside her Manhattan apartment and set up a folding table with a sign reading “Grammar Table,” it took about 30 seconds to get her first visitor. EVERYONE had a question for her. Grammar Table was such a hit—attracting the attention of the New York Times, NPR, and CBS National News—that Ellen soon hit the road, traveling across the U.S. to answer questions from students, retired editors, bickering couples, and anyone else who uses words in this world.

In Rebel with a Clause she tackles what is most on people’s minds, grammatically speaking—from the Oxford comma to things you were never told about dictionaries, the ubiquity of like, common errors in online dating profiles, the likely lifespan of whom, semicolonphobia, and much, much more!

Punctuated with linguistic debates from tiny towns to sprawling state capitals, this is a treasure trove for anyone wishing to shore up their prose or delight in our age-old and universal fascination with language. [Goodreads Summary]

Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper

Brimming with intelligence and personality, a vastly entertaining account of how dictionaries are made a must read for word mavens.

While most of us might take dictionaries for granted, the process of writing them is in fact as lively and dynamic as language itself. With sharp wit and irreverence, Kory Stamper cracks open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography--from the agonizing decisions about what and how to define, to the knotty questions of usage in an ever-changing language. She explains why small words are the most difficult to define (have you ever tried to define is ?), how it can take nine months to define a single word, and how our biases about language and pronunciation can have tremendous social influence. Throughout, Stamper brings to life the hallowed halls (and highly idiosyncratic cubicles) of Merriam-Webster, a world inhabited by quirky, erudite individuals who quietly shape the way we communicate. A sure delight for all lovers of words, Word by Word might also quietly improve readers grasp and use of the English language. [Goodreads Summary]

Galatea by Madeline Miller

An enchanting short story from Madeline Miller that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion, now in hardcover for the first time.

In ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece--the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen--the gift of life. After marrying her, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence.

In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost . . . [Goodreads Summary]

Monstress, Vol. 5 by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda (and volumes 6 and 7, but let's not get ahead of ourselves)

There's no turning back from the long dreaded war between the Federation and Arcanics - a massive human army gathers, ready to destroy the frontier city of Ravenna and enslave its inhabitants. Maika must decide whether to finally embrace her destructive power in the hopes that it can protect her friends - but what will be the consequences of no longer fighting her hunger? Will the repercussions be too much to bear?[Goodreads Summary]

A Nature Poem for Every Night of the Year edited by Jane McMorland Hunter

A calming collection of nature poems to help you relax and unwind at the end of every day.

Now more than ever we’re all in need of a daily fix of the natural world, to comfort and distract us from the cares of everyday life. Keep this beautiful book by your bedside and enjoy a dreamy stroll through nature every evening, just before you go to sleep. All the great, time-honoured poets are here – William Wordsworth, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Robert Bridges – along with some newer and less-well known poetic voices. The poems reflect and celebrate the changing seasons: read Emily Brontë on bluebells in spring and Edward Thomas’s evocative ‘Adlestrop’ in summer, then experience golden autumn with Hartley Coleridge and William Blake's 'To Winter'. Beautifully illustrated with scenes from each season, this wonderful book deserves a place on your bedside table for years to come.

Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think? What books would you like Santa to bring you this year? 

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