Author: Tirzah Price

Toadling was born a human, but she doesn’t know much of human life. She was stolen moments after her birth by the faeries, and raised in faerieland among the water sprites, kelpies, and other fae of the river. She was loved. But when the faeries whisk her away from the only home she’s ever known, she’s asked to return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection on a young princess. Toadling agrees, but when the blessing goes awry, she’s stuck in the human world for years, centuries, until a human knight appears to upset the careful balance of her blessing.

Here’s the thing about this book: It’s best not to know too much going in, or to read too many reviews. Not necessarily to avoid spoilers (although do avoid spoilers!) but so that you can go in with an open mind and let the storytelling sweep you away. I love that Kingfisher chose to focus on the faerie of the Sleeping Beauty tale (who is too often portrayed as a villain) and I really enjoyed getting to sink into her character. She’s not vindictive, powerful, or cruel—she’s just a lost soul who wants to go home, and who is trying her best. I really enjoyed her interactions with the unconventional knight who discovers the keep behind the brambles—a poor young son, a Muslim, and a gentle soul who is curious and kind. Kingfisher balances the present action with flashbacks wonderfully, making this novella fly by. This is one of the most enjoyable subversive fairy tales I’ve read in a long time, and my only complaint is that it isn’t longer! (But then again, I always want more T. Kingfisher books and stories!)

Bonus: The audiobook, narrated by Jennifer Bloom, was excellent!

Evie Sage has just had another very disheartening day at her village job fair, where she’s been unable to secure a job. Ever since her last position ended rather badly, she’s been desperate for work to help her support her sick father and young sister. When she wanders into the forest in a state of despondency, she’s not thinking about the Villain—but that’s exactly who she runs into. The Villain is feared throughout the kingdom for his dastardly deeds and is wanted by the king. Evie knows she should be afraid, but she’s weirdly…not. And it doesn’t hurt that the Villain is hot, either. Fascinated by Evie and her lack of fear, the Villain offers her a job as his assistant, and Evie readily agrees, even if people finding out means she’ll be ostracized. Sure, the job isn’t always easy or pleasant (lots of heads on spikes), but it turns out Evie’s good at it…but when it becomes clear that someone from within the Villain’s manor is out to get him, she becomes determined to root out the mole.

I picked this book up and read just a page before I knew that I definitely needed to continue. I loved the charming and hilarious voice, and while I know the over-the-top plot scenarios and character depictions might not work for everyone, I was really into this one as a fun fantasy escape. A lot of your favorite classic fantasy tropes can be found here, hilariously inverted and retooled to make for a hilarious “will they or won’t they?” romantic fantasy that kept me turning the pages. Despite the absurdities of the plot points, the author does a good job grounding the story in Evie’s desire to belong and to take care of those she loves, all while dealing with a messy past. The author also plays around with the idea of what makes someone “evil” or villainous, and surprise! There’s some nuance there! I enjoyed the hilarious romantic banter, the sexual tension, and the slow reveal of Evie and the Villain’s secrets. My only complaint? The cliffhanger ending that has me impatiently waiting for the next book!

Important note—this is an adult fantasy novel! While it’s not too gory, and there’s no on-the-page sex that might put off a younger audience, I wanted to make that distinction because I know some people have been confused.

TL;DR? Pick this up if you want a funny fantasy escape in the vein of India Holton.

When a moment of everyday harassment causes Annabelle Agnelli to snap, she starts running. She runs and runs and decides that she’ll run all the way from Seattle to Washington, D.C. Her mom thinks the idea is insane and wants to stop her, but Annabelle is determined. And when her Grandpa Ed shows up in his RV, she realizes: She’s really doing this. But running thousands of miles one day at a time means Annabelle has a lot of time on her feet to think about what she’s running from, and what she’s running toward. And maybe, somewhere between Seattle and D.C., she can start to heal from the traumatic event that sent her running in the first place.

This is a tremendous book that knocked me over. Caletti starts the moment that Annabelle starts running and sticks with her every step of the way as she processes her flight response and decides to keep going. At first, as a reader, I was left wondering how on earth Caletti could sustain an entire book about Annabelle’s inner monologue while running 10-15 miles a day across the country, but very quickly I found I was in expert hands. Caletti doesn’t shy away from the intensity of Annabelle’s emotions, and even though the reader doesn’t know at the beginning why she’s running, it’s clear that Annabelle has been hurt. The deeper you get into the story, the more you learn about her past 18 months and how she found herself here. I had a few guesses about what happened in Annabelle’s backstory, and I was surprised — it’s not quite what I expected, but at the same time, I defy any young woman living in our society today who isn’t familiar with someone who has experienced a variation of what Annabelle has. I may not have been an Annabelle, but I know women who have been in her running shoes. And that makes her journey and her story so important.

I loved spending so much time with Annabelle, but I also loved her support team: her worried mother, her supportive brother, her sidekick Grandpa Ed, and all of the people she unexpectedly meets on the road who see her, empathize with her, and share their stories. By the end of the book you are rooting for Annabelle not just to reach her destination, but to find the strength you know she has to face the past and step confidently into the future.

In the 1920s, the Osage people were the wealthiest people per capita in the United States. This was due to the oil that was discovered on the reservation that the government had forced them on decades earlier, and to some smart thinking on the tribe’s part that ensured they owned the mineral rights beneath the allotments they were given. But in 1921, investigators found the body of a woman named Anna Brown, who had been murdered. Her death brought awareness to a string of murders that continued for the next few years, terrorizing the Osage Nation and putting everyone on edge. Fearful of a scandal, J. Edgar Hoover sent an agent of the Bureau of Investigation to try and solve the case. What he uncovered instead was a vast conspiracy to rob the Osage of their wealth and destroy their community.

This is not an easy book to read, but the amount of research and detail that Grann has put in is really extensive, and you’ll come away with not only a better understanding of the injustices that the Osage faced but also the oil mania in the U.S. in the early 20th century and how so many people suffered as a result. The tragedy of the Reign of Terror, as it is known among the Osage, is the story of America — how white supremacy wasn’t satisfied with robbing the Osage of their land, their way of life, and their dignity, but that too many white people would stoop so low as to trick, trap, and murder the Osage for their money. At times, reading this account feels almost too much — surely the conspiracy wasn’t that far-reaching, wasn’t that nefarious? But through careful reporting and an attentive eye to the historical record, Grann proves that it was that bad, and probably worse than the historical record can ever tell us. The majority of the book reads like an engaging history, and Grann skillfully juggles many different people, timelines, and narrative threads to build out a full account. In the final section of the book, he allows himself into the story, and shows how in the course of researching this book, he discovered that the crimes and conspiracies went much farther than the FBI records show, and how through talking with descendants of the victims and combing archives, he was even able to find answers to a few lingering mysteries. No one was safe in Osage County in the 1920s, not even the very few white people who attempted to expose the murderers.

This is an absorbing and sobering story, but one of those necessary histories that must be told. Definitely pick it up before the movie is released in October!

Katsa lives in a world where kingdoms are always at war and some people are born Graced—they have mismatching eyes and an extraordinary skill. Katsa, with her one green and one blue eye, has a Grace for killing. As the niece of the king, she is often dispatched to do his dirty work, and she loathes this role. She tries to rebel where she can, but despite her physical power, she’s trapped in an unfair system. But when she secretly rescues a kidnapped royal, she finds her match in Prince Po, a Graced fighter who seems to see right through her. And as they uncover the mystery of the kidnapping, Katsa finds she’s more powerful than she thinks…but that they are all in more danger than they imagined.

This book made a huge splash when it first debuted in 2008, and 15 years later it still holds up. Katsa is physically capable and strong, yes, but her power isn’t in her ability to kill easily—it’s in her heart, and how she cares deeply about what kind of person she is, even when she believes she’s trapped. Cashore writes a really thrilling story of a powerful young woman who can take on men far stronger than her, but what makes Katsa’s story so memorable is the care that Cashore takes with her emotional arc. Katsa has to learn that there is power in holding back, and power in deciding for yourself what kind of person you will be. This is a fantasy novel that has it all—magic, royal intrigue, political machinations, adventure, survival, and of course, romance. Prince Po is a fantastic hero and counterpoint to Katsa’s hotheaded bravery and their will-they-or-won’t-they energy is so tantalizing. The stakes are high, and payoffs are amazing.

Graceling functions as a standalone novel, but there are more fantastic books set in the Graceling Realm (and yes, Katsa and Po make appearances!) that I highly recommend as well. My one suggestion? Make sure you read them in order: Graceling, Fire, Bitterblue, Winterkeep, and Seasparrow.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the son of the American President. Henry is the “spare” to England’s heir. They can’t stand each other, but when an altercation at a royal wedding makes headlines, both counties need some damage control. Forced proximity on a press tour isn’t what Alex has in mind for saving face, but he’s actually surprised to see a genuine side to Henry…and even more surprised when they strike up a texting relationship that leads to a real romance. But as they navigate their feelings and the intense pressure they each face, can their relationship evolve into something real?

I have this thing where if I don’t jump on the hype machine of a book right away, the longer I wait, the more nervous I get about reading a book because sometimes the hype gives me unrealistic expectations. It can be a book that I will likely enjoy and find very fun, but if it doesn’t blow me away, then I get it in my mind it’s disappointing. So I try to avoid disappointing myself!

Well, I finally read this one and it did not disappoint. The romance and the friendship that evolves between Alex and Henry is delightful, of course. McQuiston takes a really bonkers (fun!) premise and runs with it, leaning in all the way, and the confidence of the writing means they pull it off really well. But there are so many other elements I loved and was pleasantly surprised by — I love the side characters. Writing really great secondary characters is a hard task, and there are a lot of them in this book, but I loved them all and enjoyed all that they had to offer to the main characters and to readers. I was actually really impressed with how the politics played out, as well. It felt like a fantasy version of our world, don’t get me wrong — but a fantasy version I could believe in, and one I enjoyed spending time in and wasn’t so shiny and perfect that it didn’t still feel like realistic fiction. I also don’t read many romance novels that stretch out over more than a year’s time, and I thought McQuiston handled the pacing masterfully! This is a thick romance book, over 400 pages, but I breezed through it, and now I understand the hype!

Bonus: The movie adaptation just came out on Amazon Prime, and it’s fairly faithful, although some things are omitted or tweaked for length. I recommend both!

Margo is the most enthusiastic employee at her small town’s library. She checks books in and out with warmth, her co-workers love her, and she enjoys the reassuring routine of her days and the order of the public library. Until one day, a new reference librarian is hired. Patricia is young, elegant, and observant. And Margo doesn’t like her one bit — she feels watched and judged, and before long Patricia has discovered Margo’s secret: Her name isn’t Margo, and she’s wanted…for murder.

I was really intrigued by the power struggle that Sims sets up between Margo, who sees the world as an adversarial place, and Patricia, who is coming off of her own bitter disappointment and finds herself intrigued by Margo. This story is told in alternating perspectives, and it’s almost funny how wildly Margo and Patricia misjudge and misunderstand each other…but the consequences are far from funny. For a moment it seems like they could be friends, but when the realities of learning each other’s secrets become apparent, a quick and brutal power struggle ensues.

This is a book that might leave you with more open-ended questions than answers, but it’s a fascinating character study set against a very particular backdrop. As someone who has worked in small town libraries before, I really liked the idea of a book set in a library (it’s so rife for drama, believe me) and there were some situations and characters that were very believable — the patron who always is looking up porn on public computers, the unreasonable patrons who never want to pay fines or bills, and the patrons who take up so much time and feel entitled to your time and attention. But the library setting wasn’t totally and completely believable for me. Margo is one of three full-time employees in addition to the director and Patricia, and all they do is shelve and sit behind the circulation desk. There is no mention of programming, outreach, or part-time clerks or pages to shelve books, let alone volunteers. There is no children’s librarian, and one would presume that if the library finally got funds to hire a new full-time staff member, a director would go for a children’s librarian rather than a reference librarian who doesn’t do anything other than write in a notebook all day. If you can overlook this, though, it was really fun to have a psychological thriller set in a library!

Bonus: I listened to the audiobook, which was very well performed by Maggi-Meg Reed and Carlotta Brentan.

Mae “Mud” Sawpole has been living in California for the last decade, where she went to college and headed a successful start-up. It’s about as far away as she can get from her home on the Kiowa reservation in Oklahoma, but when her beloved grandfather calls and tells her he needs her to come home to deal with a problem within the tribe, she gets on the first plane. When she arrives at the airport, he’s not there…and instead, Mud uncovers a tangled conspiracy involving illegal oil drilling, tribe politics, a predatory antiquities dealer, and missing tribe valuables. And her grandfather is missing. Over the course of a single stressful, chaotic day, Mud must unravel the mystery, find her grandfather, and perhaps discover her true destiny. 

I’m always really impressed with books that manage to distill an entire mystery plot into a single day’s time. It’s an impressive feat of pacing and plot that really has to work if you’re going to pull it off well, and Rowell pulls it off wonderfully. From the moment Mud lands in Oklahoma and realizes her grandfather is missing to the very end, the character introductions are balanced well with plot twists, exposition, and thoughtfully placed flashbacks. I really liked Mud’s character — as a teen she left home because she never felt fully respected or accepted by her tribe, ostensibly for her looks, but there was also the quiet heartbreak of not being able to love her secret girlfriend in public. Coming home is complicated by her lingering feelings for her first love, her conflicting feelings for her family and tribe, and the pull she feels for the life she has made for herself in California. But with each passing hour spent back in Oklahoma, Mud comes to the slow realization that this is not only home, but where she’s meant to be — and she’s the only one who can solve the mystery and keep her family and her tribe safe from those who would take advantage of them.

This is the first in a promised series, and I definitely plan on reading them all! Bonus: The audiobook was really gripping!

Kara has just separated from her husband, she’s broke, and she has nowhere to go. Rather than crash with her mom, she accepts her uncle Earl’s invitation to come live and work at his museum of odd and weird things in a small, southern town. She’s grateful for the place to land and her work helping catalog the museum, even if it’s deeply weird. When Uncle Earl needs surgery and leaves Kara in charge, she thinks it’ll be an easy few days. Instead, a hole appears in the wall in an exhibit. And when she investigates this rather large hole with Simon, the barista next door, she discovers a portal to an alternate dimension where unseen beings stalk them, and a mysterious message — pray they are hungry — haunts them. This was not on Kara’s BINGO card.

I love the humor in this book, and I love how the characters never take themselves too seriously. Kara and Simon are great friends and have an awesome dynamic, and while they don’t want to believe that there is a portal to a different dimension in the wall of the museum, they get on board pretty quickly. And they go exploring, like you do — even though they know it’s maybe not the best idea. And when they get lost in the otherworld with danger around every corner, well. Whoops. Despite the seriousness of their predicament, I do love that they keep a good sense of humor about the whole thing. Call it a coping mechanism, but the humor balances the tension really nicely. There are also so many odd and weird details about this other world, and about the museum, and about the mystery of how and why the portal opened, that I was kept on the edge of my seat. Never in a hundred years could I have come up with a world like Kingfisher describes, and it’s so understatedly creepy that I know it’ll haunt my brain for years to come. Kara’s first-person narration also feels really chatty and intimate, and I was completely drawn in by her voice and her story.

Kingfisher is a prolific author — she writes for kids, teens, and adults and writes horror as well as fantasy, and this is one of her more folksy horror novels. If you enjoyed her book The Twisted Ones, you’d definitely like this one. But really, don’t sleep on any of her quirky (and sometimes creepy) books! I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Hillary Huber, and it was excellent.

During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan wasn’t seen as a domestic terror group. Instead, millions of white Americans bought into the idea that the KKK was a society of brotherhood, American values, and fellowship, despite the white supremacy they preached and the violence they enacted against Black and Jewish Americans, Catholics, and immigrants. A man named D.C. Stephenson was responsible for scamming his way into the upper echelons of the KKK national organization, and recruiting tens of thousands of people in Indiana, making it the state with the most KKK members. He was the law in Indiana and had set his sights on Washington, D.C., when his path crossed with a young woman named Madge Oberholtzer, who would bring his empire of hate crashing down.

If you’ve spent any time in the U.S. or know anything about 20th century American history, you’ve likely heard of the Ku Klux Klan. I’d never really learned about their history and therefore didn’t realize just how pervasive they were in American life and culture in the 1920s — far more so than I realized. They started as a vigilante group following the end of the Civil War but were quashed under President Grant’s term (though never eradicated) until they rose again to prominence in the 1910s and grew and expanded until membership reached the hundreds of thousands in the 1920s. At the height of their power, they marched unmasked in Washington, D.C., and drew tens of thousands of supporters.

I appreciate that Egan makes no excuses or apologies, and he’s very frank on his representation of the facts: Many, if not most, people in the Midwest were a part of the KKK at this time, and they were blatantly violent and hateful. It is likely that many white Americans had ancestors who were members. The parallels between the justification that many used to join the group feel eerily similar to today — all excuses about preserving American values and protecting Christian families, which is chilling. What’s even more horrifying is that Stephenson and the KKK’s rise seemed unstoppable, and his presidential candidacy seemed inevitable until Stephenson met Madge Oberholtzer. She was a young woman without any power or influence, and when Stephenson targeted her for his cruel and sadistic ways, her story just happened to go public — and her tragic run-in with Stephenson changed everything for him and for the KKK on a national scale.

Despite the chilling nature of this story, I think it’s really important to read histories like this to understand where we’ve been and recognize when we’re going too far down that road again. This book is meticulously written and researched, compelling like a train wreck, and really heartbreaking. But until we face the darkest parts of our history, we can’t truly reckon with what it means to be American. The tragic truth is that it took a horrific crime to be committed, some brave souls to publicize it, and a brave jury to find a man guilty to slow the spread of the KKK’s hate. So while this is not an easy read, it is an essential one.