I was a big fan of Mia McKenzie’s 2021 Skye Falling, so I was thrilled to come across her newest, These Heathens, (publication day June 15, 2025), on NetGalley! Told from the perspective of Doris, a seventeen-year old pregnant Black girl in 1960 rural Georgia who had to leave school at fifteen to take careContinue reading “These Heathens”
Author Archives: bbwesquire
Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes
I listened to Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon and Kim Green, upon the recommendation of a friend, and it was well worth reading, despite the sometimes difficult subject matter. Nguon, born in 1962 in Cambodia to an ethnically Vietnamese mother and Khmer father, had a happyContinue reading “Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes”
Slow Horses
Slow Horses (Slough House #1) by Mick Herron (2010) was the book club pick for May. If you’re not familiar with the book or the Apple TV series, it follows a group of MI5 agents assigned to Slough House in London for what remains of their failed careers. They are nominally still part of theContinue reading “Slow Horses”
Ready to Score
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter (publication day June 3, 2025) immersed me in southern high school football like I never expected in a sapphic romance! Jade Dunn, math teacher and first black woman assistant football coach in their small South Carolina town, has the feeling that the head coach is going to retire, andContinue reading “Ready to Score”
Of Monsters and Mainframes
I was so completely charmed by Barbara Truelove’s Of Monsters and Mainframes (publication day June 3, 2025) that I just about read it in a single sitting! Space travel meets vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein, a mummy, and cthulhu-people! Primarily told from the perspective of two spaceship AIs, with interludes told from the perspectives of others whoContinue reading “Of Monsters and Mainframes”
And They Were Roommates
And They Were Roommates (Publication Day 5/27/25) is Page Powars’s second published book, and is set at the Saint Valentine’s Academy for Boys, an exclusive boarding school that promises that those who excel there have their pick of Ivies. Charlie is going as a scholarship student, the same as his Mom, who went to theContinue reading “And They Were Roommates”
Disappoint Me
I was charmed by Disappoint Me (publication day May 27, 2025), much more so than Nicola Dinan’s first book, Bellies. Max and Vincent are the two main characters. Max is a trans woman, a lawyer who analyzes contracts as an AI, and is in between boyfriends, bored by the queer London scene. She falls downContinue reading “Disappoint Me”
Project Hail Mary
I read Andy Weir’s first book, The Martian, years ago, but hadn’t read any others until my book group picked his 2021 Project Hail Mary. As the book opens, an unnamed man is awakening without knowing who or where he is, and he slowly realizes he is alone on a spaceship, the medical robot havingContinue reading “Project Hail Mary”
The History of a Difficult Child
The History of a Difficult Child (2023) is Mihret Sibhat’s first novel, and I wish there had been more buzz about it, as it is so inventive and original, and the primary character–the “difficult child” Selam Asmelash–has such a strong voice! Sibhat uses multiple perspectives to tell Selam’s story, beginning before her birth to DegituContinue reading “The History of a Difficult Child”
Get Real, Chloe Torres
Get Real, Chloe Torres (publication day May 13, 2025) by Crystal Maldonado is young adult chick lit of the finest kind–it centers on rekindling an old friendship, through a cross-country road trip and boy-band fandom! Newly-graduated Chloe is working at her summer job as a non-Disney princess at little-kid birthday parties, when she realizes thatContinue reading “Get Real, Chloe Torres”
Reading While Fat 