I was completely captivated by Wayward Girls (publication day July 15, 2025) by Susan Wiggs! It’s an epic story of friendship and survival despite the horrific conditions some girls in the United States were subjected to as recently as 50 or 60 years ago. As the book opens in 2020, we know that a fifty-yearContinue reading “Wayward Girls”
Tag Archives: contemporary fiction
The Rebel Girls of Rome
It took me a little bit to get into The Rebel Girls of Rome (publication day July 8, 2025) by Jordyn Taylor, but once I did, I was hooked. Going back and forth in time in the present-day, from the perspective of Lilah who is visiting Rome with her grandfather Ralph (Raffaele), and in 1943,Continue reading “The Rebel Girls of Rome”
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”
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”
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”
The Language of the Birds
I really enjoyed The Language of the Birds (publication day May 13, 2025) by K.A. Merson, which is a young adult thriller/ mystery that features a neurodivergent, 17-year old main character named Arizona and her dog Mojo. As I read it, I was somewhat reminded of the middle-grade mysteries Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, andContinue reading “The Language of the Birds”
Detective Aunty
Detective Aunty (publication day May 6, 2025) by Uzma Jalaluddin is a satisfying cozy mystery featuring the widowed Kausar Khan, who is called back to Toronto, from her home in North Bay, Ontario, by her adult daughter who is a suspect in a murder. Kausar and her late husband, Hassan, had fled Toronto fifteen yearsContinue reading “Detective Aunty”
All the Sinners Bleed
All the Sinners Bleed (2023) by Anthony award-winning S.A. Cosby was a gripping, frightening mystery/ thriller set in rural, coastal Virginia featuring former FBI agent, and the county’s first Black sheriff, Titus Crown. Racial tensions are coming to a head, with local white people wanting to parade in support of a Confederate statue and TitusContinue reading “All the Sinners Bleed”
Reading While Fat 