Borrowed but want to buy now

Cozy Adventures Continue in ‘Brigands,’ Albeit With a Different Face

The cover of Brigands and Breadknives, which features an illustration of a strong brown horse, an elf warrior with short white hair, a mouse-like creature writing on parchment and looking very worried, and a goblin with orange hair and a hideous multicolored coat, all gathered around a cooking fire.

I confess I was reluctant to pick up Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree’s breakout 2022 novel, thinking it was over-hyped only to find it just as cozy and delightful as people said it was. Its prequel, Bookshops and Bonedust, expanded the fictional world by introducing readers to Fern, a bookseller who first convinced our hero,Continue reading “Cozy Adventures Continue in ‘Brigands,’ Albeit With a Different Face”

‘Orchard’ a Twisty Mystery in Small-Town Appalachia

The cover of The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan, with the title and author in white sans-serif text in the fore of a dark photo of indistinct apples and twigs.

Annie is a delight of a modern-day PI, with all the crustiness and baggage of any private dick in the genre, though Sullivan manages to make her feel more human than trope.

‘Ghost Fish’ a Slim Novel with a Punch

The cover of Ghost Fish, featuring the title above and the author below an image of an orange-ish fish diving into teal-and-orange waters.

Opening up this slim novel gives the feeling of unknowingly sinking into cool, deep water; closing brings you back to the surface, gasping for air.

‘Fortune’ Pits Truth Against Reputation in Murder Mystery

The cover of Tricks of Fortune features a bright red background with indistinct black tarot-style cards and gold four-sided stars in indistinct constellations. The title is in white and black text, and the author's name, Lina Chern, is in black text.

Rather than being simply a vehicle for plot, Chern’s writing sings with artful composition and delightful turns of phrase that not only make reading easy but pleasant, too.

‘Sounds’ a Captivating Journey of Music and Devotion

The cover of Between Two Sounds, featuring a simply drawn adult Arvo leaping from a precipice, implying that he is jumping to the next sound. Arvo and the precipice are in black, while the background is in simple strokes of tan and brown. The title is in the upper left-hand corner, with the author in the lower-left corner.

This is not a story of the Soviet Union versus Arvo Pärt, but about an authoritarian regime demanding performative patriotism against those who have far more interesting things to think about.

‘Serpents’ a Solid Sequel in a Compelling World

Kate Pearsall’s debut, Bittersweet in the Hollow, was a solid and satisfying novel. With Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue, Pearsall delivers a strong second installment in what I hope will be at least a quartet of enchanting stories.

‘Woods’ More Human Nature than Thriller

In The God of the Woods, Moore isn’t concerned with crafting a whodunnit so much as a careful sketch of a far more human story.

‘Chronicles’ An Intimate Look at One ‘Backyard’

It’s lovely and intimate to read such inner thoughts of another person. It’s intimate, too, to see Tan’s drawings improve over the years and the birds within them grow increasingly lifelike.

‘Fever’ a Little Known but Familiar History

In detailing this little-known series of events, Fever provides a reminder that our fraught political landscape is nothing new, nor is a swift wave that threatens to sweep society back a few decades.

‘Extinction’ a Multi-Layer Puzzle

The Extinction of Irena Rey is a layer cake of fascinating and thought-provoking elements, all of them strong enough to hold a story on their own but working together deliciously.