I have already reread it. In historical romance’s greatest writer (and increasingly open iconoclast) Courtney Milan’s latest novel, Trade Me, her work steps sideways into the New Adult genre. In their early twenties, the main characters are young enough to be my children, but instead of putting me off, it created a similar kind of narrative distance to the historical elements in the romances I generally prefer. So much has changed since I was that age that this really is a different world for […]
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
If I could press any book into the hands of my teenaged self, it would likely be The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. The novel is funny, thoughtful, well-written, and most of all, feminist as fuck. It’s the kind of book you want to buy multiple copies of and disseminate to everyone you know. The Disreputable History details Frankie’s journey from quiet freshman to criminal mastermind sophomore at Alabaster Preparatory Academy, a private boarding school in northern Massachusetts. At the beginning of […]
The Origins of Sassy Detective
B is for Burglar and C is for Corpse, books two and three in the Alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton. I must say Kinsey Millhone is growing on me. Or at least the writer’s style. These books remind me of the Evanovich series starting Stephanie Plum, which may have been loosely inspired by this series, wink wink. Spoiler alerts for 30 year old books. You are warned. In book two, B is for Burglar, Stephanie, er uhm, Kinsey is hired by a woman who […]
In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl
While standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, waiting as patiently as I could while a previous customer argued over coupon redemption and dug around for and counted out exact change, this book caught my eye. I don’t have a lot of experience with the sci fi genre but it was either that or some tabloid with one Kardashian or other on the cover. I picked it up, glanced at the cover, perused the enthusiastic blurbs and read the first few pages, suddenly […]