Reviews

The Moorings of Mackerel Sky, a debut novel by MZ ( Emily Zack), is a lovely tale of a small seaside town, its history, its legends and the bonds between its residents. I wouldn’t classify this as straight fantasy, but I also hesitate to call it magical realism.  

Alternating between several residents of Mackerel Sky, this story is a testament to the power of local legend and how it can shape people and places. From a boy who seeks refuge with a neighbor to escape his alcoholic mother to two young men’s budding but secret relationship, there is a fair amount of turmoil and grief in their small town.  

This novel starts out slowly but gradually builds to a rather exciting end, so don’t give up! 

If you’re looking for an exciting and well-paced thriller to spice up your pool outings this summer, look no further! First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston will keep you guessing until the very end.

Evie Porter isn’t who she seems, and that’s because she doesn’t exist. Sucked into a world of crime, Evie is a master manipulator and woman of many faces. Working for the elusive Mr. Smith, she’s assumed many identities over the years. She's always gotten a little too involved with her targets, but her current mark, Ryan Sumner is something else altogether. She’ll even doctor her reports for Mr. Smith to protect him. 

Things are going as planned, until a woman with Evie’s real identity walks into the party she’s attending. Now Evie must figure out why Mr. Smith is turning on her and how she can finally get out from under his control. 

At just under 100 pages, The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler is easily digested in a sitting or two. However, don’t let the length fool you into thinking it falls short on the story. Nayler creates a world and characters crafted around a cause that really captures you on an emotional level. This is one that stuck with me for a while after finishing. 

Dr. Damira Khismatullina has spent her life protecting elephants from poachers. After her murder at the hands of those very poachers, elephants become extinct. A year later, scientists have found a way to resurrect mammoths through ancient DNA. However, they do not carry the instincts to survive in the wild. As an expert in animal behavior, Damira’s previously downloaded consciousness is placed into a mammoth with the hope that she will help teach them to survive. 

It becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems and perhaps it’s not just poachers threatening the survival of these magnificent creatures. 

In an effort to read more non-fiction, I’ve found myself drawn to true crime audiobooks due to their similarity to the podcasts I would listened to once upon a time. My most current read, I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter was a truly fascinating listen. If you’ve already read, I'll be gone in the dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, this is a great follow up that can also be read on its own. 

While the Golden State Killer case is discussed, this book covers much more than its namesake case. Along with the criminal cases solved through investigative genealogy, Venter-Rae has also done life changing work for adopted individuals looking for their birth relatives. Without getting to far into the weeds, she also gives you a starter course in genetic genealogy that may leave you wanting to look into your own family history. *Insert shameless plug for AHML Genealogy programming and resources.* 

If you’ve ever been interested in genealogy, the Golden State Killer or true crime in general, pick this one up, you’ll get all three here.  

I will be honest, this has been my year of judging books by their covers, and I picked Shark Heart by Emily Habeck because the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Luckily for me, the story is equally beautiful, heartbreaking and so very lovely. Habeck was able to create a love story that is anything but traditional. I’d classify this as sci-fi/magical realism, but it’s honestly a little hard to categorize.  

The writing style of this book is also not very traditional. You’ll find that some of the chapters are a page long, while others are written as a scene from a play. I found the scripted chapters to be a clever way of revealing past interactions that had significance to the present. 

Set in a world where genetic mutations slowly turn people into animals, Wren and Lewis navigate the realities of a life altering diagnosis. Only one year into their marriage, Lewis is diagnosed with a very rare mutation, one in which he will slowly turn into a great white shark.  He will retain his consciousness but will no longer be able to communicate with the human world. 

The book is split into three parts: 

1. The story of Wren and Lewis before and during the transformation 

2. The story of Wren's mother, her childhood and the story behind their seemingly strained relationship. 

3. The story of Lewis after he is released into the sea  

There are so many themes, metaphors and nuances of this book that I think it would be a great book club pick. This won't be everyone’s cup of tea, but I urge you to give it a try. You may just fall in love as I did. 

Shark Heart was a Goodreads nominee for Best Fiction and Best Debut Novel in 2023.

If you’re looking to round out your reading year with something cozy, look no further. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer was such an unexpected joy to read. A true cozy fantasy with the grumpy/ sunshine trope, Maehrer did a wonderful job creating characters with histories and personalities you care about. It helps that the world building is kept simple, with more time spent developing the characters, relationships and evolving mystery. 

Evie Sage is an optimist. An unemployed optimist who desperately needs a job to keep her family afloat. With a father sick with a mysterious illness spreading through the kingdom and a younger sister still in school, she needs to find a job fast. It doesn’t help that her village finds her odd and her last employer was a terrible human being. Enter, the Villain. Handsome, secretive and entirely evil (or is he?), after a harrowing meet cute in the woods, he offers Evie a job as his personal assistant.  

When the Villain’s evil plans start to go south, Evie takes it upon herself to weed out the rat in the organization. Having finally found a place she feels useful and accepted, Evie will do what it takes to make sure her employer stays in business. The more they work together the more she realizes the Villain is more than his evil persona, and that maybe the heroes are the true villains of this story. 

This has been the year of fun covers that turn out to be amazing stories for me, and Starter Villain by John Scalzi is no exception. I had so much fun reading this book. I don’t often laugh out loud while reading, but I found myself giggling quite a few times. The banter is intelligent, the humor is dry and the story moves at a perfect pace. It’s also fun that the main character lives in Barrington and the story includes some fun local locations. 

While classified as science fiction, this story is rooted more in reality than that suggests. There’s some fun conceptual technology described, but I’d say it’s more of a mystery, complete with surprise ending.  

Charlie is in his 30s and doesn’t have much to brag about other than the love of his cats and a house that’s not really his. That is until the estate of his estranged uncle comes knocking. Now he’s the sole heir to a supervillain business worth trillions of (hypothetical) dollars, a multitude of shell companies with complicated subscription models, cat spies, dolphin security and a not-so-secret island lair complete with a volcano. Charlie must navigate this new world of villainy while the convocation of elite villains attempts to welcome him into their fold, but maybe also kill him, that’s all really up in the air. 

Where do I begin? Whalefall by Daniel Kraus sucked me in with the cover and absolutely delivered with the story. At first, I wasn't sure what I was getting into, as the technical aspects of diving are foreign to me as a lifelong Midwesterner. What started a little slow and confusing turned into one of my favorite reads of 2023 thus far. 

When they say this book is scientifically accurate, they mean it. It’s weird and gross and totally wonderful. Because it’s so much more than a story about a boy swallowed by a whale and how that whale begins to slowly digest him; it’s a story of a boy grieving the death of a father who tried his best but fell woefully short. It’s about a young man coming to terms with his role in their strained relationship and finding the courage and strength to carry on. 

Pick this up if you’re a fan of Andy Weir, but I will be recommending this to everyone who will listen. However, if you’re squeamish where gastrointestinal acid or the awful effects of nitrogen narcosis is concerned, this might not be the one for you.  

I was lucky enough to walk past Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros at Target and grab a first edition with the gorgeous, sprayed edges before it hit the NY Times Bestsellers list. Even luckier for me, Fourth Wing has turned out to be one of my favorite reads so far this year.  

A romantasy (fantasy romance), Fourth Wing is certainly more fantasy than romance. To be quite honest, the romance could be removed entirely, and this story would hold its own. While long, it’s a page turner with good pacing. The characters are loveable, especially the dragons, and the tension is thick, just the way I like it. 

Set at a military school for dragon riders, the story follows twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail. Living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and a father who is a scribe, Violet has spent her life preparing for the Scribe Quadrant where it’s safer for her brittle body and she can use her higher-than-average intellect. But with her father now gone, a Commander General for a mother and siblings among the elite Dragon Riders, Violet is forced to join the hundreds of other candidates fighting to the death for a chance to train and bond with a dragon.  

While smaller and frailer than the rest of her cohort, Violet is stronger than they give her credit for. Even if her Wing Leader and several of her peers are seemingly out to get her, she finds ways to outsmart her opponents. 

The second installation of the Empyrean series, Iron Flame, will be released on November 7 which means you only have to wait a few months to dive back into this cutthroat world of dragons and political unrest. With the shocking ending (I audibly gasped), you’ll be grateful.  

Fourth Wing is also available on eBook and eAudiobook through cloudLibrary. 

The one word I would use to describe In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is charming. This is the most charming book I’ve ever read. The banter between characters is top notch, really drawing you in and connecting you with the characters. Honestly, if Klune had written this entirely as a conversation between Nurse Ratched and Rambo, and absolutely nothing happened, I would have read the whole thing and loved it.  

A cozy sci-fi loosely based on the Adventures of Pinocchio, this story is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, adventurous, and hopeful. You’ll adore the characters, rooting for them endlessly in their mission to save Victor’s father in the City of Electric Dreams. 

Victor, a human, and his father Gio, an android, have lived a secluded life deep in the woods. Over the years, Victor has found several decommissioned robots at the nearby dump and refurbished them. Both Nurse Ratched and Rambo no longer remember their lives before decommissioning but have found a new purpose as part of their little family unit.  

One day Vic, Rambo and Nurse Ratched stumble upon a humanoid discarded in the dump. Although they fear this newcomer, they take him home and fix him up. They aptly name the grumpy fellow Habitually Angry Puppy or HAP for short based on the remnants of his model number. HAP’s appearance sparks a series of events that upend their lives and change everything they thought they knew.  

The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune is one of my favorite books, and I can confidently say In the Lives of Puppets has placed itself right beside it. 

What are the rules? 

Stick together! 

Run if we have to. 

Na dallying! 

No drilling. 

And above all else, be brave!