Book Blog: The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk
out now in print and ebook; BookShop, B&N, and Amazon [affiliate link]
Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling.
In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.
The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?
I checked out this book from my library as part of my reading of Nebula finalists for this year.
I LOVE THIS BOOK. LOOOOOOOVE. It hits all of my sweet spots. A regency-inspired original world, with magic! Women striving for independence against societal expectations! A central romance with a guy who is a respectful, smart, supportive person, not a jerk! Smart heroines! Everything about this book is glorious and wonderful, including an ending that delivered a multitude of surprises and immense satisfaction.
Read MoreBook Blog: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
out now in print and ebook; BookShop, B&N, and Amazon [affiliate link]
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Brilliantly written, thoroughly researched, deeply emotional. The Dictionary of Lost Words is an incredible work of literary and historical fiction.
The lead character, Esme, grows up with the Oxford English Dictionary. Motherless, curious, she spends many of her earliest days playing and observing beneath the desk of her father in the ‘Scriptorium,’ set up in a shed on the Oxford grounds. It’s there she finds the abandoned slip for ‘bondmaid’ and begins collecting more words. At first, she steals discards from the Scriptorium, but as she grows up, she realizes there are lost words everywhere–words deemed too crude or low class to be included the decades-long labor of the dictionary, words especially used by women and the dismissed of society. She collects her words along with life experiences.
This is a profound book, truly. It’s about words, and people, and love, and loss. It’s never preachy, but the messages are there. The way everything is delicately laced together is a marvel. The end of the book made me weepy more than once. There are some terrible tragic turns, and then–the very ending is a surprise culmination that resolves everything with stunning sweetness.
Read MoreBook Blog: American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage by Dan Pucci & Craig Cavallo
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage by Dan Pucci & Craig Cavallo
out now in print and ebook; BookShop, B&N, and Amazon [affiliate link]
I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.
American Cider sets about–and succeeds–with two major goals. First of all, it essentially lays out American history, region by region, by following the progression of apple trees, and by extension, the brewing of cider. It doesn’t ignore the fact that this is also a story of colonialism. White settlers brought their seeds and scions, and the planting of apple trees was among the first things done when establishing households in what was once Native American land. Likewise, when tribes were forced from their homelands and onto reservations, the destruction of their buildings and apple trees was included in that effort. Props to the authors for being up-front about that aspect of apples–that honesty ads a lot to the book, and prevents it from feeling like a lengthy propaganda piece on the awesomeness of apples…
…Though let us not deny, apples are indeed awesome. The authors’ passion and knowledge of their subject matter also comes through, loud and clear. This isn’t a book for the person vaguely-interested in apples and cider, though it is an engaging read all the way through. This is a book for the foodies, for the people who really love cider and wants to understand it more, and those who are interested in starting their own cidery.
On that note, the book’s second major emphasis in in describing and exploring up-and-coming cideries across the country. Wow, did these sections make me want to go on a road trip and try everything that was out there. The information is pretty detailed. They lay out the geography and climate and how that impacts apples, what has been grown in the past, what grows now, and various other details about varying business operations. It definitely inspired me to buy cider at Trader Joe’s this week when I recognized a name from this book.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys American cider and wants to understand the history, present, and future trajectory of the beverage. (As for me, I hope that trajectory means it is pouring straight down my gullet.)
Read MoreBook Blog: Machinehood by S.B. Divya
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
Machinehood by S.B. Divya
out now in print and ebook; BookShop, B&N, and Amazon [affiliate link]
From the Hugo Award nominee S.B. Divya, Zero Dark Thirty meets The Social Network in this science fiction thriller about artificial intelligence, sentience, and labor rights in a near future dominated by the gig economy.
Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client is killed in front of her. It’s 2095 and people don’t usually die from violence. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive, but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances focus, zips and buffs enhance physical strength and speed, and juvers speed the healing process.
All that changes when Welga’s client is killed by The Machinehood, a new and mysterious terrorist group that has simultaneously attacked several major pill funders. The Machinehood operatives seem to be part human, part machine, something the world has never seen. They issue an ultimatum: stop all pill production in one week.
Global panic ensues as pill production slows and many become ill. Thousands destroy their bots in fear of a strong AI takeover. But the US government believes the Machinehood is a cover for an old enemy. One that Welga is uniquely qualified to fight.
Welga, determined to take down the Machinehood, is pulled back into intelligence work by the government that betrayed her. But who are the Machinehood and what do they really want?
A thrilling and thought-provoking novel that asks: if we won’t see machines as human, will we instead see humans as machines?
I received an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley.
The year 2021 has just started, but I already know this is one of the best new science fiction books I will read this year. It’s that good. Divya has created an utterly immersive future that is plausible and spooky all at once.
Welcome to a future Earth where designer drugs help people work and think faster in order to keep them competitive with advanced machines. Everyone has personal drone clouds that broadcast their activities to the world, with strangers casting money into their tip jar for deeds done well. Welga is a tough woman working in higher echelons of security when a client is killed by a new terrorist group. The Machinehood is demanding rights for bots–or else they’ll shut down the pill trade and tech networks, essentially ending modern civilization. Welga tries to find out who and what the Machinehood really is, even as her own health begins to shatter. This is a read that ponders some very deep philosophical questions: what is a machine? what is sentient life?
Some scifi books with advanced tech this deep are so full of jargon they lose me within the first chapter. This book didn’t. Divya builds details at the right pace. This isn’t a book just about hard scifi, though. It’s packed with genuine heart. Every character feels complex and realistic, as does the incredible diversity of ethnicities, religions, and genders. With the stakes so high and the plot so deep, I wondered if everything could pull together in the end–it did. The ending is satisfying and strong, and left me a little sad that it was all done.
Truly a stellar work, and the first one to go on my novel award nominee list for 2021.
Read MoreBook Blog: American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World by Joe Berkowitz
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World by Joe Berkowitz
out now in print and ebook; BookShop, B&N, and Amazon [affiliate link]
I received an advance galley through NetGalley.
American Cheese is my kind of book. Author Joe Berkowitz had a near-religious experience with artisan cheese that awoke him to the diverse flavors and textures of the world’s cheese, resulting in a country and world-spanning odyssey to understand the joys of modern cheese and the industry as a whole. It’s enlightening. It’s laugh-out-loud funny throughout. Perhaps most of all, I felt as if I had connected with a friend who gets it.
I love cheese. I chronicle every cheese that I try and constantly seek out new experiences. It has become one of my prime (and most expensive) hobbies. I’ve had many of the cheeses he viscerally describes in this book, and discovered many more to add to my wish list (and yes, there is an actual wish list). Even more, he gets to experience and describe incredible things I never will, like volunteering at Murray’s Cheese in NYC, attending and eating his way through the Cheesemonger Invitational, hanging out with cheese influencers like Cheese Sex Death (one of my favorites online), traveling the California Cheese Trail (totally a goal of mine, though as a native Californian, I was appalled that the author didn’t know California made cheese), and attending world-class cheese events in France and Italy. Through his words, I was vicariously there, and left desperately craving the cheeses he describes.
Throughout everything, he is easy to relate to, modest, and hilarious. Some choice quotes include:
“I wanted to run outside doing full Kermit-arms and scream for everybody to try this cheese right now, which probably wouldn’t be the weirdest thing anyone overheard on Bleecker Street that day.”
“Cheese is literally heaven. It’s what happens after milk sheds this mortal coil and ascends to a higher plain of existence.”
Seriously, if you love cheese, get this book.
Read MoreBook Blog: Mary Quirk and the Secret of Umbrum Hall (Dark Lessons #1) by Anna St. Vincent
I review everything I read and post reviews on Goodreads and LibraryThing. That’s not enough. Good books are meant to be shared. Therefore, I’m spotlighting some of my favorite reads here on my site.
Mary Quirk and the Secret of Umbrum Hall (Dark Lessons #1) by Anna St. Vincent
out now in paperback and ebook; available from B&N and Amazon [affiliate link]
I received a gratis galley of this book for review.
Mary Quirk and the Secret of Umbrum Hall starts off a new YA series in fun fashion. After reading several intense, dark adult books in a row, I had no idea how much I needed THIS book until I was already immersed–and that immersion happened within a few pages of the start. There was just something delightful about an entrance to a magical school found via a portal in a rural Oklahoma farmhouse. Plus, Mary is an easy character to relate to–a goth with family drama she’d rather forget about, and who really wants to get good grades and become better at her fire magic.
The whole cast is great, really. The book follows the familiar trope of the start of the school year with new classes and social dynamics, plus magical twists. One of the many eye-rolling things about Harry Potter (because such comparisons are unavoidable with any magic school novel now) is the whole instant-enemies thing. In Mary Quirk’s world, her schoolmates and teachers are quite nuanced. She is, too. She starts out the book with some very set biases but learns and matures. The magic in the book is fun, as is the gradual exploration of the school grounds. Umbrum Hall is hiding more than one secret, that’s for sure!
I look forward to reading more in this series. This is the cozy YA fantasy escape from reality that I need right now.
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