Birthday Retreat Books

I spent a week taking the sea air on the Mendocino coast, and while there, finished four books!

The Making of Pride & Prejudice (by Sue Birtwistle & Susie Conklin)  

This was a gift from a few years ago and part of my quest to read through some of my physical books this year. The photos are a bit blurry and I would have enjoyed clearer photos, more interviews with the cast, basically a book ten times the size of this relatively slim volume. It definitely made me appreciate a lot of nuances that went into making the miniseries (this is about the BBC miniseries with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth), from custom-printing fabrics on muslin to hiding lighting equipment with foliage in a ballroom. A must-read for 1995 devotees, but you'll definitely wish it were longer!

Headshot (by Rita Bullwinkel)  

Tournament of Books selection and I'm gonna be honest, I hated it. The repetitive style (which is I'm sure deliberate, because this is about boxing and it makes you feel like being punched with names repeated over and over and over again...) drove me mad. I enjoyed the flash forwards but they added up to nothing I was wholly uninterested in the winner, as the only characters I really enjoyed weren't in the final. I also hate boxing. I also found it implausible that none of the 8 girls were explicitly non-white, and race wasn't even mentioned. So either they were all white, or race never impacted their lives. Did not work for me. 

The Wedding People (by Alison Espach) 

Also in the ToB, but it was very "beach read" with romcom vibes and a predictable plot. That said, I immediately loved our main character Phoebe (who shows up at a hotel that has been rented out for a wedding, and gets drawn into the lives of the wedding people) and the fun cast of characters. I could see where this was going a mile off but I stayed up late to finish it anyway because it was delightful. Will make a perfect movie.  

Mansfield Park (by Jane Austen) 

I can't remember the last time I read Mansfield Park from cover to cover, so I'll include it here! It's been decades, probably. I enjoyed it so much this time around - I'm very familiar with the 1999 film and it actually takes fewer liberties than I thought it did! (The scene of Mary undressing Fanny in the rain, for one.) Jane Austen is always a joy.

The Husbands (by Holly Gramazio)

It's here! It's here! The Tournament of Books longlist is out.  I've only read two books on it - Margo's Got Money Troubles and James.  But I did have a handful of books on hold and even a few checked out already, so I started with the ones that were almost about to expire.

The Husbands is a fun read about a woman whose attic magically produces a series of husbands, parallel universe style, and our main character sees how her life changes depending on who she's married to.  It doesn't feel particularly like literary fiction, or particularly worth deep discussion, but as a book, I really enjoyed it! Fun and entertaining, and unlike some of the Goodreads contingent, I thought the ending was interesting.

I'm bad at predicting what's going to make the shortlist but I will say I'm shocked The Husbands made the longlist but Annie Bot, which has a lot more depth, did not.  Again, its not bad, it's very entertaining! But more lightweight than I have come to expect from ToB.  Still, glad for the nudge to read it. 

On to the next one!

Act Your Age, Eve Brown (by Talia Hibbert)

Read for the category "a genre book (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) by a disabled author."  Hibbert has fibromyalgia. Also this is an #OwnVoices book for autism, as Hibbert is queer and autistic. 

I'm not a huge romance reader but I did enjoy this one, the third in Hibbert's series about the Brown sisters.  The immature Eve Brown is cut off from her trust fund by her parents and decides to go get a job, hits her interviewer with her car, and somehow is still hired? And they have instant chemistry, great communication, and frankly some really contrived conflict before living happily ever after.

If you're a fan of contemporary romance, it is cute and I recommend it.

Romantic Comedy (by Curtis Sittenfeld)

A creatively structured, above-average twist on the romcom genre. The main character is a writer for an extremely thinly veiled version of Saturday Night Live; the first third of the book goes through a week on the show in which she gets to know the host and musical guest, and they hit it off, only to end on a sour note of misunderstanding.

We pick up again in the midst of Covid lockdown, when the two characters become email pen pals and friends. She eventually drives out to visit him, they connect in person, complications ensue, yadda yadda yadda. 

The SNL stuff was fun (I too have read all the SNL memoirs in the world) and I enjoyed the epistolary secton, although the main character really seemed to lack growth and got a bit grating by the end. A fast read, for SNL and romcom fans who don't mind a whole lot of Covid flashbacks (also not my favorite).

What I Read On My Summer Vacation

Spoiler alert: it was 17 books, so buckle up. I'll include the tags in the little blurbs below so you don't have to wade through the one zillion tags I'm about to slap on this bad boy.

The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom (by Allison L. Bitz) young adult, romcom

Loved the character growth and focus more on being a better person than the romance elements. Felt organic, theater kids are the worst and the best. I loved how everyone was casually bisexual, with sexuality not even mentioned. Very Big Reveal-esque in its boarding school setting. One of my favorite of these 17 reads.

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (by Talia Hibbert) young adult, romcom

Super great chemistry, rich characters and ADORABLE. My only two critiques: Katharine Breakspeare is a dumb/fake name, and this random dude Nick showed up as a winner at the end when it could have been any of a handful of other characters we actually knew.) But loved this read and hope Hibbert writes more YA!

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears (by Michael Schulman) nonfiction

Juicy and detailed, got more interesting (for me) as it moved into Oscars I remember watching. I'm a faithful Oscar viewer still ,although I don't make the effort to watch all the nominees that I used to. Ends kind of abruptly but look forward to an expanded edition in five or 10 years!

The Helpline by Katherine Collette women's contemporary, litficL

Like a lighter Eleanor Olifant which is always an absolute delight. I love reading about rigid, literal characters who find happiness with a ragtag group of people who don't give up on them. Germaine is so loveable! Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed Eleanor.

Darkhearts (by James L. Sutter) young adult

I'm a sucker for "turns out I'm gay for YOU" stories but this had a couple of issues.  The best friend was clearly a girl written by a dude (she was unrealistically crude, and in general the book was fairly crude with a lot of poop humor when I would prefer zero poop humor). The character development for our MC (who needed a LOT of it) was too abrupt and the ending really didn't work. But did I keep reading until the end? You bet I did.

The Smitten Kitchen (by Deb Perlman) nonfiction, rhc 2023, cookbook if I had a cookbook tag which I don't because why would I ever do this to myself again

The only reason I read this was for the Read Harder category "read a cookbook from cover to cover" and I kind of hated this challenge. I don't really cook, reading lists of ingredients is boring, and even though her writing is very good, she uses the word "dollop" 38 times, which is probably fine if you're dipping in and out of the cookbook like a normal person but got annoying for me. Just felt very pointless. I always love her recipes though!

Evelina (by Fanny Burney) classics, rhc 2023

The category was "read one of your favorite author's favorite books" and since part of my vacation was a Jane Austen pilgrimage, I decided to read one of Austen's favorites. It was actually a page turner, with some very horrible characters that are overly mean to our poor heroine, but I was glad in the third volume when that subsided and the plot got exciting. Reading about the London season and imagining all the ways Burney influenced Austen made this really fun to read. As opposed to the cookbook thing, I was really glad this challenge was on the list.

Check, Please! (by Ngozi Ukazu) comic, graphic novel, rhc 2023

For the category "read a completed webcomic." This is a webcomic about a college hockey player, with a very sweet grumpy-sunshine romance. Kind of missing conflict and comics will never be my favorite, but quite adorable and joyful. 

Cupid Calling (by Viano Oniomoh) romance, rhc 2023, world literature

Category is: "read an independently published book by a BIPOC author." This is a self-published M/M romance about two contestants on a Bachelorette-like show who meet and fall for each other in a slow-burn romance.  It's very high-quality considering it's self-published, would not have guessed that. Loved the characters, who are both British-Nigerian and have different, complex relationships with their cultures. Definitely includes some fanfic-like sex scenes at the end that are very explicit. But they were well done and fit the characters, so it was fine. My only quibble is that it's supposed to be a reality show made by an Ava Duverney type director but it's got the same format as basically every dating reality show, so talking about how this would be "different" kind of fell flat.

The Aosawa Murders (by Riku Onda) mystery, world literature, translated

This one is all about the atmosphere! Really enjoyed the structure of multiple points of view, and the mood overall.  And the ambiguity - except that it was a shade too ambiguous! I would have liked a little more (though not perfect) resolution at the end. Still, it's eerie and gothic in a specifically Japanese way and I enjoyed it a lot.

Northanger Abbey (by Jane Austen) classic, reread, on paper

I hadn't read Northanger Abbey since I was a teenager, so when I found an adorable pocket copy at the Jane Austen House, I had to get it! really loved having my solo meals in England while accompanied by some chapters from this delightful Austen novel. Oh, and I had apparently forgotten like 80% of the plot because I haven't seen any adaptations either! I'm clearly falling down on the job.

It Goes Like This (by Miel Moreland) young adult

About a fictional "girl band" called Moonlight Overthrow that has broken up and gets back together for a reunion show. Very well written, liked the complexity of the ending, but I did think that everyone treated Eva extremely poorly and did not do enough penance at the end of the book to make their rapprochement satisfying. Gina in particular was underdeveloped, which is especially unfortunate since she is the one Black character. Enjoyable, not amazing. And I strongly suspect this is a gender-swapped rewrite of some former One Direction fanfic.

Plus One (by Kelsey Rodkey) young adult, romcom

Has a main character that somehow gets less and less sympathetic as the book goes along, culminating in so much awfulness that I almost couldn't really get back on her side anymore by the end.  All very well written and I love a confidently plus-size main character. The supporting cast was absolutely fabulous. But oof, once again not enough penance at the end, and that makes it especially hard when it's the character you're supposed to be rooting for. 

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl (by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum) young adult, romcom

Love the concept and the characters (which gave me Amelia Westlake vibes, one of my favorite sapphic ya romcoms ever) but the viewpoints of the two point of view characters were both not differentiated enough in the writing style (surprisingly, since there were two authors) and not cohesive enough in the characterization (Margo's character in particular.) Disappointing execution, ultimately.

A Line to Kill (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

This is the third book in the Hawthorne series, which starts with The Sentence Is Death. I saw an ad for the fourth installment in the Tube and realized I had missed #3 so checked them both out! This was really good as always, I love Horowitz's metafictional and self deprecating take on Sherlock and Watson and it was a really good mystery. 

Going Bicoastal (by Dahlia Adler) young adult, romcom

One that I saved for the plane because I knew it would be good! Sliding Doors-esque, bisexual, and absolutely charming. Loved the cleverness of the structure and shoutouts to other YAs... including It Goes Like This! Dahlia Adler is as always, really great.

A Twist of the Knife (by Anthony Horowitz) mystery, series

The aforementioned fourth book in the Hawthorne series. I finished this on the train home, half-asleep due to jetlag, so my notes just say "breezy! not as tight as #3 but enjoyable mise en scène." Not even convinced I used mise en scène correctly but there you have it. 

Phew! There you have it, the 17 books I read on my six-week vacation.

Fun Weekend Reads

Because I'm too lazy to make two whole posts.

Very Sincerely Yours (by Kerry Winfrey) 

An extremely charming romcom recommended by a colleague at work. Our main character, Teddy, breaks up with a truly horrible guy (masterclass in setting him up as a villain from page one) and begins writing letters to a local TV Mr. Rogers-style puppeteer.  Hijinks ensue.  I loved Teddy and Everett and all the side characters, and the novel is really funny, with plot developments that are not overly contrived.  Just really works.  

Imogen, Obviously (by Becky Albertalli) 

Becky Albertalli has been criticized for writing queer novels as a cishet person, and clearly grappled with that criticism while at the same time coming to realize she's queer (she identifies as bisexual). This is relevant because she basically fictionalized and young adulted her journey and turned it into Imogen, Obviously.  There are definitely places where it moves too far into autobiography (the pop culture references are almost all from Gen X, for example) but Imogen is very loveable and her journey is relatable.  Overall, enjoyed it.

Austin Books

Another trip and another set of books: only two this time, though:

Under the Lights (by Dahlia Adler) 

This is the second book in a series I haven't read, but I gathered it's a standalone (it is) and it's got a Sapphic romance and is set in Hollywood, which made it impossible to resist! The point of view alternates between Josh and Vanessa. Josh is a misogynistic asshole who becomes marginally less of one by the end of the book, and that is not a journey I am very interested in. What held my interest was Vanessa, an American actress of Korean descent who falls in love with her manager's assistant (or something), a woman named Brianna.  The romance is well done and kept me reading, in spite of some over-focusing on Josh as well as a side character who is friends with both of them.

All of This: A Memoir of Death and Desire (by Rebecca Woolf) 

Rebecca Woolf is a "mommyblogger" from back in the day, but I never followed her. I picked up the book on the endorsement of my friend Evany, who knows Rebecca.  This is a brutally honest memoir about the death of her husband from cancer right after they had decided to divorce. She doesn't shy away from talking about either her infidelity or his abuse, and the toxicity of their marriage. The first half of the book, recounting his illness and death and the aftermath on herself and their four children, is incredibly compelling. The second half, where she renounces patriarchy and monogamy, reads more like a string of blog entries than a compelling narrative, and possibly could have used more structure. But it's a good read and a unique memoir, for sure.

Boston Books

As usual, I did some of my favorite reading in airports and on planes, and finished six books on my trip to and from Boston.  Here they are:

The Boleyn Inheritance (by Philippa Gregory) 

A fun page-turner that had the songs from Six stuck in my head the entire time. It's well-researched but repetitive (the phrase"Boleyn inheritance" is in this book 23 times) and not particularly literary in its execution (lol, execution).  But I enjoyed the story, told from the alternating perspectives of Katherine Howard, Anna of Cleves, and Jane Boleyn.  Anna's story gets somewhat less interesting once she leaves court, but I did enjoy the interpretation that as long as Henry was alive and chopping heads off, she lived in fear. Pulpy and fun if you enjoy the time period.

The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers (by Adam Sass)

Could not have been more adorable, and maybe my favorite book on this list. Messy and complex, which I always enjoy as it feels more real than a romcom hitting all the expected beats. Loved the cast, the setting, the queer rep, the plus-sized rep.  The best YA I've read in a while, I think! Adorbs.

Broken (by Jenny Lawson) 

Funny and real, albeit in a "these are blog posts clumped together in book form" format. It works anyway, though, because Jenny Lawson is a great writer! She isn't afraid to explore her own challenges with depression and anxiety and also runs it through with humor, ala Allie Brosh.

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker (by Derick Lugo) 

Read for "an adventure story by a BIPOC author."  I struggled with this category (we are down to the "categories Mo struggled with" portion of the year). I can think of some perfect books I've read in the past, like The Good Lord Bird, Washington Black, or Underground Railroad that I would consider to be "adventure stories" but I've read all of those. Book Riot recommended a lot of fantasy adventure, and fantasy isn't my favorite. So instead I went for the nonfiction adventure, the story of a Black man who thru-hikes the Appalachian Trail.  Derick (better known on the trail as Mr. Fabulous) has a distinct voice and a great sense of humor; this felt like reading his diary, in a good way.  I wished for pictures since he often talked about taking pictures on the trail! But a fun read and unique perspective, so I'm glad I picked it. 

The Stench of Honolulu (by Jack Handey) 

This is an extremely silly book by Jack Handey, of Deep Thoughts fame. It was recommended by the blended family whose wedding was the reason for my trip to Boston, as apparently it is quoted a lot in their household.  Very funny, clever and amusing as you might expect! 

The Bullet that Missed (by Richard Oseman) 

This was the book I saved especially for this trip, the third in the Thursday Murder Club series and maybe my favorite one so far! Absolutely delightful, and this series is a must for mystery fans. It's very funny and charming, and the protagonists are all in a retirement community so it showcases vibrant people gracefully dealing with aging while also solving crimes.  

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (by Lori Gottleib)

Sneaking one more in here since I read most of it on the plane. It's by a therapist who has to go to therapy herself to deal with a traumatic breakup.  I am surprised I was so compelled by this one, downloaded it from the library on a whim and somehow ended up finishing the whole thing! I am dying to know who "John" is (some elements almost have to be true, like the TV show having a therapist, which seems like it would make it possible to deduce...) but regardless, an interesting view of both sides of therapy, and I enjoyed it!

Recent Reads

And 75% of it wasn't even YA! 

Boyfriend Material (by Alexis Hall)

An adult M/M romance that I absolutely loved. Romance isn't actually my favorite genre but this was just hilarious, hot, funny - did I mention funny? Just thoroughly enjoyable with a great central couple. Plus, the sequel comes out next month! Highly recommended for romance fans.

Flying Solo (by Linda Holmes)

I loved Linda's first book, Evvie Drake Starts Over. This didn't quite hit the same heights for me, mostly   the pacing didn't work for me.  But the characters are great, and the main character's independence made for a nice subversion of the "hometown career girl discovers she belongs in her hometown with her childhood love" trope.

Follow Your Arrow (by Jessica Verdi)

Weak, but had a good ending that directly confronted biphobia and not being "bisexual enough" if you're with a man.  The main character did have some good growth over the course of the book but she was just insufferable at the beginning with her fixation on social media.  Plus she has a supposedly traumatic breakup and is in love with someone else in like a week? The timeline felt very compressed and clunky. I just stuck it out out of bisexual loyalty, I think.

Sea of Tranquility (by Emily St. John Mandel) 

This is one of the choices for Camp ToB this year (which is taking place on Discord for some reason, so I'm barely following it).  I didn't love Station Eleven as much as seemingly everyone else in the world, so I was not expecting this: I loved this novel. I adored it. I guarantee this will end up on my top 5 of the year and maybe even #1.  It's reminiscent of Cloud Atlas (jumps through time, a cyclical structure) but somehow Mandel pulls off a novel with the scope and impact of Cloud Atlas in like 300 pages? This blew me away.

Apples Never Fall (by Liane Moriarty)

Liane Moriarty is always good value. She's great at nailing characters that don't feel like cliches, even minor characters, and building suspense and organic twists in a story.

My biggest pet peeve here is that it's probably overlong; I thought it was kind of clever how so much of the story is told through background characters (like a receptionist or a waitress overhearing our characters talking) and I admired her ability to make these characters feel real, but there was probably some fat to be trimmed nonetheless.

I guarantee this will be a Big Little Lies-esque miniseries because of course it will be. Exactly what you'd expect from a Moriarty book: a solid, breezy, engaging read.

Why Mommy Drinks (by Gill Sims)

Okay first of all I have to get this off my chest: the book is British and based on a blog called "Why Mummy Drinks."  They changed the title for the U.S. market, ala Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone. As a marketer I understand this; as a reader I find this condescending. 

This was loaned to me by a mom friend who found it hilarious. It's pretty funny! Very Shopaholic meets Bridget Jones, although the main character does one thing that made me really angry at her until of course it all worked out in the end. I also find it enraging that although she points out the horrible imbalance of household work between her and her husband, nothing actually changes at all at any point.  I guess it's relatable for lots of women but it made me real mad at the husband character and of course, as always, the patriarchy.

Overall it was light enough and funny enough that I would read more in the series. Maybe the hopes that Simon actually learns to pull his weight in one of the later books. (He won't.)

Eligible (by Curtis Sittenfeld)

I thought this "modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice" would be a fun choice for the RHC category of books set in the Midwest (it's set in Cincinnati).  (As a side note, I consider the Midwest to be
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. But actually now that I look at a map, none of those are in the western half of the country.  Maybe it should be called the Mideast?) 

Eligible is a breezy read, funny in parts, quite clever in parts, but also uncomfortable at times. Racism, fatphobia and bigotry are used as punchlines and the Black and trans characters are very tokenistic. I feel like Sittenfeld had good intentions but it's cringey in the execution.  The ending also feels very rushed (strange considering how long the book is; I think she maybe is adhering a bit too faithfully to the pacing of the original) and in 2013, I don't think two characters are going to decide to get married before they even have begun dating each other, so some of the modernization needed work.  

(Also one of the best characters is named Ham, short for Hamilton, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that it's because Wickham has been split into two characters here, and the other one is named Jasper Wick. Duh. )

Romances and Romcoms

 My last book of 2020 and my first two reads of 2021 all qualify as romances or romcoms, so we'll bundle them together!

First was Beach Read by Emily Henry, which had some funny moments but was more emotionally complex than you might expect. The main characters are both writers, and they decide to trade genres for a summer; she will write litfic and he will write romance.  She is also dealing with the source of her writer's block: after the death of her seemingly perfect father, she discovers that he had a secret lover on the side and questions everything she once believed about romance. There are real emotional stakes here along with the romance.

Secondly, I'm not putting it on my official list, but one of the RHC categories for 2021 is "a fanfic" so I did read a Villaineve fic called for hire. It had a fun plot and captured the characters well! There is also a whole lot of sex, which should shock nobody.

And speaking of a whole lot of sex, the final read was Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade, about two fanfic writers.  One is a proudly fat woman and the other is secretly the star of the show he writes fanfic about. It's very inside baseball about the fanfic world, and very wish fulfillment fantasy too. (Not one but two male leads on the show write fanfic about it? Mmm okay.) (The running jokes about pegging were hilarious though.) (Yeah this book is definitely very explicit.) 

I abandoned a book recently because of a very similar premise; in this case the fanfic setting and the plus-sized heroine kept me reading, but I did get similarly frustrated by the fact that one character just needs to tell the other character the truth and then the situation is resolved. [Spoiler] The fact that he didn't tell her before they had sex meant it was unforgivable to me. I loved the character of Marcus but it was such a betrayal of trust. [End spoiler]  I also do not think the fatness was handled as realistically as it could have been but maybe I'm just not as self-actualized as these characters. 

I am also trying to read some litfic for the Tournament of Books but I keep stalling out on Deacon King Kong. Obama liked it and so did all the peeps on Goodreads, so I will keep trying!

One to Watch (by Kate Stayman-London)

Such an awesome, fun, body-positive book! About a fat-positive blogger (omg I was one of those!) who goes on a Bachelor-type reality show as the "Main Squeeze." She faces fatphobia, insecurity, and romantic complications. I can't imagine a character I would root for more! And I immediately recommended it to my other plus-size friends. 

Just look at the cover! Really loved it.

Social Bubble Vacation Books

I read three books while on a staycation with our seven-person social bubble.  These are those books!

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (by Suzanne Collins)

A Hunger Games prequel about Coriolanus Snow. I wasn't going to read this (was very disappointed in how the trilogy turned out) but my bestie David highly recommended it, and I stuffed the hardback into my suitcase and then of course devoured it. What Collins does here is so subtle and interesting, taking you from sympathizing with Snow to, well, seeing what he will become.

Oona Out of Order (by Margarita Montimore)

This is a novel with a fun conceit: on her 19th birthday, Oona begins to live her life out of order. That is, she is still mentally 19 but has jumped into her 51-year-old self. Every year, she jumps somewhere else in her life. This results in some fun twists and turns and of course some infuriating moments. (If she can warn herself about the future, why are her warnings never actually helpful?) But I cried through the final quarter of this book anyway. (Not because it is tragic but because it is moving.) Perfect vacation read.

Such a Fun Age (by Kiley Reid)

Read for Camp ToB (side note: why is their website so poorly designed; you can never just go to a homepage and find a list of recent posts; it's dumb) but it strikes me as too light to actually win the summer.  There's something about it that's too entertaining and easy to read for a book about race (the premise is that a black babysitter is confronted while sitting for a white child in a grocery store). I loved the main character, Emira, and loved the skewering of well-meaning, liberal whiteness by way of the character of Alix. Thoroughly entertaining litfic with a highly satisfying ending.

Maybe in Another Life (by Taylor Jenkins Reid)

An airplane read that I read once my trip was over, in the fallow period before the Tournament of Books longlist is released.

This is a Sliding Doors-esque novel that begins pretty much the same way Sliding Doors ends. I love Sliding Doors (and Gwyneth's accent in Sliding Doors, and the fact that it has a scene where one character is cracking up his friends by quoting Monty Python, a form of quote-based comedy that happens all the time in real life but never in movies).

I digress. I enjoyed the main character's journey and the fact that this was basically two romcoms in one.  It's interesting watching certain things come to pass in both timelines, suggesting there is an element of fate or destiny, but also other things diverge in unexpected ways. A very fun read.

The Unhoneymooners (by Christina Lauren)

A fun romance with a bit of a stretch, premise-wise (the best man and maid of honor are the only two guests who don't get food poisoning at the wedding, and they go on the couple's honeymoon, and also they hate each other).  However, the characters are a delight, it's truly contemporary and funny, and the set of complications that ensue is convincingly organic!

I also enjoyed the little details -- the family being Latinx, the heroine being on the curvier side and embracing her curves, etc. If you like romcoms, don't miss this one, it's pure, marshmallowy, refreshingly unproblematic entertainment.

Vacation Reads: Hawaiian Cruise Edition

Here are the things I read on planes, ships, and beaches over the past week:


Evvie Drake Starts Over (by Linda Holmes) 

... saved especially so it could be my very first vacation book. So great and grounded and authentic and romantic and perfect. Absolutely loved it. 

Whisper Network (by Chandler Baker)

This novel is Big Little Lies x Lean In ÷ And Then We Came to the End

A bit unrealistic but rah rah feminist, very fun and ultimately satisfying. Loved the framing of the collective voice of women. (The author, Chandler Baker, is also a woman.) Reese will obviously be playing Sloane in the movie.

The Gifted School (by Bruce Holsinger) 

Also very Big Little Lies-esque! But like Whisper Network, adds in in the story of someone who is not white and not privileged. Seems that is a new part of the formula, which I like. Fun chewy interpersonal drama. Some characters (e.g. Kev) never quite crystallized but enjoyed it!

We Are Never Meeting In Real Life (by Samantha Irby)

A collection of humorous essays that fall under the humor category of the Read Harder Challenge. Hilarious but also super relatable. Essays don't tend to be my favorite, so there were a couple of false starts, but I'm glad I powered through and stuck with this one!

The Flatshare (by Beth O’Leary) 

A creampuff of a novel, fun but I doubt it will stick with me. Also do British people say "clock" all the time, drag queen style? Because both the main POV characters here do. (15 times, according to my app.) This is not a rhetorical question, please let me know.


Red, White & Royal Blue (by Casey McQuiston) 

A male-male romance between the son of the U.S. President and an English prince. Set in an alternate reality where a woman was elected president in 2016 (sob) and the world is not a garbage fire (sob, sob). Honestly impossible to fully escape into for that reason, but I loved the romance between these twentysomething characters. It was very reminiscent of Performance in a Leading Role, a rather famous piece of Sherlock fanfiction.

In at the Deep End (by Kate Davies)

A British comic novel (at least the first half) about a woman called Julia discovering her sexuality as a lesbian. It starts off hilarious, and I highlighted a bunch of scenes that made me laugh.  For example: Staring into my eyes, he went to push himself into me. He missed. ‘Jesus. That’s never happened before,’ he said. He picked up his penis and guided himself in, frowning as though he was trying to assemble a particularly tricky piece of IKEA furniture.

Julia then gets caught up in an abusive relationship, with some championship gaslighting and questionable portrayals of polyamory and BSDM along the way. It's half lesbian Bridget Jones and half lesbian 50 Shades of Gray. Overall I liked it, but be forewarned that it gets darker and more complicated as it goes along.

Austin Trip Reads

Time to spend a week in Austin for our team offsite, and thus time to read on airplanes! Here are the four books I finished this week plus one I read the day I came home:

Trust Exercise (by Susan Choi)

Part of Camp ToB. It's narratively playful and postmodern, with point of view changes and so much to discover between the lines. Still pondering the hidden meanings and looking forward to the discussion later this summer.

Eliza and Her Monsters (by Francesca Zappia)

Young adult novel about fandom and anxiety, which treats both with the utmost seriousness. Eliza is an artist who writes an insanely popular web comic, but her identity is secret and at school she is reclusive and anxious. Worlds inevitably collide, with moving results. I immediately picked up another book by Zappia...

Made You Up (by Francesca Zappia)

...whose main character is a high school student with schizophrenia. My notes just say "wow, wow, wow." Again, I ended up in tears by the end. These two books succeed where (sadly) Turtles All the Way Down fails.

Good Riddance (by Elinor Lipman)

A charming and funny romcom, but there is some transphobic and fatphobic language. Not a lot, but here's a content warning nonetheless.  A woman inherits her mother's yearbook and when it fails to "spark joy" she throws it out. It's discovered by a documentary filmmaker (of sorts) and suddenly, family secrets begin to be revealed.  Funny and unpredictable!

Three Laws Lethal (by David Walton)

Speculative fiction that I learned about from John Scalzi's Big Idea feature. It was a really fun page-turner!