Death in the Tallgrass

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by Andrea L Rogers
Read by Candice Byrd
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of death/murder and slurs against Native and Black people. It’s in the Middle Grade section of the bookstore, but I’m wondering if I need to move it.

When Cynthia and her family move from Dallas to Tulsa for her father’s new job, they move onto her grandparents’ farm while her parents look for a place to live in Tulsa. She’s not happy about this – she misses her friends and neighborhood in Dallas, but it gives her a chance to connect with her Cherokee heritage. Her mother was born Cherokee, but was adopted by white people, so Cynthia and her sisters really know very little about their heritage. But things turn sour when her older sister starts dating the Cherokee neighbor boy, and when Cynthia finds a journal from a girl who died 40 years earlier.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. It was a tough story, touching on racism – not just toward Native peoples but also black people. It was set in 1968, which made the racism more overt; Cynthia’s grandparents are not nice people. Though I’m not sure the “mystery” at the center of the book was clear. I had to listen to it a couple of times just to figure out what was going on. And I’m not sure that a younger reader will enjoy this (hence, thinking about moving it to a section where it will have a better chance to find its readers). And the moral of the story is that white men can’t be trusted. Which is not a bad moral.

That said, it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.

Audiobook: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

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by Ilona Andrews
Read by Kristen Sieh
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of violence, including some pretty grisly murders. There is also some swearing, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

One day Maggie goes to bed in our world and wakes up in the world of Kier Toren, a city she knows from her favorite book series, one that she has read and obsessed over for years and years. She knows the ins and outs of this world, and (once she realizes that if she is killed, she resurrects, even if it’s painful) decides that she has a chance to change the outcome of the story, to save the world from the certain chaos and doom it had in the books. It’s a dangerous path, one that is certain to make enemies, but with the help of people – she can’t think of them as characters – she collects on the way; she is sure she can do this.

I found this one on Bookstagram and thought it sounded intriguing. I have always liked it when the thing is poking fun at the thing – in this case, books where the heroine falls into a story – while being the thing. And this book does it marvelously. It’s twisty – some caught me entirely by surprise – and it’s intense. It’s a delightful romp in all the best ways, and Sieh does a fantastic job with the narration. I realized about 2/3 of the way through that this has to be a series, and the epilogue set up the next book well. I’m actually invested in this story now, and I’m curious to see where it goes.

Sometimes Bookstagram gets it right.

Public Access Afterworld

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by Jane Schoenbrun
First sentence: “This book is not my own.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 27, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is a super high body count, on-page (but not graphic) sex, lots of swearing (including multiple f-bombs), drug use, and just plain weirdness. It will be in the Fiction section, but could easily be found in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section.

The plot of this book is unnecessary. It’s probably best if you go in knowing very little (as I did), in order to experience the whole thing. It’s really a book that’s about vibes – and the vibes are weird and highly unique. Know that for a 600-page book, it goes really fast (I don’t usually read books this big!), mostly because it’s emulating a TV series – it’s broken up into Episodes, each with its own little arc, but connected to each other. I’ve never seen any of Schoenbrun’s films, but if they are anything like this, it would be wild and wierd, but thought-provoking.

The best comparison I can make is There is No Antimemetics Division: it isn’t the same, but it has a similar weird vibe. And if you liked that one, you will definitely like this one.

The only drawback is that the ending is ambiguous, and I would like a sequel (I’ve been spoiled over the years). But if this is all there is, I’m content with it.

Monthly Round-up: September 2026

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September kicked my butt. I don’t know if it was the three weeks of 95- to 105-degree heat, or if it was things piling up at work, or just the general funk I found myself in, but I didn’t read much at all. I probably started 20 books, but the vast majority I bailed on. Nothing stuck. That is, until this one:

A Snake Among Swans

God bless Hannah Kaner for having a new book and for getting me out of a reading slump. As for the rest:

Adult Fiction:

The Blonde Identity (audiobook)
The Hocus Pocus Handbook (audiobook)
Hollywood, Ending
The Someday Garden

Non-Fiction:

The Wild Season

Middle Grade:

The Year I Stopped Drawing

Young Adult:

Rising Thunder

And that’s it, folks. Did you have a favorite this month?

The Someday Garden

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by Ashley Poston
First sentence: “There was once a house on the cliffs that grew the most beautiful flowers.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and on-page sex, plus talk of death. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ten years ago, Sophie and her best friend, Harriet, visited the Lilymoor estate in Maine and made a plan to return. But life got in the way, and only Sophie has made it back. This time, though, it’s in the role of Head Gardener, helping the estate get ready for the bicentennial. She just wants to do this temporary job and go back to her life, but there’s something about this place. And then a magic door appears, and behind the door is an intriguing man… and maybe there’s more to Lilymoor than even Sophie thought,

I like Ashley Poston; I really do. However, this one just felt derivative. She’s already written this story (The Seven Year Slip, which is excellent), Sure, this is a different place with different characters, but it’s really not a different story. I was more interested in Juliette’s story. I wanted this to be sapphic. Or a straightforward tale of grief. I just didn’t want what I got. I did start this one on audio, and I stalled out, losing interest. But I had it in print already, and I didn’t want to bail – maybe it would get better? – so I finished it that way.

It didn’t get better, but it didn’t get worse either. It was just an overall meh. I really need Poston to do something completely different.

Hollywood, Ending

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by John Green
First sentence: “When I got the news that Matthew Malone wished to make my acquaintance, I was rereading the script for Andy Warhol Never Gets Old in a bare-walled apartment the studio had rented for me.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is swearing (including multiple f-bombs) and fade-to-black sex. There is also talk of sexual and emotional abuse. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

John said no spoilers, and I agree: the less you know going into this, the better it will be. Know it’s about fame and the things that Hollywood insists must be done in order to have it. It’s about the business of making movies – not the actual making of them as much as the machine surrounding it. It’s probably based on John’s experiences with the Hollywood machine, and the way the whole fame surrounding The Fault in Our Stars impacted him. And it’s a good book. It’s got characters that are sympathetic, a story that is compelling, and it’s thoughtful and funny (I’d forgotten that I like funny John). It deals with trauma and anxiety and abandonment, but it never feels heavy-handed. And I think John’s writing suits 20-somethings really well; I was never annoyed that they felt too pretentious, which is a feeling I got a lot when reading his YA fiction.

In short, I enjoyed this quite a bit.

A Snake Among Swans

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “I was born in war.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: The book’s trigger warnings include: war, trauma, violence, self-harm, mild body horror, and sexual violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Tilde is the only surviving heir of a conquered land, and so it is her lot to be married to the conquering swan king, whose wife recently died. He’s basically disinherited his sons, and wants a new heir. However, his sons – and one surviving daughter – aren’t happy with this arrangement. Not to mention the swan priest, who has decided that he wants to help one of the princes with a coup. It’s up to Tilde to be smarter, and wilier, than all of that, and to stay as true as she can to her heritage in the process. It’s not an easy task.

That summary doesn’t do this book justice. I was in a bit of a slump, until I realized that Kaner had a new book out, and I devoured this one. It’s so well-written, complex with the politics, but keeping Tilde and the women at the center of it. It’s about colonialism and trauma and imperialism, and what it takes to make it in a world that is not yours. It’s brutal, but I couldn’t help but care for the characters.

And I’m pretty sure it’s at least a duology, because there is still more story to tell. And I’m here for it.

Audio book: The Hocus Pocus Handbook

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by Ann Aguirre
Read by Nikki Grey and Sebastian York
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing (maybe an f-bomb, but I don’t think so) and some mild violence. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Thea Winter is a changeling in the Winter Faerie court. She’s always kept her head down, mostly, and stayed out of trouble. But all of a sudden, she’s roped into court politics, being forced into marrying someone from Summer, in hopes of stopping a war. However, that person has disappeared, and Thea and Winter’s Hound, Kerboros, are sent off to find the person and make good on Thea’s marriage. Which is inconvenient, since Thea is developing feelings for Kerboros and (honestly) doesn’t want to be married. As they search through the lands, and collect a wide array of friends and companions, their attraction grows. But what will happen when the Lord of Winter finds out.

First, the complaint I had all the way through: a book titled Hocus Pocus should not be about fae. It’s a bad title. And secondly: There is a magical handbook, one that Thea’s foster father made her, that is much too conveniently tied to the chapters. Every chapter started with a spell (or a description of an art piece, if it was Kerboros’ chapter), and it just dragged after a while. And then there was no chemistry between the characters. At. All. This would have been better as a friendship story, just a plain road trip story, something that didn’t lead with expectations of romance. Because, there was none. Oh, she told me there was, but I just didn’t feel it. At. All.

That said, I liked the narrators, I liked the side characters and I was interested enough to finish it. Just not to like it.

The Wild Season

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by Dashka Slater
First sentence: “One night in June 2023, someone approached a small park in San Francisco carrying bunnies.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at work.
Content: It’s pretty simple text and dotted throughout with illustrations. It’s in the Middle Reader NonFiction section of the bookstore.

This sweet little Middle Grade Nonfiction book covers the summer when a neighborhood in San Francisco came together to rescue domesticated bunnies that were dumped in a neighborhood park. It’s simply told – it is for younger readers, after all – but it’s a compelling story about passionate people doing things together. It follows a group of kids who formed The Bunny Club to look for them, as well as a teenager who was in the right place at the right time to catch a couple, and adults, including one who started a bunny rescue organization.

I learned a lot reading this – from how to catch bunnies to the reasons why domesticated bunnies really don’t survive well in the wild. The most astonishing fact was the overrunning of bunnies in Australia because some English guy wanted to hunt them, so his friend brought them over. It was simply told, but incredibly engaging – it reads like a fiction story, although it’s not. It’s simple without being simplistic, and appropriate for younger readers without talking down to them.

A surprisingly good book.

Audiobook: The Blonde Identity

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by Ally Carter
Read by Emily Ellet & Andrew Eiden
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs; violence; and fade-to-black sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

In Paris, in the middle of a blizzard, a woman wakes up with a headache and no memory of who she is. She finds herself caught up with spies – mostly because she looks like her identical twin sister, Alex, who IS a spy. She ends up teaming up with Sawyer, Alex’s partner, to help her 1) figure out who she is and 2) find Alex. What they didn’t expect was that sparks would fly between the two of them.

I’ve had this one on my shelf since it came out, but I just never got around to reading it. I was looking for a new audiobook, though – after I started and bailed on several (as well as print books! Gotta love a reading slump), and I realized that this one might be fun. And I was right: it was the perfect mix of action/adventure, of women being smart but also being vulnerable, and romance. I’ve loved Carter’s YA books, and this is – like she pitched it when it came out – just a grown up Gallagher Girls book. And I adored it.

It was exactly what I needed at exactly the time I needed it. (See? THIS is why I have shelves of TBR books. So I can pick them up when it’s the “right” time!)