Back in springtime I started fretting how few good 2022 books I’d read. I keep track of these things because I want to have a half decent best-of-the-year list by the end of the year. By early July, I only had two. Less than five books do not a list ... more >
Dear Kristin Cashore, I consider myself a fan of your YA fantasy even though not all of your books have worked for me. I really liked Graceling, the first book in the Graceling Realm series, did not much care for Fire but loved Bitterblue, and Jane Unlimited, a book separate ... more >
If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich After enjoying Sophie Gonzales’s 2021 YA novel, Perfect on Paper, I decided to try this one, also YA, since it had been recommended by Dear Author commenter Susan S. Like Perfect on Paper, If This Gets Out has queer characters, ... more >
Set in early Christian times, the tale of the weaver Demetrias portrays her entrapment in a treasonous plot against the Byzantine emperor and her fight to protect her family and self as the battle for Constantinople rages. TR – In the past, the heroine was raped (not described). The heroine ... more >
I was tempted to make a list of my favorites among the 2019-published books I read this year. In the end I decided to focus on my favorite 2019 reads (first time reads; I didn’t include books I had read / reviewed in prior years) without regard to their year ... more >
Dear Fonda Lee, Your adult fantasy novel, Jade City (the first book in your Green Bone Saga), has won both the World Fantasy and Aurora Awards for Best Novel, as well as being nominated for the Nebula and Locus Awards. Set on an island with some similarities to Hong Kong, ... more >