I didn't know the character or the world from any previous exposure to Valiant comics so I was left with quite a few questions about the latent super powers, the community of psiots, Harbinger, etc. It's the kind of "left with questions" that I don't mind, though. Enticement to sell out more rather than frustration at holes or lack of substance. The social aspect of a newly super teen's life was pretty well represented here, but the super-power aspect felt a little rushed and underexplored. It's the first in a duology, though, so I'm hoping the superside of the story becomes clearer in book two. The body-positive LGBTQ representation is pretty great — and is what rounded up my 3.5 rating to a 4

Content notes: traumatized/sick animals, some scary Halloween horror moments in a corn maze, death of parents (off screen/backstory), character experiencing dementia, medical experimentation on animals and humans

This one wasn't for me.

A toddler, unicorn-girl alien with purifying, healing powers is found and raised by three bachelor asteroid miners. Throw in a world with exploited extreme poverty and enslaved children in need of rescue and it seems like a magical, feel-good combination of fantasy, sci-fi, and social justice.

But those enslaved children? HIDEOUSLY abused and oppressed. Along with just about all (all except Acorna?) of the women in this book. As I was thinking about it, I realized that the bulk of my review was basically just going to be a big content warning. Yes, the good folks are trying to defeat the evil folks, but the characterizations are shallow and uneven, with sexual abuse and the throw-away lives of women and children standing in for much of it. Add in cultural insensitivity and stereotypes and the whole book becomes something that I can't really recommend.

It's an interesting premise, there are certainly redeeming characters and characteristics, and I did kind of want to keep reading the series to find out more about Acorna's people and what I suspect is going to be an epic tale on a galactic stage. But alas. There are too many other books calling my name to be hanging out with ones I don't trust at this point. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

Thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the smart, quirky, anxious, bookish, "no one could sustain this level of wit in real life" Nina Hill. Is it the most realistic book I've read lately? Definitely not. But it is exactly the well-written and lighthearted contemporary fiction I was hoping for. It also has fun, old-fashioned chapter lead-ins ("In which Nina is surprised, not necessarily in a good way"), cute planner-style section breaks, and tons of literary and cultural references.

The daughter of a carefree and mostly absent photographer and a father who was never in the picture, Nina works at an independent bookstore in the quaint and quirky Larchmont neighborhood in LA. She leads an excellent pub trivia team, multiple book clubs and reading groups, and an inner life that is as colorful and interesting as her outer life is regimented. She isn't a loner. She has friends. And plenty of activities. She's just an introvert who is in a committed relationship with her books and her planner.

When an attorney tracks her down to let her know that 1) her father died, 2) she is in his will, and 3) she has a rather large and sprawling family quite nearby, Nina begins to see herself and her life a little more clearly. Perhaps there's room in her life for more than hyper-scheduled books, trivia, and vision boards.

Of course there is.

This is sort of a rom-com-adjacent book. The romance thread is not my favorite, but it's adequate. Vaguely enemies-to-lovers trope. I thought there were a few times when things were just a little too cute, too cliched, too perfectly witty, or too manic-pixie-dream-girl-ish. But overall, it was a fun read with some interesting perspectives on anxiety, the long-arm of child/parent relationships, family, and how a full schedule can mean many thing but does not guarantee a full life.

Content notes: Absent parents, anxiety, anxiety attack, alcohol, accidental substance use, financial stress, frank conversation about sex and d*ck pics, closed door sex

Untamed is a heart and soul book. It is, as expected, a fiercely honest, personal, and compassionate memoir of human growth and connection. But these sometimes scattered essays will be something more for many readers. They offer observations and metaphors that you can sink into, like mini meditations, inspiring an unlearning, an uncaging, an untaming — the freedom to be "perpetually becoming" the truer, more beautiful, more deeply human version of yourself.

Content: discussions of disordered eating, hallucinogens, addiction, and recovery, plus some strong language and potentially eyebrow-raising theology and election tampering

If you've read the Artemis Fowl or Fowl Twin books, then you know that nobody brings fairy physiology and the messy side of myths into the realm of this modern world like Eoin Colfer does. And he's done it again in this earthy, swampy, adult fantasy novel, where Vern, high lord dragon of old, is peacefully hiding out and swilling vodka in the Louisiana bayou. Until Squib, a resourceful swamper in his teens, and a sociopathic constable named Hooke cross his path. Vern can keep the gators in line, but these humans are a huge headache.

While I enjoyed the grumpy dragon and the plucky swamp rat persona of Squib, I was somehow both bored and deeply unsettled by Hooke,

Spoiler

and genuinely bummed by the death of another character who was one of the most interesting in the book and who I was hoping to see more of later

. I also expected a little more sparkling, intellectual wit and found the plot, language, and humor to be a bit murkier, muddier, and swampier than I had anticipated. It reads very much like a YA book (which I generally enjoy but wasn't anticipating) that indulges in so much strong language, substance use and abuse, and death and dismemberment that it had to be marketed as adult (although I don't see why, since plenty of YA fantasy includes those elements). Unfortunately that leaves it in a weird spot for finding its audience. I thought I was a shoo-in for that audience, but it just didn't land quite right for me. The writing is good, and the story is unique, but it didn't have the sparkle I look for in fantasy reads.

An #ownvoices contemporary romance that explores what it means to support your family, what grief may look like, and what it means to love. It centers Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, and autistic characters and includes an endearingly transparent author's note about the original direction of the book, her research into the immigrant experience, and how her mom's own story inspired her. For all that, it's still chock full of the modern romance tropes that readers can't get enough of: smart and strong female characters, will they won't they, first love, relationship-threatening secrets, trial/arranged marriage, "noble" heartbreak, a fake love triangle, and more.

3.5 stars. Jhumpa Lahiri's "The Namesake" is a multigenerational but intimate tale in which the Bengali custom of having a pet/familiar name and a good/formal name is used to explore themes of identity, family, freedom, connection, becoming, and belonging as an Indian American immigrant family. It has a strong presence and sense of place and culture, and it feels ... quietly important. A little more important than enjoyable. Like I should analyze themes and metaphors and turn in a 10-page paper on it by Friday. I mean, it would be an excellent paper — there's plenty to analyze (the English major in me couldn't help but highlight passages throughout). There's also plenty to just experience and eavesdrop on. But there isn't plenty of joy. The highs and the lows are muted, elided, off-screen. In a way, I appreciate that. It feels immersive without being too voyeuristic and it reinforces the theme of connection and disconnection. In another way, I selfishly want the quiet importance to be punctuated by moments of joy, especially in a book-length treatment like this.⁣ (The author's previous, Pulitzer-winning, work was a collection of short stories called "Interpreter of Maladies".)

A fast read that will likely linger in your heart and mind long after you put the book down. The strengths and weaknesses of "Born a Crime" are in the subtitle: rather than a linear narrative, this is a series of stories from the early, often heartrending, life of a talented comedic storyteller of mixed race who lived through the end and early transition from apartheid. You can piece together the narrative if that's how your brain needs to work, but you'll probably get more out of it if you just sit with the stories. The voice is light and entertaining and filtered through the naturally accepting eyes of a child and the keen-witted but kind adult he became, but the material is often difficult, sometimes gut-wrenching. Content warnings abound: from corporal punishment to child endangerment to criminal activity to racism to alcoholism to domestic violence to attempted murder, and more. I read the ebook, but heard one chapter from the excellent audiobook narrated by the author and would highly recommend that version.