The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin is a heavily lauded book by an author held in high regard. AKA the perfect recipe for disappointment. There were lots of things that were interesting in this book, but ultimately, I had a lot of issues with it, which leaves me with this ambivalent review.

Things I liked: interesting socio-political world building, cool space stuff like desert planets and forest planets and space ships, a queer-normative society imagined in the 70s, which, bravo - that’s a risk, an anarchist-socialist society imagined fully, and a protagonist who was able to analyze the society he lived in as well as those of others.

Things I didn’t like: wooden characters and stilted dialogue, science was too science-y, way too many “thesaurus” words, too little emotional involvement with the characters, unbelievable interpersonal interactions due to the lack of character depth.

LeGuin wrote ambitious in this novel. She thought extremely creatively, but sadly, for me, I just couldn’t make an emotional connection with the humans in this book, and that is always a recipe for disappointment for me. The political ideas on this are very interesting, and if you are into science, math or physics, perhaps you will find the physics part more compelling.

⚠️CW: riots, state violence, gun violence, death, war, famine

This book starts off pretty simply, Kendall puts together basic arguments for why things like gun control and solving hunger are feminist issues, and why many times, white women have prioritized proximity to power (whiteness) over the concerns of Black, Brown and Indigenous women. I’ll be honest, the first hundred or so pages of this book felt like a recap to me, but I think that is likely because I made a point to read mainly Black women authors in my nonfiction reading these past few years. If you have read Audre Lorde, Isabel Wilkerson, Layla F Saad, Ijeoma Oluo or Angela Davis, many of Kendall’s themes will be familiar ground.

That doesn’t mean that this book is any less important for me or any other white folks who consider themselves feminists. In fact, I would recommend it as a starting place for readers who may be daunted by Davis or Lorde, or not ready to take on Wilkerson’s Caste or Saad’s Me and White Supremacy. That’s because Kendall does an excellent job of making complicated issues urgent and pointed, while also very easy to understand. The second half of this book contains some of the best writing I’ve read on reproductive justice, healthcare accessibility and the impact of cutting social programs on women and feminine presenting people. Kendall also makes a point of including trans and non-binary people in her considerations, which is a nice change from some of the feminist writing I have encountered recently.

I am officially on the Chloe Liese hype train now - a review:

Only When It’s Us is an enemies-to-lovers story featuring Ryder Bergman, a late-deafened man with an intense love of flannel and a distinct “lumbersexual” vibe, and Willa Sutter, a soccer phenom who is managing school, sports and a mother sick with cancer. They meet in a Business Math class at UCLA, or rather, they are forced together by their professor.

This book is a S L O W burn, but the fireworks at the end are well worth the wait. Beyond that, the story of grief and loss in this book is incredibly intense and very emotional. We have Willa’s journey with her mom through her cancer, and we experience much of Ryder’s fear, sadness, anger, isolation and grief as he adjusts to a world in which he cannot hear and slowly acclimates to wearing hearing aids and works with his audiologists to try to adapt to his new reality. Both characters live their lives in very emotionally shielded ways, so as they peel back layers of themselves for each other, we get to know them, too.

And of course, they start out as enemies, so there is lots of funny banter, needling, practical jokes and teasing. I loved Ryder and Willa in this book. They are both incredible people on their own, and together they are perfect.

Finally, I wanted to mention the note from Chloe Liese in the end of the version I read on ebook. She received feedback on earlier versions from the deaf community asking her to re-evaluate her portrayal of the experiences of late-deafened. So, she hired a sensitivity reader and worked with her publisher to make changes to the book in order to better account for Ryder’s experience. I really value that Liese was willing to edit her work to be more sensitive in her portrayal, and further, that she was so open about the changes and why she made them. Growth is cool. We hear so much about “cancel culture” when really all readers want is accountability and growth. We love to see it!!

If you like HGTV, hunky dudes who can build things with their hands, and big families, you will like this book. The main characters are Adrian Villanueva, a devoted son and brother, and Sofia Valenti, a grieving daughter, chasing her dreams while trying to fulfill increasing familial obligations. Sofia’s dad’s construction company gets involved with a reality TV home renovation show and it’s off to the races.

Although this is a romance novel it deals with some really heavy grief and loss. Sofia’s brother, Gabe, was killed in the Iraq war and the whole family is still reeling in this book, years later. Adrian’s dad was deported when he was young, and his mom is still working through devastating anxiety and agoraphobia.

The relationship between Adrian and Sofia runs hot and cold while they both try to navigate personal ambition, the business and Valenti family politics on top of filming a show. The steam is very good - we are inside Sofia’s as she deals with her insecurities about her body. Adrian is THE SWEETEST, and there are gray sweatpants.

Neon Gods, a review: Do I know anything about Greek mythology? No, unless you count the Edith Hamilton anthology that I was forced to read in high school 20+ years ago and a passing interest in Percy Jackson vis a vis my 8 year old. This is a retelling of Hades and Persephone. That meant very little to me outside of knowing that Hades was the god of the underworld.

Baby’s first Christina Lauren, The Soulmate Equation: a book report.

The story was great. The characters were incredible. I truly loved Jess and River, the main characters, but also all of the side characters! The banter was superb. The relationships in this book are varied and wonderful - siblings, best friends, extended family, mother-daughter, neighbors, business associates, community - just *chef’s kiss.*

The third act breakup was way better and more realistic than I anticipated. Although I WAS an emotional basket case while it was happening and so anxious I wasn’t getting a happily ever after.