I gave up on Chosen at over 100 pages in. It assumes one remembers everything that happened and every character from [b:Slayer|34723130|Slayer (Slayer, #1)|Kiersten White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528468297l/34723130._SY75_.jpg|55903822] while somehow simultaneously reiterating central themes repetitively and delivering a lengthy exposition. If by page 100 you don't know what's going on and don't care, IMO it's time to let a book go.

I gave up on The Truths We Hold because it had no flow and felt like a lengthy response to those on the left, including me, who criticize Harris for prosecutorial record. Don't explain; do better.

Why yes, I've been reading romance novels about princes and dukes and the women who love them. Alyssa Cole brings it again in her Reluctant Royals series with Nya's story. Nya was first introduced to us in [b:A Princess in Theory|35271238|A Princess in Theory (Reluctant Royals, #1)|Alyssa Cole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501702014l/35271238._SY75_.jpg|56629976], as a reluctant rival of the protagonist. Despite some Bad Things, Nya becomes close with her cousin Ledi and Ledi's best friend Portia, who is the center of [b:A Duke by Default|35564582|A Duke by Default (Reluctant Royals, #2)|Alyssa Cole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516640638l/35564582._SY75_.jpg|56993493]. In Nya's story, we get to know her better, and also Liechtienbourg's bad boy prince, Johan "Jo Jo" Von Braustein (or something like that). Lest you be concerned that the RR universe is too heteronormative, Johan is queer, there's a novella in the series about lesbians, and it's possible we meet a gender nonconforming soul in APoP.

Again, Cole does her climax in the middle thing and lets the story continue to play itself out for another hundred pages after boy and girl get each other. There's still will-they-or-won't-they tension, but this is a romance novel, so.

This is a sweet book for someone who has recently said goodbye to a beloved feline friend. My bonus mother sent it to me about three months after Bad Bad Leroy Brown crossed the rainbow bridge, and that was about the right amount of time into my grief to read the book. Chauncey captures many cat quirks, but leaves a few so you know your loved one was unique. It still hurts to think about Bad Bad being anywhere but in my bathtub, demanding her sixth hit of tap water of the day, but enough time has passed that it's possible to think of her with joy, as well as sadness. Rest in purrs, Bad Bad and all the other cats stalking a can of tuna on the other side.

I couldn't get into it, but I bet in non-Covid times I'd be able to. Hinojosa provides more political context than I wanted because I'm shallow. I'd like to have seen the facts sourced, but less entrenched in the narrative.

I wanted to like this queer librarians wild west tale more than I did. It's fun, but despite having so much sassiness embedded in the set-up, it's a little thin. After Esther's girlfriend is hanged for being a lesbian, Esther stows away...in a book buggy. She wants to join the librarians, delivering Approved Materials. The librarians are Esther's chance to be Good. Only, as Head Librarian Bet puts it, "Well. I've got good news for you, and I've got bad news."

Thus begins Esther's journey of self-knowledge and librarianship (transporting Unapproved Materials) with Bet, Bet's partner Leda, and Apprentice Librarian Cye, whose pronouns are they/them/their, except when they're in town. Esther has a lot to unlearn, and Cye is just the person to teach her.

She Came to Slay is a playful, illustrated biography of American badass Harriet Tubman. If, like me, your schooling was historically white, you may know little about Tubman other than that she conducted enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad and that her face would be on $20 bills right now if the fascist-in-chief hadn't delayed the currency change because, per Mnuchin, "It is still not time." AARGH.

ANYWAY, I didn't know that Tubman was disabled by debilitating headaches, seizures, and hypersomnia from a skull injury induced by an overseer--violence that was meant for a runaway, not for Tubman. That same injury is said to have prompted a religious awakening that came with precognitive visions and a sixth sense that helped her elude danger.

Slay describes Tubman's accomplishments, triumphs, and abuses: saving family members and others, networking with Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and politicians--but also not getting recognition or pay for her service to the Union army, being kicked out of the veterans car on a train (it took more than one man to move her) with spoiler/not spoiler zero help for Tubman from white passengers.

The illustrations are warm and visually uncomplicated but full of depth.

I didn't enter a rating because I don't entirely know how I feel about this story of an out lesbian teen who goes back in the closet at her preacher father's request when they move from Atlanta to suburban, Baptist Rome, Georgia. Jo agrees because her dad makes her an offer she can't refuse, and also, she's alone. Her mom died years ago, her parents are only children, and her new stepfamily is a skosh intolerant. In Atlanta there was a GSA and a queer best friend, and in Rome there are youth group kids who...actually turn out to be pretty nice (despite some of them being a skosh intolerant).

This is a teen romance, so inevitably one of the Georgia peaches softens to Jo, and strangely, it's Jo who keeps their forbidden love hidden. She's discovered that not making waves and getting approval from her intolerant stepgrandmother has its charms. Plus she wants to please her dad even while righteously pissed at him. Jo is passionately Christian, so maybe that's why she obeys her father's strong request.

It's a compelling story, and I'm sad it's over, but I found Jo's deceptions torturous, and not in the exquisite way--more along the lines of "snap out of it!" But what do I know about queer teen life in the Bible Belt? Maybe the story, as it's told, is necessary for folx in some demographics.

Thanks Celadon Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC! I might not have discovered this sweet girl-meets-dog story on my own.

Journalist Martha Teichner is the girl in this story, though from the title you might think it's Minnie, who, like Harry, is a Manhattan-dwelling bull terrier. Martha and Minnie go to the Union Square Market on Saturday mornings. They used to be accompanied by Goose, another BT, until he crossed the rainbow bridge. Martha and Minnie still miss Goose, but life goes on. One day they run into Teddy, and his human, Stephen, who it turns out are tasked with finding a home for 11-year-old bull terrier named Harry, whose human, Carol, has terminal cancer.

Harry has issues--lots of them. He takes a pawful of meds, has a special diet, and like other BTs is full of quirks and stubbornness. That Harry will end up with the ladies Teichner is a foregone conclusion from the title, but the core of the story is one of human friendship, for Carol Fertig has as big a personality as a bull terrier. She is an artist and designer and has a following of devoted friends, I loved all the dog love, the detailing of all the canines' likes, dislikes, traits, and deviant behaviors. I was disappointed that there weren't any photos, at least in the digital galley, an inexcusable lapse, dog privacy be damned.

The other content warning I'll give is for rich people. It's freaking amazing that Teichner has live-in help for her dog(s), but people who don't own an apartment in Chelsea and a beach house in South Carolina will definitely need a moment.

4.5 rounded up. Haben Girma is deafblind woman from the Bay Area of Eritrean descent. She was born deafblind, but her sight and hearing were stronger when she was young and diminished over time. She is a high school valedictorian and Harvard Law grad who has spoken about disability rights around the world. Her book is comprised of linear, present tense, autobiographical essays that detail defining moments and key passages from her life. They're bite-sized, but full of nutritional value, as Girma educates the world and the reader about disability and what a brilliant, funny, person is attached to the braille reader or the guide dog if say hi instead of averting your gaze.

It's the kind of book you want to recommend to people, even as you're reading it.