High schooler Simone was born with HIV. Her dads (Dad and Pops) adopted her, having lost many people they loved to AIDS. Dad is a doctor and Pops a teacher. When we first meet Simone and Dad, they're at a gynecologist appointment for Simone. Simone's dad joins her in the examination. Is that common these days, for a parent, especially a cis male parent, to accompany a 17-year-old to pelvic and breast exams?!?

The story is more about Simone connecting with a potential boyfriend and having to disclose her status, something that had gone unwell at her previous school. Her two best friends are queer, one an asexual lesbian and the other bi. The love interest, Miles, is Black like Simone and a lacrosse player despite how white the sport (stolen from indigenous Americans natch). Despite being super new at school, Simone is the student director of the theater department's production of Rent, which some members of the community think is too risqué for teens. And this is San Francisco! So you can imagine how things might go if Simone's secret is revealed. 

I liked Simone and her family. Like most YA love interests, Miles is too perfect. I found Simone's relationship with her besties frustrating, but I liked how things developed with her HIV support group. 

covid brain

In order to help her stand in mother, Kell Jameson returns to the town she fled sixteen years ago. Before she even gets to the orphanage, she is stopped by Sheriff Luke Calder, a Chicago cop who fled to Hallden. Sparks fly at their first encounter--outwardly angry sparks, inwardly hottt. Flames remain between them throughout, even during the short boy-loses-girl phase. Kell is a complex character. Luke is a little too perfect, despite his Troubled Past. 

Reckless is compelling and has lots of great characters. I didn't mind the non-ending ending, but other readers might. 

Miriam Kendrick lives in the tiny Nova Scotia town of Sandford with her parents, who are the world's happiest couple, and her good-natured brother, Nate. It's the end of her junior year, and she's afraid to admit to herself that though she's got it pretty good, she wants more, and she wants out. She's ever-fueled by a longtime family woe--her grandfather ignorantly ceding his stake in a successful comics franchise. He fought for it until the end, but then his daughter, Stella, surrendered for a settlement and the freedom to get on with her life. Miriam has not surrendered or settled, so when she meets Weldon Warrick, the grandson of the man who screwed over her granddad, she is upset to find that she is attracted to him. 

There are side stories about friendships and Weldon's story, that of a spoiled rich kid stealing cars to get his dad's attention, but somehow he reforms when he's exiled from Hollywood to Sandford (except that one measly car theft that is sort of his and Mir's meet cute). As I'm writing all this, I'm realizing the elements of the novel are annoying, but it's still a decent read, and if you're a comics nerd (which I'm not), all the more so.  

When I added this book to be tbr, I didn't realize it was authored by a man. A gossipy historiography of women's television by a dude isn't as appealing to me as it would be if written by someone on the female/femme/transfeminine spectrum, but that didn't stop me from reading it.

I'm not the biggest View watcher, so I didn't connect like a fan or hate watcher. I've only even been thinking about The View lately because Meghan McCain saying something vile trends on Twitter now and again. I love celebrity gossip, regardless. The first half of the book flowed better, maybe because people stopped being as cooperative with Setoodeh toward the end, or Barbara Walters failing due to age isn't as fun as her failing due to arrogance and self-absorption. I also noticed around the middle that Setoodeh refers to women by their first names, except the brief period when Rosie O'Donnell and Rosie Perez were both on the show, but the men were last-named. 

The gossip about individual insecurities and popularity declines was hard for me to read, and maybe it turns out I don't love gossip as much as I thought I did. 

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.