Books of 2019- Installment #16

76. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
I read gobs and gobs of Nancy Drews as a child, but I never revisited them. And I never would have quiet frankly if it were my book club's pick for this month. It's short and easy to read. She is a great empowered teen (18! I didn't remember her age at all), and that's fantastic. But I see Phryne Fisher as the grown-up version and much prefer that. Still, I think it was great I had Nancy all those years ago as young girl.

77. Her Halloween Treat by Tiffany Reisz
I heard about this book on Get Booked and just had to get it! And my ever-so beautiful library had it and I devoured this book!! So if you like very subtle romance novels, walk away- this one isn't for you! If you like steamy consensual sex with lots of uses of the f-word then this book is for you! I mean one sex scene crossed chapters! But what I really liked about this one was the resolution of the problems, her humor, and her strength.

78. Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith 
I heard about this book on Get Booked and was super interested! This is a YA book (not my usually thing) set in Kansas where the narrator is navigating high school. She's got a great, loving family, but she's still the new kid, and she's native in a fairly white school district. So while she's got a pretty wonderful life in many ways, she's still got to handle dating and finding the people she wants to be with. I loved all the Wizard of Oz stuff in this book, and like the characters in this book, I have a pretty complicated relationship with Oz and Baum, so I appreciated the discussion in this book about that.

79. Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water by Vylar Kaftan
When I started this novella, I had flashbacks to The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling because this story begins with a woman cave climbing. It quickly becomes clear it's not like that story, but it has a mystery at its heart too. And unraveling that mystery with the narrator is awesome! I definitely enjoyed this book for reasons that I feel will give too much away to state here... but there is a question of identity and trust in here that were fascinating to me.

80. Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
I've been on a Tor.com novella kick, and it's a time-travel, so I had to read this one! It took me a bit to get into this one, which I can't explain why. I certainly enjoyed the contrast between the distant future and the distant past. My favorite part was the ethics of time travel part.

I've read 80 books so far and 57 were by woman, 20 by men, and 3 anthologies with both female and male authors- two of which were mostly female authors. My year of reading lots of women is still going strong!!!

Books of 2019- Installment #15

71. The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
Gruesome and brutal. And absolutely apropos for our times. A traumatizing citizen test that has lasting effects, which should freak us all out.

72. A Christmas Tartan by Paige Shelton
Scottish time travel with ghosts- sign me up!! Was this one? I'm not sure, but it definitely had ghosts! I love this world Paige Shelton has created and this short, little romp was a delight!!

73. The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell
This book was sold to me as a gothic supernatural thriller. While I really like it, I would not characterize it that way. It's definitely suspenseful and it's set in Victorian times, but supernatural? Nope. It's a bit gruesome in the beginning and my life is a mess at the moment which made it hard to take. I need sweet at the moment. So while this is fascinating, it also was hard for me to read.

74. The Loch Ness Papers by Paige Shelton
I really needed something delightful after The Poison Thread, and this was exactly what I needed! My favorite Scottish bookshop, the Loch Ness Monster, and a wedding! C'est magnifique!! 非常好!

75. The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark

I've read a couple of P. Djeli Clark's works before and find his writing such an exciting read! I never know where he's going to take me, but it is always exciting. This story is set in an alternative New Orleans (well, really whole world but set in New Orleans) where it is a free state and the Civil War didn't end the way it did in real life. I don't want to say more because this is a novella, and you should check it out for yourself!

I've read 75 books so far and 52 were by woman, 20 by men, and 3 anthologies with both female and male authors- two of which were mostly female authors. My year of reading lots of women is still going strong!!!