Book Review: Mer Made by S.T. Lynn

Erika, who has to hide being a trans woman, sneaks on deck in her mother's dress in the dead of night and a superstitious deckhand throws her overboard from the ship. But drowning at sea isn't how Erika plans to die. She cuts a deal with a sea witch for more than her life--for the first time, she is transformed into the woman she's always known was inside. Her dress becomes a mermaid tail, and all it took was her voice.

However, the witch is on the hunt for the undersea throne, the seat of power. Ariel, the last daughter of the king, must marry in three days or the first place Erika has ever called home will be destroyed. The magic of true love is the only thing that can save them now.

This was an ebook that I downloaded for free and read on the Nook app. As you know, I am a sucker for any and all kinds of fairytale retellings, especially LGBTQ+ ones. Obviously this is a The Little Mermaid retelling, but specifically a retelling of the Disney version of the story (Erika = Eric). I read it for the Trans Rights Readathon in late March.

I thought it was well-written, although there were some errors (shined used instead of shone. I myself had to add several commas to the summary above). While I understand that the sailor throwing Erika overboard needed to happen so the story could happen, I thought it was kind of ridiculous. Obviously I know about the superstition that a woman on board a ship is bad luck, but for a sailor to be so superstitious that he sees a woman on board, grabs her, and throws her overboard??? No one would do that. He would be in such big trouble for drowning a passenger, especially one connected to the governor (Erika's transphobic dad). Sailors might be superstitious but they are practical. I liked Atlantis (that's what the merpeople city was called, right?) and thought the worldbuilding was well done; I want to visit it.

The problems were all solved kind of quickly and through magic: Erika is saved from drowning by Ursula who turns her into a mermaid (fair), Erika's voice being stolen from her by Ursula is solved by Ariel magically copying and pasting her knowledge of sign language into Erika's brain, plus the big issue at the end of the book that I won't spoil for you. I did like how diverse Atlantis is; there's tons of physical diversity, so Erika (who is Black with dark skin) fits right in, and there are enough deaf merpeople that everyone learns sign language by default, which is cool. It's also a queer-norm society, so I'm not sure why the Rule/Prophecy or whatever specified that Ariel needed a husband. I thought Erika and Ariel's friendship and then mutual pining was cute; the whole thing about them falling in love while trying to find Ariel a husband in three days for The Big Issue was a bit silly and done before. Overall, though, I did enjoy this short cute retelling of The Little Mermaid and would recommend it. S.T. Lynn has written at least one more Black trans fairytale retelling that I'd like to check out.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Spice score: 0.5 out of 5 chilies 🌶 (just kissing)
Read in: March 27
From: Barnes & Noble/Nook  

Representation: Transgender, trans woman, Black, character with dark skin, sapphic (lesbian, bi/pan/omni etc. women), mute character, sign language usage, mentioned deaf rep (no named characters)

Trigger warnings: transphobia, near-drowning, misogyny, sexism, mentioned past physical abuse, abusive parent, parent death, grief, instead of having Erika agree to sign away her voice for a pair of legs mermaid tail, Ursula just took it without asking, which, hello, consent!

Short books update for February through now

 I don't feel like writing up reviews for them, but the other books I read in February include Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce (all by C.S. Lewis, of course). I have now finished my CSL class but I feel like rereading Til We Have Faces (the grad student-only read that I skipped as I enrolled in the class as an undergrad), which I only read once at least ten years ago. We'll see if I get around to it. 

I have still not finished reading bell hook's All About Love: New Visions, which I started back in early February. She writes so well, beautifully as well as straightforward, and I am interested in the topic, but I keep dragging myself through one chapter at a time and then not reading again for days if not weeks. I don't know what the issue is. I will say I tend to have this problem with nonfiction over fiction, even if the book topic interests me (remember how I started reading that nonfiction book about the linguistics of/on the Internet right before the pandemic, and never finished it?). I don't want to abandon it; maybe now that I've finished my CSL class I can finish this book. 

I dread going to my [none of your business] doctor for obvious reasons, but I also love it when I have an appointment, because just a block or so away from the building there is a quiet little street that has a cute trendy indie coffee shop where I buy an oat milk latte (mocha or chai or seasonal but always sweet) and then go across that street to an Assistance League thrift store and browse for a while. It's heaven. I bought a khaki mini-skort, two half-priced scarves, and three books, all five dollars or less. The books were 50 cents each (!); one was a Pike Place Market cookbook that I gave my sister (she used to live near Seattle and we visited there once), and the other two were for me: The Eyre Affair and The Daughters of Artemis. I had heard of the Thursday Next series (of which The Eyre Affair is the first) from back when I was reading author blogs (remember blogs?), but I never started it because it felt daunting or something. It's a bookish series that is maybe mysteries and maybe fantastical; I'm not really sure. It being bookish is enough to recommend itself to me. The other one sounds like a thriller mystery book, and judging by the title and summary, I suspect it is sapphic.

This online indie bookstore started by two of my college friends had an International Women's Day sale on their female authored books, so I bought two: Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterton, who I've read and liked before, and Bookshop Cinderella, a romance novel that is also a Cinderella retelling set in a bookstore. I find the title kind of obvious, but it worked on me, so. Tanglewreck looks like a time travel sci fi book. 

The March Disneybound challenge has been taking up all my free time, so I haven't posted anything about books since February. Also, me reading nothing but C.S. Lewis has been uninspiring for bookstagram posts, even though I love him. Ah well.

Book reviews: C.S. Lewis's Space/Ransom trilogy

The Space Trilogy (or Ransom Trilogy) is C.S. Lewis' only other fantasy (under the guise of science fiction/scientifiction) series, and when I read them the first few times, I loved them so much that I listed them among my favorite books. I've reread them now for my C.S. Lewis class, and my feelings about the books have changed. 

 

Out of the Silent Planet (description) - The first book in the trilogy remains my favorite. The fascinating planet and its inhabitants, their language and Ransom's learning of it, and the way Lewis marries science fiction with fantasy and Christianity makes this book so enjoyable to me. The opinions CSL promotes in this book are of the "we should not colonize other planets/don't be obsessed with furthering the human race to the point that we lose our humanity" variety, which is slightly surprising until you remember he's Irish. On the whole I agree with him; I think I enjoyed the other books in the trilogy less because I don't agree with the beliefs he endorses there. A couple things I found funny are that Dr. Ransom (a philologist) is based on J.R.R. Tolkien, and the space travel science is completely silly. Anyway, I really liked this book but I don't think I count it a favorite anymore. 4.5 out of 5 stars, permanent collection. Trigger warnings: everything you should expect from a male-written 1940s sci fi book, murder, death, animal abuse and killing mention, ableism, kidnapping, guns/shooting death, colonialist genocide mentions

Aesthetics moodboard for Out of the Silent Planet

Perelandra (description) leans almost completely outside of the science and into fantasy. The medieval cosmology he folded into his science fantasy is much more dwelled on, and I love the mythological references Lewis added to the story. Perelandra is new, lush, and beautiful, and I enjoyed spending time in it. I did not enjoy the spiritual horror that threatened it through one of the antagonists from OotSP. I also wasn't crazy about traditional/old fashioned gender beliefs being shoehorned into the story through the planet gods. Lewis was nonplussed that most people didn't pick up on the Christianity in the first space book, so he really hammered it in here. I gave this one 4 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, death, violence, cosmic/spiritual/supernatural horror (demonic forces), demonic possession, body horror, zombie if you squint, animal abuse and murder, blood, gun, a huge bug-like creature shows up for a bit

Aesthetics moodboard for Perelandra

That Hideous Strength is the last book in the trilogy and takes place entirely on earth. Ransom is no longer the main character/focus; instead, we have alternating POVs from Jane and Mark, a young married couple who are bored with their lives and each other. Jane's dreams of the future bring her into Ransom's circle, and Mark's desire to be in the inner ring/popular & intellectual group brings him further into a shadowy organization (ironically called N.I.C.E.) that wants to control the universe. There's an exciting subplot with Arthurian fantasy and more medieval cosmology planetary influence stuff that I really enjoyed. There's also spiritual/supernatural horror in this book, albeit less direct that in Perelandra, but still creepy because an organization like N.I.C.E. could really exist and take over cities with police control and make bad people evil. There's a so-bad-it's-almost-funny butch lesbian cop stereotype who is written to be monstrous and evil. Lewis hammers in even more nonsense about gender roles and how it's an "erotic necessity" for the woman to obey her husband, which, like, your k!nks are not universal, babe. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean it's a natural law. Jane is not a very likeable character (Lewis is famous for being sexist, at least until he met his wife), but almost all the men are dicks to her in this book. It's not her fault her husband sucks and neglects her by eating all his meals at the university and then ditching her for weeks and weeks to live at the Institute. Jane never asked to get future dream visions or (spoiler, highlight to read: be part of a bloodline who was supposed to end with her birthing a future warrior for God or something, which no one told her about!) Justice for Jane! One thing I did find kind of funny is that Lewis posits there are seven genders because of the seven heavens/planets. Kind of based? 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, animal attack + massacre, gore, rape, torture, body horror, cosmic/spiritual/supernatural horror, police violence, town placed under police control and people driven from their homes, mob violence, animal abuse and experimentation (vivisection), guns and shooting deaths, eugenics and ableism mentions, genocide mentions, homophobia, homophobic stereotype character, misogyny and sexism, gender roles, homelessness, sex mentions

Aesthetics moodboard for That Hideous Strength

January books

 January felt so long but also like wow, it's over already? Time is weird.

My first read of 2024 was a book from the Sister Fidelma mysteries series, Suffer Little Children (summary here). I got this one, as I got the other first four books, from the free books rack in my library. As usual, this was an interesting murder mystery where I didn't see the twist coming. Peter Tremayne surprisingly limited himself to only one mention of Fidelma's "rebellious red strands of hair snaking out of her headdress", and then only right at the beginning. I did not enjoy this one because there were multiple instances where children (and adults etc.) were massacred in cold blood. Just way too sad. I gave it 3.5 stars. Trigger warnings: murder, children murdered, graphic depictions of corpses including blood, bodies burned, assassination mention, death, sexism.

 

I'm auditing a C.S. Lewis class for fun this quarter, and I'm really enjoying the class and rereading Lewis's books again. The professor lived in and ran the Kilns (CSL's home) for several years and is friends with lots of CSL-related people, including his stepson, so she has tons of fascinating insight to share. So far I've reread the first two Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Those are the only two Chronicles we're reading in the class, so I may reread the others at some point later this year. 

I also reread Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, which is his memoir of his life up to becoming a Christian, and how the Joy/longing/sehnsuct he felt at nature and fairytales and mythology primed him for God despite being an atheist. Unsurprisingly, Lewis also talks about his schooling, and there was just so much physical abuse and bullying throughout his childhood and adolescent schools that it's a surprise he was able to learn anything. I think I maybe last read this book in my early twenties, and of course bring different views/opinions/etc. to the reading now as an adult in my mid-thirties. Lewis's account of how he felt he had to play a certain role with his father instead of being himself I had completely forgotten; his annoyance at having to forgo his alone time and reading in order to play the dutiful son was just too real. I think his father had ADHD, given Lewis's depictions of the way he thought and acted. Some of the stuff, such as his dad's quick, confusing way of thinking and him making his sons be/sit with him constantly out of some idea of family is so much like my mom. So often during my adolescence and young adulthood I'd be holed up in my room reading and hear my mom call out, "Michelle! Come be with your family!" and it was so annoying. Justice for introverted bookish children of extroverted ADHD parents! The sheer amount of everything he read and all the languages he learned is staggering; I especially enjoyed reading about his time studying with his uber-logical tutor. 4 stars, not sure how to rate this spice-wise because while there are frank depictions of "immorality", they are just written frankly in an academic/general way and not meant to titillate. Trigger warnings: physical abuse/punishment of children, starvation of children, neglect, bullying, passive suicidal ideation, loss of parent, mentions of sexual relationships between minors/teenage boys, war mentions, bugs/insects mentions (Lewis had a phobia at least as a boy)

I'm really enjoying all the readings, and am currently making my way slowly through Mere Christianity and Out of the Silent Planet.

Books Read in 2023

I'm literally so late with this but here are my reading stats for last year!

• Total books read during this year: 54
• Total books that I started to read but didn't finish: 1 (a women's devotional my mom bought me)
  
• physical books read: 38
  
• digital/ebooks read: 17
  
• physical books started but unfinished: 1
  
• ebooks started but unfinished: 0
  
• Library books read: 4
• Library books started but unfinished: 0
  
• Books I loved: 19
• Books I liked: 28
• Books I felt neutral about: 3
  
• Books I disliked or found meh: 3
  
• Books I hated: 0
  
• Books I felt strongly about but can't classify as love or hate: 1
  
• Books purchased: 64 😐
• #1 most loved book this year (not counting my rereads):
• most loved general fiction: How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe
  
• most loved fantasy: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
  
• most loved mysteries: The Will Darling Adventures
• most loved young adult book/s: Ophelia After All, Loveless
  
• most loved children's book/s: The Library of Ever and Rebel in TLoE
  
• most loved nonfiction: How to Be Ace, Sounds Fake But Okay

I'm honestly shocked I read so much. Last year I read 45 books, and the years before that I was reading 20-some books a year (not counting my 1st pandemic year reading slump). Shoutout to my Reference Desk shifts for giving me set times to read every week.

I felt embarrassed about how many books I'd bought this last year, but in 2022 I had bought 116, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well! It helps that I'm only letting myself buy books from thrift stores and independent bookstores (with the occasional Bookshop.org deal and cheap Nook ebook). Back then I was buying books from Book Outlet a couple times a month. As it is, I've only bought 9 more books than I've read! I sold several books (a couple boxes' worth) but didn't keep track of how many, so I've eliminated the "# of books sold" bullet point.

Here are some of the charts from my amazing reading log spreadsheet created by Tirzah Price.

Fantasy remains my most-read genre, but the percentage amount has gone down slightly. In 2022 General Fiction was the third-most read genre, while in 2023 it is the second-most read. Last (last) year's second most read genre, Memoir/Bio, was barely read this (last) year (3 books). My third-most read genre this year, Romance, has nearly quadrupled in percentage from last year. The free romance novel ebooks I've downloaded from Barnes & Noble are to blame.

In terms of form, 81.8% of the books I read were prose, while the rest of the pie was tiny slivers of 3-1 books each. 

[A.N.: I had the "books read by month" chart here, but it's inaccurate so I deleted it and the commentary. Some stats don't translate to the charts for some reason.]

Click to enbiggen

Author/Artist Gender: My percentage of female authors has gone up from 2022's 50% to 54.2%. The nonbinary authors percentage has quadrupled from 2.1% to 8.5%! Thusly, male authors have gone down from 43.8% to 35.6%.

Nation of Origin: The US percentage went down slightly, while the UK percentage went up a bit (I think this was the year I reread The Chronicles of Narnia). The Canada slice is due to the L.M. Montgomery collection, Christmas with Anne, that I read every holiday season. The New Zealand slice is due to a very bad and not even fun romance novel free ebook I don't want to talk about.

POC Authors (should be Authors of Color) vs. White Authors: The amount of white authors went up over 10 percent, so the amount of authors of color I read lowered the same amount :(

POC Protagonists (should be Protagonists of Color) books vs. White Protagonist books: How did this come out the same as the previous chart when they were different in 2022??

I'm tired of doing screenshots, so I'm going to write out the rest of my reading data in a list.

- Nearly 30% of the books I read in 2023 were by queer/LGBTQ+ authors and/or artists. Last year (2022) it was only 18.2%! What a jump!

- 31.5% of the books I read had queer/LGBTQ+ protagonists. Last year this was 25%. Yay for progress!

- I think the chart for trans authors is broken like the 2022 chart's was. Counting from the spreadsheet, I read 5 trans and nonbinary authors in 2023. Last year it was only 2 nonbinary authors!

- I read 2 books with trans/nonbinary protagonists this year, 3 if you count Nimona (and I kinda do). I can think of at least 1 other book with a nonbinary side character. Last year none of my books had a trans protagonist. Yay for progress!

- 18.5% of my books had disability representation, up from last year's 4.5%!!

- 3 of my books were translated, up from last year's 2 translated books. One of the poetry books I read had both born-English and translated poetry, so I counted it as translated. 

- I read significantly less nonfiction this year, 12.7% (a little under half of last year's percentage). The rest was fiction.

- Very different, almost flipped, percentages for age range. Over half of the books I read were for adults, 25.5% for young adults, and 21.8% were for children. 

- Nearly 15% of the books I read were published in 2023 (8, I think). In 2022 the percentage was only 4.3%. Clearly, the SimonTeen free digital read of the day was responsible for this percentage. 

- I read 26.8% of the books I bought in 2023. Some were gifts, so. Last year I read 21% of my purchased books.

What a ride! I really have to try reading more authors of color and books about people of color. I also need to read the books I keep buying.

Rest of December books

 I did my usual Christmas and New Year's rereading of Christmas with Anne. I also read The Nutcracker, Alexandre Dumas's version, as I was bored at my parents' house for Christmas. It was interesting and weird. 

I also read a couple of cheap or free ebooks I had downloaded.  

First up was Murder at Merisham Lodge by Celina Grace, the first book from a historical mystery series called Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate. The premise is that it's the 1930s and both girls are working as servants/staff in a big country mansion for a rich family, and murder starts happening. Both girls are bright and feel there's more to the mystery than the police are seeing, and decide to keep their eyes and ears open for clues. It's sort of like Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie, and I liked it.  Of course as a murder mystery it's pretty violent and sad. I'd read more mysteries from this series. 4/5 stars, no spice although there is mention of infidelity and extra-marital relations. Trigger warnings: murder, gore, blood, corpses, violence, sexual assault mentions, abortion mention (a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock), sexism, classism.

 

Next was I Was Born For This, which I snapped up because it's by Alice Oseman and I love her books and the ebook was cheap. I didn't really know what it was about, but it somehow also wasn't what I was expecting. Angel (who goes by the English version of her Arabic name) is a huge fan of a diverse boyband called The Ark, and would rather talk about the boys and their music than think about her future. She meets up with an online friend and fellow The Ark fan in London to attend the band's concert, and all sorts of stuff goes down. One of the boys from The Ark, Jimmy, finds almost every single aspect of fame and being in a boyband excruciatingly difficult and anxiety-inducing. He runs away from an important interview, and that is how he and Angel meet. A sort of weird friendship springs up between them, as Angel (who knows everything about Jimmy, yet is a stranger to him) helps Jimmy through a panic attack and running away to go back home. This book is a fascinating look at fandom, fame, friendship, and mental illness, and while it made me very sad at times, I cared for all the characters and rooted for them to be happy. The fandom stuff was interesting to me, as a decade-long user of tumblr (I was never a mega-fan of any musician/musical group, but was aware of the climate). I liked all the Christian/Biblical references and Joan of Arc quotes, etc. in the book. 4/5 stars, 2 chilis due to a little bit of (mostly mentioned) sexual content and talk. Trigger warnings: suicidal ideation, depression, panic attacks, OCD, blood, serious injuries, anxiety, alcohol, obsessive/stalking fans, transphobia, racism mentions, parental neglect, a character is kicked out by their parents, a guy lies to a girl to get her interested in him, drugs mention, knife

 

I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but I also read (not in December) The Screwtape Letters through one of those emailed enewsletters via substack. After the smash hit of Dracula Daily, a lot of other books (especially public domain books) got the email treatment. As an epistolary book, TSL works great for this, and it was fun to get an email in my inbox with the day's Screwtape letter. 4/5 stars. Trigger warnings for mentions of death, war, sins such as adultery and the damned being tortured/eaten etc. Nothing explicit

SimonTeen's free December ebooks

SimonTeen (the teen books arm of publisher Simon & Schuster) did a fun promotion where every day from December 1-25, they had a book you could read for free digitally if you made an account on their website. Being my parents' daughter, I love free stuff; naturally, I had to avail myself of the opportunity. I read so many good books due to this promotion; here they are. 

 

Pride & Prejudice & Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott ★★★★ (December 10) Aesthetics moodboard for P&P&P

Rather than being a lesbian Pride & Prejudice retelling, as the title suggests, it's about a 21st century girl who somehow time-travels to Regency England. Audrey, who had been trying to rediscover her spark for art, needs to figure out how to get back to her time and home in Pittsburgh. Lucy, the young lady whose backyard Audrey ends up in, is being forced into marriage by her domineering father. Can they figure out how to get Audrey home and Lucy out of getting married, and figure out their feelings for each other??? This book was so good and I really enjoyed it, even if the title feels like a placeholder they never got around to replacing. The story is not P&P enough to justify the title. No spice, just kissing. Trigger warnings: controlling & abusive father forces daughter into engagement/marriage and threatens to kick her out of the house, internalized and societal homophobia, a girl is tied up and locked in a room, semi-controlling boyfriend/codependent relationship (past)

Rana Joon and the One and Only Now by Shideh Etaat ★★★★ / 🌶🌶🌶 (December 12)

Go read the book description at the link above and then come back, because it's hard to sum this book up succinctly. Rana is so full of grief at the loss of her best friend and angry at her mother's unequal and sexist treatment: her mom will nag her to diet and be more girly while pampering Rana's brother and letting him do whatever he wants because he's a boy. Their dad visits once a year because he lives in Iran, and the family frays under the weight of pretending to be one happy family. Rana wants to enter a rap battle in her friend's memory as it was his dream, and in starting to practice and gain confidence, she befriends and starts to fall for a fellow Iranian American girl. I really rooted for Rana and wanted her to have every happiness. I gave it 3 chilis because of a couple of sex scenes and explicit language. Trigger warnings: car accident death that may have been suicide, lesbian has sex with a guy which could be seen as self-harming, depression, mental illness, homophobia, bullying, anxiety, controlling parents, fatphobia and diet culture, drug use, underage drinking, sexism, infidelity, partying, sexism

Miles Morales: Suspended by Jason Reynolds and Zeke Peïa ★★★★ (December 14)

I loved both Miles Morales Spider-Man movies, so I was excited to read this one even though I don't usually read comics-based middle-grade novels. This one reads like Miles is writing in his diary or talking to you and includes poetry by Miles that moves the plot along. It's a sequel to MM: Spider-Man; you don't have to have read it to get what's going on here as it's summed up, but MM: Suspended is a continuation of that story. Miles is suspended for standing up to his racist teacher, and something is not quite right at school... I feel that Reynolds really captured Miles's voice, and I enjoyed being along for the ride, even though the villain/threat is creepy. Reynolds deftly folds Miles' personal and superhero dilemmas with the current racist book-banning issue in an age-appropriate way, and with such economy of language, all in a 14 year old AfroLatino boy's voice! I was really impressed by his writing and will have to check out more of what he's written. Peïa's art is dynamic and fun but never distracting. It's not illustrated enough to be a graphic novel, but it's got way more illustrations than your typical middle-grade novel (Miles should always have art). There's a librarian character I found very intriguing. Highly recommended. Trigger warnings: insects/bugs, violence/fighting (if your kid watches superhero movies it's probably fine), racism, racist/unsupportive school and teachers, lying to teachers (see prev. so it's fine)

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartache by Laura Taylor Namey ★★★.5 (December 17)

This is the sequel to a book I asked for for a couple of birthdays ago and still haven't read, A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. I hate reading series books out of order, but ABGG2HaH was only available one day, so I read it anyway. It seems to be a reverse of the first book, which was about a Cuban girl going to England after suffering loss; this one's about an English girl going to Miami after suffering loss. Flora has just lost her mum and has hurt her family with her grief and anger, so she runs away to stay with her friend Lila (first book girl)'s family. Her best friend Gordon, who had just confessed his feelings before she ran, follows her to Miami, just after she's met Baz, a Cuban cutie who's part of a famous photographer dynasty. Flora goes to cool places I'm dying to visit, deals with the Cuban chisme grind, and tries to figure out where her heart lies, all while continuing to throw herself into photography. I enjoyed this book a lot as a Cuban American, even though I know nothing of Miami. I'm not from England either but I'm not sure how true Flora's Englishness rang. The right words are there, but idk. Still, a great read! I def want to read the first one now. No spice, just kissing. Trigger warnings: death, early onset dementia, grief, hurricane/natural disaster

November Reads

 I'm so behind on book reviews lol

 

The Hollow by Agatha Christie - 3 ½ stars

This is another Hercule Poirot mystery that I picked up from the thrift store, and like all the other AG mysteries I've read, it's well-written and interesting. You can read the summary here.  Just about everyone in the story, who are all related or friends, is a suspect, and I didn't guess who the killer was. Besides our beloved M. Poirot, the most fleshed-out characters were the dead man's wife and mistress. The mistress (I've forgotten all their names, of course) is an artist, and it was really interesting to read about how the muse would overtake her and she'd walk around everywhere hunting for the right inspiration until she found it and could create the art she needed to. The wife, a dim woman who worships her husband, is a rather pitiable figure. There's a scene where she and the children are sitting at the table waiting for her husband to arrive, and the food is getting cold, but she's stuck in decision paralysis because if she sends the food back to be warmed right before her husband arrives, he'll be mad and scold her for making him wait, but if she doesn't send the food back he'll be mad and scold her for it being cold. That is such a realistic portrayal of decision paralysis and anxiety. I found the older lady interesting, with her speed-of-light thought process that is definitely ADHD. Poirot obviously solves the murder but it's sad. Still, I enjoyed reading this. The characterization is strong in this one, even for characters who don't come into the story much. 3 ½ stars, 1 chili pepper as there's mentions of sex but no scenes. Trigger warnings: murder, firearms, infidelity, misogyny and sexism, controlling and verbally abusive relationship, antisemitic depiction/description of Jewish character, classism

A Duke She Can't Refuse by Gemma Blackwood - 3 ½ stars

This was a free ebook I downloaded from Nook. Book summary here  It's got several romance novel tropes: the nobility love interest (duke, obvs. You'd think no other types of men exist in Regency romance novels except nobility ones), forced/fake engagement, "don't fall in love with me" but of course they do, wallflower/bluestocking doesn't want to marry, etc. This book also has a mystery that was quite interesting, with a couple of thrilling rescues. It's actually a no-spice romance, which I didn't realize until end the because I enjoyed the book so much that I didn't notice. The sexual attraction, "no we mustn't" and kissing is still there though. This, unsurprisingly, is the first of a series; I'd be willing to read the rest, preferably free or from the library. 3 ½ stars, 1 chili pepper for the kissing and lusting. Trigger warnings: young woman is kidnapped and held at gunpoint, a character falls out of a window and dies (off-page/past), house fire/arson, grief, I think someone cuts their hand and bleeds?

 

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite - 3 ½ stars

This is a sapphic Regency romance novel, so of course I put it on my to-read list. The ebook went on sale for $1.99 and I snapped it up. Book summary here  I like that the protagonists are both women in their 40s and have their own careers that they enjoy and are fulfilled by. Type-A Agatha runs a printing business and gentle Penelope is a beekeeper. They meet because a swarm of bees creates a colony inside Agatha's warehouse, and are attracted to each other. Agatha is a widow (although not the waspish one in the book) and Penelope is in a lavender marriage to her brother's partner. This keeps them apart initially as Agatha thinks it's a real marriage (well, it is legally but you know what I mean) and tries to keep her distance, and Penelope sees this as lack of interest. Penelope reads butch/masc as she wears trousers 90% of the time because of the bees and has short hair. There are several other queer people in this book, which I really liked. I also learned a lot about Regency beekeeping practices. There's a lot of conflict with the Lady of the village and her brother the vicar, who together rule the village with an iron fist and attempt to impose their will (touted as "morality" rules) on the townspeople and especially Penelope and her queer friends and family members. They fight back, of course; there's surprisingly a lot of political activism in this book. The Queen Caroline Affair comes up a lot; I had never heard about it but it needs to be made into a period drama. I know I only gave it 3 ½ stars, but I really enjoyed this book and will definitely check out Olivia Waite's other books. 4 chili peppers (this is definitely a spicy book). Trigger warnings: homophobia, religious homophobia, corrupt religious leader, bee killings mentioned, bee cruelty/endangerment, grief, infidelity mentions

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