Oh, how I loved this wickedly smart, gothic reimagining of Cinderella! In which Ella *IS* the house (or, rather, the house’s ghost), her stepmother is her murderer, and her stepsister is her torturer, and the prince is — well, I won’t spoil it.

This is an incredibly researched, empathetically rendered, deeply poignant book. I learned so much, and I am about to shove this book into everyone’s hands. (I also listened to the vast majority of it on audio, and I think it worked great.)

I almost — almost — let this one slip through the cracks of my TBR. Reader, that would have been a grave mistake. What an incredible firecracker of a standalone fantasy novel!!

Well, I did not expect this novel — about a (female) blob monster who falls in love with a (human) woman and decides she wants to lay her eggs in her body, after which her offspring would devour her from the inside out — to be one of my favorite reads of the year. And yet! What fun this was!

What a moving exploration of youth, love, desire, and recovery from trauma. I’m intrigued to see what the sequel holds for these characters!

I think anyone who loves language or is a creator (or is simply very online) will love this book, but if you’re both of those things, it’s an absolute MUST read.

It took me way too long to read The Tainted Cup — its Hugo nomination tipped the scales — because y’all, this was SO much fun and just so well done.

A wholly original and unputdownable sweeping, epic, magical story for the ages, this is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year and could easily maintain that #1 spot all the way through.

Searches is a timely, personal, and incredibly smart look at our techological present and immediate past, probing what AI is doing and will do to our lives with a healthy dose of skepticism while holding the giants like Meta, Amazon, etc to task.

If you love nature writing, you simply must read this, and you must not rush it. Macfarlane’s prose is sumptuous and his sense of wonder is palpable.

Karen Russell writes exactly my flavor of weird literary magical realism, so it’s no surprise that I loved The Antidote. But it’s not the presence of those elements that does it here — it’s the way she weaves them together.

The River Has Roots is a slim novella — seriously, it’s short, the itty bitty little print edition also includes a bonus short story in the back — but it offers a truly beautiful reading experience.

This book’s standout is a style that’s masterfully pared back; it feels simple in a way that’s obviously anything but. Truly expert stuff here, and more than worth your time. Read it!

A bold statement: I think Playground is my favorite Richard Powers so far. I know he won the Pulitzer for The Overstory (which I definitely enjoyed!), but I said what I said.

Great Big Beautiful Life is Book Lovers meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in the best way imaginable, and y’all aren’t ready. Emily Henry has done it again.

I’m a sucker for literary fiction with speculative elements, so when I heard about Black Woods Blue Sky, which blends the dreaminess and darkness of fairy tales with the beauty and danger of the Alaskan wilderness, I knew it was going to be exactly my kind of book. And I was not wrong!

Upon a Starlit Tide bills itself as The Little Mermaid mixed with Cinderella into a dark historical fantasy — and it delivers excellently. Kell Woods clearly knows and loves her fairytales and folklore. I had so much fun reading it.

This is a meticulously researched and excellently written examination of history that everyone who has a child, works in education, or cares about education should read.

I feel genuinely better prepared to decide what kinds of things are personally worth my effort (and my guilt). The time I spent listening to this audiobook was time extremely well spent.

This book is not only hopeful and optimistic, but also instructive and motivational in terms of what kinds of policies and proposals are worth fighting for here in the US.