Under the Whispering Door

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune is a love story in death.

Charon's Crossing Tea Shop is a way station on the path of death. Hugo, a ferryman, owns the shop. He serves tea and baked goods to the locals and works with the dead the help them process their lives and death so they may move on.

Mei is a reaper, collecting people after their death and bringing them to the tea shop.

Nelson is an old man / ghost who lives at the tea shop - allowed to stay to help emotionally support Hugo. 

Wallace Price, a lawyer who dies of a heart attack, is found by Mei at his funeral. Almost no one else is in attendance. He was a man who turned off his emotions other than annoyance.

Hugo, Mei and Nelson will have their hands full with Wallace. But it is never too late to grow as a person.

Klune has written a wonderful book that looks at death with love and humor. Everyone should read this.

Klune, TJ. (2021). Under the Whispering Door. New York: Tor.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho is a wonderful novella. (And perfect to become a series - hint, hint!) It has a similar feel to the Nigh Vo novella series.

A Bandit walks into a coffee house and stops a fight, starts another fight and leaves with a new member of his group. Or rather, the woman he got fired follows him to his camp in the woods and announces she is joining them.

Guet Imm was a votary of the Order but has been on her own since the tokong was burned. She is tracking some of the sacred artifacts that were stolen, hoping to return them to the goddess.

Cho has written a wonderful story of adventure, fighting, and humor. Read this so she will write more! 

Cho, Zen. (2020). The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. 

Our Missing Hearts

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a dystopian novel of where we could end up if current political thought of some is left unchecked. 

Bird Gardener, thirteen years-old, lives with his father in Cambridge housing. His dad is a linguist and etymologist who has been reduced to shelving books in the university library.

Three years ago, Bird's mother left. Margaret Miu is a poet. One of her lines was used by a stranger in a protest. Now she is wanted by the government as a terrorist.

PACT - Preserving American Culture and Traditions - promised to root out anti-American elements. Mostly what this means is encouraging anti-Asian hate and hate crimes with a focus on China but really targets at any person of Asian descent caught outside.

Ng is a wonderful writer. Her story was so realistic that I had to skim some because it was easy to see today's news taken to the next extreme. Her message of hope in the face of rigid restrictions on civil liberties comes through the story strongly. Our Missing Hearts is a beautiful, painful book. 

Ng, Celeste. (2022). Our Missing Hearts. New York: Penguin.

This is How You Lose the Time War

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an epic tale in epistolary novella form.

Two agents, one on each side trying to shape Earth to a future that benefits their side, leave letters for the other as they roam the very strands of time. The first letter left is in an envelope that says, "burn before reading."

One side is called Garden. They are shaping the world to heal itself, planting seeds down strand that will blossom in the future.

One side is tech driven, often placed to alter the outcome of a war or election that will favor the development of technology.

 In spite of two sides, many times and versions this beautifully written and crafted love story is a must read for all book or poetry fans. Buy a copy today so you can read it over and over again.

El-Mohtar, Amal and Max Gladstone. (2019). This is How You Lose the Time War. New York: Saga Press.

Something to Talk About

Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner is a romance between a television producer and her assistant - but not like you think based on that statement. 

Jo Jones has been in Hollywood since she was a child actor. Now she works behind the scenes as a writer and showrunner. Her current series is the most popular show on air. 

Emma is Jo's assistant. She dropped out of film school but loves working on a tv show. 

Jo hates going to award shows - and it is rumored that she will be writing the next superhero movie, a new format for her and the first time a woman will be writing the popular hero. 

To have a buffer from the questions and single men who she has no desire to see, Jo invited Emma. Which sets off rumors of lesbian love between to inappropriate coworkers. Rumors that will change everything.

Wilsner's first book, this is a story of friendship that becomes more. It is sweet and reads like readers are getting inside information about how tv shows work. Fun read!

Wilsner, Meryl. (2020). Something To Talk About. New York: Berkeley. 

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a beautiful book that everyone should have the privilege to read. Though it was written recently it will surely join the classic must reads.

After the Russian revolution, the Bolsheviks have sentenced Count Alexander Rostov to house arrest. Luckily for him, he lives in the world-famous Metropol Hotel in the center of Moscow. Unfortunately, with his sentence, he is moved from his beautiful suite, filled with his family heirlooms, to a ten-by-ten room in the attic. 

Over the following years readers will delight in meeting the various visitors, residents and employees of the Metropol. And get to explore the hotel from every angle - especially after the Count makes friends with a young girl who cannot let any mystery or curiosity go unexplored.

Towles is a wonderful writer and storyteller. Read everything he publishes but buy this book today!

Towles, Amor. (2016). A Gentleman in Moscow. New York: Penguin.

Mistakes Were Made

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner is a steamy queer romance story. 

Erin Bennett is visiting her college daughter at her parents' weekend. Tonight her daughter Parker is with her father. Erin is not going to sit around; she is going out to a bar. 

Cassie Klein avoids campus on parents' weekend. She has not seen her mother in years and avoids families when possible. When she sees a beautiful older woman across the bar, she sends a drink.  

The following morning, Parker texts Cassie and invites her to breakfast. She wants a buffer between herself and her mother - things have been strained since the divorce. In Cassie's life there are only two people for whom she would get up at the ungodly hour of eight am after a night of drinking and hot sex. Cassie is one of them.

Wilsner has written a super hot romance story. Her characters are fully realized and compelling. Read this book.

Wilsner, Meryl. (2022). Mistakes Were Made. New York: St. Martin's Press.