Thieves' Gambit (Book #1)

Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis is the first book in an adventure series about a group of teen thieves. 

Ross Quest is the latest generation of her family of thieves. Somehow, along with pulling of heists around the world, Ross has little freedom. She is considering running away to a camp to see what other people's lives are like.

With an extra escape plan in place, Ross is read to go to the airport once she and her mom clear the yacht they have been hired to break into. But something goes wrong.

Now her only option is to join the Gambit - a contest among young thieves whose prize is the granting of one wish. A wish Ross can use to save her mother.

Lewis, Kayvion. (2023). Thieves' Gambit. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books.

Icebreaker

Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei is a sports romance set on a college ice hockey team.

Mickey James III was born for hockey. At times he feels like that is all his father and grandfather care about. Both of them were pick as first pick in the NHL draft in their days. Mickey is at school for one year, until the draft. He is listed as likely to go number one, but on his heels is his new classmate, Jaysen Caulfield.

Jaysen Caulfield is the first person in his family to play ice hockey. He does it for the love of the game. He plans on being picked in the next draft, but will be getting a degree before stating in the NHL. 

This is a great sports book, but also so much more. A sensitive look at depression. I listened to the audiobook. The reader is great and I was sucked in right away.

Graziadei, A.L. (2002). Icebreaker. New York: Macmillian.

Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver

Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth is a spooky exploration into the most dangerous thing you can do on Earth!

I have always been equal parts fascinated and scared of caves. Imaging exploring on underwater!

From Penguin Random House:

As one of the most celebrated cave divers in the world, Jill Heinerth has seen the planet in a way almost no one has. In a workday, she might swim below your home, through conduits in volcanoes or cracks in the world's largest iceberg. She's an explorer, a scientist's eyes and hands underwater—discovering new species and examining our finite freshwater reserves—and a filmmaker documenting the wonders of underwater life. Often the lone woman in a male-dominated domain, she tests the limits of human endurance at every tight turn, risking her life with each mission. To not only survive in this world but excel, Jill has had to learn how to master self-doubt like no other.

Heinerth, Jill. (2019). Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver. New York: Ecco. 

The Thirty Names of Night

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar is a story set in the Syrian American community in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. This is a beautifully told story.

Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother’s ghost has begun to visit him each evening. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria.

One night, he enters the abandoned community house and finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z, who dedicated her career to painting the birds of North America. She famously and mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that both his mother and Laila Z encountered the same rare bird before their deaths. In fact, Laila Z’s past is intimately tied to his mother’s—and his grandmother’s—in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z’s story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his own community that he never knew. Realizing that he isn’t and has never been alone, he has the courage to officially claim a new name: Nadir, an Arabic name meaning rare.

As unprecedented numbers of birds are mysteriously drawn to the New York City skies, Nadir enlists the help of his family and friends to unravel what happened to Laila Z and the rare bird his mother died trying to save. Following his mother’s ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along. [from Fantastic Fiction]

Joukhadar, Zeyn. (2020). The Thirty Names of Night. New York: Atria Books.

The Safekeep

 

The Safekeep by Yael Van der Woulden is an historical fiction novel that packs a punch. 

1961, Dutch province of Overijssel. 

Isabel lives by herself in her mother's house. She spends her time maintaining the house and garden, and managing the maid who comes in the daytime. By all accounts she is lonely and closed off.

When she is coaxed to have dinner with her two brothers in the city, her brother Louis arrives with his latest girlfriend. Eva is the opposite of Isabel, and Isabel dislikes her on sight. 

A few weeks later, when Louis have to travel for work, he show up at the house (which he technically owns) with Eva in tow. Eva is to stay with Isabel for a few weeks. 

What follows is a rough push and pull as they get to know more about each other. Using flashbacks, Van der Wouden explores what happened to each of their families in the war - an how they are tied together.

The Safekeep is on the long list for the 2024 Man Booker Prize, quite deservedly. If the only book you have read about the Dutch in WWII is the Diary of Anne Frank, this will be a surprise! Read it today.

Van der Wouden, Yael. (2024). The Safekeep. New York: Avid Reader Press.

The Brides of High Hill (Singing Hills Cycle #4)

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo is the fourth book in the Singing Hills Cycle series of fantasy novellas that read like folklore. 

After a break at the Singing Hills Monastery, Cleric Chih is back on the road exploring, gathering tales to be kept in the oral history. 

Chih wakes up and cannot remember how they got on a palanquin. They are traveling with a young woman to meet her betrothed. It is a blessing to have a cleric in such an instance, even though that is not what Singing Hills focuses on.

This is all I will say! Read these amazing books! You can finish one in an hour, or savor it for days. 

Vo, Nghi. (2024). The Brides of High Hill. New York: Tordotcom.

Wanderers (Wanderers #1)

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is the first of two books dealing with a plague and its aftermath. 

Something is causing an illness that makes people lose all sense of themselves. The illness causes a white fungus to form on their faces giving it the name White Mask. 

At the same time, something else strange is happening to a small group of people. Shana's sister Nessie is sleepwalking and cannot be awoken. Shana follows her and as they go, more sleepwalkers are joining her. They cannot be stopped or communicated with. Soon there are sleepwalkers and their loved ones heading across the country. 

Set is a familiar-feeling time politically, society begins to collapse. Terror and violence are rampant. The CDC assigns it best investigator to follow the sleepwalkers while others search for the origin of White Mask. 

Wendig has written a compelling series. It is gripping, haunting and realistic. Book two takes place about five years after the onset of the disease, in the time after the illness has run its course. I HIGHLY recommend this two-book series. It is one of the best I have read this decade!

Wendig, Chuck. (2019). Wanderers. New York: Del Rey. 

The Glass Hotel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel is a wonderful genre blending story.

The Hotel Caiette is on the northern edge of Vancouver Island. Vincent is working at the hotel the night someone carves a message into the front window, the same night a very wealthy man is due to arrive. 

What follows is a story hinted at in Mandel's novel Sea of Tranquility, the story of Vincent and the life she lives with the very wealthy Jonathan Alkaitis. 

This is a story of crisis and survival, greed and guilt, unintended consequences, and the search for meaning. Emily St. John Mandel is one of the great writers of our time. Read all of her books!

Mandel, Emily St. John. (2020). The Glass Hotel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 

We Deserve Monuments

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds.

Mama Letty is very ill in the late stages of cancer. Though Zora left the second she was old enough, and has an unspoken of, decades old, conflict with her mother, she and her family are moving to Bardell, Georgia to help.

Avery know little of her grandmother. She and her mom visited once when she was five, but all she remembers of the visit is yelling. Now, at the beginning of her senior year of high school, she is leaving D.C. and her two best friends, moving to a town that looks tiny and run-down. 

Luckily, right away Avery meets Simone and them Jade. Finding two new friends is a blessing. But what Avery doesn't know is the history between their three families. The layers of secrets, racism and town history will slowly be revealed.

As friendships grow closer and time is spent in Bardell, stories are revealed that will both bring Avery closer to her mother and grandmother as well as reveal how racial violence can ripple through generations. 

Hammonds has written a story about family relationships set in a small town with big secrets. This is a beautifully written novel of our history as well as current day country. 

Hammonds, Jas. (2022). We Deserve Monuments. New York: Roaring Brook Press.

Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel is a story with a mystery that spans 489 years.

Edwin St. Andrew is a second son in England at the beginning of the 20th century. As he is not going to inherit his father's house and wealth, he is sent to Canada to make a life for himself. In 1912 he has made it across the continent to Vancouver island. Walking in the forest toward a maple tree he experiences disorientation - seeing a terminal with a man playing the violin.

Olive Llewellyn is on a world tour for her pandemic novel as it is about to become a movie. In 2203 while walking through an airship terminal, passing a man playing the violin, she suddenly sees trees in a forest. 

In 2401 in a colony on the moon, Gaspery Roberts is hired by the Time Institute to investigate an anomaly in North America. He will travel back in time to interview four people in different times, all connected to an airship terminal in Oklahoma City.

Mandel has created a compelling puzzle of a story. This is a fun book. Read it now!

Mandel, Emily St. John. (2022). Sea of Tranquility. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story by James McBride is one of the best books I read this year, or any year. Set in the 1920s and 30s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania's neighborhood of Chicken Hill, a mixed Black and Jewish part of town. 

Chona is the daughter of a store owner. She has a limp from Polio as a child. She married Moshe, a Romanian Jewish immigrant who owns a dance hall. As Chona was raised in Chicken Hill she convinces Moshe to bring Black musicians and bands along with the Yiddish he has already planned.

Though they don't need the money, and actually lose money on it, Chona keeps running the grocery. She allows anyone to shop there and extends credit to her Black neighbors. 

When a young boy is in need of hiding from the state agent who wants to take him to a home because he is deaf, Chona takes him in. 

McBride is one of the great writers of our time. Read all of his books, but start here!

McBride, James. (2023). The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. New York: Riverhead Books. 

How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures In It

How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures In It by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Amanda Hall, is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book about how the Earth and life began.

Information and illustrations from before the Earth cooled to our current ocean dwellers, the science book is a delight. 

How the Sea Came to Be is the perfect introduction to Earth Science. Plus you will want to recreate the drawings as wallpaper!

Berne, Jennifer. (2023). How the Sea Came to Be: And All the Creatures in It. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Bunny & Tree

Bunny & Rabbit by Balint Zsako is a stunning wordless picture book. As soon as Bunny and Tree meet they are destined to become family. 

This is gorgeous. Put it at the top of your list for gifts for children, artists or gardeners in your life. 

Amazing!

Zsako, Balint. (2023). Bunny & Rabbit. New York: Enchanted Lion Books.

Iron Flame (Empyrean #2)

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros is the second book in the Empyrean fantasy series. 

Violet has made it through year one at Basgaith War College - most people would not have bet on that outcome. What the final test revealed to her is that the college (including her mother) are lying about the state of things. Still, she needs the training provided by Basgaith.

Year two is where the real training begins. Now that she is in fighting shape and bonded to not one, but two, dragons. She will need all of her smarts to survive the new teacher who seems to have it out for her. 

Yarros has created a well-crafted fantasy world filled with dragons, magic and more. Great series for all fantasy fans and particularly fans of writers like Sarah Maas. 

Yarros, Rebecca. (2023). Iron Flame. New York: Red Tower Books.

The Future

The Future by Naomi Alderman is a science fiction book that takes place a few years from now technology-wise. 

Martha Einkorn was raised on a compound in Oregon. She now works for a social media mogul who wants to control everything. 

Lai Zhen, raised in Hong Kong, is an internet-famous survivalist. She writes articles, interviews and posts videos that have millions of followers. 

Both Martha and Lai have a role to play in a chain of events set into motion to change the course of the world, to hopefully save humanity. If something happens to make people willing to restructure their lives to help the Earth repair itself. One or both of them are unaware of their roles.

Alderman is a masterful storyteller. The twists and turns in this thriller will keep you up late reading. 

Alderman, Naomi. (2023). The Future. New York: Simon and Schuster. 

Cleat Cute

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is a lesbian sports romance set mostly in New Orleans.

Phoebe Matthews is going to be a professional soccer player. She has been drafted to the New Orleans Krewe of the NWSL. She has a couple of weeks before she is due at practice when she is called to camp for potential US national team players.

Grace Henderson is a national soccer star, playing professionally for ten years even though she is only 26 years old. She is the captain of the Krewe and the National Team. Grace thinks players should be serious, not like this new kid, 22 years old, but full of energy and making jokes.

Grace is Phoebe's idol. She actually has Grace's poster on her wall in her childhood bedroom. Now she has to follow Grace-the-captain while not making a fool of herself - an not stare or drool!

Wilsner has created a steamy romance for soccer fans. Fun read. 

Wilsner, Meryl. (2023). Cleat Cute. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.

The Kingdom of the Gods (Inheritance #3)

The Kingdom of the Gods by N.K. Jemisin is the third book in the Inheritance fantasy series. 

Sieh, the child god, is lonely and bored. He finds himself going back to Sky, where he was imprisoned for centuries. Going back for the nostalgia of living with his favorite siblings who have scattered to the worlds. 

When Sieh arrives at an unused stairway at the bottom levels of the palace that is Sky, he finds to lost Arameri children - Shahar and Deka. They are twins, about eight or ten. They have been exploring, but have gotten lost in an abandoned level. 

Sieh, also the trickster gods, plays a game with them. He is just as likely to reward as kill at the end of a game, but the smart children convince him to come back in one year to continue the game. 

Jemisin is an amazing world-builder. The layers and complexities she must have in her head to write with such seamlessness in her own created world! It is no wonder she is the best of the amazing fantasy writers of our day! Read all of her books. Each series is wonderful and different and will make you think differently about some aspect of your life. 

Jemisin, N.K. (2011). The Kingdom of the Gods. New York: Orbit

A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee is a steamy queer romance. 

Elisheva Cohen left New York eight years ago when she was kicked out of her Orthodox Jewish community. She has just moved from LA to NYC for an art school program with her favorite mix media artist. She just got off of the plane and is going to meet her new roommates. She is not sure how it will feel to be back in NYC, but feels unlikely to ever visit Brooklyn again.

Luckily, her roommates turn out to be great. Though she starts class in the morning, they insist on taking her to a queer club tonight to celebrate. 

Wyatt Cole is from a North Carolina military family. He is an artist who is gaining fame, but most people don't know what he looks like. He is very private. He has been invited to teach a course on mixed media art at a prestigious NY art school. 

Lee has written a romance story with two very real-feeling characters. Both Elisheva and Wyatt have things in their past they have not completely made peace with. And both are in recovery. And when they meet at a queer dance club, they will have no idea they are about to become teacher and student...

Lee, Victoria. (2023). A Shot in the Dark. New York: Dell.

The Broken Kingdoms (Inheritance #2)

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin is the second book in the Inheritance fantasy series. 

Oree Shoth is a blind woman who moved to the city of Shadow, located under what was formerly known as the city of Sky. Many things have changed since the chained gods have returned to power. 

While Oree cannot see even shadows, she can see magic. And in a city filled with lesser gods, this is perhaps a good skill to have. She spends her day selling things in the markets. And she is an artist. She can somehow enter a trance-like focus and paint amazing scenes. 

One day Oree finds a man in her garbage. He is alive, but barely. She takes him in. 

This second book is from a different point of view, as is the third. This view gives readers a more in-depth look at the world Jemisin has created. This series is brilliant!

Jemisin, N.K. (2010). The Broken Kingdoms. New York: Orbit.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Inheritance #1)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin is the first book in the Inheritance series. 

Yeine Darr who grew up in a small land in the north has been summoned to Sky by her mother's father. Her grandfather is going to recognize her as an heir to the Arameri throne. 

The city of Sky is contained in a super tall tower. Anyone with Arameri blood can live in the tower, but most work as servants. Only those of the central bloodline are treated as royalty. 

The Arameri gained power generations ago when one of the three gods made a deal with the head of the family. It was at the end of the gods' war when Itempas won. He chained his brother and the lesser gods into service of the Arameri. 

Yeine, not having grown up in the midst of this, has few skills to find her way in the political battles of Sky. But after she arrives, one of the lesser gods, Sieh, the child god, befreiends her. It is not clear is this is an advantage or disadvantage for her survival.

Jemisin is possibly my very favorite writer - or at least tied for the first spot with Becky Chambers. This is her first series but does not read as such. Her ideas are completely fleshed out, her writing captivating. 

Jemisin, N.K. (2010). The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. New York: Orbit. 

Chinese Menu: The History, Myths and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods

Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods by Grace Lin is a feast for your eyes and will have you craving Chinese food as you read.

Tea, Eggrolls, Rice, General Tso's Chicken, Peking Duck, Chopsticks and more, all have a story of how they were developed or refined. With folk tales and family stories, Grace Lin walks us through centuries of Chinese history in this beautiful book. 

This books should be part of each library collection, to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. 

Lin, Grace. (2023). Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Bathe the Cat

Bathe the Cat by Alice McGinty is a hilarious tale of a family getting ready for a visit from grandma. 

While two dads and their kids run in circles trying to get the house presentable for a visit from grandma, the cat keeps rearranging the list - created out of refrigerator magnets.

This is a great book that should be at the top of your list for picture book gifts! All of the books by Alice McGinty are wonderful. 

McGinty, Alice. (2023). Bathe the Cat. New York: Chronicle Books.

Julian is a Mermaid

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love is a beautiful picture book. 

This book about a boy and his grandmother is the tale of letting someone grow and shine in their own way. About seeing people for who they are. 

Read this beautiful book or buy it for a small loved one in your life. 

Love, Jessica. (2018). Julian is a Mermaid. New York: Candlewick Press.