An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

 

Solid.

Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta

 

This turned into almost a hate read pretty quickly. It just felt way too focused on the perspective of a character type that we have just already seen too often; even when the topic was race, it was clear who was the subject and who were the objects.

Review copy provided by publisher.

You Were Always Mine by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

 

Really well done.

Mom Brain by Nicole Hackett

 

Great concept, some very interesting social commentary, but ultimately the transition from psychological thriller to action-adventure didn't quite work for me.

Review copy provided by publisher.

What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange

 

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

 

The description made this sound like another "old woman detective" type book -- there are a lot of those lately, and some are great but it's getting overdone. Well, turns out it was quite different. I felt like it worked really well.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Go Gentle by Maria Semple

 

A really clever combination of mystery, spy thriller, domestic drama, romance, and, you know, shout-outs to stoicism and feminism.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier

 

Meh.

Dear Monica Lewinsky by Julia Langbein

 

Really funny.

The Adjunct by Maria Adelmann

 

Some parts were funny and interesting, but overall it tried to do too much.

The Fountain by Casey Scieska

 

Really good.

Nothing Tastes As Good by Luke Dumas

 

Some good social commentary, but kind of meh.

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

 Meh

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

 

So while acknowledging that Rowell is always vaguely disappointing because nothing is ever going to be in the same league as Attachments, I can say that this was quite good -- it wasn't until it was more than half over that I had a sense of which direction it was going to go in, and there was a lot of interesting social commentary.

Review copy provided by publisher.