Insane City by Dave Barry

 

Lots of fun.

Blackman's Coffin by Mark de Castrique

 Solid.

Social Animals by Camille Perri

 

Basically solid, and I appreciated a sort of unusual plot twist as well as an excellent twist at the very end. However, it seemed like it couldn't quite decide whether it was a farce (see: the gala) or more serious (see: issues faced by characters).

Review copy provided by publisher.

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Very solid. There was some dimension missing stopping it from being fantastic; it felt somewhat predictable. 

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Fine Art of Lying by Alexandra Andrews

 

I really liked this.

A Perfect Hand by Ayelet Waldman

 

Meh.

Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith

 

I really liked this.

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monoghan

 

So much fun.

Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick

 

Meh.

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

 

So very, very bad.

Year Zero by Rob Reid

 

 Solid.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

 

Meh.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

 

Really good.

The Children by Melissa Albert

 

This was a fun read, but it just didn't feel like it quite stuck the landing. 

Review copy provided by publisher.

Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom

 

This was a solid mystery, but there just wasn't anything really setting it apart from all of the other mysteries out there.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Final Chapter by C. B. Everett

 

This was a lot of fun -- many meta elements that were well-constructed and not predictable.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin

 

Solid 

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

 

Fun.

Two Times Murder by Adam Oyebanji

 

Decent.

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach

 

Meh.

The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

 

I liked this.

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

 

This was fantastic.

Family of Origin by CJ Hauser

 

Meh.

A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin

Solid.
 

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

 

Meh.

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

 

This was so, so good.

The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Melissa Fung

 

I don't normally love Penny, but this was so much fun. Eunice Wong was fantastic. And I loved the idea of a political thriller that wasn't a steaming pile of toxic masculinity.

The Left-handed Twin br Thomas Perry

 

Meh.

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

 

Solid, but the ending could have been better 

Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin

 

Solid, with a great twist at the end.

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Meh. 

We Don't Talk about Carol by Kristen L. Berry

 

Decent.

The Shippers by Katherine Center

 

I mean, I'm slightly embarrassed by how much I enjoyed this. It really shouldn't have worked, but it did.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni

 The only thing I liked about this was Eduardo Ballarini.

Old World Murder by Kathleen Ernst

 

Meh.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

 

I did not like this.

The Franchise by Thomas Elrod

 

On the one hand, this was a lot of fun. On the other hand, given the set up, it seems like it actually could have been a lot better.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Like This, but Funnier by Hallie Cantor

 

So funny.

The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr

 

We Burned So Bright by TJ Clune

 

Meh.

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

 

This was SO dumb.

The Hill by Harriet Clark

 

I just don't understand why this book is getting so much buzz. It was totally vanilla.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Great Houses of Pill Hill by Diane Josefowicz

 

This was so close to being really good -- interesting premise and fun details. However, like so many mysteries, there was just one too many extraordinary events.

Review copy provided by publisher.

Absence by Andres Dana Hudson

 

I enjoyed this: it was an interesting premise, the pacing was great, and the resolution was not predictable.

Review copy provided by publisher.

I, Spy by L.M. Kemp

 

This was all sorts of fun -- very engaging and entertaining.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

 

I suspect that this will be a huge seller even if no one actually likes it, as Stockett's first book since The Help.

But I adored it. It's definitely commercial fiction and not great literature, but it was completely engaging and, even at 640 pages, seemed to fly by. 

Review copy provided by publisher.

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel

There are a lot of family dramas out there, but Laurie Frankel writes books that are more interesting than virtually all of the others.

(And the fact that it was set in Austin was fun -- although there was not a lot of local color.)

This would be a great choice for book groups.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Olivia

 

Meh.

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.