I’ve read eleven books since…

I’ve read eleven books since my last review so I ended up doing a lot of them right on Netgalley BUT there are a couple I want to do on here because they were super good and I want to make sure they get some extra attention. Ready? Let’s go.

Out now

Pride and Prejudice x You’ve Got Mail in a time of censorship in Joseon Korea. A noble, secret novel author (him) and a gentlewoman fallen on hard times (her) novel transcriber who exchange letters without ever meeting who, when they meet in person, develop and immediate dislike for one another’s manners and ideas but, gradually, come to see one another for who they truly are through love of books and a desire for the freedom to read them.

This is a lovely book that I really enjoyed. And an important one in a time where our rights to our favorite books are being taken away, especially those of young people. Will they need secret bookshops soon? Will they be meeting in places like the Five Willows, where they’re constantly worried about government raids and arrests? Will they be able to read books like Behind the Five Willows, or will they be banned for evincing ideas like rebelling against book banning statutes?

Something to thing about as you take in this story of love and love of literature.

9/8/26

Drew didn’t expect to take over her aunt Hannah’s metaphysical shop. But when Hannah died and left everything to Drew, she felt obligated to carry on Hannah’s legacy, even if that legacy is slowly winding down. When a reporter appears, someone from Drew’s past, wanting her to help him with a story on the 20th anniversary of a girl’s murder, one mystic Hannah failed to help the police solve, Drew is reluctant but ultimately decides she wants to help clear Hannah’s name. But that means revealing her own powers, ones she thought she buried years ago.

This is a book about change. t’s about magic sure, but at it’s core, it’s about finding an opportunity when your life is in flux, grabbing it with both hands, and holding on, even if you’re not entirely sure it’s the right thing to do because deep down, you know it is. Because it’s what you’ve wanted even if others told you it wasn’t or couldn’t be. Even if it seems impossible or unrealistic or unreachable. Because while things can be difficult and unlikely, they are, in fact, always possible.

So thanks for the reminder, Drew.

8/19/26

I’m going to start straight off that I think we have to be very careful with books that deal with mental illness as a convention of time travel and being from the future. This is a real delusion that people have and we need to be sensitive to that fact when using it as a fictional trope.

Disclaimer over.

I think The Once and Future Me does a pretty good job with it because it explores the way women were treated in the 1950s when they were shoved into psychiatric facilities, not only due to genuine illness but also because they were “difficult” (read: independent, unconventional, refused to get in line). The way men were in change of treatment and allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted without any consent whatsoever, including experiment on them. The most interesting parts of the book were actually the exploration of these treatments and how the women endeavored to get around them, to avoid them, and to evade them.

The future bits of the story were a bit clunky and I would have actually liked a little bit more balance in the book; there was something interesting in The Guest and the Child Army but it felt like it was a little bit rushed. Still, I was interested the whole way through and excited to see what would happen at the end.

And there you have it. More next time!