19. Mexican Gothic

By Sylvia Moreno-Garcia This is a terrific atmospheric novel about a young woman who goes to her cousin who has married and moved to a mysterious house in the Mexican forest. The house is rundown, her cousin's new family is creepy and controlling, and the whole place is foggy and moldy and falling into ruin. As the story opens, the main character Noemi is a party girl and maybe kind of shallow but as the story develops she is fearless and dogged against dangerous forces. Recommend.

Okay! I am back in writing mode and my reading is probably going to dwindle to almost nothing for awhile. More info to come.

18. The Arctic Fury

By Greer MacAllister (408 pp, ebook)

A friend reviewed this book just as I finished The Terror. This book is also a fictional tale related to the Franklin Expedition. In this story, an all woman expedition has been hired to find out what happened to the men and hopefully rescue them and bring them back. The story is divided between a murder trial for the woman who led the expedition and the story of the expedition and how it unfolded. It's really good. I wished for a little more time on the ice and a little less court room and a little more characterization. But it's a clever alternate history. If you have never read it, check out this short story by Ursula LeGuin, Sur about an all woman expedition to the South Pole. That story was published in 1982 and made a big impression on me as I was first thinking about being a writer.

17. Legends and Lattes

By Travis Baldtree (296 pp, ebook)

I loved this book. An orc from fantasy adventures is tired of battles so she settles down in a city and invents a coffee shop. "Bean water" the characters call it. Coffee exists but is not common in this place. They add frothy milk. They find a friend who has invented cinnamon rolls. A bard comes along who wants to sing and play music. You can't imagine how satisfying this all is. Sure, there are problems, but there's always an old loyal friend or a brand new friend who wants to help. Recommend.

16. The Terror

By Dan Simmons (769 pp, ebook)

I do not know what to say about this book. Anyone who follows these notes will not be surprised that I thought this was long. It's a fictional account of John Franklin's failed expedition to find the NW passage in 1845. The story is already horrific with the endless winter darkness, freezing temperatures, being trapped in the ice, and scurvey, but the author has added an extra horror element. Long as it was, I enjoyed it and found it page-turning. Great characters and great depiction of this unforgiving environment. Until the end. The end turns into one of the white men from the expedition going Native--not even just going Native but turning into some sort of revered spirit-governors--and some cultural appropriation of Inuit stories and I was completely turned off. Although, I admit, I am now watching the TV series.

15. Theory of Bastards

By Audrey Schulman (397 pp)

This book is set in a vaguely futuristic setting where people rely on implants for information rather than smart phones -- but otherwise the world is one we recognize. The main character is Francine who vists an ape sanctuary to study bonobos to investigate her theories about reproduction. There is a lot going on in this story that I can't summarize in a couple of sentences. She makes connections with the staff and the bonobos and then something terrible happens and they have to try to survive. It's hard to categorize but if you like animal behavior with some dystopian tossed in with complex characters - this is for you. I will add that the book cover completely fails this book. Even the back copy and the summary on Goodreads do not capture how smart and captivating this story is.

14. The Cold Millions

By Jess Walter (337 pp, ebook)

Jess Walter is always great! This book is about two brothers in Spokane, Wa in the early 1900's. The brothers have few resources and live amongst others who are struggling for work, decent pay, and some respect. They get involved with the labor movement and variety of characters: cops, vaudville performers, wealthy jerks. A great portrayal of a certain moment in history.

13. Yellowface

By R.F. Kuang (319 pp, ebook)

Wow! This was nothing like I expected. It's about two young authors on the rise, Athena Liu and Juniper Hayward told from the POV of Juniper. Athena is a huge literary hit and Juniper barely noticed. Juniper is present when Athena dies in a freak accident and can't help but run off with Athena's freshly finished manuscript about Chinese laborers in WWI. Juniper publishes the work as her own and has huge success but also lots of folks questioning why this writer is telling this story. There is a lot going on with respect to publishing and ethnic identity that I appreciated. The writing is wonderful. I think the story went a bit off the rails at the end but I still enjoyed it. I have this author's fantasy trilogy in my TBR stack and hope to read soon.

12. A Daring Arrangement

By Joanna Shupe (384 pp, ebook)

Another romance! Life as been a little extra hairy lately so often romance is all my brain can deal with. This one is set in the Gilded Age in New York. The heroine, Honora, has been sent to America to get her away from an ill-advised romance with an artist. She tries to find a terrible American man to show interest in so her father will so appalled he will bring her home. Julius is rich but has a reputation for poor behavior. But this is romance so you know how things end up.

11. The Best American Short Stories 2011

By Geraldine Brooks(Editor), Heidi Pitlor (Series Editor)(386 pp, ebook)

I love these collections and almost always have one started in my ereader and drop into it every once in awhile. This is another great collection and I should have taken notes so I could highlight the stories I liked especially. I do remember I loved Elizabeth McCracken's story "Property" about a man who recently lost his wife. It hit that mixture of funny and sad that I love. George Saunders's "Escape from Spiderhead" is in this collection as well as Claire Keegan's "Foster" which are both terrific and worth tracking down and also completely different from each other. There's also a story, "A Bridge Under Water" by Tom Bissell who is a writer I discovered via a Best collection and really admire.

10. Susan, You're The Chosen One

By Lauretta Hignett (268 pp, ebook)

I picked up this book because it's a urban fantasy adventure with a middle-aged heroine. Susan has a great job and perfect husband and then it all unravels in a terrible way and she's living in a tiny apartment and trying to keep it together when these gorgeous people show up to tell her she's the chosen one. She is not convinced until all kinds of magical things happen and she needs to accept her role in this adventure. This is a really fun book and my favorite part is how Susan uses her experience in the corporate world to deal with the fantasy beings and situations.

9. What I Did For A Duke

By Julie Ann Long (384 pp, ebook)

I typoed the title as "What I did for a Duck" and I almost left it because it's funny. My romance podcast Fated Mates did a deep-dive episode on this book. I checked my archive and I already had it (haha. My book buying habits are hilariously disorganized.) I loved this book. It's about this mysterious Duke Moncrieffe with a dark reputation who decides to ruin a particular young woman as revenge. The woman, Genevieve Eversea, is more than he expected and things progress as you would guess in a romance. Fun characters. Snappy dialogue. Must read for romance fans.

8. Wild Robot

By Peter Brown (320 pp, ebook)

I knew this book was aimed at younger readers but it was a little younger than I expected. I can't remember the last time I read a middle grade book. It's about a robot that washes ashore on a forested island and doesnt know its purpose. But as it learns to survive it makes friends with the environment and the animals. It's very charming with lovely illustrations. I haven't seen the movie yet but it's on my list.