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.