16. On the Hustle

By Adrianna Herrera (352 pp, ebook)

Adrianna is a friend of the Fated Mates podcast. One of my bookclub friends picked it up at the library so we all decided to read it. This is a spicy (for me) romance between Alba, a super competent and ambtious woman and her boss/former boss Theo, a former Olympic swimmer who now runs his family's real estate empire. Alba quits her job as Theo's assistant to move to Dallas and I can't remember the exact sequence events but somehow Theo, who misses having her around, goes to Dallas helps get them to work together on a reality show that does home improvement. Romance ensues! Sexy fun. I had some notes about the third act breakup but I still enjoyed.

15. To Shape A Dragon's Breath

By Moniquill Blackgoose (528 pp, ebook)

I loved this book. It's a YA set in the 1800s and has some steampunk elements. It's about a young Indigenous woman, Anequs, who is chosen by a dragon in a world where dragon-having is tightly controlled by the dominant culture. Here the natives community prefers to keep to themselves but now she has to go into the colonizer world to fulfill their requirements and there is a big culture clash. Anequs has a hard time adjusting to the societal constraints of the colonizers and she speaks her mind and stands up for herself. Fun book.

14. An Unkindness of Ghosts

By Rivers Solomon (351 pp ebook)

I loved this book even though it's pretty dark. I love generation ship stories and I have my own failed generation ship story in the trunk. This ship is divided into the wealthy, privileged upper decks and the poor labor-force living in broken down poverty below with a cruel system of enforcement. The MC is Aster who is such a great complex character -- she never does what you want her to do, she always does something you don't expect, and she endures so much. The whole story is populated with complex characters but the world they live in is grim. Aster tries to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother while trying to protect the people she cares about and tear down at least a little piece of the system they live in.

13. Remember You Will Die

By Eden Robins (321 pp)

Eden is one of my Clarion West classmates and I read an early stage partial in writer's group when she was still figuring out whether this idea would work. This was my first chance to read the entire book and since I knew how much she struggled to pull the manuscript together, it was fun to see how it came together. It is fantastic. It's told through obituaries and jumps around in time. I suggest going into it blind because it's a hard book to classify -- it's like a well curated little musuem where every time you turn the page, you never know what you'll get. For readers who like quirky, smart, thought-provoking stories.