33. The Gospel of Z

By Stephen Graham Jones (292 pp, ebook)

It always amazes me when writers find new ways to write super disgusting details. This book delivers! The writing is a sort-of dreamy style and it's about a world that's been living in a zombie apocolypse for years. The MC is obsessed with a woman he's managed to connect with but she disappears. There are intense military people, a creepy church, and lots of hairy zombie missions. Recommend!

32. The Earl Takes All

By Lorraine Heath (384 pp, ebook)

Fated Mates podcast did a deep dive on this book code name "the gorilla twins" so I had to read it before my listen. This is an amazing historical romance that is hard to describe in a sentence or two. A beautiful lady is married to the earl. He and his twin go off on an adventure and there's a tragedy and the non-husband returns. But he has to pretend to be the husband because a baby is on the way. Must read for romance fans -- this book is a quite a ride.

31. Life and Death

By Stephenie Meyer (400 pp, ebook)

This is the last Stephenie Meyer I hadn't read. I watched the movies during October and went back and found this. It's Twilight with the genders swapped except for only a couple of characters. This did not work for me at all. The whole time I kept trying to translate which character was which rather than read the book as is. The things your average reader liked about the series are gendered. We like seeing Edward be so protective of Bella, throwing her on his back and climbing a tree, straining against the urge to kill her. It's not the same with Edythe and Beau. Edythe throwing Beau over her back and climbing a tree wasn't the same buzz. And it was weird but I didn't buy Edythe's infatuation the same way I did Edward's. But also: I kept picturing Edythe as Alice.

30. Neon Gods

By Katee Robert (384 pp, ebook)

I am updating this in late December but I read this book in October. Am I really that far behind in my updates? This is an author I heard a lot about and I like to give everything a try. This is a super spicy modern retelling of Hades and Persephone. I really liked the connection between the main characters and their loyalty to each other in the midst of a dysfunctional environment. I didn't think the Olympus re-telling totally worked -- it was more like using that for shortcuts in character creation but if you'd renamed everyone Steve and Kaylie no one would have noticed. Fun to read. Definite recommend for people who like their romance reading with high heat.

29. This Bird Has Flown

By Susanna Hoffs (368 pp, ebook)

I was a huge Bangles fan back in the day and I had no idea Hoffs had written a novel. The algorithm fed it to me. I love books with musicians. This is the story of a musician who had one huge hit 10 years ago that was a cover of a lesser song from a huge artist. She's been foundering since. Her manager invites her to come to England to buckle down and write some new songs and she meets and makes out with a stranger on a plane. Then my musician book quickly became a romance novel which was unexpected but I didn't mind. Except the MC is a grown ass woman and she approached this relationship like a teenager and is jealous and nosey -- I struggled with her. Her beau is charming but has secrets of his own and everything unravels and then the book turned back into a musician story with a dramatic set piece involving the huge artist. I liked the writing and characters and enjoyed the book even with the frustrations described above.

28. Off Balance

By Domanique Moceanu (256 pp, ebook)

If you know me, you probably know that I am a huge gymnastics fan. This is a memoir by one of the Magnificent Seven, the first US team to win an Olympic gold medal (1996) in a real nailbiter competition. Domanique's story is heartbreaking. Her family of origin was dysfunctional and while her initial gymnastics coaches were wonderful, she started training with the Karolyis who were abusive and terrible. She tried to comeback in her 20s and US gymnastics treated her like garbage. She was way ahead of her time. This book came out in 2012 before anyone was calling out the Karolyis and I don't think she got a lot of support at the time. Also doing elite gymnastics in her 20s and trying to compete again. Oh, also, as an adult she found out she had a sister with disabilities who her parents gave up for adoption. They had a lovely reunion. From her story, it sounds like she has created a wonderful family and works as a coach. She also advocates for young athletes for their mental and physical health. Good for her.

27. Dreaming of You

By Lisa Kleypas (384 pp, ebook)

Is there a better chaser for a long, violent vampire book than Dreaming of You? This is a historical romance where the MC Sara is a bold young woman who writes fiction and is not afraid to get into the grit for her research. She is researching a debauched gambling den when she meets the dark and damaged owner Derek Craven. My romance podcast Fated Mates has an annual event celebrating Derek Craven (That link is NSFW, grown ups only.) I didn't know the book and finally had a chance to read it and enjoyed it immensely. I love MCs that do unexpected things without fear and I love when a broken man falls for the lady in spite of himself. Recommend.

26. Empire of the Vampire (Book 1)

By Jay Kristoff (800 pp, ebook)

I was in the mood for a big fat vampire book and I got one. This is set in a world where the sunrise has disappeared and if people don't have enough problems staying alive, there are also vampires. It's maybe like 1500s Europe (?) Our hero, Gabriel, a silversaint which is a powerful vampire killer, is in prison and telling this story to a vampire historian. There are overlapping timelines and found family, love story, super violent actiony parts where lots of people die. I enjoyed it but it became a repetitive beat for me that the characters had to do something almost impossible, and then everything went wrong and there was lots of gruesome fighting and then a brief reprieve to pull the remaining characters together and then do it again. Definite recommend for people who like epic dark vampire stories.

25: Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies

By Deborah Sheldon, ed. (306 pp, ebook)

I bought this because one of my Clarion West classmates Carol Ryles has a story in it called: In War with Time for Love of You. It is worth buying this anthology just for her story. It's set in space and it manages to balance science-y stuff, creepy body horror, and heartbreak. Like any story collection, some are fantastic and some didn't work for me at all. They all have scary baby things but Carol's is the only sci fi. People have great imagination for creepy pregnancy stories.

24. The Hawthorne Legacy

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes (380 pp ebook)

I had to wait 4-5 weeks to get Book 1 from the library so I ordered this one ahead of time anticipating that I would want to continue with the series. This follows the pattern of the first book with new questions to answer about why Avery Grambs is connected to this family. The character relationships continue to develop. It also felt choppy and the characters felt thin and I wasn't sold on the romance. I think these are aimed at a younger reader than I -- they are very popular but I don't expect to continue with the series.

23. The Inheritance Games

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes (386 pp ebook)

I listened to an interview with the author who studies why people connect with stories and I wanted to read her fiction. This book is about a young woman, Avery Grambs, who learns she has been chosen to inherit billions from complete stranger, Tobias Hawthorne, who has chosen her over his own family. She is swooped up and taken to the family mansion where she has to live for 1 year to collect the fortune. The family is in the mansion, too. They need to solve riddles and puzzles to figure out why Avery was chosen and Avery needs to adapt to her new circumstances and the danger that comes with it. It's a fast read. I know the technique of short chapters ending on a question keeps readers going but after awhile it felt choppy and I thought the characters were a little thin. Still fun.

22. The Shards

By Bret Easton Ellis (608 pp ebook)

I haven't read Ellis in decades and I'm going to guess I bought this book because I read a review that said it was great nostalgia for people who grew up in S. California in the 80s.

Ellis is the same age as I am and the descriptions in this book: the clothes; driving around naming all the roads: Valley Vista, Mullholland, Beveryly Glen; the music; the movies; the clubs; the kinds of things we did when we were teenagers, were all heavy duty nostalgia. The only difference is I wasn't rich and didn't do drugs. The story is about a fictional Ellis in rich people high school with a close group of friends and dealing with rich people problems, drinking, drugs, dysfunctional families. It's dark and suspenseful. I'm going a terrible job of describing it. It did get long for me but it's a page turner.