Hello again, dear readers! It has been a while – a lesson for me never to underestimate the chaos of Summer Reading at the library. I’ve been valiantly trying to keep up with these short reviews in the few spare moments, and now that Summer Reading is almost over, I hope to get back to sharing my reading with.

Middle Grade

• The Deadly Fates. A Conjuror Novel by Dhonielle Clayton. Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt. Henry Holt, 2025 – I’m still enjoying keeping up with this series – good for magical adventure and for the figuring out life and friendships aspects.
• A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya. Read by the author. Kokila, 2025 – Gonzalo has never been a reader or been close to his grandfather, who’s written a best-selling fantasy book series starring a boy also named Gonzalo. Neither Gonzalo nor his mother are pleased when his grandfather announces that he will be driving his own ancient powder-blue convertible from California to Florida for the launch of the last book in the series – but the family road trip will change all of them. I have yet to read a Pablo Cartaya book that didn’t have humor and action tied together with heart and strong family relations, and this one is no exception. Highly recommended.
• A Study in Secrets. Last Chance Academy 1 by Debbi Michiko Florence. Read by Mirai. Aladdin, 2025 – 12-year-old Megumi “Meg” Mizuno has been struggling since her mother’s death and her father’s retreat into endless work travel. She isn’t thrilled about being sent to a boarding school – especially one nicknamed “Last Chance Academy” by its students – but it’s infinitely better than living with her cold aunt, so she’s willing to do what it takes to succeed. When a secret treasure hunt is announced, Meg needs to find a way to succeed in this, make and keep friends, and do it all without getting caught and expelled. This was so much fun, while keeping the themes of belong real. I’ll definitely be reading more, and plan to get a copy for my niece.

• Rainbow Fair by Diana Ma. Read by Dana Wing Lau. HarperAudio, 2025 – Sophie Mu has always helped out at the Chinese booth at her school’s multicultural Rainbow Fair. But when she – and the school coordinator – finds out that she’s also Muslim – she’s assigned to work with a new student on the Muslim booth instead. This requires a crash course in a culture she doesn’t really know anything about, and puts a lot of strain on her existing friendships. This is a great one for kids interested in friend drama, as well as being a sincere look at intersectionality without needing to use the word. Also, robot bunny hilarity. Recommended by Intisar Khanani, from her Muslim writer’s group.
• Underwild: River of Spirits by Shana Targosz. Aladdin, 2025 – As Assistant Ferryer to Charon, Senka lives in between the world of the dead and the world of the living, hoping that one day Charon will let her ferry passengers all by herself. But when a living girl chasing the spirit of her dead brother – who also ran away from the ferry – comes by, Senka finds herself drawn into the quest to help her. Senka’s tone is casual and funny, she’s borrowed a cloak with an attitude from Charon, and the adventures are many – but under it all is a heartfelt look at grief.
• The AI Incident by J.E. Thomas. Levine Querido, 2025 – Foster kid Malcolm wants a permanent home more than anything, so when the new AI robot at school says he can help, Malcolm is inclined to believe him. But an AI willing to do anything to achieve its own goals might not be as trustworthy as it seems. A winning combination of true feelings and relationship-building with on-the-nose thoughts about AI and hijinks.

• Bird of a Thousand Stories by Kiyash Monsef. Simon & Schuster, 2025 – This is the sequel to Once There Was, which I read on audio last year and really enjoyed. It is about a teen, with no romance, so good crossover appeal. Marjan Dastani is carrying on her father’s work as a veterinarian to magical creatures. She loves the creatures, but she’s led to them by a sinister secret organization who sells them to wealthy clients without regard for the creatures’ happiness. So when Marjan starts getting messages from the universe leading her to something big, she sets out hopping around to the world trying to figure out the puzzle without being tracked either by the Fells or a new and even more destructive person. All while struggling to keeps her friends at home close but not in danger. Among all of this are beautiful thoughts about relationships and the importance of stories and magic to life.

Teen

• Into the Bright Open: a Secret Garden Remix by Cherie Dimaline. Feiwel & Friends, 2023 – I’ve set an explicit goal to read at least 9 books by Indiginous authors this year. I’d enjoyed both Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves and the first several books in the Remixed Classics series, so I was very excited to read this one. In 1901 Ontario, 15-year-old Mary Craven is sent from the city to live with the uncle she’s never met. She told to be wary of the trees and the Indians – but the Metis staffing the house are the friendliest people she’s ever met. She also discovers that she has an invalid cousin, Olive, being kept in the attic by her stepmother. This queer retelling has all the joy of nature of the original Secret Garden without the outdated worship of colonialism.

Adult

• Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Del Rey, 2025 – A dreamy story of the owner of a magical pawn shop that buys regrets and the handsome young man who walks in from the mundane world one day. I’m sorry to say that I can’t remember much of it, trying to write about it a couple of months later, but I enjoyed it and the cover does a good job of capturing the mood.
• Shadow of a Dead God: A Mennik Thorn Novel by Patrick Samphire. Seven Fathoms Press, 2020 – Mennik Thorn is a mage living in poverty, mostly because he refuses to get involved in the cut-throat politics of the big magic houses in the city. But when he’s accused of murder, he has to go all out to prove his innocence and find the real culprit. This fast-paced, snarky fantasy mystery reminded me a lot of the Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust.
• The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar. Read by Gem Carmella. Tordotcom, 2025 – This gorgeous short book revisits the ballads of murder over love, set in an old English village on the border of Faerie in a world where magic is grammar and conjugated rather than cast. I highly recommend the audiobook, both for Gem Carmella’s narration, and because of the original flute and harp music that the author and her sister play between chapters.

• Behind Frenemy Lines by Zen Cho. Bramble, 2025 – Zen Cho continues the smart contemporary romance series she began with The Friend Zone Experiment. Kriya Rajasekar is an attorney whose every painfully embarrassing professional moment has been in front of Charles Goh, so that she views him as a nemesis. She’s horrified when, moving to a new firm with her boss, she’s assigned to share an office with Charles. But when her boss starts openly hitting on her, faking a relationship with Charles seems the only way to keep the boss away. This gets at the heart of how insidious sexual harrassment can be. I also loved Charles, who read as quite spectrumy to me, and whose narration appears in short notes that aren’t even full sentences that perfectly expressed this.
• Time of the Cat by Tansy Raynor Roberts. Read by Ciaran Saward. Self-Published, 2023 – The horned Viking helmet on the cover is a joke, but in the world of the book, humans absolutely can time travel, as long as they have a cat companion. The cats are snarky, the adventures are hilarious and mind-bending, all the characters are fans of a now-obscure but much-beloved British TV series with many very different incarnations, and there is a sweet, low-key gay romance. This was just a delight.
• Daindreth’s Assassin by Elisabeth Wheatley. Book Goblin Books, 2025 – I read this thanks to my mother, who bought the series in print after enjoying, like so many of us, the Book Goblin video shorts. The plot runs approximately thusly: elder princess Amira, daughter of the king’s witch first wife, has been declared illegitimate and magically bound to her father so he can use her to an assassin. Naturally, he orders her to assassinate the prince who’s supposed to marry her younger sister – but instead, Daindreth. There is lots of drama and blood and demon possession and very slow-burn romance. I keep saying I’ll just read one more of the series and then asking my mother for the next one after that.

• The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope. Read by Shayna Small. Redhook, 2022 – It’s summer 1925 in Washington, DC’s “Black Broadway”. Clara Johnson officially works in a printing office, but sometimes helps people talk to spirits on the side, though the spirits’ deals always come with nasty strings. But when more and more people from her neighborhood start going missing, she has to investigate. She teams up with her former circus acrobat roommate, a handsome young jazz musician who has his own history with spirits, and his Pullman Porter friend with secret pickpocket skills to stop what’s going on – and try to placate some unhappy spirits. With a determined heroine, a vivid historical setting, a great cast, and a look at the social and racial issues of the day – so many, of course, still with us – this was very enjoyable. It was recommended by Stephanie Burgis, and I definitely now want to read more of Leslye Penelope’s books.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve read or want to read any of these, and as always, if you have any recommendations for me!