Some are June books, some are July books, but good news is they’re pretty solid!

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan
Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher
You’re Safe Here by Leslie Stephens
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Break To You by Neal Shusterman, Debra Young, & Michelle Knowlden

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
Series: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy #2
Published by Orbit on July 2, 2024
Pages: 464
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

From the author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy comes a heartwarming fantasy with a best friends-to-lovers rom com twist--When Harry Met Sally, but with dragons!—set in the delightful demigod and donut-filled world of Tanria.

The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla and Frank are still patrolling the dangerous land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.

Twyla might look like a small town mom who brings cheesy potatoes to funerals and whips up a batch of cookies for the school bake sale, but her rewarding career in law enforcement has been a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank's job a lot safer ... and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals covered in liquid glitter--and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon--they are more than happy to be back on the beat.

Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as the danger closes in and Twyla and Frank's investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might just be the person who has lived next door all along...

If you happened to check, this book contains 464 pages. I read those pages in one sitting. Did my ass fall asleep? Yes. Was it worth it? Also yes. Look, I started the book around 10:30ish, and read straight through ’til 2am. I have no regrets, and in fact, I legit could not stop reading. It was like “I cannot function as a person until Twyla and Frank get a HEA”. And was it everything I hoped it would be? You bet your numb ass it was!

Megan Bannen can just go ahead and take all my money at this point. Whether she’s doing dark YA that’s breaking my heart into shreds, or giving me incredible romantasy banter and hilarious characters with tons of excitement, she can do no wrong. (I just realized I have never rated her books anything less than 5 stars, holy crap!) This book can definitely be read as a standalone, as it is a companion and not a direct sequel. That said, you will miss the awesomeness of all the characters that pop in from Hart & Mercy, and frankly, you owe it to yourself to read them both. When I started, I was like “well sure it’s good but I shan’t love anything as much as H&M“. And reader, I was wrong. I may even love it more. It’s funny, heartfelt, extremely high stakes, features dragon babies (another thing I may have said was along the lines of “harumph I do not like dragons” and again, wrong.

They are delightful and wonderful and I’d die for them.

Anyway, I can’t even begin to tell you all the reasons I loved this book, but in addition to all of the above, the protagonist is a fifty-something single mom and it is magical. I mean, how often to we see older women get any story, let alone getting to be a kickass protector, love interest, and still be totally relatable? That alone won me over, and then you add in all the other awesomeness, and yep, I’m in love.

Bottom Line: Honestly I have nothing else to tell you except pre-order this book right now and thank me later.

Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan
Published by Little Brown Company on June 25, 2024
Pages: 320
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Dolores O'Shea’s marriage collapses when she discovers her husband’s AI sex doll in the garage. When she moves “Zoey” into the house, they become oddly bonded, opening the door to a lifetime of repressed feelings and memories. Darkly funny and endlessly sharp, Hey, Zoey is a propulsive story of love, family, and trauma in our tech-buffered age of alienation as strange as it is familiar.

43-year-old Dolores O'Shea is logical, organized, and prepared to handle whatever comes her way. She keeps up with her job and housework, takes care of her mentally declining mother, and remains close with her old friends and her younger sister who's moved to New York. Though her marriage with David, an anesthesiologist, isn't what is used to be, nothing can quite prepare her for Zoey, the $8,000 AI sex doll that David has secretly purchased and stuffed away in the garage. At first, Zoey sparks an uncharacteristically strong violence in Dolores, whose entire life is suddenly cast in doubt.But then, Dolores and Zoey start to talk...and what surfaces runs deeper than Dolores could have ever expected, with consequences for all of the relationships in her life, especially her relationship to herself. Provocative, brilliant, and tender, Hey, Zoey is an electrifying new novel about the painful truths of modern-day connection and the complicated and unexpected forms that love can take in a lifetime.

After loving several of Sarah Crossan’s YA titles, I was eager to take my first (and certainly not last) foray into her adult fiction. The title of the book may be about Zoey, but the book itself is truly the story of Dolores. And it’s one I quite enjoyed, and definitely felt sympathetic toward. So look: this isn’t really about the AI sex doll, but it isn’t not about it either. It’s just less of a focus than I’d first thought. And that was fine!

Because wow, I felt Dolores. Ma’am is over here in the deadest of dead end marriages, but like a lot of us, she doesn’t quite see the signs. Or sees them, perhaps, but doesn’t realize how not okay they are. For example, “I thought that not wanting to touch your wife was perfectly normal” was one of her lines early on, which speaks volumes, especially in its nonchalance. Dolores is busy taking care of her mother who has some form of dementia, working at her teaching job, and basically just all the mundanity of life. When she realizes that her husband has spent eight thousand dollars on this doll, she’s finally awakened from her placation.

Basically, Zoey is the catalyst for Dolores to finally see her life as it is. Not only that, Zoey opens the door for Dolores to face some of her past demons, too, as well as figure out some family dynamics, what she wants out of her career, etc. I liked this because… well, not everyone gets a “Zoey Moment”. I did. Dolores did. But I hope that this story can be that “Zoey Moment” for someone to realize that they don’t need to be a passive viewer in their own life. I liked those messages, and even though I would have liked more exploration into the ethics and such of AI dolls, it was still very worth the read.

Bottom Line: More a contemporary than a speculative/AI story, it is still incredibly worth it to watch Dolores take back her agency.

Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher
Published by Tor.com on June 25, 2024
Pages: 111
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

An A.I. wages war on a future it doesn't understand.

Alice is the last human. Street-smart and bad-ass.

After discovering what appears to be an A.I. personality in an antique data core, Alice undertakes to find its home somewhere in the stargate network, or lay him to rest. Her find is the control unit of a powerful ancient weapon system.

But releasing the ghost of a raging warrior for whom the war is still under way is as much of a mistake as the stories tell, and Alice finds herself faced with an impossible choice against an unstoppable foe.

Bottom Line: An action packed adventure with a very intriguing main character, I just wish it had all been a little more, in the end.

You're Safe Here by Leslie Stephens
Published by Gallery/Scout Press on June 25, 2024
Pages: 320
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Wellness, motherhood, and technology converge in a future California as three women’s seemingly innocuous decisions have consequences greater than they could imagine.

In 2060, the WellPod is the latest launch from the largest tech company the world has ever seen—a fleet of floating personal paradises scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean, focused entirely on health, solitude, and relaxation. Created by an enigmatic founder who will stop at nothing to ensure her company’s success, it is the long-awaited pinnacle of wellness technology. For newly pregnant Maggie, the six-week program is the perfect chance to get away…especially since the baby isn’t her partner’s.

Noa Behar isn’t a perfect fiancée. She’s too distracted, too focused on her work in helping program the WellPod to give Maggie the attention she deserves. But when she discovers something rotten beneath WellPod’s shiny exterior—a history of faulty tech and dangerous cover-ups—she knows one thing: She’ll do whatever it takes to keep Maggie safe.

You’re Safe Here was quite ambitious, and took a lot of turns I definitely did not expect. I loved the twistiness of it, but wished that certain parts had been focused on a bit more. The story starts off a bit slow. We’re following Maggie, who is pregnant and in a pod in the Pacific Ocean, and Noa, Maggie’s partner who has parted with her on not-so-great terms, but is not in a pod in the middle of the ocean so I feel like she’s winning? Anyway. We’re getting to know their current situations, and then how they got to this particular point where one of them decided isolated pod life was the better option to their current status. We also follow (to a somewhat lesser, at arm’s length extent) Emmett, who is a tech wizard and the brain behind the pods.

Things pick up, and they pick up a lot, mostly during the second half of the book. I didn’t mind the quieter first half, but I’ll also say I was definitely more invested when the action (and the stakes) were well and truly upped halfway through. The twists that began to happen were amazing, and they definitely propelled me to keep turning the pages. My qualm, really, is that in introducing a lot of cool twists, the end felt too rushed- and too unanswered. I think it needed a few more chapters to really round out all the threads it started.

Bottom Line: Loved the twisty bits, loved the concept, just wish it had answered all the questions it had me asking!

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim
Published by Erewhon Books on June 25, 2024
Pages: 288
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.

Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying… yet enticing.

In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.

For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.

A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.

“Content notice: The Eyes Are the Best Part contains depictions of violence, eye horror, body horror, murder, cannibalism, descriptions of war trauma (non-graphic, starvation), stalking, sexism, and racism (Asian objectification).”

Obviously, pay attention to the “eye horror” bit in the CW, folks. I can do body horror, but eye stuff is… harder. And crunchier, apparently. I shudder, but also digress. This was quite an interesting story: it functions as a horror, certainly, but also a really compelling story about families and personal identity and such. For me personally, I had an idea where the story was headed (and I was correct) but that didn’t really take too much away from it.

Ji-won’s dad has left, and her mom is inconsolable. Instead of being there for Ji-won and her younger sister, she’s busy wallowing. Of course, this all changes when she meets shitty white guy new beau George. Suddenly, Mom is back at life, only she cares less about her daughters than what George thinks. It’s gross, obviously, and we hate to see it. Ji-won does not like George- and very rightfully so- but tries to tolerate her for her mom’s sake. What evolves is a story of how Ji-won comes to terms with life at a local college, figuring out friendships and romantic relationships, and certainly, handling family issues.

At first, you’re fully sympathetic to Ji-won’s plight. George is awful, her friends have gone off to college without her, her dad left, and her mom likes to eat fish eyes. This is all bad news, right? But as the story goes on, you see how much more sinister it all is. Some of the people Ji-won meets at college are not great, George is worse than Ji-won ever imagined, but maybe there are a few things Ji-won is hiding, too. And you’re going to see just how bananas things are about to get.

Bottom Line: It’s messy and messed up, but in a way that you likely won’t be able to put down.

Break to You by Neal Shusterman, Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden
Published by Quill Tree Books on July 2, 2024
Pages: 432
Format:eARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review, via Netgalley

Bestselling author of Scythe and Challenger Deep Neal Shusterman, here with coauthors Debra Young and Michelle Knowlden, tells an intense yet tender story of two teens, trapped in impossible circumstances and unjust systems, willing to risk everything for love—no matter the consequences.

Adriana knows that if she can manage to keep her head down for the next seven months, she might be able to get through her sentence in the Compass juvenile detention center. Thankfully, she’s allowed to keep her journal, where she writes down her most private thoughts when her feelings get too big.

Until the day she opens her journal and discovers that her thoughts are no longer so private. Someone has read her writings—and has written back. A boy who lives on the other side of the gender-divided detention center. A boy who sparks a fire in her to write back.

Jon’s story is different than Adriana’s; he’s already been at Compass for years and will be in the system for years to come. Still, when he reads the words Adriana writes to him, it makes him feel like the walls that hold them in have melted away.

This fast-paced, highly compelling tour de force novel exposes what life is like in detention—and reveals the hearts of two teens who are forced to live in desperate circumstances.

Hands down, the most important facet of this book for me was the discussion of the juvenile detention system. The stories of the kids who ended up there were definitely emotionally provocative, and while this is definitely marketed as a romance book (and it does have a romance plot, no doubt!) that was secondary to me to the commentary on what kids go through in this very messy system. This is such a complex topic, and I have so many thoughts on it, certainly too many to cram into what is supposed to be a book review, so I’ll just say this: it is not by accident that most of the kids who end up in the juvenile detention system are those least able to fight their charges. If you head down to your local juvy, I’ll give you a guess at how many rich white kids are in there. You probably won’t need more than one chance.

This is in part how Adriana and Jon find themselves in their respective predicaments. And, how they find each other. Adriana is to be keeping a journal for mental health reasons, and eventually convinces the detention center psychologist to let her keep it. One thing leads to another, and she finds she’s left it in the library… with all her most personal, deepest thoughts inside for anyone in the facility to stumble upon. Luckily, Jon doesn’t share her thoughts with every dude in the group (granted, he does read it, which is kind of crappy, but alas), and he also responds to her. So begins their correspondence, which makes both of their stays a bit more bearable. And look, the relationship is a little (a lot? Idk) insta-lovey. But it wasn’t a huge deal for me.

Because there is so much more going on than just Adriana and Jon’s developing relationship, and I really think that is where the heart of this story lies. Each main character has a group of fellow detainees that become almost more like a family, and deciding who is trustworthy- who would help them and who would harm them- becomes a huge focal point. So too do the secrets festering behind the scenes at this center. It is corrupt, as most are wont to be, and figuring that out is equally harrowing (and important) for our characters. And if you are not absolutely enraged at some of the issues… well, you need to be.

Bottom Line: It’s a beautiful story of love and friendship, but I also hope it makes you as incensed as it made me.

Have you read any of these books? Plan to? Let us chat about them!