I read nineteen books in May and it felt like a really good reading month. Even though I didn’t love everything I read in May, I look at this list of books and feel a sense of satisfaction with my reading life permeate me. I had four (!) favorites that I would wholeheartedly recommend, got to some titles that had been on my TBR for a while, and read across a variety of genres.
This past month, I found myself drawn away from contemporary fiction and towards both classics and historical fiction, seeking the feeling of getting totally lost in another place and time. It was also a month of vibe-heavy books. Looking back over my book journal, I found the phrase “immaculate vibes” three times. I always love an atmospheric read but I especially love an atmospheric read in the summer, whether it’s consumed sprawled out on a picnic blanket, on a long train or picnic ride, or indoors on a rainy day.
Favorites of the month
Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz
I’m officially declaring 2023 my summer of Eve Babitz. I really enjoyed Sex and Rage last year and picked this up when I was looking around for something with flawless vibes and a sense of summer to spend Memorial Day weekend with. I’m happy to report that the vibes were indeed flawless. The LA sunshine practically drips off these pages and Babitz's writing just casts a spell. I found myself wishing I'd read with book darts in hand so I could flag all the pages with sentences I wanted to remember, which were an astonishing number for such a short book. (There’s a bit about her carrying a paperback everywhere that spoke to my paperback-toting soul.) The love with which she writes about LA almost made me love LA, even as a lifetime Northern California partisan, and she captures all of its contradictions and glory perfectly. Babitz is so vividly alive in these pages and I would have hung out with her for hundreds more. I’m planning on reading more of her work this season and think her dizzyingly fun, very smart writing is the perfect summer companion.
Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller
Oh, I loved this to distraction. A historical romance set during ball season in 1870's Vienna between a hotelkeeper and an undercover Treasury agent that features political intrigue, romantic drama, some seriously dreamy ball gowns, a marvelous cast of secondary characters, and a competent, lovable hero and heroine at its heart. The mystery plot is satisfying and suspenseful but never subsumes the romance, which takes center stage and remains there, as is its right. The tension between Eli and Maria is exquisite and I adored them together. They're both people who care so fiercely for those around them yet have trouble asking others for help, so seeing them learn to lean on each other is beyond lovely. They also feel like very distinctive, unique characters, in particular when it comes to swapping some of the typical gender dynamics in historical romance. (Maria is the more experienced one sexually and Eli is a virgin who purchases erotic books in order to educate himself. Top tier romance hero behavior.) I wouldn't call this book high angst but it's genuinely emotional and moving, especially when it comes to Maria's relationships with her mother and grandmother. But Biller also has a fizzy wit that shines in this book, from the quippy French spy staying at the hotel to Maria's plan to better equip the linen closets for secret assignations. A dazzling whirl of a romance that I want to recommend to everyone I know. (Open door, high steam.)
Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell
When wealthy socialite and secret mind reader Tennalhin Halkana is conscripted into the military against his will, he’s placed under the supervision of duty-bound captain Surit Yeni and ordered to complete a mind-merge. Only Tennal and Surit decide to fake the bond instead and plot Tennal’s escape. This is simultaneously a thrilling sci-fi adventure and a deeply felt romance, which I think is quite the feat. Maxwell packs in a ton of world-building and plot but never skimps on the character beats. By the end of the book, I was so attached to these characters, even the secondary ones! The romance between Tennal and Surit is a gorgeously done slow burn. If you like books where you're practically shrieking at the main characters to kiss, this is for you. I love a good order and chaos pairing and they complement each other perfectly. This is also a surprisingly, slyly funny book. I found myself commanding the people around me to listen to every particularly good line. I was totally hooked and invested while reading and I can't wait to see what Maxwell does next. (Closed door.)
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
This retelling of The Great Gatsby revolves around a Jordan Baker who’s a queer Vietnamese adoptee and an alternate magical 1920’s of flying charms, paper creations that come to life, and bargains with dark forces. The Chosen and the Beautiful is a stunning fever dream of a book that captures the allure and the tragedy of Gatsby while offering its own distinctive point of view. The magic-steeped version of the Roaring 20's that Vo creates is rich, alive, and full of eerie, beautifully written details. I was completely immersed in the world and found the storytelling to be absolutely mesmerizing. This is exactly what I want out of a retelling of a classic, creativity and daring paired with a deep understanding of the classic itself, and nuanced character development that brings new dimensions to the work.
Really liked
So Big by Edna Ferber
A 1920's classic that succeeds as both a portrait of American life and of one ordinary, extraordinary woman's life. I just loved Selina Peake DeJong, her irrepressible spirit, and her longing for beauty. I wanted her to succeed so badly and relished seeing her take a life that seems small at first glance and find the vastness within it. Even though I was less interested in her son Dirk and would have probably preferred to stick with Selina for the entire book, the contrast between the life she yearns to give him and the life he ends up pursuing is very effective. The portrait of a changing Chicago is wonderfully done and Ferber's writing is lively and forceful, with some striking images. An underrated classic that I can’t believe isn’t taught and read more and would highly recommend.
A Rogue’s Rules for Seduction by Eva Leigh
A second-chance romance that takes place at a house party on a remote Scottish island that features some epic groveling, deeply emotional conversations, and excellently done steamy scenes. This is a really well-executed second chance romance, as Leigh shows why Dom and Willa wouldn't have worked in the past, how they need to change and grow in order to have a healthy relationship now, and that actual growth. It's not some manufactured misunderstanding or character development that takes place off the page. As readers, we actually get to see and buy into that transformation. I loved both Dom and Willa as individual characters and together. Although Dom is a typical historical romance hero in some ways, he's eternally in awe of Willa, as Leigh's heroes always are of the heroines, and so respectful of her autonomy and her choices. Willa gets the space to be a little messy, to figure herself and her feelings out, and to realize some of her past mistakes. And when they finally see each other for who they really are, it's gorgeously swoony. Leigh is a go-to historical romance author for me and this did not disappoint. (Open door, high steam.)
This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
A contemporary YA set in Beijing, where Eliza Lin finds herself Internet famous after her essay about meeting the love of her life goes viral. There’s just one small problem: she made the whole thing up. Enter fake dating with Caz Song, the famous actor in her class at an elite international school. Eliza and Caz are adorable together and the mutual pining was excellently done. I also quite enjoyed Eliza's loving relationship with her family, the subplot with her long-distance best friend as she struggles to maintain the closeness of their relationship, and the reflections on the meaning of home. The Beijing setting comes to vivid life, from the c-drama sets Caz films on to the street vendors Eliza and Caz visit on their trips around the city. Read this when you’re in the mood for something quick and fun.
The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews
A Victorian romance about a marriage of convenience that quickly deepens into something more, that includes a touch of the Gothic, well-rounded characters, and, as I've already come to expect from Mimi Matthews, an elegant depth of feeling. It's evident how much her writing has grown since this book but it's also evident what a high baseline she started off from. The way she imbues even the smallest moments with meaning and slowly unfolds her characters both to the reader and to each other always makes her novels stand out to me. The prose is lovely, the historical setting well researched, and the whole thing a treat from start to finish. (Closed door.)
Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki
A nuanced, subtle exploration of a society caught between two different ways of being and a marriage frozen in indecision. The writing is really transportive, especially when it comes to describing the traditional Japanese puppet shows and the spell they cast on Kaname. I don’t think I got everything that was going on in this book but I was okay with that and curious to read more of Tanizaki’s work. This was something totally new to me and I savored being immersed in another world and another literary style.
Liked, with a tiny quibble or two
Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins
A historical romance set in the Old West about a female rancher who’s carved her own path despite a scandalous past and the newspaper reporter who’s captivated by her. I thought the resolution was a little rushed and packed a lot of key plot developments into a short number of pages, especially with one major difference I would have liked to see Spring and Garrett work out over the course of several conversations. However, I otherwise really enjoyed Spring and Garrett together, especially how he appreciates and isn't intimidated by her strength and independence. I also liked how Jenkins incorporates lesser known pieces of history and creates such a full, rich world. I felt like I was in that small Wyoming town alongside these characters. There's something solid and satisfying about her storytelling that feels so comforting and I'm looking forward to continuing to dive into her back catalog. (Open door, high steam.)
Between Us by Mhairi Macfarlane
Joe and Roisin’s relationship has been rocky for a while but when Roisin sees secrets that she’s told Joe featured in his new crime drama about a cheating detective, she starts to wonder what else he might have pulled from real life. This didn't quite reach the heights of some of McFarlane's previous novels for me, perhaps because I wanted some more build up towards the central romance, but there's still something about her writing that I just gobble up like candy. I was always rooting for Roisin, even at her messiest, and really enjoyed the nuance McFarlane brings to her relationships with both her friend group and her mother. The portrayal of female friendship here really shines. She's also good at handling tough topics with sensitivity, compassion, and an ultimate sense of hope. (Closed door.)
The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp by Eva Rice
A brick of a historical fiction novel about a vicar’s daughter in the early 60’s who’s swept off to London and into fame after a producer hears her sing at a wedding. This book doesn't need to be nearly 600 pages but there's something I find irresistible about Eva Rice's writing anyway. It's warm, sparkly, and deeply sincere without ever being overly sentimental. I really liked the sister story and family dynamics in this one, as well as the lively portrayal of 60's London. There's something charmingly retro about it that works for me and naive but determined Tara makes for an appealing heroine. There's perfectly placed details, witty lines, and a sense of a place on the precipice of massive change.
Liked, with somewhat more significant quibbles
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
A deeply autobiographical novel based on Ephron’s own divorce from Carl Bernstein, after he had an affair with their mutual friend while she was pregnant with their second child. While it unfortunately has some outdated attitudes and language, it also possesses a sharp and distinctive voice that's funny, perceptive, and emotionally resonant in the way that only Ephron can be. There are some passages that I just wanted to underline extensively and the combination of humor and heartbreak is precisely calibrated for effect at every turn.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
A formerly engaged couple must pretend to still be together during their friend group’s annual vacation. This was a hotly anticipated release but I was a little disappointed in it, especially after adoring Book Lovers last year. What did really work for me were the loving, complicated friend group dynamics and the importance of friendship in the characters’ lives. The writing is very good on a sentence level, from the banter to the wonderfully rendered Maine setting to the depth of emotion, and I thought Harriet's struggle with familial pressures and her own people-pleasing was really well done. However, I was more attached to the friendship than the romance and felt like the romance was annoyingly perfect in the flashback sections. Wouldn't there be issues that Wyn and Harriet had to cope with in the past, before the big traumatic event that breaks them? (Also, their breakup could have been prevented by one conversation.) I won’t go into detail about it here for spoilery reasons but I also had some issues with the ending. Most of all, after reading this book and consuming some of the conversations around it, I found myself wanting to push back a little against the idea of Emily Henry’s books as their own, superior genre. While I enjoyed her previous three books a lot and think they’re great gateways into the romance genre, she’s not the only romance writer delivering well written titles that explore themes like grief or familial relationships alongside the central romance. There’s lots more to explore and love in the genre! (Open door, minimal steam.)
A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera
A Caribbean rum heiress and a Scottish distiller enter a marriage of convenience fueled by a mutual attraction and the hero’s desire to take revenge on his tyrannical father. My favorite elements were the Belle Epoque Paris setting and the thoughtful look at the realities of 19th century Europe, both unusual for a historical romance. Herrera is very deliberate about addressing colonialism and imperialism head-on and showing the obstacles Luz Alana faces as a woman of color trying to do business. I also appreciated the fact that Evan is already aware of his privilege (to a certain degree) before meeting her. It's evident how much research went into this and I quite enjoyed learning about some lesser-known pieces of history. But the pacing just felt weird. Luz Alana and Evan fall in insta-lust and I wanted a few more moments of vulnerability and connection between them that would have given the steamy scenes a greater resonance. There are also a series of misunderstandings that seem to spring from the need to draw out conflict instead of from the characters themselves and a late-breaking secondary villain/piece of melodrama that felt totally unnecessary. (I'm very over the last minute peril trope in historicals.) However, I do want to see what Herrera does with the next book in this series and think this might work well for other readers, especially ones looking for a more modern take on historical romance. (Open door, high steam.)
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
A complicated, compelling look at history, memory, and true crime that follows podcaster Bodie Kane as she returns to the New Hampshire boarding school she attended as a teen in the 90's and finds herself with new questions about the murder of her former roommate. I absolutely devoured this book. I read it over the course of a few days in huge gulps and when I wasn't reading it, I was still living inside its world. Makkai expertly renders the boarding school setting, especially in the middle of the New Hampshire winter, and absolutely nails the haziness of memory, the way something you were once sure of can tilt and shift until you see it from an entirely new angle. I also just love the way she structures her sentences and think she has a real talent for writing propulsive literary fiction. However, this book crams so much in, from Me Too to the ethics of true crime to cancel culture, and I don't know if all of it gets fully fleshed out, especially with an ending that resists any kind of conclusiveness. I found myself wishing she'd narrowed her focus a bit and really explored a few of these themes instead of hopping from one to the next.
Flawless vibes, frustrating protagonists
Groupies by Sarah Priscus
This novel set in the 1970's LA music scene focuses on Faun, an aspiring photographer with a desperate need for others' approval and affection, and her best friend Josie, a beautiful whirlwind in a relationship with the frontman of a rock band that turns increasingly dangerous. The writing is excellent, both when it comes to creating the sleazy, glamorously tragic atmosphere of 1970's LA and to conjuring a sense of impending doom. (The first line is a fabulous hook.) Priscus' prose keeps the story hurtling along and totally drops the reader into the world of the book. I like the idea of bringing more nuance to the groupie narrative and think the book does that with its portrayals of the different women attached to the band. My main sticking point with this is that I'm the kind of reader who wants to like something about the main character or at least find them compelling. Faun's head is an incredibly hard one to be stuck in. It's not that she's a poorly developed character. All the ways that she's the worst are very precisely sketched and it's clear where a lot of her poor choices come from, as she's a seething pool of need who's always been in Josie's shadow. But I wanted so badly for her to do one thing for someone else and not herself, or for her to have a little bit more charm and charisma. I don't mind and can really enjoy a messy heroine but for me, she has to be at least a little appealing. However, I enjoyed the writing enough that I'd definitely pick up Priscus' next book.
A Theater for Dreamers by Polly Samson
Set among the artists and writers who flocked to Hydra in the 1960's, this novel excels at capturing a time and place and bringing historical figures to life but fares less well with the fictional ones. The way Samson describes the world of the island is practically cinematic, from the houses perched on steep cliffs to the petty dramas of the community of artists and writers to the ancient rituals the people of the island still engage in. I was also fascinated by all the real life people and events she portrays and found myself googling almost immediately afterwards. There's a pervading sense of both wild possibility and wild despair. But where this falters is with its main character Erica, who comes off as a bit of a blank compared to the vividly drawn people around her. She's such a passive observer for most of the book that I never really got invested in her story or her dreams.
Not my thing, but a good book club pick
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
A dark skewering of wellness culture that leans all the way into body horror very effectively but isn't as strong when it comes to character development. Body horror isn't really my thing--I read this for a book club and would have stopped thirty pages in if it hadn't been for one--but Huang does craft a lot of striking, visceral images and an ever-growing sense of dread. This really takes Goop-esque wellness culture to its darkest extremes and makes some prescient points about our skewed beauty standards. However, all of the characters felt a bit thin, even our narrator. None of them really came to life and I wasn't invested in any of the interpersonal relationships, even as the body count ticked up. It made for an animated discussion at my book club and it might be a good pick for yours if everyone involved has a strong stomach.
Currently reading: Beginners’ Luck by Kate Clayborn. I adore her eye for detail and lovable, real characters and was very happy to realize I had one of her backlist titles hanging out at the back of my bookshelf.
What's bringing me joy this week:
The news that The Ripped Bodice is opening a bookstore in Brooklyn!!! My excitement is already at fever pitch. (I used an unprecedented number of exclamation points in my texts to friends about this news.)
My first NYC ferry ride. Possibly the best way to get from Queens to Manhattan? The weather was sunny and breezy and the views unparalleled.
XO, Kitty on Netflix. I started watching this week and so far, it’s super charming and has a lot of fun playing around with k-drama tropes.
I think I’ll read Slow Days, Fast Company this summer too! I think you might really enjoy the opening of LA WOMAN in which a teenage girl bemoans the true horror of having to spend a month in New Jersey
I had the same reaction to I Have Some Questions for You and Heartburn! So since we have established our similar taste, I will also be declaring this the Summer of Eve Babitz. Just ordered Sex & Rage, I'll report back :)