September Reading Recap

From sunny to spooky in one month

My September reads are an almost perfect capsule of a transitional month, as I went from trying to squeeze in one last gasp of summer to embracing full moody, magical reading in an attempt to summon a crisp fall day or two. I read 22 books this month—perhaps too many, at least if you’re judging on the amount of editing that still has to happen with my WIP— so I’ll keep this intro relatively brief but I have quite a few titles to recommend, whatever season you’re in. I did end up DNF’ing Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, a book whose take on Macbeth I was a bit baffled by and that didn’t offer the examination of a complex character and marriage that I was hoping for. If you go into it expecting a medieval fantasy with a YA feel or a loose take on the Melusine myth, you might enjoy it more than I did?

My September reading categories were:

• A book set at a school or university: Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon

• Two paranormal romances: Haunted Ever After by Jen de Luca, Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

• Something with a touch of the Gothic: A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

• A book published at least twenty years ago: The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (and a handful more!)

• And, per usual, a book by Louise Erdrich or Maggie O’Farrell: The Bingo Palace by Louise Erdrich

My October reading categories are:

• A book from the National Book Award longlist and a book from the Booker longlist

• Something that’s over 500 pages long (maybe two? a little treat for chunky book fall?)

• A book with a healthy dollop of magic

• A romance that’s not the first in a series, with bonus points if I own multiple books in the series

• And a book by Louise Erdrich or Maggie O’Farrell

Favorites of the month

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

This loose reimagining of “The Goose Girl” is the perfect showcase for Kingfisher’s dark-yet-cozy style. It’s funny and radiates warmth while also successfully capturing just how creepy the original story is. (I’m a bit of a wimp and could handle this but would suggest checking content warnings just in case.) Kingfisher excels at writing retellings of fairy tales that feel fresh and interesting, especially with how they center untraditional heroes. I loved this cast of characters and Kingfisher's portrayal of whip-smart older heroines, touching later-in-life romances, fierce friendships, and found family. I’m coming to find that I prefer my fantasy on the smaller scale—no world-ending battles or empires torn asunder—but with emotional stakes that feel high because of how richly developed the characters are and Kingfisher is perfect for that.

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon

The sequel to 2020’s Today Tonight Tomorrow finds Rowan and Neil navigating a long-distance relationship during their first year of college. Admittedly, I was predisposed to love this, because Today Tonight Tomorrow was the book I desperately needed in the summer of 2020, but I think Solomon might just have accomplished the very difficult task of writing a sequel to a beloved book. This is a wonderful, smart, empathetic depiction of the first year of college in all its awkward glory, the struggles of navigating a long-distance relationship, and the real work that comes after an HEA. In particular, this one is so thoughtful about communication: what we tell each other and when and the never-ending work of refining it. I also deeply appreciated the compassionate mental health representation and the way this captures college friendship.

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

Messy and swoony in all the right ways, this contemporary romance about a professional baseball player and his heckler is funny, sincere, and suffused with a real love of baseball. (I love a sports romance that’s deeply enthusiastic about its chosen sport.) I adored both how messy this book lets Daphne get, while still making it so the reader completely understands why she makes the mistakes she does, and how soft and emotional it lets Chris get. This felt like the non-alpha hero sports romance I've been waiting for! The character growth and development is just spot-on. I also have to mention that Thompson writes really good steamy scenes, ones which feel both genuinely sexy and grounded in the characters. (Open door, high steam.)

Really liked

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews (Hidden Legacy #1)

A thrilling, wildly entertaining paranormal romance that features well-written action sequences, a fascinating world, and a really compelling heroine in Nevada Baylor, a private investigator tasked with tracking down a dangerous fire mage. She's capable, smart, and motivated by a fierce sense of justice but she's never invulnerable and she's scrappy in a way that I really love in a fantasy heroine. The chemistry between her and Rogan, the perhaps equally dangerous powerful mage she reluctantly teams up with, is hot and I think this is a really great take on a morally grey hero. I also so enjoyed the dynamics within the quirky, close-knit Baylor family and am absolutely going to continue with the series. (Open door, medium steam.)

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

I’m still waiting for my library hold on Intermezzo to come in so I picked up this very Sally Rooney-coded novel, a sharply self-aware, occasionally funny, emotionally knotty love triangle set against the backdrop of late 2010's Hong Kong. I was particularly fascinated by the portrayal of Hong Kong expatriate culture and enjoyed how vividly Dolan evokes the city. This also helped me realize that this particular brand of literary fiction works best for me when there’s a relationship I can get genuinely invested in, to bring a touch of warmth into a genre that can sometimes feel chilly.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

One of the big books of the summer, this contemporary novel centers around Phoebe, a professor who checks into a Newport hotel ready to end her life and, after discovering she’s the only person not there for an extravagant wedding, finds herself unexpectedly becoming the bride’s confidante. This was sincere, smart, hopeful, and heartwarming without being cloying and I spent a sizable chunk of Labor Day weekend adroitly avoiding making plans so I could keep on reading it. I particularly liked how Espach captures social dynamics in such sharp detail and her ear for dialogue. The way she shows chemistry and attraction through dialogue is especially good.

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks

A thought-provoking, deeply relevant look at the ways patriarchy stifles men's emotional expression and what both men and women can do to uplift a positive, feminist form of masculinity. This one was a recommendation from my boyfriend, who’s a big bell hooks fan, and my nonfiction read of the month. It was written in 2004 but feels so prescient. I read this one slowly, pausing in between chapters to give myself time to process, and appreciated both the compassion and the academic rigor that hooks writes with.

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy

A cliff tumbles down on a Cornish hotel, killing seven people. Kennedy then flashes back to the week leading up to the disaster and introduces a sprawling cast of the hotel’s owners, staff, and guests, some of whom are downright terrible. A sharp-eyed upstairs-downstairs look at life in postwar Britain, a smart modern morality play, and a book that drips with summer in its Cornwall setting. I especially appreciated Kennedy's ability to switch from perspective to perspective and steadily ratchet up the tension as we head towards disaster. This felt like the perfect transitional book for the end of summer and beginning of fall and was a hidden gem with a bit of a White Lotus feel to it from the FictionMatters Paperback Summer Reading Guide.

Ever After Always by Chloe Liese (Bergman Brothers #3)

A marriage in crisis romance is a high degree of difficulty but Liese pulls it off with aplomb. The thing that struck me the most about this third installment in the Bergman Brothers series, about eldest daughter Freya and her husband Aiden, is just how good Liese is at writing about feelings. Her characters have rich emotional interior lives and arcs and both the connection and the conflict between Freya and Aiden are palpable on every page. I also loved how this book showcased the Bergman family dynamics in a variety of pairings (Freya and her mom, Aiden and Freya's dad, Freya and Ziggy, Aiden and all the brothers) and depicts a family that's so good at loving and supporting each other. (Open door, high steam.)

The Someday Daughter by Ellen O’Clover

After being known her whole life as the “someday daughter” of her mother’s psychology best seller but having a distant relationship in real life, Audrey joins her mom on book tour for a life-changing summer. This deeply emotional novel exploring mother-daughter relationships shines with its portrayal of complex familial relationships, thoughtful exploration of anxiety, and the sweet romance between Audrey and Silas, one of the video interns on the tour. O’Clover’s writing style is wonderfully vivid and voice-y and I just loved the messy mother-daughter of it all.

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

In 1830’s Nova Scotia, midwife Jean begins to suspect that all is not well with her neighbor and his isolated new wife, a young woman with unknown origins who barely speaks a word of English. I really enjoyed this moody, mysterious spin on the Scottish folktale of "The Selkie Wife", including its expertly crafted ever-growing sense of dread, deeply felt queer love story, immersive sense of setting, and fresh take on a classic tale. Practical, prickly Jean is a wonderfully complex main character and the tender slow burn between her and Muirin is so lovely. I would describe this as more romance-adjacent than pure romance and it’s a refreshingly original entry in the genre. (Closed door.)

Ne’er-Duke-Well by Alexandra Vasti

An abolitionist duke trying to win guardianship of his half-siblings meets a matchmaking debutante who secretly runs an erotic lending library. Romance and mayhem ensue. Vasti’s debut is a witty, downright delightful Regency romp with two deeply charming main characters, banter galore, and an appealing supporting cast who I'm already hoping might get books of their own. The writing is zippy and sparkly while still conveying a great deal of emotion and Peter and Selina have wonderful chemistry in every way. Especially recommended if you're a fan of Tessa Dare. (Open door, high steam.)

Probably not an essential Erdrich but still a lot to appreciate

The Bingo Palace by Louise Erdrich (Love Medicine #4)

A reflection on luck, risk, love, spirituality and generational cycles of hurt that's deeply sad even as it takes a stoic approach to life, with dazzling stretches of prose that strike out of nowhere in signature Erdrich fashion. This wasn’t my favorite in the Love Medicine series, partly because I kept on wanting to go back to the glimpses we get of Fleur Pillager and not to the love triangle the novel mostly revolves around, but it's still a rich addition to the sprawling saga of this North Dakota community and two deeply intertwined families whose scope and depth I’m continually impressed by. Check content warnings before picking this one up if you’re a sensitive reader.

Fun reads that I had minor quibbles with

In the Weeds by B.K. Borison (Lovelight Farms #2)

A burnt-out influencer and a grumpy farmer get a second chance after a weekend-long fling that ended abruptly. I adore the cozy small town atmosphere that Borison creates in this series, complete with hyper-competitive trivia nights, top-notch bakeries, and a phone tree that exists primarily for the purpose of spreading town gossip, and her sparkling writing style. There’s some lovely sentence-level writing and I felt totally transported to Inglewild. What frustrated me a little here were the multiple miscommunications between Beckett and Evie, including a few that could have been easily solved. (Open door, medium steam.)

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca (Boneyard Key #1)

Between this and her Ren Faire romance series, Deluca writes some of the best small towns out there.  I delighted in all the little details about the haunted Florida tourist town this lightly spooky romance is set in and it's obvious how much this book is her love letter to Florida. There's some charming supporting characters, a fun take on what it's like learning to live with a ghost, and cozy vibes that reminded me a little bit of Stars Hollow. The hero was a little grumpy for my taste and although the romance between Nick and Cassie is cute, I was more interested in the town and Nick and Cassie’s relationships with the ghosts they each live with. I think this could be a good transitional read if you're craving fall but still stuck with summery weather. (Open door, medium steam.)

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

When the dead body of the maid of honor shows up the morning of a lavish Nantucket wedding, scandal and mystery ensue. An eminently bingeable, fun read that didn't entirely deliver as a mystery for me but offers plenty of rich people drama, excellent pacing, and a vivid Nantucket setting that had me wanting to book the next flight there immediately. An ideal beach or airplane read.

Tastes Like Shakkar and Marriage & Masti by Nisha Sharma (If Shakespeare Was An Auntie #2 and #3)

I would recommend both the second and third installments of Sharma’s series of loose Shakespeare retellings set in the New Jersey South Asian community to anyone looking for a fast-paced, spicy read with a fabulous heroine, thoughtful portrayal of female friendship, and a dash of Shakespeare references. Both books had subplots that felt a little superfluous and book three has some side characters that I really wanted to see more of, given the impact their actions had on the story, but these were both so much fun. I particularly appreciated book two’s thoughtful portrayal of the two main characters’ complicated relationships with their family businesses and book three’s presentation of a heroine whose kindness is her own kind of strength. (Open door, high steam.)

Would recommend with caveats

The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen

A deeply internal novel set in Ireland in 1920 about an unsettled society, a way of life on the verge of disappearing, and a paper-thin whirl of gaiety and social comedy that the threat of violence lurks beneath. The prose is incredibly dense, sometimes to the point of being impenetrable, but sometimes wonderfully evocative and descriptive. I'd definitely be interested in reading more of Bowen's work. I did find myself wishing that I'd read up on the historical context a little more before starting because the book drops the reader right in and assumes that they understand Anglo-Irish society. If you are going to pick this up, I’d recommend either finding an edition with a good introduction or doing a little reading beforehand.

Intriguing vibes, mixed feelings

Teddy by Emily Dunlay

I really enjoyed some of the elements of this historical novel set in 1960's Rome about the wife of an American diplomat caught up in scandal, including the simultaneously glamorous and seedy Roman setting, the hint of Cold War spy drama, and the exploration of femininity in the 1960's. However, Teddy is so chaotic and naive that I couldn't help wanting her to be a little savvier and her naivete is made extra frustrating by the near-constant foreshadowing which Dunlay employs to build tension. If a character is constantly telling you “if only I’d known better”, I often end up wondering why they couldn’t have known better in the first place.

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell (Barsetshire #2)

A witty, sparkling, featherlight 1930’s romantic comedy with a Noel Coward-esque atmosphere that unfortunately features some outdated language that makes me a little hesitant to recommend it. It’s pure interwar comedy of manners fluff, complete with eccentric lady of the house, whirlwind romance, and copious quips, and I do think reading novels from different time periods, not all of which have aged well, is a valuable experience. I just don’t know if this is the first one I’d read for.

Not necessarily a me book but a great book club book

All Souls by Javier Marais

This campus novel about a Spanish academic’s handful of years at Oxford, complete with philosophical musings, petty academic drama, and an affair with a married professor, was the Fiction Matters book club pick for September. I think you might enjoy this if you gravitate towards novels of ideas and impressive and impressively dense prose, or aren’t a particularly character-driven reader. Although I struggled with our narrator and the way he views women as disposable objects, there’s some truly breathtaking stretches of prose and interesting ideas to ponder and this made for a fantastic discussion.

---

Currently reading: The Lady He Lost by Faye Delacour, a Persuasion-inspired historical romance that I’m already super into.

Recommendations, miscellany, and little bits of joy:

• I got to go to the theater twice this week, to see Our Town and The Hills of California and wept at both of them. The Hills of California, a knotty family drama, is especially astonishing.

• The return of The Great British Bake-Off! My big Friday night plan is to watch the first episode alongside a piece of cake and I can’t wait.

• The figure skating season is here! I usually start watching when the Grand Prix series starts but I’ve been watching select videos from the Challenger series and starting to get excited for the pre-Olympic season. (Now is the time to get into it! Impress your friends with your knowledge when the Olympics come along!)