Somehow I ended up with a glut of NetGalley ARCs, and since your response percentage affects the likelihood of getting new ARCs (not that I need them, obviously), I spent last weekend working on catching up. Luckily, I got four super great ones. They’re not available until next spring, but you can still place pre-orders now. Pre-orders are great for authors AND tomorrow’s Small Business Saturday is a great excuse to patronize your local indie bookstore. All the links below to go mine, Bookmarks!
Deadstream, Mar Romasco-Moore – April 1
Oh, man, I loved this. Teresa’s trauma was more real than many books dealing mental health issues. The author did a stellar job showing us her* world, and I loved the community of people she* had around her*. I am an Extremely Old person (capitalization from the book) and know zilch about streaming, but found the descriptions of Replay’s online world compelling and easy to visualize and understand — and also tempting. As the story amped up and the horror aspect became more real, I couldn’t read fast enough. This book felt very new, and I was completely enthralled.
“Her*” refers to Teresa trying to figure out she* is and what pronouns are appropriate. Lovely LGBTQIA+ rep!
The Sirens, Emilia Hart – April 1
Who doesn’t love seeing men behaving badly get their comeuppance? It should be pretty obvious from the title where this book is going, and I loved going along for the ride to see exactly how Hart would blend her historical and contemporary storylines. A lovely lazy Sunday read that would be especially appropriate for a bath.
All We Lost Was Everything, Sloan Harlow – May 6
Well, this was a dang delight. Just like her first book, Harlow spins the most dark and twisty tangled tale. So many ways you think it could go and you’re wrong every time. Well, I was anyway. I laughed, sobbed, and devoured this in one sitting. Harlow is definitely a go-to author for me from now on.
The Ghostwriter, Julie Clark – June 3
There is a coldness to the start of this book. Olivia has had a lot bad stuff happen to her over the years, and she is a closed off narrator, not immediately compelling or captivating — and that is part of what makes this book so compelling and captivating. Clark manages to show us all the reasons Olivia acts the way she does and gets us on her side as she deals with the difficulties of her family history and her current present situations. The dual narrative, past and present, is especially appropriate given Olivia’s father’s mixing of timelines. Altogether another great twisty mystery from Clark
There was also one novel I DNF last weekend. It was an ecoterrorism/corporate espionage shenanigans filled with some… interesting… political theories. I kept going in the interest of being open-minded — until the protagonist said that a certain techbro who has more money than god and is using it just to oppress everyone who isn’t a rich, white, straight, cis dude (and who claims to be for free speech but labeled the scientific term “cis” a slur) was “a wise man”, and I found out where my line is, apparently.
Ann Davis-Rowe 
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