Reviews & Essays

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow By Gabrielle Zevin I received an ARC of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow from Knopf Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. There’s a scene in the Mike Mills’ film 20th Century Women in which the characters are having a conversation about The Raincoats. One character claims they’re not … [Read More]

NSFW By Isabel Kaplan I received an ARC of NSFW from Henry Holt & Company in exchange for an honest review. NSFW follows an unnamed protagonist, a Harvard graduate whose mother, a famous feminist attorney, helps her get a low-level position at a TV network in LA. You can probably guess where this is going. … [Read More]

The Martyr By Anthony Ryan I received an ARC of The Martyr from Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review. The second entry in Anthony Ryan’s Covenant of Steel series—some of the best low fantasy currently on the market—picks up where the first left off, with Alwyn Scribe in the service of Lady Evadine … [Read More]

Elsewhere By Alexis Schaitkin I received an ARC of Elsewhere from Celadon Books in exchange for an honest review. Like Piranesi (the best book of 2020), Elsewhere is a novel that resists reviewing: it’s nigh-perfect, borderline unclassifiable, and much of its magic depends on you not knowing where its rushing river will take you—what rapids … [Read More]

Not Good for Maidens By Tori Bovalino I received an ARC of Not Good for Maidens from Page Street Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I have fond memories of encountering Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” for the first time in college, but it doesn’t seem to have a strong grip on pop culture the … [Read More]

Hell Followed With Us By Andrew Joseph White I received an ARC of Hell Followed With Us from Peachtree Teen in exchange for an honest review. Hell Followed With Us left me deeply conflicted. It takes place in a world in which a cult has used a bioweapon to eradicate most of humanity, and focuses … [Read More]

Nightcrawling By Leila Mottley I received an ARC of Nightcrawling from Knopf Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. Nightcrawling is a frustrating book. It is an accomplished debut novel from a young writer (Oakland’s former youth poet laureate, seventeen years old when she wrote Nightcrawling) with a strong authorial voice—it wouldn’t surprise me … [Read More]

Counterfeit By Kirstin Chen I received an ARC of Counterfeit from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review. Counterfeit is a novel best experienced if you go in cold, but I have to write something besides “this book is good and you should read it” (although it is and you should), so here are … [Read More]

Yerba Buena By Nina LaCour I received an ARC of Yerba Buena from Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review. I was very much looking forward to Nina LaCour’s adult debut after being enraptured by the lyrical prose and melancholy tone of We Are Okay—I wasn’t sure if that mood was specific to that … [Read More]

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty By Akwaeke Emezi I received an ARC of You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty from Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. After Pet and The Death of Vivek Oji, of course I would be reading the latest Akwaeke Emezi. Of course! … [Read More]