Review: Liberty Falling

Liberty Falling by Nevada Barr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The seventh Anna Pigeon novel has her going back to New York City when her sister has a serious health scare, but there's not much she can do, so she sits in National Parks Service quarters on Ellis Island - with some glasses of wine, of course, because would she be Anna Pigeon otherwise? - and soon gets involved in a new mysterious death, a fall at the Statue of Liberty. I will say, though - the original cover art from 1999 with that title, and a lightning strike over the Twin Towers? That most definitely did not age well, through no fault of the book's own.

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Review: Never Say Die

Never Say Die by Ke Huy Quan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From refugee camps in Hong Kong to child stardom in Hollywood, then out of the spotlight yet still active behind the camera in HK in particular, and ultimately to an Oscar-winning comeback performance…there’s a reason we all love Ke Huy Quan. Because he’s one of the best humans not only in the business, but on the whole damn planet. And so are many of those who were around him way back when, though perhaps none better than even the famously prickly Harrison Ford, showing his gentler side around young Quan in the 80s in so many small ways adding up greater than the sum of their parts. No matter what age, Quan’s been nothing but a great damn role model all his life.

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Review: Escape Me

Escape Me by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tahereh Mafi was fortunate to be able to finish two books in the new Shatter Me series for 2026 publication while she takes her time concluding This Woven Kingdom, and this book is now looking to be in the middle of another five-book saga. This time, much of the drama stems from a series of messages on a pager with no known source, but they're very aggressively reminiscent of trolls on social media...or perhaps that capering little devil Iblees from roughly the same point in This Woven Kingdom. Trying to figure out where these pager messages are coming from, and the identity of the latest threat to our heroes, is the overarching goal of this book, which leads up to perhaps the most shocking ending yet in this saga, one which I hope to see resolved in the fourth book very soon. Though I imagine we'll have to wait a bit longer while Mafi finishes her romantasy first...

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Review: The Siren

The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tomi Adeyemi is back with something completely different: dark academia in a modern setting at Dartmouth University, following a young woman with well buried mental health issues as she gets involved with the most secret of secret sororities, and their supernatural surprises.

Review: Victorious

Victorious by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Each entry in this series has felt like it really could be the end of it all - the first book was standalone, and the second felt like a neat duology wrap up. Now, there's this third and final novel, and for real for real it's the end of the road for our favorite EO's, and this time, the ending is nothing short of definitive. Still...did we really need this book? Especially when Schwab has been neglecting the Fragile Threads saga for half as many years as it took to go from Vengeful to Victorious, and with no end in sight? As much as Schwab is a fave of mine, she's long had a tendency to get stuck writing books that feel more like she was contracted to write them, and leave her best material by the wayside. So while I'm disappointed that we're still waiting endlessly for more Fragile Threads, at least this series now finally gets to rest. Vas ir...anoshe.

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Review: Dead Beat

Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After all these years, Bardugo’s best known modern and least-for-children fantasy saga reaches its long awaited conclusion. Each book having taken three years or more to come along, it’s easy to see why, with all the extensively researched Yale geography and architecture, as well as the deeply detailed occult stories - this one, in particular, feels like Bardugo really got into the nearest Egyptologist’s library, more so than ever before. While the first two books form a duology of their own, of sorts, this book’s forward momentum really brings the story to its logical conclusion, while still leaving room for further mysteries down the line if Bardugo ever gets to write them. Until then, this trilogy officially gets its ave atque vale.

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Review: Tempest

Tempest by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aveyard’s official adult debut, her love letter to Pirates of the Caribbean, isn’t getting as much love as her previous books. Hell, the first online response I saw was a Threads post calling this book “shit from a butt.” Well, it’s not my favorite from Aveyard by a long shot, but it’s clearly a labor of love for her.