Lynne M. Thomas's Blog, page 4

Book review: Lady Eve’s Last Con, by Rebecca Fraimow

This was a lot of fun. A con (rather than heist) novel, set on a satellite in space, where Ruthi/Evelyn tries to get revenge on Esteban (rich, clueless) who got her sister pregnant while on a interstellar cruise and abandonded her. Ruthi’s plan: masquerade as Evelyn Ojukwu, rural-planet debutante, seduce him, get engaged, get him to break the engagement, and accept a hefty payout that will take care of her sister and the baby. And then Sol, Esteban’s gloriously suave and sexy half-sister turns up and complicates Ruthi’s plan. A lot. Because Ruthi thinks Sol is hot. And Sol is in trouble with the mob.

It just got a *lot* more complicated.

Think of this as a Sapphic version of one of my favorite screwball comedies (The Lady Eve, 1941, written by Preston Sturges and Starring Barbara Stanwyk and Henry Fonda); I assume the reference is intentional.

A fabulous romp that is tied up in the most satisfactory manner. You root for Ruthi and Sol the whole way.

Definitely recommended.

Book review: The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills

Told in two timelines set twenty years apart, we follow Zemolai as she grapples with the choices that she makes in good faith coming back to firmly disillusion her. Leaving her scholarly family behind, Zemolai trains to be a mecha–a warrior with mechanical wings — charged with protecting the citizens of Radzedha. She is mentored by Vodaya, a charismatic mecha leader who brooks no opposition or independent thought.

This is a wrenching, beautifully written tale of understanding and growth, and loss of faith. It is about learning the hardest lessons from your choices, and understanding how those choices shape you. It is also about learning that you do, indeed, have choices, even when you don’t think that you do, or you lack enough information to make good choices.

This is a book about learning resilience the hard way. It’s not emotionally easy, but the characters are compelling, and the worldbuilding is interesting and engaging. Highly recommended.

Review of It’s OK that You’re Not OK by Megan Devine

This book is exactly what I needed right now. It’s particularly focused on grief that is sudden: the loss of a life partner or a child, not necessarily at the end of a long life. It’s focused on grief-as-a-rupture, where your whole life is completely, viscerally changed as a result of the loss.

This book is a whole new framework for me to understand my grief. It’s about surviving and carrying grief, not ‘getting over it’. I won’t ever get over this. But I can learn to carry it with me.

There are chapters in here for people who want to help the griever, with dos-and-don’ts that are specific and helpful. Right now, in the middle of this very intense, horrible experience, I want to hand this book to literally everyone who is trying to interact with me in any way.

www.goodreads.com/review/show/6454377769

Book review: The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

I received an advanced copy of this title via NetGalley.

I was already a fan of Clark’s work, and this tightly plotted adventure with undead assassins, magic, and facing your choices as bravely as possible was deeply satisfying.

Eveen is an undead assassin, in a guild of undead assassins, pledged to the goddess Aeril. She doesn’t love her job, but she’s resigned to doing it as well as she can, following the rules laid down. Until she gets handed her next assignment, which is … unsettling. This assignment sets off a chain of events that upends a major part ofTal Abisi society, exposing long hidden dark secrets, and putting her face to face with the goddess to which she has pledged her blade.

Tight pacing, an excellent cast of supporting characters, and sharply written action make this a delightful fantasy adventure, on a par with the exciting books that Eveen favors in her down time between jobs.

Book review: The Butcher of the Forest by Preemee Mohamed

This was a comforting yet compelling read. Veris is a reluctant hero; years ago, she was able to rescue a child from the Elmever, an alternate space in the North woods similar to faerie. Now, living modestly and trying to survive under The Tyrant who has conquered her town, she is summoned to an audience with him. His children have gone missing, and he is told that she is the only person to return from the Elmever.

Veris must get the children back, or her village will be razed and her loved ones murdered. What follows is an adventure that explores the moral ambiguity of trying to remain ethical and kind while under extreme duress, and being clever enough to outwit the creepy inhabitants of the Elmever.

Well-paced, with strong characterization, this is a stand alone novel that will appeal to those who like reluctant heroes, and those who enjoy tales where humans attempt to outsmart the fae.

Book Review: Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley.

This is a gorgeous collection of short stories to savor slowly. E. Lily Yu’s prose is as elegant as her characters are riveting. She touches upon the challenges of living in the world in a humane manner, recognizing and celebrating resilience where it appears, as an act of hope and defiance. Highly recommended.

Book review: A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Delightful holiday romance. The premise is that Nolan (former Bad Boy in a Boy Band, now a broke theater tech trying to pay for his mom’s care) and Bee (current adult porn provider under a pseudonym) get cast in a fictional Hallmark-style film “Duke the Halls.” Both of them have secrets to keep to survive this production and move into the next phases of their careers. This is just the right side of bananas if you want your characters to deserve the wonderfully twee Small Town Fictional Christmas Experience and to have spicy adult relations. This has two further books in the series featuring your Fabulous Support Team getting their own stories told.

If you like spicy holiday romances, this delivers along with Your Favorite Holiday Tropes.



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Book review: A Fire Born in Exile by Aliette de Bodard

The cover of A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard

I received this title as an ARC via NetGalley.

This is the latest title in the Xuya universe, described as “sapphic Count of Monte Cristo in space.”

I’ve never read the Count of Monte Cristo, so I can’t comment on the similarities. This novel is all about love, family, the difference between revenge and justice, self-determination in a system that utterly abhors it, and the struggle to choose to be kind when the system is designed to encourage everyone with power to be as cruel as possible, and for those without power to be invisible. With Mindships.

The central relationship between Hoa and Quynh is a glorious slow burn, where you see Quynh struggle with whether she deserves love because of her own past, and her current choices to exact revenge on the Empire (and its designees) who destroyed her life and her family.

As always, Aliette’s prose is impactful, and the relationships and emotional arcs of the characters are doubly so.

Highly recommended.

Book review: Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey

I received this as an eARC via Netgalley.

I absolutely adored this.

This is a re-telling of Carey’s first book in her Terre d’Ange series, Kushiel’s Dart (2001), from the point of view of Joscelin Verreuil, who is Phedre’s sworn companion and protector. (Kushiel’s Dart is from Phedre’s point of view).

If you haven’t read Kushiel’s Dart, this volume will still make sense, but I highly recommend reading Kushiel’s Dart just on principle. It’s fantastic. One of my favorite fantasy settings ever, period. High political intrigue with unique approaches to religion and sexuality, and how they intersect with high political intrigue.

Carey does an excellent job of making the politics understandable as Phedre and Joscelin navigate potential war in Terre d’Ange. The worldbuilding is still lush and thorough. These books are more than 20 years apart. Carey is of course a much more experienced writer than when Kushiel’s Dart was published, and her deft hand at characterization, politics, and action sequences has only gotten better. Revisiting these characters was a joy and a pleasure, and I may need to reread the whole series again.

Book review: Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher

I received an e-ARC of this via Netgalley.

A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but not one you’re expecting.

Toadling is a changeling raised in faerie by child-eating fish monsters (as Kingfisher writes in the acknowledgements); she’s not very skilled beyond being able to transform between human and toad, but she has a job to do.

The sleeping girl in the castle is a killer. Toadling has done her best to prevent her from harming, doing what is asked and trying not to be a bother to anyone. For hundreds of years.

Halim is a knight, but not a very good one. He’s a third son. He apologizes every times he swears, and he loves stories as much as he loves his mother. So much so, that he arrives at a castle tower surrounded by a hedge of thorns, and starts talking to Toadling, trying to learn her story, and the story of the sleeper within.

At the core of a story about being raised by monsters to guard a monster and prevent that monster from hurting others, is an incredibly sweet friendship between two people who have rarely had choices before trying to figure out their own paths forward.

Like a lot of her books, this is a warm hug with monsters and the occasional reanimated corpse. It works for her.

Highly recommended.