Jane Litte's Blog, page 2

REVIEW: Catalyst: A Rip Roaring Science Fiction Romance Adventure (Cat Ship Book 1) by Jody Wallace

She found him in the trash. Things can only get better from there.

Dance teacher Wil Tango, adopted by a cat who needs to make use of his opposable thumbs, knows all too well the primary rule of their arrangement: never reveal the cat is a genius. Their clever scheme to win all the jackpots on Gizem Station works until a bigwig gets suspicious, and he finds himself stuffed in a stasis box and shipped to Garbage Planet. At least he’s got the cat for company.

Sulari Abfall, scrapyard picker ext...

Review: Captain Fracasse by Theophile Gautier

The novel is set in 17th-century France and follows the adventures of the title character, Captain Fracasse, whose real name is Baron de Sigognac. Baron de Sigognac is a young and impoverished nobleman who, along with his loyal but aging servant, Scapin, embarks on a journey to Paris to seek his fortune.

During their journey, Sigognac and Scapin become entangled with a traveling theater troupe known as the “Illustrious Theater.” When the troupe’s leading actor is injured, Sigognac is persuaded ...

REVIEW: Codes of Courage (Falcon Point Historical, #1) by A. L. Sowards

1940: Austrian refugee Karl Lang has lost everything—his country, his home, and his family. All that is left to him is a burning ambition to see the Nazis defeated. Desperate for work and a way to help the war effort, he finds the one place that will take a refugee like him: a supply steamer traversing a deadly path past enemy U-boats.

Since their first meeting, Millie Stevens has felt an undeniable connection to Karl. As the war rages, she shares his determination to oppose the Nazis and find...

REVIEW: Audre & Bash Are Just Friends by Tia Williams

Dear Tia Williams,

I’ve been meaning to read a Tia Williams book for some time now and was happy to get the chance to read Audre & Bash are Just Friends. It’s a YA contemporary set in Brooklyn over a summer.  Audre is the daughter of Eva Mercy. (I didn’t know this until the author’s acknowledgements at the end of the book, but Eva and Shane (her partner) are the protagonists in Seven Days in June – the book which first put Tia Williams on my radar.) Four years have passed since the events of Seve...

REVIEW: The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science by Carly Anne York

A brilliant new voice in science writing—”witty, whip-smart, truly one of our best” (Mary Roach)—shows why playfulness and curiosity are the key to science

Why would anyone research how elephants pee? Or study worms who tie themselves into a communal knot? Or quantify the squishability of a cockroach? It all sounds pointless, silly, or even disgusting.

Maybe it is. But in The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog, Carly Anne York shows how unappreciated, overlooked, and simply curiosity-driv...

REVIEW: Not Quite a Countess by Bliss Bennett

Five squabbling guardians. Three rivals for an earldom. And one dashing cavalryman threatening to overset it all…

At fourteen, Arabella Audley inherited her father’s Scottish barony—but was denied his English earldom. Shuffled between five quarrelsome guardians for six long years while Parliament dithers over determining the Earl of Audley’s rightful heir, Belle’s tired of being reduced to the role of pawn. This year, at the King’s Birthday Ball, Baroness Culmaily will finally risk a gambit of...

REVIEW: Last Dance Before Dawn: A Mystery (The Nightingale Mysteries Book 4) by Katharine Schellman

Last Dance before Dawn is the final book in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York.

Vivian Kelly has finally created a home and a family at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where no one cares who you are in the daytime. After all, in the underground world of 1920s New York City, everyone has a secret to keep, and they’re on the Nightingale’s dance floor to leave those secrets behind. But sometimes it takes m...

Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea: A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects Book 1) by Brandon Sanderson

** spoiler alert ** #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved “The Princess Bride.”

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage t...

REVIEW: The Codebreaker’s Daughter: (A Novel of World War II, Codebreakers, and Mother-Daughter Relationships) by Amy Lynn Green

In the heart of the US capital, Dinah Kendall’s role for the Office of Strategic Services isn’t the thrilling espionage career she dreamed of. Instead, she spends her days crafting rumors aimed at undermining Axis morale. As Dinah navigates her duties, she uncovers a startling revelation: Her mother, Lillian, was once a codebreaker, cracking military ciphers during the Great War alongside some of the nation’s most brilliant minds. The deeper Dinah dives into her mother’s past, the more secrets...

REVIEW: I Think I’m In Love With An Alien by Ann Aguirre

Dear Ann Aguirre,

First off, isn’t that cover great? It calls to mind 1950s sci-fi movies and I love that the alien is both not a little green man with a giant head and also feels quite close to the book’s description of Seeker. I mean, if you go for dragon men – hot, right?

I really enjoyed Strange Love a while back (gosh, has it really been five years?) so this one was immediately on my radar when I saw the author posting about it on Bluesky. I should add that I Think I’m in Love with an Ali...