Reviews written by Paige Cee, Staff Reviewer

WHAT I LOVED: When Louise’s boyfriend Cam first disparages Native people in front of her–specifically his brother’s Kickapoo spouse–he isn’t aware Louise is a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen herself. Then he keeps doing it and has the gall to get mad at her for “being too sensitive.” The instant...

WHAT I LOVED: One of Us Is Lying presents us with a remarkably strong base for the mystery to come: four compelling, unique narrators you won’t mix up easily; a highly unusual death in Simon’s deadly allergic reaction to a peanut oil-laced cup of water; and quick pacing to...

WHAT I LOVED: I’ve always tried to be my best self online, but even I’m terrified at the idea of all my texts, emails, etc. being leaked online. Whether it would expose someone’s two-faced ways or provides enough evidence that they could be successfully convicted of a felony, everyone...

WHAT I LOVED: Dusty and Dylan, each one named after one of their mother’s favorite singers, are pretty opposite. Dusty is former beauty queen about to marry a Scottish nobleman after dating him on a reality show called Prince in Disguise; our introduction to Dylan is her...

WHAT I LOVED: If you’re asking book bloggers to recommend you gorgeously written books, there’s a very good chance Anna-Marie McLemore’s books will be among the first recs. Having only read one of her many anthology contributions before now, I agree with that wholeheartedly. She’s got a way with...

WHAT I LOVED: Girls Made of Snow and Glass is a real surprise of a novel. Sure, I understood it featured two multifaceted royal ladies, a deconstruction of the Wicked Stepmother trope, and an f/f romance, but I still didn’t expect much from it. The book gleefully shows up...

WHAT I LOVED: It sounds simple when you describe the beginning of it all to someone: one dead girl, one missing woman, and one man chasing down the sisters' story. In execution, podcaster West's investigation of Mattie Southern's murder and Sadie Hunter's disappearance absolutely isn't. Sadie is a novel...

WHAT I LOVED: Macy is a likable, layered character and her narration flows easily. Even when my frustration mounted at how these characters refused to communicate, it was simply too darn readable to put down. Her two years of worries about how homecoming will go are both...

WHAT I LOVED: Trudchen, a simultaneous dreamer and realist long disabled by a bout with polio as a child. Odette, a gifted storyteller who got kicked out of her home and mixes truth with fiction so well that no one is sure what’s what. Both sisters...

WHAT I LOVED: The course of friendship, like love, doesn’t run smoothly. Epcot at Disney World nearly broke up my best friend and me in high school, but we talked it out and we’ve now been friends for close to ten years. When Kat and Meg get paired up...

WHAT I LOVED: Our narrator Sam is in a pretty terrible place. Her brother is addicted to her pain pills, her sister is persona non grata except for therapy sessions for a while, her dad is a bit checked out, and her mom is... Well, she's dead from the...

WHAT I LOVED: This #ownvoices slice of life is gorgeously written and comes with a well-written, diverse cast of characters; Audrey is biracial, her best friend Rose is bi, and Audrey’s boyfriend is Jewish. If you want a cast full of POC and queer people, you’ll find exactly that...

WHAT I LOVED: If you’ve been abused in any manner by men in the past, The Hollow Girl is a deeply cathartic experience to go through. The entirety of the novel shows an incredible respect for survivors of sexual assault and the different ways they respond to their trauma....

WHAT I LOVED: Karma and the rest of the cast are flawed, well-drawn characters all too much like the soulless demons we all were in middle school. All of us. It's just a fact that every child loses their soul while they're in middle school and can only get...

WHAT I LOVED: Something tells me more than a few actresses could read this book and say afterwards "yep, some of this is 100% accurate." Zara's audition for the role of Echo in Echo and Ariston on Broadway sees her get the part regardless of her lack of experience...