2023 is rocking and rolling, which means it’s time for the first Recent Reads post of the year! If you’re new around here, I like to recap the books I read every few months. In this edition, we’re talking about historical fiction, fantasy, true crime, classics, and some combination thereof. 

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The Witches of New York 

“New York in the spring of 1880 is a place alive with wonder and curiosity […] Enter Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair. At their humble teashop, Tea and Sympathy, they provide a place for whispered confessions, secret cures, and spiritual assignations for a select society of ladies, who speak the right words and ask the right questions […] When seventeen-year-old Beatrice leaves the safety of her village to answer an ad that reads ‘Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply,’ she has little inclination of what the job will demand of her. Beatrice doesn’t know it yet, but she is no ordinary small-town girl; she has great spiritual gifts—ones that will serve as her greatest asset and also place her in grave danger. Under the tutelage of Adelaide and Eleanor, Beatrice comes to harness many of her powers, but not even they can prepare her for the evils lurking in the darkest corners of the city or the courage it will take to face them” (x). 

This was one of those books that I finished and immediately wanted to read it again! I got it for Christmas and it was everything I hoped for and more. 

2022 Recent Reads: October-December 

Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America

This book “trace[s] the brutal history of 20th-century organized crime in the United States, and expertly plumb the history of this nation’s most notorious serial robbers, conmen, murderers, and especially, mob family bosses. Covering the period from the 1930s to the 1980s, O’Reilly and Dugard trace the prohibition-busting bank robbers of the Depression Era, such as John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby-Face Nelson. In addition, the authors highlight the creation of the Mafia Commission, the power struggles within the “Five Families”, the growth of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, the mob battles to control Cuba, Las Vegas, and Hollywood, as well as the personal war between the US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and legendary Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa” (x). 

First things first, I didn’t realize until later that one of the authors of this book is the Fox host Bill O’Reilly. So deal with that how you will. 

I, like a lot of people living nice middle-class lives in 2023, find the mob fascinating. Many years ago, I got norovirus and spent 48 hours watching a series on the rise and fall of the mob. This book goes really in-depth into organized crime at the end of the 19th century and towards the end of the 20th century. It’s super interesting and I sped through it. 

2022 Recent Reads: July-September 

A Touch of Malice (Hades & Persephone, #3)

“Persephone and Hades are engaged. In retaliation, Demeter summons a snowstorm that cripples New Greece, and refuses to lift the blizzard unless her daughter calls off her engagement. When the Olympians intervene, Persephone finds her future in the hands of ancient gods, and they are divided. Do they allow Persephone to marry Hades and go to war with Demeter, or prohibit their union and take up arms against the God of the Dead? Nothing is certain but the promise of war” (x). 

This book might be my favorite one in the series! Hades and Persephone are united together against everyone and everything and Persephone is coming into her own. But other than that, I can’t share more without spoiling not only this book but also the other ones in the series.

Like the other books in this series, it’s VERY spicy, so be warned! 

Read my review of the first book in the series here and my review of the second here. 

2022 Recent Reads: April-June 

La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust – sequel series to His Dark Materials – #1)

“Malcolm Polstead and his daemon, Asta, are used to overhearing news and the occasional scandal at the inn run by his family. But during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm finds a mysterious object—and finds himself in grave danger. Inside the object is a cryptic message about something called Dust; and it’s not long before Malcolm is approached by the spy for whom this message was actually intended. When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, he begins to notice suspicious characters everywhere: the explorer Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl—just a baby—named Lyra. Lyra is at the center of a storm, and Malcolm will brave any peril, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through it” (x). 

I love it when authors who created a world write more books in the world not connected to the main series! The Book of Dust is a series around the His Dark Materials series, aka the series that starts with The Golden Compass. This book takes place a few months after Lyra was born and includes how she arrived at Oxford. It’s so good!

That being said, if you didn’t like the His Dark Materials series, you will not like this book. I’m not saying you’ll love it if you loved that series, but if you didn’t like it you definitely won’t like this one.

I’m on the fence about if I’ll read the next book in this trilogy, as it takes place several years after the original trilogy and I’m not sure how I feel about that. But again, I love it when I get to visit other books taking place in the same universe as a beloved series, so we’ll see.

You can read my reviews of the His Dark Materials series here and here.

2022 Recent Reads: January-March 

Northanger Abbey

“In this spirited comedy of manners Catherine Morland, a plain, unspoiled small-town girl on holiday in Bath, meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, a handsome young clergyman. Henry’s father, believing Catherine to be wealthy, invites her to be a guest at Northanger Abby, the family’s country estate. Catherine, who has read too many Gothic romances and who is possessed of too vivid an imagination, views the abbey as a house of nightmarish horror — an aspect of the book that gleefully parodies the fantastic Gothic romances by Ann Radcliffe and other popular writers of the period. An amusing assortment of misunderstandings and plot twists result in the satisfying romantic conclusion characteristic of the author’s works” (x). 

I haven’t read this book in so long and I feel so differently about it than the first time I did. When I first read it, I was about the same age as Catherine, and I found her so irritating. Now, I feel for her so much that at the start, when it’s clear the kind of person Isabella is, my heart hurt. 

I also see Henry Tilney differently. To me, his journey in this book is as much about growth as Catherine’s is. He realizes that he shouldn’t be trying to change Catherine and that, while she does need to mature a bit, there’s nothing wrong with her for liking traditionally feminine things. 

2021 Recent Reads: October-December 

Shrines of Gaiety

“1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho’s gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost” (x). 

This book is one that I had to make myself stop reading so I could go to bed. So good! It might be my favorite Atkinson book. This book has a combination of mystery, class differences, how dangerous the world could be, solving crimes, romance, and more. 

You can see my review of Life after Life here and Transcription here.

2021 Recent Reads: July-September 

A Tempest at Sea (Lady Sherlock #7)

“After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking, and she might be able to go back to a normal life. Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder takes place on the ship. Instead of solving the crime, as she is accustomed to doing, Charlotte must take care not to be embroiled in this investigation, lest it become known to those who harbor ill intentions that Sherlock Holmes is abroad and still very much alive” (x). 

I can only say “I love the Lady Sherlock series” so many times before you’re rolling your eyes, so I’ll skip that this time around. I will say what I like about this book, in particular, is that it’s like the earlier ones in the series based around a specific crime. Yes, there’s a Moriarty mention, but unlike books 4 and 6 (and 5 to a degree) it’s back to being about a separate crime. 

I’ve reviewed the Lady Sherlock books many times, but you can check out my review of the series as a whole here.

2021 Recent Reads: April-June 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

“Genteel society ladies who compare notes on their husbands’ suicides. A hilariously foul-mouthed black drag queen. A voodoo priestess who works her roots in the graveyard at midnight. A prominent antiques dealer who hangs a Nazi flag from his window to disrupt the shooting of a movie. And a redneck gigolo whose conquests describe him as a “walking streak of sex”. These are some of the real residents of Savannah, Georgia, a city whose eccentric mores are unerringly observed, and whose dirty linen is gleefully aired, in this utterly irresistible audio. At once a true-crime murder story and a hugely entertaining and deliciously perverse travelogue, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is as bracing and intoxicating as half-a-dozen mint juleps” (x). 

Like many people, I’m interested in true crime, and I spend most work days listening to true crime podcasts, which means that I was already familiar with the murder at the heart of this book. That did not mean that I disliked the book or found it boring! 

2021 Recent Reads: January-March 

Like this post? Check out: 

20+ of the Best History Novels, 17 Classic Novels Worth Reading, The Best Audiobooks I’ve Listened To, 19 Retellings of Classic Fiction You Need To Read