May was another strange reading month for me (and can I ask where it went??? how is it already June??). I reread some shorter books in audio earlier in the month, diving into a fun series I hadn't read in a while, and got into a couple of hardcovers while I was on vacation. Here's what I read this month:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Fantasy): I loved this book. I'm going to put that out there first. There are so many dark academia/magical boarding school books told from the students' perspective, and this one is told from the point of view of a teacher/administrator. She's very good at her job and very good at magic, and she's in her late thirties and working at the school she attended as a teen—teaching advanced magic and trying to protect the school from demonic incursions. So much of the book is her life—the mundanity of it, the job she takes pride in, getting older and looking back but not wanting to go back—but there's something dangerous brewing too. The voice is wonderful, and the audiobook narrator brings it to life beautifully. The main character is bisexual and there is the beginning of a sapphic romance here, but it isn't a main part of the story.
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis (M/F fantasy romance): Stephanie Burgis's books are always delightful and delightfully cozy, and this one is no different. Queen Saskia is a feared sorceress who has managed to take her throne back from her evil uncle and now just wants to experiment with spells so she can keep her people safe from the empire next door. When a dark wizard appears at her door, she puts him to work organizing her library and tries to get back to work. But the supposed wizard is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise. If you like gentle heroes (who befriend crows), slow burn romance, and found family in your fantasy romance, give this one a try.
Random in Death and Passions in Death by JD Robb (Futuristic mystery/romance): I used some time by the pool in South Carolina to catch up a bit on the In Death series, though I'm a bit behind--Random and Passions are books 58 and 59 of the series and book 60 came out a couple of months ago. Readers of the series will find these good entries, filled with the found family and character interactions I love and good mysteries too, all set in a world that is set just far enough in the future to have some interesting differences but not so far as to deter non-science fiction readers. I think new readers might find it a bit tough to jump in with one of these, though I also know how daunting starting at the beginning of such a long series can be!
What have you read and loved lately?
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