Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Big Girl  Author: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan  ISBN: 9781324091417 Publisher: Liveright  Type of book: Harlem, LGBTQ+, 1988?-2000s? New York, family, growing up, coming of age, death, relationships, stereotypes, obesity, treatments for obesity,  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: In her highly anticipated debut novel, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan explores the perils―and undeniable beauty―of insatiable longing. Growing up in a rapidly changing Harlem, eight-year-old Malaya hates when her mother drags her to Weight Watchers meetings; she’d rather paint alone in her bedroom or enjoy forbidden street foods with her father. For Malaya, the pressures of her predominantly white Upper East Side prep school are relentless, as are the expectations passed down from her painfully proper mother and sharp-tongued grandmother. As she comes of age in the 1990s, she finds solace in the music of Biggie Smalls and Aaliyah, but her weight continues to climb―until a family tragedy f...

Name of Book: Kalmann Author: Joachim B. Schmidt  ISBN: 9781913394684 Publisher: BitterLemon Press Type of book: Iceland, shady business, murder, mystery, thriller, secrets, neurodivergent protagonist, independence, taking care of self, friendship, family  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: This atmospheric crime thriller laced with humor—described by some as an Icelandic Fargo—is set in the village of Raufarhöfn in the far north of the country. Kalmann Odinsson is the self-appointed Sheriff of his town. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays bait in the sea — to catch the gigantic Greenland sharks he turns into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. There is nothing anyone needs to worry about. Kalmann has everything under control. Inside his head, however, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to...

Name of Book: The German Wife Author: Kelly Rimmer ISBN: 9781525811432 Publisher: Graydon Type of book: USA, Texas, Germany, rise of 3rd reich, views, state government, ww2, working labor camps, brainwashing, Jews, friendship, siblings, 1930s-1951, moving, science, fitting in, decisions, choices, operation paperclip  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: “Skillfully researched and powerfully written, The German Wife will capture you from the first page.” —Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London The New York Times bestselling author of The Warsaw Orphan returns with a gripping novel inspired by the true story of Operation Paperclip: a controversial secret US intelligence program that employed former Nazis after WWII. Berlin, Germany, 1930—When the Nazis rise to power, Sofie von Meyer Rhodes and her academic husband benefit from the military ambitions of Germany’s newly elected chancellor when Jürgen is offered a high-level position in th...

Name of Book: For the throne Author: Hannah Whitten  ISBN: 9780356516370 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Wilderwood 2 ( FOR THE WOLF is prequel)  Type of book: Fantasy, forest, travel, underworld, mirror, inverse, prophecy, hints, God and goddess, taking in power  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: The First Daughter is for the Throne The Second Daughter is for the Wolf... Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red's beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally--though it's one she'd rather never have to speak to again--the rogue king Solmir. Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscap...

Name of Book: Half a soul  Author: Olivia Atwater  ISBN: 9780316462808 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: Regency Faerie Tales Type of book: Regency England, magic, fairy world, finding husband, half a soul, outspoken, a duck among swans, fitting in, standing out, choices, rescue, research, making peace, competition  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul. Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs. If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, th...

Name of Book: The ballad of perilous graves Author:  Alex Jennings  ISBN: 9780356519241 Publisher: Redhook Type of book: Nola, alternative world, hurricane, flood, 2018-2019, music, dancing, attraction, child protagonists, New Orleans, supernatural, moving back home, art, travel, finding lost songs,  Year it was published: 2022 Summary: In a fantastical version of New Orleans where music is magic, a battle for the city’s soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song in this vibrant and imaginative debut. Nola is a city full of wonders. A place of sky trolleys and dead cabs, where haints dance the night away and Wise Women keep the order, and where songs walk, talk and keep the spirit of the city alive. To those from Far Away, Nola might seem strange. To failed magician, Perilous Graves, it’s simply home. Then the rhythm stutters. Nine songs of power have escaped from the magical piano that maintains the city’s beat and without...

Name of Book: For the wolf Author: Hannah Whitten  ISBN: 9780316592789 Publisher: Orbit Part of a Series: Wilderwood Duo (prequel to For the Throne) Type of book: little red riding hood retelling, fantasy, politics, sacrifice, beauty and the beast retelling, enchanted forest, healthy romantic relationships, sisterhood, independence, agency, bargains, lies, religion   Year it was published: 2021 Summary: The first daughter is for the Throne. The second daughter is for the Wolf. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become wil...

Name of Book: The poison prince Author: S.C. Emmett  ISBN:  9780316453424 Publisher: Orbit  Part of a Series: Hostage of Empire Type of book: Fantasy, Asian styled, manipulations, power plays, goals, assassin's, plans, trapped, hostage, marriage, bigger world, seasons  Year it was published: 2020 Summary: he lady-in-waiting to the princess of a conquered kingdom must navigate a treacherous imperial court, in this second book in a medieval East Asia-inspired epic fantasy trilogy. The princess is dead, and the drums of war beat again. The imperial schemes that took her life have reignited tensions with her native Khir, and left her lady-in-waiting, Komor Yala, alone among the treachery of a foreign court. As the Emperor lies upon his deathbed, the palace is more dangerous than ever before-for there are six princes, and only one throne. To survive, and get to the bottom of who ordered her princess dead, Yala will have to rely on some unlikely allies, like...

 What can I say? Few days now my throat stopped paining me, much to my relief. Some books I hoped to get I didn't get, and am not sure whether or not I will get them. ( RANGER OF MARZANNA, QUEEN OF IZMOROZ, and two Django Wexler books...) so yes, so far, disappointments when it comes to books. I don't even know if I should have gotten them or not?  The Burgess boys by Elizabeth Strout  Loveyoubye by Rossandra White  Titans by Leila Meacham  Ten thousand stitches by Olivia Atwater  Dead water by C.A. Fletcher  The wizard of eventide by Jon Skovron  A KILLING IN COSTUMES by Zac Bissonnette  The bone flower by Charles Lambert  Jewish Noir 2 by various  The undertaking of hart and mercy by Megan Bannen  The monsters we defy by Leslye Penelope  The oleander sword by Tasha Suri  The bloody throne by S.C Emmett  There are no happy loves by Sergio Olguin  Summer of reckoning by Marion Brunet  The Basel killings...

Ten thousand stitches- Olivia Atwater SR: July 16th, 2022 FR:  The bloody throne- S.C. Emmett  SR: July 16th, 2022 FR:  Nonfiction: