Grade A #BookReview: Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett My Review:  The wizard Havelock Renard is about as charming as the feral cats that Agnes Aubert rescues and socializes in her initially not mystical at all cat shelter. It’s a good thing that she’s so good at that particular job, as the wizard the newspapers have dubbed ‘Witch King’ isn’t exactly fit for polite company when this story begins.

Grade A #BookReview: Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett #heatherfawcett #delreybooks #cozyfantasy #historicalfantasy #romantasy #booksky

A- #BookReview: The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel My Review: The blurb isn’t exactly wrong, but the emphasis is on the wrong person. Not that Sakunja Salazar doesn’t tell her own story in this story, but it’s not about her. It’s about all of them, collectively. A somewhat motley crew of characters in search of the ineffable, surprisingly like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales - and isn’t that a bit of a surprise?

A- #BookReview: The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel @matthewkressel.net @stmartinspress.bsky.social #stmartinspress #sciencefiction #booksky

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-8-26 Reading-wise, it was a very good week. In the getting-things-done department, it was a bit less successful. I started out behind because of Monday's post, which was not what I'd originally planned. We also had insulation installers in on Wednesday and the plumbers on Friday, so more disruption than I care to have. But it was all necessary, and I'll get caught up eventually.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-8-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand #booksky

Stacking the Shelves (691) We definitely have some gorgeous covers this time around. YAY! Daggerbound, Exit Party, The Eye of Leviathan, Murder Unabridged and Twig's Traveling Tomes are each pretty in their own ways. And I love both Murder Unabridged and Twig's Traveling Tomes for the delightful depictions of books. While Daggerbound is beautiful in its own right AND fits in beautifully with the theme started in the…

Stacking the Shelves (691) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky

Grade A #BookReview: The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor My Review: This final novella in the She Who Knows trilogy brings the story of Najeeba, the ‘she who knows’ of the series title, full circle, back to the place - if not the time or even the world - where she began in the opening book, also titled She Who Knows after Najeeba herself. Najeeba’s first daughter was Onyesonwu, …

Grade A #BookReview: The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor @nnedi.bsky.social @dawbooks.bsky.social #SheWhoKnows #WhoFearsDeath #sciencefiction #sciencefantasy #AfricanFuturism #booksky

A- #BookReview: Nightshade and Oak by Molly O’Neill My Review: The Nightshade AND the Oak of this historical/mythical retelling met on the fringes of a battle that was already lost, the end of a war that was passing into myth and legend even as they contended over the last bits of it. The location, at least, is fitting for them both. The Nightshade is Mallt-y-Nos, a shadowy figure out of Welsh mythology, a chooser of the slain who would have kept good company with the Morrigan and the Valkyries.

A- #BookReview: Nightshade and Oak by Molly O'Neill @orbitbooks.bsky.social #MollyONeillWrites #fantasy #HistoricalFantasy #mythology #retellings #booksky

#BookReview: Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb My Review: This 62nd entry in the In Death series was a whole lot of fun with just a bit of angst to give it spice - and an extra body or two. Well, it’s fun for the reader. In the end, it’s also fun for Dallas’ bosses, Commander Whitney and Chief Tibble, as they get to go out and arrest a murderer who really, really deserves it.

#BookReview: Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb @stmartinspress.bsky.social #JDRobb #RomanticSuspense #mystery #thriller #InDeath #booksky #futuristic

A- #BookReview: No Matter the Cost by Anna Hackett My Review: RED was code for “Retired, Extremely Dangerous” at least according to the classic action movie (OMG only from 2010) of the same name. A movie which was based loosely on a comic book mini-series. Both the comic series and the movie were about a group of retired assassins who were still so DAMN dangerous that their former organizations put a hit out on them.

A- #BookReview: No Matter the Cost by Anna Hackett #AnnaHackettAuthor #contemporaryromance #romance #romanticsuspense #Unsanctionedseries

Winner, winner! Too many great books to count, but SALT BONES and THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH come out on top. Thank you, Reading List Committee! #RUSAAwards

The Overachievers’ Book Club AKA 2026 Reading List Awards The first rule of Book Club is: You do not talk about Book Club. However, we’ve done our work for the year, so now I CAN talk about what we did this year. Specifically, THIS particular book club, otherwise known as the American Library Association RUSA CODES Reading List Council. Sometimes, in discussion, usually while celebrating AND bemoaning the literal mountain of books we have to get through in any single year, we call it the Overachievers’ Book Club.

The Overachievers' Book Club AKA 2026 Reading List Awards #booksky @ala-rusa.bsky.social @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social #AdultMediaAwards #ReadingListAwards

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-1-26 It's our second "Winter Wonderland" weekend in a row! This is not what we moved to Atlanta for at all. But it sure is pretty as long as one is on the inside while the blizzard is OUTSIDE. But it's not completely outside as this picture of George certainly attests. The catio is fully screened in so the cats can't get out, but very small things can get in.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 2-1-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand

Stacking the Shelves (690) This isn't exactly a "pretty" list, is it? Pretty interesting, yes. Pretty is as pretty does, perhaps. Outright pretty, not so much. Although Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel and Trouble's Turn to Lose are both pretty cute and The Half Life is pretty in a realistic way. I guess they'll have to do. Very much on the other hand - or claw, as the case might be - …

Stacking the Shelves (690) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks #booksky

2026 Reading List: Year's Best in Genre Fiction for Adult Readers Announced. Find the list of winners at https://rusaupdate.org/2026/01/2026-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/

A+ #AudioBookReview: Junkyard Riders by Faith Hunter My Review: There’s a major snowstorm crashing down on Shining’s head in this one - and bloody damn (as Shining herself would put it - I didn’t need the up-close-and-personal reminder of what’s headed my way in real life as it headed towards hers in brilliantly realized fiction. I’m still here for the cats, six years and four books after the first utterly terrific book in this series, …

A+ #AudioBookReview: Junkyard Riders by Faith Hunter #loreseekerspress #faithhunterwriter #audiblestudios #khristinehvam #ShiningSmith #UrbanFantasy #dystopian #PostApocalyptic #BookReview #booksky

#BookReview: Make It Out Alive by Allison Brennan My Review: I’ve read the Quinn & Costa series from the very first book, The Third to Die - albeit out of order. Nevertheless, I’ve found each and every book in the series to be compelling and absolutely un-put-downable in the reading - even if at the end I find myself wondering WTF happened along the way. This book turned out to be one of THOSE kinds of reads.

#BookReview: Make It Out Alive by Allison Brennan #mystery #suspense #thriller #Quinn&Costa #AllisonBrennan #HanoverSquarePress

#BookReview: The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Rob Osler My Review: This is SUCH a Chicago story. Specifically a story about the "City of the big shoulders, hog butcher for the world” - even though Carl Sandburg’s famous poem won’t be published for another SIXTEEN years. It’s a story about a city whose politics are so thoroughly, infamously corrupt that its reputation was already made in 1898 and persists well into the 21st century.

#BookReview: The Case of the Murdered Muckraker by Rob Osler @roboslerwriter.bsky.social‬ ‪@kensingtonbooks.bsky.social‬ #HarrietMorrowInvestigates #mystery #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalMystery #ChicagoMystery #queerfiction

Grade A #BookReview: Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair My Review: This series began with The Right Sort of Man about two women opening a marriage bureau in post-World War II London. Miss Iris Sparks, formerly something seriously clandestine during the late war, and Mrs. Gwendoline Bainbridge, formerly a resident of a sanatorium after the death of her husband and the loss of what would have been her second child, start their agency because they both need jobs.

Grade A #BookReview: Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair #alangordon #allisonmontclair @severnhouse.bsky.social #SparksAndBainbridge #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalMystery

OMG I LOVED The Story Guy. So much. And so happy to see you back and to have a new book from you and @ruthieknox.bsky.social Thank you LOTS. I felt seen too even tho' I don't do domestic AT ALL. LOL. Can't wait to start Trailbreaker!

A- #BookReview: Homemaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare My Review: I want to call Prairie Nightingale (and that really is the protagonist’s name and the story behind it explains SO MUCH about her character) a domestic goddess. But that’s not what she claims to be and that’s not what she really is. She’s calm on the surface and paddling like hell underneath just like everyone else - which we know because we’re inside her head.

A- #BookReview: Homemaker by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare @ruthieknox.bsky.social @anniemare.bsky.social #thomas&mercer #prairienightingale #mystery #suspense #thriller #domesticthriller

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-25-26 We're supposed to be getting an ice storm today. So I'm probably huddled under a comforter with a good book and as many cats as I can get to cooperate. Not that cats are generally all that cooperative. OTOH, it could all blow over, or pass us by, or just not be, well, all that. The last option is what we're hoping for.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-25-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand

Stacking the Shelves (689) This is another one of those stacks where there's more "pretty creepy" than there is just plain "pretty". The "pretty creepy" category includes The Way It Haunted Him and The Sleeping Sisters, while Snow Kissed is kinda creepy in that it might be predicting this weekend's weather for everyone east of the Mississippi. We don't normally get that much snow here in the ATL, but we might this weekend.

Stacking the Shelves (689) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks

A- #AudioBookReview: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire My Review: Whenever I think of the Wayward Children series, I imagine of the chase scene from Monsters, Inc. that takes place in the vast, cavernous space where all the doors are stored. I want to see a place just like that in this series - but I KNOW that the doors that these wayward children go through, sometimes back through, and very occasionally stride through one more time - or even more - aren’t stored that way.

A- #AudioBookReview: Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social @tordotcom.bsky.social #torbooks #tordotcompub #macmillanaudio #cynthiahopkinsnarrator #bookreview #WaywardChildren #PortalFantasy #UrbanFantasy

A+ #BookReview: The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan My Review: I fell hard for the first book in this series, The Dentist, so I’m ever so grateful to the publisher Atlantic Crime for bringing this series out in the US even if (and especially because at the same time) it’s been out in the author’s native UK for several years and is very popular there. I hope the same turns out to be true on this side of the pond, because, so far at least, the series is awesome - especially for mystery fans who love a detective with a unique perspective AND a thoroughgoing, intricate, well-executed, police procedural.

A+ #BookReview: The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan @timsullivanauthor.bsky.social @atlanticcrime.bsky.social @groveatlantic.bsky.social #DSGeorgeCross #mystery #thriller

Grade A #BookReview: Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier My Review: Eleanore Blanchet was named in honor of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and she certainly did her best to live up to the legacy of her famous namesake. Not that their lives had nearly the same scope - even though Elea Blanchet found herself closer to the halls of power than she ever expected to be. The story takes place in 1347, in Provence, in the city of Avignon.

Grade A #BookReview: Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier #elizabethdelozierwrites #duttonbooks #historicalfiction #medievalfiction #medicalfiction

#BookReview: Boy with Accidental Dinosaur by Ian McDonald My Review: The opening scene of this book is absolutely, even cinematically, iconic. To the point where the reader can almost see it as the opening of a new Mad Max movie - except for one rather large detail. It’s the scene of a young man pedaling a dusty but serviceable bicycle on a cracked and ruined highway in a blasted post-apocalyptic landscape.

#BookReview: Boy with Accidental Dinosaur by Ian McDonald @ianmcdonald.bsky.social #torbooks #tordotcompub #sciencefiction #dinosaurs #timetravel #postapocalyptic #dystopian

#GuestPost: Martin Luther King Day 2026 A proclamation by President Obama on 13 January 2017: Those who dismiss the magnitude of the progress that has been made dishonor the courage of all who marched and struggled to bring about this change -- and those who suggest that the great task of extending our Nation's promise to every individual is somehow complete neglect the sacrifices that made it possible.

Martin Luther King Day 2026 #MartinLutherKingDay #MLKDay #holiday #UShistory #guestpost

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-18-26 As you read this, I'm on the last day of a four-day marathon Zoom meeting and my brain is probably toast. This is a once a year thing, as whatever ALA committee I'm on for the year has its final deliberations meeting. It's generally a lot of fun, it's always fun to talk about good books, but four solid days of Zoom is just, well, A LOT.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-18-26 #SundayPost #NightstandBooks #TBR #TBRshelf #nightstand

Stacking the Shelves (688) Unlike last week's stack, there are some truly pretty covers this time around. Especially All the Tea in China, Daughters of the Sun and Moon, and Our Perfect Storm. There's also some pretty creepy in Brimstone Hollow and The Museum of Unusual Occurrence. I definitely picked up You Had me at Bigfoot, while the books I'm most looking forward to getting into are…

Stacking the Shelves (688) #STS #StackingTheShelves #TBRshelf #TBR #newbooks

Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop Welcome to the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mama the Fox and Mom Does Reviews! Winter started yesterday here in the ATL and it looks like it will be over in the middle of next week. I'm joking, but not by all that much. The winters here seem to get warmer and shorter every year. Very much on the other hand, the summers are longer and hotter than Hades.

Winter Wishes #Giveaway Hop #bloghop #GiveawayHop #NewYearHop #GCgiveaway #giftcardgiveaway #bookgiveaway #JanuaryHop #WinterHop

Grade A #AudioBookReview: The Architect of New York by Javier Moro, translated by Peter J. Hearn My Review: They called him “the architect of New York” in his New York Times obituary dated February 2, 1908. And he was. Or rather, THEY were. The title in the obituary, at the time it was written, referred to the elder Guastavino, Rafael Guastavino Moreno, but even then it could have referred to either Rafael Guastavino, the father or the son he named for himself and trained to be his protegee, his right-hand man, and his shadow.

Grade A #AudioBookReview: The Architect of New York by Javier Moro, translated by Peter J. Hearn #javiermorowriter #peterjhearntranslator #robertfassnarrator #counterpointpress #brillianceaudio #memoir #biography #autobiography #historicalfiction #bookreview