Books You Should Put in Your Face (Patreon)

So I'm going to write book rec posts occasionally and I will always make these posts public because, well, because I want you guys to read these books.  Today I'm going to talk about three titles.

First up is Jackaby, which I just now finally finished. I had started reading it ages ago and then my kid absconded with my copy and it just resurfaced. (I'm trying to decide if we should start calling his room the Pit of Despair, the Swamps of Sadness, or the Bog of Eternal Stench. It is not a place innocent young books should wander into alone at night.) But anyway, I finally got Jackaby back and read it,  which is kind of great because I already have the next two of the series on my shelf and I am going to read them right away because I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH ALREADY.

Which quite frankly is a relief because I know Will and there is nothing more terrifying to an author as meeting another writer and liking them and then worrying that you will hate their books. This hasn't actually happened to me yet, but it's still a fear and I'm not alone in it.

So I am so grateful that not only is Will Ritter an excellent human being, but he's also a wonderful writer. I've heard Jackaby described as a sort of YA Sherlock Holmes with a Whovian sensibility and I think that's pretty peg on. Odd detective? Check. Chock full of whimsy? Check. And guys, you know how much I like whimsy. The characters are lovely, the setting delightful, and I want to move into Jackaby's house. On top of that, I didn't actually guess right away what one of the creatures was...and that doesn't happen often. I am a big mythology nerd, so when authors start to hint, I usually know right away. 

Next up is Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake that comes out in September. Here's the summary from her website:

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

Full disclosure--I've been a nerd for Kendare's book since Anna Dressed in Blood which is a tremendous ghost story that actually managed to turn my stomach a little while reading it (one particular scene) which quite frankly I found to be impressive. I cut my reading teeth on horror and I worked several years in the kennel of a vet clinic (You're thinking cute puppies, I'm thinking about bits that fell out of surgery laundry that I had to do and various parasitic larvae.) so things generally don't bother me. Kendare managed. When I finished Anna I read Kendare's bio and realized she lived really close to me, so I reached out to her and we've been friends since. (Whether she likes it or not.) That being said, if I didn't like a friend's book, I wouldn't talk about it. Seriously. 

But Three Darks Crowns basically had me at the opening scene where we meet Katharine right before the Poisoner's Ball and that scene was amazing. Blake managed to include sumptuous detail while not dragging down the pace. You read the summary of Three Dark Crowns and you assume Blake is going to pick an obvious favorite for you to root for but you'd be wrong. All three are presented equally, and all three are complete and complicated human beings. I honestly didn't know who to root for at all. It was glorious. So you should read Anna Dressed in Blood if you haven't yet, and preorder Three Dark Crowns.

I feel like I should include a third book of someone I'm not friends with so that you don't think I'm writing this just to push my friend's books. So I will tell you about a book I'm greatly anticipating:

This is the sequel of Walk on Earth a Stranger, which I read right after reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and legitimately had a ten minute panic attack about my career. These two books back to back? My brain said, "You're not going to do any better than this. You should quit now. Become a goat farmer." And then I texted Leigh to let her know that her book and Rae Carson's broke me, but that's cool because Totes My Goats (the name of my goat rental service) was going to be very fulfilling.  The goats would wear tiny sweaters with the logo on it. Or hoodies. I'm still deciding.

Anyway, Walk on Earth a Stranger is like playing the Oregon Trail, if you're from my age range. It's about a girl, Lee, who has to flee her home and dress like a boy and cross the Oregon Trail down into California. There is a tiny bit of magic to it, so it's not historical exactly, but it's clear Carson did her research. You get to see the vast array of dangers and problems people dealt with--especially the groups we don't hear about as often, like women, children, Native Americans, and basically people who don't fall into the straight white male category. I loved Rae's first series, and one thing I appreciated was that her characters were smart and pragmatic. They face terrifying odds and there's no whining or hand-wringing. They take on the problem the best they can. I haven't been able to get my hands on an early copy of Like a River Glorious yet, so I'm impatiently waiting until September.

Is there a book that you've read recently that you're crazy about? List it in the comments!