How exactly have we gotten to the end of May already? Time is being slippery.
There were a few books this month I DNFed, and one I finished but wouldn’t recommend. I’ll never list those books in the monthly roundups, because I have no interest in bad-mouthing other authors, especially when it’s about taste and not, for example, someone including something racist, transmisogynist, etc.
Books
The Wedding Crasher
Mia Sosa
Contemporary Romance (M/F)
Solange is helping her wedding-planner cousin when she accidentally (kind of) ruins the wedding, which turns out to have been more about life checklists than about true love. Now, for different reasons, Solange and Dean (nee the groom) need to pretend to be an item. Solange’s large, warm, Brazilian family is threaded throughout, and this is the 2nd book in a connected series. I’m definitely going backwards to read the first.
Everything Happens For a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved
Kate Bowler
Memoir/Philosophy/Theology
No Cure For Being Human
Kate Bowler
Memoir/Philosophy/Theology
Kate Bowler, a historian of American religion at Duke University researching the prosperity gospel, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the age of 35, when she felt like her life was in control, and immediately fell into the disorienting world of chronic illness. These books are her chronicle of that experience layered with a meditation on the ways we all fall into the trap exemplified by the prosperity gospel — that if we’re good, if we do things right, nothing bad will happen to us. You’d think they would be sad, and they are, but they’re also riotously funny. She runs a podcast called Everything Happens that is a new regular favorite in which she talks to different people who have experience with Life Happening and what they’ve learned from it.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Casey McQuiston
YA (F/F)
When Shara Wheeler, literal high school prom queen, disappears before she can be crowned, Chloe Green is determined to find her — especially since Shara’s father, the principal of the strict Christian school they attend doesn’t appear to be concerned, and double especially because Shara had kissed her in an elevator, and what the hell was that?, and triple especially because they’re neck and neck for valedictorian and Chloe will do anything, anything at all, to win. This book is a beautiful love letter to queer kids in red states, and it’s going on my re-read list immediately.
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care
Ashley Herring Blake
Contemporary Romance (F/F)
Delilah, struggling art photographer, is lured back to the small town she grew up in to photograph her estranged step-sister’s wedding. The money is worth feeling the alienation, except she immediately gets thrown into the orbit of her sister’s two BFFs — one of whom hits on her before realizing who she is — and they collectively hatch a plot to break up the wedding, since the groom-to-be is a douche. Family history, lots of feelings, good sex, and women BFFs. I immediately tried to buy the next book only it won’t be out for SIX. MORE. MONTHS. Rude.
Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Contemporary Romance (M/F)
Literary agent Nora, lifelong New Yorker, is dragged to a small town in North Carolina by her pregnant, romantic sister despite Nora having been dumped by men for women they met in small towns no fewer than four times. Except she runs into Charlie, New York book editor she met once and with whom she conceived an instant dislike. But their proximity leads to teasing, then flirting, then collaborating, and then Nora has to choose between small town life and the city life she loves — and the city will always win. This book was so good I immediately bought two more of the author’s books. Before I finished this one, even.
Beach Read
Emily Henry
Contemporary Romance (M/F)
January and Gus have known each other since college, when they were friendly(ish) rivals. Now they’re both published authors, they’re both at neighboring lake houses trying to write, and they’ve both got writer’s block. So they decide to trade genres, both because they’re competitive but also because it might help them get unstuck. Shenanigans ensue. This is Henry’s first book, and you can see that around the edges, but it’s also a lovely paean to romance novels.
The Stand-In
Lily Chu
Contemporary Romance (M/F)
Gracie’s sexually harassing boss fires her, she needs money to move her mom to a better nursing facility, and she’s a dead ringer for a mega-famous Chinese movie star who’s doing a play in town and would like to pay Gracie to be her stand-in at various events. What could go wrong? This is a delightful debut exploring everything from fame to family. I’m only mad the productivity app Gracie invents doesn’t exist in real life.
TV
Heartstopper
Netflix
Queer high school romance
I’m so excited the queer kids get a sweet, delightful high school romance the way the straight kids do. Charlie is out and kissing a boy who won’t acknowledge him in the hallways — until he meets Nick, who’s a year older and presumably straight. Except he isn’t, it turns out, and his discovery of this is tender and poignant and just dear. Even better, they aren’t the only queer characters in the show! We’ve watched this probably three times through already, and there will for sure be more.
Movies
Sliding Doors
We’ve seen this 90s homage to parallel lives before, many times, but it never fails to make me maudlin in that vaguely satisfied way. If you haven’t seen it, Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired and on the way home she barely makes her train — and in that timeline, she arrives home to discover her boyfriend having an affair in her bed. But she also doesn’t make the train, and in that timeline she gets mugged on the way home and doesn’t discover his infidelity. But in both timelines, James, the delightful John Hannah, is crossing her path. Scottish accents, Gwyneth doing a British one, Monty Python — it’s about as 90s and delightfully British as it gets.
Rereads
Space Opera
Catherynne Valente
Science Fiction
Eurovision. In space. The aliens have arrived to tell humanity that they aren’t sure humans are sentient, and to prove their sentience, they have to compete in an intergalactic song contest and not come in last. Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeros, a glampunk band that was once incredibly popular but is now defunct, is the only band on the aliens’ list that is still around. Kind of. So the 2/3 of the band still alive are taken to space to compete. The thing is that this book is a profound meditation on art, on fascism, on resistance, on beauty, on humanity, on philosophy — all wrapped up in the sequined glitter of Douglas Adams on MDMA.
The Marriage Contract
Katee Robert
Contemporary Erotic Romance (M/F)
Callista Sheridan, the only remaining heir to the Sheridan crime family, is supposed to marry Brendan Halloran, the eldest son and heir to the Halloran crime family. When Brendan dies unexpectedly, she’s suddenly betrothed to the 2nd son of the 3rd family in Boston’s underworld: the O’Malleys. All Callista wants is to take over the family business and move it into the light. All Teague O’Malley wants is to escape his father’s clutches and crime family life altogether. Only it won’t be that simple, for either of them. Robert’s books are all lush, character-driven, political intrigues with lots of (often kinky) sex. This is the first of the O’Malley series.