TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on My Summer 2020 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and this week’s topic is “Books on My Summer 2020 TBR.” I have an endless unread shelf because I work in a bookstore, have a decent discount, and am buying things that catch my interest, but this summer, aside from my yearly challenges, I want to read the following books.

  • Witchmark – C.L. Polk – How many times have I added this to a TBR and never read it? Enough. After I finish one of my current reads, this is getting read. The final installment of the trilogy was just announced, so it’s time to actually buckle up and read this. I also have a problem with finishing series, especially not finishing series until the final book is out.
  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin – Roseanne A. Brown – This has been on my radar since I saw the announcement for it a long time ago, and I’m finally glad to have the book in my hands! I’ve heard so many good things about it so far, and a stabby, deathy YA fantasy is something I need to read right now.
  • Beach Read – Emily Henry – This one I bought partially because of Instagram’s influence, but also because once I started reading people’s reviews, it appears to be much more than your typical summer beach read romance. I love the idea of writers switching from their usual genres, so I’m looking forward to this one!
  • Binti: The Complete Trilogy – Nnedi Okorafor – I have read the first of this trilogy, but when these new covers and this omnibus came out, I needed it, mostly because this omnibus also has some short stories that interconnect the novellas.
  • Crave – Tracy Wolff – This one is so out of my usual genre (I have never read Twilight!), but one of my friends read it and loved it because she said it’s just so out there that I have to read it so that we can talk about it.
  • Rosewater – Tade Thompson – I’ve had this book on my shelf forEVER, and again with the series thing, but I want to read this and the other two in the series ASAP.
  • Something to Talk About – Meryl Wilsner – I am a sucker for Hollywood stories? I don’t know why? I’ve had this on my radar since it was announced, it’s a f/f romance, and just looks like a fun escape.
  • The City We Became – N.K. Jemisin – I haven’t finished The Broken Earth Trilogy yet (also to be read/reread soon), but this one is an urban fantasy about New York City that looks so good. Everything I’ve read by Jemisin has been a masterpiece, so I fully expect to enjoy this one.
  • When We Were Magic – Sarah Gailey – Gailey is one of my favorite authors, and their work is everything I want and more, so to have a book like this about queer teen witches and a murder, I need it. I NEED IT.
  • The Shining – Stephen King – Full confession, the only thing I’ve read by King is On Writing and I don’t think that counts, so I’m starting here and seeing how I fare. I’m not one for horror, generally speaking, but it’s on my shelf, I bought it because I wanted to give it a go, and summer feels like a good time to read it.

Have you read any of these? What’s on your Summer 2020 TBR?

 

BOOK REVIEW: Magic For Liars, Sarah Gailey

BOOK REVIEW: Magic For Liars, Sarah GaileyTitle: Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Published by Tor Books
Published: June 4th 2019
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

Sharp, mainstream fantasy meets compelling thrills of investigative noir in this fantasy debut by rising star Sarah Gailey.

Ivy Gamble has never wanted to be magic. She is perfectly happy with her life—she has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. It's a great life and she doesn't wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.

But when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.

What do you get when you mix the styles of Agatha Christie, throwbacks to magical boarding schools à la Harry Potter, but set in California? You get Sarah Gailey’s Magic For Liars, a murder mystery set in and around a magical boarding school in central California! I really enjoyed this one, and I knew I would because I enjoyed Gailey’s River of Teeth novella duology released by tor.com in the last few years.

Magic For Liars weaves its way in and out of Ivy Gamble’s involvement in solving a murder at the school at which her twin sister Tabitha teaches. In the process of solving the whodunnit, Ivy has to face and come to terms with her own nonmagical abilities, something she’s been struggling with her entire life. She finds herself imagining the person she is to the person she could have been with magical abilities, and she has the opportunity to see who might have been had she been born with magical abilities.

Tie in this self-discovery and murder with other magical students, rumors of a chosen one, and familial relationship struggles, and Magic For Liars becomes a fully-fledged novel that has lingered with me since I finished it. I really enjoyed the fresh-noir feeling of the writing, the magic system and how gruesome and cruel magic could be, and all of the little references and throwbacks to popular mystery series and Harry Potter.

Like magic, mystery, murder, relationships between sisters, magical theories and conspiracies? Read this delight of a novel. It’s out June 4.

Many thanks to Tor for a complimentary review copy! All opinions are my own.