Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

 

I unabashedly love the Golden Girls. I grew up in the 80s and watched it in its original run with my mom. We also used to watch the reruns all the time on Lifetime. I own the entire series on DVD. And I always get compliments when I wear my “Stay Golden” t shirt with the girls on it. (FYI, Dorothy is my favorite, hands down). 

But I still couldn’t believe it when I found out that they were publishing a Golden Girls tie in series of cozy mystery novels! What a ridiculous,0 wonderful concept! I was very excited when I got an eARC from the publisher and NetGalley right before a family vacation to Miami and the Florida Keys. 

This book was so much fun! Some parts of it were a tad clunky, but the author really knows the characters and was able to find their voices. The murder mystery wasn’t bad, but I was mostly just along for the ride. I got a paper copy of the book and gave it to my mother to read - I think she’ll enjoy it too. Can’t wait for the next book in the series!

Incandescent by Emily Tesh

 

I loved this book and it’s going to be on my Hugo ballot next year!

I picked up Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh last year when it was nominated for the Hugo Awards and I loved it! I suggested it to a friend who didn’t know what to have our SF Book Club read next, and our entire book club ended up enjoying it. So I was very excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC of Tesh’s next book, The Incandescent. 

It was billed as dark magical academia, which is a genre I love. It reminded me a bit of Magic for Liars (which I also loved!) in that it was set at a school and focused more on faculty than on students. 

I loved Doctor Walden, the professor who is the protagonist. I felt we really got to know her in an intimate, visceral way. I was very surprised at the late twist in the book and enjoyed everything immensely. I may need to reread it, because I felt like I may have missed the motivation behind the ultimate antagonist (being vague here to avoid spoilers) when I was so wow’d by the twist. 

Definitely this will be on next year’s Hugo ballot. 

I listened to this audiobook at 2x speed. 

Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold

 

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I was late to the Lois McMaster Bujold party and only discovered her when she was nominated for Best Series for the Vorkosigan saga. I think it was the Baen book covers that turned me off. But I’m on board now! 

She definitely deserved the best series Hugo award for the Vorkosigan Books, and also deserved it equally for the World of the Five Gods series. I have still not read any of the novels in that series yet, but once I started reading the Penric and Desdemona novellas, I couldn’t stop. I was hooked instantly and binged my way through the series. Thankfully, Ms. Bujold is still writing more Penric stories. 

I was thrilled to get a copy of this new Penric novella - Thank you, Subterranean Press, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. As usual for a subterranean press edition, there is a new cover with gorgeous cover art. 

This book was a joy, like all the Penric stories are. Unlike the last volume, this is story of Penric on the road and not at home. We get a number of sections from the point of view of the titular bandit, who severely underestimates Penric and his capabilities. This book is a delightful read from start to finish. 

Can’t wait for the next one!

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

 

I picked this book based on the cover, mostly. It looked like it might be fun and cool. Sadly, it was neither. A boring story of mercenaries with fairly non-alien aliens, this felt very paint by numbers to me. The sudden addition of a previously-unmentioned child at the end really felt out of left field. Skippable.