Welcome (and or welcome back) to my book review column. Summer is just around the corner, which means everyone has more time on their hands, which is perfect for just one thing: reading a new book. I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite books that I’ve read recently that I think would be fun for everyone, whether you want to read a horror story or a romance novel. Because any book can be a summer beach read if you put your mind to it! I hope you enjoy reading!
THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kailanne Bradley
Set in the near future, a civil servant is offered the pay of her dreams to work on a project that she knows nothing about. That is, until she is told the plot. She will be working with a government agency gathering historical “expats” to determine whether time travel is feasible for the human body and mind.
Her job is that of a “bridge”—living with, assisting, and teaching the expat known as “1847”. Or, more formally, Commander Graham Gore, who, as far as history is concerned, died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition to find a northwest passage in the Arctic. Coming from hundreds of years prior, he’s a little disoriented to be living alongside an unmarried woman and to be surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines” or the “collapse of the British Empire”. But with a voracious appetite for adventure and a colorful and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon finds himself adjusting. And the civil servant finds herself adjusting to him.
I’m not lying when I say this is one of my favorite books of all time. It has such a weird concept, an insane plot, and a handful of witty, charming characters that were so easy to love. While I picked up Bradley’s novel on a whim, I found it impossible to put down. From the first line— “Perhaps he’ll die this time”—I was hooked. Throughout the story, each sentence flowed with such a rhythm that I could barely take my eyes off the page. Bradley’s way of writing banter and conversations was so human. Her style of writing made the characters feel as if they were real people. They jumped off the page through their dialogue, which clearly expressed their hopes, dreams, and emotions. I felt like I knew all of them personally. This segues to another reason I fell in love with the book: the characters. Each had their quirks, and I adored every one of them. The Ministry of Time’s plot and storytelling allowed me to really understand all of the characters individually, which allowed me to feel for all of their struggles and successes. There wasn’t one person who felt bland. Every single one was thoughtfully crafted and wonderfully unique, as were their relationships.
Honestly, the characters’ relationships are what made The Ministry of Time ideal. I rooted for every single one. I cherished the friendships, hated the enemies, and rooted for the romance. And while I’m usually not a big fan of romance, Bradley’s way of writing it, where it crept up slowly and developed gradually, turned me into this romance novel’s biggest supporter.
I could go on and on about this book, but then this review would never end. This book made me laugh, smile, and, most importantly, cry my eyes out. No review I could write would really do it justice. 9.5/10
THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore
It is early morning at Camp Emerson in August of 1975 when a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. A camper has gone missing. Except, this camper isn’t just anybody—she is Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the wealthy family that both owns the camp and employs most of the region’s residents. Even worse, this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has vanished. Barbara’s older brother also disappeared fourteen years ago and was never seen again.
Her disappearance sets off a panicked manhunt, which sends ripples through both the local upper-class and blue-collar communities as they attempt to grapple with Barbara’s absence.
When I needed a book to pass the time in an airport, I was quickly drawn to The God of the Woods. And I’m so glad it did, because it completely captivated me. So much so that I finished all 496 pages in a day. Immediately upon opening the book, I was sucked in by Moore’s descriptions and the atmosphere she created. Her writing truly made me feel like I was at Camp Emerson. With all the details, I practically walked each footpath, slept in every cabin, and talked with all the campers in the mess hall. I also enjoyed how the story was told from many different points of view. Narration flips from chapter to chapter, giving a diverse set of perspectives ranging from Judyta Luptack (a state investigator examining Barbara’s disappearance) to Tracy (a quirky teenage camper). The many different narrators kept me engaged, even when the story was slow-moving. And the way that Moore wrote these narrators, especially the female characters, was so intriguing. Her writing gave each one both vulnerabilities and strengths, revealing them as people who were layered and multidimensional, which brought much more to the story.
My only complaints are that the book is a little slow (action-wise, at least), and that the slowness makes it more literary and less of a “thriller”. Additionally, the ending, while making sense for the story, wasn’t a very satisfying finish for me. Still, this is such a good book if you’re a fan of mysteries. 8/10
BETWEEN TWO FIRES by Christopher Buehlman
The year is 1348, and the Black Plague is ravaging Europe when disgraced knight Thomas stumbles upon an orphaned girl, alone in a dead Norman village. Looking like the very epitome of innocence, she tells Thomas that the Black Death is only a small part of a larger conflict. She claims that Lucifer’s fallen angels are rising in a second war against heaven, and that humanity has been caught in the crossfire.
She believes that she has seen the angels of God. She believes that the righteous dead speak to her in her dreams. And now she convinces faithless Thomas to accompany her on a treacherous journey to Avignon, where she claims that she will confront the evil tormenting the earth and restore to this disgraced, murderous knight the salvation he long believed was gone.
First off, I am so impressed with how many genres this book covers. I went in expecting a fantasy, but got something that was a blend of historical fiction, fantasy, and both supernatural and psychological horror. It has a little bit of everything, with each and every well-designed aspect contributing to the book’s overall atmosphere. In Between Two Fires, the environment Buehlman created was the main show. His descriptions of the Black Death, the Great Famine, and the Hundred Years’ War were so incredibly vivid and dark that the world felt genuinely hopeless and terrifying at times. It was as if I was always knee-deep in buboes, fear, and religious horror. And even during slower moments, Between Two Fires created a sense of tension that constantly kept me on the edge of my seat. The physiological elements, too, added a lot to the story and were downright disturbing! Moreover, Buehlman’s writing fully immersed me in medieval Europe. It was the little details, such as the naming system of nobility, or the different French dialects, that truly set this book apart from other historical-fantasy-horror stories and made it more engaging.
Furthermore, I was a huge fan of the dynamic between the main characters. The trials they went through made their relationships develop drastically over the course of the story, which was so amazing to read. And watching each character develop and build relationships made me so much more devoted to them, which made every emotional moment hit harder.
I went into this book expecting a scary fantasy story, but wound up with so much more. 7.5/10
MARY JANE by Jessica Anya Blau
In 1970s Baltimore, there’s nothing that fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves more than helping her mother with the cooking, singing in her church’s choir, and tuning into her family’s subscription to the Broadway Show Tunes of the Month club. Her shy and quiet persona means she’s happy to land a job as a summer nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job—in a respectable house.
Yet the house isn’t all that it seems from the outside. Inside, it is less respectable (if Mary Jane’s mother were to have a say, that is): clutter on every surface and takeout for every meal. Even worse is the fact that the doctor is actually a psychiatrist whose whole summer schedule is dedicated to just one case: helping a rock star dry out. Only a week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie-star wife move in.
Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her household to folded laundry and home-cooked meals, while she gets a front-row seat to the liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. By September, Mary will have a whole new idea of the world, as well as her place in it.
I picked this book because it was described as a cross between Almost Famous and Daisy Jones and the Six. In reality, Mary Jane is neither. Instead, it’s a moving, beautiful, coming-of-age tale. From the beginning, the characters’ relationships are what drew me in. There’s a wide variety of them—the tension between Mary Jane and her parents, Mary Jane’s care for the girl she babysits, and Mary Jane’s familial affection for everyone in the household she works for. And each and every one was so heartwarming that I often found myself smiling. I grew attached to every individual and rooted for all of their successes (and booed all their failures). Additionally, Mary Jane herself was such a fun narrator. Blau’s writing transported me into the mind of a fourteen-year-old girl. Her shock at the changing world around her, her longing for adventure, and her naivety gave the story more intrigue and depth than any other “rock-and-roll” story set in the ‘70s.
Blau’s storytelling also makes the story into a “blast from the past” that I enjoyed. There’s tension between social movements and a growing world of “rock and roll”, as well as more menial details, like references to President Ford, certain songs and shows, and macrame.
I don’t have a complaint about this book. But, for anyone looking for a page-turner, Mary Jane may not be for you. It’s a slice-of-life story, and my fondness for it came from the characters and atmosphere, rather than page-turning action. So, if you choose to check out Blau’s novel, that’s something to keep in mind. 9/10.
And that concludes this month’s book reviews, and my book review column as a whole! I hope you’ve liked reading my reviews over the past four years, and I hope you’ll check out some of the books on this list, whether through the school library, or any local libraries and bookstores. Thank you so much for reading!
