Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin

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I really should examine the psychology behind why I, a childless cat mom, keep choosing to read mom-noir. I’ve read Zoje Stage’s Baby Teeth, Ashley Audrain’s The Push, and now Helena Echlin’s Clever Little Thing, all novels about mothers who think there is something disturbingly wrong with their daughters (it’s always the daughters). And I keep reading these books even though I know they are not going to be great, and Clever Little Thing is the worst of the three.

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The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

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I feel like I was misled into believing that The Berry Pickers is a mystery novel. It is a mystery, for the characters in the novel, but for the reader there is no mystery as to what happened to a four-year-old Indigenous child that goes missing. I feel some disappointment with this novel because I love a good mystery, but The Berry Pickers turned out to be an emotional story about family and trauma.

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If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

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If We Were Villains has been compared to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, which initially was enough for me to give it a hard pass. But my curiosity triumphed (as well as my desire to fill up my Book Outlet cart with enough books to get free shipping) and I am pleasantly surprised to say that I like this novel because not all the characters are insufferable, and I would recommend it over The Secret History.

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

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V. E. Schwab’s Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil seems to be marketed to readers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue rather than readers of her YA novels. I am not a fan of Schwab’s YA novels, and I loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, so my expectation was that Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil would be a slam dunk for me, but as interesting as I found the novel’s setting, the story ended up falling flat.

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Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

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I enjoyed reading Cherie Dimaline’s VenCo so much that I decided to read another one of her novels (I am sure I will eventually work my way through all of them). I do not like Empire of Wild as much as I like VenCo, but it is still an interesting novel inspired by the Métis traditional story of the Rogarou, a werewolf-like creature that is used to inspire fear in disobedient people.

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Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

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Julie Chan is Dead is Liann Zhang’s debut novel and a recent release that I noticed on the Indigo website. I enjoy novels that satirize the society in which we live, and I did enjoy this novel for the most part, but I feel like Zhang’s message with this novel is going to be lost on those readers that could benefit from it the most.

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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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The Poppy War is a popular fantasy novel and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. I am not a huge fan of the fantasy genre, especially fantasy stories about war, but I really enjoyed reading Kuang’s Babel, so I thought it was time to give The Poppy War, her first novel, a chance. I do not like The Poppy War as much as I like Babel, but I think it is an interesting story with a compelling protagonist.

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