Currently Reading

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The Blondes by Emily Schultz - What would happen if blonde women simply started attacking?  This book takes that question and runs with it.  Be warned:  the science makes absolutely zero sense, so you need to suspend that part of your brain while reading.  Hazel, our protagonist, is living in New York City when she sees one of the earliest attacks:  a blonde woman gets into a scuffle with a teenage girl on the subway platform and both of them are run over by the train.  Hazel must deal with the insanity surrounding her, all while also processing the reality that she is pregnant with her professor's child.  It's not exactly an ideal situation.  The book is not ideal either.  Too much hype and not enough follow through.  You can skip this one.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell - This one was a book club book.  While I really didn't like the book, we had a great discussion about it, so give it a shot.  Rose works as a typist in Prohibition-era New York City at a police station.  When Odalie is hired as a new typist, she soon spins Rose's world upside-down, introducing her to fine clothing, rich foods, and dark speakeasys.  But who is Odalie, really?  Clues to her past slowly start to fall into place for Rose, but what do they really mean?  As I said, I didn't like the book - I thought it was poorly written.  But there is a good story hiding in there.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - Eileen is living outside Boston in the 1960s, working at a boys correctional facility, and living with her barely functioning alcoholic father.  Wackiness ensues!  Just kidding.  This is a dark, disturbing, and generally unpleasant story about a self-loathing, sexually and emotionally repressed young woman who has absolutely nothing going for her.  The "action" doesn't take place until almost the very end of the book.  Did I enjoy it?  Weirdly, yes.  I love an unlikable character and one who is so unapologetically awful.  But that's me.

The Camellia Resistance by A.R. Williams - Ok, this of this series as the adult version of all of the Hunger Games-spawned post-apocalyptic novels.  In the not so distant future, America has been all but destroyed by the rampant spread of herpes.  Now, the Ministry of Health is in charge of promoting a healthy and safe environment for all, regardless of what rights it infringes on.  Willow works for the Ministry, until she recklessly has a fling with a man at a conference and finds herself newly infected.  Shortly thereafter, she finds herself a part of the very community she has shunned.  She falls in with the Camellias, a faction of those infected.  Adventures abound!  This book is the first in a trilogy.  It sets up a very interesting story with Willow and the other Camellias preparing to take down the Ministry and allow people to live their lives as they choose.  I call it an "adult" version because surprise, there's some erotica thrown in here that I was not expecting.  I really enjoyed this book and am enjoying the second one so far as well (that review coming soon!).