Be Kind My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo

Be Kind My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo

496 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Murder. Love. Cults. Puppets!

It’s 1973, the town of Baths, cozy middle-of-nowhere American heartland. Traveling musician Wegg rolls in, content to busk for a beat and be on his merry way once more. That is, until he meets Mr. Neighbor, the disarmingly sweet man made of cloth who offers him company and a place to stay. As the two grow closer, they click together just right, each harmonizing with the other's most secret self. Yet their growing romance is haunted by uncertainty and mystery...

There's the town itself, plagued by repeated, ritualistic murders by the elusive Baths Heartbreaker. Then there's Neighbor, whose cheerful demeanor never falters, but who disappears like clockwork every month. And Wegg, who lives as though he's on borrowed time―what exactly is he afraid will catch up to him?

The Confessional by Paige Hender

The Confessional by Paige Hender

200 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

New Orleans, 1922. Cora Velasquez lives with her sister and her own haunted memories in a speakeasy run by a vampire coven. Unable to bear the weight of her damned soul, she turns to Father Orville Thibodeaux, a charismatic priest and the object of her hidden desires. Their veiled courtship becomes deadly serious when he discovers her nature, and proposes a way to both slake her thirst and save her soul. So begins the charged dance between an all-powerful but unsure young woman, and the mortal man who claims to hold her fate in his hand.

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

240 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Twelve-year-old Astrid has always done everything with her best friend Nicole. So when Astrid signs up for roller derby camp, she assumes Nicole will too. But Nicole signs up for dance camp with a new friend instead, and so begins the toughest summer of Astrid's life. There are bumps and bruises as Astrid learns who she is without Nicole...and what it takes to be a strong, tough roller girl.

Putty Pygmalion by Lonnie Garcia

Putty Pygmalion by Lonnie Garcia

72 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Derryl, a lonely radish, attempts to create a boyfriend out of a defunct and now illegal children's product. His creation, Peter, springs to life ready to make a child happy, and instead finds a suffocating and cloistered existence catering to Derryl’s needs. When Peter sneaks out to a party one night and meets Derryl’s friends, he discovers there’s even more to his creator’s intentions than he thought.

All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles

All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles -- 373 pages

Ridley Sawyer knows what it’s like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished—because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared.

Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn’t stop her from finding it for others. Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way.

Colt knows what it’s like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he’s not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn’t matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there’s more to Ridley’s story or that he can’t stop imagining what it would be like to touch her. But when Ridley’s cold case turns hot and she’s thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley’s living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog’s affections. But she’s also proving that she’s so much more than his first impression. And as they get closer to the truth, the game they’ve been playing might just turn deadly…

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, 582 pages

From The Expanse, "Dulcinea": "In the 23rd century, humans have colonized the Solar System. The UN controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The inner planets depend on the resources of the asteroid belt. Belters live and work in space. In the Belt, air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising - Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. All it will take is a single spark…"

This is my first time reading this book series and it is fascinating. Generally the futuristic scifi I consume is more like Star Trek, where humanity's future is mostly positive even if still fraught with the problems imperfect beings are plagued with.  Leviathan Wakes is not like that: the future is grimy and grim. The best AND the worst of humanity has been flung into the solar system, creating vast canyons of moral grayness, raw hope, and desperate actions.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, 404 pages

From GoodReads: "Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend."

This book has a slow, infuriating-but-necessary build. It features rampant systematic racism and misogyny and violation on a level that was intense. My cheeks burned with second hand humiliation in some scenes. Some scenes were so disturbing on a visceral level that I had to stop reading and just sit with it. The horror and the dread stick with you in a vicious, disturbingly thrilling way.