July Recommended Reads

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How do you organize your TBR?

For most of my life, I’ve been more of a mood reader, content to hit the library and browse the shelves until a title or cover jumps out and grabs me. But lately, my TBR pretty much organizes itself because I have so many eBooks and audiobooks on hold through the Libby app. When a hold comes up, I usually have 14 or 21 days to finish the book before the library automatically takes it back. Kind of makes it harder to ignore the next book on your list when you know it will soon magically disappear, doesn’t it?

This also leads me to dive into titles I might not have otherwise picked for that moment, and I usually end up loving them anyway. So if you’re struggling with sticking to your TBR, using the library might be the way to go. (Personally, I don’t know how anyone gets things done without a deadline.)

Here are the books I enjoyed the most in July, thanks in part to my Libby holds shelf:

Firekeeper’s Daughter
By Angeline Boulley
★★★★

Daunis Fontaine’s life in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has always been a delicate balance. She’s learned to exist in the space between her mother’s prominent white family and her late father’s Ojibwe heritage, with hockey as the defining connection between her two worlds. Everything changes when Daunis witnesses a horrific murder and is swept up in an investigation of the drugs that are poisoning her community from the inside out. She agrees to help the investigators explore potential links to traditional Ojibwe medicine, but soon begins to doubt their motivations. As she works to uncover where the drugs are coming from, she’ll have to face hard truths about the place she has always called home.

The shining stars of Boulley’s novel are the setting and the characters, rendered with vivid specificity and tenderness. Daunis’s love for her home and her community are palpable from the first page as details of Ojibwe traditions and teachings are seamlessly threaded into the narrative. Despite the serious subject matter, the book also maintains the humor and playfulness characteristic of the YA genre, especially when it comes to Daunis’s relationship with her Ojibwe elders. Yet Boulley also tackles timely issues head on, from the complex implications of tribal sovereignty to the lack of attention given to cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. All the elements are deftly wrapped up in a compelling mystery that explores themes around family, identity, justice, and belonging.

My Sister, the Serial Killer
By Oyinkan Braithwaite
★★★★1/2

Since she was a little girl, Korede has felt responsible for her younger sister, Ayoola. But she never expected her responsibilities to include crime scene clean-up after Ayoola’s boyfriends inevitably end up dead. When Ayoola starts dating a doctor at the hospital where Korede works as a nurse — the one she’s been pining over for months — Korede knows it won’t end well. She finds herself faced with a choice: who will she save and who will she betray?

This compact thriller is a masterclass in the art of “less is more.” Not a single word is wasted, with each sentence carefully crafted to deliver maximum impact in as few words as possible. But that’s the genius of it — much of the dread that makes the novel so affecting is captured in what is left unsaid, expertly balanced against the dark humor injected into the words on the page. The author’s depiction of Korede and Ayoola’s relationship is complex and deeply layered, leaving the reader to vacillate between compassion and revulsion for both sisters. One of the book’s only faults is that once it’s over, you’ll wish it didn’t have to end.

The Alternate End of Cassidy Marchand
By Tracey Barski
★★★★

When Cassidy Marchand’s attempt to flee a bad relationship somehow catapults her headlong into an alternate reality, it seems at first like a chance to start over. But she soon learns that this universe’s version of Cassidy has been murdered, and the killer is still at large. He knows the still-alive Cassidy is here, and he’s coming for her. Can she find a way back to her own world before she winds up dead a second time? She’ll have to rely on strangers who knew and loved the other Cassidy to help her stay alive, but that will require her to resist the deepest impulse she knows: The urge to run.

This debut novel from Tracey Barski is an inventive mélange of mystery, romance, and science fiction, with a deliberate pace that privileges people over breakneck action. At its core, this is a story about grief, relationships, vulnerability, and how to reconcile the knowledge that things could have turned out differently if only we’d made another choice. Smart-mouthed protagonist Cassidy brings wit and banter to the page as she navigates the complicated emotions that connect her lived past to her alternate present. Since this is the first installment in a planned series, not all of your questions will be answered by the last page. But that leaves plenty to look forward to in the next book.

That’s all for this month. I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading lately, so feel free to reach out and let me know. I’ll see you in early September for my next round of recommended titles!