The Boneless Mercies

author: April Genevieve Tucholke

The Boneless Mercies is a female-led loose retelling of Beowulf. The main character, Frey, is one of a group of women (and one man) who travel from village to village throughout Vorseland, hired to give mercy kills to the suffering. When Frey hears of a monster that is terrorizing a community, she sees a way out of the Mercy trade for herself and the road-weary group. Their journey takes them through a war of witches, personal choices, changes of tradition, and a quest for glory. The book is feminist, female-centric, and enthralling. It is not a romance, although there’s a hint of romance in it.

Readers should know that a lot of people of various ages and genders die in this book, as do a lot of wolves. I loved the relationships between women, and their different dreams and personalities. I loved the way the Mercies sleep snuggled up for both warmth and affection. I loved the mix of gritty and lyrical in the language and scenery, and the mix of compassion and ruthlessness on the part of the Mercies. This is a tough emotional read, but a satisfying and empowering one. It ends on a complete note but with the promise of a sequel, which I eagerly await!

– Carrie S

Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult

Tikka Chance on Me

author: Suleikha Snyder

Tikka Chance on Me is a bad-boy-falls-for-good-girl romance that, according to the author’s Twitter, was inspired by this photo:

Which begs the question, how many 2018 romance novels (and to-be-released 2019 titles) have been inspired directly by Evans? I feel like at this point he might have started his own subgenre. Or at least his beard did.

Anyway, the Evans inspired hero of Tikka Chance on Me is Trucker Carrigan, enforcer to a local biker gang and notorious bad boy.

If at this moment you’re like, “Elyse, I do not want to read motorcycle club romance because of the implications of racial violence and violence against women,” I get it and agree with you, and luckily…

Pinky Grover works at her parents’ restaurant, The Taj Mahal, where she serves Trucker and his friends drinks and lusts after him from afar. As much as Pinky wants to make a move, she knows it will never work.  He’s trouble, she’s the good girl who quit school to support her parents while her mom undergoes chemo, and there’s no possible future between the two, right?

When Pinky finally flirts back with Trucker (and by flirts back I mean throws down a challenge) things get real fast. The two enter into a super hot, super illicit fling that they know is going to hurt when it’s over: Pinky because she thinks Trucker will eventually bail on her, and Trucker because he knows that once his cover is blown, he can never return to town again.

So this novella has a lot of pining, some hot scenes featuring acting on forbidden desires, and the constant tension of this relationship having a very definitive and impending end hanging over it. Somehow this book makes illicit sex in a Wal-Mart parking lot really hot. Nothing in a Wal-Mart parking lot should ever be sexy, but here we are.

I loved this novella. I’m a sucker for yearning and forbidden desires and not-really-bad-boy heroes and Chris Evan’s beard, and Tikka Chance on Me had all those tropes and executed them well. What’s more, it has very real external and internal conflicts, which I’ve found most novellas struggle with. Despite its short length, the pacing, conflict and tropey-ness of Tikka Chance on Me fall into place perfectly, making it immensely satisfying.

– Elyse

Contemporary Romance, Novella, Romance

Zero Sum Game

author: S.L. Huang

Zero Sum Game is an awesome, fast-paced, inventive science fiction thriller about a mercenary whose superpower is her ability to do complicated math almost instantly. She uses this to calculate trajectories and angles and so forth in order to navigate both crime scenes and combat sequences with incredible speed and precision.

Cas takes on a simple job which drags her into a conspiracy involving her mysterious childhood, an evil psychic, and a lot of violence. She has to ally with her best friend Rio, a private detective, and a hacker. All of these people have very rigid moral codes, but none of them have the same moral code, which causes no end of conflicts. Additionally, Cas hates having to trust other people (other than Rio) even a little bit. There’s no romance in this book, but there is the beginning of, to paraphrase Casablanca, the start of many beautiful friendships.

Incidentally, most of the characters, including Cas, are characters of color and one character uses a wheelchair. This book is very violent and includes the (off-page) death of a child. I don’t recall any animal deaths but the human bodies pile up all over the place. Many, many vehicles meet crunchy and/or explosive ends, buildings burn up, and a particular office carpet will never be the same, but, refreshingly, there’s no sexual assault. Instead, there are fascinating characters, exciting action sequences, and loads of competence porn. The reason for the B+ is that I didn’t buy the reach of the conspiracy, and the ending, while perfectly poised for a sequel, left me (and Cas) frustrated with a lack of closure.

– Carrie S

Science Fiction/Fantasy