Sara

save yourself some time and read the fig tree passage from sylvia plath's the bell jar. that's the whole book pared down to one paragraph. you're welcome

This scarred me a little bit. The main character dealing with the disillusionment of being a mundane and never being a part of the magical world, leading to a strained relationship with her sister and a drinking problem hit pretty good. The setup was really nice, and I liked the ambiguous and bittersweet ending, but the investigation fell apart (heh) in the middle to ending area, got a bit confused as to what was going on. I also did not like the chosen one trope being real and having such a big part in this story, felt a bit off. Overall, it left quite an impression so I still recommend it.

A political fantasy about a feral girl and her wolf companion being thrust into a battle over inheriting the throne when the elderly king dies. Pretty good if you like really in-depth royal lineage maneuverings and a sprinkle of magic.

Retelling of Rumpelstiltskin where a king of the ice fey hears rumors of a woman who can turn silver into gold, and that woman is a Jewish moneylender.

Wow, this lady had a ROUGH childhood. Rural Idaho is known for its extremist far-right religious bent, and the trauma and familial abuse she went through and seeing how one could grow up in an environment like that and come out so different was very interesting to read about.