Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen (★★★★☆)
E-Book • Libby • Mystery • 2024
Short synopsis: When a bookseller mysteriously disappears with a secret list of subscribers to a queer book service, private detective Andy Mills must navigate the dangerous worlds of government conspiracies and organized crime to protect the lives of those on the list—including his closest friends.
What I love most about this series (this is the third book in the Evander Mills detective series, and I do recommend reading them in order) is not necessarily the mysteries or even the private detective at the heart of the story. Instead, with each book, Rosen takes us through a different facet of queer life in the 1950s and how the heroes of this era paved the way for the more inclusive world we have today. In this book, Andy must find out what happened to a bookseller who has disappeared. Because he’s not just any bookseller—he specifically stocks queer books in his store (cleverly tucked in between mainstream titles) and even has a book subscription service where people can receive queer books in the mail. Of course, this type of service is highly illegal in the 1950s, and anyone on that list does not want their name getting out.
This book is about the mystery (what happened to this bookseller, and where is that damned list?), but it’s also about queer stories: How were queer people finding books that represented themselves in a time when it was illegal to be gay? What was the distribution system like for these types of books? And what kinds of books were being written at this time? It made me super grateful that queer stories are not being hidden; rather, in bookstores these days, there are shelves specifically for LGBTQIA+ memoirs and literary novels and romances. And that’s only because of the people who came before me, who risked their lives to make sure queer stories weren’t being silenced.
Come for the mystery, stay for the education on queerness in the 1950s.
Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young (★★☆☆☆ 1/2)
E-book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2025
Short synopsis: When high school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb’s marriage hits a rough patch, a disastrous couples’ hiking retreat forces the nature-averse pair to confront who they’ve become, rediscover who they are together, and find their way back to each other.
I was really looking forward to this book, especially after loving the first book in the series, about Sarah’s best friend. Unfortunately, this book just didn’t have the same magic. Honestly, for most of the book, I loathed Sarah. She was just so passive, and I couldn’t understand spending a decade of your young adult life doing… nothing. She had no job, no children, nothing. She just… existed until she decided to get involved with a charity, but even that turned into a disastrous failure.
Anyway, I found it really hard to connect with Sarah, and while things started to turn around for me during the hiking retreat, I found the ending to be a bit too saccharine and wish fulfillment. There’s a storyline involving absentee parents that drove me batshit with the way it was resolved, and don’t even get me started on that goddamn epilogue. I really need romance authors to stop writing epilogues, please and thank you.
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (★★★★☆)
Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Historical Fiction • 2024
Short synopsis: In 1950s Iran, two girls from vastly different backgrounds forge an unbreakable friendship, but as they grow into young women amid the country’s political upheaval, shifting social circumstances and a devastating betrayal threaten to change their lives forever.
I picked up this book to fulfill the October prompt for my self-selected Unread Shelf Project (read a book set outside the U.S.). It’s been sitting on my shelf for quite a while, so I was glad to sit down with it finally. I really loved this book and the writing style. It’s a sweeping story about two women who meet as young girls in the 1950s and how their friendship changes throughout the years as their paths diverge and unrest in their country threatens their way of life. The only thing keeping it from being a five-star read is that I wish the author had spent more time showing how the political upheaval transformed everyday life in Tehran instead of simply telling us about the historical events as they unfolded. Sometimes it was like “this happened, then this happened, then this happened,” and I would have appreciated a more immersive experience in that respect. Even so, this was an excellent novel, and I truly enjoyed my time with the two exceptional women.
What are you reading?
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