Well, I can’t say my fall break was super restful but I definitely got some reading done! The Becky Chambers talk was lovely—she’s super smart and her writing process is wild. I didn’t know much about her theater background but you can see it in her writing process which is pretty interesting. Anyway, I basically ended up just reading ARCs this week which is good because I cleared out my NetGalley list and now I can request more. We have five ARCs and one reread/audiobook to talk about, so let’s get into it!
Public Access Afterworld by Jone Schoenbrun (out 10/27)
This was an ARC, so you can read my full review here! This is a horror / sci-fi novel about two teens who discover a TV network—Public Access Afterworld—that doesn’t seem to exist. Several years later, one of them
is hiding from the law in the desert, the other has long since disappeared, and a woman named Bethany Peters is the latest to be drawn into the rabbit hole of Public Access Afterworld.
Do I “get” this book? No. There’s a lot of stuff that I didn’t understand, and I couldn’t tell you if it was meant to be ambiguous or if it just went over my head. That being said, I had a lot of fun with this. It’s just delightfully strange and has this great analog/early internet aesthetic to the horror that I think more authors should play around with. I appreciate the queer rep of course, and I haven’t seen any of Schoenbrun’s film work but clearly they have some themes they like to focus on, so if you liked I Saw the TV Glow, you’ll probably enjoy this book too. A little all over the place, but I still enjoyed it!
You’re No Better by Andrew Joseph White (out 10/27)
This was an ARC, so you can read my full review here! This is a YA thriller/horror novel about a closeted trans boy named Morgan Slaughter, the son of an infamously brutal serial killer father and an
abusive, narcissistic mother. When Morgan is forced to participate in a new documentary about his father, he becomes fixated on discovering the true identity of his father’s final victim, and soon has the unlikely help of Felicity Keating, a classmate who knows about Morgan’s involvement in his father’s crimes.
I always enjoy Andrew Joseph White’s books, unapologetically brutal and queer as they are, but this one probably falls on the lower end of the list for me. It’s definitely more thriller than horror compared to his other books (which is how it’s being marketed), and thriller just isn’t my genre as much. Since it’s a thriller, there’s more plot and action, so the characters and relationships kind of got sidelined and I didn’t get the really satisfying arc that I wanted. I like the critique of the true crime community and I do understand and relate to Morgan’s struggles, but I wouldn’t reread this and I don’t think it will leave much of a lasting impression on me.
Final Cut by Amy James (out 11/3)
This was an ARC, so you can read my full review here! This is a contemporary queer romance with thriller elements about an actor named Quin who ends up staying in a small town in Canada during a TV show shoot, where his
only neighbor is Cole, the rude F1 driver that Quin loathes. After finding a body on set and spotting the killer making a run for it, Quin’s own life is suddenly in danger and he must turn to Cole for help, realizing in the process that Cole’s chilliness might all be a facade.
Ugh, delicious, give me fourteen more of these books right now. I read an ARC of Crash Test by Amy James on a whim early last year and was really shocked by how much I liked it. Contemporary romance doesn’t always really do it for me because I just need angst and high stakes, but James does a great job subverting the romance formula and giving me exactly that. So, neither of these books are really typical romances and both are pretty heavy, but I just love them. The actual murder mystery in this book was pretty predictable but I really didn’t care because I enjoyed Cole’s processing of healing and the fact that Quin was willing to put in the work to pull him out of his grief and depression pit. They were super sweet and I got pretty teary. I hope Amy James writes more books set in this world (PORTER BOOK, I AM BEGGING).
Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee
Reread – no rating
This was an ARC (a while ago), so you can read my full review here! This is a YA epic fantasy inspired by the teachings of Bruce Lee about a boy named Jun who was separated from his mother and twin brother at a young
age, exiled to the East with his father. Years later Jun hopes to restore honor to his family by winning the Guardian’s Tournament and becoming the protector of the Scroll of Heaven, but the Tournament has become an especially dangerous political battleground this year and Jun ends up fighting not just for his honor but for the reunification of the country.
I read this for the first time almost exactly two years ago as an ARC, and I kind of wonder why I requested it because it doesn’t sound like my thing, but I was really surprised by how much I liked it. Fight scenes don’t really do it for me and I didn’t have any particular interest in martial arts, but this book had a really great structure and classic fantasy feel that made it a fun time. The worldbuilding isn’t anything like classic fantasy, but you have the underdog hero and the training montage and the fighting tournament that all give it a really comforting feel, plus an interesting set of characters and good stakes. Rereading it was fun too and I was excited to see how the sequel would turn out cue foreshadowing.
Mark of the Warrior by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee (out 10/27)
This was an ARC, so you can read my full review here! Once again exiled, Li Jun heads east to retrieve the scroll of heaven and reunite with his mother and twin brother. Tensions are building between the East and West
—General Cobu is fully prepared to start another war—and Jun and his friends are the only thing left in his way.
*sigh* I don’t know, guys. The sequel just didn’t hit. I think especially having just reread the first book, this really pales in comparison. The pacing is super off, characters kind of dip in and out of the narrative in a way that breaks up their individual arcs, and there are some really major character deaths that are just so lacking in impact. The first book really benefited from its structure, but that structure is pretty lacking in this book. It was fine. It wasn’t boring necessarily and the ending was fine, but I was hoping for more than fine.
Maybe not as good of a week as I hoped considering a lot of these were highly anticipated reads, but it was good to clear out my ARC shelf and I made a dent in my twenty-six in 2026 list (only 10 more to go!). I don’t have a good sense of how busy this upcoming week will be, so I’m not going to commit to a ton of books. Next up on audio is Sleuth-Hound by Lindsey Fitzharris which sounds like interesting history nonfiction. I read and enjoyed her book The Facemaker, so hopefully this one will be good too. I’m hoping to start The Poet Empress by Shen Tao later today which is a fantasy standalone I’ve basically only heard good things about. After that, I might go for Bloom Town: Genesis by Ally North which is the last book on my ARC shelf (though I’m sure more will join it soon) or The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong if I want something a little sillier that will also knock another book off the twenty-six in 2026 list. It might also be nice to read since Halloween is coming up! I’m not planning on dressing up, but I do love spooky season and it’s going to be cold and rainy all week so I’m excited to cozy up.
Have you read any of these books? Did I convince you to read one of them (or not to read one of them)? By all means, let me know what you’ve enjoyed recently or what you’re looking forward to!
Happy reading!
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