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The Stack

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Check Your Shelf

It’s Heeeeere: The Publishers Weekly Best of 2020 List

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. I gonna take a moment from library stuff to celebrate the fact that my husband and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on Monday! We’ve both agreed that it hardly feels like it’s been two years since our wedding, and that in the year 2020, it feels like we’ve been married for an eternity. But 7+ months into the pandemic, we still haven’t worn down each other’s nerves, and that’s a good sign for whatever the next few years throw at us.

Okay, back to library stuff!


Collection Development Corner

Publishing News

The Strand bookstore appeals to the public for help, although this appeal has been met with criticism over news that the owner purchased a large amount of Amazon stock earlier in the year.

Jimmy Patterson Books undergoes a reorganization.

A first look at the virtual Latinx KidLit Book Festival being held December 4th and 5th.

How publishers are making their titles stand out in a very crowded fall season.

New & Upcoming Titles

We’ve hit that time of year: Publishers Weekly released its Best Books of 2020 list.

Tamsyn Muir signs a five-book deal with Tordotcom Publishing.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg will have a book published in 2021.

Bill Gates is publishing a book about climate change in February 2021.

2020 has been a great year for crime fiction.

A look at celebrity memoirs from 2020.

New holiday romance novels that are basically Hallmark movies in book form.

Books of the week from Crime Reads, Lit Hub, New York TImes, and USA Today.

11 feminist picks for October.

October picks from The Millions and Parade.

November picks from Barnes & Noble and Epic Reads.

Bustle picks their best books of 2020. And so does Tana French.

What Your Patrons Are Hearing About

Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin – Megan Rosenbloom (New York Times, NPR)

Ring Shout – P. Djèlí Clark (NPR)

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color – Ruby Hamad (Washington Post)

The Once and Future Witches – Alix E. Harrow (NPR)

RA/Genre Resources

Unquiet spirits: the lost female ghost-story writers returning to haunt us.

On the Riot

Best book covers of 2020.

Queer characters don’t need a romance to prove that they’re queer.

A philosophical question: who creates meaning in fiction? Authors, readers, or both?


All Things Comics

A look at how IDW Publishing has been weathering the “new normal.”

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari will be turned into a graphic novel.

On the Riot

7 fall and winter graphic novel releases for kids and young adults.

The Baby-Sitters Club, from novels to graphic novels.

4 unsettling comics about dreams.

4 great global graphic memoirs.

The difference between lesbian manga and yuri manga, and where you should start.


Audiophilia

October’s bookseller-recommended audio picks.

4 audiobooks about first contacts that will make you wonder if we’re alone in the universe.

Spooky October audio picks.

On the Riot

9 audiobooks by debut authors.

10 free audiobooks you probably didn’t know were in the public domain.


Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists

Children/Teens

21 kids books that celebrate lesser-known African Americans and their contributions to history.

125 kids books that the staff at the New York Public Library love.

8 political YA books to encourage you to vote.

10 YA books with Filipino representation.

Adults

30 books to help us understand the world in 2020.

12 mystery novels featuring Black, Indigenous, and POC protagonists. (This is a REALLY solid list!)

31 best thrillers of all time. (How many have you read? Or better yet, how many of these does your library own?)

40 books about witches and witchcraft.

5 great books about the Korean diaspora.

15 feel-good books designed to lift your spirits.

31 of the best Thanksgiving books to help celebrate the holiday.

20 of the scariest books you’ll ever read.

17 books that will give you the same romantic thriller vibes as Rebecca.

The scariest novel set in every state. (Note that this list is fairly heavy on white male authors, which is sad but perhaps not surprising.)

9 complicated and surprising female narrators.

10 African SFF novels that offer a breath of fresh air.

Top 10 books about creative writing.

On the Riot

16 gorgeous fall books for toddlers.

7 books for young readers where school is the social setting.

9 great eerie reads for middle schoolers.

5 middle grade UK books that celebrate diversity.

7 romance novels that involve hilarious pranks on your significant other.

9 diverse memoirs you should add to your TBR.

6 books to read if you liked Transcendent Kingdom.

15 more fabulous books about drag.

10 perfectly creepy supernatural books for Halloween.

9 books where women take charge.

5 books about social justice for Filipino American History Month.

8 books about digital activism.


Level Up (Library Reads)

Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.

Take a deeeeeep breath this week, folks. See you on Friday.

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

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Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships for October 27

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex with some end-of-the-month new releases and a bit of genre music for you. This weekend was a cold and snowy one, which meant some people in my state got the fun of getting both fire and winter storm alerts at the same time (we are the literal song of ice and fire, oh ho ho ho). This weekend was also my home convention, MileHiCon, which ran smoothly on virtual with a scaled-back programming track and meant I got to watch some local authors chat on my big TV. Stay safe, do everything you can to de-stress when you can, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.


New Releases

Note: The new releases for this week are a bit thin on the ground… and there’s less diversity in the authors than we normally like to see.

Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

A poor scholar and a mindship that is a notorious thief and master of disguise meet in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt. Vân (the scholar) and Sunless Woods are brought together by a corpse found in the quarters of Vân’s student; together they work to unravel a mystery that leads them from tea house to mindship corpse, while the secrets they’ve hidden from each other threaten to destroy them both.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia and Victoria are twins, and both of them are strega—witches living secretly among humans—living out a normal life and working in their family’s Sicilian restaurant. One night, Victoria misses dinner service, and Emilia finds her body, horrifically desecrated, soon after. Emilia will do anything to avenge her beloved twin, even using long-forbidden magic.

Northern Wrath by Thilde Kold Holdt

The bonds between Midgard and the gods are straining to the breaking point, and the world shows the strain. A demon is accidentally released from Muspelheim; a village that follows the old ways is slaughtered by marauding Christians. Hilda, Ragnar, and their tribesman must find a way to save their gods and save their traditions in the face of a changing, violent world.

How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason

Rory Thorne has renounced her title after kicking over everything in her range, and retired to a more peaceful life as an unglamorous privateer at the edge of space. But she and her crew get drawn back into the multiverse’s problems when they find an abandoned ship that seems to have fallen victim to an attack, and take on its cargo: a rose bush that turns out to be both sentient and a powerful biological weapon.

The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski, translated by David A French

Reynevan is a healer, magician, and quite possibly a charlatan, depending on who you ask. A foolish indiscretion leaves him pursued by some vengeful brothers, and far worse, the Holy Inquisition. His flight leads him to the Tower of Fools, an asylum that might be for the mad or might be for those who have dared imagine a different world. Escaping it will be his most challenging trick yet.

News and Views

The British Fantasy Awards have announced their 2020 short list. Congratulations to everyone on the list, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Announcement of the winners of the Nommo Awards has been delayed due to the recent state violence in Nigeria.

Chinese Science Fiction Goes Global

Elizabeth Bear talks about Ancestral Night.

David Tennant and Billie Piper did a podcast.

Eliana González Ugarte and Coral Alejandra Moore talk about starting Constelación Magazine, which will have stories in English and Spanish. You still have a few more days to support their Kickstarter.

Polygon asked Kim Stanely Robinson if science fiction can save us.

Vulture spoke with Rebecca Roanhorse about reimagining Native American History

The diabolical ironclad beetle is a thing that exists.

Grant Imahara’s friends and family have built The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation to honor his life and legacy.

On Book Riot

Which book should you read based on your Dungeons & Dragons class?

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about mythology in SFF and the TIME’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time list.

This month, you can enter to win a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card.


See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

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The Kids Are All Right

New Children’s Book Releases for October 27, 2020

Hey readers!

We’re back with another crop of children’s new releases for the week!

Starcrossed by Julia Denos

This is a beautiful picture book that tells the story of a celestial friendship. Eridani is a human girl and her best friend Acamar is a constellation of a boy, and both secretly long to be like the other.

Bye, Penguin! by Seou Lee

This cute picture book is almost completely wordless, telling the story of a penguin who takes a solo journey around the world after the ice floe it’s standing on breaks loose.

Woodland Dreams by Karen Jameson and illustrated by Marc Boutavant

This picture book makes for a cute bedtime read, with rhyming prose that follows various woodland creatures to bed for the night.

Snoozie, Sunny, and So-So by Dafna Ben-Zvi and illustrated by Ofra Amit; translated by Annette Appel

This adorably illustrated picture book is originally from Israel, about a cat (Snoozie) and dog (Sunny) who are best friends. When they discover a little dog living alone (So-So), they invite her to join them in celebrating Snoozie’s birthday, widening their pair to a trio.

Bill Nye’s Great Big World of Science by Bill Nye & Gregory Mone, illustrated by Matteo Farinella, Amelia Fenne & Bill Nye

For people who want a scientific primer from the Science Guy himself is this nonfiction book all about the natural universe. This is a broad look at science from the human body to the solar system, animals, plants, climate change, and more.

Measuring Up by Lily Lamotte and illustrated by Ann Xu

This graphic novel follows Cici, a girl from Taiwan who moves to Seattle with her parents. Left behind was her grandmother, who Cici misses dearly and hopes to bring to the U.S for her birthday. So Cici signs up to participate in a junior cooking contest that will cover the airfare. This is funny, heartwarming, and packed with delicious foods.


Until next week!

Chelsea (@ChelseaBigBang on Twitter).

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New Books

Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Hello, kittens, and welcome to another week of “OMG I WANT ALL THE BOOKS.” There are a lot of great books out today, but you will not be surprised to learn that the one I am most excited about is Black & White & Weird All Over: The Lost Photographs of “Weird Al” Yankovic ’83 – ’86 by Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz. (I love him.) It’s another coffee table book to add to the enormous pile that will inevitably be responsible for bringing down our living room ceiling one day. (I love coffee table books, but I can’t actually leave them on our coffee table, because of our crack team of destructive cats. Er, and because I own hundreds. But I blame the felines.)

Speaking of today’s books you can also hear about some amazing books on this week’s episode of All the Books! Patricia and I discussed Memorial, The Sacrifice of Darkness, Dungeon Critters, and more great new books.

And now, it’s time for everyone’s favorite gameshow: AHHHHHH MY TBR! Here are today’s contestants:

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor 3) by Jessica Townsend

BOOK 3 IS FINALLY HERE! I think of all the rescheduled release dates this year, this one made me the saddest when it was kicked from early spring to late fall. (I say that having read Harrow the Ninth early, before it was delayed by months. Sorry, not sorry.) This is one of the best middle grade series I have read, and I like to point it out whenever I can! The series starts with a young girl named Morrigan Crow, who has been told her whole life that she is cursed, and that she is fated to die on her eleventh birthday. But when the doomed day rolls around, a stranger named Jupiter appears and takes her to a school for gifted children to hone her extraordinary talent. The problem is that Morrigan doesn’t know that she even has an extraordinary talent, and Jupiter refuses to tell her what it is, so she will have to work it out – with a little help from wonderful new friends. It’s a delightful adventure of magic and whimsy, with spots of intense villainy. I believe it’s to be a seven-book series, but I fully vote that you start reading them now instead of waiting. They’re also really fun to reread!

Backlist bump: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, Thibault Balahy

Redbone is a Mexican-American /Native American rock band that originated in the 1970s. Their song “Come and Get Your Love” was a huge hit (which you also might recognize from Guardians of the Galaxy.) This is a graphic biography of the band, following its founding in California by Pat and Lolly Vegas, the struggles the band faced, and the triumphs they achieved. Maybe new interest in the band will help the long-overlooked Redbone snag a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Not that I will pay attention to anything that organization does, as long as Warren Zevon remains unsung. *Pout*)

Backlist bump: Come and Get Your Love: A Celebratory Ode to Redbone (1939-Present) by Pat Vegas

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

And last, but not least: just in time for Halloween, here’s the creepy and exciting story of twin streghe sisters who keep their witchy ways hidden from the humans around them. But when one of the sisters is horribly murdered, all bets are off. Emilia is devastated by the loss of her beloved Vittoria, and resorts to seeking help from Wrath, a Prince of Hell, to seek vengeance on her killer. The problem is, once you let the monkey out of the bottle, it’s hard to get him to go back in. If you’re looking for something fun and spooky to escape into this Halloween weekend, this is it!

Backlist bump: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco


As always, I am wishing the best for all of you in whatever situation you find yourself in now. Please reach out to your friends and family if you need someone to talk to, and be sure to keep social distancing and washing your hands to keep yourself and others safe.

Thanks for subscribing! – XO, Liberty

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Today In Books

Oprah’s Book Pick Is 7 Books This Time: Today In Books

Oprah’s Book Pick Is Seven Books This Time

To meet the current unprecedented times, Oprah Winfrey has done things a bit different than her usual book club recommendation, going with seven selections she calls “The Books That See Me Through.” The books she found to “comfort, inspire, and enlighten” include James Baldwin’s essay collection The Fire Next Time, Joy Harjo’s edited anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between The World And Me, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, and Mary Oliver’s poetry collection Devotions. Rather than Apple TV interviews, she’ll talk about the books on Instagram, and as of now there is no timeline for future book club picks.

The Dry Film Adaptation Trailer

Jane Harper’s The Dry film adaptation now has a trailer! Starring Eric Bana as Federal Agent Aaron Falk, who returns to his small town to investigate a murder-suicide of a childhood friend, the film is set to premiere in Australia on January 1st. We’ll have to wait, but don’t worry: there is an International release plan, the dates just haven’t been revealed yet.

New CW Batwoman Will Make Comic Debut

When Ruby Rose, the lead actress playing Batwoman, left the CW series, DC and CW decided that, rather than replacing her as Kate Kane, they would create a new Batwoman to cast. And now we’ll be seeing Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, a character who will make her comic debut tomorrow in Batgirl #50.

10 Recent Books by Asian American Poets

Don’t miss reading these powerful and poignant books by Asian American poets engaging their diverse backgrounds in diverse ways.

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Giveaways

102620-TONIES-Giveaway

We’re giving away five tonies® starter sets to five lucky Riot readers!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the cover image below!

Here’s what it’s all about:

The Toniebox is an imagination-building, screen-free digital listening experience that plays stories, songs, and more. Designed for little listeners ages 3+, it’s the perfect storytime companion for tiny hands and active imaginations. The Toniebox comes to life when paired with our whimsical collection of Tonies, hand-painted characters with hours of stories to tell, worlds to explore, and songs to sing. Whether educational content, audiobook or sing-along songs, each hand-painted Tonie figurine is a unique listening experience. From beloved classics to modern favorites, where will Tonies take you?

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Kissing Books

Have You Seen This Cover Yet???

How are you all taking care of yourselves as we get closer to US election day? I watched a random episode of Julie and the Phantoms today, even though I rarely rewatch series, and I’m definitely going to have to keep doing that. I mean, I could just listen to the songs, I guess, but then I wouldn’t get to swoon over all of that Meaningful Eye Contact. I’ve also been watching Hannibal, though, so…every mood a comfort, right? 

It’s Monday, and we’re talking books. 

News and Useful Links

I screamed. (Also I recommend clicking through to her newsletter because the story about the cover models is perfect. Okay, not as perfect as the one about the Once Ghosted cover models, but close.) 

We’ve been talking a lot about Amazon and indies, and we know that indies and romance have …an interesting history. Sarah MacLean offered an annotated list of bookstores that are particularly romance-friendly (and included recommendations from others in the thread, as well as Jen’s lovingly put together map.)

For the inaugural RWA Vivian award, nobody has to pay for their first entry

This is a great conversation about fatness and fanfiction and a few other Fs. 

Dash and Lily is coming to Netflix!

We’re one step closer to The Worst Best Man making it to the screen!

If you missed it the first time around, you can mask up for love with all kinds of gear!

You can also get ampersand shirts and more for the Penny Reid-verse. 

And Lucy Eden opened a new shop with some fun taglines.

Those of us who live on Twitter got to have another one of Those Discussions with people who are not romance readers, and it went to shit. I’m not going to link to the original conversation, but we can all agree that romance as a genre should always have an HEA. If you want a love story with a different kind of ending, it exists in every other genre. Romances exist that do not end in a heteronormative marriage and kids situation, but they are still an HEA/HFN for the couple or group involved. If the protagonists share their love for each other and one rides off on his motorcycle and isn’t sure when he’ll be able to return, they’re in an HEA situation. If the aromantic character does what he can to show that he cares about his alloromantic partner but they never exchange the big ILY, they’re in an HEA situation. And if the characters do end up married, with or without kids, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, they’re in an HEA situation. And if someone’s HEA is to not be in a romantic relationship…well, they probably won’t be protagonists in a genre romance novel. (This is also true of film—if a movie is purporting itself as a romcom, I expect it to end in a relationship, even if it’s not a traditional one. Romantic dramas, on the other hand? I watched a trailer for one the other day and within thirty seconds was like…one or both of them is going to die before the end.) 

Deals

Booked for Christmas by Lily Menon

I know it’s not quite Halloween yet, but if you’re in the mood for Christmas, you can read Lily (Sandhya) Menon’s first foray into adult fiction before her full length book Make Up, Break Up comes out in February. This one involves a romance writer and her biggest online critic who end up snowed in, alone, in her cabin. Obviously, they get to know each other and discover their misconceptions have no standing when they’re snowed in, alone, and kind of hot for each other…in her cabin. I’m looking forward to seeing how the hilarity she offers in her YA carries over into adult romance. 

Recs!

I’ve been picking up books based on internet recommendations recently, and a few of them have actually stuck. And now I’ve moved on to a jonesing for a particular type that I used to seek out on a regular basis…so I might be reading them for a while. 

Entreat Me by Grace Draven

Beauty and the Beast is probably the most influential piece of media in my subconscious. I have watched the original cartoon hundreds of time over the past three decades, and enjoyed the other Disney presentations of the story (I prefer the stageplay but “Evermore” amirite). Even before the cartoon, I remember watching the TV show with my mother or aunt or grandmother (or some combination of the three) until it was cancelled. I have read every version of the original tale that I know exists. I acknowledge that each has its setbacks and missteps. 

But sometimes, someone writes a version that is just…magnificent.

The last one of those I read was As Old As Time, the Disney Twisted Tale written for a YA audience that takes the story and sets it on its head. And I didn’t think I’d find another Beauty/Beast story that I would enjoy to that same level. (Okay, and Briarley. I’d almost forgotten about Briarley.)

And then, someone mentioned Entreat Me. I had picked up a book by Draven before and decided not to read it based on the plot and my mood, but I hadn’t heard of this one (or if I had, I’d forgotten about it). This particular story involves a father and son cursed by the woman who connects them and a pair of sisters who become involved with them. Ballard and his wife didn’t love each other, but he hadn’t expected her dying breath to be a curse on him that also affects Gavin…who is also not biologically his. Hundreds of years later (the book later explains how they’re all still alive hundreds of years later), Gavin has been traveling the world and has fallen in love with Cinnia. When a local merchant who claims Cinnia and Louvaen’s father owes him extreme debt offers to clear them if Cinnia marries him, Gavin absconds to his ancestral home with her. Louvaen, worried for her sister, follows. And there, she meets Ballard, who has been heavily disfigured by the effects of the curse. The pair exchange plenty of barbs, but come to understand and eventually like each other. And things…go from there. (This is not your traditional, sex-free version of the story. Be prepared.) 

While the beginning was slow going (at least for me), I very much enjoyed it once I got moving. There’s a significant difference in a BatB story in which the titular beauty is not a prisoner of the titular beast, even for a brief time. Changing that dynamic automatically makes the situation more palatable, and everything else goes down super smooth. 

(CWs: labor-related death; scarring and scars that move (body horror?); violence against women (not by protagonists); near drowning; gun use; centering of virginity; threat of rape (not by protagonists); description of labor and birth; metaphysical torture; unconscious self-harm; discussion of dead bodies and plague death.)

There are some other BatB stories that have been on my list for a long time, so maybe I’ll pick up Nalini Singh’s Lord of the Abyss soon. And apparently Grace Draven has another one called Radiance. I’ve been into the fantastic more than completely contemporary lately, so we’ll see what comes of it. 

Do you have any favorites? 


As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at wheninromance@bookriot.com if you’ve got feedback, bookrecs, or just want to say hi!

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Read This Book

Read This Book: FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

Welcome to Read This Book, the newsletter where I recommend a book you should add to your TBR, STAT! I stan variety in all things, and my book recommendations will be no exception. These must-read books will span genres and age groups. There will be new releases, oldie but goldies from the backlist, and the classics you may have missed in high school. Oh my! If you’re ready to diversify your books, then LEGGO!!

Halloween is drawing near, dear reader, so it’s time to recommend picking up some creepier types of book … if that’s what you’re into, of course. No worries, I’m not a blood and gore kind of reader, so my reading recommendations will definitely be more on the tame side. What better book to read this week than the story Mary Shelley dreamt at the age of 18 about a scientist who created life and was then horrified by the results. The novel inspired by that dream continues to influence pop culture centuries after it was first published. In fact, the creature in the story is still one of the most popular and iconic Halloween costumes. 

Frankenstein Graphic Novel Cover

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with creating life. After plundering graveyards for material to create a new being and shocking it to life with electricity, Victor is quickly horrified by the botched creature he created. Rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, the creature sets out to destroy his maker along with everything (and everyone) he holds dear. 

It’s likely you haven’t read Frankenstein since high school, so you may be reluctant to revisit the book since there are so many books out there already and not nearly enough time to read them all. However, I always enjoy reading books as an adult that I read in my younger days. There are always parts of the story that went over my head in the past that make total sense now. Also, it is interesting to learn if certain feelings toward the characters have changed or remained the same. 

As a teen reader, it was easy to choose sides because life was less complicated. Situations were black and white, good or bad. The Creature was obviously the bad guy because he caught bodies left and right. As an adult reader, I saw both of the protagonists as villains. Although, Victor is more of the bad guy than the monster he created in my eyes. Frankenstein is the story where there are no true heroes. That makes this book all the more interesting. It is quite rare I read a book where I am not rooting for either of the main characters. If you are looking for a similar Gothic read, then Frankenstein is an excellent choice. 

Also, I’m eager to know how you refer to what Victor Frankenstein created.

Until next time bookish friends,

Katisha

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