#maureen marshall

[lgbtqreads]

Queer Histfic Set in Paris, Part II

For part I, click here. The Disenchantment by Celia Bell (1670s-80s) Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak (1790s) Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis (1866) The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall (1886) An Island Princess Stars a Scandal by Adriana Herrera (1889)

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

An Interview with Maureen Marshall, Author of The Paris Affair

Maureen is a fan of the Romance genre, traveling, helping other authors grow in their craft, and spy novels with a Queer and neurodivergent twist.

Her debut, The Paris Affair, is a Queer historical suspense set in Paris during the building of the Eiffel Tower. When Fin Tighe, the illegitimate son of an English lord living in Paris, starts catching feelings for Gilbert, a member of the Parisian elite, he is given the choice to reclaim his birthright or to return to Paris where he made a name for himself. 

AC: I think most of us understand the difference between a thriller and a mystery by now, but what is the difference between suspense, thriller, and mystery?

MM: So, I could be technically wrong, but for me, the distinction between those three would be that suspense has you guessing if there is a mystery, or if people are just behaving in a shady way, haha! A thriller is going to be like a roller coaster with twists and turns and a mystery is definitely more clear that something wrong is happening and the MC needs to figure out who and why!

AC: Why did you select the Eiffel Tower from all of the beautiful Parisian architecture?

MM: As for why I chose the Eiffel Tower, it's kind of funny. I found an article about how ballet dancers at the Paris Opéra were treated like a sexual commodity at that time period, and I needed to tie my engineer into a project that made sense at that precise moment, so the Eiffel Tower subplot fell into my lap, almost as an afterthought. However, through many rounds of editing, I made it more and more integral to the story.

AC: As a huge fan of ballet, I loved the bits about the Paris Ballet in the book. What's your favorite ballet and why?

MM: Oof, the ballet one stumped me a little because I get really nerdy about the technical aspect. I love watching the moves blossom, if that makes sense, even more than the storytelling aspect. So, I am actually almost as content watching a rehearsal as the completed ballet. I am such a behind the scenes personality!

AC: I love that. I’m the same way; I did the behind the scenes stuff when I did theater and it was a blast.

AC: You have a strong background in the Romance genre. Was the pivot to historical suspense a big jump?

MM: I actually wrote this book before I wrote the published historical romances--and I received a lot of agent notice but no one was sure how to place the book. So, I wrote the romances because I figured they were closer to what the market wanted, and I love writing romances. I held onto The Paris Affair until I could convince someone to publish it, ha! I love the romance aspect of all my books. I love, love! Still, I really enjoy digging into the psychology of suspense and I feel that personal relationships can really amp it up. For example, I have a favorite manuscript about the fallout for the queer community in Edinburgh during the Oscar Wilde trial sitting in a drawer because it’s rather quiet and character-based. Hopefully, it sees the light of day sometime.

AC: Aurelie and Fin’s relationship is so sweet and there’s a real gentleness to Fin and Gilbert’s romance. Was it conscious to make Fin’s relationships that way or did they fall into place as a reflection of his character?

MM: I'm so glad the sweetness shows through. I feel that Fin is complicated and believes he is much tougher than he really is. That he thinks his armor is stronger than it actually is. It is clear in my mind that he allows his kindness show with Aurelie much easier than with anyone else. I feel like Gilbert was working hard to lure Fin in until Gilbert finds that it's no longer a ruse. I wanted to show the two men truly falling in love with one another even though Fin is so adamant that it's not how he feels. He doesn't have many representations of long term romantic relationships to use as a template, so he doesn't recognize it until it's gone. When I'm drafting, I do a lot of character work up front and so his prickliness pops out in ways that I hope come across as real and not just character affectations. But honestly, I am so pleased that they shine through to someone who doesn't love Fin as fiercely as I do.

AC: There's all kinds of advice out there in regards to the writing process, but I've found that the best thing to do is experiment with a lot of authors' processes until you find a combination that works for you. What's your drafting process like?

MM: Usually, I draft a chapter at a time, in order--even if I really want to write a different scene, I don't allow myself to do it out of order. (I did once for a book I then never finished because I had the dessert before the main course, I guess!) Then I edit as I go. I keep reading back over newly completed chapters before writing for the day, which I know is the opposite of conventional advice, but writing is the only thing (almost) that I get perfectionistic about.

AC: We talk a lot in writers spaces about how you have to read modern authors to be part of the conversation going on in our genres. What books are your book in conversation with?

MM: I feel like there is a lot of similarity with M/F historical fiction/upmarket with the suspense angle and then again, it's sort of more modern because the queer relationships aren't dug into as an anomaly of any kind--because they weren't. Just not as discussed as the drawbacks were legion. But it is a bit of a canary in the coal mine for more queer upmarket in the historical space, for sure.

AC: Author as Brand feels like a big part of being a writer these days. What do you want your Brand to be?

MM: I'd say that my author brand is absolutely historical settings with queer characters and ND representation--even when it isn't completely overt. Fin struggles with anxiety and C-PTSD, for example, and in my romances, there is a character whose life is stymied by his anxiety and ADHD.

AC: Some authors focus on food, others on clothes. What's your favorite way to show time and place?

MM: I grew up in a house full of antiques and I like to add objects that we don't use in our modern lives to show time and place, as well as food and clothing. But I'd absolutely say my personal emphasis is on everyday objects from the time period that are being used or noticed casually to dig into the setting.

AC: Are there any writers you wanna give a shout-out to? 

MM: Rose Sutherland who recently debuted with A Sweet Sting of Salt is my behind-the-scenes ride-or-die, and I’ve been draft-swapping, critiquing, and friending with Felicia Grossman who writes Jewish romance à la the Once Upon the East End series since 2016. I read anything Cat Sebastian, KJ Charles, and Alexis Hall write, and am tickled by Emma Alban’s Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend. 

AC: I am a huge fan of both Felicia and Rose’s books. Rose really captured yearning in a gorgeous rendition of The Selkie Wife and I love how Felicia puts Jewish characters in stories that we never get to see them in.

AC: I really loved Fin’s complex relationship with his father's title as well as his desire to make a name for himself as independent from his father as possible. What are your favorite relationships to write?

MM: I really like to do sticky relationships in family's that aren't the usual kind ones most people have (or seem to have--I know families are complicated for lots of people). I like digging into people who are in some way ND and struggling to voice their needs because they've been overlooked so many times before.

AC: Do you have any advice for writers trying to breakout in the historical section of the bookstore?

MM: I believe–in my very limited knowledge–that there are a lot of oversaturated time periods that will be difficult to get your foot in the door with as a debut. And also, many time periods that publishing is unlikely to take a gamble that readers are interested in. I think that the best advice is to find something that is recognizable to audiences but hasn’t been done to death, and figure out a way to make that recognizable aspect really fresh and exciting. 

AC: What's next on the horizon for you?

MM: I am currently drafting a project that is a look back at Jane Austen's works which are the basis of modern regency romances, but with an emphasis on the village life rather than the high rolling aristocratic vision that most regencies work with. I'm hoping to branch it into a series, and my village is peopled with the sorts of characters that could be in an Austen novel, but with a bit of a modern lens in their attitudes. I pitched it as "What if Lady Catherine de Burgh was running a British spy ring during the Napoleonic Wars?" After that, I have begun writing and plotting another historical suspense!

AC: Thank you, Maureen!

Where to buy:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Grand Central Publishing 

Astoria, a Queer woman-owned indie bookstore

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[stonewall-if]

Stonewall Military Academy: the most brutal, merciless, and unforgiving boarding school in the country. Most recruits either desert or die by the end of their first year. It is where the fiercest and deadliest killers are trained and molded to be the military's steel fist. And it is not for the faint of heart.

Your late mother was once the most respected Commander in the military...until she turned against her country and was killed. Her betrayal killed important figures, left thousands dead, and almost made your people lose a war against a monstrous opposition that threatens the livelihood of your people every day.

Your family has gone into hiding since then, exiled and branded as traitors. But when you're forced to defend your sibling, you're given two options: death or become Stonewall's newest recruit, which is a death sentence in and of itself.

You choose Stonewall.

Your mother's betrayal has tainted your family, has made anyone with your last name hated and has exiled them in circles your family once commanded. You will be bullied, ostracized, even almost killed by your fellow recruits who believe you lower than dirt.

But that won't stop you. You won't be part of the 99% of recruits who die or desert. You will get out of here. You will learn about your mother. And you will live to see graduation.

Will you?

Stonewall is an 18+ dark interactive fiction with minimal fantasy elements that follows MC to a ruthless military academy. Things such as explicit violence, death, bullying, and dark themes are prevalent.

Choose your gender identity and shape your recruit's personality.

Were you a bloodthirsty fighter--everything your parents wanted you be--or what people can consider a 'weakling'?

Fight violence with violence or confront your fellow student's violence with your words, or do nothing at all.

Rebel or become a loyal soldier. Fight for the High Commander's respect or be a thorn at their side.

Romance, befriend or become an enemy to a cast of characters.

Try to survive in the deadliest school in the country.

The High Commander: the leader of Stonewall. She is ruthless, bloodthirsty, and the source of nightmares for many. She doesn't expect you to make it here. Best to prove her wrong.

Your sibling: who is the closest person to you. Your actions saved them from a life of misery and you will continue to do everything in your power to protect them.

Roman [m] or Raven [f][RO]: your new mentor and trainer. R has long graduated as a student and is a full-fledged warrior working at Stonewall. They are cold, brutally honest, detached and unforgiving. They will push you to your limits, and they don't care how you feel about it. Really, they expected you to desert the moment you stepped foot into this place.

At least they're not unnecessarily cruel...which is the most you can hope for here.

Ivan [m] or Iris [f] [RO]: coming from the most powerful military family, I's bloodline has made them the most sought-after student in the school. Your mother also killed their father, so it is no surprise they hate your guts. They are at the top of the rankings, which means they are a bully, but a dangerous one. And they will not make your time here easy.

Marshall [m] or Maureen [f] [RO]: the bumbling, happy-go-lucky recruit that came in the same day as you. No one knows how the shy and easily scared M got into Stonewall...must be because they're from a line of powerful commanders. Still, they are nothing like their family, and you feel bad knowing the students are going to eat them alive. Stonewall will likely kill them before this year ends. Not your problem, right?

Enzo [m] or Eris [f][RO]: the child of the High Commander. No one wants to cross them, so no one talks to them. They are isolated like you but in a different way: they are fawned over while simultaneously being avoided. It seems like you may just be E's only ally in here (or not).

+more!

[magicalyaku]

Greetings! Welcome to my 2024 reading wrap up! Or my awards ceremony for books (and bookish media) I enjoyed the most. Looking back to my introduction to this post last year, I wrote that I'd try to write better reviews. I didn't do that. And I'd try to better remember what I read. I didn't to that either. Hmmm ... New year, new luck or something. Nevertheless, thank you to everyone who took time to look at my posts and read some of them! May the good books find you!

The one goal I accomplished 2024 was to read less (reading is fun but I have other things that need doing unfortunately), though it was not necessarily out of my own free will. I was just tired (work was annoying). I read a total of 64 books, including two graphic novels (not counting any manga), four non-fiction books and three audiobooks. 13 were borrowed from the library and 18 were sequels or spin-offs. I only DNFed one book and disliked two more (as if not to say, I hated them with a passion~).

The only pieces related to literature I hated more were two plays I saw: adaptions of Oscar Wildes's The Importance of Being Earnest and Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. I like both pieces but the adaptions had atrocious endings (The Importance of Being Earnest suddenly had vampires out of nowhere and The Bald Soprano had its final scene edited to 20 minutes of telling us how important love is ...) I didn't think I could walk out of a theatre that appalled and filled with hatred.

Worst Books:

Heir to Thorn and Flame (Ben Alderson)

Saint Sorrow Sinner (Freydís Moon)

Favorite Character: Patrick Collins (A Ferry of Bones & Gold/Soulbound series) (let's be honest, it's the same type every year)

Favorite Covers (or maybe: just give me a pretty illustration):

Memorable Quote: "If it can learn to talk, then it can learn to be good." (The Prince of Nowhere)

Highest Emotional Investment (aka The cutest shit and please please please don't break my heart Award): Prince of Fortune

The Wildest:

A Ferry of Bones and Gold

Running Close to the Wind

Favorite Books:

Prince of Fortune (Lisa Tirreno)

Icarus (K. Ancrum)

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (KJ Charles)

Running Close to the Wind (Alexandra Rowland)

The Diablo's Curse (Gabe Cole Novoa)

Sorcery and Small Magics (Maiga Doocy)

A Ferry of Bones and Gold (Hailey Turner)

The Prince of Nowhere (Rochelle Hassan)

Cursebreakers (Madeleine Nakamura)

More Books I greatly enjoyed:

Into the Glittering Light (Kelley York)

The Boy who steals Houses (C.G. Drews)

This Fatal Kiss (Alicia Jasinska)

Tadek and the Princess (Alexandra Rowland)

Darker by Four (June CL Tan)

The Paris Affair (Maureen Marshall)

Legend of the White Snake (Sher Lee)

Upside Down (N.R. Walker)

The Prince's Assasin series (Ariana Nash)

Most used name: Dylan (at least 3 times)

Most used twist: The person I'm talking to is actually dead! (3 times)

Bonus! Queer story-focussed games I loved in 2023 and 2024:

Haven

I was a Teenage Colonist Exocolonist

All(?) the aro/ace books I read:

Dear Wendy (Ann Zhao)

Upside Down (N.R. Walker)

Ace Voices (Eris Young)

How to be Ace (Rebecca Burgess)

Don't let the Forest in (C.G. Drews)

The Eidolon (K.D. Edwards)

I want to be a Wall vol.3 (Honami Shirono)

Fallen Thorns (Harvey Oliver Baxter)

Little Black Bird & Tall White Tenement (Anna Kirchner)

That's it! While 2024 was not my best year, in terms of books I'm still content. I'm pretty good at picking the ones I will enjoy, so I usually have fun reading and what else would I want? I will continue to read in 2025 (not sure in which form I will share here yet), and I will continue to write! None of the aspec books really captured what I wanted to read, so I guess I have to start writing that myself. :'D Here's to hoping that you find the books you want and the books you need this year. Happy 2025!

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Vote Blue

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 25, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 26, 2024

The Democratic National Convention buoyed the Democrats. Thirty-four million dollars worth of donations came into ActBlue on the night of Vice President Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech. That money added to the other donations pouring in to make a record-breaking total of $540 million since July 22, when Harris’s campaign launched. 

Analyzing voter registrations in Michigan, pollster Tom Bonier found an immediate increase in young women registering to vote in the week of July 21, and his models suggest a 20-point Democratic advantage among those new registrants. FiveThirtyEight shows Harris up 2.7 points over Trump in the national polling average, a six-point improvement from Biden’s last day as a candidate. Across the country, the campaign has 400,000 volunteers.

Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz will cross southern Georgia by bus next week to build on the momentum of the convention, working with the 35,000 volunteers, 174 staffers, and 24 campaign offices across the state. 

Trump and the MAGA Republicans have not taken the Democrats’ momentum quietly. Trump has been frantically posting. 

On Thursday morning he assured readers on his social media channel that “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” although he has boasted about ending the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that protected women’s access to abortion and suggested that women who obtain abortions should be punished. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times wrote that his posts “were too ridiculous even for Trump,” and she wondered if his account had been hacked by Iranians. 

Then Trump went to Montezuma Pass, Arizona, to praise a section of border wall constructed there. A Border Patrol union leader called it the “Trump Wall,” and Isaac Arnsdorf, Marianne LeVine and Erin Patrick O'Connor of the Washington Post wrote that Trump’s visit was designed to recapture the storyline of this presidential race from Harris. But it turned out that the section he visited was actually built under President Barack Obama. The nearby Trump portion was unfinished and cost at least $35 million per mile. As president, the reporters note, “Trump spent more than $11 billion to finish more than 450 miles of wall along the almost 2,000-mile southern border, one of the most expensive federal infrastructure projects in history.” 

Harris’s acceptance speech had Trump apparently beside himself. During her 38-minute speech he posted 59 times on his social media platform, saying, among other things, “WHERE’S HUNTER?”  referring to President Joe Biden’s son. After the speech ended, he called in to the Fox News Channel to rant, in what Dowd called a “scream-of-consciousness,” in which he insisted he is “doing very well in the polls,” until host Bret Baier cut him off. So he turned to right-wing media outlet Newsmax, where he continued his diatribe.  

That night, apparently increasingly concerned about his chances of election, Trump—or his team, because it didn’t really sound like him—reached out on social media to Georgia governor Brian Kemp, whom he has lambasted since 2021 for refusing to help him steal the 2020 election. As recently as August 3, Trump went after Kemp, but on Thursday he thanked the governor “for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country. I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo commented: “Nothing tells you Trump is in full panic more than seeing him crawl back to nemesis Brian Kemp begging for help in Georgia.” “Kemp wanted a public groveling,” Ron Filipkowski wrote, “and that’s what Trump did tonight.” 

It wasn’t just Trump who was concerned about the Democratic National Convention. A number of prominent Republicans who will be voting for Harris spoke there, providing a permission structure for other Republicans to shift their support to Harris and Walz. But that message did not make it through to viewers of the Fox News Channel. Media Matters, which monitors right-wing media, reported that the Fox News Channel did not air any of the Republicans’ DNC speeches. 

In the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan complained that Democrats “stole traditional Republican themes (faith, patriotism) and claimed them as their own”—as if somehow Democrats shouldn’t be able to claim either faith or patriotism—and worried that Trump “is famously off his game.” His “old insult shtick isn’t working,” and when he tries to read from a teleprompter, “he talks like a tranquilized robot.” Because he has insulted everything, when he now disparages something, she wrote, “it seems part of his act.”  

Recognizing the momentum of the Harris-Walz campaign, the Trump-Vance campaign on Saturday sent out a memo predicting a post-convention bump for Harris-Walz but promising the bump would be temporary. It also did not mention that Trump and Vance did not get the normal post-convention bounce after their 2024 convention in July. 

Friday brought more bad news for the Trump campaign when twelve Republican lawyers who served in the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush wrote an open letter endorsing Harris because they believe Trump is a threat to American democracy and the rule of law. They continued: "[W]e urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris."  

They join conservative jurist J. Michael Luttig, who endorsed Harris on Wednesday and wrote: “In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.”

Also on Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was running for president as an Independent, suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. He joined Trump onstage in Glendale, Arizona, to the music of the Foo Fighters, who made it clear the campaign did not ask permission to use the song, they would not have allowed it, and that they will donate all royalties from its use by Trump’s campaign to the Harris-Walz campaign.

It is not clear that Kennedy’s endorsement will help Trump much. He was polling at under 5%, and his numbers were dropping. Kennedy also is a poor candidate to help Trump combat the “weird” label the Democrats have attached to his campaign. His odd past includes recent stories that he claimed in court to suffer from a worm in his brain and that he dumped a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park and tried to make it look as if a bike had hit it. Josh Marshall added that the endorsement also “puts a spotlight on the fact that [Trump’s] desperate and trying basically anything now to shake up the race.”

Five of Kennedy’s siblings called the endorsement “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.” Quoting President John F. Kennedy, his grandson Jack Schlossberg endorsed Harris on stage at the DNC. 

Trump seemed thrilled with the endorsement, though. On Saturday he shared a post calling himself and Kennedy “the Strongest anti-establishment ticket in American History.” But, of course, Kennedy is not on the ticket. J.D. Vance is. 

Vance’s dismal rollout has not gotten better. He appears to have taken on the task of actually campaigning for the ticket, but he is enormously inexperienced, and it’s not going terribly well. An awkward visit to a donut shop in Georgia where Vance ordered “whatever makes sense” has become a viral TikTok meme. An AP_NORC poll has Vance at –17 (27% favorable versus 44% unfavorable); Walz is +11 (36 to 25). 

Finally, in a post on his social media site tonight, Trump appears to be hinting that he will pull out of the planned debate between him and Vice President Harris scheduled for September 10. “I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning,” he wrote, “and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?... Stay tuned!!!” 

One other item came from Trump this week, but it got little oxygen with everything else that was going on. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been teasing a “big announcement” this month related to cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, or DeFi. On Thursday, Trump announced a new cryptocurrency project called “The DeFiant Ones” and linked to a Telegram channel set up on August 6, the same day Eric posted that such a project was in the works. 

Telegram is a social media app launched by Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov, and it is the main communications tool in Russia. Durov was arrested today in France on charges that Telegram has been used for money laundering and other crimes. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Ούτοι γυναικός εστιν ιμείρειν μάχης.**

- Aeschylus

Surely it is not for a woman to long for battle.**

Maureen Dunlop flew far faster planes than any of her peers, including Amelia Earhart. She flew Spitfires, Lancasters, Hurricanes and Mosquitos, and proved the dream of Picture Post's photographer when, on emerging from the cockpit of a Fairey Barracuda, the sun on her hair, she made the cover shot of the popular Picture Post that sold thousands of copies in autumn 1944.

Dunlop mastered the controls of 28 different single-engine and 10 multi-engine aircraft types, which also included the Hawker Typhoon, Hawker Tempest, Avro Anson, Mustang, Bristol Blenheim and Vickers Wellington. The ATA did a gruelling day-to-day job, plying the skies under constant threat from inclement weather the length and breadth of Great Britain, at a time when the nature of flying was changing in popular consciousness from having been a pre-war novelty and the subject of record attempts and joyrides, to being a vital part of the war effort.

The women among its members also had to put up with opposition from men who had little faith in their ability – or perhaps misplaced chivalry – such as Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who would not let women pilots cross the Channel, or who were merely rude, such as the RAF men who joked of the first all-women aircraft ferrying pool at Hamble in Hampshire as "the lesbians' pool".

Dunlop, like many of her female colleagues, said she wished she could have flown in combat: "I thought it was the only fair thing. Why should only men be killed?"

The ATA service had been founded on the initiative of Gerard "Pop" d'Erlanger, a director of British Airways and banker, who bent the ear of Sir Francis Shelmerdine, Britain's director-general of Civil Aviation, against opposition from the RAF, which preferred to use its own pilots until shortages forced it to relent. ATA pilots had to make the most of training that was, some avowed after the war, inadequate. Instrument flying was not taught, but the service would have ground to a halt if pilots had not broken rules forbidding them to fly in bad weather. Women had to have a minimum of 500 hours' solo flying before joining the ATA, twice as much as the 250 hours originally laid down in September 1939 for the first members, all men. She was one of the 164 female members of the wartime Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), of which one in ten pilots died while transporting aeroplanes between factories and military airfields

Maureen Dunlop, the second of three children of Eric Chase Dunlop, an Australian farm manager employed by a British company in Argentina, and his English wife, Jessimin May Williams, began flying at the age of 15, when she joined the Aeroclub Argentino. Two years later she had obtained her pilot's licence. Living with her parents, older sister Joan and younger brother Eric on estancias in Patagonia, she was educated by a governess and briefly attended St Hilda's College, an English school at Hurlingham in Buenos Aires. The example of her father's British military experience as a volunteer with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War, together with an article in Flight magazine, inspired her to sail to England and offer her flying skills to the ATA.

She came through the war uninjured, but once had to make a forced landing when a faulty engine developed heavy vibration (an incident for which she was absolved of responsibility), and once was flying a Spitfire when a badly fitted cockpit cover blew off. After the war she qualified in England as an instructor and, returning to Argentina, flew for the Argentine Air Force and taught its pilots, as well as flying commercially. In 1973 she and her husband, Serban, a retired Romanian diplomat she met at a British Embassy function in Buenos Aires, returned to England, where for the rest of her life, on a farm in Norfolk, she followed her second love - breeding Arab horses. Dunlop built up an outstanding knowledge of bloodlines. She died in 2012.

[fullmetalfisting]

Okay here’s what I read in the month of august.

1. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain ⭐⭐⭐

2. Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley ⭐⭐

3. Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson ⭐⭐⭐

4. True Grit by Charles Portis ⭐⭐⭐⭐

5. Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall ⭐⭐⭐

6. Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley ⭐⭐⭐1/2 

7. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs ⭐⭐

8. Such Charming Liars by Karen M McManus ⭐⭐1/2 

9. Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare ⭐⭐

10. Diavola by Jennifer Thorne ⭐⭐⭐1/2 

11. A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons ⭐⭐⭐

12. The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song ⭐⭐

[lifewithchronicpain]

November 18, 2003, was a momentous date in the movement for marriage equality. That’s the day the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued its groundbreaking decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, making Massachusetts the first U.S. state where same-sex couples could legally marry. “The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all Individuals,” Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote in her majority ruling. “It forbids the creation of second-class citizens.”

Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (now known as GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders) sued the state in 2001 on behalf of seven same-sex couples. To mark the 20th anniversary of the ruling, GLAD this month presented its Spirit of Justice Award the 14 plaintiffs: Gloria Bailey-Davies, Linda Bailey-Davies, Edward Balmelli, Maureen Brodoff, Gary Chalmers, Rob Compton, Hillary Goodridge, Julie Goodridge, Michael Horgan, Richard Linnell, Gina Nortonsmith, Heidi Nortonsmith, Ellen Wade, and David Wilson. (Read more at link)

[thefvrious]

STARTER CALL:

hit the heart and COMMENT with the muse[s] you'd like a starter from! if you do no specify, i will not write the starter :) thank you.

yaritza hermano -> lizeth selene fc, tattoo apprentice, they/them, queer, 23

keely sallow -> griffin gluck fc, student, he/his, bisexual, 22

leni marshall -> rebecca hall fc, dermatologist, she/hers, lesbian, 41

dulce conseco -> christian serratos fc, prostitute, she/hers, pansexual, 32

santana moreno -> sara ramirez fc, prison guard, they/them, pansexual, 47

valessa creed -> jennifer tilly fc, teacher, she/hers, bisexual, 64

dov cohen -> gabriel macht fc, politician, he/his, bisexual, 40s-50s

xochitl hermano -> zion moreno fc, cosmetic tattoo artist, she/hers, bisexual, 28

elio flores -> richard cabral fc, tattoo artist, he/his, pansexual, 37

maureen carver -> elle fanning fc, thief, she/hers, pansexual, 25

israel cady -> jonathan daviss fc, librarian/student, he/his, bisexual. 23

forrest rawlings -> chris evans fc, ceo in training, he/his, closet bisexual, 42

octavio carvalho -> wagner moura fc, documentarian, he/his, bisexual, 46

raleigh buchanan -> brad pitt fc, criminal, he/his, bisexual, 30s-50s

georgie desmortiers -> jasmin savoy brown fc, criminal, she/hers, lesbian, 29

dominique desmortiers -> mason gooding fc, criminal, he/his, 26

[welcometowowsville]

#interiors #diane keaton #maureen stapleton #sam waterston #geraldine page #eg marshall #mary beth hurt #kristin griffith #richard jordan

[acmoorereadsandwrites]

27 of the Best Books I Read in 2024 Part 3 of 3

Read here or on my substack

Part 1 on Tumblr and substack

Part 2 on Tumblr and substack

The novella I've wanted for years

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Soyoung 

Magical Girl is one of my favorite subgenres so I was so excited to get my hands on this novella written for Millennial women who grew up on Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Magic Knight Rayearth. I loved the blending of adult issues (credit card debt unemployment) with global issues (domestic abuse and climate change) combined with magical girl job fairs and destiny and grief and loneliness. Hands down, the best novella of 2024 and there were so many amazing ones (shout out to Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohammed)

The Romantasy that became my all-time favorite

Under the Oak Tree by Kim Suji 

There are not enough words in the English language to explain how meaningful this story is to me, how two lonely, damaged people, one a survivor of childhood abuse and the other with a deep-seated inferiority complex, found each other and became each other's whole world. Their love is not healthy, they're absolutely obsessed with each other and I loved every last word 

The book that reminded me of when I was ten and wanted to be a marine biologist 

The Phoenix Keeper by S A MacLean 

We have a Bi lead with anxiety who has achieved her life-long dream of taking care of phoenixes at a zoo for magical creatures, a slowburn Sapphic rivals-to-lovers romance, and a cozy atmosphere. It's a wonderful comfort read and accessible worldbuilding that feels a lot like being behind the scenes at the San Diego Zoo.

The Sapphic sci-fi that hit all the right buttons

Redsight by Meredith Mooring 

Meredith Mooring is in the Star Wars fandom and it comes across in the worldbuilding, but she also adds blind representation and themes of religious trauma. Also, the love interest turns into a snake and eats a man alive in her first POV chapter. If that doesn't sell you on trying it, I don't know what will.

The book that made me feel like I was reading a dark fairy tale 

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft 

The other Saft book on my list and her first adult book and first book centering a Sapphic romance. I loved the academic one-sided rivals-to-lovers and how much folklore and the treatment of Jewish people in folklore is discussed. As with all of Saft's works, this is set in a secondary world, but the real world coding is incredibly strong.

The book that hit generational trauma the hardest

All the Times Before by Asha Thanki

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked this up, but it certainly defied all of my expectations in the best way possible. The Sapphic slowbuild romance arc takes almost the entire book and it feels so earned by the characters. I loved the idea of a shawl full of the rich history of a family of women that connects them to each other and their small magical abilities.

The contemporary romance that had me squealing

Knives, Seasoning, and a Dash of Love by Katrina Kwan 

I love a big height difference, I Iove male characters who have big hands, and I'm always down for a book discussing themes of identity. One of my favorite contemporary romances of the year and the one that fit my tastes the most.

The quiet Queer historical that kept me gripped

 The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall 

One of the reasons I was really into this one is because of how quiet the romance is. I don't know how anyone else feels, but season 4 of Bridgerton definitely made me hungry for more romances that aren't explosive or full of constant intense passion and this hit the spot.

The YA that combined magical girls and Prohibition 

Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong 

Ultimately, this is a YA about sex work and the sequel is about sexual slavery. It's done in a way that is accessible to young readers while exploring the different opinions and situations around sex work as a profession and the dangers that come with it. At no point did I feel that the narrative was claiming sex work is a bad thing to choose, but it ultimately needs to be a choice, not something someone is forced into.

What was your favorite book of 2024?

[jarnormus]

marcie marceline mars marcel marshy marsupial marzipan marshal maureen mark. just a few of the many legal government identities i possess

[magicalyaku]

Greetings! I just realized that all it takes to get rid of me is giving me a good videogame to play. I started playing I was a Teenage Exocolonist and it's so hard to stop! Why is it so good?! Aaah! Ahem. Anyway, welcome to Part Two of my big wrap up of all the books I read between April and July! The theme this time is France & Other Places! Yes, somehow France got lumped in with all sorts of otherworldy realms. :P

A Paris Affair (Maureen Marshall): Not sure why my brain thought I'd get something like In Memoriam with this. It's historical fiction as well but otherwise they have nothing in common. If I had to compare it, it'd be to Will Darling by KJ Charles (which I loved). A capable protagonist, a sly, lying, and handsome rich guy, and conspiracies. It was fun! Vivid. It made me want to actually go and look at the Eiffel Tower again. Like, I've been there as a child but it's not that special for us nowadays, right? But reading about its construction and the discourse about it, it started to feel a little special. I also liked the historial bits about Parisian culture und such. I'm not into history at all, but getting small bits in my books is nice.

The Alchemy of Moonlight (David Ferraro): Major content warning for spiders in this one. There are a few scenes in the first half of which one is really, really not fun if you can't stand spiders. Personally, I tried very hard not to think about what I was reading. /D I'm usually only bad with visual images but given that I just had an unfriendly encounter with General Spidermom and her hellspawn in my bathroom I was a little unamused. Anyway, the rest of the book was fine. (Just fine.) It's apparently gothic but despite the crawlycrawly and the old castle and the ghosts and secret tunnels, the vibe was a little lost on me. It's also set in France and apart from the occassional croissant it didn't feel French at all. The Paris Affair? So French, so lively! This one? Could have been any European country with nobility. As for the love interests, one was too good to be true (meh), the other one started out toxic, but was redeemed (meh as well). The ending, well … In some ways, it turned out pretty good (I did went woah! at one point). In others, I thought it was a little easy (didn't feel that relationship solution. Seemed to me more like "I don't want to decide, so I'll take the easy way out.") And the protagonist … he wasn't terrible. I just thought he must be the prettiest thing alive if every guy falls for him at first sight. And I wish we would have been told how his aunt knew about his preferences? Usually, in this type of story, it's revealed that the hero had like one experience with the stable boy or some lord's son or whatever, but there's nothing in here. He had never talked about it before and yet his aunt knew well enough to want to send him to an asylum of all things! Give me details! All in all, it was entertaining to read, but in the end it was just fine.

Otherworldly (F.T. Lukens): This is the book that held up the entire post. I thought maybe I'll remember something about it later! I didn't and I feel bad about. I have no recollection of the time and place I read this either. But that is how it is. It's a solid book, I'd say, otherwise I would have something to nag about. 8D Nah, Luken's books usually are good. Cute, adventurous, ultimately positive. And the cover art is beautiful.

The Diablo's Curse (Gabe Cole Novoa): This is the sequel to A Wicked Bargain. Do you have to read it beforehand … probably not? Dami is the only recurring character and there are only a few allusions to the first book. I certainly didn't remember much except the general setup around el Diablo and the contracts. And that I had some issues with Mare and how the plot progressed as in "I have to save my dad, but I'm here doing nothing for two months". That didn't happen in The Diablo's Curse! The first part is so fun with the dynamic between Dami and Silas, and afterwards it's very focused and always going forward with just the right amount of tension. Also, I just like Dami. And I like, intended or not, how their gender fluidity parallels their upbringing (as in no human culture to tell them how to be, and that paired with an adaptable body). I enjoyed reading this a lot!

Nightmares in Paradise (Ring of Solomon 2) (Aden Polydoros): I faintly remember being a little disappointed by the first volume because I wished it would try a little harder and dig a little deeper. This second volume does that, you know, a little, I think. I'm not the biggest fan of the writing style with its million pop culture references, but I can imagine kids loving it. Also, I have to give the author credit for actually writing different than in his books for older readers. I liked this better than the first volume. Grumpy Ash is good and he doesn't behave like one of the kids. I was a little shocked how easily they kill off three children in the beginning. Like wtf, can you please think about that for two seconds, dear protagonists? Never mind the main bully guy, but what about the other two? That was a little weird. Other than that, the story takes place in the Garden of Eden and has some more biblically accurate depictions of angels and a lot of "they can either be good or bad" and I wonder how actual Christians think about this. :'D

That's it for Part Two. Two more to go! Next up will be Gay Adult Fiction series. And August is almost done as well haha …

[fredborges98]

Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (Wayne Marshall, Orchestre national d’Île-de...

George Gershwin, nascido Jacob Gershowitz, (Brooklyn, Nova Iorque, 26 de setembro de 1898 — Hollywood, Califórnia, 11 de julho de 1937) foi um compositor dos Estados Unidos. Escreveu a maioria de seus trabalhos vocais e teatrais em colaboração com seu irmão mais velho, o letrista Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin compôs tanto para a Broadway quanto para concertos clássicos. Ele também escreveu músicas populares de grande sucesso.

Muitas de suas composições tem sido usadas na televisão e em inúmeros filmes, além de tornar-se standards de jazz. A cantora Ella Fitzgerald gravou muitas das canções de Gershwin em seu álbum de 1959, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (com arranjos de Nelson Riddle). Incontáveis músicos e cantores gravaram músicas de autoria de Gershwin, incluindo Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker(The Bird) , Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, João Gilberto, Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Percy Grainger, Bobby Darin, Art Tatum, Bing Crosby, Yehudi Menuhin, Janis Joplin, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Herbie Hancock, Madonna, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Marni Nixon, Natalie Cole, Nina Simone, Maureen McGovern, John Fahey, The Residents, Sublime (banda), e Sting.

O teatro Gershwin Theatre, foi nomeado em sua homenagem e ao seu irmão.

Em 1924, compôs sua primeira grande obra, Rhapsody in Blue para orquestra e piano, que foi orquestrada por Ferde Grofé e estreada pela banda de Paul Whiteman em Nova Iorque. Provou ser sua obra mais popular.

Rhapsody in Blue.

Por: Fred Borges

As rapsódias caracterizam-se por terem apenas um movimento, mas podendo integrar fortes variações de tema, intensidade, tonalidade, sem necessidade de seguir uma estrutura pré-definida. A sua forma consegue ser mais livre que as variações, uma vez que não há necessidade de repetir os temas, podem-se criar novos ao sabor da inspiração. As variações de Sergei Rachmaninoff sobre um tema de Niccolò Paganini possuem uma estrutura tão livre que o próprio Rachmaninoff as intitulou de Rapsódia sobre um tema de Paganini.

A rapsódia é a própria vida.Nenhuma música representou ou representa mais o espírito da cidade de Nova York atual que a Rhapsody in Blue, aliás o termo " Blue" deve ser contextualizado levando em consideração a época em que a peça musical foi produzida.

A Grande Guerra, que teve seu início em 1914 e terminou em 1918, foi marcante na vida da cidade. A parcela rica de Nova York tinha meios para bancar as novidades do século XX: cinema, rádio, automóveis, telefone. Shows musicais de produção intrincada e cenários exuberantes, como as Zigfield Folies, causavam furor na Broadway. Nos salões, dançava-se foxtrote e charleston.

Curiosamente, essa era coincide com a vigência da Lei Seca, que proibiu a produção e o comércio de bebidas alcoólicas em todo o território dos EUA. Destilarias e bares clandestinos (speakeasies) viraram grandes negócios nas mãos de bandidinhos de gangues de bairros pobres, que se transformaram em poderosos chefões de quadrilhas altamente organizadas: a máfia.

Os mais notórios mafiosos que começaram suas carreiras em Nova York foram Al Capone, nascido no Brooklyn em 1899, e Lucky Luciano, que chegou à cidade em 1907, aos 10 anos de idade, e logo já fazia parte da Five Points Gang. Ambos ficaram milionários com a exploração da prostituição e da bebida, negócios que andavam juntos nos bares. Luciano tornou-se o capo di tutti i capi – o chefão dos chefões – de Nova York, depois de matar seus rivais Salvatore Maranzano e Giuseppe Masseria. Já Al Capone se fixou em Chicago.

Não apenas ítalo-americanos participaram do crime organizado; durante a Lei Seca, houve em Nova York grande atividade das máfias judaica e irlandesa, que também se beneficiaram dos lucros da venda clandestina de bebidas alcoólicas.

Em 1924, uma nova lei alterou as regras sobre imigração, restringindo o número de pessoas de cada país que poderiam entrar nos EUA e proibindo a entrada de estrangeiros de certas nacionalidades. A medida afetou sobretudo europeus e asiáticos. Consta que o autor desse projeto era um racista com intenções eugênicas, mas o que mais provavelmente contribuiu para a aprovação da lei foi a reserva de mercado que criava para quem já estava “dentro”, evitando que se acirrasse a concorrência por empregos.

Mesmo sem tanta imigração, a população nova-iorquina teve mais uma vez seu perfil alterado: recebeu na década de 1920 muitas famílias negras vindas do sul do país, onde eram mais fortemente discriminadas.

O bairro do Harlem foi o destino final da maioria desses afro-americanos que, trazendo consigo uma rica carga cultural, contribuíram para o movimento chamado Harlem Renaissance. Pela primeira vez no país surgia uma produção literária e intelectual de autores negros.

Mas o que de fato marcou para sempre a cultura norte-americana e toda a música popular foi o florescimento do jazz, nascido no sul mas criado em Nova York. Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie e Ella Fitzgerald são alguns dos artistas afro-americanos que o Harlem Renaissance deu de presente para o mundo.

Considerado o livro que melhor retrata o espírito dos anos 20 nova-iorquinos, bem como uma obra-prima da literatura, The Great Gatsby, de F. Scott Fitzgerald, foi adaptado para o cinema em 1974, com o galã Robert Redford no papel principal, e depois em 2013, com Leonardo Di Caprio como Gatsby.

Na música, "blue" é um termo que significa "melancolia" ou "tristeza" e é a origem do nome do gênero musical blues. O blues é um estilo musical que se desenvolveu a partir de tradições africanas e canções de trabalho afro-americanas, no final do século XIX, nos Estados Unidos.

O blues é caracterizado por:

Melodias melancólicas

Letras simples

Ritmo rítmico

Grandes entregas vocais

Presença da guitarra

"Blue notes", ou notas blues, que são o resultado de uma entoação diferente das notas do acorde

Estrutura musical simples, com três acordes básicos e doze compassos

Temas como solidão, tristeza, amor perdido e injustiça

O blues influenciou diversos gêneros musicais, como o rock, o jazz e o R&B.

Logo Rhapsody in Blue é a mistura das influências da música clássica européia com o música e tradições afro-americanas, logo ela é Nova York, logo é vida, vida da mistura das várias migrações e emigrantes internas e externas para essa cidade.

Gershwin nasceu como Jacob Gershowitz no Brooklyn, Nova Iorque de pais judeus russos. Seu pai Morris (Moishe) Gershowitz, trocou o nome da família para Gershwin logo depois de imigrar para São Petersburgo, Rússia. A mãe de Gershwin, Rosa Bruskin, também veio da Rússia; ela se casou com Gershowitz quatro anos depois.

O solo de clarinete que abre a "Rhapsody in Blue", por exemplo, traz a influência da Chazanut, o bonito canto litúrgico judaico.

A fusão entre as influências afro-americanas, europeias e judaicas é a própria música, logo a própria vida, pois vida é fricção, fusão, ebulição, sublimação e condensação, os vários estados físicos da matéria numa só música que sempre representou Nova York em suas várias fases e etapas de sua história, inclusive a atual.

Não foi um grande sucesso, mas a música caiu no gosto de Paul Whiteman, um dos principais bandleaders do início da década de 1920, conhecido como o "Rei do Jazz". Whiteman então lhe encomenda uma obra de jazz sinfônico para ser executada juntamente com outros trabalhos de nível, no Aeolian Hall, num concerto de jazz que estava organizando, o "Experimento em Música Moderna". George esqueceu-se por completo da encomenda até 3 semanas antes da estréia, mas, antes desse prazo, compôs "Rapsódia em Blue", o trabalho que definiu sua carreira e o elevou a outro patamar na música.A abertura da composição apresenta um solo de clarineta, que começa como um trinado e vai num crescendo até se desfazer no ar. Em outras palavras, uma peça para ser tocada com emoção, com toda a pungência dos blues.A sinfonia foi tocada pela primeira vez com o próprio Gershwin ao piano, no dia 12 de fevereiro de 1924, no Aeolian Hall de Nova York, diante de uma platéia que incluía personalidades como o violinista Jascha Heifetz, o compositor Rachmaninoff, Efrem Zimbalist e Alma Gluck. Se até então Gershwin era considerado uma estrela em ascensão, naquela noite passou a ser uma celebridade incontestável, seu sucesso crescendo a cada nova criação.

Naquele ano, no palco do Liberty Theater, Fred Astaire estrelou o musical dos irmãos Gershwin. A linha melódica suave e as letras inteligentes tornaram famosas muitas das canções que integravam "Lady Be Good", entre as quais, "Fascinating Rhythm", e "Oh, Lady, be Good" . Outra de suas canções, muito populares, mas que não estava incluída na produção original foi a balada "The Man I Love". Para muitos críticos, esse novo tipo de combinação entre música e letra foi responsável pela sofisticação da música popular norte-americana.

Uma curiosidade:Algo interessante entre a biografia de Mozart e Gershwin é que ambos tinham irmãs prodigiosas da música, ambas iniciaram ou seja foram pioneiras ou desbravadoras, ambas começaram a ganhar dinheiro e por questões culturais e históricas foram parar no anonimato de suas casas como " donas de casa" ocupando-se de suas familias.Nada contra, mas o papel da mulher na história durante muito tempo e até os dias de hoje ainda é fundamentalmente estar no " backstage" fazendo homens triunfarem e isso sim é condenável e injusto.

Retornando a Rapsódia em Blue, blue sentimentos, blue sofrimentos,blue racismo cultural, mental,existencial e estrutural teve na própria cultura uma passagem, um beco, um pequeno beco para atingir toda uma população rica ou pobre, de homens brancos ou pretos, da Eugênia da ignorância que isso significava socialmente e o que viria a ser para a própria civilização ocidental na segunda grande guerra.

George Gershwin e Noel Rosa morreram jovens, um com tumor cerebral outro com um ataque cardíaco fulminante, fulminantes foram suas composições e parcerias, seu " sincretismo musical" mas suas músicas se eternizaram, a do tema desse artigo virou fundo musical para uma campanha publicitária da United Airlines, para o bem e para o mal, mas de modo geral são a Nova York e o Rio de Janeiro de hoje, confusa, difusa, corrupta, imoral, moralista, Democrata(" Esquerda"), Republicana(" Direita"), essa primeira,mais uma rotulação que a outra, livre, presa, pobre, miserável, rica,bilionária ou milionária, mas continuam mágicas, fantasiosas, jocosas,amorosas, rancorosas,traficantes e traficadas, população trancafiada, segregada,maliciosa, perturbadora, provocadora, quem morou, mora, vive, sobrevive lá, sabe que é vida, vida que segue!Entre Rapsódia em Blue e Conversa de Botequim uma boa música sempre será, sempre haverá a crítica do crítico e a população a aclamar bis, bravo, mais uma vez!

[jxrm]

book log - 2018

harry potter and the philosopher's stone by j.k. rowling

the help by kathryn stockett

a wrinkle in time by madeleine l'engle

harry potter and the chamber of secrets by j.k. rowling

amy & roger's epic detour by morgan matson

fire with fire by jenny han

everything i never told you by celeste ng

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban by j.k. rowling

the miseducation of cameron post by emily m. danforth

lift and separate by marilyn simon rothstein

harry potter and the goblet of fire by j.k. rowling

the leavers by lisa ko

the tao of pooh by benjamin hoff

the one that got away by leigh himes

sharp objects by gillian flynn

harry potter and the order of the phoenix by j.k. rowling

the ocean at the end of the lane by neil gaiman

written in the stars by ish saeed

unqualified by anna faris

columbine by dave cullen

harry potter and the half blood prince by j.k. rowling

without merit by colleen hoover

the art of running in heels by rachel gibson

the hate u give by angie thomas

the woman in the window by a.j. finn

we are okay by nina lacour

before we were yours by lisa wingate

harry potter and the deathly hallows by j.k. rowling

the elizas by sara shepard

this is our story by ashley elston

bad girls with perfect faces by lynn weingarten

fare from the tree by robin benway

truly devious by maureen johnston

the radium girls by kate moore

one day we'll all be dead and none of this will matter by scaachi koul

none of the above by i.w. gregorio

circe by madeline miller

a wrinkle in time: the graphic novel by hope larson

the secret life of bees by sue monk kidd

little monsters by kara thomas

her body and other paries by carmen maria machado

dear martin by nic stone

this side of home by renee watson

the vanishing year by kate moretti

results may vary by bethany chase

the wife between us by greer hendricks

see jane run by hannah jayne

friend request by laura marshall

stiff by mary roach

side effects may vary by julie murphy

dumplin' by julie murphy

carrie by stephen king

the sun and her flowers by rupi kaur

what light by jay asher

a stranger in the house by shari lapena

the outsider by stephen king

a simple favor by darcey bell

the sisters by claire douglas

right behind you by lisa gardner

the favorite sister by jessica knoll

anna by amanda prowse

the murder game by julie apple

the queen of hearts by kimmery martin

the chalk man by c.j. tudor

paper princess by erin watt

pretty ugly by kriker butler

the heartbreak pill by anjanette delgado

rainbirds by clarissa goenawan

broken prince by erin watt

heart berries by terese marie mailhot

twisted palace by erin watt

theo by amanda prowse

burn for burn by jenny han

slammed by colleen hoover

baby teeth by zoje stage

kissing frogs by alisha sevigny

a dance of silver and shadow by melanie cellier

ashes to ashes by jenny han

the program by suzanne young

bring me back by b.a. paris

fractures by catherine mckenzie

the better davis club by jane lotter

#murdertrending by gretchen mcneil

the chanel series books 1-3 by donna joy usher

that's not what happened by kody keplinger

the dead girl's shoes by angela arney

crimes against a book club by kathy cooperman

the lying game by ruth ware

an unwanted guest by shari lapena

when life gives you lululemon by lauren weisberger

matchmaking for beginners by maddie dawson

the good liar by catherine mckenzie

killing katie by b.a. spangler

180 seconds by jessica park

hocus pocus by a.w. jantha

jane doe by victoria helen stone

finding charlie by katie o'rouke

the cheerleaders by kara thomas

the dinner list by rebecca serle

all of this is true by lydia day penaflor

it takes a village to kill your husband by jethro collins

the secrets we keep by a.g. ballard

sometimes i lie by alice feeney

the kiss quotient by helen hoang

then she was gone by lisa jewell

silent fear by lance morcan

all these beautiful strangers by elizabeth klehforth

her pretty face by robyn harding

every note played by lisa genova

sorority by genevieve sly crane

the boy is back by meg cabot

cinderella-ish by joslyn westbrook

silent child by sarah a. denzil

the wedding date by jasmine guillory

sex and the single mom by nancy jo sales