SUMMER Book Review Mega Issue: Bangers from May through July

HELLO!

Well it’s been a minute, I know. My body decided to break during an in-person, week-long writers’ workshop, and then trying to address all that + the insanity of summer put HAVING WRITTEN on the back burner.

But here we are! Together again, In light of my delay, though, I am doing a SUPER SUMMER MEGA book review edition where I share all 28 books I read in May, June, AND July, and then we’ll start fresh with my real plans in the month of August 😼.

Word of caution: this entry is long. I tried to cut the list to, say, five of my favorites each month, no luck, tehe. 😅

Real Quick: Writing friends with incredible new publications.

If you’re looking for incredible short fiction, please check out two of my very dear writing friends’ recent publications + don’t forget to buy one of my FAVORITE new children’s books.

• Ancestral Milk by Paige Kaptuch in The Rumpus – A woman new to Salt Lake City, brand new baby in tow, hooks up with an LDS trad wife and tries a classic Mormon Pioneer Trek (think: re-enactment of the church’s early membership trekking it out to Salt Lake). There is a teenage baddie named Esther who I want to be when I grow up. Shenanigans ensue.
• Butterscotch by Carlene Moore in the New Ohio Review – We span a life—nine to 33—and how regrets, alcohol, and cheating shape human relationships with everyone, not just their partners.
• Bix’s Balloons by Megan Duggan, Mama Bear Press – I highlighted Bix’s Balloons in a previous edition, but this incredible children’s story is now on sale, so please check it out here, here, or here and leave reviews where you can!

Book Reviews! - MAY

Previously I teased various “Good-For-Her” style revenge thrillers reviews: the month of May delivered. These vengeful women (and girls!) are just what I needed while wrapping up final developmental edits of my manuscript (which I’m now querying), WHAT THE BODY WANTS. By the way: I’ve at last developed some more pointed marketing material for WTBW and here is the log line:

When a beautiful actress who secretly maims sex predators is blackmailed by a copycat, her best friend and reluctant co-conspirator must figure out who is threatening them, and why, before they end in handcuffs, or dead (or worse).

Sounds good, right? 😉

FTR: this month, I read some really good, non-murdery stuff too.

Verge, by Lidia Yuknavitch
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Short Story Collection
Super Short Synopsis: Stories of realistic (but also sometimes not…maybe(?)) literary fiction that will blow your scalp off.

Review: Lidia Yuknavitch is one of the seminal voices of our time, and she's certainly the voice of misfits across genders and sexual orientations. The abused, the ignored, the hated, the addicted, the sick, the terrified: know that there is someone who sees you, and ‘someone’ is she, Queen Lidia. A few of these stories will make you rethink the nature of your existence, so—ya know—be careful.

Molka, by Monika Kim
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Horror
Squick Factor: 3.5/5
Super Short Synopsis: Creeps place hidden cameras around and about spaces women pee or change their clothes. One dude spies on the wrong lady, and another makes her his girlfriend. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: The Eyes Are The Best Part is, in my opinion, one of the best horror debuts of the 21st century. And debuts are hard to beat. But Monika Kim does this in Molka. There is a scene so emotionally gratifying I venture to say one should be prepared with a cigarette, even if one does not smoke.

Hexes of the Deadwood Forest, by Agnieszka Szpila
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Literary Historical (?) Fiction…or Horror?/WTF?
Squick Factor: 3/5
Super Short Synopsis: A Polish CEO freaks when she uncovers her husband’s secret. She starts humping trees in her sleep (yes, trees–you didn’t read that wrong). Then we learn about the original tree humper from a few hundred years before. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This book is wild and trippy, unlike anything I’ve ever read, but I felt the girl power and I highly recommend it and will definitely read it again one day. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend one engage in the acts divinely purported by the FMC—ouchie.

How to Commit A Post-Colonial Murder, by Nina McConigley
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Literary Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: Two sisters, the only girls of color in a Wyoming town, take steps to kill their uncle who is sexually assaulting them. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: I love when a book is actually successful at tricking me. I thought I knew exactly how it would end, and then whoosh! Just kidding! But beyond the obvious Good-For-Her/female rage elements, this story is also a beautiful meditation on loneliness, the misery of being a teenage girl, and shaking loose the bondage of centuries.

Vigil, by George Saunders
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A super rich dude is on the brink of death, and a kind, young woman (who is a ghost that fell from the sky in a bad outfit) attends to him, the goal being she’ll usher him into the Great Beyond in a pleasing way. It doesn’t go as planned. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This book was written by George Saunders, ergo, it is incredible. Some boring reviewers at big outlets wrote hit pieces against Vigil; my guess perhaps it’s easy to beat up on a genius who is going to sell no matter what (but ew, though, why?)

Vigil rearranged my DNA. It’s 192 pages. Read it.

Murder Bimbo, by Rebecca Novak
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: An assassination plot of sorts from three perspectives (all from the same narrator, who is majorly unreliable). The murdered dude is an a**hole, you won’t feel bad for him. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: Fun, then funnier, then OPE! This book works, but it’s nearly impossible to review without spoiling some aspect of it. Murder Bimbo is incredibly entertaining, I hear the audiobook is fantastic, so do not sleep on it!

A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction, by Elizabeth McCracken
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Nonfiction/Writing Craft
Super Short Synopsis: One of the best writing teachers of this century wrote a craft book.

Review: I had the privilege of sitting in front of E.McC for a 4-hour craft course where she couldn’t even see us. Yet I learned so much, I dare say my novel WHAT THE BODY WANTS was fundamentally altered by her presentation. Then I read A Long Game and you can now consider me an E.McC acolyte. If you’re a writer, this is a craft book to put at the top of your list with Annie Lamott, Janet Burroway, and Ursula K. LeGuinn. IYKYK!

Morsel, by Carter Keane
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Upmarket Horror Novella
Squick: 3/5
Super Short Synopsis: Our FMC drives to Southeast Ohio to assess a “vacant” lot for charity donation purposes, and things get weird—creepy cornhusk dolls, hole in the gas tank, very True Detective Season 1. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This novella debut is rock freaking solid. Body horror, folk horror, trans + queer issues, class issues, and my god how the author addresses all of this without bogging down, in any way, her incredible, propulsive plot that will have you SCREAMING. It’s squicky in a monsters/goobers/body horror way, heads’ up, but there is a cool dog and don’t worry she’s okay (this isn’t a spoiler, Keane includes the good news in Morsel's content warnings!)

Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Upmarket Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: A trad wife influencer wakes up in the 19th century and is forced to live the life she pretends to live online. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This book is as good as it is buzzy. My only beef is minor and I cannot share it because #spoiler. If you’ve been on the fence, definitely, definitely suggest the audiobook. As offended as people pretend to be about Yesteryear beating up on trad wife culture, you should know that Caro Claire Burke subjects the equally shitty girlboss culture as well (in a way that made me feel like Maddie from Season 2 of Euphoria when she watches Lexie’s play lol). Patriarchy, man.

The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A woman comes home to see her husband step down from her attic. Only thing is, she doesn’t remember ever marrying anybody. Then he goes back into the attic, and a new husband come down, and another, and another. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This is one of those high concept premises that opens with the hook on the second page, and you know it’s just going to be a BANGER. If you open so big, you’ve got to keep building/increasing the tension from there, and that is HARD: Holly Gramazio does it. Ultimately, The Husbands is teeny-touchy fluffy for me. I thought there were some missed opportunities on sinking into some very evident social issues, but that’s okay. The Husbands is like a mix between a solid speculative novel and a meaty Elin Hildebrand beach read.

You'd Better Be Lightning, by Andrea Gibson
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Poetry Collection

Review: I like to read poetry in the bath. With You’d Better Be Lightning, I ended up sitting in the drained tub for a long time because I couldn’t stop reading. Also crying. Absolutely heart-bursting poetry from one of our generations finest poets, who we lost to soon (f*ck you, cancer). Honestly, we’re just lucky we got the time and the words from Andrea that we did.

Book Reviews! - JUNE

Angry women out for revenge (or some simulacrum of it) continued to haunt the space, but they were not alone. In addition to an incredible poetry collection, I read a banger of a science memoir from a Black woman astrophysicist and also learned what quarks are (holy crap, btw).

Nerve Damage, by Annakeara Stinson
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A woman moves across the country after acquiring a permanent restraining order against her stalker ex-boyfriend. But then she sees him at a bar in her new town. She starts stalking him instead. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: There are few premises on Earth that will make me pick up a book without doing a shred of research and start reading immediately. This is apparently one of them, and Nerve Damage did not disappoint. I read this in about two days, and I laughed, yelled out loud, cried, and felt scintillating rage. This is a debut, and I’m very jealous. I feel like this is the book I’d want to write if I had the chops for something so emotionally charged and character drawn (at this point, I’m forced to lean on the tried-and-true thriller structure). Oh and Nerve Damage was also FUNNY. Like, slap-your-knee funny.

Honey, by Imani Thompson
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Upmarket Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: A woman chooses not to help a colleague of hers when he gets stung by a bee and goes into anaphylactic shock. She enjoys the feeling of watching the man who is also a lecherous sexpest die. Other annoying and predatory men present similar opportunities to our FMC, and her hand in their outcomes becomes more involved. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: If you’ve already read Honey and you liked it, you’ll really love my book WHAT THE BODY WANTS. If you want to follow a hot woman who punishes bad guys on the page—and with some excellent writing—grab Honey as soon as you can. 😈

The Witch, by Marie NDiaye
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Literary Speculative Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: After years as a housewife, a woman initiates her two 13yo daughters into the Craft; when practiced, it results in bloody tears. Her husband is a jerkwad. Being a woman without employable skills sucks, especially when said husband is a jerkwad. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This book was recently translated into English, and was therefore up for the Booker prize. It would have been my pick for “Winner," but nobody asked me. Some reviews say this book is boring. I don't know, man, did we read different? Lucy’s plight hurt my heart, the speculative elements are delicious (and there is some wickedly good off-screen “Good-For-Her” stuff happening). And the ending! Oof.

Disordered Cosmos, by Chanda Prescod-Weinsten
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Science Memoir
Super Short Synopsis: Do you want to learn how space works from one of the only Black women to ever study astrophysics in the history of the world? YEAH. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: Guys, when I listen to Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, I’m like, how is physics not magic? Also, we are missing out on so much knowledge because of how the dominant culture has gatekeeped access to this field.

Separately, Disordered Cosmos created a lot of existential stress in me. Here is something that, as a humanities person, has been blowing my mind as a result of reading:

It seems that a lot of physics is performed by scientists inventing containers or structures that they can then do math inside of. As in: they’re presupposing that the universe is shaped in this really specific way so that their math works, but also the container they’re using is probably not how things are or provable in any way.

I’d liken this to a hypothetical that weirdos in law school may posit (we call them gunners), someone who says something annoying, taking the class of track, like: well let’s pretend Aliens came down to Earth and did X, then this law that says Y would be internally inconsistent (or consistent, depending on the facts). My response then and now is well, sure: but that has not happened, and has no bearing on how the law is currently applied. We can all muse about ‘what ifs’ all day, but what is the point?

Look I know I’m not dunking on physics—I probably sound like an idiot—but this is something I'll be noodling for some time, unless someone jumps in to stop the insanity!

Scorpions, by Yumiko Kurahashi
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Literary Horror/OG Weird Girl Lit
Super Short Synopsis: A young woman is interviewed by police for possible murders and they get more information than they probably wanted. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: I own the Literary Witch Oracle Deck, which I love, but it’s responsible for my tremendous Bookshop.org bill. I’d never heard of Yumiko until I pulled her card a couple of months ago. Yumiko hasn’t been translated into English much, and it’s not because she isn’t a good writer—more likely because she is VERY much a provocateur, writing about topics at the height of taboo (in film-speak, we’re talking Gaspar Noe or Lars Von Trier kind of content). Scorpions is excellent, and I have no doubt my Girls Otessa x Mona have read Yumiko, but I would not recommend this to the greater population. If Otessa doesn’t even make you flinch, then you could maybe give Scorpions a try.

Japanese Gothic, by Kylie Lee Baker
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Literary Horror
Super Short Synopsis: A young man escapes to Japan after something terrible happens. A 19th-century female Samurai-in-training is abused by her butthead of a father. The two meet in a closet. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: Damn, this woman is such a good and fun writer. Bat Eater is just such a standout for me, but the gorgeous prose and tragedy of Japanese Gothic really hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s a little squicky, but much less than Bat Eater.

Homesick for Another World, by Otessa Moshfegh
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Otessa Moshfegh
Super Short Synopsis: All of these stories are 10 out of 10 bangers. If I weren’t so f***ing obsessed with this woman, I would be really jealous and hate her.

Review: Read this. Do it now. Apparently a professor in Florida got fired for teaching one of the stories printed in Homesick for Another World (the one with the teacher who works in the Catholic school, ommggggg it’s SO GOOD). Doesn’t the firing make you want to read it MORE?

Don't Call Us Dead, by Danez Smith
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Poetry Collection

Review: Read this if you want your heart ripped out of your chest (in a good way, of course). Danez Smith hardly needs introduction, and I feel like I’m cheating a little with how I've selected the next poetry collection (picking up the award-winning powerhouses one after the other), but I’m obviously not going to complain about this.

The American Daughters, by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Historical Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A girl becomes a woman as a slave, eventually sold to a ‘genteel’ (barf) white man in New Orleans. One day, she stumbles across an inn run by a free Black woman. Plans are afoot. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: I listened to the audiobook—GORGEOUS—and count myself lucky to have a signed copy of this book from the incredible, Guggenhen Fellow, Maurice Carlos Ruffin. Nothing makes me happier than reading historical literary fiction that is PACKED with cinematic action. These kinds beats do not have to be sacrificed on the altar of Beautiful Prose. The ENDING IS CRAZY OMG (and yes, the “Good-For-Her” moniker works here…). Maurice is a wonderful person and teacher, but even if he weren’t, he’d still be a Damn Good Writer.

Book Reviews! - JULY

The FMCs this past month were a little less murder-y and a little more sad. Plus, I branched out a little, and also read the best Science Fiction novel I’ve read in a really, really long time (maybe, ever? Dunno. Head is still spinning).

Flat Earth, by Anika Jade Levy
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: “Girls” the TV show, but make it Gen Z.

Review: Flat Earth was really was quiet funny, and I enjoyed it. Definitely read this if you loved Greta Gerwig’s Frances Ha or the HBO show Girls. Levy's characters are time-tested, and the prose is very good. This probably means I’m a pleb, but I guess I just need a little more by way of plot/tension/conflict with my character work. I still really do recommend it; highly entertaining, a great debut.

Mrs. Jekyll, by Emma Glass
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A woman finds out she has breast cancer. A trip to a psychic unleashes her dark side. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This is hard to review without spoiling, but let me just say that the Jennifer gif above is there for a reason. Mrs. Jekyll was written by the gob-smacking Emma Glass, one of the most beautiful and accessible writers of prose alive today. Read it!

Blood in the Machine: The origins of rebellion against big tech, by Brian Merchant
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Journalistic Creative Nonfiction
Super Short Synopsis: Turns out the Luddites were the good guys. Also: we’ve been here before.

Review: The 19th-century was a wild time, folks, as a handful of industrialists suddenly—and without regard or care—shut out a huge industry of workers and let them and their families starve. Merchant draws parallels to today, and explains that the Luddites weren’t against the technology for its own sake—but rather because the off-target effects of its implementation meant that a tiny fraction of the population pocketed the profit while the rest were left to fester.

Dizzy, by Rachel Weaver
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Medical Memoir
Super Short Synopsis: A writer lives for 18 years suffering from extreme dizziness, while doing everything like a normal person (i.e., work, having friends, hiking, getting married, having children). 99.99% of doctors either ignore her or ship her off to someone else.

Review: Said writer, Rachel Weaver, is a teacher of mine, who I adore, and I highly recommend you check out her offerings! Even if I didn’t know her, though, I'd still give Dizzy a 5/5. I read Dizzy in one sitting—I had to find out what happened at the end. While there is no cure here, there is a path. And as someone suffering from a chronic disability that is mostly invisible as well, I had one of those moments where it felt she’d reached into my head and plucked out my exact thoughts.

Dead Weight, by Hildur Knutsdottir
Rating: 4.25/5
Genre: Upmarket Thriller
Super Short Synopsis: A pregnant cat invades the apartment of a woman with very acute particularities (side plot: she’s also in love with a married guy). The cat’s owner, a very sad-looking barely-adult girl shows up at her door. Her husband is a d!ck. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This was a tidy novella with dynamic characters, and a really fun, Type-A/prissy/possibly neurodivergent (?) FMC. Her instincts to protect overcome her instincts to ignore. I listened to the audiobook in a couple of days, and at points, I found myself cringing in fear for the main character and her little friends. The ending is satisfying, and not in the way you’d think. The cats are okay!

There is No Anti-Memetics Division, by qntm
Rating: 10/5
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian
Super Short Synopsis: There is a super-secret government agency that manages “unknowns”: memetic phenomena that mess with the fabric of reality. But even just “knowing” said phenomena exists will screw with you (maybe kill you) and so the agency has this Rube Goldberg device to prevent the agents from remembering what they already know, but in a way that still allows the agency to make progress. Then a mega evil “unknown" comes into the story. Then…idk guys. It’s very hard to describe this book.

Review: SO JUST READ IT. Listen to the audiobook! There Is No Anti-Memetics Division is one of the craziest, best books I’ve read in a really long time. Definitely making my Top Books of 2026 list, without a doubt. I don’t think you have to be a big sci-fi reader to find yourself absolutely absorbed by this book, and I don’t gravitate toward it much anymore. It really doesn't matter; you will NOT be disappointed.

Blob: A Love Story, by Maggie Su
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Literary Speculative Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: A lonely woman in her mid-20s, still lamenting an eight-month-old breakup, finds a blob with eyes on the ground outside of a bar. She takes it home, and it seems to respond to her commands. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: This book was w 👏🏻 i👏🏻 l 👏🏻 d 👏🏻. The premise made Blob an auto-buy for me, though I didn’t expect it to be so tender-hearted. There really are no bad guys (except maybe the slumlord). Not saying everyone is even doing their best– certainly our sweet but broken FMC is not—but damn it, they hope to try someday.

A Good Person, by Kirsten King
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Literary Fiction
Super Short Synopsis: When a messy Gen Z gal’s boyfriend breaks up with her, she puts a hex on him. Shenanigans ensue.

Review: I mean who wouldn’t pick this book up just because of the cover (pictured here rather than a gif)? This novel is a cautionary tale for Gen Z that I dare to say is unrivaled in the current Weird/Sad Girl space. The writer—Kirsten King—also writes for television and film, and I’m not surprised. A Good Person is very cinematic, and the plot is tight as hell, despite the lovely literary prose and the focus on character.

Whereas, by Layli Long Soldier
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Poetry Collection

Review: This poetry was the most esoteric and experimental that I’ve read. While I enjoyed this Native author’s work very much, I did struggle to grasp what I was reading at times. I think this might be user error more than anything else.

That's it. More to come in my next issue, which is a Yapping One. Leave me a comment and tell me if you liked or hated any of these books! Have I convinced you to read the “Good-For-Her” subgenre yet? Also send this to your friend who needs a few more angry women in their life 😎.

Have a great week, and read banned books.

LYLAS/B,
Charlotte

IG: @charlotte.chambers.writer
BlueSky: having-written.bsky.social
Website: charlottechamberswriter.com