All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Steifvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite books.

I loved her Raven Cycle series.

But All the Crooked Saints––Stiefvater's latest novel––hit a soft place inside me, where love meets darkness longing for redemption. In her book, she tells a story rife with magical realism that strips away the stupidity of religion and pokes at the characters that are hurting and want to be healed. This is the sort of story I love––where an author is able to deal with real life issues in ways that feel like fantasy. Or maybe this was a fantasy, that felt like real life.

Three cousins live with their extended family on a ranch in Colorado where pilgrims will come hoping for a miracle. One of the cousins is can provide a miracle but what happens after that is up to the pilgrim. And what happens when that balance of miracle and darkness is tipped? Thus the story begins to move forward in interesting ways.  It results in a whirlwind of life-changing events for all three cousins.

I found that it took me awhile for the story to settle in and make sense, so I encourage readers to push through the seemingly confusing first pages. It is well worth the read.

I don't know if Stiefvater is a Christian or just someone who understands the darkness that exists in the world. Her view of how we should deal with that darkness is beautifully rendered through this story.  We are all crooked saints.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

I have been a fan of John Green for years. In his latest novel, Turtles All the Way Down, he gives readers an excellent picture of what it means to suffer, to be imperfect and yet be loved. What starts as a mystery, soon becomes the story of one teen's struggle to understand (or rather decide) if she is a whole person.

This book is an incredible inside-look into the fears and identity crises we all have experienced manifested intensely inside one girl.

When Aza discovers a long-ago friend's billionaire father goes missing, she and her friend Daisy decide they will try and solve the missing-person case for the offered reward.  But as they dig into the past to find clues, they discover more about themselves than they do the case, resulting in a series of life-changing events.

Green again gives readers uncompromising characters who are able to be funny, honest, raw and likable. This is my favorite of his to date.

Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor

Told through multiple voices, Sycamore tells the story of people in a small town dealing with love, loss, and finding a place to call home.

When a girl's bones are found down in a rocky gully, it opens up the tumultuous past for both young and old members of the small town of Sycamore. I loved moving fluidly between the past and present, following the stories of the intertwining characters living in Sycamore. Written with heart and an understanding of what makes people choose to act, to love, to leave, and to say goodbye, Chancellor has given us a beautiful view of small-town life in the midst of public tragedy.

I grew up in a small town. So many of the things that define small towns are present in this lovely tale: the ever-present knowledge of everyone's else's business, seeing but not telling secrets, hiding shameful behaviors because everyone knows you.

Everyone knows. I think that's what Chancellor showed through her characters that I loved most: while everyone knows, everyone is gracious with each other's secrets and longings and needs. Not that things aren't ugly or bitter or twisted anyway. But that in the knowing, there can still be love.

Waste of Space by Gina Damico

Irreverent. Hilarious. Surprisingly tender. That's how I would describe Waste of Space.

Ten teenagers are cast in a new reality show set in space. Sounds ridiculous––and it it! The whole book is written as a series of "documents" discovered after the show aired, as a way of explaining exactly how everything started to devolve and eventually fall apart.  It uses behind-the-scenes phone calls from the producers, scientists, and crew members; Camera feeds (both on and off-air); Private confessions; and cell phone recordings by the teens trapped in space.

While the ten teenagers are all stereotypically cast for maximum tension, it is the insane man behind the show's idea who got my attention. I love how author Gina Damico gave Chazz (the reality-show producer) an over-the-top personality. I laughed. I gagged. I was shocked. Surely no one is this crazy in real life, right?

Everyone on the ship is trying to win the final prize, but nothing goes as planned (Chazz will try to control this many, many times). What was supposed to be scripted and timed becomes real and dangerous and out of anyone's control.

While it was a heck of a romp, in the end, this was a story about trying to find our place in this world (or the next).

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

I have had Jennifer Egan's latest book, Manhattan Beach, on hold from the library since this spring and it finally arrived a week ago.  I loved several of her previous books: A Visit from the Goon Squad, Look at Me and The Keep. Egan has a way of opening up her characters, developing them into complicated, but realistic people.

Though set during the first world war, Manhattan Beach didn't rely on the usual tropes of battle and pain. Instead it showcased a father and daughter as they both are navigate how to survive when their worlds collapse.

As a child Anna adored her father, accompanying him as he visited men for his union job. But when her father suddenly disappears, Anna is left adrift. As an adult she gets sucked into the underworld her father disappeared into, looking for answers to her father's disappearance and discovering what local nightclub owner, Dexter Styles, knows.

This beautifully-written book was a fascinating story about at a headstrong women determined to succeed and the machinations of a desperate man determined to provide for his family––at any cost.

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy

Hot Milk follows Sofia and her mother, Rose, as they travel to Spain where they will see a new doctor who will hopefully be able to finally explain Rose's seemingly incurable illness.

Levy's writing provides deep insights into human nature and in this book she allows us into the mess that is Sofia's life. While in Spain, moving strangely as if in a haze through the hot, muggy landscape, she must navigate her depressing relationship with her dependent mother, all while encountering new people who also demand her attention.

This is a story, sure. But it is not light reading. Levy has drawn her characters and their every action with purpose, pointing readers to what underlies their motivations, insecurities and messiness.

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris

The Breakdown. It is certainly a title with double meaning. When Cass sees the car broken down in the rain on the way home one night, she stops but does not get out to help. The next morning, a woman is found dead inside that very car.

Over the next weeks, Cass starts forgetting things. She begins to question everything and wonders if she also forgot something she did that night she stopped by the car.....

I appreciated the story structure Paris used to put this suspenseful tale together. I didn't figure things out too quickly, but was carried along by the mystery and was pleased when the clues started to connect. 

This is an easy thriller I would recommend to anyone who likes this genre.