July & August 2025 Reviews: Books & Other Stuff

Well well well. Here we are again. And by “here”, I mean “another month where I did not get my act together to talk about the prior month and oops now it’s a whole other month and that month is almost over too. In my defense, I spent the first couple of weeks of August feeling variations on Too Sick To Use My Brain Much, and then I blinked and it became September. Anyway, here we are now. Just like last time, we’ll cover books in this edition and movies in the next (look in your inboxes tomorrow) and we will not think about the relentless onslaught of horrors.

Books: July

• Mrs. S, K. Patrick—Slice of life at a boarding school for all girls, as one of the house monitors develops an infatuation for the headmaster’s wife. Understandably divisive, less so for its lesbian infidelity plot and more for the writing style, which feels almost stream of consciousness in its wordy, unhurried manner. It took me quite some time to really get into it—the style makes the narrative feel somewhat alienating at first, but once I found myself comfortable with the rhythm of the narration, things moved pretty quickly. Slow burn, all vibes, dripping in melancholy. Not exactly a coming out story, or a coming of age story, but certainly one of self-exploration, building confidence, understanding desires. While the style wasn't always my cup of tea, I appreciate anyone willing to boldly swing for the fences.

• Two Rogues Make a Right, Cat Sebastian—Third in the Sedgwick brothers trilogy. Simultaneously the softest of the series while also tackling some of the toughest personal issues (Martin's health and past isolation/mistreatment, William's abuse at the hands of the Royal Navy and his substance abuse). This is very light on plot/external conflict, heavy on Vibes, and still 100% engrossing nonetheless. Having Will and Martin already having an established friendship made this easy to sink into, seeing how deeply they cared for each other even prior to romance entering the picture. Sometimes I don’t want to have to get through all of the getting-to-know you stuff, so characters with an established past are always a nice change of pace for me. As always I wish characters would just talk out their problems more but what would even be left for a romance novel if there wasn't some silly miscommunication at some point?

• Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel—The lives of several people before and after a pandemic wipes out most of humanity. This book had to have hit so much differently reading it when it came out as opposed to now. I love books that aren't afraid to be a little different, to tackle a genre in a way a little bit left of center. Station Eleven does exactly that, presenting a soft look at a hard world, not afraid to go off into digressions and backstories and vignettes to help you understand the world. The post-pandemic world here is harsh and difficult, but we also see the way humans connect to rebuild and start again. It's hard to say that this is beautiful, but I also can't think of any better descriptor. One of my favorites of the year so far; if I were to write about a post-apocalyptic world, I would have wanted to write something like this.

• When the Wolf Comes Home, Nat Cassidy—Struggling actress finds small child on the run from his violent father, but not everything is as it seems. Pure, pulpy horror, which I’m learning is just not a style (in written form, at least) that works for me. The combination of precocious child protagonist, daddy issues, mom-is-my-best-friend-and-we-talk-like-two-20-something-besties, and the author not trusting the reader to understand any deeper meaning didn't work, and I found the tone/writing style, which is trying to be an homage to the slashers of the 80s, to be annoying. The gore is well-written, I'll give it that - a lot of authors don't hit the mark with visceral body horror, but Cassidy handles those descriptions well. It's just too bad that it's packaged up in a book that was overall meh.

Books: August

• The Vulnerables, Sigrid Nunez—A woman chronicles her experiences during the early days of the pandemic, featuring a parrot. I truly had no expectations going in, I think I added it to my TBR either on someone's specific recommendation or because it turned up on a year-end list somewhere, but I didn't really know what it was about until I started reading. Nunez has such a clear, lyrical, natural way of writing/narrating, it really did feel like I was reading a letter from a friend or eavesdropping on a conversation. A series of sketches of a life paused by the pandemic, meditations on writing and mortality and meaning and aging. I honestly thought this was a memoir until I pulled up the Goodreads page for it. Towards the end, Nunez-as-narrator talks about mixing fiction and non-fiction when writing, and I have to imagine some of that is going on here. A simple yet beautifully written book; looking forward to checking out more from the author.

• My Roommate is a Vampire, Jenna Levine—A down-on-her luck artist stumbles across a too-good-to-be-true cheap room for rent. Turns out the landlord’s a vampire. Obviously they fall in love. This was the first in a string of mediocre books for me, two of which take place in Chicago despite the author appearing to not have done more than a few Google searches. I was more put off by the poor representation of Chicago than I was the underwhelming story/characters. Like at one point the FMC, who lives in Lincoln Park, goes with her BFF to the mall… in Schaumburg. Wherein they proceed to end up at the Macy’s? They presumably drove there in BFF’s car, but the vampire roommate, who does not drive and does not understand technology enough to get an Uber, meets them there later? How? And then the BFF has to leave early, so how did the other two get back to the city? And why wouldn’t you go downtown to the Macy’s instead? Why did you do this! My annoyances aside, overall it's just ....bland? The FMC is supposed to be in her early 30s but comes across as much younger, the vampire MMC's main trait is Clueless, which is cute but I wish there was more to him. The conflict is solved far too easily, although I appreciate that the conflict was external and not some dumb miscommunication break-up nonsense. There was a tweet going around recently that basically is like: "I wish books had plots again instead of just being a collection of tropes" and that's all I kept thinking of when I read this. Bonus points for making fun of Naperville, though.

• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, Kimberly Lemming—Spicy fantasy about a spice (hah) trader who inadvertently saves a demon from a curse and ends up on a much bigger quest than she had anticipated. This is a very specific kind of silly/horny, it's just not MY kind of silly/horny. Lots of people vibe with this, but this is written like a fantasy but also with a hyper-modern voice, sassy characters, unfunny puns, etc., and it’s just not my thing. The sad part is that I did find myself curious about the surrounding world, the magic, the witch who cursed the demons, and all of that, but that just wasn’t what this book was interested in telling me about.

• To Have and to Heist, Sara Desai—Simi’s best friend accidentally gets tangled up in a jewel theft, and Simi’s determined to get her out of trouble. So aggressively mediocre. Kind of a wacky hijinx farce, but also so much serious content (domestic violence, family issues, crime stuff), a wide cast of side characters who mostly fit archetypes but didn't become fully real people, a main couple who like.... never has a real conversation that lasts for more than half a page? A FMC who randomly decides she can plan weddings because she has been to a lot of them and then magically turns out to be good at it somehow even though all the details are off the page? Don't get me started on this being set in Chicago yet rife with "we all hit the floor when we heard gunshots because we grew up in Chicago" stereotype bullshit (this girl is upper middle class at worst, she did not grow up in a neighborhood where she had to ever think about gunshots, miss me with that) and Oh Surprise It's The Chicago Outfit nonsense and like, idk man, get my city's name out of your mouth if all you're going to do is drop a couple neighborhood names and talk about crime. This was worse of a Chicago sin than the book above that inexplicably sent its characters to Schaumburg.

• A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, K.J. Charles—One man, his dysfunctional extended family, and the potential con man with a heart of gold, or something like that. This took me a bit longer to get into than a KJ Charles novel usually does, but once Rufus and Luke finally give in to their longing glances, things pick up quite a bit. I'll chalk it up to knowing that Luke and some of the other characters were part of the first novel in this series, although that one takes place quite a bit in the past, and unfortunately I could hardly remember what had happened in that one. Everything gets explained to you in due course, and I think actually this stands on its own well if you're picking it up without having read the first. I was just annoyed because I knew I was forgetting things. Overall I think the initial plot here regarding the inheritance got a bit too convoluted; I had a hard time remembering who was who, who had which claim to the Earldom, etc., which also made things a bit slow going at first. The characters, though, and the slow burn relationship development, are stellar as always, and I was of course very invested in seeing how things would all play out for Rufus and Luke. Loved the nod to at least one other KJ Charles novel in here as well, too - a fun little easter egg for dedicated readers. Judging this book by the standard set by her other novels, I'd say this one was good not great; judging it by the standard of all of the other romance novels I read, this one was excellent.

Book links go to an affiliate page on Bookshop.org, where I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase.

What Else?

The 2025 Live Music Playlist has been updated with the acts that I saw live in July: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Coronado Theatre, Rockford), Laura Jane Grace, Mikey Erg, Murder By Death (Thalia Hall), Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (Red Rocks, Denver), Kevin Morby, Craig Finn, The Decemberists (Out of Space festival, Skokie), Mumford & Sons (Champions Square, New Orleans), Devo, My Chemical Romance (Soldier Field).

I also:

• went to New York to see the last night of Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada in Cabaret; they were both as incredible as the other times I saw them in the roles. Eva in particular clearly just left everything out there for the last night and got a mid-show standing ovation. If you’re in London, she’s joined the cast of the production over there, so there’s still a chance to see her!

• caught Operation: Mincemeat while I was there; Tony winner Jak Malone was fantastic and the show was entertaining, but, as you’ve probably seen if you’ve read any fan commentary about the show online, the sound design was almost criminally bad. I don’t think the cast was enunciating poorly but all the sounds blurred together, especially when they were all singing on top of each other. Also, the orchestra for the show is basically drums and some keyboards/synths, which was jarring and felt out of place. Still worth a watch, although if you’re going to see it on Broadway I’d recommend being at least a little familiar with the plot/songs so you’re not having to guess via context since you can’t understand anyone.

• went to Denver to take a trip out to Red Rocks to see Andrew McMahon engage in the Herculean feat of having all three bands on the bill being his band. It was honestly incredible? The overall vibes of the crowd were so celebratory and communal, like we all knew we were there to witness something special. And the show was truly one of the best I’ve ever seen, just a solid performance start to finish, with even the songs I didn’t know well (or at all) being just as captivating as the once I’ve been singing along to for 20+ years.

• went to New Orleans for a hot (literally) minute, largely for a Mumford & Sons concert but also to go see an alligator or five. It was so hot? I wanted to do other stuff while I was there, I was staying pretty close to the WWII museum that I wanted to see, but I couldn’t think of doing anything other than sitting in the air conditioning in my hotel room. I am not built for the south in the summer, sorry to say.

What’s Next?

Well we’re basically already into October, which means hockey season is here, which means a lot of my spare time is going to be spent being moderately cold and then going outside and being colder.

October is also the Chicago International Film Festival and now that I have a job that’s downtown again, it’s a lot easier for me to basically go see movies every night. I’ve got tickets to 10 or 11 different things and am excited to get to partake in a wide variety of stuff.

Anyway, what are you all up to?

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