Tantalizing Tales — June 2025 — Part One

Hello, dear readers! I hope you’re having a Happy Pride Month, even as we in America watch our politicians regress in a myriad of appalling ways.

Luckily, there is plenty of good reading to keep us company and comforted — if not outright inspired — starting with Elena Malisova & Katerina Silvanova’s swoony, star-crossed gay romance Pioneer Summer. This TikTok sensation underscores how important representation continues to be, and how much it frightens bigots and tyrants, even as they find our stories impossible to suppress. The publication of this novel actually catalyzed one of Russia’s largest-ever crackdowns on LGBTQ+ representation, culminating recently in the arrest of staff from its Russian publisher for distributing “LGBT propaganda”. With Anne O Fisher’s English-language translation, however, this story now has an even wider audience than before.

The story itself is set in 1986, as Yurka Konev, aged sixteen, has been sent off for yet another summer at Pioneer Camp. Impulsive, forthright and unfairly branded as a troublemaker, he anticipates the weeks ahead of him with boredom and dread. But when he’s pushed into working on the camp’s theater production, he meets serious, thoughtful troop leader Volodya, and finds himself drawn to the slightly older boy. Surprisingly, Volodya seems to like him too. Despite their mutual fear of the consequences of their illegal attraction, its gravity pulls them together. Twenty years later, Yury returns to the abandoned camp to reminisce on the relationship that changed his life forever — and discovers that not all history is destined to remain in the past.

~~~~~~~

Another kind of political comfort read comes in the form of The First Gentleman, the latest collaboration between President Bill Clinton and best-selling author James Patterson.

The President of the United States is up for reelection. Madeline Wright should be a shoo-in… until her husband is accused of murder.

Cole Wright is a former NFL player who’s been charged with the homicide of a cheerleader who went missing seventeen years ago. He swears that he didn’t do it, even as the evidence mounts up against him and he’s brought to trial. Madeline stands by his side, while a pair of brilliant investigative journalists set out to uncover the whole truth about the football star-turned-political spouse.

It’s impossible to read all this and not think of Hillary and Bill — after all, Kamala and Doug would never, lol! That said, either pairing would have undoubtedly been less chaotic than the nonsense going on right now. I hear tell that President Clinton has quite a bit to say about the economy in this book as well, so if you’re wistful for the days when we had grown-ups in charge of the country, you could definitely do far worse than to take a peek at these pages.

~~~~~~~

Looking ahead to next week, we have several brilliant books available for pre-order, beginning with Heather M Herrman’s Lady Or The Tiger, a Western that’s the epitome of supporting both women’s rights and women’s wrongs.

When nineteen-year-old Belle King turns herself in for murder, the last thing she expects to see is her abusive husband Reginald standing outside her Dodge City jail cell. He was the first man she ever meant to kill, and was certainly not the last.

Somehow, though, it’s the summer of 1886 and her husband is standing there hale, hearty and very much not as dead as she’d tried to make him. Worse, he’s there to take her back.

Belle is not about to go without a fight. With his unexpected appearance jeopardizing all her carefully laid plans, she’ll have to resort to every trick in her arsenal to prevent him from ever being in control of her again. But the last person anyone in the 1880s Wild West will believe is a girl — even when she confesses to her own crimes.

~~~~~~~

Another highly anticipated historical mystery featuring an underrepresented protagonist is British playwright Mel Pennant’s debut novel A Murder For Miss Hortense.

Our titular heroine is a retired British-Jamaican nurse who lives in the fictional town of Bigglesweigh, England, where she’s resided for thirty-five years after emigrating from Jamaica in 1960. She’s your quintessential grandma who loves to bake, garden… and solve mysteries.

Miss Hortense first became involved in sleuthing as leader of the Pardner Network, a group of Black elders focused on investing back into the community through funding local businesses. Later, they found themselves solving the crimes that the local police were not willing to take on in their predominantly Black neighborhood.

Fast-forward to the late 1990s. Miss Hortense is no longer the leader of the Pardner Network — that honor belongs to her frenemy Miss Constance, before the latter suddenly passes away. After other members of the network start dying under mysterious circumstances, it quickly becomes clear that Miss Hortense, her best friend Blossom and her police officer nephew Gregory will have to figure out what’s going on before they become the next victims.

Could this all have something to do with the one case the Pardner Network never solved? Miss Hortense must face her own past in order to ensure that justice is served once more.

~~~~~~~

Next up is a domestic thriller that is being billed as Kaira Rouda’s best and most devious mystery yet!

Jill Is Not Happy is the tale of Jack and Jill Tingley, who seem for all the world like the perfect couple. Wealthy, popular and genetically blessed, Jill is happy to tell anyone who asks how she and her college sweetheart are living the dream in Southern California.

But with their daughter Maggie finally away at college, not even Jill can ignore the yawning chasm at the heart of her marriage. In order to help her and Jack reconnect, she suggests a road trip to Utah. Jack reluctantly goes along, having only stayed in the marriage this long for the sake of their daughter… and because of the tragic secret in his and Jill’s past that he wants to keep buried. He’s finally had enough tho, and is planning on filing for divorce as soon as the road trip is over.

Jill, however, has other plans. She loves Jack and will do anything to keep him. She always has, so why change that now? Soon, the couple will be locked in a cat-and-mouse game for control of their future, shared or otherwise.

~~~~~~~

A different kind of family tension lies at the heart of Seth Insua’s thought-provoking novel Human, Animal.

Since the death of his brother, veteran dairy farmer George has been struggling to keep the family business afloat. His troubles only worsen when animal rights activists descend on his cowshed one morning to film content for their social media. The fallout is unprecedented, especially as George’s youngest child appears to side with the activists.

As the family navigates the real-world consequences of going viral, George’s elderly mother sleepwalks back to her youth — and to a secret she’s carried with her for decades, one that could change everything for them all.

This ambitious literary debut meditates on the importance of connection in a divided world, exploring themes of family, identity, the enduring effects of conflict, and the friction between tradition and progress — all while discussing issues as seemingly far-flung from one another as land use and animal rights, to gender, sexuality and relationships.

~~~~~~~

We close out our preview of next week’s titles with Priyanka Taslim’s latest charming Young Adult rom-com, Always Be My Bibi!

This summer is finally going to be the summer of teenaged Bibi Hossain’s first kiss. Too bad her father finds out and grounds her for breaking his most arcane rule: no boys until after her saintly older sister Halima gets married first.

Just when Bibi thinks she’ll be stuck helping him at their popular fried chicken chain until school reopens, Halima drops a bombshell: she’s marrying the heir of a princely estate turned tea garden in Bangladesh. Soon, Bibi is hopping on the next flight to Sylhet for Halima’s Big Fat Bengali Wedding. If she’s lucky, maybe Abbu will even rethink the dating ban while they’re there.

Unfortunately for her, the stuffy Rahmans are a nightmare that take up all their time — especially Sohel, the groom’s younger brother. The only thing that Bibi and Sohel can agree on is that their siblings are not a good match. But as the two scheme to break up their siblings, Bibi finds it impossible to stay away from the infuriatingly handsome boy. Could her own happily ever after be brewing, even as she stirs up trouble for her sister’s engagement — or is there more steeping at the tea estate than Bibi realizes?

~~~~~~~

Let me know if you’re able to get to any of these books before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will help spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books in my Bookshop storefront linked below!