Review of The Woman in Suite 11, by Ruth Ware

Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review, Suspense 0

The Woman in Suite 11

by Ruth Ware
read by Imogen Church

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2025. 15 hours, 11 minutes.
Review written December 5, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

The Woman in Suite 11 is Ruth Ware’s first sequel, a follow-up to The Woman in Cabin 10, set ten years later. The Woman in Cabin Ten was the first Ruth Ware book I listened to. It was 2018, when I was reading for the Newbery Award, and listening to a Ruth Ware thriller was the perfect way to cleanse my palate, as they’re pretty much the opposite of the children’s books I was reading for the award.

This follow-up was wonderful. I love that life is going well for Lo Blacklock. She’s happily married, living in New York City with her husband and two kids. But because of having kids and the unfortunate timing of the pandemic, her career as a journalist has stalled.

So Lo is surprised when she gets an invitation to the opening of a premier hotel in Geneva, owned by the Leidman group. Her husband urges her to go while he takes care of their two little boys. And Lo can visit her Mum in England on the way back.

But Lo is even more surprised when she sees three people who were on that fateful voyage of the Aurora ten years ago. And then when she gets summoned to owner Marcus Leidman’s room late at night – Suite 11 – she assumes it’s his eccentric way to finally grant her an interview. But the door is opened by the very same woman she saw in Cabin 10.

And from there? All hell breaks loose. Again there is murder before the book is over. Again there are very powerful people involved. Again there’s a mystery as to how it all went down – and this time Lo is a suspect, and she’s also keeping secrets.

I’ll say no more about the plot, but it keeps you going all the way. I kept checking how much of the audiobook was left to confirm that no, this seeming resolution probably wasn’t actually a resolution. And sure enough, there were new causes for tension all the way to the end.

Do read the The Woman in Cabin 10 first – you’ll enjoy this one all the more. I was so happy for Lo – her husband is awesome (and spoiler alert – he survives the book. It’s so good to see a wonderful supportive husband in a thriller, especially one who survives.), her kids are wonderful, she’s got her mental health under control, including no more drinking problem. When she talked about missing her little boys and had her husband let her listen to them sleeping, my own heart melted.

I have to say that I really do hope for Lo’s sake that she will not feature in any more thrillers. But if she does, I will want to be first in line to read them!

ruthware.com

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Review of The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, by Deya Muniz

Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

by Deya Muniz

Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 250 pages.
Review written June 20, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a delightfully fun and light-hearted graphic novel about a young noblewoman named Cam who must pose as a man in order to inherit her father’s estate. She moves to the capital city to be far away from the people who knew her before her father’s death – and catches the princess’s eye.

The two of them do many things together, including enjoying grilled cheese sandwiches. (Everyone in the capital city has a name that’s a type of cheese.) As they fall in love, Cam realizes she can’t take things any further because she needs to keep her secrets. And nobody likes to find out the one they love has been hiding who they really are.

I was rather amazed this is a debut. The drawings are wonderful – I especially loved all the outfits. Cam keeps her hair long but wears fake sideburns and nice suits when posing as a man, and it wasn’t too hard to believe that she could have fooled people. (Maybe a little hard. But not too bad, because she did look like a well-dressed young man.) There’s variety in the panel sizes, and the story keeps moving at a nice pace. It only took me about an hour to read, and left me smiling.

I’m writing this before discussing anything with the Morris committee, so my opinions are entirely my own, and I’ll have to wait to publish this review until after we’ve made our decision. But I am looking forward to more from this author, and I think teens are going to love her work.

lbyr.com
theNOVL.com

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Review of The Woman in the Moon, by Richard Maurer

Biography, Mathematical, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

The Woman in the Moon

How Margaret Hamilton Helped Fly the First Astronauts to the Moon

by Richard Maurer

Roaring Brook Press, 2023. 254 pages.
Review written December 15, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

It’s always good to read about a female mathematician who excelled in her field. Margaret Hamilton studied math in the 1950s and learned computer programming while working with the meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who discovered the Butterfly Effect in meteorology. Margaret ran his computer simulations at MIT, and later moved to the lab that worked on the computer software that would go into space with the Apollo missions. Margaret, in fact, was the person who coined the term “software engineering” to reflect that writing the computer code was as much a feat of engineering as constructing the wiring – though in fact some of that code was wired into the physical computers.

This book takes us through Margaret’s life as she was consistently the only woman in her field. It goes into lots of interesting detail about the Apollo missions, all that they were up against, and how Margaret was responsible for making the software work. An abundance of relevant photos help keep the text moving, and the whole thing captures the sense of wonder that humans actually made it to the moon – with 1960s technology.

Historians believe a key reason that American astronauts got to the Moon first (Soviet space travelers never got there at all) was America’s lead in computer technology. There were computers at the launch center, computers at Mission Control, computers at the contractors, computers at the tracking stations, and of course the miniature AGC in the spacecraft. Among all these electronic brains, the only computer that never failed was the AGC. In thousands of hours of manned spaceflight, no software errors were known to have occurred. The achievement is unique in computer history. “Nobody can believe it to this day,” Margaret noted.

Margaret was the one in charge of the software for the AGC, the Apollo Guidance Computer, which was in the command modules in flight. This was a behind-the-scenes job, so it’s good to see this entire book about her, giving some much deserved recognition (besides the Presidential Medal of Freedom she got in 2016). Now kids and teens can learn about her accomplishments.

This book is geared to a middle school audience, but there’s nothing in it that would make high school students feel it’s too young for them, so I decided to post this review on my Teen Nonfiction page instead of my Children’s Nonfiction page, even though in the library we have it as a Juvenile Biography. It’s at a much higher level than the many picture book biographies I post on that page. aLearn about the woman who wrote the software that got humans to the moon.

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Review of The Teacher of Nomad Land, by Daniel Nayeri

Audiobooks, Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Teacher of Nomad Land

A World War II Story

by Daniel Nayeri
read by Daniel Nayeri

Listening Library, 2025. 3 hours, 23 minutes.
Review written December 12, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2025 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner

Ahhhh. The Teacher of Nomad Land is my favorite Daniel Nayeri book so far. And he’s already won the Printz Award and Newbery Honor. Traditionally, it usually turns out that the winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature does not win the Newbery Medal. Will this year break the pattern?

But about the book. As the subtitle indicates, this is a World War II story, and it’s set in Iran. Iran wasn’t the main stage in World War II and was officially neutral – but that made it a place where people from all over the world could meet one another – with lots of room for misunderstandings.

Our story begins in Isfahan when Babak’s father has recently been killed by the Russian army. His father had been visiting the nomads in their summer home, teaching their children, and the army fired at them, thinking they were insurgents. Babak promises his little sister Sanna that even though they are orphans, he won’t let them be split up, but their relatives don’t give them any choice.

So Babak works as an errand boy for a year, trying to save money to take Sanna away with him so they can be together. They will ask the nomads to take them in before they leave for their winter home.

After a year of saving, the money doesn’t work out, but Babak and Sanna set out anyway. Babak brings along his father’s blackboard, rigged with leather straps to carry on his back. He offers to teach the nomads’ children and tries to be as good a teacher as his father was, but his first attempt isn’t enough for the chief of the nomads.

But then the adventure really begins. As Babak and Sanna try to find their way back to Isfahan, staying together no matter what, they encounter a ruthless Nazi spy who takes all their food. Later, they meet the Jewish refugee boy from Poland that the German is looking for. Together, they try to make their way to somewhere safe, but there’s lots of misunderstanding along the way, not to mention the need for food and water.

The most brilliant scene of all is when Babak figures out how to facilitate communication between the nomads, British soldiers, and Russian soldiers – using I think it was five different languages.

Along the way, Babak learns to emulate his father and think like a teacher, gleaning plenty of wisdom as he does so.

I also love that the book isn’t overindulgent in its length, despite the heavy topic of war time – under four hours in an audiobook! – just right for a children’s book. Yes, it’s about war time, so there are dangerous and scary situations, but the kids at the center of it come through brilliantly.

danielnayeri.com

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Review of Through the Year with George MacDonald, edited by Rolland Hein

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

coverThrough the Year with George MacDonald

366 Daily Readings

by George MacDonald
edited by Rolland Hein
foreword by Douglas Gresham

Winged Lion Press, 2012. 406 pages.
Review written December 16, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

I normally wait until I have finished every page of a book to write a review, but I decided to make an exception in this case, just in case someone’s looking for daily devotional readings for 2026. (Not that you couldn’t start midyear.) I’ve read a page a day from this book for all of 2025, and it has enriched my life.

I have long been a George MacDonald fan. C. S. Lewis famously said, “I consider George MacDonald my master,” and I could say the same. It was George MacDonald’s nonfiction writings, which I first encountered in Discovering the Character of God and Knowing the Heart of God, that I first grappled with the idea that God will save everyone – and it was George MacDonald’s obvious deep knowledge of Scripture and deep love for God that helped me dare to believe it.

I’ve already read MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons and other nonfiction many times. So this book was a nice way to be reminded of his ideas with a dose each day. Each day’s reading is one page from MacDonald’s writings – mostly the nonfiction. The book also includes important events in George MacDonald’s life and a verse for each selection. Some of the selections come from his letters or other sources that were new to me.

George MacDonald, a nineteenth century Scottish preacher, firmly believed in that God is our loving Father. His writings simply drip with the perspective of that amazing love. I’ve long found that regularly reading George MacDonald’s writing lifts my perspective, builds my faith, and fills me with hope and joy. This book was a perfect way to fill that dose, and I’m planning to go through it again for 2026.

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Review of Not for the Faint of Heart, by Lex Croucher

Alternate History, Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Not for the Faint of Heart

by Lex Croucher
read by Kit Griffiths and Olivia Dowd

Macmillan Young Listeners, 2024. 11 hours, 36 minutes.
Review written June 26, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Not for the Faint of Heart had the look of the author’s other book, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, so I was pretty sure I’d enjoy it. And sure enough, I was right about all of that.

Both books are set in alternate universes, dealing with descendants of legends. In Gwen and Art it was descendants of King Arthur, and in Not for the Faint of Heart, we’ve got grandchildren of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. In both books, the world has been altered to be LGBTQ-friendly in the medieval context, with plenty of LGBTQ characters and relationships. And both books are light-hearted and a whole lot of fun – with some serious thought thrown in, of course.

The book begins when Clem, a teenage girl who’s an apprentice healer, gets herself kidnapped by the Merry Men in place of her older mentor, who would have trouble with camping in the forest.

But the band of Merry Men isn’t like the heroes Clem has heard legends about. For one thing, they’re not all men, and they’re more militaristic than the folks from the tales. The band that took her away is led by Mariel Hood-Hartley, the granddaughter of Robin Hood, and daughter of Robin Hood’s son-in-law, Jack Hartley, the current commander of the Merry Men, and the one who insists on militaristic order. They’ve kidnapped Clem because she and her mentor have worked as healers on the Sheriff’s men, and they want to set an example. Clem is firm that if someone needs a healer, she will step up.

Mariel is our other viewpoint character. She is trying to please her father and earn her captaincy, but she can never seem to do so. When the larger group is ambushed on their secret forest paths and leaders are captured by the Sheriff, they’re sure that someone has betrayed them. But Mariel disagrees with the other captains about who’s responsible, and sees this as a chance to prove herself to her father.

Of course, we’re not surprised when the two viewpoint characters are attracted to each other. There’s romance and misunderstandings – all in the context of thinking about what is the true mission of the Merry Men and are they really fighting for the people of the wood? And plenty of fighting and plotting along the way.

Yes, there are some casualties of the fighting, but the book is mainly a light-hearted romp through a world that might have been, with romance and thoughts about how to do good in the world – and it leaves you feeling good.

lexcroucher.co.uk

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Review of In the World of Whales, by Michelle Cuslito, illustrated by Jessica Lanan

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

In the World of Whales

by Michelle Cusolito
illustrated by Jessica Lanan

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2025. 44 pages.
Review written November 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This stunningly beautiful picture book tells the true story of a free diver who encountered a pod of sperm whales surrounding a just-born baby whale calf with the umbilical cord still attached.

The story is told poetically, with both the diver and the calf having to go to the surface for air periodically.

The whales peer at the man
with egg-shaped eyes the size of tangerines.
Their school-bus-big bodies
with rumpled backs
and bulbous heads
could crush the man in a flash.
Wild animals protect their young.
Is he in danger?

On the next spread, he copies the whales’ movements to be non-threatening, and more whales arrive to the group. Then, after he and the calf breathe:

The mother nudges her offspring toward the newcomers.
One by one,
she introduces the baby to the community.

The man watches in wonder, and hears the clicks of the whales communicating with one another, including the newborn.

It all builds to a doubled-spread with pages that fold out.

Then, the mother nudges the calf toward the man.
She presents her wrinkly baby as if to say,
“Meet the newest member of our family.”

Six pages at the back tell more about sperm whales, more about free diving, and provide resources including this page of photos from the actual encounter in 2014, and this amazing video of the encounter.

The book captures the magic and wonder of the moment, and leaves you, like the original diver, in awe.

michellecusolito.com
jessicalanan.com
HolidayHouse.com

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Review of Swordheart, by T. Kingfisher

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Swordheart

by T. Kingfisher
read by Jesse Vilinsky

Tantor Media, 2021. 14 hours, 32 minutes.
Review written December 9, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Here’s a fantasy tale with a self-described middle-aged widow as the main character! That alone would have made the book delightful. (She turned out to be in her late thirties, but still.)

As the book opens, Halla has been locked in her room by her dead husband’s relatives until she’ll agree to marry a cousin with clammy hands. This is all the fault of great-uncle Silas, the only one who’d been willing to take her in after her husband died. After years of caring for Silas, when he died, he left all his money to Halla. Now the relatives insist that she marry the cousin to keep the money in the family.

Locked in her room, Halla realizes that if she kills herself, the money will stay out of their hands and go to her nieces and give them nice dowries. But how does one, in fact, kill oneself? Well, Silas collected artifacts, and there’s long been an old sword hanging on her wall.

But when Halla unsheathes the sword, a warrior appears. His name is Sarkis, and he was bound to the sword over 400 years before. But he’s never had a wielder quite like Halla.

After breaking Halla out of her own home, they go on a quest to get help from the temple of the Rat God, whose priests are sworn to help people in legal trouble. But the journey, both there and back, is full of obstacles and unexpected challenges. And it’s no surprise to the reader that Halla and Sarkis begin to have feelings for each other.

This book was delightful all along the way. Halla is a wonderful character, full of curiosity and always asking questions, sometimes as a way to disarm people who would otherwise be threats. Sarkis, quite naturally, is used to solving problems by cutting off heads or burning down villages. He’s voiced with what I think is a Scottish accent (might be Irish?), and his perplexity with Halla is great fun to experience. And a strong reason I’m recommending the audiobook as a wonderful way to experience this novel.

The priest of the Rat God who travels back with them is a nonbinary person, and it was refreshing how everyone in that medieval fantasy world uses they/them pronouns without batting an eye.

Some of the obstacles they encountered made the story feel a bit circuitous, but in the end I was happier to have that much more time in this world. Although I’m coming to the book four years after publication, I see that a sequel is expected in August 2026, so I feel like I’m right on time.

redwombatstudio.com

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Review of The Love Match, by Priyanka Taslim

Contemporary, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Love Match

by Priyanka Taslim

Salaam Reads (Simon & Schuster), 2023. 386 pages.
Review written February 10, 2023, from my own book, sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

The Love Match is a light-hearted rom-com novel set among the Bangladeshi Muslim diaspora community of Paterson, New Jersey, where the author grew up.

Zahra Khan has recently graduated from high school and is sad that she’s going to have to let go of her acceptance to Columbia, but with her father’s recent death, she needs to keep the family going. Her best friends are happily making college plans, while she keeps working and setting aside money. Her mother doesn’t respect Zahra’s dreams of being a writer and wants to find a nice Bangladeshi boy to marry Zahra and take care of her.

When her mother sets her sights for Zahra on a Bangladeshi boy from a rich family, neither Zahra nor the boy, Harun, are excited about the idea. But neither wants to disappoint their parents. So instead, they make a plan to convince their parents that this match can’t possibly work.

But while they are doing their fake dates, a new Bangladeshi starts working at the shop where Zahra does. He seems to understand her dreams in a way Harun doesn’t. But he doesn’t have any money or family, so how can Zahra ever get her family behind that romance?

The cover means we’re not surprised by the love triangle. It all plays out in happily predictable ways – a completely fun ride, with all the details about Bangladeshi culture making it all the more interesting. Zahra’s a character readers will be happy to root for. I enjoyed every minute I read this novel.

priyankataslim.com
simonandschuster.com/teen

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Review of The Littlest Drop, by Sascha Alper, illustrations by Jerry Pinkney & Brian Pinkney

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Littlest Drop

by Sascha Alper
illustrations by Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Anne Schwartz Books, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written November 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book retells a folk tale the author originally heard from the environmentalist Wangari Maathai. Brian Pinkney tells us that his father had left behind sketches that were almost complete, but he hadn’t started painting yet. Brian lovingly completed them with a result that’s a beautiful combination of both of their styles.

The story is of a hummingbird who lives in “a vast, beautiful land that was a home to all of the animals.” After she builds her nest, a spark starts a fire not far away.

All the animals flee to the river and huddle frightened by its side. But the hummingbird wants to do something.

And so the hummingbird flew to the river and filled her tiny beak with just the littlest drop of water, for that was all that it would hold.

When the other animals tell her she’s too small to put out the fire, she answers, “I am doing what I can.”

And that prompts the elephant to do what she can. And soon all the animals are working to put out the terrible fire. And the last drop that puts out the fire comes from the hummingbird.

It’s a lovely tale about each of us doing our bit. Who knows? You may inspire others to all work together to help everyone.

justjerrypinkney.com
brianpinkney.net
rhcbooks.com

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