Book Reviews

Patricia Engels' novel about the experiences of a Colombian family migrating to the U.S. stands out for its sharp writing — but frustrates in equal measure because of its reliance on summary.

Wibke Brueggemann's charmingly snarky YA novel follows teenaged Phoebe as she recovers from the Worst New Year's Ever and learns that not all of life's answers can be found via Google.

In Jennifer Ryan's new novel, set in England in 1942, four women from different backgrounds compete in a cooking contest with a possibly life-changing prize: The chance to cohost a BBC cooking show.

Journalist Matthew Gavin Frank exposes the history of South Africa's nefarious diamond industry, accompanied by a tale of pigeons and their role in subversion, in crisp and poetic prose.

Nubia has been many things over decades of comics: Wonder Woman's sister, her rival, a guardian of the underworld. Now, L.L. McKinney and Robyn Smith have re-imagined her as a Black American teenager.

Prickly, angry girls get to the bottom of mysterious disappearances — or cause them — in these three angsty YA novels, from a retelling of "The Cask of Amontillado" to a wild and frozen dystopia.

Patricia Lockwood's first novel follows an Extremely Online woman whose life changes forever when her niece is born with a serious illness — which sounds Hallmark-ready, but Lockwood pulls it off.

Sarah Gailey's new novel follows a famed geneticist whose husband uses her methods to clone her — and has an affair with the clone. When he's murdered, the two women must figure out to do next.

February is dark and cold at the best of times — and this year is no exception. But we've got three hot, humorous and heartwarming romances that will bring a little light to the darkest days.