May 01 2026

Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part One

It’s already May! (and yes, you should definitely sing that in a ramen-haired Justin Timberlake voice, lol.) I’m not sure why, but the first ten days of May are always so hectic for me, between annual string performances, random selections (Jeopardy! last year and jury duty this year) and my beloved Arsenal entering their statistical best month of the season. And this year we really have a chance at winning so much, my friends! It’s actually overwhelming!

Anyway, to help (me) stay calm and avoid hyper-fixating, we have a whole slew of terrific books to enjoy, both upcoming and recently published. Our first book is a Young Adult novel that is very much up my alley, as our main character does everything in her power to find justice for her slain sister in Jennifer Pearson’s Drop Dead Famous.

International singing superstar Blair Baker is back in her hometown for a triumphant homecoming concert. The celebration quickly turns to chaos, however, when the crowd realizes that the figure rising on a platform for a grand stage entrance is, shockingly, very dead.

Blair’s younger sister Stevie is devastated, not only by Blair’s death but by the eerie echoes of powerlessness that continue to haunt the surviving Baker sibling. Years ago, Stevie had been denied the chance to find justice for someone else close to her. This time, she won’t let the opportunity slip through her fingers, as she relentlessly pursues the truth despite the discouragement of certain people around her.

The more she learns about her big sister’s glamorous life, tho, the more danger she unwittingly puts herself in. The monster of global stardom will go to great lengths to protect its dark underbelly from exposure, but is it a danger closer to home that Stevie should really be fearing?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/01/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-one/

Apr 30 2026

Amy Gets Eaten by Adam Kay & Henry Paker

Honestly, seems appropriate to be reading and reviewing this on the day I spent way too much time making sure my doctor had the relevant sample she needed. But hey, maybe we’ll finally figure out why I’ve been so sick these last few months!

Anyway, Amy is a piece of corn on the pizza of a medium-sized boy named Noah. As she travels through his digestive system with her other pizza topping friends — including a bit of tomato, onion and, perhaps less expectedly, egg and raisin — she explores her surroundings and tries to give courage to her companions, as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

Amy Gets Eaten is a quick, often funny primer on how food moves through the body, which does an excellent job of not judging anyone’s eating habits (well, with the exception of the chocolate cake with ketchup: I definitely agree with the authors that that is weird.) This picture book very much demystifies the basics of eating, digestion and elimination, and serves as a great introduction for kids who want to know how bodies turn food into poop.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/30/amy-gets-eaten-by-adam-kay-henry-paker/

Apr 29 2026

Let’s Make Cocktails! by Sarah Becan

subtitled A Comic Book Cocktail Book.

This is, bar none, one of the best illustrated reference guides to learning about and making cocktails for beginners that I’ve ever seen. Sarah Becan’s approach to mixology is as refreshing as some of the drinks she features in this volume, and I say that both as someone who bartended for years and who taught people how to mix drinks for their own delectation (and who loves the occasional tipple myself, naturally.) The way she’s written this book not only demystifies the process but also provides brief histories of each of the drinks, an added boon for trivia nerds like myself.

Let’s Make Cocktails begins by first explaining what a cocktail is and how that odd name came to be (or, at least, the best guesses for it.) As with most home bartending guides, it then discusses the setup of a basic home bar. In addition to a low-pressure introduction to the many different kinds of spirits and mixers, Ms Becan talks about the different kinds of glassware, tools, ice and garnishes most often used by modern bartenders, and how you don’t have to be in possession of them all in order to have a setup that works for you. She does, however, recommend that you know how to make your own simple syrups, and provides instructions for various kinds that serve almost as a way to ease into the rest of the book’s recipes.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/29/lets-make-cocktails-by-sarah-becan/

Apr 28 2026

Through The Garden Gate by Sharon Rose & Erin Brown

This is a beautifully illustrated fairy tale for modern children that could, perhaps, use a few more pages to better explain some of the story diversions it takes while chronicling the magical adventures of its young protagonist.

Said protagonist Miles is boooooooored, in the manner of all kids with too much time and not enough hobbies. His mother suggests that he goes next door to help Miss Mary with her garden, and to visit with her dog Sunny. Gardening sounds super dull to Miles, but who doesn’t love hanging out with cute pets? So off Miles goes to see if his older neighbor needs any help a/o company.

Miss Mary introduces him to her new baby chicks before teaching him how to dig up crabgrass. At first it’s tough work, but once he gets the hang of it, he takes pleasure in a job well done. While doing so, he notices a small, closed gate beyond the California poppies. Miss Mary says, with a twinkle in her eye, that he’s free to explore once he’s done with the crabgrass that’s crowding out her flowers. He definitely takes her up on the offer, and soon finds himself in a magical place of fanciful creatures and fascinating plants.

I really loved how Sharon Rose melded this fairy tale with educational facts about the plants she highlights. I don’t recall ever hearing of the Boquila vine before but definitely want to see one in person now! I also really appreciated that she brought up how weeds are just plants that people don’t want growing in a certain place, tho with a well-written note as well about invasive species.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/28/through-the-garden-gate-by-sharon-rose-erin-brown/

Apr 27 2026

How To Survive The End Of The World by Katy Doughty

with the subtitle A Graphic Exploration Of How To (Maybe) Avoid Extinction. And while this book is aimed at teens, I think that anyone with an interest in science and the many different ways in which the world could end will gain a lot from this well-researched and innovatively drawn volume.

Never has the end of life as we know it been depicted in such a warmly realistic manner. Katy Doughty examines all the different science-based ways in which the end of the world has captured the human imagination in recent years — with a quick nod to the end times prophesied by various faiths and cultures over the centuries — and discusses their likelihood in a level-headed manner. She not only draws on established research but also consults with various scientists and activists who make excellent cameos here as they talk about their areas of expertise, whether they be in epidemiology, anthropology, climate justice or more.

Critically, Ms Doughty doesn’t just talk about a global extermination event for humanity, but also about the kind of rapid, destabilizing change that would mean the death of our old ways of life and the emergence of something new, strange and not necessarily for the better… but also not necessarily for the worse. That said, the interview with Dr Lawrence Gross regarding the trauma of such devastating change is really excellently done, both in how sorrowful it made me feel for the past and how hopeful it made me feel for the future.

And that’s basically the thesis of this book, that no matter what happens, human beings have already and always shown extraordinary resilience, and that our history to date is a powerful testament to who we are as a species. We’re not perfect, and we have done some truly terrible things to each other. But in a world with no guarantees, the fact that we’ve also done amazing things and, perhaps even more importantly, that we persist in doing good is perhaps enough, if not to justify our ongoing survival outright, then as an epitaph on a worthwhile existence in the face of inevitability.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/27/how-to-survive-the-end-of-the-world-by-katy-doughty/

Apr 26 2026

Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher

In the world of the White Rat, the gods call clergy and paladins to their service. Clergy are straightforward enough; they minister to the faithful, they administer the affairs of people and property affiliated with the deity, they perform the necessary rites, and so forth. Paladins are holy warriors for their faith; filled with the god’s energy, they smite the enemies of the faith. Paladins can enter a berserker state, fighting with superhuman strength and ignoring wounds as the god enters them and lends them power. Not all gods call paladins — the White Rat, for example, does not — but all paladins are called. The paladins of the Saint of Steel served happily and faithfully, right up until the day their god died.

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

Kingfisher gave more detail in Paladin’s Grace, the first of presently four novels that follow the lives of the seven surviving paladins of the Saint of Steel, as they try to rebuild their lives after they lost what gave them meaning and direction. Paladin’s Strength takes place several years after the death of the Saint, and follows a brief but indeterminate period after the events of Paladin’s Grace. It’s not strictly necessary to have read the previous book — this novel’s story is independent — but Kingfisher provides more background than in this one.

T. Kingfisher is a keen practitioner of the arresting first sentence, and Paladin’s Strength is no exception: “Clara stood outside a stranger’s tent, holding a naked sword in her hands.” (p. 1) To make a hilarious opening scene short, Clara if offering the sword to the leader of a small caravan who wish to pass through the lands of the Arral. A misunderstanding of local customs has already led to the caravan leader killing a young man. Now, peace is to be bought in a peculiar way. Because the young Arral lost his challenge, his family must offer the victor his sword and something of value from his household. Not to put too fine a point on it, that something is Clara, who is not Arral and can be offered without too much loss to the household. The leader, whose name is Istvhan (I pronounced it the Hungarian way, EESHT-vahn, because it spelled so close to István, the Hungarian version of Steven), does not want to take in Clara but is eventually persuaded that rejecting her would cause violent offense, and the caravan still has to pass through several days’ journey of Arral lands.

Along the way to agreement, Clara reveals that she is a nun, a lay sister of the Order of St. Ursa. Raiders recently sacked and burned her convent, and kidnapped the sisters who survived the fire. Clara had been kidnapped as well but got free. She was following them and working up ways to free the others when she ran afoul of the Arral, which in turn led to the novel’s opening scene.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/26/paladins-strength-by-t-kingfisher/

Apr 25 2026

The Element of Fire by Martha Wells

Come for the opening heist in a magician’s home, stay for the burgeoning civil war and Martha Wells’ willingness to keep changing the story. The Element of Fire was her first novel, originally published in 1993. (The current edition was revised in 2022, though her author’s note does not say anything about the extent of her revisions.) Ile-Rien is a kingdom in a moderately magical world; it still has castles and strongholds, though both magic and cannon can make short work of them. Guns are a new and not entirely reliable technology. None of that is immediately apparent.

Captain Thomas Boniface is leading a break-in at a sorcerer’s mansion, to rescue yet another sorcerer. Thomas, his lieutenant Gideon, and the various other Queen’s guards stationed outside the mansion have brought the new court magician, Dr Braun, with them, but he can offer little help.

“You can’t give us any hint of what we’re to find in there?” Thomas said … Braun’s expression was both distressed and obstinate. “He is too strong or … he might have the help of some creature of the Fay.”
“God protect us,” [a Queen’s guard] muttered, and uneasily studied the cloudy darkness above. (p. 6)

The Book of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells

That is another complication. There is not just Ile-Rien and its rival kingdoms, there is a whole other world of Faerie, a world that plays by its own rules but takes an interest in the mostly human world of Ile-Rien. In fact, the current young king has an older half-sister, product of an illicit liaison between the late king and the almost equally late Fay Queen of Air and Darkness. The human Dowager Queen, Ravenna, was always a force to be reckoned with; it was her prowess and leadership that saved the kingdom in a desperate war against one of its neighbors. She has effectively wielded power ever since, though she is generally careful to observe the forms so that her son Roland is seen to rule even if all the court knows who is really paramount.

Wells puts many more elements than just fire into the novel’s main action. The king’s favorite, his best friend since childhood, comes from an old family and would not mind supplanting Ravenna as the power behind the throne. Or perhaps more. There is an official church that has the structure of Christianity — cathedrals, monastic orders, bishops — without any specified content, except that in Ile-Rien the church tolerates magic whereas in the kingdom’s nearest enemy Bisra, it persecutes magic with great vigor. Both the sorcerer rescued in the opening sequence and his captor have recent ties to Bisra, ties that could lead to more danger for Ile-Rien. To make the situation even more volatile, Kade, the king’s illegitimate half-sister, appears in the midst of the court. Is she there to claim an inheritance? Is she there to make amends with Roland for abandoning him at a crucial childhood juncture? What does she have in mind? Even she is not sure. Thomas, as befits the Captain of the Queen’s guard, is the long-time lover of the Queen Dowager. He’s devoted, but he is also conscious that he is forever just a pawn on the board of royalty, the great families, and the magicians.

The raid turns out to have been the falling pebble that sets an avalanche in motion, and things get complicated fast, as the first dialogue between the royal princess of uncertain status and the Queen Dowager shows.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/25/the-element-of-fire-by-martha-wells/

Apr 24 2026

Tantalizing Tales — April 2026 — Part Four

April is almost over, dear readers, and we have so many delicious books to look forward to as the weather warms here in the Northern Hemisphere! First up is a globe-trotting delight, as the prolific Jesse Q Sutanto takes a break from her usual mysteries to explore what it feels like to start over again in your sixties.

The title protagonist of Ms Mebel Goes Back To The Chopping Block is looking forward to her husband’s retirement. Now they can spend their happy golden years lazing on the beaches of Santorini, or careening down the sand dunes of Dubai if they’re looking for something a little more exciting. All her plans are thrown into disarray, however, when her husband tells her that he’s leaving her for their personal chef.

Despite her dismay — good personal chefs are hard to find! — Mebel has a plan to win her husband back. If he wants a wife who can cook, then she can learn how to do that. She enrolls herself in what she thinks is a cooking school located in Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Unfortunately for her, she’s actually booked herself into a program located in a small village outside of Oxford. A further disappointment is the less than warm welcome she receives from several of her much younger classmates.

Mebel, however, hasn’t gotten as far as she has in life on looks alone. She befriends Gemma, the breakout star of the program, and slowly begins to learn not only how to cook, but how to imagine a life as more than just a pampered wife whose only aim is to accommodate her successful husband. Maybe, just maybe, Mebel can learn to be a success in her own right, too.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/24/tantalizing-tales-april-2026-part-four/

Apr 23 2026

Was That Normal? by Alex Potts

Is it weird that I read this book and immediately assumed that the protagonist must have grown up with a super critical parent or guardian who absolutely failed him in preparing him for an autonomous life?

Lol, the irony there, ofc, being me asking if that’s weird, given the title of this book. And I suppose it isn’t “weird” per se more than it perhaps shows a slightly higher level of empathy than the average person might feel on being confronted with Philip’s story. Philip is in his forties and lives with Caroline, his perfectly lovely older landlady, in a coastal British town. He works from home and is thrilled to finally live in an area that he’s dreamed of for so long. He does not, however, seem to have any friends, and actively avoids Caroline’s company even tho her brand of affability extends more to inviting him out to socialize vs being actually intrusive about his personal life and daily activities. Mostly, Philip keeps to himself and spends his days overthinking everything, tho he does go for long walks in town and the surrounding countryside, appreciating both the views and the history of the place.

One day, he finally gives in and accepts Caroline’s invitation to go to a nearby music venue called The Quagmire. He doesn’t care for the band that’s playing but does find himself fascinated by their beautiful lead singer Gina. When he runs into her at his usual cafe, he thinks it must be fate. Sure enough, the two strike up a friendship, of sorts, as he struggles to get out of his own head. But disaster looms over the town, and over their fragile new relationship. Will introverted, anxious Philip get the happily ever after that he can’t help but pine for?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/23/was-that-normal-by-alex-potts/

Apr 22 2026

Hafsa’s Way by Aisha Saeed

Back when I was growing up in Malaysia, the private school I went to for a good part of my primary and secondary schooling essentially gave up on teaching after the General Certificate of Secondary Education exams, and organized fun extracurricular activities for us instead. One of these was trips to the nearby zoo, and when I say nearby, I mean a ten-minute walk or so. So reading a book about a young girl in a (sub)tropical climate who has a coming-of-age experience involving academics and a nearby zoo perhaps resonated with me more than it might with the average reader.

That said, this is the kind of book I could easily see finding an audience with any pre-teen desperate to be allowed to pursue their future without the weight of “but what will people say?!” holding them back, no matter where in the world they live (or how much access to elephants they may have, lol.) Hafsa Imtiaz lives in a village some hours’ drive away from Lahore. Her parents own and run the produce market, and her beloved elder sister Shabnam has married well, to a kind and handsome cardiologist in the capital city. Hafsa herself wants to be a doctor like Sohail, an ambition that her parents don’t exactly encourage. They’d be much happier if she’d just marry a doctor like her sister did, tho they’re not conservative enough to discourage her medical dreams altogether.

And so, secretly, Hafsa applies for a summer science camp program for girls at the prestigious Bukhari Academy in Lahore. Her favorite teacher Miss Sadia often speaks fondly of her experiences there, and Hafsa is determined to go. She’s excited when her application is accepted, but immediately balks when she sees the cost. Even if her parents would let her go live in a dorm unchaperoned, there’s no way they could fork out as much as the cost of a new motorcycle just for her summer experience.

Shabnam and Sohail come to the rescue. When they learn of Hafsa’s quandary, they offer not only to pay, but to have Hafsa stay with them so as to curtail any gossip in the village about her staying in a dorm. Hafsa’s parents reluctantly agree, in part because saying no could be seen as an insult to Sohail’s side of the family. Hafsa herself is thrilled, as not only will she be able to attend the pre-med camp of her dreams, she’ll also be able to spend some quality time with her sister again.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/22/hafsas-way-by-aisha-saeed/