Tim McGregor wastes no time introducing us to the realities of daily life in and around the 1821 Rhode Island village of Wickstead where Hearts Strange and Dreadful is set, and in the same strokes that prepare the lamb for the Stokely family meals, we know what's what in the Stokely household, especially when it comes to the 17-year-old narrator Hester Stokely, cousin and adopted sister to the children of the family since her parents died in the same housefire which scarred her face when she was 12.

People who don't think reading graphic novels "counts" need to read something like Mama Came Callin' by Ezra Claytan Daniels and illustrated by Camilla Sucre.

This was a fun, escapist read involving mysterious beautiful French people, secret societies, and a metaphorical fountain of youth as Courtney, traveling to celebrate her 31st birthday with her old roommate and frenemy in Paris, is invited to the country by a woman called Salomé, and for reasons, decides to go.

It's about a dance club and an immersive reality game and art and artists, and the novels read a lot like art journals themselves. I had a lot of fun reading the related ephemera, newspaper pages, certificates, etc., which paid off from the first page when a magazine article served as an introduction to main character Ari Regon with a recap of some of the first two novels.

Part of the fun of Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir is that Unner feels like a real person. She is a likeable narrator overall even though she doesn't like cats and is sleeping with a married man - though that almost makes her more sympathetic as she seems to sincerely believe "their marriage is over" and that "it's complicated" because of the kids.