This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness. 
Effie Tildon was born on the first day of the year 1900 with a heart defect; she wasn't expected to live through the year. Instead, she has made it to the age of 13 following her bold, older sister, Luella, who claimed her for her own like a doll when she was a baby. Effie expects that she will go to college one day and become a professional writer, and that Luella will follow in their mother's footsteps as a great ballerina. But then the sisters discover a secret their father is keeping, prompting Luella to become more rebellious. When her sister vanishes, Effie suspects that their father has had her committed to the House of Mercy, a home for wayward girls. She hatches a plan to have herself committed, too, in order to force her parents to retrieve them both.
The Girls with No Names, the sophomore work by Serena Burdick (Girl in the Afternoon), paints a vivid picture of life inside the workhouses to which women and girls could be sentenced in the 19th and early 20th century for anything considered immoral. Effie's more upper-class voice is balanced with Mable's, another resident whose tragic history contains secrets of a very different kind. Effie's mother also narrates some chapters, adding the perspective of an older generation facing the changing roles available to women in the new century. This coming-of-age tale will appeal to fans of Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library

Discover: Sisterly love drives a teenager to risk the asylum in this layered historical novel.

This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
A girl's body hangs from the gates of a prestigious girls' boarding school, and Ash Carlisle's name is in the air. Readers learn quickly that she arrived at the school under false pretenses that won her a full scholarship and travel expenses from England to the United States. The Goode School is an elite institution that guarantees its graduates will gain admittance to the university of their choice. Although Ash quickly demonstrates the lengths to which she will go in order to succeed, for a time she is so overwhelmed by the arcane traditions of the school--its hazing and its secret societies--that she might appear to be no different from her classmates. But Ash is not the only one at the school with secrets. Another student dies, and rumors fly about how her secrets drove her to suicide, but it's quickly revealed not to be the entire story.
Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison (No One Knows) is an intense work of suspense, featuring a protagonist who holds her cards close to her vest. As she encounters hostile fellow students and learns about dark stories from the school's past, the audience is kept off balance, wondering who the worst villain will turn out to be. The final act's twist will send readers back to the beginning, eager to see how the pieces fit perfectly without having given anything away. Intriguing secondary characters with chapters from their points of view help to keep the story engrossing from beginning to end. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Death and deception haunt an elite girls' boarding school in this intricately plotted work of suspense.

This review was originally published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
In Labyrinth of Ice, Buddy Levy (River of Darkness) has created a gripping account of historical adventure and horror that maintains tension from beginning to end, despite the conclusion having been known for more than 130 years.
In 1881, Lieutenant Adolphus Greely set out on a United States Army expedition, leading 24 men with the goal of exploring the Arctic and breaking the British record Farthest North. Working tirelessly to record scientific measurements, the crew drove off wolves and grappled with the mental health effects of cramped quarters in the continual night of the Arctic winter. When the ship meant to resupply them the following year failed to arrive, Greely followed the agreed-upon plan to begin the trek south before winter in 1883. Then they became trapped for the season by the weather and managed to find only a small emergency cache of supplies left by the ship Proteus, which had sunk on its way to resupply them. There were whispers of mutiny, the mental health of many crew members deteriorated further and starvation became a looming threat.
Levy takes a generally favorable view of Greely, focusing on his adaptation to the unbearable circumstances and his growth in leadership as he balanced seeking the advice and consent of his men with enforcing military command. Levy also highlights the devotion of Henrietta Greely, who campaigned tirelessly for the army to rescue her husband. This compelling true drama will impress readers with the human capacity for survival. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: This nail-biting recounting of an Arctic expedition that ended in disaster is perfect for fans of Nathaniel Philbrick and Erik Larson.

How many books read in 2019?

130

Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?

Fiction: 116
Nonfiction: 14

Male/Female authors?

Male: 37
Female: 93
Other (singular "they" in bio): 0
Multiple authors of different genders: 0

Favorite books read?
An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole, The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion, The Song Peddler of the Pont Neuf by Laura Lebow, The Bride Test by Helen Hoang, A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian, The Furies by Katie Lowe, Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Least favorite?

A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder was rather blah. So was Old Baggage by Lissa Evans

Oldest book read?

Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 1782

Newest?

All of the ones to review, relative to when they came out. On New Year's Eve I finished The Conjure Women by Afia Atakora, which won't come out until March 2020.

How many re-reads?

five

Most books read by one author this year?

Eight by Kelley Armstrong

Any in translation?

I think just Les Liaisons Dangereuses & The Gods Are Athirst


How many of this year's books were from the library?

Fifty-nine

Book that most changed my perspective:

How to Be Safe by Thomas McAllister, initially, but that was a reread.

Favorite character:

The eponymous Mrs. Martin from Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan.

Favorite scene:

When Lady Trent proposes to her second husband in In the Labyrinth of Drakes

Most inspirational in terms of your own writing?

KJ Charles

How many you'd actually read again?

Twenty-eight, not including those I would happily read again if we decided to do them for book club but which I would probably not bother reading again for my own enjoyment, and which should not be taken to suggest that I'm not very happy to have read most of them once. That's basically the count of those I bought and kept to have in my own collection.

Minnie Skirt of the Rubi Girls and I discuss An Extraordinary Union ​by Alyssa Cole.