American Fantasy by Emma Straub

Lynnie 

contemporary fiction 

It was easy to get into Emma Straub's novel about Annie, a recently divorced woman on a theme cruise with a few thousand of her closest friends as they spend four days celebrating their love of a boy band from the 90s. After Annie's sister breaks her leg, Annie is forced to room with a stranger on the cruise or forfeit her money, so she goes on the solo adventure she didn't know she needed. 

In American Fantasy, we see the cruise from several perspectives. Annie's of course, but also Sarah’s, a production manager who is responsible for ensuring the band is happy and that the guests are enjoying themselves and following the rules, and Keith’s, one of the members of the band, Boy Talk. 

I found it interesting to see the cruise from so many different points of view - the fans who want to see their teenage dreams of spending time with the band come true, the band members who have a variety of reasons for setting sail with their fans and, of course, the production company putting it all together. Who, exactly, is living the fantasy? 

There is humor, heart and introspection in the pages of American Fantasy and I enjoyed all of it. I definitely think this is a book that is probably going to be enjoyed more by those who know what it's like to want to revisit their younger years or are trying to figure out who they are going to be in their next chapter.

Marin Ireland narrated the audiobook and as always, did a marvelous job. I always enjoy listening to audiobooks when she's behind the mic.  

Whistler by Ann Patchett

Amy   

fiction, historical fiction

Whistler is the name of a horse (pictured on the book cover) but this novel is not about the horse. Therefore, it was an odd choice for the book name. I suppose Whistler is a metaphor for rescue or redemption. The novel follows Daphne, is a woman in her 50s, who runs into the man who had briefly been her stepfather when she was 9 years old. They had shared a traumatic experience back then before Daphne’s mother demanded a divorce and Daphne never saw him again. This book is basically about their reconnection.

None of the characters were extraordinary. Some were a little quirky. But they seemed realistic to me. There was no big driving mystery but some smaller mysteries along the way. There was no particular climax to speak of. Rather, the pages revealed Daphne’s family’s history. It was a perfectly pleasant story with fun rapport between the characters and just enough interesting situations and characters to keep it from getting boring. I would say that the main themes in the book are impermanence, family, and death.

I’ve read several Ann Patchett novels, some of which I loved and some of which I didn’t. This one falls in the middle for me.

The author narrated the audiobook. She read with a clear voice and I always love hearing an author’s intonations, emphases, and performance of their own words. However, she spoke very slowly. I sped up the audiobook to move it along. Also, she had a very small vocal repertoire which made it hard to be sure who was speaking all the time during dialogues between the main characters. But she sang—several times—which I loved. Oddly, there were a few songs she didn’t sing and just read the lyrics. I’m unsure why she didn’t just sing them all. Anyway, weighing the pluses and minuses, I’ll give her an A- for this audiobook performance.

Threshing Day (The Empyrean #3.5) by Rebecca Yarros

Amy      
Lynnie   

fantasy

Threshing Day is a collection of short stories—a novella meant to feed the fans during the lengthy gap while we await the fourth novel in The Empyrean Series. Each story is the experience of Threshing Day, the day that dragons claim their riders, for one dragon/rider pair. Not only does each story include the rider’s inner thoughts and the conversation that takes place between the rider and their dragon, but other characters also appear in many of the stories when the rider has conversations with them prior to bonding with a dragon. All of the major characters from The Empyrean series have a chapter except for Violet Sorrengail. Of course, this is because we got her Threshing Day experience in The Fourth Wing.

Amy’s Review

I thought this was a fabulous filler novella! It gave the readers some insight into the characters’ backstories and personalities. It was fun getting to know everyone better and to learn how Threshing Day was different for everyone. Rebecca Yarros put the stories in order of the riders’ ages, so the older characters were early in the novel and the newest dragon riders’ stories were at the end. It was perfect, really!

If you’re a fan of The Empyrean Series I highly recommend reading this book!

The audiobook included 14 narrators! Each riders’ section had its own voice actor. It worked very well and made their stories feel authentic and unique. Most sections didn’t require many different voices but each one had to include at least the rider’s and the dragon’s voices. All of the voice actors did a great job with their section. I won’t bother naming all the narrators but I’ll give the cast an A!

Lynnie’s Review

I generally do not like the little novellas that series writers toss into the mix to keep readers interested between releases. I rarely find them interesting and they usually make me angry that I wasted time with them. Often, they introduce chaos and confusion. That is NOT the case with Threshing Day! I loved nearly every word of this little addition to the Empyrean series.

This was a great way to get to know some of the secondary characters and their dragons a little better as we saw Threshing Day through their eyes and we learned more about the universe of the Empyrean. I’m eager to see how the breadcrumbs we got in this book will play into the larger picture.

Without spoiling anything, we learned about some of the dragons who share family lines, we learned that dragons don’t have to wait until Threshing to choose a rider (which gave me some interesting ideas the think about), and I think we got some insight into why some of the riders developed their signets.

I also just really enjoyed learning more about some of the riders. I particularly enjoyed Xaden’s, Garrick’s, and Imogen’s chapters. (I will always be an Imogen fan!) Liam’s was as heartbreaking as I expected it to be. Sloane’s was unexpectedly touching, and Aaric’s made me the most excited about what will come next in book four.

I loved all the narrators. I had only heard of a few of them, but was fascinated to learn how many of them are romance narrators after looking them up. Though, I guess, I’m not surprised knowing that Rebecca Yarros started as a romance author. 

The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook by Julie Tremaine and Carly Caramanna

Lynnie 

cookbook

A combination history book and cookbook, The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook is a fun read for any Disney fan. There's a lot of nostalgia in the pages of this cookbook no matter what decade of Disney, or which park, is your favorite, with stories and recipes covering almost every park from the beginning of the Disney story. Authors Julie Tremaine and Carly Caramanna clearly did their research.

The variety of recipes is impressive considering it's all theme park food, but in its pages you'll find cocktails, burgers, desserts, soup, and more. I was surprised by the number of drinks listed. One thing to keep in mind, for a 200+ page book, you're only getting about 60 recipes, most of which (as the title tells you), are not actual Disney recipes. Many are inspired by, or similar to, in the spirit of or is just made with ingredients that the authors seem to think will taste better. They might be right, but the final product connects these recipes to the House of Mouse with the thinnest of threads. The bulk of this book is spent on storytelling.

Still, the stories are entertaining and the recipes look tasty - I have several bookmarked to try (hello Black Truffle Macaroni and Cheese!).

The Unofficial Disney Parks Retro Cookbook will be published on October 13, 2026. 

Thanks to Harper Celebrate, NetGalley, and authors Julie Tremaine and Carly Caramanna for the advance review copy.