During this episode of the Clermont County Public Library’s Booklovers Podcast, Shayna and Laura share their four favorite books of the year – so far!

Andrea: [00:00:00 ] Welcome to the Clermont County Booklovers Podcast. I’m Andrea. And today I’m joined by Laura and Shayna, and today we’re going to discuss your favorite books from 2021.

So Laura, what has really rose to the top of your list?

Laura: [00:00:17 ] I have two choices.

One is dark and the other one is light and fluffy. I’m going to start off by setting the tone to be a little dark. And then Shayna, I know, is going to bring us back up.

Andrea: [00:00:29 ] Great. I love a roller coaster.

Four Favorite Books of 2021

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<figcaption>All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter</figcaption>
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All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter

Laura: [00:00:31 ] My first pick is All the Murmuring Bones by Angela Slatter. It came out in the spring and I’m still thinking about it.

A once-powerful and prosperous family has fallen on difficult times because they’ve broken a long-ago made bargain with dark powers. Mirin’s grandmother is determined to restore the O’Malleys to what they once were. And to do that, she’s willing to sell Mirin into marriage to a distant, but wealthy cousin.

Of course, Mirin has other ideas.

This book is full of sea creatures, but these mermaids are from nightmares, not sweet stories for children. These are terrors of the sea and they’re angry with the O’Malleys. They’re willing to make Mirin pay for her family’s many transgressions.

The writing in this book is gorgeously Baroque. It’s ornate, it’s polished, and it’s paired with a very Gothic sensibility.

There’s the traditional Gothic, shadow-drenched, decaying mansion. Full of long, hidden, terrible family secrets. We get murder, ritual sacrifice, incest. Plus witchcraft and the terrible magic of these sea creatures.

So exquisite world-building, I’m really hoping that she chooses to set another book in this world because it’s beautiful.

Obviously, I loved it. It is the book equivalent of a very dark chocolate torte. It is gorgeous and rich. You have to consume it slowly and let the words just melt on your tongue

Shayna: [00:02:01 ] I love that metaphor. And now I’m hungry for the book and for a dark chocolate torte.

Laura: [00:02:10 ] Really, really good. I love it.

Dark but not too dark

Andrea: [00:02:12 ] Excellent. Well, thanks for sharing that, Laura. It’s not as dark as I was thinking. You know, dark could be like violence and murder, true crime darkness.

Laura: [00:02:20 ] Oh right. This isn’t real-life murder.

Andrea: [00:02:24 ] Dark fantasy.

Shayna: [00:02:26 ] I feel like a lot of authors when they write about mermaids and sea creatures, take the dark route. There’s just something so alluring about it, where it’s like, “Ooh gosh! An evil mermaid or creatures…like, what’s down there?” So, that sounds good.

Laura: [00:02:43 ] The cover is beautiful. Once we get it dropped into the video or if you go to the show notes, you can see it. It’s a mermaid tail. And then you read the description and you’re like, oh, that’s not all pretty or light-hearted. No singing crabs in this book.

<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized">
<figcaption>The Guncle by Steven Rowley</figcaption>
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The Guncle by Steven Rowley

Andrea: [00:02:57 ] All right. Well, Shayna, what is on your list, your favorite standouts for the year?

Shayna: [00:03:02 ] My first one that I’m going to talk about…I love this book so much. It’s called The Guncle by Steven Rowley. And it’s Guncle –  G U N C L E. So not really a real word, which I guess now it could be a word.

Andrea: [00:03:17 ] Isn’t it a word? Maybe not in the dictionary yet.

Shayna: [00:03:19 ] It’s a feel-good book. I really, really enjoyed it.  It’s hilarious.

So, if you want to laugh while you’re reading, which I find it really hard to find books that can make me laugh while I’m reading. You may read a funny scene and you’re like, “Huh…?”, but this one made me laugh out loud.

Andrea: [00:03:36 ] So, did you LOL?

Shayna: [00:03:39 ] Yes! I laughed out loud.

Summary for The Guncle

I’ll read the summary: Patrick loves his niece, Maisie, and his nephew, Grant, with all of his heart. Well, he loves spending time with them when they come during the summer for a weeklong visit at his home in Palm Springs. Or when he visits them in Connecticut for the holidays, no matter how adorable the children are.

Patrick is out of his league when it comes to caring for them. Tragedy strikes the family and Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian for the entire summer. Maisie and grant adore their Guncle, which stands for “Gay Uncle Patrick”, and his funny Guncle rules, but they also are figuring out how to grieve the loss of their mother. Patrick stumbles along not really knowing what he is doing, especially after losing his own partner a few years ago and dealing with his stalled acting career.

Plus, his lifestyle doesn’t really suit having a six and nine-year-old around all the time. Quickly realizing that parenting, even if temporary, isn’t solved with treats and jo