The Log: Ranking my dark & twisted summer reading list

if you've read a dysfunctional family drama in a folding chair in the sun, welcome.

After a spring of good ole fairy smut, my random selections this summer felt more autumnal—cozy, dark, dramatic—than summery—light, sandy, easy to skim (or drop) while a kid flaps around in a body of water.

Maybe these books will be an easier sell now that September has cooled everything down. These are books that are hard to sell to your friends in the neighboring beach chair who escaping with an Emily Henry or Elin Hilderbrand novel. (Learn this, though: let them escape, & stop trying to sell them on you gay gothic story collection.)

These books, with their complicated characters and unique settings, are my type of escape. With them, I disappeared into a world outside of the one I live in every day. There are refreshing word choices, characters who have to live with bad choices, and bright optimism woven through like a bright, yellow quilt.

Every page is a surprise, and in the lazy days of summer, that is a gift. It’s like having takeout for dinner: compulsive, salty, saucy, and bet…