The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)
Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)
Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)
I’ve only read two of these and bounced hard on the post-Gideon “Ninth” books. (Gideon was absolutely astonishingly good, but Harrow just never clicked - so I guess I need to try Nona) Glad I have several more books to go read!
Legends and Lattes - the podcast “Stories from Among the Stars” just serialized the audiobook. It was quite enjoyable. I think the term is “cottage core”. Low stakes, just a cozy, enjoyable low fantasy story with some entertaining bits, some fun characters, and coffee.
The Spare Man - someone said “The Thin Man movies, but in space”, and I had bought and was reading it 2 minutes later. Not deep, but a really solid murder mystery, IN SPAAAAAACE. Definitely The Thin Man (movies!!) with a lovely couple and their dog. It reminded me a bit of John Varley’s “The Golden Globe”, as the character’s backstory grows over the course of the novel, it was quippy and FUN. Lots of suspects, Kowal is really good with the page - I’ve read 1 or 2 other books of hers, but this book I’d buy 15 more of.