Ashley Holstrom

A romance mystery, essays about marine life, and a humorous self-help book

Hi, friend.

Welcome to another edition of Crooked Reads, a monthly(ish) collection of bite-sized reviews about books on a theme. The newsletter will always be free to read, but it ain’t free to write. Consider becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a book from my wishlist to support my work!

If you, too, find yourself deep in a mid-summer reading slump, hello! It’s good to have company in this sad and lonely place. I’m right on schedule for this slump, which seems to come every year during the hottest days of summer. For the last few weeks, I’ve been daydreaming about the books I wish I wanted to read and landed on these old favorites to share today. Let’s get to it.

The books

The Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score1

A romance mystery? Sign me up. Riley Thorn is a reluctant psychic, but when she foresees her neighbor getting murdered and calls the cops to let them know a murder is forthcoming, things get a little strange. Enter sexy private investigator Nick Santiago, who was looking for her neighbor. But now he’s dead. And Riley’s a suspect. Shenanigans (and kissing) ensue, as with any Lucy Score book.

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

Sabrina Imbler has always been enraptured by sea creatures, starting when they protested the sale of goldfish at a pet store as a teen. Each essay in this book profiles a different creature—the deep ocean octopus who starved herself watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon who smash into the dams that block their migration route—as Imbler tells an intimate story about their life as a queer, mixed race science writer. How Far the Light Reaches is a truly unique and moving collection of essays about ocean life as it pertains to the author’s own story.

Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru by Catherine Baab-Muguira

Biography by way of humorous anti-self-help is an absolutely genius concept. I learned so much about Edgar Allan Poe and writing and the beer of the 1800s! This dude’s life was a serious dumpster fire, from marrying his cousin to perpetually being broke, but somehow he kept going and wrote some magnificent stuff. What an icon. Poe for Your Problems is so fun and sure to bust your reading slump.

The nightstand

My most anticipated read of the year arrived! You may remember me gushing over Gory Details in my weird science books post (a second is forthcoming—ya girl can’t get enough of weird science) and Go to Hell is sure to be another wild ride. It’s a travel guide of 54 (!!!) hellish places on Earth. My body is ready.

The backlist

In case you missed ’em, need more recs, or want to peep the archives: