MacFarquhar, Neil: The Sand Cafe is about war reporting, including the mundane bits. It has a glowing recommendation from P.J. O’Rourke on the cover, and the first chapter unwinds smoothly; it is well-written.
Some genres and topics I delve into over and over again. Others–not so much. Regarding the genre here, I saw The Year of Living Dangerously. That’s enough.
MacGregor, Janna: Romance. I tried The Bad Luck Bride. It is possible that I would have continued if I hadn’t felt (and this is a problem with romances) that the whole conflict could have been cleared up in Chapter 1 if one character had said, “Yo, Dude, I think you have the wrong idea. Here’s what actually happened with your sister.”
MacGregor, Maya: In the book I picked up, the main character is non-binary, being introduced as they/their/them.
I was consequently leery.
In the past few years, teen books with transgender and non-binary characters have increased. I’m not opposed to the topics. I’m a big fan of there being books out there for everyone on anything (hence, this list).
But many of the books I’ve encountered in this subgenre (contemporary fiction for teens regarding orientation/identity) have often (1) lacked any type of story, being polemics disguised as story; (2) been uncomfortably nasty, like kids in a high school clique deciding that everyone else stinks and needs to be told so repeatedly. The fact that the “bad kids” are being lectured and bullied about their evil political and social views rather than, say, geekiness or fatness doesn’t make it any less bullying.
I didn't feel any better when within the first chapter, the "bad" place was pinpointed as Montana while the "good" place was Oregon. Poor Montana comes in for a lot of negative press in certain books. And since I’ve never considered the West coast–where I have lived–a bastion of law & order & tolerance, any more than any other place (or not) where I have lived, the cliche is tiresome.
I felt worse when a “bad” character’s badness was indicated by a failure to use the proper pronouns: obsessively monitoring language is a marker of a paranoid and judgmental society, on the right and on the left. 
And finally, I was immediately faced with a protagonist who had been victimized and that victimization was presented as one of the primary conflicts.
Now, granted, the broader subgenre here–teens who are traumatized by something or other–certainly can be done. In fact, it has been around for a long time: when I was growing up, books about suffering, angst-ridden, misunderstood teenagers, some of whom committed suicide together, were incredibly popular. Flowers in the Attic and Forever were two of the most popular books of
my teen years: family dysfunction and sexual awakening! 
I’m not a fan (most of the time). I read neither of the listed books, but I confess I did
read Cynthia Voigt's Izzy Willy Nilly (about a girl who loses a leg) and another about college students in which one character dies. Izzy Willy Nilly is quite good.
Having stated all the above, I will say that the opening of MacGregor's book, The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, struck me positively:
"The first time I see the house, it's as it swallows my father."
The line reminds me of a fantastic poem "from the wave, the way" by Valerie Majer Caso, which contains the following lines:
we are swallowed by wakefulness.
The house swallows us in its terrible thirst. The routine of taking our children
to school swallows us
and so does the if only I could.
Moreover, the house is presented as the symbol or source of conflict almost immediately, which did impress me.
So if you are looking for the tropes listed above, this book appears to be one of the better written within the related subgenre!
MacGregor, KG: Lesbian romance writer. The book I started, Mulligan, was impressive because (1) it took the character’s orientation for granted; too often, lesbian romance–like some traditional romance–gets bogged down by the woman’s role; even decent authors of male/male romance sometimes falter here when they turn to lesbian romance; (2) the main protagonists are older, near sixty. However, the romance is “world” romance, meaning it is all about the person’s life and hobbies and prior relationships– more Sleepless in Seattle than You’ve Got Mail. I prefer the latter to the former. (And yes, I read any and all types of romances.)
MacGregor, Roy: Screech Owls: The Night They Stole The Stanley Cup is a sports book: a mystery and a game. It may fall into the same category as Detectives in Toga, which I like, but I’m not sure. That is, I couldn't get into it either because of the writing style or because of the topic. Not sure.
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