Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal

For anyone with roots in the Midwest, reading a J Ryan Stradal book is like a visit home. For me, it is full of all the things I loved about growing up there, and all the reasons I left. That part of the company both fills you up, and breaks your heart, and that’s exactly what I want good fiction to do. Stradal delivers this in spades.

The Lakeside Supper Club stands to represent all the local eateries that specialize in a good old fashioned and prime rib, especially on Saturday nights. This story follows the family as the business of the supper club ebbs and flows and supports the families who work and live there. It contrasts with the chain restaurant, Jorby’s, which was the legacy of another family, and illustrates how big business has either prospered, or destroyed, the locals.

Stradal does a wonderful job bringing these characters to life. Florence, who we follow over her full timeline, is the stubborn old woman we are probably related to, but she’s quite a marshmallow inside. Her daughter, Mariel, represents so many of the sad things we experience in life—poverty, death, miscarriage, isolation, etc.—that we can’t help but root for her and her only child, Julia. And Julia represents what we want most for children—hope, respect for nature and history, but most of all fulfillment.

This is a story of hardship and love, legacy, and individualism. It jumbles timelines a bit and there are a LOT of characters to keep track of, but going home is like that, isn’t it?

Bravo to Stradal for another great book. Though… does ANYONE know what the twelve great salads of Western civilization are? So much to learn!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Viking for the ARC. This goes on my gift giving list for summer readers!

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

 

Lucy had an awful childhood, marked by absent parents and a sister whose illness always took precedence over Lucy’s life. After losing her fiancé and her unborn child to miscarriage, she takes a job in a community and becomes attached to Christopher, a young boy whose parents are killed and who finds himself in foster care after foster care. The two of them connect, and Lucy longs to foster Christopher, but with no home, car, or money, can’t meet the qualifications. She just wants to be his mother.

Jack Masterson is the author of dozens of popular children’s books, but mysteriously stops writing. Together with his Illustrator, a game, The Wishing Game, is created, and only children who’ve been invited by the reclusive Jack can play. Why they were chosen, and the unfolding game tells a story so heartbreaking and whimsical, that the reader wants them all to win.

This is a well written, sweet story with just enough adventure and romance to soften the most bitter of us. It’s written in a style that will delight middle grade readers, though it’s listed as sci-fi and Women’s fiction. None of the whimsy seemed too far-fetched, and the book is equally entertaining to those of us who are older.

Thank you to Random House Ballantine for the ARC of this delightful story. It will be released on May 30, 2023.

 

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. Best book of the year for me. 5++*

 

I should start by confessing to almost be a Cronin fangirl. Fell for his writing in his literary works, Mary & O’Neill and The Summer Guest, books totally in my wheelhouse. Then he wrote the Passage Trilogy. Most all my readers know that I am not a sci-fi fan… I want things based in real worlds and real emotion. I credit both Cronin’s skill and artistry for giving me a sci-fi apocalyptic trilogy that yes, I could love. Literary Sci-Fi is obviously a thing! I eagerly anticipated each volume and was never disappointed.

And now he brings us The Ferryman. Literary Sci-Fi? Yes. Maybe even post-apocalyptic. But what shines brightest in this gorgeous novel are the unforgettable, flawed but endearing characters and settings that change with a page turn to be first what we think they are, and then something else entirely. It’s frightening, and it’s magical.

Ultimately, this book is a tribute to dreams, and those who work to make dreams come true. It is a tribute to storytelling, and the value stories provide to make life understandable, bearable. It is also a tribute to art, and love, and family, and the sea, which frames the story. It makes the reader ask Big questions, about humanity, religion, history and the future. You will not soon forget the people you come to know and care about in this book. I can’t wait to read it again. And you know I never re-read books!

Best book so far this year. Thank you NetGalley and Random House- Ballantine for the ARC. The book will be released on May 2, 2023