Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningha

 

Great Expectations is the story of the author’s recruitment to the first Obama campaign, detailing the issues he faced as a fundraiser. It’s an authentic and readable work, and the author’s voice speaks with first-hand authority. He is young when the story begins, his early twenties. He tends to fill the gaps of what must have been a challenging time with diversions—religion, basketball, friends, and lovers. The story shines by giving us an inside look at what really goes on in a campaign, even one fueled by what was supposed to be a grass roots movement. It also shines as the authors considers his own place in the world. He stands for not only the young people who were such a force in the Obama campaign, but also for his black friends, neighbors, and family. There are some wonderful segments discussing historical issues, as well as this remarkable time in the USA. Cunningham is an excellent writer, and I look forward to reading more of his work. Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth, and imprint of Random House, for the review copy. The book was released on March 12, 2024.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

 

Billie and Cassie have been best friends since childhood. They share a hometown, and the kind of trauma that either binds friends together or tears them apart. They are adults now and have grown in different directions. Still when crisis occurs, they are the first in each other’s mind, and that feeling expands to obsession. Will the mystery be solved?

This tightly written novel is told from each woman’s viewpoint and sheds light on the lives of the rich, the influencers, and the people that get left behind. A page turning read, even though some of the characters seem to be stereotypical.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read Bye, Baby. It was just the break I needed. Publication date is March 5, 2024.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

 

There There, Orange’s 2018 debut novel, set a pretty high bar. We were introduced to unforgettable characters, unforgettable circumstances and brought face to face with the plight of the Native American tribes as removal and assimilation were forced upon them by the non-native powers. Wandering Stars gives us more context, by reminding, or teaching, us about the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado. We jump decades, and perspective characters, to revisit the heirs of the survivors, and the continuing issues that Indigenous people continue to struggle with, including the isolating compartmentalization non-indigenous people seem most comfortable with. They are complex issues, complex people, served well by this complex novel. It is not an “easy read,” but meets the challenge of  There There. The book releases on February 27, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for a chance to read and review.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

 

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

This is a tale of the deep south, in times of slavery, in the years prior to and during the Civil War of the United States. It is the story of Ady, a young black girl born to slavery. her mother, Sanite, both with spirit and a dream of freedom. In many ways, it retells the story of exploitation and abuse of the era and geography, the facts of which are well known. But this version is told by a young girl who has courage, and comrades among the black women, both free and enslaved. The journey she takes is riveting and I found myself cheering each of the brave and feisty women she encounters.

What is unique about this book is the framing of the text, and occasional inserts, that cause the reader to look back from a focal point in the distant future, when books are no longer made of paper and ink, and historical artifacts are authenticated through scientific methods not easily understood. In that, it becomes not only an accounting of the past, but also a bit of science fiction. (Though fiction is something those future scientists have no time for.). It’s a splendid book, recalling the foundations of where the United States is today, and offering hope for continual progress where race and gender discrimination are concerned. Thanks to NetGalley and Random house for the advanced readers copy. The book was released today, February 27, 2024.

 

 

The first thing we are told is that thirty seven year old Annie has died, in a tragic and unexpected manner.  The novel then brings her to life through her relationships with her husband, children, and friends.  The grief process each goes through feels unique and heartbreaking, but hopeful just the same.

The characters are wonderfully fleshed out, and authentic.  The prose is beautiful and even though we know the “main” character has died, the book is un-put-downable.

Recommend to everyone, because eventually, we all experience grief.  Thanks to NetGalley and

 Random House for putting this on my radar. The novel releases today, February 27, 2024.

How to Win Friend and Influence Fungi by Dr. Christopher Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski

 

This was a diversion from my usual novel reading, and I admit it to be a good one. If you've ever enjoyed the miraculous and strange in the physical or natural world, this book will amaze you in the same way as sideshows and circuses and Ripley's Believe it or not. 

 Taken from episodes in over 21 years of "Nerd Nite" across the country, the essays in this book cover oddities in science, history, math, the arts, pop culture, and just about any rabbit hole you can go down on the internet or otherwise, the book gives new perspective on what is "nerdy" or "weird." Concluding with conversations on careers most of us wouldn't have had with our guidance counselors.

 As such, it makes a great gift book, both to the scientists and others who are interested in just about everything, and to that high school grad who doesn't quite seem to fit in. Full of fascinating facts and puns, it is easy "hard" reading (and I don't pretend to understand it all.)  

How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi (thing "fun guy") will be released on February 20, 2024. Thanks To St. Martin's and NetGalley for expanding horizons!

 

Redwood Court By DeLana R. A. Dameron

 

This story orbits around a black family in the second half of the twentieth century. Their home is in suburban Columbia, South Carolina in a black neighborhood called Redwood Court. 

Dameron populates this novel with wonderful, complex characters who make up this proud, hardworking, and caring family. Together we travel through the postwar American dream, the turbulent sixties, the horrors of war for both the men who fight and their families at home. The families of Redwood Court are social, churchgoing people, and the don't seem to care about privacy. Weesie, the matriarch, can most often be found on the phone, checking in with her neighbors. Her spirit of community is what carries this novel, usually told through the eyes of Mika, her granddaughter.

There are many characters in this book--so many that it begins with not only a family tree, but placement and descriptions of all the neighbors, as each person plays a role in rounding out Redwood Court. Through most of the book, we get insight into this close-knit family, and what it is like to live in such a neighborhood.

The book is well written with smooth, albeit dense prose. Dialect slows the flow of the story into a melodious pace, not unlike the warm syrup of Southern summers.  There are joyful parts, and painful parts, and an unforgettable sense of time and character. 

This is a book told exclusively from the black point of view. The independent memories of this author sometimes clouded the rendition as told by Mika. We remember slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, segregation, integration, and remember that the world painted did not exist in a vacuum. I applaud Dameron’s work at presenting a time in the history of the USA that should be called out, but I wonder if the calling would be more authentic if all non-Black references didn't feel stereotypical.

The book will release on February 6, 2024. Thanks to the Dial Press, Random House, and NetGalley for this advanced reader’s copy.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, Unapologetic literary fiction!

 

 

The fact that this book is written by a man born in Iran, the title had me worried, especially with that exclamation point. To say it pushed me off kilter wouldn’t be an understatement. It covers so much: art, perspective, stories and poems, religion, philosophy, politics and yes, even sexuality. I predict it will be the topic of many conversations which would otherwise avoid subjects of substance.

Cyrus Shams, a young man whose mother is on that fated passenger airliner shot down by the US Navy in 1988. His father, a laborer, moves them to the US and they end up in Indiana, where Cyrus attends a small liberal arts college. Cyrus might be brilliant, but lives in an ennui that keeps him from caring about performance, often doing only enough to keep from failing. He seems always to be in an altered state, from alcohol, any kind of drug and does not sleep. And he is considered pre-suicidal and obsessed with all martyrdom-- not just religious or patriotic, but “Earth Martyrs”, and he wants his death to mean something.  Beyond all that, the book is full of biting satire and delightful humor.

The book is Cyrus’s search for that meaning. One of the things I love about the book is the occasional shift in viewpoint character, whether it is his mother, father, best friend, or other characters. It gives the reader perspective beyond Cyrus, whose narration is less than reliable. Akbar weaves mythology, classic poetry, music, and art into a collage that leads Cyrus to question and find answers to the big questions: what is love, death, reality. So much is told in dreams, whether natural or drug induced, that by the time I got to the end, I, too, questioned Cyrus’s reality.

The language of the novel thrives with Akbar’s poetic voice. The book is not unlike a full-length poem, though, like the best poetry, it is accessible to any reader. We like Cyrus, even when we know he is on a path of self-destruction. We want him to succeed, but we want him to live.

This is an author to watch—he is a citizen of the universe, and he’s not afraid to show the rest of us. Martyr! will be released on January 23, 2024 by Knopf. Thanks To Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel.

 

 

 

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

 

 I was invited to read this book because I had enjoyed another book of what we are calling Magical Suspense (Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.)  I had, frankly, forgotten about it until I reviewed my “to be read” list and realized I had missed it.

The parts of me that are haunted by nightmares and a vivid imagination may wish I had left it on the shelf, but the part of me that loves good storytelling, historical fiction, strong women characters, and creativity appreciates that I did not.

The story is set in the early 1900s American west. Adelaide, the protagonist is a thirty-year-old black woman who’s been raised on a fertile plum farm in an all black agricultural community in California. Adelaide must leave California alone and based on an article she’s read about homestead land in Montana, which is open both to “lone women” and black people, she sets Montana as her new destination.

All she brings with her are a travel bag, and a huge, heavy, locked trunk. The perils she encounters trying to move the trunk from the train station to the ship to the wagon that will take her to Montana make the reader frustrated. What is in that trunk?

And then we find out. The contents will hover over the reader and Adelaide as she finds her new home, settles in, and even makes friends. But some secrets just won’t stay locked away.

TW: there is a significant amount of blood in this book, so if that makes you queasy, you might skip this one. It is “magical suspense” but could easily be classified as horror as well. That said, it is a quick read, and had much to say about the hardiness of frontier women.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this review copy. The book was published March 28, 2023.

 

The Women by Kristin Hannah

 

Frankie McGrath is a pampered daughter of Coronado Island, California, socialites. She lives in a walled and gated estate on the Pacific, and expectations of her in 1966 are traditional. She should marry a nice boy from her family’s circle and live a nice life.

But her beloved brother, Finley, has to live up to the family’s “hero’s wall” where each generation went to war and brought honor to the McGrath's. Finley will go to Vietnam.

As the story unfolds, Frankie chooses for herself. She goes to nursing school and before she’s ever had real hospital experience, she enlists to be with her brother.

This book shows people who didn’t live through the time just how different Vietnam was for the United States. With the war unwinnable, and turmoil at home, innocent Frankie is swept into a nightmare. But she’s strong, and the other men and women she works alongside make the time there not only bearable but give her the confidence she will need after her term is up. When her “welcome home” was not what anyone would expect, and as someone who lived through the time, I can only say, sadly, it is an accurate depiction.

We’ve had great books written about this war, but I’ve not read one that focused on the plight of the brave women who served and were instrumental in bringing some of our soldiers home, but also comfort for those who didn’t. Kristin Hannah writes with clarity, compassion and honesty, and The Women is a book long overdue. Brava to Kristin for tackling this challenge and doing it justice.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. I can’t recommend it enough, especially to anyone who wants to understand how we got to where we are today.

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams

 

This well writte story has two narrative arcs. 1951, Egypt amid the turmoil of the Egyptian independence, specifically British occupation and the ownership of the Suez Canal is the setting for the first arc. Hannah Ainsworth, there with her much older British diplomat husband, is expected to live the calm and pampered life of a diplomat’s wife. Hannah’s character finds that difficult for her, and her troubles begin when she is bitten by a cobra.

Poisoning is also a critical element second arc, when single mother Mallory Dunne gets a call from the summer camp, where her beloved only child Sam has eaten a poisonous mushroom. He lives, but his kidneys do not.

The story unfolds when Hannah’s sister, who has a house on the Cape, invites her to visit with Sam for the summer. Hannah has history there, and secrets, but she also has wonderful memories and wants Sam to experience it.

Both arcs are love stories, with complications peculiar to the time and place in the world. Williams is a splendid writer, and she puts her characters through plenty of strife to keep the book interesting and easy to read. The sprinkling of historical facts in both eras elevate this novel and make it a fascinating read.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri

 

I had not read anything by Christy Lefteri before The Book of Fire, though The Beekeeper of Aleppo has been on my TBR list for a while. Now that I’ve finished The Book of Fire, I can see myself becoming a completist. This story has so many levels. First, the universal tragedy unfolding due to climate change, drought, and ensuing wildfires. Second, tragic history of people displaced from their homes because of governmental decisions, in this case Turks and Greeks sent to trade places with each other geographically. Finally, it is an intimate personal story of families in a small mountain village next to the sea and what they endure when their homes become popular escapes for city people who want to develop the land. Irini, the protagonist, her husband Tasso and their daughter Chara, all gentle, artistic souls, bear the consequences of carelessness of one such developer, an unforgiving forest fire. Not only the consequences of their physical lives, but their deep moral commitments also must be faced. It is a compelling read I found impossible to put down.

Lefteri’s prose is lyrical, and heartbreaking and her characters are unforgettable. This is not an easy happily ever after book, but literature that will serve as a caution, if not a record, of the hardest decisions of our time.

Day, A Novel, by Michel Cunningham. Heartbreaking Five stars.

After allowing myself a few weeks of fluff in the form of holiday romance novels, I was ready for a novel like Michael Cunningham’s Day in the same way I crave vegetables after binging cookies. They are not just delicious, they are good for you, and restore balance.

 

I feel privileged to have been allowed to read this novel. The writing was exquisite and masterful, as I expected. It is a quiet story of how a family of ordinary people, extraordinary only in their relationships with each other, lived in the ordinary landscape of Brooklyn, in April in 2019, and how those relationships and landscapes twisted, turned, and re-leveled in the next two years. There are eight characters who share point of view with the reader, though one is only an infant we communicate with by observation. The existentialism of the members of this family before COVID, and the way isolation took existentialism beyond the capacity for the characters to cope, whether that be with themselves, their children or mates, or their career choices reflects the emotions and mindset of many of us who survived 2020.

The discovery of these characters and their chosen paths is the joy of this novel, so I won’t go into detail. Themes of self-awareness, fluidity in sexuality, art and expression, spirituality, and the underlying questions of what is feminist, what is traditional, and what is simply human are dealt a gentle hand. It left me wanting to turn back to page one and read it all over again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy. Day will be released tomorrow, November 14, 2023.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. Great Mystery!

 

Gothic romances have a few things in common that readers expect and return to the genre again and again to find. Rachel Hawkins understands this, and delivers in full with The Heiress. A happy couple, haunted by the past that they’ve run all the way to the Colorado Mountains to escape, a family mystery that sent them back, and a gorgeous southern manor filled with dysfunctional family.  A perfect kind of mystery you won’t want to put down.  Delighted to recommend this to my mystery and gothic loving friends. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.  The book releases on January 9, 2024. Happy New Year reading!

Second Chances in New Port Stephen 5* (Content warning: LGBTQIA issues remarkably well done.)

When Eli’s career as a TV writer blows up due to the bad acts of the star of the show he writes for, he decides to return home for the holidays. Many things have changed since Eli was in New Port Stephen, Florida. He’s no longer the stand-up comic he was when he left, he’s sober now, and most importantly to Eli, he’s completed his transition. Florida has changed too, threatening the very existence of people like Eli. 

 

 

 

But his family has not changed and will go to great lengths to show him the love they’ve always had for him, even though they are learning and make mistakes. And then he runs into Nick, his first love, his first lover and someone who is still as intriguing as he was in high school, before Eli transitioned.

The best thing about this book is the way it illustrates romance, falling and re-falling, in love. There is only enough attention to the same sex relationship as the author wants to share with the reader to assure empathy, and it is done so well. The reader is rooting for these two guys to make it, proving that in the hands of the right author, even in a romance novel, love is indeed love. Bravo to TJ Alexander.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books for the ARC of this wonderful story. The book will be released on December 5, 2023.

Highland Christmas by Amy Quick Parrish 3 stars

 

 

 

I was looking for something easy to read, having just read a couple of long, serious, books. It was time for a bit of brain candy. It’s also November and time to turn thoughts toward the Holidays. So, when I found Highland Christmas on my NetGalley shelf, I was delighted. Even though the book has been out for a year (Published October 25,2022) and has a sequel coming out next year (October 12,2024), it seemed to be just what I needed.

It was fine. The story of Melissa Mackenzie, whose philandering husband Dave (no last name…which is a detail I wanted) had thrown her out of her home after Thanksgiving dinner, so he can snuggle in with her brother’s ex, Samantha, after a quick Christmas trip to Barbados. Melissa is blindsided, but there doesn’t seem to be any grief, especially when the Prince of Nairobi…oh wait, it’s a long-lost uncle in Scotland who has left her a house in Inverness.

So, our Melissa drops everything, packs a bag, and books a flight.

The story goes on with Melissa makes the flight meets all sorts of wonderful, picturesque Scottish, people, finds the house she’s inherited, and not only moves in, renovates it, adopts a dog, and attends all the lovely celebrations of the village. All before Christmas.

While it is a sweet story, almost a fairy tale, the complete lack of detail about characters and complications frustrated me. I almost put it down, but realized there wasn’t that much left to read, as the book is only 128 pages long. I wish she’d had an editor to tell her that people want to know more about the characters … I originally thought Melissa was in her fifties or better, but later it seems she may be in her twenties. And while we got lots of local color, with descriptions of everything from the highland games to the taste of Haggis, we don’t really know much about how our characters feel. Shouldn’t Melissa be angry?  Or sad? 

I got what I was looking for though, a bit of literary candy. Just remember that candy isn’t very nourishing.

This was a NetGalley advanced reader copy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Flying Cactus Publishing, for allowing me to read in exchange for this review.

Inheritance by Nora Roberts-Audio

 

I am pretty sure I’ve read most of Nora Roberts’ books, at least since the turn of the millennium (though not the J.D. Robb books!). You could call me a die-hard fan.  However, I’d never listened to one before I was invited to do so through NetGalley for Inheritance.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to media…I want my books as books and my movies as movies. Audio books fall someplace in between for me, and I’ve become addicted to listening to novels when I drive or exercise. 

All those caveats aside, I loved listening to Inheritance.  It was fun to hear voices assigned to characters who would have always been distinct in my mind, but maybe not as vivid as these readers.  Sonya, Cleo, and the residents of Poole’s Bay are easy to distinguish and adore.  And then the ghosts! I won’t add spoilers, other than to say that no one writes mysterious magical beings like Nora Roberts.  I was only sad when I realized Inheritance is the first book in a new trilogy, and I’ll have to wait a year or two to finish the story. 

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to read this early and write this review. Nora’s fans won’t be disappointed, and newcomers will be delighted. The book is released November 21, 2023

Wellness by Nathan Hill

 

Nathan Hill’s new novel, Wellness, is a smart love story. There are no simple tropes, the obstacles the central couple, Jack, and Elizabeth, must overcome are largely of their own making, and mostly because they simply think too much. The couple is obsessed with the foundations of human behavior and teaching the nuances of it to the reader. While the relationship between Elizabeth and Jack is endearing and fascinating, their analysis, especially in the murky middle of the book, tends toward tedium. They dwell so intensely on the fields of their interest and research them so extensively…both the characters and the author…that the reader has to resist the temptation to treat the novel as a scholarly work and actually skip the long explanations and examples (footnoted!) and get to the parts where they remember that they CARE about Jack and Elizabeth, their heartbreaking childhoods and how they deal with the fallout as they try to raise their own son.

I urge you, if you get so far into the book that you want to put it aside, don’t. You will not be able to forget Jack and Elizabeth and Toby, and if you finish the book, you will find yourself wanting to have discussions with them, and everyone you meet, about the world you’ve left when you close the cover. The pay-off is worth it. Bravo, Nathan Hill.

This book was published September 19, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the review copy.

Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino

 

A wonderful story about coming of age in the sixties. Twenty-year-old Marilyn has trouble sticking to the strict rules of her orthodox Jewish family in 1960s New York City. As punishment for her shenanigans, she’s sent to a great Aunt in Philadelphia who is a matchmaker by profession, for the summer. Aunt Ada is nothing like what Marilyn assumes she will be, and she learns more about herself, love, and family than she ever bargained for. Sara Goodman Confino’s characters are abrasive, selfish, and completely lovable. Great for the beach, or anyone who struggles with accepting rules that just don’t seem to apply. Published September 1, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sharing this review copy with me.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen...great thriller!

 

A fascinating book that combines themes of health and mother-daughter relationships and twists them up with a thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I sincerely didn’t see it coming.

Ruth is a single mother whose family has “thrown her out” when she becomes pregnant with her beloved daughter, Catherine. Ruth moves away and sacrifices everything for her daughter, working low paying jobs, foregoing education, and relationships of her own to assure her daughter is safe and happy.

Catherine is a nurse with big plans, ready to get on with her new career and life when a diagnosis blindsides her plans. That diagnosis whets Catherine’s appetite to know more about the family she shares with her mother, and her investigation threatens more than exposing her mother’s secrets.

Another creative and exciting thriller by Sarah Pekkanen! Don’t miss it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. The book went on sale on August 1, 2023.