Great summer read: Better Choices, Rod Pennington and Jeffery A. Martin. 5*

 

Better Choices by Rod Pennington and Jeffrey Martin

I’d rate this story 5 stars if only because of the antics of twins Charles and Angela, who, despite their parents’ odd marital agreements, find ways to not only work the system, but beat it. Add in a quirky aunt or two, a dying matriarch and the central figure, Allison, whose father was a self-made millionaire, and the delightful story unfolds.

The authors have created characters I’d love to have for friends, and set them in a fantastic story…not exactly realistic, but fun anyway.  I’d read them again in a heartbeat! Great summer read!

I was granted an advanced reader copy of Better Choices by the publisher, Integration Press, and NetGalley.

Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan. Millennials in Hong Kong

 

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

An inside look at the varied relationships of millennials in Hong Kong.  Ava is fresh out of college, teaching English as a foreign language in Hong Kong. The private school where she works is tightly run, determined to give parents what they pay for, even if the students don’t want it and even if it means teachers don’t have time for bathroom breaks.   From Dublin, where she has been sad, Ava is giving Hong Kong a try. Here she meets other young people, including Julian, a banker, with whom she had an intimate relationship, while both insist they are not a couple.

Ava needs a place to live and can’t afford anything she likes on her salary, so agrees to move in with Julian. While he is away on a business trip, she meets another banker, Edith, a Hong Kong local, educated at Cambridge.  Their friendship blossoms into romance, providing insight into Ava’s infatuation with Edith, Edith’s feelings of inferiority, and of course Ava’s conflicted feelings about Julian.

There is a lot of navel gazing in the book, but relationship books need that.  The scenes with Ava’s English students are fun and the reader gets to experience a facet of Hong Kong not generally seen.

I read this as an advanced reader’s copy courtesy of Netgalley. The book was published by Harper Collins and released June 2, 2020