One Last Gift by Emily Stone. Great Christmas season read!

 

There are always so many books that come out for the holiday season that it’s hard to choose which ones to read. Do you go with a romance with cookies and sleigh bells? Ski adventures or tropical holidays? Or the Hallmark miracles and hot chocolate variety? 

One last gift is a bit of all of them, and if you want something to just sink into this year, I recommend it. Emily Stone has given her complex characters lovely, quirky personalities and while there is definitely romance, it isn’t the kind of direct, formulaic trail we usually follow. For one thing, there’s a lot of loved one who die. Cassie, our heroine, is a brilliant event planner stuck in a dead-end job with an ogre of a boss. Yet the banter and love she and Tom, her brother, as well as their best friends Hazel and Sam, share, makes you wish you had people like them in your life.

But tragedy strikes and turns this dynamic on is head. While Cassie tries to solve the treasure hunt her brother gives her every year, she finds more than the promised gift at the end. I won’t put spoilers in here, but I will remember these characters and the lessons they learned. Like don’t wait to tell people you love that you do.

Published by Random House/Ballantine on October 11, 2022. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Cradles of the Reich by Jennifer Coburn. 4*

 

This is the story of the breeding program of the Aryan Race, and what happened to the participants.

I found it difficult to read this book, not because it was not well written--it was! But because it gave names and faces through its characters to atrocities that I knew about, but not in such a personal way.  That human beings could treat others in the way the Third Reich treated not only their enemies, but their own women devastated me.  The description of the horror of Kristallnacht, which always sickened me, was almost of a celebration... a party! and I'm sure those who participated felt that they were doing the right thing.
It is too reminiscent of current events, and I found myself having to take breaks. Fiction helps us understand reality, and this one broke my heart.
Four stars only because there are so many WW2 books.  I kept thinking...those poor girls. Those poor babies, Poor humanity. If you want yet another perspective of that awful time, read this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. Publication October 11, 2022, by Sourcebooks Landmark.

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow By Gabrielle Zevin --Five plus stars!

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

By Gabrielle Zevin

Gabrielle Zevin has written, again, (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is another favorite of mine) the kind of book I hated to finish and can’t wait to talk with someone about. Wonderful, complicated characters that I loved dearly, and a smart, contemporary world that understands the influences of technology on not only the people who play video games as youth, but on anyone who ever tried to control a character with a joystick. Sam, Sadie, and Marx are all college kids when they decide to create their first video game. Sam is a poor, orphaned and disabled, multicultural character, Sadie, a wealthy Jewish girl who is one of the few who not only understands programming, but it’s possibilities, and Marx is Sam’s also multicultural, well off, kind roommate. The three of them are perfect counterparts, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses and creating something magnificent. Tragedy, romance, and real life are their motivations, and they use each to find their own way to adulthood.

The writing is beautiful, and though it’s been years since I played a video game, this book reminds me of the way alternative, virtual worlds, can open possibilities to everyone. I love this book and this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the review copy. The book published on July 5, 2022.

Off the Yoga Mat by Cheryl J. Fish. 4.5*

 

Nora, Nate, and Lulu are at the magical age of forty, and suddenly questioning their life choices. Nora and Nate have been living together, but Nora wants to take the next step and start a family. Nate can think of nothing but his ABD (all but dissertation) status, and Lulu, a successful yoga studio operator, is haunted by characters from her childhood. All three have trouble connecting with others in ways that are meaningful. Off the Yoga Mat follows these three as they try on lives and decide what really matters to each of them.

The novel is well written from the point of view of the three main characters and covers vast swaths of both emotional ground and geography, from New Orleans to Helsinki, with stops in New York City. The characters are fresh, and–mostly--likeable, but not perfect. You will find yourself screaming at them sometimes, but you will always care. Since each of the narratives are wholly drawn, braided together along the way, there are complete casts of characters for each narrative and the number of characters gets cumbersome in the first half of the book. By the last half, the reader will have straightened it out, and will enjoy the ride toward the conclusion. Ms. Fish has written a coming-of-age novel for the forty-year-olds, which will seem ambitious to those younger, and all too familiar to older readers.This is a debut novel, and I look forward to reading more.

Thanks to Livingston Press and NetGalley for this review copy. The Novel will be released on October 10, 2022.