A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler

 

We first meet Charlie in the place he is most comfortable, a bar. He has been in contact through text messages and phone calls with his first wife, Vivian. Vivian is nearly broken down by life, and is delighted to reconnect with Charlie, though she doesn't trust him.  They divorced after a few years of marriage, primarily because Charlie couldn’t get his drinking under control.

Forty years have gone by. They’ve both lived lives, married other people, and struggled. Now they meet again.

A Forty Year Kiss is the love story that unfolds when two people who loved each other once reconnect. Charlie’s life has been full of material goods, and wealth, while Vivian is devoted to helping her daughter, who is a single mother, and with whom she shares her impoverished life. The story is beautifully told, through eyes that have learned to appreciate the beauty still present when two people can get out of their own way. The book is filled with emotion and great mid-western characters. It feels like going home. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the review copy. A Forty Year Kiss will be released on February 4, 2025.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

 

All families have characteristics that manifest repetitively in generations. For the Blue family, that characteristic is addiction. While each of the four sisters this novel revolves around, the addiction is obsession with their chosen field with an unhealthy dose if substances. Until one of them dies and they have to face the self-destruction that they each practice alone and realize how much they need each other.

This novel tells the four different stories of the sisters, twining them together to a finish that was not predictable. The sisters are unique and frustrating, but we cheer them on anyway. It is a love letter to family, home and New York City. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the review copy.

Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst

 

Aspen is a writer who had the unbelievable luck of writing a bestselling novel right out of the gate. Her readers flock to her signings…but all they are interested in is that first novel. Even though Aspen knows her next one is technically better, it doesn’t have the power of the first one, and no one is buying it.

The trouble is, that first novel came from her own heart… her own agony and he own breakup. She created a character that so many related to, that’s what they want to read. But Aspen got over that heartbreak, and now her writing has lost its spark. And the deadline for her next book, the one she has to succeed with, looms.

Convinced by her agent to get out of the city, Aspen heads to the Outer Banks to spend time with her sister and let the beauty of the beach nurture her muse. Along the way, she determines that the only way to get her mojo back is to fall in love and get her heart broken … again. Then she meets breathtaking Brick Babel, the local bad boy.

This was a different kind of romance, with the pitfalls of novel writing, the fragile environment of the Outer Banks and dealing with emotional fallout of both past heartbreak and reputations. Anyone interested in writing will find it fascinating and may want to take notes!  But the writing is great, and I was thrilled to learn that there is another book following this one. Thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the introduction to Jennifer Probst’s work. Book of the Month was released October 22, 2024.

 

The Christmas Inn by Pamela M. Kelley

   

Riley is an up-and-coming wizard at digital content creation and loves her work. When she’s called into a meeting after a successful campaign, she expects a promotion. Instead, she learns that she, and the entire department, are being replaced by AI.

It’s barely December when she gets a call from her sister that her mother has broken her leg and needs help running the struggling Cape Cod B-n-B she owns, at least through the holidays.

Reluctant to leave her hot shot …and hot… lawyer boyfriend, but he’s too busy to spend much time with her anyway, so she decides to take the time off to regroup. She can look for jobs from the Cape as easy as NYC. She drives to the Cape and the magic of the location and lifestyle swallows her up.

This is an ideal Christmas romance, with warm and interesting characters from three different generations. Also, a cat and charming little boy, plenty of hot chocolate and enough lovely décor, beaches and ocean and even songs to delight anyone who loves a good romance and idyllic Christmas book.

My only problem with the book as that it was deep in details that I wanted to skip over: cookie ingredients, wine brands, every meal and the cost of everything. Still, it was an easy, comforting read and perfect for busy season!

The book was published by St. Martins on September 24, 2024. Thanks to them and NetGalley for giving me the chance to review.

 

A Reason to See You Again

 

“Family secrets are such a waste of time,” Shelly tells her niece as they search through their mother’s hidden treasures for the good wine. And this family has secrets and trauma that they desperately need to resolve. Beginning with the patriarch, a holocaust survivor’s death, their mother’s alcoholism and the subsequent distance, physical, philosophical and emotional, that grows between Shelly and her sister Nancy, I Came All This Way to See You is a complex novel told in Jami Attenberg’s fascinating, if sometimes difficult to follow style. This family makes misery itself seem like company.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for the review copy. A Reason to See You Again was released September 24, 2024.

A Winter Wish by Emily Stone

 

Emily Stone has established herself as a dependable and creative author of the Christmas rom com, and A winter wish doesn’t disappoint. When Lexie’s estranged father dies and leaves her half of his successful travel agency, with, of course strings attached, she is confused. To benefit from the value of the company, she must attempt to participate in the business for one year. The catch is, her father left the other half of the company to Theo, a young man who has worked in the company shoulder to shoulder to Lexie’s father. He’s smug and angry and grieving in ways Lexie can’t imagine. In fact, she’s grieving the father she knew before he divorced her mother, and those memories complicate both her ability to accept the gift, and Theo, as she learns more of who her father, Theo—and herself—really are.

There are great settings in lovely cities that will not only make you swoon with romance but want to book tickets with the agency! A Winter Wish was released on October 16, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House/Ballantine for the review copy.

Holiday Books! Christmas is All Around

 

As the holidays approach, I like to get in the mood with many of the holiday books, mostly romances, that show up in the late fall. It’s still in the 90s with no hint of “snow” in Houston, so I needed these books!

The first one, Christmas is All Around by Martha Waters is the story of Charlotte Lane, and accomplished artist, who happened to have appeared in a beloved Christmas rom com as a child, and as an adult, hates Christmas. So much so that she runs away from NYC, which she loves, to spend the holidays with her understanding sister in London. Unlike past years, her sister has given birth, and now wants to experience everything Christmas with her infant. And by default, Charlotte.

Graham Calloway, a serious young man trying to save his family’s ancestral home by capitalizing on every possible occasion he can think of to get guests pay for tickets to see it. It happens that the estate was the set for the very same film in which Charlotte appeared. When her sister takes her, unknowingly, to the tree lighting at Graham’s family’s house, the scene is set for a lovely rom com with all the elements. It’s a fun book, sure to be beloved by fans of Christmas and rom coms. The book will be released October 22, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

 

Meg Shaffer has an ability to create magic and adventure with characters who are fully drawn and charming. She won me over with The Wishing Game and kept the promise of her talent and skill in The Lost Story. Told as a fairy tale, including the insertion of explanatory chapters by The Storyteller, Shaffer tells the story of two boys who are lost as teenagers in the West Virginia wilderness. Jeremy and Rafe are sensitive and talented and when they suddenly return home after being missing for six months, things have changed in their lives. Then Emilie comes along, seeking Jeremy’s special gift of finding lost girls, as she’s just discovered that she had a sister who was lost in the same wilderness where the boys were lost. She wants to find her sister’s remains.

The story unfolds from there, with travel back to the woods and the creation of a glorious, fantastic world. But is it fantasy?

The book reads at times like a middle grade novel, but it is immensely readable. It is hard to put down. As with all good fairy tales, there are moral issues to deal with, and the treatment of that subject matter is not juvenile. I appreciate the way this author breaks down complex issues to our level and that is both hopeful and infinite.

The Lost Story was released July 16, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for this delightful ARC.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

 

It’s been exactly two years since we visited Lucy Barton and her ex-husband William, isolating on the coast of Maine from the pandemic. Tell Me Everything is the story of Bob Burgess, who met in The Burgess Boys. Bob has retired from full time law practice to Crosby, Maine. He takes an occasional criminal case, pro bono, and through the representation, we become familiar with Bob’s keen mind, big heart and sentimentalism. While this is going on, Bob and Lucy Barton, the novelist living down the peninsula, and they go for soul searching and finding walks. And Lucy also befriends Olive Kitteridge, who is now 93 and resident of a local nursing home.

What Tell Me Everything does best is entangle characters we know and love (don’t worry if you’ve not read the other books. You’ll understand that you know and love them) with each other in emotional relationships that are irresistible. In her plain-spoken prose, Strout shows us that there is nothing plain or simple in human relationships, and she gives us permission to accept that, especially in the bounds of marriage.

Tell Me Everything is not a can’t put down book, but it is the kind you will finish, and flip to the beginning to read again and again. I miss these characters when I’m not reading them.

Tell Me Everything was released September 10, 2024, by Random House. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (excerpt)

 

I was so delighted to be revisiting the world of The House on the Cerulean Sea that I devoured this excerpt. Our Beloved Arthur has returned to the island after a 28 year absence and hopes to revive the love and community of magical children. All of our favorites are in this excerpt, from lovable Chauncey the bellhop to Lucy, who can’t help his parentage and impulses. I would encourage readers to read the House on the Cerulean Sea first, (in fact, it is one of my most often recommended reads) because the fiction of Beyond the Sea will be even more lovely. I can’t wait to finish this book when it is released!

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the excerpt!

The Thirteenth Husband by Greer Macallister

 

Aimee Crocker was a real-life heiress to California Railroad wealth. Inheriting millions at only ten years old, Aimee is probably as close to American Nouveau royalty as they come. She did a good job of being the spoiled rich girl, going through husbands, and continents along with the money. She’s been affectionately dubbed the queen of Bohemia.

Though Greer Macalister did an admirable job of staying true to the facts in this historical fiction, the facts were just too much for me. Aimee made stupid mistakes, with marriages and the things she enjoyed, including her sexual escapades. She believed in mystics and often took their advice and predictions to heart, in ways that boggled common sense. I was tired of her antics, before we got to the fourth husband, and the rest of the book felt tedious to me. The sprinkling of supernatural references, though I’m sure were completely accurate, just was over the top for me. Much, I assume, like Aimee Crocker herself.

As a woman in 2024, I have to admire her independence, strength and curiosity. Having money let her explore the limits of each, and I never felt that she truly ever found what she was looking for.

The Thirteenth Husband was released on August 6, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the review copy.

 

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult ...five stars plus

 

I admit that when I read the description of this book, I was afraid that it wasn’t for me. I’ve followed Jodi Picoult for years and have watched as she’s transitioned from her fascinating fiction to forays into live theater. I worried that this book would be so focused on “behind the scenes” that I wouldn’t find it interesting.

I was wrong!

 By Any Other Name is a split narrative novel, with the narrators being Melina Green, in 2024, and Emilia Bassano, 1582 to her death in 1645. Both women are playwrights, though neither are recognized for it. The difference is, though slim, Melina can legally and morally be a playwright, while Emilia cannot. Women simply do not have agency or rights in Elizabethan England.

But as writers know, when called to write, there is no option. So, despite her inability to get her plays produced, Melina continues to write. She stumbles upon an ancestor who published one of the first books of poetry by a woman author, Emilia Bassano. The more she learns about Emilia, the more she is convinced that Emilia found a way to get her own plays produced, by selling them to a man who had access to the theater, when she did not. The man? William Shakespeare.

The more we learn about Emilia, through Melina’s (i.e. Jodi’s!) research the more we are also convinced. Any woman today who’s ever had a man take credit for her work will understand. We do it because it is the way things are done. The young lawyer asked to write an opinion letter for her boss to sign understands. The medical professional who is granted a sub byline on the paper she has spent all her time researching yields to the doctor in charge. The TA who spends her time in the classroom and her free time making discoveries for her “mentor” understands. It is common, and there is no reason not to accept that it happened in the 1500s either.

Jodi Picoult is an amazing writer, and she brings these characters, and all the people they interact with, to life. Those characters are diverse: from the gay roommate, also an undiscovered talent, to her neurodivergent critic who opens his mind.

I love this book. I wanted to rush through it to publish this review on the publication day, but found myself too engaged, to invested in the text to rush. The author’s note and acknowledgements are fascinating and not to be missed as well.

I always feel more informed when I read a Jodi Picoult book, as she doesn’t shy from the controversial issues of the day. I suspect there will be controversy over this too, though it won’t make journalistic headlines. Nor will the theories and conclusions she’s reached disappear from the minds of those who read it. This is fiction, and historical fiction, at its finest.

The book was released on August 20, 2024, by Random House/Ballantine. Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

We Burn Daylight by Bret Anthony Johnston.

We Burn Daylight

Bret Anthony Johnston is an author whose work leaves me breathless. Taking on difficult—impossible—human experiences and tragedies, he narrows perspective to one or two people. In We Burn Daylight, those perspectives come from two teenagers experiencing a Branch Davidian-like charismatic leader, law enforcement and the inevitable destruction of what each represents.

Roy is the second son of the small-town sheriff father and hospice nurse mother. There older son is in Iraq, first as a marine, but after his deployment, as a contractor. Roy is close to each of his family members, in the realistic way a teenage boy has. They don’t shelter him, but his parents and grandparents clearly cherish him. Jaye, a teenage girl who wants to be desired by her peers, is ripped from her California home when her mother, perhaps in a midlife crisis of her own, wants to be closer to Perry, also known as the Lamb.

 

Through the two of them, we meet townspeople and followers of The Lamb. We go to prayer meetings and gun shows and abandoned malls. Life in rural Texas in the early 90’s, before cell phones and iPad and social media, is engagingly depicted, and our imperfectly perfect characters, ultimately wanting mostly to be loved. In Johnston’s words, “Love is equally dyed in faith and fear. One life is always another life, another thousand lives.”

Along with the engaging story, Johnston’s writing is exquisite.

While I wanted to put the book down at the halfway point, where the downward spiral accelerates and leaves the reader believing there is only one end, as there was in Waco 1992. I admit to reading the author’s note before I went any further, where it was clarified that this was in fact fiction, though reliant on many of the details of reality. So, I kept reading, and found myself speeding through to find out what happened, I won’t spoil it, but I encourage you not only read the book, but by all means, to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the review copy. We Burn Daylight was published on July 30, 2024.

 

The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville

 

I really wanted to be one of the cool kids who “get” China Miéville’s style, and was intrigued with the partnership with Keanu Reeves, who has been able to get me out of my comfort zone with splendid movies. I wanted to love this adventure. But ultimately, I’m a fiction lover who needs to understand what’s going on, and I just didn’t. Violence, disjointed narrative and a world I can’t quite picture. Maybe if Keanu stars in the movie, I will become a fan. With the book, just not. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the advance readers copy. The Book of Elsewhere was published July 23, 2024.

The Mirror by Nora Roberts

 

The Mirror is the second book in Roberts’ Lost Bride Trilogy, and it was as exciting as the first book, Inheritance. Sonya and Cleo continue to thrive in their respective creative fields, Sonya as a graphic designer and Cleo as an illustrator. The people of Poole’s Bay, where the haunted mansion Sonya has inherited, begin to embrace them both, included the families of Trey and Owen, the love interests.

The most fun and fascinating parts come from the ghosts though. It seems there are swarms of them “living” in the mansion, but only one evil one. To be convinced when the living characters develop fond relationships with spirits who’ve passed centuries before takes true talent, which Nora Roberts has in spades. I’m eager to read the third book and sad that I have to wait so long.

The Mirror is published by St. Martin’s Press and will be released November 19, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and the pub

The Summer Club by Hannah McKinnon

 

Delighted to affirm that this book has met all the hype! Great beach read, but more, as the Birch and Creevy-Crenshaw families are unveiled, McKinnon treats us to the kind of family dynamics we don’t expect at the posh Mayhaven Country Club.

The story centers around Darcy and Flick, the teenage children of each family. Darcy has lived in their quiet suburban town all her life and learned to excel and love golf, until she doesn’t. Flick is a displaced teen from Queens, whose mother marries the Dry Cleaning King and hopes to provide him more opportunity and a better life in the country.

To say that there are personality clashes and teenage angst would be minimalizing this smartly plotted novel.

The Summer Club was released on July 23, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to read and review. Can’t wait to read more from Hannah McKinnon!

Buzz Books, 2023

Buzz Books is my go to resource for books I know I'm going to want to read, and authors to pay attention to, the 2023 Edition featured authors who were "don't miss" for me included Abraham Verghese's fabulous The Color of Water, my favorite book of 2023.  When I read the Buzz Books list, i feel like and insider! I'm not through the books for 2024, yet, but will get there!

Let's Pretend This Will Work: A Novel by Maddie Dawson

      Mimi believes in her psychic advisor and her lucky skirt, neither of which have failed her.  She is bright and creative and loves thrift shops, colorful clothing and the older Playwright who she’s almost engaged to.  Her NYC life is fun and interesting, and she feels like she’s on the right path.

Let’s Pretend This Will Work by Maddie Dawson

Then her fiancé has to leave NYC for Connecticut to care for his nearly grown daughters and his ex-wife. And since Mimi has lost her job at the posh school they both work at, she decides to be the supportive fiancé and move there too.

And then things get quirky.  She moves into an apartment above a co-op day care, and the fun really begins.

Maddie Dawson is one of the best quirky, upbeat and magical character writers out there, and her storytelling always brings a special light to them.  I fell for everyone one of them in this book, even the b*tchy ex-wife. 

Let’s Pretend This Will Work was published on June 1, 2024, by Lake Union Publishing.

Triple Sec by TJ Alexander

 

Having read and enjoyed TJ Alexander’s last novel, Second Chances in New Port Stephen, https://sunrisesandsuch.blogspot.com/2023/11/second-chances-in-new-port-stephen-5.html, I was eager to see what they were up to in Triple Sec. I found the same fascinating writing, great characters and a different kind of love story. I also found a great story, of Mel, a bartender extraordinaire, Kade, and artist, and Bebe, a lawyer, who find themselves drawn to each other. The development of the relationship, from single to couple to throuple was a fun ride, with Alexander’s sensitive humor and presentation. The settings were very well done as well and left me wanting to go order cocktails at both Terror & Virtue AND Collective Spirits.

This author excelled at staying true to her character’s pronoun choice, though as an older reader, I had trouble keeping it straight. That’s my weakness, not Alexander’s and it was good to see a full book carry it off.

Other readers have commented that the book was “spicy” or “steamy” which I know is a draw for many readers. There are explicit sex scenes (some I wasn’t sure were physically plausible) and if you like that, this book will make you happy. I might be a little too conservative for it, but I recognize the talent in the imagination and the writing.

Triple Sec was released June 4, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the review copy.

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier

 

Venice holds a special place in the mind and imagination of people all over the world. I visited for the first time in 2023 and was delighted to receive a set of beautiful blue patterned Murano, (Venice’s “attendant island”) glass at Christmas. Needless to say, I was delighted to read Tracy Chevalier’s new book, The Glassmaker, which traces the history of Venice and Murano through the eyes of a glassmaking family, over five hundred years. The narrator explains to the reader in the first line of the novel: “The City of Water runs by its own clock…” While centuries pass for the rest of the world, the Rosso family of the book ages much more slowly. By using the same characters of the span of five centuries, we witness the continuities and struggle for the well-drawn Rosso family, and Orsola Rosso particularly, who we meet at nine years of age. Her passions, both for family, glass, community, and all it means to be Venetian tells the brilliant story of five hundred years of history, made personal. It is historical fiction at its finest.

Thanks to Penguin Group Viking and NetGalley for the review copy. The Glassmaker was published on June 18, 2024.

One of my Murano glasses.

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate

 

Lisa Wingate has a talent of making historical fiction urgent authentic.  As she did in Before We Were Yours, she champions heroic children who find themselves in situations not of their own making, but always at their peril. In Shelterwood, those children are orphans of the Choctaw Tribe in Oklahoma. Told from dual narratives, one from 1909, in the voice of eleven-year Olive Augusta Peele, whose family has “adopted” Choctaw sisters, and the other from 1990, from Valerie Boren-Odell, a young National Park Service officer.  Because of the way the resource rich land of Oklahoma was divided among tribe members, the children were prime targets for the exploitation of early developers.  The later narrative focuses on the sacred national park services and protection of the trees and natural condition of the parks.

As she has done before, Wingate teaches her readers the obscure facts that convince us to care about these children and characters and applaud the people who worked to solve the problems.  It is a fascinating book.  

Shelterwood releases on June 4, 2024. Thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for providing this copy for review.

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, by Helen Simonson

 

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, by Helen Simonson, is the kind of historical fiction that makes learning history not just interesting, but delightful. Contrasting the strictures of social class in post WWII England, with the upper class holding on to tradition that no longer works for anyone, especially their daughters, with a generation of women who filled all jobs while men were away fighting the war makes for built in conflict generally, but Simonson brings that conflict home with the wonderful men and women she creates.

Our protagonist, Constance Haverhill, has been orphaned and cast out from her family’s farm for no reason of her own. The rules of primogeniture meant that her brother inherited everything, and she was left to figure out how to get along on her own. Sent to the seaside as nursemaid to the matriarch of the family where her mother was in service creates an opportunity for Constance to understand her own skills and talents, even as she battles proper conduct for a young lady. When she is befriended by Poppy, an heiress in her own right, but also a believer in the power and talent of women, Constance learns that there are many gray areas when considering what is right and proper for men and women alike.

This book was captivating, endearing, frustrating and a wonderful reminder of how far we’ve come. I didn’t actually think I could enjoy a “war” book so much! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the review copy of this excellent book. The book was released May 7, 2024.

 

The Rom-Commers

 

The Rom-Commers

I fell for Katherine Center when she introduced another author (I don’t remember that author!) at a reading. Her vivacious personality and down to earth manner, coupled with her academic background made me curious. That led me to her books, and frankly, she can’t write fast enough for me.

Katherine has a philosophy that we should read for joy, and her books let us do just that. Rom-Commers, her 2024 novel, is no exception. She creates fabulous characters, sets them in places that ignite imagination and then weaves a story with them that is one that is hard to put down.

Rom-Commers is the tale of Emma, a talented romance screen writer whose career is derailed before it gets started by family tragedy. Charlie is her screen writing hero. Even though he doesn’t write Rom Coms, she’s seen every movie he’s written for. So, when she gets the chance to “help” Charlie fix his terrible attempt at a Rom Com, she jumps at the chance.

It's a classic Rom Com…you don’t need me to tell you the ending, but the journey is fun, interesting, and educational. It’s also a lot of fun. Thanks to Katherine, St Martins and NetGalley. The book will be released June 11, 2024

Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle

 

Seth and Molly were high school sweethearts, until Molly, the child of divorced parents, bolts.  By all appearances, they were the perfect couple, but because of her father’s actions surrounding her parents’ divorce, Molly has major trust issues.

Fast forward to their fifteenth high school reunion. She’s a script writer for Rom-Coms and a consummate cynic. He’s a divorce lawyer who believes in soulmates.  Seated at the same table, Seth and Molly remember their friendship, and … no spoilers here.  The book goes on to document their adorable relationship and painful break ups.  They are delightful, funny, and so messed up we don’t have any idea how it’s going to end.  All I’ll tell you is that I hated to see the book end!.

Just Some Stupid Love Story is a great read for summer, and for everyone who’s ever rekindled an old love.  It’s available now, published on June 4, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the review copy. I’m looking forward to more from this author!

Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

 

Elements for a great summer novel? A lush, oceanfront setting, glamorous characters with secrets, romance, mystery and great storytelling. Summers at the Saint has them all The pink wedding cake architecture of the St Cecilia Resort, The Saint, sits on its own island off the coast of Georgia. It is the resort of choice for southern families who treasure fine food, golf, a beautiful sunset and activities for their children. But the Saint isn’t immune to tragedy. First the son of a guest drowns, leaving one of the local lifeguards, one of the “Ain’t’s” fired. A dozen years later, death visits the glamorous hotel again.

            The Saint, though, is a family business, and the interaction between the jealous family members creates complications for them all. Figuring out who is responsible for the murder, and the survival of The Saint makes this page turning the perfect summer read. Bravo Mary Kay Andrews!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the review copy. Summers at the Saint was released on May 7, 2024.

Mind Games by Nora Roberts

 

Whenever I get in a reading slump, having trouble making progress on my TBR pile, I can count on Nora Roberts to put a page turner in my hands.  Mind Games is no exception. Thea Fox witnesses the unthinkable murder of her parents when she is twelve years old, but not because she was there.  She’s psychic, and for unexplainable reasons, her mind links with that of her parent’s killer.  They both have the gift of sight, only he uses his for evil and she for good.

Thea and her brother go to live with their also gifted Grammie in Redbud Hollow, in the Kentucky Appalachians. There she grows up, learns and continues to be haunted by the murderer. It’s a beautiful setting with enough magic, technology, and sizzling romance to remind us of what a wonderful storyteller Roberts has always been.  This was a wonderful breath of fresh air. The book was published May 21, 2024.  Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s press for the review copy.

Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano

 

Ann Napolitano has a way of creating characters both endearing and flawed. This story of the McLaughlin family of New Jersey, told from six points of view, examines the way the strict Irish Catholic upbringing clashes with the actual way lives are lived. The characters love fiercely but have trouble understanding their love. Assisted by ghosts of their ancestors and a tight knit community, both the older generation and the youngest one explore what it means to be part of a family, and how they fit in.

This was actually Napolitano’s debut novel, re-released after the success of Dear Edward and Hello Beautiful. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random house for the review copy. The novel was re-released on April 30, 2024

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

 

I picked this one up because I needed something different than the heavy lit fic or not so heavy rom com’s that are my usual fare. To be fair, I do not read horror and am not big on thrillers because my imagination is so active, and I have trouble sleeping with all the horrible possibilities. But Darling Girls was highly recommended, so I dove in.

First, if you are triggered by child abuse, this is not the book for you. The characters are former foster kids who are placed with a woman who is not what she appears to be, a sweet, lovely woman. The story is told from three viewpoints (through most of the bool.) Three young girls are fostered by Miss Fairchild. The girls forge a sisterhood of protection when they must revisit all they suffered as children to help solve a crime.

As all good thrillers, this is a page turner. The characters are complex and damaged, and it will take until the last page to figure this one out.

Lucky by Jane Smiley

 

So great to have a new novel by Jane Smiley!  Her main character in Lucky, Jodie Rattler is so authentic I needed to check early in the book to see if this was an actual memoir, or in fact, fiction. Detail oriented and epic in the timeline, we learn about Jodie’s music, musical career (and many of her lover’s and walks at the various places she lived!) At times heartbreaking, at times filled with love and optimism, and always filled with the kind of existential angst those of us who grew up in the sixties experienced firsthand, Lucky is a snapshot of the age through one woman’s life.

The ending surprised me, and I struggled with it. I admit it simply may be a bit beyond me. Other than that, I enjoyed reading Lucky. Thanks to NetGalley and Alfred Knopf for the advance readers copy. The book was published April 23, 2024

 

The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald

 

  Lisa Grunwald has the unique skill of bringing historical periods to life as though they are the current events. The Evolution of Annabel Craig is no exception. Annabel is a happy, observant Methodist who prays on her knees every night. Born in 1910 and raised amid Prohibition and the infancy of the Women’s Movement, Annabel lives on a strawberry farm. While her family works the farm, her father runs it. As soon as the season is over, her mother travels the countryside teaching women how to preserver tomatoes. Annabel, her only child, goes along, and learns important lessons at her mother’s side. But Annabel’s parents succumb to the Spanish flu in 1918 and Annabel must leave her bucolic countryside. She moves to Dayton Tennessee, with the camera she inherited from her father. Along with a budding career in photography, she also meets and marries John Craig, a local lawyer who will go on to be part of the defense team, led by Clarence Darrow, of John Scopes. 

The “Scopes Monkey Trial” didn’t put on trial the details of evolution, but the battle of science and faith. As I read, the parallels to the struggles of America in 2024 echo the struggle of 100 years earlier. We have had our pandemic and now we have polarized belief again centralized around science and reality against constructionists who believe that veering away from the literal interpretation of the Bible will be our ruin.

As a lawyer, I felt the lows and highs of the defense team, but I don’t think I needed that background to appreciate the complexity and fear Grunwald was able to instill in her wonderfully drawn characters. I cheered for Annabel along the way, as she more closely resembles the “liberal” that is so often eschewed today. She wants to understand, and she wants to make room for her beliefs. I hope you read it to see how she does.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin Random House, for this review copy. The Evolution of Annabel Craig publishes on April 16 ,2024.

 

Off the Air by Christina Estes

 

Off the Air by Christina Estes

Award winning journalist Christina Estes gives a detailed and frank view inside news organizations, both local and network. She knows her subject matter and shares the good, and the ugly, of this profession. Her protagonist, Jolene Garcia, is hot on a story concerning the death of a right-wing, radical, radio personality. The competition is palpable, and none of the characters are particularly likable. Estes paints a cutthroat business in a polarized world.

Yet the book has bright spots-- I was particularly amused by the protagonists relationship with her goldfish, Oscar.--and the mystery is complicated. There are plenty of misleading clues to keep the reader from figuring it out too soon. If who-dunnits are your jam, you’ll like this one. Estes is a skilled writer. Her style is journalistic, meaning you won’t get much depth with the characters and though the landscape is rich, the setting is minimal.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the review copy. The book was published on March 26, 2024.

 

Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh

Layla is a light skinned Londoner whose mother is Jamaican and whose father is black. Her best friend and grandfather are also black, but Layla’s boyfriends have almost exclusively been white. When she gets serious about Andy McKinnon, her best friend’s tolerance of the situation, especially in the year of the George Floyd’s death, disappears. Since Andy and Layla have the same last name, and since Andy’s ancestors are proud Scots, Sera, the best friend, posits that Andy’s ancestors actually owned Layla’s. That is enough for Sera to render Andy and Layla forbidden to marry. But Andy and Layla love each other.

 

Layla is not immune to the Sera’s concern. The book lets the reader follow both the research and logic that these characters must go through to determine what is right. Sera is consumed by anger, fueled by continued persecution and discrimination still prevalent against black people. Layla has the guilt of one who “passes” and yet, she doesn’t want to be angry. “’

“Action is more important than anger,” Layla discovers, but what action is right for her?

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this thought provoking and interesting read. Dominoes was released on March 12, 2024.

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan 5*

 

 

I admit that I have read so many books set in World War II that I am a skeptic whenever a new one comes out. That said, I loved this book. The characters are well drawn and having finished the book, I find myself wishing I were still reading it, because I miss them.

The story gives color to the facts of war. Women join the workforce because the men are off fighting. Romances are condensed, rushed, and focused. The main character, Juliet, is an ambitious young woman from a well-off family who only wish for her to marry well, Juliet loves books though, and is thrilled to find a position at the Bethnal Green Library in London, at the beginning of the Blitz. She is full of ideas, which are not received well by the men in charge. Operating with some subterfuge, Juliet enlists the assistance of woman in the community…all wonderful characters themselves, to implement her ideas.

Then the library is bombed, and thus begins the underground library.

This is a wonderful story for anyone who loves books, libraries, and women with their own mind. While it is reminiscent of The Paris Library, by Janet Charles, (another good book!) this book is different in spirit and the setting of London is unique and endearing. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for the review copy. This book releases March 12, 2024.

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle: 4 stars

 

 Daphne is a thirty-three-year-old Hollywood professional who has secrets. The one that frames this delightful novel is the one about the papers she receives periodically, containing only a name and a period of time. These are the relationships she experiences, with men she has recently met. The source of the papers is not revealed, and there are enough of them to convince Daphne that they are factual. Whether they are because that is fate, or because she goes into them focused on the expiration date, is for the reader to decide.

The other secret gives gravitas to why Daphne lives this way, and as a reader, I wish we’d been told about it earlier in the book…sorry, no spoilers here. Frankly, I was tired of reading about her romantic exploits by the time we find out why, despite Serle’s lovely writing.

It is well written and an easy read, with a premise I’ve not read before. A nice book that is more than fluff, but not so much more that it exhausts me, as some books have this year! Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the review copy!

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.