Rootless, by Krystle Zara Appiah: Wonderful writing, disappointing ending. 3*

 

I read this book because I loved learning about the culture of Ghana in another debut book, Maame, by Jessica George. Because I’d read that one and loved it, I was prepared to meet more multidimensional characters and fascinating settings with the same type of background. In that regard, I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the characters…Efe whose childhood trauma shaped her adult choices and ability to make decisions and speak up for herself. Her husband, Sam, whose own childhood was marred by the abandonment of his mother. These characters were faced with the same problems most young people starting out face: financial, work life balance and the shift of responsibility that happens when children come along. I never doubted that Sam and Efe loved each other, even when they individually sought relationships with others. But once their daughter was born, they seemed to stop listening or hearing each other. Sam wanted a traditional family. Efe couldn’t overcome her PPD and disconnect in a way that let her give that to him.

Without giving away the wonderful plotting and weaving of the characters in their dual locations of London and Ghana, I must confess that the ending ruined this book for me. The author had the skill…she showed it throughout the novel, to deal with a complicated ending, and in my opinion, she just didn’t. As a reader, I was insulted. I felt too invested in the characters and the way they worked through issues to accept the ending choice of the author. That’s why I’m not giving my usual 5 star. Maybe she’ll get a chance to do a script for the movie version and can rewrite it!  I hope so.

Thank you to Random House Ballantine for the review copy. The book is available now.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese...Oprah picks another 5 star book

 

This year has been a treasure of wonderful books and Abraham Verghese’s new release is at the top. Beginning in 1900 in Travancore, South India with the arranged marriage of a twelve-year-old girl to a forty-year-old man who owns agricultural land days away from her home, the story unfolds as they characters grow and change and love and die. Each character is so lovingly rendered that the reader falls for them too, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Centered around a community of Saint Thomas Christians, we follow our original couple and their family through the tumultuous times of independence in India, the revolt against the caste system, industrialization, and modernization.

Verghese is a doctor, and his love of medicine and knowledge is shared by many of his characters as they fight for basic healthcare, Conditions that are inexplicable, and those that are. Some of the best scenes are set in a Leprosarium, where we learn compassion and hope for those on the farthest edges of society.

To say the writing is both beautiful and wise would not do justice to the storytelling and the delicate care this author gives to his characters as well as his readers. The book is 736 pages long, but you will be sorry it isn’t twice that. It’s that wonderful.  It was released on May 2, 2023 by Grove Press.

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

Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano 5*

 

Family dynamics play the main role in this novel of the Padavano family, Charlie, the father whose standard greeting to his wife and four girls give the book its title, and the four wonderfully drawn characters of the daughters and their lives in Chicago in the sixties and seventies. Catholic mores, a strong mother who believed in appearances, and daughters thrust into a world where all the rules are changing set the stage as we get to know Julia, Sylvie, Cecelia and Emmeline and the people who become important to them. Regardless of their differences, these sisters share a bond that is as strong as their literary heroes, the March sisters from Little Women.

But the complications of life in the twentieth century create situations that tests even strong bonds. As the young women grow into their lives, death, marriage, education, children, and careers turn them away from their core. But above the complications, love and beauty, art, and family help to bring them back to center.

I am a fan of Ann Napolitano’s work and loved Hello, Beautiful. It is a long book, but I hated to see it end. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers copy.

Maureen, a Harold Fry Novel by Rachel Joyce

 

Maureen, A Harold Fry Novel by Rachel Joyce

Maureen is an unhappy woman living life in her small English town the way she feels is expected of her. Cleaning her home, making sure the coffee cups handles all line up and caring for her husband, Harold. Only Harold’s life included his work, friends, and a walk across the country to visit one of them as she died. The thing both Harold and Maureen share is their grief—their son David has committed suicide. Harold learns acceptance on his long walk and encourages Maureen to make the pilgrimage to the garden of the friend, a woman, whose impending death inspired his healing walk, and where, he says, David, their son, is.

In an action out of character, Maureen takes their car and sets out to drive to this place, to get away from the grief she feels living with a calm Harold, and to find both herself and David. It’s a beautiful story of how women can isolate themselves in routine, and only when Maureen faces calamity along the way to she appreciates the gift she’s been given.

This is the third book of three by this author dealing with these characters, but even without having read the earlier books, this one made sense and emotional and resonant.

I received an ARC of Maureen from the publisher, Random House, and it is on sale February 7, 2023

Maame by Jessica George. Wonderful debut!

Maame by Jessica George

 

Maddie is the twenty-five-year-old daughter of Ghanian descent who is the glue supporting her dysfunctional family. As her father slips away with Parkinson’s disease, her brother enjoys independence from all responsibility, since Maame (Maddie) takes care of everything, and even her mother leaves her in charge, to spend every other year in Ghana. So, Maddie stays home and is her father’s caretaker. Stuck in a job that doesn’t value her, with a few close friends from high school and no social life, Maddie bears the burdens of family without reprieve.

When her mother returns, Maddie takes the opportunity to find out how life can be and moves out. And it all falls apart.

The name Maame, what her mother has called her from childhood, means Woman, and implies that she carries the weight of the family on “heavy shoulders.”  Despite the burden, this book is more a tale of discovery and growth than sorrow and shame. George’s voice is fresh and gives a peek inside Ghanian culture as an immigrant, but also the story of how family values mold and guide characters, even when they reject them.

Thank you to St Martins and NetGalley for this ARC. Maame goes on sale January 31,2023.

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. Another win: 5*

 

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Sadie is a talented, starving young artist living in a not quite ready for habitation apartment owned by friends. She has finally, after years of hard work, placed as a finalist in an international portrait competition. She’s going to get her chance, and then…

She doesn’t remember. She doesn’t remember why she was in the street, or who helped her. She vaguely remembers a kind, handsome man, and she knows her evil stepmother, who may not be so evil, waiting in the hospital.

 With the diagnosis that she has an operable brain injury, Sadie is forced to make a decision that will effect the rest of her life. Will she be able to compete after the surgery? Will she even be able to paint? And who was that kind, handsome, man?

In true Katherine Center form, these questions are answered with humor, empathy and quite a bit of emotion. The things Sadie must go through to reach her own conclusions are heartbreaking, but beautiful. Plus, we get to learn all sorts of new, mostly unknown, facts about the brain and how it works.

Another winner for Katherine Center, who bring joy to literature and isn’t embarrassed to love romance novels---anymore.

Hello Stranger goes on sale July 11, 2023. Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this copy.

A serious 5 star, but not an easy read. Lessons, by Ian McEwan

 

Ian McEwan is, without argument, one of the best novelists or our time. Lessons might be a blueprint of life, or just a chapter in the unwritten novel of the twenty first century, which Roland Baines, the protagonist, longs to read.

The novel covers Roland’s life, from first memories until old age. McEwan skillfully intertwines the history of the last century into his character’s lives, and those of us lucky enough to have lived through the same events relish the authenticity, factual as well as emotional. Sometimes, it was happening to us. Sometimes we were just distant observers. Along with a fair rendering of time, we are gifted with beautiful prose and fascinating characters. We have the pleasure of growing up and growing old with many of them. I highlighted pages of lines I loved, but as a woman of the age, this was one of my favorites. Describing his widowed mother, Roland says “... she had aged and shrunk, she couldn’t sleep, the skin under her eyes showed deep wrinkles like a walnut.”

This is a book to savor. It isn’t a quick and easy read and will need your attention and time. There are Lessons to learn if we are open to them.

How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies. 4*

Clever idea, and I can’t wait to try the recipes. I’ve read many writing craft books, and many cookbooks. This is a new approach, though if I apply the pie baking to my work every time I get stuck writing… well, it’s not the time of year to count calories.

 I did wonder how the author expected writers to analogize things like leaf lard” to what felt like standard writing advice. She has a friendly, open voice that will appeal to seasoned writers as well as newcomers. Easy to read, and inspiring, with wonderful illustrations.

 

I read an advanced reader copy provided by the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley.

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.

Mercury Pictures Presents, Anthony Marra. Brilliant.

 

We may think we’ve read all there is to read about World War II, but Anthony Marry has discovered and brought to life a segment that this reader has not seen before… what happened in Hollywood. While it is a war story, it’s more an immigrant’s tale, following well drawn, fascinating characters as they traverse from Nazi controlled Italy to the bright lights.

Marra braids the stories of Mercury Pictures a B grade movie house and the feuding twin brothers who run Mercury with stories from Hollywood personalities, overbearing politicians and displaced immigrants trapped in wartime quarantine. His characters include a photographer, an architect specializing in miniatures, a clever guilt-ridden daughter of the best lawyer in San Lorenzo, and a supporting cast of aunts, politicians, and ladder climbers to create an extensive though brilliant cast of characters. Throughout the story, Marra’s fresh language, sharp wit, and humor from a time where we’ve been conditioned to find none, carries a story threatens to break the reader. As it is, the humanity holds both the novel and the reader together. It’s simply brilliant.

Mercury Pictures Presents was released on August 2, 2022.  Thanks to the publisher, Random House Hogarth for this advanced readers copy.

With Love From Wish & Co. by Minnie Darke 5*

Marnie Fairchild, from the rogue side of the Fairchild family, and thus not part of its fortune, is a businesswoman. She’s gone from a food truck to a high-end gift service. Her business includes everything from selling specialty gift wrap to personal gift shopping for her clients. She’s ready to move up in her retail location and has her heart set on a posh address where her grandfather worked as a cobbler. Marnie works hard, but she has goals. She wants that space.

Complications come when gifts are misdelivered. One to the wife, one to the mistress.

Her characters are charming, but not perfect, her plot has surprises and a fresh approach to the “woman starting a small business” trope, and she did a great job of struggling with the issue of personal responsibility, in this case, by enabling cheating husbands, but also the emotions when the recipients of the gifts realize that they weren’t chosen by a loved one, but a pro.

I love the interwoven lesson of women being responsible for their own happiness and hope to read more from this author.

I received this book from NetGalley and Dell, the publisher. It goes on sale August 17, 2022.

Lucy by the Sea, Elizabeth Strout 5 stars!

 

 

Reading this novel was like visiting old friends from a social distance. We got to know Lucy and William both in prior novels (My Name is Lucy Barton, Oh William!, Anything is Possible) and revisit characters introduced in Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again, and even The Burgess Boys. And that is lovely, as we have come to know that Elizabeth Strout’s voice is true and authentic, we can trust these characters just as we trust our own friends. Strout let’s our friends Lucy and William experience the pandemic on the coast of Maine, as physically isolated from Lucy’s beloved New York as they can be. This book isn’t for anyone still experiencing pandemic PTSD, because in her honesty, Strout brings us right back to the uncertainty of 2020 and the horror of separation from those we love most.

Personally, I love these characters and Strout’s writing style, which is probably apparent from my familiarity with her books and recommend Lucy by the Sea to anyone else who fell in love with the characters in other books. But the book also stands alone for anyone who has not read the others, as these characters don’t depend on their past iterations to come to life. As yet another pandemic book, this one stands out as a chronical of what was, and how emotional humans, especially older ones, can thrive, and survive

 An Arc of Lucy by the Sea was provided to me by the publisher, Random House, and will be released September 20, 2022.

Mad Honey: A heartbreaker by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, 5 stars,

 

 

 

To say Jodi Picoult books pull their themes from the headlines or that they break your heart would be an understatement. In Mad Honey, her talent for creating characters that I love and want to prevail is added to the depth that collaborating with Jennifer Finney Boylan to put the issue of not just the legal rights, but the right to live of transgender people in the U.S. today in sharp focus. It’s one thing to argue bathroom bills and choice for adults, but Mad Honey expands the discussion in ways that only good story telling can do.

As with most Jodi Picoult books, the research of the other theme in this book is tremendous. The bees! I thought I knew some things about bees, but I barely scratched the surface. Fascinating both factually and for the metaphor of the lives of these ancient creatures as applied to this family.

Mad Honey also touches on the issues of domestic assault, divorce and how the ones we love most are often the most cruel. I could not stop reading this book, and yes, it will break your heart. 

I try to read everything Jodi Picoult publishes, because she takes such a balanced approach to issues.  I am looking forward to reading more of  Jennifer Finney Boylan's books, and hope these two collaborate again.

I received this advance reader's copy from the publisher from the publisher, Random House-Ballantine. Mad Honey will be released on October 4, 2022.

 

The Best is Yet to Come by Debbie Macomber. 4*

 

Macomber is a master at the small-town romance, and The Best is Yet to Come doesn’t disappoint. Her characters, both Hope, a young teacher whose twin brother has been killed in Afghanistan, and Cade, a former soldier struggling with mental and physical injuries, are complex and relatable. Adding in Shadow, a neglected and abused dog who is destined for euthanasia, and you have the formula for a romance built on recovery. That the high school where Hope teaches worships football and its heroes, and the problems that go along with blind worship, and you could be in any small town in America. Oceanside though, is a special place, and it is a great town to visit this summer!

The Best is Yet to Come will be released July 12, 2022. Thanks to the Random House Ballantine for the advanced reader copy!

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother 5*

 

This was a book that surprised me. I expected it to be about how the father, who’d had four kids with three different wives, a minor poet at that, was “the catch.”  But Catch has so many meanings, and they are all in play in this fun novel where the main character Ellie, tries to understand why her now deceased father left his most prized possession, not to her, his favorite, but to a stranger. The unfolding of this mystery is full of emotion, good humor, and excellent characters. I’d call it a great summer read, but if isn’t a typically shallow, feel-good book. The writing is gorgeous and the story complex enough, with much emotional growth, that is deserves any season. I’ll look forward to Fairbrother’s next one!

 

Thanks to Random House for the advance copy of this book, which published on June 22, 2022.

Neruda On the Park, by Cleyvis Natera. Beautiful debut, 5*

 

The Gurrero family is like many immigrant families in the United States. Leaving behind hunger and poverty in their beloved home in the Dominican Republic, they settle in New York City’s Nothar park. Father Vladimir becomes a policeman, while Eusebia, his wife, becomes not only her neighborhoods force to be reckoned with, but also her daughter, Luz’s biggest champion and driving force. Each success Lux achieves is not hers alone, but also Eusebia’s, each lapse in what Eusebia sees on Luz’s course to the top, her own.

When Luz loses her high paying job as a corporate attorney, and Eusebia takes a fall that alters her personality, they join in the fight of gentrification of their neighborhood. Natera creates a colorful, emotionally deep set of characters to populate the neighborhood, and it is in the interactions between the main characters and these secondary ones that the novel shines. Gorgeous writing, and characters you will not want to let go fill this beautiful book, filled with the beauty and sorrow of not only Neruda, but people who’ve left their homeland everywhere. This is a writer I will watch.

The publisher gave me an advanced reader copy of Neruda on the Park. It was published May 25, 2022.

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Awaeke Emezi. 2 *

 

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Awaeke Emezi

This is the story of Feyi, who, married in her twenties, loses the love of her life to an accident. Five years later, she’s ready for a physical relationship again, and we are in for a wild ride.

                                                             

I should have expected that this book would be a bit much for me with the sex and bad foul language from the first sentence. I kept hoping we would get into more substance than Feyi, the main character’s, seeming promiscuity. So much sex, so many partners, and while it was always “great,” I, as a reader, never found it special. By the time we get to the end, we doubt our protagonist’s ability to be sincere, authentic, or faithful.

 

Emezi’s writing is lovely, or I’d have probably quit on this book. I think if I were in my twenties, as most of the characters are, and been raised in this millennium, I might be able to relate more, but I’m a midwestern mom, and I kept thinking how dangerous Feyi’s actions were. I loved the storytelling and the descriptions, but I wouldn’t recommend the book to my book club. 

I received this book from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, the publisher. It goes on sale May 24, 2022.

 

The Summer Place, by Jennifer Weiner

 

 

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

I’m a longtime fan of Jennifer Weiner, and have watched as her writing has grown more complex and personal over the years. Anyone who follows her knows that 2021 was a very hard year for her. I’m delighted to see that she was able to marshall the emotions that surfaced through her personal trials to create a cast of characters who are vivid, complicated and oh so relatable.

The overriding story is a young couple who’ve decided, shortly after emerging from lockdown, that they want to get married. Technically, the story covers the short time from the announcement of the engagement until the actual date of the wedding. Adding in the backstory, this is a novel that covers generations, and the missteps and mistakes made at each level before the betrothed couple. At one point I had to stop and say, REALLY?? But it works and the way the story loops around to its beginning is nothing short of gymnastics!

I promise you will find at least one character to root for, and if not, you’ll fall for the house. This is a fascinating book of characters and their passions. Great new summer book for Jennifer Weiner fans!

The Nantucket Beachfront Inn, By Ainsley Keaton. 3.5*

 

The Nantucket Beachfront Inn, by Ainsley Keaton

This book follows three friends, their “second act” after leaving, for the right reasons, their first careers. Ava, a high paid and powered attorney, finally rebels from her tax haven seeking millionaire clients. As luck would have it, just when she has realized she has no way to support her lifestyle, and old client dies and leaves her his Nantucket beachfront home, all set up to be a B & B. Her best friends, Quinn and Hallie, decide to come along to the beach…at first as support, but ultimately to reestablish themselves as well.

Ava has problems with her children, one of which is not speaking to her at all. The usual beach shenanigans prevail, including a little bit of witchcraft and lots of fun in the sun. This is the first book in what will be a series, and stands out as a great beach read. Beyond that, there are just too many lucky coincidences, but it’s fun and that’s good, too.

Culture, Characters, Issues and Imagination. Black Cake has them all. 5*

 

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel has all the elements that make fiction so rewarding. Wonderful characters, skillfully drawn, settings that take the reader’s breath away, whether through their beauty or the things they lack.  Historical references that place the cultural issues in perspective and an imaginative story so creative, it must be real. 

Benny and Byron are long separated twins, rejoined when their mother dies and leaves them a strange legacy.  Not just the historic Black Cake, whose recipe has facilitated the survival of this Caribbean family, but a video recording, telling the story of where they all came from. 

While plenty of obstacles face the characters, there is always hope and that hope kept me reading to a satisfying conclusion.  This is a great “book club” book, because it addresses so many issues important today, and does so in an accessible and fresh manner. 

Damnation Spring, by Ash Davidson 3.5*

 

Damnation Spring is a book about the old growth redwood forests of the American PNW, with the switch that it is told from the perspective of the families who make their living cutting those magnificent trees down for lumber.

Following the Gunderson family, Colleen, a young mother, her husband, Rich, a lumberjack, we encounter the hazards, fears and tragedies faced due to poverty, environmental collapse, politics, and family relationships. The characters are well drawn, and the descriptions so spot on you will feel stuck in the mud along with the characters.

It took a while for me to adjust to the dialect and language of this book, but it was done with such authenticity and confidence that once I was a chapter or two in, I was thinking in those phrases and patterns of speech. I think this author deserves kudos for making this happen.

I'm all for treating our characters badly to develop the story, but these folks never seemed to get a break.  It was hard to keep reading, realizing that inevitably, something bad or worse was coming.  Perhaps that is the situation in this part of the world.  In the end, I felt terribly sad. 

Martita, I Remember You. English and Spanish, Sandra Cisneros

 

I was thrilled to get to read an advance copy of this book, by beloved Sandra Cisneros.   Basically, a love letter to youth, and relationships and mistakes, this part epistolary, part novel in flash takes the reader along to Paris, Argentina, and Chicago through the vision of three young women trying to discover who they are.  Their letters reveal the affection they remember, despite the years that pass, and lets the reader peek into the era, with world events, the despair, and the joie de vivre of youth and the special trials of the immigrant, regardless of country or era.

 

It is very short, and I was happy to get to read the Spanish version, which is also included, as the musicality of Cisneros voice comes through in both languages. A lovely gift for close friends, especially those who speak or read Spanish.

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout 4*

 

Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout

 

Elizabeth Strout is an author who feels more like a dear old friend, or that cousin you like to be seated next to at a wedding. Her writing is both accessible and complex, as are the characters she creates.  Oh William! is the story of Lucy Barton as a woman who has divorced her cheating first husband, remarried, and lost her second to cancer. It is a family novel, examining the relationships between both parents, children, and their extended family, and it is a love story, though not a romance.  As many of Strout’s books do, it is sprinkled with historical fact that shaped the lives of the people living through events… like the POW camps in Maine, but the characters of the novel. The result is characters so authentic that I found myself looking to see if I was reading memoir.

 

At the heart of the novel is the secrets kept by both William, the cheating husband with whom Lucy retains a lovely friendship, and recently widowed Lucy.  The big secret that they investigate doesn’t feel any more important than the dozens of other revelations these characters give in this captivating book. Fans of Lucy Barton and Olive Kittredge will not be disappointed. Newcomers will be charmed by Lucy’s quirkiness.  And everyone will be saying “Oh William!”

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman 4*

 

The completion of the Practical Magic story of the Owens family and their curse in matters of love makes the swing around to complete the circle.  The primary settings are the house on Magnolia Street where the Owens family has lived for generations, with trips across the ocean and back to the place of the original pond where the curse began in England.  As with any good series, this one tied up loose ends left open in the prior books and created a landscape all its own.  Fresh characters join the beloved one, and we feel immediately at home in the libraries and homes of the characters.

 

Hoffman’s writing has been called lush, and for this reader, some places where a bit too lush, especially once the action moved to England. But the story and characters were worth wading through a bit of brush and marsh, the ending is surprisingly inevitable.  I was charmed by the explanations of love for this family… “you stayed when you wanted to run away. You held on when you knew you had no choice but to let go.”  I wish I had the whole series to read again. 

 

 

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, 5+ stars!

 

“A tapestry of times and places that reflects our vast interconnectedness…” Those are the words Anthony Doerr uses to describe this wonderful novel, and each thread in that tapestry is golden wire wrapped in color.

 

Told from the perspectives of young people, from four different centuries and centering loosely around a fictional manuscript written by an ancient Greek author, this book ties the stories of Konstance, from a space ship in the twenty second century to not only the ancient Greek, but also two teen agers on opposite sides of the siege of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, and a group of fifth graders in 2020, who wish to perform the play, Cloud Cuckoo Land, as translated by their friend,  Zeno, a Korean war veteran. With his gentle and caring hand, Anthony Doerr lets us inside the world of the disfigured, the orphaned, the lost, the mentally challenged, the single mother, the unrequited homosexual, the war veteran, and even the hopeless parents in fear for their children on a dying planet. He weaves these stories so perfectly that we don’t even realize what he’s doing until we reach the surprising, inevitable conclusion.

 

It wasn’t easy to get started in this book, nightmares of studying the Odyssey and the Iliad threatened to make me abandon it, but to say by midway I couldn’t put it down is not an exaggeration. This author is a master, and a treasure, and this book is a love letter to books and libraries through history. I loved it.

 

I received this advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher. Cloud Cuckoo Land will be released on September 28, 2021.

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

 

Elin Hilderbrand can always be counted on for contemporary fiction, with complex female characters and a great beach read. The characters in Golden Girl don't disappoint, though they are extremely privileged. I wasn't happy to begin the book reading from the point of view of Vivi, a ghost, because I feel that's been done so many times. 

Still, I enjoyed the book. I liked that the underlying mystery of the "narrators" death gave us a logical timeline. I liked that even in Nantucket, a place that has come to represent the American Ideal, issues of racism, sexism and abuse must be confronted. I think Elin Hildebrand acknowledged the issues, without hitting her readers too hard with them... we don't pick up a self-described beach read to rehash the issues we deal with in our regular lives.

 Golden Girl did exactly what a good summer book should. I look forward to the next one!

 

Wish You Were Here by Jody Piccoult. Another great read!

I’ve long admired the way Jody Piccoult can take a controversial current event topic and make it engaging, readable and interesting. I go into her books thinking I understand an issue, only to be presented with other perspectives. Piccoult gives me an opportunity to think about issues and I always feel smarter when I finish her books.

 Wish You Were Here begins as a romance veering off course. The beauty of the Galápagos, the varied creatures, and an isolation few have experienced set the stage for Diana to explore everything she knows about art, relationships, and grief. As an art broker for Sotheby’s, she already knows a lot about art, but not how it can expand personal relationships. As a daughter of a doting father who died, and an absentee mother afflicted with Alzheimer’s, she must learn a new kind of grief. And as the almost fiancée of a doctor in the first wave of the COVID-19 wave in NYC, she has much to learn about relationships.

I won’t reveal the shift of the second half of the book, but I will say that this book continues the exploration of life and death begun in Piccoult’s last book, The Book of Two Ways, though Wish You Were here is an easier read with a totally different story. (Many of my reading friends didn't like the intense Egyptian explanations of that one, though I found them fascinating. My review of The book of two waysHer research is, as always, stellar, and fascinating. I did not think I was ready for a “Covid” book, written during the actual worst times of the virus in the USA, but I found much peace and healing here. I guess we really couldn’t be shocked any more than we were, and it’s nice to see our feelings given credence and respect. This is a don’t miss book for 2021 and beyond. 

Wish You Were Here will be released November 30, 2021, just in time to be a wonderful gift for reader friends. I appreciate being allowed to read an Advanced Readers Copy by the publisher, Penguin Random House and NetGalley. five plus stars!

Ghosts by Dolly Atherton, 5*

(I know it seems that everything I review is 4 or 5 stars, but I'm not sure why I'd take the time to review something I didn't like!) Ghosts by Dolly Atherton Ghosts is at its heart, romantic comedy, and romantic tragedy. It is a commentary on how we find connections in this millennium, and how easily those connections can disappear. It is the story of Nina George Dean, born in 1986. Coming into adulthood in the Time of the Internet, it is natural for her friends to encourage her to try dating apps to meet interesting men. But like all things on the internet, it is easy to believe the things she is told, and when she meets Max, she can’t help but believe in him, too. Ghosting isn’t a phenomenon we had to deal with when our partners were people we interacted with outside of dating, but it’s all too easy when an app is your connection. I thought that was what the book was about, and was feeling rather ho hum about it, until this wonderful author carried the metaphor through to relationships other than those founded on an app…friends, family, and even our past. Nina is a deep and caring character, and I wanted her to have everything she wanted. You’ll have to read the book to find out if she does, and I promise it will not disappoint. Though it will break your heart in all the best ways. Alfred Knopf and NetGalley have provided me with an advanced reader copy for this review. The book will be released on August 3, 2021.

Dawg Towne by Alice Kaltman, FIVE stars and woofs!

 Tex and Jaz tried to read the book in the sun...too hot!

 

It’s rare for me to buy a physical copy of a book, but Dawg Towne, by Alice Kaltman is one I knew I’d want to pass around, and that’s not easy to do with an ebook. Besides, my dogs, Tex and Jaz, had heard so much about it they wanted to take a look. I sped through it, and was sorry, because I rather miss Towne, now that I am no longer visiting it in words, and the characters, human and canine, worked their way into my heart. Kaltman has done a marvelous job of creating people who live the emotions we all experience, those that we can talk about, and those we can’t. The overwhelming sense that I got was that everyone needs a best friend and companion, and sometimes, dogs are the best choice.

"Did she tell you we liked it?"

 

I won’t spoil the story, but merely comment that this is a book for anyone who’s lived in a city, or suburb, or outside them both, who feels the isolation that each locale can create. It’s also for everyone who’s ever known, or loved, a dog. Thanks Alice, for another wonderful story, and literary companions.

Tex and Jaz cuddled up with the book....

Then they lent it to their pal, Sasha.  

 

 

 And she agreed.  Great book for summer 2021!