Thank you for joining me here!   I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.

Book #1:

Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Paul Holes (Length: 279 pages).  I first learned of Paul Holes when reading Michelle McNamara’s I’ll be Gone in the Dark, which I insist is the best true-crime book every written, period. Paul Hole discusses the Golden State Killer case covered by Michelle in her book in his book too, and how, after 24 years, he discovered the GSK’s true identity, just after Michelle passed away. Paul also discusses his professional evolution from lab tech to criminalist to detective, and how his obsessive focus and personality affected his personal life. This book is very well-written (his co-author won a Pulitzer Prize for news reporting) and contains lots of interesting details about his life’s work. Excellent book and I recommend to any mystery and true-crime book lover.

Book #2:

The Arc by Tory Henwood Hoen (Length: 344 pages).  People whose opinion I respect recommended this romance to me and I agree with their recommendation for sure. Ursula and Rafael are matched, courtesy of an uber-expensive ($40,000-50,000!) and high-tech dating service in New York City called “The Arc.” I adored the NYC setting here, the character development is very well-done, the characters’ snappy and witty dialogue sings on the pages and it’s very well-paced in terms of plot. A bit formulaic as most romances go, and for the love of GOD, just TALK to one another, but I guess that’s something that makes romance novels go round? This is something different though, and I absolutely recommend this to any discerning romance reader.

Book #3:

Welcome to the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan (Length: 292 pages).  I adore Jenny Colgan’s books so when I saw she was re-releasing books she wrote over a decade ago under a pen name, I grabbed this one, the first in what will be a series of 6 books set in an elite girls’ boarding school by the sea in Cornwall, England. This series is geared toward adult women who are nostalgic for boarding school books but written from the point of view of adults. In this first book, the protagonist is a newer teacher from Scotland who accepts a job at this school coming from a more rough and tumble public school that she herself attended as a child. I do agree with reviewers here who wonder about Jenny Colgan’s obsession with the weight of her characters, but overall, I found this was an easy and fun read and a great way to spend an afternoon by the pool.

Book #4:

The Island by Adrian McKinty (Length: 385 pages).  This is a thriller (physical not psychological) set on a small island in Australia, where a family is stranded after things go awry during a quick drive around the island for the kids to see koala bears in the wild. There is minimal character development here, so you are reading this for the propulsive plot only (otherwise you will be eye-rolling the entire way through about WHY characters are acting the way that they are). This reads like a movie and sure enough, it’s already scheduled to be on Hulu as an original series. Think Deliverance plus Survivor on this one and enjoy this fun ride for summer! Perfect beach or travel read so long as your check your disbelief at the door.

Thank you for joining me here!   I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.

Book #1:

Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer (Length: 316 pages).  I could NOT put this novel down. Merit, a 40-year-old architect with two young children goes back to work full-time for a very charismatic older woman, Jane. The two immediately click as co-workers and then as friends. Merit is very “comfortable” in a 10-year marriage but she (as many of us do) finds her husband not to be very super helpful with the kids, thoughtful, etc. Enter romantic crush in the form of Jane. This is not very open door at all and is more about the love story that starts between the two. I absolutely loved the writing style, the pacing was perfection, and while I was a bit annoyed with Merit at times, this was a win for me. (The ending did throw me for a bit of a loop given the preceding build up, but overall it’s a great read.)

Book #2:

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (Length: 395 pages). Two thumbs up for me for this wonderful book! It’s been on my radar for quite a while thanks to several book podcasters raving about it, but they’re right. The protagonist is Tookie, an Ojibwe Indian living in Minneapolis, working at the author’s real-life bookshop (the author Louise is mentioned throughout which is fun!) when she realizes that the bookshop is haunted by its most annoying customer, Flora, who recently passed away. Flora was a white woman who wanted to be a tribal member. The timeline is centered pre-pandemic and during the pandemic and the author covers the murder of George Floyd, the pandemic, Indigenous culture, etc so it’s very immersive and very “now”. I absolutely adore this book and will be recommending it to my discerning reader friends for sure.

Book #3:

The Anthropocene Reviewed  by John Green (Length: 302 pages).  This is a another very hot book now, and it lives up to its hype. It’s a book of essays, subtitled Essays on a Human-Centered Planet. The author has random musings, some deep such as “Our Capacity for Wonder” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” but most are fun “Diet Dr Pepper” and “Scratch n Sniff Stickers” but with a core of heart. He reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell as he reveals the “truth” behind many assumptions we all have about people and events. The theme is the author is “reviewing” various aspects of the anthropocene (a geological time frame starting from the time humans arrived on earth) with a star rating system. I found this to be the PERFECT audiobook. The essays are a perfect length for a commute, and they are read by the author himself.

Thank you for joining me here!   I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.

Book #1:

Dear Bob and Sue Season 3 by Matt and Karen Smith (Length: 345 pages).  This is the fourth book I’ve read by this couple, so I’m obviously a fan. Again, I listened to this one and it makes a fantastic road trip (or even daily commute) audiobook. In this book, Matt and Karen venture to several different national parks and monuments, including down to Tucson, AZ (which I loved!), Glacier National Park, Alaska a few times and Yellowstone. The audiobook features the same narrators as the second season, but they didn’t annoy me as much this time around for some reason. I loved the authors’ Bison Tour of 2018 especially, and their personal anecdotes and trip details are a delight to read/listen to. Please check them out!

Book #2:

The Husbands by Chandler Baker (Length: 349 pages).  When I first heard the premise of this novel I thought, Stepford Wives but with husbands. That wasn’t too far off. Part psychological thriller, a teensy part horror/gore and part standard fictional novel. The plot is definitely propulsive because you “have” to find out how it ends, but the “how” of it is very easy to figure out as the author’s clues are way too obvious. The ending also struck me as a bit odd given what we learned about the characters in the book, but maybe that’s just me. You absolutely will need to suspend your disbelief to enjoy this novel. While I don’t think this quite lives up to its hype, I enjoyed it for what it is–an easy, fun summer read.

Book #3:

The Divorce Party by Laura Dave (Length: 268 pages).  I enjoyed this author’s The Last Thing He Ever Told Me (which I reviewed here in September of 2021), so I was looking forward to this one. This primarily character-driven novel features the story of two parallel marriages (one ending and one just beginning). Gwyn and Thomas are separating after 35 years of marriage, and are throwing a Divorce Party on their anniversary; Nate, their son, is about to marry Maggie, and brings her to his parent’s famous house on the island of Montauk to meet his parents for the first time, at the party. The author slowly reveals the older couple’s real reason for divorcing while also revealing the secrets Nate has kept from Maggie, and parallels abound. I do enjoy a good family drama, and the writing is very strong here. But I ultimately finished this book feeling like the character development was too surface . . . perhaps because we are only hearing from Maggie and Gwyn, and not from Nate and his father? So you, as a reader, find out what happens but not really “why”. The ending is sad, which is predictable from the minute you start reading it, so if you’re going to read this, read it for the character development, not the plot.

Book #4:

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (Length: 447 pages).  I’ve mentioned here before that I’m a bit burned out on historical fiction, especially fiction about World War 2. It’s difficult to find a new and different retelling. Well, this is one! This is my second Kate Quinn book, and I’m officially a fan (I’ve got her other 2 most popular books in the queue). My book club is reading this pick and I am very excited to discuss it with my group of smart women because it’s fantastic! Based on the true story of Mila, a female sniper in the Russian Red Army who had 309 confirmed kills of Hitlerites (and likely dozens more than the official total), this is a wild ride. The author based this novel on Mila’s own memoir, with the addition of a few more characters to flesh out the narrative. My only (small) complaint is that the ending (in Rock Creek Park in Washington DC) was very “Hollywood” and I’m not sure I feel better or worse knowing that the author just made that part up. The entire ride is fun, the plot is absolutely propulsive, I loved the friendship Mila enjoyed with Eleanor Roosevelt and the romance(s) were well-done and not cheesy. Read this!! You will NOT regret it.

Thank you for joining me here!   I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.

Book #1:

The Sign for Home by Blair Fell (Length: 415 pages).  Deaf-blind 23 year-old man Arlo Dilly is an orphaned Jehovah’s Witness who wants to take a writing class at a local community college in Poughkeepsie New York. Enter interpreter Cyril, a gay man who has struggles of his own. I loved this book! It’s definitely different from typical novels as the “voice” of the deaf-blind is very distinctive and takes a few pages to get used to reading, but Arlo’s character is truly extraordinary. The middle of the novel is a bit slow but the last 25% absolutely flies by as you have to know how it ends. I’m not a fan of evangelical religions (and neither is the author, thank goodness) but this is a fascinating look at both Jehovah’s Witnesses and deafblind culture. Two thumbs up!

Book #2:

The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Length: 431 pages).  This is a very clever mystery conveyed solely via emails and text messages, so a modern epistolary novel. There is a HUGE cast of characters, which I had a difficult time keeping track of, even toward the end, but this didn’t damper my enjoyment of the ride. Two young law students in England are tasked with sorting through all of the aforementioned evidence to piece together a solution to the mystery. (They are given this task by a partner in a law firm where they are apprenticing–this is the part I had to suspend disbelief as it’s not very clear why they had to puzzle this all out themselves.) Overall, this is a well-done mystery novel with a truly propulsive plot. I’d recommend reading versus listening to this one as you’ll likely want to refer back to previous emails. Let me know what you think if you’ve read this one too!

Book #3:

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (Length: 398 pages).  Yes, the hype is real! This is my favorite of the three EH books I’ve read . . . this is a rom-com that is a bit enemies to lovers but with a twist. A literary agent and book editor both travel from New York City to a very small town in North Carolina, Sunshine Falls. A town that happens to be the focus of Nora’s author’s latest book as well as the town book editor Charlie grew up in. This book features the witty banter and (above-average) character development that EH is known for, as well as the typical frustrations when the characters don’t just TALK TO ONE ANOTHER. But all in all, this is a solid 8/10 for me. A fun summer read with memorable characters that you’ll want to discuss with another book lover in your life.

Book #4:

Finding Me by Viola Davis (Length: 289 pages).  I was gifted this book by a very dear friend, and I really enjoyed the content overall. Viola grew up even poorer than poor, and came into her own decades later as a very talented actress, play by play by play. My only criticism of this memoir is that it could have used some serious editing, mostly when it comes to the organization of Viola’s anecdotes. The majority of the memoir proceeds chronologically but then she randomly mentions a child years ahead of when the child comes into her life, and you don’t hear about the child for several chapters. Otherwise, if you’re a fan of strong women, or Viola as an actress, this is absolutely worth a read.

Thank you for joining me here!   I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.

Book #1:

Arya Winters and the Tiramisu of Death by Amita Murray (Length: 303 pages).  This is a cozy mystery set in a small village outside of London and features a neurodivergent young woman who runs a bakery out of her home. Said baked good are macabre in nature and are apparently selling like hotcakes as she makes enough money to support herself. In her spare time she solves a few murders. Given the protagonist is on the spectrum, this cozy mystery has more depth than most in this genre, but be aware that the reader is not supposed to like her, but I found myself rooting for her, regardless. the central mystery has some truly odd elements, and the ending is a bit annoying. (The Kindle edition has a few typos as well, which is ridiculous in the age of spellcheck.) I am glad I checked this one out, ultimately, because I think it’s important to spotlight those who are neurodivergent and that angle in a “cozy” mystery is fresh, but ultimately given the issues I mention above, I wouldn’t recommend this pick.

Book #2:

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak (Length: 375 pages).  A perfect summer read that MUST be read in paper form so you don’t miss the pictures . . . this thriller is set in a wealthy enclave in Pennsylvania where a recovering addict becomes a nanny during the summer to a 6-year-old boy. She discovers he’s possibly being haunted by or channeled by a spirit as his drawings become increasingly disturbing (and shockingly well-done). The writing is a bit basic but the plot is incredibly propulsive. I really enjoyed the 6 year old Teddy, and I didn’t see the ending coming at all. Again, perfect vacation or poolside read.

Book #3:

Fault Lines by Emily Itami (Length: 220 pages).  A gorgeous short novel set in Toyko about a housewife, Mizuki, who has 2 children and a husband who is constantly working. She ends up having an affair with a stranger she meets coincidentally a few times, and this is her story. I loved reading about Japanese culture (Mizuki plays tourist with the man so the reader gets a front seat to all of this) and this is beautifully written, never saccharine. This is a bit navel-gazing, but you won’t want to put it down. I promise.

Book #4:

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman (Length: 330 pages).  This is a top 10 book of the year for me, for sure. I like my “brain candy” romances to have some depth, and this one does. Chani Horowitz interviews “the” hot celebrity Gabe Parker for a magazine article about him being the first American actor cast as James Bond. She ends up going to a movie premiere with him the next evening, and then to a party at his house the following night. Flash forward 10 years when she interviews him again for a follow-up article. Did they, didn’t they and will they? I LOVED this book! The writing is strong, the character development is excellent and the author does a great job of flashing forward and back between both time periods. I am recommending this to everyone I know in real life, and I hope you get a chance to read it too.