Tag: book review

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

I enjoyed every minute reading this book. It’s one of those books that you’d turn to rather than most other activities on offer. On the surface (ie the cover) it just looks like a light hearted romantic comedy — which it sort of is — but largely due to the stellar writing it is also a set of lovable and realistic characters, great dialog, and a variety of relationship styles that bear further study.

The stated plot focuses on a baby who lands in the laps of three women — Lauren, a ceramic artist who just got her big break; Melinda, recently dumped after 30 years of marriage and raging for revenge — unfortunately applying said revenge in all the wrong places; and Olivia, the daughter of the bar owner who rents the basement of Lauren’s Greenwich Village brownstone for a song. It’s funny, full of characters who are deeply interesting rather than quirky on the surface, and steeped in New York city culture and habitats. Lots of fun — I can’t remember where I heard about it, but I’ll certainly go back and read some of her other books.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo (Fiction)

I read / listened to this book simultaneously, going back and forth between the two editions. The audio book really gives you the lilting flavor of the poetic prose, and much of it is read by the author. On the other hand, for some reason, the audio book does NOT read aloud the chapter headings that tell you which family member is narrating. This can be very confusing as it often takes some time before it becomes obvious whose story is being taken up.

The novel tells the stories of the women of a multigenerational Dominican-American family — each with a gift that is not wholly of this world. It begins with one of the sisters — Flor — demanding a wake for herself in three days. Since her gift is predicting the day of someone’s death, her family naturally expects the worst, though Flor won’t answer any questions. The prose is lyrical, moving between present and past and among the three sisters and the two cousins of the next generation.

The story is slow paced and completely sensual — it is a story of sensory experiences and personal feelings, not a story of plot or thought. That was interesting to me because I realized that I personally prefer more thought and a little less feeling and experience, but I can appreciate the flow. The stories center on women — all the men are described from the women’s perspective which is another interesting way of telling of a story.

I enjoyed the story but you do have to be in a patient mood, as the story unfolds slowly with a different sense of time than I’m used to. Read after the caffeine in your system is spent, else you will not be able to settle in to the language the way you should.

Thank you to Ecco and HarperAudio and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 1st, 2023

Sex Ed by Kristen Bailey (Rom-com)

Mia and Ed — best friends since they began teaching at the same school. Complete opposites — Ed is the buttoned up, uber nerdy, straight laced guy in contrast to Mia’s utterly unbuttoned up (literally — she spends a lot of time on Tinder), party girl who nevertheless has a wonderful way with her students. When Mia finds out that Ed is still a virgin at 28, she takes it upon herself to give him a good (and very thorough) sex education.

It’s pretty obvious that they will eventually get together but it’s done with a lot of humor, some very explicit (and well thought out) sexual instruction, and a warm, tear inducing finish. It’s a Rom-com with plenty of detailed rom and a Rosie Project feel. A little too much of the plot depends on miscommunication which is not my favorite technique, but the book is generally upbeat and fun.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 4th, 2023

Upgrade by Blake Crouch (Science Fiction)

Fascinating premise — that a human species-wide Upgrade through gene editing might be the only hope we have to prevent our extinction. Logan Ramsay — an agent for the Gene Protection Agency whose purpose is to stop all gene modification work after a disastrous effort led to the Great Starvation — finds himself slowly changing with vast improvements to his memory, physical strength and stamina, and compute power. His genome has been hacked and this may be a part of a bigger plan to be applied to all of humanity. But is this a good thing or a bad? And if bad, how can he stop it?

Very easy to read with the kind of clean prose that propels you forward with little awareness of actually reading the words. Plenty of action, but never (OK, not too much) of the endless fight scenes that bore me. A very good exploration of the philosophical questions about what is important for humanity, what cost would be worth it, and what kind of improvements really would “upgrade” the species for the better. I loved the experience of getting to inhabit (through the character) a brain that is so fast, so able to multitask, and has such perfect recall. It is a testament to the writer that I was not alway convinced that our protagonist had it right — I was drawn to the dark side! And the ending — which I obviously won’t give away — made me think. I’m not absolutely convinced by the conclusion but I’m still mulling it over.

I like this kind of science fiction which reminds me of the oldies — exploring where technology can take us, not irreparable doom and gloom, thinking the big thoughts. I’m embarrassed that I haven’t read any other Crouch novels and grateful to the friend who loaned it to me (where it sat in my TBR pile for six months before I gave it a shot).

The House on Prytania by Karen White (Fiction)

This book is completely engaging — a fun, fun read. It’s well-written and full of southern charm, not-always-benevolent departed spirits, quirky but solid characters, with a solid (spirit driven) mystery and threads of romance. Plus it’s set in one of my favorite cities — New Orleans — with plenty of old houses, restoration tales (mostly nightmares), and architectural history. The plot never lets up with kidnappings, hauntings, angry spirits, and whole bunches of stubborn, stubborn, people. So stubborn! Plenty of humor and sass — I particularly like the banter and polar opposite best friends Nola and Jolene who are at the center of the story. Always fun to see the interplay between a woman who dresses in whatever was closer to her on the floor and a woman who won’t leave her bedroom unless she is fully accessorized. Guess which one I identify with!

This is book 2 of White’s new series, a spinoff of her (deservedly popular) Tradd Street series. Nice to have read the others, but not necessary.

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman (Audio Book)

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

Four years later, Lily is just barely getting her life together and keeping the grief to a simmer after her husband is killed in a car accident mere feet from the family home. But this is honestly not a sad book (although the author does a good job of exploring how Lily does claw her way back up out of the grief trough). Instead it’s uplifting, humorous, and meaningful all at once.

An illustrator for children’s textbooks, Lily is sent off to a gardening class at the L.A. Botanical Garden to become one with the vegetables she will need to illustrate for a brand new client. She takes her two children (5 and 7) and her sister Rachael with her, and to say the class is populated with some wonderful characters is an huge understatement. The book is clever, literary, and linguistic — I love that Waxman is both a fantastic writer and chooses to write a world where bad things happen, but the individuals involved can make good things happen too. Her characters have agency. I also like the way she works with stereotypes and diversity issues — tackling the assumptions people make about each other and the surprise and follow up understanding when their assumptions are challenged. Very skillfully done.

I listened to this on audio book and the reader was fantastic. I probably would have preferred to read it in book form, though, because I like to savor Waxman’s writing and that is hard to do when you’re listening (and driving, hiking, or otherwise too busy to stop and do some kind of audio underlining). I did manage to capture a couple of lines though: “Just turn the handbag of your soul inside out, and shake it“ and “She has people skills like lions have gazelle skills.” As a bonus, there was a lot of actively good gardening instructions, given in small, digestible, pockets. Take note!

Lost Hours by Paige Shelton (Mystery)

Writing: 3/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 4/5

The best part of Shelton’s Alaska mystery series is the set of characters that populate the small town of Benedict. Beth Rivers is the crime novelist who came to Benedict a year ago to hide from her still-on-the-loose kidnapper (he was finally found and incarcerated in the last book); Viola, the tough-as-nails manager of the halfway house; Orin, the peace-sign flashing librarian and computer genius; and Gril, the grizzled police chief relocated from Chicago.

In this, the fifth installment, Beth gets involved with a woman claiming to have escaped her own kidnapper who was killed by a bear. But the woman is not exactly what she seems, and a whole pile of complicated connections must be unearthed before the solution can be found.
A little more filler in this one, but still an entertaining read.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on December 5th, 2023

Bessie by Linda Kass (Fictionalized History)

Writing: 3.5/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4/5

This is the fictionalized story of Bess Myerson — the first Jewish Miss America, winning the prize in 1945. The author chose to focus the book on her early life — her upbringing, experiences in the Bronx (where the family had moved from the Lower East side for the trees, parks, and fresh air!), and her moral development. The book follows her story in a primarily linear fashion, culminating in an appearance at Carnegie Hall at the end of her year as Miss America. The epilogue goes on to summarize the rest of her professional life on TV and in public government and her personal life (I’ll let you read that in the epilogue so I don’t spoil the story).

What I loved in the book was the description of the Jewish community life in the Sholom Aleichem Housing complex (open to Jews when most were not). Her entire extended family lived in the 200 apartments across 15 buildings. The community was full of musicians and artists and though her family was by no means well-off, she was given piano lessons from an early age and as pushed to excel. That is the Jewish culture in which I was raised — not one of religion but of art, music, and study! — and I love reading biographies and stories that percolated out of Jewish New York City in that time period (check out any Marx Brother biography for an even wilder, but somewhat similar, ride).

What I didn’t love about the book was the level of fictionalization. I’m not a fan of fictionalizing real people when dialog and thoughts are created when none actually occur. The author does a good job of summarizing what she made up vs what was real at the end of the book, but for my taste she made up too much — she added in scenes that she felt could have happened based on her deep understanding of the character and that is her prerogative, but I really like to keep my fact and fiction separated. I can honestly say that I doubt this will bother anybody else — I seem to be the only person who likes to keep the line between fact and fiction solid and thick!

Thank you to She Writes Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 12th, 2023

The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair (Historical Mystery)

This is book five of the historical mystery series starring Iris Sparks (with a possible dangerous past) and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (an aristocratic war widow with a young son who is fighting for her rights in Lunacy Court!). Together they run the Right Sort Marriage Bureau in post WWII London, but they simultaneously seem to be in just the right place to solve murders, much to the chagrin (and eventual admiration) of the local police.

While this is book five in the series, it’s book one for me. I was able to keep up just fine but I do feel a lot must have happened in the previous books. I can’t tell how much progress was made in the personal situations for both women before this story — may be better to start at book one!

In this book, they get an unusual client. A woman dying of cancer comes in to line up a wife for her husband after her passing. Unfortunately, that passing happens more quickly than expected. Simultaneously, the very conservator who has been holding Mrs. Bainbridge hostage during her fight with the Lunacy Court has also turned up dead. The body count steadily increasing only seems to stimulate the interest of the two women.

The plot kept my interest, and I enjoyed learning about various procedures / processes in that (still rather unfriendly to women) time period. The writing was a little stilted for my taste, but overall I enjoyed it.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 25th, 2023

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (Women’s Fiction)

Another light and uplifting story from Jenny Colgan. Women’s Fiction with humor and wit taking up more space than the actual romance (the romance honestly felt kind of secondary here which was fine with me ). A sequel to The Christmas Bookshop: bookstore manager Carmen Hogan deals with an obnoxious millionaire anxious to turn the lovely street into a tacky Souvenir Row, getting booted out of her sister’s lovely home to make room for a charming, one-armed manny, and her own pining for the love of her life whom she somehow scared off to the wilds of the Brazilian jungle.
Great banter, ridiculous and yet utterly believable plot twists, and characters that are interesting and yet normal at the same time because people actually are interesting if you go just the tiniest bit below the stereotype. Lots of fun to read.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 10th, 2023