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Published on Leave a comment on The Big Door Prize
The Big Door Prize Book Cover The Big Door Prize
M. O. Walsh
FICTION
G.P. Putnam's Sons
September 8, 2020
Hardcover
384
Purchased

What would you do if you knew your life's potential? That's the question facing the residents of Deerfield, Louisiana, when the DNAMIX machine appears in their local grocery store. It's nothing to look at, really--it resembles a plain photo booth. But its promise is amazing: With just a quick swab of your cheek and two dollars, the device claims to use the science of DNA to tell you your life's potential. With enough credibility to make the townspeople curious, soon the former teachers, nurses, and shopkeepers of Deerfield are abruptly changing course to pursue their destinies as magicians, cowboys, and athletes--including the novel's main characters, Douglas Hubbard and his wife, Cherilyn, who both believed they were perfectly happy until they realized they could dream for more...

Written with linguistic grace and a sense of wonder, The Big Door Prize sparkles with keen observations about what it might mean to stay true to oneself while honoring the bonds of marriage, friendship, and community, and how the glimmer of possibility can pull these bonds apart, bring them back together, and make second chances possible, even under the strangest of circumstances.

My review: I read this author's debut novel, and just didn't get the hype it received (My Sunshine Away). As I mentioned in that review, I did really like the writing style, so was anxious to try another book. I am happy to say that the content of this one was much more to my liking. It's basically a story about a small town, with a great cast of characters, who we follow once they learn what their destiny is supposed to be. Some are believers in what the DNAMIX machine in the local supermarket spits out, some are skeptics, but all are changed by what is written on the tiny scrap of paper. While everyone else is getting exciting predictions of magicians, cowboys, and even royalty, poor Douglas gets a prediction of exactly what he is already doing. Is that a good thing, or not? We follow all the residents as they navigate their mundane lives with their newfound knowledge, and what this means for them and their relationships. Once again in this novel, the writing is stellar. The buildup of the town and characters was very engaging, and the book kept me interested from start to finish. I loved that this was a story that I have never encountered before, and with all the books I read, that is a high compliment!

A novel about people's potential, and how knowing that can impact your dreams and decisions. What would you do if you knew you were destined for something else?

Published on Leave a comment on Invisible Girl
Invisible Girl Book Cover Invisible Girl
Lisa Jewell
Fiction
Atria Books
October 13, 2020
Advanced reader copy
368
Free from publisher

Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.

In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.

Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.

Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.

My review:

I've enjoyed many books from this author in the past. Every time I write a review I feel that I have to mention my very favorite, The House We Grew Up In. That book was published before the author started down the mystery/thriller pathway, but I feel it's important to point to that book to understand the way Jewell can develop her characters. That favorite was most definitely a character study of a novel, but thankfully that ability to make characters come alive on the page has not left once she switched genres. That is also not to say that I liked all the characters in this particular book. I think there will be a lot of opinions on Owen, not all of them positive, but I'm in the Team Owen camp! I felt bad that he was cast as the creepy person on the block, and therefore was the obvious fall guy when a teenage girl goes missing. This book teaches a valuable lesson about how your impression of a person doesn't always correspond to what is going on  behind closed doors. While Owen was my favorite character, I was rather ambivalent about Cate, and not really a Saffyre fan. As usual for this genre, there are lots of secrets going on with the main three who narrate the story (Owen, Cate, and Saffyre), as well as lots of the supporting characters. This one is not fast paced in the beginning, the author takes her time setting the stage, but it picks up dramatically in the last third when we can't wait to see how things really unfolded the night Saffyre went missing. I think a line from the press release sums this book up nicely:

A story of secrets and injustices, Invisible Girl evaluates how we look in the wrong places for the 'bad people' while the real predators walk among us in plain sight.

A solid read for the mystery/thriller fan. I loved the character development and central message to the story. However, I would be remiss if I didn't (once again) put in a plug for my favorite Jewell novel, The House We Grew Up In 🙂

Published on Leave a comment on His Only Wife
His Only Wife Book Cover His Only Wife
Peace Adzo Medie
Fiction
Algonquin
September 1, 2020
Hardcover
288
Purchased

Afi Tekple is a young seamstress whose life is narrowing rapidly. She lives in a small town in Ghana with her widowed mother, spending much of her time in her uncle Pious’s house with his many wives and children. Then one day she is offered a life-changing opportunity—a proposal of marriage from the wealthy family of Elikem Ganyo, a man she doesn’t truly know. She acquiesces, but soon realizes that Elikem is not quite the catch he seemed. He sends a stand-in to his own wedding, and only weeks after Afi is married and installed in a plush apartment in the capital city of Accra does she meet her new husband. It turns out that he is in love with another woman, whom his family disapproves of; Afi is supposed to win him back on their behalf. But it is Accra that eventually wins Afi’s heart and gives her a life of independence that she never could have imagined for herself.

My review:

Talk about a riveting first line:

“Elikem married me in absentia; he did not come to our wedding.”

How could you not want to keep reading? As good as the first line is, I felt the rest of the novel followed suit. I will say that this will not be a hit for everyone, as not a lot happens plot wise. This is more of a character driven novel (my favorite), and one that shows the life progression of Afi. Afi starts out with not a lot going for her in life, but her beauty is useful to Elikem's family, who do not approve of the woman he is with, and want Afi to convince him he would be better off with her. You can't help but feel for this poor girl who is essentially being used as a pawn in the family's game. She starts off so meek and mild, but gradually Afi gets her bearings and actually falls in love with Elikem. I'm going to stop there, because saying a lot more would give too much of the little plot there is away. I thought the writing was great in this, sometimes character novels can be a bit wordy, but the author did a nice job keeping it succinct and to the point. The ending was totally satisfying, although it would have been fun to follow Afi a bit longer in her life.

I seem to have read a lot of books set in Ghana recently, and most of them have been solid reads, but a bit depressing. This one has a much more upbeat tone as we watch Afi spread her wings! Definitely one for your list.

Published on Leave a comment on The Talented Miss Farwell
The Talented Miss Farwell Book Cover The Talented Miss Farwell
Emily Gray Tedrowe
Fiction
William Morrow
September 29, 2020
Hardcover
352
Free from publisher

At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. Dressed in couture YSL, drinking the finest champagne at trendy Balthazar, Reba, as she’s known, is the picture of a wealthy art collector. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make.

But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely—a quiet single woman known as Becky who still lives in her family’s farmhouse, wears sensible shoes, and works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller.

No one understands the ins and outs of Pierson’s accounts better than Becky; she’s the last one in the office every night, crunching the numbers. Somehow, her neighbors marvel, she always finds a way to get the struggling town just a little more money. What Pierson doesn’t see—and can never discover—is that much of that money is shifted into a separate account that she controls, “borrowed” funds used to finance her art habit. Though she quietly repays Pierson when she can, the business of art is cutthroat and unpredictable.

But as Reba Farwell’s deals get bigger and bigger, Becky Farwell’s debt to Pierson spirals out of control. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life?

My review:

Even though I've seen this one slotted in the mystery/thriller category, I would not call it that. I guess there are only so many genres to choose from, but I feel that people going into this one expecting thrills will not get what they were looking for. However, I did get what I was looking for, and if you've followed my blog, you'll know that I don't need a novel chock full of surprise twists to keep me entertained. I really enjoyed the slow buildup in this one as Miss Farwell gets herself further and further enmeshed in her schemes. I'll admit that it does drag down a bit when some background info on both the art world and finance are given, but those parts are definitely necessary to understand how the scheming works. As much as I wanted to not like her, Miss Farwell grew on me, as she would go out of her way to help others and has every intention to give everything back to the town. I was a huge fan of the ending, not too pollyannish, but with Becky making the most of herself as she did throughout the book.

As long as you don't go in expecting a mystery/thriller, this one is a fun exploration of obsessions and the old adage 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. It just might make you want to attend your next town council meeting to check on the budget balancing!

Published on Leave a comment on I Have Something to Tell You
I Have Something to Tell You Book Cover I Have Something to Tell You
Chasten Buttigieg
Biography & Autobiography
Atria Books
September 1, 2020
Hardcover/Audio
256
Purchased

Throughout the past year, teacher Chasten Glezman Buttigieg has emerged on the national stage, having left his classroom in South Bend, Indiana, to travel cross-country in support of his husband, former mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Pete’s groundbreaking presidential campaign. Through Chasten’s joyful, witty social media posts, the public gained a behind-the-scenes look at his life with Pete on the trail—moments that might have ranged from the mundane to the surprising, but that were always heartfelt.

Chasten has overcome a multitude of obstacles to get here. In this moving, uplifting memoir, he recounts his journey to finding acceptance as a gay man. He recalls his upbringing in rural Michigan, where he knew he was different, where indeed he felt different from his father and brothers. He recounts his coming out and how he’s healed from revealing his secret to his family, friends, community, and the world. And he tells the story of meeting his boyfriend, whom he would marry and who would eventually become a major Democratic leader.

With unflinching honesty, unflappable courage, and great warmth, Chasten Buttigieg relays his experience of growing up in America and embracing his true self, while inspiring others to do the same.

My review:

Pete Buttigieg was my candidate for the 2020 presidential race, and I followed his campaign pretty religiously until his last rally before dropping out of the race (which I attended in Raleigh, NC). Along the way that meant that I started paying attention to his husband Chasten. From his behind the scenes Instagram shots on the trail, to cute pictures of their dogs, and culminating in his Instagram live sessions when the pandemic struck, I gravitated toward his boyish charm and quick wit. His memoir is an excellent combination of that charm and wit, along with sincere dialog about growing up gay in the midwest. I bought the audiobook when I learned that Chasten himself would be narrating it, and let's just say that it was like listening to him telling his story at my kitchen table. His angst at knowing he was different as a teen and being afraid to come out was heartbreaking, and the main crux of this book is to help others (especially teens) know that it's okay to be different, and how to be the best presentation of your true self. Of course I loved reading about his meeting Pete, their wedding, and tales from the campaign, but this was not the main focus of this book. It was the story of Chasten's life, with not only the sexual identity parts, but also his difficulty settling into a career that he loved, his overwhelming student loan debt anxiety, as well as what it feels like to go from teacher to 24/7 campaign mode with no advance coaching! In case you were worried that this would be just another political memoir, I would unequivocally say no. There is some mention of the orange one, but mostly in reference to policies for the LGBTQ community, and at the tail end of the book. Chasten's the type of guy you would just love to have as your next door neighbor, and his memoir encompasses all the great qualities of a good human!

I loved this memoir, and I'm not big on memoirs in general (I usually find them boring). This had everything going for it. It was sad in parts, it made me mad, it made me say "awww", and it made me laugh out loud (I will never look at a Clif bar without thinking of you Chasten!). I cannot wait to see what the next chapter of his life looks like!

Published on Leave a comment on The Last Story of Mina Lee
The Last Story of Mina Lee Book Cover The Last Story of Mina Lee
Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Fiction
Park Row Books
September 8, 2020
Hardcover
352
Purchased

A profoundly moving and unconventional mother-daughter saga, The Last Story of Mina Lee illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America.

Margot Lee's mother, Mina, isn't returning her calls. It's a mystery to twenty-six-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the tenuous invisible strings that held together her single mother's life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother.

Interwoven with Margot's present-day search is Mina's story of her first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention. While she's barely earning a living by stocking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing Mina ever expects is to fall in love. But that love story sets in motion a series of events that have consequences for years to come, leading up to the truth of what happened the night of her death.

Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee is a powerful and exquisitely woven debut novel that explores identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong.

My review:

I was excited for this one based on the synopsis, then I began to see some not so great reviews, so went into it with a bit of trepidation. I am happy to report that I really liked this mother/daughter story! This book follows Margot in real time, and her mother Mina throughout her life in America. Margot is a first generation Korean-American, and has always been embarrassed by her mother. They live in poverty, her mother works long hours for them to get by, and she has never learned English after arriving from Korea before Margot was born. Margot is more than happy to escape to Seattle after attending college, but on a rare trip home to visit her mother, she discovers her dead in their apartment. As Margot begins to talk to people and go through her mother's things, she learns a lot about her that she never knew (or took the time to find out). Concurrent with Margot's quest for the truth, we are given the story of Mina, an undocumented immigrant trying to live the elusive American dream. While I did find Mina's story more interesting, I felt that Margot added a lot to the narrative when she begins to understand her mother's plight, and why she acted as she did. By the end of the book, Margot develops empathy, and wishes she had taken more time to engage with her mother while she still could. There are lots of lovely passages about the immigrant experience in America, the promise of a better life, loneliness, and fear, among others. This one is a good summary of Margot's awakening:

Margot, who could only see her mother as the impossible foreigner, with her rapid-fire Korean and embarrassing, halting English, who could only see her as an oppressive prop in Margot's own story, realized more and more that, in actuality, her mother was the heroine. She was the one who had been making and breaking and remaking her own life. 

A well constructed, highly enjoyable story about a mother/daughter relationship, and the immigrant experience. Well worth the read.

1

Published on 1 Comment on The End of Her
The End of Her Book Cover The End of Her
Shari Lapena
Fiction
Pamela Dorman Books
July 28, 2020
Hardcover
352
Purchased

In upstate New York, Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin babies. The girls are a handful, but Stephanie doesn't mind being a stay-at-home mom, taking care of them while Patrick does the nine to five to pay the bills.

When a woman from Patrick's past drops in on them unexpectedly, raising questions about his late first wife, Stephanie supports her husband wholeheartedly. She knows the car accident all those many years ago was just that--an accident. But Erica is persistent, and now she's threatening to go to the police.

Patrick is afraid his job--and his reputation--will be at risk if he doesn't put an end to Erica's questioning immediately. And when the police start digging, Stephanie's trust in her husband begins to falter and Patrick is primed to lose everything he loves. As their marriage crumbles, Stephanie feels herself coming unglued, and soon she isn't sure what--or who--to believe. Now the most important thing is to protect her girls, but at what cost?

My review:

This one was a fast read for me, as most thrillers are. There were parts that I really liked, the twists were definitely plentiful at the end, but there was one glaring thing that bothered me so much that it ruined a good chunk of the book. The main characters are parents of twin girls who are eight months old and still have colic. The parents are sleep deprived from walking them for hours every night. I wish that I had counted the number of times it was mentioned how exhausted they were, but seriously it was written at least once per page for the first half of the book! You may be thinking that I'm being pretty rude for suggesting that this would be a legit complaint, but hear me out. The mother is sitting on a huge amount of money she recently inherited, don't you think she could have hired a babysitter/nanny to come over and walk the babies so she could get some sleep? Aaarghh, I was screaming at her to take control of the situation! Needless to say, she didn't take my advice, so her character bugged me throughout the novel. Despite my issues with that, the author does a nice job of setting up the rest of the characters and situations to reach the twisty conclusion. There was a lot of questioning of who to trust, and my advice would be to go with the flow and not trust anyone! The ending was a bit of a stretch in one part, but it did have the jaw dropping effect most thrillers are aiming for.

This one was a fast paced thriller that will keep you entertained and on your toes, as you try to figure out all the moving parts. I'm sure most will not have the same issue with the sleep deprivation as a plot tool, but do me a favor and hire a "baby walker" if you ever find yourself in need of some sleep!  LOL

Published on Leave a comment on Transcendent Kingdom
Transcendent Kingdom Book Cover Transcendent Kingdom
Yaa Gyasi
Fiction
Knopf Publishing Group
September 1, 2020
Hardcover
288
Purchased

Gifty is a fifth year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.

But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith, and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanain immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief--a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi's phenomenal debut.

My review:

This author had such huge success with her debut novel Homegoing, I was a bit nervous for her as I opened the cover of her second novel. I had no reason to be, this is an author whose writing transcends (yes, I went there with the play on the title!) so many other fiction novels out there. I was also pleased to see that other than the gorgeous writing and ties to Ghana, this story was not anything like Homegoing.  Gyasi takes us into the life of Gifty, a woman working on her phD, a project that involves the effects of reward  and addiction on lab mice. Gifty has a lot of internal strife, her brother has died of a drug overdose, her mother is depressed, and her father absconded back to Ghana when she was very young with the promise that he would be coming back. As you can probably tell, this novel is not going to win any uplifting story recommendations, but not so fast.....Gifty's perseverance and rise above it attitude keeps things moving along without it becoming a total downer. I thought the characters were very well formed, and despite the tragedies, I found myself rooting for them to find peace within their lives. A chunk of the book dealt with Gifty's spirituality, which isn't really my thing to read about, but at the same time the lab experiments probably bored other readers, while I found them fascinating. I found the ending to be perfect as I couldn't have handled another story with a depressing ending (here's looking at you A Burning).

Lovely writing and a timely narrative dealing with a woman trying to rise above what could have been her 'lot in life'. Gifty is a character I won't soon forget. I also won't soon forget Yaa Gyasi, who has resoundingly taken her place among the gifted writers of our time.

Published on Leave a comment on All the Acorns on the Forest Floor
All the Acorns on the Forest Floor Book Cover All the Acorns on the Forest Floor
Kim Hooper
Fiction
Turner
September 15, 2020
Advanced reader copy
288
Free from publisher

A couple brimming with the hope of a new pregnancy. A woman coming to terms with the truth behind her adoption. A husband trying to save his marriage from the despair of infertility. These are just a few of the stories in All the Acorns on the Forest Floor, a book about the lengths we go to for the love of our children, our spouses, our mothers, our daughters.

All the Acorns on the Forest Floor is a book of connections between people, connections lost and found, across time and space. There are stories of women who never became mothers (by choice or by fate), women who became mothers in unexpected or nontraditional ways, and women who gave up or lost babies. There are emotional aftershocks with each character's personal earthquake, aftershocks that shake their lives and force them to consider who they are, what they want, and how they love.

My review:

Here's what you need to know about me before reading this review. No matter how many times I try, I am not much of a fan of short stories. I've tried to pinpoint why, and the best I can come up with is that I always want more than each story can give me. There have been a few exceptions out there, and I would say that this is one of them. If a book of short stories is going to pull me in at all, it has to be one where there is an overlap of characters (to satisfy my I need to know more). This book does that really well. The characters may not show up in each story, but they are interspersed through the book to make you feel like you haven't lost touch with them. I must also talk about the lovely writing and overall themes. I think the synopsis does a great job of exploring the themes within better than I could, so I will encourage you to read that. This one will definitely play on your emotions, there are sad, happy, and everything in between moments happening.

A concise, quiet book about love and connections, this was an enjoyable short story book. And I don't usually put enjoyable and short stories in the same sentence, so it's a definite for those who are short story lovers.

Published on Leave a comment on Playing Nice
Playing Nice Book Cover Playing Nice
J. P. Delaney
Fiction
Ballantine Books
July 28, 2020
Hardcover
416
Purchased

Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.

The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.

They are done playing nice.

My review:

My favorite kind of thriller! One with a slow burn where you become comfortable with the characters and feel that you know them. You are not being thrown twists at every turn that sometimes interrupt the storyline for me. This is a book that really makes you think what if this were happening to me? What would you do if the child you had cared for the last 2+ years wasn't yours? What about the child who is? This is a page turner as a situation that seems manageable at first, slowly turns in to one that isn't. Lots of secrets are unearthed, the effect of nature vs. nurture is given good coverage, and the desperation of the parents is so palpable! I liked the way this one alternated between the parents of Theo, with case worker and court briefings interspersed. I thought the writing was good, particularly the parts where we are privy to what the characters are thinking. While I wasn't completely sold on the tidy ending, I really liked the slow and steady buildup to it.

This was a really good thriller, with enough twists and turns to satisfy those who crave that, but at the same time more of a character study for those of us who prefer that. Nice short chapters lend this one to be a quick, fast paced read.