I read this because Paula loved it, and we traded book recs (I had her read Thursday Murder Club). I really liked this book a lot. It does the main thI read this because Paula loved it, and we traded book recs (I had her read Thursday Murder Club). I really liked this book a lot. It does the main thing I want from my books, and that's get me emotionally involved. It wasn't perfect for me, though, mainly because of the ending (see spoilers below). But this is definitely worth reading, and if you like historical fiction centering female friendship, you will probably like this a lot.
I will say, don't trust the blurb, it gives expectations the book isn't interested in fulfilling. I was reading the book a certain way the whole time, largely because of the blurb, and was thus very angry and surprised by how things turned out*. No expectations are best!
*Seriously do not click this spoiler tag unless you want to be spoiled all to hell. (view spoiler)[This is the kind of book that will kill a main character just as they have achieved happiness, and it made me furious. I was reading this book as a wacky ode to female friendship in a time of trauma and hardship, plus science! And buddy comedy shenanigans. There are elements of all of those things, but as Paula pointed out to me, Enid is not a co-protagonist or there to just be friends with Margery, the MC. She is a co-antagonist, working in parallel to her opposite, the POW with PTSD who is stalking them. This sort of reframed the whole book for me.
I did not appreciate being fooled into thinking this was one type of story, when it was another altogether, hence the four stars instead of five. (hide spoiler)]
I do recommend checking out this hidden gem. I'd never even heard of it before Paula told me to read it because she loved it so much. ...more
"Who cared about sex, really? When what you needed was someone to talk to in the dark."
One of my favorite books of the year. I don't know how I'm goin"Who cared about sex, really? When what you needed was someone to talk to in the dark."
One of my favorite books of the year. I don't know how I'm going to write a review of it. (As I sit here trying to write a review because I stupidly picked this for CBR BINGO.)
All right it's been several hours, so we're gonna do what I always do when I can't make feelings into thoughts into words into sentences. BULLET POINTS!
* Margo has no money, a baby, and is twenty years old. The baby has ruined her life. She has negative money, can't emphasize enough.
*The baby's dad was Margo's English professor.
*Margo's mother is a former-Hooter's waitress and her father is an ex-professional wrestler.
*Margo has decided to do OnlyFans because the way some of the women she has found in her research can be creative and express themselves while making a lot of money.
*Margo's dad moves in with her and their relationship is MY FAVORITE. It's so heartwarming, because he's the only family she has that has helped her and taken an interest in Bodhi (her baby) and because she was the result of an affair herself, she never got to know him before this, so watching them learn to love each other up close is so great.
*Jinx (her dad) helps her with her OnlyFans by using the terms and ideas behind professional wrestling to help make her a success.
*This is in a lot of ways a coming of age story, but it's one steeped in the current day, with concerns about social media, sex work (neither of which mean the same things to the same generations), drug use, and how hard it is to succeed let alone stay afloat if you aren't born into a family that has money.
*It's fucking funny.
*The arc of the book is watching Margo come into her own, learn who she is as an adult, and overcome the objections of people who think her unfit to parent her own child.
*I love all the characters even Mark the shitbag baby daddy, who it turns out is a really good father
*Except lies I really hate Shyanne (Margo's mother) and her new husband.
*Seriously I really fucking loved this book and everyone should read it.
CBR BINGO 2024: Smash (I have chosen "Disasterpiece" as my portmanteau. It is a combo of disaster and masterpiece, because Margo embodies both concepts, but also because this book is a masterpiece about a disaster of a human being.)...more
I think I will nearly always like a true crime adjacent book. Add in the faux oral history aspect of this one, and the fact that it's about a family wI think I will nearly always like a true crime adjacent book. Add in the faux oral history aspect of this one, and the fact that it's about a family who choose to go on a reality TV show "to find their missing daughter" and my interest in this was pretty huge. It mostly delivered, but it was also a pretty straightforward thriller without much of interest to say about true crime or reality TV beyond that it's gross, exploitative, and hurts people. It also kind of shot itself in the foot in terms of story tension, as the twists nearly always gave themselves away, mostly it seems on purpose?
So Kill Show is a fake oral history (the story is entirely told in interviews done by an invisible interviewer) about the events surrounding the reality TV show Searching for Sara ten years earlier. We are told this will be a published book, concerning the reality show and the events surrounding it. We hear from nearly everyone, including Sara's father, who is in prison for a reason we won't learn until later.
The plot was reasonably twisty, the characters reasonably interesting. There is a strange, toxic doomed sort of romance at the heart of the book, which I found a bit puzzling, but whatever. But again, the reveal that Sara is dead is given to us very early on. Why wasn't that a twist? The author has created a situation where we as readers know nothing, and all the characters know mostly everything, so why not play with that more? It could have been two plot twists instead of one (well three instead of two, but spoilers), first that Sara was dead, and second the reveal of how she died. Instead, the main source of intrigue in the plot is finding out why she died.
The audiobook was pretty good, even though none of the narrators really stood out to me. It's always fun to get a full cast narration, especially in books like this one that are playing with the line of reality and trying to make you forget what happened here is fiction.
Wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to recommend this to anyone, but it was a good time if you like this sort of thing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Glorious Exploits is a semi-unhinged historicalThanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Glorious Exploits is a semi-unhinged historical fiction novel about two dudes living in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War who decide they're going to take advantage of the Athenian prisoners of war currently being kept in their town's quarry in order to put on a production of Euripides's Medea, a super cheerful play about child murder.
Two things drew me to this: that cover (I mean . . .) And the fact that it was set on Sicily, the home of my ancestors. For all I know, one of these two dudes is the reason I'm alive! Or someone like him, anyway. Also, it sounded ridiculous, and indeed it was! Did I mention that the author is Irish and the Sicilian characters talk in Irish vernacular?
I think I would have rated this higher had I done the audiobook, as I did have a bit of a hard time keeping my attention on the e-book, but this is a funny and surprisingly hard-hitting book that executes a very weird premise with skill.
This was more like People We Meet on Vacation than it was Book Lovers or Beach Read, so it's not my super fave. But I love Emily Henry's style so thisThis was more like People We Meet on Vacation than it was Book Lovers or Beach Read, so it's not my super fave. But I love Emily Henry's style so this still gets four stars.
This is a second chance romance where most of the characters are unaware our main pair has even broken up. Their very close friend group does a shared vacation every year at a sentimental place, and because this is the last year they'll be able to go there (one friend's family is selling it) and because something special is happening while they're there, our MCs Harriet and Wynn decide to pretend that they never broke up at all to avoid introducing conflict and drama into their stay, which of course leads them to fixing what went wrong in the first place.
Since it has now been four months since I read this, I'm definitely sure of my four star rating, because this has turned out to be the least memorable and sticky of all EH's adult romances for me. I liked the characters and I liked the plot and had a good time while reading, but it will never be my go-to comfort read. There is quite a bit of angst (justified and not) in these pages, before our characters are able to figure things out.
I never forgot I was reading a book with this one.
I am, however, BEYOND excited for next one....more
This was almost perfect. I just wanted a little bit more from it at the end. Will be updating my spreadsheet of things that make me want to read lit-fThis was almost perfect. I just wanted a little bit more from it at the end. Will be updating my spreadsheet of things that make me want to read lit-fic to include unstable, lovable, queer neurodivergents.
“But my interest is in how these marks that I am scratching on this page can mean anything at all. If they can have meaning, then life can have meanin“But my interest is in how these marks that I am scratching on this page can mean anything at all. If they can have meaning, then life can have meaning, then I can have meaning.”
Will need to revisit this one in the future for sure....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the content of my review.
I quite enjoyed my time with this lovely little book.Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the content of my review.
I quite enjoyed my time with this lovely little book. You might want to have the proper expectations going in, though, because the blurb is a little misleading. I had no expectations so I was fine. This is a mystery, but not, and this is a revenge story, but not. It's melancholy and full of grief, but also cheeky and the main characters are also full of love, and the arc of the book is not violent justice, but reconciliation and healing. You should also go in expecting something slower paced and quiet.
This is a book that follows Snow the fox in 1908, Manchuria, China, who has entered the human world in order to track down a man that she holds responsible for the death of her child two years before. Foxes in this world can pass themselves off as human, but always stand out. The best part of the book was all of Snow's talk about what it means to be a fox and how foxes must live in order to survive among humans. Her sections are told in first person POV. The second narrator is the private investigator Bao, but his sections are told in third person as he is hired to find the fiancé of man who disappeared into thin air, and he becomes involved in the mysterious death of a woman found frozen to death outside of a restaurant, which leads him in other directions as well. The first half of this book feels a bit disjointed as a lot of disparate pieces of the story are floating around, but they all come together and make sense by the end.
I haven't read this author's previous two books, though The Ghost Bride has been on my TBR since it was first published, so I can't say where this book lies in comparison to the other two. But I found this enjoyable in an understated way; just a quiet piece of historical fiction with a fantastical tilt. It also does that thing that good historical fiction does where it teaches you about a culture and a place without being didactic about it, as you go through life with the characters.
I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author, and she did a great job. I don't normally think authors should narrate their own books, but this is one of those rare occasions where it really works. She has a clear, pleasant voice, and knows how to do the voices properly without being melodramatic about it. I might have to track down a physical copy of this one to keep, and I definitely recommend it....more
This was just fine for me! I would read more by the author, but this felt a little derivative, and also like the author didn't truly understand traumaThis was just fine for me! I would read more by the author, but this felt a little derivative, and also like the author didn't truly understand trauma responses, or neurodivergence. Still, a good enough time!
"What do we love?" "Your fake relationship," Ashleigh says. "Well, I don't," I say. "Now there's no good way to get out of it. I mean, when we 'break up"What do we love?" "Your fake relationship," Ashleigh says. "Well, I don't," I say. "Now there's no good way to get out of it. I mean, when we 'break up,' Peter will get to feel smug and superior about that. "That's no problem," Miles says, pouring a taste of white wine for each of us. "All we have to do is get married, and then stay together until they split up. And if they have kids, just have one more than them. If they get a dog, we get a cuter dog. If they buy a new house, we get a mansion." "A perfect plan," I say. "Why didn't I think of it?"
Okay, I have loved and/or liked every Emily Henry book that I have read, but I haven't felt The Emotions at the end of one of her books since Beach Read (that one made me cry). They are different emotions here! But still. There were a lot of them. I feel—as one does with all one's true favorite books—that this was written just for me.
In fact, I love this book so much that I DO NOT WANT TO REVIEW IT, but I will say a few things, anyway.
This is a book about two people who have just been crushingly and humiliatingly dumped by their exes so that the two exes could be together. So our main character, Daphne, and her ex-fiance's new fiance's ex-boyfriend are now roommates. And one night after get thrillingly drunk, they RSVP yes to the wedding, which leads to Daphne panic-confessing to her ex the next morning that she and Miles are dating YES THEY ARE. The fake dating in this is pretty tame, and mostly in the background, but it provides an impetus for our two knuckleheads to get out of their doldrums, get to know one another, and fall in love. Which they do. AND IT IS SO GOOD.
I will also tell you that Miles is one of the best people I have ever heard of before, and I love him, and I will be taking no questions at this time. Also, there is a subplot in here about making friends as an adult, and the friendship that results made my heart grow three sizes, I loved it so much.
The CONVERSATIONS THESE TWO HAVE TOGETHER. And their cute tourism thing as Miles tries to convince Daphne not to move away from Waning Bay! And the thematic resonances and shit!!! Oh my god I just loved it so much, and yes I'm totally on a book high and might regret this in the future, but also I MIGHT NOT.
To finish this out, here is my personal ranking of EmHen's (this is what we are calling her now, yes?) adult books:
1. Funny Story - 5 STARS 2. Beach Read - 5 STARS 3. Book Lovers - 5 STARS 4. People We Meet On Vacation - 4.5 STARS 5. Happy Place - 4 STARS...more
Who am I kidding, this is five stars. It didn't hit me as hard as previous books of hers have, but there is no fault here. She's just a master of charWho am I kidding, this is five stars. It didn't hit me as hard as previous books of hers have, but there is no fault here. She's just a master of character and atmosphere, and she knows how to seed a twist in such a way that it has thematic value, not just shock value.
Like its predecessor, The Searcher, this is a slow burn character study of a mystery. Also like The Searcher, this is a mystery where the investigation isn't even the third most important thing happening. This is a mystery where our main characters are involved in the happenings in a decidedly non-legal way. It's still a bit of a shock reading these books when I'm so used to being so deeply on the side of the law with her Dublin Murder books, whereas here many of the characters are actively obscuring the course of "justice", and we're meant to sympathize with many of them, to some degree. Cal is a retired Chicago cop, and he has taken that retirement seriously. It's far important to him to keep the peace in his new community, and most importantly, to keep his surrogate daughter Trey safe.
The plot in this one kicks off (though seriously, prepare for a slow burn with intricate character dynamics here) when Trey's absentee father comes swanning back to town, stirring up the whole place with talk of making a fortune. A fancy Englishman he met in London has stories of gold hidden in the fields and the mountain, stories he heard from his granny, who moved to London decades before. All is of course, not on the up and up, and the presence of Johnny Reddy leaves not a stone overturned.
I was absolutely pulled in by this book and its intricate small town politics. The character of Mart, the little king of the little mountain, continues to be one of Tana French's most fascinating, and the little family Cal has created in Ardnakelty her most endearing.
Already impatient to see what she will write next....more
This was a very well done book that was not for me.
This was a book club pick for one of my IRL book clubs, and I was actually really looking forward This was a very well done book that was not for me.
This was a book club pick for one of my IRL book clubs, and I was actually really looking forward to it, as the subject matter sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, the style the author used and the stuff he wanted to focus on just didn't really gel with my tastes.
So this is a book that is mostly set on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, which was used as a place to segregate people with Haden's Disease (commonly called leprosy) in the late 1800s all the way up through the 1960s. The settlement was called Kalaupapa, and it was not a place for patients to go to recover voluntarily, but a place they were forcibly removed to by the government, after being arrested (!) for having the disease in the first place. Because Hawaii is a colonized island, native Hawaiians were particularly susceptible to the disease, which was brought to the island by non-natives. The disease tore apart families and was heavily stigmatized, criminalizing and moralizing against those who had it.
All of which is super interesting! But this book mostly follows the personal lives of the patients on the island, starting with Rachel, a six year old child at the time the book starts. And it does so in very bland prose. The leprosy and the island act mostly as backdrops to the human drama taking place there. Which is fine! But this is not really what I wanted from this book. I wanted more about the disease, about the way it affected people on more than a personal level. I wanted a more interesting narrative voice. It's clear that Brennert did A LOT of research about not only Moloka'i, but Hawaii itself, as the lead up and events of the overthrowing of the Hawaiian Kingdom take place during this time. There's a lot on offer here. I just wasn't that into it.
I don't think I would read from this author again, and I won't be continuing the series....more
Yikes. That didn't go as planned. Sometimes you read a book and you're not sure what went wrong or why you didn't vibe with it. Other times you know EYikes. That didn't go as planned. Sometimes you read a book and you're not sure what went wrong or why you didn't vibe with it. Other times you know EXACTLY what went wrong and it's SO FRUSTRATING. Why why why didn't the author just *not* do what they did, everything would be so good? Why can't you use your time machine to go back and tell the author how to fix it?? whyyyy.
Anyway, this premise remains so tantalizing, which is why I picked up the book. Advika is a twenty-six year old aspiring screenwriter who is swept off her feet by the much older and much more powerful and famous Julian Zelding, Hollywood producer and Oscar winner (they meet at a post-Oscar's part that Advika is bartending). After they are married, Julian's first wife dies and leaves a clause in her will that Julian's "latest child bride" can have $1M and a mysterious reel of film if she divorces him. This prompts Advika to rethink things and investigate Julian's relationships with his three (really four) ex-wives.
But that's not actually what the book is about, the way it plays out. That is the book the writer of the blurb created out of the actual book, which does not start the day the ex-wife dies. Ex-wife and her intriguing Will don't come into play until 40%! First, you have to watch Advika "fall in love" with the douchebag that you know from the start won't last (or you should know! because you read the blurb! i have seen people complain about the bad romance in this book and i just can't, where is your brain?). Then you have to wait and wait and wait while he slowly controls her and manipulates and isolates her and it is AGONIZING and boring at the same time.
I wish I could say that my feelings for the book changed when the ex-wife's will came into play, but they really didn't. I was too frustrated with the book at that point, and its terribly linear and obvious and not even fun plotline. Come on, ex-wives whose talents are routinely suppressed by mediocre man who has failed and plagiarized upwards? That could have been so cathartic! Instead, this book is a drag, because Advika is a drag. And I'm not referring to her grief over the death of her twin sister, which was the only part of the book that really got me in my feels. Mostly, though, the way the book is structured makes it impossible for us to feel any sort of pleasurable feelings from the tension created by good stories.
So here's how this book could have been great: Keep the first chapter—their meeting at the Oscars afterparty—as a prologue. That worked really well. Then skip to them having been married for more than two months or whatever ridiculous amount of time actually plays out here. Give it like six months maybe, or more—a year or so. Enough that their relationship has weight, and Advika's emotional state is really in a rut. This makes the reader go in with certain assumptions about their relationship, and gives us stakes. It also avoids the problem of forcing us to watch them "fall in love."
Then, as Advika is living her normal, stilted little trophy wife life, the announcement of the ex-wife's will comes into play. Suddenly, Advika is defensive, and uncomfortable, and curious. And so are we as readers! Then we could have had the best bits of the all the stuff we skipped inserted in as full flashbacks as Advika is reevaluating things and getting over her grief, and a lot of the stuff could just have been inserted as her recollections in the normal flow of the narrative. This would then have opened up some space for her to have some actual deep and important to the narrative and her character growth conversations with the other characters in the book, instead of being miserable and in her head all the time. I think that structure could really have also given some extra oomph to the ending, as Advika (view spoiler)[plans her escape (hide spoiler)], which should have been a much bigger part of the story, because plots and machinations are FUN. (As it is in the story, we just get her telling us what she did which was not very satisfying.) And finally, (view spoiler)[ the accidental pregnancy plotline (hide spoiler)] should have been introduced much earlier and been a part of Advika's actual conflict, instead of being thrown in in the epilogue with just a clue or two hinting about it in the rest of the book. That would have given her urgency to leave that much more importance.
So that is how this book should have gone, obviously, in my opinion. But I really think I'm right about this. And I'm sad that the author didn't have an editor who told her that the way she was doing it was not the best way.
I'm probably being more harsh on this book than it deserves. It's readable, the characters are fine, it kept my interest. But it could have been great, and fun, and it wasn't. Lost potential really gets to me, and usually the books that have it really clearly are the ones where I go off. As you can see above is the case. Anyway, you might like this despite my bloviating. But maybe also you would have liked my version better. I guess we'll never know!
Loading...
