I am not sure what it was about this book that made me keep speeding up the time so it would go faster. I think perhaps since the mystery itself was revealed to the reader early in the book and it was not solved by the crime’s victims until later. I just couldn’t wait for the characters to discover who took their daughter. THeme of toxic theology and religious and cultural trauma. Audiobook narrator uses a british accent and the pacing of the mystery just didn’t work for me. This one was a miss for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.
This book grabs you and slowly pulls you into a small country town and a collection of tragic, untimely deaths that will leave you reeling. This book is heartbreaking, but in the very best way, and you will no doubt hold your heart and sigh. EVERYONE IS GOING TO READ THIS BOOK. I am sure of this, it is going to be on every top ten list this year, everyone’s book club pick, and a movie will be made, so you might as well add it to your TBR now.
The very symbolic beginning starts when a dog runs into a field of sheep and attacks the lamb, as it likely the dog’s nature. The farmer shoots the dog to save the rest of the flock, and a 10 year old boy, Leo, cries out. Leo believes his dog has been murdered. Leo and his father Gabriel are new to the small country village in England after being in America, Gabriel is returning back to where he grew up after a divorce from Leo’s American mom.
Small towns are where everyone is connected, and the farmer, Jimmy Johnson, has a close brother Frank and his wife, Beth. It turns out that Beth was Gabriel’s first love, and they still have feelings for each other 10 years later. Beth and Frank have a good partnership, but one that has been racked with tragedy. Two years ago, Beth and Frank lost their son Bobby, who was Leo’s age.
Gabriel and Beth become friends again, and Beth begins to look after Leo. She tells Frank that it helps her with Bobby, because no one else in her life will let her talk about her dead son.
I read this book in one sitting, it is historical fiction as it takes place mostly in 1968, but jumps back to 1955 when Beth and Gabriel and Frank meet, and jumps forward at the end to 1975 when the tragic events of the book have all run their course to a future of hope. The story sits with you for some time, and you consider what intimacy means. Can you be in love with two men at the same time? Can you love a child in the same way you loved your own? Can your relationships heal after losing a child?
If you have lost your only child, are you still a mother?
It will make you think about how you treat the people in your lives that have overcome loss.
Thanks to @netgalley and @simonbooks for the ARC. Book to be published 3/4/25.
A twisty, turny multiple POV story across several days and characters. Jasmine and Stephanie are both on the same flight, and Jasmine has a lot more to escape from, a terrible relationship with an abusive partner. Stephanie is bound for San Diego to a business trip for people in local news to learn and bring back to her team. A few days later, both women send identical texts to their close friends saying that they met a great guy named Trent and they are going to spend some time with him in Atlanta. Then both of them go missing.
50% of the way through I thought it was definitely a five star read and I could not, for the life of me, understand why the reviews were averaging 3.77. Now that I have finished, I understand where the ratings go. The short of it is, the ending is not exactly what you want it to be. But it is definitely a surprise. Somewhat unbelievable, but books in this genre usually are. This is a really fast paced thriller with parallel content. Some of the “friend” and “Coworker” characters go away and never come back once the narrative goes back to the main characters. And you really do miss them, I loved some of those characters, or at least, I wanted to know them better. There are a couple of male characters that are utterly detestable, the kind you love to hate.
This is definitely one that is better on audio. Ten different narrators! WOW. That is pretty unheard of. It gives the narrative a transparency and an authenticity that I really enjoyed. I will admit I was SO engaged in this book that I kept speeding it up so I could get to the conclusion faster.
Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the ARC. Book to be published January 14, 2025.
I am not sure what to say about this one. It is a random snapshot of a few random, unimportant days of a random, not-very-interesting girl’s life. Not very big on plot, but for some reason, very well written and descriptive. I enjoyed coming into the world of a professional organizer, especially one in southern california that caters to billionaires and others in the entertainment industry.
Jane has a boyfriend, Teddy, who is a generally happy and satisfied person, she is not. Jane weighs herself every day and measures her self-worth based on what the number says. She is in excellent health and pretty much is satisfied with her job, she just has this general sense of malaise. I am wondering if I missed something, like, did her coworkers and clients and friends have some sort of common thread that I didn’t notice? Her mother is pretty critical and she has this negative self-talk. Every once in awhile she helps herself to something that her clients are getting rid of in their closets. Am I supposed to be angry about this? Is this supposed to make me like her less or more?
I am kind of ragging on this book, but it somehow was enjoyable to read. Again, it is really well written even though it was a bit boring. A solid 3.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC. Book to be published August 12, 2025.
Mary is such a common name in the first century that her husband Enos decides she will be known as Simona. Seems kind of strange to give your young wife a new first name, but hey! Lots of things were different about marriage in the first century. Mary seems like an obedient, nice enough young Jewish girl. She comes across as a little naive, but this makes sense due to her young age and lack of any education. She has heard about the preacher/prophet Jesus, and wonders if he could be the messiah.
Then a Pharisee (one of the devout elite religious establishment) notices her and offers her parents a large sum of money to take her as a wife. I’m telling ya. Not much about marriage in the first century remotely resembles what we would view as marriage. Anyway, she is bored a lot, gets a maid and a lot of fancy new clothes, he is really controlling of her, but it is hard to know if this is weird for the time or not. She becomes pregnant but loses the baby, which makes her very sad. Simona is alone a lot. Turns out Enos is one of the Pharisees trying to bring down Jesus, they believe he is a false prophet and Herod’s governor Pilate will have him executed.
Somehow Mary has faith in Jesus, really without much reason, not having heard him speak and just praying to him. It does have a happy ending although Enos is pretty upset when he learns she is a “Jesus follower.”
I definitely felt sorry for Simona/Mary, and it was a very good historical/Biblical fiction story, I just felt that the characters, particularly Enos, were pretty one-dimensional. When I was younger, I always heard about the Pharisees and thought they were the bad guys, and OF COURSE if I were there I would be a Jesus follower. But as I have grown older, I wonder if the Pharisees didn’t really think they were doing the right thing, they were very devout, religious people like myself. I personally believe Jesus was the best teacher of all time, and I like considering how tales about his miracles and teachings spread across Judea.
A quaint story about a young girl that helps us imagine what life would be like in the first century. This book reminded me of the American Girl doll historical fiction books but about Biblical times.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tyndale for the ARC. Book to be published March 11, 2025.
friends, let’s celebrate as I have gotten my very first physical ARC. Hooray! I feel like I have hit the big time as a book blogger.
Katerina has her big break, she is finally going to be a lead coloratura soprano role in an opera based on Barbarella. It is with a smaller opera company in Midtown, but it is in Manhattan at the center of the operatic community. She is confident and excited but has to deal with her understudy Yolanda who thinks she deserves the role, and the day they meet Yolanda poisons Kat by slipping an entire bottle of eye drops into her green tea. Kat can’t prove it, and passes it off as a prank, but she ends up hospitalized. Over the course of the next few months, they have a frenemy relationship, we aren’t sure if Kat should trust Yolanda, or what the deal is with her past. The book takes a turn at around the 50% mark, and to not give any spoilers, but this is when the book actually gets good.
Frankly the first half of the book made me a bit uncomfortable, it seemed vaguely misogynistic and problematic. The whole “women in competition with each other/cat fight/jealousy”narrative is tired. I don’t love the story of women competing with each other and trying to wipe out the other and hating each other. No thanks. This is a harmful trope whether they are fighting over a man or a role. So ironic, too, that they are competing for the lead role in an opera based on a role made famous by Jane Fonda who is one of the most prominent feminist activists of her generation.
That all changes when something happens halfway through, and the rest of the book is great. So if you are reading this and you can get to the middle you will find a good character study, cat-and-mouse psychological mystery/thriller that keeps a strong pace and satisfying and unpredictable conclusion. The Manhattan and opera business setting was exciting and a fun atmospheric element to the pacing and narrative.
I was given a complimentary advanced copy of this book from Penguin Random House/AA Knopf in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published August 5, 2025.
Absolutely loved this book and classic Elissa Sussman telling two stories in alternating timelines. But this time it isn’t a second chance romance. It’s a wonderful story with an unforgettable protagonist you will root for.
Lauren is a widowed single mom to teenager Lena, her husband Spencer died in an accident when Lena was only 1o. One timeline is about Lauren falling for her brother Gabe’s best friend Spencer. The second timeline is after Spencer’s death and Lauren falling for Ben, a famous movie star. The setting is the small town of Cooper, Montana.
Falling for Spencer involves them coming to terms with his faith tradition which seems like an evangelical type of Christian upbringing. Also she unfairly has a reputation born of small town life. There is a strong theme of being against purity culture in both timelines, Lauren’s birds and bees lecture to Lena and her friend is excellent. All of the dialogue really rings true. Lauren must rationalize and understand how she can still grieve Spencer while being able to fall in love again.
“Love is a shape shifter. It will look different at 18 than it will at 40 than will at 80. It will feel different. You don’t fall in love- it isn’t something you trip and tumble over. Love is something you need to hurtle yourself into– something you race toward heart first, even if you don’t know what will happen. Especially if you don’t know what will happen.”
Read it. Save it. Re-read it. I can’t wait until it is published so I can highlight my favorite parts.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the ARC. Book to be published July 8, 2025.
4.5 stars rounded up Time travel queer romance- although Darby the main character is turning 30, this reads like more of a YA romance, which is sweet and follows along with the main theme. And all of us can relate to this concept– what would you say to your younger self if you could? Would your younger self recognize you? How would it change you now to be reunited with your younger self?
Darby is a trans man living in NYC with a vibrant community of friends, although he worked for a start up that has gone belly up. Darby is originally from a small town in the midwest, and his mom called to let him know she is moving, so Darby is going to visit…. and maybe stay… in the same small town he grew up in. His one time friend and crush Michael still lives there and goes to all the football games, in fact, a lot of the people Darby grew up with are still there. And can you go home again? The age old question?
I don’t want to give away any spoilers here, but Darby does experience a split in the space time continuum to be able to visit the bookstore where he worked as a teen, and is able to access the bookstore and his younger self in 2009, when he still thought he was a girl, albeit a broken one. Darby didn’t change his name when he transitioned, which eliminates any literary issues of how to address his younger self without deadnaming him.
Has anyone given this book to Hollywood producers yet, and obviously Elliot Page can please play Darby?
Darby is insecure and a realistic and likable lead. Michael is a compelling love interest. But Olivia and all of Darby’s friends (as his mom says, “your gay friends” and Darby says “all my friends are gay, mom.) (lol) are fantastic minor characters.
I like time travel and time slip romances quite a bit, it was nice to have a trans character, nice to see a “back in my hometown” romance and I don’t want to give away the ending, but it ends differently than it usually does at Hallmark. The ending was not what I expected and I had to sit with it for a few days to realize that I loved it.
Highly recommend for fans of Casey McQuiston and Ashley Poston. Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Vorager for the ARC. Book to be released January 14, 2025.
Molly the Maid is very endearing to us, the way she quotes her beloved gran, the loyalty and love she has for her fiancé Juan-Manuel, and most importantly, the dedication she has for her role as head maid at the Regency Grand. I have loved this heartwarming cozy mystery series from the beginning, so I jumped at the chance to read an Advanced Reader Copy. This is the first one that I did not listen to audiobook, and frankly I missed it, this is one of the best audio narrated series. The narrator always made Molly’s voice come alive to me, and reading this I could not help but read it in her voice.
Molly and Juan-Manuel are preparing for their city hall wedding in a few weeks when they learn that their favorite show, Hidden Treasures, will be filming an episode in the Regency Grand. This is an Antiques Roadshow type program, hosted by two husbands. Although they are a little star struck, the staff is allowed to bring their treasures to be evaluated. Molly brings a box filled with her Gran’s old “treasures” and is shocked to find out that their golden egg is actually a Faberge egg worth millions! The hosts set up an auction and Molly is catapulted into stardom…. the audience is just as enthralled with Molly as we have been for the last two books and novella, and for good reason. Molly now has a stage and a following.
I really LOVE the relationship between Molly and Juan-Manuel. He has Gomez Addams level adoration for her. They are such a great pair. The fact that this story is a theft and not a murder to solve makes it very readable and much more in the “cozy” mystery category, which I loved. Interspersed with Molly’s narrative are diary entries that Gran passed down to Molly talking about her young life. We finally get to learn of Gran’s origins, how she came to have Molly’s mother, Maggie, and what led to her finding John Preston late in life. The Maid’s secret, as noted in the title, is not Molly’s secret, but Gran’s.
Molly is very surprised at her “fans.” She doesn’t know if they are laughing at her or with her. Even though Molly is surprised, we aren’t. Because we have loved her since the first blue book.
To me the Gran chapters were slower, I honestly missed Molly’s voice and the no-nonsense way she looks at the world. But it was a great payoff at the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House- Ballantine for the ARC. Book to be published April 8, 2025.
Give me a heartwarming novel about an elderly person EVERY DAY OF THE week. Eddie Winston works at a charity counter, he takes boxes of donations and goes through them. Most of the time not everything is sale-able. Sometimes he sees something in the box that he just can’t bear to throw away. It’s how he adopted his guinea pig Pushkin Spider-Man Winston. And every once in awhile they come back looking for it.
One day a young pink haired girl came in with a box from her boyfriend Jake. His converse with writing all over them were in the box and Eddie knew they were special. Bella and Eddie become friends, and when she finds out he is a romantic that’s never been kissed, she become a Cyrano sort for him. He gets on the dating apps and starts dating. And Bella finally starts seeing a therapist to deal with her grief.
We also get a multiple POV timeline in the past with Eddie and Birdie, who is the one who got away.
This book is just as sweet and endearing as it sounds. There are several conversations that had me laughing out loud, the characters are so well developed, I won’t forget them anytime soon. I got into the narrative right away. If you like books like A Man Called Ove and The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, add this book to your TBR!
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC. Book published today!
