Fiction Review: The Women

My first audio book for this year's Big Book Summer Challenge was The Women by Kristin Hannah. I always enjoy her novels and had heard good things about this one, but this book astounded me. It was an absolutely stunning novel that will stick with me for a long time.

Frances "Frankie"  McGrath is just twenty years old in 1965 when she graduates from nursing school and decides to follow in her brother's footsteps. He's in the Air Force and has been sent to Vietnam, so Frankie signs up for the Army Nurse Corps. Her father is always talking about their family's proud history of service to the country (he even has a family "hero wall" in their house), but when Frankie announces her decision, he's not proud of her; he's angry. Both of her parents feel that Frankie should stay home, get married, and have children like a respectable woman, but Frankie heads to boot camp. A year later, she is shipped out to Vietnam. Frankie has almost no nursing experience, and in boot camp, the nurses were mostly taught how to roll bandages and change bed pans. But this is real life and real war. Frankie meets her new roommates, Barb and Ethel, and that very first day, she's thrown into the deep end when helicopters with wounded soldiers begin to arrive. She's immediately surrounded by blood, missing limbs, and dying boys. Though ill-equipped at first, Frankie soon becomes a surgical nurse and is eventually one of the most skilled nurses there. 

The three women finally return home, with their minds filled with the horrors of war, and try to go back to their lives. They return to a changed America, where veterans are no longer revered but reviled, and war protestors scream terrible things at them. Frankie's father will barely speak to her, and her mother expects her to settle down and get married. But Frankie suffers from horrible nightmares and crippling flashbacks (what would later be known as PTSD). Worst of all, when she says she was in Vietnam--even at the VA--people tell her over and over that there were no women in Vietnam. Her life is a mess, and she doesn't know where to turn,. She, Barb, and Ethel have become lifelong friends, and they're the only ones who truly understand. Frankie's path to normalcy and health is a long, slow, twisting one, but by the time the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is dedicated in 1982, both she and the nation have begun to heal.

Where to start? Everything about this novel is completely engrossing and powerful. It's clear the author did a lot of research for this novel, including first-person accounts by women nurses who went to Vietnam and returned home, as well as details about the time periods. In an author's note, she explains that she's wanted to write this novel for a long time but felt she wasn't a good enough writer to do the story justice until now. It was worth the wait. The details--both during the war and of Frankie's experiences afterward--are vivid, horrifying, and realistic. I was very young during the war, but I remember my cousin and uncle being drafted and going to Vietnam, an experience that changed their lives forever. In fact, my uncle died from cancer (and suffered lots of other health problems) caused by Agent Orange. 

But this novel isn't just about the horrors of war. The reader experiences everything along with Frankie: the comradery among the troops, the need to let go and have fun once in a while even in the midst of war, the fierce friendships formed, and even the passion and love that develop between people put in such pressure-cooker situations. The audio was very well done, narrated by the talented Julia Whelan, and completely immersive; I couldn't bring myself to start another audio for a week after finishing it because it was still living in my head. This was an amazing, epic novel I won't forget that brings to light the contributions (and heavy price paid) of these brave women whose role and impact was mostly overlooked. It's a stunning, powerful story and so important to tell.

480 pages, St. Martin's Press

Macmillan Audio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Vietnam

Literary Escapes Challenge - California

Big Book Summer Challenge

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from an early chapter, at Frankie's brother's going-away party.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

     
  

Fiction Review: Honey

Back in 2017, I had the pleasure of reading a wonderful novel, Edgar and Lucy (my review at the link), and meeting its author, Victor Lodato, at Booktopia. He and his book were favorites of my mom and me at the event that year, so I was thrilled to hear he has a new novel out this spring, Honey. When he sent me a copy to review, he explained, "This novel is my whole heart," and it shows. I finished this beautiful novel with tears in my eyes and hugged it to my chest. It's that good.

Eighty-something Honey has returned to her hometown in New Jersey. As a young woman, Honey escaped this world--her father's world--first to college, then to New York, and finally to Los Angeles, where she lived a happy life. Her father was a powerful mob boss, strictly ruling both his business and his family, and Honey saw some horrific violence as a teenager. She escaped to the world of art and enjoyed a successful career in auction houses on both coasts. But after her two closest friends in LA both died, Honey decided to finally go back home, to reckon with her violent past and hopefully make peace with it. At first, it seems as though nothing in her family has changed, except the faces. Her parents are gone, but her nephew now heads up the family business. In a short span of time, a quirky, unrefined new neighbor named Jocelyn--wearing overalls, of all things!--drives into her young cherry tree, her grandnephew Michael bursts into her home asking for money and looking like he's on drugs, and her Lexus gets stolen. Old resentments bubble to the surface, and Honey is torn between forgiveness and revenge. As she battles her rage, Honey encounters a young painter who seems quite talented, attends too many funerals of old friends (and enemies), makes a new friend, and falls in love. Through it all, she tries to come to terms with her family and her own assumptions about the world around her.

This beautifully written novel explores the full range of human emotions and love in all its forms. My copy is filled with bookmarked funny or insightful or thoughtful quotes. Honey is a flawed but extraordinary character, who is still capable of change at her advanced age. She doesn't think change is even possible at the beginning of the story, but as she struggles with unexpected situations and previously hidden emotions, she even surprises herself. Honey is at the center of the novel, but the other characters are just as well-drawn and interesting. This isn't just a character-driven novel, though. As with Edgar and Lucy, there are plenty of surprises in store for the reader (and for Honey as well), as well as a wonderful sense of humor. This novel is about love, loss, aging, art, forgiveness, and second chances--it's about life, with all of its complexities, sorrows, and unexpected joys. And the ending is absolutely perfect.

400 pages, Harper

Harper Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - New Jersey
 

 Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. Sample from the beginning--I love the narrator!

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (a different audio sample here, with a glimpse into Honey's LA life).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

      <script
      src="https://bookshop.org/widgets.js"
      data-type="book"
      data-affiliate-id="1993"
      data-sku="9780063309616"></script>      
  

Teen/YA Review: Dangerous Lies

During the R.I.P. Challenge in October, I enjoyed a unique YA thriller about the Witness Protection Program, Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick.

Stella Gordon is starting over in the tiny, remote town of Thunder Basin, Nebraska. Her name isn't even really Stella, but that's the name she's been given by the Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), after witnessing a shooting in her own home involving a dangerous drug cartel. Now, a U.S. Marshal has dropped her off at a farmhouse that feels like the middle of nowhere to Stella. An ex-cop named Carmina is pretending to be Stella's foster mother, as part of her cover story. Nothing in Thunder Basin feels familiar, and Stella misses her old neighborhood in Philadelphia, her best friend, and especially, her boyfriend, Reed, who is also in WITSEC now. The only thing Stella doesn't miss is her addict mother, who also witnessed the murder but was put into a treatment program. Stella's been the only responsible one in her household for as long as she can remember, and at least it's a relief not to be worried about her mom for now. She tries to settle into Thunder Basin, and to pass the endless boring hours, she gets a job and joins a local softball team. The first friend she makes is a guy that lives down the road from Carmina, Chet, who wears a cowboy hat and mows her lawn for her. Over the summer, Stella and Chet get closer, and Stella wants so badly to tell him who she really is, but the danger of being found is always there, plus unexpected dangers right in town.

I'm fascinated by WITSEC (if you are, too, check out the TV show, In Plain Sight), so I was hooked right from page one of this fast-paced novel. Stella is prickly and defensive, but she grows on you, as you see the hurt and vulnerabilities beneath. The author has created interesting, real-feeling characters and a story that pulled me right in. Suspense and tension come from multiple places in the plot, as Stella encounters problems in town, as well as the ever-present danger of being found and the stress of pretending to be someone else. There were plenty of surprising twists that kept me turning the pages. This is more than just an action-packed thriller, though. It's also the tender, warm story of a young girl finding a home and learning to feel safe and loved.

384 pages, Simon & Schuster

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge (extra points for being on my shelf for 8 years?)

R.I.P. Challenge
 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  

Fiction Review: Voyager

I finally finished my biggest book of Big Book Summer 2023, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, book three in her amazing Outlander series that begins with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber. It was 870 pages long, and I was sorry when it ended!

I will tiptoe around the description to avoid any spoilers for those who have not yet read books one and two. In the first book, WWII has just ended, and a young British woman named Claire has reunited with her husband, Frank, for a second honeymoon in Scotland. Claire worked as a nurse during the war, and Frank was a military officer. While Frank is doing some genealogical research, Claire explores a ring of ancient stones nearby. When she touches one, she finds herself instantly transported back to 1743. Lost and alone, two hundred years in the past, she eventually meets Jamie, a tall, redheaded Highlander. The rest, as they say, is history. Book two has Claire and Jamie traveling to France to try to convince King Louis XIV to support Bonnie Prince Charles in Scotland's fight for independence (we all know how that ends). Here, in book three, Jamie and Claire are apart for the first 200 pages or so, and through a series of flashbacks and story-telling, the reader finds out what has happened to each of them during the past twenty years, since book two ended. Once they are reunited, the title of the book becomes clear, as they set off on a voyage across the Atlantic.

This was my favorite of the first three books so far! I loved it so much that after reading 870 pages over a month's time, when I finally finished it, I immediately turned the page and began reading the first chapters of book four, included at the back. In fact, several days later, I am still dearly missing Claire and Jamie and the other characters. All of that is just to show you how incredibly compelling these books are. Gabaldon writes fascinating historical fiction, filled with both widely known events and the small details of everyday life. Jamie and Claire's epic, across-centuries love story is at the center of it, of course, but these books are not typical romances. Voyager, in particular, was non-stop action and adventure from cover to cover. So much happens in this novel! The characters encounter everything from prison to pirates in settings from 1960's U.S. to 1700's France to a ship in stormy seas to the jungles of the Caribbean. Tension and suspense were sustained throughout this gripping novel. It's not hyperbole to say that I stayed up much too late every single night because I just couldn't bear to put the book down ... just one more chapter ... I can't wait to read book four, Drums of Autumn.

870 pages, Dell

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif  - July: one-word title

Alphabet Soup Challenge - V

Travel the World in Books  - Scotland, France, Jamaica, Hispaniola

Big Book Summer Challenge

 

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!
 

Fiction Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God

I recently read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston for the first time, a perfect choice for Black History Month. I never read anything by Hurston in school. Now that I think about it, I don't think we read any books by Black authors in high school! That was the 70's/80's; I know my sons' literature curriculum was much more diverse, thank goodness. This classic novel, published in 1937, was an absolute delight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As the novel opens, a woman named Janie walks through a town at sunset. Because of the time of day, everyone is out on their porches and watches as she walks by, gossiping about where she's been and what she's done. Jamie has been gone for a year and a half, and from the gossipers, we know that she left town in a fancy blue dress with a younger man in a car, and she is returning alone in muddy overalls and a ratty shirt, barefoot. As Janie reaches her own home, her best friend, Pheoby, greets her with a dish of food. Janie gratefully gulps down the dinner, starving, and then tells Pheoby her story: not just the story of the last year and a half, but her whole life story. She begins with her earliest days as a child, brought up by her grandmother without a mother or father, and continues through to this evening and how she came to be returning to town in such a bedraggled condition. The rest of the novel is her story.

That's the framework of the novel, Janie telling Pheoby her story. I don't want to disclose any more of Janie's story here because it is riveting to read as it slowly unwinds. That was one of the surprises I encountered in this book: just how gripping the plot was. A lot happens to Janie, and she lives a full life, with plenty of ups and downs between her grandmother's home and returning to her own front porch this evening. The other surprise was the language and the writing itself. The dialogue is all written in the Black dialect of Florida in the 1930's, and I had heard it was difficult to read. It did take a little getting used to, but I soon adjusted to the rhythm and cadence of their speech, sort of hearing it in my mind as I read. The surprise was how much fun Hurston has with the language, especially with the unique similes and metaphors the characters use, like "Speakin' of winds, he's de wind, and we'se de grass. We bend whichever way he blows." Characters' mutual teasing on the front porch of the general store is clever and often laugh-out-loud funny. Many beautifully written passages are also very thoughtful:

"The spirit of marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. It was there to shake hands whenever company came to visit, but it never went back inside the bedroom again."

This novel was unique at the time--and for many decades after--for describing ordinary Black lives. Its focus is not on slavery or discrimination (though some of that is along the edges of the story) but just people living and loving, with joys and sorrows. In fact, much of it takes place in an entirely Black town in Florida, the first of its kind and a real place. I finished this book almost three weeks ago, but I still find myself thinking about it. I'll add it to our shelves of classics, and I have no doubt I will read this moving, delightful novel again.

193 pages, Amistad

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR

My own Classics Challenge (the one I usually do stopped this year) - a classic by a BIPOC author

Alphabet Soup - T

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes - Florida

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, beautiful read by actress Ruby Dee, and/or download it from Audible.  The sample is from the beginning of the book, as Janie walks back into town, and her neighbors gossip. It sounds wonderful on audio!

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

 

Or you can order Their Eyes Were Watching God from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver was my first audio book of 2023, and I can already tell that it will be one of my top reads of the year! I'm a huge Kingsolver fan, and her early novels The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees have permanent spots in my mental Best Books of All Time list. I've enjoyed her more recent novels, as well, but now she has published another book on a par with those early hits. In Demon Copperhead, she uses the inspiration and basic outline of the classic novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens to write an epic and original coming-of-age novel set in modern-day Appalachia.

Young Damon is nicknamed Demon from a young age, as nicknames are common in the hills and hollers of his home in southwestern Virginia. He narrates this story of his life (at least the young years), beginning at the beginning, when he was born in a single-wide trailer to an addicted young single mother. His father, whose green eyes, red hair, and Copperhead moniker he inherited, died before he was born at a local waterfall area called Devil's Bathtub, leaving poor Demon fatherless and afraid of bathtubs. Mrs. Peggot, the next-door neighbor, was there for Demon's birth and was an important part of his life afterward, as a surrogate grandmother. She was also raising her grandson, Maggot (aka Matt Peggot), who was Demon's best friend, since his own mother was in prison. Demon and Maggot's best years of their youth were spent together running through the woods behind their homes and playing superheroes. Demon not only liked to play superheros, but he loved to draw them--and make up his own--from a young age. As the boys grow up, though, Demon faces a nonstop parade of calamities and challenges, from an abusive stepfather to the wild vagaries of the foster care system and worse. But he tells his story with wit and wisdom.

That is only the very tip of the iceberg of Demon's remarkable story. He endures horrifying and heartbreaking trials as he grows from a child into a teenager and eventually a young man. But, this is not only the story of this one remarkable and remarkably unlucky boy. It's also the story of a whole population, as Kingsolver delves into the real-life issues in Appalachia and America's poor, rural communities, including the foster care system, addiction (particularly opoid addiction), the lack of jobs, and more. You might expect this to be a depressing novel, but it's not. Yes, sometimes, the turns that Demon's young life takes are heartbreaking, but his narrative is also hilarious. Kingsolver is an extremely talented storyteller, and this is one of her best tales, told in a wholly unique voice I came to adore:

"First I got myself born. A decent crowd was on hand to watch, and they've always given me that much: the worst of the job was up to me, my mother being let's just say out of it.

On any other day, they'd have seen her outside on the deck of her trailer home, good neighbors taking notice, pestering the tit of trouble as they will. All through the dog-breath air of late summer and fall, cast an eye up the mountain and there she'd be, little bleach-blonde smoking her Pall Malls, hanging on that railing like she's captain of her ship up there, and now might be the hour it's going down. This is an eighteen-year-old girl we're discussing, all on her own and as pregnant as it gets. The day she failed to show, it fell to Nance Peggot to go bang on the door, barge inside, and find her passed out on the bathroom floor with her junk all over the place and me already coming out. A slick fish-colored hostage picking up grit from the vinyl tile, worming and shoving around because I'm still inside the sack that babies float in, pre-real-life."

The colorful language that Demon uses--and especially the hilarious similes and metaphors--make every page of this book an absolute delight to read. Demon is a wonderful character, but he is also surrounded by fully fleshed-out, real-feeling people, both good and bad.

As I said, Kingsolver has based her modern-day story on the basic framework of David Copperfield, which I read a few years ago for Big Book Summer, but you do not need to be familiar with that classic to enjoy this new novel. It absolutely stands on its own. However, if you have read David Copperfield, you are in for an extra helping of pleasure. The parallels between the stories and between the character names are like Easter eggs for readers who've also enjoyed that classic. I listened to Demon Copperhead on audio, and the narrator, Charlie Thurston, fully inhabits Demon's character and voice (listen to a sample). It's a long book that took me almost all of January to finish listening to it, but I was still sorry when it ended because I hated to leave Demon and his friends. This is a spectacular, epic story told by a consummate storyteller. Just reading those first paragraphs that I excerpted up above makes me want to start back at the beginning and read it all again.

560 pages, Harper

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Literary Escapes Challenge - Virginia

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the outstanding audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

 

Or you can order Demon Copperhead from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: The Matzah Ball

My last book read in December 2022 was, appropriately, The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. This was a departure for me, as I don't normally read many romances or holiday-themed novels, but it was a special exception. Both the author and the main character share my chronic illness immune disorder, ME/CFS. It was refreshing to see my own life reflected in the pages of a novel (which is rare), but the book was also entertaining and a lot of fun.

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt's father, Rabbi Aaron Goldblatt, is a world-renowned Jewish religious leader. She was brought up on Long Island and attended the Jewish Camp Ahava every summer of her youth. When she was eighteen, she was struck down with ME/CFS, a debilitating immune disorder, though she lives her life as best as she can, within the limits of her disease. But Rachel has a big secret, kept from everyone except her best friend, Mickey: Rachel is a best-selling author, under the pen name Margot Cross, of ... Christmas romances. She knows it would destroy her parents (and possibly her father's reputation) to find out about her secret life, so she tells everyone she's a freelance writer. In her apartment, her spare bedroom/office is crammed from floor to ceiling with all kinds of Christmas decorations, posters of her books and movies, and awards she's won, plus her enormous collection of Santa figurines. Margot Cross doesn't make public appearances, but that is just fine with Rachel, since she wouldn't have the stamina for it anyway. Now, her summer camp nemesis, Jacob Greenberg, is coming to New York ... and her parents have invited him to Shabbat dinner! She has no desire to see this guy she was in love with who humiliated her in front of the entire camp when they were twelve years old, but she goes to her parents' house that weekend with an ulterior motive. Her publishing house is insisting her next book be a Hanukkah romance, and Jacob, a professional party planner, is hosting a huge Matzah Ball Max next week. Rachel just has to get to a ticket, to provide some inspiration on how to make Hanukkah seem as magical as Christmas.

So, right off the bat, even as a non-romance reader, I noticed plenty of classic romance tropes here: enemies-to-lovers, secret life, second chances, and all kinds of misunderstandings between Rachel and Jacob. But this novel is unique because Rachel isn't your typical perfect romance heroine straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. She feels very real and authentic, flaws and all. Of course, as a fellow ME/CFS sufferer, I greatly appreciated the honesty in how her restricted life is portrayed, but I don't want to give the impression that this novel is depressing. It's very entertaining, with plenty of humor and romcom-ness; it's just also real. You can expect lots of hilarious hijinks and a happy ending in this unique holiday romance.

385 pages, Mira

Harlequin Audio

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif Challenge - The Fire Is So Delightful (fire/candles on the cover)

Diversity Challenge (December mini challenge - religious minorities)

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Dara Rosenberg. and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

Fiction Reviews: Two Novels on Audio

I'm trying to catch up on my December reviews, so I can wrap up my 2022 reading! These were the last two audio books I listened to last year, two very different but gripping stories about young people that I enjoyed.

Since my husband and I both loved The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (my review at the link), I was excited to hear he had a new book out, Hidden Pictures, a supernatural thriller. Mallory has had a rough start to life, getting addicted to painkillers after an injury while on her high school cross-country team. But she's completed rehab and is pulling her life back together. With the help of her sponsor, she gets a summer job as a nanny for a family in a nice suburb. She has their guest cottage in the back of the house all to herself, and she adores their cute five-year-old, Teddy. It seems like the perfect way to get back on her feet. She gets along well with Teddy's parents, Ted and Caroline, and settles in. She and Teddy bond and spend their days drawing (one of Teddy's favorite activities), playing pretend, and swimming in the backyard pool. Then strange things begin to happen: Teddy's usually typical kid drawings take a sinister turn, Mallory hears strange noises outside at night, and Teddy's imaginary friend becomes menacing. What is really going on here? Mallory wonders if it has to do with the rumor of a long-ago murder on the property. Is there such a thing as ghosts? 

This unique thriller ratchets up the tension, as Mallory's idyllic days with Teddy turn frightening. But the truth is even stranger than she suspects, with plenty of surprises in store for the reader. I really liked Mallory and Teddy and was rooting for them, as the suspense grew. I finished this compelling story in record time.

384 pages, Flatiron Books

Macmillan Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - New Jersey

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Suzy Jackson (!), and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local! Purchase Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak.

__________

 

My last audio book of 2022 was Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. I'd enjoyed his mix of wit, warmth, and thoughtfulness in Perfect Little World and found the same in this new novel. Here, the story is framed by thirty-six-year-old Frankie Budge looking back on the summer when she was sixteen that changed her life and continues to affect her. Back then, Frankie felt as though she didn't fit into her small town in Tennessee or even with her older triplet brothers. Her father left them and their mom to start over with another woman. Then Frankie meets Zeke, a fellow loner who is staying with his grandmother for the summer with his mom because his father left them, too. The two of them bond that summer. Frankie wants to be a writer (she is working on an anti-Nancy Drew novel), and Zeke loves to draw, so they decide to create art together. When they find an old copy machine in Frankie's garage, they create a poster, with Zeke's art and Frankie's text: "The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us." They're proud of their co-creation and make copies to post all over town. But instead of people marveling at the creative artwork, the community panics and begins coming up with all kinds of crazy theories: it's a cult, it's satanists, etc. All of a sudden, their fun art project has taken on a life of its own and is out of their control. Twenty years later, a journalist contacts Frankie about The Coalfield Panic of 1996, suspecting that Frankie had something to do with it.

This is a fun, thoughtful, propulsive coming-of-age story. It's about friendship, being a teen, first love, and the power of art to change the world. As with most Kevin Wilson novels, it is a wholly unique story, with a sense of humor, even as things turn darker. It's made all the more provocative by the addition of Frankie's perspective as an adult, twenty years later. The author's note at the end makes it all the more intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, thought-provoking novel.

256 pages, Ecco

Harper Audio

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Ginnifer Goodwin, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local! Purchase Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson.

Fiction Review: Daisy Jones and the Six

Given all the hype over the past few years, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I just read my first-ever Taylor Jenkins Reid book! Daisy Jones and the Six was one of those novels that didn't sound all that interesting to me, but I figured I should see what all the fuss was about. Much to my surprise, I found it incredibly propulsive and stayed up much too late each night reading it!

This novel is written as if it were an oral history of a famous rock band from the 1970's, with excerpts from interviews with the band members and others near them telling the story of their rise and abrupt ending. It starts with a teen girl named Daisy Jones in 1965 who seems to be on her way to becoming a professional groupie, hanging out with various musicians and immersing herself in the L.A. music (and drug) scene. Daisy has dreams of becoming a singer and songwriter, though she has no formal musical education. Meanwhile, across the U.S. in Pittsburgh, two brothers, Billy and Graham, start a rock band called the Dunne Brothers. Over the next six years, their band grows and some members change until eventually, there are six in the group, and they begin calling themselves The Six. They gradually grow and expand their reach, until they move to L.A. in 1973. They release a successful album, though their first tour ends with a catastrophe for Billy. Eventually, Daisy is paired with the Six for a song by their shared production company ... and then, a whole album. Daisy and Billy have an electric chemistry together, which comes across in their songwriting and duets, though Billy is committed to his wife and children. Daisy's drinking and drug use grow more and more out of control, as the group of seven goes out on tour. Abruptly, on July 12, 1979, Daisy Jones and the Six break up in the middle of a tour. This oral history, put together decades later, is meant to answer the questions of how the band rose to fame and why they eventually crashed.

That summary sounds pretty dull, even to me, but this book is full of life. I wasn't sure I'd like the interview style, but it makes the story feel real and dynamic, like you're there with the band and with Daisy when all of this happened. The lyrics to the songs on their hit album are even included at the end, and I turned to them again and again. It's a unique and very effective way to tell this story. The band themselves feel real, and the author says she took inspiration from Fleetwood Mac, which led me down an internet rabbit hole about them (one of my favorite bands). Reid does a great job of painting a picture of the era, especially the L.A. music scene. As I explained, I went into this book with low expectations, but the story and characters almost immediately grabbed me. It's told in such a compelling way that I had a hard time setting it down, telling myself, "just one more chapter ..." over and over. It feels authentic and immediate, filled with real emotions. I'm convinced; now I want to read more novels by Reid!

351 pages, Ballantine Books

Random House Audio (I read this in print, but the audio sounds amazing! Sample below)

A TV adaptation is coming to Amazon Prime on March 3, and I can't wait to see it!  Here's the very short trailer that was released so far, and a quick look from the Today Show that shows a bit more.

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, with an all-star cast of big name actors, and/or download it from Audible. This sounds great on audio! This sample gives you an idea of the oral history style.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

  

 

Or you can order Daisy Jones and the Six from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.