The Five Star Weekend - Elin Hilderbrand

 The Five Star Weekend - Elin Hilderbrand

Release Date:  June 13, 2023

She read

Hollis thought she had it all.  A successful physician husband, a daughter, wealth, a magnificent summer home on Nantucket, and a very successful food blog, she being the online darling of women around the world.  But her daughter is somewhat estranged from her and her husband tells her “you’ve changed; we’ve changed” as he prepares to fly off to yet another conference, missing their annual Christmas party which is the social event of the season. On the way to the airport, he is killed in a one car crash.  Devastated, Hollis withdraws from her online presence to mourn.  Months later, she decides a Five Star Weekend might be just the thing to help her snap out of it.  She invites 3 of her closest friends from different eras to spend a luxurious weekend on Nantucket; the fourth invitee is someone she has never met but has grown close to through her blog. Drama is sure to ensue. 

Fans of Hilderbrand will welcome this, her twenty ninth novel. There are secrets, long held grudges, reconciliations.  Her vivid descriptions of the locale, food, clothing makes you feel you are really there along with the anonymous observer who makes an appearance from time to time.  Charming may be a way to describe Hilderbrands books.  It is a credit to her writing that despite finding so many of the characters annoying, I still enjoyed reading the book and didn’t want to put it down.  At times, I felt as though I were reading about a bunch of seventh graders rather than mature mid 50s women.  

Thanks to #netgalley and #littlebrownandcompany for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everything's Fine - Cecilia Rabess

 Everything's Fine - Cecilia Rabess

Release Date: June 6, 2023

She read

When Jess is hired at Goldman Sachs, she finds, much to her discomfort, that she will be working with Josh, someone she knew from college with whom she often found herself at odds.  She is also the only Black woman in her section, something she is accustomed to having grown up with her father in Nebraska.  Strangely, Jess finds herself attracted to Josh and the feeling is mutual.  Jess is liberal;  Josh claims to be a moderate, but he leans toward conservative and he did vote for Trump. 

This is a great debut novel.  I enjoyed it despite being annoyed by Jess and her irresponsibility to herself.  While I NEVER would defend a Trumper, I also do think she was a bit of a hypocrite.  This is a clever, crisply written novel that explores a range of issues including racism, politics, misogyny, social/economic identity.  Many of the thoughts and arguments have been played out over and over in our country in the last six years…lots of food for thought (or grist for the mill) here. 

Thanks to #netgalley and #simon&schuster for the ARC

****

Passport to Spy - Nancy Cole Silverman

 Passport to Spy - Nancy Cole Silverman

Release Date: June 6, 2023

She read

This is the second in the Kat Lawson mystery series.  I did not read the first, however, this worked well as a stand alone.

Kat, a one time investigative reporter, is recruited by the FBI to go undercover in Munich, Germany.  Her cover is as a writer for a travel magazine and her assignment is to try to find a hidden cache of valuable paintings stolen by the Nazis from Jews and museums and hidden by the father of a present day museum curator.  Soon Kat finds that she herself is being hunted by both sides of the law.  

This was a fast paced, quick read.  Although the basic plot was certainly plausible, I found the “spy”  action around it to be a bit over the top, far fetched, almost farcical.  I gave up viewing it as realistic and read it more as a “fun” read. Strange to say that about murder and mayhem, but………

This book was very interesting to me because the author’s notes mention that she loosely based the story about the stolen paintings on a true character, someone I was familiar with because I had seen his collection at a museum in Bern as it was being catalogued and researched for possible return to the rightful heirs of the original owners. I also enjoyed the very accurate descriptions of Munich and some of the surrounding Bavarian locations. 

Thanks to #netgalley and #levelbestbooks for the ARC.

****

The Wind Knows My Name - Isabel Allende

 The Wind Knows My Name - Isabel Allende

Release Date: June 6, 2023

She read

In 1938, Samuel, the son of a Jewish doctor in Vienna is sent by his mother to Britain via the Kinderstransport program to escape the Nazis after his father is killed.  His mother later perishes in a concentration camp.

Letitia is descended from a family that faced extinction in El Salvador.

In 2019, seven year old blind Anita is forcibly separated from her mother after they escape persecution in El Salvador, crossing the Rio Grande to seek refuge in America.  

Social worker Selma Duran is assigned Anita’s case through an immigrant assistance organization and enlists the services of Frank, a high profile up and coming attorney.  

These five lives eventually intersect during the Covid era in a tale that has pathos, humor, inhumanity, compassion, strength.  Isabel Allende is a skilled storyteller and is at her best when weaving history into the personal narratives of her characters.  

This engrossing and heartrending story emphasizes the horrors of the effects of the acts of adults on the lives of children whether it be through heinous, barbarous atrocities or political policy.  As an aside, I found some of her reflections on aging and marriage to be  painfully accurate.  

The story does skip around a bit.  Have patience, though, all will be revealed and come together in a meaningful resolution.

The Wind Knows My Name is a worthy addition to Allende’s body of work.  

Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouse #ballantinebooks for the ARC.

*****

Her Dark Grave - Carolyn Arnold

Her Dark Grave - Carolyn Arnold

Release Date: May 17, 2023

She read

This is the twelfth in the Detective Madison Knight series.  Although I have read some others in the series, this one can work as a standalone.

Suffering from nightmares related to a past case that put her in danger, Madison escapes them by taking nighttime drives.  On one of them, she discovers a suitcase with a dismembered body inside. Soon after, a second similarly dismembered body is found.   Can Madison and her partner, Terry, solve the case before anyone else, including Madison, loses their life?  On a personal level, what secret is Terry hiding from her, will she ever learn to get along with her annoying sergeant, and will she and Troy finally set the date?

This was an engrossing, fast paced read. Arnold knows how to capture and maintain her readers’ interest.  Arnold writes a few different series; Madison Knight is not my favorite character.  She is abrasive, impetuous, tenacious.  But she is good at her job and has a strong sense of responsibility and justice.   

This latest addition to the series is sure to please fans of police procedurals/mysteries.  Trigger warning; the murders are quite gruesome.

Thanks to #netgalley and #hibbertandStiles for the ARC.

 ****

 

Berlin - Bea Setton

Berlin - Bea Setton

She read

Release Date: May 16, 2023 

Daphne, an Oxford graduate with no job, no occupational prospects, and wealthy parents, moves to Berlin, ostensibly to study German, although she tells people she is in a graduate program for philosophy.  However, her emotional troubles travel with her, disrupting the life she hoped to build in a new country.

After having just read two very intensely wrenching novels, I was ready for something different. This was not it!  This one was also intense. Some have called it witty or darkly funny.  Perhaps it is my background as a mental health professional and I look at it differently from a lot of readers, but I did not find humor.  Yet, it provided good insight into the pathology of mental disturbance.  Tormented with doubt, self loathing, self delusion and an eating disorder, the new life she so wanted spins out of control.  Yes, while some of her difficulties may be the result of the treatment of women in society, at their base is her emotional instability.

This is a debut novel and it is well written.  This was an engrossing, short read, with some insight into the psyche of a disturbed young woman as well as the obstacles women often have to face in today’s society.  There may be a fine line between what one must do to adapt in a misogynist world and pathology, but Daphne, I feel, has crossed that line and is in need of help.  

Thanks to #netgallely and #penquinbooks for the ARC.

***

The Three of Us - Ore Agbaje-Williams

 The Three of Us - Ore Agbaje-Williams

Release Date: May 16, 2023

She read

One day in the life of a married couple in London and the wife’s best friend who always seems to be there annoying the husband.  Told from three point of views,  the wife, the husband, and the friend, Temi.  Temi and Wife are long standing friends; Temi thought Wife would never desert her by marrying, especially someone like Husband.  The negative feelings are mutual between Husband and Temi.  And there is a lot of wine.  

This is a quick, short read. I enjoyed Temi’s POV the most. Although irritating, she was quite humorous.  There was good insight into the cultural expectations of women and, in particular, Nigerian descended women.  The ending was quite abrupt and left me saying, “what?” This is yet another book in which I am seeing an increasing trend of not employing quotation marks.  

Thanks to #netgalley and #Penguingroup #putnambooks for the ARC.

***

The Summer Holiday - S.E. Lynes

 The Summer Holiday - S.E. Lynes

Release Date:  May 9, 2023

She read

Fiftiesh Kate and her very successful husband, Jeff, are vacationing at their holiday home in Spain when Kate spies Coco Moss, someone she knew at school.  Kate is reduced to a nervous, insecure wreck as Coco was THE girl everyone wanted to emulate.  Working up courage, she eventually approaches Coco and invites her to their home for drinks.  When Jeff and Coco encounter each other, their shocked expressions and edgy demeanor tell Kate there is something they are hiding.  Old secrets are slowly revealed that will affect all of their lives. 

This is a slow burn, with lots of ruminating from the three MCs differing POVs. A character driven psychological thriller with twists, many readers loved this book.  It missed the mark for me, perhaps because the three MCs were so unlikable. I thought that the mature Kate, mother and operator of her own business, a bit ridiculous with her seeming adolescent crush on Coco.  And Jeff and Coco were despicable.  

Initially, I had to force myself to stick with the book, but after about the the halfway point, I found I couldn’t put it down, wanting to quickly get through it to find out what would happen next.  

Again, many people will really like this book; it just wasn’t my favorite read.  

Thanks to #netgalley and # bookouture for the ARC

***

All The Pretty Places - Joy Callaway

 All the Pretty Places: A Novel of the Gilded Age - Joy Callaway

Release Date:  May 9, 2023

She read

I’ve been trying to read a bit out of my go to genres and choose this historical fiction/romance novel based on the life of the author’s great-great-grandmother.

Set during the Panic of 1893, it is the story of one of the first female business women of those times.  Sadie Fremd loves working at her family’s large nursery which services many of the Gilded Age families such as the Goulds.  Her garden designs are sought after and she hopes to someday take over the family business.  Her father has other plans for her. Fearing that his business could go bust at any time, he wants her to marry one of her wealthy suitors and be set for life.  Sadie, though, is in love with Sam, a talented employee with whom she would like to operate the nursery. 

This was a time when families lost their fortunes overnight, when the destitute were homeless or living in crowded fetid tenements. The disparity between the rich and the poor was heartbreaking, as it still is today.  Sadie is moved by their plight and the fact that public parks in those times were only for the rich.  She is determined to address that injustice.  

Beautifully descriptive and presenting a good portrait of the times, this is a sweet, almost magical story.  This was a fast read, mostly because I didn’t want to put it down. 

Thanks to #netgalley and #harpermuse for the ARC.

Close Her Eyes - Lisa Regan

 Close Her Eyes - Lisa Regan

Release Date: May 3, 2023

She read

This is the 17th Detective Josie Quinn mystery.  I have read more than half of them; it is one of my favorite series. Typically, I stay up late to finish each one because I can’t put them down!

In this case, a dead body is found in a nearby stream.  When the MO has ties to someone in Josie’s orbit, the plot thickens.  While Josie, her husband, Noah, and the team investigate, it seems this murder may be related to a cold case being researched by Josie’s twin sister, Tiffany, an investigative journalist.  When a second body shows up, the mystery deepens. Danger awaits the team as the book reaches a stunning conclusion.

I always enjoy revisiting the repeating characters in Josie’s life. She has an interesting backstory and the author @LisaRegan always does a good job filling in that information so that these books do work as standalones.  I do suggest, however,  going back and reading some of the prior in the series. Despite having had many travails in her life, Josie is a strong, capable, likable female protagonist.

 

If you like well written police procedurals/thrillers, and are not familiar with this series, I would recommend it.  I can’t wait for the next one!

Thanks to #netgalley and #bookouture for the ARC

*****

A History of Burning - Janika Oza

 A History of Burning - Janika Oza

Release Date:  May 2, 2023

He and She read. 

Beginning in 1898 with a young boy, Pirbhai, being tricked into traveling from India to Africa to help build the East African Railway, this sweeping saga traces the story of four generations told in snapshots through the years. This family is representative of Asians settling in Uganda during British Colonial Rule and, following the country’s independence and ascendence of Idi Amin, their expulsion in 1972 and worldwide resettlement.  

I wasn’t sure about this book.  It did take me a few chapters to settle in,  but once  I did, I couldn’t put it down; I was totally captivated by it.   Beautifully written, I learned a lot of history of which I was only vaguely aware.  There is so much here, but it is not overwhelming.  Well written, there is warmth, love, benevolence, brutality, resilience. 

Whenever I read books that tell stories like this one, I am left aghast about how helpless the world is when confronting dictators, the inhumanity of mankind in how it often treats others and how unwilling some are to assist refugees. This book will stay in my head for a while.

This is an incredible work from a debut author. 

Thanks to #netgalley and #Grandcentralpublishing for the ARC.

*****

Murder in the Parish - Faith Martin

 

Murder in the Parish - Faith Martin

She read

Release Date:  April 6, 2023

This is the twentieth in the DI Hillary Greene series and I have read a few of them.

Now retired, and due to her outstanding solve rate, Hillary has been hired by Thames Valley police as a consultant for cold cases.  Her partner has died and she is back living on her longboat, but still driving her beloved “Puff the Tragic Dragon”.  Her team consisting of an older investigator and a younger one who is a disabled veteran is charged with looking into the case of the murder of a handsome young vicar thirty years ago. Hillary is also having some medical issues that are of concern.

A solid police procedural, there are no real surprises here (although some will find the ending surprising!), yet it is an engrossing, entertaining read.  I particularly enjoy the humor displayed in Martin’s writing.  Hillary is a strong, capable, female leader and it is a pleasure following her as she solves this case. 

I recommend this book (and series) for anyone enjoying lighter police procedurals with enduring characters. I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

Thanks to #netgalley and #Joffebooks for the ARC

 ****

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine - Erin Litteken

 The Lost  Daughters of Ukraine - Erin Litteken

Release Date : April 14, 2023

She read

Inspired by the author’s family history, this book follows the lives of three women of Ukraine during World War II: Vika, Lilya, and Halya, along with a number of supporting characters.  It is an excellent companion piece to Litteken’s The Memory Keeper of Kyiv which was about the Holodomor (“death by hunger”)  in the late 1920s-30s when Stalin and the Soviets stripped the country of its food and terrorized its residents. 

First the Soviets demanded their food, executed people at will and conscripted men into the Red Army. As the Nazi’s invaded, the Soviets followed a scorched earth policy, destroying all in their path. It is now the 1941 and the people of Ukraine are at the mercy of the Nazis. Initially thought to be liberators, freeing them from the Soviets, they brought more horror, taking the Ukrainian’s food, stealing their children and young adults to work in factories, sending some younger Aryan looking children to Germany to be adopted, burning their villages, slaughtering innocents.   

Litteken is a good story teller and she portrays the horrors without being overly graphic. Despite all the terror, there is love, hope and resilience. A repeating and somewhat uplifting theme is the legend and importance of the kalyna bush, a symbol of Ukraine - with white representing hope, red, the bloodshed of Ukrainians defending their homeland and green for continual renewal and new generations.

One indication of a good book is that it makes you feel something.  Reading this book made me feel anger about what has happened in the past and what is going on in Ukraine now. How can one country have been subject to so much terror over such a long period of time and still exhibit resilience? Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to astonish me.

This was a tough, but very important read.

Thanks to #netgalley and #boldwoodbooks for the ARC.

*****