Book Review: "Pretty Dead Things" by Kelsey Cox

In the small town of Anhalt, Texas, the Lone Star Princess Pageant is a big deal. The competition is cutthroat—and that’s just among some of the mothers! No one believes their daughter is more deserving than Kennedy Claire, a former winner herself, who will stop at nothing to make sure the crown winds up on her daughter’s head.

Twenty-five years ago, on the night of the pageant, Isabelle Whitmore disappeared. Everyone believed she was murdered by her boyfriend Ben and that her body was buried somewhere on the sprawling Sherman Ranch. Now, Izzy’s twin sister Ingrid has returned to town, just as construction crews are digging up the ranch to build houses.

The pageant reawakens old hurts and resentments. Melanie can’t shake the trauma she experienced after being pranked by her friends; Cat, who has finally gotten sober, is convinced she’s being followed; and Ingrid begins to realize the truths she believed about her sister’s disappearance may not be accurate.

When a major winter storm—nearly unheard of in Texas—strikes Anhalt, all the pageant contestants and their families are stuck together under one roof. But after one death shakes everyone up, the question of who is responsible worries everyone. And that’s not all they’ll need to deal with.

This was a really good thriller. I really didn’t know what was going to happen and who would be the culprit, and Kelsey Cox definitely kept me guessing. There was a lot going on but it never felt overwhelming. I want to go back and read her debut thriller now!

Book Review: "Wasp's Nest" by Kat Stoddard

Tess is getting ready for her second marriage. She’s marrying Warren, an old friend of her family’s. He’s running for the state senate and he’s a dependable, serious, steady man who loves her.

Warren is quite different from Peter, Tess’ first husband. They met while Peter was a talented art student and Tess had just graduated from college. She had family money, he worked as a cater waiter to make ends meet. But Tess was intrigued by his talent and soon after, they fell into a tempestuous relationship which led to an impulsive marriage.

The marriage ended when Peter got out of rehab for alcoholism. Both have tried to put their past behind them. But Peter is shocked to receive an invitation to Tess’ wedding, and an opportunity to bring a plus one.

There’s really no reason Peter should go to the wedding, but if Tess has seemingly moved on, shouldn’t he show that he has too? He decides to bring Mitch, a handsome young man and aspiring writer, and they’ll pretend they’ve been dating for a while. Mitch is excited to find inspiration in the wedding and the reunion of exes. He’s also hoping that Peter will be interested in him romantically.

No one is counting on all of the drama that will ensue. Peter’s appearance dredges up a lot of past hurts and recriminations, and forces both him and Tess to re-examine their relationship and their feelings for each other. Mitch starts to fall for both Peter and Tess. And as other secrets emerge, no one is quite sure what the actual wedding will bring.

I thought this was a really well-told story and an exploration of a fascinating set of relationships. Tess wasn’t particularly likable but as she starts to spiral out of control, she becomes (slightly) more sympathetic. I’m a big fan of family dynamics and dysfunction, and this book gave me lots of both!!

Book Review: "The Lowe Job" by Grace Alexander

I thought this was absolutely great. Such gossipy, soapy fun, but with some serious themes thrown in. Grace Alexander hit her debut novel out of the park!⁣

⁣ “It started with a blow job. They had aspirations for it to become the most notorious blow job of all time. It was a lofty aim. They knew that realistically they were never going to beat that blow job—you know the one—but the least they could do is try.”⁣

⁣ Lili Lowe is a beautiful and intelligent young woman who wants a career in politics. Her intelligence is often discounted because of her looks, and she is valued by her boss, who is a member of Parliament. One day she is caught by the paparazzi giving her boss a blow job in his car. A scandal erupts that threatens to ruin her life, while her boss seems to escape reasonably unscathed.⁣

⁣ But Lili has a hidden asset: her mother, Lydia. Once a ruthless talent agent, Lydia has a plan to milk the scandal for all it’s worth. Her machinations lead to media opportunities, endorsement deals, and a reality show called The Lowe Job. Lili, Lydia, and her three other daughters become household names—whether they want to or not.⁣

The book follows the Lowe women through the ups and downs of post-scandal life, and also traces the past of each of them. Lili’s three sisters—ambitious Stevie, ethereal Iris, and distraught teenage Katie—each have their own reactions to their newfound fame, and each has their own issues to deal with.⁣

⁣ I really couldn’t get enough of this book. It definitely had some very pointed commentary about the double standard that exists between men and women when a sex scandal erupts. These are not totally likable characters, but I was hooked on their stories.

The book will publish 6/16.⁣

Book Review: "Fruit Fly" by Josh Silver

“…always remember: gay is in. Go gay. It’s cool now. It sells. However—here is the gold dust—the perfect blend is gay AND sad. You nail that, you’re minted.”

This was an intense read but an utterly addictive one as well. Thanks so much to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Mallory wrote a bestseller 7 years ago and was lauded as an up-and-coming literary sensation. But after the buzz from her first book fades, she’s stuck with writer’s block and the very real fear that she’ll never be able to replicate or exceed her previous success.

When an internet search convinces her that one topic that guarantees literary success is a dark, gay story, she goes all in. She sets up an account on Grindr (using a picture of her husband) and immediately finds herself traveling down the rabbit hole of anonymous sexual conversations. She even gets invited to a party by a man she chats with.

Of course, she wonders if they’ll let her into the party, not being who she says she is. (Although she envisions becoming the center of attention, being called “Mother,” etc.) But as she arrives she witnesses a strange scene at the door: two men start roughing up a younger man who had brought them drugs. And then she watches another man beat him up. She can’t help but rescue him, and he lets her drop him off. When she gets home, her creativity flows in a way it hasn’t in some time.

Leo is the young man. He is caught in that vicious cycle of addiction and wanting to recover, and puts himself in danger as he tries to feed his addiction. Mallory wants to be involved in his story, because it’s fueling her book, but he doesn’t want her help. Who has the right to own and tell our stories? This book is dark at times but really fascinating.

It publishes 8/4/2026.

Book Review: "This Town Won't Tell" by Rhodi Hawk

Damn, this was soooo good! This was a twisty, gritty, slow-burn thriller that felt a bit like a mashup of S.A. Cosby and Rachel Caine, yet with its own unique power and an unforgettable main character.

Ever since Janey’s mom died when she was young, her life has been messier than most. She drifted from foster family to foster family and did a stint in juvie, where she gave birth to a daughter, Em. After her release she married the baby’s father but they eventually divorced and he was able to keep their house.

Now a recovering alcoholic, her ex has a restraining order against her, which makes sharing custody a challenge. She works as a waitress at a Montana roadhouse (which no longer has a road) and is determined to give Em a better life than she had.

One night she goes to confront her ex for not taking Em to school. She plans to break into his house and frighten him with her cousin’s gun. But she gets caught by a corrupt lawyer, who threatens to turn Janey in for violating the restraining order, which means she’ll lose custody of her daughter. She gets blackmailed into a “one and done,” making a drop under a bridge.

Of course, the blackmail continues far beyond just one time. When she finds out that her cousin used to do the drops and he got murdered, she realizes she’s in trouble. What follows is a tangled web of small-town corruption, violence, and enemies she can’t uncover. Will she survive and get her life back, however bleak it is?

Janey was such a terrific character—tough yet vulnerable, wanting a better life but feeling powerless to change things. I loved the small-town Montana setting and all of the twists Rhodi Hawk threw in. I’d love to see what’s next!

Book Review: "Five" by Ilona Bannister

“Someone will die here this morning, at this suburban train station. It will happen in the next five minutes when the 7:06 to London Victoria arrives.”

So begins Ilona Bannister’s new thriller, which was utterly fascinating. We get a first-hand look at a chaotic morning at a train station, which will end in someone’s death. We don’t know who will die but we assume we know how it will happen.

The book introduces us to five people. There’s Emma, a woman whose life has totally been upended by her sociopathic young son, Gideon. He throws a temper tantrum while waiting for the train and Emma is unable to control him, which makes her an object of judgment by others in the train station.

There’s Sonny, a handsome and impeccably dressed young man, who is seriously addicted to gambling. Matilda is a cantankerous old woman whose anger masks the difficult life she has had. And then there’s Liam, a business manager who appears to know Emma and Gideon but seems to incur their wrath.

While we wait for the train to come into the station and end one of the five people’s lives, the book gives us each of their stories. We don’t have to rest on generalization; we know what each person is struggling with and what brought them to the train station today.

This was so compelling. The narrator invites you to think about who will die, but also who you think deserves to die. We see how flawed each person is, what made them tick, and what are their redeeming qualities. While some of the backstories dragged a bit, I really thought this was a fascinating read.

Book Review: "The Midnight Show" by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

I stumbled on this book the other night and while I hadn’t heard of it before, several other books the authors have written are on my TBR. I was completely hooked within a few pages.

Lillian Martin was a trailblazer for women in comedy in the 1980s. Yet she never set out to follow that path—she left a sheltered, lonely childhood in rural Canada for college at Boston University. It was there she met three friends—Kent, Sam, and Stevie—who had an improv comedy group, The Townies. Although Lillian seemed an unlikely comedian, her talent gave the group a much-needed boost.

The members of the Townies get invited to New York City to audition for a new sketch comedy show called The Midnight Show, which will air live every Friday night. The show—and the cast members—will ultimately change the face of comedy and television.

At first, no one is sure what to make of the show. But Lillian quickly becomes a breakout star and her writing talent both impresses her fellow cast mates and the writing team. And while the cast revels in the notoriety the show’s success brings, Lillian is often uncomfortable with being in the public eye.

Behind the scenes, the show is a hotbed of jealousy, rivalry, drugs, sex, and emotions. As the trials of fame and an intense relationship with a costar take their toll on Lillian, one night after a show, she disappears. No one can figure out what happened. Did she kill herself, was she a victim of violence—and was a costar responsible? Even 40 years later, a journalist doing a feature story on Lillian still can’t get all the answers.

The book is presented as transcripts from interviews the journalist does, intertwined with her notes, and some news articles from the 1980s. It may be frustrating for some, but it really worked for me. I think it would make a great movie or television adaptation.

Book Review: "A Good Person" by Kirsten King

“When I was ten years old, I nearly pushed a girl into a gorilla pen at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts.”

That opening sentence certainly sets the tone for what a wild book this is. It may very well be the most stable statement that the main character, Lillian, makes in the entire book!

Lillian works for a marketing firm. Well, she does enough to get by, but she spends most of her days stalking her boyfriend Henry’s LinkedIn profile. She and Henry have been seeing each other for a few months now, and she’s been completely acquiescent to his every wish. But Henry hasn’t fully committed to her yet, although he’s certainly been signaling that he’s getting there.

Just when she’s expecting him to go from, “I have fun with you” to “I love you,” he tells her he wants to end things. She’s certainly not happy about that and demonstrates that in a few, umm, unique ways. Inspired by one of her clients, she decides to put a hex on Henry.

Imagine her surprise/horror when he is murdered the next day. Did she do that? She doesn’t think so, even if the more she learns about Henry the angrier with him she gets. And the more she starts to go off the rails, until even she’s not quite sure if she can pull herself together—if she doesn’t get arrested first.

Lillian is truly one of the most unhinged characters I’ve seen in a while. I couldn’t get enough of her, even as I cringed at some things she did. But she is 100 percent true to herself, despite her unpredictability. This was quite a ride!

Book Review: "Town & Country" by Brian Schaefer

This book was a fascinating and dramatic exploration of a number of issues. While at its core, the book focuses on a local Congressional election and its effects on a small rural town, there are a lot of interpersonal dynamics and relationships caught in the middle.

Griffin used to be an economically depressed, rural town. But in recent years, it’s caught the eye of wealthy city-dwellers looking for country weekend homes. And with these new part-time residents comes new higher-end shops and services, causing a tug-of-war between long-time residents and the “carpetbaggers.”

Paul and his husband moved to Griffin with the intent of Paul running for the open Congressional seat in this swing district. His opponent is Chip, owner of the local bar and the town supervisor. Paul and his husband convinced many of their friends to purchase homes in Griffin, and townspeople aren’t sure how they feel about that.

Chip’s perfect nuclear family definitely has some cracks in it, which are exacerbated by the campaign. His wife Diane is the real estate agent selling many of these couples their homes, yet she still hasn’t come to terms with her college-aged son Will’s own sexuality. And their older son Joe’s battle with addiction has only gotten worse since his best friend died of an overdose.

The book takes place between Memorial Day and Election Day, and there’s so much more going on than just the campaign. This story has sooo many characters but I found many of them really fascinating. All in all, this was an impressive debut!

“That’s the trouble with second homes, Stan realizes: You just want to be in them, not look beyond them. He understands this without judgment. Empathy takes energy, and his friends draw their energy from the city. They come to Griffin to relax, but politics is not relaxing, and comfort doesn’t motivate, it placates. Just because they’ve bought the right to vote here doesn’t mean they must spend their empathy here.”

Book Review:"Robin" by Dave Itzkoff

The news that Robin Williams died back in 2014 was one of those events where you always remember where you were when you heard about it. I was in the middle of a personal training session at the gym when I looked up at one of the TVs and saw his picture, then heard the anchor announce that he had taken his life.

Williams was an enormous part of my adolescence—Mork and Mindy was one of my favorite shows growing up. (I even had a pair of suspenders like the ones he wore on the show.) I was excited that his movie career started taking off, and one of my greatest memories was seeing him perform in Las Vegas in 2009.

Dave Itzkoff wrote an amazingly thorough and detailed biography of Williams that I have had on my shelf for years. It’s nearly 550 pages and includes insights he gained from interviews with more than 100 of Williams’ friends, family, and colleagues.

The book traces the rise of Williams’ career in television, and then his work in film. It also spends a lot of time dealing with his struggles with addiction and depression, as well as the problems in his marriages. One of the reasons Williams’ was so good in dramatic roles was all of the pain he drew from in his real life. And if all you knew was the man you saw onscreen, you had no idea how troubled he was.

“But who was he? Except for that one stray moment when he had spoken a few tentative words in his surprisingly stately voice and then metamorphosed into a French undersea explorer, Robin had never let the audience see his true self.”

At times the book got a little too dense and detailed (and I hate footnotes), but this is such a comprehensive look at Robin Williams’ career as well as his life away from the cameras and the crowds. There really hasn’t been anyone quite like him since.

“And when he was gone, we all wished we’d had him just a little bit longer.”

Book Review: "The Emperor of Gladness" by Ocean Vuong

I had wanted to read this when it came out last year but never got around to it. It really was as beautifully written as I expected it to me, with a quiet, astonishing power.

Nineteen-year-old Hai is fresh out of rehab for an opioid addiction. He’s estranged from his mother—well, he’s been lying to her—and he feels like his life isn’t worth living. As he readies himself to jump off a bridge, he is stopped by the voice of a stranger.

The voice belongs to Grazina, an 80-year-old widow suffering from dementia. Somehow she is able to convince Hai to become her caregiver, a job he surprisingly comes to enjoy. The two connect over shared loneliness and build an unlikely bond, which changes both of them.

The book takes place in East Gladness, Connecticut, during the 2009 recession. It is a bleak time and people are doing everything they can to hang on. Hai takes a job at a fast food restaurant. He unexpectedly bonds with a group of coworkers, each of whom is a fractured piece of the whole that forms when they come together.

This is a story about chosen family, and how they make us think of our lives in a different way than we have been. There are moments of great emotion, heartbreak, humor, and grace.

I really enjoyed Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, but I found this book to be more accessible. His prose is truly luminous—the descriptions he uses made me gasp at times. I’m very much looking forward to whatever he does next!

Book Review: "To Kill A Cook" by W.M. Akers

What a fantastic, fun book this was! I just stumbled upon it and was completely hooked. And, of course, I’m hungry now, too!

“This is part of what I love about eating in restaurants. Every course is its own adventure, and even when the food is lousy there’s always the suspense of what’s coming next.”

New York City, 1972. Bernice “B.B.” Black is a restaurant critic. It’s a job she absolutely loves. She’s been obsessed with food and restaurants since she was 19 and had her first fancy meal at a famed French restaurant.

One morning she stops by Laurent’s, the French restaurant that birthed her love of food. The chef, Laurent Tirel, is a friend and mentor, and he’s agreed to cater her fiancée’s birthday party. But when B.B. arrives, she is horrified to find that Laurent has been murdered, and his severed head is the centerpiece of a mold of jellied aspic.

She is utterly devastated but at the same time, B.B. is determined to figure out who murdered Laurent. And there are lots of suspects, including Laurent’s son, several of his employees, a mob boss…and it doesn’t seem like the police have a clue. But can she solve the murder before she winds up cooked?

I can’t get enough of books about chefs, cooking, and restaurants, so this was right up my alley. B.B. is a feisty, complex character, juggling a lot of personal issues as she’s trying to find a killer. I loved how well W.M. Akers captured 1970s NYC, too. Hope this is the start of a series!!

Book Review: "Still Into You" by Erin Connor

I. Loved. This. Book.

Erin Connor’s debut, Unromance, was one of my favorites last year. But if possible, I loved her newest book even more. It just made me smile and tear up and laugh.

“It’s the only relationship I’ve ever had that’s actually worth talking about, except for the fact that I absolutely do not want to talk about it.”

Sloane has dreamed of being a music journalist for as long as she can remember. She’s gone from helping her friends’ band with their social media to a freelance writing job, with hopes of landing an actual position with benefits.

She can’t believe she gets offered the chance of a lifetime—to interview Final Revelations, a famed punk band that has not done an interview in 8 years. This could be career-making.

The thing is, the band’s lead singer, Dax, is her ex. Hanging around with the band feels like old times, and she and Dax quickly fall back into passionate flirtation. But Sloane knows that her integrity will be called into question if she doesn’t resist her feelings for him.

Second-chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. Throw in musicians and journalists and banter and steam, and I’m totally sold. I can’t say enough about this book and can’t wait for Connor’s next!!

Book Review: "So Old, So Young" by Grant Ginder

This book was so good. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be, and it hit me in the feels just as I expected.

They became friends at college or right afterwards. In the early days, Sasha, Mia, Adam, Richie, Theo, and Marco lived, worked, partied, and struggled in NYC. Each was hoping to make an impact on the world and find love (or at least happiness). But achieving those goals wasn’t always easy.

So Old, So Young follows the friends over 20 years. Once practically inseparable, as the years progress, it takes parties, weddings, and other celebrations to bring them together. Some of them wind up together, some of them try and fail, and for some, happiness and love remain elusive.

Yet as the friends find new loves, get married, move to different cities, have children, and struggle with life, the constancy of their friendships are affected. Some end with a whimper, some with a bang.

“He would blame himself for not being able to stop something he saw coming from its beginning, for not being able to defuse a ticking bomb. More than anything, he would wonder how they had gotten here. He would wonder how five people could have loved each other so completely, only then to decide they were repulsed by the monsters they had become.”

I’ve enjoyed Grant Ginder’s previous books, but in my mind, this is the best he’s written. No one is entirely likable, but I still felt for them. Many will recognize the issues and emotions these characters deal with. And you might want to tell your friends how you feel about them.

This book will publish 2/17.

Book Review: "The Frequency of Living Things" by Nick Fuller Googins

“I decided right there to play it safe: one full week to detox from my sisters. Because family and opioids really aren’t so different. Both can make you feel great until suddenly they don’t.”

Even though she’s the youngest, Josie has almost always taken care of her older twin sisters, Ara and Emma. Josie is a scientist, organized and levelheaded (at least when it comes to other people’s lives). Her sisters are musicians, so Josie often pays their rent, schedules their doctors’ appointments, and helps with issues related to their band.

The band, Jojo and the Twins, were once a huge, Grammy-nominated success. But their second album remains elusive, and it’s been years since they opened for famous bands. Their lack of progress in recent years is definitely related to Ara’s problems with addiction and dealing with trauma from an assault. Emma feels as if she’s to blame for the assault, so she’s essentially been enabling Ara’s addiction.

But when Ara winds up in jail, it throws Josie and Emma in a tailspin. Emma decides that the band will record a jailhouse album and hopes that preorders will help pay Ara’s bail. But for the first time, Ara decides she wants to kick her drug habit and her reliance on her sisters, both of which are easier said than done.

Their mother Bertie is a famous lawyer and fighter of injustice. She was too busy building a better world for her daughters than actually mothering them. When she is asked to help Ara, she has to decide whether to come back into her daughters’ lives or let them fight their own battles.

I love books about family dynamics and drama, and this one had a lot of it! It’s a powerful read that evoked a lot of different emotions in me. I felt like the book meandered a bit as it provided background into the characters, particularly Bertie, but the story really moved me.

Book Review: "Definitely Better Now" by Ava Robinson

Add this powerful and emotional book to the long list of terrific debuts published this year!

Emma is celebrating one year of sobriety, a milestone she’s worked very hard to reach. She’s spent the last year in close contact with her sponsor, attending AA meetings, and doing little more than working, in an effort to keep from backsliding into old habits.

But staying sober isn’t easy when everything around you is going crazy. She’s finally starting to feel comfortable around her colleagues, and has been appointed to her company’s “Fun Team,” which plans the annual holiday party. She allowed her colleagues to set up a profile on a dating app—which leads to an awkward situation with a colleague. She’s even started a bit of a flirtation with Ben, her company’s IT guy.

She’s a little bit thrown when her mother tells her she’s moving in with her boyfriend (whom Emma didn’t even know about). Then her estranged father calls and wants to see her—and as an alcoholic himself, he’s always been dismissive of her journey toward recovery. But he’s not argumentative this time; rather, he’s hiding a secret from her.

This is a book full of humor, emotion, awkward moments and times you wish the characters would say what they mean instead of avoiding the truth. But more than that, this book shows just how hard it is to fight for yourself when everything around you is trying to knock you down.

Ava Robinson is a really talented writer, and this book felt tremendously self-assured for a debut. I’ll be looking forward to the next steps in her career!

Book Review: "L.A. Women" by Ella Berman

Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy of this recent release! This story of friendship, rivalry, and emotional scars was a slow burn yet compelling read.

In 1960s Los Angeles, two women met for the first time at a party. Lane was a writer with a penchant for telling the unvarnished truth; Gala was a socialite who seemed to find her way to every party and event worth her time, invitation or no. Each finds the other curious, yet at first they don’t realize how complex they both are.

Little by little, the two women develop a friendship. Lane values Gala’s intelligence and creativity; Gala believes that Lane has real writing talent. After the publication of Lane’s first novel, their relationship starts to weaken, because Gala suddenly becomes the toast of the town, leaving Lane in her dust.

Ten years later, Lane has the handsome husband and adorable children, as well as the beautiful house. And she’s finally found a way back into literary stardom: a book about Gala, tracing her meteoric rise. While excitement for the book is building, so are mystery and fear: no one has seen Gala for months. It’s almost as if she disappeared into thin air.

I love the nostalgic feel of the book; Ella Berman does a great job capturing the setting and the vibes of both decades. Both women have dealt with real emotional upheaval and pain, and both impact the decisions they make.

I didn’t find Lane or Gala particularly likable or sympathetic, but I was still interested in their stories. This reminded me a little of Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book was definitely an emotional one.

Book Review: "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman

This book has been all over Bookstagram, and deservedly so. I’m a huge fan of Fredrik Backman’s, but I tend to love those of his books that are more serious and emotional. And he sure knows how to make me cry!

“Adults always think they can protect children by stopping them from going to dangerous places, but every teenager knows that’s pointless, because the most dangerous place on earth is inside us. Fragile hearts break in palaces and in dark alleys alike.”

You can obviously tell from the title that this is a book about friendship, but it is so much more than that. This is a story about loss, loneliness, the love we feel in our souls and the joy when that love is reciprocated. It’s also a story about rescuing those in need, even when you’re in need of rescue yourself.

In this book, as in his Beartown trilogy, some of Backman’s characters have known great pain, sadness, even hopelessness. Yet quite often, they still find the strength to endure, to experience joy, to love, even as their hearts are broken. That is one aspect that makes his books so meaningful and moving to me.

“He would often try to think that perhaps that has to be the case: that our teenage years have to simultaneously be the brightest light and the darkest depths, because that’s how we learn to figure out our horizons.” (I felt this quote in my soul.)

From the very first words in this book, I was reminded of a line from one of my favorite movies, Stand By Me. It goes, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” (Substitute 14 for 12, and that summed up so much of what made this book special.) I have no doubt this will be one of my favorite books of the year.

Book Review: "Bitter Texas Honey" by Ashley Whitaker

It’s 2011. Joan dreams of being a writer. By day, she’s an intern for an ultra-conservative Republican state legislator in Texas. And while her friends and roommate are all fairly liberal, Joan’s beliefs skew conservative.

As Joan struggles with finding inspiration to write about, she decides to pursue a romantic relationship, which hopefully will give her material. And the man she dates, Vince, does just that—he’s an egotistical musician who believes he’s more talented and more intelligent than everyone else. At the same time, she’s drawn to Roberto, a barista at her favorite establishment, who is also a writer.

Growing up wealthy, Joan is fairly rudderless. She drinks a lot, is addicted to Adderall, smokes a lot of weed, and doesn’t want for money. She’s also part owner of her father’s chain of recording schools, but she doesn’t take much responsibility there.

The brightest spot in her life is her cousin Wyatt. He’s tremendously creative and her partner in crime, but he’s also really troubled and struggling to find direction. His family’s solution to Wyatt’s problems is to send him to a Christian treatment facility—which doesn’t prove successful.

Joan’s own family exhausts her. Her father is an entrepreneur with a penchant for getting married to unsuitable women, while her mother is a former addict who disapproves of the way Joan lives her life. She’s caught between her parents, who don’t help her deal with her own issues; instead, they exacerbate them.

You know I love a good dysfunctional family, and this book certainly had that. Joan’s character’s beliefs don’t jibe with mine, and sometimes her flakiness is irritating, but you can’t look away from her. However, this book was billed as Fleabag meets The Royal Tenenbaums, and I didn’t see that at all. But it’s still a well-written debut.

Book Review: "The Bright Years" by Sarah Damoff

I cannot believe this was a debut! This will definitely be one of my absolute favorite books of the year, I know that much.

“Maybe what children do is straighten time out. Like clock hands, they keep us ticking forward even as we try to apprehend the lines and circles of it.”

When Ryan and Lillian meet one weekend day in the library, they both feel a pull toward the other. Their love buoys them, and they build a life together, one that expands with the birth of a daughter, Georgette, whom they call Jet.

But there are secrets they’ve not shared with each other. Lillian had a son 12 years ago and gave him up for adoption. Ryan’s father, whom his mother left when Ryan was young, was an abusive alcoholic. And Ryan feels himself following in his father’s footsteps, so he leaves before he can hurt Lillian or Jet. Of course, abuse is only one way to hurt someone.

As the years pass, Ryan makes attempts to sober up and be present for his daughter, but often fails. And then he realizes what he is missing, and hopes for a second chance.

This book was so beautifully written, so powerful and emotional. It’s narrated by Lillian, Ryan, and Jet, and it’s an exploration of the myriad ways people we love impact our lives. This book really struck a chord with me.