Book Review: "Under the Falls" by Richard Russo

I read Richard Russo’s first novel, Mohawk, in 1987, about a year after it published. (No, I’m not interested in knowing that you weren’t born yet.) I’ve been reading his books ever since, so I’m thankful to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance copy of his upcoming book!

Growing up in Stone Mountain, New York was tough for Tyler. His father was an abusive drunk and all Tyler wanted to do was escape. He found solace and support from his best friend Curt and Curt’s girlfriend Freddi. But when he turned 18, Tyler left Stone Mountain without saying goodbye to anyone, and never planned to return home.

Eighteen years later, Tyler is the lead singer of a popular band called (of all things) Stone Mountain. He’s reluctantly agreed to perform in his hometown, headlining a benefit for his childhood friend Doc, who became a paraplegic in an accident when they were younger. Just heading up the mountain, Tyler is confronted by old memories and his guilt about leaving without saying goodbye.

It turns out that not everyone in town is a fan of Tyler’s. Some feel that he used the town and people’s lives as inspiration for his songs, and people wonder when the town is going to benefit. The concert ends in a bit of a riot, and Tyler is more than ready to flee again.

Curt is now the town’s police chief, and he’s so thrilled his best friend came back. But Curt’s wife, Freddi, is very angry at being left behind, and that anger manifests itself in a tragic way. Her anger increases until she knows she must make Tyler pay.

Russo traditionally writes books about elderly men, their friendships and relationships, often in small New York towns. This book is a new genre—mystery—for him, and I didn’t think it worked. He’s still a beautiful writer, but I really never understood what caused Freddi to become so unhinged and do the things she did. And honestly, after a while, I just didn’t care. Oh, well.

The book will publish on 8/11.

Book Review: "The Shampoo Effect" by Jenny Jackson

“Back in high school, when they all started drinking and going out, they became obsessed with ‘the shampoo effect.’ When they had a big night of partying and followed it with a beer the next morning, they could get drunk again in an instant, the way a second squirt of shampoo in the shower produced outsized suds….Fran thought about the shampoo effect at moments like this, and the way it applied to so many interpersonal dynamics—the way that in these old relationships nobody was ever really working from a clean slate, new feelings were built on old feelings.”

Caroline leaves her publishing job and her life in New York City to move to the beach town of Greenhead, Massachusetts. She’s won a prestigious fellowship and plans to work on her first novel.

Not long after arriving in Greenhead, she falls for Van, an environmentalist who has definite border collie energy. Van grew up in Greenhead and still socializes with all of his childhood friends. Caroline is brought into the circle, but feels like an outcast, given everyone’s shared memories.

Shortly after they start dating seriously, Van tells Caroline that Bailey, a friend he has slept with on and off since high school, is pregnant. The baby is his, but neither has romantic feelings for one another. This becomes another hoop Caroline must jump through with Van’s friends, who would rather see him be with Bailey and raise their child together.

Despite all his assurances to the contrary, Van can’t get enough of fatherhood and wants to be a huge part of his son’s life. So he breaks up with Caroline and soon moves in with Bailey. Caroline is so hurt by this that she writes a short story about this group of friends, changing names but revealing secrets and quirks they all don’t know about each other. This rocks the group to their core.

I enjoyed this story but the pacing felt a bit slow. I could predict how the book would conclude but it felt like it took a long time to get there. I do like the way Jenny Jackson writes, though!

Book Review: "Meeting New People" by Daniel M. Lavery

Barbara is in her fifties, and one of her best friends, Susan, has just surprised her by ending their friendship. This wasn’t a random argument—Susan had a list of things about Barbara that she found objectionable. This incident bothered Barbara more than anything.

“But there’s nothing in the world as immovable as a woman who’s finished with you. A woman who’s finished with you, not just mad at you but finished with you, might as well be dead or on the moon or living a thousand years ago because there’s no path a person can walk anymore between the two of you, not even a little one, no matter how wide the road was before.”

As Barbara reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Susan, she realizes that she has had nine other best friendships in her life. All of them ended at one time or another, for one reason or another. But it makes her wonder if there’s some flaw in her personality that has caused these relationships to fall apart.

She starts thinking about how she’ll meet her next best friend—hopefully someone she can grow old with. It’s so difficult to make friends as adults, especially once you reach a certain age. She weighs the options—should she befriend a colleague, join a group or a church? And what should she do differently this time?

This is really a thought-provoking book. I’ve thought about the challenges of making new friends as an adult. Parts of this book are really funny, but my challenge is that the majority of the book is told as an inner monologue. I needed more interaction between the characters to move the plot forward.

Book Review: "Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead" by Mai Nguyen

“That’s one of the great paradoxes of grief I suppose: It touches each and every one of us, yet it has the effect of filling us with an aching, unignorable loneliness.”

Cleo and her husband Ethan are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first baby. Adding to the excitement is the fact that Cleo’s best friend Paloma, who lives across the street, is pregnant, too, and due around the same time. They cannot wait to raise their babies together.

Tragically, something happens during the birth of Cleo and Ethan’s daughter Daisy. She sustained brain damage during delivery, so a few short days later, they take her off life support. They are both overwhelmed by grief, made even a bit more difficult by the fact that Paloma’s baby was perfectly healthy and is fine.

Cleo can’t function. She can’t sleep or eat, she can barely move. Yet there seems to be an expectation that she shouldn’t wallow for too long, that she needs to get back on her feet and live a “normal” life. And then there are all the platitudes and advice that people share, much of which isn’t helpful.

She had taken a year of maternity leave from her job as an actuary, and the company wants her to take that time. Cleo winds up taking a job at a funeral home, as the director’s assistant. In some ways it’s the wrong thing for her to do, yet helping other families deal with their saddest moments does prove cathartic.

I’ll admit that I expected this book to be more maudlin than it was, although it was an emotional read. Cleo is an absolutely fascinating character, and even when she does or says hurtful or unhinged things, I felt for her. I loved how this book demonstrated the messy, nonlinear paths grief can follow.

Book Review: "This Is Not About Us" by Allegra Goodman

I’ve said it lots of times before, but I love family dysfunction in books. And Jewish family dysfunction? Yes, please. (Not that my family was dysfunctional…)

Helen and Sylvia are devastated by the impending death of their youngest sister, Jeanne. Even though they’re in their late 70s and early 80s, this loss will hurt. But both women have very definite opinions on everything, particularly Jeanne’s final wishes regarding burial versus cremation.

When Jeanne finally dies, Helen and Sylvia argue and say horrible things to each other. But the crushing blow involves their mother’s apple cake. This causes a rift that neither sister wants to repair.

“Was this just a brief skirmish, or the beginning of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubinstein family, it could go either way.”

This is more a collection of linked stories than a cohesive novel, although each story follows another member of the family—the children of the three sisters, an ex-wife, even a grandchild or two. The stories all happen within a set timeframe.

Honestly, much of this book struck a real chord for me. I’ve been a fan of Allegra Goodman’s since the mid- to late 1990s, and she’s so good at creating the quiet and the loud moments. I would’ve liked a little more about Helen and Sylvia, but they were a part of many of the stories in one way or another.

Book Review: "The Flightless Birds of New Hope" by Farah Naz Rishi

“Aden Shah’s parents flew before they died, and even he couldn’t miss the morbid punch line in that. After all, no one loved birds more than the Shahs.”

When Aden gets word that his parents have died in a freak accident, he leaves Chicago to head for his childhood home in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It’s been years since he’s been home or spoken to his family, but as the executor of his parents’ estate, he has to put his feelings aside.

His return is met with anger from his younger siblings, Aliza and Sammy. Aliza has essentially raised Sammy, since their parents were often traveling or neglectful. Aden must also confront one of the main reasons he fled home 10 years ago: Coco Chanel, his parents’ prized Major Mitchell’s cockatoo. Coco got more attention than anyone else in the Shah household.

Frayed by grief, anger, and resentment, one night Aden opens Coco’s cage and lets her fly away. Of course, when his siblings panic about Coco’a disappearance, the three of them hit the road to find her and bring her back home. They follow her tracking chip and tap into a vast network of bird watchers to try and find her.

But what they figured would take just a few days at most turns into a cross-country road trip where everything that can go wrong does. Along the way, they argue, reopen old wounds, and try to process their grief and anger toward one another, their parents, and life in general.

This is a powerful meditation on grief and resentment as well as growing up knowing you’ll never be as important as your avian sibling. I just felt everything repeated itself too much—the failed rescue attempts, the rehashed arguments, and the crazily farcical incidents that arise. The characters’ growth arc took a bit longer than necessary, but the emotions were still very palpable.

Book Review: "A Forty Year Kiss" by Nickolas Butler

Poignant and emotional, Nickolas Butler’s newest book is about second chances. It’s also about the ways we never stop learning about ourselves and seeking to find our place in the world.

Charlie and Vivian were married for four years. They were young and definitely infatuated with each other, but they faced an uphill battle. Charlie left and Vivian eventually built a new life for herself.

Now, 40 years later, Charlie has returned to their small Wisconsin town and is excited to find that Vivian is still there. He reaches out and they feel both nostalgia and the remnants of a love that ended too soon. They tentatively take steps toward one another again, unsure of where things might go.

After 40 years apart, there are a lot of things that have gone unsaid, hurts that haven’t quite healed, and fears that arise again. But if they are to have any chance at starting over, they have to accept each other for whom they are—and are not—and address some of the issues that caused problems all those years ago. It also means that there are secrets which will need to be brought out into the open.

The characters are definitely flawed, but I found myself rooting for them all the same. It’s natural to think about the one that got away or the one you lost, but the range of emotions both Charlie and Vivian felt were raw and powerful.

I’ve been a huge fan of Butler’s since I read his debut, Shotgun Lovesongs, a number of years ago. His storytelling is so self-assured; there were a few places where the plot could have veered into melodrama in the hands of a less-talented writer. His books leave me thinking about them long after I’ve finished, and this will be no exception.

Book Review: "Make Sure You Die Screaming" by Zee Carlstrom

Thanks so much to Flatiron Books for the complimentary advance copy of this book! This definitely is a bleak yet well-written book that will stick in your mind.

If you think your life is out of control, it’s nothing compared to that of our unnamed narrator. They’ve recently come out as nonbinary, lost their corporate job in fairly spectacular fashion, and probably suffered a brain injury in a fight with their ex-boyfriend.

“I guess you could call me the World’s First Honest White Man, but I don’t identify as a man anymore, so you’d probably call me other things first…”

To top it off, their mother called to let them know that their father, an ultra-conservative conspiracy theorist, has gone missing. So now they’re headed from Chicago to Arkansas (no culture shock there) in a fancy car they’ve stolen from their ex-boyfriend.

Their partner on this road trip from hell is Yivi, whom they met when they were both crashing at an illegal Airbnb. Yivi has her own issues: she screams in her sleep, she’s constantly high on something, and there’s apparently someone following her.

This book taps into some really raw emotions. The narrator has been avoiding dealing with some real emotional baggage beyond their father’s disavowal of their sexuality. There’s loss, trauma, and addiction, but there’s also real rage at the inequity that exists. This isn’t a lighthearted book but it’s a good one.

It will publish 4/8/2025.

Book Review: "How to Read a Book" by Monica Wood

I’ll admit this book was a bit different than I was expecting given the title but it was very special all the same.

“We are a continuum of human experience, neither the worst nor the best thing we have ever done. Or, more exactly, we are both the best thing and the worst thing we’ve ever done. We are all of it, all at once, all the time.”

Harriet is a retired teacher who volunteers to lead a book club for female inmates. It is there she meets Violet, a 22-year-old woman serving a nearly two-year term for killing a woman while driving drunk. The inmates all love Harriet (whom they call “Bookie”) and love the books she has them read, as well as the discussion that follows.

After Violet’s early release, she finds herself living in Portland, Maine. One day she goes to a bookstore to buy the book they were reading when she was released, and she not only encounters Harriet, but also Frank, the widower of the woman Violet killed. The encounter shakes all three of them in different ways.

This is a story about second chances. It’s about taking the next step in your life, whether it’s being released from prison, dealing with an empty nest, recovering from grief, even finding love. And of course, this is a story about how books affect us and change us, and help us find our own words.

I thought this was beautifully written and moving. There were a lot of moving parts, and some threads were introduced and never fully explored, but I really enjoyed the relationships at the book’s core. I’ve read one of Monica Wood’s previous books and loved it, so she’s definitely a storyteller I admire.

Book Review: "The President's Lawyer" by Lawrence Robbins

Wow, this was so good! I don’t read a lot of legal thrillers because I feel that they are often too slow or too melodramatic. But this—amazingly, a debut novel—kept me hooked every step of the way.

There is tremendous shock when former president Jack Cutler is accused of murdering his mistress, Amanda, who had worked in his administration’s office of legal counsel. Jack reaches out to his childhood best friend Robbie, a successful lawyer, to defend him.

Initially, Robbie is reluctant to take the case. He knows that Jack has always been a philanderer. But the bigger issue is that Robbie also had an affair with Amanda, and he was in love with her, even after she ended their relationship to be with Jack.

There are lots of salacious details that come out before the trial, one being that Jack had a penchant for rough sex—even light bondage and restraint. Robbie maintains his friend’s innocence but wonders if there are secrets Jack is hiding that might provide motive rather than reasonable doubt.

Like with most thrillers and mysteries, I suspected nearly everyone who popped up in the book. There even were a few times when I offered not-so-silent pleas that certain characters weren’t the killer. (I get attached.)

What a read this was!! It definitely kept me guessing and rapidly turning the pages. This could be adapted into a television movie and be as riveting as the book itself. I hope Lawrence Robbins had another book in him!!

Book Review: "Liars" by Sarah Manguso

“Agreeing to be someone’s wife should be done only if you can’t help yourself, I thought, but of course no one can help herself.”

When Jane meets John, she is an aspiring writer and he is a filmmaker. Jane loves the fact that they’re both artists, that they’re both committed to their craft, and want to achieve success. She definitely is in love with John, but she isn’t entirely sure if she should marry him—there are signs that he is irresponsible with money, not good at following through on his commitments, and is fairly lazy.

But eventually they do marry, and Jane quickly sees that John prioritizes his career and his happiness over hers. There are wonderful moments, however, so she believes that successful marriage is about compromise and occasional sacrifice. She loves John and is tremendously attracted to him.

Eventually, Jane gets pregnant and gives birth to a son. For the most part, John abdicates almost all responsibility for taking care of the baby, and has very little sympathy that Jane is exhausted and unable to write. And at the same time, John’s constant trouble keeping jobs results in their moving back and forth across the country, leaving Jane to do all the work and find child care.

Little by little, John’s constant gaslighting, neglect, and refusal to help Jane leaves her continually angry and at times makes her physically sick. She’d like to leave but doesn’t want to jeopardize her relationship with her son. And then one day, John tells her he wants a divorce, and she learns the extent of his deceit and manipulation.

This was a heavy read, frank and graphic, and written in a stream-of-consciousness style. I wanted to shake Jane to make her see what a monster John was, and at times, this is an emotional journey for Jane. But it’s a very powerful look at a woman’s struggle to survive a bad marriage and motherhood.

Book Review: "Sandwich" by Catherine Newman

In case you’re wondering, this book is not about sandwiches (although the characters do eat a bunch of them). Am I craving a sandwich now? Yes. Yes I am.

There’s something about a family vacation. Rocky’s family has been going to Cape Cod every summer for two decades, and now that her kids are grown, she’s looking forward to spending time with them. They stay in the same rental cottage every year, and they all have so many memories—laughs, triumphs, tears, tragedies—through the years.

Rocky and her husband, Neil, are part of the sandwich generation, halfway between their adult children and their aging parents. They truly love each other, but lately their relationship has been experiencing some friction, in part because of Rocky’s menopause-related mood swings, and partly because of Neil’s ability to wall himself off from emotional or stressful situations.

When a secret is revealed to Rocky, it triggers memories of a particularly sad time in her life, memories which she has borne alone. That is part of the tension she feels toward Neil, but if she didn’t share, how could he have known?

This is a quiet, character-driven book that is so full of funny and emotional moments. It draws so much of its power from not only the beach trips, the conversations, the random meals, but also the glimpses of how the passage of time affects each of us. I really thought this was beautifully written.

“This is how it is to love somebody. You tell them the truth. You lie a little. And sometimes you don’t say anything at all.”

Book Review: "Summers at the Saint" by Mary Kay Andrews

Pack your bags and join Mary Kay Andrews at the St. Cecelia (better known as “The Saint”), a famous resort on the Georgia coast. The Saint has been a haven and a playground for wealthy travelers for decades, and its exclusivity rankles those who can’t afford to stay there.

When Traci first saw the pink building that looked like a fairytale castle, she wanted to go there, but as a local “ain’t,” her kind wasn’t welcome. She was able to land a summer job there for several years, which led to her meeting and marrying one of the heirs to the resort. Now, a widow in her 40s, she’s determined to return The Saint to its glory days, before the pandemic took its toll.

Faced with unprecedented staff shortages, she increases salaries, provides housing for employees, and recruits new staff, including the daughter of her former best friend, who worked with Traci years ago before ending their friendship. Traci even convinces her niece to abandon her study-abroad plans and work at The Saint for the summer.

What Traci doesn’t fully grasp is how the deck is stacked against her. She has to deal with the machinations of her brother-in-law, who wants nothing more than to wrest The Saint from her hands. And it turns out there’s a lot of nefarious goings-on behind the scenes, which threaten to take the resort down for good. When a member of the staff is killed, and someone comes looking for answers about an incident at the hotel years ago, Traci realizes she can only depend on herself—and maybe one or two others.

There’s no shortage of family dysfunction, drama, people behaving badly, even murder and violence. Who’s responsible for the chaos that has broken out, and why? Can Traci turn things around at The Saint before she winds up in danger—and/or loses a place that reminds her of her late husband?

Andrews knows how to tell a story and paint an evocative scene, and this hooked me from start to finish. It's definitely a little darker than many of her books. There’s suspense, romance, intrigue, grief, even rehashing old memories. I definitely enjoyed my time at The Saint!

Book Review: "Welcome Home, Stranger" by Kate Christensen

Bleak and emotional, but beautifully written, Welcome Home, Stranger is a story about the scars we bear from our family, the resentments and misunderstandings we never voice, and the feeling that our lives are headed in directions we never wanted or expected.

“There are two ways to look at your family. The first way, the so-called normal way, is that you owe them everything just because you’re related. But I believe that you owe them nothing even though you’re related. It’s not obligatory, it’s voluntary.”

Rachel is an award-winning environmental journalist who is more comfortable with research and science than interaction. When her estranged mother dies, she returns home to Maine for the first time in a number of years, she’s hit with a wall of unpleasant memories and the resentment of her sister Celeste, who cared for their mother in her last days.

Both sisters must come to terms with the loss of a woman who viewed her daughters as competition for her and pitted them against one another. Rachel is also dealing with the inevitable loss of her job, reuniting with an old boyfriend, and a health crisis for her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Celeste also wants more out of the life she’s feeling stifled in.

For a relatively short book, the pacing was a little slow. There’s so much crisis and angst in this book and very little to truly be joyful about, so it was difficult to read at times. But ultimately, I think the message the book conveyed was that there is always hope.

Book Review: "Your Driver is Waiting" by Priya Guns

Your Driver is Waiting is a darkly satirical, thought-provoking look at our culture of protest and selfishness.

Damani is a rideshare (like Uber or Lyft) driver who lives in an unnamed city. Since her father died at his fast-food job, she’s been taking care of her mother, barely scraping by, living paycheck to paycheck. (In order to eke out a living, she has to drive constantly, despite the rules set by her employer.)

All throughout the city there are protests for every conceivable cause and issue. At the same time, the rideshare drivers are banding together to protest their pay constantly getting cut and other adverse conditions.

One day, Damani picks up Jolene, a beautiful white woman. Their attraction to one another is evident and their chemistry is palpable. Damani has never dated anyone with money before (especially a white woman), but Jolene seems to get her. They quickly fall into a relationship, which seems perfect—until Damani discovers that Jolene isn’t quite who she seems to be.

I’ve heard this book is a gender-flipped adaptation of Taxi Driver, but I didn’t feel that. It seemed to me like the book wanted to provide sharp social commentary but at the same time be a romance, and those two styles didn’t quite mesh. I’ll admit I don’t love when authors play coy with the locale of their book, so I found it difficult to completely settle into the culture.

I’ve seen some strong reviews of this, so it might just be me. Give it a shot if the description intrigues you.

Book Review: "After I Do" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

What happens when love fades? That's the question at the core of After I Do.

When Lauren and Ryan meet in college, they fall for each other right away. Their relationship is full of fun, passion, and love, so it’s only natural they get married after graduation. They become a part of each other’s families and their own family, with their dog, Thumper.

But somewhere along the way, they’ve started getting angrier at one another, not enjoying each other’s company, not having sex. They honestly don’t even like each other, and it’s not one thing causing these feelings, it’s a combination of things. So one night, with their marriage at the breaking point, they decide to go their separate ways for a year. They can see other people, do whatever they want, and in a year, hopefully they’ll be ready to try again. The only catch is they’re not to contact each other for the full year.

At first, Lauren can’t believe she’ll survive without her husband. Can’t they just put more work into their marriage? But the more time they spend apart, she realizes that they took each other for granted, took their love for granted. And as she sees herself as a person separate from Ryan for the first time, she needs to decide what’s important to her relationship-wise. Can she and Ryan truly be happy if they start again, or has their chance at love and happiness passed?

Taylor Jenkins Reid brings such poetry and emotion to her books. This story was all-encompassing, a look at love when it’s hot and when it goes cold, the way we are so inexorably connected to one another, and how we must find ourselves and each other in order to make a relationship last. This was a truly thought-provoking book. It made me smile and, of course, it made me cry.

With completing After I Do, I’ve read the last of her books. I’d been holding on to this one for so long because I didn’t want to be without any TJR books, but I couldn’t resist. Now I have to wait until her next one comes out!

Book Review: "The Lucky Ones" by Liz Lawson

Liz Lawson's The Lucky Ones is an emotional, timely story that packs such a powerful punch.

When a deadly shooting occurred at her school, May survived by hiding in a closet. But her brother and her friends were among those killed. She knows she should feel lucky but she doesn’t. No one understands the guilt, the hurt, the anguish she feels as her life is falling apart around her. All she wants to do is lash out, but one friend tries to keep her close.

After the shooting, Zach’s life changed in a different way. When his mother decides to become the shooter’s defense attorney, he loses everything. His girlfriend dumps him, his friends ostracize him, and he spends most of his time with only his little sister and the one friend who still cares about him.

Neither May nor Zach feels like they are really living anymore, and both wonder if it’s worth going on with life. But when the two meet, it’s the first time in a long while they’ve felt something other than grief or anger or guilt or pain. Can two people barely surviving help each other live again?

I thought The Lucky Ones provided a really interesting perspective on the survivors of a school shooting. Sadly, there are far too many of these shootings occurring these days, so this story is really relevant.

At times, as you’d imagine, this book got a bit heavier than I could handle, but it was a really well-told and moving story that definitely made me think.

NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "The Road Trip" by Beth O'Leary

Can forced proximity help a former couple recapture the magic or will it just make things worse? This is the question addressed in Beth O'Leary's new book, The Road Trip.

Dylan and Addie were in love. It was an intense relationship, but Dylan’s indecisiveness about his future and his constantly choosing his longtime best friend Marcus, who had wanted nothing more than to break them up from the start, dooms them. But when a betrayal occurs, it shatters everything.

Two years later, they know they’ll see each other at their mutual friend Cherry’s wedding. They've not spoken since the day their relationship ended. But the last thing they’re prepared for is when Dylan accidentally rear-ends the car Addie and her sister are driving to the wedding.

While the logical choice would be to let Dylan and Marcus fend for themselves, they’ll never make it to the wedding on time. So instead Addie and Deb invite them to drive with them to Scotland. In a Mini. Along with another random wedding guest, Rodney. What could go wrong?

Of course, hijinks ensue. And amidst crises and traffic and arguments about the trip playlist, Dylan and Addie realize their feelings for each other haven’t changed no matter how they try to fight them. But are feelings enough to overcome the hurt and guilt and betrayal? Have they changed that much?

The story alternates between present and past, tracing the trajectory of their relationship and what brought them to this point.

I’ve loved Beth O’Leary’s previous books, The Flat Share and The Switch, so much, so I had high hopes for The Road Trip as well. I loved Dylan and Addie and their story, but much like the trip itself, the book took a long while to get going. And honestly, Marcus was one of the most ridiculously insufferable characters and he took up far too much space in the story. But in the end, I still got teary. Lol.

NetGalley and Berkely provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The Road Trip publishes 6/1.

Book Review: "The Push" by Ashley Audrain

I don’t think I’ve ever had a more "Bookstagram Made Me Do It" book than Ashley Audrain's new novel, The Push. Seeing all the raves from friends I had such FOMO, even though some said, "Larry, I don't know if this one is for you!" But boy, did it live up to every ounce of the hype I had built for it in my head—and then some!!

“You know, there’s a lot about ourselves that we can’t change—it’s just the way we’re born. But some parts of us are shaped by what we see. And how we’re treated by other people. How we’re made to feel.”

This is a story about motherhood. It’s about the beautiful moments when you’re blissfully in love with this life you’ve helped to create. But it’s also about the difficult moments—the exhaustion, the pain, the fears, the sorrow and even resentment when you feel your spouse has more of a connection with your baby than you do.

But what happens if you feel your child doesn’t like you, and you’re not sure that you don’t feel the same? Is that even possible, or is it indicative of a larger problem you're having? What happens if you start to think your child may actually be dangerous? What if no one believes you? Are the things you're seeing really happening or have you convinced yourself they are?

This is such a tremendously powerful, suspenseful, slightly creepy book I stayed up until nearly 1:30 a.m. to finish because I couldn’t put it down. It packs quite a punch as you catch glimpses of three generations of mothers, each affected in different ways by the lives they live and those who came before.

I’ve read some good books so far this month but I hadn’t yet found a 5-star read. The Push sure did fit that bill for me. It’s definitely one I won’t forget anytime soon, and I’d imagine it would be great discussion fodder for book clubs!

Book Review: "Concrete Rose" by Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas' new book, Concrete Rose, is simply amazing. This is a powerful look at the life and challenges faced by a young Black man.

This prequel to The Hate U Give (but you don't need to have read that book first) takes us back to Garden Heights 17 years earlier. Maverick Carter knows his responsibility is to take care of his mom while his father, a former gang legend, is in prison. But the only way for a 17-year-old to truly help his mom is to sell drugs on the side for his gang, the King Lords.

While Maverick knows his life could be better—he’d love people to stop looking at him as a pale imitation of his father—he’s happy with his girlfriend and he has a cousin who looks out for him. And then his life is completely upended when he finds out he’s the father of a three-month-old boy.

How can he be a father when he’s still a child himself? While it completely changes his life, he’s determined to be a better father than the one he had. But he can’t be a father if he’s dealing drugs, so as much as “real work” pains him, when he’s given the chance to walk away from the gang life, he does.

When tragedy strikes and Maverick makes a foolish mistake, he’s faced with a decision: does he do what he needs to in order to survive and take care of his family, or does he continue to walk the right path, even if it may be the harder one?

Concrete Rose was just a fantastic book. I will never know the challenges faced by young Black men, but Thomas takes the reader into that world and gives a glimpse of the struggle between right and wrong, between boyhood and manhood, between being tough and being right.

Thomas never ceases to dazzle me with her power as a storyteller, her ability to make you think and make you feel and make you root for her characters. With this book, she has created another masterpiece that will resonate for long afterward.