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: "Head of Household" by Oliver Mundy

I saw the cover of this book before I had any idea what its title was or what it was about. (I’ll admit I thought this might be a coming-of-age or a YA novel, just from the socks.)

So many books are written about motherhood—the highs and the lows, the relationships mothers form with their children, etc. Head of Household is a collection of short stories about fatherhood and fathers in all phases of life and in all kinds of situations. I’m not a father, but I definitely found these stories moving and intriguing.

I didn’t feel like there was a weak story in the bunch. Considering that this is Oliver Munday’s debut, I’d say that bodes pretty well for his career!

Some of my favorite stories included “Vandal,” in which a father’s old graffiti habit starts tugging at him again; “Cabin Pressure,” where a grieving father is flying back home to his family after a tragedy (my favorite in the book); “New Motion,” about a new father who asks his estranged father to pick him, his wife, and their new baby from the hospital; and “Pizza Party,” in which a restaurateur feels the pressure of preparing a meal during which he’ll meet his daughter’s fiancée.

While one or two of the stories tilt a bit more on the outlandish side, the themes of the stories feel very universal. They touch on overprotectiveness, tension, feelings of inadequacy, difficult relationships, dating a woman who already has a child, and the relationships between a man and his own father.

Sometimes when I read short stories, they don’t feel complete. With this collection, while there were definitely stories I would have loved more of, they all felt complete. Definitely an enjoyable read!

Book Review: "Holmes is Missing" by James Patterson and Brian Sitts

Having devoured the first book in this series, Holmes, Marple & Poe, you can bet I snapped up the second book as soon as it hit stores! This really is a great series and now we’ll see how long it takes for Book 3 to come out.

Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe are best friends and private investigators who have become the talk of NYC after their success solving a few cases. (It doesn’t make them popular with the police, however.)

The latest case they become involved in deals with the kidnapping of six babies from the nursery of a NYC hospital. The families want to hire the trio to find their babies, but they’re not at full strength, as Holmes has been away dealing with a personal issue. And even though he agrees to help with this case, he makes it very clear he wants out of the business afterward.

As they try and figure out what happened, they discover that the kidnappings are related to other cases, both in the U.S. and the U.K. But what ties all of these incidents together, and what’s the motive behind them? It seems like it’s only a matter of time before more children are kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Holmes encounters an amateur detective who tells of a fascinating set of cases. But it’s not long before he realizes that the cases are real, and there’s more danger afoot, which could land closer to home. And Poe has problems of his own, mainly dealing with Police Detective Helene Grey.

I love these characters and how well they play off one another. Marple, in particular, proves to be a total badass in this book. There’s pulse-pounding action and great banter, and I couldn’t put this down.

Book Review: "Margo's Got Money Troubles" by Rufi Thorpe

I hate being an outlier, especially on a book I’ve really been anticipating, but this just didn’t grab me, although I appreciated its message.

Margo is a student at a junior college, working as a waitress to make ends meet. She really doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but her English professor, Mark, thinks she’s tremendously intelligent and can do almost anything.

It’s not long before Margo and Mark start sleeping together, despite the fact that he’s married with children of his own. But after Mark ends the affair, Margo discovers she is pregnant. Although everyone—Mark, her mother, her friends—tell her that she should have an abortion, that having a baby will ruin her life, she decides to give birth.

When her son Bodhi is born, she’s 20 years old, and she’s quickly at the end of her rope. Her mother won’t help, and she can’t find anyone to watch the baby, so she can’t work. When her estranged father Jinx, a former pro wrestler, needs a place to live, he moves in and helps take care of the baby.

Margo still needs money, however. Her father tells her about OnlyFans, and while she can’t quite imagine filming herself, the money she could make is a powerful enticement. Little by little, she comes out of her shell, and the experiment becomes a smashing success.

There are definitely some funny moments in the book, including the baby shower (IYKYK), but there’s a lot of poignancy as well. The gimmick in which the narration shifted between first and third person threw me off a lot. But lots of people have loved this, so give it a try!

Book Review: "The Bump" by Sidney Karger

Sometimes you find the right book to fit your mood. For me, the most recent example of this is Sidney Karger’s upcoming book, The Bump. It hit me square in the feels and left me smiling, too.

Wyatt and Biz have been together for a number of years now. Wyatt is a director of commercials; Biz, a former child actor, is now a food writer. Wyatt is the high-strung planner; Biz is the more spontaneous, fun-loving one. The couple lives in Brooklyn with their dog, Matilda.

But everything is about to change for them. They’re having a baby (through a surrogate) in a few weeks, and both are getting pretty tense. Biz decides that instead of flying to California for the baby’s birth, they’ll drive, making a few stops on the way so it’s kind of a “baby-moon.” (Biz is starting to panic, so he hopes the road trip will calm him down.)

In their old VW convertible, they start their journey in Provincetown, the scene of many great memories for them. But Wyatt feels like Biz is trying to avoid becoming a father, while Biz wishes Wyatt would just mellow out a bit. The tension makes it hard to enjoy, and then their plans go awry when an emergency with Wyatt’s family necessitates a detour.

Each time they try to get back on course, something else happens which causes another detour. And at the same time, secrets are revealed and discoveries are made which ratchet up both of their emotions, not to mention the tension between them. Can their family survive before it even starts?

While much of the drama in the book would be solved if Wyatt and Biz would just TALK to each other, the miscommunication didn’t bother me as much as it usually does in books. They make an adorable couple, and I really was rooting for them, plus I enjoyed the supporting characters as well. The book was a good mix of serious and silly, romantic and fun.

Many thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy! The book will publish 5/21.