Book Review: "The Gulf of Lions" by Caitlin Shetterly

Alice is a recent breast cancer survivor. It’s only been a year, and she’s still very scared of her long-term prognosis. Just before she was diagnosed, she learned of her husband Pete’s infidelity. So while he did everything during her surgery and recovery and chemotherapy, she still isn’t sure how she feels about him and their marriage.

She once was a writer, and during her recovery she found passion for it again. She’s landed a fantastic freelance assignment: she and her two daughters will travel to France, where they will camp across the country. Her daughters, Sophie and Iris, are 13 and 8-1/2. None of them have ever camped before. But this trip is both mother-daughters’ reconnection and a trip of triumph.

The places they go, the scenery they see, the people they meet, the food they enjoy, all of this imbues the trip with beauty and joy. But at the same time, Alice isn’t fully prepared for a trip with two girls who need more of her than she’s prepared to give, nor is she fully ready to be alone with her own thoughts about her mortality and the state of her marriage.

“There are versions of me I don’t recognize anymore.”

While this book is billed as a standalone, Caitlin Shetterly’s previous book, Pete and Alice in Maine, is, inherently a prequel. I wish I had known that because that book would probably have set the foundation for these characters and their actions, and perhaps make me feel more sympathetic towards them.

There are many beautiful and thought-provoking moments in the story, and the imagery is absolutely vivid. However, I didn’t really love the characters—especially Sophie and Iris. And the last 15 percent of the book came out of nowhere, creating melodrama where there had not previously been any.

Book Review: "Drop Dead Sisters" by Amelia Diane Coombs

“If you have an older sister, there’s a good chance that she’s almost killed you at least once since childhood.”

Remi doesn’t see her family often, and that’s not really a problem for her. Her parents are hippies and ever since she was young, she’s had the sense that her two older sisters, Eliana and Maeve, don’t like her very much. So she’s kept her distance, physically and emotionally.

But her parents have planned a camping trip for family and friends, to mark their anniversary and serve as a family reunion of sorts. Remi is definitely not looking forward to any of it, including the camping part, but she doesn’t want more grief for skipping it.

Remi begins arguing with, and feeling slighted by, her sisters not long after the trip starts, and she wishes that she could just head for home. But when a dead body is found at their campsite—and then disappears—the sisters start to bond as they try to figure out what happened and who was responsible. (There’s nothing like a dead body to mend fences.)

As Remi tries to reconcile her desire to become closer to her sisters with the lingering hurt and resentment she’s felt through the years, she’s also dealing with some other big issues. She’s considering quitting her job to work with a college friend at her start-up, and there’s a handsome park ranger who keeps showing up to chat with her.

The premise of this was cute, but the book tried to be a version of Knives Out, and that didn’t work. Instead of quirky, the whole missing body thing just felt silly. Oh well…

The book will publish 11/1.