Book Review: "A Fire So Wild" by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

Intriguing and thought-provoking, A Fire So Wild is both a meditation on climate change and a look at housing inequity, as well as how the path back from disaster looks different for the haves versus the have-nots.

It’s an unbearably hot summer in Berkeley, California, much as it has been for some time with the damage wrought by climate change. A wildfire in the distant hills threatens the city, but many aren’t too concerned that it will actually reach them.

Abigail works for an affordable housing organization, not seeing the irony of living in a hillside mansion with her wife and son. She’s desperate to show that she’s doing good for the community, so she decides to throw a fundraiser for her 50th birthday, to subsidize more affordable housing units in a new building under construction.

Sunny and his girlfriend, Willow, are currently living in their van, but have recently been approved for one of the apartments—if the funding comes through. They dream of the difference a place of their own will make, not having to move the van every night. And then, in the midst of it all, flames rush into the neighborhood, destroying homes, lives, and futures.

This was definitely a character-driven book, and there are a number of characters the story follows. Not all of the stories are as fleshed out, but I felt drawn into the fear and anger, and the descriptions of the fire were so evocative. I was worried that the book might veer into melodrama, and was so glad it didn’t. Definitely kept me thinking!

Book Review: "We Are Not Like Them" by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

Christine Pride and Jo Piazza's new novel, We Are Not Like Them, is powerful and thought-provoking.

Wow. I’m a little late to the party on this one but thanks to my friend Jenni for sending me a birthday gift off my wishlist. I devoured it quickly, as this really was fantastic.

Jen and Riley have been best friends since childhood, so long that Jen remembers when Riley went by her given name, Leroya. Even though one is Black and one white, and their lives have taken different paths, their bond is as close as sisters in many ways. Jen is married and has finally gotten pregnant after years of trying, and Riley is on her way to becoming a news anchor—one of only a few Black female anchors in Philadelphia history.

One night it all changes. Jen’s husband, a policeman, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Much to Jen’s dismay, Riley is the network’s choice to cover the aftermath of the shooting and the investigation. While the difference in their races hasn’t always been an issue in Jen and Riley’s friendship, the shooting may prove too big to overcome.

As Jen struggles both with her pregnancy and the public outrage against her husband, she has to examine her own feelings and biases. At the same time, Riley has to try and separate her feelings for her friend from her feelings not only about the shooting and the inequities of race, but also her ambitions and whether she’s being used as a pawn for the very reason her star is rising.

We Are Not Like Them is a tremendously thought-provoking book, one that would be great for a book club. The characters are not perfect—I often felt like the friendship was a little one-sided and that Jen was a bit of a brat—but thinking of how you’d react in a situation like this is eye-opening.

Book Review: "Kept Animals" by Kate Milliken

Kept Animals, Kate Milliken's debut novel, is a powerful, gorgeously told story of desire, loss, secrets, and the toll we take on nature.

In 1993, 15-year-old Rory Ramos is living in Topanga Canyon, California, and working as a ranch hand at a stable her stepfather runs. She’s talented with horses but mostly rides for rich people, including wealthy twin siblings June and Wade. June, who is openly gay, takes an interest in Rory, who is struggling with her own sexuality, but often Rory is caught in the manipulation between the siblings.

But Rory is more intrigued by Vivian, the beautiful daughter of an actor, whose house Rory can see from her bedroom window. At night she can catch glimpses of Vivian swimming.

After a tragic accident occurs which creates strange ties among Rory, Vivian, June, and Wade, Rory’s equestrian skills grow stronger and she discovers her talent for photography. And as the relationships among the four grow more complicated, one night everything comes to a head, and a dangerous forest fire occurs, threatening to destroy the canyon and beyond.

In 2015, Rory’s daughter, Charlie, is left with more secrets about her mother than memories, as her mother is on the road more than she is home. The more she starts to question and dig into things, the more she realizes that to understand her mother, and perhaps herself, she needs to understand what happened more than 20 years before.

This book was so beautifully written. Milliken’s imagery is so evocative you can taste the dust and feel the dryness in the air. There is a lot of tension among characters that you can feel as well—I had my suspicions about what might happen but couldn’t wait to see things unfold. Issues of race and class, inequity and prejudice are also touched on.

I really enjoyed Kept Animals and stayed up late to finish it. (Story of my life in 2020.) This was a book I wouldn’t have heard of were it not for Bookstagram, so I’m grateful.

Kate Milliken provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "How to Build a Heart" by Maria Padian

When you’re getting pulled in a million different directions, how can you decide the right path?

Finding your own way, finding who you truly are can be difficult, especially for a teenager. Izzy tries to be a dutiful daughter, a good sister, a loyal friend, but she wants so much more. Her family’s life has been affected since her Marine father died 6 years ago, and she’s tired of moving into increasingly smaller and more depressing places.

But things are finally starting to fall into place. She’s a member of the popular a capella singing group at her school, and her family has been selected to get a house through Habitat for Humanity. And when she becomes friends with the group’s newest recruit, Aubrey, it comes with a side benefit: the girl’s handsome brother, a star athlete at another high school.

After a while though, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the pieces of her life together. She doesn’t want her friends—or Aubrey’s brother—to know her family is poor and that she's on scholarship, she doesn’t want her best friend to know she’s been spending time with someone she also has a crush on, and she wants to understand why her father’s family never contacts them.

When things come to a head, Izzy must find her own way and become the person she’s meant to be. Along the way she’ll find allies in unlikely places and anger and jealousy in others. But she’ll have to act fast before everything falls apart.

I really enjoyed How to Build a Heart. I found it so engaging and well-written. It’s so nice to read a YA book that isn’t entirely full of angst or seriously depressing situations, yet there was still a lot of emotion in the story. Maria Padian is a terrific writer. She had me hooked on this story from the first page, and I read it in just a matter of a few hours.

I’ve been looking forward to this since winning the book in a giveaway on Bookstagram. Thanks so much to Algonquin Young Readers for making it available!

Book Review: "Topics of Conversation" by Miranda Popkey

Miranda Popkey's Topics of Conversation is a novel of commentary on issues about gender, sex, and violence, framed as conversations.

I’m going to call this review a #maybeitsmenotyou review. I read a lot, as many of you know, and I feel like I “get” themes and issues and situations even if I can’t personally identify with them. But every so often a book comes along and it doesn’t work for me and I wonder if maybe it’s because I can’t identify with the characters or subject matter.

I’m going to say this is definitely one of those books.

An unnamed narrator has a series of conversations with different people at different stages of her life over a period of 20 years or so. These conversations are about relationships, sex, sexual violence, infidelity, and the inequities between genders. They're with friends, colleagues, lovers, spouses, strangers, fellow students. In each separate story/conversation, it appears the narrator is hungering for something more.

The topics that Popkey presents here are important, thought-provoking topics. Perhaps in another person’s hands this book might really resonate but for me it missed the mark. I struggled in many cases with the long-windedness of her characters as well.

I have seen some very positive reviews of this book from both women and men, so perhaps #itsjustme. If this interests you I do hope you enjoy it!

Book Review: "Girls Like Us" by Cristina Alger

What a pleasure it is to read a thriller that doesn't have an unreliable narrator, one which keeps you guessing about every single plot point because you don't know what is true and what is a figment of their imagination!

FBI agent Nell Flynn returns to her childhood home in Long Island's Suffolk County for the first time in 10 years when her father, Martin, a homicide detective, is killed in a motorcycle accident.

Nell and her father were never close, particularly after her mother was brutally murdered when Nell was seven. Even though she followed in Martin's footsteps and became a cop, their relationship was always a bit strained and never really went beyond the exchange of polite information and conversation.

"Dad had an unshakable, almost evangelical sense of right and wrong. But there were contradictions. He loathed drugs but felt comfortable pickling his liver in scotch....The criminals he most despised were abusers of women and children, but I once saw him strike my mother so hard across the face that a red outline of his hand was imprinted on her skin. Dad had his own code. I learned early not to second-guess it. At least, not out loud."

Returning home to Suffolk County awakens a lot of memories for Nell, and she's anxious simply to scatter Martin's ashes, get his house ready to sell, and never return again. But her father's partner, whom she knew from high school, asks for her help investigating the murder of a young woman whose body was found mutilated in a park. It seems this murder is connected to another murder uncovered about a month earlier, which means there very well could be a serial killer on the loose in Suffolk County.

It turns out that Martin was investigating the first murder when he died. While the police seem to have a suspect who looks good for both murders, or at least was involved somehow, they couldn't seem to make the charges stick the first time, but they hope to nail him this time. Nell, however, sees that there are definitive doubts about this man's guilt, yet the police don't seem interested in pursuing any other avenues in terms of a suspect.

The more Nell starts to dig into the lives of the two young women, the more she realizes that there is definitely a second suspect—her father. There are too many coincidences and too many connections. But could her father have been capable of murder? And if he murdered these two women, was he guilty of murdering her mother all those years ago? That question fills Nell with rage and sadness, especially because her seven-year-old self was her father's alibi.

As Nell conducts her own secret investigation, she discovers the murders were part of a much larger operation, involving allegations of police brutality, blackmail, corruption, and prostitution, involving people far beyond Suffolk County. It's easy for the police to write off the two young women as victims because they were undocumented and occasionally worked as escorts, but Nell is determined that their deaths not be in vain—but she doesn't realize what a hornet's nest she's stirred up.

Girls Like Us drew me in from the very first pages and didn't let go until the last. I read the book in one sitting, and stayed up late last night (or this morning, technically) to finish it. There certainly were a few twists I didn't see coming, one which confused me in the way it was initially presented and one which disappointed me a bit, but Cristina Alger didn't let up with the book's pacing until the very end.

Nell is a fantastic character and I wouldn't mind seeing her featured in another book. I've been a big fan of Alger's writing since her first book, and I love the way each book she has written is somewhat different. I had been waiting to read Girls Like Us for a while, and I'm so glad it was as good as I hoped it would be.

Book Review: "The Gifted School" by Bruce Holsinger

It's always nice when fiction illuminates the worst in people, isn't it?

Rose, Samantha, Azra, and Lauren have been best friends for years, in many cases since their kids were infants. The four women and their families have weathered many crises—death, divorce, troubles with their children and their marriages, etc. While there are certainly interesting dynamics among the four of them, there doesn't seem to be anything that can keep them apart.

When word gets out that their affluent town of Crystal, Colorado is building a school for gifted children, all four women react to the news differently, especially when they learn there will be a limited number of slots available at every grade level, and decisions will be made based both on test scores and other factors.

Samantha has always believed her daughter, Emma, is practically perfect in every way, so for her it's a given that Emma will be accepted. Rose's daughter Emma, who is best friends with Samantha's daughter, may be smarter, but she isn't as driven or as competitive as the other Emma. But what would happen if one Emma got in and the other didn't? They've been inseparable since infancy.

While Azra's twin sons, Charlie and Aidan, have focused more on soccer than academics, there's no reason they shouldn't be considered for the school as well, despite the misgivings of Azra's trust-fund yet hippie-esque ex-husband. Since her husband's death, Lauren has focused most of her energy on her son, Xander, who actually is gifted, but at the expense of her older daughter, Tessa, who has dealt with challenge after challenge without the support of her mother.

"Parents always want to manage the narrative instead of letting kids write their own."

Following the perspectives of multiple characters, including several of the group's children, The Gifted School is a melodramatic yet insightful look at how competition and envy can bring out the worst in adults, laying bare secrets long kept hidden, in some cases pitting spouse against spouse and friend against friend. The book also examines the pros and cons of schools for gifted children, the biases of testing and other admission-related decisions, and the thin line between striving for equity and creating quotas for traditionally under-represented populations.

I expected the book to be a little more campy and entertaining than it was. While some twists are telegraphed early on, Bruce Holsinger did throw in one twist that upended the characters, and it really didn't feel genuine to me. I thought that Holsinger makes some interesting arguments, but the majority of his characters were so unlikable it was difficult to have any sympathy for them.

There's a lot going on in The Gifted School. There were a lot of storylines to follow, and while I understood the points Holsinger was trying to make, I could have absolutely done without the whole storyline featuring the group's cleaning lady and her family, because it kept dragging the story away from its core.

Holsinger is a talented writer, and his storytelling definitely kept me reading. Those of you who enjoy stories of people acting horribly to each other to advance their children's best interests (or perhaps their own) might enjoy The Gifted School a bit more than I did.

Book Review: "The East End" by Jason Allen

This was a crazy book, very different than what I was expecting!

Corey Halpern is a townie, living in the Hamptons with his mother and brother, struggling to make ends meet, and watching the rich people parade in and out during the season. He dreams of nothing more than leaving, of starting a new life far away from the people he resents, far from his alcoholic mother and his drug-addicted, violent stepfather.

Just before Memorial Day weekend, where he's scheduled to work with his mother at the wealthy Sheffields' mansion, he decides to partake in one of his favorite pastimes—breaking into other mansions. He's not all that interested in taking anything; he enjoys the illicit feeling of sneaking in, of taking risks even when the homeowners are asleep while he's there.

Still riding his buzz from one break-in, he heads for the Sheffields'. He is surprised when their youngest daughter, Tiffany, arrives home with her best friend, Angelique, a girl who has caught Corey's eye many times before, but he figures she has written him off because of their different financial situations. He's able to escape their attention, but he decides to hang around and watch Angelique for a while.

Unexpectedly, Leo Sheffield, the billionaire CEO and Tiffany's father, decides to arrive at the house the evening before the rest of his family is scheduled to take up residence. He is joined by Henry, his much younger (and emotionally unstable) lover, for one last rendezvous before he must spend the summer with his family. Under the influence of a great deal of alcohol and cocaine, a freak accident occurs, and Henry winds up dead.

Leo is unsure what his next move is—how can he get caught in this situation when his wife already suspects him of having an affair, albeit not with a man? He's utterly unprepared for the fact that both Corey and Angelique saw at least some of what happened, and for how he'll react to that fact.

What happens over the course of the next 24 hours will change all of their lives, including Gina, Corey's mother. It's a crazy series of events, incorrect assumptions, and threats; people will lose control; and no one is quite sure how things will wind up.

The East End is a well-written but chaotic look at the haves and the have-nots, and how barriers to happiness exist for everyone. There's a lot—almost too much—going on in this book, and I really wondered how Jason Allen would tie everything together in the end. I thought he raised some very interesting issues on which the story could turn, but as it raced toward a breakneck conclusion, I didn't feel as if any of the threads were fully resolved.

I love the way Allen uses language and imagery; his descriptions of Corey's break-ins made me feel the tension right alongside of him, and I could see some of the scenery he described. I just really wasn't a fan of any of these characters—while each had issues that made me feel sympathy for them, their actions were so odious at times I quickly lost those feelings. But still, there is a lot to ponder here.

I'm honored to be part of the blog tour for The East End. NetGalley, HARLEQUIN, and Park Row Books provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book will be published May 7, 2019.

Book Review: "Boomer1" by Daniel Torday

A fascinating, timely, and thought-provoking meditation on the craziness of our internet-obsessed culture, the generational divide between Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials, and just how far our lives can drift from what we've planned, Daniel Torday's Boomer1 is both funny and eerily prescient.

Mark is a bluegrass musician, a journalist and editor, and a student completing his PhD in English. He hopes to find fame as an insightful political writer, although he wouldn't mind if his band hit it big either. When he meets Cassie, a fellow musician, who plays bass in an all-female post-punk band, he feels like he has met a kindred spirit, especially when he discovers Cassie knows how to play the fiddle as well. The two embark on a relationship, which brings both security, if not wild passion.

But as Cassie's media career starts to take off, Mark finds himself at a dead end, which doesn't help their struggling relationship much. After she rejects Mark's marriage proposal, he's left with no prospects, career- or otherwise. With no money and nowhere else to turn, Mark decides to live the Millennial stereotype—he moves home to Baltimore to live in his parents' basement.

As he starts figuring out his future, his anger grows, so he adopts a pseudonym and starts filming a series of online video rants against baby boomers. The so-called Boomer Missives tap into a vein in society, of people stuck in the same rut he is, feeling the same feelings, and wanting to find someone else to blame. But before he knows it, these videos become a rallying cry for those who feel downtrodden, put upon, and want their chance without having to wait to pay their dues. Suddenly, he goes from spokesperson to revolutionary—with potentially dangerous consequences.

Narrated alternatively by Mark, Cassie, and Mark's mother Julia, a child of the 1960s who thought her life would be much more rebellious than it turned out, Boomer1 delivers quite a punch. There are times when it almost doesn't seem like fiction, because you could totally see something like this happening in today's world.

This is a very well-written book, but I found the pacing really slow. Although I've seen other reviews say that things started to pick up, it didn't for me. I definitely enjoyed the story, but I just wanted things to move quicker, and I wanted to like the characters a bit more, but the book certainly gave me a lot to think about.

If you like a dose of reality mixed in with your fiction, Boomer1 may be just the ticket for you. It will definitely get you thinking!

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Assistants" by Camille Perri

As a society, we love rooting for David over Goliath, for the underdog to get their day, for people we perceive to be unethical or just plain evil to get their comeuppance. But what if we knew the underdog wasn't entirely virtuous or correct—would we still root for them, because we think their foe is worse?

I always marvel when a writer can make readers root for, or sympathize with, characters who aren't entirely on the up-and-up. It's the hallmark of shows like Dexter or even The Sopranos, that you'd rather the bad people not get caught even if they deserve to. Despite the fact that this is her debut novel, Camille Perri demonstrates this skill very well in The Assistants.

"All important men have assistants. That's the first principle I want you to remember. Do important women also have assistants? Yes, of course. But men rule the world. Still. That's the second principle I want you to remember. Men still rule the world. Not because this is some feminist manifesto, but because it's a simple fact essential to how this all started."

Tina Fontana is 30 years old, and the assistant to Robert Barlow, a media mogul who is CEO of Titan Corporation. (Think a Texan, slightly-less-odious Rupert Murdoch.) Robert trusts Tina implicitly, and she's great at her job, solving problems, schmoozing those who want things from her boss he's not willing to give, making reservations, and corralling the staff. She knows she's smarter than her day-to-day tasks prove, and she certainly is worth more than her meager salary, but she feels integral. For an assistant.

One day, she stumbles on an accounting error related to one of Robert's expense reports, an error that presents her with a tidy sum of money. This money would be enough to pay off her student loans, and allow her to perhaps pay her phone bill and eat dinner at a restaurant. Given Titan's finances, this would be just a drop in the bucket. Would anyone even notice anyway?

Once her ethical lapse is discovered, Tina finds herself helping another assistant within the company eliminate her debt. But while she knows she was wrong, and she'd just like to put it all behind her, as more people get involved, Tina realizes her life is changing. Suddenly she's not the mild-mannered assistant who slices limes perfectly for Robert's cocktails. Suddenly she's at the forefront of a movement she unwittingly started, one attempting to bring equity where there never has been before. But it can't work, can it?

While obviously the plot of The Assistants is far-fetched (I'd imagine), it's a really enjoyable read. We know inherently Tina and her crew are committing crimes, and we know their good fortune can't last forever, but we want it to. Perri does a great job unfurling Tina's ethical and emotional dilemmas, but she's careful not to paint Robert as too much of an ogre either. This book definitely taps into some very relevant themes in today's world, including gender inequity and student loan debt.

This really was good fun, and a tremendously entertaining, quick read. If you're the type of person who roots for the "bad guys," you might enjoy this book. I definitely did.