Book Review: "Little One" by Olivia Muenter

“…knowing your decisions were influenced by things that were bigger than you doesn’t make them lighter or easier. In the end, we have to live with the choices we make.”

Catharine grew up on a farm in Florida, which grew into a sort-of commune. The children all went to school together, everyone had responsibilities, and the focus was on eating healthy and building a strong community away from outside influences. Her father was the leader, a magnetic man, who for years seemed to have total control.

But little by little, his grip seemed to be failing. He required stricter commitments and sacrifices, and became increasingly paranoid. After trauma and tragedy affected the shrinking community, Catharine felt it necessary to escape.

Ten years later, Catharine has built a brand-new life, far from the farm and the stifling control. She’s never confided in anyone about what happened during those years, or how she found the strength to escape. But when a journalist contacts her asking if she’s the Catharine who lived in a “cult” in Florida, she tries to take control of the situation. Until it appears that the journalist knows more than she thinks he does.

Catharine decides to speak to the journalist, who claims to have another source with information about what went on. She hopes that her being (somewhat) forthcoming might help her find her sister, who left the farm shortly before she did. She also hopes to keep her own secrets safe.

The book shifts between past and present. It’s so compelling, emotional and a bit creepy. I usually don’t like stories about cults but Olivia Muenter’s storytelling definitely drew me in and didn’t let go.

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: "Forget Me Not" by Stacy Willingham

Loss has a way of permeating our lives, no matter how long ago it occurred. For Claire, it’s been 22 years since her older sister Natalie disappeared shortly after her 18th birthday. The police found traces of Natalie’s blood in a man’s car shortly thereafter, and an arrest was made.

But despite the speedy resolution of her sister’s case, Claire has never gotten over losing her sister. Once Claire was old enough, she left her small South Carolina hometown and moved to New York City. She became an investigative journalist, helping others get clarity in their grief and loss.

Despite a successful career, Claire is passed over for a promotion and quits her job. With no real opportunities on the horizon, she’s starting to worry about money and her future when her father calls. He asks her to come home to South Carolina to care for her mother, who was injured in an accident. Claire is at a bit of a crossroads, so she decides to go home despite her estrangement from her mother.

It’s not long before Claire remembers why she left home, and she’s affected by the memories of Natalie that are stirred up. On a whim to get away, she takes a summer job at Galloway Farm, a muscadine grape vineyard on an isolated island not far from where she grew up. Natalie had worked there shortly before her disappearance.

At first, the peace of the farm and the physical labor is therapeutic. But when Claire finds an old diary hidden in the farm’s guesthouse where she’s staying, she begins to suspect that all isn’t idyllic at Galloway Farm. She worries that the owner, Mitchell, may be dangerous—and somehow, he may hold the key to what happened to Natalie all those years before.

The story shifts between the present and the past (in the form of diary entries). For some reason the diary was written in the third person, which was a little weird, but it definitely kept me hooked. I had some idea how the story would be resolved but there were some surprises, too. I did think the pacing was slow for a while until it picked up steam.

Book Review: "Kate & Frida" by Kim Fay

“…books aren’t anchored in one place like a building which means you can read a book that holds your memories anywhere. And food. If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, you can eat a dish that holds your memories anywhere too. If memories are inherent to our sense of identity, does that mean it’s possible to reassemble parts of your identity no matter where you are in the world?”

This was such a heartwarming and thought-provoking epistolary novel. I found myself smiling and tearing up while reading it.

In 1991, Frida is an aspiring war correspondent living in Paris. She is ready to take on the conflicts of the world and share the stories people don’t see. One day she writes to a bookstore in Seattle to request a book. Her letter is received by Kate, one of the store’s booksellers, who is also an aspiring writer.

Kate is immediately drawn to Frida’s letter, and loves having the opportunity to help a customer. Her reply to Frida sets off a correspondence that builds into one of the most important relationships either young woman has ever had. They recount their days, share their dreams and fears, and talk about books, food, family, and their romantic relationships.

Frida goes to Bosnia to cover the war there and is shaken by all she sees. She searches within herself to find her story. Kate is a highly emotional person who loves her job as a bookseller and loves her family, but so desperately wants to leave her mark on the world.

Epistolary novels are such a terrific change of pace, and I felt the difference between both characters. Kim Fay said in her Author’s Note that this book was inspired by the advice she wanted to give her younger self. This really was a beautiful and memorable book.

Book Review: "The Champions" by Kara Thomas

Hadley is new to Sunnybrook, as her mother took a job as the superintendent of schools there. She is biding her time, hoping her senior year will result in her being named editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and getting accepted to Columbia so she can study journalism.

She’s not particularly thrilled that her first assignment is to write an article about the Tigers, Sunnybrook’s football team. They’ve won two consecutive state championships and are hoping to make history by winning a third. Everything in school—and in the town—revolves around the Tigers.

She receives an anonymous email warning her to stay away from the football team, and another telling her not to go to a party being thrown by one of the star players. But Hadley goes to the party, and one of the players that she interviewed collapses and falls into a coma. The players wouldn't let Hadley call an ambulance, and everyone was acting strangely. It turns out he was poisoned.

Eleven years ago, five of Sunnybrook’s cheerleaders were murdered. When another football player winds up dead after causing trouble at a game, Hadley is determined to figure out what’s behind the tragedies. Her investigative methods make her an outcast, but she’s able to track down some people who remember what happened 11 years ago.

What secrets are being hidden? Who is responsible for what is happening? Could Hadley be a target? And most importantly, can the truth be uncovered before someone else dies?

This was a great story, full of drama and twists and turns. It’s a follow-up to Kara Thomas’ book The Cheerleaders, but this can be read as a standalone. Reading this made me glad I didn’t go to high school when social media existed!

Book Review: "All That's Left Unsaid" by Tracey Lien

This debut novel is a well-written family drama, as a young woman fights to find the truth about a family tragedy.

Ky was more than eager to leave her home of Cabramatta, a suburb of Sydney, to pursue a career as a journalist in Melbourne. Each time she returned home to visit her family, she became more depressed over the decline of Cabramatta, home to countless refugees from Vietnam and other countries, riddled by crime, drugs, and poverty.

Her parents summon her home with sad news: her studious brother Denny was apparently murdered at a restaurant after celebrating his high school graduation. The police don’t know what happened and don’t seem to care much about the fate of another refugee; amazingly, there were dozens of witnesses in the restaurant but no one apparently saw anything.

Wracked with guilt because she convinced her parents to let Denny go that night, and frustrated by their reticence to push for answers regarding his death, Ky is determined to uncover the truth. She sets out to track down the witnesses to Denny’s murder and find out what they know and why they won’t speak up.

In doing so, Ky uncovers a picture of a town under the vise of violence and anti-immigrant sentiment, where the police are ones to fear, not look to for protection. And at the same time, she learns more about her brother, and her family, than she ever knew.

This was sad and very insightful. It is told by Ky and a number of the witnesses, so the voice of the book changed often, and that kept taking me out of the story. But there was a lot to marvel over here for a debut novel.

Book Review: "See You Yesterday" by Rachel Lynn Solomon

As if freshman year of college isn’t bad enough, you get caught in a time loop? So is the premise behind Rachel Lynn Solomon's See You Yesterday.

Barrett had high hopes for her freshman year of college. She was hoping for a brand-new start, away from the problems that plagued her in high school. But on the first day of class, she discovers her high school nemesis will be her roommate, she gets tormented by a guy in her physics class, she screws up her interview at the school paper, and her attempt to make friends at a frat party ends in a fiery mess.

When she goes to bed that night, utterly depressed and defeated, she feels like college isn’t much better than high school. But when she wakes up, she discovers she’s repeating that day from hell. Again and again and again, no matter what she tries. And then when she runs into Miles, her tormentor from physics class, she finds out she’s not the only one experiencing this phenomenon—he’s been stuck for a long time.

Despite the fact that she doesn’t want to deal with the scientific aspects of the time loop they’re stuck in, eventually she and Miles decide to work together to try and solve the time loop mystery. But while some of the approaches are fun, none seem to succeed. The more time they spend together, the harder they start to fall for one another. But if they ever get out of the loop they’re in, will they remember what they’ve shared?

Solomon always delivers fantastic books, whether YA or adult, and this is no exception. I loved the banter between Barrett and Miles, and the relationship between her and her mother. This is so sweet and emotional and romantic, and it certainly makes me hope I never get caught in a time loop!

Book Review: "A Hundred Other Girls" by Iman Hariri-Kia

How far would you go to keep the job a hundred other girls are ready to take?

Noora has dreamed of being a writer for as long as she can remember. Even though the only writing she seems to do is either on her blog or papers for her spoiled tutoring clients, she’s determined to land a job at a magazine. And when she learns about a job opening at Vinyl magazine, she can’t believe her luck.

“Vinyl became an older friend. It taught me how to properly insert a tampon, select which political philosophy I subscribed to, and differentiate between an orgasm and an organism.”

Amazingly, Noora lands a job as assistant to Vinyl’s legendary editor-in-chief, Loretta James. But this job won’t quite be the foot in the door she was hoping: Loretta is an immensely insecure, manipulative tyrant who is struggling to hold on to her domain while print publications are being put out to sea in favor of digital. She needs Noora to feed her information that will keep the print side of the magazine—and Loretta herself—relevant.

It’s not long before Noora finds herself in the middle of a turf war between print and digital, crushing on a colleague, and negotiating toxic office culture. How much will she be willing to sacrifice to make her dream a reality?

This book has been called an updated version of The Devil Wears Prada and there are definitely many similarities between the two. But this story didn’t grab me that much. I really wasn’t a fan of many of the characters and while I know there were places I probably should have been laughing, it just didn’t work for me.

Book Review: "Woman on Fire" by Lisa Barr

Woman on Fire, Lisa Barr's newest book, is both a thriller and a story of family, legacy, betrayal, and courage. It feels like a movie—and has been optioned by Sharon Stone!

Jules Roth is a courageous young journalist, determined to work for legendary investigate journalist Dan Mansfield. After she talks her way into a job, she gets a top-secret assignment: a friend of Dan’s has asked him to find a famous painting, “Woman on Fire,” which was one of many works of art stolen by the Nazis years ago. The painting matters to Dan’s friend, renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum, for very personal reasons.

But Ellis isn’t the only one who wants the painting. Gallery owner Margaux de Laurent believes the painting is part of her family’s legacy, and she’s used to getting everything she wants. She’ll do anything she needs to in order to get that painting, and she has countless resources to do so, including those outside legal and ethical channels.

It becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Jules and Dan trying to find the painting and what could’ve happened to it through the years, and Margaux working to crush them and get the painting first. Everyone is a pawn, including Adam Chase, Ellis’ grandson and a tremendously talented artist in his own right.

Shifting between the late 1930s and the present, the book explores the all-too-real costs of war, its effects on the art world as well as familial legacy, and how the quest to find truth has unexpected results.

I love the way Barr writes, and this book hooked me from start to finish. There were some elements of thrillers I wasn’t fond of—particularly how the villains always know what is happening before it does—but I was totally immersed in the story and these characters. If you know art history, you’ll find this even more fascinating!!

Thanks to Get Red PR Books and Harper Books for inviting me on the tour for Woman on Fire and providing a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!! And thanks to my friend Louis for a great buddy read discussion as always!!

Book Review: "Under the Southern Sky" by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Under the Southern Sky, the newest book by Kristy Woodson Harvey, is emotional, thought-provoking, romantic, and so, so, good!!

“I found out my marriage was over the day my ‘Modern Love’ piece appeared in the New York Times.”

Even though her life has come crashing down around her, Amelia is still focused on her work as an investigative journalist. While researching a story at a fertility clinic she discovers that frozen embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have been labeled “abandoned.” She takes it upon herself to deliver this news to Parker.

Three years after his wife’s death, Parker is still dealing with his grief and definitely isn’t ready to move on with his life. When he learns about the embryos, it sparks a desire to become a father and bring a piece of Greer back into the world, so he decides to hire a surrogate and asks Amelia to help him with the process.

As they both try to navigate through emotional issues and figure out the next step in each of their lives, Amelia and Parker begin to lean on each other more and more. But life—and emotions—are complicated ones, and each has secrets they’ve kept hidden away. Sometimes happiness means stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking chances, which is harder to do when you've been hurt.

Set against a gorgeous North Carolina waterfront backdrop, full of family drama, poignancy, love, laughter, and sadness, Under the Southern Sky was such a fantastic book. I felt these characters in my heart and was so invested in their story.

I loved Harvey's last book, Feels Like Falling, but this one really blew me away!!

Book Review: "Cartier's Hope" by M.J. Rose

I love it when a book surprises you, not just with how compelling the story is but also with how layered the plot is, that it's so much more than you expected. That was definitely the case with M.J. Rose's newest book, Cartier's Hope.

New York, 1910. Vera Garland is the headstrong daughter of the owner of one of leading department stores. Much to her mother's chagrin, she has chosen to pursue a career as a journalist, a field that has not historically been amenable to women, paying them much less than their male counterparts, taking prime story assignments away from them, and relegating them to the traditional "soft" subjects like fashion and gossip.

But Vera has taken a different track, working under a pseudonym and wearing a disguise, and her undercover work on controversial topics such as abortion have received admiration from other female reporters, who could never imagine that the courageous reporter is actually Vera.

With New York City abuzz due to the arrival of the Hope Diamond at Cartier's jewelry store, society elite are mesmerized by the stone and the legends of bad luck that surround those who have possessed (and even touched) it. Still reeling from the death of her father, who always championed her bravado and willingness to fight for what she believed in, Vera discovers deep secrets and a blackmail scheme which appears to have led to her father's death. Devastated and angry, she vows revenge.

Determined to make the blackmailer, a ruthless magazine publisher known for blackmailing businessmen into buying advertising to guarantee his silence, pay for his sins, Vera decides to use the legends of the Hope Diamond's curse to her advantage. She creates a scheme which she hopes will "uncover" a scandal that the publisher can use to blackmail the famed jeweler, Cartier—and then the scheme can be turned on its head to expose the blackmailer.

It's a complicated and dangerous plan which requires keeping secrets from many she cares about. In order to succeed, she turns to a charismatic Russian jeweler for help. Yet as she does her research and pulls her facts together, she finds herself drawn to this man who has secrets of his own. For so long she's guarded her heart from love and the need for a man in her life; how ironic that her feelings are changing because of a man from whom she has to hide the truth about her plans and her identity?

Cartier's Hope is an utterly fascinating novel of historical fiction with a little bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. It's a fascinating look at a time just before the world changed dramatically, with World War I and women getting the right to vote both on the horizon. I also loved the look into New York society during that era and the role of women in journalism.

I've often said that I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, yet every time I've read a book in this genre lately, I've loved it. I loved the complexity of Cartier's Hope, the family dynamics, the secrets, the issues that would have been so controversial during that time. But more than that, I just loved the way M.J. Rose writes, and how she immediately pulled me into this story and didn't let go until the book's conclusion. Vera is a fascinating character I wouldn't mind seeing again.

I'm honored to have been part of the blog tour for Cartier's Hope. Atria Books and Get Red PR provided me an advance complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "The Nobodies" by Liza Palmer

When life knocks you to your knees, you can completely fall to pieces or you can hang on to at least a shred of self-esteem and dignity. Joan Dixon may be closer to the former than the latter at this point, since her journalism career continues to go nowhere, she's had to move back in with her parents, and she's applying for jobs that are far, far more junior than she should consider. But what choice does she have?

After landing an internship at a newspaper right out of high school, she thought she'd have a glorious career as a journalist, but it never materialized. And when a meeting with her old mentor leaves her wondering if she ever really had any talent, she's considering any opportunity, even working as a bar back (she apparently only needs to show one breast, which seems like a good compromise for her).

Joan applies to be a junior copywriter at Bloom, a startup tech company in Los Angeles founded by two college best friends, which is about to go public. She's easily one of the oldest people working there and she finds the culture intriguing, bewildering, and frustrating. She should feel good about the office's fancy coffee machine and the unlimited supply of snacks and beverages, but how can she reconcile a workplace where the employees care more about why the cafeteria stopped carrying a certain variety of ramen noodles than serious issues?

Even as she becomes close with her team, and may even be in the midst of a flirtation with a colleague, the journalist in Joan can't rest. So when she can't quite figure out what Bloom does beyond the buzzwordy descriptions she gets, she asks questions. When the answers to those questions don't satisfy her she starts to dig deeper. And then she realizes there may be some reality behind her sneaking suspicions.

When Joan starts doing some surreptitious investigating, she starts to wonder whether she's subconsciously trying to sabotage her chance at stability. Does she really think there's something worth digging into, and even if it is, could it be worth the possibility of hundreds of people losing their jobs if what she finds signals the end of Bloom? And when her newfound friends join in to help her investigation, should she let them risk their jobs just for the sake of companionship?

The Nobodies is an interesting character study about a woman relentless in her pursuit of her dreams who worries she might not have the stuff to make her dreams come true. Joan is so focused that throughout her life she's neglected relationships, friendships, family, and she wonders if all of those sacrifices were worth it given that she's left with nothing. But does that mean she should give up for good?

This was a quick read, and I enjoyed Liza Palmer's storytelling ability. I'll admit I had trouble figuring out just what Bloom did, too, so Joan's investigation was interesting, but it went on a little longer than it needed to. I loved the supporting characters in this story perhaps a little more than Joan herself, but I was still completely drawn into her story.

Book Review: "Summer Hours" by Amy Mason Doan

"Whatever we'd been swimming away from, whatever we sensed lurking inside that gold nylon graduation cap above us, maybe we'd been right to fear it. We say we'll never be like them, but it happens. It happens gradually. We give in a little here, put off the hard decision there, say we're paying our dues. We forget to swim against the current."

It was the three of them—Becc, Eric, and Serra—against the world in high school. Becc and Eric always had an unspoken connection but his emotional issues caused him to keep her at arm's length, and when they went away to college, he barely kept in touch with her for reasons she couldn't understand.

A scholarship student at Berkeley, Becc always did what was expected of her—she took the right classes, got good grades, did the right things. In an effort to prove she's not the perfect girl everyone thinks she is, she pursues an affair with Cal, an older man with a connection to her life before college. While at first the relationship and the need to keep it a secret excites her, after a while she just wants to be a regular college student.

When Becc's secret is revealed, it destroys her friendship with Eric and any chance the two might have for happiness. It puts her scholarship at risk, and it also has the potential to hurt her pursuit of a journalism career, something she has spent years trying to pursue.

Ten years later, Becc is driving to Oregon through California for Serra's wedding. She is not alone, although her passenger is someone from whom she has been estranged for years, although he agrees to help Becc assemble a special wedding present for Serra. Along the way, they reopen old wounds and try to find explanations for their behavior and actions years ago. But some hurts, some decisions, require more than simple excuses and could haunt them forever.

Summer Hours is told in alternating chapters between the mid-1990s and 2008, tracing the genesis of Becc's decisions and her relationships, and then examining the aftermath of those decisions years later. Amy Mason Doan does a terrific job painting a portrait of how the lines of friendship can be stretched into romance, and where the pain points lie. It's also a look at the way a young woman's confidence can be shaped by her relationships, until she realizes she has more control than anyone.

Doan did a great job creating fully fleshed, complex characters—not just Becc, but Eric and Cal as well. I also was really taken by her use of imagery—I could see the beauty of Catalina and the California coast as she described them. I really enjoyed this book and love the way that Doan writes. This is the first book of hers I read and it definitely won't be the last.

As you might imagine, Summer Hours is a great summer read, although you can read it anytime. You'll want to experience Doan's writing and this terrific, well-thought-out story which will make you feel and make you think, and then you'll want to share it with your friends.