Book Review: "Slasher Summer" by E.L. Chen

If you’re a fan of slasher films, particularly those from the 1980s, you’ll enjoy this action-packed, slightly campy tribute. But you might be surprised that this book deals with more than just fear and murder, but also trying to move past the mistakes and hurts of our youth.

Seven of them—Patrick, Jason, Tiffany, Freddy, Jen, Carrie, and Michael—were high school friends and members of the school’s Jumpscare Society. They were all particularly obsessed with the horror film Slasher, which became a cult classic.

Slasher was filmed in Cedar Lake, a nearby sleepy town. The cabin, where much of the film’s action takes place, is a tourist attraction, and each summer the town is overrun by fans. But Patrick has arranged for all of them to get together and stay at the cabin for a weekend. It’ll be the first time all of them have gotten together since friction tore apart their friendships before the end of senior year.

While there are definitely some grudges still being held, they’ve (mostly) vowed to have a good weekend. Of course, not long after their arrival, a shadowy figure is spotted in the woods. Freddy is sure he saw The Slasher (but he is perpetually stoned) and Tiffany thinks someone tried to drown her in Clear Lake.

Then a rainstorm hits and the power goes out. Cell coverage is very spotty, so they can’t call for help. And then an unwelcome guest arrives at the cabin. Is this just someone trying to enhance their weekend, or is The Slasher going to enact his revenge?

This book was definitely fun and a little frightening. There are a lot of POVs, and lots of secrets, but it all comes together around halfway through the book. E.L. Chen really did a great job with all of the slasher Easter eggs, including all of the characters’ names. It may skew a bit YA, but there definitely were some fun twists.

Book Review: "Destination Funeral" by Paige Harbison

I don’t know if I’d ever want to get stuck in a time loop. That being said, though, I sure do love reading about them!! Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book. Paige Harbison has done it again!

“Does it really matter if you make a mistake, I wonder, as long as you know it’s a mistake?”

Babe Bennett was larger than life. Everyone on Mercy Island had a story about her. When she died, the reading of her will and her memorial service summoned her two daughters, Didion and Sammie, and their two closest friends, Matt and Austin, to the island.

Estranged from her mother for the last several years, Didion has to see her sister and her friends for the first time in a while. There are a lot of hurts and resentments that have cropped up, not just for Didion, but the others as well. How could they go from being inseparable every summer to not speaking at all?

When they learn that Babe has left her summer house, Birdsong, to all four of them, they have to decide what to do with it. Her will stipulates that they have to spend a weekend all together, with no phones or internet access. And then they discover that they keep waking up to find it’s Saturday, so the weekend will never end. It’s up to them to find their way out of the time loop—and maybe confront all the things left unsaid for so long.

This was a funny and emotional story. There were so many issues they all dealt with. I will say that Didion is a hard character to warm up to, but once she got out of all of her spirals, I felt for her.

The book publishes 7/21.

Book Review: "Long Island Girls" by Gabrielle Korn

I love picking up a book you don’t know that much about and being wowed by it. It’s full of music and friendship and finding yourself and realizing your dreams, but that’s description simplifies what makes it special.

“And I started thinking about how when we’re young and don’t know any better, we love these things that are bad, and eventually we grow up and we realize how bad they are, but we don’t start liking newer, better things. We continue to love that same awful old music, not because of what the music is but because it reminds us of how we used to feel when we listened to it.”

The book begins in 2005. Susan and her best friend Katie are just about to start their senior year of high school. They’re music snobs but beyond that, they’re fairly typical teenagers, filled with angst and insecurity. One night Susan meets Eliza on the way to an indie concert, and she feels a connection that makes pieces of her mind fall into place. Yet as quickly as the spark ignites, it is extinguished.

As the years move forward, Susan graduates college and moves to Brooklyn, where she handles social media for an indie record label. She feels at home in a world she has always loved, but Eliza is never far from her mind. Yet as each encounter grows more intense, they can never outrun the old secrets and hurts.

The book follows Susan at five-year intervals, from 2005 to 2025. It takes her a long time to truly recognize her worth and her own identity, and come to terms with her romantic history. It’s a wonder what kind of clarity comes from truly knowing yourself for the first time.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and the relationships they had. I kept waiting for things to get melodramatic and was so glad they didn’t. This is a coming-of-age novel that demonstrates coming of age doesn’t only happen as a teenager.

Book Review: "Waiting on a Friend" by Natalie Adler

It’s 1984 in New York City’s East Village. AIDS has started ravaging communities all over the country, but NYC has been hit particularly hard. Renata has been seeing ghosts of people who have died, some she was friends or acquaintances with, some she never knew. She isn’t quite sure how to help them, but for the most part, they don’t cause trouble.

When Mark, Renata’s best friend and roommate, dies from complications of the disease, she is devastated. She wasn’t at the hospital when he died, which was how she imagined it would be. So she’s eagerly awaiting Mark’s ghost to visit her. But for some reason, he’s not showing up.

“I thought about the ghosts I had known. Were any of them suffering? How would I know? Who can really tell what goes on in someone else’s life, or death? Some of them remained, outwardly, at least, concerned with the petty issues of their lives, and others were above everything, as if they had one foot in our world and another in a place we couldn’t imagine.”

As Renata mourns Mark and takes tentative steps toward a relationship with a nurse she met, Claude, she tries to move on. But at the same time, a company has popped up in the city promising to rid people’s apartments of ghosts or other disturbances. Renata is convinced this shady company is not doing the good deeds it purports to do, and it’s up to her and her friends to try and uncover their true motives.

“How was I supposed to mourn anyone—Mark, François, my mother, whoever was next—when it would take the rest of my life to accept that they were gone when they should have been here still? How do I mourn someone when I can’t get over that one fact, that they were supposed to be alive but they were not and there were people responsible for that?”

This is another terrific 2026 debut. It definitely packs an emotional punch, and some scenes remind me of the movie Longtime Companion, which I love. How much would we love a glimpse of loved ones we’ve lost, just one more time?

Book Review: "Prestige Drama" by Séamas O'Reilly

The townspeople in the Irish town of Derry are excited, which doesn’t happen that often. A show about the Troubles in Northern Ireland is going to be filmed in town. Then it is announced that famous American actress Monica Logue is going to play the lead, and the excitement reaches a fever pitch.

Not long after Monica’s arrival in Derry, where she rubs shoulders with the locals, she disappears without a trace. Everyone in town has a theory on what happened and where she could have gone. But her disappearance throws the future of the show into doubt, which could prove disappointing to many in town.

This is one of those books with multiple narrators—some that are recurring, some we hear from only once. Everyone has their own perspectives, on the Troubles, on the show, and, of course, Monica’s disappearance. And when you have multiple people sharing their views, you don’t know who’s telling the truth.

We hear from the alcoholic screenwriter, trying for one last chance at success; the woman who lost her teenage son during the Troubles and is now the focal point of the script; a local man hoping to have a part in the show; and a woman whose house is going to be used for some of the filming, among others. Each person has their own unique voice.

This was an entertaining book, because you get to shape the plot based on how you saw the characters and what they said. There are some surprises which slowly unfold, and that made the narrative a bit richer.

Book Review: "Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond" by Eve Plumb with Marcia Wilkie

The Brady Bunch has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Funnily enough, however, I’ve only seen the original show in reruns for 50 or so years. But there used to be a time where I could accurately name the episode within 20 seconds of it starting.

I’ve read lots of books about the series, including memoirs by Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick. But Eve Plumb has always been a bit of an enigma to me, so I was excited to read her memoir.

She gets a bit of a bad rap because she didn’t do the ill-fated variety show back in the day. But the truth is, she loved doing the original series and feels grateful it’s still part of the cultural vernacular. And she and her five television “siblings” still text each other all the time.

If you’re looking for catty gossip about the show or its stars, you won’t find that here. This is a look not just at The Brady Bunch, but also her acting career before and after the show, her family life, and her personal life. Sure, she has some regrets, but she’s pretty happy with the course her life has taken.

This was a very nostalgic look back at acting in the 1960s and 1970s. I remember other programs she appeared in, and the public reactions at the time. Truthfully, I’m glad this was a largely positive book, because I can’t take too much scandal among the Bradys.

Book Review: "Invasive Species" by Ellery Adams

Whoa, this was so freaking creepy! I’m definitely not going into any water that isn’t clear, that’s for certain. I’ve been such a fan of Ellery Adams’ cozy mystery series, but nothing prepared me for how unsettled I’d feel after reading this!

Cold Harbor, NY, 1982. Natalie has just taken a job as a real estate agent, and is immediately saddled with a difficult listing. Not only does the house need a lot of work, but its backyard looks out on the creepy woods surrounding an old mansion that looks like something out of a horror movie. The owner, Mrs. Smith, has never been seen but she is definitely feared.

As curiosity around Mrs. Smith grows, the town is traumatized when some sailors disappear in a storm, and then when students in a sailing regatta meet the same fate. But two kids—including Natalie’s daughter Jill—believe they saw a bunch of eels with really sharp teeth going after the students.

And then, unexpectedly, Mrs. Smith makes her first public appearances. No one expects her to be beautiful and seductive, but all of the men in town definitely notice her. This is Mrs. Smith’s human form; she needs to devour nine teenagers in order to continue surviving for another century.

People know that something is off about Mrs. Smith, and lots of weird and inexplicable things happen to the residents of Cold Harbor. But it’s up to Jill and her Icelandic housekeeper Una to try and figure out how to destroy this creature before they all get devoured.

Adams did such a great job with this book, weaving horror and 1980s-era problems. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Book Review: "Last Night in Brooklyn" by Xochitl Gonzalez

I wasn’t aware of this before I started reading Last Night in Brooklyn, but it’s an updated retelling-of sorts of The Great Gatsby. Seeing as that’s one of my favorite books of all time, I’m always curious to see what authors do to update a classic like this.

Brooklyn, 2007. Alicia is 26 years old and feels like she’s stuck. She’s doing what is expected of her rather than what she wants to do. She’s saving for a wedding she’s not sure if she wants. But one night she attends a party in the Fort Greene neighborhood, and her life changes dramatically.

Alicia finds herself drawn into the orbit of her magnetic neighbor, an up and coming designer who calls herself La Garza. Alicia watches her neighbor from across the street, marveling at the epic parties she throws. When Alicia is invited into La Garza’s world, she finally realizes what she wants and what she’s been missing.

The setting of the book is as much a part as a character. Brooklyn in 2007 is on the verge of gentrification. The Barclays Center is about to be built, pushing out some of the neighborhood’s oldest residents. The country is already feeling the effects of a possible recession, but hope seems to be coming—in the form of Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

La Garza is a new type of Gatsbyesque character, but she retains the almost mythical reverence in which people hold her. She projects greatness and challenges others to seek it on their own, but you can tell she is her own fragile creation. Alicia is the book’s Nick Carraway, observing and commenting on the society surrounding La Garza, but truly powerless to fix the disasters that seem inevitable.

I definitely found this book to be intriguing, but I never connected with the characters as I did with Gonzalez’s other books. I did like this fresh retake on the Gatsby myth, and really felt that she made Fort Greene an important character.

Book Review: "A Murder in Hollywood" by Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange)

I know, you’re probably thinking, “Didn’t Michael Crichton die a while back? What is this book?” So, Crichton did die in 2008, but apparently he started writing while he was in medical school, and was afraid he’d be perceived as not dedicated enough if his professors knew he was writing. So he wrote under two different pseudonyms, including John Lange. This book was written in 1973 but never published.

Harvey is a publicist for Bloodrock, a movie being filmed that is highly anticipated. He’s on location with the cast and crew in Tucson, and he’s expected to keep a lid on any problems or delays in filming. Everybody always blames the publicist when things go awry.

But Harvey is not expecting that Arthur McDougall, the screenwriter, will be found dead in his hotel room bathtub. McDougall was an alcoholic, irascible letch whom no one seemed to like. While his death could’ve been an accident, the fact that he had a fight with the film’s leading man the night before has the police thinking murder.

While Harvey tries to keep a lid on the news and make sure that the actors don’t talk to the press, he’s also responsible for dealing with the egos of everyone on the set. And then the studio head sends Harlow Perkins, the dogged insurance investigator, to look into what happened.

Harvey is amazed how quickly Perkins can break down the case with just a few questions. And while Perkins expects Harvey to do his bidding yet doesn’t disclose any of his thoughts, Harvey tries to do a little detective work on his own. But Perkins is always one step ahead. Was McDougall’s death murder? Will the movie go on filming?

I was a huge fan of Crichton’s books. While this doesn’t feel as polished as his later books, this is a twisty mystery which kept me guessing. I loved the 1970s nostalgia, and the fact that as much as things have changed through the years, things really have stayed the same. Blackstone has released a bunch of these never-before-published books of Crichton’s and I’ll definitely check them out!!

Book Review: "The Midnight Show" by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne

I stumbled on this book the other night and while I hadn’t heard of it before, several other books the authors have written are on my TBR. I was completely hooked within a few pages.

Lillian Martin was a trailblazer for women in comedy in the 1980s. Yet she never set out to follow that path—she left a sheltered, lonely childhood in rural Canada for college at Boston University. It was there she met three friends—Kent, Sam, and Stevie—who had an improv comedy group, The Townies. Although Lillian seemed an unlikely comedian, her talent gave the group a much-needed boost.

The members of the Townies get invited to New York City to audition for a new sketch comedy show called The Midnight Show, which will air live every Friday night. The show—and the cast members—will ultimately change the face of comedy and television.

At first, no one is sure what to make of the show. But Lillian quickly becomes a breakout star and her writing talent both impresses her fellow cast mates and the writing team. And while the cast revels in the notoriety the show’s success brings, Lillian is often uncomfortable with being in the public eye.

Behind the scenes, the show is a hotbed of jealousy, rivalry, drugs, sex, and emotions. As the trials of fame and an intense relationship with a costar take their toll on Lillian, one night after a show, she disappears. No one can figure out what happened. Did she kill herself, was she a victim of violence—and was a costar responsible? Even 40 years later, a journalist doing a feature story on Lillian still can’t get all the answers.

The book is presented as transcripts from interviews the journalist does, intertwined with her notes, and some news articles from the 1980s. It may be frustrating for some, but it really worked for me. I think it would make a great movie or television adaptation.

Book Review: "American Fantasy" by Emma Straub

“So often, the word nostalgia felt coated in bile—a nostalgia act. Annie understood and she didn’t. Nostalgia was for the Smurfs, for erasers that smelled like strawberries. Maybe that was what the costumes were about, the goofy T-shirts, but inside her head, which is where she heard the music, it had touched some lever so deep that it couldn’t be reversed, as much as she’d chosen to ignore it. Maybe that was nostalgia after all, that the music was a direct vein to her own childhood, the least complicated part of her life.”

Annie remembered enjoying the 90s boy band Boy Talk when she was a teenager. It was a subject that bonded her and her younger sister together. All these years later, her sister is still a huge fan, while for Annie, Boy Talk is firmly in the past.

Yet here Annie is, about to board the cruise ship American Fantasy, for a four-day cruise with all 5 members of Boy Talk. And her sister isn’t even able to make it, so she’s going solo. But she quickly makes a friend in Maira, a veteran of these cruises, who takes Annie under her wing.

The cruise is unlike anything Annie has ever experienced. There are throngs of (mostly) middle-aged women, screaming and cheering for their favorite band member. Lots of alcohol is imbibed, there is so much clothing and merch with the band’s faces on it, and there are so many opportunities to interact with the band members. Some of them go after these events with gusto, while some can’t wait to go back home.

The cruise gives Annie the opportunity to reflect on what it’s like to be (and feel) middle-aged, and how it feels to relive a part of your younger years. She deals with divorce, career issues, and the uncertainty of what her life holds.

I’ve never gone on a cruise, and Emma Straub’s imagery made me feel sunburned and claustrophobic, lol. The book alternates narration from Annie, Keith (one of the band members), and Sarah, an employee of the production company that organizes the cruise.

Book Review: "Ghost Town" by Tom Perrotta

I started thinking about this and can’t believe it. I’ve been reading Tom Perrotta’s books since 1994! (And no, I’m not interested in knowing how young you were in 1994, or hearing you weren’t born yet, lol.) Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the complimentary advance copy of his latest!

When Jimmy, a middle-aged writer and television producer, gets a letter from the mayor of his New Jersey hometown, he’s thrown for a loop. Apparently they’re naming the new municipal complex in memory of his father, and they’d love to have him attend. Jimmy hasn’t been back home since 1974 when he was 13, and he’s not sure he wants to return.

“Maybe all that stuff catches up to you in the end, the demons you think you’ve outrun, the bad memories you locked away in a metal box, and then you hid the box in a dark corner of the basement under a heap of dirty blankets, and then you moved far away and did your best to pretend you were someone else. But that box is always right there, right where you left it.”

Thinking about the invitation takes him back to 1974, the year that everything changed. His mother died of lung cancer, his hippie cousin and his wife moved in next door, and he was just trying to make sense of growing up and really see the world around him.

For the most part, the plot is composed of Jimmy’s reminiscences about losing his mother, befriending a local dirtbag, having a crush on a girl, feeling betrayed by his best friend, and watching everything fall apart. There’s also his desire to hold onto his mother’s memory, and perhaps see and feel her presence.

As always, Perrotta’s observations of New Jersey suburban life are dead-on. But for me, unfortunately, the rest of the book never felt complete. There’s some brief discussion of racial tensions—but not enough for Perrotta to give voice to them—and a weird, unfinished ghost story plot thread. Beyond that, nothing really was that interesting, not even Jimmy himself.

The book will publish 4/28.

Book Review: "The Summer Boy" by Philippe Besson

This was such a beautiful little book. Philippe Besson always writes books that evoke the complicated emotions of one’s teenage years, and they’re tinged with a sense of nostalgia and longing. Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the advance copy!

“Again I find myself thinking about the things people tell us between their words that we don’t understand, about what they show us of themselves that we don’t see, because we’re busy doing something else or simply distracted, because another person’s life doesn’t interest us that much, or because the swimmer, far out to sea, who appears to be waving to us is actually drowning.”

It’s the summer of 1985. Philippe and his parents spend a few weeks on an island off the coast of France. This is a tradition for them: they stay with close family friends who have a son Philippe’s age. He and François are close even though they only see each other once a year, plus Philippe is gay, while François is not.

The two spend languorous summer days wandering around with their friend Christophe and a new friend, Nicolas. They spend time at the beach, they talk in the serious manner that 18 year-olds do, and at night they drink and go to bars and clubs. Philippe feels a connection with Nicolas very quickly; they seem to see each other more clearly.

They meet Alice, whom François is attracted to, and her older brother Marc, who takes an interest in Philippe. The six of them know this is their last summer before the obligations of adulthood take hold. They weather a bout of jealousy, but enjoy each other’s company. Until one night something happens that changes them all.

I know what it’s like to form a connection quickly, one that still lingers in the mind long after it ends. This book is a beautiful paean to simpler times that suddenly become complicated, and shows how one fleeting moment can move and shape us. What a lovely book!

It will publish 5/26.

Book Review: "The Shards" by Bret Easton Ellis

“We were teenagers distracted by sex and pop music, movies and celebrity, lust and ephemera and our own neutral innocence.”

In high school and college, Bret Easton Ellis was an auto-buy author for me. Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, and American Psycho definitely cemented his talent for me. I read another one or two of his books in the late 1990s and that was it, until in 2023 his first book in 13 years, The Shards was released. I was excited but 600 pages?

Anyway, the book has been glaring at me from my shelves so I finally picked it up. We find ourselves in 1981, at the prestigious Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, CA. Bret is a senior, and he and his friends have a singular plan: get as drunk, as high, as stoned as possible.

Surprisingly, a new student, Robert Mallory, joins the senior class. His effortless charms win over many of Bret’s friends, but not Bret himself. He’s suspicious of Robert and why anyone would go to a different school in their senior year.

As Bret’s resentments grow, so does his obsession with The Trawler, a serial killer who is going after young women. Bret gets totally engrossed in the search for the killer, and then he decides to make a timeline of the murders. He makes a shocking discovery: the murders seem to correlate with Robert’s arrival in California.

This is definitely a work of fiction, despite its connections to reality. It treads some of the same territory of Ellis’ early books—the rich, affected, drug-addicted students—but it also has its gruesome moments in describing the murders. The core of the story was really compelling but the plot meandered and the book didn’t need to be this long. I’m glad I finally read it though!

Book Review: "Collateral Stardust: Chasing Warren Beatty and Other Foolish Things"

Nikki Nash’s memoir was such a fun read. Take a healthy helping of Hollywood hijinks, more than a dash of family dysfunction, and a few cups of battling the demons of addiction and depression, and stir in some introspection. Lots of nostalgia and gossip, too!

In the 1970s, 14-year-old Nikki Nash saw Warren Beatty for the first time. She decided that she wanted him to love her and be hers. So she laid out a plan that once she was grown up (like 18 years old), she would find him.

“…my focus on Warren Beatty was absolute, and with him, I’d find a great love. It wasn’t some girly crush that would include posters on my wall or putting his photo in a secret diary. I wanted more. It was my mission to know him. Not to meet him, not to get an autograph, but to know him and have him in my life forever.”

Working as a hostess at an LA restaurant Beatty frequented, she waited to meet him. A year later, at 19, at a moment she felt unclean and unattractive, her wish came true. Once she and Beatty spoke, it was the start of something significant. It wasn’t quite the love affair she’d imagined, but the two had an on-again, off-again relationship of sorts which lasted for a few decades.

The celebrities with whom she came into contact through Beatty were fascinating. At the same time, she wanted to forge her own path, and in the book she tells of her experiences trying all sorts of things: acting, stand-up, writing, directing, and working for many television shows. She had lots of relationships and spent a significant amount of time dealing with drug and alcohol addiction as well as eating disorders. She also talks about her journey of recovery and self-discovery.

Nash swept me into her story immediately. Her voice is so approachable and fun, and even when things in her life were at their toughest, reading this was like talking to a friend. I’m so grateful she was willing to share her story!

Book Review: "Train Dreams" by Denis Johnson

What’s this? Two backlist books in a matter of a few days? What about all the shiny new ones, lol?

Robert Grainer is an ordinary man living in the American West in the early days of the 20th century. He’s not particularly smart or ambitious; he just wants to provide a good life for his young wife and infant daughter.

He has always been fascinated by trains. While he doesn’t know exactly what happened to his birth parents, he knows he was put on a train and sent to live with his aunt and uncle. But he has little recollection beyond that. Still, from time to time, he makes a living clearing trees and doing other manual labor so that railroad tracks can be built out west.

Grainer remembers being part of an attempt to kill a Chinese man accused (rightly or wrongly) of stealing. The Chinese man curses those who try to kill him. When tragedy strikes Grainer’s life, he wonders if it is the manifestation of the curse, or perhaps it’s punishment for not helping an injured man he found in the woods when he was a teenager.

This is a bleak story punctuated by moments of levity. I’ve never read Denis Johnson before, but his prose—particularly his imagery—is luminous. I don’t know if I enjoyed this per se, but it definitely made an impression on me.

Book Review: "So Old, So Young" by Grant Ginder

This book was so good. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be, and it hit me in the feels just as I expected.

They became friends at college or right afterwards. In the early days, Sasha, Mia, Adam, Richie, Theo, and Marco lived, worked, partied, and struggled in NYC. Each was hoping to make an impact on the world and find love (or at least happiness). But achieving those goals wasn’t always easy.

So Old, So Young follows the friends over 20 years. Once practically inseparable, as the years progress, it takes parties, weddings, and other celebrations to bring them together. Some of them wind up together, some of them try and fail, and for some, happiness and love remain elusive.

Yet as the friends find new loves, get married, move to different cities, have children, and struggle with life, the constancy of their friendships are affected. Some end with a whimper, some with a bang.

“He would blame himself for not being able to stop something he saw coming from its beginning, for not being able to defuse a ticking bomb. More than anything, he would wonder how they had gotten here. He would wonder how five people could have loved each other so completely, only then to decide they were repulsed by the monsters they had become.”

I’ve enjoyed Grant Ginder’s previous books, but in my mind, this is the best he’s written. No one is entirely likable, but I still felt for them. Many will recognize the issues and emotions these characters deal with. And you might want to tell your friends how you feel about them.

This book will publish 2/17.

Book Review: "Chasing Stardust" by Erica Lucke Dean

This sweet, funny, and moving book really warmed my heart. Many of us have imagined what our parents were like when they were younger, but how many of us get a first-hand look?

Zoey is devastated when her beloved mother dies of cancer. She has spent the last few years caring for her, putting her own future on hold while her older sister stayed in college. She knows it’s time to focus on moving forward, but she has one last task to complete for her mom.

Her mother has asked Zoey to spread her ashes following a path between Tennessee and California. Apparently it’s the path her grandmother followed in 1972: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour. Her grandmother G-Lo was more than a groupie—she and the singer slept together, and that’s how Zoey’s mother came to be.

With her mother’s ashes and her diary in hand, driving her grandmother’s old Cutlass, she’s ready to hit the road. But from the very start she gets into trouble and the car breaks down outside Nashville. At an all-night diner she meets Dash, a handsome young man who’s apparently fleeing his domineering father’s expectations. Dash is more than willing to be a partner on this journey.

“How do I explain that I’m having a hard time reconciling Mom’s memories with my own…that with every word I read, my perception of her changes, dredging up emotions I can’t begin to understand. That I’m caught between this unquenchable desire to know everything about her past, and the fear of what I’ll discover if I spend too much time looking.”

As the trip continues, Zoey learns about her mother, grandmother, and herself. I love road-trip books and thought this was an utterly enjoyable read.

Book Review: "The Trip" by Audrey J. Cole

In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves, “Whoa!” This fast-moving book was wild. This is now the second book of Audrey J. Cole’s that I’ve read and I can say one thing unequivocally: her books should come with a defibrillator!!

In high school, Palmer, Beth, Courtney, Gigi, and Emma were inseparable. Sure, Courtney was a bit of a mean girl at times, but she was kind and generous at others. Before they graduated, Courtney suggested they go on a weekend camping trip, with hiking and rafting. Yet only four of them returned. Courtney fell into the river and could not be rescued.

Questions about what happened on the camping trip followed the girls everywhere. They couldn’t seem to shake the cloud of suspicion they were under. While Palmer and Beth kept in touch, for the most part they all drifted apart.

Twenty years later, Gigi is a popular influencer, married to a hotel mogul. She invites the others on a yacht trip on the Pacific, to end in San Diego. Palmer’s marriage has just ended and she’s struggling emotionally, so Beth convinces her to come on the fully paid trip. And then the four of them can pay tribute to Courtney.

It’s not long before they’re sailing directly into a storm. The power and radio go down and the captain is missing, so they’re left with the first mate, who doesn’t seem to know the first thing about sailing. And then they find a note which brings the memories—and the secrets—from that camping trip back into the light. What really happened that weekend? Who was responsible? No one is above suspicion, and they all could be at risk.

The book shifts between high school and the yacht trip. None of the characters appears particularly sympathetic, and I had no idea whom to trust or root for. The twists came as fast as the waves and the storm! I needed a reminder of why I never want to go on a cruise, so thanks, Audrey!!

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.