Book Review: "Hot Saltwater Kisses" by Zarah Detand

Boy, this book has me craving a vacation trip to an oceanfront resort somewhere! I love a good, steamy, M/M romance, and when there’s some good emotional growth for the characters as well, I’m all in. And Zarah Detand delivered for sure!

Milo is a dive instructor at a fancy resort on the island of Dominica. Dealing with wealthy guests isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but he gets to work with his friend Nia, spend time on the water, and take underwater photographs, so it’s a pretty sweet deal.

The one rule he tries to be mindful of is no fraternization with the guests. While there certainly has been temptation in the past, it’s not until Logan arrives at the dive shop that Milo’s willpower wavers. Logan is wealthy, incredibly handsome, a bit cocky, and he’s staying at the resort for a month while working on his master’s thesis in hospitality management.

The chemistry between the two of them is intense from their very first meeting, but Milo is nervous about getting caught with a guest. It’s not long, however, before they can’t keep their hands off of each other, and not long after that when they both realize their feelings run deeper than just a quick vacation fling.

Milo’s last relationship—and really his first serious one—scarred him emotionally and turned his life upside down. He really wants to let down his guard for Logan, and those feelings are reciprocated—but Logan isn’t quite who he says he is.

This is the second book by Detand I’ve read in the last few weeks. I’m so glad to have found her—she knows how to create real characters you care about, with enough steam to keep you blushing.

Book Review: "It's Not the End of the World" by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Can a book be off-the-wall crazy AND scarily prescient simultaneously? Asking for a friend.

Thanks so much to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy of this one!

America in 2044 has seen better days. Climate change has done severe damage, and in Los Angeles, wildfires and smog have gotten so bad you can barely see the skyline—unless you can pay for an artificially clear one. The country is under the thumb of a fascist authoritarian government, with right-wing militias and rampant anti-queer sentiment.

Mason and Yunho are a wealthy gay couple whose financial position keeps them blissfully unaware of just how badly the world is falling apart. They’re spending $100,000 on a 100-person baby shower for their soon-to-be-arriving newborn, and they (particularly Mason) don’t see anything wrong with that.

When disaster hits LA on the day of their shower, Mason should cancel, but it’s not the end of the world, after all. He figures that money can solve this problem too. Yet when he goes out to run a few last-minute errands, he finds himself enmeshed in the chaos that he thought he was insulated from, with threatening consequences.

This book has it all—wry social commentary, political satire (which seems far too on the nose right now), blood and gore, even pink smog that turns people into zombies. It’s definitely a wild ride, but the details of this world that Jonathan Parks-Ramage has created are truly remarkable. And frightening as hell.

I loved Parks-Ramage’s debut, Yes, Daddy, so I was excited to see what his follow-up would be like. This is different in a lot of ways but it proves just how wide-ranging his talent is.

Book Review: "Saving Face" by Mansi Shah

The CEO of a global skincare company, Ami Shah is a role model. Raised in Singapore, she had to break down a lot of barriers to get to where she is, and convince many that despite her gender and the color of her skin, she’s a businesswoman to be reckoned with. Her company, Amala, is about to merge with a Fortune 500 company.

Her nomination for the Global Changemakers Award is unprecedented. This prestigious award has only gone to white men; she is the first woman of color to be nominated. If she wins the award, it will increase the value of Amala and cement her legacy.

While she should be beside herself about this honor, Ami would prefer to withdraw her nomination. All of the publicity makes her nervous—not because she’s shy, but because she’s not who she says she is. Ami (whose real name is Monica) was an orphan raised in a convent in Singapore. But since orphans in her country never had a chance to amount to much, she decided to steal a former classmate’s identity and move to London, which is where her new story began.

But as the merger details are finalized and the award ceremony draws closer, Ami starts getting threatening text messages promising to expose her lies if she didn’t confess. She knows if the truth comes out, everything she built will fall apart. To figure out who is blackmailing her, she must go back to where she vowed she’d never return: Singapore.

“She wanted to prove that just because a girl had been abandoned, it didn’t mean she had to carry that weight with her forever. She could find purpose, and through that, she could find herself.”

This was such a thought-provoking, emotional book. Mansi Shah created a story that seemed so plausible, and even though it’s a bit of a slow burn, it was tremendously compelling.

Book Review: "Emma on Fire" by James Patterson and Emily Raymond

“They don’t understand that time equals loss. It’s a freaking law of nature. If Emma lets the years keep on passing, she’s just going to keep on losing. So is everyone else, even if they can’t bear to admit it. They just walk ignorantly through the world, turning away from anything they don’t want to see. But Emma sees all of it. And she needs them to know how bad things really are.”

It seems like a typical day at Ridgemont Academy, a prestigious New England prep school. Emma Blake, once a star student and class leader, has virtually disengaged from her classes. But an assignment in English class—to write a very descriptive essay—inspires her.

But when Emma reads her essay aloud in class, it provokes very strong reactions from her classmates and her teacher. The essay alarms the school’s headmaster, who views it as a cry for help. Emma doesn’t want help, however; she wants her fellow students to realize the tragic state of our world.

There’s much more that is motivating Emma, however. No one knows whether she’ll carry through with what she’s promising to do, and no one knows exactly why she’s been driven to this.

I’m being vague in my summary because there’s power in going in blind. This is an emotional book and many of the characters’ reactions felt very real. The book is marketed as a thriller but I don’t think that’s accurate. It skewed more YA but I still found it really compelling.

Book Review: "Seas the Dating Coach" by Laura Langa

I think my heart grew two sizes larger while reading this book! I love a small-town romance, and this was such a sweet, fun, and emotionally rich read.

Vivian grew up in the small town of Wilks Beach, and all of townspeople are tremendously protective of her, as is her twin sister, Brynn. Vivian is kind, a talented tailor and designer, but she is painfully shy and often stumbles over her words when she gets nervous.

She’s had a crush on Atticus, a handsome accountant, for some time now, but he’s never seemed to notice her. Every time she tries to muster up the courage to talk to him, she fails. And then one morning, she is ready to make her move at her sister’s coffee shop, and she slips on a puddle of coffee and falls into the arms of Finn, a handsome newcomer to town.

People in Wilks Beach don’t have a lot of trust in “mainlanders,” but Finn in particular is very unpopular. As the new director of the town library, his plans to improve everything are met with resentment, even though they will make everything better. So when Finn realizes that Vivian can’t seem to approach Atticus, he offers to be her dating coach. In exchange, she’ll start to correct the misconceptions about Finn and his plans.

Vivian has no idea how beautiful and how brave she is, and Finn delights in helping her realize that. For his part, Finn has never let anyone get too close for fear they’d hurt him, but the more he coaches Vivian, the harder he falls. But he has to keep reminding himself that she wants Atticus, not him.

I first became familiar with Laura Langa when I read her holiday novel that took place in Wilks Beach. I was so glad to go back to that setting, and I look forward to more books in this series!! It seems like a terrific small town.

Book Review: "Bitter Texas Honey" by Ashley Whitaker

It’s 2011. Joan dreams of being a writer. By day, she’s an intern for an ultra-conservative Republican state legislator in Texas. And while her friends and roommate are all fairly liberal, Joan’s beliefs skew conservative.

As Joan struggles with finding inspiration to write about, she decides to pursue a romantic relationship, which hopefully will give her material. And the man she dates, Vince, does just that—he’s an egotistical musician who believes he’s more talented and more intelligent than everyone else. At the same time, she’s drawn to Roberto, a barista at her favorite establishment, who is also a writer.

Growing up wealthy, Joan is fairly rudderless. She drinks a lot, is addicted to Adderall, smokes a lot of weed, and doesn’t want for money. She’s also part owner of her father’s chain of recording schools, but she doesn’t take much responsibility there.

The brightest spot in her life is her cousin Wyatt. He’s tremendously creative and her partner in crime, but he’s also really troubled and struggling to find direction. His family’s solution to Wyatt’s problems is to send him to a Christian treatment facility—which doesn’t prove successful.

Joan’s own family exhausts her. Her father is an entrepreneur with a penchant for getting married to unsuitable women, while her mother is a former addict who disapproves of the way Joan lives her life. She’s caught between her parents, who don’t help her deal with her own issues; instead, they exacerbate them.

You know I love a good dysfunctional family, and this book certainly had that. Joan’s character’s beliefs don’t jibe with mine, and sometimes her flakiness is irritating, but you can’t look away from her. However, this book was billed as Fleabag meets The Royal Tenenbaums, and I didn’t see that at all. But it’s still a well-written debut.

Book Review: "Great Big Beautiful Life" by Emily Henry

Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the complimentary advance copy!

First things first: if you’re expecting that Emily Henry’s newest book will be another fun and emotional rom-com, similar to her previous books, stop. While there are some similarities, in some ways, this book is very different than her others. (You’ll have to judge whether that’s good or bad.)

Alice is a writer, and she’s very happy with the career she’s been carving out for herself. Sure, it would be nice to land a “serious” gig that might finally impress her family, but she tries not to let them bother her. And when she scores a meeting with Margaret Ives, an octogenarian who was part of one of the most famous (and scandalous) families, she’s thrilled she might get the chance to write her biography.

When Alice travels to the island where Margaret has been living since disappearing from the public eye, she can’t wait to meet her. There’s a catch: Hayden, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, is also meeting with Margaret. How will Alice compete with him?

Margaret makes them a deal. Both will spend a month on the island working with her, and will give her a draft of their version of the biography. She’ll then pick who gets the job. Of course, Alice and Hayden couldn’t be more different—she’s a smiley optimist and he’s an intense grouch, not to mention he’s a household name and she’s not. And the more times they run into one another, the more their competitiveness turns to passion.

I loved the chemistry and banter between the two. But the book switches focus to Margaret’s life, which crowds out the love story. There’s even a bit of a mystery involved. It was just too many disparate pieces shoehorned together. I’m sure I’ll be an outlier here, but I definitely didn’t enjoy this as much as I hoped to.

Book Review: "Pomona Afton Can SO Solve a Murder" by Bellamy Rose

Imagine a cozy mystery with Paris Hilton as the main character, and you’ll get this fun, bighearted book.

Pomona Afton is an heiress to the Afton Hotels fortune, currently ruled with an iron claw by her grandmother. As cruel as her grandmother is, the last thing Pomona would’ve expected was to find her murdered body. But there it was.

When her family discovers that her grandmother put a clause in her will that freezes all assets in the event of a mysterious death, Pomona finds herself out on the street. She has no apartment, no money (except for what she makes as an influencer), and everyone else in her family seems to be making do.

She quickly realizes that her friends have abandoned her since she has no money. She moves in with Gabe, the (handsome) son of her former nanny, but it’s not a doorman building—it doesn’t even have an elevator! And even worse than that, she has to get a job at the coffee shop Gabe manages. This is a big shock for her, as she never paid attention to how her coffees were made or who served her.

When Pomona learns that her family’s fortune will never be released unless her grandmother’s murder is resolved, her only choice is to try and solve the crime. With Gabe as her sidekick/partner (because his mother was owed money as well for working for Pomona’s family), she embarks on an unlikely investigation. But if she gets her fortune back, will she lose any chance she might have with Gabe?

This was a quick and fun read. It’s always fascinating when “ordinary” people turn into detectives in books, but there’s nothing ordinary about Pomona. She and Gabe are both such fun, and bring a sweetness to the story.

Book Review: "Retreat" by Krysten Ritter

“No one’s life is ever as simple as it seems on the surface.”

Liz is a con artist. She’s pretty good at it, although she’s prone to occasional slip-ups, which necessitate her having to abandon a scheme. But she usually walks away with some benefit.

Isabelle, a wealthy socialite, hires Liz to oversee the installation of a major artwork at her villa in an exclusive part of Puerto Vallarta. She and her husband will be at a retreat in Bali, so Liz is free to stay at the villa, which should give her some time to plan her next move.

When Liz is mistaken for Isabelle, she decides to pretend to be the woman for the few days she’s in Puerto Vallarta. It’s not a bad situation at all, even though she’s constantly worried she’ll be found out.

But the more Liz slips into Isabelle’s life, the more questions she has about why the woman would not take advantage of all the privileges she has. Little by little, she realizes that Isabelle’s life might not have been the idyllic situation it appears from Liz’s vantage point. Liz might find herself in the middle of some precarious circumstances she is not expecting.

I love a good con artist story, and my attention was hooked fully on this book from start to finish. I enjoyed Krysten Ritter’s first book, Bonfire, and it was good to see that wasn’t a fluke. The twists kept coming and I devoured this in one sitting.

Book Review: "Summer in the City" by Alex Aster

“There are moments in life, I think, that make you grateful you didn’t just stay in your room.”

Elle is a successful screenwriter, but no one knows it, because she writes under an alias. She’s just gotten the chance for her big break, to write a big-budget rom-com set in NYC, so she moves to the city for inspiration.

She has the summer to write the script, but she has writer’s block. Bad. To make matters worse, she discovers that her neighbor in the apartment next door is Parker, the tech billionaire she met two years ago. They hooked up at a nightclub and he offended her, so Elle has hated him ever since.

Parker doesn’t seem to remember Elle, but their constant interactions fuel her anger, which in turn spikes her creativity. What happens when you realize your nemesis is actually your twisted muse, helping you do some of your best work?

When Parker needs a girlfriend to attend events while his company is in the midst of a crucial negotiation, he asks Elle. In exchange, he offers to accompany her to the different locations featured in her script. It’s just for the summer—and no feelings will be involved. (Sure…)

I’m a complete sap and this book hit all the right notes for me. It’s full of great banter, hot steam, and real emotion. Elle’s stubbornness was irritating at times but I still rooted for the two of them.

Book Review: "Killer Potential" by Hannah Deitch

What a crazy, fun debut this was! This book definitely read like a movie at times, and I mean that as a compliment.

Evie was one of those kids with bucketloads of promise. She was super smart and dreamed of making her mark on the world. But despite graduating from a prestigious college, she now spends her days as an SAT tutor for privileged kids in Los Angeles.

One day when she arrives at the home of the Victor family for her appointment with their daughter Serena, she walks into a nightmare. She finds both parents dead, obviously murdered, and as she’s trying to make sense of it all, she finds a young woman tied up in a closet. Evie frees the woman and they escape before the police arrive.

Of course, it’s not long before law enforcement and the media are determined to find Evie and her “accomplice.” Suddenly she’s being called a brutal murderer, a smart girl gone bad, even Manson-like. But Evie doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life hiding or on the run. She hopes to find the real killer so she can have her life back.

What ensues is a race against time, as Evie and her new companion —who refuses to speak—try to keep ahead of the authorities. Their escape plan takes them across the country and makes them wonder where things will end for them.

I definitely had high hopes for this book. It was a quick read and it hooked me completely. Of course, parts of the plot require you to suspend your disbelief, and I thought the ending didn’t quite match the promise of the rest of the book, but this is still really enjoyable!

Book Review: "The Perfect Couple" by Elin Hilderbrand

So last week I discovered that the Netflix show The Perfect Couple (which was so melodramatic and fun) was based on a book with the same name, by one of my favorite authors, Elin Hilderbrand. I’ve had the book on my shelf for a long while, so I decided to give it a read.

Most of the time, I read the book before I watch the adaptation, so doing the opposite gave me a different perspective. While I certainly saw the characters in my head as the actors who played them, fortunately there are some significant differences between the book and the show.

Summertime is glorious on Nantucket. It’s also wedding season, and the wedding of Celeste Otis and Benji Winbury promises to be the event everyone will be talking about. Famed mystery novelist Greer Winbury, Benji’s mother, has checked and rechecked every detail to ensure the wedding is perfect.

But as the day of the wedding dawns, tragedy strikes. Merritt, who is Celeste’s best friend and her maid of honor, is found floating in Nantucket Harbor. It doesn’t appear to have been an accidental drowning, which means someone involved in the wedding is responsible for Merritt’s death.

As the police chief investigates, he interviews the bride and the groom, as well as members of the family. He starts to discover that many people had secrets they wanted to keep hidden. But who was willing to kill to protect their secret?

I’m a big fan of Hilderbrand’s books, and this one was such a fun and addicting read. I love family drama and dysfunction, and I really like that she brought back characters from previous Nantucket books. I may be the last person to have read this, but if you haven't yet, it will definitely make a great beach book!

Book Review: "What is Wrong with You?" by Paul Rudnick

Trone Meston is a tech billionaire (think of a hybrid of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon) who is about to get married on his private island off the coast of Maine. He’s engaged to marry Linda, a former flight attendant and the ex-wife of Sean, a fitness mogul and former TV superhero.

A motley crew of invited guests and hangers-on have gathered not only for the wedding, but for Trone’s promised unveiling of a major technological breakthrough. Sean is hoping to convince Linda not to get married and instead reconcile with him. But can he compete with a billionaire for Linda’s hand?

Sean has invited one of his personal training clients, Rob, to be his plus one at the wedding. Rob has been mourning the death of his longtime partner, Jake, and is dealing with the end of his career as a book editor at the hands of Isabelle, the publisher’s “sensitivity associate.”

Tremble, the writer that Rob was working with, is an outspoken yet talented genius whose perspectives on the world are shockingly blunt. When she learns Rob has been fired, she too heads for Maine to try and get his job back.

I enjoy the way Paul Rudnick skewers social conventions and looks at love, grief, and relationships. This book tried to shoehorn so many characters and issues together and it was almost thisclose to going off the rails completely. I liked the character development, but I just found the plot got too silly after a while.

Book Review: "What If I Never Get Over You" by Paige Toon

Thanks so much to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the complimentary advance copy of Paige Toon’s newest! I’ve become an enormous fan of hers the last year or two.

Ellie has been interrailing through Europe, something she had been looking forward to for years. But traveling by herself was starting to get her down, so she made the decision to cut her trip short. So of course, just before she was ready to leave Lisbon, she meets Ash.

Ash is from Wales, has a fantastic accent and a carefree spirit that appeals to Ellie, who’s always done the right things. (It doesn’t hurt that he’s sexy as hell, too.) They so enjoy each other’s company and feel such an intense connection that they spend Ellie’s last few days in Europe together. And while she is expected to fly home with her parents, Ellie and Ash decide to meet in Spain one week later.

When Ellie’s arrival in Madrid is delayed a bit, she worries Ash might think she changed her mind. When she finally arrives at their designated meeting place, he’s nowhere to be found. She can’t figure out why he didn’t show—maybe the intense feelings she had weren’t reciprocated? Crushed, she decides to move on with her life.

Six years later, Ellie gets a job as a gardener at a 500-year-old estate in Wales. Working with gardens had always been her dream, and doing so on such a vast property is amazing. When Ash re-enters her life, she is completely thrown, and she realizes how little she actually knew about him. But their feelings for one another are just as intense.

This book really captured my heart. I loved the beginning section, where Ellie and Ash meet, and while the story slows a bit in the middle, I really rooted for them to find happiness. Toon definitely knows how to create an emotional story!

The book will publish 4/15.

Book Review: "Royal Scoundrel" by Saxon James

Saxon James’ “Frat Wars” series was really enjoyable (and very hot), but in my opinion, it was too short. I definitely wanted more than three books!

Royal Scoundrel is a prequel which takes place about 20 years before the other books in the series. Dash is a scholarship student at a school where the rich legacies rule. And the Rho Kappa Tau fraternity is the worst of them.

“They’re all rich, all entitled, and ninety percent of them are white guys with generations of being told they’re God’s gift to the universe.”

It figures that the one guy Dash can’t get out of his mind is Archie—Archibald Levine III, to be exact. Archie always has women hanging all over him, so he’s way out of Dash’s league, right? Then why did he stop Dash from a random hookup during a Kappa party?

It turns out Archie is interested in Dash, but he’s totally closeted. Archie’s father expects him to marry a suitable woman and become a lawyer; he certainly wouldn’t accept a gay son. But as much as Dash can’t stop thinking about Archie, Archie feels the same about Dash. Maybe if they fool around a bit (in secret, of course), Archie can get Dash out of his system and go about pursuing what his father expects of him.

This was such a steamy book. Even though I knew where the plot would go, I couldn’t get enough of the chemistry between Archie and Dash, as they both tried to reconcile what they feel for each other with what is expected of them. What’s cool is that these characters are actually the fathers of a character in the third book, Frat Wars: Presidential Chaos.

Book Review: "The Meadowbrook Murders" by Jessica Goodman

It’s the start of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. Roommates and best friends Amy and Sarah are excited for all that lies ahead, from soccer games to parties and spending time together before they head off to college.

After she and Sarah had a big argument at a party, Amy finds solace in Joseph, her boyfriend. But when she wakes up the next morning, she is horrified to find Sarah and her boyfriend are dead, clearly victims of murder.

The school is rocked by the double murder. Students and their parents are fearful there could be a killer on the loose, but it’s not long before some students start to suspect Amy. After all, she and Sarah had a fight the night before. And with Amy hiding the fact that Joseph—who is not a Meadowbrook student—was in her room that night, could she be guilty?

Liz is the editor of the school newspaper and an aspiring journalist. She’s also a loner, and her ambition to break the murder story wide open doesn’t win her many friends. But when Amy is moved into her dorm room, she tries to help her get answers to her questions, even if her motives get questioned by her peers and the administration alike.

Little by little, both Amy and Liz uncover secrets that Sarah and others kept hidden. Will they be able to figure out the identity of the killer before it’s too late?

Even though I had a feeling about the killer fairly early on, I enjoyed this book. I’m a fan of Jessica Goodman and like the darker tone her books take on. And this book reminded me why I was glad I never went to prep school!

Book Review: "My Darlings" by Marie Still

This book was utterly unhinged and crazy, yet I couldn’t get enough of it! I think it’ll be running through my brain for a long while.

Eloise seems to have it all—a wealthy husband, a breathtakingly beautiful mansion just outside Washington DC, a talented daughter, and a circle of close friends. She’s even the president of the PTO at her daughter’s prestigious private school.

She’s also a serial killer. And her need to kill seems to be increasing.

As she searches for her next victim, drama within her circle of friends creates chaos. Eloise is always the problem-solver, the one who offers solutions. But the chaos offers her opportunities.

There’s someone out there with their eye on Eloise. They know what she’s doing and they know what she’s capable of. Can they stop Eloise before she destroys everyone in her path?

You’ll want to check the trigger warnings on this book. It’s so twisty and crazy and goes gloriously off the rails. There are multiple narrators and the story shifts between past and present. I know one thing: Marie Still is definitely an author I’ll be following from now on!!

Book Review: "A Gentleman's Gentleman" by TJ Alexander

This was a fun Regency romance with a twist. Thanks so much to Vintage Books and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Lord Christopher Eden has no use for many things that other men of his station desire. He’d rather spend time with his elderly butler and cook than socialize with other people his age, and beyond them, he doesn’t need other servants. He is perfectly happy caring for and riding his horse, spending his free time with his books.

But when he finds out from his solicitors that his late father’s will requires he must marry before he turns 25, it throws his life into chaos. Given that he’s not attracted to women, and as a trans man, has secrets he has kept from most everyone, he can’t imagine he’d be able to make a wife happy.

But in order to ensure his family’s legacy isn’t destroyed, he must go to London for the season and find a wife. He also has to appear to have all of the trappings a man of his station requires, so he must hire a valet to take with him to London, a task he asks his solicitor to handle. And James, his new valet, is exceedingly handsome (although fixated on the traditional role of a valet), which complicates things further.

Christopher and James start becoming friends once they navigate Christopher’s need for privacy. But when they get to London, tensions start to rise, as Christopher has to find a woman to marry. And both men are sharing secrets which could change it all.

I am a fan of TJ Alexander’s books and I definitely loved the concept of this story. It is just the slowest of slow burns and I really wanted things to happen quicker. But I really enjoyed the characters.

The book will publish 3/11/2025.

Book Review: "Society of Lies" by Lauren Ling Brown

“How often, in the world, is silence what allows horrible people to get away with their crimes?”

Maya arrives at Princeton for her 10-year reunion, with her husband and young daughter in tow. She’s nervous and excited, but in addition to the reunion, her younger sister Naomi will be graduating as well. But not long after arriving, Maya learns that tragedy has struck: Naomi has been found dead.

While the police believe that Naomi’s death was an accident, Maya is immediately suspicious. And the more she talks to Naomi’s friends, the more questions arise about what could have happened to her. It’s not long before Maya realizes that her sister kept a lot of secrets from her.

Naomi looked up to her sister and wanted to follow in her footsteps. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Maya discovers that, like her, Naomi became a member of one of Princeton’s most exclusive eating clubs, as well as the secret society within the club, which could open doors to an incredible future of possibilities.

However, Naomi was also digging into some mysteries around the club and the powerful people involved, not to mention the death of a student 10 years ago. She discovered that her sister was somehow involved in that incident, but she’s determined to uncover the truth.

I’m a fan of dark academia stories. I enjoyed the discussion about privilege and prejudice, not to mention how racial and cultural differences strike at the heart of a purposely diverse group. For me, the book moved sooo slowly. While it’s told in multiple narratives, the voices are nearly identical so I had to keep reorienting myself to whose story each chapter was.

Book Review: "Johnny Careless" by Kevin Wade

Many thanks to Celadon Books for the advance copy of this terrific crime novel! It definitely has a cinematic flair, which isn’t surprising, since the author is a screenwriter as well as showrunner for the television show Blue Bloods.

Gerald “Jeep” Mullane is the chief of police for several towns on Long Island’s North Shore. He’s living in his childhood home and still dealing with the class divide that exists between the mostly wealthy residents of the area and the “have-nots” like him.

One night, a body is found in the water near Bayville. It turns out it’s the body of Johnny Chambliss, Jeep’s best friend since childhood and the son of a prominent family. Johnny has always been one step away from trouble, so while his death might not be surprising, it hits Jeep hard and stirs up many forgotten memories.

Given his relationship to the deceased, Jeep can’t investigate Johnny’s death—at least directly. But he definitely gets the sense that Johnny’s death wasn’t the accident that everyone wants to label it. And as he deals with Johnny’s enigmatic and powerful parents, as well as his ex-wife, whom Jeep has known for years, he finds himself being simultaneously warned about and welcomed to keep digging into the truth.

While dealing peripherally with this investigation, Jeep is under political pressure to stop a massive auto theft ring targeting the wealthy residents of the cities he serves. As the two cases intertwine, he finds himself caught between anger, grief, and fear.

The narrative shifts between present and past, tracing Jeep and Johnny’s relationship and the changes it went through, as well as Jeep’s efforts to uncover the truth. This is gritty and emotional, and I hope we’ll see another book with Jeep in it.

The book will publish 1/28/2025.