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 Lost Night" by Andrea Bartz

How reliable are our memories, particularly of a traumatic time? Andrea Bartz's mystery, The Lost Night, effectively explores that question.

In 2009, just as the U.S. economy was collapsing, a group of friends in their early 20s spend their days partying, drinking hard, listening and playing music, and falling in and out of hookups and relationships. At the center of the group is Edie—beautiful, mercurial, pulling all into her web. Everyone wanted to be noticed by her, wanted her approval.

Lately Edie had seemed a bit troubled; she and her boyfriend had broken up even though they kept living together. But everyone was still stunned when one night, while a massive concert and party was going on up on the roof of their building, Edie was found dead, gun in her hand, suicide note on her computer.

Ten years later, Lindsay, the outsider of the group, reconnects with Edie’s old roommate, Sarah, when Sarah moves back to town. Sarah is the one who found her, and at the time insisted there was no way Edie could’ve killed herself.

When Sarah tells Lindsay that contrary to what she has believed for 10 years, Lindsay wasn’t with them at the concert prior to Edie's being found, it shakes her to her core. Lindsay becomes obsessed with figuring out what she did that night, and when she finds evidence that she might have seen Edie just before she killed herself, she worries that perhaps Sarah was right—maybe Edie's death wasn't a suicide. But might she have had a role somehow?

"Distressed, we construct realities that feel just as real as the world around us. Whose brain had concocted a new version of that night—mine or Sarah's?"

This was a very compelling mystery which captures the arrogant invincibility we feel when we’re younger and the unreliability of memories. I was surprised with how things resolved themselves (I usually don't trust any character in a mystery or thriller because I'm so convinced everyone is responsible, but for some reason I didn't suspect this person at all.)

The Lost Night is well written, albeit a little melodramatic. I couldn’t stop reading it, and devoured the whole book in a few hours, and not just because I had insomnia.

Book Review: "The Field Guide to the North American Teenager" by Ben Philippe

This was such a fun, endearing, and thought-provoking book.

Subject: Norris Kaplan, a Black French-Canadian high school student who is forced to move from Canada to Austin, Texas when his mother takes a university job there. Leaving his home, his best friend, hockey fans, etc., is bad enough, but for a teenager with overactive sweat glands, moving to Texas is like hell on earth. (Maybe hotter?)

"Of all the things Norris disliked about leaving his life behind, his mother's paranoid insistence that they become apolitical while living in Texas had provided Norris with the most enjoyment. It's not that you can't have an opinion, she had told him. You just need to have less of them. People won't always know when you're joking."

He’s prepared to hate everything and everyone, and he’s always been the type to keep people at a distance with heavy doses of sarcasm. (I totally feel seen here.) But armed with his knowledge of American movies and television he’s ready to mesh with all of the typical stereotypes.

Sure, he encounters the bitchy cheerleaders, the Neanderthals that are the jocks, the people who like to say "eh" to mock his Canadian accent. But he also finds friends in unlikely places, and is mesmerized by Aarti, the “manic pixie dream girl” whose mercurial nature confuses Norris.

While Norris is busy eviscerating everyone with quips and insults he doesn’t realize he’s just as guilty as his fellow students of making snap judgments about him. And his fervent desires to go back home to Canada leaves him too blind to see the good things and the good people right in front of him.

"We all mess things up. It's what you do with the mess that matters."

I really enjoyed this book. Norris, while he has some flaws, is a great character, and I'd love it if Ben Philippe would bring him and his entourage back for another book sometime in the future. I loved the way Philippe showed the depth of other characters as well.

Even if you've never had trouble fitting in, if you've never been homesick, or if you've never kept people at arm's length with sarcasm and wit, I think you'll enjoy The Field Guide to the North American Teenager. This really was such a fun read.

Book Review: "The Sun Down Motel" by Simone St. James

If you like creepy, crazy, and twisty, Simone St. James' newest book, The Sun Down Motel is one for you!

In 1982, Viv wants to escape her oppressive home life and move to New York City, but instead she winds up in the tiny upstate town of Fell. She takes a job as the night desk clerk at the Sun Down Motel, which despite having been open for only a few years, has definitely seen better days.

It’s not long before some creepy things start happening at the motel. Viv also learns that a number of young women have been murdered in Fell over the last several years, and she becomes obsessed with solving the unsolved murders, immune to the danger she’s putting herself in. She tries to convince a local police officer of her discoveries and isn't quite taken seriously, so she decides to investigate on her own.

Twenty-five years later, in 2017, Carly, Viv’a niece, comes to Fell. One night in 1982, her aunt vanished, never to be heard from again. Carly is determined to figure out what happened, why her aunt’s disappearance took four days to notice. Given the monotony and sadness in Carly's own life, she decides to settle down in Fell for a short while.

Tracing her aunt’s footsteps, even taking the same shift at The Sun Down Motel, Carly starts noticing some crazy things happening. Is she going crazy or are these things actually happening? What do they mean if they're real? Will she solve the mystery of her aunt's disappearance or will she meet the same fate as Viv?

"Spend my nights at the Sun Down? I was the kind of girl who would spend the night in a supposedly haunted house, just to see what would happen. That sounded like my ideal vacation."

This really was as good as everyone has said it is. It was just the right amount of creepy for me (I'm scared a little too easily—don't judge), but the story was so compelling and it really kept me guessing. This is the first of St. James' books I've read, and it definitely won't be the last.

The Sun Down Motel publishes February 18!

Book Review: "Meet Cute" by Jennifer L. Armentrout, et al.

Meet Cute was an absolutely enjoyable, memorable collection of stories about that first magical encounter.

Boy, this book lived up to its name!! Subtitled "Some People Are Destined to Meet," this collection of 14 stories by some of YA’s leading authors and others who should be better-known, left me in a great mood, high on love and romance.

Each story tells of how two people meet (not always cute right away) and a spark is felt. Some of the stories have LGBTQ and/or interracial themes, one is set in “the future” of 2020, and nearly all absolutely captured my heart.

Just a few of the stories I particularly loved were “Oomph” by Emery Lord, about a chance encounter in an airport; “The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love” by Jocelyn Davies, which told of a statistics student’s project inspired by a boy she spotted on the subway; “259 Million Miles” by Kass Morgan, about two teens vying for a spot on a mission to Mars; “Print Shop” by Nina LaCour, about a young woman who gets more than she bargained for when she starts work at a print shop; “Somewhere That’s Green” by Meredith Russo, which follows an unlikely relationship between a trans student and a religious student who has spoken out against her being able to use the women’s bathroom; and “The Dictionary of You and Me” by Jennifer L. Armentrout, about a library worker who keeps trying to convince a patron to return the dictionary he took out.

This was just a sampling of those I loved because I loved nearly the entire collection. If you like short stories and you’re a sucker for love, pick this one up. It's a great assemblage of some of the amazing talent in the YA genre these days.

Book Review: "Maybe in Another Life" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Man, oh man, what a book.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has blown me away again with Maybe in Another Life, another exceptionally beautiful, powerfully thought-provoking book, this one about destiny and soulmates and the choices we make.

As she nears 30, Hannah has been drifting from thing to thing, place to place. She doesn’t know what she wants from life. After breaking up with her boyfriend she decides to move home to Los Angeles, and stay temporarily with her best friend Gabby and her husband, Mark.

"Life is just a series of breaths in and out. All I really have to do in this world is breathe in and then breathe out, in succession, until I die. I can do that. I can breathe in and out."

On her first night back, at a get-together with old friends, she sees Ethan, her high school boyfriend, who broke her heart back then. They still have the same chemistry, and it’s clear there’s still possibility between them. When Gabby and Mark get ready to head home for the night, Ethan asks Hannah stay at the bar with him.

What happens if she stays? What will that mean for her and Ethan? What happens if she goes? Will that change how he feels about her? Hannah considers what both possibilities might mean. And then the book proceeds by exploring both scenarios, in alternate chapters, and the path that each scenario leads to.

"Life is long and full of an infinite number of decisions. I have to think that the small ones don’t matter, that I’ll end up where I need to end up no matter what I do. My fate will find me. So I decide to..."

I loved Maybe in Another Life so much. I am so in love with the way TJR writes, the way she pulls you into every story.

I can’t believe I have only one more of her books left to read! (Seriously, if you haven't read her books, you need to. Daisy Jones & The Six was one of my top 5 books from 2019 and One True Loves also was on my list of favorites, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was one of my favorites from 2018.)

Book Review: "Cleanness" by Garth Greenwell

Poetic and powerful, Cleanness is demonstration of a writer at the top of his game.

In his second novel, which is more a collection of interconnected short stories, Garth Greenwell continues his exploration of sexuality, intimacy, desire, and the connections we make and lose.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, the unnamed narrator, an American teacher, prepares to return home after a number of years abroad. He reflects on encounters and memories which affected him—the confessions of a student about his own sexuality and feelings about a friend, an experiment with sadomasochism, memories of a lost love, and connecting with another expatriate.

Greenwell’s writing is lyrical, almost poetic, and sexually frank at times. He provides such an authentic sense of time and place. His words evoke passion, love, loss, and eroticism.

"They could make a whole life, I thought, surprised to think it, these moments that filled me up with sweetness, that had changed the texture of existence for me. I had never thought anything like it before."

Greenwell’s first novel, What Belongs to You, was also powerful and beautifully written. He is definitely an author worthy of recognition, but more importantly, worthy of being read.