Book Review: "The Only One Left" by Riley Sager

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother's happy life
"It wasn't me," Lenora said
But she's the only one not dead

In 1929, the state of Maine was shocked by the brutal murder of three-fourths of the wealthy Hope family: the powerful patriarch, his wife, and their older daughter, Virginia. The police suspected the sole survivor, 17-year-old Lenora, who was found covered in blood, but they were never able to prove it.

While the crimes fascinated the public, Lenora never left her family’s mansion again. As she grew older, she suffered a series of strokes which left her almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak. She can only move one hand, with which she can tap out yes or no answers to questions, as well as type.

In 1983, Kit is a home-health worker who is hired to care for Leona. She is troubled by what she thinks are footsteps in Leona’s room late at night, even though that can’t be possible. Then one day Leona asks to use the typewriter and offers to tell Kit everything.

As Leona slowly types out the events leading up to the murders, Kit realizes there’s much more to the story than she ever thought. But as other shocking discoveries are made, Kit can’t be sure whether Leona is telling the truth and she is innocent, or whether Kit is being manipulated by a master.

Riley Sager’s books are hit or miss for me. I probably wouldn’t have read this if it wasn’t the selection for our book club. It was an entertaining read, although I thought the pacing was slow until the end, when Sager dropped a million twists nearly simultaneously.

Book Review: "Gravity" by Tal Bauer

Another hockey romance? Some may say I’m obsessed. It is Stanley Cup playoff season, so why not?

Bryce is a Canadian hockey legend. Raised in a small Quebec town, he’s now captain of the beloved Montreal Étoiles. He’s smashed so many records but he hasn’t yet won the Stanley Cup. Beyond that, he has been having feelings he won’t let himself acknowledge, feelings about what it might be like to fall in love completely, to be with another man.

Hunter is an enormously talented young player who grew up idolizing Bryce. When they get to play together at the all-star game, they dazzle the fans and the hockey world alike, but it is their easy and intense friendship that wows them both. But when Bryce kisses him, he panics, which sends Bryce into a serious slump.

Desperate to recapture the magic of the all-star game, Hunter gets traded to Montreal. At first the move actually exacerbates the team’s problems, until Bryce and Hunter take a trip to visit Bryce’s hometown. The magic of their friendship ignites again, which quickly leads to passion and love.

While they try to keep their relationship a secret, a crisis occurs which pushes it into the open. No one really seems to care about anything but Bryce’s happiness and, of course, for the Étoiles to win the Stanley Cup.

This is the second Tal Bauer book I’ve read, and I just love the way he writes. It’s romantic and steamy and just beautiful, and it makes you wonder why the real world can’t be like this. For those of you who like hockey in your hockey romances, there's a lot of it, which I enjoyed. My one tiny quibble with the book is there are a lot of French phrases (not all are translated), so I spent a lot of time Googling everything. But that didn't dull my love for the book.

Book Review: "The Best Lies" by David Ellis

I don’t know what it is about 2024, but some of my favorite thrillers have been all about lies: First Lie Wins, Listen for the Lie, and now, The Best Lies.

This book had my heart racing from the very first page. David Ellis’ last book, Look Closer, totally blew me away and was one of my favorite reads of 2022. While this was different in some ways, here, too, there were lots of twists and turns and I didn’t have any idea how it would all get resolved. But when I was finished with the book, I wanted to read it all again to see if I missed anything!

So much of what worked about this book for me was not knowing what to expect, so I’m going to be fairly vague about the plot. When the book starts, Leo, a criminal defense attorney from the Chicago area, is about to be arrested for murder. But as we see from the way the plot shifts back and forth through time, what brought Leo to this moment is much more than meets the eye initially.

The book is narrated from several characters’ perspectives, and it deals with a lot of themes. It also raises the question of whom you can trust, and if certain crimes can be overlooked if the motive behind them was pure.

David Ellis is a phenomenal storyteller. If anyone has read his backlist, please tell me which book to pick up next!

Many thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the advance copy! The book will publish 7/23.

Book Review: "A Novel Love Story" by Ashley Poston

Emotionally undone by another Ashley Poston book…it must be that time of year! Her upcoming book has the beautiful mix of romance and magical realism I’ve come to love in her writing, and at the same time, it’s a paean to books and stories and the feelings they gives us, and it was so lovely.

Eileen is an English professor at a college. And while she’s more than happy talking about classic works, she’s a huge romance reader. Even when her life goes wrong, her favorite books, her best friend, and her book club bring her joy. Although everyone else is unable to make the book club’s annual retreat this year, she’s determined to go to the cabin in the Catskills, to read and drink wine.

On the way, she gets lost in a rainstorm and winds up in a charming small town. And then her car won’t start. But the people seem so nice and the town seems so familiar…and then Eileen realizes that somehow she has wound up in Eloraton, the setting of her absolute favorite romance series. In Eloraton, the burgers are always a little burnt, the honey taffy is always sweet, and it always rains in the afternoon. What a perfect place to wait for your car to get fixed.

The more time she spends in Eloraton, the more Eileen realizes that the characters are stuck, because the author died before the fifth book could be finished. The characters don’t realize why they’re stuck, but Eileen inadvertently creates some ripples that actually move things forward, much to everyone’s pleasure. Everyone’s except a handsome yet grumpy bookstore owner, who doesn’t want Eileen to ruin things.

Eileen realizes that she hasn’t been happy in some time, not until she arrived in town. Can’t she just stay in Eloraton, with these characters who have become her friends? How tempting it is to lose yourself in a place you love.

At first I worried this would be silly, but it’s so richly told, so vibrant. As with all of Poston’s books, this isn’t for everyone, but it filled my heart so much. I am an absolute fan of hers.

Many thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy! The book will publish 6/25.

Book Review: "The Bump" by Sidney Karger

Sometimes you find the right book to fit your mood. For me, the most recent example of this is Sidney Karger’s upcoming book, The Bump. It hit me square in the feels and left me smiling, too.

Wyatt and Biz have been together for a number of years now. Wyatt is a director of commercials; Biz, a former child actor, is now a food writer. Wyatt is the high-strung planner; Biz is the more spontaneous, fun-loving one. The couple lives in Brooklyn with their dog, Matilda.

But everything is about to change for them. They’re having a baby (through a surrogate) in a few weeks, and both are getting pretty tense. Biz decides that instead of flying to California for the baby’s birth, they’ll drive, making a few stops on the way so it’s kind of a “baby-moon.” (Biz is starting to panic, so he hopes the road trip will calm him down.)

In their old VW convertible, they start their journey in Provincetown, the scene of many great memories for them. But Wyatt feels like Biz is trying to avoid becoming a father, while Biz wishes Wyatt would just mellow out a bit. The tension makes it hard to enjoy, and then their plans go awry when an emergency with Wyatt’s family necessitates a detour.

Each time they try to get back on course, something else happens which causes another detour. And at the same time, secrets are revealed and discoveries are made which ratchet up both of their emotions, not to mention the tension between them. Can their family survive before it even starts?

While much of the drama in the book would be solved if Wyatt and Biz would just TALK to each other, the miscommunication didn’t bother me as much as it usually does in books. They make an adorable couple, and I really was rooting for them, plus I enjoyed the supporting characters as well. The book was a good mix of serious and silly, romantic and fun.

Many thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy! The book will publish 5/21.

Book Review: "The Hearing Test" by Eliza Barry Callahan

Sometimes I’m so taken by the synopsis of a book that I read a few pages and then buy it without looking at any reviews. At times this experiment is successful and I find a gem I might not have otherwise known about.

Other times, however, it’s like only walking around the store once when you try on a pair of shoes—you don’t experience the discomfort until you’ve done a little more walking. And in this case, the book’s quirks weren’t evident until I got about 20 pages in, and I had already bought the shoes, umm, book.

In The Hearing Test, a young artist awakes one morning with “a deep drone in my right ear accompanied by a sound I can best compare to a large piece of sheet metal being rocked, a perpetually rolling thunder.” At first she thinks she might have water in her ear after a swim. But the doctors quickly diagnose her with Sudden Deafness, as she had lost low-end hearing.

This news throws her for a loop. The doctors don’t believe she’ll regain her hearing, and in fact, this could be a sign of a larger problem which might ultimately result in profound deafness. But while this is certainly worrying, she is determined not to let herself obsess over what might happen.

The book is essentially a record of her year—the interesting and the mundane things that occur. Many times it’s her recounting conversations she had with random people, conversations with so many extraneous details it’s like talking to a friend who is prone to veer off topic and onto other paths. It’s also a reflection on her happinesses and disappointments, her fears and triumphs.

Most of the book is told in a stream-of-consciousness style, without context for what the author shares. (Also, conversations are reflected with no quotation marks.) I think this was beautifully written—the language was so evocative—but it was mostly over my head. Ah, well…

Book Review: "The Paris Novel" by Ruth Reichl

It should come as no surprise that a book written by Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine (which I miss so much), has some of the most vivid and sumptuous descriptions of food I’ve ever seen. And while my stomach was growling quite a bit, it was balanced by some mentions of food I’d definitely never eat, so no calories were consumed!

In 1983, Stella’s mother Celia passed away. They rarely saw each other, because Celia lived life elaborately and reinvented anything (or anyone) she didn’t like, while Stella felt lost without specific plans or routines. So imagine Stella’s surprise when she learned that Celia left her some money with the stipulation it be used for a trip to Paris.

She doesn’t quite understand why Celia would send her to Paris, but she quickly fell in love with the city. One day she comes upon a vintage dress shop and tries on an exquisite Dior dress. The shop owner urges Stella to buy it, saying it was made for her, so Stella does something impulsive for the first time in her life.

The shop owner tells her to go to a brasserie and order oysters, and Stella is dazzled by their taste. It is there she meets Jules, a wealthy art consultant in his 80s, who takes a liking to her. It’s not long before he’s introducing her to some of the finest French restaurants, indulging her love of art, and involving her in some of his schemes.

While in Paris, she becomes part of a community at the famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore and becomes obsessed with solving a mystery about a female artist from a time where women were not treated equally in France. She also discovers an absolute passion for food, which may be something she came by naturally.

Paris is such a wonderful setting for a book, and I thought this was lots of fun. I did think the subplot about the female artist dragged the rest of the story down a bit, but I still couldn’t get enough of the characters and their larger-than-life personalities. Il est bien fait! (Bravo!)