Book Review: "Spectacular Things" by Beck Dorey-Stein

I loved this! It was my last book of August and one of my favorites of the month. I love stories about family dynamics, but this was more than that.

“She is coming to understand that love and loss live on the same coin. It’s never heads or tails but joy and agony, grief and delight, spinning in the air, waiting on time and luck to determine not when this chapter ends but how the next one begins.”

Mia and Cricket are sisters, raised by a single mother whose dreams of greatness on the soccer field were derailed just as they were getting started. Mia played soccer until it became clear that Cricket was destined for greatness. So Mia became the responsible one, making sure Cricket got to and from practices and games, and that all the bills were paid.

When tragedy strikes, it becomes clear that if Cricket is to realize her true potential and one day play for the U.S. Women’s National Team, Mia will have to make sacrifices. But at what point does sacrifice and support breed resentment?

As Cricket pursues her dreams, she deals with the pros and cons of her single-mindedness, and the loneliness that often occurs when seeking greatness. Can she live up to her potential without ruining her relationships with Mia and others?

I’ve been a fan of Beck Dorey-Stein since her debut memoir, From the Corner of the Oval. I honestly knew very little about women’s soccer (save the superstars), so I found the story very interesting. But where the book sparkled the most was in its depiction of the complicated relationships of the sisters and their mother’s legacy.

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: "Homecoming for Beginners" by Ashlyn Kane

This book hit me in all the feels!! I was looking for something to read because none of the hundreds of books in my house appealed to me, when I stumbled on this. What a wonderfully sweet, emotional, fun surprise!

Tyler couldn’t get away from his hometown—or his disapproving father—fast enough. He’s finally made a life for himself as a paramedic in Chicago when he gets the news that his father died and he has to go home.

Returning to a town where everyone still judges you for your teenage shenanigans is hard enough, but to stay in the house you hated is worse. But Ty gets another surprise when Ollie, a helicopter pilot fresh out of the military, shows up at his door. Apparently Ollie was hired to be a caregiver for Ty’s father, who had dementia, and he packed up himself and his young son, Theo, to make the move.

Ty is ready to head back to Chicago when he learns his father has struck again, this time from the grave. Either Tyler stays in the house and serves as executor of the estate or his father’s entire fortune goes to a hate group. With no other choice, Ty is stuck in town, so he asks Ollie and Theo to move in.

Ollie loves Theo, but with the boy surviving cancer and dealing with the death of his mother, he’s become pretty overprotective. But Ty helps with Theo, and it’s not long before the two men are letting their guards down and falling—hard. If Ty goes back to Chicago, though, can they make it work?

I thought this book was just so heartwarming. The characters each have issues but the way they show up for one another is amazing. I smiled, laughed, and even teared up a bit while reading—and I was there for all of it.

Book Review: "So Far Gone" by Jess Walter

“Right, he thought. We live only as long as someone remembers us. Only as long as someone cares.”

A former environmental journalist, Rhys has very little patience for fools. And Shane, his ultra-conservative, religious-nut son-in-law, is definitely a fool. One Thanksgiving, even though Rhys promised his daughter Bethany he’d behave, Shane’s conspiracy theory rants became too much to take. Rhys punched Shane, left dinner, and decided to live off the grid.

It’s been a few years now since Rhys escaped to his family’s dilapidated cabin in the woods of Washington State. Most of his conversations are with himself. So he’s completely surprised to find his grandchildren, Leah and Asher, on his doorstep. Apparently Bethany has gone missing and she had asked a friend to bring the kids to Rhys if anything ever happened to her.

Rhys is worried about his daughter and wants to take care of his grandchildren. But not long after they show up, the kids are kidnapped by members of a violent militia affiliated with Shane’s church. He is determined to rescue the kids and find Bethany, even if he hasn’t used a cellphone or the internet in 4+ years.

With the help of his ex-lover, as well as his best friend and a slightly unhinged ex-cop, Rhys has to confront the kidnappers and a world that has grown even more unhinged. But he also has to deal with the strains that have existed in his relationship with Bethany since she was a teenager, and his regrets about so many things he’s done.

This was a funny, endearing, and satirical read that I really enjoyed. Jess Walter is such a talented writer, and he deftly maneuvered between the emotions of the story, the social commentary, and the wild interactions between characters.

Book Review: "Fake Dating the Prince" by Ashlyn Kane

Simply put, I loved this book so much. It was playful, romantic, sweet, and sexy, and it made me so happy. This is the second book by Ashlyn Kane that I’ve read this week, and she’s already becoming a favorite of mine.

Brayden is a Canadian flight attendant who has a great rapport with his passengers in first class. He and one frequent passenger even have developed a bit of a flirtation over time. And on one flight, this passenger asks Brayden to be his date to a fancy charity ball.

What Brayden doesn’t know is that this passenger is His Highness Prince Antoine-Philippe (“Flip”), heir to the throne of the small European nation of Lyngria. Being gay and half-Indian, Flip faces a lot of scrutiny, so he asks Brayden to pretend to be his boyfriend, just for the ball.

With Brayden at his side, Flip is truly able to enjoy himself. He’s a hit with Flip’s family and knows how to be the perfect date. And while the plan was for them to end the charade after the ball, when the country’s paparazzi latches onto their relationship, Flip asks Brayden to stay in the palace with him.

The more time they spend together, the more they both wish their relationship was real. As their connection strengthens both physically and emotionally, can they have a happy ever after, or will they need to go their separate ways?

While the book invites some comparisons to Red White and Royal Blue, this is different in many ways. All of the characters are so appealing and entertaining, and I found myself rooting for Flip and Brayden’s happy ending.

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: "The Retirement Plan" by Sue Hincenbergs

This book was a darkly funny and twisty caper, one I really enjoyed. I hope this gets adapted into a movie of some sort, because it’s too fun of a story to miss out on.

The four couples—Pam and Hank, Shalisa and Andre, Nancy and Larry, and Marlene and Dave—have been friends for years. But as they’ve hit their 60s, each of their marriages has deteriorated, ever since an investment scheme all four men contributed to crashed, badly.

When Dave dies in an accident, the wives discover that each of their husbands has a million-dollar life insurance policy. This discovery, coupled with their unhappiness, inspires an idea: they’ll hire a hitman to kill their husbands, and they can start new lives with the money.

Another thing they don’t know is that their husbands have found a way to amass a multimillion-dollar retirement scheme. But when Dave dies, they’re convinced that their scheme has been discovered, and they’re in danger. (And they don’t even know what their wives are up to.) Hijinks ensue.

“I shouldn’t be hiring hitmen and dodging threats. I should be scrapbooking and playing pickleball.”

There’s a lot going on in the book—there’s another whole subplot involving the casino boss—but the chemistry between the friends, as well as the hitman and his wife—really worked. Chalk this up to another amazing 2025 debut!