Book Review: "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" by TJ Klune

I never thought there would be a sequel to one of my most favorite books, The House in the Cerulean Sea. Having the opportunity to read the first few chapters thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley, I couldn’t wait for the whole book. And now, with happy tears running down my cheeks, I’m sad that the book is done.

When Arthur Parnassus was growing up, he was punished for being different. Yet instead of wallowing in his pain and sadness, he returned to Marsyas Island to create a new orphanage for magical children, where he once suffered. The six children he and his partner Linus are raising are each unique and have beautiful souls, and he hopes to officially adopt them.

One day, he is summoned by the government to tell the story of his trauma. Yet they aren’t interested in making amends; they want to keep all magical people separate and following “regular” rules, hiding what makes them special. And the government will stop at nothing to take one—or all—of the children away.

As much as Arthur and Linus should be afraid, they also know that they are raising their children to be brave, kind, loving, and more than a bit mischievous. And when a new young man comes to live with them, he teaches them a thing or two as well.

“This was hope; the children, love letters to a future that had yet to be decided. Yes, Arthur thought as Sal grinned shyly, hope was the thing with feathers, but it was also in the hearts and minds of those who believed all was not lost, no matter the odds.”

I felt like this book was particularly relevant at a time when some seek to divide us and tell the LGBTQIA+ community they need to be different than they are. Yet the answer isn’t necessarily violence; it’s meeting obstacles with conviction, courage, and love.

TJ Klune is one of my favorite authors and this book is another powerful example why. It’s a book about love, courage, overcoming trauma, the power of family and friends, and it is populated with some of the most incredible characters. This was a home run all the way.

Book Review: "The Night We Lost Him" by Laura Dave

“And when you are grieving, guilt lives inside your sadness, doesn’t it? The guilt lives there like an unfortunate side effect of what you haven’t done. You haven’t saved who matters most.”

Liam Noone was the force behind some of the world’s most iconic hotels and resorts. But this success came at a high price—three ex-wives, three children from two of the women, and a sense that as much as people liked him, they never really knew him.

His retreat was Windbreak, a cliffside cottage off the California coast. And one night, it’s where his life ended, as he fell to his death.

Nora was Liam’s daughter from his first marriage. He always made time for her through the years, and in adulthood, brainstormed with her about different architectural projects she was working on. In the last few months of her father’s life she felt like he had changed, but she had put some distance between them.

When her half-brother Sam, whom she rarely saw, came to Nora insisting that Liam was pushed and did not fall, at first she just wants to walk away. But the more they start to look into the circumstances around his death and talk to those who knew him best, they become more convinced his death wasn’t accidental.

As they try to dig deeper, both Nora and Sam have their own set of issues to deal with. The narrative shifts between the present and the story of a relationship Liam had for nearly his entire life.

This was one of my highly anticipated books of the year, since I’m a big fan of Laura Dave. Although it’s marketed as a thriller, it’s definitely more of a slow-burn family drama with a bit of mystery mixed in. If you go in knowing that, you may love this as much as I did.

Book Review: "So Thirsty" by Rachel Harrison

While I (mostly) tend to steer clear of scary books, I do love a vampire novel every once in a while. And Rachel Harrison’s new book is more than just a vampire novel—it’s a story of friendship, taking chances, bravery, and the occasional existential crisis.

“If there is a happy medium between being a resigned, mildly depressed thirty-six-year-old woman with a thankless job and cheating husband, and being an immortal vampire indulging her lust for blood and sex and her desire for love and excitement, it sure would be nice to find it.”

Sloane is going through the motions in her life. She has her routines, her job, her vaguely unsatisfying marriage, but she doesn’t love stepping out of her comfort zone. But when her husband Josh surprises her with a birthday vacation—for her and her best friend Naomi—she’s excited and dreading it simultaneously.

Naomi has always been the risk taker, the unapologetic flirt. She’s been traveling the world with her boyfriend and his band, and she’s starting to hate it. But what she hates even more is seeing Sloane settle for a boring life, avoiding conflict and any inkling of happiness.

Determined to show Sloane a great time on her birthday, she arranges for them to attend a party thrown by a man she met the night before. But this party is everything Sloane hates, and then things go so spectacularly off the rails that the friends are changed forever. Now, however, they have immortality—but their new thirst overrides logical thought.

This is definitely a bit graphic but it’s also thought-provoking and sexy. How far would you go for your best friend?

Book Review: "Smile and Look Pretty" by Amanda Pellegrino

Honestly, I’m almost embarrassed how long I’ve had this book hanging around my stack. I’m so easily distracted by shiny new things (and books), lol. But I was in the mood for a little workplace drama (since I don’t have any in my new job), so I finally picked this up.

Cate, Olivia, Lauren, and Max are best friends with big dreams. But in order to achieve them, they’re all working as assistants to some movers and shakers in the entertainment world. Their bosses are all awful—a cross between Miranda Priestley and the bosses from the Horrible Bosses movies. All four women are constantly stressed, working way too much and not getting paid well for all the work they do.

They get together every Friday to commiserate. And the more they talk about their respective situations and share their frustrations about being overlooked and mistreated, the angrier they get. So they decide to air their grievances on an anonymous blog.

It doesn’t take long for the blog to catch fire. More and more women anonymously step forward to share that they’ve had the same—or worse—experiences. And as the blog continues going viral, they learn that someone is trying to figure out who is behind it. Is the validation of their treatment worth the risk to their futures? Can they actually take down their sleazy bosses?

I enjoyed this book a lot. The camaraderie between the women was great, and even if they seemed a little naïve at times, the characters were generally appealing. The tone of the book shifted to more female empowerment and courage, and that was great.

Thanks to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the complimentary copy. If you’re looking for a great backlist read, pick this up!

Book Review: "Please Come to Boston" by Gary Goldstein

In 1975, Nicky (who decides to start calling himself Nick) has left his home on Long Island for the first time, to attend college at Boston University. He’s a bit shy and self-effacing, but he’s a tremendously friendly person, and he starts making friends rather easily.

On his first day of college, he meets two people: Lori, a fellow freshman who lives on the same floor of their dorm (BU’s first coed dorm floor), and Joe, a handsome jock and dorm orientation leader. Nick and Lori teeter on the line between friends and lovers for a bit before deciding on being friends, and then Joe asks Lori out. And while Nick is a bit jealous, he’s not sure who he’s more envious of—Joe or Lori.

For the first time, Nick realizes that what he feels for Joe makes sense of similar feelings in high school. But in 1975, no one really expressed those feelings, especially not if you were raised Catholic in an Italian family. Yet Nick, Lori, and Joe fall into a love triangle of sorts, and it seems to work for all three, at least for a little while.

As Nick tries to figure out what (and whom) he really wants, and the implications that might occur, he and Joe draw closer. Yet while Nick isn’t quite dissuaded by his feelings, Joe knows that this isn’t a path he can take with his life.

Fifty years later, Nick and Joe reunite in Boston. They’re a little shell-shocked by all of the changes to the places they knew so well in college, and they’re unsure who they are to one another after all this time. But the connection between the two of them is just as palpable as it was in 1975.

This was an absolutely fantastic book. It so perfectly captures the emotions of figuring yourself out for the first time, and what it’s like to meet friends who get you completely. It’s a romantic, funny, and emotional book that really grabbed hold of my heart, and now I’ve got to dive into Gary Goldstein’s backlist!!

Book Review: "The Accomplice" by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Aaron Philip Clark

I’ll admit that of all the celebrity authors out there, I never would’ve expected a crime novel from Curtis Johnson, aka rapper 50 Cent. And while I’m often dubious about celebrities writing books, when I saw a blurb from S.A. Cosby, how could I resist?

From a young age, Nia Adams was fascinated by law enforcement and crime scenes. Her dream was to become a Texas Ranger, and now, she’s the first Black female Ranger. It’s not always easy under that kind of scrutiny but she’s really good at what she does.

It’s 2004. Nia and others are called in to stop a bank robbery in progress. While the other law enforcement officers present try to keep Nia from intervening, she steps in just in time to prevent total disaster.

When she is sent to a remote Texas town to investigate another bank robbery, she can’t understand why a Ranger needs to be involved. There are things about this robbery that perplex her, and despite the fact that the local sheriff has no concerns, she decides to do some more digging. But she has no idea of the web she’s stepping into.

Desmond Bell is a veteran of the Vietnam war, still haunted by what he saw back then. He’s more than a bank robber; his preferred currency is secrets that his employer can use as leverage for blackmail. But when Desmond targets a powerful family, which includes a potential presidential candidate, he’s taken on enemies that will stop at nothing to protect their interests.

Nia finds herself caught in the middle of two powerful nemeses. Every step forward puts her life and career in danger, and puts others in the crossfire. Who will blink first?

While I’m always a bit dubious when a book by a celebrity is co-authored so you don’t know how much of a part they actually played, I enjoyed this. Although the pacing was uneven and the ending felt a bit rushed, I’d definitely read another of Jackson’s crime novels.

Book Review: "The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World, Second Edition" by Alan Downs, PhD

I don’t read much nonfiction beyond an occasional memoir, but this was our book club pick for August. We read the second edition, which was revised in 2011; the original was written in 2005.

The book is organized in three stages that the author believes describes the journey of most gay men. The stages are arranged by the primary manner in which gay men handle shame, from being “in the closet” and fearful of their own sexuality, to overcompensating by being more “successful, outrageous, fabulous, beautiful, or masculine,” to building a life based on their own values instead of feeling like they have to prove themselves.

“While we are different, we are at the same time very similar to all others. We want to be loved and to love. We want to find some joy in life. We hope to fall asleep at night fulfilled from our day’s endeavors. In these aspirations and appetites we are like all men and women. The problem is, our path to fulfilling these basic human needs has proven to be fundamentally different from the well-worn paths of straight humanity.”

While I recognized moments from my own coming out journey in the book, I also felt at many times the author was making generalizations that didn’t necessarily apply to me. I do understand that some may have a poor relationship with their fathers because of their sexuality, but that wasn’t the case for me.

What we found from our book club discussion is—unsurprisingly—every person’s experience is different, so the book resonated in different ways with each person. Some felt this was a powerful and valuable resource; others didn’t feel as connected to the book.

I probably wouldn’t have read this if it weren’t for the book club, but it definitely made me think. And sometimes that’s what reading does for us.

Book Review: "Madwoman" by Chelsea Bieker

Wow, this was so powerful!! I was really blown away by Chelsea Bieker’s new book. It reminded me a little of The Push by Ashley Audrain, but unique all the same.

“I’ll carry the burden of you and my father and everything that happened on the island for the rest of my life. But I vowed to carry it in silence. So many lies I’ve told to ensure it would be my secret forever. Mine to death. I really had things figured out.”

After her tumultuous childhood, Clove was determined she’d do everything differently. She found the right man—a safe husband who gave her the life she wanted. She loves her two young children, Nova and Lark, and if spending every moment with the kids may stress her out, she has places—and strategies—to help calm things down.

Clove (which may or may not be her real name) has some secrets about her life that she has kept hidden from nearly everyone. But when she receives a letter from a woman’s prison in California, her carefully built façade starts to crack. What will she do if her secrets are revealed? What will that mean for her marriage, her children, and their future?

Madwoman shifts between the present, as Clove’s anxiety about discovery mounts, and the moments from her childhood that lead to one crucial moment. She desperately wants to control the narrative but she’s having a hard enough time controlling her emotions.

Domestic violence is such an epidemic in our world and breaking the cycle of violence requires far more strength and support than many have. The book may be triggering for some, but Bieker does a fantastic job depicting the struggles and choices that those affected must make. Yes, I figured out the twists, but that didn’t really affect my love of the book.

Book Review: "Colored Television" by Danzy Senna

Jane is a writer who has been teaching college while she tries to finish writing her second novel. While it started out modestly, the book has exploded into more than 400 pages of the history of mulatto people in America. She’s taking a one-year sabbatical to finish the book so she can finally get tenure.

Her husband Lenny is an artist and teacher as well, so between the two of them, they’re barely making enough to support raising their two young children. They live a nomadic lifestyle, moving from shared housing to dumpy apartments and sublets from acquaintances. But for the next year they’ll be living in her friend Brett’s mansion while he’s filming in Australia.

“Jane had discovered somewhere along the way that if you did not have money there were benefits to hanging around with people who did.”

When things don’t quite work out with her novel, in a desperate moment, she tries to get a job as a television writer. She winds up working with Hampton Ford, a producer on the rise at a streaming network. He’s determined that they make “the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.” And while Lenny feels that she is selling out, she’s happy to finally be working on a project that can gain her the notoriety she longs for. But when an opportunity seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Danzy Senna has created a darkly funny social commentary on racial identity, cultural appropriation, the cult of celebrity, and the fragility of fame. At times I felt this had glimpses of Erasure by Percival Everett, which was adapted into the movie American Fiction. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Senna and Everett are married!

I was really impressed by this book and its messages. While some of it was predictable, I was hooked pretty quickly, and couldn’t put the book down.

Book Review: "Small Rain" by Garth Greenwell

“As a teenager I had assumed life would be short, too short to prepare for anything, in those years when I failed my classes and made my mother despair, when life was only long enough for appetite; it seemed to me that any life worth living could only be short.”

In Garth Greenwell’s beautifully written new book, a writer finds himself in excruciating pain one day. He’s rendered nearly immobile at times, hoping the pain will pass. While his partner begs him to go to the hospital, because the story takes place during the pandemic, he is hesitant to go and face the possibility of getting even sicker.

After nearly five days, he finally goes to the emergency room. It appears he has a tear in his aorta, and no one can figure out what might have caused it. Stuck in the ICU, he experiences the highs and lows of the healthcare system, and confronts fears about his own mortality.

At the same time, he ruminates on his relationship with his partner, his mother, and other family members. He also reflects on everything from his childhood to his career path, as well as the impact poetry, music, nature, and academia have had on his life.

This is Greenwell’s third novel, after What Belongs to You and Cleanliness. Each book is loosely based on Greenwell’s real life experiences, and build on each other (although each can be read as a standalone), which imbue them with an emotional gravity.

I’ve been an enormous fan of Greenwell’s work for a while now, but nothing could prepare me for the immense power of this book. It captures love, fear, hope, taking chances, and ambition so incredibly well.

Book Review: "The Divide" by Morgan Richter

When she was 18, Sheila moved from Iowa to Los Angeles, changed her name to Jenny St. John, and landed the lead role in an independent movie called The Divide. She had a very brief relationship with Serge, the film’s director, and her performance was quite good. But the film never saw the light of day for some time, and while Serge’s career soared, Jenny’s went nowhere.

Over the next 20 years, Jenny drifted from opportunity to opportunity but never really succeeded. She wound up working as an “intuitive counselor” (aka psychic), trying to convince her customers that she could see their future. It hasn’t been too lucrative; in fact, she’s been illegally squatting in her “clinic” for a number of years.

Jenny learns that Serge was murdered and his ex-wife Gena, an actress turned artist, is missing. Apparently Jenny and Gena look almost identical; in fact, Gena has been telling people for years that she starred in The Divide, essentially appropriating Jenny’s life. And the strangest thing is, people that knew Jenny back then actually believed that she and Gena were the same person.

Boots, an Oscar-winning actress turned skin care guru, hires Jenny to figure out what happened to Gena and who killed Serge. She doesn’t need a detective; she just wants Jenny to use her psychic skills to formulate a guess as to whom the guilty party is.

The more Jenny mingles with Gena and Serge’s friends and significant others (past and present), the more confused she gets about Gena’s pretending to be her. And the closer she gets to figuring out the truth, the more danger she finds herself in.

This was an interesting and entertaining read. I guessed correctly as to the identity of the killer (I guess it made sense), but there are parts of the story that I wasn’t completely sure were either memories, imaginings, or hallucinations. Still, I liked the complexity of Jenny’s character and was hooked on the story.

Book Review: "The Life Impossible" by Matt Haig

I’m a huge Matt Haig fan. The Midnight Library, The Comfort Book, and How to Stop Time are some of my favorite books. Given that fact, his newest book was one of my most eagerly anticipated this year. Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to my expectations.

Grace has spent much of her life grieving: first, her son was killed before he became a teenager, and then her husband recently died. But then she gets a surprise out of the blue when she learns that a woman she knew briefly when she was teaching has left her a house on Ibiza.

Why would Christina leave her a house? They hadn’t been in touch for so long. Grace wants to make sense of it all, so she heads to Ibiza to see what answers she can find. She has no plan, she barely speaks Spanish, and she doesn’t know what to expect.

Ibiza awakens a lot of feelings for Grace, and forces her to come to terms with her own past, present, and future. And as she searches for answers about how Christina died and why she picked Grace to bequeath her house to, things get stranger and stranger. For a woman who has always turned to mathematics to help her cope with chaos, keeping an open mind is a challenge.

The book is told as a letter Grace is writing to a former student. While Haig paints an evocative picture, the narrative drags in a number of places and feels a bit schizophrenic in others. And although magical realism is one of my favorite plot devices, in this book it was all a bit too bizarre for me.

I’m definitely sad when a book I’ve been looking forward to is disappointing. But that won’t keep me from eagerly awaiting Haig’s next book.

Book Review: "Prime Time Romance" by Kate Robb

As Brynn’s 30th birthday nears, her life isn’t going in the direction she expected. She’s licking her wounds after a divorce, living with Josh, a handsome bartender, as a roommate in order to afford her mortgage, and her attempts to start dating haven’t been successful.

If there’s anything that brings her comfort, it’s binge-watching her favorite show from her teenage years, Carson’s Cove. Even though the show didn’t end the way anyone expected it to, Brynn is still obsessed with it.

When a birthday cake is delivered to Brynn, she wishes for the only thing she wants: to live happily ever after. But when she wakes up in the morning, she’s not in her bed, or even in her apartment. Instead, she’s woken up in Carson’s Cove, and it turns out Josh is also there.⁣

The thing is, everyone in Carson’s Cove thinks they’re Sloan, the lovelorn center of the series, and Fletcher, the town’s bad boy. In order to get back into their real lives, they need to ensure that Sloan finally finds her happy ever after with Spencer, the object of her affection for the run of the show.⁣

The more they try to play their parts as expected, the more Brynn (aka Sloan) discovers her true feelings are for Fletch (aka Josh). And it turns out that Carson’s Cove isn’t quite the idyllic place Brynn always thought it was…

I always enjoy books that combine romance and magical realism. This was a fun story and I really loved the characters. It would be so cool to wake up in my favorite show!

Book Review: "Bad Reputation" by Emma Barry

Maggie loved her job as a teacher and drama coach. But when she is fired for putting on a controversial play, she sues the school district and becomes an outspoken advocate against censorship. That brings her to the attention of the showrunner for Waverley (think Bridgerton), and she lands a job as an intimacy coordinator for the show.

When Cole starred in a hit teen drama, he was known more for his abs and his himbo attitude than his talent. In the years since then, he’s worked to rehabilitate his career and separate himself from the character that made him. But he’s hoping that Waverley will take him to the next level.

Both Maggie and Cole are immediately attracted to one another, but they know that acting on their feelings would be crossing a line. And the more she works with the cast on their love scenes, the more she identifies some long-hidden trauma among them.

Filming in England and Scotland goes well, and the attraction between Cole and Maggie intensifies. Early buzz about the series and Cole’s performance is strong, so better opportunities come his way. Maggie isn’t sure what she wants to do after the show is done, and as much as she’d like to be with Cole, she’s not sure that’s the right decision.

Yet as they embark on a relationship, scandal emerges that threatens to undo them both, and perhaps the show as well. They both realize that if their love is to survive—and if their careers are to thrive—they’ll have to fight with everything they have.

This was so enjoyable, full of all of the things I love about rom-coms: chemistry, banter, steam, likable characters, and a Hollywood setting. I couldn’t get enough of this, and I can’t wait for Emma Barry’s next book!

The book will publish 10/1.

Book Review: "The Unlikely Heir" by Jax Calder

Callum can’t seem to figure out what he wants out of life. He changed majors in college five times, abandoned a master’s degree, and now works in an insurance company call center.

He is utterly unprepared when a date is interrupted by a man claiming to be from Scotland Yard, who says Callum is now the heir to the British throne. Apparently a number of his relatives got embroiled in a scandal and are being removed from succession, so Callum—the son of a deceased prince and an American actress—needs to go to England right away.

“When you find yourself on a private royal jet in midair over the Atlantic, it’s a good sign your life has taken a slightly surreal twist.”

News of Callum’s ascension to the Prince of Wales isn’t met with a great deal of enthusiasm in England. The last thing they want is an American to be the future king. And when Callum’s lack of coordination and penchant for putting his foot in his mouth is on full display, a movement to abolish the monarchy starts picking up steam.

One person who is charmed by the new prince is Oliver, England’s prime minister. While he feels empathy for the way Callum is being treated by the press and political leaders, it quickly becomes apparent that he feels a lot more than empathy for the prince. And Callum definitely reciprocates those feelings. But a relationship between the future king and the prime minister could never work.

I thought this was so sweet, romantic, and enjoyable. The chemistry between Callum and Oliver was intense, and their characters, as well as the banter and the situations Callum kept finding himself in, were funny and endearing. I’m excited that there’s a sequel, too!