Book Review: "Wild Dark Shore" by Charlotte McConaghy

I’ve read all three of Charlotte McConaghy’s books now, and each one has been a 5-star read for me. They’re intense, tremendously thought-provoking, and emotional, and they really make me think about climate change’s effect on our world.

“…I can understand why he might not, in fact, be alright. Why maybe none of us will be, because we have, all of us humans, decided what to save, and that is ourselves.”

Dominic is the caretaker of Shearwater, an island not far from Antarctica. It is home to seals, penguins, and other animals and birds, as well as a vault containing samples of countless seeds. Dominic and his three children are the only inhabitants left on Shearwater, which used to be a research hub, until the rising tides began destroying the island.

One day, the body of a woman washes up on shore. Dominic and his children rescue her and care for her until she recovers. This woman, Rowan, has come to Shearwater to find her husband, who was once the head researcher there. But he is nowhere to be found, and while Dominic tells Rowan that her husband left with other researchers, she thinks he is hiding something.

As they spend their last few months on the island before they are to be picked up, they must decide which seeds they can take back with them. At the same time, Rowan tries to make sense of the secrets that Dominic and his children are keeping—from her and from one another—and they each need to imagine their futures.

This is a slow-paced book but there is an underlying tension, as you wonder what secrets there really are, and what will happen to all of the characters. At the same time, McConaghy has created a setting so evocative yet so dangerous, that I wanted to visit and also stay as far away as possible. This was just fantastic.

Book Review: "Welcome Home, Stranger" by Kate Christensen

Bleak and emotional, but beautifully written, Welcome Home, Stranger is a story about the scars we bear from our family, the resentments and misunderstandings we never voice, and the feeling that our lives are headed in directions we never wanted or expected.

“There are two ways to look at your family. The first way, the so-called normal way, is that you owe them everything just because you’re related. But I believe that you owe them nothing even though you’re related. It’s not obligatory, it’s voluntary.”

Rachel is an award-winning environmental journalist who is more comfortable with research and science than interaction. When her estranged mother dies, she returns home to Maine for the first time in a number of years, she’s hit with a wall of unpleasant memories and the resentment of her sister Celeste, who cared for their mother in her last days.

Both sisters must come to terms with the loss of a woman who viewed her daughters as competition for her and pitted them against one another. Rachel is also dealing with the inevitable loss of her job, reuniting with an old boyfriend, and a health crisis for her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Celeste also wants more out of the life she’s feeling stifled in.

For a relatively short book, the pacing was a little slow. There’s so much crisis and angst in this book and very little to truly be joyful about, so it was difficult to read at times. But ultimately, I think the message the book conveyed was that there is always hope.

Book Review: "Congratulations, The Best is Over!" by R. Eric Thomas

I don’t read many nonfiction or essay collections, but when I saw that R. Eric Thomas had written a follow-up to his fantastic Here for It, I definitely had to go out of my comfort zone again. And I’m pleased to report that Congratulations, The Best is Over! is equally amazing, the perfect combination of thought-provoking, emotional, and hysterical.

In the early essays in this collection, Thomas and his husband David are living in Philadelphia and both are happy. But when David finds a job as a pastor at a church just outside Baltimore, the couple decides to move. This is a significant decision for Thomas, as Baltimore was his hometown, a place he didn’t want to move back to “even to be buried.” (The things we do for love.)

Thomas writes about what it’s like to return to a place you never wanted to come back to, the hell of moving, and the struggles of making friends as adults (particularly as a mixed-race, same-sex couple). There are also hysterically funny essays about Thomas attending his 20th high school reunion only to find someone else’s picture on his nametag, going to get his eyebrows threaded and bringing some celebrities whose eyebrows he admired (including a Muppet), and even his experience at an urgent-care facility after cutting his arm.

In the second part of this collection, many of the essays are a bit more serious, dealing with the death of David’s father, living in a fairly conservative part of Maryland in the lead-up to the 2020 election, and getting more in touch with his history. But of course, Thomas does throw in some humor, as he recounts his and David’s efforts (mostly David’s) to create a paradise in their backyard, and his harassment at the hands of a bunch of gay frogs. (Seriously.)

Thomas is a fantastic writer. Even if you’ve not experienced the things he writes about, his accounts are so engrossing and enjoyable that I couldn’t tear myself away. I’ll absolutely be waiting for whatever he writes next.

“But between the best days of life and the worst days of life, between what you thought your life would be and what it is, between two people, there is a vivid and strange expanse in the middle. This is the middle.”

Book Review: "Go As A River" by Shelley Read

This is a moving and beautifully evocative story of a young woman who follows her heart.

It’s 1948. Ever since her mother, aunt, and cousin died in an accident, Victoria has become the woman of the house. She cooks all the meals for her father, brother, and uncle, not to mention the workers on her family’s Colorado peach farm. It’s a house full of tension, as all three of her family members have issues of their own.

One day she meets Wilson Moon, a young Native American man who has left his tribal land to pursue his own path. For the first time in her life, Victoria knows what it feels like to want someone and be wanted. But their time together is fleeting, because her town doesn’t like the idea of someone who is different having free will to do what he wants.

When tragedy strikes, she leaves home and escapes into the mountains, where she ekes out a solitary life for herself despite the challenges posed by the elements and her own limitations. But when she returns home, so much has changed. She soon learns of the government’s plan to flood her town, so she is determined to save all she can, especially her family’s peach orchard.

This is based on the true story of the destruction of Iola, Colorado. It’s an emotional story of love, betrayal, fear, isolation, friendship, and resilience. Victoria is a truly memorable character whose bravery and ingenuity in the face of adversity was moving and inspirational.

Book Review: "Off the Map" by Trish Doller

What happens when a woman who’s always off finding adventure connects with a man who’s never had one?

Ever since Carla’s mother left when she was young, her father taught her that when the going gets tough, you should travel somewhere exciting. And when he gets dementia, he tells Carla to travel for as long as she can, so she won’t be there for his deterioration. She lives a nomadic life, traveling wherever her mood takes her, and leaving if she feels too settled.

When she flies to Ireland for her best friend’s wedding, she’s looking forward to being around people she cares about. The last thing she expects is to connect with Eamon, the best man, who is tasked with bringing her to the wedding in Tralee. They recognize each other as kindred spirits, and their chemistry is intense. Carla is the inspiration Eamon needs to stop dreaming of seeing the world and actually do it.

They take advantage of a few days’ break before the wedding and travel some scenic routes, much to the chagrin of Eamon’s family. And the closer they get to one another, the more conflicted Carla feels. She’s always run away before things get too serious—should she do so again?

This is the third book I’ve read by Trish Doller and I’ve loved every one of them, and her mix of humor, banter, emotion, and steam. You could definitely read this as a stand-alone but it would help to read the first book, Float Plan. (You should read all three of them, really.)

One trigger: if you’ve had a loved one deal with dementia, this may be a tough read. But it’s just so freaking good!!

Book Review: "Dinosaurs" by Lydia Millet

The latest novel by Lydia Millet is one of those excellent character-driven books that surprises you with how much you love it.

I’d never read anything by Millet before, although she’s quite prolific. But a few friends really enjoyed this, so I decided to give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did. I thought this was fantastic.

When Gil’s relationship ends, he is hurt and angry and feels rudderless. He decides to leave his home in NYC and move to Arizona—but he doesn’t just move there, he WALKS there. The whole way. It takes him five months, and the scenery was quite repetitive at times, but at times it was beautiful.

He buys a house sight unseen, one that looks like a castle. Then one day, a family moves into the glass-walled house next door. Gil can’t help but be drawn to the family as he witnesses the everyday occurrences in their lives, and it’s not long before his life becomes enmeshed with theirs. He becomes a mentor/friend to young Tom, a confidante to both Ardis and her husband Ted, and he even makes Clem, their teenaged daughter, smile on occasion.

This is a story about connection, how enhanced our lives become through our relationships, and how much life they bring to a solitary person. It’s also a story about nature, as Gil’s house attracts many different kinds of birds, and he becomes attached to them. And it’s also about regret, grief, and allowing yourself to let others in.

Not a lot happens in this book, but I hung on every word. There were so many places in which the plot could have veered into melodrama, and I was so glad it didn’t. Millet tells a beautiful, poignant story that I really connected with.

Book Review: "The Light Pirate" by Lily Brooks-Dalton

A powerful, poignant book about a world being destroyed by climate change, a story about love, loss, and family, both biological and chosen.

A powerful hurricane is heading for Florida. These storms are becoming more frequent and more destructive with each passing year. Frida, very pregnant, wants to evacuate, but her husband Kirby, a lineman, tries to assure her everything will be fine.

In the calm before the storm, Frida’s two young stepsons go missing. Kirby sets out to find them. And as the storm rages, Frida goes into early labor all alone, giving birth to a baby girl she names Wanda, after the hurricane in which she arrives.

The book follows Wanda through her life, from her curious childhood through her adolescence, as she deals with more loss but learns more about the world around her and how to understand the changes occurring. It also tells of her adulthood, in a world vastly different than she could imagine, and the need for connection.

This is a bleak book in that it paints a picture of our country wrecked by climate change until the point it’s no longer recognizable. There’s a lot of loss in the book as well. But it’s such a beautifully told story of love and survival that I couldn’t get enough of.

Book Review: "The Love of My Life" by Rosie Walsh

What happens when everything you know about your life is suddenly proven wrong? That's the question at the core of Rosie Walsh's new novel, The Love of My Life.

Leo and Emma have been together for 10 years and have a young daughter, Ruby. Emma is a well-known marine biologist who even did a few stints on a BBC show, and she recently completed cancer treatment. Both she and Leo are hopeful the disease is in remission.

They’re both nervous about the results of some recent tests. Leo, who is an obituary writer, decides to deal with his nerves the best way he knows how—to start preparing the bare bones of her obituary, like they do for other public and political figures. He certainly hopes he won’t have to use it anytime soon.

But as he researches some things he was unsure of, he starts discovering that so much of what he’s come to know about Emma has been a lie. Her name isn’t even Emma. And when he jumps to conclusions about certain things, he’s even more hurt and bewildered.

What does all of this mean about his marriage, his entire life? What else is Emma hiding? And why didn’t she tell the truth in the first place? Leo will discover that Emma’s reasons are far more complex and dark than he can ever imagine.

I found The Love of My Life totally fascinating. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect at times. Was it a family drama? Was it a thriller? I worried it might turn into something I didn’t like, but I really thought it was great. Definitely a terrific, thought-provoking pick from Book of the Month for March!!

Book Review: "Legends of the North Cascades" by Jonathan Evison

Legends of the North Cascades is a beautifully written, ambitious story about love, survival, and recovery.

After his third tour in Iraq, Dave is coming apart at the seams. His PTSD is getting more intense, his marriage to Nadene is on the rocks. The only thing that’s going right is that, despite all the chaos, his 7-1/2-year-old daughter Bella seems to be flourishing.

When tragedy strikes, the only way Dave seems to find peace is through hiking in the North Cascades. The more time he spends there, the more he thinks that retreat from the world around them is the answer, so he makes the decision to move with Bella to an isolated cave in the mountains.

"Dave no longer wished to be around anybody, except for his daughter. And what was left for a child down there but a world that would likely forsake her, a world that would wring the wonder and humanity right out of her, as it sought to reduce her life force to an algorithm? The modern world held no more promise for Bella than it did for Dave."

It’s a beautiful setting but a difficult life, and people become more concerned about Bella’s safety. But as the two grow more comfortable living off the land, Bella starts to have visions, of a mother and son who lived in the same cave during the Ice Age. Both families will need to have strength in order to survive the world around them.

Jonathan Evison is a beautiful writer. I’ve enjoyed a few of his other books in the past, but his prose here is particularly luminous and poetic. I liked the different components of the story, and it brought attention to the treatment of veterans in this country. However, I felt like the pieces of the story lacked cohesion and it all didn’t quite flow together.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for inviting me on the tour and providing a complimentary copy of Legends of the North Cascades in exchange for an unbiased review!!

Book Review: "Bewilderment" by Richard Powers

The newest book by Richard Powers, Bewilderment is a gorgeous and poignant meditation on the world around us and the relationship between father and son.

Theo is an astrobiologist. But of all the mysteries of the world he has studied, there’s no greater mystery than his nine-year-old, neurodiverse son, Robin. Robin is fiercely passionate and intelligent, he craves the knowledge his father gives him. But sometimes he cannot handle the jumble of emotions he feels at once, so that is manifested in outbursts, tantrums, even violence.

When Robin hits his classmate in the face, the school gives Theo an ultimatum: medicate him or they’ll intervene.

“My boy was a pocket universe I could never hope to fathom. Every one of us is an experiment, and we don’t even know what the experiment is testing.”

With no real choice, Theo enrolls Robin in an experimental neurofeedback treatment to help his emotional controls. It actually involves training Robin on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain, who died when he was younger. Is this the right course of treatment? What are the risks?

This is such a beautiful, emotional, evocative book. It’s a little science-heavy at times but skimming over those passages didn’t dampen the book’s strength. It’s at once a book about the fragility of our world and the fragility of our hearts, about the fierce love of a father for his son.

Richard Powers is one of those prolific, well-respected authors I’d never read before except short stories. Bewilderment really blew me away.

Book Review: "Once There Were Wolves" by Charlotte McConaghy

Once There Were Wolves, Charlotte McConaghy's latest novel, is a beautiful, haunting look at the destructive effects we can have on the environment and each other.

In addition to being so beautifully written, Charlotte McConaghy’s books are tremendously thought-provoking. Her first book, Migrations, was among the best books I read last year and I won’t be surprised if this book makes this year’s list.

It’s a time in the not-too-distant future when there are few wolves left in the world. Inti is part of a team of biologists who travel to the Scottish highlands to reintroduce 14 wolves into the wild. (Wolves are important to the ecosystem; without predators like them the deer population gets overgrown and they eat all the plants, meaning birds and insects needed to pollinate could go instinct.)

The Scottish people are unhappy about the wolves as they understandably fear for their safety, but wolves don’t attack unless provoked. But when there is a death in town, Inti knows the wolves will be blamed, and she fights to defend them. Could she be wrong, or could it be worse—is there a killer on the loose?

Inti has her own secrets and scars, which cause her to lash out impulsively at times. She also has something called mirror-touch synesthesia, which means that when she’s close to a person or thing, she can quite literally feel their pain. It’s a difficult way to live.

The story flashes back between Inti’s childhood, her time in Alaska where things happened to her and her sister, and the present. This is a violent book at times and those triggered by discussions of rape and violence may find this troubling.

The pacing of Once There Were Wolves is a little slow to start but it’s just such a gorgeous story of redemption and hope—for nature and for humans.

Book Review: "The Long Road Home" by Braden Hofeling

Braden Hofeling's The Long Road Home is a beautifully written and heartfelt collection of poems, prose, and personal essays.

So, what’s your feeling on poetry? Do you read any? Do you read it occasionally or are you a big fan? Is it a genre that you know you’d like to read more of but there never seems to be enough time?

I definitely fall into that latter category. When i read poetry I often marvel at how much it touches and/or moves me, but it’s not a genre I gravitate toward frequently. But when my friend Braden Hofeling asked if I’d be interested in reading his new collection, I jumped at the chance.

This is a fairly short book, and many of his poems are very brief, so there are a good number of them. I can’t tell you how often I marveled at his use of language, emotion, and imagery to draw the reader in. There were so many poems that made me say, “YES!”

These are poems about love, relationships, family, dreams, nature, fears—and they are punctuated with beautiful artwork from Madison Bird.

There were too many poems to choose a favorite from, so here’s a brief one I really enjoyed, called “Slippery”:

When I tell you I’m falling
I don’t mean in love
I mean I’m slipping through your fingers

If you enjoy poetry or are curious about it, The Long Road Home is a beautiful collection to try. Braden Hofeling provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "The Houseplant: A Short Story" by Jeremy Ray

The Houseplant is a surprisingly heartwarming story about the most unlikely of subjects. (Yes, the title is literally what the story is about.)

Do you have plants in your house? If so, do your plants have names and do you talk to them? I have one small plant, Mr. Indestructo, so named because he puts up with my periodic neglect and thrives anyway. (And he’s a good listener when I break into an impromptu karaoke session.)

Jeremy Ray’s terrific story is narrated by George, a fern who was brought home against his will by Brenda. After he struggled through her initial missteps at caring for him, eventually he and Brenda built a solid relationship of companionship and trust, and she was always bragging to friends about George’s ability to thrive.

But in a split second, everything changes and George’s life is turned upside down. Can things go back to how they were before, or will George have to suffer the consequences?

I seriously loved this story. I never thought I’d get attached to a story narrated by a houseplant but Jeremy Ray created such a terrific character! I gave Mr. Indestructo a little more water after I finished the story.

The author provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the story in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available! For details on how to win a signed, first-print edition of The Houseplant, visit @jeremyraystories on Instagram.

The story publishes 12/14.

Book Review: "Migrations" by Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is haunting, poignant, and thought-provoking. Wow.

This was definitely what I'd call a "Bookstagram made me do it" book. I hadn’t heard of it until two friends spoke highly of it, and it sounded like a book I’d like. And boy, did I ever.

In a not-too-distant future, nearly all of the world’s wildlife—animals, birds, and fish—are extinct. Franny has tracked the last existing flock of arctic terns to Greenland, and she is determined to follow their last majestic migration.

But to do so, she must convince a ship to follow the birds’ path, and let her join them. She connects with the Saghani, a fishing vessel in search of nearly elusive fish. She convinces them that the birds will go where the fish are and the captain, Ennis, decides to trust her.

It’s a treacherous and harrowing journey. As Franny gets more acclimated with her shipmates it becomes clear that Franny is hiding something. Suffering from night terrors, sleepwalking into dangerous situations, one must wonder whether Franny is not only running toward the birds, but running from something.

This was a beautiful book. It has a similar feel to books like Good Morning, Midnight, Station Eleven, or The Dog Stars, although not quite as dystopian. It’s also a commentary on the risks we face as a world given the way our environment is being abused.

Migrations is one that will stick with me. Franny is one of those beautifully flawed characters you truly feel for.

Book Review: "A Good Neighborhood" by Therese Anne Fowler

After reading Therese Anne Fowler's new novel, A Good Neighborhood, all I can say, in the words of Keanu Reeves in many of his early movies is, “whoa.”

I don’t belong to a book club, but I wish I did after reading this book. It made me sad, it made me angry, it made me think about our world today, and it made me wonder whether or not certain characters’ actions were justified.

In the comfortable North Carolina suburb of Oak Hill, Valerie and her biracial son Xavier have lived since he was a baby. An ecology and forestry professor, Valerie feels more at home among the plants and trees than with people, especially the majestic, historic oak tree at the back of their property. Xavier, studious, friendly, and charming, is just about ready to head across the country for college, where he’ll study classical guitar.

The Whitmans move into the lot behind Valerie and Xavier, building a McMansion, razing all of the trees on their property and infringing upon Valerie’s oak. Brad Whitman, the self-made man with the HVAC empire, who fancies himself a minor celebrity because he appears in his company’s commercials, lives there with his wife, his teenage stepdaughter Juniper, and his daughter Lily.

When Valerie’s tree starts dying, she pursues some legal remedies which anger Brad. And then Juniper and Xavier begin seeing each other secretly, and the discovery of the relationship sets an indelible chain of events into motion.

This book shook me. I wasn’t surprised by anything that happened but I was so irritated/upset by the fact that stuff like this actually happens. Therese Anne Fowler did an excellent job creating a veritable car crash of a novel I couldn’t look away from. I've seen mixed things but I can't help but wonder if some who didn't like the book were put off by the behavior of the characters.

I won’t forget about this one for a long time.

Book Review: "Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me" by Gae Polisner

Aren’t friends and family supposed to be there for you? Why do you have to face things alone?

In Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me, JL (short for Jean-Louise) is 15, and at a time when she’s supposed to be experiencing the carefree fun of being a teenager, her life is full of angst and worry, including and beyond the typical teenager stuff.

Her mother suffers from a dissociative disorder, which leaves her often depressed or in a fog, writing letters to someone who no longer exists. Her father has been out of town on business for months, which only adds to her mother’s despair.

No one seems to notice that JL’s childhood best friend Aubrey has shunned her, or that JL is dating Max, a 19-year-old senior who seems rough around the edges but is far more intelligent than anyone realizes. The only thing that gives JL peace of mind is spending time with the tropical butterflies she raises.

Max wants to go to California when he graduates, and wants JL to come with him. Of course, she can’t leave her mother alone, can she? Would anyone notice? At what point should she think of her own happiness before others?

As Max starts making plans to leave, and her mother slips further and further into despair, JL doesn’t know what to choose. When there’s no one to guide you, how do you decide?

This is a poignant, beautifully written book about the fragility of young friendship, the challenges of having to take responsibility for your parents when you’re still a child, the secrets we keep hidden from ourselves and others, and the feeling that you’re all alone, and no one is there to help you. Gae Polisner so adroitly captures those emotions.

My only quibble with the book is the way the narration meanders. One chapter takes place in middle school, one in the present, one in the slightly recent past—it took a little while to get used to. But Polisner—whose previous books (especially The Memory of Things) blew me away—keeps you hooked on this story.

I am grateful to have been part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for giving me an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. The book publishes 4/7!

Book Review: "The Simple Wild" by K.A. Tucker

I'll admit, I have a straight-up obsession with Alaska. Of course, I'm far from the roughing-it type, so my appreciation of the "Last Frontier" comes from the pictures I've seen from those on Alaskan cruises, books like The Great Alone or The Smell of Other People's Houses, and movies.

I must say, that when a character in K.A. Tucker's book The Simple Wild said she loved Alaska because of what she saw in the movie "Into the Wild," I actually laughed out loud, because I felt seen.

Anyway, all this preamble is just to say that The Simple Wild already had a bit of a head-start with me because of its setting, but Tucker's story of romance, family dysfunction, forgiveness, and desperately trying not to make the same mistakes your parents did really blew me away. I've been on a bit of a roll with romance/rom-com novels lately, and this one was just as spectacular as everyone told me it was.

Calla Fletcher is a bit out of sorts—she's just lost her job and her relationship with her boyfriend seems to be going nowhere. Then she gets a phone call that her estranged father, Wren, has cancer. Calla hasn't seen her father since she was two years old, when she and her mother left their rural Alaska home because her mother could no longer handle the isolated lifestyle. And while she talked to her father periodically throughout her childhood, they haven't spoken in a number of years, and she essentially felt he chose his life in Alaska over her.

With nothing really going on in her life, and the opportunity to try and get to know her father before it's too late, Calla decides to head to the Alaskan wilderness, where he runs a charter plane company. She is utterly unprepared for how different life is in Bangor, Alaska from her life in Toronto—the spotty wi-fi, the constraints on water usage, how much everything costs—but she is captivated by the beauty of the place. But her father is very guarded, and she can't seem to understand why he keeps avoiding her. She's only in Alaska for a week—shouldn't he be taking the time to get to know her again? Or doesn't he care that she came all this way?

Little by little, Calla begins to understand why Wren could never uproot his life, even for her and her mother. She gets to know the people he's chosen to surround himself with, especially Jonah, the cocky pilot with the chip on his shoulder, and a host of incorrect assumptions about Calla. He's convinced she's too pampered to last in Bangor, and is ready to fly her home at the first sign of distress—if she can ever get her luggage in the first place. She doesn't understand why Jonah resents her so much, although he does encourage her to get to know her father.

Determined to prove Jonah wrong, and realizing that the time she has with her father is truly limited, Calla begins to settle in to Alaskan life, and starts to form a relationship with her father again. She learns more about his relationship with her mother, and how they never truly stopped loving each other, even though she has gotten remarried and built a new life. More and more, Calla's combative relationship with Jonah begins to soften into friendship, with hints at something more intense. But Jonah will never leave Alaska, and like her mother, Calla cannot fathom a life here. She's determined not to make the same mistakes her mother did, no matter how much her hunger for Jonah grows.

While nothing surprising happens in The Simple Wild, I was completely hooked from start to finish, and devoured the book in just a few hours. I was totally invested in these characters and their lives, and found myself getting emotionally invested right along with them. Granted, I have a lot of emotional vulnerability regarding my own father's death five years ago, but this book really touched me. I love books which celebrate both the families we choose along with those we're born into.

Far from just being poignant, however, this book is funny, ridiculously sexy, and a love letter to Alaska. Tucker is a great storyteller, but she painted such vivid pictures of the beautiful surroundings as well as the mundane parts of rural, small-town life. She also did a great job capturing the exhilaration and the danger associated with flying such small planes in unstable conditions. It really added another dimension to the story.

If you're looking for a book that is both a story of family relationships and a love story, pick up The Simple Wild. Hopefully you'll marvel at Tucker's storytelling and the absolute charm of this book as much as I did.

Book Review: "The Scent Keeper" by Erica Bauermeister

I'm honored to be part of the blog tour for Erica Bauermeister's incredibly memorable new novel, The Scent Keeper.

Scents provide some of our most potent memories, our strongest sense of time and place. It could be perfume or cologne worn by someone you love, a freshly baked treat from childhood, even the smell of the air after a rainstorm. Bauermeister's beautifully told book is an illustration of a life lived through embracing one of our strongest senses.

Emmeline lives in a cabin on a remote island with her father. It's a marvelous existence for a young girl—she has an entire island to herself to explore, and she and her father live off the land, enjoying all that nature has to offer. He teaches her how to use her senses more than anything else.

During the winter things get tough as food becomes more scarce, but she loves when her father tells her fairy tales and stories. In their cabin they are surrounded by little glass bottles which contain papers that have mysterious scents on them. Her father doesn't explain where they come from, or what the machine that creates these scent papers is, but he gives her powerful advice: "People lie, Emmeline, but smells never do."

But when she discovers the truth about the island on which they live, everything starts to change, and her father becomes more and more obsessed with the scent papers stored in their cabin, to the detriment of everything else, including himself. Without warning, Emmeline is suddenly thrust into the real world, forced to interact with people other than her father, and having to experience first-hand the violence, betrayal, and pain that people cause each other, willingly and unwillingly.

"There had been a time in my life when I had felt grown-up, capable. Now I was too scared of the world outside to leave the house. I stayed in my room mostly, telling myself the stories from my father's book of fairy tales. The girl in the red cloak, running through the trees. The genie waiting in the bottle, growing more powerful with time. The children, lost in the woods with only breadcrumbs to help them. I spoke the words in my mind, as if they could tell me how to navigate this place I'd found myself in, but the best they could do was help me forget. Still, I returned to the stories, wishing for something that would never come. An ending that had already happened."

When Emmeline learns the secrets her father kept hidden from her, she is determined to find out the truth about him and her background. She finds a world far beyond any she had imagined, where she can use her sense of smell professionally, and she finally feels like she belongs. But she also confronts one of her father's most powerful pieces of advice again, "People lie, but smells never do."

At first I felt as if The Scent Keeper was similar to Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing—a story of a young girl who is more in-step with nature than people thrust into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable world. And while there are elements of that in this story, this is also a book about the family we're born into and the family we choose, understanding what—and whom—to fight for, and how our senses give us insight into human behavior we may never recognize unless we let them.

I thought this was a fascinating and beautiful book, full of gorgeously lyrical imagery (how else could Bauermeister make you understand the scents that swirled around Emmeline and the other characters) and a powerful if familiar story of love, trust, family, and our relationship with the natural world. I enjoyed reading this book immensely, even when I wanted to shake the characters for not saying what they were thinking or feeling.

This is definitely a book that made me think about the connection between scent and memory, and how when I remember certain events or people in my life, I often associate a particular smell with them. The Scent Keeper is thought-provoking and memorable.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book will be published May 21, 2019.

I will be hosting a giveaway for this book on my Instagram page, at www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh.

Book Review: "Washington Black" by Esi Edugyan

"How was it possible, thought I, that we lived in such nightmare and all the while a world of men continued just over the horizon, men such as these, in ships moving in any direction the wind might lead them?"

George Washington ("Wash") Black is an 11-year-old slave growing up on a sugar plantation in Barbados in 1830. He has felt the cruelty of his master and his overseers, and seen the violence with which other slaves are treated. But when the master dies, there is little time to rejoice, as the new master appears to be equally, if not more, twisted and sadistic.

Wash is surprised and frightened when he is pulled from the fields to become the manservant to the master's eccentric brother. Christopher Wilde, or Titch, as Wash calls him, is a man of science, a man desperate to study the natural world around him and make brilliant discoveries. Titch treats Wash as his research assistant, and under Titch's tutelage, Wash's talent for nature drawing begins to flourish.

Titch's greatest dream is to soar through the skies in the Cloud-Cutter, a balloon-like contraption he has designed. No one, Wash included, believes it will ever be able to leave the ground or travel far, yet Titch is determined to make sure it is ready for the right conditions. And when a man dies, and Wash is the leading suspect, Titch and Wash know they must disappear far from Barbados—and they hope the Cloud-Cutter will help them get on their way.

The two make their way across the Atlantic, traveling up the east coast of the U.S., up into Canada and eventually, to a remote outpost in the Arctic. All the while they live in fear that the bounty hunter searching for Wash will find them, but they fail to understand that black men are treated the same way no matter where they are.

"It had happened so gradually, but these months with Titch had schooled me to believe I could leave all misery behind, I could cast off all violence, outrun a vicious death. I had even begun thinking I'd been born for a higher purpose, to draw the earth's bounty, and to invent; I had imagined my existence a true and rightful part of the natural order. How wrong-headed it had all been. I was a black boy, only—I had no future before me, and little grace or mercy behind me. I was nothing, I would die nothing, hunted hastily down and slaughtered."

When Titch and Wash are separated, Wash realizes for the first time that he is the only person he can count on to save himself and change his life's circumstances. His journey takes him through Canada, to England, Amsterdam, and the windswept deserts of Morocco. Amazingly, he learns the lessons it takes men their entire lives to learn (if that), lessons about betrayal, love, identity, independence, and self-worth.

Washington Black is a tremendously thought-provoking look at a boy who becomes a man as most of the world looks at him as less than that. Wash knows he is more than people believe he is, yet proving that to them—and himself—causes more emotional pain, and puts him at great risk. He is a tremendously fascinating character, one it will be very hard to forget.

Esi Edugyan is a magnificent storyteller, and in addition to the suspenseful, emotional, powerful parts of her story, she does a fantastic job with imagery as well, as her characters travel across the world. This book is a meditation on what freedom truly is, and how we are just as responsible for freeing ourselves as those whom have kept us captive. It is a story that will make you think, it will make you angry at times, and in the end, it will make you feel.

I've never read anything of Edugyan's before, but I was tremendously impressed with her talent. This isn't necessarily a fast-paced book although it never felt slow. I just immersed myself in Wash's incredible journey.

Book Review: "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

It seemed like everyone had read this one already and couldn't stop raving about it. For some reason, despite all the hype, I just wasn't sure about this one—I thought it was going to be like the Jodie Foster movie Nell, about a feral girl alone in the woods who speaks her own language and somehow gets all tangled up in the real world.

While there is a little bit of the girl-against-the-world thing, I needn't have worried. This book is heartfelt, warm, and endearing, and utterly deserving of the praise and love being heaped on it. It is definitely a story that will live in my mind for a long time.

In the 1950s, Kya is a young girl growing up in a ramshackle cottage in the marshes off the North Carolina coast. She is the youngest of five children, the daughter of a wounded WWII veteran prone to drinking and violence perpetrated on his wife and children. One day when Kya was six years old, her mother left, followed by each one of her siblings. Left to fend for herself, she learns early that she is the only one she can count on, and turns to the gulls and other marsh creatures for companionship, until she befriends a couple who runs the gas and tackle shop where she refuels her boat.

"Her most poignant memories were unknown dates of family members disappearing down the lane. The last of a white scarf trailing through the leaves. A pile of socks left on a floor mattress."

As Kya grows older, rumors swirl in town about the "Marsh Girl," and it becomes a show of bravery to run through the marsh, tag her house, and run freely home. But Kya is so much more than the little girl once ridiculed on her one day of school. She is sensitive, inquisitive, intelligent, and passionate about the marsh and the creatures that inhabit it. When she meets a young man willing to open more of that world up to her, she can't get enough, although it leads to the vulnerability of opening her heart as well.

"'It ain't just that. I wadn't aware that words could hold so much. I didn't know a sentence could be so full."

When Kya finds someone that she believes loves her for who she is, she is fearful about leaving the marsh but willing to do so for love. Yet once again, she learns she is the only one she can truly depend on. And in 1969, when Chase Andrews, once the town's football hero and the son of a prominent business owner, is found dead, the townspeople suspect Kya, as they have never believed her more than "marsh trash" even though she has proven herself capable of so much more.

"For years I longed to be with people. I really believed that someone would stay with me, that I would actually have friends and a family. Be part of a group. But no one stayed. Not you or one member of my family. Now I've finally learned how to deal with that and how to protect myself."

Where the Crawdads Sing is a love letter to nature, but it is also a beautiful story about what you can accomplish when people believe in you and instill you with that confidence. At the same time, it's a story which causes us to examine our prejudices against those who are different from us, how readily we want to believe the worst about people we don't even know. It's also a story about the beauty of human relationships, and how much they give us, even through the simplest of interactions.

Delia Owens has created an amazing, thought-provoking book. Her use of imagery is so lyrical, almost poetic, that you can see the marsh, the gulls, the feathers, in your mind's eye. As great as that is, her characters are incredibly special. Even the characters who seem the least complex have surprising moments, but characters like Tate, Jumpin', Jodie, and of course, Kya, are simply amazing.

There is a simple beauty to this book and so much heart. Read this and you, too, will be thinking about these characters for a long time afterward.