It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to add to this blog, and I’m going to blame it mostly on my cat, who needs lots of attention and won’t stay off my lap for long enough to write a coherent post. The holidays are also part of the reason for this lapse: although I’ve had more time off, I’ve also had more things to do and have spent a significant amount of this time off with my husband, who has also been off (he’s back to work today). Anyway, I have five books to tell you about, but since there’s so many, and I also have to give you my “year in review”, I’ll only give brief summaries for each.
The first book is Darling Girls by Australian author Sally Hepworth. I always enjoy her books, and consider her to be similar to Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty, so I was looking forward to this book, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. This novel is told in the alternating chapters of three “sisters”, Norah, Jessica and Alicia, who all spent time together in a foster home called Wild Meadows, an idyllic place that holds dark secrets. During the demolition of Wild Meadows, bones are discovered and the girls, now grown women, are contacted to give statements, stirring up long-buried memories and forcing them to reveal the true nature of their time at the home. This sounded like a perfect choice for me, and it was ok, but it fell short of my expectation, although the interesting twist at the end made it worth the time spent to finish it.
Then I read a rom-com by one of my favourite Canadian authors, Kelley Armstrong, called Finding Mr. Write. Daphne McFadden moved to the Yukon a year ago to live in the dream house she designed, with the hopes of getting her YA zombie thriller published, but this has proven to be even more difficult than she anticipated. She decides to try a new strategy and submits the manuscript under a pseudonym, Zane Remington. Suddenly there’s a bidding war and Daphne’s book is a bestseller, which is everything she’s always dreamed of… except there’s a hitch: how can she go on tour and do book-signings? Hire an actor to play handsome outdoorsy Zane, of course! And her editor-friend has just the guy to do it, no matter that Chris Stanton isn’t really an actor but an accountant who is going through a difficult time and needs a job. But what happens when relationship-shy Daphne falls for nice-guy Chris playing arrogant-writer Zane? You’ll have to read the book to find out. This was an ok read, a bit repetitive and highly improbable, but it’s Armstrong’s first foray into the rom-com genre, so I’ll cut her some slack. If you’re in the mood for a fun read that looks at the very real, very unfair challenges new female authors face, this might be the book for you.
Then I read an amazing book by YA author Nicola Yoon, One of Our Kind, her first novel written for adults. I had no idea what to expect from this book, but it far exceeded any expectations I may have had. This novel opens with Jazmyn and Kingston and their young son Kamau moving to Liberty, a wealthy, All-Black community in suburban Los Angeles. Jazmyn is a public defender and civil rights activist, often protesting the too-frequent occurrences of police brutality against Blacks, and she thinks that this stable, seemingly Liberal environment is the perfect place to bring up her son and teach him about the racism and inequality he’s likely to face growing up, as well as how to instigate change. Her neighbours and fellow community members, however, seem indifferent to these issues to the point of near-total ignorance, baffling and infuriating Jazmyn. All these community members seem to care about is getting together and going to the lavish Wellness Centre for luxurious and indulgent spa treatments, something she has no time for. When the few people she’s forged connections with in the community begin to pull away and her husband tries to gently shut her down, Jazmyn’s suspicions that all is not what it seems become frighteningly real. This page-turner was like The Other Black Girl meets Rosemary’s Baby (without Satan!). I would highly recommend this novel to just about anyone.
Then I read another unputdownable book of a different sort, The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. Returning home one night after her friend Elena’s hen party, thirty-something Lauren finds a strange man in her flat. Freaking out, she threatens to call the police and tries to race downstairs to rouse her neighbours, but the man addresses her by name and asks if she’s had a good time. It turns out that the man's name is Michael, and he’s her husband… except Lauren is single. While she tries to make sense of this bizarre situation, Michael goes up in the attic for some reason, only to come down again as a completely different husband. It appears that Lauren’s attic is a magical husband-machine! Once she begins to understand how things work, she really gets into the groove and realizes that each new husband comes with a whole set of different experiences. Don’t like the way he chews? Send him up to the attic! Too boring? Back to the attic! Too gangly? Back to the attic! And so on, and so on, and so on… until at some point, Lauren has to find a way to get off this husband-merry-go-round and find happiness right where she is… but how? This was an ambitious debut novel that hit every mark, making me laugh and root for Lauren, while also making me think about the choices we make and whether we decide to live with the consequences or make changes that may or may not produce better results. What a fabulous find this book was, and I feel so fortunate to have discovered it. I would highly recommend this rollicking debut.
And the final book I can tell you about is yet another debut novel, Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. Set in a small community near Monterey Bay, this novel follows three generations of Rubicon women as they try to solve the mystery surrounding the murder of one of the residents. When super-successful fifty-seven-year-old LA real estate agent Lana finds herself on her kitchen floor with no way to get up, she is forced to call 911, only to discover that her fall was caused by tumors on her brain. Post-surgery, she has no choice but to leave her high-class, upmarket life to convalesce with her estranged daughter Beth and her fifteen-year-old granddaughter Jack in a ramshackle cottage in Elkhorne Slough, a small community dominated by kayak tours and a marina. Jack is a part-time kayak tour guide, and one Saturday evening shortly after her grandmother’s arrival, one of her kayaking groups discovers a dead body in the Slough. When the detectives look like they will pin the crime on Jack, Lana rouses herself out of her chemo treatment stupor to shut down that line of inquiry and discover who the real murderer is. When one of the residents at the retirement home where Beth works dies, Lana wonders if the two deaths are connected. And while it takes some coercion on the part of Lana and Jack, they manage to bring Beth onboard, and together, mother, daughter and granddaughter must try to find out what really happened before someone else gets hurt. This “Nancy Drew meets Colombo” mystery was interesting and detailed and had a story-line that was complex enough to keep me guessing right up to the satisfying conclusion. It had all the hallmarks of a good mystery, and while I didn’t find it unputdownable, it was good solid writing that had everything you could hope for in a mystery, while also focusing on the complex relationships between mothers and daughters.
Whew! That was a lot of book talk! And now for the Year-End Round-Up: I read 55 books this year and listened to 19 audiobooks. Here are my Top Reads:
Adult Fiction:
One of our Kind by Nicola Yoon
The Drowned by John Banville
The Husbands by Holly Garmazio
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Masseud
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
The Leftovers by Tom Perotta
The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis
(worth mentioning: Glass Boys by Nicole Lundrigan, The Boy who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong and What We Buried by Robert Rotenberg)
Adult Non-Fiction:
Prisoners of the Castle by Ben MacIntyre
Spare by Prince Harry
Juvenile/YA fiction:
The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
Noah Frye Gets Crushed by Maggie Horne
Ephemia Rimaldi: circus performer extraordinaire by Linda DeMeulemeester
Simon Sort Of Says by Erin Bow (repeat)
Audiobooks:
Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
That's all for today. Happy New Year! May 2025 be filled with many cups of tea and lots of great books!
Bye for now... Julie
