Tag: genre: adult fiction

• Book Review: “The Light Over London” by Julia Kelly

  Posted at 6:15 am by Laura, on March 18, 2019

  The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

  Publisher: Gallery
  Published: January 2019
  Genre: historical fiction
  ISBN: 9781501196416
  Rating: ★★★★

  It’s always been easier for Cara Hargraves to bury herself in the past than confront the present, which is why working with a gruff but brilliant antiques dealer is perfect. While clearing out an estate, she pries open an old tin that holds the relics of a lost relationship: among the treasures, a World War II-era diary and a photograph of a young woman in uniform. Eager to find the author of the hauntingly beautiful, unfinished diary, Cara digs into this soldier’s life, but soon realizes she may not have been ready for the stark reality of wartime London she finds within the pages.

  In 1941, nineteen-year-old Louise Keene’s life had been decided for her—she’ll wait at home in her Cornish village until her wealthy suitor returns from war to ask for her hand. But when Louise unexpectedly meets Flight Lieutenant Paul Bolton, a dashing RAF pilot stationed at a local base, everything changes. And changes again when Paul’s unit is deployed without warning.

  Desperate for a larger life, Louise joins the women’s branch of the British Army in the anti-aircraft gun unit as a Gunner Girl. As bombs fall on London, she and the other Gunner Girls relish in their duties to be exact in their calculations, and quick in their identification of enemy planes during air raids. The only thing that gets Louise through those dark, bullet-filled nights is knowing she and Paul will be together when the war is over. But when a bundle of her letters to him are returned unanswered, she learns that wartime romance can have a much darker side.

  While searching through a client’s estate for antiques to bring back to the shop, Cara stumbles across an old tin filled with trinkets and a diary. The diary belongs to a young Cornish woman in 1941, experiencing her first romance and making a name for herself as a Gunner Girl. Cara has experienced recent turmoil in her life and solving the mystery of the owner of the diary rejuvenates her. She is determined to identify the owner of the diary and return it to her, especially because it may lead to answers in Cara’s own family’s past. The Gunner Girl, Louise, breaks free from her mother’s oppressive control by enlisting in the ATS, and then becoming one of the first women in Ack-Ack Command, shooting down German planes bombing London and other large cities—but she also finds herself caught in a whirlwind romance that does more harm than good.

  I was listening to this book on audio, two hours away from finishing, when I had to return it to the library—so I ran to the bookstore and bought it to finish! I love the WWII fiction that’s coming out lately, focusing on the brilliant efforts women made during the war, the unsung heroes and lesser-known stories, the powerful female friendships taking center stage over the wartime romances. Don’t get me wrong, romance is fine, but the accounts of these brave women are far more inspiring, empowering, and interesting to me. (Plus I love a good modern-day heroine who is a curator, archivist, librarian, etc…)

  What touched me most about this novel was Louise’s story. She’s swept up into a love affair as epic as the movies, full of urgency due to the war. She’s desperate to leave her mother’s grasp and defiant in anything her mother believed, but also wants to find herself in the midst of turmoil. Her search for an identity, to know herself and her strengths and weaknesses, and subsequently finding the thrill of independence among other like-minded women, was such a joy to read, even during her naivete in love. I want more of this. More female empowerment, more female friendships, and less focus on finding The One in order to make oneself “whole.” The Light Over London is all about second chances, starting over, reinvention, independence, and strength amidst chaos.

  This book is perfect for fans of Guernsey Literary and The Alice Network (likely also Lilac Girls and The Nightingale, though I’ve yet to read those!). Next on my TBR is The Huntress so expect lots of feminist history reviews!

  This qualifies as book 2 of 10 in my library books challenge.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2019 | 1 Comment | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: historical fiction, review

• Mini Reviews

  Posted at 6:25 am by Laura, on February 25, 2019

  Today I’m sharing two vastly different novels — one is deeply character-driven, and the other deeply plot-driven — both eliciting similar ratings for enjoyment. Should be fun!

  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

  Publisher: Viking
  Published: September 2016
  Genre: historical fiction
  Rating: ★★★.5
  Summary: In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

  Mini Review: I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this novel. Character-driven narratives are my jam, but for a novel to be almost entirely devoid of plot was astounding. This novel follows a man living in confinement as a Former Person in a Moscow hotel following the Revolution. He was once a member of the aristocracy, and as the decades pass he continues to live with one foot in nostalgia and one foot looking toward the future. I enjoyed his turn of phrase, how he made the most of his circumstances, and the way time (passage of, experience within the moment, and history itself) altered while he was trapped in the hotel. He was an individual who still saw his “comrades,” the believers of the People as one homogeneous group, as individuals. When one girl’s life rests in his hands, he moves from a life of leisure to one of purpose, which was a joy to watch develop. (The experience was a bit like reading a narrative of the Earl of Grantham through the eyes of Carson the Butler in Downton Abbey.) I can’t pinpoint what exactly pushed me through to continue reading, but I’m glad I did!

  When You Read This by Mary Adkins

  Publisher: Harper
  Published: February 2019
  Genre: contemporary
  Rating: ★★★.5
  Summary: For four years, Iris Massey worked side by side with PR maven Smith Simonyi, helping clients perfect their brands. But Iris has died, taken by terminal illness at only thirty-three. Adrift without his friend and colleague, Smith is surprised to discover that in her last six months, Iris created a blog filled with sharp and often funny musings on the end of a life not quite fulfilled. She also made one final request: for Smith to get her posts published as a book. With the help of his charmingly eager, if overbearingly forthright, new intern Carl, Smith tackles the task of fulfilling Iris’s last wish. Before he can do so, though, he must get the approval of Iris’ big sister Jade, an haute cuisine chef who’s been knocked sideways by her loss. Each carrying their own baggage, Smith and Jade end up on a collision course with their own unresolved pasts and with each other.
  

  Mini Review: Perfect for fans of Attachments and Eleanor Oliphant, this novel is a modern-day epistolary told through emails, blog posts, online therapy submissions, text messages, and other snippets from the characters’ virtual lives. There’s so much that can be gleaned from a person’s online presence! Though the formatting kept me from deeply connecting to the characters, I really enjoyed this quick read for all the ways one can see how people go about their days — their “external” communications with other people, as well as their “internal” struggles that still leave a footprint online (for example, all those pizza deliveries!). It’s also a captivating discussion on grief and death in the modern age — by emailing or writing on the loved one’s wall, knowing they’ll never see it or respond to it but somehow it helps us cope — that remarkably stays bittersweet and even funny without becoming too gloomy.

  This qualifies as book 1 of 10 in my library books challenge.

  Posted in Reviews 2019 | 0 Comments | Tagged genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, genre: historical fiction, mini review, review

• Book Review: “The Kingdom of Copper” by SA Chakraborty (ARC)

  Posted at 7:30 am by Laura, on January 8, 2019

  The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chakraborty

  Publisher: Harper Voyager
  Publishing Date: January 22
  Genre: fantasy
  ISBN: 9780062678133
  Rating: ★★★★★

  With Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. But even as she embraces her heritage and the power it holds, she knows she’s been trapped in a gilded cage, watched by a king who rules from the throne that once belonged to her family—and one misstep will doom her tribe..

  Meanwhile, Ali has been exiled for daring to defy his father. Hunted by assassins, adrift on the unforgiving copper sands of his ancestral land, he is forced to rely on the frightening abilities the marid—the unpredictable water spirits—have gifted him. But in doing so, he threatens to unearth a terrible secret his family has long kept buried.

  And as a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad’s towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It’s a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city’s gates . . . and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.

  Five years after the traumatizing attack on those Nahri held most dear, Nahri is married to the emir, trying to establish a home for herself in a kingdom run by a controlling madman, and searching for that spark of inspiration and hope for Daevabad’s inhabitants. Ali, meanwhile, has been exiled to the sands, and is struggling to control his new water magic, twisting it to be useful for the people of the desert rather than something to cause destruction. As a generation celebration draws near, Ali is summoned home and Nahri must work alongside him to restore a ruined hospital, a symbol of peace and hope for the city. Little do they know that a warrior is in their midst, and every fine thread they’ve grappled to hold onto will snap in the blink of an eye.

  The Kingdom of Copper was one of my most anticipated reads for 2019. I adored the first of the trilogy, and this book held up to my expectations. It’s just as heart-pounding, adventurous, political, humorous, and heart-breaking! Nahri is fully immersed in court culture, trapped in a golden cage and struggling to find a way to express herself without fear of Ghassan’s wrath and tyrannical power. She’s also grown in her magic as well, and I thoroughly loved the way the palace speaks to her and answers her call. While The City of Brass introduced us to the politics and magic of this world, Kingdom of Copper immerses us further into its history, the way prejudices run deep, and introduces us to the vast array of creatures and their abilities. From beginning to end, I was immersed in the magic of these pages. The fate of Daevabad lies in the family drama at the heart of the city.

  Thank you, Harper Voyager, for providing the galley for review!

  The rest of the review will contain spoilers. If you have not read The City of Brass yet and would like to remain unspoiled, please do not read below the break.

  ---

  Continue reading →

  Posted in books, Reviews 2019 | 1 Comment | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, review, rock my TBR

• Book Review: “Goodbye, Paris” by Anstey Harris

  Posted at 7:15 am by Laura, on December 27, 2018

  Goodbye, Paris by Anstey Harris

  Publisher: Touchstone
  Published: August 2018
  Genre: contemporary
  ISBN: 9781501196508
  Rating: ★★★★★

  Grace once had the beginnings of a promising musical career, but she hasn’t been able to play her cello publicly since a traumatic event at music college years ago. Since then, she’s built a quiet life for herself in her small English village, repairing instruments and nurturing her long- distance affair with David, the man who has helped her rebuild her life even as she puts her dreams of a family on hold until his children are old enough for him to leave his loveless marriage.

  But when David saves the life of a woman in the Paris Metro, his resulting fame shines a light onto the real state of the relationship(s) in his life. Shattered, Grace hits rock bottom and abandons everything that has been important to her, including her dream of entering and winning the world’s most important violin-making competition. Her closest friends–a charming elderly violinist with a secret love affair of his own, and her store clerk, a gifted but angst-ridden teenage girl–step in to help, but will their friendship be enough to help her pick up the pieces?

  Grace and her boyfriend David are heading home from a wonderful concert in Paris when a woman in the metro faints and nearly dies on the tracks. David’s rescue spawns a media frenzy — who is this mysterious hero, and can we figure it out with CCTV recordings? Through a series of twists and turns we come to know Grace: her loneliness and seclusion, the silent trauma of her past, the humor, heart, and passion for music. Her violin shop, where she makes violins, violas, and cellos for musicians of all ages, is doing well enough that she can create a cello specifically for a world-wide competition for makers. When life spins out of control, she relies on the support and encouragement of her unlikely duet of friends, Nadia and Mr Williams, to set her back on her feet and take the spotlight.

  Closing out the year with a five-star read, my seventh for 2018! The librarians have a genre study book club and this holiday season we did a Secret Santa-style event: we expressed our favorite kinds of books and authors to someone whose taste is different from ours, and they recommended titles. An exercise in readers advisory techniques! And my Secret Santa nailed it: she recommended this book, and I was over-the-moon.

  Grace’s naivete felt so authentic to me, her emotional and mental abuse incredibly powerful and heartbreaking. As someone who has also suffered similar past traumas, I sat there reading, thinking oh no, Grace, you have no idea, oh no, what an awful way to learn. She’s such a strong and capable woman, and I adored Nadia — her anger, her passion, her need for validation and respect — and Mr Williams — his spunk, his intelligence, and overall gentlemanly demeanor — for their unwavering, unconditional support of Grace through all her trials and triumphs. What a powerful, moving little novel.

  I rarely find characters that feel like kindred spirits. I’ve been lucky enough to meet both Grace and Eleanor in one year. Grace’s talent and gift for music touched my soul. For anyone who has loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, for anyone whose heart broke over the moral complexities of Me Before You, for anyone who wants to read and experience the sweeping power of music through words — this is the book for you.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 2 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, review

• Mini Reviews

  Posted at 7:00 am by Laura, on December 10, 2018

  Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

  Publisher: Flatiron Books
  Published: August 2018
  Genre: contemporary
  Rating: ★★★.75
  Summary: In Denmark, Professor Kristian Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife and his hopes for the future. On an isolated English farm, Tina Hopgood is trapped in a life she doesn’t remember choosing. Both believe their love stories are over. Brought together by a shared fascination with the Tollund Man, subject of Seamus Heaney’s famous poem, they begin writing letters to one another. And from their vastly different worlds, they find they have more in common than they could have imagined. As they open up to one another about their lives, an unexpected friendship blooms. But then Tina’s letters stop coming, and Kristian is thrown into despair. How far are they willing to go to write a new story for themselves?
  

  Mini Review: This epistolary novel is perfect for readers of Guernsey Literary. It’s nostalgic, hopeful, sentimental. It’s not a happy novel, but it’s not sad either. These two people — a farmer’s wife in England and a museum curator in Denmark — find solace and companionship writing letters to one another throughout the course of a year. All their joys and sorrows of everyday life, in work and family, in love and friendship, in memory and philosophy, are shared in equal measure throughout the pages. The ending is open, but I’d like to think I know Tina’s decision and Anders’s response. A perfect, short, quick, warm read for the early winter months.

  Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

  Publisher: HMH
  Published: November 2018
  Genre: young adult, fantasy
  Rating: ★★★
  Summary: Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple: survive and conquer the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms, and marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren’t hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yōkai outcast. The choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA fantasy.
  

  Mini Review: This Japanese-inspired fantasy was high on my anticipation list for quite a while. Mari, Taro, and Akira are such lonely souls, and in the end all three want liberation and equality for the yōkai. But in order to do that, Honoku needs to be saved by Mari, the one true empress. This was incredibly plot-driven, and I wish there was more character development here — in many ways it felt like a Hunger Games trilogy retelling packed in one book — but in the end the story felt like one you’d sit around a campfire and listen to. A legend, an oral tale. So while it wasn’t what I fully expected, Jean still delivered!

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 0 Comments | Tagged genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, genre: fantasy, genre: young adult, mini review, review

• Book Review: “Once Upon a River” by Diane Setterfield (ARC)

  Posted at 6:45 am by Laura, on December 5, 2018

  Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

  Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
  Publishing Date: December 4
  Genre: historical fiction, gothic
  ISBN: 9780743298070
  Rating: ★★★.5

  A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child.

  Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

  Is it a miracle?

  Is it magic?

  Or can it be explained by science?

  Replete with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

  In a pub known for its storytellers, nestled along the Thames, an injured and soaked man stumbles across the threshold, carrying what looks to be a drowned girl. But as the evening bustles to care for the strangers, a nurse and the innkeeper’s son both realize the girl is neither dead nor alive. And yet, she awakens. Three different people claim her as their lost daughter or sister, but the girl refuses to speak. Is she really who the others claim, does she belong to someone else, and how is it she managed to be neither alive nor dead when she appeared at The Swan?

  Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale is one of my all-time favorite novels. Though Bellman & Black hasn’t quite captured my attention, I knew from the jacket of this book that Setterfield was back in her game with Once Upon a River — atmospheric, absorbing, and full of wonder.

  The little girl’s arrival sparks an interesting scientific and fantastical discussion on life, death, and the in-between. The inn’s patrons are natural storytellers, and as they watch and soak up every minute detail of her appearance and life following the inn, you begin to wonder yourself, as the reader, how she came to be and what exactly happened. Rita, the nurse (and probably my favorite character!), relies on science to find the answers to the little girl’s situation, but nothing scientific comes to light. This sparks a philosophical discussion about God, about myths and legends and fantasies, and how to grapple with the unknown.

  Setterfield writes the narrative like the tributaries leading to the Thames — little, seemingly insignificant stories and characters grow and develop into a powerful flood of emotion, drama, and enlightenment by the story’s end. This is a novel that begs to be read slowly, savored, and not rushed or skimmed. Like the storytellers at The Swan, this too feels like a fairytale, to be read by a warm fire, in a cozy chair, with hot tea in hand.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 8 Comments | Tagged advance reading copy, ARC, book review, genre: adult fiction, genre: gothic, genre: historical fiction, review

• Book Review: “The Girl in the Tower” by Katherine Arden

  Posted at 6:45 am by Laura, on November 29, 2018

  The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

  Publisher: Del Rey
  Published: December 2017
  Genre: historical fiction, fantasy
  ISBN: 9781101885963
  Rating: ★★★

  Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

  The Girl in the Tower, the second book of the Winternight trilogy, starts immediately where The Bear and the Nightingale ended. Vasya is free from her village and wants to see more of the world. Her desire leads her to trouble in Moscow, and the rumbling undercurrents of war and oppressive religion. Is she to be trapped as a boy and become a warrior for the Grand Prince, or locked in a tower as a girl to be wed or sent to convent? And what does the prince of night, winter, death, and darkness have to say about it all?

  Of these two books so far, the first is my favorite. It stands out in my mind because it was full of medieval Russian culture, mythology, history, and lore. It was a commentary on religion mixed with paganism and magic. However, this book was far more political and battle-hungry, and it worked well with Vasya’s character and her need for adventure and freedom. While The Bear and the Nightingale has a clear-cut villain, with a tangible beginning, middle, and end in plot arc, and a cast of recurring characters, The Girl in the Tower felt far more realistic to life (even with its magical elements). Characters come and go depending on the location and political situation, all the characters from her village do not appear in here (of course they wouldn’t — Vasya’s left them all behind!), and newer, more immediate events take place that require Vasya to look deeply into herself and her motivations and goals. The romantic thread is far more prominent in this novel as well, and it felt appropriate to Vasya’s character growth — I was pleased to see that.

  By the end of the novel, Arden has set the stage for what’s no doubt going to be a spectacular showdown. I’m curious to see where Arden takes us next.

  I’d recommend this book — this trilogy! — to anyone who loves Eastern European history, folklore, and fantasy. Uprooted, Spinning Silver, and The Sisters of the Winter Wood come to mind…

  This qualifies as book 11 of 16 in my TBR challenge. 

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018, Rock My TBR | 9 Comments | Tagged book review, genre: adult fiction, genre: fantasy, genre: historical fiction, review, rock my TBR

• Book Review: “The Romanov Empress” by CW Gortner

  Posted at 7:30 am by Laura, on November 26, 2018

  The Romanov Empress by CW Gortner

  Publisher: Ballantine
  Published: July 2018
  Genre: historical fiction
  ISBN: 9780425286166
  Rating: ★★★★.5

  Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women who witnessed the splendor and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in the final years of its long reign.

  Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage–as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir and becomes empress once he ascends the throne. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie–now called Maria–must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love.

  Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervor has lead her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache.

  From the opulent palaces of St. Petersburg and the intrigue-laced salons of the aristocracy to the World War I battlefields and the bloodied countryside occupied by the Bolsheviks, C. W. Gortner sweeps us into the anarchic fall of an empire and the complex, bold heart of the woman who tried to save it.

  What an absorbing read! My understanding of Romanov history is pretty slim — the gist that the Russians (specifically the Bolsheviks) were upset with their poverty and the Romanov’s excess, tore down the monarchy, and established communism, which is great in theory but not in practice. I remember my travels to Russia in 2004 reflecting that juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, all the glorious palaces and churches bursting with gold and light, and the dirty, gray-and-brown streets, transportation, skies, and downtrodden people. So many elements from the last hundred years of the Romanov dynasty are still very much part of the Russian political system today, such as censorship, oppression, and the KGB (and its successors) for example.

  This slim understanding of Romanov and Russian history was perfectly fine, as the book details about sixty of the final years of the Romanov dynasty, all that happened, what led to the uprising, and the state of Europe at that time. The Romanov Empress follows Maria (or Dagmar, as she’s known in Denmark) as a teenager and ends shortly after her son Tsar Nicholas II is shot. She becomes the daughter-in-law to Alexander II, who freed the serfs but didn’t have the foresight to provide homes and jobs. He was assassinated, and Maria’s husband Sasha (Alexander III) ruled. He was beloved, but he also lived in fear of the sect responsible for killing his father — thus creating a police system to track down and execute naysayers.

  Meanwhile, Maria would hard to show the Russian people the Romanov family cared about their people, the land, their country. She worked in hospitals and established agencies for women and children. Unrest continued — and when Nicholas II took the throne, Maria was devastated by his choice of bride. And I was too. Alexandra was an annoying, arrogant, manipulative, pretentious, horrible woman, who seemed shy and weak at first but proved to be incredibly overpowering as well as gullible. If Nicholas had a backbone, or if Alexandra weren’t his wife, I think the Romanovs would certainly still be on the throne, with a Parliament as intended by Alexander II, today.

  I was immersed in this novel, and after every engaging chapter I’d look up the people mentioned, the events that took place, the surrounding events in Europe, and found myself falling down an absorbing rabbit hole of complex history. The Romanov Empress is well-researched, a fascinating biographical historical fiction through the eyes of the wife and mother of two drastically different tsars, and all that led to the family’s downfall and the rise of Lenin.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, genre: adult fiction, genre: historical fiction, review

• Book Review: “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult

  Posted at 6:35 am by Laura, on November 19, 2018

  Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

  Publisher: Ballantine
  Published: October 2016
  Genre: contemporary
  ISBN: 9780345544971
  Rating: ★★★★.5

  Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

  Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family–especially her teenage son–as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others–and themselves–might be wrong.

  Jodi Picoult is one of my all-time favorite authors, but I was nervous to pick this one up. It was clearly going to be heavier than most of her novels, tackling race, prejudice, discrimination, and justice, all of which can make so many of us uncomfortable. I also knew I didn’t want to be in the head of a white supremacist, first and foremost.

  So this isn’t a review so much as a commentary on what I got from this book. I have to acknowledge that I may say something incorrectly in this post, and I’m sorry in advance if I’ve inadvertently offended readers.

  On a friend’s post about the diverse new Congress on FB, someone had left a comment saying, “My personal opinion….I think we should look at all the members of Congress as equal…. regardless of race, gender, creed, or disability. They should all work together to make all our lives better! I worked in several schools where this was the work environment, and I was so appreciative! Love one another.” Their heart was in the right place, and they mean well, but this sort of statement is what Picoult tackles in the novel: by not acknowledging someone’s difference, you are negating the strengths of that difference, the core of their identity, the success and hardship they faced because of that identity. You are, inexplicably, perpetuating discrimination. Turning a blind eye does not change the system.

  I was angry and ashamed and felt such a weight of guilt the entire time I read the novel. I may call myself an ally, an advocate, someone who isn’t racist, someone who wants equality for all, who seeks social justice for all. But there are things I’ve said and done, intending to be a good person, that actually continue the perpetuation of racism (ex: “I don’t see color,” or like that FB comment above). These are things I need to work on, do better, listen more. Compounding with that were several moments of eye-rolling and shock at the lawyer’s naivete whenever she went shopping with Ruth, looking up jurors with Howard, or listening to what children say to one another. Is this really the world “basic white people” live in? Are they really that ignorant? I grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood and school district. So these cringe-worthy moments were horrendous, because to me it seems like common sense. But I had to actively remember Jodi Picoult’s audience: privileged white women who probably, genuinely, have no idea. This book is meant to make us uncomfortable. It’s supposed to raise these issues, and make us more aware of our own shortcomings.

  Which then raises the question: who has the right to tell a story like Ruth’s, a black woman or a white woman? Well, a black woman, because she can accurately portray this life and mindset, absolutely! But you also need to think about audience and wide reach — in the case of Picoult, how can you properly show white people (her general audience being white women) what it’s like to be a black woman without making them feel too discomforted? Racism can be discussed between two or more races, but more importantly it needs to discussed, addressed, and pointed out within races to start. Whites need to see their ugly side from a fellow white, and learn and grow. Picoult’s author’s note said exactly this, and she made a great disclaimer too. Roxanne Gay’s review of this book is fantastic as well. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading her review alongside reading this book.

  Like I said, this wasn’t so much a review of the book but a reflection of what I got from it. It shocked me (the basic white outlook of it), it made me uncomfortable, it made me feel guilty, it made me angry, it made me want to do more and be better.

  Read this book. Learn. Ask the difficult questions. Seek out information to further your racial education. (Everyone. Even those of you who say you’re not racist.) It gives me hope that as the industry continues to strive for diversity, we will finally see Ruth’s story through a black writer, and that book would sell just as many copies as, if not more than, Picoult’s.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: contemporary, review

• Book Review: “Dear Mrs. Bird” by AJ Pearce

  Posted at 6:15 am by Laura, on November 1, 2018

  Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce

  Publisher: Scribner
  Published: July 2018
  Genre: historical fiction
  ISBN: 9781501170065
  Rating: ★★★★★

  London, 1940. Emmeline Lake is Doing Her Bit for the war effort, volunteering as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Services. When Emmy sees an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle, her dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent suddenly seem achievable. But the job turns out to be working as a typist for the fierce and renowned advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Emmy is disappointed, but gamely bucks up and buckles down.

  Mrs. Bird is very clear: letters containing any Unpleasantness must go straight in the bin. But when Emmy reads poignant notes from women who may have Gone Too Far with the wrong men, or who can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she is unable to resist responding. As the German planes make their nightly raids, and London picks up the smoldering pieces each morning, Emmy secretly begins to write back to the readers who have poured out their troubles.

  Emmy wants nothing more than to be a war correspondent for a prominent London newspaper, and is over-the-moon to find an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle. But with her head in the clouds, she doesn’t realize that the job she has accepted is that of a typist for a grouchy, abrasive, particular woman who runs the advice column, “Henrietta Helps.” Unlike other advice columns, though, Mrs. Henrietta Bird wants nothing to do with women’s problems during the war and will only offer advice on housekeeping and other “appropriate” topics. Emmy can’t leave these poor women’s letters in the bin, and secretly writes back to them, hoping against hope that the little comfort she can provide will also assist her in her own troubles as bombs fall from the sky.

  Several friends read and raved over this little book, and I knew I had to get my hands on this story about friendship and hope in the midst of one of the worst wars in history. I listened to it on audio, and I highly recommend you do too — Anna Popplewell (of Narnia fame) was the narrator and she does such an excellent job! She really brings the characters to life and I enjoyed every second.

  Going in, all I knew about this novel was the premise, and it truly is just the first three or so chapters. But what happens after Emmy writes to the readers and defies her boss? This novel is a slice of life for one particular woman in war-torn London, and all the ups and downs each day brought. She has her full-time job at the magazine, her part-time evening job taking calls during raids to send out fire departments, her deep friendship with flatmate and childhood friend Bunty, and their trials and tribulations in love. I was so immersed in Emmy’s life, I felt like she was my friend. So while I, too, was invested in the readers and the consequences of Emmy’s actions, I found myself drawn to the everyday.

  I highly recommend this novel to readers of WWII historical fiction, and readers who want to root for a lighthearted, resourceful, silver-lining protagonist who does her very best in keeping spirits up a during a turbulent era.

  Posted in books, Reviews 2018 | 4 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: adult fiction, genre: historical fiction, review

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• Hello, I’m Laura!

  I'm a bookish bookworm and book hoarder. By day I'm a literary agent, and by night I'm forever rearranging my bookshelves. I could talk your ear off about Gothic literature, and in my past life people thought I'd become a professional musician. I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to travel, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm always down for chips-and-queso nights. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!

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