When Jess was thirteen her mother went for a walk and never returned. Jess and her older sister Liz never found out what happened. Instead, they did what they hoped their mother would do: survive. As soon as she was old enough, Jess fled their small town of Knife River, wandering from girlfriend to girlfriend like a ghost in her own life, aimless in her attempts to outrun grief and confusion. But one morning fifteen years later she gets the call she’s been bracing herself for: Her mother’s remains have been found.
First Line:
Her bones were discovered by a group of children playing in the woods.
Important details about Knife River
Pace: Slow
POV:1st person (Jess)
Content/Trigger Guidance: Knife River contains themes that include alcoholism, murder, alcohol, gun violence, the death of a parent, cancer,bullying, cheating, infidelity, anxiety, anxiety attacks, depression, mental health, blood, disappearance of a loved one, and homophobia. Please read carefully if these trigger you.
Language:Knife River contains moderate swearing and language that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is moderate sexual content in Knife River.
Setting: Knife River is set in Knife River, New York.
My Review
When I read the blurb for Knife River, I was intrigued. I read it after some internal debate (because I always do that with these books) and am glad I did. This book is a poignant and heartbreaking look into life after a loved one disappears. It also explores what the family goes through when a victim is found.
The main storyline of Knife River follows Jess. Jess was thirteen when her mother disappeared. Her mother’s disappearance and her older sister raising her had a drastic impact on Jess. She drifted from one relationship to another and kept everyone (including family) at arm’s length. One day, she receives a phone call from her older sister that turns her world upside down. Her mother’s body had been found, and she needed a home. Jess is determined to understand why her mother disappeared and looks for answers. The deeper she digs, the more she uncovers about her mother; not all is good. The answers she seeks might be different from what she wants to hear.
Knife River is a slow book. The slowness grated on me in places, but I understood why the author chose to keep it at this pace. The book needed to be slow to understand Jess’s state of mind and her actions throughout the book.
Jess was not likable, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Sometimes, she couldn’t get out of her own way and made things worse for herself. She also did and said things that made my eyebrows raise and made me wonder, “Why?” She was so damaged, and the author didn’t sugarcoat it.
The mystery of Jess’s mother’s disappearance was very well written. The author did a great job of showing what went into investigating a cold case and trying to find leads after fifteen years. She showed Jess and her sister’s frustration with the police when they stopped communicating with them about the case (of course, there was another reason why). I also liked Jess’s investigation and how she accidentally stumbled upon the truth of what happened. That was a massive twist to the disappearance. It was one that I didn’t see coming and took me completely by surprise.
The end of Knife River left me with more questions than answers. I was confused as to what happened with Jess and the girl she was sleeping with and why she just sat on the confession she got. But I did like that Jess and her sister had grown closer at the end of the book and, in a way, started healing from their mother’s disappearance.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Random House, The Dial Press, NetGalley, and Justine Champine for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Knife River. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to Knife River, then you will enjoy these books:
A gripping historical novel about a spirited young girl who joins a sisterhood of Black women working together to undermine the Confederates—from the award-winning author of We Cast a Shadow
The American Daughters follows Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl who is enslaved alongside her mother, Sanite to a businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Sanite and her mother Ady are an inseparable duo—taking walks along the river, working together in the fields and spending nights looking up at the stars, dreaming. Ady’s favorite pastime is listening to Sanite’s stories of her families’ origins, their fierce and rebellious nature, and the everlasting love that strengthens their bond.
When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and unmoored, until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called The Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—and help from these strong women—Ady learns how to choose herself. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future. The American Daughters is a novel of hope and triumph that reminds us what is possible when a community bands together to fight for their right to live free.
First Line:
Of all the tiresome habits of men, what drove Ady, known here as Antoinette Marianne du Marche, to her wit’s end was their impulse to expand the pettiest of their lives’ moments to epic proportions.
The American Daughters by Maurice Carols Ruffin
Important details about The American Daughters
Pace: Medium. It goes to a fast pace at the end of the book (during certain events) but returns to medium after those events are over.
POV:3rd person (Ady), 2nd person (excerpts of Ady’s journal), and 1st person (passages of people interviewed over the years about Ady’s journal).
Trigger Warnings:The American Daughters contains themes that include slavery, racism, racial slurs, rape, sexual violence, violence, murder, colourism, classism, sexism & misogyny, white supremacy, dissociation & dissociative episodes, involuntary pregnancy, and war themes.
Language: There is moderate swearing in The American Daughters. There is also language used that might offend some people.
Sexual Content: There is minor consensual sexual content in The American Daughters. The nonconsensual content is alluded to.
Setting:The American Daughters is set in New Orleans, Louisiana.
My Review
The main storyline of The American Daughters centers around Ady. It is a well-written storyline that does make it uncomfortable to read. The author doesn’t try to sugarcoat or explain away what happened to slaves. I guarantee this content will make people uncomfortable, but it needs to be read.
I liked Ady. I wasn’t sure if I liked that she wanted to join The Daughters (with her owner being one of the prominent people they were gunning for), but once she did join, she was invaluable. The most valuable thing about her was that she could read and write (English and French). Her owner decided to pass her off as his daughter and educated her. Those skills gave information to The Daughters to do what they saw fit.
Besides the main storyline (which intrigued me), I also enjoyed the excerpts the author included. The author was able to fill in some blanks when it came to Ady and her life after the Civil War while also keeping it a mystery.
There is also a thread of romance intertwined in the book. I did think that Ady met her soulmate in this person. I was also sure that this person didn’t feel the same way. It wasn’t until almost the end of the book that the author discussed that.
The Civil War also takes up a considerable chunk of the book. The author doesn’t get into detail about the battles, but he does go into detail about how the city prepped for war and its effect on New Orleans. Even when the war came to NewOrleans, the author kept it to a few paragraphs at the book’s end. Of course, there were descriptions of what Ady and The Daughters did to help the Union army. The chains were mainly mentioned (and yes, it is true).
I did enjoy reading about The Daughters and their work. While fictional, I have no issue imagining something similar existed. In a city where free blacks and slaves coexisted, I find it hard not to believe that a spy ring made up of free black women and slaves existed. The Daughters did a lot of damage, but they also took hits to their numbers. Towards the end of the war, only a few were left (including Ady), which led to what happened at her owner’s house (which was poetic justice in my eyes).
The ending kept me from giving this book a 5-star review (if you can make sense of my rambling above). I was happy with how Ady’s storyline ended. But then the author posted an interview with a twist I should have seen coming. This twist was so shocking, but it made sense. I was mad that I didn’t see it coming.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Random House, One World, NetGalley, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin for allowing me to read and review this ARC of The American Daughters. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
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Reality and the supernatural collide when an expert puzzle maker is thrust into an ancient mystery—one with explosive consequences for the fate of humanity—in this suspenseful thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Angelology
“This novel has it all and more. In the nimble, talented hands of Trussoni the pages fly.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci
All the world is a puzzle, and Mike Brink—a celebrated and ingenious puzzle constructor—understands its patterns like no one else. Once a promising Midwestern football star, Brink was transformed by a traumatic brain injury that caused a rare medical condition: acquired savant syndrome. The injury left him with a mental superpower—he can solve puzzles in ways ordinary people can’t. But it also left him deeply isolated, unable to fully connect with other people.
Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder who hasn’t spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When Price draws a perplexing puzzle, her psychiatrist believes it will explain her crime and calls Brink to solve it. What begins as a desire to crack an alluring cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. She soon reveals that there is something more urgent, and more dangerous, behind her silence, thrusting Brink into a hunt for the truth.
The quest takes Brink through a series of interlocking enigmas, but the heart of the mystery is the God Puzzle, a cryptic ancient prayer circle created by the thirteenth-century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia. As Brink navigates a maze of clues, and his emotional entanglement with Price becomes more intense, he realizes that there are powerful forces at work that he cannot escape.
Ranging from an upstate New York women’s prison to nineteenth-century Prague to the secret rooms of the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Puzzle Master is a tantalizing, addictive thriller in which humankind, technology, and the future of the universe itself are at stake.
First Line:
By the time you read this, I will have caused much sorrow, and for that I beg your forgiveness.
The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni
Important things you need to know about the book:
Pace:The Puzzle Master is a fast-paced book. The main storyline occurs within a week of Mike going to the prison to meet Jess. I liked that it wasn’t so fast that I had to reread the previous chapter. The author did slow down during certain parts of the book so I could digest what happened in the last chapter. There is some lag during the book sections that centers on the doll maker and his trip to Prague. But it wasn’t enough to distract me from the book or my enjoyment.
Trigger/Content Warning: There are trigger warnings in The Puzzle Master. Some of these are graphic, and most are on page. If any of these trigger you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:
Suicide (on and off page)—The suicide is not described (very vague), but the suicide note is the first thing you read in the book. There is also an on-page suicide towards the end of the book.
Mental Illness (on page)—Jess, who is in prison, is being treated for several mental illnesses.
Violence (on page)—There is graphic violence throughout the book.
Gun Violence (on page)—Mike is shot at and threatened with a gun throughout the book.
Animal Cruelty (on page)—Mike’s service dog, Conundrum (Connie), is put in the trunk of a car and left there. When she is let out, she is almost dead. The person then sets her free and drives away.
Body Horror (on page)—During the chapters set in Prague, the Jewish rabbi, and his son were severely injured after the ritual went wrong. That’s all I can say without spoilers.
Murder (on and off page)—There are several murders committed throughout the book.
Attempted murder (on page)—There is an attempted murder towards the middle of the book.
Grief (on and off page)—A man grieves over the death of his beloved daughter. His grief and what he did set the course for this book.
Child death (on page)—A semi-graphic child death is discussed in the book.
Sexual Content: I was pretty surprised at this, but there is sexual content in The Puzzle Master.
Language: There is foul language used in The Puzzle Master.
Setting:The Puzzle Master is set in a couple of different places. In the present day, it is set in upstate New York and New York City. In the past, it is set in Prague.
Representation: There is Indian representation (Mike’s mentor is from India, but the author doesn’t say what part). There is Jewish representation (Gaston befriends a Jewish scholar and his family). There is a god who is both male and female.
Tropes:Cursed Items, Humans Can Be Evil, Traumatic Past
Age Range to read The Puzzle Master:21 and over
Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):
When Mike was in high school, he was a promising football player. But a traumatic brain injury resulting from a brutal hit ended that but opened an unwelcome and unwanted door. The brain injury somehow made Mike a savant–acquired savant syndrome. He could see patterns and puzzles in everything. Not only that, but he developed an eidetic memory. Mike made the most of what he was gifted, using it to solve and create puzzles. So, he is intrigued when a psychiatrist contacts him at a prison. He is even more intrigued after meeting Jess Price, who is in jail for killing her boyfriend. His interest is even more when Jess uses a puzzle to communicate with him. Determined to solve the crime and prove her innocence, Mike soon becomes obsessed with Jess and her case. But there is more to this case than Mike expected, and his poking around puts a target on his back. Will Mike be able to prove Jess’s innocence and set her free? Or will what he learned kill him?
Main Characters
Mike Brink: I liked Mike. I couldn’t imagine living with what happened to him after the brain injury. I felt terrible that he felt that he couldn’t connect with people. In a way, I think that is why he became so focused and obsessed with Jess. He felt an immediate connection with her, and that might have been the first connection he had in years. I hated how he was treated later in the book and what Jameson Sedge tried to force him to do.
Jess Price: She was an enigma. I was on the fence with her until Mike got a hold of her diary entries and met Jameson. I will only get a little into her character because a huge twist happens towards the end (and it involves what Gaston described in his journal).
Jameson Sedge: I felt dirty after reading his character. He had a finger in everything, including monitoring Jess at the prison. He also had a loyal hitman who would do whatever Jameson told him. Again, I am not going much into his character because of spoilers. But he got what he deserved at the end of the book.
Secondary characters: The secondary characters were fantastic in The Puzzle Master. I liked that they added extra depth to the storyline and, in some cases, helped explain what was happening. There were some characters that I liked and others that I wanted to boot from a plane.
My review:
The Puzzle Master was a well-written, well-researched book that kept me glued to the pages. I am not interested in puzzles (of any kind), but I was fascinated by what the author wrote in the book. She used actual anagrams and puzzles throughout the book (including The God Puzzle). When asked to describe this book, I told my husband it was like TheDaVinci Code but with puzzles and anagrams.
The Puzzle Master has two storylines. One centers around Mike, Jess, and The God Puzzle. The other storyline centers around Gaston LaMoriette and what happened to him before, during, and after Prague.
The storyline centered on Mike, Jess, and The God Puzzle was well-written and well-researched (as I said in the firstparagraph). This storyline has a huge twist that is directly tied to Gaston’s storyline.
The storyline centered on Gaston had some surprises in it. I can’t explain what surprises are because of spoilers. After the author revealed that tidbit of information, a lightbulb went on in my head. And when she tied it to Mike and Jess’s storyline, it became apparent.
The mystery angle of The Puzzle Master was excellent. I was truly kept in the dark about everything until the end of the book. The author had a couple of huge twists that took me by surprise.
The end of The Puzzle Master was almost anti-climactic. The author did wrap up most storylines in a way that I liked. But, there was a huge twist that was surprising and scary at the end of the book. The author set up book two perfectly with that. I also liked the afterward. It explained a lot about what was happening in the book.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House, NetGalley, and Danielle Trussoni for allowing me to read and review this ARC of The Puzzle Master. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoy reading books similar to The Puzzle Master, then you will enjoy these books:
A woman uploads her DNA online, searching for her father–but the man who contacts her is Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens. From the acclaimed author of Little Sister, this endlessly twisty crime novel asks: What might a family do to protect or expose a serial killer in its midst?
When the police found the first body, left on a bonfire in the fields, they worried it had the hallmarks of a serial killer.
Now, as they find the second, they know for sure.
Panic about the “bonfire killer” quickly spreads through the sedate, suburban area of Southampton. Women are urged not to travel alone at night, and constant vigilance is encouraged among the local residents. But single mom Aisling Cooley has a lot to distract her: two beloved teenage sons and a quest to find her long-lost father, whom she hasn’t seen since she was a teenager growing up in Ireland.
After much debate she decides to upload her DNA to an ancestry website, and when she gets a match she is filled with an anxious excitement, that her questions about her father’s disappearance from her life might finally be answered.
But to her horror, it’s not her father who’s found her. It’s a detective.
And they say her DNA is a close match for the bonfire killer…
First Line:
Lindsay was laughing-really, genuinely laughing-for the first time in months.
A Killer in the Family by Gytha Lodge
A serial killer is on the loose in the English town of Southampton. With little clues to go on and DNA that isn’t in the system, the police are at a dead end. Until one of the DCIs suggests uploading the DNA to a genealogy website. Within days, they get a hit. But when interviewing the woman, Aisling, they have more questions than answers and must comb through Aisling’s past to find the killer. But Aisling is hiding a big secret that she hasn’t told anyone. How is Aisling connected to the Bonfire Killer? Will the police crack the case before the killer strikes again?
British crime dramas/mysteries (both televised and written) are a guilty pleasure of mine. I enjoy reading about how the police over there investigate crimes. So, I agreed when Random House approached me to read and review A Killer in the Family. I am glad that I did. This book was a twisty-turny mystery that kept me guessing who the killer was.
A Killer in the Family is the fifth book in the DCI Jonah Sheens series. You can read this as a stand-alone book. I suggest reading the first four books before this one. There were some references to relationships and previous books that I needed clarification on.
The main storyline of A Killer in the Family starts with the police search for the Bonfire Killer. From there, it breaks down into two main storylines. They are the police’s investigation into the killings and Aisling’s storyline. Both storylines were well-written and kept me guessing until the end.
The storyline detailing the police’s investigation into the killings was interesting. I liked that the author covered every aspect of the investigation and didn’t just keep the focus on the DCIs. She highlighted the CSI (not sure what they are called in England) and the lower-level investigators.
Aisling’s storyline was sad and a little confusing to follow. But that confusion has a point, and I believe the author intended to keep me off balance with this storyline. Everything that was revealed, from what happened to Aisling’s father, why she came to England, and what happened to her before her father left, took me by surprise. Put it this way, this storyline did not end as I thought it would, and I loved it.
Several secondary storylines seemed to have nothing to do with the main one. But, these secondary storylines are important in the second half of the book. They added extra depth and extra knowledge to the main storylines.
The mystery angle of A Killer in the Family was intense. The author kept me guessing who the killer was and how that person was related to Aisling. The author had red herrings everywhere in this book. I didn’t expect the killer to be who it was or the motive.
The end of A Killer in the Family was a little bittersweet. The author did wrap up the main storyline (the investigation and Aisiling’s) in a way I approved. But there were a couple of other storylines that weren’t ended. As for the very end of the book, I was shocked but not surprised. I saw what happened coming. I will have to read the next book to see how everything ended.
I would recommend A Killer in the Family to anyone over 21. There are no sexual situations, but there is violence and language.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House Trade Paperbacks, NetGalley, and Gytha Lodge for allowing me to read and review A Killer in the Family. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
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Longing for independence, a young sheltered Kenyan woman flees the expectations of her mother for a life in New York City that challenges all her beliefs about race, love, and family.
“Lucky Girl is at times tender, at times funny, at times uncomfortably frank. . . . A fresh look at racism, privilege, and the challenges of coming-of-age and falling in love between two cultures.”–Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake
Soila is a lucky girl by anyone’s estimation. Raised by her stern, conservative mother and a chorus of aunts, she has lived a protected life in Nairobi. Soila is headstrong and outspoken, and she chafes against her mother’s strict rules. After a harrowing assault by a trusted family friend, she flees to New York for college, vowing never to return home.
New York in the 1990s is not what Soila imagined it would be. Instead of finding a golden land of opportunity, Soila is shocked by the entitlement of her wealthy American classmates and the poverty she sees in the streets. She befriends a Black American girl at school and witnesses the insidious racism her friend endures, forcing Soila to begin to acknowledge the legacy of slavery and the blind spots afforded by her Kenyan upbringing. When she falls in love with a free-spirited artist, a man her mother would never approve of, she must decide whether to honor her Kenyan identity and what she owes to her family, or to follow her heart and forge a life of her own design.
Lucky Girl is a fierce and tender debut about the lives and loves we choose–what it meant to be an African immigrant in America at the turn of the millennium, and how a young woman finds a place for herself in the world.
First Line:
Every morning throughout my childhood, at five forty-five A.M., Mother knocked on my bedroom door. I climbed off my bed, knelt, and kissed the floor. “Serviam. I will serve.”
Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu
Solia was raised by her stern and conservative mother, grandmother, and aunts after her father died in 1980sKenya. Chafing against her mother’s restrictions, Solia finally was able to wear her down to attend college in New York City. After an assault by a family friend, Solia vowed never to return to Kenya. America, to her, was the land of opportunity, and she was determined to make it. But, after making friends with an African American girl on campus, Solia slowly realizes that America isn’t as wonderful as she thought. The legacy of slavery and racism in America is apparent every time she goes to a store or hears stories from her friends about how they were treated by the police or other citizens of the country. Her Kenyan upbringing made her blind to slavery and how brown/black people in America are treated. Then she falls in love with an artist, and Solia needs to make choices. Does she honor the wishes of her mother? Does she embrace her Kenyan background? Or does she continue to live in America and make her way? Is there a way to do all three?
Like most books I see floating around the blogosphere, Lucky Girl caught my attention when I saw a couple of reviews. I liked what I read and immediately added it as want to read on Goodreads (gotta love Goodreadsshelves). I didn’t think I would read this book until Random House had it up as a wish on NetGalley. I hit that button and promptly forgot about it (because that’s how I am). So, imagine my surprise when I got the email that the publisher granted my wish. I am glad I got my wish granted because this book was great to read. It lived up to the reviews I read.
There are triggers in Lucky Girl. They are:
Racism: Racism is a big part of this book. Solia never experienced racism while living in Kenya. She lived in an insulated bubble. She came across as a little ignorant during discussions about race with her friends. I liked how her friends gently (and in one very memorable scene, not so gently) explained racism in America.
Suicide: Solia’s father committed suicide before the book started. Solia was kept in the dark by it until she was ten years old when her mother told her about that day. It was very graphic for a ten-year-old. It was graphic for me to read, and I am almost 46!!
Spousal Abuse:Solia’s grandmother was beaten by her grandfather daily. The abuse happened off-page and was nongraphic when Solia recounted it.
Child Abuse:Solia was verbally, emotionally, and mentally abused by her mother throughout the book.
Miscarriages:Solia’s grandmother miscarried several times due to being beaten. Nothing was graphic; it was stated as a fact.
Maiming after a bombing:Solia’s favorite aunt (Tanei) was horrifically burned in maimed in the Nairobi embassy bombing in 1998.
Sexual Assault: Solia is sexually assaulted by a priest. The priest, a close family friend, tells Solia he could sway her mother to let Solia attend college in America if she did one thing. He then assaulted her with his fingers.
Abortion: Solia gets an abortion in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The author doesn’t go into the procedure itself, but she does explore the feelings Solia experienced before, during, and after.
Grief:Solia experiences grief several times during the book.
PTSD:Solia experiences PTSD after being in one of the Twin Towers during 9-11.
Early-on set Alzehimers:Solia’s mother develops early onset Alzehimers disease towards the end of the book. It is graphic with how confused she was and how Solia struggled with the decision to take care of her.
If any of these trigger you, I recommend not reading the book.
Lucky Girl was a wonderfully written book that took critical issues in America and showed them through another set of eyes. Solia was a naive Kenyan who lived in an insulated bubble at home. When she arrived in America, she realized how insulated she was. Reading about Solia’s journey as she discovered herself was terrific. Her journey wasn’t easy and, at times, was full of pain and self-doubt. But Solia learned essential life lessons from each challenge she overcame.
There is so much about this book that I could focus on, but I will talk about two points that stood out to me the most. Solia’s naivety to racism and her job on Wall Street. I knew she would be in for a rude awakening when she arrived in America. But I wasn’t expecting her to almost look down on African Americans or think less about their plight in this country. It was hard to read her explanations for why she felt the way she did, but it was even harder to read Letitca’s comebacks. Racism was (and still is) a huge problem in this country. I am glad that the author chose to address it in Lucky Girl.
As for her job on Wall Street, I didn’t understand it. Maybe it’s just me, but why would you want to stay in a position that made you work to the point you felt numb? And why would you stay in a job that you hated? In Solia’s case, it was because her mother expected her to. I felt awful for Solia during that part of her life. She wasn’t living; she was existing, and just existing doesn’t make you happy.
There is so much more that I could write in this review, but I would end up giving away some spoilers. So, I am going to end the review here. I will say that I wasn’t surprised with how the book ended. I was surprised by where Solia ended up and who she was with.
I would recommend Lucky Girl to anyone over 21. There are language, violence, and sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warnings.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group -Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback, NetGalley, and Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu for allowing me to read and review Lucky Girl. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
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On December 1, 1946, Paula Jean Welden put on a bright red parka, left her Bennington college dorm for a hike, and vanished. Eighteen, white, blonde, wealthy; her story captivated a nation, but she was never found.
Each chapter of Quantum Girl Theory imagines a life Paula Jean Welden may have lived after she left that room: in love with a woman in a Communist cell and running from her blackmailer in 1950s New York. A literary forger on the verge of discovery at the advent of the computer age. A disgraced showgirl returning home to her mother’s deathbed. Is she a lobotomy victim, is she faking amnesia, or is she already buried in the nearby woods?
Or is she Mary Garrett, the hard-edged clairvoyant running from her past and her own lost love by searching for missing girls in the Jim Crow south? A trip to Elizabethtown, North Carolina, leads Mary to a twisty case that no one, not even the missing girl’s mother, wants her to solve. There, Mary stumbles into an even bigger mystery: two other missing girls, both black, whose disappearances are studiously ignored by the overbearing sheriff. Mary’s got no one else to trust, and as her own past tangles with the present, it’s unclear whether she can even trust herself.
This brilliant jigsaw puzzle of a novel springs off from a fascinating true story to explore the phenomenon of “the missing girl“: when a girl goes missing, does she become everyone people imagine her to be?
First Line:
Mary missed her connection in Fayetteville and, still marked from the creases in the bus seat and stinking of diesel, sweet-talked her way into the pickup truck of a lanky Dublin kid headed home for supper.
quantum girl theory by erin kate ryan
I wasn’t too sure about this book when I accepted the review request. I had read mixed reviews for Quantum Girl Theory, and from what I read, either people loved this book or hated it. I had read very few reviews that were middle ground. What ultimately made me accept this book was based on a disappearance in the 1940s that never got solved. I was curious to see how the author weaved her story around Paula Jean Welden’s disappearance.
Quantum Girl Theory is a story about a girl who disappeared and speculations about what happened to her. Mary is a clairvoyant who makes money from finding missing girls—dead or alive but more often dead. She arrives in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, and immediately contacts the parents of Paula, who has recently gone missing. The investigation into Paula’s disappearance will uncover secrets. These secrets people will kill to keep hidden. But there is more to Mary than what people see. Mary has her own reasons for finding these missing girls. Will Mary find Paula? Or will she be silenced before she can tell the truth?
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this story is loosely based on the real-life disappearance of Paula Jean Welden (I included a link to the New England Historical Society). I am fascinated with anything true crime and was secretly thrilled that Quantum Girl Theory was taking a 60-year-old disappearance and shining some light on it. The author’s research was excellent, and I loved how she took any/all rumors and incorporated them into the book. But, it did fall a little flat for me.
The main storyline (with Mary, in 1961) was interesting to read. I didn’t particularly like Mary. She was so depressing, and it did bring down the book in some parts. I wish I could say that my opinion of her improved as the book went on. It didn’t. She remained the same throughout the book. Not all characters have to be likable, and Mary was not. I did like that the author did that.
I was surprised at how the 1961 storyline went. I wasn’t expecting the other two girls to be added to Mary’s investigation. There was a point in the book where I wondered why the author introduced them, but there is a link to Paula’s disappearance. I was surprised at how and why they were linked. I was also surprised by the common denominator behind all three disappearances.
The memories were fascinating. I did have some issues following along. There were times when I wasn’t sure if it was Mary remembering another Paula’s life or it was Mary’s life. I did have to reread several of those memories to make sure what I was reading (if that makes sense). It did lessen my enjoyment of the book for me.
The end of Quantum Girl Theory did confuse me a little. I couldn’t figure out what was happening, which seldom happened. I did figure it was obvious but then second-guessed myself. I also was irritated because I felt that nothing got wrapped up. That, along with cliff-hangers, are my most significant irritant with these types of books.
I would recommend Quantum Girl Theory to anyone over 21. There is moderate violence, language, and sex/sexual situations. There is also racism and discrimination.
A young woman in a vaudeville sister act must learn to forge her own path after her twin runs away to Hollywood in this richly immersive debut about love, family, and friendship.
Leaving was my sister’s choice. I would have to make my own.
All Harriet Szász has ever known is life onstage with her sister, Josie. As “The Sisters Sweet,” they pose as conjoined twins in a vaudeville act conceived of by their ambitious parents, who were once themselves theatrical stars. But after Josie exposes the family’s fraud and runs away to Hollywood, Harriet must learn to live out of the spotlight—and her sister’s shadow. Striving to keep her struggling family afloat, she molds herself into the perfect daughter. As Josie’s star rises in California, the Szászes fall on hard times and Harriet begins to form her first relationships outside her family. She must decide whether to honor her mother, her father, or the self she’s only beginning to get to know.
Full of long-simmering tensions, buried secrets, questionable saviors, and broken promises, this is a story about how much we are beholden to others and what we owe ourselves. Layered and intimate, The Sisters Sweet heralds the arrival of an accomplished new voice in fiction.
First Line:
A young woman is pacing up and down the front steps of my house, her briefcase bouncing against her knees
the sisters sweet by elizabeth weiss
When I first got the invite to review The Sisters Sweet, I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to read it, let alone review it. But, I read the blurb, and one word jumped out at me “Vaudville.” It was that word that convinced me to read this book. Now that I’ve read it and have had some time to sit on what I have read, I am kind of “meh” about The Sisters Sweet. I have neither good nor bad feelings towards it. Just “meh” feelings, if that makes sense.
The Sisters Sweet is two stories, well three if you count Harriet talking to the Vanity Fair reporter after Josie died. The first story is about Harriet, her relationships with her parents, uncle, cousin, and various men that come and go in her life. The second story is about Josie and Harriet’s parents and their choices in their lives. I didn’t exactly like that there were two separate plotlines. I could have done without knowing about Maude and Lenny’s backgrounds. But it was there, and it did add depth to the story.
The first plotline in The Sisters Sweet follows Josie and Harriet’s rise to vaudeville fame and their ultimate crash when Josie takes off in the middle of an act. After that, the book focuses on Harriet and what her life was like after Josie left. Harriet was left to clean up the mess Josie made and become a daughter who would never disappoint her parents or overbearing uncle. Harriet is living a double life, though. She was partying with her cousin, sleeping around, and drinking way too much. It was a matter of time before everything came crashing down. But at what cost?
The second plotline centers around Maude, Lenny, and their years before the girls. As I stated above, I didn’t think that exploring the traumas, highs, and lows they had before the twins would help. And it didn’t. I could have cared less about Maude, her accident, and her uneasy relationship with her sister’s husband. I also didn’t care about Lenny, his early years, or that he was a lush. It did nothing to change my mind about how horrible they were (and yes, they were awful parents).
The Sisters Sweet was a medium-paced read. That complimented the flow very well. There was some lag in the middle of the book, but it didn’t take away from reading.
I wish there had been more scenes with Josie in them. While she wasn’t likable, I would have liked to see what was going on in her mind. After escaping from her parents, she became almost a footnote in the book. The author detailed her life through the press and movies. I feel that she could have become more personable if she had more of a presence in the book, and it would have made some of the ending scenes a bit more believable.
I did feel bad for Harry. She was the overlooked child because everything centered around Josie. She was the one who was hurt the most when Josie took off. She also had to be strong and had to be an adult at such a young age. I did think that she would go down the same road as her mother (unwed mother), but I was glad when the author decided not to do that. Instead, Harry became a dutiful daughter during the day and a party animal at night.
I was not too fond of Maude and Lenny. They were selfish people and awful parents. Maude was a selfish woman who couldn’t show affection to her children. Later in the book, Lenny is a drunk who puts Harry in situations that no teenager should have been in.
I was very interested in the historical fiction angle of The Sisters Sweet. But, I felt that the book swept over some of the more important historical events. Those events would have added an extra depth needed to the book.
The end of The Sisters Sweet confused me a little. I understood that the entire book was Harry telling the reporter “her” story. But it wasn’t clear about exactly what happened when the reporter left. I have a hunch that it was what I thought it was.
I would recommend The Sisters Sweet to anyone over the age of 16. There are sexual situations, violence, and mild language.
Around the world, twenty-two people have been murdered. The victims fit no profile, the circumstances vary wildly, but one thing links them all: in every case the victim is branded with a number.
With police around the globe floundering and unable to identify any pattern, let alone find a killer, CIA Analyst Quinn Mitchell is called in to investigate.
Before long, Quinn is on the trail of an ice-hearted assassin with seemingly limitless resources – but she’s prepared for that.
What she isn’t prepared for is the person pulling the strings…
First Line:
Henrietta Yi and her team have been underground for three days.
Scorpion by Christian Cantrell
When I read the blurb for Scorpion, I was intrigued and a little wary—intrigued because I am a massive sucker for a mystery that goes international. Wary because I have read technothrillers before, and they were not my cup of tea. But, since I read anything that comes across my desk (or email in this case), I decided to take a chance on it. It was a chance that fell flat.
Scorpion is the story about a CIA analyst, Quinn, who is called in to help with a strange case. There have been 22 people killed, all with different numbers tattooed somewhere on their bodies. Who is this serial killer, who controls him, and why do they want those people dead? The answers might be the biggest surprise of all.
Scorpion started as a fast-paced book. The storyline zipped right along until it hit the middle of the book. Then the storyline came almost to a standstill, which surprised me. Unfortunately, it did take some time for the author to get the story going again.
Scorpion’s storyline was exciting at first. It was easy to follow, focusing on Quinn and Ranveer during the first half of the book. Then the author introduced Henrietta, who I thought would be a secondary character and the storyline took on an unfortunate (and weird) turn. After that, I almost couldn’t follow the storyline because of everything that was going on. It was too much. If the author had just kept the storyline focused on Quinn and Ranveer, I would have been OK with it and enjoyed the book more.
I wasn’t sure if I liked Quinn. I did have sympathy for her, and when her backstory was revealed, my heart broke. But, she came across as flaky. A former spy, you would have thought that she would have had at least some experience with interviews. But she didn’t and cried during an interview. I mean, seriously? Who does that?
There is a lot of technical jargon that did bog down the storyline. I found myself googling terms a lot. Again, it didn’t help with the book’s flow and made me grumpy while reading it.
The end of the book was a giant cluster. I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening (and I read the last eight chapters twice). Add in everything that was happening with Henrietta, and I was like, “What. The. Heck. Is. Going. On“. Like I mentioned above, it was almost too much.
I did like the first half of Scorpion. It was a good read with the right amount of mystery and thriller. But the book went downhill in the second half, and I didn’t enjoy it.
I am on the fence if I would recommend Scorpion. There is no sex. There is violence, sometimes graphic. There is one troubling scene of a baby being murdered. There is mental illness with the character going off her meds.
They went off the grid. Their secrets didn’t. For readers of The Secret History and The Immortalists comes a novel about the allure–and dangers–of disconnecting.
Certain that society is on the verge of economic and environmental collapse, five disillusioned twenty-somethings make a bold decision: They gather in upstate New York to transform an abandoned farm, once the site of a turn-of-the-century socialist commune, into an idyllic self-sustaining compound called the Homestead.
Louisa spearheads the project, as her wealthy family owns the plot of land. Beau is the second to commit; as mysterious and sexy as he is charismatic, he torments Louisa with his nightly disappearances and his other relationships. Chloe, a dreamy musician, is naturally able to attract anyone to her–which inevitably results in conflict. Jack, the most sensible and cerebral of the group, is the only one with any practical farm experience. Mack, the last to join, believes it’s her calling to write their story–but she is not the most objective narrator, and inevitably complicates their increasingly tangled narrative. Initially exhilarated by restoring the rustic dwellings, planting a garden, and learning the secrets of fermentation, the group is soon divided by slights, intense romantic and sexual relationships, jealousies, and suspicions. And as winter settles in, their experiment begins to feel not only misguided, but deeply isolating and dangerous.
Caite Dolan-Leach spins a poignant and deeply human tale with sharp insights into our modern anxieties, our collective failures, and the timeless desire to withdraw from the world.
My Review:
I'm the wrong one to tell our story
My interest was caught by We Went to the Woods when I read the blurb. I thought to myself, “This sounds like it will be a good read.” In a way, it was. The author was able to showcase how hard it was to form the type of compound that Louisa wanted. She was able to highlight how hard it was to start and the failures that the Homestead went through in the first year. But, at the same time, I had to force myself to finish reading We Went to the Woods. I got bored reading it.
The plotline was well written and very descriptive. I wasn’t a fan of how it turned out. Mack had no clue what Louisa, Beau, and Jack were doing. I know that she was kept in the dark, but she should have had a clue when she stumbled upon the weapons cache at the Collective. Instead, she turned into an ostrich. Heck, even Chloe know more than she did.
I wasn’t a fan of Mack. The book was told from her perspective (1st person). Her insecurities and her jealousy colored it. It got to the point where I would roll my eyes whenever she made mention of lanterns going between the cabins.
The author dragged out what happened to Mack. What she did was disgusting, no doubt. The backlash was disgusting too. I wish that it had been revealed sooner in the book. The bits and pieces that were leaked drove me nuts.
I do wish that the author focused more on the workings of the Homestead. I was fascinated at how they were able to make a thriving farm from nothing.
I was fascinated by the community they found. I thought that communes were a thing of the past. To find out that there are still communes out there fascinated me.
I wasn’t a fan of the polyamorous relationships that were featured in the book. I know people in polyamorous relationships, and they are nothing like what was featured in the book. What was featured was the worst side of those types of relationships.
The end of the We Went to the Woods was confusing. I wanted to know what happened to certain characters. I also wanted to know was Mack considering doing what I think she was doing? It was so vague that I didn’t know what was going on.
I would give We Went to the Woods an Adult rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.
I am on the fence if I would reread We Went to the Woods I am on the fence if I would recommend it to family and friends.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
![We Went to the Woods: A Novel by [Dolan-Leach, Caite]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61fuCCWNysL.jpg)
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