An intimate portrait of a woman who follows her husband into a patriarchal religious sect.
The Burning Season addresses the question of who are the people who end up in cults and why? And at least in this case, if not most, it’s very ordinary people with very ordinary reasons. The protagonist is someone you recognize, someone you know, it could even be you (but not me bc I’m way too interested in cults to be drawn into one!)
A quiet yet compelling read. And I love the eye catching retro-vibe cover!
Thank you to Harper Perennial for an advanced review copy.
In a near future Logan Ramsay is an agent with the Gene Protection Agency. The GPA’s goal is to stop rogue scientists from modifying genes after the science is outlawed following a worldwide famine where gene modification had unforseen negative impacts.
When a bust goes sideways Logan ends up the target of a genetic upgrade which leaves him, in the words of Kanye, harder, better, faster, stronger. But this is not a random act and Logan soon finds himself fighting a quest for genetically modified evolution.
Upgrade is a quick moving sci-fi thriller. It wasn’t love for me, but the plot moves fast enough that I kept turning pages, eager to see how things ended up. I definitely appreciated the central idea which seems something akin to the reality of humanity facing its own extinction, the evolutionary traits that no longer serve, preventing us from seeing and acting clearly, and that we also have within us to do better.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advanced review copy.
NSFW is sort of The Devil Wears Prada set in the Hollywood TV industry leading up to the #metoo movement.
The unnamed protagonist is a recent Harvard grad who lands an entry-level job thanks to her prominent feminist lawyer/victim rights advocate (sort of a Gloria Allred facsimile) mother’s connections with a studio exec.
Sharp, at times darkly funny, and a quick read at fewer than 300 pages if not exactly a fresh take. NSFW does a good job of showing how inescapable and rampant sexism and abuse is within high pressure patriarchal industries like show business.
I found the most interesting angle of the story to be the complicated relationship between the protagonist and her mother whose brand of feminism is outdated and out of touch at best, ancillary to abusive systems at worst.
Thanks to Henry Holt Books for the advanced review copy.
Cass is in her mid-twenties and just sat for the bar exam when she’s in a car accident leaving her with a head injury and in a days long coma. Upon waking she recalls a great romance and hunky boyfriend who never existed according to everyone around her. It’s disorienting, but doctors assure her it’s likely due to her injuries. A year later she’s finally getting her life on track including starting an internship at a big law firm, which she had to defer due to her accident, when she happens into a cute, local flower shop to find the man of her coma dreams… and his brother.
Dream On is a bit like a reverse While You Were Sleeping (the mid-90s Christmas classic starring Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, and Peter Gallagher. IYKYK. If you don’t know… well, you should. I rewatched it this past holiday season and it’s truly a heartwarming gem.)
Cass befriends one brother, strikes up a romance with the other, becomes involved in helping to save their family business, discovers more about herself, there’s also a charming flower shop dog; it’s all very cute and readable with a good balance of characterization and plot. Plus, it’s set in the adorable historic Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, there’s also a brief sojourn to Columbus, where I’m located. The setting is great, I can only assume author Angie Hockman is from the area.
I found this on par with Hockman’s 2021 debut Shipped which I also enjoyed. As with Shipped I do wish there had been more steam, but I’ll survive.
Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced review copy.
Elsewhere tells the story of Vera, a young girl, then woman, living in an insular and isolated mountain village, a place both familiar and strange, idyllic and foreboding, where mothers suffer an “affliction” which causes some of them to disappear.
No one knows exactly where or how they go, they just disappear seemingly into the misty clouds of their mountaintops leaving behind husbands and children and friends, never to be spoken of again. This unique affliction causes mothers of the village to be both revered and scrutinized for who will be the next mother to disappear?
Elsewhere is a meditation on both motherhood and childhood, two halves of a whole. This timeless speculative fiction is reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale not in content exactly, but in that it offers a very narrow scope of view with sort of peripheral peeks at broader context. And similarly to Handmaid not all questions will be resolved, but Elsewhere does tie up enough loose ends to be a wholly satisfying read.
A unique take on well trodden ground. I dug the themes and world building and dreamy almost fairytale quality. The writing is excellent with plenty of provoking, quotable lines.
Elsewhere would make an excellent book for group discussion and at little more than 200 pages your book club might actually read it 😉
Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for an advanced review copy.
Traumatic brain injury. Ashley Judd. College hookup turned brain surgeon. A hurricane.
Thirty-two year old Allison is having a rough time. Fleeing LA and her movie producer boyfriend Allison has scraped enough money together to buy herself the perfect little fixer-upper beach bungalow on the shore of North Carolina just in time for it to be literally swept away by a hurricane. Allison’s story continues to spiral and we end up spending the majority of the story inside her head as she recovers from a traumatic brain injury.
Hurricane Girl is kind of a #weirdlittlebook and we know I appreciate me one of those!
The narrative is fuzzy and disorienting because we’re seeing events unfold from Allison’s perspective. This makes for a very immersive story. It also makes Allison somewhat of an unreliable narrator.
The publisher promised a story on the “knife’s edge of comedy and horror” and Hurricane Girl manages to balance that narrow space. There are elements of horror, mystery, and even humor as Allison finds her agency.
A page turner with a satisfying ending.
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday for an advanced review copy.
Dysfuntional. Disordered. Yearning. Alive. As with Lisa Taddeo’s previous offerings Ghost Lover explores the complexities of womanhood in all its messy glory. I enjoyed this collection of 9 short stories and remain in awe of Taddeo’s distinctive knack for characterization.
Can’t Look Away by Carola Lovering
A domestic drama with a thriller-y twist. Can’t Look Away alternates between present day and a decade previous exploring past relationships, old wounds, buried secrets, and toxic love that threatens to upend everything.
I’ve enjoyed author Carola Lovering in the past, but found this book to be readable but overall bland.
Vacationland By Meg Mitchell Moore
A multi-generational family saga with drama, love, both old and new, and a hint of mystery set in a well loved coastal cottage in a small town in Maine populated by well drawn characters. Members of each generation are facing their own challenges and the shifting point of view really keeps the pages turning.
Pitch perfect summer reading which begs to be read on a beach somewhere.
Out of all of these books Vacationland was actually my favorite! Definitely one to add to your summer reading stack!
Thanks to Netgalley, Avid Reader Press, St. Martin’s Press, and William Morrow Books for the advanced review copies.
Nora, a formulaic Hallmark-esque movie writer, takes her story to the big screen after her good-for-nothing husband abandons her and their two school-aged children.
Filming brings Hollywood heartthrob Leo to her doorstep and rather than leaving with the crew after shooting wraps Leo asks to stay the week at her picturesque historic home, offering $1000 per day in rent. Nora needs the money so agrees. They strike up a romance that winds up in jeopardy due to miscommunication.
Nora Goes Off Script is an easy breezy, plot forward romance meant to be enjoyed quickly at fewer than 300 pages. I’ve seen it compared to Evvie Drake Starts Over which I can see, there’s also a whiff of The Bridges of Madison County about it, which is actually mentioned in the book. You’ll definitely want to pick up Nora if you enjoyed Funny You Should Ask.
Prime summer reading as long as you’re willing to just roll with the story, that is yes, pretty outlandish, but entertaining nonetheless – much like those romance movies Nora herself pens!
Thanks to Netgalley and Putnam Books for an advanced reading copy.
An old woman, a young man, and an aging octopus walk into an aquarium… stop me if you’ve heard this one!
Tova is a 70-year-old widow who also mysteriously and tragically lost her 18-year-old son decades ago when his boat vanished. Alone and aging her circle is growing smaller and smaller as those close to her continue to die or relocate. She spends her nights cleaning an aquarium where Marcellus, an also aging, giant Pacific octopus resides when he’s not trying to break free of his enclosure. Into the picture enters listless Cameron who was raised by his aunt and spent his whole life wondering why his parents didn’t want him. He’s in town trying to track down his father with little evidence to go on.
You know that saying, never judge a book by its cover? Well, I totally did in this case and it very much worked in my favor. That gorgeously bright cover just begged me to crack it open and I’m glad I did.
Remarkably Bright Creatures is an incredibly charming story. Marcellus the octopus is beyond endearing and his character totally works. Marcellus is a sentient being who narrates parts of the story, but he never directly speaks with the humans or anything like that. The story arc is engaging and satisfying, there’s mystery, love, friendship, and second chances; really, this is just the heartwarming story we all need right now.
Lola is in her late 30s and poised to marry her current boyfriend when she begins running into her exes in the streets of New York like she’s some sort of modern day Ebenezer Scrooge. Eventually she finds out her old boss, now the leader of a cult-like, New Agey startup is behind these encounters of exes past, which force her to confront her past relationships while contemplating her current one.
Funny and acerbic and very NYC, Cult Classic is easy, entertaining reading exploring Millennial relationships even if I didn’t fully connect with it in quite the way I’d hoped.
Thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux for the advanced reading copy.
That Bookish Life 