She remembered her mother’s words: to always rise above. Because her family was rare. Wealthy. Beautiful. Black.
–The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis is a charming YA romance following four women in the early 1900s Chicago: Olivia, the eldest Davenport daughter; Helena, the youngest Davenport daughter; Ruby, Olivia’s best friend; and Amy-Rose–the maid. All four of these women have dreams, ambitions, and a swoony love story unfolding in this historical fiction novel.
Hear more of my thoughts below by listening to the latest episode:
It is rage, expanding so fast and so hot that it fuels itself beneath your skin. Grief so deep you are only an open wound, only pain. Pain so fresh that the world itself feels like it should be burning.
–Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
My most anticipated release of 2022 is finally here, and I couldn’t be more excited to share my thoughts! Today’s episode is chokeful of spoilers, so if you haven’t read both of these books (and you care about spoilers), then I would wait to listen to this one! The Legendborn Cycle is definitely shaping up to be one of my favorite fantasy series, for sure…
“Love wasn’t possible without a self, and nor was thinking.”
–Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan was a challenging read for one– not in the sense of it having difficult prose, but in the sense that it was frustrating. It follows the story of Charlie, Miranda, and a robot named Adam as they uncover Miranda’s secrets and become entangled in a pseudo-love triangle.
I hope if you listen to this episode, you understand that I was *not* looking for romance or a love story, but I was looking for an exploration of humanity through the subject of love, jealousy and intimacy in which a love triangle could have been a conduit for this conversation. At any rate, let me know what your thoughts are about this novel in the comments below!
“Consumers are fickle—they crave something new, but not that kind of new. They want to be challenged but comforted at the same time. They desire fresh takes, but only in a form that’s familiar to them. That’s to say, audiences will accept something different as long as it feels the same.”
Elissa sussman, Funny You should ask
Towards the beginning of August, I found myself once again in the throes of contemporary romance, but I have to admit—I was excited to be there. Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman was a highly anticipated novel for me, one I was sure I would love because of the stellar reviews and the intriguing plot. And much like the above quote, and like my expectations for a lot of romance novels, I thought I was getting a story that felt familiar yet new.
This novel follows a writer/journalist named Chani Horowitz, who, by some stroke of luck, is given an assignment to interview an up-and-coming, insanely attractive actor named Gabe Parker. Gabe has just been cast as James Bond, and the world is abuzz with how this American HIMBO could be cast as the stylish, sophisticated, and very British spy. Chani spends three days with Gabe, and from their unconventional time together, she is able to produce an article that not only helps to sell Gabe as Bond, but also puts the question in everyone’s mind–did more happen between the two of them than either of them are letting on? Ten years later, however, Chani and Gabe are thrust back together to recreate the magic of that first interview and to breathe life back into Gabe’s career after a series of public blunders and a few stints in rehab. With Gabe now sober, and Chani now divorced, the two reconnect to face each other and the spark they’ve been running from for a decade.
Funny You Should Ask is a book for those who love the mythos behind celebrity and all things celebrity culture, those who wish they could peek behind the curtain, if you will. In the end, this book didn’t work for me completely, but I still recommend it for a fast, entertaining read. If you want to hear more of my thoughts on this novel, give the latest episode a listen:
“For more than half a decade he’d thought of her every day, and here she was. Ian drank her in. He found her lovely. He found her obscene. He found her. “Here you are,” he said aloud, and smiled.”
–The Huntress by Kate Quinn
The Huntress by Kate Quinn is a force of a historical fiction novel, offering a triple POV, triple timeline story of a Huntress being hunted. Oftentimes, the story is brutal, with an incorporation of real life historical influences that make you cower, and at other times, the story is relatable, funny, and heartwarming. In typical Kate Quinn fashion, this novel is immersive, accessible, and romantic—a perfect read for someone in the mood for a historical and mysterious tale.
When I watch you sleep,” he said shakily, “I feel overwhelmed that you exist.”
–Beach Read by Emily Henry
I didn’t know regular life could feel like this, like a vacation you don’t have to go home from.”
–People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Somehow, it never occurred to me that this was an option: that two people, in the same hug, could both be allowed to fall apart. That maybe it’s neither of our jobs to keep a steel spine.”
–Book Lovers By Emily Henry
For the past two weeks, I’ve been reading summer romcoms.
I had this big idea to start a new series on the podcast called Battle Royale, where I pit 3 books against each other in an attempt to see which one I like the best (ultimately, which one I give the highest star rating to). While I have seen all three of these books, Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, and the recently released Book Lovers many times at the store, I just hadn’t picked them up. Until now, of course. And so, I must say, the last two weeks have been fun. It was nice immersing myself in the world of one author and seeing the world through the characters they create, through the plots they have constructed around them.
While most of the time I see these books under the banner of SUMMER READ, I have to say these books aren’t without a certain amount of reflection, emotion, and dare I say it–drama. I grew emotional and misty-eyed through all three. Some heavy topics are hit and explored. These are adult books, but there was something nostalgic about reading them. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t until I was halfway through Book Lovers that I realized what it was. When I was a teenager, I loved Sarah Dessen novels. I remember picking up my first one, That Summer, probably around 2003 or 2004, when I was around thirteen years old, thinking (for some reason) that it was purely a teen summer romance, which I was apt to read. What I got, and what I continued to get from Sarah Dessen, were these sweet romances paired with strong female characters learning, stretching, growing. Coming of age, if you will. And I realized that Emily Henry’s novels have the same feeling; they feel like the “coming-of-age” of adult women, of women in their late 20s and 30s who don’t quite have it together, and haven’t exactly grown into the person or into the lives they want for themselves. Or maybe they have, like Poppy in People We Meet on Vacation, but now they want something different. Familial relationships are important in Emily Henry’s novels, and they are explored, a theme I would run into quite a bit in Sarah Dessen’s novels. And so, now at 32 years old, it felt nice. Like a warm hug, a soft hello in a different form–novels that explored some of those themes from my teenage-hood in an adult way. In a way that once again applies to me.
I haven’t read a Sarah Dessen novel in years. Anyone can read YA, but I know a contemporary YA novel in 2022 *may* not affect or impact me the way it would have in 2005. And that’s okay. I’m aware that the feeling I got at 15 or 16, of connection, of being seen, of being on summer vacation away from school and sitting in my childhood bedroom with the sun spilling through my windows–it won’t ever be like that again. I can enjoy a YA book, love it to pieces, but I know that feeling–it can’t come back. But I can get new feelings. Similar feelings. I’m happy Emily Henry is writing to fill a void I didn’t even know was there.
“A clean home, a clean body, and clean company. Do you know where that leads?”
I could not have been more than five years old when she taught me this. I looked way up at her as she spoke. “Where does it lead, Gran?”
“To a clean conscience. To a good, clean life.”
–The Maid by Nita Prose
Who do you have around you?
Sometimes company is chosen, and sometimes it’s thrust upon us based on circumstances we have little control over. The people who live next door, the coworkers you work closely with (but perhaps you maybe wouldn’t have hired), the new friends and the old, and of course, family. Whoever they are, the people we interact with can have a meaningful impact on our lives, whether we choose them or not.
In The Maid by Nita Prose, a heartwarming story about an unconventional maid at an upscale hotel, Molly Gray finds herself embroiled in a murder mystery that changes her life. At the beginning of the novel, Molly is, for lack of a better word, struggling. Her grandma, who was not only her parent-figure but also her best friend, has recently died. She is in deep financial trouble. She feels misunderstood at work, lost in a world that her Gran used to help her make sense of.
For a long time, Molly’s primary company was Gran. Molly’s parents unfortunately were not in a position to raise her, and Gran, for all intents and purposes, was not necessarily the person that Molly chose. But throughout the book, we can see that Gran was the best company for her; she was loving, patient, and understanding, and even after Gran’s death, we consistently see Molly ponder upon the lessons Gran instilled within her. Even after death, Gran is still keeping Molly company.
Constrastly, the company Molly has chosen is Rodney, a slick, attractive bartender at the Regency Grand Hotel. Molly struggles to see the disingenuous nature of Rodney: his criminality, his lies, and his deceit. She makes attempts to be around him, in the hopes that they may enter into a romantic relationship. But her attempts to win his approval and to be in his orbit inevitably threaten her safety and land her in sticky situations.
The Maid has a happy conclusion of course, and in the end, Molly prevails and finds herself surrounded by the best company–such as Mr. Preston and his daughter, Charlotte–people who choose her unexpectedly. But I couldn’t help but think about the quote at the beginning of this post during and after reading The Maid. Sometimes we want certain people in our lives for shallow reasons. We try to enter into friend groups because we want to seem cool, or have proximity to power, or we try to desperately win the romantic attentions of someone because they are beautiful or talented or well-liked. Throughout life, we have moments where we are striving to belong somewhere. Sometimes it can feel like we’re knocking on doors that no one wants to answer. But I agree with Gran–clean company is integral to our lives. And sometimes it takes a while to find it, or sometimes it finds you, like in The Maid. Molly doesn’t seek help; the help comes to her.
Ultimately, being around good people, people who have pure intentions and good hearts who show up for you in unexpected ways is a gift. Like Gran said, good, clean company can be the best thing for us. Life will always have plenty of messes, but it sure helps when we have great people to help us clean them up.
An autobiography encouraging the reader to like the author is not a true autobiography. No one is likable from the inside out. One should only walk away from an autobiography with, at best, an uncomfortable distaste for its author.
–“Verity” by Colleen Hoover
When it comes to picking a genre to read from, thrillers aren’t exactly high on my list. Most of the (very few) thriller novels I’ve read in the past were “just okay,” never more than 3 stars, which only further solidified my opinion that it’s just not the genre for me. But people love them! Every time I happen to run into a reader in the wild and I ask them what genres do they primarily read from, “thrillers and suspense novels” are a constant response. So what is it about this genre that seems to have everyone so enthralled? And what is it about them, or the few I’ve read, that don’t work for me?
That’s what I intend to find out this year, and Verity by Colleen Hoover was a good place to start. This novel gripped me from the very first line; it is a fast-paced story with unlikeable characters that make you reel in disgust, jump in surprise, and stare out into the abyss trying to digest what just happened. This is the first thriller novel I’ve read that I can say I unabashedly enjoyed. There is something quite atmospheric about this story; it’s eerie and twisty–but the twists make sense when looking at the story in its totality.
Could it be that it’s just Colleen Hoover’s magical pen that allowed me to *finally* appreciate a suspense novel? Maybe. We know Colleen has an unique ability to write a story that’s just compulsively readable. (Has anyone ever DNF’ed a Colleen Hoover book? Is that even possible?) But we’ll see. For right now, I think I can say that I will be looking for thrillers that are atmospheric, character-focused, and take place for the most part in a single location (like a house, a small town, or even an island!) Verity has all of these things, and part of my enjoyment of this book were these elements.
Do you have a favorite thriller novel? I’m open to any and all recommendations!
She Happily Reads 