Reading Lately: December 2021

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls disappeared from her small Louisiana town and she was the crucial witness that convicted her father as a serial killer. As her wedding approaches, Chloe fears the past is repeating when teen girls start vanishing. Is she imagining the parallels to her past or is the past truly coming back to haunt her?

A Flicker in the Dark is a great psychological thriller to kick off the new year. Chloe serves as an excellent unreliable narrator, perfectly toeing the line on believability. Are the meds and anxiety and trauma causing her to read too much into coincidences or is everything connected? Willingham times the revelations to heighten the tension, leaving you with plenty of twists and turns to give you a fast-paced read.

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Publication Date: 11 January 2022
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One of my most-anticipated March 2022 book releases is a novel about grieving and understanding a parent. When her mother dies just before their planned mother-daughter trip to Italy, Katy decides to still spend the summer exploring the Amalfi coast as she grieves. Magically, Katy meets a younger version of her mother, giving Katy a whole new perspective on her mother as a person.

I really wanted to like One Italian Summer because I adored the complex themes of Serle’s last novel, In Five Years. Yet, I really disliked the protagonist – who was overly reliant on her mother and was way too ambivalent to her husband. The mechanics of the time travel situation were not well thought out, which was also annoying. One positive thing: I loved the descriptions of Positano so much that I started learning Italian on Duolingo with intentions of visiting the Amalfi Coast as soon as possible.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Publication Date: 1 March 2022
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Anxious by nature, Mary Laura Philpott has always prepared for the worst yet still managed to look at the bright side of life. Then, when her teenage son has a middle-of-the-night seizure and is diagnosed with epilepsy, Philpott’s sunny disposition turned dark: If this happened, what else could happen?

Philpott’s memoir in essays is a balancing act of anxiety and optimism, showing both the dark and the light sides of life. Philpott is an excellent writer, relatable in both her humor and her worries. Having read I Miss You When I Blink made this memoir even more poignant to me. Yet, although I enjoyed Bomb Shelter, I didn’t gain any great insights or feel like the book had any grand message to impart.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Atria Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Publication Date: 12 April 2022
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During the Gilded Age, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan lives in the margins as one of the few Chinese people in Atlanta, Georgia. Forced to accept a job as a lady’s maid, Jo secretly writes a newspaper advice column for Southern women. When Jo uses her anonymity to challenge the Southern view on race and gender, the backlash threatens to expose her and places her in the path of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal.

Stacey Lee’s young adult historical fiction novel is the perfect light read that sprinkles cute teenage romance with a little-known historical setting. Since Jo is neither white nor black, she gives a unique viewpoint to the South as the Reconstruction is ending and the Jim Crow Era is beginning. The Downstairs Girl does a great job hitting on major themes such as racism and sexism but keeps the story light and enjoyable for teens and adults.

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Publication Date: 2 March 2021
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In 1994, high school dropout April sets out on a journey to find herself a better life after fighting with her dad in their broken-down motorhome. April ends up in Ithaca, New York, and finds herself drawn to the people at the local coffee shop. Yet, as April begins to feel at home, she worries she will only end up hurting the people to whom she becomes close.

A coming-of-age story that speaks on the importance of found family, The People We Keep never really captured me. I struggled to like April, a lost soul who veered from completely independent and guarded to instantly clinging to much older men. The age gaps in the romances were alarming, and the story overall felt overdone and pointless.

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Publication Date: 3 August 2021
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From the author of Snow Falling on Cedars comes a new legal drama about privilege, power, and family. A conservative Christan couple, Delvin and Betsey Harvey, are charged with murder when their adoptive Ethiopian daughter dies just feet from the back door of their home. In the final days of his storied career, a Seattle criminal attorney agrees to take the case with the help of his son.

From the premise, The Final Case sounds like it will be an interesting legal story, but it isn’t. The book starts and ends with the mindless laments of an aging writer. The middle section describes the trial, a legal case that is transparent from start to finish because everyone and his brother knows this couple is guilty of child abuse. The entire book was pointless and I highly suggest skipping it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Knopf. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Publication Date: 11 January 2022
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Struggling to find perfect equality in their marriage, Nate and Kaley Klemp eventually realized that instead of going 50/50, they should attempt to be “all in.” In their marriage model, the Klemps suggest each partner give 80%, proposing that radical generosity will transform your marriage partnership.

I love that The 80/80 Marriage points out that 50/50 is a myth. Marriages are too complex for couples to ever be able to attain perfect equality. Fairness on the other hand is another matter, and a 45/55 split or even a 40/60 split can be fair depending on the circumstances. However, I would assume most people in these types of marriages already know that equality and fairness are two separate things and don’t need this book.

On the other hand, for couples in severely off-balanced relationships, The 80/80 Marriage points out the flaws in their marriage without giving enough tools to help shift the balance. Maybe some under-performing spouses will be willing to take advice from a self-help book at the prompting of an over-performing spouse, but many likely will not. Which obviously limits the usefulness of the book.

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Publication Date: 9 February 2021
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In the sleepy town of New Bremen, Minnesota, death will forever shape one young man. In 1961, Frank Drum is having a typical teenage summer with his family: his minister father, his doubting mother, his talented older sister, and his quiet younger brother who stutters. When deaths start accumulating by accident, nature, suicide, and murder, Frank’s ordinary life is rocked by the secrets and motives of an adult world he doesn’t fully understand. A stunning addition to any reading list, Ordinary Grace was exactly what you want from coming-of-age historical fiction.

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Publication Date: 26 March 2013
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Casey Cep looks at a fascinating true crime story from the 1970s, where Reverend Willie Maxwell was accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money, a case that Harper Lee spent years investigating in hopes to turn into a book. Although the state tried to prosecute him, Maxwell was acquitted with the help of his savvy lawyer Tom Radney. Then, at the funeral of Maxwell’s niece whom he is assumed to have killed, a man shot Maxwell in cold blood and is acquitted of that murder with the help of the same Tom Radney. 

I’m not generally one for true crime, but Furious Hours sucked me in with the enthralling case of Willie Maxwell. As the body count keeps climbing, the twists and turns and frustrations of police had me hooked. The book is split into thirds, discussing Willie Maxwell and the suspicious family deaths, the trial of Maxwell’s murderer, and then Harper Lee and her investigation. Furious Hours is written more for true crime fans than Harper Lee fans. The first two parts were fast-paced and intriguing, but Harper Lee’s addition, while an interesting and informative connection, slowed the book considerably.

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Publication Date: 7 Mary 2019
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For months, New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey were in confidential talks with top actresses and employees digging into long-buried allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by Harvey Weinstein. However, neither woman was prepared for the sheer momentum of the #MeToo movement that followed the publication of their expose.

Following the Harvey Weinstein investigation from start to publication, She Said is a brilliant look at how investigative journalism works. The details of Harvey Weinstein’s crimes are horrifying, but the insights into journalism are fascinating.

The first two-thirds of the book is five-star material, yet the book, unfortunately, loses its steam in the concluding chapters. Attempting to sum up the effects of the #MeToo movement, Kantor and Towhey detail the allegations against Justice Bret Cavanaugh, which doesn’t have the same feel since they were not personally involved in the reporting. Still, overall She Said is a terrific and insightful read.

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Publication Date: 10 September 2019
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In an idyllic college town, a beloved high school teacher goes missing. It’s the third unexplained disappearance in three years and police are scrambling to figure out where he went. The whole town is in an uproar about his disappearance … everyone except his wife. She knows he’s dead because she killed him. She just doesn’t know where the body went. This twisted domestic thriller is a quick and extra-creepy read featuring a tough-as-nails heroine who you can’t help root for and a premise that hooks you from the start.

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Publication Date: 29 December 2020
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Who is John Galt? Ayn Rand’s modern classic tells the (extremely long) tale of Dagny Taggart, an heir to the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad who will do anything she can to keep her family’s railroad running. As Dagny and fellow industrialist Henry Reardon struggle to stay afloat amid public outcry against greed, industry, and productivity, Rand uses her story to explain her philosophy of Objectivism.

Atlas Shrugged is long. Like extremely long. Every one of the 1,000+ pages takes twice as long to read as a normal book because the material is so dense. It’s also a hard book to review. I found the basic story of Dagny’s fight for her railroad to be utterly compelling. Despite Rand’s long philosophical passages, I still enjoyed the first half of the book. I liked that Atlas Shrugged made you think about economics and politics.

Yet, over time, the book just wears you down. Rand does not seem to understand nuance – in characters or in her philosophy. Everything is black and white and taken to the extreme. Which means it all breaks down in reality. Her libertarian utopia is so flawed it’s laughable and her views on gender and sex are pretty bizarre. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t plan to ever read it again.

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Publication Date: 10 October 1957
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In this children’s classic, a house painter finds his slow winter season disrupted when an Antarctic explorer mails him a penguin. Suddenly the Popper family’s life is thrown upside down by their furry friend. When they procure him a wife, they are inundated with a whole family of penguins which they teach to perform on stage. As an adult, I found many elements of the story mind-boggling, but with an audiobook under 2 hours, Mr. Popper’s Penguins was the perfect little story to entertain my children on a short road trip.

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Publication Date: 1938
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Laura Vanderkam (author of 168 Hours) is the queen of productivity, and I’m pretty sure I’ve read all of her books. While I love her full-length books, her short audiobook guides are so misleading that I always feel cheated. Basically, this “book” is a podcast episode about productivity on the weekend. Except, even worse than her podcasts, this particular story can be summed up in one sentence: Spend a little time and plan out your weekend activities in advance. Literally, that is all she says in her hour-long audiobook. So skip this and pick up her real books (or listen to her podcast) instead.

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Publication Date: 1 December 2012
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