Janine_S

An Indigenous-Chicana reimagining of the legend of the headless woman and Cõãtl?cue from Aztec folklore blending with elements of an unsolved true crime, the West Mesa Murders, horror and magical realism.

A serial killer, the “Reaper,” terrorized Albuquerque years ago. Twenty years ago girls and women vanished in the Albuquerque nights. Now beneath the dormant volcanos called the sleeping sisters, the killings have begun again. When a new murder happens with the same MO as the Reaper, Detective Jeanette Palacio seeks justice for her cousins. Fortuna Miércoles brings her own demons to the story. Having won the lottery and being able to move her family to a nice house and neighborhood, Fortuna is blindsided by the return of the Reaper especially when a headless body appears on her lawn. These two pursue the Reaper seeking vengeance.

Cõ?tl?cue is a mother figure in Aztec lore who embodies life, death and rebirth. She’s portrayed as a “fearsome, devouring force, wearing a skirt of interwoven serpents, a necklace of severed human hands, hearts and clawed feet.” The book weaves this folklore into the story as it looks at motherhood from the perspective of matrescence - an anthropological term coined in 1970 meaning “the profound physical, psychological, and emotional transition of becoming a mother.” Who is our mother? Fortuna’s character looks at motherhood as something visceral and horrifying. This is the dark core of the book.

When the Realer’s identity is revealed be prepared for a surprise - if you haven’t already figured it out. Atmospheric and dreamlike, the plot is paced well and gives twists and turns that keep the pages tuning. The horror is manageable due to the magical realism elements of the book. This is my first book by this author; I have her previous book, Salt Bones, which has moved up in my TBR list.

My thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for granting me access to this ARC.

A searing and poignant memoir written in verse with letters to women who suffered at the hands of the patriarchy or contributed to the telling of a “tale as old as time” and offering a paean to women’s resilience.

First, I am no fan of poetry. I didn’t read the blurb on this book very well or I would not have requested it, but like all things serendipitous, this turned out to an extraordinarily fascinating read (my thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for granting me access to this ARC).

“Rape culture tells us rape is a stranger in an alley with a knife or a gun”. This is a line from this memoir, but the theme of abuse begins earlier with the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, a young female artist in 17th C Italy, sent by her father to study under an artist only to be abused by him - and the father knew this could happen, who then tried to prosecute her abuser only to not be believed. In the author’s case, her minister father was woefully absent, leaving his daughter vulnerable to a predator on his staff. Later when her truth comes out , belief in her story is suspect especially from her father who after writing a book received much praise. The author writes “Lauded men of the cloth will always have a louder voice than mine.” The abuser goes on to serve as a youth pastor in other churches.

The author’s story of abuse is told during her high school and college years with Part III of the book focusing on her adult years and dealing with the damaging effects of the predator and recreating her sense of self. Having never experienced what the author has, I was so saddened by her tale. Predators are narcissistic controlling slime. In this age of the Epstein Files where people still believe the abuser over the abused, we see the damaging effects of patriarchy and misogyny.

I was surprised by how easy it was to read this book, verse and all. I especially enjoyed the letters. The first was my favorite about Eufame MacAlyane (1558-1591), a noblewoman who so angered King James VI for requesting pain relief in child birth that he had her burnt alive because that erstwhile misogynist believed that asking for pain relief “violated God’s commandment that women suffer in childbirth.” The Joan of Arc letter is the last letter where the author notes Joan is the most famous woman ever to get burnt at the stake who everyone knew was not a witch - patriarchy always wins! But as the author states “we know what happened but we just don’t care.” Finally, I learned the book cover is from a 1620 painting by Gentileschi depicting a scene from the Book of Judges where a woman drives a stake through the head of an evil Canaanite commander - what delightful snark! And the best way to sum up this book.

This book is filled with pain, anger, searing criticism and hope. The author’s resilience shines through.

I gave this book five stars because in spite of it being written primarily in poem form, I was not put off and could read and enjoy, for its gripping and searing topic and indictment of the patriarchy, and for the cleverness of writing a memoir in poem form. I found I enjoyed this book.

A coming-of-age novel of a young Indian student exploring an alternative path during COVID.

Rishi has been raised by immigrants in Okeechobee, Florida - a small pond filled with large racists alligators and is excited to be on her way to Stanford, moving cross country in 2019 “for the main purpose of reading books and kissing girls.” Shortly after her arrival she has her first experience with a woman and fully embraces her queerness. Becoming fast friends with her roommate she’s eager for her trip to Russia to study when COVID shuts everything down. Now back at home she’s depressed and wondering if college is right for her. Instead of returning to school she joins a BIPOC farming collective with some of her college friends where she discovers that are never what they seem to be.

COVID really made a dramatic shift in our world. Separated from others we all had to consider what this meant to us - individually and collectively. In this novel we are shown how devastating this could be to a young person on the cusp of adulthood. Eager to test the waters of a new world, having the biggest life adventure taken away surely would bring to the fore questions of relevance, purpose and even having a future. I definitely think that would be a traumatic thing for a GenZ-er. I appreciated how this topic was explored in a humorous and deft way.

This is a book for lovers of contemporary fiction exploring friendships, love, and the impact of “unprecedented times” on one’s future.

My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for allowing me access to this ARC.

Gripping psychological thriller set in New Zealand with a mysterious child who looks exactly like another girl also from the bush but who vanished twenty years ago.

The book opens with a shocker - one of many in this captivating book. A young girl wearing a bloodied dress and looking exhausted enters a grocery store in a remote New Zealand village, Kohara. She looks exactly like Effie who vanished sometime back. We meet Effie in the next chapter, on a mountain on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, with a friend, hoping to be rescued by a member of her emergency rescue team. When Effie reaches safety she has call waiting from an old friend, Lewis, asking her to come home and help him with the girl, Anya. This begins an extraordinary crime story set in the bush where Effie is searching for both Anya’s home and family as well as her own.

The book alternates in time with Effie as the primary narrator. We go back to 2001, the day her mother died and her youngest brother was born and experience the cruelty and hardship of her life and those of her brother, Aiden, sister, Tia, and baby who’s named Four by Tia. The events in 2025 concern trying to figure out who Anya’s parents are and where she lives - as well explaining a few dead bodies along the way. But Anya is silent for fear of breaking the rules - but whose? In these alternating chapters the background of the characters are revealed and bring the novel to a surprising but immensely satisfying ending - though there is a hint some business may be unfinished.

Effie is a stubborn woman but as you read her story it becomes clear why she is this way. The story of people who eschew civilization and live in such primitive conditions always amazes me - while I’ve been fond of saying “first class or no class” I can’t afford first class but I definitely could not live among the possums and koalas. But this hardy life does build a resilience you see in Effie. I liked too the renewal of a romance between her and Lewis - I thought if anyone needed love it was Effie.

I also liked this book because it brings alive the bush country giving you shades of Jane Harper who maximizes the environment in her novels set in Australia. The bush as in Harper’s books is almost a character because most of the story takes place there and it adds a sinister aura to events.

I gave this book five stars because I became so involved in the storytelling I stayed up past my bedtime - I simply had to know the ending; for the clever structure and pacing of the storytelling that wove the story together so well that every twist and turn was such an enjoyable“aha”; and for the enjoyment I derived throughout my read.

PS: My thanks to BookBrowse and Random House for granting me access to the paperback edition of the novel so I can participate in BB Book Discussion.

A mesmerizing true crime account of a serial con man who sent an innocent man to death row.

The villain in this book is one of the most “prolific and most effective jailhouse informant in American history.” Paul Skalnik repeatedly testified at trial after trial giving supposed confessions he heard while locked up. According to Skalnik he put 34 men in prison and four on death row. When but not in prison he married nine times - sometimes when married to someone else. He bilked his wives and others out of money, cars, real estate, and jewelry, all the while representing himself as a Marine veteran, ace flier, wealthy lawyer, University of Texas football star among other guises he assumed. But most heinous of all, he was a pedophile.

In the 1980s, Skalnik ever in trouble with law and always looking for “deal” offered a confession from a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, Jim Daley, who was being prosecuted for participating in the murder of a teenager along with another man, Jack Peary. At that time the police and prosecution believed two men perpetrated the murder. Daley kept professing his innocence but due to shoddy investigation, reliance on a dodgy jailhouse snitch, poor representation by the defense, and the feverish conviction at the time to be tough on crime, Daley was convicted and sentenced to death - while the true killer got life.

The story weaves a history of how some Florida state sources worked to get Daley a new trial but often were stymied by budget cuts and having to drop Dakey’s case. it was frankly disheartening to listen to this poor man’s plight and how Skalkin and Peary both contributed to keeping Daley on death row - where he still remains - because neither was willing to tell the truth for one reason or the other. And then as been established in several other true crime books I read or listened to, the desire to win overrides the truth - taking the word of a man whose statements are usually never vetted cries out for justice. Also then there is the belief all cons are guilty and once convicted by jury proves this - even though recent overturned cases disabuses this idea. Finally states that execute people are usually driven by the belief that being tough on crime will prevent more crime.

We live in times where lying is honored over truth. This book helps dispel this. I don’t think I’ve ever come so close to tears as this book went on. My anger at how selfishness was more important than a human life probably raised my blood pressure quite a bit. But then I was reminded that the megalomaniac that does this every day - golfs while troops die, cuts aid to organizations that help humanity. I got my tissues out at this point.

I gave this book five stars for the topic is the covered so convincingly, for its detail and depth into went into in telling this story and for its excellent narration. I really enjoyed this audiobook.

Unreliable narrator twisty thriller as one woman engages in her personal investigation into the disappearance of her husbands’s first wife.

This book starts out with a bang leaving you simply having to know how the book ends - and what an ending. Liv Constantine has given us another exciting romp-of-thriller.

Savannah Brooks is making an awesome career in publishing. Now working at a high level as an assistant to one of the best editors in publishing, she’s blown away when she meets Bennett Bryson, best selling author. It’s instant for him too and before she knows it she’s married him and has been whisked away to his remote home. Once there Savanah realizes Bennett isn’t who she thought he was and secrets about his first wife, Poppy’s death emerge. And there are the other missing women. Who are they and why does everything point at Bennett?

The story is told from the POVs of Savannah, Poppy and Bennett, with unreliable narrator plot twists. The warnings to Savannah about Bennett are tingling with mystery. The ending was satisfying too. While there are some flaws to the book - namely I felt the book tried too hard - it’s still an enjoyable read.

Lovers of Liz Constantine will enjoy this one!

My thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for granting me access to this ARC.

Captivatingly detailed and incredibly readable history of Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) searching for the Northwest Passage and meeting his fate in Hawaii.

Cook was a celebrity in England for his two previous voyagers. He had written books about his previous two voyages that spurred interest in his exploration of the world. The book starts with background into the previous two voyages where he circumnavigated the world going down to the Antarctic. The third voyage was to again to explore Oceania but go up to the Arctic to find the Northwest Passage.

The journey is meticulously rendered with details of each stop and discovery, the people and customs, the ship repairs and the tedious and awful conditions of living on a wooden ship that leaked. One interesting fact though was that on none of Cook’s voyages did his men contract scurvy. While not knowing what could be done to prevent it, Cook always ensured that his ship had provisions of fruit and vegetables from each of its stops.

Cook and William Bligh (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame), his second in command, were on the Cook’s trusted flagship, Resolution, accompanied by a smaller ship, Discovery, commended by Charles Clerke. Approximately 180 men journeyed for four years on Cook’s last voyage. His discovery of the Hawaiian islands is fateful but in all voyages Cook maintained a respectable view of native customs.

The age of colonialism is highlighted in Cook’s purpose for his voyages. Expansion of European kingdoms for the purposes of adding wealth to them was always are fore Britain, France and Spain. The irony of this voyage is that it starts in July 1776 when the American colonies were announcing their independence and ends in 1780 when Britain was losing the war.

I will leave what happened to Cook alone in this review. You have to read the book to find out. But the Prologue is a hint of what is to come.

I gave this book five stars for its easy readability - many history books can be dry and tedious; not this one; for it’s topic - I professed I knew nothing specific about Cook except his discoveries so I was greatly enlightened; and for the pleasure I derived from reading it.

Highly recommend!

Haunting story about a young girl going to Syria, following her boyfriend, and believing in a caliphate that would restore Muslims to the peace and joy offered in the Koran.

Maggie has been drawn to Islam when she was eleven and had visited a mosque. Leaving Maine to go to live in NewYork she meets Ahmet when she takes a job at his father’s bakery. The two bond over their faith and the political situation in Syria which the west seemed to be ignoring. When Ahmet joins ISIS Maggie vows to follow him believing she will be going to a utopia. Maggie’s mother is devastated since this is soon after Maggie’s father, Josh’s death. Maggie soon comes to realize she nativity has lead her to hell.

I was mesmerized in listening to this book. Maggie is definitely naive and incredibly wedded to whatever Ahmet’s beliefs are - when you’re in love this happens - but he too becomes disillusioned - though too late for them both. It’s a coming-of-age story when idealism sweeps you away and you want to build a better world - I felt this way in 1968 listening to Bobby Kennedy, making my mind up to campaign for him until his untimely and tragic assassination.

The book alternatives in time between 2012 before Maggie leaves and 2014 when she’s in Syria. The author paints a horrific picture of these ISIS fighters - when power corrupts it corrupts absolutely - and their disrespectful and dehumanizing behavior toward women. Maggie’s new world is not what she believed the Koran taught. In this the author has created an intensively emotional world where the personal is the political - it can’t be separated.

I gave this book five stars for its arresting topic - what makes someone choose to become political such that you are willing to sacrifice your personal life, for its haunting and emotional handling of a flawed decision that tore apart families, and for its honesty in the telling.

An historical novel - faux memoir - that follows a 12 year old Korean-American boy, Jeon-Gi, growing up in a town north of NYC in the 1970s and which falls into the Bildungsroman (coming-of-age) genre.

Jeon-Gi must navigate cliques, street fights, his mother’s expectations and learn what it means to be Korean and American. He’s torn between competing ideas of himself at home and with his peers. At home he’s doted in, outside he’s bullied and ridiculed. His parents send him to a Korean summer camp. There he experiences a series of firsts: a first crush, first serious friendships, a first glimpse of mating, and the first taste of independence. With these firsts come botched attempts as might be expected, but these are not presented as humorous, rather with a deep “emotional fragility,”. Then Jeon-Gi does something that “he had no thought” of that results in his expulsion from the camp.

This is a grim story. It focuses heavily on how Jeon-Gi is treated by others - prepare yourself for some awfulness. Jeon-Gi becomes convinced he’s just someone to whom bad things happen. With this gruesome thought hovering over him, Jeon-Gi’s character shows how such thinking can impact a life.

This is a character-driven novel. It’s a study of what can happen becoming Americanized when you are an immigrant - in our current white supremacist world, the expectation is the immigrant must preserve that world; other cultural norms aren’t white enough. Jeon-Gi is treated terribly by our white world.

My thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for granting me access to this ARC.

A family saga about a purported family curse that leads a young woman to discover the secrets of her family’s past.

Rhea inherits an estate when she turns eighteen, discovering that her mother was famous singer, Lulubelle “Belle” Powers. Eager to know more about her mother she travels to Nashville to pursue her life in her mother’s footsteps. She learns that her mother believed the women in their family were cursed to die young, at age thirty-three. Investigating further she discovers an unpublished album, Night Songs, which Rhea think may unlock the mystery if that curse.

The book alternates between Rhea’s journey and Belle’s rise to country stardom. Rhea keeps trying to elude her fate but all her actions impact it. She’s an interesting character. But the book is filled with so many interpretations of events, reliability as to what is the truth is called into question.

This book is erect for readers who like unreliable narrators.

My thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for granting me access to this ARC.

A quasi-psychological thriller about an American woman adrift in Mexico for a year who meets an interesting and glamorous older woman as their relationship spins into obsession and betrayal.

Sally has come to San Miguel de Allende with her husband, Tom, an architect in charge of completing a project there, and their two children, Ida and Henry. Sally loves her new home and she’s eager to immerse herself into the culture and daily life when she meets Louise, an older woman whose vibes entrance Sally. As their friendship ensues, Sally finds Louise may be the mother she’s always wanted to so readily accepted Louise introducing her as Mia, her daughter. When Tom’s project collapses, Sally realizes her obsession with Louise has been ill-guided and corrosive and when her daughter, Ida, goes missing, having fallen like Sally into a fantasy relationship, Sally must now face a harsh new reality.

Sally’s stream of consciousness narration captures you from the start. It’s kind of eerie in a way even though Sally speaks in terms about how happy she is, her enjoyment of the Mexican setting which helps set up her strange relationship with Louise. While the author gives reasons for why Sally is estranged from her mother, I often thought this obsession got the better of her and Louise just felt off to me - which is what I think the authors intending the reader to do. Bravo!

The book explores what woman expect from their mothers and how that affects themselves when they are mothers. Both women are affected by this but from different perspectives. As these two build their fantasy worlds, as the reader you just somehow know you can’t change reality with a fairy tale.

My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for renting me access to this ARC.

A novel weaving together three stories from three different time periods exploring myth, history and survival.

Centering around the ghost town of Sunrise, we are treated to three stories featuring the present 2024, the near present 2003 and the past 1902. Nina Terzi? has been pushed out of an airplane as it is about to crash, falls into a lake snd manages to make it to a ghost town where she discovers a corpse and a mystery. Then we are taken to the past where we meet Anton Vargas, a gunslinger and swindler who’s searching for a boy. Then in the near present we meet Coll who’s a reenactor attempting to create a play about Vargas but who is side tracked by a few things.

The book is woven together by the things Nina finds in Sunrise - a photocopy of an old novel, An Incident at Greyrock, newspaper clippings and an unfinished novel, Sunrise. This later book presents a vastly different more complex Vargas from the one Coll is preserving to protect. When we return to Nina in the present we get a surprise ending is fantastic! All the pieces of the puzzle the author gave us in the three stories come together.

I enjoyed Vargas’s story. He represent the Old West - which is a theme in the book. Coll was a bit of enigma to me until the end though I sensed in his idea of preserving Vargas’s myth was more out of his myth what an Old West “bad guy” should be. But I was more drawn to Nina as I was hoping she’d be rescued and maybe find Ben, her fiancé, who was on the plane. But there’s a whole other story there cleverly revealed at the end.

I gave this book five stars for its clever structure as a way of telling a story, for how the stories of three seemingly disparate characters could be woven together, and for using the theme of the Old West written so uniquely.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House for granting me access to this ARC.

This is my first Richard Russo book, and I may be reading more since this grabbed right away.

Tyler Sinclair, frontman for the rock band, Stone Mountain, is returning to his hometown, Stone Mountain, a small town in the Adirondacks, after twenty years. He and his band are kicking off a tour by doing a fund raiser for a local man, Tim “Doc” Dockery who was paralyzed in a swimming accident Tyler and his best friend, Curt, now the current police chief, witnessed. Things turn wonky during the last number of show when the audience learns Doc had died. In the way home, the limo Tyler is in is forced off the road into a ravine. At this point the story delves into the mystery surrounding Tyler’s accident. Curt must now also confront old memories about Tyler and his wife, Freddi. And they both must face how thinly the lines are between good and evil.

The book is told from three POVs: Tyler, Curt and Deb, a young Stone Mountain police officer who is torn between loyalty to Curt and the feeling something is amiss. The setting seems pretty important to the book - which I’ve learned is true in Russo’s other books. Stone Mountain is messed up, economic ills, drugs, racism. The characters aren’t very likable and you sense they aren’t redeemable either, especially Freddi. It is a bit of a downer to read but as Tyler says “Stone Mountain is the kind of place you might escape from once, if you’re lucky, but not twice.” That’s part of the mystery - can’t say more, you have to read the book to find out what I mean.

In the author’s Acknowledgements, Russo mentions the book was written for pilot that didn’t survive the writer’s strike. This could account for its brevity and disjointed pacing as well as characters who don’t feel fully developed. In spite of that, there’s great action at the end to wrap the thriller aspects of the story.

This is a book for lovers of great fiction writing.

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for granting me access to this fine ARC.

Gothic horror novel set in North Wales building on Welsh folklore.

Carwyn and Rhian Gwynannt are an older couple, sheep farmers their whole lives. They live simply in an old stone house. Their lives are steeped in Welsh tales of fairy hags and ghosts. After a terrible late snow buried their spring lambs, and a woman visitor trips and hurts her ankle, whom the Gwynannts care for, a partly buried stone head is found. Carwyn believes this to have been left by “Neolithic farmers” and starts to work to unearth it. Carwyn becomes so obsessed in doing this, he abandons his farm work causing great concern to Rhian. Strange things begin to happen and as Rhian sees her husband changing, an epic battle emerges between her and the malevolent forces overtaking the farm.

This is indeed a pretty creepy tale. Carwyn and Rhian live very isolated which adds to the atmospheric sense of doom that pervades the novel. I didn’t always understand the flashbacks to their lives and felt it impeded the pacing of the book. From watching BritBox and several Welsh detective shows, this is a harsh country with a language still spoken by some but which is dying - I sensed this might be sort of a theme in the book; that is, so much is changing in the Gwynannts’s world, is this creeping horror all about the changes happening in the modern world they Carwyn and Rhian would to keep away? I didn’t always understand the folklore - but that’s my problem - though horror books based on folklore seem to be the rage.

Overall this was a good read. Be prepared for a slow burn to the horror.

I’d like yo thank NetGalley and Hogarth for granting me access to this book.

3.5 stars. A fictional exploration of the complexities of female friendships and how class differences can affect this.

I’m glad the author put her note at the beginning of this book otherwise I might not have finished this book the way Chapter One began. The second sentence reads “I had decided to end our friendship earlier . . . .” Margot and Tania have been friends since childhood and roommates during their twenties living in an apartment subsidized by Margot’s parents, which Tania was invited to live in by Margot. The curiosity of that sentence lies in the word “friendship”. Why does that have to end? The reader becomes aware the Margot’s goals are changing now that she’s nearing thirty and would like to live with her boyfriend and start a family which probably would have result in Tania having to move out, but the nixing of the friendship would cause that anyway.

As the story plays out we learn how the friendship began, its ups and downs. The two women, friends since childhood, are diametrically different. Tania comes from a working class Congolese family, is estranged from her parents but is an accomplished writer. Margot is white, liberal and privileged and has been indulged all her life but now yearns for the traditional family. When Margot’s cousin, Eli, enters the picture and begins dating Tania (even though he’s engaged), she realizes she’s been proving emotional labor to Margot’s family for their kindnesses. Then Tania agrees to go with Margot to see her therapist together and what emerges is very engrossing - and saved the book for me.

Friendship is complicated and as in marriage, there can be a breakup. I can understand friends like lovers growing a part, we evolve, we change. As we move on to new jobs or relationships, the old ones are often left behind. In making these life choice changes, it’s often bittersweet. And as this story takes its trajectory of a friendship ending, it is told with a deep poignancy. Tania’s return to her family was perhaps the best part of the book for me. But I still go back to why use the word friendship rather than something like “it’s time for me to move out.” The blurbs all state something like this is a “bold” debut and I get that with the second sentence for the book.

Well enough of my concern with the book’s premise. I enjoyed it. The author is a fine writer and the story resonates with good pacing and tough realities.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam & Sons for granting me access to this ARC.

Short novella that retells the folk ballad, The Two Sisters, with Esther and Ysabel Hawthorn, who tend magical willows at the edge of Faerie and cannot be separated, even in death.

The Hawthorn sisters live in Thistleford, known for its grammar or transformative magic, which is along a magical river, Liss, that flows down past The Professors who translate its magic into Arcadia into the land of the Fae. The sisters sing to the willows (The Professor) keeping them vibrant and healthy. Life is idyllic until Esther loves on fall with a fae, Rin, and is tempted to flee Thistleford for Arcadia. Simultaneously a neighbor seeks to marry one of the sisters, separating Ysabel on the opposite side of the Arcadia border from Esther. They are required to sing across this divide but darkness is there as we await to see if the sisters can reunite.

The novella is a fairy tale but a cautionary one. It tells of how “sisterhood and solidarity” can stand up to patriarchy, conformity and greed. The story is atmospheric and changes from prose to poetry which often breaks up the whimsy of the story. The sisters are a delight. Their separation is a sorrow. The songs are philosophical and thought- provoking. When Esther says “Demand better” to Ysabel I thought this got to the heart of the tale - conformity and patriarchy want women to be subservient and yet like all humans women want their individuality v

I listened to this book. From reading reviews by those who read the book, I’d recommend the audiobook. It has the sisters singing, background sounds of nature and the narrator is phenomenal.

If you want a soft, quiet respite from our crazy world, I’d recommend this audiobook. It has a soothing and peaceful quality.

This is a psychological character-driven, coming-of-age thriller with historical elements exploring "isolation, parental influence, and the ethical implications of technological change."

This had been sitting on my TBR list for a while so I picked it up and literally could not put it down - read in one day. I don't know what it was, but the character of Jane reached out to me immediately and I just got so immersed in her story. Jane has been living with her father, Saul, in the Montana wilderness for most of her eighteen years. It's been a closed world with little contact with the outside world; she's home-schooled by her narcissistic, egotistical father (who as we learn in the story is really brilliant). When he takes her with him on one of his trips (which usually leaves Jane alone, fending for herself), a horrific event changes everything and Jane and her father are on the run. Jane returns home, packs things her father left, and decided to go to San Francisco to look for her mother. During the bus trip, Jane's backpack is stolen but she's able to make it to a soft ware start up, Signal, to find Lionel, a young man she befriended online. From there the story proceeds to a dramatic but satisfying conclusion.

I really liked Jane, as naive as she was, her upbringing in the wilderness give her a resilience a think anyone else in her shoes couldn't have carried off as well. Her father, "a fictionalized version of Ted Kaczynski," is a bit of nut with a grudge against technology (not necessarily but taken to extreme by him). Over time his intellectual isolation leads to dangerous extremism. While the book starts in the present, it proceeds to the past as Jane reveals who she was, who she becomes, and who she is now at the end "me". While there may be some pacing issues and some things that happen in San Francisco that don't seem complete, I just kept focusing on Jane and these things didn't seem to interfere.

While a thriller of sorts, the fictionalized elements of the Unabomber in the 1990s when Kaczynski was found adds another layer to a story as with Saul's concerns to AI and other technological things that can change our world. I think its main focus on parenting, though, was by far the most interesting to me. I kept thinking about Tara Westover's book, Educated. as I read (and even Jason Arday's memoir, Great and Fortunate Things). Parenting has a profound effect on a child but some children like Jane and Tara has some inner strength that allows them to get past "poor" parenting. I thought the author did a good job with this theme.

I gave this book five stars because it captured me from the very beginning - not always an easy thing to do -, because it explored relevant themes that concern our times today, and because I just couldn't put it down. I think I'd even re-read it. Highly recommend.

There are so many books with “witch” in the title - some are fantasies, some murder mysteries, some historical - so when I came across this book, the 2025 Goodreads nonfiction winner, I thought I’d explore the topic a bit more.

The book, written by two Scottish women, explores Scotland’s witch trial history. It’s a dark, comedic look at how Scotland while basing witchcraft on the premise of women being the ones up to this mischief has also promptly assured these women were forgotten in history and how patriarchy often places women in cruel and unusual places (in this case as the villains of unexplained circumstances and phenomena). In doing this the authors show historical parallels that even apply today: scapegoating (DEI is 47’s answer to that) and modern-day misogyny.

The book breaks down the witch hunting process into the following phases: identifying, torturing, trying, and executing. Deeply researched with references from trial records, books published at the time (two written by King James) and other information, the book shows the deep religious factor played into the whole process. I thought this was an excellent way to explain the witch phenomena of the 16th-17th Cs especially highlighting certain women who perished this male cruelty. Particularly egregious was the witch pricker who was charged with finding the “Devil’s Mark.” He’d get to see the accused naked and got to do “who knows what” (shades of the orange toad getting to walk through female dressing rooms for Miss Universe contestants).

While a lot of the witchcraft evidence probably came from torture (most likely sleep deprivation), most of it is crazy and unproven - shades of QAnon. How it ever came to accusing someone always seemed to me a vengeful thing - shades of false claims found even today by people seeking to ruin a reputation (courts are bit more civilized today but not necessarily less corrupt). But strangling and burning the witch seems like cruel and unusual punishment - no higher was available at that time to challenge that means of execution (the fear was the witch could come back so kill it twice).

Most counties have repealed their witch laws but interestingly Britain used The Witchcraft Act of 1735 to convict Helen Duncan of fraud for the seances she performed - that act was tacked on more for the flimflam of the seances than witchcraft. That 1735 law was eventually repealed. One of the last chapters chronicles the status of witchcraft today pointing to some African and Asian countries where accusations are still common.

The book concludes with an examination of the status of women today noting “that it is the very existence of women that is problematic to some men.” Indeed in this country white Christian nationalism wants to relegate women back to traditional biblical roles. As with the book’s beginning where the authors noted no statutes of females from Scottish history exist in their country m, the authors did find a Norwegian sculpture dedicated to 91 people executed for witchcraft in 1621 in Vardø, Norway. But the conclusion remains that women today and as in the past just don’t hold the same importance as men.

I gave this book five stars because the topic was well researched, for the strength of the book’s structure, focusing on a process and explaining it, and for its focus on women and how history continually tries to erase us.

A tale of two sisters seeking a mysterious painting by a forgotten Vietnamese painter, exploring family secrets, sisterhood and the enduring power of the past.

Calla and Vivi Nguy?n are sisters but estranged. Vivi is precise and orderly, working as an art conservator. Calla is an accomplished artist and a recovering addict as well. Shortly after the death of their father and their estrangement, Calla shows up at her sister’s museum with a sketch of a painting by an obscure Vietnamese painter, K. P. Lý, called Blue Mirror, along with a letter from Lý about the painting. Calla is convinced the painting belongs to their family and that their father on his deathbed wanted his girls to find the missing painting. Vivi must decide if she can look to her past.

What worked for me in this book was the globe hopping between Wisconsin (descriptions of Lake Michigan from that side of the lake) to France and the Mansion de Notre Réve (who wouldn’t want to wake up to Vivaldi’s “Summer”) as well as to Vietnam to visit the family’s crumbling estate at Long Xuy?n where they intend to spread their father’s ashes and meet their Vietnamese relatives. The descriptions are lovely.

I also liked how the sisters reforged their relationship. “The love between sisters is a sort of cosmic lace woven from tiny moments.” But then they are separated by a storm and Vivi leaves Vietnam taking home a painting of Deer Creek - you learn how the book gets its title. She also leaves behind the journal (excerpts of which are woven into the novel) of her uncle’s grandmother, T?m, and her great grandmother.

The discovery of mystery of the Vietnamese artist is a soulful and definitely interesting as is the return of and renaming of the painting that started the Nguyen sisters’ adventure. The book ends on such a poignant note. Some readers may want tissues on hand.

This is book for lovers of art and its mysteries as well enjoy a historical context for the art it anyone who enjoys a well written search for a secret of the past.

My thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for allowing me access to this ARC.

Darkly comedic coming-of-age story about two siblings attempting to make sense of their lives as well as exploring themes of trauma and forgiveness.

Robin Clarke is running away from abusive parents to take a teaching job in South Bend, Indiana.Her new roommate, Naomi, is confident and posed - everything Robin wants to be but because her parents never allowed her to have friends, Robin is afraid of intimacy. Meanwhile her brother, Will, attempts to be the dutiful son but when his father falls ill, he must reexamine their relationship and the meaning of loyalty. When Robin learns of her father’s illness she too must face her past.

This is a character-driven novel. It’s a compelling sibling story. Robin and Will are very close but there is trauma and resentment underneath it. This is also an emotionally intense novel which is balanced by humor and snark. Forgiveness is huge in this book. Robin’s trauma is deep so she struggles with that and her sense of family.

This is a book for readers who enjoy exploring intense family estrangements and their consequences.

My thanks to NetGalley and Amistad for granting me access to this ARC.