Sunday Salon: New Books Reviewed

 Currently reading:

I was curious about Reptile Memoirs, this thriller by a Norwegian writer, borrowed through NetGalley. I'm in the middle of the ebook now and trying to figure out how the woman's pet python relates to her own psyche. 

This another ebook borrowed through NetGalley. Stay Awake is a thriller involving amnesia and a crime the female suspect doesn't remember committing.

Finished reading:

 

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, April 26, 2022, NetGalley. 

 

The book is a dark thriller with violence, cruelty, and revenge. The novel stalled in the middle of the book, making me want to stop reading, as if the story had nowhere further to go. However, luckily for this reader, it picked up dramatically in the second half, with a surprising twist at the end. 

And now for something completely different, a literary drama about a family in three generations. NetGalley. 

French Braid tells the story of Mercy and Robin Garrett - their married life together and apart, their children and grandchildren. Mercy, an artist and wife who longs to get back to painting full time, is distracted at home. Her older daughter, Alice, picks up the slack to watch out for younger sister Lily, and little David, their brother.

In one way the marriage is not a success since Mercy wants to take off on her own and leave Robin to fend for himself. However, success may be found in the children. Alice, Lily, and David go on with their lives into adulthood and marriage, regardless of their parents. Their paths are not always smooth, however - seen in the unconventional marriage choices made by Lily and David. The connections between Mercy and Robin and their offspring remain throughout, likened to a French braid that keeps its wrinkles and crinkles as a result of being so intertwined over time.
The characters make this book, as much as the stories of where their lives head.

This was a pleasure to read, as it brought lots of laughs and chuckles. 

Bookish People:

I loved the humor and the characters of a book store owner and her employees. Sophie Bernstein, 54, shop owner and recent widow in Washington DC, wants to shut herself off from society in a secret nook she discovered at the back of her bookstore. While trying to make the dusty nook into a habitable one room apartment, she has several misadventures involving a vacuum cleaner, an errant tortoise belonging to her employees, demanding customers and their dogs, and a blackout from a busted electrical system. Amid the humor, brought about by Sophie herself and her responses to these events, are the customers and their foibles, book signing authors with their strange quirks, and finally someone interesting to help Sophie take a new look at her world. A wonderful read, a laugh-out-loud entertaining rom com/women's fiction. Borrowed from NetGalley.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves