Sunday Salon: Hope, Hunger, First Lie Wins: Three Books

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Publication: January 2024, Penguin Group Viking; NetGalley

Genre: mystery, thriller 

My comments:

The title of this thriller was so intriguing that I wanted to read and finish it right away!

Evie Porter lives a lie every day, under aliases provided by her unknown but powerful boss, Mr. Smith. Her risky but lucrative full time job is to secretly act like a spy, get compromising information on targeted individuals that Mr. Smith uses to his advantage. 

Evie's real name lives only in her memory though she hopes one day to leave Smith, reclaim it, and be honest about her past growing up poor. 

The suspense in the novel comes from the risky ways Evie has to get people's private information. Luckily, she has her own secret - a helper named Devon who is tech savvy and totally loyal to Evie. Suspense is heightened when Evie thinks Smith is targeting her for removal, which means she has to find ways to survive.

I found the plot unusual and the characters well developed. 

Currently reading

Hope by Anthony Ridker

Pub Date 11 Jul 2023

PENGUIN GROUP Viking; NetGalley

Genre: general fiction, adult

A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a seemingly perfect family in an era of waning American optimism, from the acclaimed author of The Altruists

The year is 2013 and the Greenspans are the envy of Brookline, Massachusetts, an idyllic (and idealistic) suburb west of Boston. Scott Greenspan is a successful physician with his own cardiology practice. 

But when Scott is caught falsifying blood samples at work, he sets in motion a series of scandals that threatens to shatter his family.

From Brookline to Berlin to the battlefields of Syria, Hope follows the Greenspans over the course of one tumultuous year as they question, and compromise, the values that have shaped their lives. But in the midst of their disillusionment, they’ll discover their own capacity for resilience, connection, and, ultimately, hope. (publisher)

Hunger: A Novella and Stories by Lan Samantha Chang

Published January 1, 2000, Norton and Company

Genre: short stories, novella, Asian American fiction

Not since Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan has a fiction writer explored with such powerful intensity the experience of being Asian American. The characters are caught between the burden of their past history and the fragility of their unchartered future.

 Hunger illuminates how first-generation immigrants from China, culturally and emotionally uprooted from their homeland, mistrust connection even as they hunger for attachment ― and how the past affects and shapes their children. (publisher)

My comments:

I've just finished  "Hunger," a novella about a violinist from China, Tian, who sacrifices loyalty to his family in China to come to the United States to pursue his craft, but failure to get a coveted job after finishing music school, leads him to make demands that devastate his family, himself, and his children.  His hunger for music drives him to demand from his younger daughter, Ruth, the same passion for artistic perfection and performing, with unhappy results. 

The second story in the collection, "Water Names," focuses on the mother of three young girls, and a hint of a yearning for a past love left behind in China.  

I'll be reading the other short stories in this collection soon.

Finished reviewing: WWII historical fiction. Click on titles for my goodreads reviews:

The Last Masterpiece by Laura MorelliThe Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?injuly202

3Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday. Paris in July 2023