New ARCs I'm Willing to Try: Sunday Salon

 Why read these new books? A hit or miss selection.

The Astrology House

A Novel

by Carinn Jade

July 16, 2024; Atria Books, NetGalley

Description

A group of wealthy Manhattanites escape to an astrology-themed retreat, where simmering resentments and long-held secrets lead to a shocking death in this fresh, twisty, and suspenseful debut.

Why I'll read: I'd like to see if the author is supportive of astrologists or not, as the astrologer host of the retreat in this book has a secret plan for her guests.

Wives Like Us

A Novel

by Plum Sykes

May 14, 2024; Harper, NetGalley

Description: A grand English country house, one American divorcee, three rich wives, two tycoons, a pair of miniature sausage dogs and one (bereaved) butler; in this impossibly funny novel.

Setting: the rose-strewn Cotswold villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom, and Monkton Bottom, recently annexed by a glittering new breed of female: the Country Princess.

The wives have a falling out and chaos in the villages ensues. 

Why I'll read: I'm willing to give this humorous novel a try, as the Cotswold setting can be picturesque and the "country princess" wives have piqued my curiousity.

The Blue Hour

A Novel

by Paula Hawkins

October 29, 2024; Mariner Books, NetGalley

Description:

A new mystery novel of ambition, legacy, and betrayal from the author of The Girl on the Train. A web of secrets and lies and a present-day discovery that connects three people. 

Setting: An isolated Scottish island, accessible to the mainland only twelve hours a day

Why I'll read: in the mood for a mystery thriller, plus I like the Scottish island setting and love the cover of the book. 

Memento Mori

A Novel

by Eunice Hong

August 13, 2024; Red Hen Press, NetGalley

Description:

Don't look back. Did Eurydice want to return from the underworld? Did anybody ask?

In this portrait of rage and resilience, a Korean woman tries to connect with her younger brother and grapple with family tragedy through bedtime stories that weave together Greek mythology, neuroscience, and tales from their grandmother’s slipping memory.

Why I'll read: a literary novel to add to other genres of books. Besides, I love Greek myths and am interested in seeing how it's mixed in with neuroscience and how the brain functions.

What are you reading/watching this week?  

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

Cat Lovers, Coffee Shop, and Other Novels in International Settings

 There's a full moon this weekend - the Strawberry Moon, coffee lovers! 

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated from the Japanese, August 20, 2024; Ballantine Books

Genre: fantasy, astrology, Japanese fiction

This special coffee shop appears only to those who seem to need the guidance of a tortoise shell tabby cat to get their messy lives back on track. The cat gives astrological advice depending on the individual's circumstances and the time, date, and place of their birth. 

Many Japanese authors love their cats and coffee shops and use these themes and settings to reveal a larger truth about life in their stories. How the individuals benefit from the tabby's astrology advice is the interesting part of the book. I also liked the explanations about an astrology term I've always heard but never fully understood - Mercury in retrograde. It seems things can go wacky for about three weeks when Mercury is in this mode. 

An interesting and entertaining book, whether or not you believe in astrology, the pull of the full moon, fortune telling cats, or magical coffee shops. 

I'm reading this book partly for the setting - Indonesia and its capital, Jakarta

Darkness Falls in Jakarta by Louise Soraya Black

July 4, 2024; Muswell Press

Genre: mystery/thriller, women's fiction

Description: The death of Claire’s parents triggers traumatic memories of her past life in Jakarta, a time that Claire has been running away from ever since.

Haunted by guilt and the terrible misunderstanding that forced her to leave the city she loved as a teenager; she embarks on a journey back in the hope of finding answers and perhaps a path to forgiveness.

Louise Soraya Black perfectly captures the heartache of lost chances and the fragile hope of making amends.

My review on goodreads.

Crime, Croissants, and Lots of Humor on this Bike Tour in the Eastern Pyrenees of France

A Cyclist's Guide to Crime and Croissants by Ann Claire, May 21, 2024; Kensington CoziesGenre: cycling, travel, cozy mystery, Southern France

Setting: Pyrénées-Orientales in France, along the Mediterranean Coast near the Spanish border

I love the humor in the main character's telling of her story. Sadie's observations and descriptions along the bike route are original and clever and you want to meet her in person. An example: Her description of imminent and unwanted downpour starting on their bike tour goes: " a raindrop the size of a grape fell on my nose."  Ha, ha, I say. 

The crimes, vandalism, and subsequent murders along the tour route may be due to at least two persons. I like that this mystery storyline does not prevent the reader from armchair travel of a very good kind through the Pyrenees mountains and villages and sights. 

The visit to a giant grocery store with a whole section devoted to multiple varieties of French yogurt, custards, and puddings was new and appealing. French pastries also play a large part in the routine of the tour group.

I loved taking this nine-day cycling tour through hills, mountains, and very scenic villages and towns. Not only for the travel, but the food and the humorous and interesting characters, plus a mystery with a surprise culprit.  Of course, there is also a handsome gendarme to spice up Sadie's bike tour.

What are you reading/watching this week?  

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

Travel Can Be Fun or Not: Sunday Salon

Books read and to-be-read

The Trip by Phoebe Morgan, May 25, 2024; HQ, NetGalley

Genre: mystery, adventure, travel fiction, adult fiction

Braving it in Thailand. Four friends enjoy their vacation, until one of them commits a crime, and they all keep it a secret. I read this mainly for the details of a trip to Thailand, but enjoyed the straightforward plot of trouble found not in that country, but trouble that follows one of the travelers from the U.S. The last half of the book was suspenseful even though most of the plot was somewhat predictable. The very end of the book was a plot twist I didn't see coming, however.

A rom com set in Vietnam

Adam and Evie's Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen, September 24, 2024; Avon, NetGalley

  

Description: A rollicking romance about two strangers finding love as they embark on a matchmaking tour through Việt Nam - from the bustling streets of Hồ Chí Minh City to the soaring waterfalls in Đà Lạt.

The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis
May 21, 2024; Atria, NetGalley

Genre: travel, thriller, suspense

Description: A thriller author arranges a luxury train trip along Italy’s Mediterranean coast on the famed, newly renovated Orient Express, traveling from Cinque Terre to Rome to Positano. All who are invited by the author are hiding secrets. And there might be a murder or two.

Hurricane season

Storm Warning by David Bell, June 25, 2024; Berkley. Genre: suspense, thriller

It's hurricane season in Florida! Here is a book that might make you think twice about going south during the storm season. 

The setting during a strong hurricane on a barrier island in Florida is new, but the mystery thriller situation is familiar. There is a killer (among the residents who are sitting out the storm in their delapidated building), and the residents are isolated from the mainland and from help. They must fend for themselves and each other the best they can.

There is some supense when the first building resident is found murdered, and more suspense from the relentless storm that threatens to destroy the building in which they live. Who the murderer is and why, and how and if they survive is the crux of the story.

Not extremely original in plot, but a good read nevertheless. 

Immigration and the American Dream

Love Can't Feed You by Cherry Lou Sy, October 8, 2024; Dutton, NetGalley

Description: a heartbreaking look at coming of age, shifting notions of home, and the disintegration of the American dream. It asks us: What does it mean to be of multiple cultures without a road map for how to belong?        

Queenie, her younger brother, and their elderly Chinese father arrive in the United States from the Philippines to finally reunite with Queenie’s Filipina mother, a nurse. But her mother is not the same woman she was in the Philippines: Something in her face is different, almost hardened, and she seems so American already.

What are you reading/watching this week?  

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

New Books: Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime and Lost in Tuscany

 In the Mailbox

I enjoy books about elderly seniors solving mysteries. This is one of several different series that I've come across. 

Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime by Leonie Swann, September 3, 2024, Soho Crime

A follow up mystery novel to The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp. Agnes and her octogenarian friends come face-to-face with a killer after winning a trip to a beautiful hotel in the seaside town of Cornwall. Translated from German

Currently reading:

a book just in time for birders or would-be-birders who are also rom com readers

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb, June 4, 2024, Gallery Books. Genre: romance, contemporary fiction, adult fiction

Description

A divorcee crosses paths with a shy but sensitive birdwatcher who changes her life in this charming rom-com set in Arizona. Who knew Arizona had so many birders? I always imagined it as having just desert and red rock. 

Click here to see my review. 

Finished reading:

a very strange novel with an unusual plot and characters

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole, April 16, 2024; William Morrow. 

Genre: thriller, identity disorder, psychological thriller

Description: Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. 

I honestly didn't know how to rate this book. I can only say that the premise of multiple-personality Ken fighting for her life in a castle with a past is unique. Ken's many personalities interact and it's like reading a novel with real characters instead of one woman's separate identities/alternate identities popping up here and there during the narrative.

This plethora of characters/alters that belong to one woman known as Ken made me confused overall, however, and I found the novel too long to keep my interest. Ken's multiple personalities were so many and so diverse, I quickly flipped from the middle to the end of the book. A shorter version of the book would have kept my attention. And I really didn't understand the ending. Did Ken fall in love with one of her alternate identities? 

A thriller that gives extra meaning to the title and also to the term psychological in the genre psych thriller. 

Next to read: 

a summer bike ride in Tuscany. A rom com with a view

Lost in Tuscany by Sophie Sinclair, June 14, 2024; BooksGoSocial

Genre: romance, contemporary fiction

Description: Predictable thirty-six-year-old Summer Andrews doesn’t realize there’s such a thing as drunk-booking a trip until she wakes up with a beastly hangover and a non-refundable singles-only bike tour through Tuscany.

This is obviously a travel romance that has me curious about the sights on an Italian bike tour 

Watching:

I continue to find Korean drama series fascinating, even though many of them are so long. Up to 16 episodes. I recommend a heart breaking My Mister, and romantic comedy, Business Proposal, for first timers.

What are you reading/watching this week?  

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

Summer Reading

 Summer Books

I didn't get too excited by the books I've read so far about summer activities, except for the trip to Europe in The Itinerary, a rom com by Penny Pentley. 

The Itinerary by Penny Pentley
Genre: travel, romance, adventure

Lisa's trip to Europe alone, her mom and traveling partner having died before the trip, leaves her less alone than she had thought. She meets another traveler, Rocky, not just once, but again and again in the various cities of Europe that she visits. She wonders if he knows her preplanned itinerary or if these meet-ups are mere coincidence.

The reader is hooked not only by the detailed travel experiences and sights Lisa describes as she goes from country to country, but by the question of when, why, and how Rocky might show up again along her travel route.

This was an enjoyable armchair travel to cities like Rome, Florence, Geneva, Paris, Munich, in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Germany. I loved visiting  famous sites and museums with Lisa. But I was surprised at how easily she developed a romantic relationship with Rocky while always thinking they would never see each other again each time they meet on the trip.

Easy to read, with interesting main characters. the book was delightful as a light summer romance.

Until Next Summer by Ali Brady

Expected publication July 9, 2024, Berkley

This book will mean more to those with nostalgia for children's summer camps. This novel is the story of two former friends trying as adults to prolong and find again the excitement of their camp experiences. They both attend an adult summer camp, renew their friendship, find romance, and figure out a way to save their childhood camp from being closed and sold. 

I think besides being a rom com in an outdoors setting, the novel will be most interesting to those with lasting memories of good times at summer camp.

An enjoyable outdoor summer read overall.

The Comeback Summer, Pub Date May 09 2023, Berkley

Another summer novel by Ali Brady that I have on my list.

Description: Hannah and Libby need a miracle. The PR agency they inherited from their grandmother is losing clients left and right, and the sisters are devastated at the thought of closing. The situation seems hopeless—until in walks Lou, an eccentric self-help guru who is looking for a new PR agency. Her business could solve all their problems—but there’s a catch. Whoever works with Lou must complete a twelve-week challenge as part of her “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program.

The Summer Club by Hannah McKinnon

July 23, 2024 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

An exclusive beach club in New England is the setting for this summer novel, with its emphasis on golfing. The residents in the neighborhood who are members are upset by an aggressive newcomer and there are fireworks that develop between the teenager members of the club and among their parents during the summer.

The social club scene and their members are the focus of this novel, average in interest, characters, and plot.

What are you reading/watching this week?  Which summer themed books have you read ?

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