Book Tour: Somewhere Sisters by Erika Hayasaki

 Nonfiction book review

Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family

by Erika Hayasaki, October 11, 2022, Algonquin Books

Identical twins Isabella and Hà were born in Vietnam and raised on opposite sides of the world, each knowing little about the other’s existence, until they were reunited as teenagers, against all odds. (publisher)

Topic: Vietnamese identical twin girls are given up for adoption at birth in 1998.  One girl was adopted by a wealthy Midwestern family in the U.S. and the other remained in Nha Trang, Vietnam with an aunt. This nonfiction work tells the story of the unusual steps taken to finally reunite the two sisters. 

The book: The author discusses the two girls, the twins, during their teens when they first meet, and compares their different experiences growing up, in terms of nature vs nurture science. The book also examines culture and belonging and the conflicts inherent in the topic of adoption.

I was very impressed with the amount of research that went into this book. I was also wowed by the author's interviewing of the U.S. and Vietnamese families and the multiple travels to and from Vietnam to complete this study and write the story of the twins before and after they meet.

The American adoptive mother's extensive efforts to reunite the girls and to prepare the Vietnamese raised twin to live with them in the U.S. is astounding. The amount of planning and funds needed to do this was extraordinary. 

I understand that many adoptees may not get this kind of dedication from adoptive parents but this book makes me wonder about other similar stories that we have not heard. 

A five star read. 

Book beginning: 

1998 

The babies are crying. Nguyen Thi Kim Lien treks through the clogged city streets of Nha Trang. She is exhausted, carrying two newborns in her arms in a double clutch. It is 1998. A hip malformation that she's had since birth forces her weight to rest more heavily on her right side and her legs to curve outward like the body of a harp. It was hard for her to find a job before birth. Now it is impossible.

Page 56 of ebook: 

I first learned about the sisters in 2016, six months after giving birth to my own identical twin boys. As part of a science journalism fellowship, I was researching stories about environmental interactions with genes.

 

 About the author:

Erika Hayasaki is an award-winning journalist based in Southern California, the author of The Death Class, and a professor in the Literary Journalism Program at the University of California, Irvine. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, Wired, Slate, and others. She has been a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow and a 2018 Alicia Patterson Fellow. She is the mother of a daughter and twin boys

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Romance and Rivalry in Graduate School : The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe

Romance and Rivalry

The Make-Up Test by Jenny L. Howe

Published September 13, 2022; St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: romance, contemporary fiction
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a lit major myself, I enjoyed reading about the graduate students of medieval literature discussing and competing for awards and recognition in their work. The romance between Colin and Allison was also interesting as they were rivals in academics as well as former lovers. This provided the tension in the novel, in addition to Allison's estranged father always reviling her for being overweight.

I only wished the descriptions of Allison's physical attraction to Colin, her former college boyfriend, were not so detailed and frequent. They became repetitive after a while. About one-eighth of the book could have been cut if edited in this way.

An unusual plot and characters in an academic setting, however, that made this a four star rom com.

Book Beginning:

Chapter I

If one more person used the word hegemonic, Allison Avery was going to scream. 

After almost two full week of classes at Claremore University, she should be more adjusted to the quirks of graduate-level literature courses, but it still felt like ...a lot.

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The Madwoman Upstairs, a Novel by Catherine Lowell

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The Mad Woman Upstairs, a literary novel by Catherine Lowell, to be released March 1, 2016 by Touchstone.

"...the only remaining descendant of the Brontë family embarks on a modern-day literary scavenger hunt to find the family's long-rumored secret estate, using clues her eccentric father left behind." (publisher)

Book beginning: 
The night I arrived at Oxford, I learned that my dorm room was built in 1361 and had originally been used to quarantine victims of the plague. The college porter seemed genuinely apologetic a he led me up the five flights of stairs to my tower. He was a nervous man - short and mouthy, with teeth like a nurse shark - who admitted through a brittle accent that Old College was over-enrolled this year, and that the deans has been forced to find space for students wherever they could. This tower was an annex to Old College. Many tragic and important people had lived here before me, apparently: had I heard of Timothy the Terrible? Sir Michael "the Madman" Morehouse? I shook my head and said that i was sorry - I was American. 

Page 56:
I marveled at their ability to create characters that bore no resemblance to their own selves whatsoever. Were they geniuses in a world of losers? Or were there glimmers of themselves in even their most outlandish fictional creations?

I rated this book a 5/5. 

Book Beginnings: THE CHERRY HARVEST by Lucy Sanna

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The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna, published June 2, 2015; William Morrow
Genre: historical fiction
A memorable coming-of-age story and love story, laced with suspense, which explores a hidden side of the home front during World War II, when German POWs were put to work in a Wisconsin farm community . . . with dark and unexpected consequences.

Book beginning:

The rain came again, harder this time. Charlotte pulled her knit hat tight, pushed up the collar of her gray wool coat, and stared through the chicken wire at the rabbits. Kate's prize rabbits.

She entered the pen and chose a plump one, furry and warm in her cold hands. Its heart thumped like a tiny sewing machine. Charlotte brought it into the dim barn and stroked its fur until it calmed, trusting. She hesitated a moment - stealing from my own daughter - then picked up the butcher knife. 

Page 56:  

"You are my downfall," he whispered. "My original sin." 

I am interested in this story of German prisoners in the U.S. during the war. It's a side of history I haven't read before.

Book Beginning: Rescue at Los Banos by Bruce Henderson

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Rescue at Los Banos: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II by Bruce Henderson
Published March 31, 2015; William Morrow
Book description: 
The  true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 World War II prison camp raid at Los Banos in the Philippines--a tale of daring, courage, and heroism that joins the ranks of Ghost Soldiers, Unbroken, and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc.

Book beginning: 

Benjamin Franklin Edwards, a mechanic with Pan American Airways for less than a year, arrived in Manila aboard the airline's famed "China Clipper" on October 2, 1941. The big Martin M-130 flying boat was known by Pan Am employees as "Sweet Sixteen" (NR 14716) and had been the first seaplane delivered to the airline and the first to fly scheduled air service across the Pacific. It touched won on Manila Bay and taxied to the ramp at Pan Am's Cavite base eight miles southwest of the Philippine capital known worldwide as the Pearl of the Orient for its picturesque seaside location, tropical beauty, and golden sunsets from the shoreline of its enchanting bay. 

Page 56:

Muller wondered how he was going to gather intelligence against the Japanese. It was a G-2's worst nightmare. Muller understood the average soldier might not see much of a difference between fighting the Germans and fighting the Japanese; both were dangerous and disciplined foes. But there was a big difference when it came to gaining accurate intelligence for the division's battle plans. 

World War II is always fascinating, especially in the Pacific. I'm eager to read it for a chance to learn more.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for possible review. 

Book Beginning: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Paperback published May 12, 2015; St. Martin's Griffin
Hardcover first published in 1987
Genre: fiction

Book description: 
Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart. (publisher)

Book beginning: The taxi, an old Rover smelling of  old cigarette smoke, trundled along the empty country road at an unhurried pace. It was early afternoon at the very end of February, a magic winter day of bitter cold, frost, and pale, cloudless skies. The sun shone, sending long shadows, but there was little warmth in it, and the ploughed fields lay hard as iron. From the chimneys of scattered farmhouses and small stone cottages, smoke rose, straight as columns, up into the still air, and flocks of sheep, heavy with wool and incipient pregnancy, gathered around feeding troughs, stuffed with fresh hay.  

Sitting in the back of the taxi, gazing through the dusty window, Penelope Keeling decided that she had never seen the familiar countryside look so beautiful.  

page 56:

"It's just that...this is the sort of place where I think I could stay. I wouldn't feel trapped or rooted here. I don't know why." She smiled at him. "I don't know why."

 This book was first published in 1987 and has been a bestseller since then. I have never read it but have heard about it, and now have the chance to read the new paperback edition to be published in May, Thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
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Book Beginning: Ming Tea Murder by Laura Childs

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Ming Tea Murder by Laura Childs
To be released May 5, 2015; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

Book beginning, first paragraph:

With drums banging and the sweet notes of a Chinese violin trembling in the air, the enormous red-and-gold dragon shook its great head and danced its way across the rotunda of the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. It was the opening-night celebration for the reconstruction of a genuine eighteenth century Chinese tea house, and the creme de la creme of society had turned out in full force for this most auspicious occasion. 

Page 56:

"Which means, now that Webster is dead, Cecily really isn't obligated to pay the money back."
"That's right," said Greaves. "She's free and clear."
Maybe not that free and clear after all, Theodosia thought as she walked to her car.

Book description:
Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning normally wouldn’t attend a black tie affair. But she can hardly say no to her boyfriend, Max, who has organized a gala opening for an exhibit of a genuine eighteenth century Chinese teahouse, and the crème de la crème of Charleston society is invited.
But Theodosia makes a grim discovery: the body of museum donor Edgar Webster. This case is difficult to ignore—especially after Max becomes a suspect. 

I love this series and can't wait to read this one. 
Thanks to the publisher for a review/feature copy of the book.

Book Beginning: Mr Monk and the New Lieutenant by Hy Conrad

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Mr. Monk and the New Lieutenant by Hy Conrad
Published January 6, 2015; NAL; paperback to be published May 5, 2015
Genre: mystery

Book beginning, first paragraph: 

I have made a slow, sad discovery over the past few months. Brace yourself. You might not want to hear this. Office work is boring.
Okay, maybe that wasn't a shock. But when you fantasize about being a private eye, when you work and plan and visualize yourself opening a real business with real clients walking through the door with exciting, life-and-death problems to solve...Well, let's just say there are a lot of hours in the workday. 

Page 56: 
It was kind of a nonevent, to be honest, and probably the easiest tail job I've ever done. 

Book description:
Monk and Natalie have finally settled into a new office routine. But the detectives soon have a more serious conflict to deal with: Captain Stottlemeyer’s new lieutenant, A.J. Cartledge—a man of limited skills whom Monk finds insufferable.
Monk and Natalie attend the funeral of Judge Oberlin, and it’s a good thing. In typical fashion, Monk examines the body in the casket—and finds evidence of poison. The judge was murdered.

What do you think of this, the 19th in the Adrian Monk series? My hubby is a great fan of  Mr. Monk!

Book Review: Grave on Grand Avenue by Naomi Hirahara

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Grave on Grand Avenue: An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery by Naomi Hirahara
Published April 7, 2015; Berkley

Book beginning: 

The Green Mile is gone. Not everyone will be bummed about it. After all, it's a green boat-sized 1960 Buick Skylark, no air bags and only twelve miles to a gallon. My best friend, Nay Pram, call it sick, but not the good kind of sick. She means puke, or at least its color. But I'm devastated. There is something about that car I love. The Green Mile makes a statement. A statement that I'm not your average LA girl. Or your average cop. 

 page 56:

Cece is speaking loudly in what sounds like Chinese to someone obscured by a parking column. I must have been spotted, because she immediately lowers her voice.

Ellie Rush, an LAPD bicycle cop, has a lot to handle all at once. She discovers a friendly gardener has been pushed down stairs to his death near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She tries to discover what the father of a famous Chinese cellist has to do, if anything, with this death. At the same time, she is regretting the theft of her favorite though old green car, the Green Mile, and the appearance of a Portuguese man who looks like a derelict but claims to be her long lost grandfather.

On both the professional and family fronts, we follow Ellie trying to piece and hold things together at the same time. I enjoyed learning about the various ethnic peoples and neighborhoods in Los Angeles and their interactions with each other. This series does a good job of putting you right into the center of things.

There are two story lines at the same time but this only helps to add interest to the book as a whole. An enjoyable read for those who know and those who are curious about the inner city of LA! Ellis Rush, the main character, is a bit of a hothead and reacts strongly to situations at times, but that makes her even more of a realistic and likable character.

Objective rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

Book Beginning: ON GOLD MOUNTAIN by Lisa See

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On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family by Lisa See
Published February 7, 2012 by Vintage, Reprint Edition
Genre: memoir

Book beginning:

Chapter 1: The Wonder Time 1866-71 

Fong Dun Shung hoisted his God Mountain bag on to his shoulder and nodded one last time to his wife, daughter, and Number One and Number Four sons.He turned, and began the half-day's walk to Fatsan where he would board a sampan and float east through the Pearl River Delta to the big city of Canton. Then south to Hong Kong, where he would board a ship for Gam Saan, the Gold Mountain. Fong Dun Shung and his second and third sons padded single file among the raised pathways that divided the pale green rice fields that lay just outside the protective wall of Dimtao. How long, he wondered, would it be before they returned home?  

page 56:

Letticie supposed it was natural that one thing would lead to another. Hard work to success. Loneliness to happiness. Friendship to love. On January 15, 1897, Letticie Pruett of Central Point, Oregon, and Fong See, the fourth son of a Chinese herbalist, were wed. They went to a lawyer to draw up the papers for a contract marriage. Their union would be recognized by the state as a contract between two individuals, since California forbade interracial marriages. 

Book description:
In 1867, Lisa See's great-great-grandfather arrived in America, where he prescribed herbal remedies to immigrant laborers who were treated little better than slaves. His son Fong See later built a mercantile empire and married a Caucasian woman, in spite of laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Lisa herself grew up playing in her family's antiques store in Los Angeles's Chinatown, listening to stories of missionaries and prostitutes, movie stars and Chinese baseball teams. 
With these stories and her own years of research, Lisa See chronicles the one-hundred-year-odyssey of her Chinese-American family, a history that encompasses racism, romance, secret marriages, entrepreneurial genius, and much more, as two distinctly different cultures meet in a new world.  (amazon)

Fascinating history and memoir. This book started the author on her road to writing many more books on China, historical fiction. 

FRESH OFF THE BOAT: A MEMOIR by Eddie Huang

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Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang, published January 2013, is the basis for the new ABC TV show of the same name. 

Book beginning:

Chapter 1: Meet the Parents 

"The soup dumplings are off today!" Grandpa said."Should we tell the waiter? We should send these back." 

"No, no, no, no, no, don't lose face over soup dumplings. Just eat them."  

My mom always wanted to send food back.Everything on the side, some things hot, some things cold, no MSG, less oil, more chilis, oh, and some vinegar please. Black vinegar with green chilis if you have it, if not, red vinegar with ginger, and if you don't have that, then just white vinegar by itself and a can of Coke,,not diet because diet causes cancer.  

Page 56:

I remember my grandma always asking, "Are your parents still fighting?" I hated when she asked me that s--t. If I could keep it quiet and pretend ain't s--t going on, she should, too! (ch. 4, from ARE; final copy may differ)

Book description:

Eddie Huang is the thirty-year-old proprietor of Baohaus—the hot East Village hangout where foodies, stoners, and students come to stuff their faces with delicious Taiwanese street food late into the night—and one of the food world’s brightest and most controversial young stars. But before he created the perfect home for himself in a small patch of downtown New York, Eddie wandered the American wilderness looking for a place to call his own.  

Eddie grew up in theme-park America, on a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac in suburban Orlando, raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) hustlers and hysterics from Taiwan. While his father improbably launched a series of successful seafood and steak restaurants, Eddie burned his way through American culture, defying every “model minority” stereotype along the way. (amazon)

What do you think? Do you watch the TV sitcom? 

Book Review: I REGRET EVERYTHING by Seth Greenland

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I Regret Everything: A Love Story by Seth Greenland, Europa Editions (February 3, 2015)
Genre: contemporary romance, literary fiction
Objective rating: 5/5

Book beginning: Jeremy

It would be easy to say my troubles began when a mysterious woman walked into the office but that would ignore the time freshman year in college when Aunt Bren called to let me know my mother had removed all of her clothes in the furniture department at Macy's and been taken to Bellevue...

Jeremy Best, 33, would rather be a poet than a cautious and prudent lawyer. His boss's uncautious 19-year-old daughter, Spaulding, comes from a wealthy but broken home, with an unloving mother and a overly busy father. When she becomes a summer intern at the Manhattan law office, she maneuvers herself into Jeremy's life, an admirer of his poetry. The two become slowly involved through Jeremy's literary bent and interest in books outside of his law practice.

How does Jeremy feel about the non poets he works with in the corporate world of trusts and estates? He shows his poetic frame of mind:

Were they alive to the possibilities of the universe? Had they ever known what it was like to burn incandescently? To exist in a larger, all-encompassing way that would allow them to transcend their flavorless days spent in the pursuit of an ersatz happiness and exist in a more vibrant reality, alert to the lamentations of the cosmos and their brief time as vessels of consciousness? (p. 203)

A foreshadowing of the "brief time" that he and Spaulding may have as friends?

Recommendation: I loved this story showing that similar sensibilities and interests may be more important than age in any relationship. The language of the novel becomes poetic in parts, with some stream of consciousness mixed in with lines of poetry. The story line itself is engaging, two people in an unlikely relationship, helping each other in spite of the odds. The narrative is in the first person, alternating with Spaulding's and Jeremy's points of view.  I rated this novel a 5 out of five, and highly recommend it for poets and non-poets alike.


Seth Greenland is a novelist, playwright, and a screenwriter. He was a writer-producer on the Emmy-nominated HBO series Big Love, is an award-winning playwright, and the author of the novels The Angry Buddhist, The Bones, and Shining City, which was named a Best Book of 2008 by the Washington Post. Greenland lives in Los Angeles with his family.Visit his website, SethGreenland.com

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

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Thanks to the author and TLC for a review copy of this book. 

Book Beginning: A MAP OF BETRAYAL by Ha Jin

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A Map of Betrayal: A Novel by Ha Jin, published November 4, 2014 by Pantheon.
Genre: historical fiction, spy novel

Book beginning:

My mother used to say, "Lilian, as long as I'm alive, you must have nothing to do with that woman." She was referring to Suzie, my father's mistress. 

"Okay, I won't," I would reply. 

Nellie, my embittered mother, had never forgiven my father for keeping another woman, though he'd died many years before. I kept my promise. I did not approach Suzie Chao until my mother, after a tenacious fight against pancreatic cancer, succumbed last winter. Death at eighty - I can say she lived a long life. 

Page 56: 

On the very afternoon he checked into a mall hotel on Queen's Road in downtown Hong Kong, he called Bingwen, who was delighted to hear about his arrival and eager to see him. 

Book description: A tale of espionage and conflicted loyalties that spans half a century in the entwined histories of two families and two countries—China and the United States.

Found at the library, a spy novel I'm looking forward to reading.

Book Review: THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN by Lisa Jewell

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The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell, published August 12, 2014; Atria Books. Genre: contemporary novel, women's fiction.

Book beginning:

The damp heat came as a shock after the chill of the air conditioning that had cooled the care for the last two hours. Meg slammed the door behind her, pushed up the sleeves of her cotton top, pulled down her sunglasses and stared at the house. 

"Jesus Christ." 

Molly joined her on the pavement, and gawped from behind lime-green Ray-Bans. "Oh, my God."

Important themes: extreme hoarding syndrome, personality disorder, dysfunctional family relationships, and infidelity.

The plot:
Lorelei made sure her husband Bill and her children Megan, Beth, and the twin bosy Rory and Rhys had an idyllic childhood, She upheld rituals, one being the Easter ritual of Easter eggs hunts, lamb dinner, wine for the adults. Thing were perfect but as the children grew older, Lorelei began to show the cracks in the seams of their perfect life.

She became more and more of a pack rat, a hoarder who insisted on all the Easter egg shiny wrappers kept year after year, for instance, who shopped regularly for dozens of unwanted goods that were never used, and who later even began to fill the house with newspapers and books. Nothing was ever thrown away, not even when they became soiled or were falling apart.

The lives of the children and her husband were also affected. And the house held a secret under all the trash that was only uncovered at the end of the book, after Lorelei's death. A secret that had affected Lorelei's life and impacted the rest of her family.

Recommendation:
I was fascinated by this story of the gradual decay of a house and a woman who succumbed to her psychological hoarding disorder, who hid her secrets and only revealed them to an unknown email friend towards the end of her life. The characters learned acceptance of their own feelings and lives and were able to  live with each other's secrets and lives in the end.

I thought that the novel could have been a bit shorter as I was impatient for the story to wind down and the situations be resolved somewhat sooner. I admit I flipped through some of the final pages to get to the end. Overall, an interesting read that handles difficult subjects extremely well.

Objective rating: 4.5/5.

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book. 

Book Beginnings: ONE OF US by Tawni O'Dell

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One of Us by Tawni O'Dell, published August 14, 2014; Gallery Books. Genre: psychological mystery

Book beginning:

A Memory - Danny

"Come quick before he starts looking for you," my grandpa hissed.in a frantic whisper below my bedroom window, where he stood on an overturned wheelbarrow with outstretched arms while my father roared drunkenly downstairs.

Page 56:

Since her release from prison almost twenty years ago, my mom has lived off and on with Tommy, but he can't make her stay wit him and I can't make her stay with me either and I wouldn't want to attempt it.

Book description:
Dr. Sheridan Doyle, a  forensic psychologist, is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney's office but beneath his Armani pinstripes, he's still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago.

Returning to his hometown in Pennsylvania coal mining country, Danny finds a dead body at the infamous Lost Creek gallows where a band of rebellious Irish miners was once executed. Strangely, the body is connected to the wealthy family responsible for the miners' deaths. Teaming up with veteran detective Rafe, Danny, in pursuit of a killer, comes dangerously close to startling truths about his family, his past, and himself. 

Would you read on, based on the excerpts? 

Book Beginning: AMHERST by William Nicholson

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Amherst by William Nicholson, bo be published February 10, 2015 by Simon and Schuster.

Book beginning:

The screen is black. The sound of a pen nib scratching on paper, the sound amplified, echoing in the dark room A soft light flickers, revealing ink tracking over paper. Follow the forming letters to read: 

I've none to tell me to but thee 

The area of light expands. A small maplewood desk, on which the paper lies. A hand holding the pen.

My hand, my pen, my words. My gift of love, ungiven. 

page 56:

"It's so like you to want to build a graveyard," his wife said to him. "Why are we to be always thinking about death?"

Book description:... a novel about two love affairs set in Amherst—one in the present, one in the past, and both presided over by Emily Dickinson.

Alice Dickinson, a young advertising executive in London, decides to take time off work to research her idea for a screenplay: the true story of the scandalous, adulterous love affair that took place between a young, Amherst college faculty wife, Mabel Loomis Todd, and the college’s treasurer, Austin Dickinson, in the 1880s. Austin, twenty-four years Mabel’s senior and married, was the brother of the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, whose house provided the setting for Austin and Mabel’s trysts.

Alice travels to Amherst, staying in the house of Nick Crocker, a married English academic in his fifties. As Alice researches Austin and Mabel’s story and Emily’s role in their affair, she embarks on her own affair with Nick, an affair that, of course, they both know echoes the affair that she’s writing about in her screenplay.

Interspersed with Alice’s complicated love story is the story of Austin and Mabel, historically accurate and meticulously recreated from their voluminous letters and diaries. Using the poems of Emily Dickinson throughout, Amherst is an exploration of the nature of passionate love, its delusions, and its glories. This novel is playful and scholarly, sexy and smart, and reminds us that the games we play when we fall in love have not changed that much over the years.

What do you think? Is this a novel for you, as a reader?