Sunday Salon: A New Book and Recently Read

 

Mud Lilies

by 

Indra Ramayan, p

ublished May 21st 2022 by Cormorant Books

Genre: urban fiction, literary fiction 

Source: publisher review copy

About the book: The night fourteen-year-old Chanie Nyrider ran away from her abusive parents, she was saved by an older woman who  offered Chanie a new life working as a prostitute. With nowhere to turn, Chanie was drawn into Edmonton’s dark underbelly, where she survived until arrested four years later. She was given two options: jail or a high school program for troubled youth. Mud Lilies is the powerful story of a young woman finding a path of hope in the darkest of places and defiantly choosing to pursue it.

“Harrowing, hopeful, and informed by Ramayan's own experiences as a runaway to Edmonton, Mud Lilies is a hymn to the power of one young woman's defiant spark of life, a story of grit and wisdom set against a backdrop of cruelty and indifference.” — Grace O’Connell, Open Book

Recently read:

HARVEE’S RECENT UPDATES on Goodreads

Harvee rated a book it was amazing The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang (Goodreads Author)	Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars[ 5 of 5 stars ]
It's amazing that a chance encounter with a stranger, Zhang Fujian, carrying a small fortune in his bag would lead to the downfall of the Chao family patriarch, owner of the Chao restaurant, and lead to suspicion falling on the three sons. I enjoyed the characterization of each son, so different from one another, and the denouement of the plot in this domestic drama. There is a murder to be solved, also, but I liked that the brothers join together in the face of being children of immigrants in a small American town, and in the face of possible, pending tragedy.
Harvee rated a book  Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun   Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 stars This turned out not to be a detective novel as it first seemed, but a look at high schoolers then and seventeen years later in relation to the murder of a female student. There are hints as to what could have happened in the murder but the students and their interactions are the important elements of the novel. Character driven rather than plot driven, this was an unusual but very interesting look at adolescents.

Harvee rated a book   The Boy With the Bookstore by Sarah Echavarre Smith (Goodreads Author)

Read My rating: 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 stars

The romance between Max and Joelle began and blossomed early in the book, which surprised me, as I wondered, where the story would go from there. I liked that family plays such an important role in Joelle's life and that Max comes to value the idea of family as something he never had. I also liked that problems with Max's bookstore and Joelle's bakery also moved the story forward. The romance could have had more internal challenges, however, instead of all from outside conflicts. Also, the constant praises for Joelle as a dutiful daughter, praises from Max and from her family were a little overdone throughout the book. But overall, this was a pleasant read, a contemporary young romance novel.

What are you reading this week? 

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

Book Beginning: Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun

 

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun is described as loosely following the structure of a detective novel. The mysterious death of a high school beauty is revisited seventeen years later; the story is told mainly by the victim's sister and also by others at different time periods. The book "explores grief and trauma, raising important questions about guilt, retribution, and the meaning of death and life."

Book beginning: 

 I imagine what happened inside one police interrogation room so many years ago. By imagine, I don't mean invent. But it's not like I was actually there, so I don't know what to actually call it. I picture the scene from that day, based on what he told me and some other clues, my own experience and conclusions.

Page 56:

Mother, with her voice shaking, ordered me not to go anywhere, to lock the door and stay put. 

 

 Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun, October 12, 2021, Other Press

Would you read on?

The Friday 56. Find any sentence that grabs you on page 56 of your book. Post it, and add your URL to Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.