Sunday Salon: First Books of the New Year and Last Books of the Old Year

 

Wishing you lots of great books in 2023!

For the very first read in 2023, these three are on my list! Which would you choose?

1) a thriller

The Personal Assistant (review)

by 

Kimberly Belle

2) A beach rom com for winter! 

People We Meet on Vacation

by 

Emily Henry

3) A psychological thriller with a unsocial main character

Safe With Me

by 

K.L. Slater

4) Gothic suspense set in Italy

The Villa

A Novel

by Rachel Hawkins

My last books in 2022 were:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

April 5, 2022; Doubleday
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Not exactly historical fiction, as this novel is set in the 1960s, but it does detail how old fashioned attitudes to women discriminated against them in all areas. It shows that misogyny and inequality prevented many women from advancing in their careers, especially in the sciences. Also, abuses, physical and mental, they had to endure that put and kept them down.

The story is moving and infuriating both, and we cheer on the main character, Elizabeth Zott, who struggles after the death of her very supportive husband to raise a gifted child on her own as well as fight for her career in chemistry. The story is bittersweet and I loved the ending.

The Secret Mother

by 

Shalini Boland

Tessa is separated from her husband and still suffering from  the loss of twin babies years before. She comes home one day to find a five-year-old boy in her home, saying that she, Tessa, is his new mommy, brought to her by an angel.

I loved the suspense of the plot, the mystery behind the boy, and Tessa's search for the truth, to clear her name of kidnapping the boy, and to find who he really is.

I guessed the ending but still enjoyed the slow revealing of the mystery. 

This will be my very last read/listen for this year: 

The Kimono Tattoo 

by 

Rebecca Copeland

Audiobook 

I love the intricate quality of this novel - its plot, descriptions of kimono design, and traditional tattoo motifs. A translator, Ruth, travels to Kyoto to work on a new manuscript by a long forgotten Japanese writer. The discovery of a nude body of a woman on the banks of a river covered only in intricate, almost full body tattoos, adds to the intrigue and mystery of what turns out to be a look at the "underside of Tokyo."

The narrator was excellent, the plot added suspense and atmosphere to Tokyo by day and night, and the kimono tattoos on the body of the woman, as well as tattoo sketches found by Ruth and her friends, made this an intriguing novel. The unearthing of dark secrets in this unseen side of the city made this novel of suspense worth listening to.

Which books were your last in 2022? And your first for 2023?

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

Sunday Salon: Bookworm by Robin Yeatman

 I'm fast getting into the ARCs on my list, hoping to keep up and catch up before the holidays are here. It's taking longer than I imagined to listen to some of the audiobooks, but I'm enjoying them nevertheless. 

Reviewed:

Bookworm

by 

Robin Yeatman

Publication: Feb. 14, 2023, Harper Perennial; NetGalley ARC 

Genre: literary fiction, dark comedy

My review:

Imagine an avid book lover whose vivid imagination is fueled by all the books she reads, and whose mind makes her imagine the lives of strangers, sometimes accurately. Her invention of the people she meets in public, in cafes, pubs, on the street are fanciful and extraordinarily creative. But her wild dreams, too, of escaping from a restrictive, confining marriage, are often wickedly fiendish.

The novel, Bookworm, is described as a black comedy, and it is entertaining as well as clever. We cheer for Virginia, up to a point, when she tries to find a life away from a controlling husband, a book-hating, germaphobe who tries to separate her from her books. Her imagination carries this unusual novel, and I was surprised by the ending as well.

Now Listening, Audiobooks:

The Favor

by 

Nora Murphy

Publication: May 31, 2022; Macmillan Audio

Genre: suspense, women's fiction, domestic drama

Review: Excellent suspense novel about two women, one a lawyer and the other a pediatrician, who are in abusive marriages, with husbands who refuse to allow them to work, for one. I appreciated the tight plotting that follows the two women, who don't know each other, but who nevertheless are connected in this fast paced novel.

Superb writing and character development. The author in her notes at the end says her book highlights domestic abuse which has become an endemic situation, in all social classes and education levels. 

The narration was excellent and held my interest throughout. 

The Kimono Tattoo

by 

Rebecca Copeland

Audiobook, April 26th, 2022, Brother Mockingbird

Genre: thriller, suspense, set in Tokyo

About: "I jostled her shoulder and noticed when I did that her skin was cold to the touch....her entire torso was covered in tattoos from her collar bone to the midline of her thighs. All were of kimono motifs-fans, incense burners, peonies, and scrolls." 

As Ruth Bennett struggles to unravel the cryptic message hidden in the kimono tattoo, she is forced to confront a vicious killer along with her own painful family secrets. (publisher)

What are you reading/listening to 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