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