Things to Do When It's Raining by Marissa Stapley

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mae Summers and Gabriel Broadbent were childhood friends. They grew up together at the Summers' Inn which is owned by Mae's grandparents, Lilly and George.  Mae and Gabriel were raised together—Mae was orphaned at a young age, and Gabriel needed protection from his abusive alcoholic father. Their relationship progressed into their first loves, and the young couple were torn apart when Gabe abruptly left Alexandria Bay.

Fast forward and Mae and Gabe are grown. Both end up back in Alexandria Bay—Mae after a romantic setback, and Gabe because of his father. Mae returns to her grandparents Inn and finds that her grandparents relationship is suffering because of past secrets that also impact her.

Are these relationships worth salvaging and the past worth reclaiming?

Things to Do When It's Raining is a story about love, loss, forgiveness, and truth. Families are complicated, and this book doesn't shy away from family drama and complex relationships.

I enjoyed the character development, setting, and premise for this story. Sometimes when a narrative incorporates both the past and the present, it can be cumbersome for the reader particularly if they have connected with one storyline over the other. In this case, this type of narrative worked because of the well-written characters and their solid development. Stapley's writing is truly lovely and captivating.

My only criticisms were that I wanted more of Gabe's present story, and that the ending felt rushed especially given the pace throughout the rest of the book.

A gorgeous book and I look forward to reading more from Marissa Stapley.

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MARISSA STAPLEY is the Globe and Mail bestselling author of Mating for Life. She writes the commercial fiction review column "Shelf Love" for the Globe and Mail, and reports on books and culture for the Toronto Star.

She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.    

I Found My Tribe by Ruth Fitzmaurice

A special thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This rambling, manic at times, narrative is a raw and honest book about living with MND (here in Canada known as ALS—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—or Lou Gehrig's disease).  Ruth Fitzmaurice's filmmaker husband, Simon, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2008.  He is wheelchair-bound, not able to move or breathe on his own, and can only communicate through the use of an eye gaze computer.  It is these eyes that Ruth uses as the windows in which to find her husband—she knows he is still in there even though he can't speak to her, or touch her.  

Ruth and Simon are parents to five children, all under the age of ten.  As if that weren't chaos enough, there is a constant parade of nurses that come and go 24 hours a day, and a gaggle of pets including an aggressive basset hound.  One of the many challenges Ruth faces is to find any sort of peace in the chaos, any moment of stillness and calm to keep her sane and grounded.  She craves connections, whether it be to her "Tragic Wives' Swimming Club", or to her favourite nurse, Marian.  Human connection is so important to survival, especially in times of tragedy.

Fitzmaurice doesn't use any type of timeline, or write in any kind of order.  Instead, she chunks her  staccato type narrative into mini essays.  To be honest, it took me a while to get into her groove,  there are times where she is all over the place and scattered and it feels like she has simply taken every thought in her head and put it on the page in order to make sense of her life.  While this type of writing doesn't appeal to everyone, it works for this book.  This memoir is raw, honest and heartbreaking, while at the same time showing the beauty of love.  It inspires, and demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit.  Ruth is unabashedly open with her thoughts and feelings and I think she is incredibly brave to bare her life in this way.  

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

A special thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Liz Nugent's dark and compelling thriller opens with the perfect hook: "I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her."  Told from multiple points, Nugent's debut is a chilling exploration into the nature of evil.

Oliver Ryan is a handsome, charismatic, and successful children's author.  He is married to Alice, who illustrates his award-winning books.  She is a devoted wife, and their life is one of envy and privilege until one evening, Oliver knocks her into unconsciousness and beats her into a coma hovering between life and death.  

Those who know the couple are shocked and are trying to understand what could have driven Oliver to attack his wife so savagely.  With each chapter, the story unfolds, and the layers of Oliver's character are peeled away to reveal his manipulation, deception, and shame.

Nugent has a fresh approach to this genre—there is no question of whodunit, and there is no doubt as to what the crime was.  Instead she takes the reader on a ride to figure out what could have driven someone to commit such a horrific act.  For a debut, this is a solid effort, and I can't wait to see what Nugent writes next.