After Nightfall by A. J. Banner

A special thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Marissa Parlette and her former best friend, Lauren, have recently reconciled after not speaking for years.  Marissa had extended an olive branch and invited Lauren and her husband to her engagement party.  Only things aren't going so well, Lauren is blatantly hitting on her fiancé and doing so in front of her own husband.  After a tense and awful night, Marissa's body is found at the bottom of a cliff.  Did she fall?  Was she pushed?  Or did she willingly step off?

Desperate to make sense of the tragedy, Marissa digs in.  The party seems to have brought out the worst in her guests, even her fiancé is suspect.  The more Marissa questions, the more she is left confused.  Marissa ends up questioning everything she knows about her friends, the man she loves, and even questions herself.

I had the pleasure of reviewing The Twilight Wife and was impressed, but unfortunately this story fell a little flat for me, but Banner redeemed it at the end.

The plot is interesting with enough twists to keep the reader vested in the story.  When looking at the synopsis, this appears to be a clever book with an interesting cast of characters that are connected enough to add another layer of mystery.  However, the characters were not developed enough and neither was the backstory.  For me this was the difference between 3 and 4 stars.

A. J. BANNER was born in India and raised in North America. Her first novel, The Good Neighbor, was a #1 Kindle bestseller for thirty-four days. The Twilight Wife was a USA Today bestseller.

Banner lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and five rescued cats.

The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beatriz Williams' latest novel is mesmerizing.  Set in the 1950s and '60s, it is a tempestuous story of romance, class, power, secrets, and murder set on picturesque Winthrop Island.

It is the the summer of 1951 and Miranda Schuyler arrives on the elite, yet secretive Winthrop Island in Long Island Sound.  She is a naive eighteen year old who is still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War.

Miranda is a graduate of the exclusive Foxcroft Academy in Virginia and has always been on the cusp of high society. When her beautiful mother marries the dashing Hugh Fisher at his family summer home, Miranda is thrust deeper into the world of the elite with their pedigrees and cocktail hours.

Isobel Fisher is Miranda’s new stepsister and she takes Miranda under her wing to educate her on the clandestine ways of the Winthrop upper crust.  She is long-legged, blonde, a bit brash, and adored by her fiancé, Clayton Monk.

The other residents of the island are not wealthy summer families; they are the working class made up of Portuguese fisherman and domestic service people who earn an honest days work from the seasonal inhabitants.  Miranda finds herself attracted to  the lighthouse keeper's son, Joseph Vargas, a lobster fisherman.  He is also a childhood friend of Isobel's and attends Brown's in the hopes of bettering himself.

Almost two decades later, Miranda, now a famous actress, finally returns to the Island.  She is nursing a heartbreak and secrets of her own.  On the surface, the Island appears to be the same, but Miranda quickly realizes that things are not as they appear.  For one, the Fisher family no longer wields the same power and prestige it once did and Greyfriars, the Fisher family summer home, is in complete disrepair.  Also, Joseph has escaped from Sing Sing where he has been serving a sentence for the murder of her stepfather eighteen years earlier.  Miranda makes it her quest to bring justice to the man she once loved and still loves.

This was my first Beatriz Williams' book and I was utterly enchanted!  Williams is extremely seasoned with her character development—she lets the plot unfold through these rich, complex characters and her execution of this tumultuous story was flawless.  The setting was gorgeous as is her writing.  Speaking of gorgeous, can we take a moment to appreciate the beautiful cover?  I love the whole vintage aesthetic and it also comes through in Williams' writing.  The story was perfectly paced and just as visually stunning as the cover.  This book will be THE book of the summer.

BEATRIZ WILLIAMS is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and several other works of historical fiction.

She is a graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, and her books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world.

Williams was born in Seattle, Washington, and now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children.

Book Club Speed Dating

Left to right: Amy Stuart, Heidi Sopinka, Karma Brown, Joanna Goodman, Tish Cohen, Uzma Jalaluddin.
Photos credit: Girl Well Read.  Do not use without written permission.

What a wonderful event at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge featuring:

Karma Brown—The Life Lucy Knew

Heidi Sopinka—The Dictionary of Animal Languages

Uzma Jalaluddin—Ayesha at Last

Tish Cohen—Little Green

Amy Stuart—Still Water

Joanna Goodman—The Home for Unwanted Girls

The format of the event was the authors sitting at a table with an audience for a ten minute chat before moving on to the next table. The authors gave a brief synopsis of their book, answered a table question (see photo for my table's question), and then if time permitted, answered other questions. Following the speed dating rounds, there was a group Q & A for any final questions missed in the earlier table discussions. Oh, and there was wine.  

These ladies were not only inspiring, but simply delightful.

Karma, it was great to connect with you again. I adore your writing! You are such an engaging and lovely person and one of my favourite authors. Can't wait for your next book! ⠀⠀⠀

Heidi, I enjoyed chatting with you about our twin degrees, publishing, and clutches that look like books. I can’t wait to read your book, thank you for signing my copy. 

Uzma, you are so charming and your book sounds amazing. I’m excited to meet Ayesha. 

Tish, the quote read during your introduction really resonated with me as well. Thank you for sharing and I’m looking forward to reading Little Green and Town House (hello, McDreamy). 

Amy, you were so well spoken and engaging. Claire sounds like such a complex and intriguing character—good thing there’s two books (so far). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Joanna, it was such an honour to read The Home for Unwanted Girls and to hear you speak more about it. You brought a voice to a story that desperately needed one. Congratulations on all the well-deserved success of this book.

The Banker's Wife by Cristina Alger

A special thank you to Penguin First to Read for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

On a November morning, a private plane departs for Geneva, but crashes in the Alps after experiencing stormy weather.  Among the passengers was Matthew Lerner, a banking insider with the powerful offshore bank Swiss United.  His widow, Annabel, is left with an encrypted laptop and a questionable client list.  In her desperate search for answers, she learns that Matthew's death was no accident, and she is now involved.

 Society journalist Marina Tourneau is on top of the world.  She is engaged to Grant Ellis, son of a powerful politician and is finally part of the upper echelon of New York.  After the death of her mentor, she reluctantly agrees to investigate one more story.  While looking into Swiss United, Marina uncovers information that will not only implicate, but bring down some of the most powerful players in the financial industry.  No one is immune, including some who are close to home.  The story may also bring answers to Annabel's search, that is if Marina chooses to publish.

Alger's globetrotting thriller was a mixed bag for me.  I found the beginning slow, but I'm glad I stuck with it because the story really picked up to a frenzied finish.

The writing was quick and sharp, but I did feel that the characters could have been further developed and I think that Alger hides this weakness behind her clever plot.  Written from both female perspectives, the characters needed to be more than they were, they simply lacked the depth needed.  What I did like was that they were the perfect pairing—one was trying to uncover a secret while the other was trying to conceal information.

Fans of the thriller/mystery genre will devour this book.  Once you get into the story, the pace is quick, just what one would expect.  

My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan

A special thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

McEwan pens a wonderful short story about the perfect literary crime to celebrate his 70th birthday!

Written as a confession from Parker Sparrow about his friendship and betrayal of celebrated novelist, Jocelyn Tarbet, this short story is riveting from the from the first line.  He is so clever, McEwan actually makes you root for the narrator even though he has plagiarized his best friend.  Gah!  So brilliant.

The writing is razor sharp, witty, and clever.  Simply fab!

The Lost Family: A Novel by Jenna Blum

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Harper for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blum's latest generational work spans from the 1960s to the 1980s.  Her beautiful prose is juxtaposed against culinary delights (trust me, her descriptions of food will make you want to throw a dinner party).

In 1965 Manhattan, Masha's is the talk of the town—not only because its exquisite faire and impeccable service, but because of the movie-star handsome owner and head chef, Peter Rashkin.  Peter is a survivor of Auschwitz, his wife (the restaurant's namesake) and two young daughters perished and he has resigned himself to a solitary life, even with all of the attention he attracts from the women who flock to the restaurant in hopes of snagging the city's most eligible bachelor.

An up-and-coming model, June Bouquet, catches Peter's eye and soon his heart. Although she is twenty years younger, they have a passionate relationship.  June becomes pregnancy and Peter ends up proposing thinking that perhaps this new beginning will help heal him from the horrors of his past.  Over the next twenty year, the family is eclipsed by Peter's grief and memories that overshadow them in life, loss, and love.

This beautiful story is about relationships, family, and grief.  Blum is artful and detailed in her writing that is so effortless and elegant.   Her study in loss is monumental and could overtake the narrative at any time, however she deftly navigates through the story than spans several years with ease.  What I loved about the book is how immersed the reader is in each decade through pop culture, fashion, and of course food!

Peter is a broken and flawed character that cannot escape the guilt and grief he has over the death of his wife and daughters.  The Lost Family could be considered a ghost story with a modern twist in that the family are forever living with the ghosts of Peter's past.  His life is overshadowed by the ghost of his wife and daughters.  Her memory smothers Peter, and June feels in constant competition with Masha. Their daughter also feels the effects, with the strife between her parents as well as the loss of a family she never knew.

This was my first book by Jenna Blum and I'm utterly enchanted.  She pens complex, interesting characters, provides gorgeous descriptions, and charges her writing with emotion and depth.  

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

A special thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How well do you know those closest to you?  What if the person you thought you knew best was someone you actually didn't know at all?

Andrea Cooper thinks she knows her mother, Laura, a speech therapist who is a pillar of the community.  While out for lunch at the mall for a birthday celebration, an act of violence sets a chain of events in motion and in the face of danger, Laura becomes a completely different person.

Only twenty-four hours later, Laura is shot by an intruder that has spent the better part of thirty years tracking her.  Andrea must go out on her own and put together the pieces of Laura's past before time runs out for both of them.

Fans of Slaughter have made it apparent that this was a bit of a departure for her—there is a note from the author added to the synopsis on Goodreads, and it explains why.  I enjoyed the development of Andy from a thirty-year-old girl into a strong and mature woman.  We need more of these characters!  Slaughter also capitalizes on the fragile, tense, and complex relationship between mothers and daughters.  She also examines the shift from Laura's upbringing of limited choices for women to what many young people face, which is the overwhelming abundance of too many choices that as Slaughter puts it, can be completely paralyzing.      

This was my first foray into Karin Slaughter's writing and I was impressed, although I was expecting more by way of mystery.  Even though it was slow in parts, I found the writing sharp and clever and it did ultimately pick up about two thirds of the way through.  I'll definitely be visiting her back catalogue, she had me hooked when she mentioned Depeche Mode!

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Growing up in a small town, Jon and Chloe are the only ones who truly understand each other.  Jon doesn't fit in and is bullied.  Chloe doesn't seem to care what her friends think when she hangs out with Jon.  They each have feelings for each other that are more than friends, but neither expresses their feelings.  

Jon finally gets up the courage to tell Chloe how he feels about her, but he never gets the chance because he is kidnapped on the way to school by his substitute teacher.  Mr. Blair, who is obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, has given Jon some kind of power in his plight to save humanity.  

Chloe carries on and tries to live a "normal" teenage life even though her best friend is missing.  She continues to mourn Jon while trying to fit in and gains popularity with the in crowd.  

Four years have passed and Jon wakes up from a coma.  Jon realizes that he possesses an uncontrollable power, and that is life threatening to anyone he has any kind of feelings for.  To protect Chloe, he runs away, but not before he has attracted the attention of a detective who is obsessed with a string of deaths that appear to be connected.

This was a mixed bag for me.  Obviously Kepnes can write, the hook had me until the four years later part.  I'm not sure if it was the supernatural element that didn't quite work, but something had me skimming.

So the positive was the writing, as I mentioned.  Kepnes explores complex relationships that deal with the multi facets of love/relationships (Jon and Chloe, Eggs and his wife and son), how we struggle with identity, how passion can be dangerous when ignited, and how the lines of all of these things blur into one another.  There was some really incredible stuff here.  But...for some reason I just couldn't stay invested and engaged in the story.      

And now for the negative.  I'm not understanding the purpose of the depth of the sub plot with Eggs (yes, that was his name).  It was too complex and it was like reading two books at the same time.  Eggs' story was about his relationships with his passive-aggressive wife, his non-existent relationship with his severely handicapped son, and his in denial relationship with his own self and his health.  There's a lot to unpack here.  

I also felt a disconnect to the story because of the H.P. Lovecraft references—fans of his works will definitely enjoy this book more than I did since this was completely lost on me.  Again, this was the tie-in to the supernatural elements that really threw me.  This book was not what I expected.

All that being said, I have heard amazing things about You.  I will definitely pick it up, I'm not done with Caroline Kepnes yet.