Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny

A special thank you to Edelweiss, Knopf Random House, and Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Duncan is charming, good-natured, and handsome. Jane falls easily in love with him. But he's also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan and because of this, Jane sees Duncan's old girlfriends everywhere—at restaurants, at the grocery store, even in neighbouring towns. 

Coming to terms with him being such a successful seducer is one thing, but having to share him is pushing it. He still mows his ex-wife's lawn and his coworker Jimmy comes and goes from Duncan's apartment at the most inopportune times. How is this relationship supposed to work with all these people in it? Not to mention most of the other residents of Boyne City, who freely share with Jane their opinions of her choices. 

Any notion Jane has of love and marriage changes with one terrible car crash. Now her life is permanently intertwined with Duncan's, Aggie's, and Jimmy's, and she knows she will never have Duncan to herself. But is it possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of her eyes? 

This is my first Katherine Heiny book and I was utterly enchanted. It's easy to fall in love with her quirky cast—although she is only 26, Jane is a bit of an old soul so it's no wonder she has an affinity towards thrifting, Duncan oozed charm and I was smitten, but was Jimmy who won my heart. He was the perfect vehicle for the other characters' growth.  

Early Morning Riser covers a span of 17 years in episodical chapters titled by year and I found that this was an overly ambitious timeframe to work with. But all-in-all, it was a lighthearted and fun read about love, loss, family, friendship, and community. I look forward to my next Heiny novel.

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KATHERINE HEINY is the author of Standard Deviation and Single, Carefree, Mellow, and her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many other magazines. 

Heiny lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband and children, and is a former resident of London, The Hague, and Boyne City, Michigan.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

A special thank you to Libro.fm and Penguin Random House Audio for an audiobook listening copy, and Edelweiss and Knopf for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass spectacle on a beautiful island in British Columbia. The owner of the hotel, Jonathan Alkaitis works in finance and slips Vincent his card—this encounter marks the beginning of their life together. On that very same day, Vincent's troubled half-brother, Paul, leaves a cryptic and disturbing message on one of the hotel's window: "Why don't you swallow broken glass." A shipping executive for Neptune-Avramidis, sees the note from where he is perched in the hotel bar and it shakes him to his core. Mysteriously, Vincent vanishes from from the deck of one of Neptune-Avramidis' ships thirteen years later. How did she fall overboard? Does it have anything to do with being Alkaitis' trophy wife?

This is a story about wealth, greed, corruption, unintended consequences, and how the ghosts of the past always find you. 

The audiobook is spectacular and Dylan Moore was the perfect casting choice.

There is a gentleness to St. John Mandel's beautiful writing and I was utterly captivated. There are so many subtle nuances and layers to this spider's web of a novel. This book is much more than a story about a Ponzi scheme. She slowly pulls back the proverbial curtain to reveal her characters struggles and juxtaposes their life choices against what could have been. It is a ghost story of sorts—the characters are haunted by themselves as much as Alkaitis is haunted by the ghosts of his victims.

Mesmerizing and haunting, The Glass Hotel is an understated and unexpected gift.

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EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL is the author of five novels. The bestselling Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, it has also been translated into thirty-two languages.

St. John Mandel lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Days of Awe by Lauren Fox

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

It took a little time to get invested in the book.  There were some confusing bits at the beginning when the story switches between past and present. 

Meet Izzie, recently separated and mourning not only the death of her marriage, but the death of her best friend Josie who happens to be married to her childhood friend Mark.  Izzie is not always likable, in fact, I found her extremely immature at times, and if you are looking for a character you can root for, she may not be your girl.  In fact, I actually identified more with Chris' feeling towards Isabel and her dramatics.  “There is a peculiar kind of terror you feel when the person you are closest to — for better or worse — begins to formulate the idea of a life without you.”  

Fox is a really good writer, and there were many wonderful passages to linger over - she has a gift for capturing emotion.  That being said, I did find the the book a bit on the long-ish side and felt that her relationship with her mother and the mother's back story was just extra (it was interesting, but for me just added to the bulk of the book).  And if you are waiting for a big finish, the book just kind of fizzles out.   

Adultery by Paul Coelho

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

I'm so torn...I wanted to love the book, I really did! There’s no doubt that Coelho is a fantastic writer, after all he does write poetry. However, I think this novel was a bit of a struggle. Was this done on purpose because the main character, Linda, a thirty-something journalist/mother/wife is struggling? Linda is going through her own crisis (albeit self inflicted). From the outside looking in, she has everything - she is married to a man who adores her (the "husband" as he's referred to in the whole book), a job where she is respected, money, a fabulous home, yet is not happy and feels that she is in a downward spiral.

Having interviewed a writer who talked about the meaning of life, Linda becomes manic in her efforts to find her own purpose and self-diagnosis. She treats what she thinks may be depression with a relationship (if you can classify it as such) with an old flame, Jacob, who is now a politician and known for his infidelity. Linda thinks this new found fling is just what she needs because it is giving her purpose and is thrilling because it is so out of character. Speaking of out of character, I think what she was planning to do to Jacob's wife was far fetched.

Another problem is that none of the characters were particularly likeable, especially Linda and Jacob. I thought this book would have been more interesting had it been penned from Jacob's wife.

The location seems to be of importance, it is mentioned several times and almost becomes like a character. Perhaps symbolic of the put-together, perfect world of Linda?

The novel is entirely written in first person and I think this did a disservice to the story. There was so much more to tell, I felt that Coelho only scratched the surface.