White Ivy by Susie Yang

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

When she was two-years-old, Ivy Lin was left in the care of her maternal grandmother, Meifeng, because her parents emigrated to the United States. At the age of five, she flew solo to the U.S. where she is reunited with her parents and baby brother, Austin. Her frigid mother, Nan, was incredibly strict and often subjected Ivy to verbal and physical abuse. Meifeng, a petty thief, eventually follows her family and teaches Ivy her tricks—the pair pilfer items from thrift shops and yard sales.

Then Ivy meets Gideon Speyer, a politician's son, and becomes obsessed with him. After Ivy's parents discover that she has been sneaking out and lying about her whereabouts, she is sent to China for the summer. Thinking that she will defy her parents upon her return, Ivy is shocked to find out that the family has moved to New Jersey, dashing her hopes of reconnecting with Gideon. 

Ivy, now living in Boston, is teaching grade one and is unfulfilled with her life. After a chance meeting with Gideon's sister, Sylvia, she is welcomed back in the Speyer family's fold and captures Gideon's heart. When Ivy's past collides with her new life, she completes a shocking and desperate act to preserve the  happily ever after that she has worked so hard to build 

With her razor sharp prose, Yang has crafted a story that rivals that of a seasoned writer—her debut is haunting and mesmerizing. Permeating the narratives is a loneliness, a pathos that follows Ivy into all of her relationships and threatens her success. She is completely disconnected with reality and gets swallowed by her dark side. 

Ivy is a highly-developed character that is layered with culture and family. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Ivy struggles with finding her place—she is marred by an obsession with the upper echelon and Yang juxtaposes this with her modest Chinese-American upbringing. Ivy feels a sense of shame because of her poor family yet is both repressed and empowered by this, all while exploring her race, class, and identity.

On the whole, White Ivy just didn't work for me and I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps because I can't figure out the main character. What makes her tick? What motivates her? And she is incredibly unlikable. Why did Yang choose to write her this way? Is that the point of the story, that the reader will feel for someone that they also loathe? That being said, I was impressed by Yang's writing—she is a compelling storyteller—and I would definitely read her again. 

White Ivy is a coming-of-age story and a comment on race, class, and identity. 

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SUSIE YANG has a doctorate of pharmacy from Rutgers and launched a tech startup in San Francisco that has taught 20,000 people how to code. She has studied creative writing at Tin House and Sackett Street. White Ivy is her first novel.

Yang was born in China and has lived across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She now resides in the UK. 

The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry

A special thank you to Libro.fm Audiobooks and Simon & Schuster Audio for an audiobook listening copy.

The Roxy Letters is a series of letters that are penned to our heroine's dud ex-boyfriend, Everett. He also happens to be her roommate because of her financial straits. At first, Roxy is using the notes to establish rules and remind Everett of his overdue rent payments. But as time goes on, her letters become less about the rent and more about the shambles of her life—how did things get so messy?

Fed up with being a deli maid at Whole Foods, her dismal love life, and the corporatization of her beloved Austin, Roxy decides that it is time to become the heroine of her own story. Enlisting the help of her two best friends, Anna and Artemis, she sets her sights on taking down Lululemon. And on top of that, she also trying to stay employed, spark a romance with Patrick from Beer Alley, and keep her dog safe from her meth head neighbours.

Will Roxy ever figure out her life's purpose and get her groove back?

Epistolary novels are usually my bag—I love the format and find them a refreshing change—but I struggled with The Roxy Letters. At first I thought Roxy was hilarious and had this book pegged as my new favourite, but then it started to become rather ridiculous. The letters were sometimes rant-y, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes completely cringe-worthy. Ahem, the sex cult. Not being judgemental, and I'm certainly no prude, but this was weird. And so not necessary.

Lowry is a great writer, she's engaging and funny, but ultimately lost the plot on several occasions when things became overly manic with Roxy.

This is no Bridget Jones' Diary. Bridge is completely relatable and you are rooting so hard for her whereas Roxy is a rambling hot mess—I mean how many ridiculous situations can she get herself into?

I know like it sounds like I didn't like this book, but I did, and would rate it a solid three stars. If Lowry had tightened up the rambling speech, cut out the sex cult stuff, and injected more Artemus and Annie, this would have easily been four stars.

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MARY PAULINE LOWRY received her MFA from Boise State University. She is the author of the novels The Roxy Letters and Wildfire, she’s also a regular contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Millions, and other publications.

Lowry is a native of Austin, Texas.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

A special thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, Simon & Schuster Canada, Simon & Schuster Audio, and Libro.fm for an ARC/audiobook listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

The standard interview question: Where do you see yourself in five years? Overachiever and highly ambitious Dannie Cohan has prepared the perfect answer.

She's having the best day: she nails her job interview and her boyfriend, David, proposed! But when she wakes up, she is not in her apartment, she has a different ring on her finger, and she's beside a man who is not David. It is also five years in the future.

When Dannie wakes up again, she's back in 2020 and it is just before midnight. She is completely rattled and can't stop thinking about what just happened. Determined to put it past her, she doesn't even speak of it—not even to her best friend, Bella. That is until almost five years later when Dannie has a chance meeting with the very man from her astonishing vision that night.

A story of love, loyalty, friendship, and fate, In Five Years will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

Serle's latest work is an extraordinary novel whose plot revolves around the tried-and-true interview question. It is thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and smart. And not at all what I expected.

Dannie is forced to reevaluate her life even though her personality is to plan life right down to the minute. But Serle creates some remarkable twists that force her to acknowledge that you can't plan everything, and that life happens.

In Five Years is a beautiful, intricate, and layered work that is not a typical love story—it embraces all of the loves in our lives whether they are the loves you choose or the ones that you don't.

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REBECCA SERLE holds a MFA from the New School in NYC. She codeveloped the hit TV adaptation of her YA series Famous in Love, and is also the author of The Dinner List, and YA novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine.

Serle lives in New York and Los Angeles.

When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald

A special thank you to Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio for an audiobook listening copy.

Zelda was born on the fetal alcohol syndrome spectrum and knows that she is different. But like the ancient clans of Vikings, Zelda finds strength in her tribe: her her older brother, Gert, and his on-again/off-again girlfriend, AK47, her therapist, and her friends at the community centre (especially her boyfriend, Marxy).

When Gert gets in over his head trying to pay the bills, he resorts to some questionable and dangerous methods. Obsessed with Vikings—their legends, their fierce loyalty, their courage—Zelda decides to launch her own quest to become legendary, and help her brother no matter the cost.

After all, we are all legends of our own making.

This tale of autonomy (framed in the form of a quest) is a coming-of-age story that is marred by too much sex/too many sexual references that Zelda simply cannot understand. She is such a unique and well-written character that I couldn't help being charmed by her infectious and sincere passion for Vikings. And yet at the same time, I was horrified on Zelda's behalf at the situations that MacDonald wrote her into that left her diminished, powerless, and in danger. I felt protective of her, but maybe that was the point?

I'm conflicted with my feelings about this book. With the #ownvoices movement going strong, the literature landscape is changing. Does this book qualify? Does it aim to improve diversity in the industry by matching the author to its subject matter? Well no, it doesn't. How can a grown man share an identity with a young girl, let alone one with a cognitive disability? But through careful and compassionate writing, MacDonald has penned one of the most unique and (sometimes painfully) honest heroines and I'm confident that Zelda will find her clan of readers that will root for her.

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ANDREW DAVID MACDONALD won a Western Magazine Award for Fiction, was shortlisted for the Canadian National Magazine Award for Fiction, and his work has been anthologized in four volumes of The Journey Prize Stories, collecting the year’s best Canadian stories from emerging writers. He has an MFA from the Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

MacDonald grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

A special thank you to Libro.fm Audiobooks, Simon & Schuster Audio, NetGalley and Atria for an ARC/audiobook listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty five years ago, the police were call to a home with reports of a baby crying. Upon arrival, they find a well cared for ten-month old baby happy in her crib. But downstairs, there are three bodies that all dressed in black next to a note. And the four children who reportedly live there are nowhere to be found.

At the age of twenty-five, Libby Jones has just found out that she has inherited a large home worth millions in an upscale neighbourhood in Chelsea. The home was held in trust by her birth parents—she learns their identity at the meeting with the solicitor that is handling the estate. There are others that have been waiting for this day as well, and they are on a collision course to meet.

In a word, brilliant!

Jewell's writing is enthralling, descriptive, and complex. She packs an emotional and psychological punch with just the right amount of suspense. The setting is pivotal to the story and becomes one of its characters—if creepy houses are your bag, than this book is for you!

The characters are rich and highly developed. Told through multiple perspectives, this captivating and twisty narrative is executed masterfully. Jewell has a knack for creating suspense that is both compelling and sublimely atmospheric.

Disturbing at times, gripping, and often quirky, The Family Upstairs is one of my favourite books this year.

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LISA JEWELL is the internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Then She Was Gone, as well as I Found You, The Girls in the Garden, and The House We Grew Up In.

In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into sixteen languages so far.

Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters.

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

A special thank you to Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio for an audiobook listening copy.

During a whirlwind trip to England for her eighteenth birthday, Tate Jones fell in love. Sam Brandis was her first everything, including her first betrayal and her first heartbreak.

But Tate Jones is actually Tate Butler, daughter of Ian Butler, one of the most famous actors in the world. This fact is something that she has kept hidden from everyone, except Sam. So when he breaks her trust, and subsequently her heart, Tate is shattered.

Fast forward fourteen years. Tate has followed in her father's footsteps and is a sought after actor. For the first time in her career, she will be starring opposite her father in a movie—this is her big break. Arriving on set, she comes face-to-face with the last person she expected to see: Sam. He is still so handsome, and as charming as she remembers.

Forced to confront the man who hurt her the worst, Tate wonders if Sam could be her happily ever after, or if he was her her once in a blue moon.

This was my first Christina Lauren book (I know, where have I been?) and I loved it! It was flirty, fun, and completely engaging. I've been hearing rave reviews about this author team and finally got on the train thanks to Libro.fm.

Twice in a Blue Moon had a fantastic premise. We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture that finds the inner workings of Hollywood fascinating, and this book dishes! The writing was clever and captivating with a well-developed back story. There were parts that were so moving and tender—the innocence and excitement of first love was captured so wonderfully.

If you love YA and romance, than this book is for you. The beginning reads like a young adult book and the rest is a smart and consuming romance.   

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CHRISTINA LAUREN is the combined pen name of bestselling authors and best friends, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings.