Meet Me in the Margins

Finished December 7

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

This novel, set in the publishing world follows assistant editor Savannah Cade as she works to survive the changes at the firm she works for and (hopefully) launch a new career as an author. A chance meeting with one of the biggest editors in the romance world, Claire Donovan has gained Savannah an in to get someone to look at her manuscript. But Claire is soon to retire and Savannah hasn't quite finished her book, so with a deadline and a writing demands, Savannah finds herself stretched thin. Add to this, the son of her present CEO coming on board as a problem solver to save her niche firm from going under, and one can sense the stress right away. William Pennington has moved back to Nashville from New York City to take this on, and Savannah finds that she isn't as intimidated by him as she expects, partly because he actually seems interested in her opinions.

Some time ago Savannah found a secret room leading off the book room of her firm, one accessed through a filing cabinet. She goes there when she can to relax and think. When she leaves her manuscript there, she returns to find the first few pages marked up with critical advice. When Claire's response to it echoes some of what those mark-ups said, she finds herself returning to her anonymous editor for help.

As Savannah finds herself conversing on paper with this person, she also finds herself increasingly drawn to William, and is confused by her feelings. 

As always, any book about writing or reading is one that intrigues me, and I found myself hoping Savannah would find both love and a publisher for her book, but I was a bit surprised by how things happened. I found the characters interesting, even the secondary ones like Savannah's cover designer, country song singing friend. Touches of humour only added to the experience. 

Super Bloom

Finished December 3

Super Bloom by Megan Tady

This debut novel has a lot going for it, from an interesting main character and plotline to touches of humour and hope. The main character is massage therapist Joan Johnston, who works at a luxury hotel spa in Vermont. She chose massage therapy because a good friend of hers did, and began a relationship with another massage therapist, Samuel. Unfortunately, Samuel died in an accident several months ago, and Joan is still grieving him. 

Joan is on thin ice in her job, and her manager assigning a problematic customer to her as a last test goes in a different direction than Joan expects. The customer, bestselling romance author Carmen Bronze has a writing block, and wants Joan to dish inside spa secrets and stories for a fee, and a great review. Joan agrees, and finds herself coming up with lots of ideas, until she realizes that she wants to write them herself, not share them for Carmen to use. 

As Joan works through her grief, makes new connections with her coworkers, and learns to stand up for herself with her friends and in her job, she also deals with a mother who seems to be going through a Swedish death cleaning phase, a stalker in a van, and hope for a more promising future. 

I really enjoyed this read, and the way that Joan found this opportunity to be a way forward for herself.

Lady with Chains

Finished December 1

Lady with Chains by Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman

This is a novel that is a combination of two stories. One is the story of the unnamed lady of the title. It is not said in so many words, but my impression was that the lady was one of the nobility imprisoned during the French Revolution, that then found herself on the docks and brought onto a ship to the new world. She does seem to be a lady that was imprisoned and mistreated, and then unexpectedly freed and placed on a ship to Quebec. 

The second story is of Virginie, a young woman of Quebec who meets Victor, a soldier, at a dance. He plans to claim a piece of land and build a house on it, to marry and have children, and to live a good life. Virginie agrees to marry him, and finds herself making her way through a blizzard to the cabin he's built, and things go horribly wrong on the journey. Virginie finds herself plotting revenge against Victor, intending to poison him. She waits through the winter and intentionally doesn't speak to her husband at all, but keeps her plan in her mind. She finds herself strengthened by the idea of the Lady with Chains, who persevered despite the terrible things that happened to her. 

It is a strange novel, with a flavour of the wilderness of Canada, as well as some of the bureaucracy, and there are surprises along the way. 

The Memory Library

Finished November 30

The Memory Library by Kate Story

Year before this story started Ella had a falling out with her mother, of which we gradually learn the details as the story unfolds. She went to college and then emigrated to Australia, and as the book opens, she learns that her mother has suffered a fall, and there has been a bathroom flood at her mother's home. Reluctantly she returns to London, intending to stay for the duration of her mother's convalescence, but she finds the situation somewhat different than she expected. Her mother seems frailer and less independent than she thought. 

She also finds the room that has borne the brunt of the damage is one that her mother had curated carefully for years. As Ella renews old friendships and digs into the past, she finds that her younger self had been quick to pass judgement. She also finds herself looking at the city with fresh eyes.

This is a story of books, books carefully chosen, for specific insights into life. It is books that offer a path forward to a possible reconciliation and to a better understanding of her own situation as well. This is also a book about community and the lives we touch as we live our own life. 

I enjoyed this book, for the growth that we see Ella take, for the books that are important to her, and to the community that she becomes a part of. 

Perfume River

Finished November 29

Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler

This novel is, like all Butler novels I've read, beautifully written. The main character here is Robert Quinlan, a seventy-year-old history professor at Florida State University. His wife Darla is also a professor at FSU, she teaches art theory and is working on a paper about Daughters of the Confederacy Monuments. They live in a Craftsman house that they built with an inheritance from Darla's parents years ago.

As the novel opens, they cross paths with a homeless man while eating a buffet dinner, and Robert buys him the meal and has a short conversation. The man, also named Bob, decides that the cold weather warrants a long walk to a shed behind a church, a place he knows is always left open to those who might need it. 

Robert had mistaken Bob for a Vietnam veteran, forgetting just how long ago that war was, and this error takes him back to his own youth, and his time in Vietnam and he considers why he went and what he did, particularly on one particular night. 

Robert has a brother Jimmy that chose a different path. Jimmy went to Canada, and their father William disowned him. Now their father is close to death and choosing to give unasked-for opinions. And their mother Peggy has somehow got hold of Jimmy's phone number and wants Robert to talk to him.

This is a story of family, of fathers and sons, of expectations and resentments, There is also a theme of war that arises. A book that made me sit and think for a while. 

Second Chance at Sunshine Inn

Finished November 29

Second Chance at Sunshine Inn by Amy Clipston

This small town novel starts with a loss. Alana McFadden, Everleigh Hartnett's godmother has died, and she chose not to let Everleigh or her family know how ill she was. Everleigh discovers that Alana left her half of the assets, which include her bed and breakfast, the Sunshine Inn, and the accounts associated with it. The other half was left to Cade Witherspoon, the young man who worked for her. Cade is ex-military and has been through some tough times lately as well, as we gradually discover.

Everleigh hasn't been home for the last few years, going from one contract to another as a NICU nurse, so she hasn't even met Cade before, and Alana hadn't mentioned him when they talked. But Everleigh spent a lot of her growing up years at the inn, helping out or just spending time there. She also talked a lot with Alana about a nonprofit she wanted to start to help parents with the costs associated with having a baby in intensive care. 

Cade helped Alana for the last few years with everything to do with the inn, from bookings to maintenance to cooking. For him, running the inn and expanding it to include dinners as well was a dream that he and Alana had drawn up plans for.

With different dreams, the two new owners clash, Everleigh wanting to sell to start her nonprofit and Cade wanted to grow the inn as he and Alana discussed. Everleigh moves in to Alana's suite at the inn to help run it until they figure out what they will do and as the two interact, the begin to get to know each other. 

Both main characters are genuinely nice people. Cade has some issues from his past, and Everleigh has to decide whether she is interested in giving up her nomadic life. They both have some family situations that they have to find their way through as well.

I enjoyed this novel, even though some storylines seemed unnecessary. 

December Reviews for the 19th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

This is where you add links to your book reviews that meet the requirements of this challenge.

We're in our sixth month and I'm enjoying seeing what people have been reading.

Silent Bite

Finished November 27

Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt

This is a novel in a long mystery series starring semi-retired criminal lawyer Andy Carpenter. Andy and his friend and former client Willie run the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue organization named after one of Andy's dogs. 

Willie has come to Andy with a request to represent his former cellmate Tony Birch, who is in jail for murder. The case seems cut and dried, but to Andy it seems like it's a little too wrapped up for the crime. He agrees to take it on partly because of Willie and partly because Tony has adopted one of dogs from the rescue organization. When one murder becomes two and then three, Andy isn't so sure, but he follows the logic of his client's case to find the truth. Why would someone who had left a criminal organization and been clean for years suddenly begin to kill? Or is someone framing him for these crimes? 

The tone of the novel is a cross between old-fashioned detective stories and dad humour. The plot is more complex, with a couple surprises along the way. 

In for a Penny

Finished November 26

In for a Penny by Kelsey Browning and Nancy Naigle

This cosy mystery has elements of humour and craziness. Set in small town Georgia, it begins with Lillian Summer Fairview dealing with the situation she discovers after her husband's death. The entirety of what she is dealing with only comes to the reader gradually. Lillian wanted to give her husband a proper funeral, and to get the money to do that she committed a crime. She is now readying herself for a trip to jail.

Part of her plan was to get her friend Maggie, also a widow, to move into her large house, a listed property that has been handed down in her family for generations. She also leaves instructions for Maggie to retrieve her car from the prison parking lot. Maggie doesn't discover the full situation until after Lillian is gone, and she tries to protect her friend's privacy and reputation.

The local police chief is a good man, but Lillian has kept him unaware of her situation as well. He drops into the house often and finds himself assisting the women with maintenance as it arises. When he is asked to move along an RV trying to camp in the local Walmart parking lot, something compels him to move them the Lillian's property. There, the RV owner Sera finds herself befriending Lillian and Maggie. When the chief is asked to intervene in another senior lady's travels, she ends up at Lillian's as well. 

There the three women look at Lillian's situation without her and determine that there is someone else involved who shouldn't be getting away scot-free, and they begin an investigation that has them determined to get their man.

I liked the characters, who started out looking like caricatures, but became more nuanced as the story unfolded. There is humour, intelligence, and southern charm here, and they all bring something to the situation.

Flying by the Seat of My Knickers

Finished November 24

Flying by the Seat of My Knickers by Eliza Watson

This is the first book in a series called The Travel Mishaps of Caity Shaw. Caity is from the Chicago area, and has recently had a few setbacks, both personally and professionally. She'd been in a long term relationship and hadn't realized how bad it was until someone approached her in a restaurant washroom and offered assistance. Emotional and mental abuse is often enacted gradually over time and when one is in it, it is hard to see the reality. When she decided to leave the relationship, the resulting situation also affected her work and she lost her job.

Now her sister Rachel, who works in event planning, has given her a position at an event in Ireland. She takes it, hoping to regain the previous close relationship she had with Rachel, but is finding herself worried about the mistakes she makes. She finds herself taken under the wing of another member of the team, Declan, a freelance event worker, who tells her stories of his own event mishaps to make her feel better.

Rachel is very busy as the lead for this event, and doesn't have the time to spend with Caity, but Declan seems tuned in to her and usually appears to assist her when something goes wrong. As she gains confidence, Caity discovers that she actually enjoys the work, despite the distractions of calls from her parents about job opportunities, her debt issues, and the worry over whether her ex is still following her. 

I enjoyed the characters of Caity and Declan, who we saw the most in the novel, and how we learned gradually of their situations. Caity is making a fresh start, never an easy thing, and we can see her grow here. I also enjoyed the travel aspect of the novel, learning more about Ireland. A fun read, with many touches of humour.  

Another Time and Place

Finished November 22

Another Time and Place by Samantha Grosser

This novel is set in 1944 and 1945 and has two voices. One of them is Anna Pilgrim, a young Englishwoman, brought up by a disgruntled divorced mother in a poor household. She is now working in the office of a munitions factory, overseen by a man whose family used to live near hers. The second is Tom Blake, a young American bomber pilot from the western United States. 

They meet in a café on Anna's day off and during Tom's leave. They connect in a way that neither of them expects and spend the next week together mostly in a hotel near Tom's base. When he goes on a mission and doesn't return, Anna returns home to her mother's anger, and goes back to work. 

Her mother is pressuring her to marriage, to a man they know, but in whom Anna has no interest. Besides, she is waiting for Tom as they had already made plans to marry. 

Tom, meanwhile, was injured when his plane went down and doesn't know what happened to the rest of his crew. As we see him worry about Anna and try to get messages to her but receives no response, he vacillates between hope and despair. 

This is a romance story of immediate attraction, followed by unplanned separation, that tugs at the emotions. As we see each character and know that the other longs for them, we are drawn in to the worry that they may not reconnect despite their feelings. I found myself caught up in the story. Anna is a strong woman with an independent attitude, and who luckily has a close supportive friend. Her relationship with her mother is antagonistic and has never been a good one. The characters have depth and motivations that make sense. A good read. 

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Finished November 22

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

This reflective book has been on my shelves for a long time. A memoir that began when she was bedridden with an undiagnosed illness, and found herself distracted by a snail that came into her room courtesy of a friend who brought it in along with a pot of wild violets. She isn't sure why her friend thought this was a good idea at first, but soon finds herself observing the snail as it goes about its day. She saw that it was nibbling on paper that was located near the pot, and offered it wilted flowers from the vases that visitors had brought. It also eagerly drank from the overflow on the dish below the pot when she watered the violets. When she awoke during the night and listened, she could hear the sound of the snail chewing on its food choice. 

After a few weeks, with the help of a carer, she was able to create a terrarium for it, from a discarded glass aquarium and local plants. A little research allowed her to learn more and she began offering it mushrooms, which it obviously loved. She was able to borrow a more scientific series of books on snails, allowing her to identify what kind of snail it was, and she continued to observe and enjoy.

The snail offered her something calm to focus on, and something to care for. It filled a need that she hadn't realized existed.

I enjoyed learning about snails along with her, and seeing her gradual improvement physically. This was a book that felt best reading slowly, reflecting and returning to after a few days. A pleasure to read. 

Work with Me

Finished November 20

Work with Me by Michelle McCraw

This is the first of a series of books set around a technology company, called Synergy. The series is called Synergy Office Romance. 

As the novel opens, Alicia has arrived to her first job for her own consultancy company. She has a strong mentor, Jamila, who has been encouraging and suggested her for this job. As she arrives a typical Austin hailstorm is starting and she darts across the street from the parking to the office tower. Unfortunately a ball of hail hits her right at her front hairline. A man waiting under the overhang assists her with the wound and the two have definite chemistry, but her pulls back, declining her offer of a coffee date.

Once inside her meeting, she finds one of the cofounders of the company, Cooper Fallon, had hired her to get a technology project back on track, and Jay, the other cofounder and the man she met earlier, was the team lead on the project. 

As the two work out how to work together and Alicia works to get the team back to the expected timeline, Jay and Alicia are forced to work closely together and get to know some of each other's personal lives. Alicia lives in a close family unit, and is responsible for her young nephew Noah. Jay has a blunder on his corporate record, and has been trying to make up for it ever since, supported by his assistant Marlee.

Both have past relationships they regret and are careful about starting anything new without feeling strongly positive about it. The technology language seems right and adds to the authenticity. A fun read.

One Perfect Couple

Finished November 18

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

The main character here is Lyla, a vaccine scientist who has been dating her actor boyfriend Nico for nearly three years. Lyla has been working short-term contracts for quite a while and her current one isn't going well as she has been unable to replicate the results of a former researcher. Nico has also been unable to find steady work.

One day Nico proposes that they compete on a new reality show called One Perfect Couple, which is sort of a combination of Survivor and The Bachelor. There isn't a lot of lead time on the project, but Lyla eventually agrees to make Nico happy. She arranges to do the write-up for her research while on the trip, since she is pretty much finished the lab work. 

The setting for the show is a resort that is being built on a small island a long boat ride from Jakarta. The couples begin to get to know each other on the boat ride, and Lyla finds herself coached by the others on how to act for the cameras and not look awkward.

Before the ship gets to the island all the participants are required to give up their devices, so as not to give away any information about the show. 

The other couples are a mix of actors and influencers except Joel, who is a college teacher. The pair ups are Joel and Romi, Dan and Santana, Bayer and Angel, and Conor and Zana. 

There is a lot of information that Lyla wasn't privy to, due to the and Nico being added last minute. This definitely affects the way things unfold. There is some drama between the participants and the resort isn't anywhere near ready for people to stay. The staff is non existent and the food offered to the couples very limited. When a storm hits the island on the first night things begin to go downhill quick. Soon, instead of people helping each other survive it seems that someone is determined to be the last one left. 

Full of suspense and with interesting characters, this is a real page-turner.