Mourning Gloria

Finished August 31

Mourning Gloria by Susan Wittig Albert

This is the 19th book in her China Bayles series. Here, China's husband McQuaid is away on a case and her stepson Brian is at camp, so it's just her, her niece Caitie, and the dog Howard Cosell around. Caitie is helping China in both her home garden and the shop garden, as well as helping at the weekly farmers' market. She's also doing some supervised babysitting for friends. 

After a backyard party where Caitie is staying on to do some babysitting, China notices a house trailor on fire on her drive home, calls emergency services, and stops to see if she can help. When she hears a woman calling for help from inside, she tries to get in, but is injured before she can. The experience haunts her, and she can't stop thinking about the trapped woman. 

Jessica Nelson is an intern at the local paper and on the story. When she hears China's details, she becomes personally motivated. Jessica lost her parents and sister to a house fire, something she is still dealing with. She is motivated and good at her job, so when she disappears after leaving a truncated phone message for China, China gets worried. Worried enough to start following in Jessica's footsteps, except she's involving both the local sheriff, whose territory covers the trailer location, and the town police chief. 

There is an subplot about the relationship between the sheriff and police chief as it becomes more serious. 

We also see how Caitie is excelling at her violin lessons, and growing more confident after her past trauma. 

As there sometimes is, a plant theme is clear here. This time it is hallucinogenic plants which covers many plants from coffee and tea to the titled reference to morning glory. This theme also relates to the plot in multiple ways. 

A good read, as usual. 

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky

Finished August 30

Midnight Storm Moonless Sky: Indigenous Horror Stories by Alex Soop

This collection of stories by Blackfoot writer Alex Soop begins with his thoughts on what horror is, and a recognition of the indigenous culture of storytelling that he is drawing on. I liked the way he connected horror with everyday life. His tales draw on indigenous legends, indigenous reality, Canadian history, and common horror tropes to build stories that feel real, possible, and tied to their settings. Hauntings along the Highway of Tears, gatherings of ghosts that welcome a stranger, racism, bullying, gang mentality, residential schools, Wendigos and other paranormal creatures, despair, alcoholism, cursed objects, the foster system, and mental illness.

I found the stories captivating, but also thought-provoking. A great read. 

Accidentally Yours

Finished August 29

Accidentally Yours by Alexa Rivers

This contemporary romance is the first in the Little Sky Romance series. Here, New Zealand CEO and developer Eli Lockwood is starting a new project in the small south island town of Itirangi. There is some community pushback on the impact to local businesses and the tourism the town is starting to attract. 

Aria Simons is a local reporter up for a promotion and looking for interesting and newsworthy stories to help her win the senior position. When she writes about the project, Eli notices and fearing negative impact decides to go to Itirangi in person to represent his company. He is a bit gun shy of media attention after a previous girlfriend dumped him publicly through the media.

He finds himself surprised by Aria, and also attracted to her. She's not the type of woman he usually goes out with, but he finds himself pursuing her.

When his parents unexpectedly dump his teenage sister on him for the summer, hoping that his business mindset and hard work will have a positive influence on her, he finds himself asking Aria for help. He hasn't spent much time with his sister lately and doesn't know how to talk to her. He himself rebelled against his parents by starting his own company rather than joining theirs and he knows the pressure on his sister to join the family business. 

Aria is wary of mixing business with pleasure after an unfounded rumour about doing so negatively impacted her at a previous employer, so although she is attracted, and can see beyond his professional exterior, she doesn't want to be seen as using personal relationships for professional gain. 

As the two give in and pull back from each other, they find themselves dealing with classism, family, and unplanned outcomes. 

An engaging read, with interesting characters, and a great setting. 

September Reviews for the 20th Annual Canadian Reading Challenge

This is where you add links to reviews of books you finished in September that meet the requirements for the Canadian Reading Challenge.

I hope that you are finding new authors and great books. 

The One Day You Were My Husband

Finished July 29

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

This compelling read takes us through Carrie's situation as she is faced with revising her past. Carrie is married with six year old twins and is feeling ready to return to her career as a surgeon after stepping back when her children were born prematurely. Her mother is less present in her life; her stepmother is preparing to move her father, who suffers from advanced dementia, to a care home; her sister is now living in the U.S. and her husband is supportive of her decision. 

While planning a trip to Sweden to reconnect with her surgical mentor, and attend a conference for the short-term rental company she is part of, she comes across a rental owned by her first husband, Swedish Johan. She is taken aback. Twelve years ago, the two met through a patient brought into the hospital she was interning at and felt an instant connection. They had moved in together, and impulsively married when she visited Thailand to meet him when he was on location in Cambodia. Johan was apprehended violently by armed police on the evening of their wedding day as they were dancing on the beach. Despite her efforts, Carrie was unable to get Johan released and was actively discouraged from doing more by the threat of violence against both of them and others. It took her years to move on. She wasn't even aware he'd been released from Thailand. 

At first she isn't sure whether she should cancel her trip but, even after talking to her sister and mother, she checks that he isn't on the list of attendees at the conference and decides to go, as meeting with her mentor is important to her and will give her a better restart to her career. But she still wonders about what really happened back then, why he's been released, and why she didn't know about it. When she runs into him in person, the questions are even louder, and she decides she needs answers, even if they are difficult. 

I found this to be a real page-turner, with interesting plot twists and character dynamics. 

The Midnight Train

Finished July 25

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig.

This book came out of the responses from his previous book The Midnight Library, compelling him to explore these ideas about life in another way. Since I loved that book, I decided to try this one as well. 

The central character is Wilbur. First we see a vignette from his life, when he is on his honeymoon in Venice. Then we see him in the present, as he is nearing the end of his life, in his 80s, with regrets over his choices. He had a successful life, founding a bookstore chain and making lots of money, but he has sacrificed people and personal life over those choices. Unexpected contact with someone from his past gets him thinking and he finds himself in death, which is nothing like what he expected.

He is by train tracks, waiting for a train, greeted by someone from his past who will guide him on his journey, explaining the rules of travel and helping him understand what is happening. He is a version of himself where he was most himself, on that trip to Venice. The train will take him through time, over the course of his life. It will stop and key moments where he must get off and observe them, feeling the joy or pain or other emotions again and perhaps noticing things he hadn't noticed in the moment. The purpose of the journey is to help him better understand his life. When he hears the train, he must reboard and travel forward in time again. The train is a larger version of a toy train he had as a child.

As Wilbur witnesses his life, seeing things he hadn't noted, feeling the feelings again, he wants himself to have noticed, to choose differently, but that isn't how this journey works. But he can't help wondering whether it is possible to influence his younger self and make different decisions.

This is a fascinating read, that had me as a reader considering my choices, and what I might have done differently. What moments would my train stop for? This is a book that will stay with me.