Plot Twist

Finished April 23

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa

Romance author Sophie Lyon had a hit with her debut novel, but the deadline is fast approaching for her second novel, she's spent most of her advance and she's coming up against a writer's block. She thinks maybe it's because she's never actually been in love, and she's decided to try and figure out why. That entails meeting up with her previous partners and seeing what they think. 

Sophie lives in L.A. and her best friend Poppy Montrose is from a well-known Hollywood family. Poppy's father and both brothers are actors, and her mom is a publicist. Poppy though has gone a different direction and owns a popular luxury spa. Sophie lives in a small home behind the large house of Dash Montrose, the younger of Poppy's brothers, so Dash is her landlord. Sophie had a crush on him as a teenager, and now that he's in her life more, some of those feelings are coming back. 

As Sophie meets up with her former boyfriends and girlfriend, she learns a bit more about herself and why those relationships ended. She also finds that she has trust issues, and that becomes a plot point here. 

Dash is another voice in the novel. He's not had an acting job in a while, and that's partly by choice. He's got a personal issue that he's overcoming, with some help. He also has found an interest that may be a way forward for him, and that's kind of interesting too. 

This is the second book in a series, but I haven't yet read the previous one. Sophie is a likeable woman, who's got a strong sense of self outside of her love life. Dash's struggles feel realistic here too. 

I found the use of Instagram as a story device kind of interesting. 

A fun read with some serious issues brought in. 

The Darling Songbirds

Finished April 15

The Darling Songbirds by Rachael Herron

This novel is the first in a series set in the small California coastal town of Darling Bay. The Darling family has its roots in this town, even if none of them live there anymore. Hugh Darling, the last man who did, recently died, leaving his three nieces the properties that he owned: a saloon, a hotel, and a cafe. The only one still in operation is the saloon and it is barely holding its head above water. The nieces who inherited were famous in a small way as a singing group. Their mother had been a singer, but never made it big before she passed away. The girls, Adele, Molly, and Lana were just starting to make it in Nashville when their father passed away suddenly. They all handled it differently and the group fell apart.

Adele is the one who has now come back to town to deal with the legacy, and she finds memories and realities that she must deal with. 

The hotel isn't habitable, nor is her uncle's living quarters above the saloon, and the bartender who was expecting to buy the saloon soon is wary, a little resentful, and undeniably sexy. As Adele learns of the state of things and faces the realities of the situation, she finds herself unexpectedly warming up to staying for a while. 

This book has music woven through it, and the sadness of family members earlier than expected. It has themes of addiction and mental health issues, and the setting of a small town where people know each other's stories. 

The Damage Done

Finished March 19

The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson

This is the first book in a series featuring travel writer Lily Moore. Lily has returned to New York City from her more recent life in Spain after the police contact her to tell her that her younger sister Claudia has been found dead in her apartment on the anniversary of their mother's suicide. The apartment is actually Lily's and she'd tried living there with Claudia, but couldn't handle her sister's personality on a daily basis. Lily goes to the apartment and notices things that seem strange and out of character for her sister. When she goes to the morgue to identify her sister, things get even stranger, as the body there is someone Lily has never seen before. 

As she tries to find her sister, tracking down who and when anyone last saw or heard from here, she finds the police seem likely to think Claudia may have something to do with this woman's death. Claudia's best friend Jesse has her back, and provides a place for her to stay when she feels unsafe in her old apartment. 

With her ex-fiance, wealthy hotelier Martin trying to come back into her life, Lily finds herself still charmed by him, and yet wary too. There are a few other interesting characters, from Claudia's ex, Tariq, to the strangely friendly new neighbour Sarah, to the two police officers, Renfrew and Bruxton, assigned to the case.

I liked Lily, and enjoyed seeing both her strengths and flaws become apparent over the course of the novel, and found the plot gripping, with a few twists thrown in. 

I'd read the other two in this series a few years ago, so it was interesting to see earlier events in Lily's life, and I would have liked to see more of some characters, like Bruxton and Tariq, in the other books. 

The Clinic

Finished February 21

The Clinic by Cate Quinn

This suspense thriller mostly takes place at a remote luxury rehab centre on the Oregon coast. Haley, an famous singer, is a patient there and we see her as the novel begins going into an area that she's not supposed to be in.

The novel then jumps to her sister Meg. Meg works at a casino in Las Vegas, where she is part of the investigative team looking for people trying to cheat the system and for other types of crimes. Meg was caught a few years back by some of the bad guys and suffered an injury that she got opioids for and now she is a functioning addict. She's already used other substances to deal with childhood trauma that she hasn't dealt with, and has recurring nightmares that include a man in a fedora and playing cards. 

She'd been close to Haley until Haley left home suddenly, leaving Meg with their mentally unstable mother. 

When Meg gets the news that Haley has died at the rehab centre, and hears rumours of suicide, she is at first very upset, then decides to enter the centre herself as a guest to try to find out what really happened to Haley. She is sure that Haley would never commit suicide. 

There is a second point of view here as well, that of the manager of the rehab centre, Cara, who hasn't been there long. Cara has a background in the hotel industry, where she worked until she got caught up in a scandal. As Cara gradually learns what is going on, partly from the doctor there, Max, and partly from her own investigations, we learn about things from a different angle. 

The other guests at the centre are as famous as Haley was, actors and singers, all there for various addictions. The head of the centre is a man from Switzerland with his own sketchy past, and as the local police also show an interest after the death of Haley, we find some other centre staff may have troublesome connections as well. 

This is a story of both psychological suspense and some physical suspense as well. It has lots of twists and turns and unexpected events that keep you guessing on things right to the end. None of the characters are particularly likeable, even though you might think are. 

The author has her own experiences in rehab, and says that this is her first novel that she's written sober. 

New Beginnings at Rose Cottage

Finished November 10

New Beginnings at Rose Cottage by Erin Green

This novel has three women, from three different generations, who book into a shared vacation cottage on the coast of Devon. They all have something they are escaping or looking for. The advertisement for the cottage had promised friendships and home comforts, and although the women are wary at first at the possibility of making friends with women of a different age group, they find themselves growing close in surprising ways. 

Emma has recently lost her job after the restaurant she worked at for years closed and the building sold to a new restaurant owner. She has decided to use her redundancy funds to start her own food business. She isn't sure what that will look like yet, so she is taking the time to weigh her options as well as think about her personal life. When an unexpected opportunity arises, she finds herself moving faster than planned, and faster than her new friends think she should. 

Ruth is taking a much needed break from her life. She had dreams when she was young of a creative life, but an unplanned pregnancy and subsequent single motherhood made her rely on her mother, and thus abide by her mother's decisions around her life, and has had a long career as a bank clerk. More recently, she's also been the caregiver for her mother as the older woman has begun a cognitive decline. When she is drawn to a local art shop and begins painting, she finds herself experiencing new feelings. 

Benni works through a temp agency, and tries to maintain a positive attitude despite the addictive behaviour of her mother and brother, whom she lives with. As she learns to listen to her body rather be shamed by it, she tries new activities and begins to gain confidence in areas that she never believed she would. She also learns something unexpected about her own family.

All of these women have interesting stories, and the vacation doesn't provide instant solutions, but it does open their eyes to different opportunities and create new contacts that also open doors they hadn't known about. 

An enjoyable read. 

Childhood, Youth, Dependency

Finished October 6

Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen, translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman

The first two parts of this memoir, Childhood and Youth were first published in 1967, and the third Dependency in 1971, with the translations in 1985 and 2019 respectively. Here, they have been brought together in one volume. 

Ditlevsen was born to a working class family in Copenhagen with a father involved in unions and socialism and a mother who valued reputation and looks. She was close to her brother, who was a few years older. Despite her teachers' encouragement, she was not able to go on to high school, leaving at the age of fourteen to work, first as household help and eventually in officework. 

From a young age, she wrote poetry, inspired by the world and people around her and her own imagination, writing beyond her own experiences, "lies" as her brother put it, and hoping to become a published writer someday, despite her father telling her that women weren't poets. 

She found a couple of men that encouraged her, but it was only with the third, the editor and publisher of a small literary newsletter that she gained success, as well as her first husband. 

She was very focused on her own life and needs, and the men that cared for her, living an insular life of sorts, surrounded by literary people and academics, and not largely affected by greater world events. 

I found it interesting that despite being a young woman during World War II, when Denmark was occupied by the Germans, she seemed hardly affected by their presence or their actions. The men in her life continued to go about their normal lives, with some entering the world of the resistance in small ways. 

She is very frank about her relationships and her personal life in general including her addiction to drugs that arose through her fourth husband, and her choices around him. 

This is not a happy book, despite her success as a writer, but it is a compelling read and one written with skill. 

The Dog Who Saved Me

Finished January 16 

The Dog Who Saved Me by Susan Wilson

The main character here, Cooper Harrison, is a man still caught up in his recent loss and the feelings he has around that. Cooper was an officer in the K-9 unit of the Boston Police and he had a very special relationship with his partner dog Argo. But in an encounter on duty, Argo was killed, and Cooper was left with what he hopes is a temporary hearing impairment. It hit him hard and his marriage didn't survive it either. Cooper has retreated to his hometown, a small town named Harmony Farms near Boston. He has taken a job as an Animal Control Officer there, working in a small office with one other officer. He is staying in a cabin that he is looking after as part of his rental agreement. But coming back to his hometown isn't easy as there are a lot of memories there and not all of them are good ones. Cooper grew up with an alcoholic father, a man damaged by his own experiences, and lost his mother while he was still a child. His older brother Jimmy bullied him, and grew up to be a man often on the wrong side of the law. 

Now, Cooper's father Bull is a recovering alcoholic, working in the local lumberyard and using his bicycle to get around. He's love to renew his relationship with his son, but Cooper isn't looking for that at all. Jimmy is recently out of jail, and temporarily living with Bull in their childhood home, but he isn't necessarily on the straight and narrow. Cooper's cop instincts sense that and he worries about that and about whether Bull is being taken advantage of. 

But what about the dog? Ah, yes, the dog is a dog that's been injured and left in the woods scared and in pain. The dog is wary of humans, not sure whether he can trust people, and also physically impaired through his injury. When Cooper becomes aware of him, he is determined to find the dog, bring him in and help him. This isn't an easy task, and Cooper is bringing his own baggage to this task. Through his work, he's also come into contact with a woman Natalie who has also started a new life. She is running a horse rescue operation after leaving a city life behind, one with its own losses. 

Lots going on in this book, and it took me a while to get into it, but we really see into Cooper and the things that drive him, and the things that have brought him to where he is, many of them from his childhood. And we see how other in the story are also trying to start over, to be better, to move forward with their lives. A good read.

The Snakes

Finished June 13
The Snakes by Sadie Jones

I started this some time ago, and just picked it up again. Bea, the main character here is a psychologist, and the only daughter of a wealthy ruthless billionaire. She has mostly cut herself off from the family, not taking their money or spending much time with them. She's also recently married a man she met at an art show. Dan is an artist and mixed-race, from a working class background. The couple have taken some time away from their lives in London, and gone on an extended travelling vacation. As they are driving through France, they decide to stop and visit Bea's brother Alex at the hotel that he runs in Burgundy. The hotel is not what they expected. It is in a bad state of disrepair and Alex seems to be using a variety of substances to self-medicate. He is also dealing with a nest of snakes in the attic, setting out traps to catch them.
While they are visiting Alex, Bea's parents, Liv and Griff make a surprise visit. It is tense and Dan is meeting them for the first time. There are a lot of underlying issues here involving class and race that really play a large role in the plot.
When a tragedy strikes close to home, and the police are involved things get more intense and more muddled. The family has a hard time getting information from the police and all of them feel like suspects. This is a chilling tale about power and arrogance and the vulnerability that we all have.

Hid From Our Eyes

Finished December 6
Hid From Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming

This book was a long time coming as the author took a hiatus from writing due to several things happening in her personal life, including the illness and loss of her husband. My advance copy came with a letter explaining the reasons behind the hiatus, some of which I already knew as I follow her online. The new book is well worth waiting for however, and I had to remind myself to savour it rather than devour it.
There are several themes present here that provided a lot of plot opportunities: a transgender character, the struggle against addiction, the corruptive nature of power, taxes versus services, and the oft-thwarted path of youthful love.
Clare and Russ are dealing with the way their lives have changed with a baby, young Ethan. Clare wants to avoid institutional daycare, but that makes new parenting more complicated. She also has guilt over whether Ethan has long term effects from her struggles with addiction before she realized she was pregnant. A possible placement with her church may offer some respite for her.
But this novel doesn't just deal with events of the present day. It takes us back to two previous time periods through the occurrences of similar strange murders in each. The first is in August 1952, where a young woman dressed in a party dress is found dead in the middle of a lonely road with no apparent signs of trauma to explain her death and no personal effects to identify her. That August, young Harry McNeil is with the State Police and shares information with the chief of the Millers Kill police force.
In August 1972, Harry is chief of the Millers Kill police when a similar crime presents itself. A young woman in a party dress, dead on the same stretch of road. She is found by a young man on his motorcycle, a young man recently home from Vietnam and dealing with PTSD. A young man Harry knows, Russ Van Alstyne.
It is August in the present day, and a woman comes across another crime scene. This one is the same. A young woman in a party dress, on the same stretch of road, and Russ, now chief of police himself, recognizes it immediately, but waits for the rest of his team to look at all the evidence before sharing the previous cases. Neither of the two earlier cases was resolved, although the woman from 1972 was identified. But the coroner of the present day is determined to figure out the hard-to-determine cause of death and uses every means he can to do so. And forensics has come a long ways over the years. Russ hasn't shared this part of his past with Clare and so she begins to dig as well, looking for explanations.
Russ is also dealing with upcoming votes on whether to close the local police force down and use the State Police instead. Having to campaign and deal with the politics of this and the worry over the future of his staff occupy a large part of his time as well.
The crimes were very interesting, and the situations in Russ and Clare's lives even more so. We also saw more of the young female police officer Hadley, and of the former Millers Kill, now state police officer Kevin Flynn, which provided another couple of interesting plot lines.
This book has a lot going on, and a lot to think about. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Roughneck

Finished April 8
Roughneck by Jeff Lemire

This graphic novel is set in a small town in northern Ontario. Derek Ouelette was a major league hockey player, of the type commonly described as a goon. He is back in his home town after causing an injury in a move driven by anger in a game. Derek drinks too much, and lives a bit rough, and doesn't have a lot of friends. He still tends to erupt in violence when he gets angry.
But when his younger sister Beth also returns to town, he must change to accommodate her needs. Beth has left an abusive boyfriend, one who is also in the drug trade.
As Beth struggles to get past her addiction and move on to a new life, Derek must also change. We learn about their parents, and the influence that those parents had on them, both good and bad. As they now realize that they don't know much about their mother's family, they are interested in discovering more about her native background, particularly Beth.
This is a story of finding the support and strength to start again, to learn from mistakes and become a better person.
Lemire's books are always drawn with skill, and this is no exception. I loved the illustrations and how they added to the characterization.

Still Mine

Finished July 15
Still Mine by Amy Stuart

This suspense novel is set in Blackmore, a small remote Canadian town built around a mine that closed after a fatal accident. Clare O'Dey drives into town in her old car, identified as an outsider immediately. She finds the motel closed and the diner staff warning her off, but she finds a way to stay.
Clare is there on a job for the mysterious Malcolm. Not long ago, a local girl, of a similar age to Clare, Shayna Fowles, disappeared, and Clare is trying to find out where she is. There is no shortage of suspects: Shayna's ex-husband Jared; the neighbour and local drug dealer, Charlie, who has a grudge against Shayna's father; Shayna's father himself, angry and struggling with a wife slipping into dementia; and the town doctor, Derek, who has tried to save Shayna from herself a few times.
With the motel closed, Clare rents a decrepit trailer on Charlie's property and insinuates herself into Shayna's world, befriending her friends, her parents, and her ex. While she's a stranger to town, Clare is no stranger to this world, and she is still running from her own past.
As we gradually come to know Clare's history and the town of Blackmore, we find ourselves less sure of the facts, and more sure that something, many things actually, aren't right.
This is a dark novel, with its undercurrent of poverty, drugs, and failed industry. But it is also a story for our times, a story of a world too many know well.

Based on a True Story

Finished July 25
Based on a True Story by Elizabeth Renzetti

This is the first novel for Globe and Mail columnist Renzetti, and her writing experience shows well here.
There are two main characters here. Augusta Price is a middle-aged English actress, known for her role as a barmaid on a soap opera, and as a vampire doctor in another show. She also has a history of substance abuse, and has spent more than one session in a treatment center. As the story begins, she has just been released from another treatment center and is already looking for a drink, she has likely lost the chance at an acting role in an upcoming series, and is worried about a book a former lover may be writing.
Frances Bleeker is a journalist in London. She left her native California to make a career for herself in Britain, and has had some success with a tabloid. She has also developed a crush on her boss there, Stanley. New ownership of the paper has her desperate for work, as well as determined to make her own way.
An interview for the tabloid with Augusta about the paperback release of her own memoir brings the two women together, and Augusta's desperation and Frances writing skill and need for a job bring the two of them into a partnership.
This book has a road trip that takes both women on an emotional trip into their pasts, but also offers new hope for the future.
I really enjoyed the complex characters, and the way the plot unfolded.