Familiar

Finished April 29

Familiar by J. Robert Lennon

I've had this book for a few years, and finally was moved to read it. It is a rather odd book, but compelling. I got this book as part of a book subscription series from Powell's in Portland, Oregon, and it a special edition, signed by the author and with a little leaflet that gives information on both the book and the author and has an interview the bookstore did with him. This book also contains discussion questions should you choose to read it as a book club. 

The main character, Elisa Brown, is driving home from Wisconsin to New York, a trip she makes annually to visit the grave of her younger son Silas who died in an accident at the age of fifteen. As she drives, she thinks and ponders the crack in her windshield, and lets her mind go where it will. She is partway through Ohio when suddenly things change. 

The crack in the windshield is gone. Her car window is closed, her clothes are different. She realizes that the car is a different car. She pulls over on the shoulder and looks around the vehicle. She sees a binder for a conference. When she looks inside there are receipts and confirmations, and she finds her name and job title. This is not the job she has. Her purse is the same, but there is a different phone. She finds herself paying close attention to things. She isn't panicking or scared, but she is very aware. When her phone rings and it is her husband she answers, worried something might be wrong, either with him or with their other son Sam. But he is just checking that she's on the road and he sounds sweet. This scares her, because that isn't something he's ever been. 

As Elisa gets back home, and adjusts to her husband, her job, her life, and that fact that both of her sons are still alive, she looks for answers. What happened? 

This is a book that will keep you reading, looking for answers alongside Elisa. It is a book that is disturbing and completely surprising. 

Somewhere Towards the End

Finished April 28

Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill

This is a collection of essays about various subjects around aging. It was an absolute delight to read. Written by Athill when she was eighty-nine (she lived to the age of one hundred and one) she has personal reflections on many topics. Athill was an editor and writer and her skill with words shines through here. 

She talks about relationships, sex, children, friendships, gardening, drawing, reading, writing, and health. She isn't afraid to be honest about her feelings, her mistakes, or her life choices. This book won the Costa biography award and I found it a joy to read. 

She lived a full life, and took joy in many things, and her attitude is refreshing. There are sixteen pieces here, with a postscript that I loved. 

Busted

Finished April 28

Busted by Karin Slaughter

This novella is in the series featuring Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the state equivalent to the FBI. Here, Will is undercover and headed towards his assignment, one that took a lot of effort and planning to set up his identity. He's stopped at a convenience store for an icee, but the machine is super slow. As he's waiting a cop arrives and comes in to use the washroom, but after that things begin going very wrong. 

This is fast-paced, with a lot of action including a chase scene. There are a few bodies, many stories that don't stand up to scrutiny, and an unexpected mastermind behind the crime. 

Despite the short length of the story and the fast pace, you don't need to be familiar with the series to enjoy the read. If you are familiar, there are a few subtleties that make it even better. 

There's Always Plan B

Finished April 28

There's Always Plan B by Susan Mallery

This is an interesting mix of romance and domestic situations along with a touch of the supernatural. Carly is moving back to her childhood home, a large old stone house that her great-grandfather imported from England. Her parents ran it as a bed-and-breakfast, and her mother Rhonda has continued that since her dad died a few years ago. Carly is moving back because her very recent divorce leaves her with no home, and her mother could use the help. She'd like Carly to eventually take the house over so that she can retire. 

Carly's husband quit his high-paced, high-income job with plans to buy a boat and sail to Hawaii. That means that he isn't paying child support until he starts working again. Carly's fifteen-year-old daughter Tiffany isn't happy about the move, but we see her making the effort to adjust. As Carly finds the B&B has declined in visitors a lot since her dad's death, she uses her skills and contacts to find ways to bring in more guests. One of those is promoting the ghost the building is supposed to have. Carly has memories of the ghost from her own youth and believes strongly in the reality of this paranormal existence. One of the season's first visitors however is a man who specializes in debunking such things, and Carly must work as part of a family team to convince him otherwise. 

This book does have romance, but it isn't the central plot to the book, and there is more than one man who is interested in Carly. She must deal with the changes for all three generations of her family, teenage dating issues, issues with her ex-husband, as well as the financial issues facing the B&B. The ghost is an important part of the plot, but the book feels like part of a larger story, not a standalone. 

Many of the characters lack depth, several plotlines are left open, and the ghost story felt like it needed more explanation. 

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 Summer List

Finished April 22

The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan

This is a story of friendship, of miscommunication, and of secrets. 

Laura grew up in the small lake town of Couer-de-Lune in northern California. She was adopted by parents older than most of her peers, and resented her mother's strict ways and churchgoing habits. She was closer to her father, a man who was quieter, yet still very much a part of the community. Every summer, when her mother went to an adult church camp, Laura and her dad did a project, getting more complex as she grew older. 

Just before she moved to junior high, a girl and her mother moved into a dilapidated house just across the lake. Laura was given a cake to take over to welcome them, and this act caused her to meet Casey and make a connection as close as family. 

Laura's mom wasn't a fan of Casey's mother Alex, a rather free spirit, who made her money making strange art projects for wealthy collectors. But she let the friendship grow and even let Laura sleep over on Saturdays as long as she attended church on Sundays. 

But something happened back at the end of Laura's senior year that drove her to change her plans and go to a university far away and lose touch with Casey. 

Laura is now 35 and receives an invitation to go back to Casey's place for a weekend. She isn't sure she wants to, but curiosity and the longing for her old friend take her back. 

The women find that Alex has created a scavenger hunt, one of her signature games, for the two women that will bring them closer, but also unveil memories and secrets from the past. 

There is also another story of a young teen girl beginning at a camp, in some unknown time, as she struggles to understand why her mother brought her there, what has changed so drastically in her life, and how she can cope. 

I found the friendship compelling, and the unravelling of the past, both good and bad told in a way that showed feelings in both times and felt believable. The miscommunication was the thing that felt off, something so easily fixed if only someone had tried harder at the time. 

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters. 

Jack and Joe

Finished April 20

Jack and Joe by Diane Capri 

This is the third full novel in the Hunt for Reacher series which follows FBI agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar as they hunt down information on Jack Reacher. They have become aware by now that they haven't been told the real reason behind their case, and they are also aware there is some sort of rivalry around it between their boss and one of the highest ranking political advisers in the country. So, while they are pawns of a sort, they are thinking pawns and occasionally make moves that take them in directions that lead places that advance their knowledge in ways their boss may not always want. 

Here, Kim is off to interview a woman who worked for Reacher and took over a case when he was demoted. She wants to find out more particulars around that case and the cause of the demotion. She travels to an army base in North Carolina, Fort Bird, but her interviewee doesn't get there as expected and she ends up finding new information possibilities, as well as a family that isn't fans of the man she's looking for information on. 

As she and Gaspar reconnect and dig deeper into this time, they find connections to Jack's brother Joe and begin to learn more about him, his friends, and a woman who meant a lot to him. 

An interesting book, but the travel that happens in this series gets tiring after a while. Another plane, another rental car, another antacid. I like the slow plot development though.