Three Stars

Best for:
Anyone interesting in a distracting read while doing chores or things round the house.

In a nutshell:
Michael has been murdered. Rachel has confessed. But did she really do it?

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
Audible had a two-for-one sale and this seemed like something I’d enjoy.

Review:
Charlie and Michael are a married couple, and fathers to Michael’s adopted son Titus, who is about 14 years old. They are VERY rich, and one thing they do is host a book club with their rich friends. Well, Michael does; Charlie doesn’t participate. One day they meet Rachel at a bookstore, Michael invites her to join the book club, and Charlie is instantly suspicious.

Also, we know that Michael is murdered at some point.

The book is told from the perspectives of Charlie and Rachel, and travels back between the murder and when Rachel first came into their lives about a year earlier. Usually I enjoy this style of book, and this one was fine, but I think there were a few things that made it less enjoyable for me than other similar books.

First off – Charlie is DEEPLY unlikeable. Obviously books that focus on rich people run that risk, as so often rich people are extremely out of touch. But Charlie is more than that, though I can’t quite explain it. And I’m all for an unlikeable protagonist, but I don’t think this was done well. Or maybe it’s because he seems somewhat one-dimensional in his unlikeability – he’s just not written in a complex way.

Rachel is … fine.

And the way the son Titus is written felt a bit off as well – like how someone who doesn’t have children (and I don’t have them) imagine a teen boy would rebel?

There are a couple of twists, and I sort of saw them both coming, though they weren’t SO obvious as to spoil the whole thing. I’d say this is better read as a library book than a purchase.

What’s next for this book:
Discard

Four Stars

Best for:
Do you like a mystery? Do like stories told from a few perspectives? Do you like family intrigue?

In a nutshell:
Tasha and her husband Aaron do a home swap with Tasha’s sister Alice and her husband Kyle. Tasha and Aaron head to Kyle’s vacation home in Venice; Alice and Kyle stay to take care of Tasha and Aaron’s twin girls. Two nights later, Kyle is dead and Alice is in the hospital.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I had a credit on Audible and I have enjoyed Douglas’s other books.

Review:
Ah, another good one. Very interesting and, once again, there’s a twist, but perhaps it either isn’t the one the reader is expecting, or it is, but it’s far to early for everything to be resolved.

The book is told primarily from the perspectives of Tasha and her mother Jeanette though Alice and another character Bonnie share their perspectives a few times. We don’t get any chapters from the perspectives of the men in this book, and once again it does seem like the author is more interested in telling the stories of women.

As it is a mystery, I can’t give too much away, but I do appreciate how the author weaves in the roles individuals – especially children – get put into at a young age, and how those roles influence their lives as they age. Some of us with siblings probably can relate at least one characteristic that they’ve been told by their parents that they have, but their sibling doesn’t, or vice versa, and whether that ends up holding true in adulthood, it still influences how they act within their family. The smart one, the fashionable one, the family-oriented one.

I also appreciate that, once again, the author is telling a story about how people may not really know who their family member is and what they are capable of doing. Some people might seem incredibly close, but perhaps there’s a whole side they never share. The author isn’t saying that everyone is keeping secrets and no one can be trusted; it’s more that everyone has a lot going on and they aren’t always forthcoming with what that is, and that can have some serious consequences. And at the same time, family ties are strong, and some folks will do anything for their family.

What’s next for this book:
N/A (audio book)

Four Stars

Best for:
Folks who like stories about women who society can’t quite place. A little bit like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but different.

In a nutshell:
Mia is married to Tristan, stepmother to Oliver, and deals with Tristan’s ex wife Belinda on a daily basis. She is an executive at a very small business, and has started attending a pet grief support group. Only issue: her beloved cat Pigeon is very much still alive.

Worth quoting:
“There must be so much freedom when you know you’ll always land on your feet.”

“Rather than society acknowledging women who are struggling and helping them, they put firm hands on our shoulders and push us into the darkness.”

“Nothing is a waste of time if it gets you to where you’re supposed to be.”

Why I chose it:
I needed a book to read while getting my latest tattoos, one of which is a picture of one of my cats. Seemed like a good fit.

Review:
While my review doesn’t go into detail, I should say that the book itself should have a content note for pet loss and grief, emotional abuse, and unexpectedly graphic sex scenes (there aren’t many, and they sort of fit, but they still pulled me a bit out of the book).

There is a lot to not like about Mia. She’s very judgmental for someone who is so deeply annoyed at other people judging her. She’s the type of manager who would drive many people to leave a job; she has strong negative opinions about people with tattoos. There’s also a lot to like about Mia. She’s also someone who cares very deeply for her step-son, someone who takes good care of her husband, and who loves her 16-year-old cat Pigeon very, very much.

Mia has had a challenging life, and has made some choices that got her to where she is now. Over the course of the book, she undergoes a transformation, allowing her to become the authentic version of herself. Along the way, she examines what it means to be a wife (and if she even wants to be one), to be the head of a small business, to have so much of one’s love and affection tied up in one’s cat. What do we need from others? What should we be willing to give to others? And is it reasonable to assume the answers to those questions will be the same for everybody?

As someone who has two 13-year-old cats, and would do pretty much anything for them, I appreciate Mia’s respect for the relationship between pet carer and animal. I appreciate how the author discusses pet loss in the grief group, and how for some people, their animals can really be the things that help them get out of bed and keep going every day. At the same time, she does a great job of showing how important relationships with other people are as well. She looks at how we don’t know what other people are going through unless we make the space for them to be comfortable to share it with us, and that everyone is going through something.

What’s next for this book:
I’m not quite sure. The book, like its protagonist, is a bit odd. So I might hold onto it and read it again. Or I might donate it.

Four Stars

Best for:
Those who enjoy a well-written fable. Those who don’t need certainty in their books.

In a nutshell:
Pew shows up in the town church one morning, and the townspeople don’t know what to do with them. Over the course of the week, Pew is pawned off on a variety of people who feel a strong need to fill the silence.

Worth quoting:
“You can’t be sure of who someone really is, or really was, before you knew them … or even after, sometimes.”

“But what about when you lose someone who is still alive? When you lose track of the person you know within a person they’ve become — what kind of grief is that?”

Why I chose it:
The plot was intriguing and I love a good meditation on life.

Review:
There is a lot going on in this book, but the plot itself is very simple: Pew, someone of indeterminate age, gender, and race (though likely young enough to not be considered an adult), has appeared in town, found sleeping in a church pew on a Sunday morning (hence the name). The family whose pew they were sleeping in decided to take them home, to decide ‘what to do with them.’

Right from the start, we know that Pew is different from most people we encounter. The entire book is told from their perspective, but they don’t have a lot of information to share about themselves; not with the reader and definitely not with the townspeople. They become almost a vessel or (in some cases) a dumping ground for the thoughts, concerns, and hopes of the people they encounter. Pew generally doesn’t speak, doesn’t touch others, but isn’t ‘rude’ or disagreeable. They are just there, and for the most part going along with what the townspeople demand they do, except for some (very understandable) moments when they refuse to participate.

Most of what happens in the book is in the discussions – well, in the talking at that occurs when people encounter Pew. Some people assume things about Pew’s background, like they must have suffered some horrible tragedy, or must have committed some crime. Some take Pew’s silence as rudeness or obstinance; others make kinder assumptions.

Some of the townspeople are full of self-righteousness. There are quite a few conversations that talk about people being born wicked, broken, needed religion. On the flip side, some conversations explore the idea that it’s a bit of a shame that some folks appear to need religion to even consider being kind to others.

The biggest running theme I saw was how desperate some people are to be able to put folks into boxes. They need to know someone’s age, their background, their race, their gender, so they can feel comfortable and make the necessary assumptions about them. And how when they don’t have that information, they can get more and more frustrated, and can assume the worst. At the same time, it is clear throughout the interactions in the book that knowing what people are willing to share about themselves doesn’t necessarily mean one knows them at all. With information or not, people make assumptions and categorize people in ways that may or may not be accurate, and that isn’t great.

One thing I found interesting is that throughout all of this, none of Pew’s narration sounds like them judging anyone. They’re observing, they’re interacting, but even when some fairly shitty action and assumptions are made about them, they aren’t interested in using that information to make judgments about the person’s individual character.

I could imagine reading this multiple times and getting something different out of it each time.

What’s next for this book:
Donate

4 Stars

Best for:
Mystery fans who enjoy jumping back and forth across time.

In a nutshell:
Saffy and her husband Tom live in a bungalow gifted to her by her grandmother Rose. While making some renovations, two sets of remains are found buried in the garden.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
I read one of Douglas’s previous books earlier this year and found it to be interesting and well written.

Review:
Ah, I love a book where we hear from different perspectives and jump around in time. As this is a mystery, I’ll share the set-up and characters, and provide a little bit of information on what made me like the books.

Perspective Chapters from:
Saffy: In her early 20s, who lives in the house her grandmother Rose gifted to her via her daughter Lorna.

Lorna: Saffy’s mother, who had her at age 16 and who now lives in Spain.

Rose: Saffy’s grandmother and Lorna’s mother, who is in a care home and now has Alzheimer’s.

Theo: A chef in his 30s who doesn’t understand why his father is so interested in news of the discovery of human remains in a town far away

There are also others who play a big role in the book, including Theo’s father, a woman named Daphne, and Saffy’s husband Tom, but they don’t tell things from their perspectives.

The characters in this one – especially the women – are well developed. Theo doesn’t have as much space in the book, but we do get a sense of who he is and his relationship with his father.

I appreciate how the author plays with the idea of memory – what we see, what we know. What two different people might remember, and what happens when our memories become mixed up with other things, or start to fade altogether.

I think this book is different enough from the previous one that I’ll probably check out more of her work when I’m looking for something to read while I have a bunch of chores to do.

What’s next for this book:
Recommend to folks who might enjoy it.