October Read: The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

 

What I expected going into this novel and what it was were very different. I'm still processing. 

It takes place in a small town in Australia. A town where houses are expensive and everything is gorgeous and perfect. Except for Black Wood House. It sits empty since a shocking murder forty years before, when the owner of the home murdered his wife while she lay in bed, and chased his daughter out the door. The daughter survived, but her father returned to the home and killed himself. Susan and Bill were beloved in the neighborhood; the horrible murder/suicide left a stain on the community. They all want Black Wood House to be torn down. 

Enter Sarah Spade and her husband Joey. Sarah has a popular website, a bestselling book about "being your best self", and is eager to turn the Black Wood House into a show-stopping flipper that will sell for millions. 

Except Sarah's not what you'd expect, and wow I did not expect her character or the novel to take the turns it did. For one, Sarah is not likable. Her marriage is on edge, and oh, the secrets she has to keep in order to maintain her perfect image. Only problem is, once she moves into the house, her life starts to fall apart. She can't sleep, she's finding notes around the house, there's someone walking around in the attic, and her husband won't stay at the house. 

As Sarah slowly unravels, as a reader you're kept wondering: is she losing her mind? The possibilities are all over the place: is someone trying to drive her out of the home? Are the neighbors spying on her? Is the house haunted? Or is there something else?

The turns it took were all over the place. The ending leaves you rethinking everything. It's at turns unsettling, suspenseful, and a bit bewildering. It's a whole lot of stuff going on, and I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on at all. If you want to read a novel that will keep you scratching your head and thinking you've got it figured out (you won't), pick this one up!

Rating: 4/6 for a wild ride where no one can be trusted--even the house. At times suspenseful, at times downright spooky, this is a blend of thriller/horror/suspense that will keep you guessing. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

October Read: The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

June Read: The Block Party by Jamie Day

 

Fresh off a few feel-good novels, I needed a break in genres so I dove into The Block Party. It kept me tied to my iPad for a few days, and the build up to the end had me skipping my lunch so I could finish it. 

The narrators are two: Alex and her teen daughter Lettie. They live on Alton Road in Meadowbrook, MA. Alex has a drinking problem--she hits the wine pretty hard every day (and night), while mourning the creeping distance between herself and Lettie. Lettie is the typical teen--full of angst, anger, and wrestling with her desire to go to college out of state vs. her Dad, Nick, wanting her to go to school in state. It's a huge issue and has caused her to pull away from her parents. 

There are plenty of other folks on Alton Road, and they've all got issues, too. Emily is Alex's sister and her husband Ken is a boaster of the highest order; praising his eldest son while putting down his second son. Widow Brooke is beautiful and sexy, with the rumor mill saying she killed her husband on a cruise. And Willow is unhappily married to Evan but feels trapped. 

It's Memorial Day and the annual Aton Road get together is underway. We hear from a Meadowbrook Facebook page that there's been a shooting, and someone may be dead. But who and why? 

The story moves back to the year previously, and the story moves through the year, building the tension to the Memorial Day party that starts the story. In this year, we see all of the characters and the issues unfolding; plenty of motives for revenge, lots of family issues and marital issues--wow. Relationships that are complicated. This is what kept me reading, even though I felt the novel was a bit long. I had to keep reading to get to the present day Memorial party, where everything came to a head. 

Revenge is a major theme in this novel; making assumptions based on what you see rather than asking for the truth. Neighbors watching neighbors. 

I enjoyed the suspense and can't say I got the warm fuzzies for any of the characters. Not a street I'd like to live on!

Rating: 3/6 for an entertaining domestic thriller that builds in suspense with plenty of characters with motive for murder. It's a bit of a YA novel from Lettie's point of view, but also a tense look at adult motives for revenge and the lengths people will go to get even. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. A big thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC!

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

June Read: The Block Party by Jamie Day

Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair

 

I picked this up at Barnes & Noble last month based on the cover and title. Then I read the blurb on the back and decided it sounded like a fun book. It was entertaining, but also did have some touching moments that I didn't expect from Agatha.

Agatha lives in New England in a lovely home with her husband and two boys. She's an author and oh, she is one sassy Facebook Mom Page commenter. She's not short on snark!

Agatha's happy life comes to an abrupt end when she finds her husband and the local dog walker going at it in their garden shed. She takes a hatchet and proceeds to destroy the shed, leaving the mess in her yard, which quickly makes the rounds of the Facebook Mom page. Before the hour is out, streams of cars are driving past her house to check out the carnage. Agatha, meanwhile, is lying on her front porch, devastated and the victim of a skunk spray. 

Agatha's husband moves in with the dog walker, and her boys spend half their time at her house. Agatha's promised thriller manuscript is not even started, as she can't bring herself to climb the stairs to her office. Bear Gyrlls is her hero, and she carries a bobblehead of him around to give her courage. She decides the best thing to do is to spy on her husband and his girlfriend, so she outfits herself with spy pants, spy gear, and a plan. 

Agatha is a mess. 

Agatha is also endearing, funny, and hurting pretty badly. As she battles with her neighbor over the increasingly overgrown and messy pile of shed garbage in her yard (it's ruining the neighborhood!), battles with other moms on Facebook, and visits her shrink, she is trying really hard to cope with her sudden life change. 

I liked Agatha and the cast of characters. Agatha was funny, annoying, and at times did things I probably would do, too. You'll find yourself hoping Agatha will be able to move forward with her life and find joy again--and be brave. 

This reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (which I loved!). Contemporary fiction fans will enjoy this novel. 

Rating: 4/6 for an endearing main character going through some pretty big life changes. Join Agatha on her journey to peace and finding joy again. A cast of characters that flesh out the community Agatha lives in, along with her loving relationship with her two sons all add up to a satisfying read. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio.

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim

I was pretty excited to read one of my favorite genres of books: magical realism, with a dash of foodie thrown into the mix. This delightful novel didn't disappoint and I loved everything about it. 

Natalie returns to her mother's apartment in San Francisco's Chinatown after learning her mother has died. Guilt-ridden at leaving home in anger years before, she's grieving over her lost relationship with her agoraphobic mother and isn't sure what her next move will be. A failure at cooking school, her desire is to open a restaurant just like her grandmother, Qiao. Her grandmother's restaurant was a pillar of the community, and when she died, Natalie's mother refused to keep the restaurant going. Over the years, a part of the Chinatown community started to die off, and now a greedy real estate agent wants to buy out the remaining families and turn it into a new hipster community. 

Natalie learns that she has inherited the apartment and restaurant below; her task: to reopen the restaurant using her Qiao's recipe book. But before she can do that, she has to cook for three members of the community in order for the restaurant to be successful and in doing that, revitalize the people and businesses around her. Not a small task! If she fails, the neighborhood is doomed. 

Qiao's recipes aren't just recipes, of course. They all mean something, whether it's giving courage, opening up hearts, or helping someone find their luck. After carefully visiting folks around the community, she creates her three recipes and invites them each for a meal. But what seems easy isn't so easy, and disaster soon strikes. 

How can Natalie save her dream of reopening the restaurant, make peace with the neighbors, and understand why her mother left Natalie's father a big secret?It seems like a lot, but it all comes together nicely--even a potential romance with Daniel. What I really enjoyed, besides the recipes, was the glimpse into Chinese culture. Natalie is throughly American, but she honors the traditions of her family and culture by respecting her elders, being humble, and seeing the signs all around her that most of us would usually ignore. Those traditions and Chinese mythology made what could have been just a regular ho-hum contemporary story into a very enjoyable, thoroughly charming, novel. I can't wait to read more from Roselle Lim. 

Rating: 5/6 for novel with a dash of magic, mythology, romance, food, and tradition. A young woman struggles to understand and make peace with her mother's passing, and in doing so, discovers more about herself than she could have ever imagined. It's all about dreams, love, hope, and determination.

Available in paperback, audio, and ebook.

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim

The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder by Sarah J. Harris

This was one of the most unusual mysteries I've read, and a definite stand out in my reading list this year. 

The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder is centered around Jasper Wishart, a thirteen year old  autistic boy who also has synesthesia: he sees sounds--voices, birds chirping, cars, you name it--as colors. Each sound and person has their own particular color. Jasper's world is an amazing rainbow of never ending colors, and the only way he can cope is by painting what he sees. His big issue is his inability to recognize and remember faces-this is where remembering the color of a voice helps him recognize people. His mother is dead, and he lives with his father, who struggles to understand his complex child, and navigate raising a special needs son on his own. 

Jasper believe's he's murdered the next door neighbor, Bee Larkham, and that his Dad is involved. The police have been looking for Bee, and she never answers her door. Jasper's beloved parakeets, who like to stop at the feeders in Bee's yard, are not coming around much since Jasper has run out of bird seed to feed them. He spends hours with his binoculars watching the birds, making notes. He also has watched Bee and the people coming to her house when she plays very loud music late into the night. Their friendship evolves into something dangerous for Jasper, until the night he believes he stabs her in her kitchen. His father has cautioned Jasper not to say anything--to stick to the story they've rehearsed, but Jasper is ready to burst and wants to confess.

This was really a great thriller, as you slowly unravel Jasper's tangled thoughts and colorful memories of the days leading up to Bee's death. Everything--and I mean everything--is awash in so many vivid colors it is hard to imagine living everyday with this gift. Author Sarah Harris does an amazing job describing just what difficulties Jasper encounters trying to live his life in a world where no one seems to understand what he sees or feels. Jasper copes by routines, counting, painting, and sometimes, screaming and vomiting out his feelings. He's so darn smart, but no one sees that; they just see he's different. His grief over losing his mother, and his feeling that his father doesn't love him both play a part in his guilt over Bee's death. Can you imagine only being able to remember people by the color of their voice? What if the color changed?

So the questions are: did Jasper kill Bee? Is she really dead? Will we ever know what happened? Yes. Yes you will. And it's pretty darn good, too. Twists galore!

Rating: 5/6 for a thriller told through the eyes of a young boy gifted with synesthesia. His world makes the mystery that much more interesting, and difficult to tell who did what and when. Do you trust what Jasper sees, or is there more? A pretty good plot, and just when you think you've got all the answers, more comes out of left field. You will need to slow your pace on this one, as reading what happens from Jasper's point of view requires patience and attention. 

Available in hardcover, audio, and ebook. 

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder by Sarah J. Harris

I'm Back from Vacation...and I read The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg

I had a wonderful vacation:  two weeks in Italy with friends.  We traveled to Rome, then the seaside town of Salerno, and finished up in Venice.  The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and it was a trip of a lifetime.  

Of course, I had my books with me, and got some reading done on the plane rides and at night before hitting the sack (but not much--full days of walking everywhere had me tired and ready for sleep!).  I'll be posting my review of three Heather Graham Krewe of Hunters novels later this week.  Simon Green will have to wait...but in the meantime, I did read the new Fannie Flagg novel that's being published at the end of November.  I got sucked into it and read it on the flight home.  9 hours in various planes gives you time to get some serious reading done!

I must confess this is my first Fannie Flagg novel.  I have a few on my bookshelves, bought with the intention of reading them right away.  But of course life and other books got in the way, and they remain unread.  I'm happy to say that won't be for long, because I was delighted with The Whole Town's Talking.  

This novel takes place in Elmwood Springs, MO, and traces the history of the town from it's earliest beginnings in the late 1890's through 2021.  It all begins with Lordor Nordstrom's quest to find a bride.  He enlists the help of his friends in town and places an ad in a paper.  Soon the beautiful Katrina answers, and eventually comes to Elmwood, meets Lordor, and falls in love.  Their marriage, and successful dairy farm, are the center of the story and their beloved town.  We see the town start off small, with a core group of people, and through the years, as Lordor leads the town as mayor, it grows, thrives, and becomes a town that everyone sees as that perfect piece of Americana. Small town life is pretty sweet, gentle, and full of all the quirky characters that make each town unique. 

There's more to the story, of course, as we see what happens to Lordor, Katrina, and so many other townspeople, as they die and are put to rest in the town cemetery, Still Meadows.  All of these folks remain part of the town, as they rest and chat with each other up on the hill.  It's a peaceful place, and a wonderful "in-between" spot for those souls before they go on to.....where?  That's the fun part of the novel; Fannie Flagg's take on where we go after we leave our bodies.  The connectedness of families, the love that never ends are big themes, as well as the circle of life.  I loved the ending, and how it all is neatly tied up in a lovely bow.  It is a gentle reminder that those we love are always with us.

So, Christmas (yes, I said that word) is coming soon!  And I can heartily recommend this novel as an excellent holiday gift to Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, and anyone who enjoys a read filled with gentle humor and delightful characters you'd like to have as your neighbors.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read Fannie Flagg's The Whole Town's Talking.  I will pick up her books without hesitation from now on whenever I need something down home and gentle to sooth my frazzled self.  

This novel will be published in hardcover November 29, 2016.  It will also be available in e-book and audio formats.  

Rating:  7/10 for a delightful read to help bring my unforgettable vacation to a close.  I found myself grinning, chuckling out loud, and enjoying the people of Elmwood Springs, Missouri.  

Share: facebook - twitter - pinterest

I'm Back from Vacation...and I read The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg