…and not nearly enough time to read them all! I’ve been reading like a fiend lately, but there’s always more titles just waiting and waiting…
–Marissa
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare from her new Girl Meets Duke series was great – anything by Dare is going to be a surefire Regency romance winner to me! In this series debut, the battle-scarred Duke of Ashbury needs a wife and heir, so when seamstress Emma stumbles into his path, they make a swift match… but Emma is no shrinking violet. Witty, fast, fun, and full of the feels, I loved it!
Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart (just released a few days ago) is the latest young adult novel from this star, and it was SO well done. The story is told backwards… literally. The first chapter is the last thing that happens, and things progress backwards from there. It shouldn’t work, but it totally does. This felt very Talented Mr. Ripley to me (and was cited as an inspiration) but the trope and the story TOTALLY worked. I tore through it – couldn’t put it down!
The Best of Us by Joyce Maynard (also just released) was a tough memoir to read, but such a worth-it one. In her late 50s, author Maynard finally meets the love of her life, a man named Jim. They quickly fall in love, move in together, get married, and make plans for their life together… until Jim falls gravely ill. Maynard walks the reader through every minute of their courtship and their pairing, unlikely though they seem (much of which really resonated with me!), their marriage, their travels, and how they battled together when Jim was diagnosed. So beautifully written, moving, thoughtful, emotional and heartbreaking… and yet hopeful for all who didn’t settle down early in their adulthood. I absolutely couldn’t stop reading until I reached the last page…
I also read the Misfortune of Marion Palm by Emily Culliton, which was getting lots of positive press, but which I found annoying, trite and unable to root for any characters… I read Lie to Me by J. T. Ellison, which had a definite Gone Girl vibe to it, and was a zippy read… I enjoyed Running with a Police Escort by (bigger girl and fellow librarian) Jill Grenenwald… The Day of the Duchess was going to be a winner, since it’s the latest Sarah MacLean (and it was!), and I love a good hygge book, including the very pretty Hygge: The Danish Art of Happiness by Marie Tourell Soderberg… round things out I reread – for the first time since childhood! – The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and also just finished Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka, which was supposedly a suspense novel but delved way more into the characters and had little movement to keep the reader totally engaged… at least THIS reader. Whew! That’s a lotta books!
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