January has turned into February, and the ice and snow have become our persistent friends of late – though in truth, Wes and I ran away to Disneyworld for a week during the dreary weather to ride all the rides, eat all the food, and soak up all the sunshine! But, I’ve managed to add a few books to my “completed” pile – here they are!
–Marissa
The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan by has been continually billed as a Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo crossed with a suspense novel, but I didn’t feel that from this title. This is told in differing timelines and different points of view of the characters, and I thought the premise was intriguing and the storytelling solid, but there were some characters I had no sympathy for, some “no way that happened” conveniences, and ultimately the ending felt kind of rushed and unresolved. This also took me ages to read, so maybe that colored the experience? I guess I felt meh at best, bummer.
The Burning by Linda Castillo was an audiobook listen – my first time *listening* to a Kate Burkholder novel, but it held up! We have a horrific crime against an Amish man and a lot of red herrings throughout, as with every novel in this series, but it always holds up! This was another solid story with a series that is like visiting an old friend.
The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker is definitely a psychological thriller that left the reader guessing if the narrator, the subject, or the author was an unreliable narrator! Jane suffers from amnesia and hallucinations, and connects with a psychiatrist she knew years ago to try and discover the cause of her mind breaks. This one definitely kept me turning pages to see what the real story was!
Happy to Help by Amy Wilson is a collection of essays from this actress about her need to always be helpful and to be a people pleaser, telling various stories from throughout her life that support her thesis, and her exploration of trying to break the mold of that constant pressure to help. Easy to dip in and out of, but this didn’t really leave a lasting impression on me.
Crush by Ada Calhoun almost sounded like a memoir at first, and I had to check it was fiction! Our unnamed narrator’s husband suggests that, many, many years into their solid marriage, they explore polyamory. As she begins relationships with men outside her marriage, fractures and revelations come to light as well as her acknowledging what she really wants, and who she really is. This slim novel was compulsively readable, even if I wanted to throw it across the room a few times. Maybe not for everyone, but fascinating to me.
Daily Sparkles by Emma Jasper isn’t really nonfiction, but is instead a collection of what I would call “warm delights – think of that list of things you keep that always make you happy. This is organized by seasons, and was just delightful to dip in and out of when I had a minute or two.🙂
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow was a COMMITMENT. I got more and more interested in Washington’s trajectory after (don’t laugh) the Hall of Presidents presentation at Disneyworld, so I decided to give this 928 page (!!!!!!!!) work of nonfiction a go. Told is amazing detail, we literally go cradle to grave with Washington, but I particularly was interested in his later life when he served two terms as President and the toll it took on him and his life (and finances). It took me nearly a YEAR to finally read the entirety of this, but I did it!
Cross My Heart by Megan Collins was an audiobook listen of this twisty suspense novel. We’ve got a heart transplant recipient, a dead wife, a famous writer, and a lot of unreliable narration as the novel unpacks their relationship to each other and to those around them. I flew through this suspense novel of heartbreak *groan*, nefarious deeds, unwise relationships and of course, a murder. Solid story!
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