Every few months, Wes and I find an AirBnB that isn’t tooo far away where we can run away for a weekend with our dudes and a stack of books, and declare it a “reading retreat”. We just did this recently, and I tore through some FANTASTIC books, so let’s review them!
–Marissa
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is squarely in my wheelhouse: NASA, the 80s, women astronauts, the shuttle… YES PLEASE. Joan has wanted to be among the stars for as long as she can remember, so becoming one of the first female astronauts in the corps in a dream come dream. We spend most of the novel on the ground as Joan learns the ropes, bonds with her fellow astronauts, and moves up the ranks. But, parallel to that is a storyline from December 1984, where Joan is the CAPCOM, where an accident in space has left everything on a knife’s edge. I tore through this in an afternoon, soaking up the astronaut-ness of it all, but this is much more a character story and a love story than a peril-in-space story. Not what I expected, but I loved it!
The Favorites by Layne Fargo is another “omigod this is perfect for me!” novel. We’ve got figure skating, we’ve got Daisy Jones & The Six style Greek chorus, we’ve got backstabbing and romance and obsession and scandal and messiness to the max and the Olympics and ALL THE THINGS AND I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN. Katarina and Heath are ice dancing pairs figure skaters who come from rough beginnings but make it the top echelon of the sport, but with a lotta mess on the way. This was catnip for me and I read it in a morning. Loved!
Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez is just so… swoonylovelyromancyperfect. He’s a brooding vet, she’s a happy-go-lucky marketing manager, and after one magical date, they know they are destined to be together… except she lives in California and he lives in Minnesota, and they both have *reasons*. Jimenez does SUCH an amazing job of combining sexy times and hilarious dialogue with true emotional turmoil and trials, and makes it all work every single time. I missed Xavier and Samantha once I finished the last past – a fantastic romance novel.
Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car by Jordan Bolton is a quick read (seriously, like minutes, not hours), but this graphic novels packs a punch when it comes to poignancy and universal human feelings. Definitely worth the flip through!
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