May Day – We’ve Got new Books to Review!

It’s May – sunnier days, birthday celebrations and a busy month of library programming! – but I managed to knock out a few reads, so let’s do this as a two parter post! First up…

–Marissa

I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again by Caroline Darian is the first-hand account of Caroline as she learns her father has been drugging his wife in order to let strangers rape her repeatedly, and casts shadows on his own views towards his daughter. This is the recounting of the famous French trial of Gisèle Pelicot and is a tough memoir to read, though shorter in duration.

Tilt by Emma Pattee is a shorter novel that I could NOT. PUT. DOWN. Told in the course of a single day, heavily pregnant Annie is in an IKEA when “the big one” – an earthquake – hits Portland. The rest of the novel follows Annie as she tries to get across Portland to find Dom, the father of her child, and the people she encounters along the way. This amazing novel combines humanity, desperation, fear, amazement, feats of bravery and determination and don’t let up on the action for even a page. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year so far.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry means only one thing – summer reading is here! This time, Henry takes a slightly different tack to her usual fluffier romance with two writers (who both loathe and love each other) competing to tell the life story of rich recluse Margaret Ives. The story divides their romance with the mystery of the Ives family as the story is unraveled bit by bit. I like this novel, but it wasn’t my *favorite* Emily Henry, though I applaud the change to a different type of storytelling to keep it fresh.🙂

The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad is a companion book for anyone wanting to start a journaling practice, like Suleika has had for many years. The bulk of this book is short essays from various other writers and luminaries that ends with a journaling topic or directive to write about. Hoping for inspiration from this one!

The Tradwife’s Secret by Liane Child scratched my fascination with all things tradwives, though obviously this is a fictional account of domestic violence, long-held secrets, murders and what life is REALLY like for tradwives behind the curtain. Loved the behind the scenes drama, though the last portion of the novel went pretty damn far off the rails, got unrealistic and had some plot holes, but it was a diverting enough read.