Onwards to the next batch of reviews – I told ya, I’ve been reading, just not reviewing! Argh!
–Marissa
The Gallery Assistant by Kate Belli is a psychological thriller, taking place in New York City in November 2001 where Chloe, the titular gallery assistant, learned that the gallery’s latest artist star is dead. Chloe can’t remember the night, and tries to unpick what happened that night, and who around her she can trust – if anyone. I enjoyed this enough whilst reading it, but remembered little of it a day or two later. Eh.
The Jackal’s Mistress by Chris Bohjalian was a book discussion pick I hadn’t read before, and I’ve been hit or miss with Bohjalian’s novels, but this was a hit! I listened to the audiobook, which shares (sometimes in harrowing detail) the ravages of the Civil War when a northern captain is wounded, left for dead, then found and tended to by a southern women who’s own husband was in a prisoner of war camp. This was brutal and hopeful and sad and suspenseful and full of feelings – we had a great discussion about it too!
The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers has been everywhere this fall, and was a snappy read that’s just about daily life… and a sliding doors narrative that always sucks me in! Cora is a wife and mother, and in one of the narratives, embarks on an affair with Sam which is at times hot, messy, not hot, and relatable, and in the other, she doesn’t. I flew through this one, and loved the depiction of the mundanity of life mixed with highs and lows of romance.
Thank You John by Michelle Gurule is her memoir about being a sugarbaby to an older man she met while working at a strip club, but after a bit, I found the tone, tenor and repetition grating. I skimmed to the end (barely) on this one.
Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane was a cute romance with an enemies-to-lovers trope, wherein Bel and Connor get off on the wrong foot at their newspaper office, but get thrown together (through some subterfuge from Bel) and have to see it through to crack a big story. This was cute enough, but not overly memorable.
Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell is a thriller whereas Orla returns to the roots of her youth to both sell the family home and to try and solve the mystery of what happened to her best friend Alice years before. This is described as “an eerie mystery”, and though I blew through this at 2x speed as an audiobook, it just didn’t keep me engaged. Eh.
The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf is the latest from solid suspense writer Gudenkauf. This time, we have an uber-wealthy Wyoming couple throwing a gender reveal party – but things go wrong, and someone is killed. Or were they murdered? This was fast-paced, super easy to get into and read, with the flawed characters we’d expect.
stubbornsunshine.com 