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  "The School for Good Mothers" is a knockout right off the bat for its unique content--I've never read a dystopian motherhood story like this one, and it's one I'll remember for a long time. This would be an excellent read for anyone looking for an out-of-the-box, thought-provoking read surrounding autonomy in motherhood. That being said, even though I am not a mother, this story was tough to read. Beautifully-executed, extremely thought-provoking, and understandably polarizing. Chain’s writing throughout felt very clinical and observational; staccato sentences and brief descriptions that folded together into a heart-wrenching story of motherhood. If the writing had been more emotional, more transportive, this would have been a 5-star read for me. Great pacing, extremely intriguing, and at no point did I feel like this became a slow burn or that the story lost its vigor. Very much worth the read if you can handle the tough content of the story and separate yourse...

  Sally Hepworth’s latest debut did not disappoint! Having now read (and loved) 3 of her books including "The Mother-In-Law" and "The Good Sister," she’s officially an auto-buy author for me and one I would recommend to any reader. At her core, Hepworth has such a gift for writing intriguing, heart-pounding, page-turning thrillers. I fly through her books in almost 24 hours because she is simply that good of a storyteller.  If you're a reader who is new to Hepworth's work, you can expect complex but plausible characters, excellent pacing, and an undertone of suspense the entire story. Everything written into her books is intentional, and in reading them, it almost feels as though you're reading a film screenplay.  Something to note--“The Younger Wife” was, for me, by far the toughest of her books to read because of the subject matter. There are a lot of tense, frustrating, even triggering points throughout this story—but, it still made for a fantastic re...

  "The First Day of Spring" is possibly the most distressing book I’ve read all year—if you read “The Push” and longed for less page-turning plot twists and more complex character development, this is the perfect book for you.  Tucker's writing is certainly unnerving and graphic at times, but weaves a remarkable (dark) story that begs the ultimate question: are some of us born with an inner darkness? Or, does it form depending on the cards we are dealt?  The story's timeline jumps back and forth between 8 year-old Chrissie and almost 30 year-old "Julia," who is doing her best to live a life of normalcy and leave the darkness of her childhood as Chrissie behind.  Despite this not having as much action as "The Push," I was engrossed in this the entire time and found myself totally invested in Chrissie's story.  Not for the faint of heart but absolutely worth the read, Tucker's debut is a marvelous and complex commentary on some of life's ...

Tense, claustrophobic, and unnervingly-descriptive, “Leave the World Behind” will certainly not be up every reader’s alley, but it was right up mine.  The first 20 pages were a clunky adjustment for me, mostly because they felt overly-descriptive and overly-wordy. Either I acclimated to that really quickly, or the book eased back on its robust vocabulary after the first few chapters; I want to go with the latter. Alam's narration is very observational and to some may feel slow, but for me, that simply contributed to the high degree of suspense in the story.  If you’re a fan of Paul Tremblay’s (dare I say “masterpiece”) “Cabin at the End of the World,” you’re bound to love this book for its eerie simplicity, its constant sense of underlying dread, and its complex, relational element.  This is the sort of book that begs discussion afterward—just a great piece of literary suspense! Rating: 4 Stars Publication Details: Out Now, Ecco Books  

  Jamie and Victoria set off on a remote, quiet getaway before the arrival of their miracle baby--one that doctors told them would likely never come. Before long, it becomes clear that something isn't quite right at the guest house of Fiona and Barry, and what should have been an idyllic escape for Jamie and Victoria turns out to be anything but. Heart-pounding and wildly-entertaining right off the bat, "The Guest House" is a thriller that started out very strong for me and ended up losing some of its plausibility by the end of the story. Within the first several pages, readers are plunged right into a tense, suspenseful, and fast-paced narrative that's impossible to stop reading. The setting felt fresh, the alternating perspectives between Jamie and Victoria offered some layers to the story, and it was clear that a twist of some kind was simmering beneath the surface in the first quarter of the book.  As the story progressed, however, there were a few key pieces of d...

  Vera Crowder needs to go back home. Her mother, Daphne, is dying, and soon the infamous Crowder House will lay empty for the first time in decades. According to the community, though, Crowder House should've burned to the ground ages ago, because of the monster that once lurked within its walls.  "Just Like Home" is simply an astounding piece of horror literature. This was my first Sarah Gailey, and certainly won't be my last. Her writing is descriptive, transportive, and unnerving most of all, and contributes so much to the steady undertone of dread in this story. The chapters flowed back and forth between adult Vera returning to Crowder House--and confronting memories of growing up in its clutches--and young Vera attempting to lead a normal childhood in the shadow of Crowder House. To read and love this book will be to go in pretty blind--trust me on this! What I can't stress enough is that this book is viscerally horrifying, and it's not for the faint of ...

  I seem to be an outlier rating-wise for this dark fairytale by T. Kingfisher, and I'll admit that part of it may be that I wasn't in the right mood to read a fantasy title when I thought I was. Having read Kingfisher's incredibly creative novella "What Moves the Dead" last month and absolutely loving it, I really couldn't wait to get my hands on "Nettle and Bone." The first few chapters were intriguing, dark, and laid the groundwork for a promising fantasy tale. Not soon after though, I felt my interest waning and unfortunately it was never fully captured again.  The story's setting, characters, and overall plot were too familiar and simply not unique enough for me to call this a fairytale that T. Kingfisher has made all her own; I felt like I had read multiple versions of this story before and found I couldn't connect to the main character, Marra, or her vengeance-fueled mission to kill the prince. Ultimately, this fell rather flat for me ...

  This is a thoroughly enjoyable, witchy, historical fiction piece set against the backdrop of the historic Harlowe House of Tynemouth, Massachusetts. Points right off the bat for such a perfect setting.  For me, the alternating narratives really worked to bring the story together, and both of them center on strong female characters--well-to-do but complex Margaret Harlowe from the past, and young historian Augusta Rodos, from the present. Fox's writing is easy-to-read and beautifully descriptive, the story was paced perfectly. This title is riddled with folklore, whispers of witchcraft, and New England history that's sure to appeal to a wide variety of readers.  It's not a perfect story; the plot is a bit simplistic, a bit predictable, and this doesn't have the depth of a 5-star read, but it's great nonetheless. Definitely recommend for lovers of witchy fiction; maybe save this one to read for October, though! Rating: 4 Stars, rounded up Publication Details: Out No...

  As a longtime lover of Poe's classic "Fall of the House of Usher," I had high hopes that "What Moves the Dead" would simultaneously feel familiar and yet unique as a fresh retelling of Poe's original story.  I loved every page!  In this novella, T. Kingfisher manages to preserve the most powerful elements of Poe's gothic horror while telling what truly felt like a new, intriguing story. Her telling of the Usher house went deeper, perhaps darker, and built incredible suspense that Poe's short story does not have simply due to its length.  Kingfisher's prose is poetic, hauntingly descriptive, and still easy-enough-to-read for the everyday reader. It's not often that I find myself satisfied with the character development in a novella (particularly in the horror genre where suspense takes center stage), but I loved Easton the protagonist and the representation they brought to the story as well as the rest of the character ensemble. It took me a...

  Despite a promising premise, "The Lifeguards" was a book that didn't work for me from the start and fell apart even more so as it went on. It felt like this book was trying very hard (too hard) to be something akin to "Big Little Lies" and "Little Fires Everywhere." Even with a diverse character ensemble of well-do-do suburban moms, wanna-be well-to-do moms, teenagers, and a blue collar cop investigating a mysterious death in his community, I wasn't able to connect to a single character. Collectively, the ensemble was unlikable and lacked so much depth that even by the end of the story, I didn't feel like I had a good grasp on who each character even was.  From a plot perspective, this felt very clunky and disjointed. While the title suggests that this story focuses on a group of lifeguards (our teenage characters), I found the chapters centering much more on a trio of moms who did little to propel the plot forward in an interesting or suspen...

  "The Patron Saint of Second Chances" is a very light, laugh-out-loud funny story, and it came to me as a reader at just the right time, when I was looking for a momentary break from heavier, dark reads. If you're looking for something quirky without a complex plot to keep track of that will still surely tug on your heartstrings, look no further!  What I loved most about reading this book was that it played out in my mind like an Italian Hallmark comedy movie. Mischief, mayhem, and an entire town full of lovable Italian characters...what more could you want? What on earth is a small-town mayor to do when he discovers he must quickly scrounge together 70,000 euro in order to fix Prometto's pipes, or else risk the disbanding of his community? Thankfully for us readers, Signore Speranza is full of big ideas to save his beloved Prometto, but what happens when the ideas get a bit too big for Prometto's own good? This sweet treasure of a story is beautifully written an...

  "A History of Wild Places" is an eerie, bewitching, novel. From the very first chapter, Ernshaw's absolutely stunning prose takes center stage as she pens the story of mysteriously-vanished author Maggie St. James, Travis Wren, the man who sets out to find her, and the remote community of Pastoral; a place tucked away from the rest of the world and utterly locked in time. What ensues is a captivating story so unique that its existence itself is a marvel--Ernshaw's creativity nearly defies logic with how she ties things together and where she takes the story of Pastoral and its community members.  I went into this book fairly blind, and so I won't write more as to encourage other readers to do the same. Shea Ernshaw, I bow down. A top 5 read of 2021 for me! Rating: 5 Stars Publication Details: 2020 Backlist Read, Atria Books

"These Silent Woods" is one of the most poignant books I have ever read. This is a quiet story; a powerful story. Set against the backdrop of the deep woods where a father and his young daughter live just about off the grid, this story will pull you in and quietly take hold of you as Cunningham Grant’s beautiful writing unravels the reality their everyday life and the choices that got them there. This story moved me in ways I haven’t been moved by writing in a long time: it was my top book of 2021! Rating: 5 Stars Publication Details: 2020 Backlist, Minotaur Books  

  This sweet, sweet story is an absolute triumph. Perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman (particularly, as the synopsis predicts, "A Man Called Ove"), "Remarkably Bright Creatures" boasts a tender, almost poignantly-human quality that so many writers fail to get right.  70 year-old Tova works at the Sowell Bay Aquarium in coastal Washington. For Tova, everyday has been quite predictably the same (and quite lonesome) for a long time; that is, until the aquarium's precocious and curiously intelligent giant octopus, Marcellus, enters her life. For me, this story was everything I needed and so, so much more. It pulled at my heartstrings, made me laugh, and kept my full attention even in its "quieter" chapters. Some chapters center on Tova, others on Marcellus as he scrupulously documents his captivity in the aquarium, and others on central characters that emerge throughout the story. What I loved most about "Remarkably Bright Creatures" was the seam...

  Molly Gray is a maid—dutiful in her work, endearingly off-beat, & the kind of protagonist who instantly tugs at your heartstrings. She doesn’t pick up on the same social cues most of us do, but that’s okay; what matters to her most is the Regency Grand Hotel & returning guests’ rooms to a state of perfection. For Molly, life just hasn’t been the same since Gran died.  Suddenly, her ordinary life goes awry finds herself entangled in a murder case at the Regency Grand—from here, the story unfolds beautifully into a cozy mystery. Lovers of Fredrik Backman’s writing & “Eleanor Oliphant” rejoice; this book is for you. It is delightfully quirky but also profound—a murder mystery woven with a deeply human, relatable cast of characters, and a story that keeps some of its most poignant secrets until the very end.  This story is about picking up the pieces, the power of found family, and the simplicity of what it means to live a good life. Just astounding. I can’t rec...

  Just an achingly beautiful story. Whitaker’s writing is effortless, atmospheric, and captures so much emotion in his characters without ever being too fluffy or overdone. It’s important to note that this is a slow-building, large-cast-of-characters, quieter story. Immensely powerful nonetheless, but when I first picked this up, I was expecting something very different.  I went into this thinking it would be a fast-paced thriller; don’t make my mistake and you’ll appreciate every page of this one from the start. Each one of the countless characters in this serves a profound purpose, and each one of them are completely plausible and deeply human. Perhaps what I loved most about this title is that it felt like such a real story from every angle.  Admittedly, there were parts in the middle that became a little slow for me, so much so that I almost went with 4 stars. At some places the huge ensemble of characters grew a little dense for me and I had trouble recalling who was...

  When Leah and her colleagues mysteriously disappear for months in a deep sea submarine exploration gone wrong, her wife Miri is left to assume the worst. Nonetheless, Leah returns from the deep, and Leah comes home.  But Leah is not the same.  What a haunting premise for Julia Armfield's latest debut. This is a short novel; one that was equal parts literary fiction, psychological horror, and a deeply-poetic commentary on the mystery of grief. Told in alternating chapters between Miri and Leah, this poignant story unfolds slowly but more beautifully than I could have ever anticipated.  Miri's chapters are an uninhibited free fall into her psyche--more a masterfully-penned character study than anything else. Her reflective inner dialogues are complex, almost uncomfortably human, and occasionally drift back through the history of her relationship with Leah. Leah's chapters, on the other hand, are where the plot comes to life, and where the truth of her doomed voyage u...

  Set on the remote, Irish island called Salvation, Josie Silver weaves a charming (albeit familiar) romance of girl-meets-boy-while-trying-to-find-herself in "One Night on the Island." Set in alternating perspectives from our protagonists Cleo, a dating columnist from London, and Mack, a photographer from Boston, this romance unfolds within the tight-knit community of Salvation Island in a predictably sweet way, but maybe with a dash too much predictability and sweetness for me.  If you're a romance reader, then you'll most likely find this book to be right up your alley. Its simplistic and internal dialogue-driven plot contains all the classic tenets of a contemporary romance as well as a refreshing ensemble of characters. Personally, I found the plot (and characters) too surface-level to ever truly connect with; I didn't love Cleo, I didn't love Mack, and by the end of the story, I didn't think there was much to love about their romance. Had Silver dedi...

This was a solid thriller; fast-paced, easy-to-read, and a uniquely-exciting plot in the vein of the movie "Memento." Liv Reese must stay awake in order to piece together the murky details of her own life, because every time she falls asleep, her memory of the last two years is mysteriously gone the moment she wakes up. Liv's life--both past and present--is riddled with unreliable characters, and without her own memory to rely on, it's impossible for Liv to know who to trust. What she does know when she wakes, is that something is wrong.   Parts of this thriller really worked for me. I loved the chapters written from Liv's perspective and how the missing pieces of her story gradually came together. The plot felt fresh and kept me turning the pages late at night past when I should have been reading. The chapters centering on the police investigation side of the plot felt a bit dull and lacked the depth that Liv's chapters had; ultimately, I never got to the poi...

Privacy--it's something that everyone, even those with skeletons buried deep within their dark closets, is entitled to.   Or is it? This gripping psychological thriller centers on Dr. Laina Landers and the patients at her successful therapeutic practice, Better Life. When Landers becomes an overnight media sensation after de-escalating a client from what could have been a heinous act of violence, it becomes clear that someone is watching not only Landers, but many of her patients. What's worse--they have no intentions of hiding it. Nina Sadowsky pens a standout page-turner in "Privacy." It's perfectly-paced, infused with a dash of romance, and laden with a heavy undertone of suspense that lingers after every chapter. Sadowsky's background as a screenwriter serves this book exceptionally well. The story has great build-up, pretty good plot complexity, and an ending that's sure to leave readers blindsided in the best way possible.  For me, "Privacy...

"The Boy with a Bird in His Chest" is a tender coming-of-age story that ultimately left me wanting more. The premise--literally, a boy living with a bird named Gail in his chest--sets readers up for what could be a magical realism masterpiece; unfortunately, the only magical realism in the entire story is the fact that Owen lives with Gail in his chest. Because of this, the magic of the story existed in a silo and felt one-dimensional.  Time and time again, I found myself hoping for more profound dialogue between characters (and Lund writes some great characters into this story) as well as more profound writing in general. The chapters are short and easy-to-read, but often read like surface-level observations of what Owen was seeing and experiencing in the world.  There were parts of this story that I loved and would give 4 stars to, and parts that I found terribly clunky and out-of-place that I would give 2 stars to. Lund comes so, so close to getting it right, but there wer...

Best described as a dark coming-of-age novel, "Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance" is as thought-provoking as it is poignant. Like many coming-of-age stories, it's much more character-driven than plot-driven, though there is still very much a central plot to the story.   For readers looking for a missing-persons thriller, be not deceived by this (still perfect, if you ask me) title, because this is not that. This is a commentary on grief, and one that's so beautifully done. Our main character unexpectedly loses her sister, and consequently is forced to grow up and navigate life without her at the epicenter of a normal family sliding into dysfunction and disconnection as a result of their very different journeys through grief.  Espach's prose is deeply-moving and darkly-funny; this book is a free-fall into the introspective teenage mind of Sally Holt and what the gaping absence of her sister Kathy means for her life, past, present, and future. If you are someone go...

  There's more going on inside the pristine, secluded gates of seaside town Brighton Hills than meets the eye. As housewives Paige, Cora, and Georgia navigate their own complex marriages in the wake of a community tragedy, secrets that their beloved, exclusive community has held onto slowly unearth themselves one after another.  "On a Quiet Street" is one of the most engrossing, explosive domestic thrillers I've read in a long time. If you loved the thrilling complexity of "Girl on the Train" and the unforgettable female ensemble in "Big Little Lies," then hear me when I say that Seraphina Nova Glass's latest debut is meant for you.  The story is propelled so powerfully by interesting and more importantly, believably-complex characters; for me, it was equally plot and character-driven. While its "twists" might not be the most mind-blowing I've read in recent years, the punches they deliver are so perfectly-timed and airtight in de...

  Emma Starling has to return her small-town home of Everton, New Hampshire. Her father, Clive, has a degenerative brain disease that's gotten to the point of him losing his memory and hallucinating unlikely animals all over the house (as well as deceased naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes). Emma also has to find a way to tell her family that yes, she has completely blown off med school in California and no, she never regained "The Charm" from her childhood--a very real and healing touch that led some to believe Emma had magical powers.  All havoc breaks loose upon Emma's arrival back to Everton, because she also learns that Crystal Nash, her childhood best friend, is missing.  What ensues in Annie Hartnett's latest debut is a deeply human story about a quirky, imperfect family in an even quirkier, imperfect town. It's laugh-out-loud funny in a way I haven't experienced in ages, it's emotional, and most of all, it beckons its readers to dive into their se...

Get your tissues--you will cry. Probably a lot. “One Italian Summer” is so many different loves woven into a single love story--weathered, familiar love; tempting, new love; self-love; and most of all, the love between a mom and her daughter. Especially for readers who love a story about the complexity of mother-daughter relationships, "One Italian Summer" is a story that will change you.   Rebecca Serle has created an achingly beautiful story here that's simple, sweet, and almost unexpectedly deep. Between the gorgeous Italian backdrop of Positano and light-hearted dialogue of the story, you'll also find profound (and invaluable) commentary on womanhood, motherhood, and especially how we find our way forward when we lose a part of ourselves to grief.  Simply perfect; a serious must-read of this year! Rating: 5 stars Publication Details: Out Now, Atria Books Huge thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing my review copy!