whatsleahreading

  Annis is a slave girl born into a world of unthinkable injustice. Mama is her only shield from "her sire," a white man who owns a Carolina rice field that serves as the only home Annis has ever known. When in a blink, Annis' entire world is upended and she's moved further south to be sold, her grief takes the form of a visceral being as she makes the incomprehensible journey on foot alongside of other sold slaves to New Orleans where her future hangs in the balance. Through undeniably masterful storytelling, Ward tells the story of Annis' journey as she makes her way through deplorable conditions to the New Orleans slave markets and eventually onto a Louisiana sugar plantation. As the story marches further into dread-filled darkness, spirit guides and otherworldly beings emerge from the swamp, the dark wood, and the waters to guide Annis along the way. And despite the remarkable storytelling in "Let Us Descend," I found that I never fully connected ...

  In the wake of her mother Noelle's unexpected death, Belle leaves her solitary life in Montreal for the overbearing glamour of Southern California and hopes to quickly settle Noelle's estate as to not face the thorn-sharp, painful memories that linger there. Before long, clues of Noelle's mysterious death begin to surface. A cracked mirror in her mother's bedroom. A glamorous stranger at the funeral. An imposing mansion on the coastal cliffside. And a tantalizing invitation from La Maison de Méduse that entitles Belle to a free treatment at their spa. As Belle descends further and further into the depths of a dark society of beautiful strangers, she finds herself entangled in a world of glamour, yes, but also obsession, that she may not be able to escape before it's too late. Perhaps one of the most promising titles of the year, "Rogue" is an ambitious, gothic, and painfully-slow burn of a story. Brimming with all the weirdness of "Bunny" (a...

  Lewis and Wren are unlikely newlyweds. Lewis--the artist, the actor, the dreamer; and Wren--the realist, the stable one, Lewis' anchor. Together, they harmonize perfectly and set their sights on a long life together. Then, out of the blue, Lewis is diagnosed with a rare but rapidly-progressing mutation that will turn him into a great white shark. I haven't lost you, have I? Please tell me I haven't lost you. Because over the course of 9 poignant, poetic months, Lewis' transformation from man into shark in "Shark Heart" can only be described as masterful. Set against the backdrop of Lewis and Wren's marriage, Habeck pens a story that is part novel, part play, and part poetry; a curious amalgam of metaphors and magical realism, but one that is utterly spellbinding. The characters of Wren and Lewis (and later, Angela, but wait for Act II for her) are imbued with such a delicate, familiar humanness that it almost took my breath away, what I expected to b...

  On the seemingly idyllic cul-de-sac of Alton Road, not a single house is exempt from suburban secrets. Alex's evening glass of wine comes earlier and earlier each day--sometimes a glass, sometimes a bottle. Her sister Emily is holding on to her marriage for dear life, that fresh start not as fresh as she's let the neighbors think. Recently-widowed Brooke hardly seems to be mourning the loss of her husband Jerry. As the residents of Alton Road know, it's all just harmless gossip, though. Until someone ends up dead at the Memorial Day block party. An sizzling, explosive summer suspense, "The Block Party" is everything you could want in a domestic drama. A well-defined cast of characters, secrets galore, and a slow-burn fuse that's lit in the first chapter and comes to a shocking conclusion by the end, readers looking for an escapist read that's not your usual Nantucket romance are bound to love this story. By no means a perfect novel and a little heavy...

  For Ava Dowling, the quaint, seaside town of Driftwood, Alabama holds the promise of a new life--one that's far away from her life in Vermont, where tragedy and grief had become her constant companions. On a spontaneous whim, Ava packs up for Driftwood after a mysterious letter arrives with a help-wanted ad for an in-home caretaker. Enter Magpie's: otherwise known as the coffee shop of curiosities. Before long, Ava finds herself enveloped by the small-town, quirky community of Driftwood. She's not only part-time caretaker to Desmond Brightwood, but ends up a barista at Magpie's--owned by Desmond's daughter, Maggie--too. With Driftwood's streets teeming with gossip, stories, and just a little bit of magic, it's not long before Ava wonders if something more than coincidence brought her into its midst. Without a doubt, "At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities" has a Sarah Addison Allen-like draw with its promise of a memorable cast of characters and ma...

  Rachel Murray is living a most ordinary life. As a small-town, Irish student working in a bookstore searching for meaning between late shifts and paychecks, Rachel doesn't quite know what she wants out of life--she just knows she wants more. Enter James Devlin: he's unapologetically brazen, almost criminally-extroverted, and sexually-ambiguous...and the exact size of the void that's been lingering in Rachel. Soon, Rachel and James are living together in Cork, utterly (and platonically) enamored with each other and completely inseparable. James is in love with the unpredictability of life; Rachel is in love with her literature professor, Dr. Fred Byrnes. When a chance encounter at their bookstore sends Dr. Byrnes into not only Rachel's orbit, but James', their lives are interwoven--and irrevocably changed--overnight. A poignant, endearing, deeply-human coming-of-age story, "The Rachel Incident" is sure to please fans of "Normal People" and ...

  Puzzle master Mike Brink once lead an ordinary life. When a chance accident derailed his hopes of an athletic scholarship, he learned that he had been left with extraordinary--and nearly unfathomable--abilities: a photographic memory, the ability to perceive patterns in milliseconds, an affinity for some of the world's most complex and difficult ciphers. By all accounts, Mike Brink was content to continue his work writing puzzles for the New York Times. Until, that is, he's summoned to a New York women's prison and has a startling encounter with disgraced writer Jess Price, whose story of unprompted violence and murder shocked the nation. What ensues after Brink's meeting with Jess and Dr. Thessaly Moses, the prison's psychiatrist, is a heart-pounding, multi-layered race against time with a mysterious "God Puzzle" at the center of it all. In an instant, Brink is thrust out of his comfortable world of puzzle creation and into a battle for humanity's ...