Jolissa

This review was originally published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/10/what-we-read-in-september-2022/

I'm starting to get into audiobooks! I listened to two audiobooks in September, and the second one was Run Rose Run. Normally, this book is not what I'd pick. However, I saw a review of the audiobook in BookPage magazine that was glowing because of the full cast that recorded it, including Dolly Parton herself.

So, I decided to give it a try, and unfortunately it was just “meh”. The full cast part was cool, but the actual story...I thought there would be more to the suspense/thriller aspect, but it wasn't quite as thrilling as I hoped. The story and characters were a little bit flat, too. It was just okay.

Find my full review here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/02/review-home-or-away-by-kathleen-west/

We're big Kathleen West fans around here – she used to write for LQ! Home or Away is her third book and I was so excited to get approved to read it early via NetGalley.

Home or Away is Kathleen's third book, and I could definitely tell while I was reading it that she's growing and morphing as a writer. I rated both Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes and Are We There Yet? 5 stars. I loved them! So I was really excited to dive into Home or Away.

The first thing I'll say about this one is that it's definitely the most serious of Kathleen's books so far. Sure, the other two had some serious things happen, where relationships were on the brink of combusting and lives were disrupted. Home or Away, though, deals with the most serious subject matter: Leigh's inappropriate relationship with her coach when she was vulnerable.

This book had a lot of building up to the most dramatic moments, but it was slower than Kathleen's other two. That's the only reason why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 – it was just a bit slow for me. I knew it was building up to something and I definitely still wanted to read it, but I needed more to happen at times.

I did struggle a little to connect with Leigh. She's just so very opposite of me in some ways that I couldn't quite understand why she was doing what she was doing. There were definitely flashes, though, of her inner workings that clicked more with me. She's so hard on the outside but just fraught with grief on the inside.

The glimpse into serious youth hockey was – man, sports parents can be nuts! The kids are just strung along for the ride sometimes. I just wanted to give the kids some hugs and tell them to have fun.

The tension and awkwardness between Leigh and Susy was hard to read sometimes. I just wanted to shake Leigh and tell her to snap out of it and talk about what happened to her so she could find some healing and some friendship! I really liked Susy – she may just be my favorite character.

Overall, this book was great and suspenseful and deep. Definitely worth a read!

First of all, I'm so thankful to Ballantine Books via NetGalley for letting me read Unlikely Animals before it comes out. This was one of my favorites of the year so far!

I tend to really enjoy books with quirkiness done well, and this one just hits that out of the park. I mean, it's narrated by the ghosts of people in the town who've died and are now buried in the town's graveyard. One of the main characters sees and interacts with a ghost (and not-real animals), and another main character is doing her job of teaching a group of endearing 5th graders without any prior experience (or education) in education.

All of that made this story so unique, fun, funny, and heartwarming. If you've read Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, I'd compare this book to that one in terms of quirkiness and endearing-ness.

I think my favorite character in this story was Clive. He continue losing some of his cognitive function to a brain disease as the book goes on, but he's just the most interesting guy with a heart of gold. I loved that he told his daughter to do a C-average job at teaching the kids so nobody expected too much of her. And of course, the fact that he interacts with a ghost on a daily basis makes him rather interesting.

Here's my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/03/review-unlikely-animals-by-annie-hartnett/

A Ballad of Love and Glory is described as A Long Petal of the Sea meets Cold Mountain, and I can definitely see that. It's very detailed on the historical side of things, alongside a love story between what seems like an unlikely couple, but their love transcends culture and ethnicity.

In a word: epic.

We follow Ximena and John separately at first, and then together as their worlds collide through the war. Their love story is so unlikely, yet at the same time, it makes sense. They both have broken lives due to the war, and it brings them together.

There's just a ton going on in this book. The historical element is very well defined and you get a lot of background into what's happening and why. Having also just read A Long Petal of the Sea, I can see how the writing is similar, with so much history rolled into it, but I actually like Love and Glory better because it didn't take as much time out of the story in order to go over history lessons.

Besides a ton of historical facts, this book is also pretty raw in the details. It's a book about war, and it doesn't shy away from some depictions of what things were really like. There's a lot of violence, a lot of death, and a lot of suffering. I wasn't quite expecting that to be honest, and it made the book pretty heavy at times. I had a hard time picking it up a few times, knowing I was descending into a land of death and destruction, but I also couldn't stay away.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/03/review-a-ballad-of-love-and-glory-by-reyna-grande/

This story tackled some really complicated feelings, and it did it really well. Zane and Skye are two teens who have to make really difficult decisions at very young ages, then learn how to live with those decisions. If you like complicated family stories, I'd definitely suggest picking this one up.

Skye ended up being a really likable character, and I definitely felt for her and the position she's in. How do you make a decision as a mother about letting the kid's father back into the picture, after he's gotten clean? Then, when you struggle to figure out your feelings about the guy, how do you go about dealing with those?

I thought everything about this book was well done, including all the throwbacks to the grunge era. There were a lot of references I enjoyed, even though I wasn't really into grunge as a kid. I enjoyed getting lost in the struggle of these characters, and their reconciliations with the past and who they used to be. There were a couple times when I couldn't quite get into Skye's head to figure out why she was making certain decisions, mainly about Zane and her relationship with him.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/12/review-come-as-you-are-by-jennifer-haupt/

Bel Canto is a story about love, mostly. Love, music, language, terrorism, friendship – the book definitely doesn't fail to deliver on those themes.

Set in South America, the story (based on a true story) begins when a large roomful of mostly affluent bureaucrats and CEO's are taken hostage by terrorists during a beautiful soprano opera performance by the book's female lead, Roxanne Coss. From there, the story stays in that same setting. The hostages end up being held captive for over 4 months! During that time, relationships are formed between hostages and terrorists, friendships grow, romances flourish.

It's going to be very difficult to review this book without giving away the ending, but I'm going to try valiantly!

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by this book. I had read and heard a lot of good things about it, so my expectations were high. There were definitely good parts! I enjoyed many passages about love and language and music. Patchett really has a flourish for colorful language on those subjects! For instance, here's a passage about music I particularly enjoyed:

“How strange his fingers felt after two weeks of not playing, as if the skin he wore now was entirely new. He could hear the softest click of his fingernails, two weeks too long, as he touched the keys. The felt-covered hammers tapped the strings gently at first, and the music, even for those who had never heard the piece before, was like a memory. From all over the house, terrorist and hostage alike turned and listened and felt a great easing in their chests....Had the accompanist played so well? It would have been impossible to remember, his talent was to be invisible, to life the soprano up, but now the people in the living room of the vice-presidential mansion listened to Kato with hunger and nothing in their lives had ever fed them so well.”

Isn't that beautiful? It's passages like that one that saved this book for me. Because of how well-written it is and how beautiful the language is, I have to give it 3 stars.

Read the rest of this review here: http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/02/review-bel-canto-by-ann-patchett/

First of all, as a capital L Literature snob, Atwood's writing style was wonderful. The way she strings words and phrases together floated my boat, most definitely! It was both elegant and smart, but not difficult to read at all.

I want to share this review on the back of my copy of the novel:

“A stunning novel full of sly wit, compassion and insight, boasting writing that is lyrical, assured, evocative of time and place, and seductive in its power to engage us.”
– Houston Chronicle

Heck yes! I agree with you, whoever you are at the Houston Chronicle. Especially on the “sly wit” part – there's such a soft spot in my heart for some well-written wit, and this novel had no shortage of it. I caught myself smiling and chuckling at many points in the book, as there were several characters capable of fantastic wit.

That said, the story moved a little slowly for me throughout most of the book, and then suddenly resolved so quickly in the last 100 pages or so. I have to admit I was even slightly bored in the middle, when not much was happening. It was the writing style, wit and mystery that kept me from getting too overly bored.

Mystery isn't usually the kind of thing I like to read, but this was so well done. Atwood really keeps you guessing – at the very moment when you think you've solved it, something is said or happens that makes you wonder. Could Grace be crazy? Is she a murderer? Is she just really cunning? Atwood's mastery of this aspect of the story was totally spot-on.

Atwood plays around a lot with a couple major themes: the roles of women and men in society and psychology. Each female character is somehow weaker and sluttier than the next! It was definitely a hit-you-over-the-head kind of theme. But in this novel, it worked, because it seems like females win in the end, despite the odds. The male characters also ended up being rather hilariously ill-equipped. The psychology theme was super funny to me – I won't go too far into it, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the celebrated psychologist exits the story in the way that he does. Read it, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Read the rest of this review here: http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/01/alias-grace-by-margaret-atwood/

This review was originally published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/11/what-we-read-in-october-2022/

This was just not my favorite. I wouldn't normally have picked it up based on the description, but it was a book club pick, so I went for it.

Overall I just found it so difficult to believe. It was just not plausible, and there were way too many things that happened because it was just convenient for the story arc. I did like that it was about a novelist and a woman who deserves some good things happening to her, but it didn't have much else going for it.

Wow, there was a lot to this book. It's the story of an entire lifetime, so there's definitely a lot to get through!

I loved the beginning of Violeta. Her life as a child was so incredibly interesting, and I found myself feeling sad when the story continued and she was older. I loved the story of the woman who comes to her home as a nanny...their relationship is fascinating, and continues to be that way throughout the book.

While I was really engaged for about the first half of this book, the second half didn't shine as brightly for me. It's certainly an incredible story, and there's no doubt that Isabel Allende is an experienced, immersive storyteller. I've heard good things about other books of hers (specifically A Long Petal of the Sea), and I would like to pick up one of those.

Violeta, though, gets a little bit too mired in politics for me. I enjoyed reading about the politics of a region I don't know as much about, but the story got too focused there for me, with longer descriptions about what was going on with the politics in multiple countries. I like a side of politics with my stories...this verged too far into the political content for me.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/10/review-violeta-by-isabel-allende/

First of all, I have to talk about how unique this book is. The mystery element mixed in with the history made it something so different from other books I've read like this. It reminded me a little bit of The Lost Apothecary, with that kind of vibe, although definitely not as dark.

I have to admit, it did start out a little bit slow for me. I wasn't sure I loved Alice and thought she was beyond a normal level of timid. She's so quiet, so unsure of herself...I wasn't sure if she was entirely realistic. She did come alive for me later in the book, though, so I was really happy to see her get more sure of herself.

This book is told from multiple points of view, and at times it almost seemed like too many. It was a little hard to keep track of what was going on with all the characters: all of their relationships, backstories, and how they related to the honeybee emeralds. This is another thing I figured out better as we got towards the middle of the book.

Beyond those couple things, this book was SO fun. I just flew through it, especially after I hit the half way point. The whole story picked up, I knew the characters better, and I was really into the fun history stuff. I was also really rooting for some of the characters and was excited when good things happened for them.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/01/review-the-honeybee-emeralds-by-amy-tector/

This review is published on my blog: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/04/what-we-read-in-march-2022/

This book came unexpectedly in the mail from Celadon Books for my little free library. I was between books when it arrived, and I foolishly opened it to read the first couple pages. I was immediately hooked and had to just go ahead and read the whole dang thing

This book had so many moments that I wanted to bottle up and save for a time when I need something inspiring. I think a lot of people can identify with Gussie and what she's going through. So many of us have had experiences where we've gone through these changes where we're not sure who we are and what we want to be.

The descriptions of the Indian landscape, architecture and people are just gorgeous. The author clearly has the ability to capture sights, sounds and feelings in a way other authors can't. It's just an immersive story that I got lost in, and I looked forward to picking it back up every time I had to stop reading.

Like I mentioned earlier, there are a whole bunch of inspirational passages in the book that worked really well for me. Sometimes I can't help but roll my eyes at that kind of thing, but it's done so well in Every Word Unsaid that it just gave me the warm fuzzies instead of the eye rolls.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/11/review-every-word-unsaid-by-kimberly-duffy/

My full review is published here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2023/01/review-only-the-beautiful-by-susan-meissner/

Do you have any authors who've been on your to-read list for YEARS? You know their books are a great fit for you, but somehow you've just never gotten to them? One of those authors for me is Susan Meissner. I've even owned one of her books about since it came out FIVE YEARS ago. The life of a book blogger/busy mom/owner of too many books, I guess

My full review appears here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/06/review-no-hiding-in-boise-by-kim-hooper/

If the synopsis of this book makes it sound heavy, you're right — it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter. Yet, the book as a whole doesn't feel like this big, depressing, heavy thing.

This book isn't so much about the traumatic event itself. Instead, it's about the aftermath: the stuff we're much less likely to see on the news.

The story takes a deep dive into the lives of three women affected by the shooting. One of them was there, one of them is the shooter's mom, and one of them is wondering what the heck her injured husband was doing at a bar in the middle of the night when he was supposed to be in bed with her. Each one of them is affected in a different way, yet the happenings of that night start to bring them all together.

There's also a little undercurrent of mystery to this book. What was Angie's husband doing at that bar? Since he's too injured to speak up, Angie has to try to piece things together herself.

I don't really want to say a lot about this book, because I don't want to give anything away! I will say that I thought it was beautiful. I tend to love super realistic depictions of grief and trauma and broken people, because that's also when life (and books) can very unexpectedly be the most beautiful.

Check out my full review at https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/05/review-i-thought-you-said-this-would-work-by-ann-garvin/

This was such a great read! I absolutely fell in love with Ann Garvin's I Thought You Said This Would Work.

Guys, this book was so funny, and so sweet, and so fun. If you read the synopsis, you're probably thinking “oh my, that's a lot going on” and it totally is, and at times, it's a little absurd. I mean, a diabetic dog and a D-list celebrity? Just trust me on this, though...it's a great read!

The characters were super lovable. Even Holly, who seems angry for no reason, is likable because you can tell there's something more going on and you just really want to find out what it is. It really kept me guessing throughout the story, and I was rooting so hard for Sam to just speak up and ask Holly what the heck was bothering her.

Really, I was rooting for Sam the whole time. She's such an endearing character, and I wanted to be her friend. She has that classic “I'm a mom and that's my identity but now my kid is moving out so who am I?” kind of thing going on. I enjoy stories that deal with empty nesting, as it's such a big change in lifestyle.

This review originally appeared on Literary Quicksand: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/07/what-we-read-in-june-2022/

Wow this book. Four Treasures of the Sky is absolutely beautiful, poetic at times, and also absolutely, devastatingly heartbreaking. This book broke me. I couldn't believe some of the beauty of the passages and themes in here - it was incredible. But it was SO. HARD. TO. READ. Oh my gosh, it was achingly sad. Just one of the most beautiful, saddest books I've ever read. This book will haunt me for a while. I had to rate it 5 stars...there's just no way this level of writing could be anything else.

Find my full review here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/09/review-dear-mrs-bird-and-yours-cheerfully-by-a-j-pearce/

While the story focused a lot of women's empowerment, which was fun to read, it didn't get as serious as Mrs. Bird. It just stayed on the light side of things for me the whole time.

And because it stayed light, I have to admit I got a little bit bored. I felt invested in the story and liked it enough to keep going, but I was somewhat disappointed.

So for ratings, I gave Dear Mrs. Bird 4.5 stars and Yours Cheerfully 3. If you're a historical fiction lover, definitely pick up Dear Mrs. Bird! But I'll leave Yours Cheerfully up to you.

The characters in this story were so loveable. I loved both Mukesh and Aleisha, and the side characters you meet throughout, too. They each had something really difficult in their lives – him a recent widower, and her living with a mentally ill mom. And things get harder before they get easier.

The way the author depicts grief I thought was really well done. Both of the main characters are grieving something or someone, and you can see them struggling to find themselves in it and adapt to their worlds.

I also loved the thread of the reading list tying their stories (and side characters) together so closely. It's a little bit of a mystery, because you don't know who made the reading list they find, but the author started weaving in more clues as the story went on. I thought that was a really fun way to make the reveal.

The only thing I didn't love about this book, the thing that took it down from 5 stars to 4, is the ending.

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/02/review-the-reading-list-by-sara-nisha-adams/

This book was good and I enjoyed it, but it also wasn't quite what I was expecting. I went into it expecting a lot of adventure, and the adventure was more in bits and pieces in between more family/friend/relationship content. I also had no idea that there would be so much sex and lust in this book! I don't have a problem with sex and lust, but I just didn't expect it. Lust, though, becomes a theme throughout the entire book: lust both for other humans and for what you really want in life.

Marian's story was very well done. I felt like a really knew her as a character, understood her motives, and rooted for her throughout the book. Her life story was super interesting and fun to read.

Hadley, on the other hand...wasn't my favorite. I've read some other reviews of this book and have seen that there are quite a few others who feel the same. I just didn't think this book needed her side of things to be great. Marian's story was so compelling, so unique, and so exciting, and Hadley's was just not. I mean, it was okay, but it just felt unnecessary. In fact, the further on I got in the book, I felt like I was racing through Hadley's parts to get back to Marian's. At 600+ pages, I think Hadley's part of the story just didn't need to be there.

I also enjoyed the mystery portion of this book. You kind of know how it's going to end, but you're not exactly sure, and then as the book goes on, you get these clues that the end you thought was coming might actually not be coming. I loved the way Shipstead weaved that in there!

Read my full review: https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/11/review-great-circle-by-maggie-shipstead/

Find my full review at https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/02/review-minus-me/

Like I said above, this was a nice, quick read to beat my January pandemic doldrums. I have to admit I enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book better than the last 1/3, but I'd still say it was an overall pleasurable read.

In the beginning, we learn of Annie's diagnosis, and as anyone would with a scary diagnosis, she starts thinking about how she wants the rest of her life (and after she's gone) to look. Her husband, Sam, is sort of bumbling, but I liked that he was also strong at some points in the book. So, Annie writes a sort of manual for him that explains how to go on without her.

However, while all of this is going on, Annie is keeping her diagnosis to herself. At first she was just waiting until a next appointment, but when her rich and famous mother finds out the diagnosis (before Sam does) and takes her to New York to visit expert doctors, she STILL keeps it all to herself. When she gets back, she “attempts” to tell Sam, but can't because he's angry and thinks she had an affair in the city.

This is where the book kind of lost me.

Check out my full review at https://literaryquicksand.com/2021/02/book-review-good-company-by-cynthia-daprix-sweeney/

I enjoyed Good Company! It has been a few years since I read The Nest, so who knows, maybe I would like it better now? It seems like most people are the other way around, but I liked Good Company more.

This book was really a deep look at relationships, especially romantic ones, and what happens when something that was taken for granted is maybe not as solid as it appeared. Flora's relationship turns into something entirely unexpected when she finds her husband's “lost” right, clearly not lost. She deals with a lot of “what now?” kind of questions about her family and her marriage.

Meanwhile, Flora's best friend, Margot, is facing a different kind of marriage question. Her husband suffered an early stroke, turning him into a man she's not sure she recognizes anymore.

I thought this was a wonderful deep dive into relationships, parenthood, family, and friendships. If you like a lot of action happening in your books, this one might not be for you. If you enjoy largely character-driven stories about love and marriage, you'll probably like Good Company.

This review is published on my blog: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/04/what-we-read-in-march-2022/

This was my book club's pick in March. I don't read the thriller/suspense genre much at all, so I wasn't super excited to read this one. When I started, though, I couldn't stop, and finished it in 2 days. It just sucked me in and I had to find out what happened. That said, there was a lot going on in this book...lots of characters and side stories to lead you astray from who the real killer might be. I liked it for the most part, but it got to be a little bit much. A fun read though!

This review originally appeared here: https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/11/what-we-read-in-october-2022/

When I heard that my book club selected a book about Dorothea Lange for book club in October, I was a little worried. A while ago I read Learning to See by Elise Hooper and really liked it, and that's also a fictional account of Dorothea Lange's life. I wasn't sure if I have room in my heart for two Lange fiction books!

However, I was very pleasantly surprised about The Bohemians. It really held its own when compared with the other Lange novel I liked! It was really unexpected in some aspects, too, with a lot of issues (like racism, rape, classism, and women's rights) portrayed with grace

Lange is portrayed as being pretty young and naïve at first, but really grows up throughout this book, and I loved seeing that progression. It's more about the first portion of her life, whereas Learning to See is about the latter, so it really worked out. I recommend both novels!