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The Immortalists

Title: The Immortalists

Author: Chloe Benjamin

Genre: Literary Fiction

PopSugar Challenge Prompt: A book you’ve seen on someone’s bookshelf (in real life, on a Zoom call, in a TV show, etc)

I really shouldn’t judge a book by its title. I expected this book to be some sort of fantasy book. And it’s just not at all. I really wavered on whether or not I even wanted to read it, based on the title, but I’m so glad I gave it a go because I loved it. The characters are just so great and each one’s story is interesting. And although you don’t spend the entire book with all the characters, they are never far from the story.

From Goodreads: If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in ’80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

This book grapples with death a lot. When the kids get their predicted death dates, that knowledge greatly impacts them and how they live their lives. You follow one of the four kids at a time, but they weave in and out of each others’ stories that it feels like they are all in the same story together. I am so glad I read this one. I can’t say it was heart-warming, but the plot was interesting, and I was captivated by how the characters were so individually written and portrayed. I will definitely be thinking about them for quite awhile.

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The Astonishing Color of After

Title: The Astonishing Color of After

Author: Emily X. R. Pan

Genre: Ya fantasty/magical realism

Time Magazine recently listed its top 100 YA books of all-time. It’s not a list I entirely agree with. How can you have a list of YA books without Harry Potter? That series is one of the most influential book series of all-time, not just in the YA world. But, some really great books are on this list. A lot of recently published books made the cut. Some I’ve read from the list that I really enjoyed include Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, I’ll Give You the Sun, Everything, Everything, Six of Crows, The Sun is Also a Star, The Hate U Give, Dear Martin, Allegedly, Long Way Down, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives, and With the Fire on High. Of course, I turned the list into a spreadsheet and decided to knock some off the list. I started here, for no particular reason. And although this book uses a trope I despise, I thought it was still a good read.

From Goodreads: Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

The lack of honesty about their feelings between Axel and Leigh is really annoying. I just hate that trope in writing so much. But the rest of the book is really beautiful. Leigh and her father and lost at sea after the suicide. Leigh tries to find footing by meeting her Taiwanese grandparents. As her mother’s past is slowly revealed, Leigh realizes the family has more secrets than she knows what to do with. But Leigh’s journey is why you read the book. The magical realism aspect of the book is far-fetched, but, that’s the point of MR. Leigh sees memories of her family and is slowly coming to terms with who her mother is. I really did enjoy this book, silly trope aside, and I think it will speak to a lot of young people.

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Crooked Kingdom

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Ya Fantasy

I love these Crows. Each and every one of them are just so perfectly written. I read Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows before watching the Netflix series, but instead of finishing Alina’s story, I just wanted to see what happened to those rapscallions. And what I love about the book is that Bardugo does a fantastic job giving each characters his/her own voice. The way each person speaks, each mannerism, each ability is unique. When writing a large cast with 7+ important characters, differentiating them for the reader can be daunting. But Bardugo did this with ease.

From Goodreads: Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

This story picks up immediately after Six of Crows, so reading them back to back is a good idea. The crew has to fight off one enemy after another, and then turn around and befriend some enemies to gain favor. But, nothing can break Kaz Brekker. You know he has a trick (or ten) up his sleeve. Watching the plot unfold and come together is work of art. Time and time again, I was in awe of how Kaz managed to escape. Bardugo left me guessing, but every plot turn was one that made perfect sense and was set up brilliantly. I can’t wait to finish Alina’s story, but I will miss the crows.

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Small Favors

Title: Small Favors

Author: Erin A. Craig

Genre: YA fantasy

Thank you Netgalley for this book!

What a delightful story. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it kept me guessing until the very end. I’m not a big fantasy fan, but this one was much more like a fairy tale- creatures in the woods, mysterious silver eyes peering back at you, unexplained accidents, and struggles to survive. The main character, Ellerie, is a great lead. She’s resilient and strong but has her weaknesses and faults….. much like any person. But, writing teenage girls can be tricky. A lot of times they come off as annoying, but I loved Ellerie and was rooting for her the whole time.

From Goodreads: Ellerie Downing lives in the quiet town of Amity Falls in the Blackspire Mountain range–five narrow peaks stretching into the sky like a grasping hand, bordered by a nearly impenetrable forest from which the early townsfolk fought off the devils in the woods. To this day, visitors are few and rare. But when a supply party goes missing, some worry that the monsters that once stalked the region have returned.

As fall turns to winter, more strange activities plague the town. They point to a tribe of devilish and mystical creatures who promise to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires, however grand and impossible, for just a small favor. But their true intentions are much more sinister, and Ellerie finds herself in a race against time before all of Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves go up in flames.

I will say I thought the book could have been about 50 pages shorter. The town is being torn apart, and it seemed like that topic went on a bit longer than necessary. I got the point, but the fighting just continued. But my thoughts also could be simply because I was so excited to get to the end and see how it all worked out that I didn’t want to keep reading about the turmoil. In any case, that’s just a personal stance and is no reason for other people not to read. This book was great and is definitely one I would recommend to people who like this kind of story.

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Behind Her Eyes

Title: Behind Her Eyes

Author: Sarah Pinborough

Genre: thriller

PopSugar Reading Challenge prompt: book with a black and white cover

W. T. F. did I just read? That was the craziest book! But I loved it. Verity was pretty insane. But, unlike the characters in that one, I loved all these. Even though the characters here were pretty bonkers, they were so much fun. I just don’t even know where to begin with this one. Mostly, it’s about a love triangle, who knows what, who is tricking whom, but it’s more clever than that.

From Goodreads: Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.

When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?

As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

So, the love triangle between David, Louise, and Adele is crazy. Louise befriends Adele, keeps the affair a secret, but keeps seeing David (her boss), things escalate, and secrets abound. Normally, this type of book wouldn’t be my thing. But it’s so much more than just a crazy love story. It’s still a thriller with the craziest ending to a book I’ve read in ages. I’m telling everyone I know to read this one, just so they can experience the ride of it.

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Full Throttle

Title: Full Throttle

Author: Joe Hill

Genre: horror short story

PopSugar Reading Challenge prompt: an author who shares your Zodiac sign

I’ve read a lot by Joe Hill. The Fireman was my favorite, but I also enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box, Horns, and NOS4A2. I’m not a big short story fan, but I’m trying to read more. My strategy is to pick a book and read one a day, while I’m also reading other novels. It actually works well for me, and I’m definitely going to use this for my Stephen King story collections that I haven’t gone through yet.

From Goodreads: A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in “Faun.” A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in “Late Returns.” In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water’s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality . . . and other horrors that lurk in the water’s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlaws in “Throttle,” co-written with Stephen King.

There are some memorable stories in this collection. One is told entirely through tweets, which was excellent. One was formatted in a stair step fashion to mimic the plot. Another was told about an event from multiple perspectives of people on an airplane. “In the Tall Grass” was also co-written by Stephen King, and I know it’s also a Netflix movie, but I definitely will not be watching that. This story is so horrific, but great, but it’s one I know I won’t be able to stomach actually seeing. Overall, this was a great collection with some really creative stories, some really gruesome stories, and some really heartfelt stories. So far, Joe Hill hasn’t let me down.

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Transcendent Kingdom

Title: Transcendent Kingdom

Author: Yaa Gyasi

Genre: Black and African-American Literature

I read Homegoing earlier this year and just loved it. The story was so interesting, and the book was just beautifully written. I was just blown away at how captivating it was. And, although I didn’t love this one as much, it was still just such an excellent book. I had no trouble relating to Gifty and her struggles, even though I haven’t experienced them myself. Such is the talent of Gyasi, that even though I’m white, have parents who are still together, born in America, no family members with substance abuse issues, literally Gifty’s polar opposite, I could still get into her psyche because that’s what talented authors do. They create characters that anyone can inhabit, just for a few days. And Gifty will stick with me.

From Goodreads: Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.

But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family’s loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief–a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi’s phenomenal debut.

What was most fascinating to me was Gifty’s struggle with her faith. I’m not religious at all and never have been. So seeing Gifty in a tug-of-war with her beliefs was interesting. Her soul is laid bare in this book, and at an early age, she’s forced to grow up. I flew through this book, but not necessarily to see how the plot unfolds, like with most books. But, I just wanted to keep spending time with Gifty and seeing her evolve. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for Gyasi’s next book. Count me as a fan.

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The Whisper Man

Title: The Whisper Man

Author: Alex North

Genre: thriller

PopSugar Reading Challenge Prompt: book published anonymously

For the reading challenge, I needed to read a book published anonymously. After scrolling through several lists, none sounded all that interesting. So, I fudged a bit and went with a book that is technically published anonymously but has a pseudonym attached. Alex North’s real identity is unknown. So, good enough for me. I read The Shadows last year and thought it was pretty good, so I figured why not just use this one for the challenge. And I’m so glad I did. This one was excellent.

From Goodreads: After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town: Featherbank.

But Featherbank has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed “The Whisper Man,” for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter’s crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window. 

This book was just great in every department: characters, plot, writing, etc. I fully understood character motivations, plot points made sense, and it was tightly written. Jake and Tom are struggling, but your heart goes out to them both. They are trying as best they can, but adjusting has been difficult. The story is told sometimes in 3rd person and sometimes 1st. It’s a bit tricky, but once you get the idea, it’s not too bad. But I definitely appreciated North’s ability to write both in the same book. Overall, this one was a lot better than The Shadows. But because both were really well done, I’ll be looking for more of North’s books.

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The Wife Upstairs

Title: The Wife Upstairs

Author: Rachel Hawkins

Genre: thriller

Ugh, this book. It’s supposed to be a modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, which is a book I love. But every single character in this book was awful. Not one redeeming quality between them. And the fact that the title is a spoiler, what in the world? You know there’s a wife upstairs from the very beginning, which is ridiculous. Finding that out as a plot twist would have been so much better.

From Goodreads: Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates—a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie—not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past—or his—catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

I disliked every character: Jane, Eddie, the wife upstairs, all the minor characters, etc. Every one of them was vapid and useless. The fact that Jane desperately wants into their wealthy world tells you what kind of person she is. She is escaping her past, but when you find out what it is, it’s quite a disappointment. This book was a Book of the Month club selection back in Dec 2020. And it’s not one I’ll be recommending. What a disappointment.

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Any Way the Wind Blows

Title: Any Way the Wind Blows

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: LGBTQ+ Ya fiction, fantasy

I have read and loved every single book Rainbow Rowell has written. My favorite is Fangirl, which is where Simon Snow got his start, but her others (Attachments (and Rainbow Rowell in general), Carry On) are just lovely. (minor spoilers for the series) Simon and Baz are just so fantastic together, so Wayward Son bummed me out. Simon was so grumpy (with good reason, but I still was disappointed), but THANK GOODNESS he has figured things out in this book.

From Goodreads: In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood a bout themselves might be wrong.In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages — and if he doesn’t, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she’s smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn’t sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

I loved this book and finished it in just a couple of days. And then I had book hangover. The next book I tried to read wasn’t about Simon and Baz, and I just kept looking at it rather than wanting to read it. Glossing over most of the plot, I will say that I loved each character’s storyline, but having Simon and Baz together again (it’s not perfect, but man is it so much better than the last book) was fantastic. This book was an excellent ending to a fun trilogy. I will miss Simon’s adventures, but I know I’ll be reading these books again one day.