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The One collection

Title/Author: Before Her/Jacqueline Woodson

Parable/Jess Walter

A Wedding Thing/Shea Serrano

Yes, And/Kristi Coulter

The Visitor/Dodai Stewart

Speed Grieving/Allison Ellis

Lila/Naima Coster

I’m really enjoying these Amazon originals short stories. However, this one was a little different. These were all non-fiction. I’m not normally one for love stories, but these weren’t your average boy meets girl tales. Some were girl meets girl. One of these was about a family pet, even. In any case, I did enjoy them all, but a couple were standouts to me.

From Goodreads: Before Her- Before Jacqueline Woodson met Juliet, before her own self-realization, there were decades of friends, lovers, and family who defined the woman she’d become. In this haunting story of memory and identity, Jacqueline shares the profound impact they had on bending the path of her life; how they informed the dreams of her future; and how each one—some lost, all loved—would bring her to Juliet, her one and only.

Parable- In this funny remembrance of an unusual triangle, Jess learns to accept what’s best for the one animal he has ever loved. After all, he gave his heart to the Australian shepherd mix he’d rescued. What alternative has he other than to give the restless girl her freedom? But in doing so, Jess discovers more about himself, the nature of affection and attachment, the inevitability of loss, and how much Millie means to so many.

A Wedding Thing- Two days before Shea and Larami Serrano were to be married, four months into her pregnancy with twin boys, she went into labor. Stuck in a hospital room, fearing the worst, and dismantling a year’s worth of preparations in a matter of hours—the couple decides that the show must go on. Told from Shea’s and Larami’s dual perspectives, this memoir shows the powerful bond that can arise from adversity, a sense of humor, and mutual trust.

Yes, And- When Kristi Coulter’s husband proposed, she didn’t admit her fears. When they exchanged vows, she didn’t reveal that she was terrified that marriage would ruin her life. During fifteen years of genuinely happy marriage, she never said a word about another man in her life. Then she comes clean—about all of it—and discovers a new world.

The Visitor- One cold, lonely night, Manhattan writer Dodai Stewart meets a charming stranger on an internet dating site. He’s sexy. He’s smart. He’s funny. There’s an instant spark. And one unavoidable catch: adorable Marco lives in San Francisco. So how far is Dodai willing to go, and how much will she sacrifice, to find that elusive One she’s heard so much about? Cross-country travel, emotional outbursts of love, and time will inevitably tell.

Speed Grieving- When Allison Ellis’s husband died of an unexpected heart attack, there was no playbook for a thirty-three-year-old widow with a breastfeeding infant. In her grief, she devised a practical strategy: find a new husband within twelve months. What transpired was a year of mourning, manic dating, and breaking hearts across Seattle on a deadline mission to heal her own.

Lila- When Naima Coster met Lila, they were girls of color in a predominantly white private school in Manhattan. As adolescents they found each other and needed each other. As each comes of age, and new bonds pull them apart, the friendship splinters. What happens when Naima and Lila turn to one another again—this time as women? And what will it take to recapture the connection that once meant the world to them?

Parable, about the family dog, was my favorite. It was hilarious. And, oddly enough, our family got a dog yesterday. This particular dog isn’t very loyal and keeps running away from home. Ends up loving the neighbor more, who also loves it. So the two families share her a lot. I also enjoyed A Wedding Thing because when you’re pregnant, babies have other plans! Thankfully all turned out well for the babies, but the wedding ended up differently than expected. This series has something for everyone, really. Love isn’t just about marital love. Love between friends, lovers, parents, pets, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed each unique story.

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The Chestnut Man

Title: The Chestnut Man

Author: Soren Sveistrup

Genre: thriller

My go-to Netflix shows are Nordic police procedural. I cannot get enough of these. They are so well-written, and the characters are so much better than in American police procedurals. They frequently feature female leads, which is awesome, and aren’t bogged down by tropes or an overwhelming amount of red herrings. So when I can find a book that’s similar, I’m really excited. And this book was a perfect match.

From Goodreads: The heart-pounding debut from the creator of the hit Scandinavian television show The Killing. If you find one, he’s already found you. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.

His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene. Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.

A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted? To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues. Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over. And no one is safe.

I thought this book was great. I was left guessing until the end, but once the identity of The Chestnut Man was revealed, it all made sense. There weren’t a lot of dumb red herrings, but just good old fashioned police work following various leads. The main detective is a woman, so of course you know she’s awesome. The story was creative, the characters were solid, and the book overall kept me hooked. Definitely one of the better thrillers I’ve read in awhile.

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Blanche Cleans Up

Title: Blanche Cleans Up

Author: Barbara Neely

Genre: mystery, Black literature

This book is the third in the “Blanche White” series. I haven’t read the first two, but I had no trouble following the story. I picked this book at random off my shelf and am so glad I did. What a fun story, and Blanche is just a great character. She’s strong and funny, full of love and sass. She has no qualms about eavesdropping and speaking her mind. You can’t help but cheer for her.

From Goodreads: Blanche White is a very black, middle-aged woman who cleans white people’s houses for a living. Tart-tongued and shrewd, with a keen nose for trouble, she’s also a queen-sized snoop – who sees at a glance what people are really up to – especially if it’s criminal. It’s been three years since she had to grab the kids and scurry out of Farleigh, North Carolina. Now they’ve all settled into life in the Roxbury section of Boston, and Blanche herself is feeling like she may finally be free to enjoy life – at least a little. But before Blanche can say, Breakfast is ready, she gets suckered into standing in as cook-housekeeper to one Allister Brindle, a Boston Brahmin politician, and his do-gooder wife. Blanche is quickly enmeshed in a festering canker of a scandal that moves from the Brindles’ house (a.k.a. Prozac House) to her own black community as she tries to figure out the truth behind the swimming-pool death of a young black man who knew a little too much…

What I loved about this book was that it deals with so many different topics in excellent ways. Neely doesn’t shy away from current events (even though this was published in 1998) like LGBTQ acceptance, especially within the Black community, teenage pregnancy, environmental issues, etc. Sadly, 20+ years later and not much has changed. This book could have been written a year ago and the same themes would have been present. Blanche is such a great character, and it’s not as if she’s an amateur detective. She just gets caught up in a terrible situation with people she cares about who she wants to help. She would much rather mind her own business (but still be in on the gossip) without putting her life on the line. If you want a funny, well-written heroine, this book is a great one. Maybe start at the first book, but it’s definitely not mandatory.

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The Last House on Needless Street

Title: The Last House on Needless Street

Author: Catriona Ward

Genre: Psychological thriller

Thank you Netgalley for this book!

Oh. Wow. This book was amazing. I really had no idea what was going on for so long, which tells you how well-written it was. I absolutely loved this book. Based on the title, I had expected it to be a haunted house story, but that’s not it at all. In this house lives Ted, who isn’t a regular guy. He seems to be out of touch with reality. A parallel story is one of DeeDee whose little sister, LuLu, went missing at the lake over a decade ago. No one is sure if Lulu is still alive, but DeeDee is on a mission to find her missing sister, dead or alive.

From Goodreads: This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies…

You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it’s not what you think…

Ted’s story is at the focus, but parts of the book are also told from his cat’s perspective and his daughter’s. Seeing the story from several viewpoints was really interesting, and definitely make me wonder just what was happening in this book. From page one, I was intrigued and wanted to understand. And Ward does an excellent job leading you down the path of understanding. I loved this book. It was the perfect creepy fall read, and I’ll be recommending it to everyone.

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Tradition

Title: Tradition

Author: Brendan Kiely

Genre: YA fiction

I’m not sure how this book ended up on my radar, but I was definitely expecting more. The entire “smash the patriarchy” genre is critical these days, but this book just falls short, which is really disappointing. The characters were really flat, and I never really connected with any of them. The dialogue was stilted, and the plot was too subdued for the importance of this subject. All that said, the events of the book reflect society, but society is a hundred times worse than these events.

From Goodreads: Jules Devereux just wants to keep her head down, avoid distractions, and get into the right college, so she can leave Fullbrook and its old-boy social codes behind. She wants freedom, but ex-boyfriends and ex-best friends are determined to keep her in place. Jamie Baxter feels like an imposter at Fullbrook, but the hockey scholarship that got him in has given him a chance to escape his past and fulfill the dreams of his parents and coaches, whose mantra rings in his ears: Don’t disappoint us.

When Jamie and Jules meet, they recognize in each other a similar instinct for survival, but at a school where girls in the student handbook are rated by their looks, athletes stack hockey pucks in dorm room windows like notches on a bedpost, and school-sponsored dances push first year girls out into the night with senior boys, the stakes for safe sex, real love, and true friendship couldn’t be higher.

As Jules and Jamie’s lives intertwine, and the pressures to play by the rules and remain silent about the school’s secrets intensify, they see Fullbrook for what it really is. That tradition, a word Fullbrook hides behind, can be ugly, even violent. Ultimately, Jules and Jamie are faced with the difficult question: can they stand together against classmates—and an institution—who believe they can do no wrong?

The senior athletic boys are just garbage humans. They have zero redeeming qualities and prey upon all the females. Jules is just “the crazy girl” and is dismissed by just about all staff and students. Jamie is expected to live up to the jock standard, but doesn’t want to. And the way they rebel at the end was just so lame. At one point Jules is assaulted (probably not a TW because it’s stopped almost as it starts) and then rumors spread, of course. But instead of turning to her friends, she just shuts them out and wallows in sadness. This might be a realistic reaction, but it’s not much of a helpful one for girls reading this. If I wanted my teenage kids to read something realistic about how awful the world of high school can be, this one just didn’t cut it.

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The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Title: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Author: Meg Elison

Genre: dystopian

Finding a dystopian novel I haven’t read is a challenge. So, when I stumble upon one, I’m delighted. Even better, finding a one that’s well-written and interesting is a needle in a haystack. And I’m so happy to report that this one was fantastic. I enjoyed it so much that I already requested the next books in the series from my library before I had even finished this one.

From Goodreads: In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth’s population—killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant—the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power—and the strong who possess it.

A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining. To preserve her freedom, she dons men’s clothing, goes by false names, and avoids as many people as possible. But as the world continues to grapple with its terrible circumstances, she’ll discover a role greater than chasing a pale imitation of independence. After all, if humanity is to be reborn, someone must be its guide.

We never learn the midwife’s name, but I’ll call her Jane, as she is referred to for part of the book. Mostly men survived, but a handful of women did as well. But, men being men, they rape and enslave many of the women. As Jane navigates the world as a man, she has to learn to trust people at times. She spends a chunk of the book with another woman who happens to be pregnant. A lot of women die in childbirth, and if they live, their babies always die. Survival isn’t impossible. There are so few people that supplies aren’t hard to come by, but simply surviving other humans is the hardest part. Jane was a great, strong character who made solid decisions, given her circumstances. I really thought this book was great and can’t wait to dig into the next one.

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A Rule Against Murder

Title: A Rule Against Murder

Author: Louise Penny

Genre: mystery

I love this series. The Cruelest Month was the third in the series that I reviewed, but I’ve read them all so far. I’ve been making a point to continue series that I’ve started. I have several that are “in progress,” but this one is by far the longest with 17 books published and counting. But these are so much fun, well-written, and just like visiting home again. They follow Inspector Armand Gamache and his work as a detective. Most of the stories center around the small town of Three Pines, and since he has to visit there so often, you get to know the townspeople. Although this one took place elsewhere, some of the townspeople were still involved.

From Goodreads: It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they’re not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own.
The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax. 

Getting to see Gamache and his wife “off the clock” was really fun. Normally, he’s just working a case, but this time he’s on vacation when a crime finds him. The victims involved in the case are pretty obnoxious, and I hated most of them, but that’s how they were written, with no sympathy. I did miss Three Pines, though. It’s such a quaint, cute town. Hopefully the next book takes me back there.

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The Time Traveler’s Wife

Title: The Time Traveler’s Wife

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

Genre: magical realism

PopSugar Challenge Prompt: A book everyone but you has read (it has over 1 million ratings on Goodreads)

I have no idea why people latched on to this book. How in the world did this book earn over a million ratings? It’s a good book but nothing spectacular. I definitely don’t get the hype. It was creative, sure, but I won’t read it again and only gave it four stars. Honestly, the book creeped me out at times. An older man looking at a child (his future wife, but still….) with googly eyes. Eh, just didn’t work for me.

From Goodreads: Audrey Niffenegger’s innovative debut, The Time Traveler’s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

The Time Traveler’s Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare’s marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals—steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

The concept was really interesting. Poor Henry, at any moment, will disappear leaving his clothes and any object (like a tooth filling) behind. Though, it’s quite convenient to the plot that he has to learn to steal clothes, pick locks, and turn into an escape artist. And he goes back in time to familiar locations, his childhood home, his work place, and his wife’s childhood home. He sees her throughout her entire life, starting when she’s six. Their love is one for the storybooks, and Clare is a great character. But this book was just good for me. I can’t really explain why I didn’t love it, but I’ve definitely read better love stories.

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The Final Girl Support Group

Title: The Final Girl Support Group

Author: Grady Hendrix

Genre: thriller/horror

Thank you Netgalley for this copy!

Wow, did Grady Hendrix knock it out of the park again. I’ve only read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, which I also loved, and definitely need to back to his previous books. I couldn’t read this one quickly enough. I was dying (pun intended) to get to the end. Lynette, the main character, is a final girl. Meaning she was the last girl standing at the end of slasher-movie type event, but a real-life one. Of course, they made movies about the girls and the horrors they lived through, but these survivors have found each other and attend a monthly support group.

From Goodreads: In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized–someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

Don’t confuse this book with Final Girls by Riley Sager, which is just an okay book. They follow the same basic concept, but that’s about it. Lynette is a badass in this book. And she is jerked around by every other character in various ways, but she keeps standing to protect those around her. The other final girls have their own quirks, but all are survivors. One in particular, though, embraced the dark side, which was my favorite part of the book because of the creepiness. I thought this book was fantastic. It’s suspenseful, horrifying, and such a fun read.

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Black Stars collection

Title/Author: The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor

2043…A Merman I Should Turn to Be by Nisi Shawl

These Alien Skies by C.T. Rwizi

We Travel the Spaceways by Victor LaValle

Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson

Genre: Afrofuturism

I’m not a sci-fi person. As much as I try to be, and as much as I fully support the Afrofuturism genre, it’s just not my thing. That said, I do enjoy a book here and there. The Parable of the Sower duology by Octavia Butler is a masterpiece. I also loved her Kindred. But other books in the genre were just okay for me. But that’s just me. If this is your genre of choice, you’ll love this book series found on Amazon.

From Goodreads: The Visit: One night in Lagos, two former friends reunite. Obinna is a dutiful and unsophisticated stay-at-home husband and father married to a powerful businesswoman. Eze is single, a cautious rebel from his university days whose arrival soon upsets the balance in Obinna’s life. In a world where men are constantly under surveillance and subject to the whims of powerful women, more than Obinna’s ordered and accustomed routine might be on the line.

The Black Pages: Issaka has returned home to Timbouctou and a devastating al-Qaeda raid. His only hope for survival is Faro, a stunning, blue-beaded supernatural entity who rises free from the flames of her imprisoning book as it burns. Compelled to follow Faro, Issaka is opening his eyes to their shared history and the ancestral wisdom of his own past.

2043… A Merman I Should Turn to Be: Five miles off the South Carolina coast, Darden and Catherina are getting their promised forty acres, all of it undersea. Like every Black “mer,” they’ve been experimentally modified to adapt to their new subaquatic home—and have met with extreme resistance from white supremacists. Darden has an inspired plan for resolution. For both those on land and the webbed bottom-dwellers below, Darden is hoping to change the wave of the future.

These Alien Skies: Copilots Msizi and Tariro are testing a newly constructed wormhole jump that presumably leads to unsettled habitable worlds. Then an explosion sends them off course, far from where they started and with little chance of ever making it back. Now they’re stranded on their new home for the diaspora. It’s called Malcolm X-b. But they’re beginning to wonder how many light-years from civilization they really are.

Clap Back: Burri is a fashion designer and icon with a biochemistry background. Her latest pieces are African inspired and crafted to touch the heart. They enable wearers to absorb nanorobotic memories and recount the stories of Black lives and forgiveness. Wenda doesn’t buy it. A protest performance artist, Wenda knows exploitation when she sees it. What she’s going to do with Burri’s breakthrough technology could, in the right hands, change race relations forever.

We Travel the Spaceways: Grimace is a homeless man on a holy mission to free Black Americans from emotional slavery. His empty soda cans told him as much. Then he meets Kim, a transgender runaway who joins Grimace on his heroic quest. Is Grimace receiving aluminum missives from the gods, or is he a madman? Kim will find out soon enough on a strange journey they’ve been destined to share.

I loved The Black Pages. The opening page has a quote from Fahrenheit 451 on it, so I was hooked. And yes, it’s about book burning, but it’s so much more than that. I immediately was drawn in to the story, more so than any of the other stories. The Visit was also really great. The tables were turned where the world is a matriarchy. The others were good, but just not for me. Please don’t let that dissuade you, though. These are great stories.