Let’s get this out of the way first – I read a lot. I finally decided to split my monthly book review post into two (or more) posts and this is the first of the books I’ve read in January 2021. The second will appear in about two weeks. These are books I read in the first half of the month. The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments! I also included two new reviews in my Antiracist Reading List post earlier this week – How To Be An Antiracist and You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey.
Title: Happy Singles Day
Author: Ann Marie Walker
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca, 1/19/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Buddy Read on Instagram / Reading for publication date
My Rating: 4 Stars
This super cute, clean romance features Paige, a professional organizer, and Lucas, a dormant bed and breakfast owner and father of an adorable 5 year old daughter.
“As a Certified Professional Organizer, everything in Paige Parker’s world is as it should be. Perfect apartment, perfect office, perfect life. And now, the perfect vacation planned to honor Singles Day. After all, what’s better than celebrating her pride in being single? Because who needs a man anyway? They have zero taste in quality television, leave the toilet seat up, and sleep with your best friend. No thanks. Her life is fine just the way it is. As the owner of a now-dormant bed & breakfast, Lucas Croft’s life is simple and quiet. It’s only him and his five-year-old daughter, which is just the way he likes it. Because who needs a woman anyway? They nag you to clean up your stuff, want the toilet seat put down, and expect the dishes to be done the same day the meal is cooked. No thanks. His life is fine just the way it is. But when Paige books a room that Lucas’ well-intentioned sister listed without his knowledge, their two worlds collide. If they can survive the week together, they just might discover exactly what they’ve both been missing.”
With some opposites attract, hate to love, and forced proximity due to a storm, plus puppies (!) this book was a sweet distraction for me and the first book I finished in 2021.
Title: Sweet Water
Author: Cara Reinard
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer, 1/1/21
Source: TLC Book Tours
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3 Stars
When Finn calls his parents for help, they find him in the woods, his girlfriend dead nearby, and having no memory of what happened. Finn’s father, Martin, convinced his mother, Sarah, to cover up that they were there at all.
“It’s what Sarah Ellsworth dreamed of. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Martin. Living in a historic mansion in Pennsylvania’s most exclusive borough. And Finn, a teenage son with so much promise. Until…A call for help in the middle of the night leads Sarah and Martin to the woods, where they find Finn, injured, dazed, and weeping near his girlfriend’s dead body. Convinced he’s innocent, Sarah and Martin agree to protect their son at any cost and not report the crime. But there are things Sarah finds hard to reconcile: a cover-up by Martin’s family that’s so unnervingly cold-blooded. Finn’s lies to the authorities are too comfortable, too proficient, not to arouse her suspicions. Even the secrets of the old house she lives in seem to be connected to the incident. As each troubling event unfolds, Sarah must decide how far she’ll go to save her perfect life.”
Sarah begins to realize (very very delayed) that her husband’s family is good at these kinds of cover ups and there may be a reason for that which she never suspected. The story unfolds both in the past and the present, revealing pieces of Sarah’s history with her father, in college, and with Martin. Sarah was one of the most clueless characters I’ve read in awhile, connecting pieces to the puzzle long after they were revealed to the reader.
Title: When You Look Like Us
Author: Pamela N. Harris
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Quill Tree Books, 1/5/21
Source: Books Forward Friends via NetGalley
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 5 Stars
When You Look Like Us is a touching story of a boy living in public housing in Newport News, VA, with his grandmother and sister. When his sister goes missing, he realizes that when you look like them, people don’t see you in the same way they would see white Americans.
“When you look like us—brown skin, brown eyes, black braids or fades—everyone else thinks you’re trouble. No one even blinks twice over a missing black girl from public housing because she must’ve brought whatever happened to her upon herself. I, Jay Murphy, can admit that, for a minute, I thought my sister Nicole just got caught up with her boyfriend—a drug dealer—and his friends. But she’s been gone too long. Nic, where are you? If I hadn’t hung up on her that night, she would be at our house, spending time with Grandma. If I was a better brother, she’d be finishing senior year instead of being another name on a missing persons list. It’s time to step up, to do what the Newport News police department won’t. Bring her home.”
I loved this important book. It’s very timely and well worth reading.
Title: When You Were Everything
Author: Ashley Woodfolk
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Listening Library, 3/10/20
Source: Library Audio App
Why I Read It: Buddy Read on Instagram
My Rating: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed listening to this book about high school friendships and what happens when you put your trust in one friend and then you lose her.
“It’s been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla’s friendship imploded. Nearly a month since Cleo realized they’ll never be besties again. Now Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex-best friend. But pretending Layla doesn’t exist isn’t as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she’s assigned to be Layla’s tutor. Despite budding friendships with other classmates–and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom–Cleo’s turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both.”
I could really relate to this story as I had my own troubles with friendships at that age. The diverse characters and inclusion of the girls’ parents were appreciated as well.
Title: Not My Boy
Author: Kelly Simmons
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark, 1/5/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3 Stars
Not My Boy was a sort of neighborhood drama in which one sister moves in next door to the other. The story is told from the viewpoint of one of the sisters and their mother.
“When Hannah packs up her past and moves to the cottage next-door to her sister, she hopes the luxe neighborhood and close family ties will be the perfect escape for her son and the shadows that trail them. But when a young girl goes missing days after they unload their final boxes and her son is quickly thrown under suspicion, Hannah must do whatever it takes to protect her child. Even if that means pointing the blame her sister’s way instead. With investigators swarming and neighborhood scrutiny closing in, the divide between two sisters grows. As one fiercely defends her husband, the other shields her boy from the crime, keeping quiet the secrets that might unravel it all. And all the while, one young girl has vanished, and someone is to blame.”
Hannah’s son and Hillary’s husband are under suspicion so they decide to find the actual culprit. The ending was somewhat anticlimactic. This book contains references to animal harm, sexual assault, and the loss of a child.
Title: Love Songs For Skeptics
Author: Christina Pishiris
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark, 1/5/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3 Stars
I found this book a bit too long to fully enjoy. It is a love triangle set in the music industry and includes references to songs throughout the book.
“Zoë Frixos gets the whole love song thing. Truly, she does. As an editor at a major music magazine in London, it’s part of her job description. But love? Let’s just say Zoë’s been a bit off-beat in that department. After falling hard for her best friend, Simon, at thirteen and missing every chance to tell him how she felt before he left town, Zoë came to one grand conclusion: Love stinks. Twenty years later, Simon is returning to London, newly single and as charming as ever, and Zoë vows to take her second chance. But Zoë’s got other problems now: In order to save her magazine from closure, she has to land the biggest interview of her career with a notoriously elusive rock idol. There’s just one problem: Nick, the arrogant publicist who seems determined to stop the story and ruin Zoë’s life. With her brother’s big(ish) fat(ish) Greek wedding on the horizon, Zoë begins to wonder if her first love is the right love. In the wake of a life-changing choice, Zoë must decide if she’s right to be skeptical about love, or if it’s time to change her tune…”
I don’t always enjoy love triangles. I thought it was pretty obvious who Zoe should end up with! There was a lot going on in this book with regards to Zoe’s brother’s wedding, drama surrounding a magazine interview and work issues, etc. Although it was long, it didn’t take me long to read, but I didn’t love it overall.
Title: Well-Read Black Girl
Author: Glory Edim (ed)
Genre: Essay Collection
Publisher: Random House Audio, 10/30/18
Source: Library Audio App / Publisher via NetGalley
Why I Read It: Working on reviewing NetGalley books
My Rating: 4 Stars
This collection contains stories from Black women writers detailing how they first discovered themselves in books. When most of the writers were young, it was hard to find depictions of girls who looked like them in mainstream fiction.
“Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives—but not everyone regularly sees themselves in the pages of a book. In this timely anthology, Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all—regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability—have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature. Contributors include Jesmyn Ward (Sing, Unburied, Sing), Lynn Nottage (Sweat), Jacqueline Woodson (Another Brooklyn), Gabourey Sidibe (This Is Just My Face), Morgan Jerkins (This Will Be My Undoing), Tayari Jones (An American Marriage), Rebecca Walker (Black, White and Jewish), and Barbara Smith (Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology) Whether it’s learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative black future, the subjects of each essay remind us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. As she has done with her book club–turned–online community Well-Read Black Girl, in this anthology Glory Edim has created a space in which black women’s writing and knowledge and life experiences are lifted up, to be shared with all readers who value the power of a story to help us understand the world and ourselves.”
I enjoyed listening to these essays and I can relate to the lack of seeing my self in literature. The book also contains lists of book recommendations throughout.
Title: Our Darkest Night
Author: Jennifer Robson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow, 1/5/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I have shied away from historical fiction lately, especially surrounding the Holocaust, but when this one came across my radar, I picked it up. It had a slow start, but was quicker in the middle section. It featured a fake marriage put together to protect a Jewish woman in Italy.
“It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met. Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love. But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge. As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart . . .”
This book does contain imagery and descriptions from Concentration Camps and can be difficult to read in parts. The overall story had me wondering about trauma and recovery for those involved in the war, including the non-Jewish partisans. There were two issues I came across with regards to portrayal of Judaism in this book, both which are small overall but made me wonder if the author had a Jewish person look over her included details.
Title: Love Your Life
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Dial Press, 10/27/20
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Buddy Read on Instagram
My Rating: 4 Stars
Sophie Kinsella writes a specific type of quirky character which you may enjoy or being completely annoyed by. My least favorite type of love story is insta-love, which this one definitely including, but in the end I liked it well enough!
“Call Ava romantic, but she thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign. She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a remote writers’ retreat in coastal Italy. She’s determined to finish writing the novel she’s been fantasizing about, even though it means leaving her close-knit group of friends and her precious dog, Harold, behind. At the retreat, she’s not allowed to use her real name or reveal any personal information. When the neighboring martial arts retreat is canceled and a few of its attendees join their small writing community, Ava, now going by ‘Aria,’ meets ‘Dutch,’ a man who seems too good to be true. The two embark on a baggage-free, whirlwind love affair, cliff-jumping into gem-colored Mediterranean waters and exploring the splendor of the Italian coast. Things seem to be perfect for Aria and Dutch. But then their real identities—Ava and Matt—must return to London. As their fantasy starts to fade, they discover just how different their personal worlds are. From food choices to annoying habits to sauna etiquette . . . are they compatible in anything? And then there’s the prickly situation with Matt’s ex-girlfriend, who isn’t too eager to let him go. As one mishap follows another, it seems while they love each other, they just can’t love each other’s lives. Can they reconcile their differences to find one life together?”
Ava was wishy-washy and ditzy while Matt was sad and boring and controlled by his family. For most of the book, I wondered what they actually saw in each other, but I think it goes back to the fun they had when they were away from their normal lives. So the question is whether they can work together at all! Their friends were some of the best parts of the book, and there were some pretty funny parts as well. If you can get past quirky characters, you might enjoy this one!
Title: The Wife Upstairs
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, 1/5/21
Source: libro.fm
Why I Read It: Buddy Read on Instagram
My Rating: 3 Stars
People seem to really love this book, which is listed as a retelling of Jane Eyre, though I’m not sure it really is, other than the names used for the characters. I listened to this book and I found it not only boring, but also predictable, so I’m not sure why most of my book loving friends loved it!
“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?”
All of the characters in this book were twisted. The audio narration was good. Once I figured out what was going to happen, I wanted to keep listening to see if I was right. I was.
There you have it – 10 of the books I read this month. Of these 10 books, 6 were print, 1 was an e-book, and 3 were audio books. 3 were rom coms, 2 were YA, 2 were mysteries and 1 was a thriller, and 1 was non-fiction. My favorite book in this group was When You Look Like Us!
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?