Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.10.23)

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Fiction • 2020

Short synopsis: Three teens—Pulga, Chico, and Pequeño—are on the run. They are running from a future that is uncertain and dangerous and scary. Their eyes set on the U.S. border, they attempt a complex and harrowing journey of traveling from Guatemala to Mexico to the U.S. border. 

Oh, my goodness. This book was excellent. It’s probably my favorite of the year so far. I listened to it on audio and it pulled me in from the beginning and kept my attention until the end. I learned so much from this book, especially what it’s truly like to endure a border crossing and how courageous it is to leave your home and venture into the unknown. I was drawn into Pulga, Chico, and Pequeño’s stories and all I wanted was for them to make it through and find their way to a better life. This is the book I want people who want closed borders and strict immigration regulations to read because it reminds you of the humanness at the center of the immigration debate. They aren’t pawns in a political game, but real people with real lives and hopes and dreams and families, and they deserve so much better from us.

Something About You by Julie James (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Romantic Suspense • 2010

Short synopsis: After Cameron Lynde witnesses a crime, she’s pulled into a major FBI case involving a U.S. senator. The bad news? The agent leading the case is none other than Jack Pallas, her sworn enemy. 

This is my third time reading this book! I’m not much of a rereader, but I tend to reread my favorite romance series when I need something light and easy. Julie James used to be one of my go-to authors but she stopped writing books a while ago, with her last book published in 2017. This is the first novel in her U.S. Attorney/FBI series, and I was curious to see if it would hold up all these years later. At times, the writing was a little rudimentary and Jack has some toxic masculinity traits, but all in all, a solid romance that was still fun to read.

True Biz by Sara Nović (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Book + Bottle bookstore) • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: Welcome to the River City School for the Deaf where the students just want to have a normal life without doctors and politicians trying to tell them how to live. There’s Charlie, the new girl with a cochlear implant who has never learned ASL; Austin, the school’s golden boy; and February, the school’s headmistress. Their lives are inexplicably drawn together due to a series of events that could have an unfortunate ending.

This book taught me so much about the Deaf community, the controversies surrounding cochlear implants, and the way sign language functions. I loved that there were informational tidbits between chapters teaching us ASL and providing stories about the Deaf community in general; this is where the book was the strongest (both the informational sections and the way Deaf culture was weaved into the story). I also really, really loved the characters. They stole my heart from the very beginning, especially Charlie. She was such a well-developed character.

However, the plot itself was really weak. There just wasn’t much to it overall, and the ending felt very rushed. It felt like the author just lost steam at the end and wasn’t quite sure how to finish the book. I just wanted something else from the plot, a different type of tension propelling the plot forward. In the end, I would give this book 3.5 stars, which I’m rounding up to 4 stars.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.1.23)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (★★★☆☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction (True Crime) • 2017

Short synopsis: In the 1920s, the Osage Indian Nation were the richest people per capita in the world, thanks to a reserve of oil being found on their land. And then… members of the Osage tribe began to be killed off one by one. When the number reached 24 Osage killed, the newly created FBI stepped in and this became the first major homicide investigation they solved.

This book has been on my TBR shelf for a long time, and I finally listened to it on audio last week. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from the novel. I think I was both expecting it to be a bit dry at times but also propulsive. And it turned out to be both of those things. The book was separated into three parts: one from the point of view of the Osage as members of their tribe are murdered, one from the point of view of the FBI as they tried to solve the case, and one from the point of view of a journalist looking into the case years later. Part 1 was so interesting because it really laid out in clear prose the way the Osage lived and how these murders affected every member of the tribe. Part 2 is when things started to feel a little dry and even clinical at times. It was interesting to learn how the FBI solved the crime but I felt like I needed a character bible to remember all of the characters and their relationships within the tribe. And part 3 was just rather boring to me. It was an important part of the story, but I think it could have been an epilogue, rather than multiple chapters of drawn-out story. All in all, an interesting story but not one I’m rushing out to recommend.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Fiction • 2023

Short synopsis: Bodie Kane is a successful film professor and podcaster, and when she’s invited to teach a course on podcasting at Granby School, the boarding school where she attended high school, she’s happy to say yes. What she doesn’t expect is to get drawn back into the case that rocked Granby School when she was there. Thalia Keith, Bodie’s roommate, was murdered in the spring of her senior year and while the former athletic trainer, Omar Evans, was eventually charged and is serving a life sentence for the murder, Bodie’s podcasting students aren’t sure he did it. And they want to make a podcast about it.

This book was so good! I listened to Rebecca Makkai’s interview on Sarah’s Bookshelves Live podcast right before I started this book, and it made the experience that much better. This book is not a thriller or even a true crime story… it’s really about so much more than that. It’s about violence against women, about the #MeToo movement, about racism and the justice system, about memory and the faulty way it can work, about trauma and our responses, about being a teenager and the ways we try to fit in with our peers… Makkai truly does delve into so many different topics in this book but for me, it all worked together seamlessly. It never felt like she was taking on too much, and that’s probably because she is such a talented storyteller. I felt vividly a part of this story and thought Makkai deftly handled the subject matter and all of the interweaving plotlines. The story centers around the death of a high school girl and violence against women is used as a narrative device throughout the book (in a super powerful way), so be aware of that going into it. I loved this book and it’s got an easy place on my favorites list.

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022

Short synopsis: Solange and Dean met at a wedding. Dean’s wedding, where she was the one who spoke up to tell Dean not to marry the woman in front of him. It ended up being okay in the end, but now Dean needs a fake girlfriend for a week and he knows just the person who owes him a favor. 

I enjoyed this book so much! I love a good fake-dating trope in romance, and this one turned out to be really fun. I loved Solange and Dean’s meet-cute where she disrupts his wedding; it was definitely a unique one! The journey each character takes—Dean, as he realizes what it will take to be partner at his law firm, and Solange, as she tries to decide whether to stay put in DC or move somewhere else—felt honest. It added tension to the story while also moving the plot along. I enjoyed the scenes between Solange and Dean a lot, they were such a great couple together even when they were fake-dating! There was true warmth and connection between them. All in all, a sweet romance that kept a smile on my face.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.24.23)

To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne (★★☆☆☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2021

Short synopsis: When Gracie’s father passed away, she put away her dreams of becoming an artist to run his champagne shop. But the shop is failing and when a wealthy buyer offers to take over her store, she’s unsure what to do. So she takes solace in Sir, the nameless, faceless man she met on a dating app whom she’s been conversating with for months.

Lauren Layne has been a consistently good romance author for me, but this book was not it. Her character development and plots usually feel fresh and fun, but this one felt stale and overdone. It’s a reimagining of You’ve Got Mail, and this is a plot that has been done so many times and she didn’t really bring anything original to the plot. There was no heart to this novel and there was nothing more going on than the central romance. I just wanted more. What did I like about this novel? I enjoyed the relationships: between Gracie and her siblings, Gracie and her stepmom, Gracie and her friends. I enjoyed the slow build of the relationship. But the rest of it? MEH. And I just could not stop being squicked out by Gracie calling this faceless person on a dating app “Sir.” (He called her “Lady.” All of the eye rolls.)

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Thriller • 2022

Short synopsis: Marissa and Matthew seem to be the couple that has it all: a beautiful home, high-powered careers, and a wonderful little boy. But when Marissa confesses to an affair and they start couples therapy with the unconventional counselor, Avery, their life—and Avery’s—becomes even more complicated and dangerous.

This was an excellent thriller! I really did not know what I expected from the ending, but I was truly surprised by it. I loved the twists and turns of this thriller. Every time I thought I was putting everything together in my head, the authors would throw in some new unexpected twist. It was such a smart, well-written thriller. Of course, Avery as a therapist is not following any of the ethical protocols and you just have to suspend your belief in that aspect of the book. (And there are some reasons I won’t get into that make it a bit easier to suspend that belief.) All in all, a satisfying thriller that was fun to read.

In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022

Short synopsis: On the worst day of Franny’s life, she becomes a viral meme after a man on the subway gives her his jacket when she has a really embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. The whole world, it seems, wants to push the two of them together, though they couldn’t be more badly matched. When fate continually seems to push them together, will they start to realize that opposites do attract?

This story was so sweet! I loved the meet-cute on the subway, and I was curious about how the author would continue to get these characters back together throughout the novel. And the way she pushed these characters together felt very natural! I also really enjoyed how Franny and Hayes’ relationship developed beyond that original meet-cute. There was a lot of “will they/won’t they” tension that didn’t get too over the top. There was just enough tension that their eventual “will they” felt so satisfying. At the beginning of the book, it felt as if Hayes was written to be on the spectrum based on some character details, but those details sort of fell away the deeper I got into the book. I don’t know if this is a flaw on the author’s part, but it was something I noticed. And while I truly hated the ending (I won’t give it away, but it’s a romance novel trope that really bugs me and I never think it’s necessary), it wasn’t enough to make me hate the novel. It’s a romance I can safely recommend to most people!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.12.23)

The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healy (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Thriftbooks) • Historical Fiction • 2017

Short synopsis: It’s the early 1900s in Boston and four friends find solace in their weekly meetings at the Saturday Evening Girls Club. There’s Caprice who desperately wants to own her own hat shop, but doesn’t have the money to make it happen; Ada, who is secretly taking college classes; Maria, who wants to escape her family, especially her alcoholic father; and Thea, shy and quiet and unsure of what she wants in life. 

Oh, I just loved this book! It was like a warm hug. I think my new favorite micro-genre is books written about girls living in the early 1900s in Boston. There’s just something really empowering about that time period for (white) girls, and it’s fun to read about. I loved the way this book focused on friendship, and the way the love stories in the book were neatly added in without detracting from the emphasis on friendship. I don’t think the writing was all that good—it was a bit rudimentary at times—but it kinda worked for a book in this genre, and it didn’t bother me too much.

You Have a Match by Emma Lord (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Owned (Little Free Library) • YA • 2021

Short synopsis: When Abby signs up for a DNA test, she’s not expecting to find out anything interesting about her family line. Instead, she discovers she has an older sister that her parents never told her about. In order to get to know one another better (and find out why Abby’s parents gave her older sister up for adoption), the two girls decide to spend a few months at a sleepaway summer camp.

This book felt like a slog to me. I read another book by Emma Lord (Tweet Cute) that was such a sweet YA love story and I expected this book to be the same, but it definitely was not that. This book focused more on this budding relationship between Abby and the new sister she never knew about, as well as the mystery surrounding why the sister was given up for adoption. There was a love story thrown into the mix, but it really didn’t need to be there and felt like such an afterthought. I love any YA story set at a summer camp, so that’s what immediately drew me into this story, and I thought the way the sisters got to know each other felt honest and real. But most of this story was just blah and I don’t know if I fully bought the reason Abby’s sister was given up for adoption. (It was unnecessarily complicated.) Not one I would recommend, unfortunately!

The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Historical Fiction • 2017

Short synopsis: Noa, a 16-year-old young girl, has been cast out of her home after getting pregnant by a Nazi soldier. She finds unlikely refuge with a traveling German circus where she must learn the trapeze and try to keep the mystery of the baby she has with her a secret.

This is the second WWII novel I’ve read this year, after being burned out on them for a bit of time. It was selected by my book club, though, so even though I wasn’t too excited to read another heavy WWII novel, this one had a very unique premise: a traveling circus during WWII. It was so interesting to get a glimpse into circus life during wartime, and how this place was used as a refuge for people who just needed something else to think about during a hard, dark period in their lives. The story mainly focuses on the enemies-to-friendship relationship between Noa and one of the other trapeze artists, Astrid, and there was something so heartwarming about the way their friendship bloomed and strengthened when faced with lies, hard truths, and the utter trust that is built when you’re flying through the air on a trapeze and believing the other person will catch you. This was a stunning book with an unexpected ending, and I can’t wait to discuss it at this month’s book club meeting!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.2.23)

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Historical Fiction • 2020

Short synopsis: It’s 1935 in Key West, and a hurricane is barrelling down on the city. Three women will be caught up in its wrath: Helen, who is 8 months pregnant and in an abusive marriage; Mirta, who just got married to a man she barely knows and is on her honeymoon; and Elizabeth, whose family was decimated due to the Wall Street crash and is in search of her brother. 

I loved this story. It captured my attention from the very beginning and I was always excited to return to my audiobook to listen to more of these three women’s stories. I’m also glad I did not listen to this book during hurricane season because I think it could have been a bit triggering, ha. Learning more about the 1935 Labor Day hurricane (which was one of just a handful of Category 5 hurricanes to hit the contiguous United States) and how much it destroyed Key West and the surrounding communities was really fascinating, as I’ve never heard of this hurricane before! What was most disturbing to learn about, though, were veteran work camps, which were established for the veterans returning home from war and in need of jobs. These work camps allowed veterans to work as laborers; in Key West, they were working on a bridge that would connect Key West to the mainland. But the conditions at these camps were awful and because of the storm, hundreds of veterans died. It’s another hard part of our history that I knew nothing about. In the end, this story was a five-star read for me because I loved the characters, was engaged from the very beginning, and enjoyed the history lesson I received between the pages.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (★★★★☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: Ray McMillan is a Black classical musician who inherited a priceless Stradivarius violin and is an up-and-coming star in the classical music scene. But then his violin gets stolen and held for ransom right before he’s to compete in the international Tchaikovsky Competition. Who has his violin and how will he get it back?

The first thing to know about this novel that it is not a mystery or thriller. Sure, there is the underlying mystery of what happened to Ray’s priceless violin, but this story is so much bigger than that. It’s about Ray, about being Black and the racism Ray experiences in the classical music scene, about being constantly overlooked and put down because of the color of his skin and being poor, about family and greed, about how far someone will go for money. Parts of this book were so hard to read because I just hated everything Ray had to go through. His family was terrible and the racism was hard to witness. But it was so well-written and a beautiful ode to classical music. Ray was such a fully developed character that every bad thing that happened to him made me angry and every good thing made me so happy. The sign of a great book, for sure. This is the kind of book I would love to see made into a movie or short TV series!

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Libby • Historical Romance • 2022

Short synopsis: Luz Alana is a Dominican woman who became owner of her family’s rum business when her father unexpectedly died. Along with her younger sister and two female friends, Luz Alana embarks to Paris to take part in the 1889 Exposition Universelle, a world’s fair where she will be able to showcase her wares and hopefully build a network of merchants who will sell her rum. Unfortunately, everyone she encounters is rude and dismissive. Until she meets Evan Sinclair, the Earl of Darnick. Evan can’t get enough of Luz Alana when he first meets her; she goes toe-to-toe with him as they spar and it lights a fire in him. When he learns about the difficulties she’s experiencing selling her rum, he vows to help her.

Okay, I think we need to get this out of the way: This book is more historical adjacent than straight-up historical. This is Herrera’s first attempt at a historical romance novel and while I can appreciate what she did here, she didn’t quite meet the mark when it comes to historical fiction. What I did love was having a whole cast of people of color in a historical romance, which is not something you see ever. There were also a lot of mentions of slavery and colonialism… also topics you rarely see in these books. The chemistry between Luz Alana and Evan was believable, and so was the way they fell in love. There were parts of the story where the author tried to amp up the tension with some miscommunication issues, and I just had to roll my eyes. We can do better than this, romance authors! There are so many more interesting ways to create emotional tension than miscommunication subplots. Anyway, this was more of a 3.5-star book, but I’m boosting it up to 4 stars because it did keep me pretty well engaged and I loved seeing such great representation in a subgenre that doesn’t often have that.

What are you reading?