Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.28.24)

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Thriller • 2021

Short synopsis: The Tuesday after Easter, the Mertons are found brutally murdered in their home. Their three adult children are devastated. Or are they? They all stand to inherit millions, and none of them were particularly close to their parents. Did one of them snap?

This was a decent thriller with lots of interesting twists and turns. I love the trope of wealthy people behaving badly, and this one had it in droves. There were the parents who weren’t particularly nice to their children, and their children who had every reason to hate their parents. I enjoyed getting to know the three children and their significant others. I thought Lapena did a great job at developing well-rounded characters who all had motive to kill. I’ll admit that my mind kept going back and forth on who I thought did it! I don’t think the ending was quite as satisfying as I would have hoped, but it made sense. Pick this one up if you need a quick, easy thriller to speed through!

How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly (★★★☆☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Sapphic Romance • 2024

Short synopsis: Julie Parker is in her first year as head coach of a high school women’s basketball team, when she discovers that her childhood role model NCAA basketball star Elle Cochrane is the foster parent for one of her athletes. When Julie persuades Elle to become her assistant coach, the two of them grow closer.

I am a diehard Anita Kelly fan and purchased this book almost as soon as I heard it was published. I cracked it open, confident that I was going to have another five-star read on my hands. When the book began, I continued to feel that way. I loved Julie and Elle’s rapport and I loved getting to see my favorite characters from Kelly’s other books. But as the book progressed, I found myself a little bored. I never really felt the chemistry between Julie and Elle, and I never truly felt connected to Elle. What I liked about this novel was the exploration of Julie’s sexuality. She’s thirty and has yet to have any sort of romantic relationship. She knows that she likes women but wonders if she’s asexual. Part of this novel involves Julie exploring her sexuality with Elle—someone who has more experience and is a safe person to be with. And while those scenes were crucial to the growth of Julie and Elle’s relationship, I found myself skimming them more often than not to get to the next scene. There just wasn’t anything there for me to grasp onto and enjoy, and I was just a little weary of the slow-burn aspect of their romance. All in all, this was a disappointment from a romance author I normally adore.

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Mystery • 1950

Short synopsis: The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple who is staying nearby, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: ‘A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.’ Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd gathers at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out and a shot is fired…

This was my first Miss Marple mystery and while I think I prefer Hercule Poirot (maybe because he reminds me of my beloved Armand Gamache!) to Marple, this was a very enjoyable mystery. One of things I really need to start doing when I start these mysteries is keep a character bible. So many characters get introduced at the beginning (in this book and the other two Poirot books I read!) and it’s hard to keep track of who’s who. Eventually, I settled into the story and when the murderer is finally announced, it was so completely different than anything I could have thought of! It was brilliant. This book shows why Agatha Christie stands at the top of the mystery genre. She gives you little nuggets of information that you could use to solve the mystery but you don’t know how important those nuggets are until it’s all revealed at the end.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.15.24)

Knockout by Sarah MacLean (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Library • Historical Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Lady Imogen Loveless has a penchant for science experiments and explosives… making her quite peculiar among the London set. Detective Inspector Thomas Peck is a buttoned-up man of the law who constantly finds Imogen at his crime scenes. When Imogen’s brother enlists Tommy’s help to keep an eye on Imogen and make sure she doesn’t get into any more trouble, he doesn’t realize he’s being drawn into her web of chaos.

I have been waiting for Imogen’s book (Knockout is the third book in MacLean’s Hell’s Belles series), and it did not disappoint! Imogen is known for her carefully placed explosives, and getting into her scientist mind (during a time when women weren’t allowed to be engaged in such thinking!) was fascinating. I also really loved the dichotomy between chaotic Imogen and buttoned-up Tommy. A true opposites-attract moment! This is an open-door romance but it isn’t too steamy, and I just love the way MacLean creates characters who are so lively and easy to root for. It was a wonderfully sweet love story with some badass women at the center.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Library • YA • 2022

Short synopsis: Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends—they’re family. Until The Fight threatens to ruin everything they hold dear. Now, as Sal tries to run his family’s motel on his own and Noor tries to find her escape hatch from her wrathful uncle, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

I loved this book and I also hated this book for the way it made me feel. This book is not an easy read and there are trigger warnings on trigger warnings, so it’s probably not the best book for this highly sensitive reader, but with a 4.5 star rating on Goodreads, I had to find out why everyone loved it so much. Noor and Sal were such amazing characters. They felt full and real and authentic, and I was rooting for them the whole time. I could only listen to an hour of the audiobook per day because I was so distraught by what was happening to them that I just wanted them to have a happy ending. This is not an easy book to read, but it was well worth my time and I’m glad I gave it a chance. (But whew, I am ready for something much more lighthearted next!)

Victim by Andrew Boryga (★★★★☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: Javier Perez is a hustler from a family of hustlers. As a college student, Javi embellishes his life story until there’s not even a kernel of truth left. Soon after graduating, a viral essay transforms Javi from a writer on the rise to a journalist at a legendary magazine where the editors applaud his “unique perspective.” But when those who know him best find out the game he’s playing, will it all come crumbling down on him?

What a wild ride! There were times when I just felt such a sweet adoration for Javi and times when I wanted to knock him upside the head because, what are you thinking, my dude?! This book is a satire, a look at the world of trauma porn, especially as it relates to people of color and the stories that can go viral. Javi knows what sells: trauma, sob stories, police brutality. So what if it isn’t fully his story? What are a few little lies in the grand scheme of things? This is also a book about power and how intoxicating it can be to be at the top, to get the likes and the retweets and the army of defenders. I wish I could have gotten a bit more of a nuanced look at Javi as a character—it felt like there was a wall between him and us, and I think I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if I felt a deeper connection to him. However, this was Boryga’s debut and what an impressive one it was. I’m excited to see what he does next.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.8.24)

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Mystery • 2020

Short synopsis: Many years ago, Grant McAllister calculated the rules for a mystery novel. He worked out the different orders and possibilities of a mystery, and published seven perfect detective stories into a book. These days, he lives a quiet, isolated life on a remote Mediterranean island… until he’s visited by an editor named Julia who wishes to republish his book and wants to revisit these old stories with him. But Julia starts to notice the inconsistencies in the novel, and she’s on a mission to figure out what’s going on.

This was a tough novel for me, and maybe that’s because I don’t really like short stories. This book was a collection of short stories – seven quick mysteries – and I found it hard to get fully invested in the story. I also found all of the mysteries to be quite underwhelming and with very dissatisfying endings, which tempered my enjoyment. While I liked the bigger overarching plot of the novel, involving Julia and Grant as they discuss each short story and talk about the mechanics of them, I wanted a bit more of them and their dynamic, and less of these really underwhelming mysteries. There’s a twist at the end that was quite interesting, I’ll admit, but by that point, I was just done with the novel and wanted it to be over. So, unfortunately, this wasn’t a hit for me but if you are someone who likes short stories, you may enjoy this book!

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2023

Short synopsis: When 21-year-old Tanner starts working as a live-in caretaker for Louise, neither is happy about the arrangement and both spend time ignoring each other. It isn’t until Louise shows up in Tanner’s room at 1 a.m. one night, insisting they need to leave, that Tanner realizes she’s not living with a typical elderly woman.

Oh, I really did want to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. This was our April pick for book club and most of my friends enjoyed it for what it is: a cheesy, relatively brainless read. But I was left wanting more. I didn’t find either Tanner or Louise particularly likable, and I think the author sacrificed character development for making a big “GOTCHA!” at the end of the novel. I didn’t really see the growth of their relationship, either, to understand how they became multigenerational friends. And there were so many twists and turns at the end… it felt overly dramatic and unrealistic. Unfortunately, not a book I’m rushing out to recommend.

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (★★★☆☆)

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

Short synopsis: Chloe was 12 years old when teenage girls in her town started to go missing… and her father was arrested for their murders. Twenty years later, she’s a psychologist in Baton Rouge, engaged and planning a beautiful wedding. And then it starts happening again. A girl is missing… then another one and another one. These cases seem eerily similar to the ones her father was convicted of. Is there a copycat serial killer out there?

This book has gotten a lot of accolades and won some sort of popularity award through Book of the Month, so I got it for free from them. I was excited to dive in—I’m not a super critical reader of thrillers. I like them to be appropriately spooky with some twists and turns that make sense. I don’t necessarily need to root for the main character, but I want to understand them. In this novel, I could not get past the massive ethical violations of Chloe who is a licensed psychologist and involved in some very problematic behaviors (like prescribing Xanax to her fiancee that she picks up at the pharmacy herself and hides from him…) The overall mystery was an interesting one and I did appreciate the twists and turns the novel took, but there were so many plot holes that were never addressed and I just found it really hard to root for or understand Chloe. She’s a psychologist who needs to find a new line of work and get herself to therapy ASAP.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.24.24)

The Women by Kristin Hannah (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Historical Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: Frankie McGrath is only 20 years old and fresh out of nursing school when she decides to join the Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam. Every day is a battle to stay alive and to keep soldiers and the Vietnamese people alive, but the death and destruction is nearly unbearable. After two tours, Frankie comes home and it’s there that the real battle begins. She returns to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam. She returns to a place where PTSD is not a condition, her parents are embarrassed by her, and every time she tries to seek help, she’s turned away. 

I am consistently in awe of Kristin Hannah. The way she can write about a specific period of time and make me feel so deeply for her characters is truly something. I’ll admit that there’s a lot I don’t know about the Vietnam War. It just wasn’t something that was covered as much as WWI and WWII in my history classes, and we all know that the historical fiction genre is flooded with WWII books. This novel had to take an immense amount of research and interviews, but then also an immense amount of writing ability to place us in Vietnam and then to want to cry along with Frankie as she encounters severe PTSD symptoms on her return home. This is a book about war, but mostly it’s a book about the effects of war. It’s about the bonds you make with the people you’re fighting alongside with. It’s about all of the women who served in Vietnam but whose contributions were lost to history. “There were no women in Vietnam,” Frankie is told again and again, effectively erasing her contribution and the contributions of all the other nurses and volunteers who were there in the trenches. This is not an easy read (but are any of Kristin Hannah’s books easy reads?!), but man was it an impactful one and easily tops the list as my favorite book of 2024 so far.

The Comeback by Lily Chu (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Ariadne Hui is a strict rule follower who thrives on routine. And living this way has gotten her where she is today: very close to making partner at her law firm. She comes home one day to find a strange man sleeping on her sofa who turns out to be her roommate’s cousin, Jihoon, who needs to stay at their apartment for a few weeks while he mends his broken heart. What she doesn’t know is that Jihoon is an idol in one of the most famous K-pop bands of all time, and while Ari is busy falling in love with Jihoon, all of the Korean media is trying to find out where he went.

What is it about Lily Chu’s writing that takes a plot that is so far-fetched and wacky, but somehow makes it feel real? Let’s face it: This is a wild premise. Imagine coming home one day and suddenly, there’s Harry Styles just chilling on your couch! Of course, the way this plot works is that Ari doesn’t follow K-pop bands and has no idea who Jihoon is until it’s revealed to her, which makes it all the more believable. (I wouldn’t be able to pick out a K-pop bandmember for anything.) Anyway, I just loved this novel so much. Ari and Jihoon were so sweet with each other, and their chemistry just leaped off the pages. I was so, so curious how the author was going to give the two of them their happy ending. For the longest time, I couldn’t see how she was going to do it, which is always the sign of a great romance. Ari went through her own personal journey through this novel, especially as it related to her job and her family, which was separate from her love story with Jihoon, and I really appreciated the way things turned out for her in the end. All in all, a beautiful story. It could have been a smidge shorter (it was nearly 400 pages and that is way too long for a romance novel, in my opinion), which is why it’s not a full 5 stars from me, but still a delightful romance that I can confidently recommend.

The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Nonfiction • 2023

Short synopsis: In this unvarnished and affecting memoir, Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running: doping allegations as well as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of the head coach Alberto Salazar. Kara’s memoir reveals how she broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running.

This is a stunning memoir and one that had me saying, “What the fuck?” over and over again as every new revelation came to light. I didn’t know much about the Nike Oregon Project when I started this novel, and I knew even less about Kara Goucher. I’ve seen her name come up here and there, but the only time I really pay attention to running is during the Olympics. Other people not involved in the running community have raved about this book, so I was curious enough to pick it up. What Kara went through at the hands of her coach was horrifying, and my heart absolutely breaks not only for the abuse she suffered but also for the way she felt she had to keep quiet because her coach was such a Big Deal in the running world. (It’s a great book for anyone who thinks it’s easy for abuse survivors to come forward with their allegations, and why they sometimes may wait years or decades to do so.) I am so glad Kara felt that she could finally tell her story, and I really hope it helps other athletes feel comfortable enough to speak up if they’re experiencing similar abuses.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.15.24)

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: Tova is a 70-something woman who has been working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, doing basic maintenance tasks. She befriends all of the animals, but is specifically drawn to Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus.

This book has been recommended to me over and over again, and sometimes when that happens, I become stubborn and refuse to read it because the hype is too much. Once the fervor for this book died down, I decided to give it a chance and I’m so glad I did! This book was exceptional. It was sweet and heartwarming, and I completely fell in love with Marcellus. (There are chapters interspersed through the novel with his thoughts, which is a little weird at first but I grew to love his perspective so much.) Tova was such a wonderful character, too, and so easy to root for. I wanted good things for her always. This is largely a character-driven novel so it could feel slow and meandering at times, but it’s the perfect book for people who do love a character-driven story.

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Library • Nonfiction (Social Justice) • 2020

Short synopsis: This explosive book of history and cultural criticism argues that white feminism has been a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against Black and Indigenous women and all colonized women. Hamad starts from the slave era—when white women fought in court to keep “ownership” of their slaves—through the centuries of colonialism—when they offered a soft face for brutal tactics—to the modern workplace.

This book is not an easy read and it is not for white women who get their feelings hurt easily. I have come to a place in my anti-racism journey when I want to be challenged and I want to listen to how women of color feel about the way white feminism has halted their progress. This book talks about all sorts of different aspects of white feminism that have centered white feelings rather than listening to what women of color have been saying for generations. Hamad talks frankly about the ways white women slaveholders had an active role in punishing their enslaved people, the way women politicians of color have endured so much more vitriol than their white counterparts, and all the times white women have called the police on Black people who are just trying to live their lives (BBQ Becky, anyone?). It is an outstanding book and I am so glad I read it.

About That Night by Julie James (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2012

Short synopsis: Rylann has just moved back to Chicago, accepting a job offer to become an Assistant U.S. Attorney, after her long-term relationship ended. The last thing she expects is to come face-to-face with the man who stood her up nine years ago—and he’s the defendant in her case. 

This is a reread for me, as I’m slowly working my way through all of Julie James’ romances again. I love her writing style and the way she writes her characters, and rereading her books has been so much fun. This one was no exception; it was smart, funny, and super sexy. I loved the banter between Rylann and Kyle, and the sweet way they began falling in love. Are there some jokes and slightly misogynistic comments that haven’t aged well in the 12 years since this book was published? Oh, yes. But all in all, I still loved this book and enjoyed my time with it.

What are you reading?