Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.19.23)

The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve (★★★★☆)

Short synopsis: It’s October 1947 and after a summer-long drought, out-of-control fires break out around the city. Grace’s husband, Gene, has gone to help with the firefighting efforts, leaving her alone—five months pregnant and with two toddlers. And then a fire breaks out in her town, and she has to flee with her kids, unsure where to go, what her home will look like when she returns, and if her husband is okay.

This book was engaging from beginning to end. The beginning chapters take us into Grace’s life as it is now, which is pretty sad, honestly. She’s in a loveless marriage and feels trapped, especially when she learns she has another baby on the way. After the fire breaks out and Grace has to leave her home with her kids, the story really picks up and I found myself fully engaged through all the twists and turns that happen to Grace as she tries to pick up the pieces of her life and move forward while taking care of her children. She’s unsure where her husband is or if he’s even alive, which makes things both more complicated and less so. (More complicated because being a single mother in the 1940s was a difficult prospect; less complicated because she got to experience life without being trapped in a loveless marriage.) I loved Grace’s character so, so much. She was such a strong woman and did whatever she has to for her family. Her evolution throughout the novel was stark, and it was so lovely to witness. (library audiobook, 2017)

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin (★★★☆☆)

Short synopsis: Kitty Talbot needs a fortune. Or rather, she needs a husband who has a fortune. Left with her father’s massive debts, she has only twelve weeks to save her family from ruin. So she leaves home and heads to London to find herself a titled gentleman. She doesn’t expect to encounter Lord Radcliffe. The worldly Radcliffe sees Kitty for the mercenary fortune-hunter that she really is and is determined to scotch her plans at all costs.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. This was our July book club selection, and while most of my friends enjoyed the book (and we had a good discussion about the roles of women and needing a husband in order to achieve wealth!), it just wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t find Kitty to be all that likable, nor did I feel the chemistry between her and Lord Radcliffe. This is a completely closed-door romance, too, which may appeal to some of you, but tends to bum me out (ha). I like a little steam with my romance novels! It’s not a bad book by any means, and is a debut so some of the lackluster writing is to be expected, but I was just hoping for something different. (library e-book, 2022)

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell (★★★★★)

Short synopsis: In 2017, Kim’s 19-year-old daughter Tallulah disappeared with her boyfriend, leaving behind their infant son. Two years later, her daughter still missing, Kim finally gets a break in the case.

This was such a satisfying thriller! The novel is broken into two timelines: 2017 when Tallulah originally goes missing and 2019 when her case is reactivated. Both storylines were so intriguing, as they both revealed important details that helped me unravel what was happening in the story. The pacing in this story was top-notch and it was just so well-written and propulsive. I’ve read quite a few of Lisa Jewell’s books and this one, by far, is a standout. (library audiobook, 2021)

ABANDONED – The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

I read a little over 100 pages of this novel, and I was just bored by it. The plot wasn’t very engaging and I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. I wasn’t curious about the plot or what was going to happen to these characters, either, which is always my sign to abandon a book. Win some, lose some.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.11.23)

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley (★★★☆☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: Follow an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common except their commute as they discover how a chance encounter can blossom into much more. There’s Iona, the larger-than-life magazine columnist. Sanjay, the nurse with the heart of gold. Emmie, the quiet girl who’s always reading a book on the train. And Piers, the man who almost chokes on a grape and changes the course of all their lives.

There seems to be an influx of these types of books lately: multi-generational people coming together for a specific purpose. I’ve read more than a handful of them lately, and they all truly hit me in my feels. Loneliness is an epidemic, and these authors are trying to remind us of the humanity of the people we live next to, commute with, and work side by side with. I loved the cast of characters in this novel and how different their stories were. (With a large cast of characters, it wasn’t hard to differentiate each story, which is a feat!) Some of them had such beautifully redemptive arcs! My main issue with the book, however, was that the pacing was a bit off. Near the end of the book, the plot started to meander and it felt like the author was trying to figure out the best way to end the book so she just kept writing until she found it. Which could work in some cases, but with this novel, it just felt boring. A tighter edit could have helped. All in all, a feel-good story that could be a great palate cleanser in between more difficult books.

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Library • Thriller • 2022

Short synopsis: Mallory has just finished rehab and is looking for a fresh start. She gets a job as a live-in nanny for a five-year-old boy named Teddy who loves to draw. Soon, though, his drawings morph from cute stick figures to sinister images—drawings well beyond his years. Mallory has to wonder: Is a supernatural force drawing these pictures, and what do these pictures mean?

Oh, goodness. This book was a trainwreck. It was hyped up big time on one of the bookish podcasts I listen to, and I was so excited to read it, but the writing just did not work for me at all. Let’s talk about the good: Mallory. I loved Mallory’s character so much and appreciated the way she was written. (Men writing thrillers often do not write female characters very well.) Also good: All of the drawings in the book. It’s a must-read in print because the illustrations definitely take the book to the next level. Now the bad: the ending. A well-done thriller is only as good as its ending and this one was particularly bad. It had characters changing their behaviors in an instant, a convoluted story that made no sense, and a very problematic reveal at the end. This is not a book I was a fan of, but YMMV, of course.

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña (★★☆☆☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022

Short synopsis: Kamilah is looking to put her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant on the map and save it from closing in their gentrifying neighborhood. Liam’s family’s distillery business has been nominated for a national competition and everything he’s ever wanted is in his grasp. Kamilah and Liam are former best friends turned enemies due to a long-ago feud, and when their meddling grandfathers get involved, telling them they have to get married to keep their businesses intact, they have to figure out how to keep their life’s work without losing their hearts.

If the synopsis for this book sounds very complex, that’s because it is. I had the hardest time writing a synopsis for this book! Why do these grandfathers want their grandchildren who barely like each other to get married? I CAN’T TELL YOU! It was never fully explained in the book, other than they might be matchmakers who see the potential in a relationship between Kamilah and Liam? I think?! This story had the potential to be great (I love a good foodie romance novel!), but it was rife with plot holes and disappointing character decisions. I never felt true chemistry between Liam and Kamilah, and it’s hard to understand why they liked each other so much when they didn’t really have much in common. A pretty mediocre romance, unfortunately.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.3.23)

The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction (Essays) • 2022

Short synopsis: Recounting the wildest tales of racism from their parents, their siblings, and Amber’s nieces and nephews, this intergenerational look at ludicrous (but all too believable) everyday racism as experienced across age, gender, and appearance will have you gasping with shock and laughter in turn. 

This book was so hard to read, and I don’t blame anyone for choosing not to read it. Amber and Lacey do a great job of trying to insert some gallows-type humor into the book, but they also allow space for the hard stuff to be the hard stuff. This is their second book, their first one is mostly about Lacey’s experiences with racism while living in Nebraska and working in corporate-style positions. In this book, we get stories from their parents, their sisters, and some of their friends. It’s not a fun read, but it is an important one. I am committed to reading these uncomfortable books because it’s the very least I can do as someone doing the work of antiracism.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Sally and Noah meet on the Saturday Night Live-esque showed called The Night Owls. Sally is a comedy writer on the show while Noah, a successful pop musician, is the guest star. After a fun week together of collaborating on sketches, Sally develops a massive crush but someone as hot as Noah wouldn’t be interested in her, right? Two years later, they’re in the middle of a global pandemic and they start emailing each other.

This book was so sweet. I just loved it! The book was broken up into three sections: the week that Noah was hosting TNO (2018), the email messages Noah and Sally sent to each other (summer 2020), and their reunion in California (2020). Each section was so different from the other and just so interesting! I loved following Sally and Noah through a “typical” week of working on a SNL-type show. (It sounded so very exhausting!) I’m not someone who watches SNL regularly, but I will watch clips on Youtube here and there, so I have a passing familiarity with it and it was fascinating to learn more about the process of how a show like this gets made. When the novel moves forward in time and switches formats, I wasn’t sure how I felt about things but I quickly got sucked in. I’m learning that I don’t mind a Covid subplot in a story; perhaps because Covid didn’t affect my life in any life-altering ways (which is such a privilege, I know!). It’s interesting to see how authors use it as a plot device. Anyway, I really loved the emails that Noah and Sally exchanged and the way they flirted with each other but in a very cautious sort of way. Flirting is so scary when you don’t know if the other person reciprocates your feelings! The final section where they finally reunite (Sally takes a long road trip to his house in California, rather than flying) was really sweet and I was just gaga over the two of them. I love how this was a later-in-life love story (they were both 39, so not over-the-hill by ANY means but most romances involve people in their twenties so this is an outlier) and the way they communicated with each other. It was just everything I wanted!

Have I Told You This Already: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction (Essays) • 2022

Short summary: Lauren Graham opens up about her years working in the entertainment business and shares personal stories about everything from family and friendship to the challenges of aging gracefully in Hollywood.

Oh, it breaks my heart to give this book such a low rating because I love Lauren Graham so much. But this essay collection was just not very good. It felt chaotic at times, boring at others. I found the humor to be a bit tired. Another reviewer mentioned how Lauren just seemed sad in this essay collection, and I had the exact same thought. From the publication date, I assume she wrote this book not very long after her relationship of 11 years ended, and there’s a part of me that wonders how different this essay collection would look if she had more space from that devastating breakup. There were some really strong essays (she seemed to be especially great when talking about her life in Hollywood) but mostly, it wasn’t as introspective as I wanted it to be and there were some problematic essays (like spending time at “health camps”) that she didn’t fully address. Like, I understand that being an actress means maintaining a certain weight in most respects, but I wanted her to further interrogate her feelings on the matter. All in all, not an essay collection I would recommend unfortunately.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (6.28.23)

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Historical Romance • 2019

Short synopsis: For years, Ash has been pining after his best friend’s sister, Verity, but he’s never felt like he could act on his feelings. When a secret is revealed that will have a major impact on his life, he decides it’s now or never.

This was a pretty cute romance, and the first m/f romance I’ve read from Cat Sebastian, who specializes in queer historical romance. Verity is a bisexual woman, though, so there was still a queer aspect to this book. This novel is a slow burn, but once it gets going, it really gets going. I love when historical romance brings us into the lives of “regular” people (it’s not all dukes and marquesses, you know!) and this novel did just that, as Verity and her brother run a printing press together and print an “alternative” newspaper that is critical of the government. Plus, Ash worked as an illustrator and the mechanics behind illustrating books and newspaper articles in the 1800s were quite interesting. (I feel like you could go down many research rabbit holes from their two careers!) There was probably more than could have been explored with Verity and Ash’s relationship, and definitely with Verity’s work, but all in all, I thought it was a good, easy-to-read romance.

Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: The Sullivans are well-known in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and during one fateful year, three of the cousins come together after many years apart. There’s Gretchen, tired of chasing her dreams of stardom; Teddy, who is nursing heartbreak while running their family restaurant; and Jane, the only one who seems like she has it together (husband, kids, nice house) but is unhappy with her life.

I love family stories like this, and I think they work even better for me on audiobook. There’s something about dipping in and out of a story like this as I go about my day. I found all of these characters so real and authentic. They were likable but not without their faults. They loved each other but bickered like siblings. They came together in crisis and gossiped about their family together. I enjoyed Jane’s story the most and that’s probably because she had the biggest character arc of anyone in the book and the one I was rooting for the most. But I also loved Teddy and Gretchen and all of the tertiary characters, like the matriarch of the family who lives in an assisted living facility now and the rebellious teenager who is just looking for a soft place to land. It’s a character-driven novel with characters who are just so easy to root for. (My favorite kind!) This book is set in 2016 right around the time of the election, and there is definitely a lot of politics in the novel because, well, we were all talking about it at this time. Politics is something I think and talk a lot about, so it doesn’t bother me when it’s in a book, but your mileage may vary, of course. This book was the right one at the right time, and I liked it very much!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Barnes & Noble) • YA Lit (Historical) • 2021

Short synopsis: It’s 1954 and Lily Hu is 17. The Red Scare is omnipresent but so are Lily’s growing feelings that she may be attracted to other women, something she has to keep silent about. But then she winds up at a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club and it feels like everything she ever wanted is within reach.

This book means so much to me, and I’m so happy I read it during Pride month. There is a lot going on in this book—being queer in the 1950s, the Red Scare, female friendships, Chinese culture, etc.—and I don’t think it does everything perfectly, but still, this is a five-star read because of how it made me feel. And it made me feel so tender toward Lily and the other queer people in this novel, and so inspired by the brave people who fought to be themselves at a time when it was not okay to be anything but cis-gendered and straight. I loved Lily’s love story with Kath, which was so pure and beautiful and special. And I appreciated the way the author brought us into life as a LGBTQIA+ person during the 1950s. The Telegraph Club was a place where women were free to be themselves: free to dress the way they wanted, free to kiss whomever they wanted, free to express themselves. It was a place where they were safe, but it was also an entirely unsafe place to be (since raids were happening all the time at these kinds of clubs, and people were arrested frequently). I’m humbled by the bravery of these people because they paved the way for me to be who I am. There was some filler in this book (I don’t think we needed all the timelines and the chapters from the perspectives of Lily’s mom, dad, and aunt), and while I know the author had to include a secondary plot involving the Red Scare since it was happening at this time to the Chinese community, it didn’t exactly go anywhere or have any weight to the plot, so I was left wondering what the point was. But still, this book was perfect for me and what I needed, and it’s one I want to shove into the hands of every queer teenage girl.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (6.12.23)

Maame by Jessica George (★★★★☆)

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

Short synopsis: Maddie is the primary caretaker of her father who has advanced-stage Parkinson’s. It means living at home, turning down social plans, and keeping the truth of her life from her best friends. And then her mom returns home from Ghana to help care for Maddie’s father, so Maddie jumps at the chance to move out and experience more of life.

This is the kind of book that grows on you. It’s not an easy book because Maddie does not have an easy life. But it is an impactful one. At first, I found it difficult to connect with Maddie and just wanted her to take more ownership of her life. But as the book progressed and as Maddie’s life opened up with new friends, new romances, and new struggles, I found myself caring deeply for her and wanting to see her growth. This is a debut that sometimes read like a debut (it needed at least one more round of copyedits), but all in all, a book that I ended up really enjoying. I found the way the author tackled issues of racism and sex in dating to be particularly impactful. (Trigger warnings abound, so please read up on them if you need to.)

All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Nonfiction (Memoir) • 2023

Short synopsis: Best-selling author and speaker, Beth Moore, invites us into her life, starting with her childhood in Arkansas through her leaving the Southern Baptist church. 

I’ve long been a fan of Beth Moore. Even if I’m not a fan of organized religion and most Christians, Beth Moore has a part of my heart. I grew up on her Bible studies and can still picture the videos we would watch in our women’s Bible classes where she was centered at a pulpit. While there is much that she believes in that I don’t anymore, I was excited to get my hands on this memoir to learn more about the woman behind the Bible minister. And this book was phenomenal. There is so much I did not know about her life and her struggles, and it’s a strong reminder that we never truly know what’s going on in someone’s life. I was really struck by the sexism she endured as a woman minister by other male ministers, although I don’t know why this surprised me. These are the same men who put Donald Trump on a pedestal, after all. (For the record, she didn’t vote for Trump and has been appalled by the behavior of church leaders toward him.) I think this book is best for people who know who Beth Moore is and want to learn more about her life, but it’s very Jesus-y so be warned.

Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Barnes & Noble) • Contemporary Romance • 2017

Short synopsis: Evie and Carter meet at a party and immediately hit it off. But this exciting new relationship comes to a screeching halt when the company Carter works for merges with the company Evie works for. Suddenly, they’re competing for a job.

I honestly did not remember that I had read this book in 2018. After reading the first few chapters, I pulled up my Goodreads app to add it as a book I was currently reading, and was shocked to discover it was listed as “Read.” I don’t know what it says about this book that I didn’t remember anything about it. But it was four-and-a-half years, one pandemic, and nearly 500 books ago, so I’ll forgive myself for not remembering it. It’s a really cute contemporary romance – a classic Christina Lauren novel that’s not going to make you think too much, but will make you root for the characters. There were some things I rolled my eyes at (like all the childish pranks they pulled on each other, oof), but overall, I just really enjoyed the book.

ABANDONED: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

I started this queer romance a few years ago since everyone was talking about it, but it just wasn’t working for me at the time. I picked it up again last week because I was certain there was just something I was missing from it and maybe it would work for me this time. WRONG. I still disliked it immensely. The main character is so mean and unlikable and so much of the writing was over-the-top that I abandoned it again. This time I gave it many more chapters, but I should have listened to past Stephany on this one.

What are you reading?