Book 167 – Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Started: December 31, 2021
• Finished: December 31, 2021
• Pages: 369
• Fiction
• Rating: 5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

Another incredible book from Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was one of my favorite books from 2020 and this book, which takes place in the same universe (and as Evidence of the Affair, another incredible 2021 read), was also just an absolute delight. She has such a lovely way with words and I found myself so drawn into her main characters and their lives. This book, compared to others, had a lot of side characters mentioned throughout the night of the party. I have to admit, I did not really try to stay on top of them, but just let their general shenanigans add to the atmosphere.

This book follows the four children of Mick Rivera (Evelyn’s third husband) on the night of the eldest daughter’s, Nina’s, epic Malibu party. The book works through their past, starting with when their mother, June, first met Mick and the course of their tumultuous relationship. It also covers how each of the four siblings found their place in both the family and the world, growing up in their absent father’s shadow. Each of the four siblings (Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit) is harboring a small secret from the other and, as they make their way through the seemingly non-stop onslaught of guest (invited or otherwise), all will be revealed.

I would highly recommend this book (I already passed it on to my mom!) and am so glad this was the last book I read in 2021. Yes, there is one more post to come but it’s a bit of a different situation which will make sense as soon as I get around to posting its review…. Taylor Jenkins Reid is an incredible writer and her books make me feel so much. From the opening line, I had chills! I am definitely going to continue to work through her bibliography.

Book 166 – You Can Run by Karen Cleveland

• Started: December 28, 2021
• Finished: December 28, 2021
• Pages: 313
• Multiple POV, Timeline Jumps
• Rating: 4.75/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

I’m back! At least to wrap up 2021. While I have been reading a bit in 2022, I haven’t been pushing through books quite as aggressively and I am still undecided on whether or not I will be maintaining this blog/my reviews. If nothing else, I wanted to get through the last three books I read so look out for for two more over the next few days.

I picked this book up on a whim from the library and it was a very classic thriller filled with international espionage and intrigue. I thought that all the characters were sensible – given the circumstances – and that it ended on a strong note. The villains were particularly deceptive and good at their jobs. Espionage and international conspiracies can get pretty far-fetched but I thought this operated well within the realm of what various nations would do in order to pull ahead.

Jill, a CIA analyst, is having a normal day vetting sources when she gets a call that her son, Owen, has been kidnapped. in order to get him back she needs to approve the next source in her queue, Falcon, no questions asked. She does, quits her job, immediately relocates her family out of state and constantly worries about the fall out. There doesn’t seem to be any until four years later when a journalist, Alex, reaches out to he after an anonymous tip about Falcon. At first Jill is reluctant to help, happy enough knowing that her family is safe. But Alex has piqued her curiosity and as they start to learn more about Falcon, Alex is able to convince Jill that she needs to come out of retirement. The two women join forces in order to protect both the nation and Jill’s family from a much larger, hidden threat.

I really liked this book and would definitely recommend. It reminded me a bit of The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Algers or The Power Couple by Alex Berenson. I like the spy genre and when books play out on such a large scale. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Book 165 – The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

• Started: December 27, 2021
• Finished: December 28, 2021
• Pages: 259
• Fiction
• Rating: 4.75/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

As I mentioned in my review of The Gathering, this is one of my favorite books. I believe the first time I read it was in 2013 (though the first time I saw the book was even earlier – probably 2012 when it came out). I definitely re-read it in 2016 or 2017 and here we are again. The storyline is much more cohesive and he narrator, Gina, has a much more tangible focus in her musings. Each time I read it, the same lines still stand out (perhaps because I reflect on them in the interim), but I also pick up on new pieces. I rarely buy books, but this is one I plan on picking up from a local bookstore; I want to be able to scribble in the margins and highlight my favorite passages before my eventual next re-read.

Gina starts the book reflecting on the first time she saw Sean Vallely, a married man that we now is now her lover. It was at her sister’s house in 2002 as Ireland is experiencing an economic boom. She is “just back from three weeks in Australia and mad – just mad – into Chardonnay.” At the time she is with Connor, a man who will become her husband and the overall moment seems insignificant. Or was it? She can’t tell – the moment is so clear to her and yet memory is such a fickle thing. They run into each other again and she meets his daughter, Evie, a slightly wayward girl. And still nothing happens. Until they’re abroad at a work conference and one drink leads to another and by the fourth day they find themselves in his room: the affair has begun. She goes home and thinks nothing of it, this fact that she has just killed her life. He starts consulting for her firm, the affair picks back up, her mother dies, they are found out, she separates from Connor but Sean’s ties to his wife and daughter remain. All throughout she reflects on the banality of life, the way she fell in love with Sean, and how things have changed since they officially got together – both for Ireland and for their personal life.

This is such a beautiful book and an overall quick read. As I mentioned, I love it enough to purchase it which is a pretty big deal for this library lover. It’s a flighty book and the characters aren’t particularly like-able but that doesn’t bother me. I don’t know that I would recommend it to most people but it’s special to me and that is enough. Here is a review that I love from someone who did not like the book as much as I did.

Book 164 – Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight

• Started: December 26, 2021
• Finished: December 26, 2021
• Pages: 299
• Multiple POV, Timeline Jumps, New York
• Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

This was a good reunion thriller. You know, a bunch of friends – each with their own secret and a shared dark past – get together and one ends up dead. Another good example would be In My Dreams I Hold a Knife or maybe even How To Kill Your Best Friend. I do think the story as a whole ended up being a little too neat with almost all of the various crimes over time being wrapped neatly into one solution but that’s okay. I was surprised by the ending – though in hindsight the clues were definitely at least partially there. I thought the friends’ dynamics were realistic, especially how shared memories can bring a group together no matter how much time has passed. I think that sense of camaraderie is one of my favorite parts of this type of thriller.

Five friends go to upstate New York together, partially to celebrate a bachelor party, partially to stage an intervention (for two different people!). The house belongs to wealthy Jonathan’s – a weekend place that he has been renovating with his fiancé – and it should be the perfect, isolated spot to convince Keith that he needs to go back to rehab. Lawyer Stephanie, peacekeeper Maeve, and writer -turned-professor Derrick are all there to support him, knowing that he never really got over the suicide of his college girlfriend, and their close friend, Alice. Things get off to a rocky start when they realize that Keith also brought his star artist, Finch, a very unwelcome guest. As we switch back and forth in time, we learn that things also ended rockily; one of the friends is dead and another is missing still. The book switches between characters and time over the course of the weekend (and their shared past) to show that pretty much every moment of the ill-fated trip was rocky; it started bad and just went downhill from there.

Some people complained that there was too much going on with the different characters and timelines. Normally, I do get confused pretty easily when there are more than 5 characters, but I did not find that to be the case here. I do think that the constant switching did muddy the waters a bit more and made it more difficult to pick out the culprit. Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it. If you read this and liked it, I would recommend the other two books I mentioned earlier, both were really good as well!

Book 163 – 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

• Started: December 25, 2021
• Finished: December 25, 2021
• Pages: 305
• Multiple POV, Timeline Jumps, Ireland
• Rating: 4.25/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

This book, like the last thriller I read (Last Girl Ghosted) referenced COVID; but unlike that book 56 Days leaned HEAVILY into the COVID plotline. In fact, without that as a backdrop, the book wouldn’t have had quite the same atmosphere. I know for some people that will be a turn off and I do think that some of the parts (namely the present where the investigating detective is dealing with new protocols) were a little eye-roll inducing, but overall it captured the confusion and fear that plague many in the early days of the pandemic. The book did keep me on my toes and I was continuously surprised as more was revealed.

Ciara and Owen meet in late Winter 2020. You know, the eve of the world-wide COVID pandemic. Quickly they find themselves falling for each other and struggling with a whole new set of dating rules as Dublin enters lockdown. The book switches between Ciara and Owen throughout their courtship and we learn that they are both hiding secrets from their past. In the present, a detective arrives at their shared apartment to investigate the discovery of a body. Over the course of the book we learn what transpired over the course of their 56 days together and how it led to one untimely death.

I know some people have a hard time reading about COVID, especially as new variants are surging, but I do overall like the way it was handled and don’t feel as though it seemed forced as I have in other books. As far as thrillers go, I did not find it predictable at all. I can’t decide how I felt about the ending. Part of it was satisfying (the fact their relationship had been started during COVID and no one knew of their pairing allowed the remaining partner to walk away without issue) but part of it was deeply unsatisfying (the actual death, the deathbed confession, the fact that they had actually fallen in love it seemed??). Overall, I would recommend still.

Book 162 – Hysteria by Jessica Gross

• Started: December 23, 2021
• Finished: December 23, 2021
• Pages: 184
• Fiction
• Rating: 5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

I picked this book up on a whim at the library from its “new in” section and I am so glad I did. A reviewer on GoodReads said fit under the specific genre of “Disaster Women” not unlike an earlier favorite book – My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. And boy, was this narrator (unnamed) a disaster. Think Fleabag if Fleabag hated herself, had psychiatrists as parents, and a strange affinity for Sigmund Freud. (And if you haven’t seen Fleabag, I HIGHLY recommend.

The narrator is a young teacher who spends most of her time drinking or hungover, having sex, masturbating, or thinking about having sex. She simultaneously craves the attention and feels disgusted by her urges and the aftermath of her decisions. She’s mulling over her most recent exploits – her roommate’s brother and her parents’ friend, both of whom she is likely to run into on the same day – when she heads to her local bar to grade papers. There she meets a new bartender and quickly becomes convinced that he doesn’t just remind her of Sigmund Freud, he is Sigmund Freud. Over the course of the weekend she runs into him again and is forced to confront her destructive choices and the reasons she keeps returning to them.

This was such a quick read at under 200 pages and such a strange ride from beginning to end. But I loved it. It was so strange but also captured some very relatable thoughts – getting into habits that we are know are bad as a way to self-medicate and then relying them even more to escape the shame of the bad decisions (The plan was to drink until the pain’s over / But what’s worse – the pain or the hangover? – “Dark Fantasy” by Kanye West). This was much different than the thrillers I normally read so if that’s more what you’re into, I can’t say that you would like this book, but if you liked My Year of Rest and Relaxation then I would definitely recommend this as well.

Book 161 – Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger

• Started: December 19, 2021
• Finished: December 19, 2021
• Pages: 394
• Multiple POV, Timeline Jumps, New York
• Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

This is the second book I’ve read by Lisa Unger (the first was Confessions on the 7:45 earlier this year) which I think I enjoyed just a bit more than this one. Interestingly enough, this book, like the last I reviewed (Things We Have in Common) used the partial second person. Most of the book was from the point of view of main character, Wren, though it occasionally shifted to other missing women / third person following Bailey, the private investigator. When Wren talked about her missing beau, Adam, she always addressed him as you. It’s a pretty unique writing tactic so it was odd to see it in two books in a row, but I don’t mind.

Wren is not a fan of online dating until she meets Adam on Torch. He’s nothing like any of the other men she’s met and very quickly she finds herself falling in love. Their whirlwind lasts about three months and then… nothing. He seems to disappear off the face of the Earth; he blocks her number, his apartment turns out to be a short-term rental, and then a private investigator informs her that his real name isn’t even Adam. Wren is determined to find out what exactly happened to the man she thought she loved, especially when she learns that many of his previous girlfriends have gone missing and that they, like her, all had a great tragedy in their past. As she attempts to track Adam down she finds it difficult to keep her own past hidden – every step closer to him also circle back to her own secrets.

One thing I did mind, however, was how the book handled COVID. It was mentioned sporadically throughout and mostly as a way to show the sort of “end of times” Wren’s father had predicted/prepared for in her youth. I understood that Unger was trying to do with the parallels, it was just not enough for me. I don’t know, I feel like she should have made it a bigger aspect of the book or just made up some sort of event instead of relying on real life.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and the many secrets and layers throughout. It is a pretty classic domestic thriller and a fun concept in this day and age of online dating. I would recommend for fans of thrillers in general and Unger’s other work. I will looking forward to reading more by her in the new year!

Book 160 – Things We Have in Common by Tasha Kavanagh

• Started: December 19, 2021
• Finished: December 19, 2021
• Pages: 288
• Single POV, UK
• Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

Y’all this book was wild.  I have read a few books with pretty messed up characters (Just One Look and #FashionVictim come to mind right off the bat), but this takes the cake.  In Just One Look, the main character was delusional but still seemed to have (part) of her heart in the right place.  #FashionVictim was satire and leaned into the craziness, so I don’t think it reallllllly counts.  But this one, especially since it was YA, was delusion plus a constantly spinning moral compass.  It was also kind of realistic because that kind of loneliness and grief in such a young character (Yasmin is 15), could twist their mind enough that they go down the same road as her.  It’s written in partial second person, where she constantly addresses one character as you.  Maybe that just is second person but I think of that as more like This is the Water by Yannick Murphy where the main characters are the continuous “you.”  I don’t know if that makes sense but I love that book and would recommend it.  Either way, I like second person a lot and it is actually how I prefer to write.  

Yasmin is a very lonely teenager.  She hasn’t really had any friends since her dad died five years ago and she retreated into herself and food.  Now is obese, a loner, and obsessed with Alice Taylor, a beautiful girl in her class.  One day at school, she notices a man watching Alice – not unlike how she watches her – and just knows that he is going to take her.  She decides that she will become Alice’s hero once this happens and forces herself into this man’s life.  After meeting him, however, she begins to shift her alliances, a point that comes into question when Alice actually disappears.  Yasmin has to decide if she is going to be the hero of her fantasies or lean into her new obsession.

I really had no idea what direction this book was going to go – there were so many possibilities! – but I liked how it ultimately ended.  I don’t know if I would describe it as a happy ending, but it didn’t leave a pit in my stomach and it did make me think so it was at least a successful one.  If you like twisted/weirdly sympathetic lead characters, you would like this book.  I would not recommend it across the board but I do think that if you can stomach Yasmin’s poor decisions, you will like it as well.

Book 159 – Those Who Prey by Jennifer Moffett

• Started: December 18, 2021
• Finished: December 19, 2021
• Pages: 394
• Single POV, Timelined, Boston/Florence
• Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

After reading two books on NXIVM (The Program and Don’t Call it a Cult) this year, it was interesting to read a fictionalized account of a cult.  Especially from the point of view of a lonely college freshman in the 1990s, it was easy to see how one could get sucked in.  I definitely empathized with her situation of feeling alone at school and so far away from the comfort of your childhood. Fortunately, I did have a support group and joined a sorority (though some consider Greek life cult-like!) so my overall experience was much better. It’s so easy to look at cult stories and go “that would never happen to me!” but this book really demonstrated how they pick their followers and how slow/insidious the recruitment process is. It’s like any common scam – if you miss the initial glaring red flags on the way in then you definitely won’t notice the millions more once you’re there.

Emily is feeling alone during her second semester from college. She purposely chose a school far away from home, trying to put miles between her and her distant father and the well-meaning but overbearing stepmother that he married too quickly. But once she got there, she realized that she was in a bit over her head and that making friends isn’t as easy as she remembered from childhood, especially after her roommate drops out due to drug problems. Then Emily meets Josh and is swept into his circle of friends and their larger group – The Program. Bible Study on steroids, Emily is excited to feel a sense of belonging, especially when local program head, Meredith seems to take a shining to her. She embarks on a mission trip with the group to Italy, but quickly finds that it’s not exactly what she signed up for. A member of the group ends up dead and Emily has to reckon with the fact that she is more alone in The Program than she ever felt at college.

I would recommend this book. I definitely thought it was a good complement to the cult-themed non-fiction I had read earlier in the year. It was YA, but mostly in the fact that its main characters were young adults and going through some of the awkwardness of growing up. I liked that they were college age (even if they were freshman) instead of high schoolers because she was able to very accurately capture those moments of transition out of your parents’ home where you feel like you’re so independent but secretly know you’re not and crave the structure and guidance of your parents. Or maybe that’s just how Emily and I felt… Either way, really enjoyed this story and how Emily grew over the course of the novel.

Book 158 – You’ll Be The Death of Me by Karen M. McManus

• Started: December 17, 2021
• Finished: December 18, 2021
• Pages: 323
• Single POV, Boston
• Rating: 5/5

REVIEW + SUMMARY

Another great YA thriller by Karen M. McManus! I think this might have been my favorite of the three I read in 2021 (The Cousins and Two Can Keep A Secret were the other two much earlier this year). Again, she is able to so accurately capture what it’s like to be a teenager: sibling rivalries, the urge to impress your parents and teachers, and the ever-changing dynamics of a friendship between three people. I wanted to say that this mystery was on a larger scale than her other books, but that’s not really true. She is always able to write about a larger/more insidious crime but not make it seem ridiculous that a bunch of teenagers get wrapped up in and end up solving it.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal are three high school students – and middle school best friends that grew apart – each having their own Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad morning. When they run into each other in the parking lot at Carlton High School they decide to skip together. As they make their way to the city, they run into another one of their classmates and decide to follow him a bit. Unfortunately, their Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad morning turns into a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad when he ends up dead. The three set off to find out what happened and end up exposing many secrets – including their own – as the day progresses.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you are already a fan of her other work. The characters are similar across the books (overachiever, underachiever, kid who has been dealt a bad card) and the formula is repetitive (little bit of romance, small mystery ends up being part of a much larger scheme) but IT ALL WORKS! She comes up with unique storylines that fall within her parameters and they’re always great reads. Already looking forward to whatever she comes up with next.