Trust Me On This

Trust Me On This by Lauren Parvizi, 367 pages

Two long-estranged half-sisters have both been summoned to Seattle to have one last visit with their dying father, a man who doted on one daughter and largely ignored the other. Both have issues and strange baggage (both literal and emotional) to deal with on the road, but reluctantly find themselves re-connecting.

I'll be honest: I read this book more than a month ago, and I only remembered reading it because it was on my list of stuff to blog about. I obviously can't remember much (including character names), and the plot apparently wasn't my cup of tea, though there is a... cat?... that I vaguely remember enjoying. That said, the only thing I can remember better than books I love are ones I absolutely hate, which means that this one was pretty middle-of-the-road, AKA there are worse books out there. 

Tusk Love

Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon, 288 pages

Daughter of an increasingly poor merchant, Guinevere's job in live is clear: marry up, make sure there's plenty of money to support her parents, and be an obedient wife cranking out babies. Her parents have found her a husband and beckoned Guinevere to his home, directing her to make haste and bring along their remaining riches. Unfortunately, her carriage is beset by bandits, and her life is saved by half-orc Oskar, who is on his way to visit some relatives that he's never met. But because he's a nice guy, he redirects his path to escort Guinevere, despite the fact that she clearly isn't suited to his style of travel.

This book is written to take place in the Critical Role universe, and is obviously written with those fans in mind, with locations, names, and descriptions galore — and somewhat distracting from the plot of an otherwise bog-standard romance novel. You can read it if you're not familiar with Critical Role (I'm not), but I get the feeling those of us who aren't are missing something.

The Tea Master and the Detective

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard, 86 pages

We read this for Orcs & Aliens in January, and Regan did a much better job summing it up than I ever will. While the world was intriguing, the story was too short and felt too much like a writing prompt (assignment: write a Sherlock & Watson tale set in your fictional universe). This somehow won the Nebula Award for best novella, and I'm not entirely sure how, unless it was a bum field that year. Meh.

Head Cases

Head Cases by John McMahon, 352 pages

The FBI's Patterns and Recognition Unit is made up of the super-smart misfits who have managed to screw up elsewhere in the bureau. When a serial killer seems to be killing other serial killers, they're put on the case. However, this one seems to be personal, as the killer knows more about these criminals than the public does, so it's quite possible that the murderer is one of their own.

John already blogged about this one, and I must say, I completely agree with his assessment. It's a fast read, but the story is convoluted and the young slang of one of the characters comes across as grating and forced. There are better thrillers out there.

Flirting with Disaster

Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar, 320 pages

Seven years ago, Meena and Nikhil spontaneously (AKA drunkenly) got married on a trip to Las Vegas, and while it was a bit of a shock to them both, they decided to give this marriage thing a go anyway. But now, Meena lives in DC, Nikhil lives in Houston, and it's been six years since they've spoken when Meena travels to Texas to make Nikhil sign the divorce papers she sent him. See, she has political ambitions, as well as a guy who wants to marry her, in DC, and all that's standing in the way is a signature. But just hours after she arrives in Houston, so does a hurricane that traps her with her estranged husband through the storm and subsequent flooding, and the forced proximity also forces some latent feelings back to the surface.

I'm always up for a good second-chance romance trope, but something about this one just didn't work for me. I don't know if it's the fact that Meena (a very capable and intelligent woman) was completely unaware of the hurricane that was heading toward Houston until well after she got there (wouldn't it have been on the news or talked about in the political circles she's part of, at least in passing?) or the fact that the whole problem could've been resolved if Meena and Nikhil had a single conversation at some point over the course of those 6 years apart or the fact that somehow Meena kept her marriage a secret from EVERYONE for that long... maybe it was all three. There are better romances out there.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight, 306 pages

Cleo's mom, Katrina, has been bugging her FOREVER to come home for dinner in the hopes of starting to repair their strained relationship. But when Cleo gets home and finds smears of blood instead of her mom, she starts learning more about her parents than she ever expected. Like the fact that they're getting divorced. And that her mom's boring "patent attorney" job is WAY more dangerous and complicated than Cleo ever expected. Oh, and there's something BAD in Katrina's past that has recently resurfaced.

This started out as a compelling thriller, but as it went on, it got a bit too crazy, with SO MANY different plots coming together and an ending that kinda came out of nowhere. Not horrible, but definitely not the best thriller I've read recently by any means.

The Summer Pact

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin, 336 pages

Tyson, Summer, Lainey, and Hannah were about as different as could be when they met in college, but soon formed an unbreakable bond. But when promising athlete Summer tragically dies just before graduation, the remaining three make a pact to be there for one another any time and anywhere the other two ask. And when Hannah catches her fiancé cheating on her, she activates that pact, leading her, Tyson, and Lainey on a literal trip of self-discovery.

This was a quick read, I'll give it that. Otherwise, the book was pretty blah, as it was difficult telling which of the three main characters was narrating at any given point (should've been easy, given their differences) and nothing really dipped below surface level. There are better books out there.

If Something Happens to Me

If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay, 324 pages

Five years ago, Ryan Richardson and his girlfriend Alison Lane were spending some quality time together when they were attacked. Ryan was knocked out and Alison (and her dad's BMW) disappeared. When the ensuing investigation turned up nothing, everyone assumed Alison was dead, and many people thought Ryan murdered her. But now, the missing BMW has been pulled up from the bottom of a lake, and there are two dead guys inside, who nobody at all seems to know. There's definitely something more to this story.

This was a quick read and fine for a summer afternoon, but it also felt a bit underdeveloped, like I was reading out an outline or Cliff's Notes version of the story instead of the novel itself. If you want twists and turns and don't really care to read too deeply, this one might be for you. Otherwise, there are better thrillers out there.

The Busy Body

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan, 332 pages

When former Senator and independent presidential candidate Dorothy Gibson invites her ghostwriter to live with her in Maine as they collaborate on a memoir, the ghostwriter jumps at the chance — it is a dream assignment, after all. But before they know it, the pair is dragged into the murder investigation of a woman who was renting the neighboring Crystal Palace, a huge all-glass residence surrounded by the wilds of Maine.

This was an OK whodunnit. I enjoyed the narration by the ghostwriter (whose name I cannot remember for the life of me) and the character of Dorothy Gibson, but everything else was just kinda there. Nothing horrible, nothing fantastic. Like I said, it was OK.

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies

Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack, 352 pages

Ten years ago, Eleanor Dash went on vacation in Rome, fell in love with charming PI/"consultant" Connor, and helped solve a string of bank robberies that ended up with the head of the local mafia behind bars. When she came home, she wrote about it, changed a few names, and unbelievably had a bestselling mystery novel.

Today, Eleanor is getting ready to write her tenth book, and is back in Italy with now-ex-boyfriend Connor (who ended up being as self-centered as he is charming), her assistant/sister Harper (who put aside her own dreams of becoming a writer to help Eleanor), a few other novelists (including Eleanor's other ex, Oliver), and 20 of Eleanor's superfans (who won the trip by winning an online contest). While this is already a recipe for discomfort and wacky hijinks, there's also someone on the trip who seems to be trying to kill Connor...and possibly Eleanor.

This was a light and somewhat silly read, full of fourth-wall-breaking footnotes (more than 200 of them, yeesh), and situations that still make no sense to me. I was able to figure out the killer WAY too early (before there was a corpse, actually), which definitely took away from my enjoyment of the book and makes it really hard to recommend. Instead, read Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone for a more interesting meta-mystery.

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur, 336 pages

Truly St. James is a successful romance author with a deep-seated belief in true love (based on her parents' long marriage, not her own now-defunct relationship with a cheating fiancé). When she meets divorce lawyer Colin McCrory on a podcast recording, she's sure that the two of them will never see eye-to-eye, though her parents' surprise trial separation and the undeniable chemistry she and Colin have certainly keep drawing them together.

I've really enjoyed Bellefleur's past romance novels, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it seems poorly considered, almost unfinished. She picks up threads and then forgets about them (nothing ever comes of Truly writing something for her high school's GSA about bisexual erasure and her and Colin's subsequent discussion about being bi, making me wonder why it was included); there's no real conflict to set up a will-they-or-won't-they moment between the main characters; and Truly's parents' musical theatre game chucked my ability to suspend disbelief right out the window. Like I said, I had high hopes for this one, but it fell VERY flat. Skip this one and pick up Written in the Stars instead.

*This book will be published April 30, 2024.

The Last Girl Left

The Last Girl Left by A.M. Strong & Sonya Sargent, 333 pages

Five years ago, Tessa Montgomery was on vacation with three friends on a remote island when they were attacked. Tessa's three friends were murdered, and while she was left for dead, Tessa managed to survive. While the assailant was killed in a shootout afterward, Tessa is still living the nightmare, unable to leave her sister's house and taking a baseball bat everywhere with her. But after Tessa nearly attacks her sister's cat, she realizes she needs to do something drastic to get past this paralyzing fear. So she does the most drastic thing she can and rents the same vacation home where her friends were murdered and she was attacked, determined to stay for a full month. But Tessa hasn't been there long when odd things start happening, setting setting her even more on edge than she was before.

This wasn't the worst book I've read, but it was far from the best. I had trouble buying Tessa's decision to return to the scene of the crime (and alone and for a whole month), as well as the fact that she thought nobody in the town recognized her when she returned (seriously, there are about 5 residents and nothing else has happened in this town...and she has a giant scar on her face). Honestly, the main reason I didn't stop reading was because I was afraid that a particularly cliched twist was coming (thankfully, it didn't). Doesn't mean it was worth it though.

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall, 322 pages

Sadie Revelare comes from a long line of witches, going back generations in her tiny town of Poppy Meadows, and uses her powers to bake charms into the cakes, breads, and scones at the café she runs with her grandmother. As is the case with everyone else in her family, Sadie's magic comes with a curse: she will experience four increasingly-horrible heartbreaks in her life, after which she'll lose her magic entirely. When the book begins, Sadie's already two heartbreaks deep (her first love, Jake, and her twin brother, Seth, both of whom abandoned her, just like Sadie & Seth's mom did when they were infants), and she's put up a wall around her heart to keep any more from happening. But when she learns her grandmother is dying, Sadie realizes she's staring down the barrel of heartbreak number three, and is desperate to do anything she can to avoid it.

The back of this book says that it's for fans of Gilmore Girls and Practical Magic, and given the quaint small town and the family dynamics, I'd agree with that much. But overall the book is firmly in the "meh" column for me. I feel like I've seen these characters before, in all manner of media, and the plot was very predictable. (Also, even though it's set in California, it feels like it should take place in the South? Maybe that's just me.) The true indicator of my apathy toward this book though is in the fact that I remembered reading *a* book over the weekend, but I didn't remember which one it was until I pulled this one out of my bag to return it. That NEVER happens, which just speaks to its forgettability. Meh.

Four Aunties and a Wedding

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 287 pages

It's a year after Meddy, her mother, and her three overbearing aunties Weekend-at-Bernie's-ed their way through a huge wedding, and now Meddy is staring down the barrel of her own nuptials, which are set to take place in England, home of Meddy's posh soon-to-be in-laws. To be fully prepped for the wedding, the aunties have made sure to take British slang lessons and commissioned "regal" purple gowns with matching hats, complete with Komodo dragons, as well as hiring Indo-Chinese wedding planners to make sure everything goes perfectly on the big day. Unfortunately, when Meddy overhears the photographer talking about "the family" and "taking her out," it seems that the wedding planners may also be connected to the mafia and using the wedding as an opportunity to assassinate a target.

I absolutely loved Sutanto's Dial A for Aunties, which managed to combine Weekend at Bernie's with Crazy Rich Asians and still manage to hit all the dysfunctional family tropes that I love (awkward interactions, overbearing-but-well-meaning relatives, etc). This book, however, was completely unnecessary and didn't hit any of the notes on the Asian diaspora that Sutanto wanted to focus on, according to her foreword. I was unimpressed, and wish I'd just reread Dial A instead.

The Stormbringer

The Stormbringer by Isabel Cooper, 343 pages

A century after being frozen in battle with the evil wizard Thyran, Amris is awoken from a magical stasis by Darya, a magically enhanced human on the hunt for evil beings. Though he's missed out on the land's descent into poverty and despair, Amris has returned none too soon, as he and Darya soon discover that Thyran has also returned, and is set on finishing what he started 100 years earlier. Luckily, Darya has a sword that is imbued with the soul of the powerful wizard Gerant — who just happens to be Amris' long-gone lover.

OK. The summary makes this sound ridiculous, and for the most part, it is. There's fantasy, there's romance, there's a shirtless warrior on the cover (Amris wears armor in the book), and the baddie is fairly cardboard. Worth your time? Eh, depends on what you're looking for. For me, who went into this assuming it was straight-up fantasy (based on a recommendation), it wasn't worth it.

Domesticating Dragons

Domesticating Dragons by Dan Kobolt, 339 pages

In the near future, dogs don't exist, thanks to a fast-moving canine-specific disease that wiped them out. Desperate for animal companionship, humans are trying everything they can to find something that can fill the void of the hardworking, lovable pets — and for some, that means genetically engineered domesticated dragons. Enter Noah Parker, a young genetic engineer who unexpectedly lands a job at Build-a-Dragon, the premier dragon creating company on Earth. Except Noah has an ulterior motive, in that he hopes to use Build-a-Dragon's computing power and genetic printers to help his brother, who is suffering from a progressive muscular disease that Noah believes is genetic.

While the premise and plot are intriguing enough, I had a *lot* of trouble getting through this book. As a dog lover, I'm more than a little put off by the idea of all dogs being wiped off the face of the planet, and I'm particularly cranky about Kobolt's antiquated and prejudiced view of pit bulls. I also had some serious issues with the way Noah has a sense of righteous entitlement throughout the novel (particularly when it comes to his misogyny), something that never gets checked or rectified; there's no character growth on his part. This is basically the book version of a mashup of Build-a-Bear and Jurassic Park, and I really like those separately better.

You Were There Too

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley, 327 pages

Artist Mia and her surgeon husband Harrison have just moved into the small town of Hope Springs, Pennsylvania. It seems to be a perfect life, except Mia keeps having these vivid dreams about a very specific random man. Imagine her surprise when she meets that man and finds out he's been having dreams about her too! Soon Mia and the dream guy (Oliver) are investigating all of the possible implications of their dreams, straining Mia and Harrison's already fraught relationship, brought on by Harrison's long hours and Mia's third miscarriage. Mia is soon questioning whether Harrison or Oliver is who she's really meant to be with.

This was a really tough premise for me to swallow, and even though the book got easier to read as I went, the first half involved so many eyerolls on my part (at the premise, not the writing or anything) that I had a really tough time getting into it. But if you're OK with more mystical possibilities than I am (and that could include just about everyone), it's probably a good read. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

You Lucky Dog

You Lucky Dog by Julia London, 340 pages

Carly is doing her best to make it as a publicist after being laid off last year, but with her only clients being a rude old artist and a hip young (and definitely unstable) fashion designer, she's having trouble making ends meet, despite working 24/7. And her drama-filled family is no help whatsoever. Meanwhile, neuroscientist Max is up for tenure and juggling his own family issues, mainly stemming from concerns over his mostly-nonverbal autistic brother's care. You'd think that these two would never meet, but their paths cross when their stoner dogwalker mixes up their basset hounds. In the midst of tracking down their dogs, Carly and Max meet and quickly fall for each other.

OK, so yes, this is a romance and yeah, there's stuff with Carly and Max going on (some of it more believable than others). But let's talk instead about the true stars of this book: Baxter and Hazel, Carly and Max's respective bassets. If there's any reason to read this book, the storyline and antics of these two fantastic creatures are it. They're adorable in their floppy-eared, short-legged, sad-but-happy-at-the-same-time best basset ways, and the chemistry between them is way more believable than that of the human "lead" characters. So what if I read this while cuddled up with my own sweet basset hound? Does that make me biased? Well, probably yes, but still, the dogs are hands down the best part of the book.

What Would Wimsey Do?

What Would Wimsey Do? by Guy Fraser-Sampson, 300 pages

After 18 months of trying to track down a serial killer, the London detectives are still stymied. When a fifth body turns up, the lead detective is taken off the task force, and a young up-and-comer is brought on to stir things up. And stir he does, bringing in a psychologist to create a profile of the murderer, and taking odd new angles on the case. But will it work?

This book was a bit of a slog. The stuff that only comes up after a year and a half of investigating seems obvious to someone who has watched just a couple episodes of any detective TV show, and the Golden Age throwback (the theoretical hook for the story) doesn't happen until more than halfway through the book. I was more than a bit disappointed.

In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It

In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It by Lauren Graham, 47 pages

This short book is an expansion of a graduation speech Graham gave to her high school alma mater in 2017. It runs much like you'd expect a graduation speech to go, noting that nobody has it figured out when they graduate from high school, and that as long as you work hard and keep plugging away at whatever you're working on, it'll all be OK in the end. So basically, nothing revolutionary, though I did enjoy the doodle-y illustrations throughout. Unless you're a superfan of Graham, I'd skip this one and instead pick up her novel, Someday, Someday Maybe.