The Things We Leave Unfinished

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros, 429 pages

During World War II, British debutante Scarlett fell desperately in love with an American flying ace, Jameson. After moving to Colorado with their young son, Scarlett became a bestselling romance author, despite the sad ending to her own love story. Some 70 years later, Scarlett's great-granddaughter Georgia is grudgingly working with top writer Noah Harrison to finish Scarlett's final unfinished novel, which happens to be her own story with Jameson. Known for his heartbreaking "poignant"endings to romantic stories, Noah is determined to give Scarlett and Jameson the happily-ever-after they deserve (and Scarlett's readers have come to expect), while recently-divorced Georgia wants something truer to life. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this dual-timeline romance novel, which I expected to be sappy and weepy (I mean, look at that cover!). It was certainly emotional and came with a heavy heap of generational drama. But it also had a lovely twist and featured a pair of relationships that I could really get behind. Guess this one proves the old adage: don't judge a book by its cover.

Fifty Grand

Fifty Grand: a Novel of Suspense / Adrian McKinty, read by Paula Christensen, 308 p.

Fifty Grand opens with a young, pretty Havana detective pushing a naked American man through a hole in the ice over a Wyoming lake.  Detective Mercado of the Havana Police has tricked her way to Colorado via Mexico in search of the man who killed her father there in a hit and run.  Along the way she meets Francisco, a young Nicaraguan who becomes her friend and protector of sorts.  Posing as a Mexican migrant worker, Mercado, along with Francisco travel to Fairview, an Aspen-like place where Hollywood's super wealthy have their houses cleaned and their drugs ferried by immigrants who live in a state of quasi-slavery, beholden entirely to their handlers and the vicious town sheriff.  One the one hand a suspenseful whodunnit, on the other a sharp critique of American immigrant policy and racism, with a bit of Scientology satire for fun, this was a great listen.  The parts of the novel set in Cuba have a great you-are-there feel, and Christensen's reading was excellent.

Perennial

Perennial / Kelly Forsythe, 66 p.

A multi-faceted (like a jewel) examination of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in gorgeous poems.  Different points of view include the young author's, growing up in Pennsylvania, those of Columbine students, and Harris and Klebold themselves.  In spare language Forsythe evokes a late '90s vibe while letting us see that ugly day as if peering at it through broken glass.  Really marvelous.