The Return of Ellie Black

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean, 299 pages

After her sister disappeared as a teenager, detective Chelsey Calhoun has dedicated her professional career to finding other lost girls; her first case was when local girl Ellie Black vanished two years back. But now Ellie has returned and Chelsey is determined to find out who kidnapped her and stop him from ever doing it again. But Ellie is reluctant to share any information about her captor, which frustrates Chelsey and convinces her that there's more to this case than she initially assumed.

This is a great suspenseful thriller, with a wonderfully twisty plot and complex characters. I've never read anything else by Jean, but if they're all as good as this one, I'll happily rectify that situation. My only complaint is about an element of the ending, but up to that, this is a fantastic book.

May totals

Sing along if you know the words!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Byron: 5 books, 1074 pages

Hammy: 5 books, 2036 pages

Jan: 9 books, 2819 pages

John: 2 books, 451 pages

Kara: 12 books, 4237 pages

Karen: 6 books, 2063 pages

Regan: 7 books, 2357 pages

Total: 46 books, 15,037 pages

Road to Ruin

Road to Ruin by Hana Lee, 361 pages

Courier Jin makes her living riding her magebike (powered by mana and her own Talent of creating and controlling sparks) between cities that have been separated by a vast and unfriendly wasteland full of storms, dangerous beasts, and raiders who will kill, steal from, and eat anyone they come across. The most precious thing she transports are forbidden love letters between talentless prince Kadrin and Talented princess Yi-Nereen, who is kept locked up by her family until she can be married off to a lord to breed hopefully Talented children. When Yi-Nereen asks Jin to help her escape and seek refuge in Kadrin's city, Jin can't say no and the two end up discovering things about Talent and the wastelands that no one ever thought possible.

I loved the worldbuilding in this book, which is a bit Mad Max if it had dinosaurs and magic, and I'm intrigued by the magic system, which is unlike any I've read before. It's a thrilling book, full of twists and turns that become a bit hard to keep hold of toward the end. There will definitely be at least one more book in this world, and I'm curious to see where the story goes next, as it certainly didn't end the way I expected it to.

Say You'll Be Mine

Say You'll Be Mine by Naina Kumar, 322 pages

When English teacher Meghna's best friend/writing partner/ex-boyfriend she still can't get over invites her to be the best man at his wedding, she says yes...and then immediately regrets it, as she doesn't have a boyfriend to bring along. Enter Karthik, an engineer who is humoring his mother by agreeing to her traditional Indian matchmaking attempts, despite the fact that Karthik has no intention of ever getting married. When Karthik's mom arranges a meeting between the two, Karthik and Meghna agree to a fake engagement to placate Karthik's mom while making Meghna seem a bit less pathetic during her friend's wedding festivities. But this is a romance novel and fake dating never stays fake...

For a debut novel, this one is pretty darn good. I loved the characters and the representation, and I'd love to read more of Kumar's books in the future. The one thing that got to me was the long-distance element of the relationship. Karthik lives in New York, Meghna lives in Dallas, and they are constantly flying back and forth to visit each other (and to Miami for a bachelor party) for the sake of this fake relationship, with no financial hesitation. Who the heck has that kind of money?? Other than that though, I thought this was a charming novel.

Major Labels

Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh (2021) 496 pages

This has been on my reading list for a couple years, so I moved it to the top when I saw the Rhythm & Books book group was reading it. I did not finish it in time for the discussion, but I did enjoy it. I learned a lot. The Rock, R&B, and Country chapters were very informative and the most like a broad history. The author was a big fan of Punk and Hip-Hop, so those chapters switch to a more first-person point of view. Then the chapters on Dance music and Pop music are much shorter. Through the author's record store job as a teen, to his college radio DJ experience, to his work as a music critic for a couple different newspapers he shows how deeply he understands the business and art of popular music. The research and analysis is fascinating. My reading pace was a bit slow getting through it, but it could have been even slower if I stopped to make or find a playlist for all the songs mentioned.
 

Hello Stranger

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center (2023) 320 pages

Sadie's finances are tight and she lives in her art studio, which she calls her hovel. However, she has just qualified for a prestigious competition in which she needs to paint a portrait within six weeks. She's totally psyched up about it, hoping to increase her income beyond the Etsy paintings she does for a living.

However, a crisis leads to medical tests in which a brain lesion is found. She's advised to have it removed as soon as possible, to avoid seizures or even a stroke. Unfortunately, after the surgery, she has a condition called acquired apperceptive prosopagnosia, also known as "facial blindness," which often, but not always, goes away in two to six weeks. Sadie cannot recognize anyone's face; facial features are all chopped up. She's in a panic because she can't even recognize the faces of her best friend or family. Plus painting faces is how she makes her living, and how she hopes to win the substantial prize that the winner of the portrait competition will be awarded.

The story covers Sadie's panic over the facial blindness as well as her learning to navigate the world, using cues other than people's faces. Her relationship challenges include her father, stepmother, and her stepsister. And there are a couple of love interests which creep in, making for an interesting story since she cannot see the faces of the men she's interested in. As time clicks down, and her facial blindness hasn't faded, what does that mean for her future?

Death and the Dancing Footman

 

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh  360 pp.

The wealthy Jonathan Royal invites a variety of guests to his country estate for the weekend. However, the guests are ones with grudges and/or other reasons to dislike each other. Royal claims to have hopes the weekend will resolve the disagreements but that is suspect. Multiple attempts on the life of one guest, Nicholas Compline occur and he attempts to leave the gathering but is thwarted by the massive snowstorm that hit the area. When a murder finally occurs, halfway through the novel, it is William Compline, brother of Nicholas, who is the victim. Everyone suspects the foreign doctor who has continually insisted his innocence. The large cast of characters gives a multitude of possible victims and perpetrators. I thought about creating a scorecard to keep track of everyone. The arrival of Inspector Roderick Alleyn, who makes his way through the snow from a nearby home where he is conveniently staying with his wife, artist Agatha Troy, sets the real investigation in motion. There is a lot going on in this mystery but it's a bit of a slow starter.

The Flatshare

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary (2019) 325 pages

Tiffy needs an inexpensive place to live. It's apparent that her ex-boyfriend is not coming back after she hears he's engaged to someone else. She learns about a small flat where she and the owner would share the premises, just not at the same time. She would get it on evenings and weekends, and the owner (Leon) would get it 9-6 on weekdays, since he works the nightshift as a hospice nurse. Against the judgment of her friends, she goes for it. She never even meets Leon ahead of the agreement; his girlfriend Kay handles the deal.

Tiffy and Leon write Post-It notes to each other on a regular basis, and learn about each other by the notes and by catching details in the apartment. (For example, did he have his coffee and wash his cup, or was he so rushed that he left it unfinished?) Eventually, they learn about each other's relationships: Tiffy's ex-boyfriend, Justin, starts showing up unexpectedly at events that he shouldn't know about. Now that she seems to be fine without him, he appears to want her back. As Tiffy puts distance between herself and Justin, she has feelings that he was gaslighting her, making her look like she had a bad memory and bad judgement. Leon's girlfriend, Kay, is fine, but she doesn't have faith in the innocence of Leon's younger brother, Richie, who was found guilty at a trial less than a year ago. Leon is tied in knots about Richie and doesn't know what to do, whether he can save up enough money to get him an appeal.

Eventually Tiffy and Leon actually meet in person, in a embarrassingly funny way, and then their relationship goes to a new level. This write-up doesn't begin to catch the flavor of the book, but suffice it to say, it's funny and deep and satisfying all the way through, with secondary characters that are fabulous.

Shubeik Lubeik

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (2022) 528 pages

Regan and Kara previously reviewed this on the blog.

"Your wish is my command." We've all heard a genie say that. If your wish is to be told many stories, this graphic novel is for you. It was originally three volumes in Arabic. I loved the art work and adapted pretty quickly to reading right to left. With multiple flashbacks there are more than just three stories about how three first-class wishes sold at Shokry's kiosk are used. There are two parts to Aziza's story, when she is young and when she is middle aged. Mostly it is about the lack of justice for the poor in the Egyptian justice system. There is one really in depth story about college student Nour's mental health (with a brief tangent about the talking donkey) in part two. Part three is so good! We get a history lesson from the perspective of Abu Shokry, Shokry's father, covering 1954 to 1980, then with Shokry carrying on to 2020. Shokry, the kiosk owner, is a giving person and wants to help others. His father's generation taught him that devout Muslims do not use wishes, so he really agonizes over the last first-class wish that hasn't sold. Hagga Shawqia is a regular at Shokry's kiosk, and we learn much more about her from her friends and family as she nears the end of her life. There is tragedy and triumph. She is such a fascinating character, a "gutsy gal." We check in with Aziza and Nour. The book subverts the traditional end with a darkly hilarious bow on the talking donkey story too. This was such a fun read.
 

Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch by Sarah Reida, 320 pages

In the neighborhood of Oleander Court, homes and lawns are perfectly maintained (by hired help, of course), the "book club meetings" are just excuses to gossip and drink wine, and everyone is in everyone else's business. But when a string of murders starts taking out the most judgmental and vapid of the residents, those who remain have a choice: turn toward each other to help solve the crime, or turn on one another to weed out the riff-raff. Can't have it both ways and survive...

There's something wonderful about reading this book and seeing the most horrible people get their comeuppance. The woman who assumes that the Asian American neighbor must not understand English, the lady who reacts to her housekeeper's family emergency with dismay that she may have to wash her own dish for once, the nosy neighbor who thinks the lesbian couple next door needs to stop "flaunting" their lifestyle... it's schadenfreude at its finest. While I have a few minor quibbles with how one character's past life is portrayed, I can see this becoming a very popular book. Perfect for anyone who's ever received a passive-aggressive note about lawns, trash cans, or noise from a neighbor.