Knowing the setting of this novel from being there and having been in New York during Super Storm Sandy, I felt both intrigued and like I wanted to cover my eyes when I picked this title up. After all, it describes terrifying events, including floods, in a city that I love.
This is a story with characters for whom readers will care. They are an intrepid group including Nonie and her family.
In this novel, the characters are invested in their world and want to save all that they can. Readers will just desperately hope that they are successful.
Recommended to those who enjoy literary fiction with some sci-fi elements and those who are concerned about climate change. It is an original story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
Before Covid I had never read a book by Ms. Novak. I started with One Perfect Summer and just kept going, also reading Summer on the Island, The Bookstore on the Beach, and When I Found You. All of these were enjoyable women’s fiction titles; each had a good setting storyline and characters. So, of course, I was eager to read this new book by the author.
The story takes place in a seaside community. Three friends grew up there. Ivy stayed and runs the library. Cam stayed; he became a talented architect. Ariana worked in New York in the publishing industry; she comes back to spend time with her grandmother.
The three all know of a tragic event that occurred when they were in high school. A girl went missing. What will be stirred up as events from the past spill into the present?
This book is a bit more of a mystery but retains many elements of the author’s talent for writing women’s fiction. I enjoyed this novel but did think that it had a bit of a slow start.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.
Adults who love The Little Prince and kids who may just be learning about de Saint Exbury will both enjoy this entry in the good series. Watch young Antoine grow up and find his way to becoming a pilot (he faces a few challenges). Read about all that he accomplished before his life ended to soon.
My favorite part of the story is when the author says that, when flying a mail plane, Antoine circled the airport for an hour so that he could finish his book. What a book lover!
After sharing this book with a child, buy a copy of Le Petit Prince for them. They may treasure it for many years.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Mark you calendar for the pub date for Fiona Davis’s forthcoming new novel. I think that this may just be her best book yet. I thoroughly enjoyed The Stolen Queen.
As is often the case, the story is told in two time lines and in two countries. Interestingly, both time lines have characters in common.
Readers first meet Charlotte Cross when she is a young girl embarking on an adventure of a lifetime. She has left her society family behind to be part of a 1930s dig in Egypt. So much happens to Charlotte there in terms of both her professional and personal life, but readers need to find out all of this for themselves.
The second timeline takes place partly in NYC right around the time of the famous King Tut exhibition. Now Charlotte is working in the Egyptian section of the museum when a necklace becomes part of an exhibit and leads to many events.
In this second time line, readers also meet Annie. She has been an enabler to her mother. Unexpectedly Annie secures a position working for the very well known Diana Vreeland just in time for a major fashion event. As was true for Charlotte, things don’t go according to plan.
It is not long before Charlotte and Annie travel to Egypt together. There is, again, much that happens while they are there.
Davis handles all of the plot elements flawlessly. It is also clear that she did her homework in order to give this book a real sense of its historical authenticity.
Anyone who has enjoyed a novel by this author will want to read this title. My guess is that this one will also bring her many new fans.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group-Dutton for this title. All opinions are my own.
I found myself constantly reading “just one more” chapter every time I picked up this book. It is light (yet with some depth) and a very enjoyable novel. That said, it does require some suspension of disbelief, I think.
Have you ever felt that you were in a rut? Doing a job that you know well but which feels unsatisfying? Have you ever hoped for the rush of a new romance and the chance to make a spontaneous life change? These are aspects of Clare’s life so when the opportunity to live in Switzerland with her new romance is a possibility, she does the unexpected and goes.
Clare wants to take a course while there and chooses chocolate making. Through a bit of an error, Clare has enrolled herself in a class with those who have much more experience than she. Not everyone is nice to this beginner. Despite doubts, Clare stays.
Readers get to know a lot about the making of chocolate. I enjoyed this aspect of the book. They also get to know the other students in Clare’s class and those who work at the school.
The boyfriend turns out to be a maybe. Read the book to see if Clare is with him at the end or with a well-known chocolatier whom readers learn is facing his own challenge.
Recommended to those who like fiction, women’s fiction, romance, stories of growth, Switzerland and chocolate. That certainly means many readers who will enjoy this one.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK-Transworld for this title. All opinions are my own.
I started reading this novel soon after Serena Williams retired and when I had tennis on my brain. Carrie is not Serena but there is no doubt that tennis has defined her life. As the story opens, Carrie is at the U.S. Open waiting to see if her long held record for most wins will be shattered. From here the book moves back in time to when she first began playing and goes forward to the time of the book’s title.
I understand the basics of tennis but don’t have the knowledge base to know how accurate the descriptions in the matches played were. I know that they were deeply involving and that I always wondered how Carrie would do.
This novel, however, is not just about Carrie’s tennis but is also about Carrie. She has a rather hard and brittle shell and most although most everything about her has been about tennis, she has things to figure out. Readers get to know the people around her; there are those that she lets in to some degree. The most important one is her father who has shared Carrie’s dream. Another is a player on the male circuit named Bowe and, of course, many of the women players.
Along with a page turning story, this novel offers some food for thought. Are we our accomplishments? Does winning mean everything? How is it to have to deal with being in a constant limelight? What happens when a game that one started to play out of love becomes so dominant? No spoilers for the end of the book. Find out for yourself what happens to Carrie.
I recommend this title to tennis lovers, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s fan base and those who enjoy an involving story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Pub date: 30 August 2022
From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
“The books in Reid’s famous women quartet stand alone. . . . But each of the books centers a vibrant protagonist managing the tensions between her glamorous life in the public eye and the pressures she feels in private . . . with Reid meticulously collecting minute yet meaningful details to help build immersive worlds”—TIME
“Carrie Soto [Is Back] . . . is like other sports novels in which underdogs punch, volley, bat and birdie their way to victory or additional defeat, but it goes beyond this to explore sexism and racism in the tennis world in the 1990s. . . . This novel will grab you. You’ll tear through blow-by-blow descriptions of championship matches on some of the most famous tennis courts in the world. . . .”—The Washington Post
“An epic story about bravery, endurance, but also the power of vulnerability.”—BuzzFeed
“Reid . . . draws on the lives of actual tennis pros (think Serena, Sharapova) to build a world of believable rivalries and intrigue infused with the whiplash suspense of a nail-biting tennis match.”—People (Book of the Week)
“Nearly every Taylor Jenkins Reid novel reads like a survey course in some flagrantly glamorous specialty and era. . . . Come for the King Richard–level attention to the art of the game; stay for the more personal soap operas unfolding off the court, and the final score.”—Entertainment Weekly
Jo Callaghan’s first novel was easily one of my favorite crime stories of 2024. All of the elements that made me love that book are back in Leave No Trace, the second in this series. These include characters with depth (and backstory), a plot that keeps the pages turning, and the use of a unique sidekick to detective Kat Frank.
AIDE is an AI created detective. Through a hologram, he looks very real. His thoughts, although at times concrete because of a lack of understanding of nuance, are often key to the case. It has been enjoyable to watch the “relationship” between Kat and AIDE evolve. That is just one of the joys of the series.
This time, Kat has asked for a “live” as compared to historical case. The one that she is given is rather grim. A man has been found at the top of a local landmark and he has been gruesomely murdered. The case will lead to fear and warnings to young men.
Readers know that the case will be solved. The enjoyment is in watching how the team accomplishes this.
Kudos to the author. I am already eager for book three.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.
Mark you calendar for the pub date for Fiona Davis’s forthcoming new novel. I think that this may just be her best book yet. I thoroughly enjoyed The Stolen Queen.
As is often the case, the story is told in two time lines and in two countries. Interestingly, both time lines have characters in common.
Readers first meet Charlotte Cross when she is a young girl embarking on an adventure of a lifetime. She has left her society family behind to be part of a 1930s dig in Egypt. So much happens to Charlotte there in terms of both her professional and personal life, but readers need to find out all of this for themselves.
The second timeline takes place partly in NYC right around the time of the famous King Tut exhibition. Now Charlotte is working in the Egyptian section of the museum when a necklace becomes part of an exhibit and leads to many events.
In this second time line, readers also meet Annie. She has been an enabler to her mother. Unexpectedly Annie secures a position working for the very well known Diana Vreeland just in time for a major fashion event. As was true for Charlotte, things don’t go according to plan.
It is not long before Charlotte and Annie travel to Egypt together. There is, again, much that happens while they are there.
Davis handles all of the plot elements flawlessly. It is also clear that she did her homework in order to give this book a real sense of its historical authenticity.
Anyone who has enjoyed a novel by this author will want to read this title. My guess is that this one will also bring her many new fans.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group-Dutton for this title. All opinions are my own.
Readers who enjoy a Gallic mystery with a British protagonist may well enjoy this second food titled mystery following on the author’s Death and Croissants. It is written by a British comedian who brings a certain sensibility to the genre.
Richard has gone out for dinner. The menu is a tasting one and he has not tasted enough (he is still hungry). The beginnings of a mess emerge with the goat cheese parfait that is the dessert course.
Soon, there is, of course, a murder. It takes place in a cheese related locale. Will Richard, a local B and B owner figure out what has happened? How will his amie, Valerie, contribute? Read this one to find out. It will especially be enjoyed by Francophiles.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Press for this title. All opinions are my own.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 