Book Review: Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Slow Dance
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: July 30, 2024
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley + purchased hardcover
Rating:

Back in high school, everybody thought Shiloh and Cary would end up together . . . everybody but Shiloh and Cary.

They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.

Slow Dance is a sweet, unusual story of best friends who’ve always loved each other, but who’ve taken years and years to realize it.

“What do you want?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “A time machine.”

“I can’t give you the past,” Cary said. He squeezed her hands. “But we could have a future.”

Shiloh and Cary were inseparable in high school, along with their other best friend Mikey. But Shiloh and Cary’s connection was different. They shared every interest (except Cary’s ROTC commitment, which Shiloh hated), spent every free moment together, and even lived in the same run-down North Omaha neighborhood with less than ideal home lives. Nothing should have been able to tear them apart — but as we learn, they’ve spent most of their adult lives not talking to each other, and eventually, we discover why.

When they meet again at Mikey’s wedding, their lives have changed. Cary is a naval officer, with a career that’s taken him around the world. Shiloh lives in the same house she grew up in, with her two kids and her mother (but not her ex-husband). Their initial meeting is tense for both of them… but when Shiloh finally agrees to a dance with Cary, all the old connections between them bubble back to the surface.

Shiloh felt like she was combing his face and body for changes, like her eyes were hands. Or maybe she wasn’t looking for changes — maybe she was trying to find all the ways that he was the same. All the ways she recognized him. The ways he was still Cary.

Slow Dance is a tale of miscommunication and love and second chances, as well as the blunt reality of becoming an adult and having to deal with the messiness of life. Cary and Shiloh seem to have spent their entire relationship making assumptions and not being honest with themselves or each other about their feelings or wants or expectations. As adults, they finally recognize the barriers they’ve allowed to get in their way — but is it too late to try again?

It’s always a pleasure to read a Rainbow Rowell book. Slow Dance is no exception: The writing is sweet, funny, and page-turningly delightful. Cary and Shiloh are good people with hang-ups and issues and complicated lives. We spend the whole book rooting for them, and it can be frustrating to see the missed opportunities from the past, even while we clearly see all the various ways in which things went wrong.

Shiloh had wanted Cary before she’d even known how to recognize want. Before she had words for it. Before she had some sense of these things and their dimensions.

I had a bit of an issue with Shiloh as a character. I’m not sure that I fully understood her — she’s clever and opinionated, socially adept in some ways yet clearly an introvert when it comes to parties and groups of people. She has a hard time with closeness and intimacy, and seems to never fully have allowed herself to experience adult relationships or romance. I couldn’t quite pin down the explanation for some of her behaviors, both in high school and as an adult. Cary is much steadier — not to say that he’s not interesting, but his conflicts and dilemmas seem clearer and more straightforward.

Slow Dance may be a book that’s better the second time around. I tore through it in one huge reading binge, and at the midpoint, realized I might have been better off slowing down (I mean, the title should have made me realize that this is a journey to be savored, not gulped in one sitting). By the halfway mark, I felt that I finally got what these characters’ arcs were really about, and was able to connect the dots between their pasts and present.

I think I’ll be back for a reread. Now that I know where the story ends up going, I think I’ll better able to appreciate how it starts.

Slow Dance is a lovely, quirky book, and I highly recommend it.

2Aug2024

Book Review: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: A Sorceress Comes to Call
Author: T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: August 6, 2024
Print length: 336 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic

Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.

After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

New T. Kingfisher books are always a reason to celebrate, and A Sorceress Comes to Call is no exception.

In this fairy tale (with a tinge of horror), Cordelia is the 14-year-old daughter of a cruel sorceress named Evangeline. To the outside world, Evangeline is a pretty, respectable woman, who presents herself as a genteel widow with a marriageable daughter. (Among other despicable acts, she claims Cordelia is 17 and ready to find a husband). But Cordelia lives in constant fear and torment: Evangeline’s powers enable her to make Cordelia “obedient” — she can control Cordelia’s body and force her to behave as she wishes, leaving Cordelia’s mind alert, aware, and helpless to overcome Evangeline’s control.

When Evangeline sets her sights on a wealthy man, intending to marry him, gain control, and then use her new riches and power to get an even more highly stationed husband for Cordelia — all with the intent of adding to her own wealth and power — Cordelia has no choice but to go along.

The Squire, Samuel, lives with his sister Hester on his comfortable estate. Both in their 50s and never married, they’re content with their lives and their circle of friends. Evangeline’s arrival disrupts their peaceful lives, and while Hester’s intuition immediately labels Evangeline as “Doom”, she’s unexpectedly sympathetic toward Cordelia. Cordelia, Hester senses, is innocent — in many ways. She has no choice about complying with her mother’s schemes, but as Hester befriends her, Cordelia starts to realize that she has to find a way to protect these kind people from the evil that awaits.

The story is full of wonderful fairy-tale-esque moments and devices, but the characters themselves are what make this book especially delightful. Hester in particular is a hoot, but so are her other close friends — all women on the more mature side, perhaps disregarded by society and viewed as silly or unimportant older women, but with sharp wit, keen intelligence, and nerves of steel.

Evangeline and her horse/familiar Falada are evil, but they’re sly and devious, and not easily defeated. The story builds to a scary, dramatic confrontation, and some elements of the action toward the end have more of a horror feel to them — but it’s all quite exciting and delicious to read, and I loved seeing how the good guys have each other’s backs.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is such a satisfying, engaging read! The characters are superb, and made me care deeply about all the magic-laden ups and downs of the story.

T. Kingfisher’s fantasy/fairy tale stories are among my favorites, and A Sorceress Comes to Call is a terrific addition. Highly recommended.

28Jul2024

Book Review: Against the Darkness (In Every Generation, #3) by Kendare Blake

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Against the Darkness
Series: In Every Generation, #3
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication date: April 9, 2024
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

This epic finale to the The Next Generation trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake ( Three Dark Crowns ) features the next generation of Scoobies and Slayers who must defeat a powerful new evil.

For generations, the Slayer was supposed to be the chosen, the one girl in all the world with the power to stand against the vampires, demons, and forces of darkness. When Willow used the scythe to call up all the potential slayers at once, it changed everything. For years, the slayers have been working and fighting together as a team.

Then the Darkness came, killing many slayers and trapping the rest in an alternate dimension. And Frankie Rosenberg, the world’s first Slayer-Witch, found herself fighting evil alone. Sort of.

Sure, she has her new Scooby Gang, plus the help of her mom, Willow; Watcher, Spike; and even the brooding-but-hot Hunter of Thrace. But even though they have a master plan (obviously), the gang is more fragmented than ever.

So maybe it really is up to Frankie—and Frankie alone—to stand against the darkness. With Jake’s wild werewolf brother back in town, Dark Willow threatening to return, and the Darkness preparing for the final stage of their attack, now is not a great time to wallow in teen angst. After all, she’s the Slayer. It’s time to slay.

The In Every Generation trilogy feels like a gift for Buffy fans… and it’s been one that I’ve been very happy to unwrap. But now we reach the end: Book #3, Against the Darkness, wraps up the escalating danger with an action-packed finale, while keeping the spotlight shining on the new and old Buffyverse characters (and all their quippiness).

Frankie pointed through the windshield to the park below as Sam ran past the base of the green, sloping hill, screaming as he was tailed by three vampires. Jake wasn’t far behind, and as he passed, he turned to the car and shouted.

“Frankie! Get your slayer butt down here!”

“Well.” Frankie opened her door. “I guess that’s the signal.”

“It was so subtle; are you sure?” Sigmund asked, deadpan.

Over the course of the trilogy, Frankie Rosenberg has been developing her slayer powers. The world’s first slayer-witch, Frankie is a second generation Scoobie, just trying to get through high school, hang out with her mom Willow, keep an eye on best friend/werewolf Jake, and (oh yeah) try not to get killed by the Big Bad of the month.

With Spike as her Watcher, Willow and Oz as the wise elders, and a new batch of Scoobies to train and patrol with, Frankie slowly starts building her confidence, even while desperately missing her aunt Buffy, who is currently trapped in a prison dimension along with rest of the slayers. Well, except for those slayers who’ve joined the Darkness, whose purpose is not obvious to the good guys until it’s almost too late.

This trilogy is oodles of fun. Yes, the focus is on the newer generation, but Willow, Oz, and Spike get plenty of time to shine too, and there are other visits from old favorites that are a delight. (There’s even a shout-out to Miss Kitty Fantastico, which is just… awesome.) Meanwhile, author Kendare Blake wholeheartedly embraces the vibe, capturing both nostalgic references and the overall Buffy way of speaking in a way that’s pure joy to read.

Lots of fun details and craziness ensues. Gotta love the lacrosse werewolves! (It’s a thing — read the book to find out more.)

“Are you all right, Frankie?”

“Sure, why? Did I stop smiling? I didn’t think I stopped smiling.” She tried to smile again, but it wouldn’t stick.

Willow peered around the gymnasium. “Seems like a shame to destroy another high school,” she said to Oz. “This one is so nice.”

“Buffy, look out!” Willow pointed as a bat-winged demon swooped overhead. Buffy and Frankie ducked, and Willow used her magic to zap it out of the sky.

“Thanks, Will.” Buffy looked at her. “Home for not even two seconds, and already it’s work, work, work.”

If you’re a Buffy fan, please do yourself a favor and read this adorable trilogy. It’s such a treat to be back in the world of slayers, demons, witches, and hellmouths. I didn’t expect to love the new characters as much as I did, but Frankie is amazing, and so is the rest of her crew… and needless to say, spending time with the original gang is a total blast.

I’m sad to see the trilogy come to an end, but I’ve enjoyed every moment with these books. I think I hear a Buffy rewatch calling my name…

27Jul2024

Book Review: The Black Bird Oracle (All Souls, #5) by Deborah Harkness

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Black Bird Oracle
Series: All Souls
Author: Deborah Harkness
Publisher: Viking
Publication date: July 16, 2024
Length: 464 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / fantasy
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series.

Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.

Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.

I’ve been a fan of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls books ever since the very first book — A Discovery of Witches — was published in 2011. After the original trilogy’s conclusion, fans were surprised and delighted to learn that more books were planned! In 2018, a 4th book — Time’s Convert — was released (note: I only got around to reading it a couple of months ago — my review is here)… and here we are, six years later, with another book in the series. Book #5, The Black Bird Oracle, was released July 16, 2024, and picks up the story several years after the events of Time’s Convert.

In The Black Bird Oracle, the far-flung vampires of the de Clermont clan are largely offstage (except for Matthew, of course, and a few others popping in later in the book). Instead, this sprawling book focuses squarely on the witchy inhabitants of the series. The action is set during the summer of 2017, when Diana and Matthew’s children Pip and Becca are about to turn seven. Just as the family is preparing for summer vacation, a visitation by a flock (unkindness?) of ravens and a summons from an unknown relative provide portents of grave significance, and the family relocates to Ipswich, Massachusetts to learn the secrets of the Proctor family — Diana’s patriarchal line.

Once settled at the Proctor farm and sanctuary, Diana learns about this side of the family’s contribution to her magical talents. She is under pressure to explore the nuances of Light, Shadow, and Darkness as they relate to magic. The Congregation has its eye on her and the children, and she must develop this aspect of her abilities and learn the Proctor family secrets, if she’s to defend her children from powers who may try to control them.

Does that sound like gobbledygook to you? If you haven’t read the earlier books in the series, I’m sure it does. The Black Bird Oracle is absolutely not a starting place. While I love the world of All Souls, the only possible entry point is A Discovery of Witches. Nothing about these books will make sense otherwise.

There are some interesting elements here, especially in regard to the Proctor family history, how they’re intertwined with the tragic events of Salem, and the ways in which the Proctors and de Clermonts have crossed paths over the centuries.

And yet… the book felt strangely flat to me. For all that I adore Diana, I never felt drawn into the story on more than a surface level. Perhaps that’s because the central conflicts of the book have to do with levels of magic, which beyond a certain point get overly symbolic and esoteric. I missed the more personal connections, and although several of the newly introduced Proctor family members are quirky and interesting, the main relationships are oddly stagnant — except when they’re downright puzzling, as in Matthew and Diana’s dynamics. After all they’ve been through in order to be together and create a family of their own, their connection seems fuzzy and off-kilter in this book. I missed the sense of a strong, powerful team working together that we’ve seen previously.

On the positive side, Becca and Pip are great fun — although I’d like to know more about their abilities and their vampiric sides. The focus in The Black Bird Oracle is on their witching talents, and their vampire-influenced traits (and dietary needs) get only the briefest of mentions.

Part of what puzzled me about The Black Bird Oracle is the point of the plot itself. The central conflict never felt fully defined. Toward the end, there’s some excitement involving the Congregation and the reappearance of an old foe of Diana’s, but this is largely unresolved. This new danger is left hanging — I presume we’ll need another book to see what unfolds from here.

Sadly, The Black Bird Oracle was somewhat of a letdown for me. While I’m always happy to reenter the world of All Souls, the emotional hook was missing from this reading experience. I’ll be back for whatever books comes next (fingers crossed we won’t be waiting another six years!), but I can’t say that I feel particularly satisfied after reading this installment in the series.

It pains me to give a Deborah Harkness book a less-than-stellar review. Her writing is always intriguing, and her attention to detail superb. I know many fans are over the moon about this book, and I’m happy for them! I’m still devoted to the author and series, and hope that the next book will return me to five-star joy.

26Jul2024

Book Review: The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Museum of Failures
Author: Thrity Umrigar
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Publication date: September 26, 2023
Length: 358 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick, Honor

When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life.

Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions?

Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son, The Museum of Failures is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret. It is also, above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others.

The Museum of Failures is an emotional story of family secrets and redemption, with a painful mother-son relationship as its driving force.

Remy was raised in affluence in Bombay by a loving father and cold, unpredictable, cruel mother. After attending college in the US, he stayed, married a lovely woman, and built a life for himself. As the story opens, Remy returns to India for the first time since his father’s death three years earlier. His closest friends have arranged for him and his wife to adopt their unwed niece’s baby. Despite his mixed feelings and negative associations with Bombay, he and Kathy are eager to finally start a family of their own after years of fertility struggles.

Remy is initially repelled by the noise and crowds and intensity of Bombay. His trip appears to be headed for failure when the adoption seems doubtful. To make things worse, Remy’s obligatory visit to see his mother leads to a shocking discovery: She’s been neglected by the caretakers he hired, her living conditions are in disrepair, and she’s in the hospital in serious condition, no longer eating or speaking. Although he’s tried for years to keep as much distance as possible between himself and his mother, his sense of filial duty requires him to care for her during this health crisis and try to help her get better.

As Remy spends time with his mother, she seems to slowly find a new will to live. He discovers cracks in his memories — occasionally snippets of happy moments with a woman he remembers as consistently harsh and unloving. Ultimately, Remy stumbles upon a secret that upends his belief about his upbringing and parents — he discovers that what he remembers and what was actually true are two quite different stories. The family secret is explosive, and changes everything Remy once believed.

The Museum of Failures is a moving story of the damage done within families, the sacrifices parents make, and the lifelong impact of secrets. It’s also a portrait of Remy’s community within Indian society. For a reader previously unfamiliar with the Parsi community, it was a fascinating look at the culture and traditions of this small, tightly-knit segment of the Indian population. Additionally, The Museum of Failures presents a visceral portrait of life in Bombay, from the luxurious dwellings of the wealthy to the neglected and disreputable areas inhabited by the poor and lower castes.

The Museum of Failures is a much more personal story than the author’s previous book, Honor, which takes on oppressive societal structures and cultural differences and the horrible conditions of women’s lives in patriarchal villages. The focus here is on Remy and his family, who in many ways live a very privileged, comfortable life — and yet it’s clear that the pressures of the greater society in which they live have a strong influence on the trauma that pervades their experience.

Ultimately, The Museum of Failures conveys grace and forgiveness through Remy’s journey. The unraveling of secrets allows him to come to terms with his childhood and forge new connections as an adult. The reconciliation with his mother is only possible once the secrets between them are exposed and processed. It’s quite beautiful to see the emotional journey of mother and son, and while many parts of their story are painful, we end on a note of hope.

The Museum of Failures is an emotionally rich story that centers family dynamics within a great societal context. The storytelling feels personal, yet includes beautifully evocative descriptions of the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors of its setting. With well-drawn characters and a skillfully developed plot, this book conveys an intimate story that’s also a page-turner. Highly recommended.

25Jul2024

Book Review: Until Next Summer by Ali Brady

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Until Next Summer
Author: Ali Brady
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: July 9, 2024
Length: 447 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Two former best friends each find love at an adults-only summer camp in this romantic and nostalgic novel that proves “once a camp person, always a camp person.”

Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for summer, when they’d be reunited at Camp Chickawah. The best friends vowed to become counselors together someday, but they drifted apart after Hillary broke her promise and only Jessie stuck to their plan, working her way up to become the camp director.

When Jessie learns that the camp will be sold, she decides to plan one last hurrah, inviting past campers—including Hillary—to a nostalgic “adult summer camp” before closing for good. Jessie and Hillary rebuild their friendship as they relive the best time of their lives—only now there are adult beverages, skinny dipping, and romantic entanglements. Straitlaced Hillary agrees to a “no strings attached” summer fling with the camp chef, while outgoing Jessie is drawn to a moody, reclusive writer who’s rented a cabin to work on his novel.

The friends soon realize this doesn’t have to be the last summer. They’ll team up and work together, just like the old days. But if they can’t save their beloved camp, will they be able to take the happiness of this summer away with them?

There are two kinds of people in the world: Camp people… and everyone else.

Guess which kind I am? Hint: I still know how to weave lanyards, make sand candles, and play capture the flag, and think singing around a bonfire while eating toasted marshmallows is just about heaven on earth.

So… if you enjoy stories about childhood friends reuniting, taking on a mission, finding love, and engaging in all sorts of silliness, Until Next Summer might be a great read for you — and if you think sleeping in bunkbeds in old wooden cabins, going to free swim in a lake, and doing three-legged races are key components of perfect summers, then reading Until Next Summer is a must!

In this sweet novel, Jessie and Hillary are former BFFCs (Best Friends From Camp — and yes, I just made that up). Year after year, from eight-years-old onward, they spent two glorious month together each summer at their beloved Camp Chickawah, and planned to keep coming back as counselors too. But after Hillary abruptly backed out of their counselor summer to pursue an internship instead, the friendship was over. Ten years later, the hurt feelings remain.

Jessie has never left Camp Chickawah behind. In fact, she loved camp so much that she stayed, joining the year-round staff and eventually working her way up to Camp Director following the camp owners’ retirement. Jessie gets a terrible shock when the children of the former owners inform her that next summer will be the end: After their parents’ death, they have no interest in continuing to run the camp, and instead have decided to sell off the property to developers.

Jessie is devastated, and comes up with a plan for one final summer: In an attempt to show the owners’ heirs how much the camp means to its community and hopefully persuade them to keep it going, Jessie invites camp alumni of all ages to come enjoy a summer dedicated to adult camp. And — perhaps surprisingly — the response is huge: Every session of the summer fills up, and the adult campers cannot wait to come.

Joining the staff for the final summer is Jessie’s old friend Hillary. On the verge of accepting yet another high-octane corporate job, and possibly marrying her attorney boyfriend (who comes complete with her dad’s stamp of approval), Hillary decides instead that a return to her true happy spot might be just what she needs… and maybe she and Jessie can even make amends, after all these year.

Until Next Summer is a joyful celebration of friendship and, especially, of the unique, special, lifelong friendships that are the essence of the summer camp experience. Reading about adults returning to relive their happiest moments and recreate the camp vibe is a total hoot — nostalgic and silly and totally entertaining.

… [B]ut that’s how time works at camp: a day feels like a week, a week feels like a month.

Seeing camp through Jessie and Hillary’s eyes, it’s easy to remember how a summer at camp becomes the center of everything: Summer seems like it expands to fill your entire life, and the rest of the year is just filler until you can get back to the real thing.

I loved how perfectly the authors capture Jessie and Hillary’s connection. Sure, the end of their friendship seems way too harsh and sudden (if they’d had a single conversation, things might have gone differently) — but once they do reconnect, we readers really feel how deep the camp bond goes.

“People always talk about soulmates as being romantic,” I say, leaning my head against her shoulder. “But is it weird that you’re the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to that?”

“Not weird at all,” she says, and rests her head on mine.

Speaking of romance… I was less captivated by the romantic elements of the novel. Jessie and Hillary both get love stories, and they’re fine. I was less convinced by Jessie’s romance — her love interest transformed from grumpy to sunshine in the blink of an eye, and I didn’t truly feel their chemistry. Hillary’s love story was a bit more fun, and the I got a huge kick out of the pair sneaking off into the woods for make-out sessions. Now that’s summer camp!

The fundraising and save-the-camp campaign are perhaps too good to be true — I don’t think events would have gone so well in a real-life situation. Still, in the context of the novel, it’s a fun bit of wish fulfillment, and we’re really never left in any doubt that the good guys will come out on top.

Overall, Until Next Summer is an upbeat, sweet, engaging read. I loved the focus on friendship and the lasting impact of summer camp; the romances made less of an impression, but still provide some great moments.

Even if you’re not actually a camp person, Until Next Summer may make you feel like you could have been. This book is a terrific choice for summer reading… preferably on a beach blanket on the shores of a gorgeous lake.

About the authors: Ali Brady is the pen name of writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. This is their third book together, and I’m looking forward to exploring their other two!

24Jul2024

Book Review: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Lost Story
Author: Meg Shaffer
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: July 16, 2024
Print length: 352 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Let’s cut right to the chase: The Lost Story is a break-out 5-star read for me!

I went into this reading adventure without expectations. I hadn’t read the author’s previous novel, and didn’t know a whole lot about The Lost Story, other than blurbs about this being a Narnia for grown-ups.

And yes, that’s kind of true… and it’s also its own wonderful experience entirely.

In The Lost Story, the central mystery focuses on two lost-then-found boys. As teens, Rafe and Jeremy disappeared on a school outing to Red Crow State Forest in West Virginia, only to reappear — suddenly, and without explanation — six months later. For Rafe, the missing months are simply gone from his memory. Jeremy sticks to an undetailed story: they were lost, managed to survive, and then were rescued.

Fifteen or so years later, the boys are men in their mid-thirties. Jeremy has achieved fame as a missing person finder, carrying out seemingly impossible rescues in hopeless situations. Rafe, on the other hand, lives alone in a cabin in the woods, preferring to cut himself off from the world. Jeremy and Rafe have had no contact since their return, despite formerly being best of friends.

They’re brought back into one another’s lives when Emilie contacts Jeremy, asking for help in locating her long-lost sister Shannon — a person Emilie only recently learned even existed. Shannon was lost in the same woods as Jeremy and Rafe, but years earlier, and was long ago presumed dead. But Emilie feels a desperate need to know more. and Jeremy agrees to help her — only if Rafe joins in as well.

As the trio journeys from Red Crow into a magical realm beyond their own, their story hits traditional quest beats while also offering an original take on the magical portal genre. One fascinating element is the fact that the characters are adults. We’ve learned from Narnia and other fantasy classics that children are best suited to these portal journeys — a sense of innocence is essential to crossing over and being being open to the reality of alternate worlds. Seeing adult characters embrace the magic, even while acknowledging the unlikelihood of it all, adds a unique flavor to the tale.

Where to even begin to explain just how wonderful this book is? I don’t want to reveal much up front, but as the synopsis makes clear, there are other worlds involved, and the answers to the mysteries of these disappearances involve magic and otherworldly forces.

When you begin to question your sanity, remind yourself that the fact that something impossible happened doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

There’s joy and sorrow, love and friendship, adventure and danger — all this and more awaits Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie as they set out on their quest. The quest itself is filled with wonder and beauty, but even more special is the relationships discovered and revealed as the characters move fully into a world beyond their own.

Reading The Lost Story is a beautiful, funny, emotional, transporting experience. I never expected to fall for this book the way I did. I just wish I could live in Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie’s world a bit longer. Highly recommended.

Now that I’ve read The Lost Story, I’m eager to read the author’s debut novel, The Wishing Game… just as soon as I can fit it into my reading schedule.

Fun side note: After finishing The Lost Story, I read the author bio and discovered that Meg Shaffer is married to author Andrew Shaffer, who has written some supremely silly parodies and novels (including the Obama/Biden mystery books). I can only imagine how entertaining their dinner table conversations must be!

21Jul2024

Book Review: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Husbands
Author: Holly Gramazio
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: April 2, 2024
Print length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library

This exuberant debut, praised by Gabrielle Zevin as a “time-bending gem,” asks: how do we navigate life, love and choice in a world of never-ending options?

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

I can pretty much guarantee that you’ve never read a story like this before! The idea sounds nuts — a woman discovers that she has some sort of magical attic that delivers a stream of new husbands to her (not that she had a husband to begin with), and if she doesn’t like the one she gets, she just sends him back up to the attic and waits for the next one to come down.

Despite the out-there premise, The Husbands is a terrific read. Parts are laugh-out-loud funny, but mixed in with the absurdity of it all are nuggets of truth about love, relationships, and learning to live with and accept another person.

The moment his foot disappears, doubt washes through her. Perhaps she will receive only worse and worse husbands, maybe he was the best available, this was her chance and she’s fucked it up.

Lauren’s life turns upside-down when the first husband arrives, but once she realizes that the attic essentially offers a reset, she’s able to change her life at will. Different husbands bring different realities. Each time a new husband arrives, she discovers that her life changes too: Each husband is a doorway into a life some version of her would have chosen, and that means not only a different partner, but also other areas of divergence — different clothes, differently decorated flat, different jobs, even different body shapes. Some versions of Lauren’s life include a devotion to working out or hiking; in others, she’s clearly too worn down to bother. In many, she works in the same job, but there are times when she doesn’t work at all, has jobs she doesn’t know how to do, or finds herself promoted into a role that stresses her out.

Some husbands are more memorable than others. Some Lauren sends back immediately; some she lives with for a few days. There are some she can’t wait to get rid of, and one, sadly, that she wants to keep, but loses to his efficiency (he goes to stow something in the attic before she can stop him, and then he’s gone).

For the first third or so of the book, I wondered if this was what the whole book would be like — just a random string of husbands, and how Lauren interacts with each one. It goes much deeper than that, though, and the storyline gets more intricate and compelling as new developments occur.

Lauren’s never-ending cycle of husbands leads her to ponder choices and outcomes. She realizes that each husband is someone some version of herself chose, and therefore starts to assess each one more critically. Why this person? How did the two of them forge a connection? In what version of her life does this particular marriage make sense?

It’s such an interesting dilemma: What does it mean to enter a relationship that’s already well underway? Lauren is never a newlywed in any of these alternate versions of her life. Each husband is someone she must originally have fallen for, with all the thrills of new love… but by the time they descend the attic stairs, those days are in the past.

There is a time, she thinks, at the start of any relationship, when the process of falling in love softens a personality, like wax in a warm room. And so two people in love change, just a little, pushing their wax figures together, a protuberance here smoothed down but creating a dip there. It doesn’t last long, the time when love can gently change who you are, and in the relationships that she’s visited over the last six months, the moment has long passed.

With each husband, Lauren has to wonder if this is the one to keep, or could the next one possibly be better?

She has always hated being wrong, the idea of doing something that turns out to be an irredeemable mistake.

The consequences of Lauren’s shuffling of husbands become more dire as the book progresses. Eventually, Lauren must decide how much more she can take and whether getting herself out of the cycle is worth the risk of being stuck with someone imperfect.

The Husbands is such a weird and wild book, but I loved it! The writing is fantastic. The pacing zips along, but there are moments of introspection that really strike a nerve. I found the concept and Lauren’s ever-shifting reality absolutely fascinating, deeply engrossing, and very often, incredibly funny. The book provides lots of food for thought on what we risk when we enter into a relationship with another human being — how much can go wrong and how much can go right, how much is unknowable, and how many different outcomes can stem from seemingly simple decisions.

Ultimately, The Husbands is both terrific entertainment and a below-the-surface look at the intricacies of relationships and marriage.

13Jul2024

Audiobook quick takes: Unicorns, ghosts, robots… and pastry!

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This was another of those weeks where quiet time was hard to find — so rather than trying to get through a full novel, I kept my audiobook listening limited to short stories and novellas. The results were mostly positive! Here’s a quick round-up of what I listened to and what I thought:

Renowned author Peter S. Beagle returns to the world of The Last Unicorn in this resonant and moving two-novella collection, featuring the award-winning “Two Hearts” and the brand-new “Sooz.”

The Last Unicorn is one of fantasy’s most revered classics, beloved by generations of readers and with millions of copies in print. Revisiting the world of that novel, Beagle’s long-awaited Hugo and Nebula-Awards-winning “Two Hearts” introduced the irrepressible Sooz on a quest to save her village from a griffin, and explored the bonds she formed with unforgettable characters like the wise and wonderful Molly Grue and Schmendrick the Magician.

In the never-before-published “Sooz,” the events of “Two Hearts” are years behind its narrator, but a perilous journey lies ahead of her, in a story that is at once a tender meditation on love and loss, and a lesson in finding your true self.

The Way Home is suffused with Beagle’s wisdom, profound lyricism, and sly wit; and collects two timeless works of fantasy.

I read Peter S. Beagle’s classic fantasy tale The Last Unicorn about a year ago, and loved the characters, the setting, and the storytelling. There’s also a lovely graphic novel version — out of print and hard to find at a reasonable price, but fortunately, my library had a copy.

The Way Home, published in 2023, is a bind-up of two novellas. Two Hearts was originally published in 2006 (and won both the Nebula and Hugo awards); Sooz is a new work published for this edition.

Two Hearts is lovely. It’s the story of nine-year-old Sooz, who’s brokenhearted by the losses inflicted on her village by a marauding griffin — and with perfectly reasonable nine-year-old logic, decides that the only solution is to go find the king herself and ask him to come save the day. Sooz’s journey takes her to King Lir, introduced in The Last Unicorn as a young prince. Here, he’s an old, old man who spends most of his time dozing on his throne… but dons his armor one last time because a brave girl asks him to. Two other familiar characters, Schmendrick and Molly Grue, add warmth and comfort to the story. It’s all quite wonderful.

Sooz works less well. In this novella, Sooz is 17-years-old, and discovers on her birthday that her parents had another daughter before she was born — a beautiful little girls named Jenia who went off to live with the faeries (or “Dreamies” as she calls them) and never came back. Sooz knows in her heart that it’s her destiny to find Jenia and bring her home. What follows is a quest into a land of magic and terrors, in which Sooz finds a true ally, loses parts of herself, and comes to terms with who she herself truly is.

To be honest, Sooz drags quite a bit. The audio narrator does a very nice job with the tone and the characters, and creates a dreamlike experience for the listener, but the story itself is very drawn out, and I struggled to pay attention on and off throughout the story.

[SPOILER]: There’s a rape scene (more implied than graphic, but it’s clear what’s happened) that in my opinion is completely unnecessary and very out of place in a fantasy tale. The story can hold darkness without adding in sexual assault. I was disturbed that the author felt this was something that needed to be included — surely, some other sort of bad experience could have befallen the character to shake her up and make her realize the danger she was in.

Overall, I’d say that Two Hearts is absolutely worth a listen, especially for anyone who’s read and loved The Last Unicorn. I’m on the fence about Sooz. There are some interesting elements, but it just didn’t hold my interest as a whole, and that one scene makes it difficult to say that this is a story I’d recommend.

Penguin Audio: 5 hours, 22 minutes
Rating:

Sally has recently left an unfulfilling job to volunteer at a living history museum, where she is assigned to the Death House. Every day, she dons Victorian mourning garb and describes traditional funeral services to tourists. It sounds depressing as hell, but for Sally, it’s less depressing than her tepid marriage to her childhood sweetheart.

This becomes all too clear when she accidentally travels through time and space to a liminal world where the ghosts of the living history museum haunt its grounds. There, she meets and falls hard for Victorian-era pretty boy Nathaniel. Their heady, romantic encounters douse Sally in the sad reality that her marriage is anything but and leave her tempted to join Nathaniel permanently in his realm.

Is Sally’s marriage literally a fate worse than death, or is there another way altogether?

When I stumbled across an audiobook short story by Rachel Harrison — author of such fantastic books as Black Sheep, Sharp Teeth, and Cackle — I knew I had to give it a listen. What fun! In this quick, tightly drawn tale, a disaffected young woman dresses up in Victorian mourning clothes to give living history museum tours, then accidentally finds herself in a ghost-filled limbo on the same grounds. Sally and Nathaniel fall instantly in love, and he proposes to her on the spot, but there really is only one way for Sally to stay with him forever. Is it worth it?

This ghostly story is eerie and has some great supernatural elements, but is also terrific in the way it shows a young woman recognizing the stagnation of her married life and the need to take control of her own destiny. Definitely worth checking out!

Audible Original; 47 minutes
Rating:

An android who knows nothing besides his work in a factory is given one final week to explore the world before he is forced to undergo mandatory reprogramming in this bittersweet precursor to TJ Klune’s In the Lives of Puppets.

This was a funny choice for me, because I didn’t love In the Lives of Puppets as much as I expected to (given that I’ve been head over heels for everything else I’ve read by TJ Klune). And if I didn’t love the novel, why would I expect a better outcome with its prequel?

But all’s well that ends well: I’m so happy I decided to give Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! a try.

The story is fairly straightforward: Douglas is an android who’s faithfully carried out his factory work and followed all the rules for the ten years of his existence. For his final week before being rebooted, he’s granted a pass that gives him the freedom to leave the factory and explore life in the world of humans. As he spends time in parks and streets and markets and more, he sees birds and colors and people, hears music and starts to dance, and reads countless books — including a hidden book of philosophy by René Descartes, which gets him thinking about who and what he is.

This story is sheer joy — it has plenty of sadness too, but the writing is gorgeous, and it’s exhilarating to see the world from Douglas’s point of view. The audiobook narrator rocks. A highly recommended listening experience.

Macmillan Audio: 1 hours, 27 minutes
Rating:

It takes nothing less than a fateful natural disaster to throw two opposites together in a ground-shakingly charming short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Drunk on Love.

This Valentine’s Day, Daisy Murray has her heart set on binge-watching rom-coms. Instead, an earthquake traps her inside a bakery with its impossibly rude and insufferably handsome owner and head baker. They already have a history: she’s always smiled, he’s always scowled. Where better to finally get to know each other than amid the disaster? Then again, they have no choice. Besides, it could have its sweet, undeniable, and unpredictable perks.

Jasmine Guillory’s Drop, Cover, and Hold On is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.

I don’t know that I have much to say about this short story. The synopsis says it all! Main character Daisy gets trapped inside her favorite bakery — alongside the very hot bakery owner — when an earthquake hits. She thinks he hates her… but maybe his scowly face has distracted her from realizing that he always has her favorite pastries available on the days she usually stops in?

This story is sweet (ha!), flirty, and fun. It won’t rock your world (earthquake pun time!!), but the description of the baked goods hooked me almost as much as the chemistry between the characters. It’s a fun, quick listen.

Audible Original: 1 hours, 5 minutes
Rating:

Not too bad for a week when I didn’t think I’d have time for audiobooks! I don’t usually gravitate toward short stories, but this week, this selection was just what I needed.

12Jul2024

Summer Reading: Check out the Summer Must Read list at Reading Ladies Book Club blog

Posted in Book Reviews, Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Carol at Reading Ladies hosts an annual collaboration of book bloggers, in which bloggers from around the world offer recommendations for great books to read this summer. I feel honored to participate, and I’m delighted to share the link: