My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
It may not officially be summer until later this month, but as far as I’m concerned, June 1st is close enough! We had enough sunshine over the weekend for me to get outside both days, despite super blustery winds each afternoon.
In any case, it’s been an uneventful week — work, home, reading, etc etc etc — and that’s okay. Sometimes routine and quiet can be a good vibe.
What did I read during the last week?
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center: So much fun! My review is here.
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley: Delightful, funny, and the audiobook is a joy to listen to. My review is here.
Time’s Convert (All Souls, #4) by Deborah Harkness: I’m so glad I finally took the time to return to this outstanding series, especially with a new book coming this summer. My review is here.
Pop culture & TV:
I just wasn’t in much of a TV mood this week, but I ended up deciding to give Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power another try. When season 1 first aired, I watched the first episode, and I don’t even remember why I never ended up continuing. So, back to the beginning I went, and now that I’ve watched the first episode (again) and also the second, I have to say that I’m into it! I’m looking forward to watching the rest of season 1 over the course of the coming week.
Also on Prime Video, I ended up watching the movie American Fiction this weekend. Great performances and so many interesting moments… but the ending kind of threw me, and I have mixed feelings about it as a whole.
Fresh Catch:
I treated myself to one new hardcover this week — this book is a novella set in the world of the Rip Through Time series, which I love.
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland: Just getting started, but this seems like a light, fun summer read.
Now playing via audiobook:
A Turn of the Tide (A Stitch in Time, #3) by Kelley Armstrong: Continuing onward with this terrific series.
Ongoing reads:
My longer-term reading commitments:
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot: My book group’s current classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 96%. Two weeks left!
Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’ve started a group read of this non-fiction book, discussing one chapter each Friday. Progress: 17%. Coming up this week: Chapter 5, “Will the Real Jenny Cameron Please Stand Up?”
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches, a novel about what it takes to become a vampire.
Set in contemporary Paris and London, and the American colonies during the upheaval and unrest that exploded into the Revolutionary War, a sweeping story that braids together the past and present.
On the battlefields of the American Revolution, Matthew de Clermont meets Marcus MacNeil, a young surgeon from Massachusetts, during a moment of political awakening when it seems that the world is on the brink of a brighter future. When Matthew offers him a chance at immortality and a new life, free from the restraints of his puritanical upbringing, Marcus seizes the opportunity to become a vampire. But his transformation is not an easy one and the ancient traditions and responsibilities of the de Clermont family clash with Marcus’s deeply-held beliefs in liberty, equality, and brotherhood.
A passionate love story and a fascinating exploration of the power of tradition and the possibilities for change, Time’s Convert will delight fans of the All Souls trilogy and all readers of magic, the supernatural, and romance.
I adored the world of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls books back when I first read them, and gobbled up each book in the original trilogy as soon as they were released. At the time of the 3rd book’s publication, it seemed like the story had reached its conclusion. But then, in 2018, the author released a fourth book, Time’s Convert, to continue the story and expand the world of All Souls even further. Naturally, I couldn’t resist, and bought a copy right away… and there it sat on my bookshelf for six years!
With the announcement of a new book in the series coming this summer, I realized it was finally time to dive back in. Fortunately, having recently watched the TV adaptation of A Discovery of Witches, I wasn’t going in cold, which ended up being a very good thing. This is a big, sprawling, complicated fictional world, and without the reminders provided by watching the series, I probably would have been lost.
The framing of Time’s Convert is a human-to-vampire transformation. Phoebe Taylor, the human beloved by Matthew’s son Marcus Whitmore, is ready to be reborn as a vampire in order to truly unite with Marcus and spend eternity with him. Making a vampire is serious business, with many terrible ways it can go wrong, and the de Clermont clan is taking no chances. Under the supervision of elder family members Miriam and Freyja, Phoebe’s rebirth will be carefully controlled and monitored each step of the way.
Unfortunately for Marcus, part of the process means that he cannot see Phoebe again until she is 90 days old as a vampire — infant vampires are too unpredictable and impulsive to make good choices, and Phoebe must actually choose to be with Marcus before they are officially mated. This leaves Marcus with a summer of anxious waiting, and he passes the time with Matthew and Diana, who hope to support him and ease his obsessive revisiting of the old memories that plague him.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Diana are dealing with potential crises of their own. Their toddler twins, Becca and Philip, are something unheard of in their world — a melding of vampire and witch genetics. Both display unusual traits, and raise alarms for others in the family, who worry that their powers, if not placed under tight control, could spell disaster for them all.
The book shifts focus between the three main plotlines: Phoebe’s transformation, Marcus’s history, and Matthew, Diana, and the twins.
Phoebe’s story is fascinating. We’ve never spent this kind of time in the series on the day to day ritual and challenges of vampire infancy and development. Through Phoebe, we learn all sorts of interesting bits and pieces about vampire appetites, food sources, sensitivity to light and sound, and more.
Marcus’s story is truly the heart of Time’s Convert, taking up more space than the other two plotlines. We go back to colonial New England, where we see Marcus’s life as the son of a cruel, domineering father, and what he must do to break free. Eventually, Marcus leaves home to join the revolution, and is present at the battle of Bunker Hill as well as with Washington’s forces in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. He learns about healing and becomes a surgeon, although without the means to get a formal education in medicine. Dying of one of the rampant fevers in a military camp, Marcus is offered the chance for new life by Matthew, and the next phase of his life begins.
We spend the next large chunk of time with Marcus in Paris, where he becomes embroiled with Marat, Danton, and other leaders of the French revolution. Only through the intervention of the de Clermont patriarch is Marcus finally forced to leave Paris before the Terror of the revolution ensnares him. From there, Marcus’s life continues in Edinburgh, New Orleans, and elsewhere, and finally leads him to where we know him in the present day.
As for Diana and Matthew, it’s quite interesting to see them grapple with understanding their children’s powers. They must struggle with raising their children as they wish while also addressing the concerns and even demands of the family’s leader, who wants them controlled no matter what. Also, there’s a very cute griffin!
Time’s Convert is under 500 pages, but it feels much longer. It’s jam-packed with people, places, historical events, and the internal mythology of the series. Many chapters and interludes move quickly, but there’s an overall heaviness to the reading experience — there’s just so much to take in.
The Marcus sections seem to move the slowest, especially before his vampire transformation. Until that point, it’s straight-up historical fiction set during the American revolution, which is fine, but not really what I come to the All Souls books to experience. Once Matthew gets involved, things pick up quite a bit, and the sections set in Paris and New Orleans are much more engaging as well.
Overall, I’m very happy to have returned to the world of All Souls! Part of me wishes I’d taken the time to reread the first three books before reading Time’s Convert — but honestly, who has the time? If I’d waited to do a reread, chances are I never would have gotten to Time’s Convert.
Being familiar with the details of the earlier books in the series is crucial for appreciating Time’s Convert and making sense of the complicated interconnectedness of the details and plot points. As I mentioned, the TV adaptation of the trilogy is a great shortcut — it’s not perfectly faithful to the books, but it’s close enough to provide an immersion back into that world. Another wonderful resource is The World of All Souls, a reference book (also released in 2018) that includes detailed synopses, character information, maps, and more. I kept it handy throughout this past week while reading Time’s Convert.
The next book in the series, The Black Bird Oracle, will be released in July 2024. I’ve already preordered my copy, and can’t wait to get started!
Synopsis (Goodreads):
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.
Title: The Guncle Abroad Author: Steven Rowley Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publication date: May 21, 2024 Length: 320 pages Genre: Contemporary fiction Source: Review copy via NetGalley (audiobook purchased via Audible) Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Patrick O’Hara is called back to his guncle duties . . . This time for a big family wedding in Italy.
Patrick O’Hara is back. It’s been five years since his summer as his niece Maisie and nephew Grant’s caretaker after their mother’s passing. The kids are back in Connecticut with their dad, and Patrick has relocated to New York to remain close by and relaunch his dormant acting career. After the run of his second successful sit-com comes to a close, Patrick feels on top of the world . . . professionally. But some things have had to take a back seat. Looking down both barrels at fifty, Patrick is single again after breaking things off with Emory. But at least he has a family to lean on. Until that family needs to again lean on him.
When Patrick’s brother, Greg, announces he’s getting remarried in Italy, Maisie and Grant are not thrilled. Patrick feels drawn to take the two back under his wing. As they travel through Europe on their way to the wedding, Patrick tries his best to help them understand love, much as he once helped them comprehend grief. But when they arrive in Italy, Patrick is overextended managing a groom with cold feet; his sister, Clara, flirting with guests left and right; a growing rivalry with the kids’ charming soon-to-be-launt (lesbian aunt), and two moody young teens trying to adjust to a new normal, all culminating in a disastrous rehearsal dinner.
Can Patrick save the day? Will teaching the kids about love help him repair his own love life? Can the change of scenery help Patrick come to terms with finally growing up?
Gracing the work with his signature blend of humor and heart, Steven Rowley charms with a beloved story about the complicated bonds of family, love, and what it takes to rediscover yourself, even at the ripe age of fifty.
Here’s how I started my review of The Guncle, the book that first introduced us to Patrick O’Hara and his niblings, Maisie and Grant:
After absolutely loving this author’s most recent novel, The Celebrants, I was eager to explore more. The Guncle, released in 2021, charmed me as soon as I saw the cover (I’m easily swayed by great covers!). I’m happy to report that The Guncle delivers in so many ways, and won my heart completely.
One advantage of reading a book a few years after its release is that you barely have to wait at all for a sequel! The Guncle was published in 2021, but I read it earlier this year… and yet — voila! — between that book and The Guncle Abroad, five years have passed! For the characters, in any case.
In The Guncle Abroad, Patrick is a far happier man in many ways, especially in comparison to how we first me him in The Guncle. He’s experienced a career revival, has moved to New York and remained actively involved in his brother’s family’s lives, and (until their recent breakup) had a loving long-term relationship with the wonderful Emory. (And yes, I felt my heart break just a teeny bit upon learning that they’d broken up.)
But as the book opens, Patrick finds himself with a mission. Greg, widowed five years earlier, is getting married to the woman he’s fallen in love with… who happens to be from an insanely wealthy, titled Italian family. (Who knew they still had nobility and titles in Italy? I sure didn’t!) The wedding will be a no-expense-spared affair at Lake Como, and all is delightful — except the kids aren’t happy. Clearly, Greg needs Patrick’s help.
As Greg prepares to meet his fiancée Livia in Italy for wedding prep, Patrick agrees to take the kids for summer. They meet him in London (where he’s wrapping filming on a new movie co-starring Jude Law!), and then accompany Patrick on a European vacation. His goal? Teach them all about love and love languages, so they can maybe find it in their hearts to accept Livia and their dad’s upcoming marriage.
Patrick, Maisie, and Grant are as amazing together as ever… although it is a bit disconcerting to encounter them at ages 14 and 11. Kids grow up so fast! Maisie is hovering between childhood and full-on teen mode, and Grant has outgrown his lisp but not his cuteness. As the trio traverse Paris, Salzburg, and Venice, Patrick does his best to teach them about cherishing people who care about them, accepting gifts with gratitude, and opening their hearts to new people and experiences. It’s an uphill climb for sure. Maisie and Grant still carry their grief for their mother, as does Patrick, and can’t fathom allowing Livia into their lives.
Can grief and gratitude coexist? Could he miss the kids’ mother and also be grateful for his time with Maisie and Grant? Or did the gratitude just make him miss Sara more and wish she was the one on this train with him instead of her sleeping kids? And in helping them these past few years with their grief, had he once again neglected his own?
The Guncle Abroad is as riotously funny as the previous book. Patrick is so incredibly over the top, and honestly, I love him to bits. But silly quips and jokes are not the only things going for this book. There are deeper veins of love, loss, healing, honoring memories, finding hope, and facing hard truths. The European adventure is eye-opening not just for Maisie and Grant, but also for Patrick.
Okay, but we do actually need to pay tribute to just a few of the passages and conversations that cracked me up:
Grant’s game console made a sound like something swirling a drain and he groaned. “Why can’t Dad marry Palmina?”
Speaking of nemeses, a cold child ran down Patrick’s spine. “Palmina’s a lesbian, you know that.”
Grant didn’t seem to view that as disqualifying. “Yeah, but gay marriage is legal now.”
“Children,” Livia said, part greeting, part statement of fact.
“I ask what’s going on, I do, but they don’t give me straight answers.”
“Do they give you gay ones?”
Patrick really is utter perfection — outwardly vain, always needing the spotlight, and with a bon mot for all occasions — but inwardly sensitive and oh-so-amazing as an uncle (guncle) to the pair of children he loves so much.
I listened to the audiobook version of The Guncle Abroad, and as with the previous book, the author is also the narrator. And while some authors are cringe-level awful at narration, the opposite is totally true here. Steven Rowley absolutely nails his characters voices, and his delivery as Patrick is *chef’s kiss* amazing.
My only teensy quibbles with The Guncle Abroad have to do with Livia and her sister Palmina. Livia is something of a blank. We see her in various scenes, but I didn’t feel that I got to know anything about her personality or a deeper sense of how she feels about Greg and the children. Meanwhile, Palmina (referred to by the kids as their new “launt”) immediately sets off Patrick’s alarms as competition for the kids’ affection and admiration — she’s just so effortlessly cool — but the shtick gets old pretty quickly, and I could have done without quite so much Palmina focus.
Still, these factors did not in the slightest keep me from loving this book. The Guncle Abroad is sweet, funny, honest, and constantly entertaining, and Patrick is the best. (Have I said that already? It’s true. He is). The Guncle Abroad has a super satisfying ending… but I still felt sad, because it seems pretty definitively to have wrapped up all storylines, and I’d love to think that there’s another Patrick/Maisie/Grant adventure in our future. Maybe when they’re another five years older?
Having read Steve Rowley’s three most recent books, I can safely say that I’ll read whatever he writes from this point forward. I love his characters, his humor, his pacing, and his way with snappy dialogue. I encourage everyone to check out The Guncle Abroad (read The Guncle first, obviously)… and if you really want a treat, give the audiobook a try.
Title: The Rom-Commers Author: Katherine Center Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: June 11. 2024 Length: 336 pages Genre: Contemporary romance Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?
Katherine Center books can be counted on to offer amazing women in the lead role, place them in challenging situations, and then give them a chance to shine — always with a sense of humor and a big heart. Here in The Rom-Commers, Emma is an aspiring screenwriter whose early talent never led to a shining career; instead, she turned down a prestigious Hollywood internship to be her father’s full-time caregiver, and works on screenplays in their apartment while teaching writing classes at the local college.
To be clear, Emma doesn’t regret her choice. She loves her dad (who sounds delightful), and knows what she’s doing is the most important thing she could possibly do. But still, she has dreams, and when her ex-boyfriend-slash-agent calls her with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, there’s no way she can give it up. (Well, there is, but her dad and sister won’t let her.)
Emma idolizes screenwriter Charlie Yates, has studied and annotated his scripts, watched ever interview he’s ever given, and knows his film career backward and forward. One thing Emma knows for sure is that Charlie Yates does not do rom-coms. So why is she being offered the chance to ghost-write a rewrite of his new rom-com script?
It turns out that Charlie has written a remake of It Happened One Night — which just happens to be Emma’s favorite movie ever — and his new version is AWFUL. The fact that she’s been picked to rescue the script is an unexpected break, and she’s all in. Until she gets to Charlie’s mansion, where she’ll be working and living, and discovers that agent Luke has hoodwinked them both. Charlie had no idea Emma was coming, has no interest in writing with her, and says a firm, irrevocable no.
After further arm-twisting by Luke, a deal is reached, and Emma does in fact move into Charlie’s guestroom and sets to work on his terrible screenplay. To get him to cooperate at all, she needs him to understand just why it’s so terrible — and he doesn’t see the problem at all. As it turns out, he fundamentally doesn’t believe in romance or love, which is a problem for someone writing a rom-com.
He clearly wanted to win — and settle this once and for all. “But doesn’t love conquer all? Doesn’t love find a way? Shouldn’t some cartoon woodland animals show up and help you find your happily ever ever?”
My eyes flashed. “Don’t use a romance term against me!”
“You’re the one who taught it to me!”
Emma’s mission, beyond rescuing the screenplay, is to get Charlie to experience some of the key staples of romantic movies (like unexpectedly falling on top of someone, or trying a silly new past-time — yes, there is line dancing involved! — or moving in for the perfect rom-com kiss).
Emma and Charlie end up being quite adorable together, but there are definitely hurdles for them to overcome. Charlie’s grumpiness and lack of emotion aren’t just random personality traits — he’s been hurt very badly in a previous relationship, and it makes sense that his belief in the possibility of love would be damaged (if not completely dead). As for Emma, she’s wracked by guilt over her father’s health, the accident that caused his current condition, and finally giving up the main caregiving role and allowing her younger sister to step in.
This is such a fun book! Sure, there were times when I wanted to bop Charlie over the head and tell him to snap out of it, but this book is so deftly written that even when the characters are annoying, they’re annoying for a reason.
“I don’t want to not be there for you.”
“That’s a heck of a double negative.”
The set pieces are really funny (the line dancing scene is amazing), and best of all, Emma and Charlie’s scenes together just sparkle. Their dialogue is quippy and smart and full of word-play, which is totally my jam.
“Emma,” Charlie said. “Please come here. You’re so drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” I said. “I just drank too much.”
“That’s the literal definition of being drunk.”
Emma and Charlie also resort to googling the most ridiculous or random questions, among them how long it takes to fall in love, how to know when to take someone to the hospital after a bar fight, symptoms of a heart attack in a woman, and what a jazz box is (it’s a line-dancing move, in case you’re wondering). It’s cute and weird and spot-on for a pair of writers.
The Rom-Commers delivers on its title — a delightful blend of romance and comedy, with pathos and sorrow and day-to-day challenges that keep it grounded and real. Katherine Center once again provides a book with terrific lead characters, great chemistry, a plot that makes you feel all the feelings, and a promise of a happy ending to cheer for. Don’t miss it!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read.
I know I have a tendency to buy (and even pre-order) books by favorite authors as soon as a new book becomes available, but these book can often end up sitting on my shelf for months (or longer). And sometimes, I’ll stumble across a mention of an older book and feel like I MUST HAVE IT right away… and once again, the book ends up sitting on my shelf for months (or years), just waiting to be read.
Here are ten I was in a hurry to buy… but still haven’t gotten around to reading.
The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
Needful Things by Stephen King
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness**
Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton
**As I was putting together this post, I reminded myself that a 5th book in the All Souls series is coming out this summer, so it’s about time I finally read #4, Time’s Convert… and so as of this week, at long last, I’m doing it!
What books are on your list this week?
If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!
My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.
Life.
Three cheers for a three-day weekend! After an intense workweek, I really needed this long weekend. And really, I mostly did nothing! We had some friends stop by, spent some time outdoors, worked on odds and ends around the house… all very low-key, and that’s just what I wanted.
What did I read during the last week?
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest: An audiobook romance that focuses on booklovers — what’s not to enjoy? My review is here.
Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate: Historical fiction with timelines in 1909 and 1990. Interesting, although I didn’t get particularly emotionally involved. My review is here.
Pop culture & TV:
Lots of sampling of different shows this week, no new binges. I caught up on the first two episodes of Interview with the Vampire (season 2) — not overly impressed so far this season, but let’s see if it gets better. Survivor season 46 wrapped up, and I posted some thoughts here.
Fresh Catch:
No new books this week.
What will I be reading during the coming week?
Currently in my hands:
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center: A yummy delight. Almost done! Should have a review up in the next few days.
Now playing via audiobook:
The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley: The sequel to The Guncle, which I loved! The author is the audiobook narrator, and he’s terrific. What fun!
Ongoing reads:
My longer-term reading commitments:
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot: My book group’s current classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 94%. We’re getting close to the end — just three more weeks to go!
Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 by Maggie Craig: Over at Outlander Book Club, we’ve started a group read of this non-fiction book, discussing one chapter each Friday. Progress: 13%.
It’s been a minute since I’ve written a Survivor post (okay, only two seasons of the show, but still)… and since season 46 just ended this week, I thought I’d spill some random thoughts on the season overall as well as the finale and results.
The season had a rough start, and honestly, I teetered on the edge of abandoning ship during the early episodes, largely due to poor casting. One participant, Bhanu, came close to totally tanking the season. This is someone who described himself as a super fan, but had no business being anywhere near the island. He had no game, and his outbursts and unpredictability were disastrous for his teammates, who had to resort to intensely coaching him to try to keep him from spilling their strategies (and that didn’t even work). The early episodes were just awful to watch because of Bhanu — there’s just no other way to put it.
Some of the issue comes down to the basic setup of teams: Now that Survivor starts with three teams of six instead of two larger teams, one bad teammate can doom the entire team. Bhanu’s team (Yanu) seemed on the verge of disintegrating completely. The episode edits focused so heavily on Bhanu that we saw very little of other teams, and the main focus was constantly Bhanu’s impact on the Yanu tribe. I felt bad for his teammates, and in terms of viewer experience, this wasn’t a fun or good mess — just bad TV.
Things did pick up with Bhanu’s departure finally (he lasted much longer than he should have). Still, until about the midpoint of the season, I found very few contestants to care about, and many of the early vote-outs left zero impression. Jem who? Moriah who? (Oh, right, Moriah was the person who seemingly didn’t know how to jump.)
Fast-forward to the latter batch of episodes. Yes, post-merge, more interesting characters got more screen time and there were some fun elements, challenges, etc. But it was an uphill slog, not entirely successful, to regenerate any energy or sense of excitement after the terrible beginning.
Several decent players made it past the merge, although my favorites (Tevon, Hunter, Tiff) all got voted out earlier than I’d hoped for. And a couple were just so plain odd that they stole the spotlight, but not in a good way. In particular, let’s talk for a minute about Liz and Q:
Liz claimed all the way to the end that if she made it to the final tribal, she’d beat everyone. And all I can say is… huh? I know some viewers found her entertaining. Not me. A weird vibe, heavy on entitlement. After a challenge that she didn’t win, she screamed at another player for not choosing her for reward, and everyone else seemed to feel a need to comfort her. Why? Why would she feel that she deserved the reward more than anyone else? (She claimed it was because she was allergic to everything on the island and hadn’t eaten… but girl, you knew what would be available to you before you signed up to play. Maybe make better choices to start with.) She was not a good player, and was memorable only for her outbursts.
Q, agent of chaos: He claims that it was all part of his gameplay, but Q upended all strategy at multiple tribal councils by asking to be voted off, but then stating that he wanted to stay. He became totally unpredictable after initially appearing much more strategic. Still, he did provide a few unexpectedly entertaining moments. Shout-out to Q for organizing a game of hide and seek — his teammates thought they were just having fun, but Q viewed it as a chance to analyze each person’s psyche. Hilarious.
Some of my frustration with this season comes down to frustration with the show in general. 46 seasons in, some pieces just don’t work very well. Enough with the hidden immunity idols! Which (LOL) were continuously found this season, yet never used. Every person who found an idol ended up voted out with the idol still in their pockets. Use your idols, people!
I also don’t love the starvation element. Host Jeff Probst really drills into contestants having to earn everything, including a flint to make fire, but I think that skews results in an unpleasant way. As of the “new era” of Survivor, teams earn their flint by winning challenges, and forfeit their flints when they lose — but then the losing teams seem to end up in a downward spiral. They lose, they have no fire, they get weaker than the other teams… and as a result, they’re less likely to win the next challenge, so they still have no fire, and still get weaker… on and on. I say start the teams with the basics — a flint, a cooking pot, a machete, even (gasp!) a bag of rice. It was a tough game even back when teams started with the basics. Where’s the fun in watching people become so incapacitated that they can’t speak in full sentences? (Yes, that happened this season too.)
Many of the challenges have been seen before, and still seem to skew toward rewarding those who can solve puzzles. Game rules need to be clearer — Kenzie (who ended up winning the season) won a crucial challenge in the final episode, defeating the biggest threat to win it all (Maria), because Liz helped her with the puzzle. Liz didn’t just cheer her on or offer hints from the sideline — she actively ran back to get Kenzie the item she needed to win the challenge. Seemed unfair to me, but Jeff allowed it. So, officially not cheating… but it doesn’t quite smell right to me.
In my posts about previous seasons, I’ve talked about how much I dislike the final fire-making challenge. And yup, that’s still the case. As has been established, whoever wins the final immunity challenge (out of four remaining players) chooses one person to take to final tribal, and the remaining two compete at fire-making for the 3rd spot. But who cares? Why should making a single fire make a difference? There’s got to be a better way to set up the finalists.
Personally, I’d rather the show go back to a final two. In so many of the past few seasons, at least one of the final three has absolutely no shot at winning, and is just there because they never posed a big enough threat to be voted out. What’s the point?
I’d rather see a final battle between all three of the people who didn’t win immunity at the last challenge… or do one more tribal, then a final challenge at three, and the top two finishers make the finale. I don’t like one person getting to decide who to bring, just because they happened to win a key immunity challenge. (Maybe some combination of this suggested approach — still have a final challenge at four, but the top three finishers become the three finalists, period.)
Okay, jumping ahead to the final tribal…
Fine, the three finalists were Charlie, Kenzie, and Ben. Of the three, Charlie was the person most clearly shown to be using strategy, partnerships, and cleverness throughout the season. Before the voting, he was my prediction to win. I liked Kenzie a lot, and she made a good impression overall, but I didn’t see her building her gameplay in quite as thoughtful a way. Ben never stood a change — he came across as a likable person who got brought along as a number for most of the game.
The key to winning Survivor is supposed to be: Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. And these are the touchstones that supposedly help the jury determine who to vote for.
Except not.
Because this time around, two jury members ignored gameplay and based their decisions on what the finalists said they’d do with the prize money. Q explicitly asked this question during final tribal, and stated that whoever gave the answer he liked best would get his vote. After a shocking voting choice (more in a moment), Maria later explained that it was Kenzie’s answer to Q’s question that convinced her to vote for Kenzie.
What does this have to do with the game? I’m still baffled, days later. We’ve seen occasions in past seasons where contestants have talked about who does or doesn’t need the money… but making the finalist’s plans for using the million dollars the key factor in how to vote? That’s just ridiculous. They could have saved 26 days of dirt and hunger and just found this out on day one.
As for Maria… she and Charlie were rock-solid allies throughout the entire game. Even when they reached the point where they had to aim to take each other out, realizing that they were each other’s biggest competition for the win, they were committed to voting for one another to win at the end. And yet… Maria voted for Kenzie instead, based on Kenzie’s plans for the money, and by doing so, handed her a million dollars that most likely would have gone to Charlie.
With Maria’s vote, it was 5-3 to Kenzie. Had she voted for Charlie, it would have been a 4-4 tie, and Ben would have cast the deciding vote. Since the finale, Ben has stated in interviews that he would have voted for Charlie. So there you have it: Maria took $1 million from Charlie and handed it to Kenzie.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Kenzie a lot and I’m happy for her. But in terms of gameplay, it feels like Charlie got robbed, specifically by Maria, who has bitter jury syndrome written all over her. I don’t have a problem with my predicted winner not actually winning, but the circumstances of this vote really leave me with a bad taste when it comes to this season.
On a final note, I’ll repeat the complaint I’ve been making ever since the post-pandemic era of Survivor:
If I wanted to dwell on a #2 complaint (which has nothing to do with gameplay), I’d say ditch the immediate reading of votes and the afterparty. Granted, it must suck to be a player and have to wait a year for the reunion show and reading of the votes, as they used to handle this pre-pandemic. Still, how can the finalists — especially the two who didn’t end up winning — get into the mood of the party when they literally JUST found out they lost, and they’re still sitting there unwashed and tired after 26 days? Let them at least take showers and put on clean clothes first!
Overall… this season was more or less a bust, certainly less satisfying and enjoyable than the previous two. I do feel that the format has become stale — the twists, idols, challenges, etc are all so expected at this point that I think production needs to do a bit of reinventing or going back to basics. Get rid of the gimmicks!
Oh, and is anyone else absolutely over the Sanctuary as a reward? Remember the good old days of being flown by helicopter to a private retreat? Or even the amazing one where the people on reward got to visit a local children’s school and deliver supplies and toys? Mix it up, Survivor!
After all of this complaining, will I continue to watch Survivor?
Yes. Yes, I will.
Hope springs eternal, and I think there’s enough that (mostly) works about the show’s core concepts that will keep me coming back for more. And as I mentioned last time I wrote about Survivor, I’d still like to go back and watch some of the earlier seasons that I missed when they originally aired.
Let’s see what happens when Survivor returns in the fall. Will anything have changed? Will the production have adapted in any meaningful way, or will it just be more of the same? We’ll find out in September!
Title: Shelterwood Author: Lisa Wingate Publisher: Ballantine Books Publication date: June 4, 2024 Length: 368 pages Genre: Historical fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth.
Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.
Oklahoma, 1990. Law Enforcement Ranger Valerie Boren O’dell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.
In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the wild and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.
In Shelterwood, the newest novel by the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours, a dual timeline narrative traces events in Oklahoma in 1909 and 1990, eventually revealing threads that bind the two story arcs together.
In 1909, the story focuses on 11-year-old Olive (Ollie), whose stepfather terrorizes her and the two young orphaned Choctaw girls that live with her family, while her mother is lost to the fog of opium addiction. When the stepfather’s sexual abuse of the older girl, Hazel, leads to her disappearance, and he turns his attention to young Nessa, Ollie orchestrates their escape.
In 1990, Valerie is a park ranger who has relocated with her young son Charlie to Oklahoma for the opening of the new Horsethief Trail National Park. She’s looking for a fresh start for the two of them after her husband’s death, but almost immediately she becomes embroiled in local controversies, as bodies are found in the park and a local girl comes to Val for help.
What connects the two stories is the subject of land rights and manipulation. In 1909, robber barons and other powerful men force adoptions, marriages, or guardianships on native orphans in order to claim their land rights. In 1990, corrupt businesses encroach on both park land and ancestral native land for illegal profits. In both timelines, those without power find themselves fighting for survival as well as to maintain their independence and heritage.
The 1909 story follows Ollie and Nessa as they desperately struggle to avoid detection, hiding out in the wild in a place they call Shelterwood and creating a small community with other cast-off, runaway, or abandoned children. And in 1990, as Val digs into a potential missing persons case, she uncovers patterns of abuse and theft that go back decades.
Each storyline has interesting elements, but I found the 1909 chapters more compelling, as they paint a picture of the societal fractures and political pressures of the era. It was interesting to see real historical figures, such as politician and activist Kate Barnard, interacting with the local community, and to see how the hotly debated topics of child labor laws and land rights so directly impact Ollie, Nessa, and the other children.
Val’s story takes a while to find its footing, but ultimately there’s a good payoff in terms of resolving the missing person case and making the connection back to the 1909 plot.
Somehow, though, I found myself mostly disengaged from the characters. On the surface, their situations are interesting and challenging — and yet, I never felt emotionally invested or that I got to know them on a deeper level.
Part of the problem for me was a lack of information. In both timelines, we’re dropped straight into the action, and have to piece together what the historical context means for the characters. Starting the book without much familiarity with that particular time and place, it was often confusing to sort out the reasons for the various conditions and the political forces at play. I don’t always love flat-out exposition in novels, but this book could have used some more establishment of context in order to more firmly ground the story.
I was interested enough to stick with the book all the way to the end, but found myself a bit checked out for chunks of the story. I’m glad I saw it through, but was left feeling a bit flat about the overall experience.
Still, it was eye-opening to learn more about life in both 1909 and 1990 Oklahoma, and I appreciated how the two timelines fit together in the end. I could see this being a good book group pick for people who enjoy historical fiction set in the 20th century.
In this heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest, a shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with.
Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over e-mail turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain–until he ghosts her.
Months later, still crushed but determined to take charge of her life, Lily seeks a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, whom she feels drawn to for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author–her favorite fantasy author.
Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet woman from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over e-mail months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but–not when he can’t get her off his mind.
The Neighbor Favor is a sweet contemporary romance, set in the world of book publishing and sure to set booklovers’ hearts a-flutter! A random email exchange between a book fan and the book’s author turns into a deeper connection… and while it ends badly, the two people involved still manage to find one another and explore what it means to open up in real life.
Lily emails the author of her favorite fantasy novel on a whim when she discovers that the mysterious author finally has a website. She loved his book, but it seems to have faded away into obscurity after publication by a small indie press. She’s thrilled to hear back from N. R. Strickland, and soon their correspondence turns into an ongoing series of honest exchanges, where each reveals more of themselves than they ever have to other people. But when “Strick” reaches the point where he’ll have to truly show himself to Lily, he breaks off contact abruptly and leaves her heartbroken.
Months later, Lily keeps running into the new guy who just moved into the apartment down the hall from her. And he’s hot. Oh, and seems like a really nice guy, and she’s even noticed him carrying books with him — always a good sign. Of course, he notices Lily too, despite her shyness and awkwardness around new people. As they strike up an acquaintance and set off some early sparks, Nick puts the brakes on — so Lily asks him (as you do) to help her find a date for her sister’s wedding. (It’s complicated).
Of course, Nick IS N. R. Strickland, and he realizes pretty quickly that this Lily is the Lily from the emails, and knows he should stay far, far away. His life is messy and he’s sure he’d be no good for her, so despite how much he likes her and how attractive he finds her, he’s determined to stay away. But fate seems to keep throwing them together, and their chemistry really is undeniable.
Meanwhile, both are dealing with their own family situations and career struggles — and yet, it’s only a matter of time before they get together. Even when they do, they have to deal with the fallout of hidden identities and cover-ups, and figure out whether they can truly trust enough to let one another in.
I liked quite a bit about The Neighbor Favor, although in general, I think I’ve run out of patience for romances where a significant lie is the main obstacle between the love interests. Nick could have come clean much earlier, or he could have stayed away. Getting involved but not being honest feels like an overworn romance trope, and it irritated me here. Nick and Lily are both such likable people — it’s no fun seeing them tied up in knots over a problem caused by base-level dishonesty.
On the other hand, the fact that these two are such book lovers, and especially, that they love fantasy so much, makes this book a delight. The author has the characters name-drop a ton of great books (Ella Enchanted, Riot Baby, How to Win the Time War, The Poppy War) — some of which I’ve read, some I’ve immediately added to my TBR list — and it’s a geeky joy to see them gush over how much they love their favorite books and authors. (Although, I was so frustrated to learn their shared favorite author, Elena Masterson, and her books, The Nermana Chronicles, are fictional — I want them to be real!) (And I’d also love to read Nick’s books, The Elves of Ceradon… it sounds amazing!)
I listened to the audiobook, and it was very entertaining, with gifted narrators. In the Lily chapters, the narration did become kind of screechy while voicing certain characters (especially one of Lily’s sisters), but otherwise, the narrators did a fine job bringing Lily, Nick, and their friends to life. A downside, however, is the fact that part one of The Neighbor Favor is the initial email relationship between Lily and Nick… and at least as it comes across via audio, it goes on for a really, really long time. Maybe it’s better in print, but listening to this endless email exchange gets really tiresome after a while.
Other than that, I enjoyed the audiobook. The plot moves quickly, and there are lots of fun side characters and situations that sparkle. Sure, the plot relies a bit too heavily on coincidence (really? he moved not only to New York but into Lily’s apartment building? and the very same floor?), but given how much I liked the characters, I decided to just accept it and enjoy the ride.
The Neighbor Favor is an entertaining story about relatable characters who may make questionable choices, but are still fundamentally good people. The author has a new book that released earlier this year, The Partner Plot, with Lily’s older sister as the main character. It’s supposedly a stand-alone, but in the same general world as The Neighbor Favor. While I didn’t love this particular sister in The Neighbor Favor, the description of this book makes it sound like it’ll be another fun one to experience.
Meanwhile, if you enjoy contemporary romance with booklovers front and center, be sure to check out The Neighbor Favor!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Authors I’d Love a New Book From.
The prompt includes: These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)
My focus is on authors whose next book I’m eagerly awaiting. And while I can definitely come up with some no-longer-with-us authors I’d love another book from (hi, Jane Austen and L. M. Montgomery!), I’m sticking with living, breathing, writing authors for this list.
My ten are:
Diana Gabaldon — of course! Waiting for the 10th Outlander book…
Amy Stewart — She’s shifted her focus to non-fiction and artwork, but I’d love more in the Kopp Sisters series (or any new fiction, for that matter).
Becky Chambers — I haven’t found any info on what her next book will be, but I’ve loved every single book of hers so far.
Travis Baldree — I can’t wait to see what he writes next!
Lily Chu – I really enjoyed the audiobooks she’s released up to now, and hope there will be a new one soon.
Trish Doller – I loved the Beck Sisters trilogy (which I read last year), but haven’t been able to find info on whether there are any new books coming up.
Susanna Kearsley — On the other hand, there is a new book on the way for this author! But while it has a 2024 release date in the UK, we readers here in the US will have to wait until 2025.
Sarah Gailey — I don’t see any new books since 2022, and I’d love to read whatever they write next.
Fredrik Backman — Another author who doesn’t have a next book listed yet on Goodreads! Whatever it is, and whenever it arrives, I’m sure it’ll be great.
George R. R. Martin — I mean, I debated whether to even include GRRM on this list, because honestly, I’m not sure I even care any more. Will book #6 ever actually be released??
What authors made your list this week?
If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 