Audiobook Review: The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Only Game in Town
Author: Lacie Waldon
Narrators: Brittany Pressley, Lee Osorio, Catherine Taber, Mark Deakins
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: March 21, 2023
Print length: 416 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 53 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

One small town, one big prize, one handsome stranger…

Nothing ever changes in Redford, Georgia. That’s what freelance editor Jess Reid loves about her hometown—and part of what keeps her from leaving. Content taking care of her father, a car mechanic who singlehandedly raised her after her mom skipped out, Jess is resigned to a safe, unremarkable existence…until Jasper Wilhelm, the town’s eccentric benefactor, dies suddenly and leaves behind the opportunity of a lifetime.

Financial advisor Carter Barclay has been too busy to visit his grandfather in Redford, but he’s heard countless stories about the town and its zany residents from Jasper. A small, insular town in Georgia is the last place Carter expects to be spending his summer—but it seems his grandfather had one final trick up his sleeve.

At the funeral, it’s revealed that Jasper has devised a massive, high-stakes game for the people of Redford, with the winning duo taking home his entire fortune. The catch? He’s already taken the liberty of pairing them up. As tensions of all kinds rise between Jess and Carter, and the life-changing prize looms closer, the two must decide what they’re willing to risk to change their lives. A love story full of spirit and hijinks, The Only Game in Town is a funny, quirky homage to the people we get to call home.

The Only Game in Town has a romance as a central storyline… but really, I’d describe it more as a love letter to the idea of small town community. There are rivalries and grudges, but also odd-couple friendships, unexpected sources of support… and yes, romance too.

Jess moved back to her beloved home town of Redford, Georgia several years earlier. Her editing career is just okay — she had the opportunity to pursue a more high-powered career with a major publisher, but missed her community and her father. Life in Redford is quiet, to say the least. There’s one bar (a dive, but full of lovable personalities), one bakery (whose owner is currently at war with a former friend who’s dared to start a pop-up muffin business), one hair salon, and plenty of unique personalities (like the guy who sits on a street corner to talk about the weather every day).

Life in Redford is upended when the local philanthropist, Jasper Wilhelm, passes away. Unknown to most of the townsfolk, he worked behind the scenes, assisted by his beloved grandson Carter, to give anonymous bequests to Redfordonians in need. (Yes, they refer to themselves as Redfordonians, which feels clunky, but okay).

Carter only connected with his grandfather ten years earlier, after walking away from his hard-driving, unfeeling parents’ family business and reconnecting with his mother’s estranged father. Carter’s first visit to Redford is for Jasper’s funeral, where he’s immediately charmed by the tiny town… and especially Jess, with her brightly colored wardrobe and devotion to Redford.

After the funeral, Jasper’s lawyer reads the will to the town. Jasper has left his fortune — $10 million — to the people of Redford, but with a catch: They have to play to win. He’s concocted a competition, assigning people as partners to carry out a series of challenges. The winning pair win it all, with all scoring at the discretion of his lawyer. No arguing, no contesting the outcome, and no changing partners. If you want in, you follow Jasper’s rules.

Naturally, the prize money is too enticing for anyone to willingly sit out. And that extends to Jess as well, who’s paired with Nikki, the mean girl who’s never gotten over a high school betrayal (as Nikki sees it) and who’s gone out of her way to be cruel to Jess ever since.

Carter isn’t interested in Jasper’s money for himself, but knows that Jasper intended for him to carry on the work they’d been doing, so when he learns that Jasper assigned him to a team and expects him to play the game as well, he’s convinced that he’s already the prearranged winner. Still, this game seems to have been very important to Jasper, so he goes along with it. But as the game progresses, he finds himself more and more immersed in town life, and starts to feel guilty that the competition may actually be a sham.

Meanwhile, Jess and Carter are drawn together from the start, and as they compete and get to know one another, their initial sparks grow in a deeper connection. But still, they’re competitors, and Carter doesn’t actually live in Redford… so is there any possible future for them once the game ends?

There’s a lot to love about The Only Game in Town. The game itself is silly — there’s a scavenger hunt, a hike, even a Barbie jeep race. Jasper clearly designed the competition to force people to work together, and it’s amusing to see the antics that the townspeople get up to, as well as the way old resentments either derail certain teams or inspire people to keep going.

The small town vibe is a little exaggerated — it’s a bit hard to believe that any small community could be quite that ideal — but still, it’s fun to see all the quirks and charm of the various characters.

I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Nikki and Jess. Their old feud is not what it seems, and Nikki is much more than first impressions might imply. Nikki gets her own point-of-view chapters, and that’s a wonderful decision on the part of the author — hearing from Nikki herself allows us to understand what drives the character and who she is deep-down, beyond the ice princess/mean girl exterior.

Jess’s relationship with her dad is also terrific. He was a teen dad, abandoned by Jess’s mother, who’s worked all his life to give his daughter a warm, loving home. He’s a great character, and I loved seeing his interactions with Jess.

Carter and Jess’s romance sparkles, but it’s not the only storyline — dare I say that the romance is not the only game in town??? — and I really appreciated that. Yes, the romance is an important part of the story, but there’s a lot more going on, and we readers get the opportunity to care about all of it, not just the will-they-won’t-they aspect of the couple’s attraction, or the inevitable romance novel beats (the slow burn, the obstacle, the reunion…)

I listened to the audiobook, and it was great! There are four narrators, one for each of the POV characters (Jess, Carter, Nikki, and less frequent, Ross). Jess and Carter get most of the narrative, but Nikki’s chapters add a lot to the overall story. As a whole, it really works, and the narrators do a terrific job presenting the different perspectives, making the silly competition scenes feel like fun, and also letting the emotions come through at key moments.

The Only Game in Town is a charming story about small town life and what community really means. Friendship and a love story are both important elements, but devotion to the town is what truly drives the characters and the plot. This is a very enjoyable book, and I recommend the audiobook. Really fun entertainment — I look forward to reading more by this author.

27Feb2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Covers with Things Found in Nature

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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 Covers/Titles with Things Found in Nature. I’m sticking with covers — maybe I’ll come back and do titles another time (like when I’m stuck for a freebie topic!).

Ten of my favorite nature-themed covers:

The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey
The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka
The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine
The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn
Wolfsong by T. K. Klune
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Birds of California by Katie Cotugno
The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie

Do we have any books in common this week?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

26Feb2024

The Monday Check-In ~ 02/26/2024

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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’s been a quiet week, but that’s okay! We had beautiful weather over the weekend, so my husband and I decided to go out and explore a hiking trail we’d never tried before. It was fairly short (2.5 miles), but with some nice changes in terrain and pretty views. Afterward, we headed to wander around a cute nearby town, and finished with dinner overlooking the beach and with a great view of the sunset. It was so nice to break out of the usual weekend routine of errands, household projects, and laundry!

What did I read during the last week?

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton: Terrific historical fiction set in San Francisco’s Fillmore District during the 1950s. My review is here.

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord: A powerful work of narrative non-fiction about the Titanic tragedy. My review is here.

Also, I read another story from Amazon’s Improbable Meet-Cute collection:

The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren: A cute story about a misdirected email leading to a 10-year friendship and more. I really enjoyed it.

Pop culture & TV:

I ended up watching quite an assortment this week…

I finished the One Day series on Netflix. I was a little skeptical at first, but within the space of the very first episode, I really fell for the characters and the pace. This is a limited series — 14 half-hour episodes, and the story is done. The casting is very strong, and this is a much better adaptation than the 2011 movie.

Meanwhile, a group of us at work got together for a lunchtime viewing of Stamped From the Beginning (also on Netflix). Highly recommended.

Then, over the weekend, my husband and I ended up watching Eternal Memory, a very moving documentary (which we later discovered is nominated for an Oscar). Another one that I strongly recommend.

Fresh Catch:

I won a Goodreads giveaway! I got the notification yesterday — I’m looking forward to reading this, although it’s listed on Goodreads as #2 in a series and I haven’t read the first. (I’m guessing, based on the synopses for both books, that it’s only a loose connection… we shall see.)

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Aftermarket Afterlife (Incryptids, #13) by Seanan McGuire: It’s always a treat when a new book in this series comes out!

Now playing via audiobook:

The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon: I’m *this close* to the end! This has been a light, fun listen.

Ongoing reads:

My current longer-term reads:

Outlander Book Club is doing a group re-read of Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2), reading and discussing two chapters per week. Coming up this week: Chapters 44 and 45 (of 49). Progress: 84%.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot: My book group’s current classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 59%.
Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi: After watching the Netflix adaptation, I decided I should take the time to read the book. I’m pretty terrible at reading serious non-fiction, so I’m a bit on the fence about whether to commit. For now, I’m going to aim to read a couple of chapters per week — we’ll see how it goes. So far, I’ve only read the two prefaces and the introduction.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

24Feb2024

Book Review: A Night to Remember by Walter Lord (Classics Club Spin #36)

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: A Night to Remember
Author: Walter Lord
Publication date: 1955
Length: 182 pages
Rating:

Lord’s classic bestseller, and the definitive account of the unsinkable ship’s fateful last hours

At first, no one but the lookout recognized the sound. Passengers described it as the impact of a heavy wave, a scraping noise, or the tearing of a long calico strip. In fact, it was the sound of the world’s most famous ocean liner striking an iceberg, and it served as the death knell for 1,500 souls.

In the next two hours and forty minutes, the maiden voyage of the Titanic became one of history’s worst maritime accidents. As the ship’s deck slipped closer to the icy waterline, women pleaded with their husbands to join them on lifeboats. Men changed into their evening clothes to meet death with dignity. And in steerage, hundreds fought bitterly against certain death. At 2:15 a.m. the ship’s band played “Autumn.” Five minutes later, the Titanic was gone.

Based on interviews with sixty-three survivors, Lord’s moment-by-moment account is among the finest books written about one of the twentieth century’s bleakest nights.

Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember was considered the “definitive” account of the Titanic tragedy at the time of the book’s publication in 1955. The author interviewed survivors and witnesses of the aftermath, and clearly pored painstakingly through the historical records at the time. The result is a narrative that takes readers moment by moment through the events of that “night to remember”, showing the scope of the tragedy from multiple points of view and experiences.

From our vantage point over one hundred years later, none of this is new information exactly. The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most well-known events of the 20th century, after all, and countless books have been written about it, both fiction and non-fiction. And there’s a certain movie too…

Still, reading A Night to Remember is a fascinating experience. The author meticulously follows the timeline, from hitting the iceberg to the moment the ship slid completely beneath the water, to the survivors in their lifeboats and the rescue hours later by the Carpathia. As the night’s events progress, we follow the experiences of the people who were there — the wealthy first class passengers whose names are most familiar, the passengers in steerage, and the crew — officers, bakers, even a masseuse. The author often shows different perceptions of the same event, depicting specific passengers’ descriptions of what they saw and felt.

It’s an engrossing read. At the time of impact, one crewmember was certain it was a propeller problem. A passenger noted that it felt like the ship rolled over “a thousand marbles”. Another reported that it seemed “as though somebody had drawn a giant finger along the side of the ship.” Repeatedly throughout the book, we hear the voices of the Titanic’s survivors describing what they felt in the moment and what they remember about it as they look back.

While I’ve read quite a bit about the Titanic over the years (and have more Titanic fiction yet to read on my shelves), I haven’t read such a straightforward account of aspects of the sinking. The details on who got into which lifeboats and how, and the experience of being in these boats between the sinking and the rescue are all very interesting and provide yet another view into the terrors of that night.

One of the book’s appendices is a list of the Titanic’s passengers and crew, identifying those lost and those who survived. It’s just a list… and yet, it’s one of the most powerful elements of this book. We know the numbers, but seeing the names, on page after page, makes it all so much more stark and tragic.

The storytelling approach in A Night to Remember is a no-nonsense narrative. The writing itself isn’t fancy — the author wisely keeps the focus on the people and events, and doesn’t embellish or speculate beyond what the witnesses themselves may have wondered or assumed. There are people highlighted in this book whom I hadn’t heard of before, and it was lovely to get to appreciate the small and large acts of kindness and heroism that were new to me.

I’m very glad to have finally read this book, which I’d had my eye on for quite a while. As I’ve said, there’s no lack of written material about the Titanic, but A Night to Remember really does feel like a classic, stand-out account. Highly recommended.

Walter Lord wrote a follow-up book decades later, after Robert Ballard’s discovery of the wreck of the Titanic. The Night Lives On was published in 1986.

In this New York Times bestseller, the author of A Night to Remember and The Miracle of Dunkirk revisits the Titanic disaster.

Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember was a landmark work that recounted the harrowing events of April 14, 1912, when the British ocean liner RMS Titanic went down in the North Atlantic Ocean, a book that inspired a classic movie of the same name. In The Night Lives On, Lord takes the exploration further, revealing information about the ship’s last hours that emerged in the decades that followed, and separating myths from facts.

Was the ship really christened before setting sail on its maiden voyage? What song did the band play as water spilled over the bow? How did the ship’s wireless operators fail so badly, and why did the nearby Californian, just ten miles away when the Titanic struck the iceberg, not come to the rescue? Lord answers these questions and more, in a gripping investigation of the night when approximately 1,500 victims were lost to the sea.

I do intend to read this book as well, and will likely go back to my Titanic fiction shelf in the near future.

22Feb2024

Book Review: On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: On the Rooftop
Author: Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Publisher: Ecco
Publication date: September 6, 2022
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

A stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives—set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco

At home they are just sisters, but on stage, they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they’ve become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore.

Now Vivian has scored a once-in-a-lifetime offer from a talent manager, who promises to catapult The Salvations into the national spotlight. Vivian knows this is the big break she’s been praying for. But sometime between the hours of rehearsal on their rooftop and the weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club, the girls have become women, women with dreams that their mother cannot imagine.

The neighborhood is changing, too: all around the Fillmore, white men in suits are approaching Black property owners with offers. One sister finds herself called to fight back, one falls into the comfort of an old relationship, another yearns to make her own voice heard. And Vivian, who has always maintained control, will have to confront the parts of her life that threaten to splinter: the community, The Salvations, and even her family.

In On the Rooftop, the world of 1950s-era San Francisco — specifically, the city’s Fillmore District — is brought to life through a family of talented women. Sisters Ruth, Esther, and Chloe range in age from 20 – 24, and they’re on the cusp of stardom. Singing in three-part harmony, moving through their perfect dance steps, they’re the main attraction at the top clubs of the Fillmore, but their mother Vivian wants more. LA, New York, everywhere — her girls are destined for greatness.

Yet as we learn through chapters told from each sister’s POV, Vivian’s dreams aren’t necessarily her daughters’ dreams.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood around them is on the verge of change as well. The Fillmore is the family’s safe haven — it’s where Vivian and her husband landed twenty years earlier after fleeing Klan violence in Louisiana. In the Fillmore, every building and block and the people who live there represent a piece of a tight-knit community. Everyone knows everyone’s business; everyone looks out for one another… or if not, is ready to carry tales when someone steps out of line.

But white businessmen having been showing up more and more frequently, and soon their goal is clear. The neighborhood has been identified as one suitable for redevelopment, and that means its current residents and businesses have to go. At first, the approach is more of a sales pitch — home and business owners offered a buyout to relocate. But persuasion turns into coercion, and evictions due to public domain eventually threaten every member of the community.

On the Rooftop is both a family story and a community story. The sisters and Vivian are well-drawn, distinct personalities, each with their own hopes, sorrows, and intentions. Through their separate POV chapters, we get multiple perspectives on the turning points in their lives, and come to understand the women’s options and limitations in that time and place.

As a portrait of a community, On the Rooftop shows the devastation of gentrification and displacement, as it illustrates the dismantling of a community who have no say or voice in the matter.

It took me until close to the end of the book to realize that the story beats were reminding me of a story that at first glance might seem like something completely unrelated — Fiddler on the Roof. But once I made the connection, I experienced a huge “aha moment” as the pieces came together. Sure enough, in the author’s notes at the end of the book, she lists Fiddler on the Roof as one of her inspirations.

Themes of (yes) tradition, children choosing paths different from their parents’ expectations, community dispersal and forced exile — all are integral to the story of the these sisters, their mother, and their neighborhood. The author beautifully incorporates these elements so that the Fiddler motifs are subtly part of the story — this isn’t a retelling, and we’re not hit over the head with obvious comparisons. The commonalities enhance the reading experience, but the story is strong enough to stand on its own even without noticing these elements.

Overall, On the Rooftop is a powerful, emotional, lovely book about family and community. This book is our library’s “On the Same Page” book for February, and it’s also the group read one of my in-person book groups has selected for Black History Month. I look forward to the various discussions and events for this book coming later in the month — and meanwhile, highly recommend this terrific book.

20Feb2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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 Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had. This is a fun one!

Here are ten powers I’d love:

Ability to remember every detail from books already read… especially earlier books in series.
The power to read even when too tired to keep my eyes open.
The ability to listen (and absorb) audiobooks throughout my day without getting distracted.
A superpower that makes signed first editions of my favorite books magically appear on my doorstep the second they’re available.
Teleportation powers that allow me to attend favorite author’s book signings anywhere across the country, with no airplane flights or loss of sleep involved.
The ability to transport myself into the world of a book for a day (but without having to face any real dangers such as disease, getting lost, etc)
The power to snap my fingers and have Hollywood decide to adapt all my favorite books (and do them all perfectly)
A special food-related power that makes any delicious sounding food or drink that I read about in a novel pop into existence in my hands.
One that sounds magical even if it isn’t: The ability to read as much as I want, wherever and whenever I want, without having to worry about work, money, errands, or anything else real-world-ish.
Another teleportation/time travel-y one to round out the list: The ability to travel back in time and meet certain favorite authors from the past!

What bookish superpowers would you wish for?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

PS – I played with an AI image generator using search terms like superhero, woman with superpowers, superhero woman reading… the images in this post are two of the results!

19Feb2024

The Monday Check-In ~ 02/19/2024

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

Happy Presidents Day!

It’s so nice to get a day off… even when it’s rainy (for the 3rd day in a row) and I have nothing much planned. Sounds like a great excuse for curling up with a cozy throw blanket and a good book!

And while it was raining yesterday, I ended up goofing around with AI image generation, which gave me lots of weird results based on my prompts… but here’s one I ended up liking:

What did I read during the last week?

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden: Beautifully written and absolutely haunting. My review is here.

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez: A captivating contemporary romance that blends humor with more serious issues. My review is here.

Death of an Eye by Dana Stabenow: I love the Kate Shugak series by this author, and was so happy to finally read the first in her Egyptian mystery series. My book group will be discussing this book in the coming week — can’t wait to hear what everyone else thought of it. My review is here.

Also, two shorter reads this past week:

Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez: Part of the free Improbable Meet-Cute collection available via Amazon this month. A sweet, funny short story that helped me past my book hangover after I finished Yours Truly.

Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna: A contemporary graphic novel that retells the Jane Eyre story. The author was one of the writers/creators of a favorite show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — although based on that, I think I expected at least a smidge of humor. (There isn’t any, really). Still it’s an interesting take on the classic story. I picked it up on a whim while at the library, and finished it in one sitting.

Pop culture & TV:

I finished season 2 of The Bear! One episode in particular has Emmy-winner written all over it, but really, the entire series is just so good. Can’t wait for season 3!

I also started watching One Day on Netflix. I was hesitant — I read the book back when it came out, then saw the 2011 movie version. Do we really need another adaptation? I’m happy to report that based on the handful of episodes I’ve seen so far, the answer is yes — yes, we do need this limited series version. Well worth checking out!

Fresh Catch:

I treated the family to this beautiful new cookbook:

And before you ask — no, I don’t cook (at all!), but my husband does, and in any case, there are some gorgeous pictures in this cookbook, so I’m enjoying looking through it.

Puzzle of the week:

My son and his girlfriend were working on this Lego set last week:

… and that reminded me that I had a puzzle I hadn’t gotten around to tackling yet. And since it rained all day on Saturday, I had time to obsess over it and ended up doing a marathon puzzling session, finishing it in one day. So satisfying!

My lighting for photos leaves a lot to be desired, but trust me — it’s so pretty in person!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton: I’m reading this for a book group discussion at work, and really like it so far.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon: Good, light, silly fun.

Ongoing reads:

My current longer-term reads:

Outlander Book Club is doing a group re-read of Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2), reading and discussing two chapters per week. Coming up this week: Chapters 42 and 43 (of 49). Progress: 81%.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot: My book group’s current classic read. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 56%. We’ve finally made it past the halfway point!
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord: My new Classics Club Spin book! I haven’t started it yet — I’m listing it here as a placeholder for now. The target date for this spin is March 3rd, so there’s still plenty of time.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

18Feb2024

Book Review: Death of an Eye (Eye of Isis, #1) by Dana Stabenow

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Death of an Eye
Series: Eye of Isis, #1
Author: Dana Stabenow
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: December 6, 2018
Length: 254 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

ALEXANDRIA, 47 BC. For three centuries, the House of Ptolemy has governed the Kingdom of Egypt. Cleopatra – seventh of her name – rules from Alexandria, that beacon of commerce and learning that stands between the burning sands of the desert and the dark waters of the Middle Sea. But her realm is beset by ethnic rivalries, aristocratic feuds and courtly intrigues . Not only that, she must contend with the insatiable appetite of Julius Caesar who needs Egyptian grain and Egyptian gold to further his ambitions. The world is watching the young Queen, waiting for a misstep …

And now her most trusted servant – her Eye – has been murdered and a vast shipment of newly minted coin stolen. Cleopatra cannot afford for the coins to go unrecovered or the murderers unpunished, so she asks childhood friend, Tetisheri Nebenteru, to retrace the dead Eye’s footsteps. Tetisheri will find herself plunged into the shadowy heart of Alexandria . As she sifts her way through a tangle of lies and deceit, she will discover that nothing can be taken at face value, that she can’t trust anyone – not even the Queen herself .

As a devoted fan of Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series, I was curious to see what her non-Kate/non-Alaska books were like. Fortunately, my book group selected Death of an Eye as our February read, which was the perfect opportunity for me to finally read a book I’ve had my eye on for quite a while.

In this historical novel, the main character is a young woman named Tetisheri, the niece and business partner of a successful merchant in Alexandria at the time of Cleopatra’s reign. Tetisheri was close to Cleopatra as a child, and when the queen finds herself in need of a trusted ally, she calls on Tetisheri.

Cleopatra’s “eye” — a person unknown to any but the queen herself, authorized by her to carry out investigations on her behalf — has been murdered while investigating a crime that could spell disaster for Cleopatra. The queen asks Tetisheri to take on the role of Eye and track down both the murderer and the solution to the earlier crime. As she does so, Tetisheri is herself subject to danger, and must also contend with the slippery politics of Alexandrian and Roman nobility.

Once I began wrapping my head around the people, places, and culture, I was quickly immersed in both the historical setting and the crime story. I really know next to nothing about this time period or the society of Alexandria, apart from film and TV depictions and classic dramas (yes, I’ve read both Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra, but both were a very long time ago).

The Cleopatra we meet in Death of an Eye is not the Elizabeth Taylor version. Here, she’s a young, strong-willed, and incredibly intelligent ruler, struggling to maintain her throne despite the machinations of her co-ruler and brother Ptolemy XIV and his minions, while also pregnant with Julius Caesar’s child and making every effort to stay in his favor. Cleopatra is interested in science and logic, and cares for her people, but has very few whom she can actually trust.

Tetisheri is not a historical figure; rather, she’s a citizen of Alexandria who, as a monetarily secure merchant, has access to many levels of society, but doesn’t personally wield much power. Having survived a cruel marriage, she makes it her mission to rescue enslaved women and give them the means to start new lives. Tetisheri is smart and dedicated, and while she’s not entirely happy about her assignment from Cleopatra, she’s loyal to the queen and determined to see the investigation through.

I really enjoyed Death of an Eye. As I mentioned, it’s not a setting or period that I’m very familiar with, so there was a pretty steep learning curve at the beginning, and all the way through I found myself confusing people and place names. (Helpfully, there’s both a map and a cast of characters list at the front of the book — and I used both quite a lot). The plot is intricate but not hard to follow, and I found myself more and more interested in the mystery as the various pieces came together toward the end of the book.

While the central mystery of Death of an Eye is solved by the end, Tetisheri’s involvement with Cleopatra is by no means concluded, and her personal life — including a love interest — is left very much open-ended. Fortunately, there are two more books in the Eye of Isis series currently available, with a 4th book planned for 2025.

17Feb2024

Audiobook Review: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Yours Truly
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Kyla Garcia & Zachary Webber
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 11, 2023
Print length: 416 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 23 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass” scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,” and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she can’t refuse.

I loved Abby Jimenez’s previous novel, Part of Your World, and just had to stay in that book’s world a little longer by immediately starting Yours Truly. Great decision on my part! I thoroughly enjoyed this sensitive, romantic audiobook.

But before I explain why, I do need to point out that that is a seriously terrible synopsis above. The synopsis makes Yours Truly sound like a comedic war-of-wills workplace romance… and that’s not how I’d describe this book at all.

So let me put my own spin on this book.

Briana is a highly-skilled ER doctor who’s loved by her coworkers and seems on track for a chief position, just as soon as her current boss finally takes his long-awaited retirement. She’s thrown for a loop when she’s informed that he’s holding off on retirement just a bit longer, and that she may have competition for the chief role — the new ER doctor who just transferred to her hospital.

The new doc doesn’t seem to be lining up fans. On his very first day, the nurses have secretly dubbed him Doctor Death. He’s rubbing everyone the wrong way, and manages to thorougly irritate Briana as well.

What Briana doesn’t know is that Jacob is an introvert with social anxiety, who’s just trying to get through his day without further triggering his anxiety responses. Jacob is dealing with stress in his personal life — his brother announcing his engagement to Jacob’s ex-girlfriend — and learning a whole bunch of social cues in a brand new work setting is not easy for Jacob.

Eventually, Briana clues in to the fact that Jacob is not actually some arrogant, sexist jerk, but is really a deeply sensitive man who’s also a terrific doctor. After Bri extends an olive branch by advising Jacob to win over the ER staff via cupcakes, Jacob writes her a thank-you letter. Yes, writes — as in, by hand — a letter — as in, on paper. Briana can’t help being charmed.

Bri and Jacob start exchanging letters, opening up in writing in a way they haven’t been able to in person. Eventually, letters turn into long conversations, and suddenly, they’re spending more time talking with one another than with anyone else.

When Jacob turns out to be a perfect match as a kidney donor for Briana’s ailing brother, she wants to do a huge favor for him in return. Jacob’s family refuses to embrace his brother’s engagement, fearing that Jacob will be too terribly hurt by the whole thing. He’s not… but to convince his family to get on board and be happy for the couple, Jacob decides he needs a fake girlfriend, and Bri is happy to sign up for the role.

As Jacob and Brianna play-act a relationship, they spent lots and lots of time together, even to the point of fake living together. You get where this is going right? Before long, they’ve both caught feelings — but each is 100% sure that the other is pretending. There’s a lot of tormented self-doubt and longing in store for both of them. Ah, if only people in romance novels knew how to communicate!

Yours Truly has lots of funny scenarios and flirty banter, but it’s also rooted in more serious emotions and complications. Bri is still deeply wounded by her divorce, thanks to her jerky ex-husband who cheated on her for years with a woman she thought was a good friend. Between that and the father who abandoned the family when she was a child, Bri doesn’t believe that love can be counted on, and has serious issues around trust and security. Jacob, meanwhile, has learned to manage his anxiety, but he can be triggered by uncertainty and lacks the confidence to feel that he’s worthy of love. While Briana and Jacob fall madly in love with one another, it takes them a very long time to realize that their feelings are returned, in large part because neither is able to believe that they deserve to be loved by someone so wonderful.

The author does a terrific job of developing these two characters and making them likable even while showing their wounds and their flaws. We readers may feel frustrated enough to want to give them each a good shake, but we also understand why they’re having such a hard time believing in the truth of their relationship.

I did feel that the communication issues dragged on longer than necessary, and wished that these two incredibly intelligent people talked honestly a lot sooner. They each make some pretty significant assumptions based on overheard conversations and mistaken beliefs about the other’s feelings, and while we get where they’re coming from, they really could have worked all this out through a simple conversation.

Another quibble is that they’re a pair of doctors, and yet they have unprotected sex! In this day and age, when most romance novels do such a fantastic job of incorporating condoms into sexytimes, its absence in a key scene between Jacob and Briana is a glaring omission. Yes, it’s dealt with later in the plot, but still, given who they are as people, it was not believable to me that they’d have sex in that moment without protection.

That aside, I really did love the characters, the plot, and the overall story. When Bri and Jacob make bad choices, we understand why. The writing balances the zippy, light-hearted moments with the deeper emotional stakes and traumas, and I loved how sensitively they’re able to connect with one another when they open up and truly communicate.

“We’re all a little broken, Briana. We are a mosaic. We’re made up of all those we’ve met and all the things we’ve been through. There are parts of us that are colorful and dark and jagged and beautiful. And I love every piece of you. Even the ones you wish didn’t exist.”

Yours Truly is set in the same fictional world as Part of Your World, and it’s nice to get to visit with that book’s main characters, Alexis and Daniel, and see how they’re doing. Zachary Webber, who voices Daniel in Part of Your World, is back in Yours Truly as the narrator for Jacob’s chapters, and he’s got the role of smart, sensitive, sexy boyfriend down to a science. Kyla Garcia is very good as the narrator for Brianna (and gets her lisp just right in a scene where Bri wears her retainer!). The voices work really well together, and the audiobook as a whole is a treat.

Part of Your World was my first book by Abby Jimenez, and after listening to Yours Truly, I’m all in! I need to read EVERYTHING by this author. If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, do yourself a favor and pick up one of her books!

On a related note…

Amazon’s free story collection for February is romance-themed — it’s the Improbable Meet-Cute collection, and includes a very sweet story by Abby Jimenez, so naturally, I read it immediately after finishing Yours Truly. Worst Wingman Ever is a fast, enjoyable read. Check it out!

The rest of the collection looks great too — have you read any of these stories yet?

15Feb2024

Book Review: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Warm Hands of Ghosts
Author: Katherine Arden
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication date: February 13, 2024
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.

After reading and loving Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy, I expected great things from her new novel, The Warm Hands of Ghosts. Those expectations were met, and then some.

In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, we’re plunged into the nightmare of war through the experiences of Laura Iven, a Canadian battlefield nurse, and her brother Freddie, a soldier on the frontlines in Belgium. As the novel weaves their stories together, we’re given an up-close look at the horrors of World War I.

As the book opens, Laura is back home in Halifax in early 1918, having been discharged from the army after suffering serious injury when her hospital in Belgium was bombed. But life in Halifax is not peaceful either; shortly before the book opens, the ship explosion of 1917 (a devastating historical event — read more here) kills thousands in the city, including Laura and Freddie’s parents.

When Laura receives a package containing her brother’s bloody uniform and his ID tags, she’s thrust into even more severe grief, but feels that something’s not right. No one she writes to can tell her about his final days or provide information about what might have happened to him. When she meets a woman heading back to Belgium to organize a hospital, Laura volunteers to go along, desperate to learn more about Freddie’s fate.

Meanwhile, through alternating chapters, we learn that Freddie did survive… barely. After being trapped in a collapsed pillbox on the battlefield, he and a German soldier, Hans Winter, save one another and navigate through the hellscape of the battlefield back to the relative safety of the Allied hospital. But saving Winter makes Freddie a traitor, and he finds shelter with a strange, eerie man whose violin-playing and eerie, ornate hotel promise oblivion and escape from the war.

Soldiers exchange stories of someone called “the fiddler”, whose music both captivates and repels, and who is rumored to steal men’s souls in exchange for relief from their worst nightmares. Freddie falls under the spell of the fiddler, but as he loses bits of himself, he doesn’t find the peace he seeks. Meanwhile, Laura refuses to give up on finding the truth about her lost brother, and the siblings endure greater and greater dangers in their quest to discover one anothers’ fates.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts incorporates an other-worldly element as it examines the toll of war and horror on people’s inner selves. We see wounded and shell-shocked soldiers, people maimed or whose minds have been destroyed. Is it any wonder that they embrace the idea of a supernatural presence that feeds off souls and promises ease? As Laura ponders:

Was remembered agony better than feeling nothing at all?

That’s the crux of the dilemma facing the characters who encounter the fiddler. Life amidst the hell of war promises pain and suffering, and even out of the warzone, as Laura experienced back in Halifax, there’s no escape from the torment of memories. The characters, again and again, face this impossible decision: Give in and forget, or hold on and suffer?

They all drank. The wine was glorious. Like getting hit in the face by an ocean wave; it was a shock, then a pleasure, then a numbness.

There’s so much more to the story, of course. Underneath the horror of it all, there are strong threads of love running throughout the lives of the characters we come to know. The bonds between Laura and Freddie, Freddie and Winter, and Laura and the women she befriends are all strong, forged in a shared experience that those who haven’t been to war will never be able to fully comprehend.

Laura is a marvelous characters. As a nurse, she’s extremely brave, competent, and compassionate. She’s also damaged, both physically and emotionally, and makes decisions following her heart, even when logic would dictate otherwise. Freddie is fascinating as well — wounded to his core, suffering in his psyche from the horrors he’s both seen and inflicted, and unable to envision any sort of future for himself.

The battlefield scenes are vivid and terrible and utterly visceral. The terror and butchery are shown plainly, and the psychological toll is clear and awful to read about.

Despite the disturbing nature of reading about World War I battlefield experiences, I was struck over and over again by how beautiful Katherine Arden’s writing is. Little phrases and moments would catch my attention from time to time, just because I so admired the words and sentences.

London felt like limbo to her, the glittering center of the modern world become merely the war’s antechamber.

I would imagine that the supernatural element might not work for every reader, particularly for those who pick up The Warm Hands of Ghosts looking for a more traditional historical fiction reading experience. (Then again, the title does have the word ghosts in it, so it’s not like the supernatural piece is hidden in any way.) For me, I found The Warm Hands of Ghosts a powerful, sad, evocative book, and it’s fully deserving of a 5-star rating. Highly recommended.