Book Review: The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Compound
Author: Aisling Rawle
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: June 24, 2025
Length: 292 pages
Genre: Contemporary/dystopian fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.

Lily—a bored, beautiful twentysomething—wakes up on a remote desert compound alongside nineteen other contestants on a popular reality TV show. To win, she must outlast her housemates while competing in challenges for luxury rewards, such as champagne and lipstick, and communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.

The cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: Why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?

Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.

Take reality TV — Big Brother, Love Island, even Survivor — then mix in a big dose of dystopian, Hunger Games, do-what-it-takes-to-last vibes… and you might get a smidge of what reading The Compound feels like.

It’s strange right from the start. Lily — beautiful, fit, in her 20s — wakes up in a bedroom in a place known as the compound. One other bed is occupied, by another beautiful young woman. As they rise, they move through the main house, finding clothes — shabby cast-offs, mainly — and odds and ends. They’re familiar with the house’s layout, and know what to look for. The place is a mess — grimy, trash everywhere, and the bathroom and front entryway don’t even have doors.

The compound itself is surrounded by nothing but desert as far as the eye can see, and a barrier of barbed wire and some fencing, none of it seeming all that sturdy, stand between the compound and the wilderness beyond.

As they leave the house and wander the grounds — a large pool, gardens, a pond, an orchard — they find more young women in various stages of waking. Soon, there are ten of them. And then they start talking about waiting for the boys to arrive. (Yes, one of the oddly disturbing elements of this book is that they refer to themselves as “boys” and “girls”, although all are adults.)

We were assessing who was the most beautiful and who might cause trouble. At the same time, we were analyzing what our own place in the group might be. Within minutes of speaking to the girls, I knew that I was one of the most beautiful, and one of the least interesting.

After two days, the boys arrive, straggling in from across the desert. They arrive bruised, battered, and having clearly been through something — but ready to play.

Because, we quickly learn, this is reality TV, and the compound is the setting of one of the most popular competition shows. Ten boys and ten girls are dropped into the compound — the girls, apparently drugged, are left in the house to wake there and begin the game, while the boys must trek across the desert to reach the compound. Once there, they compete via communal tasks to earn basics and more for the house — everything from food items to wood to chairs (of which there are none when the group arrives). The players also have personal tasks that they can perform for more individualized rewards, from beauty basics to (later) luxury items. Personal tasks tends to be odd and embarrassing, with a rule that players can’t tell one another when they’re carrying out a personal task — so if, for example, the task is to insult someone else, they just have to do it, no explanations allowed. They can choose not to, of course, but then they forego the reward, and no one seems willing to let prizes slip by.

One simple, even fun task, and something new would appear. What tedium I would have to go through to get the same things at home: standing on my feet for hours, faking smiles, pretending to have energy and enthusiasm. When I slept, I dreamed of prizes falling from the sky, and all of us standing in the desert with our arms outstretched, waiting for them to reach us.

There are even more rules: To remain in the game, you must wake up with a player of the opposite sex in your bed. If you wake up alone, you’re immediately banished, sent off into the desert (although banished players are apparently picked up and sent back home, not left to wander) and never to be seen again.

The ultimate goal is to be the last person left at the compound. The prize? You get to stay there for as long as you’d like — theoretically forever — and get any reward you can think to ask for (so long as you thank the brand that provides it — sponsorship opportunities are everywhere!). Although, from what we learn, the winner who stayed the longest left after six weeks — so maybe it’s not all that great after all?

I don’t want to give too much away — but there are hints from the beginning that this show (and this book) is a step beyond its real-world reality TV parallels. The contestants live in a state of risk, tedium, and pleasure at first. The house is dirty when they arrive, and the lack of basics — doors and chairs! — is odd in the extreme, especially in contrast to the beautiful pool. But the rewards make clear that any improvement come from doing tasks, the more the better, and the communal tasks must be done by all.

At first, they’re mostly benign, but quickly escalate from the boys and girls having to line each other up according to who’s the best-looking to a challenge where each person has to hold their bedmate’s head under water for sixty seconds. There’s an important reward on the line — and certain contestants are willing to ignore their partners’ discomfort or fear in order to make sure they win.

The book offers lots of commentary on materialism and attractiveness, but we get hints too that something isn’t quite right in this world. Lily, our main character, wonders if any of the boys have fought in the wars already. Mentions of these undefined wars are sprinkled throughout the book — we know nothing further about the why or where of it all, but clearly, there are lives being lost at an alarming rate. The desert surrounding the compound seems beset by random brush fires. And even in their outside lives, we get the sense that getting by is a daily grind — why wouldn’t Lily perform an unpleasant task to gain a gorgeous dress, knowing just how many hours of slogging through her menial job it would take to even come close to affording it?

As the story twists its way forward, the game and the players become crueler and crueler, and yet, there are also friendships, and some bedmates even find love. But having a bedmate is critical to survival in the compound, so can these relationships actually be genuine?

The Compound is a fascinating, absorbing read that’s disturbing on so many levels, yet impossible to look away from. It magnifies all the worst aspects of real-world reality TV, placing them in a scenario in which people’s worst tendencies are not only approved but encouraged. Eventually, those who make it far in the game are allowed to resort to violence, and the game itself metes out shocking punishments for those who disobey the rules. The worst is likely what happens when the late-stage players seem to be getting too comfortable and managing to avoid blatant conflict — the following scenes are probably the most horrifying in the book, and strongly reminded me of scenes in The Hunger Games where the gamemakers lose patience with the pace and force ever greater dangers onto the tributes.

I can truly say that I’ve never read anything quite like The Compound before. It’s easy to see why GMA Book Club chose this one — this would make amazing fodder for a book group discussion.

I recommend The Compound for its twisted take on reality TV, the strangeness of the plot, and the tremendous food for thought.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

26Aug2025

Audiobook Review: Rich Girl Summer by Lily Chu

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Rich Girl Summer
Author: Lily Chu
Narrators: Phillipa Soo & Steven Pasquale
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication date: July 10, 2024
Print length: n/a
Audio length: 10 hours 6 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible download
Rating:

Fake heiress. Real secrets. One sizzling summer she’ll never forget.

Event planner Valerie Peng never planned on spending her summer sipping champagne at a lakefront estate, dodging suspicious socialites, or pretending to be anyone’s long-lost daughter. But when a very public, deeply mortifying mishap lands her in hot water—and her career in a hot mess—her uber-wealthy older client makes her an offer she can’t refuse: come to his glamorous summer home and pose as the long-lost daughter he believes his conniving family has hidden from him. In exchange? Time away from her actual life…and the chance to help uncover a long-buried secret.

But Cinderella needs some magic for this big of a makeover. Enter Nico, her client’s maddeningly perfect right-hand man. He’s organized, meticulous, impossible to read, and infuriatingly handsome. But even though he claims this scheme is a capital-M Mistake, Nico’s the only person she can trust to have her back. As they navigate a world of eccentric matriarchs, class divides, and private family feuds, their chemistry is as undeniable as it is ill-timed.

Caught between pretending to belong and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in, Valerie’s summer is about to get far more complicated than she ever planned.

I’m always delighted when a new Lily Chu book drops as an Audible Original. Rich Girl Summer is yet another fun romp, with relatable characters, out-there circumstances, romance, and in this case, lots of summertime, sunshine-y vibes.

Main character Valerie is a talented event planner. She’s created her own company, Ad Astra, which specializes in creating highly curated and personalized celebrations of life. By all accounts, she’s excellent at what she does. When she’s hired to manage the celebration of life for the recently deceased patriarch of the wealthy Badgerton family, Valerie knows this event could really catapult her business to the next level, and is determined that everything go perfectly.

Unfortunately, a less-than-competent assistant and an ill-timed attack of food poisoning lead to disaster. The event goes viral, but not as Valerie had hoped. Her business may be on the brink of utter ruin. And then she’s approached by Roger Badgerton, who’d originally hired her. She expects reprimands and threats, but instead, is shocked by what he says: She’s physically similar to his long-lost teen girlfriend, and he’s learned since his father’s passing that the family paid her off to leave town and cut ties with Roger when she discovered she was pregnant. Roger is furious and heartbroken about his family’s deception, and also desperate to find his daughter, who would be roughly Valerie’s age.

His proposition: Valerie will spend the summer at the family’s lakeside estate, where he’ll introduce her to the family as his long-lost daughter. All she has to do is be there, interact with the family, and hopefully unnerve someone enough to start spilling the beans about the past. It sounds crazy, and Valerie’s first instinct is to refuse — but her business has dried up, she has no prospects, and Roger is promising to promote Ad Astra at the end of the summer and get her back on her feet. What could go wrong?

Sweetening the deal is the fact that Nico, Roger’s personal assistant, will be spending the summer at the estate too. He’s kind, uber-organized, very attractive. Valerie wouldn’t exactly mind spending more time with Nico…

Rich Girl Summer mixes summer breeziness with more personal moments, as both Valerie and Nico have plenty of family dysfunction and baggage to deal with — all while keeping up the charade of Valerie being Roger’s daughter. It’s highly entertaining to see her trying to fit in with the snooty, rich Badgertons, while also playing amateur detective and seeing what clues she can pick up about which of Roger’s siblings might have been involved in the deception all those years ago.

I appreciated seeing Valerie and Nico’s romance unfold. They each have major personal obstacles to overcome in order to move forward with a healthy relationship, and the story convincingly portrays their progress, their attempts to communicate in a healthy way, and ultimately, the way they support one another in dealing with their family issues.

Valerie is upfront about being a people-pleaser right from the start — and it made me want to give her a major wake-up call. Seeing her inability to say no in situations where she absolutely should have is frustrating — but it’s part of her character development arc, and the narrative makes us sympathize with Valerie’s struggle despite wishing she’d show a little more spine early on.

My main quibble with the audiobook is that the Badgerton family is large, with many siblings, spouses, and children, and I felt like I needed a cheat sheet to keep the characters straight. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were a print edition, but Rich Girl Summer is available only as an audiobook for now. It would be nice if Audible offered a family tree as a PDF extra!

Narrators Phillipa Soo and Steven Pasquale are just as terrific as you’d expect! Phillipa Soo has narrated all of Lily Chu’s audiobooks so far, and she’s a delight to listen to.

Rich Girl Summer is currently available only through Audible. Her previous novels were released the same way, and then released in paperback about a year later. As I’ve said in previous reviews of her books, I always look forward to new Lily Chu audiobooks. The Comeback and The Stand-In remain my favorites, but you can’t go wrong with any of them!

Purchase links: Amazon
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

16Aug2025

Book Review: The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The King’s Messenger
Author: Susanna Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

For fans of Diana Gabaldon and Philippa Gregory, courtly rivalry and intrigue…

1613: King James – sixth of Scotland, first of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots – has unified both countries under one crown. But the death of his eldest son, Henry, has plunged the nation into mourning, as the rumours rise the prince was poisoned.

Andrew Logan’s heard the rumours, but he’s paid them little heed. As one of the King’s Messengers he has enough secrets to guard, including his own. In these perilous times, when the merest suggestion of witchcraft can see someone tortured and hanged, men like Andrew must hide well the fact they were born with the Sight.

He’ll need all his gifts, though, when the king sends Andrew north to find and arrest Sir David Murray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and bring him a prisoner to London to stand trial before the dreaded Star Chamber.

A story of treachery, betrayal and love…

And the blurb from a different edition:

New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author Susanna Kearsley explores romance, court alliances, and the limits of one’s duty in this rich story of an ordinary man in service to a treacherous king, and the mission that brings him to love and his true calling.

In 1613, King James sends his messenger Andrew Logan to Scotland to arrest his late son’s close advisor Sir David Moray. Accompanied by his aloof neighbor Phoebe Westaway, Andrew slowly untangles the real point of his mission—to frame Sir David for Prince Henry’s death. But Andrew is unwilling to bring an innocent man into a treacherous betrayal.

Andrew’s feisty and lovely neighbor Phoebe Westaway has always been stand-offish to Andrew, having heard malicious gossip against him. But as they journey to Scotland and back, Phoebe has the opportunity to see Andrew for the honorable and loyal man that he is, and her change of heart may open new possibilities for them once their mission is complete.

Susanna Kearsley is a must-read author for me. Her books are beautiful depictions of well-developed characters embroiled in significant historical periods, and I’ve loved them all so far. Her 2025 release, The King’s Messenger, is another excellent tale that kept me hooked from start to finish.

The King’s Messenger is set in England in1613, during the reign of King James I. As the story opens, his eldest son and heir, Prince Henry, has recently died, a tragedy for the kingdom as well as for those who loved him. Rumor has it that his death wasn’t natural — was he poisoned?

Andrew Logan is a King’s Messenger, a man whose job it is to carry out tasks on behalf of the king, delivering and receiving messages, but also, when necessary, making arrests and taking people into custody. Following Prince Henry’s death, Andrew is summoned before the king and charged with a new assignment: He’s to journey to Scotland and arrest Sir David Moray, Henry’s closest companion and beloved mentor and friend, and deliver him to London for trial. Sir David is being charged with the prince’s murder — but he’s not without friends at court, and they have a very different viewpoint of what actually happened.

Phoebe Westaway is Andrew’s neighbor, and the two have a quarrelsome, contentious relationship, fueled by Phoebe’s dislike of Andrew over what may have been a misunderstanding years earlier. Phoebe’s father is a scrivener (scribe), and he’s ordered to accompany Andrew on his mission and record everything that Sir David says during their journey back to London. But Mr. Westaway is ailing, and Phoebe worries that the arduous journey will endanger his health, so she insists on going with him. Andrew disapproves, but his Second Sight shows him that she does in fact go with them, and he knows that what he Sees can’t be changed — and so these three end up traveling together through Scotland and back toward London, escorting a prisoner who seems more and more to have been unfairly framed for a crime he simply could not have committed.

The plot of The King’s Messenger nicely balances the intrigue surrounding Henry’s death, the journey through Scotland and England, as the travelers face dangers from their surroundings, pursuers, and suspicious strangers, and the interpersonal dynamics among the group. Andrew starts by viewing David as his prisoner, but over time, he starts to understand who David is as a man. We see Andrew adjust his attitude and treatment of David due to the growing respect he has for him, as well as the growing suspicion that he’s being used as a pawn in a plot he’s only starting to become aware of.

Phoebe and Andrew also see a shift in their relationship, going from mistrust and tension to tentative appreciation, and finally, a more emotional bond. Phoebe has to overcome old prejudices to appreciate who Andrew truly is, and Andrew can only reveal so much to Phoebe while keeping his oaths and the secrecy of his position.

The story is told through chapters from several different characters’ viewpoints, including Andrew, David, Phoebe, and even Queen Anna, wife of King James and mother of Henry. Each voice is distinct, and lends an important insight into this complicated web of partial truths and competing motives.

I was a bit nervous at the start of the book, as this is not a historical period with which I had much familiarity ahead of time. I needn’t have worried: Without any sort of heavy-handed exposition, the author weaves enough context and information into the narrative to ease the reader into the story. It never felt hard to follow, and in fact, I ended up really enjoying learning more about this time and its royal dramas.

Overall, I loved The King’s Messenger. The journey is exciting, and I was entirely caught up in the characters’ relationships, risks, and plans. The King’s Messenger has a satisfying conclusion, remaining true to known history while also feeling very appropriate for what we come to know of the characters.

The author provides quite a bit of information in her closing notes about her research and sources, including distinguishing between what is known of the historical figures and events. Many of the main characters, including Andrew and Phoebe, are fictional creations, but they’re so well developed and situated that they feel totally natural in their roles interacting with historical figures such as David Moray and the King and Queen.

Susanna Kearsley’s books never let me down, and The King’s Messenger is no exception. The Moray family figures in several of her other books, set in slightly later time periods, but it’s not necessary to have read them in order to appreciate The King’s Messenger.

Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction. Don’t miss it!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

9Aug2025

Book Review: Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Hemlock & Silver
Author: T. Kingfisher
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: August 19, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind.

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.

Not to die, but to save— seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.

But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.

Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.

Or it might be the thing that kills them all.

T. Kingfisher’s fairy tale retellings have become favorites of mine, and Hemlock & Silver is a great addition to this growing collection.

In this slightly off-kilter reinterpretation of the Snow White story, our main character is Anja — a large, plain-spoken woman in her mid-thirties who’s devoted her life to learning everything there is to know about poisons and how to cure them. She’s not a traditional healer: Don’t expect her to mend your broken bones! But if a snake-bite or opium overdose is the problem, she’s the one person most likely (but not guaranteed) to be able to offer even a glimmer of hope.

Anja’s relatively quiet life in a small desert town is upended when the king himself unexpectedly shows up in her workroom one day. He needs Anja’s help: His 12-year-old daughter Snow is fading away, and he suspects poison. Her mother and sister are already dead, and he can’t lose Snow as well — but with the possibility that someone in his court is secretly a poisoner, he needs an outsider’s help. Anja has no choice but to agree to accompany the king and his retinue to the villa where Snow suffers. If it truly is a poisoning case, then perhaps Anja really can make a difference — although she fears what it could mean for her family if she were to fail.

Snow’s case is puzzling and Anja makes little progress until she discovers Snow secretly eating some odd-looking apples. Anja takes a piece to test, and after trying it herself, accidentally finds herself falling against — and through — one of the vast mirrors that seem to be everywhere within the villa. There, Anja discovers a mirror world full of danger and horrific creatures, and learns that the threats against Snow are even more dire than anyone could have imagined.

Anja is a wonderful main character, her lack of tact balanced by her professionalism, honesty, and practicality.

The problem with being plump, middle-aged, and a woman was that people expected you to be motherly, as if that was your default state. I am not. I am actually terrible with children. On the other hand, I have saved the lives of multiple toddlers who licked flypaper, which I feel should count for something

Anja is joined in her desperate quest by her gruff guard Javier — who is steady and supportive, despite communicating mainly in grunts — and an especially delightful and supercilious cat named Grayling, who is able to speak with Anja and has attitude for miles.

“Are you sure I haven’t gone mad?” I asked.

“Your questions are remarkably unoriginal ‘Am I mad, is this a dream, oh no, what’s going on, why is this happening?'” He gazed off into the distance as if I were no longer worth considering

Strange as it sounds, this stung a bit. It’s one thing to know that a cat holds you in mild contempt, quite another to have it actually insult you in language you can understand.

The otherworldly adventure in the mirror world is eerie and unsettling, and there are moments that move this fantasy story toward a horror vibe as Anja discovers something that will give her (and all readers, I suspect) some lasting nightmares:

… the hands reached out and went creeping over the floor, dragging sections of arm behind them. The faces lay tumbled across each other, in a pile that blinked and twitched and moved, the corners of mouths working madly as if in pain.

Shudder.

But even this creature has some unexpected twists in store — the author seem to delight in setting up scenarios that have a hint of familiarity from other stories, then turning them upside down and having them come out completely different in feel and meaning.

Hemlock & Silver provides a fairy tale foundation, then builds upon it to include fascinating characters and a new, distinct story arc, with high stakes and imaginative dangers. I did find the back and forth between the real world and the mirror world occasionally hard to follow… but then again, I was slightly under the weather when I read this book, so this could be a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Hemlock & Silver. It’s not every book that can make you laugh out loud on one page, leave you entirely creeped out on the next, and provide a baffling array of twists and turns to confuse readers before tying the plot up with a convincing conclusion.

Highly recommended!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

8Aug2025

Title twins two-fer: Battle of the books about battles between bookstores

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Two new releases with titles so close to being identical that I’m constantly having to check to see which is which!

It looks like battling bookstores are all the rage… or at least, the hot topic of summer 2025, as both of these new books seem to prove.

I’ve read them both. Neither ended up being a stellar read for me, but I have a clear preference between the two. Which battling bookstore book comes out on top? Read on for my thoughts!

Title: Battle of the Bookstores
Author: Ali Brady
Narrator: Karissa Vacker, Brandon Francis
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Print length: 432 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley; audiobook via library
Rating:

Rivalry and romance spark when two bookstore managers who are opposites in every way find themselves competing for the same promotion.

Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer.

Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration—the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they’re actually chatting with each other.

As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all’s fair in love and war. And maybe, if they’re lucky, happily ever afters aren’t just for the books.

This was one of my most highly anticipated summer reads, given how much I enjoyed this author duo’s previous three books. Sad to say, Battle of the Bookstores just doesn’t measure up.

This story about rival bookstore managers — one manages a romance bookstore, the other a store focused on literary fiction — embraces pretty much every trope under the sun. It’s done in a cute, self-aware sort of way (the characters talk about how they’re living out the enemies-to-lovers trope, for example). The story also includes the stereotypical extremely tall male love interest, fake dating, just one bed, corresponding with someone online without realizing they know each other in real life, and so much more.

On the plus side, the focus on reading, books transforming lives, and getting to truly know a person by reading the books they love all really appeal to my book-loving soul.

However — what I loved about the other Ali Brady books was the strong focus on friendships and family dynamics as the central storyline, with romantic plots being more secondary. Here, the romance is all there is. Honestly, we barely get to know anyone else in either main characters’ lives, and all issues and considerations are secondary to their enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story trajectory.

Add to that some over-the-top sex scenes and awkward lines (“My pants grow tight in anticipation”), and I just couldn’t get past the sense that this story was somewhat (to use one of Josie’s put-downs) run-of-the-mill.

The audiobook wasn’t fabulous either — the narrators are okay, but a few mispronunciations (like saying the CH in “Chanukah” like the CH in “cheese”) felt like sheer laziness to me.

Overall… Battle of the Bookstores get a lukewarm “meh” from me. Which makes me sad — as I’ve said, I adored Ali Brady’s three previous books and recommend them wholeheartedly!

Title: The Battle of the Bookshops
Author: Poppy Alexander
Publisher: Avon and Harper Voyager
Publication date: August 19, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.

The cute, seaside town of Portneath has been the home of Capelthorne’s Books for nearly a hundred years…

The shop, in the heart of a high street that stretches crookedly down the hill from the castle to the sea, may be a tad run-down these days, but to Jules Capelthorne, the wonky, dusty world of literary treasures is full of precious childhood memories. When her great-aunt Florence gets too frail to run it alone, Jules ditches her junior publishing job in London and comes home to make the bookshop’s hundredth birthday a celebration to remember.

Jules quickly discovers things are worse than she ever imagined: The bookshop is close to bankruptcy, unlikely to make it to its own centenary celebration, and the lease on the building is up for renewal. With a six-figure sum needed, the future looks bleak.

To make matters worse, the owner of the property is the insufferable Roman Montbeau, from the posh, local family who owns half of Portneath. The Montbeaus and Capelthornes have feuded for years, and Roman has clearly not improved since he tormented Jules as a child. Fresh from a high-flying career in New York, he is on a mission to shake things up, and—unforgivably—proves his point about Capelthorne’s being a relic of the past by opening a new bookshop directly opposite—a shiny, plate-glass-windowed emporium of books.

Jules may not be able to splash the cash on promotions and marketing like the Montbeaus, but she’s got some ideas of her own, plus she has a tenacity that may just win the hardest of hearts and the most hopeless of conflicts.

Let the battle of the bookshops commence…

I did NOT realize this was going to be a Romeo and Juliet retelling before picking up the book (guess I didn’t read the synopsis very carefully… Montbeaus and Capelthornes, indeed!). I still would probably have requested this ARC, but might not have groaned out loud once I realized the central plot device.

In this battling bookstores book, Jules’s family has run Capelthorne’s Books for one hundred years, but it’s getting shabby around the edges. And now the wealthy Montbeau family has opened up shiny new Portneath Books right across the street — and what’s worse, they own the land on which Capelthorne’s stands. It seems that this small town isn’t big enough for two bookstores, but which will prevail?

Jules wants to hate Roman Montbeau — for everything his family stands for, for his perceived snobbishness, and for trying to ruin her aunt’s business — but she’s also had a crush on him since they were teens, and it appears that he’s felt the same way all these years. Jules and Roman go from business adversaries to lovers in the blink of an eye, but they still have to contend with centuries of animosity between their families.

I did so want to like this book! Sadly, it was pretty much a bust. Jules and Roman have no chemistry, and we only know that they’ve fallen in love because they tell us so. There’s no discernible build up or early sparks or any sign of growing feelings. Very unconvincing.

I also intensely disliked this moment of high drama (spoiler: there’s a fire) when Jules seems intent on fulfilling her role as a Juliet stand-in:

It was too hard to breath, too hard to keep going. Roman must have perished, and Jules knew, in that moment, life without him was impossible. She was done.

I’m sorry, what? I just can’t…

Meanwhile, the families’ feuding and backstory is a yawn, mainly just a device to shoehorn in the Romeo and Juliet theme. Some intrigue about an antiquarian book found on the Capelthorne’s premises seems to be meant to add excitement — but again, it’s just not particularly convincing

There’s a sweet, small-town-UK vibe to the story, and the village and its people are rather charming. A nice setting doesn’t compensate for lack of an interesting plot. Unfortunately for me, I have two other books by this author in my Kindle library (grabbed based on cute covers and steep price drops) which I now doubt that I’ll want to read.

So which book comes out on top in the battle of the bookstore battle books?Save

Save

Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady

Is this a perfect book? No.

Is it this author duo’s best book? Again, no.

But, in the battle of the bookstore battle books, this is the one that kept me entertained, had a fun, upbeat tone, and made me care about the characters and their silly competition (and their romance).

Also, the Ali Brady book clearly revels in a love of books, with the characters engaging in endless swooning over their favorites novels and authors and characters, and with plenty of terrific mentions of great books. The Poppy Alexander book is sadly lacking in this area, which is downright odd for a book about bookstores.

As I mentioned right from the start, Battle of the Bookstores is not my favorite Ali Brady book — I adored their three previous novels, and wholeheartedly recommend any or all of them. But, as a light piece of summer entertainment, this book is sure to please booklovers with a soft spot for book-centric love stories.

Final verdict: If you’re looking for a bookstore battle book for your summer reading, check out Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady!Save

6Aug2025

Book Review: The Last Wizards’ Ball (Gunnie Rose, #6) by Charlaine Harris

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Last Wizards’ Ball
Series: Gunnie Rose, #6
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Saga Press
Publication date: July 22, 2025
Length: 272 pages
Genre: Fantasy / speculative fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the sixth and final installment in the critically acclaimed Gunnie Rose series as sisters Lizbeth Rose and Felicia must face their fates at the last Wizards’ Ball.

Lizbeth Rose’s sister Felicia attends the Grand Wizards’ Ball, and as one of the most powerful—and beautiful—death wizards in a generation, she is highly sought after as one of the belles of the ball.

However, war and violence are on the rise in Europe as German and Japanese wizards are also courting Felicia…and some are refusing to take no for an answer.

As the façade of genteel wizard society turns deadly, Lizbeth must learn to not only protect her sister, but also navigate the arcane world that is pulling her sister and husband into a dangerous dance with death that could change the world as they know it.

#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Charlaine Harris has crafted a murderous and magical family drama in this sixth and final installment to the beloved and bestselling Gunnie Rose series.

As if there were any doubt… Charlaine Harris knows how to tell a story! As the Gunnie Rose series demonstrates so well, this author is a master when it comes to creating fascinating new worlds, familiar yet decidedly other, and filling them with characters we readers can’t help getting involved with.

The Last Wizards’ Ball is the sixth and final book in the Gunnie Rose series. To provide a quick refresher/overview: The Gunnie Rose series takes place in an alternate world in which the United States fractured during the 1930s. The continent is now divided into separate, independent countries, among them the Holy Russian Empire (our California and Oregon), New America, Dixie, Britannia, and Texoma (our Texas and Oklahoma), home to main character Lizbeth Rose.

Lizbeth is a “gunnie”, a talented sharpshooter for hire who earns a living protecting people and cargo. Over the course of the series, she’s met and fallen in love with Eli Savarov, an aristocrat from the HRE and a gifted “grigori”, a term used for Russian magicians. In this world, magic is real and powerful, and while in some circles grigoris are esteemed, in Texoma, they are generally feared.

As book six opens, the world is on the brink of change. It’s apparently the late 1930s, and the rise of Germany’s new leader is causing fear and uneasy alliances around the world. Closer to home, Lizbeth and Eli are escorting her sister Felicia to the Wizards’ Ball in San Diego in the Holy Russian Empire — an event through which powerful magical families introduce their eligible younger members to one another in hopes of securing marriages that will enhance their families’ strengths, abilities, and influence. As the most gifted magician among her peers, with a terrifying talent for death magic, Felicia is highly sought after… but potentially also a target.

As the week of the ball unfolds, Lizbeth and Eli fend off threats and outright attacks — and meanwhile, Lizbeth must try to fit herself into the refined, snobby atmosphere of high society in the HRE. If not for Felicia’s sake, she’d much rather be back home living her simple life in Texoma, but she’s becoming increasingly (and uncomfortably) aware that what she wants might not match up with what Eli wants. What does this mean for their future as a couple?

Meanwhile, events of the outside world exert a huge amount of pressure on what Lizbeth had originally envisioned as a fancy mating ritual. The German and Japanese contingents at the ball seem to be plotting something, and appear to be focusing in on Felicia for their own purposes. Lizbeth and Eli must figure out who to trust if they’re all going to make it through the ball alive.

The Last Wizards’ Ball is an interesting wrap-up to this unique, highly creative and engaging series. It’s a bit startling to find elements of our own world seeping into this fictional alternative reality. There are little benign moments, such as Lizbeth ruminating that the Wizards’ Ball reminds her of the London Season as presented in Georgette Heyer’s books. Wait, Georgette Heyer books exist in Lizbeth’s world?? That’s pretty awesome.

But on a more serious note, it’s shocking to see Hitler’s rise, foretellings of the Holocaust, and the beginning of war in Europe within this alternate world. While there’s no United States in Gunnie Rose’s world, the various countries and territories that occupy this section of North America still face choices that feel familiar from our own history — who to back, whether to join the fight, or whether to stay out of it altogether and stick to an isolationist policy.

Thrusting Lizbeth, Eli, Felicia, and all the other characters we’ve come to know into the WWII build-up is an interesting move which creates new sets of stakes. It does make the series feel like it’s taking a very different turn than expected, with a geopolitical focus that’s a departure from the emphasis on competition for magical power. Still, as each character faces challenges and choices, it’s rewarding to the reader to see how what we’ve come to know about them all plays out along this new and different story trajectory.

I was sorry to see this book come to an end, knowing that this represents the end of the Gunnie Rose saga. Many characters’ future are left up in the air as war looms. We’re left knowing their general intentions, but I’d certainly like to see what happens next in their lives. I think some readers will feel frustrated or upset by certain developments in the characters’ personal lives. I don’t want to get spoilery, so I’ll just say that I understood why things turned out as they did and possibly even feel like the outcomes are the most logical choice, but still had a bit of heart-ache along the way (and a bit of a flashback to some of my more upset feelings about certain outcomes in the Sookie Stackhouse series).

All in all, I’m very happy that I chose to start this series two years ago, and I’ve loved following the story from beginning to end. The world of Gunnie Rose is fascinating, and I’ll miss it — and especially Lizbeth — very much.

I’ll look forward to whatever new worlds Charlaine Harris creates in her next book! Meanwhile, if you’re a Charlaine Harris fan, which are your favorite books or series of hers? Beyond Sookie Stackhouse and Gunnie Rose, I’ve also read the Harper Connelly books — I’m open to suggestions on which others to try!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

31Jul2025

Book Review: Sisters of Fortune by Esther Chehebar

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Sisters of Fortune
Author: Esther Chehebar
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: July 22, 2025
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

In this hilarious, heart-warming debut novel, three Syrian Jewish sisters chase love and grapple with the growing pains of young womanhood as they seek their place within and beyond their Brooklyn community.

The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the middle sister, Fortune, is starting to question her decision to get married in just a few months. Nina, the eldest sister, is single at 26 (and growing cobwebs by her community’s standards) when she runs into an old childhood friend who offers her the chance to leave behind the pressure to follow in her younger sister’s footsteps. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest, a senior at her yeshiva high school, has recently started sneaking around with a mysterious older bachelor that has everybody asking themselves, ‘Fortune, who?‘

As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the three sisters find themselves in a tug of war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their community wants and with what they want for themselves—and all while learning how to roll the perfect grape leaf under the tutelage of their charismatic grandmother, Sitto, who fled Syria in 1992, and of their mother Sally, whose anxieties are tangled up in her daughters’ futures.

Sisters of Fortune is a sister story about dating, ambition, and coming-of-age under the scope of an immigrant community whose coded language is endearing, maddening, and never boring. The book reckons with what we dream for ourselves, our daughters, and granddaughters. It is concerned as much with where we come from as where we are going—and, above all, with what we are eating for dinner. (And who is making it).

This book about three Syrian Jewish sisters navigating community expectations and the pull of modern life seemed promising, but doesn’t wholly deliver. The three Cohen sisters — Lucy, Fortune, and Nina — deal with parental and community pressure to conform, marry well, and live up to expectations as exemplary wives and mothers. But with one sister’s wedding looming, an older sister remaining unwed and reluctant to play along, and the youngest sister seeming on the verge of a very successful match, the sisters’ lives are suddenly changing in unexpected ways.

Sisters of Fortune includes POV chapters for each sister, but oddly, there’s very little that shows the relationships between the sisters. Instead, each sister seems focused mainly on marriage prospects and dealing with their parents. Their lives are a mix of tradition — cooking, cleaning, preparing Shabbat meals and creating a nice home for their husbands — and modernity — taking the subway to work or school, wearing jeans, getting manicures. Material from so-called bride classes seems a bit out of place — there isn’t a strong sense that the family values quite the level of religious adherence that this material implies.

Between a somewhat messy writing style, too much emphasis on brand names and material wealth, a tendency to include kind of gross moments in random scenes (bits of food flying from someone’s mouth as they talk, engaging in a make-out scene literally minutes after throwing up) and a plot that just sort of peters out toward the end rather than reaching a strong conclusion, I was left mainly unsatisfied by this book.

I did enjoy the scenes with the grandmother and the descriptions of food (although even this felt like too much after a while). There’s a glossary at the end, which will be essential for readers unfamiliar with this culture and its language. I wish there had been a bit more about the family’s backstory; the bits we get are interesting and add depth, but that’s a small part of the story.

This is a fast read, but by the end, I was frustrated by the pacing and the lack of convincing growth for the main characters.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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30Jul2025

Audiobook Review: Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Totally and Completely Fine
Author: Elissa Sussman
Narrator: Patti Murin
Publisher: Dell
Publication date: July 8, 2025
Print length: 448 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 14 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask comes an inspiring romance novel about honoring the past, living in the present, and loving for the future.

In her small Montana hometown, Lauren Parker has assumed a few different roles: teenage hellraiser; sister of superstar Gabe Parker; and most recently, tragically widowed single mother. She’s never cared much about labels or what people thought about her, but dealing with her grief has slowly revealed that she’s become adrift in her own life.

Then she meets the devilishly handsome actor Ben Walsh on the set of her brother’s new movie. They have instant chemistry, and Lauren realizes that it has been far too long since someone has really and truly seen her. Her rebellious spirit spurs her to dive headfirst into her desire, but when a sexy encounter becomes something more, Lauren finds herself balancing old roles and new possibilities.

There’s still plenty to contend with: small-town rumors, the complications of Ben’s fame, and her daughter’s unpredictable moods. An unexpected fling seemed simple at the time—so when did everything with Ben get so complicated? And is there enough room in her life for the woman Lauren wants to be? Alternating between Lauren’s past with Spencer and her present with Ben, Totally and Completely Fine illuminates what it means to find a life-changing love and be true to oneself in the process.

Lauren Parker is not, actually, Totally and Completely Fine… although she’d very much like it if everyone would act like she is. Three years after her husband’s tragic death, she and her 13-year-old daughter Lena are muddling along, coping with daily life mainly by not talking about the big, gaping hole in their world, and just kind of pretending that everything is okay.

When Lauren’s movie star brother Gabe — a former James Bond! — invites them to spend a week visiting the set of his new movie, it seems like a good chance to get away and take a break from their small town in Montana… where everyone knows everything about everyone else, all the time. Lena seems happy enough to hang out with her uncle and witness the movie magic, and meanwhile, Lauren seems to find an instant spark with actor Ben Walsh, a Hollywood rising star and total hottie (and sweetheart), who just happens to be at least ten years younger than Lauren. But what difference does age make if it’s just a vacation fling?

In this layered look at love, grief, and second chances, Lauren’s connection to Ben is obviously not just a fling… but it takes her a while to figure that out. Meanwhile, she’s starting to realize that as much as she loves her late husband Spencer and misses him every single day, she’s actually lonely. Could she… should she… consider opening herself up to love (or at least, dating)? And if she did, what would that mean for Lena, whose rocky relationship with Lauren can’t take one more blow?

As the story unfolds, the narrative alternates between now — Lauren’s potential romance with Ben, her efforts to support and reach Lena, and her challenges living in the town where she’s grown up — and then — Lena’s history with Spencer, from childhood friendship through her rebellious teens and all the way to the marriage and early parenting years. The two halves of the story weave together effectively, with the past informing Lauren’s approach to motherhood and the possibility of getting involved with someone new.

If you’ve read Elissa Sussman’s previous books, the character names and even some scenes may ring a bell. Gabe Parker was one of the lead characters in Funny You Should Ask, the author’s 2022 novel about Hollywood, scandal, and unlikely love. I loved that book, so it wasn’t a surprise to find myself immediately caught up in Totally and Completely Fine, immersed in the characters’ lives and relationships, and delighted to see Gabe, Lauren, and others once again.

Ben is a complex, interesting love interest, and I enjoyed seeing his sensitivity and intelligence as he navigates spending time with Lauren and dealing with the ups and downs of her family and community. I really appreciated the depth of Lauren’s character development, as we come to understand the beauty of her marriage to Spencer, the pain of her loss and the unending sense of grief, the sparks of hope when it comes to finding moments of unexpected joy, and the challenges she faces in dealing with small-town gossip, preconceived ideas about who she is, and finding a way to parent a grieving child.

I really have only two small quibbles with this book. The first has to do with the sex scenes, which, to my taste, are unnecessarily graphic. Granted, this is strictly a matter of reader preference, but I didn’t need quite that many details in order to understand that there’s excellent chemistry going on here.

My second quibble is not with the plot or writing, but with the audiobook narration. Narrator Patti Murin does a fine job with most of the story, with Lauren and Lena, and — oddly — with the adult male characters with non-American accents. However, her delivery for Gabe does not work, at least not for me. Gabe is a former Bond! (Yes, he used a British accent for the role, but in his real life, he speaks like the native Montanan that he is). Gabe should sound like a leading man… but here, he comes across as kind of nasal and whiny — he’s believable as an annoying younger brother, but not as the awesome, flawed, grown-up Hollywood star that he is.

Those complaints aside, I enjoyed Totally and Completely Fine very much, and once I started, I just didn’t want to stop. I was immersed enough in these characters’ lives that I was left wanting more — and while the story wraps up quite well and has a satisfyingly definitive ending, I’d love a follow-up!

I’m now three for three with Elissa Sussman’s books! If you haven’t read anything by her yet, you really could pick any of the bunch and have a great time. Her books are funny, layered, emotional, and highly entertaining. I can’t wait for whatever she writes next!

Interested in this author? Check out my reviews of her other books:
Funny You Should Ask
Once More With Feeling

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

24Jul2025

Book Review: The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Enchanted Greenhouse
Series: The Spellshop, #2
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Publisher: Bramble
Publication date: July 15, 2025
Length: 375 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Beth Durst invites you to her new standalone novel nestled on a far-away island brimming with singing flowers, honey cakes, and honeyed love. The hardcover edition features beautiful sprayed edges.

Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium.

This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home.

But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again.

This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.

Funny, kind, and forgiving, The Enchanted Greenhouse is a story about giving second chances—to others and to yourself.

If you’re looking for cozy fantasy with magical, whimsical creatures, sweet treats, and talking roses… have I got a book for you!

The Enchanted Greenhouse is Sarah Beth Durst’s follow up to her 2024 novel The Spellshop. Both books epitomize the cozy fantasy trend — light on plot, but filled with sweetness, moments of delight, and a sense of wonder.

The Enchanted Greenhouse opens with drama and high stakes. Main character Terlu, a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, breaks the law governing control of magic: Lonely, she casts a spell to grant sentience to a spider plant in order to create a companion for herself. When she’s caught, she’s quickly convicted and condemned to spending the rest of her life as a wooden statue, to serve as a warning to anyone else who might be tempted to commit unsanctioned sorcery.

From this point onward, the story slows way, way down, and we enter the realm of cozy gardening and baking and magical cuteness.

Terlu’s life is saved when she ends up on a remote snow-covered island, where a taciturn gardener, Yarrow, wakes her from her fate as a statue and restores her to living, breathing life. After some confusion, it becomes clear that he thought he was rescuing a sorcerer, who could then work magic to save the vast greenhouses that cover his island. The greenhouses were created and enchanted by a sorcerer many years earlier, but after that sorcerer’s death, some of the greenhouses have started to fail. Yarrow fears that without intervention, they’ll all eventually collapse — and as the sole caretaker and resident of the island, that would utterly destroy all sense of purpose for his life.

Terlu is not a sorcerer, but she does have skill with unraveling unfamiliar language, and commits herself to trying to understand the enchantments on the greenhouses. Meanwhile, Yarrow grudgingly accepts Terlu’s help and introduces her to the wonders of the greenhouses — which include flying cats, singing flowers, and honey-loving miniature dragons. With each new greenhouse she enters, Terlu discovers something else spectacular and delightful, making her more determined than ever to save the greenhouses.

There’s a slow-burn, sweet and chaste romance that simmers between Terlu and Yarrow throughout the book, but meanwhile, they also develop trust and companionship and a shared purpose. Terlu and Yarrow both carry baggage from their pasts and have to overcome their fears in order to imagine any sort of safe and happy future.

Plot-wise, well, The Enchanted Greenhouse is pretty lightweight. A lot of the book depends on introducing readers to new moments of cozy cuteness (I mentioned the talking, singing flowers already, right?) There are big chunks of the book where not much happens at all; your enjoyment of this will depend on how much you like hearing about magical, sparkly decor and delicious baked goods.

I didn’t dislike The Enchanted Greenhouse — but there’s just not much there there. It’s a sweet story, but the actual narrative development could probably have fit into about half as many pages. I enjoyed some of the set pieces, but felt a sense of impatience after a while, having had my fill of descriptions of cakes and flowers and magical creatures.

As with the first book, The Enchanted Greenhouse has positive messages about connection, community, acceptance, and honesty, as well as being emotionally vulnerable, taking chances, and being a good friend. All this is lovely… I just wish there had been more of a plot to keep me interested.

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

20Jul2025

Book Review: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Atmosphere
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my go-to authors; I know I’m in for an emotional, immersive reading experience when I pick up one of her books. And with Atmosphere, her terrific writing and character development are set within a topic that always fascinates me: NASA and the development of America’s space program — and especially, how women are (or are not) included within that program.

Atmosphere‘s main character is Joan Goodwin, an astronomer who looks to the stars for insights into life on Earth and humanity’s role within the universe. It’s the 1980s, and NASA is preparing to develop its new space shuttle program. In a huge departure, NASA is — for the first time — accepting applications for women to join its upcoming astronauts cohorts. Joan doesn’t hesitate: She applies immediately, and eventually, is accepted.

But women in the space program are still rarities, and each of them finds that they represent not just themselves, but all women. As one of Joan’s peers comments as they watch Sally Ride launch into space:

“If Sally so much as sneezes at the wrong time, everyone will blame it on the fact that she’s a woman. And then none of us will go up there for a very long time.”

Joan is very much aware:

There were four men on that shuttle. But every American woman was.

Joan has more in her life than the intense training and commitment required to qualify as an astronaut. She’s a devoted aunt, helping raise the young daughter that her selfish sister seems to resent. Joan’s sister Barbara takes Joan for granted, acting as though Joan’s career is a personal affront when it causes her to be less available for babysitting and school pick-ups.

The heart of Atmosphere is Joan’s romantic life, or rather, her growing understanding of why she’s never experienced true love and why shouldn’t couldn’t bring herself to accept a marriage proposal from her high school boyfriend, despite her family’s pressure. When Joan meets Vanessa Ford, another astronaut candidate in her training group, she’s immediately drawn to her. Joan and Vanessa’s friendship slowly develops into something more, and as the women fall deeply in love, they must balance their relationship with the realities of government service in that era. The need to hide is very real; any hint of their relationship would be enough to permanently end their dreams of making it into space.

Atmosphere is structured with a now/then split timeline: As the book opens, it’s December 1984, and Joan is serving a shift as CAPCOM — the voice of Mission Control — while a crew on the space shuttle prepares for what should be a relatively simple satellite launch. And then things go horribly wrong, and Joan is forced to remain calm and provide guidance while a crew of her close friends — and Vanessa — are at risk of never returning to Earth at all.

Interspersed with the “now” chapters focusing on the unfolding disaster, the “then” chapters go back seven years, and follow Joan from her initial application to acceptance into the astronaut program, through her years of training and up to her first space mission. We follow the incredibly rigorous requirements and grueling training she experiences, and witness the competition and comaraderie among the astronaut candidates, as well as the baked-in sexism that the woman astronauts face on a daily basis.

Beyond that, we see Joan and Vanessa’s love story unfold. It’s sweet and passionate and deeply sincere, yet tinged with the necessity of hiding and living very different lives behind closed doors and in public.

Joan studied the thin blue, hazy circle that surrounded the Earth. The atmosphere was so delicate, nearly inconsequential. But it was the very thing keeping everyone she loved alive.

Atmosphere is beautifully written, and evokes the excitement of the space program as well as the social pressures and prejudices of the era. The characters are sharply drawn and sympathetic, and the chapters showing the backstory leading up to the disaster that frames the book are engrossing and highly engaging.

The shuttle disaster is gut-wrenching to read about. From our modern-day perspective, we readers are naturally all too aware of the real-life Challenger and Columbia disasters; we know all too well that the events unfolding on the page are most likely to end in tragedy. It’s impossible to look away; I found myself holding my breath and on edge whenever this piece of the storyline resumed, and was surprised by how intensely emotional I became by the end.

Overall, Atmosphere is an uplifting, highly compelling read. Truly, my only quibble is that I wanted more at the very end, which I felt wrapped up a little bit too abruptly. I would have loved one more chapter, or perhaps an epilogue, to gain a sense of closure in terms of the characters I’d come to care about so deeply.

Still, that’s really a minor complaint. I loved the book as a whole, and highly recommend Atmosphere for anyone looking for a fascinating, emotional read with unforgettable characters and historical elements that resonate today.

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Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.