Audiobook Review: The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Narrator: Dakota Fanning
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: April 8, 2025
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 15 hours, 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows.

On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine—along the way.

But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up.

Two decades later, Zoe’s a housewife; Cassie’s off the grid. The sisters aren’t speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters’ breakup is still a mystery. Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, who’s determined to be a star in spite of Zoe’s warnings, is on a quest to learn the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago.

As secrets emerge, all three women must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other—and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again?

Jennifer Weiner’s books can be counted on for memorable characters, intricate relationships, and terrific story arcs. The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits delivers all of these.

In this 2025 novel, we’re transported back to the music scene of the early aughts and the rise of the Griffin Sisters, a band whose one album changed lives. Even twenty years after their sudden breakup, devoted fans still love them, and the use of their music in a popular new Netflix series has brought them back into the spotlight once more.

But who are the Griffin Sisters, and where did they go?

As we learn, Cassie and Zoe Griffin were born Cassie and Zoe Grossberg, the daughters of a young, working class Philadelphia couple. Zoe — full of beauty and sparkle — is a delight from birth, but the surprise pregnancy that brings Cassie along less than a year later is not a welcome development for their parents. Their mother struggles to love Cassie the way she loves Zoe, and Cassie’s differences confuse and frustrate her parents.

Everything changes when a preschool teacher notes Cassie’s uncanny musical ability. Although still basically a toddler, Cassie can play the piano by ear, and has a remarkable singing voice as well — although she’s so silent and withdrawn that she’ll only sing with Zoe. And so it goes: Zoe is pretty and popular, and protects Cassie (when she can) from the crueler comments directed at her by other children. Cassie is large, awkward, unsocial, and doesn’t care about clothes, entertainment, or making friends. Music is her only passion, and eventually, she enrolls in a music school in order to pursue a career as a classical pianist.

But Zoe craves the spotlight and stardom. Her perkiness puts her at center stage, even though her singing voice is passable at best. Her knowledge of music is limited to Britney and Cristina and the Spice Girls. She yearns to be a pop princess — and when her bandmates kick her out right before a Battle of the Bands competition, she begs Cassie to perform with her instead. Cassie has no interest, hates being seen, and just wants to be left alone… but she can’t let her sister down. In their performance, Cassie’s gift shines — her voice is transcendent, and while Zoe is the visual appeal, it’s Cassie’s singing and playing that makes their time on stage magical.

So magical, in fact, that a talent agent rushes to their house the next day and whisks them off to a recording label’s headquarters in New York. In the blink of an eye, the teen sisters are signed to a contract and are being prepped for a cross-country tour of radio stations and small venues. To turn the Griffin Sisters in a hit-machine, they need a songwriter, and Russell D’Angelo enters their lives. In his mid-twenties, Russell has a former band, is a talented guitar player, and a genius for writing songs. He and Cassie immediately click and begin creating together, but Zoe is interested in Russell for entirely different reasons. Once he joins the band, it’s only a matter of time before things get complicated.

We know from the opening pages of The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits — the one chapter told from Russell’s point of view — that something terrible happens to tear the band apart at the height of their success. As the book progresses, chapters focused on the band’s rise are interspersed with chapters set in 2024, through which we see just how differently Zoe and Cassie live twenty years later.

In 2024, two decades past their peak stardom, Zoe is a suburban housewife and mother. Yes, she still gets recognized as Zoe Griffin, but those days are long behind her. Zoe’s 18-year-old daughter Cherry has a musical gift of her own and yearns to pursue her own musical career, but Zoe blocks her at every turn, cautioning her about the cruelty of the music industry toward young women.

Meanwhile, Cassie has fled just about as far as she can go — no one has seen her in these past twenty years. She lives alone in Alaska on private acreage, hiding from the world, venturing out as little as possible, and denying herself anything that would give her pleasure, including music.

It takes a good 75% of the book to unravel the mystery of what happened to the Griffin Sisters and explain how Zoe and Cassie ended up with the lives they have now. Thanks to the author’s skillful development of the characters and their complex relationships, there’s never a dull moment as she weaves together the past and present timelines. By the time we get to the answers, we understand deeply both what happened and why, how each character perceived or misunderstood the key events, and how this affected their lives from that point forward.

I’m sure people will compare this lovely novel to Daisy Jones and The Six (a book that I love) — and yes, there are some similarities: A wildly popular band falling apart after only one album together, with plenty of “where are they now?” speculation. But, while the music industry pressures and excesses may feel familiar at times, the stories are quite different. Here, the beating heart of the story is the relationship between Cassie and Zoe, as well as the shifting, new dynamic that occurs once Zoe’s daughter Cherry makes it her mission to reunite the sisters (and the Sisters).

Cassie and Zoe are both flawed but fascinating characters. I’ll admit that it’s very hard to like Zoe, and she behaves terribly in many, many situations, often causing horrible damage. Still, the author is careful to make sure that readers understand Zoe — and while we may hate much of what she does, we also understand the fears and insecurities that drive her actions.

The audiobook, narrated by Dakota Fanning, is a joy to listen to. While on the lengthy side, it’s so well told that I never felt impatient or frustrated. The narration captures the characters’ personalities very well — they feel distinct and recognizable throughout.

I had only two minor quibbles by the end of the book. First, there a moment — very late in the story — where Zoe raises the issue of whether Cassie might be on the neurodivergent spectrum — and honestly, that felt a bit out of the blue. Yes, Cassie has a great deal of difficulty in social and public settings, but I never had a sense that she might be considered neurodivergent. I felt that if that was the case the author wished to make, there needed to be a lot more breadcrumbs throughout the book to support this.

My other quibble has to do with a plot thread left dangling at the conclusion:

Highlight the black area to reveal text — ONLY if you don’t mind a spoiler: Who is Cherry’s father? Zoe admits that she’s not sure — it could be Russell, but it could also be Tommy, the band’s drummer. As the story wraps up, I expected some sort of resolution, or maybe even just a hint that Zoe and Cherry might reach out to Tommy… but the matter just isn’t addressed again.

This issue is not critical to the overall story, which — big picture — is about Zoe and Cassie and whether they can find their way back to one another — but it still annoyed me at the end not to get an answer to this particular question.

Those small issues aside, I truly enjoyed The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits. I loved the band’s backstory, the dynamics between Cassie and Zoe, each of their personal journeys, and even the “now” parts focused on Cherry’s attempts to break out as a musician.

Jennifer Weiner’s books are always a treat, and The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits is no exception. Highly recommended.

Oh… but one last complaint.

I don’t just want to READ about the Griffin Sisters’ songs. I want to hear them!!

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.

19Jun2025

Book Review: Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Never Been Shipped
Author: Alicia Thompson
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 10, 2025
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A band reunion may be enough to change two musicians’ tune on love in this electric romance from USA Today bestselling author Alicia Thompson.

Micah’s relationship to music is complicated. As teenagers, her band took off after being featured on a popular TV show, but the group barely released their sophomore album before breaking up. Now, over a decade later, the band is reuniting for one more performance on a themed cruise, and Micah is determined to learn from her past mistakes — no losing herself in the music, and no losing her heart along the way.

John misses playing in a band, and mostly he misses Micah, who’d been his best friend until the music stopped. Back then, he didn’t take the lead, either in his guitar parts or while he sat back and watched her date another bandmate. John’s never been one to rock the boat, but he’s faced with another chance now that this cruise has brought music — and Micah — back in his life.

Onboard, Micah can’t help but see John with brand new eyes, and John’s feelings only intensify as the discordant band’s tension grows to a breaking point. With five days at sea, there’s a ticking clock on anything that might develop between them, and they’ll have to decide if their relationship is destined to be more than a one-hit wonder.

I’m going to keep this review short, simply because I’m not sure I have all that much to say. This story of second-chance love, set on a cruise ship, skims the surface of former teen bandmates and best friends reuniting after more than a decade without contact, reigniting all the unspoken, unacknowledged feelings from all those years ago.

While I really enjoyed this author’s three previous books (ratings of 4 – 4.5 stars), something about this one just never took off for me. Maybe it was the description of the band’s rise to stardom while the the characters were all teens. Maybe it was the awkward interactions between main characters Micah and John. Maybe it was simply feeling that I didn’t actually get these characters in some fundamental way. In any case, the story simply didn’t ring true for me, and I never got more than a surface sense of involvement.

That said, there are some cute set-pieces, including a shuffleboard tournament on board the cruise ship and the fact that the entire cruise is a fan experience for a once-popular teen show about shapeshifters (which felt very much like a Buffy reference in certain ways). But with the core plotline not truly grabbing me, the book simply didn’t rise above a solid 3-star, “it was okay” rating.

I’ll also note that the sex scenes in this book are very up-close and graphic, and there are a lot of them. Definitely not my preference when I read romance, but your mileage may vary. (This bothered me less in the author’s previous books, where I was more caught up in the plot and characters. Here, it was just one more thing to annoy me.)

Will I read more books by this author? Most likely, yes. Her previous books all had quirky, clever setups that engaged me right from the start. So, I’ll think of Never Been Shipped as a one-off letdown, and will still want to at least consider whatever she writes next.

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.

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18Jun2025

Book Review: What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: What Kind of Paradise
Author: Janelle Brown
Publisher: Random House
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Thriller/historical fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A teenage girl breaks free from her father’s world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me Disappear

The first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.

Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live in: the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Thoreau-like utopia.

As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother’s death: San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.

In this sweeping, suspenseful novel from bestselling author Janelle Brown, we see a young woman on a quest to understand how we come to know ourselves. It is a bold and unforgettable story about parents and children; nature and technology; innocence and knowledge; the losses of our past and our dreams for the future.

TL;DR: What if the Unabomber had a daughter?

In this thriller by Janelle Brown, set during the early days of the Silicon Valley internet boom, an increasingly unhinged father steals his young daughter away to live in an isolated cabin in Montana. There, he drills her on philosophy, teaches her to hunt and farm, and conducts evacuation practices through secret tunnels. Above all, he raises her to embrace his own world view:

“Companionship is a crutch. Learning to be alone is the most critical life skill of all — haven’t I taught you that? Because when you rely on other people, for emotional support or intellectual engagement or entertainment or just survival, you are weak. You are vulnerable. Because it means that you will suffer when it’s taken away — and it inevitably will be. You should never rely on anyone.”

From the age of four, Jane’s life is contained within the walls of the cabin and the surrounding forests, and centers on her father. He’s her teacher and protector, and as she grows, he trains her to follow in his footsteps, indoctrinating her on his anti-technology theories, and eventually, involving her in creating his manifesto and in his quest to rid the world of advanced tech, which he sees as dooming the human race.

Jane believes whole-heartedly in her father — for a while. But as she grows up, she has the opportunity to access a TV, and later, the internet (after her father brings her a how-to guide for HTML and instructs her to create a website for his manifesto). As she gains access to the outside world, she begins to wonder whether her faith in her father is flawed, whether his teachings are correct, and whether she’s actually more of a prisoner than someone being protected.

After her father involves her in an act of violence, she flees — but the world outside her cabin is dangerous and baffling, and Jane is forced into difficult situations and hard decisions. Meanwhile, through Jane’s experiences, we see the rise of tech in its glory days, filled with hope and inspiration as well as dire warnings about the destruction of humanity.

What Kind of Paradise is fascinating on both the personal and global levels. Jane herself is an immediately sympathetic character. When she parrots her father’s teachings, we know it’s because that’s all she knows and has been taught. When she takes ill-advised actions, we know that she has no idea what the consequences might be. Due to her extremely sheltered upbringing, she doesn’t see red flags where most others might, and misses essential clues and warnings that could potentially save her from disasters.

The book offers an insightful look into the competing mindsets during the early days of the internet boom. On the one hand, tech gurus speak rapturously about the upcoming changes:

An economic boom due to new technological breakthroughs will enable everyone to join the middle class, so that there are no more working poor. The proliferation of new media will allow truth to disseminate in new ways through new voices bringing an end to widespread ignorance. A rise of liberalism due to a connected global citizenry will usher in the New Enlightenment and the end of fascism and authoritarianism.

On the other hand, we have the doomsday prophecies of Jane’s father, warning that human reliance on machines and computers will spell the end of civilization as we know it:

The world today has lost its mind, and it can all be traced back to the rise of technology. The consequence of the ever-forward march of “progress” has been a society whose citizens are greatly suffering and aren’t even aware of it. The more we continue to replace a life of value with “virtual” life, the less satisfaction we derive from our existence, resulting in a world in which citizens are anesthetized by pharmaceuticals and entertainment living entirely in their heads rather in in a tangible, physical world.

Beyond the philosophical considerations, What Kind of Paradise is a tightly constructed thriller that keeps character-driven perspectives at the heart of the narrative. Yes, a crime is being unraveled, but it’s really Jane’s journey that drives the story and pulls the reader in.

Drawing from the real-life terror of the Unabomber and the ensuing manhunt, What Kind of Paradise has a ripped-from-the-headlines feel, while also expanding the actual story in a compelling direction. What if the bomber didn’t live a life of complete isolation? What if there was a child involved? How would the child of such a person develop and learn? The action and character-driven elements of this story combine to provide a compelling, thoughtful, and high-adrenaline read.

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

17Jun2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for summer 2025

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 Books on My Summer 2025 to-Read List.

It’s impossible to keep up with all the books I have my eyes on! Here are the top 10 I most want to make time for… preferably for reading outdoors, in the sun, with warm breezes and a big iced coffee to go with them!

Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
The Last Wizards’ Ball by Charlaine Harris
Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
The Fair Folk by Su Bristow

What are you planning to read this summer? Please share your TTT links!

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11Jun2025

Book Review: The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Other Side of Now
Author: Paige Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood’s latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a small breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving—a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago.

When Meg arrives, the people in town are so nice, treating her not as a stranger, but a friend. Except for the (extremely hot) bartender giving her the cold shoulder. Meg writes it all off as jetlag until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is no longer bleached within an inch of its life, her skin has a few natural fine lines, and her nose looks like… well, her old nose. Her real nose.

Her phone reveals hundreds of pictures of her life in this little town: with an adorable dog she doesn’t know; with the bartender who might be her (ex?) boyfriend; and at a retail job unrelated to acting. Eventually, she comes to accept that she somehow made a quantum slide into an alternate version of her life. But the most shocking realization of all? In this life, her best friend Aimee is alive and well…but wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke. She finagles an opportunity to act in the play Aimee is writing and directing and as the project unfolds, Meg realizes that events as she remembers them may not be the only truth, and that an impossible choice looms before her.

What a great surprise! Something about the title and cover of this book caught my eye, and I requested an ARC on a whim, knowing nothing about it. The Other Side of Now turned out to be an engaging, sweet, funny look at friendship and second chances. Sure, there’s some hand-wavey alternate reality business going on, but so long as you’re not looking for concrete explanations, it’s an enjoyable journey into a woman’s incredible chance to fix some of the mistakes she’s made.

Meg Bryan (don’t laugh! She’s had to suffer enough Meg Ryan jokes throughout her life!) is the 30-year-old star (known as Lana Lord) of TV’s smash hit Brilliance (which, frankly, sounds pretty awful). She has stardom, success, and a live-in relationship with the latest Marvel star (and his abs)… and she never has a day where she feels like she can be true to herself. Or eat bread.

At the end of her rope after a miserable birthday party, Meg impetuously books a flight to Ireland, to spend a week in the small town of Avalon — home to the performing arts college she’d once hoped to attend. Way back when, she and her best friend Aimee dreamed of attending Avalon together, but when Aimee didn’t get in, Meg stayed home to attend college in Florida with her. After Aimee’s tragic death a few years later, Meg ran off to LA to forget her past and start over, and never looked back.

But now, arriving in Avalon, Meg suspects something strange is going on. The sweet little rental cottage she’s booked for the week is filled with familiar items, there’s a dog who seems to know her, and when she catches a glimpse of her own reflection, she sees her pre-Hollywood face — pre-cosmetic surgery, pre-hair coloring, pre-severe dieting. It’s who she still thinks of as her true self.

I feel a real sense of fondness for the girl in the mirror. She didn’t deserve to be changed. She didn’t deserve to be whittled into something more palatable for social media. She’s a good person who deserves carbs and sugar and whatever else makes her happy.

Even more disconcerting, when she ventures out to the local pub, a perky woman acts like they’re besties, and the very attractive bartender seems to both care for her and be mad at her. Everyone in the town knows her — but she doesn’t know them.

Eventually, Meg admits to herself that she seems to have landed in an alternate version of her own life, where she did actually attend college in Avalon and then stayed to create a life there. Even more incredible, Aimee is there too, alive and well, married and a mother — but apparently, Meg and Aimee haven’t spoken in years. Something happened, and Megan has no idea what, but she’s desperate to reconnect and try for a second chance with the friend she’s been too devastated to even mourn properly.

The set-up here is quite delicious. Meg remembers her Hollywood life, but when she tries to prove to her Avalon friend Kiera that she’s not who everyone thinks she is, she can’t. Lana Lord doesn’t exist. There’s a show called Brilliance, but someone else is the star. Aimee has lived in Avalon all along, and so has Meg. Meg has a job, a home, and an on-again/off-again love life, and it’s all wonderful… but Meg also knows that she’s somehow been dropped into a life that isn’t really her own. The more attached she becomes to this other version of her reality, the more she wants to stay forever… but she has a sneaking suspicion that it won’t last, and that she’d better make the most of this strange opportunity to be with Aimee once again.

The Other Side of Now has some very funny moments, but it has depth too. Meg seemingly had everything she’d wanted — success and fame — but clearly was terribly unhappy beneath it all. Unresolved and suppressed grief has kept Meg from truly feeling. By landing in this alternate reality, Meg finally has the chance to face her emotions, feel the pain of her loss, and come to terms with how very far she is from feeling happiness or satisfaction in her “real” life.

I enjoyed Meg as a character, and Kiera is a total hoot. Seeing Meg and Aimee work through conflict that neither of them fully understands is quite powerful, and I also loved seeing Meg struggling to figure out life in a town that she’s supposedly lived in for a long time. There are plenty of silly moments, but also quite lovely instances of connection and simple joys.

As I mentioned, this isn’t a sci-fi book, and there’s no firm answer as to the why and how of it all. To enjoy this book, we have to accept the premise and let it flow. I found it really moving, and also very entertaining — and really like Meg’s thoughts on the snippets of memories of a different life that pop up for her unexpectedly:

What if her soul knows? What if all our souls know things? What if that’s what instinct is? What if that really is the explanation for gut feelings, intuition, déjà vu, kismet, and everything else? What if it’s our souls, remembering or knowing the truths of all our other lives?

The Other Side of Now does have romance in it as well, but it’s a subplot that’s more background than foreground. The friendship with Aimee, and the loss and grief from Meg’s real life, are what truly define her experiences and fill the story with depth and emotional impact.

If you’re looking for a fast-moving summer read that’s full of whimsy and friendship, but has a serious side too, definitely consider The Other Side of Now!

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.

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25May2025

Audiobook Review: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: One Golden Summer
Author: Carley Fortune
Narrators: AJ Bridel
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 6, 2025
Print length: 400 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 49 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley (ebook); purchased audiobook
Rating:

A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune

I never anticipated Charlie Florek.

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.

Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.

Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.

Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.

Good things happen at the lake.

And in the case of One Golden Summer, beautiful books happen at the lake too.

It’s no surprise that I give this book 5 whole-hearted stars. If you saw my post about can’t-miss summer reads last week, you’ll know that Carley Fortune is an author whose books I encountered for the first time just six months ago. Now, having finished One Golden Summer, I’ve read all four of her novels, and I’ll be waiting on pins and needles for another new book!

In One Golden Summer, we get a sequel, of sorts, to the author’s first novel, Every Summer After, which I absolutely adored. That book was a decades-spanning love story about Percy and Sam, teen loves who spend their adult years apart until a family tragedy brings them back together and they get a second chance to find the happiness they deserve.

Sam’s older brother Charlie is an important secondary character in that book. He’s full of himself, always up for a good time, someone who stirs things up… but who can be counted on when it matters.

In One Golden Summer, main character Alice brings her grandmother Nan to spend the summer at a cabin at Barry’s Bay, and almost immediately encounters Charlie Florek, who’s looking after the cabin for the property owner. Alice quickly realizes that he’s one of the boys she noticed fifteen years earlier while spending the summer at the lake as a teen. As a 35-year-old adult, Charlie is still gorgeous — so stunning that Alice actually says “whoa” the first time she sees him up close. But more than his looks, he’s funny and devilish — yet also kind and thoughtful.

Their tense, combative run-ins quickly morph into friendship, not just between Alice and Charlie, but also between Charlie and Nan. There’s a sweetness to their time together. Alice is determined to embrace the joy and freedom she wasn’t quite brave enough to pursue as a teen, and Charlie is eager to help, teaching her to jet ski, encouraging her to jump from a high rock into the water, applauding when she puts on a slinky dress that’s way outside her comfort zone, and setting up a perfect place for her to sleep under the stars.

There’s a strong attraction between the two, but both are clear that they only want friendship… maybe with some benefits thrown in. But what they say they want and what they actually want end up looking like two very different things.

Without delving too far into plot, I’ll just say that the romance elements are beautifully portrayed, but even more so, it’s the careful building of trust, the deep sense of caring and understanding, and the little joys in daily encounters that make this book sing. There are obstacles, of course, and there’s one of those pesky 3rd act breakups/breakdowns… but there’s a good reason for it, and it feels organic to the story, not something forced into the narrative to create a standard story arc.

One of the delights of Carley Fortune’s books is the evocation of summer. Reading this book made me absolutely ache for a lakeside cabin, boat rides, swimming, and all the joys of a quiet, lazy, summertime escape.

Charlie and Alice are wonderful characters, with depth and edges and complexities, who bring out the best in one another and are also just plain fun. As an added bonus, Sam and Percy show up on and off throughout the story, and it’s lovely to see them again and to see how their lives are turning out.

Once again, the audiobook narrator is AJ Bridel, and she’s amazing at bringing the characters to life, from Alice to Charlie to Nan, and giving them all distinct voices and letting their personalities shine. If you’re an audiobook enthusiast, these audiobooks should not be missed!

My only complaint about One Golden Summer is that I couldn’t stop listening, and finished it in practically record time (or so it felt)! I don’t want to be done with these characters or with the beautiful world of the lake at Barry’s Bay.

If you’re new to Carley Fortune’s books, definitely start with Every Summer After, and just keep in mind that you’ll have a terrific second book about the Florek family to look forward to! You really can’t go wrong with any of this author’s books.

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

18May2025

Book Review: It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: It’s a Love Story
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: May 27, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

Love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth.

Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punch line on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive by embracing a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she claimed that she could get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan as she faces down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but he just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

By this point, I’m not at all surprised by the fact that I LOVED Annabel Monaghan’s newest book. I’m four for four! Her romances deliver beachy, summer-filled love stories firmly rooted in real life. There are swoony moments… but also the stresses and secrets and unrealistic expectations that come with being an adult.

In It’s a Love Story, main character Jane is a Hollywood studio executive who hopes that she’s finally found the perfect script, the one that will give her the all-important producer title and prove that she’s got what it takes to make it in the industry. What’s more, it’s not just any script: True Story speaks to Jane in a way she hasn’t experienced before. It makes her feel.

But when she walks into the meeting that will determine whether the film gets greenlit, her hopes are almost instantly dashed. Standing between Jane and success is Dan Finnegan, a cinematographer who’s already sunk a previous movie for Jane, and is now sitting in the studio head’s office proclaiming that Jane’s script isn’t commercial. The studio wants flash and noise, and this is not it. Before True Story gets tossed on the trash pile, Jane panics and blurts out a whopper: She know pop star Jack Quinlan, and what’s more, Jack is interested in writing and singing an original song for the movie. The studio head is immediately interested… but now Jane has to deliver something that she has no idea how to get.

The truth is, Jane knew Jack for only a couple of days, way back when she was fourteen years old. Jane played Janey Jakes, the sidekick/comedic relief on a TV sitcom about a group of kids forming a band. Janey was known for pratfalls and unfortunate mishaps (like sitting on nachos) — she was funny, but definitely not leading lady material. And she knows that Jack’s memories of her — if he remembers her at all — are achingly embarrassing.

Jane is furious at Dan for torpedoing her shot at getting her film made, but it turns out he might be able to provide access to Jack — he’ll be playing at a music festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan’s brother is working on tech for the show. If Jane goes to Long Island with Dan, they may be able to get to Jack, and maybe, just maybe, she can convince him to do the song after all.

There’s so much more going on than simply chasing down a celebrity: Jane’s fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to life is based on deep hurt and shame stemming back to her teen years. She’s convinced that her real self isn’t actually lovable, and has constructed elaborate steps and rules for dating, covering everything from how to dress per date to how much to laugh and how much to talk about her career.

But being around Dan opens something up in Jane. He’s very real — part of a big, boisterous family that loves him, but he’s never quite fit the mold of the Finnegan brothers, and has always gone his own way in search of his own truth. He sees Jane in a way no one else has, and as they spend time together, Jane starts to unwind some of the tight cords she’s wound around herself to rein in her true personality and be what she thinks the world wants of her.

Jane is a polished professional who hides under her desk to corral her pre-meeting fears and eats candy in her closet when she’s stressed. After the traumas of her teens, she doesn’t trust her own emotions.

My heart is treacherous and historically wrong about everything, it is the weakest muscle in my body, but Dan and his family and our script are conspiring to whisper it back to life like it’s an ember worth restoking.

It’s beautiful to see her transformation. It’s not a love-fixes-everything situation — instead, it’s Jane finding acceptance and seeing different ways of appreciating people and letting them appreciate her. It’s putting on a silly swimsuit and not caring, because no one is mocking her or judging her; instead she gets to enjoy a sunny day and play at the beach. It’s coming to understand what Dan’s mother, celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary, means when she says “love happens over breakfast”. At dinner, there are candles and wine and fancy clothes…

But at breakfast everything’s just as it is, in the light of day. No one wears lipstick to breakfast. And this is where you talk about your day and the part of the roof that might leak this fall. You bring your real self to breakfast.

Jane and Dan end up in a gorgeous romance, but it’s only possible when Jane starts to welcome her real self. She has plenty to unravel and hard truths and secrets from her childhood to confront — and as she does so, she finally has to admit that she might be someone who can be loved after all.

I don’t think I’m actually capturing the magic of It’s a Love Story — so I’ll just say that this book really has it all. The characters are well-developed and feel like real people. They speak and act like adults, and deal with actual, complex histories and families and relationships. The Hollywood career element is fun, but the book doesn’t focus on celebrities — it’s about creativity and joy and finding truth amidst all the bang and flash of an industry focused on blockbusters.

On top of all this, the writing and dialogue and pacing of It’s a Love Story is spot-on. I simply couldn’t put it down, and read it all within a span of 24 hours.

It’s a Love Story is a wonderful, 5-star read. It’s full of heart — and while, yes, there are some romance tropes at play (enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, forced to share a room, grand gesture), they’re so well done that they feel like natural parts of the story. A perfect book to slip into your beach bag this summer. 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.

Interested in more books by Annabel Monaghan? Check out my reviews:
Nora Goes Off Script
Same Time Next Summer.
Summer Romance

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16May2025

Audiobook Review: Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Any Trope but You
Author: Victoria Lavine
Narrators: Tim Paige, Jesse Vilinsky
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Print length: 336 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 17 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

I suppose I should have read the blurb more carefully before deciding that this book looked like fun. Earnestly spectacular?? — I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean… but I don’t think that’s what I got.

In Any Trope But You, Margot Bradley, age 31, is a bestselling author of six wildly popular romance novels. Secretly, though, she’s stopped believing in love after one too many heartbreaks. She keeps a hidden file of Happily Never Afters — alternate endings to her novels, where instead of getting their HEAs, the characters get divorce, unhappiness and even (gasp!) erectile dysfunction.

When Margot is hacked and her HNA document is made public during a Zoom book event, her fans are outraged and demand that she be cancelled. She’s an instant pariah in the romance world, and her publisher drops her. She’s in desperate need of a reset.

Margot lives with her younger sister Savannah, who has a chronic autoimmune disease. Margot’s life revolves around caring for Savannah and keeping her healthy, and she’s aghast when Savannah informs her that she’s booked her into a six-week stay at a remote Alaskan wilderness lodge. How can Margot even think of leaving her sister for that long? But Savannah insists, and finally, Margot agrees that this will be a great way for her to get away and reinvent herself, dreaming up a murder mystery set in Alaska with absolutely no romance.

Things begin to go sideways for Margot as soon as she arrives at Northstar Lodge when, frightened at the sight of a moose, she literally jumps into the arms of the (gorgeous) flannel-shirted man who just happens to be standing there chopping wood. Her savior is Forrest, the son of the lodge’s proprietor, who (unbeknownst to Margot) is actually a top-tier cancer researcher who’s walked away from his career to take care of his injured father and keep the family business afloat.

Of course, there’s instant chemistry… which neither of them wants. Margot has sworn off romantic entanglements, and is horrified to realize how many tropes she’s apparently fallen into: Rugged wilderness man, heart of gold beneath grumpy exterior, secretly a doctor, excellent cook, beloved by animals… there’s even a mountain rescue in which he has to carry her down a mountain, and later, the old “let me save you from hypothermia through the warmth of my naked body”.

Meanwhile, Forrest (and the lodge) were badly burned (not literally! — no actual arson involved) after he had a fling with a guest years earlier, who then trashed him (and the lodge) through her viral reviews, resulting in serious damage to the lodge’s business and reputation. It’s taken years to bounce back, and Forrest has a “no guests” policy now that means that Margot is off-limits, no matter how attracted he is to her.

Any Trope But You has a potentially cute set-up (and I’m always a sucker for a good wilderness romance), but the writing and the story itself go downhill as the book progresses.

There’s just so much that doesn’t make sense. I never for a second believed that Margot could be a bestselling author, and her attempts at writing while at the lodge seem feeble at best. Her getting cancelled felt unrealistic, and where was any attempt at damage control? Surely, she and her publicist and the publisher’s marketing team could have launched an effective effort to explain the HNA document — I mean, she was hacked! Where’s the outrage? Instead, it was straight to cancellation plus loss of her publishing contract. Where are her lawyers?

Forrest’s decision to drop everything for his father is also unrealistic. He’s upset that he wasn’t by his mother’s side when she died of breast cancer years earlier… so he walks away from his groundbreaking breast cancer research to move to Alaska, run the lodge, and take care of his dad’s meds and physical therapy — rather than, I don’t know, hiring a nurse and flying up for visits?

And later, when we actually see the former guest’s review that supposedly nearly ruined the lodge… it feels like a big fat nothing. So one person wrote a bad review? So what? She makes it clear in the review that she slept with the proprietor, that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, and that therefore she’s pissed and wants to destroy him. It’s just so bizarre… almost as bizarre as Margot losing all trust in Forrest after reading the review. What a lame 3rd act breakup device.

Still, I was mostly going along with the story as something to pass the time, strictly a 3-star, sort of okay listen… but then we get to the sex scenes. And oh my heavens, they are awful. Not just open door, but full-on close-up views of every single thing that happens between them… and the scenes just go on and on and on. Maybe it’s not as awful in print, but listening to the audiobook, these scenes are excruciating, both in terms of their length and the writing itself, which I could not stand.

Here’s one of the tamer examples I could find:

She huffs a breath as she centers herself on what feels like the business end of a baseball bat in my pants, and I can’t stop the rusty sound she pulls from me when our lips catch for the first time. It’s just a graze, but the tease of her mint ChapStick may as well be a narcotic.

Granted, if you like your romances with lots of spice (and awkward metaphors), then this book might work for you. But for me, closed door or from-a-distance scenes with just enough to give a sense of the chemistry are really all that’s needed… and if it’s got to be more graphic, then at least try to avoid mentioning baseball bats!

Beyond all that, there are some basic premise aspects that are really irritating. Margot and Forrest both seem to need to swoop in and save their family members… whether or not they want it. They both assume they know what’s best for their ill or injured loved ones, disregard when they’re told otherwise, and are totally committed to giving up their own lives to be caretakers, without ever consulting the people they’re caring for to see what they really want. So, maybe Margot and Forrest really are perfect for one another?

Except even once they’re together, they can only envision having a relationship once Margot leaves the lodge if Forrest goes back to his medical work and leaves Alaska — so when his father has a setback, it means that he cant leave after all, so clearly they need to break up. Ummm, she’s a bestselling author and he’s a doctor — they can afford flights! Long distance is a thing!

I could go on and on… but I’ll stop. Clearly, this book was not the cute, fluffy escape I thought it would be.

Someone asked me why I didn’t just stop if the book was bugging me so much. Good question! I’d invested enough listening hours already that I wanted to see it through… and see if just possibly I’d feel differently about it by the end. (I didn’t.)

Points for a great setting and a few cute scenes here and there… but overall, I stopped enjoying this book well before the end, and just powered through to get it done.

Your mileage may vary. But for me, I’m mostly just glad that I’m done.

15May2025

Book Review: Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Death at a Highland Wedding
Series: A Rip Through Time, #4
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: May 20, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley
Rating:

Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth installment in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s gripping Rip Through Time Novels.

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s unique time travel mystery series continues to entertain as Mallory adjusts to life in the 1870s.

How to talk about the 4th book in a series? I’m tempted to simply say: Read this. It’s good! But no, I’ll attempt to explain why its so good, and why this is a must-read series.

Death at a Highland Wedding is the 4th full-length novel in Kelley Armstrong’s excellent A Rip Through Time series. (There are also a few novellas that serve as little side treats in between the main books).

In this series, Mallory Atkinson, 21st century homicide detective, accidentally crosses through a time anomaly and finds herself in Victorian Era Edinburgh, inhabiting the body of a beautiful but deceitful young housemaid. Four books into the series, the housemaid’s employer has accepted the weird-but-true fact that the person who looks like his maid is actually a highly trained, highly independent detective from 150 years in the future. Mallory has been “promoted” to assistant to her employer, Duncan Grey, an undertaker, trained physician, and lover of science and scientific inquiry. Because Duncan assists his best friend Hugh McCreadie with police investigations, Mallory is able to be of service — and introduces them to all sorts of 21st century forensic procedures not even dreamed of in Victorian times.

As Death at a Highland Wedding opens, Mallory has been living in this time period for about a year, and the household, along with Hugh, is taking a vacation of sorts. An old friend of Duncan and Hugh’s is getting married at his Highlands estate, and this is an opportunity for Mallory to experience yet another aspect of her new life.

At the estate, however, things quickly go off the rails. First, there’s an unpleasant groundskeeper who sets wickedly dangerous traps all over the property. There’s also some tension amongst the party attending the wedding, as former lovers and friends and connections intertwine in uncomfortable ways. The entire wedding is on the verge of cancellation once a dead body is discovered — it’s the best man, killed while out at night wearing the groom’s coat. Who was the true intended victim, what was the motive, and who could have carried out the violent act?

Hugh, Duncan, and Mallory seem like the obvious team to solve the mystery, but the young, inexperienced local constable has jurisdiction, and doesn’t want outside interference. When he bungles the process — badly — our trio undertake their own investigation on the down-low, trying to solve the murder while not letting the constable know what they’re up to.

In a house full of potential suspects and plenty of motives, Mallory et al have almost too many trails to follow. There are red herrings galore, and plenty of scandals to unearth — and naturally, the closer they get to the truth, the more they themselves are in danger.

Ah, this book is such delicious fun! First, the mystery itself is surprisingly twisted. What at first seems like a classic country house murder mystery is revealed to be that, but dialed up to eleven. I loved the fact that my guesses continually turned out to be wrong! Every time I was sure I knew who was particularly shady or dishonest or underhanded, something else popped up to steer me in a different direction. It’s a treat to read a mystery and not see the big reveals coming.

Second, and for me, the absolute best, is the ongoing delight of seeing Mallory navigate her new world. In previous books, it seemed that she’d have an option to return to her own time, but here, she’s fully convinced that she’s where she needs to be. There’s a slow-burn romance with Duncan, which is complicated for many reasons, and they’re both thoughtful enough to avoid bad decisions or letting their emotions cloud their judgment.

Then there’s the fun of Mallory using her 21st century police tactics in this setting — for example, explaining how (and why) to cordon off a crime scene or doing a rudimentary version of taking fingerprints. Seeing the cultures collide and the sharing of tactics and knowledge keeps the storytelling funny in dark moments, and gives Mallory a chance to shine and be appreciated for who she is.

As you can see, I love this series! As I’ve said in all of my reviews so far, you really must start at the beginning! Yes, this one might work as a stand-alone if you’re only interested in the murder mystery itself, but I honestly don’t think the book as a whole would make a ton of sense. The series is just so good — so dive into book #1, and keep going!

Now that I’ve finished Death at a Highland Wedding, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. 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.

For more in this series:
A Rip Through Time
The Poisoner’s Ring
Disturbing the Dead
Schemes & Scandals (novella)

4May2025

Book Review: Overgrowth by Mira Grant

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Overgrowth
Author: Mira Grant
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Publication date: May 6, 2025
Length: 480 pages
Genre: Science fiction / horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Annihilation meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

This is just a story. It can’t hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she’s an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it’s already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia’s biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

Mira Grant is the horror pen name for prolific author Seanan McGuire… and basically, I’ll read pretty much whatever she writes, under whichever name. With Mira Grant books, you can count on a certain ickiness (I mean, one of her series has to do with tapeworms!), but always with a strong foundation in character development and relationships.

Here, in Overgrowth, the aliens are coming… although many of their children are already here. Set about five years from now, we follow unfolding events through the eyes of main character Stasia (Anastasia) Miller, a customer service rep and self-described misanthrope who has fewer than a handful of friends, a boyfriend she loves very much, and a cat named Seymour.

Also, since the age of three, Stasia has been telling anyone who’s asked (and even those who haven’t) that she’s an alien, and that her people will be coming to bring her home. You can imagine the flurry of notes from teachers, progressing over time from praise for her precocious imagination to concern about how her insistence on these bizarre fantasies is leading to ostracism by her classmates.

Despite years of therapy as a child, and several managers telling me the joke has gotten old and I’d have an easier time getting promoted if I’d knock it off, I’ve never been able to swallow the urge to tell everyone I spend any extended period of time with that hey, by the way, I’m here because the invasion is coning, and people should probably know. It’s like a nervous tic. Hi, nice to meet you, my name’s Anastasia, I’m secretly an intelligent alien plant and one day everything you love will be devoured.

But as we readers know from the start, it’s not fantasy or imagination. At the age of three, little Anastasia wandered into the woods behind her home, and never came back. Instead, she was consumed and then replaced by an alien plant. The child who came out of the woods was not the child who went into them. But no one has ever actually believed her when she’s insisted on what she is.

We were the changelings of the science fiction age, and that made us both terrifying and untrue.

As the story unfolds, an astronomer releases a recording of a signal that’s definitely alien, causing a massive uproar and worldwide panic. Stasia and her boyfriend Graham decide to go investigate, because there’s something in that signal that seems to be triggering a change in Stasia. Events are set in motion that connect Stasia to others like her. As the invasion gets closer, the alien-humans start to physically change, and they’re targeted by secretive government agents for research and imprisonment. Meanwhile, Stasia has started being able to communicate with her people through a quasi-dream state, and realizes that hard choices are coming. Who does she side with? To whom does her loyalty belong? Can she be blamed for something that she had no control over? And if her friends stick with her, does that make them traitors to their own species?

Overgrowth is complex and multi-faceted, and there’s so much more going on than I can possibly describe. It’s a long book, and requires focus — but it’s absolutely worth the effort. I could not put it down, and could barely come up for air.

There are elements that puzzled me throughout, but the author sticks the landing and ties all the hints and loose plot point together by the end in a way that answers all of my nagging questions. The action is consistently well thought out, the characters are fascinating, and the story arc builds in ways that are unexpected, even as we know that the invasion is inevitable.

The author makes some interesting points about identity and acceptance. Stasia’s boyfriend is a trans man. Even having met him before he transitioned, Stasia immediately accepted his identity.

This could be the moment when I lost him. Because I had always believed him when he told me he was a man, and we had always pretended his belief in me was the same thing, but it wasn’t, was it? It wasn’t the same thing at all. Gender was a social construct and a part of the soul, and humans had always been capable of getting it wrong. I, though…

I was something alien and new, and while we had built a relationship on believing each other, our secrets weren’t the same at all.

Only Graham was still looking at me the way he always had, with love and sincere concern, like he believed I was a human being and deserved to be treasured like one. Or… maybe he’d never believed I was a human being. Maybe I’d been lucky enough to fall in love with one of the only people in the world who understood what it was to tell the truth about your identity, over and over again, until you found the few people who could believe in you.

Stasia’s transformation from weird human who says she’s an alien into a person who realizes that her truth has been more true than she ever knew is startling and evocative and powerful. As she becomes more and more “other”, she has to deal with a changing biology as well as complicated thoughts and feelings about family and survival.

This book is hard to slot neatly into a specific genre. The blurb refers to it as “body horror”, which doesn’t feel entirely accurate to me. I think of body horror as being much more extreme — mutilation, grotesque changes, lots of gore. Here, yes, Stasia’s body changes, but it’s more interesting than gross. There are violent moments with bloody/gory results, but overall, I’d categorize this book as much more heavily science fiction than horror.

However you might describe or shelve it, Overgrowth is fascinating. Stasia is an amazing main character, and I loved seeing her journey. The alien invasion is strange and different and scary, and the plotlines are tightly built and well described. This is a terrific read, and I recommend it highly for anyone who doesn’t mind the idea of creepy plants taking over the world.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers + Little Shop of Horrors. What could go wrong?

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.

For more by this author, check out these outstanding books: