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.

5Oct2024

Audiobook Review: Drop Dead by Lily Chu

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Drop Dead
Author: Lily Chu
Narrators: Phillipa Soo & John Cho
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication date: August 1, 2024
Print length: n/a
Audio length: 11 hours 25 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible download
Rating:

One mysterious mansion. Two rival journalists. Three weeks to uncover the story—and love—of a lifetime. Don’t miss this unforgettable romantic comedy performed by Phillipa Soo and John Cho!

Obituary writer Nadine Barbault doesn’t mind being called “Lady Death.” It suits the ice queen persona she’s cultivated to survive the fast-paced Toronto Herald. So when Nadine learns that famous (and reclusive) author Dot Voline has died, she doesn’t hesitate to run the obituary … only to discover that Dot is very much alive.

Nadine’s screw-up has brought Wesley Chen of the rival Spear no end of joy—she’s been a thorn in his extremely ambitious side for years. But the renewed interest in Dot also surfaces chatter about a mysterious past scandal. Intrigued, Wes goes to the source to learn more—only to discover Nadine had the exact same idea … and the infuriating woman isn’t willing to respect dibs. Typical.

At first, Dot refuses to speak to either of the squabbling pair, but then they receive an unusual request—work together, and Dot will share everything. The offer seems too good to be true … and of course, it is: in a bitter twist of irony, Dot dies for real before she can finish recounting her story. Not all is lost, however. The estate’s executor allows Wes and Nadine access to Dot’s sprawling wonderland of a mansion for three weeks to find their answer. That’s three weeks of working together … three weeks of endless sweltering in tight spaces … three weeks of learning there could be something more between them than a desire to win at any cost.

And maybe, just maybe, under the rubble of all those could-have-beens they’ll uncover more than the secret of Dot Voline’s long-ago scandal—and Lady Death will finally embrace what she’s wanted from life all along.

Lily Chu’s Audible Originals have become an annual treat for me. Drop Dead is her fourth audiobook, and once again, it’s a hit!

Smart and entertaining, Drop Dead features main characters who are ambitious rivals forced to work together to solve an irresistible mystery. Nadine and Wes met years ago in college, and since their very first journalism class together, they’ve been fierce competitors.

But now, ten years later, neither has quite the stellar career they’d expected. Nadine was a hotshot political reporter at The Herald, until death threats rattled her enough to make her ask for a safer beat, at least until she gets her nerve back. She’s the recently appointed obituary editor, mainly working from pre-written copy about noteworthy people. It’s not exciting… but it does keep the trolls away.

Meanwhile, Wes longs to join the investigative team over at The Spear, but instead, he’s passed over in favor of an obnoxious bro-type, and writes lifestyle pieces on topics such as perfect picnic pairings. It’s… nice, but definitely not what he wants to do.

After Nadine mistakenly publishes an obit for Dot Voline, a leading light in Canada’s literary world, her credibility is shot and she’s reassigned into an even less challenging position. She’s determined to redeem herself and tries to get an interview with Dot by showing up at her mansion’s gate, only to find Wes there, eager to capitalize on Nadine’s mistake and perhaps find a great story of his own.

Because amidst the furor over the obituary for an author who isn’t actually dead, there’s a tantalizing hint of something more — a few comments on the original obituary wondered why there was no mention of the old scandal tied to Dot’s first book. But neither Nadine nor Wes can find any online references to a scandal, and both sense that this could be the key to a breakout investigative piece with the potential to revitalize their careers.

Dot Valine is in her later years, clearly not well, but without having lost a bit of her eccentricity and flair. She eventually invites them in after a series of challenges and grants them small interviews, always hinting at something more to come. Her mansion is huge and over-the-top, with treasures and collectibles and oddities around every corner. Nadine and Wes plan to take advantage of every moment Dot will grant them, but sadly, after just a few weeks, they’re informed by her nephew that Dot has passed away — for real this time.

Still, their quest for a story isn’t over. Dot has stipulated that they can continue to have access to her home to try to get to the truth. The clock is ticking — the nephew can only give them three weeks, and then the mansion will be sold. To take full advantage of their limited time, Nadine and Wes decide to move into the mansion and work around the clock. Sure, neither loves the idea of having to spend so much time together, but it’s their only shot at uncovering the story that Dot so clearly wanted told.

What ensues is a good old-fashioned treasure hunt, practically a locked room mystery. No, they’re not literally locked in — but to fulfill their quest, they spend every moment in Dot’s mansion, poring through boxes of old papers, closets full of ballgowns, shelves of knickknacks and antiques and old books. They don’t know what they’re looking for, but they hope they’ll recognize what’s important once they find it.

The search is clever and the mystery around Dot’s secrets is intriguing. We don’t truly know what she’s hiding at the start. There are hints of an old political scandal, but nothing in Dot’s online presence or traceable history connects her in any way to politics. Still, she’s a larger than life character, and each new piece of writing that Nadine and Wes discover shows yet another facet of Dot’s personality.

As for Wes and Nadine’s rivalry and surface-level dislike, it’s obviously only a matter of time before the dynamic changes. Because as combative as they are toward one another, there’s also a grudging respect — after all, they were always the top two, battling for number one — as well as an even more reluctant attraction. Working together nonstop in such close proximity, they’re finally forced to hash out their differences and acknowledge that they’re enjoying this joint quest. Eventually, a budding friendship turns into more, and a surprisingly sweet romance begins to blossom.

Drop Dead gets off to a somewhat slow start, as we learn about Nadine and Wes’s stalled careers and challenging family dynamics. Once Dot Voline enters the picture, the plot comes into sharper focus. The search for Dot’s secrets is the driving storyline of this book, with the romantic elements built around the main mystery plotline.

Both elements work well. The deeper Wes and Nadine get into the dusty recesses of Dot’s mansion, the more fun their quest becomes. Clues come in unexpected forms, and seemingly stray notes or old clippings tantalize — Dot has intentionally sprinkled these clues throughout her home without leaving a road map to find them. As the pair unearth more clues, they become even more determined to see Dot’s quest through to the end and bring to light the story she wanted shared upon her death.

The love story is also engaging. Intimate scenes occur off the page, but we do see the flirtation and chemistry build, and it’s clear that the sparks are emotional as well as physical. I really appreciated how the author manages the characters’ realizations about their dynamics, as well as the way they hash out their past differences and figure out how to work together.

Finally, I’ll mention that for Nadine especially, Dot had an important lesson to teach. Through her time with Dot herself and then with the mementos Dot leaves for her to find, Nadine learns to start looking beyond the basics of a bio to understand a person’s impact, and finds purpose in writing stories that truly show who people are and why they matter. This aspect of Drop Dead is heart-warming without becoming saccharine — Nadine’s personal journey over the course of the story is delightful to see.

As with Lily Chu’s previous audiobooks, Drop Dead is narrated by the very talented Phillipa Soo, this time joined by co-narrator John Cho. They’re wonderful at voicing the characters and showing their humor and intelligence, as well as the great banter between them.

Drop Dead is currently available only through Audible. Her three previous novels were released the same way, and then released in paperback about a year later. I’ve loved each of Lily Chu’s audiobooks — The Comeback and The Stand-In are still my favorites, but Drop Dead is terrific as well. Don’t miss it!

13Jun2024

Audiobook Review: Kilmeny of the Orchard by L. M. Montgomery

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Kilmeny of the Orchard
Author: L. M. Montgomery
Narrator: Grace Conlin
Publisher: n/a – many editions available
Publication date: 1910
Print length: 144 pages
Audio length: 4 hours, 5 minutes
Genre: Classic fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

A sweet and moving romance from the author of the beloved Anne of Green Gables series!

Eric Marshall, recent college graduate, has the world at his feet. He’s handsome, popular, wealthy, and surprisingly, single. Living the bachelor lifestyle with his widowed father, he’s never given much thought to romance. When an old school friend asks Eric to substitute teach for him on Prince Edward Island while he recuperates from an illness, Eric thinks, why not? He’s got some time to kill before diving into the family business with his father, and the rustic island may be a good diversion for him.

Eric falls into the easy routine of island life, and his status as eligible bachelor endears him to the locals. Eric is still not thinking of romance, but he’s about to find it in a most unexpected place…

Kilmeny Gordon is sweet and smart and beautiful, perfect in every way but one: she can’t speak. She’s been sheltered all her life due to her disability and the scandal surrounding her birth. She wiles away her hours helping her aunt and uncle on the farm and playing her violin in her favorite secluded spot. When Eric stumbles into her hidden orchard, he brings a whole new world with him, and a friendship that both frightens her and thrills her. As the summer days grow longer and their friendship blossoms, sweet, silent Kilmeny, with her sunny enthusiasm and haunting music, manages to do what neither the co-eds of Queenslea College nor the village lasses of Lindsay have been able to do—capture Eric’s heart.

But Kilmeny knows he’ll soon have to go back to his life on the mainland, a world of business meetings and parties and prejudicial people—a world in which she’ll hold him back and never fit in. None of that matters to Eric, but how can he get her to accept that she’s the only woman he’ll ever love, when she is convinced that the only way to love him is to let him go?

And a shorter synopsis from Audible:

Twenty-four-year-old Eric Marshall arrives on Prince Edward Island to become a substitute schoolmaster, even though he has a bright future in his wealthy family’s business. Eric has taken the two-month teaching post only as a favor to a friend – but fate throws in his path a beautiful, mysterious girl named Kilmeny Gordon. With jet black hair and sea blue eyes, Kilmeny immediately captures Eric’s heart. But Kilmeny cannot speak, and Eric is concerned for and bewitched by this shy, sensitive mute girl. For the first time in his life, he must work hard for something he wants badly. And there is nothing he wants more than for Kilmeny to return his love.

After coming to the Anne of Green Gables series only several years ago, I’ve been on a (somewhat haphazard) mission to read L. M. Montgomery’s novels. Looking back at my reading history, after reading the Anne series and Emily trilogy, I see that I’ve read one of her stand-alones in each of the past few years… and that brings me to Kilmeny of the Orchard.

Kilmeny of the Orchard wasn’t on my radar, but I stumbled across it thanks to a Kindle deals promo, and decided to give it a try. Kilmeny is the 3rd novel published by L. M. Montgomery, released after the first two Anne books — which would make it her first novel published about adult characters. Kilmeny has the lovely descriptions and clever character depictions so prevalent in the author’s works, but the story itself feels somewhat underbaked and clichéd, definitely not on the level of her “greatest hits”.

Kilmeny of the Orchard‘s main character is not Kilmeny herself, but rather, Eric Marshall, a recent college graduate and son of a wealthy businessman, who has the world at his feet. Before joining his father’s company and starting his career, he receives a letter from a friend who’s ill, asking Eric to take over his teaching job in the small village of Lindsay as a favor to him, just until the end of his contract. Eric has no other immediate plans, and decides to do it.

He finds Lindsay welcoming, with an assortment of oddball characters (including his talkative landlord, who seems more devoted to his cat than to his wife), and the area is beautiful, if not particularly exciting. As Eric uses his free time to wander and explore, he stumbles across a ramshackle old orchard, and within it, a beautiful young woman playing the violin. As he approaches her, she runs away. Eric is immediately intrigued and sets out to learn more about her.

The young woman is Kilmeny, the niece of the Gordons, a brother and sister who’ve raised her since her mother’s death. The Gordons keep strictly to themselves, and Kilmeny has never ventured beyond their home except for her isolated violin playing in the orchard. Kilmeny is mute, and the Gordons feel it is in her best interest to protect her and shield her from the outside world.

But Eric is irresistibly drawn to Kilmeny, and seeks her out in the orchard. She’s able to communicate by writing on a slate, and soon, they develop a friendship through which Eric introduces her to books, poetry, and ideas that are new to the sheltered young woman. Wanting to know more, he finally gets the full story from his landlords, and learns more about Kilmeny and her mother’s tragic past.

Kilmeny of the Orchard is a short book and a quick audiobook listen, and much of the language is beautiful, especially the descriptions of the landscapes and the orchard itself. Still, there are many elements that are off-putting for a modern reader/listener. Yes, reading older books requires us to keep in mind the attitudes and beliefs of the era in which they were written, but that doesn’t mean that certain concepts won’t be unpleasant to encounter.

Chief among these is the depiction of Kilmeny’s “defect”, as Eric and others refer to it. Kilmeny is described as “dumb”, which I know was an acceptable word for being mute, but still feels pretty awful to hear over and over and over again. They’re quick to assert that despite being dumb, her other faculties are fine, but there’s a base-level assumption that her muteness is something that damages her as a whole and reduces her value. In fact, her muteness is the one and only reason why Kilmeny refuses Eric’s proposal of marriage, despite being in love with him: She’s sure that her “defect” would make her a detriment to him as a wife.

The Gordons never take Kilmeny to a doctor at any point in her life, first because her mother won’t allow it, and after her death, because they firmly believe there’s nothing to be done. Why? Because… it’s clearly the sins of the mother being visited on the child, that’s why. Kilmeny’s muteness is a punishment, and so obviously, doctors can’t possibly fix it.

The Gordons have also raised a young man named Neal, whom they took in after a passing peddler’s wife gave birth on their farm. The couple abandoned the baby and the Gordons raised him, giving him their last name, but never their love. He’s Italian, you see, and no one will ever overlook his birth and consider him part of the family or the community. Despite being raised there since birth, Neal is treated as an outsider and looked upon with suspicion. His Italian heritage is pretty much always mentioned when he’s referred to, and he’s always described with negative terms, such as sullen, wild, shrill — we’re clearly meant to distrust him from the start. It’s awful stereotyping (“the untamed fury of the Italian peasant thwarted in his heart’s desire”), and plays out in completely expected ways.

Finally, the sexist slant of the story drove me batty. The fact that the title character of the book is not in fact the main character, but rather the main character’s object of desire kind of says it all. This book is certainly told through the male gaze! Kilmeny is described as exquisite, but childlike. It’s only Eric’s interest and his introducing her to concepts of love — through the stories and poems he reads her — that turn her into a woman. Perhaps intended as romantic, but certainly otherwise in the modern context, there’s a kiss described as “involuntary”… which, enough said. Kilmeny is Eric’s mission — he’s there to save her and change her. Clearly, he knows best, and he’s the driving force behind any developments in Kilmeny’s limited world. Save me from male saviors!

Kilmeny of the Orchard is a much simpler story than many of L. M. Montgomery’s later books, and it’s interesting to see this early work in contrast to the many wonderful novels that I’ve loved so much. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for its own sake, but for completists who want to read all of LMM’s works and track the development of her writing and storytelling style, it’s worth checking out.

Meanwhile, I have a few more books by this author yet to explore! Next up for me — probably later this year — will be two more books on my shelves, Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat. These were both published in the 1930s, and I’m eager to see how they compare to the L. M. Montgomery books that I’ve loved.

17Nov2023

Audiobook Review: The Takedown by Lily Chu

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Takedown
Author: Lily Chu
Narrator: Phillipa Soo
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication date: November 2, 2023
Print length: n/a
Audio length: 10 hours 55 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible download
Rating:

Dee Kwan’s secrets for a happy life:
• Always remain positive, no matter the cost.
• Realize that every setback is a hidden opportunity.
• Accept compliments graciously, especially when given by mega-hot rivals.
• Never, ever question whether any of these mantras actually work.

For Dee Kwan, every day is the perfect day. No, really. She has a house she loves, a job she adores, and a ridiculously attractive “nemesis” who never seems to mind when she wins their favorite online game. How can life possibly get better? (It can’t, obviously. It can only get much, much worse.)

Soon Dee is forced to share her adorably cozy home with her parents and prickly estranged grandmother. Then she’s tossed into the deep end at work, tasked with cleaning up a scandal for the intimidatingly chic luxury fashion firm Celeste. If that weren’t enough, she discovers her hot nemesis works there, too… and Teddy is nothing like the man she thought she knew.

Before she can cry foul, Teddy comes clean about his double life: He’s the heir to the CEO, and he needs her help to make Celeste a better place—for everyone. But that means taking down the old guard—including his father—intent on standing in their way. Now in the center of a dizzying corporate coup, Dee is forced to decide whether she’s ready to stop watching the world through rose-colored glasses and instead face the truth: about herself, about her feelings for Teddy, and about what she’s willing to do to truly make a difference.

For the third year in a row, author Lily Chu has a new release offered as an Audible Original… and for the third year in a row, it’s a smart, upbeat romantic comedy with heart.

In The Takedown, main character Dee Kwan rises each morning with a daily affirmation. If she sends positive energy out into the world, positive results will manifest. Right?? Dee enjoys her position atop the leaderboard for the urban puzzle Questy, battling against the competitor in the #2 spot to keep one step ahead. And even beyond Questy, life is good: She lives in the cozy Toronto house that she bought from her parents when they moved to a rural setting, and she enjoys her new role as a diversity consultant with a well-regarded consulting agency.

Unfortunately for Dee, she suffers a couple of hard knocks in a row. First, she’s asked (told) to welcome her parents and her unloving grandmother to her home while her grandmother recovers from an injury. Second, her company’s owner has decided to close the business, and suddenly, Dee is back on the job market. On the positive side (must always be positive!) she runs into her Questy competitor on a puzzle adventure… and he’s not only hot, but totally charming.

Soon, Dee finds herself sleeping on a cot in her own home while her grandmother takes over the living room, her mother redecorates (and grows weed), and her grandmother’s pet chinchilla keeps her up all night with his squeaky exercise wheel. She does land a new job, but with a consulting firm that takes a very different approach, and is assigned as a junior consultant working on damage control at the fashion company Celeste.

Celeste is famous for its high-end luxury handbags and clothing, but their reputation has taken a hit after demographics showing the company’s lack of diversity leaked to the fashion press. Dee and her new boss are brought in to do an assessment and make recommendations, but it’s clear from day one that Celeste’s execs are interested in fixing their publicity problem, rather than making actual change.

Further complicating Dee’s worklife is the fact that Teddy, her Questy competition (crush), is both the son of the Celeste CEO and one of the company VPs. At first, Dee doesn’t understand Teddy’s passivity — how can he sit by and tolerate what’s happening? But as Dee learns, Teddy’s role in the company is more complicated than it first seems, and he’s been waiting for the right moment to start making change.

The story involves Dee and Teddy’s romance, but also focuses quite well on Dee’s personal growth and development. Dee is the biracial daughter of a Chinese father and white mother, and her grandmother treated Dee, her sister, and her father with disdain for as long as Dee can remember. As Dee now shares a home once again with her family, she’s able to question the unrelenting positivity that her mother has insisted upon all her life, and starts to reconsider how daily affirmations and unceasing cheeriness might actually keep her in a passive, static state.

Scenes at Celeste are fascinating, if sometimes over the top. From day one, Dee encounters and witnesses practically textbook examples of everything even the most basic diversity trainings teach you NOT to do. When Dee enters the conference room with her supervisor Vivian, a Black woman, the execs present persist in directing their questions to Dee, despite Vivian having clearly been introduced as the senior consultant. Vivian’s input seems to be ignored, until one of the male execs rephrases one of her statements as an idea of his own. And the white woman CFO is very clear that she represents diversity both at work and in her private life — after all, she sends her children to a public school with a large Asian population, and she really appreciates the positive example their work ethic sets for the “regular” students.

In addition to the barrage of microagressions, there are egregious examples of sexual harassment, not to mention abusive conduct toward the few people of color working behind the scenes. While Dee is eager to advocate for change, her good intentions end up thwarted by her company’s data-driven methodologies — but when she learns the depth of one exec’s misconduct, she decides to partner with both Teddy and another ally at Celeste to plot his downfall from within.

The plot of The Takedown is engaging and fresh, and the storytelling nicely blends romance, humor, and more serious issues around family, forgiveness, and honesty. It’s heartening to see Dee evolve from someone who embraces a sunny outlook at the expense of digging deeper, to a person who listens and supports without trying to sugarcoat. Additionally, I appreciated Dee learning how to confront troubling elements of her own family’s history and work toward fixing them, navigating conflict without walking away.

The romance is central, and the sparks between Teddy and Dee are sweet — I loved that they are originally drawn together by their love of trivia and playing Questy. Yes, there’s instant attraction once they meet face to face, but by then, they’d already developed a friendly rivalry and appreciation for one another’s personality and brains — which makes this a very dreamy romance indeed.

The corporate takedown storyline is fun to watch unfold, and it’s satisfying to see bad guys get what they deserve… although the resolution feels a little too neat and tidy to be possible in real life.

The audiobook is narrated by Phillipa Soo, who excels at bringing characters to life and giving them distinct voices full of personality. As a little treat for fans of Lily Chu’s previous two audiobooks (The Stand-In and The Comeback), there are teeny little references that show that this story takes place in the same general world. The Takedown is by no means a sequel and you don’t lose anything by not having listened to the other two… but it’s just fun to catch a reference to a celebrity or singer and know who they are, and one earlier book’s character does appear here in a more involved way — but as I say, these familiar elements just add to the fun, and won’t leave new listeners feeling like they’ve missed something.

Overall, The Takedown is an entertaining, light, engaging story about identity, standing up and making a difference, love… and trivia! Definitely worth a listen.

2Apr2023

Audiobook Review: Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Jane of Lantern Hill
Author: L. M. Montgomery
Narrator: Lauren Sanders
Publisher: Sourcebooks (edition shown; many editions available)
Publication date: 1937
Print length: 261 pages
Audio length: 8 hours, 1 minutes
Genre: Classic children’s fiction (YA)
Source: Purchased
Rating:

The story of a girl who must leave her home to discover who she is and reunite her family. A beloved classic from the author of Anne of Green Gables.

Jane Stuart always believed her father was dead–until she accidentally learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island. When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things her grandmother deems completely unladylike, she dares to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto…a house where she and her parents could live together without Grandmother directing their lives–a house that could be called home.

Jane of Lantern Hill has been on my to-read list for years, ever since I finished both the Anne of Green Gables series and the Emily Starr trilogy. Jane of Lantern Hill is a stand-alone, and the last novel written by L. M. Montgomery.

While many themes are familiar, Jane starts off quite differently from the Anne and Emily books. The story opens in Toronto, where 11-year-old Jane lives in the stifling old mansion owned by her strict, judgmental grandmother, along with her very pretty but somewhat weak-willed mother. Jane’s father died while she was very young, or so she’s always understood. She’s miserable and lonely in her gray world, with the orphan girl living at the boarding house next door as her only friend.

Life changes dramatically for Jane when a letter arrives from her very much alive father, insisting that Jane come spend the summer with him on Prince Edward Island. Jane definitely does not want to go, but has no choice once the family realizes that he could cause legal trouble for them. And so, Jane travels by train and ferry all the way from Toronto to PE Island, filled with dread — but at first glance at her father, she feels a strong connection, and her unhappiness is immediately replace by joy.

On the island, her warm-hearted father devotes himself to creating a home for Jane. They buy a charming little house at Lantern Hill, and Jane is overjoyed to be the “woman” of the house, given free rein to organize, clean, and cook to her heart’s delight. (More on this in a moment…) Lantern Hill is surrounded by a community that welcomes Jane with open arms, and she finds her days filled with friends, animals, beautiful landscapes, and the sounds of the sea.

When summer ends, she must return to the dismal house in Toronto, but now at least she has something to look forward to, and ticks of the months until she can return to her true home at Lantern Hill. Meanwhile, she starts to learn more about her parents’ marriage and separation, and begins to realize that neither may truly have the full picture of what happened and why.

I really enjoyed Jane of Lantern Hill, as I do all L. M. Montgomery books, but with a few hesitations. I understand how freeing it must be for Jane to be given the chance to create a cozy, warm home for herself and her father, after a lifetime under her grandmother’s harsh control — but I disliked how so much of the focus was on Jane cooking meals, cleaning (she loves to polish the silver), and general tasks related to keeping house. Yes, she also goes on adventures with the local children, learns to swim, and loves being outdoors, but there’s just a huge emphasis on the joys of domesticity, and after a while, it really rankled.

I also must note that an antisemitic slur is used in this book. It’s not presented as representative of the author’s point of view, and to be fair, I don’t think she means it as a slur — but it still jarred me to see this particular phrase used in a casual conversation.

Other than these two factors, I enjoyed the book as a whole. It’s always lovely to revisit PEI through the eyes of L. M. Montgomery. The emphasis is wholly on Jane’s experiences, but there’s still an element of intrigue around why her parents separated, and readers learn the truth as Jane does.

Jane is a delightful character, not quite as fanciful and imaginative as Anne Shirley, but with an enthusiasm and abundance of love that have been suppressed all her life, until finally given free expression at Lantern Hill. She’s a lot of fun to spend time with, and the portrayals of her various PEI friends and neighbors, as seen through Jane’s eyes, are funny and entertaining.

The audiobook narrator is very good at capturing Jane’s spirit, as well as the awfulness of her grandmother, her mother’s gentle love, and her father’s exuberance. The audiobook itself (as available through Audible and elsewhere) has 10 – 15 places where phrases repeat, which I believe is an editing issue rather than a narration problem.

My introduction to the world of L. M. Montgomery was much later in my life than it should have been — I read Anne of Green Gables for the first time within the last five years! I do love her writing and the sense of Prince Edward Island’s beauty and community as portrayed in her books. I have two more L. M. Montgomery novels on my shelves (Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat), and I’m eager to check them out.

If you’re interested in L. M. Montgomery’s books, I’d definitely recommend checking out Jane of Lantern Hill. It’s a sweet story of a memorable girl — well worth reading!

For those who are L. M. Montgomery fans, which other books of her do you recommend?

4Aug2022

Audiobook Review: The Comeback by Lily Chu

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Comeback
Author: Lily Chu
Narrator: Phillipa Soo
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication date: July 14, 2022
Print length: n/a
Audio length: 12 hours 14 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible download
Rating:

Who is Ariadne Hui?

• Laser-focused lawyer diligently climbing the corporate ladder
• The “perfect” daughter living out her father’s dream
• Shocking love interest of South Korea’s hottest star
Ariadne Hui thrives on routine. So what if everything in her life is planned down to the minute: That’s the way she likes it. If she’s going to make partner in Toronto’s most prestigious law firm, she needs to stay focused at all times.
But when she comes home after yet another soul-sucking day to find an unfamiliar, gorgeous man camped out in her living room, focus is the last thing on her mind. Especially when her roommate explains this is Choi Jihoon, her cousin freshly arrived from Seoul to mend a broken heart. He just needs a few weeks to rest and heal; Ari will barely even know he’s there. (Yeah, right.)
Jihoon is kindness and chaos personified, and it isn’t long before she’s falling, hard. But when one wrong step leads to a world-shaking truth, Ari finds herself thrust onto the world stage: not as the competent, steely lawyer she’s fought so hard to become, but as the mystery woman on the arm of a man the entire world claims to know. Now with her heart, her future, and her sense of self on the line, Ari will have to cut through all the pretty lies to find the truth of her relationship…and discover the Ariadne Hui she’s finally ready to be.

I enjoyed last year’s The Stand-In, Lily Chu’s debut, released an Audible Original (and later, as a paperback) — so when I saw that a new Audible novel was being released this year by the same author, and once again with the amazing Phillipa Soo as narrator, naturally I had to grab it! \

The new book, The Comeback, brings some of The Stand-In‘s elements to a fresh story. Once again, we have an ordinary Canadian woman who ends up in the ultimate wish-fulfillment scenario of finding love with one of the world’s biggest stars — in this case, a K-pop idol.

Ariadne is a work-obsessed lawyer whose sole focus is making partner with her conservative, almost-all-white law firm. (She’s dismayed to overhear a coworker describe her as the firm’s “diversity hire”). Ariadne is Canadian born and of Chinese descent, but she constantly finds herself having to explain where she’s from and that no, she doesn’t speak Chinese and was actually born in Toronto. Her father, also a lawyer, is overly invested in Ari’s career and sends her link to business articles on how to impress the boss and how to get ahead.

Ari tells herself that she’s fine and happy. So what if she never actually takes any of the amazing vacations she fantasizes about? Making partner is all that matters!

Or so she thinks… until her orderly life is disrupted when she comes home to find a strange man in her apartment. After a comical misunderstanding (kitchen knives are involvled), she learns that this is Jihoon, her roommate Hannah’s cousin from Korea, who just needs a place to get away and be quiet for a while after a bad break-up. He seems nice enough, and Hannah is her best friend, so Ari agrees, so long as she can keep working around the clock.

But Jihoon is hard not to notice, from the expensive skincare products spread out all over her bathroom counters to the ramen in her kitchen, and their brief daily encounters turn into texting GIFs, sharing food, and eventually, exploring Toronto together. And the more time Ari spends with him, the more they seem to connect. Okay, yes, he’s super hot, but he’s also kind, intelligent, supportive, and interested in Ari in a way no one else has ever been.

Their time together is cut short, first by the early return of Hannah, and then by the arrival of two of Jihoon’s friends, come to bring him home. They’re not just any friends, though — they’re two of the five members of the enormously huge K-pop group Star Loon (Star Lune? Starloon? Can’t tell from listening to an audiobook!). And guess what? It turns out Jihoon is actually their lead singer, stage name Min, whose video Ari had just watched a few days earlier.

Ari is devastated by Jihoon’s lies (lies of omission still count, especially when the truth he hid is “oh, by the way, I’m an idol with millions of obsessed fans”). Although on the verge of falling in love (who is she kidding? she’s already fallen!), Ari is terrified by Jihoon’s fame and lack of privacy, and breaks off their growing relationship as he departs for Korea.

Of course, the story doesn’t end there, and we get to see what happens when Ari travels to Seoul for a work trip, reunites with Jihoon, attends a VIP Starlune concert, and eventually, gets spotted in an intimate moment with Jihoon. Can their love survive her “outing”, especially when “Starries” brand her a “sasaeng” (stalker/obsessed fan)?

This may all sound rather silly, but it’s actually got quite a bit of emotion and thoughtfulness, and is a very engaging, absorbing listen. Ariadne is a wonderful main character, talented and smart, obviously, but with plenty of blind spots. Her single focus on work keeps her from examining just why she wants so badly to please her father, why she’s never reconciled with her free-spirited older sister, and why she wants a career in law in the first place. Once she opens herself up to love and all the messy emotions that go with it, she starts to see how many limits she’s imposed on her own life through her strict devotion to meeting other people’s expectations, and it actually starts to free her enough to consider what she really wants out of life and how she wants to live.

Jihoon is, perhaps, too good to be true. Because yes, he’s a pop idol with his face on everything from cereal boxes to bottled water, and a video of him taking a nap for five minutes has millions of views, but he’s really just a nice, sensitive guy who wants to experience true connection with someone real. He loves his bandmates and his fans and appreciates all of the advantages he’s gotten from becoming an idol, and yet he also yearns to write the music that matters to him, and to spend time with a woman who loves him for himself, not for his manufactured image.

The Comeback is sweet and entertaining, and even thought-provoking. We can dream of a gorgeous celebrity falling for us, but would we really want the constant surveillance and online criticism (which is putting it mildly) that goes with it? Ari’s dilemma and heartache feel real, because yes, she’s fallen for this man, but she’s nowhere near sure she can handle the demands of his public life — not to mention the public shaming that seems headed her way once the company that controls Starlune gets involved in managing the messaging.

As with The Stand-In, the audiobook narration is a treat. Phillipa Soo is terrific voicing Ariadne, and captures the other characters really well too. I have the same complaint here that I did with the previous book, however — this is a first-person story, and in scenes with dialogue, it can be very difficult to tell whether Ari is saying something out loud or whether certain lines are asides that she’s thinking to herself. I’ve heard narrators who’ve managed to change up the delivery/intonation enough to make it clear, but here, it can be confusing, and there’s not always enough context to tell the difference.

Other than that, though, the audiobook is delightful. This is not a heavy story by any means, but it definitely kept my attention — enough that I found myself driving the longer way to my destinations just to get a few more minutes of listening time into my day!

PS – I am not a K-pop fan… but after listening to The Comeback, I think I may need to expand my horizons!

PPS – If you’re as ignorant of K-pop culture as I am (was), check out some basics:

Kpop Idol – Life and Career of Korean Music Artists
2022’s Top K-Pop Artists
50 Most Liked Kpop Videos of 2022

Enjoy!

12Feb2022

Audiobook Review: The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Blue Castle
Author: L. M. Montgomery
Narrator: Barbara Barnes
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: 1926
Print length: 249 pages
Audio length: 8 hours, 3 minutes
Genre: Classic fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

All her life, Valancy Stirling lived on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. At 29, she’s never been in love, and her only consolation has been the forbidden books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle.
Then, one day, she gets a letter and decides that things need to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels. At first, her family thinks she’s gone around the bend, but soon, she discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

The Blue Castle has been on my to-read/to-listen list for several years now. Ever since reading Anne of Green Gables a few years ago (making up for what was clearly a major deficiency in my childhood reading), I’ve been committed to reading more and more by L. M. Montgomery. And while I’ve now read the full Anne series as well as the Emily trilogy, I still hadn’t quite gotten to The Blue Castle… until now.

I associate L. M. Montgomery with writing charming, heartfelt tales about girls whose sense of wonder and imagination enables then to see the world in such a glorious, optimistic light. The Blue Castle, though, is about a grown woman, and I was curious to see how the author presents a story about an adult.

In The Blue Castle, the main character is Valancy Stirling, whose 29th birthday represents a dramatic turning point for her. Valancy lives with her mother and elderly cousin in a stifling, rule-bound, drab house, completely under her mother’s thumb. The family considers Valancy a somewhat pitiable old maid at this point. She’s never been known as a beauty, has paled in comparison with her lovely younger cousin Olivia, and has never been expected to do anything with her life but be obedient, laugh at her uncle’s awful jokes, and be meek all her life.

One her birthday, Valancy decides to secretly see the local doctor about a strange feeling she occasionally gets in her chest. The doctor is forced to rush off due to a family emergency, but days later, she gets a letter from him, regretfully informing her that she has a fatal heart condition and may have months, but certainly no more than a year left to live.

It’s bitter news for Valancy, who mourns not her impending death, but the fact that she has never lived. And so, with nothing left to lose, she decides to throw caution to the wind and finally, better late than never, live a real life.

Her actions and demeanor shock her family, who are convinced that she’s gone “dippy” — and when Valancy crosses what they see as an unforgiveable line, they decide to pretend that she’s dead.

Meanwhile, Valancy finds unexpected joy by embracing a new, adventurous life, seeking out people and places that make her happy, throwing aside society’s rules and soaking in the beauty of the natural world and the pleasure of companionship based on respect and friendship and being open to experience.

I won’t give away too much of the plot. I’d imagine that in 1926, when the book was published, the surprises that come toward the end of the story might truly have been new and unexpected. As a 21st century reader, I absolutely saw most of the twists coming… but that’s okay. The joy is in the journey to get there, not in unraveling the plot points and figuring out just how Valancy’s story might end.

Valancy is a delightful main character, smart and open and loving, and I found her sass and bravery absolutely fabulous, once she makes the decision to remove herself from the rules and drudgery of her former life.

As in other L. M. Montgomery books, the setting is terrific. The Anne and Emily books are all set on Prince Edward Island, but the setting of The Blue Castle is the fictional area of Lake Mistawis, which apparently corresponds to the real Lake Muskoka in Ontario. In particular, Valancy’s home on an island on the lake is my ideal of a perfect little hideaway, simple and warm, surrounding by lakes and forests, and just such a lovely dream location.

The audiobook narration is quite good, capturing the officiousness of Valancy’s various relatives, as well as her own good nature and open attitude. Yes, some of the dialogue and phrases and terms of endearment sound hokey and outdated… but they’re from the 1920s, so of course they seem a little out of place now. Still, it’s a sweet and fast and enjoyable listen, and I’m so glad I finally experienced this lovely story.

And an added positive — I have at least three more of L. M. Montgomery’s books on my shelves! I’m looking forward to reading them all.

*The cover of the 1980s edition, which cracks me up. I mean, the sweater tied over the shoulders! Absolutely wrong for the character… but so dorkily delightful all the same.*

4Mar2021

Series wrap-up: The Emily Starr trilogy by L. M. Montgomery

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

One of my reading goals for 2021 was to read the Emily trilogy by L. M. Montgomery. Check! I just finished up the 3rd book, and I’m still under Emily’s spell. Here’s my reading wrap-up for this lovely trilogy:

Title: Emily of New Moon
Published: 1923
Length: 339 pages
Rating:

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely–until her beloved father died. Now Emily’s an orphan, and her mother’s snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She’s sure she won’t be happy. Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends, with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who’s sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon.

Emily of New Moon introduces us to the unforgettable Emily Byrd Starr. Orphaned at age 10, Emily is taken in by her late mother’s side of the family, who disowned her mother years earlier when she eloped with Emily’s father. Suddenly uprooted, Emily settles into life at the beautiful New Moon with her spinster aunts, Elizabeth and Laura, and her impish cousin Jimmy. Despite her heartbreak over losing her father, Emily is soon enchanted by the loveliness of the farm and its surroundings, and settles in — with challenges — to her new home.

Emily is feisty and sensitive, speaks her mind, and doesn’t back down. She’s also highly imaginative and inquisitive, and — like Anne in Anne of Green Gables — delights in imbuing the natural world around her with fanciful names and personalities. For the first time in her life, Emily also has friends and classmates, and gets into wonderful adventures with Ilse, Teddy, and Perry. Most of all, Emily lets her secret ambition to become a “poetess” flourish, and uses every scrap of paper she can find to record her poems and stories.

This is a truly lovely book, very similar to Anne of Green Gables in spirit and tone. The author once again gives us a young girl with a sharp, expressive mind and a will of her own as a main character. The book is full of sweetness and whimsy, but we also feel Emily’s sorrow and pain as she navigates a world that isn’t always kind to her. There are memorable characters and escapades, and as in the author’s other works. Prince Edward Island is brought to life through Emily’s eyes.

Title: Emily Climbs
Published: 1925
Length: 325 pages
Rating:

Emily Starr was born with the desire to write. As an orphan living on New Moon Farm, writing helped her face the difficult, lonely times. But now all her friends are going away to high school in nearby Shrewsbury, and her old-fashioned, tyrannical aunt Elizabeth will only let her go if she promises to stop writing! All the same, this is the first step in Emily’s climb to success. Once in town, Emily’s activities set the Shrewsbury gossips buzzing. But Emily and her friends are confident — Ilse’s a born actress, Teddy’s set to be a great artist, and roguish Perry has the makings of a brilliant lawyer. When Emily has her poems published and writes for the town newspaper, success seems to be on its way — and with it the first whispers of romance. Then Emily is offered a fabulous opportunity, and she must decide if she wants to change her life forever.

The second book in the Emily trilogy covers Emily’s teen years as she attends high school in the nearby town of Shrewsbury. While Emily is desperate to further her education and hone her writing craft, she dreads being forced to board with her judgmental, restrictive Aunt Ruth. Plus, as part of being allowed to attend high school, Emily has had to promise not to write fiction during the three years of her schooling, which is a really tough pill for her to swallow. Still, she has her diaries and her poetry, and starts writing newspaper articles as well.

As the years go by, Emily and her friends grow and have more adventures, and Emily has some initial success as a writer when magazines begin publishing her submissions, sometimes even for money. Meanwhile, she has her first suitors, but her heart really belongs to the boy she’s grown up with.

I really enjoyed book #2, although one of the romantic situations involves a much older cousin-by-marriage and is kind of icky (although Emily, bless her heart, doesn’t understand at all that there’s a romantic interest there.) While he is never inappropriate, his interest is obvious, and seen through today’s lens, it feels way too much like grooming. So icky. (Granted, the book was written 100 years ago, so perspectives on this sort of thing would certainly have been different).

Even as she gets older, Emily is still a dreamer, and it’s lovely to see her view of the world around her. Like Anne (of Green Gables), she sees magic and beauty in the world, and is driven by the need to describe what she experiences through her writing.

By the end of Emily Climbs, Emily has finished school and set her course for the future. It’s charming to see the choices she makes and the life she envisions for herself.

Title: Emily’s Quest
Published: 1927
Length: 258 pages
Rating:

Emily Starr and Teddy Kent have been friends since childhood, and as Teddy is about to leave to further his education as an artist, Emily believes that their friendship is blossoming into something more. On his last night at home, they vow to think of each other when they see the star Vega of the Lyre.

As Emily grows as a writer and learns to deal with the loneliness of having her closest friends gone, life at New Moon changes. Mr. Carpenter, Emily’s most truthful critic and favorite teacher dies (warning Emily, even as he dies to “Beware — of — italics.”). She becomes closer to Dean Priest, even as she fears he wants love when she only has friendship to give. Worst of all, Emily and Teddy become distant as he focuses on building his career and she hides her feelings behind pride.

Oh, this book grabbed me and put my heart through the wringer! So many emotions! Emily grows into her young womanhood in Emily’s Quest, and it’s both sad and inspiring in so many ways.

Although she’s been offered an opportunity to pursue a career in New York, Emily knows in her heart that she belongs at New Moon, and that this is where her joy and creative inspiration live. She continues to live with her aunts and cousin in the family home and enjoys the natural beauty of her world. Her writing gets accepted by more and more magazines, and she actually earns enough to pay back the stuffy aunts and uncles who paid for her earlier education.

But Emily is lonely without her closest friends. She has many suitors, none of whom really stir her feelings enough to accept their proposals. Her older cousin Dean provides companionship, and it’s clear that he loves her. Emily is very fond of him and loves his friendship, but I started to hate him. He’s so disparaging of Emily’s work, to the point that he pretty much eviscerates her:

“Her pretty cobwebs—” ah, there it was. That was all Emily heard. She did not even realize that he was telling her he thought her a beautiful woman.
“Do you think what I write is nothing but cobwebs, Dean?” she asked chokingly.
Dean looked surprised, doing it very well. “Star, what else is it? What do you think it is yourself? I’m glad you can amuse yourself by writing. It’s a splendid thing to have a little hobby of the kind. And if you can pick up a few shekels by it—well, that’s all very well too in this kind of a world. But I’d hate to have you dream of being a Brontë or an Austen—and wake to find you’d wasted your youth on a dream.”
“I don’t fancy myself a Brontë or an Austen,” said Emily. “But you didn’t talk like that long ago, Dean. You used to think then I could do something some day.”
“We don’t bruise the pretty visions of a child,” said Dean. “But it’s foolish to carry childish dreams over into maturity. Better face facts. You write charming things of their kind, Emily. Be content with that and don’t waste your best years yearning for the unattainable or striving to reach some height far beyond your grasp.”

Ugh. If Dean Priest was standing in front of me, I think I’d have to punch him in the face. Because of a series of events that start with Dean telling Emily that her work is basically trash, Emily goes through one of the worst periods of her life, and eventually accepts Dean’s proposal of marriage, thinking she can have a happy life with him. Fortunately, she realizes what we readers have known all along — her heart has always belonged to Teddy Kent, the boy she’s loved since childhood.

Sadly, the course of true love never did run smooth, and there’s more heartbreak ahead. I can’t tell you how completely wrung out my feelings were, reading Emily’s ups and downs, and at times, hurting so much for her that I wanted to go hide with my head under a pillow.

But fear not, there’s a happy ending! I wish the ending had been given a little more time to breathe, but it was joyful nonetheless, and that’s really all I wanted — for Emily to find the happiness she deserves.

Wrapping it all up…

The fact that I was so caught up in Emily’s life shows what a magnificently written set of books this is! There’s something incredibly beautiful about following Emily’s story from girlhood through her teens and into womanhood, seeing all the different stages of her life, and experiencing how her childhood hopes and dreams evolve over time, making her the woman she finally becomes.

It’s a lovely journey, and Emily is a fabulous character. She has the starry-eyed joy that we see in Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), but her story takes its own path. While initially feeling like a similar book about an orphaned girl finding a new family, Emily becomes someone unique and worth knowing in her own right. I love her imagination and joy as a child, and how her love of the world around her infuses her writing and her ability to love others.

The books are filled with memorable quirky characters, and the setting on Prince Edward Island is so lovingly drawn that I could visualize everything Emily sees. (PEI is going to be a travel goal for me!)

I’m so thrilled that I read the Emily trilogy, and I know in my heart that these are books I’ll come back to again and again.

10Feb2019

Take A Peek Book Review: Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought. This week’s “take a peek” book:

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Miriam’s family should be rich. After all, her grandfather was the co-creator of smash-hit comics series The TomorrowMen. But he sold his rights to the series to his co-creator in the 1960s for practically nothing, and now that’s what Miriam has: practically nothing. And practically nothing to look forward to either-how can she afford college when her family can barely keep a roof above their heads? As if she didn’t have enough to worry about, Miriam’s life gets much more complicated when a cute boy shows up in town… and turns out to be the grandson of the man who defrauded Miriam’s grandfather, and heir to the TomorrowMen fortune.

In her endearing debut novel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks pens a sensitive and funny Romeo and Juliet tale about modern romance, geek royalty, and what it takes to heal the long-festering scars of the past (Spoiler Alert: love).

My Thoughts:

Comic and graphic novel writer Faith Erin Hicks makes her debut in young adult fiction with Comics Will Break Your Heart, and does it beautifully! In this sweet YA novel, two teens from families with a long-standing grudge meet and connect one summer in Nova Scotia. Miriam’s grandfather co-created the TomorrowMen comics with Weldon’s grandfather, but sold his rights to the brand for only $900 many decades earlier. Since then, TomorrowMen has blown up with a huge fandom and a blockbuster movie in the works, and while Weldon’s family stands to profit hugely, Miriam’s will see not a dime, despite the 20-year lawsuit waged by her grandfather to undo the shoddy deal he unwittingly agreed to.

When Miriam and Weldon meet, they each carry their families’ baggage, but their mutual love of comics as well as their own personal struggles to figure out their futures draw them together and help them move past the animosity that’s lingered for so long. This is a quick, fun read, with touching moments too, and has some lovely scenes that highlight the intricacies and quirks of best friendships, relationships between teens and their parents, and the heartaches and worries that come with making decisions about where to go in life.

Comics Will Break Your Heart is also a terrific ode to the glories of fandom, culminating in a visit to (of course) San Diego Comic-Con. I’m sure everyone with a secret geeky obsession will relate to the characters’ reactions to entering geek heaven:

In a flash he saw everything as she saw it, the madness and energy but also the joyful heart of the convention.

“Oh, wow,” she whispered. “Comics made all of this.”

For more by this author, check out my reviews of two of her graphic novels, Friends With Boys and The Adventures of Superhero Girl.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Comics Will Break Your Heart
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication date: February 12, 2019
Length: 218 pages
Genre: Young adult
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

28Aug2016

Take A Peek Book Review: Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Eighty-three-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Saskatchewan, Canada eastward to the sea. As Etta walks further toward the crashing waves, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur.

Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. “I will try to remember to come back,” Etta writes to her husband. Otto has seen the ocean, having crossed the Atlantic years ago to fight in a far-away war. He understands. But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in and Otto struggles to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, their neighbor Russell has spent his whole life trying to keep up with Otto and loving Etta from afar. Russell insists on finding Etta, wherever she’s gone. Leaving his own farm will be the first act of defiance in his life.

Moving from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty, burnt past of hunger, war, and passion, from trying to remember to trying to forget, Etta and Otto and Russell and James is an astounding literary debut “of deep longing, for reinvention and self-discovery, as well as for the past and for love and for the boundless unknown” (San Francisco Chronicle). “In this haunting debut, set in a starkly beautiful landscape, Hooper delineates the stories of Etta and the men she loved (Otto and Russell) as they intertwine through youth and wartime and into old age. It’s a lovely book you’ll want to linger over” (People).

My Thoughts:

Etta and Otto and Russell and James feels as familiar as an old shoe… and that’s both good and bad. There’s a heart-warming, comforting tone to it, and much of the story is told throughout flashbacks and interwoven memories. E&O&R&J seems to be one of several books recently about an elderly main character embarking on a sudden adventure or doing something completely out of character. I was reminded most forcefully of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, but that’s not the only example.

In this book, main character Etta wakes up one day and starts walking, setting off on an easterly course from Saskatchewan in order to see the ocean, which she’s never seen before. She walks all day long, every day, sleeping outdoors and bathing in rivers, with only a coyote for company. The coyote (James) talks, by the way — or at least, Etta believes he does. Magical elements come into play, although I suppose they could also be signs of Etta’s growing forgetfulness and dementia. She carries a fish skull, a token of her childhood, which gives her advice in French.

Meanwhile, Otto stays home waiting for Etta to return, and to stay busy, he teaches himself to bake and makes an entire papier-mâché menagerie. The third human of the title, Russell, a farmer who has spent his long life at home, sets out to find Etta and then to find himself.

Some of the most affecting portions of the story are the chapters and interludes in which we learn more about Otto’s childhood — one of fifteen children on a dusty farm, where attending school every other day in order to carry out chores at home is simply a fact of rural life — and see the complicated interconnections between Otto, Russell, and Etta. We learn, too, about Otto’s wartime experiences, which seem to have crept over into Etta’s own memories and dreams.

E&O&R&J is highly readable, and I enjoyed the light-handed touch applied by the author to even weighty scenes and subjects. However, the magical elements felt a little awkward and out of place to me, and of course Etta’s entire journey is basically impossible to believe… which I guess opens up other lines of thought, such as did her walk actually happen at all, or, like her dreams, is this a seemingly physical experience that’s actually something she’s experiencing vividly within her own head?

My favorites sections in the book are those that deal with the war, with the courtship, and with life on the family farm. The story unfolds in bits and pieces, with a fluid timeline that jumps back and forth, sometimes from page to page. Overall, it is both a sad and entertaining read, and I enjoyed this not-quite-real tale about dreams, disappointments, and the idea that it’s never too late for a life to take an unexpected turn.

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The details:

Title: Etta and Otto and Russell and James
Author: Emma Hooper
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: January 1, 2014
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley (and later, a used paperback bought at a library sale!)

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