Adult Fiction

Audiobook: Kiss Her Once for Me

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by Alison Cochrun
Read by: Natalie Naudus
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s a romance, so there are sexytimes. And lots and lots of kissing. Plus swearing, including f-bombs. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore.

Ellie Oliver had one perfect day. It was Christmas Eve, and she was sad that her mother (again) wouldn’t visit her in Portland. She was about to start her dream job. Then, during a snowstorm, she met the perfect woman and spent the perfect day. A year later, though, Ellie’s life is a mess: she was fired from the perfect job, she’s working as a barista in a dive of a coffee shop, and worst of all: she had her heart broken by the perfect woman. So when the landlord of the coffee shop suggests a fake engagement so he can inherit $2 million (and give her 10%) she jumps at the chance. The catch? His sister is said perfect woman who broke Ellie’s heart. In a crazy, event-filled week at the family’s winter cabin, Ellie has to make a choice: the safe, fake marriage and money for true love.

(You can guess which one she chooses.)

The thing about romance books is that it’s the characters that pull you in and keep you interested. Readers basically know how the plot is going to go. And this one, my friends, has some excellent characters. From Ellie herself to the fantastic love interest, Jack, to the high and/or stoned grandmothers. It’s all a lot of fun. And the narrator is just sublime. So, even though I read a Christmas book in July, it was totally worth it. Such fun, such delight, such adorableness.

Audiobook: Unnecessary Drama

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by Nina Kenwood
Read by: Maddy Withington
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs, teenage drinking (though it’s legal in Australia), and some off-screen sex. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Brooke is off to her first year of uni, and she just wants a fresh start. Sure, she’s overly anxious and prone to making lists and cleaning when she’s stressed, but now that she’s in Melbourne and away from everything, she’s going to be a New Person. That all falls apart when she discovers that one of the roommates in her shared house is Jesse, the boy from high school who completely dumped on her when she was 14 and has been her nemisis ever since.

You know where this is going, right?

Not only is it a very cute, solid, enemies-to-lovers trope – of course Jesse and Brooke start out hating each other, but slowly become friends. BUT there’s ALSO fake dating! When out at a bar to celebrate their other roommate, Harper’s, birthday, they run into Brooke’s ex-boyfriend, and because she doesn’t want to look like a pathetic fool, she ropes Jesse into being her boyfriend for the night. Except that lights a fire….

There’s also the “no dating roommates” rule at the house…

It’s a lot of cute, silly, fun. Fun that made me laugh out loud and shake my head at the pure anxiousness and need-to-be-in-control that Brooke has. Jesse is a good foil for everything, and he turns out to be really sweet. I love that it’s set during the first year of uni, and talks about the transition from high school to college. And the narrator with her Australian accent was a delight too.

So, yeah, I really liked this one.

Audiobook: Family Lore

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by Elizabeth Acevedo
Read by the author, Sixta Morel & Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Release date: August 1, 2023
Content: There was a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of sex and p0rn, and abuse by adults towards children. It will be in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

I have a tumultuous history with magic realism. A lot of the time, it doesn’t sit well; if there’s going to be magic, my brain reasons, then why don’t we have it be magic. Give me someone pulling cars out of their dreams, if you want to set it in the real world. But the idea that someone’s “magic” can predict death, or tell if you were lying, or – heaven help me – have a magical vagina, you lose me. 

On the one hand: I have really loved Acevedo’s books in the past. I think she’s a brilliant writer and I’ve really enjoyed the tales she’s had to tell. I was excited by this one: the stories of sisters who have immigrated from the Dominican Republic, and their reflections on their lives and loves as they lead up to the living wake of the oldest sister. Sounds good, right? 

But, the narrator is Ona, an anthropologist, and the book’s framework is her collecting and telling these stories. I was fine when it was the stories, but Ona? Ona – she of the magic vagina – I intensely disliked. That’s an understatement. I loathed it when she was around when she interrupted the story with her own observations and her own narrative. I wished I could have skipped it – I was listening to it on audio; I suppose I could have, but it’s not the same as skipping pages in a book – and moved on with the part of the story I was interested in. 

I finished it. But, in the end, my dislike of Ona and magical realism trumped whatever good the book had.

Audiobook: Same Time Next Summer

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by Annabel Monaghan
Read by Brittany Pressley and Dan Bittner
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing, and a couple of f-bombs. There is also some sexy times, but mostly off-screen. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore.

Sam has always felt most alive on the beach at her family’s Long Island summer home. With the waves, the freedom, the long days, and with Wyatt, the boy next door. They even had one spectacular summer where they spent every day together, falling in love. But at the end of that summer, they had a falling out, and now it’s been fourteen years since they’ve seen each other. Sam is back at the beach house with her fiance, Jack, for a week as she is dealing with a misstep at her job and they’re trying to figure out where to get married that October. And guess who’s back next-door? Wyatt, of course, fresh in from LA to help out with a music festival in their beach town.

What does that mean for Sam? Has she gotten over him? Is closure what she needs? Or maybe a whole new lease on life?

This one was really sweet. I liked Sam as a character, and I liked that she learned to come back into herself over the course of the book. It wasn’t as steamy as some of the other ones I’ve read lately, but it went hard for the summertime, hippy living, beach town vibe and it absolutely nailed that. I loved the narrators, and the way they made the characters come alive. It was thoroughly delightful, especially on audio.

The Guncle

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by Steven Rowley
First sentence: “All right, here goes nothing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of death and addiction, and off-screen sex. It also deals really frankly with death and grief. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

Patrick O’Hara is a retired TV star. He had his moment, he was famous, and he made his money. And now he’s living in Palm Springs, happily away from the world. Except it’s not happy – he’s still mourning the death of his partner, Joe (a drunk driver hit them, and Patrick is still wary about getting behind the wheel of his car), and so when his best friend (and sister-in-law) dies, he’s completely wrecked. Except that his brother, Sara’s husband, tells Patrick that he’s addicted to painkillers and needs rehab and that he wants Patrick to take care of his two kids. Which, of course, Patrick refuses… until he doesn’t. At first, being the guardian of 9-year-old Maisie and 6-year-old Grant is almost too much for Patrick, but over the weeks, he learns how to handle everything.

That’s really all there is to this book. But, it’s also not all there is. Both Patrick and the kids are grieving, and it’s their path to figuring out how to live without the people they love in their lives. It’s Patrick growing and learning, and opening up to connection again. It’s being fun and silly in the summer heat and making memories that will last. So, it’s not just the plot; it’s the characters and their individual paths that make this book really enjoyable. It was charming and funny, while also being serious and open about grief and grieving.

I really enjoyed it quite a lot.

Audiobook: Big Gay Wedding

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by Byron Lane
Read by Noah Galvin
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, some tasteful on-screen foreplay, and a giant, graphic, naked gay wedding cake. There is also homophobia, including the use of the other f-word. It’s in the fiction section of the bookstore.

There is a farm in rural Louisiana called the Polite Society Farm. It’s run by Chrissie (I’m not sure if that’s spelled right) Durang, whose husband passed away a couple years back. She’s made do, but she’s hoping that her son Barnett, who is coming home for a visit, will take over so she can retire. The problem is that Barnett isn’t coming home to help his mother out. He’s coming home to get married. To his future husband, Ezra. And his mother doesn’t know yet.

It seems trite to say “hilarity ensues” but hilarity really does ensue. From Chrissy spite-eating all of Ezra’s mushroom-laced chocolate and getting high as a kite to the side characters (Ezra’s family! Pawpaw!) to just the hugeness and over-the-top-ness of the wedding, this one had me guffawing (seriously) while listening. But there’s some depth to it. Chrissy’s not happy with her son being gay, living in Los Angeles, or marrying a man. She’s a homophobe (as was her dead husband), and she learns and grows to accept both her son and his lover. It’s quite lovely to see. The town’s pretty homophobic as well, but there are some bright spots and learning lessons. And, if the sheep death at the end (spoiler, but not much of one) didn’t have me tearing up.

The audiobook is spectacular. Galvin does a fantastic job with the characters and keeping the book flowing and embracing the crazy. I’m not sure I would have laughed half as much if it weren’t for the audiobook.

So, yeah, highly highly recommended. So much fun.

Wolfsong

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by TJ Klune
First sentence: “I was twelve when my daddy put a suitcase by the door.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: July 4, 2023
Review copy pilfered from the ARC shelves at work.
Content: There is a lot of violence, swearing, and sex (on-screen and talked about). There is mention of child abuse and pedophilia. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Ox Matheson has spent most of his life believing he was nothing – it’s what his father told him, after all. But then, at age 16, he meets 10-year-old Joe Bennett, and the whole Bennet clan, and Ox’s life is forever changed. Over the 10 years that this book takes place, Ox and Joe grow into each other, as Joe grows into manhood, and Ox learns more about the Bennett family and their werewolf ways (not sure if that’s a spoiler, sorry). Additionally, the wolf clan will fight a rogue wolf, one who blames Joe’s dad for the death of his family, and who will stop at nothing to hurt the Bennetts. This will shape not only Ox and Joe and their relationship, but the whole town they live in. 

On the one hand: while this is early Klune (it’s a re-issue of his first book), there are still some elements of his writing in there that I love. it was very funny at points, and Klune has this way of writing characters that are just good at their core. Ox is one of those characters, and I really enjoyed spending time with him. 

On the other hand, there was a LOT of violence. A lot. It got to the point whenever one character threatened to show up, I had to put the book down because I knew people – often children – would be hurt. And if you ever wondered if Klune could write a very graphic but also very hot gay sex scene, the answer is: yes, he can. But it was also 500 pages of angst and violence and werewolves, and I’m just not sure I want to read the three more books in the series. 

So, while I liked this one, I didn’t love it the way I love Klune’s other books. I’m glad I read it, though.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

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by Sue Lynn Tan
First sentence” There are many legends about my mother.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is a lot of violence, most of it on-screen. It’s in the science fiction/fantasy section of the bookstore.

I started to type out the plot for this one, but it’s really long and somewhat convoluted. Simply: there is a woman, Xingyin, who is forced to flee her mother’s home on the moon and ends up in the Celestial Kingdom, where she does quests and challenges (and saves the prince’s life a bunch of times while falling in love with him) to have her mother released from her imprisonment on the moon.

This one came really highly recommended, so I wanted to like it. But I just…. didn’t. I grew impatient with Xingyin’s quest after quest after quest after quest. And the love story between her and the prince was just… meh. And then, in part 3, there’s a twist that comes out of freaking nowhere, and I just lost patience.

I did finish it, but I have no interest in reading the sequel. I do wish I could have seen what others saw in it, but it just didn’t work for me.

Audiobook: Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

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by J. Ryan Stradal
Read by Aspen Vincent
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There was some mild swearing (maybe one or two f-bombs?) and a lot of death/hardship and mention of abuse. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

In northern Minnesota, there’s a restaurant – the Lakeside Supper Club – that has been family owned for nearly a century. It’s managed to stay open in the face of unhappiness on the part of the owners, meddling kids, and upstart chain restaurants. Sure, it could use a bit of a facelift, but it still has that down-home, family quality to it that it had when it opened all those years before.
This is the story of some of those owners, and how the last one, in a long line, came to sell it.

Sure, it’s about more than that: it’s about making choices and having the freedom to make choices. It’s about parent-child relationships, and how those shape our lives. It’s about owning a small business in the ever-encroaching world of fast food and chain restaurants. It’s about life in Minnesota.
It does follow several generations of characters, through time, as they make their choices and mistakes – and I came to realize that they were happier having chosen the restaurant rather than having it forced upon them. Maybe that’s a metaphor for life?

The narrator was fantastic, and I enjoyed every minute of listening to her read this book. I don’t know if I want to go out and read another Stradal book (though several of my coworkers love his stuff), but I liked this one quite a bit.

Audiobook: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Read by Anna Li
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s not much objectionable. it’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

In a small, underground cafe in Tokyo, there is a chair that will take you back in time. There are rules, of course, but if you follow the rules you can go back and meet someone. Perhaps it’s a husband who has now forgotten you because of Alzheimer’s; or a boyfriend you had a bad conversation with; or a sister, who is now dead. Or maybe, you are brave enough to go into the future to meet the daughter you birthed but then died shortly after. Whoever you meet, while you can’t change the present, maybe you can just set your heart at peace. 

I was at first charmed by this short book – the narrator is good, and the translation (it was originally written and published in Japanese) isn’t bad. But honestly: as the book went on, I became more impatient with it. They repeated things – do I really need the Rules for Traveling every time someone new sits in the seat? – and while I didn’t dislike the characters, I didn’t really like them either. I feel like there was so much more Telling than Showing – let me tell you all about this character or this situation, rather than just letting it unfold naturally. I usually listen to my audiobooks at 1.0 speed, because I liked to hear the narrator and the story unfold at a natural pace. But I got fed up with this one, and sped through the last quarter because I was just Done with this book (but too close to the end to bail). 

I don’t get why people love it, or why it sold so many copies. But that’s just probably me.