bad parents

Beg, Borrow, or Steal

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by Sarah Adams
First sentence: “I don’t care who you are, when you live in a town the size of your thumb, if you don’t like the way your hair turns out at the salan, you stuff it deep down an never acknowledge it.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: When in Rome
Content: There is a narcissistic parent, swearing, including f-bombs, and a couple of on-screen sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Emily Walker and Jackson Bennett have been bickering and competing since they met (accidentally; he bumped into her and spilled coffee on her shirt) their freshman year of college. So, she should be happy that he’s moved to Nebraska to marry his fiance. But, she’s not, not really. And so when she hears that he’s back in town after breaking his wedding off, and moving in next door, she shouldn’t be as furious as she… kind of is? As the summer goes on, Jack and Emily realize that maybe their bickering and competing is maybe hiding something deeper.

I was looking for something light and fun to read and this absolutely fit the bill. I know there’s another one in the series that I haven’t read (I think I have it on audio) but it doesn’t really matter. I liked the banter between Emily and Jack and I liked that Adams gave them both a darker deeper backstory. It gave the book enough depth to make it have some weight, but honestly, I was there for the fun. And it absolutely delivered.

Maybe I will get around to listening to the other one now.

Not Nothing

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by Gayle Forman
First sentence: “Actually, it’s two stories, one you will recognize and one you won’t.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is anger management issues, abandonment by a parent, and an act of violence. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Alex, by a combination of chance and choice has landed a community service assignment at Shady Glenn Retirement center. He doesn’t want to be there (obviously) and is determined to have a terrible time and just grudgingly do his work until a longtime resident, Josef – nonverbal, 107 years old, and basically waiting to die – breaks his longtime silence to tell Alex his story. The book goes back and forth – Josef is our narrator the whole way, though – between telling Alex’s story and Josef’s, but the theme is the same: how can a person, through their choices, make a difference for good or ill, in the lives of others.

On the one hand, I really loved this book. I loved the way it was written, I loved the connection Josef and Alex had, I loved that Forman was exploring the idea of being better than the sum of their actions. It’s heartwarming and even though it deals with the Holocaust, it’s not a Holocaust book. It’s about connection and redemption and making our lives matter, in spite of our past choices.

On the other hand, I’m thinking, as much as I loved it, that it’s a kids book for adults. It’s the sort of book written in the sort of way that I think more adults who read kids books will like than actual kids. (Maybe some kids; I might have been able to convince a couple of mine to read it.) That’s not a knock; it’s just an observation.

It’s still an excellent book, though.

Tig

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by Heather Smith
First sentence: “We’re different now, me and Peter.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is abandonment by a parent, and destructive behavior by a child. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Tig and her older brother Peter have been living in their abandoned house – their mother up and left with her boyfriend – for four months before their Uncle Scott and his partner Monty find out and take them in. The thing is, though, Tig feels like they would be better off on their own. She hates the new house, the new town, and the new rules. She fights back at every opportunity. But, when things get a little out of hand, Tig is forced to realize that maybe the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually liked it. It’s a tough pill to swallow, from the mom’s abandonment (four months! FOUR months!) to Tig acting up and being cruel to the people who took her in. Maybe it’s a bit of PTSD from when we ended up taking in a friend of our daughters, and the stress and trauma that brought into our house (and 7 years later, we’re still trying to unpack). But, I just couldn’t with this book. I finished it, but I didn’t like it.

Audiobook: Heist Royale

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by Kayvion Lewis
Read by: Jade Wheeler
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Theives’ Gambit
Content: There’s people breaking the law (obviously) and talk of underage (for America) drinking. It’s in the YA section of the bookstore.

When we last left Ross, she came in second in the Gambit, which is not what she wanted. She’s had work over the past six months, but she still has the threat of someone wanting to kill her family hanging over her head. And then there’s the rivalry over who is going to run the Organization. Ross – and her friends – get roped into another gambit this time on teams and for the control of the Organization. Who will take the ultimate prize?

I’ll be up front: while this was fun, it wasn’t as fun as Thieves’ Gambit. That one was new, original, and a lot of fun. This one was almost a re-hashing of the first one. There were moments – at one point, they infiltrate a high-end casino in Moncao and there’s an intense moment when the owner catches Ross and tries to catch her out on cheating (but he doesn’t). That was very satisfying. But, because of the title, I was expecting a heist or a long con – something like Heist Society or Oceans 11 – and I just didn’t get that. That said, the narrator was excellent, and she kept me interested, even when I stopped caring about Ross and her relationship to her mother or her friends. I’m just not entirely sure the Thieves’ Gambit needed a sequel.

And maybe that’s where the problem lies.

Audiobook: Assistant to the Villain

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by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Read by Em Eldridge
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are descriptions of murder and mayhem, as well as a depiction of sexual assault. There are swear words, including a few f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Evie Sage is on the run after quitting her less-than-desirable job at the town blacksmith when she encounters none other than The Villain. He’s the guy who’s been terrorizing the kingdom for years, the guy whom everyone is supposed to be afraid of. And he offers her a job? As his assistant?

Which she’s actually enjoying? (That’s not even bringing up the fact that her boss is actually hot. And a decent human being.)

So, when it looks like there’s a traitor in their midst, it’s up to Evie and The Villain to figure out what’s going on and stop them before they put too many (more) lives at stake.

I felt about this one much like I felt about Fourth Wing: was it good? Probably not. Was it a lot of fun? Yes.
Yes, it is. I like the magic system that Maehrer created, and it was highly amusing the way she superimposed a modern office space on this fantasy world. (There’s an HR Director!) I liked the push and pull between Evie and The Villain (though awkward power dynamic much there?). I really liked the narrator; I think she’s what made it really fun for me. I did have quibbles with the way the ending twists happened (the fake-out was the one that really bothered me), but in the end (even though it ended on a cliffhanger), I immediately picked up the second one.

You can’t get a higher recommendation than that, can you?

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

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by Gennifer Choldenko
First sentence: “My name is Hank Hooperman, but my little sister calls me Pooperman.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some mild swearing and bad parenting (including drinking and driving). It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Hank has a problem: his mother left a week ago to run an errand, leaving 11-year-old Hank in charge of his three year old sister Boo. They’ve managed, so far, but they’ve run out of food and money. So, Hank decides what he needs to do is find Lou Ann, the person his mother put down as his emergency contact. Once there, though, Hank has a whole new set of problems: Lou Ann isn’t fond of “teenagers” (even though Hank is only 11), and she really isn’t fond of the way his mother just left. As Hank tries to find her, and to find footing in this life that he’s suddenly been thrust into, the only thing that grounds him is he knows that he and Boo need to stick together.

This was a gut punch of a book that went down so well. Choldenko knows how to write kids, and knows how to write difficult situations that give the A book weight without dragging it down. I liked that Hank still had good days – he made friends at his new school, found out that he liked basketball, and learned to rely a bit on the adults around him, instead of needing to do it all himself – and yet, Choldenko didn’t brush over all the trauma that Hank had to deal with. His mother being unreliable, Lou Ann being super strict and not liking Hank much at all, the fear that he and Boo would be separated. There was a lot of heartbreak here. But there was also a lot of joy, which I suppose is what life is.

I’m not sure if it’ll appeal to kids, but I really liked this one.

Audiobook: A Sorceress Comes to Call

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by T. Kingfisher
Read by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing, and instances of child abuse. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Cordelia’s mother is… not great. She’s a sorceress who has always gotten everything she wanted by any means possible. When Cordelia did anything her mother didn’t like, she just made Cordelia “obedient” – basically taking over her body and controlling it. Now that Cordelia is 14, though, her mother has decided they need to move on to bigger and better things – and has her sights set on a squire to marry.

Hester is that squire’s brother, and she sees Cordelia’s mother as Doom, and is going to do everything she can to stop it.

That’s the plot in a nutshell, but like other of Kingfisher’s books, the beauty of it is not in the plot. It’s in the characters and in the little things that just make her books wonderful. It’s in the portrayals of the women in all their complexity – Hester is insecure about being older and having a cranky knee (I can relate!); Cordelia is traumatized and unsure of herself but grows immensely throughout the book. It’s in the sly asides (Penelope! Imogene!), and in the way the magic is used throughout the book. Additionally, the narrators were just perfect for the characters – it alternates between Cordelia and Hester – and I found myself not wanting to stop listening.

In short, this book stole my heart, and I love that it did.

Slow Dance

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by Rainbow Rowell
First sentence: “The wedding invitation came, and Shiloh said yes, of course she’d be there.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There was swearing, including several f-bombs, as well as on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

In high school, it was always Shiloh-and-Cary-and-Mike. They were always together, and everyone assumed that Shiloh and Cary were together. But they weren’t. They were just friends. And now, 14 years after they last saw each other, after Shiloh has been married and divorced and had two kids, Cary is back in her life. They re-met at Mike’s second marriage, back in Omaha – Shiloh never left, actually – and tried to pick up where they left off. There were some false starts and miscommunication, but in the end, and despite everything else going on in their lives, it was just too good – too right – to be back in each other’s orbit again.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed this. I connected with the characters — it’s set in 2006, when they were 33 (I was 34 that year) — and the situations they found themselves in. I liked Shiloh and Carey, even when they weren’t communicating well, or Shiloh was acting anxious, or just everything. On the other hand, this was very slow and very mundane. There wasn’t a lot of what a reader would expect out of a romance in it. Even a second-chance one. There was no third-act fallout, there was very little conflict or tension. And while I liked the thoughtful, reflective quality of a book, it’s not really what readers have come to expect out of something billed as romance.

Is this a book for everyone? Probably not. But I enjoyed it.

Brightly Shining

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by Ingvild Rishøi (Author,  Caroline Waight (Translator)
First sentence: “Sometimes I think about Toyen.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: November 19, 2024
Content: There are four instances of the f-bomb, and some very bad parenting. It will be in the Christmas section of the bookstore.

Melissa and Ronja’s father can’t seem to hold a job. When he’s sober, things are going well, but all too often, he falls off the wagon and into the bottle again. This time, after he gets a job at a Christmas tree lot and ends up drinking again, Melissa decides to take matters into her own hands. She bargains with the miserly lot owner to take on her father’s job for him (and work off the big advance he took). That leaves Ronja alone, but she’s unhappy that way. So, she joins Melissa at the lot. Everything goes well… until it doesn’t.

Much like the Hans Christian Andersen tale “The Little Match Girl”, this one is hopelessly sad. It’s a reminder that not everyone gets magical Christmases and that there are those for whom the holiday is not wonderful. (And that some of those people are children.) There are brief moments of hope, and Ronja narrating the book helps, but it’s really just… sad.

The writing is gorgeous, though, and Rishoi knows how to be evocative. But, mostly, this was a bleak Christmas tale. Maybe it’s a reminder to be thankful you’re not spending your Christmas Eve under a tree in a tree lot, in the middle of a storm, with a drunk father who doesn’t even bother to come and find you.

So very sad.

Audiobook: Lies & Weddings

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by Kevin Kwan
Read by Jing Lusi
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are the uber-rich doing the uber-rich things, including just being despicable to other people. There is talk of sex, drugs, and getting high, and there is swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

 Dr. Eden Tong has grown up in the cabin next to Greshamsbury manor, where her father – while a noted oncologist – is the personal doctor to the Earl and Countess Gresham. While she is good friends with the Greshams – especially Rufus, her best friend – she doesn’t want to get involved in all their old money exploits – flying everywhere on a whim, wearing designer clothes – and she doesn’t have any intention of marrying Rufus (no matter what his Chinese mother thinks). Yet, as the oldest, Augie gets married on the Big Island of Hawaii, Eden finds herself pulled into the Gresham drama. 

There’s more to it, of course: Kevin Kwan’s books are a meandering mesh of drama and Rich People Doing Rich Things. There are a ton of characters (I really liked Freddy Farman-Farmehian (which probably isn’t spelled right) to keep track of, as well as jetting around to exotic locations to enjoy (not to mention all the clothes and food!). It’s a lush, wild, winding book, with an ending that I called but didn’t mind that I did. I loved Lusi’s narration; there were a lot of characters to handle, and she did it beautifully. 

In short, it was a delightful romp of a book and I’m glad I read it.