Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan

Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778387251

Hardcover, $30, 400 pages

Allison Brennan usually writes romantic suspense novels (I've previously read her Quinn and Costa FBI Thrillers and enjoyed them), and here she takes a turn towards a more cozy mystery-type novel in Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds.

Her heroine here is Mia, an accountant in a small firm where she is about to be named partner. She has worked hard to get this opportunity, but she also knows that accepting the partnership will mean even longer hours at the office.

Her boss books her a vacation at a fancy private island resort and insists she take it. Mia is sort-of looking forward to hanging out at the beach, reading her favorite romance novels, and maybe even having a vacation fling with Jason the hot bartender.

She didn't realize she would get caught up in a mystery when a guest goes missing. Mia and a teenage guest (who doesn't trust the woman her father wants to marry) team up to find out what happened to the missing guest.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of in this fun page-turner of a novel, and it does have a White Lotus feel to the story. Everyone has secrets that appear to be related to the missing guest who was perhaps blackmailing several of the guests.

The hot bartender has his eye on Mia, and after several attempts at romance are interrupted, they finally connect in some steamy scenes. Mia begins to question whether this is a vacation romance or could it be something more?

Brennan does a wonderful job balancing the romance and the mystery/suspense here, and bibliophiles like myself will enjoy and perhaps even recognize the quotes from popular mystery/thriller novels that opened each chapter. And I also loved that her heroine is an accountant, many readers will be able to relate to Mia's job. Careful readers may also be able to figure the secret that Jason is hiding.

All in all, Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds is a perfect beach read for those who like their romance mixed with a lighter mystery. I truly enjoyed it.

 

Three Books For Your Beach Bag

We’re heading into summer reading season and there are some wonderful books waiting to be added to beach bags.

Amy Poeppel writes delightful novels that make me laugh, filled with characters I wish were my friends. Her latest, Far and Away takes readers to Dallas and Berlin as two families swap homes for a summer. 

Lucy is preparing a big celebration for her son Jack’s high school graduation in Dallas when she receives a call from his principal asking her to come in for a meeting-now.

Jack is accused of doing something ‘sexist’, something that is out of character for her nerdy hardworking son. The whole situation spins out of control and Jack will not be participating in graduation ceremonies, and his college acceptance may be rescinded.

After the family is ostracized and their house egged, Lucy decides to take her children to Europe for the summer to let things die down. She goes online and finds someone in Berlin who is looking for a house Dallas for the summer. Perfect- a house swap solves the problem.

In Berlin, Greta is celebrating a big win- she purchased a Vermeer at auction for a client and everyone is talking about it. When her husband Otto comes home and tells her he took a job in Dallas for the summer, Greta is concerned her career achievement is in jeopardy.

Lucy enjoys showing her kids the Berlin she loved spending time in years ago, and while Greta is having a more difficult adjustment in Dallas her husband Otto is thriving.

Once again, Poeppel creates characters that are so fully developed from Lucy and Greta to Lucy’s neighboring in-laws, Otto, and Greta’s American neighbor who befriends Lucy. You feel like you know them well. 

Any mom of teens will relate to Lucy as she tries to navigate Jack’s predicament in this atmosphere of piling on before getting the whole story. 

And only Amy Poeppel can connect a possible fake Vermeer painting, a missing husband participating in a Mars biosphere experiment (or is he in jail?), and a complicated math formula and make it work so brilliantly. Take a trip to Dallas and Berlin this summer in one funny and sweet story in Far and Away, you’ll love it as much as I did.

Grab your beach towel and sunscreen as author Jane L. Rosen takes readers back to Fire Island in her third novel in the series Songs of Summer.

When record store owner Maggie May leaves her Ohio home in search of her birth mother on Fire Island, she may end up with more than she bargained for. 

She discovers that her birth mother is attending a wedding on Fire Island, but when she finds the woman, her mother is the middle of a very public screaming match with the sister she hasn’t spoken to in years. 

Before Maggie decides whether she wants to be a part of this family, she is befriended by a handsome man which leads her to question her own relationship with her childhood sweetheart.

I loved the first two books in the series, On Fire Island and “Seven Summer Weekends” and was so happy to reunite with many of the characters from these two books, including my favorite Shep, an elderly widower. Nobody writes older gentlemen better than Jane L. Rosen.

You don’t need to have read the first two books to enjoy Songs of Summer, but you will appreciate it more if you have. It's filled with humor and heart and I highly recommend all three.

You may recognize Vicky Nguyen from her work as a correspondent on the Today Show. She tells her story as a Vietnamese immigrant in her fascinating memoir Boat Baby.

Vicky’s parents were fearful for their lives following the end of the war in Vietnam. They escaped on a boat to Malaysia and, after finding an American family willing to sponsor them, they settled in Oregon.

Her parents worked hard to build a good life for their only daughter and Vicky wanted to be a typical American teenager. But she still had to face prejudice from her peers. It's an eye-opening look at the immigrant experience.

Vicky became interested in a career in television journalism in college. She worked long hours and moved from station to station to advance her career. She married her high school sweetheart and they faced challenges as they tried to start a family.

If you liked Connie Chung’s recent memoir Connie,  Boat Baby is a wonderful companion read. I found the parts on the news business most enlightening. 

Far And Away by Amy Poeppel- A

Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Trade paperback, $18.99, 400 pages

Songs of Summer by Jane L. Rosen- A

Published by Berkley

Trade paperback, $19, 336 pages

Boat Baby by Vicky Nguyen- A

Published by Simon & Schuster

Hardcover, $29.99, 320 pages

Writing Mr. Right by Alina Khawaja

Writing Mr. Right by Alina Khawaja

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778368663

Trade paperback, $18.99, 304 pages

From the publisher:

The Dead Romantics meets Book Lovers in this charming rom-com about struggling writer Ziya, who’s about to give up on her dream of publishing until she wakes up one morning to find a physical manifestation of her writing muse in her apartment.

Ziya Khan is a legal secretary by day, but she spends her nights working hard to be a published author. She’s spent the last few years trying to get her novel published about a young brown woman falling in love with a small-town brown man—but with no luck.

After one particularly painful rejection on the night before her thirtieth birthday, Ziya decides to give up her pen for good and instead just wishes to be happy. Then, the next morning, Ziya wakes up to find Aashiq, a physical manifestation of her writing muse, sitting on her couch.

Aashiq has materialized to help Ziya find her love for writing again, despite Ziya’s determination to keep her dreams in the past. But bit by bit, Aashiq starts to remind Ziya of why she loved writing and that her words matter more than she thinks. And impossibly, something more starts to blossom between them.

But as Ziya falls for Aashiq, he begins to disappear, which prompts her to choose: her art or her heart?

My thoughts:

Romantasy as a genre is quite popular, and Writing Mr. Right is more of magical rom-com, something you may have seen as a 2000s rom-com movie.

Ziya is very good at her day job as a legal secretary, but she dreams of becoming a published author. Her novel as been rejected many times for being "too small-town" and she is getting discouraged when she finds the physical manifestation of her writing muse in the form of a very handsome man in her living room.

She tells her roommate and best friend that Aashiq is her boyfriend because the truth is too unbelievable. Aashiq even follows her to work where she tells her coworkers that he is shadowing her for a new program. He gets Ziya to open up to her coworkers, become more friendly to them, even going to lunch with them.

As Ziya's world opens up, she finds herself falling for Aashiq and he for her. But how can this relationship work? And can he help her become the author she always dreamed of being?

I like reading books by diverse authors, getting to know more about their culture and family life, and I enjoyed that aspect of the story a great deal.

If you like your romance with a magical touch, but romantasy seems too dark for you, give Writing Mr. Right a look.

Something For Everyone In This Month's Book Report

This month’s Book Report has something for for everyone.

On the nonfiction side, Jeff Hobbs, author of the brilliant The Short And Tragic Life of Robert Peace takes on the timely subject of homelessness in Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children and a Story of Homelessness in America. 

In 2018, Evelyn decides that the best chance for her five children to have a good future is to leave her home in the desert town of Lancaster, California and move to Los Angeles where the schools are better.

She and her husband have $5000 in savings which she thinks will keep them until they find jobs and a home. The money dwindles quickly as finding a place to live within their means is difficult. Evelyn works as a waitress at Applebees, but her husband doesn’t find work in construction.

After a domestic violence incident, Evelyn flees with her children. They stay with her aunt as long as they can, but then they move on to a government system that finds emergency housing in hotels for families. Every night, she calls a phone number and hopes that there is a room for them, meaning that they move every night to a different hotel, often in dangerous areas of Los Angeles.

When they can’t find a hotel room, the family of now six children and Evelyn sleep in their old SUV parked on side streets. Eventually, Evelyn is connected with Doors of Hope, a nonprofit organization that helps families find homes and learn job and life skills that will lead to a better life.

Wendi works at Doors of Hope becoming a lifeline for Evelyn. Wendi is also a graduate of Doors of Hope and knows first-hand the challenges Evelyn faces. Evelyn can be stubborn and Wendi finds it difficult at times to deal with her, but Wendi admires Evelyn’s determination to give her children the best education they can get.

Hobbs shows us the increasing problem of homelessness in this country through the prism of Evelyn and her family. We see how precarious life can be and the daily stress that lack of housing creates in a family. It’s an eye-opening book that will enlighten us all to this important issue. I highly recommend it.

On the lighter side, Vera Wong is back in Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man. In the second book in this charming series, 61 year-old Vera, owner of a tea shop in Chinatown in San Francisco, is hoping to find another murder to solve after  she caught the person who killed a man she found dead in her tea shop in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Guide to Murders. 

This time, Vera becomes involved in the apparent suicide of a popular influencer on TikTok. Once again, Vera collects a group of people who knew the young man, a man with many secrets.

Vera uses a combination of doggedness and feeding anyone she wants information from her delicious Chinese delicacies to discover what happened to the young man she believes was murdered.

When Vera is threatened by a scary man, she knows she is on the right track. Her merry band of people join her in her quest to discover the truth, all while becoming a TikTok star in her own right.

Vera is a hoot of a character, and the things she says made me laugh out loud several times, although I still quibble that 61 year-old Vera is ‘elderly’. (At least in this book Vera begins to question that she is elderly as well so that is progress.) This book is a delight.

Anne Tyler’s novel Three Days in June covers, yes, three days in the life of Gail, a woman whose daughter is getting married tomorrow. Today Gail loses her job at a private school and finds her ex-husband at her door with his cat. 

He is asking to stay with her for the wedding because he can’t leave the cat at home and their daughter’s fiancé is allergic to cats. To top it off, Gail isn’t invited to the spa day with her daughter and the rest of the bridal party and her daughter’s future mother-in-law who has taken over all the wedding preparations. Oh, and she got a very bad haircut at the salon.

Gail is reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge in that she is also socially awkward and tends to not be diplomatic in her dealings with others. Anne Tyler always writes intriguing characters, and Gail continues in that tradition in this slim novel, easily read in a weekend.

Seeking Shelter by Jeff Hobbs- A+

Published by Scribner

Hardcover, $29.99, 336 pages

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto- A

Published by Berkley

Trade paperback, $19, 336 pages

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler- A-

Published by Knopf

Hardcover, $27, 176 pages

Romantic Friction by Lori Gold

Romantic Friction by Lori Gold

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778387657

Trade paperback, $18.99, 304 pages

From the publisher:

Sofie Wilde’s bestselling fantasy romance series has been breaking bestseller records and readers’ hearts for years. She’s primed to become a worldwide phenomenon as the tenth and final book is set to debut after the annual romance readers convention takes place in Chicago next week. As buzz continues to build toward the book’s release, Sofie is asked to headline the event for the first time, a career milestone. One she won’t let anyone take from her, especially “the next Sofie Wilde.”

That’s what they’re calling her—Hartley West, the self-published debut author who writes in the style of Sofie Wilde. Except she doesn’t actually “write” anything. After Hartley admits to using AI to create her novel, Sofie’s ready to watch Hartley be skewered on social media. Except in this unpredictable world, Hartley is instead lauded for being innovative, for being such a skilled editor to take what the AI churned out and massage it into a story that’s just as compelling as Sofie’s—maybe even more so.

After her unhinged rant unintentionally goes viral, Sofie loses her keynote, and she’s starting to lose all her support. That loss is Hartley’s gain—as her book sales start soaring, she’s given the headliner spot. Sofie is livid. And she’s not the only one. As the convention begins, Sofie is surrounded by fellow authors who also fear for their futures, their livelihoods, their art being stripped away, one AI prompt at a time. Something must be done. This has to be stopped. Now. With the clock ticking down to the keynote, Sofie enlists her fellow authors in a plan to stop Hartley, vowing, “‘The next Sofie Wilde’—over my dead body. Or hers.”

My thoughts:

As someone who doesn't know (or care?) too much about AI, I found Romantic Friction's look at how it steals from authors' works enlightening- and frightening. Hartley West at first appears to be just a Sophie Wilde superfan who writes fan-fiction in the same style of Sophie Wilde, but clearly there is more to her than meets the eye.

Hartley wants to be a successful author too and sees using AI as a way to do that. Sophie rightly feels that Hartley is stealing from her, and as things begin to spiral out of control at the romance convention, she must figure out a way to stop Hartley.

Other romance authors at the convention confront Sophie and insist that she stop Hartley or they fear that there will be more Hartleys coming their way stealing their books. I did feel that the other romance authors were less well-drawn that than other characters in the book.

And who is this handsome mysterious man oddly named Cooper-Brad who appeared at the infamous book signing and now shows up at the romance convention? Is he Hartley's partner in crime or someone who Sophie can count on to help her?

Sophie is a great flawed character. She drinks too much, is pretty anti-social with other authors, and has trouble with the concept of friendship. 

There are hijinks a-plenty as Sophie attempts to stop Hartley, and if you've ever been to a book convention, you'll enjoy that aspect of the story. (If you haven't been to a convention, you'll like it as well.) 

There's also a few twists in this fun inside baseball look at the publishing industry, and it's not all flattering, but it is thought-provoking.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer 2025 Blog Tour.

The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani

The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani

Published by Dutton ISBN 9780593183359

Hardcover, $29, 416 pages

Nothing brings me greater joy than a new book from Adriana Trigiani, and her newest romantic comedy, The View From Lake Como (publishing July 8th), has all the elements that made her a favorite of mine.

Jess Baratta finds herself living in her parents basement (which doubles as a bonus kitchen and storage unit when "not housing someone old or newly divorced"). She left her husband Bobby after an unfulfilling short marriage, something her mother Philomena, Bobby, and Bobby's mother cannot comprehend.

Jess works for her Uncle Louie owner of Capodimonte Marble and Stone (family owned since 1924). Philomena is currently feuding with her brother and will not speak to him, which makes Sunday family dinners interesting. 

Now that Jess is back home, unmarried and childless (unlike her older sister and brother), she finds her role in the family carved in marble- she is cook, maid, babysitter, and driver. She will transition to nurse and caregiver as her parents age, like the maiden Aunt Giuseppina whom she was named after. I liked what the author had to say about how we can get stuck in our family roles, anyone from a large family will be able to relate to that.

When Uncle Louie tells Jess that she is going with him to Italy to meet with marble manufacturers, Jess is beyond thrilled. This is a dream come true for her! But fate intervenes and Jess now has to deal with  things she never imagined.

Adriana Trigiani writes such rich, fully developed characters. I loved how you always know what Philomena is thinking (whether you want to or not), and Uncle Louie is quite the snappy dresser who dotes on his wife and niece. The fact that keeps his Knights of Columbus tux and sword in his trunk because he is always going to wakes made me laugh out loud (and if you know, you know). 

Many of us would love to have grown up with both sets of grandparents and cousins on the same street, and the dinner and funeral buffet scenes in The View From Lake Como had me wishing I could pull up a chair and pass the ravioli. (No one writes a family dinner scene better than Adriana Trigiani!)

I also enjoyed learning about the marble artists in Italy. I know I will look more closely at the interior of churches after reading this novel. 

I loved The View from Lake Como, it's a perfect summer read to toss in your bag as you head to the beach. It will make you smile and laugh out loud at times as Jess attempts to find her place in this world and in her family. Whether you're from a large family or just wish you were, be sure to preorder your copy from your favorite bookseller today.

Captivating Fiction for March

Reposted from auburnpub.com

Last month's Book Report was filled with taut thrillers that kept you turning the page. This month we feature fiction that captures your heart and attention.

Nancy Johnson’s first book, The Kindest Lie was one of my favorite books from 2021. Her newest effort, People of Means is just as compelling and deals with timely topics in two different timelines.

In 1959, Freda leaves her home to attend Fisk University in Nashville. Freda’s parents met at Fisk, and her father is now a successful doctor while her mother volunteers for many charities in Chicago.

Freda is now faced with dealing up close with Jim Crow racism in Nashville, something she didn’t see much of back in her mostly Black suburban life in Chicago. While her father admonished her to keep her head down and concentrate on her studies, Freda meets Darius, a young man who becomes increasingly involved in the Civil Rights movement. 

Darius opens Freda’s eyes up to the injustices they face, and Freda must make a choice between keeping to studies following her father’s wishes to make a success of her career, and fighting the injustice she sees every day.

In 1992, Freda’s daughter Tulip faces a similar battle. Tulip has a good job in public relations, but deals with micro aggressions and workplace politics every day. After the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles, Tulip struggles with her feelings about the racial injustices in her world, and must decide whether to work to fight that or keep her head down and work hard to become a success in the business world as her father would like. 

Both Tulip and Freda faced a similar struggle decades apart, will Tulip follow her mother’s example? People of Means is a thought-provoking novel that resonates with issues today.

Lauren Willig’s brilliant new historical novel The Girl From Greenwich Street fictionalizes a real-life murder mystery from 1800 New York City. When young Elma Sands tells her cousin that she is leaving to get married, she is soon found dead in the bottom of a well and suspicion falls to Levi Weeks, the man she claimed she was to marry. 

Levi says he was not planning on marrying Elma and he did not see her the night she disappeared. Elma’s family insists that Levi be arrested, and Levi’s brother hires him a lawyer- Aaron Burr. 

As everyone knows from Hamilton- the Musical, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had an intense rivalry. Alexander Hamilton works in his way onto the defense team for Levi Weeks, where he clashes with Burr on strategy. 

The Girl From Greenwich Street is a fascinating novel, filled with intriguing characters and a  compelling storyline. Willig drops the reader right into 1800 New York City, and you feel like you are right there watching the action as it happens. 

Just as interesting as Willig’s novel is the Historical Note at the end. It will have you going down a rabbit hole to learn more about this historical event. 

Nickolas Butler’s A Forty Year Kiss tells the story of Charlie and Vivian. They married forty years ago and divorced after four years because of Charlie’s drinking and temper. 

Charlie moves away and has a career in the railroad, while Vivian still lives in Wisconsin. When Charlie moves back home, he finds Vivian on Facebook and asks to meet her again.

They slowly reconnect, with Charlie hoping to make more a permanent relationship with Vivian. But Vivian isn’t sure that Charlie has changed. Time hasn’t been kind to Vivian, she never had a successful career, and lives with her adult daughter who works multiple jobs to support her two children.

Readers will relate to Vivian and her love for her grandchildren whom she cares for, and hope that she and Charlie can find their way back to each other. It tugs at your heartstrings.

Linda Holmes charming new novel, Back After This tells the story of Cecily, who works as a producer for a small company that creates podcasts. The company is not doing well, and Cecily’s boss comes up with an idea to save them- a new podcast featuring the single-and-looking Cecily going on 20 first dates to find the perfect man, while being guided by a popular Instagram influencer. 

After Cecily reluctantly agrees to it, she keeps running into a handsome, charming man who’s perfect for her. But she can’t date him until after the podcast is over which is months away. What’s a girl to do? 

If you are podcast fan, you will enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Linda Holmes is a cohost of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour”. This is a breezy, sweet read. 

People of Means by Nancy Johnson-A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 357 pages

The Girl From Greenwich Street by Lauren Willig-A+

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 352 pages

A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler- A

Published by Sourcebooks

Hardcover, $27.99, 322 pages

Back After This by Linda Holmes- A

Published by Ballantine Books

Hardcover, $28, 320 pages

Winter Is For Thrillers

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Winter Is For Thrillers

I’m not sure what it is about the winter months that has publishers releasing so many Mysteries and Thrillers- maybe the cold and dark atmosphere of the days? Whatever it is, there are several books out recently that will please fans of those genres.

True Crime is all over the media these days- popular podcasts, multi-part documentaries, and the three major networks with their popular 20/20, 48 Hours, Dateline series.  Stacy Horn’s 

The Killing Fields of East New York combines true crime with investigative journalism. 

East New York in Brooklyn was once a thriving tight-knit community in the 1960s. In 1968, President Johnson passed the Housing and Urban Development Act which was intended to help low-income families of color become homeowners. 

What actually happened was that banks, lenders, realtors, and corrupt city and Fair Housing Authority officials saw an opportunity to take advantage of the program and low-income people of color, which ended up decimating East New York. Their greed and white-collar criminal activity left East New York with abandoned buildings and empty lots. 

Horn details the steps that led to the largest series of mortgage fraud prosecutions in American history and destroyed a vibrant community, leaving poverty and violence in its wake. It’s a powerful read.

On the fiction side, Joseph Finder’s newest thriller is The Oligarch’s Daughter. Billed as a cross between “Succession” and “The Americans” , this heart-pounding book tells the story of Paul Brightman, who is hiding out in a small New England town under an assumed name.  

Six years prior, Paul was working on Wall Street when he fell in love with Tatyana, a photographer- and the daughter of a Russian oligarch, a fact she hid from Paul. Several U.S. intelligence agencies were interested in Tatyana’s father, which means they became interested in Paul as well- and so were the Russians.

When Russian operatives discover Paul in New England, he must go on the run and unravel a conspiracy with deep roots in the government. If spy novels are your go-to reads, 

The Oligarch’s Daughter should be on your To-Be-Read list.

Scott Turow brings back a favorite character from his earlier popular novels- former prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Presumed Innocent) returns in Presumed Guilty. Rusty is now 70 years old and living in rural Michigan with his younger soon-to-be wife Bea. 

Bea has a 20-something son Aaron, whom she and her previous husband adopted when he was a baby. Aaron lives with Bea and Rusty, and he spent some time in jail on a drug charge a few years back. 

Aaron has an on-again off-again relationship with Mae, a brilliant but troubled young woman. Mae has the ability to make everyone around her angry, including her parents and Aaron.

Aaron and Mae go “off the grid” camping to discuss getting married, they get into a fight, and Aaron takes Mae’s phone and hitchhikes home. When Mae doesn’t return home, her parents, including her prosecuting attorney father, blame Aaron.

After Mae’s body is found in her car in a ditch miles from where they camped, all evidence points to Aaron as a murderer. Bea begs Rusty to defend Aaron in court, and Rusty reluctantly agrees.

There are many twists and turns in this legal thriller, and fans of John Grisham’s novels and the streaming series Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal will want to read this one.

Alafair Burke’s new novel, The Note has an intriguing story. Three longtime friends plan a reunion weekend in the Hamptons. When they get cutoff for a parking spot, they leave a note on the car as a prank. 

But the prank turns into something that leads the three friends to become involved in a police investigation, and soon one of the friends discovers something from their past that she never knew. It will have you furiously turning the pages to see what happens next.

 

Locked-room mysteries are having a moment in two recent books. First, cookbook writer Orlando Murrin turns novelist in Knife Skills For Beginners. Set in a London cooking school, it’s called The Maid meets Knives Out with a dash of Top Chef. Will there be a Gordon Ramsey-like character in it? Read it to see. 

Ande Pliego’s locked-room mystery You Are Fatally Invited is set not in a locked room, but on a private island off the coast of Maine where six thriller authors are invited to a writing retreat- and end up getting knocked off one by one. That’s what you get for inviting thriller writers I guess.