Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony

The Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778308744
Trade paperback, $17.99, 416 pages

Podcasts are a recent popular form of entertainment, so it's not a surprise that novels featuring podcasts would not be far behind. Gretchen Anthony's The Kids Are Gonna Ask features twin teenagers, Thomas and Savannah, who host a podcast that takes place at their dinner table. Their grandmother Maggie likes to invite all kinds of interesting and odd people to dinner, and Thomas and Savannah created a podcast around that.

Thomas and Savannah live with Maggie; their mom Bess died in a car accident years before, and they don't know who their father is. They decide to create a podcast about searching for their father's identity, with Maggie's reluctant blessing. (Maggie doesn't know the father's identity.)

Thomas and Savannah hope that the podcast might go viral, helping increase their chances of finding their father. Their wish comes true when a national podcast producer hears their story and wants to bring them to a wider audience.

It all sounds too good to be true, and as we all know with social media, things can go wrong. (The news is filled with stories about people who have said something on social media that ends their careers.) Thomas and Savannah's story blows up, with people choosing sides and voicing their opinion/threats on social media.

I found that part of the story so spot on. I follow lots of social media, and it always astonishes me how people get so angry that they write horrible things online that they would never say in person. I do not understand how people can get so worked up about things that do not personally affect them. Everyone has an opinion about what the kids are doing and feels free to share it.

Thomas and Savannah are typical teenagers- Thomas runs track, and Savannah has set her sights on becoming a producer. She is symbolic of young women today who speak their minds and will not settle for being treated less than because she is female. Their twin sibling relationship is well done too.

There is some good foodie parts to this novel- Maggie has a personal chef, Bart, who makes delicious food that had me salivating. (Who wouldn't love a personal chef? Never having to decide what to make for dinner each night is such a luxury.)

At it's heart though, this is about Thomas and Maggie looking for their father, and also hoping to find out more about their mother, who was taken too soon. It's a beautiful family story, with warmth and humor, appealing to all ages, from teenagers to middle-aged adults (I loved the character of Maggie). I recommend The Kids Are Gonna Ask.

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

The Summer Villa by Melissa Hill

The Summer Villa by Melissa Hill
Published by MIRA Books ISBN 9780778359982
Trade paperback, $16.99, 384 pages

We all may be stuck in our own homes, but you can visit the beautiful Amalfi Coast in Melissa Hill's latest novel, The Summer Villa. Told in two separate timelines, we meet three young women who are all running away from their homes to stay at Villa Dolce Vita, a small, rather run-down vacation rental in Positano.

Kim is a 30 year-old American woman whose wealthy parents expect her to go to London and marry herself off to a man she doesn't even know to help their business prospects. When Kim refuses, she secretly runs away and ends up at Villa Dolce Vita. There she meets two other young ladies, Colette and Annie.

Colette is taking a well-deserved vacation after running her family's bakery in England after her father deserts the family while his wife fights breast cancer. Annie is an Irish hair stylist who receives this trip from one of her customers when the woman passes away.

Annie is a party girl, and she spends her nights out at the local bars, where she meets a handsome British man and thinks he may be the one. Colette is a sweet young woman who is a little imtimidated by her gorgeous roommates, but when she meets a handsome Italian man who woos her, Annie and Colette are a little surprised and envious.

While spending her days at the pool sunning herself and trying to figure out what she will do with her life, Kim finds a journal filled with affirmations and quotes that speak to her. She begins to take stunning photos of Positano and capture them with these affirmations, and when she posts them on Instagram, they go viral.

Years later, Kim has turned her Instagram posts into a mindfullness book, and she buys Villa Dolce Vita and creates a spa and wellness retreat there. As she prepares for the grand opening, she is struggling with the feeling that she cannot bond with her young daughter, and that her husband will discover this. It also appears that someone is trying to sabotage her grand opening.

Colette is married and dealing with infertility. Her husband is consumed with work and tries to talk her out of going to Positano for Kim's grand opening.  Annie is a single mom who now owns a successful hair salon, and while she is going to the grand opening, something is bothering her about seeing her old friends again.

Each woman is struggling with issues that many women can relate to in the current timeline, and it all comes to a head at the grand opening. There are secrets that come out, and I admit that I was taken by complete surprise, which I enjoyed. Hill skillfully puts all the pieces together and creates a novel that keeps the reader guessing, and as someone who has visited Positano, I was happy to revisit it in this  captivating novel.  If you want to escape to a beautiful place for a few hours, pick up The Summer Villa. Fans of Liane Moriarty's novels will enjoy this one.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Melissa Hill's tour.

Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer

Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer
Published by Graydon House Books ISBN 9781488056413
Trade paperback, $16.99, 352 pages

Kelly Rimmer's novel  Truths I Never Told You tells the story of the Walsh family, preparing to take their beloved patriarch Patrick to a long term care facility where they can better care for his dementia. Tim, at 42 the eldest, is a orthopaedic surgeon. Jeremy, 41 is a professor, and his twin sister Ruth runs the family construction business. Beth at 40 is the youngest, a psychologist who has new baby.

Beth is having a difficult time with postpartum depression. Her loving husband Hunter has tried to help her, and her siblings have begun to notice the problem as well. The family has a tradition of Sunday dinner at their father's home, which now must be cleaned out and prepared to be sold.

When Beth goes into the attic of the family home to clean it out, she is shocked by what she finds. Her meticulous father's attic is filled to the brim with trash, and with paintings apparently done by her father. She also finds letters written by her mother, who died in a car accident when Beth was a baby. But the dates on the letters don't match up with the date that she was told her mother died.

Interspersed with Beth's story are the letters written by her mother Grace. The letters show that Grace also suffered from severe postpartum depression, which lasted almost an entire year after the birth of each baby. Her depression grew worse with each subsequent child, and after giving birth to four children in three years, she was in desperate straits.

The loving father that the Walsh children know doesn't match up with the man that Grace wrote about in her letters. That Patrick was rarely home, going to the bar with friends and spending what little money they had on alcohol. Unbeknown to Grace, Patrick frequently borrowed money from her parents, who did not like Patrick at all.

Beth tries to find out what the truth is behind this new information about their parents, and what she uncovers could turn their family upside down.

Truths I Never Told You is an emotional, riveting story. I come from a family with siblings born close together, and I found that aspect of the story so well done. The family dinners and the sibling relationships just feel so authentic. Rimmer also deals with the devastating issue of postpartum depression in a compassionate and honest manner, and we learn a lot about how women in the 1950s had such little control over their lives.

The book is pegged as towards fans of Jodi Picoult and Kristin Hannah, and having read books by both of those authors, I would agree wholeheartedly. I give Truths I Never Told You my highest recommendation.

 Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Spring Reads Blog Tour.