The Weekend Retreat by Tara Laskowski

The Weekend Retreat by Tara Laskowski

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525811456

Trade paperback, $18.99, 352 pages

Tara Laskowski's newest novel, The Weekend Retreat, appealed to me because of the setting of a family winery in the Finger Lakes region. (I grew up in the Finger Lakes region and I love a good winery.)

The novel takes place during the wealthy Van Ness family's annual birthday celebration for Richard and his twin sister Harper, along with their spouses and younger brother Zach who is bringing along his new girlfriend whom no one has yet met.

The recent death of the Van Ness matriarch looms large over the gathering. She was tough-bordering-on-emotionally abusive on all her children, especially her daughter Harper. Richard's wife Elle has taken over the reigns planning the perfect birthday weekend retreat, one that would please her mother-in-law.

Things turn ugly as everyone turns on each other and someone on the outside of this heavily secured fortress has designs on getting revenge on the family- but why? Everyone has secrets they are hiding, secrets that can destroy the family. When a torrential rainstorm plunges the estate in darkness something deadly this way comes.

The Weekend Retreat has a real Succession vibe as the characters are generally unlikeable rich people with a parent who treated them cruelly at times. (The rich- they're like us. Not really.) There are lots of twists, some you'll see coming, some that will take you by surprise. The book has been called "Succession meets Agatha Christie" and that is an apt description. It's a good book to read on a rainy weekend curled up under a blanket with a cold glass of Riesling.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2023 Blog Tour. 

The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski

The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525804700

Trade paperback, $16.99, 352 pages

Over the last decade or so, Halloween has become a holiday to rival Christmas. Tara Laskowski uses an elaborate neighborhood Halloween celebration as the centerpiece of her twisty novel The Mother Next Door. 

When Theresa's husband Adam gets a great job as the new principal of a well-respected suburban high school, she does her best to fit in with the moms in Ivy Woods, her new neighborhood and the best cul-de-sac in town. Kendra is the Queen Bee of what is known as the "Ivy Five", and Theresa's new neighbor.

Kendra rules over all the other moms, and when she takes Theresa under her wing, the other Ivy Five (Alice, Bettina and divorced mom Pia) somewhat reluctantly follow along. But where is the fifth mom of the Ivy Five?

That is a question that Theresa wants an answer to, but information is not ready forthcoming from the other moms. They make snide comments about the missing mom, about her looks, her artistic talent, and the reason she left town.

As the Ivy Five plan their Halloween Spectacular, in which the entire town comes to Ivy Woods to participate, Theresa joins in and is pulled in further into the Five's orbit. She and her high school freshman daughter Lily go all out decorating their yard as a graveyard.

Theresa is not fond of Lily's new friend Ellen, who seems obsessed with a local legend of a young woman who jumped off a bridge to her death years ago on Halloween. 

There are secrets abound, including a big one that Theresa is hiding from her husband, and when it appears that someone is stalking the Ivy Five on Facebook and then in person, it looks like things may come to a head at this year's Halloween Spectacular.

The Mother Next Door is the kind of book you stay up late to finish (I was up way past my bedtime reading this one). Laskowski invests you in her characters, and her propulsive story, when you can finally let out the breath you have been holding as you find out exactly what is going on here. It's a terrific Halloween read, and fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies will enjoy.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Tara Laskowski's tour. 

Friday 5ive- October 8, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. 

1) On Saturday and Sunday there was a loud band playing on the roof of Sotheby's Art Auction House, which is one block down the street from us. The band played both days from 11am-5pm with very few breaks. I don't mind music, but this was so loud, and there is a hospital and a nursing home directly across the street from Sotheby's. I don't know what was going on, but there was a statue of a horse outside the entrance and a person in some sort of costume to match. 

2) Speaking of art, at the Book Cellar, the used bookstore where I volunteer, one of our customers created an art piece that she put up on Instagram. We all loved it, and the artist florabai, gave us a print to put up in the store. We were all very touched by her tribute to our little shop. (You can see more of her art if you click on her name above.)

3) If you are a True Crime podcast fan, give a listen to Finding Lauren, about the disappearance in 2011 of Indiana University student Lauren Spierer.  Lauren disappeared after a night out drinking with friends, and there is still no answer to what happened to her. Host and producer Kyra Breslin was a student at IU in 2012, and as a former student she shares a unique perspective that elevates this podcast. She puts you right on the campus where Lauren was last seen. 

4) Speaking of true crime podcasts, I'm enjoying the Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building, about three people who live in a fancy New York City apartment building near Central Park who are addicted to true crime podcasts. When a tenant in the building is foudn dead, they create their own true crime podcast to discover who murdered the young man. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez play the trio, and it's a fantastic combination of humor and whodunit. It's fun to spot Broadway vets like Nathan Lane, Jayne Houdyshell and Jackie Hoffman, in the cast as well. 

5) I read two books this week. Billie Jean King's autobiography (written with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollners), All In, tells the story of her life, starting with her love of tennis as a child, through her rising up the tennis ranks to become the number one player in the world, through her longtime marriage to her husband and business partner, to her coming out as a lesbian when she is 51. All the tennis highlights are here- her Wimbeldon wins, the Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs- as well as her decades long fight for equality for women's tennis. She's accomplished so much in her life, and she doesn't shy away from her faults on and off the tennis court. This one is a must-read. 

Tara Laskowski's The Mother Next Door is a timely October read. Set around a Halloween celebration in a suburban cul-du-sac where a group of moms called The Ivy Five, led by their Queen Bee Kendra, as they welcome a new mom to their select team- the new high school principal's wife Theresa. Someone is stalking the Ivy Five moms, and Theresa is hiding her connection to the town and a secret from her husband. It's a real page-turner, and I stayed up late finishing this one to see how it would end. Fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies will like this one. My full review publishes here on Tuesday. 

Stay safe and healthy everyone, until next time.