Four Books That Got Me Through February

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Four Books That Got Me Through February

February was tough month, and between the freezing cold and multiple snowstorms we had plenty of time to stay inside and read good books. I read several in February.

I’ve read every book Tayari Jones has written, including her last novel An American Marriage, which I and many others felt was tremendous. Her new novel Kin may be her best yet. 

Vernice and Annie both lost their mothers as babies. Vernice’s mother was murdered by her father and Annie’s mother abandoned her at birth. Both girls were raised by their aunts and were best friends all the way through high school.

Vernice prepared to attend college, something not many people, especially Black women in 1950’s and ‘60s Louisiana, did. Her tight knit community rallied around her, raising money and providing clothing. 

Feeling out of place surrounded by wealthier people, Vernice did her best to fit in, helped by her roommate who became her best friend. Her future was bright.

Annie was obsessed with finding the mother who left her and instead of college, she and her boyfriend ran away to Tennessee to find the woman. With no money or prospects, Annie and her boyfriend end up in dead end jobs. 

While their lives diverge, Annie and Vernice stay connected through the years, and when Annie needs her most, Vernice is there for her. It’s a beautiful story of friendship and how losing your mother as a young child affects your entire life. Kin is Oprah’s Book Club choice this month and has already received much well-deserved praise, including mine.

Sadeqa Johnson writes wonderful historical fiction and her newest Keeper of Lost Children tells a largely unknown story set after WWII. Following the war, American soldiers were sent to occupied Germany. 

Ethel is the wife of an Black American officer stationed in Germany. Wanting to have a baby and discovering that she is unable, Ethel is despondent. One day she comes upon a orphanage run by nuns. Most of the children there have been left by their mothers who were shunned because they had babies whose fathers were Black American soldiers.

Ethel decides to find adoptive families for these children back in the United States. She creates a program for this, and she and her husband even adopt several children.

Ozzie is a Black soldier in Germany who falls in love with a German woman. Flash forward to 1965 and Sophie is headed to a prestigious boarding school on scholarship. This is an opportunity to make something of herself and get away from her parents who treat her as a farmhand.

Keeper of Lost Children threads together these three stories to create a fascinating tale based on a real program that brought babies to the United States for adoption. I highly recommend it.

If you are missing the Olympics, Layne Fargo’s novel The Favorites will take you back there. Kat is young girl who dreams of becoming an gold medal Olympic ice dancer like her idol Sheila Lin. 

Kat’s boyfriend Heath does not have the same dream, but because he loves Kat he wants her to be happy. They become a team, and after winning competitions in the Midwest, they work their way to Los Angeles to train with Sheila Lin.

Lin’s twins, Bella and Garrett, are destined to become gold medal winners like their mother. Soon it becomes clear that Kat and Heath may be the only ones who stand between Bella and Garrett becoming Olympic champs.

The story is told by Kat, and interspersed are comments from people participating in a documentary about Kat and Heath. We watch them over the years as Kat’s ambition pushes them to great heights, and eventually low lows.

If you think hockey is a rough sport, wait until you read about these cutthroat people involved in ice dancing. The Favorites is a real page-turner.

Anna Quindlen writes heartfelt novels and her latest More Than Enough is beautiful. Polly is a high school teacher who longs to have a child with her loving husband as they struggle with infertility. 

Her best friends from book club give her an ancestry DNA test as a joke, but when she takes it, she discovers a connection with someone she doesn’t know. When she meets the person she connected with, they are both confused and surprised. 

As Polly becomes more involved with her new family member she looks for answers. Her father has dementia who lives in a memory care center, and the scenes between them are lovely. Her mother is a highly respected judge with whom Polly has a challenging relationship.

The characters are so well-drawn, and I would love to know more about Polly’s brother. Their relationship is so realistic, as is Polly’s relationships with her friends in book club. Anna Quindlen’s novels always touch my heart.

Spring Has Sprung With Good Books To Read

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Spring Has Sprung Some Good Books

Spring is here (isn’t it supposed to be?), and this is the time of year when many publishers are gearing up to bring out the books they feel will be big sellers in the coming months. Here are a few I read that fit that bill.

First up is a historical novel from Allison Pataki, who specializes in fictionalizing stories of women in history we may not know much about, like Marjorie Post (The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post) and Empress Sisi of Austria-Hungary (Sisi). Her latest is It Girl, which takes on the life of Evelyn Nesbit, a young woman who became world-famous for her beauty at the turn of the 20th Century. 

This is a bit different from Pataki’s other historical novels in that she changes the name of Evelyn Nesbit to Evelyn Talbot in her novel. Evelyn is a young teenager who, after her father dies and leaves her family impoverished, discovers that her beauty can be her ticket out.

She meets a female sketch artist who uses Evelyn in advertising, and soon Evelyn’s face is everywhere. She moves to Manhattan with her mother and finds more work as a sketch model, becoming the first Gibson Girl known the world over. Eventually she ends up on the Broadway stage.

Evelyn catches the eye of Stanley Pierce (a stand-in for architect Stanford White), a rich and powerful man who takes Evelyn and her mother under his protective wing- too protective. He controls Evelyn’s every move until it becomes too unbearable for her.

Like her real-life counterpart, Evelyn becomes involved in “the Crime of the Century”, a murder-love triangle that captivated society, but Pataki tweaks the story enough to make it even more intriguing. Pataki immerses the reader in this time period, and while we may think this generation is obsessed with female beauty, we see the seeds of the supermodel in Evelyn. Historical fiction readers will want to pick It Girl up.

In more contemporary fiction, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s Lake Effect begins in 1977 Rochester, New York. A company town where many men have good jobs at Xerox and Kodak, the story takes place in a suburban neighborhood where families are friendly, frequently hosting dinner parties for each other.

Women’s roles are changing at this time, and when Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex, she discovers that she has been missing out on something in her marriage. When her neighbor Finn, who feels that he is missing something is his marriage as well, kisses her at a party, everything changes for both families.

Nina divorces her husband and marries Finn. This throws the lives of both families into turmoil, especially Nina’s daughter Clara, who was beginning a relationship with Finn’s son Dune.

Dune has to care for his mother Honey and his sister now that his father is out of the house. Clara becomes a mother figure to her younger sister Bridie, taking over in the kitchen where her mother used to make elaborate meals for them all. Dune and Clara’s relationship is over before it started, and Clara blames Nina.

Over the next few decades, we see how the divorce causes ripple effects in their lives. This is a powerful family story and, like Allison Pataki’s It Girl, Sweeney immerses the reader in a particular time period when things began to change for both men and women. It’s about how changes in both society and personal life affect these family members for good and bad. I highly recommend Lake Effect.

Susan Mallery is an author I frequently read and her newest novel The Bookstore Diaries initially attracted me as I also work in a bookstore. This one takes place in a small seaside California community, and I also enjoy a small town story. 

Jax is a divorced mom of two who owns a local bookstore. Her husband left her and now is dating a much younger woman. Jax and her husband switch off weeks in the family home to make things easier on their children. Which it does until he becomes engaged.

Jax has control issues, and when her sister Ryleigh hints she may be moving away, Jax will not stand for it. When the bookstore has some foundation issues that need to be addressed, the handsome contractor who steps in to help is attracted to Jax, but Jax doesn’t know if she is ready to date or not.

The characters in the story are interesting, and I like that Jax has some obvious flaws. The small town setting wonderful, and this is a terrific book to kick back with and enjoy.

It Girl by Allison Pataki- A

Published by Ballantine

Hardcover, $30, 416 pages

Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney- A+

Published by Ecco

Hardcover, $30, 288 pages

The Bookstore Diaries"by Susan Mallery- A-

Published by MIRA

Trade paperback, $14.99, 384 pages

The Most Compelling Books of 2025

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

The Most Compelling Books of 2025

Each year I set a goal to read 100 books. Out of those 100 books, the ones that stay in my mind- the ones with characters that I just can’t forget and want to know what they are doing now- make my list of the Most Compelling Books, and here I share them with you.

January started off the year strong in 2025, with two books that still resonate with me almost a year later.

Irish author Niall Williams’ The Time of the Child continues the story of the small Irish village of Faha that we met in his novel “This Is Happiness”. In this book, an abandoned baby is found by a young boy who brings the child to the local doctor. The doctor’s daughter falls in love with the baby, but in 1962 Ireland a single woman can’t adopt. The village setting and the characters are indelible.

I always look forward to a new novel by Tracey Lange, and What Happened to the McCrays? is her best one yet. A man who left his wife and hometown of Potsdam, New York returns home when his father has a stroke. He has to face the consequences of leaving his wife behind, and we learn the sad circumstances of his sudden departure. It’s heartbreaking. 

Lauren Willig’s brilliant historical novel The Girl From Greenwich Street takes the reader back to 1800 New York City as she fictionalizes a real-life murder mystery. When a young lady’s body is found at the bottom of the town well, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton reluctantly team up to represent the accused murderer. It’s 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. 

No one writes family stories better than Adriana Trigiani, and her latest The View From Lake Como shares the story of Jess, a young divorced woman who lives in her parents' basement and works for her lovable Uncle Louie. It will make you smile and laugh as Jess strives to find her place in this world while she deals with her large Italian family and her former husband and mother-in-law. 

Maria Reva’s Endling is a creative, fascinating novel about a young scientist in Ukraine trying to save an endangered species of snail. She works with a mail-order bride operation to raise money for her project, and ends up involved in a kidnapping scheme with two sisters trying to stop the bride organization, when the Russians invade Ukraine. 

Michelle Huneven is another author whose novels I will always read, and Bug Hollow is another amazing story. A family is rocked by the accidental death of their son and brother when they discover his new girlfriend is pregnant. We follow how all this affected the family through the years. It is unforgettable. 

Virginia Evans’ superb debut novel The Correspondent shares the story of an elderly woman through the letters she writes to others and the letters she receives back, including from famous authors like Ann Patchett and Joan Didion. It’s an ingenious way to build a character, and this book has been deservedly building good buzz for months. 

Another book that took time to build an audience is Clare Leslie Hall’s gripping 

Broken Country. The book begins with the shooting death of a someone, and the book flashes back to tell the story of a couple dealing with the aftermath of a family tragedy. The wife becomes involved with the young son of her former boyfriend, now a wealthy man who has come back to town. It’s a love story with elements of a thriller thrown in. 

Florence Knapp’s novel The Names has a unique concept. A woman, who is a domestic violence victim, sets out to complete her baby son’s birth registration. When it comes to giving his name, she can give the name her six year-old daughter wants, the one she herself wants, or name him after her husband, as he insists. The story is then told in three parts- how the young boy’s life proceeds in each life with the different names he could have been given. It’s brilliant and heartbreaking at the same time. 

Jess Walter’s novel, So Far Gone is a timely one. After Rhys heatedly argues with his son-in-law over politics and punches him, he goes off the grid in the Pacific Northwest where he can be alone and read literature. Seven years later, his two grandchildren show up on his doorstep with a note from his daughter asking him to care for them.  When their father shows up with two armed militia men to take the children back, Rhys rounds up his only few friends to take the children back. 

I have two nonfiction titles this year that impressed me. Jeff Hobbs’s 

Seeking Shelter addresses the growing problem of homelessness in this country through the lens of a mother of five children whose main goal is to get her children into a good school district. What they endure for that is thought-provoking. 

Will Bardenwerper’s Homestand- Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America spends one summer following the Batavia Muckdogs after Major League Baseball drops 42 minor league teams (including the Auburn Doubledays) . The community of Batavia rallies around the couple who buys the team to keep baseball in their hometown. It successfully combines a look at a small town community with the one thing that continues to bring them together- a love of baseball. It’s a five star read. 

Share your favorite reads this year with me at laruediane2000@yahoo.com.

 

No One Aboard

No One Aboard by Emy McGuire

Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525831621

Trade paperback, $18.99, 368 pages

From the publisher:

The White Lotus meets Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me in this debut domestic mystery about a luxury sailboat found floating adrift in the ocean and the secrets of the missing family who set sail aboard it weeks before.

"No One Aboard is a riveting, astonishing debut, and Emy McGuire is an important new voice in fiction. I will read anything she writes!" 

—Sarah Pekkanen, #1 New York Times bestselling author

At the start of summer, billionaire couple Francis and Lila Cameron set off on their private luxury sailboat to celebrate the high school graduation of their two beloved children.

Three weeks later, the Camerons have not been heard from, the captain hasn’t responded to radio calls, and the sailboat is found floating off the coast of Florida.

Empty.

Where are the Camerons? What happened on their trip? And what secrets does the beautiful boat hold?

Set over the course of their vacation and in the aftermath of the sailboat’s discovery, No One Aboard asks who is more dangerous to a family: a stormy ocean or each other?

My thoughts:

I concur that No One Aboard has a White Lotus vibe to it. Much like The White Lotus, it was difficult to find a completely likeable character her to root for. Francis was downright cruel to his son Rylan, who doesn't show his father's aptitude or desire to be a macho seafaring dude. Rylan is quieter, more artistic, and closer to his fading movie star mother Lila. At times you wanted to shake Rylan out of his complacency, to be less meek, to speak up for himself.

Rylan's twin Tia was more like her father- tough, rash, quick to push the limits. She was sent away to a boarding school for her last year of high school because of something that happened at home, something the reader doesn't discover until well into the story. She can't wait to leave her family permanently, and she is trying to convince Rylan to do so as well.

There are many twists and turns in the story, and it is hard to know who is hiding what from whom, but it is fun trying to figure it out. Most of the crew members on the boat have been around the family for years, and they hold shifting allegiances to the various Cameron family members. 

The scenes that lead up to how the boat came to be floating off the coast are harrowing, and very cinematic. (Perhaps a miniseries in the making?) The reader does have to suspend disbelief to accept the ending, and if you can do that, you will enjoy the ride.

Thanks to Harlequin for puttingme on their Fall 2025 Blog Tours.

Books Are Great Gifts Guide 2025

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Books Are Great Gifts Guide

It seems that holiday shopping starts earlier and earlier each year. Halloween was barely over and the Christmas decorations were being put out. So now it’s time for Books Are Great Gifts Guide. Books make great gifts: they always fit, are never the wrong color or size, and are so easy to wrap.

For your best friend who always reads the celebrity book club selections and loves great fiction, Megha Majumdar’s A Guardian and a Thief about an Indian woman who has her passport stolen just when she was to leave for America is an Oprah Book Club pick and has garnered much critical acclaim. 

For your favorite neighbor who enjoys lighter fiction, Adriana Trigiani takes the reader from Lake Como, New Jersey to Lake Como, Italy in her novel The View From Lake Como. It’s got humor, heart, and no one writes a better family story than Trigiani. 

Mysteries are always popular, and Richard Osman’s latest in his Thursday Murder Club series is The Impossible Fortune ,where our four residents of Cooper’s Chase retirement community come back together to solve the disappearance of a wedding guest. Fans of the Netflix movie will enjoy this one. 

Fantasy books are hot now and no one is hotter than R.F. Kuang whose new novel Katabasis is perfect for fans of her previous works, Babel and The Poppy War. 

You’ll impress your adult niece who grew up with the Harry Potter books when you give her SenLinYu’s Alchemised. It’s a Romantasy, a new genre that combines Romance with Fantasy and it’s on the top of the bestseller lists today. 

For Romance readers who prefer a more traditional contemporary story, you can’t go wrong with anything by Emily Henry, including her latest Great Big Beautiful Life, about two writers who compete to write the biography of an heiress and daughter of a scandalous family. 

For your father-in-law who loves to do Wordle every day, Puzzlemania! from the New York Times has Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Minis, and more in book form. It would be great for family activities after your Thanksgiving gathering this year as well. 

For your uncle who watches CNBC in the morning, Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929 tackles the seminal year in American history when the stock market crashed and led to the Great Depression. 

For your nephew who grew up loving the movies “Uncle Buck”, “Home Alone” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, Paul Myer’s biography “John Candy- A Life in Comedy” looks at the life of the comedic genius gone too soon.  

For your aunt who cooks all the big family meals, there’s Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman Cooks The Essential Recipes featuring her best recipes from her long-running Food Network show. 

For your sister-in-law who creates beautiful parties, Martha Stewart’s first book, Entertaining has been reissued and is a timeless classic. 

Coffee table books are big this time of the year and there are several lovely ones available. Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s The Look is filled with photos and stories about all of the  gorgeous gowns she wore to official White House functions. 

National Geographic always has wonderful coffee table books, and this year they have three: Photographs features a collection of the iconic photos from years past, along with stories about some of their photographers.

The Traveler’s Atlas of the World divides the world into continents and has statistics, important information, fun facts, photos, and drawings of the different countries. It would be a great gift for the adventurer or armchair traveler on your gift list. 

With air travel being as unpredictable as it is today, 100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime is another great gift for the traveler on your gift list. From the fanciest of trains to the less glamorous, from long journeys to day trips, this book has it all. 

We can’t leave the kiddies out, they love books. Teens who loved Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games would be thrilled to get the newest in the serie, Sunrise on the Reaping. 

Once they have finished the Harry Potter series, Sangu Mandanna’s Vanya and the Wild Hunt takes middle grade readers to a fantasy adventure inspired by Indian mythology and English folklore. 

Two popular series for younger readers have new books- Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” has Party Pooper and Dav Pilkey’s “Dog Man” has Big Jim Believes. You can’t go wrong with these.

 

The littlest ones would love to find any of the newest books from Pete the Cat, Don’t Let the Pigeon, Llama Llama and The Little Blue Truck series. 

Happy shopping!