Monthly rundown vol. 17
Adventure, romance, greed, and lots of feelings
Hi, hello, hey there! We’ve shifting gears around here, moving from school-mode to summer mode. After a year of working in a school, the shift in life rhythm feels even more pronounced. I know not everyone is in tune with an academic schedule, but even if you’re summer routines look a lot like all-the-time routines, I hope you’re enjoying some extra sunshine and whatever you love most about summer (for me, that would be the extra sunshine, visits to family, time at the pool, and all the fresh produce. What I will not be enjoying–Houston heat and humidity for the foreseeable future). On to some reviews!
Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Middlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty
Jaclyn Moriarty is almost always a home run read for me. Her books are my favorite mix of whimsical and poignant, with characters that are brave, endearing, relatable, flawed, and sometimes a little bit broken. All of those things are true about the middle grade novel Bronte Middlestone. It’s a story about adventure–and a little misadventure–family, self-discovery, and grief. A great book for both kids and grown ups.
The Rom-commers by Katherine Center is a fun romance about two writers who find love while writing about it. I appreciate that the characters feel like they are dealing with real life issues like ill parents and career setbacks. It’s a feel-good read that’s also grounded and thoughtful. My only critique is that the happily-ever-after ending is almost a little bit too happily-ever-after. But when you’re talking about romance, that’s not a deal-breaker.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez is another engrossing rom-com with characters that I absolutely fell in love with. The premise is creative and quirky–the protagonists meet on the website Reddit–but there are some heavy situations and themes that keep it from feeling overly quirky or unrealistic. There is a lot going on in this story–undiagnosed mental health issues, childhood trauma and abandonment, found family, a parent going to jail and, in the middle of all of that, two people falling in love. Despite everything going on, I don’t think the story suffered for it.
Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris is a powerful family drama about the burden and beauty of legacy, generational trauma, and breaking toxic cycles. The story centers around four siblings whose lives are absolute messes–one has been embezzling money from her company and is using sexual favors to buy the silence of one of her colleagues, one is a closeted homosexual living a double life, one sibling has anger issues and just found out his son is profoundly deaf, and the other has an eating disorder. They’ve pulled away from each other over the years, but are brought together at the death of their father when they discover that their large family property is an heir property, which means a property passed down to heirs over generations but without a clear title. It was a common practice among African-American families during the Jim Crow era, but something that made it easy for people to lose generational land. The author treats the heavy themes and subjects with a sensitive, light touch and weaves a thread of hope throughout the story.
Still working my way through the Inspector Armand Gamache series with book number 15, A Better Man by Louise Penny, and still loving every virtual trip to Quebec.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang was an engaging and well-written novel that ultimately fell a little flat for me. When a famous and critically acclaimed author dies, another writer takes the dead author’s unfinished manuscript and publishes it as her own. As you can imagine…things go very awry. The novel’s unlikeable narrator uses a dry, snarky tone to critique the publishing industry and point out some of the more absurd aspects of the creative and competitive business. That said, the story has some big blind spots in its critique, and there are a few story threads that start and get dropped, or at least not explored as fully as I expected them to be.
The Process (new album) by Judah and The Lion. The thing I love most about this new album from Judah and The Lion, is that it’s truly a full-album experience. The album tracks through the process of going through a really painful and difficult experience, from sadness and anger and grief through to a place of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. The songs will break your heart and put it back together again. I love the soulful, pop-rock sound and laser sharp lyrics.
That’s all for now! Tell me what is your favorite thing about summer, and as always I’d love to hear about what you’re reading.
Until next time!