Monthly rundown, vol. 6

Organized crime, friendship, and time travel

Hello from the heatwave! At the beginning of the month, my family traveled to Denver, CO for a weeklong family vacation, and let me tell you, the contrast between that week in cooler-than-normal Denver (highs in the low 70s for most of the trip) to Houston-in-a-heatwave was particularly brutal. I did my best to savor every bit of that mountain air. 

Writing on my work in progress is going fairly well still, although June has been kind of slow going. I’m still on track to hit my personal goal of finishing the manuscript by December, but I’ll have to stay focused. My latest hurdle has been trying to strike that magical balance between telling and showing, giving the reader enough explicit information, while also trusting they’re intelligent enough to connect some of the emotional dots that I’m laying down. 

And speaking of my own writing…if you’re in the market for a light summer read, and you like feel-good, character-driven stories, I think my two novels would be pretty good pool or beachside companions (or camped out in the air conditioning with a frosty drink…you get the idea). You Again is about a 63-year-old widow who unexpectedly reconnects with the man who broke her heart at 17, and who discovers that it’s never too late to rediscover who you are. Check it out here. With You is a slow-burn romance about vulnerability, grief, friendship, and not getting stuck in the past. (And to give you an idea of the vibe: one of my early readers called it “romance for introverts.”) You can get it here.

Now, how about some book reviews!

I’m still slowly working my way through the Inspector Gamache novels by Louise Penny, and recently read Trick of the Light. Fantastic, as usual. I don’t remember if I mentioned this previously, but I’ve actually listened to the last couple of Gamache novels on audiobook, and while it’s a little trickier to pay attention to all the details, the narrator is really good, and I love listening to all the French names pronounced correctly.

Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee. This is the final book in Fonda Lee’s Green Bones Saga, so I won’t go too much into the plot (you can check out my brief thoughts on the first book here), but I wanted share a few thoughts on the trilogy as a whole, because I really enjoyed it. The world building is so immersive and creative I had to often remind myself that Janloon isn’t a real city. The characters are complex and nuanced. As one might expect from a story about organized crime families and dynasties, even many of the “good guys” are “bad guys,” and yet I was invested in their futures, their loves, their heartache. There were no one-note villains here, just messy, flawed humans doing their best in the world they operated in. These characters were one hundred percent a product of their culture and environment, in a way that seemed baked in their DNA (this was actually a bit of a sub-theme of the story). And then finally, the story. It was sweeping, epic, and also very personal. And the payoffs! Every emotional investment payed off, and every promise was fulfilled, even while there were plenty of twists and turns. (side note: if this was a film it would definitely get an R rating).

Best of Friends, Kamila Shamsie. This is a story in two parts: in the first half of the book we see two young teenage girls, Kahla and Maryam, coming of age in 1980s Pakistan. Although they’re very different, they are best friends. In the second half of the book, Maryam and Kahla are adults in their mid-forties and wildly (almost unbelievably) successful in their vocations–Kahla as a civil rights lawyer and advocate, and Maryam as a tech mogul and venture capitalist. In some ways the novel is like two different books, one a coming of age story the other a story of success, ambition, and power. And while the two halves are connected plot-wise by one inciting incident that has unexpectedly far reaching consequences, I’d say the real heart of the story is friendship. What brings two people together, what pushes them apart, what–if anything–is unforgivable. It’s about the subtext that exists between people and the ways in the unspoken parts of relationships have a lot of power. Overall, I enjoyed the book, although I probably enjoyed the first half a little bit more, if just for the way the author writes about Pakistan, the culture, and that pivotal time in the country’s history.

Reckonings, Karen E. Osborne. Reckonings is a story about perseverance, resilience, hope, and the art of pivoting when life doesn’t work out the way you want it to. [main character] has a lot of responsibilities, obligations, and big dreams. The precarious balance of her world is upended when an unwelcome person from her past shows up in town, forcing her to confront both her past and present. Reckonings has plenty of tension and family drama, and Osborne does a great job of balancing the fast-moving plot with quiet character moments. (content note: reference to sexual assault).

Dark One: Forgotten, Dan Wells and Brandon Sanderson. For Dark One: Forgotten, I’m going to uncharacteristically start out talking about format, because rather than a traditional book, it’s an audio play. The story is structured and written to mimic six podcast episodes, following a college student as she creates a true crime podcast to investigate a strange missing persons cold case. Things start to get real weird real fast, and pretty soon Christina Walsh and her best friend Sophie are in deep, murky water way over their heads (metaphorically speaking). The story itself is a mystery with supernatural elements, high stakes, an endearing main character, and enough tension that it was hard to put down. I found myself looking for things to clean around my house just so I’d have an excuse to keep listening! It’s a prequel to a previously published graphic novel (Dark One), but I’ve never read Dark One and still enjoyed the story without any prior knowledge. If you’re looking for a traditional audiobook, this probably isn’t the one for you, but if you like audio plays or podcasts, this was highly entertaining.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandell. I adored this book, and yet it is difficult to describe. My simplest description would be that it’s a story that jumps through time, . from the 1800s to a far future in which the moon and Mars have been colonized, and involves a time travel mystery that loosely connects the different timelines. Like Mandell’s other books, for me much of the appeal of Sea of Tranquility is the lyrical writing, and the thoughtful exploration of humanity, relationships, and identity. It’s not a super long book, and I wouldn’t call it fast-paced, but it drew me in immediately and I couldn’t put it down.

That’s it for now! As always, thank you for reading! And just for fun, click the comment button below and answer this age old question: are you a beach person, a mountain person, or a lake person? And what are you reading while you’re there?