Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

Amy  

mystery, fantasy

Jen looks outside her window one night and watches her 18 year old son, Todd, stab a man to death. She is shocked and distraught as she finally manages to fall asleep after seeing her son placed behind bars. However, when she wakes up, Jen discovers that instead of it being the next day, it is the day before the stabbing took place. She begins to go backward in time and decides to use her circumstances to find out what caused the stabbing and how to prevent it from happening.

Wrong Place Wrong Time, a cleverly crafted fantasy mystery by Gillian McAllister, kept me riveted. Even though the I was able to guess pieces of the mystery, it didn’t ruin the ride of the story at all. Of course, the reader has to be willing to accept the idea of time travel but I am a reader who loves reading about time travel. Jen is unable to control her movements through time and does her best to work within whatever day she wakes up. It takes her a little time to comprehend the impact of her predicament but she is willing to do whatever she can to help Todd. I really enjoyed this one a lot.

The audiobook narrator was Lesley Sharp. She is British (as this novel takes place in England) and has a low, forceful voice. It took me a while to settle into it. She displayed a passable American accent and had an average vocal repertoire.  Her voice acting was good for this one.  I’ll give her a B+.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Amy      
Lynnie   

fantasy, historical fiction

In 1921, Opaline runs away from her British home to avoid being forced to marry a man she doesn’t know. She sells her prized possession—a valuable book that had been a gift from her father—to get the money to travel to France where she finds a job in a bookshop.  A century later, Martha escapes an abusive marriage by fleeing from her small Irish country town to Dublin. She meets Henry who is visiting Dublin in search of a lost bookshop he believes once existed. The Lost Bookshop weaves their three stories together.

Amy's Review

I was charmed pretty quickly by the three protagonists who each were trying to improve their situations. The fact that there is a lost bookshop to be found was icing on the cake. The magical realism imagined by Evie Woods was delightful…both Martha’s special skill and, especially, the wonders of the bookshop.

This story lost a little of its luster when, around the 2/3 mark, one of the storylines really upset me. I had to step away from the audiobook for a while until I could drum up the nerve to listen again. This upsetting section was a surprise, vicious attack in this otherwise fun novel. But, the more I read, the more I came to understand that this difficult aspect of the story was an important part of it.

Overall, this novel brought me joy and I listened to the audiobook every chance I got. The book magic, especially, was fun and creative.

The audiobook was narrated by three people: Avena Mansergh-Wallace voiced Martha, Olivia Mace voiced Opaline, and Nick Biadon voiced Henry. They all had nice vocal repertoires and a couple of them also displayed various convincing accents. One even sang a few lines. I’ll give the ensemble an A.

Lynnie's Review

Taking place over a century, The Lost Bookshop weaves the stories of Opaline, beginning in 1920s London, and Martha and Henry beginning in modern Dublin, into a compelling story. I was immediately interested in the three main characters who alternate narration.

As the stories unfold and we learn about what binds these characters together, I wanted to spend more and more time reading. Magical realism is threaded throughout the story and I actually felt that Woods could have gone further in that direction several times.

I had a lot of empathy for Opaline and Martha - both stuck in terrible situations they had little control over. Some of the situations they find themselves in are truly heartbreaking and desperate and I am impressed at how Woods was able to get me invested enough to keep reading. I suspect some of my thoughts had to do with women's rights in modern times but I needed to find out whether or not Opaline and Martha were able to persevere.

I was able to go back and forth between reading the Kindle version and listening to the audiobook and enjoyed both experiences. The voice actors Avena Mansergh-Wallace (Martha), Olivia Mace (Opaline), and Nick Biadon (Henry) brought the story alive and were soothing to listen to, even when the book was at its most heartbreaking. I think I enjoyed Biadon's Henry most of all - but that may be because I enjoyed the character, Henry so much. Like Amy, I give them all an A.

This is the first book I've read by Evie Woods (no matter the name she's publishing under), and I hope it won't be the last.

   

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 

Lynnie

Amy    

contemporary fiction

Phoebe’s life has not turned out the way she had hoped, she’s suffering from depression, and she has checked herself into a fancy hotel planning to kill herself.

 

Lynnie's Review

This is the first book I've read by Alison Espach and I enjoyed every moment of it. The Wedding People is one of those rare books where you like everyone in it. There are no real villians, just people who are trying to do their best to find their happily ever after.

The Wedding People is a beautiful story about lost and found family and learning to accept yourself - faults and all. Phoebe has hit rock bottom in her life and while planning to spend her final day at a hotel she always wanted to visit, Phoebe never imagines her plans will get derailed by Lila, a pushy bride who refuses to have her dream Newport wedding to Gary ruined.

None of the wedding people are perfect - they deal with a myriad of problems, including infertility, death, divorce, infidelity, children and other issues, large and small. There is a realness to the characters who talk openly about their struggles and how they are currently trying to work through their problems, or have overcome them in the past. As Lila reminisces at one point in the novel, "...is there one thing you feel capable of doing right now instead of crying? And there always was."

The Wedding People is heartwarming, funny and filled with characters to cheer for. At its core this is a book about connection, and the lengths people will go to, to find it. I found myself eager to find time to read and spend time with these characters and to find out what would happen at the end of the wedding week. I'm not at all surprised to learn this book has been optioned for a movie. I'm already looking forward to it!

This book is scheduled to be published July 30, 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt and Company and the author, Alison Espach for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amy's Review

Yep, that summary sounds quite depressing. And, actually, much of The Wedding People is quite depressing. But this story is Phoebe’s journey out of suicidal thoughts. So it does end well and there is much to smile about within its pages.

Luckily for Phoebe, she ends up stumbling upon people who have gathered at the hotel for a wedding and, person by person, in small yet important ways, they distract her from herself. She gradually comes out of her funk and can see a new future.

I know SO many people who adored this novel. I liked it a lot! But I guess it didn’t live up to the level of hype for me. Perhaps that is because of what was going on in my life while I read this novel and I hadn’t expected all the depression within its pages. Don’t get me wrong. It is an uplifting novel overall and the characters are fun and Phoebe’s journey made me want to keep reading. I loved the wittiness of several characters. But I knew where it was going and I don’t think Alison Espach’s characters’ wittiness was any better than some other romance novelists I’ve read. And, yes, I do feel this is a romance novel “plus”. So, I liked it a lot but it would definitely not be among my favorite reads of the year.

The audiobook narrator was Helen Laser. She did a good job for the material. She read Phoebe in sort of a flat, non-personality sort of way which was probably right for someone who was depressed. I was able to see her voice acting capabilities when she voiced the other characters. I’ll give her an A-.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Amy  

fiction

Deanna is a Wildlife Manager in a national forest in Kentucky living alone in the wilderness, observing and documenting the wildlife in the park, when a stranger crosses her path. Lusa is young, recently widowed, and left to manage her husband’s farm while dealing with his large family. Garnett is a crotchety, bitter, lonely old man living on the property his ancestors have lived on for generations. Prodigal Summer is about the people in their community over the course of a few months.

Although I was concerned that this novel would be so full of nature facts and descriptions that I wouldn’t like it, I wanted to read another novel by Barbara Kingsolver since I loved two other novels she’d written. I’m so glad I did! This novel had a lot of heart. Yes, I learned a lot more about nature than I cared to but the education was not heavy-handed in this regard. In fact, I wasn’t bored with the factual information provided in this novel. Rather, I found it to be an engaging revelation. And Kingsolver managed to make me appreciate nature more than I already do. This novel was entirely different than the other two Kingsolver novels I’ve read and I appreciated her versatility of subject matter and diversity of personalities. This time Kingsolver shined a light on the difficulties of farming as well as the casualties of hunting animals and deforestation. I’ll admit that the pacing was a little slower than I normally like but it was perfect for this story. I was never bored and never felt the need to speed up the narration.

Of course, the best part of the story was the people. They were all so vivid and knowable. I loved spending time getting to know them. Additionally, there was very smart commentary on the generational closed-mindedness and lack of actual diverse experience or worldly knowledge within small communities of the United States. Kingsolver quite astutely illustrated the audacity and ridiculous claims of some religions. Most of the characters in this town did not care to learn about or get to know people with different backgrounds and, therefore, they were mistrustful, self-important, and unable to think critically about the real world outside of their sheltered, limited existence. They thought of anyone who was different simply as “other” and problematic. They didn’t view progress of any kind as improvement and were satisfied to never venture far from home. And yet, at least one of those “other” people managed to build a community in their midst for herself and change some opinions.

The crafting of the story was terrific too. The reader was able to figure things out before the characters did and that was intentional by Kingsolver. As a result, there were no big reveals and the story just continued to flow. Just like nature. I also really appreciated some of the colloquialisms from Appalachia. I think I'm going to adopt the "all overs" into my lexicon instead of saying the "shivers" (or the "willies" as my husband says).

The author read the audiobook. What a wonderful narrator! I hadn’t realized Kingsolver was a southerner herself but it makes perfect sense since she writes about southerners. Her own natural southern accent was charming. And she did have some range of different voices and accents. But her voice acting was the best part. SO good! I love when authors narrate their own audiobooks but I feel she is one of the best I’ve heard! I might just have to find another audiobook by Kingsolver so I can listen to her some more! She even sang one time! I’m very impressed and giving her an A+! Brava! 

HOWEVER, I did not appreciate the production of this audiobook at all. First, the narration is at a low volume so I had to turn my phone volume all the way up to hear her which made all my other phone noises extremely loud and painful.  Additionally, this audiobook has birdsong at the beginning of each new chapter and it, too, is way too loud and piercing compared to the narration volume. This audiobook was created in the early 2000s and things have greatly improved technologically since then! I'd still recommend the audiobook but you've been warned.

Some quotes I liked:

“There’s people I love. But there’s so many other kinds of life I love, too, and people act so hateful to every kind but their own.”

“I’ve always found people love you best if you can laugh at your own foolish misfortunes and keep mum about everyone else’s.”

   

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

 Lynnie

contemporary fiction

 

I am a long-time reader of Rainbow Rowell and generally love her writing and her quirky characters. Slow Dance was challenging for me at times, but let's start with the good stuff. Past reviews of her work have included Scattered Showers, her run of the Marvel Runaways comics, and, before the blog, Attachments and Landline which I loved.

I really enjoyed the story itself of high school best friends who were obviously in love with one another but didn't have the mental load or maturity to act on those feelings. While there are no secret surprises and the ending is obvious from the beginning it's enjoyable to see how the characters get themselves from those early days of high school to their happily every after in their thirties. Some of the characters are wonderful, particularly the third best friend, Mikey, who deserves some sort of Nobel prize of friendship for putting up with Cary, Shiloh, and their array of bizarre behaviors with patience, kindness, understanding, and love. Mikey is friendship personified.

Cary and Shiloh each bring plenty of baggage into the relationship which keep them from one another at various times. Much of that baggage is realistic, but just as much of it is manufactured. Cary joined the Navy right out of high school and Shiloh went to college in another state, and they never figured out how to communicate with one another. The book alternates between current events and "before" and are presented from the viewpoints of all the various characters at different points.

Now for the bad and why I can't give this book more than 3 stars. Oh my word was Shiloh a challenging character to like. Rowell often writes characters who are quirky or on the spectrum without making a big deal out of it, but Shiloh's quirks or tics were often violent and borderline abusive, quite frankly. She was irrational, incredibly self-centered, and, I suspect, would seriously benefit from some therapy. It was painful to read how she treated others and more painful to watch everyone - particularly Cary - just indulge this behavior. She did seem to grow out of some of them, sort of, but you can love and accept people for who they are while also not allowing them to hurt you. I also was infuriated by both Cary's and Shiloh's inability to just talk to one another. I've never seen "best friends" who lack the ability to communicate with one another.  

Second, if you are going to write a character who is in the Navy, for the love of stories, PLEASE talk to someone who is IN the Navy and have them check your work. I spent 30 years as a Navy spouse and still work in that community and I never got angrier at this book than I did at the glaring inaccuracies about Navy life - particularly the stupid ones that could be easily checked. For example, she has the main character, Cary, who is supposed to be a lieutenant commander wearing his summer whites but describes his cover as a chief's cover (with an anchor), not an officer's cover (with an eagle, shield, and two crossed anchors). I mean, you can Google that. And yes, it ABSOLUTELY matters. She also spends half a page talking about how much Shiloh doesn't want to be a Navy wife because Navy wives... write blogs and she doesn't like their "vibe." A fictional character doesn't like the "vibe" of a group of people who support and love the men and women of our armed forces? Thanks. (Pro tip- Navy spouses have book clubs and read a lot. It may not be a great idea, as an author, to talk about how lame you think they are.) Also, Cary is on a destroyer - he would never say he is on a boat. A destroyer is a "ship," submarines are "boats." There's more, I won't bother to point out because it clearly doesn't matter to Rowell or the editorial team. I mean, I was willing to just note it to myself and overlook a lot until I got to the uniform bit & laughed out loud - and not in a good way - particularly because it was followed up by the part about how miserable military spouses are. It got a lot harder to feel much empathy for Shiloh (or Rowell) after that point.

So I will say, if you like a slow building awkward romance, you'll enjoy Slow Dance. If you have spent time in or around the Navy, you will find lots of lazy writing to annoy you (though can we hope that will be corrected prior to publication?). Don't say I didn't warn you.

Slow Dance is scheduled to be published July 23, 2024.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Amy  

fantasy, historical fiction

Luzia is a poor scullion in a small, modest, barely socially-acceptable household. She is underappreciated, sleeps on the floor, and is seemingly destined for misery and toil. However, she has a secret talent handed down from her mother that enables her to perform magic. When her mistress discovers this talent, the mistress attempts to use Luzia to increase her own social status. Luzia then embarks on an adventure which could end in either her death or her release from poverty.

The Familiar, while holding my interest, had a much slower pace than I've come to expect from Leigh Bardugo. While it was atmospheric, the 16^th century Madrid setting was appealing, and Luzia was a likeable protagonist, it didn’t really pick up until the 40% mark. And even then, the potential romance held more of my interest than the magic and danger. Some of the magic was very creative. But I missed the action and suspense Bardugo's novels usually exude. I really don’t have any more to say about this one. 

I both read and listened to the audiobook, alternating when each format worked best for me. Lauren Fortgang, the audiobook narrator, did a nice job with the voice acting and various voices. Although, considering everyone was Italian, they didn’t all have Italian accents. I’ll give her an A-.