So Far Gone by Jess Walter

 

Amy      

fiction

Rhys’ is driven to reclusiveness due to his need to escape his disappointment with America. He had begun to feel that “the world was drifting in one direction and [he] was going the other way”. He’d also experienced some personal losses and the final straw was had been his son-in-law’s conspiracy theories and extremism. Many years later, Rhys’ self-imposed exile comes to an end when his daughter disappears.

Jess Walter is back!! I adored his novel Beautiful Ruins but the three books of his that I’ve read since weren’t nearly as wonderful. However, So Far Gone, while still not quite as awesome as Beautiful Ruins, was terrific!

The central theme of extremism and how people are swallowing the absurdities being fed to them by right-wing networks and evangelicals was handled masterfully. I deeply felt Rhys’ growing horror about how the government and news agencies no longer protect Americans. Rhys saw his own family getting sucked into conspiracies and joining crazy groups. His disillusionment drove him to live “off the grid”. Ironically, being a hermit in a cabin in the woods was another sort of extremism.

The book title “So Far Gone” was perfect. People on both edges of the political and religious spectrums were described as “so far gone”. Likewise, there were a couple other uses where this phrase was appropriate. Walter has such a way with words and he illustrated that frequently in this novel. I just love the way he employs language. He’s also very funny and I was so pleased to see a good helping of humor in these pages. I laughed out loud quite a few times! Walter’s descriptions regarding the loss of the landline telephones had me in stitches, for example.

But, within all the extremism, there is also plenty of normality in this novel—normal teenage drama, marital troubles, drugs, aging, gun usage, parenting, caring for parents, environmentalism, sexuality, mental health, family, etc. I felt it was a story about finding a way to live in this ever-changing world by facing realities, being flexible, having empathy, and surviving. I thought it was great!

The audiobook narrator, Edoardo Ballerini, has narrated all of Walter’s novels. He’s a masterful narrator and I always enjoy his work. As usual, his voice acting was top notch and his repertoire of voices was great. I give him an A!

The Raven Scholar (Eternal Path Trilogy #1) by Antonia Hodgson

Amy    


fantasy, young adult

A young man betrays his twin sister seven years after his infamous father betrayed their country. Then a young scholar of modest means (The Raven Scholar of the title) performs the necessary evil of writing out the twin sister’s exile papers in order to skyrocket her own future opportunities. Years later, the results of these actions play out in the country’s competition for identifying the new emperor.

The Raven Scholar was a pleasure to read. While I worried at the beginning because it began similarly to other novels I’ve read (yes, there are plenty of tropes in this novel), it was its own story with fabulous characters, unique-but-not-overly-complex (the way I like it) political intrigue, and an engaging plot with multiple moving parts and constant activity. It was well-crafted and I made time to listen to this audiobook.

Characters had good sides and bad sides which is always fun to read. Hints were dropped which allowed the reader to guess at a few mysteries within. But there were plenty of surprises, and even humor (!), within the pages. While some might think it got a bit silly at times, I welcomed the lighthearted moments. I just really loved this one! It kept me very entertained!

Was it perfect? No. First, something bugged me. There were eight gods/guardians: bear, raven, tiger, fox, ox, hound, monkey, and dragon.  The dragon contingent had never sent a contender vying to be the new emperor to the “games”. However, they always identified a proxy contender. Okay. But then why doesn’t the proxy participate in all the contests with the other seven contenders? It perplexed me.

Secondly, I got all the way to about the 80% mark thinking I’d be giving this novel 4-1/2 hearts. And then, Antonia Hodgson threw in some crazy stuff that was extremely difficult to swallow. It was too over the top, given the mood of the book up until that time. It’s the whole reason I dropped this novel to 4 hearts. It made me slightly regret all the time (22 hours of audiobook!) I’d put into reading this story. Such a shame. The novel did recover a bit in the end but I just didn’t really appreciate the direction the story went at that point.

And the worst thing is that I spent the whole novel assuming this wouldn’t be a series because it was so long! But, apparently, it’s a trilogy! 😭 And there isn’t even a date for #2 to be published. Sigh. If I’d know that it was a trilogy, I would’ve waited to read this one until closer to the sequel’s release date. Darn it!

The audiobook narrator, Daphne Kouma, had a really wonderful vocal repertoire and terrific voice acting that propelled the story forward. I loved all her vocal and acting choices. She had a lot of characters to cover and did a marvelous job! A+ 

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

 Lynnie 

contemporary fiction 

 

Cate Kay is the most successful author of her generation. The problem? She doesn't exist. Cate Kay is the pseudonym of a young woman on the run from a past tragedy. This fictional memoir is about how she reclaims her name and her past to find her way home again.

The Three Lives of Cate Kay has been in my to-be-read queue for a while, but a couple glowing reviews from friends inspired me to bump it to the top. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed this novel by Kate Fagan.

I've seen people compare this to the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - I don't think it has much in common other than the fictional memoir aspect. I've also seen comparisons to Daisy Jones & the Six, which is slightly more accurate as Cate's story unfolds through multiple viewpoints, with each character's perspective coming together to reveal the complete picture of events. Often, we see the same event through multiple character's eyes and it helps unravel what is, ultimately, a series of miscommunications and misdirections run amok.

I don't generally love stories based around miscommunication. I mean, really people, use your words and TALK to one another. Certainly in The Three Lives of Cate Kay there was one character in particular who made me want to throw my Kindle across the room on more than one occasion because the truth is that without her scheming, would this story even exist? No. So, I hated her as I was supposed to, but I decided to enjoy the characters and the story for what it was.

There's a lot of foreshadowing in the novel and I found myself frequently flipping back to earlier sections of the book to reread and verify a connection or a thread - so be prepared. That desire to flip back and forth is what kept me from listening to the audiobook as I read, though the few chapters I did listen to were fascinating as there is a full cast of narrators representing all the different characters in the book. I imagine it would be a wonderful audiobook for people who don't like to go back and revisit sections they have previously read.

Ultimately, The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a story about love, friendship, self-acceptance and the possibility of second chances. Lots of good stuff in these pages - I recommend you add it to your reading list.  

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Amy        

historical fiction

Atmosphere is a story about women astronauts. It starts with a space shuttle tragedy taking place in 1984 which hints at a personal connection between one of the astronauts in space and another in ground control, and then spends 80% of the novel looking back at how all the people got to that moment.

I liked the spotlight on women in the NASA space program. I just kept thinking, why did Taylor Jenkins Reid think she was the right person to write a novel about space travel? From the author’s comments, it seems this was simply a topic that interested her and so she decided to dive in, do some research, and attempt to convince her readers to be as interested in outer space as she is. Sadly, while I did like it, this novel was not nearly as good as the other novels of Reid’s that I’ve read. There was a lot of awkwardness between the protagonist and other characters, including her family members. The forbidden lesbian love affair was a promising storyline, but the stiff behaviors, the overdone naïveté, and the way Joan kept calling her niece “Babe” bugged me a lot.

I think the author does soap opera better than historical fiction. Without the juicy gossip for which Reid is known, this novel just didn’t have a lot of wind under its sails until, finally, all the drama happened in the last 20% of the novel. The ending was exciting and gripping. It even had me crying. But, overall, this was a disappointment compared to Reid’s other novels.

A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen

Lynnie 

science fiction, audiobook

 

I generally like Mike Chen's books, but this was a bit of a miss for me. A Quantum Love Story started out strong and I really enjoyed the first half of this novel. And then, ouch. Who hurt you, Mike Chen?

Neuroscientist Mariana is ready to quit her job, but decides to postpone her decision after receiving an invitation to visit a top secret particle accelerator. She knows her best friend, the recently deceased Shay, would have loved it, so Mariana goes to the accelerator in Shay's honor. While there, a technician named Carter catches her eye and claims they've met before. He knows things about her indicating they have met before, and soon, she is trapped in a time loop with him living the same four days over and over as they get to know one another and try to break out of the time loop.

It's an interesting premise and, like most time loop books I've read, you can guess what happens. Carter and Mariana try lots of different things to try to break out of the loop from doing everything the same to doing everything differently to any and everything they can think of. And then... things get weird. Generally, this is where time loop books excel, but unfortunately, here's where Chen lost me.

Interestingly what I have enjoyed most about Chen's books in the past is that they are sci-fi for people who don't love science. He rarely gets bogged down in the science of what's happening in his fiction, but in A Quantum Love Story, he is all about the science, sometimes in mind-numbing detail. At one point, I would have given an eyeball to have any character oversimplify and talk about "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff" but alas, no such luck. Instead we got lots of talk of paradoxes,  quantum physics and scientific jargon. I'm going to give Chen the benefit of the doubt in the same way I do Andy Weir or anyone else brave enough to write about this stuff and believe his theories are correct because "timey-wimey" is about my level of scientific understanding.

Anyway, all this to say, by the time the time loops got weird, I was bored and when Carter's memories started to slip - as the book blurb told us was going to happen, I was downright furious. Reading the acknowledgments I understand a bit more about his thought process, but it didn't make me feel any better about the back end of this book, though it did make me wonder what was going on in Chen's life when he wrote this.

I read the book and listened to the audiobook when I didn't have time to sit and read. The audiobook was narrated by Patti Murin, who I recently heard narrate the Rom-Commers. Once again, I enjoyed her voice and her characters. 

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Amy    

historical fiction

Ellie and Homa meet as school girls in Tehran and grow up to be smart, driven, women. Homa is trying to improve the world for Iranian women. Ellie is trying to live up to her mother’s expectations and seeks to maintain the comforts and luxuries she’s grown used to. The Lion Women of Tehran follows their friendship throughout periods of togetherness and separation, good times and bad, achievement and failure.

The story was extremely well-crafted. Marjan Kamali excels at creating and describing characters. I understood them—what drove them, what they felt, why they acted the way they did. I learned a lot about Iranian culture and gained a greater understanding of Iran’s historical political climate. Women’s rights were removed once religious extremists took over the governing of the country. Kamali gave small, yet sufficient, hints early in the novel about what was to come later. So the big reveal midway through the novel was no surprise, but was still heartbreaking. The way Ellie and Homa survived their situations causing each other both trouble and joy, yet always remaining close made for a good read.

I enjoyed the audiobook narrators, Mozhan Navabi and Nikki Massoud. They were good voice actors and had the appropriate vocal repertoire to bring this story to life. I give them an A.

Mourner for Hire by Caitlin Moss

Lynnie 

contemporary romance, magical realism

I decided to request the galley of Caitlin Moss' Mourner for Hire, because I was intrigued by the book's unique main character. Vada Daughtry is a professional mourner; people hire her to attend their future funerals. Sometimes she is there simply so the deceased won't be alone, but other times she is there to perform a specific task - maybe to make a family member uncomfortable, maybe to share a previously unknown secret. The possibilities are endless really. Annabelle Dunne,  however, has a list of items that she wants Vada to complete after Annabelle's upcoming death. The catch? Vada has been to that community before. Vada actually grew up there for a time (though she doesn't remember any of that) and on her last trip to town to meet with Annabelle, she made a connection with a man who just so happens to be Annabelle's son, and he is now less than thrilled that she has returned to carry out his mother's final wishes. 

I really enjoyed the idea behind this book and the characters. Vada's a fascinating individual and her job as a mourner for hire introduces us to some interesting side characters and unique situations. Dominic is entertaining when he wants to be, but also clearly grieving his parents and the life he left behind. For some reason, he thinks this grief gives him permission to be an absolute ass toward Vada - badmouthing her around town and yelling at her when he sees her. She truly is a saint for putting up with any of it, and it seems that most people in town see his outbursts for the pain that it really is, but my gosh did he act like an immature 12-year old for much of the book. His emotions gave me whiplash and I found myself wondering if, in the real world, anyone would really have as much grace to offer him as Vada seemed to have. Still, I thought they were good for each other, even when they were arguing, and I enjoyed watching the story unfold even though the endgame was obvious from the moment Annabell and Vada met.

I truly enjoyed meeting all the townspeople and getting a glimpse of the sweet town of Shellport and its residents. I would not be surprised to see Moss write more stories based in that community in the future. Bottom line, if you're looking for a quick romance that is not a sports romance, I think you'll enjoy this one. However, if messy emotional baggage and open talk about death and grief bother you, maybe stay away. There are spicy scenes, but only a few and they were quite brief.

This book appears to be self-published by Caitlin Moss, so thank you to Moss and to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on September 9, 2025.