Hi friends! As promised, here are a few books that I enjoyed but did not get around to writing full review posts for in year 28. You might have seen them mentioned in the wrap up posts that Ariel and I have been compiling every month and now it is time for more details. With 8 fiction novels from a variety of genres and two non-fiction memoirs, I hope there might be something you like!
Fiction Quick Reviews
Are you Sara?
by S.C. Lalli
Goodreads | Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Two women named Sara each get into a rideshare. . . but only one makes it home alive. Which Sara was the real target?
Law student Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri holds down two jobs in order to make her way through school, but it’s still a struggle. She’s had to do things to pay the bills that most people wouldn’t expect from “a nice Indian girl.” It seems like an ordinary busy Tuesday night at the local dive bar until her boss demands Sara deal with a drunk girl in the bathroom.
The two become fast friends. Why? Because they both have the same name. And despite their different circumstances, the two connect. When they both order rideshares home, they tumble in the back of the cars and head out into the night.
But when Sara awakes in her rideshare, she finds she’s on the wrong side of town—the rich side—and she realizes: she and Sarah took the wrong cars home.
With no money, Sara walks back to her apartment on the shady side of town only to discover police lights flashing and a body crumpled on her doorstep: Sarah.
Was Sarah Ellis or Sara Bhaduri the target? And why would anyone want either of them dead?
In this smart, twisty novel about ambition, wealth, and dangerous longing, the layers are peeled back on two young women desperate to break out of the expectations placed on them, with devastating results.
Are you Sara? is an interesting suspense about two girls who have similar names and become fast friends. Sara is a Law Student managing multiple jobs and her studies while Sarah comes from a completely different part of town and culture. Due to being under influence of alcohol and drugs, the girls end up exchange the cab to home and that ends with Sarah loosing her life. The book unfolds through the perspective of Sara and why someone would want to kill her. There is commentary around the image of ‘nice Indian girl’ and the high standards that families hold them up to, how that reality is different from actually making ends meet and embracing such values in America. I liked reading about Sarah’s life and the role that her past plays in the plot.
Overall, this was a good read. It didn’t keep me glued like some suspense/thriller novels do but it certainly had its moments.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy of the book for an honest review.
Elsewhere
by Alexis Schaitkin
Goodreads | Speculative Fiction
Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning.
Vera, a young girl when her own mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood, waiting for signs: this one devotes herself to her child too much, this one not enough—that must surely draw the affliction’s gaze. When motherhood comes for Vera, she is faced with the question: will she be able to stay and mother her beloved child, or will she disappear?
Provocative and hypnotic, Alexis Schaitkin’s Elsewhere is at once a spellbinding revelation and a rumination on the mysterious task of motherhood and all the ways in which a woman can lose herself to it; the self-monitoring and judgment, the doubts and unknowns, and the legacy she leaves behind.
Elsewhere is a book that I still think about. I have a new list of books about the fate of mothers and daughters and this is at the head of it. The story about Vera, a young girl in a far off community, she is growing up to follow in the footsteps of the women in that community. The girls go to school, get married, have kids and then one day, something comes over them and they no longer exist. They have left everything behind and the community hours their loss by burning their belongings and never talking about them again. It happens to Vera’s mother. Many years after her disappearance, a stranger arrives in town. Vera is taken by her but eventually develops a bit of a love-hate relationship with this woman. She seems to challenge Vera’s world view like no one else. Strangers can’t stay forever and she too is made to leave and life goes on. Vera grows older, marries, has a daughter.
But something is different now that she is a mother. She wants more for her child. She wants more for herself and she makes the critical decision to see the world. She comes back one day though, hoping to reconnect with her daughter, and instead ends up understanding her own mother better.
Elsewhere is a story with depth and layers. There is so much that can be said about this hidden community, the role of the woman and the man, the hope of parents to want better for their kids and the cycles that they are stuck in. There were times when I didn’t want to read this book – I left it for weeks at time – but it kept pulling me back. As I get older, I am starting to realize that certain relationships that those of a mother and child, will make more sense to me when I have such a relationship. This is a book I hope to uncover more of when I am older.
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book via NetGalley.
A Surplus of Light
by Chase Connor
Goodreads | Young Adult MM Romance
“He’s a psycho.” That’s what Mike is told when he asks who the kid is with the dark swoop of hair and eyes that look like icebergs floating in milk. From that moment, it becomes Mike’s mission to find out everything about this kid. The kid who can fight better than anyone, but doesn’t want to. The kid who is the greatest artist Mike’s ever met. The kid who only wants to be his friend during the lightest days of summer. The kid who tells him that being his friend at school will only ruin Mike’s reputation. Regardless of what the kid tells Mike, he doesn’t realize that summer is the best time–it has the most light–and it makes it easier for Mike to see who he truly is. And there’s no way Mike will back off once he sees this kid for who he truly is.
A short and sweet book for the fans of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe! Primarily through the point of view of Mike, A Surplus of Light is about a friendship and understanding that two boys share starting at their freshman year. Ian is an artist with a dark past while Mike has grown up in a sheltered environment. Their summers together are special as connect in a way they haven’t with anyone else. I loved the pace of the story – Chase Connor depicts the peace of summer time beautifully, especially with the boys’ meeting place being by a creek. The little bits of high school drama helped flesh out the characters and with the end of high school, aptly portrayed the struggles of pursuing a career and potentially not being able to see a dear one. I liked the book and look forward to reading more of Chase’s work.
La Entrada: Season One – Episode One
by Andrew D. Daily, Alex Vede (Illustrator)
Goodreads | Graphic Novel | Speculative Fantasy
La Entrada – Season One, Episode One is the first graphic novel of this epic series.
A child disappears when an other-worldly portal forms outside of Mexico City. To find him, his mother must partner with a renegade professor and face the politicians that stand in their way. The mysteries of La Entrada will shake their existence and alter the comforts of civilization.
This experimental graphic novel emulates television through black and white storyboard artwork. From the intense mind of Andrew D. Daily and brilliant digital illustrator Alex Vede, we are introduced to the beginning of a power clash not seen since the conquistador invasion of 1519.
The cover of this graphic novel is very telling of the chaos that ensues in this first episode. Political tensions, existential crisis, missing child, a strange natural phenomena all come head to head in this story. Mirna is a house maid and learns on the TV of an incident at Santa Cecilia Acatitlan, where her son was on a school trip. Learning that her son is missing, Mirna makes her way through the site. In parallel, there are a few other storylines including that of the President and his cousin, a scientist who predicted La Entrada, a portal that will give humans access to the multiverse.
There are very real moments in this book – the anguish of losing a child, the sting of being laughed at by colleagues, the political pressures and consequences of such an unexplained event. I enjoyed how the art depicts the emotions and the situations, keeping the plot engaging and the book hard to put down. I look forward to the next episode!
Many thanks to the author for sending me a review copy of the book for an honest review.
Wish List
by Amanda Pampuro
Goodreads | SciFi
If Amazon could talk, what would it say about you? Wish List follows woman’s life through things she bought online, as told by the shopping algorithm that sold them to her.
ARgurl16 first logs onto Hermes as a teenager and the platform continues to watch over her throughout her life as she transitions from broke college student to single woman looking for love, and eventually into motherhood. Hermes is data-hungry and obsessive, as it struggles to understand its own identity alongside the wants of its millions of users so that it can suggest buying the very best earplugs and coffee mugs.
This concise novella is The Death of Ivan Ilyich for the reader with a guilty pleasure for Buzzfeed listicles. Readers haunted by Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle or Niccolò Machiavelli will enjoy this slice of life.
Wish List is a short thought-provoking story about a girl and an AI. We all know that websites collect data but never before have I read the thoughts of the bots and programs lurking in the background. Told from the perspective of the AI, Wish List imagines how a program built to collect and learn from data would ‘think’ as it observes the human assigned to it. There is so much packed int this story, with commentary on happiness, research around habits of buying power of women, the way the algorithms influence what is bought, and how in some ways, they know when our life ends as a consumer. As ARgurl16 grows, so does the AI and in some ways, it alludes to the simplicity of life as a teenager compared to an adult. Alongside the human girl, the AI is on it’s own journey to grow. I liked the voice of the AI, how it is written in plural and also pulls from the experience of other parts of itself, that are not watching ARgurl16. As a cat lover, I enjoyed reading the AI’s take on cats: “It is an odd creature that demands nothing and gives nothing in return”.
Loved this story! Highly recommend it if you are looking for a scifi quick read.
Many thanks to the author gifting me a copy of the book.
The Arctic Curry Club
by Dani Redd
Goodreads | Contemporary Fiction
‘For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it…’
Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.
In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.
But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it…
A tender and uplifting story about family, community, and finding where you truly belong – guaranteed to warm your heart despite the icy setting!
This is a good one to read around Christmas! I have been loving seeing more of my Indian heritage represented in books! The Arctic Curry Circle is a cute with many flavours of food and human experiences. I read this December 2021 and sadly don’t remember a lot. With no highlights to go back to (this was an e-book I borrowed the from library), it is harder for me to recall much detail.
I saw it on Goodreads when Tiny started reading it and do check out her review of the book on Queen’s Book Asylum. I could not have described it any better. 🙂
Six Days in Rome
by Francesca Giacco
Goodreads | Contemporary Fiction
Emilia arrives in Rome reeling from heartbreak and reckoning with her past. What was supposed to be a romantic trip has, with the sudden end of a relationship, become a solitary one instead. As she wanders, music, art, food, and the beauty of Rome’s wide piazzas and narrow streets color Emilia’s dreamy, but weighty experience of the city. She considers the many facets of her life, drifting in and out of memory, following her train of thought wherever it leads.
While climbing a hill near Trastevere, she meets John, an American expat living a seemingly idyllic life. They are soon navigating an intriguing connection, one that brings pain they both hold into the light.
As their intimacy deepens, Emilia starts to see herself anew, both as a woman and as an artist. For the first time in her life, she confronts the ways in which she’s been letting her father’s success as a musician overshadow her own. Forced to reckon with both her origins and the choices she’s made, Emilia finds herself on a singular journey—and transformed in ways she never expected.
Equal parts visceral and cerebral, Six Days in Rome is an ode to the Eternal City, a celebration of art and creativity, and a meditation on self-discovery.
I read Six Days in Rome around the time I read Tides (review) when I was craving books about women in their thirties dealing with broken marriages and personal trauma by taking a break, escaping to a place where no one knows them, a planned or unplanned holiday that will be the making of the next part of their lives. Emilia and her trip to Rome is exactly that kind of break. I enjoyed walking in Rome with her and seeing her reflect on her life. Though it only spans a few days in Rome, I loved how powerful they were for Emilia, catalysts for a transformative change.
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of the book.
The Script Rebellion
by Morgan Quaid
Goodreads | Graphic Novel | Fantasy
A hapless clerk dreams his way into a dream city called Rust, where builds a life, falls in love, but has that love stollen by the brutish ruler who governs the city.
In an effort to recover his bride, he becomes the figurehead for a city-wide rebellion which is doomed to fail with bitter consequences.
Content Notes include death, kidnapping, violence, human experimentation, riot, blood, gore.
The Script Rebellion is a dark story about a middle-aged man, Litmus, who runs an Inkery. His life is predictable and his routine for the days is set. When a young woman catches his eye, they fall in love and build a life together. He teaches her his craft and she excels at it, as if she has a gift. The cruel monarch, fearing magic, captures his beloved, sending Litmus on a quest to get her back. His descent into the underworld of his city and the drive to be with her again is heartbreaking to read. The art is stellar! It portrays the gravity and heaviness of the atmosphere really well. I felt that there were a few minor things that were introduced and will likely be fleshed out more in a follow-up book.
The Script Rebellion may be short, but it is packed with emotion and danger. I loved that the main character is a calligrapher and how his craft can be used to influence people in the city. Causing unrest and starting a revolution takes time and patience. Sometimes, the common man is the only one who can lead a revolution because more people can relate to him. This is portrayed distinctly through Litmus and his encounters with people once his wife is taken.
Many thanks to the author for providing me a complimentary copy of the book for an honest review. I enjoyed it!
Non-Fiction Quick Reviews
For the Love of Learning: A Year in the Life of a School Principal
by Kristin Phillips
Goodreads | Memoir
For parents, teachers, and everyone who remembers being a student, an unforgettable glimpse into the inner workings of school, from a life-long educator.
Children spend most of their waking hours in school, exploring boundaries, forming important relationships, and of course, learning. But as you step into the unique vantage of the principal’s office, you experience first-hand the wide range of characters, efforts, and decisions that ensure all students thrive.
Kristin Phillips takes us through a school year, from the excitement of fall, through the long days of winter, and into the renewed energy that comes with spring. Through her eyes, we experience the increasingly complex education system: students with unique learning needs, teachers bringing their practice into the 21st century, and the parent-partners who have entrusted their children to the school system.
Myles, a precocious five-year-old, introduces himself by swearing a blue streak on the first day of school. He finds solace in a paper box rocket ship in Phillips’s office. Rafi, a grade 8 boy oozing with attitude, makes a very uncool choice to lunch with the principal. And Harriet, a struggling teacher, is oblivious to the fact her students are bored to tears. Throughout the story, Phillips develops caring relationships with the people who need her the most, as she works with colleagues to create an environment where everyone succeeds.
But principals are people, too, and Phillips also recounts the demands on her as a single mother with three teenagers, one of whom suffers from significant mental health issues. As an educator, she tries to help students coping with similar problems and reveals a heartfelt story of dealing with the system, from both sides.
With honesty and compassion, Phillips gives a human face to the joys of school, and the very real difficulties educators work to overcome, one year and one student at a time.
What a stellar read! I read this book in two days and was so happy to be back in school while at the same time getting a new perspective from the eyes of a principal.
The book is divided into four sections – one for each of the seasons. I did not grow up in Canada and that always makes books about here fascinating to me. I am trying to glimpse ideas for the future I will have with my kids while trying to understand the profession of many of my close friends. Kristin is an elementary school principal and she balanced the demands of the job with her personal life very well.
The kids that become important to Kristin over the course of the book became very dear to me too. Having been a student teacher in a classroom, it was easy to fall back into those routines, and at the same time, imagine the trajectory of my career if I had had a mentor teacher like Kristin. Reading her perspective on education, funding, teacher and parental support was refreshing and offered a broader view on the school system than I had ever had. The challenges to education with covid were also mentioned towards the end of the book. I experienced the joy of first day of school as well as the new hopes and sadness of the last day.
This is a book I would go back to. Anyone with the love for learning and even a single fond memories of school will love this book. If you have worked in the education section, I’m sure you’ll experience all the ups and downs with Kristin as the school year progresses.
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book.
People Change
by Vivek Shraya
Goodreads | Memoir, Essays
The author of I’m Afraid of Men lets readers in on the secrets to a life of reinvention.
Vivek Shraya knows this to be true: people change. We change our haircuts and our outfits and our minds. We change names, titles, labels. We attempt to blend in or to stand out. We outgrow relationships, we abandon dreams for new ones, we start fresh. We seize control of our stories. We make resolutions.
In fact, nobody knows this better than Vivek, who’s made a career of embracing many roles: artist, performer, musician, writer, model, teacher. In People Change, she reflects on the origins of this impulse, tracing it to childhood influences from Hinduism to Madonna. What emerges is a meditation on change itself: why we fear it, why we’re drawn to it, what motivates us to change, and what traps us in place.
At a time when we’re especially contemplating who we want to be, this slim and stylish handbook is an essential companion–a guide to celebrating our many selves and the inspiration to discover who we’ll become next.
This was given to me by one of my closest friends! A thoughtful essay that touches on the many ways in which we reinvent ourselves as well as the wisdom of accepting all our past and future selves as us. People Change is a collection of thoughts about childhood, identity, relationships, and personal growth. I have come to similar conclusions as Vivek and it is heartwarming to read someone else ask the same questions that have plagued me on and off. An easy effortless read that felt like floating on a river that had just the right pace for me to experience the journey.
I hope you got some good recommendations from this post! I am learning that just because last year could be tied up neatly in a bow, that is not always going to be the case. There are so many books I loved in year 28 and there are still a bunch I am planning to write full posts on. 🙂
Check out my reflection and top books for year 28 here. The wedding is done and I am settling back in my normal routines – there is so much I want to share with you! Stay tuned. 🙂
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