Would I treasure these long hot humid stanky days so much if I lived somewhere that the season was longer? Probably not. If you ever hear me complain about the heat or the sun, I’ve likely been bodysnatched and you should call the authorities. Just FYI… Anyway, lots of good books this month.
Babel by RK Huang. An alternate history taking place at the academic heart of the British Empire – mixing fantasy and alchemy and linguistics – this novel had me in its grip from page 1. Highly recommend!
This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs. The debut novel by Susanna Hoffs (yes, that Susanna Hoffs, of The Bangles) tells the story of Jane, a musician with stage-fright who’s 10 years past her one hit, who moves from LA to England to be with her new boyfriend. I think I would be absolutely raving about it had I read it in the right order from start to finish instead of how I actually read it, which was starting somewhere in the middle. I opened my Kobo and started reading at what I thought was the beginning. It launched me right en scene into a small but alarming house fire with the main character desperately trying to deal with it. I really thought it would then zoom back out and I would eventually get the blanks filled in. That never happened in a satisfying way, and then I found myself at the end. I have no idea, truly, how I didn’t notice the high chapter numbers at the start or anywhere through it. What can I say? I blindly trusted the journey I thought the novelist was taking me on. Lol. Dumb. Anyway, literally after I finished the last page I realized what had happened. So I restarted it. It was really very good, but I recommend you read it starting from Chapter One.
Happy Place by Emily Henry. If you like Emily Henry, you will enjoy this novel. I do, and I did!
All Good People Here by Audrey Flowers. An ambitious journalist returns to her small town to care for her beloved uncle as he lives with early onset dementia. Shortly after she arrives home, a young girl is murdered in an eerily similar way to the protagonist’s best friend many years before. She is irresistibly drawn to covering the case, but is blocked every way she turns. It’s a heckuva good read!
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Another excellent small town murder mystery, with another (in this case, high school aged) young woman determined to get to the bottom of a past murder. Pippa doesn’t think the main suspect, who later died by suicide, was actually the murderer, and she sets out to prove it for her high school capstone project.
The Family Remains: A Novel by Lisa Jewell. This novel is the sequel to The Family Upstairs, which I read during the heart of the pandemic and, honestly, I hardly remembered it at all. As I started this one, it occurred to me that the backstory of the characters seemed familiar so I checked my list. But that was as far as my memory went. This one worked fine as a basically standalone novel, and I enjoyed it. I probably would have enjoyed it more – and maybe would have caught on to the undercurrents in the plot faster – had I remembered the first instalment.
A Very Typical Family by Siera Godfrey. Three adult siblings need to come together after years apart in order to claim their inheritance from their estranged and now deceased mother. While I found some of the backstory a bit hard to believe, the novel unfolds in a moving and satisfying way. I like a book with no actual bad guys.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis. Attainable goals! Whether you are currently in a season where you are struggling to achieve the basics or if you’ve been there before, you will appreciate the warmth and big sister wisdom of this book.
The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. I feel like I say this a lot, but this novel will probably be made into a movie. The characters and plot are absolutely Hollywood ready. It’ll go straight to Netflix; actually, it’ll be made for streaming, maybe a mini-series to really let the suspense build. None of this is a criticism, mind you. It was a banger.
