The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

July 26, 2025

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Minerva is a graduate student at a New England university, dependent on scholarships and on-campus jobs to afford staying there. She is originally from Mexico, and there is a history of witchcraft passing down through her family from her great-grandmother Alba. Minerva loves horror fiction and become fascinated by an obscure horror writer who attended the same university. While researching the writer's life and work, Minerva becomes aware of strange forces haunting the campus and the town.

Not your typical story of witches and warlocks. Three main characters: Alba, Beatrice, and Minerva, each with her own timeline, which can be a little confusing. Overall creepy, dark, and atmospheric. I am not a huge horror fan (although I read more horror than I think I do), but I really enjoy Moreno-Garcia's modern gothic fiction. I could not put this one down. Will appeal to readers who enjoy horror mixed with folklore and multigenerational stories. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi

January 11, 2025

A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi

Emma and Agathe Delorme are sisters, close friends as children with older sister Emma protecting the more fragile Agathe from their mother, other children, and life in general. As adults with their own lives, they have grown apart but remain united in their love for their grandmother, Mima. When Mima dies, the two sisters come together one last time at her house to reminisce about the time they spent there together and how their grandmother shaped their lives.

The format can be somewhat confusing, with two narrators and two timelines, one of which is always moving. I loved their story but the chapters were confusing and I found myself frequently going back to the beginning of a section to see who was talking and what year is was. While I don't have a sister, I do know about the dynamics of sibling relationships (as I tell my brothers, I know them better than anyone else on this planet). Told with love and frequent humor, painful subjects such as child abuse and mental illness are treated with compassion. Lovely writing and a good translation. You may need tissues at the end. Don't be fooled by the cheery image of the two women on the surfboards on the cover. And yes, a good life is something worth striving for. 

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

French Basque country

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman

January 4, 2025

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman

A holiday (sort of) short story by the author of A Man Called Ove. A bit more melancholy than most of Backman's writing. But that doesn't really matter since I read everything he writes.

Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin

October 13, 2024

Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin

Justine works as a nursing assistant at an assisted living facility in her small town. She loves her job, and her favorite resident is Helene, an elderly woman with dementia who rarely speaks. But when they are alone, Helene sometimes tells Justine about her life, and that she spends her days at the beach, waiting for her husband and daughter. Justine writes down the story for Helene's family, for when she is gone. Helene's family visits regularly but many of the residents wait in vain on Sundays for a family member or friend to visit - they are forgotten on Sunday. But lately, someone at the facility has been calling the residents' families, telling them that their loved one has passed away. But when the family arrives, they find their family member alive and happy to see them. 

I unexpectedly loved this character-driven story, with its parallel timelines and interwoven stories, and themes of family secrets and lost loves. Valerie Perrin is a celebrated French author whose novels have been translated into 30 languages, although this was the first time I read anything by her. Highly recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

September 15, 2024

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

In a little coffee house on a Tokyo side street, there is an urban legend that visitors who sit in a certain chair can time travel and meet someone from another time in their life. But it's risky: there are rules and conditions, and the most important rule is that you only have as much time as it takes for a cup of coffee to grow cold. If you don't drink the coffee during that time period, there are dire consequences. Knowing this, a number of regulars at the cafe are still willing to take the risk.

A short book with an interesting concept about being able to time travel yet not change anything in the present. Slow moving, character driven with the characters' lives and stories being intertwined. All of the characters have some regret or something left undone that they want to correct if possible. Some readers have complained about the quality of the writing, but that may be due to the fact that the book is translated from the Japanese. There is a certain amount of repetition of the rules and limitations that wasn't necessary after the first time. Overall, I was left with a feeling of sweet sadness, which I didn't need at the time. I also felt disappointed - I thought the story could have been a lot more.

Tokyo

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

December 21, 2023

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

A female vampire escapes from Europe and arrives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She describes her fight to survive, and as she watches the city change over the centuries, she decides to imprison herself in a deserted mausoleum in an old but famous cemetery. In the present day, a woman who works for a publishing house is trying to deal with her mother's terminal illness. After her mother gives her the deed to a mausoleum and a key, the woman finds herself inexplicably returning to the cemetery repeatedly. As they face fear, loneliness, and longing, the two women find themselves drawn to each other.

I am not a huge horror fan and this novel is not something that I normally would pick up, but once I started reading Thirst, it was hard to put down. The writing and the translation are both excellent. Set in two different timelines, it's a vampire story combined with feminist themes. The author is one of the new voices in Latinx literature. More sensitive readers should be aware that there are some erotic/explicit scenes.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

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Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires - Eva Peron is interred here 

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

January 22, 2020

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

After committing a robbery and having their getaway car break down, three amateur criminals hide out in an abandoned general store. To their surprise, envelopes begin dropping through the mail slot, most of them stating a problem and requesting advice, but some thanking the store owner for advice given in the past.  The three wannabe crooks decide to answer the letters, first as a joke, and then in an earnest attempt to actually be of some help.

The plot (if you can call it a plot) focuses on an old fashioned general store that has been closed for decades, and a nearby orphanage that all of the characters are connected to in some way.  The store exists in a kind of time warp – inside the store, it’s 30 years in the past, while time outside the store runs normally.  Rather than a straightforward novel format, the story consists of a series of inter-connected vignettes, often transitioning to another character's story with little or no explanation.  It’s a quick read and overall optimistic with a certain charm, but a lot of it felt like the author wanted to write about some of his favorite things, like the Beatles.  One of my complaints is that there is no real ending – the reader ends up with the three guys sitting around the general store looking at each other with their eyes twinkling – what is that supposed to mean?  I understand that the author is a well-known mystery writer in Japan, and that this is his first effort outside the mystery genre.  Maybe it was the translation that made it seem clunky.