Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

November 6, 2019

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Chloe Brown is 31 years old, disabled by a variety of ailments which are hard to diagnose (e.g., fibromyalgia) and cause her to be in almost constant pain.  She has a wealthy, supportive family and a job where she can work from home.  Chloe wasn’t always this way – her disability was triggered by a severe illness when she was in her 20’s, causing her to give up most of her life outside her home (grad school, dating, sports, friends).  But after she is almost run over by a car, she realizes that her obituary would be about one sentence long, and she resolves to get a life for herself, even if it’s not the live she had before.  A constant list-maker, Chloe writes a seven-point list of things she wants to experience so that she can feel that she does indeed have a life.

Red is the superintendent/handyman at the building where Chloe lives.  Like all guys in romance novels, Red is emotionally damaged:  he was a successful artist but a disastrous relationship with a socialite caused his career to plummet.  He just needs the love of a good woman to help him find himself (yes, I’m gagging here).

This is a steamy rom-com with a familiar set-up:  the two main characters (Red and Chloe) hate each other on sight but can’t deny the strong sexual pull they feel.  This is sure to tick a lot of boxes for fans of romance fiction, and it is the first title in a new series – subsequent titles will feature Chloe’s two sisters Eve and Dani.  I am not a huge romance reader, but one of the things that I did like was Hibbert’s portrayal of Chloe:  she might have a debilitating illness but she’s smart and determined, she’s snarky and witty, and she wants love and has a lot to give back.

Romance novels are basically fantasy novels where everything works out and there is a happy ending and a lot of sex - this is the main appeal of romance fiction.  They are a little too formulaic for me, and I don’t really enjoy reading about other people having sex (and Chloe and Red spend a LOT of time thinking about sex, talking about sex, and having sex).  Also, like most of the men in romance novels, Red is just too good to be true (if there really were guys like him out there, I probably wouldn’t have stopped dating).  But romance fans are sure to love it.  I am planning on giving a copy to Sofia, my nephew Jon’s girlfriend, for Christmas.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for a review.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

November 3, 2019

10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

Tequila Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, has been murdered and her body thrown into a dumpster near the waterfront.  Although her heart has stopped, her brain continues to work for 10 minutes and 38 seconds.  During that time, she recalls her life, mostly through memories of taste and smell.  She remembers her dysfunctional family and the uncle who molested her repeatedly as a child, and how her family disowned her when she ran away to Istanbul.  But mostly, she recalls her five close friends who would do anything for her.  When they learn of her death, the five friends resolve to give Leila a decent burial.

Shafak’s descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells of Istanbul make the city just as much a character as Leila and her friends.  I quickly became absorbed in Leila’s story in the first section of the novel.  The second part focuses on Leila’s friends, with a much-needed injection of dark humor.  The last section winds in the final threads and lets the reader know that Leila will never be forgotten by her friends.

Highly atmospheric with wonderfully drawn characters and expressive writing, this novel was shortlisted for the 2019 Man-Booker Prize, and rightly so.  Elif Shafak is a Turkish novelist who is an advocate of freedom, equality and free speech for women.  I highly recommend this for readers of literary fiction.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

October 30, 2019

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Okay, so, how often do you find a book that deals with spontaneous human combustion?  With humor, compassion, and love?  I’d say just about never, until now.

Lillian Breaker is working a dead-end job in her home town, when she gets a frantic letter from her former roommate pleading for her help.  Lillian’s dreams of a better life for herself were cut short when her roomie Madison got caught with drugs at their exclusive high school, and Madison’s father paid off Lillian’s mother to get Lillian to take the rap for Madison.  Lillian was expelled and her mother spent the money on cigarettes, booze, and partying.

Fifteen years later, Madison Billings Roberts is married to a much older man, a U.S. senator, and they live on a palatial estate with their son Timothy.  But Senator Roberts has two children from his first marriage, Roland and Bessie, who (to say the least) have special needs:  if they get upset, they spontaneously burst into flames.  And these are two angry kids.  Madison and the senator need a nanny to look after the children in a special guest house on the estate, away from the main house since there is no predicting when these incidents might occur.  What if there were witnesses!  Imagine the negative publicity!  What if they burn the house down!  Think of what would happen to the Roberts’ perfect image!  The senator’s career would be down the tubes!

Lillian is the only person that Madison trusts enough with her secret.  The salary that Madison is offering is really good, too, so Lillian takes on the job of looking after the two near-feral children.  Their mother was paranoid, so the twins were home-schooled and rarely left the house.  Since the mother’s death, they’ve been living with their maternal grandparents who are being paid to “look after” the kids (and they have a really loose interpretation of “look after”).  The first time she meets the twins, despite coming away bleeding and half-drowned, Lillian unexpectedly connects with them and she resolves to try to make their lives better and help them learn to deal with and control their affliction. 

Lillian herself is damaged, since she had a neglected childhood without a father, and a mother who brought home boyfriend after boyfriend; after the drug incident, Lillian’s life spontaneously combusted.  She appears to be the first person who ever really takes an interest in the twins, even if she is being paid to look after them.

There are themes of friendship, forgiveness, disability, family, loss, and unexpected love.  And yet it is an uplifting feel-good book.  You can substitute any disability for “spontaneous human combustion” and the reaction of adults would be the same:  embarrassment, shame, “what will people think,” “this didn’t come from my side of the family,” focusing on the disability rather than the kids’ happiness.  The children’s propensity to burst into flames is a metaphor for all of the havoc of raising children:  the teenager who has a tantrum in public, the pre-schooler who gets mad at his parents and knocks all the booze bottles off the sideboard at a party, the adolescent who wants to be a super-hero and decides to jump off the school roof.  Spontaneous human combustion in the novel is just an exaggerated form of acting-out.

This is a very enjoyable read and is sure to appeal to anyone who likes quirky characters and unusual situations, and it has great cover art.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.

The House of Brides by Jane Cockram

October 27, 2019

House of Brides by Jane Cockram

When she gets caught lying about the products she was selling, wannabe influencer Miranda Courtenay is broke, jobless, and publicly shamed.  After her wealthy father pays her bills, gets an Internet fixer to repair her reputation, and finds her a decent job, Miranda repays him by stealing his American Express number and booking a flight from her home in Australia to England where her mother grew up.  Ostensibly seeking answers about the mother who passed away when she was a child, Miranda decides to masquerade as an applicant for a nanny position with the family.

So disappointing.  I thought I was going to love this book since it has so many great themes that I enjoy:  creepy old house, creepy characters, family secrets, scandals, unreliable narrator, hidden identities, isolation, missing person, gothic vibe.  It was none of those things.  I ended up almost not finishing it, but since I received an e-ARC in return for a review, I felt like I had to finish it and started skimming about 1/3 of the way in.  I was really hoping that there would be some twists and reveals that would redeem the poor writing.  No such luck.  Unfortunately, ALL of the characters are unlikable, and the main character Miranda is also downright stupid and unbelievably impulsive and immature.  If Miranda would have just told them who she was and asked about her mother, her relatives (and everyone in the town) would have told her what she wanted to know, since several characters were only too happy to spill everything they knew at the end.

It seems like the writer was trying to emulate Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, since the names of some of the characters are the same or very similar.  But there is no comparison - just go read Rebecca or watch the movie instead of this.  There was so much pointless description and dialogue, and a lot of other characters telling Miranda what had happened before she arrived.  The plot was unbelievable and just kind of fizzles out.  Since this was an ARC, I’m hoping that an editor at the publishing house will go through this with a big red pen and fix this very rough draft.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC in return for a review (and I’m sorry I couldn’t give it a better review).

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey

More Florida mayhem with Serge A. Storms, Florida-phile and looney knight errant, and his druggie pal Coleman, who never met an addictive substance he didn’t like.  The boys are short on cash as usual, and need to drum up some fast money.  And what's faster and cheaper than printing your own money?  They have new friend, a stripper named Rachel who literally stumbled into their apartment (she sounds like a reincarnation of Sharon from Florida Roadkill).  Meanwhile, the G-Unit (the four grannies who hit it big in investing) have discovered that it’s cheaper to live on a cruise ship than in senior citizen housing, so they start booking back-to-back cruises – and a lot of other retirees have figured this out, too (free food available 24 hours/day including room service, daily maid service, onboard activities like mini golf and movies, pool and exercise room, nightly live entertainment – all included in the cruise price).  Jim Davenport and his wife are just trying to find a house in a nice quiet neighborhood, Tex McGraw is still trying to kill them, and the Diaz brothers want to get into smuggling big-time.  And Johnny Vegas (the Accidental Virgin) is still trying to get laid.

Another reason I like Serge is that he has a thing for librarians – reference and information is such a turn-on, and what’s better than having sex with a librarian in a storage unit on a door from Jim Morrison’s house?  The audiobook is narrated by Oliver Wyman who does a great job with all the voices.

What Darkness Brings by C. S. Harris

October 24, 2019

What Darkness Brings by C. S. Harris

When a well-known and much-despised gem dealer/loan shark is found murdered, there aren’t a lot of people mourning his passing.  The police quickly arrest a man who was found standing over the body and then fled the scene.  But the man, Russell Yates, insists that he is innocent and his wife asks for Sebastian’s help to find the real killer.  The only problem is that Yates’ wife is none other than the actress Kat Boleyn, Sebastian’s ex-lover.  Although Sebastian agrees to help them, he fears that unresolved feelings for Kat will again be stirred up.  Complicating his attempts to discover the true killer and his worry over his wife's Hero’s safety is his grief over the mysterious death of an old army friend.

The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries are a wonderful mix of historical fiction, political intrigue, mystery, social justice, and gossip.  A constant round of parties, balls, and receptions, lots of eating and drinking, a fat spoiled prince, and even the men changed their clothes at least six times a day – wasn’t Regency England fabulous (at least, it was if you were rich and connected)!  Plus, Sebastian’s family is back in all its messy glory – I suggest reading the series in order to really get a picture of the complicated St. Cyr family.  Although the author does a good job of summarizing important information from previous titles, the books are just too much fun to miss.  This is one of the best entries in the series so far, and even though it is described as historical fiction, anyone who enjoys Regency romances should also enjoy the St. Cyr mysteries.  A very enjoyable read.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

October 21, 2019

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

Clare Cassidy is a secondary English school teacher in an English town in West Sussex, specializing in the works of literary works of Victorian author R. M. Holland.  Part of the school where she teaches was Holland’s house, where a number of rooms have been preserved exactly as they were when the writer lived there.  Clare is devastated to learn that a fellow teacher and close friend has been found murdered, with a quote from Holland’s most famous story next to her body.  But things go from bad to worse when Clare’s life begins to echo some of her favorite pieces of literature.  She turns to her diary to record her feelings, only to find that some unknown person has been reading her diary and writing in it.

This is a modern gothic with a classic whodunit feeling, perfect for October reading.  Many of the themes that occur in classic gothic and supernatural fiction are included:  a creepy old school with a resident ghost, an abandoned factory, isolated houses, unreliable narrators, heavy fog and darkness, screams in the night, mysterious lights that flicker on and off.  I liked the story-within-a-story structure, as well as the plot twists that keep the reader guessing.  The three narrators all have distinct voices and are each likable in their own way – I especially liked the fact that Clare adores her rescue dog (Herbert) and doesn’t care who knows it.  Herbert is a little guy but has the heart of a lion and doesn’t hesitate to defend his humans.

Another thing I liked about The Stranger Diaries was that the lead detective is a smart woman – she doesn’t miss obvious and not-so-obvious clues and have to have some bystander point them out or figure out the solution for her.

Except for the fact that the killer's motive is a little weak, this is an excellent read.

And yes, Herbert is alive and well at the end of the book.