Dirtbag Queen by Andy Corren

February 17, 2025

Dirtbag Queen by Andy Corren

Corren's irreverant memoir of Renay, his outrageous Jewish redneck mother who raised six kids (sort of) by herself after she split from her husband, isn't like any other memoir you've read. Everyone in their town near Fort Bragg knew Renay, manager of the local bowling alley, gambler and party girl, collector of strippers, card players, bowlers, and other strays who needed a place to sleep for the night. While Renay may not have excelled at cooking, keeping house, or hanging onto money, she lived life to the fullest.

Outofshapeworthlessloser by Gracie Gold

February 12, 2025

Outofshapeworthlessloser by Gracie Gold

Ice skater and Olympic bronze medalist Gracie Gold details her triumphs and losses on the ice, her struggles with mental health and addiction, and her road to a healthy, fulfilling life. Many of the problems with being an elite athlete and the toxic culture surrounding the Olympics and national competitions have been detailed by others (e.g., struggles with weight and body image, the physical toil that long hours of daily hard training takes on the body, an unnatural childhood and adolescence that focuses only on training and competition, thoughtless coaches unconcerned by the overall health of the young people they coach, sexual predators who prey on young athletes, a governing and judging body that chooses to ignore or hide anything unpleasant). She details the way that being an elite athlete skews one's judgment: after winning a bronze medal in the team Olympic event, she threatens to throw it in the trash because she didn't get a gold medal. Honey, you may not have won a gold medal but there are THOUSANDS of athletes who didn't even get the chance.

Gracie had some terrible experiences but she also portrays herself as a victim betrayed by those around her, including her sister, who had the nerve to quit skating and make a life for herself, rather than remain available at all times to manage things during Gracie's next crisis.

Gracie Gold

After Happily Ever by Jennifer Safrey

February 10, 2025

After Happily Ever by Jennifer Safrey

For 30 years, the princesses Neve, Della and Bry have been married to the three Princes Charming. But after all that time, they are finding the princes to be not so charming anymore. Life in the kingdom of Foreverness has always been perfect (at least according to the old king and the princes and the men of the kingdom), but following the old king's death, things begin to change and the women of the kingdom decide they will no longer be silent about how they are treated.

What happens after "and they lived happily ever after" at the end of the fairy tale? Especially 30 years on, when the not-so-charming princes and their brides are heading into middle age? The princesses (better known to us as Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) face some very modern problems: infidelity, fading looks, aging bodies, infertility, the need to be a people pleaser, spouses resistant to change especially in their wives, a new society where people want to step outside assigned gender roles by treated fairly. Plus, the princesses' own origin stories have been rewritten to cast the princes in the most favorable light - the whole awakened-with-a-kiss thing was a pile of nonsense. These are not those princesses that you find in Disney. Will appeal to readers who enjoy strong female characters and a retelling of fairy tales.

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

These are not the princesses in the novel

The Voyage Home by Pat Barker

February 9, 2025

The Voyage Home by Pat Barker

The wind has finally shifted and the Greek army is sailing for home, along with the enslaved Trojan women who are their war prizes. Agamemnon arrives home with his concubine, the Trojan princess Cassandra, thinking his life is going back to the way it was before he left ten years earlier. But Agamemnon murdered his oldest daughter Iphigeneia, and his wife Clytemnestra has been planning her revenge for ten years.

The last book in Barker's trilogy about the women of Troy, victims of the Trojan War who are enslaved and awarded to the victors as war prizes. I loved the whole trilogy and while I liked Ritsa's character and story, it was disappointing that there was barely a mention of Briseis who narrated the first two books. Will appeal to readers who enjoyed Madeline Miller's Circe or Costanza Casati's Clytemnestra.

Depiction of a palace in Ancient Greece

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

February 9, 2025

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Dorothy Gentleman, detective on the Fairweather, an interstellar cruise ship, wakes up in a body that doesn't belong to her. Normally finding oneself in a new body isn't that unusual on the ship, since that is one of the services offered: eternal reincarnations, at least until they reach their final destiny. But Dorothy's mind was supposed to be resting for a few years in the ship's library between incarnations, and she certainly didn't ask to be transferred into THIS body. The ship's AI appears to be on a drunken bender, so it's up to Dorothy to figure out on her own what is going on.

First book in a new noir sci-fi mystery series, although some readers feel it has a cozy setting, on an interstellar cruise ship on a millennia-long voyage to a new destination after leaving Old Earth. All of the passengers live out their lives, die, and are brought back to life in a new body. The science makes sense, like a magnetic storm erasing some of the files where a person's permanent memories are kept. Who doesn't love a cocktail drinking auntie who solves mysteries? Fun setting, fun characters, fun premise. There is even some P. G. Wodehouse-esque humor, with Dorothy's nephew having a boyfriend who strongly reminded me of Jeeves. Recommended for readers who enjoy Becky Chambers' quirky novels.

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

Now THIS looks like a fun cruise ship!

The Twelve Saints of Christmas by Karen Baugh Menuhin

February 7, 2025

The Twelve Saints of Christmas by Karen Baugh Menuhin

Major Heathcliff Lennox and retired inspector Jonathan Swift are called to a country estate just outside Bath to investigate a suspicious death at what appears to be a retirement home for the very wealthy. But intrigue bubbles just below the surface and Lennox and Swift are soon faced with a second suspicious death.

Lennox and Swift return for their 12th investigation among the toffs, with their usual cast of supporting characters, including Greggs the butler and ladies' man, Lennox's spaniel Mr. Fogg, and his chubby cat Tubbs. Unfortunately Mr. Foggs and Tubbs make only brief appearances, as do Persi and Florence, wives of Lennox and Swift. I love a country house mystery, especially one set at the holidays, and this one is great fun like all of the books in the series. I recommend starting at the beginning of the series if you haven't read any of the earlier books.

Yes, there really are baths in Bath, England, although I'm not sure I'd want to go soak in them

Trust by Hernan Diaz

February 3, 2025

Trust by Hernan Diaz

A novel comprised of four shorter books: a novel called Bonds, about the life of a New York financier; the outline of a memoir/family history by a Wall Street investor who believes Bonds is a fictionalized account of him and his wife; a memoir by a woman hired to write the financier's autobiography but later decides to discover the truth about the couple; and a journal by the financier's wife. But what is true, and what isn't?

A complex novel that explores themes of family, wealth, ambition and deception in a non-traditional format. I really enjoyed the first three sections of the book, but I found the last section to be disappointing. Since that section was in the wife's voice, I was hoping for answers to the questions posed in the earlier sections, and while there were some revelations, I mostly found it unsatisfying. Love the cover art, a skyscraper under a bell jar. Five stars for the first 3/4 of the book, 2 stars for the final section. For readers of literary fiction, especially if you enjoyed books like Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

Panic on Wall Street in 1929, which figures in all sections of the novel