Spring 2021 Reads

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HAPPILY EVER AFTERS: Elise Bryant
I enjoyed this quirky love story. Teen Tessa is a romance writer who “loses her words” due to her anxiety and “imposter syndrome” when she starts attending a prestigious arts high school. Her best friend formulates a plan for Tessa to find her own happily ever after to hopefully inspire her writing to return. Easily written, with great, loveable, diverse characters and fun moments. I appreciated the inclusion of a character (Tessa’s brother) with autism. Overall a great book.

LIONS OF 5TH AVENUE: Fiona Davis
I really enjoyed this book! It switches between storylines and perspectives of Laura, a housewife who decides to pursue journalism in 1913, and Sadie, a library curator in 1993. Laura is ambitious and feeling stuck in her role of mother and caretaker. Sadie is down on love and misses out on a promotion. Their stories connect, but readers don’t find out why or how until later in the book. It has love, family, feminism, and suspense, and the NYC Library feels like another character. It’s not at all ‘slow’, but I did notice it picks up in the last third of the book, I couldn’t put it down.

THIS CLOSE TO OK: Leesa Cross-Smith
This book kept my attention with every word. The writing was beautiful and the characters were loving, mysterious, cautious, caring and complicated. One night Tallie stops a man from jumping off a bridge, invites him into her home. Though they don’t know much about each other, their lives change, and their souls tie. TW: suicide, child death.

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Early 2021 Fave Reads

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WHAT KIND OF WOMAN: Kate Baer
Grateful for women who are creative and brave to write and share their world with strangers. Some of Kate’s poems were beautiful and made me smile. Some were hard to read, too close to home. There is a wide range of joy, melancholy, grief and truth in her words and I appreciate that she was open to feeling everything.

SUCH A FUN AGE: Kiley Reid
This was really, really good, I couldn’t put it down. Emira, a 25 year old black woman, is the victim of a racially charged incident while babysitting for an affluent white family. The relationship between Emira her boss Alix “after” the fact changes, and the whole story is super nuanced and well written.

I’M NOT DYING WITH YOU TONIGHT: Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones
A high school football game fight turns into citywide riots. This story follows Lena, a black girl, and Campbell, a white girl, as they reluctantly team up to get themselves to a safe place. Written from each of their perspectives, this book brings to light the differences that black and white teens see and experience, and how they each might respond in tense racial situations. Their friendship grows as the girls realize they are each both more capable than they originally thought of each other. I read this in a day, couldn’t put it down.

Late 2020 Reads

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WE ARE THE LUCKIEST: Laura McKowen
An honest and raw look into Laura’s personal struggle with alcoholism, with such encouragement along the way, for those searching to also leave it behind. Though it centers on alcohol, I believe this could be a book for any type of addictions as Laura shares mindsets and life principles that could resonate with anything that has become an addiction in life. I was in a season of considering quitting alcohol, and this book was helpful to me.

THE VANISHING HALF: Brit Bennett
This felt like the most talked about book of the year. I found it slow at the beginning, but eventually really picked up and was so worth the read. Twin sisters born into a light-skinned all-black Southern town, go their separate ways to live their adult lives. One stays in town, living as she always had. One leaves town and lives while white-passing. The differences in their lives, personalities and secrets are a must-read.

BAKED WITH LOVE: Peggy Jaeger
This was a continuation of the New Hampshire sister series. Maureen has always had a thing for Lucas, but never to confidence to tell him. I enjoyed baker Maureen’s point of view and learning more about her story. I feel like the main male lead, Lucas, had a few toxic traits that needed to be addressed (like the ‘grabbing Maureen’s arm when he wanted her attention’ thing… that didn’t sit right with me). But overall it was a solid love story.

Early 2020 Fave Reads

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THE UPSIDE OF FALLING DOWN: Rebekah Crane
This book opens with the main character, Clementine, losing her memory in an airplane crash. She wakes up in a hospital, scared and alone, and not sure who or where she is. This story follows her journey as she chooses to start a new life in a foreign country. The ups and downs and in betweens of trying to remember who you are, while trying to create someone new. I thought the characters were dynamic and the sense of place was well thought out!

I’M FINE AND NEITHER ARE YOU: Camille Pagan
This book took me a while to get into, but really started catching my attention in a few chapters in. Penelope is a pulled-from-all-sides, working mom of two. Her best friend, Jenny, runs a very successful, high-end blog and is winning at life from all angles. Until she isn’t. This book is a heartbreaking reminder to check in on your friends, stand up for yourself, trust your gut and be honest.

THE DAY THE WORLD CAME TO TOWN
This was a really beautiful and heartwarming account of the small community, Gander, Newfoundland, that took in so many stranded travelers during the tragedy of 9/11. I was young when 9/11 happened (7th grade), and always heard the bad things, as most of us did. But almost 20 years later, this book really opened my eyes at how much good happened among the terrible. I’ll never forget reading about the big hearts of the people of Gander.