Tag: contemporary

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

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“What didn’t kill me didn’t make me stronger; what didn’t kill me made me into a victim. But I made me stronger. I made me into a survivor.”
― Tess Sharpe, The Girls I’ve Been

Nora is in a bit of a mess. First off, her ex-boyfriend and best friend Wes walked in on Nora and her current girlfriend Iris making out. Wes knew they were friends, but not that they were dating. To make matters more awkward, the three have to meet up the next morning to deposit money at the bank that they earned as the result of a fundraiser. Nora just wants to get in and out of the bank as quickly as possible to minimize the awkwardness. The day has other plans, because as soon as the trio walks into the back, two bank robbers walk in and take everyone hostage.

This situation is concerning to Nora, but for different reasons than it is for the others. Nora is the daughter of a con artist. Her mother has moved her around the country, targeting criminal man. Nora grew up as a lot of different girls, becoming whomever her mother needed her to be for the con she was running. Nora’s life changed when her mom ended up falling for her mark. She knew she needed to escape, which resulted in the ultimate con and eventually landed Nora where she currently lives.

It’s been five years since Nora escaped, but these two bank robbers have the ability to destroy what little stability she has managed to grab for herself. If she isn’t careful, the robbers could learn Nora’s secrets and upend her life. Nora has plans though. They have no idea all that she is capable of.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Girls I’ve Been and loved it. This book is intricately plotted, yet quickly paced. The characters are strong, opinionated, and sassy. Heads up that this book does alternate between different timelines, so you need to pay attention! This book is definitely set up as the first book in a series as not everything is solved in the end and readers are left wanting to know more about the characters and their backgrounds. I have high hopes that my questions will be answered in book 2!

Girls I’ve Been series

  1. The Girls I’ve Been (2021)
  2. The Girl in Question (2024)

“There is no normal. There is just a bunch of people pretending there is. There’s just different levels of pain. Different stages of safe. The biggest con of all is that there’s a normal.”
― Tess Sharpe, The Girls I’ve Been

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

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“This world was a terrible place. It gave you people to love and then took them away before you stopped loving them. It made you mean and angry and cruel to those who needed you most. It ground you down until it was all you could do to get through the day. But most of all, it tried to convince you that you were alone in your suffering.”
― Lucy Gilmore, The Lonely Hearts Book Club

Sloane Parker is a cheerful librarian in her small town. When she brushes up against Arthur McLachlan, an old man with the power to send the other librarians scurrying away, Sloane takes an instant liking to him. She looks forward to Arthur’s daily visits to the library when she can spar and listen to his insults. Arthur’s visits are consistent and regular every day at the same time. When he doesn’t show up one day, Sloane is instantly concerned. When his absence continues, Sloane is torn. She wants to check up on Arthur, but to do so would put her job in jeopardy. Desperate, Sloane decides to check on Arthur to put her anxiety at bay.

When Sloane arrives at Arthur’s house, she is shocked to see that Arthur has suffered from a medical emergency and is not happy with his care home staff. Sloane inserts herself into Arthur’s life and soon realizes that there are other misfits in her orbit and in Arthur’s life willing to intervene. Sloane starts a book club as a form of intervention for Arthur that eventually becomes a safe space for Sloane and her band of lonely misfits. This group of lonely hearts starts to bond, helping each other and making sure Arthur takes care of himself.

Lucy Gilmore has written complex characters with deep storylines and even deeper issues. This story is heartwarming highlighting quality character development and superb writing quality. The Lonely Hearts Book Club is split into multiple points of view which allows readers to learn more about characters’ actions. This book pulled on my heart strings with its incredible insight, easy readability, and sharp wit. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Online Reading Challenge – August Wrap-Up

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Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in the 1990s that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart. This title took me almost the whole month to finish, but that wasn’t because I didn’t like it, quite the opposite in fact. This book was memorable and required me to walk slowly with the characters as they fought through their day-to-day lives.

Mungo is a fifteen-year-old boy growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow in the early 1990s. His mother, a struggling alcoholic, is hardly ever home, leaving Mungo and his two older siblings to figure out life on their own. Mungo’s older brother, Hamish, is a brutal local gang leader unafraid of anything with a menacing reputation and future laid out in front of him. He demands Mungo accompany him to show that the Hamilton name will live on. Mungo’s older sister, Jodie, is left to take care of Mungo in their mother’s absence, even though she yearns to escape Glasgow and not fall down the disastrous path laid out to their mother. With such large personalities filling up his family, it’s no wonder that Mungo is shy to be his true self among them.

Mungo has made a friend that he shouldn’t have. Mungo is a Protestant and his new friend, James, is a Catholic, a fact that could bring the wrath of Hamish down on them both, destroying their friendship and what little happiness that two have managed to carve out together. Mungo and James become friends, best friends, hanging in the pigeon doocot that James has built to house his prize racing pigeons. It isn’t long before the two fall in love. With love come big dreams of moving somewhere they will both belong and will be accepted for who you are. Mungo’s family and James’ father will never accept the two. They have ideas of what is best. Mungo’s mom decides that he needs to be straightened out and that a fishing trip with two men she hardly knows will be just the thing. After all, he’s been bothering her and she needs a break. Mungo will have to call on all of his inner strength if he wants to make it home and see James again. He wants a safe future where he can be himself without judgment. What’s so wrong with that?

This title was gorgeously written, yet incredibly heartbreaking and breathtaking. The writing style is beautiful and I found myself scribbling down quotes as I worked my way through the book. This is not a book that I could rush through. Mungo, James, and their families are trekking through some dangerous and life-changing situations that required me to sit and feel with them as I read. My only complaint is that the timeline was hard to follow as the chapters are not sequential which took me a while to figure out. Highly recommend this book if you haven’t given it a read yet. This memorable title will stick with me for a long time.

What book did you read that was set in the 1990s? Let us know in the comments!

Next month, we are traveling to the 2000s to the present.

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

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“Always know your own weaknesses,” her father told her. “Know them better than your worst enemy and no one will be able to pull the wool over your eyes.”
― Jean Kwok, The Leftover Woman

Two women from vastly different circumstances face impossible choices in Jean Kwok’s newest novel, The Leftover Woman.

Jasmine has arrived in New York City with little money, no family support, and no plan. All she knows is that she needs to get money together to pay off her smugglers so she won’t be forced into servitude. Jasmine escaped her rural Chinese village after learning that her controlling husband had lied to her about her stillborn daughter. Her daughter is actually alive, was taken from Jasmine at birth and sent away. When Jasmine finally finds a steady way to make money in New York City, she knows that her freedom is limited. It’s only a matter of time before her husband tracks her down and drags her back home with him. If she hopes to find her daughter, she must act fast.

Rebecca Whitney is a publishing executive whose high-powered career, adoring husband, and adopted Chinese daughter keep her beyond busy. To help her family stay on track, they have hired a Chinese nanny to make sure their daughter is immersed in her birth culture and to give them some free time. Rebecca is grateful for the nanny, especially when she finds herself part of a publishing scandal that could destroy her career, her family, and the business her father worked so hard to secure. Her family name won’t be enough to shield Rebecca and her family from the disaster lurking in the shadows.

Though Rebecca and Jasmine couldn’t be more different, they face similar issues. Running from their problems won’t work forever, forcing the two to confront their issues in order to move forward. This book is full of unreliable narrators, a staple of this author’s writing style. The characters explore issues of identity, belonging, family, and what it means to be a mother. Economic and cultural differences may separate them, but the issues they face are all similar deep down.

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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“Maybe that’s the definition of nostalgia: getting sappy about things that are supposed to be insignificant.”
― Rachel Lynn Solomon, Today Tonight Tomorrow

Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals for all of high school. They competed on tests, elections, anything and everything. With only one day left of their senior year, they have a limited number of competitions left. Rowan would love to beat Neil, conquer high school, and set herself up for college with the prize money.

After they learn who is valedictorian, Rowan and Neil have one more chance to compete against each other. They have Howl, a senior class scavenger hunt that takes them all over Seattle looking for clues. Rowan is going to decimate Neil and win! When she learns that there are a group of seniors who want to take down both of them during Howl, Rowan and Neil decide to team up to survive, at least until it’s just the two of them left.

Even though Rowan and Neil have been competing all high school, they have never really talked. Their forced proximity during Howl means they spend more time together and learn new things about each other. Rowan learns that Neil is way more than the linguistics awkward person she thought. She also shares her love of romance novels and that she wants to write them as a career (well she already is writing one…). As Rowan and Neil run around Seattle, Rowan realizes that Neil isn’t as bad as she thinks. In fact, he could be the person of her dreams, not the rival of her life. One day could change their lives forever.

This title is also available in CD audiobook.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

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“I had a theory that we gravitate toward the stories we need in life. Whatever we are looking for- adventure, excitement, emotion, connection-we turn to stories that help us find it. Whatever questions we’re struggling with- sometimes ones so deep, we don’t even really know we’re asking them- we look for answers in stories.”
― Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

Emma Wheeler wants to be a screenwriter. She has spent her life studying and watching movies, obsessing over different screenwriters, and, most importantly, writing many many romantic comedies. Emma is also the sole caretaker for her dad, who needs full-time care, which cuts into her screenwriting time. However, Emma is able to secure jobs with the help of a friend. When said friend reaches out with a new job, Emma is shocked! She has the chance to rewrite a script for the famous screenwriter Charlie Yates, who is her absolute hero. Emma drops everything, arranges for her younger sister to step in and take care of their dad, and moves to L.A. for six weeks to help Charlie rewrite this script.

As soon as Emma lands in L.A. though, her dreams are dashed. Charlie had no idea she was coming and absolutely, positively doesn’t want to write with anyone, especially not a screenwriter that no one has heard about. Ugh. The kicker: the script that Charlie has written is a romantic comedy so incredibly terrible that Emma isn’t sure there’s even a glimmer of anything good in it. The even bigger kicker: Charlie doesn’t care about the script. He’s only writing it so that someone else will green-light a different script that he actually cares about.

Emma refuses to give up her chance to work with Charlie Yates. She is determined to stand up for romantic comedies everywhere and teach Charlie what is so important about these love stories. She’ll do whatever it takes to get this project off the ground, even if it means she has to kiss Charlie to prove her point. What happens after is anyone’s guess.

This book had me laughing, crying, arguing, cringing, and wishing for more. I listened to the audiobook which was beautifully read and only enhanced the written novel. While this isn’t my favorite Katherine Center book, it was sweet, endearing, and reminded me to be grateful and to focus on the positives. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

This title is also available in large print and as a Playaway audiobook.

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

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Are you an adult who likes to read young adult books? If so, join the See YA Book Club! In June, we met to discuss The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. More information about See YA can be found at the bottom of this blog post. Let’s get back to The Chaos of Stars!

Isadora is a normal teen. Well, except for the fact that she is the mortal human daughter of the immortal ancient Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris. As a sixteen-year-old, Isadora is annoyed with the drama from her family who can’t even remember her name. When Isis starts having dark dreams that portend deadly chaos in the future, she offers Isadora the opportunity to move to California to live with her brother. Isadora is ecstatic to finally escape her family. California, however, turns out to be more complicated and menacing than anyone expected. While in California, Isadora finds friends, meets a boy she really likes, and confronts her ideas of what she wants out of life vs what her parents expect. She spends her time working, hanging with her friends, and hating her family. As much as Isadora wishes she could escape her family and hopes she has done so by living in California, Egypt continually calls to her. The trouble she thought she left behind comes back deadlier than ever, forcing Isadora to decide what she really wants out of life.

I adored all the tidbits of mythology dropped in the story, which left me hoping for a sequel (sadly, this is a stand-alone title). Isadora is angry and angsty and at times heartless and annoying, but if you step back, you see that she is going through normal teenage growing pains on top of having to deal with a family of gods and goddesses.

This was a relaxing, easy read for me, but I was left wanting more: more information about the Egyptian gods and mythology, more character development. Isadora also adapted very quickly to the modern world, which I felt was unrealistic, but also interesting to watch her learn more about the world outside her family. I also recognize that as an adult, I am not the target audience for this book. While adult Stephanie wanted more, teen Stephanie would have adored and devoured this book.

More Information about See YA

Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eastern Branch. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm.

The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser

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What would you do when your life falls apart around you? Your relationship is over. You lost your job. You have no idea what you’re going to do next, but you receive word of an inheritance from a great uncle, so you decide to visit where he lived. This is the plot of Jackie Fraser’s The Bookshop of Second Chances.

Thea Mottram is not doing well. She has been let go of her job. Her husband of nearly twenty years has left her for one of her friends. She’s lost and confused. While contemplating what to do next, Thea is sent a letter from a great uncle in Scotland. He has passed away and has left her his home and his sizable antique book collection. Desperately needing an escape, Thea decides to head up to Scotland for a few weeks to start clearing out the house and to get a sense of what to do with his books.

When Thea arrives in Scotland, she is instantly at ease. No one knows her – well if they know her, it’s tangentially through her great uncle, but most importantly no one knows about her relationship imploding and her job loss. Her new home is a quaint cottage with comfortable rooms and an adorable lawn covered in tulips. The locals in the nearby town of Baldochrie are inviting, warm, and just a little bit odd. She could get used to living here if she decides to stay. The only person in town that doesn’t like her is the owner of the local bookshop Edward Maltravers. This is inconvenient as she wants to sell parts of her uncle’s book collection to him. He tests her patience the more time she spends with him. When Thea lands a job at the bookshop, their relationship evolves as she learns more about Edward, his contentious relationship with his brother who is the local lord, and the longstanding family feud that everyone in town knows about. Thea eventually thinks that she would like to stay in Scotland forever. Her interactions with Edward greatly impact her decision. Staying in Scotland could prove to be just as messy as the life she left behind, so Thea has to figure out what exactly she wants to do.

This is a closed-door romance that is very low stakes. While there is some romance on the page, the private moments happen behind doors and off page. While I enjoyed The Bookshop of Second Chances, I found myself slightly annoyed with some of the main characters. They gave off emotionally immature vibes and were constantly trying to explain away bad behavior as happening because they didn’t know any better. As a result, I had to remind myself that the characters in this book were in their mid 40s or older and not in their early 20s. The scenery and the side characters helped me get over my icky feelings, leaving me happy I had read this book and hoping that everything would work out positively for involved in the end.

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

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“Why read at all? Why does anyone do it in the first place? Why do I? There is the element of escape, which is real enough—that’s a real-enough comfort. But also we read as a way to come to grips with the randomness of our being alive. To read a book by an observant, sympathetic mind is to see the human landscape in all its odd detail, and the reader says to him or herself, Yes, that’s how it is, only I didn’t know it to describe it. There’s a fraternity achieved, then: we are not alone. Sometimes an author’s voice is familiar to us from the first page, first paragraph, even if the author lived in another country, in another century.” Bob held up his stack of Russians. “How can you account for this familiarity? I do believe that, at our best, there is a link connecting us.”
― Patrick deWitt, The Librarianist

In celebration of National Library Week in April, I was on a hunt for a book about librarians that I had not read yet. Enter The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt, a novel that combines my love of senior citizens with my love of librarians. Bob Comet is a retired librarian. He’s spending his retirement surrounded by books in his mint-colored house in Oregon. Bob has his small comforts and his routines. On his daily walk one morning, Bob stumbles upon a confused elderly woman standing lost in a market. She’s staring into the cold sections with a lost look on her face. Lucky for Bob, and the clerk working behind the counter, the lost woman has a note secured around her neck letting people know where she lives. Bob volunteers to escort this lost woman home to the senior center. Once they arrive, Bob is intrigued by the people he meets. He decides to volunteer at the senior center, a decision that changes his whole life. The more Bob interacts with the people at the senior center, the more parts of his past and character are revealed to the reader.

This book felt like a warm hug from a close friend. The characters were charming, full of quirks and colors. Every person Bob met ended up shaping his life in some way. Even though this book was charming and cheerful, it was also full of melancholy and bittersweet with a bit of darkness under the surface. Bob’s past is colorful and complicated. He has a knack for finding bizarre and full-of-life people that he welcomes into his life. The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt reads like a love story to loners, to the outcasts in life who aren’t sure where they fit, to the introverts who want to be left alone amongst the fast-paced world they live in. People’s pasts are a mystery and this book is a prime example to never judge a person by the calm front they present.

This title is also available in large print or CD audiobook.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

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Are you wanting to read something outside your comfort zone? Book clubs are an excellent way to expand your reading palette! Lucky for you, the Davenport Public Library has a wide number of different book clubs for you to join. My latest read, The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris, is the April selection for See YA, an adult book club that reads young adult titles.

The author includes a content warning on her website regarding the heavy topics covered in The Cost of Knowing. These topics include: racism, anxiety, depression, poverty, anti-Black violence, self-harm, parental & sibling death, and mentions of slavery and police brutality. If any of these are triggering to you, feel free to scroll to the bottom of this blog post to learn what the next book is that See YA will be discussing. If you’ve decided to give this book a try, below is a brief description to tell you more.

Alex Rufus is trying. He has been through a lot in his sixteen years of life. Right now he’s juggling his job at the local ice cream shop, his relationship with his girlfriend Talia, and protecting his younger brother Isaiah. In his quest to be perfect in all aspects of his life, Alex finds himself struggling, falling short of almost everyone’s expectations of him.

One major hindrance is that Alex can see the future. Every single time he touches an object or person, he is thrust into a vision of that thing. He sees the future of his car, his hoodie, the ice cream scoop he uses at work, and his future with Talia. That one freaks him out the most. In his vision of Talia, they are on the verge of breaking up with her looking at him with the most hatred in her eyes that he has ever seen. Alex spends his time cursing these visions, wishing that they would stop distracting him so that he could live an anxious-free ordinary life.

Alex’s desire to get rid of these visions increases when touching a photograph calls forth a vision of his younger brother Isaiah’s fast approaching death. Everything changes. Alex is desperate to find a way to break himself from these visions and change the future. Wanting more time with Isaiah, time that he knows he won’t get, he reaches out, bringing up memories of the past while looking for more ways of connection. Growing up as young Black men in America, Alex and Isaiah have had to wrestle with their pasts and their futures, but with such a short amount of time left, Alex is willing to try anything to win this battle against time and death.

This title is also available as a CD audiobook.

See YA (2024)

Join the adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the bestseller lists. Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eastern Branch. The club meets the first Wednesday of the month at the Eastern Branch at 6:30pm. You can find more information about See YA by visiting LibCal, our online event calendar.

If you’re interested in joining See YA, we will be meeting Wednesday, April 3rd at 6:30pm at the Davenport Public Library | Eastern Avenue Branch to discuss The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris.

April 3: The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris
May 1: Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
June 5: The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White