The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Have you ever seen a book cover and thought, ‘I could get lost in that world’? Well I thought that when I picked up my latest read, The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. The shelves of books and purple clouds combined with the shining lighthouse and imposing castle in the background pulled me in, demanding I learn its secrets.

Lucy Hart grew up wishing that her parents loved her. Her childhood was spent alone, the daughter of parents who neglected her to deal with her older medically complex sister. Raised by her grandparents, Lucy spent her childhood finding hope and safety in books. The books that impacted her the most were the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. When Lucy becomes a teacher’s aide, she introduces this series to one of her students, Christopher, when she discovers that he is having a hard time. Lucy and Christopher quickly grow close, leading Lucy to wish that she could adopt Christopher from foster care. She has plans to make their dreams come true, but when life conspires to thwart their plans, she is left at a loss.

At her lowest, Lucy’s life suddenly takes a turn when Jack Masterson announces that he’s written a new book! The twist: he’s only written one copy and is planning a contest on Clock Island for four people to compete to win this only copy. Lucy is beyond excited when she learns that she has been chosen to compete! Winning this contest has the power to drastically change her and Christopher’s lives. As soon as she arrives on Clock Island, Lucy realizes she’s up against more than just the other three contestants. A potential love interest is also on the island, distracting her and intriguing her at the same time. While everyone contends with their own problems, Jack sits in the background, planning twists, games, and clues with almost endless power.

Told from the perspectives of multiple characters, The Wishing Game details characters who are all fighting to find where they fit in in the world. Found family is a major theme in this book, drawing characters towards each other in ways that will change their lives forever. Characters grow throughout this book, showcasing their ability to change combined with their desire to better themselves and their circumstances. I loved the world-building in this book! The fact that Jack actually built Clock Island was so beautiful. The Clock Island series by Jack Masterson sounds like something younger Stephanie would have enjoyed, making me wish that it was real!

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
― Meg Shaffer, The Wishing Game

Online Reading Challenge – November Wrap-Up

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something that spanned decades or time that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. While I was researching books that fit this category, I discovered Pachinko, a Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017. I was instantly intrigued and knew that I wanted to read this book. To read the publisher’s description of Pachinko, check out our introductory blog. My thoughts are below.

Pachinko opens in the late 1800s and travels through to 1989, beginning in Korea before there was a North and a South. Spanning many decades, Min Jin Lee has written a gorgeous story following the lives of four generations of one family. Each generation of family is given ample space to tell their stories and live their lives, running through emotional highs and lows as their life choices prove to have consequences for the generations after. Each character is complex, leading passionate, well-detailed lives. Themes of loyalty, ambition, love, and sacrifice run through this novel as each character works to change and better their circumstances. Min Jin Lee isn’t afraid to dive into the nitty gritty, covering lives on the street to Japan’s universities to the criminal underworld of pachinko parlors. This is one of the best examples of books spanning decades and time that I have read. The world-building is complex and detailed, but in such a way that felt natural and stealthily woven into the storylines. I felt like I was dropped into the lives of each character, struggling alongside them as they worked to survive and provide for their families and themselves. While I have read many books that span decades, Pachinko was incredibly moving and is the true definition of a domestic saga.

Next month, we will be reading books with dual timelines!

In addition to following the Online Reading Challenge here on our Info Cafe blog, you can join our Online Reading Challenge group on Goodreads and discuss your reads!

She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica

“The truth is that social media is an optical illusion. It’s an unreality, it’s the very deliberate version of people’s lives that they want you to see.”
― Mary Kubica, She’s Not Sorry

Meghan Michaels is an ICU nurse and single mom to a teenage girl. Following the divorce from her ex-husband, Meghan and her daughter move to a small apartment relatively close to where she works.

One day, a new patient is admitted to the ICU. This wouldn’t normally be cause for concern except for the fact that this woman is plastered all over the news. Why? Caitlin is in a coma from a traumatic brain injury that she sustained after a fall from a bridge. Was this suicide? Or did someone push her? Meghan would normally keep her distance from her patients, but Caitlin’s actions, her family, and Meghan’s own past lure her in.

On top of dealing with Caitlin, Meghan is also struggling with fallout from her divorce. Looking for help, she heads to a divorce support group. Meghan runs into an old friend from high school who appears to be in an abusive relationship with her husband. Meghan will do anything to help her old friend. Her decision to help means adding another complication to her messy life. Add in someone terrorizing women in her neighborhood and Meghan is extra on edge. She must keep herself and her daughter safe, while also focus on her patient at work. When a witness steps forward saying they know what happened to Caitlin, police swarm the ICU, putting all the staff on edge as they now aren’t sure whether Caitlin jumped or was pushed.

Kubica has crafted a slow burn thriller that had me on the edge of my seat questioning how all the threads would tie together. As is true with most psychological thrillers, this is not a book where you can shift focus while reading. Every detail is important! I can’t wait to see what Mary Kubica comes up with next.

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

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

“everything we fear finds us eventually, so there’s no point trying to outrun it.”
― Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World

Stuart Turton’s latest novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World, is a genre-bending murder mystery that contains elements of science fiction, crime thrillers, and dystopia.

An island in the middle of the ocean holds what is left of humanity. A fog swept the world, killing anyone and everything it touched. Thanks to the work of three scientists living on the island, a security system is in place keeping the fog at bay. 122 villagers live with the scientists, fishing and farming, supplying the island with what they need to survive.

Their idyllic lives are shattered when, upon waking one morning, they discover one of the scientists dead in a burning building. They quickly learn that the death triggered the security system to lower, bringing the fog closer and closer to the island. With only hours left before the fog destroys the island and kills them all, they must figure out what happened to the scientist. Obstacles repeatedly pop up during the investigation, leading the villagers chasing leads all over the island. The truth will be hard to figure out, but the clock is ticking. If they don’t solve this mystery, the fog will wipe their problems, and their lives, away.

This is a book that is hard to talk about without giving too much away. Let me start by saying that the beginning of this book gives off very much ‘hippie commune thrown for a loop by a crime’ vibes. I love that. The rest of the book is chock full of twists and turns as they try to solve the crime. This was a very quick read, but I found it to be difficult to follow at times in the audiobook as two of the characters’ accents were only *slightly* different. Overall, The Last Murder at the End of the World was intriguing and had me hooked to the very end.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

“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.

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

“There is always a reason why people behave the way that they do. Sometimes bad people are just sad people in disguise.”
― Alice Feeney, Good Bad Girl

Good Bad Girl follows the lives of three women working through traumas from their past that haunt their lives today. One woman’s baby was stolen from a stroller in a grocery store twenty years ago. In a care home in present day, a woman is found murdered. Are the two crimes connected?

Edith has been tricked into living in a nursing home by her daughter, but she has a plan to escape with the help of one of the staff. Patience spends her days cleaning up at the nursing home and keeping Edith company. Patience’s intentions aren’t 100% pure though.

Edith’s daughter Clio is exhausted. She won’t talk to Edith no matter how hard she tries. It’s hard to spend time with someone who constantly berates her. Clio’s life is about to change when a new person shows up on her doorstep. Whether that change is positive or negative, time will tell.

This thriller is full of drama and twisting surprises. Each character has reasons to distrust, hiding parts of themselves from others. They question intentions, challenge histories, and push for the truth. This is a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. Figuring out who is who could prove deadly for all.

This title is also available as large print and CD audiobook.

Online Reading Challenge – October Wrap-Up

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

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

I read our main title: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Klara stole my heart from the start and had me rooting for her to find her family.

Klara is an Artificial Friend anxiously awaiting a customer to choose her. Readers are introduced to Klara as she sits in a store full of other Artificial Friends. What marks Klara as different and ultimately helps decide her fate is her keen observational skills. She spends her days watching the people who come in to browse as well as the people who pass outside the store. Klara is highly intelligent, but misses the abilities to pick up on some nuances and cues that humans have. This book highlights relationships between humans and artificial intelligence, and the impact that artificial intelligence would have on society. As the world changes, Klara is there to see it all, but does she understand what is happening around her? That’s a whole other story.

I listened to the audiobook version of Klara and the Sun, which I felt lent more of an insight into Klara’s world as hearing her voice highlighted how much she wanted to adjust and do everything right. (I did try reading the print book first, but had a hard time engaging with the text). While I found Klara’s story and her interpretations of the lives of everyone around her intriguing, I was left wanting more. I felt dropped into a new world with little to no explanation of what was happening with hardly any world building. As I was reading, I was able to figure some issues out myself, but not others. With time away from the book, I realize that the way I felt mirrored how Klara felt when she changed environments. The author scattered tidbits of information throughout the book that you had to weave together. He writes scenes that surface level seemed pretty self-explanatory, but once you thought about them, they were actually quite complex. I think this is a book that I will appreciate more as time passes.

Next month, we will be spanning decades and time!

Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena

Do you keep a list of what you’re reading? I do! When looking over my list recently, I noticed that it’s been a while since I read a psychological thriller. For my latest read, I turned to Shari Lapena, a psychological thriller writer, and her 2023 book, Everyone Here is Lying. This domestic suspense title is quickly paced, well-written, and ripe with suspicion. The author switches between multiple points-of-view which adds layers to this book, making readers unsure of who is actually telling the truth and what their true motivations are. While some parts of this book had me rolling my eyes, the twist caught me out of nowhere and I didn’t see the ending coming!

Stanhope is a safe neighborhood where nothing bad ever happens. Saying that practically guarantees that something bad is going to happen immediately and destroy many families. Well, the residents of Stanhope are about to have their worlds shattered on the afternoon of a normal Tuesday.

William Wooler is a stand-up guy. He’s a family man, a practicing doctor, but he’s also been having a torrid affair. Every Tuesday for months he’s been meeting his mistress at a motel in town. He thought they would leave their spouses and start a new life. Those plans are shattered when the affair ends horribly at the at motel. Left shattered and angry, William returns home, hoping for silence. His bad mood only worsens when he walks into the house to find his nine-year-old daughter Avery in the kitchen, sent home early from choir practice. Avery is difficult. Their conversation soon turns testy and William lashes out, losing his temper.

Flash forward a couple hours and Avery is declared missing. The community rallies around the Wooler family as they are united in grief over the missing Avery. When the detectives start poking around, they soon realize that Avery’s disappearance isn’t what they thought it was. William isn’t the only one lying. Others in their neighborhood are keeping secrets. When witnesses start coming forward, the detectives must wade through their stories to determine who is telling the truth. They all want the same thing after all. They all want to know who took Avery. They all want Avery to come home safely. Right?

As always, Lapena ends this book leaving you wanting more, yet sadly she writes standalone. You’ll have to come to your own conclusions about what happens to the characters after the book ends!

This title is also available in large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

October’s Simply Held Fiction Picks

Four fiction picks are available for you to choose from: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction. Our fiction picks are chosen quarterly and are available in regular print only. If you would like to update your selections or are a new patron who wants to receive picks from any of those four categories, sign up for Simply Held through our website!

Below you will find information provided by the publishers and authors on the titles we have selected for October from the following categories: Diverse Debuts, Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction, and International Fiction.

Diverse Debuts:

Diverse Debuts: Debut fiction novel by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community.

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland, and living conditions for the women in her blacksmith guild, who were already shunned as social pariahs, grow even worse.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, she finds the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by reforging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue which turn an entire region on its head. – Forge Books


Graphic Novel:

Graphic Novel: Fiction novel for adults of any subgenre with diverse characters depicted by color illustrations, sketches, and photographs.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

In Pumpkinheads, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award–winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place—and a person—with no regrets.

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .

What if their last shift was an adventure? – First Second


Historical Fiction:

Historical Fiction: Historical fiction novel written by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community, with main character(s) from a marginalized community.

The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones

Marking a dramatic new direction for Jones, a riveting tale set in the Post WWII South, narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal

Set in the early 1950s, this latest novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not in glory, but into their Jim Crow communities.

A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he’s a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love.

As he moves around the south, from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, primarily, to his second home of Memphis, Tennessee, he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and encounters with a variety of colorful characters and mythical prototypes: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, and bigots. The lead among these characters is, of course, The Unicorn Woman, who exists, but mostly lives in Bud’s private mythology.

Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of Black (and Indigenous) people in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope. – Beacon Press


International Fiction:

International Fiction: Fiction novel originally written in another language with main character(s) from marginalized communities.

Aednan by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel

In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the earth, and my mother. These are all crucial forces within the lives of the Indigenous families that animate this groundbreaking book: an astonishing verse novel that chronicles a hundred years of change: a book that will one day stand alongside Halldór Laxness’s Independent People and Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter as an essential Scandinavian epic.

The tale begins in the 1910s, as Ristin and her family migrate their herd of reindeer to summer grounds. Along the way, forced to separate due to the newly formed border between Sweden and Norway, Ristin loses one of her sons in the aftermath of an accident, a grief that will ripple across the rest of the book. In the wake of this tragedy, Ristin struggles to manage what’s left of her family and her community.

In the 1970s, Lise, as part of a new generation of Sámi grappling with questions of identity and inheritance, reflects on her traumatic childhood, when she was forced to leave her parents and was placed in a Nomad School to be stripped of the language of her ancestors. Finally, in the 2010s we meet Lise’s daughter, Sandra, an embodiment of Indigenous resilience, an activist fighting for reparations in a highly publicized land rights trial, in a time when the Sámi language is all but lost.

Weaving together the voices of half a dozen characters, from elders to young people unsure of their heritage, Axelsson has created a moving family saga around the consequences of colonial settlement. Ædnan is a powerful reminder of how durable language can be, even when it is borrowed, especially when it has to hold what no longer remains. “I was the weight / in the stone you brought / back from the coast // to place on / my grave,” one character says to another from beyond the grave. “And I flew above / the boat calling / to you all: // There will be rain / there will be rain.” – Knopf


Join Simply Held to have the newest fiction picks automatically put on hold for you every quarter.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

“We’re all monsters in the end. At least mine lives in the light.”
― Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer is a laugh-out-loud, sarcasticly adorable read. Sunshine assistant starts working for grumpy evil villain. Hijinks and bumbling romance ensue.

Evie Sage needs a job. With a father sick with a mysterious illness and a young sister, it’s up to Evie to provide for their family. When she bumps into the Villain, Rennedawn’s most infamous and evil person, in the middle of the dark forest, she is surprised when he offers her employment as a way of thanking her for her assistance. Evie snatches up that job offer and starts working for the Villain immediately.

Normally she would be singing about her new job to everyone she meets, but given that she works for THE VILLAIN, Evie has to keep her employment a secret. Another issue: Evie has a crush on her boss. She can’t help that he’s incredibly hot. His temper and evilness are just screens to hide his true nature from everyone.

This isn’t a typical job. There are people being tortured in the dungeons, severed heads hanging from the ceiling, and a dragon being trained in the courtyard. Right when Evie has finally figured out a routine, she and the boss begin to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst. Tracking them down and stopping his plans to destroy the villain consume Evie and the Villain, bringing them closer together on their mission to destroy the traitor.

Assistant to the Villain was a delightfully quirky read. Conversations are witty, the characters are engaging, and the plot is fast paced. While I knew this book was a fantasy romance, I still found the romance to be unexpected. This is the beginning to a series and I have high hopes for the next books! I can’t wait to see how the characters grow and mature.

This title is also available in large print.

“There is so much that can be fixed by honesty, if you’re brave enough to use it.”
― Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain