LIFE'S A PEARL

Welcome to my mid November Reading Recap!

I’m going back to sharing two book review posts a month because throwing it all into one makes for a very long post.

I started the month with 10 November hopefuls to read. Eight of these are on my fall tbr, one is an add on for a new book club from a patreon podcast group, and one is a Christmas read!

I tried to read most of my spooky books read last month during October. This month I’m leaning into stories with a more serious vibe like mystery or grief. There’s also a good amount of cozy reads with fall atmosphere and magical realism.

Here’s what I read in the first half of November.

Mid November Reading Recap:

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

Rating: 5 stars

In June 2017, Tallulah and her boyfriend Zach enjoy a rare night out leaving their one-year-old son in the care of Tallulah’s mother, Kim. The next morning when the young couple hasn’t returned home, Kim checks in with her daughter’s friends. She’s told the couple went to a house party somewhere called The Dark Place. They never turn up.

In August 2018, mystery writer Sophie is walking around the grounds of a boarding school where her partner recently began working. She sees a sign fixed to a fence with the message “Dig Here”. Soon the case surrounding the couple’s disappearance is reopened and Sophie finds herself in the middle of it all.

My Thoughts:

I was really nervous going into this book, wondering whether or not I could handle the content of parents disappearing with a young baby at home. After 56 Days didn’t work for me, I scratched Karin Slaughter off my fall tbr as well. As one bookish friend said, “I just don’t like my books dripping with blood” ?.

It took a moment to get into the story as there’s three timelines and perspectives to unravel. Once I was in though, I found it totally engrossing and propulsive. I started out switching back and forth with the audio and then wound up reading the ebook for the majority of the story.

The atmosphere surrounding the story feels eerie but with a sense of handling the reader with care. That sense may be due to Sophie and Kim’s perspectives. I found both characters very relatable and human with a calming and confident nature.

The premise itself was so interesting and you quickly discover there’s so much more than meets the eye.  There are many dynamics at play in these relationships. It was very complex and well plotted. I was on edge until the end guessing what had happened and how it all played out.

There’s a trend in my reading life recently of book written during the pandemic. This one was Lisa Jewell’s. I suppose that’s because I’m reading more new releases than usual so they line up with being written in 2020. There’s an author’s note in the end sharing her experience of the pandemic and how it affected her work which I appreciated.

Overall I loved this story and Lisa Jewell’s writing. This was my first book from her and I will be checking out others!

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Rating: 2.5 stars

Steam Level: 1

Florence Day is a ghostwriter for one of the most popular romance writers of all time. Since a terrible break up a year ago, she’s been struggling to tie up the final novel in her contract. When she attends a meeting with her hot new editor, Ben, she’s told there are no more extensions.

Before she can figure that out she gets a devastating phone call that sends her rushing home to her family’s funeral parlor and the town that has never understood her ability to see ghosts.

Florence thinks she has enough to handle but there’s one last surprise in store for her. Ben arrives at the funeral home unexpectedly… and he’s now a ghost.

My Thoughts:

Does that sound like a lot? Yes it really was. I have seen reviews all over the place with this one. Some say this is their favorite book of the year! So I really wanted to check it out for myself. I decided to read it with a book club on Fable to test out that experience too.

I got some Ali Hazelwood vibes from the beginning. This feels a bit like a fan fic with quirky main characters who randomly kiss people out of the blue. I tried to hang with the humor in the beginning but it combined with the name dropping wound up being so over the top it was distracting.

After 10 chapters, I was pretty sure this book wasn’t for me and neither was the book group so I switched to audio. I did adore the narrator – Eileen Stevens! Other than that this book was really hard to follow. To me, it seemed that the story didn’t know what it wanted to be – a romantic comedy, a grief novel, a family drama, a paranormal mystery, or a venture into the publishing world – and so none of it worked.

The romance did not work for me at all. Some of the best parts of this book were Florence’s thoughts about her dad and the way she began to make peace with her family and process her grief. I guessed the way it would come together in the end from the beginning – it was very unoriginal since every romance featuring a ghost leans on that.

Again the author’s note at the end actually spoke to me. That part was 5 stars! It made me feel bad that I just couldn’t get into the story.

A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria

Rating: 4.5 stars

Steam Level: 3

Michelle Amato gets a blast from her past when an up and coming celebrity gym reaches out to ask her to design a campaign for them. Her long lost best friend, Gabriel Aguilar, is the co-owner and the contact is a surprise to him as well.

Michelle quickly comes up with a scheme to spend time with Gabe while he’s scouting a new location in New York and get to the bottom of why he ghosted their friendship 13 years ago. While Gabe has missed Michelle and would like the chance to explain his side of things, he is in no way ready to be back home or have anything to do with his parents again.

As the two work together, past memories pop back up as do unresolved feelings and their reunion takes a sexy turn!

My Thoughts:

I listened to this one on audio and it was so much fun! I did have the moment all romance audiobook listeners fear. While out walking with Mr. O, my headphones cut out and my phone started playing the audio aloud at in inopportune time! ? It was fine, luckily nobody was around us.

I enjoyed the first book, You Had Me at Hola, in this series but the second one is even better! Jasmine and Ashton (the famous couple in the first book) make a cameo appearance in this one which was fun.

I love a second chance romance. Add to that they were best friends in high school who missed their chance, a large family of characters, and a bunch of spice and this was perfect for me!

I feel like this was in between a straight up romance and the new romance +. Some of my favorite parts included their past and the healthy ways these two worked to communicate with each other. I also enjoyed their large families and the way they featured into things.

Also this book is very hot, much hotter than I remember the first one being. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need in your romance!

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Rating: 4 stars

I only picked this book up and stuck with it because it was the first selection for a new book club with one of my patron book groups. I have very mixed feelings on whether I’m glad I read it or not.

There are very few safe places to put this book down. I read it in 3 large chunks. After the first chunk, I knew I couldn’t pick it up at night anymore and there was no way I could do this read on audio.

Lydia, a bookstore owner, lives in increasingly violent Acapulco with her journalist husband and their 8 year old son, Luca. When their family becomes the target of unimaginable evil, Lydia must find a way to get herself and Luca to safety.

Forced to flee for their lives, Lydia’s only path forward is as the people she used to pity, migrants. Mother and son must make the dangerous often impossible journey for el norte (the United States) before the cartel finds them.

My Thoughts:

I had to skim over the graphic and violent sections in this book. I will be haunted by the parts I didn’t get through quick enough. It’s beyond brutal with the violence committed against Lydia’s family, the cartels in general, and the things that happen to migrants on their journey north. Even so I found myself very much invested in Lydia and Luca’s safety.

Honestly this is the type of book that can throw me into a downward spiral about humanity and how terrible the world is. It made me hold my baby tight and thank the universe that we live somewhere that’s for the most part safe and stable. I don’t think enough people understand how truly lucky they are. It reminded me of a Ted Talk I saw years ago, See how the rest of the world lives.

Although it’s fiction, this book has a lot of controversy surrounding it. According to the author’s note, she did 4 years of research before writing this and it’s been vetted by all sorts of academics.

While this particular journey is fictional, the path and events happen in the real world. I struggle with books like this because where is the call for action or change? What makes the message informative rather than just exploiting real people’s pain and suffering to sell books? Or does that come into play because it is technically fiction?

Parts of the story felt very contrived – there’s a whole subplot that I personally hated. It’s interesting how society can get “used to” the violence in horrifying stories like this. The story also explores how grief can be so massive, you can’t begin to process it particularly if you’re running for your life. Among all the horrors, there were still sparks of goodness in people.

I hope there will be a good book group discussion. I’m still trying to sort out my thoughts and feelings.

Folk Around and Find Out by Penny Reid

Rating: 4.5 stars

Steam Level: 3

I discovered Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series last year. They brought me hours of entertainment and comfort while up throughout the night nursing a baby.

This is the second book in her Good Folk spin off series. I have been eagerly anticipating it all summer and then all fall long as the publication date kept being moved back.

Charlotte Mitchell has caused Hank Weller a whole lot of grief over the years. Never the town’s favorite business owner by choice, people really turned against Hank when her ex husband ran off with one of the dancers at Hank’s club, The Pink Pony. So when Charlotte comes to the club asking for a job, Hank won’t even entertain a conversation with the single mom of 4 and sends her packing.

Charlotte needs access to the dancers for a family emergency though so when she secures a job at a less than reputable and safe establishment, Hank is convinced to have a change of heart and hires her on as his new bookkeeper. Charlotte hasn’t liked Hank since he stood her up for her junior prom but she’s determined to do her job to the best of her ability while she’s there.

As long hours, close quarters, and mishaps bring the two together, they wonder if they had one another pegged wrong all along and sparks begin to fly.

My Thoughts:

I had to set this one aside last month after just a few chapters to prioritize my spooky season reads. This was the perfect book to pair with the above American Dirt. I read this one before bed to help keep the nightmares of the previous one away.

It took a little while for these two characters to grow on me as it takes them to grow on one another. I found the kid scenes with Charlotte’s brood hilarious from the get go though.

Charlotte also made me feel like a bum with everything she gets done after her kids are in bed. I only have 1 and I’m too exhausted after bedtime most days to get anything more done. I know it’s fiction but I do sometimes wonder if Penny Reid is superwoman with all the projects she has going.

Once the sparks were in the air between these two the book picked up for me. I enjoyed these rather complex and contrarian lead characters. The obstacles keeping them apart though frustrating were realistic. The story was also an interesting balance of sweet family moments and spicy chemistry.

I have no idea how long we will be in suspense for the next book. I know I will be lined up for it because it features a character I’ve been hoping to get a story about since Truth or Beard – Issac!

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What’s in your mid November reading recap? Are you still in the fall reading mood?