Book Review: "Poor Deer" by Claire Oshetsky

There are times when I feel like many books out there are just slight variations on a theme. And then I stumble upon a book like Poor Deer, which is creative and unusual, and my faith in original ideas is restored.

“Margaret’s mother thinks the girl is looking at the pictures, but what Margaret likes even better than the pictures are the happy endings. After the day of the schoolyard flood, Margaret begins to write happy endings of her own. Her made-up endings help her forget that singular moment in her life when everything went so wrong.”

Margaret is four years old when a tragedy occurs to her best friend, Agnes. While no one explicitly blames Margaret for what happened that day, she is wracked with guilt. Her mother insists to everyone that Margaret never left the house that day, but Margaret knows the truth.

In an effort to try and cope with what has happened, Margaret starts writing her own stories, sometimes using a made-up language. Margaret’s stories always end happily. But somewhere along the line, Poor Deer, a menacing character, starts appearing in her stories, pressuring Margaret to confess the truth about what happened to Agnes.

This book definitely has a fairy tale quality, almost ethereal at times. The lines blur between what is real and what Margaret imagines, but Poor Deer becomes a constant presence.

I know this is definitely not a book for everyone, but it’s a powerful look at what children understand, and how they process grief and loss. This will be a book I think about for a long time.

Book Review: "We Love the Nightlife" by Rachel Koller Croft

If you grew up in the 1970s and/or are a fan of disco music, you might know what song has been running through my head since getting an ARC of this book!!

Nicola and Amber meet in a London dance club in 1979, the tail end of disco’s popularity. Amber, a vivacious young American married to a staid Englishman, longs for fun and attention, so she goes clubbing alone many nights. Both women see each other as kindred spirits, and their shared love of dancing cements their friendship.

But while they may share similar interests, they’re actually quite different. Nicola has actually been a vampire for nearly 200 years, and she thinks Amber might be the perfect companion to spend eternity with. Realizing Amber’s unhappiness, Nicola offers her the opportunity for immortality, where every night can be full of music, dancing, and glamour, without any of the trapping burdens of human life.

While becoming a vampire is exotic and exciting, Amber realizes that she still needs friends, and perhaps more. But Nicola is full of rules and wants to control Amber. And after nearly 50 years, Amber discovers just how far Nicola has gone to keep Amber right where she is, so Amber is ready to start a new life. The thing is, though, leaving Nicola may be the most dangerous thing she does—if she can even succeed.

The book is narrated by both Amber and Nicola, and shifts through time, from Nicola’s childhood in the 1800s to the present. It’s rare to find a story which has female vampires at its core, and these are really fascinating characters.

Rachel Koller Croft’s debut, Stone Cold Fox, was excellent, and this book, while very different, once again proves what a talent she is.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy. The book publishes 8/20.

Book Review: "The Sicilian Inheritance" by Jo Piazza

If you read a ton of books set in Italy, can you be considered an honorary citizen? Asking for a friend.

Sara’s aunt Rosie was one of her favorite people. She was an absolute dynamo, fun-loving and wild, but smart as hell, accomplishing anything she set her mind to. Rosie’s death leaves Sara devastated, and at a time when her marriage and her career have both fallen apart, the loss knocks her for a loop.

She’s completely unprepared for Rosie’s dying request that she travel to Sicily, where their ancestors are from, and scatter her ashes. Rosie also left her the deed to a plot of land in Sicily, and she asks Sara to research whether it truly belongs to their family. Oh, and one more thing: Rosie wants Sara to look into the murder of her grandmother, Serafina, in the early 1920s.

When Sara arrives in Sicily, she is taken by the beauty of the island, but she quickly realizes that nothing is what it appears. She isn’t sure whom she can trust, there’s doubt about whether her family actually owns the land—and if they do, whether she can lay claim to it—and there are all sorts of conflicting stories about Rosie’s grandmother. The more she digs, the more danger she’s in.

The narrative shifts between Sara in the present and Serafina’s in the 1910s and 1920s. The story is part mystery, part historical fiction, but it’s a fascinating look at how women find power and can thrive despite the barriers they face. I did feel like one narrative had more closure than the other, though.

I’ve read a few of Jo Piazza’s books—one of her own and two she co-wrote with Christine Pride—and I really love the way she writes. I enjoyed this a great deal, and thought it was cool it was based on a story from Piazza’s family.

Book Review: "Bromantic Puckboy" by Eden Finley and Saxon James

So far this month I’ve read a baseball romance and now a hockey romance. The kids from middle school and high school were wrong: I am into sports…

Cody Bilson loves love, so much so that he has four ex-wives. Anytime he starts to fall for someone, he winds up marrying them too soon, with disastrous results. He’s so tired of things ending up this way, he’s taken a vow of celibacy, and he’s gotten himself traded to the hockey team in Nashville to get a fresh start.

One of Cody’s new teammates is rookie goalie Miles Olsen. He may be new to the pro circuit, but that’s doesn’t faze him. He’s still completely overconfident, but he also knows when to be (slightly) respectful, and when it’s time to fight the good fight. Miles is a former frat boy and is desperate for approval from his teammates. Miles and Cody become close friends, as they love to poke fun at each other.

When Cody’s celibacy kick starts to wear him down, Miles has a proposition: they should find a woman for a threesome, this way Miles can be sure Cody doesn’t fall too hard. But when finding a willing woman proves difficult, they decide to fool around with each other. Sex between bros is no big deal, right?

Of course, it’s not long before they start catching feelings for one another. And while Cody doesn’t have a problem embracing his bi side, Miles is afraid his conservative parents might reject him.

This is the sixth book in the Puckboys series and I cannot get enough. There is lots of hot steam, great banter, hockey talk, and romance, along with a fantastic group of openly queer hockey players. Hope book 7 comes soon!!

Book Review: "Christa Comes Out of Her Shell" by Abbi Waxman

Christa is a scientist, studying snails on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. It’s a quiet life, but it’s very satisfying for her, since she doesn’t have to interact with many people and she can enjoy the natural beauty around her.

Her peace is upended when she learns that her father, Jasper Liddle, once a famous television star, didn’t really die in a plane crash when she was two. Apparently, he’s alive and well and has been living in Alaska, and 25 years later, he’s ready to make amends with the family he left behind.

Christa has to come back to the U.S., and she, along with her mother and two sisters, are thrust into the spotlight. It’s not a place Christa wants to be, as she’s always had a difficult relationship with her family, and during her teen years, she caused no end of scandals in the press. But the Liddle women, thanks to the machinations of their father’s agent, are expected to play along with all of the insanity around Jasper’s reappearance.

As if that’s not enough, Christa feels a strong connection to Nate, a childhood friend, which is definitely reciprocated. Christa would like to build something with Nate, but she doesn’t want to do it in the spotlight, and she wants to go back to her snails. And when Jasper’s story appears to be not quite what he claimed, she has to figure out what to do with her whole life.

Abbi Waxman has been a favorite author of mine since The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. She creates such quirky characters and imbues them with warmth, flaws, and rich emotions.

While I enjoyed this book, it veered into zany territory more than a few times. There were lots of crazy subplots that never quite got resolved, and I don’t know if the characters were really true to themselves. But it was still a fun read.

Book Review: "Table for Two" by Amor Towles

Amor Towles is a tremendously talented storyteller, with the ability to create vivid, unique characters and evoke time and place in your mind’s eye. I loved Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow, and still think of those books.

One word rarely used to describe Towles’ books is concise. The Lincoln Highway is just under 600 pages; A Gentleman in Moscow is approximately 500 pages. Even this, his new collection of not-so-short stories and a novella, runs about 450 pages.

Table for Two includes six stories set, or ultimately winding up in, New York City. Some of these stories are absolutely beautiful. “The Line” focuses on a Russian man in the early 1900s who goes far simply by being nice; “Hasta Luego” tells the story of two men who meet in an airport during a winter storm, and one man’s life is more complicated than meets the eye; “I Will Survive” is about the damage secrets can do to a relationship; and “The Bootlegger” is a poignant story about grief and moving on.

The novella, “Eve in Hollywood,” focuses on Evelyn Ross, a character from Rules of Civility. Eve decides to go to Los Angeles rather than return home to Indiana with her parents. While there, she connects with a variety of people, famous, infamous, and ordinary, including legendary actress Olivia de Havilland.

“Eve in Hollywood” is told from seven points of view, which was too many for me. It takes a LONGGG time to get going—there’s lots of narrative that I wasn’t sure would ever get me to the story’s main focus—and not all the characters are as fascinating as I hoped.

I definitely had high hopes for this book that didn’t quite come to fruition, but I’m still glad I read it for the four stories I loved. And of course, I’ll be looking to see what comes next for Towles!

Book Review: "Jaded" by Ela Lee

Jade, the daughter of a Korean mother and a Turkish father, is an attorney at a corporate law firm. She’s always felt tremendous pressure to succeed, to be the best, which as a woman and a minority, isn’t as easy as it should be.

“That Jade isn’t even my real name. That Jade began as my Starbucks name, because all children of immigrants have a Starbucks name.”

One night at a fancy work event, she drinks too much, and the senior partner of the law firm acts a bit inappropriately toward her. Another colleague sees Jade in the awkward situation and offers to make sure she gets home safely.

The next morning, Jade wakes up naked in her bed with a horrible hangover. She has no clue how she got home but hopes she didn’t embarrass herself in front of her supervisors or colleagues. But little by little, she starts having flashes of memories, she notices bruises all over her body, and she’s experiencing pain and bleeding. Are her memories accurate?

Jade throws herself into her work, as she looks to the client on whose case she is working on as a bit of a mentor. Emotionally, however, she is a complete wreck. Telling her longtime boyfriend what happened causes friction between them. She doesn’t feel she can confide in her parents or anyone at work. She feels powerless, and doesn’t know how she’ll ever move forward.

This is a very powerful and thought-provoking book, but it may be triggering for those who have experienced similar situations. Jade is a very vividly drawn character, and the book is full of insightful commentary on power, race, identity, and sexism in the workplace.