Sunday Skim

Week of 1/22/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

It was a great week for some reading but January is the longest month of the year especially when we've had like 8 hours of sun in the month!! Yes, yes I can move but not while my kids are in high school. Plus it makes Spring and Summer that much better. 

Julie's Review: In the Event of Death

Author: Kimberly Young
Series: None
Publication Date:  February 14, 2023
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Pages: 320
Obtained: Emi Battaglia Public Relations
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Life is all about adapting and changing
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: When the Recession crushes their splashy event business in Silicon Valley, Liz Becker and Gabbi Rossi realize that parties are on hold—but funerals must go on. Planning a memorial with flowers, music, and food isn’t that different from a wedding, right? But Liz has had a crippling fear of death since losing her younger sister in a childhood tragedy. Knowing her husband and twin sons depend on her income, she reluctantly agrees to produce end-of-life events. As Gabbi promised, the money starts rolling in. When an old real estate tycoon hires them to plan his “after party,” Liz finds an unlikely mentor. Just as things are looking up, she learns that someone she loves has a serious illness. Death planning gets personal. ~amazon.com 

Review: When the booming economy collapses and your income depends on it; how do you pivot? For Liz and Gabbi, they find a niche in planning end of life celebrations. Except it’s not so easy for Liz given her personal experience with death but she has no choice since her husband's contracting work has all but come to a halt. Plus their bottom line is looking pretty grim. She understands the need for revenue but really is struggling with this idea. Gabbi, on the other hand, jumps in with both feet and goes for it with gusto. It's a good thing that they are each good at what they do: Gabbi with the marketing and selling; Liz with everything else. 

What amazes Liz is that Gabbi isn't wrong, there is a market for this where older people want to have a say in the planning of their end of life celebrations. Instead of these functions being dreary, most want something more upbeat. One of their clients wants them to help him downsize and figure out a way to reconcile with his children. An ask that will not be easy. 

I liked that this was set during the economic downturn of 2008 because it’s something we all can relate to since it’s more recent history. It also forces Liz to confront her past in order to make a living. Ms. Young deals with a variety of issues in the novel including mental health and marital stress. She handles all the sensitive subjects with a real touch but it’s not too heavy handed.

I definitely look forward to what she’ll write in the future.

Sunday Skim

Week of 1/15/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

I really enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and can see why it was on a lot of top reads for 2022. 

Julie's Review: The Sweet Spot

Author: Amy Poeppel
Series: None
Publication Date:  January 31, 2023
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Pages: 397
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: All about "It Takes a Village"
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: In the heart of Greenwich Village, three women form an accidental sorority when a baby—belonging to exactly none of them—lands on their collective doorstep. Lauren and her family—lucky bastards—have been granted the use of a spectacular brownstone, teeming with history and dizzyingly unattractive 70s wallpaper. Adding to the home’s bohemian, grungy splendor is the bar occupying the basement, a (mostly) beloved dive called The Sweet Spot. Within days of moving in, Lauren discovers that she has already made an enemy in the neighborhood by inadvertently sparking the divorce of a couple she has never actually met. Melinda’s husband of thirty years has dumped her for a young celebrity entrepreneur named Felicity, and, to Melinda’s horror, the lovebirds are soon to become parents. In her incandescent rage, Melinda wreaks havoc wherever she can, including in Felicity’s Soho boutique, where she has a fit of epic proportions, which happens to be caught on film.​ Olivia—the industrious twenty-something behind the counter, who has big dreams and bigger debt—gets caught in the crossfire. In an effort to diffuse Melinda’s temper, Olivia has a tantrum of her own and gets unceremoniously canned, thanks to TikTok. When Melinda’s ex follows his lover across the country, leaving their squalling baby behind, the three women rise to the occasion in order to forgive, to forget, to Ferberize, and to track down the wayward parents. But can their little village find a way toward the happily ever afters they all desire? Welcome to The Sweet Spot. ~amazon.com

Review: There is a frenetic pace to The Sweet Spot that very much encapsulates the novel because as soon as you start reading you know the household is one of managed chaos and well just chaos. While this book is driven by love and heartbreak, at the core it is a story of female friendship. It is about how lives intersect in ways that you can't possibly see and how getting past your initial first impression, can be misleading. 

Melinda is very bitter as her husband left her for a younger woman out of the blue, after 30 years of marriage. She learns information that a mother at her school was the catalyst for ruining her life. So she sets off to ruin her life. Lauren Shaw is an artist and a mother who just got a major contract with Felicity's store for her homeware collection. Except it gets a little out of control with the request and the demand since she's only one person. Then there's Lauren's mom Evelyn who seems really judg-y but ends up probably being one of my favorite characters. 

This is a book that is about community or "it taking a village" to raise kids and Ms. Poeppel does an excellent job of demonstrating this. It not only takes women but it takes men stepping up and accepting their roles as well. 

There is quite a bit of humor in the novel that makes it even more enjoyable. There are poignant parts as well but the end will make you smile. 

Sunday Skim

Weeks of 12/18/2022; 12/25/2022; 1/1/2023; 1/8/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

Well, that's quite the round up of the end of December and the beginning of January. The Violin Conspiracy will be on my top reads of 2023; I highly suggest you grab it and read it. 

Julie's Review: The House in the Pines

Author: Ana Reyes
Series: None
Publication Date:  January 3, 2023
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 328
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer. Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer—the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey. At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin....Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.

Review: I do love a good thriller and you add in a bit of mystery and I'm hooked. Off the bat, Maya isn't the most reliable narrator. She's coming down off drugs that she's been taking for years for sleep and admittedly has been drinking a lot in her past. So while you appreciate her honesty, you wonder if all of that has maybe clouded her ability to see what is real. As she watches a viral video with a man that is someone from her past, it sends her spiraling. She returns home to dig into what happened to her and her best friend. 

While Maya even questions her sanity as she comes off the medication, she knows that something isn't right with just walking away from what she needs to know. She starts digging into the viral video and starts to look into her own past. The story is told both in the present and in flashbacks to that summer before college when she was involved with Frank. 

What I liked about the novel was that we saw the past unravel with Maya as she investigated what happened recently and delving into her past. At first I thought that she was being gaslighted but I wasn't sure how but the reality of what happened to her, for me, was much worse. 

For fans of thrillers, you won't want to miss out on this debut. 

Alice & Julie's 2023 List Swap Challenge

We are bringing an oldie but goodie back this year. The last time we did this was 2014. We are so excited to bring it back this year. We hope you guys enjoy our journey. 

Book Together:

This one will be released in March and we both loved her debut, The Lost Apothecary. 

Julie's Choices for Alice:

Alice's Choices for Julie:

There are no rules except they have to be read by December 31, 2023. 

Stay tuned here for updates! 

Julie's 2022 Best of the Rest

You've seen my favorite picks of 2022 and then my favorite audiobooks. Here are the best of the rest according to me! 

Historical Fiction:

The Liz Taylor Ring by Brenda Janowitz

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

Sisters of Night & Fog by Erika Robuck

In the Face of the Sun by Denny S. Bryce

The Ways We Hide by Kristina McMorris

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff

Contemporary Fiction:

Our Little World by Karen Winn

When We Let Go by Rochelle Weinstein

The Work Wife By Alison B. Hart

Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim

The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland

Thriller:

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

The Last Affair by John Searles

The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark

The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Mystery/Crime:

The Botanists Guide to Parties & Poisons by Kate Khavari

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

Romance:

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr

Mr. Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer

The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch

Other:

 

Taste: My Life in Food by Stanley Tucci (Memoir)

The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Fantasy)

This has been a fun week of looking back on my favorites of 2022 and I certainly can't wait to see what 2023 has in store. 

Julie's Top 2022 Audiobooks

In 2022 I listened to 38 audiobooks and enjoyed each one,  but the list below are the ones that stood out for me. With audiobooks I try to find books that have been on my shelf for a while but I also couldn't resist newer releases. I'm pretty sure that this is the first year I've listened to that many! They also helped me reach my 2022 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 112!

What did you listen to in 2022? Anything I should add to my 2023 list?