The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Upon boarding the ship, the SS Morro Castle, Catherine must act as if this is just another luxury cruise to Cuba that she is taking, something she’s completely used to; that is, if she’s to continue to convince her fiance, Raymond, that she is the heiress she has implied she is. Meanwhile, Elena is determined to hide out as much as possible on this same cruise, if she is to accomplish the revenge plot that she’s been scheming for months now. As the cruise progresses and the two women become more immersed in their ruses, we gradually learn how their stories are intertwined and how the success of one is heavily dependent upon the other.

Another gripping story of historical fiction from this author, Chanel Cleeton! We are treated to her creation of beautiful women characters who are both vulnerable and strong, irate and determined. They have both been wronged and are yet resilient and ready to move forward. They are also enmeshed in a plot that is complicated and intriguing, with unforeseen adversity that rushes up suddenly and overtakes them by storm.

My only complaint is one you’ve heard before from me: that the story is wrapped up too tightly into a pretty bow and delivers a happily-ever-after that is just too perfect. This is not how life generally works, and it is not how I like to see a novel end. But that may just be me…

Otherwise, this is an engaging work of historical significance, from both the Cuban history perspective as well as the story of the ship itself.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

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Daphne feels like such a fool. Only days before, her life had seemed like it was on a seamless track: engaged to Peter, she had moved into his beautiful home, became a part of his life, even ingratiated herself with his family and his friends. She was happy – or so she thought. But it has been blown to pieces now, with his sudden proclamation that he is, in fact, in love with his supposed “best friend” Petra (who is also engaged – to Miles). Still in shock, she barely even registers that Peter and Petra are going away for a week together to give her a chance to move out. But where is she to go??? Fortunately, Miles offers Daphne extra room in his apartment – a situation that will, of course, be temporary. In fact, living in the town Peter and Petra were still inhabiting is going to be temporary. She just has to get through her one major work project – and then she can leave. But will she?

This is a sweet, albeit predictable, romcom that will engage and entertain you. Emily Henry has a gift for creating charming characters with unexpectedly complicated backstories and clever, witty banter. There is a warmth that radiates off the pages and even the more troublesome characters have a vulnerability that shines through. And while you may guess the ending, there is a circuitous route that leads there, keeping you engaged and entertained just ever so much longer.

If you’re looking for a light, summer read – or listen! – here’s your next book! It’s cute, warm, and with just enough humor to keep you smiling throughout the pages.

Group by Christie Tate

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Traumatized by her past and the repression imposed by her family, Christie cannot see how she will ever be able to form attachments or achieve the relationships or family she desires. While she may be exceedingly successful academically, she finds herself lonely and failing at making healthy connections with others. As a last resort, she seeks help from a therapist, Dr. Rosen, who, after speaking with her during a few sessions, recommends group. Christie, terrified of being vulnerable and thinking of this as nothing short of torture, reluctantly agrees. It is no linear process, as she very painfully discovers, but she also discovers an opening in herself she never thought she’d experience.

This memoir by Christie Tate is a brutally honest account of how excruciating, painstaking, and yet potentially gratifying and successful group therapy can be. While Dr. Rosen’s open policy may be a bit unconventional, it does serve to create community within and among his various groups. This community can be harsh, judgemental, and invasive, but it also can be the support and encouragement one might need to move forward, take chances, and actually change for the better. The community Christie finds becomes a sort of family for her, with each assuming the roles family members do: support, condone, refute, argue, criticize, infuriate, and trigger all the emotions she’s been holding on tightly to that have been ripping at her insides for her whole life. But she learns that even if she expresses herself, she will not lose the love she fears losing.

I think this book is inspiring for anyone considering therapy, fearful of it, or otherwise in need. It is also possibly useful for those on the other side: therapists who seek to help their clients with groups. I think we learn how deeply these participants come to care for each other, nurture each other, and challenge each other to be their best selves – but it does take a skilled therapist to know how to guide, encourage, and challenge as well.

It also is important to understand that while someone might seem so confident and successful in one aspect of their life, they may also be suffering in another. We cannot assume anything about anyone, as appearances are just that: superficial and perhaps not even real. Christie was a superstar as a lawyer, but battled difficult relationships, rejection, and frustration in her personal life. She wasn’t happy, in spite of her academic, professional, and even financial success.

While this was sometimes hard to read, I believe it is an excellent book. We root for Christie on her challenging journey and celebrate her success. And we also learn what it’s like to work so hard to achieve a goal.

Summer Longing by Jamie Brenner

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All Ruth wants to do as she arrives in Provincetown is to settle into her new, albeit temporary, home. She has just sold her lucrative cosmetics business and is searching for her forever home in this place where her happiest memories were borne; a place to gather her thoughts to focus on her next phase of life. She also sees this as an opportunity to reflect on her past and to potentially rectify her errors. As she approaches the lovely rental home where she will spend the summer, she is immediately met with frustration. Where are the keys to her home that were supposed to be in the mailbox? And, more dramatically, who is this baby who’s been abandoned at her front door? This is most definitely more than she bargained for, but yet it may be just what she needs to heal.

This is a delightful summer/beach read, taking place in one of the summeriest, beachiest spots I know. While Ruth is struggling to reconcile her workaholic past, one that has overshadowed her relationship with both her ex-husband and her daughter, she is also met with a warm cast of characters who are reconciling struggles of their own. She meets Elise and Fern, a couple who have been tortured by infertility that is threatening their very marriage. She meets the warm Barros family, a close-knit, traditional Portuguese family who embrace Ruth and quickly include her as one of their own. And she is fortunate enough to befriend Amelia, who is a virtual mother to all: kind and wise, guiding all around her with patience. And this, all while trying to repair the damage she feels she’s caused to her relationship with her daughter. I challenge you not to love each of these characters.

It also doesn’t hurt that it does take place in one of my favorite places. References to Commercial Street, the Red Inn, and Herring Cove bring back warm memories for me. Provincetown is a place where one can be whoever they are – truly anything goes! And it’s dazzling.

A lovely read. Warm, cozy, and yes, a bit corny – but isn’t that what summers are for???

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

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Despite her painful past, Helen has managed to defeat the odds and have a very successful YA book series that, much to her shock (and discomfort), is being formulated for a streaming series. While she has always loved books and loves to write in the privacy of her own spaces, she feels completely out of her league in the LA scene. Then, as icing on the cake, she sees the list of writers who will be working on her show and is utterly thrown: Grant Shepard? The boy who happened to be driving the car her younger sister threw herself in front of years ago? This can’t be happening…

This is a sort of tragic romcom. While there is an underlying current of sadness, after both Helen and Grant have suffered greatly after the pivotal and horrifying incident of their youth, there is also the spark of hope for both of them. They are thrown together by unlikely circumstances and are, in a sense, forced to confront this past. On the other hand, because they’ve shared such profound grief and anger, they also are bound together by a situation that only the two of them could possibly comprehend.

Like many other lighter novels, some degree of suspension of reality has to happen here. The likelihood of their coming together so far from their home is a HUGE coincidence. Yes, it can happen. No it is not likely. Also I felt the sex scenes were explicit and gratuitous (which may be an attraction for some, forgive the pun) but I didn’t feel they added much to the story. On the other hand, the characters are very sympathetic; we understand Helen’s awkwardness, and we are sensitive to Grant’s panic attacks. They are relatable characters, written well.

Overall, this is an engaging story, certainly an easy beach read and perfect for this season!

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

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Riley feels so alone. She has just lost her father and has to clean out his home and she cannot count on her brother, Danny, to help. He has been through so much, having been wounded as a soldier in Iraq, and is still suffering the consequences. But as she begins to sift through her father’s papers, she uncovers evidence that her sister, who she understood to have died by suicide when she was 2 years old, may actually be alive. Needing to uncover the truth, she pursues this possibility, in spite of all the pressure she is experiencing from those around her to just get the job done.

Here is another quite suspenseful book, with unexpected twists and emotionally charged characters. As we feel the pressure Riley is under to get the house in order and ready to sell, we also feel for her as she digs up so much of her family’s past. Because she was so young when she lost her sister, she was relatively untouched by the loss, with the exception of the impact it had on the family who remained. Her mother was distant, her brother was deeply angry, and her father was kind but distracted as well. We thoroughly understand how Riley came to be a counselor for middle school students, trying to prevent for them what happened to her own sister.

We also question, along with Riley, whom she can trust. Can she trust the real estate agent who has been pressuring her to get through her father’s things so they can put the house up for sale? Or her father’s old friend, who lives in her father’s trailer park and whose wife keeps dropping hints about her family’s secrets? We even doubt, along with Riley, whether she can trust her own brother, whom she adores but worries about his volatile personality.

While mostly plot-driven, with all the family secrets being at its heart, I feel the characters are also deeply sympathetic. Jade, in particular, is one we feel for; forced to live a lie, looking over her shoulder for so many years. We feel her terror, her unease with anything suggesting publicity. But we also feel her yearning, her love for her music that brings her the only joy she thinks she’ll ever experience.

I definitely recommend this book as a suspenseful, twisty page-turner!

My Husband’s Wife by Carla Kovac

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Eva has been through quite a lot over the past 5 years. She has lost her first husband, Hugo, who died by suicide 5 years prior, and she never imagined she’d find love again. Surprisingly she has, and she’s thrilled that her 10-year old son loves her new husband, Zach, as well. Now that they’ve all moved in together, she is starting her new job as a wedding planner for a venue nearby. She’s nervous but excited, as she’s loved her job, loves being there for people on their most special day. As she is about to meet her second couple on her first day, she has the shock of her life: the man in front of her, “Theo,” inquiring about a wedding plan, is her dead husband! She tries to maintain her poise, but her curiosity is overwhelming. As she digs in further to figure out this puzzle, her very life becomes endangered.

This is an absolutely “un-put-downable” suspense thriller, with a complicated and twisty story about identities and lies. Eva does her best to try to warn the woman who is engaged to Theo, but it becomes a quite challenging to do so without appearing as if she herself is not crazy. This repeats again and again, with Eva coming to doubt herself, her judgement because of her own stormy past. A friend she has made in her new town is someone she thinks she can trust, but she comes to doubt this as well, when suspicions surface about this friend and her current husband. There is also a friend she has made, someone she thinks she can trust, but she becomes suspicious that she is having an affair with Zach (her current husband). It may sound as if the story is too convoluted, but it is quite brilliantly laid out, such that even when we think we know what is going on, there are additional twists that keep it just beyond our ken.

If you’re looking for a story that will grab you from the first page and keep you up reading late into the night – here’s your pick! It’s fun, a bit creepy, and utterly suspenseful and will absolutely hold you till the bitter end.

Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

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Dorothy Sayers is tired of men taking control of everything. In spite of the literary accomplishments of her female colleagues, they are being completely minimized by the men who are initiating the new Detection Club. a club for mystery authors seeking to heighten the prestige of the genre. Well, Dorothy will not take this lying down! After her little gathering of five women authors she feels have proven themselves worthy of being included, she hatches a plan to have them inducted into this club as well. Nevertheless, the men continue to ignore, even denigrate them. What if they, as writers of murder mysteries themselves, solve an actual, real-life murder mystery? Perhaps then their male peers will take them seriously. This, however, turns out to be more complicated than she ever imagines.

If you’re looking for a bit of morbid fun, this book is for you! The “Queens” as they call themselves, find themselves deep in the mire of a brutal murder that could potentially stump even them. As they delve deeper and deeper into the details, they learn to work together, to appreciate each other’s strengths and support each other through their weaknesses. We learn that everyone appears to have some sort of secret, some part of themselves that they would prefer be kept hidden from the public eye. They are vulnerable, because particularly at the time this story takes place, the interval between the great wars, women had little in the way of independence and relied not only on their “upstanding” reputations but also, of course, on the men around them. Even women with means. Even women who were as famous for their brilliance and talent as this authors were.

The characters themselves, as well as the plot, hold intrigue, humor, sensitivity, and surprise – keeping at least this reader completely engaged. Once again, Marie Benedict has done it!

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Margo and Ian have been searching for her dream house for months now. Thinking ahead, they’d bought an apartment in an up-and-coming neighborhood, anticipating that they’d sell at a higher rate and increase their money for a down payment on their “forever home.” Of course, this was all Margo’s idea; Ian could rarely be counted on to plot this far ahead, being consumed with his job solving the world’s climate crisis. And, as Margo reasoned, one cannot be too aggressive in this overwhelmingly frustrating market. After losing not one, not two, but ten houses because of being outbidden by entitled, cash-wielding competitors, she is ready to do what it takes. No matter the cost…

This is an outrageous story that begins benignly and builds to an utter “Gone Girl” crescendo. We learn of Margo’s repeated disappointments, her challenges growing up in a financially unreliable family, and her first taste of stability upon visiting her husband’s more privileged family. When Margo learns of a “perfect” home coming onto the market – the one she MUST have – she is determined to convince the owners to sell it to her and no one else. In Margo’s world, this perfect home equals happiness and she will make it her own – no matter the cost…

This is the type of novel you can swallow whole. It is that story that keeps you reading until the wee hours, perhaps sneaking it out during your lunch at your desk. Even while Margo becomes more and more unhinged, and Ian, her husband is more and more stumped by her behavior, we also see her humanity, her desperation. Her attachment to her friend’s dog, Fritter, is an example of her more tender and vulnerable side. When Natalie seems to ignore the needs of her own dog, Margo steps in to care for him. At the same time, Margo is also truly flying off the deep end.

If you were held captive by such books as The Girl on the Train or the Woman in Cabin 10, you will be excited to read this one as well. It is clever, twisty, and unputdownable.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Nora Stephens has been convinced by her younger and very pregnant sister Libby to come away with her for a few weeks to a small town made famous by a book Nora has actually promoted. While Nora is usually impossible to tear away from either her work as a literary agent or her home in NYC (and her Peleton…), she agrees to come because she will do anything to make her sister happy, as she’s done since their mother died when they were teenagers. So here she is, in this sad little town, still trying to sneak a bit of work into her day, in spite of the task list Libby has created for them to try to break out of their usual routines. And no good deed goes unpunished, for the only spot where she can find any bit of reliable wifi is where she runs into – to her utter shock – her absolute work nemesis, Charlie Lastra. Immediately, there is an email exchange between them which grows into an outright battle of wits. And even as Nora is focused on her sister and her sister’s welfare, she finds herself becoming more and more entangled in this mystery that is Charlie Lastra.

If you’re looking for a light, fun, and very summery/vacation-y read, this should be the first thing you pack to take along. While it is somewhat predictable – ok, very predictable – it is also replete with witty (giggle-along-with) dialogue, endearing family drama, and even a few steamy romance scenes. While Nora thinks of herself as being a “shark” and not exactly a people-person, she is actually someone who loves deeply and protects those she loves with the ferocity of a mother bear. She becomes the character we cannot help but love back – and this makes the story so utterly engaging.

So even despite the many romcom tropes to be found here, I still found this book a delight to read (or, in truth, listen to). I believe you will too!