The Book Review Club (September 2022)

Welcome to the September 2022 edition of the Book Review Club. I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods. But, here, in Southern California we are melting in a heat wave. Thank goodness for books! We have reviews and recommendations for both kids and adults. Perfect timing for fall (and, hopefully, cooler) reading. Under my post are links to terrific reviews by terrific reviewers. Enjoy.

NO WAY HOME (YA, thriller)

By Jody Feldman

For me, it's been a summer of reading adult and middle-grade books. I wasn't actively avoiding YA. It was more about what I'd put on hold at the library vs what actually came in and who loaned me what and which book migrated to the top of TBR pile. Anyway, I knew Jody's (one of our intrepid reviewers! and a terrific middle-grade writer!) YA debut was coming out in August, and I'd preordered it. Always fun to have a book you're looking forward to! Thank you, Jody!

In NO WAY HOME, teen protagonist Tess Alessandro travels to Rome as part of a summer exchange program. Her host family's daughter, Sofia, stays with Tess's family in Washington, DC. Tess is particularly excited about the program because her family has roots in Italy. And, quite frankly, what teen wouldn't be excited about a summer in Italy. Well, unless they experience what Tess went through. :)

So, I start reading. And I'm motoring along, enjoying all the snippets of Italian and the sightseeing and the food descriptions. It's bringing back memories of my summer in St. Pierre (French island near Newfoundland). I'm commiserating with Tess whose Italian isn't all that great. Then there's the stress of staying in someone else's home. Not to mention having to make new friends at school. 

Suddenly... BAM! I hit chapter 8 (which happened to be 16% into the book. I noticed because I read NO WAY HOME on my Kindle). EVERYTHING changes. Tess's host parents (Angelica and Francesco Rossis) wake her up for a video call with their daughter. Who drugged Tess's parents! Who's brandishing a knife while Tess's parents sleep in the background! The Rossis confiscate Tess's passport, credit cards and cell phone. They threaten to murder her parents unless she commits a series of crimes. Wow! Tess teams up with a fellow student to solve the mystery and keep Tess's parents alive. There's a little romance. A lot of betrayal. Family secrets. Twists and turns galore. 

NO WAY HOME is perfect for readers who enjoyed WITH MALICE by Eileen Cook. (Here's my review.) If you're looking for a YA thriller, this NO WAY HOME is for you.

(Dear FCC: bought. Yes, I know Jody. But I just review what I like.)

And now....onto the rest of our reviews. Please click through. You won't want to miss a single one!

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Jenn Jilks: STEALING FROM WIZARDS by Ryan Consell (MG, fantasy)

ADULT FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Jody Feldman: THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES by Richard Osman (mystery/thriller)

Ray Potthoff: LONE WOLF by Jodi Picoult (contemporary)

Sarah Laurence: SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by Claire Keegan (contemporary)

NONFICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Lucy Sartain: BRAT: AN 80s STORY by Andrew McCarthy (memoir)

Margy Lutz: THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN by Mary Hunter Austin (nature, memoir)

Patti Abbott: TASTE: MY LIFE THROUGH FOOD by Stanley Tucci (memoir)       

Note to Reviewers: Any errors (broken link, missed review, etc), just shoot me an email or leave a comment. Thank you so much for your reviews!

The Book Review Club (June 2015)

We're meeting late this month. I was off galavanting in Canada, hanging out with fun family and friends, attending my high school reunion and various The Disappearance of Emily H.-related activities. But I'm back home and settled and ready to talk books. We have reviews of quite a variety of books today. All to get you ready for summer. And, before I forget, we're taking July and August off. The Book Review Club will resume September 2. 

KETCHUP CLOUDS 
by Annabel Pitcher (mystery, young adult)

Many people have sung the praises of Ketchup Clouds. It got starred reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly. It won the 2013 Waterstones Children's Book Prize, was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick and won the 2014 Edgar Allen Poe Award. It may well have been nominated for and won other awards, but those are the ones I know about.

Listen to this brilliant premise: A fifteen-old-year British girl named Zoe (fake name) committed murder and writes to Stuart Harris, a Texan inmate on death row for killing his wife. Zoe wants someone to know her story. Someone who can relate. Brilliant, right?

The novel is epistolary in style. One sided. Zoe goes out to the family shed at night and writes her letters. The letters span a little over a year, detailing the events leading up to Zoe's crime as well as chronicling her daily life. We learn of her romance triangle with two brothers, her relationship with her sisters, one of whom is deaf, her best friend, her parents' financial difficulties after her dad is made redundant.

And, through it all, we fall in love with Zoe and her guilt and her angst and her sharp wit and her observations on life.

In case I haven't done Ketchup Clouds justice, here's The Beginning of the Book: Dear Mr. S. Harris, Ignore the blob of red in the top right corner.  It's jam, not blood, though I don't think I need to tell you the difference. It wasn't your wife's jam the police found on your shoe.

And now....onto the rest of our reviews. Please click through. You won't want to miss a single one!

MDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Ellen Booraem: ONE CRAZY SUMMER by Rita Williams Garcia (MG)

Lucy Sartain: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EMILY H. by Barrie Summy (MG, mystery)

Stacy Nyikos: ALWAYS OCTOBER by Bruce Coleville (MG)

Beth Bonini of TRAC: ME BEING ME IS EXACTLY AS INSANE AS YOU BEING YOU
                                      by Todd Hasak-Lowy (YA)

ADULT FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Alyssa Goodnight: ARTIFACT by Gigi Pandian (mystery)

Lucy Sartain: QUEEN OF THE TRAILER PARK by Alice Quinn (A Rosie Maldonne mystery)

Patti Abbott:  NOVEMBER by Georges Simenon

Ray Potthoff: THE DREAM LOVER by Elizabeth Berg (historical)

**Scott Parker: CONCRETE ANGEL by OUR VERY OWN Patricia Abbott (domestic suspense)**

NONFICTION REVIEW

Linda McLaughlin: THE MONUMENTS MEN: ALLIED HEROES, NAZI THIEVES, AND THE GREATEST TREASURE HUNT IN HISTORY by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter (adult)

Rob Costello: SO YOU'VE BEEN PUBLICLY SHAMED by Jon Ronson (adult)

Sarah Laurence: I WILL ALWAYS WRITE BACK by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda
                           with Liz Welch (young adult)


Note to Reviewers: Any errors (broken link, missed review, etc), just shoot me an email or leave a comment. Thank you so much for your reviews!

Dear FCC: Oh, you are so nosy. I bought this book. Nothing tricky going on here.