And the final books read of 2023 are finally up …
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Goodreads Blurb: A sharp and scintillating summer novel that will make readers laugh out loud and cry happy tears from the New York Times bestselling author of Yours Truly. Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work. Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka. It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher. it comes out April 2nd, 2024
My Take: 4.5 out of 5. I thought i was not going to love this but oh man, how much did i enjoy it. A lovely story of love in the real world with real world problems. The setting is great (Although really who would rent that house in the middle of the lake, but from the beginning you know it was going to create drama) and the characters are flawed, real and wonderful. It was also a wonderful surprise how this tied up to some of her old books, I didn’t realize it was until the end where i was surprised by the interconnections (and kind of made me want to reread her old books, can someone please make movies of all of Abby Jimenez’s books so that I can do a hour and a half revisit experience 😉 ). Definitely a book you should get as soon as it comes out for your summer reading.
Before we were Innocent by Ella Berman
Goodreads Blurb: A summer in Greece for three best friends ends in the unthinkable when only two return home in this new novel from Ella Berman. . . .Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .Except now Joni is tangled up in a crime eerily similar to that one fateful night in Greece. And when she asks Bess to come back to LA to support her, Bess has a decision to make.Is it finally time to face up to what happened that night, exposing herself as the young woman she once was and maybe still is? And what happens if she doesn’t like what she finds?
my take: 4 out of 5. This is a wonderful thriller in dual timeline. You know what’s going to happen but the buildup is very well done. I have a total love and hate relationship with the ending, its vague which makes me love it but at the same time my love of closure wanted more of a neat little tied bow from the ending. The characters are annoying yet somehow relatable and i was very much into their stories.
Take me Home by Beth Moran
goodreads blurb: Sophie Potter’s job is helping people deal with the worst, because Sophie Potter knows what the worst feels like. An expert at keeping moving, with her trusty motorhome and faithful dog Muffin, Sophie has built her life around keeping her loves and loyalties as few as possible. Fabulous fifty-something Hattie Langford has kept her heart and past safely stored away too. But for reasons she’s only willing to share with a stranger, Hattie needs to tell the story her family has been hiding at Riverbend, their home in Sherwood Forest. There is a history of heartbreak and hurt that Hattie is ready to face. As Sophie helps Hattie uncover the secrets of generations of women who have lived at Riverbend, along with the stories of the men they have loved and lost, they start to see echoes in their own pasts. And as Riverbend shares its biggest secret of all, can Hattie and Sophie finally embrace the lives they’ve put on hold for so long, and risk their hearts to men who can break the Riverbend curse?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 3.5 out of 5. This is a sweet, heartfelt and powerful family drama set at Christmas. A lovely story of how you can make peace with your family past, but also how intergenerationally so much pain can be passed on. The concept of these women healing through art is beautiful and the twists and ending are lovely.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Goodreads blurb: A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris. In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster. The Great Believers has become a critically acclaimed, indelible piece of literature; it was selected as one of New York Times Best 10 Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Buzzfeed Book of the Year, a Skimm Reads pick, and a pick for the New York Public Library’s Best Books of the year.
my take: 4.5 out of 5. This is such a beautiful yet absolutely sad and painful read. A saga about a group of friends in the height of the AIDS pandemic in Chicago, it has all the foreboding dread of just waiting when shit is going to hit the dan. It is heart warming but also so frustrating, as there are some decisions by them where I just wanted to through my book at something, or go in and shout at them. But it is life, and between some of their regrettable choices, and the craziness of the world they live in it makes for a harrowing tale. As with We were Innocent above, it is one that after so much emotion, the ending just is a tiny whimper where I might have wanted a bang, but there3 had been so much noise, maybe the quiet is the right answer.
Tati's Tidbits 