Under Story by Chloe Benjamin
Goodreads blurb: The New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists returns with an intimate yet epic love story—and a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery. Under Story invites us to consider the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love, cementing Chloe Benjamin’s place among our best, and most lasting, storytellers.
“We wake up to tomorrow, never yesterday.”
At the end of the world, biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from everything she’s ever known. For ten hours a day, six days per week, she works as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, an isolated research base in Antarctica. She tells no one that before she arrived, she was a renowned young scientist with a promising career, a husband, and a family.
But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can’t outrun her past. When a strange light appears across the ice—and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo—her former husband, Eli, won’t be far behind.
Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole, and into a world, they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them—to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?
A breathless page-turner and a love letter to our planet, Under Story grapples with the great questions of our time: human hubris, the precarity of the natural world, and the mysterious webs of consciousness that bind us. A modern epic of science and soul, of bravery and redemption, it offers a vision of the future that demands we reckon with what we owe to one another, and to the earth itself.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 2.75 out of 5. This was a very difficult book for me to get through. The first half dragged, and I found myself bored more often than engaged. The second half introduced an anti-universe storyline that never quite worked for me on a logical level. I know science fiction often requires a certain amount of suspended disbelief, but this felt like a step too far.
I almost gave up around the 50% mark. The only reason I kept going was that I attended another author’s event and came away convinced by the author’s passion for the story. On top of that, Jodi’s Book Club spoke so highly of it, and this is an author I really respect, so I felt like I owed it to the book to continue.
Unfortunately, even by the end, I never fully connected with it. I reached a point where I was reading simply to find out what happened rather than because I was enjoying the journey. And while I absolutely understand and appreciate the ambitious concept the author was trying to explore, the execution just didn’t work for me.
The idea itself is beautiful. The notion of two worlds circling one another and the possibility of a mirror version of ourselves existing somewhere on the other side of the universe is fascinating and thought-provoking. There are some truly brilliant ideas here. My issue was that there was so much focus on the science and the mechanics of the concept that I never became emotionally invested in the characters. By the time the emotional elements arrived, I had already checked out.
I know a lot of people love this book, and I completely understand why. It’s beautifully written, and the scope of what it’s trying to accomplish is impressive. But for me, it was one of those cases where I admired the concept more than I enjoyed the reading experience. It took me far too long to finish, and when I finally got to the end, I felt relieved more than satisfied.
So this is a hard one to rate. I can recognize the quality of the writing and appreciate the intelligence behind the concept, but ultimately, it just wasn’t a book for me.
The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
Goodreads blurb: When a young woman, a golf prodigy, accidentally kills a caddy with a stray ball at the country club, the investigation of this freak accident reveals a dark and shocking tale of secret affairs, predatory men, and a teenager on trial in this spellbinding novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant.
1978: It is the first Thursday in August and temperatures are flirting with ninety when Mira Winston, eighteen years old, drives a practice ball from her tee with a wooden club. The golf ball, weighing 1.6 ounces, tears through the net, travels 150 miles per hour for fifteen yards and slams, with sickening force, into the forehead of a high school junior named Kenny Foster, causing a traumatic rupture in the frontal lobe of his brain. Kenny brings his right hand to his forehead, then topples to his side. He is dead before the ambulance even arrives.
In the wake of this terrible accident—and everyone, at first, agrees it was an accident—Mira looks for comfort in all the wrong places: In her lover, Theo Catton, a married man forty years her senior. In her mother, a well-kept woman with secrets of her own. In the dead caddy’s little sisters, girls bewildered by grief. But when Henry Fallows, the golf pro, looks more closely at the torn net, when the detective investigating the case recalls Mira’s history of recklessness, and when Kenny’s father spies Mira with her married lover, the affluent and mannered community turns on this once promising young woman. A gripping story that takes the reader from the sun-soaked greens of a tony Westchester country club to the fluorescent-lit stand of a district courtroom, The Amateur What happens when one small moment—a swing, a ball, a piece of string—changes the course of an entire life?
My take: 4 out of 5. Chris Bohjalian does it again.The premise of this book is completely absurd on paper. A young woman accidentally kills a caddie with a golf ball, and that’s how the entire story begins. It sounds ridiculous, like the kind of setup that shouldn’t work, but somehow Chris Bohjalian takes that wild premise and turns it into a compelling, layered, and surprisingly emotional story. What impressed me most was how much character development and story grew out of such an unlikely starting point. Every character feels fully realized, and the consequences of that one moment ripple outward in fascinating ways. Bohjalian has a talent for taking a single extraordinary event and exploring all of the very human fallout that follows. The writing is excellent, the pacing is fantastic, and once I got hooked, I could not stop reading. This is one of those books that completely takes over your life for a few days because you constantly need to know what happens next. More than anything, I was amazed by how a premise that sounds so improbable ended up feeling so immersive and believable. It’s suspenseful, emotionally engaging, and incredibly readable. I did the audiobook and it is fantastic.
Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult
goodreads blurb: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.
On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.
Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse—a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis—have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.
Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
My take: 4 out of 5. There is no world in which I’m going to skip a new Jodi Picoult book. I got an ARC of this one and went in completely blind, which I think was the right choice. I also happened to read it right before release, and because a significant part of the story revolves around the aftermath of September 11, reading it around the anniversary made the experience even more impactful. The timing felt intentional, and it definitely added an extra layer to the story for me.
There were things I absolutely loved about this book, and a few things that didn’t fully land. One of its biggest strengths is the attention it brings to postpartum psychosis. I thought that aspect was handled thoughtfully and with a great deal of empathy, and I appreciated the awareness the book will bring to such an important topic.
I also really enjoyed the family dynamics and watching the characters develop over the course of the story. That said, there were moments when the shifting perspectives and exposition slowed the momentum for me and made the narrative feel somewhat fragmented. Even so, I was always invested enough to keep turning the pages because I needed to know what was going to happen next.
Is this my favorite Jodi Picoult novel? No. I’m still completely obsessed with her last book. But did I thoroughly enjoy this one? Absolutely. If you love family dramas that tackle complex issues while keeping you emotionally invested, this is definitely a book you should pick up
The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon
Goodreads blurb: Grace O’Malley was born to be at sea. Raised alongside her brother by their father, chief of the name of clan O’Malley, Grace learns early that her dreams of the open water are not compatible with the life she’s expected to lead as the daughter of a noble family. And when her father marries her to the wrong man, a neighbouring chief named Donhal, Grace’s world shifts for the worse.
Undaunted, Grace raises a family without abandoning her passion, aiding her hot-tempered husband in his campaigns against rival tribes. Eventually ousted from her husband’s land in the wake of his death, Grace returns to her childhood home and begins her career as a pirate in earnest, claiming new territories and finding deeper love, only to see her livelihood threatened by English incursions into Ireland, and her family endangered in an attempt to check her power.
Tenderly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon’s gripping latest novel channels the natural beauty of sixteenth-century Ireland alongside the brutality of the period as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine and defender of her people, who truly earned the title ‘the Pirate Queen of Ireland.’
A thrilling historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O’Malley, an infamous Irish sea captain and folk heroine who risked everything to protect her people against the powerful Elizabethan regime
my take: 4.75 out of 5. I love a good historical fiction novel, and this is exactly the kind I gravitate toward. It taught me so much about a fascinating period of history, but it also delivered the character-driven drama and relationships that make historical fiction truly come alive. What I loved most was how the author took a real historical figure and built such a rich, emotional story around her. We don’t have all the details of her life, so there is necessarily some invention here, but it felt thoughtful and authentic. By the end, I was completely invested in her story.
I do have to admit that the structure threw me at first. The book is told across three different timelines, and it jumps between them frequently. In the beginning, I found that a little confusing, and it took me some time to settle into the rhythm of the storytelling. It’s also the kind of book that benefits from being read relatively quickly because there are so many connections and details that you don’t want to lose track of.
That said, once I got into the flow of it, I absolutely loved the way it was structured. Knowing certain things about the future while watching the past slowly catch up created so much anticipation. It felt like I was constantly searching for clues and waiting for pivotal moments to unfold. I knew where some of the story was headed, but I didn’t know how the characters would get there, and that made every revelation even more impactful.
In fact, by the end, I realized just how brilliant the structure was. Had the story been told chronologically, I don’t think many of the biggest moments would have hit nearly as hard. By moving between timelines, the author highlighted the most important events of this woman’s life and made each one feel significant.
This is exactly what I want from historical fiction: a fascinating real-life figure, a compelling personal story, and a book that sends me down an internet rabbit hole afterward. As soon as I finished, I found myself researching her life, her relationships, and the history behind the novel because I wanted to know more. To me, that’s the sign of great historical fiction.
Such a good book. Such a good story. Read it!
Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison
Goodreads blurb: From #1 New York Times bestselling author B.K. Borison comes a new whimsical, haunting romance. When a runaway grim reaper tries to save a life, she clashes with a skeptical Guardian, forcing them to form an unlikely partnership beyond the grave.
Darcy Moore is tired of death. Which would be fine and good … if she wasn’t a Grim Reaper. Determined to outrun her designation as the villain, Darcy decides she won’t be dragging her next assignment to the underworld. She’ll be saving him instead.
Unfortunately for Darcy, there’s a complication in her plan. Guardian Angel Gabriel Aetos doesn’t tolerate threats to his little corner of the world, and a Grim Reaper showing up at his bar is as deadly as it gets. But when he realizes Darcy is not as she seems, Gabriel must decide if he can trust his growing feelings or hold on to his long-standing grudge.
But magic doesn’t come without consequences. And the Department of Hauntings & Spirits will eventually come calling for their missing Reaper.
A spooky yet simmering enemies-to-lovers tale to keep you warm this fall.
my take: 4.25 out of 5. This was a lovely continuation of the Ghosted series. I didn’t love it quite as much as Good Spirits, but that’s probably because I was such a fan of the Christmas setting in that one. Still, this was a wonderful read.
Did I finish it in a day? Yes.
Was the road to romance twisty and unexpected? Also yes.
This was a true enemies-to-lovers story, and I loved that the ending, as much as a romance can be, felt unpredictable. It genuinely had me questioning how everything was going to work out. I loved both Darcy and Gabriel and their chemistry was so well written.
