The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway *****

Santiago hasn’t caught anything for 84 days. He is salao, unlucky. His apprentice, the boy Manolin, fishes with a lucky boat. Santiago goes out on day 85, too far. He catches an 18-foot marlin. Sharks consume the fish. Only the skeleton remains.

Manolin is loyal to Santiago, from preparing him for his unfortunate voyage to caring for him when he returns. Santiago never gives up, not when the marlin tows him out to sea, nor when the sharks steal all the meat, along with Santiago’s harpoon and his knife. In the end, the skeleton of the record-breaking fish is taken by the tide. During his ordeal, Santiago sees himself as heroic. "A man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated." In the end, his quest is all for nothing. The book starts and ends in the same place.

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Thanksgiving Angels: Historical Cozy Mystery by Alice Duncan *****

 Thanksgiving Angels by AliceDuncan

1920s. Mercy Allcutt moved to Los Angeles to avoid her upper-crust Bostonian parents. Except they bought a home in Pasadena and invited her to Thanksgiving. Worst holiday ever…until Mrs. Winkworth went splat on the parquet floor. Cozy mystery.

Mercedes Louise Allcutt found a job as Ernest Templeton's secretary. Her parents hated this. Her sister, Chloe, is married to Harvey Nash. Monty Mountjoy and Miss Lola de la Monica are stars at Nash Studio. Monty’s mother is Mrs. Pansy Hanratty, and his grandmother is Mrs. Winkworth. Mrs. Winkworth went splat on the parquet floor in Mercy’s parents’ house. The occasion of Mrs. Winkworth’s murder was a séance by Mrs. Desdemona Majesty, who is engaged to the Pasadena Police Detective Sam Rotondo. Is the murder motive about the Nash Studio or the intergenerational conflict?

MATRIARCHS

This book's theme is the relationship between matriarchs and everyone else. No one wants to spend time with Mercy’s mother. Regardless, the murder is at her mother’s house, and most characters end up with a bedroom at the mansion. Mercy’s P.I. boss gets a guest bedroom on the second floor, while the suspects are relegated to spare servants' rooms on the third floor. The murder victim is Monty’s grandmother, and most of the suspects have been abused by her. She likes to dig up dirt on people and use it to torment them. Mercy abandons her mother’s house for Thanksgiving dinner to join Mrs. Majesty’s “happy family,” who play games and sing together.

DOGS

Mercy has a toy poodle named Buttercup. Her friend Daisy’s dog is a dachshund named Spike. “Dachshunds tend to be a little stubborn.” When the author denigrates dachshunds, it is an inside joke because she has dachshunds in real life. Mrs. Hanratty, a dog trainer, recommends English toy spaniels for Chloe, who is pregnant in this book.

SECRETARIES

As Templeton’s secretary, Mercy takes notes of all interviews using Pitman shorthand and transcribes them on a typewriter. Detective Rotondo has a male police assistant to perform the same task. Mrs. Winkworth employs a male secretary, Delbert Mann, to type her correspondence, which she dictates. He passively-aggressively transcribes everything verbatim.

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A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry ****

A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry

Charles Latterly spends Christmas on the volcanic island Stromboli with six other tourists. Someone murders Mr. Walker-Bailey. Teen Candace is innocent. The volcano kills her guardian. That leaves three suspects and the question of motive. Novella.

Aside from Charles Latterly, the six other tourists, and their jovial host Stefano, the other character is Stromboli. Stromboli is a small volcanic island that has been erupting continuously for thousands of years. Other volcanoes that exhibit similar behavior are called “Strombolian.” Stefano personifies the volcano. “I think when there is a lull in the volcano’s anger, we should go up and look. If it is safe, we should make our way down to the sea.” Stromboli spits and grumbles all the time.” The murderer attempts to frame the volcano for Mr. Walker-Bailey’s death and, eventually, metes out justice by executing the murderer.

Candace’s beloved Grandmama has recently died, leaving Roger as her last living relative. When the volcano threatens the group, Roger makes Charles promise to assume the guardian role for fourteen-year-old Candace if anything happens to him. Mrs. Isla Bailey is a genial lady married to the domineering and abusive Mr. Walker-Bailey. Walker-Bailey is disagreeable, always arriving late to meals and complaining that they started without him. Colonel Bretherton is a retired military man who is obviously infatuated with Isla. Finally, Mr. Quinn is a best-selling author who everyone thinks was incapable of writing his acclaimed novel.

After Mr. Walker-Bailey is murdered, the volcano eruption worsens, killing their host, Stefano, and Candace’s guardian, Uncle Roger. Now burdened with the responsibility of Candace, Charles encourages everyone to evacuate the mountainside for the safety of the coast. The small group, Charles, Candace, Quinn, Bretherton, and Isla, sets off with the volcano in deadly pursuit.

In the stress of the escape, all is revealed.

Biographical footnote: With her friend, Anne Perry murdered her friend’s mother at age 15 in New Zealand.

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Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon *****

 Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon

#MMIW Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. A novel about women taking charge and putting their hearts, minds, and bodies on the line to care for and about one another. Nothing can stop Quill, not her husband, not the police, nor the traffickers. #MMIWG

Quill was training for the Boston Marathon. Her two running partners were Gaylyn (lives with her younger sister, abused mother, and meth-taking father), and Punk (green mohawk, piercings, and tattoos). These three women witnessed and rescued women who are abducted and abused. They witnessed victims of domestic violence, women who were drugged, and women who were murdered. They rescued women who were raped and discarded, and women who were being trafficked. When Punk was abducted, Quill freed her and brought her captor to justice. Not for the faint-hearted.

The three women joined others in protest, wearing red ribbon skirts.

Quill did all of this against the wishes of her husband, who only wanted Quill and the children to be safe. Even when he moved out and took the children to his sister, Quill stayed the course. Rescuing Punk came first.

 

Quill learned of the first woman when she was out running, and Quill heard her scream. Quill found her earring and used it to identify the missing woman. But could she locate Mabel Beaulieu and free her from her captors?

Two women were drugged in the casino and taken. One set of abductors was stopped by a security guard when he recognized the drugged woman as his cousin. Quill felt the woman’s neck for a pulse. The woman’s skin was cold and clammy. The edges of her lips were tinted blue. But there was a faint beat. “Get Narcan!” she yelled.  The other woman was only seen in a useless video recording.

Two women were abducted, raped, and discarded at the side of the road in their underwear. One froze to death, but Quill rescued the other.

Many of the abusers worked for pipeline companies. We’ve all heard the stories of the man camps out in the Dakota and Canadian oil fields and the increase in missing women. Apparently, these camps are lawless. Men with no families. And they’re protected by the oil companies’ own security forces. … Did that guy take her out in the woods, rape her, and dump her off? Kill her? Take her back to the camp and pass her around? He doesn’t know. Said the attorney for the oil company, all but laughed and said, ‘Boys will be boys.’ Treated Patrick as if being a tribal cop wasn’t being a real cop.

“We’ve been targets since the [white people] arrived here. First war. Then boarding schools. Then foster homes. And Indian women have been targets all the way back to Pocahontas and Sacajawea. Teenage girls taken and used. Women taken and used.” “Makes me sick. We don’t exist. Or if we do exist, we’re expendable. How many U.S. presidents said, ‘The only good Indian is a dead Indian’?”

Alert pings sounded on both phones, breaking the silence in the car. Fingers scrolled like crazy, trying to keep up with the messages pouring in. Child abducted outside Walmart in Duluth—White van grabs child outside Walmart—Child missing after being pulled into van.

This story was set in Northern Minnesota, near Duluth, in the winter. Quill put Cheerios, water, an apple, and gummy fruit snacks into a bag. Living in northern Minnesota meant you never left home for a drive in the winter without extra food, blankets, and good winter boots.

Quill found one abductor and brought him to the police, but not all of them. IN this way, the novel reflects reality. #MMIW, #MMIWG, #NoMoreStolenSisters, and #MMIWG2S

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Heart the Lover by Lily King ****

 Heart the Lover by Lily King

Presentism: only what exists in the present exists at all. Yash lives in the moment. Eternalism: everything that is, has been, and will be exists right now and forever. Jordon lives in the eternal. An impossible love story, two people bound together.

Yash loves whoever is in front of him with total commitment. When Sam is in crisis, Yash is there, completely and totally. When he is at work, he is fully there, so his boss loves him. Children are drawn to him and bask in his unconditional love. Jordan has never had a lover like Yash. Their time in Paris is magical. Jordan plays the long game. When Yash doesn’t follow the plan, she doesn’t forgive him. When she has a child that doesn’t fit into the plan, she puts that child up for adoption. She marries Silas, and they have two children and a house according to their plan. Yet, when Yash is on his deathbed, Jordan returns to him. The reader is asked to mourn these lovers who could never be together.

Jordan has always had goals: to be a writer, a mother, a lover. She succeeds without finding happiness. Her eldest son has a tumor in his brain, certainly not in the plan. She reconciles with Yash. Absolutely not in the plan. Yash is surrounded by people who love him: family, people from work, acquaintances, Sam from college, but no plan. It is not enough.

This book explores two ways to be in the world. Jordan swims up the river with all her strength and energy. She does not let anything slow her down. When Sam abandons her, she moves to Yash. Without Yash, she puts their child up for adoption and bravely embarks on another path. When eldest son Jack gets a brain tumor, she finds the best doctors. In the end, she has a glimpse of Yash’s way. Yash is selfless, floating with the current, loving the currents that love him in return. When he is on his deathbed, he catches a glimpse of Jordan’s way.

I found this to be a fundamentally sad book.

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Invisible by Carla Buckley ****

 Invisible by Carla Buckley  

16-year-old Peyton called Aunt Dana too late to save her mother, Julie. Dana stayed for the funeral and to find out why Julie died. When Dana was 16, she gave up Peyton and left Black Bear, never to return. Black Bear was a city of too many secrets.

When Dana became pregnant in high school, her older sister, Julie, discovered that she couldn’t have children of her own. Adoption was out of the question because Julie’s fiancé could never love a child that wasn’t his biological child. The two young women found the perfect solution. They went away, and Julie returned with Peyton, whom she told Frank was his daughter. In exchange, Dana left Black Bear forever, without saying goodbye or ever contacting anyone. This was the beginning of secrets, assumptions, and bad feelings. All of this unraveled when Julie needed a kidney donor, and Peyton called Dana, the aunt she’d never met.

Zinc-oxide nanoparticles. Julie soon decides that the kidney failure cases are caused by zinc-oxide nanoparticles used by the Gerkey factory to make suntan lotion. The factory is Black Bear’s economic backbone. Many people support the factory. At Dana’s request, the EPA investigates. Even though they find high levels of nanoparticles, they do not act. Dana wants justice for her sister, and protection for Peyton.

Peyton’s parents. Many people have unresolved issues with Dana. Frank’s mother is in the nursing home with Brian Gerkey’s mother. These two old women appear to know something. Perhaps they know Payton’s true parents. Peyton’s father with 16-year-old Dana is a mystery.

Dana’s implosion. Dana is a demolition engineer. She places dynamite and implodes buildings. After the dust settled on her last job, the police found a dead lady in the rubble. The police are investigating, and any legal problems could be the end of her company and her job.

LT. LT has limited intelligence, wears foil hats, and subscribes to conspiracy theories. He supports Dana. He believes that the factory is killing people.

The book weaves all these plots together until the end, where they are resolved suddenly and without emotional satisfaction. Four stars.

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All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker *****

 All the Colors of the Dark byChris Whitaker

Patch rescues a girl from abduction & death. His reward is decades of torment, searching, & incarceration. Good people with strong feelings & attachments despite unimaginable circumstances. “No good deed goes unpunished.” Much Love, no Romance.

Saint is accepted to Dartmouth but becomes an FBI agent. Misty goes to Harvard but doesn’t graduate. Sammy runs the Monta Clare art gallery. Nix is the Monta Clare chief of police. They all love Patch, but his priority is finding Grace and every other missing girl. Eli Aaron is on the lam, and Dr. Tooms is on death row. The lives of all the characters in this novel are intertwined. One might imagine them as a single polycule. This book is possibly the best endorsement for polygamy.

Misty had a child, Charlotte, with Patch. Saint and Sammy raised her. Saint has a child, Theodore, with her husband, Jimmy. Patch murders Jimmy. Unconditional love abounds, with shooting people, bank robbery, murder, jailbreaks, and lying all easily forgiven.

Patch is a painter who searches for families whose daughters have been abducted. He paints portraits of them that seem to bring them back. Sometimes the paintings literally bring the girls back when the girls are recognized and reunited with their families. Patch applies the same skill to the descriptions of buildings and towns.

Plot: At thirteen years old, Patch (a boy with one eye) rescues Misty, but gets abducted himself. While he is imprisoned in a lightless basement, he is visited by Grace, who tells him stories that he later turns into paintings. Saint rescues him, and Grace disappears. People doubt that Grace exists and encourage him to get beyond his trauma. He is obsessed with Grace and searches for her for decades.

In the end, many secrets are revealed, but the love that ties them all together never fails.

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Lia and Beckett's Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks ****

 Lia and Beckett's Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks

Lia’s grandma sets up a magic contest in Mirror Lake. The winner gets the Starlight Theater. Lia partners with Beckett. All tricks must come from Grandma’s original shows. While preparing, Lia learns the secrets of Grandma’s performances. YA romance.

Since magic has declined in popularity, the Mirror Lake magicians have resorted to using their skills to con tourists, sometimes for thousands of dollars. Even when the stakes were lower, the tourists might lose their bus fare and food money. Elliott took revealing pictures of Lia’s sister Emma and released them on social media. Montgomery girls do not get along with the Blackwell boys. This traces back to when Grandma Montgomery was the assistant for Henry Blackwell’s magic act. Fifty years ago. Lia hopes to address all these issues and win the contest.

Romance: As the book opens, Lia's short romance with her latest boyfriend [we’ve spent most weekends together, and I’ve lost a bobby pin or two—although nothing of importance—in the back seat of his car] ends because he wrote a poem to her mother. She’s had a lot of boyfriends, but when she meets Beckett, she doesn’t kiss him…which is unusual. She does kiss his cousin Chase. This upsets Beckett even though he has told her he only wants to be friends. Against Lia's desires, they agree not to kiss until after the contest. Lia finds this difficult, but she sticks with it.

The author is a math teacher and uses math in her books. In a later book, The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss, she explains that she didn’t follow the math rigorously. The compromise was for the purpose of making the book accessible to all readers. She did something similar here, but without an apology. Her De Bruijn sequence trick was only sufficient for 32 cards, not a full deck as suggested. The internet has an easier version of this trick with a 48-card deck. That is easier to perform, but harder to explain.

The book mentions several famous women. Christabel Pankhurst. Matilda Joslyn Gage.

The author’s books deal with kissing and women in STEM.

“Wearing lipstick doesn’t actually interfere with my ability to have a complicated thought.”

“This being-friends-with-someone-you-want-to-kiss thing is still pretty new to me.”

“But I’m tired of this—people believing I don’t have a single brain cell in my head because I’m a cheerleader and I paint my nails and I like music people have actually heard of. I get talked over in calculus and asked if I’m in the right place when I show up at math camps and cross-examined about cheating when I ace physics labs.”

Final note: Frozen custard is pretty much the best thing about living in Wisconsin.

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I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang *****

 I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

Jenna & her cousin Jessica attended a competitive private school. Rich, beautiful Jessica won all the awards, got accepted to Harvard, & was lauded by everyone. Jenna, the proverbial poor relation, wished she could be Jessica. Her wish was granted.

The differences between the cousins were stark. Jessica Chen’s family was rich. They lived in a big house, and Jessica’s mom gave her hundred-dollar bills for lunch money. Jessica had a closet of expensive clothes. Everyone expected her to pair up with future doctor, Aaron Cai, the boy who matched Jessica’s achievements, poise, and good looks. Jenna Chen said, “I look like the dollar-store version of Jessica Chen.”

One fateful day, Jessica was accepted to Harvard, Jenna was rejected, and Aaron returned from a “fancy medical youth program in Paris.” Jessica’s family hosted a big celebration. Everyone was happy except Jenna. Jenna couldn’t avoid these celebrations because Jessica was her cousin, but they depressed her and reminded her of her unlucky fate. That night, Jenna and Jessica saw a shooting star and made wishes. Jenna’s was, “I wish I were Jessica Chen.”

From that wish, the book follows the expected story arc until (not really a spoiler) Jenna sees the error of her wish and returns home.

Regardless of the cliched story arc, the book offers a fresh look at the “there’s no place like home” theme.

Aaron’s mother died when he was young, and his father was an absentee parent. Jenna’s mother stepped into the vacancy. As a result, Jenna and Aaron grew up together. Like The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks, this situation produced a strong attraction, an awkwardness from familiarity, and an almost-kiss when puberty and romance approached.

The private school, Havenwood Academy, was divided. “An invisible line runs down the classroom. On one side, you have the legacies, the broad-shouldered boys and sun-kissed girls, the wealthy sons and daughters of law firm owners and university professors and construction magnates. On the other side, you have the Asian kids.”

The book contains a lot of Chinese cuisine and phonetically spelled Chinese with immediate translations.

An easy-to-read YA romance and “there’s no place like home” fable.

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The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks *****

 The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks

Caleb loved Evie long before he tried to kiss her at 13. He’s been afraid to try again. Evie is super smart and fearful. Now they are seniors at an elite high school. Evie chooses Leo for her first boyfriend. Is there any hope for Caleb and Evie?

Evie reasons that you can’t be open and comfortable with the same boy (space) friend, BSF, as the boyfriend you kiss. You must be careful what you reveal to the kissing boyfriend. Caleb has been her BSF since kindergarten. He will and has done anything for her. He knows about her phobias (spiders, social anxiety) and mental health issues (panic attacks, periods of silence). He has been there for her during her crises. She trusts and depends on Caleb and doesn’t dare risk that important BSF relationship with a kiss. A high school romance with jealousy, anxiety, and confusion.

Evie was selected for the prestigious Frontier Prize for high school STEM students last year. She won the opportunity to give one of the five presentations, but she had a panic attack. This year, she is entering with Caleb as her co-author so he can be with her if she is selected to present again. Leo is entering the contest on his own. Caleb contrives to meet Evie online as Milo. Evie is torn between boyfriend Leo, BSF Caleb, and BSF #2 Milo.

Caleb has supportive parents, but is on his own to navigate this teen romance. “I am her best friend. And I love her. And I almost kissed her fourteen times. I keep a mental list of almost-kisses.”

Evie is supported by her therapist, her school friend, Bex, and her mother. Her mother studies insanity in mathematicians, uses the DSM-5 as a parenting manual, and believes medication is the best way to deal with mental health problems. Bex’s father is a conservative pastor who “takes the worst parts of the Bible literally” and made her promise not to date while in high school.

This romance is sprinkled with STEM references and jokes:

“Because you know what they call physicists who fail?” No one takes the bait. “Engineers.”

“Do you remember the fine-tuning problem?” I shake my head, thinking she must mean a warm-up we did in physics. “The constants in our universe—the amount of dark matter and dark energy, the strength of electromagnetic and nuclear forces, even the weight of protons—all have to be almost precisely what they are for conscious life to exist. If any of those things were the tiniest bit different, we wouldn’t be here. And yet, here we are, in a universe perfectly suited for us. It’s entirely improbable.”

“Sure. And I want to talk about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.” “Like, why math is so good at describing the world?” “Exactly. Doesn’t it seem a little uncanny that mathematicians keep predicting things that experimental physicists find, sometimes decades before they do?”

Sex? This book about contemporary high school romance is anachronistically chaste. While there is a lot of talk of kissing and actually kissing, the word “tongue” never occurs and “lips” only shows up three times. Hand holding also plays a big role. “As we walk home through the campus, [Leo] takes my hand in his, wrapping his fingers around mine instead of lacing them together the way Caleb does. It’s different, but nice.”

This book is a beautiful view of high school romance. I wonder if it is er like or if it every was like this.

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The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova ***

 The Inheritance of Orquídea Divinaby Zoraida Córdova

Orquídea is cursed with incredible luck. After five husbands, she never leaves home. Her children and grandchildren come home for her death, but she doesn’t die, and they are cursed. Lots of fantastical things happen, but I never saw the point.

Two key descendants are granddaughter Marimar and grandson Rey. They are both through her second husband. Marimar’s mother is daughter Pena. Rey’s mother is daughter Parcha. Two others are Tati and her daughter Rhiannon. Tatu’s father is Orquidea’s third husband, Hector. Orquidea’s half-sister Ana Cruz also has a major role in this story, along with the Londoño Spectacular Spectacular, a traveling circus, sideshow, and carnival. The book felt like a bad psychedelic trip.

Some excerpts:

When she left Ecuador for good, she learned how to leave pieces of herself behind. Pieces that her descendants would one day try to collect to put her back together. It took twenty years and two husbands, but Orquídea Divina made it to the United States. Despite having been born on a cosmic convergence of bad luck, Orquídea had discovered a loophole. But that’s to come later in her story. This is about the woman and the house that had never been—until one day, they were undeniably there.

“Tell her to use the phone like normal people,” Marimar shouted at the bird. The kids below looked up and, realizing who it was, tittered and whisper-hissed the words bruja loca.

Rhiannon’s rose never stopped changing, and she never stopped talking to the dragonflies that returned, the birds and deer that trailed after her. Mike’s parents eventually called to check up on their granddaughter, but it was Marimar who adopted her. Marimar, who told her the same stories their mothers grew up hearing. It was Rey who taught her how to paint, how to curse, how to find hidden doors. Enrique, who taught her how to apologize. Caleb Jr. who taught her about the science of plants. Ernesta, how to classify the species of fish that should not exist in their valley, but the Montoyas had a habit of ignoring what should be possible.

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Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V Reyes *****

Mango, Mambo, and Murder by RaquelV Reyes

Miriam Quiñones, PhD food anthropologist, married to Robert Smith, with a four-year-old son, lives in NYC. When they move to Florida, his mother’s money settles them in the exclusive Coral Shores, where Miriam confronts snobbery, adultery & murder.

Miriam does not fit into Coral Shores, with its fancy women’s club and fitness center. Regardless, her mother-in-law and husband pressure her into attending a luncheon where she is seated next to Sunny Weatherman, who drops dead, face first, into her chicken salad. Soon, her only ally and high school bestie, Alma, is accused of the murder and of dealing drugs. This puts amateur sleuth Miriam on the case.

One subplot is about her suspicions that her husband is having an affair. Back in NYC, Miriam and Robert lived in a small apartment, and he was dedicated to helping the environment. Now they live in a big house. He is working for a developer and buying furniture and cars. She is unhappy with this new life where they have lots of money, but Robert is never home.A second subplot is about her opportunity to have a cooking show on the local Spanish-language station. This is possible because the station has a childcare center. In this book, wherever Miriam goes, there is childcare available. When she takes a class at the fitness center, they have childcare. If organized childcare is unavailable, the staff at the diner or the local police are happy to entertain Manny, and Manny is always happy to meet new people. Manny is left with a large assortment of people and never experiences separation anxiety.

While this book deals with drugs (cocaine), murder, and anorexia, it is a cozy mystery where Miriam, her family, and friends are never in jeopardy. The book also includes recipes and a cute calico cat named Flossie who has kittens. One is gifted to Manny, who names his calico kitten Camo, as in camouflage.

Miriam is raising Manny to be bilingual. She is the Spanish-language parent, and Robert is the English-language parent. The book includes plenty of untranslated Spanish dialogue. I don’t read or speak Spanish, but I did not find this to be a problem.

A fun cozy mystery.

Author bio: Raquel V. Reyes was raised in oppositional cultures. Her early childhood was not unlike an I Love Lucy rerun with a heavy-accented, handsome Cuban father and a red-headed Southern mother whose smile brightened the room. Raquel’s soul food is croquetas with a Jupiña chaser. She lives in Miami.

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To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage *****

 To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage

Born in 1982, Steph Harper is a gay Cherokee Nation citizen. Since childhood, her life goal was to be an astronaut. Steph’s story began at five with the car accident in which her mother took her and her younger sister away from their abusive father.

The book begins when Steph is five years old. Following a car accident, her mother took Steph and her younger sister Kayla from Texas to settle with other Cherokee families in Oklahoma. The two truths in Steph’s life are that she is a lesbian, and she wants to be a NASA astronaut. Often, these are in opposition. It is difficult to have a social life when she is constantly working to have a resume attractive to NASA and to maintain her fitness. Also, NASA regulations conflict with her desire for a lesbian relationship.

Highlights:

Steph's earliest memories were of the car accident that killed her abusive father. Her sister Kayla had no memories of the father or the accident. Steph blamed this experience for her seriousness and Kayla’s carefree attitude. Steph took everything hard, while Kayla just went with the flow.

Steph’s first step to becoming an astronaut was a good education, starting with the exclusive boarding school, Phillips Exeter. She didn’t go there, but she attended Hollis in Connecticut. (I suspect this is a disguised Wesleyan.)

In high school, she played a male in the school play. When she kissed Meredith, the girl playing opposite her, she discovered that she was gay. Meredith was not.

At college, she met Della Owens, her first love. Della was the subject of a Supreme Court case about the Indian Child Welfare Act. Her Cherokee father wanted custody, but the court sided with the adoptive parents. (See Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl). Kayla visited Steph at school and became pregnant at a college party.

When Steph was selected as an astronaut candidate, she was on a NASA exercise in Hawaii, and sister Kayla protested the activity. Meanwhile, during the exercise, Steph has a crush on another astronaut candidate, Nadia.

The book refers to many historical events: after the 2024 election, she protested a travel ban against people from seven Muslim-majority countries, the border wall, the deportation of immigrants, and pulling out of an agreement on climate change mitigation.

Some quotes/excerpts:

We took off our coats at the door of Alpha Omega and tied them together by the arms. When it was time to go it would be easier to find them in the dark, in the massive pile accumulated on a stranger’s bed. And it was safer, Sandra said, because the number one rule of going out together was going home together. In our first week of school, Sandra had stood in the kitchen and demonstrated the arm-tying trick with her coat and April’s coat, saying, “So now if I’m super drunk, like, black-out drunk, and some guy’s trying to take me back to his dorm, I can’t leave without going through the whole rope of coats. And while I’m standing there wrestling with the arm-knots, you people can save me.”

I was the kind of person who destroyed herself over missed data from an X-ray space telescope. Over a supernova, the death of a star.

The crops were planted by a person we enslaved. The treaty was signed for a profit. The seminary taught mostly what we’d need in the coming white world. My great-grandfather left his daughter in a barn, my grandfather locked his daughter out of the house, and my father drove from one life into another. And my great-grandmother stayed, and my grandmother stayed, and my mother stayed, until she didn’t.

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides *****

 The Silent Patient by AlexMichaelides

Alicia shot her husband five times and hasn’t spoken since. Her only communication is one last painting, The Alcestis, who sacrificed for her husband and didn’t speak again. Psychiatrist Theo takes an interest in Alicia. Nothing is as it seems.

Our narrator is Theo Faber, a psychiatrist who transfers from Broadmoor (prison) to The Grove (mental hospital) to work with Alicia Berenson. Since Alicia won’t speak, he investigates through witnesses. Christian West is another psychiatrist whom Theo discovers has a long-hidden relationship with Alicia. Jean-Felix Martin owns the gallery that shows Alicia’s work. Max Berenson is Alicia’s brother-in-law, who has a problematic relationship with her. Theo is interested in Alicia because they share childhoods in dysfunctional families. They also share difficult marriages. Theo’s wife, Kathy, is having a passionate affair. Theo uses his experience and empathy, together with his research, to inform his therapeutic approach to Alicia.

The book is best read as a mystery. Alicia is the murderer, and Theo is the detective. As Theo interviews people in Alicia’s life, he uncovers clues and makes revelations about Alicia. Many people benefit from Alicia’s continued silence. Theo presses his investigation forward despite making these people uncomfortable and angry. Alicia’s stepmother, Lydia Rose, never liked Alicia. Gallery owner Jean-Felix benefits from her notoriety. Her brother-in-law and former therapist could be embarrassed if Alicia speaks. The book builds to a final surprise ending.

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Weighted Choices by Emma Jane *****

 Weighted Choices by Emma Jane

Food and body image are problems for high school senior Albany Davis. This powerful book shows the full spectrum of her life. Anorexia is serious, but it isn’t her entire life. Too often, people are reduced to their mental health issues. Read this book to get beyond the labels.

Author Emma Jane doesn’t sugarcoat anything. This book confronts anorexia, single parents, financial stress, rape, Down syndrome, math anxiety, bullying, consent, and situationships. How does Albany address a world with numerous challenges?  Many people support her. Cheerleader Cheyenne has been her friend since elementary school. Her single mother. The high school counselor provides a safe space on difficult days. The math teacher offers lunchtime tutoring. The non-judgmental therapist. The friendly Mechanical Engineering nerd. The nurses in the hospital. The good boyfriend. There are no cartoon superheroes, but a realistic army of carers doing their small, but critical, parts.

Albany isn’t the only one with challenges. Fighting got Dylan Wynne kicked out of his high school. His sixteen-year-old brother Riley has Down syndrome. Like Albany, Riley doesn’t let his challenges define his life. Just as this book shows Albany to be more than her anorexia, Riley is more than his Down syndrome. Riley is another team member who guides Albany towards recovery.

In addition to offering hope to people with eating disorders, this book also confronts math anxiety. Albany’s struggles in her precalculus class. Sexual predator Luke uses this to victimize Albany. First, he is the tutor, and then he is a rapist. Rape, math anxiety, anorexia… Albany learns that none of these can be dealt with in isolation.

High school is more than first dates, gossiping, and prom, but those are also part of it. This book is a fast read and a wonderful insight into the reality of recovery.

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After Dark (Ghost Hunters, Book 1) (Harmony) Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krentz) ****

 After Dark by Jayne Castle

Lydia Smith discovered her friend dead in a sarcophagus. Emmett London’s nephew has disappeared along with a valuable family heirloom. How are these events connected? Will their physical attraction prevent them from working together? Steamy romance.

This paranormal romance takes place in the city of Old Cadence on the colony planet of Harmony. The curtain has closed, and contact with Earth is impossible. Lydia has the psychic ability to untangle illusion traps. Emmett has the psychic ability to dissipate ghosts. Both these talents are mediated through amber, which all psychics wear. To safely enter the catacombs, the team must include a tangler and a ghost hunter. Fortunately, Lydia and Emmett are the best. They work together to solve the mysteries of murder and corruption on Harmony.

In addition to the murder of Chester Brady, a disreputable ruin rat who occasionally discovers valuable artifacts, and the disappearance of Quinn, there is the discovery of a jar made of dreamstone, something thought to be impossible. “Dreamstone was well named. Small deposits of it were occasionally found, usually embedded in clear quartz. Not only was it extremely rare, but it had thus far defied any attempt to extract it from the protective quartz. It shattered at the slightest touch, simultaneously appearing to melt and fracture into microscopic shards.”

The politics of Old Cadence is bifurcated into the police, the university, and the respectable members of society (the Restoration Ball and the Society Para-archaeologists) on one side and the Guild (an organization that is only one step above an underworld mob) on the other. Lydia has been fired from her position at the university, and Emmett is from another settlement entirely. Neither is part of the establishment. None of that helps their investigation.

This is a fast-moving thriller with a lot of moving parts and surprise twists.

Lydia has a pet dust bunny. An animal with calm daylight eyes and fierce nighttime hunting eyes. “As long as all you can see are his daylight eyes, there’s nothing to be concerned about. The only time you have to worry about a dust bunny is when he stops looking like a wad of dryer lint.” Emmett raised his brows. “They say that by the time you see the teeth, it’s too late.”

This is an open-door/steamy romance.

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Crystal Gardens (Ladies of Lantern Street Book 1) by Amanda Quick ****

 Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick

Evangeline Ames unmasks fraudsters who prey on rich, innocent Victorian ladies. Lucas Sebastian consults for Scotland Yard on the most ghastly murders. When they meet, it’s paranormal romance at first sight, but they must solve some mysteries first.

Crystal Gardens, located in Little Dixby, is known for its purported paranormal energy. The plants are carnivorous, and people who enter might never be seen again. The second pool has paranormal energy that enhances passion. The third pool is rumored to hide ancient Roman treasure. “Crystal Gardens was divided into two sections. The outer region was called the Day Garden. It surrounded the walls of an elaborate maze, which, in turn, encircled the interior portion of the grounds, known as the Night Garden.” “There are any number of dangers, such as the poisonous thorns and vines that can lock around a wrist or an ankle and chain a man as securely as an iron manacle.”

Evangeline has no family. She works for the Flint and Marsh Agency with Clarissa and Beatrice as a private inquiry agent, predominantly as undercover professional paid companions. When Evangeline uncovered Douglas Mason before he could marry Lady Rutherford’s granddaughter, he attempted to murder her as revenge. He ended up dead and Evangeline ran away to Little Dixby. When Sharpy Hobson attempted to kill Evangeline in Little Dixby, he also met an unfortunate end.

Lucas Sebastian is the owner of Crystal Gardens and lives there with a local girl, Molly, and his man, Stone. He invited Evangeline to stay at Crystal Gardens for her safety. For propriety’s sake, his step-mother Judith, her maid Mrs. Florence Hampton, his step-sister Beth, and step-brother Tony all come to stay at Crystal Gardens. With all these guests, Molly’s family joins the staff.

In summary, Lucas and Evangeline must solve the mysteries of who is trying to murder Evangeline, who murdered Lucas's uncle Chester and his housekeeper, the source of the paranormal energy, and the Roman treasure.

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Obsession in Death by J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) ****

 Obsession in Death by J. D. Robb

Lt. Eve Dallas, partner Det. Delia Peabody and billionaire husband, Roarke, must find the mystery killer who is infatuated with Eve. The killer starts with people who disrespect Eve, escalates to Eve’s friends, and then to Eve. Long series, 40 of 60+

This is a police procedural set in the near future with extensive use of data science, facial recognition, video surveillance, psychological profiling, etc. The plot is straightforward with a single killer and seemingly countless computer-generated suspects. Not a thriller, but also not a cozy. The body count and the tension are low. Most of the action is sifting through clues and suspects. The author's pedigree as a romance writer (Nora Roberts) comes out in a few sex scenes between Eve and Roarke. An easy-to-follow page turner.

This is a standalone book and might be better if the reader is unfamiliar with the 39 previous books. A lot of the book reiterates and reviews Eve’s previous cases. I imagine all this history might be tedious if the reader is familiar with it. The plot follows as Eve and her team mine the previous books for suspects and red herrings.

The psychological profiling theorizes on the nature of friendship, why it is hard to make friends, and why some people have few friends. Lots of pop psychology.

There are many places where the author’s romance pedigree shows through.

“I am what I am, do what I do, and a big part of that is being yours.”

“No sexual edge to any of it. So a female, a straight female, makes sense.” “Or a gay man with good skin.”

Roarke had to deal with her moods. It was in the marriage rules.

Why in bed? Why does she put them or take them in bed?” “Vulnerability? Sleep, sex, sickness. Wouldn’t those be the top reasons for being in bed? All of those make you vulnerable.”

“I could get drunk.” She nodded at the idea as she got into the car. “Not a whole lot drunk, not just a tiny bit drunk. Just the right amount of drunk.” “The perfect amount of drunk,” he agreed. “I need another minute.” “What for?” “Just this.” Just holding her, just feeling her heart beat, smelling her hair. Just that.

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Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase ****

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

Epstein files. 1984. Handmaiden’s Tale. Minority Report. Test tube babies. Reincarnation. Immortality. Surveillance state. Microchips. Conspiracy. Matricide. Patricide. Feminism. LGBTQIA. All set in Botswana. A dystopian novel with a happy ending.

Nelah is married to Elifasi, the assistant commissioner of the Gaborone police force. He is abusive and controlling. She has an affair with Jan, the son of Botswana's wealthiest man. One night, Nelah hits Moremi with her car on a dark road. Rather than reporting the accident, they kill Moremi and bury her. Moremi becomes a furious, disfigured spirit who stalks Nelah and begins systematically killing off Nelah’s family members as revenge.

Between Nelah’s struggle to save her parents (Loeto & Masego Bogasi), her brother Lambani, Elifasi, Jan, and her unborn daughter in the Wombcubator, and Moremi’s compulsion to murder all those people, several conspiracies are uncovered.

A person from Botswana is called a Motswana. People from Botswana are called Batswana. The language of Botswana is Setswana.

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A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn ****

A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn

20 years ago, the Seven Sinners, rich Cambridge students, took a Grand Tour. Lorenzo died. Now, two Sinners have been murdered to avenge his death. Can Veronica & Stoker unmask the killer before more die? A Victorian mystery with many twists & turns.

A Sinister Revenge is the 8^th book in this 10-book series. Veronica Speedwell is the series protagonist, an unconventional Victorian lepidopterist, scientist, and lady adventurer. Her love interest is Revelstoke "Stoker" Templeton-Vane, a natural historian, scientist, and taxidermist. In this book, the butterflies play a minor role, but Stoker restores a Megalosaurus. Throughout the book, Stoker is estranged from Veronica, while she attempts to seduce him.

The mystery begins when Tiberius Templeton-Vane is threatened because of the twenty-year-old death of Lorenzo d'Ambrogio. Twenty years ago, seven Cambridge University gentlemen (The Seven Sinners) went on a Grand Tour that culminated at Cherboys, Tiberius’s ancestral home. Lorenzo’s death was declared an accident, but now two of the group have been murdered to avenge his death. Tiberius stages a reunion at Cherboys to uncover the murderer.

Veronica and Stoker assist in the investigation. Tiberius invited the two remaining survivors, along with their wives. Sir James MacIver and Augusta, his philanthropist wife. Pietro Salviati and his young American wife, Beatrice.

Beatrice has a weak heart and is murdered with strychnine at the reunion dinner. There are many twists and turns before the murder is revealed, and Veronica is reunited with Stoker.

Fossils play a major part in the mystery, and reference is made to the real-life 19th-century fossil collector, Mary Anning.

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The Guest Cottage (Firefly Summer Book 1) by Lori Foster *****

The Guest Cottage by Lori Foster

Marlow resigns from her corporate role in Chicago, moves to Bramble, KY, population 401, to restart her life after a messy divorce. She meets former Marine Cort, but her past follows her… her in-laws, her dead husband’s lover, and their child. A romance.

Marlow Heddings is confident and capable, moving from an executive position to a server at The Dry Frog Tavern. Is there nothing that she can’t excel at? Absolutely nothing. Cort Easton is also capable and confident. His past includes a traumatic childhood and “Twelve Marines died, including my best friend.” The town folk love these two newcomers. They are a matched set and instantly attracted, but romance takes time to develop. The third (and fourth) newcomers to Bramble are Pixie and Andy. Pixie is the lover of Marlow’s dead husband, Dylan. Andy is the child of this affair. A romance.

Pixie was a nineteen-year-old Heddings factory worker when Dylan Heddings, the spoiled scion of Heddings Holdings, found her. Eventually, with Marlow’s help, Pixie found her strength. Pixie didn’t waver. She didn’t shout or cry. She said simply [to Dylan’s parents], “Since you’re not interested in meeting Andy, and you’re only being rude, you should go.”

Cort had three buildings on his lakefront property: his home, the guest cottage, and the lake house. He lived in the big house, Marlow lived in the guest cottage, and Pixie (with her infant, Andy) lived in the small lake house.

Marlow regretted her marriage beyond her husband’s affair. Somehow during the ten years of her marriage, she’d completely lost herself. Gone was the happy, relaxed young woman she’d once been, replaced by a staid, conservative-dressing, matronly businesswoman whom, honestly, Marlow didn’t even like. Regardless, she was independent. She had her own accounts, in her name only. She neither needed nor wanted the Heddings’ money. There were many things she’d let slide over the years, but she’d always protected herself financially.

Fireflies: As [Marlow and Cort] rose to leave the restaurant, she realized that the sky had darkened all around them. Candles glowed from all the tables. Everywhere she looked, she saw the twinkling of fireflies. In that moment, after eating scrumptious food and sharing her news with Cort, the fireflies were positively magical. A perfect accompaniment to a wonderful day. She didn’t want it to end.

The first kiss came a third of the way into the book. “Kiss me.” In the next second, his mouth settled on hers. No timid kiss from this Marine, no sir. He took her order seriously and completely dismantled her understanding of a kiss. This was more. This was amazing. It was the type of kiss that could sweep a levelheaded woman completely away. Happily. When he eased up, she said, “Whew. Way to excel.”

Sex was at the halfway point. Pushing back his chair, Cort said, “I have one stipulation.” He got to his feet and held his hand out to her. “We enjoy that shower together.” “You’re a tough negotiator.” Grinning, Marlow placed her hand in his. “But I’ll agree to your terms.”

Surprisingly, the book has at least two typos. Cort didn’t ask a single question about the conversation he’d surely overhead. She gave Colt a big squeeze.

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Mother of Invention by Katrine Marçal ****

Mother of Invention by Katrine Marçal

10 essays on progress & why it is so slow. It opens with suitcase wheels & ultimately addresses Artificial Intelligence. The author says that when AI transforms the economy, thinking will no longer be on top. The top role will go to caring. Read chapters 7-9.

Why did it take so long to get wheels on suitcases? “At this time, there was this macho feeling. Men used to carry luggage for their wives. It was . . . the natural thing to do.” “In sum, the suitcase began to roll when we changed our perspective on gender: that men must carry, and that women’s mobility must be limited. Gender answers the riddle of why it took some five thousand years for us to put wheels on our bags.”

Was the first tool a spear invented by male warriors or a digging stick invented by female farmers? This comes back to our gross misunderstanding of our own technological history. If that which women engage in cannot be deemed technology, while men are increasingly forced to specialize in war, then our understanding of the history of technology will place all too great a weight on violence and death. Our ability to make and use tools dates back millions of years. Even our relatives, the chimpanzees, create tools. This has made scholars believe that the first tools were probably not made of stone, but instead fashioned from branches, twigs, and other highly perishable materials. “Highly perishable” in this context means unlikely to survive more than, say, 350,000 years.

What happened to Alan Turing? We know what happened to Alan Turing, that brilliant, pollen-fearing mathematician who was so key to the development of the modern computer. He was convicted of “gross indecency” (i.e., homosexuality) and chemically castrated. On June 23, 1954, he was found dead in his bed, a half-eaten apple beside him. He is thought to have poisoned himself with cyanide.

And so we got machines that could defeat Garry Kasparov. But not Serena Williams.

Polanyi’s paradox. It simply means that you can do more than you can explain. The second area in which the machines are lacking is human creativity. Who knows what technology will be capable of in decades to come, but humans are currently much better than robots at jobs that require a good dose of creative thought. If you have a hard time explaining in simple terms what exactly it is you do at work every day, your job is probably not in the danger zone for automation.

The first industrial revolution replaced physical strength as the economic engine with intellectual strength. In the AI revolution, intellectual power will be replaced by caring and creativity. AI will replace engineers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, and architects, but not creatives or carers.

This book was written in Swedish and translated into English under the supervision of the Swedish author, who speaks fluent English. The Swedish title is Att uppfinna världen: hur historiens största feltänk satte käppar i hjulet or Inventing the World: How History’s Greatest Misconception Held Progress Back. Note that the Swedish title does not lead with sexism and gender inequality.

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Three Days in June: A Novel by Anne Tyler *****

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Gail Baines attends her daughter’s wedding with her ex-husband, an old boyfriend, memories of the affair that led to her divorce, and the groom’s hyper-organized mother. The day before, Gail was dismissed from her job. A novella of many emotions.

Gail’s ex-husband, Max, shows up unexpectedly.  “He came to the house. I just happened to be home because…and he showed up with his cat, wanting to stay in my guest room.” Said Gail. “Great! Because no way can he stay with me. Kenneth’s allergic to cats.” Said Debbie. “But I don’t want him!” “It’ll only be for one night. Or two at the most, depending on how late things run tomorrow.” “Two! He was planning to stay at your place on your actual wedding night?” “It won’t be so bad.” “But you know how he always takes a place over. Little messes everywhere he goes.”

When the Headmistress at Gail’s school, Marilee Burton, announces her retirement, Gail expected to be promoted from Assistant Headmistress. Instead, Marilee is going to hire from outside, and the new headmistress is bringing her own assistant. No promotion. No job. The reason given is that Gail doesn’t have people skills.

Gail’s anxieties include wedding etiquette questions. Reverend Gregory asks, “Who is it who blesses this couple’s choice?” Gail and Max reply, “We do.” Gail worries that people will think that they are married. She worries about what to wear and makes Max buy a suit. She goes to a hair salon. “It had been years since I’d been to a beauty parlor.” After getting her hair done, she wants it to revert to her old style. She’s worried that Debbie will join the groom’s family, and she won’t see her again. “Kenneth was going to expect Debbie to spend the holidays with his family.”

Aside from Gail’s insecurities, we learn that others see her as competent. A while back, when the nurse at my school was going through a divorce, she told me, “What I’m aiming for is that Steve and I should have a civilized friendship with each other, the way you and your ex do.” “We do?”

In three days, Gail survives the wedding weekend and learns much about herself.

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