Books Dani Likes

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

Hello Kittens! This week I’ve got a treat for you in Rebecca Serle’s The Dinner List. We’ve all pondered the question of who we would like to have dinner/a conversation with, dead or alive, but most of us have probably not had those people show up to our birthday dinner. The concept on this one was original and there were plenty of emotional twists to keep the story moving at a good pace. This one is great for those who enjoy an emotional read with protagonists in their 30s…and also fans of Audrey Hepburn (are there non-fans of A.H.? Is that even a thing?). You’ve got a bit of a wait until this one gets published in September, but go ahead and add it to your TBR list now.

Title: The Dinner List

Author: Rebecca Serle

Author website: https://www.rebeccaserle.com/

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publish date: 09/11/2018 (projected)

ISBN: 9781250295200

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

To be honest, I first fell in love with the concept for this book. The main character, Sabrina (yes, like that one), makes a list of people she would want to have dinner with, dead or alive, at the urging of her best friend Jessica. She doesn’t think much about it, really just doing it to keep Jessica from forcing her to make a dream board, but then, several years later, she enters a restaurant for her 30^th birthday, expecting to see only Jessica, and is surprised to see an extra 4 guests. Seated before her are her ex-fiancee, her deceased father, a beloved former professor, and Audrey Hepburn. I immediately made my own list, just in case.

What follows is an emotionally fraught story about love, forgiveness, and growing up. Over the course of the night, the story of why all of these people have gathered here is revealed, with chapters rotating between a decade in the past and the current dinner. The story of the dinner party is equally as interesting as the retelling of the past, in fact, at times it reads like two completely different books, which could be jarring for some readers. I thought the story was taking a predictable course, but then a surprise twist about ¾ of the way through absolutely changed how I viewed everything about the main subplot regarding Sabrina and her ex, Tobias. By the end, it was late at night and I was in tears. It was just that good.

Comparisons have been made between this book and Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter, but I think this story was a little less obtuse than Sweetbitter was, which for me made it a more pleasant read. The Dinner List has a writing style that is introspective, but fairly simple, which leaves it open to a wide audience. For those readers who have never experienced magical realism before, I think this would make a great introduction.

Disclaimer: I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

For The Dinner List, there are a few bedroom scenes. Nothing too steamy, just your now-somewhat-typical 20s relationship.

The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne

Hello Kittens!

I have for you this week a novel of psychological suspense from an established author. This one has been out for a little while and it has been stalking my TBR pile for months. I don’t remember a lot of fanfare when this one came out, but a few blogs mentioned it and I saw it in a few of the trade reviews and I am so glad that I gave it a try. It gave me goosebumps, and I had to put it down at one point because I started hearing noises around the apartment (it was my cat, the scamp). Enjoy!

Title: The Marsh King’s Daughter

Author: Karen Dionne The Marsh King's Daughter

Author Website: http://www.karen-dionne.com/

Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York

ISBN: 9780735213005

Release Date: June 13, 2017 (hardback) April 17, 2018 (paperback)

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Buy the Book: Amazon Barnes and Noble

The Marsh King’s Daughter will appeal to those of you who love stories that feel like they were ripped from the headlines. I can remember staying glued to the television when they found Jaycee Dugard, and this story fed that inner desire to know as much about these types of kidnappings as possible. Our narrator for this story is Helena Pelletier, and at first glance she seems like a reserved but otherwise normal wife and mother living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but this is a woman who is keeping secrets from everyone. Helena is enjoying a day out with one of her daughters when she hears news that would be welcome to most people: her father is in town. The problem is that she receives this news via a radio alert because her father has just escaped from a maximum security prison where he is serving a life sentence for crimes committed against Helena and her mother.

The authorities are desperate to find her father, but so is Helena, so she can send him back to prison herself. As she hunts him through the swamps of the Upper Peninsula she will confront her conflicted past relationship with the man that most of the world views as a monster. Think of this story as Emma Donoghue’s Room with an adult narrator and several adventure sequences.

Helena is a gripping character and the ways she attempts to rectify her former life with her current one will keep you engaged throughout the story. There is a fair amount of space spent describing the natural characteristics of the swampland that could read a little dry if it’s not your thing, but it definitely helps the reader get into the proper desolate mindset.

This is a solid story with a plot that could be off-putting to some and absolutely gripping to others. You may think you have it all figured out, but Dionne throws in the perfect number of plot twists all the way to the end and Helena is a far more complex character than it at first appears.

No disclaimer: I got this one from my local library and you should too!

My rating:

lemonade_icon 3 glasses of lemonade= a book that you could recommend to coworkers and friends you don’t know very well.

Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris

Hello Kittens! Today I present for your reading pleasure, a novel of psychological suspense that is going to have you hooked until the last page. It came out a few days ago on the 19^th (which was a big pub date for a lot of titles that I’ve read recently). This one kept me engaged for two days of very enjoyable suspense. I am a big fan of this genre, and I especially love to find a new author. I am going to be adding B.A. Paris to my automatic TBR list from now on. Without further ado!

Title: Bring Me Back

Author: B.A. Paris

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

ISBN: 9781250151339

Pub Date: 06/19/18

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Buy the Book: Amazon Barnes and Noble

What an amazing psychological suspense novel! I think readers of this genre are going to love this one, but it is going to have a broader appeal because it lacks some of the gore and graphic detail that many titles have been trending towards in the last few years.

Bring Me Back is the story of Layla and Finn…and also of Ellen and Finn. A short time into their intense relationship, Finn and Layla go on vacation together and on their way back Layla disappears without a trace. Finn has trouble getting the police not to suspect him or murdering Layla, but once he convinces them, he spends years wondering about what happened to Layla, often envisioning the worst and blaming himself.

But then, almost a decade later, he meets Ellen, Layla’s older sister, at a memorial service to mark the anniversary of Layla’s disappearance. Ellen is extremely different from Layla, and their relationship progresses at a slower pace, but they are soon engaged. As they overcome the gossip of people who think their engagement is improper, Finn and Ellen began finding items that remind them of Layla. It seems Layla may be back, and neither of them knows how to feel about it. Neither of them can figure out why Layla won’t come out in the open so they can all deal with this, and the story takes a sinister turn when Layla’s symbols and messages start to turn against Ellen. It’s possible the town gossips aren’t the only ones who don’t approve of this wedding. But what does Layla really want from Finn and Ellen? Where has she been all this time? And what will answering those questions cost them all?

This was a fast-paced story, rich in details that had me hooked from the first few chapters. At 304 pages, this is a quick read that I got through in less than two days. While I thought I had the major plot twist figured out about halfway through the story (and I did), I was still dying to get through the rest of the story to find out how all of the threads came together. This is some of the best psychological suspense that I have read in a while. I had never heard of B.A. Paris before this, but I will definitely be going back to read her earlier novels, Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown. There’s just enough violence, with a little gaslighting mixed in to make you question Finn’s sanity and Layla’s, with multiple perspectives extremely well-represented.

Disclaimer: I received access to an e-galley of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: This genre isn’t for everyone, but there’s not really any gore and no swearing (at least none that I remember) so I give it:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan

Hello Kittens!

Today I’ve got an upcoming YA novel for you from an author making her solo debut. This one has a fun concept and loveable characters that will put you right back in a high school state of mind. It is being published tomorrow, on June 19th, so abracadabra and enjoy!

Title: The Art of Escaping

Author: Erin Callahan The Art of Escaping

Author’s Website: https://erinpcallahan.com/

ISBN: 9781944995652

Publisher: Amberjack Publishing

Publish Date: 06/19/18

Genre: Young Adult

Buy the Book: Amazon Barnes and Noble

Remember that weird kid in high school who liked magic? The one who everyone avoided and refused to make eye contact with? The Art of Escaping is the story of that kid’s life…if that kid had actually been a really cool, witty teen girl named Mattie who was into Jazz Age history and could perform death-defying stunts.

This book did what I think all the best realistic YA fiction should do: it reminded me of high school. Specifically, the dialogue was so witty, direct, and current that it was hard not to imagine these characters as anything but friends.

My one criticism, if you can call it such, is that despite Mattie’s awesomeness, in my opinion, Will with Two L’s gets the best lines.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is that is is a YA novel that does not focus on romance too heavily. This story acknowledges some of the other pressing issues in teen’s lives.

The pacing is fairly quick, covering a span of several months in less than 350 pages. The backstory is complex and there is a moment when you are reading excerpts from Akiko’s diary where you are going to be very confused if you pay attention to chronology, but this blip is explained shortly thereafter in a fairly convincing manner, but with a twist that changes how the reader will view these diary entries going forward (I even went back and re-read them).

I don’t think we get enough of the character of Miyu, a fascinating recluse who suddenly isn’t shut in anymore, but the truth is that the story is not about the adults.

I was also a little surprised that Harry Houdini’s story was not featured more prominently in this, given that he was mentioned in several of the blurbs I read before digging into the story. He feels like more of a footnote in the story structure, but anchors the history of escapology for those of us who are less familiar with the art form.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic copy of this book from BookishFirst/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

The Myth of Perpetual Summer by Susan Crandall

Hello Kittens! I have got a treat of a book for you today. I can’t even hide my Southern bias here, but this is a book that is going to make you want to sip sweet tea on a porch swing on a hot day. Susan Crandall is a well-established author (you may remember her for Whistling Past the Graveyard) and she has definitely upped her game for this book, which will be coming out in a couple of days on the 19th.

Title: The Myth of Perpetual Summer

Author: Susan Crandall

Author website: http://susancrandall.net/

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publish date: 06/19/18

ISBN: 9781501172014

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

I read Susan Crandall’s Whistling Past the Graveyard in a book club that I was leading a few years back, and it was pretty much universally loved. While Crandall stays firmly in Southern territory, this novel was a step above Whistling in terms of the subject matter and the depth of the characters.

The Myth of Perpetual Summer is the story of Tallulah Mae James and her family, set in Mississippi in the late 1950s. Tallulah is a young child growing up in the shadow of the James family legacy, a Southern family with seemingly deep roots in their town of Lamoyne, MS. But while appearances matter immensely to Tallulah’s Gran, Tallulah herself tries to be a little more practical about her family’s problems. She and her three siblings, an older brother and two younger fraternal twins, are constantly dealing with their volatile parents and the pressures of living in a small Southern town. These pressures come to a head the Fall of 1963 when her brother is arrested for murder.

We are introduced to Tallulah initially several years in the future in 1972 when she is preparing to return to Lamoyne because her other brother is being charged with murder. We learn that she has built a new life for herself and that she is living in California because of an event from her past that forced her to flee. We spend the rest of the story hopping back and forth in time, piecing the rest of the story together.

Tallulah is a strong character and seeing her development and growth in the face of unimaginable circumstances is inspiring. There are several moments in this story that will make you question whether she can truly count on anyone other than herself. This story destroyed me and then built me back up again. It’s the type of Southern family story that rings so true, you’ll want to pass this book along to your family with the comment, “Remind you of anyone?”

The writing is authentic and clear. I would have loved to get more backstory on what happened with Walden, and the epilogue came way too soon for my taste, but this story was an exquisite read. I highly recommend this one to anyone looking for their next good read.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader copy of this book from the publisher/BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

lemonade_icon 5 glasses of lemonade= you could recommend this book to anyone. There is nothing in here that is going to upset anyone and you could start handing it out on street corners. (This kind of book is a Librarian’s dream. As much as we love good literature, suggesting a book for someone can be nerve-wracking work that can backfire BIG TIME.)