Book Reviews

Canadian author Kim Fu provides 12 entertaining, oft challenging and daring stories in her latest award-winning collection (Feb. 2022, 232 pages).
She does a skillful job of taking extraordinary circumstances, such as a tween girl sprouting wings and turning that into a believable rite of passage. In another, a Bridezilla meets a sea monster and what follows is a witty commentary on social expectations and ecological consequences.
All the stories blur the lines between reality and the fantastic, and the weird and mundane, all while shining a spotlight on human contradictions concerning sexuality, death, guilt and technology.
As a result, all prove memorable for different reasons, making this collection one of the few worth reading in its entirety.
AWARDS: An NPR, Book Riot, Chicago Public Library, Tor.com, South China Morning Post, Ms. Magazine, and Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2022; 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Prize Winner; Time Magazine Top 10 Fiction Book of 2022

A fast-paced caper (288 pages) with enough twists and turns to thoroughly entertain makes Kirsten Chen’s third novel well worth your time. But it is the Singapore native’s cutting commentary about the stereotype of model minorities, materialism and the American Dream that makes this work resonate after completion and a good book club selection.
The story centers on two Asian Americans – a mysterious woman knee deep in the illegal counterfeit handbag trade and a new mother and model minority stereotype who finds herself sucked into a shiny world where, as Chen writes “Money can’t buy you happiness … but it can get you a decent fake.”

This is a clever, evocative YA reimagining for Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," told from the perspective of Elizabeth Lavenza. I listened to the audiobook adaptation after a friend recommended the book to me, and it was truly difficult to turn it off/put it down. There are rattling, emotional moments and interesting characterization details throughout, particularly in regard to Victor and Elizabeth's complicated, consuming relationship. Elizabeth's narration is strong, I'd say, and the audiobook narrator (Katharine Lee McEwan) performed different character's voices very well/in a way that helped build the atmosphere rather than detract from it. A lovely book!!

If it weren’t so gorgeously written, it’d be too wincingly real to read. I felt deeply connected to Edie in all her messiness and compulsive curiosity. Leilani’s characters are all their own: weird, self-possessed, sort of perverse, clearly loved into being.

O'Neill's 20-year investigation succeeds at systematically breaking down an impressive amount of the infamous case's centrifugal details and characters, many previously unknown, untold or cast as insignificant. The guy's manic fixation is contagious. The only thing I found unnecessary was the frequency and extent to which O'Neill expressed self-doubt in the 'coda' sections of many chapters, second guessing "where it all goes." It doesn’t matter that there aren’t neat ends; his scrutiny has produced more than enough evidence not only to explode the popular understanding of the details surrounding the Manson story, but also suggest far-reaching implications for all of us in the process.

Kids ages 9-12 who are looking for a little mystery, intrigue and lots of ghosts will find just what they need in Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland. Ophie discovers she can see ghosts the night her father was killed by a mob of townsfolk when they found out he voted. She and her mother go to live with her aunt in Pittsburgh and there her aunt helps Ophie understand the depth and seriousness of her new found gift.

There was no way I was not going to read a book with the title of Love in the Time of Serial Killers! It did not disappoint. It is an unconventional romance with friendship, mourning, and true crime thrown in. Phoebe is a PhD candidate(she's writing her disseration on the true crime genre) who has to spend the summer in Florida helping her brother Connor clean out their childhood home after their father passes away. For Phoebe it is very complicated - she was estranged from her father and has unpleasant memories of her childhood. On top of that she suspects her neighbor Sam is a serial killer! Since I am a fan of true crime, I enjoyed how the author wove in facts about real true crime in the story. If you like quirky romances and a fan of true crime, you will enjoy this book.

If you are a fan of locked room mysteries, you will enjoy Miss Aldridge Regrets! It is a historical mystery set in 1936 London. Lena Aldrige is a mixed race nightclub singer in a Soho nightclub. The club's owner is murdered and Lena isn't sure what she is going to do when a chance of lifetime drops in her lap. She is approached by a man who said his boss knew her father and wants to offer her a job starring in a Broadway show and will pay passage for her first-class on the Queen Mary. Lena takes the offer and is looking forward to her new life in New York. But as her trip unwinds, people on the ship start to be murdered and she looks like the prime suspect. There are a few other surprised for Lena as well. This was a wonderful mystery and a great start to the Canary Club Mystery Series.

Sam and Katie find a stray dog and impulsively paint a blue flower on it. This dog is suddenly befriended by everyone in town, even Sam’s and Katie’s arch enemies. Blue Daisy by Helen Frost is a wonderful story about community, written in alternating chapters of prose and poetry. This book can help newly fluent readers, ages 7 – 10, stretch their skills.