April Mendis

“Everything I Never Told You” unfolds beautifully. There are a lot of elements to this book that affect me in a personal way as a half-Asian person who grew up in the United States. The family dynamic is fascinating and somehow familiar. If I could give this more than five stars, I would. The word that comes to mind that sums up the whole book for me is “devastating”. While reading scenes within which my own feelings as teenager were clearly remembered and depicted, I felt actual pain. In my chest, in my eyes. There are casual lines throughout that hit me with the full weight of memory. Identity is the critical component of what propels this drama and, by the end of the book, I could only identify myself as a sobbing mess.

I found The Exhibitionist to be an enjoyable and compelling read. The story's immediately perceptible rising dread builds throughout the course of this family drama as characters are unleashed. Those who arrive fully formed (primarily Ray, the petulant and abusive patriarch-baby around whom this family orbits) devolve and wither in our hands as an important weekend unfolds. The weakest upon introduction eventually make the most sense; we come to understand them - root for them - as they shed their timidity and live for themselves.

This is not a book I could have left unfinished and the ending did not disappoint. I look forward to reading more work by Charlotte Mendelson. Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.
Publication date planned for July 4, 2023.

I adored this cozy mystery. As far as I'm concerned, this can't be made into a charming TV series fast enough. Even though I'm still a couple of decades younger than our amateur detective group, they were easy to identify with and I loved their love of British crime procedurals. The stakes are a bit higher than most of the other cozy-genre novels I've read, but there is plenty of cake and tea to warm the soul. The characters - main and peripheral - unfold beautifully and I was totally satisfied at the end of the story. I'm keeping this author on my radar because I want to keep reading the adventures of Fiona, Daisy, and Partial Sue.

Thank you so much to Joffe Books and NetGalley for the copy! This book is due out in mid-December 2022.

Pure suburban nightmare. I ripped through this one after reading Edward Lorne's review; the story lives up to the incredibly high expectations set therein. Now I'm going to walk my dogs and have a good, long think about my neighbors...

In April, I will turn 50. In just under a half-century of reading, I have had many favorite books. Light from Uncommon Stars is the best book I have ever read. Like Shizuka and Katrina’s music, the words evoked/unlocked memory after memory for me; I wept. To read this book is to be broken open, chapter after chapter. To be stabbed, to be held, to be dangled, to be soothed.

This review is my applause, and it thunders. My only question is: what kind of deal did Ryka Aoki have to make to create art that does this? And how can I save her from the payment that must be due?