Jeneva Rose is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including the multi-million copy bestseller, The Perfect Marriage. Her work has been translated into more than two dozen languages and optioned for film/tv. Originally from Wisconsin, she now lives in Chicago with her husband, Drew, and her English bulldogs, Winston and Phyllis.
Historically, I love everything Jeneva Rose writes, so I absolutely was looking forward to reading this one. The story is told through Sarah’s and Adam’s point of views in alternating chapters. The characters are well developed and the story kept me guessing until the very end. It wasn’t too heavy, but heavy enough to keep me invested. I can count on Jeneva Rose for a solid story with great characters and a satisfying end. This novel empowers women. It lets the strong female lead, Sarah, rise to the top. Her achievements are celebrated, regardless of the way she wraps up the ending. We are left questioning her sanity and ethics, as intended. I really enjoyed the book.
Adam Morgan – Sarah’s husband, failing author, resentful of his wife’s success, unfaithful
Sarah Morgan- Adam’s wife, prestigious Washington DC lawyer
Kelly Summers – Adam’s mistress that is stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s lake house; has an abusive husband
Ann – Sarah’s assistant at the law firm
Matthew – Sarah’s gay best friend
Bob – Sarah’s fellow lawyer and nemesis at the law firm
Kent – the original partner at Sarah’s law firm
Eleanor – Adam’s mother, hates the fact that Sarah works, has a volatile relationship with Sarah and dotes on her son
Deputy Scott Summers – Kelly’s abusive husband, a deputy at the police department
Sheriff Stevens – boss at the police station that is holding Adam
Don Winslow has written twenty-one novels, including The Border,The Force, The Kings of Cool, Savages, The Winter of Frankie Machine and the highly acclaimed epics The Power of the Dog and The Cartel.
The son of a sailor and a librarian, Winslow grew up with a love of books and storytelling in a small coastal Rhode Island town. He left at age seventeen to study journalism at the University of Nebraska, where he earned a degree in African Studies. While in college, he traveled to southern Africa, sparking a lifelong involvement with that continent.
Winslow’s travels took him to California, Idaho and Montana before he moved to New York City to become a writer, making his living as a movie theater manager and later a private investigator in Times Square – ‘before Mickey Mouse took it over’. He left to get a master’s degree in Military History and intended to go into the Foreign Service but instead joined a friend’s photographic safari firm in Kenya. He led trips there as well as hiking expeditions in southwestern China, and later directed Shakespeare productions during summers in Oxford, England.
While bouncing back and forth between Asia, Africa, Europe and America, Winslow wrote his first novel, A Cool Breeze On The Underground, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. With a wife and young son, Winslow went back to investigative work, mostly in California, where he and his family lived in hotels for almost three years as he worked cases and became a trial consultant. A film and publishing deal for his novel The Death and Life of Bobby Z allowed Winslow to be full-time writer and settle in his beloved California, the setting for many of his books. Branching into television and film, Winslow, with his friend Shane Salerno, wrote a television series, UC/Undercover, and the two collaborated on the screenplay of his novel, Savages.
His novels have attracted the attention of filmmakers and actors such as Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Twentieth Century Fox has optioned his next novel about a NYPD cop as well as The Carteland The Power of the Dog. Earlier books Savagesand The Death and Life of Bobby Z were made into films, too.
In addition to his novels, Winslow has published numerous short stories in anthologies and magazines such as Esquire, the LA Times Magazine and Playboy. His columns have appeared in the Vanity Fair, Vulture, Huffington Post, CNN Online, and other outlets.
Winslow is the recipient of the Raymond Chandler Award (Italy), the LA Times Book Prize, the Ian Fleming Silver Dagger (UK), The RBA Literary Prize (Spain) and many other prestigious awards.
He lives in California with his wife of thirty-one years.
Don Winslow returns to the world of PI Boone Daniels and the Dawn Patrol. Doug is one of the Dawn Patrol regulars. He has a miserable job as an accountant for a payday loan company. He has an unsatisfying marriage to Carli, who looks down on him even though she’s only five foot three. He is not exactly a joyful person. He doesn’t exude happiness or enthusiasm. But while surfing, Doug is in a state approaching euphoria. He loves it. He’s happy. Otherwise…not so much.
One September morning, Doug accidentally runs right into another surfer on the beach. There are rules about these things. The other guy should call Doug a jerk, Doug should say, “my bad”, and they should both paddle back out and move on. Problem is, the other surfer doesn’t want to move on. He wants to fight. And for once in his life, Doug wants to fight back.
I love a good underdog story, and this scratches that itch. Doug sticks it to everyone he should by the end, and finds peace. I think this is kind of what we all would like at some point in life.
Cara Bastone is a full time writer who lives and writes in Brooklyn with her husband, son, and an almost-goldendoodle. Her goal with her work is to find the swoon in ordinary love stories. She’s been a fan of the romance genre since she found a grocery bag filled with her grandmother’s old Harlequin Romances when she was in high school. She’s a fangirl for pretzel sticks, long walks through Prospect Park, and love stories featuring men who aren’t crippled by their own masculinity.
True love is put to the test in this romantic comedy brought to hilarious life by Santino Fontana (Frozen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Stephanie Einstein, and a full cast!
This Psych 312 assignment just might send me off the deep end. Determining whether love at first sight really exists with Robbie Moravian as my project partner, of all people?
He’s the sappiest man alive, so upbeat I could scream, and clearly rooting for happy endings at every turn. How does he not learn from experience considering our own meet-cute last semester almost got us expelled?
But we both need to pass this course to graduate. So we’re interviewing five random couples about their meet-cutes and relationships and spending all this time together. Which is certainly…educational.
Because it turns out Robbie isn’t just the charming golden boy I thought I knew. There’s some actual depth beneath all those lame dad jokes and the ‘70s-inspired thrift wardrobe (even if he does look ridiculously great in a flared collar). Next thing I know he’s walking me back to my office on the regular and finishing all my sentences and protecting me from freak storms, and…
Wait. Could Robbie be right? Can happy endings really come from unhappy beginnings? Is he about to change my entire world view?
Group projects are the worst.
I’m not a big romance fan, so I thought I would dip my toe in the genre by listening to a short audiobook that is currently free on Audible. It is 4 hours and 35 minutes long and honestly a delight. It is light, fun, and spins a hopeful look on romance and love. The narrators are perfect for the roles, in my opinion, and I highly recommend the listen. The plot is based on Robbie and Marigold working together on a romantic psych project. They interview several couples about their respective relationships for their class. I love that a lesbian, divorced, and elderly couples were included in the work. The professor of their class also references his husband, Scott. I am big on inclusion. This is a great choice if a break from serious, intense, or emotional reads is needed. It makes me miss that flirty, light stage in the very beginning of relationships… a little.
Marigold – 27 years old, working on her bachelor’s degree, working on a project for Psych 312 class with Robbie, striving to prove love at first sight does not exist, parents are divorced science teachers employed at the same school, light brown hair, petite
Robbie – 28 years old, working on his bachelor’s degree, working on a project for Psych class with Marigold, striving to prove love at first sight exists, father owns a car dealership and mother is a retired superintendent, tall, has an infectious smile
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
I HIGHLY recommend listening to this book instead of reading it. It really enhances the content. I love podcasts, and I follow several closely. That was my first attraction to this book. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Jewell’s books, but never read any. The beginning of this book was confusing to me, and wasn’t very fluid. It may have been just my frame of mind, of course. Alix has kids still at home, and Josie has grown kids, but I believe one was still at home (Erin), although there is mystery surrounding her from the beginning. Josie is quickly obsessed with all things about Alix’s life. She’s a bit of a kleptomaniac and steals little things from Alix’s house. The characters are fascinating and the book kept me on my toes until the very last words. I will definitely seek out more Lisa Jewell books.
Josie Fair – wife of Walter Fair, whom she married when she was 18, and the mother of Erin and Roxy Fair
Walter Fair – husband of Josie Fair, whom he married when he was 43
Erin Fair – Josie and Walter’s daughter, reclusive in her room
Roxie Fair – Josie and Walter’s daughter, left home at 16, possibly anger issues
Fred – Josie’s dog
Pat O’Neil – Josie’s mother
Alix Summers – popular podcast host, and the wife of Nathan Summer
Nathan Summers – Alix’s husband, works in high-end real estate leasing
Eliza Summers -Alix and Nathan’s daughter
Leon Summers – Alix and Nathan’s son
Mandy – Office Manager at Alex and Nathan’s kids’ school
Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry. She is the author of five novels including The Guest List and The Hunting Party. She lives in London.
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Told in rotating points of view, this Tilt-A-Whirl of a novel brims with jangly tension – an undeniably engrossing guessing game.” — Vogue
“[A] clever, cliff-hanger-filled thriller.” — People
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide…
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.
The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.
The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge
Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.
This starts with the prologue. We see at the very beginning that Ben is most likely in some kind of trouble. An intruder enters his apartment and he is obviously afraid.
Jess arrives to the apartment and immediately thinks she sees a shadowy person crouched hiding behind a car. She then looks up and sees someone watching her from a window above. Soon, after talking to several people in the building, she knows that something is very off with the situation and Ben may be in some trouble. She is also in some obvious trouble and running from something or someone.
Foley creates characters that you can’t quite trust, so everyone is under just a little bit of suspicion at least. I love that. The characters are well-developed, as usual, and the ending will knock your socks off as well. I gave this four stars and would definitely recommend. I read it in a few days, so definitely a solid page-turner.
Ben (3rd floor) – Benjamin Daniels, missing when the story begins, aspiring writer, journalist, Jess’ half brother (they share a mom)
Jess Hadley – brave, intelligent, independent, Ben’s half sister, from London, former foster kid
Antoine (1st floor) – angry alcoholic that abuses his wife
Dominique – Antoine’s wife, they split early on
Sophie Meunier (penthouse) – rich, 50 years old, married to Jacque
Benoit – Sophie’s silver whippet
Jacque – Sophie’s husband, business owner, frequently travels,
Concierge (lives in guard cabin) – elderly lady, very private, cleans and watches over the property
Mimi (4th floor) – 19 years old, convent educated, naive, fragile, and maybe mentally compromised, obsessed with Ben
Camille – Mimi’s roommate, promiscuous, polar opposite of Mimi
Nick Miller (2nd floor) – unemployed but obviously rich, oxy addict, attended Cambridge with Ben
Theo Mandelson – Ben’s Paris editor
Irina – the mystery girl that surfaces later in the story
New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Amazon bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
A New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller and winner of a 2023 ITW Thriller Award. This unbelievably twisty read will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put down The Housemaid!
“I got severe whiplash from the twistiest turns… Every time I thought I had it figured out… WRONG!!!… I am still reeling… outstanding… If you love a top notch psychological thriller that will have you questioning your own sanity, then this 5 star read is for you.” NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“What a wild ride!!! Freida definitely delivered the best twisty ending… Gripping from start to finish… honestly, I just could not put it down… An absolutely mind-blowing shocker that kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat literally until the very end.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“One wild ride!… So many twists and turns… I was hookedright away – I even read my Kindle while waiting in my kid’s school pick-up line so I wouldn’t have to put this book down!… addictive… pure perfection!” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book was hyped up quite a bit, so I shied away from reading it for awhile, then I wished I’d read it sooner. It was a bit more sinister and dark than I expected, but I figured out some parts of the ending pretty early on. Halfway through, there is a huge switch-a-roo that I knew was coming but couldn’t put my finger on exactly what the author had in store… It lived up to its reputation as being a thrilling page-turner. I like listening to books with multiple voices instead of reading them, and I highly recommend the Audible version of this one. I was very happy with the ending. It will not disappoint. I have the sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, on my reading short list.
Wilhelmina “Millie” Calloway – a young woman, 27 years old, with a criminal past, who is employed as a housekeeper by a rich woman, Nina Winchester, with a seeming mental health condition. At 27, Millie Calloway emerges from a decade-long imprisonment, embarking on a challenging quest for employment. Her journey leads her to the Winchester household as a live-in housemaid, a role she accepts with eagerness, given her limited options due to her criminal past.
Nina Winchester – the story’s co-narrator and a woman in her late thirties, presents a facade of the affluent, troubled housewife.
Andrew Winchester – initially seen as a sympathetic character trapped in a loveless marriage, is gradually revealed as the antagonist.
Cecelia “Cece” Winchester – Nina’s young daughter, initially appears as an odd, demanding child.
Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry. She is the author of five novels including The Paris Apartment and The Guest List. She lives in London.
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLERS OF THE YEAR
“I loved this book. It gave me the same waves of happiness I get from curling up with a classic Christie…The alternating points of view keep you guessing, and guessing wrong.” — Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient
“Evok[es] the great Agatha Christie classics…Pay close attention to seemingly throwaway details about the characters’ pasts. They are all clues.” — New York Times Book Review
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
Lucy Foley was suggested to me by a dear college friend (Thank you, Erika!), so I knew she’d be my next read. We find out pretty early on that there is something mysterious that happened while the guys were at boarding school together that may have included someone dying. It’s mysterious as to who or what throughout the book. We also find out that something happened with/to Charlie on the stag (bachelor party) that was pretty severe but no one will talk about it.
The narrators for this book are Aoife, Hannah, Charlie, Olivia, and Johnno. Each chapter of the book bounces between the perspective of each of these characters and between the present and past. At first, the sequencing irritated me, but when I got to the middle of the book, I absolutely loved it. There are some twists, folks, and I WAS HOOKED. The more I read, the easier and easier it is to guess the endings. This one surprised me, and because of that, I highly recommend. I am reading The Paris Apartment next, and I’m excited to see if that one lives up to Foley’s reputation.
Olivia – Julia’s bridesmaid and half sister (they share a mother), withdrawn and not at all happy to be at her sister’s wedding, recently had a traumatic breakup
Will – Julia’s groom, tv star
Julia (Jules) – Will’s bride, owns a magazine called “The Download”
Hannah – Charlie’s wife, feels like a fish out of water in the posh, expensive surroundings of the venue and the wedding guests, the “plus one”
Alice – Hannah’s older sister, commited suicide
Charlie – Hannah’s husband and Julia’s best friend and best man, MC for the wedding day/night
Aoife (pronounced EE-fa) – the wedding planner and owns the wedding venue property
Freddy – Aoife’s husband and resident chef on the property
Pete – groomsman, boarding school friend
Femmy – groomsman, boarding school friend
Duncan – groomsman, boarding school friend
Johnno – Will’s best man, became friends in boarding school, surley, brooding, forgot his suit for the wedding and borrows Will’s spare
Barbara Kingsolver is from Appalachia and set out to write The Great American Appalachian Novel… AND DID SHE EVER.
Y’all… 21 hours and 3 minutes (560 pages) and I SAILED through it. LISTEN TO THIS BOOK instead of reading it. The narrator is absolute perfection. No one could be a better Demon. Unlike some of the reviews I’ve read, I absolutely wanted it to end. This is not an easy read. It made my heart bleed and overflow almost simultaneously. Regardless of his misfortune and addiction, Demon IS SO GOOD. He remains so good throughout the entire book, which is a testament to humanity as a whole. He describes the happy times of his childhood as anyone would. I can relate to his descriptions of playing with friends outside during childhood years. This gives us all a thread of continuity and weaves us into Demon’s train of thought and perspective.
I loved Ma and HATED Stoner and Romeo. These men prey on single mothers and are horrific subhumans. I literally reacted to much to the gut wrenching parts of this book that my Apple watch congratulated me on my workout… and I wasn’t working out… While most of us aren’t Ma and Mariah, we feel like it. Motherhood is so hard and we all feel like we are failing unforgivably sometimes, and honestly, sometimes we are. Parts of this book made me recall my inadequacies as a mother and wonder how my kids will remember it all. I was angry at Ma for staying with Stoner, but in her position, and as beaten down as she’d been her entire life, she’d just given up years ago. I can’t imagine and I’m grateful I am not and never will be in that position. I was so stupid at 18 years old, but I thank God for family and resources that would never let me sink into Ma’s life.
This is a necessary read and truly a work of art. I was up at 3:30 am this morning thinking about Demon and his chosen family, as they aren’t fictional characters at all. There are countless Demons and Emmys and Dories and Junes and Hammerhead Kellys and Tommys and Fast Forwards all over our great nation and the world, surviving as they know how. I watched several documentaries that realistically depict the drug epidemic in Appalachia. The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a 2009 documentary film directed by Julien Nitzberg chronicling the White family of Boone County, West Virginia. It isn’t an easy or tame watch, but I highly recommend it. It elicits the same emotional rollercoaster as this work. And under the differences, traumas, addictions, lifestyles, and intensity is the raw underbelly of people just doing their best to survive bigotry, shame grief, and hunger. Most humans on the planet can relate in some way to that.
The style is unmatched. It reminds me of Cutting for Stone in the sense that you need to read it slowly to absorb all of the beauty, but I loved it even more. I loved the way Demon references religion and the Bible. I can totally see his perspective. And OH MY GOODNESS the figurative language in this masterpiece… Otherworldly. It addresses society as a whole – poverty, addiction, domestic violence, child abuse, discrimination in various forms – while fostering the connective heartbeat of raw, unfiltered humanity straight through all of the impossibilities and devastations.
Some of my personal favorite gems from this masterpiece…
“Pestering the tit of trouble”
‘The monster truck mud rally of child services”
“Keeping secrets from young ears only plants seeds between them.” (woosah….)
… and that is just in the first 11 minutes…
“One nation, underemployed”
“A thing grows teeth once its put into words.”
“Spittin’ poison in my brain” referring to Stoner’s influence on Demon regarding Maggot’s sexuality
(Most of the character analyses for this book are paraphrased from LitCharts. There are a ton of characters and I was so enamoured with the writing that I didn’t take great notes…)
Demon Copperhead – Demon, born Damon Fields, is the novel’s protagonist. Demon is born in a trailer bathroom to a young mother who is addicted to drugs. Throughout the novel, Demon struggles to overcome the circumstances of his birth—poverty, generational trauma, and his mother’s addiction, which he ultimately inherits. He serves as an example of the hardships that people in Appalachia face as a result of external forces like inadequate social services, poverty, and a lack of employment opportunities. Demon’s character, in particular, helps illustrate the harm caused by pharmaceutical companies that targeted the Appalachian region and overprescribed opioids they knew to be addictive.
Ma – Demon’s mom is young when she has Demon. During Demon’s childhood, Mom works at Walmart and tries, at various times, to enter recovery from addiction.
Maggot – born Matt Peggot, is Demon’s closest friend growing up. Demon spends as much time at Maggot’s house as his own. When Mom becomes involved with Stoner, Stoner forbids Demon from spending time with Maggot because he suspects that Maggot is gay.
Stoner – Murrell Stone, nicknamed Stoner, is Mom’s boyfriend who is physically and verbally abusive to Mom and Demon.
Satan – Stoner’s dog
Mrs. Peggot – Nance Peggot, more often referred to as Mrs. Peggot, is Maggot’s grandmother who, along with Mr. Peggot, helps raise Maggot after his mother, Mariah, is sent to prison. The novel portrays Mrs. Peggot as kind and caring, and she and her husband become a surrogate family to Demon.
Mr. Peggot – Mrs. Peggot’s husband, is a kind and patient man, He helps raise Demon. He sustained a leg injury while working in the mines and has not walked easily since.
Mariah Peggot – Maggot’s mother, serving prison time, 18 when she went to prison, due to retaliating for domestic violence.
Romeo – Maggot’s father, egotistic and self-proclaimed too good for Mariah, “A fox in the hen house” as Mrs. Peggot says
Emmy – the daughter of Humvee, who passed away before the novel takes place. After Humvee died, the Peggots took in Emmy. When Maggot’s mom was sent to prison, though, the Peggots couldn’t raise two children, so Emmy went to live with her aunt June in Knoxville. June eventually formally adopts Emmy. Emmy is depicted as smart and wise beyond her years.
Aunt June – Maggot and Emmy’s aunt who becomes Emmy’s adoptive mother. June is a nurse in Knoxville who then moves back to Lee County to be closer to her family. She also steps in to help both Demon and Emmy when they are at their lowest and then financially supports their journeys to sobriety.
Angus – born Agnes Winfield, is Coach Winfield’s daughter. She does well in school and initially plans to leave Lee County to go to a four-year college as soon as possible.
Fast Forward – the larger-than-life football star who Demon first meets at Crickson’s farm. At first, Fast Forward seems charming to everyone who meets him, and Demon thinks of him as a kind of real-life superhero. As the novel, progresses, though, this charming façade peels away to reveal a darker, more sinister personality.
Coach Winfield – takes Demon in and helps raise him. Demon lives with Coach and Coach’s daughter, Angus.
Dori – Demon’s girlfriend. Demon is surprised to learn that Dori is a heavy user of opioids, which are prescribed to her father Vester, who is dying of cancer.
Tommy Waddell – one of the foster boys whom Demon meets at Mr. Crickson’s farm. The novel portrays Tommy as a sweet, kind, caring, and gentle person. Tommy is one of my favorite characters in the book.
Dr. Watts – the doctor for the football team and the doctor at a pill mill, a kind of pain management clinic that will write prescriptions for anyone who pays for one.
Kent – Aunt June’s boyfriend who is a pharmaceutical representative. Kent’s job consists of trying to get doctors to prescribe opioid painkillers more often.
Hammerhead Kelly – a cousin in the Peggot family, related through marriage. He is a sweetheart.
Miss Barks – meets Demon when he is 10, one of Demon’s case managers through the Department of Social Services (DSS).
Mr. Crickson – the foster parent whom Demon first goes to live with after Mom overdoses.
U-Haul – born Ryan Pyles. Coach Winfield’s assistant who will later become an assistant football coach.
Mr. Armstrong – an English teacher at Demon’s middle school. He recognizes that Demon is a strong student and recommends him to the gifted and talented program.
Ms. Annie – the art teacher at the high school. She encourages Demon to pursue his talent for drawing. Ms. Annie is married to Mr. Armstrong. Ms. Annie is white and Mr. Armstrong is black.
Mr. Ghali – the owner of Golly’s Market
Rose Dartell – one of Fast Forward’s friends, though Fast Forward seems to treat her only with contempt. Rose seems jealous of Demon for the attention that Fast Forward gives him.
“Sutanto brilliantly infuses comedy and culture into the unpredictable rom-com/murder mystery mashup as Meddy navigates familial duty, possible arrest and a groomzilla. I laughed out loud and you will too.”—USA Today (four-star review)
“A hilarious, heartfelt romp of a novel about—what else?—accidental murder and the bond of family. This book had me laughing aloud within its first five pages… Utterly clever, deeply funny, and altogether charming, this book is sure to be one of the best of the year!”—Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read
One of NPR’s Best Books of 2021!
One of PopSugar’s “42 Books Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2021”!
What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?
You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!
When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It’s the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—”Don’t leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!”—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie’s perfect buttercream flowers.
But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy’s great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
Characters:
Meddy (Meddelin) Chen – Meddy Chen is the protagonist of the novel, photographer in the family business, dissatisfied personally and professionally when we meet her at 26 years old
Big Aunt – Meddy’s oldest aunt, 20 years as a pastry chef, meets with potential clients
Second Aunt – Meddy’s second oldest aunt, does hair and makeup for the weddings
Forth Aunt – entertainment for the weddings
Ma – Meddy’s mother, does floral arranging for the weddings
Nathan Chen – Meddy’s college love, she’s still in love with him at 26 when we meet her, the CEO of the event hotel on an island off the coast of LA
Selena – Meddy’s best girlfriend
Jake – Meddy’s blind date, her mother catfished him into a blind date with Meddy, continues to insert how rich he is in conversation, super pushy, Meddy tases him, he wrecks her car, and winds up as the problematic dead body in the story
Jacqueline – the bride, she’s a sweetheart and not a good match for her jerk fiancee, Tom
Tom Cruise Sutopo – the groomzilla
Maureen – Jacqueline’s Maid-of-honor
I fell so hard in love with Jesse Q. Sutano while reading Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. My goodness, this kind of love is so much stronger than anything I’ve ever felt for some dusty male… I can live in a world of entertaining fiction with this soulmate and I’m all for that. Escapism is what keeps me going…
I love all of the pop culture references in this book. It makes Meddy more relatable and gives us immediate commonalities. Meddy’s family’s first language is Indonesian, and Meddy’s is English, so this makes for fun comedy. The interactions and accents are based on Sutano’s own upbringing and family, so it is absolutely endearing and not stereotyping at all.
Sutano peppers in Chinese/Indonesian cultural tidbits of knowledge, which I loved. It was such a full-bodied, fun read. I really loved the characters, except the ones we are intended to not like.
“Wendy Walker’s unforgettable thriller will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.” –Greer Hendricks, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Wife between Us
A pulse-pounding novel about a small-town business owner found dead and the teenage girl caught in the crosshairs, American Girl is the latest thriller from internationally bestselling author Wendy Walker.
Charlie Hudson, an autistic seventeen-year-old, is determined to leave Sawyer, PA, as soon as she graduates high school. In the meantime, she works as many hours as she can at a sandwich shop called The Triple S to save money for college. But when shop owner, Clay Cooper — a man both respected and feared in their small economically depressed town — is found dead, each member of his staff becomes a suspect in the perplexing case. Before she can go anywhere, Charlie must protect herself and her friends by uncovering the danger that is still lurking in their tightknit community.
Based on the #1 bestselling audio, American Girl is a riveting thriller told through the eyes of an unforgettable protagonist.
This is actually why I bought this book…
There’s a really awesome feature with Amazon Prime that offers members a free title per genre at the beginning of each month, and this is what I chose for either October or November. There are really some great books available some months, and I wasn’t aware this was a thing until a friend told me last summer.
Firstly, I love the name Charlie for a girl, so we were off on a good foot from the very beginning.
I loved that autism was at the forefront of this book and subtly sprinkled through the narrative. The positive character traits are brought to light and woven through the book and characterization. I can absolutely get behind that. I didn’t love the ending, but it grew on me after some thought and checking my feelings.
It isn’t free anymore, but I would recommend purchasing it. I’d never heard of the author previously, but will be reading more of her works.
Pretty Colors Unabridged 