May

This month I read 3 books, 9 ebooks from the Toronto Public Library, and 1 podcast, totaling to 13 books.

Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah

Synopsis: It’s Montreal, 1986, and Muna Heddad is desperate for a job. Her savings will only last her and her 8-year-old son Omar one more month. When Muna and her husband Halim initially applied to immigrate to Canada, civil war had just broken out in Lebanon. But then Halim was kidnapped, and Muna was left to raise an infant Omar by herself. Now, Muna is struggling to support the two of them in Canada; nobody wants to hire her as a French teacher, despite the immigration agency assuring her that French teachers were in high demand in Canada. Now, Muna is desperately applying to every job ad in the paper, including one for Nutri-Fort’s (a diet food company) call center. Miraculously, Muna gets a call back, and is soon hired in the call center, where she calls her clients and helps them develop meal plans. This novel chronicles Muna’s experiences as a single mom and worker in Montreal, as she finds her footing in the community and finally comes to terms with her husband’s death.

My thoughts: This book was the 2024 One Read/Un Livrel Canada, a nation-wide digital book club. This year, electronic copies of Hotline were available without holds or waitlists at libraries across Canada during the month of April, so that people could all read together (in English or French) and discuss the book together. (Readers will know that I am a librarian, so I figured that I should probably join in, even though I didn’t actually finish the book until May). I was unsure about this book when I started it, but I actually really liked it. I think my trepidation was due to the marketing: most of the descriptions of this book focused entirely on Muna’s work as a faceless hotline operator, and the connections she learned about her clients. Even though Muna’s job at Nutri-Fort was a central aspect of the book, the story was more about her life as a whole in Montreal, which I thought was much more complex and interesting.

Rating: 4/5 wooden horses carved from the leg of your marriage bed and buried in a jar of sand for you to find

Company Town by Madeline Ashby

Synopsis: Hwa lives on New Arcadia, an oil rig off the coast of Newfoundland that is basically a small city. She does security for the Canadian Union of Sex Workers, making sure that they aren’t abused or taken advantage of during their appointments. But then Hwa is recruited by the Lynch family. After a recent takeover, the Lynches now own New Arcadia, and they want Hwa to guard the youngest member (and eventual heir of the family). Hwa has a lot of security experience, but she’s also the only person on the whole rig who doesn’t have any technological implants or biological enhancements, so she can’t be hacked. Hwa accepts, but gets unwittingly dragged into the Lynches intrigue and conspiracy. To make matters worse, someone is going around killing the prostitutes that Hwa used to guard (and who were her friends). Will Hwa survive this deadly contract, or will she be its next victim?

My thoughts: I thought this book was interesting but not my favourite. I’m still not really sure why Hwa was the only person with no implants on New Arcadia; the author described it as Hwa’s mother not wanting to pay for anything, but there were so many people much poorer than Hwa, so I don’t get it. She didn’t seem to have a strong ideological opposition either. I didn’t really take a shine to the Jack the Ripper storyline (readers will know that he’s never been one of my favourite serial killers). This book also seemed to just go from fight to fight, with Hwa continually getting more and more injured. I think the setting was interesting, but it could have been explored more. Overall, I found a lot was lacking, even though I wouldn’t say that this book was bad. The character I liked the most was Daniel Siofra, Hwa’s boss and aid to the Lynches; he had a wit that I really liked, and was very kind and sensitive while still being cool and effective.

Rating: 2/5 library sims of Jack the Ripper documentaries that unfortunately aren’t great for helping you solve irl crimes

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

Synopsis: After their friend Alec died of a drug overdose in their senior year at Berkely, college friends Naomi, Craig, Marielle, and the Jordans (Jordy & Jordan) are devastated by his funeral. All funerals are tragic, but it truly devastated the friends that they weren’t able to express how much they loved and appreciated Alec until after he had died. Thus, the pact was born: once in their life, each member of the group can call on the others to host a funeral for them while they are still living. It’s a chance for them to honour and celebrate a friend who is going through a tough time (divorce, prison time, cancer diagnoses, etc). This book chronicles each funeral, starting with Alec’s and then for the rest of the Celebrants.

My thoughts: I thought this book was a more mature twist on a trope that I see in a lot of YA/New Adult fiction: the friend who died mysteriously in college. (Here, I’m specifically thinking of If We Were Villains by ML Rio, which I reviewed in my June 2023 reading round up, but the trope has occurred many other times.) I don’t particularly like this trope; I find it to be too “dark and twisty,” everyone is obsessed with catching the killer or piecing together what happened that fateful night. So, I thought it was really interesting that Steven Rowley ended up flipping this trope on its head by having Alec’s death as a difficult but catalytic event, and centering the lens of his book on characters in their 40s and 50s instead of teens and 20s. I also really liked how the characters ended up thriving after each of their funerals, even if it did take them a few years afterwards to really find their footing.

Rating: 4/5 rare straight men in a world full of women and gay men

Off the Map by Trish Doller

Synopsis: Carla Black was a van-life girlie before there were van-life girlies. She and her dad Biggie spent every summer growing up traveling around North America while living out of their bright red jeep Valentina. And after Biggie was diagnosed with dementia, he pleaded for Carla to keep traveling and live her life, instead of staying home and watching him lose his memories piece by piece. They FaceTime most days, but Carla hasn’t really seen her dad in almost six years. When she travels to Ireland for her best friend’s wedding, she meets Eamon. He’s the brother of the groom, and has wanted to travel around the country for years, but has never really gotten around to it. So, Carla hatches a plan to tour around some of the most beautiful parts of Ireland while they head to the wedding in Eamon’s home town. Their connection is instant and obvious, but they live completely different lives. Will this just be a summer fling, or can Carla and Eamon make it work?

My thoughts: I read two romance novels back to back (Off the Map and That Summer Feeling, reviewed below), and I liked this one much better. The characters were interesting, the romance was compelling, and the relationship between Carla and Eamon wasn’t toxic. I really liked the juxtaposition of Carla, who traveled a lot but now wanted to spend more time with her family, vs Eamon, who felt tied down by relationships and wanted to spend more time adventuring. I’m also glad that Carla was able to see her family when it mattered most, but didn’t have to give up her traveling lifestyle that clearly brought her so much joy. The only complaint that I had was that the bulk of the plot took place over 2 weeks, and did feel a bit rushed to me.

Rating: 4/5 bulls that are blocking your Land Rover’s only way out

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey

Synopsis: Garland Moore met her soulmate at the airport. She was rushing to catch her flight when she dropped her bracelet, and a tall blond man chased after her in order to give it back to her. When they touched hands, Garland had a vision of her and the blond man sitting together in a beautiful hunting lodge, surrounded by friends and family and love. The only problem? Garland was in the airport with her new husband, trying to catch a flight to their honeymoon, so she ignored the vision. A few years later, Garland is divorced, living with her older sister Dara, and moonlighting as a rideshare driver. She’s still hung up on her ex, and doesn’t have a lot going on in her life, when she gets an invite to a sleepaway summer camp for adults. Dara and Garland are eager to go, in order to live out the classic childhood experience they never had. But when they get there, Garland discovers something even more exciting: the man from her vision is here at camp (along with his gorgeous sister). Will Garland finally heal her broken heart and end up in a love worth keeping?

My thoughts: I read this just after Off the Map (reviewed above), and although they were somewhat similar, I thought that this book was much worse. It may have been due to the overall setting and concept, but I found this book to be very childish and Pollyanna-equse, especially because the entire story took place over only 5 days. Honestly, I think the short timeline was what disappointed me the most. I wish that the novel had covered a year of Garland and Stevie’s lives together as they traveled around the country in a van and found themselves, and had included their camp meet-cute as a flashback, instead of the other way around. Including scenes of the characters drinking and clubbing may make something PG-13, but definitely doesn’t make it “mature”, in my opinion. There were a handful of scenes about Garland’s divorce and a few other topics that partially scratched my itch for more complexity, but it wasn’t really enough. I also didn’t like whole “vision” storyline. At first, I’ll admit that I thought it was cute, but as the story went on I was less and less impressed, particularly because the characters were really focused on setting up Garland with the blond man in her vision, despite the fact that they had no chemistry and obviously weren’t a great match. Personally, I think the author invented it just to create obstacles between Garland and Stevie, which I despise. If your book has to have conflict in it, there are other ways to achieve it than by interfering with the main couple’s unproblematic relationship. Separately, I was also a bit disappointed that Dara’s C-plotline about wanting to dramatically cut her hair wasn’t a way for her to experiment with gender and femininity. I guess sometimes a haircut is just about cutting your hair. If you’re looking for a fluffy, cutesy romance, this book is for you, but unfortunately for me I felt it was a flop.

Rating: 2/5 crowds that chant “hee-haw” whenever you walk into the room, because of something that you said once when you were drunk

Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

Synopsis: Avital Cohen is incredibly busy trying to run Best Babka in Brooklyn, her family’s kosher bakery that was started by her grandfather, Chayim Cohen. Their famous pumpkin spice babka is flying off of the shelves, and they don’t have enough staff to keep up with all of their customer’s demands. Best Babka was founded decades ago by Chayim and his business partner Moishe Lippmann, but they had a huge falling out and Moishe left to start his own company. Lippmann’s is a household name when it comes to mass produced kosher treats, but sales are falling and Moishe is desperate. He sends his grandson Ethan to Best Babka with instructions to go undercover, get hired, steal their famous pumpkin spice babka recipe, and get revenge on Chayim, or else. Ethan is not sold on the idea, but failure is not an option when it comes to Moishe. So, Ethan (who majored in business and has never had to lift a finger thanks to his grandfather’s household staff and estate) puts together a fake resume (where he claims to be a graduate of the best french pastry schools) and gets himself hired by Avital, and of course sparks start to fly between them. But will Ethan be able to keep his secret forever? And how can Avital start a relationship with anyone when she’s constantly sidelined by her interstitial cystitis and debilitating chronic pelvic pain?

My thoughts: I thought this was a pretty cute romance book, with a good overall story. I really liked getting a window into the Jewish traditions, culture, and lifestyle of the characters and their families. The only part I didn’t love was the extended lecture on how Jewish theology informs intimacy, because it felt a little bit preachy and a lot of “telling” instead of “showing”. I also really liked the portrait of Avital’s struggle with her chronic illness, especially an “incurable” one like IC, because she went on a journey of learning how to live with the pain instead of focusing on trying to cure herself. Ethan gets points for being a very supportive partner, although I am pretty suspicious of how quickly he went from not knowing how to cook to being a master baker that was experimenting off the cuff (about 3-6 months). To me, the whole book felt a little too goofy and over the top, but if you’re looking for a happy romance with no toxic relationships, I would definitely recommend it.

Rating: 3/5 flutes of organic, fresh squeezed pear juice (instead of champagne)

Dune by Frank Herbert

My thoughts on Dune have been made clear already.

Murder at Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong

Synopsis: After the collapse of the old Rockton, Casey and Eric are finally putting their plan B into motion: a new invisible town that they get to run. It’s no small undertaking, but to them, it’s worth it. Construction has gone on for the past 18 months, and the new Haven’s Rock is only weeks away from opening when the construction crew’s architect goes missing in the forest. Casey and Eric are called in to pose as heads of security (not the town owners) and find her. But will they like what they find?

My thoughts: So blessed and excited that the Rockton series is continuing in a new form! This series is so good that it’s literally addictive, I love it so much and can’t stop reading it. I thought this book in particular was interesting because it finally had a gold-mining plotline (very appropriate considering that everything is set in the Yukon). I love the descriptions of rural and outdoor living, plus all of the wildlife encounters. I also love Casey and Eric as a couple; extremely respectful, non-toxic, loving, and competent. I even love to hate on the annoying townspeople (in this case, construction crew members) that are lying in order to protect their own interests regardless of the murder investigation.

Rating: 5/5 beautifully camouflage cabins hidden in the woods, with little painted rabbits and deer

The Boy Who Cried Bear

Synopsis: Haven’s Rock is finally open for residents, and for the first time, it will house couples, children, and families. One of these children, Max, has been coming back from hikes with troubling reports: some kind of wild creature, with the fur of an animal but the eyes of a man, is in the forest around Haven’s Rock. Wild people wouldn’t be unusual back in Rockton, as there were several settlements and even more individuals living in the surrounding woods. As of yet, there’s no such thing at Haven’s Rock, and it’s a little concerning for Detective Casey Butler and Sheriff Eric Dalton, but nothing too concerning. But when Max is spotted going into the forest and not coming out, that is extremely concerning. They stop everything to go on Max’s trail. Is there really a wild man? Or has Max’s families past found them in Haven’s Rock?

My thoughts: This book was just as good as any of the Rockton series, with a few small exceptions. For one, I’m still getting used to how the new town runs itself. To be honest, I think some of the changes were made just to make a distinction from Rockton, like having dormitories instead of apartments. I think the inclusion of families and children will definitely create new and interesting dynamics, and it opens the way for Casey’s pregnancy. I also think the distinction between staff and residents is kind of weird; logically I know it’s so that people can stay on as staff even if they aren’t running from something, but in my opinion it creates a weird hierarchy. While these are all differences, they’re not detracting from my enjoyment of this book. The actual issue I had was with the plot: the ending was a bit ambiguous and we relied on Casey’s deductions and ideas for what was really going on, instead of getting confirmation of the truth from the suspects themselves. But I’m still very glad I read this book, and look forward to the next one being released.

Rating: 4/5 perches where you can spy on people as they go in and out of the forest

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Synopsis: Daphne and Peter made a cute couple.. They had a real-life meet cute, and Daphne moved back to Wanning Bay, Michigan so that they could built a life together. But 6 weeks before their wedding, Peter cheated on her with his “platonic” straight best friend Petra. And now he’s kicking her out of their house (okay, only bought in Peter’s name, technically). So Daphne is forced to move in with Petra’s exboyfriend, Miles. All Daphne wants is to do is get out of this town, and as soon as her library’s Read-A-Thon is over at the end of the summer, she can finally escape. But then Miles offers to be the tour guide to Wanning Bay that she never had. And Daphne starts to make friends at work, is it possible that she’s starting to have reasons to stay?

My Rating: I absolutely LOVED the first three-quarters of this book. The characters were cute and relatable (Readers will know that Daphne, a children’s librarian who read Dune in order to impress her boyfriend’s friends, is LITERALLY me). Miles was an all-around good guy, and treated Daphne really well. She was flourishing more over this summer than she was in the past 3 years that she had lived here with Peter. A true Emily Henry classic. Unfortunately, the book kind of fell apart around the 3rd act conflict. I was really disappointed because it seemed as though Daphne hadn’t actually made any changes: she was still attaching herself to her boyfriend instead of really living her own life. She totally ghosted her friend Ashleigh after swearing that she would never treat people the way her absent father treated her. (And she tried to buy Asheighs’ forgiveness in the exact same way that she always criticized her dad for). And she didn’t communicate properly with Miles (my own pet peeve). Daphne and Miles did eventually make up, but then the author fast-forwarded to the following year and completely skipped when all of the character development happened. I just want to see people being happy, okay? So sue me if I’m upset that the book completely skipped the part where the characters were living their best lives. On a positive note, I felt that the portrayal of library work was reasonable accurate! I was ready to crack down so hard over inaccuracies, but everything felt mostly true to form (except when Daphne called in sick to work on day that her co-worker had already taken off because “nothing much would be happening that day” I could never. They would be so busy for being so short-staffed). I also wish that Emily Henry had gone into more detail about the Read-a-Thon, but I guess it wasn’t totally necessary.

Rating: 4/5 senior proms (ie. proms for senior citizens)

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger

Synopsis: This year, Hannah and Bruce had a baby girl named Gigi, and like any new parents, they could really use a vacation. When Hannah’s brother (and Bruce’s supervisor) Mako invites them on a luxury weekend, along with his own wife Liza, and family friend Cricket and her boyfriend Joshua. Mako, a wealthy CEO of a video-game company, has rented a secluded cabin that sleeps six in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He’s determined to have a perfect weekend, but there are tensions bubbling beneath the surface. Hannah in particular is worried: it’s the first time that she’s been away from Gigi, but Mako has also been acting weird as of late, and her marriage to Bruce has been full of tension. It doesn’t help that years ago, the cabin they’re renting was the site of a tragic murder-suicide. And when the power goes out (surely caused by the huge storm), will Hannah and the other survive their vacation?

My thoughts: This was a pretty standard thriller novel, not excellent but not the worst. I thought the villain’s overall plotline and motivations were truly insane, but I appreciated the plot twists that were not related to this. For example, that the creepy landlord was in fact creepy but overall harmless, or Henry’s identity (he actually was just Henry, not the secret identity of a different character).

Rating: 3/5 family history DNA tests that Santa brought for everyone’s Christmas gifts

The Hundred Lives of Juliet by Evelyn Skye

Synopsis: Helene Janssen is trying to bounce back from what is shaping up to be an ugly divorce. After constantly pushing aside her career in favour of her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s, enough is enough. And when she spots cheap plane tickets to a small town in Alaska, it’s a sign for her to take the next two months and finally write a book. Her whole life, Helene has written romance short stories that take place in different times throughout history. The heterosexual couples always look and act different, but they always have the same souls (especially the male character). So when she meets fishing boat captain Sebastien, she’s shocked: it’s the male character from all of her stories, her eternal literary crush come to life. Sebastien is also shocked to see her, but for a very different reason. Sebastien is actually Romeo Montague, and Helene is his Juliet. Ever since the original tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo accidentally killed is true love (Shakespeare did take a few liberties with his version), Romeo has been unable to die. He drifts through history, aging 1 year for every 50 that pass, waiting and waiting. Juliet is always reincarnated, and in each of her lives they always meet and fall in love, just like in Helene’s stories. But (and the stories don’t capture this) Juliet always dies anyway, whether by accident or illness or political uprising, and Romeo can’t do anything about it. Sebastien is convinced that they are cursed, but Helene wants to try. Will their love be the greatest of an age, or will it again end in tragedy?

My thoughts: I feel like this concept had really good potential, but it flopped because Helene didn’t have any agency. She always had to be rescued by Sebastien (and yes, he’s the one who’s amassed a great fortune over hundreds of years, but seriously this girl cannot do anything for herself). The only thing she actually did by herself was change a plane ticket (but only so that she could fly to Sebastien’s lawyers offices, not so that she could do anything really by herself). It didn’t help that the climax of the book was actually Sebastien’s lawyers digging up blackmail material for Helene’s ex so that he’d leave them alone. Sebastien at least accumulated all of the resources to make this possible; the only thing Helene did was occasionally make suggestions and be pregnant. It also really bothered me that the curse seemed to resolve itself. This was definitely not a “they learned to have a healthy love and do the right thing so the curse was resolved” type of situation; the curse literally just ended. The only tangible differences were that Helene vaguely remembered Sebastein through her short stories, and that she got pregnant (and being pregnant should NOT be the reason that the curse is lifted, because many of the previous Juliets were either trying to get pregnant or died during their pregnancies). Helene didn’t survive or avoid any kind of freak accident or near death experience, so she didn’t do anything to make her pregnancy more viable. Overall the romance part was cute, but the above reasons really bothered me so much that I’m rating this book low.

Rating: 2/5 girlfriends who perpetually cannot cook across many many lifetimes

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

Synopsis: By the time of Libby Rhodes’ explosive return from the past, the 6 newest recruits to the Alexandrian Society know that things will never be the same. They’ve failed to satisfy one of the archives’ only rules: if they plan on taking all that knowledge, there must be a blood sacrifice. When Atlas Blakely was a recruit himself, his cohort tried to fight the rule, and paid the price dearly. With agents of the Forum hunting their every move, will the original Atlas Six do what is right, or what is just?

My thoughts: I was already cooling down on this series by the second book, so I’m not surprised that I didn’t really like this book (the third) either. In the acknowledgements, the author stated that she intended to write a book without a plot that would be totally driven by the character’s relationships, and also that she wrote the series as a reaction to the 2016 elections and events thereafter. Personally, I thought that was insane. This book is definitely short on plot, but the relationships weren’t really doing it for me either. By the end, it feels as though the six students have almost formed a loose polycule (which is great), but most of them seem to act completely independently and selfishly. Especially in the previous two books, they didn’t seem to be forming meaningful relationships with anyone. Something else I disliked was the author’s writing style; it’s giving pretentious and fake academia, and she seems to hide behind buzzwords instead of actually explaining what the characters are trying to achieve. (For example, in the climactic experiment, it was super unclear what was going on, and why/how a core character died). In addition, everything felt like it was coated in a veneer of dullness. Nothing was really interesting or exciting, even combat scenes or the climax. The only thing this book had going for it was some parts that used non-traditional/epistolary storytelling (like book club discussion questions or the results of 600 possible futures), but that was just not enough for me.

Rating: 2/5 dream convertibles that transform into dream bulldozers to crush everything in your dream path

i am, your most faithful blogger, elisa