Even though I’m a little behind in my Goodreads challenge, I still feel like I’m doing well with reading. And my pool is about to open. So expect more books to be finished in shorter periods of time. But 8 books at a total of 3,014 pages (that’s an average of 100.5 pages a day) isn’t too shabby. So here goes the recaps
Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis (353 pages). Hazel and Maxine met in Italy in 1945, both actresses in a USO troop. After the war ended, Hazel headed home to New York to get back to auditions at her mother’s insistence and Maxine headed to Los Angles and the silver screen. But 5 years later, they are reunited at the Chelsea Hotel, a veritable melting pot of artists and eccentrics in New York. Hazel has written a play and Maxine is set to star in it. But the Korean War is about to begin. And so is the Communist witch-hunt of the entertainment industry that was spearheaded by Senator McCarthey. A witch-hunt that destroyed careers and lives and friendships. While one woman’s career is destroyed, the other flourishes. And 17 years later, when fate brings the women together again, can they ever become friends again? I really enjoyed this one. I finished in 4 days.
Shiver by Allie Reynolds (388 pages). This was my February Once Upon a Bookclub box. It arrived late, so I decided to wait to read it. As usual, gifties are on social. 10 years ago, Milla spends a winter at La Roucher, a resort in France where she can train for snowboarding with a lot of other young athletes. Among them, siblings Curtis and Saskia, Brent, Odette and Dale (along with his non-snowboarding girlfriend Heather). After a winter of training and game-playing, the final competition doesn’t go how they expected. Odette is paralyzed and the others don’t even compete. And Saskia never even shows up. When Milla receives an invitation to visit La Roucher off-season for a reunion with Curtis, Brent, Dale and Heather, she is happy to go. But a lack of staff and an icebreaker game threatens the reunion. And when their phones disappear and the power is shut off, they realize the game is still on. Is someone in their group responsible for Saskia’s disappearance? And will any of them make it off the mountain alive? This one was a good suspense novel. Better than I thought it would be when I first started it. I finished in 3 days.
The Gender Game by Bella Forrest (396 pages). Hundreds of years ago, the destruction of America led to the establishment of 2 countries- Matrus, a female-led, biology and chemistry driven country and Patrus, a male-led, architecture and agriculturally driven country. When 11 year old Violet’s beloved 8 year old brother is marked as unfit, she attempts to smuggle him into Patrus. But when they are caught, they are separated and Violet’s string of troubles truly begins. 8 years later, she finds herself in yet another juvenile workhouse, bidding her time until she is 21 and free to rejoin society. But when she is offered a chance to have her crimes erased and be reunited with her brother, she jumps at the chance. Can she survive an undercover operation in Patrus? Or will her rebellious nature get the best of her? And is there anyone in her life who she can trust? Not my favorite book. I mean, it wasn’t bad. But it was the first in a series and I have no plans to read the rest of them. I finished in 4 days.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (301 pages). This was my March Once Upon a Bookclub box. Caroline is in London for an anniversary trip. But she left her husband home in the States. While in London, she goes mudlarking and finds an interesting vial. This vial starts her on a quest to learn more about it. And she uncovers a mystery from an apothecary shop from the 1700’s. A shop where women could come to get help with unwanted ailments and with unwanted men. Nella, the apothecary, has her own reasons for being willing to help women commit murder. I loved this book! Caroline’s story and research, offset with Nella’s story in February 1791, were just great! I finished in 3 days.
The Nickel Boys by Colton Whitehead (210 pages). Elwood Curtis, a black teenager in 1960’s Tallahassee, is going places. He’s smart and plans to be the first member of his community to go to college. He’s also idealistic and just, due to the influence of Martin Luther King Jr. But when he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, he lands at the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reform “school”. Nickel is loosely based on the Dozier School for Boys was a juvenile penitentiary/reform school in Florida that operated from 1900 to 2011. This school, both the real one and the fictional one, was a place of horrors. The boys were segregated. They received little education. They were forced to do hard labor. And the punishments were severe. Elwood and his friend Turner try to make the best of things. But Elwood’s sense of injustice is too strong. In the 2010’s, an investigation into Nickel causes many of the boys, including Elwood, to come forward with the truth about the horrors they survived. This book was gut wrenching. In true Jane fashion, I immediately started reading about Dozier. And oh my- this novel barely touched on the real life horrors. The rapes, the killings, the beatings. Boys who went to Dozier were already a little damaged. They were destroyed when/if they left. I finished in 2 days.
Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees (487 pages). WW2 has just ended, but the Allies work isn’t done. There are still war criminals to be rounded up. When 20-something Edith Graham applies to the Control Commission in Germany, it’s to help establish and monitor schools (she does have degree in German). She quickly learns that the Commission thinks she will do much better as a spy. Her cousin’s college friend (and her former lover) is a Prussian doctor who is suspected of war crimes due to experiments he conducted. But no one can find him. So Edith uses her wiles to try to track him down, all while sending collected recipes rife with code back home to her handlers. The world,of spies and double crossers is much more difficult than Edith imagined. She isn’t sure who she can trust, other than herself. I finished in 6 days.
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (479 pages). So I watched the Netflix series before reading the book. It was odd to still find myself thinking “the book is better” when it was a reverse situation! And to be super annoyed by the changes made to the series (that did not make it better than the book. In fact, the changes were not for the better). But back to the story. Kate and Tully are 14 when they first met in the 1970’s. Kate is a bit of a loner, Tully is the new girl who is immediately popular. They quickly form a lifelong friendship over the summer. Before life tries to pull them apart. But they know they will always be best friends. And despite careers, marriage, kids and fame taking them all over the place, the decades never divide them. Sure, they have fights (like all lifelong and intimate relationships). But they always find their way back to each other. No matter what. It’s been a long time since a book gutted me the way this one did. And when I say gutted, I mean snotty, mascara running down my face gutted. I finished in 4 days.
Fly Away by Kristin Hannah (400 pages). So there’s a sequel to Firefly Lane. And despite being emotionally distraught after reading the first in the series, I had to dive straight into this one. It’s been 4 years since Kate died. And those four years have not been kind to her best friend Tully, her daughter Marah and the rest of Kate’s family. But when another tragedy strikes, Tully, Marah and Tully’s mom Dorothy must band together to escape from their grief and learn to live their lives with the memory of Kate always there for them. I didn’t like it as much as the first in the series but I still really liked it. A lot. I really loved these characters- their pain, their struggles, their love for each other. It was all so poignant. I finished in 4 days.
This month’s favorite was .....Firefly Lane. I really liked my two 1940’s books (Chelsea Girls and Miss Graham). But Firefly Lane was just amazing
