4. Twice in a Lifetime

Twice in a Lifetime. Melissa Baron. 2022. 325 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: The text came through at 8:33 PM.

Premise/plot: Personally I was reminded of The Lake House (a romantic comedy). Isla, our heroine, is out of sorts. She's grieving the loss of her mother (to cancer). She's in a tense non-relationship with her father. She's quit one job and is getting settled into another. She's moved from a big city to the country. Also, she suffers from general anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Every day is a battle, a struggle. The novel opens with Isla getting a text from the future. Yes, the future. Ewan Park--a man who has either lost grip with reality OR really is who he says he is, her future husband--is contacting her via text message. She's skeptical (has she not seen the Lake House???) but hesitant. She doesn't want to block this number. He makes her feel less lonely and miserable. He makes her feel good about herself. But yet can she truly believe his outrageous claims??? But at one point, his texts become warnings. And then they stop--abruptly. 

Will Ewan and Isla ever get their happily ever after?

My thoughts: Is it premise-driven???? Yes. At least mostly. This one is definitely all about the magic of being able to reach out and seeking to connect with your one-true-love. Love is not bound by time--if you have a magic cottage. Is it character-driven???? Again, yes, mostly. It is more feelings-and-emotions driven than traditional character-driven. Isla's headspace--her mental health, her extra-special-mental-health needs--takes up so much of this one. Ewan is mainly portrayed as her savior--literally and figuratively. [Cue a Celine Dion song, perhaps???] If readers do not enjoy Isla, Ewan, or Isla-and-Ewan together as a couple, then the premise alone may not be enough to "save" this one and make it worth your time. This one is DEFINITELY not plot-driven, not really. It's a romance first and foremost. 

Is it clean???? NO. I am probably in the small majority of readers who prefer their romance without graphic love songs. I realize I'm the minority. Plenty of readers will not have a problem with the content of this one. For those few who like me prefer clean-and-sweet romance [Christian or not] this one definitely needs a warning before you become too attached to the characters. 

This book might be triggering for some. Isla is struggling almost every waking moment of every day with severe mental problems. She is truly in trouble--this is no joke--her life depends on her getting help. The book has its dark-and-bleak moments. Isla's headspace turns to despair, and, since the author wants us right there alongside the main character feeling what she feels, well, it could be triggering for some readers.

Did it work for me? It wasn't a perfect read for me. I was definitely hooked and had to keep reading--I read this one over two or three days.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

3. The Windeby Puzzle

The Windeby Puzzle. Lois Lowry. 2023. [February] 224 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Cool wind. Day start. One bird a-twitter. Warblers newly back now, settling in, after winter in a warmer place. Planting time soon. Then the birds would be everywhere: noisy, pecking for the seeds, for the insects. Eggs in the nests: speckled eggs they were, the warblers' nests in the high grasses. Dark, still. But the land was alive: waking, whistling with breeze through the grasses and murmuring with creatures emerging from sleep. 

Premise/plot: The Windeby Puzzle is a blend of history and fiction. [I did NOT know this heading into the book. Because it does effect the pacing and flow of the narrative, potential readers should know this up front]. Lois Lowry lets readers into the process--her craft--of writing a new book. 

This book was inspired by discovery of the Windeby bog body back in the 1950s in Northern Germany. For decades--literally decades--it was assumed to be the body of a thirteen year old girl. New research, however, have shifted conclusions. It is now believed to be the body of a malnourished/sickly sixteen year old boy. Lowry alternates HISTORY and fiction. 

The first history-fiction section assumes that it is a thirteen-year-old girl. Lowry creates the character of Estrild. What led to her death? Was she a human sacrifice? Was she executed? If she was executed, then what was her crime? What would her life have been like? The second history-fiction section takes a turn. If the bog-child-body was a boy, what was HIS story???? Varick was a character--Estrild's best friend--from her first story. But this time around, he is the star of the show. What was HIS life like? What led him to the bog?

Both fictional stories are set in the Iron Age. 

My thoughts: I can honestly say that The Windeby Puzzle is unlike Lowry's previously published children's books. I've read plenty of them--though not all of them. It isn't really similar to any other children's books I've read either. That is neither good nor bad. (It just is.) 

Will it appeal more to adults than children? Maybe. Will it appeal to children at all? I don't know. It's set in ancient history--the Iron Age, and in Northern Germany. The blend of history and fiction is unique. But is it unique in a way that is likely to make children--elementary, middle grade--excited to pick it up and keep turning pages???? I don't know. I suppose if you've got someone in your life that is interested in archaeological digs, ancient cultures, and ancient history, perhaps. OR if perhaps someone who really wants to understand author craft. In getting a glimpse of HOW a story comes together and how the author works to bring her book to life. This book is definitely taste-specific! Will it appeal to adults? Again, I can't say that it is one that would automatically have broad appeal. The author is incredibly gifted and prolific. There will be some readers--perhaps myself included--who will read ANY title Lowry publishes no matter the subject matter, no matter the reviews, just because ANY book has to be good, right???

I am curious to see the reviews start coming in for this one. I am. (I am not always.) Will readers like it? love it? hate it? Find it dull or boring? Or will they find all the nerdy details fascinating? 

Personally, I preferred HIS story to her story. I did not need [yet another] story of a [young] girl who was a feminist over a thousand years ahead of her time who was going to make a stand because girls [and women] have rights and should be treated equally. Those stories always seem out of place, and Lowry admits that her characterization is way out there and not at all realistic. Both stories are set first century AD.

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2. Magpie Murders

Magpie Murders. Anthony Horowitz. 2016. 477 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: A bottle of wine. A family-sized packet of Nacho Cheese Flavoured Tortilla Chips and a jar of hot salsa dip. A packet of cigarettes on the side (I know, I know). The rain hammering against the windows. And a book. What could have been lovelier? Magpie Murders was number nine in the much-loved and world-bestselling Atticus Pünd series. When I first opened it on that wet August evening, it existed only as a typescript and it would be my job to edit it before it was published. First, I intended to enjoy it.

Premise/plot: Susan Ryeland, our heroine, is an editor. She edits Alan Conway's mysteries. Alan Conway's newest book [and final book] is Magpie Murders. The book opens with an entire book-within-a-book. Readers are reading alongside Susan, the manuscript for a mystery novel. Readers discover along with Susan that THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS are missing from the manuscript in front of her. Soon after she realizes this, news breaks that Alan Conway [the author, if you remember] is DEAD. Susan has mysteries to solve. Where are the missing chapters? In the book, who did it??? who was the murderer??? And in real life, WHY did Conway choose to take his own life???? Or did he??? Was this a set up??? Was he murdered??? Are these two events connected???? Did the murderer [if there was a murderer] take the last chapters of the manuscript??? If so, why????

My thoughts: I watched the television show first. For better or worse. You are probably wondering, ARE THEY THE SAME????? And the answer is there are differences, definitely differences. The book is a thousand times easier to follow. And there are differences in DETAILS and clues as well. Ultimately, who did it in both mysteries is the same. But there are differences in the journey and how everything unfolds. I definitely preferred the book. But the television show prompted me to pick up the book. So it was definitely worth watching for that alone.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Sunday Salon #1 Looking for Recommendations

Will I write a Sunday Salon post every week? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see. 

I have not (at least not yet) written up a 'best list' for 2022, though I did share a list of all the books I've read that were rated five stars. 

If I were to recommend twelve for you to read in 2023, it might look a little something like this. [Feel free to use any of these if you are coming up short for the 12 Books, 12 Friends reading challenge.]

• The Great Passion by James Runcie
• The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
• Ways to Share Joy by Renee Watson
• Operation Do-Over by Gordon Korman
• Violet and Jobie in the Wild by Lynne Rae Perkins
• The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi Matthews
• Odder by Katherine Applegate
• The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson
• Just Right Jillian by Nicole D. Collier
• Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold
• Walter Had a Best Friend by Deborah Underwood
• Leave It to Plum by Matt Phelan

I am actively seeking out book recommendations for 2023. I am looking for any book that you LOVED--any audience, any genre. My favorite genres are historical fiction, historical romance, historical mystery, mystery/suspense, nonfiction (all ages), children's and middle grade realistic fiction, children's and middle grade speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy. I do read Christian fiction. I do read classics. [Though NOT Thomas Hardy.] 

I would love to hear what YOU read and loved last year--or in recent memory.

Where do you usually go for book recommendations?

© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1. The Rat Queen

The Rat Queen. Pete Hautman. 2022. 400 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Annie was swinging by herself when she noticed the curly-haired boy two houses down. She dragged her feet to stop the swing.

Premise/plot: The Rat Queen is one of those books where the less you know about the plot, the more you'll be drawn into the story. Still, I have to give you something. 

Annike Klimas [Annie] is about to turn ten. On her birthday, her father gives her initiation of sorts to a [deep, dark] family secret, a ritual of sorts. Every day she's to write her "regrets" and "mistakes" onto a piece of paper, roll the paper up, and feed it to a hidey-hole in the floor of the study. This ritual is called "nuodeema burna." Her conscience will remain pleasantly numb and burden free so long as she feeds the "sin eater." Her father has been feeding it for years.....

But Annie begins to slowly but surely doubt the morality of this family secret. It is so very mysterious, weird, odd, strange. 

Annie yearns for life....but barely lives. Her father keeps her mostly at home; she's raised by people hand-selected by her father from their home country of Litvania [fictional European country]. She loves stories, but can't help yearning for more, more, more than the fairy tales she's been raised on.

My thoughts: The world-building is excellent. The story-telling is excellent. It's got stories within stories--a handful of original stories that feel like they should be in the fairy tale canon. There are one or two stories that are traditional fairy tales included. The characters are limited--just a handful--but mostly complex. The book oozes atmosphere. It abounds in spookiness. The action--when it happens--is plenty intense. But this isn't action-packed. It's more MYSTERY and suspense than action and adventure. The mystery unfolds like Russian nesting dolls. 

Who is it for???? That's what I'm wrestling with. Is it one of those books that adults will absolutely gush about and push on children??? Maybe. Maybe not. I know there are plenty of children's books that adults tend to love way more than the intended audience. But maybe there are middle graders who will love this one too. 

I will say this one probably isn't for everyone. It is unevenly paced. It is driven by premise, then character, last of all action. When the action starts, its intense because the build-up has been long in coming. But I could easily see some might call it too slow.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews