In today’s video, I’m chatting about The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey.
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Review of River Queens by Alexander Watson
Blurb:
Two men and a spotted dog restore a vintage Chris-Craft motor yacht and launch across the American Heartland from Texas to Ohio. The restoration, the people they met along the way, and life in an America which few know exists are the story of River Queens: Saucy boat, stout mates, spotted dog, America.
Review:
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I was intrigued when I was offered the opportunity to read a travel memoir about a gay couple who purchase a wooden boat on a whim and take it on a journey neither of them will forget.
River Queens is the engaging story of Alexander Watson and Dale Harris, their amazing Dalmatian, Doris Faye, and their antique designer boat, Betty Jane — a 1955 Chris-Craft that they restored themselves and made seaworthy. The book is kind of a “slice of life” story that follows their journey from restoring the boat to their trip through several states on the rivers of America. The author doesn’t hide the fact that a boat renovation project like this one can be rough on a relationship, and it was compelling to see how they solved their problems — both the boating and relationship ones. I did enjoy seeing them work through numerous setbacks and frustrations, and there’s little doubt in my mind that the restoration tested every skill both of the men possessed. The two of them formed an admirable team though a bit of drama snuck in from time to time.
My personal boating knowledge is limited to canoes and kayaks, so I was initially hesitant to begin reading this book, worrying that the boating terms would be over my head. Though numerous boating terms are indeed used throughout the book, they didn’t pull me out of the story at all. The author also includes a convenient glossary of terms in the back of the book for the curious.
What was fun was watching the two men figure out their boat and learn river culture as they went along, and we got to see just how arduous of a process it was. Basically, the fellows entered into a whole new world with its own rules, lingo, culture, and expectations. Luckily, the guys were often able to rely on locals for advice.
Speaking of locals, this is where the book really shined: the descriptions of the colorful and fascinating people they met along the way. The author uses colloquial dialog and phonetic spelling, which took me a bit to adjust to. But once I did, I loved it and felt that it added so much to the story. I could almost hear their voices in my head as I read, which really added an extra compelling element to the narrative. The dialog, the physical descriptions of the people, their mannerisms, and their animated speech brought them to vivid life. The author truly does a masterful job of capturing these compelling people in his mesmerizing stories. With only a few exceptions, most of the people Watson and Harris encounter are friendly, helpful, and kind, as well as eager to help out inexperienced “newbies.”
Though this book is indeed an emotional and personal journey, the book is not only about Watson and Harris — it’s about connecting with people, about acceptance, helping others, and finding one’s place in the world. This travel narrative grabbed me from the get-go, and before I knew it, I was lost in the story. By the end, I felt as though I were part of Dale and Alexander’s journey myself, and I am so glad this book came to my attention.
A huge thank you to the author for providing a review copy of this book.
Purchase River Queens on Amazon
Review of Mystery at the Masquerade by Josh Lanyon
Blurb:
Ellery Page, aspiring screenwriter, reigning Scrabble champion, and occasionally clueless owner of the Crow’s Nest mystery bookshop, is both flattered and bemused when he’s invited to the annual Marauder’s Masquerade, the biggest social event of the season in the quaint seaside village of Pirate’s Cove, Rhode Island.
Ellery doesn’t even know Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley—nor, it turns out does Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley know Ellery. But Marguerite’s son, Julian, wants to know him. Julian, handsome, rich, and engaging, is a huge mystery buff, but he’s never quite worked up the nerve to ask Ellery out.
As his relationship with Police Chief Jack Carson seems to be dead in the water, Ellery is grateful for a little flattering male attention from the village’s most eligible bachelor. But any hopes of romance hit the shoals when Julian is accused of murdering his mother’s unlikable second husband during the spooky annual ghost hunt in the old cemetery.
Review
Murder at the Masquerade is the third book in the Secrets and Scrabble series — that follows Ellery Page, a bookstore owner and amateur sleuth who resides in the seaside village of Pirate’s Cove. Once again, Ellery is reluctantly dragged into another murder investigation — this time, at the town’s most prestigious yearly event. This time, Ellery is surprised by the attentions of Julian, the son of one of the wealthiest families in Pirate’s Cove. Paying a visit to Julian’s family crypt, they stumble across the body of Julian’s unlikeable stepfather, and Ellery is inadvertently drawn into the investigation, much to the chagrin of Police Chief Jack Carson.
Like the past two books, this was an intriguing yet lighthearted mystery populated with numerous shenanigans and quirky, oddball secondary characters. I really loved journeying along with this zany set of vibrant characters as the pieces of the puzzle slowly fit into place, and the mystery unfurled. I’ve come to love the folks of this village community, and it’s heartwarming to see them slowly begin to accept Ellery as one of their own.
Though the mystery itself is at the forefront of the story, we do see a significant step forward in Ellery’s hot and cold, push and pull romance with Police Chief Jack Carson. I look forward to future books to see where their relationship goes. But as this is a cozy mystery, there is no on-page violence, swearing, or sex, so this is the perfect story for those who don’t like their mysteries too gory or too sexy.
All in all, I found it delightfully inventive, playful, humorous and clever, with all of its creepy crypts, hidden tunnels, and over-the-top characters and situations. This tongue-in-cheek story is a treat for cozy mystery fans.
Oh, and Ellery’s lovable dog Watson, who plays a more significant part in the story this time, is the cherry on top of this fun and delightful tale.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy of this book.
Purchase Murder at the Masquerade from Amazon
Review of Dead Sea by Mia Kerick
Blurb:
Kyle is a swaggering bully; Lenny strives to be invisible.
Kyle has been left alone in the world; Lenny is the world’s biggest loner.
When Kyle saves Lenny from drowning, their lives will never be the same.
After a brutal encounter with school bullies, Lenny swims out into the ocean, determined to let the current whisk him away. Next thing he knows the meanest kid in town is pulling him from the waves, promising to be his Dead Sea, and to never let him sink.
All Kyle wants is to get out of beach cleanup, is that too much to ask? So he goes for a swim, only to come upon the most epic “nobody” in the senior class drowning in a riptide. Lenny’s haunted gaze grips him, and Kyle makes the impulsive decision to save his life or die trying. And through this ordeal, Kyle and Lenny are transformed.
Kyle’s heroic act sets him on the straight and narrow, and he opens his heart to the young man he dragged from the ocean. Lenny changes too but is still unable to reveal the truth of his pain. While drowning in a sea of secrets, the reformed bully and wary victim fall in love. But staying afloat in the Dead Sea is not as simple as it seems.
Trigger warning: one character attempts unsuccessfully to die by suicide as is noted in the blurb, further discussion of death by suicide
Review:
The story follows Lenny, a seventeen-year-old talented creative kid who loves to sew and dress up in costumes. After an upsetting event during which all of his secrets risk exposure, Lenny, unable to face the potential humiliation, decides to walk into the ocean and never return. Caught in a riptide, he begins to drown but is rescued by the unlikeliest of heroes: one of the school’s biggest and meanest bullies, Kyle.
It was so much fun watching Kyle transform from a bully into a caring individual who continues not only to surprise those around him but surprise himself as well. In Kyle and Lenny, we have two teenagers who have gone through difficult times but have dealt with them in different ways: Lenny by becoming nearly invisible (his nickname at school is “Zip-Lip” because he hardly ever even talks) and Kyle hiding behind his bullying facade and tough attitude. So in this way, both boys hid from the world in their own way.
I loved seeing the transformation as both boys evolved into something more, with each discovering themselves and each other in the process. I enjoyed watching their connection strengthen as the days passed, and they both started changing, both defying society’s expectations and overcoming their personal trauma. It was heartwarming how one of the school’s most terrifying individuals became a hero and how this affected everyone around them — but most of all, himself and Lenny. Mia Kerick really seems to understand the teenage soul—the longing, the self-awareness, the challenges, the fear, and the confusion.
There is real depth to this story as it delves into some pretty serious themes such as suicide, bullying, depression, parental rejection, abandonment, survival, homophobia, and fitting in, all of which the author handled expertly and compassionately. The author created here two characters that I couldn’t help but care deeply for. They were well-fleshed out with a satisfying character arc. Though the book is layered with complexities of identity and societal expectations, ultimately, Dead Sea ends being a beautifully written story about friendship, redemption, and first love.
Purchase Dead Sea from Amazon
Review of Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Blurb:
A stunning, shattering debut novel about two Black artists falling in and out of love
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists – he a photographer, she a dancer – trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.
At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential debut of recent years.
Review:
Open Water follows a young black man and black woman in their 20s who meet at a pub and fall in love. The man is a photographer in London, and the woman is a dancer based out of Dublin. Interestingly, the entire story is told in snippets — in tiny snapshots of life — so we’re not following the events chronologically. Additionally, it’s recounted in a second-person point of view, which lends a sense of present time to the narration, though to me, I tend to find second-person narration is a tad jarring.
The story is told from the male’s point of view and starts by focusing on their relationship — how they meet, their initial awkwardness, getting to know each other, him wanting more than friendship, and how they make the leap from friends to lovers. We never learn our characters’ names — they are only referred to as “you” and “she/her.” I found it refreshing to read a story about love told from the male’s perspective, including all of his doubts, fears, excitement, and vulnerability.
But in addition to focusing on the relationship between these two young people, the book also looks at what it’s like to be young, black, and in your 20’s in London. There’s a lot of discussion about racial profiling, the mistreatment of young black men by the police, and how criminality is always assumed merely because of skin color. The book was raw and heart-wrenching in places, as the author describes in detail how time and time again, unsuspecting black men are thrown to the ground, knee on the back, and interrogated. We really got a feeling of how overwhelmingly exhausting, frightening, and risky it can be even to leave the house when the constant threat of assumed criminality is always there. I could feel the author really captured well the main character’s weariness at being constantly marginalized.
Though the story is written in prose, it almost felt as though I were reading verse as it was so beautiful and so lyrical. Through the lush, ethereal prose, the author captures and brings forth several powerful themes such as marginalization, fear, vulnerability, being seen vs. being unseen, racism, microaggression, brutality, dating, and young love.
A wise and painful book, Open Water is a deeply moving and poignant character-driven story that speaks to the times that we live in. Additionally, the visceral style of writing and breathtaking metaphors really captured the emotion and tenderness between the couple. It’s unsettling and troubling and yet strangely beautiful at the same time — a very different kind of love story.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing a review copy of this book.
Review of Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
Blurb:
In Sophie Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back
Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.
Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.
However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.
Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.
Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?
Review:
This was such a fun book! The story follows a bisexual high school girl named Darcy who, for the past two years, has secretly run a relationship advice service from Locker 89 — an abandoned locker at school to which only she has the combination. One day she gets caught red-handed retrieving letters from the locker by a stuffy upperclassman named Alexander Brougham. In return for keeping her secret, Darcy agrees to help him win back his ex-girlfriend. Of course, things don’t go smoothly, especially when her own love life stirs up a conflict of interest between her “Agony Aunt” duties and her friend Brook, a friend on whom Darcy harbors a secret crush. As it turns out, Darcy has made some poor decisions — selfish decisions — which, if came to light, would no doubt ruin her friendship with Brook forever.
I really appreciated the conversion about bi-phobia, both internalized and external, once Darcy begins having feelings for Alexander. She begins to ask herself whether she’s can still call herself queer if she dates someone of the opposite sex. Would falling in love with a guy erase her as a bisexual? Could she even call herself bisexual in such a case? There was a lot of compelling discussion around this topic in the book, and it illustrated how painful and damaging bi-phobia can be — and how it can even be perpetuated by the Queer community.
The book also delves into many other important themes such as romantic relationships, friendship, being part of the queer community, family, and coming out. There was also plenty of horrible decisions leading to much drama, which was a lot of fun. But though Darcy does mess up horribly and makes some pretty terrible decisions, she’s quite an admirable character overall. She takes her role as a relationship advisor seriously. Thus, she spends a lot of time researching relationships, helping her provide better advice to her “clients” (even though she’s never been in a relationship herself). Darcy actually gives quite impressive and well-researched advice, tacking such topics as consent, boundaries, communicating your feelings, sexual identity, appropriate expectations, and not allowing others to take advantage of you or belittle you.
I also loved how diverse the cast of characters was. Our main character, Darcy, was bisexual, the male hero was heterosexual, Darcy’s friend/love interest is a lesbian, and several supporting characters were trans, non-binary, and gay.
All in all, this novel was a delight to read. I loved the way it combines the bitterness of adolescence with the sweetness of friendship and young love. The characterization in this book is really powerful, and I thought that this novel is populated with wonderfully complex, dynamic, and empathetic characters, displaying the perfect balance of heartbreak and hope.
The plot itself was phenomenal, and I loved the premise of giving out secret relationship advice via a school locker. But this was much more than an enjoyable story. Perfect on Paper makes us think about who we are and how we want to live our lives and does in a way that’s skillfully presented and eloquently narrated, ending up being a tale of courage, love, and carving your own place in the world.