This is the first post in a new series focusing on my monthly reads.
Each month’s post will be updated as I finish a book, so check back weekly for updates!
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
After the sudden death of a friend, a group of college friends makes a pact to call on one another when needed to hold a “funeral” for one another to celebrate the person who is need of a little extra care. The idea? That we shouldn’t wait until the people we love are gone to share the moments made together and the reasons why our loved ones are so important to us. Spanning decades, we revisit the friends at various vulnerable moments in their lives and how they gather to celebrate one another in the face of losing parents, facing cancer, etc.
The Guncle was one of my favorite books of 2022, and I anxiously awaited the publication date of The Celebrants after putting my copy on hold immediately upon its entry into our library’s system. Sadly, this book didn’t have any of the warmth or heart that I loved so very much in The Guncle. The only storyline I cared about was that of Jordy and Jordan, and when the book features an ensemble cast, it’s not good when there are more characters you don’t care about than those you do. Disappointing. ⭐⭐
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
The 1929, the Hope family murders rocked the Maine coast. Most people assumed teenage Lenora was responsible, but she was never proven guilty. Following the incident, she never spoke publicly about it nor left the walls of her home, Hope’s End, the cliffside manor where the crime occurred. In 1983, home-health aide Kit McDeere tends to Lenora after her previous nurse fled. One night, Lenora communicates to Kit that she wants to reveal everything about the massacre, but even as she reveals details, Kit questions her honesty. She is left to wonder if she is safe within the mansion’s walls…and with Lenora.
Since the publication of Final Girls, Sager’s first novel, I have looked forward to his new release each year. The two most recent titles, Survive the Night and The House Across the Lake, let me down a bit. The Only One Left, however, won me over immediately and proved to be a great palette cleanser that revitalized my love and appreciation for Sager’s storytelling. The creepy mansion on the cliff’s edge, mysterious Lenora, and the 1980s vibe all worked for me. Not knowing the direction the story was heading was nice too. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Harriett and Wynn are known among their friends as the perfect couple, together since college, happy in every way. Except, they aren’t. They have been broken up for six months but haven’t revealed this to the friends they vacation with each summer in Maine. Too afraid to break their friends’ hearts, they keep their secret, and each continues to play the part of loving partner. What happens when you still want each other while pretending you don’t?
Each Emily Henry novel is better than her last. I love how she writes relationships, but in Happy Place, I really loved the focus on friendship, group dynamics, and the strain that time and maturity places on friends who have known one another for so long and find themselves growing in different directions. It all just felt real and relatable.
The setting of fictional town Knott’s Landing, Maine is the perfect backdrop for a summer read, which is essential to my enjoyment when I read June through August. I want the cute little town with its quaint shops, descriptions of summer foods, morning boat rides hikes, and walks to get morning coffee (from a place with a cute name of course.) Absolutely delightful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Beach Trap by Ali Brady
DNF at 39% – I realized I didn’t care for the characters or the story, so I decided to move on
California Golden by Melanie Benjamin
In 1960’s California, the Donnelly sisters grow up in a household with an absent father and a mother who would rather be out in the waves than at home prepping casseroles. But when Carol introduces daughters Mindy and Ginger to surfing, the girls view it as a way to keep their family together and ignite some mothering instincts in Carol, as they constantly fear she will leave them. The girls grow up, and their paths veer in different directions: Mindy excels in surfing, takes roles in films, attends parties, takes a tour with the USO in Vietnam, and delights in her minor celebrity status. Ginger; however, struggles with finding her identity, and ultimately seeks community and love through a cult. No matter where they are in the world, there are things that tie them together.
When I first requested this ARC, I was pulled in by the description of a surf family’s saga, set against the backdrop of 1960s California with its party scene, drugs, and cults with the Vietnam War happening abroad. I generally enjoyed the story, but there were just too many big themes there and none of them received enough attention. It all felt a bit surface-level, and I wanted to go deeper. More surfing, or more about the cult, or more about the USO tour in Vietnam, rather than a little bit of everything. ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
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