A slightly disappointing month of reading. Definitely some good books here, but several are from some of my favorite authors, so I was thinking they would be GREAT reads. Details follow:
Homecoming - Kate Morton - historical fiction - four stars - I am a big Kate Morton fan, and this one was just OK for me. This one was closer to three and a half stars rounded up. It's another one of those dual timeline stories. In the present, Jess must return to Australia because her grandmother is dying. When she returns she finds a very confused grandmother and a mystery. As she tries to unravel what was troubling her grandmother, she discovers an old family tragedy, the deaths of her aunt and cousins prior to her birth. The story itself has promise, but I was put off by how it was told. Much of the historical story is told through an old book about the events that Jess finds and reads. This construct is annoying. It honestly felt like it slowed the story down too much and broke the flow of things. I was annoyed every time I had to read a chapter from the 'book', which was pretty often. There were a couple interesting twists that I didn't count on. Overall just OK.
The Golden Doves - Martha Hall Kelly - historical fiction - four stars - Another author I have absolutely loved in the past with another book that was OK, but didn't meet my expectations. Again, this one was closer to three and a half stars rounded up. Josie Anderson and Annette LaRue meet during WWII, they work as part of the Resistance and are eventually sent to Ravensbruck, where Annette's son is taken from her. After the war, Josie returns to America where she works on locating Nazis, some for prosecution, some for use by the Americans for their scientific knowledge. Annette on the other hand is trying to recover her life, but also determine what happened to her son. Their missions eventually intersect with one another in French Guiana. To me this book seemed rushed and needed editing. Again, the bones of a good story are there, but there were too many weird coincidences and overall a lot of it just seemed very far fetched.
The Golden Spoon - Jessa Maxwell - mystery - four stars - This sounded like a fun premise. Six bakers descend on the estate of a famous baker/cookbook author for a televised cooking competition. Someone is murdered, the killer must be found. The narration bounces around to each of the different contestants as well as the show's hosts. This was a pretty quick/light/easy read. I did enjoy and was rooting for several of the characters. For me things fell apart a little at the ending. It almost seemed like the author just needed to wrap things up, and it was a little haphazard and too pat for my tastes, but overall a quick and fun read.
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club - J. Ryan Stradal - fiction - five stars - Finally, one of my previous authors comes through. Stradal writes books that are food themed and based in Minnesota. This was another great one. It tells the story of Mariel and Ned Prager. They come from very different restaurant backgrounds, Mariel's family owns a supper club and Ned's family a very successful chain of family restaurants. The book shows how their love of food and service grew and evolved, but more than that it's about family and survival. There are highs and lows and characters that are flawed, but that you come to love and appreciate. Excellent read.
One Hundred Years of Solitude - García Márquez, Gabriel - historical fiction - two stars - This was my classic for this month and it was an enormous and colossal dud. For the first hundred pages I kept thinking it would get better, but it really never did. It's about the Buendia family who live in the Colombian town of Macondo. There is really not much to like about this family. For some reason they keep naming everyone the same thing, either Aureliano or Jose Arcadio. The family is a hot mess, there is all sorts of intermarriage/incest, and generally ridiculous behavior. There really is not a particularly likable character, and the story has elements of mysticism/folklore/magic which make it even less believable. This is one of those books that I forced myself to finish, but overall it was a waste of time.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? - Crystal Smith Paul - historical fiction - four stars - This was OK, another three and a half stars rounded up. It was a quick read, and while the story itself was pretty good and compelling, it was pretty heavy handed politically/socially which I found pretty annoying. It's another dual storyline book. Kitty Karr is a famous which actress who was married to the head of a studio. She dies and leaves her estate to Elise, a famous black actress, and her three sisters. The families were close, but they really don't know why they were the heirs. As the book moves along you hear Kitty's story which is fully revealed to Elise at the end. This was one, where I feel like we did not need the dual storyline. In fact almost all the second half of the book is Kitty's story with very little from Elise. I also felt like there were too many coincidences within the storyline, and this was another book where the ending felt rushed and there were too many unbelievable events. For example, one of the characters changed her name and married a Congressman, and they somehow couldn't figure out who that was? Especially when she had been an actress? OK, but a little disappointed after the hype this book received.
Overall just a so so month. Hoping that June is better. My favorite this month was definitely Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club and my least favorite was One Hundred Years of Solitude. I'm currently reading Atalanta, which is good so far. Would love to hear what you have been reading!
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