Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid has gotten a lot of positive press this year/summer. I generally like Reid’s books (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, Forever, Interrupted, One True Loves), though I didn’t like Daisy Jones and the Six. Malibu Rising is the story of one night with flashbacks scattered throughout so you understand the dynamics of that night. “Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva. The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth. Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there. And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone. By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.” (Amazon) Summer read? Yes. Best of her bunch? No.

What’s a summer without an Elin Hilderbrand to enjoy?! I almost didn’t read Golden Girl after the beginning where the main character dies and looks down on her children’s lives from heaven (not my kind of read), but I stuck with it. While it wasn’t one of her better books, it wasn’t a complete loss either. “On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them. From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.” If you like Hilderbrand, give this one a go, but know it’s not one of her best.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones reminded me of An Untamed State by Roxane Gay (oddly, I reviewed this book and chose it as a favorite in 2018, but the review has disappeared). However, One-Armed Sister wasn’t as well executed. “In Baxter’s Beach, Barbados, Lala’s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister. It’s a cautionary tale, about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers and go into the Baxter’s Tunnels. When she’s grown, Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven into the Tunnels by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom – and their lives.” (Amazon) I finished this one more because I wanted to know the resolution and less because I enjoyed it.

Paula McLain is generally up my alley. And, When the Stars Go Dark was a good read. I didn’t love it, but I did enjoy reading it. “Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed with saving the missing girl, she must accept that true courage means getting out of her own way and learning to let others in.” (Amazon) It is certainly worth picking up, but not a favorite.

I have had The Wife Upstairs on my list for a while. It’s the type of book I enjoy – a page-turning thriller that’s a great summer choice – nothing too deep here. “Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name. But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for. Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?” (Amazon) This was fine, but not as good as some other thrillers I have read of late.

Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney was a disappointment. I didn’t like her previous book, The Nest, much either. “Flora Mancini has been happily married for more than twenty years. But everything she thought she knew about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with her best friend, Margot, is upended when she stumbles upon an envelope containing her husband’s wedding ring—the one he claimed he lost one summer when their daughter, Ruby, was five. Flora and Julian struggled for years, scraping together just enough acting work to raise Ruby in Manhattan and keep Julian’s small theater company—Good Company—afloat. A move to Los Angeles brought their first real career successes, a chance to breathe easier, and a reunion with Margot, now a bona fide television star. But has their new life been built on lies? What happened that summer all those years ago? And what happens now?” (Amazon). While it sounds good, the execution wasn’t. I’m not sure I will pick up another one of hers.

Where have I been hiding?! Well, I’ve been on vacation and decided to take a hiatus from posting. Consequently, I am going to be posting about a lot of books all at once (rainy day…thanks, Elsa). The first of my vacation reads was The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. It’s apparently the first in a trilogy. The second in the set came out this summer. “Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own…Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.” (Amazon). I liked this one, but not as much as I expected. Perhaps too much hype-ahead-of-time?

I took a break from the Summer Reading List to cover Elin Hildebrand’s newest (as I have said before – and all her titles that I have read are linked below – you have to read one each summer, even if you know what it’s going to be like). 28 Summers is the story of Mallory Blessing and her inherited summer house on Nantucket (oh, to be so lucky…): “When Mallory Blessing’s son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he’s not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It’s the late spring of 2020 and Jake’s wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election. There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other? Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother’s bachelor party. Cooper’s friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere—through marriage, children, and Ursula’s stratospheric political rise—until Mallory learns she’s dying.” (Amazon) This was standard Hilderbrand — nothing amazing (though this was pretty engrossing), but a good read, nonetheless and perfect for summer.

The Matchmaker
Summerland
The Rumor
Here’s to Us
The Identicals
The Beach Club (she clearly hadn’t gotten into the cover art she is now known for when this one came out)
The Perfect Couple
Winter in Paradise

The library really came through for me this early summer. Book two off my can’t-wait-to-read-this-summer list was My Brilliant Life by Ae-ran Kim. It was a short and sweet read that I enjoyed, but didn’t LOVE. Apparently it also was a movie from 2014. Amazon describes: “Areum lives life to its fullest, vicariously through the stories of his parents, conversations with Little Grandpa Jang—his sixty-year-old neighbor and best friend—and through the books he reads to visit the places he would otherwise never see. For several months, Areum has been working on a manuscript, piecing together his parents’ often embellished stories about his family and childhood. He hopes to present it on his birthday, as a final gift to his mom and dad; their own falling-in-love story.” Perhaps a better description is from the movie: “Dae-soo and Mi-ra gave birth to their son Ah-reum when they were both 17 years old, and Ah-reum was diagnosed with progeria, which makes his body age prematurely. When Ah-reum turns seventeen, with his body that of an eighty-year-old, he decides to write a story about how his parents fell in love.” It’s a sweet story and worth a read.

Nothing like the first week of June to start one of the 12 books on my can’t-wait-to-read summer list. No matter that school is still in session! I have only read one other Kazuo Ishiguro book (When We Were Orphans reviewed here) and I was lucky enough to get Klara and the Sun from the library. There is a lot of hype around this book right now and I was excited to dive in. Sadly, I hated the first half and tolerated the second. I can see why people might enjoy the story, but it wasn’t for me and left me with too many questions and small irritations along the way. Amazon’s description: “Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?” Even this description falls flat for me upon reading it. Please share in the comments why you liked this one, if you did.