Witchy Women

Weyward by Emilia Hart will appeal to those who enjoy tales of witchcraft.

The Weywards are a family linked by strong women who use nature (plants, animals) to both heal and harm. The latter becomes necessary due to terrible men in their lives.

The story is told from multiple points of view in various time periods.

Altha’s story takes place in 1619, beginning with her witchcraft trial. She recounts events leading up to the trial, including her mother’s passing along the family legacy to her. She was tried for provoking a stampede that killed her childhood friend’s husband.

Violet’s story begins when she is sixteen during 1942. She has vague memories of her mother, and was told she died while giving birth to her young brother. After being raped by an older cousin, she discovers the truth about her mother’s life and their family. She breaks the chain by not having her own daughter. However, she feels that her brother’s granddaughter may have the Weyward gift.

Kate’s story is from 2019. Violet is her great aunt. She only met her once as a child, but Violet left her the Weyward cottage. Kate escapes her abusive husband, finding refuge in the cottage. This allows her to rebuild her life, finding strength in her family’s legacy while nurturing her pregnancy- a baby girl to continue the line.

I enjoyed how the women’s lives connected and their unity with nature. It was a good story.

Villainous

Verity by Colleen Hoover is coming out as a movie soon so I wanted to give it a chance. When I started the book, I could’ve sworn I already read it. But I kept going because I couldn’t seem to find any of my blog posts about it.

Lowen is a reclusive writer who just lost her mother to cancer and is nearly broke. She witnesses a fatal accident on her way to a meeting with her publisher. A man at the scene helps her, and ends up being at the meeting.

He’s married to the famous author, Verity Crawford, and is asking Lowen to finish writing the final few books in her contract. Verity is unable to write them due to a horrific accident which has left her completely incapacitated. Her accident occurred after losing two of their three children (separate incidents).

Lowen moves into their home to go through all Verity’s notes and material. In doing so she finds an autobiography. It describes Verity’s relationship with Jeremy and her twisted jealousy of her own children. Spoilers ahead-

Verity’s manuscript repeatedly describes her hatred of her children, especially one of her twin daughters. This hatred becomes exacerbated as she blames her for killing her twin sister, ultimately leading to her death.

Lowen becomes more attracted to Jeremy while staying in their home. But she also suspects that Verity is not actually immobile.

Events lead to an intense finish in which readers don’t know whether Verity is actually an evil character or a misunderstood imaginative writer.

The shock value scenes did not appeal to me, and I’m not sure how this book will play out as a movie.

Getting Stronger

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand and Tara Anand explores Nitasha’s growing pains. It’s a graphic novel and a Nutmeg nominee.

The story follows her struggles with her mom who expects her to behave as a traditional Indian girl. Meanwhile her older brother, a doctor, can do no wrong. Her best friend has been getting closer with a new girl in town. And her crush ends up with the new girl.

Nitasha deals with her stress by drinking and self harm. Things come to a terrible head after she is recorded drunk and in her underwear while trying to impress her crush. His girlfriend records her and posts it on social media. It eventually reaches her parents and devastates their relationship.

Nitasha tries to kill herself. While in psychiatric care, she meets another teen. They become friendly and their conversation makes Nitasha realize that her life is actually pretty good, full of family and friends.

She spends the remainder of the book bettering herself while also repairing her relationships with parents and friends.

Poppy’s Turn

This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg was listed in a high school social media group as highly engaging. It’s part of my school’s collection, so I had to borrow it.

The book begins with Poppy dropping a DNA test in the mail. This is a highly risky move because Poppy’s family (mom, dad and eight-year-old sister Emma) have been on the run her whole life.

Poppy’s memories are only of constant moving. She is aware her parents live in fear of being caught and she has become accustomed to abruptly leaving one town for another. This lifestyle has prevented her from becoming too close to anyone.

Their most recent move is to California, but this move feels different. Her militant dad seems extra jumpy and her mom is acting strangely. Poppy joins a high-level summer math course and begins bending some of the family rules. This is partly due to a love interest, wealthy Harrison Addison (classmate).

Her growing relationship with Harrison and her growing restlessness with their lifestyle prompts her to begin investigating her parents. What she discovers is completely unexpected and leads her to face her compliance over the years. As she turns eighteen, she has to decide whether to keep living according to their rules, or to begin her own life.

This was a great book. I thought it moved quickly, and it kept my interest!

Unexpected Ending

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden is an introspective look at a derailed marriage.

Belle’s husband unexpectedly shares his request for a divorce at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. This happens right after Belle receives a phone call alerting her to his involvement in an affair with a married woman from his workplace.

We are taken through the early days of their courtship and marriage including how she went along with staying at home and giving him full authority over their finances. They developed a nice life together.

Belle is blessed to have a very strong network of family (mom, stepmother, brother) and close friends to support her through her grieving and beyond. She also never wanted for money and was well taken care of both with an apartment in the city and a home in Martha’s Vineyard. She purchased these homes with her trust money (albeit putting the residences in both of their names).

Belle’s husband became a cold, calculating person through the years of the divorce proceedings, including showing little interest in any extended time with their three children. She is devastated mostly because she never sensed any warning signs leading up to the divorce. She truly believed they were a happy marriage. She comes to terms with reality through the book as she navigates how others treat her as a divorcee and learning about herself.

I appreciated the straightforward writing style along with the use of italics for her inner rationalizations, which served as self-counseling through difficult situations. This narrative shows that even the most perfect-seeming relationship has many layers. Perhaps it’s impossible to truly know someone.

Reconcilable Differences

The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff is full of familial and romantic ups and downs.

The story is told from alternating viewpoints (April, her husband Leo and April’s mom Deb) spanning events following a house fire.

Leo and April’s home catches on fire later the same night that Leo asks for a divorce. They manage to get out unharmed with their two young children, Sadie and Otto.

They temporarily move in with April’s parents, Deb and Billy. April’s younger sister Josie and brother Cameron are often in and out of the house too. It’s during this time that Billy is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.

Some spoilers- Each character navigates pain and loss within their chapters. April and Leo’s chapters reveal how they met, and their extended rough patch following their children’s births, including April’s infidelity with a coworker. I was rooting for their reconciliation the whole way through! Deb’s chapters also show the progression of her relationship with Billy.

Leo was abandoned to an aunt and uncle by his parents when he was young. He never saw them again, and spent most of his life feeling unwanted and unloved. April unexpectedly comes into contact with his dad which begins the healing process.

This book has a thoughtful approach to family dynamics amidst tough situations. One of my favorite lines which also sums up a main premise of the book is, “Life is a series of wild unknowns, and the past will always leave marks” (195).

Audience is Watching

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is spurring a lot of dialogue in social media book groups at the moment.

It follows Natalie’s life through college and her marriage to the rich and youngest son of a political family. Natalie is pretty unlikable and unreliable as a character: she hates everyone while also wanting their attention and envy.

Her decision to become a homesteading family for social media happens almost accidentally as a way to give her husband some purpose. She embraces the role so extensively (and under false pretenses) that it consumes her existence. Her off-camera personality is actually very socially awkward and spiteful. When a major event occurs that brings this side of herself to light, she snaps.

Spoilers- Natalie wakes up in 1855 in her home, but her husband seems different. Her five children and pregnancy are different too, as in this past time she is no longer pregnant and has four different children.

Natalie struggles day to day with this difficult existence without any technology, electricity or other comforts until finally reaching some clarity as to what’s really happening (years later).

A lot of the themes in this book (traditional wife roles compared to that of a working woman) as well as Natalie’s holier than thou attitude can be uncomfortable. She doesn’t get along with anyone. For me, it definitely shed a light on how social media has the potential to be very contrived and all-consuming to its creator and those involved as bystanders. Mental illness is also portrayed in the story, although it may be a bit of a stretch in how it exhibited itself for Natalie.

Money Problems

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett is a lengthy book with parallel storylines that connect.

Birdie is a single, twenty-three(ish) year old woman living with her mother and grandmother in Footely, Mississippi during the Depression era. Hard times have forced Birdie to visit her sister Frances in Oxford. Frances married a wealthy banker, Rory, and Birdie is tasked with asking him for some money.

Frances and Rory live with his socialite mom, Mrs. Tartt. Frances volunteers at the local orphanage and has been trying to get in the good graces of the chairwoman, Mrs. Garnett. The second narrator, Meg, is an orphan here.

Meg (eleven years old) recounts how she ended up at the orphanage about two years earlier when her mother never came back from the store. Garnett treats the older girls terribly, but Meg is treated the worst. She is forced to sit in a moldy office all day instead of school with the other girls. She also is often verbally and physically abused by Garnett.

Eventually, Birdie spends some time at the orphanage to help them balance their books. This is how she meets Meg and finds out about her treatment. Time passes. Only a few days after Meg is adopted, Birdie also meets Meg’s mom, Charlie. She was hospitalized and in jail. There is a lot more to her story, which is shared when she stays with them.

Spoilers- Rory lost all of his family’s money and never paid house taxes before stealing everything else of value from the family home and running away. Frances and Mrs. Tart go to find him. Meanwhile, Birdie and Charlie plan to get some boarders and run a dance club to make the money everyone needs to get their lives back on track. However, the dance club is a front for a brothel.

Meanwhile, Meg is doing everything to make her adoption placement work with Tom and Lucille. Tom is the son of a very wealthy family. Lucille is a money grubbing alcoholic and Tom’s parents can’t stand her. This creates a pretty volatile situation for Meg.

While the plot took a turn I didn’t expect (brothel situation), I really enjoyed so much of the story. It is well written with so many great characters. I really enjoyed Birdie’s character, and found myself invested all the way until its satisfying conclusion.

Colony

The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang is a magical mystery.

Jo Ness has been grieving the loss of Aldo; he was her best friend and coauthor of their book about jellyfish. His death occurred during a dive together, and Jo has been haunted by his loss since.

Her college friend and love interest, Nadia, reaches out to her after eleven years without communication. There is a giant jellyfish in the water off the tiny Maine island where Nadia lives. She hopes Jo can bring her jellyfish expertise to help the island residents.

The jellyfish, called Clementine, has an invisible hold over everyone who has seen it. This hold prevents them from leaving the island or destroying her, and its boundary appears to be narrowing.

Jo faces visions of Aldo’s ghost and the interesting collection of island residents (including a potential love interest) to figure out how to release Clementine’s hold.

There are interesting snippets from Jo and Aldo’s book throughout the story which enhance the tale.

Real Love

Fever Dream by Elsie Silver is a spicy, slow burn romance taking place during filming a reality show called “Romance Ranch” in Canada.

Emmett is the star bachelor on the show. He’s a famous bull rider known for his womanizing ways. Julia is the set designer. She also happens to be the younger sister of Emmett’s bull riding rival.

Their relationship with each other starts off on the wrong foot due to some uncomfortable history between them (which is shared early on in the book).

The author does a good job building a fun flirtation between them which eventually leads to much more. As they get to know each other, Julia understands why Emmett hasn’t let anyone get too close to him.

On top of their budding relationship is the drama of creating a reality show. The show producer makes everyone miserable with threats and pushing his seedy agenda that Emmett wants no part of. Emmett and Julia are forbidden from seeing each other as it would be a contract breach.

The book includes some cute touches such as a few pictures, text exchanges and memos to the producer. I’m not typically a romance fan, but this book was a fun summer read.