Treading Water

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley is the raw story of Kiara’s life on the streets in Oakland.

Seventeen-year-old Kiara and her older brother Marcus have been on their own ever since their dad’s death followed by their mom’s incarceration. Marcus becomes determined to become a music star, and Kiara finds herself on her own to pay rent. She makes a dangerous decision to make her money in the streets, and in doing so gets caught up in a terrifying sex trafficking ring within the police department. Through all of this, she also takes on the responsibility of caring for her young neighbor whose mom is a neglectful drug addict.

Each scene and character is conveyed with a combination of straightforward reality, desperation, and strength in the midst of life’s brutal challenges. I couldn’t stop reading this book in hope for justice and a positive ending for Kiara and those she cared about.

Crazy Times

The Mad Girls of New York by Maya Rodale provides a peek into the male-dominated world during the late 1800s, with specific attention to Nellie Bly’s break into New York’s bustling newspaper industry.

Nellie Bly is escaping her hometown secret by doing everything in her power to secure a job as a reporter. She luckily meets a group of lady reporters (women’s pages), which lands her a chance to meet an editor who previously refused her. Her pitch is to go undercover in the infamous Blackwell’s insane asylum. This place is known for not letting any reporters in, and is spoken about for its deplorable conditions. Getting this story could be Nellie’s big break, but is it worth the risk?

Nellie manages to get herself committed. She sees firsthand the wretched treatment, food and conditions, while also building relationships with several of the women inside. Each “inmate” adds her own persona to the story. Meanwhile, Nellie has competition with a new male reporter who is trying to scoop her story while she is locked up. Nellie must remain hopeful that she will be released in time to share her viewpoint, and to make a difference for women.

There is an authentic, old-fashioned feel to the story, which combined with human interest and Bly’s bravery make this an interesting read.

Save the Planet

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a sci-fi lover’s dream come true.

Brilliant minds are needed when a new cellular life form is discovered that is basically eating our sun. This would lead to the end of humanity in a relatively short period of time. Ryland Grace is one of the scientists chosen to investigate a solution from a star that is not “infected.” It is a suicide mission because of the space time and limited resources they have available to make the journey.

Upon awakening from his medically induced coma, he quickly realizes that his crew-mates didn’t survive the trip. It is now up to him to figure out answers and send them back to Earth. Fortunately, Grace teams up with a large, spider-like alien who he names Rocky. Rocky is on the same mission from his home. They combine forces to save their own planets, in doing so, becoming true friends. Along the way, readers discover the events leading to this vital mission.

This book was very entertaining and educationally fascinating.

Survival Mode

The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson is my third read from this past week. It combines elements of the previous two reads: female empowerment and murder, but in a completely different way.

The Violence is the name given to a post-Covid virus from mosquito bites. Those infected go completely blank while violently attacking whoever is unlucky enough to be nearby. Chelsea is an abused wife and mother who decides to use her husband’s next attack to her advantage. She reports him to the infected help line which gets him taken away long enough for her to plan an escape.

Escape seems impossible once she realizes that she actually does have the Violence. Chelsea reaches out to her rich, dismissive mother for help with her daughters, sixteen-year-old Ella and five-year-old Brooklyn. At this point their paths all diverge as they go through individual hardships.

Ella and Chelsea are on their own when Chelsea’s mom shuts them out, and her mom is left to take over parenting Brooklyn. Everyone is in survival mode and trying to figure out how to safely reunite.

This book did have some disturbing moments (it is called the violence after all!), but I found it to be very well written. Beyond the topic of violence is the strength of family, the will to overcome challenges and the ability to change. Great read!

Strength in Numbers

Smile and Look Pretty by Amanda Pellegrino is a female empowerment novel.

Four best friends regularly meet up to discuss their horrible work situations. They deal with harassment, empty promises of advancement, and demeaning errands. They decide to make their complaints public while maintaining anonymity in a blog named twentysomething. They take turns writing about some of their nightmare experiences, while inviting readers to share their own too.

The blog gains more popularity which causes plenty of drama. The four friends must battle issues amongst each other, boyfriends, and the effects of their growing confidence with their employers.

Events reach a head when enough women come forward to speak out against a famous tv news host. Will the friends risk losing everything in order to to take down a known harasser?

A Case of Murder

The Judge’s List by John Graham is a page turning murder mystery.

A woman named Jeri has been secretly investigating her father’s murder for years. Her digging has revealed that her father is one of many victims of a powerful, patient serial killer. He has killed in numerous states out of revenge, and has sometimes waited more than ten years to enact his kill. The killer is intelligent and seemingly untouchable because he is a Florida judge with no clear evidence to connect all his kills.

Jeri finally reveals her years of research to judicial board investigator, Lacy. It’s now up to Lacy and her team to follow through, unless the judge is able to outsmart them all once again.

This was a great read to kick off my summer break!

Fresh Start

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover is Kenna’s redemption story.

Five years earlier, she was charged with her boyfriend Scotty’s death in a car wreck. Now she is out of prison trying to rebuild her life, and meet the daughter she was forced to give up while serving her sentence. Her daughter, Diem, is living with Scotty’s parents, and they make it very clear that they do not want Kenna entering their lives. Kenna works through her feelings by writing letters to Scotty.

Meanwhile, Kenna manages to make a strong connection to Ledger, one of Scotty’s best friends and childhood neighbor. The author alternates between Ledger and Kenna’s points of view, all the while building the sexual tension between them, and revealing back story. Everything leads to the critical moment in which Ledger must choose between his relationship with Diem and Scotty’s parents or Kenna.

Online Match

Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger is a fictional work exploring the potential dangers of online dating sites. You never know who someone truly is…

Wren makes a match using the Torch dating site, which her friend pushed her to try. After several quick flings, she makes a meaningful connection to Adam. They spend several wonderful weeks together before he suddenly ghosts her. All traces of him lead to a dead end. She may have eventually moved on, except a private detective approaches her about him. It seems that this behavior is a repeat offense for Adam, and the girl before Wren is still missing.

Wren can’t help but get involved in trying to locate Adam and the missing girl. In doing so, we discover that there are plenty of secrets in Wren’s past.

Adam finally reaches out to lure Wren back. Will she go to him and will doing so give her the same fate as the girls before her? This is a decent read for some drama and suspense.

Drive Away

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-first Century by Jessica Bruder is the author’s account of years experiencing life on the road.

Bruder expertly weaves informational background to better understand how today’s economy has impacted many to make the brave choice to simplify and reduce their possessions down to what they can fit in a vehicle. One subject in particular is Linda May, although there are many others given page time. This is not about living in a fully equipped RV, but about converting a larger vehicle such as a van into livable space. It is about living as a workamper, which means following good weather and seasonal work opportunities. These opportunities include working for Amazon during the holiday season, and as a camp host(ess) for parks during camping season.

While this lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me personally, I can’t help but understand the desire to leave all the pressures of “regular” life behind and the appeal of bonding with like-minded people. It is incredibly well-written with countless conversation starters.

Double the Deceit (Two to Review)

First, I have been slacking a bit by forgetting to put in a finished book from a while back, and reading my most recent book very slowly (unusual for me!). This will be a bit choppy, but here goes…

First and most recent is The Club by Ellery Lloyd. This book is about the exclusive, world-wide celebrity clubs named Home with a large cast of characters to follow. First, there are the primary owners and brothers Ned and Adam Groom, their right-hand woman and publicist Annie Stark, and Nikki is the young woman who was taken under Ned’s wing starting as a coat check girl and moving her way up to his first assistant. Then there is Jess, new head of housekeeping with an ulterior motive for wanting to work among this exclusive set of celebrity clientele, one couple in particular. There are several fictional celebrities involved in the plot as well.

The story centers around the grand opening of the newest addition to the club, Island Home. Guests are secluded on the island for a weekend, and all sorts of craziness unfolds. The chapters transition between different character perspectives, revealing back story and drama for each while also jumping to the aftermath of opening weekend. Spoiler ahead…

We discover that Ned has been blackmailing his top clients for years in order to finance his clubs, and readers find out just how he is able to uncover their darkest secrets. There are multiple murders, motives and deceit taking place from all angles throughout this book, making it tricky to follow at parts, but definitely entertaining.

Second, and going further back, is The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda. The story’s main character received national attention as a child, when she was discovered in a drain pipe days after going missing during the night. Now many years later, she feels that she escaped her highly publicized childhood by changing her name and moving several times. Her mother has passed away as well, severing all connections to her past… or so she thought.

Suddenly, strange events begin taking place. First she finds a dead man in her yard, and then one of her friends/coworkers goes missing. Once the identity of the dead man is revealed to be her childhood rescuer, she knows that she can no longer deny her past. The story continues with discovering the real story behind her disappearance and the crazy aftermath it created for both her and for all those involved.