Making Music

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid recounts the rise and fall of the famous, seventies rock band of the same name told through a series of interviews. The quick switches from one character to another threw me off a bit at first. Once I settled into the format, it was as though I was watching a rock documentary, along with all the craziness and drama you would expect of a typical rock band.

The band is founded by brothers Billy and Graham Dunne as The Six, which included Warren, Karen, Pete and his brother Eddie. Meanwhile, Daisy was making a name for herself in California. Her incredible beauty and charisma gave her lots of attention in the music industry. Once The Six move to California, their musical paths cross. Daisy collaborates on a chart-topping song with The Six. It’s at this point that they decide to combine their acts.

Seven people trying to work together provides the drama you would expect. There are power struggles between multiple band members, sexual tensions along with drug and alcohol abuse. Through all of this the band creates a groundbreaking, memorable album together. Even though Billy is married to his long-time sweetheart Camila, the chemistry between Daisy and him is undeniable. Readers will follow the roller coaster ride of this band, and find out what made them break up in the middle of an extremely successful tour.

The author perfectly captures the voices and essence of what it might feel like to be part of the music industry. All the song lyrics at the end add an impressive touch. This group and its members feel as real as can be. Anyone into making and/or listening to music will enjoy diving into the lifestyle through this book.

Murder Mystery

Conviction by Denise Mina takes readers on a roller coaster ride of secret identities, murder and mystery.

Anna wakes up early to a “normal” day in which she engages her guilty pleasure, starting a new mystery podcast series called “Death and the Dana.” The day quickly becomes abnormal when her husband Hamish and supposed best friend Estelle announce they’re in love. The lovers immediately leave for vacation, taking along Hamish and Anna’s two young daughters.

Anna spirals out of control, with nothing but the podcast to keep her tethered to reality. As it turns out, Anna has a personal connection to two people in the podcast. One of the people, the rich and powerful Gretchen Teigler, already attempted to kill Anna when she was known as Sophie.

Estelle’s jilted husband Fin joins Anna as they embark on an odd adventure together. Both are feeling hurt and angry by the sudden betrayal of their respective spouses. Fin, a former rock star with anorexia, begins documenting their attempts to solve the podcast mystery. In doing so, Anna’s secret former life is exposed.

Fin and Anna have several near death experiences while traveling to important sites and people from the podcast, before finally solving the Death and the Dana mystery. Overall, this is an engaging read with some surprises along the way.

Metamorphosis

The Butterfly Girl by Rene Denfeld is equally disturbing and captivating. Private investigator Naomi and homeless twelve-year-old Celia have a lot in common. Both have been through horrific abuse as young women, and both have left behind a younger sister in order to escape that abuse.

Naomi hasn’t stopped searching to find her younger sister, despite not remembering her name or where they were held captive. The focus on her search has almost jeopardized her marriage.

Meanwhile, Celia worries about her younger sister, who still lives at home with Celia’s sexually abusive stepdad. Life on the streets is very challenging, including the constant hunger and need to stay safe. The challenge is even more harsh with the string of young homeless girls disappearing before showing up murdered. Celia’s only escape is to recollect her only positive memory before her mom turned into an addict- the beauty and light of butterflies. Meanwhile, Celia’s stepdad is starting to turn his attentions toward her younger sister. She needs to face this monster again, while also needing to escape the attention of the mystery person going after the homeless girls around her.

Naomi and Celia’s paths connect as Naomi digs to find out about her own sister’s whereabouts, while also working the case of the missing/murdered girls. The two cases connect in a shocking way.

The abuse referenced throughout the book is horrific to imagine, but the hope for a positive resolution for Naomi and Celia and punishment of the perpetrators kept me going. The author accomplished both.

Growing Up

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid is a slice of reality in its portrayal of characters and life events.

Emira is in her mid-twenties struggling with career goals. Her friends are all employed full-time, while she is a part-time babysitter and typist. While babysitting three-year-old Briar one night, she is discriminated against in an uppity grocery store. A bystander happens to videotape the episode, but she does not want to pursue any legal action. She does end up in a relationship with the videographer, who is a slightly older white male named Kelley.

Meanwhile, her employer Alix (Briar’s mom) is having her own career struggles. She received fame for her feminist movement, but a move to Philadelphia for her husband’s job has her feeling unmotivated and lonely. She becomes obsessed with Emira. She peaks at her phone every chance she gets, and desperately wants to bond with her.

It turns out that Kelley and Alix have more in common than their fondness for Emira, adding another element to the novel. Alix becomes desperate to keep Emira employed with her family. Readers will have to see how far she is willing to go to make this happen.

I appreciated Emira’s cool vibe and loved her interactions with little Briar. Briar is a unique and innocent voice throughout the book. This is a thoroughly engaging read about life, relationships and needing to make difficult choices throughout the process.

Bottled Memories

The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister is an adult fairy tale. Young Emmeline is raised by her dad on a remote island. One wall of their cabin is devoted to her dad’s passion- storing scents as one would store images with a photo. He uses a special machine to capture scents on small pieces of paper and then rolls and seals the papers into small glass bottles. She has a gifted sense of smell as well, and is raised to hone it even more. She is content with their life, until realizing that her dad has been untruthful. This catapults her into rebellious action, ultimately ending in her father’s accidental death.

Henry is a friend of her dad’s who finds her deeply in mourning and takes her off the island. Together with his wife Colette, they raise Emmeline within their beach resort. Emmeline struggles with school and friendships, until meeting Fisher. He is the only person accepting of her unusual sense and is broken from his life experiences too. Their attempt to run away together ends poorly, and Fisher leaves Emmeline behind to escape his violent father.

Eventually, Emmeline ventures out to look for Fisher and her mother. She finds both and manages to build a relationship with her extremely successful mother. There are two sides to the tale of her parent’s failed relationship. Emmeline must come to terms with where she fits in, and the type of person she wants to be.

The concept of this book is so unique, and there is much more detail beyond my quick summary. Reading people and places, whether through gestures or scents, is the gift possessed by characters in this book. Scents tell a story as they tie all of us to certain moments and people, which is the premise of this book.

Troubled Lives

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham shares the parallel points of view of Cyrus, a psychologist, and Evie/”Angel Face,” a troubled teen.

Cyrus provides his medical insight to friend and police detective Lenny in the murder case of a teen-aged girl named Jodie. Meanwhile, he is involved in the rehabilitative efforts of Evie. It turns out that as a child, Evie was rescued from a hidden room after the brutal murder of her abductor. There is no knowledge of her true identity, family or age and she has never revealed her story to anyone. Ever since being rescued, she has lived in failed foster care situations, until ending up in a secure group home for other troubled teens.

Cyrus goes out on a limb by offering to provide foster care to Edie. This living situation creates its own set of conflicts. Meanwhile, the murder investigation is ramping up. One “sure” suspect is taken in while signs point to there being another person involved in Jodie’s death. The investigation reveals that Jodie had a secret life. Evie crosses paths with this secret life, which is how everything ultimately comes to a head, and the answers to Jodie’s death are finally revealed.

This is a great read, which slowly but satisfyingly releases tidbits of information to keep you guessing until the very end.

Secrets

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware takes us into Rowan’s jail cell. She is a young woman accused of murdering a girl in her care, and the case against her looks pretty solid. Her story is told in the form of a letter appealing her case to a prominent lawyer. She feels that she must tell her entire story, including all the details leading up to the young girl’s death, in order for him to have a clear picture of her innocence.

The job as a nanny for affluent Sandra and Bill Elincourt’s four daughters seems too good to be true. She will be paid handsomely and be able to live at historic Heatherbrae House. Rowan is filling in after a long line of nannies who have abruptly left the position, so she must commit to starting quickly and staying for at least a year.

Sandra and Bill leave her on her own with the girls almost immediately for work travel. This is when things start going wrong. The combination of the girls’ poor behaviors on top of nightly creepy noises and odd occurrences around the house have Rowan completely on edge. The only person she has to turn to is the handsome caretaker Jack, and even then she is not sure if he is completely trustworthy.

Rowan finds out that there is a tragic past to the house which seems to have affected the girls. As more comes to light, she is confronted by the eldest Elincourt daughter who knows that Rowan is lying about something.

This story is full of secrets, creepiness and lots of twists and turns, especially toward the end, which is when several surprising truths are finally revealed.

A Family Education

Educated by Tara Westover is a riveting memoir that stresses the power of family dynamics in conflict with internal motivation to succeed.

Tara is the youngest of a large sibling group. Her parents are strict Mormons while her dad also displays signs of mental illness, perhaps bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. He is against public education, medicine and government and is constantly prepping for an apocalypse. Tara and her siblings are “home schooled” amidst their dad’s erratic and reckless behaviors. Usually, home schooling is trumped by their work breaking down scrap in the dad’s junkyard.

Once Tara is a bit older, she becomes the ongoing subject of both physical and mental abuse from one of her brothers. Throughout her young life, it is almost impossible to imagine the injuries that various family members endure, all without proper medical treatment. Most notable are multiple instances of traumatic head injury and two serious burns. Tara’s mom uses homeopathic remedies to treat her family, eventually growing a profitable business from her treatments. Tara’s mom is an interesting character, at first seeming quietly indifferent to her husband’s rants to eventually supporting them.

Somehow, Tara and a couple of her brothers manage to escape the family hold, but for Tara it is at the price of most of her family. Tara puts herself through college. Her brilliance captures the attention of her professors which permits her exceptional opportunities to further her education, resulting in a doctorate from Harvard. Tara’s inner drive is remarkable, despite the powerful voices from her upbringing which almost hold her back.

This is a story of resilience, determination and finding oneself. It is also a story of the intense inner workings of family that may be impossible for outsiders to understand.

What Happened to Jane?

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn describes the life of Anna Fox, child psychologist turned recluse. Anna has gone through a traumatic incident, leading to separation from her husband Ed and daughter Livvy. She has been agoraphobic the past ten months. Her days mostly consist of online chess, an agoraphobic support group, old movies, lots of wine, and watching the neighbors. I wish that I was more familiar with the old movies referenced during the story, because I’m sure I missed important connections along the way.

Anyway, Anna has been able to watch and photograph her neighbors without notice until the Russells move in. Jane, Alistair and their teenage son Ethan provide a new interest for Anna, especially once she happens to meet Ethan and bond with “Jane.” Shortly after their meeting, she witnesses Jane stabbed and bloody in the Russell home. When Anna attempts to get help, all blame turns back on her. It seems that Jane is perfectly fine and everyone believes Anna to be crazy and hallucinogenic due to her heavy use of medications combined with alcohol. Yet Anna can’t shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong. She attempts to figure out what really happened while in and out of a prescription/alcohol-induced daze.

Important truths are revealed along the way (why she became agoraphobic), and the author keeps the reader guessing as to what (if anything) really happened to Jane. Just when I found myself getting a bit frustrated with Anna, the story twisted again to reveal the true villain. In doing so, Anna proves herself to be stronger than she ever believed.

I read that this book may become a movie; it certainly has potential to be a great one.

Getting Well

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty is about nine people experiencing different degrees of need for escape/recovery. This is what brings them all to Tranquillum House for a ten-day retreat.

Frances is the character we follow most. She is a romance novelist seemingly at the end of her career. Her latest novel has been declined and she is reeling from a nasty review. Tony is the ex-football player who has been “moping” through life since his sports injury. Napoleon, his wife Heather and their daughter Zoe are still mourning their son/brother’s death. Jessica and Ben are recent Lottery winners facing marital issues. Carmel, mother to four daughters, was divorced due to her husband’s affair. Lars is a devastatingly handsome lawyer/retreat junkie. He is there in part to escape his husband’s wish to have a baby.

Masha is the owner of Tranquillum, with her own issues and back story too. In her quest to create the perfect rejuvenating, self-help retreat she pushes the boundaries a bit too far. The retreat begins with days of silence, no speaking or eye contact allowed. During this time, guests have been enjoying daily drugged smoothies. It all comes to a climax when they are given LSD as a means of promoting therapy, followed by fasting while locked into a room together.

This is a great read to escape; I found myself really drawn into the guests as they were developed through the book. I saw a little of myself in many of them. The book concludes with quick snippets of each character’s future. Read to find out if Masha’s therapy helped the guests or not; is she a maniac or a genius?