Red, White and Royal Blue

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston delivers a nice, optimistic, and fun love story that’s a perfect start to a new decade of enjoying books and stories.

In an alternative reality, but similar enough to seem absolutely possible, Alex Claremont-Diaz is the half-Mexican son of the first female president of the United States. He is handsome, charming and passionate about making the world a better place. Then there is Prince Henry, third in line to the throne, and practically the definition of Prince Charming. Alex doesn’t necessarily consider Henry his arch-nemesis. It is just that Henry’s perceived perfection rubs Alex the wrong way, and he can’t help but obsess over the Prince’s actions.

During the Royal Wedding of Prince Henry’s brother, Alex and Henry get into an altercation that ends with them tripping over and onto the most expensive wedding cake in the world. To advert the ensuing international political nightmare, Alex and Henry are forced to convince the public that they are the best of friends. What starts as a series of staged outings and photo ops, transforms into a begrudging friendship and soon into a sweet and passionate secret love affair. But when you live your life in the public eye, keeping a secret such as this is basically impossible, especially during an election year.

McQuiston’s debut novel is a joy to read. The characters of Alex and Henry work very well together, and you can’t help but root for them to get their happily ever after. The dialogue is fun and witty, and the love story is swoon worthy. I recommend this book to fans of romantic comedies and any one out there in search of a joyful, fun, and optimistic story that will make you smile.

Riveting tales from the crematory

I first encountered Caitlin Doughty while watching Ted Talks. Her talk, A burial practice that nourishes the planet, explores different ideas for burial that don’t pollute the environment with toxic, cancer-causing formaldehyde. It was absolutely fascinating, so when I learned that she was a published author with three books, I wasted no time getting my hands on them.   

In Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Doughty tells the story of her journey into the funeral industry, from crematory assistant, then mortuary school, to founder of the death acceptance collective The Order of the Good Death. The book opens with her first day as a crematory assistant, flashes back to her first encounter with death, and goes over frank and often graphic descriptions of what happens to bodies at the funeral home and beyond. It’s definitely not a book for the faint of heart, but far from being all sadness, horror and gore, this book is also hilarious, candid, and empowering. Doughty challenges the idea of death avoidance that has permeated our society’s death rituals in the last hundred years with the rise of the multimillion-dollar funeral industry. She challenges the reader to ask themselves what do you want to happen to your body when you die?

Her next two books are equally enjoyable and fascinating. In From Here To Eternity, Doughty explores different current cultural death rituals. From Zoroastrian sky burials, to Bolivian natitas, and Japanese kotsuage ceremonies, there is an immense diversity on how humans care for the dead. In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty answers questions children have posed about death such as can Grandma have a Viking funeral?, or what would happen if you swallowed a bag of popcorn before you died and were cremated?

Death is inevitable. No matter how much we might not want to, we will all, eventually, die. It is an unchangeable and, at times, terrifying truth. It certainly terrified me, but after reading Dougthy’s three books, death feels less frightening and more like just another part of being human. It is not something I’m looking forward to but it is not something I avoid talking about. I most definitely recommend these fascinating, hilarious, and poignant books to those of a curious mind and a brave heart. 

Neverwhere

Choosing a favourite between Neil Gaiman’s books is akin to choosing a favourite snowflake. They are all different, and equally beautiful. Each book has its own distinctive voice, and each has something to say about the reality we live in and what it means to be human. But one of Gaiman’s stories that is very dear to me is Neverwhere. It exists in many formats: a television series; a novel; a comic book; a stage play; an all-star radio adaptation; an Author’s Preferred Text edition; and an audiobook. Every version is brilliant, but my favourite is the audiobook of the Author’s Preferred Text edition—the equivalent of the director’s cut in the literary world—read by the author.

In Neverwhere, Richard Mayhew is with his fiancée, Jessica, on their way to have dinner with her boss when a door opens and a girl in bulky clothes stumbles into the street and collapses. While Jessica simply walks over the girl as if she were invisible, Richard stops to help her. This act of kindness changes his life forever. The girl’s name is Door and she comes from a London that exists below the one Richard knows. It is a London where magic and darkness are very real and so are angels and monsters. The inhabitants of London Below are those that have fallen through the cracks in society, and are thus invisible to the people of London Above. When Richard helps Door return safely to London Below, he inadvertently becomes part of London Below and invisible to the people around him. Taxis won’t stop to pick him up, people that have known him for years act like he doesn’t exist anymore, and the only people that see him are those the rest of society also seems to not see, those without a home.  Richard then begins a dangerous journey into London Below to find his way back to his life in London Above.

Neverwhere is an excellent example of how fantasy can sometimes expose reality more deeply than other genres. Neverwhere explores the theme of homelessness and how people can fall through the cracks and become invisible simply by being different. It invites us to look at our world with critical lenses, and makes it impossible to walk by human suffering without acknowledging it. No person should be invisible.

Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik had me from the first line: “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, not matter what stories they tell outside our valley.” There is something about fairy tales that always grabs the imagination regardless of the reader’s age, especially if there is a dragon involved. Novik takes everything I ever liked about fairy tales and combines it into a wonderful story.                                                                                                                                                                                                                Novik brilliantly develops interesting characters and builds a magical world that is both beautiful and terrifying. Agnieszka, the main character, could have easily fallen into the cliché “chosen one” stereotype that is so common in fantasy, but she escapes that horrible fate by being well-developed with strengths and weaknesses. The Dragon in the story is not exactly a dragon, although he might be said to have the personality of one, and the prince is most definitely not Prince Charming. The world Agnieszka inhabits is one of constant danger. The Woods is full of a malignant presence that is constantly taking over land, animals and people and corrupting them. No one knows exactly what this presence is, how long has it been there or why it is doing what is doing. The only clear thing is that is you become corrupted, you will die a horrible death, but not before hurting everyone around you and infecting anyone you touch.

Agnieszka’s town is just on the border with the Woods, and it is under the protection of the wizard known as the Dragon. Every ten years the Dragon takes a maiden to serve him. Agnieszka is terrified of the fast approaching choosing. She knows the dragon will take her best friend Kasia. The Dragon always takes the most talented girl, or the most beautiful, or the bravest; and Kasia is all of those things. No one is more surprised than Agnieszka when the Dragon takes her instead. As happy as she is that her friend is safe, Agnieszka is scared for herself. No one knows what the Dragon does with his maidens, but it can’t be anything good. They all left when their time was done, never to be seen again.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys dark fairy tales with a tad of magic, a bunch of danger and a dose of creepiness.

Circe

Circe by Madeline Miller is a marvellous read. When I saw this book about Circe from the Odyssey, I couldn’t resist. I was one of those kids that grew up reading mythology. Greek mythology was a particular favourite, in part because my name appears in one of those myths and in part because I just found them fascinating.

Miller has a gift for storytelling and is a masterful writer. In the Odyssey, Homer writes Circe as a beautiful evil witch that transforms Odysseus’ men into swine and then she enthralls Odysseus so that he stays with her until his men beg him to continue their journey home.  Miller’s approach is quite different.

When Circe is born, nothing much is expected from her; she is not powerful like her father, the Titan sun god Helios, nor is she dazzlingly beautiful like her mother, an Oceanic nymph. She is told her voice is thin and unpleasant to hear. She grows up mostly ignored by everyone around her, and at times she is noticed, she is bullied and belittled even by those closest to her. When she discovers her powers and dares to question the gods, she is exiled to a small island as punishment.   

It is on this island that Circe gets the chance to grow and to eventually become herself. Visitors came and go, they influence Circe and Circe influences the world outside the island through them. During this exile she experiences the good, the bad and the ugly of mortals, develops her powers, and becomes a mother. Being a mother doesn’t come easy for Circe—nothing ever has—, but a loving mother she does become. To protect her child she will do the unthinkable and confront one of the most powerful Olympian gods. 

This book is a beautifully written character study, perfect for those that enjoy character development over action packed plots. Miller brings characters from myth to life in all their greatness and pettiness. She expertly captures the reader’s attention and doesn’t let go until the last line of the last page. I can’t recommend this book enough as a must read.

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood is a book that will stay with me for years to come. I have never read anything like it, and don’t expect to ever find something like it again. Be aware this book will make you lose sleep and wreak havoc with your emotions.

Wavy, born in the backseat of a stranger’s car to a meth dealer and a mentally ill mother, is not what anyone would call normal. At eight, she rarely speaks—“Don’t you ever talk to people! You don’t talk to anyone!”—or eats—“Don’t eat that! That’s dirty!” She spends her days struggling to raise her little brother, surviving her mother’s moods and avoiding her father. The one thing that brings her peace is the starry night sky above the fields behind her house. Then everything changes when Kellen, a giant tattooed ex-con and thug for her father, crashes into her life. For both, it’s love at first sight. What follows is a tale that spans around fifteen years told from the perspectives of Wavy, Kellen, Wavy’s brother, her cousin, her aunt, her teachers, friends and her father’s thugs. It is a tale of love, woe, sadness, happiness, violence and compassion: a tale of all the ugly and wonderful things humans do to each other.

This book will make you uncomfortable. It certainly made me uncomfortable. It will make you question the world and yourself. The strength of it lies in the author’s refusal to force a view or opinion on the reader. Greenwood simply tells the story in beautiful language and brings the characters to life so vividly they live in your memory long after you close the book. It is up to the reader to pass judgement, to feel and react. 

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

I read this book in a day. I got home from work and sat down on the sofa with a cup of tea and this book to pass time before dinner. When I finally looked up and away from the page, the sun was rising.

Every sentence was perfect.

The book is set in the Falkland Islands, twelve years after the war with Argentina. It’s a very small community surrounded by a beautiful but dangerous landscape, so when a child goes missing, everyone assumes it must have been a terrible tragedy. But then another child goes missing, and then another. Suddenly an accident doesn’t seem so likely. The town slowly descend into mass hysteria with everyone trying to help or find someone to blame. Even Catrin Quinn, the island recluse, ends up involved in the searches.

Catrin wasn’t always a recluse. She used to have a happy life: a husband, two lively sons, and a best friend. Catrin and Rachel have been best friends since childhood. Whenever one would go, the other would follow. They were more like sisters than friends. Until the day Rachel accidentally killed both of Catrin sons in a horrible accident. Now Catrin bears only a passing resemblance to her old vivacious and compassionate self. All she feels nowadays is hate and anger and a terrible hunger for revenge.

Living in the small and remote community, Catrin can never escape seeing her former best friend. She sees her in the local dinner laughing and holding her third son. She sees Rachel’s other three sons playing in their backyard, alone and vulnerable…

To say that this book is a page turner is an understatement. Bolton is a master when creating suspense. There was never a good stopping point in this book, and it just kept getting better and better. If you like mysteries and suspense, this is the book for you.

The Kill by Jane Casey

The Kill
by Jane Casey

I read a lot of mysteries, but surprisingly I have not read anything by Jane Casey before. I’m not sure how I missed her over the years, but I am really glad I stumbled upon her books. The Kill is the fifth book in Jane Casey’s fantastic Maeve Kerrigan’s series. The books build upon each other, but you don’t necessarily need to read them in order.

Maeve Kerrigan is a young DC in the Metropolitan Police in London. She is smart, ambitious and strong, but she is also vulnerable, temperamental and flawed. Her partner and senior officer DI Josh Derwent is all rough edges, has the subtlety of sledgehammer, and has an unrepentant sexist approach that would have most women screaming in rage. Despite this, he grows on you and there is a fascinating chemistry between both characters that’s completely unexpected and just right.

The Kill has a really intriguing plot. It all starts when a police officer is found shot in is car in a part in a secluded part of a city park. What was he doing there? Was he alone? Was he killed because of something in his personal life? Or could he have been attacked because of something he was working on? These are the questions in Kerrigan and Derwent’s minds when they get another call: a second policeman is also found dead, and then another. Suddenly, the police go from being the protectors to needing protection less they fall prey to a relentless and vicious cop killer. No one knows where of how the killer will strike again or have any clues on how to stop him.

The pace of this book was just right with the perfect combination of mystery and character development. I loved how everything in the plot was connected. Looking back on it, I can see how all the clues were there in the smallest details pointing in the right direction, but it still left me guessing until the very end.

I have no hesitation in recommending The Kill for fans of complex mysteries with a hearty dose of character development.  Other similar mysteries you might enjoy are those by Robert Galbraith, Kelley Armstrong, Mo Hayder and Tess Gerritsen.

A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic
by Victoria Schwab

Just when I thought that there was nothing new under the sun, I stumbled upon “A Darker Shade of Magic” by Victoria Schwab. At first glance, this fantasy has many elements that might be familiar to readers of the genre: invented languages, magic, a large cast of characters, and political drama. However, dig a little deeper and you might find, like I did, a novel like no other. Unique, is not a word that I use lightly when describing a book, but this one has earned it.

Picture four different parallel worlds, each with a city named London. There is Red London, where magic flows freely, bringing beauty and laughter. There is Grey London, where magic has been gone for so long, no one believes it ever existed anymore. Then there is White London, where people and magic are in a constant fight for control. And then there is Black London, but no one speaks of it any more.

Once upon a time, any one with some magic in them was able to cross from one world to another using magical doors and pathways. But then Black London happened and the doors were closed forever. Only Antari magicians have the power to travel between worlds.

Kell is the adopted son of the King and Queen of Red London. As the only Antari in Red London, Kell serves his adopted family by carrying messages between the royals from each London. When a series of unfortunate events have Kell fleeing into Grey London, he crosses paths with Delilah Bard, a pickpocket with a hunger for adventure. She first robs him, then saves his life, and then forces him into taking her with him because in her own words, Delilah would “rather die on an adventure than live standing still”.

And Lilah might just get her wish when a lost relic from Black London resurfaces that threatens to destroy everything and everyone.

I loved, loved this book. It was a fantastic read filled with interesting and colourful characters, adventure, and an imaginative world unlike anything I’ve read before. Schwab has a way of presenting fantastic things in such a manner that even the unbelievable becomes believable and relatable. I recommend this book for those readers who want adventure, some excitement and even a bit of danger in their books.

City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong

City of the Lost
by Kelley Armstrong

Murders, cannibals, and the gorgeous Canadian wilderness, Kelley Armstrong really knows the way to my heart.  I always get a little giddy when Armstrong releases a new book because I know that more often than not, I would like if not love whatever she writes. I really liked City of the Lost. It’s a great mystery with enough twists that had me guessing until the last page and the right amount of suspense that kept me reading well into the early hours of the morning.  

City of the Lost is the first of a new series and follows the story of Casey Duncan, a talented and relentless police detective with a dark secret. 

She once killed a man and got away with it.  

Casey knows that one day her mistake will come back to haunt her, so the only things she allows herself to care about are her job and her best friend Diana. Then there is Kurt. And what starts as a non-string attached relationship suddenly has the potential to become much more. Then on the same night, Diana is attacked by her abusive ex-husband and the past finally catches with Casey in the form of a bullet with her name on it.  

Both women need to run away and fast. Diana knows just the place: Rockton. A mythical town built way up north where people that don't want to be found can hide and be safe. At first, Casey doesn't believe the town really exists, but it turns out that it does and the town council will take them in.  

There is one catch, though.  

Recently, the town has been terrorized by a series of brutal murders. Could it be that victims' past finally caught up to them or is it something more nefarious going on? Could it be one of their own preying on the town habitants or some of the strange wild things that lurk in the forest and mountains that surround them? Gruff and surly, Dalton, the town sheriff is naturally suspicious of newcomers and more so of Casey. However, as much as he resents her help, he needs it or Rockton would be truly lost. 

I recommend this book for people that enjoy suspenseful mysteries and stories set in remote locations in nature.  Fans of Mo Hayder and Robert Galbraith will not be disappointed.   

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove by Fredril Backman

I've been reading way too many sad and woeful books lately, and I wanted to read something funny and light for a change. So I picked up A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, mainly because the back cover promised a “funny, moving, heartwarming tale of love and community that will leave you with a spring in your step”. It was all that and much, much more.

Ove is a grumpy man of 59, which to me isn't old, but he certainly read like a much older man. He is someone who believes that there is a right and a wrong way to do things, and he can’t understand why anyone would not take the time to do things right. He never misses a chance to point this out to people.  

Forced into early retirement, Ove feels lost with having his days suddenly and unexpectedly empty from his work routine. Ove is a man of routines: he wakes up at the same time every day, has the same breakfast, and goes through the same inspection tour around the neighbourhood. 

Then one day everything changes.

During his routine inspection, Ove meets a cat with half a tail and only one ear. They instantly dislike each other.  That same day, a family moves in next door and they manage to back up a trailer against Ove’s house. The cat and the family soon become constant features in Ove’s life much against his protests. Everywhere he turns, there they are. They pop up in his lawn, his kitchen, and even his beloved blue Saab.

By all accounts, Ove shouldn't be a likeable character. He is an inflexible, bitter and angry man who is skeptical about everything and everyone, but he is also hilarious, unexpectedly sweet, and extremely noble. Behind his cranky exterior there is a story of love, sadness and loss. Backman slowly peels away the layers of what makes Ove who he is in such a way that it is impossible not to be utterly charmed by this most uncharming character.

I closed A Man Called Ove with the profound sadness of a reader who knows there might never be another book quite as marvellous as this one.  I recommend this book to people who enjoyed The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 

Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder

Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder

There are few things that I love more than being curled up under a blanket on a rainy day enjoying a large cup of tea and a good mystery. However, lately I haven’t had much luck finding a compelling who-dun-it until I stumbled upon Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder. This engrossing British mystery details the lives of two estranged sisters brought together by the horrific murder of a teenage girl.

Sally and Zoë Benedict couldn't be more different. Sally is a recently divorced housewife trying to make ends meet. She has always been a bit of a dreamer, soft spoken and used to letting others direct her life. Zoë, on the other hand, is a hard-as-nails police detective. Fiercely independent, with a sarcastic biting wit, Zoë has convinced herself that she needs nothing and no one in her life. I enjoy reading about characters that are flawed, and Sally and Zoë certainly fit the bill. They go through life like most of us do; just trying to do their best with the cards they have been dealt.

When Sally`s teenage daughter gets into trouble, Sally finds herself short of cash and time. With no one to turn to, Sally takes an offer against her own better judgement. It`s a decision that will have unimaginable and disturbing consequences in everyone`s lives. In the meantime, Zoë investigation into the murder of a teenage girl brings back ghosts from her past that promise disaster for her future.

This is the first Mo Hayder book I`ve read, and so far, I`m quite impressed. Hayder has the rare talent of setting up a scene in such a way that the reader can not only visualize the scene but become immersed into it. Warning, this mystery is not for the faint of heart. Although Hayder is not filling pages with gore, she doesn`t shrink from gruesome details when the moment calls for it. This book had me cringing, but also laughing at parts, biting my nails and even shedding a tear or two. And the ending made my jaw hit the floor. I recommend this book to fans of gripping mysteries and dark thrillers filled with memorable characters.