 Thanks to partners NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Shea Ernshaw’s Habits of the Sea. The book will be published on July 7!
As a reader, I know that I can always count on Shea Ernshaw’s novels to offer rich, evocative, and atmospheric narratives. Some are spookier than others, but all of them have a sense of stories unearthed. Ernshaw’s newest book, Habits of the Sea, is her second written for adults, and it is gorgeous and completely immersive. The novel begins with a horrible loss: the death of Clay Lockhart’s wife and unborn twins. His grief is such that it causes their land to break away from Scotland, becoming an island that drifts on the whims of the ocean, meeting up occasionally with a coastline here or there, and then drifting away again. Ellie Mills first encounters the island when she’s twelve. She’s awakened by a strange light, goes out to the island to see if she can help, and meets Clay briefly before returning to shore. When she arrives home, her grandmother tells her that a week has passed. Though Ellie shares her strange story, no one believes her. Called a liar for her entire childhood, she has spent her life denying the existence of the island and of Clay, seeking counseling to help her accept her own denials. In her thirties, Ellie is now a counselor herself and is desperate to capture the stability that has escaped her for most of her life. And then the island reappears. Unable to resist, Ellie travels to its fleeting location, swims out to the island, and finds that Clay and the island DO exist . . . and that Clay hasn’t aged since she last saw him, decades before. Now, she’s trapped, separated from her family and fiance, uncertain of how much time is passing as she and Clay reach a type of truce. Oh, this is such a fabulous story, one fueled by dueling forces of grief and hope, betrayal and loyalty, denial and belief. It once again confirms Ernshaw as an auto-read author, able to spin out captivating stories that I can’t stop reading.
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 Thanks to partners NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Rebecca Serle's Once and Again.
Rebecca Serle’s novels are always so lovely, featuring a central instance of magic around which the reality of the characters’ lives revolves. In her newest novel, Once and Again, the magic is a ticket that allows each new woman in the Novak family the chance to turn back time, to change their fate, just once. For Lauren Novak, the ticket has always seemed to be both gift and burden. The chance to reverse an irreversible occurrence—as when Lauren’s mother undid the death of Lauren’s father when Lauren was fifteen—is miraculous. But it’s also a choice and, once made, it’s not available again, so knowing the right time to use the ticket and that, once used, it won’t be available again, is always on Lauren’s mind. Lauren is married happily, to Leo, and has a strong relationship with her parents; with her grandmother, Sylvia; and particularly with her father, her kindred spirit. Her mother’s caution after having used the ticket, of knowing that she must live with anything that happens, has caused her to tread through life so carefully that she hardly lives it. Lauren’s father, on the other hand, lives life with joy, immersing himself in each day with disregard for risk or fear. While Lauren’s husband is away on an extended work trip, she goes to stay with her parents, and finds that her former best friend and boyfriend Stone, who she has not seen for years, is staying nearby with his parents. As she is drawn back into the rhythms of her life before Leo, Lauren begins to think about the choices she has made and what they have meant for her. While Once and Again didn’t quite reach the magical heights of her other novels for me, I could stop reading, eager to know what choices Lauren would make. I appreciated Serle’s decision to weave reflections from her mother and grandmother through Lauren’s story, revealing the different ways that they have navigated the knowledge of and the choices involved in possessing the silver ticket. I look forward to Serle’s next foray into magic.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer in exchange for an honest review. The book is out on March 2!
Rebecca Serle has a beautiful touch with magical realism. Whether it’s dining with special people—alive and dead—in The Dinner List or a five-year journey forward in time in In Five Years, Serle uses these magic premises to wring truth from reality. She performs that same magic in One Italian Summer. The premise here is (relatively) simple to explain: Katy is grieving the death of her mother and decides to take the trip that they had planned together. She tells her husband that she’s not sure she can be with him anymore, boards a plane, and takes the solo vacation she and her mom, Carol, have been dreaming about for years. Carol had spent time in the small town of Positano and yearned to show Katy everything she loved about it, so Katy vows to follow the itinerary her mother had set up. Soon, she begins to enjoy small moments in a way she hasn’t been able to since her mother fell ill. Then, one day, Katy sees her mother. Yes, she’s much younger, but it’s her. And suddenly, Katy feels as if she has a second chance to get to know her mother in a way she never had, to forge a friendship with the woman she loved so much. Serle explores Katy’s grief, her hope, and her joy so vividly here. There’s laughter, some romance, vivid descriptions of food, and an amazing sense of the Italian landscape. One Italian Summer is a gorgeous, moving book. I absolutely could not put it down.  Thanks to partner Edelweiss for the digital ARC of Roselle Lim’s Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, August 4, 2020.
The course of Vanessa Yu’s life changed on her third birthday, when she made her first tea leaf-prompted prediction. Part of a family history of women gifted with the ability to tell fortunes, Vanessa wants nothing more than to be able to stop seeing the future. While her family loves having the inside track, Vanessa dreads hurting those whose fortunes pour out of her in an unstoppable flood. The other wish her family has for Vanessa? A love match. She’s the oldest unmarried person in her generation, and she vividly feels the pressure to find love. After a matchmaker shares some bad news with Vanessa and then Vanessa describes an unfortunate future that she can’t take back, Vanessa--eager to escape--agrees to go to Paris with her glamorous Aunt Evelyn, who is opening a tea shop. Vanessa will help her, and in return, Evelyn--who also has the gift of prophecy--will help her develop and control her gift. Lim includes elements of romance here--Vanessa would love to build a relationship that she doesn’t ruin with an ill-timed prophecy--but the novel is more about Vanessa, as she comes to understand herself and this central part of her identity that she can’t control. The author tells a story full of magic--of course, there’s the fortune telling, but there’s also magic all around, with gold appearing on her skin at a key moment and painted butterflies coming to life. The style immerses the reader in this world in a way that is just lovely. For those who enjoyed Lim’s first novel, Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop is a worthy follow up, and I enjoyed this magical book even more! |
AuthorI'm Jen Moyers, co-host of the Unabridged Podcast and an English teacher. Archives
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