 Thanks to partners NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of Katherine Center's The Rom-Commers. The book will be published on Tuesday!
Reading Katherine Center’s newest book has become a favorite summer tradition for me. Her books center on such believably real characters in such lovely, dreamy, and sincerely funny circumstances. The Rom-Commers checked all of those boxes for me. Emma Wheeler’s life is dominated by two things: (1) caring for her family, particularly her father, after a tragic accident that changed their lives forever, and (2) screenwriting. Well, screenwriting rom-coms. Emma has made choices that have affected her career and her freedom to make sure that her younger sister has every option she could dream of as she emerges from college and to keep her father safe, which means 24-7 care. So, when she’s unexpectedly given a chance to ghost write (and overhaul) a rom-com screenplay by her idol, Charlie Yates, she’s both exhilarated and reluctant: her sister has an internship opportunity that Emma doesn’t want her to pass up, and she can’t leave her dad. This situation, right from the beginning, is communicated with such vividness that I felt every facet of Emma’s agonizing choice: follow the dream that she’s pushed down for so long or keep to the narrow path that she’s carved out for herself. It takes a push from her family—and her high school ex-boyfriend, Logan, now a successful Hollywood agent—to get Emma on the plane to meet and work with Charlie Yates. And then she finds out that (despite what Logan told her!) Charlie doesn’t want a ghost writer and doesn’t even know that she’s coming. This premise spins out in satisfying ways. Of course, Emma ends up co-writing with Charlie, schooling him on the merits of the rom-coms that he so scorns and giving him a very honest take on the problems she sees with his draft. Their working relationship has ups and downs, misunderstandings and miscommunications both deliberate and not, and the ways that their romantic relationships develop in parallel to their screenplay are delightful. But it’s the characters that are the standout here, the ways that Emma and Charlie (and Emma’s dad and sister) force themselves to work toward happiness again and again, work toward believing in and living with love. I always appreciate reading Center’s acknowledgments, where she shares the inspirations for each story and the books and research that informed her novels. Her dedication to and advocacy for romance is a beautiful thing, and it’s borne out, again and again, in her books. The Rom-Commers is a beautiful tribute to rom-coms and to writing and to movies, and it’s a wonderful novel about the ways we have to believe in and put effort into pursuing love. It’s a book that will satisfy Center’s readers, old and new.
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 Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Molly Morris's Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet. The book will be published tomorrow!
I knew from the first page that I was going to love Molly Morris’s Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet. It’s quirky and original and just totally captivating. Here’s the premise: Wilson Moss is a high school senior, and she’s completely alone. She’s been alone since both of her best friends abandoned her, just as they were moving into their junior years. Ryan cut her off completely (though they—awkwardly—still work together at Ryan’s mom’s restaurant). Wilson’s mom left Wil’s long-time stepfather, the adult who provided the most stability in her and her younger half-sister’s life. Her friend Annie? She not only transferred to the local private school but also ended their friendship. And then, she died. Wil’s not exactly sure what happened, though she has some ideas. So, she takes a chance on her town’s unique contest, a once-every-decade anomaly. Any resident of Lennon can throw their name in the hat for a chance to bring back someone dead . . . for 30 days. Shockingly, Wil wins the contest, which means she has 30 days to (temporarily) resurrect her friendship and to figure out just what makes her so unlovable. The whole situation is complicated. Ryan had begun making small forays into friendship again, but Wil’s choice makes Ryan beyond angry since the first fissures in their friendship began with Annie and Ryan. And Wil isn’t content with 30 days, so when she picks up on a loophole from Ruth Fish (the seemingly immortal being who’s in charge of the town, and the contest) Wilson vows to mend the trio’s friendship and—hopefully—make this a real chance at life again for Annie, and a real chance at friendship again for her. This book has so many layers. I love the magical realism, the strangeness of the contest and the matter-of-fact way that everyone in the town accepts it. The world building is just fantastic. I love the complexity of Wilson’s character, the way she’s so valiantly trying to gain some control over the areas of her life that she lost, searching for love and friendship and family. The secondary characters here are incredibly vivid, too, and I could feel the ways that they’re struggling for so many of the same things that Wilson is hoping for, each existing as fully realized people in the same way that Wil is. After finishing Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet, I found out that Morris has one previous YA novel—I’ll be picking it up soon. Do yourself a favor, and put this one on your TBR.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the digital ARC of Wendy Chen’s Their Divine Fires. The book will be published on May 7!
Wendy Chen’s Their Divine Fires comes in at only 256 pages, but that length is deceptive: this is a sprawling, multi-generational tale of three generations of Chinese women that takes the reader from 1917 Liuyang, China to 2009 Massachusetts, United States. Chen’s novel, inspired by the experiences of her own ancestors, begins with the story of a young girl, Zhang Yuexin, living with her family, including her two brothers, in Liuyang. Yuexin is devoted to her oldest brother, so when he cuts his traditional braid, angering her parents, Yuexin cuts her hair, as well. This initial symbolic event sets the stage for unrest: the family is broken when her oldest brother leaves to join the Revolution, setting them on a path that will have unexpected effects on them all. After her brother leaves, Yuexin’s young life is again altered forever when she saves Tan Haiyang, the young son of a local wealthy lord. He stays with the family while Yuexin’s father, a doctor, cares for him. Yuexin and Haiyang form a strong connection, but once he returns home, it seems likely that they’ll never see each other again, driven apart by the distance in their families’ situations. The only hope is that he felt the connection as strongly as Yuexin did. The narrative captures the effects of this Revolution, the ways that its aftermath cycles through the generations, moving through the Cultural Revolution of the 70s to the diaspora who make their way to the United States. Chen’s writing is stunning, and her sense of character is so vivid. Watching the way that early generations appear again later, the ways that ancestors affect their descendants, offers powerful commentary on the cycles of history. Despite the depth and power of its content, Their Divine Fires is a propulsive read, and I can’t recommend it enough.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Graydon House Books for the ARC of A. H. Kim’s Relative Strangers. The book will be out tomorrow!
A. H. Kim’s Relative Strangers is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility with some big—fun—twists. The focus in this version is on the Marianne character, Amelia Bae-Wood. She’s the unreliable sister, the one who hasn’t seen her family in ages and has to hitchhike back to her childhood home, just as her mother is being evicted from it. The villain? Their father’s illegitimate son, Chong Bae, who is vying to claim his inheritance in an effort that has embroiled them in a lengthy, painful court case. Amelia arrives only to find that her sister, Eleanor, has already moved their mother to a small home at the cancer center where she volunteers. Amelia is still working through her own—secret—trauma and now has to face the resentment of her sister, who is convinced that Amelia’s lack of responsibility is a sign of her selfishness and her inability to be a stable part of her family. The conflicts here abound. First, there’s the class conflict that is part of Austen’s original novel, fueled by one of Amelia’s past relationships, which put her in the media spotlight, and by a potential love match with a new wealthy suitor. Issues in response to Amelia and Eleanor’s heritage also arise: the sisters are half-Korean (their mother is a white Southern belle, and their father immigrated from Seoul). Much of the novel is about recovering from loss: there’s the death of Amelia’s father, which—along with the loss of her home—has left their mother desolate. They’re also still dealing with the shadow of the death of Eleanor’s first husband, a loss that continues to haunt Eleanor and her daughter Maggie. Of course, there’s plenty of romance, though the center of the novel, for me, is the sibling relationship between Amelia and Eleanor, whose approaches to the world vary greatly. Eleanor feels as if she has to keep a firm grasp on everything, fearful that a loss of control will result in chaos. Amelia, in contrast, has to bring herself back from a tendency to embrace the very chaos that her sister so fears. Despite their tensions, there’s a lovely connection between them, along with some fun touches (they often communicate in movie quotes that are perfect for any situation). And watching Amelia strive to figure out who she wants to be and how she wants to share her story and her hidden struggles is a satisfying journey. I loved seeing both the ways that Kim chose to pay tribute to her source material and the places she chose to break away, to put a new spin on the classic tale. Relative Strangers is the best kind of retelling, one that relies on the strong center of the original but shows the ways that its tale is still all too relevant.  Thanks to partner NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Ashley Schumacher’s In the Orbit of You. The book will be published tomorrow!
Ashley Schumacher excels at writing books that tug at my heartstrings, that make me ugly cry. Starting with Amelia Unabridged, which had me full-out sobbing, Schumacher’s YA novels his emotional beats that are authentic and rooted in well-developed, deeply felt characters. Her newest novel, In the Orbit of You, starts with a childhood friendship between Nova Evans and Sam Jordan. They were neighbors, and best friends, reigning over Snailopolis, an imaginary world that served as an escape from ugliness and abuse. Their friendship brings both of them comfort, until Sam is removed from his home, but they promise solemnly to find each other again, when they’re grown up, when they’re 18. Flash forward. Nova is . . . well, she’s 17, and it’s her first day at the umpteenth new school she has entered as she follows her mother’s career from one location to the next. This time, Nova promises herself that she won’t fall into whatever persona seems to make things easiest. Instead, she’s going to figure out who she really is, the identity that fits her best. And then she sees Sam. Nova recognizes him almost right away. He . . . doesn’t recognize her. He’s got a girlfriend, a best friend, amazing parents, a promising future as a football star. But he’s not happy, and Nova quickly sees that unhappiness. And then Sam recognizes her. From there, the book enters a cycle: the promise of reunion, of friendship, and of a new attraction exerts a powerful pull. But Sam has an established life, and Nova knows that they’re moving in just two months, so throwing caution to the wind and entering a state of upheaval and chaos on the off chance that they have something real just doesn’t seem worth it. Or does it? As with all of Schumacher’s books, In the Orbit of You shows a deep understanding of its characters, and I truly loved both Nova and Sam. I did get a little weary of the cyclical nature of their surrender to their feelings and the subsequent denial of them, but the story is still a powerful one, and Schumacher is still an auto-read author for me.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital ARC of Rebecca Serle’s Expiration Dates. The book will be published on Tuesday!
I haven’t read a book by Rebecca Serle that I haven’t loved, and her new release, Expiration Dates, continues the trend. The novel centers on Daphne Bell who, since she was a child, has received strange messages from an unknown force. When she meets someone she’s going to date, pieces of paper with the person’s name and the duration of their romantic relationship appear. These strange manifestations have, of course, some consequences. She doesn’t receive a paper? That’s not someone she’s going to date. Something goes wrong right around the relationship’s “expiration date”? Well, that explains it . . . and the relationship is over with no struggle and no fuss from Daphne. And then, Daphne receives a note about Jake, and there is no expiration date. It’s a blank paper. What does that mean? Daphne tries to work through the implications with her best friend Hugo—their romance lasted only a few months, but their attachment continued—but they proceed with the assumption that this means an unending relationship. Right? Discussing further would get into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say (again!) that I absolutely loved this book. Serle excels at these books with slightly magical premises, stories that are nevertheless grounded in reality and in character. Her situations are always intriguing, and watching how Daphne, in Expiration Dates, navigates having her future foretold is so thought provoking in its consideration of free will and choice. Daphne is a compelling protagonist whose life has been shaped by circumstances outside her control, and I so appreciated the complexity of considering the implications of such circumstances for all of us. I tore through this one—pick it up tomorrow!  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Berkley for the digital ARC of Melodie Edwards’s Once Persuaded, Twice Shy: A Modern Reimagining of Persuasion. The book will be published on February 27!
Most of my followers know that I spent 2022 and 2023 on a Jane Austen journey: I led buddy reads of the author’s six major novels during the first year (two months per novel) and then spent 2023 reading the author’s short works, diving into a biography, and then devoting our buddy reads to retellings of Austen’s books. Once Persuaded, Twice Shy ranks with the best of those retellings. Melodie Edwards begins her novel with a note to the reader about the way she approached this modern reenvisioning of Anne Elliott’s story, about the challenges she faced because of modern conventions in comparison to those of Austen’s time. She navigated those beautifully, resulting in a compelling second-chance romance filled with humor (there’s a recurrent goose wreaking havoc in the town). Anne Elliott has no work-life balance: she’s all work and obligation. After her dear mother convinced her, nearly a decade ago, to break up with Ben Wentworth because he wasn’t reliable and wouldn’t be a strong, supportive partner, Anne devoted herself to caring for her mother, soon stricken with cancer, and replacing her. She stepped in for her mother at work, as town councilor and executive director of her theater company, and at home, where she took care of her impulsive, irresponsible father and beautiful, selfish sister. She doesn’t date and has few friends, outside of Vidya, who works at the theater, and her assistant, Emmie, who is more mentee than friend. Then, a new older couple moves to Niagara-on-the-Lake, purchasing Kellynch Winery, which used to belong to Anne’s family. And with them comes (of course) their nephew, Ben Wentworth, now a successful, conservative, straight-laced businessman. Whether you’ve read Persuasion or not, I imagine you can see where this is going. What sets the story apart for me is the way Edwards takes the notes of Persuasion and recasts them—Wentworth’s romance with a young actress at the theater, Anne’s determination to show that she moved on from Ben, the extravagant carelessness of Anne’s family: it’s all there. It resonated for me, but I suspect it will also resonate even for those who have never read Austen because the story’s characters are so beautifully realized. This is Edwards’s second novel—she also wrote Jane & Edward: A Modern Reimagining of Jane Eyre—and the strength of Once Persuaded, Twice Shy means that Jane & Edward is now waiting on my TBR.  Thanks to @sourcebookscasa for the digital galley of Xio Axelrod's Girls with Bad Reputations, which will be published on Tuesday! The second in The Lillys series (after The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes), this book follows Kayla, the Lillys' drummer, who has been hiding her privileged upbringing from the band. Her mother, an accomplished university president, is also the author of The Little Miss Yolanda series, all about a perfect little girl—the girl her mother wants her to be.
As the Lillys begin to garner positive attention, their music festival tour brings them Ty, their tour bus driver. Ty has his own secrets, a past that led him to drop out of college and that has left him worried about his grandfather—his only family—and how he'll take care of him. I really loved the way Kayla and Ty's relationship developed through this novel. Their shared love of reading of course touched my heart, and I enjoyed watching the continuation of the band's story. I thought the way that the characters dealt with their very different pasts was compelling, and the careful way they build a romance from friendship was so sweet.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Emma Lord’s The Getaway List. The book will be published on Tuesday!
The Getaway List is Emma Lord’s fifth YA book—I’ve read all five, and I love every single one. Lord has a knack for creating characters who are flawed and real, dealing with difficult transitions in incredibly imperfect—but understandable—ways, and those qualities are all present in this newest novel. It focuses on an often difficult stage: the time right after graduation, when everything is in transition. On page one, Riley Larson is in the midst of the graduation ceremony, in a unique position: she’s the only person in her high school to have been rejected by all ten colleges to which she applied. And now? She’s not really sure what she’s going to do. Riley’s single mom has the plan that she always has for Riley. She’s going to keep her busy, keep her focused, keep her from wandering. So, Riley should get a job and take community college classes until she has a different, mom-approved plan. But Riley isn’t so sure that’s what she wants. After some mild trouble a few years back, Riley’s mother signed her up for a varied and never-ending array of extracurricular activities, leaving her no time just to be . . . or to be with her best friend, Tom. Tom has been Riley’s best friend since they were kids, when their mothers met at an event for single moms and sort of forced the issue of their friendship. But then, that friendship became deep and sincere, a core relationship for each of them, even after Tom and his mother moved to New York City and that friendship was maintained through phone calls and facetime and texting. Since the move, Riley has not been able to see Tom in person, and now seems like the perfect chance for Riley to go to New York (something she’s always wanted to do) and see her best friend. Her mom is REALLY opposed, but Riley is 18, and she makes the choice—unusual for her—to defy her mother and go anyway. That’s the moment this book really begins. Riley reunites with Tom, who is the same guy she’s always known. Sort of. He’s taller and even more handsome. More important, she realizes, he’s become shy and a bit solitary. Back home, Tom had always been the extroverted, friendly glue that held together a bevy of friend groups, but in New York, he’s a loner. So, Riley extends her quick, weekend trip to a longer stay, determined to set up a web of friendships that will buoy Tom even when she returns home. That decision—the decision to stay—sets up a conflict with Riley’s mom and endless possibilities. Oh, friends, I loved this book so much. I teach seniors, so I see how the pressure to do all the things, all the time, can take its toll on students, who are supposed to know exactly who they want to be and exactly what they’re doing for the rest of their adult lives. It’s a lot. Lord deals with that stress so beautifully with Riley, who has been resentful since her mom’s mission began but now finally has the time to stop and really consider what it has meant for her. Riley loves writing, loves creating, loves being around people and building deep friendships and putting together adventures big and small, but she hasn’t had the time to do any of those things because she’s been so busy doing . . . busy things. Now, she has the strong support of Tom again and the leisure time to realize just how much she missed having leisure time. Of course, there are multiple threads that keep this book moving, including the getaway list of the title, which is the list of adventures that Riley and Tom vowed to take the next time they saw each other. There’s also a fantasy book series that they both love, new friends in New York and old friends who move there, too, and an absolutely lovely friends-to-lovers romance that captured my heart. It’s the self-discovery, though, that resonated most for me, that made me cheer for Riley (and for Tom, and for their other friends who are in the same stage of life). It’s the way her relationship with her mother isn’t dismissed but is instead reshaped and reconsidered now that Riley’s out of school (wow, that story hit hard, since I have a high-school junior at home!). It’s the beautiful portrait of beautiful, flawed people who are just beginning their lives and who are making the inevitable, necessary mistakes that it takes to figure out who they are. I can’t recommend The Getaway List enough.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the digital ARC of Kristy Boyce’s Dungeons and Drama. The book will be published on Tuesday!
Kristy Boyce’s Dungeons and Drama is a fantastic YA romance, a fake dating story, and a tribute to all things D&D and musical theater. After an ill-conceived (and illegal) trip with her best friend Hoshiko to see Waitress—a trip that involved “borrowing” her mom’s car and driving hours away without a license—Riley is sentenced to a life without extracurriculars, working in her dad’s gaming store every day after school. This punishment is extreme: Riley and her dad haven’t had much of a relationship since her parents’ divorce, she hates gaming, and her extracurriculars are the center of her world. But it’s what she has to do if she wants to be released from her banishment from society in time for the musical, for which she is determined to earn a position as student director. At first, her time at the story confirms all of her fears: she doesn’t understand gaming, the other employee (Nathan) is a jerk, and her relationship with her father is as distant as ever. Her situation begins to change when an awkward run-in with her ex and his new girlfriend leads her to proclaim that she’s also in a relationship . . . with Nathan. What ensues is a quid pro quo with Nathan: he’ll pretend to be her boyfriend to save face with her ex, and she’ll act like she’s head over heels for him as a way to attract his crush, a fellow D&Der who only wants what she can’t have. Soon, those fake feelings begin to feel more real, at least for Riley. I enjoyed so much about Boyce’s world here: she describes the passion of devotees everywhere, finding the commonalities between the worlds of gaming and musical theater as Riley performs her way through a D&D campaign as a bard and Nathan and his friends pitch in to help Riley and Hoshiko save the musical (which the school is trying to cancel). Riley is also working on her relationship with her father, and I appreciated the way each comes to appreciate the other’s passion. As both a big fan of musical theater and the mother of a devoted D&D player, it was fun to see the creativity and passion of both realms represented here. |
AuthorI'm Jen Moyers, co-host of the Unabridged Podcast and an English teacher. Archives
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