Mini-reviews: Death of A Smuggler, Book of Gothel, Searching for Sylvie Lee, The Wife Upstairs

It's time to get caught up on reviews, but there are so many to do now that I'm just going to have to do mini-reviews in groups. We'll start with four and see if I can get these all caught up by the end of the year!

Death of a Smuggler by M. C. Beaton and R. W. Green

6 hours, 34 minutes

Read by David Monteath

Published February 2025 by Grand Central Publishing

Publisher's Summary: 

All Hamish Macbeth wants is a quiet life in his peaceful home in the Highland village of Lochdubh. But when his newly-assigned constable arrives, he presents Hamish with a surprise and a secret. Getting to the bottom of the secret becomes the least of Hamish's problems when he meets a family who have a score to settle with a sinister man who has mysteriously gone missing. Discovering a murdered woman's body puts further pressure on Hamish, especially when it becomes clear that the murdered woman and the missing man are linked...

My Thoughts: 

Maybe I've just read/listened to enough of the Hamish MacBeth books that they've just lost their charm. Maybe it's the fact that it's a new writer. Maybe this one just wasn't as good. I'm not sure and it's been more than two months since I read it. It felt more convoluted than previous books and lacking the charm that I'd originally liked in these books. Or maybe I'm feeling like Lochdubh is a really dangerous place to be and I no longer understand why anyone would live there. 

Book of Gothic: Memoir of a Witch by Mary McMyne

13 hours, 30 minutes

Read by Vanessa Johansson

Published September 2023 by Orbit

Publisher's Summary: 

Haelewise has always lived under the shadow of her mother, Hedda-a woman who will do anything to keep her daughter protected. For with her strange black eyes and even stranger fainting spells, Haelewise is shunned by her village, and her only solace lies in the stories her mother tells of child-stealing witches, of princes in wolf-skins, of an ancient tower cloaked in mist, where women will find shelter if they are brave enough to seek it.

Then, Hedda dies, and Haelewise is left unmoored. With nothing left for her in her village, she sets out to find the legendary tower her mother used to speak of-a place called Gothel, where Haelewise meets a wise woman willing to take her under her wing.

But Haelewise is not the only woman to seek refuge at Gothel. It's also a haven for a girl named Rika, who carries with her a secret the Church strives to keep hidden. A secret that reveals a dark world of ancient spells and murderous nobles behind the world Haelewise has always known...

My Thoughts: 

I haven't read a good fairy tale retelling in a long time; and while this one had witch in the title and you all know how I feel about magic and witches in my books, I figured it was worth a shot. 

The reader was good, there were some really interesting ideas in this one that kept my attention. But I also felt like there was just too much going on, that the ending was a bit disappointing, and there wasn't enough of a tie to Rapunzel to really make it a back story for that fairy tale. If you're a fan of witches and fantasy, with a touch of feminism thrown in, you might enjoy this one more than I did. 

Searching For Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

12 hours, 9 minutes

Read by Angela Lin, Samantha Quad, Caroline McLaughlin

Published December 2020 by HarperCollins

Publisher's Summary: 

It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother-and then vanishes.

Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn't rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.

But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it's Amy's turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister's movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy's complicated family-and herself-than she ever could have imagined.

A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone-especially those we love.

My Thoughts: 

This one was a Read With Jenna pick but I didn't pick it because of that. I picked it because it was an audiobook that was available when I needed something and it gave me some diversity in my reading. Bush Hager calls this a "true beach read." I've gotta say that I think of beach reads as something lighter, but perhaps for her it had to do with it being a book she just couldn't put down. I didn't have that same reaction. 

I did feel like I learned a lot about other cultures and there were certainly plenty of a-ha moments in this one that I didn't see coming. I can certainly see why it would be a good choice for a book club - there is a lot to discuss here: migrants, different cultures, sibling relationships, family relationships, mysteries to be solved. But it's a book that starts sad and just stays that way. Perhaps my feelings about this one had more to do with me than the book. 

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

8 hours, 57 minutes

Read by Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, Lauren Fortgang

Published November 2021 by St. Martin's Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates--a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates' most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can't help but see an opportunity in Eddie--not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she's always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie's heart before her past--or his--catches up to her?

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won't stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature's most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

My Thoughts: 

This one was another case of my interest being piqued by a book that claimed to be a retelling of a story, a classic I've read several times. I'm not opposed to the idea that maybe Jane isn't the innocent that she was in Bronte version. Or that we're going to get a whole new image of Rochester and Bertha (the literal wife upstairs). But the names of the characters, the fact that Rochester is keeping his wife locked upstairs, and that a fire will end it all is as far as Hawkins gets to working from Charlotte Bronte's novel, which was disappointing. The disappointment didn't end there - the reason Bertha is locked away is preposterous, the big secret Jane was keeping that caused her no end of trouble turned out to be a big yawn, and not a one of the characters developed beyond what they were when the novel began. 

Mini-reviews: The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson and Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson

Read by Fiona Hardingham

15 hours, 20 minutes

Published May 2024 by Random House Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

My Thoughts: 

Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand was one of my favorite books the year I read it. One of the things I liked about that book was the way Simonson dealt with racism and classism in England. She touches on that same topics here and I would very much have liked to see more of that. Instead, Simonson tried to work in a lot of different themes, including, of course, women's rights, domestic abuse, and the effects of war on those involved and those at home. It felt, to me, like a bit too much and sometimes felt like Simonson wasn't sure which theme she really wanted most to emphasize. 

I did like a lot of the characters and the setting; but I'm still not, weeks after finishing the book, sure if I liked the ending. One thing I really didn't like was the reading (sorry, Ms. Hardingham) - some of the female voices really grated on my nerves. It's a nice time capsule of a place in time and would probably give book clubs a lot to talk about. 

Learned By Heart by Emma Donoghue 

Read by Shiromi Arserio

8 hours, 50 minutes

Published August 2023 by Little, Brown and Company

Publisher's Summary: Drawing on years of investigation and Anne Lister’s five-million-word secret journal, Learned by Heart is the long-buried love story of Eliza Raine, an orphan heiress banished from India to England at age six, and Anne Lister, a brilliant, troublesome tomboy, who meet at the Manor School for young ladies in York in 1805 when they are both fourteen.

My Thoughts: 

As with most (if not all?) of Donoghue's books, this one is based on real people. I first became aware of Anne Lister when I watched Gentleman Jack on HBO. Lister was dubbed the "first modern lesbian" and is well known because of the diaries she left behind, which included the story of her relationship with Eliza Raine, a young woman with a British father and Indian mother who was orphaned and sent to an English boarding school, where she met and fell in love with Lister. As tough as it is to be a gay young person in these times, imagine what it was like for young people in the early 1800's. 

The book is made up of third party narratives the girls' school days together and letters from Raine to Lister as an adult. Raine is a patient at an asylum and we slowly realize, as the book goes on, that she is much more disturbed that we at first realize. Much emphasis in placed on the other girls at the school, perhaps to emphasize how quickly Lister was able to ingratiate herself with them, despite being a rebel, and how much Raine's  dark skin kept her separated from the others. The book picked up for me in the end, as Raine's writing became prevalent. Interesting, but not my favorite of Donoghue's works. 

Mini-Reviews: People Person and Demon Copperhead

Honestly, both of these books deserve more than just a mini-review but here we are at the end of the year and I want to get the books I read in 2022 reviewed in 2022. Except for the two that I hope to finish before midnight on the 31st! 

People Person by Candice Carty-Williams

Read by Danielle Vitalis

10 hours, 4 minutes

Published September 2022 by Gallery/Scout Press

Publisher's Summary: 

If you could choose your family...you wouldn’t choose the Penningtons.

Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about.

She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie, and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated.

My Thoughts:

• I'd previously read Carty-Williams' Queenie and was impressed with her unique voice and was eager to see what she'd do next. 
• Carty-Williams ups her game, as far a unique goes, with this book. 
• Those half siblings of Dimple's have three different mothers. Prior to the night Dimple kills her boyfriend, she's only ever met each of them once, when their father picked them all up so they could meet each other. But when she needed help, and had nowhere else to turn, Dimple knew she had to turn to family. These young people have all kinds of issues individually and as a family. 
• Carty-Williams writes about people I don't normally find in books, broadening my world. If you've been around very long, you know I'm always looking for books that can do that. 
• Danielle Vitalis does a terrific job and I highly recommend this book in audio.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

560 pages

Published October 2022 by HarperCollins Publishers

Publisher's Summary: 

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

My Thoughts: 

• Barbara Kingsolver rewriting Charles Dickens? Yes, please.
• It's been a long, long time since I read David Copperfield or watched any of the adaptations. Still, I had some recollection of the characters and plot and went in knowing that things were just going to keep getting worse and worse for young Demon. 
• I appreciated that, while Kingsolver sets the book in an entirely different time and place, she keeps much of what makes Dickens' book so memorable, including many of the characters (although, thank God, she doesn't have nearly so many characters!). 
• As bad as life was for David Copperfield, life is even worse for Demon, with fewer bright spots. It makes a very long book feel even longer. 
• Like Dickens, Kingsolver writes about big issues in ways that educate and enlighten. And, here, feel a little bit guilty about the way I've always thought of poor mountain people.
• Like Dickens, Kingsolver's books are often quite long and they frequently feel to me as though they could well be shorter without losing a thing. Here I got to the point where I start skimming and thinking "I get, he's an addict; the life of an addict is terrible." This coming from someone who believes that we don't paint that life nearly dark enough as general rule. 
• Except for that last bit, this would have been a five-star read for me (assuming I gave stars out for books). Kingsolver brilliantly writes in voice that sound very believably like that of a bright young man of poor education, who has grown up in the impoverished mountains of southern Virginia. Her descriptions are vivid - I could easily visualize the squalor, the people, and, most vividly, the land that Demon so loved.