Monica’s Musings: The Soulmate

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

“The line between normal and not normal had always been so thin for Gabe; sometimes I didn’t know if I was talking to a genius or a madman.”

― Sally Hepworth, The Soulmate

Summary: There is a cottage on a cliff. It is Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.

My Thoughts: To describe this book, I would say it is twisty. Sally Hepworth structures the story so that the character’s secrets slowly unravel. Gabe has a complicated past, and their marriage is recovering from an affair. The police have mounting questions as they uncover more details about the situation.

I loved the original concept and the ominous feel of the first half. And there were some cliffhangers that kept me intrigued. However, I felt the last half dragged on, and it became a bit repetitive. The final twists were decent but not amazing. Overall I enjoyed this, but it was not my favorite kind of suspense.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Only Survivors

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda

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First line: Our house, like most things, came down to luck.

Summary: Cassidy has spent the last ten years reuniting with classmates who all survived a tragic accident leaving only nine survivors. But this year Cassidy has decided she does not want to relive the worst night of her life again with the other survivors. That is until she receives a mysterious text announcing the death of one her classmates. As soon as she arrives she notices that this year is going to be different. Everyone seems a little more on edge. And it appears that someone is going to talk to the press about that night. But who?

My Thoughts: I love Megan Miranda’s books normally but this one felt a little disjointed. I could never really feel a cohesiveness to the plot. It seemed as if several different threads were running through it but not creating the suspense I usually feel during her stories. There was a storm. People are watching them. Some of the survivors are disappearing. Strangers are becoming friendly. So many things were happening rather than one thing tying the story together.

And I quickly figured out or guessed one of the big reveals. It seemed rather obvious from the start but maybe I read too many of these novels now to be shocked. However, the final reveal was not what I was expecting so that’s why I gave it 3 stars. It was still a fun book and kept me interested but it was not nearly as good as All the Missing Girls which was told in such a unique fashion that I always recommend it for anyone looking for a good twisty thriller.

Monica’s Musings: What Happened To You?

What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

“So I’m not crazy?” “No. Your brain is doing exactly what you would expect it to do considering what you lived through.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

Summary: Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”

Here, Winfrey shares stories from her past, understanding through experience the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma and adversity at a young age. In conversation throughout the book, she and Dr. Perry focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves. It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it allows us to understand our pasts to clear a path to our future—opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven powerful way.

My Thoughts: This book has something for everyone, and I highly recommend it! You absolutely should go with the audiobook for this one. Oprah narrates it along with Dr. Perry, and it is almost like listening to an in-depth podcast. There are scientific facts tied to real-life examples and experiences that keep you interested while also helping you better understand the concepts.

The discussions of the brain were well-done and easy for a layperson like me to understand. I appreciated the wide variety of stories Oprah and Perry shared that illustrate the impact trauma has on a person. Everyone has a reason as to why they are the way they are, and this is a good book to start digging deeper into that.

What’s Ashley Reading?: Hallowe’en Party

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

First line: Mrs. Ariadne Oliver had gone with a friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children’s party which was to take place that same evening.

Summary: At a children’s Halloween party, a young girl named Judith, mentions that she had once witnessed a murder. While no one believes the girl, she is found later drowned in an apple bobbing tub. Famous detective, Hercule Poirot, is called in to find the girl’s murderer as well as to discover who committed the murder Judith claimed to see years before.

My Thoughts: After recently hearing about the upcoming Hercule Poirot movie, A Haunting in Venice, starring Kenneth Branagh I decided it was time to get back into the world of the famous detective. However, the title of the book and much of the plot seems to differ. I will be interested to see how they use the plot of Christie’s novel to create the movie.

Like many of the Poirot novels I have read I found this one filled with twists and suspicious characters. As the detective dives deeper into the dark history of the village he finds a pattern that could easily be tied to the death of the young girl. There were many disappearances and deaths that it was hard to keep some of it straight. Hallowe’en Party was a fun read as most Agatha Christie novels are. While not my favorite Poirot book it is worth a read, especially if you are looking forward to the upcoming movie.

Monica’s Musings: The Woman in the Library

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

“I am a bricklayer without drawings, laying words in sentences, sentences into paragraphs, allowing my walls to twist and turn on a whim…”

― Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library

Summary: In every person’s story, there is something to hide…

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation, and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

My Thoughts: I loved the idea of this clever mystery within a mystery.

The main character Freddie is an author who is writing a fictional story about what is happening in real life. The way reality played alongside the fictional story in a unique format had me intrigued from the start. There is a lot to unpack in this book. Murder at the library, people bonded by a scream, another murder or two, a manuscript, and many interesting turns!

The whole time it had me double guessing myself and swaying my opinion of the murderer’s identity. I found myself wanting to read more to find out who it was! It was fun to guess along with the characters as they tossed around theories. Overall I enjoyed this one, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a murder mystery to solve as the story develops.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Angel Makers

The Angel Makers by Patti McCracken

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First line: Anna Cser lay on the floor of her living room.

Summary: In the 1920s a shocking story of a murder ring surrounding a Hungarian midwife drew the eyes of the world. A small village had been experiencing a number of unexplained deaths of the local men. As more and more people died the authorities centered in on Auntie Suzy who was dispensing arsenic to patients. With the question of “Why are you bothering with him?” she convinced the women of the village to do away with their troublesome husbands, sons and fathers.

My Thoughts: Before having this book cross my desk I had never heard anything about these events. It was completely shocking as I read the synopsis and I knew I had to read this story. I was instantly hooked by the events that took place in the small Hungarian village. These women dispensed their own justice. And for years without being discovered!

Even though I found the story and history fascinating, I struggled with the format. It was written as if it was a fiction novel. The main characters were portrayed with their emotions and thoughts rather than just facts. It seemed rather odd and I kept having to remember that this was a true story based on facts.

However, the author does a wonderful job describing life in the years following the First World War in a rural village. They dealt with loss of men to the war, deprivations and occupation by victorious soldiers. The town was filled with poor farmers who stilled believed in the old folktales. It made for the perfect setting for such sinister events.

FYI: Murder of children, suicide and abuse.

From the Omaha Sunday Bee-News on November 24, 1929.

Monica’s Musings: Everything I Never Told You

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

“He can guess, but he won’t ever know, not really. What it was like, what she was thinking, everything she’d never told him.”
― Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You

Summary: 

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.

So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.

A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering how mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

My Thoughts: 

This story starts with the reader finding out about the death of the favorite child, Lydia. I assumed it would just be an emotional book about finding the cause of death, but I was wrong, but somehow also right. This book is beyond what I was first expecting, and it branches off in so many directions as we follow the family before and after the death of Lydia. This book truly hit the nail on the head with the title. It focuses on each family member and their hopes, fears, and dreams. Showing us so many parts of their lives where they never voiced their emotions but should have. Celeste Ng showed the reader the consequences of them not doing so.

Additionally, this book is set in the 1970s and deals with both race identity and gender identity. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I finished the audiobook in a day, and it has stuck with me for several weeks now. I recommend this to anyone looking for a “hit you in the feels” type of read.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Kind Worth Saving

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson

First line: “Do you remember me?” she asked, after stepping to my office.

Summary: Henry Kimball has set up a private investigation business after he was fired from the police force. His newest case brings back memories from the year he taught English at a local high school. Joan has come to Henry to enlist his help to find out if her husband is cheating on her. It seems an easy case until Henry stumbles upon two bodies in an empty house. However, it appears like Henry was meant to discover these bodies. Something is not adding up and he starts his own investigation. But it appears that he now may be the target of a killer who has hidden for years in the shadows.

My Thoughts: When I requested this I had not read The Kind Worth Killing yet. Once I saw that this was a sequel to that story I picked it up and loved every minute of it. I was very excited to jump back into Lily and Henry’s strange relationship.

The beginning I found to be a little slow but that may have had to do with the lack of Lily’s involvement. The book is divided into three sections with two different narrators who give us the points of view for the plot and the timeline was jumping around to show how events have lead up to Henry’s investigation. There is something about Peter Swanson’s writing that keeps you wanting to read just one more page or one more chapter. As the story progresses the plotting and tempo pick up which keeps the tension high until the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was lots of fun and gave many shocking moments for the reader. I could not wait to see how everything ended but mostly how Lily would change the course of the plot. I picture the character Villanelle from Killing Eve when reading Lily’s point of view. She is definitely my favorite part of these books. I would highly recommend this to someone who loves a great edge of your seat thriller.

FYI: Sequel to The Kind Worth Killing.

Monica’s Musings: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

“She knew I had to cry until I undrown from the inside.”
― Angie Cruz, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Summary: 

Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification, and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.

My Thoughts: 

I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator did a great job of making Cara feel real. Cara’s story is narrated in the first person, but other details are shared through the paperwork she files through the course of the program, which makes for some interesting reading! Beautifully–written and thought-provoking, with humor, a whole lot of heart, and an endearing protagonist whose story will make you smile, sob, laugh out loud, and cheer her on. This is a short but impactful and memorable read that I would definitely recommend.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Drift

The Drift by C. J. Tudor

First line: A watch alarm was beeping.

Summary: Told through three people trying to survive a blizzard in the middle of a pandemic.

Hannah, wakes up after a bus accident. Several people are dead and the bus is stuck in a snow drift. She does not remember how they got here and she has to decide how to help the survivors escape alive. But it appears that the escape methods have been tampered with, leaving the occupants without many options.

Meg, finds herself with other volunteers for the trials, stranded on a cable car, suspended high above a forest in the middle of snow storm. One person has already been killed while they were sleeping so it appears that there is a killer among them. They must out who the killer is and hope they don’t kill again before rescue comes.

Carter has been living at the Retreat for three years helping to keep the place running. The Retreat was once a ski resort but has since been commissioned for scientific research to try and cure the pandemic that is ravaging the world. But as a storm moves in they are increasingly plagued by power outages which could lead to even more dire circumstances.

My Thoughts: I love C. J. Tudor. Her books are always lots of fun and a wild ride. I read a majority of this one in a weekend. I spent hours on the couch in between laundry, diving into the this story that at times felt very close to home. We have recently lived through and are still dealing with repercussions of the Covid pandemic. Each story gave new insights in to the lives of the population and the nature of the illness. It sounds terrifying and once again very similar.

There are a few twists and turns throughout which I really enjoyed. The big one is one I figured out about half way through, before the reveal. I was happy that I caught it but I don’t believe it spoiled anything. I think it made me look at everything closer and pay more attention. I highly recommend this quick read because it will keep you interested and on the edge of your seat. The only thing that would have made my reading experience better was actually having February weather rather than 60s to help set the atmosphere.