The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Even though this book had a pretty predictable ending, it didn't disappoint. Focused on self-worth and how to eliminate the values people put on you, this was a great story of how overcoming the weight of others is entirely possible if you're willing to look around.

Nora Seed has kinda died. As long as the clock in a very strange library stays at midnight though, there's still hope. With books only about herself, Nora has the special opportunity to experience her other lives, maybe even find a better one. Each book contains the path she'd have taken if she'd made one choice differently. Some lead to good things, some to crazy adventures, and others to more unhappiness than she had in her real life (and that was a lot.)

As she travels, regrets begin to disappear. She realizes that some choices, while still painful, were better than the alternative. All the while, she hovers between life and death in her special midnight library.

Eventually she'll have to decide where she wants to plant her feet. Will she pick a new life, go back to the old one, or die. It's actually a very tough decision to for Nora to make, which speaks to the complexities of regret.

I liked Nora even with all her "issues," even though she gives up at times. She's open to learning about herself, to taking a crazy journey, to really seeing her world. Haig tells a very specific story that has universal appeal with an interesting, nuanced set of characters. We meet the kind old lady/librarian, a demanding father, a troubled sibling, the "bad" boyfriend, and more. They all come into play in Nora's lives and add so much depth.

It's apparent to the reader, even as Nora struggles to learn, where this whole path will lead. I enjoyed that the writing style allowed us to be a few steps ahead of Nora throughout. I'd get excited every time she made a breakthrough, or had an important experience. I wasn't on the journey with her, but was definitely sitting in her cheering section.

A super-fast read -- because it's good and straightforward -- this book immediately engages you on an emotional level. I can see why it's topping all the book lists right now, and I highly recommend it.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

 

Everything about this book hinges on the end. If it's done right, the story will be an intense, emotional read. If done wrong, it will feel overly-contrived and cliche.

At the end, I cried.

Putting a unique spin on fate, In Five Years starts with Dannie. She's a corporate lawyer who's young and hungry. She flourishes in knowing the details, in always having a plan. She knows things, like where to live in NYC, what firm she should work for, when exactly her boyfriend will propose. It's all figured out, until one night she falls asleep for an hour and lives a life five years in the future.

In this premonition nothing is as it should be, and Dannie wakes up in fear of what five years from now will do to her master plan. She can't tell anyone close to her about this vision, not her boyfriend or her absolute best friend, Bella. It's her secret, one she wants to try and prevent so her perfect life can unfold.

Flash forward to almost five years into the future, and Dannie feels like she's dodged the bullet. She's got the job, the fiance, the apartment, but then it all changes. And then it changes again. Each hiccup in her master plan brings her closer to that night she saw in her sleep, but not in the way she expected. At the end of the book, the night plays out exactly as it does in her dream (this isn't a spoiler) with incredibly different circumstances surrounding it. What she dreaded happening for five years might possibly be the night she'd been waiting for.

This is a story about great love and extreme grief. It's about letting yourself to feel big emotions whether or not they allow you to maintain control. Dannie is given a gift to see a moment of her future, and even though she misinterprets it, having the knowledge gives her solace when she needs it most.

This book surprised me in all the best ways. It is beautiful and sad, but powerful. The devotion of the characters was something special to read. You might need a tissue, but this is a good one.

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The thing I don't like about the romance genre is how absurd the stories get. The way characters connect, how everything fits so perfectly into place; it starts feeling icky. I realize the genre is meant for readers to escape reality, but all it ends up doing for me is jumpstart a lot of eye rolling.

Not the case with Beach Read. The coincidences are still there in the narrative, but with enough rough edges, enough baggage that's not interconnected, that it's okay. 

Our hero and heroine are trapped, deep in life's quicksand, in real and heartbreaking ways. That's a good thing. What's even better, they don't rescue each other from it. They buoy each other up because they fight for the right to do it.

This book is romance with glitches, pain, miscommunication, and so many tears. I didn't roll my eyes once. Also, both main characters are writers -- I really liked that.

The meet-cute happens because January has inherited a lake house, from her father, she never knew about. Her first night there, she encounters an annoying and rude neighbor who turns out to be Gus, her writing "rival" from college. He criticised her work when they were just students, and now she's a romance novelist and he's a Writer. They resume a frenemy-type relationship until they realize they can help each other with writer's block.

Pushing each other along to complete their books, things get real. Each character slowly unfolds to the other. Real stories are told. Real feelings shared. [slight spoiler coming up] They realize that it's not the happy ending that matters, but it's experiencing the happy moments as they are that counts.

This book is about love, but it doesn't limit itself to one kind. It's about romantic love, the love you have for your best friend, loving a parent, and finding the will to love after a betrayal. It's a sweet and light read that has purpose and heft. It's an appropriate choice so close to [eye roll] Valentine's Day. It lifts up the too steamy, mostly ridiculous genre of romance as well.

Recommended. 

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

 

Second Book Club Book #14
A Highway 59 Mystery - Book 2

To really enjoy this, you should read the first book in the series. The storyline is definitely a continuation, so grab Bluebird, Bluebird first.

The main character in this book is a new favorite of mine. He's a mess in a totally different way than what I'm used to, and I enjoy seeing into his life. It's complex for so many more reasons -- being an African American Texas Ranger, working in an area full of members of the Aryan Brotherhood -- but, it's also complex for so many common reasons -- shitty parents, unfulfilling love life, the nagging feeling that there's something better out there. He's a character I both understand and can learn a lot from. He's someone you should get to know.

In Heaven, My Home we're meeting back up with Darren after things have seemed to settle down from book one. He's working at a desk and his marriage seems to be back in order. The gun is still "missing" from the crime in the previous book, although that's both a relief and a major stressor for Darren (it would spoil things if I took that further.) 

Darren needs a distraction. Then, a young boy goes missing. His dad just happens to be in jail and is a big name in the Aryan Brotherhood. Maybe if Darren finds the kid, he can get the dad to help him out a little with this other, pressing thing, a murder.

What Darren finds when he goes to the small town where Levi King is missing is not what he expected. The heavily-felt, loudly-expressed racism, yes. But, then the plot thickens, people get shot, and shady business abounds. 

Days go by and everyone assumes Levi is dead. Only Darren decides to dig deeper in a case where everyone else seems to want to take the easy way out. 

The flow of the story expertly shows how quickly people are willing to pin everything on race when there's already a poignant vein of hate in the community. But, like with most things, conflict isn't always related to just one issue. I admire that Locke takes the time to express what is a serious issue in our country without pulling it from what's happening today. She lets it ride alongside other problems we see in this world, other flaws we find in people around us. It lets her story steep in reality.

I definitely liked this book better than the first, but I think that's only because we move deeper into the characters. We see how good deeds can go unrewarded, but also how wrongs are turned right when someone cares to put in the effort. It feels truthful to the many aspects of human character, and I appreciate the way she tells such a big story within this one person's life.