May Reads

The Night Swim, by: Megan Goldin

Thank you St. Martin's Press for this advance reader copy (release date August 4, 2020). Rachel, a true-crime podcaster, is covering the rape trail in a small town. Very relevant to current events, it comes down to who the jury chooses to believe. While there, Rachel is contacted by someone to help solve her sisters death - 20 years ago. Flashing back and forth between these two times, this fast paced novel shows how these families/crimes are tied together. Highly recommend if you like these kind of thrillers.

The Signature of All Things, by: Elizabeth Gilbert

This is the second work of fiction I have read by Elizabeth, and since I loved City of Girls so much I went into this with high hopes. I bought this quite a while ago at our local thrift store. This book took me a while to get through, but it was worth it. It's more of a slow burn or epic tale. It follows the life of Alma Whittaker who is born into the wealthiest family of Philadelphia in the 1800's. She follows in her father's botanist studies and helps care for their estate and business. It details the strained relationship she has with her adopted sister, her unique short lived marriage, and her eventual travels around the globe to expand her knowledge/research. Very enjoyable!

Erotic Stories of Punjabi Widows, by: Balli Kaur Jaswal

 I've been wanting to read this book for a while now, so I was glad to get it on a swap board. Living in London, Nikki tries her best to live a "western" life. Having dropped out of law school and tending bar, she accepts a job to teach Punjabi widows creative writing. Once class starts, it is not what she expected as none of the women can write or read. But, they have plenty they want to say since they have never been able to express their own wants and desires. Against her better judgement, Nikki continues to help them have a voice but word starts getting around the community about the class. The "brotherhood" - a group of young men who feel the need to enforce the "moral compass" starts to worry the women. But in turn, it also prompts them to look into a mysterious death and find closure. The unsolved mystery was a nice surprise in this book, and I loved it overall!

Luckiest Girl Alive, by: Jessica Knoll

 Another book swap acquisition, I was excited for this since Reese Witherspoon owns the rights to make this into a TV/Movie. I have LOVED Reese's work in other book adaptations, but this story fell short for me. Here is the summary: As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve. But Ani has a secret. There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything. I kept reading, expecting a big twist, but at the end I feel like I missed something. None of the characters were very likable, and the writing was confusing at times. Disappointing.

Oona Out of Order, by: Margarita Montimore
Flatiron Books sent me this copy (thank you). Every New Years Eve, since 1982, Oona is transported into a different year of her life. They are not in order and she never knows where she is going to land next. She has few people who know about her condition that help guide her, but she eventually gets used to her time travel. Living through friendships, a marriage, losses of loved ones, and bonding with her son, this was a really fun read. Better than I expected!

In Five Years, by: Rebecca Serle

Since I was in the mood for another time travel theme, I jumped into this book I got on swap too. Dannie Kohen has her entire life planned out. She now has her dream job and is engaged to her longtime love. But suddenly, she has an all too real dream where she is 5 years into the future but engaged to and living with someone else! Back to present time, Dannie is determined to change the course of her future to go along as SHE has planned it. Unfortunately, her dream ends up coming true and I will admit it was hard as a reader to see how the events would turn into that reality. This was really good and I couldn't put it down!