Sadeqa Johnson has become one of my go-to historical fiction authors in the last few years, and her new releases have become an immediate download. I’m pleased to report her latest release follows head held high in the footsteps of her breakout novel.
Chelsea Handler made a name for herself spouting truths the rest of us would have taken to the grave; her straightforward, hilarious honesty is the highlight of her books and talk shows. I’ll Have What She’s Having shows us that while behaving a little bit badly is still SO much fun, so is working on yourself. After years in therapy, her latest release is a timely hug in book form that reminds us that we all have room for growth.
Let me start this review by saying if you haven’t read From Scratch (Locke’s memoir and debut), put this one down and go read that first. You’ll laugh and cry and then immediately want more. If you’re still here, I’m thrilled to say that Someday, Now is exactly the follow-up we wanted and the one that Locke deserves. It is sweet, funny, and relatable, and it reminded me why I loved From Scratch so much.
If you’re a reader like me who goes in on The Great Alone or Where the Crawdads Sing, Broken Country might be your perfect next read. Set in a small town in England, a farmer’s wife deals with the grief of losing her son, the fear her marriage will fail, and the yearning for the first man she ever loved.
Americanah author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is back with a release ten years in the making. Dream Count weaves together the stories of four African women as they cope with societal expectations, family, men, and friendship. But the introspection, lack of setting, and general focus on (usually horrid) men left the story feeling a bit hollow.
I’m fully here for the recent rise of fictional celebrity stories, perhaps made popular by Taylor Jenkins Reid’s biography-like writing. Jennifer Weiner’s another personal favorite author, and I was thrilled at the prospect of her taking on a similar style. But while she writes relationships and conflict and feelings so well, I didn’t feel drawn into the plot of her latest novel.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Shadow of the Leviathan series, allow me to introduce you: Bennett has created a high fantasy world in which murder mystery is king! We don’t want romances and flowing capes and stuffy oligarchs (though there are touches of each, to be sure), we want mud and murder and monsters — and Bennett delivers!
The premise of this story is capital-A awesome, and between this book and other recent release Long Live Evil, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of this world-within-a-world–type storytelling in the next few years. That being said, I don’t think this book was particularly well executed, and the jumps between timelines, characters, and worlds left me reeling (and, sadly, not in a good way).
Sara Tucker 