Mercury by Amy Jo Burns is a Blend of Family, Literary, and Romance Fiction with a Touch of Coming-of-Age!
Seventeen-year-old Marley West is the new gMercury by Amy Jo Burns is a Blend of Family, Literary, and Romance Fiction with a Touch of Coming-of-Age!
Seventeen-year-old Marley West is the new girl in Mercury, Pennsylvania, a town where few new people come to live. She gets noticed quickly by Baylor Joseph and eventually gets her place at the table of the Joseph Family. She's attracted to Baylor but when football season calls him away, it's his younger brother, Waylon, that Marley falls in love with...
Mercury is an intense Family Fiction story that begins in 1990 and travels with the characters through the years. The Joseph Family is at the heart of the story with parents, Mick and Elise, and their three sons, Baylor - the oldest, Waylon - thirteen months younger, and Shay - the youngest by quite a few years. This is one complicated dysfunctional family, and the dynamics are deep and ingrained.
At the center of this family is the business, JOSEPH & SONS ROOFING, and along with it are the expectations that each son will join the business in some capacity. The business, all it entails and consumes, is like another character in this story.
What stands out most about this book is the simple writing style that quickly connects you to the characters and the family drama. The way the story is written feels different and multi-layered, told from the 'outside in' and then from the 'inside out', and it works for this story, giving it a higher level of backstory and a character-study feel.
There's a mystery built into the story that takes a surprising twist. Still, it's our protagonist Marley who steers us through this story with her resilience, growth, and determination that kept me reading and listening until there was no more story left.
This was an immersion reading experience through the gifted Digital Reading Copy and Advanced Listening Copy. The audiobook is narrated by Maria Liatis, whose voicing skills are strong, however, either format will deliver a great experience.
I love Family Fiction and this one is surprisingly good. I have added both of Amy Jo Burns' previous books Cinderland: A Memoir and Shiner her debut novel to my TBR List. I highly recommend Mercury to readers who enjoy books with blended genres, engaging writing, fully fleshed-out characters, and discovering a surprise or two within the story!
4⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and Amy Jo Burns for a DRC and an ALC of this book through NetGalley. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review....more
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman is a Family Drama and Coming of Age Story Sprinkled with Humor!
This is my first Elinor Lipman novel and right aftMy Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman is a Family Drama and Coming of Age Story Sprinkled with Humor!
This is my first Elinor Lipman novel and right after reading it, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it, in a kinda-sorta good way...
My Latest Grievance begins with a solid, yet odd, backstory about professors Aviva and David Hatch and their precocious 16-year-old daughter Frederica, who is also our protagonist.
Frederica feels smothered by the nontraditional lifestyle her parents have raised her in. They live in a dorm at Dewing College, a women's college where Aviva and David teach and where their daughter was born. Frederica is craving a change. Something different from what she's come to expect from her predictable parent-team.
In walks Laura Lee French, a new dorm mother, who also happens to be David's ex-wife...
There wasn't a moment when I didn't think this story was going off the rails but the flawed characters, the mixture of topics, and wonky, wacky humor grew on me. It was Frederica's bright, bold narrative that kept me listening, with the deep love and frustration she felt for her parents and the desire and longing for something new and different to enter her life. "Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind here.
The audiobook is narrated by Piper Goodeve whose narrative and voicing adds another layer of believability to the character of Frederica.
My Latest Grievance is quirky, over-the-top, eye-rolling, and thought-provoking entertainment. Will I read another Elinor Lipman story? You betcha!
3.75⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Elinor Lipman for an ALC of this book. It has been a pleasure to give my honest and voluntary review....more
The Body by Stephen King is More a Coming-of-Age Story Than Horror Fiction!
If you think you've experienced a Stephen King book by watching the film adThe Body by Stephen King is More a Coming-of-Age Story Than Horror Fiction!
If you think you've experienced a Stephen King book by watching the film adaption, I assure you, you're mistaken. There's something about his simplistic writing style that captures you and draws you into the worlds he creates that plays better in your head than on the big screen.
I'm not sure Mr. King would appreciate my description of how I perceive his writing, but to me it's simply magical. There's a familiarity to his stories that speaks to the reader in some sort of nostalgicy, twisted way. It stirs thoughts of our pasts, our dreams, and our nightmares. King is, well...The King!
The Body is said to be the one Stephen King story that is closest to semi-autobiographical. Set in fictional Castlerock, Maine, this Coming-of-Age story is told in the first-person POV of Gordie LaChance, who...wait for it...becomes a writer. He's reminiscing about the summer of 1960 when along with three close friends, all on the cusp of becoming teenagers, set out to find the body of missing Ray Brower, who is their age and rumored to have been hit by a train.
The Body is definitely more Coming-of-Age than Horror, and the adventure these four boys take on along with their individual family circumstances, blend together into a worthy read/listen. It solidifies the truth about the friendships of our childhood being the one's we remember the most fondly. King takes this story full-circle for the reader, which is quite unusual for a novella. The audiobook is a great listen with narrator, Frank Muller's voicing of the young characters and as the 'later in life' Gordie.
The Body was originally published in King's 1982 story collection Different Seasons. It was later adapted into the 1986 film Stand by Me. It's a film I've never watched despite being told it's a great movie and was nominated for Best Screen Play. I'm partial to Stephen King's written words and listening to this audiobook works just fine for me. I highly recommend it to Stephen King fans, like me, who are looking for a story that's a little different, a lot lighter, and takes you back to the cherished friendships of youth!
My Alien Life by J. Martain is a Southern Fiction Novella!
If you're hoping for a "speculative tale", as the synopsis promises, you'll need to look elsMy Alien Life by J. Martain is a Southern Fiction Novella!
If you're hoping for a "speculative tale", as the synopsis promises, you'll need to look elsewhere. What you'll find here is a Coming-of- Age story in the first person voice of a girl named Lynette.
When Lynette is nine years old, her daddy dies and the only relative willing to take her in is her fierce, six-foot tall, boisterous Great-Great-Aunt-Magnolia-Rose. She's a big presence who's never afraid to speak her mind.
Mags, for short, is the oldest sister of Lynette's Great-Great-Grandmother on her mother's side. That would make Mags about how old, do you think? Does older than dirt come to mind?
The only question Mags asks Lynette is if she can take care of herself after she turns sixteen and, if she can, Mags will take care of her and stay alive until that day. After they each make their promise to the other, they begin a quiet, simple life together in Mags little trailer down a road in rural North Carolina...
My Alien Life audiobook is a quick, satisfying one hour listen that covers a lot of living, loving, and caring during the seven years Lynette and her Aunt Mags live together, and at the end of the day, you'll wonder who needs who more. The narrator, April Doty, does a great job of giving Southern authenticity to this story with her exceptional voicing.
The "alien" part, you ask? Well now, you'll just need to listen to the story like I did, won't you?
My Alien Life is a great way to fill an hour of your time and I recommend it to those who enjoy Southern Fiction, like I do, or have an interest in trying it on for size!
4⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial Audio, and J. Martain for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review. ...more
Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney is a Coming-of-Age and Lovecraftian Horror Story!
I'm more than a little torn about this novella...
A family of three lives a Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney is a Coming-of-Age and Lovecraftian Horror Story!
I'm more than a little torn about this novella...
A family of three lives a peaceful and quiet life in the South Carolina coastal wetlands. The eleven-year-old boy is deeply loved by his parents and his dog, Teach means just about everything to him.
Their family life together is almost perfect, until...
The boy's estranged maternal grandfather drops in for an unexpected visit that quickly turns into an indefinite and disruptive stay. Teach senses that something is off about this unwelcome guest, so much so that he growls whenever the grandfather is near the boy.
As the tensions run high between the three adults, the boy feels himself changing into something...different. Something that makes his grandfather smile and his mother afraid...
Wild Spaces is a story that's original, creative, and different. I love the author's evocative writing, the unique characterizations, and the audiobook narrator, Nick Mondelli's clipped narrative and skillful voicing talent. All combined, it's a wonderful package.
Wild Spaces is a novella that feels vague and allusive the further in you travel. The constant movement of the story is towards something unknown and you wonder where the heck it's leading you. The Lovecraftian Horror genre, I never knew had a name, makes my imagination smile and even turn a cartwheel or two.
However, there is one issue that tainted my experience. (view spoiler)[ The boy's sweet dog, Teach is senselessly killed in a gruesome scene. Yeah, I get it, this is Horror and that stuff happens. It just seem to me that Teach is of more value to this story alive than dead AND great Horror Fiction can be written without the inclusion of animal harm. (hide spoiler)]
Wild Spaces is a story I love listening to and was a winner for me up to the point I describe in the spoiler above. It's why I feel torn about this novella and the only reason for lowering my rating significantly.
3.25⭐rounded down!
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and S.L. Coney for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review. ...more
Go as a River by Shelley Read is a Historical Fiction Story with a Different Feel to It!
The past five years, seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash has beenGo as a River by Shelley Read is a Historical Fiction Story with a Different Feel to It!
The past five years, seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash has been relegated to running the household on her family's peach ranch after her mother's untimely death. As the only living female in her family, this responsibility is expected, without question.
Victoria doesn't have time to dream of a life outside the family ranch. This changes when she meets Wilson Moon, a stranger passing through town. She's attracted to his kindness, his unique looks, and believes they're meant to be together.
The love they share is risky but the lessons Wilson teaches Victoria about the flow of the river will sustain her through her hardships, ease the pain of her losses, and guide her to find her niche in life.
Go as a River is a Historical Fiction story that has a different feel to it. It's a woman's story, but there's so much more. The four decades of the 20th century it's set in, the small rural Colorado community and location, the tedious and arduous pace of ranch-life, and the images the author's writing creates and stirs in my head are ones I couldn't stop thinking about.
It's hard to believe Go as a River is a debut novel. The writing is beautifully picturesque, despite a flicker of purple-prose in the beginning chapters that softens as the story progresses. The characters are well-developed and diverse, the setting is so well-described that you visualize the rugged terrain of the mountains, feel the heat of the sun, and smell the ripeness of the warm peaches the author writes about so lovingly.
Topics of racism and prejudice are depicted as harsh as the landscape of the Colorado wilderness and coalesce to feel as deep and frigid as the Gunnison River. Victoria is both resilient and brave and as her memory intently holds Wilson's words "Go as a river", she knows she is meant to always move forward with her life to find a better way.
The audiobook narrator, Cynthia Farrell, does a fine job with her narration, never skipping a beat with character voicing, and giving life and believability to the main character, Victoria.
Historical Fiction is not a genre I read often as most feel so similar, but after discovering, and listening to this one, I'll definitely look for more. I highly recommend Go as a River to those who love Historical Fiction and to readers, like me, who prefer HF that feels a little different!
4.5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, OrangeSky Audio, and Shelley Read for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review. ...more
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