Tennis is not really my sport. So when I started Carrie Soto is Back, I almost stopped. It’s a tennis novel at its worst and a fascinating story of love and ambition at its best. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a writer I want to adore but Malibu Rising didn’t live up to Daisy Jones and the Six. I decided to try one more of her novels, and I’m so glad I did.
Although I didn’t run out and have my racket restrung, I did learn more about tennis courts than I could ever have imagined. And who knew — tennis courts have fascinating surfaces. Tennis calls for bold and aggressive players, and this book leads us into what creates that drive while entertaining us with drama, love, anger, angst and emotion. I couldn’t wait to jump the net at the end, and the finale was a bit more emotional than I anticipated.
How much do we owe others when our spouse is an extraordinary money guy who turns out to be a crook? When your whole life is built on the backs of investors who lose it all when this scheme fails, do you offer up everything to pay them back? Or do you claim innocence and run off, leaving him to pay the price? The Complicities by Stacey D’Erasmo doesn’t really lead in a clear direction but forces you to examine your own conscience. After Suzanne’s husband Alan is arrested for fraud, Suzanne escapes to a small seaside town. When Suzanne donates what’s left of their fortune to an ecological group, she believes she has cleared her conscience of any complicity. Unfortunately her donation causes Suzanne and her family to spiral further out of control. In the end, is she as guilty as Alan? Or was her only sin not paying attention to how her lifestyle was supported and living her dream without understanding the cost?
My granddaughter and co-reader, Cara, determined that Ugly Love, by Colleen Hoover, suffered in comparison to Verity and It Ends with Us. She thought it was weird enough that I skipped it! We’re holding out for Hoover’s new book It Starts with Us, sequel/prequel to It Ends with Us.
Elizabeth George is one of my favorite authors. Her books are written with two main characters: Sgt. Barbara Havers and Inspector Lynley. While they appear continuously in the novels, each book can be a stand-alone, and if you haven’t read any of her other novels Something to Hide is a riveting and sometimes polarizing account of the hidden cultural female castration procedure. It is illegal in London but is practiced in hidden communities. The book will break your heart, as well as fill you with anger and dismay at times. It will also show the best side of people willing to step up to stop this mutilation of young girls. It would be the perfect book for a book club discussion.
I love reading and sharing the breath and width of novels I enjoy. Hope you lose yourself in some of my favorites.
