Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Christopher Huang’s new historical mystery Unnatural Ends caught me by surprise and kept me guessing. Set in the early 1920’s, this novel centers around the mystery of Sir Lawrence Linwood’s death. His last request sets his three adult children on a quest to solve his murder, much to the chagrin of the local police.
The characters that Huang has created are intricate and interesting. The three adopted Linwood siblings—Alan, Roger, and Caroline—are very different from each other, though they all grew up under the thumb of Sir Lawrence. They each take a different path to attempt to solve the mystery, and they are each led into unexpected places. It doesn’t take long before their investigations lead further and further into the past as they realize that their own mysterious origins have some bearing on the current mystery. Lady Linwood is a mysterious character in her own right, and though she seems the most likely to have some of the answers, she also is the least likely to elucidate.
This story is written from multiple points of view. We get to see scenes from the eyes of most of the story’s characters—even more minor characters—and we see different time periods. This structure gets rather convoluted, and at times I felt a bit lost as to when and where I was as an observer. Even within the present timeline, each sibling is involved in their own investigations and the events we see from one person’s point of view are not necessarily happening at the same time as what we’ve just seen from someone else’s point of view.
The mystery at play in the novel is complex. As the story progresses, suspicion is cast far and wide, relationships grow more and more complicated, and even unseen characters become important. The culmination of this, and the solution to the mystery, was satisfying and surprising. That said, some of the characters’ schemes and machinations felt too elaborate and began to feel unbelievable.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and think it is a great addition to the genre of period murder mysteries. Unnatural Ends comes out on June 20, 2023.
Review - Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding
I received a free galley from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Speak of the Devil is a thriller that hooks you from the very first page. On New Year’s Eve, seven women find themselves in a room with a dead man—or part of him, at least. All of them have a motive for his murder, but each of them denies committing the crime.
This story follows these seven women, as well as the detective in charge of discovering the killer. The reader sees these women in the aftermath of the murder, as well as in flashbacks of their experiences with the victim. We discover motives right along with Nova, the detective, and the case becomes increasingly complex. It becomes clear that Jamie (our murder victim) was abusive throughout his life, so the stories of these women cover decades.
This is a story about a horrible, manipulative man, and the women he betrayed and destroyed. It’s also a story about how society disregards abuse victims and abusers often get more chances than they should.
This book kept me interested until the end, though the solution to the mystery felt rushed at the very end of the book. I liked the characters and thought they were well-written and complex. I also enjoyed how motives were unveiled one by one and flashbacks are interwoven with the days following the murder.
Trigger Warnings:
Sensitive readers should know this book contains sexual content, graphic violence, rape, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, forced outing, homophobia, and suicide.
Review - Everything All At Once by Steph Catudal
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I specifically sought out an advanced copy of Steph Catudal’s new memoir, Everything All At Once. Ever since I started using iFit on my treadmill, I’ve been a fan of Tommy Rivs, so I began following him on Instagram. Then I started seeing his wife’s writing when he’d share it, so I started following her as well. Now, she’s written a book about her life and her experience through her husband’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.
This book is heavy, but it is very well written. Catudal’s writing is beautiful and lyrical and honest and very emotional. She tells of her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis and his death when she was still very young. She details how that trauma, combined with her religious upbringing, led her into a pretty intense rebellion. I liked reading Steph’s descriptions of what it was like to deconstruct from her religious (Mormon) upbringing because I could connect with that on a personal level.
Steph intertwines this history with the more recent past, detailing Rivs’s diagnosis and hospitalization in 2020. This intertwining of timelines works very well in this book, and eventually the timelines meet as we near the present. These dual timelines also help the reader see Steph’s arc from rebellious and headstrong teenager to loving and devoted wife and mother. And where the story of her past involves her loss of faith, the story of the more recent past involves her rebuilding of a new kind of faith.
One unusual thing about this book is its structure. While Rivs was in the hospital, Steph took to social media to share her thoughts. The final portion of this book is made up of those social media posts, most of which has been described earlier in the book. I thought this was an interesting choice to place these together at the end instead of interspersed throughout the narrative. But I still think it works.
I’ll admit, I was emotionally invested in this story before I even got my hands on a copy. I had already heard the story from Rivs on iFit, but it was incredible to read Steph’s perspective as well. I read it in a single day, and I cried. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy memoir and who are not averse to reading about intense medical treatment and the emotional impact on the patient’s family.
Sensitive readers should be aware that this book contains adult language, drug and alcohol use, sex, and terminal illness and hospitalization. It’s heavy, but in my opinion, it’s worth it.
Review - The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I loved Steven Rowley’s The Guncle so much that as soon as I saw an opportunity to get an advance copy of The Celebrants, I jumped on it! This book did not disappoint.
The Celebrants is a character-driven story of five friends and their lifelong quest to be there for each other. After the death of their friend Alec, just before graduating from Berkeley, the group makes a pact to give each member a “funeral” while they’re still living, so they will know how loved they are and nothing will be left unsaid.
The others in the group—Naomi, Marielle, Craig, Jordan, and Jordy—go their separate ways, but return to each other whenever one of them needs it. We see each friend as they face life’s challenges over the years, and we see what drives them to invoke the pact and reunite with their friends.
This book spans decades in the lives of these characters, but it focuses mainly on husbands Jordan and Jordy (known collectively as “the Jordans”).
This time, it’s Jordan who has invoked the pact, and the group gathers once again to celebrate one of their own, to confront their grief, and to support each other.
I loved this book for its intimate portrayal of the human experience. These five friends go through the same losses and grief that we all do. They fall in love. They fall out of love. They make mistakes and they suffer the consequences. They feel betrayal, anger, frustration, sadness, hopelessness, and hope. This book is about the type of family that a person can choose to create for themselves. And it shows us that there is no one right way to live.
Sensitive readers should know that this book contains adult language, references to drug and alcohol abuse, incarceration, suicide and death, and sexual content.
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley comes out on May 30, 2023. I heartily recommend it!
Review - Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Women We Buried, Women We Burned is a new memoir by Rachel Louise Snyder, detailing her troubled childhood and how she eventually became an international journalist and advocate for victims of domestic violence.
The memoir begins with the untimely death of Rachel’s mother and the aftermath of that enormous loss. I loved how well she described what that loss was like from a child’s perspective, realizing now all that she didn’t understand then. Her father became entrenched in an evangelical church and remarried, blending families. These events began a tumultuous cycle of domestic violence within the family, which culminated when Rachel and her siblings were kicked out of their home as teenagers.
Rachel holds little back as she describes her own culpability in the events of her teenage years. She was a rebellious child who refused to be controlled. She fell into self-destructive patterns and was expelled from her high school.
Over the years that followed, Rachel eventually found her feet. She discovered her love of writing and her love of travel. As she learned more about the world and its people, she began to better understand herself and her own family.
This book is about strong women and the things that get in their way. It’s about disease and grief and death. It’s about faith and knowledge. It’s about messy family relationships and self-discovery.
If you liked Tara Westover’s Educated, you would probably like this book as well. Sensitive readers should know this book contains adult language, sexual content, child abuse, and drug use.
Women We Buried, Women We Burned releases today (May 11, 2023).
Review - No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
First off—take a gander at that cover art! I’m in love.
Erica Bauermeister’s new book No Two Persons is unlike anything I have ever read before. I was swept up in the story of this book within a book. Instead of a traditional protagonist, this contemporary tale follows a book from person to person as it influences lives, eventually coming back to where it started.
Each chapter is named for one of ten people who encounter the book Theo: The Writer, The Bookseller, The Actor, The Artist, The Caretaker, etc. Each of these people is influenced in some way by this book—whether they read it or not. Some of them are inspired. Some of them are comforted. All of them are affected.
I Loved
I loved this book and the way it shows how literature affects people in different ways. It begs questions like, What does it mean for someone to pass on a book to someone else? What can a work of fiction really tell us about ourselves? How can a reader further inspire a writer?
The characters Bauermeister has created are varied and intricate. The stories of The Teenager and The Caretaker are the two that have stuck with me the most as I’ve considered this book. Not every story is resolved on the pages of the book. We don’t see every step of the book’s journey. We don’t see every connection between characters. But each character’s story adds something to the whole and shows us how our lives are all interconnected in many ways.
I found it interesting that Bauermeister even considered those people who have a book and choose not to read it. It can still affect them. It can still influence them.
Read It
No Two Persons was released today (May 2, 2023)! I highly recommend it.
Review - It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway by Elizabeth Passarella
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway: And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward is a collection of essays that touch on the topics of parenting, aging, and moving forward. This was an interesting read that gives a glimpse into what it’s like to live in Manhattan with young children over the past few years.
What I Loved
I loved seeing Passarella’s struggles (and triumphs) with parenting, as well as her relationships with her parents and in-laws. I appreciated her honesty about certain aspects of aging and motherhood. I loved her perspective on parenting in Manhattan, even though it is entirely different from how she was raised in Memphis. I also loved how she embraces life and doesn’t seem to fear for herself or her kids while living in such a big city.
Perhaps because this is more of an essay collection than it is a memoir, many parts felt unresolved to me. I’m really quite curious to know what she’s going to do with the ugly upholstery she saved!
What I Didn’t Love
Going into this read, I knew nothing of Elizabeth Passarella, so I was unaware of her religious leanings. She did a great job incorporating her faith into the book without it being overwhelming, but not knowing this in advance made the first few spiritual references feel out of place.
I also felt this book was less about moving forward and more about hanging on to certain things. Based on the title, I was hoping for something more directed at major life changes, transformations, etc.
Read It!
Overall, I enjoyed It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway and would recommend it as a quick and interesting glimpse into the life of a mother in Manhattan. Passarella is funny and insightful and honest.
This book comes out on May 2, 2023.
Review - If We’re Being Honest by Cat Shook
I received a free copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If We’re Being Honest is a week in the life of the large Williams family. It begins with Gerry’s funeral and a shocking revelation that his best friend reveals during the eulogy. What follows is a week with this family sorting through their feelings about Gerry, about each other, and about the future.
I Loved
I loved this book’s premise. I felt like the secrets and unspoken things were front and center for the Williams family. I also loved the title. This book is about secrets coming to light, and they’re revealed one at a time as the book progresses. This is a very ambitious book that tries to give each family member a voice, but that is where it may not be super successful.
Shook’s characters are diverse, but I felt there was not enough focus, so opportunities were missed to give a few characters a deeper look. I would have loved to see more from Ellen’s perspective as I felt she was one of the most interesting characters in the book, though she’s also very quiet and closed-off.
I Didn’t Love
My biggest problem with this book is that so many problems could have been solved with open communication. But perhaps that is the point. This bothered me the most in the Alice/Peter relationship. Yes, they’re in a complicated situation, but I felt too much time was spent on them when their problems could have easily been resolved in a single short conversation. The same is true of Jennifer and JJ.
Ultimately, I liked how this book shows the complexity of keeping secrets within family relationships, but also still being a good person. I think it’s worth a read.
Read It
If We’re Being Honest came out today!
Review - See It End by Brianna Labuskes
I received a free galley of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
See It End is Brianna Labuskes’ latest thriller and the third installment in her “Dr. Gretchen White” series.
This book begins with a confession by detective Lauren Marconi and a plea that Gretchen not investigate the murder. Of course Gretchen can’t resist. She teams up with Assistant DA Lochlan Gibbs, determined to prove her friend’s innocence and find out the truth.
This murder mystery is entwined with the larger mystery of what happened to a series of kidnapped boys. Marconi is convinced the boys’ cases are connected, plus she has a personal reason for seeking justice for the boys. Her search ultimately leads to her arrest while Gretchen and Gibbs work feverishly to free her.
Although it’s the third book in a series, it works well as a stand-alone novel. Labuskes didn’t give me the whole backstory, but there was enough explanation of the earlier books without it feeling overwhelming. And I had enough information to understand the characters and their relationships.
I Loved
This book has both great characters and a great mystery. I especially loved the main character, Gretchen, who embraces and works with her personal flaws. Gibbs works as a perfect foil for her character, and I loved how they played off each other throughout the book.
This book kept me guessing until the end, which is just what I like in a thriller! I suspected five or six different characters throughout the book, and I was very satisfied by how it all wrapped up at the end.
Content Advisory
Sensitive readers should be aware that this book contains mentions of child abuse, kidnapping, murder, and pedophilia.
Read It
See It End by Brianna Labuskes will be available April 18, 2023!
Review - You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
I received a free review copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Summing It Up
Poet Maggie Smith’s memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, is an emotional and powerful look at marriage, divorce, and parenting. She tries to make sense of her life using what she knows best: writing craft. She looks at her life story as a plot, even while urging readers not to do the same. She examines the story structure of her life. She even envisions it as a stage play.
All these devices help the reader see more deeply into the author’s struggle to reconcile her expectations versus her reality, to make sense of the major changes that come with the ending of a marriage and the beginning of something new.
While this book is not a straightforward narrative, it leads readers from one point to the next in an artful way. Rather than a story, it is a series of essays pieced together like fragmented thoughts. And just like the author, the reader is left with questions. That is the point, after all – we never get all the answers to life’s biggest questions. I especially appreciated the author’s conclusion that she could move on despite uncertainty.
I was intrigued by her efforts to write her own truth while protecting those she wrote about. She never names her ex-husband. She discusses her children, but explicitly tells readers when she won’t be showing certain parts of their lives. I have never read a memoir that dealt with hard issues while maintaining this level of privacy before. But it works and it feels even more personal as the author tells us what she’s not going to tell us.
Even as this is a book about the author’s own divorce, the effort she makes to see her own responsibility is obvious. It doesn’t feel like she’s blaming or vindictive. I felt that her description of what it is to be a wife is very apt. She was a woman who loved someone and worked and sacrificed to try to make it work. Then, she was left a single parent, working to provide for herself and her children, while learning to embrace her own power.
I loved it. I already plan to read it again.
Read It
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith is set for release on April 11, 2023.