The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

I hate it when I leave a five star rating of a book and then don't review it right away.  Sigh.

So this one I read over the summer. It was a crazy summer at my house and now that the fall is starting to settle in I finally have a chance to come back to all the books I got through (sorry not sorry for the onslaught of reviews today).  I think this was another What Should I Read Next recommendation from Anne Bogel (get on her podcast right this second if you haven't already! So much fun!).  Billed as a horror or dark fiction, I was skeptical but since Anne does not like heavy horror and recommended this one, I felt safe.  I like a dark book every now and then, I just don't want to lose sleep over a Pet coming back to life from the graveyard, thank you very much Mr. King. 

Set in two time periods, we learn the story of Viv, a young girl who left her family and found a job on the night shift at a broken down motel.  And then she disappeared, never to be heard from again.  The sister she left behind never gets over this loss, and refuses to talk about it.

Thirty five years later, Viv's niece decides to try to find out what happened to her aunt Viv.  Carly ends up going to the small NY town where Viv was last known to be, and gets a night job guess where??  At the same run down motel.  Yep.  And then the creepiness begins.  Strange happenings, strange smells, strange visions.  A proper ghost story?  Or a murder mystery shrouded in rumors?  Decide for yourself in this really well done twister where the answers will have you gasping more than once, but they won't scare you.

Just don't answer the phone.

  

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

This is DEFINITELY  one to listen to!!

When I started a part time job about a year ago, I delved into listening to podcasts (about books, a'course) and more audiobooks.  I have never really been on the page of calling listening to books "reading." I just had a hard time moving away from my beloved hardbacks.  I don't have a problem reading on my Kindle, I just like BOOKS.  And reading with my EYES.

However.

Ok, fine, now I will listen all the time because I am in the car for over an hour on the days I drive to work.  This means I can listen to a whole book in less than two weeks (well, not The Huntress but that was worth the renewal!!).  And I have learned to be that person that can toggle back and forth between an audio book and a book.  I have always been a monogamous reader mainly because I would get the storylines twisted and mixed up.  But maybe I have grown.  Huh.

So, anyway, I have said on other reviews that the audio book was "ok" and wondered if the experience would have been better for me if I had actually read the book.  I do not worry about that here, so much so that I recommended to my Beloved Bookworms Book club that has been meeting for over 15 years now that we LISTEN to this book.  And, for the first time, we actually did!

Here is why:  this story of a wedding celebration gone wrong is told from the perspective of six different narrators.  I think reading the physical book, and putting it down and picking it up again in the middle of a chapter, would have become confusing as to who was telling the story at the time.  But the audio version presents different actors who perform the different perspectives with such identifying voices and accents for this American that you know instantly who you are listening too.  Olivia, the bridesmaid, has such a small, damaged, tentative voice that you just want to pick her up and hug her.  Hannah, the Plus-One, has a brilliant Manchester accent, so different from the posh London speak of the Bride.  Johnno, as the Best Man, just comes across as pathetic, and the Groom lends his rising TV star fame a lot of swagger.  Aiofe, the wedding planner, brings in the Irish lilt and the bonus is you learn how to pronounce that name (say:  A-fah with a long A sound).  

Set on a remote Irish Island, two relatively famous people are getting married, and their nearest and dearest and most messed up-est loved ones are coming.  Everyone seems to have secrets and backstories and oh what a tangled web we weave. It is a bit of a slow build, maybe too slow. It all leads up to a tragic event.  Or is it justice delayed? Too much time spent with the ushers looking for said event's results and a little TOO tangled of a web (yeah, this is fiction, but come on!), but still a really good listen and only about 10 hours, so a relatively shorter one. A great Whodunit that just might surprise you in the end. Definitely worth a listen!

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island 

By Colleen Oakley

First of all, what a fun cover.  I am a sucker for fun, meaningful covers, and this one is a beaut.

I listened to this one, and am always curious after the fact how that experience would have been different had I actually read the page.  I would not say this is a great audiobook, but it was short and I needed something to listen to in the car.  So, I would probably say, read this one; it is not necessarily a great one for audio time (except it was short!).

But, as for the story - I enjoyed this one and how the truth unfolded.  A nice cozy mystery/romance, with a tragic loss, a curious journalist, and a community full of fun characters that will do anything to protect their own.  Even crazy stuff. 

A small island community lives simply and knows everyone.  When a young woman who grew up there and married her high school sweetheart experiences a tragic and mysterious loss, the community builds her up and keeps her afloat (ooops, sorry, too soon??) by pretending her husband is still alive.  Yes, they talk right to the empty space beside her.  When a city boy comes to report on the annual festival, he hears whispers of another, bigger story that he should be following, and the true investigation begins. 

Sounds light and airy as a shortcake, right?  Well, don't put away the pound cake yet because underneath all this icing is a deeper attempt to talk about mental health and grieving.  I think the author does a good job of balancing the two, and it all sorts itself out in the end in a most satisfying way, without the bow-wrapped happy ending you might expect, but a good ending none the less.  I like a happy ending as my book club well knows, but this one was more content, more realistic, and left a bit of hope too.  A fun read inside that fun cover!!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

I. Loved. It.

I read this one so fast I have no idea what is happening in the world right now.  I could not put it down.  What a fascinating format - I loved the titles of each section, giving a descriptive of each husband of Hollywood bombshell (part Marilyn Monroe, part Elizabeth Taylor) Evelyn Hugo.  I loved the flashbacks and the parallels in Monique's marriage and Evelyn's.  I loved Evelyn's chutzpah and stories and struggles and TRUTH.  The writing flowed and builds up to a big reveal that we don't really get to sit with for very long when another bombshell (ahem) hits - which if you don't see coming you haven't read it closely enough, sorry.

World famous Evelyn Hugo reaches out to an unknown journalist with the opportunity of a lifetime - to write her biography, no holds barred, no questions unanswered, but on Evelyn's own time and in all the harsh light of what really happened and why.  She is insistent that everything be included and that people understand she is not regretful, she had her reasons.  Monique cannot figure out why Evelyn has picked HER, but she takes the deal, knowing it will make her famous and she can finally be the writer she has always dreamed of being.  

But she will learn that fame, as Evelyn has learned, can come at a devastating price.

And so can full understanding.

There is so much in this book.  The Emerald Green dresses, the friendships, the drama, the Hollywood inside stories, the wheeling and dealing, the marriages of course, the fakeness and acting and misleading and oh, the PRESS!!!!  Loved the little snippets from the rag pages of early Hollywood, it made me think of how the press can make or break a career based on what they see, or what they want to see.  So much manipulation, both to stay famous and to stay sympathetic.  Evelyn schemes her way to fame, and schemes her way to stay there, and is unapologetic about her methods.  She'd do it all again, because everything she did, she did for those she loved.  And when Evelyn loves, she loves ALL THE WAY.

I read this over a weekend and I know I am a bit late to the party, but I loved this story.  I sort of felt like Monique could have stayed put at the end if you know what I mean, not to change anything but just to be there.  Her respect for, admiration of, and shock at Evelyn's actions lead to a strange relationship.  But, I don't think it could have ended any other way.

Evelyn wouldn't have it.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

 

I was not really taken in by the flap description of this one - a woman's husband mysteriously disappears and leaves her a note to protect his daughter. And that is all. Nothing else about what is happening.

But -

The story unfolded a whole lot differently than I expected. This book was recommended by Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy fame, and I thought ok, I'll give it a whirl. I got SO MUCH MORE out of this book than I thought! There were some parts where I thought Hannah (the wife) was way out of her depth and the things she did and risked and said on her journey to the truth about her relatively new husband seemed unrealistic.  She chases him down to find out why he ran and from whom - really.  She starts to see a past she did not know about, and wonders how to tell the daughter he asked her to protect.  From what exactly?  She doesn't know, and she feels blindsided.  However, when you realize what the story is really about, the deepest part of the story in finding who you are, who you can be, and who you really love, and what you would do and not do for those you do love - THAT is when it really got me. A fantastic ending that you may or may not see coming, and a quick read - mainly because you can't put it down. Brava, Hannah, and Brava, Laura Dave!