Tag: fiction

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Shoe Addicts Anonymous

In Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison, we meet four women who come together to swap designer shoes and become friends in the process.  Each of them has their own problems and their Tuesday night group turns out to be a safe place to share their issues and help each other overcome them.

This is a light, humorous read, a textbook example of chick lit. The characters hover on the edge of caricatures and the problems are all tidied up at the end in a way that is entertaining although not totally realistic.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Although I must have heard of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I hadn’t read it before now. The coming of age novel came out in 1999, a dozen years after I graduated from high school, which explains why it wasn’t on my radar at the time. It was brought to my attention by a book I read in December of 2024 called The Book Swap.  The two main characters in that book shared a history of loving Perks during their high school years, which intrigued me enough to put it on my TBR.

I really enjoyed this book, although I’m not sure if enjoyed is the right word when it deals with so many heavy issues.  The story is told through a series of letters that Charlie, the main character, is writing to a friend.  We don’t know the identity or location of this friend, but the use of the epistolary style is very effective in allowing us to learn from Charlie’s point of view what is happening and how he feels about it.

I was leaning towards giving this four stars, but then it made me cry.  That is very rare for me and made me realize how invested I had become in Charlie’s story, which bumped it up to five stars. Now that I have read the book, I want to watch the movie, which came out in 2012 and was written and directed by Chbosky.

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My Short Story Weekend

I was looking through my TBR last week and noticed that I had a bunch of short stories on it, most of which were already on my Kindle.  So last weekend, I decided to read them all.

The first three are part of a series called Once Upon a Bookshop by Alice Hoffman. The main characters are two sisters who have been estranged for years but come back together when one of their children reaches out for help.

  • The Bookstore Sisters
  • The Bookstore Wedding
  • The Bookstore Keepers

The rest are standalone stories.

  • The One That Got Away by Mike Gayle – fun story about a guy trying to get over his ex and how he spends the day of her wedding to another guy
  • The Sublet by Greer Hendricks – chilling story about the hidden cost of perfection
  • The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez – sweet, funny story about two neighbors who get stranded together over Valentine’s Day
  • The Tomorrow Box by Curtis Sittenfeld – part of the Currency collection of Amazon original short stories, an interesting look at two men who were friends in college and meet to catch up many years later
  • Giraffe & Flamingo by Curtis Sittenfeld – an Amazon original short story about a woman reflecting on her college experience 
  • The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin – a classic science fiction story first published in 1954. This was shared with me by a good friend.
  • Sebastian and the Troll by Fredrik Backman – a story about pain that Backman has published on his blog

It was kind of fun to read all of these stories back to back.  They reflect a range of styles and topics, but each one has something to offer. 

Do you enjoy short stories? Or do you prefer to stick to full length books?

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Ordinary Life: Stories

Ordinary Life: Stories is a collection of fourteen stories, each of which focuses on a woman at a pivotal moment in her life.  Elizabeth Berg has long been a favorite writer of mine, and this book reminded me why I like her so much.

All of the stories show us ordinary women living ordinary lives but with a glimpse of the thoughts and feelings that are usually hidden beneath the surface and sometimes percolate up to the surface.  Berg writes about relationships and the inner lives of women in a way that is so relatable and insightful. 

For example, in the first story, “Ordinary Life,” Mavis McPherson locks herself in the bathroom for a week, shutting out her husband and the realities of their life together.  She isn’t contemplating divorce; she just needs some time to think, take stock of her life, and to arrive, finally, at a surprising conclusion.

Berg’s writing is beautifully descriptive as well. This quote from the story “What Stays” evokes my memories of growing up with two brothers and the way it was often two against one but with constant changing of who was on which side:

“We kids kept one another company, raised ourselves, excused the obvious problems of our mother. We had no outside friends. That didn’t seem to matter too much, though. We made allies and enemies of one another in kaleidoscopic ways. We weren’t bored.”

These stories are so compelling that I found myself wanting to take my time with each one and not rush through just to finish the whole book.

Highly recommended!

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The Kiss Quotient

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Somehow I had read the third book in this series back in 2022, so I decided I should read the first two as well.

These books are sexy romances that feature autistic women at the center of the stories, and I really appreciate the representation of autism in fiction.  It’s important to show that autism presents differently in women than in men and to provide an understanding of the challenges we face. Hoang does a good job of this, especially as she was going through her own journey of being diagnosed with autism at the time.

As for the plot, it was pretty standard fare for a sexy romance.  The main character Stella wants to learn how to enjoy sex and decides to hire a professional to teach her, and that’s how we meet Michael, an escort with his own story to tell. From there, it’s basically a reverse Pretty Woman scenario.

In the end, my take is that it was a fun romance with some good insight into autistic women.

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What I’m Reading – April 2025

What I’m Reading Now

I am currently reading Billy Straight by Jonathan Kellerman. It was published in 1998 and was the first in his Petra Connor series which ended up only having two installments. I am really enjoying it.

What I Recently Finished

Fiction

  • The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick (Contemporary Fiction)
  • Pick Me Up by Cecelia Joyce (Romance)
  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (Fantasy)
  • Pages to Fill by Travis Baldree (Fantasy Short Story)
  • The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (Romance)
  • Ordinary Life: Stories by Elizabeth Berg (Contemporary Short Stories)
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Young Adult)
  • Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison (Chick Lit)

Nonfiction

  • Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit by Janet Kellogg Ray

What I Added to my TBR

In March, I added 27 novels and 2 short stories to my TBR.

TBR Stats/Goal Updates

  • I currently have 171 books on my TBR (yes, it keeps growing!)
  • Of those, 17 are nonfiction and 154 are fiction
  • I finished 7 more of my 25 in 2025 list, bringing that total to 13
  • I have finished 28 books so far this year, so I am well on my way to my goal of 75
  • One of my goals was to read 2 nonfiction books each month. So far this year I have read 1 per month. I’m not mad about that; I have a hard time making myself read nonfiction even when I am interested in the topic.

If you’re on Goodreads, feel free to add me as a friend. I’m always looking for new recommendations!

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The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper was Phaedra Patrick’s debut novel, published in 2016. I have read several of her more recent books and was interested to go back and read the ones I had missed. I’m glad I started with this one because it was quite enjoyable.

Arthur Pepper’s wife passed away a year ago, and he has continued living with the same mundane routines he always had. On the anniversary of her death, however, he finds a mysterious gold charm bracelet among her things and embarks on a quest to find out where each of these charms came from.

As he follows the clues he uncovers, he learns a lot about the woman his wife was before they met and is himself taken on a journey of hope, healing, and self-discovery.

I found this to be a sweet and engaging story. I sympathized with Arthur as he stepped way out of his comfort zone, and I enjoyed meeting all of the quirky characters along the way. Some of them were quite ridiculous, but Patrick somehow makes them work. I also liked how Arthur’s relationship with his children changed and grew throughout the book. 

I highly recommend this book, and this author. I still have a few books of hers to catch up on, and I am very much looking forward to them.

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Bonded in Death

Is anyone else in love with the In Death series by J.D. Robb?  No matter what else I am reading, I always jump on these books the moment my Libby hold becomes available.  I can hardly believe Bonded in Death is book #60 and they are still SO good!

I love the diverse cast of characters, the futuristic New York City setting, and the crime solving storylines.  If you haven’t read any of these books, maybe this summary will entice you to give one a try:

“His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes…”

Lieutenant Eve Dallas finds the Rossi case frustrating. She’s got an elderly victim who’d just arrived from Rome; a widow who knows nothing about why he’d left; an as-yet unidentifiable weapon; and zero results on facial recognition. But when she finds a connection to the Urban Wars of the 2020s, she thinks Summerset—fiercely loyal, if somewhat grouchy, major-domo and the man who’d rescued her husband from the Dublin streets—may know something from his stint as a medic in Europe back then.

When Summerset learns of the crime, his shock and grief are clear—because, as he eventually reveals, he himself was one of The Twelve. It’s not a part of his past he likes to revisit. But now he must—not only to assist Eve’s investigation, but because a cryptic message from the killer has boasted that others of The Twelve have also died. Summerset is one of those who remain—and the murderous mission is yet to be fully accomplished…

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Amazon First Reads – March 2025

Amazon First Reads this month included one book chosen from a small selection of different genres and a bonus short story.

My Book Pick

If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley – Fate connects two people in life-changing ways in a deeply romantic and emotional novel about hope and second chances by the author of Would You Rather and The Roommate Pact.

Bonus Short Story

The Sublet: A Short Story by Greer Hendricks – A chilling story about the hidden cost of perfection.

Both look good, and I’m excited to read them!

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The Banned Books Club

The Banned Books Club by Brenda Novak

Summary:

Despite their strained relationship, when Gia Rossi’s sister, Margot, begs her to come home to Wakefield, Iowa, to help with their ailing mother, Gia knows she has no choice. After her rebellious and at-times-tumultuous teen years, Gia left town with little reason to look back. But she knows Margot’s borne the brunt of their mother’s care and now it’s Gia’s turn to help, even if it means opening old wounds.

As expected, Gia’s homecoming is far from welcome. There’s the Banned Books Club she started after the PTA overzealously slashed the high school reading list, which is right where she left it. But there is also Mr. Hart, her former favorite teacher. The one who was fired after Gia publicly and painfully accused him of sexual misconduct. The one who prompted Gia to leave behind a very conflicted town the minute she turned eighteen. The one person she hoped never to see again.

When Margot leaves town without explanation, Gia sees the cracks in her sister’s “perfect” life for the first time and plans to offer support. But as the town, including members of the book club, takes sides between Gia and Mr. Hart, everything gets harder. Fortunately, she learns that there are people she can depend on. And by standing up for the truth, she finds love and a future in the town she thought had rejected her.

My Thoughts:

I have to admit I picked up this book primarily because of the title and didn’t read too much about it ahead of time.  I love books about books and assumed that’s what this was.  As I was reading the book, I kept waiting for more about the banned books or the book club, but those didn’t show up very much at all.

The themes of this book actually include some topics I usually avoid when picking something to read, namely sexual assault and domestic verbal abuse. I did feel that the story was building for a long time before much happened to move things along, but I liked the main character enough to want to know how things would work out for her.