Fifty Words For Rain by Asha Lemmie

Fifty Words For Rain

It’s not often I find a novel  that actually takes my  breath  away. FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN did just that. And then some.

The novel is set in Japan and begins in 1948 in Kyoto.  Nori is eight years old when her mother drops her off in front of an estate, then takes off down the street at breakneck speed.  Nori is left standing in front of a gate with a letter in her hand. The letter is supposed to introduce her to her grandparents. She’s officially been abandoned. And so this remarkable debut novel begins.

Nori is a half black child born illegitimately to a mother who was Japanese royalty.  Nori’s mother left her husband and young son to be with her American born black GI father. They never married. And now Nori is in the clutches of her evil grandmother who is determined to keep her hidden away in the attic and away from public eyes. Nori is subjected to excruciatingly painful bleach baths in hopes of lightening her dark skin. She’s routinely beaten by a grandmother who is only interested in saving “face.” Saving her royal family name from disgrace. It is utterly unnerving to read.

When Akira, Nori’s half brother, comes to live with the family, Nori finds a kindred soul and finally begins to come alive. Akira is going to be the heir to all the family owns. He is so beautifully talented and his skills with the violin are becoming legendary.  Nori begins to learn about music . And grandmother becomes incensed to watch this closeness. It must end.

I knew next to nothing of this remarkable story when I began this novel. I’m so glad that is how I read it. I feel it will take away too much to go into any detail about the story. So my review will be short.

The gorgeousness of the story and the beauty of the prose only enhance the experience. You will find yourself turning the pages at the speed of light only to slow yourself to prolong the story.

Nori will live in my mind forever. What she endures is beyond the limits of reality.  Living with the knowledge that everything bad that happens to you and your loved ones is your fault was her fate.

I love novels that truly move me. FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN by Asha Lemmie

Asha Lemmie

is one of those novels. You simply must add it to your must-read list. Right now.

FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN is now available in a trade paperback version. Perfect for your upcoming summertime reading enjoyment.

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany

Okay, right away the cover gets an A plus from me. Brings back memories of trips to Tuscany and beyond. But, is the story as good as the cover? You betcha!! In fact, it’s better.

This from Goodreads: A trio of second-born daughters set out to break the family curse that says they’ll never find love on a whirlwind journey through the lush Italian countryside by New York Times bestseller Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List.

Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than two hundred years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter has found lasting love. Some, like second-born Emilia, the happily-single baker at her grandfather’s Brooklyn deli, claim it’s an odd coincidence. Others, like her sexy, desperate-for-love cousin Lucy, insist it’s a true hex. But both are bewildered when their great-aunt calls with an astounding proposition: If they accompany her to her homeland of Italy, Aunt Poppy vows she’ll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her eightieth birthday, and break the Fontana Second-Daughter Curse once and for all.

I decided to copy the review listed on Goodreads because it sums up the novel without giving away too much. This novel begins rather softly: light reading. It then moves to a place I could not resist. Lori Nelson Spielman is a delightful author. She created a world filled with characters I kept rooting on. And the Italian vistas, Venetian canals, Amalfi coastline, and hills of Tuscany come blazingly to life beneath her pen. 

This beautiful story became so compelling that I put aside everything until I was finished. I did not want it to end but I was DYING to know the climax. I know you will be too. 

THE STAR-CROSSED SISTERS OF TUSCANY by Lori Nelson Spielman was due to come out in the spring. Alas, we know what came along. I think the publisher made a brilliant decision to postpone the pub date. This book is going to be on every single reader’s list! I know several people who have already pre-ordered it. I was one of the very lucky people who received an early copy. I am grateful to the publishing people at Berkley. This is a real winner!! Knocked it right out of the book park!! Loved, loved, loved it. 

THE STAR-CROSSED SISTERS OF TUSCANY will be available for purchase tomorrow. Copperfish Books will have copies in stock. I can’t wait to hand sell it. We are really fortunate that it will be in trade paperback making it the perfect choice for book clubs everywhere!

Fifty Words For Rain by Asha Lemmie

Fifty Words For Rain

It’s not often I find a novel  that actually takes my  breath  away. FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN did just that. And then some.

The novel is set in Japan and begins in 1948 in Kyoto.  Nori is eight years old when her mother drops her off in front of an estate, then takes off down the street at breakneck speed.  Nori is left standing in front of a gate with a letter in her hand. The letter is supposed to introduce her to her grandparents. She’s officially been abandoned. And so this remarkable debut novel begins.

Nori is a half black child born illegitimately to a mother who was Japanese royalty.  Nori’s mother left her husband and young son to be with her American born black GI father. They never married. And now Nori is in the clutches of her evil grandmother who is determined to keep her hidden away in the attic and away from public eyes. Nori is subjected to excruciatingly painful bleach baths in hopes of lightening her dark skin. She’s routinely beaten by a grandmother who is only interested in saving “face.” Saving her royal family name from disgrace. It is utterly unnerving to read.

When Akira, Nori’s half brother, comes to live with the family, Nori finds a kindred soul and finally begins to come alive. Akira is going to be the heir to all the family owns. He is so beautifully talented and his skills with the violin are becoming legendary.  Nori begins to learn about music . And grandmother becomes incensed to watch this closeness. It must end.

I knew next to nothing of this remarkable story when I began this novel. I’m so glad that is how I read it. I feel it will take away too much to go into any detail about the story. So my review will be short.

The gorgeousness of the story and the beauty of the prose only enhance the experience. You will find yourself turning the pages at the speed of light only to slow yourself to prolong the story.

Nori will live in my mind forever. What she endures is beyond the limits of reality.  Living with the knowledge that everything bad that happens to you and your loved ones is your fault was her fate.

I love novels that truly move me. FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN by Asha Lemmie

Asha Lemmie

is one of those novels. You simply must add it to your must-read list. Right now.

I’m going to suggest to Copperfish that they need to copies, but, as yet, it is not on their shelves. Soon, though.

I borrowed my copy of FIFTY WORDS FOR RAIN from the .  I loved it!

Monogamy by Sue Miller

Monogamy

A new novel from Sue Miller is always a cause for celebration!

MONOGAMY is a sophisticated story of marriage and grief and betrayal and beyond. It’s haunting and  might even make you feel a tad uncomfortable.

Annie meets Graham  one spring evening at his  bookshop  in Cambridge, Massachusetts  when she wanders in to attend an event with another man, someone she sometimes has sex with.  There is an immediate attraction that quickly becomes more.

Graham is a larger than life man who fills every room he enters with his vibrant personality.  He attracts friends like the pied piper and he and Annie often have exuberant  parties after bookstore  events. Everyone loves Graham.  Annie is a quieter soul. She’s a photographer and so her private life is more subdued. They do say opposites attract….

Both Annie and Graham have previously been married. Graham to a woman who, even though she is his ex, is still a good friend and they share a son. Annie’s first marriage was brief with no children.  Graham and Annie have a daughter who lives in San Francisco .  Each character is grappling with an inner dilemma.

Kirkus Review says: A thoughtful and realistic portrait of those golden people who seem to have such enviable lives.  You know who they are talking about. We all do. The grass looks greener on the other side.  From afar Annie and Graham do seem to have an idealistic life together.  But we get to visit the innards and stir it around and see what’s really there. 

Marriage is complicated. Death even more so.  And, when, in the midst of grief an infidelity is discovered posthumously, you can expect to feel undisguised and unmitigated rage and the feeling of never-ending disaster.

Miller takes us behind the scenes in this thirty -year marriage and shows us who these two people really are. So we know what makes them .  They are both really just human beings. I have to say this: if only Graham could have kept “it” in his pants . He was never true to anyone, ever. Even though Annie was the love of his life, this “other” got in the way.  And so Annie has to deal with this betrayal after the fact and figure out if she ever really knew her husband. We, the reader, are shown his feelings. So we know. But Annie, the betrayed, does not know. It’s devastating. Was painful to read. But beautifully told.

Sue Miller writes with such deep empathy and  sharp insight.  MONOGAMY is sure to be on the top of every book club list this season and far into the future.

You can purchase your autographed copy of MONOGAMY at Copperfish Books where it will be discounted 20%.

Copperfish Books

I have Harper Collins to thank for sending my review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. MONOGAMY  is honestly one of the finest novels I’ve read this year. I can easily see it climb the NYT bestseller’s list quickly. Very impressive.

 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Hamnet

Maggie O’Farrell has magnificently  tackled a little-known story. William Shakespeare’s eleven-year-old son Hamnet died of the plague in 1596 in Stratford, England.  He was survived by his mother, twin sister Judith, older sister, and his father, as well as various other members of his family. But nothing was ever spoken of this. Was kept  silent.  Until now, when O’Farrell brings forth with this marvelous new novel that shows the depth of grief and the strength of the human spirit.

The story begins with Hamnet finding his twin sister Judith has suddenly become very ill. He goes for help but his entire family seem to have vanished just when he needs them most. Judith lies on a pallet in an upstairs bedroom falling deeper into the throes of the bubonic plague. But they don’t know this at the time.

O’Farrell manages to introduce us to Hamnet’s mother Agnes ( pronounced Ann-yis ) as she tends to her bees in a field a mile away not knowing her child is desperately ill and needing her attention. She’s well-known as a healer and can even see into a person’s  future ……all the while you, the reader, find yourself tensing up and wishing to God she would hurry even as you know the outcome.

Although William Shakespeare is never named as such in this story, we know it is he who is Hamnet’s father.  And why the name Hamnet? It’s a variation of Hamlet. We are shown the life of the most famous play-right who was first a Latin tutor who married a free spirit and mostly lived in London.

Judith and Hamnet loved playing tricks on their family by swapping identities. This is a pretty common way for twins to have fun with people who think they know them so very well.  So when Judith is lying dying, Hamnet decides to trick the Gods by pretending to be his twin. It’s tragic. It’s heartbreaking.

As Agnes prepares her son’s body for burial any mother can not help but be brought to her knees with grief. And the thoughts that are careening through her head are brought to the page in a way that is so real it hurts. The grief, the guilt, the death.

I try to avoid books that deal with the death of a child. Too painful. And there are those of you who will avoid this book for that reason. But this story is one to wrap yourself up in. It’s important.  I believe this book is one of those that is bound for glory. It’s an OMG book.

About halfway through the book several pages are dedicated to the events that carry the pestilence to England and to the home of Judith and Hamnet.  These colorful pages, a dozen or so, will change the way you think about how disease is passed from person to person and from animal to animal.  Here we are going through a global pandemic of monumental proportions and I’m actually reading about the bubonic plague that took place four hundred years ago. Utterly up front and way too personal. I have read and reread these passages over and over. Amazing.

This is a book that will be widely read and should be on every bookclub list for discussion in the coming months.  I can almost smell a nod for Pulitzer or Man Booker or both.  Be sure to put it on your list.

You can purchase a copy of HAMNET from Copperfish Books. They are on the shelves right now and discounted 20%.  Just a heads’ up. Elaine Newton has read HAMNET and loved it!

Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell is an Irish born writer who has many a great novel under her , however, this is her best!

The Secret French Recipes Of Sophie Valroux

The Secret Recipes of Sophie Valroux

Six years ago I fell in love with Samantha Vérant when I read her memoir, SEVEN LETTERS FROM PARIS. Now, she’s married to her sexy rocket scientist and living in France  and cooking.  THE SECRET RECIPES OF SOPHIE VALROUX is Vérant’s fiction debut.

What a great cover! Covers can speak volumes when it comes to enticing readers to open a book. This one calls to me. I think it will also call to you. So, who is Sophie Valroux? She’s a young French chef working in a high-powered NYC  restaurant when she is blindsided  and ruined by false accusations from another chef . She’s devastated.  But off she goes to France when she hears her grandmother has suffered a stroke. She arrives in the village of Champvert where she spent her childhood in the southwest region of France to discover the place has changed: grown into quite an establishment with several starred restaurants.  Her grandmother needs her help and she reluctantly dives in. There’s nothing like hopping right back on the bike. Or in this case hopping into the kitchen.

Toss in Sophie’s old lover who shows up only to keep her at bay.  He’s a real hottie and we can feel the sexual tension begin to rise.  But we don’t know what caused their riff. Once they were so very close.

What a great novel to kick back and relax with at the end of the summer. You’ll enjoy the sweet story and the sense of place is stunning. After all, the author lives there….

Samantha Vérant

Just a warning; you are going to love all the recipes in the book.  And if you haven’t already read Samantha’s memoir, well, you will have to read it. It’s one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read.

I read THE SECRET RECIPES OF SOPHIE  VALROUX digitally through Edelweiss. And I thank them profusely. What a treat.  The book is available now and is published in a trade paperback edition which is a great price value.  We have copies at Copperfish Books, but they are limited so hurry.  You need to add this sweet novel to your TBR pile.

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen

Squeeze Me

Carl Hiaasen is back with a new adult novel that is oh-so-timely and sure to be a huge hit. Hiaasen’s decided to take on the upscale Palm Beach community in South Florida.   It’s LOL funny right from the get-go.

When I saw the title I thought maybe it would be about oranges. After all, oranges are big here in Florida. When I realized the squeezing part of the title actually alluded to the outrageous number of invading pythons mostly in the Everglades, well, gulp, that sure did put a different light on things.

Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons might have been one of the wealthiest dowagers in Palm  Beach , Florida, but she was the most  unlucky woman period on the night she disappeared on the grounds of a swanky country club during a serious fund-raising gala.  She’d taken her martini outside for a break.  And that was that. No more Kiki Pew.  Gone. Disappeared.

Kiki Pew Fitzsimmons was a huge Trump supporter and the founder of the POTUSSIES, a group of women staunchly in support of their leader. They all had deep pockets  and  no problem supporting his cause. They were often seen enjoying events at Trump’s mansion nearby. So when our fearless leader was informed that Kiki Pew had disappeared he immediately did what he does best: blamed it on the immigrant hordes.  Of course, this is not what actually happened. But you can see where this might be going.

While everyone on the grounds of the club are searching wildly for a body, a huge python  is spotted on the limb of a tree near the pond .  Call for back up. And that is how Angie Anderson entered this story. Angie is a wildlife relocation specialist and they had to get this offensive snake   off these grounds before important people saw it. Angie overheard them all chattering about a missing person. Then she looked spotted the snake lounging on a limb of a tree where she sees the unmistakeable lump inside the body . And that is how we discover where Kiki ended up. But this is just the beginning.

Everything weird seems to find its way to Florida. We do have an influx of dangerous huge Burmese pythons living in and around the Everglades these days. In fact, each year there are times hunters are sent to capture them. They are taking over the  Everglades  and eating all the birds and small wildlife and everything else. This is true.  So for Hiaasen to stick pythons into this story is brilliant. A bit creepy but, brilliant.

Everyone knows our president has a home in Palm Beach . And he does visit as often as he can. Sometimes the first lady comes along. In SQUEEZE ME Hiaasen takes us over the top and uses his wild kind of humor to bring us a novel to squeeze us a bit out of our comfort zones. And he sure had me out of mine.

This fabulous satire brings back one of Hiaasen’s most beloved characters: Skink, the former governor of Florida who’s been living in The Everglades as a hermit for years. He’s definitely my favorite. I was filled with joy when he reappeared.  And I was not disappointed.

Carl Hiaasen

Thank you Carl Hiaasen for giving us so much rich entertainment in these challenging times.  And please keep bringing back Skink.

I read SQUEEZE ME on my ipad available early through Edelweiss.

Copperfish Books

Copperfish  Books will be offering SQUEEZE ME discounted at 20% beginning tomorrow when it becomes available to the public.

The Girl With The Louding Voice by

The Girl With The Louding Voice

I’ve been looking at this book for several months. I was intrigued when Jenna chose it for a Today bookclub pick. But I just wasn’t ready for it, yet. I’ve been reading  some lighter books because I  haven’t been able to concentrate on heavy issues. But that time has come and gone and I devoured THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE in two days.

We’ve all been horrified at the news clips showing  an officer as he held his knee on George Floyd’s throat for almost nine minutes, killing him in front of millions of shocked viewers. We watched as other officers allowed this tragedy to happen.  This has sparked interest in black authors and issues. There are a lot of great black authors. I chose to read THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING  VOICE at this time for a couple of reasons. I don’t make a point of  choosing books because an author is black or white, male or female, or of a specific sexual orientation. I usually choose my next read because the content is intriguing to me. Or, I am familiar with the author . I chose this book at this time because the protagonist is one of the strongest women I’ve come across in modern day.  Period. And this story is begging for telling…..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIQOPneQDco

Fourteen-year-old Adunni lives in a small town several hours from Lagos, Nigeria.  Her mother has died and she’s left with her two brothers and her father who has not been able to get out of his own tracks since his wife passed.  Adunni is to marry  a wealthy man who already has two wives, however, they’ve not been able to provide him with a son. The money he offers Adunni’s father will pay all the bills and then some. So off she goes even though it is illegal for her to marry because she is under age. And she is devastated.

All Adunni has ever wished for is a proper education. She’s had some schooling and her mother made it quite clear that education is everything.  Now being third wife is the only life she has. Until she runs away and is sold into domestic slavery in Lagos.

At first, I had a hard time reading what is the voice of Adunni. The story is told in first person and so we are privy to Adunni’s thoughts and fears from the beginning which gives so much  power to this amazing story.  I had not thought to read this book in one big gulp, but, quite simply, I devoured it.

Adunni is taken to Lagos to work as a housemaid to a woman who is richer than Midas. Big Madame is larger than life in many ways. Her figure is daunting from the moment we meet her and her chest is explained as being  “wide like chalk board.”  But  her inherent meanness is not yet apparent. Yet, we can sense it…. Adunni has been sold into servitude to Big Madam and even though this is illegal it is rampant in Nigeria.  And then we meet Big Daddy and we know what is coming.

Working from before sun- up to sometimes midnight is Adunni’s fate at Big Madam’s. Her meager wages are being paid to the “agent” who sold her to Big Madam. He promises to bring her the money in three month’s time. Really?  Still, Adunni keeps her eye on the prize: education, education, education.  And then, Kofi, Big Madam’s cook, shows Adunni a newspaper article offering a chance to win an actual education. And this story becomes a blaze.

When a neighbor, Ms. Tia, befriends Adunni, we begin to see a light in this tunnel.  These two women need each other.  I really enjoyed seeing their relationship blossom and become victorious.

There is so much “meat” packed into this amazing story. The characters are deep and strong. Adunni’s voice begins thin and then explodes into The Louding Voice it was destined to become.

Halfway through the book Daré begins the chapters with a Nigerian fact.  For instance; Fact: Zamfara state in northern Nigeria was the first to make polygamy legal, in 2000.  And so this explains how these men have many wives. Boom. 

Abi Daré

Abi Daré grew up in a housing estate in Lagos, Nigeria, where nearly every family had a housemaid.  After she married and had daughters of her own she decided it was time to write about this by using the character of Adunni as the medium. I’m so glad she did.  She now lives in U.K. I’m grateful for this story. It’s simply devastating and so very important.

THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE was published  in February by Dutton which is an imprint of Penguin Random  House Publishing. This is one of the most important novels I’ve read to date.

Always The Last To Know by Kristan Higgins

Always The Last To Know

Kristan Higgins writes contemporary romance novels. I used to think they would be all fluff.  And I used to be so wrong.  I have enjoyed each of her novels and ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW is no exception.

Barb and John have been married for fifty years. They’ve been plodding along and after this many years you aren’t surprised to find they have become pretty bored with their lives.  It’s become a mundane life. But that all changes when John has a stroke. Put the brakes on. Stop the presses. Everything changes on a dime.

Barb and John have two successful adult daughters. One leaves her career to return home to help with her dad. The other begins experiencing panic attacks as she looks at her seemingly perfect life.

You are about to find out what’s really been going on inside the Frost family. Both heartbreaking and hilarious, ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW is smartly written with characters you just can’t help but root for.

Kristan Higgins is the NYT bestselling of 19 novels. She just keeps getting better and better.

Kristan Higgins

My digital review copy was provided by Berkley Publishing House, a division of  Penguin Randomhouse in exchange for an honest review. It’s a real keeper.

Copperfish will have paperback copies sometime next week.  Pub date is June 9.

The Second Home by Christina Clancy

Christina Clancy

Look at this cover. It screams “beach.” I’ve been waiting months for this novel to be available to you readers. I read it way back then in the middle of the winter when covid-19 was not even a thought yet.

We may not all be able to go to the beach this summer so we really need reading material that will take  us there… Literally. THE SECOND HOME already does that by just looking at the cover.

Just when you find yourself looking for the next great summer read along comes THE SECOND HOME and you’ve got your book. But what have you got? Is it a light summer read? Well, yeah, but it’s not light and fluffy like you might expect. Filled with beach aroma, beach activities, beach food, and lots of crazy summertime stuff, but this writer brings so much more to the feast. She’s got a page-turning adventure that is unlike any other. Perfect for this summer.

I grew up on the Eastern shore. All winter long I dreamt of going back to the beach, the place I loved more than any other. My happiest times growing up were spent at the beach. So I know what it’s like to look forward to going to the beach.

Ann and Poppy have always thrived during summers spent at their beat up cottage on the back bay in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Their parents would load up the car and head on out for the coast from their home in Milwaukee.  Their home was nothing expansive and not on the ocean. It was on the back bay and practically falling apart. Still, it had been in their family for generations and they loved it.  Then, they decided to adopt a teenage boy named Michael. And he came to the beach with them that fateful summer fifteen years ago. And nothing was ever the same.

• Second homes.
• Second families.
• Second chances. 

The story opens telling us that the parents have been killed in a tragic car accident. Ann is returning to the cottage to make arrangements to sell it. She thinks she wants no part of it anymore. After all, it’s where the secrets lie.  Now Ann and Poppy have to make some decisions.  All is going as planned until Michael resurfaces and lays claim to his share of the house and he does not want to sell it.

What actually happened that summer all those years ago hangs over your head throughout the novel. And it would keep you blowing through the pages on its own. But the writing and the characters are so compelling. Not to even mention the biggest character of all: the saltbox house.  Clancy beautifully evokes feelings of Cape Cod and the shore to the pages. The coolness of the sand filtering through your toes, the tangy aroma of the beach, and the laid back adventurous atmosphere that spells BEACH in capital letters.  It’s all here plus the drama of not knowing what caused the treacherous rift between the family members.

Christina Clancy

This might be Christina Clancy’s debut novel but, it’s not going to be her last. I know I’m already sitting on the edge of my reading seat waiting for her sophomore effort!

This novel is on the summer reading list for the Critic’s Choice Artis-Naples. You know you need it. We will have copies of THE SECOND HOME at Copperfish Books.  They will arrive this week. They will be discounted 20%.

My review copy was provided by St. Martin’s Publishing Group.  I can’t thank them enough. THE SECOND HOME is going to be one of the BIG summer reads this year! I loved this book.