book club

Highlands New Year

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Title: Highlands New Year

Author: Amy Quick Parrish

Year: 2023

Genre: romance, travel

Queer shit: one side wlw couple

Vibe Check: Snowed in at a Scottish bed and breakfast with romance and the warm and fuzzies

Pile of Opinions:

This book was a cute, romantic, snowed-in, Scottish slumber party! It was the perfect read for me during the summer as I prefer the cold weather. This is book two of three (that I know of) and I ordered book 1 and pre-ordered book 3 and am greatly looking forward to reading them as well. This book is less than 200 pages and makes for a great read-in-one-sitting story. Melissa moved to Scotland (I’m assuming in the first book) because she was told she inherited a home from a distant relative. Her best friend, Caitlin flies out to visit her and finds herself snowed in at a hotel with strangers, including one handsome man who plays guitar, sings like an angel, and makes her want to dive head first into the unknown. This book is exactly what I want in a romance that isn’t spicy. The romance was sweet and gives you the warm and fuzzies.

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Other Books by Amy Quick Parrish

The Name Drop

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Title: The Name Drop

Author: Susan Lee

Year: 2023

Genre: Coming of age, family expectations, economic class, 

Queer shit: not that I remember

Vibe Check: Wealthy Elijah and lower middle class Jessica accidentally swap lives for the summer and decide to not correct it, sweet and funny romance and exploration of breaking free from family expectations and building your own future

Pile of Opinions: A mix-up with names at the airport leads to a summer of opportunities. Elijah and Jessica decide to take advantage of the airport’s mix up and swap jobs for the summer. Elijah, set to spend the summer in New York at his fathers company, decides to go incognito and live the summer as a regular intern and leave the executive training program to Jessica. Elijah is from a 1% family in Korea and Jessica from a middle class family in Southern California, the two get to explore New York City together and realize they enjoy spending time together. This is a beautiful coming of age story about breaking free from toxic family values and learning who supports you in living the life you want and finding happiness. This book also tackles class and financial privilege, misogynistic companies too set in their old ways, as well as complex family dynamics. This book is for romance readers, YA readers, and anyone who wants to read about someone else’s family drama for a few hundred pages. This is my first read of Susan Lee’s and I’m looking forward to jumping right into Seoulmates asap. Let me know if you’ve read this one and what you think in the comments.

Professional Reader

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Legends & Lattes

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Legends & Lattes

Author: Travis Baldree

Year: 2022

Genre: Fiction, fantasy, gaslamp fantasy, romance, coffee shop

Queer shit: Yup! Lead character, also baked goods, tell me cinnamon rolls aren’t queer!

Vibe Check: Viv is done fighting beasts and ready to open a coffee shop in a new town, but first she has to build it (and teach people what coffee is)

Pile of Opinions: Viv is an orc ready to leave the violence of swords and quests behind and settle down into a new town and build a coffee shop and community. She faces obstacles and has to overcome some local trouble makers but this low stakes fantasy is as cozy as your favorite coffee shop. I recommend this to anyone who likes stories, liking fantasy or coffee is not a prerequisite. I don’t have much to say about this book other than you should read it and it immediately became one of my favorites so go read it then come tell me what you liked. The found family/community aspect of this absolutely melted my heart and the characters were all unique and delightful. There is a character that is nearly non-verbal, there is queer shit, and there is baked goods and coffee. Let me know if you’ve read it and what you thought.

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The Keeper of Stories

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Keeper of Stories

Author: Sally Page

Year: 2023

Genre: Modern fiction with some romance?

Queer shit: Nope.

Vibe Check: House cleaner in a failing marriage nurtures relationships with clients and finds real friendship among them while collecting other peoples’ stories as a mode of processing her own stories of trauma

Pile of Opinions: Ok so I am gonna start with the last 20% of this book needs content warnings for DV, child abuse, and….murder. I say this because this did not fit the first 80% of the book vibe and felt like a huge change in direction. I understand the author was likely giving depth and background to the main character but the lead up was not enough for this to make sense and then just be fine at the end of the book? The husband is gonna make you want to be a violent person. Our MC owns a cleaning business and cleans peoples houses but also has built these relationships with her clients as a part of a mutual support system. She goes through life collecting other people’s stories while preferring to stay in the background. Now I recognize this is likely her response to early trauma and losing her understanding of self and wanting to be unnoticed while putting up with her husband’s bullshit, it still felt like someone wrote the first 80% and someone else wrote the last 20% and wanted to shock everyone. Looking at this through understanding the main character’s journey and growth I really enjoyed watching her find herself and find her voice while building the life and future she wants. I loved the relationships she built with her many clients and how she was able to be companions with people who felt shame needing the help of a cleaner. This book is for you if you like to be surprised and want characters with depth that is buried deep as well as justice and unlikely friendships.

Professional Reader

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Author: Becky Chambers 

Year: 2021

Genre: Sci-Fi. Low stakes, post-industry

Queer shit: Genderqueer, pronouns

Vibe Check: Genderless tea monk sets out on a quest to hear crickets in the wild and meets a robot who becomes their companion

Pile of Opinions: What a precious little piece of a tree pulp! This book healed parts of my soul I didn’t know a book could heal. A genderless tea monk decides to search for crickets to hear their song and on the way meets a robot that lives in the wild with other robots since all the factories were shut down out of respect for the robots’ rights. This book is so wholesome and raw. The world is so broken and it’s overwhelming and this book made me want to make tea and go in search of cricket songs. This book immediately made it to my list of books I get for people as gifts regardless of what they usually read. Very excited to read A Prayer for the Crown-Shy 🙂

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The Notekeeper

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Notekeeper

Author: Hannah Treave

Year: 2023

Genre: Romance? I actually don’t know. Is grief fiction a genre? It should be

Queer shit: none that registered

Vibe Check: Hospice nurse works through her own grief while giving her patience the best death she can

Pile of Opinions: This book was an absolute HR nightmare haha Our MC is a hospice nurse from Australia who has been working in England for a couple years. She tragically lost her child and fell apart with no idea how to begin processing her grief. She abandons her marriage and goes to England to work at a hospice house. Her mission becomes to help others have the most comfortable and dignified death she can give them. She spends her spare time writing cards and notes to residents and makes time to take down unofficial final words and wishes from her patience. Sometimes people want to apologize to a family member, sometimes they need to say goodbye to someone. She delivers these letters after they pass as part of her own grief processing and to honor their wishes. The hospice house gets bought by a new owner who sends someone to evaluate the hospice house’s practices and management. This, of course, throws off the unconventional way she does things and she will have to convince him of the value of her notes. This story celebrates the beauty of people being in our life for a meaningful and sometimes short amount of time. The stories tug at your heartstrings and address many complexities of grief. The love story in this book sort of threw me and felt almost out of place honestly. Also the timing of this book was super confusing and the entire thing possibly took place over two or three weeks? I assume it was more like 6-12 months but even that is a big gap and I’m super unsure. I enjoyed the stories and books about grief always hit me hard. The MC had to rebuild her life, and her career, while finding ownership of her decisions and building a life she chooses. This book was full of found family, rebuilding after loss, and building your dream life.

Professional Reader

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Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

Author: Elise Bryant

Year: 2023

Genre: YA romance

Queer shit: Lesbian couple, maybe more that was small or in passing?

Vibe Check: a shy powerhouse of a singer finds her voice and self in a way she never expected, a D&D loving blogger finds that who he is as person is enough

Pile of Opinions: I love everything Elise Bryant has published thus far and I safely assume I will love everything she ever publishes. This story and these characters are so sweet and sincere and this book shares so many real struggles many adults and young adults alike face as they try to find their way without losing who they are. Reggie is a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast with an anonymous blog calling out the problematic areas in the D&D game and community. Delilah finds herself with the chance to sing with her friend’s band and it scares the shit out of her and she does it anyway. She finds she loves it. Reggie and Delilah bump into each other a few times by accident and then eventually on purpose as they learn who they are and the power of their voices. I really enjoyed how raw this book felt. This book spanning over a year gave space for organic growth and some real time processing. I found myself so frustrated with Reggie’s choices and realized it’s because I related so hard and felt super called out. Society (and sometimes even our own communities) so often send the message that what we like and who we are is wrong and the path to revealing our truest selves can often come with some little lies for self protection, but at a price. I love coming of age stories and I love seeing character growth. Let me know what you thought of this one in the comments.

Professional Reader

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Holiday Read

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Holiday Read

Author: Taylor Cole

Year: 2023

Genre: Romance, Surfing, 

Queer shit: one queer side couple barely mentioned

Vibe Check: Surfers in Cornwall, writers and readers, found family, extensive detail on random subjects and choppy incohesive plot 

Pile of Opinions: This one was rough… I think this book was a really great idea with poor execution. I was dragging myself through the book. There were too many stories going on that sort of came together at the end but not cohesively and it felt really forced into a tidy wrap up. I felt like there were many things well researched and understood but I could not tell you what this book was about other than surfing because there were so many stories and substories. I think this could make a great mini series show but it did not make a great book. The plot twists felt like plot holes and there were so many niche rabbit trails of information that I felt like they took away from the story instead of fueling it. The lead character fell flat for me but then would react explosively with great rooted values and character that were shown nowhere else in the book. It was unclear what she wanted in this book so in the end when it felt like she got some things, it wasn’t satisfying because it was set up so choppy. I wanted to like this book because I love found family but this felt like an unpolished draft. Also the title and cover do not reflect the book and though covers aren’t everything, they matter quite a bit to readers. I would like to petition for the cover to be of the ocean and her van as that intrigues me and feels like it reflects the book. I would also like the title to be changed to “Writing the Waves” because I think that is also intriguing and more in line with what the story is. This story is not just a romance, it has so many other pieces and is long enough and webbed enough that it really needs a title and cover that show that. This book is for you if you love surfing, if you love Cornwall and/or Hawaii, if you are looking for a little escape to another town, if you love found family, and if you read it in a single weekend so you can keep up with all the side stories. 

Professional Reader

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City of girls

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: City of Girls

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Year: 2019

Genre: Fiction, female relationships, building a life, responsibility (idk, these aren’t genres)

Queer shit: One side gay character, a threesome, lesbians, theater (IYKYK)

Vibe Check: Young woman decides to go against the plan her family had for her life and moves to her Aunt’s theater in NYC after dropping out of college in 1940

Pile of Opinions: This book as a whole piece was confusing to me as it felt like the first 250 pages were one book and the last couple hundred were a second book. I enjoyed both books but they didn’t feel cohesive. I felt like the first part felt like what I expected the book to be about and I loved it and enjoyed it. It was very coming of age, finding your purpose outside your parents’ expectations, understanding the value you already have that you can contribute to a community, fitting in without losing yourself. I loved the friendships and lessons learned and observations. I enjoyed the second part of the book, living through the war and building an independent life as an adult in NYC. I loved the friendships in this book and enjoyed seeing how they change over decades. This book was told from the perspective of the lead woman looking back on her life and telling her stories as an old woman. Seeing friendships over a lifetime and how someone can be our everything for a time and out of our life another time and that doesn’t make the relationship any less valid or important. I read this book in a few days and I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it over a longer period of time. Some shows aren’t meant to be binged in a single weekend and some books aren’t either. I really enjoyed this over all once I accepted it as more than the 250 I expected it to be and enjoyed it for the collection of stories that it was. I love a good found family and there should be more books about the beautiful chaos of a theater community.

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