My Current Reads

Books I’ve read and reviewed.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
Books, Reviews Chrissie Whitley Books, Reviews Chrissie Whitley

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

The Blue sisters — Avery, Bonnie, Nicky, and Lucky — grew up in a household where the distance their mother created, largely due to their father’s alcoholism, forged a strong but complex bond between the four sisters. As adults, they spread out into their own unique approaches to life. Now, the three remaining sisters reluctantly convene in NYC following an email from their mother stating that she plans to sell the apartment where they grew up.

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Bright Objects by Ruby Todd
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Bright Objects by Ruby Todd

Bright Objects follows Sylvia Knight, a young widow on a uniquely believable journey. Two years after her husband's unresolved hit-and-run death, Sylvia’s grief coincides with the arrival of a rare comet. Intrigued by the comet’s timing, she meets Theo St. John, its discoverer, and is drawn into the beliefs of local mystic Joseph Evans, who sees the comet as a divine message.

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Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi
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Navola by Paolo Bacigalupi

Navola is a literary fantasy set in a city-state dominated by powerful merchant families. The story follows Davico di Regulai, a young member of one such powerful family, as he navigates the political struggles of Navola, and as he prepares to take over his family's [accounting] empire. Davico faces rebellion and intrigue, with his fate apparently intertwined with both a dragon relic and his adopted sister, Celia.

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The Color of Everything by Cory Richards
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The Color of Everything by Cory Richards

The Color of Everything is a memoir of adventure, success, fame, and the struggle to overcome personal demons. Cory Richards grew up in Utah's mountains, learning outdoor skills from his father despite a troubled home life. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he found solace in photography and climbing. His successful adventure photography career was disrupted by a catastrophic avalanche, forcing him to confront past trauma and mental health.

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Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne
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Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Lenny Marks has mastered the art of forgetting. For the past twenty years, she has successfully avoided thinking about the day her mother abandoned her, though her stepfather's haunting words, "You did this," still linger. Now 37, Lenny clings to comfort and routine and order, steering clear of the messiness and chaos of happiness and relationships. But when an unexpected letter from the Adult Parole Board arrives, her carefully constructed world begins to crumble, forcing her to confront long-buried memories.

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The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray
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The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray

The third book in the Jane Austen-verse mystery series, The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, featuring amateur gumshoes Jonathan Darcy (son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam) and Juliet Tilney (daughter of Catherine and Henry), who are pulled together again to solve a string of murder attempts on one Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

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This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
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This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

In This Could Be Us, Soledad Barnes is facing a devastating betrayal that shatters the life she built with her husband. As she struggles to provide for her daughters, Soledad begins a journey of self-discovery and resilience. Alongside her rebuilding, a new romance challenges her to trust again.

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Oye by Melissa Mogollon
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Oye by Melissa Mogollon

Oye is a captivating debut novel from Melissa Mogollon. Told almost exclusively through phone calls with her sister Mari, Luciana, the youngest member of her lively Colombian American family, suddenly finds herself taking on the role of caregiver and confidante with her grandmother.

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Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon
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Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon

Love You, Mean It is a rom-com, full of playfulness and sharp humor. Ellie Greco has been managing her family's deli after the death of her father. After the residents and the Greco family learns that a gourmet food department store is looking to move into the neighborhood, concerns rise for the longevity of the family legacy.

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Real Americans by Rachel Khong
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Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Real Americans presses into the crevices between generations, thickening the connective tissues with stories of befores and afters, whys and wherefores. Over the course of the novel, spanning three generations and fifty years, Khong goes after a lot, but I never felt like we quite got there.

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Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano
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Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano

Napolitano's debut novel, Within Arm's Reach, is getting a reissuing after the incredible success of Napolitano's 2023 hit, Hello Beautiful. First published in 2004, Within Arm's Reach allows the reader to spend some time with three generations of an Irish American family. From grappling with an unplanned pregnancy to wading through the complexities of the various relationships, this debut explores the unspoken emotions and interconnectedness within the family, emphasizing an enduring, but sometimes testy, bond.

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After Annie by Anna Quindlen
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After Annie by Anna Quindlen

After Annie tells the story of three of the most important people to the titular character, Annie Brown, following her sudden death. Annie's husband Bill, their four children, and her best friend Annemarie, are left to grapple with the void left by her absence. Quindlen explores what the first year following Annie's death looks like for this trio of loved ones.

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Thorn Tree by Max Ludington
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Thorn Tree by Max Ludington

Thorn Tree is a masterful piece of gorgeously constructed literary fiction from new-to-me author, Max Ludington. Daniel Tunison, a reclusive artist now in his late sixties, lives in a quietly appointed former guest cottage in Hollywood Hills. Known for one briefly monumental and massive sculpture, Thorn Tree, that he constructed from scrap metal in the Mojave desert in the 1970s, Daniel is haunted by past tragedy and a lifetime of mistakes made along the way.

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The Day Tripper by James Goodhand
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The Day Tripper by James Goodhand

Following a brutal encounter in 1995, The Day Tripper follows Alex Dean through time as he wakes up seemingly uninjured but having lived a hard fifteen years since the fight. As Alex grapples with the unsettling reality of having lived a decade-and-a-half in a single night, he is forced to navigate the uncertainties of his past, present, and future. And every night’s sleep thereafter hurls him through time, where each day brings a new year.

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The Other Lola by Ripley Jones
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The Other Lola by Ripley Jones

Following the success of solving what happened to Clarissa Campbell, a girl who went missing in 1999, teens Cameron Muñoz and Blair Johnson are dealt the harsher negative side to true crime fame. From death threats to lawsuits, the two and their families and friends have been swimming against the current in the wake of their explosive discovery. They’ve sworn off detective work.

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The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
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The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

In The Warm Hands of Ghosts, set during WWI, Arden crafts a narrative rich with potential, introducing Laura Iven, a field nurse from Halifax, Canada, rocked by tragedy and determined to uncover the truth behind her brother's disappearance. Meanwhile, Freddie Iven awakens in a half-destroyed pillbox, forming an unlikely alliance with German soldier Hans Winter as they navigate survival amidst chaos.

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The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
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The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

The Book of Doors is a debut novel with potential, hindered by issues of characterization, plot coherence, and pacing. One can't help but wonder about the role of the editorial process in addressing these shortcomings. Despite its flaws, the book offers glimpses of creativity and imagination, perhaps suggesting promise for future works from the author.

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Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron
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Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron

In DéLana R. A. Dameron's novel, Redwood Court, Mika Tabor's tale begins with a family tree assignment — something particularly difficult to both explore and encapsulate in the same way or to the same degree as her white classmates. So the unfurling of Mika's beautifully rich tapestry of matriarchal generations begins with the idea of filling out the tree with stories, rather than simply names, branching the idea of the tree outwards instead of focusing on the typical upwards angle.

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