#years of being psychologically hunted for sport will do that to ya

[ninicaise]

damen: hows your paranoia going my love

laurent, through gritted teeth: i always respond appropriately to happenings and situations

[mermaidsirennikita]

December 2018 Book Roundup

Listen.  2018 was very busy for me, and December was the busiest time.  Between work and the holidays, I didn’t get to read as much as I wanted.  And several of the books I read weren’t very motivating.  But I did read, and below are the books I got to.

The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty.  4/5.  Ellen, a hynotherapist, is thirty-five and single (and very aware of it) when she meets widowed single father Patrick.  They hit it off, and it isn’t long before Ellen is dreaming of a life with Patrick and his son, Jack.  But there’s one snag: Patrick has a stalker--his ex-girlfriend, Saskia.  And unbeknownst to Ellen, she’s become one of the hypnotist’s patients.  This comes off as a thriller in summary, and I’d still classify it as a psychological thriller overall...  But it’s very light, and much of it is less about the creepiness of Saskia stalking Patrick and later Ellen--though that is very eerie--and more about how women view their relationships and each other.  Ellen is as obvious with the idea of Saskia as Saskia is with Ellen, and for that matter Ellen is pretty preoccupied with the idea of Colleen, Patrick’s dead wife.  The thing is that this is kind of annoying sometimes-but the dumb ways in which Ellen gets in the way of her own happiness are realistic.  And neither she nor Patrick are perfect, so it makes sense.  Then we get into Saskia’s perspective, which...  I appreciate that Moriarty neither demonized her nor excused the horrible, intrusive things that she did.  And the book does a great job of highlighting a double standard--would Ellen be so fascinated with this stalker if Patrick was a woman and Saskia, the ex, was an intimidating man?  It’s an engrossing book and also super fun.

One Day in December by Josie Silver.  2/5.  Laurie is on the bus when she sees a man waiting for his ride.  They make eye contact, and though they don’t even share a word, that’s it--she’s in love.  Fast forward a year--when Laurie discovers that the man she’s been hunting for is dating her best friend.  What follows is a decade of push and pull between Laurie and Jack, as they go in and out of relationships and always get thisclose to being together.  I thought this would be a sweet, Christmas-y read.  It was boring as fuck.  I think this would work for some people; but there really weren’t enough valid reasons for Laurie and Jack to not be together, especially after a certain point in the book.  They were just both very passive, and he in particular was kind of an ass.  Wouldn’t recommend.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks.  4/5.  Vanessa, recently divorced from her husband Richard, is acutely aware of her “replacement”.  As Richard’s wedding nears, Vanessa’s obsession heightens, leading to an inevitable confrontation.  That’s super vague--but it’s all I can say.  This is not as revolutionary thriller as it claims to be.  It’s super fun and well-done, and it explores ideas that I wasn’t expecting, especially regarding women’s mental health and female relationships.  It was definitely what I needed to read after the last book I picked up.  If you like psychological thrillers, definitely give it a try.

Becoming by Michelle Obama.  4/5.  Needless to say, Becoming is Michelle Obama’s memoirs of her life from her childhood to the present, spending extra time on her years in the White House.  It’s well done (though I’m sure that Obama, busy as she is, had help from a ghostwriter like most people in her position, I take no issue with that and the voice sounds like hers) if a bit safe.  She isn’t doing anything wild or super revealing here--but her descriptions of the toughest moments of Obama’s time in office, like the Sandy Hook shooting, were very affecting.

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean.  2/5.  Mari is yokai--an “Animal Wife” with the ability to transform into a monster.  She has been raised by her mother to do what animal wives do best: seduce a man and steal his riches.  But Mari’s target is a bit more significant than others--she is out to marry Taro, the prince of Honoku. Every generation, a competition is held to find the next empress.  Girls must survive the palace’s seasonal rooms, with the winner marrying the prince.  But yokai are not eligible; so if Mari is found out, she will be executed. This book had a promising beginning and a killer concept (even if the extent of the Animal Wives’ grand plan was a bit fuzzy) but it fizzled out fast.  Mari spends a lot of time moaning about how plain she is compared to all of her beautiful Animal Wife counterparts (the two guys in love with her don’t seem to agree) which is one of my least favorite things in YA.  Taro almost immediately falls in love with Mari, though they don’t interact enough for it to make sense.  And the ending is bizarre--it almost reads as if Emiko Jean thought she’d get a sequel and then had it cut short.

Kulti by Mariana Zapata.  4/5.  Sal Casillas is a professional soccer player--and she was inspired to pursue the sport as a young girl by future superstar Reiner Kulti.  As an adult, Sal is disenchanted with her one-time idol; too bad that he’s decided to spend his retirement an the assistant coach to her team.  Kulti is undeniably talented, but he’s also an asshole.  So what happened to the once-passionate player Sal used to worship?  Zapata is not a great writer.  That sounds condescending, but it’s true.  She misses things like the first person narrating commenting on details they shouldn’t have noticed.  She uses weird descriptors for her characters.  Some of the dialogue is cringe-y, and her leads always have this weird habit of sounding like they aren’t in their mid-twenties (very egregious in this book).  However--the romance got me here.  Kulti and Sal have great chemistry, and Zapata definitely got the insanity of football/soccer fandom right.  She’s 2/3 for me; I loved “From Lukov with Love” (a figure skating romance) and this was really good if not quite on the same level, but wasn’t impressed with “The Wall of Winnipeg and Me” (and American football romance).  When done right, her books are just kind of irresistible and super readable.