Review: The Book of Lost Names

I hadn't read any of Kristin Harmel's novels before diving into The Book of Lost Names, her latest and just being published this week. Which is silly since I have a copy of her last book, The Winemaker's Wife, sitting on my shelf just wondering when I'm going to get around to reading it. (I wish I knew.) But, after reading this historical novel, I think I'm going to have to make time soon to read her others. She takes a part of history and makes it come alive in a really entertaining and interesting way.

Here's the synopsis:

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

I read a lot of historical fiction and a lot of it tends to take place during or between the World Wars. In part that's because there are a lot of those kinds of books out there but it's also because it's a time period that really intrigues me. I know the broad strokes of history but there's so much I don't know and novels like Harmel's teach me a few things I hadn't heard of before. I've realized over the years that I like to use historical fiction, whether that's books or movies, as a base before I start watching documentaries or, less often, reading non-fiction titles on the same events. I guess it helps me to have a story in place instead of a bunch of facts. (Also likely why I don't remember much from history class.) That's why I appreciate the authors who dive into a time period, do the research, and create a story that is based in fact but allows me to see a bit better what things would have been like during that time. I'll never know exactly what it was like but books like The Book of Lost Names helps me understand a little bit more.

One thing I struggle with in some historical fiction is how much these heroines would have really known. I love reading about young women as they learn more about the world around them and fight for what is right, sometimes at the risk of their own lives, but I always have to wonder...how much did they know and how much is the author putting into their heads? It's never enough to fully take away from whatever story I'm reading but it's always a thought in the back of my head. It just always kind of seems like they go from naive girls to strong, capable women in an instant. Which, I guess, is possible given the circumstances. I can't know what it's like to have to deal with a war in my backyard or worrying that any beliefs I may have will get me arrested or executed. Eva is an educated young woman, she's going to school at the Sorbonne when we first meet her, but even she has a hard time putting two and two together when she's asked to help the underground resistance. Perhaps I expect too much of these heroines or, on the flip side, don't think enough of the women who lived during that time though, as I said, it's never really affected my enjoyment of the overall story. It just makes me wonder and think. (And shouldn't all books make you think at least a little bit?)

Does anyone else ever notice it's weird when you know characters are speaking another language, though you're reading it in English, and the author throws in phrases in the language they're supposed to be speaking? It happened a lot with this book as Harmel wrote the characters, who would have been speaking French to each other, saying things en français. Eva would be talking along to someone and then say, "Oui, monsieur." like she wasn't already speaking French. Again, not something that takes away from my enjoyment of the story (it's actually fun right now as I'm taking French lessons online and I test myself with the phrases before the characters/author translates them for the reader), but it can be a bit jarring and I wonder what the purpose is. Just to remind us where the story is set and what language the characters are speaking?

I read this book in two sittings. It's one of those stories that really captivated me. I cared about the characters. All of them, not just Eva and Rémy, but the people they were helping, especially the children, and all the unnamed individuals who were fighting in the resistance. I wanted them all to be safe even though I knew that would be impossible. My heart swelled with the love blossoming between Eva and Rémy and it broke when things went about as you'd expect and people were betrayed, killed, or left behind. There are a lot of emotions to be had in this novel and Harmel writes them all with skill and care. 

Read The Book of Lost Names for the story Kristin Harmel weaves. She teaches and reminds readers what atrocities occurred during World War II and shines a light on the kind of people who fought back, even while risking their own lives. 

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Faker

Confession: I read my ARC of Faker way back in October of last year, which was when Sarah Smith's debut novel was published. Life happened, one thing led to another, and here we are way too many months later and I'm finally getting around to reviewing it!

Here's the synopsis:

Debut author Sarah Smith nails this fun and sexy multicultural romance where two office foes hammer out their differences to build a love that will last...

Emmie Echavarre is a professional faker. She has to be to survive as one of the few female employees at Nuts & Bolts, a power tool company staffed predominantly by gruff, burly men. From nine to five, Monday through Friday, she's tough as nails--the complete opposite of her easy-going real self.

One thing she doesn't have to fake? Her disdain for coworker Tate Rasmussen. Tate has been hostile to her since the day they met. Emmie's friendly greetings and repeated attempts to get to know him failed to garner anything more than scowls and terse one-word answers. Too bad she can't stop staring at his Thor-like biceps...

When Emmie and Tate are forced to work together on a charity construction project, things get...heated. Emmie's beginning to see that beneath Tate's chiseled exterior lies a soft heart, but it will take more than a few kind words to erase the past and convince her that what they have is real.

I think I've mentioned it before but enemies to lovers is not my favourite trope. I just find it hard to wrap my head around it. I know hate and love are both very strong emotions but if you are spending so much time disliking someone I'm just not sure what can happen to realize that, actually, just kidding, you'd like to make out with them now. Sometimes though, as was the case with Faker, it's really been a miscommunication that's led to the dislike between characters. If Emmie and Tate had just talked to each other, maybe things would have been different at the start. Actually, that's not strictly true. Tate was acting like a knob and needed to get his shit sorted out and then should have talked more openly with Emmie. 

I liked Emmie from the get go. She was funny and clever and smart and a joy to read. I could really understand why she had to put on a tough exterior at work since she was surrounded by a bunch of men who didn't always think she could handle the job sites. (Any other women have this problem? It's not just in male dominated workplaces either, is it? Harrumph.) 

Tate, on the other hand, was harder to get a read on. I was sure there was some sort of miscommunication happening and he wasn't the asshole that he seemed to be. It was super frustrating as he acted so rudely to Emmie for absolutely no reason - she never gave him a single reason to dislike her - and he had to work hard to convince Emmie and me that he wasn't the jerk that we thought he was and actually did have genuine feelings for Emmie. He almost lost me (and Emmie) near the end-ish though with the disaster that was the high school reunion. Honesty, people. It can help, a lot.

While I was reading Faker I was having a great time. It made me laugh and swoon and I adored Emmie. But when I think back on Sarah Smith's debut novel, I'm a bit less excited about it. (And no, that's not just because I read it a million years ago.) It's fine but not groundbreaking. That said, I've just learned she has a new book coming out later this year and I'm interested to see what that one will be like. Faker was fun but I'd file this one under borrow rather than buy.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Dear Emmie Blue

Oh, Emmie. You randomly came across my reading pile and quickly found your way into my heart. The cover of Lia Louis's second novel was what originally caught my eye but then one of my favourite authors mentioned she had read, and loved, Dear Emmie Blue. I figured, what the heck. I'd request it from NetGalley and see what it was like. And oh my word, I fell head over heels for this story. It was a surprise, not that it was great, exactly, but that I was so completely, totally in love.

Here's the synopsis:

At sixteen, Emmie Blue stood in the fields of her school and released a red balloon into the sky. Attached was her name, her email address…and a secret she desperately wanted to be free of. Weeks later, on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau discovered the balloon and immediately emailed the attached addressed, sparking an intense friendship between the two teens.

Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off from her job. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

Emmie Blue is about to learn everything she thinks she knows about life (and love) is just that: what she thinks she knows. Is there such thing as meant to be? Or is it true when they say that life is what happens when you are busy making other plans?

Emmie is a huge reason why I loved this book. She's just turning 30 when we meet her (as is Lucas - they share a birthday) and feels like she should have her life more "together" than it is. That is something I most definitely can relate to. Sometimes I'm still surprised that I'm supposed to be a real adult. She also has a lot of pain in her past, especially from when she was a teen, that she's never really dealt with. Until she realizes she has to work through what happened to her, she can't quite move on and isn't aware of some of the really wonderful things, and people, in her life.

You may think that it would be frustrating for the reader when it's so clear that Emmie needs to face her past head on so she can move forward. That she's putting walls up and not fully allowing people in who the reader can see would be so good for her. I wasn't frustrated. I actually felt some of the pain right along with Emmie and was surprised at how emotional I was getting while reading the book. Louis makes the reader feel all the feels with this novel so be prepared. It's hard sometimes but it's part of what makes this book so magical.

When I first started the book, it reminded me a lot of the movie Love, Rosie which is based on Cecelia Ahern's novel Where Rainbows End. This was a rare case of not having read the book before the movie so I don't know how much was changed in the adaptation, but the similarities between this book and the movie were strong. The storylines eventually diverged and become more dissimilar as time went on but the feeling I was left with after finishing both Dear Emmie Blue and Love, Rosie was really similar and I was glad to have found another story that made my heart warm (after making it hurt). 

While the majority of the novel's plot is about family, friends, and professional issues, a good chunk of it is also about a romance. Emmie's realized she's completely hung up on Lucas, who she's known for 14 years. Like, full blown, hopelessly devoted in love with him. The reader has a clearer view than Emmie of how the romance should play out and I was thrilled when she finally caught up to what I was seeing. 

Dear Emmie Blue is full of every emotion you can imagine. Some good, some bad, but that's life and Lia Louis has written a novel that is so lovely and realistic and heartwarming that you can forgive the bad because the good is so, so wonderful. This novel gave me a major book hangover and it will stick with me for a long, long time. I highly recommend it!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Austen Playbook and Headliners

Back near the start of the pandemic (remember how naive we were?), Harlequin sent out an email with a few titles for reviewers to check out because they thought readers might be looking for some sweet Happily Ever After stories to sink into. They thought correctly and I requested two that ended up being part of the same series - Lucy Parker's London Celebrities series. 

The Austen Playbook follows Freddy, a theatre actress in London, and Griff, a theatre critic, as their lives collide. They've always been aware of each other, given their professions, but they're thrown together in the most unlikely of circumstances as Griff's family estate is playing host to a unique play that Freddy is taking part in. They're staging a play inspired by some of Jane Austen's most famous characters that will be aired on live TV. Not only that, the audience gets to vote on how the play proceeds. Sort of like a choose your own adventure but...televised live. Just a bit stressful, eh? 

The next book is Headliners and, as you may expect if you've read the preceding novel, it features Sabrina, Freddy's older sister, and Nick. The two are evening TV news presenters and they've both taken major hits to their careers. The owner of the news station decides to make them work for their careers and they're thrust together to co-host the network's struggling morning show. They hate each other...at least, that's what they think at the start. As you may imagine, those feelings start to change.

Each novel could be described as an enemies-to-lovers story (though Freddy and Griff's is more of an opposites attract but they did know each other and I wouldn't call them friends or even acquaintances...I think there was a healthy dislike there). And, I admit, this is not one of my favourite tropes. Intellectually, I just don't love the idea of people despising each other and then, wham, they want to hop into bed together. But...I'll admit that many authors know how to tell a good story and I almost always end up enjoying the ride as the characters realize their strong feelings for the other have shifted in a surprising way.

I hadn't read the first books in the London Celebrities series but I don't think you really need to. I would, however, recommend you don't jump into Headliners without first reading The Austen Playbook. A lot happens in Freddy's story that directly impacts what happens in Sabrina's and you'll get a much better sense of the sisters and their lives if you read the books together. 

I really adored Freddy and Sabrina. Their mom died when they were very young and Sabrina had to step up and become more mom than older sister to Freddy (which, of course, has it's own set of issues the pair had to deal with over the course of the novels). Their father was an actor but was injured on set and now managed Freddy's careers (again...much frustration, much drama). The women were close, which was so great, and they had their sibling squabbles like any others (made me miss my sister, that's for sure). They're both smart, funny, and had such warm and welcoming personalities that it was a delight to read their stories - and as the men in their lives realized that they had been idiots and could not live without them. 

The setting of these novels was absolutely delightful. I had a whirlwind trip to Edinburgh before the world shut down and I also spent an evening hitting the top sights in London before flying home the next day. The books are set in London and I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the sightseeing tour my sister brought me on. I also liked that part of Freddy's story took place at a countryside estate because it was just so quintessential England to me. (Maybe that's just the Canadian in me.)

I think I liked Headliners more than The Austen Playbook but both of Lucy Parker's novels were a balm to this romance lover's soul while dealing with all the pandemic has brought upon us. They were sweet and sexy, fun and dramatic, and both had the most delightful Happily Ever Afters. Check them out if you're also in need of an escape!

*Copies of these novels were provided by the publisher, Harlquin, via NetGalley, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Still Here

Usually I'm a purist when it comes to a series. Sometimes, though, needs must and I jump into a series in the middle. That's what happened with Amy Stuart's novels. I hadn't read Still Mine but I had the chance to review Still Water for Niagara Life and jumped at it (I love featuring female Canadian authors, especially with those magazine reviews). While Stuart's novels do follow the same character, you could go into the latest, Still Here, without reading the rest, but I think you should do yourself a favour and read all three together so you make the most out of this really great thriller series.

Here's the synopsis:

From the bestselling author of Still Mine and Still Water—PI Clare O’Dey is on the hunt for two missing persons. Little does she know she’s the one being hunted.

Malcolm is gone. Disappeared. And no one knows where or why.

His colleague and fellow private investigator, Clare, is certain she can find him, as she holds the key to his past. She arrives in the oceanside city where he last lived and starts digging around. Not only is Malcolm gone without a trace, so is his wife, Zoe. Everyone who knew the perfect couple sees Malcolm as the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. Everyone except Clare. She’s certain there’s more at play that has nothing to do with Malcolm, a dark connection to Zoe’s family business and the murder of her father years ago.

As Clare pulls back the layers, she discovers secrets the entire community is trying desperately to leave in the past. As for Malcolm, his past is far more complex—and far more sinister—than Clare could ever have imagined. He may not be innocent at all. As she searches for the man who helped her build her career as a private eye, Clare discovers that many women are in grave danger. And she is among them.

As I said, each book could be read alone but I think you get more out of the linked novels if you read all three. By not reading the first book, I missed out on some of Clare's early motivations as well as learning more about the husband and life she escaped from. I knew enough, though, to be surprised by the twist Stuart threw into the third story. Surprised in a good way. I didn't see it coming but it made total sense and worked well. 

Stuart keeps you guessing with her characters. Each one has had some pretty serious shit mess them up and they've all struggled in various ways with what happened to them. Those pieces of their past also make you wonder how much you can really trust each character. Is everyone who they say they are? Almost certainly everyone is hiding something. But how much? And who is going to get hurt, or even killed, in the end?

Still Here wraps up Clare's story in a way that will satisfy readers without being too tied-up-in-a-bow perfect (though it's close). Amy Stuart gave readers a character who evolved before our eyes - with a few slip ups along the way - as well as three separate thrillers that come together in a pretty epic conclusion. This is definitely a series worth reading.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Heir Affair

It's been over five years since I read Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan's novel The Royal We. I've read hundreds of books since so it's no surprise that I had forgotten many of the plot points from the first book. I did, however, remember absolutely adoring it and know it was one of my favourite books from 2015. The Heir Affair is the long-awaited sequel and one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. I'm not sure it lived up to the hype I had given it but I still really enjoyed the time I spent reading it.

Here's the synopsis:

Making it up the aisle was the easy part: After marrying the heir to the throne, Rebecca “Bex” Porter must survive her own scandals as she adjusts to life in the glamorous British royal family, in this “highly anticipated” follow-up to The Royal We, the “fun and dishy” bestseller and NYT Summer Reading List pick inspired by Will and Kate’s romance (People).

After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca “Bex” Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world’s judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.

But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they’d placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick’s brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten — nor forgiven.

I admit I was under the impression that this novel was Freddie's story. He's the "spare" (the Harry in the authors' royal family) and played a large role in Nick and Bex's lives in the first book. However. The sequel is not told from Freddie's point of view. We're still firmly in the life of Nick and Bex and she tells the story to the reader in first person POV. This wasn't a problem, of course, I like Bex. I just had to quickly adjust my thinking of how this novel was going to go.

And go it does. It clocks in at over 460 pages, just about 10 pages longer than the first book, which I recall being ginormous. It meant I spent a good chunk of a summer Friday afternoon reading the book and still wasn't close to being finished (it's a good time when you get sprung from work early, especially right now). Normally I'm all for a book being long because it means I have more time to spend with the story and the characters. But...I would like it if there weren't tangents that took away from the main story or if the extra pages had been spent tying up some loose ends I think should have been tied. (There's a potential for a third book but given the second one took five years to get to us, I don't know if we'll get a third any time soon.) While I like the large cast of supporting characters and quite enjoyed the spoof on the Great British Bake Off  (or Great British Baking Show as it's known to those in North America), I kind of think that whole part of the book took away from the rest of the story. I think it was to give a fan favourite secondary character their own time to shine but it didn't fully work for me.

The other thing that didn't quite work for me was the big revelation at the end of the novel. Obviously I am not going to tell you what that is because spoilers but it felt extremely far-fetched. Granted, it played with the idea that we really don't know what goes on in the private lives of the British Royal Family. Things are hushed up and we, the peasants general public, will never, ever hear about them. But the way the story line unfolded? I was just kind of like...wtf is even happening and how can they be agreeing to this and be ok with that? If you've read it, you know what I've talking about and I am here for a deep dive conversation if anyone else needs/wants to talk it out.

Other than those things I wasn't super fussy about, the rest of the book was as entertaining, dramatic (in both the best and most bonkers ways - the latter being a positive because I enjoy bonkers when it's done well), heart-wrenching, funny, and clever. 

There were times I was (literally) laughing out loud and times I felt as tied up in knots and anxious as the characters felt. Cocks and Morgan know how to write to get the emotions their characters are feeling off the page and directly into the readers' hearts. 

I absolutely loved that Bex turns Queen Eleanor into a Cubs fan the year they won the World Series. First, it's a hilarious coincidence, and one they reference, that of course the team breaks the curse the year a monarch decides to cheer for them. Second, I just love when baseball is featured in novels especially when it's a female character who's the fan. Third, it's just a whole lovely and hilarious section of the plot that works to elevate and strengthen a few relationships and I adored it.

I also have to point out how amusing it was to have Bex and Nick visit Canada as well as having Eleanor reading a copy of The Globe and Mail, one of our national newspapers. Oh, and the reference to our Prime Minister's hair. It's especially full of life right now given the pandemic! We don't often get to have Canada in such mainstream books so it's always nice to see a slice of my country in my reading material.

If you want a book with all of the feelings in a giant package, The Heir Affair is for you. Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan give readers a new royal story that has every emotion imaginable and a cast of characters who are full of flaws but have, for the most part, good hearts. I'm glad the authors were finally able to give us this sequel and I hope we get another novel sooner rather than later.

*An egalley was provided by the Canadian distributor, Hachette Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Every Step She Takes

I've been making up for lost time after years and years of never reading a Kelley Armstrong book - since the beginning of 2019 I've read four, including two by her alter-ego, K.L. Armstrong. The latest, just published on Tuesday, is Every Step She Takes, a thriller that kept me turning the pages until I discovered the answers I needed. I ended up finishing the book in one sitting.

Here's the synopsis:

Sometimes there's no use running from your past. . . .

Genevieve has secrets that no one knows. In Rome she can be whoever she wants to be. Her neighbours aren't nosy; her Italian is passable; the shopkeepers and restaurant owners now see her as a local, and they let her be. It's exactly what she wants.

One morning, after getting groceries, she returns to her 500-year-old Trastevere apartment. She climbs to the very top of the staircase, the stairs narrowing the higher she goes. When she gets to her door, she puts down her bags and pushes the key into the lock . . .

. . . and the door swings open.

It's unlocked. Sometimes she doesn't lock it because break-ins aren't common in Rome. But Genevieve knows she locked the door behind her this morning. She has no doubt.

She should leave, call the police. What if someone is in her apartment, waiting for her? But she doesn't.

The apartment is empty, and exactly as she left it, perfectly tidy and not a thing out of place . . . except for the small box on her kitchen table. A box that definitely wasn't there this morning. A box postmarked from the US. A box that is addressed to "Lucy Callahan."

A name that she hasn't used in ten years.

The book's description doesn't give the reader a whole lot to go on. I think that's intentional but I also think it would have been best for the reader to know going in that the main suspense isn't, actually, who sent her the package. It's what happens to that person. I think that would help the set up of the novel because I found myself just waiting for the big moment and for the suspense to truly start. Speaking of the set up...it and beginning of the novel was a tad...clunky? I guess? and didn't seem to flow as well as the rest of the story did. Maybe it's just because I was invested in the thrill and suspense by that point that I stopped worrying about word choices and how certain things were described.

Without giving anything away, I'll say that I didn't figure out the whodunnit. I had a suspicion about part of it and I was correct there but who committed the final, actual, permanent crime? Didn't even cross my mind. I did, however, guess the identity of a certain mysterious character. (And that was even with my e-galley not being formatted properly and missing a number of important instant messaging conversations.) Are you confused yet? What I'm getting at is, there were some predictable, to me, moments and others that completely surprised me. I consider that a win for a thriller.

The story itself really interested me. I was totally invested in Genevieve/Lucy, her past, and how she was going to get out of the situation she found herself in. I think it helped that we were the same age so I could kind of get into her head (both then and now) a little bit easier. I also really appreciated that Armstrong didn't use the unreliable narrator trope. That can be done well, of course, but I like when a story, especially a mystery or thriller, doesn't rely on a trope that I've been reading a lot of. 

Sure, there are some issues with Every Step She Takes. It's not what I'd call a great book but I got a lot of enjoyment out of it and didn't want to put it down, so that should tell you something about the entertainment value of it (and let's be real here, we mostly read for entertainment). I'm going to continue to check out K.L. Armstrong's books (and those she writes as Kelley, too) because she's clearly getting stronger with her thrillers and I'm curious to see what she writes next.

*An e-galley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Doubleday Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*