Category: Fiction

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. 1977, May 3, six thirty in the morning, no one knows anything but this innocuous fact: Lydia is late for breakfast.” Do you feel like you committed a crime and read the big reveal? Because that’s how I felt reading those sentences, the first sentences of…

I’ve come to realize that I’m too competitive for my own good, and definitely too competitive to read mystery novels. I spend every other page trying to figure out the plot before it’s revealed and find myself distracted while reading because of it. I’m both delighted and disappointed to admit that every time I felt confident…

Creating a patchwork quilt of experiences, struggles, and triumphs, Evaristo weaves together a powerful depiction of life through the stories of twelve unique women. Told through “fusion fiction” as Evaristo describes her prose/poetry style, the reader is pulled directly into the life of each woman individually. The various storylines are capable of standing alone but are often layered with the…

“The truth is that this was a story about many different things, but most of all about idiots. Because we’re doing the best we can – we really are. We’re trying to be grown up and love each other and understand how the hell you’re supposed to insert USB leads.” The title is an apt…

I listened to Memorial because I consistently saw it featured on Twitter and Goodreads, which means I began with little context as to the plot or subject matter. For those of you actually reading a review first, Memorial tells the story of Mike and Benson’s relationship: Mike, a Japanese-American chef; Benson, a Black day-care teacher. Their perspectives provide unique insight into aspects of life that often go unheard. The reader follows…

As a kid, I requested both volumes of Sherlock Holmes before I was 11 and read all 99 Nancy Drew books before high school. I consumed mystery novels as though they were my bread and butter. At some point bread and butter became bland and I forgot about my love of suspenseful stories. While not technically a mystery…