I just got back from a week at the beach, and just like every year that I go on vacation, I blew threw more than a few books. In this case, four that I’d packed. I also picked up three more because we went to a used bookstore and I just can’t help myself in those places.

I’d get into a long ramble about my love of reading while on vacation and the history that, but I’ll save that for later. Instead, I’m going to give quick reviews of what I read.

Fallout by Carrie Stuart Parks. I grabbed this one from the library sale back in April because the premise looked interesting. The main character is an art teacher who has her life thrown into complete upheaval after an SUV runs into her classroom. The motivation behind it is a secret concerning a decommissioned military installation that once produced nuclear weapons and fuel rods. And somehow she’s connected through a past that she’s either been hiding from or can’t remember.

This was pretty good for about the first half, as the mystery was intriguing. But then things got too … convenient. A rehab center that’s secretive and seems to take a special interest in our character? A new friend who disappears for a good portion of the novel and you’re wondering “where did she go”? Weird connections with people she didn’t know? All of these are there and start falling into place in a way that’s more or less like a TV procedural. And when the villain is ultimately revealed, there’s a long-assed monologue where they explain everything.

Plus, while there was no indication that this is a “Christian” novel on the back cover, it is. Because at one point, the protagonist starts quoting Bible verses, especially in moments where she needs strength? Like, she’s climbing through mud after being shot at and nearly drowning and she’s quoting some verse in the same way Inigo keeps saying “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” when fighting Count Rugen. The only reason I kept reading at that point was that I was literally 3/4ths of the way through the book and the sunk cost fallacy won out.

I know that makes me look like an anti-Christian prick, but, well … that all really rubbed me the wrong way.

Donate.

Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

I have been a fan of Olivia Gatwood’s poetry for a while, especially her spoken word poetry (“Ode to the Women on Long Island” is amazing) and I own her poetry collection New American Girlfriend. This was her first novel and I grabbed it at the library sale based on seeing her name on the cover.

The premise of this one is that we have a protagonist who is a woman living in the Santa Cruz area with an old family friend. Their house is one of the older ones on the beach (and gives off a bit of a Grey Gardens vibe) and all around them, newer houses are going up. Next door, there’s brand new place that’s owned by a tech bro and his beautiful young wife. Our main character, who left Phoenix when she was a teenager for reasons that are eventually shown, becomes infatuated with the wife and voyeuristic (she literally watches them have sex more than once).

But something is off about the wife. Is she even … real?

This one was a slow burn and more of a friendship/romantic book than a thriller, and I really enjoyed it. Gatwood has a gift for description as well as making the characters feel “alive” with a “lived in” world. There’s a bit of ambiguity in the ending as we see the characters reach a “conclusion” but where they go from there is not clear. That felt very real, and as much as I want to know what happened after the last page, I still felt satisfied (and honestly, if you’re wondering what happened after the last page, that’s the sign of a good book).

Keep.

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay This was one of the books I picked up at the Festival of the Book back in March. I attended a panel on Dark Academia and Finlay was one of the authors. I bought the book and had him sign it. Very nice, down-to-earth person.

So the premise of this one is that during the titular parents weekend at Santa Clara University, five students who are part of a study cohort all go missing after the death of one of their friends. Their parents are all there and discover that they are missing and set out to find them. The point of view shifts among those five groups of parents (and sometimes their kids) as well as a sixth person, the FBI agent investigating the disappearances.

It’s a pretty taut thriller and while I wasn’t surprised by the reveals in the book, I thought Finlay did a very good job of not making them too obvious from the jump. The characters were all intriguing and I enjoyed the point of view shifts. And it’s a quick read from the jump. Really, you should check this one out.

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The Mad Wife by Meagan Church I recently bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned on Bookshop.org and having a gift card. The novel takes place in 1950s North Carolina where our protagonist is the “perfect Fifties housewife” or at least tries to maintain that. But she’s falling apart on the inside and dealing with what seems like post-partum depression after having her second baby. Then, someone moves in across the street and she becomes very curious about her because the woman seems a little off.

Without giving it away, there’s a lot more to it than that.

The novel is about the approach taken to women’s mental health back then as well as how women were treated/handled in the pre-women’s liberation U.S. The main character and her friends all operate within the idea of “putting on your face” when you go out or are public facing and making sure that everything you show is ideal (in fact, the protagonist is known for making Jell-O salads … which is accurate but yuck). And when it gets to those mental health aspects as well as secrets that are being kept, Church does a great job of creating empathy for the characters and the situation. In fact, these characters (much like Gatwood’s novel) all seem real and the world they live in seems very real.

This would make for a great movie, if I’m being honest. And out of the four, was my favorite. You really should check this one out.

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