Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Another well-done and character-driven mystery. The wealthy parents of three siblings is found murdered and as the book unfolds, we get the backstory and perspective of each kid and their caretaker to see if we can figure out who did it. Even though none of the characters are likable, with the exception of the father, none of them felt comically evil to me and I could totally see any of them doing it. I enjoyed the time I spent with this one.

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Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fantastic literary mystery that is about a small-town where a black woman goes missing and a bunch of money is embezzled at the local plant. Boady, a fifteen year old boy living with his single mom, starts befriending the son of the new black family that moves into the neighborhood. The book tackles issues around being in a small town, racism, and what it means to grow up in a town like that. The mystery is there but this book is so much more than that. Fantastic read.

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For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

well this was a wild ride. None of the characters in this book were likable in my opinion. So many of them were self-centered and narcissistic and trying to get revenge from each other or stab each other in the back. And yet it was an accident you couldn’t look away from. I could not put it down and yet when I finished it I was annoyed at myself for spending my whole day reading it.

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Fresh Paint: Discover Your Unique Creative Style Through 100 Small Mixed-Media Paintings by Flora Bowley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fresh Paint is a wonderfully inspiring book by Flora Bowley & Lynzee Lynx based on a workshop the two have created online. The book is a journey to discovering your own style through creating 100 small art pieces. As you embark on the journey they give you different perspectives and ways of approaching the journey.

There’s a short section on supplies but unlike many other books, the encouragement is to use your own stash and even experiment with unusual ways to make marks like vegetables, etc. There’s a lot of encouragement in this book to spend time exploring your world, your roots, your own natural way of being and adding joy to the process of creating. They take both an outside in and an inside out perspective to discovery and research.

The two authors have differing styles and so do many of the students whose work they share in each chapter to give you a wide range of examples and possibilities. I am confident that if you worked with this book’s kind, generous and joyful guidance and spent time creating the 100 pieces of art that you would be well on your way to finding your own unique creative style.

with gratitude to edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Listening Still by Anne Griffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved and adored Anne Griffin’s previous novel: When All Is Said. It was absolutely magnificent. So I couldn’t wait to read this one. This is the story of Jeanie Masterson who, with her family, runs an undertaking business. But they are no ordinary undertakers. Jeanie and her dad can hear the dead. They can speak to the dead briefly after they pass. And they’ve been doing so forever.

Jeanie’s life looks lovely on the surface: she is married to a kind man and they both work for the family business and live with her parents and brother. But as the story unravels, the reader gets to see the choices she made along the way and the ways in which everyone in the story feels trapped in their own life in small and big ways.

This is a story about how we give up pieces of our lives and dreams when we feel like we have obligations to the world or to our family. Or when we’re too scared to take big, bold steps in our lives. And how living with regret can be so much harder, so much more damaging and harmful.

It’s about owning up to the choices we made and taking ownership of the life we choose to design for ourselves. It’s a quiet story that can feel whiny or slow at parts but I think that’s also reflective of how hard and arduous the path back to oneself can be at times.

with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a slow burn for me, it took me a while to get used to each of the characters and by the end I cared deeply about each of them. Each of them is flawed and imperfect and yet they show up in the best way they can and slowly find their way through the hurdles. It’s really lovely.

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