Bookreporter.com Bets On...

What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella

October 2024

I have read so many of Sophie Kinsella’s books through the years. They have made me laugh --- and then laugh some more. She had a keen eye on twentysomething women with her character, Rebecca “Becky” Bloomwood.

So what happens when you are an author who has been through a health crisis, and you want to write a book about it? Nonfiction? No, that would be way too dull. It would be full of facts and things that you really do not remember, and honestly interviewing people would not be much fun. Instead you turn to what you know best, which is what Sophie does in her latest novel, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? In it, renowned novelist Eve Monroe is facing a devastating diagnosis, and she is learning to live and love anew. Sophie was diagnosed two years ago with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer, which at this time has no cure.

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The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

October 2024

There are times when you would love for an author to write a sequel, but that often does not happen. So when I saw that Jean Hanff Korelitz had written a sequel to THE PLOT (which also was a Bets On selection when it came out in May 2021), I was looking forward to seeing what came next. If you have not read the first book and are planning to do so, stop right here as there is a plot spoiler ahead.

Anna Williams-Bonner is the widow of Jacob Finch Bonner, who came to one swift demise in THE PLOT. Now, in THE SEQUEL, she has taken on the mantle of literary widow. With persuasion, she has written a book of her own called The Afterword, which sees its own success.

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The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave

October 2024

As she did with THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME, Laura Dave hits all the right notes with THE NIGHT WE LOST HIM. In it, family patriarch Liam Noone is found dead at the bottom of a cliff near the craftsman home on the California coast that he loved. He was a hotel magnate who developed properties that were both high-end and eco-friendly. While Liam’s death is first ruled an accident, one of his sons thinks that there was nothing accidental about it. He enlists the help of his half-sister, who very reluctantly joins him. Their investigation leads them deeper and deeper into their father’s life --- and the people closest to him. As Sam and Nora explore what happened, they have as tentative a relationship as Hannah and Bailey did in THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME.

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Bad Liar by Tami Hoag

September 2024

I cannot remember the last Tami Hoag novel that I read. It’s been a while since Tami has had a new book out; she had been dealing with some health issues. But she is back and definitely still has her sharp writing chops. I thoroughly enjoyed BAD LIAR, which is set in Louisiana, and you can feel the humidity coming off the swamp as the book opens. There’s a man’s body at the dead end of a quiet road. His face has been shot off, and his hands have been blasted off, which will make recognizing him tough. And that’s just the start of the day for sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade.

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Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

September 2024

I read all 501(!) pages of HERE ONE MOMENT by Liane Moriarty in a day. Needless to say, I loved it. I stayed up way too late reading one night and was up way too early the next morning to finish it. I think I still was working the story through as I slept!

In it, passengers are on edge when their flight from Hobart, Australia, to Sydney is delayed. But real mayhem breaks out when a woman makes her way through the plane identifying travelers with a prediction of how they will die and at what age. People are not sure what this means, but then the prediction for one of them comes true, and it goes viral. From there, readers get to track the lives of five of the passengers as they wonder what happened to others on that flight.

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Spirit Crossing by William Kent Krueger

September 2024

While I have not read all 20 titles in the Cork O’Connor series, I have thoroughly enjoyed those that I have read. William Kent Krueger has a knack for delivering a new plot while also bringing in enough backstory that a newcomer does not feel lost. Just as importantly, he does not overwrite the backstory for longtime readers.

SPIRIT CROSSING, the latest installment, takes on an issue that I have so many thoughts on --- the marginalization of Native American women, especially when it comes to kidnapping, sex trafficking and murder. Here, the daughter of a prominent Minnesota politician has gone missing, and there is an active manhunt underway to find her. At the same time, Native American women have been disappearing, but the same tactics are not undertaken to find them.

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Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman

August 2024

T.J. Newman has written three thrillers that I would not recommend you bring on a plane: FALLING, DROWNING and her latest, WORST CASE SCENARIO. In the first two books, the action happened on the plane or part of the plane (I am not giving anything away here). In her latest effort, we truly learn the worst case scenario when a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant. For those of us who think that these facilities are safer after 9/11, T.J. sends out a wake-up call that they are not. And she stresses that even if the nuclear reactor is offline, there is still a lot to worry about. Add that to things I never pondered!

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What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

August 2024

I am not sure how she does it, but all of Shari Lapena’s books are absolute page-turners. This time I tried to slow myself down to see if I could analyze her method, but once again her propulsive storytelling did not allow this.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? opens in Fairhill, Vermont, where everything is beautiful and bucolic. One morning, a local farmer finds in his field the body of a young woman that is being feasted upon by vultures. For the record, the description of the vultures was enough to get the hair on my arms standing up. Soon the victim is identified as Diana Brewer, a local high school senior, and the chatter starts up about how she got there and who wanted her killed.

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Boss Lady by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

August 2024

A few years ago, I met Alli Frank and Asha Youmans at a library event, and I immediately became a fan of their work. BOSS LADY, their fourth book, does not disappoint. Their stories are true to life but also laced with lots of humor.

Antonia "Toni" Arroyo is Black and Puerto Rican. She is working at the San Francisco Airport where she assists passengers getting to and from their gates. Among her regulars is Sylvia Eisenberg, a widow who travels between San Francisco and Arizona. Sylvia enjoys hearing all about Toni’s plans --- and is continually cheering her on. Toni appreciates the older woman’s zest for life, as well as the love she has for her family.

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The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff

August 2024

I read Amy Neff’s debut novel, THE DAYS I LOVED YOU MOST, about six months ago, and I have been waiting to share it with you. It’s a beautiful story about a 60-year marriage between two people who feel that they cannot live without each other. But it is so much more than that. It’s about falling in love, the ups and downs of a long marriage, and what more mature love feels like, as well as those early heady days.

Evelyn and Joseph grew up side by side in a beach town in Connecticut. There were tender moments at the beginning of their attraction to each other --- truly the making of young love. Then they find themselves married and sharing the ups and downs of everyday life as they raise a family.

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