No. 22: A trilogy
Hell’s Library series / A.J. Hackwith

I don’t read a lot of trilogies. In all honesty I have a hard time thinking of another set of three books I read. So, yay for the reading challenge expending my reading experience!
The trilogy I ended up with was by total accident: I got the first book purely based on the title and cover art and only found out it was the first of three books when I looked up more information online. So, I happily made sure to get my hands on parts two and three as well, and here we are.

Book 1: The Library of the Unwritten (2019)
Fantasy is not a genre I would pick under normal circumstances, because the world-building can be, dare I say it, tedious with too much detail. It’s a fine line between too much and not enough, and I guess the closer to the “known” the world setting is, the easier it is for the reader to be left to figure stuff out. For me that was the case with this book, as it is worldly unworldly.
The Library of the Unwritten, is part of Hell’s library, and is exactly what it sounds like: a library full of books that were started, but never finished. There are muses with pieces of text tattooed on their bodies, who live with damsels that fell out of their books and for whatever reason, couldn’t get back in.
The library users are demons and the like, allowed to use the materials inside the library but not take any of it out. There is a librarian in charge, doomed to keep the characters where they should be. Then one day Hero falls out of a book. Hero is classically handsome, and has one goal: to rescue his heroine, his author. He manages to escape the library and travel to earth, and when librarian Claire discovers this, she has to chase him through time and place to get him back into his book. That’s easier said than done, because she knows that when she leaves the library unguarded, well, all hell is about to break loose. And leaving the library is complicated enough, but getting back even more so, because the devil sends guards after them, and that’s not to get them back, but to eliminate them. Nobody is allowed to leave the library.
Claire doesn’t have to chase Hero on her own, because Brevity travels with her. Brevity is a muse, and library assistant. She has green hair and purple skin with text tattooed on it.
On their way they face challenges, engage in literature duels (awesome: participants hit each other with quotes), and need to track down a potion. They get stuck in a maze and have their souls weighted. And because the people they meet along the way all seem to have a hidden agenda, figuring out who’s friend or foe is difficult. All along they know that the situation in the Library is getting bad, and the urgency of finding their way back grows with every moment spent outside it.
I loved the settings (the gargoyle guarding the library, inter world loan system), and the characters were interesting enough to want to read more.

If you want to read this series, you might not want to continue this entry because what follows contains spoilers that might ruin your appetite and I’d hate to be responsible.

Book 2: The Archive of the Forgotten (2020)
This book opens where the first ended: the heroes have returned to the Library of the Unwritten and the dust of the big end fight is still settling. Claire is no longer the librarian, but has moved on to be the Arcanist, the keeper of the keeps of the Archive of the Forgotten. Fallen angel Rami has become her assistant. Muse Brevity is now the librarian of the Library of the Unwritten, with Hero as her assistant librarian.
When a mysterious inkwell appears on the library floor, they all go to check it out, and after reaching in, Claire’s hand turns completely ink black.
The gang needs to figure out how to help her, what effects the ink have on a human, and how to avoid the ink to spread. This sets off a chase across the realms once more for Hero and Rami. Claire stays at the Archives to establish what kind of ink it is. For this, she needs help from the damsels that live in the library but the relationship between Claire and Brevity is strained, making things move along slowly. It doesn’t help that Claire is distrusting of Brevity’s muse friend Probity.
Although everybody takes a different path, they all end up at the same place: the Dust Wing. This graveyard of books is where the finale takes place and we learn that it’s not about books, stories or writers, but souls. And that muses want to be their own person, and not just be connected to an artist.
We also learn that heroes should ask for permission to kiss someone because otherwise they’re no better than villains after all.
(Applause for that line.)

The story was easy to pick up because I knew the characters and was familiar with the setting. After the initial action of Claire getting stained by the ink, things slowed down a bit too much for my liking. There was a lot of interpersonal drama, which makes sense because the characters were left unsettled and have to get used to their new positions and roles, but that part wasn’t my favorite. Things picked up once Rami and Hero started to travel to other realms again, but by then the book was half-way through. Also, they returned fairly soon and it meant the story slowed down again.
For me, this was the weakest book in the series. I don’t read nearly enough trilogies to know if hat is a common thing to happen with the middle book.

Book 3: The God of Lost Words (2021)
And again, the book starts right where the previous one left off.
Hero feels lost without his book, Claire is still upset about her stain, and Brevity is recovering from the betrayal of her sister muse. Then, a new well appears in the library and everybody is on high alert this time. The well doesn’t contain ink though, but clear water, and through it travels Echo, the librarian of the Elysium Library. Rami and Hero had visited there in the previous book and with their presence they had awakened the books in the Elysium Library. Talking stories in an echo place is not a safe space, so the librarian is now seeking a place to hide. They’ve come to the Library of the Unwritten and without so much as a pretty please, bring in their materials.
Another person to visit, is Malphas. This dangerous figure is one of Hell’s generals and sets fire to the Arcane Wing, leaving Claire and Rami to seek refuge in the Library as well. The place is quickly becoming overcrowded, and not necessarily the safe space they all need. Realizing they are sitting ducks and that the best defense is an offence, the crew decides on a plan of attack. With an all-for-one-one-for-all ‘tude they get to working on creating a realm of their own. Which means that they need a space, a god, and a guard. To establish this, they need help from the libraries in the other realms and they set about to get the librarians on board. It’s a reunion with some of the characters from the first book and some new ones. Like in the first book, there is a sense of urgency with this story that keeps the momentum going. During their inter-world librarian meeting Malphas makes her attack and floods the Library of the Unwritten. Everybody is stuck but a plan starts to form and our band of characters jump into action: Rami and Claire lead the negotiations with hell’s general, Brevity uses her muse skills to keep what is left of the library safe, and Hero dives back into the Dust Wing.
The ending was nicely done with the Library telling the finale. It read like a movie.

I didn’t know I needed a trilogy set in hell’s library, but sometimes the books just find you and it’s a great find and all in all I’m really happy having read this trilogy. The library setting is super cool and made me smile plenty. The main characters are pretty kick-ass, and the bittersweet ending was unexpected and gave it all just a little bit extra.

No. 12: A book written by an author with the same initials as me
The Wives / Lauren Weisberger

LW. That’s me. And Lauren Weisberger.
I remember the joy that was The Devil Wears Prada (first the book, then the movie) and I have to admit that when I realized The Wives continues with the story of Runway assistant Emily, I had my doubts. But, I was also curious enough to give it a go and I’m happy to report that I have no regrets!

This book takes place years later, and Emily no longer works for Miranda Priestly but is still tough-as-nails, and uses her skills as an independent image consultant. Unfortunately, more and more of her clients get poached by a newcomer who is all about the latest social media platforms, while Emily still uses Facebook. After a mission leaves her stranded in New York, she decides to stop by her old friend Miriam. Miriam has recently moved to the suburbs of Connecticut and given up her job at a big city law firm to be a full-time mom. Emily is appalled by life in the suburbs but without any new clients lined up, and her husband on a long work trip to Asia, she decides to stay with Miriam and her family for a few weeks nonetheless.
It’s during this time that Miriam is contacted by her other old friend Karolina, former super model and wife of a senator. Karolina has been arrested for drink-driving with children in the car, and her husband is throwing her in front of the bus (press). She’s fled to their second home in Connecticut and when Miriam goes to visit her, she brings Emily along. Emily actually knows Karolina back from her super model days, when she would regularly be at the Runway office. The three of them quickly renew their friendship and it is Emily who tells Karolina to grow a pair and hit back at her husband.
With a lawyer and an image consultant in her corner, Karolina isn’t as helpless as her husband seems to think and they manage to hit him where it hurts the most.

In between the revenge-getting the women each have their own lives and are battling their own insecurities. But they strengthen and support each other along the way, and learn what it means to stay true to yourself, which even in suburbia isn’t easy.
Miriam and Karolina would have been boring characters without Emily’s gutsy presence to shake things up, and Emily needs a bit of sanity around her which these two provide. Of course, Miranda Priestly makes a guest appearance and is still the bitchy boss we all love (to hate). (Andy also pops up, although she has a cameo at best.)

All in all this book was a relaxed read and surprisingly fun sequel.

No. 9: A book set in my country
Waar ik liever niet aan denk / Jente Posthuma
(translated as: What I’d rather not think about)

This book was published back in 2020 but I only learned about it when it was shortlisted for the Booker International 2024. Go figure. I wasn’t the only one because I immediately went to make a reservation in the library and received a notification saying I was number five in line. It was so worth the wait.

This book is the story of a brother and sister. They call themselves One (brother) and Two (sister), after their birth order. They are twins, and have always been close. But the brother doesn’t want to live and takes his own life, and the sister can’t figure out life without him.

Two tells the story and it’s a story of twins growing up in a village, before moving to the big city. Like no names are given, no locations are either. It’s all neutral but still easy to picture.
Two has a dry and dark way to describe her upbringing, for example not recognizing their father walking out on the family, and dying shortly after, as a traumatic event because it wasn’t as serious as surviving a concentration camp would have been. (She’s slightly obsessed with concentration camps and Joseph Mengele (who in turn was obsessed with twins).)
As adults, One and Two start to carve out their own paths although they end up living on opposite ends of the same park remaining physically close. It is One who starts to take more distance though, needing space: he refuses to travel to New York, even though they have planned to visit their aunt who lives there, and prefers to spend time with a chosen family of fellow gay people over his blood relative. One fails his interview for graphic design studies, can’t figure out what it means to be happy, and has difficulty maintaining meaningful relationships. Two’s at times awkward responses, don’t help.
These are two people who are similar and grew up close, but still don’t understand each other as adults.
It’s when One’s depression grows deeper that they become closer again and Two spends more nights with her brother than her husband, not wanting him to be alone. But when someone wants to die, they find a moment and a way.
One’s death leaves Two completely at a loss. Although aware of the strain it’s putting on her marriage she still ignores her husband and spends even more time at One’s apartment than at her own, reading his diaries over and over, trying to figure out what drove him and what she could have done differently. Not knowing how to move on, she slowly comes to a standstill.

The setting of the book doesn’t involve windmills, tulip fields, or gabled houses lining pretty canals. It even takes a while for it to be explicitly clear that this is set in the NL. It’s subtle with the occasional bike ride, or swim in the canal. It’s very Dutch in its directness and straightforwardness though, and, completely fitting the story, the most Dutch thing in it is the way One ends his life.

This book is just like its cover: void of unnecessary adornments. The stripped back style makes it easy to read despite the heavy subject, and the unexpected funny parts offered both relief and sadness. I felt that the style complimented the subject and it completely sucked me in.
Grief, depression and suicide are not subjects for everyone, but this was so beautifully done that I still am recommending the book to anyone who is open to it.

No. 6: A book with a green cover
Camino / Graeme Simsion & Anne Buist
Original title: Two Steps Forward

Once again, I was roaming the library, checking book by book for any that fit my challenge. I quickly learned that a green spine doesn’t necessarily indicate a green cover, and if the cover wasn’t green, the book went back without further checking. As it turns out: green is not exactly the current “it” colour for covers. Teal or blueish-green is used a lot more, but of course I wanted to be as green as possible to avoid any discussion, so when I couldn’t find anything in the English language section of the library I resorted to the Dutch language section, where I finally pulled this one off the shelf.
Originally published as Two Steps Forward, it is written by the author of the Rosie Project books, and his wife. I’ve got to admit I’ve ignored this author on purpose after my great disappointment in the second book of the Rosie series. But with limited options I gave him (them) another chance. I was left with mixed feelings.

The book is about American Zoe and English Martin, who meet-cute in Cluny, France.
Martin fled there to teach technical design after his marriage collapsed, and Zoe is there to visit her old exchange student friend Camille.
Zoe discovers that the town is a stop for the camino and in a spur of the moment decides to go walk the path even though she’s only been in town for half a day. Within an afternoon she arranges the special pass, gets a backpack and fills it with some items from her suitcase. With a return ticket already booked she has limited time (and funding) available to finish, and instead of ending in Santiago de Compostela, makes the French-Spanish border her finish line. If you think she’s a spontaneous kind of person who does things on a whim all the time, you’re wrong: she’s just not in a normal mindset because only three weeks earlier her husband had suddenly died. And that’s not all because after his death she found out that he had accumulated a debt so big, that she would be forced to sell the house. She’s trying to come to terms with it all, even if she doesn’t recognize that yet.
Martin has lived in Cluny for almost a year and despite that, suddenly is hit by the same urgency to start walking. He’s come up with a design for a cart that can be dragged along by a hiker so they won’t have to carry the weight of a backpack. There is a big travel convention planned in two months and he needs to have tested the cart before then so he can sell the design. This is how they both end up receiving instructions and their path passes at the same time.
Even if you don’t know anything about the pilgrim route, the story is easy to follow: there’s a map provided at the first page (two books in a row with maps!) and because Zoe and Martin don’t know anything (or much) about it, you get to discover along with them.
All I knew about the camino before reading this book, was that it ends in Santiago, and the French route is marked with scallops, which in French and Dutch are named after Saint Jacob, the patron saint of the route.
The chapters are switching perspective on and off, but because Zoe and Martin’s voices aren’t distinctly different enough, at times I had to leaf back to check whose chapter I was reading. I consider that a fail for the concept.
The first half of their walk is very descriptive and very much a story of people discovering what it means to walk the old pilgrim path alone: the French countryside, the small towns, and finding places to sleep and eat, are well-described. (You can tell that the authors walked the path, which gives some much-needed extra weight to the story.) But then there’s a turning point and the story becomes more of a dramedy with a will-they-won’t-they arc.
Despite the heavy personal reasons for the main characters to go walking, they remain lightweights. Also, they spent the majority of their walk apart, doing their own thing, occasionally bumping into each other. I didn’t understand their so-called connection, and their lack of communication was annoying. When they are about to get together, Zoe receives news from her daughters and leaves right away. She writes a note that says “I’m sorry” and is gone. No wonder Martin is peeved. Could she really not have waited two minutes for him to finish his shower and talked to him? Or written a bit more to explain? It felt unnecessary and childish, especially because earlier, she’d told Martin that repairing his relationship with his daughter wouldn’t require much more than simply communicating. Practice what you preach, lady.
As a third act there is also the theme of self-discovery that pops up after all. It seemed strange to me that Zoe was communicating more with an editor than with her own daughters or Martin.

It felt like everything was thrown at this story and some things stuck better than others. Sometimes less truly is more, and for me it would have worked better if the authors had stuck to one thing: make it either a good travel story, a good romance, or a good story of personal development. Right now, for me, it was a miss for all three. I also thought the people that Zoe and Martin meet along the way were simply more interesting than them.
When a friend asked me to describe it in max ten words I said: a tame rom-com set on the camino.
Maybe I didn’t feel this book because I know there are other, better, books on the same topics out there. (The Salt Path by Raynor Winn is an absolute standout for me.)
Or maybe I should give up and admit that this author’s writing just isn’t for me and/or I’m not the right reader for his(their) books.

No. 15: A book I own but never read
The Four Winds / Kristin Hannah

Let’s be honest here: the number 15 slot is the wildcard category of this year’s reading challenge. With a tbr that is no longer a pile, but a cabinet full of books, I was spoiled for choice, but The Four Winds was the one that jumped out at me. Well, not so much that, as that I remembered I had it, because the author just published a new book (The Women) that I’m eager to read and I figured it’s only fair that I should read the oldest one first, so, I picked up The Four Winds and dove in.

This book takes place between 1921-1936, in rural Texas. History teaches us, that the time and place combination is not exactly the best one, and immediately, Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath came to mind, a book I loved so, so, much. I think this is why I was hesitant to get started on The Four Winds: what story could compete with that?
It turns out, this one comes very, very, close.
Born into a well-to-do family, Elsa grows up in town. As a child she caught a serious fever, and after that, she’s been held back by her family under the claim of a weak health. Elsa realizes though, that her family mostly think she’s not pretty enough: she’s tall and skinny, and at twenty-five considered a spinster. With that label, her life has been mapped out for her, but it’s not a map that Elsa likes. She wants to live. So, one Saturday night she leaves the house and goes out to do just that.
It lands her in more trouble than she could have thought of, and she’s kicked out by her family. With no other options or means of survival, she agrees to marry Rafe Martinelli, and settles into life on his parents’ farm. The transition from town girl to farm girl is easier than expected. Becoming part of an Italian-American immigrant family just as well. Converting to Catholicism also is no problem for Elsa. Getting her husband to love her though, is a lot more complicated.
Life on the farm is a tough but good life which Elsa enjoys. While Rafe dreams of the glitter of Hollywood, Elsa dreams of sending their daughter Loreda to college, and her in-laws dream of passing on the farm to their grandson once he’s old enough. The farm prospers and they manage to buy extra plots of land and expand. Until the drought sets in, and life becomes a struggle. There is a big decision to make: stay, or leave for greener pastures.
Elsa, along with her in-laws, is team stay. Rafe, and their teenage daughter, team leave. Rafe has never liked farm life, and wants to leave so badly that he eventually does so without telling anyone, hopping onto a train west.
The rest of the family is stunned by his action, but buckle down and try their best, battling dust storms that are getting more and more severe, foreclosure on pieces of land, and the loss of ever more animals. Every day, people in their area are forced to give up, pack whatever they can, and make their way west. Elsa and her in-laws are too realistic to believe the talk of jobs that are supposedly available in California, nor do they believe in the tales of the “land of milk-and-honey”. But there comes a point, where they realize that there no longer is a decision to make and there only is one option left: for the children’s sake they cannot stay. Elsa and the children have to leave.
Her in-laws remain on the land, hoping that their stubborn refusal to succumb will pay off in the end so that the family will have something to return to. Elsa hates leaving the place she came to call home, the people who treated her with love more than her own parents ever did, but forces herself to be brave for her children’s sake. She knows they are lucky enough to have a truck and money to provide it with gas. Years of drought taught them to be as careful as possible with money and means, but they soon learn that life as an immigrant in the west requires a whole new level of survival skills. Although she was realistic about the opportunities in California, Elsa is still shocked at the disdain and unfairness with which they are treated, and the hardship they are facing. But standing up for yourself is difficult when you feel like you have no voice or your voice is systematically ignored.

This was a page-turner of a book that I couldn’t stop reading. The struggle of survival, and facing the massive decision of leaving what you know, the place you call home, for the unknown, is well-written: the ever-present doubt about the decision made, and what to do next.
People have been driven to be on the move throughout the ages, and it is happening today, and will happen tomorrow. That makes the story relevant, and easy to relate to, even though it takes place some ninety-odd years ago in a far-away location.
The Grapes of Wrath made such a big impression on me, that, for me, it remains the number one story on the subject. But, The Four Winds is a solid very close second. The female perspective gave it a different view; a mother’s love for her children providing the strength needed to survive and make decisions.
When the going gets tough, is when we get to know ourselves, and others, best. Elsa grew up believing she wasn’t strong or loveable, but she turns out to be stronger than most, and deeply loved by those who know her. She dares to defend her ground and stand up for the people she loves, providing an example for her children. I encouraged Elsa, cheered her on, and cried for her.

I’ve recommended this book to several people in the short time since finishing it, and now have a waiting list for my copy. I can’t say it enough so I’ll say it here as well: if you want to read a great book that’s about family, love, sacrifice and destiny, you should read this book.

No. 3: A book that is set in the 70s
1979 / Val McDermid

Another challenge category for which I resolved to my earlier method of browsing shelves and randomly pulling out books to check their time setting. Then this title jumped out at me and I thought it’d be a solid bet that this would fit. And does it ever.
Starting right at the beginning of the year 1979, we meet main character Allie Burns on the way home to Glasgow after spending New Year’s with her parents. On the train she meets Danny, who is a fellow reporter with the Clarion newspaper. Along the way they stumble into a story, and the collaboration propels them from co-workers to friends, confiding in each other and assisting each other on other stories. They are both outsiders at work, and connect over that. They both hustle to find stories and get them printed. When Danny starts a proper investigation in a money laundering scam, he gets Allie involved for fresh perspective and help with the writing. When Allie starts an investigation into radical politics, she in turn asks for Danny’s help because as a man he can get closer to one of her sources.

What this book does really well is characters and setting of scenes.
The big difference with the book that was set in the 80s, is that that one felt very focused on describing the time period, especially in the first few chapters, almost as if it was describing for describing’s sake. Every item was described, from the orange foam of the headset of a Walkman, to the wood paneling of a car, and at times it felt like it was done with a lens of nostalgia, rather than befitting the characters.
1979 sets the scene from a story perspective and you still get the same sense of time anyway simply through Allie’s point of view: people smoking everywhere, including in the office, the dings of typewriters being used, and the use of carbon paper for instant copies. She needs a roll of film for her camera, has Italian food for the first time at the one Italian restaurant in Glasgow, calls are made from phonebooths, and Allie and Danny know their way to the library where they frequently use the reference section.
That the book is set during the 70s is also noticeable in the cultural references (the music playing in the background, the shock of an ABBA divorce), and the sexism and homophobia that are rife everywhere, not least in the workplace. (Being gay was still punishable by law in Scotland, so no wonder people were deep in the closet.)
The workplace set-up was really well done, and Allie’s struggle of being a newbie and a woman in this journalism world, was believable. The ending came on so sudden though, that it left me staring at the book for a hot second, realization slowly hitting that I was actually done, even though I was only three stops on my metro ride in, and now had nothing left for the rest of the way.
The reveal was through an epilogue in form of newspaper clippings, which was a nice touch, but didn’t feel like a proper, smooth, ending. Maybe that’s because this was the first book of a series, as it felt so open-ended.
The author provided a playlist as an extra which I really liked as it contributed even more to the vibe of the time setting.

Based on the art and text of the cover page, I figured this would be a nail biter of a book. It wasn’t, and things only picked up pace at page 300 or so, and then it still lacked tension so it wasn’t scary or thrilling. I also just don’t think it is a correct way to sum up the story because spoiler alert: at no time is Allie “being hunted” or in danger.
Because I’m a scaredy cat I rarely read scary or gore, so on the one hand it was a relief this book wasn’t too scary but equally a disappointment. Those first 300 pages were more (cozy) mystery at best than anything else, and I had braced myself for something…more. This reading experience for me was like taking a sip of what you think is going to be vodka but turns out to be water. Still okay, but not what I expected.

In conclusion: a solid fit for the category, but not the thriller it promised to be.

No. 19: Title starts with M
Murder on the Moorland (A Kitt Hartley Yorkshire mystery) / Helen Cox

First things first: I love the term “cozy murder mystery”. A problem wrapped in an oxymoron: what’s not to like?
True to categorical form, the act of murder in this book takes place off-page and it’s more about the people involved solving the puzzle, than the murder itself. It’s fun to read these people solve the mystery, and you almost forget that there are dead bodies.
I bought the first book of the series (Murder by the Minster) as a souvenir in York last year, and was so happy to find out there were other books out, that I’ve since purchased books two and three as well.
The first book set up the series well, introducing main character Kitt Hartley, and the people in her life. Kitt is a librarian at York University, and is stoic, straight-laced, and stubborn. Kitt has a cat, drinks Earl Grey tea, and doesn’t get on with her boss.
Evie is her best friend, and lover of all things vintage. There’s library assistant Grace, and Ruby, local slightly-psychic, eccentric. And of course, there’s Malcolm, the detective who arrested Kitt and Evie in the first book (not a spoiler, it’s literally where that book starts). The second book centred on Evie, and this third book has a spotlight on Malcolm. He had moved to York after his ex-wife was murdered by a serial killer, and now he is called back to his hometown in rural Yorkshire because a woman was murdered and it looks like the work of the same serial killer. Problem is, that the man (who also happened to be his partner on the police force) is behind bars, so either they arrested the wrong guy back when, or there is a copycat active. Kitt isn’t letting Malcolm facing his fears and his past on his own and travels along, which comes in handy when it turns out the victim worked at the local archives, and Kitt knows her way around libraries and archives.
When the hunt for the murderer turns into a treasure hunt, Evie is called in and even Ruby travels up from York. Like the other books before, the best things about it are the characters and the settings: it took me back to gorgeous Yorkshire! The story itself was less interesting to me and I kept wanting it to be wrapped up. That was a slightly alarming sentiment for a mystery, but I read this on holiday, on a balcony with a view of the Atlantic Ocean, and was in a holidaying state of mind, so I accepted a lot more than I normally would have. The cocktails that were always within reach thanks to friend P’s mixing skills, also helped.
I left the book at the hotel library because it’s a perfect beach read, and I’m sure someone else will enjoy it just fine.

No 14: A book set in the decade I was born
This is gonna end in tears / Liza Klaussmann

Ah, the ‘80s. The last analogue decade. The decade during which the Cold War ended, and the AIDS epidemic spread. It was also the decade of shoulder pads, big hair, MTV, and The A-Team. It’s also marked as the birth decade of a certain bookworm.
Not sure how I would find a book fit for this category, I was just randomly browsing the shelves at the library when a blurb caught my eye (I guess we hereby established another functionality of blurbs) which mentioned “pitch-perfect 80s detail” (Anna Hope). Challenge item sorted!
This book is not something I would have gravitated towards under normal circumstances, but, that’s what the reading challenge is all about: broadening your horizons. So, I checked out the book and dove in. And wow, does this book deliver on its period setting. From the descriptions of colours, appliances, cars, music, and fashion: it’s very ‘80s.
The story is set in a small Quaker town called Wonderland, situated on the American east coast, and mainly takes place over the summer of ’84. (There are some flashbacks to earlier in the ‘80s, and a few are set in the sixties.) Aside from a glorious ‘80s vibe there is the intensity of a hot and sticky summer as well.
Miller, Ash and Olly are forty-somethings. Back when they were kids they were best friends, but they’ve since lost that bond and are struggling to keep their lives on track.
Miller (it took me a couple of sentences to realize this is used as a girl’s name) and Ash are unhappily married, with Ash practically moved out of their marital home, and into a pied-a-terre in New York, where he has a girlfriend. They’ve lost touch with Olly, who lives in Hollywood. Olly works at a production company and lost his golden touch, so after careful consideration he decides to kill himself. Except he doesn’t get that far because there’s an earthquake and he instead is crushed by falling debris in his home. When he comes to in the hospital there is a new-found clarity and he remembers a family emergency back home. So, he checks himself out of the hospital and flies east, back to the place he once upon a time couldn’t wait to leave behind.
Ash has come home as well, to play happy families with Miller for the sake of their son Nate, who is celebrating his last summer at home before going off to college in California.
With everybody back together in the small town, tensions are rising with every sentence.
It quickly becomes clear that Miller and Olly first were together. The three of them left Wonderland to make it in Hollywood, where they set up a successful record label. Because Miller felt lost, she left Olly and settled for Ash. Love triangles are a recipe for disaster, and there are a lot of unresolved issues between the three. The title tells you all you need to know about the result.

History is also repeating itself because Ash and Miller’s son, Nate, has a crush on his friend Suki, but he doesn’t know that his best friend Cam is having feelings for her as well.
Then there’s a storyline about a movie company setting up a shoot in Wonderland, Olly’s Hollywood ex, Blue, a world-famous singer who travels to Wonderland as well, and one about Olly’s aunt Tassie. Then there’s stuff happening with Cam and his family, and Suki and her family.
That sounds like a lot, but actually it felt that not much happened in this book. It’s just all the threads slowly coming undone. It wasn’t until the last two chapters that I got really into it, because that’s when decisions and plans were made. The big event in the end came out of left field, which was appropriate for what happened, but it was weird to have the big bang ending be about a side-character and not one of the main characters. There also isn’t time to evaluate the impact of the event in the main characters because the book ends three pages later.

I’m giving this book an okay overall score because of its great setting and descriptions. The story itself is “meh” for me, as this was not up my alley at all.

No. 11: A book with a number in the title
Explosive eighteen / Janet Evanovich

I Love the Stephanie Plum series, so this challenge entry was an easy choice. We’re allowed to have those!
I once stumbled onto this series when I was stuck on a train station: the trains were so majorly delayed that I finished the book I’d brought with me. What was I to do, but step into the bookstore and buy a new one? I picked up Hard Eight because it was the only book within budget that seemed a fun read. Turned out I hit the jackpot with it, and I’ve since dedicated a shelf of my bookcase to this series, collecting them one by one.
The individual titles can all be read as a stand-alone, because every book has a proper introduction of characters. And although the overall development is slow, there is development and change, so it’s even better to read it in order. Which I regularly do, as these books are part of my comfort reads: I’m on my way through the series again, and number eighteen was up next.
The books in the series are all numbered, starting with One for the Money. With the exceptions of parts 27, 28, and 29, which have the number in the subtitle, all others have the number in their title. I recently discovered I’m one behind, with no. 30 (Dirty Thirty) just released, so I’m off to the bookstore as soon as I wrap up this entry.
There are also between-the-numbers books, and two spin-off series: the Lizzie and Diesel books are equally solid fun, but I haven’t read the Recovery Agent yet.

Stephanie Plum is a New Jersey bounty hunter, forced into the job by lack of any other decent skills and appealing options. She works for her cousin Vinnie at Plum Bail Bonds, and the rest of the staff include Connie, who is a very Jersey Italian and related to half of the local mob, and Lula, who was a victim in Stephanie’s first ever case, and has since given up being an “erectile engineer” and is Stephanie’s sidekick, and whenever she feels like it, the office clerk.
Stephanie has two men in her life: Joe, a Jersey detective she’s in an off-and-on again relationship with, and Ranger, a delicious-smelling badass security agent, she’s had a few up-close-and-very-personal encounters with.
All these characters appear in all the books of the series. This also applies to Stephanie’s parents and her grandma Mazur. The books all contain a mystery, and weird criminals that need to be dragged back to jail. There are doors that require getting kicked in, cars that get stolen, flattened, or burnt. Joe’s dog, Bob, makes an appearance. As does Stephanie’s hamster, Rex.
This particular book picks up where no. seventeen left off: Stephanie returns from a trip to Hawaii. As she unpacks her bag, she finds a blank envelope containing a picture in it, and thinking she mistakenly picked it up when she bought magazines at the airport, she throws it in the trash. When there’s a news item about a murder at LA airport, she recognizes the victim as the man that had been sitting next to her. When she’s promptly being chased down by several people who are all after that picture, she realizes that the victim must have slipped that picture into her purse. Two fake FBI agents, two real FBI agents, a woman claiming to be the victim’s fiancée, and a murderer-for-hire, all want the picture.
On top of that, she has her archenemy Joyce Bernhardt squatting in her apartment, she has her car serial-stolen by a wanted criminal, and the search for a grave robber is not going well.
Then there is office drama, with the temporary office (a Winnebago parked in front of the remains of the already burnt-down office) going up in flames, and Lula accidentally drinking a love potion. A tan line on Stephanie’s ring finger causes drama with friends and family alike, everybody assuming there was a wedding, or at least a proposal, in Hawaii, and Stephanie refusing to talk about it. That might sound like a lot, but it’s easy to keep up with, and a fast read.

Stephanie isn’t a skilled bounty hunter, but she’s tenacious and lucky which gets her far. Often not in the most efficient or flattering way, but it’s the end result that counts.
Meanwhile, her relationship with Joe is solid at its core but neither is ready to commit which causes them to have the occasional break-up. Ranger is always available to help her out with replacement cars of mysterious origin. Grandma Mazur will always try to pry open a casket at the funeral home. Vinnie will always be involved in shady business. Eighteen books in, Stephanie still forgets to charge her stun gun, and hides her actual gun at home, safely tucked away in the cookie jar. Stephanie and Lula are still not able to kick in doors.
None of that matters, because this is a screwball detective and mishaps should happen. These books are a breeze and a total treat, and even though I’ve re-read most of them several times, they still make me laugh out loud.

No. 8: A book with bad reviews
Find her / Tessa Bailey

This book was handed to me with the warning: “you’ll regret reading this because it’s time wasted that you’ll never get back”. Spoiler alert: these words were proven right.
I just also checked Goodreads where there are a lot of one-star ratings (2.5 average score), which makes this book a solid for the category.
Although starting off, it has to be said: this might not qualify as a book.
What this is, is a special edition publication to celebrate the Week van het Engelse boek, or English Book Week. Technically, that still makes this a book, of course. But, at 56 pages I struggle to define its category and I don’t want to go so far as to count the words, so I’m taking the lazy way out and say that this is either a novelette or novella.
(The binding has a total of 90 pages, but almost half of that is space for an introduction, and an excerpt from a soon to be available new title.)

56 pages to tell a story is not a lot, and so we jump right in.
The story is about Holly, who lives with older brother Wyatt. Wyatt and Holly both love the music of Citizen, a world-famous cool rock band. In case you’re wondering how famous and cool: they’re hanging-out-with-Mick-Jagger-and-Keith-Richards-level famous and cool. (This gets mentioned quite a bit, so weird.)
When the band comes to town, the siblings make sure to get tickets to see the show. They end up on the front row, and when the band enters the stage and Holly sees the lead singer, Johnny, for the first time, the sight of him (“a god”) practically sets her girl parts on fire. If you as a reader are caught off-guard by that, you’re not alone: Holly is very surprised about it too. It’s even worse for Johnny, who is on stage and spontaneously forgets his lyrics when he catches sight of Holly in the crowd. It’s lust at first sight for these two and it’s uncomfortable to be a witness to it all.
Johnny makes sure that Holly receives a backstage pass and when they meet there, he is instantly jealous of the other men in the entourage watching her. Thus, he takes her into his dressing room and locks the door so they can make out in private. I can’t remember where Holly’s brother was at this point but I can’t imagine him waiting patiently on the other side of the door. Especially because the two of them end up almost sexing up against said door.
This all happened by page 12 and I was snorting at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The reasons I continued this instead of quitting there and then, was because of the reading challenge, and the fact that I figured: only 44 pages left to go, I can do this.
But it got worse because Johnny finds out that Holly is a virgin. That puts a stop to the proceedings, and Holly rushes out of the dressing room. Johnny quickly realizes she basically is the Holy Grail of women (gorgeous, willing, and untouched), so he rushes after her to prevent her from disappearing forever.
At this point I took a deep breath, told myself to stay strong, and powered through, ever hopeful of things improving. Improving, things did not.
The two of them decide to get to know each other a bit before getting physical again, and within an hour of meeting, Johnny has told her his deepest secrets, from the pressure of fame, to suffering from writer’s block. Not sure why, because Holly only asks Johnny everything any interviewer already would have asked him. She shows him her favourite place in the area, which is an open field with a tree in it. I guess it meant to indicate Holly’s unpretentiousness and wholesomeness.
An hour is all these two need to know they are destined to be together, and they can’t imagine ever being without the other person again. So, they’re giving sexytimes another go. And there’s a lot of it: a disproportionate number of letters in this story is dedicated to sex or the mentioning of body parts.
When they’re not touching or breathing hard, Johnny reminisces about a ranch in Wyoming where the band once shot a music video, that he wants to move to with Holly, because he knows she’ll like it, and it’ll be a wonderful place to grow old together.
Holly’s down-there must be magic because spending the night with her is not only the best physical experience of Johnny’s life, but it also solves his writer’s block as a bonus. In return for all that, he promises to take her along for the remainder of the tour. (Well, demands it: he “needs to keep her”, yikes.)
When he finds her missing in the morning, he figures something terrible must have happened, because there is no way she would have just walked away from him. Johnny does not have any self-esteem issues (he really doesn’t: he sings his own song during sex to relax Holly). So, he drums up the security team, the band manager, and anybody else who’ll want to listen, to yell at them that his girlfriend is missing and they need to start a search party asap. When one of the security guys admits he thought Holly was just one of the many groupies that had tried (and it’s implied: succeeded) to get into Johnny’s room, Johnny punches the man on the nose, pushes him aside, and rushes off to find the woman with the magic vajayjay. Problem here is threefold: he doesn’t know where she lives, what her phone number is, and he’s only wearing sweatpants. Well, that last one would be a problem for anybody, but not for Johnny, who rushes out of the hotel barefooted and bare chested.
The paparazzi waiting outside the hotel have a field day, but he uses them to his advantage, speaking directly into the cameras about his lost girlfriend that he’s trying to track down and can she please stay put until he finds her, because he will find her.
Of course, Holly sees this, and when she hears he’s roaming the street still barefooted and bare chested, she rushes outside and forgives him. They proclaim their love for one another and he carries her off into the sunset. For reals. Fortunately, this is immediately followed by the words The End.

It was all so over the top and strange, and seemed more fan-fiction than romance novel.
I rolled my eyes at it all until I had a headache. I snorted and laughed out loud.
I’m guessing the size of this story was the main cause of the problems, but to be honest, if the story had been longer, I’m not sure the characters would have been able to carry it much better. Holly is a bland good girl: a virgin orphan who works as a waitress but hopes to become a social worker. Also, she seemed incredibly young. Johnny is…borderline red-flag problematic. The way he talks I’m guessing is meant to sound macho and cool, but is rough and dominant, especially compared to Holly’s innocence. He plans their future without asking Holly’s input, claims her as his girlfriend after one night, and is possessive and aggressive.
Technically the story contains a beginning, middle, and ending. There’s even a conflict / misunderstanding and a big gesture, as there usually are in a romance novel. But compressed to a story this size, it leaves out the character building and growth, along with the emotions. What’s left are two horny cardboard figures that we’re to believe end up living happily ever after.

I hadn’t read anything by this author before, but I’ve seen other titles in bookshops and from some surfing on the waves of the interweb I learned that she is pretty popular and people love her work. Therefore, I’m guessing the full-sized books are better, but after this experience I won’t be keen to try that theory any time soon.