We'll dance until the morning, till there's just you and me
But then again, maybe not because I really love my bed
After 3 years of planning and 3 postponements due to the pandemic, my sister and brother-in-law finally got to have their dream wedding earlier this month. They were smart and legally married at the end of 2020, so this was more of a marriage celebration than a traditional wedding, but with all of the same bells and whistles. And I might be biased for a multitude of reasons, but this was hands down the best wedding I’ve ever been to. The food was delish, the band was killer, and the overall vibe was top-notch. The only thing I didn’t like about the entire weekend was that it had to end.
While I wait around for the photographer to send over the pictures so I can relive every moment, let’s talk books: here’s everything I’ve read and loved lately!
Remember last summer when I said that The Thursday Murder Club was one of the few murder mysteries that could bring a smile to my face? Well, let’s add The Maid to that list. I just loved this book. While there were definitely some tears and some very cringe moments, all in all, it was extremely uplifting.
Molly Gray is 25 and a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. She loves her job and takes great pride in her work. She has trouble picking up social cues and doesn’t always understand the nuances of facial expressions, causing her to be a bit of a loner, though that doesn’t bother her. As long as she had her grandmother to help her navigate the intricacies of human interactions, she would be fine. But since her grandmother’s death a few months ago, she’s been struggling socially and financially. When she finds the body of one of the hotel’s regular VIP guests, she unintentionally becomes sucked into the investigation and is quickly named the prime suspect in his death. In an effort to clear her name and find out what really happened, Molly must learn to rely on a few trusted friends and the P.I. skills she picked up from years of watching Columbo reruns.
With the hilarity of Clue, the excitement of a classic whodunnit, and a quirkiness similar to that of The Rosie Project, it’s easy to see why Florence Pugh was so quick to attach herself to the upcoming film adaptation, even before the book’s release date. From start to finish, The Maid had me completely captivated and cycling through every emotion under the sun, from anxiety to laughter and everything in between.
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
One part sob-fest and one part pure escapism, this book was everything I hoped for and more from Serle after she set a high bar with 2020’s In Five Years. But there’s a hard emphasis on the sob-fest part: I cried from start to finish and it was ugly crying, not just a few tears shed as I enjoyed the beautiful prose.
We meet Katy as she’s suffering through the final days of her mother’s shiva, so if that’s not an immediate indicator that you’re going to need a box of tissues, I don’t know what is. While still reeling from the finality of Carol’s battle with cancer, navigating the shock and relief as they mingle with the realization that not only has she lost her mother but also her best friend, Katy decides to move forward with the mother-daughter trip to Positano they had been planning, knowing that it had long held a special place in her mother’s heart. As she begins to feel herself healing under the warm Italian sun, she has a chance meeting with… Carol. Well, the 30-year-old unmarried version of Carol who doesn’t yet have a daughter named Katy. Katy has no idea how this is possible, but she doesn’t question it and instead enjoys the gift of spending the summer getting to know Carol as she was before marriage and a baby and “adult” life. As the season goes on, she begins to see that the woman she knew and the one in front of her aren’t quite the same person but perhaps two sides of the same coin.
It’s fitting that this review is going out the week before Mother’s Day because if this book is anything it’s an ode to the love stories of mothers and daughters. To anyone out there who identifies as a daughter and is still looking for something to give the mother/mother figure in their life: buy 2 copies of this book. You can sit side by side and read it while listening to John Mayer’s “Daughters” in the background. Or plan an Italian getaway. Either option is a good one, but I’m pretty sure the first option won’t hurt your wallet as much as the second one will. Your call though.
A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J Maas
I came to a realization about the fantasy genre as a whole the other day: compared to other fiction sub-genres such as romance or historical fiction, where there’s an element of reality and/or actual primary source material that can lend credence to the story’s setting, fantasy requires so much more in order to keep the reader interested. Entire worlds need to be created down to the finest details. Would Harry Potter have become what it is if JK Rowling hadn’t taken the time to build Hogwarts and the entire wizarding world the way she did? I doubt it. Conversely, The Witcher series makes for better viewing because the showrunners took a creative leap in crafting a world that was not nearly as descriptive in the books as it comes across on film.
What I’m trying to say is that for fantasy, especially a fantasy series, the world that the characters live in needs to play just as much of a starring role as the protagonists. In this case, Prythian is just as important to the series as Feyre, our fearless, self-sacrificing heroine. When we meet her, she’s living in poverty south of the Wall that divides the human and faerie territories. She’s pretty much the sole provider for her father and two older sisters, each of whom has been living the past 8 years in a state of depression/denial since they lost their fortune. While hunting one cold winter’s day, Feyre kills a wolf and sells his pelt. Soon after, a horrible, monstrous beast beats down her door and demands retribution. To save her family, Feyre agrees to go live with him beyond the Wall. Upon arriving in the Spring Court, though, she begins to see that he’s not really a beast at all, and perhaps some of the stories she had grown up hearing of evil faeries were wrong. But all legends are rooted in some truth, and there is a darkness in Prythian that’s spreading, putting the human realm in danger as well unless Feyre screws her courage to the sticking place and stops it.
I know what you’re thinking: is this just Beauty & the Beast but with faeries? Will I take any excuse I find to sing along to the 1991 movie soundtrack? Will I be watching said movie tonight? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding YES. And maybe that’s part of why I loved this book so much (if it wasn’t already obvious, Belle is clearly my favorite Disney princess and/or my spirit animal). In fact, not only did I fly through the book in record time, I read the entire series in roughly three weeks. It would have been less if I hadn’t had to work or sleep or take care of Betty or, say, attend my younger sister’s wedding. I already can’t wait to start it all over again.
That’s it for me this month. If you need me, you can find me at home rereading A Court of Thorns & Roses, ignoring the huge pile of new books taking up valuable real estate on my nightstand.
As a friendly reminder: don’t forget to subscribe, share, and shop local (all titles link back to my local independent bookstore, Main Point Books, but you can find a store near you simply by searching on IndieBound or Bookshop.org). And until next time,
Happy reading,
Sam