SIX OF SORROW.....WHO OR WHAT'S COMING AFTER THE 6 BFFs IN THEIR SPOOKY LITTLE TOWN? (****)

 Six Of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier (2024

     Definitely one of those books where you want to put off doing other stuff so you can keep reading to see what happens next. It's a nicely witch-crafted (so to speak) chill-you-to-the-bone brew of bubbling toil, trouble and growing dread.

     I loved the setting of Sorrow, a little island-town parked off the Louisiana coast across from New Orleans. Supposedly named after a legendary witch, the town's supernatural elements rise up to bedevil six teen girls, all born on the same day. Why them? And why now? And what or who is the source of all this scary torment afflicting these girls? Now you know why this book's guaranteed to keep you glued to it till you find out.

     Through childhood Isabeau and her five friends, Reuel, Georgia, August, Cori and Sloane were inseparable. But starting after their tweens, something split them apart, with only Isabeau and Reuel remaining BFFs. But then Reuel's mysterious three day disappearance rocks the community and serves to re-bond the girls' sisterhood. Though she's found safe and sound, Reuel's health and physical appearance alarmingly deteriorate - as if her life force is being drained out of her to make something (or someone else) stronger.

     And it's clear to the girls that one by one, they're in the cross hairs of some terrible vengeful entity......and it's up to them to find out what's after them and save their own lives. Are they cursed? And what's the how, why and who of it?

     Those questions and their answers kept me pinned to the pages all the way through. Filled with moments of unease, suspense and nightmarish dreams, I can't think of a better way to add real chills to your summer reading. I can also imagine 'Six of Sorrow' as a top Halloween season read and would make a surefire mini-series to rival "Pretty Little Liart....4 stars (****). If you're summer reading list is booked solid, keep this one in mind for those chilly Fall nights...

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THE CALCULATION OF YOU AND ME....AN AUTISTIC MATH STAR BARGAINS TO LEARN ROMANCE FOR WINNING BACK HER EX...(****)

 The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor (2024)

       Serena Kaylor pulls off what I think is a remarkable achievement - to fashion a story comprised of every familiar, unsurprising YA romantic trope and still keep readers fully engaged with its lead characters, anxiously cheering them on through every speed bump on their ride to an HEA.

        Your heart aches right away for autistic calculus whiz Marlowe, dumped by her boyfriend Josh in a particularly cruel way. Marlowe's crushed by him telling her she's simply not wired to comprehend and respond to romance and love. Though it's pretty much clear that Josh's charming popularity masks an abysmal human being, Marlowe's determined prove him wrong and w00 him back with flowery prose......as soon as she figures out how.

      This daunting task leads her to make a 'Cyrano' bargain with her new unlikely partner in a required English Lit class project on romance novels., the black-clad, moody Ashton. Though seething at Josh's treatment of Marlowe, he reluctantly agrees to help her in exchange for her applying her savvy marketing skills to boost his talented garage band.. Naturally (as if you didn't know), this puts Marlowe and Ash in close proximity to each other. Hamm....what could possibly come from that?

         I hardly need to describe how the rest of this plays out, but I don't think anyone picks up a book like this for outrageous twists and reveals. The very familiarity of what happens won't stop any reader from quickly turning those pages to reach that warm hug of a satisfying ending. The bonuses along the way are the ample helpings of wit and wisdom that the author provides (I especially liked Odette and Poppy, the usual BFF Greek Chorus to all the proceedings and I'm guessing readers will wish they had that romance-only bookstore in their neighborhood.)

        As well worn as these tropes were, it didn't make the calculated plot turns of 'Calculation' any less fun to read. And a perfect poolside or beachside companion, or just cozy up to it any time at all.

       4 stars (****) Romance fans shouldn't miss putting this one on their list to enjoy.

THE WILDERNESS OF GIRLS.....ABDUCTED GIRLS OR LOST PRINCESSES? (*****)

 The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin (2024)

        Let's get right to the point here. This book can easily break your heart multiple times and on multiple levels. The amount of emotional hurt on display is unrelenting and the story kept a lock on my full attention from first page to the last. The phrase 'immersive read' doesn't even begin to describe it.

       The primal storyline is a trope we've all seen in books and films......that of a wild, feral child taken away from its natural habitat and brought into contact with a modern world determined to alter the child's nature, to adjust their behavior to civilized normality. Madeline Claire Franklin's remarkable debut novel presents us with a sisterhood of four such girls. living in the woods. The three teens and a tween are found by Rhi, a girl close to their own ages, working as a part time park ranger for her Uncle.

       The girls' story is all at once bizarre, fantastic and heartrending - they believe they're lost Princesses from a fanciful kingdom, raised by an all-knowing, mystical mentor they knew only as 'Mother'. But to the modern world they're brought into, they can only be kidnapped, brainwashed children, whose abductor filled their minds with the elaborate fantasies he created for them to live in.

       This becomes as much Rhi's story as the girls' They bond with her immediately, thinking of her as the fifth lost princess whose appearance portends a return to their mythical kingdom. And they're not far off about the 'lost' part - Rhi's Uncle has also become her guardian in the aftermath damage from her dysfunctional family. and she's internalized her own painful and terrible secrets. So it's no wonder that she finds herself gravitating to the imaginary Never Neverland the feral girls believed was true. But then the real world and the girls' entry into different foster homes, touches off no end of catastrophic events for everyone involved.

       I can't say enough about the how the ambitious conception of this book impressed me. Author Franklin wisely (and cleverly) deals with a host of dire distressing issues that affect girls and women throughout the world (In both current and past history). But most importantly, she accomplishes all this while keeping a reader riveted to every twist and turn of the plot.

       Readers can decide for themselves about whether there's magic at play, but there's no denying there's some true storytelling magic at work here. A 'don't miss' read for this year.

(*****) 

MARGO'S GOT MONEY TROUBLES.....A 20 YR OLD'S UNLIKELY PATH TO SUCCESS, SECURITY....AND MOTHERHOOD...(*****)

 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (2024)

     The best way to fully enjoy this young woman's journey through the perils and pitfalls of adulthood is avoid reading any detailed plot descriptions. Get comfortable, settle in and let author Rufi Thorpe guide you through the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart aching calamities of 20 year old Margo MIllet - ex junior 'college student, ex lover of her married college professor, and now harried, exhausted and unemployed mom of the resulting baby boy.

     Margo, a good soul possessed of an inventive, creative mind, chose to have her prof's child against everyone's practical advice. Though she loves her baby fiercely, she's faced with the daunting task of caring for her son and figuring out how in the world she'll make a living to feed, clothe and shelter them both. Money troubles indeed.

      And here's where I don't want to elaborate on the most unlikely avenue Margo takes to assure herself financial success and stability, taking her on a bumpy and at times laugh out loud path to discovery of her own abilities, her sense of self-worth......and even love.

      Helping and/or hindering her along the way are her gambling-addicted, disapproving mother, her wayward retired pro-wrestler dad, her up-for-anything roommate Suzie and a couple of oddball internet personalities. You find yourself cheering on Margo as she navigates countless bumps-in-the-road thrown at her while attending to breast feeding, sleep deprivation, full diapers..... not to mention figuring out who and what she wants to be in life.

     And though I've read more than a few books this year that took aim at the entitlement and arrogance of the male patriarchy, none of them accomplished this task with as much sharp wit, cleverness and sheer bravado as Rufi Thorpe's Margo. One of the best fun reads of the year and a more than worthy addition to any To Be Read list....

     5 stars (*****)

DEAD TIRED.....THE PREVIOUSLY PREGNANT CRIME SOLVERS ARE BACK ON THE CASE.....(*****)

 Dead Tired by Kat Ailes (2024)

      They're back.......and I couldn't be happier. And anyone who likes their cozy mysteries riddled with laugh out loud moments, should welcome the return of the English countryside's most unlikely group of amateur sleuths.

       In their debut in "The Expectant Detectives", Alice, Poppy, Hen, and Ailsa, living amidst the bucolic green meadows and forests of the Cotswolds, somehow cracked a murder case while all of them were on the verge of giving birth. (And accomplished this much to the perpetual aggravation of Ailsa's  hot tempered sister Jane, the area's primary police detective.)

      One year later, the ladies are coping with the exhausting, chaotic task of baby raising. but still find themselves embroiled in a fresh new murder case. How could they not? After joining an eco-protest group, their chained-to-trees-all-night demonstration ends with one of the one of protesters found strangled while still bound to their tree.

     Once again, Alice (the book's narrator), ends up taking the investigative lead, even though her life is a riotous, whirlwind of diaper mishaps, breast feeding calamities, housekeeping disasters and the never ending, embarrassing misadventures of her out-of-control dog, Helen. Along the way, Alice also has to cope with Poppy's renewed detecting enthusiasm, Hen's nervous unease (since she's employed by the company targeted by the protests) and the always eye-rolling, suffer-no-fools disdain of fierce activist Ailsa,, whose twin babies only slightly softened her. just a bit.

       A plentiful collection of suspects, twists and reveals round out this mystery which I found, as I did the first of this series, so much fun to read, a book that keeps you smiling throughout and at times delivers genuine LOL scenes. And personally, I can never get enough of those, so I didn't have to think twice about rating this 5 funny stars. (*****) Here's hoping the ladies are solving cases till their babies are ready to enter college....