the perils of silence

Vox by Christina Dalcher
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Imagine that a new President has been elected with the help of the extreme Christian right.  So extreme, and so powerful, that they reverse over a hundred years of women's rights, and worse.  Women are limited to 100 words a day, enforced by a "bracelet" they wear that administers worsening electric shocks for every word over the limit.  Dalcher doesn't waste much time on the details of how this came about, which is fine, as they're largely beside the point for the purposes of her story.  But, every time I caught myself saying "this is just too unbelievable - that would never happen here," I reminded myself that that's been said by other people at other times and places in history, and it could, and it did.

As for this book, though, comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale are inevitbale, but Vox has a different ambition.  Dalcher doesn't pull her punches when it comes to the details of women's subjugation in the new regime, but the story focuses on a small group of people who suddenly realize that they can change everything.

Even that isn't the real point, though.  Dalcher also pulls no punches in getting her message across.  Everyone: use your voice.  While you still can.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

these boots were made for walking

Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Martin and Zoe are both recently single, middle-aged people who decide to walk to the Camino de Santiago starting in Cluny, France.  Neither of them have particularly good reasons to walk hundreds of miles on an historical pilgrimage, but it seems like a good idea at the time.  They don't know each other until just before they set out, but fate brings them together on the trail.  And apart.  And together.  And apart.  And together again.  Each time they come together, the encourage each other forward with well-placed cliches, and then misunderstand each other just enough so that they separate again.

Martin's and Zoe's stories are somewhat less than compelling, unfortunately, and the cast of characters they meet along the way isn't much better.  But the descriptions of the Camino were very well done, and almost made me feel like I was walking alongside them.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Review: Isabel has some serious wounds, but then there's a big fight, so she just has to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in (literally), but the ghost helps her.  Then she's even more wounded, but there's another big fight, so she continues to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in, again (literally - Isabel's in a network of underground tunnels), but the ghost helps her again.  Then she and the ghost are both in trouble, but the gears click in her mind and she figures out a solution, which is totally risky and probably won't work, but it's their only chance... annnnd it works, and they live to have the ceiling fall in on them again (literally).  Meanwhile, there's like a mystery, and some feelings, and Isabel keeps falling into the ghost-place and no-one knows why, and people fighting aboveground too, and it's really just a big mess.  But Isabel is undaunted - actually, that's a lie, she's totally daunted, but she knows the fate of ... everything? ... is at stake.

There, now you don't have to read the book.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sexy and sweet

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: What would you do if you were a very well-off and well-respected professional woman who was terrified of dating and sex because you had Asperger's?  Perhaps you would hire an escort to help you become more comfortable with those interpersonal areas of your life.  And what would you do if you were a man who had mountains of debt and responsibilities, but had been told you had a particular talent for sex?  You'd become an escort, naturally.  Thus, the basis for 2018's greatest love story.  Michael and Stella are both characters you root for, to be able to overcome their own shortcomings and power through the things that challenge them.  It gives nothing away to say that they end up together, but the process, oh, the process.  Very steamy and very sweet.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the hazards of wealth

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: From the outside, Nina has everything she could ever want.  She has a successful (and rich husband), a son on his way to Princeton, a beautiful home, and time to charity work.  But that's not really who Nina is, as she finds out when scandal strikes, in the form of a picture of a nearly nude girl that her son snapchats to a few friends.  The repurcussions of that force Nina to really examine her life and whether it reflects her values.  Her introspection forms one theme of the story, and the did-he-didn't-he question of who actually sent the picture and what the consequences will be, form another.  Add to that Lyla, the girl in the photo, who has her own story to tell, and her father, and you get a complex, layered book that explores issues of privilige, complicity, and redemption.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

from whimsy to the deep

The Garden Party by Grace Dane Mazur
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: This book has a whimsical feel right from the beginning.  From before the beginning, actually: from the seating chart at the front.  That whimsy quickly gets deep, though, as we meet the people around the table.  The bride and groom, their parents, siblings, grandparents, and other assorted friends and relations who have gathered to celebrate the nuptials scheduled for the following day, all have their own dramas going on.  In that way, this reads more like a series of intersecting short stories, as each individual or small group of characters is really pursuing their own storyline.  Infidelities are revealed, mortality is contemplated, and both love and passion flower.  So, no, this is not a whimsical story, but it is a good one, and full of feeling.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sometimes it takes a while to find yourself

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Willa is a very bland, sort of get-along-with-everyone character.  She goes from being dominated by her mother, who has some kind of anger management issue, or is possibly bipolar, or something, to being dominated by her both her first and second husbands, both of whom definitely have anger management issues.  She's got skills (I was shocked about 2/3 of the way through the book when she mentions that she speaks 5 languages) but recently gave her job teaching ESL to follow her second husband into retirement in Arizona, where she identifies most with the lone saguaro cactus in front of her house.

When she gets a call that her son's ex-girlfriend (who she never met) has been shot and needs help, she gets on a plane and heads to Baltimore to take care of her and her 9-year-old daughter.  Some may think it odd to fly 2000 miles across the country to care for a woman you've never met (and her daughter), but Willa has always been open to suggestion, not to mention that she's totally bored.  But in Baltimore, she finally finds a purpose, people who need her, and a community.  The only question is whether she also finds the strength to break from her former go-along-to-get-along life and stay in the place and with the people who actually make her happy.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.