I finished out the year by reading two award-winning books!
…Adult Fiction
Mini-Reviews : Traveling To Find Home
I was looking for a theme that tied all these mini-reviews together and I realized all these books feature characters who have to travel to unknown places, overcome obstacles and come through the other side changed forever.
…When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
04/09/2019 | Penguin Publishing Group | 11 Hrs 7 Minutes
When We Left Cuba continues the story of the Perez family after they flee Cuba and seek refuge among Palm Beach’s wealthy elite. Eldest daughter Beatriz Perez has always been bold and unconventional. She isn’t one to sit around waiting for marriage and she soon begins a scandalous affair with a promising young politician (read: JFK) and is recruited by the CIA to kill Castro.
…The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
10 Hours 18 Mins | Harper Collins | 03/02/2021
The Lost Apothecary was one of the first books I saw all over TikTok and decided to give the audiobook a listen. This book travels through time as an American tourist unravels the mystery of a nameless apothecary who dispenses poison and justice to women in need.
…The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
304 Pages | Thomas Dunne Books (Republished by Tor) | 10/24/2017
I’ve been wanting to read Silvia Moreno-Garcia since Mexican Gothic made a splash on the book internet last year. I jumped at the chance to review The Beautiful Ones–not realizing this is one of her backlist titles that has been republished.
Let me tell you
This book was so…odd. It takes the plot of a romantic historical drama and infuses it with magic and fantasy in an extremely subtle way that (while it didn’t make the book less enjoyable) left me wondering why it was there at all?
…The Dry by Jane Harper and One Little Mistake by Lucinda Berry
I read more thrillers!
The Dry by Jane Harper
Finance investigator Aaron Falk hasn’t visited the struggling farming community of Kiewarra in over 20 years—not since he was run out of town for his association with a dead girl. But when his childhood best friend commits a grisly murder-suicide Aaron is called to attend the funeral and gets roped into the investigation.
This was a solid crime novel, to quote one of the blurbs on the back; it has twists on every page. My favorite thing about Jane Haper’s books are her endings–she writes revelations right up to the last word on the last page.
I’ve been experimenting with crime thrillers this year and this is one of my favorites. I liked that it had a character-driven angle with Falk’s past.
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