Monthly Archives: April 2021

character, head, heart, humor, reviews, women's fiction

Rebecca Serle — In Five Years

I’ve read some reviews by people who are disappointed that this is not a “love story.” But it is a different kind of love story, not a romance novel, not sexual love, but the story of the love between two very different women who are lifelong friends. Dannie, a lawyer, is organization personified, planning every moment of her life in advance. Bella, an artist, is a free spirit, living and enjoying life as it happens.

The plot is unique (at least to me). Dannie has a realistic dream, a premonition, where she wakes up five years into her future in a different apartment with a different boyfriend—a different life. She spends the next five years determined to make her planned future happen, not the one in her dream. The story ends with a twist, which I like.

This novel is full of love, laughter, anger, heartbreak, and tears.

action/adventure, character, head, heart, humor, mystery, reviews, style

Walter Mosley — Blood Grove

Mosley is a descriptive writer—settings, characters, actions—all are vividly detailed. You can see them in your mind’s eye. His characters are never one-dimensional. He digs deep and finds good and bad in heroes and villains alike. He describes LA of 1969 so well that you feel as if you’re living there.

In this story, Easy Rawlins is almost accidentally drawn into uncovering a complex plot of theft and murder when he sets out to find a missing girl for a PTSD veteran. Even after the young vet is murdered, Rawlins can’t let it go. He wants to finish the job, and if he doesn’t untangle the mystery, he could end up dead like his client.

The only thing that kept the novel from being five stars for me was too many characters to follow, even though each one felt distinctive.

action/adventure, character, head, heart, humor, mystery, reviews, strange

Joseph Wambaugh — Hollywood Hills

Most of this novel is filled with tales of the motley crew of Hollywood Hills cops taking police calls—a mixture of hilarious, sad, heartbreaking, and violent stories. But mixed in with the incidents is a crime plot with many weird twists and turns. Wambaugh writes with such finesse and detailed characterization that you understand all the players’ (good an bad) motivations.

The book keeps you reading to see what crazy action will happen next.

character, head, heart, humor, mystery, reviews

Lori Rader-Day — The Lucky One

The novel is the story of two young women searching for the same man for totally different reasons. Alice is looking for her “kidnapper,” and Merrily is looking for her “stepfather.” They cross paths via a couple of wild characters, members the Doe Network, an online organization of volunteers trying to match missing and unidentified persons.

Alice and Merrily have different backgrounds and personalities, and yet they are in some ways alike. Both raised by single parents, Alice’s rich and powerful father controls and protects her, and Merrily is controlled and protected by her working class mother. Neither reaches out to uncover the mysteries of their childhoods until they are adults.

The plot is filled with twists and turns, deceits and lies. It kept me guessing, but sometimes my guesses were right on. The characters are well-written and interesting. The book kept my attention to the end. Lori Rader-Day is new to me and a good storyteller. I will look for more of her work.