Another New Year's Eve, another year-end list.
Of all of the years of reading I've had, 2022 has been notable for my shift away from genre fiction and towards literary fiction. I still maintain a strong affinity for genre fiction, but this year I've found myself enraptured by complicated protagonists, messy story arcs, and stories set in the contemporary world. Here's to 2023—to champagne glasses clinking, to fireworks, and to good books. (Read on desktop for the best experience!)
Bringing Down the Duke, A Rogue of One's Own, and Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore
My greatest regret of the reviewing year is that I didn't have the chance to properly sit down and review these three books, because they are phenomenal. Evie Dunmore can do no wrong; I would giddily follow Annabelle, Lucie, and Hattie around the British Isles, trampling through suffragette marches, dinner parties, and stately manors. These books are comfort food for my soul; whenever I'm feeling under the weather, I turn towards any of the installments in this series (though I'm most partial to Annabelle and Sebastian's story). And, of course, I can hardly wait for The Gentleman's Gambit.
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Rating: 85% | B | ★★★★☆
Warnings: + Sinophobia Synopsis (from Goodreads): 29-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet, Xiao-Wen Chou, and never read about “Chinese-y” things again. But after four years of painstaking research, she has nothing but anxiety and stomach pain to show for her efforts. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it’s her ticket out of academic hell. But Ingrid’s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note’s message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her entire life and the lives of those around her. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a rollercoaster of mishaps and misadventures, from campus protests and OTC drug hallucinations, to book burnings and a movement that stinks of “Yellow Peril” propaganda. In the aftermath, nothing looks quite the same to Ingrid—including her gentle and doting fiancé, Stephen Greene. When he embarks on a book tour with the “super kawaii” Japanese author he’s translated, doubts and insecurities creep in. At the same time, she finds herself drawn to the cool and aloof Alex Kim (even though she swears he’s not her type). As the events Ingrid instigated keep spiraling, she’ll have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions—and most of all, herself. Spoiler-Free Review: Disorientation took me three months to read because I was—of course—disoriented. Elaine Hsieh Chou’s debut more than lives up to its title. It’s a dizzying satirical mess of culture, politics, and language that bludgeons the reader over the head, leaving them with a halo of cartoon birds. It is a riotously enjoyable read. Never before has a piece of literature resonated so much with me. Chou’s attention to Taiwanese-American details—from the protagonist insisting that she’s Taiwanese, not Chinese, to the specific details about Hokkien and Teresa Teng—touched me deeply. Like Ingrid—and other Asian-Americans—I often feel alienated from both my Taiwanese and American roots. Chou is whip-smart and determined; even when the plot begins to veer in a complicated direction, she never backs away from the challenge. Opinions on right-wing politics, the model minority myth, Asian fetishes—it's all here. This book is not one for the faint of heart; the characters and the issues demand conscious, critical thought from the reader. At times this demand becomes too much to shoulder and the characters become too caricatured, the plot lines too wild to keep up with. But in the end, it all comes back to the title. The characters are meant to be disoriented. The readers are meant to be disoriented. This is not a tale of entertainment; this is a tale of staring into the mirror and dealing with what stares back. But let's not pretend like Disorientation isn't, at its core, just a tale of waffle dogs. (Click "Read More" for spoilers.")
Rating: 70% | ★★★☆☆
Synopsis (from NetGalley): During ball season, anything can happen—even love. It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way - not her parents’ three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who’s saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is. Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead - a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos - and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows. Non-Spoiler Review: Diana Biller's The Brightest Star in Paris was one of my favorite books of 2021. And in Hotel of Secrets, Biller continues to demonstrate her talent for creating rich historical settings. Vienna comes to life as Maria and Eli race across the city to gather everything needed for the Hotel Wallner's return to glory. The ending is triumphant, capping off a truly feel-good romance. And, of course, Biller's subtle humor shines in moments of fast dialogue and sweet platonic chemistry. However, I found this novel less engaging than Biller's previous novels. The story feels bloated at times, especially as the reader contends with too many zany characters and plot lines resolved as quickly as they are introduced; the third act, in particular, is rushed. Conversely, moments of interiority—largely repeating the character's previous thoughts—also drag the pacing. Maria and Eli, while engaging, remain two-dimensional for much of the novel, and their romance struggles to progress beyond love at first sight. Ultimately, Hotel of Secrets is a romance that many not always deliver on depth, but is sure to be a feel-good story for any reader. I continue to admire Biller's writing and look forward to her future novels. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Hotel of Secrets is out March 28, 2023.
Rating: 75% | ★★★☆☆
Synopsis (from NetGalley): Molly and Andrew are just trying to get home to Ireland for the holidays, when a freak snowstorm grounds their flight. Nothing romantic has ever happened between them: they’re friends and that’s all. But once a year, for the last ten years, Molly has spent seven hours and fifteen minutes sitting next to Andrew on the last flight before Christmas from Chicago to Dublin, drinking terrible airplane wine and catching up on each other’s lives. In spite of all the ways the two friends are different, it’s the holiday tradition neither of them has ever wanted to give up. Molly isn’t that bothered by Christmas, but—in yet another way they’re total opposites—Andrew is a full-on fanatic for the festive season and she knows how much getting back to Ireland means to him. So, instead of doing the sane thing and just celebrating the holidays together in America, she does the stupid thing. The irrational thing. She vows to get him home. And in time for his mam’s famous Christmas dinner. The clock is ticking. But Molly always has a plan. And—as long as the highly-specific combination of taxis, planes, boats, and trains all run on time—it can’t possibly go wrong. What she doesn’t know is that, as the snow falls over the city and over the heads of two friends who are sure they’re not meant to be together, the universe might just have a plan of its own… Non-Spoiler Review: My housemate would like to remind me that it is NOT Christmas and that it is only appropriate to start the countdown to Christmas AFTER Halloween. However—I don't care, I've been listening to Mariah Carey since mid-September, and I've been consuming Christmas literature way before that, first with Sarah Hogle's Just Like Magic and now with Catherine Walsh's Holiday Romance. I've been a fan of Catherine Walsh since her first novel; her stories brim with universal nostalgia and characters with lightning-fast banter. Holiday Romance features both; Molly and Andrew volley Walsh-esque quips between them against backdrops of childhood homes and sterile airports. This book is everything quintessentially Christmas. Think When Harry Met Sally, autumn in the big city, and living as the year begins to taper off into something new. But Holiday Romance features more clichés than its predecessors, as well as a less stable chemistry between its two lead characters. The parallel timelines yank the reader back and forth between the present day and all of Molly and Andrew's history, sometimes not in the most satisfying or useful ways. Molly's love for Andrew, and vice versa, is believable, but it doesn't quite take on the depth that the flashbacks are intended to provide. Moreover, the pacing is inconsistent throughout the novel; the first two acts are slow, carrying the reader through each unfortunate hiccup in Molly and Andrew's travel plans, but the last act races through their nascent romance, leaving the reader feeling slightly harried and robbed of true closure. Overall, Holiday Romance is perfect for fans of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry and people waiting to curl up with the Hallmark Channel's slate of holiday movies and a nice mug of hot chocolate. I know I certainly revel in my membership in both categories. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Holiday Romance is out now!
Rating: 58% | ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis (from NetGalley): Hollywood screenwriter Sawyer Walsh knows a good love story when he sees it. But when it comes to real life romance, he’s a mess. That’s how he finds himself standing at the altar…as his ex-girlfriend ties the knot with his very famous best friend. The pressure, the resentment, the media coverage—it’s all too much—and before he knows exactly what he’s doing, he’s making a run for it, leaving a shocked congregation and flashing cameras in his wake. Needing to lie low amid the media fallout, Sawyer lands in the charming town of Canoodle, California, where he crosses paths with Fallon Long, who runs the Canoodle Cove Cabins, a family-owned business and Sawyer’s new short-term residence. Overwhelmed with renovations and her long list of responsibilities, Fallon is struggling to make ends meet while attempting to bring the cabins back to their original glory. So when Sawyer arrives, she is grateful for the income, but immediately writes him off as just another vapid Hollywood hack, until he begins to prove her wrong at every turn. As Fallon comes closer to saving the family business, an undeniable bond forms between her and the handsome screenwriter. But the pressures of her family obligations and Sawyer’s notoriety might prove to be too much for anyone to handle. Could Canoodle be the setting for a new romance—or is true love just a Hollywood cliché? Non-Spoiler Review: In the past few days I have come to recognize two types of romance readers: those who scrutinize the 90% breakup, and those who accept it as a condition, in all forms. Runaway Groomsman taught me that I am, apparently, the first kind of romance reader. The novel’s premise is great—a punny small town, a redemptive meet-cute—but where Meghan Quinn loses her edge is in the execution. What starts as a playful critique of Hallmark romance quickly turns into a generic love story. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall prey to instalove that can’t be affirmed until 70% into the book. Boy and girl go on repetitive side quests until instalove can be affirmed. The 90% breakup crashes into them and dissipates at 91%. Quinn’s writing is stilted and overly sentimental, adding to the struggle of writing (and reading) first-person narration. The pacing of the plot fluctuates wildly; the first two acts drag and the third act races ahead, introducing and resolving multiple major conflicts within the span of just a few chapters. But the true standout facet of the story is Quinn’s nuanced and compassionate depiction of Alzheimer’s. Under her direction, Sully’s condition is not another plot device but an integral part of the plot—and one even more meaningful than the main romance. Ultimately, Runaway Groomsman wasn’t for me, but I’ve never been a Hallmark Channel kind of consumer—or, as Sawyer might say, a Movieflix one. Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for giving me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Runaway Groomsman is out October 11, 2022. |