Last Week's Book Reviews

And a new show we are loving.

Welcome to the latest issue of Reader Writer Seeker, a newsletter about books, exploring what is currently interesting to me, and my general thinker’s journal. My name is Emily, and I’d love to recommend a book. You can follow all my socials here.

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I fully recognize that it is Cyber Monday and this email will get lost in the barrage of emails you all are receiving from retailers today (I am deleting all of these in bulk; from Friday to Sunday night, I received 500 retailer emails 🫠). Tis the season! But I don’t want to break my send streak, so this email must be sent to satisfy my OCD tendencies.

Before I get to the book reviews, I’ve got a TV show recommendation: “A Murder at the End of the World.” We are really loving this show about an amateur sleuth who is young and easily discredited but tenacious and an overall interesting character. Darby recently published a book about her road trip to find a serial killer and it has given her some acclaim in small circles. As a result, she gets invited to an exclusive retreat in Iceland with a billionaire tech guru. While there, guests start dying and Darby is determined to figure out what is happening. This show is on that “weekly drop model” of TV series, so you might want to wait a few weeks if you are someone who likes to binge series all at once. It is very hard to wait for new episodes each week because this one is so good!

Books

Currently Reading

Here is what I have going now across each format.

• Hardback 📖 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Literary Fiction.)

• Kindle ䷉ A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson (YA Thriller.)

• Audible 🎧 Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn (Romance, the third book of a three-book series about friends that won the lottery; from the same author as Georgie, All Along, which I loved.)

• Paperback 📜 The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (Fantasy.)

• Non-Fiction 🤓 Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz

Reviews: Last Week’s Completed Books

1. Friends Don’t Fall In Love by Erin Hahn (Romance): This was a sweet and sexy romance of friends and colleagues who pine for each other for years before finally admitting their feelings for each other. Because they work in the country music industry, they communicate their love through song lyrics and poetry. This was a delightful book to read and I smiled almost the whole book. I read the paperback version of this book, which came in my November Ripped Bodice Read, Romance, Repeat Box subscription. ★★★☆☆ {completed 11.17.23}

2. Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich (Cozy Mystery): This is the 30th book in the Stephanie Plum series, a series that I adored reading in my 20s. I used to laugh out loud reading these books and picturing the silly situations that Stephanie Plum found herself in while working her bounty hunter jobs. I don’t know if I have outgrown the stories and the series, or if the stories have gotten sillier, but I now read these books out of a compulsion to finish the series. But the way they are written, the series will never wrap up — characters don’t age, life circumstances don’t change, and the formula is the same every time. Though I loved the series in the beginning, I think it might be time for me to move on from Stephanie Plum. I read the Kindle version of this book. ★☆☆☆☆ {completed 11.18.23}

3. Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank by Elle Cosimano (Cozy Mystery, Novella): The Finlay Donovan series is so fun — a romance author gets mistaken for a hired assassin and finds herself in all kinds of hilarious trouble with her nanny sidekick, Veronica. There is a new Finlay Donovan book scheduled to come out in the spring of next year, but this little novella that covers the origin story of Vero is perfect to tie you over while you wait for their next adventure. I read the Kindle version of this book. ★★★☆☆ {completed 11.19.23}

4. The Honor of Your Presence by Dave Eggers (Literary Fiction, Novella): Everything Dave Eggers writes is beautiful and this little story is no different. Helen is a homebody who designs invitations for fabulous events that she never gets to attend. Her uncle is ready for some excitement and convinces her to start going to these events and taking him along. She is a reluctant companion but finds herself embracing the chaos and having fun. I read the hardback version of this book. ★★★★☆ {completed 11.20.23}

5. Luck of the Draw by Kate Clayborn (Romance): This is the second book in the “Chance of a Lifetime” series, but it could be read as a standalone. Three friends jointly win the lottery and each takes that opportunity to fulfill their dreams in different ways (each book in the series is focused on one of the women). This book is Zoe’s story. Zoe is a corporate attorney who was miserable and promptly quit her job after winning the lottery. Since then, she’s been listlessly floating and not doing much with her time while she feels guilty about her work at the law firm and how she is doing nothing now. When she decides to start making amends with people and creates a jar with slips of paper outlining each thing she feels guilty for, the first draw is for a couple who lost their son and received a payout from one of Zoe’s clients. Instead of meeting the couple, she meets their other son and enters a deal with him to be his fake fiancé for six weeks while he tries to win a pitch to buy a camp with the money from the settlement. The two grow close but it all falls apart when their secret is revealed. It was a cute story. I listened to the audio version of this book. ★★★☆☆ {completed 11.22.23}

6. Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Literary Fiction): There is, of course, a reason this book won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in fiction and why it was adapted into an HBO mini-series in 2005: it is really, really good. The writing is sublime, the humor is subtle, and the full cast of characters are well-developed. Set in a small, blue-collar town in Maine where everyone has a tie to each other in some way and one wealthy family owns everything and everyone in town, Miles Roby grew up in Empire Falls and is now running the local diner so he sees it all. From his soon-to-be ex-wife and her antics to the crooked cop who hounds him, Miles has relationships with everyone in this downtrodden town. Sprinkled throughout the novel are flashbacks that give more depth to the characters and how they relate to each other. When you read this, you feel like a part of the town. I read the paperback version of this book. ★★★★★ {completed 11.22.23}

7. The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (Fantasy): The Alexander Society is a secret magical society that guards the library and the history of magic. Six members are selected every ten years and must compete for five available spots, with the sixth candidate getting “eliminated” after one year. The book shifts between perspectives of each of the six candidates, so we learn more about their ambitions, motivations, and personalities as they learn more about the society to which they have committed their lives and careers. This was definitely a page-turner as the dynamics between the characters was constantly shifting and you never really knew who was going to come out on top. I read the paperback version of this book. ★★★★☆ {completed 11.23.23}

Anyway…

And that’s what I was into last week.

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