Playing a bit of bookish catchup with my Current Reads

Given the state of things today, I am glad to have gotten a good number of new books for Christmas (eight in total!) and have also gotten my Goodreads challenge for the year off to a solid start by finishing two of them.

My first completed read for 2022 is Apples Never Fall, the latest  by Liane Moriarty. 

When reluctant tennis retiree Joy Delaney goes missing for several days, suspicions begin to form about her husband Stan, who still can’t get over losing a potential superstar tennis player back in his coaching days.

However, as the quartet of adult Delaney children discover, this vanishing act may have something to do with the mysterious stranger that stayed with their parents for awhile.

Savannah showed up at the Delaney’s door one night, claiming to be escaping from a brutal boyfriend, and wound up becoming a long term guest. Was she truly a damsel in distress or a promising young woman seeking a slow motion revenge?

To say more would spoil the devious delights of this book but if you’re familiar with Moriarty’s artful blend of mystery and family drama, then this is definitely your cup of storytelling tea. Tennis is a strong thread in this book, one that binds the plot points and emotional arcs of the characters as tightly as a professionally made racket:

Next up was Lana Harper’s Payback’s a Witch , where Emmy Harlow returns to her hometown of Thistle Grove, a haven for witchcraft practicing families.

Emmy left years ago, due to having her heart broken by Gareth Blackmore, the heir apparent of his family. Turns out Gareth has also been playing with the hearts of her best friend Linden Thorn and long time crush Natalia “Talia”Arvamov, who is interested in a little magical revenge.

The main reason that Emmy came home is to arbitrate the Gauntlet, a series of challenges meant to determine which family is in charge of Thistle Grove. The Blackmoores have been in power for several generations now and using their power play to slowly yet surely push the other witch families down.

Emmy is happy to help settle more than one score here but she is in danger of being distracted by a budding romance between herself and Talia, who is eager to encourage Emmy to staying in town for good.

Can Emmy gain her revenge and find true love all on her own terms or this there a price for both that she’s not willing to pay?

This is the first time that I’ve read Lana Harper and the good news that I want to read more . As luck would have it, this novel is meant to be the first in a Thistle Grove series (the follow up, From Bad to Cursed, is due out soon). Harper showcases a charming knack for crafty character development and staging, bringing this magical town to vivid life on the page.

The best part is watching Emmy and Talia click together as a couple, creating more than one kind of magic to enchant  audiences with:

At the moment , I’m in the middle of a wonderful Book of the Month club selection that I treated myself to as a New Year’s present.

Debut historical fiction  writer Kaia Alderson tells the story of the role African American women played in WWII in Sisters in Arms.  In 1942, New Yorkers Eliza Jones and Grace Steele separately found themselves at a crossroads regarding the course of their lives.  

Each woman decided to join the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps(WAAC) and meet up to form an on-again, off-again bond that got them through some tough times.

While Grace’s set of street smarts often clashed with Eliza’s upper class notions of the world, the two of them shared professional dreams that both sexism and racism combined to stand in their way.

Working together to not only set a strong example for change but to protect the country they love, Grace and Eliza do their best to get over what misunderstandings arise between them to pave the way for others to follow.

Alderson does more than give a history lesson here, she makes her leading ladies truly engaging and heartfelt. Grace’s love of music and Eliza’s determination to be more than just a “lady reporter” expand the backstory of their characters as well as the realities they live in.

It’s also interesting to see real life figures placed within the story such as Mary McLeod Bethune(a prominent Black military adviser who worked with Eleanor Roosevelt) and Charity Adams ( the first African American female officer of the WAAC),adding a greater sense of history making to this story of women moving towards a better tomorrow for all:

While I don’t have a major reading goal this year, apart from any upcoming readathons and blog related books, I do intend to dive into more historical fiction as the winter season rolls on.

Winter is a good time to take a few looks at the past, I think , with shows such as the new season of All Creatures Great and Small( with two more seasons to come!) and the upcoming HBO series, The Gilded Age, soon to arrive.

Hopefully, such fictional stories can teach us something about those long ago days that might steer our present day thoughts away from making similar mistakes and possibly improve our current course of actions. Not a sure thing but using some solid storytelling for solutions is not the worst idea out there: