January 2019

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
The latest book by one of my favorite authors (Jane Steele, Gods of Gotham) has a new one out, based in the PNW and it is gooooood. It begins in the 1920's, New York City, where a young girl named Alice has, shall we say, an 'interesting' childhood. Sprinkled throughout the book, we slowly understand how a neglected little girl becomes a gangster, a thief, and a runaway. In fact, Alice runs so far from New York that she winds up in Portland, Oregon where she is adopted into the Paragon Hotel. Patronized only by the few African-Americans who inhabit this incredibly racist city (Oregon's constitution made it illegal to move there if one was black + had the largest KKK group west of the Mississippi - yep, who knew??), Alice finds a plethora of intriguing characters: the drunk doctor and uncle to the beautiful yet mysterious singer, the Pullman car porter who is also a WWI decorated hero, the stern, religious front desk maven, the complicated siblings who work the elevator and clean rooms, the Southern cook, and the little boy who is raised by the entire population at the hotel. Throw in a bleeding-heart liberal woman who also happens to be married to the police chief, a burning cross, and some star-crossed lovers, and yes, you've got a humdinger of a story. Don't miss this fascinating book:)

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
Hedy Lamarr...European refugee, Hollywood siren, famous beauty, but scientist? Who knew? Marie Benedict's latest (The Other Einstein, Carnegie's Maid) takes on the story of the real Hedwig Kiesler and paints the picture of a complex, intriguing woman that she was, not as Hollywood portrayed her. Born into a Jewish family, Hedy was raised in Vienna, wed to a powerful man in the Nazi party, and a victim of abuse. Benedict spends half the book on Hedy's early life, showing us the traps she had to escape to become the woman of the silver screen. Her life in Hollywood, under the MGM studio system, is equally as fascinating as her escape from Nazi Austria. Once she gets involved with the invention of a radio system to improve torpedo accuracy, wow, just wow. This story is reminiscent of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls, as the "why didn't we know all this sooner?" factor. Having done outstanding research and delving deeply into the characters, this is definitely my favorite of Marie Benedict's historical fiction dynasty that she is building.

She Lies in Wait (DCI Jonah Sheens, #1) by Gytha Lodge
If you like police-centered mysteries and love BBC shows like Broadchurch, this is a good book choice for you. A new series picked up by Random House, Lodge shows her writing chops as well as her knowledge of how a detective unit works as she explores a cold case in a small British town. Thirty years ago, a fourteen year old girl went missing from a camping trip that involved her sister and five other teens. Leaving a lingering mystery in the town, her skeleton is then discovered and the search for her killer commences. An intriguing cast of characters inhabit the story: DCI Sheens, the head detective with some secrets in his past; Hanson, the 'newbie' who is dogged in her pursuit of answers and seems to have a sixth sense about lying; Topaz, the sister with a dark past; Jojo, the studly rock climber who hides information; Brett, the Olympic athlete with the perfect home; Benners, a politician who was the teen drug dealer in years past; Cooper, the previous bad boy turned college professor; and Coralie, the forgotten girl of the group. This is a definite page turner and solid writing - I look forward to the second series to see how the unit detectives are further flushed out.

The Au Pair by Emma Rous
The premise is intriguing...coast of England, a brother and a set of twins, and mom falls off cliff on day of twin's birth leaving many secrets behind. The story switches back and forth between Seraphine, one of the twins, in today's world and Laura, the au pair from the past who was present the day of their birth. The first half was compelling reading, as in I did not want to put it down. However, the last twenty percent got a little ridiculous and long-winded for me, with some pretty implausible 'solutions' to complete the tale. Beach read that will keep you reading...yes. Will it satisfy you? Questionable. However, as a debut writer, I do think Emma Rous has good potential - the story is plotted well, the characters are intriguing, and the twists are definitely there. Just needed a better grounding in reality for me, and a tighter wrap-up.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell
This is a solid 3.5 star thriller, yet nothing special. As always, Lisa Jewell gives us a page-turner that involves some secrets amongst the characters, a British setting, and some twists in the end that are intriguing. In her latest book, an interesting collection of people live in a fancy neighborhood in Bristol, up in the Heights where a young boy takes pictures of everyone, a mother with mental illness haunts the streets, a sister tries to get her life together as she lives with her brother and his wife, a girl tries to protect her friend, and a school head is either a compassionate kindly teacher who wants to help students in trouble, or he's a creepy pedophile who should know better. Good for a beach read if you're looking for a quick page-turner, but not nearly complex enough to keep my brain thinking or deep enough into development to care for these characters.