The Summer Book Club

Finished July 25

The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery

I enjoyed this book better than the other Mallery book that I read recently. The novel is centered on three women, two of whom have been friends since childhood. The third woman, Cassie, is undergoing a major life change as the book opens. 

Cassie's parents died when she was a child, and she was brought up by her two older siblings and her uncle. Cassie is a woman who loves to help those she cares about and her life up to know has been focused on her family rather than her own life and wants. When her uncle passed away, he left her some property in California, across the country from her home in Maine, and her siblings now force her to go out and see what's there and start living life for herself. It's a bit of tough love on their parts, but they want her to have a full life of her own.

Laurel runs a small business, mostly online, in small antiques and collectibles, and is divorced with two daughters. Her ex-husband wasn't an involved father, and left her in a bad place financially that she has worked her way out of. She's a bit wary of men, and she's worried that her fears have been passed on to her oldest daughter.

Paris is also divorced, and has been focused on her anger issues and her mental health for the more than decade since the divorce. She's built the farmland she inherited from her mother into a successful farmstand business. Because Paris is aware of her own emotional issues from the past, she's scared to try a new relationship. 

As Cassie is brought into the friendship through a casual meeting and an invitation to join the book club, the three spend the summer reading, learning about themselves and their capabilities, and taking a chance on new relationships. 

A satisfying and interesting read. 

The Printed Letter Bookshop

Finished June 3
The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay

This gem of a book has been sitting for a bit waiting for a read, and I really enjoyed it. Madeline Cullen is a young lawyer in a high-powered Chicago practice, and gunning for a partnership position. As the book opens she is attending her aunt's funeral. Her aunt, Maddie, was someone she was close to when she was young, until a rift opened between her aunt and her father, and she was forced to choose sides. After the hedge fund crash, she dealt with attitude from kids at school due to her father's role as a fund manager and she chose to go to school in Chicago to escape that and find her own life. This brought her near her aunt again, yet she seldom visited, still reluctant to break with her father's side. This means that she now regrets not talking the time to get to know her aunt better while it was still possible.
When, a couple of days after the funeral, her aunt's lawyer informs her that she is the heir, she struggles with what to do, and how to balance what is happening in her own life. As she takes the time to get to know the store and the two employees Janet and Claire, she learns about her aunt through them, and discovers new friends in the process. She also learns other things about herself as well.
This book follows Madeline, Claire, and Janet through their own voices in the same situations and we see how each woman regards the same events.
It is a sort of coming-of-age book for Madeline, but Claire and Janet also learn important things about themselves that moves each of them forward to a better future.
There is also a booklist that has a place in the story, and I always like a good booklist.
I really enjoyed this read.

Kingdom of the Blind

Finished January 15
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst

I've always enjoyed this mysteries, for the inclusion of the personal life of the characters, and for the complex story they tell. Here, Armand is under suspension from his role as head of the Surete of Quebec for his actions in the previous book. Jean-Guy was also under suspension, but his has been lifted and he is now acting in Armand's role. Isabel, injured in the last book, is still on leave.
As the book opens, Armand is off to a meeting he has been summoned to by a letter. But the letterhead has the name of a dead man, and the contents of the letter give no indication as to the purpose of the meeting. Armand is intrigued, but wary.
When he arrives at the house, about twenty minutes away from Three Pines, he finds one car. Before he can enter the building, another car arrives, that of Myrna. They find that they have received the same letter. A third person arrives, a young man with a unique style, that they don't know.
The three of them soon discover that they have been named liquidators (executors) in the will of a woman they've never met, Bertha Baumgartner. They have some time to think about it before accepting, and as a snowstorm is moving in quickly, they find themselves all in the village of Three Pines. As the story of the Baumgartners and their odd inheritance history is revealed, they also find that there are some in the village that have met Bertha, as her preferred title, the Baroness.
This is but one of the stories of this novel. Although Armand is on suspension, he is still trying to track down the missing drug shipment from the previous novel. His drive to recover the missing carfentanil is a noble one, but he crosses some ethical lines as he does so. One of them involves a young cadet that he previously was close to, who has now put her future on the line in a misguided action.
This novel has a lot of twists and turns, reveals and secrets. Some I guessed at, other I did not. The book ends with some interesting changes to the lives of ongoing characters, and I will be interested to see where these changes take them.