California Golden

author: Melanie Benjamin

Publisher: Random House- Ballantine

Publish Date: August 8, 2023

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

    This beautifully crafted story takes place in California during the late 50s through early 70s. Carol Donnely never wanted to be a wife or a mother. A natural-born athlete, she had dreams of being a baseball player. When that dream was shattered, she discovered surfing. From that day forward, nothing else was important to her.

    While other mothers were staying at home raising children and baking cookies, Carol dropped hers off at school wearing the same outfits several days in a row. Blissfully unaware of her husband or her responsibilities, Carol lives only to surf.

    Carol's daughters, Ginger and Mindy, do their best to survive with a mother who does not seem to know they exist and a father who is only aware of their mother and his hopeless love for her. They spend their days trying to not get taken into custody by DFCS. 

   When their father finally walks out, the girls are left on their own. Their mother continues to only care about the surf. In order to get her to notice them, the girls start learning to surf. Mindy becomes a great surfer in her own right. Ginger is terrified of the water and only surfs to make her mother and sister happy.

    This story reveals what happens when Carol is forced to try to parent daughters she has no interest in. When Mindy becomes a champion in her own right,, there are unexpected consequences. When Mindy takes off with her new career, Ginger is left on her own. Having never made a decision on her own before, her life becomes a portrait of the California Dream when it is left too long in the harsh sun

    From the shores of California to the shores of Hawaii and even across the ocean to Viet Nam, this story covers the surfing craze of the 60s, the hippies, the surfers, the soldiers, and the golden people. However, we don't just see the beautiful blonde people with perfect white teeth. We see that dark underbelly of the culture as well. The drugs. The surf bums. The communes.

    This story is very hard to put down. Full of unexpected twists and turns, we see how women have been forced to fulfill certain roles in society. We see what happens when children are raised by mothers who are not able to love. It also shows the bitter reality behind that golden California sun. This is a beautifully written novel. I highly recommend it.

Sinners or Starlight City

 Sinners of Starlight City

Author: Anika Scott

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: July 18, 2023

*I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Set against the backdrop of the Chicago Worlds Fair, this action-packed book is hard to put down. Rosa Mancuso left Chicago for Sicily with her Italian mother after the death of her black father. She was raised in Sicily until her family was violently killed. Narrowly escaping, Rosa eventually returns to Chicago seeking revenge.

Known as Madam Mystique, Rosa is an exotic dancer. Her show at the fair is one of the most popular, and Rosa becomes a celebrity in her own right. However, her main reason for being in Chicago is still revenge.

When Rosa's cousin Mina comes to her begging for help, Rosa Can not turn her away. Mina has given birth to a biracial baby and her Chicago Mob family has decided the baby should be sent to an orphanage. Mina's father paid a mobster, named Danny, to hold Mina hostage until the baby was born. Can Rosa help Mina get her baby before Danny takes it to an orphanage?

Danny is, to me, one of the most interesting characters in the book. He grew up rough, and became a mobster, but has a very kind heart. He knows it is wrong to take Mina's baby. Can he help right this wrong without getting himself killed by the mob? 

This book is full of interesting, well-developed characters. Scott's description of the fair makes me wish I could have been there. The sights, the sounds, and the scenery are brought to life as Mina tries to protect and keep her baby and Rosa seeks revenge against the one who killed her family. The story drives on toward an unexpected ending. (No spoilers here!).

This is a story you won't be able to put down. 

Read this book if you...

...enjoy historical fiction

...enjoy suspense

...enjoy stories about the mob

A Thousand Miles to Graceland

 A Thousand Miles to Graceland

Author: Kristen Mei Chase

Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)

Publish Date: January 24, 2023

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

    Grace has been a rule-follower all her life. She takes the safest choice every time. Grace's mom, Loralynn,  however, is her direct opposite. Still dressing in go-go books, mini skirts, and bell bottoms, her wigs add several inches to her height. A collector of all things Elvis, Loralynn has planned a mother-daughter trip from Loralynn's home in El Paso, Texas to Graceland for her seventieth birthday.

    Grace has no intentions of going on this trip. It is completely against her very nature. Grace left home for Boston at 18 and rarely returned. Her father's alcoholism and abuse and her mother's seeming complacency with it left her with no desire to return to Texas. She lives a safe life n Boston now. She is married to (if not in love with) a "safe" man. Jeff is kind, loving, and always does the right thing. The idea of a trip to Graceland trapped in a car with her mother is absolutely the last thing she would ever consider.

    Then, Jeff informs her that he is leaving her for someone else. Just like that, her safe world begins to crumble. In order to avoid the fallout, Grace heads to El Paso to take her mother to Graceland. Thus begins a heart-warming adventure, with plenty of interesting stops to make and characters to meet along the way. 

    I had no idea when I began reading this book how much it would speak to my heart. Having also grown up in a home where we walked on eggshells around a father's temper, I fully understood Grace's choices. I even saw myself making the same choices and never knowing why. Thanks to this book, I really have a better understanding of myself and my own choices.

    I have always loved "road trip" novels. The changes in scenery, local food, and local characters-- are what make a great backdrop for a road trip story. Kristen Mei Chase does not disappoint. You will laugh. You will cry. And you just might find some lovely nuggets of wisdom to keep. I did.

Read this book if...

...you love road trip novels

...you love stories that take place in the south

... you love stories that feature BIPOC characters

...you or someone you love loves Elvis

    

Through the Groves

 

Author: Anne Hull

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Release Date: June 1, 2023

*I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I found it difficult to put down. Anne Hull is an amazing writer. The reader is immediately transmitted to 1960s central Florida- to a place known as The Ridge. Life surrounds the orange groves that cover that part of the state. Her father, a former pesticide salesman, now in the orange juice business, takes Anne with him on his route. (This was her teacher-mother's idea, in order to make sure her dad didn't wind up drinking or in places he should not have been.)

We meet Hull's family in all their eccentric glory. Her father grew up on The Ridge in a family of orange growers. Her mother had come from up north with her own mother- a woman who spoke in a foreign accent although she was American. There is also her easy-going brother Dwight, whose name the family decides to change to Jim later in the story. 

As her coming-of-age story unwinds, Hull takes us back to the 1960s and early 1970s: The Jackson Five, bell bottoms, shopping malls, Tiger Beat Magazine. Her family often struggled financially as they moved around central Florida following her mother's teaching jobs and her father's life in the Groves.

As Hull moves through her teen years, she begins to come to terms with her homosexuality, eventually realizing that she would eventually have to leave the Groves in order to live her life as she chose. 

This is a moving memoir that took me back to my own years in the south in the 1970s. I highly recommend it.

Read this book if...

...you love biographies and memoirs

...you love stories from the southern states

...you enjoy coming-of-age stories

... you enjoy stories about family

Block Party by: Jamie Day

 

Block Party

author: Jamie Day:

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

release date: July 18, 2023

 *I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way. 

    Residents of the exclusive Alton Road community of Meadowbrrok Mass. are gathering for their annual Memorial Day Block Party. Although their lives may appear perfect to the outside world, the people on Alton Road have secrets-- lots of secrets.

    A mysterious new couple has moved in with their son, who has recently been kicked out of college. They don't decorate the inside of their house. They are rarely even seen outside. So why does Alex (short for Alexandria) see her brother-in-law sneaking away from their house late at night?

    A mysterious stalker is tormenting another neighbor. (Why did her husband die so mysteriously?) Yet another neighbor is in a horrible marriage, held prisoner by a prenup she should never have signed.

    A gun is missing and, before the block party is over, more than one person will be dead. Alton Road's residents are about to learn that secrets can be deadly.

    Told in turns through the points of view of Alex (short for Alexandria) and her teen daughter, Lettie, the story takes the reader into the lives of this exclusive, wealthy neighborhood and its residents.

    This is a swiftly moving no-holds-barred story. Full of twists and turns, it leads the reader into the privileged and messy lives of its many characters. I admit I got a few characters mixed up a couple times. Ken and Evan confused me because they were both a little one-dimensional, serving more as a backdrop to their wives. I think both could be drawn out a little more, considering their roles in the story. For the most part, all the male characters are more one-dimensional. An exception would be Jay, who plays more of a starring role. The females are more fully developed and carry the story. This is why the ending is a shocker. There is zero foreshadowing.

    I enjoyed this story. It does move swiftly, without getting bogged down in detail. It moves back and forth in time, which was hard to follow in a couple places. However, it didn't detract from the overall story.

Read this story if...

... you love small town- community stories

... you love mysteries