The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Unless you live under a rock, you probably still have WiFi, so you've seen The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen all over Instagram and book blogs. Well, here it is again, and I don't feel quite the same way that my fellow bookstagrammers and book bloggers do.

This book, another in a long line of domestic thrillers, is billed to be a lot more sinister than it actually is, and the mystery is far surpassed by the emotional drama. In terms of sub-categorizing the domestic fiction genre, I believe The Wife Between Us would make better company among novels like Ghosted and anything by Liane Moriarty. It offers up enough twists and turns to satisfy the thriller-seekers, but, really, this book ultimately dives deeper into the characters, the tangled webs they weave and why, all wrapped up in an empathetic story line.

Like the book jacket suggests, you will read this book and assume you are reading about a heartbroken ex-wife, left by her wealthy, powerful husband for his younger, blonder, Assistant (they don't call them Secretaries anymore). You will think that she is obsessed with her replacement and yearns for the life she once had. Then comes the twist, so sharp you get whiplash and, like Erin Kelly's The Burning Air, you are almost tempted to go back and flip through the last section just to make sure that, yup, she/they did just do that. This twist, though sharp, is also a bit watered down; Kelly still reins supreme.

The Wife Between Us is a well-written, well-crafted story that comes full-circle, but not without throwing out the odd detour here and there. And though psychologically mind-bending, it is more heart-warming than the synopsis would have you expect. It lives up to the hype, serving up several twists and turns, they just come on too sharp, start to become predictable, and one twist is sorely over-used in novels these days. The characters are deep and interesting and garner sympathy, but Vanessa's role in particular is a bit of a stretch, and I find her role hard to believe given the past that Hendricks and Pekkanen created for her.

Though a definite page-turner with compelling storytelling, I don't think this book is as good as the online hype; or maybe I am just tiring of the predictability that seems to be the way of domestic thrillers these days. I was expecting something different and a little darker and The Wife Between Us is just more of the same and left me a little underwhelmed, which is why I give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads. I've said it before and I'll say it again, just read The Burning Air instead.

The Way We Bared Our Souls by Willa Strayhorn

I like to boast that I will read pretty much anything, though I avoid trigger topics like I mentioned before, and if ever I am given the opportunity to choose between a Young Adult novel and anything else, I will almost always choose Anything Else. I appreciate the genre, though with every YA book I've read (The Hunger Games trilogy - HERE, HERE, and HERE - Divergent, Cinder, How To Lead a Life of Crime, The Fault in Our Stars, etc.), I've felt that they are decidedly *not* Young Adult but just Regular Adult. Willa Strayhorn's The Way We Bared Our Souls is exactly what a Young Adult novel should look and sound like, and I think it would do actual young people a service to read and discuss this book with their peers, and perhaps an English teacher.

Lo is on the verge of being diagnosed with MS; Ellen is numbing herself with drugs and alcohol; Kaya, due to a chronic illness, is immune to feeling physical pain; Thomas can't forget his war-torn past; and Kit constantly fears death after his girlfriend's car accident. And when Lo meets a mysterious man and his coyote who says he can perform a sacred ritual to relieve their biggest burdens, Lo - like many teenagers - believes this is her only option; that this mysterious Jay will somehow cure her and the others. So they head into the desert and trade totems in what they believe to be purely symbolic but quickly turns literal. For the next seven days, the teens take on each other's burdens, which begs the question: if you could trade your biggest burden for someone else's, would you?

While not the most well-written or literary of the Young Adult genre, The Way We Bared Our Souls shows up for teens where Thirteen Reasons Why falls short; where Thirteen Reasons does a lot of victimizing and blaming, The Way We Bared Our Souls emphasizes the importance of showing up for ourselves, and that our burdens don't have to be what defines or controls us. There are moments when the story is a bit of a stretch, but the main points are never lost. And while there are far too many periods - which I assume is so teen readers will move seamlessly from one sentence to the other - the mood of the novel can get a bit Dawson's Creek and overly mature, which young readers today won't understand the reference to, anyways. Strayhorn satisfactorily showcases relatable teen angst with a splash of make-believe and magic and some good American history to bring things back down to Earth.

I give this book ⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads mostly because the book as a whole is a bit young for me, and I find adult books to be generally more engrossing. Teens, however, could really gain something valuable from The Way We Bared Our Souls.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Set in late March (I'm an avid seasonal reader); takes place in a remote mountain town (of Sweden, though that is never mentioned directly, and, given the imagery, could very well take place in Alaska); the name of that town being Beartown; the story revolving around a hockey team; Beartown by Fredrik Backman could have been called This Book Was Written For You, Breanne! Unfortunately, those basic characteristics are where my affection for this book take a sharp turn.

Backman's novel included, I have only ever read two books where rape is the eye of the storm and everything around it spins out of control. This might be hard to believe from someone who reads approximately 30 books a year, but I am extremely sensitive to triggers so I go out of my way to avoid them. As a woman, and as a woman who was raised with a certain code of values and responsibilities, I find these particular stories about rape frustrating. It was especially disconcerting - and sometimes encouraging - that I forgot Beartown isn't in the United States, proving that extremely unfortunate ethics and so-called morals transcend cultures.

Beartown is on the brink of extinction. Business are closing up shop, council members see little reason to invest, and there is even talk of moving the school to the next town over. All the hopes of Beartown - big and small - rest on the shoulders of Beartown Ice Hockey, a group of teenage boys who moved up the local ranks to once and for all have a shot at winning the finals. Treated like heroes and worshiped like gods, a teen girl is raped and everything and every one spirals out of control.

Coincidentally, along with being only the second rape-centered book I've ever read, Beartown is also the second sports drama I've ever continuously rolled my eyes through, and lets just say, I'm not a fan. Beartown is written considerably better than Blind Your Ponies, but the drama is just as contrived, and the level of cheese requires just as much wine. Is there really that much cheese behind those locker room doors, or do writers just *think* there is really that much cheese behind those locker room doors? And aside from the manufacturing, the cheesy drama is extremely redundant, and alternates between the reader being in the center of it all to the reader having to squint through a dirt encrusted window. I will say, however, that even though there are just so many words, Backman manages to arrange them in a pleasing, thoughtful manner.

Sifting through the fromage is only tolerable because as focus on the game starts to fade, the crevasses in the characters become crystal clear, and suddenly navigating their truly unfortunate choices is all we are able to focus on. Backman's characters are to have us believe that to err is to be human, though there is not one character in this book that has more than one redeeming quality. Each character makes frustratingly frightening decisions while Backman tries to explain them away with the shedding of silent tears; as if to be human is to selfishly destroy others. I did not find one character to be even remotely likable. Well, except maybe the bass player.

From what I understand of the reviews, this story is a diversion from Backman's usual writings. This being my first of his novels, I find this encouraging as I still have A Man Called Ove on my unread shelf and now I am more inclined to read it. I have no desire to continue reading about these particular characters, though, so I will opt out of reading the sequel, Us Against You. 

⭐⭐/5 on goodreads