That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

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If you read any book this summer, make sure it's That Summer by Jennifer Weiner, a story that is both uplifting and unforgiving; heart-breaking but also heart-warming; compelling yet - unfortunately - a timeless story. But Weiner's is a tale that needs to be told.

Daisy is a seemingly contented housewife, but only because she tells herself that it must be so. She has a nice house, a kitchen with all of the frills, a husband who could be worse, and a daughter who can be difficult but is also brimming with confidence and intellect. Then Daisy starts receiving misdirected emails that are meant for Diana, which are mostly invites to fancy parties and events, tugging at Daisy's heart, wondering if settling so soon meant that she had missed out on her dreams. But Daisy didn't receive those emails on accident, Diana is not who she says she is, and what unfolds is a story that is poignant and relevant, a mystery reminiscent of Rosie Walsh's Ghosted, and a true testament to how the Universe works in mysterious ways.

Written with Weiner's trademark wit, That Summer unpacks all of the real dirty laundry that unfolds with every traumatic, life-changing event.  This book goes beyond what we think we know and understand about assault, cutting deep into what the real, long-lasting price of trauma is, for both the victim and the predator, and in being in the horrifying position of bystander. That Summer is about everything that happens afterwards, and comes at the question "What Would You Do If It Were You?" from every possible angle, a harsh though true exercise in empathy for even the most unfortunate of characters. But each of them is heartfully developed, and there are so many moving parts to this story that encompass what it truly means to be a human being, and what it means to have past selves, future selves, and how we reconcile those two in order to live in some form of peace.

I will admit, based on the cover and the synopsis - those on which we shall not judge - I was expecting That Summer to be frothy and fun, but what I got was so much more. It is mysterious and intelligent, thoughtful and relatable, and funny and unrelenting; just like every summer. I've read seven of Weiner's novels, and That Summer is another one of her wins for me. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on my goodreads.

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

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We often wonder how much of ourselves is the direct result of where we come from; what is predetermined by what is running through our veins, and what is the result of our surrounding environment. And it's often an inconclusive venture to discern nature vs nurture when determining why someone did or didn't do something, and no one understands this more than Milly Barnes, facing her daily struggles of Good Me Bad Me. Daughter to a serial killer, the one and only witness to her mother's crimes, and the one to turn her into the police, she is placed in an affluent foster home and enrolled in private school. But as her mother's trial approaches, Milly is constantly faced with a choice: which wolf to feed? 

Good Me Bad Me is a thrilling twist on the age-old question, how far does the apple fall from the tree? Is that something we can even control, and to what extent? Milly and everyone in her world are about to find out.

Hers is a story unlike any other. Hauntingly and disturbingly seductive, it definitely highlights a horrific twist on an all-too-common crime. Good Me Bad Me is unsettling yet captivating and will crawl under your skin and suck you even though you may not want it to. It is brutal and unforgiving, the skillfully disembodied prose giving the story structure and depth and texture, with odd moments of humanity and tenderness, if any exists in such a terrifying scenario. Land - by way of Milly - leaves no stone unturned, and although there isn't the proverbial climactic twist at the end, the book positively drips with suspense. I read it in two days and I suspect you might too. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on my goodreads profile.

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Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

My need to seasonal read reared it's ugly head again when I snatched Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys from my bookshelf, a book I had bought for cheap at one of the many book sales I manage to find around this small city. About the little-known ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, and its little-known tragic end, Salt to the Sea is a Young Adult novel for everyone; a must-read of the World War II genre.

In the winter of 1945, the forces of evil - Stalin and Hitler - fought each other, with the innocent civilian bystanders footing the bill. Being squeezed from their countries, hundreds of thousands of refugees made their way to ships that held promises of freedom and an end to the horrors they were previously forced to endure. Florian, Emilia, Alfred, Joana, the Shoe Poet, and the Wandering Boy who suddenly emerges from the forest, are among them, each sharing the one commonality of war: secrets, with a little bit of hope.

The gaining of passage on the Wilhelm Gustloff is dramatic in and of itself, and Sepetys marvelously handles the atrocities of war - WWII in particular - by not over-horrifying events, but not sugar-coating or glossing over them, either; being able to touch at the heart of why war will never bring true peace. She offers many points of view to consider, even though they may not be particularly agreeable, creating the ability to spark constructive discussions about characters and what leads them to make their specific choices. I would love to be a fly on the wall as this book is discussed by a high school English class, or - heck! - even lead a discussion myself.

Salt to the Sea is hefty, both in size and subject matter, but is able to quickly suck you in. It is an exceptionally well-written, beautifully heartbreaking novel that is important to both history and storytelling. I will definitely be reading her other novels.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim is a classic case of what has been drilled into us since we were in 2nd Grade: never judge a book by its cover. Way back then, of course, that was more literal in order to empower new readers to discover more and more things they liked to read so as to never get bored. As we get older, we know that this statement is geared more towards people and who we allow into our lives, but both uses are always equally true: we never really know what a book or a person is about until we open them up and really get to know what's inside. Miracle Creek is a beautifully written, tremendous novel that honors both of these principles; we cannot even begin to predict the story or the depths of these characters but you'll be eager to find out by page two.

Pak and Young are Korean immigrants living in Miracle Creek, Virginia with hopes of their innovative Miracle Submarine creating a better life for their daughter, Mary. A sort-of new, widely unheard of medical treatment in which people sit in a chamber with pure oxygen as a way to repair damaged cells and "cure" whatever ails the body, Pak and Young are slowly starting to achieve mild success when there is a mysterious explosion, killing two patients, and putting a single mother on trial for her child's murder. What is dubbed more than once as a "taut courtroom thriller," is also a tumultuous and dramatic unraveling of lives forever altered by a series of small decisions.

Miracle Creek is an incredible book where Kim expertly weaves medicine and legalities and courtroom procedure into a story that is heartfelt, emotional, and mysterious, drawing on her own legal and Korean background, as well as her own personal experiences with a "miracle submarine" treatment. Her writing is fluid and clear, evoking the intended emotion and imagery, as the story magically unfolds to not only be one of whodunit, but the inherent struggles of immigrants, thinly veiled and blatant racism and judgment, mom-comparing and mom-shaming, and the daily struggles of being a teen, being in a marriage, being a parent, or trying to become one. This book is so many things, all wrapped up in one unassuming package; just like us.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads

The Dark Rose by Erin Kelly

*Turns to chapter 52 and begins to skim* Which is a good indication that I am not engaged or interested in this book.

*Skims epilogue, reads final paragraph, closes book*

Huh.

That was weird.

It didn't give me the bad feels like I Am Behind You, but Erin Kelly's The Dark Rose made me question my seemingly unwavering faith in one of my favorite and most recommended books, The Burning Air. Where The Poison Tree is dark and confusing, The Dark Rose is disturbing and mostly pointless.

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS

Louisa spends her days mooning over her past while rehabilitating an Elizabethan garden with a handful of wayward criminals not hard enough for prison, but just hard enough to require a respite from society. Enter Paul, one such wayward criminal who happens to bear a sinister resemblance to Louisa's teen lover, Adam. In spite of the obvious age difference, the two begin a romance that is neither romantic or necessary to the story. For his part, Paul is a young man abruptly torn from his future when an act of petty theft turns into a grizzly murder, and the two spend most of their time dancing around their violent commonalities.

Like The Poison Tree (or so I wrote on my goodreads review), The Dark Rose is exquisitely written, with imagery that is near perfection. The story is vivid and dark without a hint of remorse, but it doesn't necessarily need to be told, and the book as a whole is long, slow, and it's unclear why certain plot points need to exist. For example, it seems that Paul's likeness to Adam is an intriguing twist, though it is one that is never revealed to Paul, which could have possibly set the story on a different trajectory. The story also suddenly ends in a random twist of fate, and although these characters aren't particularly empathetic, we're supposed to feel sympathy or understanding for their final emotional upheavals. It seems as if Kelly got to page 300 and was like, well this will either be a 500-page book, or I should just end things now, and obviously chose the latter.

Kelly is a masterful writer, though as a novelist, I'm more a fan of her later works like, He Said/She Said, and I'm looking forward to her new book, Stone Mothers. I will also read her Broadchurch because, like my love/hate relationship with Liane Moriarty, I will return again and again and again. ⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads.

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.