Tag: Fiction

Book Review – Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 5 / 5

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed.

Don’t let the rating fool you, I disliked every moment I spent reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. This novel forced me to encounter grief and heartbreak I have shoved deep, deep, down and would have preferred to leave it there. 

In this novel, Gifty, a young girl who’s family immigrated from Ghana to Alabama, USA, talks about her family dynamics, her brother’s heroin addiction, and the impacts of depression on her mother. I felt raw and exposed. The only way I can effectively portray how this novel made me feel is to share a personal story. 

Like Gifty, I have experienced the frustration, anger, and grief that comes when someone you love suffers from addiction and how you can spend months to years watching them destroy everything around them. No matter how prepared you think you are, no matter how much you convince yourself everything is going to be okay – addiction finds a way to take everything from you. It’s a disease that seeps in and leaves no one untouched. The parallels were uncanny. Gifty’s brother was found in the parking lot of a restaurant; my cousin in the bathroom of Walgreens. 

I was out at a bar with my friends the night I found out my cousin had died. At first I had no idea what my mom was talking about. 

“Brandon is dead,” she said.

I named other boys I knew named Brandon, never once thinking she was talking about my cousin. Once I ran out of Brandons, I took a moment and realized she was talking about the only Brandon I cared about. My favorite cousin. The Brandon we all thought had his addiction under control. 

I refused to come home and hung up the phone. I just started walking, refusing to acknowledge it. Refused to say it out loud. My boyfriend at the time, Keith, grabbed by arm and pulled me back into a hug and I lost it. There I was, standing among a huge group of people hopping between bars, sobbing. I took about 30 seconds to let it out, straightened up, wiped my face, and demanded that we go meet my best friend at the bar down the street.

I knew the moment we locked eyes that my mom had already called her. She walked over to me.

“Are we sad or are we drinking?” she said when she got closer to me. 

I understand, this is not a healthy way of dealing with grief. I understand I should have gone home. I understand that my coping mechanisms, to this day, are not highly recommended. Regardless, I looked at her and said, “drinking.” 

She ordered jagerbombs and that’s the last thing I remember until we were back at my friend’s apartment, me once again sobbing. 

I woke up the next morning, handled my hangover, and headed over to my aunt’s house. I was ready to be with my family, but I didn’t shed another tear until the day of his funeral. I took care of my family.

This book took me right back to where I was the night I found out he had died – sobbing on the sidewalk, unable to name my grief. It was uncomfortable, but until this moment – I didn’t realize how much emotion I still held deep within my heart. 

Yaa Gyasi has created something so real and raw, you become consumed and can’t look away. It’s breaking your heart, but you can’t stop reading. Her words are so honest. It only took me two days to read this one cover-to-cover. 

You need to read this novel. You need to experience the power behind Gifty’s story. I could not recommend Transcendent Kingdom more. 

Buy Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi here at Old Town Books (Alexandria, VA) or at your local bookstore!

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Book Review – Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Genre: Fiction; Mystery; Thriller

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed. 

Over the past two weeks I have found it very difficult to write this review. Not because I don’t have a lot to say, I have many things to say. I’m so good at being excited and passionate. I’m not very good at sharing negative feedback on the books I read. 

While browsing 2nd and Charles, I came across Chevy Stevens’s debut novel and knew immediately I wanted to read it. I really enjoyed her novels Those Girls and Never Let You Go. I have one requirement for thriller/mystery novels – I want a surprise ending or revelation. In the two novels I read previously, the “big reveal” was flawlessly executed but, unfortunately, this one fell short. (Or perhaps I was used to her twists enough that they were easier to spot.)

The style of the book really stood out and had me hooked right away. The narrator/main character, Annie O’Sullivan, recounts her abduction and what came after to her therapist. It’s a style I haven’t read before and I really enjoyed it at the start of the novel. Definitely a creative way to allow the narrator to tell us what happened to them. In this story, it allows for more honesty than might have been present if Annie were talking to someone else like a close friend or family member. 

For me, once we move past the story of Annie’s abduction, the one-way conversation with her therapist starts to feel a little off. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I think at the point where she stops talking about what happened to her and starts discussing the daily events happening in her life it loses some of the genuine feeling. I want a real-time account of everything that was unfolding, not a calm and collecting re-telling more than a week later. 

Here is this woman, who was kidnapped and etcetera (I promised no spoilers) and she’s just calmly sitting there talking about it with her therapist. Her world is literally falling to pieces, even after she comes home, and the experience is too clean. It’s all too easy. 

From the moment she escapes (not a spoiler, she starts off talking to her therapist and immediately mentions that it’s all past tense) it just all feels too clean. 

And then, as with every other Chevy Stevens novel, the victim effortlessly loses herself in the arms of a man with a savior complex? Nope. Too easy. Too clean. 

All of that to say – I finished the book. I stayed up late reading and hoping for a BOOM kind of ending. Toward the end when I started to realize what was happening and how events were unfolding, my reading slowed. There was so much build-up, so much potential, but at the end I felt like the story took the easy way out. I wanted to be surprised, but turning the final pages I only felt disappointment. 

If you are going to read a novel by Chevy Stevens, I recommend Never Let You Go as a first. It has everything you want in a thriller. 

Buy Still Missing by Chevy Stevens at my local bookstore here, Scrawl Books (Reston, VA). 

Have you read Still Missing or other novels by Chevy Stevens? Let’s talk about it! Leave a comment or send me a message.

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Let’s Talk About It – Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

SPOILER ALERT!

There are spoilers in the post below. If you haven’t read Betty, talk a look at my book review here, which is spoiler free. 

Book club has come and gone, and I still want to talk about Betty by Tiffany McDaniel. This book has so much to unpack and discuss. I’m not doing it justice with just a simple book review. If you haven’t read Betty, I cannot recommend it enough. This book will change your life. 

I could sit here and write for ages about all of the different elements of this novel, but for the sake of time (and attention span), I’m going to focus on three that stood out to me. Depending on your background and experiences, you may have walked away from the book with different thoughts on Betty’s story, and I would love to hear from you and talk about it. The layers of Betty are so many that, like following roots from a tree, no one comes out in the very same place or has the same path.. That’s what is so beautiful about it. 

The Journey from Girl to Woman

Each woman in this novel considers her transition to womanhood differently. For most of the women this revolves around losing their virginity and how the loss of childhood or innocence brings you fully into adulthood. The problem with this idea, as is seen many times throughout the novel, is that womanhood can be thrust upon you without your consideration or consent. 

Betty’s mother, Alka, is forced into womanhood when her father rapes her. I see this more as a forcible removal of her innocence, which in turn can transition to her shifting from girl to woman. Alka’s father removed her ability to see the world through the eyes of a child. 

Alka no longer has a flowery vision of the world, and she ensures that her daughters do not either. It’s hard to stomach the stories she tells and the way she talks to her daughters, but it’s almost as if she’s trying to prepare them for something she knows is coming – heartbreak. 

Much like her mother, Fraya doesn’t have a choice when her brother Leland rapes her, ultimately causing her to grow up faster than any of her other siblings. She is taking care of her younger siblings like she is their mother (often criticized by their mother for it) and even terminates a pregnancy with the bark of a tree at a young age.

Flossie, Betty’s other sister, makes casual mention of the boy who took her virginity, who told Flossie she owed him. But with Flossie it’s almost as if she expects this, like somehow being raped is how a girl properly loses her virginity. To me, this is one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the sexual violence throughout – most of the woman accept this as the standard and what should be expected and experienced. 

“My sister was just another girl doomed by politics and ancestral texts that say a girl’s destiny is to be wholesome, obedient, and quietly attractive, but invisible when need be. Nailed to the cross of her own gender, a girl finds herself between the mother and the prehistoric rib, where there’s little space to be anything other than a daughter who lives alongside sons but is not equal to them. These boys who can howl like tomcats in heat, pawing their way through a feast of flesh, never to be called a slut or a whore like my sister was.” (Betty, p. 279)

Betty, despite being the youngest and, one would naturally assume, the most impressionable, doesn’t accept the prevalent rape and sexual assault as her own fate. She’s telling this poetic story, and very clearly influenced by her family around her. We see her try to change the color of her hair and cake on make-up to try and make herself look like her siblings. But, when it comes abusive from men, she refuses to give in to the standard or what her mother and sisters would probably argue is inevitable. 

Betty stands strong and decides her own path, from standing up for herself when confronted by her principal to telling the young boy “no” when he tries to touch her breast. We see her journey to womanhood, not through one traumatic incident that yanks her away from childlike innocence, but throughout a personal voyage through individual lessons, stories, events, and ultimately coming to grips with the reality of her family. 

The most stark example of this transition, in my opinion, is when she finally confronts her brother, Leland, and tells him she knows he raped Fraya and he had no right to use her like that. She threatens him with a shotgun, reveals that his biological father is really the grandfather, and eventually scares him off so that he never returns. In this moment we see her finally use her voice to confront the demons in her family. 

Her bravery, strength, and refusal to lie and hide away the secrets of the past are powerful and inspiring. 

Taking It to the Grave

Secrets. They are sprinkled throughout the pages, but we begin to see a change in Betty as she decides not to take the stories of her family – the lies, the secrets, and even the happiness – to the grave with her. She sees the impacts secrets have on those around her and the damage that can be done. 

Most apparent are Alka and Fraya. Alka held the secret of the rape by her father, and the aid of her mother in these endeavors, close to her chest her entire life, but she decided to tell Betty. It brings perspective and protectiveness for Betty and how she interacts with and takes care of her mother. She sees this woman, who has endured the unimaginable, begin to unravel. 

Then, of course, there are the secrets Fraya kept close – Leland constantly raping her and the forced abortion that almost took her life. Fraya, despite a few moments where she understandably falls apart, is one of the most resilient characters I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She did not let these pieces of her life become her whole existence. She moved away from home, got a job, wrote songs, and, in the end, was talking about leaving their small town in Ohio behind to start a new life. Although Betty never helped Fraya confront the truth about Leland when she was alive, Betty promises to tell her story in the end. 

“‘The only guilty one is you. And one day, when I write this story, you’ll open the book and find small slivers of mirror. Not everywhere, just over the names I’ve given the devil. When you collect the slivers and out them together, it’ll be your reflection that you see…’” (Betty, p. 441)

Loss and Heartbreak

The last topic I felt couldn’t be ignored is the constant presence of death, loss, and heartbreak throughout this novel. Aside from the rape and prejudice and racism throughout, there is so much death. Betty seems to be constantly saying goodbye to family members from her infant siblings she never met to her brother and sisters to a grandfather she hated. 

This is where Landon Carpenter, Betty’s father, really shines through. He dedicated his life to his family. He met a woman in a cemetery, thought he got her pregnant, and in that moment just decided it was his job and he would love them and care for them until the day he died. Other than Betty, he is the most spectacular person in this story. Watching the relationship between Betty and her father develop is so amazing to watch. He holds her up and I think, ultimately, he’s how she makes it through to the end – growing stronger along the way. 

“‘When I took a step forward, the hands took it with me. I realized then that the whole time I thought I’d been walking alone, my father had been with me. Supportin’ me. Steadyin’ me. Protectin’ me, best he could. I know I had to be strong enough to stand on my own two feet. I had to step out of my father’s hands and pull myself up out of the mud. I thought I would be scared to walk the rest of my life without him, but I know I’ll never really be without him because each step I take, I see his handprints in the footprints I leave behind.’” (Betty, p. 452)

Betty loses her brother Trustin, sister Fraya, sister Flossie, and her father Landon – all while trying to find her place in the world. Her whole world was crumbling around her and somehow she came out at the end stronger and more resilient. She is someone I hope to be like. I will spend the rest of my life trying to be more like Betty. 

Have you read Betty? Let me know what stood out to you about the novel. This is definitely one I will be talking about for years to come.

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Book Review – The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk

Genre: Fiction; Horror

Rating: 3.5 / 5

I have complicated feelings about Chuck Palahniuk’s The Invention of Sound, so I’m going to do this review in two parts – the good and the frustrating. My younger self would be appalled that this review isn’t a glowing adoration of Palahniuk’s talent and skill. Until this week, I have never read a book of his I was not obsessed with. 

All that to say, it was still a Palahniuk book and, as such, had the benefit of cutting dark humor and a devastatingly wicked plot to put this book high above others. Ultimately it just left me wanting a little more. I need my thrillers to, well, thrill me. I want to be surprised and confused at the ending, blown away that the author somehow surprised me. It’s also worth noting, once I read the ending, I likely missed a lot of details from my quick read from the beginning of the novel (I couldn’t put it down). With a second read through, my opinion may change in a positive direction. And perhaps that is the magic. I was so sure I knew where we were going that I missed important clues along the way. 


As an overly optimistic person (most times), let’s start with the good. 

The Good

Palahniuk’s characters seduced me within the first few pages. The regular shift between character voice and point of view gives unique insight, much like Palahniuk’s novel Rant, which almost forces the reader to invest in different perspectives. They are each engaging with insane back stories. I found myself in a state of shocked rambling after reading each night. Shout-out to my ever-patient husband who lost sleep being my bouncing board. 

Another positive, at least for me, is just the right amount of violence description to elicit emotion without provoking gore induced nausea (or nightmares). Sometimes when I read novels and the author is too good at describing the scene, or at least too descriptive, I force myself to finish the book but experience a period of resistance when it comes to reading. It’s almost like the gore and horror are haunting me and I can’t shake the feeling. (Yes, I know American Psycho is one of my favorite novels. Contradiction, yay!) The allure of just enough violence description is the effect of the mind compensating for that missing piece. It really lends to the story and character development of one of the main characters, Mitzi, in ways I wasn’t expecting.

Palahniuk also gets credit for uniqueness. This is not your standard plot line or story. I’ve never read anything like it, and I don’t think I will again. Also, benefit for the busibodies like me, this novel can probably be read in one sitting (if you don’t have a toddler running around).

The Frustrating

And now to the frustrating pieces of the novel. 

All things come to an end and I get that. I just… I needed more! I was so excited in the beginning. Constantly talking about the book, rattling off my theories, anxious to see how it all ended. Then… it did. I remember closing the book and just sitting there for a moment, confused but mostly annoyed. Like Palahniuk almost got me there .. almost .. then just stopped. 

There is so much build up and tension throughout the novel. You see these two main characters, Foster and Mitzi, and you think you know how they are connected. You will likely be right, in a sense, but then they finally cross paths and it falls short. I can’t get into details, but when you read this one and get to the end, please reach out. I need closure and I desperately need to talk to someone about this. 

Maybe I’ve been spoiled with Gillian Flynn and other masters of thriller. I’ve even been spoiled by Palahniuk! His novel Rant is the most insane story I think I’ve ever read. I could never have predicted the ending. It was a wild ride from start to finish. I guess this review is a result of Palahniuk being too good at the start. I have a standard and expectation, based on his previous novels, and this one just didn’t live up. 

The Invention of Sound is still a novel worth reading, but if you haven’t read Palahniuk’s other books, start there. Rant and Choke are my top recommendations in that regard. 


On a separate note, a friend/yoga instructor or mine has gotten into my head, so I will no longer be including Amazon links for buying books. I will pick a local bookstore, likely one near me in Northern Virginia (or let me know if you have a recommendation). I hope this encourages you to buy local and support your local businesses. In the age of Amazon, I know they need all the help they can get.

Buy The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk here at Old Town Books in Alexandria, Virginia (or at your local bookstore!).

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Book Review – Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

Genre: Fiction

Rating: 5 / 5

Note: There are NO spoilers in this review. When discussing in the comments, please provide a spoiler warning if needed. 

A simple review wasn’t enough for this one. Betty needs her own playlist, which you can find here on my Spotify. 

Reading the novel Betty by Tiffany McDaniel is akin to undergoing a spiritual and emotional awakening. The stories woven into these pages are mythical and terrifying but somehow also beautiful and uplifting. You watch a young girl “come of age against the knife” but somehow instead of being broken into pieces, she’s built stronger with each turned page. 

Every time I was pulled away from reading Betty’s story, I could not stop thinking about her in our moments apart. Even now, after finishing the novel, I think about where she is now, how did the rest of her life play out? I want to know her. I want to surround myself with people like her. But, most of all, I want to be more like her. 

“What it boiled down to was a frenzied hope that there was more to life than the reality around us. Only then could we claim a destiny we did not believe was our own.”

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, page 133

This journey captures the feminine experience, being at the disposal of the men and the world around you, with lyrical and heart wrenching prose. However, it still allows space for men who lift women up. The balancing act between true evil and goodness, and everything in between, is so spectacularly done when describing the various men (and women) Betty encounters; I’m not sure any author could begin to compare. I felt Betty’s pain. I felt her mother’s pain. I felt her sisters’ pain. And I wanted to hold them, and tell them everything would be okay. In them, I saw my friends, sisters, mom, and every woman I have had the pleasure of knowing who have experienced pain throughout their lives. 

Tiffany McDaniel does not stray away from the violence inflicted on women throughout our lives from family members and friends and men in positions of power. She shows that it’s not the color of your skin or the money you make or the profession you have chosen – at the end of the day you are either good or evil and there is no inbetween. You either have a soul nestled in the bridge of your nose or you don’t have one at all. 

I cannot recommend this novel enough. Go, now, to your closest (local) bookstore and pick this one up. Clear your schedule and grab a box of tissues. You have not read poetry until you have experienced the words written on these pages and the stories they tell. 

Buy Betty here on Amazon (or at your local bookstore)!

Have you read Betty? Let’s talk about it. Leave a comment or send me a message letting me know what you thought of the novel.

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Book Review – Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy

Rating: 4 / 5 

SPOILER ALERT!

If you have somehow made it through the past 15 years without reading or watching anything Twilight-related, there are spoilers below. 

I need to be honest up front – I am an OBSESSIVE Twilight fan and I go very hard for Team Edward. It’s been more than a decade since I first met Bella, and I still watch the movies regularly. In fact, I just reread Twilight a few months ago. I tell you this because it’s important to know going into my book review of Midnight Sun. I have been waiting for Edward’s point-of-view for a while (like I said, over a decade). If you aren’t a Twi-hard, like me, you may not enjoy this one as much as I did, but here we go.

Much like the 50 Shades of Grey series from Christian’s perspective, this shift of in vantage point to let you hear, see, and experience everything from the other side. The preconceptions I had about what Edward was thinking were shattered as I finally got a look beyond Bella. Stephenie Meyer did an excellent job of weaving people’s thoughts with their verbal dialogue. It was easy to read and engaging. From the scene where the boys at school line up to ask Bella out to Edward’s complicated relationships with each of his family members – it gives a new light to the story. 

I was hoping we may learn more than we didn’t previously know, which didn’t happen. We had a glimpse of Edward’s “birth” and his early days, but it wasn’t more than what we previously knew. This is likely because Bella and Edward are together for a majority of the story and they are very open with each other. I think this will improve in the future books since the couple does spend some time apart. 

We also get a better understanding of Edward’s individual relationships with each member of his family. My favorite, which I won’t get into in hopes of not spoiling anything, is Jasper. He’s much more than we ever imagined. The love permeating off of Esme is also something to behold. I hope to be half of the mom she is.

However, there are some things we learn throughout this story that weren’t present in the first novels. First is about how Bella and Alice became such good friends. I don’t remember Twilight getting into the details of how Alice helped Bella recover from the fight with James, but Edward does give us some additional details that help explain the strong connection. 

Overall, I’ll just say this was a fun read. I was unable to put the book down and read it cover-to-cover in less than a week. I love this series and this just gave me another avenue to learn more about some of my favorite characters on a journey we started together long ago. If you are a Twilight fan, I highly recommend it. If you have yet to read any of the Twilight books, start with the original series and wrap it up with Midnight Sun. The original series is still at the top of my list. Even Edward Cullen can’t compare with that. 

Buy Midnight Sun here on Amazon (or at your local bookstore)!

Have you read Midnight Sun? Share your comments below!

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