Hey all,
I wanted to let you know that you’ve reached the end of the blog, at least for now. I have decided to stop publishing to the blog and to maintain an Instagram page with shorter reviews, what I’m currently reading, and my recommendations. If you’d like to join me over there – and I hope you will! – the handle is @courtreadsblog.
It has been so much fun to share my love of reading with the world, and I thank you for being a part of it.
Full disclaimer: there’s going to be a lot about this book that I can’t share with you because it will spoil the whole story for you, but what I can tell you is NOT TO GOOGLE anything about the show or the book before watching or reading. It is just took delicious to let the story unfold before you – I promise it is worth it!
“It’s strange how different we all appear to who we really are.”
Behind Her Eyes is a psychological thriller that follows married couple David (a psychiatrist) and his wife, Adele, who recently moved to town. Out at a bar by himself one night, David runs into a woman named Louise, and the two share drinks and conversation and ultimately a kiss at the end of the date that leaves David visibility shaken. The next day, when he shows up at his new office, David learns that his new assistant is none other than mysterious stranger from the bar, Louise. Both are shocked to see each other again, but they have a laugh and agree to move forward as though nothing ever happened – which proves more difficult than either expected. (Hint: it doesn’t go well.)
“Everyone has secrets. Everyone should be allowed their secrets. You can never know everything about a person. You’d go mad trying to.”
When single mother Louise drops her son Adam (who is the best part of the show, if you ask me, he’s so cute!) off at school one day, she literally bumps into a beautiful woman on the street, knocking her down. Little does she know that this woman, Adele, is David’s wife, and she has carefully orchestrated this not-so-accidental run in. The two go to a nearby coffee shop and chat, and once it comes out that Adele is David’s wife, she begs Louise not to mention their run-in to David. She coyly paints him as a bit of a control freak, which is much expanded upon in the book – you’ll have to read it for yourself! All I can say is that you will question everything you think you know about all of these characters throughout the tale.
“Secrets, secrets, secrets. People are filled to the brim with them if you look closely.”
I watched the show before reading the book which I NEVER do, but both were so well done I just can’t get over it! The author does such a fantastic job of foreshadowing when you don’t even realize that’s what she’s doing. The way the characters are written about will thoroughly confuse you in the best way – is David a violent, all-controlling husband? Is Adele totally off her rocker? What in the heck is Louise doing by manipulating both Adele and David so she can keep them both in her life? You won’t know if – or who – the bad guy is until the very last page, and it is so rewarding. This is really a book unlike any other – I had some weird dreams after I watched the show and both the show and the book made me think hard – they kind of broke my brain!
This book is the very definition of psychological thriller. If you have somehow made it to this blog and you aren’t much of a reader, I fully support you just watching the show – it’s worth it!
“Black people have to work two times harder and be twice as good.”
An Instagram “influencer” who I follow posted that she was reading this book, so I added it to my list and somehow managed to get a great deal on a Kindle copy. I couldn’t put down The Black Friend, and I found myself laughing at the author’s funny quips and also shaking my head in disgust at so many of his every day racist experiences. He opens the book by letting the reader know that “racism and white supremacy influence literally everything.” That is a rather tough pill to swallow, and one that admittedly I still struggle with, but clearly I take Joseph’s word for it – I appreciate that he was vulnerable and raw as he shared his story.
“It won’t be long before the stress of being Black in this world finds you.”
As I’ve mentioned, I have been working hard on learning and unlearning about racism, American history, and implicit bias since last summer. I certainly wish I had been putting in the work before the Black Lives Matter movement really took off, but I’m here now. This book mentions how Black people have to learn a lot of “white crap” – including white history, however factually inaccurate. The author brings up a good point – how much are white people learning about people of color? Sadly, the answer is “not much,” unless you are personally pursuing it on your own. I am always impressed when reading books like The Black Friend that the authors, though faced with discrimination and hatred literally everyday, can manage to inject humor into the situation – like when Joseph mentions he’s been to over ten John Mayer concerts and two hockey games, which are “two of the whitest events on Earth.”
“The inability of people to accept accountability for doing things that are wrong is in the DNA of America.”
I choose to surround myself with others who are actively pursuing education and learning to not only be “not racist,” but anti-racist. Joseph brings up two interesting questions that people of color are sick of hearing, “Why does everything have to be about race?” and “I don’t see color.” I will admit that I am definitely guilty of the former, telling myself that surely not everything can be about race. However, what I have learned as I educate myself proves that in fact yes, everything is rooted in or about race. As soon as white people can come to terms with this, and stop saying things like “I don’t see color,” the easier it will be for us to make noticeable progress in our education. Perhaps the best explanation of why not seeing color is a problem comes from this book: the author wants us to see “the beauty in our differences.”
“All we asked them to do was respect us. Why won’t they just respect us?”
Joseph shares personal experiences of racism, cultural appropriation, and microagressions in the hopes that his readers will continue to learn how to be better allies. He even provides an index of words used throughout the book that you may not be familiar with, which I thought was brilliant as well as handy! I found the book easy to read, more like a conversation over coffee than a lecture, and as I mentioned, the humorous bits will make you chuckle. Frederick Joseph is a guy you want to hang out with! His explanations are very straight-forward, easy to understand, and relatable without making you feel scolded if you’ve messed up. It is clear that his main goal is for white people to rethink and challenge what they’ve learned and been handed down by their parents/teachers/etc., and what the benefits are for being a more inclusive person.
My last point is one that I have heard many times, and Joseph reiterates in his book: “While this book is meant to be a guide for white people to understand and be better, it’s important that white people also understand that it isn’t the duty of Black people or people of color to explain things.” Do your research, get educated, and expand your worldview. Read books, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries. The time to be a better white person is now! I can’t recommend this book enough – 5 stars.
If you’d like more information, you can follow Fredrick Joseph on Twitter, Instagram, or go check out his website here.
“The point I’m making is that hate never dies.. it can go dormant and seem to disappear when it’s actually hiding and evolving, passed from generation to generation.”
The Last Sister by Kendra Elliot was a thrilling mystery that takes place along the Oregon coast which added an extra element of fun to it since that’s one of my favorite places in the world! I’m so fortunate to live an hour from the mountains and an hour and a half from the beach! The story follows Emily Mills, a young woman whose father was murdered twenty years earlier. After his death, her eldest sister, Tara, ran away and hasn’t been seen since. A suspect in her father’s murder was apprehended, charged, and convicted, and that was that. Emily and her younger sister Madison remain on the coast and are shocked when a well-liked black man is murdered in the same fashion as her father.
“We can’t say racism doesn’t exist because it’s never personally touched us. It’s here and it can be deadly.”
Emily had the misfortune of finding the body and being absolutely shattered to find it was a friend of hers. Was it racially motivated? A hate crime? Or someone sending a message that Emily’s father’s murderer is still on the loose? Between the crime, trying to track down her missing sister, running a restaurant, and making googly eyes at FBI Special Agent Zander Wells, Emily’s quite busy. She hasn’t had feelings like this for anyone since her divorce from her controlling police officer husband several years prior, and Zander seems to feel the same.
“Memory is inherently unreliable. With time, it degrades. With trauma, it fragments. In isolation, it festers.”
Zander and his partner are on the case, and when he learns about Tara’s mysterious disappearance, his interest is piqued and he agrees to help Emily find Tara, but to say that Tara doesn’t want to be found is an understatement. There are so many family secrets threatening to eke out, and Emily will stop at nothing before she figures out who really murdered her father, and who is responsible for the awful crime that killed her friend.
Emily is a fearless sort, and she is extremely likeable – the whole family is, really! Kendra Elliot is fantastic at crafting mysteries, and I found the element of race laced through gave this book a timely touch. If you are a fan of Diane Chamberlain, Melinda Leigh, and Blake Pierce, I have a feeling that you will enjoy The Last Sister. The descriptions of the deaths are a bit gruesome, but I wouldn’t say it’s overly graphic, although I have a strong stomach for that in literary fiction, so that take for what you will!
I may have already found my favorite book of the year…. I read Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah back in March. I started it on a rainy day, and later on, when I got in bed to read, I just knew I would stay up as late as I needed to finish it – and it was so good. I mean, this book was perfect, honestly – I borrowed a Kindle copy using Kindle Unlimited, but I have since purchased a paperback copy because I know I will read and re-read this for years to come. I cannot believe it’s the author’s debut novel! Let’s get started.
When Jo Teale, a graduate student studying nesting birds in rural Illinois, returns to her quiet cabin after a long day of field work to find a dirty, bruised, odd little girl in her yard, she isn’t thrilled. Jo is recovering from a devastating illness and the heartbreak over her mother’s death, and the last thing she needs is a barefoot nine year old missing girl to deal with. The girl is unlike any other child Jo’s ever known – first, because she says her name is Ursa and that she’s an alien from another planet sent from the stars to Earth to witness five miracles before she can return “home”. Ursa is bright, intelligent, magnetic, and quite frankly, an utter delight. Against her gut, Jo lets the girl hang around the cabin – feeding, bathing, and clothing her and letting her sleep on the cabin’s couch.
“As always, words fail when you most want to say the right thing.”
Jo is immediately annoyed by Ursa’s alien story and the “language” she speaks, but she finds her ability to stick with her story uncanny for such a young girl. Jo scours the internet for missing children and even calls the town sheriff, but when he arrives, Ursa flees, running into the woods with her mangey stray dog, affectionately called Little Bear. Jo finally tracks the girl back down and promises her that she won’t call the cops, but continues to demand Ursa tell her where she came from, and where “home” is so she can be returned.
“Sometimes bad things happen to make good things happen.”
Ursa steadfastly sticks to her story of being from the stars, and what’s so funny is that things happen when she’s around… things that feel like magic. As Ursa and Jo get to know their brooding yet handsome neighbor, Gabe, the three become somewhat of a small family. Gabe and Jo are fighting attraction to each other while grappling with a nagging feeling that something’s just not quite right with Ursa. When I first read the synopsis of this book and realized it was “strange little girl from the woods thinks she’s an alien”, I rolled my eyes, hard! But honestly, there were times in this book where I thought to myself, “Maybe she is from another planet?” I was trying to figure this story out, and Ursa is so pure, so smart, so… magical, that the reader gets absolutely sucked in – just like Gabe and Jo. They both know there could be serious consequences to their actions, but they just can’t let Ursa go.
“Survivors can live and love more fully than people who haven’t stared death in the face”
Sure enough, the truth behind Ursa’s past – and Jo’s – and Gabe’s for that matter! – will be revealed, and tears will be shed! This book will make you laugh and cry, and I was unbelievably sad when it was over. The author does a fantastic job of demonstrating that family and love come in many forms, and often sneak up on you when you least expect it. Ursa is trying to witness five miracles – to her, miracles include seeing a bird’s nest for the first time, or playing with weeks-old kittens. What if we all lived every day like that and found such joy in what we often take for granted?
This story is so beautiful, so full of wonder and mystery – yes, it’s about love and family, but it’s also about surviving the unthinkable, grit, and perseverance. I’m confident that Ursa will wiggle her way into your heart just as she does in the story. You can grab a copy of Where the Forest Meets the Stars here. Enjoy!
“To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down, but you can’t let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.”
I re-read Firefly Lane for the first time in YEARS during our crazy ice storm back in February. Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors, and I know everyone was aflutter at the Netflix TV show based on this book, so rather than watch the show, I thought I’d give the book another read, and it was just as good as I remembered it to be.
The story follows young Kate Mularkey in her early adolescence – kind of dorky, basically friendless, talks to her horse a lot. Kate is so desperate for a friend, and then one day, she catches a glimpse of the new girl across the street, Tallulah “Tully” Hart. Tully is everything Kate thinks she isn’t: tall, leggy, beautiful, confident, but what Kate doesn’t know is the pain hiding behind Tully’s tough exterior. Tully’s mother has a substance abuse problem which causes her to completely neglect her young daughter. In fact, Tully’s been living with her grandmother since the last time her mother blew through like a breeze. One day, Tully’s mother returns unannounced, plucks Tully out of her environment, and moves them across the street from the Mularkey family.
“That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours. ”
Kate and Tully become close friends almost instantly, despite their differences. The book follows them through high school, getting caught out at parties, far too scantily-clad for teenagers, rooming together in their sorority at the University of Washington, and even their first big internship together. Tully wants to be the world’s next biggest reporter, and she wants Kate by her side. Tully has been a part of the Mularkey family for years, and she’s basically the other half of Kate’s heart, but what Tully doesn’t know is that Kate just doesn’t share the same professional goals as she does. It’s no big surprise that their paths diverge a bit as this becomes clearer.
“That was what a best friend did: hold up a mirror and show you your heart.”
Before too long, Tully Hart is America’s News Sweetheart. She is flying all over the world covering the most exciting stories, and Kate has fallen into domestic bliss with a husband and child who love her. Kate and Tully still make time to see each other, and they fight and make-up like sisters do. The two experience some growing pains as Kate’s teenaged daughter begins to rebel. Tully thinks she’s helping, but she is going behind Kate’s back to placate Marah and it ends in complete disaster. Before too long, the blow-up is in the rear-view mirror as a tragedy befalls one of the friends and they are reunited as one fights the ultimate fight.
What I like about this story is that it’s so real – it is a total rollercoaster of emotions. Through husbands, new jobs, heartbreak, loss, and happiness, it’s always Tully and Kate. Even when they’re name-calling or not even speaking, you just know that Kate and Tully would walk through fire for each other, and we should all be so lucky to have a friend like that. This book is a tearjerker toward the end, and it’s a really beautiful life story full of ups and down that I hope you find as enjoyable and relatable as I did.
It had been far too long since I read something by Diane Chamberlain, and Big Lies in a Small Town was a fantastic reminder of just how good she is. No one can craft a time-hopping mystery like Ms. Chamberlain!
This story follows present day Morgan Christopher – an aspiring artist who took the fall for a crime she didn’t commit. She is currently in prison serving her time when a woman named Lisa comes to visit her with her lawyer, Andrea. Lisa has an interesting proposition for Morgan: it turns out that Lisa’s deceased father, Jesse Williams, was a renowned artist, and he has requested that Morgan restore a mural painted by a woman named Anna Dale back in the 1940s.
The other half of the story is told by Anna herself – a bright young white woman who won a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. A resident of New Jersey herself, Anna picks up and moves to Edenton following the death of her mother to get to the know the town she must paint for. Anna quickly falls in love with the charming town, however, she finds it full of prejudice and racism. When she befriends an artistically gifted Black teenager, Jesse, to help her with the mural, the town revolts and rumors swirl.
Back in 2018, Morgan cannot fathom why Jesse Williams would want her to restore this mural. Morgan is an artist, yes, but she has no experience in restoration and she’s sure she is headed for disaster. She knows she can’t blow this chance though; she is out of prison on parole and ready to start anew. Lisa, Jesse’s daughter, is a busy, sour realtor who also has no idea why her father named Morgan for the job, but Lisa takes Morgan in and provides her with a few basic supplies to get back on her feet. Sooner than later, Morgan is engrossed in her work and the history of the mural. It’s in really poor shape and there are some drawings on it that make Morgan think that poor Anna must have been losing her mind while she painted – it just doesn’t add up. But with the help of Lisa, her new friend Oliver, and a lot of grit and determination, Morgan will stop at nothing to restore the painting and Anna’s reputation.
Both Anna and Morgan are simply delightful characters. Both have lost their way in life and are clawing their way back. Separated by all those years, you will never guess how the two woman are connected, and in true Diane Chamberlain fashion, every loose end is tied up neatly by the end – but not before you shed a tear or two!
If you’re a fan of Jodi Picoult, Barbara O’Neal, Sue Monk Kidd, or Diane Chamberlain herself, Big Lies in a Small Town is a 5-star read you won’t be able to put down.
Harlan Coben is an absolute genius – I’m sure I have said this before, but I just cannot put his books down when I start! I have tried to get my hands on as many of his books as I can, and Gone for Good was another amazing 5-star read. My husband and I were without power for five days during a historic ice storm out here in the PNW in February, so I read as many books as I can, and if you need a fast-paced thrilled that will no doubt keep your interest, you can always turn to Harlan Coben.
Gone for Good follows our narrator, Will Klein. Currently living in New York City with his girlfriend Sheila (whom he immediately calls his “soulmate”), Will works for a non-profit that helps homeless teens out on the streets. Everything is going quite well for him until Sheila disappears into the night without a trace. Oh, did I mention the part where Will’s beloved brother, Ken, has been missing without a trace for eleven years after Will’s ex-girlfriend, Julie, was murdered and Ken was the main suspect? Yeah, that happened.
While home by his ailing mother’s bedside, she whispers with her last breath that Ken is in fact alive. Will has always assumed his brother was dead – it has been easier to compartmentalize the loss that way. But when Will finds a photo that provides him with concrete evidence that Ken is out there, he is shaken up, to say the least. Add in the disappearance of Sheila and Will is a wreck.
I don’t want to give away too much, but Will starts to look into his ex’s murder with her sister, Katy, and before too long, the pieces start to fall into place tying together Ken, Sheila, and even Julie. As you turn the pages, the story becomes more and more clear. Will travels the country with his best friend, Squares, trying to figure out what happened to Sheila and Ken, and he never gives up on either of them. Even when Ken’s betrayal slaps Will across the face, he still has steadfast faith in his brother. If you ask me, Will is quite a guy!
Trust me when I say this story is fabulous. You will trek all over the country between New Mexico, Idaho, New York City with Will and Squares as they glue the pieces of this puzzle together. What Will learns about his brother, dating back to their childhood, is WILD – and I hope that you enjoy every twist and turn!
Here’s the monthly round up of what I read in March… I kind of can’t believe it’s already April! Where does the time go?
One of the first books I read this year was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. The story follows 16 year old Starr Carter as she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, after they are pulled over for seemingly no reason, other than being Black.
“My parents haven’t raised me to fear the police, just to be smart around them. They told me it’s not smart to move while a cop has his back to you. Khalil does. He comes to his door. It’s not smart to make a sudden move. Khalil does. He opens the driver’s door.“
Unfortunately, this story is very timely – we have seen with our own eyes young Black people be shot or killed without reason. Starr and Khalil run into each other at a party, and he offers her a ride home. The two leave, and on their way home, they are pulled over. Khalil is unarmed, but somehow, the exchange with the police officer leaves Khalil dead and Starr in absolute shock.
“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”
Starr is used to living in two worlds: she goes to a prestigious, mostly-white prep school on the “good side” of town, but she lives in the rougher part of town, a place where she feels she can be herself. Starr shares her internal dialogue while at school as she tries to seem as polished, prim, and proper as she can. Only at home with her loving family can she just be Starr. This isn’t something that I have personally had to grapple with, so I found it a bit startling at first – a 16 year old girl trying her hardest to keep up two personas – we all remember being 16, right? It’s hard enough on its own! Starr is a very strong young woman who doesn’t put up with flack from anyone, and I found her easy to admire. She is warm, super smart, and funny – some of her one-liners really had me giggling!
“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
Following the shooting, Starr is known in the news as simply “the witness,” so she naively thinks her life can continue as it was before Khalil died. Of course, it can’t be that easy. While she’s trying to wade through her grief and keep up appearances, so much is happening with her family, the girls she thought were friends, and in her neighborhood.
To say this book was eye-opening is an understatement. I have learned so much since the Black Lives Matter movement really took off over the summer, but I still have so far to go – I think we all do. Though Starr was a fictional character, my heart couldn’t help but break for her – for all she has to go through on a daily basis without the death of one of her closest friends. This book was a masterpiece and I can’t recommend it enough. I’d suggest finding a local, black-owned bookstore where you can grab a copy. (Also, if you have somehow made your way here and you aren’t a reader, I hear that the movie is also very good, so maybe you can check that out.)
Court Reads 