At first glance, Damnation Spring seems to be exactly the sort of book I would enjoy. The premise is amazing and so is the setting. But the story takes so long to get going and is so bogged down by technical logging jargon that I lost patience with it.

Rich is a fourth generation logger making a living out of felling trees in California's redwood forest in the 1970s. When the opportunity comes to own a grove nearby with the biggest tree of them all, it's hard to pass up. Meanwhile, his wife Colleen desperately wants another child, but is heartsick after multiple miscarriages. And she isn't alone, knowing many women nearby who have had similar misfortunes. But is it just bad luck, or is something going on in this town where herbicide is sprayed abundantly and frequently?

Yes, I'm totally on board with this premise. Give me beautiful scenery, hardworking folks, and tight-knit communities any day. It's also an interesting period of our history, heralding in the awakening of a collective conscience towards our environment, with citizens starting to realize that we could not just raze to the ground with impunity our natural resources and somehow not face the consequences.

But I knew almost from page one that this was going to be a slog. The book is filled with logging descriptions, technical terms, equipment details, and slang, all used without any explanations to make it easier for the reader. Even the simplest logging terms took me a long time to figure out. (Apparently "pumpkins" are trees, not actually pumpkins, sigh.) The narrative is mostly alternating between Rich and Colleen, and I started to dread Rich's turns, where it seems half of his pages are filled with the intricate details of his logging job.

The part of the blurb that most caught my eye is Colleen's story where she tries to figure out what is happening to her community. But the pace is so glacial that she doesn't even put two and two together until halfway through the book. And it isn't until the last 100 pages that much happens. In a 450 page book, that means the first 350 pages was a total grind.

It doesn't help that, other than Rich and Colleen, most of the characters in here are unlikable. This took me by surprise, for a book supposedly about the working-class experience, to paint most of these people so unfavorably. And there were so many characters in here, dropping in and out of the story without proper introductions, so I feel like I'm constantly stumbling along trying to figure out who each person is.

I had such high expectations for this book going in. But the glacial pace, logging jargon, and huge cast of characters all contributed to my sense of constant bewilderment, like I didn't know what was going on. Often, I resorted to guessing and rereading paragraphs over and over for any grasp of understanding. It's hard to rate a book higher than 3 stars when I'm not sure I understood half of it.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review. 

Women's fiction at its best, What Alice Forgot is everything I've come to love from Liane Moriarty.

Alice gets bumped on her head and loses ten years of her memory. The last thing she remembers is being twenty-nine, in love with her husband Nick, and pregnant with their first child. Instead, she's now thirty-nine, has three children, and is about to get divorced. As she tries to piece together what happened, she must figure out who she really is and all that's important to her.

At first glance, this seems like a fluffy beach read of second chances and domestic drama. But the more I read, the more I discovered. Relationships are not easy, and the complexity of them and how the years can cause them to deteriorate is deftly captured in here. I found both Alice and Nick to be sympathetic characters, and could see how life and the stress of raising three children wore them out.

I also enjoyed the storyline with Alice's sister. Though I normally don't gravitate towards plots with siblings falling out or infertility, something about the way this was written made it feel universal. We all have family members we have less than stellar relationships with, and we all dream of things we want that we don't have. I found the exploration of when to give up and move on, versus staying and hoping, to be skillfully done.

Moriarty's writing is always eminently readable, and this book is no different. Once I started, I found it unputdownable. It was easy to get swept away into this story of interesting, complex characters and their difficult choices. There's also this subtle humor sprinkled throughout that keeps it from becoming too maudlin or sappy.

Still, it stays true to the genre, so eventually everyone gets what they want and everything is wrapped up neatly. But that doesn't detract from the story, which I found to be nuanced and fascinating. This is definitely one of my favorites from Liane Moriarty.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

The Lion's Den suffers from too much of a good thing. What starts as a fun romp quickly morphs into an over-the-top, gaudy, melodramatic extravaganza that burned me out.

Belle, a struggling actress, is thrilled when her former best friend Summer invites her to spend a week aboard her wealthy boyfriend's yacht in the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. She obviously can't pass up such a chance. But after she boards, she starts to realize that something may be amiss.

On the surface, this seems like the perfect beach read: idyllic setting, glamor and decadence, and a little bit of a mystery woven in. But the more I read, the less I enjoyed, until it became almost painful to read any more of the insanity that was this story and these characters.

I'll just come out and say it: Belle annoyed me to no end. She lets her friends walk all over her while simultaneously sucking up to them. Each time they did crazy stuff to her (like drugging her or leaving her behind in a foreign country for being a few minutes late), she would apologize profusely and slavishly even though it wasn't her fault.

It doesn't help that she's also dim and a lush. She can't come up with words when she needs to, then blurts out random things when she shouldn't. She keeps complaining about how she doesn't feel well, then proceeds to drink copious amounts of alcohol, which makes her feel worse. Did I somehow stumble into a domestic thriller without realizing?

But the rest of the characters were no better. They were all superficial, backstabbing, and immensely unlikable. The drama between them was petty and salacious. It was like watching a reality show on steroids, where everyone acted as trashy as possible while also breaking every law they could. My eyes rolled so hard it's possible I bruised them.

And the mystery turned out to be predictable. It was written in an intentionally convoluted way to maximize the obfuscation and drama. Without that, it would have been simple and straightforward.

I was so excited when I started this book. But the more I read, the more stressed out I got. The craziness and the melodrama just kept ratcheting up, while our main character got dumber and drunker and more slavish. I'm just thankful I finally reached the merciful conclusion and can leave these awful characters and their dubious issues behind.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

This seems to be quite a polarizing book, with everyone either loving it or hating it. But Klara and the Sun didn't elicit such strong emotions in me. It didn't wow me in any way, but I didn't hate it either. I fell squarely in the meh-meh middle.

We start off with Klara at the store, hoping to be chosen as the Artificial Friend for a family. Since she's a robot and the story is told from her perspective, her narrative comes across as a bit robotic and detached. But it fits the tone of the story, and I really enjoyed reading her growing awareness and insight. And I'm not afraid to admit that her search for her "forever home" tugged at my heartstrings.

But I got a little bit confused soon after because I'm not sure what the author is trying to say with this story. The potential for something profound is there, but the narrative doesn't get anywhere close to that. When we reach the ending, it feels convenient, as if the author ran out of steam or doesn't quite know how to wrap up all the concepts he introduced.

With this being science fiction, I have to make a comment on the science part. To me, it feels clumsy and not well-thought-out. The technology comes across as both more advanced than our current world with AI, but also less advanced with Klara's lack of understanding for how humans function. There were also concepts in here that were referred to throughout without explanation until much later in the book, and it created this artificial sense of bewilderment.

Overall, it's hard for me to know what to think of this book because it didn't say much. There was a lot of potential, but the story ended up only scratching the surface. It feels unfinished, with a fluffy slapdash ending that didn't even come close to addressing any of the worthwhile topics in here.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Absolutely riveting and thought-provoking, Lightseekers takes crime fiction to contemporary Nigeria and weaves a tale that is both relevant and relatable.

Dr. Taiwo, a criminal psychologist, is called upon to investigate the public lynching of three university students at a nearby town. At its surface, the crime seems straightforward, with the mob getting out of control in its quest for vigilante justice after the three victims had been accused of stealing. But something doesn't add up, with the local police, the town, and the university all hurrying to hush up the matter.

I read a lot of mysteries, and this one stands out, both for its unusual crime and for its setting in modern-day Nigeria. The investigation was gripping from the first page, and I felt myself propelled along as I tried to figure out what happened and who is responsible.

The case unfolds carefully and methodically, though if I had to make a critique, it's that it's overly so at times. There were definitely moments when I've already put two and two together, and it feels like Dr. Taiwo is still getting there. Thankfully, it didn't slow down the pacing of the book, which still felt taut and urgent.

But this book is so much more than just an investigation. I don't know much about Nigeria, and I enjoyed the look into this country and its sociopolitical climate. I also appreciated the exploration into mob mentality, how tribalism can overtake facts, and its tenacious hold over society when opportunities are lacking. Though it takes place in Nigeria, I think any reader will see the parallels to many places in the world, including the U.S.

This is a tremendous debut, entertaining and insightful. I cannot wait to read more from Femi Kayode.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I just finished Malibu Rising, and I'm overwhelmed with emotions. I laughed, I cried, and I come away feeling like the Riva family irrevocably touched my heart.

On its surface, there's nothing immediately special about this story. It's a tale of functional and dysfunctional relationships and families all wrapped up in the setting of a party, and it's been done many times before. Yet, Taylor Jenkins Reid infuses so much more into it. There's something about her characters, her writing, and her plot, some intangible quality that is more than the sum of its part. It draws me in and keeps me riveted from beginning to end.

I think your enjoyment of this book will depend largely on how much you can relate to the drama in here. For me, it rang true, and I was struck by how much I connected with so many different characters and their emotions. The search for love and belonging, the pressure to set aside your passions for familial obligations, the urge to love someone who can't always be there when you need them, it all cut deeply through me.

My one nitpick is that when we get to the actual party, there were too many side characters and it took a little bit away from the focus of the story. I'm not sure if we needed to know all of them, and their introduction and side-issues became a bit confusing and convoluted to me. But it's a pretty minor quibble overall.

I've read all of Reid's recent books and it seems like she can do no wrong. She has a real knack for taking a fluffy beach read and elevating it to an emotional height usually reserved for literary fiction, while still keeping me completely engrossed. I cannot wait to see what else she comes up with.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

This was my Book of the Month pick for June. If you're curious about BOTM or want to find out how to get your first book for $5, click here.

When's the last time an author wrote themselves into a fictional murder mystery? I can't think of one either, and that's what's so neat about this particular series. Horowitz portrays himself as the hapless, mildly bumbling Watson to Hawthorne's shrewd Sherlock, and it's a compelling, fascinating read every time.

In this installment, A Line To Kill, Horowitz has been invited to a literary festival on the island of Alderney, and the only catch is that he must also bring along the subject of his book series, ex-Detective Inspector Hawthorne. While Horowitz thinks his biggest problem is trying to get Hawthorne to appear more genial and likable to their audience, a murder happens right under their nose.

I just love murder mysteries that happen on islands. Perhaps it's the illusion of a locked-room mystery or knowing that the suspects have no way to escape, forcing everyone to hang around until the guilty party is found. It creates this slightly menacing but mostly fun atmosphere that I can't get enough of.

This book has everything I've come to enjoy from the series: a small handful of suspects, lots of red herrings, and a few well-done twists that harken back to the days of the Golden Age of Mystery. The dynamic between Hawthorne and Horowitz reminds me of the odd couple, with Hawthorne as gruff and reticent as ever and Horowitz constantly trying to draw him out without success. Along the way, the author manages to poke gentle fun at his fictional self, and the whole thing is quite droll.

This is such a fun series, and this latest installment is another great addition. It grabbed me from the very first page and kept me riveted throughout. I ended up devouring it in under two days. I hope Horowitz continues to write more, though I wonder what'll happen when he runs out of literary puns?

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.

Please don't hate, ok? I know how much everyone loves this book, but for me, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was a very uneven reading experience, with some gems buried under seemingly mountains of fluff.

Addie doesn't want the traditional 18th century life of just being a wife and mother at her poor provincial town. So on the eve of a forced marriage, she makes a deal with the devil for her heart's most fervent wish. Though that deal traps her in a curse, it also sets her on a most unexpected journey.

My foremost thought while reading this book is: gosh, this sure is a very long book for the amount of content in here. Not much happens through most of the pages. The actual plot in here is fairly simple and straightforward. In fact, you could safely cut out a lot of the paragraphs and chapters and not lose any meaning to the story, which is never a good sign.

So what is 450 pages filled with, you ask? Paragraphs and paragraphs of pretty writing. If it could be said in one sentence, it's said in several fluffy paragraphs. If one metaphor suffices, well, they come in sets of three or four, every time. It's all a bit much. In fact, it often seems as if the author cared more about putting together clever floral word arrangements than moving the plot along.

The other issue is that Addie is fairly naive, so this book comes across as distinctly YA even though it's marketed to adults. Her decisions, her thoughts, her growth (or lack thereof), her romances, they all feel very young. Though we follow Addie through her youth and later years, her character sounds exactly the same throughout.

Yet, for all the flaws, there is something undeniably charming in the story. I cared about the characters and what happens to them. And I found the premise intriguing. It reminds me of the movie The Age of Adaline, which takes a similar concept and does it much better, though coincidentally with a similar name.

In the end, I liked this book enough. There were moments of brilliance that really made this story shine. But they were often buried deep under mountains of indulgent verbal gymnastics that tested my patience to the extreme. I can't help but feel this was a missed opportunity, that with some aggressive editing, this could've been a stellar read.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars