Heartland is Sarah Smarsh's memoir of growing up poor in rural Kansas, herself the youngest of generations of poor women, and the effect that systematic poverty has on her people. The book contains some interesting points about growing up rural and poor, and includes some eye-opening anecdotes about herself and her family.

And yet, I'm not sure this book ever rises above the sum of its parts. Yes, there are some interesting tidbits, but I'm not sure Smarsh ever really consolidates them into making her point. The book feels haphazardly arranged to me. She includes stories about the women in her life (great-grandmothers, grandmothers, mother, herself), but they're all interspersed throughout in no particular order. So it comes across as a rambling, not-really-chronologically arranged collection, sprinkled with historical context and additional personal thoughts. But it doesn't build up to anything or come together cohesively at any point, so I don't feel like I'm walking away from it with any new insights.

For example, she mentions at one point that the people she knew didn't really care about politics or public polices and could hardly be bothered to care. In fact, they pretty much mistrusted all politicians. Well, if these people couldn't be bothered to figure out who was good for them and who was treading on their backs to gain more wealth and power, then how can the system get better? It's an interesting issue that she could have explored further, but she didn't.

Another example is that she talks about how prevalent teen pregnancy is. When it inevitably happens too soon to the women in her life, they'd be set on a lifetime of poverty. But she doesn't address why teen pregnancy happens at such a high rate to her people. After all, teens have sex everywhere, no matter their class. So is it a problem with affording the cost of protection? Or is it a lack of education and understanding about how reproduction happens? This is the sort of insight that could then lead to a discussion on public policy changes that could break the cycle of poverty. But she doesn't talk about any of this. In fact, she alludes to many promising areas for discussion, but doesn't really address any in a profound way.

Don't get me wrong, I understand and concur with her general theme that it isn't fair or acceptable for a society to subject its people to a lifetime of poverty without a way for them or their progeny to get out. The poor aren't afraid of hard work, and they work just as hard as everyone else. It's just that the system stacks the odds such that almost no one can escape. But that's insight I already understood from reading other books, and not gleaned from this one.

One odd thing that I have to point out because it so detracts from the book is that it's written to the author's unborn, unconceived, unwanted daughter. She addresses her as "you" and names her August. At the most random moments, she'll talk to her and it's extremely jarring. It completely pulls me out of the narration every time. It feels awkward and sappy, like I'm observing a private moment that I shouldn't. I wish the author didn't include this, as it came across like an affected device that wasn't really necessary.

In the end, I had such high hopes for this book, and it just didn't quite meet them. If you approach this book as another diverse voice that helps you understand a country full of diverse voices and experiences, then I think you'll get what you want out of it. But to expect any further insights would only lead to disappointment.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Murder in the Crooked House sets the scene in the snowy northern tip of Japan, in a maze-like house with slanted floors and strange staircases, full of unnerving masks and dolls. The eccentric and wealthy owner Kozaburo gathers a small group of friends and acquaintances to celebrate the holidays. When a guest is found murdered in a locked room, it is only the beginning of a bizarre string of occurrences. The police are called, but they are soon stumped.

The investigation and the subsequent events are all very entertaining and kept me guessing. Having read a lot of mysteries, more often than not, I'll start to get an inkling of what's going on, but not with this book. At no point did I figure out anything, which was great fun. It all builds up to a solution that is so unusual and unique, that even though all the clues are there, there's no way I could've foreseen it.

This is a translation from Japanese, and so there's a lot of Japanese cultures and norms in here. For sure their culture is more hierarchical and formal, so I'd sometimes find myself startled by the reasons people would take offense or the things they'd say. It was definitely enlightening and interesting, but also a little odd at times.

This looks to be an older series that is slowly being translated into English, and I'm definitely going to keep reading. I started with the second book, and it didn't feel like I've missed anything by not reading the books in order. I thoroughly enjoyed how different this story is from all the other murder mysteries I've read, and I look forward to checking out more books in the series.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

I went into Christmas from the Heart expecting a fluffy and cheesy romance, kind of like a Hallmark movie, which I confess I enjoy watching from time to time. So there I was, all settled in with my glass of wine and a warm blanket, cozy as can be. But almost immediately, I could tell this story lacked what a compelling Hallmark movie always has: a likable female lead.

Livi runs a charity, and a large part of her job is getting funding for it. But she's so pushy and obnoxious that it sets my teeth on edge. When Guy tells her that his company cannot contribute to her charity this year due to financial issues, she badgers him relentlessly while bad-mouthing him to everyone she knows. He feels bad, so he sends her a check for a few hundred dollars, to which she responds by writing a belittling thank-you note back. When they meet in person, and she doesn't know who he is but can see that he has money, she immediately latches onto him for funding, all the while bad-mouthing Guy to him, not knowing they're the same person. At some point, Livi even acknowledges that she feels entitled to the money.

Honestly, I'm a bit in shock that this is the characterization of the main female character. The author seems to be trying to say that Livi is the kind and generous charity do-gooder while Guy is the Scrooge, but actually wrote it such that Livi comes across as the gold-digging villain while Guy is the reasonable one. It makes no sense to me that Guy falls for Livi when she essentially acts like an entitled princess who must get her way.

Speaking of unlikable characters, there is a local guy Morris who pines for Livi in the story. He hangs around her like a puppy, running errands for her and basically acting like her slave. He badgers her constantly to get back together with him even though she has told him multiple times that she doesn't want to. But then she strings him along, sucking up to him so that he would do favors for her. The two of them deserve each other, so it's sad that they weren't the pairing that got together in the end.

Every year during this time, I try to fit in a few seasonal books to get in the spirit. But inevitably I get distracted, and the holidays seem to fly by in the blink of an eye. When January arrives, I look at my pile of holiday reads and admit defeat. But not this year. This year, I did it! It's just too bad it was a cold-hearted read instead of the heartwarming one I was hoping for.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

The premise of The Whisper Man is soo good. A serial killer whispers to kids to gain their trust, then abducts them in the dead of the night. The police thought they had caught The Whisper Man, but 20 years later, signs indicate someone using his modus operandi is back. And father and son duo Tom and Jack could be the next target.

The thing my brain can't wrap itself around is this: how can a thriller be so slow? Plodding doesn't even begin to describe the majority of it. The book crawls along, so sluggishly that I resorted to fidgeting and pinching myself just to break up the boredom while reading it. The investigation doesn't even get going until well into the second half of this book, where it takes up only a small part of it.

Instead, this book feels like a thin plot stuffed with a majority of filler. There was so many passages of self-defeating characters mentally beating themselves up, or thinking about how they can't get along with people while doing/saying stupid things to them. My mind wandered constantly. I wanted to give up so many times, and I would have if not for the excellent reviews.

Even the most exciting parts are written so that the climatic scenes happen off-page. I ask: why am I even reading this if I have to imagine all the best parts? The actual investigation is interesting enough, but there are no surprises there. It's written so that you can see everything coming from a mile away.

What I wanted is a thrilling mystery with some creepy vibes and great twists. But what I got instead is an indulgent treatise on how to wallow in self-pity and feel guilty over everything, while not getting along with your parent/child by being purposefully difficult. Nope, that isn't the same at all.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

One Person, No Vote chronicles the insidious practice of voter suppression that has not only shaped shameful parts of our nation's history, but is still in practice today. Hiding behind the fake battle cry of voter fraud, one party leverages strict voter ID requirements, voter roll purging, closing of voting stations, and gerrymandering to systematically diminish the voting power of certain demographics while inflating the influence of its own supporters.

You know, if I were in politics, and I realized my party's base was slowly shrinking over time because the vast majority of people didn't agree with me anymore, my first thought would be to figure out what was wrong with my policies and how I can change them to be more inclusive and attractive to a wider demographic. It would never occur to me to restrict voting IDs to only take valid driver's licenses, which I know a large percentage of the people who are voting against me don't have, then close every DMV in the area where they live, then move all the voting stations so far away from them and public transportation that they can't reach them, and then sit back and congratulate myself on a job well done. I mean, we do still live in a democracy, right? And this isn't some rare thing, happening in the middle of nowhere. Many states are actively attempting or have successfully achieved these measures.

Needless to say, this book was maddening to read. It made me feel so frustrated and angry to hear of all the injustices being perpetrated against these people who are already the most downtrodden of society, being its poor and minorities. This targeted disenfranchisement, if successful, ensures that their needs and their voices will never be heard or advocated for.

And yet, I can't rate this book higher because it was so tedious to read. It was dry, filled with paragraphs and paragraphs of data and statistics. It breaks down every aspect of modern voter suppression in the most technical way. And while it tries to tell the human side of the story, it does so from a macro level, not from an actual first person's perspective, which makes it really hard to get into the narrative and retain everything I read. The book's not that long, only 200 pages, and still it took me six days to get through it.

But even though this is tough to read at times, both due to the frustrating topic and the tedious way it's written, it's still a timely and relevant topic, one which is crucial to understanding the current state of our democracy and why recent politics has been the way it is. For that, I'm glad I picked up this book.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I scare pretty easily, so I don't read a lot of spooky books. Growing up, I couldn't enjoy Goosebumps because those were too scary for me. One time I made the mistake of reading a random page and that was enough to keep me from falling asleep that night.

But I've been an adult for many years now (in age, if not in feeling), and I thought it's time I give spooky books another try. After all, they seem so fun. Unfortunately, The Widow of Pale Harbor was a poor choice, mostly because this book isn't scary or fun at all, but a big load of boring.

The first half of this book is mostly insta-love between Mrs. Carver and Gabriel Stone, the two main characters. What do they see in each other? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Whenever they meet, they're struck by how gorgeous the other person is, stare intensely at each other, blush a lot, and get tongue-tied. Then, over the smallest perceived insult, they'll feel terribly hurt and rebuff the other, only to meet again the next day and go through it all again. This happened over and over, for the entire first half of the book. It was so cringey and dull, like some sort of bad YA romance.

Then, past the halfway point, the pace picks up and things finally start to happen. But it quickly becomes evident to me what's going on, who's responsible, and even the reasons why. Except the characters in here are all very clueless and incompetent. They just bungle from place to place, making big messes while putting themselves and others in danger. It was all very tiring and frustrating.

In the end, this book just wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted something spooky and exciting. But what I got instead was a bad domestic thriller with grossly incompetent characters who spent the majority of time making googly eyes at each other. Sigh. My quest for a gently spooky book continues.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

In Maybe This Time, when Mimi visits the charming village of Goosebrook, she not only falls in love with the place, but also the people there, and in particular, kind and lovable Cal. But due to circumstances, it isn't the right time for them, and anyways she needs to get back to her city job and life. As time goes on and life throws in unforeseen complications, their paths are bound to cross again and again. But will it ever be the right time for them?

This book is Jill Mansell in top form. It's a light and fluffy read, but it still has many lovely, heartwarming moments, made all the more so because Mimi genuinely cares for Cal and wants him to be happy, even if it isn't with her. It explores that magic of meeting someone, discovering a special spark there, and then the bittersweet realization that it isn't meant to be. I found it to be a compelling angle for a love story and was thoroughly riveted. There are also a slew of adorable and sassy supporting characters, all contributing to the fun.

Typical for this genre, there were some cheesy parts, but they weren't overly so. I did find the ending to be a little bit abrupt. After everything Mimi had gone through. I wouldn't have minded the ending being a little more drawn-out. Nonetheless, this is such a sweet and uplifting story, and reading it filled me with warm fuzzies, which is just perfect for this time of the year.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars