Book Review: Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

 

Broken (in the Best Possible Way)

by Jenny Lawson

It’s been a while since I read a Jenny Lawson book, she’s only put three others out, and I had somewhat forgotten just how funny she is. I remembered laughing out loud at some things, but not how I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, and how I laughed until I couldn’t even talk.

Part of it is that her phrasing seem totally alien to me and hysterical, but then sometimes she relates something someone else said and it’s just as unusual, so maybe part of it is that she lives in Texas.

“ADD … gives me the attention level of a kitten on cocaine.”

I also didn’t remember how poignant and beautiful some of her writing can be. This book was a great reminder. In fact, I think it may be her best book yet.

“The anxiety attacks never really went away. They would get better and worse throughout my life, with no real rhyme or reason. Over the years I’d hide in bathrooms and closets and books. And mostly in myself. It was a lonely place to be, but safe.”

Now, if you’re offended by swearing, I wouldn’t recommend this book for you, but that’s about the only reason I wouldn’t recommend this book. Jenny is honest to a fault and bravely shares ALL of her fears and foibles.

Reflecting on seeing something beautiful because she was having an anxiety attack and couldn’t go out like she planned on, she says, “I considered it a sign that perhaps there is a path I’m supposed to be on. It’s not the same path that everyone else takes, and that can be hard and lonely…”

Her re-writing of truisms was spot on. “LIVE AS IF IT’S THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE… Except don’t, because that sounds awful … I’d spend all day in tears if someone said I was going to die at midnight. That’s like having to have fun at gunpoint.”

She shares her chronicle of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) therapy to combat her anxiety and depression then shares snippets of her journey afterward about how things were better for her, what stayed better, and what got worse again. It’s fascinating, for anyone who is interested in science, who might be considering the therapy, or who just wants to take that journey with her.

Her chapter titles are just as funny as her writing and give you the flavor of the book, like “That Time I Got Haunted by Lizards With Bike Horns,” or “Up Divorce Creek Without a Paddle (Because the Guide Didn’t Trust Me Not to Push Victor Overboard with It),” and I LOVED “Editing is Hell. Mostly for Editors.” The chapter “And That’s Why I Can Never Go Back to the Post Office Again” was hysterical and had me texting a good friend to make sure she knew this book was out so she would read it.

This is one of those books that you don’t want to put down, you just want to keep reading more, more, more, even while knowing you should slow down because you don’t want it to end. I loved this book, it is so human and funny and beautiful. It is definitely broken in the BEST possible way.

Book Review: The Nina Quinn Mysteries by Heather Webber

 

The Nina Quinn Mysteries

by Heather Webber

I enjoyed that last book I read by Heather Webber that I went right back looking for more by her. I was pleased to find she has written many other books, both magical realism and cozy mysteries. The magical realism cost considerably more than the mysteries so I went for the first in her Nina Quinn mystery series and it did not disappoint.

There are half a dozen books and a two weeks later I’ve already read five of them. I’m not sure how that happened.

A Hoe Lot of Trouble

Trouble in Spades

Digging up Trouble

Trouble in Bloom

Weeding out Trouble

Trouble Under the Tree

The Root of All Trouble

The only thing keeping me from jumping right into that 6^th book is the fact that Jenny Lawson’s latest book, Broken in the Best Possible Way, came out and my husband has already read it. I figured I better get on it before he couldn’t contain himself any longer and started leaking spoilers.

In fact, I’ve already bought the sixth and am looking forward to it once I finish laughing until I can’t breathe and sniffling over Jenny Lawson’s book.

Why am I enjoying the Nina Quinn Mysteries so much? What’s not to love? They are the perfect cozy mystery. They have a strong female lead, literally, because Nina runs a landscaping business.

There are great side characters – from her soon to be cop ex-husband, who is not remorseless and is not a total waste of space, to her stepson, to the ex-cons who work in her landscaping business, each one a fantastic character in their own right, and her family. Oh, plus, the octogenarians who live in her neighborhood. Plus, each of the characters has evolved over the series. They aren’t the exactly the same people we meet in the beginning. Her main foreman, Kit, at the landscaping business is a huge, shaved-headed, skull-tattooed, tough guy with a heart of gold whose girlfriend won’t let him have a dog. With characters like that, how can you go wrong?

The mysteries can be serious but at the same time there are humorous little mysteries running throughout the series. One great example is in the sixth book when someone keeps putting cheerfully tacky and BIG Christmas decorations on her mother’s lawn or house. Her mother is freaking out over it so Nina sets out to discover who is doing it. At the same time, there is a much more serious murder mystery taking place.

This series has just been the best possible escapist cozy mysteries. It doesn’t demand too much of you, you can just go along for the ride, and it’s a fun one, I promise.

Book Review: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

 

Midnight at the Blackbird Café

by Heather Webber

When Anna Kate’s grandmother, Zee, passes away, she has no choice but to return to Wicklow, Alabama and work the Blackbird Café for two months in order to receive her inheritance. But there’s a reason her mama, Eden, left Wicklow when Anna Kate was little. Anna Kate is bound for medical school in August but first she is going to have to face these old ghosts, and the birds.

There’s something special about the birds that give The Blackbird Café its name. The legend has it that the women in Anna Kate’s family have to listen to the birds and then when people eat the pie they bake, they will dream of messages from deceased loved ones.

Birders descend on the town, having heard about the blackbirds, rare enough in Alabama. Rarer still is that the birds only appear from midnight to one am to sing.

Anna Kate doesn’t have any immediate family left. Her father died in a car crash when her mother was still pregnant. Her mother passed just a few years ago, and now her grandmother has died. But there is more family out there for her, if she can bridge the divide.

Anna Kate’s paternal family, The Lindens, includes her grandfather, Doc Linden, grandmother, Seelie, and an Aunt Natalie who is not all that much older than Anna Kate herself.

Natalie has had some trauma of her own. Her husband died under less than clear circumstances and she has a three-year-old daughter to raise on her own now so she moved back home for help, though she and her mother, Seelie, don’t see eye to eye.

“If my mother knew where I was going, she’d undoubtedly clutch her signature double strand of pearls, purse her lips, and vociferously question the heavens above as to where she had gone wrong raising her only daughter.”

Anna Kate’s grandmother, and Natalie’s mother, Seelie Linden, is an old-fashioned proper southern belle who was dead set against her son marrying Eden, and when A.J. died in a car accident, she blamed Eden.

This book is filled with wonderful characters. The ones who are no longer living are often as intriguing as the ones Anna Kate comes in contact with. It is a huge cast but each person feels real and individual in their own right.

There’s Faylene, a town busybody who means well and actually knows a lot. She quickly volunteers to babysit for Natalie while she takes care of her own granddaughter. Gordon was Zee’s lawyer and lives next door to the café. He seems sweet on Anna Kate and she is more than a little interested, but it’s all VERY restrained. Mr. Lazenby requires his daily piece of pie in order to dream of his deceased wife. Aubin Pavageau was Anna Kate’s father’s best friend growing up. He’s friendly but suffering from his own trauma after his wife died a few years before in a car accident. Then there’s a mysterious bird with a broken wing about town, and a ragged old gray cat that acts like it understands far more than any cat has a right to.

 This is a book as full of flavor as any of the pies Anna Kate serves in the Blackbird Café. I highly recommend.

Book Review: Death in Provence by Serena Kent

 

Penelope Kite is a divorced British woman who left the coroner’s office when her boss retired. After a difficult Christmas with her stepchildren, she decides to take an extended vacation for a couple weeks in Provence. She finds herself looking at potential properties.

“Perhaps she shouldn’t have drunk all that delicious rose. It had made her bold.”

Boldness is decidedly what she will need, as she purchases a property that needs a good deal of TLC to bring it back to life. There are wasps, and crumbling plaster, villagers who greet her with some reservation, along with a dead body in the clogged pool.

But Le Chant d’Eau has marvelous views, old stones, and beautiful atmosphere. Penny is not going to be run off easily, not by a difficult “Chef de Police” or a movie star handsome mayor.

One dead body isn’t that much of a problem. Call the police, have it removed, and have a service clean out the pool and make sure it is sound.

The problems, however, don’t quite end there, and as fast as Penny meets people who become friendly in the village, there are also mounting dangers.

As a former employee of a genius coroner, Penny is not without a certain amount of knowledge in investigations, even if she is an amateur. She definitely has “le courage.” Will it be enough? It must, because this is a cozy mystery. But how will we get to the satisfactory conclusion? What twists and turns will we find along the way? That is the joy of a cozy mystery and it is well accomplished here, along with a healthy dose of armchair travel to Provence. I highly recommend this one.

I find it interesting that Serena Kent is actually the pen name for a husband and wife writing team, much like on of my favorite fantasy authors, Ilona Andrews. I’ve also enjoyed humorous adventure books written by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. These male/female writing teams bring something special to the page that I really enjoy. If you’re looking for some more reading, check them out.

Book Review: Ready Player Two

 

Ready Player Two

by Ernest Cline

There were many things I enjoyed in this book, but I can’t say that the first 30% of the book held any of them.

I realize that the author was giving the story that happened between the first book and the current one, building the bridge, but it felt like the story didn’t even begin until 30% of the way in. From my perspective, the first thirty percent of the book could have been seriously condensed, at least in half. And, honestly, there seemed a lot more telling than showing throughout the book. It just didn’t seem as immediate or make me feel invested.

I was so excited to get this book, and maybe that’s part of the problem. Sometimes we hype things up in our mind, like a movie, then it simply can’t live up to our expectations. In the end I did enjoy the book, but it took a while to get into it.

There were MANY parts I did enjoy, such as the John Hughes films portion. This harkened back to the 80s nostalgia of the first book, as well as the planet of the artist formerly known as Prince. I really appreciated the development of Aech’s story there. The thread of Kira and Ogden Morrow’s love throughout the book was lovely.

I was a little surprised by the use of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, because it wasn’t an 80’s creation, but it was so incredibly important in the development of D&D and then the online gaming that grew out of that, that it really made sense.

If you enjoyed the first book, then this one is worth reading, but you may have to slog through the first part to get to the good stuff.