Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available!

I'll be honest, my knowledge of Australia is woefully limited to TV shows like Wentworth and Melissa Lucashenko is the one of the handful of Australian authors I've ever read. That is to say, reading this book with its colorful use of Australian slang was almost like reading a foreign language at times. However, the lovable and rambunctious Salter clan are almost universally lovable.

Spurred by the news of her dad's ailing health, Kerry Salter returns to her long abandoned hometown. However, she quickly gets tangled in the arms of a new beau, a dugai for once, as well as her family's fight to protect their land. As the family grows closer together, ghosts from their past and present make themselves known and hidden pasts require sudden confrontation.

Stylistically, the novel alternates between a slice of life piece, heavily filtered through Kerry's sassy lens, and descriptions of life in rural Australia. An enchanting and engrossing blend, this drama is worth a cuppa tea and an evening read.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

In his second novel, "Aphasia", Mauro Javier Cardenas stretches the limits of narrative form. Aphasia, as I once learned in medical school, is a cognitive disorder where the patient can't express themselves properly. It can be one of the signs of psychosis, a prominent part of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, which is what Antonio's sister has been diagnosed with. It's told in a series of short monologues of run-on sentences. While certain sections dragged on, I found myself still thoroughly engaged in Antonio's story, his journey as an immigrant from Bogota, his many affairs with young women as a sugar daddy, even the mundane daily tasks as an SQL corporate worker. Most interesting were the parts where his sister made an appearance. In a way, Cardenas is questioning what it means to have a plot, to have character, to have all those things that we are taught in craft seminars and what it means to tell a meaningful story. Overall, I found this book intriguing and experimental.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

There's something very poetic about the way Delphine Minoui starts The Book Collectors - a group of young men who scavenge the still warm rubble of the besieged Syrian town of Daraya looking for books. Despite the onslaught of bombs, the lack of food, water and electricity, and almost total neglect from humanitarian aid organizations, the young men of Daraya manage to keep hope alive. Through a series of messages, phone calls and video chats on WhatsApp, they are able to show journalist Minoui a small glimpse into their daily lives. Even under the most dire circumstances, the people of Daraya manage to find hope through literature, through every day self help books like 7 Habits or in the words of the late great poet Mahmoud Darwish. Beautiful, heartbreaking and timely, The Book Collectors is a great read!

Thank you to Agora Books and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Part dramatic comedy, part romantic tragedy, part family drama, "The Pretenders" has a bit of everything for everyone. When Jasper surprises his reclusive brother Edmund with the news of his engagement, he ends up uncovering a lot more than he expected. Along for the ride are his fiance Holly, his best friend John and his uptight wife Anne. What starts as a group of acquaintances quickly evolves into a tangled web of deception, romance and deeply held secrets.

One of the things that amazed me is the timespan Zaza covers in this book. All the central action occurs in a single evening but the book itself spans over ten years. An ultimate indictment of our "polite" society, Zaza mimes what happens when the gloves come off. If you enjoyed the Netflix show Lovesick, then this is the right book for you.

Thank you to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

In a quiet corner of Plano Texas, Annabel Cheng is sleepwalking. Her brother Jack wakes up to find his sister outside in the yard. Though she's unable to articulate why, Annabel just doesn't feel like she belongs in her all-white town and resorts to storytelling to feel powerful. But when one Thanksgiving party tale goes awry, an innocent fabrication threatens to break apart an entire community.

What I loved about this story is Han's mastery of unsettling characters. Jumping between family members' perspectives, the story never settles to a pace where the reader feels comfortable with what really happened. Maybe what happened is besides the point. Maybe it's a constellation of what could have happened with what did happen and what happened in the past that keeps haunting us. Maybe it's the reckoning of our past that keeps repeating, trapping us in an ever widening circle.

Fans of Celeste Ng and Meng Jin will definitely enjoy this book. A gripping tale.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

I have a confession to make - I have not seen any of Michelle Buteau's acting or comedy series. I was primarily drawn to this book because of its title and the power of Buteau's charismatic smile. In a similar vein to other female comedians, Buteau's book is filled with raunchy sexcapades, reflections on race & gender and the work life balance.

In particular, I was moved by the section on pregnancy & her candid discussion of her past miscarriages, IVF and surrogacy. It's an area that carries a lot of hidden societal shame for a lot of women today and to see it being discussed openly is healthy & needed.

However, the book also relies on you to be familiar with Buteau's work as she constantly refers to her TV shows, her Netflix special, etc. Overall, it was an okay read.

Thank you to Ecco Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Aug 3rd 2021.

After the untimely passing of Anthony Veasna So, I was reading "Three Women's of Chuck's Diner" in honor of this great literary talent. After just one paragraph, I was hooked. The complexity of the mother Sothy and her daughters Kayley and Tevy, their tragic and comedic relationships with their missing father figure, the gorgeous descriptions of the character's psyches completely blew me away.

I loved so much about "Afterparties" - the intervening, interconnected stories of a dysfunctional community, the constant presence of donuts, the way Veasna So is able to evoke a sense of longing and homeland without ever essentializing or tokenizing Cambodian Americans. Instead, it's a delicate musing on life and love, on filial duty and obligations, on surviving and thriving. What a legacy to leave behind.

Memorable quotes
"Tevy wonders if her mother has ever loved someone romantically, if her mother is even capable of reaching beyond the realm of survival, if her mother has ever been granted any freedom from worry, and if her mother's present carries the ability to dilate, for even a brief moment, into its own plane of suspended existence, separate from past or future." - Three Women of Chuck's Donuts.

"Gay, Cambodian, and not even twenty-six, carrying in my body the aftermath of war, genocide, colonialism. And yet, my task was to teach kids a decade younger, existing across an oceanic difference, what it means to be human. How absurd, I admitted. How fucking hilarious. I was actually excited."

"When you think about my history, I don't need you to see everything at once. I don't need you to recall those tragedies that were dropped into my world. Honestly, you don't even have to try. What is nuance in the face of all that we've experienced? But for me, your mother, just remember that, for better or worse, we can be described as survivors. Okay? Know that we've always kept on living. What else could we have done?"

Thank you to Button Poetry & NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

In his second poetry collection, Rudy Francisco is exuberant and boundless with his play of form and word building. Not satisfied with the English lexicon, Francisco's "I'll Fly Away" is staged by a series of invented words which he then strives to define and put into context. It's a delightfully creative thesaurus to browse through with deep ponderings on life in America as a black father, a poet, and a teacher. There's something just uplifting about Francisco's poetry, its effusive & direct approach, its hope. Much like a hot air balloon, this collection will blow you away.

Memorable lines:

"I fumble through/the only language I know/and find everything/but an answer"
"I want to laugh so loud/my demons pack their belongings and decide to move."
"loneliness is a rumor your thoughts are spreading about your bones"
"I tell myself that every hour is happy hour, as long as I am on this side of the ground."

Thank you to Meerkat Press and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble & Indie Bookstore!

Eugen Bacon's "The Road to Woop Woop" is one hell of a roadtrip to go on. I don't even know how to describe the unique journey through time, space, language, and genre. There is a focus on relationships, gender, and indigeneity which I greatly appreciated as a reader. Stylistically, though, the language felt a little bit dated and forced, kind of like steampunk. Personally, it was not the right book for me.