Get ready for another plot-twist book! Perfect and posh Emily and stay-at-home mom blogger Stephanie become best friends after their young sons form a bond at school. They drink wine and share secrets…but not every secret. It’s commonplace for Stephanie to watch Emily’s son at times, so when the phone call asking for a simple favor due to a work emergency comes in, nothing seems out of the ordinary. However, Emily doesn’t show up that evening to get her son, can’t be reached on her phone and no one knows where she is. Days pass and there is still no sign of Emily. Stephanie and Emily’s husband, Sean, begin to fear the worst. But things aren’t always as they seem…
This convoluted story is told from each of the three main characters’ point-of-view and the run-of-the-mill pacing is broken up by the inclusion of Stephanie’s blog posts. This book might appeal to those who enjoy a plot-twist/unreliable narrator story where none of the main characters are likable, like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.
A film of the same name was released in 2018, starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. In this adaptation, the natural charm and likability of Anna Kendrick does make Stephanie a more appealing character and Blake Lively’s acting prowess definitely aids in Emily being a lot more captivating. This is one of those rare instances where the movie is better than the book!
Trigger Warning: Incest
Read-alikes:
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks
Jessicca Newmark, The Smithtown Library -Smithtown Building
Virgin River by Robyn Carr is the first book in a 21-book series with the same name. Melinda (Mel) Monroe is a nurse practitioner and midwife living in Los Angeles. Mel is ready to escape the stress of her job at a dangerous inner-city hospital and more importantly escape the pain of tragically losing her husband almost a year ago. Without so much of a thought, Mel accepts a job offer in Virgin River; population 600, beautiful, remote scenery, and housing included. Upon arriving in Virgin River, Mel realizes she may have jumped too quickly. The free housing is not the beautiful cabin she was promised, but one that is unlivable; and the local doctor does not welcome her help. Realizing this was a bad decision Mel plans to leave, but the pouring rain and muddy backroads keep her for one night. She plans to leave the following morning, but fate has other plans. A baby abandoned on the doorstep of Doc’s office causes Mel to stick around a little longer. The bar owner and former Marine, Jack Sheridan may be the one to make her stay.
Jack Sheridan came to Virgin River for some good fishing after retiring from the Marines and never left. He opened a bar where his friend Preacher is the cook. That first night Mel walks into the bar, soaking wet from the rain Jack immediately feels drawn to her and wants to do what he can to persuade Mel to stay. Quickly Jack becomes the rock Mel relies on while she struggles with her grief.
Virgin River is located in the middle of nowhere California. The closest hospital is a few hours away. There is a small town feel, but it is not picture perfect. While there are characters that are quirky, they are also flawed. There are groups of illegal pot growers that live in the woods and some people who are up to no good. This made the book feel more realistic. There are other smaller storylines throughout the book including a budding teenage love story between Ricky, the 16-year-old employee Jack has taken under his wing, and Lizzie, the promiscuous 14-year-old sent by her parents to stay with her aunt because she is out of control.
This is not a fast moving book. You get to know Mel and Jack, as well as a number of other residents of Virgin River. While this is a contemporary romance novel, it borders on a women’s fiction genre. You see the growth in Mel as a character. She finds herself on the other side of her grief, and finds love along the way. As a first book in a series, many characters are introduced and focused on in later books. This book discusses hard topics including death, infertility, and teen pregnancy.
Virgin River became a Netflix Original Series in 2019 and currently has three seasons and has been signed for two more. The Netflix series shows off the scenic area of Virgin River. Season one takes stories from the first two books in the Virgin River series: Virgin River and Shelter Mountain. Several characters take on bigger roles in the show. There is the addition of a character in the show who plays a big role in the show, who is only briefly introduced in book one. The show is very entertaining, but is much more like a soap opera/drama with a bit of romance than the other way around. As a romance novel, each book ends with some form of a happily ever after, whereas the show continues to build and build. Mel’s husband dies differently between the book and TV series. There are also differences between Mel’s personal fertility background and a bigger focus on the illegal pot growers and crime in the show compared to the early books in the series. I personally found this to be a bit too dramatic. Overall, it is a good TV series, but does differ quite a bit from the books. I recommend both the book and the TV series, but be aware that they do differ quite a bit.
Read-alikes:
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis
Country by Danielle Steel
Nanci Helmle, The Smithtown Library - Commack Building
The story begins with Will Klein going back to his neighborhood in the New Jersey suburbs he grew up in as a boy for his mother’s funeral. It’s not an easy place to be, as eleven years ago Will’s older brother Ken brutally murdered Will’s ex-girlfriend in her basement. Ken disappeared and had been presumed dead, however right before Will’s mom died, she told Will that he was still alive. Not believing her, Will and his girlfriend find a current picture of Ken, meaning that what Will thought for so long was untrue.
Shortly after the funeral, Will’s girlfriend Sheila Rogers disappears and Will is questioned regarding her connection to deaths in New Mexico. Not knowing what to believe, Will and his best friend Squares try to track her down but soon find out that she has been killed. Devastated and desperately trying to piece everything together, Will must learn the truth about Sheila's hidden past and how she was connected to his missing brother Ken. Just as he thinks he is piecing things together, he gets hit with a series of stunning revelations that continue up until the last pages of the story. Throughout the story, no one is what they seem and the twists and turns continue.
The setting of the story is mainly set in New York City where Will lives and works. He is a counselor for Covenant House which is a home and outreach for runaways that have become involved in drugs, prostitution and human trafficking. His best friend Squares, so aptly nicknamed for the tattoo on his forehead of 4 squares (which used to be a swastika), is a world famous yogi and runs Covenant House. As they are trying to piece things together, they are involved with a lot of prostitutes and pimps, drug dealers and users, and the seedier parts of the city all which are described in detail.
The story is told in first person narrative by Will Klein. The pace is fairly quick, similar to a James Patterson novel with twists and turns in almost every chapter. The dialog is what really propels the story so quickly and is often funny and sarcastic, and includes Coben’s social commentary thrown in. There were a ton of people mentioned in the first few pages of the story to describe Will’s return to his hometown, however most were not mentioned later. Still, Coben included a multitude of memorable characters throughout with vivid descriptions.
Gone for Good would appeal to fans of Coben and James Patterson. The descriptions are real and gritty, including blow by blows in violent encounters and rough language. This would also appeal to fans of Harlan Coben’s group of series on Netflix, where he has written the screenplays for most.
Read-alikes:
Memory Man by David Baldacci
The Late Show by Michael Connelly
One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline
Jessica Brown, Patchogue-Medford Library
Enter the world of creatures where demons, witches, and vampires exist among regular humans and do their best to go unnoticed. This first book in a trilogy finds the witch Diana Bishop, a scholar visiting Oxford and working on a paper on alchemy, and vampire Matthew Clairmont, a professor at Oxford, who is also studying the genetics of creatures, meeting when Diana unearths a long-missing volume called Ashmole 782 that supposedly contains the origin of all creatures. Diana, after touching the Ashmole manuscript, unlocks latent magical powers she thought she didn't have and becomes the focus of powerful creatures from all three lines who want the manuscript for themselves.
As Diana and Matthew grow closer, secrets about Diana's past and the governing body of creatures called the Coven draw the pair into a dangerous web where Diana is safe from no one including other witches. Diana's powers grow stronger as does the forbidden love between her and Matthew.
Moving from England to France then to the United States, where Diana's aunts try to help her develop and harness her power, Diana and Matthew find themselves forming their own coven of demons, vampires, and witches who are tired of the old ways and want to work together to discover why their powers are getting weaker instead of falling back on old stereotypes.
Part fantasy, part mystery, A Discovery of Witches draws the reader into the underground world of creatures that the common man doesn't know exists. The story unfolds quickly with glimpses into everyone's lives, focusing on Diana and Matthew and their quest to find Ashmole 782 to help both Diana and creatures of all kinds. The characters from all three groups are given separate characteristics and personalities allowing the readers to understand both their dastardly deeds and their ability to change themselves. This book was very entertaining and not easy to put down and would make a good read for anyone who loves books about witches or books where people with powers, etc. live unknown among humans.
The trilogy has been made into a series on AMC as three seasons. Season 1 followed the book fairly closely, although with a lot less detail, and with some changes to characters to condense the amount of characters since some things were cut out. I actually watched the show first and enjoyed it so much it made me want to read the book. I would recommend both although the book is better.
Read-alikes:
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
The Witching Hour Series by Anne Rice
Azuree Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
Movie: News of the World (2020) - available on DVD and HBOMax
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd has fought in three wars, starting with the War of 1812 when he was just barely 16. Now, in 1870, he travels across Texas bringing the inhabitants news of distant places. He reads from newspapers from Philadelphia to India to London, and steers clear of politics as best he can.
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd has fought in three wars, starting with the War of 1812 when he was just barely 16. Now, in 1870, he travels across Texas bringing the inhabitants news of distant places. He reads from newspapers from Philadelphia to India to London, and steers clear of politics as best he can.
On a pass through Northern Texas, he is entrusted with a young girl, recently rescued from the Kiowa, after having been abducted four years earlier. Now ten, Johanna has no real memory of her family, doesn't remember how to speak English, and, if asked, would consider herself a member of the Kiowa nation. But nobody asked her. The Kiowa are giving up all of their captives under threat of raids, and Johanna's remaining family has paid handsomely for her to be shepherded back to their home near San Antonio. It's a long journey (handy maps in the endpapers of the book help the reader follow along) and one fraught with dangers.
The real story though, is what happens between Johanna and the Captain as they travel and begin to feel like family. Unfortunately, Jiles's spare writing style doesn't really do justice to the feelings she wants the reader to understand the characters are feeling.
As for the movie, it is similarly spare, giving it the same overall tone as the book. Several major plot points are changed, for what I'm sure were valid cinematographic reasons, but the overall story arc is the same, and being able to see the expressions on the characters' faces certainly helps in understanding the feelings that Jiles writes into her story.
Read-alikes:
Far as the Eye Can See by Robert Bausch
The Son by Philipp Meyer
Bohemian Girl by Terese Svoboda
Mara Zonderman, Westhapmton Free Library
It’s difficult to summarize You Should Have Known by Jean Korelitz without spoiling the suspense that it achieves. You may have seen the HBO series The Undoing which is based on the book. And while the book and the series have much in common, there are also significant differences in how the plot progresses and, of course, there’s the difference between reading a book and viewing the dramatization of an author’s work.
The main character in the book is Grace Sachs, a marriage counselor with a successful practice in Manhattan. She’s married to a pediatric oncologist and has a 12-year-old son that attends a prestigious private school in the city. Her life smacks of social privilege and prestige. The story begins with Grace granting interviews about a book she has written, You Should Have Known, a self-help treatise aimed at women who tend to make all kinds of excuses for the flawed men that they are attracted to. The title of the book captures the essence of Grace’s philosophy which proposes that a person should never be surprised by what appears to be a drastic change in their spouse’s behavior. She puts forth the idea that there are indications of a partner’s true character right from the start. A person either chooses to ignore those initial signs, or will spend a great deal of energy later on convincing themselves that they had no idea of what they were getting into. The irony of Grace’s theory and book becomes quite evident as the story unfolds.
When a mother of one her husband’s patients—a woman of modest means and whose son also attends the private school—is found murdered, Grace is unnerved. Not only by the crime, but also by the fact that she cannot reach, nor account for her husband’s whereabouts. He’s supposed to be at a medical conference in Cleveland. At least that’s what he told her. But why doesn’t he return her calls? Because he left his phone home, as Grace eventually discovers.
You Should Have Known is not a murder mystery (like the HBO series), but it does provide for a suspenseful read. It’s the psychological dissection of a woman who is slowly coming to realize that her life is not as exemplary as she thought it to be. Korelitz’s book will immediately grip the reader and will be hard to put down. The narrative is told through Grace’s eyes, and while her situation may be obvious to the reader, it takes a myriad of discoveries—about her family, her husband’s family, her friends—before Grace can navigate through the fragments of what had appeared to be an idyllic life. Personal revelations, old and new friends, and taking refuge in a family retreat in Connecticut make it seem that Grace may be able to recover from her ordeal and begin to live a more honest life. Though the book’s ending may be considered a little too tidy for some, it still makes for an engrossing reading experience.
The book takes place in Manhattan and Connecticut while the series takes place in Manhattan and Long Island. The book is more psychological while the series is a murder mystery. In the book, Grace's book plays a prominent role while in the series it is barely mentioned. In the book, there is no question who the murderer is while the series keeps you guessing. Characters such as Alves and Jonathan are changed from book to series. The book ends with a letter and the possibility of a new life and closure while the series ends with a thrilling chase scene and keeps things open.
Read-alikes:
Watching You by Lisa Jewell
The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
Fiona is a workaholic high court Family judge in London and has been married to Jack for almost 30 years. According to Jack, their relationship closely resembles a brother and sister bond, rather than husband and wife, and he would like to change that. He wants to have an affair. No secrets, no lies. Stay married but have sex with his 28-year-old protégé.
Fi refuses the suggestion and Jack leaves. She is too focused on (and always has been) her career to worry about Jack’s midlife crisis. Plus, she just made a judgement to separate conjoined twins, meaning one will die, leaving her feeling unsettled. And now she has to determine whether a 17-year-old boy can decide whether or not to have a blood transfusion (leukemia). He’s not an adult, but he doesn’t want the transfusion because he’s a Jehovah’s Witness.
Fi allows the transfusion and Adam (the boy) gets better. Then he calls Fiona, sends letters and poems, and ends up following her to another town. She does the right thing by sending him away but doesn’t see how confused and alone he feels.
During this time, she and Jack continue in a stalemate.
Months later Adam dies and Fi can finally cry about him, about the twins, and about her childlessness (mostly due to her career). She falls into bed crying. When she wakes up, Jack is lying beside her. They lay face-to-face and she tells him everything, leaving us to believe that the marriage will survive.
The book is just over 200 pages, and the movie follows it closely, being both character-driven and reflective.
Read-alikes:
The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
Quarry by Celia Houdart
George and Lizzie by Nancy Pearl
Lori Ludlow, Babylon Public Library
Rose Nemser is 19, newly married, and pregnant when she and her husband, Fred, move in with Shirley Jackson and her husband, Stanley. The reclusive Jackson is the well-known author of titles such as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Fred is a graduate student who will be working with Stanley, a professor at Bennington College in Vermont. Rose and Fred will live in Shirley and Stanley’s spare bedroom instead of renting a place of their own, and Rose is happy to help out around the house both to make it easier for Shirley to write, and to feel needed. Over the course of the fall of ’64 and the winter of ’65, Rose has her baby, watches her husband fall under the spell of Stanley, a pompous serial adulterer, and develops an intense and turbulent relationship with Shirley.
Rose’s background is one of poverty and abandonment. She is painfully insecure and teeters on the verge of being an unreliable narrator, keeping secrets from both the other characters and the reader. She hears rumors that Shirley is a witch, grows interested in witchcraft, and thinks that she herself might have special powers. Rose also becomes obsessed with the mysterious 1946 disappearance of Bennington student Paula Welden, and believes that she was one the students who had an affair with Stanley, leading Shirley to kill Paula. Both Stanley and Shirley (who wrote a novel, Hangsaman, once thought to be loosely based on the disappearance) insist they did not know the young woman.
The plot moves slowly and would interest readers who enjoy atmospheric literary mysteries and psychological suspense with a menacing tone. Though Fred and Rose are fictional, many characters in the novel are not, and some of the plot (including the disappearance of Paula Welden) is inspired by real events. This title might interest those familiar with Shirley Jackson’s work, but it is not necessary to have read her books.
A film adaptation of this novel, also called Shirley, was released in 2020 (available on Hulu and Kanopy). The film is set about 15 years earlier than the novel. Shirley and her husband are much more unlikeable in the movie, and no longer parents, with their four children written out completely. Many events in the film deviate from the novel.
Read-alikes:
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
If She Were Dead by J.P. Smith
Norah Gillman, Cold Spring Harbor Library
Set in Carricklea, a small fictional town in the west of Ireland, Normal People is the love story of high school students Connell Waldron, a popular sports star and quiet, nondescript Marianne Sheridan. She is a loner from a wealthy family, who lives in the mansion that Connell’s mother cleans, and this difference in their social stations creates tension in their friendship. They’re both bookish -- they discuss The Communist Manifesto and The Golden Notebook. They are curious about the wider world, and intensely private; however, their relationship is undermined by an inability to communicate at critical moments, leading to heartbreaking misunderstandings.
At school, Connell won’t acknowledge Marianne, though they are sleeping together nearly every night, for fear of losing his friends. He’s sick with guilt over the situation. Marianne seems to understand but when Connell asks someone else to the school dance, she is crushed. She withdraws from school and only returns for final exams.
When they move to Dublin to attend Trinity College, it is Marianne who is suddenly popular and Connell who finds himself lonely. From being the small-town hero to just another guy in a somewhat sophisticated setting…so different from his home. They are drawn together again by the electrifying chemistry of first-love. “It’s not like this with other people,” Marianne says.
The pacing is slow. Befitting the characters taciturn nature, the dialog is spare. At home, Marianne doesn’t speak to her family. She eats dinner in silence and returns to her room. Connell doesn’t waste words with his mother. He is afraid she will interfere in his life.
A thoughtful, soulful read recommended for teens and adults. This is a simple story well-told.
Read-alikes:
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Friends Like Us by Sian O'Gorman
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Grace O'Connor, Retired
