Review for "If the Tide Turns" by Rachel Rueckert

 I received a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

★★★★☆

This was a solid debut historical fiction book! It was obvious not only that the author did an immense amount of research, but that she is truly passionate about the people she's writing about here. I appreciated that she included the Cast of Characters in the beginning so that we could know what characters are inspired by real historical figures and which were completely fictional. The author's note was very insightful into the research that went into the novel and the enthusiasm the author has for the time period and these characters specifically. 

I was enraptured by the story most of the way through. I am generally not a fan of dual POVs where they are recounting events completely separate from one another, but in this case it made sense because it was a lost love/second chance romance story; also, it was based on true events so I can't dock the author for writing it this way. I was extremely intrigued by Sam's pirate escapades, including the Articles and just in general the way the society on his pirate fleet was so far progressed beyond that of the land dwellers' of his time period. This is definitely a part where I appreciated the author's note because it was pleasantly surprising to find out that this part of the book was inspired by the truth. I was also very fascinated by Sam's consistent reluctance to piracy; this combined with his self-proclaimed sense of pride made him a more complicated and thus likeable and believable character to me.

That brings us into the characterization. I found both our protagonists to be compelling characters. I won't go into the "they're too modern for this time period" viewpoint because their progressive viewpoints are what I like about them. To me it is very entertaining to read characters who notice injustice and speak out against it, even if it makes them stand out in a bad way. I did think there was room for improvement when it came to introducing the characters; there was a bit of "telling not showing" in the beginning which was unnecessary because the showing part did come naturally and we could have just done without the telling. At one point, Sam says "I know I'm prideful" or something like that, and I would eventually see this fact without needing to be told it from the outset. The same is true of Maria's characterization. I loved her haughtiness and resilience, but I felt her initial introduction was a bit too heavy handed on these facts. 

I wanted to talk about the telling-not-showing thing in the characters section so that I could reserve my paragraph on the writing for praise. I really liked how this was written. The internal monologues, the characters' actions and thoughts, it was all very engaging. There were several moments that very lightly referenced Taylor Swift lyrics (in the inspired-by way, not the plagiarism way) and sure enough the author thanked T-Swift in the acknowledgements. I hope the author is happy to know I had "Love Story" playing through my head the entire time I read this book! The influence definitely shows in the best way because I found this tale almost lyrical in its prose while not sacrificing the agency of the plot to do so. 

Final verdict: While there is some slight opportunity for improvement regarding the characterization, this is a very solid debut historical fiction with an engaging plot, earnest characters, and beautiful writing.

Review for "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" by Jessie Q. Sutanto

This review is sectioned because I read this as part of a book club and we discussed the first half of the book first and then the second half.

★★★★☆

3/14/2024 (ch. 1-14)

I just finished chapter 14, so I'm about a third of the way through. I'm writing my chapters 1-20 review now because there's chance I'll forget to do it when chapter 20 rolls around and will just keep blazing through the book. I am finding it cute and intriguing so far!

I think Vera Wong is a very charming main character. Our introduction to her was comprehensive yet efficient, which I really appreciated. We got into the meat of the story very quickly, and overall I just really like the pacing. We are able to get glimpses of the characters' histories without straying too far from the main storyline. I didn't know this book would have multiple POVs, and as much as I do like all the characters so far, I kind of wish we got more of Vera. I feel like she should have a more dominating presence in the book considering she's its namesake. I also want to reiterate something I've heard other people say: canonically, Vera should have been older than 60. She reads as if she's at least in her 70's, and hearing this supposedly 60-year-old woman described as so elderly/aloof did not compute. 

My disclaimer for this next part is that, as someone who's white, I don't know how much right I have to comment on this topic. At some points in the book I have questioned the stereotypes that Vera has been reinforcing. It is not constant, but there are lines or moments where my brain kind of cringes because Vera has done, said, or thought something that is so prevalent in harmful stereotyping of Chinese immigrant parents. I won't comment on whether or not they might be "true stereotypes"; I'm just putting my trust in the fact that the author is more knowledgeable on what is acceptable on this topic than I am. (Also, I've been listening to the audiobook, and it's possible the narrator's inflections have also been contributing to this.)

As for theories, it seems that Sana and Riki both harbor guilt over what happened to Marshall. It's likely that neither of them is completely responsible for his death but that they both did/said something to indirectly cause Marshall to OD. I also can already see the cozy ending: Sana, Riki, Julia, and Oliver end up being regulars at the teashop and help Vera revitalize it to become more successful than ever. I also expect Vera to reconcile with her son. Since he's a lawyer, maybe he gets involved with Vera's investigation, especially because it has already been hinted that he disapproves of it.

But also--what is on the flash drive???

Overall, the cozy tone of this book is very good. I love that it's low-stakes even though it's a murder--likely due to the fact that Marshall was such a terrible person that no one really feels bad that he's gone. There are moments that Vera says something (in her internal monologue) that gives my heart a squeeze, usually about her son or late husband and how lonely she feels. I definitely foresee this being a very heartwarming story by the conclusion, and I can't wait to see all the crazy shenanigans Vera gets into before then.

Update 3/20/2024 (ch. 15-end)

This mystery was very cute. In order to build all the character arcs and relationships, we did lose a little bit of the mystery focus; it went off topic from the murder a bit more than I was anticipating. I didn't mind this though because I did like the characters and hearing their backstories. 

If the mystery was a bit more convoluted, I could have forgiven the lack of focus on it a bit more. The answer seemed a bit too simple and the buildup was slightly anticlimactic. For example, the amount of suspense created around the flash drive/laptop caused the plot to feel really flat when its contents are finally revealed. Again, I mostly forgive this because I appreciated the off-topic parts that had to do with the "suspects", I just think this could have been really excellent if it had achieved both good character building AND a fantastic murder mystery simultaneously.

In my previous (ch. 1-20) review, I said something about predicting the characters were guilty of confronting/hurting Marshall but that none of them did it and it was probably an OD. I realized when I picked up the book again that by that point we had already found out about the bird dander being the cause of death, so obviously that was a silly prediction which I would like to retract. It did cross my mind to be suspicious of Alex because, as others have mentioned, Vera spoke so highly of him which is suspicious in its own right. However, I didn't put it together that he was Marshall and Oliver's father. In hindsight it seems so obvious (I even went back and listened to chapter 2 where Alex is telling Vera about his sons and laughed at my past self for not putting it together), but I do think that connection was very clever. (Disclaimer: I am not a person that looks for twists in thrillers; I like to be surprised so I don't over-scrutinize as I'm reading. Someone who pays more attention might have guessed the twist, but as a casual reader I did not.)

I did accurately predict that the team would come together and get Vera Wang's World Famous Tea up and running, although admittedly it went a slightly different direction than I anticipated. I didn't count on everyone fixing up the shop (the furniture, mural, etc.) and then Julia bringing her new social media following into it but it worked because it lent credibility to the trope. I will say I was surprised Vera didn't have more of a reconciliation with her son (as it was in my prediction that they would have a big makeup at the end), but maybe it was more plausible that they didn't considering just how strained their relationship was. 

The closest thing I can compare this book to that I've read is Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, but the type of story is slightly different. In contrast to Finlay Donovan, Vera Wong's enthusiasm for this murder was unique and funny to read; somehow her commitment to believing it was a homicide came off as cute instead of pathological. 

I would read this author again; reading this got me interested to read Dial A for Aunties just because I already knew people talked about it a lot and I kind of want to see what the big deal is, and if people think this one or that one is the better of the author's books. I also just want to get more into the cozy mystery genre; maybe if I do I can better judge this book in comparison to others.

Final verdict: It's cute and heartwarming, and only lacking a bit in the mystery aspect.

Review for "As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow" by Zoulfa Katouh

This book is very powerful, thought-provoking, and educative in all the best ways. I empathized with Salama as much as I am able; I am humbled to recognize my own privilege and adjust myself accordingly.

★★★★☆

I only knew the very basic premise of this story going into it--a girl who was meant to be pharmacist ends up as a volunteer doctor at a hospital in Syria at the height of the violence caused by a tyrannical regime and subsequent rebellion. This description of the book is accurate, but it does not comprise most of the story. To me, this is a straightforward love story set against a brutal background. At first, I was put off by the introduction to romance; I wanted the story to just be about survival and resilience. However, Kenan really wormed his way into my heart, and I came to really root for Salama and Kenan and their love.

Apart from the romance, I just really enjoyed the plot of this. The struggle to secure a way out of Syria along with Salama and Kenan's desire to fight and protect the country was stressful but really well done. I also was a big fan of the Layla storyline/twist; it was heartrending in the best and worst ways since I didn't see it coming but I had grown to really appreciate Salama and Layla's friendship. It very much reminded me of Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea so maybe it's not the most original twist, but I still liked it. Side note on the plot: As morbid as this is going to sound, I almost would have liked for the characters to not survive and it be like Salama is telling her story from heaven, just because I've never seen that done in this kind of story and it would have been even more impactful. That being said, because I was rooting for the characters so much, I did feel a large sense of relief when they all had a happy ending.

I don't want to understate the power of this novel; I think it is beautiful and important and sheds light on a situation that many of us were aware of but knew nothing about. The book has a very serious goal and purpose and I think it achieves both effectively. The reason this ends up as a 4/5 stars instead of a full 5 for me, despite my earlier gushing, is because I just think the writing is "not for me". Most of the time it was good/okay and I really appreciated the story, but there was quite a bit of purple prose in here that drew me out of the story. The plot is already so grim that we really didn't need so much flourishing in the narrative, especially when most of it was just in Salama's internal monologue. It really came off at times as spoken word poetry which is just not what I'm looking for in a novel. This may have been exacerbated by the audiobook narrator's reading style, but in general I found the writing to be a bit cringey at times, particularly in the first half of the novel when I was still familiarizing myself with the story and characters.

Final verdict: This hauntingly beautiful story is only somewhat diminished by excessive writing flourish.

Review for "Into the Drowning Deep" by Mira Grant

I settled on a 2.75/5 for this book, but make no mistake: it was sitting in the 2-star range for a while there. 

★★★☆☆

The conversations in this book were just so awkward. Nobody talks like that. The relationships, the choices the characters made, the circumstances they constantly found themselves in... it was just lacking in plausibility in every conceivable way. I had a similar frustration with reading the similarly plotted classic Jurassic Park. It just seemed like a story that is so heavily based on science should have been composed of more intelligent individuals. But I guess it's a story that warns of human hubris...


Because of how awkward the writing (mainly the dialogue) is in this, I had a really hard time getting into the story. On top of the melodramatic/stilted dialogue, there were so many entire paragraphs in parantheses. I suppose this was done to indicate that it was background on an recently mentioned topic, but girl it just wasn't necessary, and it was annoying. Until the creatures started invading the ship, I just was not motivated to open this book and read. While I didn't hate any of the characters (other than Tory's ex, I don't even remember his name now), I just found their motivations unreasonable or otherwise bemusing. I could not figure out Theo's entire characterization at all. I liked the Olivia x Tory dynamic, but I wish we had gotten more of it, in some kind of epilogue maybe. Speaking of which, while I wouldn't be a proponent of this book being any longer than it is, why was the ending so abrupt? It was like "they were saved, yay, the end". A lot of aspects of the book did not make sense to me and honestly would make me think the book was written by an inexperienced author, which of course I know it wasn't.

I will say: once that plot picked up, I did kind of get into the story. I was able to very easily coast through the last 200 pages or so. By that point I had figured out how to tune out the bad writing in order to just enjoy what was happening. While I thought a Sci-Fi/Horror book would be scarier than this, the book does a good job at blending science and suspense. I will commend the author for how much research probably went into learning about several different fields of marine biology in order to write this.

Side note: Why is the book called "Into" the Drowning Deep? Literally only 1 person goes into the water and is immediately killed (2 people, if you count Tory's very late and brief encounter, but still). It'd be more aptly titled "On Top of" the Drowning Deep, but I guess that doesn't have the same ring to it.

Final verdict: The writing is bad, but the book is not completely unreadable.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

I feel like this book is a minor Victim of the Hype for me; by all means I still gave it a very good rating but it isn't superb like I was expecting based on all the dazzling reviews about it.

★★★★☆
What I liked: The vibes are immaculate, the overall feel of the book is very cozy as promised. The book manages to feels low-stakes the majority of the time even when the plot is primarily revolving around abducted children and evil enchantments. I found Emily to be a funny little narrator. She was quirky without trying too hard to be different, and her scholarliness was part of the charm in her writing style. I liked several aspects of Wendell; I thought it was interesting how he was constantly aware of and manipulating people's view of him while simultaneously being pretty indifferent to their wellbeing. I found him very tame given the way faeries were described, but we can chalk that up to his having been exiled from the faerie world for so long. 


I think I struggled a bit with the relationships. I felt no romantic chemistry between Wendell and Emily, so for their friendship to take that turn felt very odd to me. Surely that is part of the charm for most people: a curmudgeon and a Faerie fall in love. But for me I didn't buy into them being in love. Prior to Wendell announcing his love for her and proposing marriage, I would've have sworn there would be no romance in this novel. I also felt that the relationships between Emily/Wendell and the townspeople could have been better; I was not believing that they would all march into faerie lands, risking their own lives, for Emily. Perhaps if the book had been padded with 50-100 pages more development both of these relationship issues would have been less apparent.

This is a very minor critique but I simply must comment on the hair. Every other page hair was mentioned. Whether it was Emily's hair which is ALWAYS falling out of her messy bun, even with faerie magic enchanting it, or Wendell's hair which is always so golden and perfect that Emily just wishes she could run her fingers through it, I feel that I have been thoroughly informed on the characters' hair.

Final verdict: It's cute and cozy and only lacks in the characters' relationship development.