Alright, y'all, I was able to squeeze in one last (I think?) quartet for 2018.
Fifth Grade: Here Comes Trouble by Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna was a recent thrifting throwback find. The best part of this one was that the plot revolved around an upcoming coed skating party for someone's birthday. Y'all, remember your first coed party? And also the pressure of the couples skate at a skating rink? Right?!?! RIGHT?!?! Is that a stress kids today still have? I don't even know. Honestly, this was a quick read more than anything. I loved the nostalgia it provided, but it wasn't much more than that to me.
Read this book if - You are a thirtysomething who wants a chance to remember the social dynamics of the skating party.
Our House by Louise Candlish is this month's book club selection. This book starts with Fiona getting home only to find out there are other people living in her home. All her stuff is gone, and these other people indicate they now own her house. Whoa, y'all. The book then treks through what might have happened in alternating narrations. For Fiona, this is as the subject of a true crime podcast. For her now MIA husband Bram, this is through a Word document he has composed. This book is really the ultimate case of an event spiraling out of control, and then spiraling some more, and then spiraling even more. This is one that kept me reading not so much from a "Now What" angle, but a "WAIT, WHAT?!" angle which is definitely a fine line for an author to tow in a story like this. The twists in this one were ones I didn't see coming, and overall, this was just the best kind of pageturning thriller.
Read this book if - You want a book that will get your book club talking. You want the ultimate look into a situation that spirals OUT. OF. CONTROL.
After reading The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie? I decided to continue with the series.
The Voice on the Radio by Caroline Coomey was just okay-ish. Honestly, it read like a novella more than a full story. In this one, Reeve (Janie's boyfriend/boy next door) is off to college. He's DJing at the campus radio station, and he's trying to find his voice. So, he starts telling Janie's story. LIsteners are captivated. As you can maybe see coming, Janie finds out. So, there's that. As a continuation of the series, I just wanted so much more than I got from this one.
Read this book if - You want to continue reading about Janie Johnson.
What Janie Found by Caroline Coomey is the fourth book in the Janie Johnson series. For me, this book seemed to really just be setting up the last book in the series. In this one, Janie's adoptive father has a stroke. Janie goes to help her mother. In looking through her dad's finances and papers, she realizes that her dad knows more about Hannah (his daughter/her kidnapper) than he was letting on. This development is really a set-up for the crux of the fifth book (which I am now reading). Much like the third book, this one wasn't as much depth as a full novel, but there was enough drama that I NEED to know what happens in the conclusion of this series.
Read this book if - You still want to continue reading about Janie Johnson.
See you in 2019!
