Author: Tirzah Price

Evie is on the cusp of achieving her wildest dreams: She’s just graduated from high school and been cast in a major movie, following in the footsteps of her legendary grandmother, the actress Evelyn Conaway. But when she puts her trust in the wrong person, Evie’s acting career is sabotaged and she finds herself fleeing LA to visit Gigi in New York, where her grandmother has been living rather reclusively for the past ten years, hoping that her famous grandmother can help her get back on track.

But Evie gets a shock when she discovers that Gigi isn’t living alone—she’s taken in a young man Evie’s age named Milo, who does her grocery shopping and keeps her company. Evie suspects that Milo is out to take advantage of her grandmother’s wealth, but before she can prove it, Gigi takes off and vanishes, leaving a note that says she’ll be back “soon.” With the clock ticking down on Evie’s last chance at acting success, she turns to Milo to help find Gigi…and learns some surprising truths about herself and her family along the way.

First off, I loved that this book is about Hollywood without being about the shallow trappings of Hollywood. Even though Evie is on the outs and desperate for a way back in, the story is far more grounded than you would expect. Gigi taking off and not lending a hand forces Evie to confront herself and her own ambition, and decide just how far she’ll go to achieve her goals. She must also reckon with how the world perceives her, and how the people who matter to her perceive her. That makes this book especially impactful as she and Milo go on a whirlwind scavenger hunt across NYC and through her grandmother’s past to find her. Evie’s goals shift throughout the story, taking you to unexpected and unexpectedly wonderful places, and there’s just enough romance to keep you satisfied and swooning. This is a book about staying true to yourself while chasing your dreams, and tending to your relationships, all told in a really relatable way…although most of us probably aren’t likely related to movie stars or Hollywood hopefuls ourselves. I was thoroughly charmed by the story and the characters and I’m actually sad that none of the fictitious movies and actors that Forest filled this story with are real! I highly recommend this is you’re looking for a funny and romantic book that has some hefty family issues, but isn’t dark!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

When Kieran was a teenager, a horrific storm hit his small coastal town in Tasmania and as a result of a mistake he made, they lost his older brother Finn and Finn’s business partner. Another life was lost that day as well, but no one really knows what happened to the teenage girl who was presumably swept out to sea. Now an adult with a new baby of his own, Kieran and his partner head back for a visit for the first time in years. It’s clear that some wounds run deep, but Kieran is unprepared for how the past gets stirred up when the body of a young woman is found on the beach.

I think one of the things that Jane Harper does really well (aside from really vivid settings!) is balancing dramatic or impactful moments in her characters’ pasts with a contemporary mystery. We’ve seen her pull it off in The Dry and The Lost Man (both excellent books and worth checking out, too) and here in The Survivors she really makes you feel the tension in this small town as a result of the painful past and the storm years earlier. It’s something that touched everyone’s lives, and all of the characters are living with the consequences of it still, albeit to varying extents. The details she drops are expertly planted and everything comes together in a really smart, surprising way, interspersed with memories and flashbacks that really give you a lot of insight to the characters and their motivations.

I also really enjoyed the Tasmanian setting! I’ve read a fair number of books set in Australia but I’d never really explored Tasmania through fiction, and I appreciate that the small town, the beach, and the rugged wilderness of the area really leapt off the page and added to the unsettling vibe of the book. The depictions of the storm were also really chilling. What’s scarier than being at the mercy of Mother Nature when she’s in a rage?

Overall, if you like a moody mystery that doesn’t get too dark or graphic, you can’t go wrong with Jane Harper’s work and her newest book is certainly a winner!

Izzy is a sixteen-year-old high school student who has a running monologue of what she really thinks going on in her head at all times. She doesn’t dare actually voice her opinions, though. Between a busy and high-powered family always overlooking her and a boyfriend who always talks over her, Izzy knows its better to keep her true feelings to herself. Until one day she accidentally crashes a stand up comedy open mic, and finds herself on the stage. In her panic, she bursts forth with all her real opinions, and to her shock, she gets a few laughs. Suddenly, Izzy is hooked on comedy, and she even has some new friends who are helping her tighten her routines and encourage her to go out for a showcase. The only problem? They all think Izzy is in college.

I really loved this book because, and this might sound super obvious here, it’s really funny! Comedy is hard to pull off, and humor is very subjective, but I was laughing aloud multiple times throughout this book, especially as Izzy had to balance the awkwardness of accidentally lying about her age and trying to pass herself off as a college junior rather than a high school junior. These comedic moments are countered with some much more serious stuff, such as Izzy’s unhealthy relationship with her controlling boyfriend, and her sense of not quite belonging in her family. Henry understands that humor isn’t used to write off the bigger, scarier, more complex realities, but it can be used to help explore them and more sense of them. Izzy uses humor to find her voice and her courage, and to connect with the people she’s struggled to talk to, for better or worse. This is such a funny, charming, and really heartfelt coming-of-age story with a quiet but realistic plot!

In Solomon’s debut novel, a generation ship full of thousands of people is hurtling through space, destined for a planet that can sustain life. They’re only in the middle of their journey, and passengers can’t quite remember how many generations have been born on the ship. Aster lives on the lower decks of the HSS Matilda, where the people are pressed into backbreaking and cruel labor for the comfort of those who reside on the upper decks. Aster is an unusual person, preoccupied with the journal her mother left behind before she disappeared years ago, and while most people are content to let Aster be, when she attracts the unwelcome attention of a cruel overseer, life becomes even harder than it already is. Aster is swept up in the politics of the upper decks while trying to survive and decode the mysteries of her mother’s journal. When she finally cracks a piece of it, it could change her fate—and that of everyone on the Matilda—forever.

This is an intense and harrowing book that looks at how cruel people can be to one another when sealed in a vacuum, hurtling through space without any accountability. Aster’s life is beyond rough, and is at times difficult to read about, and it’s not difficult to see the parallels between how she and her people are treated to the ways of the Antebellum South. But at the same time, Solomon provides such a rich and interesting culture to Aster’s life on the lower decks, and the world-building is always fascinating, especially when it becomes apparent there is a darker history on the ship that has been deliberately obscured. While there is lots of violence, I was sustained through this book by Aster’s mission to find out what her mother knew, how she documented it, and where exactly she ended up before she disappeared. It’s a fascinating puzzle that is cleverly put together, and left me wanting to re-read it just to see how Solomon pulled it off! It’s part social commentary, part space exploration, and part mystery as Aster navigates a brutal life with hope she barely allows herself to feel. I highly recommend it if you love sci-fi and you like futuristic books that speak to the very real social issues we face here and now.