City People by Elizabeth Topp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story looks like a mystery story on its face. Several families are at a private school tour when one family doesn’t show. They all find out later that the mom died under mysterious circumstances. It sounded to me like it was going to be a drama around what happened.

And it maybe a little bit is. But it’s much more about how this death impacts all the other moms in the circle and a peek at their lives and a detailed study around how what you see is not the truth. And how every person, every marriage has secrets that aren’t visible from the outside.

And sometimes the richer the person, the bigger the secrets and scandals.

This book mostly read like a character study of the rich to me and I enjoyed it. It was fast paced and hard to put down.

with gratitude to netgalley and Little A for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an absolute delight and joy this book was to read!! I listened to it on audio and it was so very excellent that I did not want to stop reading it even for a moment. Might be the read I most enjoyed this year so far.

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Silicon Hearts by Robin Miyashita
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For some reason I kept waiting for this book to be like many others where Silicon Valley is full of evil, terrible people who are plotting some sinister way to exploit the main characters. I think I hadn’t fully read that it was a romance story.

So while there was a little evil-ness, it was mostly a story about five kids who win an opportunity to participate at a special program hosted by a big tech company (that smelled a lot like a combination of Apple and Google). As someone who works at one of these companies, I laughed at some of what was true and some of what was clearly exaggerated but all in the spirit of fun.

The writers are both from the industry so there’s nothing here that was egregiously ridiculous except maybe that they couldn’t predict the 2023 slow down of tech.

I enjoyed each of the five characters. They weren’t super complex but they also weren’t cartoons. They just weren’t deeply developed but it didn’t bother me. This was a fun, entertaining read.

with gratitude to netgalley and Hyperion Avenue for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Sketching Buildings & Landscapes: Perspective and Proportions for Drawing Architecture, Gardens and More! by Masao Yamada
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a different and interesting book on how to structure your sketches for a scene with buildings and landscape. It focuses less on how to draw the bits of a building but more around how to make decisions around where to frame the elements of the scene, how to get the proportions and perspective right and then how to break down the structures of the drawing to get the scene to match what you’re looking at.

It’s unlike any other book I’ve read on this topic and I think for that reason alone, it’s a valuable addition to your library of art/sketching books.

with gratitude to Tuttle Publishing and edelweiss for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a gem of a novel. If you’re looking for something uplifting and joyful and sweet, this is the book for you.

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Wellness by Nathan Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nathan Hill’s “The Nix” was my favorite novel of 2016. I laughed so hard and I loved every moment I spent with that novel. Even so, I was worried about requesting “Wellness” since it’s more than 600 pages and what if I didn’t like it?

After a lot of hemming and hawing I requested it any way and slowly started reading it, hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to get through.

I spent the next three days of my vacation wanting to do nothing but read this book. I fell in love with the characters. I laughed, I cried, I was touched, I was mad. I loved following every single meandering thread of story Hill took me down and I exclaimed with joy when he brought it all back and tied it with an awesome knot.

This book singlehandedly made my vacation ten times better than it already was. I came home feeling full of joy and could not stop talking about the book to everyone I saw. I am absolutely confident it will be my favorite read of 2023.

Nathan Hill has done the impossible and his sophomore novel is even better than his breakout novel and his story is funny, meaningful, thought provoking, and tender. I loved and cherished every single minute I spent with it.

I cannot recommend it enough.

Now I really hope he hurries up and writes another novel.

with gratitude to netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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