May was not my best reading month - two books that were meh.
All Adults Here by Emma Straub seemed promising, especially with a quirky beginning, but it just didn't jell for me. Astrid witnesses a terrible accident one morning - a school bus kills someone she doesn't particularly like on the way to the hair salon. Turns out there was an incident years prior with one of her sons that biased Astrid against the woman. With her death, Astrid starts thinking about what kind of parent she's been and her own legacy. I was looking forward to more depth on unpacking this as well as parenting adult children (something I've found challenging myself). However, there are so many characters - Astrid's partner, her daughter who is about to be an unwed mother, two sons, one of which is an actor with a 13 yo daughter with her own incident so sent packing to Astrid's, daughters-in-law, the daughter's former high school flame and a rekindled female relationship. And reflections on Astrid's first husband who died. That's a lot of relationships to manage and it all gets watered down for me. I may have been looking for too much so perhaps a good light read if that's what you expect.
I was really looking forward to In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. Serle wrote One Italian Summer, one of my top 10 reads of 2022. Like Adults, this starts out promising - a story of friendship and fate. Dannie is a high-power NYC attorney with a plan and timetable for everything ... career, marriage, family. Bella, Dannie's childhood best friend, is more laid-back, glamorous and artsy. One night Dannie has a dream so vivid and clear that is five years in the future, but she doesn't recognize the apartment or the guy in her life; she just knows that she's happy. She revisits the dream several times but is unable to recreate the magic. Fast forward four years when she meets THE guy - and it's Bella's new boyfriend. I expected it to get juicy from there ... unfortunately it does not. Another potential light summer read; I guess I'm looking for deep thoughts and nuanced perspectives in my books.
Thanks to a couple of Audible sales I've loaded up my to-be-read list - better get cracking!
TBR List
- The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
- One Night on the Island by Josie Silver
- Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
- Search by Michelle Huneven
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Well Met by Jen DeLuca
- Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
- Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
- The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
- Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
- Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
- Blue Love: Blue Valley High - Senior Year by MJ Fields
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