Savannah Reid, a San Carmelita police officer, has been assigned a new case. The husband of a local politician has been murdered. The investigation, not surprisingly, leads to the wife as the main suspect. However, she has some strong connections within the police force, which not only bring Savannah’s case to a screeching halt but also lead to her being kicked off the force. In spite of this, Savannah continues to pursue leads in the case with the support of some new friends along the way, in order to discover who the real killer is.
Just Desserts is an enjoyable and quick novel, which kicks off the Savannah Reid mystery series. Although a murder mystery can be a dark subject matter, the author incorporates lighter moments in the story, particularly between Savannah and her former partner on the force Dirk. Like most series, starting at the beginning provides a great introduction to the characters as their story arcs change up character dynamics in later installments.
In 1969, the four Gold siblings boldly knock on the door of a fortune teller who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. Despite all efforts to dismiss the predictions, Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon are all deeply affected by it, and it deeply affects the rest of their lives. Told from each of the four sibling's perspectives, The Immortalists takes us through decades of hardship and love.
This is a novel crafted around a question we all ask ourselves more often than we'd care to admit: Is it more important to truly live or to survive? To dare to dream at our grandest or to play it safe? And, if you knew the exact day on which you would die, would you live your life differently than you would without that knowledge?
Charley Davidson (yes, like the motorcycle) is part-time private investigator, part-time police consultant, and full-time Grim Reaper. When spirits don't immediately pass on to the other side, they find their way to her. Whether she likes it or not, she has to help them work through whatever is holding them here and help them cross over. Usually, this is fine, but lately, there's been something else bothering her. Every night, she's been having wildly erotic, incredibly vivid dreams, and every day, she's been seeing mysterious dark blurs just in the fringes of her vision, like something is stalking her. She thinks the two must be connected, and might also be connected to the most terrifying night of her life-- the night she met the inhumanly strong, inhumanly agile, inhumanly gorgeous boy called Reyes. But apparently the whole world thinks it's "Kill Charley Davidson Week," so first she'll have to survive long enough to find her answers.
If you're looking for a new mystery series to start, especially if you're a fan of Stephanie Plum, Mercy Thompson, or Sookie Stackhouse, this would be a good one to pick up. The writing is snarky and energetic, and while the first book is maybe trying a little too hard to keep a constant stream of jokes flowing, it's still a very funny, very engaging book that is easy to read in a few short sittings.
Bestselling author Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and bodies, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she casts an insightful and critical eye on her childhood, teens, and twenties—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers into the present and the realities, pains, and joys of her daily life.
With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and authority that have made her one of the most admired voices of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to be overweight in a time when the bigger you are, the less you are seen. Hunger is a deeply personal memoir from one of our finest writers, and tells a story that hasn’t yet been told but needs to be.
