Contemporary Fiction

Check & Mate is a great YA novel that has a lot to like. Despite her works usually being classified as contemporary romance or chick lit, Check & Mate felt like it skewed more towards a coming of age (coming of adult age that is) contemporary fiction story rather than romance. It’s certainly there and shapes a lot of the plot’s overall narrative, but the majority of the book is focused on Mallory’s internal dilemmas and confrontations with her past guilt and perceived responsibilities. Despite finding it well done and solid across the board, as a grown man probably twice the age of the intended readers, unfortunately this was not a very enjoyable read for me (romance was nice, all of Mallory’s drama, not so nice). However this is very much a “it’s not the book, it’s me” scenario. What I found to appreciate in Check & Mate is how well-written and developed the FMC Mallory is, and how relatable she likely can be. I was actually recommended this book to read from a friend who Mallory reminded me quite a lot of, minus some of her questionable emotional thought-processes. The way she thinks and acts, including character flaws that…

Charming, cozy, and exceedingly clever, I thoroughly enjoyed Ashley Poston’s A Novel Love Story that delivers on its creative premise. Beyond Eloraton’s warm vibe, this book is filled to the brim with numerous book references and has a lot going on beyond the focal romance plot thread. I generally liked The Dead Romantics and thought The Seven Year Slip was great, however A Novel Love Story is easily my favorite and has solidified Ashley Poston’s work for me. Well-written and lovingly crafted, this is an easy recommendation for anyone who like romance (particularly high-concept ones), cozy/easy reads, or even light touches of magical realism (a genre I typically do not care for). When this book was announced, I automatically added it to my reading list purely based on the premise which is one of my favorite tropes if done well. From the start, the story reminded me a lot of the BBC’s miniseries Lost in Austen which also features the main character being transported into their favorite literary world, in that case being Pride and Prejudice. A Novel Love Story doesn’t have the luxury of working off a popular established piece and has to work a lot harder with its…

Told in a simplistic and understated tone, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a collection of short stories that focus on self-reflection, perceived happiness, and purpose. Consisting of five largely self-contained stories that average around 60-70 pages each, each story focuses on characters of a variety of ages and backgrounds whose only commonality are feeling unfulfilled with their current life. There’s a young retail worker fresh out of university, an office worker with a dream to open an antique shop, a young mother torn between her editorial work and her child, a NEET unable to find where he belongs, and a recent retiree left without a purpose. Each story follows the focal character through their usually monotonous days, finding the local library, and receiving an unusual book recommendation from the librarian Ms. Komachi. Through this seemingly random book recommendation and a few open-ended questions from Ms. Komachi, each character goes on a quiet journey of self-discovery as they seek what they’re subconsciously looking for; happiness and fulfillment. “For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee gets cold”, I curiously picked this up as I loved The Midnight Library and largely disliked Before the Coffee…

With only a few days left before the end of the year, I can confidently say I found my top book of 2023. I don’t even know where to start with this one, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter novel to every gamer out there who once had a dream about creating their own game but that’s only half of the novel’s contents. The other half is a perfectly pitched, nuanced story of two 10 yr old kids (eventually three friends) who meet playing Super Mario and the way their friendship, work partnership, and lives intertwine up to their late 30’s. Admittedly I generally have a hard time reading novels that span a wide range of a character’s life mainly due to the difficulty of writing and portraying the maturity and emotions. However, Gabrielle Zevin has made me a believer by the sheer consistency and quality throughout this 400 page story. Starting with the two main leads Sam Masur and Sadie Green, both are incredibly well-developed characters who both compliment and clash with each other a variety of different areas. Character backstories are well-developed and incredibly varied heavily addressing the identify crisis that often comes with being…

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a rather remarkable novel that was unfortunately not for me, my rating does not represent the quality of this book. Very similar in concept Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen which I had recently read last month, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a shifting perspective narrative focusing on several characters whose only connection at first is living/arriving in Sowell Bay. A quiet, small town nestled on the Puget sound, the most notable attraction in the area is the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Tova Sullivan is a 70-something year old senior who works part time at the aquarium in the evenings as a cleaning lady busying herself with moping floors, wiping fingerprints off aquarium glass, and keeping herself busy. She has a group of fellow senior ladies affectionately called the “knit-wits” (I found this hilarious) she often has lunch with, her evening job making sure the aquarium is clean and orderly, and frankly not much else. After losing her husband to cancer a few years ago and her only son Erik when he was 18 (a mysterious disappearance and suspected drowning in the bay), her life has little meaning or direction apart from an unexpected friendship with Mercellus, a senior giant…