Stacy Alesi

TEN RULES FOR FAKING IT by Sophie Sullivan

February 6, 2021

From the publisher:

What happens when your love life becomes the talk of the town?

As birthdays go, this year’s for radio producer Everly Dean hit rock-bottom.

Worse than the “tonsillectomy birthday.” Worse than the birthday her parents decided to split (the first time). But catching your boyfriend cheating on you with his assistant?

Even clichés sting.

But this is Everly’s year! She won’t let her anxiety hold her back. She’ll pitch her podcast idea to her boss.

There’s just one problem.

Her boss, Chris, is very cute. (Of course). Also, he’s extremely distant (which means he hates her, right? Or is that the anxiety talking)?

And, Stacey the DJ didn’t mute the mic during Everly’s rant about Simon the Snake (syn: Cheating Ex).

That’s three problems.

Suddenly, people are lining up to date her, Bachelorette-style, fans are voting (Reminder: never leave house again), and her interest in Chris might be a two-way street. It’s a lot for a woman who could gold medal in people-avoidance. She’s going to have to fake it ‘till she makes it to get through all of this.

Perhaps she’ll make a list: The Ten Rules for Faking It.

Because sometimes making the rules can find you happiness when you least expect it.

Everly has sucky birthdays, and her 30th is the worst yet. She catches her boyfriend in bed with another woman. To make matters worse, she doesn’t realize she is complaining about it in front of a live mic at the radio station where she works. Listeners get involved quickly, but Everly suffers from social anxiety. I really liked the way that was handled in this book.

The romance is a super slow build. The new station manager is hot for Everly, but is afraid to get involved as this is just a stepping stone for him. His family owns the station and he is being groomed for much bigger things, a continent away in New York. Meanwhile, he quickly realizes that he has a viral moment that can lead to big ratings, so he convinces Everly to commit to a Bachelorette style radio dating show.

Everly is a likeable character, as is Chris, the station manager, and the dates they set her up on are more funny than fun. This is a light and enjoyable romantic romp, and a fast, fun read, but nothing really special.

2/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TEN RULES FOR FAKING IT by Sophie Sullivan. St. Martin’s Griffin (December 29, 2020). ISBN: 978-1250624161. 384 pages.

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THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

February 5, 2021

From the publisher:

The Today Show/Jenna’s Book Club February Pick
One of “2021’s Most Highly Anticipated New Books”―Newsweek
One of “27 of 2021’s Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Novels That Will Sweep You Away”―Oprah Magazine
One of “The Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2021″―Parade
One of the “Books Everyone Will Talk About in 2021”―PopSugar
One of “The 57 Most Anticipated Books Of 2021″―Elle
One of “32 Great Books To Start Off Your New Year”―Refinery29
One of “25 of the Best Books Arriving in 2021”―BookBub
One of “The 21 Best Books of 2021 for Working Moms”―Working Mother
One of “The Most Anticipated Winter Books That Will Keep You Cozy All Season Long”―Stylecaster
One of the “Most Anticipated Books of 2021”―Frolic

From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.

“My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”

Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa―like so many of her neighbors―must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

For the past four years, I’ve been mostly reading happy books with happy endings. Reality was so bleak that these books were my escape. It’s 2021, we have a new president, a Covid vaccine, and I am hopeful once again. So I found myself seeking out other books, darker books, and I thought I could switch things up again. I’ve always read broadly, across most genres. I want to find my way back to that. So I started here. With the darkest, most depressing book I’ve read in many, many years. And you know what? It was great.

I think the NY Times review summed it up beautifully: “The Four Winds seems eerily prescient in 2021 . . . Its message is galvanizing and hopeful: We are a nation of scrappy survivors. We’ve been in dire straits before; we will be again. Hold your people close.”

Elsa is a remarkable woman, but she doesn’t know it. Suffering with rheumatic fever as a child, she believed she would probably not live to adulthood. Her family thought her plain and boring and let her know that. But she does live, and at 25 finally realizes this was going to be her life. Living at home with her parents, until they were gone. She asked if she could go to college, and is laughed at. She saw her future as bleak; never marrying, never having children, never having a life. Until the night she sneaks out to go to a speakeasy.

She meets Rafe, a very good looking young man, several years younger than herself. She goes off with him that night, then sneaks back home. She meets him a few more times and eventually finds herself pregnant. Her family, pillars of the community, are incensed. Rafe is Italian, and to her family, he is beneath them. Rafe does the right thing and marries Elsa.

Their marriage is not great. Elsa loves Rafe, but he is always distant. They live with his parents on the family farm. The Great Depression and then drought strikes, and stays for years, starving the family. Hannah’s vivid descriptions of hunger and dust storms and life during that time is simply mesmerizing. Elsa’s world turns upside down. Rafe leaves them. And eventually, her young son develops life-threatening breathing issues from all the dust.

Elsa takes the family truck and the children and heads west. Her in-laws can’t leave the farm, but they understand she has to go. All the talk is about California needing workers, so Elsa heads west. The journey is harrowing, and when they arrive, they do not find a land of milk and honey. Instead, they find poverty and illness, and despair. But Elsa never gives up, and she won’t let her children give up either.

I’ve read Kristin Hannah for many years, and always enjoyed her books. She wrote women’s fiction, stories of women’s lives and friendships and love, and she was good at it. Her books were successful. And then she wrote The Nightingale, rocketed to the top of the NY Times bestseller list, and hasn’t looked back yet. Firefly Lane is now a series on Netflix, The Nightingale movie has been filmed, stars Elle and Dakota Fanning, and is scheduled to be released late this year. I would be surprised if The Four Winds doesn’t end up a film; it is cinematic in scope and a story just begging to be told in a visual medium.

These characters and their story will be with me for a long time. Elsa is a warrior, a mother, and an inspiration. This glimpse into a period of American history is soulful and disturbing and beautifully illustrates the American people’s resilience. Don’t miss it.

2/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s Press (February 2, 2021). ISBN: 978-1250178602 . 464 pages.

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THE UNWILLING by John Hart

February 2, 2021

CLICK TO PURCHASE

From the publisher:

Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart’s singular style.

Gibby’s older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.

Jason won’t speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn’t known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother’s hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra’s murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

This is crime fiction at its most raw, an exploration of family and the past, of prison and war and the indelible marks they leave.

John Hart presents his latest novel based in the south of the United States during the Vietnam war. The wide-ranging and compelling story involves the price soldiers pay for fighting in war, family ties, an organized world of master criminals, and the coming of age of a young man.

Gabriel (Gibby’s) two older brothers have already fought in the war – one was killed in action, the other received a dishonorable discharge, and came home only to be sent to prison where he served several years. Their father is a long time police detective married to the love of his life, a lady whose background includes being an heiress. Gibby’s mother blames Jason, the brother returning from war, for the death of his brother, and refuses to see him. She has also made it clear to her husband that he is not to allow Gibby to meet with Jason as that would expose him to a bad influence.

But blood ties will out and Gibby secretly meets Jason spending a day with him and the company of two women. During the day one of the women manages to taunt a busload of convicts being transported along a public highway. These prisoners are from the institution that Jason had served his time in, and a master criminal actually running the inside of the jail arranges for the murder of the woman that did the taunting.

Jason is blamed for the murder and re-sent to the jail he had served his sentence in for safekeeping while awaiting trial. The events see Gibby deciding to prove his brother innocent of the murder and with the help of his best friend and a young lady that is becoming his girlfriend, go after the facts proving that Jason is innocent.

Hart tells the story with attention to building the characters of the principal protagonists, including that of a psychopathic killer awaiting execution at the prison. His prose flows freely and easily brings his readers into a mesmerized state while enjoying the book. A definite all-night read with another fascinating book to John Hart’s credit.

2/2021 Paul Lane

THE UNWILLING by John Hart. St. Martin’s Press (February 2, 2021). ISBN: 978-1250167729. 384 p.

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CORONAVIRUS DIARY: February 1, 2021

February 1, 2021

Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day

At my house, in Florida, we celebrate the movie

Bill Murray, Andie McDowell, and of course, the groundhog. We are having winter-ish weather here this week. It’s 68° right now and going up to the low 70’s. But there is a cold front coming through. It started raining, and tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be in the low 40’s, with wind chill it will feel like the 30’s. On the two days I have to leave my house and go to work! I will be layering up and happy to wear my Ugg boots. I actually have quite a few pairs of boots now. I’ve been collecting them over the past several winters. Why not, it’s nice to switch things up now and then.

I am not complaining, trust me! Not with this big blizzard that is expected to hit New York City today. My mishpocheh (my son’s in-laws) already have had a lot of snow in Chicago: Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Records Largest Snowfall Since 2015.

<> on January 7, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

My son and daughter-in-law are in Brooklyn, where they are awaiting this: Mayor de Blasio declares state of emergency for worst blizzard in five years; three waves of snow predicted to dump 24 inches of snow on NYC which, as my friend Lynne who lives in Maine pointed out, they are not really prepared for. I found this little tidbit: The Blizzard of 1888: The biggest snowstorm to ever hit NYC where they got 22 inches (56 cm) in New York City. I am going to hope for the best!

In other news, the pandemic rages on, especially in South Florida. I have no idea when my husband and I will be eligible for the vaccine, but things are a real mess down here. The restaurants are packed with very few masks in sight. Driving around town, you would never know there was a pandemic. Our Republican led city and state means we are in deep trouble. The local hospitals and ICUs are full. I am putting all my faith in President Biden and the new administration to help. The new federal mask laws are definitely helpful, if they are enforced. Apparently our local law enforcement doesn’t enforce mask laws so I’ll be hibernating for a lot longer.

If you are a fan of the Groundhog Day movie, check out Palm Springs on Hulu, with Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. A similar premise but sorry, not as good. But a fun film nonetheless.

With all this horrible weather, let’s hope the groundhog does what he’s supposed to do and ends this winter early.

I am way behind on posting reviews, so please forgive me. I have been struck with a severe case of ennui. I’m working on it as best as I can.

As always, thanks for reading and stay safe!

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FOOL ME TWICE by Jeff Lindsay

January 22, 2021

Riley Wolfe, Book 2

From the publisher:

Pulling off an impossible crime is the only way he can stay alive.

Stealing a Faberge egg. Surviving a double cross. And pulling off the most incredible robbery ever, for the world’s most demanding—and dangerous collector.

This will be the challenge of thief extraordinaire Riley Wolfe’s life.

Fool Me Twice opens in St. Petersburg, where Riley steals the egg—no easy task. Betrayed by the pilot he hired to help him get away, he wakes chained to a rock wall on one of the Kerguelen Islands—the most remote spot on earth—prisoner of a top-dog international arms dealer, and a top-notch art collector. He wants Riley to steal an artwork. Small problem–it’s a fresco, “The Liberation of St. Peter.” Slightly larger problem–it’s in the Vatican.

And, it’s a literal wall.

Riley has no choice: agree or die. But when his captor turns him loose, he’s grabbed by another arms dealer looking to do a double cross. Worse, he gives Riley a special incentive: a surveillance photograph of Monique, the love of his life, and more important, the art forger he can’t pull off any heist without. The threat is clear. Riley knows they both have only one way out.

With wicked dialogue, tons of explosive twists, and cinema-worthy scenes, Jeff Lindsay’s Fool Me Twice is another wildly entertaining caper starring the anti-hero you’ll root for, Riley Wolfe.

Jeff Lindsay’s second novel featuring Riley Wolfe who as fans know is a thief – not an ordinary one robbing banks or holding up armored cars but one that has long since made himself very wealthy and just lives for the thrill of doing the impossible. He is a man that seeks the challenge of an impossible score and then sits back and enjoys the adulation due him.

This book opens with Riley in St Petersburg, Russia where our hero pulls off the theft of a priceless Faberge egg under the noses of a group of guards and protective devices. When boarding the boat that he has hired to take him out of Russia he is betrayed by the pilot and delivered to the secret island hideaway of the world’s biggest arms dealer. Held captive for several days he then hears what his captor wants from him and it is about as impossible as it gets. The man wants him to steal a fresco which is art painted on a wall. Not only is the problem of how to transport a wall if he gets it, but the location of the painting which is in the Vatican as the clincher. Riley is told in no uncertain terms that his life would be forfeit if he doesn’t deliver.

Buying time Riley agrees to the job and is let go by Mr. Big. Then to compound his problems he is next seized by another arm’s dealer who wants Riley to get the Fresco and while delivering it to the first individual arrange for entrance onto Mr Big’s island fortress where number two will become number one by process of elimination. Riley has a sort of love interest although Monique, the lady in question’s prime function for him is to forge art used in his work. He is shown a picture of her as number two dealer also includes her life in the deal. We have to understand that at some point in the future Jeff Lindsay will probably set up the pair as lovers at the same time that they are working on nefarious schemes together. He, therefore, is anxious to keep the criminals away from her as well as saving his own life.

As in Lindsay’s previous novels including those featuring Dexter, the serial killer that only kills other serial killers the action is fast, the dialogue snappy and the reader will not be able to set the book down until finished. If the author continues with the success enjoyed by featuring loveable rogues what type of character will he showcase for his next portrayal of a bent character? It will make for a delightful mystery while we wait for anything written by him.

1/2021 Paul Lane

FOOL ME TWICE by Jeff Lindsay. Dutton (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1524743970. 368 pages.

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BONE CHASE by Weston Ochse

January 18, 2021

From the publisher:

In true The Da Vinci Code fashion, a taut thriller filled with rival factions vying for control of the truth in a giant global conspiracy.

There were giants on the earth in those days—at least that’s what the Bible says. But, where are they? Did they ever really exist at all?

When out-of-work math teacher Ethan McCloud is sent a mysterious box, he and his ex-girlfriend begin to unravel a mystery 10,000 years in the making—and he is the last hope to discovering the world’s greatest conspiracy. Chased by both the Six-Fingered Man and the Council of David, Ethan must survive the chase—and find the truth.

The author presents a novel about a hunt for giants that have ostensibly been living on earth since prehistoric times. He intersperses references from various written sources about contacts and proof that such a race has been existing among regular-size humans for centuries.

Ethan McCloud, a laid-off teacher of mathematics, receives a box from his father who has suddenly died with a plea to continue the work started by his dad and many others. Preparing to begin a search for the truth about the existence of giants Ethan gets a note from an ex-girlfriend of his that left him to join the army. They meet and both immediately recognize that they need to be together. The difference is that his ex-girlfriend is now a trained killer who supplies the machismo in the story while Ethan comes out as a timid soul. Okay, turnabout is fair play and we go with this – about time no?

In the process of attempting to find the truth about the existence or not of a race of giants Ethan and his now accompanying girlfriend – Shannon- find that there are two groups who have and are involved in contact with the giants. One is the good guys the other the not-so-good guys. A lot of the activity in the novel is checking these groups out to see which is which. The giants leave traces of bones from their dead bodies delineating a race that might be anywhere from 12 feet all the way up to 30 feet. Both groups looking for them have, of course, been rivals and enemies for many years but both behave very nicely with Ethan. Certainly not the killers that one associates with evil.

Bone Chase is an easy to read novel that does not command staying with it until finished in one gulp. It is a book that is entertaining and allows a pleasant read when the reader wants to read just for reading and does so casually relaxed.

1/2021 Paul Lane

BONE CHASE by Weston Ochse. Gallery / Saga Press (December 1, 2020). ISBN: 978-1534450097. 336 pages.

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HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams

January 17, 2021

https://amzn.to/3ibSeAI

From the publisher:

#1 LibraryReads Pick
Indie Next Pick

One daring to-do list and a crash course in flirtation turn a Type A overachiever’s world upside down.

When her flailing department lands on the university’s chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check…almost.

Jake makes her laugh and challenges Naya to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship—except nothing can be that easy. The complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career.

Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she’s finally living again.

Naya (rhymes with papaya!) is an inspirational heroine. She’s a math professor (!) and has escaped from an abusive relationship. Three years have gone by and she has avoided dating and men altogether. But her best friends know she needs a little push, and they help her put together a short list of things she needs to try to get her out of hiding. The list includes having a stranger buy her a drink and having a one night stand.

They arrange to meet one night at a bar, but while she’s waiting they call to say they can’t make it. The man sitting next to her starts talking to her, and the next thing you know, Jake is taking her home. Except she drank too much and pretty much vomits her way out of the one night stand. But Jake, smart man that he is, gets her phone number.

Meanwhile, her university is looking to make some cuts and her department is definitely on the chopping block. The university has hired a consulting firm to help with the cuts, and of course Naya knows the man who holds her future in his hands – it’s Jake. To make matters worse, the university has recently hired her abusive ex, so now she has to deal with him, too.

Naya is freaking out about all of it but starts dating Jake anyway. Their attraction is strong enough to override the possible impropriety/conflict of interest and as their relationship deepens, it doesn’t seem to lighten Naya’s anxiety about work and her ex.

There is a lot of angst and drama here, and frankly, I couldn’t put this book down. I was rooting so hard for her! I love books like this, that take the rom-com and manage to turn it into something of substance while not losing the laughter or the love. Please add this to your to-be-read list!

1/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams. Berkley (December 1, 2020). ISBN 978-0593101902. 352 pages.

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MIRAFLORES by Keith Yokum

January 16, 2021

Memoir of a Young Spy

From the publisher:

Saving the Panama Canal, one body at a time.

At the height of the Cold War, young Nick Halliday joins the CIA to distance himself from a family tragedy and to do his part in the patriotic fight against the communist menace. Rushed into his first undercover assignment in Panama in 1958, Nick finds himself mired in the humid, dripping world of deceit and lies.

Pretending to be a leftist-leaning visiting professor at the University of Panama, Nick infiltrates an earnest, naïve group of leftist students bent on Panama regaining ownership of the canal. But Nick’s budding romance with Maria, a beautiful student activist, throws his mission sideways.

The international clash of ideologies harshly intrudes on a young man’s love for a woman. Both are expendable pawns in a vast worldwide death match. Can they survive in a game that only values winning, whatever the cost? And what does winning mean, anyway?

Miraflores is a novel with many parts. It is a love story, it is a complex conspiracy story, it is an adventure in an exotic setting that is not too far from our own present-day world. But most important it is a well-done story with some very well-delineated characters caught in a period of great stress.

Nick Haliday is a young man looking to start his career with the problem of a father holding a high-level position in the U.S. State Department and looking for Nick to join him there. Nick is reluctant to do so due to his suspicion that his father was somehow complicit in the suicide death of his mother. He somehow literally blunders into getting a job with the then-fledgling CIA and stumbles into a position that sends him to Panama.

The time of the novel is the period prior to the United States ceding the Panama Canal back to the people of Panama. The Canal Zone was an enclave existing side by side with Panama city. It was literally a slice of the American midwest built to house the staff and their families of the workers running the Canal. It was the target of a great deal of resentment by the Panamanians working at the Canal for one-third of the salaries that Americans earned for the same job.

Nick is picked for a post in Panama just as he is finishing his training. He is to assume the position of a professor of English at the University of Panama. His mandate is to search out dissidents among his students who are Panamanians that might be involved in plots against the U.S. and report them to his superiors at the agency. He assumes his position and two things happen; first, he meets a young lady that he falls in love with, and second, he arrives at the realization that the people of Panama do have a legitimate gripe against the attitude of the U.S.

Yokum tells his story in a concise manner painting a perfect picture of the mixture of various complex ideas during a tumultuous period in U.S. Latin American relations. An all-night draw and a description of what is a relatively near term, but alien world.

1/2021 Paul Lane

MIRAFLORES by Keith Yokum. Self published. (November 11, 2020). ISBN: 978-0997870879. 282 pages.

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THE ORCHARD by David Hopen

January 15, 2021

From the publisher:

A Recommended Book From:
The New York Times * Good Morning America * Entertainment Weekly * Electric Literature * The New York Post * Alma * The Millions * Book Riot

A commanding debut and a poignant coming-of-age story about a devout Jewish high school student whose plunge into the secularized world threatens everything he knows of himself

Ari Eden’s life has always been governed by strict rules. In ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn, his days are dedicated to intense study and religious rituals, and adolescence feels profoundly lonely. So when his family announces that they are moving to a glitzy Miami suburb, Ari seizes his unexpected chance for reinvention.

Enrolling in an opulent Jewish academy, Ari is stunned by his peers’ dizzying wealth, ambition, and shameless pursuit of life’s pleasures. When the academy’s golden boy, Noah, takes Ari under his wing, Ari finds himself entangled in the school’s most exclusive and wayward group. These friends are magnetic and defiant—especially Evan, the brooding genius of the bunch, still living in the shadow of his mother’s death.

Influenced by their charismatic rabbi, the group begins testing their religion in unconventional ways. Soon Ari and his friends are pushing moral boundaries and careening toward a perilous future—one in which the traditions of their faith are repurposed to mysterious, tragic ends.

Mesmerizing and playful, heartrending and darkly romantic, The Orchard probes the conflicting forces that determine who we become: the heady relationships of youth, the allure of greatness, the doctrines we inherit, and our concealed desires.

I really wanted to like this book. It’s a debut novel written by a very bright young man. It’s set in my backyard, Miami, and is about an Orthodox Jewish family who moves from an Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn to a much less religious neighborhood in Miami. All things I usually find interesting.

It’s also a coming of age novel. The main character is Aryeh Eden, whose name quickly morphs to Ari in this new land. Ari’s mother was Jewish but not brought up religiously. She decided to become Orthodox, married, and had a son. Their Brooklyn neighborhood was filled with religious families like them. But Ari never really felt all that comfortable there. His mother, while acting frum (religiously observant) actually pushed Ari to read secular books, something that was frowned upon in their community. When his father, an accountant, loses his job in Brooklyn, he finds another job in Miami. Ari is happy to leave, even though he is in high school.

Their neighbors are more modern Orthodox, and Ari quickly makes friends in his new school. But he has never been around these types of students. They take secular classes, the school is co-ed, and they throw off their religious beliefs regularly, drinking, smoking, making out with girls. Yet as different as Ari feels, he also feels more like himself.

There is a lot of drama in this high school. I would think it too far-fetched but I suspect the author attended a similar type of school (write what you know?) There are a lot of firsts for Ari, and some of those firsts are quite disturbing. As a parent, I could not relate to his parents, who seemed fairly oblivious to what was going on around them.

There were many, many pages of philosophical discussions among these high school students, which I had a hard time grappling with, or believing of this age group, and worse, I found difficult to read. I found myself skimming pages at a time. The book dragged for me until I was about 75% of the way through. The last part of the book finally moved a little quicker as the denouement was reached.

I love finding new authors, especially ones like Hopen, who has such a unique voice. He reminds me most of a modern-day Chaim Potok, which is very high praise, or Gary Shteyngart. I don’t think he quite has his storytelling skills honed yet, but I also think this book is a promising start to what could well be a rewarding writing career. The author is at Yale Law School, so whether he follows that path or this, I’m sure he will be successful.

1/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE ORCHARD by David Hopen. Ecco (November 17, 2020). ISBN 978-0062974747. 480 pages.

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ASSASSIN’S STRIKE by Ward Larson

January 14, 2021

David Slaton, Book 6

From the publisher:

USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen’s globe-trotting, hard-hitting assassin, David Slaton, returns for another breathless adventure in Assassin’s Strike!

In a Syrian palace, the presidents of Russia and Iran undertake a clandestine meeting. No staff or advisors are permitted in the room. No records are kept. By necessity, however, there are two witnesses: the interpreters. The Russian, Ludmilla Kravchuk, returns to her hotel room burdened by what she has heard. When her Iranian counterpart is murdered before her eyes, Kravchuk fears she is next and goes into hiding in Syria.

The CIA gets word of the defection. Desperate to uncover the purpose of the meeting, they task their newest off-the-books operator―legendary assassin David Slaton―to undertake a daring rescue. Deep inside Syria’s war-torn borders, what Slaton finds is a plot that will tear the Middle East apart. And one that only he can stop.

Ward Larson has created one of the more interesting protagonists in fiction in the person of David Slaton. Slaton is an assassin, a very proficient one doing the bidding of his employers who were at first the Mosad, Israeli secret service, and currently the CIA. He was granted political asylum in the U.S. with the help of one of the top managers of the Central Intelligence Agency who suggested when doing so that they might ask certain professional favors from Slaton which he would be free to either accept or reject.

During a secret meeting between the presidents of Russia and Iran held in Syria certain information is exchanged between these men which only they and the two translators working the meeting are aware of. Ludmilla Kravchuk, the translator for Russia witnesses her Iranian counterpart killed after the meeting between the two presidents finishes. She realizes that the two translators have heard an exchange that must remain secret and makes the obvious decision that she must flee and via local contacts she had when in Syria previously gets the United States interested in getting her into the U.S. and hearing her story. Slaton’s supervisor thinks of him as the ideal individual to send into Syria to bring Ludmilla out. No problem in his accepting the job as the action is what he craves and goes after.

The story of David Slaton’s work in trying to effect Ludmilla’s escape brings to bear Ward Larson’s talent in creating bated breath action and another book by him that keeps the reader glued to the pages. In addition to bringing Ludmilla out of Syria Slaton must become involved in the situation described in the talks between the two presidents and attempt to rectify the problem. Events in the book move rapidly between Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. We can certainly look forward to more action-packed novels featuring David Slaton and the probability of all night glued to the books when they are published.

1/14/2021 Paul Lane

ASSASSIN’S STRIKE by Ward Larson. Forge Books (August 18, 2020). ISBN: 978-0765391568. 336 pages.