Scan barcode
shelfreflectionofficial's reviews
820 reviews
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.
Well this was another Did Not Finish for me. After reading only one chapter and looking at other reviews I knew this was not the book for me.
For one, the main character is bisexual which was unexpected considering it is supposed to be a love story between a girl and boy (which I think it still is) but in the first chapter there was already a reference to girls she had previously dated and based on other reviews, it sounds like there are a lot of bisexual-type comments.
For two, half the reviews I read I did not even understand what they were talking about. I had to look up slang terms and abbreviations and they were critiquing generational references within the book that meant nothing, positive or negative, to me. This was a YA book and I often enjoy those, but sounds like this was possibly more niche than others in terms of references and relatability.
For three, the other half of the reviews I read that I DID understand mention that even though there is no spice or smut there is talk about sex a lot, even between the main character’s younger sisters and a man they don’t know as if to normalize it and I am not about that. I would still like to normalize teenagers not having sex at all.
For four, a lot of the people that really liked the book talked about relating to and loving the aspect of the main character’s taking care of and providing for her family at a young age and that’s not really a character trope that I’m super interested in, especially at the teen level. I felt like it worked for Hunger Games, but I’m struggling to think of another book where I enjoyed that trope and can’t think of one at the moment.
I’m already hesitant about reading any book that has romance in it because I prefer to avoid sex stuff so all of these things combined— and the fact that no other review compelled me to continue—made it hard to justify pushing on when I already have so many other books on my TBR list.
So, I have read one Ali Hazelwood book, Love Theoretically, which I review at length HERE. In my review I said I would LOVE if Hazelwood would put out some PG-13 version of her writing because there were aspects about it that were really good, including the humor but I didn’t want all the sexual content or swearing.
I think that’s why I had Check & Mate on my TBR. I thought this was what I was waiting for. Turns out, it wasn’t quite the PG-13 version I was hoping for. Maybe we should try again for PG-13 version with adult characters. I don’t know. It may just be that Hazelwood and I have too many core belief differences that would keep putting me at odds with her writing. I might just have to come to terms with that.
Recommendation
I’m not sure how to recommend this book. It was the Goodreads winner in 2023 for YA Fiction so there’s obviously a lot of people who disagree with me.
Some of the reasons for not finishing may not be problems for teenagers since it’s written for their age group, but other reasons make me think it shouldn’t be read by teenagers either.
If you like to be careful about what kind of romance books you read, then I would say look elsewhere.
If you are a teenager and you already enjoy Hazelwood’s adult books, then I suppose this one would probably be in line with what you like.
If you are an adult and you already enjoy Hazelwood’s adult books, I can’t promise you’ll like the ‘youth’ version because I’m not qualified to evaluate the references and lingo to determine what is cool (is that what I’m even evaluating??) or not…
Basically… I’m probably not much help in the recommendation department.
Out for Blood by Ryan Steck
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
5.0
This was an action-packed thriller!
It has some Bourne Identity type vibes because Matthew is an ex-Marine who is being hunted by a government agency because of information he has but because of his particular set of skills he can be significantly outnumbered and still single-handedly take them all down.
It’s definitely a ‘hero’ story.
I hadn’t realized this was book three when I read it. They give some context to where they’ve been before and what has led Redd to be in the current situation. I was able to enjoy the book and understand everything without having read the first two, but considering how good this one was, I think I would recommend reading from the beginning. I think there was definitely some character development for Matthew and his wife and Matthew’s relationship with his dad that I didn’t fully get with just starting here.
If you like thrillers with lots of tactical maneuvering, danger, and seemingly-impossible-to-survive-lone-man scenarios, this is definitely the book for you!
The setting of this book adds a lot to the story. It takes place largely in Montana near Matthew’s ranch. He’s been living there with his wife and their infant son, trying to get away from it all. But ‘it all’ finds him when a federal prison transport is attacked and the prisoner is killed. A prisoner who had confessed a lot of secrets to Matthew. He knows they need to silence him next.
So using the woods and the ensuing winter storm to his advantage, Matthew lures the enemy team into his territory where he can set up a better defense. He knows the terrain and can handle the weather. Of course he also has the help from his stealthy steed, Remington, and loyal Rottweiler, Rubble. (Don’t worry, they don’t die.)
If you were to have read the previous books I think this ‘enemy’ would have been set up more. It’s a cabal of sorts, called the Twelve. So if you want more backstory on the bad guys, I think they are what is ‘discovered’ prior to this book. The next book looks to introduce a new ‘bad guy’ so I’m thinking the Twelve’s story is wrapped up in Out for Blood.
My main criticism is something pretty minor but maybe if Steck reads this, he will take note. I am a big fan of nicknames, at least in real life. I don’t see them used very effectively in a lot of books I read. I’m still pondering if nicknames in books makes sense or if it feels too contrived. But the way Steck uses names/nicknames in this book was a bit too much.
Matthew is the main character. He sometimes goes by Matt. That’s fine. Only a few people are allowed to call him Matty, but those few characters are also pretty much the only other characters in the book. Also his son’s name is Matthew but they call him Matty. You don’t call a man and the junior the same name. My husband is Michael, his dad is Mike. They don’t both go by Mikey, that would be weird.
So we have Matty and Matty. Then Matthew’s friend is Mikey. Then we have Martin who goes by Marty. And then we have Stephanie who he knew by the name Sammy. Do you see where I’m going with this? We need some different creativity or just less creativity. Not everyone needs a nickname.
Also, one more note on little Matty. If he still has regular hearing in the next book I’m going to be amazed because what he just went through in this book probably should have destroyed his ear drums. But I’m guessing we’re going to need to sidestep this reality (which is totally fine).
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this book, for sure if you like authors like Jack Carr, Brad Thor, or C.J. Box. I have not read any of these other authors yet, but they’ve all endorsed Ryan Steck and I think his writing must be similar in themes and content— i.e. guns and military and tactics, etc.
I read a wide variety of books so these kind of books are ones I do enjoy, but aren’t necessarily my bread and butter. So even if you don’t typically read special-ops mission books, I think you would still enjoy this one. There is some technical gun stuff, but everything is very easy to follow and it’s a clean book, especially considering the military/violence aspect which I appreciate.
If you like this kind of book, I would also recommend Steven James’ Travis Brock or Patrick Bowers series.
If you hate books with guns and show-downs, you might want to pass on this one.
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content; a lot of violence, a little gore]
**Received an ARC via Tyndale in exchange for an honest review**
It has some Bourne Identity type vibes because Matthew is an ex-Marine who is being hunted by a government agency because of information he has but because of his particular set of skills he can be significantly outnumbered and still single-handedly take them all down.
It’s definitely a ‘hero’ story.
I hadn’t realized this was book three when I read it. They give some context to where they’ve been before and what has led Redd to be in the current situation. I was able to enjoy the book and understand everything without having read the first two, but considering how good this one was, I think I would recommend reading from the beginning. I think there was definitely some character development for Matthew and his wife and Matthew’s relationship with his dad that I didn’t fully get with just starting here.
If you like thrillers with lots of tactical maneuvering, danger, and seemingly-impossible-to-survive-lone-man scenarios, this is definitely the book for you!
The setting of this book adds a lot to the story. It takes place largely in Montana near Matthew’s ranch. He’s been living there with his wife and their infant son, trying to get away from it all. But ‘it all’ finds him when a federal prison transport is attacked and the prisoner is killed. A prisoner who had confessed a lot of secrets to Matthew. He knows they need to silence him next.
So using the woods and the ensuing winter storm to his advantage, Matthew lures the enemy team into his territory where he can set up a better defense. He knows the terrain and can handle the weather. Of course he also has the help from his stealthy steed, Remington, and loyal Rottweiler, Rubble. (Don’t worry, they don’t die.)
If you were to have read the previous books I think this ‘enemy’ would have been set up more. It’s a cabal of sorts, called the Twelve. So if you want more backstory on the bad guys, I think they are what is ‘discovered’ prior to this book. The next book looks to introduce a new ‘bad guy’ so I’m thinking the Twelve’s story is wrapped up in Out for Blood.
My main criticism is something pretty minor but maybe if Steck reads this, he will take note. I am a big fan of nicknames, at least in real life. I don’t see them used very effectively in a lot of books I read. I’m still pondering if nicknames in books makes sense or if it feels too contrived. But the way Steck uses names/nicknames in this book was a bit too much.
Matthew is the main character. He sometimes goes by Matt. That’s fine. Only a few people are allowed to call him Matty, but those few characters are also pretty much the only other characters in the book. Also his son’s name is Matthew but they call him Matty. You don’t call a man and the junior the same name. My husband is Michael, his dad is Mike. They don’t both go by Mikey, that would be weird.
So we have Matty and Matty. Then Matthew’s friend is Mikey. Then we have Martin who goes by Marty. And then we have Stephanie who he knew by the name Sammy. Do you see where I’m going with this? We need some different creativity or just less creativity. Not everyone needs a nickname.
Also, one more note on little Matty. If he still has regular hearing in the next book I’m going to be amazed because what he just went through in this book probably should have destroyed his ear drums. But I’m guessing we’re going to need to sidestep this reality (which is totally fine).
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this book, for sure if you like authors like Jack Carr, Brad Thor, or C.J. Box. I have not read any of these other authors yet, but they’ve all endorsed Ryan Steck and I think his writing must be similar in themes and content— i.e. guns and military and tactics, etc.
I read a wide variety of books so these kind of books are ones I do enjoy, but aren’t necessarily my bread and butter. So even if you don’t typically read special-ops mission books, I think you would still enjoy this one. There is some technical gun stuff, but everything is very easy to follow and it’s a clean book, especially considering the military/violence aspect which I appreciate.
If you like this kind of book, I would also recommend Steven James’ Travis Brock or Patrick Bowers series.
If you hate books with guns and show-downs, you might want to pass on this one.
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content; a lot of violence, a little gore]
**Received an ARC via Tyndale in exchange for an honest review**
The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality by Amanda Montell
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I enjoyed Montell’s book, Cultish, even though there were some problematic areas because I thought there were some really interesting and important things to think about. I think my conclusion for this book is about the same.
I guess I was a little surprised by all the negative reviews for this book. Probably because I wasn’t coming into this book expecting a scholarly work or even a perspective I completely agreed with. I felt like it met my expectations.
I think the idea that people are irrational overthinkers intrigued me because I like to try to understand why people reach different conclusions or decisions than I would, especially when the choices don’t make any sense to me. Of course, I never have cognitive biases so I didn’t have to do any self-reflection at all while reading this book, which is always nice.
Ha.
No, there were lots of interesting things in these pages that did make me think about my own biases. And just like parts of Cultish reminded me of The Coddling of the American Mind, so too, did this book. She should be friends with Jonathan Haidt if she isn’t already. CBT buddies. (That sounds like drugs but it’s not.)
As many critical reviewers pointed out: cognitive biases are not a new phenomenon and you’ve probably heard of most of the ones she talks about— although I will say the IKEA effect was new to me. But that’s the sneaky thing about cognitive biases; they are triggered in our thinking when we don’t even realize it. I think we all need to be thinking more about how we think. What is that, meta thinking? Oh, I was close. It’s metacognition; just looked it up.
Let’s be more metacognitive!!
Montell describes it this way:
“We’re living in what they call the ‘Information Age’, but life only seems to be making less sense. We’re isolated, listless, burnt out on screens, cutting loved ones out like tumors in the spirit of ‘boundaries’, failing to understand other people’s choices or even our own…
Faced with a sudden glut of information, cognitive biases cause the modern mind to overthink and underthink the wrong things. We obsess unproductively over the same paranoias, but we blitz past complex deliberations that deserve more care.”
The Biases
Using a lot of personal stories and confessions, she explores these biases:
- the halo effect: “deceives the unconscious tendency to make positive assumptions about a person’s overall character based on our impressions of one single trait”
- proportionality bias: “fools even the most rational minds into overestimating cause-and-effect relationships…In virtually every context, we cannot seem to rest until we find some intentional force either to fault for our misery or credit for our success. The greater the effect, the greater we desire the cause to be.”
- sunk cost fallacy: “the deeply ingrained conviction that spending resources you can’t get back (money, time, emotional resources) justifies spending even more”
- zero-sum bias: “the false intuition that another party’s gain directly means your loss”
- survivorship bias: “propensity to focus on positive outcomes while ignoring any accompanying misfortunes… beckons thinkers to draw incorrect conclusions about ‘why’ something turned out well by fixating too narrowly on the people or objects that made it past a certain benchmark, while overlooking those that didn’t”
- recency illusion: “the tendency to assume that something is objectively new, and thus threatening, simply because it’s new to you… that something only just happened because you only just happened to notice it”
- overconfidence bias: “people overvalue their actual skills, express excessive certainty in their evaluations, and over credit themselves with positive outcomes”
- illusory truth effect: “our penchant to trust a statement as factual simply because we’ve heard it multiple times. Like how we thought if we swallowed gum it would take 7 years to digest. This is how political propaganda is able to spread so effortlessly.”
- confirmation bias: “characterized by a universal tendency to favor information that validates our existing views and discard that which refutes them”
- declinism: “the false impression that things are worse now than they were in the past, and it’s all downhill from here” [partners with fading effect bias where, with the exception of severe trauma, we tend to only remember the good things]
- the IKEA effect: “propensity to ascribe disproportionately high worth to items we helped create”
Her use of personal anecdotes have many reviewers upset, claiming this book to be ‘too memoirish’. Apparently they were looking for a textbook?
I, personally, liked the way she used her own life because it shows that she was writing with honesty and her own self-reflection. Even though I think she has a few blindspots (don’t we all?) I think it adds an authenticity to the book that is often missing in more scholarly work. If we are to take to heart the warnings she offers, isn’t it easier to take her advice if we see she’s taken her own advice and applied these personally?
I also like the more memoirish writing voice because it made it more enjoyable to read. I’m sure there are more scientific books out there that talk about these more in-depth but I bet it’s a slower, more boring read. I found her writing voice had a whimsy and humor to it that also made the book more relatable.
Another ‘memoirsh’ element that caused negative reviews were the ‘disjointedness’ and ‘click bait’-edness of the chapters. I don’t know if I disagree with this observation because the book didn’t have a great flow from chapter to chapter and some of the titles do seem like click-bait. However, it didn’t bother me. It didn’t feel disjointed because it was like- ‘Okay, we did that one, let’s move on to the next.’ I think the concept of the book requires that disjointedness because it’s not necessarily a cohesive string of thought. There may be some overlap in the biases but they are largely different spheres of thinking.
It seems a lot of people really just wanted Montell to stop being transparent and interesting.
I was cool with it.
Resonations
So what are the big takeaways or things that stood out to me?
The halo effect talks about celebrity worship. We put people we don’t really even know on pedestals and we shape a lot of our worldview on who they are, what they say, what they do, acting as if we really do know them. Taylor Swift was the main example given, but we see this all the time with influencers and people that are followed on Instagram. We forget that the public view is highly curated. We don’t really know them; they don’t really know us.
She cited a 2003 survey (results would probably be more intensified nowadays) that found “those who ‘worshiped’ people they really knew, like parents and teachers who could make tangible contributions to their lives, had overall higher self-esteem and educational achievement. Glorifying pop stars and athletes predicted the opposite—lower confidence, weaker sense of self.”
Here’s the thing. (And these are extra-book thoughts, not Montell’s) We were made to worship. Everyone worships something. It might be a pop star. It might be yourself. We can’t help but worship and idolize things. Some have called people ‘idol factories.’ But we were never meant to worship created things.
The apostle Paul wrote “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever.” [Rm 1:25]
I thought it interesting that she says this,
“In both private and public spheres, worship is dehumanizing. To be deified is not so flattering; the dynamic risks annihilating a person’s room for complexity and blunders, and this sets up everyone for suffering.”
I’m not sure if dehumanizing is the right word, but we are created beings, and so we were never meant to bear the weight of another’s worship. We can’t live up to that scrutiny or deserve that praise.
When we worship the Creator, aligning ourselves and our belief with his consistent, reliable, and trustworthy truth, imitating Jesus who is our ultimate example, we will not be let down like the failings and shortcomings of fallible humans. We will not be whiplashed back and forth on the winds of trends or emotions.
----
“I’m 2018, MIT found that true stories take six times longer to reach 1500 people on Twitter than false ones. That’s because ‘false news is more novel, and people are more likely to share novel information.’”
This is particularly relevant today. I don’t know how many times I see certain articles or headlines shared by people online with very passionate opinions and reactions only to find out later they had false information.
This also ties into the illusory truth effect because people think just because multiple people told them the same thing, it must be true, without considering the source of that information.
I think when splashy headlines hit our screens, instead of jumping on the bandwagon to be relevant and share our hot take, we should be more hesitant and wait it out. Do more digging. Just because a headline is repeated, new to you, or everywhere, does not mean it’s true.
----
I thought her sharing her experience with an emotionally abusive boyfriend in terms of sunk-cost fallacy was really important. I think it’s true that a lot of people stay in abusive or just bad relationships because they don’t want to admit that they’ve wasted so much of their time, resources, or love and can’t bear ‘leaving it behind.’
It’s sometimes hard to not see that ‘getting out’ doesn’t mean losing. This is obviously an economic principle to heed, but can also be applied to relationships.
Her message to others who might be in the same type of relationships as her is this:
“It’s okay to be ‘disloyal’ to someone who is hurting you… it is never an unreasonable time to stop and ask of your relationship: who is this person for whom I’m rewriting my story? Not who were they seven years ago or who do I hope they’ll be, but who are they right now?’”
Montell is critical of the government’s “unquestionably pro-marriage policies” and world religions that are “critical of divorce.” This was something I needed to reflect on. From my perspective, it’s not marriage that’s the problem. Marriage, rightly ordered, is beneficial and for human and societal flourishing. I think it’s that marriage isn’t taken seriously anymore. I think if marriage was seen more as the covenant relationship it is, defined by the One who Created it, people would spend more time preparing for it and investing in it.
Of course, even Jesus allows for divorce in certain circumstances, though it wasn’t originally meant to be that way. It gets tricky to write in black and white what circumstances merit a divorce and is a conversation for another time, but I think at least infidelity and abuse would count as breaking the covenant and freeing a person to divorce. I know the church must answer for the times they’ve kept women in abusive marriages for the sake of perserving a marriage, but I’ll plug here this organization that I believe is doing a lot to aid in correcting this.
There is more here that could be talked about, but the main point is that we should be thinking of our relationships in terms of the present, not who we think they could be and that we should not allow the sunk-cost fallacy to keep us in a place of harm because we falsely believe the alternative would mean admitting defeat.
----
Along those same lines I thought it was really interesting when she shared the study that asked participants to look at two sets of colored blocks on the table and make them symmetrical. Most of the participants added new blocks to achieve symmetry. Very few removed blocks. This was classified as additive solution bias.
“When presented with a problem, most people naturally think the cause must be that something is missing, rather than that something is gratuitous or out of place.”
So whether it’s a relationship with a person or struggling with fatigue or stress, we tend to look for solutions that ‘add’ something— we just need to go on more dates together, I just need to take more calming vitamins or take an exercise class— instead of considering that maybe we need to remove something from the equation— a relationship with that person, not staying up so late or having my phone in my bedroom or not letting the kids be in so many activities.
----
Another thing that resonated with me was her thoughts on awe.
“Learning about black holes and lightyears feels like therapy to us, too sensitive teenagers turned overthinking adults, who need regular reminders of how puny we are. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why people in L.A. can be so self-centered: The narcissism isn’t innate, there’s just too much light pollution to see the stars.”
I couldn’t help but think of Thaddeus Williams’ book ‘Don’t Follow Your Heart.’ In his chapter called #Liveyourbestlife he challenges the reader on self-worship citing that and lack of awe as being culprits for joy-robbers.
He says, “Theology and science agree— the more awe we experience, the more satisfyingly human we become. We don’t just want to be awestruck, we need to be awestruck… Self-worship leaves us awe less and empty because we aren’t nearly as awesome as we like to think.”
Montell reflects on how nature inspires her and leaves her in awe. Could it be that she has seen some of the evidence of a Being who could have created that?
Even secularist, Jonathan Haidt (Montell’s future BFF) spoke of the need for awe in his book The Anxious Generation, going as far as to say that he agrees with Pascal who said “there is a God-shaped hole in every human heart.”
He quotes Dacher who said, “[awe] causes shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning.”
Haidt observes, “There is a hole, an emptiness in us all, that we strive to fill. If it doesn’t get filled with something noble and elevated, modern society will quickly pump it full of garbage.”
I think it’s curious that even people like Haidt and Montell, who don’t necessarily believe in God, still recognize humanity’s need for ‘awe.’ There is no other compelling reason for that except that we were made to worship and be in awe of the One who created us and everything around us. Any other explanation leaves us empty.
----
I think one of the most convicting things she talks about in her book was in the Overconfidence chapter. In an age of information, answers are always at our fingertips making us think we know more than we do.
I am a question-asker, an answer-finder, a truth-seeker. Although my Google history is probably embarrassing, it would no doubt expose how much I need to know things. Even things that don’t really matter much.
But maybe life should have more mystery. She suggests:
“Next time we have a question, let’s hold out for as long as we humanly can before googling the answer… It’s quite nice, I am learning, just to wonder indefinitely. To never have certain answers. To sit down, be humble, and not even dare to know.”
To not even dare to know. To not know what other movie that guy was in. To be unsure how a roller coaster works or why a platypus lays eggs. To just be okay with not knowing the answer. I’m having a hard time imagining that, but I think it would lead to some good humility and some good awe, both of which will remind me that I worship the God who does know everything and I can trust him with all the mysteries of life.
Google chisels away at our awe, our humility, and our trust.
The Behemoth
My main criticism is a behemoth of a topic that usually causes angst and division so I hesitate to even put it here, but I’m not one to shy away from many controversies and it directly ties to her claims so I’m going for it.
I don't have room here for the rest of my review so click
HERE
to see my full review that contains:
- my main criticism
- my minor criticisms
- book club discussion questions
- some words I learned
Recommendation
Even if this isn’t a scientific textbook about cognitive biases, I think it’s still a great and easy book to read that challenges you to think about the ways you think.
If you find yourself skeptical of reading it, I would recommend reading it in a group or with a friend to discuss and ask questions of each other (perhaps use my question suggestions above).
I think the main strength of this book is in reflection and application. I don’t have the same worldview or theology of Montell, but I don’t have to in order to put my own thoughts and beliefs under a microscope.
You may not agree with everything she says, but it never hurts to recalibrate our thought process and evaluate our methods of knowing truth.
I’m a big fan of finding truth and I think this book helps to that end.
[Content Advisory: a handful of f- and s-words]
I guess I was a little surprised by all the negative reviews for this book. Probably because I wasn’t coming into this book expecting a scholarly work or even a perspective I completely agreed with. I felt like it met my expectations.
I think the idea that people are irrational overthinkers intrigued me because I like to try to understand why people reach different conclusions or decisions than I would, especially when the choices don’t make any sense to me. Of course, I never have cognitive biases so I didn’t have to do any self-reflection at all while reading this book, which is always nice.
Ha.
No, there were lots of interesting things in these pages that did make me think about my own biases. And just like parts of Cultish reminded me of The Coddling of the American Mind, so too, did this book. She should be friends with Jonathan Haidt if she isn’t already. CBT buddies. (That sounds like drugs but it’s not.)
As many critical reviewers pointed out: cognitive biases are not a new phenomenon and you’ve probably heard of most of the ones she talks about— although I will say the IKEA effect was new to me. But that’s the sneaky thing about cognitive biases; they are triggered in our thinking when we don’t even realize it. I think we all need to be thinking more about how we think. What is that, meta thinking? Oh, I was close. It’s metacognition; just looked it up.
Let’s be more metacognitive!!
Montell describes it this way:
“We’re living in what they call the ‘Information Age’, but life only seems to be making less sense. We’re isolated, listless, burnt out on screens, cutting loved ones out like tumors in the spirit of ‘boundaries’, failing to understand other people’s choices or even our own…
Faced with a sudden glut of information, cognitive biases cause the modern mind to overthink and underthink the wrong things. We obsess unproductively over the same paranoias, but we blitz past complex deliberations that deserve more care.”
The Biases
Using a lot of personal stories and confessions, she explores these biases:
- the halo effect: “deceives the unconscious tendency to make positive assumptions about a person’s overall character based on our impressions of one single trait”
- proportionality bias: “fools even the most rational minds into overestimating cause-and-effect relationships…In virtually every context, we cannot seem to rest until we find some intentional force either to fault for our misery or credit for our success. The greater the effect, the greater we desire the cause to be.”
- sunk cost fallacy: “the deeply ingrained conviction that spending resources you can’t get back (money, time, emotional resources) justifies spending even more”
- zero-sum bias: “the false intuition that another party’s gain directly means your loss”
- survivorship bias: “propensity to focus on positive outcomes while ignoring any accompanying misfortunes… beckons thinkers to draw incorrect conclusions about ‘why’ something turned out well by fixating too narrowly on the people or objects that made it past a certain benchmark, while overlooking those that didn’t”
- recency illusion: “the tendency to assume that something is objectively new, and thus threatening, simply because it’s new to you… that something only just happened because you only just happened to notice it”
- overconfidence bias: “people overvalue their actual skills, express excessive certainty in their evaluations, and over credit themselves with positive outcomes”
- illusory truth effect: “our penchant to trust a statement as factual simply because we’ve heard it multiple times. Like how we thought if we swallowed gum it would take 7 years to digest. This is how political propaganda is able to spread so effortlessly.”
- confirmation bias: “characterized by a universal tendency to favor information that validates our existing views and discard that which refutes them”
- declinism: “the false impression that things are worse now than they were in the past, and it’s all downhill from here” [partners with fading effect bias where, with the exception of severe trauma, we tend to only remember the good things]
- the IKEA effect: “propensity to ascribe disproportionately high worth to items we helped create”
Her use of personal anecdotes have many reviewers upset, claiming this book to be ‘too memoirish’. Apparently they were looking for a textbook?
I, personally, liked the way she used her own life because it shows that she was writing with honesty and her own self-reflection. Even though I think she has a few blindspots (don’t we all?) I think it adds an authenticity to the book that is often missing in more scholarly work. If we are to take to heart the warnings she offers, isn’t it easier to take her advice if we see she’s taken her own advice and applied these personally?
I also like the more memoirish writing voice because it made it more enjoyable to read. I’m sure there are more scientific books out there that talk about these more in-depth but I bet it’s a slower, more boring read. I found her writing voice had a whimsy and humor to it that also made the book more relatable.
Another ‘memoirsh’ element that caused negative reviews were the ‘disjointedness’ and ‘click bait’-edness of the chapters. I don’t know if I disagree with this observation because the book didn’t have a great flow from chapter to chapter and some of the titles do seem like click-bait. However, it didn’t bother me. It didn’t feel disjointed because it was like- ‘Okay, we did that one, let’s move on to the next.’ I think the concept of the book requires that disjointedness because it’s not necessarily a cohesive string of thought. There may be some overlap in the biases but they are largely different spheres of thinking.
It seems a lot of people really just wanted Montell to stop being transparent and interesting.
I was cool with it.
Resonations
So what are the big takeaways or things that stood out to me?
The halo effect talks about celebrity worship. We put people we don’t really even know on pedestals and we shape a lot of our worldview on who they are, what they say, what they do, acting as if we really do know them. Taylor Swift was the main example given, but we see this all the time with influencers and people that are followed on Instagram. We forget that the public view is highly curated. We don’t really know them; they don’t really know us.
She cited a 2003 survey (results would probably be more intensified nowadays) that found “those who ‘worshiped’ people they really knew, like parents and teachers who could make tangible contributions to their lives, had overall higher self-esteem and educational achievement. Glorifying pop stars and athletes predicted the opposite—lower confidence, weaker sense of self.”
Here’s the thing. (And these are extra-book thoughts, not Montell’s) We were made to worship. Everyone worships something. It might be a pop star. It might be yourself. We can’t help but worship and idolize things. Some have called people ‘idol factories.’ But we were never meant to worship created things.
The apostle Paul wrote “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever.” [Rm 1:25]
I thought it interesting that she says this,
“In both private and public spheres, worship is dehumanizing. To be deified is not so flattering; the dynamic risks annihilating a person’s room for complexity and blunders, and this sets up everyone for suffering.”
I’m not sure if dehumanizing is the right word, but we are created beings, and so we were never meant to bear the weight of another’s worship. We can’t live up to that scrutiny or deserve that praise.
When we worship the Creator, aligning ourselves and our belief with his consistent, reliable, and trustworthy truth, imitating Jesus who is our ultimate example, we will not be let down like the failings and shortcomings of fallible humans. We will not be whiplashed back and forth on the winds of trends or emotions.
----
“I’m 2018, MIT found that true stories take six times longer to reach 1500 people on Twitter than false ones. That’s because ‘false news is more novel, and people are more likely to share novel information.’”
This is particularly relevant today. I don’t know how many times I see certain articles or headlines shared by people online with very passionate opinions and reactions only to find out later they had false information.
This also ties into the illusory truth effect because people think just because multiple people told them the same thing, it must be true, without considering the source of that information.
I think when splashy headlines hit our screens, instead of jumping on the bandwagon to be relevant and share our hot take, we should be more hesitant and wait it out. Do more digging. Just because a headline is repeated, new to you, or everywhere, does not mean it’s true.
----
I thought her sharing her experience with an emotionally abusive boyfriend in terms of sunk-cost fallacy was really important. I think it’s true that a lot of people stay in abusive or just bad relationships because they don’t want to admit that they’ve wasted so much of their time, resources, or love and can’t bear ‘leaving it behind.’
It’s sometimes hard to not see that ‘getting out’ doesn’t mean losing. This is obviously an economic principle to heed, but can also be applied to relationships.
Her message to others who might be in the same type of relationships as her is this:
“It’s okay to be ‘disloyal’ to someone who is hurting you… it is never an unreasonable time to stop and ask of your relationship: who is this person for whom I’m rewriting my story? Not who were they seven years ago or who do I hope they’ll be, but who are they right now?’”
Montell is critical of the government’s “unquestionably pro-marriage policies” and world religions that are “critical of divorce.” This was something I needed to reflect on. From my perspective, it’s not marriage that’s the problem. Marriage, rightly ordered, is beneficial and for human and societal flourishing. I think it’s that marriage isn’t taken seriously anymore. I think if marriage was seen more as the covenant relationship it is, defined by the One who Created it, people would spend more time preparing for it and investing in it.
Of course, even Jesus allows for divorce in certain circumstances, though it wasn’t originally meant to be that way. It gets tricky to write in black and white what circumstances merit a divorce and is a conversation for another time, but I think at least infidelity and abuse would count as breaking the covenant and freeing a person to divorce. I know the church must answer for the times they’ve kept women in abusive marriages for the sake of perserving a marriage, but I’ll plug here this organization that I believe is doing a lot to aid in correcting this.
There is more here that could be talked about, but the main point is that we should be thinking of our relationships in terms of the present, not who we think they could be and that we should not allow the sunk-cost fallacy to keep us in a place of harm because we falsely believe the alternative would mean admitting defeat.
----
Along those same lines I thought it was really interesting when she shared the study that asked participants to look at two sets of colored blocks on the table and make them symmetrical. Most of the participants added new blocks to achieve symmetry. Very few removed blocks. This was classified as additive solution bias.
“When presented with a problem, most people naturally think the cause must be that something is missing, rather than that something is gratuitous or out of place.”
So whether it’s a relationship with a person or struggling with fatigue or stress, we tend to look for solutions that ‘add’ something— we just need to go on more dates together, I just need to take more calming vitamins or take an exercise class— instead of considering that maybe we need to remove something from the equation— a relationship with that person, not staying up so late or having my phone in my bedroom or not letting the kids be in so many activities.
----
Another thing that resonated with me was her thoughts on awe.
“Learning about black holes and lightyears feels like therapy to us, too sensitive teenagers turned overthinking adults, who need regular reminders of how puny we are. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why people in L.A. can be so self-centered: The narcissism isn’t innate, there’s just too much light pollution to see the stars.”
I couldn’t help but think of Thaddeus Williams’ book ‘Don’t Follow Your Heart.’ In his chapter called #Liveyourbestlife he challenges the reader on self-worship citing that and lack of awe as being culprits for joy-robbers.
He says, “Theology and science agree— the more awe we experience, the more satisfyingly human we become. We don’t just want to be awestruck, we need to be awestruck… Self-worship leaves us awe less and empty because we aren’t nearly as awesome as we like to think.”
Montell reflects on how nature inspires her and leaves her in awe. Could it be that she has seen some of the evidence of a Being who could have created that?
Even secularist, Jonathan Haidt (Montell’s future BFF) spoke of the need for awe in his book The Anxious Generation, going as far as to say that he agrees with Pascal who said “there is a God-shaped hole in every human heart.”
He quotes Dacher who said, “[awe] causes shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning.”
Haidt observes, “There is a hole, an emptiness in us all, that we strive to fill. If it doesn’t get filled with something noble and elevated, modern society will quickly pump it full of garbage.”
I think it’s curious that even people like Haidt and Montell, who don’t necessarily believe in God, still recognize humanity’s need for ‘awe.’ There is no other compelling reason for that except that we were made to worship and be in awe of the One who created us and everything around us. Any other explanation leaves us empty.
----
I think one of the most convicting things she talks about in her book was in the Overconfidence chapter. In an age of information, answers are always at our fingertips making us think we know more than we do.
I am a question-asker, an answer-finder, a truth-seeker. Although my Google history is probably embarrassing, it would no doubt expose how much I need to know things. Even things that don’t really matter much.
But maybe life should have more mystery. She suggests:
“Next time we have a question, let’s hold out for as long as we humanly can before googling the answer… It’s quite nice, I am learning, just to wonder indefinitely. To never have certain answers. To sit down, be humble, and not even dare to know.”
To not even dare to know. To not know what other movie that guy was in. To be unsure how a roller coaster works or why a platypus lays eggs. To just be okay with not knowing the answer. I’m having a hard time imagining that, but I think it would lead to some good humility and some good awe, both of which will remind me that I worship the God who does know everything and I can trust him with all the mysteries of life.
Google chisels away at our awe, our humility, and our trust.
The Behemoth
My main criticism is a behemoth of a topic that usually causes angst and division so I hesitate to even put it here, but I’m not one to shy away from many controversies and it directly ties to her claims so I’m going for it.
I don't have room here for the rest of my review so click
HERE
to see my full review that contains:
- my main criticism
- my minor criticisms
- book club discussion questions
- some words I learned
Recommendation
Even if this isn’t a scientific textbook about cognitive biases, I think it’s still a great and easy book to read that challenges you to think about the ways you think.
If you find yourself skeptical of reading it, I would recommend reading it in a group or with a friend to discuss and ask questions of each other (perhaps use my question suggestions above).
I think the main strength of this book is in reflection and application. I don’t have the same worldview or theology of Montell, but I don’t have to in order to put my own thoughts and beliefs under a microscope.
You may not agree with everything she says, but it never hurts to recalibrate our thought process and evaluate our methods of knowing truth.
I’m a big fan of finding truth and I think this book helps to that end.
[Content Advisory: a handful of f- and s-words]
A Chain of Pearls by Raemi A. Ray
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
I didn’t have much to go off of with this book. This was Ray’s debut novel so I didn’t really know about her or what to expect.
Overall, I wouldn’t say this book knocked my socks off, but it was a decent read— more of a cozy mystery.
I liked the Martha’s Vineyard setting where it’s this island set apart from the mainland where people are wary of outsiders. It makes it a little more interesting on who may be the culprit and who is just keeping someone else’s secrets.
I think the main thing I didn’t like was that the mystery felt too straightforward. You kinda find out the main ‘players’ early in the story— you don’t know exactly who did what when, but the corruption aspect was exposed too early in my opinion. I wish there had been some other major players in the mix to create more red herrings.
I also just realized that I’m not sure why the book is called ‘A Chain of Pearls’. It’s possible I just don’t remember because I’m writing this review several days after finishing, but it seems odd it’s not more obvious. Is it a play on words that the pearls, representing wealth and privilege, are also a chain, representing lack of freedom? Hm. Not sure how it connects. No one was strangled by a chain of pearls so….
The basic premise is this:
Kyra’s mother passed away when she was young. Her dad dealt with the grief by investing heavily in his global journalistic work, leaving Kyra to live with an aunt in London. They’ve had a strained relationship ever since. Then Kyra learns that her dad died in a boat accident on the Martha’s Vineyard island.
When she arrives to deal with his affairs she sees that he may not have really been retired, but actually working on a story unfolding on the island. It may be that his accident was actually a murder. She can’t restore her relationship with her dad anymore, but she can finish what he started.
She ends up (unofficially) partnering up with the local detective working (not working?) the case— Tarek— to find out what really happened to her dad and who was responsible.
One thing I wasn’t sure I was onboard with was how Kyra basically functioned like the detective. The information Tarek shared with her about bank accounts etc. seems like a major breach of his job. She was never cleared by anyone in his office but took part in virtually every aspect of the investigation. It seemed less like Kyra provided Tarek with some leads or evidence of her dad’s and more like she was sending Tarek out to do her bidding and check on her hunches and get her the info she needed to figure it out.
I also feel like there may have been a missed opportunity for a twist when it came to the neighbors. I don’t think this is a major spoiler but if you’re worried about that, just skip this paragraph. I think it would have been a good twist if one of the neighbors, either one really, had actually been involved. They were so ‘close’ to her dad so they had access and knowledge about what he was investigating. Charlie had been involved in the purchase of his house and could easily have bugged it or something like that. It would have been clever that they could easily have lied to Kyra about how close they actually were with him to get information from her. It’s the whole ‘the people you’d least suspect’ kind of thing that I think would have added some excitement. But they just got to be the friendly neighbors who are sweet as could be. Since this is a series, I’m guessing Raemi has plans for developing their relationship with Kyra in the next book and couldn’t kill the friendship off. Too bad.
Recommendation
If you’re looking for a cozy mystery, you’ll probably enjoy this book, however if you are more into twisty thrillers, this one might be a bit too boring for you.
I have the second one in the series so I’ll probably read that one too eventually and see if the writing style/content changes at all. Based on the reviews it appears that those who loved the first book also loved the second one. Plus it has a pirate ship and treasure so that sounds exciting.
At the very least, this series could function as an easy palette cleanser in between the more intense thrillers on your shelf.
[Content Advisory: 39 f-words (a good chunk of these were probably in the last 40ish pages), 17 s-words; a few LGBTQ characters]
**Received a copy via Author Marketing Experts in exchange for an honest review**
Overall, I wouldn’t say this book knocked my socks off, but it was a decent read— more of a cozy mystery.
I liked the Martha’s Vineyard setting where it’s this island set apart from the mainland where people are wary of outsiders. It makes it a little more interesting on who may be the culprit and who is just keeping someone else’s secrets.
I think the main thing I didn’t like was that the mystery felt too straightforward. You kinda find out the main ‘players’ early in the story— you don’t know exactly who did what when, but the corruption aspect was exposed too early in my opinion. I wish there had been some other major players in the mix to create more red herrings.
I also just realized that I’m not sure why the book is called ‘A Chain of Pearls’. It’s possible I just don’t remember because I’m writing this review several days after finishing, but it seems odd it’s not more obvious. Is it a play on words that the pearls, representing wealth and privilege, are also a chain, representing lack of freedom? Hm. Not sure how it connects. No one was strangled by a chain of pearls so….
The basic premise is this:
Kyra’s mother passed away when she was young. Her dad dealt with the grief by investing heavily in his global journalistic work, leaving Kyra to live with an aunt in London. They’ve had a strained relationship ever since. Then Kyra learns that her dad died in a boat accident on the Martha’s Vineyard island.
When she arrives to deal with his affairs she sees that he may not have really been retired, but actually working on a story unfolding on the island. It may be that his accident was actually a murder. She can’t restore her relationship with her dad anymore, but she can finish what he started.
She ends up (unofficially) partnering up with the local detective working (not working?) the case— Tarek— to find out what really happened to her dad and who was responsible.
One thing I wasn’t sure I was onboard with was how Kyra basically functioned like the detective. The information Tarek shared with her about bank accounts etc. seems like a major breach of his job. She was never cleared by anyone in his office but took part in virtually every aspect of the investigation. It seemed less like Kyra provided Tarek with some leads or evidence of her dad’s and more like she was sending Tarek out to do her bidding and check on her hunches and get her the info she needed to figure it out.
I also feel like there may have been a missed opportunity for a twist when it came to the neighbors. I don’t think this is a major spoiler but if you’re worried about that, just skip this paragraph. I think it would have been a good twist if one of the neighbors, either one really, had actually been involved. They were so ‘close’ to her dad so they had access and knowledge about what he was investigating. Charlie had been involved in the purchase of his house and could easily have bugged it or something like that. It would have been clever that they could easily have lied to Kyra about how close they actually were with him to get information from her. It’s the whole ‘the people you’d least suspect’ kind of thing that I think would have added some excitement. But they just got to be the friendly neighbors who are sweet as could be. Since this is a series, I’m guessing Raemi has plans for developing their relationship with Kyra in the next book and couldn’t kill the friendship off. Too bad.
Recommendation
If you’re looking for a cozy mystery, you’ll probably enjoy this book, however if you are more into twisty thrillers, this one might be a bit too boring for you.
I have the second one in the series so I’ll probably read that one too eventually and see if the writing style/content changes at all. Based on the reviews it appears that those who loved the first book also loved the second one. Plus it has a pirate ship and treasure so that sounds exciting.
At the very least, this series could function as an easy palette cleanser in between the more intense thrillers on your shelf.
[Content Advisory: 39 f-words (a good chunk of these were probably in the last 40ish pages), 17 s-words; a few LGBTQ characters]
**Received a copy via Author Marketing Experts in exchange for an honest review**
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
“to tell your story was to experience a kind of freedom…”
“This was the true miracle of life, he thought. No so much to be born as to bear up under what comes your way. To find a way forward. To embrace what was good.”
This one was hard to put down. It is a well-crafted story that explores grief and trauma and the way family history shapes our identities.
I have not read Wilkerson’s debut novel, the highly rated novel called Black Cake, but it seems like similar themes probably flow through both books. I think this one would probably make a good book club book so I’ve included a list of potential book club discussion questions at the end of this review for anyone interested in that.
I will say that there is a lot going on in this book. The chapters are short, helping with the pacing and the ‘hard to put down’ part, but also helping with all the various POVs and the historic timelines. The main characters are evident and have more space in the book, but many other characters are introduced and then will get a brief chapter focused on them— probably could have had less of that.
I didn’t find it too hard to follow. It helps that Wilkerson tended to make the first sentence say the name of whatever character’s POV it was from so you knew right away where you were. The chapters that took place in the 1800s was the harder timeline to grasp in lining things up in your head, but even then, still not too bad.
I enjoyed the themes in this book and found many of them thought-provoking. I also appreciated that there was an ongoing ‘mystery’ aspect to the story that gave an extra thread of engagement.
Plot Basics
The book begins in 2000 as we witness the tragic home invasion of the Freeman house in Massachusetts where not only their cherished family heirloom (a jar thrown by an enslaved potter in the 1800s) is broken but ten-year-old Ebony’s brother Baz is shot and killed at the young age of fifteen.
They are the only two home and Ebby was the one who called 911 as she watched her brother die. The trauma of that does not go away easily. It didn’t help that as one of the only black families in the wealthy neighborhood, and her family being well-known in general, the spotlight never truly leaves them. She feels always known as “the little black girl who had survived a suburban tragedy.”
The spotlight, then, shines ever brighter as the twentieth anniversary of Baz’s death is on the horizon and Ebby is shockingly stood up on her wedding day with no communication of her would-be husband.
“Henry Pepper had shown the world that Ebony Freeman, try as she might, could not escape the mantle of misfortune that had settled over her.”
The bulk of the book takes place here with Ebby still haunted by her brother’s unsolved murder and now publicly humiliated by Henry’s abandonment at the altar. Ebby has to get away and 8 months later, has taken up her friend’s offer to stay in her cottage in a small village in France. To process. To regroup. Maybe to write.
The chapters set in the past are these writings: the jar stories. Stories about the jar’s history that is also their family history, handed down many generations. Stories that tell of perseverance, courage, bravery, love, skill, and hope.
When Henry shows up with another woman to rent the guest cottage of the property, Ebby is forced to confront the past in more ways then she anticipated. Her family tragedy, the jar, and her ruined vows all clash and Ebby has to find a way to move forward.
The Jar— Old Mo
“‘The great strength of that jar was that its true worth was underestimated. Just like the value of the enslaved man who had crafted it and signed it at a time when people in bondage were not allowed to read or write.’”
There have been many books written to explore the lives and treatment of African American slaves, but Wilkerson wanted to touch on a couple areas of labor that are not often talked about in other books: pottery and sailing. She fuses them together in the Freeman family history.
“Granny says clay runs in their family’s blood, but Ebby’s father sees it differently. Ebby’s dad likes to say it’s the sea that courses through his veins, that he inherited a yen for the water from the sailors in his family.”
Many Africans were already skilled in pottery, creating jugs, jars, and other vessels from the clay of their homeland. When they were stolen away to America, they were forced to continue using their skills on plantation factories.
There were also many ships that used slave labor or where freed men were able to find work.
As somewhat of an artist (who’s thrown a pot or two) I was interested in this pottery aspect. Not just as a physical art form preserved through time and passed down for generations but also as a literary feature. An object fashioned and molded from the earth and then put through fire.
“Raw clay was a living thing that could be reshaped and reborn, until the potters committed it to the fire.”
I can’t help but think about how we are being shaped and molded, often enduring a refining fire. God is the Potter, and we are the clay.
Psalm 66:10-12 is one of several verses in the Bible that talk about God refining us through fire: “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”
Author Lysa Terkerst uses this pottery language in her book, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way. She came to a point in life where everything felt broken but she realized that sometimes what feels like irreparable brokenness is actually preparation for something even better.
“We think the shattering in our lives could not possibly be for any good. But what if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so that something new can be made?… Dust doesn’t have to signify the end. Dust is often what must be present for the new to begin.”
Wilkerson doesn’t bring out any biblical themes in her book, but we see shadows of this idea as we see Ebby broken down, but starting fresh. We see how the fire has refined her character and made her stronger.
“Soh loves that jar more than ever. She loves to think that something that has been broken can be pieced back together.”
The last aspect of the jar that was significant were the words engraved on the bottom. They are kept a secret until the very end of the book. I was worried she was going to leave it a mystery so I’m glad she did end up revealing them.
They are most noteworthy because slaves were not allowed to read or write; to learn those skills was dangerous and could even end in death. For an enslaved potter to carve any words, let alone the ones found on Old Mo, was a deliberate act of courage and resistance. I’m not sure how Wilkerson chose the phrase she did, but it lived up to the anticipation and was worth the wait to find it out!
Overall, I really liked the significance Wilkerson made of the jar and everything connected to it. I think she could have gone even further in the symbolism, but it was an effective path to take in this book. It also definitely makes me ponder the title- Good Dirt— and how that makes a good title.
Alternative Narrative
There are certain aspects of the subtle narrative surrounding the Freeman family’s experience of ‘being black in America’ that I might have differing thoughts on. I’ll list a few quotes here as receipts:
“People saw their skin, not their history.”
“Just a month before he died, there had been yet another unjustified killing of an unarmed black man by a police officer.”
“verbal slights that Ed called microaggressions”
“We are surrounded by black scientists and doctors and lawyers and other highly skilled professionals, but still, people are surprised. They continue to be surprised at African American achievement.”
“You could not grow up to be a black man, no matter how successful, without knowing, in some quadrant of your brain, that you were more vulnerable to potential harm than other men. You had to watch your back. You had to teach your son to watch his back.”
“A young, African American man. People are always going to look for excuses to question your capacity to do things. Fair or not.”
but I don’t want to belabor the point because I don’t believe that the main spirit of this book was necessarily to paint a specific picture of present day racism and give a primary voice to that experience.
It was definitely an element of the book, but I think the more focal point was the Freemans’s ancestors being slaves and how their experiences in the 1800s filtered down to their family’s identity.
I think to spend too much time arguing about the current state of affairs, problems, or potential causes, though a worth endeavor in other cases, would take away from what I think makes this book compelling. I will refrain from being distracted by a message that I am not even confident the author is attempting to proclaim in this story.
I will only say that I have found Thomas Sowell’s book Discrimination and Disparities, Thaddeus William’s book Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth and Candace Owen’s book Blackout (among others) have been insightful in pondering thoughts surrounding racism, systemic racism, and the potential ongoing effects of slavery today.
And I will say that I wholeheartedly agree with these statements made in the book because they are perhaps the most relevant at any point in history:
“‘Most of the trouble in this world boils down to one person not recognizing the worth of another.’”
“There will always be men willing to steal the freedom of others if they think it’ll bring them an advantage.”
I hope we can spend more time recognizing the worth of others before we speak or act, online or in person. That’s the first and most effective way to combat today’s troubles. See each other as image-bearers of God, our Creator.
Other Reviewers
In looking at some of the negative reviews for this book I can summarize that a lot of them felt the book dragged on and they didn’t really care for the jar or its story. I can see how it would be long if you were not interested in that timeline at all. I do think there was some repetitive content, but I liked that element of the story and so it didn’t drag for me. I’m also not sure that a lot of them really saw the connection between the pottery process and the shaping of Ebby’s life and maybe that would have made a difference for them in appreciating that thread of the story.
Others comment on the over-hyped ‘secrets’ of the book and the overuse of miscommunication to drum up drama. I didn’t necessarily feel this while reading, but after the fact I can look back and say, they do have a bit of a point. Some of the ‘secrets’ weren’t very earth-shattering after all, and I am never a fan of characters who are unwilling to allow anyone to explain anything. I’m a person who desires answers and truth and even if I’m ticked at someone, I think I would be too curious about their explanation to shut it down in spite.
The mystery aspect was, of course, nice to have, but it’s definitely not the driving force of the plot so if you’re going into it thinking you’re ‘on the case’ I can see how you might feel misled reading this book and have a bad taste in your mouth. The mystery is there but it’s definitely a subplot.
Of course you have an array of opinions on what characters people liked and didn’t like and that’s largely personal preference and what resonates with you. I, personally, didn’t feel like there were any characters that were major make or breaks.
All the Feels
I think one of the things that might resonate with me for awhile— which may be a little random— is from Grandma Bliss:
“Hold the moment. Before Ebby had ever heard the term mindfulness, Grandma Bliss had a grasp on the concept. Be aware of a beautiful moment as it is happening. Take note of your life as you are living it.”
Life is hectic and busy and we survive and we keep moving forward and the days go by and the years go by and then our kids aren’t babies anymore, and then our kids aren’t toddlers anymore and sometimes you do just need to hold the moment.
I have done this periodically already, but I didn’t have these words for those times. I love the ‘hold the moment’ phrase and the taking note of life as you are living it in that moment. To just really sit there and take it all in and think about what was before and what is to come and why this moment is precious.
Sitting and holding those moments will solidify them more in my memories and I hope to have a lot of moments to look back on and love— the way they form their words, the way their eyes light up when talking about something they love, their chubby fingers and little adult-like gestures and mannerisms, the way their little bodies fold into mine when we snuggle, the crumbs of food that never seem to come off their mouth, the way they say ‘mama’ or want to hold me hand. Hold all those moments.
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. Is there something that threads through your family history or a cherished family heirloom?
2. Have you experienced a time in your life where something felt shattered? How have you seen something new built from that dust? How has that ‘fire’ made you stronger?
3. Which character do you identify with the most?
4. Ebby remembers the little maple tree they planted that has grown, its leaves turning orange every autumn. “Then the leaves would fall away, and the tree would seal off its branches to protect itself from the onslaught of winter.” How is Ebby like this tree?
5. Does it surprise you that Ebby could still be having nightmares from that fateful night in 2000? How do you view the process of healing after a significant loss?
6. How much influence do you think generations of family history should have on a person’s identity? What ways did this shape Ebby in a positive or negative way?
7. How are Avery and Ebby alike? How are they different? Do you think it was their similarities or their differences that drew Henry to Avery?
8. When Ebby tells Henry about her dad’s work she gives the example of the joints in a bridge and how those connections help “reduce trauma by moving back and forth under daily, monthly, and yearly pressure.” Henry likens it to trauma prevention. Ebby corrects him, “More like resilience under trauma. You can’t prevent it, but you can find ways to hold up under the pressure, to continue to function well.” In what ways did you see characters exercise resilience under trauma? What are other things they could have done? How do you define resilience? In what ways have you been resilient? (this comes from the Henry chapter after ‘Words’)
9. Why do you think the book is titled Good Dirt?
10. Ebby often changed her hair color in times of change or crises. Why do you think this was therapeutic for her? How do you identify with this aspect of Ebby’s character?
11. “How much of yourself do you have to renounce in order to have the life you think you want?” (from Chapter: Falling) What do you think of this sentiment Ebby voices?
12. Think about the five words engraved on the bottom of Old Mo. Why do you think those words would have been so inspiring to other slaves? What significance do you find for them today?
13. “Ed believes there is something at the core of each person that works like a compass. It should tell them who they are and where they belong.” Do you agree with Ed? Why or why not?
14. Do you think Ebby should have given Henry another chance?
15. When you read the Escalators chapter, what do you think is significant about Avery and Henry riding the escalators up and Ebby about to ride the escalator down? Where are their character arcs going?
16. Think about finding the closest museum that houses an object like Old Mo that you could visit and see for yourself.
Recommendation
I definitely recommend this book! Wilkerson gives readers a lot to think about and threads the themes together in such a compelling way. I can’t really think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to read this book. Even seeing what other reviewers didn’t like about the book, I’m not sure it’s enough to caution someone against reading it.
I will also recommend the book Amazing Grace that tells the story of John Newton who wrote the song Amazing Grace. It’s a hard book to read as it reveals the reality of the slave trade that Newton was once part of, but it also explains the ‘I was blind, but now I see’ line of his song. Reading about the slave trade is always hard, and I think it’s important to see the hope and the Lord at work while we are at the same time recognizing sin for what it is, setting our minds and hearts against ever being part of something so heinous.
“Where do we find hope today in the midst of deep divisions in society and violent disagreements? Where do we find hope for the human condition? Where do we find hope for all the griefs and sorrows that threaten to undo our own lives? Perhaps we need to look again at the perennial message of ‘Amazing Grace.’ Perhaps here we might find a renewed hope that however difficult the troubles in our lives, however deep our personal shame and regret, however dark the evil that stalks the earth, there is a mercy that is deeper yet, a forgiveness that makes all the difference, and a power for reconciliation greater than ourselves.” [Amazing Grace]
[Content Advisory: 4 f-words, 15 s-words; some sexual content]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
“This was the true miracle of life, he thought. No so much to be born as to bear up under what comes your way. To find a way forward. To embrace what was good.”
This one was hard to put down. It is a well-crafted story that explores grief and trauma and the way family history shapes our identities.
I have not read Wilkerson’s debut novel, the highly rated novel called Black Cake, but it seems like similar themes probably flow through both books. I think this one would probably make a good book club book so I’ve included a list of potential book club discussion questions at the end of this review for anyone interested in that.
I will say that there is a lot going on in this book. The chapters are short, helping with the pacing and the ‘hard to put down’ part, but also helping with all the various POVs and the historic timelines. The main characters are evident and have more space in the book, but many other characters are introduced and then will get a brief chapter focused on them— probably could have had less of that.
I didn’t find it too hard to follow. It helps that Wilkerson tended to make the first sentence say the name of whatever character’s POV it was from so you knew right away where you were. The chapters that took place in the 1800s was the harder timeline to grasp in lining things up in your head, but even then, still not too bad.
I enjoyed the themes in this book and found many of them thought-provoking. I also appreciated that there was an ongoing ‘mystery’ aspect to the story that gave an extra thread of engagement.
Plot Basics
The book begins in 2000 as we witness the tragic home invasion of the Freeman house in Massachusetts where not only their cherished family heirloom (a jar thrown by an enslaved potter in the 1800s) is broken but ten-year-old Ebony’s brother Baz is shot and killed at the young age of fifteen.
They are the only two home and Ebby was the one who called 911 as she watched her brother die. The trauma of that does not go away easily. It didn’t help that as one of the only black families in the wealthy neighborhood, and her family being well-known in general, the spotlight never truly leaves them. She feels always known as “the little black girl who had survived a suburban tragedy.”
The spotlight, then, shines ever brighter as the twentieth anniversary of Baz’s death is on the horizon and Ebby is shockingly stood up on her wedding day with no communication of her would-be husband.
“Henry Pepper had shown the world that Ebony Freeman, try as she might, could not escape the mantle of misfortune that had settled over her.”
The bulk of the book takes place here with Ebby still haunted by her brother’s unsolved murder and now publicly humiliated by Henry’s abandonment at the altar. Ebby has to get away and 8 months later, has taken up her friend’s offer to stay in her cottage in a small village in France. To process. To regroup. Maybe to write.
The chapters set in the past are these writings: the jar stories. Stories about the jar’s history that is also their family history, handed down many generations. Stories that tell of perseverance, courage, bravery, love, skill, and hope.
When Henry shows up with another woman to rent the guest cottage of the property, Ebby is forced to confront the past in more ways then she anticipated. Her family tragedy, the jar, and her ruined vows all clash and Ebby has to find a way to move forward.
The Jar— Old Mo
“‘The great strength of that jar was that its true worth was underestimated. Just like the value of the enslaved man who had crafted it and signed it at a time when people in bondage were not allowed to read or write.’”
There have been many books written to explore the lives and treatment of African American slaves, but Wilkerson wanted to touch on a couple areas of labor that are not often talked about in other books: pottery and sailing. She fuses them together in the Freeman family history.
“Granny says clay runs in their family’s blood, but Ebby’s father sees it differently. Ebby’s dad likes to say it’s the sea that courses through his veins, that he inherited a yen for the water from the sailors in his family.”
Many Africans were already skilled in pottery, creating jugs, jars, and other vessels from the clay of their homeland. When they were stolen away to America, they were forced to continue using their skills on plantation factories.
There were also many ships that used slave labor or where freed men were able to find work.
As somewhat of an artist (who’s thrown a pot or two) I was interested in this pottery aspect. Not just as a physical art form preserved through time and passed down for generations but also as a literary feature. An object fashioned and molded from the earth and then put through fire.
“Raw clay was a living thing that could be reshaped and reborn, until the potters committed it to the fire.”
I can’t help but think about how we are being shaped and molded, often enduring a refining fire. God is the Potter, and we are the clay.
Psalm 66:10-12 is one of several verses in the Bible that talk about God refining us through fire: “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”
Author Lysa Terkerst uses this pottery language in her book, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way. She came to a point in life where everything felt broken but she realized that sometimes what feels like irreparable brokenness is actually preparation for something even better.
“We think the shattering in our lives could not possibly be for any good. But what if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so that something new can be made?… Dust doesn’t have to signify the end. Dust is often what must be present for the new to begin.”
Wilkerson doesn’t bring out any biblical themes in her book, but we see shadows of this idea as we see Ebby broken down, but starting fresh. We see how the fire has refined her character and made her stronger.
“Soh loves that jar more than ever. She loves to think that something that has been broken can be pieced back together.”
The last aspect of the jar that was significant were the words engraved on the bottom. They are kept a secret until the very end of the book. I was worried she was going to leave it a mystery so I’m glad she did end up revealing them.
They are most noteworthy because slaves were not allowed to read or write; to learn those skills was dangerous and could even end in death. For an enslaved potter to carve any words, let alone the ones found on Old Mo, was a deliberate act of courage and resistance. I’m not sure how Wilkerson chose the phrase she did, but it lived up to the anticipation and was worth the wait to find it out!
Overall, I really liked the significance Wilkerson made of the jar and everything connected to it. I think she could have gone even further in the symbolism, but it was an effective path to take in this book. It also definitely makes me ponder the title- Good Dirt— and how that makes a good title.
Alternative Narrative
There are certain aspects of the subtle narrative surrounding the Freeman family’s experience of ‘being black in America’ that I might have differing thoughts on. I’ll list a few quotes here as receipts:
“People saw their skin, not their history.”
“Just a month before he died, there had been yet another unjustified killing of an unarmed black man by a police officer.”
“verbal slights that Ed called microaggressions”
“We are surrounded by black scientists and doctors and lawyers and other highly skilled professionals, but still, people are surprised. They continue to be surprised at African American achievement.”
“You could not grow up to be a black man, no matter how successful, without knowing, in some quadrant of your brain, that you were more vulnerable to potential harm than other men. You had to watch your back. You had to teach your son to watch his back.”
“A young, African American man. People are always going to look for excuses to question your capacity to do things. Fair or not.”
but I don’t want to belabor the point because I don’t believe that the main spirit of this book was necessarily to paint a specific picture of present day racism and give a primary voice to that experience.
It was definitely an element of the book, but I think the more focal point was the Freemans’s ancestors being slaves and how their experiences in the 1800s filtered down to their family’s identity.
I think to spend too much time arguing about the current state of affairs, problems, or potential causes, though a worth endeavor in other cases, would take away from what I think makes this book compelling. I will refrain from being distracted by a message that I am not even confident the author is attempting to proclaim in this story.
I will only say that I have found Thomas Sowell’s book Discrimination and Disparities, Thaddeus William’s book Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth and Candace Owen’s book Blackout (among others) have been insightful in pondering thoughts surrounding racism, systemic racism, and the potential ongoing effects of slavery today.
And I will say that I wholeheartedly agree with these statements made in the book because they are perhaps the most relevant at any point in history:
“‘Most of the trouble in this world boils down to one person not recognizing the worth of another.’”
“There will always be men willing to steal the freedom of others if they think it’ll bring them an advantage.”
I hope we can spend more time recognizing the worth of others before we speak or act, online or in person. That’s the first and most effective way to combat today’s troubles. See each other as image-bearers of God, our Creator.
Other Reviewers
In looking at some of the negative reviews for this book I can summarize that a lot of them felt the book dragged on and they didn’t really care for the jar or its story. I can see how it would be long if you were not interested in that timeline at all. I do think there was some repetitive content, but I liked that element of the story and so it didn’t drag for me. I’m also not sure that a lot of them really saw the connection between the pottery process and the shaping of Ebby’s life and maybe that would have made a difference for them in appreciating that thread of the story.
Others comment on the over-hyped ‘secrets’ of the book and the overuse of miscommunication to drum up drama. I didn’t necessarily feel this while reading, but after the fact I can look back and say, they do have a bit of a point. Some of the ‘secrets’ weren’t very earth-shattering after all, and I am never a fan of characters who are unwilling to allow anyone to explain anything. I’m a person who desires answers and truth and even if I’m ticked at someone, I think I would be too curious about their explanation to shut it down in spite.
The mystery aspect was, of course, nice to have, but it’s definitely not the driving force of the plot so if you’re going into it thinking you’re ‘on the case’ I can see how you might feel misled reading this book and have a bad taste in your mouth. The mystery is there but it’s definitely a subplot.
Of course you have an array of opinions on what characters people liked and didn’t like and that’s largely personal preference and what resonates with you. I, personally, didn’t feel like there were any characters that were major make or breaks.
All the Feels
I think one of the things that might resonate with me for awhile— which may be a little random— is from Grandma Bliss:
“Hold the moment. Before Ebby had ever heard the term mindfulness, Grandma Bliss had a grasp on the concept. Be aware of a beautiful moment as it is happening. Take note of your life as you are living it.”
Life is hectic and busy and we survive and we keep moving forward and the days go by and the years go by and then our kids aren’t babies anymore, and then our kids aren’t toddlers anymore and sometimes you do just need to hold the moment.
I have done this periodically already, but I didn’t have these words for those times. I love the ‘hold the moment’ phrase and the taking note of life as you are living it in that moment. To just really sit there and take it all in and think about what was before and what is to come and why this moment is precious.
Sitting and holding those moments will solidify them more in my memories and I hope to have a lot of moments to look back on and love— the way they form their words, the way their eyes light up when talking about something they love, their chubby fingers and little adult-like gestures and mannerisms, the way their little bodies fold into mine when we snuggle, the crumbs of food that never seem to come off their mouth, the way they say ‘mama’ or want to hold me hand. Hold all those moments.
Book Club Discussion Questions
1. Is there something that threads through your family history or a cherished family heirloom?
2. Have you experienced a time in your life where something felt shattered? How have you seen something new built from that dust? How has that ‘fire’ made you stronger?
3. Which character do you identify with the most?
4. Ebby remembers the little maple tree they planted that has grown, its leaves turning orange every autumn. “Then the leaves would fall away, and the tree would seal off its branches to protect itself from the onslaught of winter.” How is Ebby like this tree?
5. Does it surprise you that Ebby could still be having nightmares from that fateful night in 2000? How do you view the process of healing after a significant loss?
6. How much influence do you think generations of family history should have on a person’s identity? What ways did this shape Ebby in a positive or negative way?
7. How are Avery and Ebby alike? How are they different? Do you think it was their similarities or their differences that drew Henry to Avery?
8. When Ebby tells Henry about her dad’s work she gives the example of the joints in a bridge and how those connections help “reduce trauma by moving back and forth under daily, monthly, and yearly pressure.” Henry likens it to trauma prevention. Ebby corrects him, “More like resilience under trauma. You can’t prevent it, but you can find ways to hold up under the pressure, to continue to function well.” In what ways did you see characters exercise resilience under trauma? What are other things they could have done? How do you define resilience? In what ways have you been resilient? (this comes from the Henry chapter after ‘Words’)
9. Why do you think the book is titled Good Dirt?
10. Ebby often changed her hair color in times of change or crises. Why do you think this was therapeutic for her? How do you identify with this aspect of Ebby’s character?
11. “How much of yourself do you have to renounce in order to have the life you think you want?” (from Chapter: Falling) What do you think of this sentiment Ebby voices?
12. Think about the five words engraved on the bottom of Old Mo. Why do you think those words would have been so inspiring to other slaves? What significance do you find for them today?
13. “Ed believes there is something at the core of each person that works like a compass. It should tell them who they are and where they belong.” Do you agree with Ed? Why or why not?
14. Do you think Ebby should have given Henry another chance?
15. When you read the Escalators chapter, what do you think is significant about Avery and Henry riding the escalators up and Ebby about to ride the escalator down? Where are their character arcs going?
16. Think about finding the closest museum that houses an object like Old Mo that you could visit and see for yourself.
Recommendation
I definitely recommend this book! Wilkerson gives readers a lot to think about and threads the themes together in such a compelling way. I can’t really think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to read this book. Even seeing what other reviewers didn’t like about the book, I’m not sure it’s enough to caution someone against reading it.
I will also recommend the book Amazing Grace that tells the story of John Newton who wrote the song Amazing Grace. It’s a hard book to read as it reveals the reality of the slave trade that Newton was once part of, but it also explains the ‘I was blind, but now I see’ line of his song. Reading about the slave trade is always hard, and I think it’s important to see the hope and the Lord at work while we are at the same time recognizing sin for what it is, setting our minds and hearts against ever being part of something so heinous.
“Where do we find hope today in the midst of deep divisions in society and violent disagreements? Where do we find hope for the human condition? Where do we find hope for all the griefs and sorrows that threaten to undo our own lives? Perhaps we need to look again at the perennial message of ‘Amazing Grace.’ Perhaps here we might find a renewed hope that however difficult the troubles in our lives, however deep our personal shame and regret, however dark the evil that stalks the earth, there is a mercy that is deeper yet, a forgiveness that makes all the difference, and a power for reconciliation greater than ourselves.” [Amazing Grace]
[Content Advisory: 4 f-words, 15 s-words; some sexual content]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Thieves’ Gambit was a fun read for me and so was this one! It had the same action from start to finish with several different settings from Brazil to New Orleans Mardi Gras to Antarctica to Monte Carlo to Tokyo to South Africa.
It’s got the same Ocean’s Eleven heist vibes as they go through another gambit of stealing valuable things. I think it’s called Heist Royale because a large chunk of it takes place at a casino where they have to cheat the system to earn a certain amount of victor chips. So it also has the movie ‘21’ vibes as well.
“Two hundred square feet of booze, luck, loss, and temptation… secrets, hidden currency, and danger.”
Even though it’s technically a life or death competition situation, this is still a pretty light, easy-going read. There’s fighting and some shooting, but most of the violence is more in threat form than anything else. The romance factor (you know… Ross’s “ex-crush-turned-almost-murderer”) is also fairly minimal as the focus of the book is the heist action. Some reviewers would have preferred more romance or character growth interactions, but I was here for the action so I was happy with the way the book was written.
To give you the basic plot: Heist Royale takes up 6 months after the first book where Devroe won a wish— a wish his mother wants him to use to have the Quest family ‘erased.’ Devroe and Ross are both committed to a year of working jobs with the Organization. But the Organization is in disarray as the Count’s leadership is in question and another member wants to overthrow her.
The squabble turns into a competition. A three phase gambit: “Whoever won got to lead. Whoever won got to live.” Ross and her friends end up picking sides: the Count or the usurper, Baron. The real conflict, though, is the beef between Ross’s mom (Rhiannon) and Devroe’s mom (Diane). Rhiannon won the Gambit back in her day and instead of using it to get Diane’s husband medical care, she used it for something else and Devroe’s dad ended up dying. Diane now wants to get her revenge.
Who will win the gambit? Who will survive?
As I mentioned with the first book, there is suspension of reality in a book like this, and that includes the ability of 18-year-olds to be calm, cool, collected, (and witty) while their very lives hang in the balance. Where they have to act the part flawlessly. We just have to be okay with them being smart, funny, heroes at a young age.
However, I would LOVE to point out a very realistic part of the story where pre-heist Ross does the most obvious thing with her hair: “I’d pulled my braids into an efficient ponytail.” It’s one of my pet peeves when people with long hair go do fighting and competition stuff with their hair flying all over the place— nope. Ross truly understands the realistic need for a ponytail and I’m here for it all day.
The first book did seem to have more character interactions because Ross was developing friendships for the first time and learning how or if she could trust others. In Heist Royale, the friendships have largely already been established. There is still an element of learning to trust, but there isn’t as much ‘getting to know one another’ type of scenes. And Devroe and Ross don’t have a lot of ‘screen-time’ together since they’re working on opposing teams… and because Ross hates Devroe at the moment:
“Devroe is a playboy traitor who might have enough empathy to back out on family genocide, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was manipulating us throughout the entire Gambit and now he’s just holding this wish over my head and for all we know he’s already well aware what his mom’s been up to.”
The romance side of things is Devroe trying to win Ross back and Ross going from hating him (although we know it’s not a true hate but more of a rebellious hate) to wishing things could work out between them. It’s the forbidden love because their moms want to off each other.
There also is a small romance between Mylo and Taiyo because of course we need to have that.
Let’s just say I could probably have done without all the ‘melting’ commentary.
The other character relationship at work is between Ross and her mom. She still hasn’t (understandably) forgiven her mom for her part in the first book. Her mother’s reputation is ‘ruthless efficiency’ whereas Ross has a heart and is not willing to betray her people to get what she wants.
But she can’t deny the usefulness of her mother’s reputation:
“I guess when word gets around about you betraying best friends, manipulating your daughter into death games, and letting your own sister get kidnapped in exchange for half a billion dollars, people decide they don’t want to screw with you.”
Ross still struggles with wanting to be like her mom and become the best. She’s conflicted between thoughts about what her mom would do or think in a particular situation and what to do when they bump into her own moral boundaries.
“Trust over viciousness. Loyalty over lies. Maybe that route could be just as effective as Mom’s.”
Recommendation
It very much fits the YA genre because teens love to read about other teens doing awesome, heroic things and putting their friendships as priority number one and also flirting while their lives are in danger. Checks out.
As an adult, I can put my youth face on and read these kind of books and still enjoy them. And sometimes it’s really nice to get all the action packed suspense without the dark violence, f-words, or romance scenes you’d rather not be a part of.
So yeah, I would recommend this book for sure for teens, but even for adults. And definitely if you like heist plots and stealing competitions.
It seems like this might be a duology, but if there does end up being a third one, I’d read it for sure. Good writing, fun plots. I’ll be keeping this author on my radar!
[Content Advisory: 15 d-words, 3 b-words; no sexual content other than kissing; two somewhat prominent LGBTQ characters]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | StoryGraph
It’s got the same Ocean’s Eleven heist vibes as they go through another gambit of stealing valuable things. I think it’s called Heist Royale because a large chunk of it takes place at a casino where they have to cheat the system to earn a certain amount of victor chips. So it also has the movie ‘21’ vibes as well.
“Two hundred square feet of booze, luck, loss, and temptation… secrets, hidden currency, and danger.”
Even though it’s technically a life or death competition situation, this is still a pretty light, easy-going read. There’s fighting and some shooting, but most of the violence is more in threat form than anything else. The romance factor (you know… Ross’s “ex-crush-turned-almost-murderer”) is also fairly minimal as the focus of the book is the heist action. Some reviewers would have preferred more romance or character growth interactions, but I was here for the action so I was happy with the way the book was written.
To give you the basic plot: Heist Royale takes up 6 months after the first book where Devroe won a wish— a wish his mother wants him to use to have the Quest family ‘erased.’ Devroe and Ross are both committed to a year of working jobs with the Organization. But the Organization is in disarray as the Count’s leadership is in question and another member wants to overthrow her.
The squabble turns into a competition. A three phase gambit: “Whoever won got to lead. Whoever won got to live.” Ross and her friends end up picking sides: the Count or the usurper, Baron. The real conflict, though, is the beef between Ross’s mom (Rhiannon) and Devroe’s mom (Diane). Rhiannon won the Gambit back in her day and instead of using it to get Diane’s husband medical care, she used it for something else and Devroe’s dad ended up dying. Diane now wants to get her revenge.
Who will win the gambit? Who will survive?
As I mentioned with the first book, there is suspension of reality in a book like this, and that includes the ability of 18-year-olds to be calm, cool, collected, (and witty) while their very lives hang in the balance. Where they have to act the part flawlessly. We just have to be okay with them being smart, funny, heroes at a young age.
However, I would LOVE to point out a very realistic part of the story where pre-heist Ross does the most obvious thing with her hair: “I’d pulled my braids into an efficient ponytail.” It’s one of my pet peeves when people with long hair go do fighting and competition stuff with their hair flying all over the place— nope. Ross truly understands the realistic need for a ponytail and I’m here for it all day.
The first book did seem to have more character interactions because Ross was developing friendships for the first time and learning how or if she could trust others. In Heist Royale, the friendships have largely already been established. There is still an element of learning to trust, but there isn’t as much ‘getting to know one another’ type of scenes. And Devroe and Ross don’t have a lot of ‘screen-time’ together since they’re working on opposing teams… and because Ross hates Devroe at the moment:
“Devroe is a playboy traitor who might have enough empathy to back out on family genocide, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was manipulating us throughout the entire Gambit and now he’s just holding this wish over my head and for all we know he’s already well aware what his mom’s been up to.”
The romance side of things is Devroe trying to win Ross back and Ross going from hating him (although we know it’s not a true hate but more of a rebellious hate) to wishing things could work out between them. It’s the forbidden love because their moms want to off each other.
There also is a small romance between Mylo and Taiyo because of course we need to have that.
Let’s just say I could probably have done without all the ‘melting’ commentary.
The other character relationship at work is between Ross and her mom. She still hasn’t (understandably) forgiven her mom for her part in the first book. Her mother’s reputation is ‘ruthless efficiency’ whereas Ross has a heart and is not willing to betray her people to get what she wants.
But she can’t deny the usefulness of her mother’s reputation:
“I guess when word gets around about you betraying best friends, manipulating your daughter into death games, and letting your own sister get kidnapped in exchange for half a billion dollars, people decide they don’t want to screw with you.”
Ross still struggles with wanting to be like her mom and become the best. She’s conflicted between thoughts about what her mom would do or think in a particular situation and what to do when they bump into her own moral boundaries.
“Trust over viciousness. Loyalty over lies. Maybe that route could be just as effective as Mom’s.”
Recommendation
It very much fits the YA genre because teens love to read about other teens doing awesome, heroic things and putting their friendships as priority number one and also flirting while their lives are in danger. Checks out.
As an adult, I can put my youth face on and read these kind of books and still enjoy them. And sometimes it’s really nice to get all the action packed suspense without the dark violence, f-words, or romance scenes you’d rather not be a part of.
So yeah, I would recommend this book for sure for teens, but even for adults. And definitely if you like heist plots and stealing competitions.
It seems like this might be a duology, but if there does end up being a third one, I’d read it for sure. Good writing, fun plots. I’ll be keeping this author on my radar!
[Content Advisory: 15 d-words, 3 b-words; no sexual content other than kissing; two somewhat prominent LGBTQ characters]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | StoryGraph
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
I enjoyed McAllister’s book Wrong Place, Wrong Time, but had written in that review that I probably wouldn’t read any more of her books because of all the f-words. Well here I am. I read another one. I apparently didn’t remember my own advice.
And there were, indeed, some f-words in this one as well (though not as much as some other books)
But maybe it’s worth it? I don’t know.
I decided I like how Gillian (we’re on a first name basis right now) combines both the mystery and suspense of a thriller with some emotional mom/wife stuff in her books.
Gillian’s comment on Goodreads for this book is “a love story set in a hostage situation.” (Or rather ‘siege’ because, again, we’re very Brit here, not actually being seiged by an army in a fortress.)
In both books, she does a good job of drawing you into the character’s dilemma and emotional struggle with the conflict at hand and the internal risks of coming to terms with reality.
In Wrong Place, Wrong Time, we have a mother trying to figure out why her son stabbed a guy. In Famous Last Words, we have a wife (and mother) trying to figure out why her husband sieged three people, killed two (unidentified), and disappeared.
The book starts out with Cam being frustrated that her husband left the house and left her to do everything for their daughter, Polly’s, first day of day care when Cam goes back to work as a book editor. (I included this whole explanation because seriously, morning routine is the worst and how could you jet with no explanation!?!)
It doesn’t take long for her to see the news and see that her husband has a good excuse. He’s kinda in the middle of something. You know… a warehouse with his hostages. So the police have shown up to search their house and see if Cam has any knowledge of what Luke (her husband) is doing. (Duh, detective, if she was going to be involved she would have made him help with breakfast and drop offs and THEN go do the siege. Amateurs.)
That’s the first part of the book- the siege. (You’re gonna hear this word a lot.)
Then we jump ahead seven years. Luke has been missing this whole time. Cam is torn between presuming him to be dead and being able to move on with her life and wanting him to be alive because she still wants to believe he’s a good person and that he will come back to her.
“How, exactly, do you move on? she wants to say. Tell me. Tell me how to stop searching for answers. Tell me how to be fine with abandonment. Tell me how to embrace being a single parent. It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, not in these circumstances, not when you’re alone and disciplining and cooking and bedtiming and lying to your child every single day about who their father truly is.”
I’m not sure what single parenting has tried to crack up to be, but I think it’s always hard any way you slice it and I feel her struggle. When your loving husband does something that doesn’t make sense and no answers are ever figured out, how DO you move on from that?
Well after seven years, Cam gets an anonymous text with a set of coordinates and a time to meet. This sets off a whole new round of investigations where Cam sets aside ‘moving on’ in hopes that Luke is finally contacting her and she’ll finally discover what was behind the siege.
Oh yeah, and as per the title he has some famous last words: “It’s been so lovely with you both.” At first they don’t seem to allude to anything helpful. However, if anything, I was able to determine part of what was going on.
The thriller part of this is somewhat figuring out who the bad guys are, but it’s also just wanting to know the catalyst for the siege. You don’t really get the full story until close to the end so I like that Gillian didn’t reveal too much too early. It kept the suspense up.
It’s told in alternating POVs between Cam and Niall who was the hostage negotiator during the infamous siege. After the bad outcome of the situation, it’d been haunting Niall and he ends up doing some of his own investigating to figure out what went wrong and why his instincts steered him so wrong that fateful day. Cam and Niall’s lives obviously continue to cross one another.
A few things I liked:
I liked that Cam and Luke had their own inside jokes, like being ‘sweepy.’ I was realizing that my husband and I have been married long enough now that we have some inside jokes that we have no memory of why or where they came from. Perhaps we will adopt sweepy to add to our collection.
I liked how she described her boss Stuart: “he has been, for the past couple of years, that most toxic of things: a gym convert”
I liked the side relationship of Cam with her sister, Libby, and how there was a closeness to their relationship but also growth as they navigated Libby’s infertility struggles. Dysfunctional and suspicious family members tend to be the norm for thrillers so I like that her and her sister’s relationship had its challenges but was generally very stable. I was also able to relate somewhat to Libby’s infertility feelings. I never had to do IVF or struggle for as long as her but I still understand the jealousy and feelings towards others that you know are unwarranted but nevertheless how you feel because why can’t your body make and hold a baby?! It’s such a tough thing to endure.
One plot criticism:
The ‘hiding out’ period of seven years feels like a lot to survive. I can’t really imagine someone doing what he did for so long without going insane. I wonder if shortening that time period would have made more sense, although I think that time frame was chosen because of the laws about declaring a missing person deceased. So I guess this is just one of those things where you just accept that after seven years there’s still just a sleeping bag instead of a bed and of course he’s only spoken out loud five instances in all that time but is still a normal human being. Moving on.
One other criticism:
“The trainers he wanted— Vejas— came into fashion and then went out again.” Um… I was literally told last week to buy these Veja shoes. I ended up getting a pair from someone, but you’re telling me they’re already out of fashion!? Or is the US behind? Or maybe this is just the speculative fiction part of the novel and everything is fine. Talk about the biggest twist of the book…!
Obligatory Words I Learned Section
Jaffa cakes: Cam and Luke’s ‘eating your feelings’ treat that is made of sponge, orange-flavored jam, and chocolate. I guess my feelings are more pure and salty instead of spongy- bring on the chips and straight up chocolate
fisselig: a German word meaning ‘flustered to the point of incompetence”; I don’t know how to use it in a sentence but if I could I would all the time
copper: apparently it’s not disrespectful to call police officers ‘coppers’ in England or else Gillian would probably be in jail right now
pensioner: probably the equivalent of a US snowbird but they just stay put and get to be called by their source of income instead of something prettier
dressing gown: that fancy little (but probably big) robe that men wear to smoke a pipe or something? I’m trying to imagine any male I know owning a dressing gown but I can’t… is the American version of this concept just sweatpants and a hoodie?
mange-touts: sugar peas; but if I didn’t look this one up I would have guessed it was a nasty looking fish
five-a-side: an indoor football… well soccer… game with five people to a side; good thing all sports have a different number of people on a side or this could get real confusing
lock-up: a storage unit (that someone was staying in… not to be confused with jail, because he was definitely not in jail as that was the failure of the last seven years for the coppers….. Police. I can’t say it without feeling like a criminal)
Recommendation
Well I thought I wasn’t going to read any more of Gillian McAllister’s books but then I forgot what I thought and now I think maybe I will.
I don’t like the swearing, but I think she weaves a good story and taps into both my desire for suspense and mystery and my complex mom feelings where I agree that every child that dies is Polly (well, my Pollies) and all parents are me and how could my kids ever live without knowing their dad and could my parenting ever turn my kid into a stabber?!
So I guess read at your own risk, but to quote myself from my review of her other book: “Swearing aside, I can’t think of a reason not to read the book. Unless you don’t like time travel.” Whoops. Not that last part. No time travel here! Well. I guess they jump seven years into the future but we’ll give that a time travel pass.
Also, if you love books where husbands disappear and leave something behind and the wife is left with their daughter to figure out what he’s mixed up in, you should read The Last Thing He Told Me.
[Content Advisory: 36 f-words, 20 s-words]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
And there were, indeed, some f-words in this one as well (though not as much as some other books)
But maybe it’s worth it? I don’t know.
I decided I like how Gillian (we’re on a first name basis right now) combines both the mystery and suspense of a thriller with some emotional mom/wife stuff in her books.
Gillian’s comment on Goodreads for this book is “a love story set in a hostage situation.” (Or rather ‘siege’ because, again, we’re very Brit here, not actually being seiged by an army in a fortress.)
In both books, she does a good job of drawing you into the character’s dilemma and emotional struggle with the conflict at hand and the internal risks of coming to terms with reality.
In Wrong Place, Wrong Time, we have a mother trying to figure out why her son stabbed a guy. In Famous Last Words, we have a wife (and mother) trying to figure out why her husband sieged three people, killed two (unidentified), and disappeared.
The book starts out with Cam being frustrated that her husband left the house and left her to do everything for their daughter, Polly’s, first day of day care when Cam goes back to work as a book editor. (I included this whole explanation because seriously, morning routine is the worst and how could you jet with no explanation!?!)
It doesn’t take long for her to see the news and see that her husband has a good excuse. He’s kinda in the middle of something. You know… a warehouse with his hostages. So the police have shown up to search their house and see if Cam has any knowledge of what Luke (her husband) is doing. (Duh, detective, if she was going to be involved she would have made him help with breakfast and drop offs and THEN go do the siege. Amateurs.)
That’s the first part of the book- the siege. (You’re gonna hear this word a lot.)
Then we jump ahead seven years. Luke has been missing this whole time. Cam is torn between presuming him to be dead and being able to move on with her life and wanting him to be alive because she still wants to believe he’s a good person and that he will come back to her.
“How, exactly, do you move on? she wants to say. Tell me. Tell me how to stop searching for answers. Tell me how to be fine with abandonment. Tell me how to embrace being a single parent. It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, not in these circumstances, not when you’re alone and disciplining and cooking and bedtiming and lying to your child every single day about who their father truly is.”
I’m not sure what single parenting has tried to crack up to be, but I think it’s always hard any way you slice it and I feel her struggle. When your loving husband does something that doesn’t make sense and no answers are ever figured out, how DO you move on from that?
Well after seven years, Cam gets an anonymous text with a set of coordinates and a time to meet. This sets off a whole new round of investigations where Cam sets aside ‘moving on’ in hopes that Luke is finally contacting her and she’ll finally discover what was behind the siege.
Oh yeah, and as per the title he has some famous last words: “It’s been so lovely with you both.” At first they don’t seem to allude to anything helpful. However, if anything, I was able to determine part of what was going on.
The thriller part of this is somewhat figuring out who the bad guys are, but it’s also just wanting to know the catalyst for the siege. You don’t really get the full story until close to the end so I like that Gillian didn’t reveal too much too early. It kept the suspense up.
It’s told in alternating POVs between Cam and Niall who was the hostage negotiator during the infamous siege. After the bad outcome of the situation, it’d been haunting Niall and he ends up doing some of his own investigating to figure out what went wrong and why his instincts steered him so wrong that fateful day. Cam and Niall’s lives obviously continue to cross one another.
A few things I liked:
I liked that Cam and Luke had their own inside jokes, like being ‘sweepy.’ I was realizing that my husband and I have been married long enough now that we have some inside jokes that we have no memory of why or where they came from. Perhaps we will adopt sweepy to add to our collection.
I liked how she described her boss Stuart: “he has been, for the past couple of years, that most toxic of things: a gym convert”
I liked the side relationship of Cam with her sister, Libby, and how there was a closeness to their relationship but also growth as they navigated Libby’s infertility struggles. Dysfunctional and suspicious family members tend to be the norm for thrillers so I like that her and her sister’s relationship had its challenges but was generally very stable. I was also able to relate somewhat to Libby’s infertility feelings. I never had to do IVF or struggle for as long as her but I still understand the jealousy and feelings towards others that you know are unwarranted but nevertheless how you feel because why can’t your body make and hold a baby?! It’s such a tough thing to endure.
One plot criticism:
The ‘hiding out’ period of seven years feels like a lot to survive. I can’t really imagine someone doing what he did for so long without going insane. I wonder if shortening that time period would have made more sense, although I think that time frame was chosen because of the laws about declaring a missing person deceased. So I guess this is just one of those things where you just accept that after seven years there’s still just a sleeping bag instead of a bed and of course he’s only spoken out loud five instances in all that time but is still a normal human being. Moving on.
One other criticism:
“The trainers he wanted— Vejas— came into fashion and then went out again.” Um… I was literally told last week to buy these Veja shoes. I ended up getting a pair from someone, but you’re telling me they’re already out of fashion!? Or is the US behind? Or maybe this is just the speculative fiction part of the novel and everything is fine. Talk about the biggest twist of the book…!
Obligatory Words I Learned Section
Jaffa cakes: Cam and Luke’s ‘eating your feelings’ treat that is made of sponge, orange-flavored jam, and chocolate. I guess my feelings are more pure and salty instead of spongy- bring on the chips and straight up chocolate
fisselig: a German word meaning ‘flustered to the point of incompetence”; I don’t know how to use it in a sentence but if I could I would all the time
copper: apparently it’s not disrespectful to call police officers ‘coppers’ in England or else Gillian would probably be in jail right now
pensioner: probably the equivalent of a US snowbird but they just stay put and get to be called by their source of income instead of something prettier
dressing gown: that fancy little (but probably big) robe that men wear to smoke a pipe or something? I’m trying to imagine any male I know owning a dressing gown but I can’t… is the American version of this concept just sweatpants and a hoodie?
mange-touts: sugar peas; but if I didn’t look this one up I would have guessed it was a nasty looking fish
five-a-side: an indoor football… well soccer… game with five people to a side; good thing all sports have a different number of people on a side or this could get real confusing
lock-up: a storage unit (that someone was staying in… not to be confused with jail, because he was definitely not in jail as that was the failure of the last seven years for the coppers….. Police. I can’t say it without feeling like a criminal)
Recommendation
Well I thought I wasn’t going to read any more of Gillian McAllister’s books but then I forgot what I thought and now I think maybe I will.
I don’t like the swearing, but I think she weaves a good story and taps into both my desire for suspense and mystery and my complex mom feelings where I agree that every child that dies is Polly (well, my Pollies) and all parents are me and how could my kids ever live without knowing their dad and could my parenting ever turn my kid into a stabber?!
So I guess read at your own risk, but to quote myself from my review of her other book: “Swearing aside, I can’t think of a reason not to read the book. Unless you don’t like time travel.” Whoops. Not that last part. No time travel here! Well. I guess they jump seven years into the future but we’ll give that a time travel pass.
Also, if you love books where husbands disappear and leave something behind and the wife is left with their daughter to figure out what he’s mixed up in, you should read The Last Thing He Told Me.
[Content Advisory: 36 f-words, 20 s-words]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Ace, Marvel, Spy by Jenni L. Walsh
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat these two imposters just the same”
“When we’re forty, love, we’ll look back and realize we have everything we’ve ever wanted.”
“It’s funny, in tennis, love means nothing. But in life, love is everything.”
You’re telling me there was a tennis champion who ALSO wrote comics for Marvel who ALSO was an international spy during WWII?! How did I not know about Alice Marble?!
Of course I want to get this story.
But before we carry on, I need to point out my mistake: the title of this book is a smidge misleading. Alice Marble did indeed write/edit comics, but she did not do it for Marvel. It was of the Wonder Woman family— DC Comics. The ‘marvel’ in the title, I believe, is due to the definition of marvel being ‘something that causes wonder or astonishment; prodigy’ and probably partly because it sounds like Marble.
Still cool, but not the title I would have expected. Oh well, pickers and choosers and stuff.
So yes, the premise of this book is awesome. However, the execution of it was a little lacking. Especially in the first half of the book.
It’s hard to really nail down why, but the writing style and piecing together of the story just seemed off and not compelling.
Walsh says in her author’s note that she primarily used Alice Marble’s memoir to write this book and didn’t really use any other biographies of Marble in her research. It seems like she wanted to basically write a book based on the memoir. However, I think if she had fictionalized it a little bit more, left out certain parts, etc, it would have flowed better and felt like a solid novel with the conflicts and progression more in order.
Plus, it sounds like parts of Marble’s memoir haven’t been able to be corroborated by other historians or had some errors in it (even though she claimed to have a photographic memory). If we’re not sure what exactly is true anyway, might as well embellish it a little to tie in more pieces or add more tension and suspense. It’s not a biography so I think readers kind of expect that when we read historical fiction.
For example, the comic writing really doesn’t do much for the story the way that it’s put in there. Alice ends up writing a comic column inspired by Wonder Woman by telling the real stories of courageous or intelligent women in history and their achievements but in comic form (including women like Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, and Sojourner Truth).
I think the tie-in is that Alice Marble could have been a wonder woman of history with her tennis accomplishments, aid in the war (if it’s true), and her push for equality in tennis (as she helped support Althea who became the first African American to win a Grand Slam). Marble also coached Billie Jean King.
However, in Ace, Marvel, Spy, there’s really only a few pages dedicated to that aspect of her life and they don’t really tie in to any part of the plot except that she needed a job. I wish Walsh had gotten a little more creative in connecting it into the espionage area of Marble’s life.
The story is broken into two timelines: the ‘Then’ which follows Marble’s tennis career from nothing to #1, and the ‘Now’ which follows Marble’s post-tennis life including her marriage and her spy mission in Switzerland. This format did take away some of the tension because the ‘Now’ parts often created spoilers in the ‘Then’ sections— we already know how this turns out.
Some of it also got a little confusing because I would forget which of her injuries happened in which timeline.
Dual timelines are pretty standard for historical fiction so I don’t know if I would say scrap it altogether, but something was missing from the composition of these two timelines to make it flow and jive better.
What I Didn’t Like
I know it’s tricky to write about the tennis games because you can’t write every shot and there are a lot of games in a match, but some of the writing around that felt abrupt. False build-ups and what not.
Another reviewer commented about the random facts that seemed to be shoved into the writing that may not have added much and I did notice that too. If it was meant to be a character trait of Alice like her photographic memory made her constantly bring up facts she had memorized, then there probably should have been more of them. If it wasn’t supposed to be a character trait then there were too many of them.
For the most part I think Walsh did a pretty good job of capturing the vernacular and slang of the time period and place but there were certain phrases or words that felt out of place. Like when she said of her relationship that it was “rainbows and unicorns”— that seems like something that was popularized long after WWII.
Near the beginning of the book Alice gets a call from President Roosevelt to do some spy stuff but it takes up like a page or two and then it’s over. I was worried that was going to be the extent of her spying. Thankfully, there was more, but to have that little snippet like that without knowing where we’re going felt weird. I think it would have been better to somehow combine the two or something.
Marble gets her spy mission at about 50% of the way through the book and that’s when it started to pick up. I enjoyed the second half of the book better than the first and thought the writing was a little better.
What I Liked
Chapter 20 was probably the most engaging chapter for me because her life gets real. And real hard. And that’s probably the main place where I felt attached to Alice’s character. The connection of this hardship to what’s written above the gate at Wimbledon was a really good thing incorporate; I’m glad Walsh did that.
I also liked the emphasis Walsh made for Alice on the 40-Love score: how it’s a pivotal moment in the game. Then, identifying moments throughout that were ‘40-Love moments’— what she does then could easily determine the rest of the ‘game’— was another good tennis connection.
Recommendation
All in all, I think some adjustments and different editing and progressions would have made this book that much better and cohesive. Jenni Walsh found a great new aspect of WWII and person to highlight that most people don’t know about, but I just wish the book would have come together a little differently.
While I can’t claim this one to be a ‘must read’, if you typically enjoy historical fiction or novels with new aspects of WWII, I would think this one would be an enjoyable book for you.
I also think if you enjoy tennis, it would be a fun book for you aw well. There aren’t a ton of tennis books out there, but if you do enjoy them, I could also recommend to you Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Reid Jenkins.
If you don’t read much historical fiction and you’re only going to read a couple this year, I can’t guarantee you’re going to like this one or should make this one of your books. There are some better options to fill the few slots of your reading plan.
Last thought— someone should spend more time on figuring out what the real deal is with Alice Marble’s spying because more people should probably know about her and all her exploits.
[Content Advisory: no swearing; a couple closed-door bedroom scenes]
**Received an ARC via Wunderkind PR**
“When we’re forty, love, we’ll look back and realize we have everything we’ve ever wanted.”
“It’s funny, in tennis, love means nothing. But in life, love is everything.”
You’re telling me there was a tennis champion who ALSO wrote comics for Marvel who ALSO was an international spy during WWII?! How did I not know about Alice Marble?!
Of course I want to get this story.
But before we carry on, I need to point out my mistake: the title of this book is a smidge misleading. Alice Marble did indeed write/edit comics, but she did not do it for Marvel. It was of the Wonder Woman family— DC Comics. The ‘marvel’ in the title, I believe, is due to the definition of marvel being ‘something that causes wonder or astonishment; prodigy’ and probably partly because it sounds like Marble.
Still cool, but not the title I would have expected. Oh well, pickers and choosers and stuff.
So yes, the premise of this book is awesome. However, the execution of it was a little lacking. Especially in the first half of the book.
It’s hard to really nail down why, but the writing style and piecing together of the story just seemed off and not compelling.
Walsh says in her author’s note that she primarily used Alice Marble’s memoir to write this book and didn’t really use any other biographies of Marble in her research. It seems like she wanted to basically write a book based on the memoir. However, I think if she had fictionalized it a little bit more, left out certain parts, etc, it would have flowed better and felt like a solid novel with the conflicts and progression more in order.
Plus, it sounds like parts of Marble’s memoir haven’t been able to be corroborated by other historians or had some errors in it (even though she claimed to have a photographic memory). If we’re not sure what exactly is true anyway, might as well embellish it a little to tie in more pieces or add more tension and suspense. It’s not a biography so I think readers kind of expect that when we read historical fiction.
For example, the comic writing really doesn’t do much for the story the way that it’s put in there. Alice ends up writing a comic column inspired by Wonder Woman by telling the real stories of courageous or intelligent women in history and their achievements but in comic form (including women like Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, and Sojourner Truth).
I think the tie-in is that Alice Marble could have been a wonder woman of history with her tennis accomplishments, aid in the war (if it’s true), and her push for equality in tennis (as she helped support Althea who became the first African American to win a Grand Slam). Marble also coached Billie Jean King.
However, in Ace, Marvel, Spy, there’s really only a few pages dedicated to that aspect of her life and they don’t really tie in to any part of the plot except that she needed a job. I wish Walsh had gotten a little more creative in connecting it into the espionage area of Marble’s life.
The story is broken into two timelines: the ‘Then’ which follows Marble’s tennis career from nothing to #1, and the ‘Now’ which follows Marble’s post-tennis life including her marriage and her spy mission in Switzerland. This format did take away some of the tension because the ‘Now’ parts often created spoilers in the ‘Then’ sections— we already know how this turns out.
Some of it also got a little confusing because I would forget which of her injuries happened in which timeline.
Dual timelines are pretty standard for historical fiction so I don’t know if I would say scrap it altogether, but something was missing from the composition of these two timelines to make it flow and jive better.
What I Didn’t Like
I know it’s tricky to write about the tennis games because you can’t write every shot and there are a lot of games in a match, but some of the writing around that felt abrupt. False build-ups and what not.
Another reviewer commented about the random facts that seemed to be shoved into the writing that may not have added much and I did notice that too. If it was meant to be a character trait of Alice like her photographic memory made her constantly bring up facts she had memorized, then there probably should have been more of them. If it wasn’t supposed to be a character trait then there were too many of them.
For the most part I think Walsh did a pretty good job of capturing the vernacular and slang of the time period and place but there were certain phrases or words that felt out of place. Like when she said of her relationship that it was “rainbows and unicorns”— that seems like something that was popularized long after WWII.
Near the beginning of the book Alice gets a call from President Roosevelt to do some spy stuff but it takes up like a page or two and then it’s over. I was worried that was going to be the extent of her spying. Thankfully, there was more, but to have that little snippet like that without knowing where we’re going felt weird. I think it would have been better to somehow combine the two or something.
Marble gets her spy mission at about 50% of the way through the book and that’s when it started to pick up. I enjoyed the second half of the book better than the first and thought the writing was a little better.
What I Liked
Chapter 20 was probably the most engaging chapter for me because her life gets real. And real hard. And that’s probably the main place where I felt attached to Alice’s character. The connection of this hardship to what’s written above the gate at Wimbledon was a really good thing incorporate; I’m glad Walsh did that.
I also liked the emphasis Walsh made for Alice on the 40-Love score: how it’s a pivotal moment in the game. Then, identifying moments throughout that were ‘40-Love moments’— what she does then could easily determine the rest of the ‘game’— was another good tennis connection.
Recommendation
All in all, I think some adjustments and different editing and progressions would have made this book that much better and cohesive. Jenni Walsh found a great new aspect of WWII and person to highlight that most people don’t know about, but I just wish the book would have come together a little differently.
While I can’t claim this one to be a ‘must read’, if you typically enjoy historical fiction or novels with new aspects of WWII, I would think this one would be an enjoyable book for you.
I also think if you enjoy tennis, it would be a fun book for you aw well. There aren’t a ton of tennis books out there, but if you do enjoy them, I could also recommend to you Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Reid Jenkins.
If you don’t read much historical fiction and you’re only going to read a couple this year, I can’t guarantee you’re going to like this one or should make this one of your books. There are some better options to fill the few slots of your reading plan.
Last thought— someone should spend more time on figuring out what the real deal is with Alice Marble’s spying because more people should probably know about her and all her exploits.
[Content Advisory: no swearing; a couple closed-door bedroom scenes]
**Received an ARC via Wunderkind PR**
A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“My whole body thrums with fear. It tells me to run. It tells me that the hunter is here, and I am prey. I have always been prey.”
If you like books about dysfunctional families and lots of twists, this is the book for you!
This one is a wild ride where you’re never quite sure who is the hunter and who is the hunted. Every time I thought I had a piece right, Marshall switched it up!
It’s also an atmospheric story as it takes place at an isolated mountain mansion family property around Christmastime where there is of course, no cell reception. The characters stay in their own cabins on the property and the snow is its own element in ‘A Killing Cold.’
The main premise is this:
Theo and Connor are recently engaged (after having only met a few months ago) and headed to Connor’s wealthy and influential family’s property in the mountain woods of New York where Theo has a couple weeks to impress them and be accepted into their curated life.
“All I have to do is convince them that I love him, that I’m charming, that I’m not just interested in his money.”
“All I have to do is ignore the text on my phone… The text that arrived last week from a number I’ve never seen before. ‘Stay away from Connor Dalton.’”
Theo has her own secrets she’s been keeping from Connor— her name isn’t really Theo. And her parents aren’t really dead, but if Connor finds out the truth about them, he might leave her forever.
“The story isn’t about what happened in the attic. It’s about what happened after— what happens when I feel trapped. It is dangerous to corner a wild animal. Even a wounded one.”
There is also part of her childhood she knows must have been traumatic because she barely has any memories of that time and most of them come in the form of nightmares with an ‘antler man’ and running away.
“I’ve never minded blood. It’s a trail to follow, back through my memories.”
The mysteries and secrets pile up as she meets the various family members and learn of their vices and their tragedies, including the mysterious death of Connor’s charming father and the desolate cabin that is no longer used or talked about.
Even as Theo confronts the reality that someone is trying to keep her away from Connor, she’s also discovering that parts of the family property are familiar. Snippets from her memories come back and she realizes the chilling fact: She’s been here before.
“I thought all of this was a coincidence, too wild to be true. But what if it wasn’t? What if I didn’t stumble my way here? What if I was led?”
I will say that if abuse is a trigger for you, you may want to pass on this one as it depicts both adult and child abuse.
I will mention here that it was really hard to read about what happened to Theo with her adoptive parents, especially when the parents attempted to justify their heinous behavior and parenting with what I’m assuming Marshall is portraying as a Christian Bible.
“Holy words wound their way through it, but it was pure punishment. It was like something had been set on fire in Beth’s soul and decades of being a demure and submissive wife became nothing but kindling for her rage.”
She never identifies what religion they claim to be; there are elements of their beliefs surrounding gender and sex that are associated with Christianity but it’s clear that if the Bible is their ‘foundation’ they’ve discarded and twisted most of it because there is nothing biblical about what they said and did to Theo.
It’s hard to read about child abuse but it’s even harder to read it knowing someone had the words of life but were blinded by evil and instead offered only pain, violence, and a wrong theology about sin that not only hurt that child physically but emotionally, spiritually, and in every sense of identity and security.
“I’m a devil-child; my parents are alive, they just don’t want me.”
“Who am I? Maybe I’m no one. Maybe I didn’t come from anywhere at all. Maybe there’s nothing inside me except all the little pieces I’ve collected from the people I’ve wanted to love.”
There were some reviewers who thought the plot was tired and relied too much on fate. I guess I haven’t read a lot that are similar to this one— probably the most similar would be The Family Bones, The Alone Time, or The Fury but even those have their own thing— so it didn’t feel overdone.
There was perhaps an element of fate but truly so many stories require that because ultimately stories set out to answer the question ‘what if’ such and such happened, not ‘here’s how this could legitimately happen’ so for the most part I take no issue with that either.
However, when she unlocked the phone after only a few tries by using the mother’s birth date I was like— nope, no one uses that and even if they did, how would she know this lady’s birth date? She wouldn’t.
A couple times I was nervous that the author was playing up the main character’s recklessness or the mystery of what she did in her past too much so that the culmination of everything was going to be explained in a stupid or stereotypical way or just be not a big deal in general. I’m pleased that Marshall didn’t do that. The direction she took was disturbing and tragic but was a better way to tell the story than how many other authors opt to do.
Recommendation
This story is a pretty tangled web of secrets and is definitely a thrill ride. I found it all very compelling, however there was some content in it that I usually avoid and may be something that would keep certain readers from picking it up, including a decent amount of swearing and a few brief, but graphic sexual encounters.
The reviews are a bit mixed on this one and several mentioned they loved her book What Lies in the Woods better (which had also been on my to-read list) so I might still give that one a shot. I liked the complexity and unpredictability of her book but am still deciding if it’s worth wading through some of the other stuff or not.
[Content Advisory: 41 f-words, 18 s-words; some brief but graphic sexual encounters, a couple prominent characters are LGBTQ; some gore; adult and child abuse; miscarriage]
If you like books about dysfunctional families and lots of twists, this is the book for you!
This one is a wild ride where you’re never quite sure who is the hunter and who is the hunted. Every time I thought I had a piece right, Marshall switched it up!
It’s also an atmospheric story as it takes place at an isolated mountain mansion family property around Christmastime where there is of course, no cell reception. The characters stay in their own cabins on the property and the snow is its own element in ‘A Killing Cold.’
The main premise is this:
Theo and Connor are recently engaged (after having only met a few months ago) and headed to Connor’s wealthy and influential family’s property in the mountain woods of New York where Theo has a couple weeks to impress them and be accepted into their curated life.
“All I have to do is convince them that I love him, that I’m charming, that I’m not just interested in his money.”
“All I have to do is ignore the text on my phone… The text that arrived last week from a number I’ve never seen before. ‘Stay away from Connor Dalton.’”
Theo has her own secrets she’s been keeping from Connor— her name isn’t really Theo. And her parents aren’t really dead, but if Connor finds out the truth about them, he might leave her forever.
“The story isn’t about what happened in the attic. It’s about what happened after— what happens when I feel trapped. It is dangerous to corner a wild animal. Even a wounded one.”
There is also part of her childhood she knows must have been traumatic because she barely has any memories of that time and most of them come in the form of nightmares with an ‘antler man’ and running away.
“I’ve never minded blood. It’s a trail to follow, back through my memories.”
The mysteries and secrets pile up as she meets the various family members and learn of their vices and their tragedies, including the mysterious death of Connor’s charming father and the desolate cabin that is no longer used or talked about.
Even as Theo confronts the reality that someone is trying to keep her away from Connor, she’s also discovering that parts of the family property are familiar. Snippets from her memories come back and she realizes the chilling fact: She’s been here before.
“I thought all of this was a coincidence, too wild to be true. But what if it wasn’t? What if I didn’t stumble my way here? What if I was led?”
I will say that if abuse is a trigger for you, you may want to pass on this one as it depicts both adult and child abuse.
I will mention here that it was really hard to read about what happened to Theo with her adoptive parents, especially when the parents attempted to justify their heinous behavior and parenting with what I’m assuming Marshall is portraying as a Christian Bible.
“Holy words wound their way through it, but it was pure punishment. It was like something had been set on fire in Beth’s soul and decades of being a demure and submissive wife became nothing but kindling for her rage.”
She never identifies what religion they claim to be; there are elements of their beliefs surrounding gender and sex that are associated with Christianity but it’s clear that if the Bible is their ‘foundation’ they’ve discarded and twisted most of it because there is nothing biblical about what they said and did to Theo.
It’s hard to read about child abuse but it’s even harder to read it knowing someone had the words of life but were blinded by evil and instead offered only pain, violence, and a wrong theology about sin that not only hurt that child physically but emotionally, spiritually, and in every sense of identity and security.
“I’m a devil-child; my parents are alive, they just don’t want me.”
“Who am I? Maybe I’m no one. Maybe I didn’t come from anywhere at all. Maybe there’s nothing inside me except all the little pieces I’ve collected from the people I’ve wanted to love.”
There were some reviewers who thought the plot was tired and relied too much on fate. I guess I haven’t read a lot that are similar to this one— probably the most similar would be The Family Bones, The Alone Time, or The Fury but even those have their own thing— so it didn’t feel overdone.
There was perhaps an element of fate but truly so many stories require that because ultimately stories set out to answer the question ‘what if’ such and such happened, not ‘here’s how this could legitimately happen’ so for the most part I take no issue with that either.
However, when she unlocked the phone after only a few tries by using the mother’s birth date I was like— nope, no one uses that and even if they did, how would she know this lady’s birth date? She wouldn’t.
A couple times I was nervous that the author was playing up the main character’s recklessness or the mystery of what she did in her past too much so that the culmination of everything was going to be explained in a stupid or stereotypical way or just be not a big deal in general. I’m pleased that Marshall didn’t do that. The direction she took was disturbing and tragic but was a better way to tell the story than how many other authors opt to do.
Recommendation
This story is a pretty tangled web of secrets and is definitely a thrill ride. I found it all very compelling, however there was some content in it that I usually avoid and may be something that would keep certain readers from picking it up, including a decent amount of swearing and a few brief, but graphic sexual encounters.
The reviews are a bit mixed on this one and several mentioned they loved her book What Lies in the Woods better (which had also been on my to-read list) so I might still give that one a shot. I liked the complexity and unpredictability of her book but am still deciding if it’s worth wading through some of the other stuff or not.
[Content Advisory: 41 f-words, 18 s-words; some brief but graphic sexual encounters, a couple prominent characters are LGBTQ; some gore; adult and child abuse; miscarriage]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Domestic abuse
Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
[4 stars: Would normally give it 3 stars because I didn't love it, but I think it did what it was supposed to do and I'm not a teenage girl sooo]
I pretty much just read this because it fit what I needed for my reading challenge— it’s not one that would normally draw my attention.
It’s a book written for teens and it definitely reads as such. Even the size of the book lends to that audience. It’s a smaller, square-ish book and is easily read in a day or two.
There’s nothing too complicated about the book, it’s a pretty straightforward ‘origin story’ for Snow White’s evil stepmother— how did she become so evil that she would try to kill the daughter of her beloved late husband?
Since the book is so short, there’s really not a lot of space to go into deep character development or to dredge up all the mysteries of the Queen’s childhood.
If you are a Disney fanatic, then you’ll probably enjoy this book and spending time in Snow White’s story.
I like watching Disney movies, but the Disney princesses aren’t really something I get excited about. I was interested to see how Valentino would shape the origins of the evil Queen and I think she did a decent job.
But overall the book was pretty mediocre for my tastes. The last part of the book is basically a description of the well-known Snow White story/movie so this book is not a complete original story.
The theme of the book comes as no surprise— beauty and vanity. I was hoping for some creativity but Valentino went with the obvious. It’s the concept of the story, but it just feels a bit shallow and uninteresting to me.
I agree with some other reviewers that only calling her the Queen and not using her given name doesn’t help to humanize her, which I believe all villain origin stories attempt to do. Which is also why I’m not a big fan of them. There’s never an excuse to be evil and any attempt to justify evil is a big pass for me. Sure, we can be sympathetic to their tragic childhoods and lament that they weren’t loved like they should have been, but there’s a thing called resilience and turning evil is not the only path. I prefer hero stories and those who rise above their circumstances to help others, not hurt others, so sue me.
Awhile back I had started the Once Upon a Time TV show (still haven’t finished it yet) and I did enjoy how they brought the fairy tales to life and gave some backstories to the characters and connected them all together. Obviously they had more to work with then a couple hundred page young adult book, but for me, I’d rather watch that then read this entire series.
This is Valentino’s first book and the first in a series of (currently) 12 books, each with a different Disney villain.
I think this would probably be a great series for a teenager to read. If it weren’t for the dark magic and the bloody heart I would say the audience for this book could even be younger than teens because of the writing.
Either way, I’m not sure there will be very many adults who desire to spend their time on it.
[Content Advisory: No swearing or sexual content; does have dark magic]
I pretty much just read this because it fit what I needed for my reading challenge— it’s not one that would normally draw my attention.
It’s a book written for teens and it definitely reads as such. Even the size of the book lends to that audience. It’s a smaller, square-ish book and is easily read in a day or two.
There’s nothing too complicated about the book, it’s a pretty straightforward ‘origin story’ for Snow White’s evil stepmother— how did she become so evil that she would try to kill the daughter of her beloved late husband?
Since the book is so short, there’s really not a lot of space to go into deep character development or to dredge up all the mysteries of the Queen’s childhood.
If you are a Disney fanatic, then you’ll probably enjoy this book and spending time in Snow White’s story.
I like watching Disney movies, but the Disney princesses aren’t really something I get excited about. I was interested to see how Valentino would shape the origins of the evil Queen and I think she did a decent job.
But overall the book was pretty mediocre for my tastes. The last part of the book is basically a description of the well-known Snow White story/movie so this book is not a complete original story.
The theme of the book comes as no surprise— beauty and vanity. I was hoping for some creativity but Valentino went with the obvious. It’s the concept of the story, but it just feels a bit shallow and uninteresting to me.
I agree with some other reviewers that only calling her the Queen and not using her given name doesn’t help to humanize her, which I believe all villain origin stories attempt to do. Which is also why I’m not a big fan of them. There’s never an excuse to be evil and any attempt to justify evil is a big pass for me. Sure, we can be sympathetic to their tragic childhoods and lament that they weren’t loved like they should have been, but there’s a thing called resilience and turning evil is not the only path. I prefer hero stories and those who rise above their circumstances to help others, not hurt others, so sue me.
Awhile back I had started the Once Upon a Time TV show (still haven’t finished it yet) and I did enjoy how they brought the fairy tales to life and gave some backstories to the characters and connected them all together. Obviously they had more to work with then a couple hundred page young adult book, but for me, I’d rather watch that then read this entire series.
This is Valentino’s first book and the first in a series of (currently) 12 books, each with a different Disney villain.
I think this would probably be a great series for a teenager to read. If it weren’t for the dark magic and the bloody heart I would say the audience for this book could even be younger than teens because of the writing.
Either way, I’m not sure there will be very many adults who desire to spend their time on it.
[Content Advisory: No swearing or sexual content; does have dark magic]